May 26, 2020

Virgin Orbit’s First Orbital Launch Attempt Terminated Shortly After Release (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
After years of development and testing, Virgin Orbit has conducted its first orbital launch attempt. The maiden flight of the air-launched LauncherOne rocket occurred on Monday, May 25, with the Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft taking off from Mojave Air and Space Port at 11:56 AM PDT and releasing LauncherOne at 12:50 PM PDT (19:50 UTC). However, after release, the mission was terminated due to an anomaly shortly after first stage ignition. The Cosmic Girl carrier aircraft and all of the crew members on board have returned safely to Mojave. (5/25)

Rogozin: Russia Should Immediately Start on New Space Station (Source: TASS)
Russia should begin to create a new orbital station, according to Director General of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin. "Russia, as a country that has always been a leader in the creation of orbital stations, should immediately begin work on creating a new orbital station," Rogozin said. According to the head of Roscosmos, the question of whether it will be visited or inhabited, international or national, will be decided in the near future. Rogozin suggested that the International Space Station (ISS) will operate for another 7-10 years, since there is a design fatigue and a given module life. (5/25)

New Study Estimates the Odds of Life and Intelligence Emerging Beyond Our Planet (Source: Phys.org)
We know from the geological record that life started relatively quickly, as soon our planet's environment was stable enough to support it. We also know that the first multicellular organism, which eventually produced today's technological civilization, took far longer to evolve, approximately 4 billion years. But despite knowing when life first appeared on Earth, scientists still do not understand how life occurred, which has important implications for the likelihood of finding life elsewhere in the universe.

David Kipping, an assistant professor in Columbia's Department of Astronomy, has used a statistical technique called Bayesian inference could shed light on how complex extraterrestrial life might evolve in alien worlds. Kipping used the chronology of the earliest evidence for life and the evolution of humanity. He asked how often we would expect life and intelligence to re-emerge if Earth's history were to repeat, re-running the clock over and over again. He framed the problem in terms of four possible answers: Life is common and often develops intelligence, life is rare but often develops intelligence, life is common and rarely develops intelligence and, finally, life is rare and rarely develops intelligence.

This method of Bayesian statistical inference—used to update the probability for a hypothesis as evidence or information becomes available—states prior beliefs about the system being modeled, which are then combined with data to cast probabilities of outcomes. Kipping's conclusion is that if planets with similar conditions and evolutionary time lines to Earth are common, then the analysis suggests that life should have little problem spontaneously emerging on other planets. And what are the odds that these extraterrestrial lives could be complex, differentiated and intelligent? Here, Kipping's inquiry is less assured, finding just 3:2 odds in favor of intelligent life. (5/19)

A Reckoning for Russia's Space Program (Source: Axios)
SpaceX's first attempt at launching astronauts from American soil this week is a historic moment that will stress the decades-long relationship between the U.S. and Russia in space. Why it matters: Since the Cold War, the U.S. and Russia have collaborated intimately in space. As the U.S. regains the ability to launch people with its own rockets, the future of Russia's already struggling civil space program — and how the U.S. will collaborate with it — is unclear.

The U.S. and Russia are locked in a state of mutual dependence. NASA needs Russian rockets, and Roscosmos, Russia's state-run space agency and NASA counterpart, needs U.S. money. If SpaceX — and Boeing, which has its own crewed spacecraft program and contract with NASA — can deliver astronauts to space, the U.S. plans to stop purchasing flights from Russia. (5/26)

Third European Service Module for Mission to Land Astronauts on the Moon (Source: ESA)
It’s official: when astronauts land on the Moon in 2024 they will get there with help from the European Service Module. The European Space Agency signed a contract with Airbus to build the third European Service Module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft that will ferry the next astronauts to land on the Moon. The third Artemis mission will fly astronauts to Earth’s natural satellite in 2024 – the first to land on the Moon since Apollo 17 following a hiatus of more than 50 years. (5/26)

U.S. Army Signs Deal with SpaceX to Assess Starlink Broadband (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Army will experiment using Starlink broadband to move data across military networks. An agreement signed with SpaceX on May 20 gives the Army three years to test out the service. The Army and SpaceX signed a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement known as a CRADA. The project will be overseen by the Combat Capabilities Development Command’s C5ISR Center based at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland. (5/26)

Agency Petitions FCC to Revoke Ligado 5G License (Source: Space News)
A government agency that handles spectrum issues is petitioning the FCC to revoke its license awarded last month to Ligado. The petition from the National Telecommunications and Information Administration, made on behalf of the executive branch and in particular the Pentagon, cited concerns that Ligado's 5G network will interfere with GPS signals in a neighboring spectrum band. The petition is the latest effort by the Defense Department to kill Ligado's network because of interference. One attorney predicts that the FCC will dismiss the petition, but will be pressured to figure out a compromise with the Defense Department. (5/26)

China Prepping for Mars Launch (Source: Space News)
The rocket for China's Mars mission has arrived at the launch site. The components of the Long March 5 rocket arrived Sunday at the Wenchang launch site on the island of Hainan. The rocket will launch the Tianwen-1 mission in late July, sending an orbiter, lander and rover to Mars. Tianwen-1 will arrive at Mars in February 2021 and enter orbit, but the landing attempt may not take place until weeks or months later. (5/26)

Japanese Cargo Craft Reaches Space Station (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A Japanese cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station Monday. The HTV 9 spacecraft, launched last Wednesday, was grappled by the station's robotic arm at 8:13 a.m. Eastern and berthed to the station's Harmony module a few hours later. The cargo spacecraft delivered several tons of supplies to the station, including a final set of new batteries for the station's power system. The arrival also allows the Demo-2 commercial crew mission to proceed with launch on Wednesday. (5/26)

Crew Dragon Gets "High Confidence" Ratings on Key Systems (Source: Space News)
Getting the Demo-2 mission ready for launch meant overcoming a number of technical issues in its development. The Crew Dragon's parachutes and launch abort system were subjected to particular scrutiny in the flight readiness review last week, particularly the new parachutes, which went through an accelerated test program. Both systems were cleared in the review, with "high confidence" they will work as designed. (5/26)

ESA Contracts with Airbus for Third Orion Service Module (Source: BBC)
The European Space Agency has awarded Aribus a contract to build the third Orion service module. The contract, announced early Tuesday, covers construction of the Orion service module for the Artemis 3 mission, which will send astronauts to the moon in 2024 under NASA's current schedule. The contract, valued at 250 million euros ($274 million) was expected, since Airbus built the service module for the Artemis 1 Orion mission and has been working on the Artemis 2 service module. ESA is developing the Orion service module under an agreement with NASA tied to the ISS partnership. (5/26)

Russia: We Won't Race NASA to the Moon (Source: TASS)
The head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos says he will not race the United States back to the moon. In an interview Monday, Dmitry Rogozin said Russia would not participate "in some lunar race that resembles some election competition between Republicans and Democrats in the United States." Russia has previously signaled interest in participating in the lunar Gateway, but unlike fellow ISS partners Canada, Europe and Japan, has not made a formal commitment. Russia has its own program of robotic lunar missions, including sample return, but those missions have suffered years of delays. (5/26)