July 29, 2020

O'Keefe(!) & Grunsfeld: Joe Biden is the Best Choice for Space Progress (Source: Florida Today)
The plaque Apollo 11 left behind at Tranquility Base expressed the spirit in which America undertook the quest: “We Came In Peace for All Mankind.” Today, Americans face a choice about whether we want to renew that vision and continue to lead the world in exploration beyond our own planet, and our drive to unravel the mysteries of the universe. With opportunities at hand for innovation and exploration, the US can again go in peace for all humankind. We believe the best leader to realize that ambition is Joe Biden.

Like President Kennedy, Biden believes that NASA represents the best of America and helps our country to be even better — that NASA inspires all Americans, serves as an engine for economic and technology developments, engages citizens in science and engineering, and boosts our global leadership by working with our partners across the world for continued peaceful development of space to the benefit of all. Biden appreciates that our current space efforts, led by NASA with the support of the emerging commercial space companies, are important sources of scientific, economic, and technological progress which further improves our nation’s ability to leverage cooperation with other nations.

All eyes in the years ahead should again be on Florida’s Space Coast. With Biden’s leadership we will see new jobs, new missions and new benefits to extend our exploration horizons, seek answers to profound scientific questions, and provide tangible benefits for all Americans. We have some insight into what this will take. One of us is among the few to go to space and experience the wonder of exploration. One of us had the privilege to lead the agency that achieved great ambitions. Both of us are honored to support Joe Biden because he is uniquely qualified to lead the nation and our global partners in this next chapter of discovery. (7/28)

Virgin Galactic Reveals Spacecraft Interior (Source: Ars Technica)
Virgin Galactic has released the first images of what the interior of its VSS Unity spacecraft will look like. The design shows a seating capacity for up to six passengers who will fly on board the rocket-powered space plane, crest at an altitude above 80km, and experience a few minutes of weightlessness.

The images reveal a sleek cabin designed to give the company's "astronauts" a stunning view of the planet as they rise above most of Earth's atmosphere. Each passenger has two dedicated windows and two cameras recording their experiences throughout the flight. During the zero-gravity phase of the flight, the seats will bend nearly horizontal to maximize room inside the cabin. The seats are modular, so the cabin can also be configured with three seats on one side of the vehicle and research racks on the other. (7/28)

Sen. Inhofe Blocks FCC Commissioner Confirmation for His Ligado Support (Source: Space News)
The chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee has blocked the confirmation of an FCC commissioner because of his support for Ligado. Sen. James Inhofe (R-Okla.) said he placed a hold on the nomination of Michael O'Rielly for another term as FCC commissioner because O'Rielly backed the FCC's decision to allow Ligado to build out a 5G network in a spectrum band adjacent to GPS signals. The Defense Department and others both in government and industry have warned that Ligado's network could interfere with GPS. Inhofe said he would continue to block the nomination until O'Rielly "publicly commits to vote to overturn the current Ligado order." (7/29)

Hughes Plans $50 Million Re-Investment in OneWeb (Source: Space News)
Hughes Network Systems plans to invest $50 million in the restructured OneWeb. The company announced this week it would be a part of the team led by the British government and Bharti Global to take OneWeb out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, and will be a distribution partner for OneWeb capacity. Hughes invested $50 million in OneWeb in 2015 as part of a $500 million Series A round, and has won more than $300 million in OneWeb business for gateway antennas and other ground infrastructure that remains unfinished. (7/29)

Virgin Orbit Seeks Clarity From DoD for Small Launcher Support (Source: Space News)
A small launch vehicle company executive says the Defense Department is sending mixed signals about its support for the industry. Mandy Vaughn, president of VOX Space, the government services arm of Virgin Orbit, said Tuesday that the announcement of awards to six companies in June, only to be retracted a few weeks later, shows "a little bit of discombobulation" on the Pentagon's part and raises questions about how much the government is willing to support small launchers. She called for more clarity from the Defense Department on how it will back the industry. (7/29)

DoD Needs Plans To Protect Commercial Space Industry, Says New Study (Source: Breaking Defense)
DoD should develop plans to “protect, support, and leverage commerce in space” in future — including establishing logistics capabilities all the way out to the Moon and beyond, recommends a new report spearheaded by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). “Our mission in the Space Force will become to protect that commerce, and I like to talk about it in terms of protecting the ‘celestial lines of commerce,’ or the space lines of commerce,” said Col. Eric Felt, head of the Space Vehicles Directorate at Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL).

To meet this mission, Felt added, he is looking to focus efforts at AFRL on technologies to enable operations beyond Geosynchronous Orbit (GEO, 36,000 kilometers above the Earth), the maximum altitude for most military and commercial satellites. That means reaching into cislunar space — the region between GEO and the Moon — and out to the orbit of the Moon itself.

“I see a need for technology that is going to enable us to go to the cislunar area above GEO, and how do we operate up there and how do we maintain awareness of what’s going on up there,” he said. “And I see a need for logistical activities. … The further you go away from the Earth, the more you need logistics; and, logistics that are going to make you more resilient in your space capabilities, not more vulnerable in your space capabilities.” (7/29)

$7 Billion Cost for Mars Sample Return (Source: Space News)
NASA and ESA expect to spend at least $7 billion bringing samples of Mars back to Earth. That effort will start with the Mars 2020 mission, scheduled to launch Thursday morning and with an estimated cost of $2.7 billion through its first Martian year of operations. At a briefing Tuesday, ESA projected spending 1.5 billion euros ($1.75 billion) over the next decade on its share of the Mars sample return effort, which includes an Earth Return Orbiter mission that will be built by Airbus Defence and Space in cooperation with Thales Alenia Space. NASA estimated at the same briefing its cost of future Mars sample return work will be $2.5-3 billion. (7/29)

Space Command Chief Wants International Norms for Behavior in Space (Source: Space News)
The nominee to be the next head of U.S. Space Command called for cooperation in creating norms of behavior in space. U.S. Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson said at a Senate confirmation hearing Tuesday that such norms of behavior, like those in international waters, are needed to ensure safety of space operations. He said that Space Command has been closely monitoring activities like recent Russian anti-satellite tests and is prepared to respond to aggression against U.S. satellites if need be. (7/29)

Next Dragon Commercial Crew Crew Named (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected the astronauts that will fly on a SpaceX commercial crew mission next year. The Crew-2 mission, on a Crew Dragon spacecraft scheduled to launch in the spring of 2021 for a six-month stay at the International Space Station, will include NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur, ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet and JAXA astronaut Akihiko Hoshide. It follows Crew-1, the first operational commercial crew mission, scheduled to launch in late September on another Crew Dragon spacecraft. (7/29)

Space Camp Survival Threatened by Pandemic (Source: CollectSPACE)
The operator of Space Camp is seeking donations to avoid a potential closure. The U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama, which runs Space Camp along with a museum, said that the pandemic forced the museum and camp to close this spring, reopening recently at only a small fraction of normal attendance. The center laid off a third of its full-time employees and furloughed many of the rest. The center is seeking to raise $1.5 million to keep the museum open past October and to allow Space Camp, which will close again this fall, to reopen next April. (7/29)

GAO: DOD Should Monitor Risks Due to Climate Change (Source: The Hill)
A report by the Government Accountability Office criticizes the Department of Defense for failing to adequately track climate change risk among contractors. "Excluding climate change and extreme weather considerations will limit DOD's ability to anticipate and manage climate-related risks so as to build resilience into its processes, and could jeopardize its ability to carry out its missions," according to the report. (7/27)

Perseverance Rover Will Carry First Spacesuit Materials to Mars (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is preparing to send the first woman and next man to the Moon, part of a larger strategy to send the first astronauts to the surface of Mars. But before they get there, they'll be faced with a critical question: What should they wear on Mars, where the thin atmosphere allows more radiation from the Sun and cosmic rays to reach the ground?

Amy Ross is looking for answers. An advanced spacesuit designer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, she's developing new suits for the Moon and Mars. So Ross is eagerly awaiting this summer's launch of the Perseverance Mars rover, which will carry the first samples of spacesuit material ever sent to the Red Planet. While the rover explores Jezero Crater, collecting rock and soil samples for future return to Earth, five small pieces of spacesuit material will be studied by an instrument aboard Perseverance called SHERLOC (Scanning Habitable Environments with Raman and Luminescence for Organics and Chemicals). (7/29)