August 11, 2020

SpaceX Reveals Plans for a Texas Spaceport Resort in New Job Ad (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX  has big plans for its Boca Chica, Texas site – where it’s currently building and testing Starship. A new job posting spotted by CNBC’s Micheal Sheetz seeks a “Resort Development Manager” to be based out of Brownsville, the nearest neighboring town to the small Boca Chica area where SpaceX has built out its existing test and development site. The job posting seeks a manger to “oversee the development of SpaceX’s  first resort from inception to completion,” with the ultimate aim of turning Boca Chica into a “21st century Spaceport.”

That would include overseeing the entire design and construction process, as well as getting all necessary work permits and regulatory approvals, and completing the ultimate build of the facility. SpaceX has provided some concept designs of what its ideal spaceports might look like, and CEO Elon Musk  shared his intent to build floating spaceports for both interstellar and point-to-point Earth travel back in June, when the company announced it was seeking Offshore Operations Engineers, also to be located in Brownsville.

This new posting suggests that SpaceX will seek to create an end-to-end experience out of spaceflight, perhaps more in line with what Virgin Galactic  is building at its Spaceport America site in New Mexico. Virgin has placed a lot of emphasis on the customer experience it is providing for its private space tourists, both in terms of its passenger space vehicle cabin, and the amenities available on the ground at the launch site. (8/10)

Upgrading Russia’s Fleet of Optical Reconnaissance Satellites (Source: Space Review)
Russia has few operational reconnaissance satellites today, and those in service are thought to be beyond their design life. Bart Hendrickx examines efforts in Russia to develop a new generation of imaging satellites. Click here. (8/10)
 
After the Fire: a Long-Lost Transcript From the Apollo 1 Fire Investigation (Source: Space Review)
There were conspiracy theories surrounding the Apollo 1 accident, particularly after one worker who testified to Congress about problems later died and his testimony lost. Dwayne Day provides a copy of that testimony, uncovered two decades ago during production of a radio program. Click here. (8/10)
 
Virgin Galactic, Still Awaiting Liftoff, Spreads its Wings (Source: Space Review)
In recent weeks Virgin Galactic has announced a number of new initiatives, from the design of a supersonic aircraft to orbital spaceflight. Jeff Foust reports that these projects come despite the fact that the company has yet to complete development of its core business, suborbital spaceflight. Click here. (8/10)
 
Orbital Space Tourism Set for Rebirth in 2021 (Source: Space Review)
It’s been more than a decade since a space tourist flew to orbit. Tony Quine explains why that dry spell is likely to end next year as two companies plan three different commercial missions, assuming they have customers for them. Click here. (8/10)

Air Force Readies Software-Upgradable Orbiting Satellites to Support Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Space (Source: Military & Aerospace Electronics)
The U.S. Air Force is working with technology startup Hypergiant Industries Inc. to build the first software-based U.S. satellite system that eventually could perform real-time data analysis for artificial intelligence applications in orbit. The first in a series of as many as 36 satellites, known as Chameleon Constellation, is planned to launch on a Northrop Grumman Corp. spacecraft in February 2021. The project aims to modernize military satellites through software so they can be reprogrammed quickly -- for example, to take advantage of new artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms for threat detection. (8/11)

Ball Aerospace Joins Military Internet Space Project to Speed Communications Among Land, Sea, and Air (Source: Military & Aerospace Electronics)
Space communications experts at Ball Aerospace are joining a U.S. Air Force research project to find new ways to distribute information among land, sea, and air forces quickly to support high-speed decision-making. Officials of the Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio, announced a $9.7 million contract to Ball on Thursday for the Defense Experimentation Using the Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program.

This new space-based capability will be called path-agnostic communications because its users will be able to communicate reliably to any location in the world without explicitly specifying which nodes of a communication network to use. Ball Aerospace, L3Harris, and Northrop Grumman will seek to establish the ability to communicate with Air Force and other military platforms via several different commercial space internet constellations using common user terminal hardware elements. (8/10)

Space Force Releases Vision for Space Power (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has released a report describing its vision of "space power." The document, released Monday, lays out a vision for what the space branch of the armed services will do, and explains why the United States considers space a domain of warfare. Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, head of the Space Force, called the document the "capstone doctrine" for the new service. The Space Force doctrine says the United States must have military capabilities in space to protect national assets such as communications and GPS satellites, as well as offensive weapons to deter adversaries from hostile actions. Raymond said the U.S. wants space to remain peaceful, but needs to be prepared should deterrence fail. (8/11)

Pandemic Delays ViaSat Launch (Source: Space News)
The pandemic will further delay the first ViaSat-3 launch. Viasat CEO Mark Dankberg said in a recent earnings call that the pandemic has slowed work on the first of three broadband satellites, although he said the spacecraft should still launch by the end of next year. Dankberg said the pandemic continued to weaken demand for in-flight connectivity services, but did not have as strong an impact as feared on Viasat's overall financial performance. Demand for residential broadband and government connectivity grew during the quarter. (8/11)

NASA’s MAVEN Spacecraft Observes Weird Glowing and Pulsing in Mars’ Night Sky (Source: SciTech Daily)
Vast areas of the Martian night sky pulse in ultraviolet light, according to images from NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft. The results are being used to illuminate complex circulation patterns in the Martian atmosphere. The MAVEN team was surprised to find that the atmosphere pulsed exactly three times per night, and only during Mars’ spring and fall. The new data also revealed unexpected waves and spirals over the winter poles, while also confirming the Mars Express spacecraft results that this nightglow was brightest over the winter polar regions. (8/9)

Rocket Lab to Attempt Electron Rocket Recovery This Year (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab is ready to try to recover the first stage of its Electron rocket on a launch later this year. The company said last week it successfully completed drop tests to confirm the performance of the parachute that will slow the stage after reentry. Rocket Lab expects to fly a stage outfitted with recovery hardware on a mission called Flight 17 late this year; the company's next Electron launch, later this month, will be its 14th mission. That recovery system does reduce payload performance, but is offset by battery improvements that improved the overall payload capacity of the Electron from 150 to 200 kilograms for missions to sun-synchronous orbit. (8/11)

Russia's Outlandish Space Plans (Source: Ars Technica)
The head of Roscosmos continues to make outlandish claims about future missions despite budget cuts. Dmitry Rogizin said in a new interview that Russia could send humans to Mars in 8 to 10 years, and also recently claimed that it would work on new reusable launch vehicles. Yet the budget for Roscosmos, currently just a tenth of NASA's budget, is facing an 11% cut in the next three years that would target programs like new launch vehicles and other advanced space technologies. (8/11)

FCC Approval of Kuiper Megaconstellation Concerns Astronomers (Source: New York Times)
The FCC's approval of Amazon's Project Kuiper constellation is another cause for concern among astronomers. That system is designed to place more than 3,200 satellites into orbits somewhat higher than SpaceX's Starlink satellites. Astronomers, who have been working with SpaceX for more than a year to reduce the brightness of the Starlink satellites in order to mitigate interference with their observations, say Project Kuiper could have a similar impact. Amazon participated in a recent workshop with astronomers about the effect of satellite constellations on astronomy, and the company said in a statement it will share more information in the future on its mitigation plans. (8/10)

Latest GPS-3 Satellite Enters Service (Source: USSF)
The latest GPS 3 satellite has entered service. The GPS 3 SV03 satellite, built by Lockheed Martin, received "operational acceptance" less than a month after its June 30 launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9. The GPS constellation of more than 30 satellites now includes 22 with improved military code signals. (8/10)

Subsurface Ocean on Ceres? (Source: New Scientist)
Scientists have found new evidence that the largest object in the main asteroid belt has a subsurface ocean. In a paper published Monday, scientists said a bright feature seen in a crater on Ceres contains hydrated sodium chloride and is likely material that came from below the surface. That suggests that Ceres has an ocean of salt water about 40 kilometers below the surface, although how deep that ocean is remains uncertain. (8/11)