August 27, 2020

Hungarian Joint Venture Plans Satellite (Source: 4iG)
Three Hungarian companies are forming a joint venture to launch the country’s first geostationary communications satellite in 2024. IT and communications company 4iG, TV and radio broadcast company Antenna Hungária, and international relations specialist New Space Industries, plan to use an orbital slot Hungary is leasing to a foreign satellite operator. That lease expires in 2024, creating an opportunity for them to use the slot. The joint venture, CarpathiaSat Hungarian Space Telecommunications Corporation, will be majority owned by 4iG (51%), with Antenna Hungária holding 44% of the venture and New Space Industries having a 5% stake. (8/26)

Russia's Glavkosmos and Reshetnev Offer Satellite Development (Source: Glavkosmos)
Glavkosmos, the Russian company tasked with commercializing Soyuz launches, has teamed with Russian satellite manufacturer ISS Reshetnev to help the company win business internationally. Glavkosmos will promote ISS Reshetnev satellites for communications, navigation and other applications. ISS Reshetnev mainly builds satellites for domestic customers, including the Russian government, for which it builds Glonass navigation satellites. Russian communications satellite companies RSCC and Gazprom Space Systems have also purchased ISS Reshetnev-built satellites. Glavkosmos said it will assist in arranging financial support, insurance and other functions under the partnership to help ISS Reshetnev gain exports. (8/26)

RocketLab Selected to Launch Satellite for Germany's OHB (Source: Space News)
German space company OHB Group has signed a contract with Rocket Lab for an early 2021 Electron launch of a small communications satellite. OHB’s launch services arm, OHB Cosmos, arranged the launch for an unnamed customer. OHB Group divisions in Sweden, Germany and the Czech Republic are responsible for building the satellite. The launch will be among the first in what Rocket Lab expects to be a busy year with launches occurring every two weeks between the company’s New Zealand and Virginia launch sites. (8/26)

Japan's Warpspace Raises $3 Million for Satellite Venture (Source: Warpspace)
Japanese startup Warpspace has raised $3 million as it prepares to build and launch an inter-satellite relay network. Japanese bank Mitsubishi UFJ Capital Co. participated in the startup’s latest round, the size of which was not disclosed. Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry also provided a supporting subsidy for the startup. Warpspace plans to start launching a network of laser-linked satellites in 2022 that can fast track data to the ground for other low Earth orbit companies, such as remote-sensing satellite operators. (8/26)

Space Florida Invests in Aerion’s Planned Melbourne Jet Manufacturing Facility (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Space Florida has invested millions of dollars into Aerion Corp. as a way to quicken its local growth as it prepares to land its new headquarters and manufacturing facility in Melbourne. Space Florida, the state's aerospace research, investment, exploration and commerce agency, on Aug. 20 announced it finalized the “multimillion-dollar investment.” The agency cannot at this time disclose the amount of the investment, but it will become public in the future, Dale Ketcham, Space Florida vice president of government and external affairs at Space Florida, told Orlando Business Journal.

The cash injection will accelerate the hiring of local workers by the Reno, Nevada-based jet maker, according to a Space Florida news release. Aerion will relocate its headquarters to Melbourne, where it plans to start manufacturing the AS2, a commercial jet capable of traveling faster than the speed of sound, at the new Aerion Park campus in 2023. As a result, the facility will generate 675 jobs by 2026 and is expected to draw additional aerospace businesses to the 60-acre campus. (8/25)

We’ll Soon Know the Exact Air Pollution From Every Ppower Plant in the World (Source: Vox)
A nonprofit artificial intelligence firm called WattTime is going to use satellite imagery to precisely track the air pollution (including carbon emissions) coming out of every single power plant in the world, in real time. And it’s going to make the data public. This is a very big deal. Poor monitoring and gaming of emissions data have made it difficult to enforce pollution restrictions on power plants. This system promises to effectively eliminate poor monitoring and gaming of emissions data.

And it won’t just be regulators and politicians who see this data; it will be the public too. When it comes to environmental enforcement, the public can be more terrifying and punitive than any regulator. If any citizen group in the world can go online and pull up a list of the dirtiest power plants in their area, it eliminates one of the great informational barriers to citizen action. Editor's Note: This is from last year. The website provides no update. (5/2019)

SpaceX to Launch Masten Lunar Mission in 2022 (Source: Masten Space)
Masten Space Systems announced today that it has selected SpaceX to launch Masten Mission One (MM1). As part of MM1, Masten’s lunar lander will deliver nine NASA-sponsored science and technology demonstration experiments and several commercial payloads to the lunar south pole. Masten’s first mission to the Moon, MM1 is a collaboration with NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) Project Office. The Masten XL-1 lunar lander is scheduled to touch down on the lunar south pole in 2022, carrying a suite of NASA-sponsored scientific instruments and various payloads from commercial space customers. (8/26)

Shatner: Captains Not Colonels for Space Force (Source: Military Times)
To the very esteemed members of Space Force and other grand poohbahs of the United States government agencies who may have a say in this, I have one question for you: What the heck is wrong with you? I’m talking about the ranks of the Space Force! What are you doing to us? There was no Colonel Kirk; not even in the mirror universe (which is what 2020 feels like at times). Throughout entertainment history, which precedes actual space flight history by decades, we had captains.

It’s been captains throughout entertainment history that have gone into space and been the heroes that saved the day, the planet, the galaxy and the universe. Where in any of this rich history of inspired heroes travelling into space was there a…colonel? So wrapping this up, I’m going to say that if you want the public to believe in heroes, that you should adopt the Navy ranks as they are the ones the public is most used to being heroes. So please reconsider and name the Space Force ranks after the U.S. Navy. (8/26)

'Unified Command Plan' to Clarify Space Command Role (Source: Breaking Defense)
A revision of the highly classified Unified Command Plan (UCP) will delineate Space Command’s authorities more clearly, so its relationships with the other commands are clearer in the wake of the new command’s creation. This will include giving SPACECOM the lead in deciding who gets priority use of communications satellites during combat, and what targets missile warning and space surveillance sensors are tasked to monitor, DoD sources say.

The UCP defines the authorities of and relationships between Combatant Commands, and is normally updated every year or two by the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for the president’s approval in his role as commander in chief. A new draft is siting on the desk of current Chair Gen. Mark Milley, according to DoD officials. The UCP also is usually updated whenever a new command is formed, or a standing command is given new jobs. (8/26)

Epps Set to Make History on ISS and Starliner (Source: USA Today)
NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps is slated to make history next year when she becomes the first Black woman to live on the International Space Station for months at a time. If everything goes according to plan, her historic arrival will come two years after being pulled from a similar mission. NASA announced Tuesday that Epps will join Sunita Williams and Josh Cassada on Boeing's Starliner-1 mission, which will mark the first operational crewed flight of the company's Starliner spacecraft.

Epps was slated to fly on the Russian Soyuz rocket to the ISS in 2018, but NASA replaced her with astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and did not disclose why. More than a dozen African American astronauts have flown in space and visited the station, but that mission would have made Epps the first Black crew member to live there. (8/27)

45th Space Wing on Pace for 39 Space Launches in 2020 (Source: Space News)
The 45th Space Wing Commander, Brig. Gen. Doug Schiess, said that if the current manifest holds, the Florida Space Coast will see 39 launches in 2020, compared to 18 launches in 2019 and 24 in 2018. “And so the launches are continuing to increase, that’s due to national security space missions and a huge part due to our commercial missions,” said Schiess.

The manifest for the next three months has a Sept. 30 GPS satellite launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9, another NRO mission on a ULA Atlas 5 sometime in October, the first operational launch of the SpaceX Crew Dragon Oct. 23 and in November a ULA Atlas 5 launch of Boeing’s Starliner capsule uncrewed test mission. Regarding the upcoming SAOCOM polar-trajectory launch, Schiess said the 45th Space Wing uses southerly trajectories for submarine ballistic missile tests, and he noted that Vandenberg Air Force Base is the “premier location to launch to polar and I don’t see that changing.” (8/25)

45th Space Wing to Become a 'Delta' (Source: Space News)
The Space Force unit that oversees those launches will get a new designation. The 45th Space Wing will become a delta, the name the Space Force has adopted for units that carry out specific missions. The Space Force has already converted three former Air Force space wings into nine deltas and two garrison commands, which provide support functions. Brig. Gen. Doug Schiess, commander of the 45th Space Wing, said the details of the changeover and the naming of the units are still being worked out. (8/27)

Astra Plans Another Alaska Launch Campaign (Source: Space News)
Small launch vehicle developer Astra is preparing for a new launch attempt as it faces a lawsuit over its name. The company said Wednesday it will make another attempt to launch its Rocket 3.1 vehicle from Alaska Sunday evening, with launch windows 2.5 hours long available daily through Sept. 3. Launch attempts early this month were postponed by poor weather as well as technical and range issues. (8/27)

Astra Faces Lawsuit Over Name (Source: Space News)
Atmospheric and Space Technology Research Associates, or ASTRA, filed suit against Astra last week alleging unfair competition and trademark infringement. Colorado-based ASTRA, which develops satellites and related technologies for atmospheric modeling and space weather, trademarked its company name and logo last year, and claimed that launch company Astra is causing confusion in the market. ASTRA said it's received several invoices from suppliers that were intended for the launch company Astra. (8/27)

Germany's Morpheus Space Raises Venture Capital (Source: Space News)
German propulsion startup Morpheus Space has attracted a high-profile group of investors for its first venture capital round. The startup did not disclose how much money it raised, but said several major VC firms in the U.S. and Germany participated in the round. Former Navy Secretary Richard Spencer, now the managing director of Pallas Ventures, one of Morpheus Space's investors, is joining the company's board of directors. Morpheus Space manufactures electric thrusters for smallsats called Nano Field Effect Electric Propulsion. which were tested on a German university cubesat this summer. (8/27)

NASA Delays Next Round of Astronaut Selection (Source: CollectSPACE)
NASA is delaying the ongoing astronaut selection round because of the pandemic. The agency announced this week that the selection of the next class of astronauts will be delayed four to five months to late 2021. NASA received more than 12,000 applications for this astronaut class earlier this year, but the pandemic has prevented it from holding in-person interviews with highly-qualified applicants at the Johnson Space Center. Those interviews will now begin early next year. (8/27)

Enhanced Cooperation Between Space Force and Japan's Space Unit (Source: Kyodo)
The U.S. and Japan agreed to strengthen military space cooperation. The head of the U.S. Space Force, Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, met with Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in Tokyo Thursday to discuss enhanced cooperation between the Space Force and the Japan Air Self-Defense Force's Space Operations Squadron, established in May. The meeting between Abe and Raymond came a day after the seventh Japan-U. S. Comprehensive Dialogue on Space meeting in Tokyo, which broadly discussed cooperation between the two companies in civil and military space activities. (8/27)

Skylab Astronaut Carr Passes Away (Source: NASA)
Former NASA astronaut Gerald "Jerry" Carr died this week at the age of 88. Carr, selected as a NASA astronaut in 1966, commanded the third and final Skylab mission in 1973-74, spending a then-record 84 days in orbit. Carr, a Marine test pilot before joining NASA, retired from the agency in 1977 and founded an aerospace consulting company that later worked with NASA on the design of crew systems for the International Space Station. (8/27)

Peace Between Israel and the UAE Could Spark Joint Israeli-Arab Space Exploration (Source: The Hill)
The recent peace agreement between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, brokered by President Donald Trump, could be compared to the 1977 Camp David Accords, except that it simply formalizes a growing relationship between the Jewish state and one of the Gulf nations that has been ongoing for some time. Both Israel and the UAE have Iran as a common enemy. Both countries are also technologically advanced and will benefit from closer commercial ties.

Israel and the UAE are also emerging space powers. The UAE recently launched a probe called Hope to Mars. After a private Israeli group made an unsuccessful attempt to land a robotic probe called the Beresheet on the lunar surface, German company OHB joined forces with Israeli Aerospace Industries (IAI) to attempt a moon landing in 2022 using Beresheet technology. Israel’s and the UAE’s experience in robotic planetary missions suggests that an opportunity exists for a joint effort, But to which target? Another moon landing? A follow-up to the Hope mission with a Mars lander? (8/24)