August 31, 2020

Colonizing Mars: Pushing Today’s Technology to its Limits and Beyond (Source: Construction Week)
Our current technology cannot deliver on the daunting design, manufacturing, material science and propulsion requirements – that’s to name a few areas. We would also need to utilise ‘native’ Martian material because transporting and using traditional Earth material is not just logistically but also economically prohibitive. Additive manufacturing is potentially the way we use the red planet’s abundant natural resources.

Currently NASA's Swamp Works Lab at KSC, in collaboration with Autodesk, is using additive manufacturing technology, combined with the latest advancements in material science, to research habitat structures for living on other planets. The concept is to use native crushed rocks and mixing it with small amounts of recycled plastic to produce a cement-like material that can be deposited using robotic arms.

The crushed rocks base of the material can be widely found on most locations on Mars and even on moons and asteroids. Like other technologies that trickle down from space exploration, we may one day use the same technique and construct on Earth using materials found in situ. Click here. (8/31)

The Menace of Space Debris (Source: Jurist)
The increase in space traffic, which subsequently leads to an increase in space debris, can render LEO economically unviable for other participants. The legal framework dealing with the issue of space contamination is insufficient to provide any recourse. The Space Debris Mitigation Guidelines of the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (2007) provides an international instrument of a persuasive nature and therefore, making it obligatory on the state parties is an onerous task.

Article VI of the Outer Space Treaty imposes an international responsibility on the states, and Article VII renders a state party internationally liable to other states for any harm caused due to their operations. Though these provisions address the issues of responsibility in case of ruptures caused at an international level, they do not obligate states to take preventive actions or to remove the harmful agents from the outer space region. Click here. (8/31)

Outdated Treaties Won’t Stop the Rush to Control Resources in Space (Source: The Strategist)
As the US Space Force considers exactly what its role will be. It has some pretty ambitious ideas, and a recent report indicates that its thinking will be shaped by a deep astrostrategic perspective. So it wasn’t much of a surprise when news emerged that a group of US Air Force Academy cadets are researching the idea of military bases on the lunar surface. But the very notion of a military base on the moon has the space law community understandably seeing red. Such a base would directly conflict with both the spirit and letter of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST), which provides the foundation for space law.

Article IV of the treaty states that the Moon and other celestial bodies shall be used by all Parties to the Treaty exclusively for peaceful purposes. The establishment of military bases, installations and fortifications, the testing of any type of weapon and the conduct of military manoeuvres on celestial bodies shall be forbidden. A military base on the moon would also violate the 1979 Moon Treaty, which Australia supports, though no major space power has ratified it. So that means no overt or declared lunar military bases, at least as long as all powers remain signatories to the OST.

Current space law was developed for a different, more benign era and doesn’t adequately address the emerging dynamics of space activities. The OST doesn’t prohibit military personnel from being on the moon for scientific ‘or any other peaceful purposes’, and states that ‘the use of any equipment or facility necessary for peaceful exploration of the moon and other celestial bodies shall also not be prohibited’. That implies that a commercial facility supposedly established for peaceful exploration could be staffed by military personnel. Because the treaty leaves a facility’s role wide open to interpretation, a thin veneer could separate a commercial base from an undeclared military facility. A classic example of this problem exists here on earth—in Antarctica. Click here. (8/31)

Six Ways to Buy a Ticket to Space in 2021 (Source: Astronomy)
In 2004, Burt Rutan’s privately built SpaceShipOne flew just beyond the edge of space before landing safely back on Earth. That historic feat was enough to win the $10 million Ansari X Prize, as well as help convince the public that an era of space tourism was finally within humanity’s grasp. Now, more than 15 years later, aspiring space tourists are on the verge of having their dreams realized.

Earlier this month, SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsule safely ferried NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken back to Earth following a multi-month trip to the International Space Station (ISS). No privately built spacecraft had ever carried humans into orbit before. But unlike SpaceShipOne, which was a single craft built specifically to win a prize, there are multiple models of the Crew Dragon, each designed to be reused.  

It's finally looking like the exciting era of space tourism is about to erupt. A handful of so-called “new space” companies are now competing to sell space tourists trips on private spacecraft. Each one has a slightly different means of reaching space, and not all of them will get you all the way into orbit. But as long as you’re rich, you should have no problem purchasing your ticket to space. Click here. (8/31)

Survey Finds Interest Among Wealthy for Spaceflight (Source: CNBC)
A Cowen survey found that about 39% of people with a net worth of more than $5 million are interested in paying at least $250,000 for a Virgin Galactic flight to the edge of space. “Cowen’s proprietary survey highlights a high level of interest among high-net-worth individuals to fly to space at a ticket price of $250k or above,” analyst Oliver Chen said in a note to investors on Monday. The firm estimates that Virgin Galactic’s suborbital flights have a total addressable market of about 2.4 million people who have a net worth of more than $5 million. (8/31)

How Covid-19 Pandemic Could Stymie Near-Term Space Tourism (Source: Forbes)
This current Covid-19 pandemic could thwart near-term plans for space tourism. When the Spanish flu pandemic ravaged the globe at the turn of the last century, only a few theoretical physicists even pondered what interplanetary space might look like; much less worried about how we might one day live there. But if this current Covid pandemic ends up rivaling the one a century ago, commercial space visionaries might have a rude awakening.

Why, you wonder? Because as weeks have turned into months of wariness about contact with Covid carriers; our physical avoidance of others has become somewhat innate. It’s now second nature to turn one’s head or move to the other side of the sidewalk, with or without mask in place, when passing another human.  Like infected rats, we are instinctively learning that togetherness isn’t always healthy. Thus, almost every major city in the U.S. is experiencing temporary and sometimes a permanent exodus. More and more Americans are moving to small towns and/or what’s left of this continent’s countryside.

Researchers have found that when animals exhibit even subtle symptoms of disease, they tend to be avoided and rejected by other individuals of their same species. Also, “within ecologies characterized by high pathogen prevalence, people report lower levels of extraversion and openness.” This is a trend we’re all already experiencing whether consciously or not. Instinctively, even in outdoor shopping malls and certainly within grocery stores and big box stores, most patrons now begin instinctively moving out of the way of anyone heading their way. (8/31)

SpaceX Launches SAOCOM 1B Satellite on Historic Polar Inclination From Florida Spaceport (Source: SPACErePORT)
SpaceX successfully launched an Argentinian satellite into a polar orbit from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The rocket took off eastward from Launch Complex 40 on Sunday evening and performed a "dogleg" turn to the south to shoot the gap between the Bahamas and South Florida. The rocket's upper stage and payloads flew safely over Cuba and Central America before releasing the SAOCOM satellite into orbit. The rocket's first stage returned to the Cape Canaveral Spaceport for a successful landing. Its two fairing halves are expected to be retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean by one of SpaceX's two fairing recovery ships.

This polar orbit mission was made possible by an autonomous flight termination system, which was a prerequisite for the Air Force's safety approval of the mission coast-hugging, far-downrange land-overflight mission. This is expected to pave the way for future polar-orbit launches from Florida by the Falcon-9 and other rockets, potentially allowing companies to forego the need for multiple US launch sites to accommodate both low and high inclination orbits. (8/30)

Rocket Lab Launches SAR Satellite for Capella (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab returned to flight Sunday night with the successful launch of a commercial SAR satellite. The company's Electron rocket launched from its New Zealand site at 11:05 p.m. Eastern and placed the Sequoia satellite for Capella Space into orbit an hour later. The launch was the first for Electron since a failed mission nearly two months earlier that was traced to an "anomalous electrical connection" in the rocket's upper stage. Sequoia is the first operational satellite for Capella Space, which is developing a constellation of high-resolution SAR satellites. (8/31)

Yahsat Orders Satellite From Airbus (Source: Space News)
Yahsat has ordered a satellite from Airbus to refresh the Thuraya system. The contract covers a satellite designated Thuraya-4 NGS, and includes an option for a Thuraya-5 NGS satellite. Yahsat will spend around $500 million to build and launch the Thuraya-4 NGS satellite, refresh Thuraya's ground network and update its suite of mobile communications products. Thuraya, which Yahsat acquired in 2018, currently uses two Boeing-built satellites in GEO to provide mobile voice and data services in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa. (8/31)

Space Force Wants Cloud-Based Satellite Management (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is looking for ideas on how to develop a cloud-based solution to manage classified satellite programs. The Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) issued a request for information last week regarding a classified IT enterprise that can be accessed by users with different levels of security clearances. SMC says the system would be used for the Next Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (OPIR) satellites and the Evolved Strategic Satcom (ESS) program, replacing antiquated IT systems that don't allow SMC officials and contractors to work virtually and share information. The Space Force, along with the Air Force, have been promoting the use of digital engineering to speed up the development and procurement of next-generation systems. (8/31)

DoD Speeds Updates to Space Monitoring Software (Source: Space News)
The U.S. military is now updating space monitoring software applications every 90 days. In a recent report, the Pentagon said the software, developed under a program known as Space C2, or space command and control, has transitioned from a slow military procurement effort to agile software development practices. Space C2 is also known as the Kobayashi Maru project, named after a training program in Star Trek's Starfleet Academy. It was started in 2018 by SMC in an effort to replace the failed Joint Space Operations Center Mission System. (8/31)

Space Coast Program Puts High School Graduates in Aerospace Jobs (Source: Space Coast Daily)
Four new graduates from Eau Gallie High School’s Aviation Assembly and Fabrication Program will begin careers in advanced manufacturing working on state-of-the-art aircraft while earning great wages and benefits. Embraer, which manufactures several lines of executive jets in Melbourne snatched up the candidates who are products of one of Brevard Public Schools’ career and technical education choices.

“With all the uncertainty in the world, to have a manufacturer the quality of Embraer find a rich talent pipeline in our local schools bodes well for the future of Brevard County’s economy,” said Lynda Weatherman, president and CEO of the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, which helped launch the program and secured EGHS’ first teaching aircraft. (8/31)

China Makes Progress on Spaceport Project for Sea Launches (Source: Space News)
China is making progress with a spaceport to facilitate sea-based launch activity and development of rockets, satellites and related applications. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. (CASC), the country’s main space contractor, is developing the spaceport in Haiyang City on the coast of the eastern province of Shandong. The ‘Eastern aerospace port’ will add to China’s four established space launch centers and be a base for sea launches of light-lift solid rockets.

A recent inspection (Chinese) by Wang Xiaojun, head of China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), under CASC, reported ‘substantial progress’ in the construction and planning of the port. China carried out its first sea launch in June 2019 using the Long March 11. Analysts note that the new capability brings rapid response and a measure of stealth to launch capabilities. Sea launches could also somewhat mitigate safety risks to its civilian population. (8/31)

Bezos-Linked Space Venture Lands in Washington State (Source: Everett Herald)
Will Snohomish County’s aerospace cluster be joined by an outer-space cluster? A firm associated with Blue Origin, the Kent-based spacecraft company owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, recently paid $5 million for a six-acre parcel in the 6200 block of 188th Street NE in Arlington, according to Snohomish County records. It’s not known how Blue Origin or the buyer, Casting Operations, intend to use the property, which is about two blocks east of Arlington Municipal Airport. The site is being prepared for construction. According to the seller, the buyer was in a hurry to launch the project. (8/28)