August 8, 2020

SES Taps Thales Alenia Space for Final Two C-Band Replacement Satellites (Source: Space News)
Satellite fleet operator SES has selected Thales Alenia Space to build two C-band satellites, making the Franco-Italian manufacturer the first European company to win one of nine replacement satellite orders placed this year as a result of the U.S. Federal Communications Commission’s upcoming C-band spectrum auction. The Aug. 7 contract announcement follows a flurry of satellite manufacturing and launch deals Luxembourg-based SES has signed with U.S. companies in recent weeks as it races to clear 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum over the next 40 months in order to earn nearly $4 billion in incentive payments. (8/7)

With Pentagon Award, SpaceX Joins the Establishment (Source: Space News)
Six years ago, SpaceX was the upstart launch company seeking to break United Launch Alliance’s monopoly on national security space launches. Now, it’s part of the establishment. When the U.S. Air Force announced Aug. 7 that SpaceX and ULA would split the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 2 contracts for launches between 2022 and 2027, it cemented SpaceX’s position in the government launch market, one that it went to court not that long ago to enter.

SpaceX, once considered an unproven new entrant, went into this competition as something of an incumbent. It was the only one of the four bidders that offered vehicles flying today: Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy. SpaceX instead made more incremental changes, such as an extended payload fairing. It will also build a mobile service tower at Launch Complex 39A at the Kennedy Space Center in order to support vertical processing required for some national security payloads. Yet it was also at a bit of a disadvantage, failing to secure a Launch Service Agreement award to support vehicle development that the other three bidders all received from the Air Force in 2018. (8/8)

US Space Force Completes Upgrade to Help Protect GPS Capabilities (Source: Defense News)
The U.S. Space Force has completed upgrades to the Global Position System’s ground segment that will allow it to partially use a new military GPS signal known as M-code. While the new anti-spoofing, anti-jamming, encrypted M-code signal has been available on many GPS satellites for years, the military has not had the corresponding ground and user equipment to access and leverage it. The $6.2 billion Next-Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, being built by Raytheon Technologies for that purpose is five years behind schedule and isn’t expected to be delivered until June 2021. (8/7)

No, Trump Didn't Bring NASA Back from the Dead (Source: Popular Mechanics)
President Trump's puzzling tweet contained a number of inaccuracies. Experts swiftly reacted to the tweet, and several jumped in to correct the president. "This is a lie," astronaut Leland Melvin wrote in a Facebook post. "I worked at NASA for 24 years and not once during that time was it closed except for Congress not being capable of producing a budget and therefore I got furloughed along with many of my friends and colleagues but it never shutdown."

Phil Larson, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and formerly of SpaceX, tweeted: "This does a disservice to the nearly 17,000 dedicated women and men of NASA." Former astronaut Scott Kelly also criticized Trump's tweet, saying: "Great leaders take blame and pass along credit." (8/7)

Abu Dhabi's Mubadala Reports 7% Stake in Virgin Galactic (Source: Zawya)
Abu Dhabi state fund Mubadala Investment Co on Friday reported an over 7% stake in space tourism company Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. The fund said it acquired the shares for investment purposes, according to a regulatory filing. Earlier this week, Virgin Galactic said its billionaire founder Richard Branson will fly into space on its rocketship early next year. The company had also said it would raise new funds with a share offering. (8/7)

China and Argentina Resume Joint Venture for Space Exploration (Source: Bloomberg)
China and Argentina have resumed plans to work together on outer space exploration in a sign of the Asian nation’s growing influence in the administration of President Alberto Fernandez. The two countries will cooperate in the development of ships and other instruments for space exploration, as well as land infrastructure to launch and control space missions and satellites, according to an agreement published in Argentina’s official gazette on Friday. The deal has been in effect since July 24, according to the publication, which says all space exploration shall have peaceful intention. A Foreign Ministry spokesman confirmed that the deal is now in effect. (8/7)

Space Tourism on the Cards After SpaceX Mission Success (Source: Sky News)
Cosmologist Dr. Brad Tucker says the SpaceX Dragon mission was a complete success which means space tourism flights could be launched as early as next year. The SpaceX Dragon is a reusable spacecraft capable of carrying up to seven passengers to and from earths orbit. Astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley descended in SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, safely landing in the Gulf of Mexico just under a week ago after 63 days aboard the International Space Station.

“Obviously they (NASA) are going to be doing the official checking of everything,” Mr Tucker said. “But given how everything looked, based on what both astronauts said … it’s going to be a pretty easy check of approval. “This is a really exciting time for space-adventurism, space tourism and space science”. (8/8)

Space Force Officers Must Think Like Navy Officers if They are to Succeed (Source: Politico)
There are many reasons that the Space Force needs to adopt the Navy’s rank structure, especially for officers. It is necessary to clearly distinguish Space Force from Air Force personnel if they continue to serve under the same military department, just like Navy and Marine Corps personnel. Culturally, science fiction and popular entertainment have linked naval rank to the space domain in the American imagination.

However, the most important reason for the Space Force to use Navy rank is because Space Force officers must think like Navy officers if they are to succeed in great power competition of the 21st century—one that is already occurring and will become ever more critical in the future. Only a maritime-inspired Space Force can bring the promise of space to the American people and humanity at large. (8/7)

Why Giving the Space Force Naval Ranks Might Widen the Schism with the Air Force (Source: Politico)
Should the U.S. Space Force have naval rank? Brent Ziarnick identifies multiple reasons why the idea has merit. It is necessary to distinguish the Space Force from its Air Force parentage — just like the Navy oversees the Marine Corps. And he also argues that to fully succeed the new branch to be "maritime-inspired," viewing space much like the high seas, an international lifeline to peace and security and commerce.

Ironically, however, it is these same reasons that are likely to create resistance to the move. Why? Because culture and identity have their own inertia, and because symbols matter by setting priorities which affect both resources and social status. First, we must remember that despite the large number of officers who have volunteered to transfer to the Space Force, many Air Force space officers still have an established identity of which they are familiar and proud.

Many officers opposed the establishment of the Space Force, among them (once upon a time) the person who is now the Space Force’s top officer. Every step that takes them away from the service in which they grew up feels like a loss of well understood identity in favor of something unfamiliar. Comfortable in an Air Force department with Air Force rank, they worry about feeling awkward in their new titles, as pretenders to naval rank, and that they might be teased by Air Force and Navy personnel alike. (8/7)

More Steps Forward for Space Command and Space Force (Source: Space Policy Online)
The Senate confirmed Army Lt. Gen. James Dickinson as a General and the new Commander of U.S. Space Command today, along with four  nominations for high level positions in the U.S. Space Force. Space Command was reestablished almost exactly one year ago after a 17-year hiatus. Space Force was created anew as a sixth military service in December. The confirmations mark new milestones for both as they stand up their organizations.

Dickinson will succeed Gen. Jay Raymond, who has been dual-hatted as Commander of USSPACECOM and Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force since December. Dickinson is currently Deputy Commander of USSPACECOM. Previously, he was commander of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Command and Joint Functional Component Command for Integrated Missile Defense. Though it may seem unusual to have an Army General running Space Command, the Army is the biggest user of space capabilities, as Dickinson himself pointed out. (8/7)

Northrop Grumman Outlines HALO Plans for Gateway’s Central Module (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
With the first two major elements of NASA’s Lunar Gateway under contract and development, Northrop Grumman has outlined their plans for the overall Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, which will serve as the primary habitation and nexus for the lunar station. HALO will now launch in a fully integrated configuration with Maxar’s Power and Propulsion Element — a change that has brought about alterations to HALO.  The duo will launch aboard a yet-to-be-officially confirmed rocket from the Florida spaceport in 2023.

HALO’s debut role at present will be to support the first planned human lunar landing Artemis mission.  While NASA lists that milestone as officially 2024 for political purposes, the agency’s senior managers under Kathy Leuders have declined to comment on the viability of the 2024 date, saying only that the landing will occur once all parts of the flight are ready to support and crew safety can be guaranteed as much as possible for such an endeavour.

Politically motivated dates that do not conform to schedule reality for the various elements of NASA’s moon plan have become a staple of the program, as NASA continued to publicly maintain — until a few months ago — that SLS would fly its first mission just before the Presidential election of 2020 even when their own public meetings all conclusively showed no ability for the rocket to meet that date for several months prior to the agency finally admitting it. That first SLS flight is now late-2021 under the current schedule. (8/7)

NASA Awards Laboratory Services Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded the Laboratory Services contract (LSC) to Alutiiq Essentials Services LLC of Kodiak, Alaska, to provide laboratory services at NASA’s Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, and NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. This is a firm-fixed-price, core services operations and indefinite delivery and indefinite quantity contract with a value of approximately $34 million. The base period of performance begins Nov. 2, with two 12-month options and one 13-month option, and an ultimate completion date of Nov. 1, 2025.

LSC requirements include the following work elements: contract management; logistics; safety; health and environmental; general laboratory services; metrology assurance; measurement standards and calibration services; gas and material analysis services; environmental laboratory services; and Stennis institutional geographic information system (SIGIS) services. (8/7)

Space Race? America's New Path to the ISS Could Affect Relationship with Russia (Source: Houston Chronicle)
A scorched Dragon capsule swooped from the heavens on Aug. 2 to restore America’s prominence in human spaceflight. Tucked safely inside were two NASA astronauts and one giant piece of baggage for the U.S.-Russia relationship: Both countries now have a ride to the International Space Station. For the past nine years, Russia alone could fly people there. Its pride and budget were bolstered by the U.S. purchasing rides into space.

No longer. As the U.S. resumes launching astronauts from its own soil — an ability it does not wish to lose again — policy experts are watching to see if this affects the countries’ relationship. NASA said it’s in “active discussions” to fly cosmonauts on U.S. spacecraft owned by SpaceX (and later Boeing) and to continue flying astronauts on Russian spacecraft. It’s important to have people on both the U.S. and Russian segments of the International Space Station.

“Building on our solid relationship with Roscosmos aboard the International Space Station in low-Earth orbit, I’m hopeful there are opportunities for NASA and Roscosmos to expand our collaboration farther into the solar system, including the moon,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. But Samson and others said the introduction of commercial companies makes Russia uncomfortable. And with NASA no longer buying seats on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft, its Roscosmos space agency loses an important source of funding for its space budget that’s already a fraction of what NASA receives. (8/7)

Spaceport Seen as Vandenberg’s Destiny (Source: Santa Barbara News Press)
Officials talked excitedly Wednesday about Vandenberg Air Force Base’s future — one that could lead to thousands of new jobs. It depends on establishing a thriving spaceport. Col. Anthony Mastalir, 30th Space Wing commander at Vandenberg, announced a memorandum of understanding among the Governor’s Office of Business and Economic Development, the 30th Space Wing, Cal Poly, REACH and Deloitte Consulting LLP. The memorandum covers the development of a master plan for the space program at Vandenberg, which has been a launch site for unmanned NASA and military missions.

The agreement includes identifying the required infrastructure, human capital development, governance and financing needed to support the U.S. Space Force mission. The memorandum also emphasizes making California a global leader in the commercial space industry. Wednesday’s news conferences included representatives of the participants in the master plan. Speakers also included Assemblyman Jordan Cunningham, R-San Luis Obispo, and Josh Brost, vice president of business development at Relativity Space, which is manufacturing rockets through 3D-printing and setting up a new launch space at Vandenberg.

“We believe in totality, that it would be on the order of thousands of jobs, both locally and statewide,” Andrew Hackleman, vice president of REACH, said. Officials are expressing hope after the recent formation of the U.S. Space Force. Col. Mastalir explained the force’s headquarters are at the Pentagon, but noted Vandenberg is among the bases competing for the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command. On Monday, Rep. Carbajal and U.S. Sens. Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris, both D-California, wrote Barbara Barrett, the secretary of the Air Force, in support of making the Vandenberg the headquarters. (8/7)

A Consequential Decision for Picking Mid-2020 Launchers (Source: Ars Technica)
"The ability to meet our technical factors to do the mission is the most important thing," William Roper said, in response to a question on the Air Force criteria. Secondary factors included past performance, the ability to work with small businesses, and total evaluated price. The military has nine reference orbits for large and complex payloads that these rockets must meet.

In October 2018, the Air Force awarded Launch Service Agreement (LSA) contracts to ULA, Northrop Grumman, and Blue Origin to support the development of their rockets. These funds were intended to help the companies make competitive bids for the mid-2020s launch contracts (SpaceX was excluded, likely because its rockets were already flying). Not all of those development funds have been paid, however, and those contracts will now be wound down for losing bidders Northrop and Blue Origin.

"We will work with those two companies to determine the right point to tie off their work under the LSA agreements," Roper said. "The goal is not to carry them indefinitely, the point of an LSA was to create a more competitive environment." Blue Origin is likely to continue developing its New Glenn rocket—which appears unlikely to have been ready to fly military missions in 2022 anyway. The company will seek to get in on bidding for military launches in 2027 and beyond. Less clear is the fate of Northrop's Omega rocket, which appears unlikely to have a path forward without guaranteed income from military launch contracts. (8/8)