September 10, 2020

NASA Seeks Commercial Collection of Lunar Regolith (Source: NASA)
NASA is releasing a solicitation for commercial companies to provide proposals for the collection of space resources. When considering such proposals, we will require that all actions be taken in a transparent fashion, in full compliance with the Registration Convention, Article II and other provisions of the Outer Space Treaty, and all of our other international obligations. We are putting our policies into practice to fuel a new era of exploration and discovery that will benefit all of humanity.

The requirements we’ve outlined are that a company will collect a small amount of Moon “dirt” or rocks from any location on the lunar surface, provide imagery to NASA of the collection and the collected material, along with data that identifies the collection location, and conduct an “in-place” transfer of ownership of the lunar regolith or rocks to NASA. After ownership transfer, the collected material becomes the sole property of NASA for our use.

NASA’s goal is that the retrieval and transfer of ownership will be completed before 2024. The solicitation creates a full and open competition, not limited to U.S. companies, and the agency may make one or more awards. NASA’s payment is exclusively for the lunar regolith, with any awardee receiving 10 percent at award, 10 percent upon launch, and the remaining 80 percent upon successful completion. The agency will determine retrieval methods for the transferred lunar regolith at a later date. (9/10)

Northrop Grumman Scraps OmegA Rocket Plans (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman confirmed Wednesday it is canceling the OmegA rocket program after losing a military launch competition. A company spokesperson said that Northrop had decided not to continue work on the rocket after failing to win a National Security Space Launch Phase 2 contract last month. Northrop also decided not to protest the contracts the Air Force awarded to SpaceX and ULA for that program. Northrop will remain a supplier to ULA's Vulcan Centaur, providing solid-fuel strap-on boosters for that vehicle. (9/10)

DoD Inspector General Clears Air Force on Launcher Decision Protested by SpaceX (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department's inspector general concluded that the Air Force followed procedures properly when it certified SpaceX's Falcon launch vehicle for national security missions. A heavily redacted version of the final report of the nearly yearlong investigation, released Wednesday, said the Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) fully complied with the Air Force's New Entrant Certification Guide when it certified the rocket.

A draft version of the report raised concerns that SMC rushed to declare the Falcon 9 ready for a GPS 3 launch, and highlighted risks surrounding the use of previously flown boosters, but withdrew recommendations linked to those issues after receiving more information from SMC. The Pentagon never disclosed what triggered the review, although they are often started after whistleblower complaints or when directed by a member of Congress. (9/10)

Boeing Subject to Ethics Review in NASA Lunar Lander Controversy (Source: Reuters)
Boeing has agreed to an independent ethics review in response to a probe into its bid for a NASA lunar lander program. The company, in an agreement with NASA and the Air Force, said it will pay for a third-party expert to review the company's ethics and compliance programs. The review was triggered by what it called "concerns related to procurement integrity" during the Human Landing System competition, when the company sought to revise its bid after receiving information from a NASA official, Doug Loverro, who later resigned from the agency. That agreement is separate from an ongoing Justice Department investigation into whether Boeing or Loverro violated procurement laws. (9/10)

Launch is Over (Source: Quartz)
Time’s up for dozens of nascent rocket companies still seeking to get their vehicles off the ground, from Jeff Bezos’ multi-billion dollar Blue Origin to smaller venture-backed efforts like Relativity Space, Firefly, or Astra, according to Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck. “Launch is pretty much a solved problem…If you’re planning to be just a pure-play freight company, that obviously has a ceiling,” he tells Quartz. “Between SpaceX and Rocket Lab with small launch, we have a fair chunk of the market share. If you really want to grow and expand your business, you can either match the growth rate of launch or capture other parts of the space ecosystem.”

Beck’s company staked its claim on the latter in August with the surprise launch of a satellite called First Light. It’s the first example of a spacecraft called Photon, which can be used to deliver customer payloads to bespoke orbits and distant planets, or act as a satellite itself, carrying remote sensors and transceivers to collect data and transmit it back to earth. This is a move toward vertical integration—no longer simply a transportation company, Rocket Lab will now be involved in building some of the cargo it carries into space. It’s also not a coincidence that the other successful rocket start-up, Elon Musk’s SpaceX, has in recent years expanded its business to building and operating a global satellite communications network called Starlink. (9/10)

Space Force Outreach Emphasizes Role Protecting Global Space Economy (Source: Space News)
Space Force leaders are working to convince Congress that the service plays a central role defending national security and also economic interests. Lt. Gen. William Liquori, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs, requirements and analysis, said at a conference Wednesday that the new service sees protecting space commerce and freedom of action in space as part of its responsibilities. Liquori was one of the authors of a recent "Spacepower" report that made similar arguments. Space Force leadership, including Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, have discussed those issues on Capitol Hill, he said, to seek "a budget that will allow us to execute those core competencies." (9/10)

ULA to Launch Delta Heavy NET Sep. 18 (Source: Florida Today)
ULA will make another attempt to launch a Delta 4 Heavy rocket late next week after identifying the cause of a last-second abort. Company CEO Tory Bruno said that the abort Aug. 29 was triggered by a torn diaphragm in one of three pressure regulators in pad equipment. The launch of the NROL-44 mission is now scheduled for no earlier than Sep. 18 from Cape Canaveral. If that schedule holds, it would take place roughly 12 hours after the scheduled launch of a Falcon 9 Starlink mission from the Kennedy Space Center. (9/10)

Relativity Space Co-Founder Steps Down (Source: Space News)
One of the co-founders of small launch vehicle startup Relativity Space is stepping down from a leadership position at the company. Jordan Noone said Wednesday he will move from chief technology officer to "executive adviser" for the company as he prepares to embark on a new startup. He and Tim Ellis started Relativity in 2015, seeking to use 3D printing to more efficiently manufacture vehicles. The company has since raised $185 million and grown to nearly 200 people, with the first launch of its Terran 1 rocket slated for next year. Ellis is remaining at the company as CEO. (9/10)
 
Satellite Images Suggest Chinese Reusable Spacecraft Was Winged (Source: NPR)
Western analysts believe a Chinese reusable spacecraft launched last week landed at a secret air base near a nuclear test site. Satellite images of the base show several vehicles on a long runway shortly after the estimated landing time of the spacecraft Sunday. That runway, five kilometers long, was built in 2016 near the Lop Nor test site. The images appear to confirm that the vehicle that China launched last Friday was a spaceplane of some kind, perhaps similar to the U.S. Air Force's X-37B. (9/10)

QuadSAT Raises $2.35 Million for Antenna Calibration Drones (Source: Space News)
A Danish startup that uses drones to calibrate satellite antennas has raised a round of funding. QuadSAT raised $2.35 million in pre-Series A funding led by London-based Seraphim Capital, Denmark's state-owned Vaekstfonden investment fund and angel investor Helge Munk, who chairs QuadSAT's board of directors. QuadSAT uses drones and software to help satellite operators test and troubleshoot antennas. The company originally planned to be a provider of those calibration services, but instead will offer the drone-based system as a product for customers to use themselves. (9/10)
 
Interstellar Asteroid Was Perhaps a Comet Chunk (Source: Space.com)
A new study suggests that an interstellar asteroid that flew through our solar system might be the cosmic version of a dust bunny. The research, published this week, proposed that the asteroid 'Oumuamua may have formed from a fragment ejected from a comet, which gathered dust and gas also blown off by the comet. That could explain the object's elongated shape and high speed as it passed through the solar system in 2017. Other hypotheses for 'Oumuamua have ranged from it being a chunk of solid hydrogen to being an artificial object of some kind. (9/10)
 
Cygnus to Honor Chawla (Source: CollectSPACE)
The next Cygnus mission to the International Space Station will be named after an astronaut who died on Columbia. Northrop Grumman said this week that the Cygnus spacecraft launching at the end of the month on the NG-14 mission will be known as the S.S. Kalpana Chawla, after the  astronaut who was part of the STS-107 mission in 2003. Nearly all Cygnus missions have been named after late astronauts, including another member of the STS-107 mission, Rick Husband. (9/10)

Blue Origin Veterans Spark Space Startups (Source: Cosmic Log)
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture turned 20 years old this week — and although the privately held company hasn’t yet put people into space, or put a rocket into orbit, it has spawned a new generation of space startups. One of those startups, Relativity Space, pulled up stakes in Seattle early on and moved to Southern California. Now it’s making a multimillion-dollar splash and putting the pieces in place for the first launch of its Terran rocket from Florida next year.

Relativity is also going through a leadership transition: Jordan Noone, the venture’s co-founder and chief technology officer, announced today on Twitter that he’ll step back and become an executive adviser “in preparation for starting my next venture.” Relativity’s other co-founder, Blue Origin veteran Tim Ellis, will stay on as CEO. Other startups are in semi-stealth mode. Click here. (9/9)

KSC: NASA Gateway to Small Business Opportunities (Source: NASA KSC)
As NASA continues to innovate in the space exploration, scientific and research industries, small businesses will be critical to its success. Join NASA Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP) and other agency organizations for an in-depth look at what it takes to work with NASA. This October 7 virtual event will feature guest speakers and matchmaking with NASA and its primes. Together, our presenters will discuss best practices for navigating the Federal procurement process, as well as specific industries, products and services NASA is currently looking to work with. Click here. (9/8)

Dragonfly Aerospace Emerges From South Africa's SCS Aerospace Group (Source: Space Daily)
Dragonfly Aerospace picks up the flag in the latest chapter in the proud history of South African space engineering and space missions. This history starts with the national space program of the 1980s and plots a path through seven satellites and another six payloads built and launched with local and international customers along the way. Most recently, the team delivered a hyperspectral imager due for launch later this year.

"Dragonfly Aerospace envisions a future where our compact, high-performance imaging satellites and payloads enable large imaging constellations that provide persistent views of the Earth in a wide range of spectrums, giving unprecedented business intelligence and improving the lives of people around the world," says Dragonfly Aerospace CEO Bryan Dean. (9/2)

The Women Helping Space Tourism Lift Off (Source: Marie Claire)
Like much of the STEM world, space exploration has been male-dominated for decades. NASA's early female “computers” (see Hidden Figures) made the calculations that enabled the men's orbits—behind the scenes. Sally Ride only became the first U.S. woman in space decades after male astronauts walked on the moon. Despite their vision and skill, women have struggled to rocket through this particular glass ceiling.

Now, as Virgin Galactic (an offshoot of Sir Richard Branson’s Virgin Airlines) works to send the first space tourists skyward, women are integral to the project. In fact, without them, the $250,000-per-ticket service might never get off the launch pad. Click here. (9/9)