September 15, 2020

China Launches Nine Satellites on Sea-Launch Platform (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
China performed a sea-based launch of nine small satellites Monday night. The Long March 11 rocket lifted off from a ship in the Yellow Sea off the east coast of China at 9:23 p.m. Eastern. It placed into orbit nine small Jilin-1 Gaofen-03 imaging satellites. The launch is the second of the rocket, a small solid-fuel vehicle, to take place from a ship. (9/15)

Venus Discovery Could Prompt Mission Plans (Source: Space News)
The discovery comes as NASA and other space agencies are considering proposals for Venus missions in the coming years, while Rocket Lab is working on a privately funded mission that could launch in 2023. NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine tweeted in response to the news that "it's time to prioritize Venus." (9/15)

Options for First Artemis Lunar Landing (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine suggested that the Artemis 3 lunar lander mission could go some place other than the south pole of the moon. NASA's current plans call for that mission, the first crewed landing of the Artemis program, to go to the south polar region to study water ice deposits thought to exist there, a direction mandated by Vice President Mike Pence last year when he instructed NASA to accelerate its lunar exploration plans.

Bridenstine, speaking at a committee meeting Monday, suggested the agency might be open to sending the mission some place else, such as the vicinity of an Apollo landing site. An equatorial landing site could be less challenging technically than the south polar region, although Bridenstine emphasized no decision has been made on a landing site for that 2024 mission. (9/15)

Space Force Seeks to Influence Private Sector Investments in Space Technology (Source: Space News)
The Space Force wants to influence private sector decisions on space technology investments. Lt. Gen. John Thompson, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center, said in a panel discussion Monday that the establishment of the Space Force presents a "unique opportunity to think differently about how this service will work with our industry partners." Executives appearing on the panel said companies need the Space Force to more clearly explain what it needs so they can make decisions on what technologies and capabilities to invest in. (9/15)

Vega C Rocket Debut Slips to 2021 (Source: Space News)
The first launch of the Vega C rocket has slipped to the middle of next year. Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio, said the company is prioritizing customers of the current Vega rocket that have been waiting since last year for that vehicle to resume operation. As a result, the company had to suspend some Vega C development activities. Ranzo said Avio expects to perform three Vega launches next year along with the first Vega C, which has an increased payload capacity. [SpaceNews]

Germany's Mynaric Banned From Exporting Satellite Laser Terminal to China (Source: Space News)
German company Mynaric said export controls will keep it from shipping a satellite laser terminal to a Chinese customer. Mynaric anticipated launching its first laser terminal aboard a Chinese spacecraft later this year, but received a notice from the German government in July that there is an export ban on such technology to China. The company informed shareholders it is considering potential compensation claims because of the ban, and is now focusing its sales efforts on the government and defense sector, particularly in the United States. Laser terminals like those Mynaric produces offer far greater bandwidth than traditional radiofrequency links. (9/15)

NOAA to Study Weather Constellation (Source: Space News)
NOAA has awarded a study to a company to look at a constellation of hundreds of small satellites to collect weather data. Brandywine Photonics is evaluating the satellites, sensors and orbits required to provide a comprehensive picture of atmospheric and space weather conditions with a constellation it calls MetNet. That network would include 200 satellites equipped with a electro-optical and microwave instruments to provide frequent observations of weather conditions. The contract is one of dozens awarded by NOAA since April to look at concepts for future weather satellite architectures. (9/15)

FAA Decision Soon on Georgia Spaceport (Source: Brunswick News)
The FAA expects to make a final decision on a proposed Georgia spaceport in six months. The FAA said it won't hold a new comment period on a revised spaceport license application for Spaceport Camden in Camden County, Georgia. The county originally submitted a license application for a spaceport that could host launches and landings of medium-class rockets, but revised it late last year to support only small launch vehicles. The FAA said it determined it did not need to update an environmental assessment for the spaceport in light of the change, and thus didn't need a new public comment period. A final decision on the license application is now due by March 2021. (9/15)

Blue Origin-Led Lunar Team Advances Design (Source: GeekWire)
A team led by Blue Origin has completed a NASA review of its lunar lander concept. The company said Monday that it passed a system requirement review for its lander under a contract awarded by NASA in April for the Human Landing System program. Blue Origin said it also reached agreement with NASA on dozens of design and construction standards, along with a larger number of human health and safety requirements. Blue Origin is leading a "National Team" that includes Draper, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman on the lunar lander. (9/15)

Arecibo Incident Investigation Ongoing (Source: Space.com)
An investigation into the incident that damaged the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico is ongoing. The University of Central Florida, which leads the consortium that operates the telescope for the NSF, said it's still working to determine why a large metal cable used in a support system broke free last month and fell onto the dish, creating a gash 30 meters across. The university said it's still taking steps to ensure personnel can safely work around the telescope before aspects of the investigation can continue. There is no estimate on how long repairs will take, or how much they will cost. (9/15)

Carbon-Rich Planets Made of Diamonds May Exist Beyond Our Solar System (Source: CNN)
Exoplanets, or planets outside of our solar system, that contain more carbon than Earth could be made out of diamonds, according to a new study. Data provided by NASA's planet-hunting TESS mission, the Hubble Space Telescope and retired Kepler mission have shown that our galaxy is filled with exoplanets that are very different from the planets in our own solar system. Some are so hot that they host oceans of lava with sparkly silicate skies while others orbit two suns like planets from Star Wars. Others are rogue planets with no host star.

Planets form from a disk of gas and dust around a star, called the circumstellar disk. This material was originally used to form the star, and its leftovers form planets that then orbit the star. This means that the elements included in the planets are unique to their stars. The sun has a lower carbon-to-oxygen ratio, so Earth has silicates and oxides, or oxygen and silica compounds bound with other elements, and only about 0.001% of diamonds. But the exoplanets found around stars with a higher ration of carbon to oxygen would have more carbon content. Some of these exoplanets containing more carbon could actually be composed of diamonds and silica if water is present. Silica is a natural compound in Earth's crust, rocks, sand and clay. (9/14)

Developer Buys Land Near Kennedy Space Center for Industrial Space, Restaurants (Source: Florida Today)
A real estate developer plans to build office, warehouse, and manufacturing space on a long-vacant plot of land near Kennedy Space Center that could include highly desirable commercial establishments near the world's busiest spaceport. North American Properties, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, recently acquired 21 acres in Titusville's Riverfront Center development, which sits at the southeast corner of U.S. 1 and State Road 405 / NASA Causeway. The land was purchased for $2.7 million in an all-cash deal.

Shawn McIntyre, a managing partner at NAP, said he sees promise in the property – an architect and civil engineer have already been hired to plan out construction, which is expected to begin in the spring. That first phase will include "flex space," a mix of office, warehouse, and manufacturing. If schedules hold, space could be leased out as soon as next summer.

McIntyre said Brevard County's rate of available industrial space sits around four percent and what's left is "not newly in tune with the type of industry that needs to go there." Right around the corner, for example, Lockheed Martin recently leased the former Astronaut Hall of Fame but will have to refurbish it for heat shield-related work on Orion, NASA's crew capsule for the moon-focused Artemis program. (9/15)

FSU-Led Research Team Discovers Unique Supernova Explosion (Source: Space Daily)
That exploding star - which is known as "supernova LSQ14fmg" - was the faraway object discovered by a 37-member international research team led by Florida State University Assistant Professor of Physics Eric Hsiao. Their research, which was published in the Astrophysical Journal, helped uncover the origins of the group of supernovae this star belongs to. This supernova's characteristics - it gets brighter extremely slowly, and it is also one of the brightest explosions in its class - are unlike any other. (9/11)

New Small Satellite Mission to Rendezvous with Binary Asteroids (Source: Space Daily)
The University of Colorado Boulder and Lockheed Martin will soon lead a new space mission to capture the first-ever closeup look at a mysterious class of solar system objects: binary asteroids. These bodies are pairs of asteroids that orbit around each other in space, much like the Earth and Moon. In a project review on Sept. 3, NASA gave the official go-ahead to the Janus mission. The mission will study these asteroid couplets in never-before-seen detail. Known as Key Decision Point-C (KDP-C), this review and approval from NASA allows for the project to begin implementation, and baselines +the project's official schedule and budget. (9/11)

Moon and Mars Advocates Find Peace (Source: Space Review)
For decades, space advocates have battled over whether humans should first return to the Moon or instead go directly to Mars. Jeff Foust reports there’s growing agreement on a Moon-to-Mars strategy, if it can maintain political support. Click here. (9/14)
 
Launch Failures: Fill ’er Up? (Source: Space Review)
Just as a car can run out of gas, some launch failures can be traced to running out of propellant before reaching orbit. Wayne Eleazer discusses why that can happen for some vehicles, or why, in other cases, failures can be traced to having too much fuel. Click here. (9/14)
 
Star Children: Can Humans be Fruitful and Multiply Off-Planet? (Source: Space Review)
Human reproduction is one of the key issues for a long-term human presence beyond Earth, but is also a topic space agencies have been reticent to study. Fred Nadis examines what research has been done, including an unusual recent private initiative. Click here. (9/14)
 
The West Needs Bold, Sustainable, and Inclusive Space Programs and Visions, or Else (Source: Space Review)
China is developing a comprehensive vision for human exploration of the Moon and utilization of its resources. Giulio Prisco argues it’s time for the US and its international partners to develop their own bold, inclusive vision of space or risk losing the future. Click here. (9/14)

Two Major Antarctic Glaciers are Tearing Loose From Their Restraints (Source: Washington Post)
Two Antarctic glaciers that have long kept scientists awake at night are breaking free from the restraints that have hemmed them in, increasing the threat of large-scale sea-level rise. Located along the coast of the Amundsen Sea in West Antarctica, the enormous Pine Island and Thwaites glaciers already contribute around 5 percent of global sea-level rise. The survival of Thwaites has been deemed so critical that the U.S. and Britain have launched a targeted multimillion-dollar research mission to the glacier. The loss of the glacier could trigger the broader collapse of the West Antarctic ice sheet, which contains enough ice to eventually raise seas by about 10 feet. (9/14)

Australia Re-Enters the Space Race (Source: Cosmos)
South Australia’s west coast will roar with the sound of rocket launches this week, as start-up Southern Launch begins its test program with two sub-orbital rockets. It will be a significant moment for Australia’s space industry – the next chapter in a history of rocket launches extending over six decades. It’s also the first tests by Southern Launch, a private company founded in 2017 to establish a site in South Australia for orbital rocket launches.

The launch will take place near the Indigenous community of Koonibba, around 8 hours drive from Adelaide, where Southern Launch has established a testing range. Launching northwards, each rocket will be a Netherlands-designed 2-stage DART about 3.4 metres long and weighing 34 kilograms. In just 6 seconds of rocket burn they will scream to speeds of Mach 5. The test rockets won’t reach orbit, however, peaking around 85km above Earth. (9/14)

High-End Tourists From China Targeted as Japan’s New ‘Space Port’ Prepares for Lift-Off (Source: SCMP)
Spacecraft developer PD AeroSpace is developing an airport on an island in Okinawa prefecture for space tourism by 2025. The company is eyeing wealthy adventure seekers, particularly those from China, for initial flights that are expected to cost around $141,000. The company, based in the city of Nagoya in central Japan, has reached an agreement with the Okinawa prefectural government to develop the island’s little-used airport for use as the departure point for its state-of-the-art space plane, as well as landing facilities for returning tourists. (9/14)