October 5, 2020

Some Planets May Be Better for Life Than Earth: Researchers Identify 24 Superhabitable Exoplanets (Source: SciTech Daily)
Earth is not necessarily the best planet in the universe. Researchers have identified two dozen planets outside our solar system that may have conditions more suitable for life than our own. Some of these orbit stars that may be better than even our sun.

A study led by Washington State University scientist Dirk Schulze-Makuch recently published in the journal Astrobiology details characteristics of potential “superhabitable” planets, that include those that are older, a little larger, slightly warmer and possibly wetter than Earth. Life could also more easily thrive on planets that circle more slowly changing stars with longer lifespans than our sun.

The 24 top contenders for superhabitable planets are all more than 100 light years away, but Schulze-Makuch said the study could help focus future observation efforts, such as from NASA’s James Web Space Telescope, the LUVIOR space observatory and the European Space Agency’s PLATO space telescope. (10/4)

Tiny Moonbound Spacecraft Have Very Big Goals (Source: Space.com)
When you reflect on big-time science at the moon, think small. NASA's new megarocket, the Space Launch System (SLS), is scheduled to launch from Florida in late 2021 on its debut mission. That flight, known as Artemis-1, will send NASA's Orion spacecraft on an uncrewed trip around the moon — and loft more than a dozen tiny cubesats to test inventive technologies as well.

Among those bantam spacecraft are Lunar IceCube, Lunar Flashlight and LunaH-Map. And we can soon add to the moon mix Lunar Trailblazer, a smallsat mission headed for flight in 2024 as a hitchhiker payload on NASA's Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) mission. The three NASA-sponsored cubesats and the smallsat are being readied for moonbound treks to help quench a thirst for new data about lunar water ice. Such data could help sustain an Artemis Base Camp for wide-ranging lunar exploration, NASA officials have said. (10/5)

Florida Fights for Space Command (Source: Jacksonville Business Journal)
As Jacksonville looks to grow its presence in space, it's doing so at time when the entire Sunshine State is looking to build on its legacy connected to the stars. Among the prizes Florida is looking to win: the headquarters of the new Space Command, the combatant command that will oversee operations in space conducted by ther personnel in the Space Force. Jacksonville is one of eight Florida municipalities to make the military's first cut of areas vying to become home of the Space Force command headquarters.

The headquarters would bring 1,400 military and civilian jobs to the area and could help attract more military and aerospace businesses. Other communities in Florida that made the cut include Tampa, Pinellas County, Pensacola, Miami-Dade County, Orange County, Seminole County and Brevard County where the Space Coast is located, according to Space Florida VP Government and External Relations Dale Ketcham. That list includes all of the Florida cities supported by Gov. Ron DeSantis. Ketcham said that by throwing its hat in the ring, Jacksonville has demonstrated its capabilities to the rest of the state. (10/3)

Momentus to Deploy Spacecraft for Skykraft Constellation (Source: Space News)
In-space transportation startup Momentus announced a service agreement Friday with an Australian customer. Mometus will deploy a pathfinder for Australian company Skykraft’s microsatellite constellation on a Vigoride flight in June 2021, followed by a second in late 2021. Those missions will use EOS, a separation ring developed by French company Mecano ID with funding from the French space agency CNES. (10/5)

New CSF Chairwoman Focused on Regulatory Issues and Selecting Next President (Source: Space News)
The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) has elected a new chair of its board. The CSF announced Friday that Audrey Powers, a Blue Origin vice president, will serve as chairwoman, succeeding Taber MacCallum. In an interview, Powers said a near-term priority will be efforts to hire a new president to replace Eric Stallmer, who is leaving the organization at the end of the month to work for Voyager Space Holdings. She said the organization is also keeping an eye on a long-awaited revision of commercial launch regulations, which could be published any day after completing final reviews. (10/5)

SkyWatch Teams with Picterra (Source: Space News)
Geospatial imagery startup SkyWatch Space Applications announced a partnership with Swiss data analysis company Picterra. The partnership will combine SkyWatch's EarthCache platform, designed to ease access to aerial and satellite imagery, with Picterra's automated detection algorithms to make it easier for customers to both access and analyze satellite imagery. SkyWatch said that if it's easier for customers to derive insights from satellite data, demand for data will increase, driving demand for satellites and launch capacity. (10/5)

Space Force Renames GPS Satellite to Honor Black Explorer (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The Space Force is changing the nickname it assigned to a new GPS satellite. The service said that a GPS 3 satellite launched in June, previously known as Columbus, has been renamed after Matthew Henson, a Black explorer who was part of the first expedition to the North Pole more than a century ago. The change, the service said in a statement, was "based on an intent to acknowledge a fuller history of courageous explorers and pioneers." The GPS 3 satellite awaiting launch on a Falcon 9 is known as Sacagawea, while upcoming satellites will be named after people such as Neil Armstrong and Katherine Johnson. (10/5)

New Glonass Satellites to Improve Accuracy (Source: TASS)
A next generation of Glonass navigation satellites will provide improved accuracy. Russian officials said the Glonass-K2 satellites will offer five civilian navigation signals and have an accuracy of 30 centimeters. The first Glonass-K2 satellite launch, which had been scheduled for this year, will slip to next year in order to upgrade spacecraft components. (10/5)

Satellite Applies AI to Process Earth Observation Imagery In-Flight in Historic First for Space (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Ubotica Technologies announced today that its Artificial Intelligence technology has successfully enabled the first ever hardware-accelerated AI inference of Earth Observation images on an in-orbit satellite. This historic event has been achieved onboard Ф-sat-1, the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Artificial Intelligence (AI) demonstration cubesat that was launched on a Vega rocket on September 3rd. Initial data downlinked from the satellite has shown that the AI-powered automatic cloud detection algorithm has correctly sorted hyperspectral Earth Observation (EO) imagery from the satellite’s sensor into cloudy and non-cloudy data. (10/4)

Cygnus Supply Ship Reaches Space Station with Titanium Toilet (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A Northrop Grumman Cygnus cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station on Monday, delivering nearly four tons of supplies and experiments to the research lab and its crew, including a $23 million titanium toilet and a high-definition virtual reality camera planned for use on a future spacewalk. Capping an automated laser-guided rendezvous sequence, the Cygnus cargo freighter moved within 40 feet (12 meters) of the space station early Monday, close enough for the lab’s Canadian-built robotic arm to reach out and grapple it. (10/5)

Florida County Official Seeks to Get $8 Million Incentive Grant Back From Blue Origin (Source: Florida Today)
It's a long shot, but Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia says he wants Blue Origin to refund the $8 million in cash incentives the County Commission approved in 2015. Commissioners and the North Brevard Economic Development Zone board approved the incentive, in return for the space company building a rocket manufacturing plant in the area near Kennedy Space Center. Blue Origin agreed to create at least 330 jobs paying an average of $89,000 a year by the end of 2026, and to make a $160 million capital investment.

"It has now become apparent that Blue Origin intends to build its manufacturing facility on wetlands," Tobia said. He wants commissioners to approve sending Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos a letter requesting the return of the money — which Tobia refers to as a "handout." Tobia said his intent is that the money instead be "used for local environmental-preservation efforts." Blue Origin Florida LLC has applied for a permit from the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to place fill in 10.32 acres of wetlands, with "secondary impacts" to 7.45 acres of wetlands, to build its facility, according to the permit public notice. (10/5)

Bank of America Expects the Space Industry to Triple to a $1.4 Trillion Market Within a Decade (Source: CNBC)
Bank of America expects the growing space economy will more than triple in size in the next decade, with the firm this week forecasting space will grow to become a $1.4 trillion market. “While the COVID-19 pandemic has led to delays in some public and private programs ... the outbreak has not appeared detrimental to overall investment. This may largely be due to the fact that most spending in space is business-to-business/government (B2B/G), which generally recovers faster than business-to-consumer (B2C) spending,” Bank of America analyst Ron Epstein wrote.

The space economy has continued to grow, in large part to a record period of private investment and new investors opportunities in companies involved in spaceflight, satellites, and more. While Bank of America tracks just 14 publicly-traded stocks with exposure to space, Epstein said there are “more to come.” Using a compound annual growth rate of 10.6%, the average from the last two years, Bank of America forecast would see the industry’s revenue grow 230% – from about $424 billion in 2019 to about $1.4 trillion in 2030. That would put space near the current size of the global tourism economy, which Bank of America noted is a $1.5 trillion industry. (10/4)

Safety Panel Has “Great Concern” About NASA Plans to Test Moon Mission Software (Source: Ars Technica)
An independent panel that assesses the safety of NASA activities has raised serious questions about the space agency's plan to test flight software for its Moon missions. During a Thursday meeting of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, one of its members, former NASA Flight Director Paul Hill, outlined the panel's concerns after speaking with managers for NASA's first three Artemis missions. This includes a test flight of the Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft for Artemis I, and then human flights on the Artemis II and III missions.

Hill said the safety panel was apprehensive about the lack of "end-to-end" testing of the software and hardware used during these missions, from launch through landing. Such comprehensive testing ensures that the flight software is compatible across different vehicles and in a number of different environments, including the turbulence of launch and maneuvers in space. (10/5)

One Spoonful of Dirt Could Transform Space Exploration (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine recently announced a major new initiative: NASA is going to buy a spoonful of dirt for a few thousand dollars. The dirt is lunar regolith. The amount, and the money involved, is quite modest. But, just as a guy stepping off a ladder might mean more on the moon than it does in a backyard, the context here is everything. By purchasing lunar regolith from a commercial company, NASA will be establishing the precedent that it — and any other government or private-sector buyer — can purchase resources obtained on the moon.

For NASA and its international partners to succeed in creating a sustainable outpost on the moon, they will have to do what explorers have always done: live off the land. They will have to use the resources they find on the moon, from minerals and metals for building to water and oxygen for life support and fuel. NASA needs to incentivize its international and private-sector partners to invest in the capability to extract and use space resources. In order to do this, NASA must make clear that space resources can be owned and transferred. Without this clarity, U.S. companies would not risk their money, and international partners may be reluctant to sell, buy, or trade resources with NASA. (10/5)

Wall Street Unanimity On Virgin Galactic Hits Scientific Skepticism (Source: Investor's Business Daily)
Wall Street has turned extremely bullish on Virgin Galactic stock with all eight analysts giving it a buy rating despite a lack of revenue and commercial flights still months away. But some in the scientific community are taking a more measured approach to Richard Branson's space company. After successful glide flights, Virgin Galactic is preparing for powered tests and sees its first commercial flights in Q1 2021 if those tests are successful. Virgin Galactic hasn't flown any paying passengers yet, but Wall Street analysts are focused on its potential.

Laura Forczyk, the founder of space consulting firm Astralytical and author of "Rise of the Space Age Millennials," said there is demand for space tourism, noting few potential customers have dropped off the waiting list during the Covid-19 pandemic. During its last analyst call, Virgin Galactic said the number of its "Future Astronauts" is holding steady at about 600 after "minimal" refunds. But Forczyk doesn't think the technology is there yet and that Virgin Galactic is too bullish in its flight schedule estimate. "I have not seen an increase in pace in the past couple of years that indicates to me that things are ramping up," she told IBD.

Forczyk expects test flights to drag on into next year with commercial flights not beginning until the end of 2021 or 2022. "They are still flying test flights because they don't think that they're there yet." Perhaps the biggest question that remains for the entire space tourism industry — stretching from Virgin Galactic to Blue Origin to SpaceX — is how the public and government regulators might react to a fatal crash of a paying customer. "When it comes to the first incident which is inevitable, there will be an accident, we do not know how the market will react," she cautioned. (10/2)

Despite Pandemic-Related Setbacks, the NewSpace Industry has New Players Enter the Field (Source: Space Daily)
In the US, NewSpace companies, including SpaceX, Rocket Lab, and Firefly Aerospace, and giants like Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems, and Lockheed Martin, have avoided the massive layoffs of other technology-focused industries and emerged relatively unscathed from recent economic downturns. 2020 started on an exciting foot with 22 successful launches and $1.2 billion in investments. By springtime, however, progress began to falter as the world went into lockdown from Covid-19.

The 2020 second quarterly report by Noosphere Ventures found that investments in NewSpace companies and startups fell to $312 million. Despite the financial setback, 20 launches occurred by the end of the second quarter, including SpaceX's history-making achievement, which brought astronauts to the ISS for the first time since the Space Shuttle program closure in 2011. The launch represented the extraordinary partnership between a private space company, NASA, and the US government, which will pave the way for the NewSpace Industry.

The upcoming 2020 third quarterly report by Noosphere Ventures will complete the whole picture of the investments in NewSpace, but it is clear now that investments will exceed not only Q2, but the Q1 as well with huge deals by SpaceX and OneWeb, with almost $3 billion USD total investments. The biggest impact of the COVID-19 was in the behavior of investors. More mature companies and projects are the main trends right now as well as a close shot on first revenues. Not like was before, when investors were ready to wait for 2-3 and more years until the first dollar in revenue. (10/5)

Russian ISS Module to be Filled with Confetti to Find Microscopic Air Leak (Source: Sputnik)
A small air leak was registered aboard the International Space Station late last year. By August of 2020, the leak became significantly larger, prompting the station's crew to isolate inside the Russian segment of the station for days on end to search for its source. Cosmonauts aboard the ISS have cut out thin strips of paper and plastic and plan to attach them to the inside walls of Russia's Zvezda service module to try to determine the source of the air leak which has plagued the space station for over a year now.

Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko, who contacted the two Russians aboard the station - flight engineers Anatoli Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, says the cosmonauts were asked to deploy a pair of GoPro cameras in the suspected 'leaking' chamber of the Zvezda module before closing the hatches. (10/5)

ISS Crew Instructed to Resolve Leak Issue Before Next Crew Arrives (Source: Sputnik)
"The rate of leakage ... is of the order of 0.9 millimetres [on the barometer column per day] from the atmosphere altogether. And in this regard, guys, we cannot shift this problem, or at least, it is very undesirable ... to shift it to the next crew," a specialist in Moscow told cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner, as heard in a NASA live feed of ground-to-ISS communications. The specialist subsequently tasked the crew to focus on resolving the issue as much as possible.

"We have no one else to rely on but you, that you will help and [dedicate] all the free time you have on solving this problem," he said. The upcoming Expedition 63 is set to launch from Baikonur on October 14 and reach the ISS in a record speed of three hours and five minutes aboard the Soyuz 2.1a launch vehicle. They will replace Commander Astronaut Christopher Cassidy and Cosmonauts Anatoli Ivanshin and Ivan Vagner. A small air leak was detected in September 2019 and by August 2020, the leakage rate had increased five-fold - from 270 grams to 1.4 kilograms per 24 hours - although it does not pose a risk to the crew. (10/5)

LSU Develops Method to Improve Gravitational Wave Detector Sensitivity (Source: Space Daily)
Gravitational wave detectors have opened a new window to the universe by measuring the ripples in spacetime produced by colliding black holes and neutron stars, but they are ultimately limited by quantum fluctuations induced by light reflecting off of mirrors. LSU Ph.D. physics alumnus Jonathan Cripe and his team of LSU researchers have conducted a new experiment with scientists from Caltech and Thorlabs to explore a way to cancel this quantum backaction and improve detector sensitivity.

In a new paper in Physical Review X, the investigators present a method for removing quantum backaction in a simplified system using a mirror the size of a human hair and show the motion of the mirror is reduced in agreement with theoretical predictions. The research was supported by the National Science Foundation.

Despite using 40-kilogram mirrors for detecting passing gravitational waves, quantum fluctuations of light disturb the position of the mirrors when the light is reflected. As gravitational wave detectors continue to grow more sensitive with incremental upgrades, this quantum backaction will become a fundamental limit to the detectors' sensitivity, hampering their ability to extract astrophysical information from gravitational waves. (9/29)

Virginia Has a Spaceport, and it’s About to Grow With the Most Successful Space Startup Since SpaceX (Source: Washington Post)
Over the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, down past Chincoteague toward the southern tip of the Eastern Shore, sits an isolated spit of shoreline, near a wildlife refuge, that is home to one of the most unusual, and little known, rocket launch sites in the country. Born as a Navy air station during World War II, it has launched more than 16,000 rockets, most of them small sounding vehicles used for scientific research. But the Wallops Flight Facility, which at the dawn of the Space Age played a role as a test site for the Mercury program, is about to reinvent itself at a time when the commercial space industry is booming and spreading beyond the confines of Florida’s Cape Canaveral.

After the FAA last month granted Rocket Lab, a commercial launch company, a license to fly its small Electron rocket from the facility, Wallops could soon see a significant increase in launches as the company joins Northrop Grumman in launching from this remote site. While Rocket Lab is largely focused on national security missions, Northrop Grumman launches its Antares rocket to send a spacecraft to the International Space Station on cargo resupply missions at a rate of about two a year, including a picture-perfect launch from the Virginia coast Friday at 9:16 p.m. Northrop also launches its Minotaur rocket from Wallops.

Rocket Lab wants to launch to orbit as frequently as once a month from Wallops, which would make the facility the second busiest launch site in the country, behind Cape Canaveral, which is on track to fly 39 rockets to orbit this year. Hoping to give birth to another rocket hub on the Eastern Seaboard, the state of Virginia has over the last 25 years pumped some $250 million into what it calls the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, most of that coming in the last decade, said Dale Nash, the agency’s CEO and executive director of Virginia Space. NASA has also made some significant upgrades to the site, including a $15.7 million mission operations control center, which opened in 2018. The state also contributed to the $15 million it took to repair a launchpad after an Antares rocket exploded in 2014. (10/3)