October 9, 2020

DoD Wants to Normalize Access to GEO (Source: Politico)
Being able to launch cheaply and quickly into geostationary orbit will open the door to building and servicing vehicles in space, said Brig. Gen. Steven Butow, the director of the space portfolio at the Defense Innovation Unit. The office was established in 2015 to bridge the gap between the Pentagon and industry to quickly bring commercial technology into the military.

If it’s cheaper to get to geostationary orbit, officials can do more launches, which makes it easier to send large equipment up in pieces to maneuver and assemble in space. And once you can operate this way in geostationary orbit, making the jump to the moon isn’t that much of a stretch, Butow said.

“As soon as you go to that approach where you’re doing modular components, you’re no longer constrained to have things fit into rocket fairing,” said Butow, who has been at the Defense Innovation Unit since it was established. “It’s also a perfect time to be doing this because if you can get to geostationary orbit, you can get into lunar orbit very easily.” (10/9)

U.S. Transportation Command to Study Use of SpaceX Rockets to Move Cargo Around the World (Source: Space News)
The U.S. military command that oversees logistics operations has signed an agreement with SpaceX and XArc to study the use of space launch vehicles to transport supplies in an emergency. Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, announced the agreement Oct. 7 at a National Defense Transportation Association virtual conference.

“Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour,” Lyons said. The C-17 is a very large military cargo plane capable of transporting a 70-ton main battle tank. Transportation Command has signed a cooperative research and development agreement, known as CRADA, with SpaceX and Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc) to study concepts for rapid transportation through space.

“There is a lot of potential here,” said Lyons He noted that one of the challenges of military logistics is the “tyranny of distance and time, and global access.” Space transportation is weight- and volume-constrained compared to airlift, and has limited options for launching and recovery operations. (10/7)

NASA Treads Carefully in Politics That Determine its Fate (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Human spaceflight, a beacon of American power and ingenuity, has always been a political captive. Every time a president takes office, space programs get exposed to the ambitions of a new leader. The ensuing seesaw of priorities and funding has cost 9,000 Houston-area jobs since 2010, just one of many consequences as each president seeks to leave his mark on exploration. With the possibility of another change of leadership in the White House looming, NASA is once again facing the prospect of disruption of its plans and priorities.

“How can you possibly be efficient if you, every four to eight years, have a complete reevaluation, redirection and reconsideration of what you’re doing?” asked Casey Dreier, senior space policy adviser for the Planetary Society, a nonprofit that seeks to get more people engaged with space. NASA, which steers carefully clear of politics and often touts its bipartisan support, declined to provide an interview. But during a recent Senate hearing, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine acknowledged that he’s commonly asked about politics.

Ultimately, NASA executes the plans of elected officials. It’s the cost of living in a representative democracy. NASA must walk a tightrope of budget requests, timelines and priorities that string from one president to the next. It’s an act the agency has performed since NASA’s earliest days when presidents debated the price tag for reaching (and then returning) to the moon. (10/8)

DoD Space Agency Driving Pentagon Contractors to Rethink Their Price Points (Source: Space News)
The Space Development Agency is buying 20 communications satellites for about $14 million apiece, and eight missile-warning satellites for about $43 million per unit. These price points are unprecedented in Pentagon satellite programs and a sign that the military space market could be headed in a different direction, said Bill Gattle, president of space systems at L3Harris.

L3Harris and SpaceX each received contracts on Monday to build four missile warning satellites for the Space Development Agency. Lockheed Martin and York Space in August won contracts to each produce 10 data-relay satellites. All must be delivered two years from now. Military satellites typically are made in onesies and twosies, take decades to develop and cost hundreds of millions of dollars each. The SDA constellations of cheaper mass-produced satellites are a “fundamental transformation” in how DoD buys space technology, Gattle said. With SDA planning to buy hundreds more satellites in the coming years, “we’re all trying to figure out how to change the price point,” Gattle said. (10/6)

Exolaunch Signs Pact with SpaceX and Scouts U.S. Location (Source: Space News)
Exolaunch signed an agreement to secure rides for dozens of small satellites on SpaceX rideshare missions scheduled to launch later this year and in 2021. Under the agreement announced Oct. 8, Germany’s Exolaunch plans to integrate 30 U.S. and European cubesats and microsatellites on Falcon 9 rideshare flights to sun-synchronous orbit scheduled to launch in December. Exolaunch plans to integrate roughly the same number of satellites on a SpaceX rideshare flight in mid-2021.

In response to growing demand for launch services, Exolaunch plans to open an office in the United States. The company has not yet selected a location. “As we continue to sign on more U.S.-based customers, it makes sense strategically for Exolaunch to establish an additional office in the U.S,” Connor Jonas, Exolaunch program manager, said. Exolaunch is continuing to sign up customers for the second and third Falcon 9 rideshare missions slated for 2021. Customers signed up for launches through Exolaunch include Loft Orbital, Swarm Technologies, NanoAvionics, the German Aerospace Center DLR and German universities. (10/9)

NASA, Space Industry Seek New Ways to Cope with Space Debris (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's official watchdog panel has renewed calls for the agency to move faster on a plan to better track and mitigate dangers posed by orbiting debris in space. Members of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel said during a regular meeting last week that the agency has made some progress, but it needs to focus on space debris as a top priority. At stake is the safety of astronauts, anyone going into space on planned private missions and the nation's growing fleet of satellites used for national security, communications and scientific observation.

Because debris orbits at thousands of mph, even tiny pieces of space trash can puncture spacecraft. The panel's comments came on the heels of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine telling a Senate Committee on Wednesday that the agency needs Congress to fund a comprehensive strategy for debris tracking and management, including international outreach. "I cannot emphasize the importance of this issue enough, and we really need some action taken now," said Patricia Sanders, who chairs the panel. (10/7)

Space Force Considers Independent Management of Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Ars Technica)
One of the initiatives being led by John William "Jay" Raymond, the chief of Space Operations for the Space Force, is the "Range of the Future." And one of the ideas the Space Force is considering is merging its historic Cape Canaveral facility with NASA's Kennedy Space Center under a single spaceport authority. During a meeting of the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee last month, Major General DeAnna Burt said the US military planned to soon issue a letter that would establish an interagency process to look at some sort of national spaceport authority.

A couple of forces seem to be at play here. First, the Space Force recognizes that it is spending a lot of money dealing with roads and other infrastructure at Cape Canaveral and its other major spaceport, Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. It has also been managing leases for several launch companies, including ULA, SpaceX, Blue Origin, Firefly, and Relativity Space, with more on the way. These are not seen as core functions of the military, but the Space Force would like to support the commercial space sector by easing their access to the range.

One analogy being discussed is the transfer of National and Dulles Airports from the FAA in 1984 to the new Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority. Lots of questions remain about who would manage a combined spaceport in Florida, who would determine what missions have priority, and so on. These would all be subject to negotiation. Would NASA be willing to listen as well? The space agency administrator, Jim Bridenstine, said yes. Another player is Space Florida, which is empowered to serve as a spaceport authority. Dale Ketcham said: "We know it will be a difficult and complex negotiation to achieve the simplicity of governance all parties need to truly thrive... The sooner that dialogue can begin, the better.” (10/7)

On the Trail of the Causes of Radiation Events During Spaceflight (Source: Space Daily)
Relativistic Electron Precipitation (REP) events are instances when high energy electrons move through areas of space at significant fractions of the speed of light. These REP events may pose challenges to human spaceflight, specifically during extravehicular activity (EVA). These hazards motivate the question of whether REP events can be forecasted in order to avoid unnecessary human exposure to radiation. In order to predict REP events, their cause must first be determined.

A scientific team led by Japanese researchers has made strides in answering that question. They pinpointed the cause of REP events and emphasized that REP events must be accounted for in human spaceflight missions. It has been hypothesized that electromagnetic ion cyclotron (EMIC) waves play an important role in REP events at the ISS. It was still an open question, however, whether other mechanisms played a role in REP event generation. EMIC waves are electromagnetic waves that propagate through the plasma in Earth's magnetosphere, causing disturbances in the charged particles within the plasma.

Using multiple sensors aboard the ISS, as well as data from the Arase satellite, the research group was able to show that at least three separate processes contributed to REP events. One is indeed EMIC waves. But the data also suggested two other sources: Whistler mode chorus waves and electrostatic whistler waves. Whistler mode waves can be excited by high energy electrons associated with auroral activities, such as the Northern Lights. "It turned out that REP events at the ISS are caused not only by EMIC waves but also by whistler mode waves, which makes the space weather forecast more difficult," Kataoka said. (10/7)

Musk's Tesla and 'Starman' Driver Just Flew Past Mars for the First Time (Source: Teslarati)
In February 2018, SpaceX launched a Tesla Roadster owned by the company's founder, Elon Musk, into deep space. The electric vehicle, which has a spacesuit-clad "Starman" dummy in the driver's seat, just made its first flyby of Mars. To Starman, Mars would have appeared to be about one-tenth the size of the moon as seen from Earth, the astronomer Jonathan McDowell said. The vehicle and its unlikely passenger, launched on the upper stage of a Falcon Heavy rocket, may travel for millions of years before crashing, most likely back into Earth. (10/8)

ASAP Urges NASA to Build Cross-Program Computer Test Capability for Artemis (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) expressed its concern about the integrated computer testing capabilities across the three separate programs under the Exploration Systems Development (ESD) division of NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. The Exploration Ground Systems (EGS), Orion, and Space Launch System (SLS) programs under ESD are working together to accomplish upcoming Artemis lunar missions, but have been independently funded and managed throughout their post-Constellation program formulations.

During the ASAP’s fourth quarterly meeting of 2020, the panel highlighted the absence of the ability to test a complete set of the flight computer avionics and software that will fly on upcoming Artemis launches, which includes not just those ESD program components, but also United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Common Avionics computer system. In the aftermath of the computer software in-flight anomalies on Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-1 (OFT-1) mission last December, the panel agreed with points made in an internal NASA Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) report and recommended establishing the resources for end-to-end, integrated testing of all the flight computer systems. (10/7)

Slingshot Aerospace to Simulate Space Environment for Space Force (Source: Space News)
Slingshot Aerospace won a Space Force contract to develop an "immersive simulation" of the orbital environment. The $1 million contract covers development of the simulation system that will be used to train students at the National Security Space Institute and the U.S. Air Force Academy. The company said the simulator, to be completed by the end of next year, will offer "a new, modern, and engaging way to perceive, comprehend and predict object relations in space and orbital scenarios." Slingshot will work with Hollywood studio The Third Floor, which created the virtual reality graphics for space-themed movies like The Martian and Gravity. (10/9)

Next SpaceX Starship Prototype Readied for Static Fire (Source: Teslarati)
The latest SpaceX Starship prototype is one step closer to flying. The SN8 vehicle completed a "cryo proof" test last night where its propellant tanks were filled with liquid nitrogen to simulate being loaded with liquid oxygen and methane propellants. The successful cryo proof test should allow the vehicle to proceed to a static-fire test in the near future and, eventually, long-awaited suborbital test flights. (10/9)

India Extends Tax Break to Space Startups (Source: Zee News)
Indian space startups have won a tax break from the government. An Indian government agency ruled that Indian satellite developers will be exempt from an 18% goods and services tax (GST) charged for launching their satellites on Indian rockets. The decision is intended to keep Indian companies from seeking foreign launches of their satellites to avoid the tax. Foreign customers of Indian launches were already exempt from the GST tax. (10/9)

U.S. Transportation Command to Study Use of SpaceX Rockets to Move Cargo Around the World (Source: Space News)
The U.S. military command that oversees logistics operations has signed an agreement with SpaceX and XArc to study the use of space launch vehicles to transport supplies in an emergency. Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, commander of U.S. Transportation Command, announced the agreement Oct. 7 at a National Defense Transportation Association virtual conference.

“Think about moving the equivalent of a C-17 payload anywhere on the globe in less than an hour,” Lyons said. The C-17 is a very large military cargo plane capable of transporting a 70-ton main battle tank. Transportation Command has signed a cooperative research and development agreement, known as CRADA, with SpaceX and Exploration Architecture Corporation (XArc) to study concepts for rapid transportation through space. (10/7)

Asteroid Bennu Had Liquid Water (Source: Science)
The asteroid that a NASA spacecraft is about to collect samples from once had liquid water. Scientists reported in a set of papers published Thursday that they have found evidence of large veins of carbonate minerals in rocks on the surface of the asteroid Bennu. Such minerals form in the presence of hot water, which scientists believe may have existed inside of the parent body of Bennu in the early solar system. Radioactive decay in the interior of that object generated heat that enabled liquid water to flow inside it, allowing the carbonates to form. Scientists hope that NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, currently orbiting Bennu, will be able to grab some of those carbonates when it attempts to collect samples from Bennu's surface later this month. (10/9)

Space Companies Avoided the Worst of the Pandemic (Source: Space News)
The space industry has weathered the pandemic in better shape than what many expected six months ago. During sessions of the Satellite Innovation 2020 conference this week, executives and analysts said that many space companies avoided the worst of the pandemic, in large part because of government work and classification as a "critical infrastructure" that allowed them to remain open. Investment in space startups is also showing signs of rebounding after a lull in the spring. Many startups that have raised early-stage rounds, though, are struggling to raise larger rounds, creating what one executive called a "bifurcation" as those that can raise bigger rounds pull ahead of their competitors. (10/9)

Europe's Next-Gen Solid Rocket Motor Passes Final Ground Test (Source: Space News)
A solid rocket motor designed for the Ariane 6 and Vega C passed its final ground test this week. The static fire test Wednesday of the P120 engine in French Guiana was the third and final test of the motor before its formal qualification. Developed by an ArianeGroup and Avio joint venture called Europropulsion, the P120C is a multipurpose solid rocket booster designed to be used as the first stage of the Vega C and as strap-on boosters for the Ariane 6. Both rockets are slated to make their first launches next year. (10/9)

Air Force Cyber Personnel to Shift to Space Force (Source: Space News)
More than 1,000 cybersecurity operators in the U.S. Air Force will be asked to transfer to the Space Force. Maj. Gen. Kimberly Crider, Space Force chief technology and innovation officer, said Thursday that up to 1,000 enlisted personnel and 130 officers will be asked to transfer because of their expertise in space programs. The Space Force is building up its cybersecurity human capital and technical capabilities as satellites and ground systems become increasingly vulnerable to intrusions and electronic attacks. The cyber experts will join more than 2,400 space systems operators who will be transferring to the Space Force in fiscal year 2021. (10/9)

Space4U Podcast: Steve Howard – Spaceport Camden (Source: Space Foundation)
In this episode we meet Steve Howard, County Administrator of Camden County, Georgia, and project lead for Spaceport Camden, currently in development. As project lead, Steve is working to realize Spaceport Camden’s mission of developing a world-class spaceport through a public-private partnership that will establish Camden County as the commercial space center of the United States. Howard also sits on the board of directors for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

In our conversation, Steve explains why Camden County is a prime location for a commercial spaceport, the area’s space heritage dating back to the 1960s, how the commercial sector is driving the need for a spaceport like this, and the beneficial assets this particular geographic location has to offer. He also discusses some of the hurdles involved in establishing a spaceport, how the region has embraced the project, how it will change the state, and what he foresees for future of the spaceport in five to ten years’ time. Click here. (10/9)

US Astronaut Potentially Exposed to COVID-19 in Russia (Source: McCllatchy)
U.S.-Russian relations have long been strained but an exception to that has always been mutually beneficial joint efforts in space. Or so it seemed. New internal emails from NASA, shared with McClatchy and the Miami Herald, suggest the space relationship too has been increasingly strained. The reason: The secrecy surrounding the COVID-19 death of a Russian space official whose pre-launch close contact with a U.S. astronaut potentially exposed the American to the virus.

The emails center on the shocking mid-April news that one of the top officials in the Russian program, Evgeniy Mikrin, near the top of the Russian space program, had contracted the coronavirus. He died soon after the launch of a U.S. astronaut on a Russian spacecraft for six months on the International Space Station orbiting Earth. Mikrin’s COVID-19 diagnosis was news in Russia. And the emails show, unfortunately, that it was news too to NASA. (10/8)