November 20, 2020

The Case for Space Ethics (Source: Politico)
“Now that humanity is on the brink of building settlements in space, we have the responsibility to learn from past mistakes and plan ahead,” write Joel Sercel, founder of Trans Astronautica Corporation who worked on Air Force satellite programs and taught at CalTech, and retired Air Force Lt. Gen. Steve Kwast, chief global officer and president of Genesis Systems, LLC.

“To do so we must create a carefully crafted new field of ‘space ethics,’ modeled in part on the bioethics that has guided medicine for decades,” they propose. “And it must embrace stewardship of the space environment, the human rights of those endeavoring to extend human civilization into space, the rule of law and how the benefits of space can be fully shared with humanity.”

“To borrow a phrase from Star Trek,” they add, “we need to boldly go where no one has gone before. But this time we need to do it peacefully and responsibly.” The means establishing rules modeled on the international Law of the Sea Treaty “to encourage conscientious cleanup and reuse” of spacecraft “to ensure the actions of one group do not endanger others.” Meanwhile, “it’s also time to update international space law to recognize property ownership and salvage rights,” they believe. (11/20)

SpaceX Should Prioritize Cost Reduction for Starlink Antenna Production (Source: Space News)
SpaceX's Starlink system is winning rave reviews from beta testers, but the antenna is losing the company money. Early customers are paying $499 for Starlink's required hardware plus $99 per month for a service plan promising 50-150 megabits per second of low latency broadband. However, outside experts, including executives with competing providers, believe that the Starlink antenna system costs between $1,000 and $2,000 to produce. Cost reduction will become a priority as it ramps production to thousands of units per week. (11/20)

Astra Readies for December Launch Attempt at Alaska Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Small launch vehicle developer Astra will make its second orbital launch attempt next month. The company announced Thursday it's planning to launch its Rocket 3.2 vehicle from Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska during a 12-day window that opens Dec. 7. The launch is the second in a series of three test flights the company envisions performing to demonstrate it can reach orbit. Its first launch in September failed when the rocket's guidance system caused the vehicle's trajectory to oscillate, triggering the engines to shut down about 30 seconds after liftoff. (11/20)

India Pushes Venus Mission to 2024 (Source: Space News)
India has pushed back the launch of its first mission to Venus by more than a year. An ISRO scientist said at a recent meeting that the Shukrayaan orbiter mission is now scheduled for launch in late 2024, rather than mid-2023 as previously announced. ISRO is blaming the delay on effects related to the pandemic. The mission's primary science objectives are to map the surface and subsurface of Venus while studying its atmospheric chemistry and interaction with the solar wind. (11/20)

Roscosmos Confirms Successful Patch of ISS Leak (Source: Sputnik)
The crew of the International Space Station (ISS) has installed a patch on a crack in Russian module Zvezda, which will stop the air leak, a Roscosmos spokesperson told Sputnik. Earlier, cosmonaut Sergey Ryzhikov was sealing the crack with a patch made of rubber and aluminum foil. "Members of the Russian ISS crew have installed a new patch on the alleged place of the atmospheric leak in the Zvezda module," the spokesperson said. (11/19)

Russian ISS Module Still Leaking Air (Source: TASS)
A Russian space station module is still leaking air. Russian cosmonauts said that they were continuing to detect a loss of pressure from one chamber in the Zvezda service module on the International Space Station. Cosmonauts last month found what they described as a "curvilinear scratch" about 4.5 centimeters long in the module, and placed a patch over it. Cosmonauts placed a new patch over the crack earlier this week. During a spacewalk Wednesday, cosmonauts saw no signs of damage on the exterior of the module in the vicinity of that crack. (11/20)

Japanese Astronauts Selected for ISS Missions (Source: Kyodo)
Two more Japanese astronauts have been selected for ISS missions. The Japanese government said Friday that Koichi Wakata and Satoshi Furukawa will fly on ISS missions in 2022 and 2023, respectively, each staying on the station for six months. One Japanese astronaut, Soichi Noguchi, is currently on the station as part of the Crew-1 mission that arrived at the ISS Monday night. Another JAXA astronaut, Akihiko Hoshide, will be on the Crew-2 mission launching next spring. (11/20)

Stratolaunch Starts Building Talon Hypersonic Plane for Mach 6 Flights (Source: Space.com)
Stratolaunch has started construction on a prototype hypersonic vehicle designed to launch from the world's biggest airplane. Recent pictures the company shared on Twitter show a prelude of the sleek Stratolaunch Talon-A reusable hypersonic vehicle coming together in a manufacturing facility.

"The upper skin layup tool and prototype upper skin are giving us a peek at what's to come. One. Step. Closer," Stratolaunch said on Twitter Oct. 20. In a separate missive, Stratolaunch thanked their employees for the ongoing hard work. "Maybe we're biased, but we think we have some of the coolest jobs on the planet … and beyond," the company tweeted Oct. 22. (11/17)

Rocket Lab Launches Smallsats, Recovers First Booster for Potential Reuse (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab successfully launched a cluster of smallsats Thursday night and recovered the Electron rocket's first stage. The Electron lifted off from the company's New Zealand launch site at 9:20 p.m. Eastern, carrying nearly 30 smallsats for several customers, including Swarm and Unseenlabs. The rocket's kick stage deployed the satellites into sun-synchronous orbits about an hour after liftoff. The rocket's first stage reentered and deployed parachutes, splashing down in the ocean in a test of Rocket Lab's ability to recover and reuse stages. The company called the test a "major step" toward reusing Electron first stages so that the company can increase its flight rate. (11/20)

Space Force Likely to Use Pre-Flown Falcon-9s (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force expects to allow SpaceX to fly reused Falcon 9 boosters on all national security launches in the next 18 months. So far, the Space Force only has agreed to allow reused boosters in two GPS launches scheduled in 2021 but the plan is to make the entire fleet reusable by 2022. Doing so should provide significant cost savings, one official said, citing the $65 million saved by moving two GPS launches to reused boosters. The Space Force is also closely monitoring the extended delays of a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy launch for the NRO, but has no plans to move payloads off that vehicle. (11/20)

Viasat Buys Out Eutelsat's Stake in KA-SAT Joint Venture (Source: Space News)
Viasat is buying out its partner in the KA-SAT joint venture. Viasat said it will spend $166 million to buy the remaining assets of KA-SAT from Eutelsat, including the satellite itself and a wholesale broadband distribution business. The two companies started the joint venture in 2016 when Eutelsat planned to invest in ViaSat 3 satellite coverage of Europe, the Middle East and Africa, but Eutelsat later decided to build its own satellite, Eutelsat Konnect. Viasat will use KA-SAT and its associated infrastructure to begin preparing for ViaSat 3 by performing experiments, making changes in the network and establishing distribution across Europe. (11/20)

Voyager Holdings to Acquire Alaska Launch Support Company (Source: Space News)
Voyager Space Holdings is acquiring a company that provides components for launch vehicles, spacecraft and launch sites. Voyager announced Thursday it is buying The Launch Company, an Alaska-based provider of rocket and spacecraft components and ground equipment for launch sites, including mobile launch sites that could be used by multiple small launchers. The acquisition is the third by Voyager after satellite servicing company Altius Space Machines and space technology firm Pioneer Astronautics. (11/20)

Moon Mark and Lunar Outpost Announce Partnership for Lunar Surface Race (Source: Space Daily)
Moon Mark, the entertainment and education company that will sponsor the first-ever race on the Moon in 2021, has announced it will partner with Golden, CO-based Lunar Outpost to secure the two racers that will make history. Lunar Outpost will adapt its patented Mobile Autonomous Prospecting Platform (MAPP), created for extraterrestrial scientific missions, for racing mobility.

After eight-weeks of qualifying challenges by high-schoolers from around the world, six teams of five members will compete to become the final two that race on the Moon. Their adventures will be captured, produced and globally distributed by Moon Mark. The final two teams will complete the racer designs in Houston, Texas, before being loaded onto the lander that will transport them to the Moon. (11/18)

Lunar Gateway Instruments to Improve Weather Forecasting for Artemis Astronauts (Source: Space Daily)
One of the first things people want to know before taking a trip is what the weather will be like wherever they are headed. For Artemis astronauts traveling on missions to the Moon, two space weather instrument suites, NASA's HERMES and ESA's ERSA, will provide an early forecast. Weather in this case means energized, subatomic particles and electromagnetic fields hurtling through the solar system.

The instrument suites, named after two of Artemis's half-siblings in Greek Mythology - Ersa, the goddess of dew, and Hermes, the messenger of the Olympian gods - will be pre-loaded on the Gateway before the first two components are launched: the Power and Propulsion Element and the Habitation and Logistics Outpost. The two instrument suites will begin monitoring the lunar radiation environment and return data before crews begin to arrive. (11/20)

Posey: Brevard County Advances in Selection Process for U.S. Space Command Headquarters (Source: Rep. Bill Posey)
Space Coast Congressman Bill Posey (R-FL) released the following statement regarding the U.S. Air Force's announcement that Cape Canaveral, FL has advanced in the selection process for the location of U.S. Space Command Headquarters:

“I’m proud of our delegation’s efforts working together to make the case for Space Command Headquarters to locate in Brevard County, Florida. I'm pleased to see that we have advanced to the next round in the selection process. Brevard’s strategic location and quality of life make it the ideal place for this important national mission to be centered. There’s still more work to do but I’m confident Brevard County has the what it takes to make Space Force a success.”

Brevard Makes Air Force Short List To Host Space Command Headquarters (Source: WMFE)
Brevard County is one of six locations under consideration to host the Air Force’s Space Command. Patrick Air Force Base is the only Florida-based location up for consideration as a new home base for an Air Force combatant command group. Bases in Colorado, New Mexico, Alabama, Texas and Nebraska are also in the running.

Florida nominated 8 locations in total earlier this year. Space Command could bring an estimated 1,400 new military and civilian jobs to the area, along with government contracting opportunities. “The national security threats in space demand a bold long-term solution and Florida is excited to have opportunity to compete,” said Space Florida’s Dale Ketcham.

There are 11 total combatant command groups, which house personnel from all military branches. Florida is already home to three — two in Tampa and one in Doral. The Air Force will now conduct virtual and in-person visits of the six sites. The Air Force says it will make a final decision on the location early next year. (11/19)

Barrett Discusses Critical Role of New Service (Source: USSF)
Secretary of the Air Force Barbara M. Barrett addressed the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics during the first virtual Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery (ASCEND) event, on the importance of the newest service in the Department of Defense, Nov. 16. Throughout her discussion, Barrett emphasized the vital role the United States Space Force plays in shaping the future of international space operations.

“The most important thing for the Space Force and the Air Force is working with allies and partners,” Barrett said. “So we've been teaming up. It's not an exclusively American mission. It's the world’s mission to encourage and ensure the future a free and open access to space, so that elements of space are not put off-limits to others.” (11/18)

NASA Says Landing Astronauts on Moon by 2024 is Unlikely (Source: The Guardian)
NASA has said it will be “hard-pressed to land astronauts on the moon by the end of 2024.” The assessment by the agency’s office of inspector general comes in a report dated 12 November and titled 2020 Report on NASA’s Top Management and Performance Challenges.”

Originally, NASA had been working towards 2028 for returning astronauts to the moon, but in March 2019 the White House directed it to accelerate the plans. In response, NASA developed the Artemis program, which aims to land the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024. The report points to cost and schedule overruns on critical pieces of technology. (11/18)

OneWeb Ready to Emerge From Chapter 11 (Source: Space News)
Satellite megaconstellation company OneWeb should emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy “any day now,” a company executive said Nov. 18, its business plan validated by a growing demand for broadband connectivity. Ruth Pritchard-Kelly, vice president for regulatory affairs at OneWeb, said the company was wrapping up paperwork to allow it to formally exit the bankruptcy protection it filed for in March. A federal court approved last month the sale of the company to an ownership group led by Bharti Global and the British government. (11/19)

Relativity Space Raising $500 Million at $2 Billion Valuation From Tiger and Others (Source: CNBC)
Rocket builder and 3D-printing specialist Relativity Space is raising $500 million of fresh capital in a new round being led by Tiger Global Management, people familiar with the financing told CNBC on Tuesday. The new fundraise, expected to close in the coming days, would jump Relativity’s valuation to $2.3 billion, those people said. Existing investors in Relativity are also expected to be contributing to the round -- those include Social Capital, Playground Global, Y Combinator, Bond Capital, Tribe Capital, Jared Leto and Mark Cuban. (11/19)

Will Small Rockets Finally Lift Off? (Source: Japan Today)
The boom in demand for placing small satellites into orbit has boosted interest in small rockets, but industry players do not think the niche will become a business segment of its own. Arianespace chief executive Stephane Israel is not convinced of the need for microlaunchers. "There is a confusion because people are saying ‘because you have small satellites going LEO, you need microlaunchers’. It’s not the case,” he said.

One of those reasons is that with the rollout of these constellations there are a lot of satellites to put into orbit quickly, hence favoring packing them onto big launchers. Then the cost factor comes into play. “The fundamental challenge that microlaunchers have is dollars per kilogram, because of the effect of scale, always favours the large launch vehicles when the launch vehicle capacity can be filled up," said ULA's Tory Bruno. "It’s really a niche market for servicing those constellations," he added.

But Tiphaine Louradour of International Launch Services (ILS), which markets Russian Proton rockets for commercial launches, pointed out they will also offer speed to clients. "It’s more for these microlaunchers for addressing a government need for an immediate access to space," she said. A small rocket with just one satellite can be prepared much quicker than a large one if the launch firm waits for a full payload. This also potentially makes them advantageous to replace damaged satellites. (11/19)

SpaceX Asks India for Regulatory Changes for Starlink (Source: Light Reading)
Elon Musk's SpaceX has asked the Indian government to approve satellite broadband technologies, according to the latest filing submitted with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), as part of a consultation on how to improve broadband penetration in the country. SpaceX points out that while existing telecommunications networks have "performed well" to meet Internet needs, rural and remote areas continue to be "on the wrong side of the digital divide." (11/18)

SpaceX Wants to Test its Starlink Satellite Internet Network Inflight with a Gulfstream Jet (Source: CNBC)
SpaceX would like to further expanded testing of its Starlink satellite internet by connecting the network to aircraft inflight, the company said in a request to the Federal Communications Commission. “SpaceX seeks experimental authority for operation of one user terminal aboard each of up to five private jets while they are (1) on the ground at an airport, and (2) in flight over the United States (including its territories and territorial waters),” the company wrote in a Nov. 6 FCC filing. Two months ago SpaceX made a similar request to the FCC to test Starlink with the ships the company uses to land its rocket boosters. (11/18)

Senate Committee Approves Space Act, But Without Bureau of Space Commerce (Source: Space Policy Online)
The Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee approved the Space Preservation and Conjunction Emergency (SPACE) Act today, but with significant changes from the version introduced last month. Chief among them is the omission of language elevating NOAA’s Office of Space Commerce to a new Bureau of Space Commerce reporting directly to the Secretary of Commerce.

S. 4827 as modified by a Wicker-Cantwell-Sinema amendment still assigns responsibility for civil Space Situational Awareness (SSA) to the Department of Commerce as called for in Space Policy Directive-3 (SPD-3), but stops short of creating the Bureau of Space Commerce desired by the White House and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

The House and Senate Appropriations Committees refused the Administration’s request to create the Bureau both last year and this year apparently concerned about establishing another bureaucracy. Currently, the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is part of NOAA, as is the Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA), which regulates the commercial remote sensing satellite industry. The idea has been to merge them and elevate them out of NOAA to the Secretary’s office where they would be the nucleus of the Bureau. (11/18)

Colorado-Built Dream Chaser's Debut Space Station Mission Slips into 2022 as Pandemic Complicates Program (Source: Denver Business Journal)
The first flight of the Dream Chaser space plane ferrying cargo to the space station for NASA has slipped from next year to sometime in 2022, and Covid-19 is partly to blame. Sierra Nevada Corp. updated reporters on its programs this week, revealing that assembling the spacecraft craft for its maiden voyage has been delayed in part by employee quarantines, supplier delays and other production wrinkles caused by the coronavirus pandemic and precautions the company has taken against its spread. (11/18)

ULA: Dream Chaser Schedule Slip Not a Setback to Vulcan Certification (Source: Space News)
United Launch Alliance’s new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, has to fly at least twice before it is certified by the U.S. Space Force to launch national security satellites starting in fiscal year 2022. ULA said Vulcan’s first launch in 2021 will be a lunar lander for Astrobotic, a NASA contractor that will deliver payloads to the moon. The second flight also planned for 2021 was to carry Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station.

ULA said the delay in Dream Chaser’s first mission will not prevent Vulcan from getting certified on time for its first national security mission in 2022. Under the terms of the Phase 2 procurement, if Vulcan is not certified on time, ULA will be allowed to offer the Atlas 5 as a substitute. (11/18)

Prime Minister Announces New Funding for Scottish Defence and Space Projects (Source: Insider)
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has promised that Scotland will receive a large share of the £16.5bn boost to the defence budget planned over the next four years. In his speech, the Prime Minister also announced a new ‘Space Command’, capable of launching its first rockets from Scotland in 2022.

Separately, the UK Government has backed the development of new ‘space hubs’ across England, as well as funding to support projects in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland. In the last decade, space has transformed into one of the UK’s fastest growing and most venerable sectors. Trebling in size since 2010, at the last count the UK space industry now employs close to 42,000 people in all corners of the country and generates an income of nearly £15bn every year.

The government stated its committed to making space a sector that thrives beyond the so-called‘golden triangle’ of London, Cambridge and Oxford, and contributes jobs and growth to regions across the whole of the UK. This approach is reinforced by support for seven potential spaceport locations in areas across Cornwall, Wales, and Scotland. (11/19)

Farming on Mars Will Be a Lot Harder Than ‘The Martian’ Made it Seem (Source: Science News)
Future Mars astronauts could grow crops in dirt to avoid solely relying on resupply missions, and to grow a greater amount and variety of food than with hydroponics alone. But new lab experiments suggest that growing food on the Red Planet will be a lot more complicated than simply planting crops with poop.

Researchers planted lettuce and the weed Arabidopsis thaliana in three kinds of fake Mars dirt. Two were made from materials mined in Hawaii or the Mojave Desert that look like dirt on Mars. To mimic the makeup of the Martian surface even more closely, the third was made from scratch using volcanic rock, clays, salts and other chemical ingredients that NASA’s Curiosity rover has seen on the Red Planet. While both lettuce and A. thaliana survived in the Marslike natural soils, neither could grow in the synthetic dirt, researchers report in the upcoming Jan. 15 Icarus. (11/18)

FAA: Commercial Space Launch Regulations ‘in Final Coordination’ (Source: Space News)
The updated commercial space launch regulations released Oct. 15 by the FAA are “in final coordination” and will be officially posted for public comment in the coming weeks, said Wayne Monteith, the FAA’s associate administrator for commercial space transportation. “Part 450 is in the queue at the office of the Federal Register,” Monteith said. “We expect it will be published in the next few weeks,” he said. The rules would take effect 90 days after that.

Part 450 consolidates into a single regulation four launch and reentry licensing rules that the FAA began to rewrite two-and-a-half years ago. Monteith said the revised rule takes into account the commercial launch industry’s demands for change from a “prescriptive” approach to launch licensing to one that is “performance based.” Other key revisions, for example, allow a single operator’s license to be used for multiple launches from multiple sites, said Monteith. “It eliminates duplicative requirements in different launch ranges, and reduces regulatory language by about 85 percent.” (11/18)

Spacewalking Astronauts Prep for 2021 Arrival of Russian Lab (Source: ABC News)
The International Space Station’s two Russian astronauts began spacewalking work Wednesday to prepare for next year’s arrival of a long-delayed lab, but had to scrap another chore because of a stubborn bolt. Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov — dubbed Sergey 1 and Sergey 2 by flight controllers — left four Americans and one Japanese inside during their spacewalk, which lasted nearly seven hours.

Ryzhikov and Kud-Sverchkov had better luck relocating an antenna cable, the first step in decommissioning Russia's old Pirs spacewalking compartment to make room for the new lab. By then, the spacewalk was past the four-hour mark, and flight controllers near Moscow urged the two to rest: “It's been intense.”

The Pirs module will be removed and junked next year to make room for the research lab Nauka — Russian for “science.” Several Russian-directed spacewalks will be required to deal with all this. The plan calls for attaching a cargo ship to Pirs in order to guide it to a fiery reentry. (11/18)

Astroscale Announces 2021 Soyuz Launch of ELSA-d Mission (Source: Space News)
Astroscale plans to launch the first commercial active debris removal mission, End-of-Life Services by Astroscale-demonstration, in March 2021 on a Soyuz rocket operated by GK Launch Services from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. Through the mission, Tokyo-based Astroscale plans to demonstrate core technologies necessary for space debris capture and removal, a first step in establishing itself as a provider of on-orbit services. (11/18)

SpaceX’s Plans for a Reusable Dragon Spacecraft Fleet Detailed by Gwynne Shotwell (Source: Teslarati)
Shotwell revealed that SpaceX intends to build three reusable Cargo Dragon 2 capsules, one of which is already completed and in Florida preparing for its December 2nd CRS-21 launch debut. On the crew side of things, SpaceX will build “three more” Crew Dragon capsules on top of the flight-proven Demo-2 and currently orbital Crew-1 capsules.

It’s unclear if this means that the new Crew Dragon capsule flown on SpaceX’s January 2020 In-Flight Abort (IFA) test will be refurbished for additional flights. Excluding IFA Crew Dragon capsule C205, SpaceX thus intends to operate a fleet of at least three Cargo Dragon 2 and five Crew Dragon capsules, representing eight reusable spacecraft each capable of at least five orbital missions. (11/19)

China Bolsters its Ambitious Space Program with the High-Powered Vision of a New Antenna Array (Source: South China Morning Post)
China has begun using a deep-space antenna array system from a ground station in Xinjiang, which it hopes will enhance its ability to navigate and explore space amid stiff competition from the US. Based in Kashgar, the westernmost corner of China, the system comprises four 35-meter (115-foot) diameter radio telescopes – three of them newly built – that form an array capable of recording signals equivalent to a single 66-meter radio telescope, China News Service reported. The system has enhanced data-receiving sensitivity and can “provide powerful support to different kinds of deep-space explorations”, the report said. (11/19)