November 4, 2020

New Initiative to Promote Satellite Servicing and In-Space Assembly Technologies (Source: Space News)
A new “national initiative” wants to promote the development of satellite servicing and in-space assembly technologies among U.S. government agencies that have differing views on the value of such capabilities. The On-Orbit Servicing, Assembly and Manufacturing (OSAM) National Initiative is intended to exchange information and establish partnerships among government agencies, and with industry and academia, on the use of such technologies to repair existing satellites and create new capabilities in space.

“It’s going to be really important to work together collaboratively, because we want to move forward with these OSAM technologies and advance them collectively as a suite of capabilities,” said Deborah Tomek, NASA senior advisor for OSAM and one of the leads of the new initiative, said during an Oct. 29 presentation at the Global Satellite Servicing Forum, a conference organized by the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS).

NASA has been perhaps the biggest advocate for OSAM technologies among U.S. government agencies. In addition to a series of robotic refueling experiments on the International Space Station, it is funding a robotic satellite servicing mission called OSAM-1, previously known as Restore-L. (11/3)

After 20 Years of Service, the Space Station Flies Into an Uncertain Future (Source: Ars Technica)
Born of a desire to smooth geopolitical tensions in the aftermath of the great conflict between the United States and Soviet Union, the space station partnership has more or less succeeded—the station has remained inhabited despite the space shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, and later, nearly a decade of no US space transportation. NASA, Roscosmos, and the European, Japanese, and Canadian partners have been able to rely on one another. Click here. (11/1)

Space Traffic Management Idling in First Gear (Source: Space News)
“Time for Congress to provide the Commerce Department with the $15 mil requested by the President for the Office of Space Commerce,” tweeted Jim Bridenstine. He was referring to the administration’s FY-2021 budget proposal, which requested $15 million for the Office of Space Commerce, far more than the $2.3 million it received in 2020. Most of that money would go to carrying out the responsibilities for taking over civil space traffic management (STM) assigned to the Commerce Department by Space Policy Directive 3 in June 2018, work today that is carried out by DoD despite widespread agreement it should be handed over to another agency.

Disagreement about which agency should take over civil STM, though, has stymied progress. The administration sought $10 million for the Office of Space Commerce in 2020, again primarily for STM work. Congressional appropriators, though, rejected that proposal. Instead, they added half a million dollars to the office’s 2019 budget of $1.8 million, and directed the office to use it on a study by the National Academy of Public Administration (NAPA) on which agency was best to handle STM. (11/3)

ESA Signs First Boost! Commercial Space Transportation Contracts (Source: Space Daily)
ESA has signed the first three contracts with European economic operators arising from its permanently open call for proposals for commercial space transportation services. Boost! - ESA's Commercial Space Transportation Services and support to Member States programme was adopted at Space19+ and an Open call for proposals under its Element 1 was launched in April this year. Through this program, ESA aims to stimulate and support competitiveness and new commercial European space transportation services.

ESA provides co-funding, expert advice and the use of testing facilities that help entrepreneurs to take their service projects towards commercialization. Today, the first Boost! support contracts have been signed with three German New Space companies: HyImpulse Technologies, Isar Aerospace Technologies, and Rocket Factory Augsburg. All three companies are preparing to offer new launch services using small launch vehicles to serve the growing small satellite market. (11/4)

Russia Ambassador Hopes US-Russia Space Cooperation Will Help Global Challenges (Source: Sputnik)
The Russian ambassador to the United States, Anatoly Antonov, expressed hope for the two countries' successful cooperation in space to help resolve global challenges. "Over these two decades, about 250 people from 19 countries have been to the ISS. Many experiments and studies in biology, medicine, physics and chemistry have been conducted there. It is also important that for many years Russian cosmonauts and US astronauts have been closely cooperating shoulder to shoulder in an open and fruitful manner at the station in the interests of not only their states, but also all of humankind. They help each other in space on a daily basis, despite all the difficulties on Earth," Antonov said. (11/4)

New Mineral Discovered in Moon Meteorite (Source: Space Daily)
A team of European researchers have discovered a new high-pressure mineral in the lunar meteorite Oued Awlitis 001, named donwilhelmsite. The team have published their findings in the scientific journal "American Mineralogist". Besides the about 382 kilograms of rocks and soils collected by the Apollo and Luna missions, lunar meteorites allow valuable insights into the formation of the Moon. They are ejected by impacts onto the lunar surface and subsequently delivered to Earth.

Some of these meteorites experienced particularly high temperatures and pressures. The extreme physical conditions often led to shock melting of microscopic areas within these meteorites. These shocked areas are of great relevance as they mirror pressure and temperature regimes similar to those prevailing in the Earth's mantle. (11/4)

NASA Delays Launch of Earth Science Satellite (Source: Space News)
NASA is delaying a Falcon 9 launch of an Earth science satellite, a move that does not affect an upcoming commercial crew mission. NASA said Tuesday the Falcon 9 launch of the Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich satellite would be delayed from Nov. 10 to Nov. 21 to give SpaceX additional time to replace two Merlin engines in the rocket's first stage. Those engines have been under scrutiny since a last-second abort of a Falcon 9 launch last month, an incident traced to material blocking a relief valve in an engine's gas generator. NASA said the Sentinel-6 slip will not affect the schedule for the Crew-1 commercial crew mission, which remains set to launch on a Falcon 9 Nov. 14. That schedule, though, likely depends on the status of another Falcon 9 launch of a GPS 3 satellite, now scheduled for Thursday. (11/4)

AFRL Opens New Mexico Lab for Spacecraft Components (Source: Space News)
The Air Force Research Laboratory has opened a new lab for testing spacecraft components. The Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate, held a ribbon-cutting ceremony recently for its new Deployable Structures Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. The $4 million facility will be used to test advanced composite materials and structures intended to be deployed once in space. The lab can test structures up to 20 meters long and 15 meters wide, and will be used for several upcoming payloads. (11/4)

Frontier Aerospace Designs Thrusters for Lunar Lander (Space News)
Frontier Aerospace has completed the design of thrusters that will be used on a commercial lunar lander. The California startup said it is "well on our way" to qualifying two different attitude control thrusters that will be used on Astrobotic's Peregrine lander. Frontier Aerospace has been developing and testing rocket engines fueled by nitrogen oxides mixed with monomethyl hydrazine propellants through a NASA program called Thruster for the Advancement of Low-temperature Operation in Space (TALOS). The thrusters are designed to operate over a wider range of temperatures than conventional attitude control thrusters. (11/4)

Rocket Lab Aims for Orbital Reusability (Source: UPI)
Small launch company Rocket Lab has a big agenda for the end of 2020, including plans for its first liftoff from U.S. soil and its first attempt to recover a first-stage booster after launch. The California-based company, known for launching in New Zealand, is on target to tackle both goals this year. If Rocket Lab's first launch from Virginia's Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport is successful, the company intends to launch regularly from that site.

The company partnered with NASA and the state of Virginia to upgrade launch facilities near NASA's Wallops Flight Facility about 160 miles southeast of Washington D.C. Rocket Lab's first launch from Virginia will carry a small weather satellite for the U.S. Space Force. The company is ready to launch, but is waiting on NASA to sign off on verification of automated flight-termination software for the mission, Beck said.

Rocket Lab intends to use a much different system to recover its first-stage booster than SpaceX, which flies boosters back to launch pads using liquid propellant fuel. Instead, Rocket Lab will fly the booster back into the atmosphere on a specific path. It will then deploy parachutes, slow down and eventually get snagged by a helicopter. After testing the parachutes and descent systems several times, the company believes any risk to the overall mission is "very, very low," Beck said. (11/4)

Space Force Finally Gets an Astronaut (Source: Washington Times)
Air Force Col. Michael “Hopper” Hopkins will be in an appropriate location later this month when he transfers over to the recently created U.S. Space Force. He’ll be in space. A veteran NASA astronaut who has already logged more than 166 days in space, Col. Hopkins will switch his name tag from “Air Force” to “Space Force” once he is aboard the International Space Station, officials with U.S. Space Force confirmed. (11/3)

4 Ways We Could Land on Other Planets (Source: ASU)
The coolest moment in every science fiction flick is when the spacecraft takes off or lands, jets roaring, massive landing gear unfurling, claw feet flexing while debris flies in every direction. But that last part — debris flying in every direction — is a problem in real life. High-velocity gases coming from rockets will create high-velocity projectiles flying from the surface of the moon. When we push out to settle the rest of the solar system, we’re going to need landing pads.

A spacecraft can kick up rocks as big as 3 feet wide and hurl debris — dirt, gravel, dust and rocks called ejecta in this context — everywhere. The Apollo 12 landing module sprayed ejecta as far as 500 feet away. So landing pads are essential. What will they look like? Click here. (11/3)

Mark Kelly Secures Arizona Senate Seat (Source: Fox News)
The historically red state of Arizona has pivoted to elect Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kelly, whom Fox News has projected to oust Republican incumbent Sen. Martha McSally. Kelly led McSally 53% to 46%, with 82% of the expected votes counted, as of early Wednesday morning, The Associated Press reported. While Kelly assured his supporters that he was confident in the election's preliminary results, the McSally for Senate campaign did not concede, with not all votes counted. (11/4)

Insurance and Liability Regime for UK Space Launch Activities (Source: Lexology)
There are two types of statutory liability applicable to the launch operator and he orbital operator set out in the proposed regime, as highlighted in our comments on the draft Space Industry Regulations 2020: Strict liability on an operator carrying out spaceflight activities for injury or damage caused to persons or property on land or water in the UK or in the territorial sea adjacent to the United Kingdom, or to aircraft in flight (Space Industry Act 2018 Article 34); and liability to indemnify the Government against any claims in respect of damage or loss arising out of or in connection with spaceflight activities (Space Industry Act 2018 Article 36)

These categories of operator liability (and any common law claims) are to be covered by third party liability insurance. Following the conclusions of a report commissioned by the Government which included an analysis of liability regimes in other jurisdictions, and concerns expressed by stakeholders and industry that unlimited liability for operators would be uncommercial and uncompetitive, it was decided that limit of liability in these categories was justified. (11/3)

SpaceX to Expand Starlink Beta Testing (Source: Business Insider)
Elon Musk said Monday that SpaceX would send several thousand more invitations for Starlink's satellite-internet service in the coming days. Musk also said the Starlink public beta, which is currently confined to the northern US and southern Canada, could be in Florida by January, in Europe by February, and in India by the middle of 2021. SpaceX told beta users to expect speeds of 50 to 150 megabits per second, but some users have said they're getting even faster download speeds. SpaceX has not said how many people signed up for the public beta, which costs $600 up front. Nearly 900 Starlink satellites are beaming internet down to Earth. (11/3)

Japan Sent Mice to Space and Discovered a Protein That Could Slow Down Aging (Source: Vice)
In 2018, Japan sent 12 mice to space. Now that they’re back on earth, scientists said they’ve discovered what could be the key to slowing down aging for humans. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) conducted the study with Tohoku University and sent the 12 mice to the International Space Station (ISS). The experiment aimed to test the effects of the protein Nrf2, which acts as a regulator of adaptive responses against various environmental stresses. Nrf2 induction is known to prevent various diseases, including cancer and diabetic complications.

Previous research has shown that spending time in space can lead to problems such as bone density loss and immune dysfunction in both humans and rodents. This is due to a number of factors including microgravity and exposure to radiation in space. These changes are likened to a sped-up version of the aging people experience on Earth, making spaceflight an opportunity for scientists to study the process.

Of the two groups, the mice without Nrf2 experienced changes in blood components similar to those humans go through when aging. Meanwhile, the unmodified mice showed little changes. At the time of the launch, all the mice were healthy and gaining weight. Once in space, however, the mice without Nrf2 stopped putting on weight even though the intake of food and water across both groups of mice were the same. Scientists believe that Nrf2 could help mitigate some of the stresses associated with space travel and, possibly, aging. (11/4)