November 7, 2020

Cargo Launch to ISS Planned on December 2 (Source: NASA)
The next SpaceX cargo launch to the International Space Station is targeted for no earlier than Dec. 2 at 12:50 p.m. ET pending Eastern Range approval. This will be the first cargo resupply using an upgraded Dragon and the first CRS launch from Launch Complex 39A. (11/6)

Airbus, Raytheon Protest Space Development Agency Satellite Contract Awards (Source: Space News)
Airbus and Raytheon have filed protests with the Government Accountability Office challenging Space Development Agency contracts awarded to L3Harris and SpaceX. The Space Development Agency on Oct. 5 awarded SpaceX a $149 million contract and L3Harris a $193.5 million contract to each build four satellites to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. These eight satellites are known as Tracking Layer Tranche 0.

Airbus U.S. Space and Defense filed its protest Oct. 28. Raytheon’s protest was filed Nov. 3. The Government Accountability Office has until February 11, 2021 to issue a decision. An Airbus spokesperson said the “post-award debrief review identified concerns about the government’s evaluation process, and as a result, we have filed a protest with the U.S. Government Accountability Office.” For the Tracking Layer Tranche 0, Airbus offered the Arrow satellite bus made at the Airbus OneWeb Satellites’ manufacturing facility in Florida, which “fits SDA’s evaluation criteria for commercial commoditized buses manufactured at scale,” Airbus said. (11/6)

Rocket Lab To Practice Catching A Falling Rocket From The Sky In ‘Huge Milestone’ Next Week (Source: Forbes)
In the world of reusable rockets, SpaceX is king. But now Rocket Lab is hoping to emulate their success – and become the first to reuse a smaller rocket. The company, which is U.S.-owned but launches from New Zealand, announced that it hopes to step up its efforts towards reusability on its next launch on Nov. 15. Last year, Rocket Lab announced its plans to make its rockets reusable, by catching them mid-air with a helicopter as they parachuted back to Earth.’ Since then they have performed several tests, but this will be the first attempt at parachuting the rocket into the ocean in preparation for a full recovery attempt. (11/5)

What Would President Biden Mean for Space? (Source: TIME)
What might a President Biden actually do in space? For starters, he would likely continue backing the commercial crew and cargo program, which has been a major success. The Space Force, which some have criticized as a Trump vanity project, might be a different matter; Biden could scrap the new branch and fold its services back into the Air Force, both to save money and to divorce his Administration from so conspicuously Trump-branded a program.

But bet on Artemis to survive. Way too much of that hardware is already being built and way too many years have gone into developing it for a Biden Administration to throw it away now (the Space Launch System has been in the works since 2004, as has the Orion crew capsule; first flights for both are set for 2021). Plus, NASA recently announced the signing of the Artemis Accords, an international partnership to get to the moon. Biden spent no shortage of campaign-trail oxygen condemning Trump's flouting of international agreements to walk away from even a modest pact like Artemis. But Artemis' ambitious 2024 lunar deadline is likely to change, if only because it's unrealistic. (11/6)

Branson Wants to be the First 'Space Billionaire' to Actually Travel to Space (Source: CNN)
Richard Branson, the thrill-seeking British billionaire, founded Virgin Galactic in 2004 on the promise that a privately developed spacecraft would make it possible for hundreds of people to become astronauts, no NASA training required. And if a 2,500-mile-per-hour ride to the edge of space sounded off-putting, Branson also pledged to take the journey himself before letting paying customers on board. Branson is the only one among the group of the so-called space barons, the group of space-loving billionaires that includes Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who has publicly pledged to take a ride in the near future aboard a spacecraft he has bankrolled. (11/6)

India Returns to Space With Multi-Satellite Launch of PSLV Rocket (Sources: Deccan Herald, Mint)
India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV)-C49 carrying the all-weather earth imaging satellite EOS from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) along with nine international satellites was launched from Satish Dhawan Space Centre in Sriharikota on Saturday afternoon. The last time ISRO launched a satellite from Indian soil was on December 11, 2019. (11/7)

Boeing Hires Former SpaceX Engineer for New Software Executive Job (Source: Defense News)
Boeing on Friday announced it hired Jinnah Hosein as vice president of software engineering, a new role at the aerospace giant. The job will lead a centralized organization of engineers developing software across Boeing’s portfolio of products. Hosein will report to Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief engineer and senior vice president of engineering, test and technology.

Hosein’s resume reads like a defense industry wish list of Silicon Valley stops. He worked as Google’s director of software engineering for cloud networking, helped design Tesla’s autopilot software and most recently worked as software lead for self-driving startup Aurora. But it’s his experiences at SpaceX — where he was key to software development for the Falcon, Falcon Heavy, Dragon and Crew Dragon vehicles — that Boeing may look to draw from the most. (11/6)

Tropical Storm Pushes ULA Atlas Launch to Wednesday (Source: Fox35)
Due to impending inclement weather from tropical depression Eta, United Launch Alliance announced on Friday that the launch of an Atlas V rocket is now being moved to Wednesday, Nov. 11. The launch was planned for Sunday; however, weather forecasts show Florida could be dealing with heavy rain and wind gusts on Sunday due to the tropical system. (11/7)