December 19, 2020

SpaceX Launches Spy Satellite From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX launched a satellite Saturday for the National Reconnaissance Office, a highly secretive agency within the Defense Department. After two days of delays for technical issues, liftoff came at 9 a.m. from launchpad 39A at Kennedy Space Center on a crisp, 53-degree morning with mostly blue skies. About eight minutes into the mission, SpaceX successfully landed the Falcon 9′s first stage on a pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, a departure from the usual recoveries on a drone ship at sea. It was the 26th and final SpaceX launch of 2020. (12/19)

NASA to Skip Repair of Orion Electronics Unit (Source: Space News)
NASA will not repair a faulty electronics unit on the Orion spacecraft recently completed for the Artemis 1 mission after concluding there was sufficient redundancy in the overall system. In a Dec. 17 statement, NASA said it had decided to “use as is” one of eight power and data units (PDU) on the Orion spacecraft, which provide communications between the spacecraft’s computers and other components. One of two redundant channels in one of two communications cards in that PDU is not working. (12/18)

China Recovers Chang’e-5 Moon Samples After Complex 23-Day Mission (Source: Space News)
China has recovered precious lunar samples after a successful reentry and landing of the Chang’e-5 return capsule. The roughly 300-kilogram Chang’e-5 return capsule performed a ballistic skip reentry at 12:33 p.m. Eastern Dec. 16, effectively bouncing off the atmosphere over the Arabian Sea before reentry. The capsule containing around 2 kilograms of drilled and scooped lunar material landed in the grasslands of Siziwang Banner at 12:59 p.m. Recovery vehicles located the capsule shortly after. (12/16)

U.S. Lawmakers Consider Aid for Aerospace Workers in COVID-19 Bill (Source: Reuters)
U.S. lawmakers are considering providing payroll assistance for aerospace manufacturers and suppliers as part of a massive $900 billion COVID-19 relief bill. In a letter to congressional leaders Thursday seen by Reuters, 11 senators proposed “the federal government would pay up to 50% of the payroll costs for up to 25% of a manufacturer’s workforce” for aerospace manufacturers and suppliers.

The U.S. aviation industry has lost 100,000 jobs and a third of the global airline fleet remains grounded since the outbreak, the senators said, adding “an additional 220,000 jobs are at risk.” The measure is backed by senators from states hard hit by the decline in aerospace employment, including Kansas’s Jerry Moran and Pat Roberts and Washington State’s Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray. (12/18)

Bezos' Blue Origin to Deliver First Flight-Ready Rocket Engines Next Summer (Source: Reuters)
The chief executive of United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint rocket venture between Boeing Co and Lockheed Martin Corp, said it expects to receive two new rocket engines from billionaire Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin by next summer. ULA, the Pentagon’s top launch contractor for national security satellites, had initially expected the shipment in 2020 for a debut flight in early 2021, but this was delayed by development hurdles.

The installation of Blue Origin’s reusable BE-4 engines into ULA’s next-generation Vulcan rocket will keep it on track for the debut launch of a moon lander dubbed Peregrine at the end of 2021, ULA Chief Executive Tory Bruno said. The Vulcan rocket has won a slate of key U.S. defense missions through 2027. ULA picked Blue Origin’s BE-4 in 2018 to power Vulcan, a two-stage heavy-lift rocket that will succeed ULA’s Atlas 5 workhorse. (12/18)

Space Force Members Are "Guardians" (Source: USSF)
Today, after a yearlong process that produced hundreds of submissions and research involving space professionals and members of the general public, we can finally share with you the name by which we will be known: Guardians. The opportunity to name a force is a momentous responsibility. Guardians is a name with a long history in space operations, tracing back to the original command motto of Air Force Space Command in 1983, “Guardians of the High Frontier.” The name Guardians connects our proud heritage and culture to the important mission we execute 24/7, protecting the people and interest of the U.S. and its allies. (12/18)

SpaceX Starlink Rollout Continues to Uplift Rural Schools, Native Americans (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX continues to make a point of deploying nascent Starlink internet services – often for free – in ways that prioritize and uplift rural schools and Native American tribes. Back in October, word first broke that SpaceX – through Washington state’s Department of Commerce – had partnered with the Hoh Tribe to deliver high-quality internet to multiple homes and facilities. The tribe had nothing but praise for the service after a few days of use, frankly stating that “[Starlink] catapulted us into the 21st century.”

Weeks later, Texas’ Ector County Independent School District revealed that SpaceX would deploy Starlink to homes throughout the district, ensuring – like the Hoh Tribe – that rural communities with little to no functional internet access would still be able to use crucial online services in the midst of a global pandemic. Most recently, Virginia’s Wise County Public Schools say they are scheduled to receive 45 (and ultimately 90+) Starlink kits from SpaceX early next year, bringing high-quality internet to dozens of homes with little to no prior access.

A week prior, Canada’s Pikangikum First Nation also thanked SpaceX for bringing Starlink internet to the fly-in-only community, where the best service available prior ranged from 60 kilobits per second to a middling few megabits per second – all high-latency. (12/17)

Amazon Looks Beyond Blue Origin For Kuiper Constellation Launches (Source: Aviation Week)
The Amazon executive overseeing the Kuiper satellite constellation and connectivity service has said that the internet business behemoth will look to multiple rocket launch providers for access to space, even though launch provider Blue Origin is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. (12/17)

China Plans to Launch Four manned Spacecraft in Next Two Years (Source: Xinhua)
China plans to launch four manned spacecraft as part of its space station construction program in the next two years, said an official with the China National Space Administration (CNSA). China's manned space program will be very busy in 2021 and 2022, said Wu Yanhua, vice administrator of the CNSA, at a press conference on China's Chang'e-5 lunar mission. Wu said a total of 11 missions to build China's space station are planned for the next two years, including the construction of the core module that is scheduled to be launched in the first half of next year, two lab capsules, as well as four manned craft and four cargo craft. (12/17)