December 2, 2020

Elon Musk Still Eyes Humans on Mars with SpaceX Starship by 2024 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Elon Musk is sticking with optimistic plans for the SpaceX Starship on Mars, saying in an interview that the first crewed mission of the next-generation rocket to the Red Planet could come as early as 2024 “if we get lucky.” Musk said he’s confident the goal will be achieved by 2026, but didn’t throw out his previously stated quicker timeline during a webcast Tuesday with German media company Axel Springer.

“I feel fairly confident about six years from now,” Musk said. “Earth-Mars synchronization occurs roughly every 26 months, so we had one this year, this summer, and that means roughly that in about two years there will be another one and then two years after that. So I think I’d say if you say six years from now, I think highly confident. If we get lucky maybe four years.” (12/2)

Pharma Looks to Outer Space to Boost Drug R&D (Source: The Scientist)
Research in space is slow, and the costs are sky-high. All projects are subsidized through NASA, and many rely on additional financial support through federal grants, spurring a new kind of space race—one aiming to prove that such projects are profitable enough for the private sector to fund on their own. While microgravity can be achieved for a few moments on an aircraft rounding the top of a parabolic flight, or simulated imperfectly in bioreactors on Earth, the best way to conduct experiments under sustained microgravity is to go to the ISS.

 The station orbits approximately 400 km from the planet’s surface and is close enough to Earth to experience about 90 percent of its gravitational pull, but astronauts aboard the station feel nearly weightless because it’s in constant free fall around the planet. The resulting microgravity conditions in this setting influence scientific experiments in many ways that appeal to drug developers. There are minimal convection currents in fluids, for instance, and hardly any sedimentation—conditions advantageous not only for LambdaVision’s layering procedure but also for processes such as protein crystallization, whereby proteins form a regular array.

CASIS, which selects the research projects that go to the US national lab on the ISS and provides companies with logistical support, is also working with a number of smaller companies studying everything from treatments for rare diseases to medical devices. One such company is MIT spinout MakerHealth, which has spent nearly a decade creating a device that can produce a number of personalized pharmaceuticals on demand. (12/1)

NASA Could Work with Space Force on Planetary Radar (Source: Space News)
NASA is considering its options for a follow-on to the Arecibo radio telescope, and could work with the US Space Force on the program to leverage planetary radar technology. Puerto Rico's Arecibo Observatory has been used as a radar for years. (12/1)

China's Lunar Sampler Gathers Regolith (Source: Space News)
China's Chang'e-5 spacecraft successfully landed on the moon Tuesday on a mission to collect samples for return to Earth. The spacecraft made a soft landing near Mons Rümker in Oceanus Procellarum ("Ocean of Storms") at 10:11 a.m. Eastern. The spacecraft has since then been collecting samples, which will launch back into lunar orbit on Thursday. An orbiter will rendezvous with the ascent vehicle to take the samples back to Earth, landing in China in mid-December. Chang'e-5 is the first lunar sample return mission since the 1970s. (12/2)

Russian Soyuz Rocket Launches UAE Reconnaissance Satellite From Kourou Spaceport (Source: Space News)
A Soyuz rocket launched a reconnaissance satellite for the UAE Tuesday night after months of delays. The Soyuz ST-A rocket lifted off from French Guiana at 8:33 p.m. Eastern and released the Falcon Eye 2 satellite into a sun-synchronous orbit nearly an hour later. The launch was originally scheduled for March but postponed first by a technical issue with the rocket and then by the pandemic. Weather and technical issues scrubbed launch attempts Sunday and Monday nights. Falcon Eye 2, built by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space, will provide high-resolution imagery for the UAE's armed forces. (12/2)

Lockheed Martin Completes SBIRS Missile Warning Satellite (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin has completed production of the SBIRS GEO-5 missile warning satellite. The satellite is scheduled to launch in 2021 to join the other four spacecraft in the Space Based Infrared System constellation in geostationary orbit. SBIRS GEO-5 is the first military satellite that uses a new bus developed by Lockheed, the LM 2100. SBIRS GEO-6, scheduled to launch in 2022, is also being built on that bus. (12/2)

Space Force Advocate to Lead Minority in HASC (Source: Politico)
An advocate for creating the Space Force is set to become the top Republican on the House Armed Services Committee. The House Republican Steering Committee announced Tuesday it selected Rep. Mike Rogers (R-L) to be the ranking member of the committee in the next Congress. He succeeds Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX), who is retiring. Rogers is the ranking member of the strategic forces subcommittee and was a leading congressional advocate for creating the Space Force. (12/2)
 
Secure World Foundation Offers Space Advice to President-Elect Biden (Source: Space News)
One organization is recommending that the incoming Biden administration adjust, rather than undo, the space policy progress made over the last four years. In a report published Wednesday, the Secure World Foundation urged incoming leaders to tone down the militaristic rhetoric surrounding space and pay more attention to practical matters like the procurement of next-generation technologies. The report called on the new administration to maintain some initiatives from the Trump administration, such as the National Space Council and progress on space traffic management. (12/2)

Blue Origin Creates Advisory Board (Source: Space News)
Blue Origin has created an advisory board filled with former government officials. The company announced the board of advisors Tuesday, which it says will offer "strategic counsel on the company's mission" to lower the cost of space access and make use of space resources. The seven-person board features many former Pentagon and NASA officials, including two former NASA center directors and former Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson. (12/2)

Mojave Spaceport Chief Departs to Washington DC to Lead CSF (Source: CSF)
The head of a commercial spaceport will be the next president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF). The organization said that Karina Drees, who has been CEO and general manager of the Mojave Air and Space Port since 2012, will take over as president of the industry group in January. Drees previously served on the CSF's board of directors. She succeeds Eric Stallmer, who stepped down as president of CSF in October to join Voyager Space Holdings. (12/2)

Ukraine's Degtyarev Dies of COVID-19 (Source: SpaceQ)
The leader of Ukrainian space company Yuzhnoye has died of COVID-19. Alexander Degtyarev, director general and designer of Yuzhnoye, died last week of the disease, according to a company statement. Degtyarev had worked at Yuzhnoye since 1975 on a variety of missile and launch vehicle programs at the company, including the Zenit and Dnepr vehicles. (12/2)

More Collaboration Needed Among Orbital Debris Trackers (Source: Space News)
An orbital debris expert called for greater collaboration and cooperation to deal with this growing problem. In an interview, Moriba Jah, an associate professor at the University of Texas, cited a recent case where one company that provides space situational awareness data warned of a potential collision between two derelict objects, one that others did not see as a threat. That shows the need, he said, to collaborate and combine data from many sources to allow for independent corroboration of potential collisions and avoid false alarms. He also called for greater compliance with orbital debris mitigation guidelines to flatten the curve on the growth and spread of space debris. (12/2)

Virgin Galactic Plans Test Flight NET Dec. 11 (Source: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic has rescheduled a SpaceShipTwo test flight for later this month. The company announced Tuesday that the flight from Spaceport America will take place no earlier than Dec. 11. That powered test flight, with two company pilots on board, was scheduled for last month but postponed because of a statewide stay-at-home order to address a growing number of COVID-19 cases. The upcoming test will have only "essential personnel" at the spaceport, with no guests or media present. (12/2)

Florida-Based Space Balloon Company Raises Funds, Will Conduct First Test Flight Next Year (Source: Ars Technica)
A company that plans to send passengers to the edge of space in a pressurized vehicle beneath a large balloon said Wednesday it is on track to fly a demonstration mission next year and has raised the funds needed to accomplish this. Space Perspective, which is based at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, announced it has raised $7 million in seed funding in a round of funding led by Prime Movers Lab. This funding will help the company conduct an uncrewed test flight in 2021 and continue additional development work on its pressurized Spaceship Neptune vehicle.

Inside this Neptune craft, a pilot and eight passengers will spend about two hours ascending to 30km, above 99 percent of the atmosphere. From this vantage point, beneath a balloon with the diameter of a US football field, the passengers would spend about two hours experiencing the view and "Earth overview" effect. Neptune would then take about two hours descending back to Earth. Envisioned to be nearly 5 meters across, the reusable Neptune is designed to fly as much as once per week. Only the parachute is discarded after each flight. (12/2)

The Many Ways Foreign Ppowers Can Mess with Satellites (Source: Axios)
Some nations are capable of disabling satellites without destroying them, opening up different avenues for how conflicts may play out in space. One of the major concerns about warfare in space is the uncontrollable nature of space junk created from destroying or permanently disabling satellites. Directly destroying satellites or taking them offline without proper disposal could make large swaths of various orbits unusable for everyone, not just the targeted party.

Other forms of attack — like jamming or cyber threats — are less wide-reaching and more difficult to attribute. Jamming, for example, interferes with a satellite's ability to send and receive information, but accidental jamming and interference happens often. "In 2015, General John Hyten, then-commander of Air Force Space Command, noted that the U.S. military was unintentionally jamming its own communications satellites an average of 23 times per month," the CSIS 2020 Space Threat Assessment report says. (12/1)

The Rise of Military Space Powers (Source: Axios)
Nations around the world are shoring up their defensive and offensive capabilities in space — for today's wars and tomorrow's. Using space as a warfighting domain opens up new avenues for technologically advanced nations to dominate their enemies. But it can also make those countries more vulnerable to attack in novel ways. "Space has already been weaponized by just about any definition," Todd Harrison of the Center for Strategic & International Studies told me, citing work his organization has done to quantify the problem. "The question is, 'How are we going to respond?'" (12/1)

Biden's Military Space Future (Source: Axios)
President-elect Joe Biden should anticipate major and minor conflicts in space from even the earliest days of his presidency. President Donald Trump's military and civil space policies are well-documented, but Biden's record and views on space are less clear. "They need to be prepared on day one, for space contingencies that could arise — everything from a hostile attack in space to some sort of anti-satellite test," Todd Harrison, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic & International Studies, told me.

It's also possible an attack could be in the "gray zone" where a country does something that isn't overt — like jamming or using one satellite to inspect another — but would put the U.S. in a tough spot, according to Harrison. Between the lines: The Biden administration will face pressure to stay the course on some of Trump's space-related policies. The Space Force, for example, is seen as largely beneficial by space insiders because it makes space a priority.

While the U.S.' civil and military space programs operate separately, they often act as a united front geopolitically. Harrison warns that the Trump administration's Artemis Accords and Artemis Moon mission to send NASA astronauts back to the lunar surface could have national security implications for the nations that have signed on as partners. (12/1)

US Can’t Afford to Let China Win New Space Race (Source: The Times)
Television scriptwriters in China have been banned from writing about time travel lest viewers get the impression that all is not well in the here and now of Xi Jinping’s realm. Going to the moon, on the other hand, is something to be celebrated as part of the great technological power struggle with America. Since the first early 20th-century translations of Jules Verne, the Chinese have had their eye on colonizing the moon, a romantic dream but also increasingly a sense that it is the place where future wars will be played out. (12/2)

Radian Aerospace Pursues a Stealthy and Unorthodox Plan for Orbital Spaceplane (Source: GeekWire)
Radian Aerospace has been working on a rocket project while holding its cards close to the vest. Now several of the big puzzle pieces have been made public to reveal what Radian’s executives and backers have in mind: a rail-launched space plane that could carry passengers to orbit and back. Radian CEO Richard Humphrey delivered to potential investors in June a proposed $20 million Series A funding round. The money would fund further development of the orbital launch system, with an eye toward beginning flights to orbit as soon as 2025.

The presentation doesn’t appear to be publicly available, and Radian did not respond to a request for more information. In fact, we’ve made inquiries with Radian executives numerous times — by email, by phone and in person at space industry conferences — ever since the venture reported raising $350,000 in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission in 2016. Despite Radian’s stealthiness, there’s ample evidence that the venture’s plan is more than a pack of PowerPoint slides.

In 2017, for example, Radian struck a deal with the Port of Bremerton to lease a half-acre of land at Bremerton National Airport for a rocket engine test facility. A prototype engine has reportedly gone through many test firings, and Radian would like to expand the Bremerton facility. Radian also is seeking a patent for a concept that calls for launching a winged single-stage-to-orbit craft with an initial boost from a rocket-powered sled on rails. At the end of each mission, the plane would make a horizontal, airplane-style landing on a runway. (12/1)

To Study Aging, Scientists are Looking to Outer Space (Source: National Geographic)
As anyone who has experienced middle age will know, the process of growing old can be extremely hard on the body. Your bones begin to leak calcium, your muscles begin to shrivel, the immune system weakens, and arthritis can set in. Poor posture and balance affect how you move about the world, while cataracts and deteriorating eyesight impair how you see it. Heart problems and declining cognitive function eventually set in as people approach the end of their lives. These symptoms, however, can also be caused by something less common: space travel.

Spaceflight influences biology in dramatic ways, and people in space appear to experience the effects of aging faster than people on Earth. Now, scientists have gained a better understanding of space travel’s influence on living beings than ever before. The new studies bring us a step closer to identifying the mechanisms underpinning the biological responses to living in space. More than 200 scientists demonstrated that space upends the genes, mitochondrial function, and chemical balances in the cells to trigger a cascade of broader health effects in spacefaring humans and animals.

“The entire body is affected, because [space] is such a different and extreme environment,” says Susan Bailey, a radiologist at Colorado State University who participated in multiple of the new studies. The health effects associated with spaceflight have several similarities to aging-related disorders, such as cancer and osteoporosis. While spaceflight’s parallels to aging are a concern for long-term crewed missions—such as those that would be required on a voyage to Mars—the unique space environment also presents a unique opportunity to study the physiology of aging. (12/2)

Rocket Lab to Reuse Components of First Recovered Rocket (Source: Ars Technica)
"We couldn't have asked for a better outcome of our first recovery attempt and the team is thrilled." The rocket came back in such good condition, the company added, "We will re-qualify and re-fly some components." Although they had conducted a number of tests before this mission, the company's engineers weren't entirely sure what they would get back after the Electron rocket experienced temperatures in excess of 2,400°C and speeds of 2.35km/s during its descent. (12/1)