January 25, 2021

Smallsat Launch: Big Versus Small (Source: Space Review)
This month has seen both the successful debut of a new small launch vehicle as well as a new record for the most satellites launched on a single rocket. Jeff Foust reports on the competing visions for smallsat space access offered by Virgin Orbit and SpaceX. Click here. (1/25)
 
Soyuz Plans Unclear as the 60th Anniversary of Gagarin’s Flight Approaches (Source: Space Review)
This milestone year for Russia’s human spaceflight program is supposed to include the first all-Russian crew to the International Space Station and the flights of tourists and even an actress. However, Tony Quine finds that there’s still a lot of uncertainty about how those flights will be carried out. Click here. (1/25)
 
Terrain Analysis for Space Warfare (Source: Space Review)
How applicable are models of terrestrial warfare to space? D. Grant Greffey examines how one approach used for land warfare could be applied to space operations. Click here. (1/25)

SpaceX Rideshare Launch Highlights Difficulty for Space Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
The large number of satellites posed a challenge for space traffic management. The 18th Space Control Squadron, which monitors satellites and space debris for close approaches, had been coordinating with SpaceX and the satellite owners and operators before Sunday's launch to better understand how the payloads would be deployed, but the sheer number of satellites would make tracking and identification difficult. Such rideshare missions, analysts noted, can be efficient but have implications for spaceflight safety that have yet to be sorted out. (1/25)

Northrop Grumman and L3Harris Move Forward with Missile Tracking Satellite Projects (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman and L3Harris won Missile Defense Agency contracts to develop prototype missile-tracking satellites. Northrop Grumman won a $155 million contract Friday, while L3Harris received a $121 million contract earlier in the month. Each company will build a prototype satellite to launch into low Earth orbit to test the capabilities of the sensors to track hypersonic missiles and the faint upper stages of ballistic missiles. The satellites will be part of a larger missile warning network that also includes wide-field-of-view missile tracking satellites to be acquired by the Pentagon's Space Development Agency. (1/25)

Phase Four Launches Plasma Thrusters on SpaceX Rideshare (Source: Space News)
Sunday's Transporter-1 mission included the first electric thrusters developed by startup Phase Four. The company's Maxwell plasma thrusters flew on two undisclosed spacecraft. Phase Four has been working for several years on the thrusters, which it describes as the most compact thrusters available in its class for use on microsatellites. The company expects to fly as many as 10 Maxwell thrusters this year as it scales up production of those thrusters and works on advanced designs. (1/25)

Former Astronaut Resigns as Canada Governor General (Source: CBC)
Former astronaut Julie Payette is resigning as Canada's governor general. Payette announced last week she would resign after a report concluded that she and her secretary led a "toxic work environment" at the office, which serves as the queen's representative in Canada. Employees had complained Payette and her secretary berated and publicly humiliated them. Payette didn't admit to any specific problems, but acknowledged "tensions" at the office. (1/25)

Exoplanets Found Locked in a Rythmic Dance (Source: HobbySpace)
Using a combination of telescopes, including the Very Large Telescope of the European Southern Observatory (ESO’s VLT), astronomers have revealed a system consisting of six exoplanets, five of which are locked in a rare rhythm around their central star. The researchers believe the system could provide important clues about how planets, including those in the Solar System, form and evolve. The first time the team observed TOI-178, a star some 200 light-years away in the constellation of Sculptor, they thought they had spotted two planets going around it in the same orbit. However, a closer look revealed something entirely different.

The system boasts six exoplanets and that all but the one closest to the star are locked in a rhythmic dance as they move in their orbits. In other words, they are in resonance. This means that there are patterns that repeat themselves as the planets go around the star, with some planets aligning every few orbits. A similar resonance is observed in the orbits of three of Jupiter’s moons: Io, Europa and Ganymede. Io, the closest of the three to Jupiter, completes four full orbits around Jupiter for every orbit that Ganymede, the furthest away, makes, and two full orbits for every orbit Europa makes. (1/25)

March 25 Set for Boeing Starliner Orbital Flight Test From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Parabolic Arc)
NASA and Boeing are targeting no earlier than Thursday, March 25, for the launch of Starliner’s second uncrewed flight test as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2) is a critical developmental milestone on the company’s path to fly crew missions for NASA. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is designed, built, tested and flown by a team committed to safely, reliably and sustainably transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

The target launch date is enabled by an opening on the Eastern Range; the availability of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket; steady progress on hardware and software; and an International Space Station docking opportunity. The company recently mated the spacecraft’s reusable crew module atop its brand-new service module inside the Starliner production factory at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Teams are working to complete outfitting of the vehicle’s interior before loading cargo and conducting final spacecraft checkouts. (1/25)

Momentus’ Russian CEO Resigns Over National Security, Foreign Ownership Concerns (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Momentus, a commercial space company offering in-space infrastructure services, announced its Board of Directors has appointed Dawn Harms, the Company’s Chief Revenue Officer, as a director and interim CEO effective immediately, following the resignation of director and founding CEO Mikhail Kokorich. Momentus, in consultation with the Company’s announced SPAC partner, Stable Road Acquisition Corp., has determined that accepting Mr. Kokorich’s resignation will expedite the resolution of U.S. government national security and foreign ownership concerns. (1/25)

Georgia HUNCH Students 3D Print Parts for Space Station (Source: NASA)
The HUNCH – High school students United with NASA to Create Hardware – Program has expanded its partnership opportunities to the Dade County, Georgia, school system. Students will increase their advanced manufacturing capabilities by producing super-strength carbon fiber elements for NASA, the International Space Station, and future deep space products. Middle School HUNCH students 3D-printed items manufactured using the school’s printer. HUNCH’s goal is to empower and inspire students through a project-based learning program and by providing opportunities to students to play an active role in the space program. (1/11)

Biden Aims To Tighten Buy American Criteria (Source: Law360)
President Joe Biden is expected to issue an executive order on Monday that would tighten restrictions on federal agencies' purchases by increasing domestic content requirements for contracts and requiring agencies to close loopholes for determining country-of-origin. Although federal agencies are mandated to give preference to American companies in the roughly $600 billion they spend on federal contracting each year, those preferences are frequently implemented inconsistently or ineffectively, and some haven't been updated in decades. (1/25)