January 31, 2021

NASA, SpaceX to Launch Second Commercial Crew Rotation Mission to International Space Station (Source: NASA)
NASA and SpaceX are targeting no earlier than Tuesday, April 20, for launch of the second crew rotation mission with astronauts on an American rocket and spacecraft from the United States to the International Space Station. NASA’s SpaceX Crew-2 mission will launch four astronauts aboard a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9 rocket to the space station. It will be the first mission to fly two international partner crew members as part of the agency’s Commercial Crew Program.

NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthur will serve as spacecraft commander and pilot, respectively. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) astronaut Akihiko Hoshide, and ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Thomas Pesquet will join as mission specialists. The mission will lift off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (1/29)

NASA Proceeds With Plans for Second Hot Fire Test (Source: NASA)
NASA plans to conduct a second Green Run hot fire test as early as the fourth week in February with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage that will launch the Artemis I mission to the Moon. The Green Run is a comprehensive assessment of the rocket’s core stage prior to launching Artemis missions. Inspections showed the core stage hardware, including its engines, and the B-2 test stand are in excellent condition after the first hot fire test, and no major repairs are needed to prepare for a second hot fire test at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

While the first hot fire test marked a major milestone for the program with the firing of all four RS-25 engines together for the first time for about a minute, it ended earlier than planned. After evaluating data from the first hot fire and the prior seven Green Run tests, NASA and core stage lead contractor Boeing determined that a second, longer hot fire test should be conducted and would pose minimal risk to the Artemis I core stage while providing valuable data to help certify the core stage for flight. (1/29)

Starship Testing Slowed Because SpaceX Violated its Launch License in December Test, Triggering an FAA Probe (Source: The Verge)
SpaceX’s first high-altitude test flight of its Starship rocket, which launched successfully but exploded in a botched landing attempt in December, violated the terms of its FAA test license, according to two people familiar with the incident. Both the landing explosion and license violation prompted a formal investigation by the FAA, driving regulators to put extra scrutiny on Elon Musk’s hasty Mars rocket test campaign.

The December test launch at SpaceX’s Boca Chica, Texas, facilities was hailed by Musk as a success: “Mars, here we come!!” the chief executive tweeted moments after the rocket exploded on its landing, celebrating SN8’s successful 8-mile-high ascent with his followers. The FAA, which oversees ground safety and issues licenses for private launches, was not so happy. The mishap investigation was opened that week, focusing not only on the explosive landing but on SpaceX’s refusal to stick to the terms of what the FAA authorized. It was unclear what part of the test flight violated the FAA license

The heightened scrutiny from regulators after the launchpad spectacle has played a role in holding up SpaceX’s latest “SN9” Starship test attempt, which the company said would happen on Thursday. The shiny steel alloy, 16-story-tall rocket was loaded with fuel and ready to fly. But at the time, FAA officials were still going through their license review process for the test because of several changes SpaceX made in its license application. (1/29)

More Calls for Biden to Keep Space Council (Source: Politico)
The space industry is ramping up its lobbying for the Biden administration to maintain the National Space Council resurrected by former President Donald Trump. Seventeen industry groups penned a letter to Ron Klain, President Joe Biden’s chief of staff, and Hartina Flournoy, chief of staff to Vice President Kamala Harris, on Thursday explaining why the panel has been so crucial to facilitate partnerships between the civil, commercial and national security space communities.

The letter was signed by a number of trade groups, including the Aerospace Industries Association, Commercial Spaceflight Federation and the GPS Innovation Alliance. It was also signed by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Space Florida, which oversees launch facilities on Florida’s coast. (1/29)

Space Tourists Get Special Training at NASA JSC (Source: Politico)
Civilian astronauts train for the mission at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The training, which lasts 15 weeks nonconsecutively, is quite different from the rigorous, years-long training that astronauts undergo. While astronauts must fly the capsule, operate the International Space Station, and conduct science experiments in orbit, tourists are just along for the ride. The aspiring private astronauts are taught how to go to the bathroom and sleep in zero gravity, however.

“They hang out at the International Space Station,” Chiporukha explained. “They orbit the Earth. They see the sun rise and set every 90 minutes. They can Skype or FaceTime families and just hang out with the astronauts.” (1/29)

Russia and China Cooperation in Space Increases Threat to US (Source: Politico)
The Russian and Chinese militaries clearly pose growing threats to the United States in space. But their growing partnership also represents a major risk to the future of space commerce, argues Elya Taichman, a former congressional staffer who is now a law and public policy scholar at Temple University’s Beasley School of Law.

The Artemis Accords, the Trump administration’s feature effort in space diplomacy, lays out a shared vision for the peaceful use of space. But they “have driven China and Russia towards increased cooperation in space out of fear and necessity,” Taichman writes, noting that Russia’s space program “required increased funding that China could provide in exchange for the Russian expertise it craved.” Moscow and Beijing have also announced they are considering building a lunar research base.

That partnership is also creating “a destabilizing counter-system” that not only undermines national security “but also risks the very aim of the Artemis Accords: the expansion of space commerce,” according to Taichman. "A competing alliance in space will prevent the Artemis Accords from developing into customary international law that would increase stability." (1/29)

Too Many Risks, Unknowns for Georgia Spaceport (Source: Brunswick News)
Since the inception of this proposal, now under review by the Coastal Resources Division of DNR, Spaceport Camden has been rife with unsubstantiated claims and an absence of credible analysis. Although the project was revised by switching to proposed use of smaller rockets, the Draft Environmental Impact Statement [DEIS] fails to evaluate an actual accident’s impacts on Georgia’s coast – for a rocket of any size.

Inexplicably, federal authorities allowed human-hazard risks to be used as a substitute for independently evaluating environmental risk. Only debris large enough to cause a human casualty is accounted for. All smaller fragments are completely excluded from the “debris-fragment list.” (1/29)

Partnerships Could Mitigate Funding Limits for Biden's Space (Source: Time)
Former President Trump increased NASA's budget steadily over the course of his four years in office, from $19.65 billion in 2017 to $23.3 billion in 2021. That still represents relative pan scrapings, however—space agency funding makes up just 0.4% of the national budget compared to 4% back in the mid-1960s. What's more, the Trump Administration requested $3.2 billion in the 2021 budget for development of the Human Landing System (HLS), the Artemis project’s crewed lunar lander, but the House of Representatives agreed to just $600 million.

You can't touch down on the moon without a vehicle to take you there, and there is no particular reason to see greater funding for one forthcoming given the current makeup of the House. One way around both the money and engineering challenges might be for NASA to partner more closely with private industry. The Space Launch System (SLS), NASA's new 36-story moon rocket, has been in start-stop development for more than 15 years and has still not flown. It, along with NASA's Orion crew capsule, were set for a first, uncrewed flight around the moon in November of this year, but the Jan. 16 failure of a "hot-fire" engine test will almost certainly set that back. (1/29)

Space Force to Adopt ‘Specialist,’ Other New Ranks Feb. 1 (Source: Air Force Magazine)
The Space Force will drop the rank system it inherited from the Air Force for a new set that combines Air Force and Army names, the service said in a Jan. 29 memo to Guardians. A Space Force spokesman confirmed the authenticity of the memo, posted on a Facebook page popular with Airmen. It’s the latest move to forge the new service’s own path forward as it tries to establish a culture separate from the Air Force it came from in December 2019.

Changes to the rank structure only affect enlisted troops, while officers will retain the same career ladder from second lieutenant to general. Enlisted Guardians from E-1 to E-5 will be known as Specialist 1, Specialist 2, Specialist 3, Specialist 4, and Sergeant. That’s a switch from Airman Basic, Airman, Airman 1st Class, Senior Airman, and Staff Sergeant. The Space Force said people should address troops in the first four ranks as “Specialist,” though abbreviations or the full title are also acceptable. (1/30)

Space Force Grows Stronger at Buckley in Colorado as Leadership Readies for Change (Source: Sentinel)
Last year was one of titular change at Buckley Air Force Base as some of the complex’s longstanding groups were dissolved and shifted under the new umbrella of the U.S. Space Force, according to a virtual address released Friday. Buckley’s 460th Space Wing was inactivated in July after the base was named one of two garrisons under the military’s newest branch, according to former Buckley commander Col. Devin Pepper. Still, the thousands of people stationed at and working for Buckley will continue to monitor possible and real missile launches across the ether. (1/29)

Why Alabama’s ‘Rocket City’ is the Right Choice for U.S. Space Command HQ (Source: AL.com)
The U.S. Air Force’s decision on where to locate the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command has generated controversy, but it shouldn’t have. The Jan. 13 announcement was the culmination of a complex, time-consuming process as the Air Force selection team considered a wide range of key factors related to the Command’s mission, examining workforce availability, costs, the presence of Department of Defense assets, and much more. In the end, the Air Force made the right decision: Huntsville, Alabama.

In its official statement, the Air Force explicitly stated that Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal was the best choice for Space Command. It said: “Huntsville compared favorably across more of these factors than any other community, providing a large, qualified workforce, quality schools, superior infrastructure capacity, and low initial and recurring costs. Additionally, Redstone Arsenal offered a facility to support the headquarters, at no cost, while the permanent facility is being constructed.”

That is no surprise to me. Redstone Arsenal, the cradle of the nation’s rocket program, is a thriving, 38,000-acre federal campus, home to more than 70 military commands and government agencies. These include the Army Aviation and Missile Command, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency, the Defense Intelligence Agency/Missile and Space Intelligence Center, Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Army Combat Capabilities Development Command Aviation & Missile Center. (1/28)

India Space Spend Improves Marginally, Still Lags China, US (Source: Times of India)
India’s space expenditure improved marginally in 2 019 to to touch $1.8 billion compared to $1.5 billion in 2018, but the country still lags behind three big space faring nations, the US, China and Russia, the Economic Survey 2020-21 released Friday shows. The US spent 10 times more than India, while China’s expenditure was six times more. Comparatively, the  countries had spent 11 and seven times more than India as per the previous survey released in January 2020. (1/29)