January 6, 2021

Virgin Orbit Plans Sunday Launch Over Pacific (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit has scheduled its next LauncherOne mission for Sunday. The company said Tuesday it completed prelaunch preparations that had been delayed by "precautionary quarantines" of personnel last month because of COVID-19 contact tracing. This will be the second orbital launch attempt for LauncherOne, after an initial launch in May suffered an engine shutdown seconds after ignition. It will carry 10 NASA-sponsored cubesats. Separately, Rocket Lab announced Tuesday its first Electron launch of the year will take place no earlier than Jan. 16, carrying a communications satellite provided by German company OHB. (1/6)

DoD Wants New ICBM to Replace Minuteman 3 (Source: Space News)
The head of U.S. Strategic Command said that a new intercontinental ballistic missile is required. Adm. Charles Richard said that the current Minuteman 3 ICBM's life cannot be extended, and that the Pentagon needs to continue with development of the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD). The Air Force in September awarded Northrop Grumman a $13.3 billion contract to develop the GBSD over the next seven years. The program will cost tens more billions of dollars over the next two decades. Richard's comments were in reaction to calls for the Biden administration to reconsider the GBSD program. (1/6)

Cygnus Cargo Craft Departs ISS, Remains in Orbit for Experiments (Source: NASA)
A Cygnus cargo spacecraft will depart from the International Space Station this morning. The station's robotic arm will release the Cygnus NG-14 spacecraft at about 10:10 a.m. Eastern, three months after it arrived at the station. The Cygnus will remain in orbit until Jan. 26 to perform a series of experiments, including a combustion study called Saffire. A Dragon cargo spacecraft that arrived at the station last month is scheduled to undock next week. (1/6)
 
SpaceX Tests Starlink in UK (Source: The Sun)
SpaceX is starting a beta test of Starlink in the United Kingdom. Several people in the UK have reported receiving invites to the beta test and even Starlink hardware, although SpaceX hasn't officially announced the start of service in the country. SpaceX will be charging £89 ($120) per month for the service there, compared to the $99 per month beta testers in the United States pay. (1/6)

AAC Clyde Space to Develop Laser Comm Device on Norwegian Satellite (Source: Space News)
A subsidiary of smallsat manufacturer AAC Clyde Space won a contract to fly a laser communications terminal on a Norwegian satellite. Hyperion Technologies will perform an in-orbit verification flight for CubeCAT, its laser communications terminal, on the NorSat-TD technology demonstration mission launching in 2022. AAC Clyde acquired Hyperion, a Dutch company, last October. (1/6)

Delta Air Lines Picks Viasat for In-Flight Wi-Fi (Source: Space News)
Delta Air Lines will use Viasat to provide free high-speed connectivity on some of its airliners. Delta said it will install Viasat Ka-band systems on more than 300 of its narrow-body airliners as part of a program to provide free in-flight Wi-Fi for passengers. Equipment installations will begin this summer, and be compatible with both existing Viasat spacecraft and the new ViaSat-3 constellation scheduled to begin launching this year. Delta has relied for years on Gogo, acquired last year by Intelsat, to provide passenger Wi-Fi. (1/6)

Scientists Warn Against Lunar Ice Contamination (Source: Nature)
Planetary scientists are weighing exploration of potential ice deposits at the lunar poles with the risk that they could be contaminated by such missions. That ice is the focus of a number of missions proposed and under development, and could be a resource for future human expeditions. Some researchers, though, caution that the ice could be contaminated by those spacecraft, hindering scientific analysis. One potential compromise is to allow exploration and utilization of water ice at one of the poles, while preserving ice at the other pole for scientific study. (1/6)

As Space Command Decision Looms, Pentagon Team Due at Colorado's Peterson Air Force Base (Source: The Gazette)
After the pandemic moved a December meeting online, a team from the Pentagon is expected at Peterson Air Force Base Tuesday to put the finishing touches on a report that will decide whether Colorado Springs gets to keep U.S. Space Command. The team will tour the base, receive a briefing from local leaders and get a closer look at some of the region's infrastructure and utilities. The trip comes three weeks ahead of an expected Pentagon decision on where Space Command, now provisionally headquartered here, will be permanently housed. (1/5)

This ‘Unusual Star’ Is Unlike Anything Astronomers Have Seen Before (Source: Gizmodo)
Space is full of surprises, like this apparent star—which, given the tumultuous circumstances of its formation, shouldn’t really exist. New research describes a potentially new kind of star, one born in an event typically associated with destruction rather than creation: the merger of two white dwarfs. The paper adds to our understanding of this system, called IRAS 00500+6713, which caught the attention of astronomers back in 2019.

Indeed, this strange celestial case is providing astronomers with “new evidence of possible scenarios where supernova-like explosions are produced without completely destroying the exploding object,” said Josiah Schwab. White dwarfs are the dense, shriveled remnants of dead Sun-like stars. Pairs of white dwarfs often come together, resulting in a large stellar explosion known as a type 1a supernova. This was the case for IRAS 00500+6713, but the explosion wasn’t strong enough to destroy the system; instead, it resulted in the formation of an unknown type of celestial object, the new research suggests. (1/5)

Boeing to Close its Storied Seattle Manufacturing R&D Center (Source: Seattle Times)
From outside the Boeing security fence, the giant windowless, box-like building across the road from the Museum of Flight looks unremarkable, if mysterious. For decades, drivers passing by on East Marginal Way have wondered what exactly goes on inside such a large structure. Soon, the answer will be: nothing at all.

In yet another sign of Boeing’s shrinking local footprint, managers told affected employees just before Christmas that in the next four to six months the facility, known as the Advanced Developmental Composites (ADC) center, will be shuttered. Just 10 years ago, Boeing expanded the facility and portrayed it as a hub of future innovation for in-house manufacturing capabilities. (1/5)

NASA Space Launch System Proceeding with Green Run Hot Fire (Source: NASA)
NASA is targeting the final test in the Green Run series, the hot fire, for as early as Jan.17. The hot fire is the culmination of the Green Run test series, an eight-part test campaign that gradually brings the core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS) — the deep space rocket that will power the agency’s next-generation Moon missions — to life for the first time. NASA conducted the seventh test of the SLS core stage Green Run test series – the wet dress rehearsal – on Dec. 20 at NASA’s Stennis Space Center and marked the first time cryogenic, or super cold, liquid propellant was fully loaded into, and drained from, the SLS core stage’s two immense tanks.

The wet dress rehearsal provided structural and environmental data, verified the stage’s cryogenic storage capabilities, demonstrated software with the stage’s flight computers and avionics, and conducted functional checks of all the stage’s systems. The end of the test was automatically stopped a few minutes early due to timing on a valve closure. Subsequent analysis of the data determined the valve’s predicted closure was off by a fraction of a second, and the hardware, software, and stage controller all performed properly to stop the test. The team has corrected the timing and is ready to proceed with the final test of the Green Run series. (1/5)

NASA Explores Upper Limits of Global Navigation Systems for Artemis (Source: NASA)
The Artemis generation of lunar explorers will establish a sustained human presence on the Moon, prospecting for resources, making revolutionary discoveries, and proving technologies key to future deep space exploration. To support these ambitions, NASA navigation engineers from the Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program are developing a navigation architecture that will provide accurate and robust Position, Navigation, and Timing (PNT) services for the Artemis missions. Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS) signals will be one component of that architecture.

GNSS use in high-Earth orbit and in lunar space will improve timing, enable precise and responsive maneuvers, reduce costs, and even allow for autonomous, onboard orbit and trajectory determination. GNSS refers to PNT satellite constellations operated by the U.S., the European Union, Russia, China, India, and Japan. GPS, the PNT constellation created by the U.S. Air Force, is probably the example most Americans are familiar with.

On Earth, GNSS signals enable navigation and provide precise timing in critical applications like banking, financial transactions, power grids, cellular networks, telecommunications, and more. In space, spacecraft can use these signals to determine their location, velocity, and time, which is critical to mission operations. “We’re expanding the ways we use GNSS signals in space,” said SCaN Deputy Director for Policy and Strategic Communications J.J. Miller, who coordinates PNT activities across the agency. “This will empower NASA as the agency plans human exploration of the Moon as part of the Artemis program.” (1/5)

UK Eyes Plan to Send First Rover to Moon in 2021 (Source: Space Daily)
According to the report, the robot, designed by London-based Spacebit, is expected to join the NASA mission, landing on the lunar surface next summer, which will be the first step towards Britain having a rover on the Moon. Britain is to launch a little "space spider" Asagumo probe to the Moon in 2021. The designers opted for multiple legs instead of wheels so that Asagumo can pick its way over rough terrain, and crawl through underground lava tubes, which might provide a shelter for lunar bases or even colonies in the future. (1/5)

China: Space-Bred Seeds Offer Valuable Opportunities (Source: Space Daily)
China's historic 23-day Chang'e 5 mission has not only obtained precious rocks and soil samples from the moon, but has also brought back a group of seeds that traveled the furthest in the nation's agricultural and forestry histories. More than 30 kinds of seeds, including rice, oats, alfalfa and orchid, were placed inside the multi-module Chang'e 5 spacecraft and orbited around the moon for about 15 days.

Scientists wished to check what would happen to the seeds after being exposed to a unique environment in lunar orbit and also hoped that they could develop beneficial mutations. The seeds were chosen by multiple domestic organizations such as China Agricultural University, Beijing Forestry University, South China Agricultural University and the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences in a space-based mutation breeding program arranged by the Beijing-based China High-Tech Industrialization Association.

They were handed over to the participating organizations at a ceremony at the China National Space Administration on Dec 23. Liu Jizhong, director of the administration's Lunar Exploration and Space Program Center, said that the program was the first time Chinese researchers conducted mutation breeding experiments in deep space and it offered good opportunities to scientists. (1/5)

NASA Studies Fruit Flies to Understand Astronaut Sleep Cycles (Source: Space Daily)
Tiny fruit flies are helping NASA study how brain activity and sleep patterns change when organisms live in the microgravity of space. An experiment on the International Space Station will build on the United States' legacy of using fruit flies to understand how life endures in space. The experiment, known as Genes in Space-7, uses genetic matter derived from fruit fly brains to understand their circadian rhythm - or 24-hour sleep cycle.

"Of course, it would be ideal to sample astronauts' neural tissue, but we can't do that safely," said Finsam Samson, a student at Stanford University in California and lead investigator for the GIS-7 experiment, which was delivered to the space station on a SpaceX Dragon capsule in November. "Instead, we can send large numbers of fruit flies, and they are a great organism to study, since there's been groundbreaking work on Earth and in space on fruit flies already," Samson said.

The current experiment uses only genetic material from fruit flies grown on Earth to prove the technique that would be used to analyze fruit flies grown on the space station in future experiments. NASA astronaut Kate Rubins conducted a genetics test known as a polymerase chain reaction on the genetic matter to tease out portions of it that are related to circadian rhythm. (1/1)

Astronomer-Turned-Filmmaker Strives to Ignite an Interest in Space (Source: PNAS)
For scientists at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the night of January 3, 2004 entailed six minutes of nerve-wracking terror. Around 8:30 PM Pacific Time, the Spirit rover began its plunge to the Martian surface, as an audience of engineers and others—temporarily unable to receive any communication from the craft—waited anxiously to get confirmation of its success. But how might one capture the gravity of that moment, the tension among observers, the majesty of the feat, and its implications for researchers and the public?

Astronomer-turned-filmmaker José Francisco Salgado had some ideas. A few years ago, he put together a film in which that landing event unfolds as a suspenseful, and ultimately heroic, scene. Audiences who attend presentations of the film—one of many in his “Science and Symphony” series—watch a reconstruction of Spirit’s journey on a giant screen while a live orchestra plays “Mars, The Bringer of War” from The Planets, Gustav Holst’s most famous contribution to classical music.

In Salgado’s telling, the visuals and music line up exactly, so that the rover’s stressful fall occurs during a long and building crescendo in Holst’s piece (see https://vimeo.com/46390508). The treads of a rover sigh and settle into the alien soil at the musical conclusion of that build-up—a thundering alarm of blaring trumpets and tympani. Such a scene would feel right at home in any number of science-fiction films. (1/5)

U.S. Companies, Led by SpaceX, Launched More Than Any Other Country in 2020 (Source: SpaceflightNow.com)
Leading all other nations, U.S. launch providers flew 44 missions in 2020 that aimed to place payloads in Earth orbit or deep space, with 40 successes. China followed with 35 successful orbital missions in 39 launch attempts. Russia’s space program was in third place with 17 successful launches of Russian-built rockets in as many tries, including two Soyuz missions from the European-run spaceport in French Guiana. European-built launchers reached orbit four times in five attempts, and Japanese vehicles launched four times, all successfully.

India’s space program, grounded much of the year by the coronavirus pandemic, launched two successful orbital missions in as many attempts. Iran conducted two orbital launch attempts, with one success, and Israel launched a single mission to deliver a military spy satellite into orbit. The most-flown type of space launchers in 2020 were SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and the Russian Soyuz. Chinese Long March rockets flew 34 times — more than Falcon 9s or Soyuz rockets — but come in a range of configurations, making them difficult to classify into a single family.

The final tally for orbital launches worldwide in 2020 ended up at 104 successful flights in 114 attempts. The ten launch failures were more than global launch providers suffered in a single year since 1971. Despite the global pandemic, the 114 launch attempts last year tied 2018 for the most orbital launches globally since 1990, when Cold War-era military budgets helped propel more missions into orbit. Despite the global pandemic, the 114 launch attempts last year tied 2018 for the most orbital launches globally since 1990, when Cold War-era military budgets helped propel more missions into orbit. (1/5)

Origami-Inspired Lunar Habitat Tested in Greenland (Source: Sputnik)
The two architects built the foldable futuristic-looking shelter as part of an experiment to establish whether ordinary people without training could survive in harsh conditions, including those on the Moon. Danish "space architects" Sebastian Aristotelis and Karl-Johan Sorensen have wrapped up their mission in Greenland aimed at testing a "Lunark" shelter - an origami-inspired camp designed to withstand lunar conditions.

The shelter weighing 1,700 kilograms was designed by the SAGA Space Architects where Aristotelis and Sorensen are employees. The habitat can be folded so as to fit in a space rocket without occupying much space. It is also designed to weather temperatures as low as -45 Celsius and wind speeds up to 89 kilometres per hour. The intrepid Danes spent two months in the collapsible shelter in Greenland's uninhabited central region, surviving on protein shakes and water obtained from thawed ice. (1/5)

SpaceX, L3Harris Pursue Hypersonic Missile Defense System (Source: UPI)
SpaceX has won a $150 million contract to launch the U.S. Department of Defense's first batch of hypersonic missile defense satellites, the second contract -- for roughly the same amount -- that has been awarded for their development. SpaceX and Florida-based defense firm L3Harris Technologies are competing and collaborating on the project, which is designed for the rapid development of a globe-circling network with dozens of satellites. Lockheed Martin and Denver-based satellite firm York Space Systems also are building spacecraft for the network.

SpaceX and L3Harris each are building four missile detection satellites for the first launch, expected in 2022. Lockheed and York are developing communication satellites that would relay signals about a hypersonic missile's location and potential path. Although competitors, the firms are required to collaborate on ensuring the satellites work together. (1/4)

Momentus Announces Move of Vigoride from January 2021 Mission; Will be Remanifesting to a Subsequent Launch (Source: Momentus)
Momentus will be remanifesting its January 2021 mission to a subsequent launch opportunity in 2021. This move will allow for the additional time necessary to secure FAA approval of Momentus’ payloads, including completion of a standard interagency review. Momentus currently holds all other necessary licenses for its Vigoride vehicle. The Company has booked several additional launches with SpaceX between June and December of 2021. (1/4)

China Plans Launch of Space Station Core During First Half of Year (Source: Parabolic Arc)
China will launch the Tianhe core module of its first permanent space station aboard a Long March-5B Y2 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site during the first half of 2021, according to the chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program. China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022. Two experiment modules named Wentian and Mengtian will be attached to the core. Launches of the new modules are scheduled for 2021 and 2022.

The space station will be similar in size to the Mir space station built by the Soviet Union during the 1980’s. It will have a mass about one-quarter that of the International Space Station. Chinese astronauts will travel to the space station using three-seat Shenzhou spacecraft. Later flights will be aboard the nation’s next-generation crewed spacecraft, which will be capable of carrying six or seven astronauts. (1/5)

Naval ROTC Inventor Takes on Elite Air Force Space Challenge (Source: ERAU)
A startup company launched by a Naval ROTC faculty member on Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University’s Daytona Beach Campus was the only Florida business to participate in the recent AFWERX Space Challenge initiative. Maj. John C. Lee, a U.S. Marine, assistant professor of Naval Science and CEO of Space Domain Awareness, is developing technology to more effectively identify satellites – both after they are launched and throughout their orbits.

Billed as the “world’s first orbital license plate,” the technology promises faster, more accurate identification of satellites, when compared to the traditional chain-of-custody tracking method based on ground-based radar, Lee said. Space Domain Awareness finished strong in its first-ever competition, the Space Asset Resiliency segment of the AFWERX Space Challenge. It also took home a first-place judge’s prize at the 2020 TREP Expo. Now, the company has been selected to participate in the Hyperspace Challenge – an accelerator program that will help Space Domain Awareness connect with government space stakeholders to better understand their priorities. (1/4)

What You May Have missed In The New National Space Policy (Source: Brookings)
There is a Starship Enterprise’s worth of interesting content and no shortage of ground-breaking ideas in these documents. They’re all definitely worth a close read if you’re even a little bit interested in space issues. And there is a good chance that this policy document will set the tone for the space-faring agencies of the federal government for at least the next few years. Click here. (12/14)

Russia Plans More Proton-M Launches in 2021 (Source: Sputnik)
Russia plans to perform three launches of the Proton-M carrier rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome next year, three times more than in 2020, a space industry source told Sputnik. In 2020, only one Proton-M launch was carried out, putting telecommunications satellites Express-80 and Express-103 into orbit. (1/1)