January 9, 2021

Extremely Boring Aliens (Source: Scientific American)
Perhaps other life in the universe is, in the end, utterly dull. One wonders whether this is what it will feel like when (and if) we eventually find evidence that we’re not alone in the cosmos. After all, 2020 has been a doozy of a year; a weird, horrifying branch of the human timeline that has so often felt like it was an alternate reality we would’ve done better to avoid. Why not add the discovery of other technological life to the mix? For that matter, why shouldn’t that discovery just sneak up on us in a comparatively ordinary fashion?

The story could easily happen like this: a rumor, a leaked bit of news, a preliminary discussion from the scientists, and then lo-and-behold it’s basically all over, and the fact of a populated galaxy just becomes another piece of history: All because of a monotone carrier wave signal from Proxima Centauri emanating from some ordinary alien activity. Perhaps just a telemetry band for their modest interplanetary spacecraft, or some kind of planetary radar, or a fledgling planet-bound communication system, or who knows what. No fancy data stream or purposefully directed signal, just a species going about its business in precisely the way that we do.

There’s an interesting parallel too with our discovery of planets around other stars. Perhaps that is how it will also go for the search for extraterrestrial intelligence. There’ll be some initial oddities, some curiosities that aren’t quite the things we planned for. A dull carrier wave signal for instance. Over time more evidence will show up, until eventually it’s clear that there are lots of species out there, puttering around in their own little neighborhoods and doing nothing truly extraordinary, because those possibilities were, in the end, more the product of our lively imaginations than anything that the universe compels life towards. (1/9)

Space Force Added to Intelligence Community (Source: Reuters)
The Space Force established in 2019 will become a full member of the U.S. intelligence community, the administration said on Friday. John Ratcliffe, Trump’s director of National Intelligence, said the U.S. Space Force would become the 18th member of the U.S. intelligence community, which is led by Ratcliffe’s office and includes the CIA, FBI, National Security Agency and multiple agencies in the Defense, Treasury, Homeland Security and Energy departments. Making the Space Force a member of the intelligence community “breaks down barriers to information sharing and ensures that Space Force leadership has access to all the intelligence it needs to be successful,” the office said. (1/8)

Astronaut Scott Kelly Considers Texas US Senate Run, Against Cruz (Source: Twitter)
Astronaut Scott Kelly, twin brother to newly elected Senator Mark Kelly (D-AZ), was urged by a Twitter follower to consider running against Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX). Kelly responded "Hmm...maybe." The exchange came after Kelly posted tweets expressing concern about this week's right-wing siege of the US Capitol. Kelly's sister in law was gravely injured by an assassination attempt on Jan. 8, 2011. She was then a democratic congresswoman serving as the ranking member on the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics.

The Houston Chronicle has demanded that Ted Cruz resign: "Cruz knew exactly what he was doing, what he was risking and who he was inciting as he stood on the Senate floor Wednesday and passionately fed the farce of election fraud even as a seething crowd of believers was being whipped up by President Trump a short distance away." Cruz currently serves as chair of the Subcommittee on Science and Space. (1/9)

How Big Aerospace Supported Efforts To Undermine Democracy (Sources: OpenSecrets, NASA Watch)
OpenSecrets compiled a list of the top donors to GOP lawmakers who objected to the Electoral College results on Jan. 6, 2021. The dataset includes the top PAC donors, top individual donors and top industry donors to the campaigns and leadership PACs of lawmakers who objected to at least one state's election results. The rankings for aerospace companies include (10) Northrop Grumman $687,500; (15) Lockheed Martin $651,000; (18) Raytheon $570,000; and (19) Boeing $567,000.

NASA Watch says: "this is what big aerospace thinks about American democracy - they were massive donors to efforts to undermine the election. It is one thing for big aerospace companies to play both sides. It is quite another to even consider supporting someone who'd have undemocratic leanings - regardless of their party affiliation." (1/8)

James Webb Will Be the 'Launch to Watch in 2021' (Source: BBC)
If the standout rocket launch of 2020 was the flight that took US astronauts back into orbit from American soil, then the major rocket event of 2021 must surely be the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. The successor to the mighty Hubble observatory is due to go into orbit on 31 October. Its mission will be to detect the very first stars to shine in the cosmos. The carrier rocket will be Europe's venerable Ariane-5 vehicle.

It's part of the deal that the European Space Agency struck to get involved with the NASA-led telescope project. By providing the launch rocket and some instrumentation, ESA guaranteed European astronomers use of the new telescope once operational. JWST will go to the launch pad at Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, with a price tag of roughly $10 billion. (1/8)

Democratic Senators Poised to Take Space Focused Committee Posts (Source: Politico)
Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the ranking member of the Commerce Committee that oversees NASA, is expected to move up to the top position. Companies such as Blue Origin, SpaceX and Aerojet Rocketdyne all have footprints in Washington state and she is a big booster for investing in space infrastructure. Kyrsten Sinema (D-AZ) is the ranking member of Commerce’s space subcommittee. She has been a supporter of the space industry and is also a co-chair of the Space Force Caucus, but it’s unclear if she’ll take the leadership role.

It’s also not yet clear if Mark Kelly (D-AZ), a freshman and former astronaut whose platform primarily focused on gun control and climate change, will want to be on the panel. When it comes to the Appropriations subcommittee overseeing NASA, Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), who has some contractors in her home state vying to be part of NASA’s Artemis mission, is next in line. None of the lawmakers’ offices responded to a request about their committee plans. Richard Shelby (R-AL), the outgoing Appropriations chair, must give up the gavel but will remain a primary booster of United Launch Alliance, headquartered in his home state. (1/8)

Raimondo to Lead Commerce Department (Source: Politico)
President-elect Joe Biden on Thursday tapped Rhode Island Gov. Gina Raimondo to be Commerce secretary, a Cabinet post that has gained much more influence over space policy in the Trump administration. Over the past four years, the agency has been integral to space policy reforms, especially a presidential directive streamlining commercial space regulations. And if Biden maintains the White House National Space Council, Raimondo will have a seat on the inter-agency panel that helps set the nation’s space policy.

She could also have a say in whether the Commerce Department takes the lead on tracking space debris, a Trump administration proposal that has faced opposition on Capitol Hill. She doesn’t have much of a track record on space issues. There are two mentions on her official Twitter feed: one in 2016 commending the Rhode Island School of Design for working on space suit design and another in 2019 congratulating a Rhode Island team of students for participating in the Zero Robotics International Space Station Programming Challenge. (1/8)

NASA Awaits New Leadership (Source: Politico)
It’s too soon to expect a Biden pick to lead NASA, multiple sources said, even though the announcement was originally rumored to come this month. There historically has not been a rush to name a NASA administrator. Trump nominated Jim Bridenstine to lead the space agency in September 2017, more than eight months after taking office. And it took many more months before he was confirmed. The agency was run by Robert Lightfoot in an acting capacity from Inauguration Day until April 30, 2018. (1/8)

SpaceX Deploys Turksat From Florida in First 2021 Launch (Source: Space News)
A Space X Falcon 9 successfully launched a Turkish communications satellite Thursday night. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 9:15 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral and released the Turksat 5A satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit 33 minutes later. The Airbus-built satellite will provide Ku-band broadcast services from 31 degrees east in GEO. The launch is the first during what may be the busiest year yet for SpaceX, who is likely to exceed the 25 orbital launches it performed last year. (1/8)

Arianespace Wants More European Government Support (Source: Space News)
Arianespace's CEO says European governments need to increase their support of the launch provider to match U.S. government support of his competitors. In a briefing Thursday, Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël said companies like SpaceX benefit from U.S. government support "with no precedent," such as the national security launch contracts SpaceX and ULA received last year. He called on European governments to "renew the public-private partnership around Ariane 6 and Vega C," including a bulk order of launches the European Commission is proposing to make this year. Arianespace reported revenues of about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion) in 2020, and Israël said the company in 2021 will exceed the 10 launches it performed last year. (1/8)

DoD's SDA Restores L3Harris and SpaceX Contracts After Protest (Source: Space News)
The Space Development Agency (SDA) has restored contracts awarded to L3Harris and SpaceX for producing an initial set of missile-tracking satellites. The two companies received awards in October, valued at $193.5 million for L3Harris and $149 million for SpaceX, for the Tracking Layer Tranche 0 satellites, but work stopped after protests filed by Airbus and Raytheon. SDA agreed to reevaluate the contracts, and concluded the L3Harris and SpaceX bids still provided the best value to the government. (1/8)

ESA Picks Thales Alenia to Build Gateway Module (Source: ESA)
Thales Alenia Space will build a European module for NASA's lunar Gateway. ESA announced Thursday that it awarded Thales a contract valued at 296.5 million euros for the European System Providing Refueling, Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) module. ESPRIT consists of two elements, a communications system that will fly as part of NASA's HALO module, and a separate refueling element that will launch later in the decade. (1/8)
 
Virgin Orbit Delays Launch (Source: Virgin Orbit)
Virgin Orbit is delaying a LauncherOne launch that was scheduled for this weekend by several days. The company announced Thursday that the mission, which had been scheduled for Sunday, is now set for launch Wednesday, Jan. 13 between 10 a.m. and 1 p.m. Eastern. That date was not among the list of backup windows published in a Coast Guard notice to mariners last week about the planned launch. Virgin Orbit didn't disclose the reason for the delay other than it was "wrapping up final tasks, coordinating with our customers, and preparing for our Launch Readiness Review on Friday morning." (1/8)

NASA and NSF Agree on Continued Collaboration (Source: NASA)
NASA and the National Science Foundation (NSF) announced a new agreement Thursday regarding cooperation in scientific research. The memorandum of understanding reaffirms what the agencies call their "longstanding partnership" on space and Earth science research. That work has previously included activities from Antarctica to the International Space Station, as well as cooperation in science education. (1/8)

NASA and FAA Agree on Continued Collaboration (Source: FAA)
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and NASA signed a new memorandum of understanding to support commercial space activities related to the transport of government and non-government passengers, cargo, and payloads for both orbital and suborbital missions. “This FAA-NASA collaboration at the Administrator level will advance America’s commercial space sector, aid science and technology, and help coordinate U.S. national space policies,” said U.S. Transportation Secretary Elaine L. Chao.

 The FAA and NASA have shared interests in creating a robust commercial space industry to achieve safe, reliable, and cost-effective access to space, and enhancing the competitiveness, safety and affordability of American aerospace capabilities. In addition, the partnership is critical to achieving the goals and objectives of multiple U.S. national space policies. (1/8)

Musk Surpasses Bezos on Wealth (Source: CNBC)
The founder of SpaceX has eclipsed the founder of Blue Origin as the world's wealthiest person. Elon Musk's net worth passed $185 billion Thursday, moving him head of Jeff Bezos, worth $184 billion thanks to his stake in Amazon. Musk's wealth is driven by the soaring stock price of Tesla, which has increased dramatically over the last year. Musk started 2020 with a net worth of "just" $27 billion. Musk, informed of his title as the world's richest person, tweeted, "How strange." (1/8)

Asgardia’s Project for New Module to Expand ISS (Source: Room)
Asgardia - represented by three Austrian-based legal entities, Asgardia Terra Ark (ATA) NGO, Asgardia Financial Ark (AFA) AG and Asgardia Independent Research Centre (AIRC) GmbH - has modelled the node on the proven design of existing European-built modules. Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli, founder of Asgardia and the general designer of the Asgardia node module and the lead of the project, said the module would help extend the capacity and commercial value of the Space Station.

Asgardia has created a consortium of established industry players, including Nanoracks Europe, Thales Alenia Space (Italy), OHB System (Germany) and QinetiQ (Belgium), to develop, build and deliver the module. As well as supporting commercial development and expanding scientific research opportunities, the state-of-art module would ultimately have the capacity to eventually form the core node of an autonomous space station operated by Asgardia. (1/8)

Warnings for Imminent Neutron Star Collisions (Source: Space Daily)
On 17 August 2017, an alert went out roughly 40 minutes after the LIGO observatory detected gravitational waves from a pair of colliding neutron stars. This alert sent telescopes worldwide slewing rapidly in an all-hands-on-deck effort to image the fireworks show accompanying the merger. But what if that alert had gone out before the collision?

When neutron stars merge, they are expected to produce both a gravitational-wave signal from their inspiral and a host of spectrum-spanning electromagnetic signatures from before, during, and after the collision. The event captured in August 2017, known as GW170817, is one of just two binary neutron star mergers we've observed with LIGO and its European sister observatory Virgo so far. But these collisions are likely to become a common detection in the future, particularly as LIGO and Virgo continue to upgrade and approach their design sensitivity. (1/7)

Rocket Lab Preps for Next Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab has announced its first Electron launch of the new year will be a dedicated mission for European space technology company OHB Group. This dedicated mission, named 'Another One Leaves the Crust,' is scheduled for lift-off during a 10-day launch window opening on January 16. Encapsulated inside Electron's fairing will be a single communication microsatellite that will enable specific frequencies to support future services from orbit. The launch will be Rocket Lab's 18th Electron mission. (1/7)

UK Government Funds Five Space Projects (Source: Space Daily)
Through the UK Space Agency, the government is giving a cash injection to 5 projects specifically designed to bring together UK business expertise with universities to help build space solutions to global problems, on UK soil. Click here. (1/7)

NASA Plans Simulator Training for Artemis (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is setting up a high-tech simulator, made by Lockheed Martin, to teach astronauts how to operate the Orion capsule during planned moon missions. Weak funding from Congress has cast doubt over the schedule for such lunar missions, but NASA is moving forward with preparations, officials have said. Lockheed delivered the Orion simulator to Johnson Space Center in mid-December, ahead of the first potential crewed flight to the moon in 2023. Astronauts will practice every step of their planned flights to the moon, from launch to lunar landing. (1/6)

October 2021 Flight to ISS by Tom Cruise Would Set a New Bar for Commercial Human Spaceflight (Source: Business Insider)
Space tourists have been flying to orbit since a millionaire made the first such flight in 2001. Now the startup Axiom Space has chartered the first all-private orbital mission, called Ax-1, which may launch as early as October. Flight commander Michael López-Alegría, a former NASA astronaut, will be joined by three private passengers, likely including Tom Cruise and the film director Doug Liman. The expedition is poised to be the first of its kind, and the gravity of that responsibility is not lost upon López-Alegría, a retired NASA astronaut turned vice president of business development for Axiom Space.

Called Ax-1, the mission could launch as soon as October in a Crew Dragon spaceship atop a Falcon 9 rocket. López-Alegría says Axiom will begin training the crew about four months ahead of launch, though that will likely extend given frequent slips in rocket-launch scheduling. "It's important to me for our crew to be respected," López-Alegría told Insider. "I don't want to give anybody any excuses to not like us." (1/8)

Mojave Air & Space Port’s CEO Serves Her Final Day, Starts Work at Spaceflight Federation (Source: AV Press, CSF)
Mojave Air & Space Port’s Chief Executive Officer and General Manager served her last day and the Board of Directors held their election of officers. During Tuesday’s Board of directors meeting, Karina Deers gave her appreciation and thanks to the airport, directors and staff for her tenure with the company. Deers announced her departure from Mojave Air & Space Port in October prompting the airport to begins its search for a new CEO. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation announced that Drees joined that organization as its new president effective January 4, 2021. (1/9)

Development Plan for Alaska Spaceport Released (Source: Kodiak Daily Mirror)
The Alaska Aerospace Corp. has released the final draft of its 10-year plan for developing Kodiak's Pacific Spaceport Complex — Alaska, including an assessment of potential environmental impacts as launch activity increases in the coming years. The corporation, which is a state-owned entity, is accepting public comments on the master plan until Jan. 31. After receiving feedback, the plan will be submitted to Alaska Aerospace Corp.’s board of directors for approval. Click here to see the draft. (1/8)

FAA Seeks Public Input on Planned Expansion of SpaceX’s South Texas Launch Site (Source: Border Report)
The FAA is asking the public to weigh in on SpaceX’s request to expand its launch and testing facility in South Texas near Boca Chica Beach, but some environmentalists worry the request is coming too late in the agency’s ongoing environmental assessment process. The FAA in June said t had launched an environmental assessment into the commercial space company’s request to expand to test and launch its Super Heavy rockets, such as its developing Starship spacecraft, which the company hopes one day to be able to fly humans to Mars.

This came after many area environmentalists and residents had expressed concern following several failed launch attempts and fiery explosions at the facility in 2020. Jim Chapman, who is the president of the nonprofit Friends of the Wildlife Corridor and has been involved in recent talks and discussions with the FAA and SpaceX, told Border Report that opening this up to public comments so many months into the process is much too late, and he believes it should have been done at the beginning to set the scope of what the FAA should study. (1/6)

Future Astronauts Could Use Methane to Make Rocket Fuel on Mars (Source: Space.com)
How will future astronauts get back home to Earth from Mars? According to a new study, they could make rocket fuel from the methane that's already on the Red Planet. Researchers have devised a new way to create methane-based rocket fuel that they hope could make return trips from Mars far more feasible. This method was previously theorized by Elon Musk and engineers at SpaceX who considered ways to use carbon dioxide and water from ice on Mars to have the necessary carbon and hydrogen necessary to create methane. (1/8)

ESA Director General to Retire Early (Source: Space News)
The outgoing director general of the European Space agency announced Jan. 8 that he will step down at the end of February, four months ahead of schedule. In a blog post, Jan Wörner announced that, after consultation with the chair of the ESA Council, Anna Rathsman, he will resign at the end of February. That will allow the incoming director general, Josef Aschbacher, to take over on March 1. (1/8)

The Tiny Satellites That Will Connect Cows, Cars and Shipping Containers to the Internet (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Scientists who track the health of Adélie penguins on the ice-covered wastes of Antarctica are managing their cameras from thousands of miles away—via tiny satellites orbiting above our heads. Energy companies are exploring using the same technology for monitoring hard-to-reach wind farms; logistics companies for tracking shipping containers; and agribusiness companies for minding cattle. It even helped National Geographic track a discarded plastic bottle from Bangladesh to the Indian Ocean.

In the near future, it isn’t unreasonable to imagine this evolving satellite technology could put a distress beacon in every automobile, allow remote monitoring of wildlife in any environment on earth, and track your Amazon shipment—not just when it’s on a truck, but backward, all the way to the factory that produced it. And it could be done at a fraction of the cost of earlier satellite tracking systems. Click here. (1/9)

How Satellites are Stopping Deforestation in Africa (Source: Space.com)
Satellites are helping to reduce deforestation across Africa. Thanks to the help of Earth-orbiting satellites, deforestation, which creates significant carbon emissions and is a major contributor to climate change, has decreased significantly in 22 African countries, researchers found in a new study. In these countries, organizations subscribed to a free service that sends out alerts about decreases in forest cover in the tropics from a new service that uses up-to-date satellite data. (1/8)

Los Angeles Rocket Startup ABL Space Aims for First Launch as Early as March, From California (Source: CNBC)
Rocket building startup ABL Space, founded by veterans of SpaceX and Morgan Stanley, is in the final stretch of preparations for its inaugural launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base. ABL president and CFO Dan Piemont said the company’s first launch is planned for “no earlier than March but no later than June.” The company’s RS1 rocket stands at 88 feet tall, and is designed to launch as much as 1,350 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit – at a price of $12 million per launch.

ABL has raised $49 million to date in venture capital funding, with investors including Venrock, New Science Ventures, Lynett Capital and Lockheed Martin Ventures. Additionally, ABL previously announced it has won contracts from the Air Force Research Laboratory and AFWERX, with the awards worth $44.5 million over three years. (1/8)

Young and Fearless: Korean Startups Enter Global Race for Space (Source: Korea Herald)
While overseas global corporations such as Elon Musk‘s Space X, are leading to charge to turn the stuff of science fiction into reality, in South Korea, the brave companies eyeing the likes of space travel and humanoid robots are not its hardware giants, but small startups. Hybrid rocket engine maker Innospace is a prime example. The Sejong-based startup, led by a former Hanwha engineer, manufactures small “hybrid” rocket motors that use a combination of solid fuel and liquid oxidizer, different from US rivals, most of whom use larger engines with either liquid or solid fuel. (1/9)