February 3, 2021

'Woman In Motion' Dives Deep Into a Story That Had to be Told (Source: SyFy)
Nichelle Nichols has had quite a diverse career, working in film and on the stage, but she's undoubtedly known best for her performance as Star Trek's Nyota Uhura. Working aboard the USS Enterprise made her a pop-culture icon, but it also prepared her to play an important part in real-life space exploration by working with NASA, as a new documentary details. Woman in Motion, in theaters this week, tells the story of Nichols' instrumental role in diversifying the American space program.

Nichols' work with NASA was multifaceted. It started with convincing NASA and government officials that not only was there a dearth of minority and women astronauts but that they hadn't tried hard enough to correct the issue. She also starred in ad campaigns convincing young students and budding scientists to apply for NASA employment. Many of NASA's former and current scientists and astronauts credit their careers to Nichols and those advertisements.

Woman in Motion details how her work in Star Trek facilitated this monumental task. It turns out seeing yourself reflected in popular media has a positive effect. With America already used to seeing Nichols on the bridge of the Enterprise, often playing the role as the liaison between the mostly human crew and some unknown cosmic force, she was the ideal candidate for this role. (2/2)

Ortega Wants For Nicaragua To Join The “International Space Community” (Source: Today Nicaragua)
Daniel Ortega, seeks to place Nicaragua in the space race, with the creation of a “National Secretariat for Outer Space Affairs, the Moon and other Celestial Bodies”, according to a bill to be presented to the Ortega controlled Congress this Tuesday. The bill intends for Nicaragua to actively join the “international space community.”

The bill proposes that the new body “Secretaría Nacional para Asuntos del Espacio Ultraterrestre, La Luna y otros Cuerpos Celestes” take charge of compliance with the “Treaty on the principles that should govern the activities of States in the exploration and use of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies.” Ortega has already shown his interest in putting Nicaragua in the space race, following his return to power in 2007. In 2012 he announced the acquisition of a Chinese satellite, called Nicasat-1, which was to enter orbit in 2016.

Valued at $244 million, the government announced that it had entrusted the project to the Gran Muralla China, and its progress is unknown. The future secretariat will be subordinate to the Presidency and coordinated by an official appointed by the president. The Ortega government launches this initiative at a time when the country has dragged on a political crisis since 2018, after the repression of protests by civil and opposition organizations that demanded his resignation. Nicaragua, a target of United States sanctions, is also affected by the pandemic and the drop in foreign investment. (2/2)

Details on FAA Issues With December's Starship Launch (Source: Space News)
The SN9 flight took place hours after the FAA revealed that the previous Starship prototype launched in December in violation of its license. The FAA said Tuesday that SpaceX requested a waiver to its license regarding "far field blast overpressure" that the FAA declined to grant. Despite the denial, SpaceX went ahead with the December launch of the SN8 vehicle. The FAA said that, as a result of that noncompliance with the terms of its license, it required SpaceX perform a review, including "a comprehensive review of the company's safety culture," before allowing the company to proceed with the SN9 flight. The agency said it did not expect to take any further enforcement action against SpaceX. (2/3)

Firefly Adds Two to Board of Directors (Source: Firefly Aerospace)
Firefly Aerospace today announced the appointment of Deborah Lee James and Robert Cardillo to its Board of Directors.  Firefly’s new three-person board, including Firefly CEO, Dr. Tom Markusic, will be led by Ms. James, serving as Chairman of the Board. Deborah Lee James has a three-decade track record in national security, including 20 years of U.S. government service, with time on Capitol Hill as a professional staff member in the U.S. House of Representatives and two tours in the Pentagon, first as an Assistant Secretary of Defense and later as the Secretary of the Air Force.

Robert Cardillo is president of The Cardillo Group, LLC, delivering strategic and operational expertise to create an enhanced awareness of planet Earth to enable improved decision-making. Before forming TCG in May 2019, Mr. Cardillo was the sixth Director of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency from 2014 until 2019. (2/3)

Viasat Wins AFRL Contract for Space Systems (Source: Space News)
Viasat won a $50.8 million Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract for a broad range of space systems. The seven-year contract includes studies, design, manufacturing, integration, launch, flight and demonstration of satellites, ground terminals and other technologies. AFRL previously awarded Viasat a $10 million contract to build a small satellite equipped with a Link 16 military communications terminal that will operate in low Earth orbit. (2/3)

Russia Launches Military Satellite From Plesetsk Spaceport (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
A Soyuz rocket launched a Russian military satellite Tuesday. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 3:45 p.m. Eastern on the first Russian launch of 2021. Russian officials did not disclose the payload on the rocket, but it is believed to be a Lotos signals intelligence satellite. (2/3)

DoD Appointee Will Scrutinize Space Acquisitions (Source: Space News)
The Biden administration's nominee for deputy secretary of defense says she will scrutinize space acquisitions. In testimony at a confirmation hearing Tuesday, Kathleen Hicks said the United States faces growing security challenges in space, and acquisitions of new technology should "increase warfighting effectiveness, enhance resilience, leverage commercial technology and innovation, and rapidly respond to future threats." She said she would follow congressional direction to transfer the Space Development Agency to the Space Force, and said that the Pentagon would apply extra scrutiny to mergers and acquisitions in the defense industry. (2/3)

MDA Plans New Commercial Radarsat (Source: Space News)
MDA plans to develop a commercial successor to Radarsat-2. MDA began working on the Radarsat-2 Continuity Mission approximately six months ago, but is not yet ready to announce launch plans. The new spacecraft would provide C-band synthetic aperture radar imagery like Radarsat-2, launched in 2007. MDA built the Radarsat Constellation Mission for the Canadian government, a set of three satellites launched in 2019, but those spacecraft are operated by the Canadian government rather than by MDA. (2/3)

ESA Contracts with Airbus for Orion Service Modules (Source: BBC)
ESA has completed a contract with Airbus for three Orion service modules. The contract, announced Tuesday and valued at $790 million, covers the fourth, fifth and sixth Orion service modules for the NASA crewed spacecraft. ESA provides the service modules to NASA as part of its contributions to the International Space Station and Artemis programs. (2/3)

Omnispace Raises $60 Million for Network Development (Source: Space News)
Omnispace has raised $60 million to fund development of a hybrid space and terrestrial network. The company announced the funding round Tuesday, which it says it will use to begin the rollout of its system that will provide internet of things services for enterprise markets using 5G standards. Omnispace previously acquired the assets of bankrupt satellite operator ICO, including its 2 GHz spectrum allocation and a single operational satellite. Omnispace plans to launch two smallsats next year, but has not determined the size of its full constellation. (2/3)

Germany's Mynaric Opens Washington DC Office (Source: Space News)
German laser communications company Mynaric has opened a Washington office. The office will allow the company to be closer to U.S. government agencies who are "driving the adoption of laser communications," the company said Tuesday. A key target customer is the Pentagon's Space Development Agency, which plans to procure hundreds of satellites equipped with laser communications terminals. Its optical terminals were selected by Telesat for satellites that will be flown as part of DARPA's Blackjack program. (2/3)

SpaceX's Koenigsmann Plans Retirement (Source: CNBC)
One of SpaceX's first employees is retiring from the company. Hans Koenigsmann joined SpaceX in 2002 as its fourth technical employee, and is now the vice president of build and flight reliability. According to an internal memo, he had been contemplating retirement for a while and decided now was the time to move on. Bill Gerstenmaier, the former NASA associate administrator who became a consultant to SpaceX last year, will succeed Koenigsmann. (2/3)

Bezos Steps Back From Amazon, Allows More Time for Blue Origin (Source: New York Times)
Jeff Bezos will soon have more time to devote to Blue Origin. Bezos announced Tuesday he will step down as CEO of Amazon in July, moving to a new position of executive chairman. Bezos said in a message to employees that that transition will give him the "time and energy I need to focus on the Day 1 Fund, the Bezos Earth Fund, Blue Origin, The Washington Post, and my other passions." Andy Jassy, who leads Amazon Web Services, will succeed Bezos as CEO. (2/3)

NASA Announces New Role of Senior Climate Advisor (Source: NASA)
In an effort to ensure effective fulfillment of the Biden Administration’s climate science objectives for NASA, the agency has established a new position of senior climate advisor and selected Gavin Schmidt, director of NASA’s Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, to serve in the role in an acting capacity until a permanent appointment is made.

“This position will provide NASA leadership critical insights and recommendations for the agency’s full spectrum of science, technology, and infrastructure programs related to climate,” said acting NASA Administrator Steve Jurczyk. “This will enable the agency to more effectively align our efforts to help meet the administration’s goals for addressing climate change.”

Climate adaptation and mitigation efforts cannot succeed without robust climate observations and research. With more than two dozen satellites and instruments observing key climate indicators, NASA is the premier agency in observing and understanding changes to the Earth. Furthermore, NASA enjoys broad public support and trust, lending credibility to its climate observations. (2/3)

Sea Levels Are Rising Faster Than Most Pessimistic Forecasts (Source: Bloomberg)
Climate change is causing oceans to rise quicker than scientists’ most pessimistic forecasts, resulting in earlier flood risks to coastal economies already struggling to adapt.  The revised estimates impact the two-fifths of the Earth’s population who live near coastlines. Insured property worth trillions of dollars could face even greater danger from floods, superstorms and tidal surges. The research suggests that countries will have to rein in their greenhouse gas emissions even more than expected to keep sea levels in check. (2/2)