April 12, 2022

OIG Says NASA Not Fully Reporting Costs For Moon Program (Source: Law360)
NASA is failing to fully and accurately report cost and schedule details for several major components of its Artemis "Moon to Mars" program, and has codified its "poor" reporting practices into policy, according to a watchdog audit report. According to the OIG, NASA is miscategorizing certain costs related to the three major programs underpinning the broader Artemis program, and hasn't adjusted its estimates of life-cycle costs for those programs since they had begun development under NASA's previously canceled Constellation program. (4/8)

Embry-Riddle Aerospace Facility ‘Next Phase’ of Collaboration Between University, Business (Source: Jacksonville Business Journal)
A massive donation will help Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University grow jobs and business development at its research park. The Daytona Beach-based university got a $25 million pledge from Cici and Hyatt Brown to add an expansion to its research park. The expansion — which is projected to get another $25 million that was approved by legislators — would include a 65,000-square-foot business building and 40,000 square feet of research-quality hangar space.

Already, the research park includes the 50,000-square-foot John Mica Engineering and Aerospace Innovation Complex (MicaPlex), a 16,000-square-foot building with a wind tunnel, a 7,500-square-foot Applied Aviation and Engineering Research Hangar and a 4,000-square-foot warehouse. The campus already supports more than 120 jobs directly through businesses and colleges there, but university president P. Barry Butler told Orlando Business Journal that number could easily double as the expansion comes about.

"The other part we have done in the current Micaplex, and will expand in the new facility, is new businesses being spun off from ideas that start within the university," Butler said. "Now there’s a place to take those ideas and transform them into a business." The new building is expected to have construction bid out in the coming months and the goal is to start construction during this summer. The college also is currently building a 10,000-square-foot Advanced Technology and Manufacturing Center in the research park, which is expected to finish in 12 months. (4/12)

Airbus Seeks Partnership with U.S. Companies on Private Space Station (Source: Aerospace America)
Airbus Space Systems wants to join its SciHab space station, which at the moment is just a concept, to one of the stations planned by providers in the United States, an executive said. Such a move would be a step toward ensuring the preservation of the partnership of nations that built the International Space Station, apart from Russia possibly since that country has threatened to leave the partnership, said Manfred Jaumann, an Airbus Space Systems vice president and head of low-Earth orbit operations.Airbus intentionally designed its concept to allow in-space attachment with another station. (4/6)

Maxar Faces Imagery Demand Spike, Plans New Satellites (Source: Space News)
Maxar says it's facing a capacity crunch given high demand for its satellite imagery. Maxar CEO Dan Jablonsky said that the company had made accommodations with some customers in order to increase the amount of imagery it can collect for the U.S. government and allies to monitor Russia's invasion of Ukraine. That capacity squeeze will continue, he said, until the company can launch its six-satellite Legion constellation. Those satellites will be launched two at a time on three Falcon 9 launches at three-month intervals starting later this summer. (4/12)

Space National Guard Proposal Shelved (Source: Space News)
A proposal to create a Space National Guard has been tabled indefinitely. A plan submitted by Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall to Congress earlier this month would create for the Space Force a regular active-duty force with full-time and part-time members. The proposal does not recommend establishing a Space National Guard that some had sought. The White House in September said it opposed creating a separate Space National Guard due to concerns about cost and bureaucratic bloat. (4/12)

SatixFy Founder Dies (Source: Space News)
The founder of satellite communications equipment maker SatixFy, a company in the process of going public, has died. The company said Monday that 69-year-old Yoel Gat, who had been CEO of the Israeli company, died of cancer April 8. Two days before his death, SatixFy said Gat was moving into a co-chair role to make way for a new CEO as part of sweeping leadership changes to prepare for a public market listing. SatixFy said that Gat's death does not affect plans for the company to go public through a SPAC merger. (4/12)

Sanders Decries Corporatization of Space (Source: @SenSanders)
Bernie Sanders: "If we are able to accomplish the extraordinary goal of sending a person to Mars, I want the flag that will be flying on that planet to be the flag of the United States of America, not the flag of SpaceX or Blue Origin." (4/8)

A Megaconstellation Megadeal (Source: Space Review)
Amazon announced last week the biggest commercial launch deal ever, purchasing up to 83 launches over five years from three companies, a deal worth several billion dollars. Jeff Foust reports on the details of the contracts and what it means for a launch industry already suffering from a lack of supply.Click here. (4/11)
 
Red and Black: The Secretive National Reconnaissance Office Finally Faces the Budgeteers (Source: Space Review)
In its early years, the NRO avoided budgetary scrutiny by the White House and Congress. Dwayne Day looks at what happened as policies changed and the NRO came into the crosshairs of the Office of Management and Budget. Click here. (4/11)
 
What is China Doing at the Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit? (Source: Space Review)
The orbiter from China’s Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission continues operations well after it returned samples to Earth. Kristin Burke explores why that spacecraft may now be operating in a distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. Click here. (4/11)

AFRL AFOSR Conduct Successful Hypersonics Rocket Launch at Virginia Spaceport (Source: Space Daily)
The BOLT II flight experiment, managed by the Air Force Research Laboratory/Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFRL/AFOSR), launched on March 21 from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The flight experiment successfully flew the planned flight path and acquired scientific data to further our understanding of boundary layer transition, turbulent heating, and drag at hypersonic conditions. (3/25)

Florida Cancer Researchers Send Experiment to ISS with Axiom Mission (Source: BollyInside)
Moffitt Cancer Center faculty members Patsy McDonald and Derek Duckett, owners of Cadw Therapeutics, sent an experiment to space aboard Axiom Space’s Axiom Flight 1, the first private astronaut mission to the ISS. Cadw Therapeutics and SpacePharma, an Israeli business that has built miniature lab systems that can work in space’s microgravity, collaborated on the experiment.

To execute cell-based studies aboard the space station, the automated lab in a box will use SpacePharma’s “lab-on-a-chip” technology. The goal is to see if the silence of a specific gene, beta-arrestin1, is linked to genomic damage caused by space travel. Financial support for the experiments has been provided through two grants from Space Florida’s Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership Program. (3/31)

Axiom Space Launches NFT Marketplace During Historic Ax-1 Mission to ISS (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Axiom Space unveiled its NFT marketplace ahead of its historic Ax-1 mission to the ISS. During the mission, Axiom will initiate the minting of several NFTs from space. Starting today, space fans of all kinds can purchase the first NFT and receive updates ahead of the upcoming drops.

Axiom’s custom NFT marketplace will feature digital artwork associated with the Ax-1 mission. Commander Michael López-Alegría will create a piece from space, representing his own personal experience of the Overview Effect. Mission Specialist Eytan Stibbe, Israeli impact investor and philanthropist, brings an inspirational message of unity, peace, and hope with digital artist Amit Shimoni.

Mission Specialist Mark Pathy, a Canadian entrepreneur, investor, and philanthropist, will create digital artwork featuring his personal Ax-1 mission patch, representing pushing one’s own limits. In addition to the crew members personal art, famed artist Michael Kagan, known for his paintings and sculptures of iconic images of space exploration, has created exclusive pieces to commemorate the Ax-1 mission, including an augmented reality 3D spacewalker. (4/8)

Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. Announce Japan-Based Joint Venture (Source: Axiom Space)
Building on the strategic partnership that Axiom Space and Mitsui & Co., Ltd. signed in September, and following Mitsui's investment in Axiom Space, the partners have initiated the formation of a joint venture in Japan to accelerate on-orbit services to commercial and government customers. This unique partnership builds on both Axiom's in-space capabilities and Mitsui's global industrial reach. (4/12)

Serco Europe Teams with Starburst to Increase Access to Space Data (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Serco Europe has partnered with Starburst, the aerospace accelerator, with the objective of increasing the uptake of Earth Observation data and space applications by startup organisations and their ecosystem. By joining forces, Serco Europe and Starburst will play a strategic role in facilitating the access and management of Earth Observation and Space data for startups.

As part of the partnership, Starburst will offer a wide range of accelerator and innovation programmes for entrepreneurs in Europe and beyond. Earth observation data processed by Serco will be used by the company to provide startups with tailored support at each stage of their growth. Serco and Starburst will also invest in the education for non-expert users, with structured training, events, hackathons and webinars. (4/12)

Rogozin Wants Continued Crew Interchange Between Capsules (Source: TASS)
Despite geopolitical tensions, the head of Roscosmos said he supports swapping crews between Soyuz and commercial crew vehicles. Dmitry Rogozin said in an interview Monday that he backed an agreement that would allow American astronauts to fly on Soyuz spacecraft in exchange for Russian cosmonauts flying on U.S. vehicles like Crew Dragon. The first swap could occur as soon as this fall, with Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina training to fly on the Crew-5 mission. That seat barter agreement is pending approval by the Russian government. (4/12)

Moog Opens Colorado Facility for Spacecraft Component Production (Source: Space News)
Moog has opened a new Colorado facility as the component supplier moves into spacecraft integration. The new facility, which opened earlier this month, quadruples the space the company has for building spacecraft. After decades of producing components and subsystems, Moog began selling entire small and medium spacecraft buses in 2018, and is scheduled to integrate nine space vehicles at the new Colorado facility this year. (4/12)

Rocket Lab Breaks Ground on Factory Near Virginia Spaceport (Source: WBOC)
Rocket Lab broke ground Monday on the Virginia factory where it will build its Neutron rocket. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin was among those who attended the ceremony near the Wallops Flight Facility, where construction will soon start on the factory slated for completion in 2024. The factory will employ 250 people working on the company's medium-class rocket that will launch from Wallops. (4/12)

South Korea's 425 Project Includes Five Reconnaissance Satellites to Watch North (Source: Space News)
A contract to launch a South Korean reconnaissance satellite on a Falcon 9 is part of a billion-dollar government project. The "425 project" plans to place five radar and optical imaging satellites into orbit by 2025, providing South Korea's military the ability to observe its nuclear-armed neighbor's key military facilities every two hours with 30-50 centimeters resolution imagery. The first satellite, with an optical payload, will launch by the end of 2023. (4/12)

Neptune is Cooling, and Heating (Source: Science News)
Astronomers are observing surprising temperature changes in the atmosphere of Neptune. Infrared observations from ground-based telescopes and the now-defunct Spitzer Space Telescope show that Neptune's global temperature cooled by 8 degrees Celsius from 2003 to 2012, but that the south pole warmed by 11 degrees from 2018 to 2020. The observations span only a small fraction of a Neptunian year, which lasts 165 Earth years, and astronomers said they're puzzled by the relatively sharp swings. They said they might need another 20 years of observations to understand the processes that cause the temperature changes. (4/12)

Planet Corp. Calls for US Leadership on ASAT Ban (Source: Parabolic Arc)
For the last ten years, Planet has raised concerns about the impact destructive anti-satellite weapons (ASATs) have on a healthy space ecosystem. ASATs threaten operations in Low Earth Orbit (LEO), jeopardize astronauts’ safety, and risk destroying satellites that provide critical services to humanity. They are irresponsible. Today, we want to shed light on this important issue and urge the United States Government to lead an international effort to prohibit the use of debris-creating anti-satellite weapons (ASATs). (4/12)