June 16, 2022

NASA Watchdog Says the Outlook Isn’t Good for its Mega-Moon Rocket Launcher (Source: Fast Company)
The tower is going to be late, over budget, and too heavy. The OIG report concluded that Bechtel’s poor performance caused 70% of the cost overruns and 1.5 years of project delays. The project had already cost NASA $436M by March 2022; it’s expected to cost $960M when all is said and done. The OIG report estimates that delivery won’t be until October 2025 at the earliest, which would delay Artemis IV, the second crewed flight of NASA’s Artemis program to return humans to the lunar surface, to no earlier than 2026.

The culprits: underestimating the scope of the project, staff retention issues, and design flaws. Bechtel came back with a statement challenging the finding that its poor performance was to blame. Its argument: the OIG report ignored the impacts of the pandemic and unexpected design changes. (6/16)

Musk, Tesla, SpaceX Are Sued for Alleged Dogecoin Pyramid Scheme (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk, SpaceX and Tesla Inc. were sued for $258 billion over claims they are part of a racketeering scheme to back the cryptocurrency Dogecoin. Keith Johnson, “an American citizen who was defrauded out of money by defendants’ Dogecoin Crypto Pyramid Scheme,” sued Musk and his companies, claiming they constitute an illegal racketeering enterprise to inflate Dogecoin’s price.

“Defendants falsely and deceptively claim that Dogecoin is a legitimate investment when it has no value at all,” Johnson said in his complaint, filed Thursday in federal court in Manhattan. Johnson is seeking to represent a class of people who have lost money trading in Dogecoin since April 2019. He is asking for $86 billion in damages, plus triple damages of $172 billion, as well as an order blocking Musk and the companies from promoting Dogecoin, and declaring that Dogecoin trading constitutes gambling under US and New York law. (6/16)

President Sheikh Mohamed Hails UAE’s 'Historic' Moon Mission Before Launch (Source: The National)
President Sheikh Mohamed has reviewed the UAE’s mission to the Moon, which is scheduled for launch later this year. Sheikh Mohamed met the Emirati engineers who have been developing the mission since 2017. The Rashid rover, a 10-kilogram four-wheel robotic vehicle, will be carried to the lunar surface on a Japanese lander, Hakuto-R Mission 1. The mission will blast off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Florida’s Kennedy Space Centre during a launch window from October to December. (6/15)

Space Systems Command Using a ‘Buy First’ Attitude with Procurement (Source: Federal News Network)
Space Systems Command (SSC) is still not even a year old, however it is trying to find quick ways to procure space products so the Defense Department’s need for those weapons increases. SSC is adopting a “buy first, build last” approach to acquisition for space products in hopes of rolling them out faster than relying on the military’s slower procurement system to remake the wheel. The organization stood up its Commercial Services Office at the beginning of the year with the goal of reaching out to industry to find out what kinds of data and services are already available in the commercial sector that DoD and the Space Force can use. (6/14)

ESA Pursues a Shared European Vision for the Future of Space Transportation (Source: ESA)
As the European Space Agency prepares to begin operations of its next-generation Vega-C and Ariane 6 launch systems complemented by the reusable Space Rider orbital transportation system, work is underway to define the future of European space transportation capabilities for the coming decade and beyond. ESA, together with partners, is elaborating a vision of the future of space transportation in Europe. The objective is to identify the activities required to unleash Europe’s technological potential as a global competitor, with an industrial landscape that fosters innovation and drives cost reduction.

Identifying critical technologies is a key feature of this approach. Work has been underway since summer 2021 to identify features of a future European space transportation infrastructure. The next phase will be to define a technology roadmap that allows ESA, Europe’s national space agencies and institutions, and both established and start-up space companies to match the intense technical and commercial competition coming from the USA, China, Russia and India. More than 100 representatives of Europe’s space sector are preparing to gather on 28 June in Palermo, Sicily for an intensive series of roundtable discussions. (6/16)

SpaceX Employees Draft Open Letter to Company Executives Denouncing Elon Musk’s Behavior (Source: The Verge)
An open letter to SpaceX decrying CEO Elon Musk’s recent behavior has sparked open discussion among the company’s employees in an internal chat system. Employees are being encouraged to sign onto the letter’s suggestions, either publicly or anonymously, with a signed version of the letter to be delivered to the desk of SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell.

The letter describes how Musk’s actions and the recent allegations of sexual harassment against him are negatively affecting SpaceX’s reputation. The document claims that employees “across the spectra of gender, ethnicity, seniority, and technical roles have collaborated on” writing the letter. It’s not known which SpaceX employees wrote the letter; the employees who posted the letter in the internal chat system have not responded to requests for comment.

“Elon’s behavior in the public sphere is a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us, particularly in recent weeks,” the letter states. “As our CEO and most prominent spokesperson, Elon is seen as the face of SpaceX — every Tweet that Elon sends is a de facto public statement by the company. It is critical to make clear to our teams and to our potential talent pool that his messaging does not reflect our work, our mission, or our values.” (6/16)

Fastest-Growing Black Hole Ever Seen is Devouring the Equivalent of 1 Earth Per Second (Source: Space.com)
The fastest-growing black hole ever seen is swallowing the mass equivalent of an entire Earth every second. This gargantuan black hole has a mass 3 billion times that of the sun, and its rapid consumption is causing the behemoth to grow rapidly, an international research team found. The black hole gorges via a process called accretion, in which it siphons matter from a thin disk of gas and dust rotating around the massive object.

Other black holes of a similar size stopped growing billions of years ago, but this newly discovered black hole is still getting larger. It's now 500 times bigger than Sagittarius A*,  the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way,  and would fit the whole solar system behind its event horizon, the boundary beyond which nothing can escape. (6/15)

Discovery Alert: Two New, Rocky Planets in the Solar Neighborhood (Source: NASA)
NASA’s TESS mission has found two rocky worlds orbiting the relatively bright, red dwarf star HD 260655, only 33 light-years away. The new planets, HD 260655 b and HD 260655 c, are among the closest-known rocky planets yet found outside our solar system that astronomers can observe crossing the faces of their stars. Using NASA’s orbiting planet hunter, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), scientists discovered sibling planets in Earth’s size-range that are prime candidates for atmospheric investigation. (6/15)

House Approves DoD Space Budget Increase (Source: Space News)
House appropriators approved a bill Wednesday that increases defense spending, including for space programs. The House Appropriations Committee's defense subcommittee approved on a voice vote a bill that would provide the Defense Department with $761.6 billion for fiscal year 2023. That is an increase of $32 billion above 2022 funding but less than the $773 billion requested by the Biden administration. Funding for the Space Force and national security space programs is largely in line with the administration's request, with a $160 million increase for national security space launch for two additional launches and $30 million more for research and development projects to be done in partnerships with domestic launch providers. (6/16)

NASA and ESA to Cooperate on Earth Science and Lunar Missions (Source: Space News)
The leaders of NASA and ESA signed agreements Wednesday to cooperate on Earth science and a lunar mission. At a meeting of the ESA Council in the Netherlands, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher signed the Framework Agreement for a Strategic Partnership in Earth System Science, covering how the agencies will coordinate Earth science observations and exchange of data. They also signed a memorandum of understanding on Lunar Pathfinder, a commercial lunar communications satellite being built by SSTL with ESA support. NASA will launch Lunar Pathfinder on a Commercial Lunar Payload Services mission and gain access to communications services from the spacecraft. Aschbacher and Nelson said they are continuing discussions on a potential NASA role supporting ESA's ExoMars mission. (6/16)

OneWeb Tests Service on Airline In Flight (Source: Space News)
OneWeb has tested its satellite network on an airliner in flight. The company said it demonstrated downlink speeds of up to 260 megabits per second and uplink speeds of 80 megabits per second on a Boeing 777 last month during a one-hour flight in Texas. OneWeb added this performance was achieved under test conditions and does not represent the commercial services it plans to offer. Aircraft equipment integration specialist Stellar Blu Solutions provided the terminal platform, called Sidewinder, which incorporates electronically steered array technology from Ball Aerospace. (6/16)

D-Orbit Wins ESA Contract for Orbital Transfer Vehicle (Source: Space News)
D-Orbit has won an ESA contract to upgrade its orbital transfer vehicle. The company said the $2 million contract, awarded last week, will improve the performance and reduce the cost of its ION transfer vehicle. Over six flights, D-Orbit has transported more than 80 payloads in orbit, including 60 satellites deployed from ION and additional payloads hosted onboard. D-Orbit expects to close its SPAC merger with Breeze Holdings in the third quarter, which it says will provide capital as well as help the Italian company enter the U.S. market. (6/16)

Ingenuity Helicopter Flew Again on Mars (Source: NASA JPL)
The Ingenuity Mars helicopter flew for the first time in more than a month on June 11. The helicopter flew 179 meters on the 66.6-second flight, the first since late April. The onset of winter, as well as dust storms, reduced the power available to Ingenuity, while an instrument used to help fly the helicopter also recently malfunctioned. The flight was the 29th for Ingenuity, which was originally designed for no more than five flights. (6/16)

Boeing Develops Starliner Pressure Suit with Mythbuster (Source: CollectSpace)
Boeing has developed a second pressure suit for its Starliner commercial crew vehicle, with a former Mythbuster playing a role. Boeing selected ILC Dover to make pressure suits for Starliner missions after previously contracting with David Clark Company, which made the suits tested by a mannequin on two uncrewed test flights and will also be worn on a crewed test flight. The ILC suits will be worn on operational crewed missions to the space station. A replica of that new suit is on display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and was made by Adam Savage, former co-host of the show "Mythbusters". The replica is actually the first version of the suit seen by the public, with the actual suit still under wraps. (6/16)

Astronomer Skeptical of Chinese Extraterrestrial Claim (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers are skeptical that signals detected by a Chinese radio telescope are from a civilization other than our own. A report in Chinese media claimed that astronomers using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical radio Telescope (FAST), the world's largest single-dish radio telescope, has detected "intriguing" signals in 2020 and again earlier this year that some suggested could be from an extraterrestrial intelligence. However, Dan Werthimer, an astronomer who works on search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) projects, including with the Chinese astronomers, said those signals are almost certainly radio frequency interference from terrestrial sources. "All of the signals detected by SETI researchers so far are made by our own civilization, not another civilization," he said. (6/16)

Dead Star Caught Ripping Up Planetary System (Source: NASA)
A star's death throes have so violently disrupted its planetary system that the dead star left behind, called a white dwarf, is siphoning off debris from both the system's inner and outer reaches. This is the first time astronomers have observed a white dwarf star that is consuming both rocky-metallic and icy material, the ingredients of planets. Archival data from NASA's Hubble Space Telescope and other NASA observatories were essential in diagnosing this case of cosmic cannibalism. The findings help describe the violent nature of evolved planetary systems and can tell astronomers about the makeup of newly forming systems.

The findings are based on analyzing material captured by the atmosphere of the nearby white dwarf star G238-44. A white dwarf is what remains of a star like our Sun after it sheds its outer layers and stops burning fuel though nuclear fusion. "We have never seen both of these kinds of objects accreting onto a white dwarf at the same time," said Ted Johnson, the lead researcher. "By studying these white dwarfs, we hope to gain a better understanding of planetary systems that are still intact."

The findings are also intriguing because small icy objects are credited for crashing into and "irrigating" dry, rocky planets in our solar system. Billions of years ago comets and asteroids are thought to have delivered water to Earth, sparking the conditions necessary for life as we know it. The makeup of the bodies detected raining onto the white dwarf implies that icy reservoirs might be common among planetary systems, said Johnson. (6/15)

Firefly Aerospace CEO Tom Markusic Transitions to Full-Time Board Member, Chief Technical Advisor (Source: Firefly)
Firefly Aerospace announced today that CEO and co-founder Tom Markusic will transition from CEO to full-time board member and Chief Technical Advisor to Firefly effective tomorrow June 16, and remains a significant minority investor in the Company. Peter Schumacher, Partner at AE Industrial Partners ("AEI"), will take over CEO responsibilities in the interim, as a search for a successor is underway.

In March, Firefly received a $75 million Series B funding round led by AEI, a U.S-based private equity firm specializing in aerospace, defense and government services, space, power and utility services, and specialty industrial markets. The financing is providing capital for Firefly's growth, including future Alpha flights, the Blue Ghost Lunar Lander Program, and the development of additional launch and in-space solutions. AEI also completed its acquisition of a majority stake in the Company in March. (6/15)

FAA Ruling on SpaceX Launch Facility has ‘No Teeth,’ Environmentalists Say (Source: Border Report)
Dismayed, environmentalists criticized the FAA, saying it has not imposed enough regulations on SpaceX in South Texas. The agency ordered the company to perform 75 actions to mitigate environmental impacts before a launch license could be issued. But environmentalists and legal experts told Border Report that the majority of actions cited relate to public access to the beach and they don’t believe it will prevent or repair the harm that has already been done to the local environment or habitat or species that nest and live in the region.

Rather, they say, the orders are more like an action plan of what to do in future emergencies, which they say is inevitable when testing exploding rockets. "It’s after-the-fact so we can monitor and have a response plan in place. That’s not mitigation. That’s what a developer should be doing in these sorts of situations,” Jared Margolis, a senior attorney for the Center for Biological Diversity, told Border Report. “We wanted to see more on the grounds and lands to protect habitats and species.”

Margolis says environmental mitigation should include specific land set aside to protect habitat and species from harmful effects associated with rocket launches. “This is window dressing,” he said. He added that the citations are “unenforceable” without quantitative directives. “So there’s no teeth to it,” he said. ... “Like having to have a qualified biologist so all the tremendous destruction will be documented that doesn’t lessen the impact it just documents it so what will they do to lessen the impact?” Chapman told Border Report. The FAA, however, said this Record of Decision is just one part of the launch license application process and does not guarantee rocket launches of the Starship will occur. (6/15)

General Hyten to Lead Blue Origin's Club for the Future and Strategic Advisor (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin announced that General John Hyten (Ret.) will serve as executive director for its foundation, Club for the Future, and as a strategic advisor to senior leadership. General Hyten brings decades of experience as a space operations and acquisitions officer and held multiple assignments that included leading Air Force Space Command and U.S. Strategic Command.

In his role with Club for the Future, General Hyten will focus on community outreach and engagement activities to empower students to become scientists, engineers, and explorers. General Hyten will also provide strategic counsel to Blue Origin senior leadership to help guide the company as it builds a road to space. 

As part of General Hyten’s first Club for the Future engagements, he will join the Launch to Learning STEM Forum at Blue Origin’s rocket factory in Florida to meet with statewide school superintendents and administrators. Hyten will also attend the upcoming premiere of “The Color of Space,” a documentary produced by NASA that showcases Black Astronauts and their career paths, providing advice to future space explorers of color. (6/15) 

Cadets Complete "Azimuth" Space Training Program (Source: Air Force Academy)
Cadets at the United States Air Force Academy just completed the Academy’s inaugural summer space program on 10 June, 2022. Azimuth is a unique summer program for Academy cadets as well as Navy, West Point and ROTC students considering a commission in the U.S. Space Force. The two-week opportunity provides an immersive introduction to operations in the space domain. Modeled after NASA’s two-year Astronaut Training Program, Azimuth introduces the cadets to space through academics, industry and military visits, neutral buoyancy, zero gravity, and rocket building.

Azimuth is conducted at the Academy in partnership with the US Space Force’s Space Training and Readiness Command. This year’s program had a selection rate of less than 30% of applicants. Click here. (6/15)

ESA’s Comet Interceptor Approved for Construction (Source: Sci-Tech Daily)
In 2019, the European Space Agency (ESA) selected Comet Interceptor as a new fast-class (F-class) mission. These missions, where “fast” refers to development speed, are missions that take about 8 years to fully implement. The Comet Interceptor mission has just been ‘adopted’; the study phase is complete and, following selection of the spacecraft prime contractor, work will soon begin to build the project, whose mission is to visit a pristine comet or other interstellar object just starting its journey into the inner Solar System.

Comet Interceptor comprises three spacecraft, with the main craft and two smaller probes. Each will be outfitted with different suites of science instruments to thoroughly analyze the target. For example, Spacecraft A will feature CoCa (Comet Camera) to obtain high-resolution images of the target’s nucleus at several wavelengths. Spacecraft B1 will have HI (Hydrogen Imager) an ultraviolet camera devoted to studying the cloud of hydrogen gas surrounding the comet. On Spacecraft B2, the main instrument will be OPIC (Optical Imager for Comets) for mapping of the nucleus and its dust jets at different visible and infrared wavelengths. (6/15)