June 18, 2022

SpaceX Firings Likely Violate US Labor Law, Experts Say (Source: The Verge)
It’s unclear whether any of the fired employees will try to file suit with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). But if they do, lawyers say they will have a strong case. “To be covered, an action has to be concerted (certainly the case here) and it has to relate to working conditions,” says Charlotte Garden, a law professor at Seattle University who wrote about employee speech rights for the Economic Policy Institute earlier this year.

The most difficult part of retaliation cases is often proving that an employee really was fired in retaliation for speaking up, but SpaceX has made it easy to show the connection. In her note to employees after the firings, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell made clear that the employees had been terminated specifically because of their involvement with the letter, which she characterized as “overreaching activism.” Even if SpaceX tried to deny it, the simple timing of the firings — coming less than 24 hours after the letter itself — makes the connection hard to ignore.

“This could very much be seen as retaliation for speaking up,” says Mary Inman, a whistleblower attorney at Constantine Cannon. “What does this say to workers? It basically says, we don’t want to hear from you.” For a legal challenge, the main hurdle would be to show that the letter itself constitutes employees coming together to discuss working conditions, but the letter’s emphasis on company goals and “no asshole” policy seem to fit that model. There are exceptions if speech is vulgar, abusive, or directed at customers, but none fits easily with the circumstances of the SpaceX case. “It strikes me as a letter that is mainly about working conditions,” Garden said. “I think the NLRB would see it that way too.” (6/17)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites on Booster’s 13th Flight (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
SpaceX has launched yet another 53 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. The liftoff on Friday was from the historic Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This mission marked SpaceX’s second launch of the month, its 24th launch of 2022, and the company’s 50th launch from Pad 39A. In addition to being the 100th reflight of a Falcon rocket, this mission marked a record-setting 13th launch of the Falcon 9 booster B1060 and was the company’s 50th consecutive successful landing. (6/17)

U.S. Space & Rocket Center Announces History-Making Donation to Support Space Camp (Source: WAAY)
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center has received its largest-ever single donation. Rocket Center CEO Dr. Kimberly Robinson and Shift4 Founder and CEO Jared Isaacman on Friday announced a $10 million gift for a new Inspiration4 Skills Training Center to support Space Camp programs. The planned concept is a 40,000-square-foot, hanger-style building that will include space and aviation simulators, an indoor pool, a netted drone space, classrooms and a challenge course for training the next generation of astronauts, pilots and engineers. (6/17)

Stennis Space Center Completes Upgrade to Critical Test System (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Stennis Space Center has completed upgrades to a critical system needed to test RS-25 engines that will power the new Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on Artemis missions to the Moon. Engineers and operators on the Fred Haise Test Stand at Stennis recently completed testing of an upgraded thrust vector (TVC) system needed to gimbal RS-25 engines during testing. Gimbaling is the term for moving an engine a few degrees along a tight circular axis to direct the thrust and “steer” the SLS rocket on a proper trajectory during launch. (6/13)

Stratolaunch Ascends to New Heights with Successful Test of World’s Biggest Airplane (Source: GeekWire)
Stratolaunch says its mammoth carrier airplane rose to its highest altitude yet during its seventh flight test over California’s Mojave Desert. The aerospace venture, which was established by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen more than a decade ago but is now owned by a private equity firm, reported a peak altitude of 27,000 feet during today’s test. If all goes according to plan, the twin-fuselage Roc airplane could begin flying Stratolaunch’s Talon-A hypersonic test vehicles for captive-carry and separation testing as early as this year. (6/16)

NASA Astronaut Helped Pixar Find Space Ranger's Look in 'Lightyear' (Source: CollectSpace)
Tom Marshburn may not be the real-life Buzz Lightyear, but the space ranger — at least as he appears in the new movie "Lightyear" — would not be the same without the NASA astronaut. What started several years ago as an unrelated interaction with Pixar, the Disney-owned animation studio behind the "Toy Story" and now "Lightyear" franchises, led to the 61-year-old physician-turned-SpaceX pilot becoming the animators' guide to the world of NASA and space exploration. (6/17)

Aerojet Chair Largely Wins Chancery Suit In CEO Proxy Battle (Source: Law360)
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.'s CEO and her allies violated a Delaware Chancery Court temporary restraining order by using the company's resources in a contentious board election, a vice chancellor ruled Thursday, handing a win to the board's chairman, the CEO's rival in the race. (6/17)

NASA Prepares to Power-Down Voyager Spacecraft After More Than 44 Years (Source: Sky News)
After more than 44 years of travelling farther from Earth than any man-made objects have before, the Voyager spacecraft are entering their very final phase. Both of the Voyagers were launched from Cape Canaveral in 1977 - with Voyager 2 actually the first to take off - taking advantage of a rare alignment (once every 176 years) of Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune to shoot into interstellar space.

They were designed to last five years and study Jupiter and Saturn but remarkably both spacecraft are still functioning despite escaping beyond the hot plasma bubble known as the heliopause that defines the beginning of the edge of our solar system. Both of the spacecraft are powered by radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) - powered by the heat from decaying spheres of plutonium - although the output of these RTGs is decreasing by about four watts every year. (6/17)

Space Force Seeks a Bigger Voice in Military Operations (Source: Air Force Times)
After two years of finding its sea — er, space — legs, the Space Force is starting to vie for more influence at home and on the battlefield. In its first two years, the Space Force has focused on organizing, training and equipping its troops for U.S. Space Command, which directs those people and resources for daily missions. Military space assets are the backbone of communications across the joint force, track missile launches, catalog debris that could slam into satellites, take pictures of Earth from orbit and more.

But the service is looking at expanding its role in everyday ops through stronger partnerships with regional commands around the world. The Space Force is working to create internal components — like a SPACECENT, for example — that would be the liaisons to the Pentagon’s larger combatant commands and give guardians more sway in military planning. A guardian would report to the more senior combatant commander to offer space capabilities as part of a mission’s force package. (6/16)

UCF Signs Educational Partnership Agreement with U.S. Space Force (Source: UCF)
UCF, the nation’s Space University, has now entered an agreement with the U.S. Space Force to help develop technology and an agile workforce ready for space. The two organizations recently signed an Educational Partnership Agreement (EPA) after several Space Force officials visited UCF in March. Three members — also known as Guardians — of the Space Force spent a day at UCF learning about some of our space-relevant research and hands-on courses and met with some of UCF’s ROTC cadets.

The agreement focuses on six areas Science, Technology and Research priorities. They are: Improving freedom of action in, from and to the space domain
Improving the survivability and resilience of space systems and architectures; Digital engineering and model-based system engineering; Increasing responsible artificial intelligence, machine learning and autonomy; Improving space access, mobility and logistics; and Enhancement and integration of existing services from and through an expanded space domain. (6/16)

Was SpaceX's Firing of Disgruntled Employees Legal? (Source: SPACErePORT)
SpaceX has fired employees involved in developing and promoting an "open letter" criticizing Elon Musk's recent high-profile and increasingly controversial and erratic behavior, including alleged sexual impropriety with an employee. The firing is highly unusual and potentially illegal. According to one frequent critic on Twitter of SpaceX's spaceport efforts in Texas, @ESGhound, the firing appears to be retaliatory against a protected activity. @ESGhound spoke with a labor attorney who said the firing was "One of the most obvious retaliations I've seen" ... "In this case, the company said 'we are firing you as a result of this protected activity under the NLRB'". (6/17)

Viasat Warns of Satellite Collisions in Spat With SpaceX (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Viasat Inc., a rival to its satellite business, are trading barbs before a key Washington regulator, with SpaceX saying that Viasat is the “satellite industry’s lead obstructionist,” and Viasat responding that SpaceX “spins its rhetoric wheel and comes up empty.” The outcome of the spat, which is playing out in dueling filings to the Federal Communications Commission, may impact both the growing market of broadband from orbit as well as the safety of space.

Satellite internet is useful in rural areas where it's too costly to lay fiber optic lines, as well as for providing internet on planes, ships, and recreational vehicles. Viasat provided consumer broadband services to about 590,000 US subscribers last year; Space Exploration Technologies Corp. says it has launched about 2,500 first-generation satellites in its Starlink fleet and serves almost 500,000 subscribers worldwide. The global market could be $30 billion by 2030, compared to $12 billion today, according to Northern Sky Research. (6/17)