June 2, 2022

AFRL Sponsorship Recipient wins NASA Space Manufacturing Contract (Source: Space Daily)
Air Force Research Laboratory research sponsorship recipient, United Semiconductors, is one of eight companies selected to work on a three-year, $21 million NASA contract to manufacture tools in space. Almost two decades ago, AFRL's photonic materials branch began collaborating with this research on the growth of semiconductor crystals.

The success of this initial fundamental research project spurred interest for key DOD applications. Since 2005, AFRL has worked with United Semiconductors, a woman-owned small business in New York to develop a suite of semiconductor and photonic materials for infrared components. (5/29)

OneWeb Satellite to be Deorbited at the End of its Active Lifetime (Source: Space Daily)
The world's first mission to remove several small telecommunications satellites from orbit once they reach the end of their operational service is about to start building and testing its prototype spacecraft. British-based in-orbit servicing company Astroscale - working in an ESA Partnership Project with satellite operator OneWeb - will begin manufacturing the first commercial "servicer" prototype designed to capture multiple satellites in low Earth orbit under the ESA Sunrise Program.

Companies such as OneWeb are launching constellations comprised of hundreds of communications satellites to connect people in the hardest-to-reach locations through global satellite internet broadband services. OneWeb currently has 428 satellites orbiting approximately 1200 km above the Earth; its completed constellation will number almost 650 satellites. (5/29)

Astra Space Rocket Arrives at Cape Canaveral for 1st of 3 Planned NASA Launches (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Astra Space wasn’t able to pull of a successful orbital insertion the only time it attempted a Space Coast launch earlier this year, but it’s still on target to get back on track with the first of three NASA launches slated for this summer.

The rocket LV0010 arrived to Cape Canaveral Space Force Station recently ahead of a launch to support the TROPICS mission, which stands for Time-Resolved Observations of Precipitation structure and storm Intensity with a Constellation of Smallsats. (6/1)

Groundbreaking Made on Future Vertical Home of Space Shuttle Endeavour (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
It’s been 11 years since Space Shuttle Endeavour finished its last mission landing at Kennedy Space Center on June 1, 2011. It has since made the cross-country trip to its new home at the California Science Center in Los Angeles where it has been on display resting horizontally since 2012.

Its future though will see the orbiter remated with the last intact external fuel tank and solid rocket boosters and put on display vertically for the public to see. Officials were on hand Wednesday to break ground on the new Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center at the museum, where it will become the only place people will be able to see the shuttle in that position. (6/1)

Astrocast to Acquire Hiber (Source: Space News)
Astrocast, a company developing a constellation of satellites for internet-of-things services, is acquiring rival Hiber. The companies announced the deal Monday, giving Astrocast spectrum in the Americas to enable its growing constellation. Astrocast plans to issue new shares to fund the acquisition. Hiber has also agreed to invest around $11 million in Astrocast's second stock market listing later this year to help the Swiss startup meet near-term funding needs. Hiber had planned to build its own IoT constellation but pivoted last year after problems with its first satellites, announcing a partnership with Inmarsat. (6/1)

Sierra Space Partners with Spirit AeroSystems for Dream Chaser Structural Components (Source: Space News)
Sierra Space announced a partnership with aerostructures manufacturer Spirit AeroSystems for its Dream Chaser vehicle. An initial focus of the agreement will be on production of the Shooting Star cargo module that provides additional cargo capacity for missions to the International Space Station. Spirit will assist in the development and production of future Shooting Star modules that, unlike Dream Chaser itself, are not reused after each flight. The companies said they will also "expand the versatility of variant designs in support of future Sierra Space cargo and service missions." (6/1)

China Prepares for July 23 Launch of Space Station Module (Source: Space News)
The rocket that will launch the next module of China's space station has arrived at the launch site. The Long March 5B rocket arrived at the Wenchang spaceport May 29 and is expected to launch around July 23 carrying the Wentian experiment module. Wentian would be the second of three modules for the T-shaped Tiangong space station, with the final piece, Mengtian, scheduled for launch in October. (6/1)

BRICS Nations to Cooperate on Satellite Observations and Data Sharing (Source: Space News)
China announced plans to work with several other countries on a Earth science network that appears to counter a U.S.-led initiative. China launched last week the BRICS Joint Committee on Space Cooperation with the goal of cooperation in remote sensing satellite observation and data sharing among China, Russia, India, Brazil and South Africa.

The joint committee will work on cooperative efforts using Earth science satellites operated by the five nations. The announcement came a day after the "Quad" nations of Australia, India, Japan and the United States announced a satellite-based maritime observation initiative to track illegal fishing and other suspicious maritime activities in the Indo-Pacific region. (6/1)

Lunar Outpost and AstroForge Raise Millions for Lunar and Asteroid Systems (Source: Space News)
Two startups raised $25 million last week to advance work on lunar rovers and asteroid mining. Lunar Outpost raised $12 million to enable development of a larger series of robotic lunar rovers. The company is already developing two smaller rovers, the first of which will launch on an Intuitive Machines lunar lander mission next year.

AstroForge raised $13 million to support work on technologies it says will allow it to mine platinum-group metals from asteroids. The company is working on a cubesat mission to launch next year that will test the technology in orbit using simulated asteroid material. The company claims it's learned the lessons of past failed mining ventures by focusing on metals and by using small, low-cost spacecraft, but some are skeptical. (6/1)

NASA and NOAA Push JPSS Launch to November (Source: NOAA)
NASA and NOAA have delayed the launch of a weather satellite this fall because of an instrument testing problem. NOAA said Tuesday the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) 2 satellite, previously scheduled to launch Sept. 30, will now launch Nov. 1. NOAA said the spacecraft's Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite instrument "experienced a test equipment anomaly" during thermal vacuum testing that delayed the completion of the testing by a month. (6/1)

Rocket Lab Launch Vehicle Issue Delays CAPSTONE Lunar Cubesat Mission (Source: NASA)
NASA's CAPSTONE lunar cubesat mission is also facing a delay. NASA said Tuesday the launch of the spacecraft, previously scheduled for June 6, has been pushed back to June 13 to "support readiness checks" of the launch vehicle. A Rocket Lab Electron, equipped with its Lunar Photon upper stage, will send CAPSTONE to the near-rectilinear halo orbit NASA plans to use for the lunar Gateway, testing the stability of the orbit and performing other technology demonstrations. (6/1)

Russian Progress Cargo Craft Departs ISS with Trash (Source: TASS)
A Progress cargo spacecraft undocked from the ISS early Wednesday. The Progress MS-18 spacecraft carried 1.3 tons of garbage as if left the station to burn up in the atmosphere several hours later. Its undocking frees up a docking port for the Progress MS-20, which will arrive at the station Friday morning a few hours after its launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome. (6/1)

Geostationary Orbit is Not what it Used to Be (Source: Space News)
The once-staid neighborhood of Earth observation and communications satellites that cost anywhere from hundreds of thousands to more than $1 billion is seeing an unusual amount of traffic. Satellites are maneuvering more thanks to electric propulsion, miniature GEO satellites are being launched two at a time, and spy satellites are maneuvering to survey the territory.

While geostationary orbit is not nearly as crowded as low-Earth orbit, it's a good time to adopt norms of behavior and communication standards to ensure this valuable real estate remains uncluttered, space traffic experts said. (6/1)

Killer Asteroids Are Hiding in Plain Sight. A New Tool Helps Spot Them (Source: New York Times)
Ed Lu wants to save Earth from killer asteroids. Or at least, if there is a big space rock streaking our way, Dr. Lu, a former NASA astronaut with a doctorate in applied physics, wants to find it before it hits us — hopefully with years of advance warning and a chance for humanity to deflect it.

On Tuesday, B612 Foundation, a nonprofit group that Dr. Lu helped found, announced the discovery of more than 100 asteroids. That by itself is unremarkable. New asteroids are reported all the time by skywatchers around the world. That includes amateurs with backyard telescopes and robotic surveys systematically scanning the night skies.

What is remarkable is that B612 did not build a new telescope or even make new observations with existing telescopes. Instead, researchers financed by B612 applied cutting-edge computational might to years-old images — 412,000 of them in the digital archives at the National Optical-Infrared Astronomy Research Laboratory, or NOIRLab — to sift asteroids out of the 68 billion dots of cosmic light captured in the images. (5/31)

Florida's Space Coast Has the State's Fastest-Growing Tech Sector, Ranks Second Nationally for Job Growth (Source: Talk of Titusville)
Over the last five years, Florida has experienced an explosion of technology jobs unlike any other in the nation and the state’s top metro area is Palm Bay-Melbourne-Titusville, which also ranks second nationally for job growth.

According to an article in TheCapitoist.com, over the five-year span, the Space Coast area saw employment in high-tech industries climb by 41.6% or 10,356 jobs. Jobs in high-tech sectors are often well paying and the average annual salary across high-tech industries in the Palm Bay metro area stands at $106,139, about 1.9 times higher than the average salary across all jobs in the area.

Employment in high-tech industries there climbed by 39.4%, or 2,399 jobs, compared to 8.9% nationwide. The growth was led by surging employment in the scientific research and development services industry, which reported 77.7% job growth over the same period. (5/31)

James Webb Targets Detailed as Commissioning Nears Completion (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
With the observatory’s mirrors recently completing alignment, Webb and its teams are preparing for the all-important and historic first image from the observatory. Some of the first scientific research targets of Webb’s operational phase have been announced, including two strange and intriguing exoplanets that exhibit unique characteristics.

Once Webb is finally ready for operations, it will release its first images which will be focused on bright stars. While Webb’s first images will undoubtedly contain some data of scientific interest, their goal is not to investigate or research these stars. Instead, they will be used to confirm that Webb as a whole is performing as expected at L2 and that there are no issues with the observatory’s complex optical systems.

Science teams have already lined up a plethora of research targets for the first few weeks of the observatory’s operational phase, some of which may produce images as we’ve never seen before from other telescopes. Among the many research targets outlined for Webb’s first few weeks of operation are two exoplanets that exhibit unique characteristics: 55 Cancri e and LHS 3844 b. (5/30)

Collins Aerospace Selected to Outfit the Next Generation of Space Explorers (Source: Collins Aerospace)
Collins Aerospace, a Raytheon Technologies business - along with teammates ILC Dover and Oceaneering - have been selected to produce NASA’s next-generation spacesuit, which astronauts could wear when working outside the International Space Station and – within the next decade – on the moon.

The new suits were designed by astronauts for astronauts and offer enhanced mobility and weigh less than the current generation spacesuits, allowing for increased mission times. The suits are also designed to accommodate nearly every astronaut body type and can rapidly incorporate new technologies. (6/1)

Axiom Space Wins NASA Contract to Build Next Generation Astronaut Spacesuits (Source: Axiom)
Axiom Space has been awarded the NASA Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS) Contract. Axiom is one of two companies to win the award with a potential total value of $3.5 billion across the life of the program. Axiom will build the space agency’s next generation astronaut spacesuits that may be used for low Earth Orbit (LEO) and the Artemis lunar missions.

The new spacesuits by Axiom Space will provide astronauts with advanced capabilities for space exploration while providing NASA commercially developed human systems needed to access, live, and work in microgravity and on and around the Moon. The Axiom spacesuit is key to the company’s commercial space services. This new NASA contract enables Axiom to build spacesuits that serve the company’s commercial customers and future space station goals while meeting NASA’s ISS and exploration needs. (6/1)