June 7, 2022

Commercial Space Solutions Struggle to Gain Trust Among Some in DoD (Source: Space News)
Some military buyers remain distrustful of commercial solutions as a replacement for government-developed systems despite broader enthusiasm for such services. Clare Grason, chief of the Space Force's Commercial Satellite Communications Office, said in a webinar last week that some military customers "have a bit of a trust issue" about commercial satellite communications services, particularly from LEO constellations.

She noted that most military buyers of commercial satellite capacity still prefer the traditional approach of using commercial bandwidth under short-term leases rather than buying fully managed services now offered by the industry. An Aerospace Corporation report provides broad guidelines for government agencies to determine when it makes sense to buy commercial services. (6/6)

How Lockheed Martin, NASA Will Send a Rocket to Mars to Launch Samples to a Waiting European Orbiter (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
To get the rocket to Mars, it has to fit inside an existing, larger rocket’s payload fairing — and it also has to fit inside the aeroshell of its Entry, Descent, and Landing (EDL) system that will protect it during Mars atmospheric entry and touch down on the Red Planet’s surface. This constrains the size of the rocket to just 2.7 meters in length.

Furthermore, once it’s on the surface, it then has to be able to open up to allow the samples it has come to launch to be loaded into its nosecone. “The way the system is designed, the Mars Ascent Vehicle will be horizontal, held down,” related Murrow when talking about the MAV’s Earth launch and then cruise to and landing on Mars configuration. 

“It’ll be in a climate-controlled igloo while it’s on the surface.” This igloo will act in large part as a way to keep the solid propellant in the rocket’s two stages warmed to the correct operating temperature throughout the mission until the vehicle is ready to launch to Martian orbit. For launch, the rocket will first be lofted into the air by springs and, at the correct time and at the correct orientation while in the air, the solid rocket first stage will fire to begin the ascent to Martian orbit. (6/2)

Sony Seeks Entry to Space Laser Comm Market (Source: Space News)
Sony seeks to leverage the laser technology it developed for consumer devices like CD players for space communications. A new Sony entity, Sony Space Communications, plans to develop, build and supply devices that would enable small satellites to use laser beams instead of radio frequencies to communicate with ground stations and other satellites. Sony tested an optical communications unit on the ISS's Kibo module, working with the Japanese space agency, but the company did not say when its devices would be available or if it had customers lined up for the technology. (6/6)

Blue Canyon Launches Ultra Low Altitude Cubesats (Source: Space News)
Blue Canyon Technologies recently launched a cubesat to demonstrate the performance of such spacecraft at very low altitudes. The "agile microsat" known as AMS was developed by Blue Canyon for MIT Lincoln Laboratory with U.S. Air Force funding and was launched on the SpaceX Transporter-5 rideshare mission.

The goal is to test the ability of small spacecraft to maneuver and perform tasks in very low Earth orbit (VLEO) between 200 to 300 kilometers, where satellites have to fight atmospheric drag. AMS will start maneuvering into that very low orbit later this month for a mission that could last up to several months. The company sees growing interest from national security agencies in exploring VLEO space applications, such as for monitoring the ionosphere and radio wave propagation. (6/6)

DoD Assessing Space Force Relationship with Intel Community (Source: Breaking Defense)
A joint assessment between the Pentagon and the intelligence community on space intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) needs is nearing completion. Lt. Gen. Bill Liquori, who is leading the effort, said last week the assessment is expected to be approved in the "coming months." It will be a first step toward dividing responsibilities between the Space Force and intelligence agencies on development and operation of ISR satellites. That will include a gap analysis to look at what needs are not being met today and whether they should be filled by the Space Force or the intelligence community. (6/6)

Russian Space Agency Plans to Space-Jack a German X-Ray Telescope (Source: Gizmodo)
Russia’s space agency has announced its intention to unilaterally seize control of a German telescope mounted to a Russian-built spacecraft. It’s a terrible, irresponsible idea, as even Russian scientists will admit.

The German developer of the eROSITA telescope, the Max Planck Institute, put the instrument into sleep mode this past February in protest of Russia’s unwarranted and ongoing invasion of Ukraine. The X-ray telescope is the primary instrument aboard the joint Russian-German Spektr-RG mission, which the Russian space agency Roscosmos launched to space in July 2019. The Russian ART-XC X-ray telescope is also attached to the spacecraft, and it works in tandem with eROSITA. (6/7)

Scientists Announce a Breakthrough in Determining Life's Origin on Earth—and Maybe Mars (Source: Phys.org)
Scientists at the Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution announced today that ribonucleic acid (RNA), an analog of DNA that was likely the first genetic material for life, spontaneously forms on basalt lava glass. Such glass was abundant on Earth 4.35 billion years ago. Similar basalts of this antiquity survive on Mars today.

The study shows that long RNA molecules, 100-200 nucleotides in length, form when nucleoside triphosphates do nothing more than percolate through basaltic glass. "Basaltic glass was everywhere on Earth at the time," remarked Stephen Mojzsis. "For several hundred million years after the Moon formed, frequent impacts coupled with abundant volcanism on the young planet formed molten basaltic lava, the source of the basalt glass. Impacts also evaporated water to give dry land, providing aquifers where RNA could have formed."

The same impacts also delivered nickel, which the team showed gives nucleoside triphosphates from nucleosides and activated phosphate, also found in lava glass. Borate (as in borax), also from the basalt, controls the formation of those triphosphates. (6/3)

SpaceX Prepping to Stack Massive Starship Launch Tower in Florida (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The base for the crane that will stack the Starship Launch Tower at 39A was spotted, all 6 legs for the Launch Mount have been installed, and a look at new Jarvis Program hardware at Blue Origin's LC-36. Click here. (6/7)

A New Quantum Technique Could Enable Telescopes the Size of Planet Earth (Source: Phys.org)
There's a revolution underway in astronomy. In fact, you might say there are several. In the past 10 years, exoplanet studies have advanced considerably, gravitational wave astronomy has emerged as a new field, and the first images of supermassive black holes (SMBHs) have been captured.

A related field, interferometry, has also advanced incredibly thanks to highly sensitive instruments and the ability to share and combine data from observatories worldwide. In particular, the science of very-long baseline interferometry (VLBI) is opening entirely new realms of possibility.

A new quantum technique could enhance optical VLBI. It's known as Stimulated Raman Adiabatic Passage (STIRAP), which allows quantum information to be transferred without losses. When imprinted into a quantum error correction code, this technique could allow for VLBI observations into previously inaccessible wavelengths. (5/30)

Iron Meteorites Point to Millions of Years of Chaos in Early Solar System (Source: Space.com)
A great demolition derby, with a chaotic mess of asteroids and forming planets constantly slamming into each other, took place in the early solar system between 7.8 million and 11.7 million years after the sun formed, according to a new analysis of iron meteorites that were once part of metallic asteroid cores.

An international team of researchers analyzed isotopes of palladium, silver and platinum in 18 iron meteorites found on Earth to better understand the evolution of their parent bodies. Metallic asteroids contain dense iron cores, and iron meteorites originate from these cores, blasted off by collisions with other asteroids.

Palladium 107 undergoes radioactive decay into silver 107 with a half-life of 6.5 million years. Previous measurements of the relative abundances of the two isotopes by a mass spectrometer had already suggested that the asteroid cores that the meteorites were once part of cooled rapidly. The question was, when did this rapid cooling occur? (6/6)

Distorted Universe Makes the Science of Space False (Source: Universe Magazine)
Several scientists have suggested that the scientific community needs to reconsider everything we know about the Universe. Since the time of Edwin Hubble, no one has challenged his theory of a uniformly expanding space. Some experts claim that the entire Universe is actually distorted, which has serious consequences for our understanding of the structure of the world.

Oxford University professor, Subir Sarkar, told New Scientist that he found evidence that our current understanding of cosmology is not true. Moreover, his colleagues do not even want to hear the scientist’s proposal. The idea that the cosmos looks almost the same is called the cosmological principle. This is a fairly old hypothesis that has existed in one form or another since the 1500s. However, scientists like Sarkar dispute the ancient claim that the movement of the Milky Way through the Universe distorts our vision of the rest of the space.

Sarkar argues that we make up the big picture based on a lack of data on nearby galaxies – we can’t know exactly how far they are from each other, which leaves space for other assumptions. Sakar gives an example of the behavior of an individual in a herd. When one animal in a large herd slows down, it seems that all the others are running away from it at a fast pace. Similarly, it is possible that from Earth it only seems that the Universe is expanding at a constantly set rate. (6/2)

French Astronaut Pesquet Calls for European Space Independence (Source: AFP)
French astronaut Thomas Pesquet on Tuesday urged Europe to seize the momentum created by its newfound diplomatic unity and "start moving now" to develop its own human spaceflight capacity. The charismatic engineer and pilot, 44, recently completed his second deployment to the International Space Station on the NASA-SpaceX Crew-2 mission, and has arguably the highest profile among the European Astronaut Corps, in addition to being a celebrity in his native France.

Though he has long extolled international cooperation in space and remains in the mix to possibly go to the Moon as part of the NASA-led Artemis missions, Pesquet said it was vital for Europe's leaders to give the European Space Agency (ESA) the funding and mandate it needs to launch its own people, too.

Currently, only the United States, Russia and China have independent launch capacity, while India is looking to acquire the same. One potential option for ESA is launching crew on a spaceship fixed to the Ariane 6 rocket, which is currently under development and is expected to make its debut launch from French Guiana by the end of this year. "We have to start moving now, because the development cycles are long. You don't want this to happen in 15 to 20 years," he said. (6/7)

Defense Production Act Used to Support Clean Energy Tech (Source: NextGov)
The Biden administration has invoked the Defense Production Act to support clean energy technologies and US energy independence through direct investment in companies. "Reducing America's dependence on gas and oil is critical to US national security," said Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm. (6/6)

Propellant Leak Delays SpaceX Dragon ISS Cargo Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA and SpaceX have postponed a cargo Dragon mission that was to launch this week to investigate a potential propellant leak in the spacecraft. NASA said late Monday that technicians detected "elevated vapor readings" of monomethyl hydrazine in part of the spacecraft's Draco thruster system when the spacecraft was fueled ahead of its planned Friday launch.

That launch is on hold, and the propellants removed from the spacecraft, to identify the source of the vapors. NASA said it will set a new launch date for the CRS-25 mission after the problem is fixed. The thruster issue comes weeks after NASA said SpaceX was replacing a heat shield structure on a Crew Dragon spacecraft set to launch in September after it failed acceptance tests. (6/7)

France Approves Starlink Service (Source: Space News)
SpaceX has won a new license for its Starlink broadband system in France. French regulator ARCEP said it decided to award Starlink a spectrum license again after its consultation highlighted demand for the services in areas poorly served by terrestrial networks. A French administrative court revoked an earlier license for Starlink in April after ruling that the regulator should have first launched a public consultation. Starlink now has nearly 500,000 users in 32 countries. (6/7)

India's Bellatrix Raises $8 Million for In-Space Propulsion Systems (Source: Space News)
Indian startup Bellatrix Aerospace has raised $8 million to work on in-space propulsion systems. The pre-Series A round, featuring several funds, will support work on propulsion systems using "more environmentally friendly technologies" for in-space transportation. Bellatrix is developing an orbital transfer vehicle based on its in-space propulsion technologies as part of its efforts to become a full-fledged space transportation technology company. (6/7)

Lunar Flashlight Cubesat Shift From SLS to Falcon 9 (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A NASA lunar cubesat that missed its ride on the Artemis 1 mission has found an alternative launch. Lunar Flashlight was one of 13 cubesats originally selected by NASA to fly as secondary payloads on the first SLS mission, but problems with its propulsion system meant it was not ready in time last summer to be integrated on the rocket. The 6U cubesat will instead fly as a secondary payload on the Falcon 9 launch of Intuitive Machines' IM-1 lunar lander mission, currently scheduled to launch late this year. Lunar Flashlight will orbit the moon and use infrared lasers to look for water ice in permanently shadowed craters. (6/7)

NASA Conducting Suborbital Rocket Missions in Australia in June and July 2022 (Source: NASA)
NASA will launch three suborbital sounding rockets in June and July 2022 from Equatorial Launch Australia’s Arnhem Space Center in Australia’s Northern Territory to conduct astrophysics studies that can only be done from the Southern Hemisphere. Two of the three missions will focus on Alpha Centauri A and B, two of the three-star Alpha Centauri system that are the closest stars to our Sun. The third will study X-rays emanating from the interstellar medium – the clouds of gases and particles in the space between stars. (6/7)

Skyrora Hires Former SpaceX Exec. (Source: Deadline)
A former SpaceX executive is now working for small launch vehicle developer Skyrora. That company announced it hired Lee Rosen as its new chief operations manager. Rosen, a former U.S. Air Force officer, was at SpaceX for a decade as vice president of mission launch operations and customer operations and integration, working on launch site development and launch operations. Skyrora is one of several companies with facilities in the United Kingdom working on small launch vehicles. (6/7)

Russian Cosmonaut Dies at 82 (Source: CollectSpace)
A Russian cosmonaut who spent more than a year in space on four missions has died. Valery Ryumin died at 82, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center said in a statement Monday. Ryumin flew on three Soyuz missions from 1977 to 1980, including two stays of six months each on Salyut 6 space station. He flew again in 1998 on the shuttle Discovery on the final shuttle mission to the Mir space station. (6/7)

Thanks Biden! With 100M Tonnes Capacity, World's Most Powerful Launch Vehicle On-Track For NASA's Mega Mission (Source: Eurasian Times)
Recently, US President Biden wished Elon Musk “lots of luck” for his trip to the Moon when asked about the pessimistic attitude of Tesla and SpaceX CEO toward the economy during a press conference at the White House on June 3. The question was in reference to a recent report that Tesla would be freezing its hiring and cutting its workforce by 10 percent because of Musk’s “super bad feeling” about the economy, according to an email he wrote to Tesla executives.

In response, Biden made a dismissive little quip: “Lots of luck on his trip to the Moon.” To which Musk, who has criticized Biden several times in the past, responded by tweeting, “Thanks, Mr. President!” What is remarkable, though, is that SpaceX’s “trip to the Moon” is an essential part of NASA’s Artemis mission – America’s initiative to land humans on the Moon by 2025 after more than 50 years of Apollo 17, the last manned mission to the lunar surface that was carried out way back in 1972.

Last year, NASA selected SpaceX to develop the company’s next-generation rocket, Starship, as a lunar lander for Artemis and awarded the company $2.9 billion for the project. SpaceX beat the competition from Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, working with a selection of other aerospace companies, and Dynetics, a defense contractor, to secure the funding for developing its Starship human lander design. (6/6)
 
Elon Musk, Mars and the Modern Economy (Source: New York Times)
Musk's Mars talk caught my attention, largely because of the line about sending one million people for a Mars colony. What’s your reaction to that number? Does it seem absurdly high? In terms of the logistics of actually getting people to Mars, it probably is. But my original home field in economics was international trade. And if you know anything about trade, or for that matter the realities of industry, you realize that one million is actually an absurdly low number of people — far too few to support a modern economy.

Let’s instead treat the SpaceX chief’s Mars fantasies as a teachable moment — a chance to talk about the economics of globalization more generally. Musk’s comments immediately called to mind for me a great essay by one of my favorite science fiction writers, Charlie Stross, that posed precisely this question: “What is the minimum number of people you need in order to maintain (not necessarily to extend) our current level of technological civilization?”

Stross’s answer was that given the complexity of modern society, you’d need a lot of people. In fact, writing back in 2010 — when Musk’s Tesla was still a struggling company that had only survived the Great Recession thanks to an Obama administration bailout — he explained how Musk’s current plan is thinking far too small: “Colonizing Mars might well be practical, but only if we can start out by plonking a hundred million people down there.” (6/7)

SCOUT and LEOcloud Collaborate to Deliver the Next Generation of Space Domain Awareness Services (Source: Parabolic Arc)
SCOUT Inc., a company developing next-generation space safety of flight and autonomous proximity operations services, and LEOcloud Inc., a company offering a scalable space-based, multi-cloud Infrastructure as a Services (IaaS) have signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) to work jointly to enhance space operations safety. The collaboration is focused on integrating SCOUT’s Space Domain Awareness (SDA) product with LEOcloud’s Space Edge IaaS offering. The agreement involves an early demonstration of SCOUT’s solutions operating on LEOcloud’s IaaS. (6/6)

Raytheon to Move its Headquarters to Arlington VA (Source: Washington Post)
Raytheon Technologies is moving its headquarters from Massachusetts to Arlington, Va., making it the latest aerospace giant to double down on its military business at a time of tremendous uncertainty for commercial aviation. The company said that its new headquarters would help deepen its partnerships with the defense and intelligence agencies headquartered in Northern Virgini. It also highlighted the region’s status as an airline hub. (6/7)

‘For All Mankind’ Season 3 Explores Elon Musk and the Mission to Mars (Source: Daily Beast)
Man’s inherent need to explore, to push past boundaries and to be first are all once again front and center in the third season of For All Mankind (June 10), Apple TV+’s superlative series about an alternate history in which the Russians beat the Americans to the moon, thereby instigating decades of space-race competition that thrusts humanity ever further into the cosmos.

It’s Mars that’s the goal of both capitalists and communists alike in Ronald D. Moore, Matt Wolpert and Ben Nedivi’s newest 10-episode run, with the Red Planet a prize sought not only by NASA and its Soviet counterparts but also by Helios founder Dev Ayesa (Edi Gathegi), an Elon Musk-style billionaire determined to beat his super-power rivals to the finish line. Reality and fantasy thus continue to collide in thrilling fashion in this revisionist drama, arguably the finest on television, whose out-of-this-world speculative fiction proves as intriguing and nuanced as its diverse characters are inspiring. (6/6)

Infamous Asteroid Apophis 'Rediscovered' as Scientists Test Asteroid Defense Mechanisms (Source: Space.com)
A test of whether asteroid defense systems could spot a potentially hazardous near-Earth asteroid on its closest approach successfully "rediscovered" the infamous asteroid 99942 Apophis, which will make a close encounter with our planet in 2029.

For this asteroid defense exercise, all previous data on Apophis were made inaccessible. This meant that astronomers had to start afresh during the asteroid's close approach, which began in December 2020 and culminated in March 2021. Would Apophis slip through the net, or could our network of sky surveys find it? (6/6)

Will the Economy Deflect the Trajectory of Space Startups? (Source: Space Review)
Space startups have enjoyed significant growth and investment over the last several years. Jeff Foust reports that broader economic issues, from supply chain problems to inflation and interest rates, could slow down that growth, at least for some companies. Click here. (6/6)
 
Our Mars Rover Mission was Suspended Because of the Ukraine War: Here’s What We’re Hoping for Next (Source: Space Review)
European scientists and engineers were wrapping up work on the Rosalind Franklin rover when ESA cancelled its launch on a Russian rocket as part of the ExoMars mission. Andrew Coates discusses how the project is dealing with that setback as it looks for an alternative means to launch the rover. Click here. (6/6)