Vulcan Rocket is Unlikely to Make its
Debut in 2022 (Source: Ars Technica)
United Launch Alliance's powerful new Vulcan rocket was originally
scheduled to debut in 2020 but has since been delayed a couple of
times. Presently, it is due to fly during the second half of this year,
and the Colorado-based launch company is still holding to the 2022
date. On Wednesday, United Launch Alliance spokesperson Jessica Rye
told Ars, "We are well positioned for a Vulcan first launch late this
year." However, another delay now seems inevitable, sources say, with
the rocket slipping toward a demonstration launch in 2023.
There are two main issues holding Vulcan back from making its debut:
the readiness of its main engines and the payload that it will carry.
At this point, neither appear likely to support a 2022 launch. Vulcan's
debut launch will carry an experimental lunar mission for Astrobotic.
The Pittsburgh-based company publicly revealed this "Peregrine"
spacecraft in late April, while final assembly work was ongoing. At the
time, Astrobotic still needed to install engines, solar panels, and its
scientific payloads. After that, Peregrine must undergo environmental
testing before being shipped to Vulcan's launch site in Florida. (6/8)
NASA to Set Up Independent Study on
Unidentified Aerial Phenomena (Source: NASA)
NASA is commissioning a study team to start early in the fall to
examine unidentified aerial phenomena (UAPs) – that is, observations of
events in the sky that cannot be identified as aircraft or known
natural phenomena – from a scientific perspective. The study will focus
on identifying available data, how best to collect future data, and how
NASA can use that data to move the scientific understanding of UAPs
forward.
The limited number of observations of UAPs currently makes it difficult
to draw scientific conclusions about the nature of such events.
Unidentified phenomena in the atmosphere are of interest for both
national security and air safety. Establishing which events are natural
provides a key first step to identifying or mitigating such phenomena,
which aligns with one of NASA’s goals to ensure the safety of aircraft.
There is no evidence UAPs are extra-terrestrial in origin. (6/9)
House Armed Services Panel Calls on
DoD to Buy Commercial Space Technology and Data (Source: Space
Data)
The House Armed Services Committee’s subcommittee on strategic forces
on June 8 passed its proposals for the Fiscal Year 2023 National
Defense Authorization Act. The strategic forces panel – which covers
military space, missile defense and nuclear weapons policy and programs
– included language in its markup advocating for increased use of
commercial space technology and data from commercial satellites.
During a brief 10-minute markup session, subcommittee chairman Rep. Jim
Cooper (D-TN) said the military would benefit from greater use of
commercial space technologies. The bill also calls on the Space Force
to run the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) program more
efficiently by standardizing satellite and launch vehicle interfaces so
payloads can be deployed faster. (6/8)
Eastern Florida State College to Open
Two New Technology Centers Over the Next Two Years (Source:
Florida Today)
Eastern Florida State College has secured $21 million in funding for
technology centers at its Melbourne and Titusville campuses. Most of
the money will go toward a $19.7 million Center for Innovative
Technology Education on the Melbourne campus, while $1.2 million will
fund an Aerospace Center of Excellence on the Titusville campus. (6/8)
U.S. Space Command: Air Force Should
Develop Guidance for Strengthening Future Basing Decisions (Source:
GAO)
We reviewed the Air Force's process for identifying the preferred
location for U.S. Space Command headquarters. We assessed the process
against 21 "Analysis of Alternatives" best practices, which can help
increase transparency and avoid the presence or appearance of bias. The
practices are grouped into four characteristics of a high-quality
analysis: comprehensive, well-documented, unbiased, and credible. We
found that the Air Force's process did not substantially meet 3 of
these 4 characteristics—leading to significant shortfalls in its
transparency and credibility. We recommended establishing guidance that
incorporates our best practices. (6/2)
FAA Overregulation Threatens America’s
Future in Commercial Space (Source: Space News)
We have reached the tipping point in commercial space traffic, and
regulatory thinking is reacting in potentially negative ways. The
cadence of commercially provided launches eclipsed governmental rocket
launches years ago, and we now see that phenomenon extending to human
spaceflight. The FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) is
issuing licenses and permits faster than ever, just as airline
travelers return to the skies in droves. FAA and AST will be busy doing
their usual excellent job of keeping the public, on the ground and in
planes, safe during launch and reentry events.
Let me be clear: FAA is doing an amazing job keeping a mature
transportation system incredibly safe. However, partially because of
FAA’s prescriptive regulations, nothing much changes in that industry.
Aircraft designs are so similar that most passengers probably don’t
know the make or model of the aircraft they are flying. FAA moves
cautiously and slowly. New systems, like Nextgen air traffic
management, take decades to deploy.
However, this culture of prescriptive rules and obsession with
passenger safety at all costs is antithetical to AST’s congressionally
mandated role of encouraging, facilitating, and supporting a nascent
U.S. commercial spaceflight industry. This is an industry testing
disruptive technologies and new business models. There is no “dominant
design” to lock in and define with detailed prescriptive rules. Doing
that would cripple innovation and be more dangerous in the long run
than allowing the current level of experimentation. (6/7)
Space Industry Representatives to
Gather in Northern Ireland Later This Month (Source: AstroAgency)
A space sector networking event has been announced to take place in
Northern Ireland on June 24, featuring updates from a variety of
organizations supporting one of the UK’s fastest growing industries.
The event has been organized by the Space Research and Innovation
Network for Technology (known as ‘SPRINT’), which provides
unprecedented access to the expertise and facilities at top UK space
universities to help businesses accelerate the development of their
products and services through the commercial exploitation of space data
and technologies.
The UK’s space industry is targeting significant growth within the next
decade, with the publishing of the National Space Strategy last year
specifying an objective to level up the country’s space economy through
supporting regional activity across the United Kingdom. SPRINT’s event
seeks to strengthen connections between space value chain companies and
those interested in the sector’s opportunities in Northern Ireland, as
well as facilitating new collaborations for those businesses across the
wider UK. (6/9)
Tiny Meteoroid Bops $10 Billion Webb
Space Telescope (Source: Reuters)
A tiny meteoroid struck the newly deployed James Webb Space Telescope
in May, knocking one of its gold-plated mirrors out of alignment but
not changing the orbiting observatory's schedule to become fully
operational shortly, NASA said. The little space rock hit the $10
billion telescope sometime in late May and left a small but noticeable
effect in the telescope's data, NASA said in a statement, adding that
it was the fifth and largest hit to the telescope since its December
launch. (6/8)
Xona to Demonstrate Navigation Tech in
Advance of New Constellation (Source: Space News)
Xona Space Systems is preparing to demonstrate services from a test
satellite to the first major customer for its planned navigation
constellation. Xona launched that satellite, called Huginn, on the
Transporter-5 rideshare mission last month and is current commissioning
it. Canadian GPS equipment and solutions provider NovAtel plans to use
the in-orbit test bed to configure its technology. Xona has long-term
plans to develop a constellation of about 300 cubesats that will
provide navigation services it claims will be more accurate than
existing systems like GPS. (6/9)
July 7 Set for First Vega C Rocket
Launch (Source: ESA)
ESA has set July 7 as the date for the first launch of the Vega C. The
agency said Tuesday the launch is scheduled for 7:13 a.m. Eastern that
day from French Guiana. The Vega C is an upgraded version of the Vega
small launch vehicle, and on its inaugural flight will carry the
LARES-2 research satellite developed by the Italian space agency ASI
and six cubesat secondary payloads. (6/9)
Globalstar Spare Satellite Set for
Falcon 9 Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Globalstar may launch a spare satellite on a Falcon 9 this month. The
company said in financial filings it was preparing to launch a spare
satellite in the "near future" but disclosed few other details. Other
information, including FCC filings, suggest that a Falcon 9 will launch
the satellite as soon as this month, although neither Globalstar nor
SpaceX have confirmed those plans. The satellite, build by Thales
Alenia Space, weighs 700 kilograms, making it unlikely that it is the
sole payload for whatever launch it is on. (6/9)
Maine Looks to Grow Space Economy, for
Students, Research and Business (Source: Space Daily)
Maine leaders have long been searching for ways to keep more of high
school and college graduates from leaving the state. But lobstering and
forestry, two stalwarts of the Maine economy, aren't what they used to
be. Enter the new space economy. Maine -- and its plethora of acreage,
far from the light pollution of the Eastern Seaboard's major
metropolises -- has always been a great place to gaze at the stars, but
not necessarily to launch rockets. The miniaturization of satellites
and the rockets needed to put them into orbit, however, has changed the
calculus.
The barrier to entry is now low enough that space, or at least
low-Earth orbit, is no longer the exclusive playground of national
space agencies and giant defense companies. States not traditionally
associated with the aerospace industry -- Maine and Michigan, for
example -- want in on the game. In April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed
LD 1923 into law, establishing the Maine Space Corp., a public-private
partnership tasked with growing the state's aerospace industry. When
law goes into effect in August, the corporation will get to work
filling leadership roles and codifying their goals and governance.
Then it will begin crafting a strategic plan for the construction of
the Maine Space Complex, which will feature launch sites, an innovation
hub and a data analytics center. Last year, a Maine-based startup
company, bluShift Aerospace, launched the state's first rocket. Though
it didn't quite reach space, it successfully showcased the capabilities
of the company's "bio-derived" solid fuel. (6/7)
Northrop Grumman Ramps Up Rocket Motor
Production for ULA (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman plans to increase production of solid rocket motors to
fulfill a $2 billion contract with United Launch Alliance. Northrop
announced Wednesday it finalized the contract to supply solid rocket
boosters for ULA's Vulcan Centaur to support ULA's launch contract for
Amazon's Project Kuiper broadband satellites. Northrop expects to
produce more than 75 motors per year, the majority of which will be GEM
63XL motors used for Vulcan Centaur. Northrop will expand facilities at
several sites in Utah to increase production of the motors. (6/9)
NASA Finding New Targets for Janus
Asteroid Probes (Source: Space News)
A NASA smallsat mission is scrambling to find new targets after its
launch was delayed. Janus features twin satellites that would fly by
binary asteroids after their launch as secondary payloads on the Psyche
mission. However, the delay of Psyche's launch from early August to no
earlier than Sept. 20, because of software testing issues with the
spacecraft, means that the Janus spacecraft will no longer be able to
reach their original destinations. The principal investigator for Janus
said at a meeting Wednesday that the mission is looking for other
asteroids the spacecraft could fly by instead. Janus is one of three
planetary science smallsat missions NASA selected in 2019 as part of
its SIMPLEx program; all three have since run into issues with their
rideshare launch plans. (6/9)
ai solutions to Support US Space Force
for Prototype Operations I Contract (Source: Space Daily)
a.i. solutions announces that it has been awarded a Small Business
Set-Aside Prime Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ)
contract with Firm-Fixed-Price (FFP), Cost-Plus-Award-Fee (CPAF) with a
value of $217 million to provide on-console satellite operations
support for the U.S. Space Force, Space Systems Command's Innovation
and Prototyping Delta (SSC/SZI).
The Prototype Operations I (POPS-I) is a procurement for research and
development satellite operations and support services for SSC/SZI. The
goal of the Innovation and Prototyping Delta is to accelerate mission
design and integration, launch operations, and ground system test
support to provide reliable, low-cost access to space. (6/1)
Inmarsat Testing Post-Brexit
Navigation Service (Source: Space News)
Inmarsat is testing a navigation service to replace capabilities
Britain lost when it exited the European Union. Inmarsat said it has
repurposed a transponder on its I-3 F5 satellite to broadcast a
positioning, navigation and timing signal as a test of a service to
augment satellite navigation services for aircraft. The U.K. previous
had access to a similar service, the European Geostationary Navigation
Overlay Service (EGNOS), but lost it last year after Brexit. Inmarsat
said the signal it's broadcasting will help British companies and
regulators validate plans for a sovereign U.K. Space-Based Augmentation
System (UKSBAS) to supplement GPS. (6/9)
CAPSTONE Mission Delayed Again
(Source: NASA)
NASA's CAPSTONE lunar cubesat mission has been delayed again. NASA said
Wednesday the launch, previously scheduled for June 13, had been
postponed because the spacecraft's flight software is being updated.
NASA did not disclose a new launch date for the mission, which will
demonstrate the stability of the near-rectilinear halo orbit NASA will
use for Artemis missions, as well as test technology for autonomous
navigation in cislunar space. (6/9)
Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Suffers
Sensor Failure (Source: Space.com)
Engineers are devising a workaround for a failed sensor on the
Ingenuity Mars helicopter. NASA said an inclinometer, used to determine
the helicopter's orientation, recently failed, possibly because of
exposure to cold temperatures in the Martian winter. Project engineers,
though, believe that other sensors on Ingenuity can provide data to
allow the helicopter to continue flying, with its next flight in the
"near future." (6/9)
Nelson Honored with John Glenn Award
(Source: Space Policy Online)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson received an award named after John Glenn
Wednesday. The John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State
University presented Nelson with the 2022 John Glenn Excellence in
Public Service Award at a ceremony in Washington, honoring Nelson for
his service at NASA and his congressional career. Former NASA
Administrator Charlie Bolden previously won the award. (6/9)
Ursa Major Announces New Engine to
Replace Unavailable Russian-Made Engines (Source: Space Daily)
Ursa Major, America's only privately funded company that focuses solely
on rocket propulsion, has introduced the latest in its line of engines.
Arroway is a 200,000-pound thrust liquid oxygen and methane staged
combustion engine that will serve markets including current U.S.
national security missions, commercial satellite launches, orbital
space stations, and future missions not yet conceived. The reusable
Arroway engine is available for order now, slated for initial hot-fire
testing in 2023, and delivery in 2025.
Notably, Arroway engines will be one of very few commercially available
engines that, when clustered together, can displace the Russian-made
RD-180 and RD-181, which are no longer available to U.S. launch
companies. Arroway uses a fuel-rich staged combustion architecture with
liquid oxygen and methane propellants. Ursa Major designed the
components and their arrangement so that most of the engine can be 3D
printed. This approach allows for rapid iteration during the
development process as well as efficient scaling of production to meet
market demand. (6/2)
Bacterial Cellulose Could Enable
Microbial Life on Mars (Source: Science Daily)
An international research team has investigated the chances of survival
of kombucha cultures under Mars-like conditions. Kombucha is known as a
drink, sometimes called tea fungus or mushroom tea, which is produced
by fermenting sugared tea using kombucha cultures -- a symbiotic
culture of bacteria and yeast. Although the simulated Martian
environment destroyed the microbial ecology of the kombucha cultures,
surprisingly, a cellulose-producing bacterial species survived. (6/6)
Dozens of People Fired from S7 Space,
Current Russian Operator of Sea Launch (Source: RBC)
"Today, 52 employees from s7kts (“S7 Space Transport Systems. - RBC )
have been fired, including myself, everything that you created is
destroyed and broken, the space direction is no more. It’s a pity for
S7 space as a direction,” Sopov quoted a letter from one of the
company’s ex-employees in his Facebook account (owned by Meta, which is
recognized as extremist and banned in Russia). RBC's source in S7
confirmed the information about the dismissal of employees. “This is
due to the financial problems of the S7 company, when planes do not
fly, there is nowhere to get money from for other projects,” he
explained.
The S7 press service told RBC that due to the inability to attract
funding, the project to create a light-class launch vehicle has been
suspended. “In this regard, from June 2022, S7 Space was forced to
partially reduce the staff. Of more than 100 people, the company,
unfortunately, left about 30 employees,” the company said. At the same
time, S7 Space continues to operate in a number of areas, in
particular, work is underway on additive and welding technologies, they
specified. (6/7)
Lawmakers Want Launch Integrator for
Space Force (Source: C4ISR)
The House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee wants the US
Space Force to select a single contractor to manage national security
launch missions to work "across department customers, satellite
manufacturers, and launch providers." The move, according to the panel,
would increase competition, lower costs and accelerate launch
timelines. (6/9)
China Aims for Space-Based Solar Power
Test in LEO in 2028, GEO in 2030 (Source: Space News)
China is planning solar power generation and transmission tests at
different orbital altitudes over the next decade as part of a phased
development of a space-based solar power station. The China Academy of
Space Technology (CAST), the country’s main, state-owned spacecraft
maker, plans to conduct a “Space high voltage transfer and wireless
power transmission experiment” in low Earth orbit in 2028.
The satellite will be capable of generating 10 kilowatts and carry a
solar cell array, microwave transmitting antenna, a low power laser
transmission payload, a transmitting array and test power transmission
across distances of 400 kilometers from orbit. The plan also involves
building infrastructure on the ground for receiving energy
transmissions. (6/8)
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