March 12, 2023

Vulcan Centaur Rocket Rolled Out To Launchpad (Source: Aviation Week)
The first United Launch Alliance (ULA) Vulcan Centaur rocket was rolled out to its Cape Canaveral Space Force Station launchpad March 9 for a series of propellant-loading tests and a static engine firing ahead of its debut launch slated for May. “It is a momentous day,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno said. (3/10)

Spaceport Bill is Blasting its Way Through the Arkansas Capitol (Source: Arkansas Times)
Holding up the “live long and prosper” hand sign on the Senate floor Wednesday, Sen. Justin Boyd (R-Fort Smith) presented House Bill 1499, which would call for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to conduct a study to determine if the state should develop a spaceport. Yes, that means people could take off and go to space from somewhere in Arkansas. The Senate was apparently all for it, because it gained unanimous approval from all present members. Sen. Jimmy Hickey (R-Texarkana) was out.

The study is contingent on fund availability, Boyd said Wednesday. Senate Bill 315 from Boyd, which is on the Senate’s budget meeting agenda Monday, states that the study would cost $950,000. “Arkansas is already a leader in aerospace manufacturing,” Boyd read from a statement Wednesday. “A spaceport would attract even more business and investment. It would also be a place for Arkansas to be on the forefront of the commercial space industry.” More than 65 aerospace manufacturing companies are located in Arkansas, according to the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s website. (3/10)

Kazakhstan Seizes Russian Assets At Baikonur Spaceport (Source: Aviation Week)
Kazakhstan has taken control of Russian assets on Baikonur spaceport, local KZ24 media reported on March 7, citing the country’s court bailiff service. The property belongs to TsENKI Center for Operation of Space Ground-based Infrastructure, a subsidiary of Russia’s Roscosmos State Corp. (3/10)

Jury Subpoenas Georgia Spaceport Spending Documents (Source: Spaceport Facts)
Camden County has refused to release spending documents and contracts from the past seven years of expenses from Spaceport Camden. Continuing the County’s resistance to revealing all documents, the Chairman of the County Commission prevented a commission vote on Tuesday approving the documents’ release after the motion by Commissioner Jim Goodman was seconded and appeared to have enough votes to pass.

On Wednesday, a Camden County Grand Jury issued its subpoena for the same documents that Camden has been withholding in violation of the Georgia Open Records Act. The Grand Jury subpoena requires the commissioner, county attorney and county administrators appear in court no later than Wednesday March 15, 2023 with the documents in hand. As of this writing, no private investor has contributed even a dollar to the spaceport misadventure. County taxpayers are suspicious that the millions spent were not exclusively in the public interest. (3/11)

Thanks to Blue Origin Astronauts, Central Florida Students Get Special Trek to Kennedy Space Center (Source: Foreign Policy)
Nearly 250 fourth-graders from elementary schools in Orange County spent the day at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Wednesday, thanks to a couple of Florida groups that look to stoke up interest in space. The kids from Conway, Hungerford, Ivey Lane, Little River and Orange Center elementaries, all Title I schools with a large number of students from low-income families, took the bus trip over, all wearing matching blue T-shirts.

The trip was possible thanks in part to a $10,000 gift to Orange County Public Schools from Winter Park couple Sharon and Mark Hagle, who both flew to space on a suborbital Blue Origin New Shepard launch last year. Their donation was merged with funds from Florida High Tech Corridor to provide tickets, transportation and food for the day. (3/10)

Artemis Accords: The Space Race Enters the Economic Era (Source: Foreign Policy)
The future space race will be won not by those whose technological advancements are superior but by the rule-makers—those whose economic, legal, social, and political institutions are most innovative, attractive, and popular to other spacefaring nations and entities. In this respect, the United States has an early lead over China and Russia, but it has a long way to go in winning this popularity contest. In recent years, the space race entered an age of economic competition. Winning this race requires not only technological prowess or military acumen but the ability to leverage tools of economic power on the space program’s behalf. (3/8)

Boeing Considers Offering SLS for National Security Launches (Source: Ars Technica)
As part of the next round of national security launch contracts discussed above, I expect SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, and Blue Origin to bid their large rockets for the most demanding military missions. But according to Aviation Week's Irene Klotz, Boeing is also interested in offering commercial Space Launch System flight services under the National Security Space Launch Phase 3 program.

No, wait, they're serious ... "We believe the proven SLS capabilities can be an asset for the ... [NSSL] Phase 3 contract," the company told Klotz. While I applaud Boeing's ambition, it is difficult to see the SLS rocket being seriously considered in an open competition. Its price (probably above $2 billion) will easily be five times, or even 10 times that of the rockets it is competing against, and, with a low flight rate, it is unlikely to answer the military's priorities for schedule and reliability. (3/10)

Tuberville Pushes Space Command Top General to Back HQ Move to Huntsville (Source: AL.com)
Alabama Republican U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville pushed the commanding general of the U.S. Space Command today to endorse the selection process that decided Huntsville should be the command headquarters’ permanent home. Tuberville said, “Members of states that weren’t even really (in the) running for SPACECOM headquarters are trying to tie completely unrelated political issues to a fact-based decision.” (3/9)

Nearly 100 State Leaders Urge Biden to Keep Space Command Headquarters in Colorado (Source: KUSA)
With the final location of U.S. Space Command still undecided after more than two years of debate, dozens of Colorado leaders renewed their plea Wednesday for the headquarters to remain in the state. In a letter sent to President Joe Biden, 94 local politicians, business leaders and military personnel argued that the command should stay in its provisional home in Colorado Springs. Those who signed the letter include Gov. Jared Polis, both of the state's U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper, seven of the state's eight U.S. congressional members, all leadership members of the state legislature and Colorado Springs Mayor John Suthers. (3/8)

Manufacturing Students Build Parts for NASA (Source: KTVT)
Manufacturing students at a Texas school are fabricating parts that will be used in space by NASA. Timothy Sherwood, the teacher who leads the NASA HUNCH program at Ben Barber Innovation Academy, says the students are helping to build a component for a storage locker box used to deliver supplies to astronauts in space. (3/6)

China Shows Off Massive Rocket Propellant Tank (Source: Ars Technica)
China has produced a 10-meter-wide propellant tank as it works toward building a super heavy-lift launch vehicle, Space.com reports. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology announced earlier this month that it had manufactured the huge tank, demonstrating that it had made the breakthroughs required to produce a propellant storage tank strong yet also thin and light enough for use in rocket launches.

A prototype tank ... The new tank was built to specifications for an old design for an expendable version of China's planned Long March 9 rocket. China has since stated it is switching to a new, reusable design with a diameter of 10.6 meters, but the demonstration of techniques such as stir friction welding and materials will be applicable to the new plan. Don't expect the massive rocket to fly any time soon. (3/10)