March 25, 2023

Will Boeing’s $4.3 Billion Starliner Ever Get Astronauts to Space? (Source: Gizmodo)
We’ve waited a long time for Boeing’s first crewed test flight to the ISS, and it now appears that we’re going to have to wait even longer. Starliner's next launch was originally scheduled for February then later moved to late April, and now likely will not happen until the summer. It’s been a rough ride for Boeing’s first attempt at delivering a crew to the ISS as part of a $4.3 billion contract with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The plan is for Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner spacecraft to transport astronauts back and forth to the ISS, the same way that NASA’s other commercial partner SpaceX does using its Dragon capsule.

SpaceX recently launched its sixth crew to the ISS, while Boeing remains at zero. In May 2022, Boeing completed the Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), the second uncrewed test flight of Starliner, setting the stage for a crewed test flight. But OFT-2 suffered a few hiccups, including the failure of a thruster used for orbital maneuvering, in addition to a slew of problems and delays that have marred the program from the start.

But NASA is still following through with its commercial partner, even selecting a two-person crew to fly aboard Starliner. But in November 2022, NASA delayed the first crewed test flight from February to April 2023 to avoid a scheduling conflict with the SpaceX Crew-6 mission to the ISS. The space agency also booked additional crewed launches with SpaceX, namely Crew-7 through to Crew-14. That should set NASA up for trips to the ISS until 2030, which is when the space station is set to retire. Boeing is booked for six crewed flights to the ISS, and it remains unclear when those might happen. (3/24)

Neuraspace Introduces "Machine Learning Prediction Plots" for Earlier Debris Planning (Source: Space Daily)
Neuraspace, a European-born global leader in space traffic management (STM), has introduced "Machine Learning Prediction Plots", giving satellite and satellite constellation operators a tool for earlier collision avoidance planning. As a first in the space industry, the latest addition to Neuraspace's STM software, using artificial intelligence (AI), enables operators to decide several days earlier whether to proceed with the available data or wait for additional data before making preparations for a collision avoidance manoeuvre. It gives them the means to decide if the data is good enough to make a decision.

As a result, operators, in particular those operating constellations with dozens or hundreds of satellites, have more decision time and can extend their satellites lifespan by saving valuable fuel and avoiding unnecessary maneuvers. (3/24)

Biden Moves to Undo Trump’s Political Play on the Space Command (Source: Washington Post)
The aftershocks from Donald Trump’s presidency reach even to outer space, but the Biden administration is quietly moving to repair one piece of the damage that could affect national security. The White House appears ready to reverse a Trump administration plan to relocate the U.S. Space Command from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama, because it fears the transfer would disrupt operations at a time when space is increasingly important to the military.

The Space Command siting decision has been a political football for the past four years. Trump made the decision on Jan. 11, 2021, five days after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol. He had said earlier that he wouldn’t decide until he knew the 2020 election results, “to see how it turns out.” Colorado voted against him, while Alabama gave him strong support and its representatives backed his false claim he had won. Trump emphatically took personal political credit for steering the Space Command toward a friendly state. “I single-handedly said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama,’” he told the hosts of a Birmingham-based radio show. “They wanted it. I said, ‘Let’s go to Alabama.’ I love Alabama.”

Senior military officials argued from the start for remaining in Colorado Springs, where the Space Command and its predecessors have been based for decades, and the Biden administration seems finally to be nearing the same conclusion. “We share the concerns of some military leaders about potential disruption of space operations at a critical moment for our national security,” a White House official said this week. (3/23)

Florida Was Considered for Space Command HQ, But 'Hurricanes and Other Factors' Blocked the State as a Finalist (Source: Washington Post)
A late entrant in the Space Command HQ political fracas was Florida, which argued that the Space Command should move to Patrick Space Force Base near Cape Canaveral. “What about Florida?” Trump demanded at the meeting, according to then-acting Defense Secretary Christopher Miller, who was present. Miller told me that he and others warned Trump against that, citing the frequency of hurricanes and other factors. Miller said that the rejection of Florida was conveyed by his chief of staff, Kash Patel, to that state’s advocates, led by Gov. Ron DeSantis. (3/23)

Terran Orbital’s Revenue Soared 130 Percent in 2022 (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Terran Orbital’s revenue soared 130 percent from $40.9 to $94.2 million last while its net loss rose from $139 million to $164 million, the company reported on Tuesday. The satellite manufacturer’s year-over-year adjusted EBITDA loss increased from $26.1 million to $69.5 million. Terran Orbital’s revenue increased as it delivered a record 19 satellites last year, including 10 satellite buses for the Space Development Agency’s Transport Layer. The satellites, which are built by Lockheed Martin, will deliver low-latency military data and connectivity worldwide. (3/22)

NASA Report Highlights Small Business Contributions to Artemis (Source NASA)
The NASA Office of Small Business Programs publication series, A Case for Small Business, highlights the stellar contributions of small business contractors to the Agency’s missions. The Artemis I Publication is the most recent addition to the series and highlights the extraordinary efforts of over 800 small businesses that have contributed to this mission. Click here. (3/24)

Blue Origin Releases Detail on Suborbital Flight Anomaly (Source: Blue Origin)
The direct cause of the NS-23 mishap was a thermo-structural failure of the engine nozzle. The resulting thrust misalignment properly triggered the Crew Capsule escape system, which functioned as designed throughout the flight. The Crew Capsule and all payloads onboard landed safely and will be flown again. All systems designed to protect public safety functioned as planned. There were no injuries. There was no damage to ground-based systems, and all debris was recovered in the designated hazard area. Blue Origin expects to return to flight soon, with a re-flight of the NS-23 payloads. (3/24)

Fissures on Ocean Moons May Be Too Rare to Provide Conditions for Life (Source: New Scientist)
The seafloors of Europa and Enceladus may not be prone to fracturing. Such fissures are thought to be important for the prospect of life beneath these moons’ icy shells, so if there isn’t enough stress to cause them, there might also be a shortage of the energy and chemicals that any potential living organisms would need. We can’t observe the cores of these frigid worlds directly, so we know very little about them. (3/22)

NASA Funding Boost Prioritizes Sustainable Flight Program (Source: Simple Flying)
NASA is asking for a 6.5% increase in its budget for fiscal 2024, with a significant part of the funding dedicated to the agency's Sustainable Flight National Partnership program. "NASA is working toward an ambitious goal of developing game-changing technologies to reduce aviation energy use and emissions over the coming decades toward an aviation community goal of net-zero carbon emissions by 2050," said Bob Pearce, NASA's associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate. (3/22)

Astronomy Instrument Helps Capture Singular Quantum Interference Effects (Source: Space Daily)
By adapting technology used for gamma-ray astronomy, a group of researchers has found that X-ray transitions previously thought to have been unpolarized according to atomic physics, are in fact highly polarized. When electrons recombine with highly charged ions, X-ray polarization becomes important for testing fundamental atomic physics involving relativistic and quantum electrodynamics effects. But to date, experimental researchers have been challenged by the technical difficulties these experiments require.

The team of researchers successfully combined two state-of-the-art instruments and technologies to measure the polarization of high-energy X-rays emitted when highly charged ions capture high-energy electrons. Daiji Kato made a theoretical analysis of the results, which revealed that the unexpectedly large polarization observed in the experiment was the result of quantum interference effects, where quantum mechanical probability waves interfere with each other. (3/24)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Mission from Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX had to give up the spotlight to another rocket company this week, but returned to normal launch juggernaut form Friday with a Starlink mission from Florida. The Falcon 9 launch sent up 56 of the company’s internet satellites. The first-stage booster on this mission made its 10th flight and the company was able to recover it again on the droneship A Shortfall of Gravitas in the Atlantic Ocean. The launch was the 15th for SpaceX from its two Space Coast launch pads in 2023 and 20th overall including launches from California. (3/24)