August 1, 2023

Outraged Alabama Lawmakers Promise to Fight on to Keep Space Command: 'This is Not Over' (Source: The Gazette)
Outraged Alabama lawmakers promised Monday to fight on for Space Command after the Air Force announced it will stay in Colorado Springs. U.S. Space Command employs people from across the military branches to protect U.S. space assets and, if necessary, defend them. It is separate from the Space Force. Prior to Monday's announcement, the command was slated to move to Redstone Arsenal, an Army Base in Huntsville, Ala., that is also home to the Marshall Space Flight Center.

One Alabama lawmaker with firepower to bring to the fray, Republican U.S. Rep. Mike Rogers, pledged to use his powerful role as chairman of the House Armed Services Committee to investigate the decision. The committee had been looking into the delay around moving the command and changes to the mission requirements that had not gone through civilian oversight. Rogers appeared to double down Monday. "I will be continuing my investigation into Biden's deliberate, political, taxpayer-funded meddling in this decision," the Alabama lawmaker said. "This is not over, and Colorado Springs will not be the permanent location for US Space Command." (7/31)

Americans Love NASA, But Private Firms Do the Real Work in Space (Source: Reason)
Despite the successes of private space companies, many Americans cling to a notion of NASA as representing the country beyond the atmosphere. In fact, though, NASA relies on capabilities developed and owned by others. The Space Launch System [SLS] is supposed to restore the agency's role, but it's antiquated and clunky when compared to private competitors. Public opinion has yet to catch up with an innovation boom that has moved beyond misty memories of NASA in its moon-landing heyday. Click here. (7/31)

STARCOM Publishes Foundational Doctrine on Intelligence, Operations (Source: STARCOM)
Space Training and Readiness Command recently released two significant publications that are set to shape the future of space operations and intelligence within the U.S. Space Force (USSF). According to the command, Space Doctrine Publication (SDP) 2-0, Intelligence, and SDP 3-0, Operations, provide the joint force with the Guardian’s perspective on the best practices and principles to support freedom of operation in, from, and to space. Click here. (7/31)

Cosmic Question Mark Spotted in Deep Space Suggests the Universe Is Stumped (Source: Gizmodo)
The James Webb Space Telescope captured the eerie punctuation mark, found buried within an image of Herbig-Haro 46/47—a tightly bound pair of actively forming stars located 1,470 light years from Earth. The high-resolution near-infrared image, captured by the Webb Space Telescope, a project from NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency, came out last week. But if you zoom in close enough  you’ll see an astronomical feature that, from our perspective, bears an uncanny resemblance to a question mark, as Space.com points out. Click here. (7/31)

Senate Orbital Debris Bill Moves Forward (Source: Space News)
The Senate advanced an orbital debris removal bill last week. The Senate Commerce Committee approved the the Orbital Sustainability, or ORBITS, Act, sending it to the full House. The bill would direct NASA to establish an orbital debris removal program, funding research and development work and also a demonstration mission. NASA is also cooperating with the Office of Space Commerce on the new TraCSS space traffic coordination system, with NASA responsible for a "sandbox" within TraCSS for testing new capabilities before putting them into operation. The Office of Space Commerce plans to have an initial version of TraCSS ready by September 2024. (8/1)

AFRL Picks KBR for Cislunar Study (Source: Space News)
The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) has selected KBR to study "non-traditional" orbits in cislunar space. The company won a $24.9 million contract last Friday for "better understanding of chaotic orbits in the XGEO domain," the Defense Department said, using its designation for cislunar space. KBR has several AFRL contracts to operate and maintain sensor sites and manage research projects on space domain awareness. (8/1)

India Maneuvers Chandrayaan-3 Into Lunar Orbit (Source: PTI)
India's Chandrayaan-3 mission is now on its way to the moon. The spacecraft performed a translunar injection maneuver Monday, leaving Earth orbit. Chandrayaan-3 launched into an elliptical transfer orbit in mid-July and has been raising that orbit ahead of this maneuver. It will go into orbit around the moon Saturday to prepare for a landing attempt Aug. 23. (8/1)

Australia Identifies Rocket Debris as Indian (Source: ABC)
The Australian Space Agency said an object that washed up on a beach in the country came from an Indian rocket. The agency said Monday that the object, found on a Western Australia beach last month, is part of the third stage of a Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, although it is not clear from what launch. Australian officials said they are waiting to see if the Indian space agency ISRO plans to retrieve the debris or allow it to remain in Australia. (8/1)

China Expressed Interest in OneWeb Stake (Source: The Telegraph)
British intelligence investigated Chinese interest in OneWeb before the U.K. government acquired the satellite operator. According to a report from a Parliament committee, Chinese bidders, including the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, expressed interest in OneWeb in 2020 when the company filed for bankruptcy protection. The British government and Indian company Bharti later joined forced to buy OneWeb out of bankruptcy, and OneWeb is now in the process of being acquired by Eutelsat. It is unlikely a Chinese company could have acquired OneWeb because of objections from the U.S. government, as OneWeb's bankruptcy proceedings were in U.S. federal court. (8/1)

NASA Completes PDR on Mars Ascent Vehicle (Source: NASA)
NASA says it has made progress on a key element of its Mars Sample Return program. NASA has completed the preliminary design review for the Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), the rocket that will launch samples from the surface of Mars into orbit for return to Earth. The agency earlier this year conducted tests of the solid rocket motors that will power the two-stage MAV, including the use of a new technology called a supersonic splitline nozzle that is used to provide thrust vector control for the rocket. Those tests confirmed the performance of the new nozzle. (8/1)

We Built a Spaceport on a Scottish Island (Source: BBC)
A husband and wife are on the verge of opening a spaceport on a tiny island. Frank and Debbie Strang bought a former RAF radar station on Unst in Shetland about 15 years ago with an idea to turn it into an eco-tourism attraction. But the plan changed when the UK government was looking for potential sites for vertical launches of small rockets carrying satellites.

The Strangs could now be just weeks away from seeing the site secure a spaceport licence. By next summer, they hope that three rocket launches will have been completed at the facility on UK's most northerly inhabited island, which is home to fewer than 700 people. (7/31)

Innovative Plan Combines Asteroid and Sunshade to Tackle Climate Change (Source: Space Daily)
As the Earth grapples with accelerating climate change, an astronomer has suggested a groundbreaking solution: a sunshade to lower the intensity of sunlight reaching Earth, paired with an asteroid acting as a counterweight. This unique proposal opens doors to immediate engineering studies to devise a practical design that could combat climate change in the forthcoming decades.

Istvan Szapudi's innovative proposal introduces two key improvements: the inclusion of a tethered counterweight to significantly decrease the required mass, and the use of a captured asteroid as this counterweight, circumventing the need to launch the majority of the mass from Earth. Szapudi started his calculations with the goal of curtailing solar radiation by 1.7%, the amount scientists believe is necessary to avert disastrous global temperature increases.

He determined that implementing a tethered counterbalance facing the sun could minimize the weight of the shield and counterbalance to around 3.5 million tons. This figure is nearly one hundred times lighter than former estimates for an untethered shield. While this weight still vastly exceeds current launch capacities, a mere 1% of it--about 35,000 tons--would be attributed to the shield, the only part needing to be launched from Earth. With the advent of newer, lighter materials, the shield's mass could be further diminished. (8/1)

Nuclear Space Gets Hot (Source: Space Review)
The value of nuclear systems to provide power and propulsion in space has been recognized for years, but until recently there has been little progress on new capabilities. Jeff Foust reports on new efforts to develop space nuclear technologies. Click here. (7/31)
 
The Highs and Lows of Extreme Tourism: The Titan Accident and Commercial Expeditions to Space and the Deep Sea (Source: Space Review)
While commercial deep-sea and space travel seems novel, they are just part of a long line of journeys that mix tourism and research. Deana Weibel examines the connections between the space and ocean travel, and between tourism and research expeditions. Click here. (7/31)
 
Should the Loss of the Titan Submersible Impact Space Tourism? (Source: Space Review)
The loss of the Titan has prompted discussions about parallels with space tourism, which is also lightly regulated for passenger safety. Dale Skran argues against a rush to regulate commercial human spaceflight because of what happened in the depths of the oceans. Click here. (7/31)
 
Is China’s Rise in Space Over? Indexing Space Power for the Next Space Age (Source: Space Review)
The 21st century has been marked in space by the rise of China as a leading space power. Daniel Duchaine examines if that rise can continue at the expense of other leading space nations. Click here. (7/31)

L3Harris to Base Newly Acquired Aerojet Unit on Space Coast (It's Currently in California) (Source: Florida Today)
L3Harrrs, a Melbourne-based defense and high-tech company, is Brevard County's third-largest employer, with more than 7,200 employees in the county. It will be getting bigger, with the move of Aerojet's headquarters operations to Palm Bay. L3Harris said the new Aerojet Rocketdyne business segment will be based in Palm Bay, alongside two other L3Harris segments ― the Integrated Mission Systems and the Space and Airborne Systems. L3Harris' fourth segment ― Communications Systems ― is based in Rochester, New York.

L3Harris is not disclosing specifics about how the move would affect local employment counts for L3Harris, as it is in the process of working out details. Aerojet has been based in El Segundo, California. Aerojet Rocketdyne's more than 5,000 employees operate primarily out of 10 manufacturing facilities nationwide, including in Orlando and West Palm Beach. The acquisition boosts L3Harris' total worldwide employment above 50,000. And, with Aerojet's annual revenue of $2.3 billion, L3Harris' total revenue will be more than $19 billion. (7/31)

NASA Warns Chicago Area Residents of ‘Very Loud’ Jet Flyover for Data Research (Source: WGN)
If you hear a loud noise from a jet Monday or Tuesday it may be due to a NASA research project. According to a news release, NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center’s DC-8 aircraft will fly at a low-altitude over the Chicago area on Monday “and/or” Tuesday from mid-morning to mid-afternoon. The project measures atmospheric emissions and reactions observed from megacities to marine areas. (7/31)

Space Force Programs Get Trimmed in Senate Appropriations Bill (Source: Space News)
The Senate Appropriations Committee last week approved an $831 billion defense spending bill for fiscal year 2024 that recommends about $1 billion in cuts from the U.S. Space Force’s $30 billion request. The SAC said many of the recommended cuts are due to schedule and performance issues — concerns that also were raised by House appropriators last month in their version of the 2024 defense spending bill.

The Biden administration requested $30.1 billion for the U.S. Space Force in fiscal year 2024. According to estimates from the consulting firm Velos, both the Senate And House appropriations committee bills propose just over $29 billion. The cuts in the SAC bill are spread across dozens of programs in the RDT&E (research, development, testing and engineering) and procurement accounts. The committee trimmed $356 million from RDT&E programs, and $679 million from procurement programs. (7/31)

Euclid Space Telescope Sends Back Amazing First Images of the Cosmos (Source: New Scientist)
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid space telescope has released its first test images. These pictures of sparkling stars and galaxies show that the new space telescope is beginning its daunting task of mapping a huge portion of the sky. Euclid launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida on 1 July and took about a month to reach its final orbit about four times as far from Earth as the moon. While it sailed to its destination, researchers on Earth were hard at work turning on and calibrating its two cameras. (7/31)

New Algorithm Ensnares its First 'Potentially Hazardous' Asteroid (Source: Phys.org)
An asteroid discovery algorithm—designed to uncover near-Earth asteroids for the Vera C. Rubin Observatory's upcoming 10-year survey of the night sky—has identified its first "potentially hazardous" asteroid, a term for space rocks in Earth's vicinity that scientists like to keep an eye on. The roughly 600-foot-long asteroid, designated 2022 SF289, was discovered during a test drive of the algorithm with the ATLAS survey in Hawaii. Finding 2022 SF289, which poses no risk to Earth for the foreseeable future, confirms that the next-generation algorithm, known as HelioLinc3D, can identify near-Earth asteroids with fewer and more dispersed observations than required by today's methods. (7/31)

Mystery Group Buying Land Near Air Force Base Sues Farmers (Source: NewsNation)
While questions remain about a mystery company buying 52,000 acres of land near an Air Force base, a congressman says farmers in the area are being targeted in a lawsuit from the group. Rep. John Garamendi, D-CA, has been speaking out over the past five years about the $800 million in land acquisitions by Flannery Associates near Travis Air Force Base. Garamendi says the purchases just don’t add up. Garamendi said he’s been in contact with the families of farmers who handed over their land to Flannery saying they didn’t want to sell in the first place. Now, Flannery is suing those families for $510 million, accusing them of conspiring together to inflate the value of the land.

The suit comes as companies with ties to China have been ramping up efforts to buy American farmland in recent years. Public records show “Flannery Associates” has invested more than $800 million on more than 50,000 acres of land surrounding the Travis Air Force Base since 2018. Legal representation for Flannery says the group is controlled by U.S. citizens, with 97% of its capital coming from U.S.-based investors. Federal officials can’t confirm or deny this to be true and have not been able to determine exactly who is backing the company. (7/30)

Northrop Grumman Prepares to Launch Final Antares with Russian/Ukrainian Components (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Northrop Grumman is set to launch a Cygnus cargo spacecraft atop what will be the final flight of the Antares 230+ rocket. The NG-19 mission to the International Space Station will begin with a liftoff schedule for Aug. 1 from Wallops Island in Virginia. Aboard will be thousands of pounds of cargo, equipment and science experiments bound for the outpost’s seven-person Expedition 69 crew. Because of Russia’s war in Ukraine, this will be the final launch of the rocket in this configuration.

The first stage core structures and propellant systems of Antares 230+ were manufactured by Yuzhmash State Enterprise under the design authority of Yuzhnoye SDO in Dnipro, Ukraine, and the first stage’s RD-181 engines made by Russian manufacturer Energomash are no longer being delivered due to Russian sanctions on the U.S. and vise versa. Given this dependency on overseas suppliers, Northrop Grumman had been seeking a domestic partner.

In August 2022, the company announced a partnership with Firefly Aerospace to develop a domestic version of the rocket. This move not only reduces vulnerability due to international political developments but also positions the company to compete for contracts from the Department of Defense. The new rocket will be called the Antares 330. Because the propulsion technology of Firefly employs the same propellants as the current Antares rocket, it diminishes the requirement for substantial alterations at the fuel farm at the Wallops launch site. (7/31)

U.S. Space Command Headquarters to Remain in Colorado (Source: Space News)
President Biden finally settled the drawn-out fight over the location of U.S. Space Command headquarters: It’s staying in Colorado Springs, and not moving to Huntsville, Alabama. Pentagon spokesman Brig. Gen. Patrick Ryder in a statement July 31 said Biden made the decision after considering the views of Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and other senior military officials. This announcement caps more than two years of bitter wrangling between congressional delegations.

It all started in January 2021 when the Department of the Air Force in the final days of the Trump presidency recommended that Space Command, currently located at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, move to Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama. Trump’s recommendation resulted in two separate independent reviews, and back-and-forth arguments between congressional representatives from both states. Ryder said DoD supported keeping the command in Colorado to avoid disruptions that would undermine “readiness in the space domain for our nation during a critical period.” (7/31)