December 10, 2023

NDAA Would Enable 'Port Authority' Approach at Federal Spaceports (Source: Space News)
The Senate and House Armed Services Committees unveiled a final National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) conference agreement that includes several space policy and spending decisions impacting the military space and commercial space sectors. The legislation permits the Space Force to essentially establish a “port authority” arrangement at launch ranges to improve infrastructure for commercial launch companies.

Similar to seaports investing in piers and shipping channels for maritime businesses, launch providers could cover costs for expanded capability at military test ranges in exchange for rapid access. These provisions have been advocated by the Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45, which operates the Eastern Range, including the world’s busiest spaceport, the Cape Canaveral Spaceport (comprising NASA's KSC and USSF's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station).

The language in the NDAA would allow the military range operator to sign agreements with commercial space launch providers to upgrade the infrastructure at the range and allow companies to reimburse the government for certain costs. Space Force leaders have argued that under current funding mechanisms, federal ranges support commercial launches only when not being used for government activities, even as commercial launches dominate the use of the ranges. (12/7)

Government Releases Results of Latest Consultation on Canada’s Space Program (Source: SpaceQ)
Canadian industry is once again asking for a fresh and new Canadian space policy – along with a national space council – in the latest consultation process by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Government of Canada. That feedback was one point among many after a review was undertaken as a follow-up to the 2019 mini-space strategy, called Exploration, Imagination, Innovation: A New Space Strategy for Canada. (12/8)

New Space Tourism Operator Zephalto Reaches For The Stars In 2024 (Source: Forbes)
Over the last few years, space tourism has come to life, challenging the final frontier of travel. After years of testing, commercial outfits like Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic have already delivered on their promise to take paying customers into the stratosphere, albeit with no little controversy surrounding their motives and ecological footprints.

In 2024, it seems a new operator will enter the mix, offering luxury flights into space for anyone with deep enough pockets. Founded by aerospace engineer Vincent Farret d’Astiès, French outfit Zephalto is pioneering a slower, more considered and less environmentally damaging way to take its customers on the journey of a lifetime—using a balloon taller than Notre-Dame. (12/9)

New Dark Matter Theory Explains Two Puzzles in Astrophysics (Source: UCR.edu)
Thought to make up 85% of matter in the universe, dark matter is nonluminous and its nature is not well understood. While normal matter absorbs, reflects, and emits light, dark matter cannot be seen directly, making it harder to detect. A theory called “self-interacting dark matter,” or SIDM, proposes that dark matter particles self-interact through a dark force, strongly colliding with one another close to the center of a galaxy. (12/6)

Giant Doubts About Giant Exomoons (Source: Max Planck Institute)
It is extremely time-consuming to comb through the observational data of thousands of exoplanets for evidence of moons. To make the search easier and faster, the authors of the new study rely on a search algorithm they developed and optimized themselves for the search for exomoons. They published their method last year and the algorithm is available to all researchers as open source code. When applied to the observational data from Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b, the results were astonishing. "We would have liked to confirm the discovery of exomoons around Kepler-1625b and Kepler-1708b," says first author of the new study, MPS scientist Dr. René Heller. "But unfortunately, our analyses show otherwise," he adds. (12/8)

Japan May Delay its Mars Moon Sampling Mission MMX Due to Rocket Problems (Source: Space.com)
Japan’s ambitious mission to explore the two mini moons of Mars could be facing a lengthy delay. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Martian Moons eXploration (MMX) is scheduled to launch in September 2024, taking advantage of a once-every-26-months launch window to the Red Planet. However the agency’s new H3 rocket, which will launch MMX, failed on its debut flight in March. JAXA stated last month that it is aiming to attempt a second launch of the flagship H3 rocket by the end of March next year, NHK reported. (12/9)

Landspace Launches Third Methane Zhuque-2, Targets 2025 Launch of New Stainless Steel Rocket (Source: Space News)
Chinese launch startup Landspace successfully sent satellites into orbit for the first time Friday and revealed details of a new stainless steel rocket. The third Zhuque-2 methane-liquid oxygen rocket lifted off at 6:39 p.m. Eastern (2339 UTC) Dec. 8 from the firm’s launch pad at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert. Landspace confirmed launch success an hour after liftoff.

Zhuque-2 (“Vermillion Bird-2”) is 49.5 meters long, with a diameter of 3.35m and a mass at take-off of 220 tons. The first stage is powered by four Tianque 80-ton-thrust methane-liquid oxygen engines. It can carry 1,500 kilograms to a 500-kilometer sun-synchronous orbit (SSO). An upgraded version will be capable of lifting 4,000 kg. The next Zhuque-2 will use an improved second stage engine. (12/9)

China Launches New Remote Sensing Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China on Sunday launched a Long March-2D carrier rocket, placing a remote sensing satellite in space. The rocket blasted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. It was the 500th flight mission of the Long March series rockets. (12/10)

Revealed: the Oldest Black Hole Ever Observed, Dating to Dawn of Universe (Source: The Guardian)
Astronomers have detected the oldest black hole ever observed, dating back more than 13bn years to the dawn of the universe. The observations, by the James Webb space telescope (JWST), reveal it to be at the heart of a galaxy 440m years after the big bang. At around a million times the mass of the sun, it is surprisingly big for a baby black hole, raising the question of how it grew so big so quickly. (12/10)

Northrop Grumman Successfully Tests a New Solid Rocket Motor Developed in Less Than a Year (Source: Northrop Grumman)
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) successfully conducted a full-scale static test fire of a new solid rocket motor that was developed in less than a year as part of its Solid Motor Annual Rocket Technology Demonstrator (SMART Demo). The SMART Demo successfully demonstrated several innovative technologies, alternate manufacturing materials and processes to reduce lead times by 75 percent. (12/8)

Space Force Sets Up Shop in Europe, Africa Combatant Commands (Source: Defense One)
The Space Force has opened a new office to serve Europe and Africa’s warfighting commands, as military officials stress the power of space-based systems in Ukraine and modern warfare. The group will respond to the regions’ urgent space needs and streamline communications from the Space Force to the commanders of U.S. European Command and Africa Command. The office will cover 51 European countries and territories and 54 African nations. (12/8)

Hole the Size of 60 Earths Opens on Sun (Source: Boston25)
Scientists have discovered a massive hole that has opened on the sun’s surface. The size of the void is unfathomable for some, equating to about 60 Earths, Space.com reported. It is called a coronal hole and it started to form on Dec. 2, hitting its maximum width of about 497,000 miles in 24 hours. By Wednesday, the hole was no longer pointing toward Earth. (12/8)

Colliding Space Junk Makes 'Noise' that Could Be Heard From Earth (Source: Space.com)
Orbital smashups cause tiny pieces of space junk to emit signals that could be detected from Earth, a new study has found. A new method devised by researchers from the University of Michigan might help solve the problem. Using computer simulations, the researchers found that, when two objects collide at orbital speeds — enormous velocites that can approach 20,000 mph (30,000 kph) — they produce electrical bursts that can be spotted by Earth-based radio telescopes. (12/8)

Ghana Warns Against Illegal Starlink Services (Source: Space News)
Ghana is the latest country in Africa to warn against using Starlink before it issues licenses for SpaceX’s satellite broadband service. The National Communications Authority (NCA), Ghana’s telecoms regulator, cautioned the general public Dec. 7 against using services purported to be from Starlink following reports of equipment being sold and operated in the country. (12/8)

Fly Like Millionaires: Blue Origin Debuts Rocket Simulator at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Those taking a virtual ride to space on the new Blue Origin New Shepard simulator at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex face the same conundrum as the folks who can afford the real thing — don’t forget to look out the window. Blue Origin’s Barret Schlegelmilch trains the six customers who take the roughly 10-minute trip up to space and back aboard Jeff Bezos’ rocket company’s space tourism rocket.

He was on hand Friday to explain how the life-size simulator of the crew capsule works sitting amid an array of displays and simulators from the likes of SpaceX, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and others within KSC’s Gateway attraction, which is free to visitors with paid admission. The simulator opened Friday afternoon alongside a special box for people to participate in the Postcards to Space program run by Blue Origin’s nonprofit Club for the Future. Guests can drop in a postcard to be flown on a future New Shepard flight that will be sent back to them in the mail. (12/8)

Experts Raise Concerns About U.S. Commitment to GPS Modernization (Source: Space News)
Members of a key advisory board questioned the U.S. military’s commitment to deliver enhancements to the Global Positioning System, arguing that the network is at risk of falling behind other satellite navigation systems built by Europe and China. The critique came at last week’s annual meeting of the National Space-Based Positioning, Navigation and Timing Advisory Board. (12/8)

Why is There So Much Military Interest in the Moon? (Source: Space.com)
With so much moon technology research coming from an agency overseen by the U.S. Department of Defense, it begs the question: Could such initiatives trigger worries and spark counter-actions by other nations to install military might on the Earth's moon? "DARPA's project seems very carefully calibrated to catalyze a successful commercial lunar industry within a decade, which is clearly a peaceful activity," said Peter Garretson, a senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council.

"As such, DARPA itself is not doing anything on or near the moon, but rather helping industry to create interoperable standards which will aid in deconfliction, advance sustainability, and advance standards to enable emergency assistance," said Garretson. Moreover, Garretson said that DARPA has been clear that it will be transparent in releasing its results. DARPA is working closely with NASA, he said, to directly assist NASA's "stretch goals" in their moon-to-Mars objectives.

"But what is especially beneficial is that, while NASA typically concentrates on exploration and science and is never confident of its mission to catalyze industry, DARPA is unapologetic in attempting to catalyze a self-sustaining industry," Garretson said, and both DARPA's LunA-10 and NOMAD seek to realize the White House-generated National Cislunar Strategy. (12/8)

Next X-37B Preps for Highest Flight Yet (Source: The Sun)
The Falcon Heavy has three Falcon 9 cores, with 27 engines in all generating five million pounds of thrust. With the amplitude of this power, it is expected that X-37B will be taking its highest flight yet. Official statements have revealed that "test new orbital regimes," are planned to be tested as well. (12/9)

Wild New NASA Plasma Tech Reduces Drag During Hypersonic Flight (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Technology Transfer Program is licensing its rights to a radical new form of propulsion that uses electromagnets to control the flow of plasma over aircraft and spacecraft flying at hypersonic speeds. As vehicles fly through a planetary atmosphere at hypersonic speeds — at least five times faster than the speed of sound — they generate a flow of charged gases.

NASA's concept involves two electrodes embedded on the heat shield of an aircraft or spacecraft, along with an electromagnet beneath the heat shield. The pair of electrodes capture the electrical charge in the ionized flow of gas outside the craft, either to charge a battery or to power an electromagnetic coil embedded in the aircraft or spacecraft. That's where things get interesting. NASA says the electromagnet can then be used to control the flow of gas around the vehicle, either to reduce drag (atmospheric friction) or steer the vehicle. (12/8)

Three Satellites Presumed Lost in Transporter Deployment Malfunction (Source: Space News)
Three satellites on a SpaceX Transporter rideshare launch in November failed to deploy, including one from a company that previously stated its satellite was in orbit and operating. Momentus announced Dec. 5 that three of the five satellites that it flew on the Transporter-9 launch Nov. 11 did not appear to deploy from the Falcon 9’s upper stage. The company used a third-party deployer, rather than its own Vigoride tug, on that mission, and said that it was able to confirm that the Hello Test 1 and 2 satellites from Turkish company Hello Space were released. (12/9)