December 19, 2023

An Extended Mission for Authorization (Source: Space Review)
Industry and government in the US have been working for years to develop a procedure for “mission authorization” or the oversight of commercial spacecraft not currently licensed. Jeff Foust reports that dueling proposals from Congress and the White House may mean that debate is far from over. Click here. (12/18)
 
SpaceX Starship in Lunar Development (Source: Space Review)
Besides serving as a launch vehicle, SpaceX is working on a lunar lander version of Starship. Thomas Matula discusses how Starship will be valuable not just for transporting large amounts of cargo to the Moon but also through providing infrastructure. Click here. (12/18)
 
Space Sensemaking and Space Domain Understanding: Enabling Data-centric AI for Spaceflight Safety (Source: Space Review)
The growing population of objects in Earth orbit, along with increasing threats, has become a major issue for satellite operators. Brien Flewelling discusses how automation and artificial intelligence can respond more quickly to a dynamic environment. Click here. (12/18)

Sidus S[ace Announces Patent for Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) Filter Unit (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued a new patent strengthening the company’s intellectual property position and its commitment to advancement in aerospace and defense manufacturing. The company's portfolio now includes 10 granted patents and 11 pending applications. The new ‘028 patent, expected to secure exclusivity until at least September 1, 2041, marks a paradigm shift in the aviation industry's approach to cockpit gauge stability. (12/19)

HawkEye 360 Acquires Maxar RF Unit (Source: Space News)
HawkEye 360 is acquiring the radio-frequency intelligence unit of Maxar. HawkEye 360 said Monday it would acquire Maxar Intelligence RF Solutions, the business unit formed after Maxar acquired Aurora Insight earlier this year, for an undisclosed amount. The acquisition gives HawkEye 360 two additional RF-monitoring satellites to add to its 21-satellite constellation. It also expands HawkEye 360's coverage to include RF signals from 26 to 40 gigahertz. (12/19)

Report Finds Problems with DoD Space-Based Hypersonic Missile Tracking (Source: Space News)
A new report found potential problems with the Pentagon's effort to develop space-based systems to track hypersonic missiles. The report, released Monday by the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said that hypersonic missile tracking is far more difficult than traditional ballistic missile warning. One challenge will be "sensor fusion," or combining data from several satellite systems to better track hypersonic missiles and enable interception. The study suggests other tradeoffs could be considered in order to ensure coverage of the Indo-Pacific region, where Chinese hypersonic missiles might be deployed. (12/19)

Startup OurSky Raises $9.5 Million for Space Object Tracking (Source: Space News)
A startup has raised $9.5 million to develop a crowdsourced space tracking system. OurSky raised the seed round earlier this month to support the creation of a space tracking system using a network of telescopes that it owns as well as data from "extremely capable telescopes" operated by amateur astronomers. The company says it can take advantage of underutilized telescopes to track space objects. (12/19)

China's Spaceplane Deploys Satellites (Source: Space.com)
A Chinese spaceplane appears to be accompanied by several "wingmen" satellites. The spaceplane, launched last week, appears to have deployed six spacecraft, designated Objects A through F. Some of the objects are transmitting radio signals like those seen on previous Chinese missions, but the purpose of the spacecraft is not known. On its previous mission last year, the spaceplane released one object tracked by Western observers. (12/19)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites From Florida (Source: Space News)
SpaceX ended an 11-day launch hiatus last night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:01 p.m. Eastern and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch was the first by SpaceX since another Starlink launch from California early Dec. 8. The gap, the longest between SpaceX launches this year, was linked to a combination of poor weather, technical problems and rescheduling of other launches. The gap likely rules out achieving a goal by SpaceX of performing 100 Falcon launches this year: the company has performed 92 Falcon launches this year with about five more scheduled through the end of the year. (12/19)

Startup TrustPoint Working with SpiderOak on Cybersecurity for Planned Constellation (Source: Space News)
Satellite navigation startup TrustPoint said it is working with SpiderOak on cybersecurity. TrustPoint plans to deploy a constellation of small satellites to deliver positioning, navigation and timing services for commercial and national security applications. The company announced Monday that it will use SpiderOak, which specializes in cybersecurity for space applications, to provide security for its systems. (12/19)

Virginia Sends $20 Million to Space Authority to Expand Launch Operations (Source: Virginia Mercury)
Virginia is providing $20 million to upgrade a launch pad at Wallops. The Commonwealth Transportation Board approved the funding earlier this month to cover upgrades to the pad used by Northrop Grumman's Antares rocket. The upgrades will allow it to handle launches of the new Antares rocket, Antares 330, Northrop is developing with Firefly, along with their future MLV launch vehicle. (12/19)

NASA Preapares to Cease NEOWISE Operations (Source: Sky & Telescope)
NASA is preparing for the end of an asteroid-hunting mission. The agency said its NEOWISE spacecraft will likely cease operations in early 2025 as its orbit around the Earth decays. The spacecraft launched as an infrared astronomy mission called WISE in 2009, and was repurposed in 2013 to search for near Earth asteroids. The spacecraft has discovered 215 such asteroids and 25 comets. NEOWISE will be succeeded by NEO Surveyor, a larger space telescope designed for asteroid searchers and slated to launch by 2028. (12/19)

NASA Demonstrates Deep Space Laser Comm (Source: NASA)
NASA has demonstrated the capabilities of a deep-space laser communications system… with a cat video. The agency said Monday that the Deep Space Optical Communications laser payload on the Psyche spacecraft successfully transmitted a video to Earth from a distance of 31 million kilometers. The 15-second video, transmitted at rates of 267 megabits per second, showed a cat, named Taters, chasing a laser pointer along with other data. The video was a nod to both cat memes popular on the internet as well as history: a small statue of the popular cartoon character Felix the Cat was featured in television test broadcast transmissions nearly a century ago. Moreover, said one engineer involved with the project, "everyone loves Taters." (12/19)

After a 12-Day Hiatus, Launches Resume on the Space Coast (Source: Space Daily)
2023 has been the busiest year for spaceports around the world. This year alone, launch providers from all over the world have sent the most rockets into orbit. Starlink 6-34 marks the 200th successful orbital flight in one calendar year, led by SpaceX and China. SpaceX was responsible for 92 of those launches. Breaking last year's record of 180 global orbital launches reaching orbit. We may see even greater numbers next year as SpaceX continues to build its Starlink Satellite Constellation, with the goal of launching 12 rockets per month in 2024. (12/19)

Equatorial Launch Australia Unveils Innovative ASC Advanced Launch Pad Designs (Source: Space Daily)
Equatorial Launch Australia (ELA) has announced a significant breakthrough in launch pad technology with the completion of its Arnhem Space Centre Advanced Launch Pad (ASCALP) designs. This development marks a pivotal moment in the NewSpace sector, known for its innovative and rapidly evolving approach to space exploration and commercialization.

The ASCALP, hailed as the most advanced launch pad for small to medium NewSpace rockets, introduces a novel design enabling seamless integration of various rockets with the pad's pivot base. This capability allows all seven Space Launch Complexes (SLCs) at the Arnhem Space Centre (ASC) to adapt to different rockets with minimal notice for configuration changes, significantly enhancing launch flexibility and responsiveness. (12/19)

“Ingenuity Mars Helicopter” Prototype Joins the National Air and Space Museum Collection (Source: Air and Space)
The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum has accepted into its collection an aerial prototype of the Ingenuity Mars Helicopter. The prototype has been donated to the museum by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. In April 2021, Ingenuity became the first aircraft to fly in the atmosphere of another planet when it made its first flight on Mars. The prototype NASA has donated to the museum was used in tests at NASA JPL in a simulated Mars environment and was the first Ingenuity prototype to demonstrate that flight on Mars was possible. The results of those tests gave NASA the confidence to commit to sending Ingenuity there. (12/15)

SpaceX's Launches Negatively Impact South Texas Birds, Research Shows (Source: My San Antonio)
Test launches and work at SpaceX's Starbase site have nearly run off the general public from Boca Chica Beach. With their many road closures, it is not even considered a community staple anymore. Now, environmentalists share how the company has begun to run off shorebirds in the area that depend on the environment for nesting.

The Coastal Bend Bays & Estuaries Program has been studying birds in the area of the Starbase site way before Elon Musk announced it at its home. David Newstead, CBBEP Director of the Coastal Birds Program, says researchers have been there for about 30 years studying the snowy, wilson, and endangered piper plovers.

Although the researcher's intention was never to study the birds due to SpaceX, those three birds are now serving as a proxy to show how the work is impacting their nesting behaviors. Despite the fact that coastal birds are extremely site-faithful, Newstead says they have seen a negative impact on the population. According to research, nesting has gone from around 25 nests a season to nearly none since the launches have begun at SpaceX. (12/18)

Proposed Space National Guard Sidelined in New Military Spending Bill (Source: The Gazette)
A proposal to give orphaned space-focused National Guard units a new home in a Space National Guard was stripped out of the recently approved National Defense Authorization Act, while what some see as a competing measure received the greenlight. Colorado lawmakers had backed the creation of a Space National Guard in an earlier version of the bill because the Air Force is no longer technically responsible for training and equipping the seven space-focused guard units in the state. Colorado units work in critical areas including satellite jamming, a capability used to deny enemy fighters GPS signals or communications. (12/17)

Japan Brings Slow & Steady Trajectory to Global Moon “Race” (Source: Astralytical)
Japan is one of the most advanced spacefaring nations on Earth and is poised to continue playing a leading role in 21st century space exploration. The US, China, Russia, and India are leading a renewed geopolitical surge outward to the Moon and beyond and Japan is quietly but firmly in the mix. With decades of experience and a highly mature space economy to lean on, Japan is a major space power jockeying for influence and opportunity in this new space age. Click here.

Editor's Note: Back in the 1990s, when Japan was viewed as an unstoppable technology leader, the nation's big construction/design firms were developing far-future plans for space habitats. One of them was looking at Florida for an analog moonbase project. More recently, like six years ago, I supported a Japanese study that viewed very-low-orbit satellites as a niche for the country's new-space ambitions. (12/18)

History and Contents of the Universe Can Be Determined Using Radio Telescopes on the Moon (Source: Phys.org)
A study has predicted for the first time the groundbreaking results that can be obtained from a lunar-based detection of radio waves. The study's findings show that the measured radio signals can be used for a novel test of the standard cosmological model to determine the composition of the universe as well as the weight of neutrino particles and possibly help scientists gain another clue to the mystery of dark matter. (12/18)

Sidus Space Announces 1-for-100 Reverse Stock Split (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space will effect a 1-for-100 reverse stock split of its issued and outstanding shares of common stock. The reverse stock split will become effective on December 19, commencing with the opening of trading on Nasdaq on December 20. Every 100 shares of issued and outstanding common stock will be exchanged for 1 share of common stock. The Company will have approximately 778,679 shares of Class A common stock issued and outstanding. (12/18)

Moons Around Uranus May Suddenly Develop Atmospheres in the Spring (Source: New Scientist)
The moons of Uranus may have short-lived atmospheres every time the seasons change. The seasons there are so intense that these tenuous atmospheres, called exospheres, could exist briefly twice every Uranian year before freezing and falling back down to the surface. Uranus’s poles are extremely tilted with respect to the planet’s orbit around the sun, which, along with its powerful magnetic field, makes the seasons there particularly extreme. (12/16)

Step Inside a Blue Origin Capsule Thanks to It's First-ever Exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center (Source: Travel & Leisure)
Visitors to Florida’s Kennedy Space Center can now step inside a Blue Origin crew capsule in the first-ever permanent exhibit for Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space company. The brand-new exhibit allows space enthusiasts to explore a realistic replica of Blue Origin’s New Shepard crew capsule with a virtual reality experience, the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex shared with Travel + Leisure. The exhibit is located in the Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex.

The exhibit “uses actual data and imagery to authentically mimic the rocket’s journey above the Kármán Line, the internationally recognized boundary of space,” according to the Kennedy Space Center. (12/16)

Webb Telescope Went On A Hunt For Baby Stars But Accidentally Discovered Something Weirder (Source: Inverse)
The James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is, as anyone who has followed the telescope knows well, an extremely powerful device capable of feats of astronomy far beyond its predecessors. But such a device can also reveal what astronomers might not expect. That was the case when a team of researchers looked into a relatively dark patch of the Milky Way center, hoping to find the traces of newly forming stars. Instead, they found new evidence for large quantities of carbon monoxide ice. (12/11)

Squeezing Science Out of New Horizons as it Heads Out of the Solar System (Source: Ars Technica)
One remaining uncertainty is where and when New Horizons will be able to collect critical data at a key location: upon its exit from the heliosphere. It will be at least a decade, although the exact timing is uncertain. That’s partly because, unlike the Voyager probes, New Horizons is flying close to the ecliptic—the plane of Earth’s orbit. Also, the boundary of the giant lumpy, bubble-shaped heliosphere fluctuates with the 11-year solar activity cycle. (12/12)

New Red Galaxies Turn Out to be Already Known Blue Galaxies (Source: Phys.org)
Not all discoveries turn out to be actual new discoveries. This was the case for the extremely red objects (EROs) found in James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) data. Analysis shows that they are very similar to blue-excess dust obscured galaxies (BluDOGs) already reported in Subaru Telescope data. Quasars, some of the brightest objects in the universe, are driven by a supermassive black hole with a mass that can reach more than a billion times that of the sun. These objects are the focus of much research, but how they form remains poorly understood. (12/15)

CNC Machining Monster Parts at Blue Origin in Huntsville (Source: Titans of CNC Machining)
CNC Machining on the Highest Level. Going behind the scenes of Blue Origin, the 550,000 sq/ft MONSTER Machine Shop. Click here. (12/16)

Value of Millennium Missile Warning Satellites Exceeds $500 Million (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force will spend more than $500 million for the first six satellites of a new missile-warning system. Millennium Space Systems won contracts to build those satellites last month, but the value of the award, $509.5 million, was only now disclosed. The satellites, built on Millennium Space's Altair satellite bus, will operate in medium Earth orbit, with launch planned for late 2026. The contract includes options for launch and in-orbit operations valued at $123.4 million. (12/18)

Debate Continues on Satellite Transmission Power Limits (Source: Space News)
A debate on satellite transmission power limits will continue on after an international conference. At the World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC) 2023 that concluded last week, delegates agreed to a compromise regarding Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) limits, allowing technical studies without regulatory consequences. For GEO satellite operators, this means that the earliest that those limits could be changed is the WRC in 2031, but LEO satellite operators believe the language leaves the door open for changes at the next WRC in 2027. LEO operators have been seeking increases in EPFD limits to better serve their customers, which GEO operators oppose because of interference concerns. (12/18)

Regulators in Crossfire with Starship Lawsuits (Source: Space News)
Federal regulators are hearing complaints that they acted both too slowly and too swiftly in approving a Starship launch last month. Several environmental groups that sued the FAA in May over the original launch license for Starship amended their complaint on Friday. They argue that the FAA and the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to properly conduct an environmental review after the first launch before approving plans for the second launch last month.

The revised lawsuit comes two days after a hearing where the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), criticized those agencies for "asinine delays" in issuing the revised Starship launch license because of environmental laws. At the same hearing, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said NASA has been in discussions with some environmental regulatory agencies to impress upon them the importance of activities like Starship to the Artemis program. (12/18)

Startup Sift Raises $7.5 Million for Spacecraft Telemetry Tech (Source: Space News)
A startup founded by two former SpaceX employees has raised funding to improve processing of spacecraft telemetry. Sift recently raised $7.5 million to help grow the 12-person startup, which is developing a proprietary telemetry stack to improve the way machine data is recorded, visualized and interpreted. Those software tools, the company said, could help operators of large satellite constellations automate many tasks. (12/18)

JAXA Concludes Epsilon Failure Investigation (Source: Jiji Press)
The Japanese space agency JAXA has concluded an investigation into the failure of a solid rocket motor during a ground test this summer. The motor, which serves as the second stage of the Epsilon S small launch vehicle, exploded during a static-fire test in July, damaging the test stand. JAXA said last week that the explosion was caused by the melting and scattering of a metal part from the motor's ignition device. That damaged insulating material in the motor, "triggering extraordinary combustion." JAXA plans changes to the design of the ignition system, but has not set a date for a revised test of the motor or a launch of the Epsilon S. (12/18)

China's Commercial Space Sector Achieves Milestones with Series of Successful Launches (Source: Space.com)
China's space industry, long known for its state-driven Long March rocket series, is now witnessing a rapid expansion in its commercial sector. The Long March family celebrated its 500th spaceflight recently, launching a remote sensing satellite from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province using a Long March 2D carrier rocket. But it's not just the Long March rockets making headlines. The burgeoning commercial space industry in China is rapidly catching up with global leaders, driven by private startups focusing on reusable rockets and orbital payload delivery. (12/18)

Measuring How Space Creates Jobs and Prosperity on Earth (Source: Space.com)
Space is becoming ever more important to life on Earth - from managing climate change to responding to emergencies to digitalising the economy. To help policymakers and businesses take informed decisions about investing in space, ESA has published plans to create robust and reliable data on the space economy, in collaboration with international partners.

The increasing importance of space means that demand for reliable and timely statistics on the space economy has grown. To meet this demand, ESA has worked with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, the European Commission's Eurostat and Joint Research Center, and the US Department of Commerce and its Bureau of Economic Analysis. (12/18)

Tyvak's Milani Nanosat Advances in Hera Mission with Successful Test Readiness Review (Source: Space.com)
Tyvak International has reached a significant milestone in the development of the Milani nano spacecraft, a vital component of the European Space Agency's (ESA) Hera planetary defense mission. This achievement was marked by the successful completion of the Test Readiness Review, a critical step in the project's progress. Milani holds the distinction of being ESA's first foray into deep-space nanosatellite technology and is set to be the first nanosatellite to orbit an asteroid. (12/18)

Kymeta Hawk u8: A Milestone in LEO Satellite Connectivity for Land Mobility (Source: Space.com)
Kymeta Corporation, a leader in the development of flat panel antennas, and satellite communications giant Eutelsat Group have jointly announced a significant advancement in land mobile connectivity. The Kymeta electronically steered Hawk u8 LEO terminal has received approval for use on the Eutelsat OneWeb Low Earth Orbit (LEO) network for land mobility applications. This approval marks the Kymeta Hawk u8 as the first flat panel antenna to be sanctioned for use on the Eutelsat OneWeb LEO network, particularly for land mobility. (12/15)