February 15, 2024

Transitioning From ISS to Commercial Space Stations: Plenty of Questions, Few Answers (Source: Space Policy Online)
A congressional hearing today illuminated a wide range of policy issues awaiting resolution as the International Space Station nears its end, but the answers remain elusive. The ISS is expected to be decommissioned in 2030 and NASA is counting on the private sector to build new space stations in low Earth orbit, or LEO, where NASA can be just one of many customers. But timing is a challenge and the overriding concern is to avoid a gap between ISS and whatever comes next lest the only space station in LEO belongs to China. Click here. (2/14)

It’s an Exciting Time in Space Exploration. But U.S. Leadership is At Risk (Source: Washington Post)
Exploring space is one of the most profound human endeavors, valuable strategically and to the human spirit. And it is people who make missions happen, enabling U.S. leadership in deep space exploration that has been an inspiration to the world. But a congressional budget stalemate and recent job cuts in the U.S. space program have brought our nation to the verge of forfeiting that leadership. Click here. (2/15)

SpaceX Launches Lunar Lander From Florida Spaceport (Source: Space News)
One Falcon 9 launched a commercial lunar lander overnight. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 1:05 a.m. Eastern from the Kennedy Space Center and deployed the Nova-C lander for Intuitive Machines onto a translunar trajectory 48 minutes later. The IM-1 mission seeks to land in the south polar region of the moon next Thursday, carrying a dozen payloads from NASA and other customers. If successful, IM-1 would be the first non-government mission to land softly on the moon. (2/15)

SpaceX Launches DoD Mission From Florida Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Another Falcon 9 launched a set of missile-warning satellites seven and a half hours earlier. The rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station at 5:30 p.m. Eastern Wednesday on the USSF-124 mission procured by the Space Force. The payload included five satellites made by L3Harris Technologies and one made by Northrop Grumman.

The Northrop Grumman satellite and one of the five from L3Harris are the first prototypes developed under the Missile Defense Agency's Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor program. The other four L3Harris satellites are part of the Space Development Agency's Tracking Layer Tranche 0. Both agencies are collaborating to develop a sensor network for tracking both hypersonic and ballistic missiles. (2/15)

China's Orienspace Raises $83.5 Million for Rocket Development (Source: Space News)
Chinese launch startup Orienspace has raised $83.5 million. The Series B funding will go towards development of a liquid-propellant rocket called Gravity-2 with a reusable first stage, similar in performance to the Falcon 9. The company launched its first rocket, the solid-fuel Gravity-1, from a barge off the coast of China last month. The substantial funding round indicates investor confidence in Orienspace despite a crowded field of competitors in China. (2/15)

Airbus Chief Unhappy with Space Unit (Source: Reuters)
The chief executive of Airbus has criticized the performance of his company's space unit. Guillaume Faury said in an internal memo last month that while the aerospace company's overall performance was good last year, it faced "a major setback" in its space division. The company took a $320 million charge late last year on space programs, including its OneSat communications satellite bus. Jean-Marc Nasr, executive vice president of space systems at Airbus, is leaving the company in March and will be replaced by Alain Faure, head of Airbus Operations. (2/15)

Varda Space Gets Long-Delayed License for Payload Re-Entry (Source: Space News)
Varda Space Technologies will return an orbiting capsule to Earth next week after getting a long-delayed FAA license. The FAA issued a reentry license to Varda on Wednesday that will allow the company to bring back a capsule on its W-Series 1 spacecraft launched in June to test space manufacturing technologies. The capsule is set to land next Wednesday at the Utah Test and Training Range (UTTR) and neighboring Dugway Proving Ground. Varda had been working since last summer to get a reentry license from the FAA and approvals from the Air Force, which operates UTTR, to land there. (2/15)

Russia Launches Cargo to ISS (Source: Space.com)
A Progress cargo ship is on its way to the International Space Station. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 10:25 p.m. Eastern Wednesday and placed the Progress MS-26 spacecraft into orbit. The spacecraft, carrying about three tons of supplies, is scheduled to dock with the station at 1:12 a.m. Eastern Saturday. (2/15)

NASA Selects UVEX for Astrophysics Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA has selected an ultraviolet astronomy mission for development but will delay its launch by two years. The agency said this week it picked the Ultraviolet Explorer (UVEX) as its next Medium-class Explorer mission in astrophysics. UVEX will perform an all-sky survey at ultraviolet wavelengths, including monitoring transient sources from events like neutron star mergers.

UVEX is scheduled for launch in 2030, but NASA had planned a 2028 launch when it picked UVEX and another proposed mission for further study a year and a half ago. NASA said constrained budgets led it to stretch out the mission's development. NASA also cited budgets as the reason it did not select either of two proposals for a smaller "mission of opportunity" that would have studied gamma-ray sources from the ISS or a spacecraft in cislunar space. (2/15)

SpaceX Moves Incorporation From Delaware to Texas (Source: New York Times)
SpaceX has reincorporated in Texas. The company moved its state of incorporation from Delaware to Texas, CEO Elon Musk said Wednesday. The move is an apparent response to a recent decision by a Delaware court to revoke a $55 billion pay package Tesla, also incorporated in Delaware, had awarded Musk after shareholders of that company filed suit there. SpaceX remains headquartered in California. (2/15)

Google Joins Methane Tracking Effort (Source: BBC)
Google is joining a private mission to monitor methane emissions. Google will provide cloud and mapping services for MethaneSAT, a mission led by the Environmental Defense Fund to track methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Google will provide computing resources to analyze the data returned by the spacecraft and integrate the data into the Google Earth Engine geospatial data platform. MethaneSAT is scheduled to launch next month. (2/15)

Perseverance Mars Rover Has Stuck Dust Cover (Source: NASA)
Engineers are studying a problem with one of the instruments on the Perseverance Mars rover. NASA said this week that a dust cover on the SHERLOC instrument appears to be stuck in a partially open position. In that position, SHERLOC cannot use a laser to study rocks or collect spectroscopy data. SHERLOC is one of seven instruments on Perseverance, with overlap among the instruments such that the rover can still meet its science goals if any single instrument fails. (2/15)

Sidus Space Integrates NASA Stennis ASTRA Engineering Unit Ahead of Upcoming Launch (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space has completed the integration and testing of the NASA ASTRA (Autonomous Satellite Technology for Resilient Applications) Engineering Unit into the Company’s LizzieSat FlatSat in Cape Canaveral, Florida. The Sidus team successfully completed extensive integration testing and communications with the NASA ASTRA team including multiple tests to verify functionality with the ASTRA Engineering Unit and the ability to effectively load Flight Software into the Engineering Unit from NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. (2/15)

US Risks Post-ISS Gap if Congress Fails to Act (Source: Flying Magazine)
Space station developers warn that the US could lose its leadership in low-Earth orbit activities to China if it doesn't successfully transition to a commercial space economy. During a hearing in Washington concerns were raised about the absence of a clear strategy for deorbiting NASA's International Space Station after 2030, partly due to insufficient funding. (2/14)

Woman Accused of Ramming Through Space Force Gate, Stealing Car with Young Son in Backseat (Source: WKMG)
Deputies said they responded to County Road 510 and Highway A1A around 3:30 a.m. on Feb. 7 after receiving reports about a stolen vehicle. Upon arrival, they were informed that the driver — later identified as Krishna Janosky, 29 — had rammed the gate at the Patrick Space Force Base. Once on the base, Janosky reportedly got out of her car along with her 4-year-old son, placing him in another vehicle nearby, deputies said.

The owner of that vehicle was still in the driver’s seat when Janosky got in, but he was asked to get out by staff on the base, leaving Janosky in the front seat and allowing her to flee in it, the affidavit says. Brevard County deputies began chasing Janosky into Indian River County, where deputies spotted the stolen vehicle driving south along Highway A1A, according to the affidavit. (2/13)

Space Force Rolling Out Dedicated 'Combat Squadrons' to Prepare for Growing Threats (Source: The Gazette)
The Space Force is introducing new dedicated combat squadrons that will help guardians focus on their missions on dedicated cycles. Gen. Chance Saltzman announced the units during the Air and Space Forces Association's Warfare Symposium this week in Aurora, where military leaders emphasized the change to help deter a possible Chinese invasion of Taiwan in 2027. The Space Force represents a very small fraction of the overall military with 1,400 members assigned to technical fields, such as cyber operations and satellite operations, but their work is critical, Saltzman said. (2/14)

New Funding Ensures UK Role in Global Exploration to the Moon, Mars and Venus (Source: Gov.UK)
UK scientists and engineers will play a role in major global missions to the Moon, Mars and Venus, thanks to new funding from the UK Space Agency for work towards international space science and exploration projects. The Space Science and Exploration Bilateral Program will help Royal Holloway develop software for the Indian Space Agency (ISRO) Chandrayaan-2 orbiter to detect ice under the surface of the lunar south pole.

Another project will see the University of Leicester lead on a Raman spectroscopy instrument for iSpace’s commercial rover and lander missions investigating water ice on the Moon, helping us to understand whether this is a resource that could be used for longer term lunar exploration. Other projects to receive a share of the £7.4 million funding include the Open University and universities of Sussex, Aberdeen and Cambridge teaming up with NASA, the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). (2/14)

Frontier Aerospace TALOS Engines Used For Space Exploration (Source: Frontier Aerospace)
Frontier Aerospace, a leader in next-generation liquid rocket engines used for commercial space, exploration, and missile defense, reveals its attitude control and axial thrusters were used during Astrobotic's Peregrine Mission. Frontier Aerospace provided a complete flight set of Thruster Advancement for Low-Temperature Operations in Space (TALOS®) attitude control and axial thrusters for the Peregrine Lunar Lander. Twelve 10-lbf thrusters provided attitude control, and five 150-lbf thrusters were designed to provide entry, descent, and landing control. (2/13)

SpaceX to Build $100M Facility Near Texas Starbase (Source: My San Antonio)
Just a few miles away from its launch site, SpaceX will construct the multimillion-dollar office inside an industrial factory. It will be located in Brownsville, according to the Texas Department of Regulations and Licensing filing. Construction is slated to begin this month and is expected to have just under a year turnaround. The scope of the work on the 329,493-square-foot office will include the construction of a 5-level office mezzanine in addition to an approximately 1 million-square-foot special industrial factory. (2/14)

Republican Warning of 'National Security Threat' is About Russia Wanting Nuke in Space (Source: ABC News)
The White House's national security adviser said Wednesday that he had already scheduled a classified meeting with congressional leadership before a top House Republican requested that President Joe Biden "declassify all information" that relates to "serious national security threat." Two sources familiar with deliberations on Capitol Hill said the intelligence has to do with the Russians wanting to put a nuclear weapon into space. This is not to drop a nuclear weapon onto Earth but rather to possibly use against satellites. (2/14)