The Future of the Space Force Isn’t on
Earth — it’s in the Solar System (Source: Space News)
it is clear that the United States Space Force, while dominated by old
thinking, still doesn’t know what it wants to be when it grows up, and
is split among multiple different areas of focus. The challenge is that
it has to grow up fast. It seems the Force’s leadership are of three
minds: those who look down, focusing on ground operations, those who
look around at orbital space and those who look up and out. Click here.
(3/20)
Amid Rising Anger at Boeing, Board
Members Will Hold Customer Meetings Without CEO (Source: Fortune)
Boeing directors plan to meet with top executives from some of their
largest customers, who are growing increasingly frustrated about the
planemaker’s crisis tearing into their business. Dave Calhoun, Boeing’s
chief executive officer, will not participate in the gatherings set to
begin next week, said people familiar with the matter. Larry Kellner,
the chairman of Boeing’s board, is spearheading the unusual listening
tour and will be joined by two to three other directors for each
session. (3/21)
Boeing Asks Court to Block Virgin
Galactic From Using Its Data (Source: Bloomberg)
Boeing is seeking a court order to block further use of its trade
secrets by Virgin Galactic after the companies stopped working together
on a space tourism project. The proprietary data was shared with Virgin
Galactic when it engaged Boeing’s Aurora Flight Sciences unit to help
develop a so-called Mothership jet carrier. But after the companies
ended their collaboration last year, Virgin Galactic refused to honor
its contractual promise to destroy two sets of trade secrets, according
to a complaint the US planemaker filed in federal court in eastern
Virginia. (3/21)
Why It’s So Challenging to Land
Upright on the Moon (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Why is there a sudden epidemic of spacecraft rolling on the moon like
Olympic gymnasts performing floor routines? Is it really that difficult
to land upright there? On the internet and elsewhere, people pointed to
the height of the Odysseus lander — 14 feet from the bottom of the
landing feet to the solar arrays at the top — as a contributing factor
for its off-kilter touchdown. Had Intuitive Machines, the maker of
Odysseus, made an obvious error in building the spacecraft that way?
The company’s officials provide an engineering rationale for the tall,
skinny design, but those internet commenters do have a point. Something
tall falls over more easily than an object that is short and squat. And
on the moon, where the pull of gravity is just one-sixth as strong as
on Earth, the propensity to tip over is even greater. Philip Metzger at
the University of Central Florida explained that Odysseus was supposed
to land vertically with zero horizontal velocity, but because of
problems with the navigation system, it was still moving sideways when
it hit the ground.
“Intuition that’s based on Earth is now a liability,” Metzger said. He
gave the example of trying to push over the refrigerator in your
kitchen. “It’s so heavy that a slight push is not going to push it
over,” Metzger said. But if you replace it with a piece of Styrofoam in
the shape of a refrigerator, mimicking the weight of a real
refrigerator in lunar gravity, “then a very light push will push it
over,” Metzger said. His calculations suggested that for a spacecraft
like Odysseus, the landing legs need to be splayed about 2 1/2 times as
wide on the moon as on the Earth to counteract the same amount of
sideways motion. (3/10)
FAA Looks at Batch Licensing for
Starship (Source: Payload)
Going forward, the FAA will look to ease Starship’s launch approval
process. “We’re trying to work with them to get them on a different
program, if you will, in terms of how we approve their launches going
forward,” FAA's Kelvin Coleman said. “We want to get away from the
launch-by-launch approvals and get more into what Part 450 was really
designed for, which is an approval of a portfolio of launches.”
(3/18)
NASA, Health and Human Services
Highlight Cancer Moonshot Progress (Source: NASA)
During an event at NASA Headquarters in Washington Thursday, NASA
Administrator Bill Nelson and U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services (HHS) Secretary Xavier Becerra united to note progress their
respective agencies are making in space and on Earth toward President
Biden and First Lady Jill Biden’s Cancer Moonshot initiative.
Nelson noted several related experiments space station astronauts have
conducted aboard the orbital laboratory for the benefit of all
including protein crystal growth, nanoparticle drug delivery, tissue
engineering, and stem cell research. In addition to $2.9 billion across
HHS in the President’s fiscal year 2025 budget proposal, Becerra
discussed his agency’s capabilities to accelerate progress toward the
President’s moonshot goals. NASA is working with HHS and researchers
across the federal government to help cut the nation’s cancer death
rate by at least 50% in the next 25 years, a goal of the Cancer
Moonshot Initiative. (3/21)
"Woke?" Australian Space Diversity
Alliance Launched to Promote Diversity in Space (Source: Defense
Connect)
The Australian Space Diversity Alliance (ASDA) said it aims to support
senior leaders and minimise the barriers that marginalised groups face.
It comes after a series of reports have shown the sector is lagging
behind others in regard to gender disparity, and alongside a talent
shortage critics say can only be overcome with a more diverse intake.
ASDA was founded by eight industry figures, including Defence Council
of Victoria’s Anntonette Dailey, ANU’s Dr Cassandra Steer, and
Raytheon’s Linda Spurr. (3/21)
ISRO Successfully Carries Out
'Pushpak' Reusable Launch Vehicle Experiment (Source: Swarajya)
India successfully carried out the landing mission of its Reusable
Launch Vehicle (RLV) named 'Pushpak' from the Aeronautical Test Range
(ATR). "ISRO nails it again! Pushpak (RLV-TD), the winged vehicle,
landed autonomously with precision on the runway after being released
from an off-nominal position," ISRO wrote. The experiment RLV-LEX-02,
second of the series, was conducted Friday. (3/22)
AT&T Underlines Support for
Realizing Direct-to-Smartphone Satellite Service (Source: Space
News)
AT&T is prepared to provide more funds to help get AST
SpaceMobile’s direct-to-smartphone constellation plans off the ground.
AST SpaceMobile raised $155 million from AT&T and other investors
in January, but the satellite operator needs more capital to provide 5G
connectivity globally from low Earth orbit to phones and other devices
outside cell tower coverage. (3/22)
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