March 6, 2024

Delays Continue for FAA Reauthorization (Source: AIN)
The US House has voted to extend the deadline for passing the comprehensive Federal Aviation Administration reauthorization bill until May, a stopgap expected to also clear the Senate, marking the third temporary extension since September. This extension moves the deadline from March 8, set by the previous extension in December. (2/29)

Blue Origin is Getting Serious About Developing a Human Spacecraft (Source: Ars Technica)
Blue Origin has been hard at work developing hardware that will fly on New Glenn, such as the Blue Ring transfer vehicle that will be used to ferry satellites into precise orbits. In addition, work continues on a private space station called Orbital Reef. One of the key questions about that space station is how astronauts will get there. The only current means of US crew transportation to low-Earth orbit is via Blue Origin's direct competitor, SpaceX, with its Dragon vehicle. This is likely unpalatable for Bezos.

Boeing is an official partner on Orbital Reef. It has a crewed spacecraft, Starliner, set to make its debut flight in April. But there are serious questions about Boeing's long-term commitment to Starliner beyond its seven contracted missions with NASA. Blue Origin has also had some discussions with India about using its new crew capsule. All of these options have downsides, especially for a company that has a vision of "millions of people living and working in space." It has long been understood that Blue Origin will eventually develop a crewed spacecraft vehicle. But when?

Now, apparently. The crew project has now become a major initiative within Blue Origin. Last year the company was one of seven to sign an unfunded Space Act Agreement to design advanced commercial space projects. NASA revealed that Blue Origin was working on a "commercial space transportation system." This included a reusable spacecraft that would launch on the New Glenn rocket. (3/4)

Firefly Aerospace Announces Second Round of DREAM Payload Awardees (Source: Firefly Aerospace)
Firefly Aerospace has selected three educational payloads to launch aboard Firefly’s Alpha rocket as early as 2025. As part of Firefly’s DREAM (Dedicated Research Education Accelerator Mission) program, Firefly is donating excess capacity on its Alpha launch vehicle to fly CubeSats from the University of Illinois, Auburn University, and the Aerospace and Innovation Academy in Florida.

Aerospace and Innovation Academy’s WolfSat-1 CubeSat will test the viability of the Ideonella sakaiensis bacteria on orbit and assess its ability to degrade polyethylene terephthalate, a major component of single-use plastics. This demonstration aims to enable an efficient waste recycling system for prolonged crewed missions and minimize the risk of plastic pollution on future lunar and Martian colonies. (3/6)

Rocket Lab: Why the Space Sector is 'Far-Reaching' (Source: Yahoo! Finance)
Peter Beck elaborates on the growth of the space industry and how companies like Rocket Lab are positioned to deliver far-reaching services: "We see that businesses that typically haven't had anything to do with space becoming quite reliant on it. And our view [is] that the large, successful space companies of the future are not going to be solely a launch company or solely a satellite manufacturing company. Click here. (3/5)

Transporter Rideshare Payload Will Track Climate-Warming Pollution (Source: NPR)
MethaneSAT – led by the Environmental Defense Fund – will have a targeted focus: to spot methane from the oil and gas industry, which leaks at various parts of the fossil fuel production process. Sometimes oil companies deliberately burn methane gas if they can't pipe it somewhere. Reducing methane pollution can help the world meet its climate targets, but for years researchers had little understanding of where exactly methane leaks were coming from. Recent projects have helped give a clearer picture, but the data hasn't always been public, or precise – especially from oil fields. (3/5)

First Apex Spacecraft Working Well After Launch (Source: Space News)
Spacecraft manufacturer Apex says its first satellite is alive and well after a launch March 4. The Los Angeles-based company has made contact with and is successfully operating its Aries SN1 spacecraft, which was one of 53 payloads launched on SpaceX’s Transporter-10 rideshare mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

Apex had planned to use Aries SN1 solely as a technology demonstration mission. However, the company lined up several customers to fly payloads on the spacecraft, including three “major defense primes” and others the company declined to disclose. He said those customers are flying payloads that range from communications to edge computing to space domain awareness. Apex also has a payload on the spacecraft, a “selfie camera” to take images of the spacecraft with Earth in the background. (3/5)

Exotrail 'Spacevan-001' Tug Deploys Endurosat Cubesat on Transporter Mission (Source: Space News)
Exotrail has deployed a satellite from its first orbital transfer vehicle. The company said Wednesday that its spacevan-001 tug deployed last week a cubesat built by Endurosat. That cubesat carries an Airbus Defence and Space payload to test technology to "detumble" satellites that have lost attitude control. Exotrail launched spacevan-001 in November on the Transpoter-9 mission and had been performing a step-by-step checkout of the spacecraft before deploying the cubesat. The tug also carries a hosted payload from Veoware, a Belgian startup developing control moment gyros and reaction wheels. (3/6)

Orion Weather Satellite Launched Aboard Transporter Mission for Space Force (Source: Space News)
A satellite launched Monday is the Space Force's second attempt to demonstrate weather satellite technologies. The Electro-Optical/Infrared Weather Systems (EWS) demonstration cubesat, built by Orion Space Solutions, launched Monday on the Transporter-10 rideshare mission by SpaceX. Over a planned one-year demonstration, the Space Force wants to assess the capabilities of the cubesat to provide timely weather imagery data from space as DoD looks to avoid a gap in weather coverage with the impending retirement of the decades-old Defense Meteorological Satellite Program satellites. A previous EWS cubesat technology demonstration was launched on Transporter-6 rideshare last January but failed to separate properly from the upper stage. (3/6)

Sidus Space Stock Offering Raises $7.9 Million (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced the closing of its public offering of 1,321,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a public offering price of $6.00 per share for gross proceeds of $7,926,000, before deducting underwriting discounts and offering expenses. The company intends to use the proceeds from the offering for working capital and general corporate purposes. (3/5)

Agile Space Wins Contract for Deployable Satellite Processing Unit (Source: Space News)
A mobile satellite integration facility designed by the space propulsion startup Agile Space won a contract from the U.S. Space Force to further develop the concept. The Space Force’s technology arm SpaceWERX awarded the company a Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 contract for its Mobile Payload Processing Center.

Agile Space was one of 19 companies that received SBIR Phase 2 contracts under the so-called Tactically Responsive Space Challenge, a program seeking private-sector technologies to help accelerate space missions. The 19 winners split about $34 million in program funding. (3/5)

Steps Being Taken to Officially Kill Georgia Spaceport Effort (Source: Camden 1st)
Representative Steven Sainz and Commissioner Trevor Readdick hoped to rush through an  “emergency” resolution Tuesday to dissolve the Camden County Spaceport Authority. If they do not approve a resolution Tuesday, they cannot meet the statutory requirement to advertise the official vote in time for Steven Sainz to get it on the legislative calendar for 2024. The emergency resolution is needed because Commissioners Casey, Brant, Readdick, and Martin have steadfastly refused to consider killing anything related to the already-dead spaceport. (3/5)

Satellites Link Areas After Undersea Cables Cut (Source: Space News)
Satellites are helping restore communications links between Europe and Asia disrupted by severed subsea cables. Four of 15 submarine cables in the Red Sea have been cut in the Red Sea near Yemen, affecting about 25% of the traffic passing from Europe through the Middle East to Asia. Intelsat said that a couple customers who had been using those cables have turned to its satellites as a backup. Subsea cable users with antennas and other equipment already in place to tap into a satellite network backup can get communications restored within 15 minutes, Intelsat said. (3/6)

China Outlines Position on Use of Space Resources (Source: Space News)
The Chinese government has taken a positive stance towards using space resources. In a document filed with a U.N. working group examining the legal issues associated with space resource utilization, the Chinese government said it considers those activities as permissible under international law, but added they need to comply with the Outer Space Treaty, such a provision prohibiting countries from making territorial claims on the moon or other celestial bodies. One expert saw the Chinese document as a positive development and one largely aligned with the broader international consensus on the use of space resources. (3/6)

NASA Graduates Latest Astronaut Class (Source: CollectSpace)
NASA's newest astronaut class formally graduated Tuesday as the agency prepares for the next class. The 10 members of the Group 23 class officially became astronauts Tuesday after completing two years of training. They were joined by two Emirati astronauts who also participated in the training. There are now 48 active NASA astronauts, five of whom are currently on the International Space Station. NASA announced Tuesday it was starting recruitment for the next astronaut class, with applications due April 2. (3/6)

NASA Addresses the Crack in the Hatch of the Crew-8 Spacecraft (Source: Digital Trends)
NASA and SpaceX have sent off the latest batch of astronauts to visit the International Space Station, with the launch of the Crew-8 mission late last night. The SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida just before 11 p.m. ET on Sunday, March 3, but there was a risk during that the launch might have been cancelled due to a crack discovered in the hatch seal of the spacecraft around 30 minutes before liftoff.

While engineers were doing a final check of the hatch following its closure, including taking photos of the seal, they noticed a crack in the RTV (a type of silicone), which acts as a top coating on the hatch seal. The crack is estimated to be 0.02 square inches, and a crack would have to be more than twice that size to be enough to prevent the launch.

“This is one of multiple redundant seals in this area. It’s kind of a top coating over the pressure seal, which is then over the main seal for the hatch,” explained Sarah Walker, director, Dragon Mission Management, SpaceX. “This material expands under heating so we expect that actually a defect of this size would self-heal during the launch process.” (3/4)

ISS National Lab Announces STEM Education and Workforce Development Funding Opportunity (Source: CASIS)
The ISS National Laboratory is soliciting research to leverage the orbiting outpost for education programs and training for space-focused careers. This ISS National Lab Research Announcement (NLRA) is open to U.S.-based institutions (academic, commercial, government, or not-for-profit) with a vested interest in workforce development and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) education. The solicitation has up to $600,000 total allocated funding, with the expectation to award four to five projects.

Proposals must seek to create or expand education programs, projects, or public-private partnerships that leverage the space station or space-based research to engage post-secondary students (including colleges, universities, community or junior colleges, and vocational institutions), enhance K-12 learning, or provide professional development experiences for formal and informal educators. (3/5)

Terran Orbital Wins $15 Million for Space Force Experiment Satellites (Source: Space News)
Terran Orbital has won a $15 million contract to support U.S. Space Force experiments. The contract was awarded by the defense contractor Axient Corp. on behalf of the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). Axient won a contract from AFRL to manage small-satellite military experiments. Terran Orbital will provide Axient with two of the company’s Ambassador-class satellite platforms and support equipment, and to integrate payloads for upcoming U.S. Space Force missions. Those satellite buses, to be delivered within 12 months, are similar to those Terran Orbital builds for Lockheed Martin for its Space Development Agency Tranche 1 Transport Layer satellites. (3/6)

US to Invest Billions in Simulation, Training (Source: Army Technology)
The US is preparing for a significant increase in military simulation and training investment, projecting to spend over $26 billion annually by 2028 to boost military readiness and response capabilities. Shifting from a traditional emphasis on combat hardware and acknowledging the critical role of training systems in the current global environment. (3/4)

Russia Still Rivals US in Orbit, General Says (Source: Space News)
Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of US Space Command is cautioning against complacency regarding Russia's space capabilities, emphasizing that "Russia's struggles ... should not create a false sense of confidence that Moscow is fading in the space domain." He highlighted that despite facing significant challenges, Russia is poised to remain a formidable and unpredictable adversary in the space arena for the coming decade. (3/5)

India Plans Lunar Sample Return, Possibly Requiring Two Launches (Source: India Today)
India's plans to return samples from the moon may require two launches. The proposed Chandrayaan-4 mission, Indian space officials said, will involve one spacecraft launched on India's LVM3 rocket that will land on the moon, collect samples and launch them into lunar orbit. A second mission, launched on a PSLV rocket, will feature a spacecraft to pick up the samples in lunar orbit and return them to Earth. The Indian space agency ISRO has not disclosed a schedule for the mission, including which of the two spacecraft would launch first. (3/6)