December 7, 2024

KSC Adding Interactive Experiences at Launch Complex 39 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
A historic launch pad is undergoing a renovation that will bolster its current role at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. The Gantry at LC-39 will be an interactive experience will feature an immersive theater show, a simulation of a test fire beneath a full-scale rocket engine, a rocket-build area and educational, gamified exhibits.  The area also will feature a shaded courtyard with animal-inspired play sculptures and an outside dining area adjacent to the Crawlerway. (12/6)

Up to $1.6 Million in Funding Available for NSF Tissue Engineering Research Utilizing the ISS National Lab (Source: CASIS)
For the eighth consecutive year, the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) is funding a solicitation seeking projects that utilize the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory to advance tissue engineering and mechanobiology research. Through this solicitation, NSF will provide up to $1.6 million in total funding for multiple projects.

 Microgravity affects organisms—from bacteria to humans, causing changes in gene expression and DNA regulation, altered cellular function and physiology, and 3D aggregation of cells. Research leveraging these effects can drive advances in the modeling of healthy and pathological tissues and organs, disease diagnosis and treatment, regenerative medicine, and many other areas within bioengineering and the biomedical sciences. (12/5)

Fears for Promised 300 Jobs as Scottish Highland Spaceport Plan Paused (Source: The National)
Shocked locals have branded Orbex’s decision to pause work on the Sutherland spaceport “a hammer blow”. The surprise announcement that Orbex would be moving launches to Saxavord’s site in Shetland was delivered to all spaceport partners on Wednesday. The spaceport was intended to be an economic stimulant for the Sutherland area, creating 40 local jobs and 250 in the wider area. (12/5)

Luxury Space Travel Company Orbite Plans International Expansion (Source: The National)
The space training company Orbite, which offers budding astronauts luxury immersive experiences to prepare them for space travel, has banked $4 million in its latest round of fund-raising. Founded by entrepreneurs Jason Andrews and Nicolas Gaume in 2019, Orbite already offers five-day suborbital training and zero-gravity experiences but the expansion of operations means going much further into the concept of what it would be like to live in space, or on other planets.

Essentially, the company is recreating the experience of being in space, down on Earth in luxury settings. It is seeking to combine luxury accommodation, lectures by experienced astronauts and visits to national space facilities with some of the rigor of NASA's training and education models. As part of the luxury accommodation aspect, Orbite has teamed up with Accor, one of the world’s leading hospitality companies, and will advance its plans to create its Spaceflight Gateway Campus.

Orbite will launch its Experience Train Fly schedule in 2025, which will feature living in space habitats of the future in Paris, as well as a specialiZed program focusing on wellness and the physical demands of space, in Curacao in the Caribbean. Eventually, Orbite plans to open Spaceflight Gateway Campuses around the world, first at Cape Canaveral in Florida, then the Middle East and Asia. (12/6)

SpaceX Dragon, Meet Your Competitor: Nyx (Source: IEEE Spectrum)
It looks like a big white bullet, with a rounded nose that swings open to reveal a docking port, and a cylindrical trunk in back that can be mated to any of a number of large launch rockets. If it sounds familiar, that’s because we’re describing the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft, and in the last decade it has become the leading player in the market for getting people and cargo to and from Earth orbit. Now comes a competitor from Europe, a reusable cargo capsule called Nyx, planned by a startup called The Exploration Company (TEC for short). How to describe its appearance?

It looks like a big white bullet, with a rounded nose that swings open to reveal a docking port, and a cylindrical trunk in back that can be mated to any of a number of large launch rockets. TEC’s people agree it’s a time-tested configuration. So what makes Nyx stand out in a field dominated by SpaceX? The vehicle’s outward design may not be dramatically different, but its rapid development has turned some heads—along with the potential for a space cargo option that doesn’t carry the political baggage of China, Russia, or the United States. (12/5)

What to Wear on Your Trip Into Space? This Watch CEO Has a Suggestion (Source: Financial Review)
In July 2021, a page of history was turned when a Dutch teenager became the first paying customer to travel into space. That small step for one young man has marked a giant leap in making space more accessible. As of the end of this year, there have been 70 commercial astronauts. By the end of this decade, it’s forecast that hundreds of tourists each year will experience space, carried there by SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic and up-and-coming Chinese firms. Meanwhile, almost 70 nations now have their own space agencies.

Which means the terrain that Omega once held as its own is becoming increasingly crowded. No other brand – save for NASA – is as synonymous with space. The Speedmaster Professional was the first watch worn on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. (12/6)

Sweeping Gravitational Wave Map of the Universe Could Reveal Hidden Black Holes (Source: Space.com)
The most detailed map of the universe ever created using gravitational waves could reveal hidden black holes, merging supermassive black holes and even the large-scale structure of the cosmos. The study also presented the largest-ever galactic-scale detector of gravitational waves, which are basically ripples in spacetime. This research has provided further evidence of a background "hum" of gravitational waves that permeates the universe. As such, it could grant new insights into the universe's earliest black holes, how they grew, and the impact they had on the evolution of the comic structure. (12/6)

Isaacman Will Have to Prove He's Not Just a SpaceX and Elon Musk Lackey (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Few would question Isaacman's enthusiasm for spaceflight. Unlike his two predecessors, Nelson and Jim Bridenstine, both of whom were politicians, he does have some technical expertise. In addition to his spacewalk mission, he's flown military jets and once set a world record by circumnavigating the globe in less than 62 hours. Yet Isaacman's plans for human spaceflight and robotic missions, and his philosophy on the geopolitics of space policy, will all be under the microscope in the coming weeks.

His personal and professional ties to Elon Musk — whose SpaceX Dragon capsule rocketed Isaacman and his civilian crew into the cosmos — should also garner intense scrutiny. Isaacman, for instance, owns equity in SpaceX. While federal law requires Cabinet officials to divest individual stock holdings, government watchdogs will be keeping close tabs on how SpaceX stands to benefit as a space contractor under Isaacman's leadership.

For the dreamers yearning for astronauts to return to the moon and someday set foot on Mars, Isaacman has already offered hints of a vision — and it may well end up marginalizing NASA. He told the Wall Street Journal last month that he sees NASA evolving into more of a certification role than the beating heart of manned spaceflight, comparing it to the Federal Aviation Administration's purview over commercial airlines. (12/5)

Starship to Shipyards: How Space Policy Could Save U.S. Maritime Power (Source: GCaptain)
While the analogy is imperfect, the transformation of the U.S. space program offers a powerful blueprint for maritime recovery. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, space faced similar challenges to those confronting the maritime sector today. Click here. (12/3)

SpaceX Rivalry Prompts Airbus to Cut 2,000 Jobs Including Hundreds in UK (Source: Sky News)
Airbus has revealed just over 2,000 job losses across its space and defence division, with 477 roles affected in the UK, amid tough competition from US rivals including Elon Musk's SpaceX. The bulk of the cuts, which were not as severe as the company had initially expected, will affect mainly management and wider office roles in Germany, France, the UK and Spain - the company's four founding nations. They are aimed at saving costs but not expected to result in compulsory redundancies, Airbus said.

Germany will bear the largest share of the overall cuts with 689 positions affected, followed by France with 540, Britain with 477, Spain with 303 and other non-core nations with 34. The program, Airbus said, would be completed by mid-2026. (12/5)

SpaceX Sponsors Largest South Texas Drone Show (Source: My San Antonio)
SpaceX is bringing back the largest drone show to South Texas for the holiday season. For the second year, the Cameron County Amphitheater and Event Center will host the Christmas Drone Story II: The 12 Days of Christmas this weekend on December 7. (12/5)

Safran Plans Significant US Expansion of Defense and Space Business (Source: Defense One)
French technology company Safran is significantly expanding its defense and space business in the United States, including investments in manufacturing across several states. Newly branded Safran Defense & Space Inc. will focus on bringing its high-tech solutions in satellite propulsion and communication, geospatial artificial intelligence and GPS-denied navigation to the U.S. in a more robust way, Joe Bogosian, Safran president and CEO, told Defense News. (12/5)

SpaceX Gets US Contract to Expand Ukraine’s Access to Starshield (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX received a Pentagon contract to expand Ukraine’s access to a more secure, militarized version of its Starlink satellite network, deepening the company’s involvement in the conflict despite founder Elon Musk’s ambivalence over the war. The contract means that 2,500 Starlink terminals already in Ukraine will get access to Starshield, a classified and encrypted signal over Starlink that’s more difficult to hack into or jam. That number is in addition to the 500 that were previously connected to Starshield. (12/6)

DOGE Should Rebuke Space Command’s Proposed Relocation (Source: Washington Examiner)
As they prepare to start work at their consulting Department of Government Efficiency organization, Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy should look upwards. At least figuratively. More specifically, they should contemplate the poorly conceived idea of relocating the U.S. military’s Space Command from Colorado Springs, Colorado, to Huntsville, Alabama. (12/6)

Swinney Backs Calls Over Recouping Funds for Ditched Spaceport (Source: The Times)
First Minister John Swinney said ministers would investigate “completely reasonable” concerns around recouping public investment into Sutherland spaceport after it was put on hold by the developers. The spaceport on the north coast of the Scottish mainland received £14.6 million in investment from the public sector over several years, including from the Scottish government and the Highlands and Islands Enterprise. (12/6)

Intuitive Machines to Expand Facility by 50%, Other Houston Spaceport Tenants to Follow (Source: Houston Business Journal)
The facility where a historic spacecraft was built will be expanded, and the Houston Airport System’s new director promised more on the horizon for space companies. During the annual State of the Airports event, Jim Szczesniak, director of the Houston Airport System, and Jack “2fish” Fischer, vice president of production and operations at Houston-based Intuitive Machines, confirmed that Intuitive Machines will expand the capacity of its Lunar Production and Operations Center at the Houston Spaceport by 50%.

Kansas City-based Burns & McDonnell will continue to work with Intuitive Machines on the project. Burns & McDonnell built the current LPOC, which is owned by the city of Houston and leased to Intuitive Machines. The site, which spans 12.5 acres, opened in 2023. Meanwhile, HAS is prioritizing finishing a $16 million taxiway at Ellington Airport to give tenants at the Spaceport direct access to international contractors for parts, Szczesniak said. Houston-based Axiom Space, for example, is contracting with Italy-based Thales Alenia for its planned space station, Axiom Station, and the expanded runway would allow those parts to land closer to its facilities.

Next up is more help for the anchor tenants at the Spaceport: Intuitive Machines, Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace. While Szczesniak could not share specifics, he outlined some ways those companies can benefit from their presence at the Spaceport. (12/6)

Trump is Clearly Trying to Shake Things Up at NASA (Source: Business Insider)
Isaacman's enthusiasm for space exploration isn't his only bona fide. He also has a businessman's mindset and a close relationship with Elon Musk. The two share the goal of getting humans to Mars. It's NASA's slow-moving status quo that Trump might aim to shake up. To that end, efficiency may be a top priority for Isaacman. That could mean reassessing Artemis entirely or cutting back some of NASA's centers and facilities nationwide, according to Abhi Tripathi, a former NASA engineer and SpaceX mission director. "I definitely think SLS will be on the chopping board," Tripathi said. (12/6)

Five Executive Orders To Unleash Markets in Space (Source: Reason)
Here are five executive orders the incoming president should consider if he wants to unleash space markets and keep America in the lead. First: Move the Office of Commercial Space Transportation (OCST) out of the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Give it back to the secretary of transportation, where it belongs by statute. Second: The president should eliminate all licensing requirements for space-based imagery. No one should have to ask NOAA for permission to take pictures.

Third: The U.S. space industry labors under tremendous disadvantages due to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which can require government review and approval for things as simple as describing a product on a website. We must eliminate this category completely. Fourth: The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has expanded its authority, making licenses for radio transmitters contingent on compliance with conditions that have nothing to do with the radio spectrum. The FCC's domain should be limited to managing that spectrum, not space debris or other aspects of what U.S. commercial companies do in space.

Fifth: U.S. obligations under the Outer Space Treaty require us to provide "authorization and continuing supervision" of our commercial space activities. The Department of Commerce should take on this role, because a regulatory regime is not warranted yet—we just need a mechanism for confirming that a proposed space activity doesn't conflict with another registered activity (such as two operations on the Lunar surface based in the same location) or with treaty compliance (you wouldn't be allowed to launch a weapon of mass destruction). (12/6)

Mars' Gravity Pulls Earth Closer to the Sun, Warming Our Climate (Source: Earth.com)
New research hints at a fascinating and completely unexpected connection between Mars’s gravitational field and Earth’s climate. Geological evidence spanning over 65 million years suggests that deep-sea currents on Earth undergo recurring cycles of strength every 2.4 million years. These cycles, referred to as “astronomical grand cycles,” appear linked to gravitational interactions between Earth and Mars. During periods of stronger currents, often called “giant whirlpools” or eddies, these powerful movements reach the abyssal depths and erode accumulated sediment there.

Due to this resonance, Mars’s gravitational pull draws Earth slightly closer to the Sun, which leads to increased solar radiation and a warmer climate. Over time, Earth drifts back again, completing this cycle roughly every 2.4 million years. This subtle gravitational influence might play a role in shaping Earth’s long-term climatic patterns. The researchers used satellite data to map sediment accumulation on the ocean floor across millions of years. (12/6)

‘Further and Faster’: Why Trump’s NASA Pick is Sending Shock Waves Through the Space Community (Source: CNN)
Some industry professionals hailed Isaacman’s selection as a “perfect pick,” as Isaac Arthur, the president of the nonprofit National Space Society, which advocates for human spaceflight, put it in a statement. “He brings a wealth of experience in entrepreneurial enterprise as well as unique knowledge in working with both NASA and SpaceX, a perfect combination as we enter a new era of increased cooperation between NASA and commercial spaceflight,” Arthur said.

Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who is now a SpaceX senior adviser, also applauded the selection, calling Isaacman an “excellent choice” who will “push NASA to go further and faster.” ... “The next 4 years at NASA are going to be real interesting!” said Reisman, who has also openly voiced his opposition to Trump. Despite Isaacman’s close relationship with Musk, the two have adopted starkly different tones regarding politics.

Musk has taken a strong turn toward conservative politics and routinely makes incendiary comments on social media. Isaacman, meanwhile, has aimed to position himself as a more neutral party. “I respect people’s passionate views on emotionally charged topics like politics, but I am anchored in the center and will always aim to be a unifier rather than a divider,” he wrote in a November 6 post on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that Musk purchased in 2022. (12/6)

Rocket Lab USA Announces Key Leadership and Stock Changes (Source: TipRanks)
Rocket Lab Limited has entered an Exchange Agreement with The Equatorial Trust to swap 50,951,250 shares of Common Stock for Preferred Stock, exempt from U.S. Securities Act registration. This move includes conversion rights and a director designation for Sir Peter, who will continue as CEO and Board Chair with a new employment agreement featuring competitive compensation and stock awards. The Preferred Stock grants voting rights akin to Common Stock, with no scheduled dividends and a minimal liquidation preference. (12/5)

Cosmos 2553: A Russian Mystery in Graveyard Orbit (Source: New York Times)
U.S. military personnel at Space Command, in Colorado Springs, have kept a close eye on Cosmos 2553 ever since it reached orbit. It circles Earth every two hours in a region called a graveyard orbit. Only 10 other satellites are out there, and all of them have been dead for years. The area is rarely used in part because it’s inside the Van Allen belts, zones of high radiation that encircle the planet.

That’s why Moscow claims Cosmos 2553 is there — to test out “newly developed onboard instruments and systems” against radiation. But what it’s really doing, U.S. officials say, is testing components for a Russian weapon under development that could obliterate hundreds, if not thousands, of critical satellites. Cosmos 2553 isn’t armed, but it does carry a dummy warhead, one of several details being reported here for the first time. So while the orbiting satellite poses no imminent danger, the officials caution it does serve as a forerunner to an unprecedented weapon. (12/5)