August 28, 2017

Fashion's Space Race: Why The Spacesuit Is A Huge Future Branding Opportunity For Designers (Source: Forbes)
Space travel has long been a source of inspiration to the fashion industry. When the space race between the Soviet Union and the US was underway in the 1960s, it influenced designers including Paco Rabanne, Courrèges and Pierre Cardin into all manner of both sculptural and streamlined looks.

High fashion houses since have regularly referenced everything and anything related to the galaxy, the fantasy of its contents and the way in which we could navigate it. One giant leap to modern day and little has changed. This time around it’s the likes of Chanel and Gucci taking their cues directly from exploring our solar system and beyond. Click here. (8/28)

Are We Closer to an Aussie Space Agency? (Source: NatGeo)
We watched as Russia soared into space, then America and China, now the time is finally here. Australia is a few steps closer to building our own space industry. Andrew Barr, ACT chief minister, and Jay Weatherill, South Australian premier have recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding in hopes to start an Australian Space Agency. And it’s looking as though a space station may go ahead, as the federal government announced a review into Australia’s space capabilities in July. (8/28)

China, Russia Set to Ink Landmark Deal for Manned Moon Missions (Source: ECNS)
China and Russia are set to sign a milestone agreement on joint space exploration from 2018 to 2022. The deal is expected to be signed this October and will bring significant benefits to both nations, particularly in manned and future missions to the moon. The idea and possibility of once again having humans return to the moon have floated around for quite some time, but after this deal, that prospect is likely to turn into a reality. The bilateral agreement will cover five areas including lunar and deep space exploration, developing special materials, collaboration in the area of satellite systems, Earth remote sensing, and space debris research. (8/28)

Hurricane Closes JSC in Houston (Source: Space News)
NASA's Johnson Space Center is closed to all but essential personnel through at least today. In a statement Sunday, the center said that severe flooding in the Houston area caused by heavy rains from the former Hurricane Harvey led it to close through today, with plans to evaluate on a day-by-day basis after today. Mission control for the International Space Station, at JSC, remains operational, as does testing of the James Webb Space Telescope in a thermal vacuum chamber. There have been no reports of damage to JSC facilities from the storm, which has set records for rainfall in the Houston area, causing massive flooding throughout the city that makes travel inadvisable, if not impossible. (8/27)

Khrunichev Readies Production of Angara Rockets (Source: Tass)
The manufacturer of the Proton rocket is beginning the transition to building Angara rockets. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said Friday that the Khrunichev Space Center is "completing, largely speaking" production of the Proton-M and ramping up production of the Angara-A5 rocket, which will ultimately replace the Proton. Rogozin didn't give a schedule for completing that transition, but the Proton is expected to remain in service for the foreseeable future. (8/27)

The National Space Council for American Leadership in Space Industries (Source: Space Review)
The revival of the National Space Council comes at a pivotal time for commercial space efforts in the US and elsewhere. In an open letter to Vice President Mike Pence, Vidvuds Beldavs offers ideas of how the council can support US companies and the broader commercial space industry on some key issues. Click here. (8/28)
 
Hypersonic Air-Breathing Propulsion: The Key to Affordable Nanosatellite Launch (Source: Space Review)
Getting frequent and affordable access to space for small satellites has long been a challenge for the space industry. Karl Hoose argues that air-breathing propulsion could provide the technological solution to this problem. Click here. (8/28)
 
Working Eclipse Vacation (Source: Space Review)
A total solar eclipse last week attracted both hardcore eclipse chasers as well as more casual tourists to a path that stretched across the US. Jeff Foust recounts a road trip to South Carolina to witness the eclipse in a distinctly American setting. Click here. (8/28)
 
The Need for New Space-Based Missile Defense Systems (Source: Space Review)
Missile tests by North Korea have generated new attention regarding missile defense capabilities and needs in the US. Taylor Dinerman argues that it means, among other things, developing new space-based systems to better track those missiles. Click here. (8/28)

Ukraine Vies For Place In Crowded Launch Market (Source: Aerospace America)
The leading space company in Ukraine hopes to break into the hypercompetitive international satellite launch market with a novel business strategy and a new line of expendable rockets to be called Cyclone-4Ms. The proposed two-stage rockets will borrow the Cyclone name from a family of vehicles that once flew from sites in Russia and Kazakhstan and were also a basis for a failed Ukrainian-Brazilian joint venture. The new rockets would lift off from a proposed site on Canada’s Atlantic Coast, provided an ongoing fundraising effort is successful. The site near the town of Canso in Nova Scotia is well situated for delivering lightweight satellites into near-polar orbits.

Already-manufactured hardware and testing facilities that were developed for the failed Ukrainian-Brazilian initiative can now be repurposed for the Cyclone-4M fleet. Despite an extremely complex political and economic situation in today’s Ukraine, Yuzhnoye  hopes to do more than weather the downturn in the country’s space budget. It wants to break into the competitive satellite launch market dominated by the Russian Soyuz rockets, Elon Musk’s Falcon 9s and the Indian Polar Satellite Launch Vehicles. (8/28)

This Enzyme Enabled Life to Conquer A Hostile Earth (Source: Space.com)
Computers are simulating the ancestral versions of the most common protein on Earth, giving scientists an unparalleled look at early life's development of harnessing energy from the sun and production of oxygen. These findings could shed light on the evolution of alien life elsewhere in the Universe, researchers said. They recently detailed their findings in the online version of the journal Geobiology.

Photosynthesis, which uses energy from sunlight to create sugars and other carbon-based organic molecules from carbon dioxide gas, has played a major role in Earth's history. Photosynthesis supports the existence of plants and other photosynthetic organisms across Earth's lands and seas, which in turn sustains complex webs of animal and other life.

The first major step of photosynthesis is triggered by an enzyme known as Rubisco. Previous research suggested that Rubisco is likely the most abundant protein on Earth. "Rubisco's job is to take in carbon dioxide from the environment so that it can be turned into biological matter," Kacar said. Many versions of Rubisco exists across a broad range of organisms, from plants to bacteria. Much remains uncertain about when Rubisco evolved and how it diversified over time because of the meager fossil record of early life on Earth. (8/28)

Still Confident in Future of Spaceport (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The exhaustive reporting on Spaceport America by Heath Haussamen that has run the past five days in the Sun-News confirms much of what we had already known and believed about the spaceport. The Spaceport America Cup in June, described by a local hotel as “easily the largest city-wide event in the last 10 years,” is an example of the enormous potential for economic development at the spaceport.

For some time, the spaceport has made claims about its economic impact in the region without having the data needed to back up those claims. That doesn’t necessarily mean that the claims have been inflated. In fact, they may be underestimating their impact, NMSU Economics Professor Jim Peach said.

We continue to believe that Spaceport America is unique. Yes, other states have jumped into the game since we began construction, and there is competition today that may not have been envisioned when funding was first approved. But none of those other spaceports have the combination of elevation, remote location, unrestricted airspace and modern facilities as Spaceport America. (8/28)

Companies Fall Short in Texas Job Creation Goals (Source: Valley Morning Star)
Job creation grants are common tools used by local economic development officials to reward companies that decide to locate in their communities by doling out money for each new job created. United Launch Alliance failed to meet its numbers, which was hardly a surprise after the layoff of 43 employees this summer to reduce staffing to about 75.

ULA was supposed to receive $350,000 for job creation in FY 16-17, but was awarded just $150,000. That latter sum will be available to them in FY 17-18 if hiring improves, at least according to the HEDC’s draft budget. ULA did not return an email seeking comment for this story. SpaceX, the rival space launch company, was not awarded any funding for job creation, although it is on the budget for this year for $150,000. (8/26)