September 29, 2017

ILS Declares Mission Success After Proton Launch of AsiaSat 9 (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
AsiaSat’s most powerful communications satellite, built by Space Systems/Loral in California to reach developing markets in Myanmar, Indonesia and other parts of the Asia-Pacific, rode a Proton rocket and Breeze M upper stage Thursday into orbit ranging more than 22,000 miles above Earth. (9/29)

Moon Village the First Stop to Mars: ESA (Source: Phys.org)
Setting up a permanent village on the moon is the first step towards exploring Mars, the European Space Agency said Thursday as plans to reach and colonise the Red Planet gathered pace. At an annual gathering of 4,000 global space experts in Adelaide, the ESA said the Moon was the "right place to be" as humans expand economic activities beyond low-Earth orbit, even while Mars remained the "ultimate destination".

"We have been living in low-Earth orbit for the last 17 years on board a space station and we are on our journey to Mars for the first human mission," ESA's Piero Messina told AFP at the congress. "In between, we believe that there is an opportunity to create a permanent... sustainable presence on the surface of the Moon." (9/28)

Aerospace Start-Ups Close $551M in Venture Capital in First Quarter of 2017 (Source: Cision)
A new report released today from Starburst Insights, the investment briefing and report service from the leading global aerospace and aviation incubator, reveals that venture capital investments in aerospace, space, and defense start-ups equated to $551 million in the first quarter of 2017 alone, with 26 investments made.

Notable trends highlighted in the report include the increasing diversity of deal origins and the shift from west to east, Starburst reveals, as a previously dominant U.S. investor base is joined by new capital and interest from countries like Israel, China, and Singapore. (9/28)

Why Congress Must Act Quickly to Reform U.S. Space Law (Source: Harvard Political Review)
Today, as private companies begin to pursue resources in space, international space law is becoming increasingly pertinent. Moon rover landings, ISS astronaut transport, and space tourism are among the many goals of the commercial space industry for the next five years. Living in space and extracting valuable resources from asteroids also lie on the horizon.

Because the law lacks a comprehensive set of norms and rules for space interactions, there remain many legal questions for companies eager to reach the stars. If regulatory bodies continue to lack foresight in space policy, issues ranging from commercial property right disputes on the moon to legal questions on private habitats in space could lead to confrontations between the nations who, according to international law, bear the ultimate responsibility of space activity. (9/28)

Artist is Launching a 100-Foot Satellite That Will Be Visible to the Naked Eye (Source: C/Net)
American artist Trevor Paglen's Orbital Reflector is a space sculpture launching soon into low-earth orbit, for terrestrial viewers to watch and track with an app. It's a useless satellite, serving no purpose beyond the aesthetic.

It looks like a giant lawn dart or a hiltless sword flinging through space. The original prototype shape was a sphere, but he and his team redesigned the satellite to be a 100-foot-long stretched-out diamond shape for maximum reflective surface area, so it will be visible in the night sky with the naked eye from Earth.

Around April 2018, it'll be folded into a brick-size package and packed into a CubeSat, which will be strapped to a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, blasted beyond the atmosphere, and then released to orbit roughly 350 miles above the surface of the Earth. (9/28)

GomSpace to Build 100 Nanosatellite Platforms for AISTech (Source: Space Intel Report)
Fast-growing small-satellite builder GomSpace of Denmark on Sept. 28 signed a contract with AISTech of Spain to provide 100 nanosatellite platforms for AISTech’s multifunctional constellation. The contract is valued at up to 12.5 million euros ($14.7 million), with first batch order valued at 500,000 euros. (9/28)

NASA to Partner with Russia on Deep Space Gateway Exploration (Source: VOA)
NASA says it will partner with the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, to build a “deep space gateway” in the vicinity of the moon. The lunar space station, which is still in conceptual stage, is part of a long-term project aimed at putting humans on Mars.

Acting NASA administrator Robert Lightfoot said Wednesday, “NASA is pleased to see growing international interest in moving into cislunar space as the next step for advancing human space exploration." He added the gateway concept would serve as “an enabler to the kind of exploration architecture that is affordable and sustainable.”

The idea behind the gateway project is to build a spaceport that orbits the moon and would serve as a stopping point for explorations deeper into space. NASA said it would work with Russians and other countries currently involved with the International Space Station to “identify common exploration objectives and possible missions for the 2020s.” (9/28)

Deep Space Gateway Would Shackle Human Exploration, Not Enable It (Source: Ars Technica)
Consider the following proposal for a human spaceflight program. First, a multinational consortium comes together to build a space station, with each nation responsible for specific pieces of the station or capabilities, such as module or robotic arm. Second, the station relies on existing rockets and vehicles to launch cargo and crew, effectively providing these programs a raison d’etre for many years to come.

Third, the consortium develops an “assembly sequence” of missions to put the station’s modules together in orbit, one by one. Then, once the space station is built, astronauts use it to perform experiments and prepare for eventual missions deeper into the Solar System.

Does this program sound familiar? You may think this is the International Space Station—but it is not. Rather, this is NASA’s recent proposal for something called “Deep Space Gateway.” But there are several key differences between this new program and the ISS. Most notably, the gateway would be built in orbit around the Moon. Also, it will not use the Space Shuttle for assembly but instead rely on NASA’s Space Launch System rocket and Orion spacecraft, vehicles that should be operational by the mid-2020s. (9/27)

Boeing Enlisted a Small Australian VR Gaming Studio to Help Train Astronauts (Source: Mashable)
For Australian game studio Opaque Space, you could say life has been imitating art recently. The Melbourne-based studio is behind Earthlight, a virtual reality game that is possibly the closest you can get to walking in space without being there, which has gotten plenty of attention from NASA. Now Boeing has hired Opaque Space to help with future capabilities on a VR training system the aerospace company has developed for its forthcoming CST-100 Starliner capsule. (9/28)

Sputnik Replica Sells for $850K (Source: CollectSpace)
A full-scale, vintage test model of the world's first artificial satellite sold for more than three-quarters of a million dollars on Wednesday (Sept. 27), one week before the 60th anniversary of the launch of Sputnik-1 and the start of the Space Age.

Bonhams auctioned the "beeping" replica of the now-iconic satellite, with its polished metal sphere and four protruding antennas, for $847,500 (including the premium charged to the buyer) at its New York gallery. The winning bid, placed by an unidentified buyer on the telephone, far surpassed the pre-auction estimate and the amount paid for a similar Sputnik replica sold by Bonhams for $269,000 in 2016. (9/27)

Base Canada's Space Priorities on National Needs (Source: Policy Options)
Let’s not just dance to the American tune. Instead, let’s base our space priorities on our national needs first and foremost, while continuing to be good partners with the US on initiatives that complement America’s needs and that will then continue to result in Canadian sales to the US.

For example, we have developed amazing space technologies in earth observation and navigation that play an increasingly important role in the monitoring of our vast coastal areas and northern regions, but that also suitably serve the needs of the US and many other nations. It’s a business model that has worked well for us in the past. (9/28)

New Zealand Opens First Rocket Launch Site (Source: Xinhua)
New Zealand Economic Development Minister Steven Joyce on Wednesday opened New Zealand's first orbital launch site, Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, on the Mahia Peninsula on the North Island's east coast. Joyce congratulated Rocket Lab's chief executive and founder Peter Beck and his team "who have worked hard to achieve this," saying in a statement that "it is their innovation and perseverance that has made this day possible."

Joyce said that he was "looking forward to the first launches from Mahia expected later this year, with more to come next year when Rocket Lab launches with commercial payloads." (9/27)

How Do You Keep a Space Probe Clean? (Source: Cosmos)
NASA’s OSIRIS-REx probe is on its way to collect what might very well be the most expensive handful of dirt in history. The probe is on its way to an asteroid called Bennu. Once it arrives, in 2018, the probe will spend 12 months imaging and collecting data before, finally, swooping down to the surface in a maneuver characterized as touch-and-go, scooping up 60 grams of gunk, and then ferrying it back to Earth for analysis.

How do you keep such a space probe clean? To be more precise, how do you ensure that the material scraped from the top of Bennu by the probe’s expendable Touch-and-Go Sample Arm Mechanism (TAGSAM) isn’t contaminated by microscopic debris that has been along for the ride since Day One?

Ensuring that the OSIRIS-REx sample will be kept in a pristine condition, is the responsibility of a large team of researchers at NASA’s Sciences and Exploration Directorate. The first task they faced was to accept the brute reality that their task was impossible. Some level of contamination, the team wrote, was “probable”: “Decisions and actions which impact sample cleanliness can occur at any time in the lifecycle of spacecraft fabrication, operations, and sample curation.” (9/28)

ULA's Next Florida Launch Now Planned for Oct. 5 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
An upcoming rocket launch in Florida that some had thought could take off Thursday has instead been scheduled for next week. A 90-minute window for a planned United Launch Alliance launch of a National Reconnaissance Office satellite will open at 3:30 a.m. on Oct. 5 from the Space Coast. (9/27)

Lockheed Martin Adds Lander to Mars Base Camp Concept (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin released an update to its Mars mission architecture Sep. 29, adding a reusable lander capable of making multiple trips between Mars orbit and the surface. The company presented an updated version of the Mars Base Camp concept, arguing that the proposal fit into growing interest in operations in cislunar space as well, including landings on the surface of the moon.

The company has now added to the system a lander, launched separately from the base camp spacecraft, that could transport crews from the Mars Base Camp spacecraft in orbit to the Martian surface.

The single-stage lander uses aerodynamics to reduce most of its velocity while descending to the surface. That can be done, the company said, using materials similar to that used on the high-speed SR-71 jet that are not ablative and do not require to be replaced after each mission. (9/27)

NASA Statement About SpaceX Private Moon Venture Announcement (Source: NASA)
“NASA commends its industry partners for reaching higher... For more than a decade, NASA has invested in private industry to develop capabilities for the American people and seed commercial innovation to advance humanity's future in space.

“NASA is changing the way it does business through its commercial partnerships to help build a strong American space economy and free the agency to focus on developing the next-generation rocket, spacecraft and systems to go beyond the moon and sustain deep space exploration.” (9/27)

SpaceX Exploring Nuclear Propulsion (Source: Teslarati)
In a candid and light-hearted presentation given at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell revealed a considerable amount of exciting information about the space launch company’s future prospects and near-term goals.

Fascinatingly, Shotwell confirmed that SpaceX is currently attempting to procure nuclear materials in order to conduct research and development of nuclear propulsion for spacecraft. Nuclear-powered methods of propulsion have the potential to drastically increase the efficiency of spacecraft once in orbit, with the primary benefit being faster travel times around the Solar System.

Faster transit times for manned spacecraft would translate into fewer consumables needed for those journeys, increasing the amount of other supplies that could be brought in a single trip. Beyond the orbit of Mars, other destinations humans might like to visit will require non-chemical propulsion, with more traditional rocketry leading to one-way voyages measured in years. (9/27)

SpaceX Working Toward Upper Stage and Fairing Recovery (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX plans to attempt the first soft landing of Falcon 9’s upper stage before the end of 2018. Second stage recovery efforts would proceed much like Falcon 9’s first stage recovery did, beginning with attempts to land softly in the ocean and later bring in a droneship to attempt legitimate recoveries of the vehicle.

Still, the payload fairing – a major component of the Falcon 9 – costs approximately $5 million on its own, nearly 10% of the cost of a $62 million expendable launch. SpaceX has been making concerted progress towards fairing recovery and reuse, and Musk has said that he expects SpaceX to accomplish the first successful fairing recoveries before the end of 2017. (9/27)

Musk’s Updated Vision for Mars Also Shoots for the Moon (Source: GeekWire)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has added moon missions to his grand plan for Mars, in a bid to capitalize on what’s expected to be the Trump administration’s shift in space policy. Lunar operations at “Moon Base Alpha” are among the big updates that Musk unveiled at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia.

The rocket being planned for missions to the moon and Mars — nicknamed the BFR, for “Big Frickin’ Rocket” — could also come into play for trips to the International Space Station, satellite launches and travel between spaceports on Earth.  

As an economizing move, Musk said the monster rocket would be scaled down to be a little less monstrous. That way, it could take on the missions currently envisioned for SpaceX’s existing Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon capsule, as well as the yet-to-be-flown Falcon Heavy rocket. “If we can do that, all the resources … can be applied to this system,” he said. (9/28)

"Unusual Structures" on Far Side of Moon Could Have Been Made by Extraterrestrials (Source: Collective Evolution)
Members of the Society For Planetary SETI Research (SPSR) have published a paper in the Journal of Space Exploration about certain features on the far side of the moon that appear in the crater Paracelsus C. Titled “Image Analysis of Unusual Structures on the Far Side of the Moon in the Crater Paracelsus C,” it argues that these features might be artificial in origin, meaning someone other than a human being built them and put them there.

Drawing from multiple images taken at different times of the lunar day, and from different sun angles, the authors point out how it’s possible to predict an approximate shape for the objects by using shape-form-shading software. This type of 3D rendering has allowed them to fly around the site in order to see how odd the objects look in their location within the south-west quadrant of the crater, which is approximately 24km in diameter. (9/27)

Court Requires Northrop Grumman to Move Forward on IT Project, Requires State to Pay $4.8M in Back Fees (Source: Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Virginia will have to pay $4.8 million that it has withheld from Northrop Grumman for messaging services since April, but the information technology giant must continue to provide email service for nearly 60,000 state employees while aiding transition to a new vendor, under a ruling by a Richmond judge on Wednesday.

The decision breaks a legal logjam over the transition of messaging services from Northrop Grumman to the new vendor and ends a purported threat by the IT company to shut down email service for at least 56,000 employees in critical state agencies on Oct. 27. (9/27)

NASA to Launch Parachute Test Platform from Wallops Oct. 3 (Source: WBOC)
NASA will test a parachute platform during the flight of a suborbital sounding rocket at 6:45 a.m. Tuesday, Oct. 3, from the agency’s Wallops Flight Facility on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. The launch window for the 58-foot tall Terrier-Black Brant IX rocket runs until 10:15 a.m. The backup launch days are Oct. 4-14. (9/27)

Governments Must Plan Today for Flexibility Tomorrow in Space (Source: Space Daily)
The future of satellite communications is all about flexibility. Innovations are already enabling commercial customers to use satellite for new applications and to achieve business agility. In order to remain preeminent in space, the U.S. government should follow suit and take advantage of the commercial space industry's continual technological development. The time to plan is now. (9/25)

Giant ‘Space Hurricanes’ – Propelled by Moderate Solar Wind Fluctuations (Source: ERAU)
Could the flapping of a butterfly’s wings in Costa Rica set off a hurricane in California? The question has been scrutinized by chaos theorists, stock-market analysts and weather forecasters for decades. For most people, this hypothetical scenario may be difficult to imagine on Earth – particularly when a real disaster strikes.

Yet, in space, similarly small fluctuations in the solar wind as it streams toward the Earth’s magnetic shield actually can affect the speed and strength of “space hurricanes,” researcher Katariina Nykyri of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University has reported. She offers the first detailed description of the mechanism by which solar wind fluctuations can change the properties of so-called space hurricanes, affecting how plasma is transported into the Earth’s magnetic shield, or magnetosphere. (9/27)