September 30, 2017

Lockheed Martin Unveils its 'Mars Base Camp' Initiative (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
While NASA is working toward its Journey to Mars, contractors working with the space agency have started announcing their own plans. SpaceX was also slated to make its own announcement about Mars. Now, Lockheed Martin has thrown its hat into the Martian ring. During the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) 2017, held in Adelaide, Australia, Lockheed Martin announced its new Mars Base Camp initiative.

Announced on Sep. 28, the Mars Base Camp statement covered how the proposal could be used with NASA’s proposed lunar Deep Space Gateway (which is currently slated to be deployed sometime in the early 2020s), as well as a debut of a crewed Mars lander concept. While that sounds great, what does the process entail?

The proposal states that the architecture unveiled on Thursday would involve sending crews to Mars but with the focus on “an orbital outpost where scientist-astronauts can perform unprecedented, real-time scientific exploration of the Red Planet.” (9/29)

Embry-Riddle Payload to Assess Microgravity Impacts on the Immune System (Source: ERAU)
When Blue Origin’s New Shepard vehicle makes its next launch into space from West Texas, it will have a little bit of Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University on board: a payload designed by students in Pedro Llanos’ Spacecraft and Satellite Systems class. The Cell Research Experiment in Microgravity (CRExIM) suborbital payload will be the first of what he hopes will be many payloads to fly through Embry-Riddle. Click here. (9/21)

Ariane 5 Launches Two Comsats (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Shortly after sunset on September 29, 2017, in Kourou, French Guiana, an Arianespace Ariane 5 lofted 23,894 pounds (10,838 kilograms) of payload into space in the form of two communications satellites. The Intelsat 37e satellite will support Africa, Europe, Central Africa, and Latin America, while the BSAT-4a satellite will provide Direct-to-Home (DTH) television service in Japan. (9/29)

Long March 2C Launches Government Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
After two launch mishaps that casted a shadow on the launch plans for 2017, China conducted a secretive launch from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center, Sichuan province on Friday. An unidentified payload – later revealed to be Yaogan-30 01 – was launched by the Long March-2C (Y29) at 04:20 UTC from the LC3 Launch Complex. (9/28)

China Will Launch Rockets from Freighters and Planes (Source: PopSci)
China's land-based Long March space launch rockets have been the backbone of its space program for more than 40 years. It looks like that's about to change, as the nation is making moves to launch from aircraft and ships.

Starting next year, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASTC) will use 10,000-ton freighters as ocean-going launchpads for its Long March 11 launch rocket. The Long March 11 can carry up to 1,100 pounds into low-earth orbit. The plan is to bring the freighters to the equator, so the rockets require less fuel and can accommodate larger payloads.

Another alternative is from the air. The China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology announced this month that they're developing a solid-fueled space launch rocket to be dropped from the Y-20. The rocket itself is expected to weigh about 60 tons (the Y-20's payload is 66 tons) and has a low Earth orbit payload of 220 pounds. (9/29)

How Crazy Is Elon Musk's Hypersonic Space Rocket Airline? (Source: Bloomberg)
For whatever reason, some of the world’s smartest and most eccentric people tend to be drawn toward airlines. Elon Musk is the latest, but with a twist—rockets. Tacked onto a detailed explanation of how SpaceX intends to land cargo on Mars five years from now—-a farcical schedule that Musk conceded was “aspirational”—-the space, car, solar, and battery entrepreneur segued into an audacious proposal to harness the speed of space-travel for faster earthly flights.

In essence, Musk wants to fly you even when you’re going merely to London, not Mars. Flying at a maximum speed of 27,000 km/hr (17,000 mph), a hypersonic trip from New York to Shanghai in Musk’s proposed craft would take 39 minutes, down from the current nonstop time of about 15 hours. Los Angles to Toronto would take just 24 minutes. London to Dubai in a mere 29 minutes. Traveling between any two points on the globe would take less than an hour. (9/29)

Musk is Aiming to Land Spaceships on Mars in 2022 (Source: CNN)
Elon Musk just unveiled more of his grand plan for colonizing Mars. The hard-charging tech mogul said his rocket company, SpaceX, aims to land at least two cargo ships on the Red Planet in 2022 in order to place power, mining and life support systems there for future flights. That's just five years from now.

"That's not a typo -- although it is aspirational," Musk said Friday during a presentation at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia. Ships carrying crews would arrive in 2024, he added. To hit those deadlines, SpaceX plans to start building the first spaceship by the middle of next year, he said. The billionaire entrepreneur does have a track record of setting ambitious time frames for SpaceX, and failing to meet them. (9/29)

Luxembourg Space Resources Act: Paving the Legal Road to Space (Source: JD Supra)
“Art.1. Space resources are capable of being owned.” By recognizing this legal principle through the adoption on 20 July 2017 of the Act on the Exploration and Use of Space Resources (the Space Resources Act), Luxembourg has drawn significant international attention.

It is the first adopter in Europe of a legal and regulatory framework for the space mining industry, describing in particular the authorization and supervision procedures for missions aiming to explore and use natural resources in space. These procedures have been largely inspired by those applicable to the financial sector.2

While the Space Resources Act also recognizes – at least implicitly - the rights that companies acquire during their space missions, the question of ownership in space will need additional clarification, as the domestic legislation will ultimately have to be complemented by international accords and cooperation. (9/29)

UN and Sierra Nevada Formalize Opportunity for Space Research (Source: UNOOSA)
The United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA) and the Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) have issued a Call for Interest (CFI) for a proposed orbital space mission using SNC's Dream Chaser space vehicle.

The proposed mission will allow United Nations Member States to provide payloads or experiments to be flown in low-Earth orbit. Payloads must contribute to the attainment of one or more of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). This will be the first ever space mission dedicated to the SDGs. (9/26)

New Mexico Lawmakers Express Concern About Spaceport’s Costs (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
A decade after New Mexico decided to invest in the private space race, state lawmakers held a hearing at Spaceport America to explore the future of the facility. “We’re being told if we just invest some more money that this thing will be fully operational and more self-sustaining, but for a lot of us legislators we’re concerned about how much money and over what period of time,” said state Sen. Sander Rue, R-Albuquerque.

The Legislative Finance Committee questioned the new CEO of Spaceport America, Dan Hicks, about the business plan for the facility, where Virgin Galactic is the anchor tenant. “We have the ability to be a commercial hub,” Hicks told the committee.

He touted the advantages New Mexico has over competing spaceport projects in other states, including a large block of protected airspace because of nearby White Sands Missile Range, and a dry, sunny climate. But Hicks said that, like airports, the spaceport needs some government funding to function. (9/29)

NASA Delays Launch of $8.8 Billion James Webb Space Telescope to 2019 (Source: Space.com)
The successor to NASA's famed Hubble Space Telescope won't get off the ground next year after all. NASA has pushed the planned launch of the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope from October 2018 to the spring of 2019, citing spacecraft-integration issues.

"The change in launch timing is not indicative of hardware or technical performance concerns," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate. "Rather, the integration of the various spacecraft elements is taking longer than expected." The targeted launch window is now March 2019 to June 2019, NASA officials added. (9/28)

Artificial Satellite: Museum Wants to Launch Satellite Sculpture into Orbit (Source: Space.com)
Artificial satellites serve a wide range of purposes for humanity, including national defense, communications and scientific inquiry. But artist Trevor Paglen and the Nevada Museum of Art want to launch a satellite with a completely new purpose: to be a work of art.

The Orbital Reflector project will place a 100-foot-long (30 meters) inflatable, diamond-shaped balloon sculpture into low Earth orbit. The geometric object will reflect sunlight while flying over the nightside of Earth, making the sculpture visible, without a telescope, to observers on the ground, according to the project creators. If the mission is successful, it will be the first satellite to "exist purely as an artistic gesture," they said. (9/28)

Hawaii Finally Gives Go-Ahead to Thirty Meter Telescope (Source: Sky & Telescope)
On September 29th, after five months of public hearings that involved 71 witness testimonies and a review of more than 800 submitted documents, the Board of Land and Natural Resources for the state of Hawai'i announced its decision to allow the construction of the Thirty Meter Telescope atop Mauna Kea to resume.

An earlier BLNR ruling had also approved the $1.4 billion project, but it was a controversial decision and construction ground to a halt in 2015 after a string of protests blocked access to the mountain's summit. Then last December, Third Circuit Court judge Greg Nakamura ruled that TMT’s sublease agreement with the University of Hawai'i at Hilo for the site was invalid because the BLNR should have held a separate hearing regarding the lease. (9/29)

Arianespace Procures First Batch of Upgraded Vega-C Rockets (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Arianespace has split its third order of Vega rockets from Italy’s Avio between old and new versions of the solid-fueled booster, as officials prepare to build a final batch of around 18 Ariane 5 rockets before switching to the next-generation Ariane 6 in the early 2020s.

The French launch company announced Wednesday the signature of a long-anticipated contract for 10 more Vega launchers from Avio, Vega’s prime contractor. It marks the third order of Vega rockets from the Italian manufacturer, bringing the total number of Vega vehicles purchased to 26.

Six of the vehicles ordered by Arianespace will come in the same basic Vega configuration that has successfully launched 10 times since debuting in February 2012. Avio will also build the first four upgraded Vega-C launchers, featuring more powerful rocket motors and an enlarged payload fairing to haul bigger satellites into orbit. (9/28)