October 27, 2017

Hoyer Officially Asks to Testify in Opposition to Garrett for Ex-Im President (Source: InsideTrade.com)
House Democratic Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer (D-MD) has followed through on his pledge to ask to testify at a Nov. 1 confirmation hearing on Export-Import Bank nominees – hoping for a chance to elaborate on why he opposes the president's pick of former Rep. Scott Garrett for bank president and board chairman. “I believe his confirmation would threaten the important role the Ex-Im Bank plays in ensuring American companies can successfully export and compete against foreign companies. (10/26)

Space Companies Seek Relief from Rules, Help With Debris (Source: Aviation Week)
They call for more flexible broadband spectrum regulation and streamlining the licensing of commercial space launches. But companies testifying before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee say they still need federal government help policing debris in low Earth orbit, which counts about 1,000 operational satellites as well as a growing debris hazard estimated at more than 500,000 fragments large enough to be tracked—all traveling at 17,500 mph. (10/26)

The Space Station: Should It Stay or Should It Go Now? (Source: Forbes)
The International Space Station (ISS) circles the globe every 90 minutes. Drifting quiescently over the blue sphere of Earth or posing against the black of space, the starkly beautiful station feels like a permanent element in the celestial dance. Those of us who know when and where to look often watch it pass overhead, one of the brightest lights in the evening sky. However, few are aware that the venerable ISS, born with the millennium, is scheduled to be abandoned in 2024 and will suffer a fiery deorbit, breakup and unceremonious splash into the Pacific.

Depending on who you talk to, ISS is either an incredibly valuable, fully depreciated piece of critical space infrastructure or an orbital sunk cost trap. These opinions defy the usual division of space politics between the entrepreneurial and establishment space camps. I find intelligent friends in the space community advocating for both retirement and extension. Click here. (10/25)

Blue Origin’s Rrocket Engine Success is a Promising Step for Space Exploration (Source: Slate)
Firing at 50 percent power for three seconds, the BE-4—still second to Rocketdyne’s RS-68 engine in terms of power but much cheaper to build—is proof positive the commercial space industry could be an incredibly important driver in shaping space policy and operations for the country. “I think this is going to send shock waves” through the industry, says Ellen Stofan, NASA’s former chief scientist. “These guys [at Blue Origin] are serious. They’ve put their money where their mouth is.”

That’s not an understatement. The BE-4 could play a significant role solving two of the space industry’s most pressing problems. First, most of the industry’s rocket engines are the result of heavy federal contracts that subsidize the cost it takes to design, build, test, and manufacture them. Blue Origin’s rival SpaceX is an exception—it managed to build its Merlin rocket engine mostly through its own accord. That is the engine that helps launch the reusable Falcon 9 rocket up into space and then helps bring it back down to Earth for a sweet landing.

If the SpaceX engines work so well, then why is Blue Origin trying to compete with them? Merlins aren’t exactly the most powerful engines, nor are they designed for installation on other types of space rockets outside the Falcon 9 and upcoming Falcon Heavy rockets. In contrast, Blue Origin’s BE-4 is more powerful and can be installed on other launch platforms. That’s actually the goal: According to a previous agreement pending successful testing, ULA plans to buy and use BE-4 engines on its new Vulcan rocket, set to debut sometime in 2019. (10/25)

U.S. Consulate Finally Given Access to NASA Scientist in Turkish Prison (Source: Houston Press)
After sitting in a Turkish jail cell for more than year, Serkan Golge, the 37-year-old NASA scientist who holds both Turkish and American citizenship, has finally been allowed to meet with a representative from the U.S. Consulate in Ankara.

Golge, a physicist who works as a senior researcher at NASA's Johnson Space Center, is one of at least seven American citizens who were swept up in the aftermath of the failed coup to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Turkey in July 2016. He has been held in solitary confinement for months, only allowed to see his wife, Kubra, through a screened window once a week, and up until now even American representatives were not permitted to see him. (10/25)

Light’s Weird Dual Nature Weathers Trip to Space and Back (Source: Science News)
Light is two-faced: Sometimes it behaves like a wave, sometimes like a particle. Now, scientists have shown that light’s shifty disposition persists even after trekking thousands of kilometers into space and back again, researchers report October 25 in Science Advances.

Depending on how light is measured, it can either be particle-like, lighting up a camera pixel, for example, or wavelike, interfering with other waves like ripples on the surface of water. It’s one of the many oddities of quantum mechanics. Before light is measured, quantum theory suggests, it is in a particle-wave limbo, neither purely one nor the other.

Physicists have tested this idea by performing “delayed-choice” experiments in the lab, in which researchers send light into a device and randomly choose whether or not to flip a switch that seems to retroactively change the light’s behavior. In one configuration, the light travels down two paths at once and acts like a wave, interfering with itself. In the other, the light acts like a particle, taking a single path. That choice of configuration can be made even after the light has already traveled through the device but before being measured, revealing that light remains in quantum limbo until it is finally detected. (10/25)

Congresswoman: India a Natural Partner of US in Space Technology (Source: Outlook India)
India is a "natural partner" of the US in the area of space and technology, an influential American lawmaker has said, underscoring the possibility of a "real strong partnership" between the two countries in the field. Barbara Comstock, one of the nine lawmakers from the powerful House Committee on Science, Space and technology, recently returned from a trip to Bangalore and New Delhi.

The Congressional delegation was led by Congressman Lamar Smith, Chairman of the House Committee. In Bangalore, the delegation visited the Indian Space Research Organization and talked about its relationship with NASA. Reflecting on her maiden visit to India, Comstock said the largest democracy of the world is a "natural partner" for the US. Responding to a question on cooperation in the space arena, Comstock said Mars mission is an area where there's already a lot of complimentary efforts between the two countries. (10/26)

Murray Opposes Bridenstine Nomination (Source: Space News)
A Democratic senator has come out in opposition to the nomination of Jim Bridenstine to be NASA administrator. In a letter Thursday, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.), ranking member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, said Bridenstine was an "extremely concerning choice" to lead the agency, citing his views on climate change and a range of social issues. The letter, addressed to the chairman and ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, came a day after the committee announced it scheduled a Nov. 1 confirmation hearing for Bridenstine. (10/27)

SpaceX Launch of Korean Satellite Set for Monday (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX is ready for its next launch after a static fire test Thursday. The successful test on the pad at the Kennedy Space Center sets the stage for a Falcon 9 launch Monday afternoon carrying the Koreasat 5A communications satellite. The launch will be the 16th Falcon 9 mission this year, and third this month. The launch window opens Monday, Oct. 30th at 3:34pm. (10/27)

SpaceX Ready to Move Launches Back to LC-40 After Rocket Explosion Over a Year Ago (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX appears ready to move Falcon 9 launches back to a pad damaged in an explosion last year. A NASA media advisory Thursday about a December launch of a Dragon cargo mission to the space station noted the launch would take place from Space Launch Complex 40, the first use of the pad since a September 2016 explosion during preparations for a static fire test damaged the pad and destroyed the Falcon 9 and its satellite payload. SpaceX has previously said it needed to shift launches currently taking place at LC-39A to pad 40 in order to prepare for the first launch of the Falcon Heavy. (10/27)

European Firms Angle for Deep Space Gateway Role (Source: Space News)
The European space industry is angling for roles on NASA's proposed Deep Space Gateway. At the Space Tech Expo Europe conference Thursday, representatives of companies and agencies said they would like to see a European-built module included in the proposed cislunar facility, supplied by a European transport vehicle. The gateway remains only a concept at this time, but NASA is talking about cooperation with other space agencies, giving Europeans confidence that the gateway will ultimately be developed. (10/27)

Broadband Constellations Nearing Initial Launches (Source: Space News)
OneWeb and SpaceX are both months away from launching the first satellites in their planned broadband satellite constellations. At a Senate hearing this week, SpaceX said the company would launch two demonstration satellites "within the next few months" for its proposed 4,425-satellite constellation. SpaceX expects to be able to provide commercial service once 800 satellites are in orbit, which the company projects to be in 2020 or 2021. OneWeb will launch its first 10 satellites in May of next year, two months later than previously planned. OneWeb is planning three generations of its constellation through 2025, increasing its capacity from 7 to 1,000 terabits. (10/27)

Big Primes Gearing Up for Space Contracts (Source: Space News)
Defense contractors are positioning themselves to win additional space business. Top defense firms with large space portfolios like Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman are likely to benefit as space increasingly is viewed as a "contested environment" with implications for national security programs, and as other commercial providers reshape the market. Lockheed Martin, for example, touted its progress and investments in space efforts during an earnings call this week, and Thursday hosted Vice President Pence at its satellite manufacturing complex in Colorado. (10/27)

China Plans Complete NavSat Deployment by 2020 (Source: GB TimeS)
China plans to launch more navigation satellites next month as it pushes to complete its global system by 2020. Lei Fanpei, chairman of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said that the country would be launching more Beidou satellites next month after a pause caused problems with Long March 3B and 5 launches this summer. Resuming the launches will keep China on track to provide global service with the Beidou system starting in 2020. (10/27)

European Partnership Aims to Bring Commercial Payloads to ISS (Source: Space News)
A new European public-private partnership will provide access to the space station for commercial payloads next year. Ice Cubes, a partnership of ESA and Belgium-based Space Applications Services, will send a first batch of commercial experiments to the station next year. Space Application Services sells four-month research slots on the station to companies and universities for $58,000. The effort is patterned after NanoRacks, an American company that has been flying experiments and other payloads to the station for several years. (10/27)

Austria's Enpulsion Plans Mass Production of Electric Thrusters (Source: Space News)
An Austrian startup is seeking to mass produce complex electric thrusters. Enpulsion has raised nearly $4 million to date for production of Field Emission Electric Propulsion thrusters, a type of electric propulsion useful for small satellites but difficult to develop. Enpulsion believes their technology enables production of such thrusters on a large scale, with a goal of 100 to 200 a year. (10/27)

Is This Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipThree? (Source: Parabolic Arc)
This image was posted on Twitter by Saudi Arabia’s Center for International Communications. It appears to be from an event announcing the non-binding memorandum of understanding under which Saudi Arabia would invest $1 billion in the Virgin Group’s space companies. Branson has long talked about point-to-point spaceflights but there have been almost no details. That vehicle has been unofficially called SpaceShipThree. (10/26)

Dawn Finds Possible Ancient Ocean Remnants at Ceres (Source: Space Daily)
Minerals containing water are widespread on Ceres, suggesting the dwarf planet may have had a global ocean in the past. What became of that ocean? Could Ceres still have liquid today? Two new studies from NASA's Dawn mission shed light on these questions.

The Dawn team found that Ceres' crust is a mixture of ice, salts and hydrated materials that were subjected to past and possibly recent geologic activity, and that this crust represents most of that ancient ocean. The second study builds off the first and suggests there is a softer, easily deformable layer beneath Ceres' rigid surface crust, which could be the signature of residual liquid left over from the ocean, too. (10/27)

Down Hundreds of Staff, Weather Service ‘Teetering on the Brink of Failure’ (Source: Washington Post)
After the onslaught of devastating hurricanes and wildfires, the United States is enduring one of its most costly years for extreme weather.  A near-record $16 billion weather disasters have ravaged the nation. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service workforce is spread razor thin, with hundreds of vacant forecast positions.

The National Weather Service Employees Organization, its labor union, said the lack of staff is taking a toll on forecasting operations and that the agency is “for the first time in its history teetering on the brink of failure.” Managers are being forced to scale back certain operations, and staff are stressed and overworked. (10/26)

Space Changes How Genes are Expressed (Source: Astronomy)
Siblings compete; it’s pretty much a ubiquitous fact of life. So when astronaut Scott Kelly returned to Earth in March 2016 after nearly a year in space, it must have really irked his identical twin brother, former astronaut Mark Kelly, that Scott was temporarily two inches taller. However, Scott’s height was not all that changed during his time in space.

According to preliminary results from NASA’s Twins study, Scott’s year in space also drastically increased his rate of DNA methylation, the process responsible for turning genes on and off. By regulating gene expression, methylation is believed to play a major role in the development in many diseases, ranging from cancer to cardiovascular disease. Click here. (10/26)