October 29, 2017

Is There Anybody Out There? (Source: Planetary Society)
About 2,000 years ago, just before the start of the Common Era, the Romans conquered Spain. The Roman Empire was powered by money, and the currency of the time was silver. Fortunately for the Romans, there were an ample number of silver mines in their new Spanish territory.

It takes a lot of energy to smelt silver into coins, so the Romans cut down vast swaths of Spain's forests to burn the wood for fuel. A byproduct of the smelting process is lead, which the Romans used for plumbing. For the first time, our species was engaged in large-scale industrial manufacturing—and also large-scale pollution. Signs of all this can be found in Greenland ice cores. Click here. (10/25)

Upcoming Launches at VAFB (Source: Santa Maria Times)
October 31 -- Orbital ATK Minotaur-C rocket carrying SkySat -- An Orbital ATK Minotaur-C rocket is scheduled to six SkySat Earth observation satellites for Planet and several CubeSat payloads, from launch site SLC-576E, at 2:37 p.m. Click here. (10/27)

NASA Goes to Bat with a World Series Rivalry (Source: C/Net)
You might think this year's World Series is about a battle for Major League Baseball supremacy between the Houston Astros and the Los Angeles Dodgers, but there's something much more important going on here. The winner will also determine which one of NASA's major space centers gets to walk away with bragging rights.

NASA's Johnson Space Center, home to the astronaut corps, is located in Houston. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), home base for the Mars rovers, is in Pasadena, California, which puts it in the Los Angeles area. The two space hubs now have a friendly bet riding on the World Series outcome. If the Astros win, then Johnson Space Center director Ellen Ochoa will wear a Dodgers jersey for a day. If the Dodgers win, then JPL director Michael Watkins will don an Astros jersey. (10/27)

Trump Taps Former NASA head Griffin for Deputy Defense Role: White House (Source: Reuters)
President Donald Trump intends to nominate Michael Griffin, a former administrator of NASA, as principal deputy undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics, the White House said on Friday.

Griffin most recently served as chairman and chief executive officer of the Schafer Corporation, a provider of scientific, engineering, and technical services and products in the national security sector, the White House said in a statement. He held the top NASA job from 2005 to 2009. (10/27)

Japan Eyes Free Satellite Imaging Data for Businesses (Source: Nikkei)
Japan looks to offer companies free access to troves of satellite images starting in fiscal 2018, aiming to help with tasks such as inspecting infrastructure remotely and forecasting crop harvests.

The move will be announced Friday in a report on usage of the data from an expert panel including members of the nation's economic and science ministries, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology -- known as AIST -- as well as information technology businesses and university research bodies.

The images were captured by the Daichi earth-observation satellite, designed to help the Geospatial Information Authority of Japan -- part of the land ministry -- make maps and track disasters. JAXA is in possession of a large volume of satellite imagery. A single image often costs private enterprises several thousand yen, or tens of dollars, to use. (10/28)

Alaska’s Role in a Commercial Space Industry (Source: Alaska Public Media)
This week we’re hearing about Alaska’s role in the commercial space industry. During this joint event, co-hosted by Commonwealth North and the Alaska World Affairs Council, we welcome Etienne Schneider, Luxembourg’s Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Economy, Defense and Interior Security. The government of Luxembourg has launched an initiative (SpaceResources.lu) to attract “new space” tech companies to Luxembourg.

This initiative includes leveraging Luxembourg’s existing space industry, financial center, and university and public research centers, with international partners. The Deputy Prime Minister was visiting Alaska to learn more about Alaska’s capabilities in the space sector and to engage with Alaskans to explore possibilities of cooperation in space activity. (10/27)

Let’s Not Risk a Cold War in Space (Source: San Francisco Chronicle)
Some 10,000 miles above the Earth’s surface, conflicts between the United States and China could break out over orbiting satellites, which enable everything from your cell phone calls to bank transactions to GPS navigation. While Congress is deciding the role of space in national security and defense as it hammers out the National Defense Authorization Act of 2018, the priority should be on personnel and improving satellites and infrastructure, rather than on more powerful weaponry, which would militarize our atmosphere and spark an arms race.

The White House is also at work on space policies. Vice President Mike Pence convened the newly resurrected National Space Council on Oct. 5, with top members of the administration, military, intelligence community, and the commercial space and defense industry. Despite the lofty talk of space exploration, Pence’s recurring theme is to dominate all areas of space, with no rivals in view. We have heard such language before.

Pence and congressional leaders regard space as a combat domain, but a myopic focus on militarizing satellites or developing weapons to shoot them down with missiles or Star Wars-like lasers could escalate, with the United States stoking tensions with China and Russia, and with everyone else in the dark. China already showed a decade ago that it has the technology to strike down a satellite. That could be just the beginning. (10/27)

Weezer Wants To Be the First Band on Mars (Source: Marketplace)
Money can't buy you happiness but it can buy you ________. Rivers Cuomo: It can pay for the private plane to your gig so you don't have to do a bus tour or van tour. I just saw that SpaceX is going to make this rocket, or they have the rocket but they're going to set it up so that you can get from LA to Tokyo in 24 minutes or something. So ...

Bell: We're going to be the first band to tour in the SpaceX rocket. That's our goal. Cuomo: The touring is going to be crazy. Bell: First band on Mars: Weezer. You heard it here first. (10/27)

How the Numbers Add Up Behind the Northrop-Orbital Combo (Source: Washington Technology)
Govini’s look under the hood shows that space vehicles accounted for 37 percent of Orbital’s average of $2.2 billion in unclassified federal prime revenue for fiscal years 2013-17. Of course, that is the data we can see. It does not include classified activity, which Northrop has signaled is growing and particularly in the space domain. Hummer told me there are “a lot of classified dollars” in the Air Force, where Northrop has a strong space footprint.

Nearly all of Orbital ATK’s space vehicle contract obligations are from NASA, according to Govini’s research. “Northrop’s existing footprint at the Air Force could bring that capability into (NASA),” Hummer told me. Bush also said then that Northrop’s focus “on really big things in space” will be aided by Orbital ATK’s portfolio of “smaller… more agile response capabilities.” (10/27)