October 8, 2017

One Amazing Week in Our New Golden Age of Space Exploration (Source: Herald Scotland)
If there was ever any doubt that we are living in a new golden age of space discovery, then this week should dispel all misgivings. The world is currently engaged in a spate of frenetic exploration the like of which has not been seen since the era of the Apollo Missions during the late 1960s and early 70s. From advanced satellite launches and space walks, to plans for a mission to Mars and the study of asteroids heading near Earth, the sky above our planet haver never been so full of human activity. Click here. (10/8)

SpaceX Rocket to Launch 10 Satellites Into Orbit Monday (Source: Space.com)
The private spaceflight company SpaceX is scheduled to launch 10 communications satellites into low-Earth orbit early Monday (Oct. 9). A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to blast off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California at 8:37 a.m. EDT, carrying 10 satellites for Iridium Communications. (10/8)

Where's NASA? Why Private Companies are Taking us to Space Instead (Source: CNBC)
"NASA is the best brand the United States has," said Bill Nye, CEO of The Planetary Society. "People have mixed feelings about the United States, putting it carefully. But, however they feel about the U.S. they respect NASA." Yet NASA's presence was less evident at IAC event. The biggest conference standouts included corporations like Boeing, Airbus and Lockheed Martin and national space agencies from France, Germany, Korea and the U.A.E.

While the privatization of the space sector excites science expert Nye, he emphasized that space research is very different than space travel. "Nobody's going to make money mapping Saturn," he said. But when it comes to off-Earth travel, things may be different: "People think there's a business case that you would sell tickets to Mars. That's an extraordinary idea." (10/6)

Against Mars-a-Lago: Why SpaceX’s Mars Colonization Plan Should Terrify You (Source: Salon)
One wonders if these luminaries know their history. There has be no instance in which a private corporation became a colonizing power that did not end badly for everyone besides the shareholders. The East India Company is perhaps the finest portent of Musk’s Martian ambitions. In 1765, the East India Company forced the Mughal emperor to sign a legal agreement that would essentially permit their company to become the de facto rulers of Bengal.

The East India Company then collected taxes and used its private army, which was over 200,000 strong by the early 19th century, to repress those who got in the way of its profit margins. “It was not the British government that seized India at the end of the 18th century, but a dangerously unregulated private company headquartered in one small office, five windows wide, in London, and managed in India by an unstable sociopath,” writes William Dalrymple.

As with all such corporations, then as now, the [East India Company] was answerable only to its shareholders. With no stake in the just governance of the region, or its long-term wellbeing, the company’s rule quickly turned into the straightforward pillage of Bengal, and the rapid transfer westwards of its wealth. (10/8)

‘Bold Space Agenda’ Needed Swiftly, California Execs Tell Conference (Source: Daily Breeze)
Commercial space pioneers led by Hawthorne-based SpaceX, during the first National Space Council meeting, pressed the federal government to overhaul the way it regulates and finances space exploration, insisting bureaucratic barriers that stifle innovation and speed must be removed. U.S. astronauts can be delivered to the Moon within five years, said companies represented at the gathering.

But only with a more competitive, level playing field that allows businesses with the best, most affordable systems to prevail rather than promising taxpayer funds to select companies. To keep its fast-paced growth, Shotwell told the council that SpaceX also needs to be able to move more quickly through the government’s licensing process.

“Regulations written decades ago must be updated to keep pace with the new technology and the high cadence of launch from the U.S. if we want a strong space-launch industry here at home,” Shotwell said. “Now is the time for swift and bold action. A permanent presence on the Moon and American boots on the surface of Mars are not impossible and they are not long-term goals." (10/7)

SpaceX Seeks Streamlined FAA Launch Licensing (Source: SPACErePORT)
During the National Space Council meeting, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell remarked on the challenges SpaceX is having with the FAA's launch licensing process at the company's two Cape Canaveral launch pads. She was referring to the regulatory difficulty when SpaceX seeks to relocate an already-licensed mission from LC-39A to LC-40, launch pads that are adjacent to each other at the spaceport. (10/8)

Growth of Private Flight Can Shield Taxpayers From NASA Waste (Source: The Hill)
Another expensive boondoggle by NASA shows that the government needs to reevaluate its celestial spending. The latest gaffe is that NASA was forced to delay the launch of the $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope another year, just the latest in a decadal saga of overruns and “restructuring.” Along with an inappropriately quiet announcement of the delay, Congressional rumblings have been kept to a minimum.

The lack of outrage is hardly surprising, when criticism of NASA inevitably caves to the cult religion of space exploration. When scientific endeavors of any kind receive federal funding, merits are hard to judge objectively because of the far-flung, esoteric goals promised by scientists and policy makers. While NASA's unique mission should be taken into account when evaluating the administration, Congress needs to hold NASA accountable and nix needless spending. NASA missions regularly experience cost overruns north of 20 percent,

Faced with a growing pile of delays and cost overruns, lawmakers face limited options in reigning in NASA. One option is incentivizing a greater reliance of private providers for future undertakings in space. NASA has already taken some steps in the right direction, relying on companies like SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance (ULA) for payload deliveries to space stations. (10/8)

ASPIRE Successfully Launches from NASA Wallops (Source: Parabolic Arc)
A NASA Black Brant IX sounding rocket was successfully launched on Oct. 4 at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. The 58-foot tall rocket carried the Advanced Supersonic Parachute Inflation Research Experiment (ASPIRE) from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The mission is to evaluate the performance of the ASPIRE payload, which is designed to test parachute systems in a low-density, supersonic environment. (10/8)