November 2, 2017

The Moon is One Step, Mars is the Prize (Source: Axios)
To ensure the greatest returns on the public's investment in space exploration, landing on the Moon shouldn't be an end in itself. Mars remains the most promising destination to establish a long-term human presence and to advance our scientific understanding of life elsewhere.

But landing on Mars, with an atmosphere that can burn up spacecraft on entry, is not the same as the smooth, airless ride of landing on the Moon. And living on a planet that is on average 140 million miles from Earth is certainly not the same as living on on a moon that is a mere (cosmically speaking) 240,000 mile trip. Click here. (11/2)

The Moon Can Help Reveal Our Solar System's History (Source: Axios)
The Moon is the Rosetta Stone of our solar system, used by planetary scientists to decipher the most ancient history of our celestial neighborhood. Wind, water, volcanic eruptions and movements of Earth's rocky crust erase evidence here of the solar system's earliest days. But the Moon preserves that history. Its records of rocky collisions and volcanic activity provide foundational data to estimate the ages and surface processes of early Earth, Mars, Europa and beyond. (11/1)

Lunar Resources Ready and Waiting (Source: Axios)
Returning to the Moon makes good scientific and economic sense and will help enable sustainable human exploration of Mars. There are volatile deposits on the Moon that contain water, establishing the presence of both human-life-support consumables and rocket fuel for human missions to Mars that can be created by recombining hydrogen and oxygen. A protective sheath of water derived from the Moon could also be put around the human-rated capsule for radiation protection. This would be almost cost-prohibitive to launch from Earth. Click here. (11/1)

Diverting Hurricanes with Satellites a Possibility (Source: Houston Chronicle)
The idea is to use a piece of technology called a solar power satellite, first imagined by Dr. Peter Glaser in the late 1960s. A solar power satellite would be powered by a massive solar collector, perhaps miles in diameter, deployed in a high geosynchronous orbit. The SPS would collect energy from the sun and convert it into microwave energy to be beamed to Earth to receiving stations on the ground.

Solar power satellites as a hurricane diversion device was once proposed in a 2004. The idea is to combine seeding a hurricane with silver iodide crystals with using the microwave energy from the satellite to change the course of the storm. Thus, a hurricane headed for a populated area would be sent to the cold North Atlantic, where it would dissipate and die, having been deprived of the warm water it needs to sustain itself. (11/1)

NASA Selects Studies for Gateway Power and Propulsion Element (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected five U.S. companies to conduct four-month studies for a power and propulsion element that could be used as part of the deep space gateway concept. The agency is studying the gateway concept with U.S. industry and space station partners for potential future collaborations. These latest studies will help provide data on commercial capabilities as NASA defines objectives and requirements as well as help reduce risk for a new powerful and efficient solar electric propulsion (SEP) technology in deep space.

NASA needs a 50-kW SEP system, which is three-times more powerful than the capabilities available today, for future human missions. Earlier this year, NASA sought study proposals under Appendix C of the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) Broad Agency Announcement. The request identified 23 topic areas including potential commercial synergies to support development of a power and propulsion element. Combined funding awarded for the selected studies is approximately $2.4 million. The selected companies are Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK, Sierra Nevada, and Space Systems/Loral. (11/1)

Bridenstine Grilled During Confirmation Hearing (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator nominee Jim Bridenstine faced sharp criticism from Democratic senators at his confirmation hearing Wednesday. The committee's ranking member, Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), and other Democrats questioned Bridenstine about his views on climate change, social issues, and competence to lead NASA during the hearing, which lasted more than two and a half hours. Bridenstine got a friendlier reception from the committee's Republican majority, but very few of the questions he received during the hearing directly related to NASA programs outside of Earth science. The committee is planning a markup session next Wednesday to vote to advance the nomination, and committee chairman Sen. John Thune (R-SD) says he believes that Bridenstine will ultimately be confirmed. 11/1)

Garrett Grilled During Confirmation Hearing (Source: Space News)
In a separate confirmation hearing, the nominee to be the next president of the Ex-Im Bank also got a chilly reception. At a Senate Banking Committee hearing, Democratic members said they were skeptical that Scott Garrett could effectively run the bank. Garrett was previously a critic of the bank when he was in the House, but said at the hearing he was committed to keeping the bank "fully open and fully operational." Republicans on the committee backed Garrett, with one senator saying he would block efforts to confirm other nominees to the bank's board unless Garrett is confirmed first. (11/1)

AIA Encourages Senate to Reject Garrett as Next Ex-Im President (Source: AIA)
Scott Garrett says he would keep the US Export-Import Bank "fully open and fully operational" but failed to provide robust answers when questioned about his past opposition to the bank. Garrett's responses under Senate questioning "reinforce our greatest concerns about his fitness to lead the bank," said David Melcher, President and CEO of the Aerospace Industries Association. (11/2)

More Allegations of Embezzlement at Russia's Vostochny Spaceport (Source: Crime Russia)
Another contractor involved with the construction of Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome has been accused of embezzlement. An official with Construction Mechanization LLC is accused of misappropriation of funds under a $13 million contract his company received to work on aspects of the spaceport in Russia's Far East. The official claimed that most of the money went to construction trailers for workers at the spaceport. Several other companies involved in the spaceport's construction have been accused of embezzling tens of millions of dollars.

Editor's Note: Business as usual in the Russian kleptocracy, and the losses will be repaid by the end customer...in this case the company that chooses to launch their satellite there. (11/2)

New Study Links Astronaut Vision Issues to Brain Float (Source: Stat)
Long-duration spaceflight can affect the brain, according to a new study. The research found that, in weightlessness, the brain drifted upwards to the top of the skull, remaining there for at least some time after returning to Earth. That shift can put increased pressure on the optic nerve, with the potential to alter vision as a result. Studies noted additional changes to the brain as well, although more work is needed to understand what effects they may have. (11/1)

NASA Official Moves to NSF (Source: NSF)
A former NASA official has been named to a key post at the National Science Foundation. The organization announced Wednesday that Anne Kinney will lead its directorate for mathematical and physical sciences, which supports research in several fields, including astronomy. Kinney is currently the chief scientist at the Keck Observatory, and previously held several positions at NASA Headquarters and the Goddard Space Flight Center, including director of Goddard's solar system exploration division. (11/1)

Telescope Turns 100 (Source: LA Times)
A famous telescope turned 100 years old Wednesday. The 100-inch telescope at Mt. Wilson Observatory in California collected its first light on Nov. 1, 1917, after several years of construction. The telescope, named after John D. Hooker, a local businessman who helped fund its development, was later used by Edwin Hubble to measure the distances to other galaxies, showing that the universe was expanding. (11/1)

LEGO's 'Women of NASA' a Hot Item (Source: Business Insider)
A LEGO set devoted to the "Women of NASA" went on sale Wednesday and is already flying off store shelves. The $25 set became the top-selling toy on Amazon.com hours after it went on sale. The set features astronauts Sally Ride and Mae Jemison, astronomer Nancy Grace Roman and computer scientist Margaret Hamilton. (11/1)

Scientist Recalls Training Laika for Spaceflight (Source: Space Daily)
"I asked her to forgive us and I even cried as I stroked her for the last time," says 90-year-old Russian biologist Adilya Kotovskaya, recalling the day she bid farewell to her charge Laika. The former street dog was about to make history as the first living creature to orbit the earth, blasting off on a one-way journey.

The Soviet Union sent Laika up to space in a satellite on November 3, 1957 -- sixty years ago. It followed the first ever Sputnik satellite launch earlier that year. But things did not go exactly to plan and the dog was only able to survive for a few hours, flying around the Earth nine times. (11/2)

Mice, Fish and Flies: the Animals Still Being Sent Into Space (Source: Space Daily)
Sixty years after Laika the dog became the first living creature to go into orbit, animals are still being sent into space -- though these days much smaller creatures are going up. Julie Robinson, chief scientist for the International Space Station program, explains what we are still learning from animals in orbit. Click here. (11/2)

China's Reusable Spacecraft to be Launched in 2020 (Source: Space Daily)
China plans to launch its reusable spacecraft in 2020, according to a statement from China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation Tuesday. Unlike traditional one-off spacecraft, the new spacecraft will fly into the sky like an aircraft, said Chen Hongbo, a researcher from the corporation.

The spacecraft can transport people or payload into the orbit and return to Earth. Chen said that the spacecraft will be easier to maintain and can improve the frequency of launches at lower cost, bringing new opportunities for more people to travel into space. (11/2)

Ukraine Proposes Canada Collaboration in Aircraft Building, Space Launch (Source: Interfax)
Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman took part in the Ukrainian-Canadian round table on cooperation in the aerospace sphere, at which he proposed joint projects in aircraft building and space exploration, the press service of the Cabinet of Ministers has reported. "Ukraine offers Canada to combine efforts to implement a number of projects in the aerospace industry, including aircraft and satellite building, the creation of a platform for space launches," Groysman said. (11/2)

Virgin Creates "Vox Space" for its Government-Related Launches (Source: TechCrunch)
The universe can welcome yet another entrant into the space race, and yet another company into Richard Branson’s portfolio. TechCrunch has learned that Branson’s Virgin Orbit has quietly created VOX Space, a wholly owned subsidiary of its space freight business, that will focus on servicing government contracts from the U.S. and its political allies.

For Virgin Orbit, the creation of VOX Space is an indicator of how seriously the company takes the potential revenue stream that could come from government contracts. According to people with knowledge of the company’s plans, the military and defense industry will likely never be the bulk of Virgin Orbit’s contracts, but created the subsidiary to be able to compete in that market. Right now, the book of business including a likely contract with a government agency, will be roughly 90% commercial and 10% government, according to a person with knowledge of the firm. (11/1)

Draper and Sierra Nevada Announce Dream Chaser Collaboration (Source: Space Daily)
Building on a long-term strategic partnership, Draper and Sierra Nevada (SNC) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) that sets a course for the two companies to explore development of space technologies, applications and missions related to SNC's Dream Chaser spacecraft.

Customers for the new agreement include commercial entities, researchers, private foundations and NASA itself, which announced in February that it seeks partnerships with U.S. companies to advance the commercial space sector and support NASA's own mission.

As a member of the Dream Chaser team, Draper brings a deep knowledge of avionics, especially in creating mission automation; guidance, navigation and control (GN and C) systems; and human-rated fault-tolerant flight computers. To ensure a smooth collaboration with customers and partners, Draper employs a technology transfer program encompassing design, documentation, training and manufacturability support. (10/26)

Growth at Michoud Assembly Facility Highlighted (Source: Office of the Governor of Louisiana)
Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards joined NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Director Todd May to announce significant growth at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, including progress and job growth in the assembly of NASA’s Orion crew capsule and Space Launch System rocket, the major components being built in New Orleans that will convey future U.S. missions to space.

The leaders were joined by state, local and private sector officials, including executives from Boeing, new Michoud Assembly Facility tenant Sinter Metal Technologies, and expanding tenant Advanced Cutting Solutions. State leaders, including Louisiana Community and Technical College System President Monty Sullivan, also announced plans to create an aerospace manufacturing center of excellence at nearby Nunez Community College, where students will be trained for aerospace-related careers at Michoud Assembly Facility and with other regional employers. (11/2)

Space Coast-Based Harris Sees Long-Term Growth for Commercial Satellite Antennas, Classified Satellites Biz (Source: Space Intel Report)
Harris Corp. said its commercial space business from GPS payloads and satellite reflector antennas will grow by 10% or more this year and that demand for its reflectors has doubled in the past couple of years.
In an Oct. 31 conference call with investors, Harris Chief Executive William M. Brown said two of the three legs of the company’s Space and Intelligence Systems division — the commercial side and the classified side for U.S. government customers — are on sustained growth tracks.

But partly because of the decline in business related to the GOES-R geostationary environmental satellite, Harris’s environment business is falling sharply and will continue to do so for the coming year, the company said. Two-thirds of the Space and Intelligence Systems division’s annual revenue is from classified systems. Harris said it had one a classified small-satellite-technology contract that had the potential to generate $100 million in revenue in the next two years. (11/1)

Nelson Savages Bridenstine at NASA Hearing, Cites Rubio Attacks (Source: Politico)
Sen. Bill Nelson savaged President Donald Trump’s pick to lead NASA, Oklahoma Rep. Jim Bridenstine, by characterizing him as an unqualified climate-change denier who is so divisive that he even attacked the Florida Democrat’s counterpart, Republican Sen. Marco Rubio. “You made television commercials attacking my friend and fellow senator from Florida, Marco Rubio, deriding his work to find common ground on immigration and claiming he was working to make America less safe,” Nelson said.

Rubio’s misgivings and the stinging remarks from the normally reserved Nelson signal deep trouble for Bridenstine’s confirmation. Nelson is the committee’s ranking Democrat. He’s also the only sitting congressman to have flown on the space shuttle and hails from the part of Florida that includes Cape Canaveral.

During the hearing, Nelson said that Bridenstine’s “time as a pilot and your service to our country in the military is certainly commendable,” but he said it doesn’t qualify him to “make the complex and nuanced engineering, safety and budgetary decisions for which the head of NASA must be accountable." (11/1)

Orbital ATK Launch From California Doubles Company's Imaging Capacity (Source: Planet)
6 SkySats (SkySat 8-13) and 4 Doves (Flock 3m) successfully launched on an Orbital-ATK Minotaur-C rocket destined for a Sun Synchronous, 500km orbit. Planet is happy to report that all 10 satellites were deployed successfully and that our Mission Control team has made contact with all satellites and begun the commissioning process.

This marks the 20th launch for Planet and our first-ever dedicated launch, which gave us the ability to choose our orbital parameters and timing of the launch. We sent these 10 satellites to an afternoon crossing time of approximately 13:30 to further diversify our product offerings. Most remote sensing satellites operate in morning-crossing configurations, including our currently on orbit set of 160+ Doves and 7 SkySats, and having the world’s largest fleet of medium and high-res assets in both morning and afternoon crossing times enables a dataset never before provided in the commercial market at this scale. (11/1)

Aliens Could Be Just Like Us - Darwin's Theory Means E.T. Would Be Human-Like (Source: Newsweek)
Nearly every depiction of extraterrestrial life are of green figures with large heads, and bug eyes, that look, well, alien. But new research suggests that if advanced beings from far away worlds exist, they may look a lot like us. Scientists at Oxford in the UK published a paper asserting that evolutionary theory can help describe aliens and their behavior. They said aliens are potentially impacted by natural selection, just like us, making them evolve to be stronger and more adaptable.

"We still can't say whether aliens will walk on two legs or have big green eyes,” said Levin. But, using evolutionary theory, they were able to assume that their forms adapted to be similar to us. “Like humans, we predict that they are made up of a hierarchy of entities, which all cooperate to produce an alien,” he said. “At each level of the organism there will be mechanisms in place to eliminate conflict, maintain cooperation and keep the organism functioning.” (11/1)

A Billion Dollars For Virgin Space Planes (Source: AVweb)
The kingdom of Saudi Arabia will invest $1 billion in three of Richard Branson’s space/aviation companies — Virgin Galactic, The Spaceship Company and Virgin Orbit, Branson announced on Thursday. “This investment will enable us to develop the next generation of satellite launches and accelerate our program for point-to-point supersonic space travel,” Branson said. The funding also will support the companies’ space-tourism plans, accelerate Virgin Orbit’s manufacturing and operational capabilities, aid the development of next-generation low-cost small-satellite launch systems and also may help to develop a “space-centric entertainment industry” in Saudi Arabia. Virgin will remain the majority shareholder in all three companies.

In a blog post, Branson noted that “change is happening on a number of fronts in Saudi Arabia.” The royal family has begun to “loosen societal restrictions and encourage a more progressive stance on areas such as women’s rights,” he said. Branson says these have been “small steps to date” but he believes the crown prince, Mohammad bin Salman Al-Saud, is “committed to bringing about these modern changes.” The kingdom also has an option to invest an additional $480 million in “space services.” The deal is subject to regulatory approval. (10/31)

Great News That Spaceport Road Work to Begin (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
It is great news that the county has selected a contractor who will soon begin construction of the southern road to Spaceport America. The project has been delayed for years by a lengthy BLM review, squabbling between Sierra and Doña Ana counties and funding shortages. Without it, visitors have to drive north all the way to Truth or Consequences, and then head back down southeast.

In past years, the Spaceport Authority had dipped into the road fund to pay for operations. Even now, the $13 million to $13.6 million that the Spaceport Authority says it has available is less than the $15.2 million originally projected for the cost of the road. Interim County Manager Chuck McMahon said they would seek additional funding from the state to build the road as originally intended. But even if the state declines that request, they will still be able to complete the project with the money on hand. (10/31)

France, Japan Gear Up for Martian Moon Mission (Source: Air & Cosmos)
French and Japanese space officials have met in Paris to discuss progress on the joint Martian Moons eXploration mission (MMX) for which a cooperation agreement was signed on 10th April in Tokyo. Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of France's CNES space agency, met Masaki Fujimoto, Director of Solar System Sciences at the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), a department of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), on 30th October. On this occasion, French and Japanese specialists discussed MMX and other joint projects.

MMX is a project to return samples from Phobos, one of Mars’ two moons. The mission aims to probe the moons’ origins and thus gain new insights into how our solar system formed and evolved. The cooperation agreement signed in April covers phase A of the project, to which CNES will be contributing feasibility studies prior to a formal go-ahead decision. MMX is planned to launch in 2024. (11/1)

Astronaut Peggy Whitson Is Breaking Records and Pushing the Boundaries for Women in Space (Source: Glamour)
Whitson has been traveling for 288 days—not around the world, not even to the ends of the earth, but off the planet entirely. In orbit, to be exact. And she’s not so happy to be home. “After floating for nine and a half months in space, gravity is not your friend,” the astronaut says with a laugh. “Send me back!”

For now she’ll have to enjoy the pizza and flush toilets, two of the things she did miss in space (“Trust me, you don’t want to know the details,” she says), and rest on her laurels, which are many. Known for being exacting, hardworking, and infectiously positive, Whitson has blasted through records with abandon: most spacewalks by a female astronaut (10); at 57, the oldest woman in orbit (“Not a goal I was ever shooting for,” she jokes); first female chief of NASA’s Astronaut Office; first woman to command the International Space Station (she’s done it twice). And with her latest mission, which touched down in September, she has set a new record: 665 cumulative days in space—more than any American astronaut, male or female, young or old. (10/31)

Breitbart, Other Conservative Outlets Escalate Anti-SpaceX Campaign (Source: Ars Technica)
The articles began appearing in late August, mostly in conservative publications such as Town Hall, Breitbart, and the Daily Caller and have since continued to trickle out through October. All of the dozen or so Web commentaries, variously styled as op-eds or contributions, have made the same essential point—that Elon Musk is benefiting from crony capitalism and must be stopped.

This is not a particularly new line of attack against Musk, especially among some conservatives who decry the public money his companies have received to build solar power facilities, electric cars, and low-cost rockets. Yet most of these articles have been quite specific in their attacks, pinpointing a single section in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act as particularly troublesome to the Republic.

The articles, several of which are written by former US Rep. Ron Paul or his associates, have the same general theme: Musk has given lavishly to politicians, especially Arizona Senator John McCain (R). In return, McCain added Section 1615 to this year's defense authorization bill, which includes language to restrict the military from investing in new launch systems. With this language, the articles assert, Musk seeks a monopoly on the US national security launch market. In addition to saying this allows Musk to fleece taxpayers, some of the more overdone authors assert that it could kill Americans. (11/1)

New Report: Entrepreneurial Space Age Began in 2009 (Source: Ars Technica)
In July 2009, SpaceX launched its first commercial payload—a 50kg Earth observation satellite for Malaysia—which flew into space aboard a privately developed rocket. According to a new space investment report that will be published Tuesday by the Space Angels, an angel fund and a venture capital fund focused on space, which marked a key inflection point between the "governmental" space age and the "entrepreneurial" space age.

"With that launch, SpaceX significantly lowered the barriers to entry in the space industry," the fund's chief executive, Chad Anderson, writes in the new report. "By vertically integrating, the company was able to drastically reduce the cost to get to orbit. But what deserves at least as much credit is their decision to publish their pricing, which fundamentally changed the way we do business in space. This transparency enabled would-be space entrepreneurs to develop a business plan and raise equity financing based on those cost assumptions."

The Space Angels organization prepares quarterly investment reports but, until this week, has not published them for public consumption. The report breaks down equity investment in the space sector by year, since 2009, in angel, venture capital, corporate and other forms of non-governmental investment. From 2009 through September 2017, the report finds that $12 billion in equity investments have been made in space, with annual amounts increasing significantly in 2015 and beyond to more than $2 billion per year. At $10 billion, launch services, landers, and satellites have accounted for the bulk of this investment since 2009. (10/31)