January 19, 2018

Whitson Sees Health Challenges For Deep Space Astronauts (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA astronaut and biochemist Peggy Whitson, the nation’s most experienced space traveler, quickly puts her finger on two major challenges facing astronauts traveling to deep space destinations like the Moon and Mars. One is psychological, attributed to the difficulties of communicating with those a deep-space astronaut are closest to back on Earth. The other is physical, the health threat posed by a blast of radiation from a solar storm and a mounting exposure to cosmic radiation. Humans are typically shielded from both by the Earth’s healthy magnetic field and atmosphere.

Neither obstacle should stop the U.S. or its international and commercial partners from returning to the Moon and aiming for Mars, asserts Whitson, who holds the 665-day U.S. record for time accumulated in space over a career. She achieved the mark over three missions to the International Space Station. The first in 2002 spanned 185 days; the second in 2007-08, 192 days. Her latest and longest, which ended on Sept. 3, 2017, was 288 days.

“The problem is that comparing budgets and what we can do, I think we are just going to need to go. We can’t wait forever,” said Whitson, who logged two ISS commands, 10 spacewalks and a stint as NASA’s chief astronaut along the way. “We are not going to get statistically significant numbers in the small numbers of people that we have in space. We are just going to have to accept some risk.” (1/18)

NASA’s Deep Space Gateway Is In The Wrong Place (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA has already outlined a path to capitalize on the growth in commercial space with its Deep Space Gateway concept to position a port in lunar orbit. That is the right idea, but for the architecture to be commercially viable, that way station should be positioned in geostationary orbit (GEO).

The gateway should be in geostationary orbit, rather than in lunar orbit or the L1 Lagrange point, because it would make future space exploration more affordable. In contrast to lunar orbit, GEO is a tried and tested location for commercial space.

The new gateway could be used as a base for new businesses, such as servicing GEO satellites, and also as a new destination for orbital space tourists, thereby ensuring that the entire journey to the edge of Earth’s gravity well would not only be reusable but commercially subsidized. (1/15)

Christa McAuliffe’s Lost Lessons Finally Taught in Space (Source: AP)
Christa McAuliffe’s lost lessons are finally getting taught in space. Thirty-two years after the Challenger disaster, a pair of teachers turned astronauts will pay tribute to McAuliffe by carrying out her science classes on the International Space Station.

As NASA’s first designated teacher in space, McAuliffe was going to experiment with fluids and demonstrate Newton’s laws of motion for schoolchildren. She never made it to orbit: She and six crewmates were killed during liftoff of space shuttle Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986. Astronauts Joe Acaba and Ricky Arnold will perform some of McAuliffe’s lessons over the next several months. Acaba planned to share the news during a TV linkup Friday with students at her alma mater, Framingham State University near Boston. (1/19)

Zuma Failure has Emboldened Critics of SpaceX (Source: Ars Technica)
The space community has not learned much about the apparent loss of the Zuma payload launched by SpaceX on January 7, but the mystery has had one clear after effect: critics of SpaceX, including several far-right publications, have weaponized the failure of a national security satellite in their continued stream of attacks on the company.

For example The Federalist, a publication that defended the dating habits of Alabama Judge Roy Moore in his Senate campaign, opined about the accident, "It is concerning, to say the least, that American taxpayers have become the guinea pigs who will bear the risks and the costs before a final determination can be made." The conservative Washington Times also published a critical piece, noting that, "Taxpayers are tired of getting ripped off."

These articles were written by individuals with little apparent knowledge about the aerospace industry. The Federalist author lists, among his qualifications, that he "helped the 2014 freshmen Republican class to set up offices." The Times author notes on his LinkedIn profile that he is a "professional coalition builder." (1/19)

China’s Ambitions in Space are Growing (Source: Economist)
Wenchang’s local government has adopted a logo for the city reminiscent of Starfleet badges in “Star Trek”. It is building a space-themed tourist village near the new spaceport, with attractions that include a field of vegetables grown from seeds that have been carried in spaceships. If the dream is to turn this palm-fringed corner of Hainan into a tourist trap comparable to Florida’s balmy space coast, there is still a lot to do. Several idle building sites suggest that some investors have gambled rashly. Signs have been taken down from a patch of scrub that was once earmarked for an amusement center.

Perhaps this will change when Wenchang gets up to speed. The base is crucial to China’s extraterrestrial ambitions because it is the only site from which it can launch its latest and largest rocket, the Long March 5 (pictured). Narrow railway tunnels limit the size of the components that can be delivered to the three other bases. Rockets are anyway more efficient the closer they are launched to the equator, where the faster rotation of Earth provides extra lift. Of China’s launch centers, Wenchang is by far the nearest to that sweet spot. Click here. (1/19)

Kazakhstan, U.S. Vow to Step Up Space Cooperation (Source: Inform KZ)
Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev's three-day official visit to the U.S. resulted in signing of a wide range of agreements, including those on bilateral cooperation in space industry, Kazinform reports. The document will serve as a backbone for mutually profitable cooperation in the use of ERS space technologies and development of spatial data infrastructure, the ministry's press service says. (1/18)

Hidden Exoplanets Could be Revealed by Echoing Light (Source: New Scientist)
Echoes can reveal the unseen. Similar to how a killer whale can “see” through pitch-black water by bouncing high-frequency sound waves off objects, we could use light to discover exoplanets.

Whenever a star emits a bright flare of radiation, some of its light may reach Earth where astronomers will measure a burst of brightness – but the display isn’t over. Because the light emanates in all directions, it will also head towards any circling exoplanets. Once it reaches a planet, it will reflect off it and could potentially bounce towards Earth, producing a second – albeit fainter – burst, like an echo.

Though such light echoes have often been observed from supernovae, William Sparks of the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and his colleagues argue that such a signal could be used to detect otherwise invisible planets around flaring stars. (1/18)

China Launches Six Small Sats on Long March 11 (Source: GB Times)
China launched six small satellites on a Long March 11 late Thursday night. The rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 11:10 p.m. Eastern, the fourth Chinese launch this month. The primary payload was a pair of Jilin-1 high-resolution Earth imaging satellites for Chinese company Chang Guang Satellite. The rocket carried four smaller satellites, including a cubesat developed by a Canadian company, Kepler Communications. (1/19)

Social Media Folk Invited to 'State of NASA' Events on Feb. 5 (Source: NASA)
NASA is opening its doors and inviting its social media followers and news media to an in-person ‘State of NASA’ event on Feb. 5, 2018, at one of the agency’s locations across the country. The event takes guests on a tour of the center and highlights the work of the agency as we work to send humans to space, create cutting-edge technologies and make scientific discoveries while studying our changing Earth and the infinite universe as we also make progress on the next generation of air travel.

Each center will be connected via a multi-center NASA Television simulcast with NASA acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot at Michoud Assembly Facility during the event.

KSC will host up to 25 social media followers for an afternoon event where they will hear from subject matter experts and learn about the anticipated activities for the center in 2018. The group will learn about the inner workings of how we launch spacecraft to orbit and get the latest on the substantial 2018 launch schedule. They also will find out the preparations underway to prepare for the first launch of our future rocket and space capsules that will eventually carry astronauts away from the Earth to explore space. Additionally, attendees will hear about how we're working with commercial companies and industry partners to return human spaceflight launches to Florida’s Space Coast this year. Apply here. (1/16) 

NASA Pulls Astronaut From ISS Mission (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA has reassigned an astronaut who was scheduled to fly to the International Space Station later this year. The agency announced late Thursday that Jeanette Epps had been reassigned to duties in the NASA astronaut office, without explanation. Epps was scheduled to fly to the station in June as a member of the Expedition 56/57 crew, and would have been the first African-American woman to serve on a long-duration ISS mission. She will be replaced by her backup, Serena Auñón-Chancellor. (1/19)

Asteroid Missions Nearing Contact For Sample Retrieval This Summer (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A pair of asteroid missions are on track to reach their targets this year. Japan's Hayabusa 2 spacecraft is scheduled to reach the asteroid Ryugu in July. The spacecraft will remain at the asteroid through the end of next year, deploying landers and collecting samples for return to Earth in late 2020. NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will arrive at the asteroid Bennu in August, remaining there until 2021 or 2022. It will collect samples from the asteroid for return to Earth in 2023. (1/19)

NASA and the Department of Energy are making progress on a small nuclear reactor that could support future human missions on the moon and Mars. Testing of the uranium-powered Kilopower reactor started in November at the Nevada National Security Site, with a full-power test planned by the end of March. The reactor is designed to produce up to 10 kilowatts of power in a compact size for future space missions, such as human outposts on the lunar or Martian surface. (1/19) [Reuters]

New Mexico Again Considers Confidentiality Bill for Space Business (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
New Mexico's spaceport is making a second attempt at changing state privacy laws to protect confidential business. The Commercial Aerospace Protection Act, introduced in the state legislature this month, would allow companies doing business with Spaceport America to decide what information it makes exempt from the state's public record laws. Spaceport officials say the legislation, a version of which was first introduced last year, is needed to keep the state competitive with other states seeking to lure aerospace companies. Opponents, though, claim the new bill is worse than the earlier version because it makes more information confidential. (1/19)

More Embezzlement at Russia's New Spaceport (Source: Crime Russia)
Investigators have found another case of embezzlement at Russia's Vostochny Cosmodrome. An employee of TsENKI, one of the companies involved in spaceport operations, has been accused of diverting $134,000 intended for supplies and equipment there. As of early this year, 13 people were facing criminal charges linked to the construction and operation of the new spaceport in Russia's Far East. (1/19)

Can Rubio Forget Bridenstine's Barbs and Confirm Him at NASA? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
With the nomination of Oklahoma Congressman James Bridenstine to be the next NASA administrator, I believe President Trump has picked an exceptional candidate. Florida Sen. Marco Rubio may not quite share my opinion. To put it mildly. As someone who now deeply cares about the welfare of Florida and hopefully has at least a passing understanding of how our government works, I have become more and more impressed by Rubio during my time in the state.

For most in politics, their priorities come down to their re-election first, their loyalty to their particular political party second, and the needs of their constituents a distant third. During the Republican primary campaign for president in 2016, Bridenstine was not only campaigning for Sen. Ted Cruz from Texas at the time, but also took a partisan political shot at Rubio with regard to terrorism and immigration. The criticism was out of context and inaccurate and was meant to carry political water for Cruz. I have no doubt that if he had the chance to do it over, Bridenstine would have skipped criticizing Rubio.

Did Bridenstine’s politically inspired criticism of Rubio bother the senator? To be sure. But Bridenstine shares many of Rubio's same concerns with regard to the threat posed by China. In the national-security interests of our nation, America must once again be the pre-eminent space power. Bridenstine will help get us there. Hopefully, as Rubio sits down with Bridenstine in person, he will realize they share the same vision for our nation when it comes to space, and then vote to confirm him. (1/18)

Vencore Sheds 198 Jobs at KSC (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Vencore Services & Solutions, which provides technical services for NASA, will lay off 198 employees on Feb. 28. This brings the total number of company layoffs since September to 613. This is Vencore's sixth round of layoffs do to it endign a $1.9 billion NASA contract. (1/18)

2017 Was One of the Hottest Years on Record. And That Was Without El Niño (Source: New York Times)
After three consecutive years of record-setting global temperatures, 2017 turned out not to be a fourth record. That was expected, but global temperature data for last year — which government scientists made public on Thursday — showed that Earth’s long-term warming trend is continuing unabated.

NASA researchers said that 2017 was the second-warmest year on record, behind 2016 but topping 2014 and 2015. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which uses a different method to analyze temperature data, said that 2017 was the third-warmest, behind 2016 and 2015. Both data sets are in line with the overall trend that the Earth’s climate is warming because of human-caused climate change. (1/18)

Aldrin Fought With Delta Employee Over Missed Flight (Source: Newsweek)
Buzz Aldrin, the famous NASA astronaut, got into a tiff with an airport employee on Tuesday, demanding to get on a flight that he missed after arriving late to check-in. A video recorded at the Los Angeles International Airport by TMZ showed Aldrin yelling at a Delta Air Lines employee who was behind a counter, demanding to board a flight he had missed. It is unclear whether the airline was responsible for the incident, as he claimed in the video. (1/18)

U.S. Missile-Deterrence to Get Upgrade From Florida Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
If North Korea —- or any country for that matter —- launches a missile, a satellite scheduled to head into space from Florida will be on the front lines of defense. The U.S. Air Force deploys the latest member of the military’s next-generation missile-warning system -- the Space Based Infrared System satellite -- aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The launch marks the first for United Launch Alliance from Florida this year, following a SpaceX launch and preceding another from Elon Musk’s company that’s expected before month’s end. (1/18)

Xenesis, Atlas to Develop Network for High Data Flow from Space (Source: Via Satellite)
Atlas Space Operations and Xenesis, a communications company that focuses largely on the space-to-ground hardware market, have announced a partnership to develop a global optical communications network designed for high data flow from space. This partnership marks the first of three phases to deploy the optical framework aimed at opening the market to scalable and inexpensive communications.

Atlas will begin construction of the optical ground system in the first half of 2018. Construction of the network will take several years to fully complete and will support Xenesis’ Intercessor satellite constellation, which will provide terrestrial bypass optical communications. On-orbit testing of the Intercessor constellation will start in 2020 with the first set of payloads, and will scale up exponentially from there. Xenesis currently has more than $10 million in backlog for its space-based optical terminal, the Xenesis Hub, and will begin servicing customers in late 2018, the company said. (1/18)