January 22, 2018

Shutdown Puts NASA in Familiar Territory (Source: Space News)
With the federal government shutdown entering its third day, NASA will implement plans similar to those from the last shutdown in 2013. The shutdown started Friday night when the Senate failed to pass a continuing resolution (CR) to extend funding through Feb. 16 as key senators and the White House debated whether, and how, to deal with other issues, such as the status of young undocumented immigrants known as "Dreamers." Negotiations were underway late Sunday night on a shorter CR, with a vote possible later today.

In the meantime, NASA is expected to implement its shutdown plans today, furloughing most of the agency's civil servants. That plan, almost identical to the one NASA used in the last shutdown in October 2013, would allow operations of the International Space Station and other missions to continue, including an ISS spacewalk planned for Tuesday. However, coverage of that spacewalk may be limited since neither NASA TV nor the agency's website are considered essential activities. (1/22)

Kennedy Space Center, Patrick Air Force Base Closing for Government Shutdown (Source: Florida Today)
Kennedy Space Center employees are in the process of closing the spaceport by noon today because of the federal government's shutdown. Nearly 2,000 NASA civil servants are furloughed and will not report back to work until a budget deal is reached. A small number must continue working full- or part-time to perform essential safety functions for people, flight hardware or facilities.

Teams this morning were asked to report to work for four hours to perform an orderly closeout, then go home. Up to 6,000 contractors are following a similar script, taking direction from their managers. A similar process is in effect at Patrick Air Force Base and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Only uniformed personnel who make up about a quarter of the work force will continue to report for duty during the shutdown. Civilians will be furloughed. (1/22)

SpaceX, Blue Origin Have Florida's Space Coast Poised for Change (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space-industry officials say this year could be one of the more important in recent memory because of the need to execute on planned major projects. The year will be marked by the Florida coming-out party of Jeff Bezos’ rocket company Blue Origin, which recently completed a massive 750,000-square-foot manufacturing plant near Kennedy Space Center. That facility is expected to employ 300 workers during its first few years of operation.

OneWeb, meanwhile, plans to launch at least five of its Florida-built satellites on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket in the near future. The company could open its satellite manufacturing plant by the end of the year. United Launch Alliance and SpaceX, meanwhile, expect to continue a feverish launch pace on the coast, which saw multiple launches within a month several times last year. Four launches were planned for January from Florida, including the long-anticipated maiden test flight of SpaceX’s behemoth Falcon Heavy rocket.

“You’ll see a couple of announcements of new companies [moving] here that add depth to the already growing aerospace and space economic base we have growing in Florida as a whole,” Space Florida's Frank DiBello said. DiBello described the potential arrivals as small-satellite manufacturers, rocket companies and “unconventional transportation technology” firms. (1/22)

Finland Space Law Takes Effect (Source: Space News)
Finland signed a new space law into effect immediately after the launch of a radar satellite by a Finnish company. The national space act, signed by Finland President Sauli Niinistö Jan. 12, is designed to establish a clear framework for the country's space industry, including a licensing system for companies based there. The act was signed the same day that the first radar imaging satellite by Finland-based Iceye launched on an Indian rocket. (1/22)

University Researcher Hired as NASA Planetary Protector (Source: Indiana University)
An astrobiologist at Indiana University will be NASA's next planetary protection officer. Lisa Pratt, a professor in the university's Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences and an associate executive dean in the university's College of Arts and Sciences, will take over as NASA's planetary protection officer next month, ensuring agency missions don't contaminate other potentially habitable worlds or return materials that could pose hazards to the Earth. NASA sought applicants for the position last year after moving it from the agency's science division to its Safety and Mission Assurance Technical Authority. (1/22)

Google's $20 Million Race to the Moon Will End With No Winner — and Google is OK With That (Source: CNBC)
More than ten years after it was announced — and extended over and over — the Google-sponsored race to win $20 million by landing on the moon will end with no winners. The four teams racing to win the Google Lunar Xprize, which requires a company to land a spacecraft on the moon by March 31, are either short of money or unable to launch this year, three people familiar with the matter told CNBC.

Meanwhile, Google — which extended the deadline from 2014 to 2015 and then eventually to 2018 — is not willing to push out the date further. "Google does not have plans at this time to extend the deadline again, however we are so thrilled with the progress made by these teams over the last ten years," a Google spokesperson said. The Xprize Foundation, the independent organization overseeing the contest, declined CNBC's requests for comment. (1/22)

Lockheed Martin Shuts Down Their Internal Atlas-5 Marketing/Sales, Giving the Role Fully to ULA (Source: ULA)
United Launch Alliance (ULA) announced today that it has assumed responsibility for the marketing and sales of Atlas V, the world’s most reliable launch vehicle, from Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services. In addition to performing all of the operational activities related to Atlas V launch services, as ULA has done since its formation in 2006, ULA now has the full authority to market and sell Atlas V launch services to commercial customers.

Tom Tshudy, ULA’s vice president and general counsel, will lead the new global commercial sales organization. Before joining ULA, Tshudy served as senior vice president and general counsel for International Launch Services (ILS) as well as vice president and general counsel at Lockheed Martin while ILS was a subsidiary to sell and market launch services utilizing the Atlas II, III and V launch vehicles. (1/22)

Boeing and Lockheed Battle to Build Mach 5 Successor to SR-71 Spy Plane (Source: Daily Beast)
Aerospace giant Boeing has announced it’s developing technologies that could result in a new “hypersonic” spy plane capable of flying five times the speed of sound. But Boeing cautioned that any new Mach-5 spy plane could still be 10 or 20 years away. After spending decades and billions of dollars on hypersonic technologies, the aerospace sector is still struggling to make super-fast aircraft work.

The demonstrator vehicle, which would not be meant for day-to-day use, is still just an idea, Boeing spokeswoman Brianna Jackson told The Daily Beast. “Boeing is not currently developing a hypersonic airplane,” Jackson said. “However, we continue to conduct several studies around hypersonic technology. There will need to be further advances in several technology areas before an actual aircraft is feasible.”

As America’s rivals improved their defenses against stealthy aircraft, the Pentagon began mulling a return to Cold War-style fast spy planes that could simply outrun anything fired at them. In 2013 Lockheed unveiled its concept for a Mach-6 successor to the SR-71 that it called the SR-72. “The aircraft would be so fast, an adversary would have no time to react or hide,” the company claimed. (1/22)

Brother of Astronaut Blams Racism for Her Removal From Mission (Source: Newsweek)
NASA’s Jeanette Epps was on track to become the first African-American International Space Station (ISS) crew member. However, on Thursday the space agency announced it was rearranging their scheduled line-ups and Epps would be replaced by Serena Auñón-Chancellor for the June mission.

It’s unclear exactly why she was bumped from the mission. These types of decisions are “personnel matters for which NASA doesn’t provide information,” spokesperson Stephanie Schierholz, said in an email. But, Epps’ brother believes he has the answer to why she was released. “My sister Dr. Jeannette Epps has been fighting against oppressive racism and misogynist in NASA and now they are holding her back and allowing a Caucasian Astronaut to take her place!” Henry Epps wrote in a Facebook post on Saturday evening. (1/21)

NASA Planning 2 Spacewalks to Replace Canadarm2 ‘Hand’ Despite US Government Shutdown (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Despite budget battles in Washington, D.C. resulting in a temporary shutdown of the U.S. federal government, NASA and the International Space Station’s Expedition 54 crew still plan to carry out a pair of spacewalks to replace one of the 16-year-old “hands” on the outpost’s robotic arm.

Canadarm2, the space station’s robotic arm, has been attached to the outpost since 2001. In that time, the 57.7-foot (17-meter) long Canadian-built remote manipulator system has been used to assembled the ISS, relocate the Dextre robotic “repairman” as needed, and now helps with maintenance and spacecraft berthing tasks. The arm and its end effectors have lasted well beyond their planned 10-year lifespans. As such, the latching mechanisms were lubricated in 2015 to extend their service life, but both ends were due to be replaced eventually. (1/20)