January 26, 2018

Ariane 5 Launch Anomaly Puts Satellites in Suboptimal Orbits (Sources: Space News, SpaceFlight Now)
An Ariane 5 suffered an anomaly during its launch Thursday, but still placed its two satellites into orbit. The launch initially appeared to go well, but it lost telemetry from the vehicle a few seconds after the ignition of the upper stage, raising questions about the fate of the satellites. The company later said that it had confirmed the satellites reached orbit and separated from the upper stage, but did not indicate if the orbit was the planned one.

SES and Yahsat, owners of the two satellites launched by the Ariane 5 rocket, confirmed Friday their spacecraft were delivered to suboptimal orbits following liftoff from French Guiana. But both payloads are healthy and in contact with ground controllers, and SES and Yahsat said the satellites will be able to make up the altitude shortfall caused by an anomaly that occurred during the Ariane 5 flight. (1/26)

Air Force Must Be Prepared for Space-Free Operations (Source: Space News)
An Air Force general says the military must be prepared to operate without the support of space systems. Gen. James Holmes, commander of Air Combat Command, said Thursday that his pilots "routinely train for environments where we can't talk to each other" because of jamming or other disruption of satellite and other communications. Holmes added that while air and ground forces may be dependent on space systems, space is also dependent on those forces "because many of the primary threats to space systems are launched from the ground." (1/26)

Sierra Nevada to Develop Deep Space Habitat Prototype for NASA (Source: SNC)
Sierra Nevada Corporation has signed a contract with NASA to develop a ground prototype of a future deep space habitat. The company said Thursday that it signed two contracts with the agency to formalize an earlier agreement under NASA's NEXTStep-2 program. Sierra Nevada will work with Aerojet Rocketdyne and ILC Dover over the next 19 months to build a full-scale prototype of the habitat that could be used for NASA's proposed Deep Space Gateway. (1/26)

Russia Targets 2019 for Lunar Lander (Source: Tass)
Russia is targeting 2019 for the launch of a long-delayed lunar lander mission. The Lavochkin Research and Production Association, which is building the Luna-25 spacecraft, confirmed the 2019 launch for the mission amid reports the mission might be delayed until 2020. The mission has already been delayed for several years because of funding problems and conflicts with other missions, such as Russia's cooperation with Europe on ExoMars. Luna-25, the first Russian lunar mission in more than four decades, will land in one of two potential sites in the southern hemisphere of the moon. (1/26)

Chinese Lunar Visit Simulation Logs Record 200 Days (Source: Xinhua)
Four Chinese volunteers have completed a 200-day stay in a simulated lunar habitat. The two men and two women, biomedicine students from Beihang University, stayed in the self-contained Lunar Palace 1 habitat to test its life support system and study the physical and mental issues of an extended stay there. They were replaced by another group of volunteers who previously spent 60 days in the habitat and will now stay in there an additional 105 days. (1/26)

The Secrets Behind New Zealand's New Space Industry (Source: Dominion Post)
A New Zealand space program would once have seemed a joke. But Peter Beck's Rocket Lab has shown that brains and imagination can find a Kiwi niche among the giants of the space age. In fact the NZ space program is really just Beck's company. Its version of Cape Kennedy is a green sward at Mahia Peninsula, from which Rocket Lab has put into orbit a tiny geodesic satellite. It plans to launch many others, perhaps as many as one a week. This is a case where technological progress has opened up an opportunity for smaller players. Rockets which used to cost tens or hundreds of millions now cost only a few million. (1/26)

NASA-JAXA Joint Statement on Space Exploration (Source: JAXA)
On January 24, 2018, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) met to exchange their views on space exploration. The agencies signed a joint statement affirming their strong mutual interest in continued future cooperation in space exploration.

Both agencies have established a strong and committed partnership throughout the many years of cooperation in all mission areas, including human exploration, Earth and space science, fundamental aeronautics, and especially through the International Space Station (ISS) Program.

Both agencies affirmed to expand this partnership in the field of space exploration, upon sharing their long-term vision for expanding human presence deeper into the solar system, by starting with extending human presence to an orbiting platform around the moon, that can benefit from contributions and technological expertise from both agencies, acting as an important piece of infrastructure for human access to the lunar surface and eventually to Mars. Both agencies welcome on coordinating with their governments to enable an innovative and sustainable exploration program. (1/26)

These Guys Cold-Emailed Mark Cuban and Got a Half-Million-Dollar Investment in Their Space Start-up (Source: CNBC)
Blue Origin engineer Tim Ellis and SpaceX engineer Jordan Noone launched a space start-up together at the end of 2015. The two aerospace techies have a lot of brains between them, but they needed capital for lift off. "We actually raised our seed round from Mark Cuban — which was a cold email — a week after we said we are starting the company," says Ellis.

"Yeah, we cold-emailed Mark Cuban with the email tagline, 'Space is sexy: 3D printing an entire rocket,'" says Ellis — Relativity Space, the company he and Noone were pitching, 3D prints rocket parts. "It was two months of due diligence after, but he gave us half a million dollars," says Ellis.

Since graduating from start-up accelerator Y Combinator and getting the investment from billionaire Cuban, Ellis and Noone have worked to grow Relativity Space. As of December, the team was up to 14. Thus far, Relativity Space has raised $8.4 million. (1/26)

ExactEarth Considers Sale? (Source: SpaceQ)
exactEarth has announced its 2017 financial results. Revenue was $12.8 million, but the company had a net loss of $33.8 million, "which included a $26.9 million non-cash charge related to the impairment and write-down of certain assets." Importantly the company announced that Mac Evans has joined the board and that the company "has commenced a process to explore and evaluate potential strategic alternatives focused on maximizing shareholder value.

These alternatives could include, among other things, a financing, a sale of assets, a sale of the Company or a merger or other business combination or other strategic transactions that may be available to the Company." Mac Evans is a former president of the Canadian Space Agency and is currently on the Space Advisory Board, is a board member of UrtheCast and is the Chair of the Defence Advisory Board. (1/25)

Trump Budget Proposal Might End ISS in 2020s (Source: The Verge)
The White House's proposed 2019 budget may seek to end the International Space Station in the mid-2020s. A leaked version of the draft budget proposal seeks to end direct federal support of the ISS in 2025 as it focuses efforts on ramping up development of cislunar capabilities. NASA and the ISS partners have agreed to operate the ISS only through 2024, and said in recent months they were not in a hurry to make a decision on the station's future. Some in industry, as well as researchers who use the station, are concerned about the potential termination of the station before commercial successors are in orbit. (1/25)

China Launches More Reconnaissance Satellites (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
China launched another trio of reconnaissance satellites overnight. The Long March 2C lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 12:40 a.m. Eastern, carrying a fourth set of three Yaogan-30 reconnaissance satellites. Official Chinese media reported that the satellites will conduct "electromagnetic environmental probes and other experiments," but outside observers believe they are military reconnaissance satellites. (1/25)

Nelson: Not Enough Votes for Bridenstine (Source: Politico)
A key senator says he believes there aren't the votes currently to confirm Jim Bridenstine as NASA administrator. Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) told reporters this week that "I know that at this point they do not have the votes" to confirm him. Nelson, ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee, has been a strong critic of Bridenstine's nomination, arguing he is too partisan and also unqualified to lead the agency. The committee voted on party lines last week to advance the nomination to the full Senate, but no confirmation debate and vote there has been scheduled yet. (1/25)

Solar Panel Producers Squeezed by Declining Orders for Satellites (Source: Space News)
Companies that produce solar panels for spacecraft are adapting to the extended downturn in commercial satellite orders. There were only seven orders for commercial geostationary communications satellites in 2017, far below the historic average of 20-25. Solar panel manufacturers who once relied on such orders for a large part of their business say they are now turning their attention to winning business from satellite constellations, but worry about a gap in work since many of those constellations have not yet started building their satellites. (1/25)

Does Trump Solar Panel Tariff Affect Satellite Panels? (Source: SPACErePORT)
Donald Trump has imposed a new import tariff on solar panels under a "Section 201 Action" this week. The move was endorsed by a the International Trade Commission but opposed as a job killer by the Solar Energy Industries Association. A 30% tariff will be imposed on imported solar cells and modules in the first year, with the tariffs declining to 15% by the fourth year. The tariff appears to apply also to solar panels designed for on-orbit power generation to operate satellites. While designed to protect U.S. manufacturers, the tariff might result in higher prices for satellite manufacturers. (1/25)

Texan Gets 46 Month Sentence for Exporting Space Tech to China and Russia (Source: Dallas Morning News)
A Texas businessman who sold rad-hardened chips used in spaceflight to China and Russia has been sentenced to prison. Peter A. Zuccarelli pleaded guilty to charges of illegally exporting the chips to the two countries in August, and was sentenced Wednesday to 46 months in prison as well as a $50,000 fine. Zuccarelli bought the chips from U.S. companies, then resold them to customers in China and Russia as "touchscreen parts" to avoid export controls on the items. The chips have uses for both spacecraft and missiles. (1/25)

SpaceX's Texas Spaceport Progress Slowed by Florida Infrastructure Demands (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Groundbreaking at the Boca Chica site occurred in 2014, but progress came to a near halt when construction resources were moved to work on the then newly-acquired LC-39A at Kennedy Space Center. Soil foundation issues at the Texas site and the need to repair SLC-40 after a launch pad explosion delayed construction even further, and only in late 2016 has construction at the site began to slowly resume. Due to the soil foundation issues, a large dirt mound was built up in 2016 on the future Horizontal Integration Facility (HIF) site to help settle and pack down the loose soil to ensure a firm foundation.
In late 2016 and early 2017, two tracking dishes, moved to Texas from Cape Canaveral, were installed near the site for tracking future Crew Dragon missions. Starting in late 2017, construction equipment was moved to the site in preparation for major construction, which should start in 2018. The main structures will be the HIF, a payload processing and encapsulation facility, a launch control center, and the launch pad with its hardware (such as lightning towers, fuel tanks, sound suppression water storage tanks, etc.).

The current plan for the site is to support both Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy commercial missions. SpaceX is currently limited to no more than 12 Falcon launches per year from the site, and up to two of those can be Falcon Heavy launches. As of now, the launch site is expected to be finished in late 2018 or early 2019, according to Ms. Shotwell. (1/25)

Haiti Space Agency Announces Future Launch At Space Tech Summit in Silicon Valley (Source: GSE)
In an effort to accelerate space tech industries in emerging markets, the Global Startup Ecosystem has announced plans to launch a space agency with government and private sector partners in Haiti. Haiti Space Agency (HSA) is an independent agency of Haiti responsible for the civilian space programs, aeronautics and aerospace research as well as the commercialization of space technologies for the region. (1/23)

Trump’s NASA Budget: More Moon, Less Space Station (Sources: Wall Street Journal, The Verge)
The White House’s next NASA budget is expected to propose government-industry moon initiatives and ending space-station funding by the middle of next decade, according to people familiar with the details. The 2019 spending proposal will lay out the first specifics of such lunar exploration—previously embraced by President Donald Trump—while calling for a modest $200 million program down payment, these people said.

If all goes well, it projects manned missions to the moon by the early 2020s. The Trump administration is also preparing to end support for the International Space Station program by 2025, according to a draft of the budget proposal. Any budget proposal from the Trump administration will also be subject to scrutiny and approval by Congress. But even announcing the intention to cancel ISS funding could send a signal to NASA’s international partners that the US is no longer interested in continuing the program. (1/24)

Nelson Warns Against Trump's ISS Termination (Source: Space Policy Online)
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL) issued a stern warning to Trump Administration officials today that if they attempt to end operations of the International Space Station (ISS) in 2025. The Trump Administration announced yesterday that release of the FY2019 President’s Budget Request (PBR) will be delayed by a week, from February 5 to February 12, because the 3-day government shutdown disrupted its production. Nonetheless, several media outlets have obtained copies of a draft of the NASA portion. It is only a draft. Changes could be made before it is ultimately presented to Congress.

“If the administration plans to abruptly pull us out of the International Space Station in 2025, they’re going to have a fight on their hands," said Sen. Nelson. "Such a move would likely decimate Florida’s blossoming commercial space industry, which is one of the reasons why Congress has directed NASA to look at extending the ISS to 2028 and to provide a plan to help scientists and researchers continue experimenting in low-Earth orbit beyond that.” (1/25)