January 8, 2018

Will Space Policy Directive 1 Benefit or Hinder Human Missions to Mars? (Source: Space Review)
President Trump signed a directive last month amending national space policy to call for a human return to the Moon. Chris Carberry and Rick Zucker argue that this need not be in conflict with plans for human missions to Mars, provided the administration is willing to back its policy with sufficient funding. Click here. (1/8)
 
The Coming Age of Commercial Spaceflight: Some Considerations (Source: Space Review)
As commercial suborbital vehicles capable of carrying people prepare to enter service, those vehicles offers new opportunities for “ordinary” people to fly into space. John Putman cautions that such opportunities will require people to prepare not just physically but also psychologically. Click here. (1/8) 
 
NASA Sees the Light for the Future of Space Communications (Source: Space Review)
As spacecraft become more advanced, and probe more distant parts of the solar system, communications becomes a weak link. Jeff Foust reports on how NASA is working on laser communications technologies for Earth science and planetary missions to dramatically increase data rates. Click here. (1/8)

Meteorologists Consider Roles for Commercial and Small Satellites for Weather Forecasting (Source: AMS)
Atmospheric and space scientists gathering at the 98th Annual Meeting of the American Meteorological Society this week will be sharing information on a wide range of topics, including future government and commercial weather satellites of all sizes. NOAA sees great promise in the observation capabilities of small satellite constellations but also significant challenges in terms of buying, validating and using the various types of data they provide. (1/8)

Sources Say the Secretive Zuma Satellite was Lost (Source: Ars Technica)
On Sunday night SpaceX launched the Zuma satellite into space. What we know for sure is that the first stage of the rocket behaved nominally enough such that it was able to safely return to Earth. SpaceX, however, never officially confirmed mission success. On Monday, Ars began to hear discussion from sources that the mysterious Zuma spacecraft-—the purpose of which was never specified, nor which US military or spy agency had backed it-—may not have survived.

According to one source, the payload fell back to Earth along with the spent upper stage of the Falcon 9 rocket. In response to a query on Monday afternoon, a SpaceX spokesperson said “We do not comment on missions of this nature, but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally.” Adding to the intrigue surrounding Zuma: Reports that Elon Musk has told his team that this is the company's most important/expensive payload ever launched. (1/8)

Rediscovering the Moon: 20 Years Since Lunar Prospector (Source: America Space)
Twenty years ago, NASA’s Lunar Prospector spacecraft began an 18-month mission of discovery, revealing the Moon to potentially harbor vast water-ice reserves at its poles and offering tantalizing clues of a small, iron-rich core and the most diminutive magnetic field then known to exist in the Solar System. “A voyage to rediscover the Moon” was Public Affairs Officer George Diller’s remark at 9:28 p.m. EST on 6 January 1998, as a four-stage Athena 2 booster smoothly delivered Lunar Prospector into the night from Launch Complex 46 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Click here. (1/8)

Virgin Galactic Tests Leading to Rocket-Powered Flights (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
Virgin Galactic’s passenger rocket ship is gearing up for powered flights that could eventually carry paying tourists into space from southern New Mexico. It’s the next critical step for SpaceShipTwo, which is moving from a series of glider flights that started in December 2016 to rocket-powered ones this year at the Mojave Air and Space Port in Southern California, said Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides.

“We’re about done with the glide-flight phase,” Whitesides told the Journal last week. “The next step is powered flights through an incremental process to test performance. Powered flight will push the vehicle into supersonic flight, and eventually to multiple times the speed of sound.” That puts the company nearly back to where it was in October 2014, when its first SpaceShipTwo broke apart in a powered flight over the Mojave Desert. (1/8)

2018 Needs To Be the Year of 'A Lot of Past Promises Becoming Reality' (Source: Mashable)
It's time for private spaceflight to start making good on its promises. And in 2018, hopefully it will do just that. From SpaceX's long-promised first flight of the Falcon Heavy rocket to NASA's plan to contract private companies to deliver astronauts to the International Space Station, 2018 should be the year when spaceflight companies start meeting many of their long-touted goals. Click here. (1/8)