January 9, 2018

Georgia Bill Seeks Creation of Space Commission (Source: SPACErePORT)
"WHEREAS, there is a need to bring together all facets of the commercial space industry in Georgia to collectively work toward constructing and advancing a Georgia commercial space policy; and WHEREAS, it is highly desirable to foster and promote the economic development of the commercial space industry in the State of Georgia; ..." Click here. (1/8)

Generation Orbit and NASA Complete GO1-ITA Captive Carry Flight Test Program (Source: Generation Orbit)
Generation Orbit Launch Services (GO) has completed the GO1 Inert Test Article captive carry flight test program. Under a public-private partnership with NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center, GO developed the GO1-ITA, a mass properties and outer mold line simulator for the GO1 hypersonic flight testbed and earned NASA airworthiness approval for flight on NASA's C-20a.

NASA's C-20a was originally modified to add a centerline hard point to carry the Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR) pod. Together with the NASA Armstrong team, a campaign of three flight tests was conducted, successfully completing all test objectives including clearing the operational flight envelope of the C-20a with the GO1-ITA mounted to the centerline hard point, as well as demonstration of the unique launch maneuver designed for air launch of the GO1 on operational flights starting in 2019. Data collected during the campaign will be used to validate models and inform the ongoing design and development of GO1. (1/8)

SpaceX Launches Secret Zuma Payload, Lands Another Booster at Florida Spaceport (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched a classified payload Sunday night in the first launch of a busy year for the company. The Falcon 9 lifted off carrying a payload known only as Zuma, built by Northrop Grumman for an unidentified U.S. government agency. The rocket's first stage made a successful landing back at Cape Canaveral, although SpaceX provided no updates on the mission itself after payload fairing separation. The launch was the first in as many as 30 projected by the company this year, including the upcoming first flight of the Falcon Heavy and Crew Dragon demonstration missions. (1/8)

SECAF Acknowledges Difficulty Some Companies Have Working With Air Force (Source: Space News)
The Secretary of the Air Force acknowledged Friday that it's "too hard" for some companies to work with the service. Speaking at a Washington Space Business Roundtable luncheon, Heather Wilson said that the pace of technological innovation in the private sector is far greater than the development of military requirements. "I also know that a lot of small companies aren't going to work with us. We are just too hard to work with," she said. Wilson added that while there is greater opportunity to leverage the capabilities of the private sector, the Air Force still has "military-unique" requirements that will drive the development of its own space systems. (1/8)

Europe Plans Rocket Reuse Tests (Source: Space News)
A European project will study the ability to return and refly a rocket. Callisto, funded by the French and German space agencies, plans to launch, land and reuse a scaled-down rocket from the Guiana Space Center as soon as 2020. Callisto is being developed in parallel with Prometheus, a reusable low-cost engine, which could later be combined into a reusable launch vehicle. (1/8)

Moroccan Satellite Success Could Push Spain's Plans Forward (Source: Space News)
The recent launch of a Moroccan imaging satellite could lead Spain to accelerate its own satellite plans. A Vega rocket launched the Mohammed 6-A satellite in November, giving that country its own high-resolution imaging spacecraft. That could lead Spain, a regional rival, to speed up development of the SeoSat/Ingenio optical Earth-observation satellite, currently planned for late 2019 or early 2020. Spain has a synthetic aperture radar satellite, PAZ, scheduled for launch late this month on a Falcon 9 from California. (1/8)

China Denies Uncontrolled Reentry of Tiangong-1 (Source: Reuters)
A Chinese officials has denied reports that the country's Tiangong-1 spacecraft will make an uncontrolled reentry in the coming months. Zhu Congpeng, a top engineer at the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, told state-run media that the module is under control and will be deliberately reentered over the South Pacific in the first half of the year. Independent analysis has found no evidence that the spacecraft is under active control, and they expect it to reenter some time in March. Even if the reentry is uncontrolled, experts think it is highly unlikely any debris will cause damage or injury. (1/8)

China Marks 20 Years of Astronaut Ops (Source: China.org)
China's astronaut corps has marked its 20th anniversary. The battalion of the People's Liberation Army that includes China's astronauts was created in January 1998, with 21 people selected to date. Eleven of them have flown on China's six crewed Shenzhou missions, with one person, Jing Haipeng, flying on three missions. (1/8)

The Astronaut Fighting to Save Our Home in Space (Source: BBC)
Draw up a list of the world’s most accomplished and experienced astronauts, and astrophysicist Dr Michael Foale’s name is going to come pretty near the top. Over the course of six missions, the British-born NASA astronaut has spent more than a year in space. Foale has flown in the Space Shuttle and the Russian Soyuz, lived on the Mir space station and commanded the International Space Station (ISS). He’s carried out four space walks, totaling almost 23 hours outside in both Russian and American spacesuits. These included an epic eight-hour spacewalk to upgrade the computer on the Hubble Space Telescope.

Since leaving NASA, Foale has been working in the private sector on new aviation technologies and believes commercial operators could step-in to secure the future of the ISS. “I’m hoping that commercial space can come up with a business plan that allows part of the ISS to be maintained in space, without sinking it into the Pacific Ocean,” he says. “You have to come up with innovative ways of keeping it in space.” He plans to launch websites to gather support to help save the space station. He says he intends to keep pressure on the space agencies to continue to fund the program. (1/8)

'Spooky Action' Becoming Practical (Source: Space Daily)
Australia have demonstrated how to rigorously test if pairs of photons - particles of light - display Einstein's "spooky action at a distance", even under adverse conditions that mimic those outside the lab. They demonstrated that the effect, also known as quantum nonlocality, can still be verified even when many of the photons are lost by absorption or scattering as they travel from source to destination through an optical fiber channel. Click here. (1/8)

Weightlessness Increases Astronauts' Body Temperature (Source: Space Daily)
Astronauts float weightlessly through space, and the condition of weightlessness is something many would love to experience. However, in addition to producing both physical and psychological stress, a trip into space affects our core body temperature. Researchers in Germany have observed that astronauts run hot when exposed to weightlessness, and that, even at rest, their body temperature is approximately 1C above the normal value of 37C (98.6F). (1/8)

US Air Force Might Have to Disband its New Space Directorate (Source: Satellite Today)
A new congressional requirement may force the U.S. Air Force to disband its new space operations directorate. Last week, Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson stated the service is working to find a way to comply with the law while also maintaining the entity it has put together — A11, which has a staff of 43.

The FY-2018 defense authorization act, which President Trump signed into law in December, directs the Air Force to entirely overhaul its space operations. The act also designated Air Force Space Command as the sole authority for training and equipping all Air Force space forces. Wilson also noted that the Air Force must wait for the 20 percent funding increase it received in the Trump administration’s full year 2018 budget request. The newly allocated funds will remain untapped until Congress passes a full year 2018 defense appropriations bill. (1/9)

Most Images of Black Holes are Illustrations - Here’s What Our Telescopes Actually Capture (Source: Vox)
Impossibly dense, deep, and powerful, black holes reveal the limits of physics. Nothing can escape one, not even light. Even though black holes excite the imagination like few other concepts in science, the truth is that no astronomer has actually seen one. We’ve “heard” them, so to speak, as scientists have recorded the gravitational waves (literal ripples in spacetime) emanating from black holes that collided with one another billions of years ago. Click here. (1/8)