February 27, 2018

Japan Launches Surveillance Satellite (Source: Spaceflight Now)
Japan launched a reconnaissance satellite late Monday night. An H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 11:34 p.m. Eastern Monday carrying the IGS Optical 6 satellite into a low Earth orbit. The satellite is the latest in the series of reconnaissance satellites, known as Information Gathering Satellites, operated by the Japanese government. (2/27)

Maxar CFO Resigns (Source: PR Newswire)
The chief financial officer of Maxar Technologies resigned Monday. Maxar announced Monday that William McCombe was stepping down from the company, effective immediately. The company didn't give a reason for his departure, although noted he would be an adviser to the company for an unspecified "transition period." Anil Wirasekara will take over the position on an interim basis. Shares in Maxar, the parent company of SSL and DigitalGlobe, among others, fell more than seven percent on the New York and Toronto stock exchanges Monday. (2/27)

SpaceX Seriously Considered Sabotage Cause for 2016 Launch Pad Explosion (Source: Washington Post)
SpaceX did seriously consider sabotage during its investigation of a Falcon 9 pad explosion in 2016. SpaceX executives said they found that shooting an upper stage helium bottle with a rifle produced results just like the bottle recovered from the wreckage after the September 2016 pad explosion. This led to allegations that someone might have shot the rocket during the fueling test, heightening tensions with rival United Launch Alliance. Ultimately, the company concluded a flaw in the bottle, not sabotage, caused the accident. (2/27)

Medical Incident Shuts Down Hawaii Mars Analog Mission (Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser)
The University of Hawaii is ending a simulated Mars mission after one of the crew members withdrew. The university said it's not possible to continue the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) Mission 6 with only three people, and will instead issue a new call for applicants for a future mission. The eight-month experiment was suspended after five days because of an incident that required the brief hospitalization of one of the crew members. The university didn't indicate if the person who withdrew from the mission was the same person who was hospitalized. (2/27)

Proxima Centauri Mega-Flare Means Habitability Unlikely for Its Planets (Source: NRAO)
It's increasingly unlikely that any planets orbiting a nearby star are habitable. Observations of Proxima Centauri, the star closest to the sun, caught it producing a flare last year 10 times stronger than those produced by our sun. That flare blasted a planet previously discovered there with high energy radiation. Flares like that one, astronomers conclude, would have stripped away any atmosphere the planet once had and sterilized its surface. (2/27)

Limited Options for New Launchers at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SPACErePORT)
A chart showing the assignment of launch pads and landing facilities at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport leaves little room to accommodate new users. Relief may come with the retirement of LC-37, which is to be vacated as ULA retires its Delta-4 in favor of Vulcan. This might allow room for SpaceX's BFR or some of the small-class launchers that might have challenges with using LC-46 or LC-39C. (Space Florida's LC-46 has in the past been limited to solid-fuel vehicles, and NASA's LC-39C will likely see conflicts with SLS and Orbital ATK's new NGL rocket.)

But according to an Air Force official, retirement of ULA's Delta-4 and its launch pad may be delayed until the Air Force can assure its heavy-lift needs can be met by other rockets (Falcon-Heavy, New Glenn, NGL, Vulcan). Meanwhile, the Air Force says facilities like LC-20 might be available for small-class launchers, and NASA says it can develop new launch pads to the north of LC-39B and to the south of LC-39A. (2/27)

NASA Planetary Protection Officer Seeks Cooperation with Human and Commercial Missions (Source: Space News)
NASA’s new planetary protection officer is open to reexamining how the agency deals with both government and commercial missions to Mars and other potentially habitable worlds in the solar system.

Lisa Pratt, an astrobiologist who had been a professor in Indiana University’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, was named the agency’s new planetary protection officer in January, and formally started on the job in early February. The position oversees NASA activities to ensure that they do not contaminate other worlds with terrestrial life or risk contaminating the Earth with any extraterrestrial life forms. (2/26)

Can U.S. Close Innovation Gap? Air Force Leaders Tout Investment and Focus on Space (Source: Space News)
A deep-dive analysis of the defense industrial base will be submitted to the White House in mid-April. Requested by President Trump last July, the hugely anticipated study will look at all sectors of the defense industry from a broad national security perspective.

The context of this review is growing angst about China gaining ground on the United States  — or surpassing it in some cases — in technology development and manufacturing capabilities. Trump’s "National Security Strategy of the United States of America" released in December ties economic strength to national security, and calls for a greater effort to protect the “national security innovation base.”

The Trump National Security Strategy says the U.S. government must team with private industry to accelerate innovation. In that vein, the Pentagon will move to increase public-private partnerships, said Jerry McGinn, principal deputy director of DoD’s office of manufacturing and industrial base policy. “The department is looking at commercial technology, where the innovation is happening,” McGinn said. (2/26)

Space Industry Continues to Grow in Northern Alabama (Source: Decatur Daily)
The establishment of NASA in 1958, followed by the opening of the Marshall Space Flight Center in 1960, signaled the space age was becoming big business in north Alabama. From there, companies such as Boeing (1962) entered the Huntsville area. Since then, that expansion has spread beyond Madison County into Morgan County. Recently, more companies have benefited from expanding into Morgan County.

United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, handles manufacturing, assembly and integration operations for the government, including launch and spacecraft services. The work involves the Delta II, Delta IV and Atlas V launch systems. Huntsville-based Dynetics will be the latest to open a facility in Decatur. A $14.2 million project is being built to test launch vehicles and large aerospace structures. (2/27)

US Free Enterprise System Is the Best Vehicle to Return to Space (Source: Town Hall)
Last week, the United States’ National Space Council met for the second time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Vice President Mike Pence led the meeting, which was titled “Moon, Mars and Worlds Beyond: Winning the Next Frontier.” The focus of this gathering of government officials, national security experts, and space entrepreneurs was the ever-expanding commercial and scientific opportunity of the “next frontier.”

The National Space Council has a tremendous opportunity to revitalize the space industry, and it is encouraging that it is receiving input from a wide variety of manufacturers. But it is also important that the council hold vendors accountable] for their failures and not just blindly throw contracts to vendors and call it competition. Competition only makes vendors more efficient when they are all held accountable to the same standard. This type of process truly puts America First in space, both from a national security standpoint and in safeguarding the precious financial resources of our country’s taxpayers. (2/27)

Commercial Crew Delays Might Prolong Russian Reliance (Source: Slate)
Despite being the world’s premier space superpower, America hasn’t launched astronauts into space from its own soil in seven years. For the 30 years before that, we launched astronauts from our own turf via our Space Shuttle program, but NASA retired the program in 2011 when the government decided it would be more cost-effective to outsource NASA’s low–Earth orbit space travel needs to the commercial sector.

The only problem was the commercial sector wasn’t ready yet. NASA, through its Commercial Crew Program, has been waiting on Boeing and SpaceX to put the finishing touches on their own crew vehicles designed to ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station. There was always going to be a delay in U.S. soil–based sendoffs—the initial timeline was to have the vehicles ready to send astronauts to the ISS by 2017—but that pause might prove more prolonged than government officials originally thought, in part because the government has inadequately funded the efforts. (2/26)

Who Says ISRO Scientists Need Expensive Private School Education? (Source: Hindustan Times)
You don’t have to go to an expensive private school to be an ISRO scientist, a civil servant or a professor at a top global college. That’s the message the education department wants to convey to those who care to listen as it puts together data of eminent alumni of government schools to counter the growing popularity and number of private schools.

The list is definitely impressive. Alok Singh, a scientist at ISRO studied in Government Model Senior Secondary School (GMSSS), Sector 35. Dr Paras Anand, an alumnus of GMSSS, Sector 16, is now a lecturer at the department of medicine at Imperial College, London. Sujata Saunik, from GMSSS, Sector 10, is an IAS officer and principal secretary, department of financial reforms, government of Maharashtra.

The education department move comes as an increasing number of parents are choosing private schools hoping for better educational opportunities for their children. (2/27)

Get NASA Out of the Rocket Business (Source: USA Today)
Three great constants in life are death, taxes — and the costly rocket program that NASA always seems to have under development. NASA's current rocket of the future is called the Space Launch System. It is a heavy-lift vehicle that replaced a similar program called Constellation proposed by the Bush administration.

Both are quite a bit like the National Launch System of the 1990s. And all have a distinct similarity to a rocket that once actually existed — the Saturn V used in the Apollo program. In addition to these brawny rockets, the space agency has, at different times, toiled on various smaller, futuristic rocket planes such as the X-30 (also known as the National Aerospace Plane) and the X-33. None of these prior programs, heavy lift or otherwise, got anywhere near liftoff. Their price tags were hefty, and their mission costs would have been even heftier.

Now, the same fate likely awaits the Space Launch System. It fails to answer the overarching, existential question: Why? President Trump rejiggered the system's mission in December to focus on returning astronauts to the moon, something that would be both hugely expensive and highly repetitive. But the story need not end there, with history repeating itself and the space program orbiting back to where it was before. (2/26)

Don’t Abandon NASA-Led Legacy Systems (Source: USA Today)
The SpaceX Falcon Heavy has generated significant excitement — and rightfully so. It was yet another achievement for a growing commercial space industry. However, do launches like the Falcon Heavy provide substitutes for NASA-led projects such as the Space Launch System (SLS)? Like in aviation, a mixed fleet is the best way to ensure mission success. Over time, the strengths and weaknesses of each vehicle will reveal themselves. However, having multiple options can provide us more flexibility and safeguards against delays and failures of certain mission elements.

And as National Space Council Executive Secretary Scott Pace recently said, “There are critical capabilities that a nation needs to have, like aircraft carriers, and SLS is that kind of capability.” That said, nobody should be guaranteed contracts in perpetuity. Over time, market forces should decide which vehicles survive and which do not, allowing the government to choose from several alternatives. (2/26)

Private Sector Should Run the Space Station (Source: Washington Examiner)
The nation’s space program often entails sucking billions of taxpayer dollars into black holes. President Trump's fiscal 2019 budget proposal, released Feb. 12, gives taxpayers a pleasant break from space oddities. The budget proposes the removal of government funding for the International Space Station by 2024, turning the project over to the private sector. Already this proposal is receiving criticism from some fiscal hawks blindsided by their love for federal forays into space.

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) called space station privatization backers “numbskulls,” reasoning that “as a fiscal conservative ... one of the dumbest things you can to is cancel programs after billions in investment when there is still serious usable life ahead.” Cruz is normally no fan of federal funding, but Texas is home to Houston’s Johnson Space Center, which oversees the space station. All politics is local.

Cruz and others suggest that privatizing the the International Space Station would mean squandering the $80 billion to $100 billion already invested in it over the past few decades. But just because the government invests in basic research does not mean that it has to fund and manage the project forever. By privatizing its share of the Space Station, the government could save the approximately $3 billion spent in annual upkeep by NASA. (2/27)

Bill for California Aerospace Institute Dies in Committee (Source: Parabolic Arc)
A bill introduced by State Assemblyman Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) that would have established the California Institute of Aerospace in the Antelope Valley has died in the Assembly Appropriations Committee. Under the measure, the University of California would have established the institute on a satellite campus located within 20 miles of either Edwards Air Force Base or the United States Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale. The institute would have been located within the 36th District that Lackey represents. (2/27)

Neutron Star that Defies All the Rules Discovered (Source: 2/27)
Ultra-bright neutron stars are somehow breaking what was thought to be a hard-and-fast law of physics, by collecting matter at a rate that should be impossible. So far, four of the unfeasibly hungry stars have been detected, with the latest described in a paper published in the journal Nature Astronomy. The small number is not necessarily an indication of rarity; the first was only discovered, by NASA’s Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuStar), in 2014.

Or, perhaps more correctly, it was only in 2014 that a neutron star was definitively identified as the cause of a phenomenon, known as ULX, that had been initially observed in the 1980s. ULX stands for “ultra-luminous X-ray source”, and characterises an astronomical X-ray source that is less bright than a galactic nucleus but brighter than pretty much everything else.

A ULX is brighter than any known star. Most galaxies seem to sport one, although some have several. The Milky Way, curiously enough, has none. They key characteristic that makes ULXs fascinating is that they routinely exceed what is known as the Eddington limit for neutron stars and black holes. The Eddington limit defines the point at which the outward pressure of a star’s radiation matches the inward pull of its gravity. (2/27)

Does Titan's Hydrocarbon Soup Hold A Recipe for Life? (Source: Space.com)
NASA researchers have confirmed the existence in Titan's atmosphere of vinyl cyanide, which is an organic compound that could potentially provide the cellular membranes for microbial life to form in Titan's vast methane oceans. If true, it could prove to us that life can flourish without the ubiquitous H2O.

Earth-based cell membranes are made of phospholipids: molecular chains with phosphorus-oxygen heads and carbon-chain tails that bind to each other to form a flexible membrane in water. Methane-based life, should it exist, would need an alternative to Earth's phospholipid-based existence and would open up a much wider range of planets and moons to the possibility of extraterrestrial life. one possible alternative is vinyl cyanide. (2/26)

Life Can Survive in the Most Mars-Like Place on Earth (Source: The Atlantic)
As one of the driest places on Earth, Chile’s Atacama Desert is one of the last places you’d expect a trip to be ruined by rain. Dirk Schulze-Makuch happened to be so lucky. In early 2015, he was preparing for field work in the Atacama, which he expressly chose because he was hunting for life in extreme—i.e., dry—conditions. Then in March, a freak rainstorm hit.

But there was an upside. The March shower gave the team a unique opportunity to study what happens when the Atacama’s hyperarid regions-—the driest of the dry—-finally get water. There is nothing to see but soil and rock. “It’s difficult to describe. It’s nearly a different planet. It’s kind of lifeless,” says Schulze-Makuch. Not entirely. His team found that microbial life blooms even in the hyperarid regions after rain. And when Schulze-Makuch’s team returned in 2016, then again in 2017, they found microbial life diminished but seemingly still active. (2/26)

Iridium Raising New Debt to Cover Late Aireon Payments (Source: Space News)
A company that fleet operator Iridium formed to help finance its second-generation satellite constellation is taking longer than expected to pay Iridium back for carrying its sensor network to orbit. Iridium said Feb. 22 that to avoid counting on aircraft-tracking startup Aireon for liquidity, Iridium went back to its lenders to raise additional debt to finish the $3 billion Iridium Next constellation it’s in the midst of deploying. (2/26)

45th Space Congress convenes in Cape Canaveral (Source: Florida Today)
The “next great steps” in space exploration and commerce are the focus of a three-day gathering of industry experts starting Tuesday in Cape Canaveral. The 45th Space Congress at the Radisson Resort at the Port continues a revival of the once can’t-miss conference, mirroring a comeback in the local space economy since the shuttle’s retirement nearly seven years ago.

“We’re really excited and proud of the event,” said program chair Martin McLellan of ASRC Federal. “It’s that overarching theme of transformation that’s taking place, not just at Kennedy Space Center but really across the whole space program.” Roughly 400 attendees are expected each day. Limited tickets are available for walk-ins, costing $85 for the standard single-day admission. (2/27)

Humans Will Hear from Intelligent Aliens This Century, Physicist Says (Source: Space.com)
Humans will make contact with aliens by the end of the century, theoretical physicist and futurist Michio Kaku told Redditers last week. However, Kaku said he wasn't sure whether we'd be able to communicate directly with this unknown extraterrestrial society — one that could run the gamut from hostile to pacifist, according to Kaku. (2/26)

How Astronaut Leland Melvin Went from the NFL to Space (Source: Space.com)
The road to space was a long one for former NASA astronaut Leland Melvin, who charts his course from the NFL to outer space in an exclusive new video, and urges retirees to always keep learning. "I remember this quote, and it said the two most important days of your life are the day you were born, and the day you figure out why," Melvin says in the new YouTube video produced by AARP, shared exclusively with Space.com ahead of its official release tomorrow. Click here. (2/27)

First Falcon 9 Block 5 Booster Readying for Tests Toward Rapid Reuse (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
SpaceX is working towards a major milestone on their road to rapid and inexpensive reusability. The first Block 5 Falcon 9 first stage is on the test stand at their McGregor, Texas test facility as it prepares for a test fire. The booster – core 1046 – was first seen on Interstate 8 in Yuma, Arizona, being transported from the SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California to their McGregor test site. It is now standing tall on the test stand ahead of a Static Fire this week. (2/27)

Florida Polytechnic University Developing Happy Suit for Astronauts (Source: Space.com)
Faculty and students at Florida Polytechnic University are developing a critical component for the next generation of spacesuits that will not only make astronauts more comfortable and efficient, but will also keep them happy. Depression is a major problem in space, as astronauts can be adversely affected by factors like insufficient exercise, excessive exposure to light and lack of sleep. With that in mind, Florida Poly professors Dr. Arman Sargolzaei and Dr. Melba Horton, along with Computer Science student James Holland, are developing a product called Smart Sensory Skin (S3).

The new technology will detect emotional and physical deficiencies in astronauts through wireless sensors that will then send an immediate response to improve the "atmosphere", and adjust the astronauts' environment to fit their individual needs. The adjustments include changes in temperature, light exposure, light color, and oxygen levels. "It's vital for astronauts to be mentally healthy during missions and right now there's no active, real-time solution to help them when they feel stressed or anxious," said Dr. Sargolzaei, professor of Electrical Engineering. (2/27)

UF-Built Instrument Provides New Look at Supermassive Black Hole's Magnetic Field (Source: UF)
For the first time, astronomers have revealed a new high-resolution map of the magnetic field lines in gas and dust swirling around the supermassive black hole at the center of our Galaxy. The team created the map using the CanariCam infrared camera attached to the Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) sited on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands, Spain. University of Florida Professor of Astronomy Charles Telesco and his science and engineering team in UF’s Department of Astronomy built the CanariCam infrared camera that enabled the team to image the magnetic field. (2/20)

SpaceX Helps Re-Ignite Launch-Viewing Tourism on Space Coast; New App Debuts (Source: Florida Today)
The Space Coast's tourism agency is seeking to capitalize on the renewed popularity of viewing rocket launches, as evidenced by this month's launch of the SpaceX Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center. More than 100,000 people came to Brevard County to watch that launch, filling local hotels and restaurants. The crowds reminded many Space Coast residents of the days of the space shuttle program that ended in 2011.

The Space Coast Office of Tourism this month introduced its Launch Console phone app that is available for free in Apple's App Store. A version for Android phone users is scheduled to come out in early March via Google Play. The app's features include a launch schedule, mission details, information on each rocket type, a compass to locate the direction from which each launch will occur and live video streaming. (2/26)

Statolaunch Rolls Out for Runway Tests (Source: Ars Technica)
The oh-so-massive Stratolaunch aircraft seems to be getting a little bit closer to taking flight. Last year, Stratolaunch Systems Corp. began ground-based tests of the 72.5-meter-long airplane, which culminated in December with runway tests that saw the vehicle roll at speeds of up to 28mph in Mojave, California.

Now, the Stratolaunch plane has pushed those ground-based cruising speeds even faster. According to the company's founder, Paul Allen, the Stratolaunch aircraft reached a top taxi speed of 46mph this weekend, "with all flight surfaces in place." These tests are part of a regimen to certify the aircraft's ability to steer and stop. The company also released new photos of the plane taken during these tests that further demonstrate its incredible scale.

Beyond these runway tests, unfortunately, Stratolaunch Systems has not disclosed any information about when the first flight of the large aircraft will take place or what checks must be made between now and then. Needless to say, we await the maiden flight in a high state of eagerness. (2/26)

Jupiter’s Ice-Covered Moon Europa Could Harbor Life, Researchers Say (Source: BGR)
In a new study published in Scientific Reports, researchers focus on Europa’s potentially life-giving cocktail of liquid water and gravity-generated heat emanating from its core. The paper draws some very interesting parallels between Europa and certain places here on Earth where the recipe for life is ideal for bacteria to thrive without the presence of sunlight.

If life exists deep within Europa, sunlight would be hard to come by. The moon’s icy shell is thought to be over six miles thick, with an ocean lying beneath that stretches over 60 miles into the planet. That’s a whole lot of water, and it’s kept warm by tidal forces generated by its parent, Jupiter. If this sounds familiar, it’s likely because Saturn’s ice-covered moon Enceladus has a similar relationship with its parent planet, and is also thought to have a deep ocean just beneath its frosty crust.

To get an idea of how life could potentially thrive in the inky black depths of Europa, the researchers sought examples of microbes that live their lives without help from the Sun. They found what they were looking for in ground water samples from the Mponeng gold mine in South Africa. There, deep underground, bacteria live and die without ever seeing the sun, and it has its very own way of generating the energy it needs to survive. (2/26)