March 5, 2018

SpaceX Confirms Plan to Activate South Texas Launch Site in Late 2018 (Source: Teslarati)
“We are currently targeting late 2018 for the site in South Texas to be operational but we’re reviewing our progress and will turn the site online as soon as it’s ready.” So says SpaceX's James Gleeson. It’s likely that the Boca Chica site’s late 2018 “operational” status refers mainly to an ability to support something less than orbital launches, perhaps suborbital testing of BFS. According to a source knowledgeable with SpaceX’s South Texas outlook, there are currently no plans to manufacture BFR in the region, although the company has enjoyed the warm welcomes it’s received from local leaders enthusiastic about the company’s local expansion. (3/4)

Commerce Department Pressing Ahead with Commercial Space Regulatory Reform (Source: Space News)
“We’re starting to make the moves that we can internally at Commerce," said Wilbur Ross. "Like everything in government, it takes a little while to implement change.” That includes setting up the combined office in the main headquarters building of the Commerce Department. Ross also said at the Council meeting that he would soon name a new director for the Office of Space Commerce, which has lacked permanent leadership for an extended period. In the interview, Ross said an announcement was not imminent because of ongoing reviews. “It may very well be a couple of months before he comes on board,” he said.

Other reform efforts will require legislation, and the recommendations call on the Secretary of Commerce to develop legislative proposals for commercial remote sensing regulatory reform and to establish an “Under Secretary of Space Commerce” position. A House bill introduced last year, the American Space Commerce Free Enterprise Act, proposes some commercial remote sensing regulatory reforms, while the Senate is working on its version of commercial space legislation.

Editor's Note: Looks like the "Under-Secretary of Space Commerce" position might be a good backup option for Rep. Bridenstine. I wonder how this office will interact with NASA's and USDOT's various commercial space initiatives. (3/5)

Bridenstine Nomination Remains Stalled (Source: Bloomberg)
More than six months after it was announced, the nomination of Jim Bridenstine to be NASA administrator remains in limbo. The White House nominated Bridenstine in early September and renominated him again in January when the new session of Congress started. However, all 49 Senate Democrats oppose his nomination, as does reportedly Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) NASA has had an acting administrator for more than a year now. "It helps no one to have a post like that in limbo," said one former official. (3/4)

China's Next Station Element Launching in 2020 (Source: GB Times)
The launch of the first element of China's space station will likely to be delayed until 2020. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's human spaceflight program, told Chinese media Monday that Tianhe, the core module of the station, will now launch "around 2020." That delay is linked to the failure last year of a Long March 5 rocket, which is now expected to return to flight later this year. A version of the Long March 5, the 5B, that will be used for launching space station modules will make its first flight in mid-2019. (3/4)

Indian Lunar Lander Launch Likely Later (Source: Times of India)
The launch of India's first lunar lander will likely be delayed until later this year. India's space agency, ISRO, had stated that it was planning a launch of the Chandrayaan-2 mission as soon as April, but an ISRO official said the launch will likely not take place until at least October in order to complete work on the spacecraft. Chandrayaan-2 includes an orbiter, lander and rover. (3/5)

Former NASA Official Nominated to DOD Research & Engineering Post (Source: White House)
The White House has nominated a former NASA official to be Mike Griffin's deputy in the Pentagon. The administration announced Friday it was nominating Lisa Porter to be Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering. Porter was NASA associate administrator for aeronautics when Griffin, now the Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, led the agency. Porter also served as executive vice president of In-Q-Tel (a CIA-backed venture firm Griffin once led) and was the first director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity in the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. (3/4)

Microsatellite Launcher Startup Plans Launches from Georgia, Alaska Spaceports (Source: Camden County Tribune)
A new small launch vehicle startup says it's interested in launching from a proposed Georgia spaceport. ABL Space Systems has signed an agreement with Camden County, Georgia, about launching from Spaceport Camden, the planned launch site on the Atlantic coast in the county. ABL, founded by former SpaceX engineers, is developing a small launch vehicle capable of placing up to 900 kilograms into low Earth orbit, with a first commercial launch planned by 2020. Camden County says it expects to receive an environmental impact assessment of the site, a key milestone for receiving an FAA license, this week. (3/5)

Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute to Expand with New HQ in Orlando (Source: Orlando EDC)
The Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute will expand its footprint in Orlando’s Lake Nona community with the construction of a new global headquarters. The $18 million state-of-the-art campus will house the Human Performance Institute's multidisciplinary training center and serve as the global hub for continuing research and development into science-based approaches to improve human energy capacity for performance, resilience and leadership. The company will create 25 new, high-wage jobs. Construction on the facility will be completed by the end of 2018. (3/5)

Moon Express Building Two Lunar Explorers at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Moon Express is building a couple of spacecraft at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport that will explore the Moon and colle3ct samples that will be used for research and commercial purposes -- because some very rich people might want to own a Moon rock. The company is building its MX-1 exploration lander that can deliver up to 30 kilograms of cargo to the lunar surface, while its MX-9 robot will collect samples of the Moon. (3/2)

SpaceX: Making Asteroid Mining A World-changing Reality (Source: Wall Street Pit)
SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, the world’s most powerful rocket launched three weeks ago, could make the sci-fi dream of asteroid mining a reality. According to Dr. Martin Elvis at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, the Heavy’s disruptive power can make near-Earth asteroid mining possible. Elvis, who’s been studying the science behind extracting resources from space rocks, said the Falcon Heavy has the capability to make asteroid mining a reality a lot faster than we think by increasing the number of asteroids we could potentially land on by a factor of 15.

“Instead of a few hundred, we may have thousands of ore-bearing asteroids available,” said Elvis. The staggering potential value of the minerals in these asteroids is expected to make scarcity a non-defining feature of human existence. While mining on Earth isn’t about to end, the reality is that mineral deposits containing non-renewable resources such as copper and zinc are finite. Some studies even suggest that if demand continues for common and precious metals like aluminum, platinum or silver, these reserves will be gone in about 15, 20 and 80 years, respectively. Likewise, sources of materials like lead, zinc, tin, and certainly gold, are expected to be used up within 50 years. (3/4)

Sun-Like Star Has Six Gas Giants, Two in Habitable Zone (Source: SyFy)
Astronomers have discovered a pretty interesting multi-planetary system orbiting a nearby star. Each of the exoplanets is apparently a gas giant, but two of them orbit the star in the habitable zone, where liquid water could exist!

To be clear, gas giants don’t have a surface — they have such tremendous atmospheres that as you go down inside them the air just gets thicker, merges into a liquid mantle, then finally gets crushed into a solid deep down near the core — but they do tend to have moons, some of them quite large. And that makes this system very interesting indeed…

The planets orbit the star HD 34445 (the 34,445th entry in the Henry Draper catalog of brightish stars). The star itself is at first glance a lot like the Sun: It’s a type G0 star, just slightly warmer and just a scosh more massive than the Sun (1.07 times as massive, to be specific). (3/5)

A Space Hotel Could Be Coming Soon to Skies Near You (Source: Smithsonian)
According to Bigelow, the cost to stay in the pods will run you somewhere in the low seven to low eight figures. But the primary function of the inflatable units will likely be more science than tourism. The company notes it is investigating the possibility of selling time on the modules to nations that need lab space in low Earth orbit. BSO is banking on the increasingly possible idea that businesses, including hotels, will want to turn a profit in space. (3/1)

SpaceX is Getting Serious About its Future BFR Launchpad to Mars - In Texas (Source: Inverse)
When SpaceX does begin sending people to Mars, the last part of Earth they see from the ground — perhaps ever, if it’s a one-way trip — will likely be the company’s private spaceport in Boca Chica Village, Texas. And it looks like the company is gearing up to get the facility operational before the end of the year.

For now, SpaceX leases three launch facilities from the United States government: a pair in Florida at Cape Canaveral Air Force Base and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, and another at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The company’s South Texas Launch Site would give SpaceX total control of the launch process for its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. Company founder Elon Musk has also indicated the Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR, would likely launch toward Mars and elsewhere from Boca Chica Village.

James Gleeson confirmed the site is moving toward operational status within the next several months. It could mean SpaceX could begin suborbital tests on the BFR from South Texas within the next year. Editor's Note: The regulatory analyses and local plans for Boca Chica are based on Falcon Heavy being the largest vehicle operating there, with a maximum of 12 launches per year, and only two for Falcon Heavy. The BFR is a totally different animal, probably with a much larger QD circle (explosive safety zone) that would extend farther north toward populated areas and south into Mexico. (3/4)

To the Moon, Mars and Beyond: It's Time for Our Journey to Begin (Source: Globe & Mail)
The maiden voyage of NASA's own Space Launch System (SLS), which, it is hoped, will eventually take mankind to Mars, is scheduled for late 2019 or 2020. If all goes according to plan, the Orion capsule will then journey to the moon and back in 2023, the first manned mission to orbit the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972. Soon, we will have not one but two powerful booster rockets to take us beyond Earth orbit.

This could have enormous consequences. Not only will it likely inspire a new generation of young people to dream about space exploration, it will have vast economic implications, as we explore mining operations on asteroids, the moon and other planets. There will be scientific benefits as well, as we create the technology to make these missions possible. And, unlikely as it may seem, we might even find a new home – in case something happens to this one.

In the long term, astronauts will have to begin terraforming Mars – making it more Earth-like. Methane gas might be injected into the atmosphere to jump-start a greenhouse effect. Or satellites could orbit Mars in order to beam solar energy onto the polar ice caps; when they melt, water will flow in the ancient riverbeds of Mars for the first time in billions of years. The key is to heat up Mars by about six degrees Celsius. Once temperatures reach that tipping point, CO2 and water vapour will be released into the atmosphere, accelerating the greenhouse effect. (3/3)

Lockheed Martin Completes Foundation for Colorado-Based Satellite Factory of the Future (Source: Lockheed Martin)
The foundation for Lockheed Martin's Colorado-based satellite production factory of the future has been completed. The Gateway Center construction is making rapid progress and is on track for its completion in 2020. The project recently reached a significant milestone, when the construction team began installing vertical structural steel.

The $350 million, 266,000 square foot building will incorporate multiple features under one roof, and is designed to streamline satellite production and increase cost savings for both government and commercial customers. The building will house an ISO Class 8 high bay cleanroom, an anechoic chamber, and a large thermal vacuum chamber to conduct dynamic endurance tests on the satellites. (2/27)

'Jews in Space' Exhibit Traces Jewish Culture Across the Cosmos (Source: Space.com)
A new exhibit at New York's Center for Jewish History chronicles the ties between Jewish culture and exploration of the cosmos, and includes some incredible artifacts from the history of astronomy and space exploration.

"Jews In Space" officially debuted at the center on Feb. 26. Walk through the exhibit halland you'll find rare 18th and 19th century rabbinic tomes on astronomy in Hebrew, German and Yiddish, as well as a dreidel, a Torah pointer, a traveling menorah and other religious artifacts that traveled into space with the first Jewish American astronaut, Jeffrey Hoffman. The exhibit also features mementos from other Jewish space travelers, memorabilia from science fiction, and a detailed timeline of Jewish accomplishments in astronomy and spaceflight. (3/3)

Air Force Tries to Create a Warrior Culture in Space (Source: Space News)
Skills to fight off enemies in space will be essential in wars against the likes of China and Russia, military strategists warn. That presumption has put Air Force Space Command in the spotlight. “We are at the war fighter table. We are not in the cheap seats anymore,” said Maj. Gen. Joseph Guastella Jr., director of integrated air, space, cyberspace and intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance operations at Air Force Space Command.

Guastella is a career fighter pilot who is now a “space operator.” At Space Command, leaders are trying to bridge the cultural divide between the air and space professions to create a more cohesive force of space combatants. “We are in a cultural shift to a war fighting mentality,” he said Friday at a Mitchell Institute breakfast meeting on Capitol Hill.

Satellite operators typically are viewed as technical support to war commanders, but increasingly they will take center stage, Guastella said. At Air Force training exercises like Red Flag, space has been a sideshow. Officials are trying to change that. The Air Force is now staging “Space Flag” war rehearsals in virtual-reality simulations. (3/3)

How Space Will Shape the Future of Medicine (Source: Globe & Mail)
Imagine you are an astronaut on the surface of Mars, driving a rover down an incline into a crater. The vehicle's specially designed tires slip on the steep surface, and the rover begins to slide uncontrollably toward a large rock at the floor of the crater. The impact is sudden, you are thrown forward against the restraint straps, and your head hits the inside of the space-suit helmet. Dazed, you feel blood flowing freely from a cut. What do you do?

Space medicine has evolved considerably, from our earliest understanding of how humans adapt to space to now caring for astronauts living in microgravity on board the International Space Station for up to a year. Whatever the destination, astronauts will have to adapt to living in microgravity during their journey, and partial gravity at their destination. These missions, then, will require next-generation medical support to prevent, diagnose and treat illness and injury. (3/2)

This ‘Aerospace Nut’ is Paying $200K for a Ride on Richard Branson’s Spaceship (Source: New York Post)
“This is the most unique thing a human can do — to get out of this world,” Edwin Sahakian, 54, told The Post. “Nobody can one-up you in terms of altitude and speed.” He hopes to soon have the bragging rights himself. Sahakian, owner of a trucking company in Los Angeles, has shelled out $200,000 to reserve an outer-space trip on one of the first civilian-passenger rockets.

While Virgin Galactic’s future manifest is star-studded, with names including Russell Brand, Brad Pitt and Justin Bieber, there are plenty of regular folks ready to blast off — more than 600 of them. Some, such as Sahakian, have been waiting since 2006, when the company first sold fares. (Tickets now cost $250,000.) Sahakian, an Armenian ex-pat who anticipates being the first of his countrymen in space, initially anticipated a 2009 departure. Of the delays, he said, “It’s a little disappointing, though I’m willing to wait as long as it takes. (3/3)