April 27, 2018

Space Junk(ie) (Source: ERAU Lift)
Getting accustomed to watching Scooby Doo in Spanish was the least of Moriba Jah’s (’99, PC) challenges at age 6. Moving from California to Venezuela multiplied the typical new kid troubles, and Jah endured more than his share of childhood bullying as a result. “I was a foreigner and learning a new language. There were different cartoons, different customs, different everything. It’s not easy for a kid,” he says.

But through it all — and with the support of his late parents, mother Elsie Turnier de Marquez, stepfather Jorge Marquez Lupi and father Abraham Jah — he developed an animated personality and a dogged determination that resulted in many career successes. Today, Jah is a leading voice in the discussion over human-made orbital debris. Click here. (4/27)

Jeff Bezos: the Boy Who Wanted to Colonize Space (Source: The Guardian)
In 1994, Jeff Bezos held 60 meetings with family members, friends and potential investors in an attempt to persuade them to invest $50,000 (£35,000) in his revolutionary idea to create an online bookshop. He failed to convince 38 of them, and 24 years later some of them still cannot bring themselves to talk about what life might have been like if they had taken a punt on Bezos and this “Amazon thing” that the then 30-year-old hedge fund manager wouldn’t shut up about.

“I’m in touch with a few of them now,” Bezos revealed in an on-stage interview at a charity dinner in Washington DC last year. “It’s kind of a study in human nature ... Some of them take it in their stride, and they recognise that they actually have ridiculously happy lives. [But] others of them just cannot talk about it – it’s too painful.”

That pain comes from knowing that they opted out of the chance to become billionaires. Each of the 22 investors – who included Bezos’s parents, his younger brother Mark and sister Christina – were granted just under 1% of Amazon’s stock on average. If they held on to all of the shares their stakes could now be worth up to $7bn (£5bn) each. “That’s just human nature,” Bezos, now 54, says. “Some people are just better at rolling with the punches.” (4/25)

Virgin Orbit Begins Engine Qualification Tests (Source: Aviation Week)
LauncherOne, a two-stage, air-launched rocket in development by Virgin Orbit, is not aiming to break records for highest thrust, performance or lift capacity. Instead, Virgin Orbit, a sister company to the nearby Mojave, California-based Virgin Galactic, has developed a simple booster, fueled by liquid oxygen and kerosene, designed for quick, consistent fabrication and reliable flight to orbits up to about 750 mi. (1,200 km) above Earth. (4/27)

Stunning Scientists, NASA’s Only Moon Rover Just Got Canceled (Source: Washington Post)
Months after President Trump signed a directive ordering NASA to return astronauts to the moon, the space agency has canceled its only lunar rover currently in development. According to Clive Neal, a University of Notre Dame planetary scientist and emeritus chairman of the Lunar Exploration Analysis Group, members of the Resource Prospector mission were told to close out the project by the end of May.

“I'm a little shocked,” he said. Neal, who is not directly involved in developing the mission, said he did not know the reason for the cancellation. The Resource Prospector mission, which was in the concept formulation stage for potential launch in the 2020s, would have surveyed one of the moon's poles in search of volatile compounds such as hydrogen, oxygen and water that could be mined to support future human explorers. (4/27)

Asteroids Could Have Delivered Water to the Early Earth (Source: Science News)
Shooting small rocks from a high-speed cannon showed that some asteroids could have brought water to the early Earth — without all the water boiling away on impact, a new study finds. “We can’t bring an asteroid to Earth and crash it into the Earth, bad things would happen,” says planetary geologist R. Terik Daly, who did the research while a graduate student at Brown University in Providence, R.I. “So we went into the lab and tried to re-create the event as best we can.” (4/25)

We Can’t Stop Staring at This Satellite Image Wallpaper (Source: Architectural Digest)
When we saw My Orbiter's brand-new Earth Photography Wallpaper collection, we felt we had no choice but to tell you about it immediately. Think of Google Maps' satellite view x100. That's literally how much more detailed the satellite images on MyOrbiter's wallpapers are. The company uses super hi-res photos from four DigitalGlobe satellites to create incredible overhead photos of interesting places around the world. Imagine one of those images spanning an entire room—voila, the best view you could possibly have, no reno necessary. Click here. (4/13)

Globalstar Merges With Fiberight (Source: Space News)
Satellite operator Globalstar is merging with a terrestrial communications company in a $1.65 billion deal announced Wednesday. Thermo Capital, the owner of Globalstar, is combining the satellite company with FiberLight, which it also owns, along with other financial assets. Globalstar president David Kagan said the deal is designed "to create a financially stable, financially sound and strong entity that has great backing." The deal helps diversify Globalstar's revenue streams, which had not been enough to sustain the company and pay off debt incurred from the launch of its second-generation satellite constellation. (4/27)

House Subcommittee Pushes for Military Space Reforms (Source: Space News)
The leaders of a House armed services subcommittee are continuing to push for military space reforms in legislation. A draft of the 2019 National Defense Authorization Act, released Wednesday, includes a number of provisions related to space, including calling for the creation of a new numbered Air Force dedicated to space warfighting and reorganization of the current 14th Air Force to a space support mission. The bill also includes language which suggests the committee has concerns about the progress the Air Force is making on developing a new generation of launch vehicles. The strategic forces subcommittee of the House Armed Services Committee will mark up the bill this afternoon. (4/27)

GAO Sees Rising Launch Costs for EELV Program (Source: Space News)
The GAO is concerned about rising costs of the Air Force's EELV program. In a report released Wednesday on Pentagon weapons systems, the GAO noted that EELV development costs rose 130 percent over two decades, while procurement costs increased by 209 percent. The GAO said that while the Air Force is supporting the development of new vehicles, it's concerned that having multiple providers could be difficult to sustain given lower projected launch rates for national security missions in the future. (4/27)

British Government Considers Galileo Alternative (Source: Reuters)
The British government is studying developing its own satellite navigation system should it be locked out of Galileo. A spokesperson for the British government's Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy said that the country would prefer to remain a part of the EU's Galileo system even after Brexit, but if kept out of the system "it is logical to look at alternatives." British government officials are complaining that UK companies are being excluded from Galileo work already, saying such moves threatened collaboration between the EU and UK on security issues. (4/27)

Intelligence Community Provides Imagery to Promote Private App Development (Source: Space News)
The intelligence community is offering free access to some satellite imagery to support app developers. SpaceNet is an open repository of free imagery with map features created by several companies. App developers have access to that imagery and also compete in challenges to develop tools to analyze those images. Companies like DigitalGlobe that sell satellite images say the repository makes sense in order to stimulate the development of more tools to make sense of the data. (4/27)

Spaceport States Support Amendment to FAA Bill (Source: SPACErePORT)
Republican Congresswoman Barbara Comstock of Virginia successfully introduced an amendment to the FAA Authorization Act in the U.S. House of Representatives. Her amendment called for establishment of the Office of Spaceports within the FAA and was supported by Virginia Space, Space Florida, and National Association of Spaceports, and congressional members from Virginia, Maryland, and Florida.

The amendment requires a study on funding options for a potential federal grant program for spaceport activities. It also requires a report on a National Spaceports Policy which evaluates national security and civil space launch demands, proposes policies designed to ensure a robust and resilient orbital and suborbital spaceport infrastructure, and reviews the development and investments made by international competitors. (4/26)

FAA Reauthorization Bill Boosts Commercial Space Office (Source: Space News)
A reauthorization bill for the FAA passed by the House April 27 includes several provisions intended to support its commercial spaceflight activities, including a major increase in authorized spending levels. The FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 was approved by the House on a 393–13 vote. It includes a sizable increase in authorized funding levels for AST, from its 2018 level of just under $22.6 million to more than $33 million in 2019, with further increases to nearly $76 million by 2023.

The same amendment also addresses an issue with aircraft that have experimental licenses but are used in spaceflight operations. The bill would allow such aircraft to perform commercial space transportation “support” flights, such as for training or hardware tests, for hire. Those flights, according to the amendment, will be required to take place from an FAA-licensed spaceport, and those who fly would have to provide their informed consent that they understand the risks of flying on an aircraft that has an experimental license.

Another section of the same amendment directs the head of AST, the associate administrator for commercial space transportation, to be the “primary liaison” between the commercial space transportation industry and the rest of the FAA, to promote better coordination with the FAA’s air traffic organization. A separate amendment sponsored by several members from Florida, Maryland and Virginia would establish an “Office of Spaceports” within AST to deal with issues associated with commercial launch sites. Click here. (4/27)