April 3, 2018

SpaceX, OneWeb Spawn Space Coast Business Opportunities (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Big companies are preparing to send more rockets and satellites into space from the Space Coast, which is great for creating more aerospace-related economic impact in the Orlando region. But that increased activity leaves a lot of space junk in its wake. That's where Merritt Island's Vision Engineering Solutions has found a big opportunity: helping firms find a clear pathy to space.

Vision Engineering creates optical tracking systems that can track the movement of objects in Low Earth Orbit to determine if a launch projectile or satellite placement is clear of orbital junk. Meanwhile, OneWeb has submitted a proposal to the FCC for launching an additional 1,260 satellites into space. The firm already had approval to launch 720 satellites by 2027. If approved, more manufacturing work will come to OneWeb's new $85 million manufacturing facility at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (3/30)

NASA's Newest Planet Hunter Will Do What Kepler Couldn't (Source: Gizmodo)
On April 16, NASA is planning to launch its Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. TESS is an Earth-orbiting instrument meant to spot faraway planets circling some 200,000 stars within 300 light-years of Earth. Astronomers hopes that TESS will help them learn whether or not there are other habitable planets, or even life beyond the Solar System. TESS can’t do this alone, however.

“TESS will find planets in the habitable zones around red dwarf stars,” Aki Roberge, research astrophysicist at NASA, said in February the American Association for the Advancement of Science’s annual meeting in Austin, Texas. “But just being in the habitable zone doesn’t mean you’re habitable.”

This satellite has four wide-field cameras that will cover around 85 percent of the sky, according to a NASA release. It will sweep the sky, sector by sector, for a brief dimming of light from a star that suggests an orbiting planet. It’s basically a Kepler part two (or part three, if you consider K2 a separate mission)—and the beloved Kepler only has a few functional months left. (3/30)

SpaceX to Debut Falcon 9 Block 5 in April (Source: Aviation Week)
The upgraded Falcon 9 Block 5 rocket SpaceX needs to taxi NASA astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and deliver U.S. national security spacecraft into orbit will make its first flight on a commercial mission for Bangladesh, SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell says.

The goal for Block 5 is to be able to re-fly the boosters at least 10 times with little refurbishment. “It should be capable of additional flights with further testing and possible additional refurbishment,” Shotwell noted. “We’ve set out to make spaceflight more like commercial air travel is today—safe, affordable, and utilizing vehicles that can be re-flown over and over again."

The ultimate goal is to be capable of relaunching a flown booster within 24 hr. with minimal refurbishment. “That does not mean we want to fly the rocket once a day, but we could if need be,” Shotwell said. She declined to say how many Block 5 boosters SpaceX will manufacture, adding that it will be a “sizable fleet.” (4/1)

NASA Gets Set to Reveal Next Steps in Super-Quiet Supersonic Airplane Project (Source: Geekwire)
NASA is ready to unveil its plans for an experimental airplane that could open the way for lifting the U.S. ban on commercial supersonic flights over land. The winner of the contract award for the Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator, or LBFD, will be announced Tuesday. Lockheed Martin is considered a favorite, in part because its famous Skunk Works helped NASA develop a preliminary design for the X-plane. It’s also worth noting that Lockheed Martin has posted several LBFD job openings in the past few days. The plane is supposed to start flying in 2021. (4/2)

India Trying To Reconnect With 'Most Powerful' Communications Satellite (Source: NDTV)
Space agency ISRO said on Monday it was trying to re-establish a link with its most powerful communication satellite that went missing over the weekend, in a setback for its space ambitions. Indian Space Research Organization or ISRO said the link with the satellite was lost in the third and final stage of its launch, but it did not specify the possible cause of the snag. "Efforts are underway to establish the link with the satellite," ISRO said on its website. (4/2)

Israeli Space Team Still Shooting for the Moon (Source: Israel 21c)
The Google Lunar X Prize competition expired on March 31 with no winner. Yet Israel’s team, the nonprofit SpaceIL, is continuing its mission of landing an unmanned module on the moon – with plans to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 via Spaceflight Industries in the fourth quarter of 2018, even if Lunar X does not find another major sponsor. “We are moving forward with the project, regardless of the terms or status of the Google Lunar X Prize,” said newly appointed SpaceIL CEO Ido Anteby, formerly of the Israel Atomic Energy Commission. (4/2)

Debating Secrecy For Spaceport America Customers (Source: KRWG)
Access to public information is critical to our democracy. That’s what the Legislature said in enacting our Inspection of Public Records Act. That’s what courts consistently say in deciding IPRA cases. I agree. Spaceport America is a public entity. But it’s success depends on luring customers and tenants. Those companies have trade secrets (protected by law) and other information they prefer competitors not see.

The new Spaceport Commercial Aerospace Protection Act – called “The Spaceport Secrecy Act” by detractors – aims to balance these conflicting interests. Whether or not it strikes the right balance, it’s an interesting example of the legislative process working reasonably well. (4/1)

First Quarter 2018 Launch Report: China & USA Battle for Lead (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The world’s launch providers have been extremely busy in the first quarter of 2018, with 31 orbital launches thus far. This is more than one third of the 90 launches conducted last year. China leads the pack with 10 successful launches. The United States is now tied with a total of 10 launches with one failure.

Russia — the traditional leader in launches — is in third place with five flights, followed by Japan with three, India with two, and Europe and New Zealand with one apiece. (A Soyuz launch from Kourou is included under Russian launches).

The one failure this year occurred in January when a SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a secret military payload code named Zuma. Although there is some uncertainty about the fate of the satellite, the bulk of the information that has become public indicates the payload failed to separate from the second stage and burned up in the Earth’s atmosphere. (4/2)

ARCA CEO Dumitru Popescu Decries Fraud Case as 'Collusion' (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
In a 12-minute video posted on Facebook, embattled ARCA Space Corporation CEO Dumitru Popescu decried his ongoing fraud case, alleging it was the result of collusion between his second ex-wife and a former ARCA board director. Popescu was charged in a criminal complaint filed on Oct. 24 with seven counts of securities fraud, two counts of fraud exceeding $20,000 and seven other counts of fraud, embezzlement and misleading filings. He was arrested in Atlanta hours after the complaint was filed in 3rd Judicial District Court in Las Cruces.

Popescu pointed out that his arrest came about two weeks before ARCA was going to conduct "aerospike rocket technology engine tests" at Spaceport America. He then zeroes-in on his former second wife without mentioning her name. "What most people don’t know is that I was briefly married in the United States for six months between 2016 and 2017," he said. "And a lot of people were speculating at the time why I was arrested, and now I am able to tell that this whole case started because of allegations of my former wife."

"Both Mr. [Michael] Persico [a former ARCA board member] and my ex-wife, they were telling similar stories to the investigators that I escaped from Romania and that I was planning to run away from the Unites States with the investors’ and U.S. government’s money," Popescu said. (3/31)

UK's Cornwall Spaceport Decision Delayed Until May (Source: Falmouth Packet)
Cornwall will have to wait a little longer before finding out whether a bid to host one of the UK’s first Spaceports has been successful. A funding decision by the UK Space Agency had been expected before the end of March, but will now be made later. Although no exact date has been given, a public announcement is now likely to be in early May. (4/1)

SpaceX CRS-14 Dragon Heading Toward ISS After Successful Falcon 9 Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
SpaceX launched its sixth Falcon 9 of 2018, this time to send the unpiloted CRS-14 Dragon cargo ship on its way toward the International Space Station with several thousand pounds of food, experiments and hardware for the six-person Expedition 55 crew. This was the second time in history that a flight-proven Falcon 9 first stage flew into space along with a flight-proven Dragon capsule. (4/2)

SpaceX Has (Gasp) Expended its Fifth Falcon 9 in a Row (Source: Ars Technica)
This was the fifth expendable Falcon 9 launch in a row for SpaceX, which prides itself on developing a reusable rocket. So what gives? The answer is that SpaceX is working through its inventory of recovered Falcon 9 rockets. Since the Falcon 9's first launch in 2010, the company has developed four major versions of the booster, each more powerful than the one before it.

SpaceX began to successfully land its rockets (both on land and at sea) with the third and fourth version of the Falcon 9, known as Block 3 and Block 4. However, after flying those rockets, its engineers determined that these versions could probably only fly twice in a safe and economical manner.

The Block 5 variant, optimized for multiple flights with hardened grid fins and myriad other new features, could take flight as early as April 24, with the launch of the Bangabandhu-1 satellite for Bangladesh. Once SpaceX starts flying (and hopefully reusing multiple times) the Block 5 version of its workhorse rocket, it intends to fly only that version. (4/2)

Could Mars Ever Be a New Home for Humans? (Source: The Hill)
The establishment of a colony on Mars has been a dream for decades, most recently championed by Robert Zubrin of the Mars Society and SpaceX’s Elon Musk. Musk has stated that he has concrete plans to start his own Mars colony using a spacecraft he is developing called the Big Falcon Rocket.

Inevitably some people have objected to the idea of colonizing Mars on both ideological and practical grounds. Some object to humans living on Mars because they would contaminate the planet, harming whatever bacterial lifeforms might be present. Others oppose Mars settlements because they disagree with the idea of using the Red Planet serve as a “backup” in case the Earth is destroyed.

Proponents of colonizing Mars, however, look to spread the human race beyond our single planet. The practical considerations of surviving long term on a world without a breathable atmosphere, no surface water, exposure to radiation, and extremes of heat and cold all have to be addressed first. Click here. (4/2)