May 8, 2018

ULA Machinists Strike at Cape Canaveral Spaceport and Other ULA Facilities (Source: Space News)
Machinists at United Launch Alliance voted to go on strike Sunday, rejecting the company's proposed contract. The members of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers union representing nearly 600 employees at three ULA locations turned down the three-year contract offered by the company, following the guidance of the union's negotiating team, who criticized many aspects of the proposal. ULA said it was "disappointed" that the union voted to go on strike, and said that it would implement contingency plans to prevent any disruption to company operations. (5/7)

NASA Considers Helicopter for Mars (Source: Space News)
NASA is expected to make a decision this month on whether to include a helicopter on the Mars 2020 rover mission. That decision, project officials said at a meeting last week, is expected "very shortly" and may be tied to a project development milestone for Mars 2020 known as Key Decision Point D scheduled for later this month. The small helicopter would test technologies that could be used on future missions, providing an aerial view to help the rover scout its path. Some involved with Mars 2020, though, see the helicopter as a distraction to its overall science mission. (5/7)

NASA Says Government Moon Rover's Mission Too Limited (Source: Space News)
NASA said it decided to cancel the Resource Prospector lunar rover because the one-time mission didn't fit into the agency's new lunar exploration plans. NASA said last week that the mission, cancelled last month, was "too limited in scope" for its plans to fly a series of missions, starting initially with payloads that will fly on commercial landers. NASA is holding an industry day Tuesday for its planned Commercial Lunar Payload Services program that would include those initial missions, with agency officials recognizing that not all of those missions will be successful. (5/7)

ESA Picks Three Space Science Mission Finalists (Source: ESA)
ESA has selected three finalists for its next medium-class space science mission. Transient High Energy Sky and Early Universe Surveyor (Theseus) would monitor high-energy transient astrophysical events, such as gamma-ray bursts. SPace Infrared telescope for Cosmology and Astrophysics (Spica) would follow up on observations from previous infrared space telescopes to study the formation of the first stars and galaxies. EnVision would go into orbit around Venus to produce a high-resolution synthetic aperture radar map of its surface. The agency said Monday that the three concepts, selected from 25 proposals, will receive funding for additional studies, with a final decision planned in 2021. (5/7)

India to Develop Atomic Clocks for NavSats (Source: The Hindu)
The Indian space agency ISRO has decided to develop its own atomic clocks for future navigation satellites. The agency plans to have at least one indigenously developed atomic clock on four replacement navigation satellites it is seeking funding to produce. India's initial navigation satellites used atomic clocks from Europe that have suffered a spate of malfunctions once in orbit, preventing India's regional navigation system from becoming fully operational. (5/7)

Canada Plans Program for Student-Built Cubesats (Source: CSA)
The Canadian Space Agency is supporting the development of student-built cubesats across Canada. The agency said Friday it was awarding grants to 15 university teams to help fund the development of cubesats at universities, and to fund their launch from the ISS in 2020 or 2021. The goal of the project is to have at least one student-built cubesat launched from each Canadian province and territory. (5/7)

Buy a New York Penthouse, Get a Suborbital Ride (Source: New York Post)
A luxury apartment up for sale in New York comes with an unusual extra: two trips to space. The owner of the 15,000-square-foot duplex penthouse, with an asking price of $85 million, is including two Virgin Galactic tickets among other deal-sweeteners, like several luxury cars and a yacht. "Going to outer space was always a dream of mine," said owner Daniel Neiditch, adding that he didn't include the tickets and other items because he didn't want them. "It’s all stuff that I thought created a nice package." Real estate brokers are skeptical that the package will be that enticing, noting that the apartment has been on the market for five years at the same price. (5/7)

Evaluating the Role of Astronauts in the Manned Orbiting Laboratory Program (Source: Space Review)
In mid-1967, the vice president attended a briefing on the Air Force’s Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Dwayne Day describes that meeting, as recalled by one of the program’s astronauts who attended, as concerns about the cost and effectiveness of the program grew. Click here. (5/7)
 
Seeing Shadows of Rights: What is the Intent of Congress in HR 2809? (Source: Space Review)
The House last month passed a commercial space bill that provides a streamlined approach to oversight of commercial space activities. Michael Listner argues that the bill may take liberties with common interpretations of the Outer Space Treaty and whether spaceflight is a fundamental right. Click here. (5/7)

How Should NASA Return to the Moon? (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s plans to use commercial lunar lander missions, and to cancel a rover mission under development for several years, attracted criticism in recent weeks from some scientists. Jeff Foust reports on the fate of Resource Prospector, one of the first big issues for new NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine. Click here. (5/7)

NASA Looking For Rides To The Moon (Source: Aviation Week)
With an upcoming solicitation for commercial flight services to the lunar surface, NASA is kicking off a return to the Moon, with instruments and payloads possibly ready to fly as early as next year. NASA is preparing for a mid-July solicitation for contractors to support its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, designed to provide the agency with multiple, 10-year indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) agreements ranging from $25,000 to $2.6 billion apiece.

The program would begin with $25,000 task orders for companies to provide NASA with user guides detailing the technical capabilities of their lunar landing services. “With CLPS, we are interested in buying a ticket on a ride that’s being provided by industry. (5/8)

Space Traffic Management Policy Debate with DOD Bill (Source: Space News)
The FY-19 National Defense Authorization Act was reviewed Wednesday during a full House committee markup. The bill terminates the authority of the Defense Department to provide space situational awareness (SSA) data to commercial and foreign entities on Jan. 1, 2024, requires DoD to hire a federally funded think tank to assess which department should assume these authorities, and directs DoD to develop a plan to ensure that one or more departments may provide SSA services to foreign governments.

The provision comes out just as the administration prepares to transition space traffic management from DoD to the Commerce Department. Doug Loverro, former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said this language “suggests that Congress is looking for a smooth transition without a break in service.” (5/8)

Approach to Space Traffic Management Shift Uncertain (Source: Space News)
How the Defense Department will transfer responsibilities for space traffic management to the Commerce Department remains uncertain. Last month, Vice President Mike Pence announced that shift, part of a draft national policy on space traffic management pending approval by the president. Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy Stephen Kitay said last week that while the Pentagon was "excited" about partnering with Commerce on that change, he offered few details about how it would take place. Language in the House version of the new defense authorization bill would terminate the Defense Department's authority to provide space situational awareness data to commercial and foreign entities in 2024, language one former official says is a sign Congress wants "a smooth transition" from Defense to Commerce. (5/8)

NASA Programs Stay Focused Amid Budget Uncertainty (Source: Space News)
As the House prepares to take up a NASA spending bill this week, missions threatened with cancellation say they're staying focused despite the uncertainty. A House appropriations subcommittee will mark up Wednesday its 2019 spending bill that funds NASA, NOAA and other agencies. That comes three months after the White House released a budget proposal that called for the cancellation of WFIRST and four Earth science missions. Work on those missions continues with 2018 funding, although a scientist involved in one Earth science mission threatened with cancellation two years in a row said that uncertainty has become "psychologically damaging." (5/8)

Pentagon Picks Kratos and Hughes for Prototype SatComm Systems (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon has awarded contracts to two companies to develop a prototype of a satellite communications network that seamlessly combines multiple systems. Hughes Network Systems won a contract to develop a flexible modem interface that allows military and commercial satellite systems to operate together in the field. Kratos received a contract to show how an architecture that combines military and commercial systems can be effective while also minimizing costs. The Air Force is evaluating how to make more use of commercial systems even as it received funding to build more WGS communications satellites. (5/8)

France Provides Funding Support for Space Startups (Source: Space News)
The French space agency CNES has established a fund to support French space startups. The fund, with up to $120 million available, is intended to spur innovation in the space sector, although the agency has released few details about how the fund will operate. Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of CNES, said in an interview last month that the agency has changed its mindset towards entrepreneurial "NewSpace" companies and wants to find ways to support them. (5/8)