May 9, 2018

Europeans Doubt UK Resolve to Develop Galileo Competitor (Source: Politico)
European officials don't believe that Britain is serious about developing its own satellite navigation system. The British government said last week that it's instructed the UK Space Agency to study concepts for its own satellite navigation system should the country be denied access to Galileo signals or further participation in that system's development. European Union officials dismissed the British plans as "completely pointless." That view is shared by some British space experts, who don't consider a British-led satellite navigation system credible. (5/8)

NOAA Seeks Proposals for Commercial Weather Satellite Data (Source: Space News)
NOAA is seeking proposals for a second round of a commercial satellite weather data program. The agency is looking to buy GPS radio occultation data to test its effectiveness in weather forecasting models. NOAA conducted a first round of the program in 2016 and 2017, awarding contracts to two companies, although one ultimately failed to provide any data because of delays in launching its satellites. Under the second round of the program, NOAA will seek more data from companies and make other changes, including the ability to share the data with third parties. (5/8)

Bribery Scandal Could Lead to Consolidation for In-Flight Satellite Broadband (Source: Space News)
A bribery settlement by one company that provides hardware for inflight connectivity services could set the stage for consolidation in the industry. Panasonic Avionics announced last week it would pay the U.S. government $280.6 million to resolve charges related to paying bribes to win business from an unnamed overseas airline. Panasonic provides hardware used by airlines to allow their aircraft to use satellite broadband services. Financial analysts see the inflight connectivity industry as ripe for consolidation given the underperformance of companies compared to the overall market. (5/8)

Sun's Ultimate Death Could Form a Nebula (Source: Guardian)
Something to look forward to: the sun will put on quite a show when it dies in five billion years. Astronomers said Monday that a new model of the sun showed that, at the end of its life, it will become what's known as a planetary nebula, producing a giant ring of glowing gas and dust. Astronomers previously thought the death throes of the sun would take place too slowly to produce such a nebula, but new models show the sun is right at the lower limit of size to generate a nebula. "These planetary nebulae are the prettiest objects in the sky and even though the sun will only become a faint one, it will be visible from neighboring galaxies," said one astronomer involved with the study. (5/8)

NASA Appropriation Targeted at $21.5 Billion by House (Source: Space News)
A spending bill released by House appropriators Tuesday would provide NASA with more than $21.5 billion in 2019. The bill, to be marked up this afternoon by the commerce, justice and science appropriations subcommittee, offers NASA $810 million more than what it received in 2018 and more than $1.6 billion above the administration's request. The bill includes a major increase in funding for the Europa Clipper mission, requiring it to be launched on an SLS by 2022. It also fully funds NASA's lunar exploration initiatives, and provides small increases over the request for SLS and Orion. The bill is silent on science missions proposed for cancellation, including the WFIRST space telescope and four Earth science missions. It restores funding, though, for NASA's education office. (5/8)

Cruz Opposes ISS End in Mid 2020s (Source: Space News)
The head of the Senate space subcommittee said Tuesday he remains opposed to ending the ISS in the mid-2020s. Speaking at the Humans to Mars Summit, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) argued that the ISS should remain operational "as long as there is scientifically usable life" for the facility. The administration, in its 2019 budget proposal, called on ending federal funding of the station by 2025 as part of a transition to commercial facilities in low Earth orbit. Cruz also expressed his support for new NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and suggested Bridenstine will support additional public-private partnership efforts at NASA. (5/8)

China Launches Earth Observation Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China launched an Earth observation satellite Tuesday. A Long March 4C rocket lifted off at 2:28 p.m. Eastern from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed the Gaofen-5 into a sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite is the first developed by China to monitor air pollution, including greenhouse gases and aerosols, using a hyperspectral instrument. (5/8)

Rogozin Booted From Russian Cabinet (Source: Moscow Times)
A Russian official who once suggested the U.S. would need trampolines to access space has been bounced from the government's new cabinet. Dmitry Rogozin was deputy prime minister in charge of Russia's defense and space industries for the last six years, but was dropped from that position when Dmitry Medvedev, prime minister under president Vladimir Putin, named a new cabinet this week for Putin's fourth term. In 2014, Rogozin, threatening to cut off U.S. access to Russian rocket engines and spacecraft in response to sanctions after the annexation of Crimea, tweeted that the U.S. might need to send future crews to the ISS "using a trampoline." Russia's space industry, though, suffered a number of problems during his tenure, including quality issues that led to several launch failures. (5/9)

Made In Space Wins NASA Phase Two SBIR Money (Source: Space.com)
Made In Space has won a NASA contract to develop the next generation of its space manufacturing technologies. The contract, a phase two Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award, covers development of the company's Vulcan manufacturing system. Vulcan is based on previous 3-D printers the company developed for space applications, but is designed to use a variety of materials, including metals, rather that the polymer feedstock used by its existing printers. The company will test Vulcan on the ISS. (5/9)

China's OneSpace Plans Suborbital Launch This Month (Source: GB Times)
A Chinese company plans to conduct a suborbital launch this month. OneSpace has scheduled the first launch of its OS-X suborbital rocket for May 17 from an undisclosed location in northwest China. OS-X will demonstrate technologies for its OS-M1 orbital rocket, which the company hopes to launch by the end of the year. (5/9)

Los Angeles Approves SpaceX BFR Factory at Port (Source: Space News)
The Los Angeles City Council has approved SpaceX's proposal to build a rocket factory at the Port of Los Angeles. The council voted unanimously to allow SpaceX to build a factory at the port for its Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) launch system. Port commissioners approved the plan last month. SpaceX hasn't disclosed when construction of the factory will start, but a company executive said last month that SpaceX expected to start building BFR vehicles there in two to three years. (5/8)

TechFreedom Adds Space Law Expert As GC (Source: Law360)
TechFreedom has appointed its first general counsel, a former senior adjunct fellow at the technology think tank who has years of expertise as a technology attorney and as a pioneer in the practice of international space law, according to a Wednesday statement. James Dunstable became a meme online as the "space lawyer" after he was interviewed by the BBC in 2013. James E. Dunstan has more than 35 years' experience as a practicing attorney in the fields of technology, media and communications and international space law. (5/9)

NASA Supplier Says Rival Is Shirking $3.1M Judgment (Source: Law360)
NASA supplier Advanced Fluid Systems Inc. urged a Pennsylvania federal court Tuesday to step in and force rival Livingston & Haven LLC to start ponying up on a $3.1 million judgment on AFS' claims that a former employee pushed business to the rival. AFS had successfully sued its former sales engineer and Livingston over business that AFS lost with NASA. The court found that among other things, the man undermined a contract proposal AFS submitted. (5/10)

Bangladesh Accepted Risk of Falcon-9 Block 5 Maiden Flight (Source: Space News)
Bangladesh became the first customer for SpaceX's latest Falcon 9 version by chance. Bangabandhu-1 was originally slated to launch on an Ariane 5, but Arianespace could not guarantee that the satellite would launch last Dec. 17, on the country's National Victory Day holiday. The government switched to the Falcon 9, even though it too could not launch on that schedule. "SpaceX wanted us to go on the Block 5 and we were OK with that," Sajeeb Wazed, Bangladesh's honorary adviser to the prime minister for information and communications technology and son of the prime minister, said in an interview. (5/9)

Bridenstine Reassures Mars Advocates (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine assured Mars exploration advocates that the agency still plans to send humans to Mars. Speaking at a Mars conference Wednesday, he said the new lunar-focused efforts of the agency would not come at the expense of Mars. "We are doing both the moon and Mars, in tandem, and the missions are supportive of each other," he said. A day earlier, at an industry day for a commercial lunar lander program, Bridenstine said that the development of commercial capabilities meant that this effort to return to the moon would be different from past, failed efforts. (5/9)

UK Could Build NavSat System 'Quickly and Inexpensively' (Source: Reuters)
One British aerospace executive said that the U.K. could do its own satellite navigation system relatively quickly and inexpensively. Colin Paynter, managing director of Airbus Defence and Space UK, told a parliamentary committee Wednesday that he estimated a British system could be done in four to five years and towards the "lower end" of a range of £3-5 billion ($4-6.8 billion). How that system, being considered by the British government if it is locked out of the EU's Galileo program, would be developed wasn't described, but Paynter said lessons from Galileo's long development would help. (5/9)

Air Force Falcon Heavy Mission Delayed to October (Source: Bloomberg)
The next Falcon Heavy launch has been delayed to October. An Air Force spokesperson said that its Space Test Program 2 mission, the next flight of the Falcon Heavy, was delayed from June "due to ongoing qualification testing and engineering review." SpaceX officials previously said they planned to perform two more Falcon Heavy launches, of the Space Test Program 2 mission and of a communications satellite, this year. (5/9)

NASA Europa Clipper Remains On Track with More Funding (Source: Space News)
NASA's Europa Clipper remains on track for launch in 2022 thanks to additional funding. A House appropriations subcommittee approved a spending bill Wednesday that includes $21.5 billion for NASA, of which more than $500 million would go to Europa Clipper, double the administration's request. The additional funding the mission has received in recent years, project officials said last week, allows them to maintain a 2022 launch for the mission, although the project will wait until late next year before formally selecting either the SLS or a commercial alternative to launch the spacecraft. (5/9)

KSAT Still Frustrated by Canadian Delay for Ground Station (Source: Canadian Press)
A Norwegian company is growing frustrated with delays in securing a license for a Canadian ground station. KSAT has been waiting since 2016 for a license from Global Affairs Canada to operate a ground station at Inuvik, in the Northwest Territories. That license is needed since the ground station will receive data from remote sensing satellites. The president of KSAT said that the company is "quite frustrated" with the lack of action on its application and is considering moving. Planet, which partnered with KSAT on the facility, previously said it would remove its ground station from Inuvik if it did not receive a license by June. (5/9)

Kenya's First Satellite Being Deployed From ISS This Week (Source: African News Agency)
Kenya's first satellite will be deployed on Friday. The First Kenya University Nano Satellite-Precursor Flight (1KUNS-PF) cubesat will be deployed from the International Space Station Friday, after being delivered there by a cargo spacecraft earlier this year. The flight of the one-unit cubesat was arranged by the Japanese space agency JAXA through a United Nations initiative. (5/9)