June 10, 2018

Arizona-Based Vector Launch Busy Ramping Up for Orbital Launches (Source: Arizona Daily Star)
Tucson-based startup Vector Launch has garnered some valuable brand awareness recently, but the time for talk is ending, CEO Jim Cantrell says. The media-savvy Cantrell has been popping up on TV and other media outlets to talk about the company as it works toward its goal of launching mini-satellites into orbit later this year.

Cantrell — a co-founder of SpaceX who is considered an expert on the fast-growing commercial space industry — says good publicity is important, but it’s time for action. Though Vector has successfully launched several suborbital flights, the company’s biggest test to date will come sometime in October, when it plans to launch its first orbital flight from a range in Alaska. (6/9)

Woman Suing NASA in Kansas Over Vial of Moon Dust (Source: LJ World)
A Tennessee woman is suing NASA in Kansas to affirm her ownership of lunar dust she says astronaut Neil Armstrong gifted to her. Laura Murray Cicco filed the federal lawsuit Wednesday seeking to establish her moon dust ownership under the Declaratory Judgment Act of the United States Code, the Kansas City Star reported.

Cicco was 10 when her mother gave her a vial of dust with a note appearing to be from Armstrong, the first man to set foot on the moon and a friend of Cicco’s father. “To Laura Ann Murray — Best of luck — Neil Armstrong Apollo 11,” the note read. NASA has not tried to claim ownership of the dust, but Cicco filed the lawsuit proactively because the agency’s position is that all lunar material belongs to the nation.

Cicco lives in Tennessee but filed her lawsuit in Kansas because of a 2016 case in Wichita where a federal judge ruled in favor of a collector who bought a space bag with moon dust that was mistakenly placed in an online government auction. The bag sold at auction last year for $1.8 million. McHugh also represented the collector. Cicco’s family moved to Cincinnati in 1969 or 1970, where her father, Tom Murray, became close enough friends with Armstrong that the former astronaut signed his note to Cicco on the back of one of Murray’s business cards. (6/9)

Asteroid Rush Sending 21st-Century Prospectors Into Space (Source: Guardian)
In an industrial park in San Jose, California, Grant Bonin is holding what looks like the end of a metal water bottle. It is the casing, he jokes, of his company’s “flying steam kettle”: a propulsion system for small spacecraft that uses super-hot water vapour, heated to 1,000C (1,832F), to produce thrust. The company has sold about 40 to date. “It comes right out of the hole,” explains Bonin, who is the chief technology officer of Deep Space Industries (DSI).

It is literally rocket science, but the ultimate aim of Bonin’s startup is even more audacious: mining asteroids. No private company has even got close to one. One of the main reasons asteroids will be mined in the future, so the thinking goes, is for the water locked in their clay deposits – and one of the chief uses of that water is likely to be as propellant for spacecraft.

Probes and other spacecraft will be able to refuel in space either directly with water, or the hydrogen and oxygen that can be created from it, enabling them to zip around merrily anywhere they want with no end to their useful life. But before the idea of a solar system dotted with gas stations is realised, what is needed are more spacecraft that can actually run on water, which is where selling flying steam kettles comes in. (6/9)

'First Man' launches Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong (Source: CollectSpace)
The studio on Friday (June 8) posted its first trailer for "First Man," director Damien Chazelle's feature film starring actor Ryan Gosling as Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. "A visceral, first-person account, based on the book by James Hansen, the movie will explore the sacrifices and the cost – on Armstrong and on the nation – of one of the most dangerous missions in history," reads the movie's official website.

The trailer sets up the film's focus on Armstrong, his years as a research test pilot and then as an astronaut, building up to what the movie's tagline describes as the "impossible journey to the moon." In July 1969, Armstrong commanded Apollo 11, NASA's first mission to land humans on the moon. Click here. (6/8)

SpaceX's First Fairing Catch Imminent with Plans to 4X Mr Steven’s Net (Source: Teslarati)
Following SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s brief confirmation that the launch company would be quadrupling recovery vessel Mr Steven’s already-huge net, members of the /r/SpaceX subreddit created a rough visualization of what that expanded net might look like once completed.

Based on rough estimates done by the author, SpaceX’s official confirmation that fairings had landed within 50 meters of Mr Steven’s net indicates that the parasailing halves are able to somewhat reliably reach Mr Steven’s net with a margin of error of roughly 0.01% when they really need 0.005% to be caught in the vessel’s net every time. Based on specifications from the vessel’s shipyard, his current claws appear to be roughly 75% the length of the entire vessel, or something like 40m long by 30 to 40m wide.

Mr. Musk appeared to effectively corroborate it by stating on Twitter that Mr Steven’s net would have its area expanded fourfold in order to operationalize fairing recovery: to quadruple the area, both the length and the width of the net would need to be expanded by a factor of two (square) or perhaps 50% width-wise and 150% lengthwise (more rectangular). (6/7)

Carrier Jet with Pegasus Rocket Returning to California, Postponing NASA Satellite Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
NASA and Northrop Grumman officials decided Friday to return a Pegasus rocket and its carrier aircraft from Hawaii to California, aborting a trip to Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean for next week’s scheduled launch of a NASA research satellite to conduct additional testing.

The return trip to California will postpone the launch of NASA’s Ionospheric Connection Explorer, known as ICON, indefinitely. Launch was scheduled for next Thursday, June 14, U.S. time. “The company will return Pegasus to Vandenberg Air Force Base to conduct testing of the rocket after off-nominal data was seen during the ferry flight.

“Upon further review of the data, the teams will work to determine a new launch date,” the statement said. “As always, Northrop Grumman works with NASA to base its launch decisions on assuring mission success for our customer.” (6/8)