June 8, 2018

Inmarsat Rejects EchoStar Takeover Proposal (Source: Space News)
British satellite operator Inmarsat rejected an acquisition offer from EchoStar Corp. of Colorado, curbing hopes that consolidation could reduce an oversupply of satellite capacity. Inmarsat said June 8 that EchoStar’s offer “very significantly undervalued Inmarsat and its standalone prospects.” The company did not disclose the size of the offer. EchoStar, through its Hughes division, and Inmarsat both operate high-throughput Ka-band satellites for broadband services. (6/8)

SpaceX Planning Big Expansion at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
It will be an operational monument to Elon Musk's vision: a towering SpaceX launch control center, a 133,000-square-foot hangar and a rocket garden rising in the heart of Kennedy Space Center. According to plans detailed in a draft environmental review published recently by KSC, SpaceX will undertake a major expansion of its facilities at the space center sometime in the not-too-distant future.

The review says SpaceX is seeking more room and a bigger presence "in its pursuit of a complete local, efficient, and reusable launch vehicle program." The expansion would enable SpaceX to store and refurbish large numbers of Falcon rocket boosters and nose cones at the operations center down the road from NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building.

KSC says the proposed facilities are consistent with its mission to be a multi-user spaceport after the shuttle program's retirement in 2011 and to “support the NASA goal of encouraging activities by the private sector to strengthen and expand U.S. space transportation infrastructure.” Called the SpaceX Operations Area, the facilities would be located on 67 acres of fallow agricultural land west of State Road 3 on Roberts Road and A Avenue, between the VAB and KSC’s Industrial Area to the south. Click here. (6/8)

Bacteria Survive in NASA’s Clean Rooms by Eating Cleaning Products (Source: The Atlantic)
Few places are as hard for microbes to infiltrate as the clean rooms in which nasa assembles its spacecraft. Those drifting in through the air must run a gauntlet of filters. Those hitching a ride on employees find their paths barred by face masks and full-body hooded coveralls. Those that actually manage to land on a surface will find a world of famine and drought, devoid of water and nutrients. If they survive, most will be wiped off when the clean rooms’ walls, floors, and contents are assiduously and repeatedly scrubbed with alcohol-based solvents.

All this is in aid of “planetary protection”—the business of stopping Earth microbes from hitching a ride on our spacecraft and contaminating other worlds. Nasa is bound to this principle by international treaty, and makes every effort to uphold it. After all, stowaway microbes from Earth could confound any attempts to find actual extraterrestrial life on other planets.

But it’s impossible to sterilize surfaces completely. Even nasa clean rooms have their own microbiomes—a common community of super-hardy species that somehow withstand the rigorous disinfection procedures. These communities are dominated by Acinetobacter bacteria, which are typically found in soil and water. While other microbes disappear during the cleaning process, Acinetobacter persists. Now, scientists have discovered one of Acinetobacter’s survival tricks: These microbes can eat the very cleaning products that are meant to banish them. (6/5)

What it Takes to Discover Small Rocks in Space (Source: Space Daily)
Once every month, on average, somewhere on Earth a fireball appears out of nowhere and for mere seconds, casts a blinding flash across the sky before it blows up in a thunderous explosion. It happened last Saturday over southern Africa, where a small space rock disintegrated in the night sky and - possibly - scattered debris on the ground, awaiting discovery by meteorite hunters.

The sky and the solar system are very large, and the field of view with our telescopes is small in comparison. That's why it takes about a whole month to scan the entire visible sky. Other limiting factors are the fact that Earth itself gets in the way, so you can only see certain parts of the sky depending on where you are. Also, daylight prevents us from detecting anything for half the time.

The smallest asteroid we detected was about a meter across. But for such small bodies, the conditions have to be just right. You know how you sometimes spot a plane in the sky that's very far away, but because the sun hits it just right, you can see it glinting? Spotting small asteroids is very similar. The telescope has to be looking at the right point in the sky where the object happens to be just as it becomes bright enough to see it. Just due to their small size, many rocks slip through. (6/8)

New Era of Space Exploration is "Internet of Tomorrow" (Source: Space Daily)
"I would like to be very clear," said Simonetta Di Pippo, director of the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs (UNOOSA). "Space is the internet of tomorrow, [and] countries that do not have access to it will be left behind."

She emphasized the importance of myriad partnerships to "ensure that all countries can make use of the information and wealth generated by space data, space technology, and space applications." One recent success story: the collaboration between the UN and China that will allow the 193 member states of the UN to conduct experiments aboard China's Space Station, which is expected to become operational in 2022. (6/8)

Curiosity Burns Some Martian Rocks and Finds Organic Molecules (Source: Ars Technica)
After more than four decades of searching for organic molecules on the surface of Mars, scientists have conclusively found them in mudstones on the lower slopes of Mount Sharp. A variety of organic compounds were discovered by NASA's Curiosity rover, which heated the Martian rocks to 500° Celsius to release the chemicals.

The finding is significant—for life to have ever existed on Mars there would almost certainly need to be organic molecules to get it started; they're the basic building blocks of life as we know it. And if life did get started, it would have left organic molecules behind. However the confirmation of organics on Mars raises more questions than it answers. Based upon the information scientists have gleaned so far, they cannot determine whether these organics were produced by life, delivered to the surface of Mars by meteorites, or are the byproduct of geological processes on Mars. (6/7)

The Secret Backstory Behind Kazakhstan's Rocket Launch Site (Source: Live Science)
On June 6, if all goes according to plan, three people will rocket into space from a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan that has a fascinating history. The Expedition 56/57 crew includes European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor and Russian cosmonaut Sergey Prokopyev. But Kazakhstan isn't known for its space program. So why does the country have a large space facility known as the Baikonur Cosmodrome? And why are American and European space explorers launching from that site? Click here. (6/4) https://www.livescience.com/62728-history-baikonur-kazakhstan-launch.html

Sucking Carbon Dioxide From Air is Cheaper Than Scientists Thought (Source: Nature)
Siphoning carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere could be more than an expensive last-ditch strategy for averting climate catastrophe. A detailed economic analysis published on 7 June suggests that the geoengineering technology is inching closer to commercial viability. Researchers at Carbon Engineering in Canada have been operating a pilot CO2-extraction plant in British Columbia since 2015. That plant — based on a concept called direct air capture — provided the basis for the economic analysis, which includes cost estimates from commercial vendors of all of the major components.

Depending on a variety of design options and economic assumptions, the cost of pulling a tonne of CO2 from the atmosphere ranges between US$94 and $232. The last comprehensive analysis of the technology, conducted by the American Physical Society in 2011, estimated that it would cost $600 per tonne. “We’re really trying to commercialize direct air capture in a serious way, and to do that, you have to have everybody in the supply chain on board,” says David Keith, acting chief scientist at Carbon Engineering and a climate physicist at Harvard.

Climeworks says that capturing a tonne of CO2 at its Swiss plant costs about $600. Company officials expect the figure to dip below $100 per tonne in 5-10 years as operations ramp up. In the meantime, Carbon Engineering’s paper provides the most detailed look yet at the cost of such technology. (6/7)

Former Astronaut Becomes Spain's Science Minister (Source: Science)
A former astronaut is Spain's new science minister. Pedro Duque was named this week by a transition government as the head of the new Ministry for Science, Innovation, and Universities. Duque, as an ESA astronaut, flew on two shuttle missions in 1998 and 2003, and from 2006 to 2011 ran the Earth observation company Deimos Imaging. The appointment also reestablishes a science ministry in the country after the previous government relegated science to within the economics ministry. (6/7)

Russian Budget Cuts Threaten Soyuz-5 Rocket (Source: Ars Technica)
Budget cuts could jeopardize plans for development of a Russian competitor to the Falcon 9. Expected cuts that could exceed $2 billion over the next three years in the Roscosmos budget could make it difficult to continue work on the Soyuz-5 rocket, which had been billed as a low-cost rocket intended to compete with the Falcon 9. The Soyuz-5 was scheduled to enter service in 2022, but cuts would delay that, and could lead to its cancellation. (6/7)

Champagne Ready for Space (Source: GeekWire)
A French winemaker wants to be sure you'll be able to drink Champagne in space. Maison Mumm Champagne worked with the Spade space design agency to develop a bottle that can dispense Champagne in weightlessness, creating "white, foamy balls of wine." The companies tested the bottle on flights of a French zero gravity parabolic aircraft flight, and hope to offer Champagne on future zero-g flights as well as suborbital spacecraft. (6/7)

Defense Bill Would Increase LEO Satellite Funding (Source: Space News)
The Senate's defense authorization bill seeks to increase funding for a low Earth orbit satellite program. The bill authorizes $125 million for DARPA's Blackjack program to demonstrate the ability of a LEO satellite constellation to perform missions that previously required large satellites while being more resilient to space security threats. The Defense Department sought only $15 million for the program in its budget proposal for 2019, although the Air Force sought an additional $50 million for it on a list of unfunded priorities. The bill also directs DARPA and the Air Force to work with the Missile Defense Agency on how such a constellation could be used for a space-based missile warning system. (6/7)

Startup Gets FCC Approval for MEO Data Relay Network (Source: Space News)
Audacy has won FCC approval for its planned space-based commercial data-relay network. The FCC granted a license to the Silicon Valley startup at a commission meeting Thursday for a network of satellites in medium Earth orbit that will provide communications services for other satellites and spacecraft. Audacy plans to begin providing services in 2020, and the company's CEO said that winning the FCC license will give it access to additional funds from investors and convert agreements with potential customers into contracts. (6/7)

Air Force Space Command Loses Cyber Role to Focus on Space Superiority (Source: Space News)
The Air Force has transferred cybersecurity responsibilities from Air Force Space Command. The Air Force said Thursday that Air Combat Command will now be responsible for cybersecurity work that previously been part of Space Command. The shift will allow Space Command to focus exclusively on "gaining and maintaining space superiority," Gen. Jay Raymond, head of Air Force Space Command, said. (6/7)