August 11, 2018

Trump Wants a Space Force — But We Have an Air Force Space Command (Source: Space.com)
President Donald Trump's administration is pushing to form a U.S. Space Force, a new military branch, but how would that agency differ from the Air Force Space Command, which already oversees much of the country's defense assets in space?

In 1982, the U.S. Air Force established the Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) to provide "space capabilities" for spaceflight missions, navigation, satellite communications, missile warning and space control. The AFSPC has units at Air Force bases all over the United States. These units provide space capabilities including "services, facilities and range safety control for the conduct of DOD, NASA and commercial launches" of satellties, according to AFSPC's website.

But if the AFSPC is already dedicated to space, why do we need a Space Force? Michael Dodge, an assistant professor in the Department of Space Studies at the University of North Dakota, likened the creation of a Space Force with the birth of the Air Force in the 20th century. The early version of the U.S. Air Force existed as the U.S. Army Air Corps, an aerial warfare sector of the U.S. Army. But as planes continued to advance technologically and find their way into mainstream travel, "Congress decided they needed to have a new branch of the military," Dodge said. (8/10)

Space Force Logo Push Smells Like Trump Steaks (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The Trump Administration rolled out plans Thursday for the creation of Space Force, a new military branch deigned to keep us from getting blasted into submission by Russian or Chinese satellites. To drum up support, the PAC behind getting Trump re-elected is asking Americans to vote for the logo and offered six candidates.

I’m all for prevailing in an intergalactic war, but something smells funny here. Six designs were sent out via email to supporters by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee. I don’t know enough Space Force and future of intergalactic defense needs to have an opinion. I do find it amusing that, like Trump Steaks and Trump University, the president is turning space defense into a marketing ploy. It’s so… Trumpian. (8/10)

NASA Awards $2.3 Million in Grants to Minority Serving Institutions to Expand STEM Education (Source: NASA)
NASA's Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP) Aerospace Academy (MAA) has selected seven Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) for cooperative agreement awards totaling nearly $2.3 million. The grants will be used to build the interest, skills and knowledge necessary for K-12 students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers.

These selections will increase the participation and retention of historically underserved and underrepresented youth in grades K-12 through hands-on STEM activities. Awardees will receive up to $325,000 for a two-year period. MUREP investments enhance the academic, research and technological capabilities of MSIs through multiyear grants. The MUREP Aerospace Academy provides opportunities for participatory and experiential learning activities in formal and informal education settings to connect learners to unique NASA resources. (8/10)

Rocket Lab Chooses RUAG Space as Preferred Supplier (Source: SpaceRef)
Today, Rocket Lab of Huntington Beach, Calif., an independent developer and manufacturer of small launch vehicles, and RUAG Space, a leading product supplier for satellites and launchers, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) creating a new agreement in the small launcher market, in support of flying RUAG separation systems on the Electron Launch Vehicle.

Rocket Lab, the developer of the world’s first fully carbon composite orbital launch vehicle, Electron, powered by 3D printed, electric pump-fed engines selected RUAG Space as its preferred supplier to provide a 15” microsatellite separation system for future missions of its Electron Small Launch Vehicles (SLV). These adapters connect satellites and rockets during the launch, and ensure a smooth separation in orbit. The new partnership was announced at the 2018 SmallSat Conference in Logan, Utah with representatives from both companies coming together to celebrate the agreement. (8/9)

New Horizons Spacecraft Sees Possible Hydrogen Wall at the End of the Solar System (Source: Gizmodo)
As it speeds away from the Sun, the New Horizons mission may be approaching a “wall.” The New Horizons spacecraft, now at a distance nearly four billion miles from Earth and already far beyond Pluto, has measured what appears to be a signature of the furthest reaches of the Sun’s energy—a wall of hydrogen. It nearly matches the same measurement made by the Voyager mission 30 years ago, and offers more information as to the furthest limits of our Sun’s reach.

The Voyager probe measured a similar signature three decades ago. Recent re-analysis demonstrated that Voyager’s scientists probably overestimated the signal’s strength. But once the Voyager data was corrected, New Horizon’s results looked almost exactly the same.

Perhaps the signal is something else, said Gladstone, but the corroboration of the data at least adds credence to its existence, whether it’s coming from the hydrogen wall or some other feature. Scientists plan to observe the signal perhaps twice a year, according to the paper. (8/10)

Ex-Astronaut: Trump's Plan for a Space Force 'Redundant,' 'Wasteful' (Source: The Hill)
Former NASA astronaut Mark Kelly says President Trump's plan for a military branch with jurisdiction over outer space is "redundant" and "wasteful." Kelly, who participated in several NASA missions to the International Space Station, said during an interview Thursday on MSNBC that Trump is the only person who thinks a "Space Force" is a good idea.

"The only person that I’ve heard say this is a fantastic idea is the commander in chief, the president of the United States," Kelly said. "Everybody else says it’s redundant, it's wasteful." ... "There is a threat out there," he added, "but it's being handled by the U.S. Air Force today, doesn't make sense to build a whole other level of bureaucracy in an incredibly bureaucratic [Defense Department]," he added. (8/9)

U.S. Would Need a Megaconstellation to Counter China’s Hypersonic Weapons (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon admittedly is already five to 10 years behind in the development of an anti-missile system to thwart advanced hypersonic weapons that are now being tested by China and Russia. The good news for the Defense Department is that the commercial space technology boom that is fueling the development of megaconstellations could help the military reach that goal.

The Pentagon is studying options to build a space-based surveillance network to fill blind spots in the nation’s current defenses — which were designed to counter ballistic missiles that fly on a predictable arch-shaped pattern. To detect and track hypersonic weapons — which fly into space at supersonic speeds and then descend back down to Earth directly on top of targets — the answer is a large constellation of small satellites. “Our response has to be a proliferated space sensor layer, possibly based off commercial space developments,” said Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin. (8/9)

New Space Camp for Adults Scheduled for Indiana (Source: Clinton County Daily News)
IN Space Adult Camp is your chance to play like a kid, but use your years of knowledge to create adult experiments to travel to the edge of space. This short, but fun camp starts on Friday evening, at 6 p.m. on August 24 with a BBQ Meet and Greet. Get to know your teammates and plan what you will launch. The day will end at 8 p.m. On Saturday, August 25, we meet again at 9 a.m. and begin predicting, building and launching your BalloonSat satellite. We finish the day at 5 p.m. having recovered the platform and evaluating our experiments. This event will be held at the Frankfort Municipal Airport. (8/8)

Trump’s Space Force Plan Is Already Making the Military Desperate and Dumb (Source: Daily Beast)
The Trump administration's plan to establish a separate branch of the U.S. military for space operations has experts scratching their heads in confusion. The proposal for a so-called Space Force also seems to have inspired a desperate scramble by the U.S. Air Force, which currently leads military space operations, to justify its manpower and funding.

To that end, Carlton Everhart — the general in charge of Air Mobility Command, which oversees the Air Force's transport planes — has proposed a frankly bizarre scheme to boost military supplies into orbit and then drop them to U.S. forces in distant war zones. Experts said the orbital supply runs would be enormously expensive and impractical. "It seems like an answer in search of a problem and willfully misunderstanding how orbital mechanics works," said Victoria Samson. (8/9)

Across the U.S., the Spaceport Race Is On (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Camden County, Ga., played a bit part in aerospace history as home to a 1960s plant that built and tested NASA rocket motors. Now, county leaders want to revive that heritage with a new commercial spaceport. “We can be part of the new space race in the 21st Century,” said Steve Howard, project leader and the Camden County administrator.

Companies like Blue Origin and SpaceX are investing millions trying to lead the way in a space gold rush. The Trump administration has emphasized a growing role for the private sector in space exploration and this week presented a plan for a sixth military branch dedicated to space. Local and state officials across the U.S. are trying to get in on the action.

There are now 10 licensed commercial spaceports in the U.S., from Alaska to Florida, double the number in 2004. Some of them grew out of existing government launch sites. At least two other proposed spaceports are under federal review: Spaceport Camden and Spaceport Colorado. Despite the enthusiasm, the commercial sector is still nascent. Some facilities have hosted only a few launches, or none at all. “I would caution against irrational exuberance,” said Frank Slazer. Click here. (8/11)

The GPS Satellite Praised by Mike Pence for Space Force Is Delayed Yet Again (Source: Bloomberg)
Announcing plans for a new U.S. Space Force on Thursday, Vice President Mike Pence singled out the Pentagon’s “new generation of jam-resistant GPS and communication satellites” as a harbinger of the push to “secure American leadership in space.” But the advanced satellite has been hobbled by four years of delivery delays. And now the launch the first of the new satellites -- originally planned for April 2014 -- has slipped once again, according to the Air Force.

The service said earlier this year that it delayed the launch of the first GPS III satellite, part of a $5.4 billion program, to October at the earliest, from May. The service said it needed to complete final reviews of the upgraded rocket that Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to use to boost it into orbit. That schedule’s slipped again, the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center said in a statement to Bloomberg News. The launch date “has been officially moved by mutual agreement” to December “to complete qualification testing and” one-time validation of SpaceX’s new Falcon 9 Block design, the command said. (8/10)

Expert Says Space Force Essential to Protect Our Way of Life (Source: KABC)
President Trump has officially directed the Pentagon to establish a sixth branch of the U.S. military in space and says he expects it to be in place by 2020. It’s the administration’s third Space Policy Directive, and aims to protect our satellites and ensure American dominance in the final frontier. Retired US Navy Captain and vice president Jerry Hendrix, with the national security consultancy Telemus Group, says it’s absolutely needed to safeguard our way of life.

“United States economy runs through space. GPS, which is part and parcel of everything we do, from our cell phones and figuring out where we’re at, and the idea of the central timing, knowing what time it is, all these things runs through space. US military has been very defendant on space and our enemies, Russia and China recognize that the weak link in the way of war is space.” (8/10)

Why the Space Force Is Just Like Trump University (Source: The Atlantic)
Late Thursday morning, after playing a round of golf and firing off an angry missive about the Russia investigation, Donald Trump tweeted this: "Space Force all the way!" The tweet is a perfect synecdoche for the program in question: short, punchy, and memorable, but ultimately substance-free.

The Space Force and the White House’s rollout for it are the most focused exercises in Trumpian branding the nation has seen since the president took office, a project reminiscent of Trump University. Trump is selling the public one idea-—a glitzy, pathbreaking new wing of government—-and giving it instead a potentially kludgy reorganization of existing government functions.

Such salesmanship is not new for Trump. The branding of the Space Force resembles nothing so much as Trump University. In that program, Trump gussied up a series of drab, clichéd get-rich-quick real-estate seminars by giving it the name and crest of a full-fledged university and promising “handpicked” instructors. It was not a university, nor were the instructors handpicked. In depositions about the project, Trump proved far removed from any of the actual operations. (8/10)

Arrested Bureaucrat Admits to Accepting Bribes in JAXA Corruption Case (Source: The Mainichi)
The former Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology director-general for international affairs arrested on suspicion of taking bribes while on loan to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has largely admitted to the allegations, a related source has disclosed.

It appears that the Tokyo District Public Prosecutors Office special investigative unit will indict the 57-year-old bureaucrat Kazuaki Kawabata for receiving bribes as early as Aug. 15, when he reaches the limit for his detention period. According to the source, Kawabata denied all the allegations against him when he was arrested on July 26, which included taking bribes in the form of being wined and dined by a former company executive. (8/11)

To Train for Mars, Head to Hawaii (Source: The Verge)
The astronauts we send to Mars will be spending a lot of time together. Crews will travel for up to a year in a cramped vehicle to reach the Red Planet, stay on the surface of Mars for several months in a tiny habitat, and then spend up to a year to get home in the same spacecraft they came in. That means Mars astronauts will have to work incredibly well with the same group of people, and they’ll need to quickly overcome any disagreements to execute their mission. It’s going to be tough mentally as well as physically.

So how do you pick the right people who can handle the isolation and repetition of a mission to Mars? That’s where HI-SEAS comes in. Operated by the University of Hawaii, HI-SEAS is an analog Mars habitat located on the Big Island of Hawaii. It actually sits on the side of an active volcano, Mauna Loa, where lava has heavily shaped the terrain of the area. The volcanic rock sports various hues of red and orange, creating the feeling that the habitat exists on another world. Click here. (8/10)

Blue Origin Shows Off BE-3U Upper-Stage Rocket Engine as its Many Efforts Ramp Up (Source: GeekWire)
Blue Origin, the space venture founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, is sharing a short video clip featuring the lesser-known rocket engine for its orbital-class New Glenn rocket. The spotlight on the hydrogen-fueled BE-3U engine comes amid reports that Blue Origin is rapidly ramping up its New Glenn development program — and amid questions over whether Blue Origin can start launching New Glenn by the end of 2020, as originally planned.

The company's main priorities include getting New Glenn off the ground, which will require the completion of development and testing of the vacuum-rated, 150,000-pound-thrust BE-3U engine as well as the more powerful BE-4 first-stage engine, which is fueled with liquefied natural gas and should provide 550,000 pounds of liftoff thrust.

At last report, the BE-4 development effort was hitting its marks with engine qualification due by the end of the year. And in today’s posting to Twitter and Instagram, Blue Origin said the BE-3U has “completed over 700 seconds of test time” (8/10)