September 9, 2018

Air Force Not Sure What to Do About Elon Musk Smoking Weed (Source: Gizmodo)
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk added yet another wearying episode to our multi-month-long Musk news cycle this week by smoking weed on camera with podcast host Joe Rogan, sending Tesla’s stock tumbling and triggering yet more speculation about his capacity to serve as CEO. But the episode may have bigger ramifications over at SpaceX, which is a federal contractor and privy to classified information like the details of government satellites.

Initial reports suggested that the Air Force, which uses SpaceX technology for launches, had launched an official investigation. But according to a report in the Verge, the Air Force actually has no idea what to do about Musk toking up and is still looking for an “appropriate process to handle the situation.”

“It’s inaccurate that there is an investigation. We’ll need time to determine the facts and the appropriate process to handle the situation,” an Air Force spokesperson told The Verge. No worries, Air Force. I know there’s a lot riding on this, so I’ll tell you exactly how to manage this situation: Just relax and enjoy the ride. (9/8)

Tyson: Space Force Mission Should Include Asteroid Defense, Orbital Clean Up (Source: Politico)
The proposed Space Force should be prepared to defend Earth from asteroid impacts and clean up space junk, says leading astrophysicist and space author Neil deGrasse Tyson. The sixth branch of the military recently proposed by President Donald Trump is slated to take on missions already conducted by the military -- such as operating navigation and intelligence-gathering satellites and defending American spacecraft from attacks or orbital debris.

But Tyson, the director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, said he also hopes a new branch will take on the roles of protecting the Earth from asteroids and disposing of so-called space debris that can make orbiting the planet even more dangerous and cause damage to satellites. Editor's Note: This role seems more aligned with the concept of a Space Guard, modeled after the Coast Guard. (9/7)

France to Spend 3.6 Billion Euros to Renew Military Satellites (Source: Reuters)
France will invest 3.6 billion euros ($4.2 billion) to renew and upgrade its military satellites to shield its network from potential spying by rivals, its defence minister said on Sunday. “We will install surveillance cameras on our satellites so we will know who is approaching us,” Defence Minister Florence Parly said on French TV station CNews. (9/9)

China and the Politics of Space Control (Source: SLDinfo.com)
In late August, 2018 the Chinese Foreign Ministry published its position paper regarding the 73rd session of the UN General Assembly, which will run from September 18 and October 5 in New York. In this document, Beijing has again professed concern about the militarization of space—somewhat awkwardly given China’s growing military capabilities in this realm.

According to the paper, “The Chinese government stands for the peaceful use of outer space and opposes weaponization and arms race in outer space.” Beijing has stated this position for years, well before President Trump and others called for a Space Force to better address Chinese threats in the space realm. (9/3)

Are We Starting a Military Space Race? (Source: Town Hall)
Starting? When did it stop? The real question is: who’s paying for it now? Space has just come to the forefront because we now recognize how critical Space has become to our life. Civil space technology is now WAY ahead of our military. Strangely this is more a race between US Venture Capitalists and the Russians, Chinese, North Korea and Iran. The military is along for the ride.

The Space Race has become one where our commercial companies are now developing and providing capabilities at a price that our military can only dream of and foreign country militaries just read about in shock and wonder if it’s all made up as a press relations stunt, right until they have to block it from the internet of their citizens, like Google maps.

Space X and Blue Origin with their reusable rockets have shown us stunning capabilities to retrieve their boosters. Google maps with its extraordinary zoom and search capability did not exist, even in the classified world, the year before it came out to the public in 2005. Neither Russia nor China has even bothered to build this capability, as Google is already there. Baidu maps, from the Chinese search engine, is beyond crappy. (9/8)

Space Man Inspired by 'The Right Stuff' Gets Set For the Second Act He Never Expected (Source: NBC)
After flying in space three times — including as commander of NASA's final space shuttle mission — and spending more than 40 days off the planet, Chris Ferguson hung up his astronaut wings in 2011. But rather than kick up his feet, the former U.S. Navy pilot went back to work — this time in the commercial sector.

Ferguson joined Boeing as director of crew and mission operations, overseeing the design of the aerospace giant's CST-100 Starliner space capsule, which is intended to replace the shuttle. Along with SpaceX, Boeing was awarded a NASA contract in 2014 to develop a space capsule to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station. Click here. (9/9)

Chinese Not Impressed with NASA's Lunar Gateway, Aims for Lunar Surface Base (Source: Business Times)
CNSA deputy director Pei Zhaoyu tweeted his opinion on the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, as it is officially known. It is his opinion that NASA created the LOPG and it was an impressive feat; China, however, will focus on building the first lunar 'scientific research station'-a lunar base on the surface of the moon. The deputy director also seemed to compare the effectiveness of both, with the winner being a lunar base on the moon.

As for the LOPG, the lunar gateway is planned to be finished by 2025. By that time, it would act as a platform for missions involving deep space. It would also serve as a launch pad of sorts for missions involving the red planet, Mars. The components will be sent up in increments. The platform, power, and propulsion elements of the orbital platform will be sent up early next year when construction of the platform is set to begin. (9/4)

Russia 'Tried to Spy on France in Space' (Source: BBC)
The French defense minister says a Russian spy satellite got close to a Franco-Italian satellite last year and tried to intercept its transmissions. "It's called an act of espionage," Florence Parly said. France acted to keep the Athena-Fidus satellite's communications safe, she said. It enables the French and Italian armies to exchange secret intelligence. The US said a similar Russian satellite had come close to two US Intelsat satellites in 2015. A French working group is developing a new strategy for space defense. Ms Parly said major powers were experimenting with aggressive space technologies, so France had to respond. (9/7)

Elon Musk: (Puts Down Bong) 'We're Probably Living in a Simulation' (Source: Space.com)
Elon Musk thinks we're all probably trapped in a "Matrix"-like pseudo existence. The universe is 13.8 billion years old, so any civilizations that may have arisen throughout the cosmos have had loads and loads of time to hone their technological know-how, the SpaceX founder and CEO explained early this morning (Sep. 7) during a long, wide-ranging and very entertaining appearance on comedian Joe Rogan's popular podcast, "The Joe Rogan Experience."

"If you assume any rate of improvement at all, then games will be indistinguishable from reality, or civilization will end. One of those two things will occur," Musk said. "Therefore, we are most likely in a simulation, because we exist." ... "I think most likely — this is just about probability — there are many, many simulations," he added. "You might as well call them reality, or you could call them multiverse." (9/7)

Jupiter's Weird Magnetic Field Gets Even Weirder (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Juno spacecraft has mapped the strong magnetic field at Jupiter, revealing a surprising asymmetry between the northern and southern hemispheres that could lend insight into what's going on within the gas giant. Jupiter hosts the most powerful magnetic field of all the planets in our solar system, cranking out a field close to 20,000 times stronger than Earth's. Juno has braved that magnetic field during the probe's close approaches to the planet since arriving in July 2016; it skims about 2,500 miles above the planet every 53 days over the course of elongated orbits. (9/7)

Air Force Releases New Target Dates for Upcoming Military Launches (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Managers have pushed back the next flight of United Launch Alliance’s Delta 4-Heavy rocket from a launch pad in California until no sooner than early December, and the first launch of SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy for the U.S. Air Force has likely been delayed to some time early next year, officials said this week.

Those missions using the heavy-lift rockets from the two top U.S. launch companies are set to take off amid a series of spacecraft deployments to upgrade the Air Force’s GPS navigation network, expand the military’s secure global communications capabilities, serve commercial customers, and test flights of new U.S.-built crew capsules. Click here. (9/7)