November 18, 2018

Former NASA Administrator Says Lunar Gateway is “a Stupid Architecture” (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA officials have been running a charm offensive on their proposed "Gateway" in lunar space, which would serve as a space station in a distant orbit around the Moon. The agency has proposed this interim step in lieu of returning directly to the lunar surface with humans. The agency has even started talking about the Gateway as a "spaceship," presumably because this sounds more exciting than a "station."

Public criticism of the proposal has been limited to date, in part because so much of the aerospace community has the potential to earn contracts by either helping to build the lunar space station or supply it with consumables once it is up and running in the mid-2020s. However, during a meeting of the National Space Council Users' Advisory Group on Thursday, some of the criticism we've heard privately spilled into public view. One of the committee's members, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, declared that, "I'm quite opposed to the Gateway."

Other members, including the first female to command a space shuttle, Eileen Collins, worried that NASA's timeline for getting humans back to the surface of the Moon seemed really "far off." As part of its plan to develop the Gateway in the mid-2020s, NASA has acknowledged that humans won't return to the surface of the Moon until the end of the 2020s, or 2030. Furthermore, with its focus on the lunar space station, NASA has no definitive plans for how it will set humans down on the lunar surface or how much doing so will cost. Mike Griffin did not mince words: "I think 2028 is so late-to-need that it doesn't even need to be on the table. Such a date does not demonstrate that the United States is a leader in anything." (11/15)

Lockheed Martin Begins Manufacture of Supersonic Passenger Jet (Source: Daily Mail)
Lockheed Martin has begun building a 'son of Concorde' plane that could herald the return of supersonic passenger travel. Officially known as the X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology aircraft, it is being built with NASA to perfect quiet sonic booms that would allow craft to go supersonic over land. Lockheed Martin said the move 'marks a milestone to bring supersonic commercial travel over land one step closer to reality.'

'The start of manufacturing on the project marks a great leap forward for the X-59 and the future of quiet supersonic commercial travel,' said Peter Iosifidis, Low Boom Flight Demonstrator program manager Lockheed Martin Skunk Works. 'The long, slender design of the aircraft is the key to achieving a low sonic boom. 'As we enter into the manufacturing phase, the aircraft structure begins to take shape, bringing us one step closer to enabling supersonic travel for passengers around the world.' (11/16)

Zero G Kitchen Prepares to Launch its First Appliance to Space (Source: HobbySpace)
Zero G Kitchen LLC, a venture co-founded by Ian and Jordana Fichtenbaum, announced today the specifications and timing of the first appliance of its planned ‘kitchen in space,’ an open platform for food development in space and the zero gravity environment. The first appliance is an oven designed to freshly prepare small food items, such as rolls, cookies, patties, pockets and other basic foods for longer duration space travel. (11/15)

SpaceX Puts Spaceflight’s Huge Satellite Extravaganza on Hold for More Inspections (Source: GeekWire)
SpaceX has put the plans for Spaceflight’s dedicated rideshare mission on hold in order to conduct further pre-flight inspections. That means the customers waiting to get more than 60 satellites launched will have to wait a while longer. Here’s the tweet from SpaceX: "Standing down from Monday’s launch attempt of Spaceflight SSO-A: SmallSat Express to conduct additional pre-flight inspections. Once complete, we will confirm a new launch date."

The SSO-A mission, also known as the SmallSat Express, will lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Among the dozens of payloads on SSO-A will be the first satellite designed for what’s expected to be a constellation of Earth-watching spacecraft for BlackSky, Spaceflight Industries’ other subsidiary. This mission is also a milestone for SpaceX. The upgraded Block 5 first-stage booster destined for the launch has flown twice already, in May and August, so this will mark the first three-time booster flight. (11/17)