November 19, 2018

India and Bahrain Link Up for Space Cooperation (Source: Indian Express)
The Bahrain government is likely to sign an agreement with India early next year for cooperation in space technology, a Bahraini minister has said. In February next year, the Gulf nation, hopefully, will sign a pact with Indian space agency ISRO for training and research purposes, Kamal Bin Ahmed Mohammed, Minister for Transportation and Telecommunications, Bahrain, said. (11/19)

U.S. Commercial Cargo Craft Docks at Space Station (Source: Space News)
A Cygnus cargo spacecraft arrived at the International Space Station this morning after a launch Saturday. A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket lifted off from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, Virginia, at 4:01 a.m. Eastern Saturday and placed the Cygnus cargo spacecraft into orbit. Weather delayed the launch by two days. The Cygnus, carrying more than 3,300 kilograms of cargo, was grappled by the station's robotic arm at 5:28 a.m. Eastern this morning and berthed to the station about two hours later. (11/19)

Russian Cargo Craft Docks at Space Station (Source: CBS)
A Progress cargo spacecraft docked to the station Sunday after its launch on a Soyuz Friday. The Soyuz FG rocket carrying the Progress MS-10 spacecraft launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 1:14 p.m. Eastern Friday, placing the spacecraft into orbit nine minutes later. The launch was the fourth for a Soyuz rocket since the Soyuz MS-10 launch abort more than a month ago, but the first for the FG version of the rocket, the same one involved in that failure. The Progress docked with the station's Zvezda module at 2:28 p.m. Eastern Sunday. (11/19)

Virgin Orbit Conducts Captive Carry Flight (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit performed the first captive carry flight of its LauncherOne system Sunday. The company's Boeing 747 aircraft took off from an airport in Victorville, California, with a LauncherOne rocket attached to its left wing and flew for nearly 90 minutes. Virgin Orbit said this flight, the first by this plane to carry a rocket, was "picture-perfect." Virgin Orbit plans several captive carry flights to collect aerodynamics and structural data, culminating in a test where the rocket is released in flight but does not ignite its engines. Virgin Orbit says it now expects a first orbital mission for LauncherOne to take place in early 2019. (11/19)

Nelson Concedes. Scott Takes Florida Senate Seat (Source: Space News)
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-FL), the leading Democrat on space issues in the Senate, conceded defeat Sunday in his bid for a fourth term. Nelson had closed the gap with his Republican challenger, Rick Scott, during a recount, but still trailed by about 10,000 votes out of nearly 8.2 million cast when he conceded defeat. Nelson was the top Democrat on the Senate Commerce Committee and heavily involved with its space subcommittee. While Nelson often worked cooperatively with Republican colleagues, he led opposition to Jim Bridenstine's nomination to be NASA administrator. Nelson, though, later praised Bridenstine for keeping the agency "apolitical" after the Senate confirmed Bridenstine on a party-line vote. (11/19)

China Launches Two Navsats (Source: Xinhua)
China launched another pair of Beidou satellites Sunday. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 1:07 p.m. Eastern Sunday and placed two satellites into medium Earth orbits. Chinese media said that these satellites complete the "basic" constellation of Beidou navigation satellites, allowing service for partner countries in its "Belt and Road" initiative to begin by the end of the year and bringing the system one step closer to full global service. (11/19)

Canadian NorthStar Raises $39.5M for Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
A Canadian company has raised $39.5 million to develop a constellation to monitor both the Earth and other objects in space. NorthStar Earth and Space said the new funding round brought the total raised to date to $63 million and allows the company to proceed with development of its 40-satellite constellation. The satellites will carry hyperspectral and infrared cameras for Earth imaging and optical cameras to collect space situational awareness data. Space Alliance, a joint venture of Thales Alenia Space and Telespazio, will play "a very active role" in the development of the constellation, which is scheduled to begin service in 2021. (11/19)

FCC Ambivalent on Orbital Debris Responsibility (Source: Space News)
Even as they approved new draft rules regarding orbital debris, FCC commissioners raised questions about whether they're the right agency for this issue. At a meeting last week, the FCC's four commissioners voted unanimously to approve a notice of proposed rulemaking to revise its orbital debris regulations. Some commissioners, though, openly questioned whether the FCC should take the lead on this issue. "We can respond by saying, hey, we've got a lot of smart people here, and this isn't rocket science, except it is. It is literally rocket science we are engaging in," said one commissioner, Brendan Carr. The draft rule is now open for public input, after which the FCC will review comments and propose any changes before making it a final rule. (11/19)

Smallsat Alliance Advocates for Government Use of Small Satellites (Source: Space News)
An industry group is trying to counter government inertia regarding the use of small satellites. Small satellites have been hailed as a game changer in the space industry, but the government's slower than anticipated adoption of smallsat technology has been a disappointment for many companies. The Smallsat Alliance, a group of about 40 companies, is advocating for greater use of smallsats by both NASA and the Defense Department. "The rhetoric coming from the Air Force and NASA is fantastic, but it's not translating into contracts," said Steve Nixon, president of the group, during an event last week. (11/19)

Another Billionaire Enters the Space Space, Supports Lunar Mission (Source: Jerusalem Post)
A Canadian billionaire is providing $5 million to support the final development and launch of an Israeli lunar mission. Sylvan Adams is contributing the funding to SpaceIL, a former Google Lunar X Prize team that is continuing development of a lander expected to launch early next year. Adams said he believed that the lander mission will help inspire Israeli students to pursue science and technology careers, a major focus of the SpaceIL project. Morris Kahn, a businessman who contributed $30 million to the project, said that he believed Adams' donation would help them raise the final, unspecified funding needed to finish and launch the mission. (11/19)

Kepler Officially Turned Off (Source: Space.com)
NASA has formally shut off the Kepler spacecraft. The agency said Friday it transmitted the final commands to the spacecraft late Thursday, instructing it to shut down its transmitters and disable safety modes that could cause it to inadvertently turn back on. NASA announced last month that Kepler had exhausted its fuel, ending its mission to search for exoplanets. The commands were sent, by coincidence, on the 388th anniversary of the death of the spacecraft's namesake, astronomer Johannes Kepler. (11/19)

Chinese Air Force Plans to Expand Presence in Outer Space (Source: Space Daily)
The Chinese People's Liberation Army Air Force intends to increase its presence in space as part of a plan to create world-class strategic aviation, the Chinese Defense Ministry said in a statement. "At the first stage - until 2020 - [it is planned] to create strategic aviation, proceed with the construction of the strategic aviation's structure, which will have integrated capabilities in the air and outer space and balanced capabilities both in defensive and offensive operations," the statement said. (11/14)

Space, Lasers, Hypersonic Missiles Rank High for U.S. Missile Defense Research (Source: Space Daily)
Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, and former head of NASA, Michael Griffin told attendees at a missile defense event Tuesday that the U.S. was making good progress on directed energy weapons for missile defense, but that threats from hypersonic missiles and enemy space denial efforts still require a lot of work.

While all three areas have not been newly elevated on the list of priorities, they are at different points of research while carrying equal importance for national defense, Griffin told attendees at the CSIS Missile Defense Project on Tuesday morning. Griffin said that though the attitude among many analysts still runs towards an axiom of "lasers are the weapon of the future and always will be," the United States has already developed lasers of military utility and will be investing heavily in scaling up laser range and power.

"In onesies and twosies we can field 10kw," Griffin said, referring to the power output of available lasers and how they can currently be fielded in small numbers. He said that that directed energy weapons utilizing lasers or microwaves were going to be the only viable long-term countermeasure against enemy "swarm" attacks using missiles, drones and small boats. "I see no kinetic way of doing that effectively," Griffin said in regard to conventional weapons like guns and missiles. (11/13)

Trump Says North Korea Missile Work 'Normal' (Source: Space Daily)
President Donald Trump said Tuesday that the United States was aware of undeclared North Korean missile bases revealed by US researchers but insisted all was fine. "We fully know about the sites being discussed, nothing new -- and nothing happening out of the normal," Trump, who is seeking a second summit with North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, wrote on Twitter.

"I will be the first to let you know if things go bad!" he said. Researchers at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a prominent Washington think tank, on Tuesday said that satellite imagery had found 13 missile bases undeclared by North Korea. The bases can be used to hide mobile, nuclear-capable missiles, the study said, warning that North Korea could preserve the sites -- and the ability to attack -- even as it negotiates with Trump on a potentially landmark accord. (11/13)

Former SpaceX, Virgin Galactic Leader Joins Relativity Space (Source: Via Satellite)
Relativity Space, a 3D printing rocket startup, recently made a notable executive hire. Brandon Pearse, who previously held roles at Virgin Galactic and SpaceX, is now Relativity Space’s Vice President (VP) of avionics and integrated software. According to Relativity Space Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Tim Ellis, Brandon Pearce has impressive avionics development and flight experience. He helped develop avionics at Space X, starting with the SpaceX Falcon 1, and led the avionics hardware team through Falcon 9 v1.0, Falcon 9 v1.1, and the Dragon capsule that docked with the International Space Station (ISS).  (11/13)

Musk Hints at Further Changes in BFR Design (Source: Space News)
Two months after he unveiled a revised design for SpaceX’s next-generation launch system, Elon Musk suggested that the company is making more changes to the design. In a series of tweets Nov. 17, Musk said that SpaceX was no longer pursuing an upgrade to its existing Falcon 9 vehicle that would make the vehicle’s second stage reusable. The company’s focus, he said, would instead be on speeding up work on SpaceX’s heavy-lift reusable launch vehicle formally known as Big Falcon Rocket, or BFR.

“Accelerating BFR instead,” Musk said. “New design is very exciting! Delightfully counter-intuitive.” Asked by another Twitter user if he was referring to the company’s latest design, released in September, or other changes, Musk responded, “Radical change,” without elaboration. (11/17)

NASA Will Retire its New Mega-Rocket if SpaceX or Blue Origin Can Safely Launch its Own Powerful Rockets (Source: Business Insider)
NASA is building a giant rocket ship to return astronauts to the moon and, eventually, ferry the first crews to and from Mars. But agency leaders are already contemplating the retirement of the Space Launch System (SLS), as the towering and yet-to-fly government rocket is called, and the Orion space capsule that'll ride on top.

NASA is anticipating the emergence of two reusable, and presumably more affordable, mega-rockets that private aerospace companies are creating. Those systems are the Big Falcon Rocket (BFR), which is being built by Elon Musk's SpaceX; and the New Glenn, a launcher being built by Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin. "I think our view is that if those commercial capabilities come online, we will eventually retire the government system, and just move to a buying launch capacity on those [rockets]," said Stephen Jurczyk, NASA's associate administrator. (11/17)

Supersonic Bizjets May Attract Pentagon Interest (Source: Defense One)
Three teams are pursuing latter-day SSTs. The U.S. military might have use for them. If supersonic passenger jets return to the skies, the U.S. military might find a few reasons to lease or even buy a few. More than 15 years after the last flight of the Concorde — the passenger jet that flew at just over Mach 2 — NASA and two private companies, Aerion Supersonic and Boom Supersonics, are leading independent teams vying to accelerate passengers past the speed of sound by the mid-2020s.

This may be of interest to the Pentagon for a few reasons, said Richard Aboulafia, vice president of the Teal Group Association. A supersonic passenger jet could help hostage-rescue or combat-search-and-rescue teams get on scene in a hurry, or bring senior officials in to help resolve a crisis, Aboulafia said. “Very few people realize that hostage rescue and other high-value assets need to be deployed at the same speed we all travel on Southwest,” Aboulafia said. (11/13)