December 16, 2018

U.S. Commerce Secretary Issues Spaceport Warning (Source: Aviation Week)
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is growing concerned that American states are pursuing too many spaceports, even as the Cabinet member is becoming one of the leading boosters in Washington for commercial space. (12/14)

Committee Recommends Review of Planetary Protection Policies (Source: Space News)
The NASA Advisory Council has recommended that NASA review its existing planetary protection guidelines to balance the needs of science and exploration, an effort that could set the stage for a similar revision at the international level.

The council, during a two-day meeting at NASA Headquarters Dec. 10–11, adopted a recommendation calling on NASA to establish an interdisciplinary committee of experts to review the agency’s current requirements for preventing contamination of other worlds by NASA spacecraft as well as any contamination of the Earth by materials brought back from those worlds.

“NASA should establish a multidisciplinary task force of experts from industry, the scientific community, and relevant government agencies, to develop U.S. policies that properly balance the legitimate need to protect against the harmful contamination of the Earth or other celestial bodies with the scientific, social, and economic benefits of public and private space missions,” the recommendation states. (12/14)

Musk Beat a World Record for Rocket Launches in 2018 (Source: Business Insider)
This has been SpaceX's most incredible year yet for launching rockets. In 2018, Elon Musk's aerospace company achieved 20 successful launches. Those missions sent dozens of payloads into orbit, debuted two experimental Starlink internet satellites, and even shot a car past the orbit of Mars. The company still has one more launch planned for December.

Musk was feeling good enough about SpaceX's 2018 progress in May that he said the company might "launch more rockets than any other country." That didn't come to pass, since China successfully launched 35 of its Long March orbital rockets in 2018, and the country still has a handful more planned.

But SpaceX did break its own record for the most orbital rocket launches by a single company in a year. The company set that record — 18 launches over a single calendar year — in 2017. (United Launch Alliance held the title prior to that with 16 commercial rockets launched in 2009.) Here's a look back at every SpaceX rocket launch of 2018, and what made each stand out. Click here. (12/15)

A New Engine Could Bring Back Supersonic Air-Travel (Source: The Economist)
Materials are lighter and stronger. Aerodynamics and the physics of sonic booms are better understood. There is also a more realistic appreciation of the market. As a result, several groups of aircraft engineers are dipping their toes back into the supersonic pool. Some see potential for planes with about half Concorde’s 100-seat capacity. Others plan to start even smaller, with business jets that carry around a dozen passengers.

The chances of such aircraft getting airborne have recently increased substantially. General Electric (ge), one of the world’s biggest makers of jet engines, has teamed up with one of the groups of engineers, at Aerion, a company based in Reno, Nevada, to design an engine called Affinity. This, the two firms hope, will be the first civil supersonic jet engine to enter service since the Olympus, designed originally for a British bomber, was adapted for Concorde half a century ago.

The plan for Affinity, once prototypes have been built and tested, is that Aerion’s as2, a 12-seat supersonic business jet, will be powered by three of them. The as2 (maiden flight scheduled for 2023) will have a top speed of Mach 1.4. That is slower than Concorde, which could belt along at just over Mach 2. But he reckons that, unlike the Olympus, Affinity will be efficient at subsonic as well as supersonic speeds, and will meet existing and forthcoming noise and environmental regulations at airports. (12/15)