December 8, 2018

Boeing Backs Out of Global IP Satellite Order Financed by China (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Boeing said Thursday it was canceling a controversial satellite order that was financed by a Chinese government-owned firm, citing default for nonpayment. Boeing’s decision follows a Wall Street Journal investigation this week that highlighted China’s opaque role in funneling around $200 million to the project. Under U.S. export-control laws, Boeing isn’t allowed to sell satellites to China directly. The company faced criticism from national security officials that it attempted to sidestep U.S. regulations on sensitive technology, which the U.S. military relies on.

A person familiar with Boeing’s thinking said canceling the order was a business decision. The person said the company would likely attempt to resell the satellite, which had been nearing completion at a Boeing facility in Los Angeles. On paper, a Los Angeles startup called Global IP was Boeing’s customer in the project. The company was behind on payments for the satellite and needed to raise over $200 million more to complete it. Global IP didn’t immediately respond to request for comment. Its CEO Bahram Pourmand previously pledged to push ahead despite the controversy over China’s involvement. (12/6)

Shingles in Space? Research Probes Immune System Risks to Astronauts (Source: Cosmos)
Scientists have found that as little as a month in space can significantly depress the immune systems of mice, potentially making astronauts susceptible to ailments that their bodies would easily brush off on Earth. But other research, published only a week before, suggests that other aspects of immune function might not suffer as badly from weightlessness as had previously been thought.

A team of French and Russian scientists studied preserved bone marrow samples from mice that in 2013 had spent 30 days in weightlessness aboard Russia’s Bion-M1 satellite. They found that a mere month of weightlessness altered bone marrow proteins involved in the production of B-lymphocytes, the white blood cells responsible for antibody production. The effect was strong enough that it persisted at least a week after the mice were returned to Earth.

In 2016, a team from NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center examined the medical records of 46 astronauts who had spent a total 20.57 years aboard the International Space Station. “The data showed that 46 percent of them faced immunological problems,” he says. Research has found that their immune systems could experience a triple whammy — one from the effect of weightlessness, another from the effect of social stresses, and a third from the fact that research has shown that not only do pathogens easily accumulate in the close confines of a spacecraft or space station, but exposure to space radiation appears to make these pathogens more virulent. (12/7)

Griffin: Pentagon ‘Scrambling’ to Figure Out Space Reorganization (Source: Space News)
At a gathering of space executives and policy experts on Thursday, Pentagon officials mostly sidestepped the Space Force issue. Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Michael Griffin said he was not intentionally dodging the question but he simply does not know when or how a new military branch will be organized.

Griffin was asked about the status of a new agency that DoD is expected to stand up in 2019 to develop and acquire space technologies. “We made that recommendation,” Griffin said of the Space Development Agency, with the goal to “coalesce and restructure space development under one agency.” But he said he had no further details. “I would be getting way ahead of my headlights,” said Griffin. “How things shake out over the next year or two, I can’t predict.” (12/6)

Move Over, Elon: Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg ‘Absolutely’ Would Go to Mars (Source: GeekWire)
Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg often says that the first person to set foot on Mars will get there on a Boeing-built rocket, but at today’s Business Roundtable CEO Innovation Summit, he made it personal. “Would you go?” CNBC anchor Becky Quick, the moderator for today’s panel on trends in American innovation, asked Muilenburg. “I would,” the CEO answered. “Really?” Quick said. “Absolutely,” Muilenburg said. (12/6)

The Rocket Tower Being Built in Tropical Jungle (Source: BBC)
Hitching a ride on an Ariane doesn’t come cheap. It costs somewhere in the region of $100m to launch a satellite on Ariane 5 (the exact costs are rarely disclosed). Recent entrants to the market such as SpaceX promise the same service for tens of millions of dollars less. In response, Europe is building Ariane 6 - a 62m-high (204ft), multi-stage rocket, capable of launching medium and large spacecraft into a variety of different orbits. With its 2.4bn euro development funded by the European Space Agency, everything about the new launcher is designed to be cheaper and more efficient than Ariane 5.

Fitted with upgraded engines and new solid boosters, Ariane 6 will come in the equivalent of regular and supersized versions, depending on the mass and orbital destination of the payload. It’s also getting a brand new launchpad and gantry – a structure the French engineers working on the project affectionately describe as a “moveable Eiffel Tower”, albeit a boxy, modernistic version. (12/7)

South Korea: Promoting Space Industry (Source: Korea Times)
South Korea has taken the first step toward joining the ranks of space powers in the past few weeks. On Nov. 28, the nation tested "Nuri," a 75-ton thrust booster engine that was launched from the Naro Space Center in Goheung, South Jeolla Province. The rocket engine, designed and developed by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), will be used on the three-stage Korea Space Launch Vehicle-2 (KSLV-2).

A week later, Chollian 2, the country's first indigenous geostationary satellite, lifted off from the Guiana Space Center in Kourou, French Guiana, aboard a launch vehicle made by Arianespace. The recent successful launches have boosted Korea's hopes of entering the global commercial space market. Against this backdrop, the Ministry of Science and ICI proposed Thursday to change the nation's space development from state-led to a private sector-centered project. (12/7)

Harris Corp. is Tapping Into the Growing Small Satellite Market with its First Smallsat (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Harris Corporation’s pivot to the growing small satellite market is paying off. The Melbourne-based company has successfully launched and communicated with its first small satellite — called HSAT for Harris small satellite — which is currently in low Earth orbit after launching from India on Nov. 28. The small, briefcase-sized cubesat is designed to offer high-speed satellite communications for defense and commercial customers. It’ll be operated from Harris’ satellite operations center and ground station in Palm Bay.

Harris, which has a long legacy of working on satellite technology as a prime contractor, developed its own small satellite “as an internal research and development initiative, with the goal of publicly demonstrating our capabilities to deliver smallsat missions and reduce risk for our customers planning smallsat missions,” the company said on its website. (12/7)

China's Rover Blasts Off to Make History on Moon's Far Side (Source: Al Jazeera)
China has launched a rover to the far side of the moon in an ambitious bid to become the world's first to explore the lunar "dark side". The Chang'e-4 lunar probe mission blasted off on a Long March 3B rocket from Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China in the pre-dawn hours on Saturday, according to the official Xinhua news agency. The rover is expected to land around the New Year to carry out experiments and explore the untrodden terrain. (12/7)