January 28, 2019

Would a Decadal Survey Work for Human Space Exploration? (Source: Space Review)
The decadal survey has become the primary way that the space science community sets research priorities and identifies missions to achieve them. Joseph K. Alexander discusses how the decadal survey works and whether it could be applied to human space exploration. Click here. (1/28)
 
Blue’s Big Year Ahead (Source: Space Review)
Blue Origin started off 2019 with another suborbital test flight of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle. Jeff Foust reports on the company’s goal to start flying people later this year while breaking ground on a factory that will produce rocket engines for both itself and ULA.Click here. (1/28)
 
Weaponization of Space Will Harm the United States More Than it Gains (Source: Space Review)
Some see proposals to establish a Space Force by the US as a first step towards placing or using weapons in space. Takuya Wakimoto explains why this would be a bad step for both US and international security. Click here. (1/28)

Trump: Another Government Shutdown is 'Certainly an Option' (Source: CNBC)
President Donald Trump said another government shutdown is "certainly an option" as he expressed skepticism that Congress would reach a deal to fund the border wall he requested. Trump also said he doubted he would accept less than $5.7 billion for the border wall, nor would he agree to grant citizenship for "Dreamers" in exchange for wall funding. Trump said he thinks there's a less than 50 percent chance such a deal could be reached before the next government funding lapse on Feb. 15 — which is less than three weeks away. (1/27)

Building Satellites? In Amish Country? (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is known for its lush rolling farm fields and Amish communities — people who still travel the countryside in horse drawn carriages. But could this picturesque countryside also be home to a futuristic space company? Mini-Cubes, a company just emerging from stealth mode, has been working on the development of a new type of miniature satellite called a PocketQube. These powerful satellites are just 50 mm across (about 2 inches) but pack the sophistication of spacecraft much larger in size.

“The PocketQube is a form factor similar to the CubeSat, a very popular satellite concept successfully used around the globe. For example, two CubeSats recently sent images and data back for NASA’s InSight mission to Mars. While the CubeSats have received a lot of attention, the launch costs are still prohibitive for many applications,” said Joe Latrell, the company founder. “But with PocketQubes the costs are significantly cheaper.” (1/28)

Radiation for Dummies (Source: Space Daily)
Meet Helga and Zohar, the dummies destined for a pioneering lunar flyby to help protect space travelers from cosmic rays and energetic solar storms. These two female phantoms will occupy the passenger seats during Orion's first mission around the Moon, going further than any human has flown before. Fitted with more than 5600 sensors, the pair will measure the amount of radiation astronauts could be exposed to in future missions with unprecedented precision. The flight test will take place during NASA's Exploration Mission-1, an uncrewed trip to the vicinity of the Moon and back to Earth. (1/28)

Space Travel May Increase Astronauts' Susceptibility to Cancer (Source: Space.com)
Lengthy space missions such as a journey to Mars may take a serious toll on astronauts' immune systems, a recent study suggests. Researchers analyzed blood samples from eight astronauts who served roughly six-month missions aboard the International Space Station. They found significant negative impacts on "natural killer" (NK) cells, a class of white blood cell that knocks out cancer cells.

"When we look at the function of the astronaut samples during flight compared to their own samples before they flew, it goes down. When we compare them to controls who stayed on Earth, it still goes down," study lead author Richard Simpson said. "I don't think there's any doubt that NK-cell function is decreasing in the spaceflight environment when analyzed in a cell culture system." (1/28)

Brain Condition Linked to Long-Term Spaceflight Needs More Attention, Data (Source: Space Daily)
More people today are poised to explore space than ever before; those who do will experience the effects of microgravity on the human body. Recognizing the need for more data related to those effects, Medical University of South Carolina (MUSC) neuroradiologist Donna Roberts, M.D., and co-author Lonnie G. Petersen, M.D.,Ph.D., University of California San Diego, have published "The Study of Hydrocephalus Associated With Long-term Spaceflight (HALS) Provides New Insights into Cerebrospinal Fluid Flow," in JAMA Neurology's Jan. 23 online publication.

Roberts, who previously published a groundbreaking research study in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2017 on this topic, and Petersen remain concerned about the lack of data describing the adaptation of the human brain to microgravity and advocates for more research into hydrocephalus associated with long-term spaceflight (HALS). "Exposure to the space environment has permanent effects on humans that we simply do not understand. What astronauts experience in space must be mitigated to produce safer space travel for the public," Roberts said. (1/25)

It's Time to Rethink Who's Best Suited for Space Travel (Source: WIRED)
We need the strongest, smartest, most adaptable among us to go. But strength comes in many forms, as do smarts. And if you want to find people who are the very best at adapting to worlds not suited for them, you’ll have the best luck looking at people with disabilities, who navigate such a world every single day. Which has led disability advocates to raise the question: What actually is the right stuff?

"Crip bodies were built for space travel. Crip minds already push the outer limits,” Alice Wong, founder of the Disability Visibility Project, tweeted last year. “We already master usage of breathing apparatuses and can handle challenging situations.” Take, for example, people who use ostomy bags. Right now, pooping in space is actually an important technical challenge. During takeoff, landing, and spacewalks, astronauts wear diapers. While in the space station, they use a toilet that requires a fair amount of precision and training to use.

Or consider movement in space. You’ve certainly seen videos of astronauts zipping around the space station using their arms and legs to push off surfaces and direct their motion. This is a type of movement that people who use wheelchairs and other mobility aids are already familiar with. In fact, the various devices and ways of moving the body in space are likely more familiar to people with disabilities than to able-bodied people. Click here. (1/27)

Private Company Launches "Largest Fleet of Satellites in Human History" to Photograph Earth (Source: CBS)
For decades the U.S. Has relied on spy satellites to look deep inside the territory of its adversaries. These giant billion-dollar satellites take high resolution photographs which can see objects as small as a fist inside Russia, North Korea or wherever the target is. Tonight we will take you inside the intelligence agency where those photos are analyzed, and we will also take you inside a revolution that is rocking the top secret world of spy satellites. A private company named Planet Labs has put about 300 small satellites into space, enough to take a picture of the entire land mass of the Earth every day.

Those small satellites have created a big data problem for the government which can't possibly hire enough analysts to look at all those pictures. Welcome to the revolution. This is how the revolution began. Twenty-eight small satellites sent out into orbit by astronauts from the biggest of all satellites, the International Space Station. We took a satellite that would be the size of a pick-up truck and we shrunk it. We wanted to make it about the size of a loaf of bread. (1/27)

Air Force Space Command Confident Private Companies Ccan Support Military Launch Needs (Source: Space News)
The Air Force is counting on private space companies to build rockets that can lift military and intelligence agency satellites into orbit. Despite recent reports of layoffs at launch companies, the vice chief of Air Force Space Command said the military is confident that the commercial space industry will thrive. Lt. Gen. David Thompson said the U.S. is on the verge of a boom in commercial space, although the health of the industry is “always a little bit of a concern,” he said.

The Air Force years ago decided it will no longer develop its own rockets and instead competitively procure launch services from commercial vendors. Officials recognize that the success of this approach is largely dependent on market forces, and whether there will be at least two strong financially healthy companies to compete for national security launches. “We have companies with some great ideas who have advanced to some level or are looking to advance in the future,” Thompson said. “We are watching that turn from concept to prototype to capability.”

Air Force Space Command will be closely monitoring the progress of three cost-sharing research-and-development contracts awarded in October to United Launch Alliance, Blue Origin and Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems. The three companies collectively received $2.3 billion in Air Force funding to make sure their domestically produced commercial rockets can meet national security launch requirements. (1/26)

DARPA Assembling Team of Blackjack Players (Source: Space News)
One of the most closely watched programs in the military space sector is the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackjack. Led by the agency’s Tactical Technology Office, Blackjack is trying to prove the utility of commercial space mega-constellations and low-cost satellites in military systems. The plan is to take commercial buses and match them with military payloads. DARPA said its goal is to launch a small experimental constellation of up to 20 satellites to test the concept.

DARPA already has awarded bus contracts to Airbus, Blue Canyon Technologies and Telesat. These companies will advance to the next phase, called “preliminary design review” when they will integrate their bus designs with specific payloads. The first two payload awards were made to Raytheon in December and Trident Technologies in January. More awards are anticipated in March. Commercial space companies regard Blackjack as a huge opportunity to break into the military market, and have urged DARPA to not allow Blackjack to turn into a typical plodding Pentagon procurement program. (1/26)

SpaceHorizon Announces Small Satellite Launch Services Portfolio (Source: SpaceQ)
SpaceHorizon today announced its first service, that of a small satellite launch services portfolio, positioning themselves to compete in the launch brokerage marketplace. For SpaceHorizon, a Canadian based launch services company operating out of Ottawa, it is the first step in developing a revenue stream.

Initially the company plans on targeting the Canadian and European markets for payload customers. That small satellite launch services portfolio would see SpaceHorizon provide a full service to clients wanting to launch payloads but without the hassle of dealing with the headaches that come with launch. Payloads would range in size from PocketQube’s weighing in at 250 grams up to satellites weighing 1000 kilograms. (1/22)

Pentagon Sets Up Space Force 'Coordination Cell' (Source: Politico)
Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan established a “coordination cell” last week to put the final touches on the Pentagon’s proposal to establish a Space Force, we have learned. The Space Force Action Coordination Cell will consist of about a dozen key personnel drawn from the department’s policy, legislative affairs and public affairs shops, Lt. Col. Joseph Buccino, Shanahan’s chief spokesman, tells us.

“We are preparing for the rollout of the proposal, finalizing our messaging, and coordinating actions,” Buccino said, explaining that any appearance that the process has slowed down in recent weeks is only because “we are transitioning for a series of decisions to the execution phase.”

“The leadership shakeup at the Pentagon has had no effect on ongoing planning or the development of the legislative proposal,” he added. Shanahan, who as deputy defense secretary was carrying out President Donald Trump’s order to establish a new military branch, ”has maintained oversight of the process.” The proposal is expected to be sent to Congress as part of the Pentagon’s fiscal 2020 budget request. (1/28)

India Switches 'Urgent' GSLV Payload to Ariane 5 (Source: Times of India)
An Indian communications satellite launching next month will go on an Ariane 5 because it's needed in orbit urgently. The GSAT-31 satellite is one of the two payloads on an Ariane 5 scheduled to launch next week. The satellite, Indian space agency officials said, was designed to be small enough to launch on India's own GSLV, but the agency chose to launch it on an Ariane 5 instead since upcoming GSLV launches are already reserved for the Chandrayaan-2 lunar spacecraft and "other important missions." GSAT-31 will replace Insat-4CR, a satellite nearing the end of its life. (1/28)

Perturbations Rock Space Companies As Some Reset (Source: Aviation Week)
By Jan. 21, at least one database from VC firm SpaceFund listed 116 space launch companies alone. And that is in a category of space upstarts deemed both one of the most promising—BIS Research says the global small-launch-vehicle market generated $341.2 million in 2017 and is estimated to grow at a compound annual growth rate of 30.51% through 2028—and yet also limited in regard to the number of competitors.

This begs some questions, which the VC firm acknowledged in announcing its new SpaceFund Reality Rating-Launch Database in January. “How can an investor know which companies are actually real? Which companies have technology that works, experienced leadership teams, and enough financing to see their plans through?” it said.

SpaceFund is trying to figure this out and is asking publicly for help. According to its proprietary scoring, only nine of the 116 space launch companies deserve its highest score of nine points, and they include the Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint-venture United Launch Allliance, as well as SpaceX, Orbital ATK-buyer Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin. On the other end of the spectrum, at least 21 companies garnered a zero. (1/28)

Earth Could Be Crushed to The Size of a Soccer Field by Particle Accelerator Experiments (Source: Science Alert)
Martin Rees, a well-respected British cosmologist, made pretty bold statement late last year when it comes to particle accelerators: there's a small, but real possibility of disaster. Particle accelerators, like the Large Hadron Collider, shoot particles at incredibly high speeds, smash them together, and observe the fallout. These high speed collisions have helped us discover lots of new particles, but according to Rees, this isn't without its risks.

"Maybe a black hole could form, and then suck in everything around it," Rees writes. "The second scary possibility is that the quarks would reassemble themselves into compressed objects called strangelets...That in itself would be harmless. However under some hypotheses a strangelet could, by contagion, convert anything else it encounters into a new form of matter, transforming the entire earth in a hyperdense sphere about one hundred metres across."

That's approximately 330 feet, or around the length of a soccer field. And that's not all. The third way that particle accelerators could destroy the Earth, according to Reese, is by a "catastrophe that engulfs space itself". "Some have speculated that the concentrated energy created when particles crash together could trigger a 'phase transition' that would rip the fabric of space. This would be a cosmic calamity not just a terrestrial one." (1/27)

Duration of UAE Astronaut's Mission on Board ISS Reduced to 8 Days (Source: Space Daily)
First UAE astronaut's length of stay on board the International Space Station has been reduced from 10 to eight days, a Russian space industry source told Sputnik. "According to the new schedule, the launch of the Soyuz MS-15 spacecraft has been moved to September 25, which means that the duration of the Arab astronaut's mission, with the landing date for the Soyuz MS-12 remaining unchanged, will be eight days until October 3, rather than 10 days as was previously planned," the source said.

In July 2018, nine UAE candidates visited Russia for medical tests and simulation training. In September, two of the candidates, Hazza Mansouri and Sultan Niyadi, proceeded with their training in the Moscow Region. One of them will become the first ever UAE astronaut to fly to the ISS. (1/23)

ESA Says There Are 'Big Beasts' Among 20,000 Pieces of Space Junk (Source: Sputnik)
Since the 1950s, humanity has been firing rockets and satellites into orbit around the Earth, but most of this is now "space junk". Dr Holger Krag, the head of the European Space Agency's space debris office, spoke about the problem. The first satellite to orbit the planet - Sputnik 1 - may have burned up and come back to Earth but thousands of other pieces of detritus remain circling the planet, including Vanguard I, which was launched by the US Navy in 1958.

"There are around 20,000 objects in orbit, but only seven percent of those are active, such as the International Space Station. Some of them are the size of a soccer ball but others can be extremely large with a span of 30 meters or more. Most are one or two meters in diameter but there are some big beasts out there," Dr. Holger Krag, head of the European Space Agency's Space Debris Office said. Amazingly they very rarely collide with each other. (1/23)

Colorado-Built Dream Chaser Turning Into Reality (Source: Denver Post)
Production of a successor to NASA’s space shuttle will get underway in Colorado and will be overseen by a former U.S. Air Force pilot and astronaut who piloted two shuttle flights and commanded another three. For the past few years, Steve Lindsey has overseen the design, development and testing of the Dream Chaser, a spacecraft that will be built by Sierra Nevada Corp. at its Space Systems operations in Louisville. In December, NASA declared production a “go” after the craft passed a critical review.

The Dream Chaser’s first trip is scheduled for late 2020 at the earliest when it will take supplies, science experiments and other cargo to the International Space Station. The plans are for Colorado-based United Launch Alliance to launch the craft atop an Atlas 5 rocket from Florida’s Cape Canaveral and for the craft to use the runway there on its return. There won’t be a crew. (1/25)