January 29, 2019

Mr Steven Heading for More Fairing Captures Off Florida's Coast (Source: Teslarati)
Iconic fairing recovery vessel Mr. Steven appears to have quietly departed for SpaceX’s Florida launch facilities a few days after completing (successfully or not) one final controlled fairing catch test in the Pacific Ocean. While bittersweet for those that have closely followed the vessel’s development and many attempted Falcon fairing recoveries, this move should ultimately give Mr. Steven around three times as many opportunities to attempt fairing recoveries thanks to SpaceX’s significantly higher East Coast launch cadence.

Mr. Steven appears to have quietly departed Port of Los Angeles for Manzanillo, a port on the southwest coast of Mexico. This is likely Leg #1 of a voyage to Port Canaveral, where he can support #SpaceX's more frequent Florida launches. He'll be missed on the West Coast. (1/29)

Manber: Why NASA Should Consider Advertising Options (Source: Aviation Week)
America’s space program is ripe for bringing the unique creativity in marketing and public communication together with the innovation that is inherently a part of space exploration. Advertising, the right sort of advertising, is being recognized as an option for reducing the burden felt by the taxpayer. In a similar scenario, after great debate, National Public Radio, for example, carefully opened the door both to limited advertising and sponsorship of serious, long-term journalism.

This is not unheard of for NASA and the agency’s astronauts. Remember the media partnership with Time-Life in the early days of the Mercury 7 astronauts? It helped make the astronauts seem real to Americans. Today, as Congress and NASA ask the private sector to put more capital at risk for space efforts, from low Earth orbit to the Deep Space Gateway, it is not unreasonable to consider partnerships with private companies as yet another source of revenue.

World-class organizations and companies like National Geographic, Google, Microsoft and many, many more could be welcome additions as stakeholders. The list of partnerships between government-run programs and commercial organizations is long: national parks, July 4 events on the National Mall, or the renovation of historical sites from Ellis Island to the Statue of Liberty—and even the historic Apollo Mission Control. All have been done without compromise to the basic integrity, brand or civic pride. (1/29)

Camden County Georgia Submits Launch Site Operator License Application to FAA (Source: Spaceport Camden)
Today, the Camden County Board of Commissioners formally submitted its application for a Launch Site Operator License (LSOL) to the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation. The successful submission of the LSOL marks more than three years of work to comply with the detailed regulatory requirements necessary to conduct orbital and suborbital launches from southeast Georgia.

“This is a massive milestone for Camden County,” said County Commission Chairman Jimmy Starline. “To the best of our knowledge, no local government has ever accomplished this feat.” Commission Vice Chairman Gary Blount added, “This launch site operator license application has been a strategic priority of the Board of County Commissioners for several years and we are proud to report to the citizens of Camden County that it has been submitted.” (1/29)

Embry-Riddle Students Build Future of Spaceflight (Source: WOFL)
A team of 20-somethings at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University may soon have a whole new way to get mankind moving through space. The students in the school’s new Engineering Physics Propulsion Lab at the Daytona Beach campus have developed a small, customizable spacecraft that they hope to see launch very soon. The craft is only about the size of a large pizza and would fly unmanned through virtual reality-based controls and autonomous means.

It also contains various removable and replaceable parts so companies wishing to move experiments into space could pack it up however needed. The team also explained that the craft can be configured to fuel itself off of the environment it’s traveling to; using water vapor, atmospheric gas, ice, or whatever is available. The team of students has formed into a startup company called Beyond Ares Technologies so that they can continue development of the craft beyond school and hopefully put it into use. (1/15)
 
Boeing Starts Final Assembly for NASA’s First SLS Core Stage, Work Picks Up for the Second (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Over the past month Boeing assembled the top half of the first Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage in a vertical stacking cell at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. The intertank, liquid oxygen (LOX) tank, and forward skirt were bolted together as the major part of the so-called “forward join” of the new rocket stage.

Final assembly of the stage involves first connecting its major elements into a top and bottom half before a final connection takes it out to over two-hundred feet in length with its engines installed. Once the Boeing production team at MAF finishes installation of remaining plumbing and wiring in the engine section, it will head into the other stacking cell at MAF to start assembly of the aft join. As the first stage comes together, major construction of the second Core Stage is now beginning with propellant tank welding set to begin shortly. (1/28)

Space Force Policies Evolving (Source: Space News)
An independent Space Force could still eventually emerge from proposals being drafted by the White House. A space policy directive to be issued in the coming weeks from President Trump is expected to call for the formation of a Space Force within the U.S. Air Force. However, that directive is also expected to state that this will be a "first step toward a future military department for national security space," and require regular reviews by the Secretary of Defense about the need for a separate Department of the Space Force. Creating the Space Force within the Air Force is thought to be an easier path to win approval from Congress by reducing the costs of establishing it. (1/29)

Long March 5 Returning Aftere Two Year Grounding (Source: Xinhua)
China's Long March 5 rocket will return to flight in July. Yang Baohua, vice president of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, said Tuesday that the next launch of the heavy-lift rocket is scheduled for July, two years after its previous launch ended in failure. If that upcoming launch is successful, the Long March 5 will launch the Chang'e-5 lunar sample return mission at the end of this year. (1/29)

Lunar Sunrise for Chinese Rover (Source: GB Times)
The Chang'e-4 lander is about to start its second lunar day on the far side of the moon. The sun rose at the spacecraft's landing site, Von Kármán crater, on Monday, which should allow the solar-powered spacecraft to resume operations in the next few days. There have been no updates about the status of the lander or the Yutu-2 rover from Chinese officials. NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is scheduled to take images of the landing site using its high-resolution camera on Thursday. (1/29)

Lockheed Martin Sees Revenue Gains From Space Division (Source: Lockheed Martin)
Lockheed Martin reported increased revenues and profits from its space division for 2018. In an earnings statement released Tuesday, the company said its space division had net sales of $9.8 billion for 2018, compared to $9.6 billion in 2017. Operating profit for the division was $1.06 billion in 2018, versus $980 million in 2017. The company's space revenue increased primarily from growth in strategic and missile defense programs, and increased work on the Orion program, offsetting declines in commercial satellite business. (1/29)

Astronomers Push For Ground-Based Observatory Funding (Source: Space News)
Astronomers are seeking federal funding for two large ground-based observatories that could fill the gaps between future space telescopes. The U.S. Extremely Large Telescope Program has proposed $1 billion in NSF funding for the Giant Magellan Telescope and Thirty Meter Telescope in exchange for a quarter of the observing time for each. Astronomers say that program would ensure wider access to those telescopes, scheduled to enter service in the 2020s. Those observatories, astronomers argue, will provide capabilities unlikely to be available from space-based telescopes until a future flagship-class mission is launched, no earlier than the mid-2030s. (1/29)

Rocket Lab Growing in New Zealand (Source: Gisbourne Herald)
Rocket Lab is planning to increase the staff located at its New Zealand launch site. The company currently has 20 employees operating its launch site on the Mahia Peninsula, but plans to grow that to 30 by the end of the year. The jobs available there range from engineers and technicians to "logistics assistant." Rocket Lab is ramping up its launch activity there, with plans to perform a dozen launches of its Electron rocket this year. (1/29)

ISS Columbus Module Impacted by Several Hundred Micrometeorites (Source: Space.com)
A laboratory module on the International Space Station is a little dinged up from impacting debris. A survey of the exterior of the Columbus module, added to the station in 2008, shows several hundred impact craters created by collisions with orbital debris or micrometeorites. The dents don't pose any safety issue for the module, but will help scientists better understand the population of very small objects, less than a millimeter across, in low Earth orbit. (1/29)

Astronomers Push for SETI Respect (Source: Science News)
A small group of astronomers is trying to get the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) taken more seriously. The group, meeting at an astronomy conference earlier this month, is planning to write white papers about searching for "technosignatures" of other civilizations and submitting them to the committee working on the next astrophysics decadal survey, to be completed next year. "If the decadal survey says, 'SETI is a national science priority, and NSF and NASA need to fund it,' they will do it," said one astronomer. Congress hasn't provided funding for SETI projects at NASA for a quarter-century. (1/29)

Luxembourg & Belgium to Develop Exploration & Utilization of Space Resources (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Luxembourg is a pioneer in the exploration and utilization of space resources through its SpaceResources.lu initiative. The Grand Duchy offers a legal framework recognising that space resources can be used and establishing a process for the authorisation and supervision of corresponding activities. Belgium also has a long tradition of legal, technical and economic expertise in the space sector. Belgium has signed five United Nations space treaties including the 1979 Agreement governing the Activities of States on the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies.

Belgium, Luxembourg and other European and non-European States are working within the scope of UNCOPUOS (UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space) to develop an international framework for the exploitation of space resources. Sharing the view that the promotion of private investment in the promising sector of the exploration and use of space resources require the development of such a framework, the declaration signed today is formalizing the intention of both countries to bring this about. (1/28)