February 12, 2019

Retired Astronaut Mark Kelly Running for U.S. Senate as Democrat in Arizona (Source: Arizona Republic)
Mark Kelly, the retired astronaut and husband of former Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, launched his campaign to run for the U.S. Senate seat once occupied by the late John McCain. Kelly is the first Democrat to enter the field ahead of 2020 and is widely seen as a formidable candidate given his biography and likely ability to raise the millions of dollars needed to take on the GOP's incumbent candidate, Sen. Martha McSally.

McSally was appointed to the seat by Gov. Doug Ducey late last year and it is unclear if she will face a competitive primary challenger as she did in 2018. McSally lost her run for the Senate last year to Democrat Kyrsten Sinema and, although she is seen as vulnerable by more liberal groups, this time she will be running as a sitting senator. During a phone interview from his home in Tucson, Kelly offered a glimpse of the type of campaign he hopes to run. Like Sinema did in 2018, Kelly is casting himself as an almost apolitical figure who can work in a cooperative spirit, even in today's hyper-partisan environment. (2/12)

Expect a Boom in the Business of Supersonic Flight (Source: Marketplace)
The thing about high-speed flights is that there has been talk of hypersonics and developments which are beyond Mach 5. But Boom Supersonic, a startup company in Colorado, is saying that rather than any dramatic step into sort of "Star Trek" territory, it's looking at supersonic flight that is actually doable today. After all, it's been 50 years since Concorde technology really was brought to bear on the problem. So in all that time there have been so many new developments and structures and systems.

Companies like Japan Airlines and Virgin Atlantic have both provisionally signed up and said, "Yes, we'll take it if you can build it." The initial market will almost certainly be led by the business aircraft users, the high-net-worth individuals or corporations. But the overall target is the people who would normally fly in the front end of your average trans-Atlantic or trans-Pacific airliner. (2/12)

How Fast-Shifting North Magnetic Pole Will Affect Humanity (Source: Sputnik)
Knowing the location of the magnetic north pole is crucial to navigation systems containing magnetic compasses. For this reason, scientists have developed the World Magnetic Model, a representation of the earth's magnetic field, which allows magnetic north to be precisely fixed. An updated version of the model is released every five years. The next release was scheduled for late 2019, but recent shifts have prompted scientists to roll out the update earlier this month.

According to Dr. Byrne, "these maps are used for all kinds of things including navigation of aircraft, of military vehicles, for understanding where people are on Earth. Honestly, this doesn't make a huge difference to people who are not living very close to the pole. It really only effects folks who are really close to the magnetic north pole." He adds that navigation apps "are going to take on more of this updated magnetic field map and as a result of that, users won't see any difference themselves using their phones, they're good." (2/12)

New SpaceX Raptor Engine Beats the Chamber Pressure of Russia’s RD-180 Engine, According to Musk (Source: Universe Today)
2019 has been shaping up to be an interesting year for SpaceX and its founder, Elon Musk. After completing work on the miniaturized version of the Starship (Starship Alpha or “Starship hopper”) over the holidays, SpaceX moved ahead with the test-firing of its new Raptor engine in late January/early February. In accordance with Musk’s vision, these engines will give the Starship the necessary thrust to reach the Moon and Mars.

The test-firing took place at SpaceX’s Rocket Development and Test Facility, located just outside of McGregor, Texas. As Musk recently tweeted, the tests went very well, achieving the thrust necessary for both the Starship and its first-stage booster, the Super-Heavy. Musk also claimed that the engine broke the previous record for combustion chamber pressure, which was established by the Russian RD-180.

The RD-180 was the product of the Soviet-era Energia rocket program, which sought to create a super-heavy launch vehicle that would take the reusable Buran spacecraft (Russia’s version of the Space Shuttle) into orbit. While the program was discontinued, the engine survived and was even imported to the US, where it became part of Lockheed Martin’s Atlas III rocket and United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V. (2/11)

Techstars and Starburst Unveil Space Startup Accelerator (Source: Space News)
Starburst Aerospace and Techstars announced plans Feb. 12 to begin accepting applications for a new space-focused accelerator based in Los Angeles and backed by the U.S. Air Force, NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, SAIC and Israel Aerospace Industries.

The Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator is scheduled to review applications and announce the selection in May of ten companies to participate in the three-month program. Each participant will receive a $120,000 investment and the opportunity to work with mentors who have space technology experience as well as executive mentors to help them prepare business plans and strategies, said Matt Kozlov, managing director of the Techstars Starburst Space Accelerator. (2/12)

NASA's Faraway Space Snowman Has Flat, Not Round, Behind (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The faraway space snowman visited by NASA last month has a surprisingly flat — not round — behind. New photos from the New Horizons spacecraft offer a new perspective on the small cosmic body 4 billion miles away. The two-lobed object, nicknamed Ultima Thule, is actually flatter on the backside than originally thought, according to scientists. When viewed from the front, Ultima Thule still resembles a two-ball snowman. But from the side , the snowman looks squashed, sort of like a lemon and pie stuck together, end to end. (2/11)

Egypt to Host African Space Agency's Headquarters (Source: Space Daily)
Egypt has won the bid to host the headquarters of the African Space Agency, with the decision due to be endorsed at the next week's African Union (AU) summit in the Ethiopian capital, the Egyptian Foreign Ministry announced on 8 February. The decision was made by the Executive Council of the African Union, and will be endorsed by the African leaders at a February 11 summit. The statement added that Nigeria and Ethiopia were among the main competitors for the bid to host the agency's headquarters. (2/11)

New Research Opportunities on International Space Station (Source: Space Daily)
European research has been a part of the International Space Station since the very first expeditions to our orbiting science facility in 2001. "ESA regularly announces new research opportunities to conduct experiments that are out-of-this world. We are very pleased to be able to offer these new opportunities from the Life as well as Physical Sciences area that will hopefully unveil exciting discoveries," says Jennifer Ngo-Anh, ESA's head of human spaceflight research.

Astronauts have generally spent six months on the Space Station in the last few years but the international partners that run the research platform are looking to do more one-year missions as well as short-duration missions. With new flight opportunities on the horizon for astronauts on both longer and shorter flights ESA is looking for experiments that can be conducted in two months or less.

Investigating how the human body adapts to life in space is crucial to better understanding the complexities of exploring our Solar System. European research discovered that at a cellular level it only takes 42 seconds for organisms to return to normal after being exposed to weightlessness. Why this amount of time and what processes are involved remain open questions - especially when it comes to the entire human body. ESA has an electromagnetic levitator in Europe's Columbus space laboratory that can heat and solidify metals as they float in weightlessness. Removing gravity and the metal's container from the equation allows researchers to investigate the processes of how metals form in greater detail. (2/11)

Refabricator to Recycle, Reuse Plastic Installed on Space Station (Source: Space Daily)
The first integrated recycler and 3D printer was successfully installed onboard the International Space Station into the station's experiment racks. This technology demonstration, called a Refabricator, will turn plastic materials of various sizes and shapes into feedstock used to 3D print items. The entire process happens in a single automated machine about the size of a mini refrigerator.

"The Refabricator is key in demonstrating a sustainable model to fabricate, recycle and reuse parts and waste materials on extended space exploration missions," said Niki Werkheiser, manager of in-space manufacturing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The Refabricator was developed and built by Tethers Unlimited, Inc. for NASA's in-space manufacturing project at Marshall with funding from NASA's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. (2/11)

Spaceflight to Launch First Privately Funded Lunar Lander (Source: Space Daily)
Spaceflight Inc has announced it will launch two payloads on its first rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The mission is scheduled for no earlier than mid-February 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching from Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The primary payload on the mission is a telecommunications satellite for the South East Asia region. It was built by SSL, a Maxar Technologies company, which also procured the launch vehicle.

Spaceflight will manage the launch of the two secondary payloads, Israeli non-profit SpaceIL's lunar lander, and the U.S. Air Force Research Lab's (AFRL) experimental small satellite, S5. This will be Spaceflight's first mission beyond Lower Earth Orbit (LEO) and its first combined launch with SSL. In addition to securing capacity aboard the launch vehicle, Spaceflight is handling all the mission management and integration services for the lunar lander. (2/12)

Developing a Flight Strategy to Land Heavier Vehicles on Mars (Source: Space Daily)
The heaviest vehicle to successfully land on Mars is the Curiosity Rover at 1 metric ton, about 2,200 pounds. Sending more ambitious robotic missions to the surface of Mars, and eventually humans, will require landed payload masses in the 5- to 20-ton range. To do that, we need to figure out how to land more mass. That was the goal of a recent study.

Normally, when a vehicle enters the Mars atmosphere at hypersonic speeds of about Mach 30, it slows down quickly, deploys a parachute to slow down more then uses rocket engines or air bags to finish the landing. "Unfortunately, parachute systems do not scale well with increasing vehicle mass. The new idea is to eliminate the parachute and use larger rocket engines for descent," said Zach Putnam at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. (2/12)

NASA Safety Panel Urges Caution As Flights Near (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA’s independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) is sounding an urgent note as the agency’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) prepares for test flights of SpaceX and Boeing vehicles intended to restore the U.S. human launch capability lost when the space shuttle was retired in 2011. The nine-member ASAP, which includes some former astronauts, addressed 11 areas of concern in its latest annual report, released publicly late last week.

The panel stressed that NASA must not lose its edge when it comes to rigorous hard and software testing as it moves from the development to the flight phases of new initiatives intended to transition human low Earth orbit operations to the private sector. This will free the agency to lead commercial and international partners toward a sustained human return to the Moon and future exploration of Mars and other deep-space destinations.

Given the upcoming missions involving the CCP’s SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing CST-100 Starliner as well as NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion, the ASAP calls on policymakers to review and revise as necessary provisions of the agency’s 2005 Authorization act that call on the White House to rapidly establish a nonpartisan panel of experts to investigate any U.S. spaceflight tragedy involving loss of life. (2/11)

Efforts to Preserve Historic Sites at Cape Canaveral Underway (Source: WESH)
The site of historic rocket launches is also the home of ancient artifacts. Archaeologists digging at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station are finding evidence that people lived there as far back as 500 B.C. Thousand-year-old pottery shards and ancient shell tools tell the story. The Air Force wants to preserve the history at the 1,300-acre base. Students and scientists from UCF and USF are digging and laser-mapping both the ancient past and recent past. Even the 60-year-old launch pads are a part of history now, and part of the preservation work. The work has a sense of urgency. The scientists say higher sea levels caused by climate change could start washing away this history within 25 years. (2/11)

SpaceX Launch Certification to Face Review by Pentagon Watchdog (Source: Bloomberg)
The Pentagon’s inspector general said it will begin an evaluation of the Air Force’s certification of SpaceX’s primary launch vehicles, the Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, years after a legal fight led to a victory for the company founded by Elon Musk. “Our objective is to determine whether the U.S. Air Force complied with the Launch Services New Entrant Certification Guide when certifying the launch system design for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle-class SpaceX Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles,” the inspector general said in a memo to Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson sent on Monday.

The Air Force’s certification of SpaceX in 2015 allowed the company take on military payloads, bringing competition to the field of space launches that was dominated by United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between top defense contractors Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. At the time, Musk said he was getting into the launch business in part to end a monopoly on military space launches.

The review will begin this month, the memo said, and will be undertaken at the Space and Missile Systems Center in El Segundo, California. The memo didn’t give a reason for what prompted the evaluation. SpaceX officials declined to comment. The Air Force certified SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket to carry military satellites after a bitter feud between Musk and the service. As a result, SpaceX agreed to drop a lawsuit challenging U.S. contracts for military satellite launches awarded to the ULA joint venture. Since the certification, SpaceX has won two competitions against ULA, including the job to launch the nation’s first GPS III satellite, which occurred in December. (2/11)

Revised Soyuz Schedule Could Accommodate NASA Commercial Crew Certification (Source: Sputnik)
A revised schedule of Soyuz missions could give NASA more time to certify commercial crew vehicles. A Russian industry source claimed that NASA and Roscosmos are planning to stretch out two upcoming missions to the ISS so that astronauts Nick Hague and Drew Morgan would spend nine months each, instead of the usual six, on the ISS. That would ensure that there was at least one NASA astronaut on the ISS through April 2020, about three to four months longer than prior plans. That revised schedule would provide breathing room for commercial crew test flights currently scheduled for this summer but widely expected to slip to later this year. (2/12)

Telesat Bidders Consider Canadian Manufacture (Source: Space News)
The companies bidding on Telesat's broadband constellation are considering setting up manufacturing operations in Canada. Airbus and a Maxar-Thales Alenia team are the finalists for the contract to build the Telesat LEO system that would ultimately feature nearly 300 satellites. The two teams said they're exploring options to produce the satellites in Canada as an incentive to Ottawa-based Telesat. A final decision is expected from Telesat later this year. (2/12)

Chile Considers Commercial Satellite Reconnaissance (Source: Space News)
Chile is considering a more commercial approach to replacing its existing reconnaissance satellite. The Chilean Air Force's Logistic Command released a request for information (RFI) to selected companies last week, saying it is willing to spend up to $200 million for what would amount to part-time ownership of a commercial Earth observation satellite capable of collecting images with a ground resolution of 0.5 meters or better. The system would replace FASat-Charlie, its existing reconnaissance satellite that was the best in the region until the launch of PeruSat-1 in 2016. Airbus and Lockheed Martin confirmed that they received the RFI, while Ball Aerospace and Maxar Technologies are also thought to be considered by Chile. (2/12)

JWST Lost Four Days of Processing During Shutdown (Source: Space News)
NASA is downplaying any additional delay for the James Webb Space Telescope that might have been caused by the recent government shutdown. The mission's spacecraft element, which includes the bus and sunshield, recently completed acoustic and vibration tests at Northrop Grumman, but neither NASA nor the company provided an update on the mission's schedule.

During a town hall meeting last week, Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science, said that work on JWST continued for all but four days during the shutdown, and that it and other "excepted" missions will not see any significant changes to their launch readiness dates. There will be delays, though, for the release of grant solicitations and announcements of opportunity for future missions, like the next Discovery-class planetary science mission. (2/12)

Space Force Budgeting Starts Small (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon is expected to request only a modest amount of money for the Space Force and related agencies in its fiscal year 2020 budget request. Draft documents call for $270 million for a Space Force headquarters and standing up the Space Development Agency and U.S. Space Command. Should Congress authorize the formation of a Space Force, the Defense Department will transfer additional resources from the Air Force to the Space Force in 2021, and from the Army and Navy in later years. (2/12)

A Very Relatable Moment on the International Space Station (Source: The Atlantic)
Accidents happen during home-improvement projects, even in space. The mishap unfolded on the International Space Station, which orbits about 250 miles above Earth, circling the planet every hour and a half. Earlier this month, NASA astronauts had gathered in the bathroom to install a pair of stalls for an extra enclosure that would provide some more privacy. As they worked, they twisted off a metal bit that connects a water unit to a hose that astronauts use for toothbrushing, bathing, and other hygiene routines. And that’s when two and a half gallons of water came bursting out.

The crew responded as they would on Earth: They grabbed a bunch of towels and scrambled to mop up the water. They attached a new bit to the unit and completed their work. The incident was detailed in one of NASA’s daily dispatches that describe events on the ISS. History has treated astronauts as nearly mythical figures, but their day-to-day activities are usually quite tedious. The thought of them frantically trying to stop a leak in the bathroom makes them wonderfully relatable. (2/12)

FAA Certificate Offers New Details on Stratolaunch’s Plans for Test Flights of World’s Largest Aircraft (Source: GeekWire)
The FAA has cleared the world’s largest airplane for takeoff — but it’s not yet clear exactly when Stratolaunch, the aerospace venture founded by the late Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, will put the plane in the air. Stratolaunch’s unique aircraft, code-named Roc, measures 385 feet from wingtip to wingtip, longer than three Boeing 737s lined up end to end. The company hopes to win full FAA certification for the Roc and use it for airborne rocket launches as soon as next year.

Scaled Composites, the California-based company that built the Roc for Stratolaunch, told the FAA last August that the aircraft was ready for inspection. Ten days after that inspection, the FAA issued an experimental airworthiness certificate clearing the way for flight tests at Mojave Air and Space Port in California. Scaled told the FAA that this “envelope expansion flight testing” would involve approximately 15 flights over 40 hours. The certificate does not allow commercial operation. (2/11)

Exolaunch Plans Ambitious Launch Campaign (Source: Space News)
Exolaunch, the German launch services provider formerly called ECM-Space, is preparing its most complex small satellite cluster to date. This spring or summer, Exolaunch plans to send 40 small satellites, including a 16-unit cubesat for in-space transportation startup Momentus, into orbit on a Russian Soyuz rocket. The cluster includes satellites from the U.S., U.K., Canada, Germany, Finland, France, Spain, Sweden, Israel, Australia, Russia, Ecuador, Thailand, Estonia and the Czech Republic.

Since its first launch in 2013, Exolaunch, a spinoff of the Technical University of Berlin, has helped send 54 satellites into orbit, ranging in size from one-quarter of a single cubesat to a 110-kilogram small satellite. In 2019, Exolaunch plans to send more than 60 cubesats and microsatellites into space on multiple launch vehicles. To date, Exolaunch has sent cubesats and microsatellites to orbit on Soyuz rockets. (2/11)

Building a Better Booster (Source: Space Review)
Northrop Grumman recently tested a new solid rocket booster that will be used on ULA’s Atlas and Vulcan rockets. Jeffrey L. Smith, in the first of a two-part article, describes the development of that booster and the technical challenges involved. Click here. (2/11)
 
A Helping Hand for Giant Telescopes (Source: Space Review)
Besides planning for future space telescopes, the 2020 astrophysics decadal survey will also examine proposals for future ground-based telescopes. Jeff Foust reports on one effort to win federal funding to ensure open access to two large observatories planned for completion in the 2020s. Click here. (2/11)
 
A Space-Focused Alternative to a Green New Deal (Source: Space Review)
Proposals by those seeking to address climate change and other environmental problems, such as the Green New Deal, make little use of space-based resources or other capabilities. Taylor Dinerman argues that space can benefit the environment without jeopardizing growth. Click here. (2/11) 

Mars One Goes Bankrupt (Source: Space News)
The company that was to finance Mars One has been liquidated, dealing a severe setback to the venture’s quixotic goals of one-way human missions to Mars. Mars One Ventures AG, the commercial arm of the overall Mars One effort, was liquidated in a Jan. 15 case in a civil court in the Swiss canton of Basel-Stadt, according to a Jan. 16 filing by the canton’s commercial register. The filing offered little information about the bankruptcy case or how the company was liquidated. Bas Lansdorp, founder of Mars One, confirmed that the company was bankrupt, but provided few additional details.

Mars One has an unusual structure involving two organizations. One is the Mars One Foundation, a non-profit organization responsible for implementing its goal of establishing a permanent human settlement on Mars. The other was Mars One Ventures AG, which held the exclusive rights to monetize the project through such things as the sales of sponsorships and broadcasting rights, providing a share of those revenues to the Mars One Foundation.

Lansdorp emphasized that the bankruptcy filing affected only the for-profit company, Mars One Ventures. However, with the collapse of that company, financing of the non-profit foundation is uncertain. Mars One has provided few financial updates since it announced in December 2016 that Mars One Ventures had gone public after an acquisition by InFin Innovative Finance AG, a Swiss firm previously working on mobile payment technologies that was already traded on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange. (2/11)

Defense Intelligence Agency Report Aims to Educate Public on Space Security (Source: Space News)
The Defense Intelligence Agency released a new report on Monday on the national security challenges the United States faces in outer space. Titled, “Challenges to Security in Space,” the report is written for a layman audience and aims to educate the broader public. “It is intended to support a deeper public understanding of key space and counterspace issues and inform open dialogue and partner engagement on these challenges,” a DIA spokesman told SpaceNews.

“Challenges to Security in Space” explains why space is a “contested” domain and why other countries might attempt to disrupt U.S. satellites, for instance. The two major challengers discussed in the report are China and Russia. It also mentions Iran and North Korea as countries with emerging space capabilities. The report also includes a section on orbital debris as a significant concern and potential disruptor to future space operations.

“The advantage that the United States holds in space — and our perceived dependence on it — will continue to drive actors to improve their abilities to operate in and through space,” the report says. “Space-based capabilities provide integral support to military, commercial and civilian applications …. Longstanding technological and cost barriers to space are falling, enabling more countries and commercial firms to participate in satellite construction, space launch, space exploration and human spaceflight.” (2/11)

Musk Expects SpaceX Ticket to Mars Will Cost $500,000 (Source: C/Net)
It's time to start chucking some cash into your Mars vacation fund. SpaceX's interplanetary Starship hasn't even left Earth yet, but Elon Musk is already speculating about the price of a ticket to Mars. In a tweet on Sunday, Musk said he's confident that moving to Mars will one day cost less than $500,000 (£390,000, AU$710,00), though that price tag is "very dependent on volume."

Musk thinks the ticket price could eventually dip below $100,000, cheap enough that "most people in advanced economies could sell their home on Earth and move to Mars if they want." A half-million bucks sounds like a lot of money, but compare that to the over $200,000 price to experience weightlessness on a Virgin Galactic flight or $9.5 million for a vacation on a proposed luxury space station. One of the most important tidbits in Musk's tweet is that the return ticket will be free. If you move to Mars and decide you don't like the potatoes, you can head on back to Earth. (2/11)

Science on a Plane - ESA's Next Parabolic Flight Campaign (Source: Space Daily)
In May engineers, pilots, researchers and scientists will convene in Bordeaux, France, for ESA's 71st parabolic flight campaign. Over the course of three days they will fly on a specially-fitted commercial aircraft, testing equipment and running research as the pilots put the plane through repeated parabolas, giving the passengers and their experiments brief bouts of microgravity.

Classified as a test flight for safety reasons the parabolic flight campaigns mostly fly over the Atlantic Ocean and have been running for decades to offer researchers hands-on access to their equipment and test subjects in weightlessness. Parabolic flights are one of many platforms ESA offers for European researchers to run experiments for spaceflight. These flights are one of the few that allow the researchers to interact with their own experiments "hands-on" in a weightless environment. Send a proposal through our continuously open research announcements and you could be flying on the next campaign. (2/8)