March 2, 2019

Roscosmos Set to Make Launches 100% Successful This Year (Source: TASS)
The supervisory board of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos on Thursday set the task of making all of this year’s launches 100% successful, according to the office of Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov, who chaired the meeting of the company’s supervisory board. On top of that, the board tasked the company with 100% implementation of the state procurement order and of the import substitution program. During the meeting, the board approved the company’s financial plan for 2019 and key indicators of efficiency, which will be used to assess the efficiency of the company’s leadership this year. (3/1)

SpaceX Launches Capsule Bound For International Space Station (Source: NPR)
SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule blasted off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida on schedule at 2:49 a.m. Saturday. It's a test flight without crew aboard, designed to demonstrate the potential for carrying astronauts into orbit on a commercial spacecraft. A crowd cheered as the rocket blasted off in a ball of fire and smoke and flash of light early Saturday, within minutes reaching speeds upwards of 4,000 mph as it gained altitude.

The rocket and capsule separated about 11 minutes after launch. Crew Dragon will go on to autonomously dock with the International Space Station at about 6 a.m. ET Sunday. Plans call for it to remain docked with the station for five days. On March 8, it will undock and re-enter the Earth's atmosphere, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean around 8:45 a.m. ET. NASA has had to hitch rides with Russian space vehicles to get its astronauts to the space station since NASA retired the space shuttle program in 2011, reportedly paying about $82 million a seat. (3/2)

Boeing Starliner Preps for Both Demo Launch and Pad Abort Test (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
While SpaceX is set to send its Crew Dragon on the Demo-1 test flight early Saturday to the International Space Station, Boeing is gearing up to follow suit later this spring. The CST-100 Starliner will be launched on its Orbital Flight Test as early as April on a mission to the ISS on its first unmanned test flight. Meanwhile, it’s also planning a May launch of the capsule for a Pad Abort Test.

The test at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico will take a flight test vehicle that was assembled last year at Kennedy Space Center, and see if the capsule’s four abort engines can safely propel the capsule and its crew away from what would be an exploding rocket. There won’t be an actual exploding rocket though. It will simply propel Starliner away from a test stand. The rocket engines fire and send it up and away from the danger below, and then parachutes deploy for the it to safely return to the ground. (2/27)

With Family and New Traditions, SpaceX Astronauts Prepare For Their Historic Missions (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
At least one person likely won’t be watching the historic SpaceX launch scheduled for Saturday morning: Astronaut Bob Behnken’s 4-year-old son. Behnken is scheduled to launch to space as soon as this summer if SpaceX is successful Saturday in sending its astronaut capsule, called Crew Dragon, to the International Space Station. Married to astronaut Megan McArthur, Behnken said his family have been preparing for years for the eventual launches as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, which partnered with private companies SpaceX and Boeing to launch astronauts to the ISS.

Saturday’s demo launch, scheduled for 2:49 a.m., and the crewed launches to follow will be firsts for America’s space program and a first for the families of the four NASA astronauts who will fly these missions. Behnken will ride with Doug Hurley, both veterans of the space shuttle program, in a crewed demonstration flight scheduled as early as July — the first launch carrying astronauts to space from U.S. soil in nearly eight years.

“The last time I flew into space I didn't have a son, I didn't have any children, and now we have a 4-year-old and he had not been to a rocket launch before,” Behnken said Friday at a press conference at Kennedy Space Center ahead of the SpaceX launch. So Behnken and McArthur prepared their son by taking him to see a SpaceX cargo launch first. “I didn't want his first one to be his father launching into space,” Behnken said. (3/1)

How SpaceX Lowered Costs and Reduced Barriers to Space (Source: The Conversation)
On March 2, SpaceX plans to launch its first test of an unmanned Dragon vehicle which is designed to carry humans into low Earth orbit and to the International Space Station. If the test is successful, later this year, SpaceX plans to launch American astronauts from United States soil for the first time since 2011. While a major milestone for a private company, SpaceX’s most significant achievement has been in lowering the launch costs that have limited many space activities.

While making several modifications to the fuel and engines, SpaceX’s major breakthroughs have come through recovering and reusing as much of the rocket and launch vehicle as possible. Between 1970 and 2000, the cost to launch a kilogram to space remained fairly steady, with an average of US$18,500 per kilogram. When the space shuttle was in operation, it could launch a payload of 27,500 kilograms for $1.5 billion, or $54,500 per kilogram. For a SpaceX Falcon 9, the rocket used to access the ISS, the cost is just $2,720 per kilogram.

I’m a space policy analyst, and I’ve observed that cost has been a major hurdle limiting access to space. Since the 1950s, the high cost of a space program has traditionally put it beyond the reach of most countries. Today, state and private actors alike have ready access to space. And while SpaceX is not the only private company providing launch services – Orbital ATK, recently purchased by Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin are also players – it has emerged as the most significant. (3/1)

NASA is Going Back to the Future with Nuclear Rockets (Source: The Hill)
Tucked into the recent spending bill that was passed by Congress is a line item for $100 million for NASA to develop nuclear thermal rocket engines, according to a recent article in Space News. The space agency has dabbled in nuclear rockets off and on since the early 1960s. However, NASA plans to conduct a flight demonstration by 2024 is new.

As NASA noted, the space agency in conjunction with what was then the Atomic Energy Commission worked on a project called the Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) program in the 1960s. The NERVA program tested various reactors and engines until the project was closed in 1972, once it became apparent that humans had stopped going to the moon and would not travel to Mars anytime soon.

A nuclear thermal rocket superheats liquid hydrogen in a nuclear reactor and shoots the resulting plasma out a rocket nozzle. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is far more efficient than a chemical rocket, reducing flight times to destinations such as Mars and requiring less fuel. Astronauts would be subjected to less radiation and less time in microgravity using NTP. Even uncrewed space probes would be able to reach their destinations more quickly, opening the solar system to further exploration. (3/1)

Deep Space Dial-Up: How NASA Speeds Up its Interplanetary Communications (Source: Ars Technica)
On November 26, 2018 at 2:52:59 ET, NASA did it again—the agency’s InSight probe successfully landed on Mars after an entry, descent, and landing maneuver later dubbed "six and a half minutes of terror.” The moniker fits because NASA engineers couldn't know right away whether the spacecraft had made it safely down to the surface because of the current time delay (roughly 8.1 minutes) for communications between Earth and Mars. During that window of time, InSight couldn't rely on its more modern, high-powered antennas—instead, everything depended on old-fashioned UHF communications (the same method long utilized in everything from TV antennas and walkie-talkies to Bluetooth devices).

Eventually, critical data concerning InSight's condition was transmitted in 401.586Mhz radio waves to two CubeSats called WALL-E and EVE, which in turn relayed the data at 8Kbps back to huge 70 meter antennas on Earth. The CubeSats had been launched on the same rocket as InSight, and they followed along on the trip to Mars in order to observe the landing event and send back data immediately. Other Mars orbiters like Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) were out of position and couldn't initially provide real-time communications with the lander. That’s not to say that the entire landing coverage hinged on two experimental CubeSats (each the size of a briefcase), but the MRO would have relayed InSight's landing data only after further delay. (3/1)

NASA, Roscosmos Reach Consensus on Dragon Unmanned Flight to ISS (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has received the concurrence of Russian space agency Roscosmos on the planned first unmanned test flight of the US Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station (ISS), Joel Montalbano, NASA's deputy ISS Program manager, said, adding that the sides agreed on the protocol of the vehicle's approach to the station.

"We agreed with Roscosmos yesterday on a protocol of the approach, actually, through discussions with them, explaining what steps SpaceX has taken in order to ensure the safety. They asked for some additional steps ... where we would protect the space station, close another hatch or two, have the Soyuz, have the crew ready to go to the Soyuz. We agreed to do that", Montalbano told a press conference, broadcast by NASA's YouTube channel, on Thursday. (3/2)

Space Force to Cost $2 Billion, Include 15,000 Personnel in First Five Years (Source: Defense News)
The Trump administration plans to spend $2 billion in new funding over a five-year period to create its Space Force, during which roughly 15,000 space-related personnel will transfer from existing roles. Officials unveiled those details and the Pentagon’s legislative proposal for the new military service March 1. Defense leaders sent the formal proposal to Congress Feb. 27 after President Donald Trump ordered its creation in June.

While many of the details have yet to be determined — will the service have a bootcamp (unclear), its own service academy (no), their own uniforms (possible) or recruitment centers (probably) — a Space Force would share resources such as an acquisition chief, general counsel and chaplains with the broader Department of the Air Force. (3/1)

The Tiny Scottish Community That Could Start Launching Rockets To Space (Source: Forbes)
I actually burst out laughing as I turned onto the narrow road. A sheep crossed my path as mountains loomed in the distance, before moments later I squeezed to the side as a truck lumbered past. Was this really the route that rockets might one day travel down to the U.K.'s brand new launch pad?

If all goes to plan, it might well be. Rocket launches from the British Isles have been few and far between, with a military launch in 2016 being the first since a smattering of suborbital launches in the 60s and 70s. The country's orbital rocket programme was scrapped following the launch of the Black Arrow in 1971 from Woomera in South Australia, earning the nation the unwanted moniker of being the only country to develop and then abandon orbital launch capability.

But now the U.K. government is pushing ahead with plans to start launching in earnest again, this time from Sutherland in Scotland – located at the most northern tip of the mainland, with the North Sea stretching out above it towards the Arctic. From here rockets could fly north into polar orbit, offering numerous scientific and commercial possibilities. (3/1)

Former NASA Employee Wants to Send Late Cat's Remains Into Space (Source: WSBT)
A former NASA employee is raising money to send the ashen remains of his beloved pet cat into space. When Steve Munt retired from his job at NASA, he began studying animal nutrition and eventually came to own seven cats. The felines have a Twitter account with more than 12,000 followers. One cat in particular, an orange tabby named Pikachu, captured the attention of fans.

Pikachu contracted pancreatitis, and in January, Munt made the difficult decision to have the cat euthanized. Now, Munt wants to memorialize the special cat by sending his ashes into space. "To me that's comforting. I can look up and I can know that he's up there," Munt told The Lake Oswego Review. "And other people who have shared the love of Pikachu can do the same thing." Munt has set up a GoFundMe fundraiser for the $5,000 it will take to send Pikachu’s remains into space. Munt is hoping to use the company, Celestis, to complete the mission, who reportedly told Munt that Pikachu will be the first cat they’ve memorialized. (3/1)

UK Antarctic Meteorite Hunt Bags Large Haul (Source: BBC News)
The first British-led expedition to gather meteorites in the Antarctic has returned with a haul of 36 space rocks. Manchester University's Dr Katherine Joy was dropped in the deep field with British Antarctic Survey guide Julie Baum for four weeks. The pair spent their days near the Shackleton mountains running across the ice sheet in skidoos looking for out-of-place objects. The meteorites ranged from tiny flecks to some that were as big as a melon. (2/27)

How Firefly Aerospace Came Back From The Dead (Source: Forbes)
A mass production facility at nearby Exploration Park will allow Firefly to build 24 Alpha vehicles every year, both for small satellites and also to join the growing lunar space market that NASA is charging into. Not a bad turnaround considering that a predecessor company, Firefly Space Systems, filed for bankruptcy protection just three years ago, after Brexit forced a major European investor out of the nascent firm. But a spokesperson portrays this turnaround not as a miraculous development, but a carefully executed and planned expansion that is chugging along on schedule.

Firefly's headline vehicle is the Alpha, an expendable launch vehicle capable of sending a metric ton to low Earth orbit or 630 kilograms to the commonly used sun-synchronous orbit. Firefly is almost ready to send payloads to polar orbit using its launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. Canaveral opens the door to equatorial launches and interplanetary launches in 2021 – an important step for a company that desires moon missions. A more powerful launch vehicle called Beta is in the works as well.

The senior executive of Firefly tries to straddle the fine line between innovation to reduce market costs, and proven technology to make customers comfortable. For example, Alpha structures and propellant tanks are built using carbon fiber composites to better contain supercooled liquid oxygen. The benefits are fewer cracks and leaks. But Watt said they are not doing something completely novel, like 3D printing an entire engine. (2/22)