June 27, 2019

The Magnetic North Pole is Moving (Source: New Scientist)
The north pole itself isn’t what it used to be. In 1900, the pole was in Canada. A century later, it was near Greenland. In the past 18 years, it has raced eastwards at about 40 kilometers per year, and is currently heading for Siberia. It also occasionally reverses its polarity: there were times in our planet’s history when a compass needle pointed to what we call south. Even now, there are spots under the surface where a compass would point the wrong way. What is going on? The mystery has deep implications for technology and the future of our planet. (6/27)

Russian Space Contractor Escapes Jail Time After $6.5M Fraud (Source: Moscow Times)
The former head of a contracting firm charged with embezzling almost $6.5 million during construction of a Russian spaceport and spending money on luxury goods has received a suspended sentence and escaped jail time. The Vostochny Cosmodrome, a $3 billion project seen in Moscow as vital to secure Russia’s independent access to space, has been embroiled in allegations of mass fraud and mismanagement. Viktor Grebnev, who headed the TMK contractor until it was declared bankrupt 2015, was accused of knowingly signing loss-making contracts and using company money to buy yachts and a mansion.

A district court in Far East Russia handed Grebnev a five-year suspended sentence and fined him 200,000 rubles ($3,000) for large-scale embezzlement, Interfax cited the court as saying. His attorney Igor Polyakov attributed the light sentence to the state prosecution’s inability to prove his client’s guilt beyond a reasonable doubt. “If his guilt was obvious and he stole that much money, it would have been a long incarceration in a penal colony,” Polyakov said. (6/27)

UK Party Backs £17.3 Million Far North Spaceport Plan (Source: O'Groat Journal)
A planned £17.3 million UK spaceport in the far north could bring investment and jobs which would be vital to the local economy and help the predicted population decline in the area, according to a leading trade union. Unite, which has over one million members, has given its backing to the proposed project at the A'Mhoine peninsula, near Tongue in north west Sutherland. The site was selected from a total of 26 and would launch small satellites from the early 2020s.

According to the union, the site met a number of criteria and involved the UK Space Agency prior to a decision being made. Unite says the the spaceport is seen as a key part of Scotland’s growing space sector and points out that Highlands and Islands Enterprise say around 40 high quality jobs would be created locally, part of a total of more than 400 across the wider area. Richard Whyte, Unite regional industrial officer, said: "Both the Highland Council and NHS Highland forecast large population decline in the coming years for Sutherland and Caithness. This means it’s vital to attract investment in industries and skills such as the spacehub project which will create hundreds of new high quality jobs in the area. (6/27)

Firm Behind Sutherland Spaceport Pledges to Operate in a 'Green Manner' (Source: The Scotsman)
A company backing a proposed spaceport in the remote north of Scotland has promised to operate in a "green manner" ahead of an environmental assessment of the site. Orbex, one of two launch firms that plan to use of the spaceport when completed, said publication of the first scoping documents for the project was a significant moment in its development.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) is currently drafting plans for Space Hub Sutherland, which is expected to host vertical launches of small satellites from the A’Mhoine peninsula, near Tongue, from the early 2020s. The development is viewed as a key component of Scotland’s growing space sector. HIE claim 40 high quality jobs would be created locally, part of a total of more than 400 across the wider Highlands and Islands. Orbex has already opened a new manufacturing facility in Forres. (6/27)

Contest Winners Will Launch Their Cosmic Creations on Blue Origin Spaceship (Source: GeekWire)
Three students are getting ready for a space experiment that will use gravity and magnetism to simulate the origin of planet Earth. Another trio plans to create a musical composition that’s based on blips of cosmic radiation. We’re not talking about strictly scientific experiments here: These are the winning entries in an art contest set up by the performance-art rock band OK Go to fly on Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital spaceship.

The Art in Space contest follows up on OK Go’s viral “Upside Down & Inside Out” video, which splashed paint all over the interior of an airplane during a zero-gravity parabolic airplane flight. OK Go Sandbox, the nonprofit venture established by the group in league with the University of St. Thomas’ Playful Learning Lab, struck a deal with Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos’ space venture to let kids do something similarly creative during the weightless phase of New Shepard’s flight. (6/26)

ESA Expertise to Support Portugal's Launch Program (Source: ESA)
Portugal is developing the infrastructure for a national spaceport on one of the islands of the Azores archipelago, Santa Maria, a European launch and landing location for small satellites. As an ESA Member State, Portugal has requested ESA’s tailored expertise and technical assistance in an agreement signed on 21 June by ESA Director General Jan Wörner and Manuel Heitor, Minister for Science, Technology and Higher Education.

Within its purpose, ESA provides assistance to its Member States for national activities. Portugal will benefit from ESA’s leading technical and programmatic expertise in managing launch base development and ground infrastructures, related services, and testing as well as in the application of specific legal frameworks for national spaceports. Portugal Space will retain overall technical and financial responsibility for request and use of ESA expertise. (6/27)

Debris Top Priority in New Space Safety Rules (Source: Breaking Defense)
“The space environment represents an unbelievable amount of economic potential, but that potential will only be realized if we take measures now to ensure the preservation of its long-term viability and sustainability,” says Kevin O’Connell, the head of the Commerce Department’s Office of Space Commerce. Commerce is in stage two of its review of current space safety rules that may result in new requirements for debris mitigation and space situational awareness (SSA) best practices, he told Secure World Foundation’s ‘Summit for Space Sustainability’ yesterday.

In a larger sense, “space debris is in some sense an economic problem … especially as space commerce grows,” he noted. O’Connell said his office is now summarizing comments on the Commerce Department’s April Request for Information (RFI) about commercial SSA capabilities, best on-orbit practices to avoid collisions, and potential new SSA and space traffic management rules. The majority of respondents, he noted, agree that there is a need for better data sharing about the locations of debris and satellites.

“The majority of these inputs agree that enhanced, standardized data sharing is the key to tracking more objects to prevent [potential on-orbit collisions] and assist in debris mitigation.” The next step in the rule-making process, he said, will be an industry day in coming weeks to discuss Commerce’s reactions as it develops a new US framework for STM. Commerce received over 42 responses to its April 11 RFI on three baskets of issues related to future US regulation of commercial space activities. (6/27)

On Alien Worlds, Extraterrestrials Could Be Spewing a Toxic, Smelly Gas. That's How We Could Find Them (Source: Space.com)
Phosphine, a horrible-smelling gas that's toxic to life on Earth, could signal the existence of alien life-forms elsewhere in the universe. Why such E.T. would produce the gas is still speculative, but they could be using it as a form of cellular communication. In the search for life in the cosmos, "it's no one's obvious choice," Clara Sousa-Silva, a molecular astrophysics postdoctoral associate at MIT, said. For one, here on Earth phosphine is an "extremely flammable, incredibly toxic, outrageously foul-smelling molecule."

It's so reactive and requires so much energy to make, that it isn't favored by life on our planet and shouldn't really be found anywhere, she said. Even so, it's found ubiquitously across our globe in small amounts. Traces of this gas can be found in sewage, marshlands, the intestinal tracts of fish and human babies, in rice fields and in the feces of penguins. But all of these locations have something in common: They have no oxygen. Phosphine reacts when exposed to oxygen and interferes with cells' ability to use oxygen to generate energy. "It's only phosphine's relationship with oxygen metabolism that makes it so toxic," Sousa-Silva said.

Other life on far-away planets free from oxygen "could happily produce phosphine," she said. Here on Earth, microorganisms in oxygen-free environments produce phosphine, though it's unknown how and why they spend so much energy to do so, Sousa-Silva said. She speculates that life might be using phosphine for defense, to capture metals for biochemical processes or to communicate with other cells. (6/26)

Five Schemes for Cheaper Space Launches—and Five Cautionary Tales (Source: Technology Review)
In the closing decades of the last century and the first decades of this one, the average cost of launching a kilogram into Earth orbit simply would not change. The price stubbornly hovered above $10,000, and new idea after new idea failed to break the impasse. This stymied innovation—after all, if it’s expensive to launch something, it becomes tricky to take other kinds of risks.

But opinion was split: Had things stagnated because there was never enough money to see ideas through? Or was it because other improvements—in, say, materials science or autonomous navigation—were insufficiently mature? All that has changed in the last few years as new craft broke the deadlock, most notably SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, which is about a tenth as costly, per kilogram, as its closest competitor. Now the central question is whether this is the start of a new plateau or whether, as Elon Musk hopes, it signals ever cheaper launches and ever more space innovation. The success or failure of these systems will help find an answer. Click here. (6/27)

President Trump Has A Problematic Fixation On Mars (Source: Daily Caller)
The first and overriding reason why the president’s sudden fixation on Mars is a problem is that NASA has been tasked with sending astronauts to the moon, not just Mars. The president should know this, as he signed the executive order that tasked the space agency to make it happen. Besides, while NASA has plans to go to Mars and is touting the missions to the moon as being, in part, to test technology that could then be used for voyages to the Red Planet, NASA astronauts will not reach Mars before the 2030s at the earliest.

When Trump first signed the moon executive order, the plan was for American astronauts to land on the moon by 2028. But Vice President Mike Pence subsequently announced that the date of the next moon landing will be brought forward to 2024, which not coincidentally would be the last year of a hypothetical second term.

If Congress provides the extra funding necessary to get “the first woman and the next man” to the moon, if NASA and its commercial partners can keep to the 2024 schedule, and if Trump is reelected, the president will have an historic event with which to usher out his presidency. He will likely not be alive when people set foot on Mars. Therefore, all things being equal, the president should tout at every opportunity the Artemis moon program. (6/27)

NATO to Launch First Space Policy (Source: ABC)
NATO defence ministers meeting in Brussels later today are set to launch the alliance's first ever military strategy for outer space. The move to declare space a new frontier for defense comes as China and Russia increase their warfare capabilities beyond Earth. NATO's decision coincides with US President Donald Trump's order for the creation of a US Space Force. If the force gets congressional approval, it will be on an equal footing with the US army, navy, air force and marine corps. (6/27)

No Longer the Realm of Science Fiction (Source: Delano)
Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and Queen guitarist Dr Brian May, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters and B612 president Danica Remy to promote awareness and provide knowledge to the general public about the importance of asteroids in the formation of our universe and the role they play in our solar system today.

Luxembourg became the headquarters of the Asteroid Foundation when Georges Schmit, then the general consul for Luxembourg in San Francisco, met the founders of Asteroid Day. “At the time, it didn’t have a real home,” Schmit explains. “Brian May is a citizen of the world, always on the road; Grig Richters, who was coordinating local initiatives around the world, was living in London.” As Luxembourg was developing and promoting its space resources sector, part of whose aim was to attract new companies to the grand duchy and also to raise awareness and education about asteroids and other celestial bodies, it seemed like a natural fit. (6/27)

Planets in Multiple-Star Systems May Be Habitable (Source: Cosmos)
In a finding that’s great news for fans of Luke Skywalker’s fictional home planet Tatooine, scientists say planets in multiple-star systems may be habitable – though in keeping with Tatooine’s hardscrabble image, it may be an uphill battle. Astronomers have long known that multiple-star systems are common. “Most stars are members of binaries [other than the coolest dwarf stars],” Manfred Cuntz, an astrophysicist at the University of Texas at Arlington, said at this this week’s at AbSciCon 19 conference in Bellevue, Washington, US.

And, astronomers are learning, many of these binary-star systems have planets – some circling a single star, and some circling both at once. Life on these planets could have a hard go of it, however. Partly that’s because multiple stars can perturb a planet’s orbit, precluding any chance for life as we know it to survive. But even for planets in stable orbits, these stars can produce habitable zones that change dramatically as the stars move around each other.

That said, a planet in a double-star system might still be habitable even it occasionally finds itself outside of the habitable zone, so long as it doesn’t stay there too long. How much time a planet can tolerate outside of the habitable zone depends on how quickly its atmosphere reacts to changes in incoming sunlight, Eggl says. If the atmosphere is thin, the planet’s climate will react quickly to such excursions, and it won’t be able to tolerate long ones. But if its “climate inertia” is large, it might be able to tolerate longer excursions into regions of too much or too little heat. (6/27)

Orbit Fab Becomes First Startup to Supply Water to ISS, Paving the Way for Satellite Refueling (Source: Tech Crunch)
Not even two years into its existence, orbital fuel supply startup Orbit Fab  has chalked up a big win — successfully supplying the International Space Station with water, a first for any private company. It’s a big deal, because providing water to the ISS involved a multi-day refueling process, done in microgravity, using processes and equipment Orbit Fab developed itself.

The key ingredient here, per ISS U.S. National Laboratory COO Kenneth Shields, which was the contracting agency for Orbit Fab’s refueling test, is that this method of resupply is totally out of spec in terms of how this process was designed to work on the ISS. By creating and successfully demonstrating a system that the ISS designers never conceived, Orbit Fab has shown that both private companies and NASA have the flexibility needed to build business models on existing space infrastructure. (6/18)

The Blunder That Could Cost the U.S. the New Space Race (Source: Washington Post)
In addition to accelerating the United States’ own space program, Trump’s advisers are working to stall Chinese technological development by inhibiting access to the U.S. commercial space sector. They are also working to limit international intellectual exchange. Chinese students are experiencing long delays in processing their visas, and White House adviser Stephen Miller has even called for a blanket visa ban. Others are advocating a blacklist of companies from “aggressor states.”

But such a combative approach would be a disaster. During the Cold War, the United States used such tactics to undermine China’s technological development, and it backfired badly. An effort to deport Chinese scientists became a strategic own goal. Engineering experts, embittered at their rejection, hastened the process of technology transfer while paradoxically limiting American influence on Chinese science. The Chinese flaunted this history, a not-so-veiled warning to the United States, with their chosen lunar landing site: the von Kármán crater.

The impulse to undertake diplomatic hostility, to engage in antagonistic competition rather than cooperation in space, produced precisely the outcome it purported to avoid. Instead of stifling China’s space program, it dramatically accelerated it. These days, as the FBI is once again canceling visas of Chinese professors, it’s plain that of the two space powers, China is most alert to the power of this history. (6/26)

Europe Says SpaceX “Dominating” Launch, Vows to Develop Falcon 9-Like Rocket (Source: Ars Technica)
This month, the European Commission revealed a new three-year project to develop technologies needed for two proposed reusable launch vehicles. The commission provided €3 million to the German space agency, DLR, and five companies to, in the words of a news release about the project, "tackle the shortcoming of know-how in reusable rockets in Europe."

This new RETALT project's goals are pretty explicit about copying the retro-propulsive engine firing technique used by SpaceX to land its Falcon 9 rocket first stages back on land and on autonomous drone ships. The Falcon 9 rocket's ability to land and fly again is "currently dominating the global market," the European project states. "We are convinced that it is absolutely necessary to investigate Retro Propulsion Assisted Landing Technologies to make re-usability state-of-the-art in Europe."

While European space firms have acknowledged SpaceX's success, previously they have indicated that reuse is not a viable option for a continent that only launches five to 10 rockets a year. It would not be sustainable for a European factory to build just one rocket a year, officials have said. Instead, the European strategy has been to try to reduce the costs of its flagship Ariane and Vega launchers. (6/26)

Rover Teams Practice for Spelunking on the Moon and Mars in California Lava Tubes (Source: GeekWire)
Underground lava tubes are great places to set up bases on the moon, or look for life on Mars — but they’ll be super-tricky to navigate. Which is why a NASA team is practicing with a cave rover in California. Scientists are sharing their experiences from the Biologic and Resource Analog Investigations in Low Light Environments project, or BRAILLE, here at this week’s Astrobiology Science Conference.

The site of the experiment is California’s Lava Beds National Monument, which houses North America’s largest network of lava tubes. These are tunnel-like structures left behind by ancient volcanic flows of molten rock. They’re known to exist on the moon and Mars, and in some places there are even openings that make those lava tubes accessible from the surface. The underground passageways provide shelter from the harsh radiation hitting the surface of the moon and Mars, which would be a big plus for would-be settlers. (6/26)

The Purpose of a Space Force is a Spacefaring Economy (Source: The Hill)
America needs a Space Force for the same reason it needed a Navy: to secure our interests, especially commerce, in space.  In the 19th century, America realized the benefits that would be possible were it to become a seafaring nation. Thus came a need for a Navy to secure its citizens, their property and their transport far from American shores. We are in the midst of a space industrial revolution — in transportation, mining and manufacture that will unlock a billion-fold greater resources than on Earth, and ultimately lead to an economic expansion larger even than what the New World became for Europe.

In space are stupendous amounts of accessible metals — far, far more than has ever been mined (or could be mined) on Earth.  This includes rare and valuable metals like platinum.  We now have the technology to 3-D print those materials into factories in space, and to produce orbital power stations to light the entire world with constant green energy.  Space solar power satellites are a game changer, allowing the entire world to develop without environmental impact.  The leader of that industry will command the century ahead.

There will be a need to secure those interests.  There will be threats both from natural hazards and from human hazards.  Wherever there is profit there is likely to be conflict. (6/26)

Debris From Satellite Blown Up by India Still Orbiting Earth, Six Weeks After Delhi Claimed it Should Have Decayed (Source: The Independent)
Debris from a satellite blown up by India’s defence agency is still spinning around the Earth three months on from the controversial missile test, experts say. The Indian authorities had pledged that all debris would decay within 45 days of the anti-satellite strike aimed at testing the country’s military capabilities on 27 March. More than six weeks on from the promised deadline, dozens of pieces of space junk from the satellite have been detected in orbit by specialist trackers. (6/26)

Rocket Crafters Test Hits Snag (Source: Click Orlando)
A demonstration ended with a pair of misfires as a Space Coast-based startup showed off a rocket engine that uses 3D-printed fuel. During a media event on Tuesday, Rocket Crafters conducted two test fires of its STAR-3D Hybrid Rocket Engine. During both attempts, there was a hang fire as the fuel in the engine failed to ignite. "Our igniter components absorbed too much humidity over the past month of testing. There was so much water it only smoldered," according to an email from board member Sean Mirskey. "Made with fresh materials it burned easily."

"We're used to things in a (research and development) environment being somewhat difficult," Mirsky said. "It shows that in the case of an emergency, it still would not detonate or cause any issues on the launch pad," propulsion engineer Kineo Wallace said. (6/26)

ESA Testing Lunar Rescue Device Off Florida Coast (Source: Space Daily)
With its rocky, sandy terrain and buoyant salt water, the bottom of the ocean floor has more in common with the lunar surface than you might imagine. That is why this week two members of NASA mission NEEMO 23 are testing ESA's latest prototype to rescue astronauts on the Moon.

ESA's Lunar Evacuation System Assembly (LESA) is a pyramid-like structure designed to be deployed by a single astronaut in lunar gravity to rescue an incapacitated crewmate. The device enables an astronaut to lift their crewmate onto a mobile stretcher in less than 10 minutes, before carrying them to the safety of a nearby pressurised lander. (6/21)

Small Satellite Concept Finalists Target Moon, Mars and Beyond (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has selected three finalists among a dozen concepts for future small satellites. The finalists include a 2022 robotic mission to study two asteroid systems, twin spacecraft to study the effects of energetic particles around Mars, and a lunar orbiter to study water on the Moon. At least one of these missions is expected to move to final selection and flight. The missions will contribute to NASA's goal of understanding our solar system's content, origin and evolution. They will also support planetary defense, and help fill in knowledge gaps as NASA moves forward with its plans for human exploration of the Moon and Mars. (6/21)

Boeing is Closer to ISS Spaceflights After Starliner's Final Parachute Test (Source: Engadget)
Boeing's Starliner capsule has successfully touched down at the US Army's White Sands Missile Range even though it didn't deploy all of its parachutes. The company had to disable two of its over half a dozen parachutes, so it can pass the final and most difficult qualification test it needed to go through to be able to fly astronauts to the ISS. One of the reasons why the Government Accountability Office expects further delays to the Commercial Crew program is because Boeing still needs to conduct some parachute tests.

This most recent success could mean Starliner's first flight could truly happen sometime this summer, like the company is hoping. According to a previous report, Boeing is hoping to deploy its first unmanned test flight to the ISS on September 17th for a seven day stay. If all goes well, the Starliner could carry astronauts to the space by the end of the year. (6/26)

Can SpaceX and Blue Origin Best a Decades-Old Russian Rocket Engine Design? (Source: MIT Technology Review)
Like most rockets, the Atlas 3 had inherited its design from an intercontinental ballistic missile—in this case, from America’s first such missile, designed to threaten the Soviet Union with nuclear annihilation. This was not unusual. But the rocket had a new first stage, one that was considerably more powerful than those it replaced. The RD-180, as the engine is called, was built by NPO Energomash in a factory outside Moscow. In a marriage that would have been unimaginable at the height of the space race, a Russian engine was powering an American rocket.

The RD-180 is remarkable not only for the geopolitical peculiarities of its rise to prominence, but because it was in many ways simply better than any other rocket engine of its time. When, in February 2019, Elon Musk announced a successful test of SpaceX’s Raptor engine, which is intended to power the company’s next-generation rocket Starship, he bragged of the high pressures reached in the Raptor’s thrust chamber: over 265 times atmospheric pressure at sea level. Raptor, he said on Twitter, had exceeded the record held for several decades by the “awesome Russian RD-180.”

After decades of stagnation, American companies are finally working on engines that just might be better than the RD-180. Blue Origin's New Glenn uses the BE-4 (as will ULA’s Vulcan rocekt). The designs of both the BE-4 and SpaceX’s Raptor are informed in crucial ways by the RD-180. The BE-4 is an oxygen-rich staged-combustion engine,  like the RD-170 and RD-180. The Raptor, meanwhile, resembles the RD-180 in that it feeds the pre-burner exhaust into the combustion chamber—ensuring that almost all the fuel and oxidizer stored in the rocket’s tanks are used to generate thrust. However, the Raptor has both fuel-rich and oxidizer-rich flows powering its turbopumps—theoretically resulting in maximal efficiency. Click here. (6/26)

The Golden Asteroid That Could Make Everyone on Earth a Billionaire (Source: Russia Today)
Whether it was the Big Bang, Midas or God himself, we don’t really need to unlock the mystery of the origins of gold when we’ve already identified an asteroid worth $700 quintillion in precious heavy metals. If anything launches this metals mining space race, it will be this asteroid--Psyche 16, taking up residence between Mars and Jupiter and carrying around enough heavy metals to net every single person on the planet close to a trillion dollars.

The massive quantities of gold, iron and nickel contained in this asteroid are mind-blowing. The discovery has been made. Now, it’s a question of proving it up. NASA plans to do just that, beginning in 2022. Can we actually extract this space gold? That is the quintillion-dollar question, certainly. Professor John Zarnecki, president of the Royal Astronomical Society, estimates that it would take around 25 years to get ‘proof of concept’, and 50 years to start commercial production. (6/26)

Hubble Finds Tiny 'Electric Soccer Balls' in Space, Helps Solve Interstellar Mystery (Source: Phys.org)
Scientists using NASA's Hubble Space Telescope have confirmed the presence of electrically-charged molecules in space shaped like soccer balls, shedding light on the mysterious contents of the interstellar medium (ISM) - the gas and dust that fills interstellar space. Since stars and planets form from collapsing clouds of gas and dust in space, "The diffuse ISM can be considered as the starting point for the chemical processes that ultimately give rise to planets and life," said Martin Cordiner.

"So fully identifying its contents provides information on the ingredients available to create stars and planets," says Cordiner. The molecules identified by Cordiner and his team are a form of carbon called "Buckminsterfullerene," also known as "Buckyballs," which consists of 60 carbon atoms (C60) arranged in a hollow sphere. C60 has been found in some rare cases on Earth in rocks and minerals, and can also turn up in high-temperature combustion soot.

C60 has been seen in space before. However, this is the first time an electrically charged (ionized) version has been confirmed to be present in the diffuse ISM. The C60 gets ionized when ultraviolet light from stars tears off an electron from the molecule, giving the C60 a positive charge (C60+). "The diffuse ISM was historically considered too harsh and tenuous an environment for appreciable abundances of large molecules to occur," said Cordiner. (6/26)

NASA Opening Moon Rock Samples Sealed Since Apollo Missions (Source: AP)
Inside a locked vault at Johnson Space Center is treasure few have seen and fewer have touched. The restricted lab is home to hundreds of pounds of moon rocks collected by Apollo astronauts close to a half-century ago. And for the first time in decades, NASA is about to open some of the pristine samples and let geologists take a crack at them with 21st-century technology. What better way to mark this summer’s 50th anniversary of humanity’s first footsteps on the moon than by sharing a bit of the lunar loot. (6/26)

Governor Vetoes Funding for Pensacola MRO Hangar (Source: WUWF)
Gov. Ron DeSantis vetoed $131 million of proposed spending from this year's budget, including $1.5 million for the expansion of the ST Aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul campus at Pensacola International Airport. ST Engineering already has one hangar at the airport, but the $210 million project will add three additional hangars and supporting buildings. Pensacola City Administrator Chris Holley said the state has been helpful with the project, and it's hard to be critical of a veto over $1.5 million when the state came up with money from the Department of Transportation a few months back to move the project forward. Holley said the project, expected to create 1,300 jobs, has a five-year time frame for build-out, which he said is plenty of time to go back to the Legislature. (6/25)