June 4, 2019

Space Development Agency Seeks Scientists and Engineers (Source: Space News)
Fred Kennedy, the director of the Pentagon’s Space Development Agency, is actively recruiting. “Folks, we are looking for engineers and scientists with space systems experience and a desire to go fast to join the Space Development Agency for up to a three-year term,” Kennedy wrote in a LinkedIn post last week.

“We are standing up now and are posturing SDA to start building out elements of our next-generation architecture later this calendar year,” Kennedy noted. “If you are intrigued by the idea of being part of something brand new, and if you want to help us develop and deploy cutting edge capabilities for the nation (or know someone who’s excited to do so), get in touch right away.” (6/4)

The CEO of United Launch Alliance on Surviving a ‘Flat’ Market (Source: Defense News)
In his first five years on the job, Tory Bruno led United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, through a protracted fight over the use of a Russian rocket engine. Now, Bruno wants to ensure ULA is situated to win national security space launch contracts for the next decade. ULA is building a new rocket, known as Vulcan, that will replace the Atlas V and is expected to compete with SpaceX’s Falcon 9 to launch U.S. Air Force and intelligence satellites.

The Vulcan has a new engine, the BE-4, built by Blue Origin, and Bruno says it is built specifically for the national security market. ULA has few blemishes on its launch record, but Air Force officials are concerned about limiting the cost of launches, which can range from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of dollars. To remain a viable option, Bruno knows he must deliver on both counts, and he expects Vulcan to do so. Click here. (6/4)

National Geospatial Intelligence Agency Challenged to Keep Up with Volatile World (Source: Space News)
In the data arms race, it’s not about how much data you have but what you do with it. That about sums up the challenge facing the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency (NGA), a giant organization of 14,500 employees responsible for acquiring and analyzing satellite imagery, and providing mapping services to the U.S. military and intelligence community.

“We’re currently faced with a security environment that is more complex, inter­connected and volatile than we’ve experienced in recent memory — one which will require us to do things differently if we’re to navigate ourselves through it successfully,” NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert Sharp said. Sharp believes NGA needs to change its business practices as more private sector companies and foreign governments figure out new ways to collect imagery, analyze it and derive insights from it. (6/5)

Mars on Earth: Bringing Red Planet Samples Back Is a Considerable Challenge (Source: Space.com)
How can we bring a sample of Mars safely back to Earth? With scientists worldwide curious about the Red Planet's potential for life, NASA and the European Space Agency are working on a future "sample-return" mission to safely study Mars materials. One possible location for sample hunting could be a Martian spot called Jezero Crater, the site of an ancient lake — and possibly, also a location for ancient microbes.

While rovers and landers can study Mars when they land there, the challenge is that there is only so much space available on these machines for instruments. On Earth, entire laboratories could study Red Planet regolith (soil) and rocks. But getting the samples back to our planet will be a considerable engineering challenge. ESA officials said in a statement that the two agencies plan to perform three launches from Earth and one from Mars as part of the mission, which will include two Mars rovers and an autonomous docking in Martian orbit. (6/4)

How NASA Designs Spacecraft That Look Like They Shot Straight Out of a Sci-Fi Movie (Source: SyFi Wire)
A space submarine will be happening, and a tunnel bot that can penetrate extraterrestrial ice, and a sail that cruises across the surface of a planet that humans could not otherwise explore because of extreme temperatures or toxic gases. “Science fiction’s led the way in a lot of space exploration just with being able to think out of the box,” COMPASS team lead Steve Oles told Seeker in a recent interview. “We have discussions on whether they’re a Star Wars fan or a Star Trek fan…seeing science fiction movies, reading the books, you get that mindset that anything is possible.”

What is almost even more sci-fi than the team’s spacecraft designs is how they can dream up a new one, cost estimates and all, in around two weeks. The environment of whatever body in space COMPASS is eyeing dictates the design of a spacecraft concept. You have to factor in propulsion, materials, and software, not to mention technologies specific to wherever something is going to orbit or land. Propulsion is an obvious one. The spacecraft has to be able to maneuver itself around whatever alien landscape it’s exploring. Click here. (6/4)

Researchers Solve Mystery of the Galaxy With No Dark Matter (Source: Phys.org)
A group of researchers from the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (IAC) has clarified a 2018 mystery in the field of extragalactic astrophysics: The supposed existence of a galaxy without dark matter. Galaxies with no dark matter are impossible to understand in the framework of the current theory of galaxy formation, because the role of dark matter is fundamental in causing the collapse of the gas to form stars. In 2018, a study published in Nature announced the discovery of a galaxy that apparently lacked dark matter.

Now, according to an article published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society (MNRAS) a group of researchers has solved this mystery via a very complete set of observations of KKS2000]04. The researchers, perplexed because all the parameters that depended on the distance of the galaxy were anomalous, revised the available distance indicators. Using five independent methods to estimate the distance of the object, they found that all of them coincided in one conclusion: The galaxy is much nearer than the value presented in the previous research. (6/3)

SpaceX Beats Falcon 9 Recovery Records After Company’s Heaviest Launch Ever (Source: Teslarati)
Completed on May 30th, SpaceX’s latest Falcon 9 booster recovery smashed several internal speed records, unofficially cataloged over the years by watchful fans.  In short, as the company’s experienced recovery technicians continue to gain experience and grow familiar with Falcon 9 Block 5, the length of booster recoveries have been consistently in the 12 months since Block 5’s launch debut. Already, the efficiency of recovery processing has gotten to the point that – once SpaceX optimizes Block 5’s design for refurbishment-free reuse – there should be no logistical reason the company can’t fly the same booster twice in ~24-48 hours. (6/4)

Capella Ready for SAR Imaging Constellation Launches With Sequoia (Source: Space News)
Capella Space says it's "getting ready for primetime" with its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) smallsat constellation. The startup launched Denali, a technology demonstration satellite, in December, and plans to launch Sequoia, its first operational satellite, by the end of this year. The company hasn't released any imagery from Denali, but has used the satellite to help develop the infrastructure it will need to operate a constellation. Capella ultimately plans to deploy a constellation of 36 SAR satellites to obtain imagery with a resolution of 50 centimeters and to revisit sites within the hour. (6/4)

BlackSky Wins NRO Contract for Imaging Constellation (Source: GeekWire)
BlackSky announced agreements Monday with both the NRO and another startup. BlackSky, which is developing a constellation of high-resolution imaging satellites, said it won a contract from the NRO to provide imagery to the agency. In a separate deal, the company will work with HawkEye 360 to use radiofrequency signal detection data from that company's own constellation of satellites as part of BlackSky's data analytical services, combining it with its own imagery and other data. BlackSky currently has two satellites in orbit with plans to launch up to six more by the end of the year. (6/4)

Russia to Train Cosmonauts for Lunar Missions (Source: TASS)
Russia's next cosmonaut class will train for future missions to the moon. Roscosmos said it's starting the process to recruit a new group of cosmonauts, offering them the chance to fly "promising spacecraft" and lunar missions. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said last month his agency has plans to mount missions to the moon by around 2030, a proposal many in the Russia space industry are skeptical about. (6/4)

New TV Series Based on Russia Beating US in Space Race (Source: collectSPACE)
A series debuting this fall will examine an alternative history of the space race. Apple released Monday the first trailer for "For All Mankind," a series that will appear on the company's new Apple TV+ service. The series will be based on an alternative history where the Soviet Union, and not the United States, was the first to land a man on the moon, prompting NASA to redouble its efforts. (6/4)

Defense Authorization Bill Skips Space Force (Source: Space News)
A draft version of a defense authorization bill in the House is silent on the issue of creating a Space Force. The House Armed Services Committee subcommittee on strategic forces on Monday released proposed language for its section of the National Defense Authorization Act for 2020. The bill includes several space policy and space procurement provisions but makes no mention of a Space Force, which instead will likely be taken up by the full committee when it marks up the entire bill next week. The space policy provisions that are in the subcommittee draft include language directing continued development of space-based missile sensors and procurement of commercial space situational awareness services to augment Air Force capabilities. (6/4)

Astronomers Call for Regulatory Approach to Constellation Impacts (Source: Space News)
Astronomers may not be happy with SpaceX's Starlink satellites, but there's little they can do about them for now. On Monday, the International Astronomical Union called for the creation of "a regulatory framework to mitigate or eliminate the detrimental impacts" of satellites like Starlink, which could interfere with both visual and radio astronomy as they go across the sky. The visual impact of Starlink has particularly bothered astronomers when the satellites initially appeared as a bright train of objects in the night sky after launch last month.

However, nothing in current licensing and regulatory practices in the U.S. covers the appearance of satellites, leaving astronomers with little recourse other than a lawsuit that legal experts say would likely fail. SpaceX executives have said they're working on ways to mitigate any harmful affects their satellites cause to astronomers. (6/4)

Dragon Returns Cargo From ISS with Pacific Splashdown (Source: NASA)
A Dragon cargo spacecraft returned to Earth from the International Space Station Monday. The Dragon was released by the station's robotic arm at 12:01 p.m. Eastern and splashed down in the Pacific Ocean more than 300 kilometers southwest of Long Beach, California, at 5:48 p.m. Eastern. The Dragon, launched a month ago, returned with about 1,900 kilograms of experiments and equipment from the station. (6/4)