July 8, 2019

One Small Leap for Orion (Source: Space Review)
NASA launched an Orion spacecraft last week, and it returned to Earth minutes later, just like the agency planned. Jeff Foust reports on the test of Orion’s abort system that took the spacecraft a step closer to flying people. Click here. (7/8)
 
The First Future MOL (Source: Space Review)
Some in the US Air Force had plans in the 1960s for military space stations beyond the original Manned Orbiting Laboratory concept. John Charles examines how some of those proposals were depicted in art. Click here. (7/8)
 
When a Chimpanzee Landed on the Moon: the Saga of Boris (Source: Space Review)
No, the Soviets didn’t land a chimpanzee on the Moon, but it can be fun to craft such a tale as a clever inside joke. Dwayne Day describes what happens when that story takes on a life of its own on the Internet. Click here. (7/8) 

Chinese Scientists Make Breakthrough That Enables Rockets to Orbit Longer (Source: Space Daily)
Chinese scientists have made a breakthrough in cryogenic rocket engine technology that can extend the orbital period of rockets from a few hours to 30 days, providing support for China's future deep space exploration. Cryogenic rocket engines are specially designed to work at extremely low temperatures. They use non-toxic and non-polluting propellants, such as liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, which are more cost-efficient than others.

The engine has been widely used in domestic and foreign launch vehicles, including China's Long March-5 and Long March-7 carrier rockets. However, most of these rockets can orbit only a few minutes or a few hours. An extended orbital period has puzzled the aerospace community for a long time. Scientists from the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology have developed two insulating materials that can reduce propellant evaporation loss and keep rockets in flight for longer than before. (7/8)

Russian Federatsiya Spacecraft Crew Could Be Killed in Case of Water Landing (Source: Sputnik)
A crew of Russia's Federatsiya (Federation) spacecraft could be killed in case of a carrier's failure and subsequent splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, as Russia doesn't have high-speed rescue vessels in that region, Igor Verkhovsky, the senior official at Russia's Energia Rocket and Space Corporation (RSC) said. "There is now a huge problem in case of an emergency situation while launching the manned Federatsiya spacecraft from the Vostochny cosmodrome. We will enter the Pacific Ocean waters, where we do not have any high-speed vessels belonging to the Navy or civil fleet.

"We will lose several days and could lose a crew before emergency rescue forces arrive at a place where an emergency landing is made," Verkhovsky said, addressing the eighth International Youth Industrial Forum "Engineers of the Future" in the Orenburg region. Verkhovsky also stressed that there was a need to replace Federtsiya's parachute landing technology with another one, adding that initially the spacecraft was planned to have a reactive landing technology, but this was complicated by the fact that there are not enough suitable landing sites in Russia. (7/8)

Pentagon Should Assume US Satellites Are Already Hacked (Source: Defense One)
The U.S. and its allies need to double down on the cybersecurity of their satellites as space infrastructure becomes ever more integral to national security, according to a recent report. The Pentagon and other western military forces rely heavily on space-based systems to guide weapons, gather intelligence and coordinate operations around the globe, but security gaps in their satellite infrastructure threaten to bring those functions to a grinding halt or worse, researchers found.

As adversaries like Russia and China ramp up their offensive cyber capabilities, they said the western world needs to lock down its space infrastructure against potentially crippling attacks. And in the meantime, “it would be prudent” for countries to assume their systems have already been infiltrated. While researchers stressed the importance of space cybersecurity for all NATO members, the U.S. has the greatest foothold in space by far. According to the United Nations, the U.S. currently has more than 1,900 satellites in orbit around the Earth. The second highest NATO member is France, with 127. (7/4)

Acting SecAF Supports Space Force (Source: Space News)
The acting secretary of the U.S. Air Force has emerged as a leading advocate for a Space Force. Since becoming acting secretary of the Air Force June 1, Matthew Donovan has used his bully pulpit to advocate for the establishment of a separate space service. "Let's unleash the space professionals so they can grow and become the equivalent of the Air Force after separating from the Army," he said in an interview last week. As interim secretary, Donovan is closely involved in ongoing negotiations with congressional committees on the space reorganization. Donovan wil serve as the acting civilian leader of the Air Force until the Senate confirmation of Barbara Barrett, although no date has been set yet for her confirmation hearing. (7/8)

DSCOVR Satellite In Safe Mode (Source: Space News)
A spacecraft used to monitor space weather and provide images of the Earth has been offline for more than a week. The Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) spacecraft went into a "safehold" June 27 because of an issue with the systems that maintain the spacecraft's position, NOAA said Friday. NOAA operates DSCOVR to monitor solar wind conditions from its perch at the Earth-sun L-1 point, 1.5 million kilometers from the Earth. NASA also has a camera on DSCOVR that takes full-disk images of the Earth. NOAA didn't state when it expected DSCOVR to resume operations. (7/8)

Amazon's Kuiper Systems Files for Launching Over 3000 Satellites (Source: GeekWire)
Amazon filed new documents with the FCC last week about its proposed broadband satellite constellation. Kuiper Systems, a wholly owned subsidiary of Amazon, filed documents requesting permission to launch a 3,236-satellite constellation. The system would place the satellites into 98 orbital planes at altitudes of 590 to 630 kilometers. Kuiper Systems says the constellation will provide broadband internet access for "tens of millions of unserved and underserved" customers in the U.S. and around the world. (7/8)

Space-Based Telescope Needed for Hazardous NEO Detection (Source: Space News)
A recent report concluded that a space-based infrared telescope is needed to effectively discover hazardous near Earth objects. The report last month by a National Academies committee said a mission like the proposed NEOCam is the only way to meet the goal of finding all near Earth objects at least 140 meters in diameter in a reasonable time. Scientists hope the report helps build momentum for the mission, which has yet to be funded by NASA although the agency is supporting development of its infrared detector technology. NEOCam could be included in a line of planetary defense missions the agency proposes to carry out over the next decade. (7/8)

Russia Considers Converting More ICBMs Into Space Launchers (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos is considering once again converting ICBMs into launch vehicles. Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin said Saturday he is in discussions with the Defense Ministry about converting SS-18 ICBMs into launch vehicles. He added it would be "wrong to simply scrap" SS-18s as they're being replaced by new missiles. For years, SS-18 missiles were converted into launch vehicles called the Dnepr, but the last Dnepr launch took place four years ago. (7/8)

Fire at SpaceX Starship Facility in Cocoa Causes Damages to Equipment (Source: Florida Today)
Emergency crews responded to a SpaceX prototyping facility in Cocoa Monday afternoon, putting out a small fire that caused damages to equipment and infrastructure but no injuries. Cocoa spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez confirmed that a small fire broke out at the facility on Cidco Road around noon and that the Cocoa Fire Department was able to quickly extinguish it.

“This afternoon, a small fire occurred at a SpaceX facility in Cocoa," SpaceX said. "The fire was contained to a sea van on site and extinguished thanks to the Cocoa Fire Department, which responded within minutes. There were no injuries as a result of the fire, and the cause is under investigation.” Martinez said the fire department estimates about $650,000 in damages were sustained by equipment and infrastructure at the facility. (7/8)

Waiting for Artemis 1 Schedule Update, Official Decision on SLS Green Run (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
A flurry of initiatives announced early in March to find a way to fly Exploration Mission-1 by this time next year were supposed to be complete by now, but NASA has not announced findings or decisions on speeding up schedules and eliminating typical development testing. All of NASA’s internal reviews of the pre-launch assembly and production work content, integrated schedules, and overall cost estimates for the first two integrated missions, now called Artemis 1 and Artemis 2, were advertised to be complete by the end of the Spring.

Major assembly of the Artemis 1 hardware elements could be completed in the next month, with mating of the Crew Module and Service Module of the Orion spacecraft for the mission expected in July and mating of the engine section to the rest of the first Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage possible around the end of the month. Although NASA’s internal recommendation a few months ago was to ship Core Stage-1 to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi and conduct the Stage Green Run test, the civilian space agency’s political leadership will make the final decision on schedule vs. testing.

Engineers want to perform the full-duration, acceptance firing on this first-ever working Core Stage article, something typically done on almost all new rocket stages, in part to verify their mathematical modeling of propellant tank thermodynamics. Click here. (7/8) 

50 Astronauts, In Their Own Words (Source: Washington Post)  
Nothing prepares you for the view. From space, Earth is alive. The greenest greens and bluest blues, auroras dancing at the poles, lightning storms flashing like fireflies. Landmasses defined more by ancient, tectonic textures than any arbitrarily imposed border. The impossibly thin atmosphere protecting 7 billion people from the dark, unforgiving void beyond. All seen while floating weightlessly.

Weightlessness — the experience is surreal, at least at first. Rookie astronauts bumble about like babies learning to walk and delight in sleeping on the ceiling. Arms come to rest in the zombie position. Hair stands on end as if electrocuted. Everything not pinned down floats away — glasses, tools, grains of rice scattering into a cloud of debris, while fugitive sauces paint stains on walls.

Since the dawn of the Space Age, only about 570 people have ever been to space. For the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, The Washington Post interviewed 50 astronauts from seven countries. A total of 26 reporters and researchers reached out to women and men, those who flew during Apollo and those who traveled on the space shuttles and Russian Soyuz spacecraft. They spoke to Russian cosmonauts, the first Malaysian and Afghan astronauts, and two NASA astronauts while they were on the space station. The goal was to describe what going to space is really like. Click here. (7/8)