August 27, 2019

DoD Acquisitions Chief: Pentagon Unlikely to Change Air Force Launch Procurement Strategy (Source: Space News)
The Air Force launch service procurement competition in recent months has come under legal and political challenges. But the Pentagon currently has no plans to make any changes to the program, said Ellen Lord, undersecretary of defense for acquisition and sustainment. “There are no changes imminent,” Lord said on Monday at a Pentagon news conference. But Lord did not completely rule out future revisions to the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement.

“We will see how things go and adjust if necessary,” Lord said. Even though no contracts have yet been awarded, companies competing in the NSSL Phase 2 competition already have taken the Air Force to court. And there is legislative language proposed by the House Armed Services Committee to change the rules set by the Air Force for the program and create more opportunities for new commercial launch companies to compete. (8/26)

No Legal Stones Left Unturned in the Battle for U.S. Air Force Launch Contracts (Source: Space News)
A decision on which two launch providers the U.S. Air Force will select to split all national security missions between 2022 and 2026 is months, perhaps a year away. And already the Air Force is facing legal and political challenges that could make the Launch Service Procurement competition not simply a battle over what rockets are the most capable and cost-effective but also one to be fought by lawyers and lobbyists at every step of the way.

Four competitors submitted proposals for the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Launch Service Procurement — United Launch Alliance, SpaceX, Northrop Grumman and Blue Origin. SpaceX and Blue Origin both have already taken legal action against the Air Force, arguing that it has failed to create a level playing field for them and other companies to be able to challenge heavily favored ULA. The GAO has 100 days to deliver a ruling.

Separate from the legal squabbles looms a bigger question: Will the newly designed rockets that three providers are developing for the competition be ready to fly in time for Phase 2 missions? ULA’s Vulcan, Blue Origin’s New Glenn and Northrop Grumman’s OmegA are projected to launch their first missions in 2021 and get certified by 2022, if all goes as planned. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 is the only vehicle offered for Phase 2 that is already certified and flying national security missions. (8/26)

Uncrewed Soyuz Cargo Craft Docks Successfully to ISS on Second Try (Source: Space News)
An uncrewed Soyuz spacecraft successfully docked with the International Space Station on its second attempt Monday night. The Soyuz MS-14 spacecraft docked with the Zvezda module at 11:08 p.m. Eastern, nearly three days after a faulty automated rendezvous system aborted its first attempt. The Soyuz, carrying a small amount of cargo and a humanoid robot called FEDOR or Skybot F-850, will remain at the station until Sep. 7. (8/27)

Rubio Urges Policy Shift to Keep US Payloads on US Rockets (Source: Space News)
A U.S. senator is seeking a change in policy regarding launches of hosted payloads. In a letter to Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said that government hosted payloads should launch on American rockets. Current policy, dating back to 2013, allows government hosted payloads on commercial satellites to launch on foreign vehicles without the need for a formal approval process required for government satellites. Rubio argued that the U.S. launch industry is robust enough to accommodate hosted payloads, but some in industry worry that a change in policy could exacerbate existing challenges in finding rides for hosted payloads. (8/27)

UK Space Industry Wants Boris to Act on Proposed Satellite Programs (Source: Financial Times)
The British space industry is calling on the country's new prime minister to back up his rhetoric on space policy with action. Prime Minister Boris Johnson, in his first speech since becoming the head of government a month ago, endorsed development of new navigation and remote sensing satellite systems, saying they would provide "long-term strategic and commercial benefits for this country." Johnson has not yet taken action on those proposed satellite systems, and members of the British space industry organization UKspace say it's now time for him to "put his money where his mouth is" with measures such as a national space innovation fund. (8/27)

Intel Community’s Secrecy Culture Frustrates DoD Sat Safety Effort (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Defense Department's efforts to improve the safety of space operations is facing pushback from the intelligence community. The NRO is slow rolling implementation of DoD’s effort to lift restrictions on the location of classified satellites, insiders say. That runs counter to Defense Department efforts to provide more information on the orbits of national security satellites in order to enhance safety.

“The US is being more transparent, but there are still those Cold Warriors that can’t figure out that things are changing and insist on subverting policy they have been tasked to implement,” one frustrated expert told me. “They are effectively taking USG efforts to be transparent and instead making it look like we’re playing games and can’t be trusted—basically shooting ourselves in the foot.” (8/27)

Brazil's Bolsonaro Defiant Despite Potential Disasterous Effect of Burning Amazon (Source: Guardian)
As Donald Trump’s America retreats from global leadership, coalitions of like-minded nations are attempting to limit the damage. One such grouping at this weekend’s G7 summit in France managed a breakthrough over one of the globe’s most pressing problems: the accelerating deforestation in the Amazon. France’s Emmanuel Macron take Brazil’s far-right president Jair Bolsonaro to task for encouraging the wanton destruction of the world’s biggest tropical forest.

Much more will have to be done to change Mr Bolsonaro’s mind over the threat posed by the climate crisis. The Brazilian president has appointed climate deniers to prominent roles. When the country’s space agency revealed increasing deforestation in the Amazon in July – a result of the rollback of environmental protections and enforcement – the president said the numbers were fake. He then sacked the head of the institute, shooting the messenger rather than acting on the message.

The rate of destruction has brought the Amazon close to a dangerous threshold – where it becomes too small to generate its own clouds. As the trees disappear, rainfall declines and deforestation begins to feed on itself; this could push it to a point of no return, where the vast basin would end up resembling a savannah more than a rainforest. Mr Bolsonaro sees the Amazon as a “virgin” that should be “exploited” by big business. (8/27)

Mystery Deepens Around Newly Detected Ripples in Space-Time (Source: Gizmodo)
The true identity of last week’s purported neutron star-black hole merger may never be known, as follow-up searches for a source of the signal have turned up nothing. Scientists affiliated with the LIGO detector announced last week that they’d spotted, in the form of gravitational waves, what appeared to be a black hole gobbling up a neutron star. But without an electromagnetic counterpart to the detection, it’s difficult to distinguish such an event from a pair of black holes merging. Either possibility is exciting. (8/27)

NASA’s Space Launch System Debut Looks Set To Slip Into 2021 (Source: Aviation Week)
Contractors for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift rocket indicate the agency’s decision to put the core stage through a “green run” full-scale ground test means first launch is more likely in 2021 as they enter a final phase of integrated structures, engines and systems testing. Although NASA is still officially targeting late 2020 for the SLS debut in the Artemis 1 test mission, the agency is widely expected to acknowledge the slide as part of the outcome of an ongoing review associated with recent leadership changes in its exploration programs.

The green run, which will be held at NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, is set for next year and could take place “in 6-9 months,” said Robert Broeren, Boeing integrated product team lead for SLS stages. Broeren said that even though the company will complete core assembly in the coming weeks at the company’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, there is still more work to do. “We have tests to verify the avionics, the cabling and [to] make sure everything talks to each other correctly,” he said. (8/23)

Boeing Completes First NASA SLS Engine Section, Getting Ready for Final Core Stage Mate (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Officials from NASA along with prime contractor Boeing formally signed off on the first assembly of the most complicated element of the civilian space agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. After a review of data from two months of functional testing at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans, the engine section element of the first SLS Core Stage is complete and is now cleared to be mated to the rest of the vehicle.

Reaching this engine section milestone took much longer than original estimates, which complicated the schedule for the first SLS launch on Artemis 1. Early in 2019, with the finish line for the engine compartment not appearing to get closer, the final assembly sequence was rewritten to do the remainder of it horizontally.

Work on the upper “four-fifths” of the stage was released from its dependency on the engine section in the Spring, those pieces were bolted together in late May, and standalone work is mostly complete. In parallel, the engine section/boattail assembly was also relocated to the same Final Assembly area at MAF in early April to complete outfitting, connections, and checkouts. (8/25)

U.S. Aims to Block Chinese Acquisition of Ukrainian Aerospace Company (Source: Wall Street Journal)
U.S. national-security adviser John Bolton is seeking to scuttle the pending Chinese acquisition of a Ukrainian aerospace company on grounds that it will give Beijing vital defense technology, according to senior U.S. administration officials familiar with the matter. Mr. Bolton’s personal interest and involvement in the deal, acknowledged by the senior administration officials, underscores the growing importance of this case to the U.S. national-security establishment. (8/27)

A Burj Khalifa-Sized Asteroid is About to ‘Narrowly’ Miss Earth (Source: Esquire)
Mark your calendars folks, September 14 will see an enormous asteroid shoot by our planet at more than 23,112 kilometres per hour (14,361 miles per hour). The rock, named 2000 QW7, is estimated to measure in at 650 meters, making it over twice the size of the London Shard at 310 metres and near the size of the tallest building in the world at 828 meters. Depending who you ask, you'll get a different scale. China compares it to the Shanghai Tower, France to the Eifel Tower and here in the UAE to the infamous Burj.

While a massive Burj Khalifa-sized rock charging towards us at a speed near 10 times that of a fighter jet may be scary, don’t worry, it’s really not. According to NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies (CNEOS), the asteroid is being monitored and has no danger of wiping out humanity. Our friendly little 2000 QW7 may clock in at 0.03564 astronomical units but that’s still 5.3 million km away from our surface. Earth is around 20,036 km so that would put the asteroid and us at around a distance of 265 Earths. (8/27)

US, Russia and China Far Outpace India with Space Debris (Source: Business Insider)
NASA pointed out that debris from India's anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons test — dubbed ' Mission Shakti' — is still in orbit. "A total of 101 debris pieces have entered the public satellite catalog, of which 49 remain on-orbit as of 15 July 2019," NASA stated. NASA also pointed out that that initially there were over 400 fragments from the ASAT test. It also said that cataloging them was difficult due to the low altitude of the event and the rapid orbital decay. Yet, India's debris is mere fraction of the debris left behind in space by other nations around the world. The United States, Russia and China are miles ahead of anyone else. (8/26)

Milestone Achieved! SpaceX to Launch Astranis’s First Commercial Satellite Into Orbit As Early As Next Year (Source: Medium)
Four years ago, my co-founder Ryan and I set out to get the next four billion people online by building the next generation of internet satellites from Geostationary orbit. Last year, we introduced ourselves to the world, announcing a Series A fundraising from the likes of Andreessen Horowitz and Y Combinator. This January, we announced our first mission: tripling the satellite internet capacity of Alaska by partnering with Pacific Dataport.

And today, we’re excited to announce that we’re even closer to achieving our mission: Astranis has signed with SpaceX to put the first of our ground-breaking geostationary satellites into orbit next year, dedicated to making an immediate impact on bridging the digital divide in Alaska. We’ve reserved a ride on a SpaceX Falcon 9 with a launch window at Florida’s famed Cape Canaveral starting in the fourth quarter of 2020. (8/26)

Iran Seen Preparing For Space Launch (Source: NPR)
In the latest indication that it may be readying an attempt to launch another space rocket, Iran has given its launch pad a fresh coat of paint. A satellite image taken by the commercial company Planet shows the pad painted a bright blue. The image, taken August 24, was shared with NPR. Until this month, the launch pad at the Imam Khomeini Space Center had been sporting a burn scar from a previous failed launch attempt. It had also been covered in debris from a possible flash flood at the site this past spring.

"The Iranians have finished clearing off the pad, and they painted over the previous launch scar," says Dave Schmerler, a senior research associate at the Middlebury Institute for International Studies who has analyzed the imagery. Other recent imagery has shown vehicle activity at a nearby building where Iran assembles its rockets. "We're getting close to a launch, but exactly when that will happen I can't tell you," Schmerler says. (8/26)

Hawaii or Spain? Telescope Experts Say it May Not Matter (Source: West Hawaii Today)
Despite years of legal battles and months of protests by Native Hawaiian opponents, the international coalition that wants to build the world’s largest telescope in Hawaii insists that the islands’ highest peak — Maunakea — is the best place for their $1.4 billion instrument. But just barely. Thirty Meter Telescope officials acknowledge that their backup site atop a peak on the Spanish Canary island of La Palma is a comparable observatory location, and that it wouldn’t cost more money or take extra time to build it there.

There’s also no significant opposition to putting the telescope on La Palma like there is in Hawaii, where some Native Hawaiians consider the mountain sacred and have blocked trucks from hauling construction equipment to Maunakea’s summit for more than a month. But Hawaii has advantages that scientists say make it slightly better: higher altitude, cooler temperatures, and rare star-gazing moments that will allow the cutting-edge telescope to reach its full potential. (8/26)

SpaceX Scrubs Starhopper Test Flight on Monday (Source: Ars Technica)
Shortly after 7pm ET (23:00 UTC) SpaceX began counting down to the 100-meter hop test for its Starhopper vehicle. And while there were some definitely rocket-like noises at T-0, the Raptor engine did not ignite. There may have been a problem with the igniters, as Musk noted on Twitter shortly after the test, "Raptor uses dual redundant torch igniters. Better long-term, but more finicky in development." The next launch attempt will occur no earlier than Tuesday. (8/27)