September 1, 2019

NASA Langley Director Appointed Executive Director of the Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy (Source: Old Dominion University)
The newly established Virginia Institute for Spaceflight and Autonomy (VISA) announced Thursday the appointment of former director of NASA's Langley Research Center David E. Bowles as executive director.

Bowles, who will assume his new role on Oct. 10 when VISA makes its official launch, will work to advance the mission of the VISA regionally, nationally and internationally. VISA, a research enterprise of the Virginia Modeling, Analysis and Simulation Center (VMASC) at Old Dominion University, was approved in the last session of the Virginia General Assembly to leverage the Commonwealth's expanding space facilities and growing capability to support advances in satellites and autonomous systems, the sensors they carry and the data they produce.

"This opportunity brings together three of my passions; aerospace, education and the Commonwealth of Virginia," Bowles said. "I'm really excited for the opportunity to help people realize the untapped potential as far as what the state has to offer in terms of world-class facilities for space launch and autonomous system operations, as well for unmanned asset data technologies." Bowles comes to VISA after more than 35 years at NASA Langley, serving as associate director in 2012 and deputy director in 2014 before being appointed to Center director in June 2015. (8/29)

Blockchain Apogee (Source: Forbes)
When Richard Branson blew past a group of novice kite surfers training on the pristine beaches of his private Necker Island earlier this summer, dropped his surfboard in the surrounding Atlantic Ocean, and effortlessly slid across the turquoise-blue surface, he was training to be an astronaut. Later that day, when the billionaire founder of Virgin Group joined Salesforce’s head of blockchain, the co-founder of blockchain technology giant Bitfury, and a Necker Island tennis pro in a doubles match surrounded by palm trees, pink flamingos and ringtail lemurs, he was once again working his way to the stars.

For the past seven years, many of 69-year-old Branson’s habits have been dedicated to this purpose, from his choice of recreation to the multiple times he’s strapped into the NASTAR STS-400 centrifuge outside of Philadelphia, where he experienced the crushing forces of gravity six-times higher than Earth. While Branson’s real goal is to be a passenger on his own Virgin Galactic spaceship, called VSS Unity, all that stands between him and outer space is Beth Moses, Virgin Galactic’s chief astronaut instructor and de facto space gatekeeper.

“When am I going?” Branson asked a crowd of about 30 people at a film screening of private footage from Moses’ first flight to space hosted at the Blockchain Summit on Necker Island. “When Beth tells me I’m allowed to.” Moses’ presence at the annual summit, co-hosted by Bitfury, to explore how the technology that powers bitcoin can be used to change a wide range of businesses, was no publicity stunt. An early adopter of bitcoin, Moses read the bitcoin white paper in 2013 and was struck by the cryptocurrency’s ability to let anyone in the world spend and receive money without a bank. Shortly thereafter she started mining bitcoin. (8/31)

Spaceport America Serves a ‘Bigger Purpose’ (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
Virgin Galactic commercial director Stephen Attenborough waxed philosophical as he chatted with reporters on a recent bus ride to Spaceport America, where the company would unveil the interior design that brings its Spaceport home “truly alive” and show off VMS Eve, the mothership that will take civilian customers on the first leg of their flight to space. While Attenborough described his ultimate job as “making sure we make money,” he also talked about the “bigger purpose” that drives the company.

“If we are going to use the resources of space to sustain life on earth, we are going to have to improve access to space,” he said, echoing a theme shared by top Virgin Galactic executives. “Democratization of space if you will.” Looking back 15 years, a site in the New Mexico desert becoming what Attenborough and Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides call the “Gateway to Space” was a definite long shot.

Unity, which will carry the customer astronauts on the last leg of their journey to space, is expected to be moved to New Mexico in the next few months. Asked to look a decade into the future for the company and Spaceport America, Attenborough paused and said, “five spaceships, daily flights, maybe another terminal and another (competing) spaceline. Making this truly a hub of commercial space flight in the United States.... Competition,” he said, “will be the true measure of our success.” (9/1)

Chinese Light Launch Blitz Continues with Kuaizhou-1A Mission (Source: Space News)
A commercial Kuaizhou-1A rocket launched two satellites Friday, continuing a recent intense period of light launch vehicle activity in China. The Kuaizhou-1A launched from a mobile platform at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, successfully carrying to a microgravity experiment satellite and a commercial technology verification satellite into roughly 600-kilometer altitude orbits. It was China’s 16th orbital launch of 2019 and the first since the Aug. 19 launch of communications satellite which is experiencing ‘abnormalities’. (8/31)

This Weird 'Whiplash' Planet is Unlike Anything Astronomers Have Ever Seen (Source: NBC)
Astronomers have discovered a giant planet whose extreme orbit makes it unlike anything they’ve ever seen. Dubbed HR 5183 b, the exoplanet is at least three times as massive as Jupiter, and it takes a long, looping path around a star that lies about 100 light-years away in the constellation Virgo. If the exoplanet were in our own solar system — in which Earth and the other planets move around the sun in nearly circular orbits — its extremely elliptical orbit would take it from beyond Neptune to within the orbit of Jupiter. (9/1)

The Observer View on Donald Trump’s Plans to Militarize Space (Source: The Guardian)
According to Gen John Raymond, SpaceCom commander, being top dog in space is a “vital [US] national interest” that is threatened by rivals, notably China and Russia. “The scope, scale and complexity of this threat... is real and concerning,” he said. “Although space is a war-fighting domain, our goal is to actually deter a conflict extending into space. The best way I know to do that is to be prepared to fight and win... We are the best in the world at space.”

How about best in space at space? That would be more impressive. It’s odd the way the American republic finds it necessary to constantly assert its superiority. It smacks of insecurity. And why is the US military mind so deaf and blind to history that it cannot recognise the old, cyclical “threat=counterthreat=bigger threat” thinking that gave us Vietnam and the insanely dangerous US-Soviet nuclear arms race?

Unable or unwilling to learn from the past, the generals have found a new battlefront – and in Trump someone only too happy to encourage aggressive behaviour. What do they imagine will happen next? Other countries, alarmed by this projection of heavenly hegemony, will seek to match or surpass US capabilities. Like space itself, the potential for ruinously destructive rivalry is infinite. (9/1)

US Spots Maneuvers of Russian Military Satellite (Source: TASS)
Russian military spacecraft Kosmos-2521, unofficially nicknamed the satellite inspector, has performed several new maneuvers since the beginning of 2019, the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) said in a statement. According to NORAD, in January 2019 the satellite was in near-Earth orbit with parameters of 280 km per 285 km. In early February, the orbit of the spacecraft began to decrease gradually and by April 10 its minimum altitude was 227 km. Then the satellite was once again raised - in early June, it had an orbit of 247 for 282 km.

Now, the satellite has descended again, according to NORAD. The flight path of Kosmos-2521 around the Earth moves so that during the day it more than 10 times flies over different parts of North America. Kosmos-2521 satellite, capable of performing tens of hundreds of kilometers of orbital maneuvers, according to a number of specialized resources, was launched on June 23, 2017 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The satellite began to perform regular maneuvers in space starting from October 2017. (8/31)

SpaceX’s Impact on Texas' Border Economy (Source: KVEO)
On August 27 history was made as SpaceX successfully launched its Starhopper at Boca Chica Beach. SpaceX is the golden child of the competitive space industry. SpaceX’s presence in the Rio Grande Valley is helping to improve the south Texas economy. In addition it hopes to spur a much needed educational interest in the space field. We went on a tour of the SpaceX facilities with U.S. Representative Filemon Vela and Rick Jenet, Associate Professor of Physics and Astronomy at UTRGV.

Professor Jenet says the economic impact of commercial space by 2040 is going to reach $1 trillion. “That’s a conservative estimate based on the understanding of global economic phenomenon, making the most of the opportunities we have here.” Congressman Vela says touting SpaceX shows the positives of our south Texas community, which tend to be overshadowed by immigration issues. The addition of SpaceX to south Texas has not only added revenue to the local coffers, in terms of highly skilled and high-paid workers, but it also has sparked interest among local schools and universities in science and technology. (8/30)

Las Cruces Space Festival Returning In 2020 (Source: KRWG)
The Las Cruces Space Festival will return on March 30th- April 4th 2020, providing a week of free space-related activities and events for all ages.  Here is a statement from the Las Cruces Space Festival: The Las Cruces Space Festival is an annual celebration to recognize space-related activity and interest in southern New Mexico and beyond. We aim to raise awareness in our community and beyond of space-related activity in the region- past, present and future. We are working with the Las Cruces Public Schools and New Mexico State University to educate and inspire youth of all ages.

We celebrate the anniversary of human spaceflight, known as Yuri’s Night, which lands on Easter Sunday in 2020. The Festival aims to provide entertainment and fun for all as well as enable an economic impact in Doña Ana and Sierra Counties. We are also looking to support the development and needs of a sustainable Spaceport. (8/30)

Iran Taunts Trump With Selfie Over Rocket Explosion Tweet (Source: New York Post)
Iran’s IT minister fired back at President Trump’s allegation that a rocket exploded on a test site in northern Iran — by tweeting a selfie with Tehran’s prized satellite fully intact. “Me and Nahid I right now, Good Morning Donald Trump!” Information and Communications Technology Minister Mohammad Javad Azari Jahromi tweeted Saturday, along with a photo of himself and the apparatus.

The tweet comes after Trump on Friday posted a high-resolution aerial photo to Twitter showing an explosion at the Semnan Launch Site One in Iran, where the Nahid I was reportedly being built. Trump claimed the “catastrophic accident” happened “during final launch preparations for the Safir SLV Launch.” Iranian officials confirmed the Thursday explosion, but Jahromi denied the Safir satellite was destroyed. (8/31)