September 18, 2019

Boeing Wants Onto Northrop Grumman ICBM Team (Source: Space News)
Boeing is asking the Air Force to intervene in a competition for the next-generation ICBM. Boeing is asking the Air Force to compel Northrop Grumman to include Boeing it its bid for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program after Boeing decided it could not compete against Northrop, the nation's largest manufacturer of solid rocket motors. Boeing is asking the government to force a teaming arrangement with Boeing as the principal subcontractor to Northrop, arguing it would give the Air Force a "better weapon system sooner," a Boeing executive said. (9/18)

Space Command Wants Rapid-Build, Survivable Satellites (Source: Space News)
The head of the new U.S. Space Command says he needs satellites that can be built quickly and are survivable against attack. In his first major address as commander of U.S. Space Command, Air Force Gen. John Raymond said Tuesday his goal is to keep space peaceful and deter aggression. However, he said the U.S. needs to respond to growing threats by deploying more survivable satellites and training military space operators to defend them, something Raymond said will be a "sharp focus" for the new command. He added that U.S. Space Command intends to get better space intelligence by working more closely with foreign allies, with the U.S. intelligence community and with commercial companies that provide SSA data. (9/18)

Iridium and OneWeb Team Service Offerings (Source: Space News)
Iridium and OneWeb announced plans Tuesday to develop a combined service offering. The two companies signed a memorandum of understanding on joint satellite services, with maritime likely an early focus area for collaboration. Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium, said the companies are still discussing what their partnership will ultimately look like. Those discussions include combined physical products, commercial approaches and operational back-office solutions. (9/18)

Space Safety Coalition Pushes Best-Practices for Orbital Debris Mitigation (Source: Space News)
A new coalition of satellite operators and other organizations seeks to promote space safety. The Space Safety Coalition, announced Wednesday, features more than 20 organizations, including several major operators of GEO and LEO satellite systems. The coalition has published a list of best practices building upon existing guidelines intended to reduce the risk of collisions and the creation of orbital debris. Other satellite operators are also considering joining the coalition. (9/18)

NASA Touts Progress on Gateway HALO (Source: Space News)
NASA says it is making good progress on the lunar Gateway. At a recent conference, the program manager for the Gateway said that Maxar was moving ahead with one element of the Gateway, the Power and Propulsion Element, while Northrop Grumman was already starting work on the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module even as the agency finalizes a contract with the company on it. HALO, besides serving as a "mini-hab" module for astronauts, will also transport cargo to the Gateway when launched in late 2023 to help support a 2024 lunar landing. (9/18)

Roscosmos Finds Cause of Soyuz Hole(?) (Source: Sputnik)
The head of Roscosmos claims to know what created a hole found in a Soyuz spacecraft a year ago, but won't say what happened. Dmitry Rogozin, speaking at a conference, said that Roscosmos had identified what created a hole in the orbital module of the Soyuz MS-09 spacecraft last August, "but we won't tell you anything." It wasn't clear how serious Rogozin was in those remarks, or if the results of that investigation had been shared with other ISS partners. (9/18)

Aevum Inc. Receives Contract to Launch Satellites from Cecil Spaceport (Source: Jacksonville Daily Record)
The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center awarded Alabama-based Aevum Inc. a $4.9 million contract to launch small satellites to low Earth orbit from Cecil Spaceport. The initial launch is scheduled for the third quarter of 2021. With the award, Aevum will expand its operations into Jacksonville. Aevum plans to add 10 to 30 jobs in Jacksonville, and is deciding whether to build a facility or lease space.

The contract is for the Agile Small Launch Operational Normalizer 45 space mission, which will provide orbital launch services in support of the Department of Defense Space Test Program to improve the department’s real-time threat warnings. In July, JAA announced it would build a new air traffic control center and spaceport operations center by 2021. The spaceport operation center will house telemetry, mission control and weather monitoring equipment. (9/18)

Cecil Spaceport Lands its Second Space Launch Operator (Source: News4Jax)
Cecil Spaceport has landed its second space launch operator. On Tuesday, the Jacksonville Aviation Authority announced that Aevum was awarded a $4.9 million contract from the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center to launch small, autonomous defense satellites from the spaceport.

The Agile Small Launch Operational Normalizer 45 space lift mission, which marks the Alabama-based company's first Air Force mission, will help support the Department of Defense's Space Test program. "This is exciting news for Cecil Spaceport that we believe validates Jacksonville's position as an emerging player in the space industry," JAA CEO Mark Van Loh said. Aevum joins Generation Orbit, the first company to sign an operating agreement with JAA to launch out of Cecil, which is one of the few commercial spaceports licensed by the FAA. (9/18)

SpaceX Plans House Buyouts Due to Growth at Texas Launch Site (Source: Business Insider)
SpaceX is seeking to buy the houses in a small subdivision near its South Texas test site. Letters sent to owners of homes in Boca Chica Village, printed on SpaceX letterhead, offered owners three times the fair market value of their homes, but required a decision within two weeks. The company said that while it originally thought its operations there could co-exist with the subdivision, future plans "will make it increasingly more challenging to minimize disruption to residents." Some owners said they plan to turn down the offer. (9/18)

Ruag Expands in Austria for Ariane 6 (Source: Ruag Space)
Ruag Space has opened a new facility in Austria that it will use to build thermal insulation for Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket. The facility, in Berndorf, south of Vienna, will use glass and ceramic materials to produce high-temperature insulation capable of withstanding temperatures reaching 1,500 degrees Celsius (roughly 2,730 degrees Fahrenheit). Ruag said it is leveraging experience building thermal insulation for satellites, such as Iridium Next and OneWeb, for rockets. The facility will also produce insulation for MRI scanners and for liquefied natural gas tanks. (9/18)

NASA Creates Challenge to Advance Urban Air Mobility (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA's UAM Grand Challenge seeks to provide a unified framework for the testing and regulatory approval of urban air mobility vehicles. Currently, the Federal Aviation Administration's approval process for UAM is fragmented. Up to three eVTOL developers sought to participate in the developmental testing event to pave way for NASA’s UAM Grand Challenge. (9/18)

Lockheed Builds New Plant in Alabama for Hypersonic Production (Source: Defense News)
Lockheed Martin has placed its bets on hypersonic missiles, using golden shovels to break ground surrounded by cotton and corn fields in Alabama on Sept. 16 for new facilities to develop, test and produce the weapons. The firm’s hypersonic contracts with the U.S. military have amounted to more than $3.5 billion and included contracts to develop the Air Force’s Hypersonic Conventional Strike Weapon program and the Navy’s conventional prompt strike hypersonic effort as well as the tactical boost-glide contract and the Air Force’s Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon (ARRW) program. (9/17)

Central Florida Tech Startups Vie for NASA Support at Orlando Event (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Marc Rippen hopes his invention can improve blood glucose monitoring for diabetic people on Earth, but it also could aid astronauts faced with the harshness of outer space. The founder and president of Melbourne-based Alertgy was the winner of the Ignite the Night pitch competition on Sept. 10 in Orlando. As the winner, Rippen’s product — a real-time blood glucose monitor — will be among the 25 submitted to NASA’s chief technologists for review.

NASA will choose 10 products to present at a national forum in October, and the top three will get help developing and marketing their products, which NASA hopes to use in future missions. NASA does not directly fund any of the companies. “I never thought I’d win,” Rippen said. “This was like a moon shot for me.”

The competition featured executives from 10 startups, mostly from Central Florida but also from Spain and Latvia, each taking three minutes to present their inventions to a panel of judges. Founders and CEOs pitched devices with commercial and space applications, including specialized optical filters, a gene-monitoring software and a wearable support exoskeleton. (9/16)

Cornwall Spaceport Latest - Council Cabinet Agrees £12million Funding (Source: Cornwall Live)
Dreams of a Cornwall Spaceport have taken a step closer to becoming a reality after Cornwall Council ’s cabinet agreed to spend £12million on the project. The money is part of a £20m package which will provide a number of things needed to prepare Spaceport Cornwall at  Cornwall Airport Newquay. Funding from the council will be used alongside cash from the UK Space Agency, Virgin Orbit and the Cornwall and  Isles of Scilly Local Enterprise Partnership. Following the Cabinet’s decision the matter will now be passed on to the next meeting of the full council in November where it will have to be approved before it can be signed off. (9/18)

Brochure on UK Spaceflight Program (Source: Gov.UK)
A guide to the UK spaceflight program which aims to enable commercial markets for regular, reliable and responsible access to space from UK spaceports. The UK is an attractive destination to grow commercial markets for small satellite launch and sub-orbital flight services. This guide explains how the UK Space Agency, Department for Transport and Civil Aviation Authority are working together to deliver the UK Spaceflight Program, which will enable the growth of this market in the UK. Click here. (9/18)

Picterra Lands $3.3 Million in New Funding to Help Further Democratize Geospatial Mapping (Source: Picterra)
Picterra, a geospatial software organization that enables users to extract satellite and drone imaging insights through a combination of artificial intelligence and human expertise, today announced $3.3 million in new funding that will help further democratize geospatial mapping data. The funding will go toward growing Picterra’s team and building upon its early successes, such as a community-built library of hundreds of deep learning models; reducing the training of deep learning models, and democratizing its geospatial mapping search engine. (9/17)

A Small Asteroid Makes a Huge Flash Slamming Into Jupiter (Source: CNET)
An amateur astronomer captured a flash in Jupiter's atmosphere last month that appeared as a bright dot nearly the size of Earth when compared with the gas giant planet. New analysis of the footage finds the brief flare was caused by a relatively small asteroid. A slow-motion GIF of the flash brightening and fading in the middle left of the planet. Ethan Chappel recorded the 1.5-second flash on August 7 using a telescope in his backyard in Texas. At its peak, it matched the brightness of Jupiter's moon Io. (9/17)

Senate Appropriators Add $22M for Small Launch, Approve Space Force and Space Development Agency Requests (Source: Space News)
The Senate Appropriations Committee on Thursday advanced the defense subcommittee’s spending proposal for fiscal year 2020 that provides $622.5 billion in base defense funding, $70.7 billion for Overseas Contingency Operations and $1.7 billion in emergency funding. According to a draft of the full committee markup, the SAC added $22 million for a new program called Tactically Responsive Space Launch and approved the $72.4 million requested by the Pentagon to stand up a Space Force.

The SAC defense subcommittee on Tuesday revealed that it supported funding the Space Force and that it had created the new launch program line but the amount of the funding was not known until today. The bill is headed for a contentious fight on the Senate floor as Democrats attempt to block Trump administration efforts to take funds from military projects to pay for the U.S.-Mexico border wall. (9/17)

Silicon Valley Company Makes Strides Toward Space Economy (Source: San Jose Spotlight)
Humans have been dreaming of the next frontier for decades, imagining what humankind might find among the stars. But in a stout, two-story building in Mountain View, one group is taking it a step further by imagining an entire new space economy. Made In Space, which leases land for its headquarters at Moffett Field from NASA, is building machines that can make other things in space, including large satellites that would be difficult, if not impossible, to launch from earth. It could eventually help to build out space stations that allow humans to explore more of the universe than ever before. Click here. (9/17)

This Company Wants to Deal with Space Junk By… Sending More Stuff Into Space (Source: MIT Technology Review)
There are roughly 130 million pieces of space debris orbiting Earth’s atmosphere. The world (specifically, the US Air Force) tracks only the biggest ones, about 22,300 pieces of debris larger than 10 centimeters, since they pose the biggest threat. But this certainly leaves a lot of risk on the table—most debris is orbiting the planet at upwards of 22,000 miles per hour, which means a piece of debris as small as 0.2 millimeters can still cause significant damage to a satellite. Our current systems for tracking space debris are woefully inadequate.

NorthStar Earth & Space thinks it might have a remedy. The Canadian space company is developing a constellation of 40 satellites that will work to monitor and track space debris, with commercial service starting in 2021. NorthStar will track the debris with a combination of hyperspectral, infrared, and optical sensors. Its software analyzes that data they produce and creates forecasts to predict potential collisions. The Canadian government has reportedly already invested $13 million in developing the system. (9/16)

UAE in Space: Why the International Space Station Matters to Us in the UAE (Source: Gulf News)
Ten days from now, astronaut Hazza Al Mansouri will head to where no Emirati has gone before — literally reach beyond the skies and live on-board the International Space Station (ISS). Al Mansouri’s expedition to space is an ambitious national mission realised in less than two years of planning and training.

His eight-day stay on the largest man-made structure outside Earth will make him the 240th visitor to the space station and the UAE as the 19th visiting country. Al Mansouri carries on his shoulders the dreams of a young nation “who break barriers and prove that there is no power strong enough to stand in their way”. His trip paves the way for many more Emiratis to reach the ISS and beyond, to even establish a city on Mars by 2117. (9/14)

Emirati Astronaut Continues Preparations for Space Flight (Source: Gulf Today)
The UAE’s first astronaut, Hazzaa Al Mansoori, documented his training at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, through a 60-second video, which he posted as a story on his personal Instagram account. In the video, he appeared to be training on the brutal rotating chair, in order to stimulate the balance system in the inner ear, according to his comment. The experiment helps reduce the side effects on the human body incurred by lack of gravity in space, according to Yamama Bedwan, Staff Reporter. (9/17)

Huntsville Mayor Makes New Case for Putting Space Command in Alabama (Source: Huntsville Times)
Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle used breaking defense news today to make the case to security experts that America’s new U.S. Space Command should be located in his city. “No one does space and defense better than the brainpower on Redstone Arsenal. The world’s most advanced capabilities in aerospace, space and missile defense, and space exploration are already here,” Battle said to members of the American Society for Industrial Security. (9/16)

Branson Says Virgin Galactic Will Examine Feasibility of Transatlantic Flights Through Space (Source: Aviation Today)
Imagine flying at 3,500 miles per hour from New York City to Paris, partly through space. That may become possible in the future, according to Richard Branson, the founder of the Virgin Group. “I think it is," Branson said on Sept. 16 when asked by Air Force Association Chairman F. Whitten Peters during a discussion at the AFA Cyber and Space Conference at National Harbor, MD whether such a trip were economically feasible.

"Once we’ve finished this program we are going to be working hard on that as an option," Branson said, referring to Virgin Galactic's work on suborbital SpaceShipTwo, the VSS Unity, which last year became the first crewed flight vehicle built for commercial passenger service to reach space. California-based The Spaceship Company, owned by Virgin Galactic, built SpaceShipTwo. “I absolutely am planning to fly myself," Branson said. "It won’t be long now.” (9/16)

Most Massive Neutron Star Ever Detected, Almost too Massive to Exist (Source: Cosmos)
Astronomers say a rapidly rotating millisecond pulsar called J0740+6620 is the most massive neutron star ever measured, packing 2.17 times the mass of the Sun into a sphere only 20-30 kilometers across. And this, they suggest, approaches the limits of how massive and compact a single object can become without crushing itself down into a black hole. (9/17)

Boeing Reorganizing Plans as it Builds Second NASA SLS Core Stage Engine Section (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The engine section of the second NASA Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage will look a lot like the first one, but prime contractor Boeing redesigned the way they are putting it together. The engine compartment, which is the bottom of the five major pieces that compose a full stage, is the most complicated piece of the launch vehicle.

Although the basic aspects of assembly and production of the Core Stage-2 engine section remain the same, the better understanding gained from going through the whole assembly process has already resulted in significant changes to the arrangement of work and improvements to the quality of the output.

The main integration of internal equipment such as tubing, wiring, and electronics will follow assembly of the primary structures, but some of that work has already started; efforts will continue into successive builds to refine the production process for the Core Stage from work on the individual elements to final assembly. (9/16)

Tabby’s Star: Exomoon’s Slow Annihilation Could Explain the Dimming of the Most Mysterious Star in the Universe (Source: Columbia University)
For years, astronomers have looked up at the sky and speculated about the strange dimming behavior of Tabby’s Star. First identified more than a century ago, the star dips in brightness over days or weeks before recovering to its previous luminosity. At the same time, the star appears to be slowly losing its luster overall, leaving researchers scratching their heads.

Now, astronomers at Columbia University believe they’ve developed an explanation for this oddity. In a new paper published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, astrophysicists Brian Metzger, Miguel Martinez and Nicholas Stone propose that the long-term dimming is the result of a disk of debris—torn from a melting exomoon—that is accumulating and orbiting the star, blocking its light as the material passes between the star and Earth. (9/16)

Space No Place for Wars Between Nations (Source: South China Morning Post)
The United States military formed a unified command for its activities in space in 1983 during the cold war. It was to be terminated in less than 20 years in a defence restructuring after the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the US. Now President Donald Trump has recreated it as a distinct service responsible for controlling the military’s operations in space. It is seen as a counter to Russian and Chinese advances in space power. Trump describes space as “the next war-fighting domain” and claims “SpaceCom will ensure that America’s dominance in space is never questioned and never threatened”.

Such space warfare commands are a worrying development with the potential to lead to an arms race in space that will swallow money like a black hole. Cooperation in space exploration through science-driven missions offers a more affordable and effective alternative to manned exploration. A world that has suffered so much from conflict on its own ground needs peaceful cooperation in space. As a first step towards achieving it, the ban on nuclear and other weapons of mass destruction in space should be extended to conventional weapons. This in turn could help bring space powers together to focus on advances in science and technology that will ultimately prove to be of benefit to mankind.

In that regard China, though the third and increasingly accomplished nation in space, remains excluded from using the International Space Station, largely due to pressure from the US. That hardly serves the goal of quarantining space from conflict. Nations with advanced technology have a moral duty to work together to pursue the peaceful exploration of space, and to prevent its militarization. (9/16)