September 6, 2019

Tiny NASA Satellite Gets Fascinating 3D Peek Inside Hurricane Dorian (Source: CNET)
A tiny experimental NASA weather satellite has now given us a fascinating view from under the hurricane's hood. Tempest-D is a CubeSat roughly the size of a box of cereal. This inexpensive satellite is on a demonstration mission to show if it can track storms. If successful, it could set the stage for launching a series of low-cost CubeSats that can follow storms across the globe.

The satellite shows us the layers inside Dorian in 3D. "The CubeSat used its miniaturized radio-wave-based instrument to see through the clouds, revealing different depths of the hurricane with areas with heavy rainfall and moisture being pulled into the storm," NASA said in a statement on Wednesday. (9/5)

Risk of Further Militarisation of Space Larger Than It Has Been For Many Years (Source: Sputnik)
US President Donald Trump wants the US to be ready for new battles - and not on the ground, but in space. On Thursday, Trump announced the official establishment of the US military's Space Command. "It's a big deal", the US president said at the White House's Rose Garden, adding that it would help "defend America's vital interests in space, the next warfighting domain, and I think that's pretty obvious to everybody. It's all about space".

But the US Space Command, also referred to as SPACECOM, isn't something entirely new, technically Trump re-established it as a division within the Department of Defence and the nation's 11th combatant command. It was initially launched in 1985, but 2002 it merged with the US Strategic Command in the wake of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks.

Professor Frans von der Dunk at the International Institute of Space Law (IISL), called Trump's decision a logical one, but at the same time downplayed the role that the US Space Command will currently have. "The establishment of a specific Space Command is essentially a bureaucratic/institutional move providing a bit more political/institutional visibility for the space aspects of national security, and as such merely results in shifting a few people, funds and buildings", von der Dunk said. (9/4)

The Great ISS Bake Off Experiment to Bring Cookies to Space (Source: Silicon Republic)
The smell of freshly baked cookies could soon be wafting through the International Space Station as three companies team up for a bake off in space. As humans travel further into the universe, the ability to cook food in space will become more important, a former NASA astronaut has said.

With journeys into the unknown set to become longer, it will be more difficult to resupply missions and carry everything on board. But, very soon, the smell of freshly baked cookies could be wafting through the International Space Station (ISS). A prototype oven with the ingredients needed to bake a batch of cookies is destined to make its way to the crew. If the mission succeeds, the chocolate chip confections will be the first food baked in space, according to hospitality giant Hilton. (9/3)

NASA Launches Urban Air Mobility Grand Challenge Program (Source: Aviation Today)
With NASA’s four-year testing program on unmanned aircraft integration drawing to a close, the agency held a kickoff call with industry to begin its next research and demonstration effort: the urban air mobility (UAM) Grand Challenge. Beginning in 2020, NASA will conduct full field tests in urban environments with select participants, evaluating all elements of UAM operations under a variety of weather, traffic and contingency conditions.

The goal of the Grand Challenge program is to inform the codification of a “UML-4 book of requirements,” or an understanding of what will be required to achieve a mature UAM ecosystem capable of operating efficiently in dense urban environments. Through a series of simulations and operational tests with industry and government partners, NASA also hopes to identify areas where further research is required in order to accelerate the timeline by which safe UAM operations can begin.

During the tests, NASA and government partners will record a wide array of flight data, including acoustics, vehicle fight performance, charging, pre-departure scheduling and much more. That information will be provided to the FAA to help determine vehicle certification requirements and, for some data such as acoustics, back to the participating companies for their benefit. (8/30)

Scientists Behind First Black Hole Image Win $3 Million Breakthrough Prize Award (Soure: Gizmodo)
The Breakthrough Prize Foundation has awarded $21.6 million to winners of its 2020 Breakthrough Prizes, including a $3 million prize to 347 members of the black hole-imaging Event Horizon Telescope team. The Breakthrough Prize was funded by Russian-Israeli billionaire Yuri Milner and annually awards researchers in the life sciences, mathematics, and fundamental physics. It is considered the highest-paying science prize.

“To get an award like this signifies that the image is a touchstone for many,” Shep Doeleman, Harvard astronomer, told Gizmodo. “We’re looking forward to doing some more science with it, and reaching out to scientists in many fields.” On April 10, 2019, scientists around the world announced that they’d linked eight radio telescope facilities on Earth to produce an image of a black hole. (9/5)

New Documents Reveal SpaceX's Plans for Launching Mars-Rocket Prototypes From South Texas (Source: Business Insider)
SpaceX is building and launching prototypes of Starship— a reusable launch system designed to send people to the moon and Mars — from Boca Chica, a site at the southern tip of Texas. But that's not how SpaceX originally proposed to use the site. When it got approval in July 2014, the rocket company said it'd build a commercial spaceport to launch Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets.

The FAA has reviewed SpaceX's new plans for the site, and the government regulator is preparing to publish two "written reevaluation" documents, which Business Insider obtained on Thursday. Although SpaceX has turned Boca Chica into a Starship skunkworks, the FAA believes the company is operating within-bounds of its original assessment in terms of safety and environmental impact. The documents describe a three-phase development plan for Starship over the next two or three years.

The company originally agreed to build a commercial spaceport by spending about $100 million on the effort, including some $15 million worth of incentives from county and state governments. Space missions were supposed to start launching by the end of 2017, with up to a dozen trips each year. Yet before SpaceX could do anything, it had to go through a gauntlet of filing an environmental impact statement, or EIS, with the FAA. By May 2018, Musk said that SpaceX was dropping its commercial spaceport plan and instead dedicating the site to building and flying Mars rocket-ship prototypes. Click here. (9/5) 

Aerojet Rocketdyne Watching How Political Changes Could Afect its Business (Source: Space News)
As aerospace companies enjoy increased Pentagon and NASA spending, at least one executive is mindful of potential changes should a new president be elected in 2020. Eileen Drake, president and chief executive of Aerojet Rocketdyne, said her company is benefitting from growth in both civilian space and military programs, ranging from the Space Launch System to hypersonics initiatives.

“The time is now,” she said. “Most of us who have been in this business have never seen a time where we have the administration and Congress this focused both on space and on defense.” Asked later if that focus could be threatened if President Trump loses reelection in 2020, Drake acknowledged that, based on past experience, some projects could be threatened. “We’ve all seen, when there’s different administrations, is a different focus,” she said. “I think the focus will continue there on the defense side.”

On space, though, she recalled the decision by the Obama administration to cancel NASA’s Constellation program that it inherited from the George W. Bush administration. “That’s something we are very conscious of,” she said. She specifically mentioned Aerojet’s work providing RS-25 engines for the SLS, which represents the company’s biggest contract in its space portfolio. (9/5)

Air Force Considers Future of Intelligence Gathering in Space (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
The Air Force is beginning to extend the war-fighting domain of space into the realm of intelligence gathering. "We need to think really really hard now about intelligence for space. Where is that intelligence expertise, the processes, the capabilities that we have to understand what's actually happening in the space environment to support Gen. [Jay] Raymond in his capacity at US Space Command for a potential war that may extend to space," Maj. Gen. John Shaw says. (9/5)

Space Command Report Highlights Future Impact of Space Economy (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Air Force Space Command has released a study that explores the potential future direction of human space exploration, calling for a revamped strategy by the US when it comes to space. "US must recognize that in 2060, space will be a major engine of national political, economic, and military power for whichever nations best organize and operate to exploit that potential," according to the study. (9/6)

Air Force Space Commander Warns the Military Needs Better Intelligence (Source: Space News)
An Air Force general says that intelligence support for space operations is becoming a "big thing." Maj. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of Air Force Space Command, said at a conference Thursday that the concern is whether the United States will have adequate intelligence to prevent and thwart attacks aimed at spacecraft. He said that the intelligence component is a vital part of the new U.S. Space Command, and that when the Space Force is formed, it will have to develop its own intelligence professionals. (9/5)

Vega Return-To-Flight in Early 2020 (Source: Space News)
Arianespace announced Thursday that its Vega small launch vehicle will return to flight in early 2020 after identifying the cause of a July launch failure. The company said that a "thermo-structural failure" of the forward dome in the Zefiro-23 motor that serves as the Vega's second stage caused the Vega to break apart on a July 10 launch, but provided few additional details on what caused that thermo-structural failure. Avio, the company that manufactures the Vega, says it will take corrective measures "to reduce significantly" the risk of a similar failure in the future. That work will delay the next Vega mission to the first quarter of 2020, and also likely push back the introduction of the Vega-C. (9/6)

The Silicon Valley Heavyweights Who Want to Settle the Moon (Source: Bloomberg)
A new venture is seeking to support the development of a low-cost human settlement on the moon. The Open Lunar Foundation is a group that includes former NASA Ames director Pete Worden, venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson and former astronaut Chris Hadfield. The group has spent the last year and a half working on plans for a series of missions that could lead to a "small lunar settlement" for a cost it estimates to be $2—3 billion. The organization has released few details about its plans, and in a brief statement only said it advocates for "using the moon to create positive futures in space and to improve life on Earth." (9/5)

Russia Open to Foreign Investment in Vostochny Spaceport (Source: Bloomberg)
Russian President Vladimir Putin says he's open to taking foreign investment to fund development of the Vostochny Cosmodrome. Speaking at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok on Thursday, Putin said he was "interested" in outside investment for facilities at the new launch site in Russia's Far East, stating that the facility was not built for military purposes. One launch pad is operational there and construction is underway on a second, but the project has suffered from corruption among companies hired to built the spaceport. (9/6)

Rocked Lab Hires NASA Engineer to Support Government Launch Business (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has hired a former NASA engineer and manager to handle its civil government launch services business. The company said Richard French is its new director of global government launch services, responsible for working with NASA, NOAA and international space agencies. French has worked for 12 years at JPL as an engineer and held management positions at JPL and NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate supporting implementation of public-private partnerships. (9/6)