November 24, 2019

Virgin Galactic Begins Astronaut Readiness Program (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
In a first-of-its kind event, Virgin Galactic has begun its exclusive customer training experience known as the Astronaut Readiness Program. This specialized training program is designed to prepare future Virgin Galactic space customers for their first flight into orbit. Hosted at Under Armour’s headquarters in Baltimore, MD, the exclusive provider of the company’s spaceflight suits. The training is tailored for the private customer to ready themselves for the thrills and challenges of suborbital space flight.

The Virgin Galactic program is not nearly as rigorous as the training current NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX astronauts are currently undergoing for flights to the International Space Station. It is tailored for the private customer to ready themselves for the thrills and challenges of suborbital space flight. The specifics of the training were not detailed. Those flying onboard SpaceShip Two will be awarded pins by the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) upon their return. (11/21)

GAO Negates Blue Origin’s Claim That Air Force Launch Procurement Favors Incumbents (Source: Space News)
Blue Origin won a favorable GAO ruling in its protest of the Air Force launch contract rules. GAO, however, dismissed outright one of the company’s central complaints that the Air Force set terms that discriminate against emerging competitors in the space launch industry. The Air Force said in the RFP that it will select two providers whose proposals, ”when combined,” offer the best value to the government. Those two providers will split launches 60/40 over the five-year contract. GAO ruled that evaluating independent bids as pairs is unreasonable and inconsistent with procurement laws.

Following GAO’s decision, the Air Force said it would remove that clause and evaluate each proposal on its own merit. Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman, SpaceX and ULA are competing for the two slots. Blue Origin, however, did not prevail on a central issue it has hammered on since before the RFP was issued: that the terms of the competition undermine new entrants and favor incumbent companies.

Aerospace and defense industry consultant Jim McAleese, of McAleese & Associates, called GAO’s decision a “pyrrhic victory” for Blue Origin. What the company sought and did not get was a ruling that objected to the Air Force’s strategy to award five-year contracts to two providers, McAleese said. “I believe that they really wanted a three-award outcome, but that is now gone. They will really have to sharpen their pencil now.” (11/23)

NASA Partners with UCF to Tackle Potentially Dangerous Moon Dust Problems (Source: Florida Today)
As NASA gets ready to head back to the moon, the space agency still has to figure out a few key things before returning the next man and first woman to touch down on the lunar surface. Forget about developing the heavy-lift rocket needed to transport astronauts there or the capsule that would carry the astronauts onboard. We're not even talking about the lunar orbiting gateway where the astronauts would stay when they're not walking on the moon or even the lunar landers that would transport the astronauts down to the surface of the moon.

No. Instead there's another serious obstacle NASA needs to combat before the space agency decides it wants to "colonize" the celestial body next door to us and create lunar habitats for astronauts to stay for long periods of time. Dust. Not the household dust that collects on your furniture. Lunar dust, which can be relatively large, jagged, statically charged and travel at high speeds.

Lunar dust can damage astronaut's spacesuits, science equipment and other spacecraft on the lunar surface. To help determine how to minimize the potential harm lunar dust can cause, NASA recently funded two projects at the University of Central Florida that will study the nature of lunar dust and how it affects equipment and spacecraft. (11/23)

Russia Cracks Down on Spaceport Mega-Project Mmired in Corruption (Source: The Guardian)
The Kremlin has launched a crackdown over a spaceport project that was supposed to be the jewel of Russia’s space programme but has become mired in corruption costing more than $170m, with investigations alleging blatant theft and illegal enrichment by officials and contractors. As state investigators have opened new criminal cases, the project has also become the target of Russia’s opposition, with the corruption whistleblower Alexei Navalny releasing an investigation into land and cars acquired by the head of Roscosmos, Russia’s space agency.

“A failed project that is still being built years after its deadline with a budget that has been doubled and during which billions [of rubles] were stolen: of course it should bear the name of Vladimir Putin,” Navalny said in reference to the possibility that the spaceport could be named after the Russian president. Putin criticized the £3.6bn project, adopting public frustration against the graft that is said to have run rampant under his appointees, sending the project over budget and years behind schedule. (11/22)

Four Technology Goals ESA Favors for Honing Europe’s Competitive Edge (Source: Space News)
Europe’s space industry won’t be able to keep its technological edge without government support, the European Space Agency concludes in a report released ahead of the Space19+ ministerial conference. By ESA’s estimates, commercial and non-European sales generated 45% of Europe’s space industry revenue in 2015. Those revenues kept space companies healthy enough to support ESA’s science-driven missions, the agency says. Click here. (11/22)

Five Upgrades ArianeGroup Wants Europe to Consider for Ariane 6 (Source: Space News)
Europe’s Ariane 6 rocket is a year away from its maiden flight, but prime contractor ArianeGroup is already preparing upgrades its says can be introduced in the launcher’s first three years of service. The 3.6-billion-euro Ariane 6 program, funded 89% by the European Space Agency and 11% by ArianeGroup and its industry partners, is on track to succeed the Ariane 5 heavy-lift rocket while costing around half as much to produce, Patrick Bonguet said.

Bonguet said ArianeGroup is preparing to pitch a Continuous Improvement Program, or CIP, for Ariane 6 at the European Space Agency’s ministerial conference this month. “We think now that this launcher has some further potential to evolve, to decrease costs and improve performance and mission capability,” he said.

Bonguet declined to say how much funding ArianeGroup is seeking at the ministerial. But the company has already started several Ariane 6 upgrades in anticipation of future ESA support, he said. Gaining ESA funding at the ministerial would ensure Ariane 6 continues to evolve in its early years. Bonguet listed five improvements ArianeGroup will seek funding for at the ministerial. Click here. (11/22)

Former NASA Glenn Research Center Engineer Charged With Lying About Foreign Dealings (Source: Cleveland.com)
A retired research electronics engineer at the NASA Glenn Research Center in Cleveland was charged with lying on forms he submitted in order to receive a security clearance. Robert Kerczewski, 60, of Westlake faces three counts of making or using false writings or documents. A grand jury indictment handed up Wednesday says he lied on disclosure forms in early 2018 as part of a background check to maintain a secret security clearance.

He wrote on documents that he had close contact with a single foreign national within the previous seven years, even though he had seven contacts during that time, the indictment says. Kerczewski also said he never had direct control of any financial foreign interests, even though he maintained a checking account at a bank in Thailand, prosecutors say. Finally, he said he provided $15,000 in support to one foreign national, even though he had sent more than $79,000 to that person over eight years and had provided support to 19 people outside the U.S. worth $364,000, according to the indictment. (11/22)

US Congress Needs Facts, Not Hyperbole, on China’s Space Program (Source: The Diplomat)
A recent report from the United States Economic and Security Review Commission (USCC) contains alarming language about China’s space program. The first paragraph of the relevant section includes a sentence that demonstrates why no one, especially the U.S. Congress, should take the commission or its recommendations seriously.

In an effort to call attention to the rate of Chinese progress, the commission warns, "If plans hold to launch its first long-term space station module in 2020, it [China] will have matched the United States’ nearly 40-year progression from first human spaceflight to first space station module in less than 20 years." One of the most consequential assertions in the report is that “China views space as a critical U.S. military and economic vulnerability.” It claims China is “prioritizing attacks on vulnerable U.S. space assets” and has “not seemed to openly recognize” the vulnerability of its own space systems.

The commission warns China does not value its satellites to the same degree as the U.S. and has therefore developed a “space doctrine” that encourages “escalatory attacks against an adversary’s space systems early in a conflict, threatening to destabilize the space domain.” The commission’s description of China’s “space doctrine” is pretty thinly sourced. It rests on the testimony of a single U.S. witness and a pair of quotes from two Chinese texts. (11/21)

China Launches Two BeiDou Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
China sends two satellites of the BeiDou Navigation Satellite System (BDS) into space at 8:55 a.m from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwest China's Sichuan Province, Nov. 23, 2019. Launched on a Long March-3B carrier rocket and the Yuanzheng-1 (Expedition-1) upper stage attached to the carrier rocket, the two satellites have entered their planned orbits. They are the 50th and 51st satellites of the BDS satellite family. (11/23)

Chinese Rocket Stage Destroys House Downrange (Source: Weibo)
Spent stages from Long March rocket launches at the Xichang spaceport in China have been known to fall perilously close to populated villages hundreds of miles downrange. But this week's Long March 3B launch of two Beidou navigation satellites dropped a stage and its residual toxic hypergolic propellants onto a house, destroying it. No news on whether there were any casualties. Click here for video. (11/23)

Mojave Air and Space Port Receives $8 Million Grant for Renovations (Source: 23ABC)
The U.S. Department of Transportation has approved an $8 million grant for a renovation project at the Mojave Air and Space Port . According to a release from the office of Congressman Kevin McCarthy, the project will reportedly include an analysis of the airfield electrical system and renovations of one of the taxiways. Last year, McCarthy said he sent a letter to the Federal Aviation Administration in support of Mojave's grant application. "From Stratolaunch to Virgin Orbit, Mojave Air and Space Port is leading the way in civilian aeronautics and commercial spaceflight. But in order to continue to take the next steps towards even greater innovation in the industry --- it is vital that Mojave Air and Space Port's infrastructure is revitalized." (11/22)

Vandenberg Air Force Base Mapping Out Plan to Become ‘Spaceport of the Future’ (Source: NoozHawk)
With a new Space Age set to take off, leaders at Vandenberg Air Force Base have made some moves to welcome the rocket manufacturers by penciling out launch sites and designating military land for offices, hangars or control centers. “We might look back at this era that we’re in right now and say that’s the Entrepreneurial Space Age,” said Thomas Stevens, launch technical director for the 30th Operations Group at Vandenberg. “It seriously might just be that. We’re right at the cusp, kind of at the beginning of it. It’s exciting times.”

Stevens, who has worked at the base since the 1980s, spoke about Vandenberg’s vision as a “spaceport of the future” on Thursday night during the Economic Alliance of Santa Barbara County annual dinner and future forum program at Hotel Corque in Solvang. Stevens said a group at the base has worked for about a year to craft a plan, including identifying multiple projects amounting to an investment of $100 million to position Vandenberg for its spaceport of the future.

With multiple companies looking to develop new rockets, Vandenberg also has started prepping for their future launch sites, including hiring a firm to complete an environmental assessment and mapping out needed improvements. Remote land now leased for cattle grazing would need roads, electrical power, communication systems and access of key commodities such as gaseous nitrogen before becoming home to rocket launch companies, Stevens added. Click here. (11/23)