November 9, 2019

FAA Sets December Release of Environmental Impact Study on Spaceport Camden (Source: Atlanta Business Chronicle)
Sponsors looking to build a commercial spaceport in southeastern Georgia won't get a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration by the end of this year as they were hoping, but it likely will be close. The FAA announced Thursday it plans to release the final version of an environmental impact study on the proposed Spaceport Camden on Dec. 16. A record of decision on the project – a prerequisite for issuing the launch license – would follow no earlier than 30 days later, which would move the awarding of the license into January.

Officials in Camden County, Ga., where Spaceport Camden would be located, said Thursday they're glad the schedule is that close to the original timetable. "Given the complexities involved in an environmental impact statement and the number of federal agencies involved, the FAA has done a remarkable job of adhering to its estimated timeline," said Camden County Administrator Steve Howard, who also serves as project lead for the spaceport.

Spaceport Camden supporters at the state and local levels are counting on the project to create up to 2,000 jobs and help convince the next generation of aerospace engineers, many of whom graduate from Georgia Tech, to stay in Georgia to pursue their careers. The project has the backing of Gov. Brian Kemp and Georgia's congressional delegation. (11/7)

NASA Cleaning Up Toxic Legacy in Florida as New Tenants Move In at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Bloomberg)
NASA is still working to clean up the toxic legacy of its space launch program, even as it shifts into a role as landlord for commercial space projects from SpaceX, Boeing, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is becoming a commercial spaceport after decades of hosting only the federal government’s space shuttle program. Commercial tenants’ activities, like OneWeb’s satellite manufacturing facility and Blue Origin’s rocket factory, have grown over the past few years.

Michael J. Deliz, remediation program manager at the center, said its new goal is to provide “environmentally unencumbered lands” for the NASA program and the center’s tenants. While the center has spent 25 years cleaning up after space launch activities, Deliz expects new concerns, like per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), to also pose challenges. At the center, trichloroethylene was commonly used to clean spaceflight equipment. When the remediation program started in 1994, best practices for disposing of trichloroethylene, also known as TCE, included dumping it in sandy soil, said Deliz, who spoke at the 25th annual Florida Remediation Conference in Orlando.

The remediation program has found concentrations of TCE as high as 300,000 parts per billion in groundwater at the Kennedy Space Center, according to Deliz. The Environmental Protection Agency considers less than 5 parts per billion to be safe for drinking water. (11/7)

Meet the Scientist Who Thinks We All Exist in Multiple Universes (Source: The Next Web)
According to Carroll, this theory raises philosophical problems in regards to how you treat and treat the copies of you other branches because they’re originated from us. “They share the same memories as you and they have every right to be thought of as ‘you,’ but they’re separate people in a different universe. The number of universal branches increases over time, and the older you get, the more versions of ‘you’ there are.”

To better understand this, Carroll dumbs it down to being “much like a Star Trek teleporter that malfunctions and makes two copies of you — they’re both real, but they’re gonna live different lives and there’s nothing you can do about it.” Carroll argues that your identity over time is like a branching tree where there’s many possibilities for the future. But once one version of you has branched, there’s no way to communicate with them. “But they’re definitely there and they’re as real as you are according to this interpretation.”

According to Carroll, he doesn’t think a new self is formed by every single tiny decision you make or don’t make in life. “You didn’t decide to have a pizza or hamburger one evening and in one branch, you end up having pizza, and the other branches you had a hamburger — it’s only when you measure quantum mechanical systems that new worlds are created.” (11/8)

Florida Aerospace Forum Showcases Expanding Space-Related Technology (Source: Space Daily)
New players in Florida's rapidly expanding aerospace industry came together Wednesday in a funding competition that included innovative ideas ranging from space debris detection to a specialized antennas for small satellites. "We believe this is one of very few events like this in the U.S. where new companies focused on aerospace compete for investment," said Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida, the state's marketing and development agency for space.

Sixteen companies competed for $100,000 in investments at the second annual Florida Aerospace Capital Forum in Orlando's Lake Nona suburb. Boca Raton, Fla.,-based Launchspace Technologies Corp. pitched its system for detecting and removing orbiting space debris, which has been identified by federal agencies as a growing problem. Another company, Rockledge, Fla.-based Helical Communication Technologies, presented a new design for antennas on small satellites, which is a market that is expanding exponentially.

Aerial drones that can scan disaster zones, such as a hurricane landfall area, are the product of Daytona Beach, Fla.-based Censys Technologies. The system can help insurance firms avoid millions of dollars in fraud by scanning homes for damage, said Trevor Perrott, the president and CEO. InitWeather, of Melbourne Beach, Fla., uses artificial intelligence and advanced data collection technology to develop more accurate weather forecasts for the aerospace industry. Sensatek Propulsion Technology, of Daytona Beach, produces wireless sensors for measuring temperature, pressure and strain in extreme environments such as rocket launch pads. Click here. (11/8)

Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act Signed Into Law (Source: House Science Committee)
The White House announced that President Trump signed H.R. 1396, the Hidden Figures Congressional Gold Medal Act. Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) introduced the legislation in the House of Representatives. Senator Chris Coons (D-DE) was the lead sponsor in the Senate. "Katherine Johnson, Mary Jackson, Dorothy Vaughan, Christine Darden, and all the women of NASA and NACA will now receive the recognition they deserve for their great accomplishments in the successes of the United States space program.” (11/8)

The Case Against Sending Animals Into Space (Source: Forbes)
Before humans actually went into space, one of the prevailing theories of the perils of space flight was that humans might not be able to survive long periods of weightlessness, NASA has noted. The American space agency points out that both American and Russian scientists utilized animals - mainly monkeys, chimps and dogs - in order to test each country's ability to launch a living organism into space and bring it back alive and unharmed.

While we rightly laud the courage of human astronauts, Lori Marino says, we need to remember that the path was paved for them by other animals who were not fortunate enough to reap the rewards of their service. Does that also go for family pets who might want to follow their humans into space?  “Animals should not be taken into space, full stop,” said Marino.

Space travel in the near future is going to be, at best, severely uncomfortable and compromising for human astronauts, Marino notes. But while human astronauts know what they are getting into, other animals do not, she says. “We do not have the right to put the lives of other animals at risk for our purposes,” said Marino. (11/7)

Air Force to Require Cybersecurity Audits of Commercial Satellite Communications Providers (Source: Space News)
The Air Force starting in 2020 will rate the cybersecurity of commercial satellite communications providers in an effort to increase the protection of military networks. The new program is called Infrastructure Asset Pre-Assessment (IA-Pre) and will be run by the Air Force Space Command’s commercial satellite communications office, Andrew D’Uva, president of Providence Access Company, said Nov. 7 at the CyberSat 2019 conference.

D’Uva is a consultant who represents a coalition of satellite operators that provide services to the U.S. government. “Since Air Force Space Command has taken over commercial satcom acquisition, they have started to think about cybersecurity in their end to end solutions,” D’Uva said. (11/8)

India Has a New Planetary Target in Mind: Venus (Source: Space.com)
India has launched just three planetary-science spacecraft, but the country is already eyeing a new destination: Venus. Scientists and engineers at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) have sent plans for a Venus orbiter to the Indian national government and are hoping they'll get approval to go ahead with the mission. The spacecraft could launch in just a few years and would carry more than a dozen instruments. "The major objective is to map the Venusian surface and subsurface," Nigar Shaji, an ISRO scientist, told a group of Venus experts during a meeting held this week in Colorado. (11/8)

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket and Blue Moon Lander Proposed … as Lego Toys (Source: GeekWire)
Which will go into commercial service first: Blue Origin’s orbital-class New Glenn rocket and Blue Moon lunar lander, or the Lego toy versions? The answer will depend not only on how much progress Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ space venture makes on the real things, but on how many people support the Lego Ideas project as well. The 2,670-piece set would include a 1:110 scale version of the two-stage New Glenn and the human-capable variant of the Blue Moon lander, plus extras including a launch tower, rovers and a satellite. The rocket would be about 40 inches high. (11/8)

An Investor’s Guide to Space, Wall Street’s Next Trillion-Dollar Industry (Source: CNBC)
Space tourism venture Virgin Galactic debuts with much fanfare at the New York Stock Exchange last month, with institutional investors taking notice. CNBC simplifies investors’ opportunity in space into four categories: human spaceflight, national security, satellite communications, and imagery and data analysis. “While [the feedback cycle] might take a bit longer, I do think it will have the same return on your investment as a software company,” Bessemer Venture Partners’ Tess Hatch tells CNBC.

All Four Engines Are Attached to the SLS Core Stage for Artemis I Mission (Source: NASA)
All four RS-25 engines were structurally mated to the core stage for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket for Artemis I, the first mission of SLS and NASA’s Orion spacecraft. To complete assembly of the rocket stage, engineers and technicians are now integrating the propulsion and electrical systems within the structure. The completed core stage with all four RS-25 engines attached is the largest rocket stage NASA has built since the Saturn V stages for the Apollo Program that first sent Americans to the Moon. (11/8)

'What We're Going to Need to Live and Work in Space' (Source: Politico)
When Rob Meyerson took over as president of Blue Origin in 2003, the upstart spacecraft company had just 10 employees. When he left a year ago to establish his own management consulting firm, the workforce had grown to more than 1,500. Now the aerospace engineer has a new focus: enlisting construction firms, mining companies, pharmaceutical manufacturers and even the hospitality industry to begin thinking about the role they can play in the economic development of the moon -- or as he puts it, "What we need to live and work in space." Click here. (11/8)

Pence Plants a 'Moon Tree' But Will It Grow? (Source: Politico)
The small crowd of space enthusiasts chanted the traditional launch countdown — "three...two...one" — as Vice President Mike Pence heaved a gold-plated shovel filled with earth over the roots of an American sycamore sapling. But he wasn't planting just any tree on a sunny but brisk Washington morning. It was a "moon tree," the direct descendant of seeds that were flown around the moon almost 50 years ago. “This tree will begin to grow here at the Naval Observatory today just as American leadership in space is growing once again,” Pence said on Friday as space CEOs and administration officials looked on. (11/8)

What It Takes to be a Space Pilot (Source: Discover)
With the expansion of commercial space exploration, more pilots will be needed to guide spacecraft beyond the bounds of Earth. These pilots come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but they all have one thing in common: lots of flying experience.  Here’s a look at what it takes to become a space pilot. Flying into space is a coveted job. That demand means companies are able to choose the most qualified pilots. And at the top of the list of qualifications: hours in flight.

“The more experience you have, the more likely you are to have encountered situations that are more challenging,” says David Mackay, chief pilot for Virgin Galactic. Being able to handle those unexpected situations could mean the difference between life or death if something goes wrong with the spacecraft. Most commercial space pilots start out as test pilots — airplane pilots specially trained to test out new and experimental aircraft. (11/8)