December 19, 2019

Air Force Plans Nine Small-Rocket Launches in 2020 (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Air Force is planning to support nine small launch missions next year, nearly double the number in 2019. The nine small launches range from orbital launches by Northrop Grumman, Rocket Lab and Virgin Orbit to suborbital and rideshare missions. The Air Force small launch directorate's projected activity for 2020 would far exceed that of 2019, when it supported five missions, including missile tests, payloads on the STP-2 Falcon Heavy mission and a suborbital test of the Orion launch abort system for NASA. (12/19)

Defense Bill Aims to Close Satellite Export Loophole (Source: Wall Street Journal)
A provision in a defense authorization bill directs the U.S. Commerce Department to investigate a "loophole" in satellite export regulations involving China. Current rules prohibit the export of satellites to China, but language in the National Defense Authorization Act requires the department to investigate the purchase of commercial satellites by offshore firms who then lease capacity on the satellites to China. Current export control regulations don't cover monitoring how those satellites are used once they receive an export license. Some members of Congress are concerned that American-built satellites could be used to support Chinese military and internal security activities. (12/19)

Rocket Lab to Build Second New Zealand Launch Pad (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab will build a second launchpad at its New Zealand launch site. The company said Wednesday that it's started construction on Pad B at Launch Complex 1, and expects the new pad to be operational by the end of next year. The second pad, based on the same design as the existing pad, will enable the company to support higher launch rates, with a long-term goal of one launch a week. (12/19)

At Wallops Island, 'Major Construction Milestone' Marked with New Rocket Lab Platform (Source: Salisbury Daily Times)
A "major construction milestone" has been completed on Virginia's Wallops Island. Rocket Lab, a global leader in small satellite launch, and Virginia Space at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport have completed construction of a launch platform at Rocket Lab's second launch site. This comes ahead of the first Electron launch from U.S. soil., according to a Virginia Space press release.

Launch Complex 2, as it's dubbed, marks one of the final steps in the organizations' construction of a new pad. Work on the launch site started in February, with more than 1,400 cubic yards of concrete poured since then to create the pad. The 66-ton launch platform was installed into its final position this month, according to the release, ready for the 44-foot, 7.6-ton strongback to be mounted to the platform in coming weeks, restraining a rocket prior to launch. Both the launch platform and strongback were built by Steel America in Norfolk, Virginia. (12/18)

Georgia Spaceport License On Hold (Source: Space News)
A Georgia county has put its application for an FAA spaceport license on hold. Camden County announced this week that it and the FAA had agreed to pause an ongoing evaluation by the FAA of the application for Spaceport Camden in order to modify it. The county said that while it originally proposed to host larger launch vehicles, including first-stage landings, at the site, it is now focused on smaller launch vehicles without stage recoveries. The spaceport has faced opposition from environmental groups and some local residents because of safety concerns. (12/19)

NOAA Transitions to New Geostationary Weather Satellites (Source: Space News)
NOAA will complete its transition to a new generation of geostationary orbit weather satellites next month. The agency said Wednesday it will power down and place into "orbital storage" the GOES-14 and -15 satellites by the end of January. GOES-15 had been operating in tandem with the newest satellite, GOES-17, while engineers developed workarounds for an instrument issue on the new satellite, while GOES-14 had been providing space weather data. GOES-16 and -17, the first two satellites in the four-satellite GOES-R series of satellites, will be the primary geostationary orbit weather satellites.

In a separate development, the White House announced Wednesday it was nominating Neil Jacobs to be NOAA administrator. Jacobs has been acting administrator of the agency since early this year. NOAA has lacked a permanent administrator since the beginning of the Trump administration, and the original nominee, Barry Myers, withdrew in November, citing health issues and continued strong opposition from Senate Democrats. (12/19)

Design Changes Approved for SLS Upper Stage (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
NASA approved design changes proposed by Boeing for a new SLS upper stage. Boeing carried out the studies for the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) earlier this year to examine how to increase the amount of co-manifested payloads it could carry on missions to the moon along with the Orion spacecraft. Boeing resized the tanks for the EUS to optimize their use with the RL10 engines that will power the stage, making the stage lighter in the process. The earliest NASA plans to use the EUS on the SLS is the fourth SLS mission, although Boeing has suggested it could be ready for the third SLS flight. (12/19)

SpaceX Crew Dragon Test Slips to Jan. 11 (Source: NASA)
The in-flight abort test of SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft has slipped a week. NASA said Wednesday the test is now scheduled for no earlier than Jan. 11, versus a Jan. 4 date announced by the agency earlier this month. On the test, a Crew Dragon spacecraft will launch on a Falcon 9 from Kennedy Space Center, then fire its SuperDraco thrusters about 90 seconds into flight to test its ability to escape from the rocket during a launch. That test will be one the last major milestones before a crewed flight test of the spacecraft. (12/19)

Suborbital Researchers Conference Planned March 1 in Colorado (Source: SWRI)
The Next-generation Suborbital Researchers Conference (NSRC) will take place on March 2-4, 2020, at the Omni Interlocken Hotel and Resort in Broomfield, Colorado. Poster and contributed talk abstracts are due January 10, in just three weeks! Visit the conference website for more information and to sign up on the Indication of Interest form. Click here. (12/18)

FAA Struggled To Get Safety Info On Camden Spaceport For Years, Emails Show (Source: WABE)
In its quest to open a vertical launch spaceport, South Georgia’s Camden County has for years failed to provide the Federal Aviation Administration with safety information needed for its application, according to internal agency emails reviewed by WABE. This comes after news Monday that the licensing process will be delayed indefinitely. The FAA was expected to release a major environmental report on the proposal this week, but two days prior, Camden County decided to amend its launch site operator license application. It now wants to only fly small rockets.

In multiple emails obtained through open records requests by the Southern Environmental Law Center, FAA staff expressed concern about how Camden’s originally proposed launches could be safe enough for the population beneath its proposed rocket trajectories, which would cross over two barrier islands. And up until at least October, the county had not alleviated those concerns.

Eighty-three families own land and private homes on Little Cumberland, roughly 5 miles east of the proposed launch pad, and many have consistently voiced concerns about how a spaceport launch could safely happen over the island. Cumberland Island next door also has private residences and is largely controlled by the National Park Service as a protected National Seashore. FAA staff also pointed out the plan to launch so close to overflight populations was unprecedented for the country’s vertical launch spaceports. (12/18)

Camden County Outlines Decision to Refocus FAA Review to Small Launch Vehicles for Georgia Spaceport (Source: Camden County)
Camden County is nearing completion of the FAA process for approval to build a commercial space launch site. In coordination with the FAA, Camden County’s application has been revised to focus solely on small launch vehicles. Small launch vehicles generally pose fewer environmental and safety concerns, which is of utmost importance to Camden County.

Camden County is concerned with reports characterizing the FAA as struggling to get safety information from Camden County. This is not the case. First, Camden County sent its full flight safety analysis to the FAA in April 2017 and took the unprecedented step of publicly releasing an ITAR compliant version of its Flight Safety Analysis in 2019. Second, the actual emails released from the FAA in response to FOIA show that the FAA repeatedly calculated that Camden County could meet the regulatory thresholds with hundreds of people on Little Cumberland Island.

Camden County believes that narrowing the application to include operation of only small launch vehicles with no first-stage returns is more consistent with the types of operations that will be conducted at Spaceport Camden and will streamline the review process at the FAA. Camden County stands by the public safety review performed to date and believes that a medium-large launch vehicle with a first-stage return would meet all applicable public safety requirements, even when conservative assumptions are used. We look forward to working with the FAA on small launch vehicles to demonstrate strong compliance with the FAA regulations. (12/19)