December 20, 2019

Starliner's Off-Target Mission: What Went Wrong? (Source: TIME)
At a hastily assembled press conference less than three hours after the launch, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, along with other NASA brass, Boeing officials, and astronauts Mike Fincke and Nicole Mann—both of whom are slated to fly the Starliner—offered an impressively candid explanation for the causes of the problem, even if they were causes that seemed almost comically avoidable.

For one thing, the spacecraft was operating on the wrong mission clock at the time it reached space, meaning it thought it was at a different altitude, burned too much fuel too soon and settled into a too-low orbit. It does not now have enough fuel left to climb to the space station's 250-mile high orbit. "The timing was off, and what ended up happening was that the spacecraft tried to maintain a lot of control and it burned a lot of propellant," says Bridenstine. "It does look like we would not be able to get to the ISS."

At the moment of the anomaly, the spacecraft happened to be in a blackout area between two TDRS satellites—a little like a dead spot between cell towers—meaning human intervention was not possible. It's all but certain astronauts aboard would have been safe since there was nothing life-threatening about the Starliner's poorly positioned insertion. What's more, as the long history of crewed space flight has proven, when automatic systems go wrong, experienced pilots can quickly step in and set them right. (12/20)

Navy Concerned About Spaceport Camden Location, FAA Document Shows (Source: WABE)
The Department of Defense is concerned a proposed spaceport in Camden County, Georgia, might endanger American foreign policy or national security, according to a letter the FAA sent to Camden on Monday. The U.S. Navy operates Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, roughly 10 miles south of the proposed spaceport site. Kings Bay is the East Coast home of the military’s ballistic missile nuclear submarines.

Per the letter, written by FAA official Kenneth Wong, the military “has concerns that the proximity of launch operations to a vital U.S. Navy base might jeopardize foreign policy or national security interests of the United States.” In official comments submitted to the FAA in June of 2018, the Navy listed several questions and outstanding issues with the proposed spaceport.

It warned at the time that Camden’s spaceport plan did not “address potential impacts to military training and vessel movements” within the navy’s designated air and sea space. It also wrote: “[The proposal] does not address risk concerns or probabilities related to failed vehicle launch and landings….What is the probability a failed launch or landing will occur outside of the [proposed] closure boundary?” (12/20)

As Feds Look at Space Launch Regulations, Jacksonville's Cecil Spaceport May Be in Good Position (Source: Jacksonville Business Journal)
Jacksonville is anticipating its first launch from Cecil Spaceport toward the end of 2021. Huntsville-based Aevum Inc. has won a $4.9 million contract from the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center to launch small satellites to low-Earth orbit from Cecil Spaceport in Jacksonville. Nationally, the conflict over launches arose in Colorado. The Colorado Air and Space Port, formerly the Front Range Airport, sits very near to the Denver International Airport, which will inevitably create disruption for the existing flight hub.

This prompted the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee to send a letter to the FAA in November detailing its concerns over flight disruptions. "The FAA has granted licenses to launch site operators without adequately considering the potential effects on surrounding flight operations," the letter read. The problem is that when space ports have a launch, they have to create what Dale Ketcham, vice president of government and external relations at Space Florida, calls a "hole in the sky." That is a space where no other flights can pass through for a specific amount of time, which can cause major issues for airlines that have grown used to having the sky to themselves.

However, Director of Cecil Spaceport Todd Lindner says that this won't have a large impact on Cecil or JIA. Part of the reason that the impacts will be minimal is that both Cecil and JIA operate under JAA, which allows them to coordinate and avoid major disruption. The Aviation Authority been able to do what the rest of the industry struggles with: communication between separate interests operating in the same space, he said. Because Cecil launches would be horizontal, Lindner said the launches have fewer variables than a vertical launch site. Horizontal launches provide more control as far as the ability to manipulate the location of launch and reduce impacts, whereas vertical launches are on a fixed point. (12/12)

Boeing Capsule Goes Off Course, Won’t Dock at Space Station (Source: AP)
Boeing’s new Starliner capsule went off course after launch Friday and won’t dock with the International Space Station during its first test flight. It was supposed to be a crucial dress rehearsal for next year’s inaugural launch with astronauts. The blastoff from Cape Canaveral, Florida, went flawlessly as the Atlas V rocket lifted off with the Starliner capsule.

But a half-hour into the flight, Boeing reported that the capsule didn’t get into the right orbit to reach the space station. The capsule is still in space and will be brought back to Earth, landing in New Mexico as early as Sunday. Boeing is one of two companies hired by NASA to launch astronauts from the U.S. The space agency has been relying on Russian rockets to travel to the space station since the retirement of the space shuttle almost nine years ago.

Boeing’s new Starliner capsule ran into trouble and went off course in orbit minutes after blasting off Friday on its first test flight, a crucial dress rehearsal for next year’s inaugural launch with astronauts. Everything went flawlessly as the Atlas V rocket soared with the Starliner just before sunrise. But a half-hour into the flight, Boeing reported that the capsule didn’t get into the position needed to get to the International Space Station. With less fuel on board, it put the rest of the flight in jeopardy. The Starliner was supposed to reach the space station on Saturday and stay for a week. (12/20)

China Launches Remote Satellite, Other Smallsats (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a remote sensing satellite and several other smallsats on Thursday. A Long March 4B rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 10:22 p.m. Eastern, deploying into a sun-synchronous orbit the China-Brazil Earth Resource Satellite (CBERS) 4A spacecraft. CBERS-4A, the sixth satellite in the joint program between China and Brazil, carries three cameras for use in natural resources applications. The launch also carried eight smallsat secondary payloads, including Ethiopia's first satellite. (12/20)

Chinese Commercial Space Alliance Formed (Source: Space News)
A group of Chinese space industry entities have formed an alliance to help promote and regulate the country's burgeoning private space sector. The China Commercial Space Alliance was launched at an event in Beijing last week, whose members include units of state-owned aerospace and defense contractors. The new collaborative body is a response to the rapid growth of private aerospace companies following a 2014 government decision to open areas of the space sector to private capital. The alliance will operate under the guidance of the China National Space Administration. (12/20)

GAO Concludes DoD Lacks Wideband Satellite Plan (Source: Space News)
A Government Accountability Office report concluded the Pentagon lacks a clear plan for future wideband satellite communications. The GAO report noted that the Defense Department completed an "analysis of alternatives" report in June 2018 on wideband communications services but has yet to act on the report's recommendations. The report, never released publicly, found that integrating purpose-built satellites and commercial systems into a hybrid architecture "would save costs and provide more capability than any single purpose-built or commercial system alone," GAO said. The Pentagon's indecision on its future wideband architecture has drawn criticism from Congress. (12/20)

Satellogic Raises $50 Million for Imaging Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
Satellogic has raised $50 million to help it build out its constellation of Earth imaging satellites. The company said it raised the funding from a mix of new and existing investors, including Chinese company Tencent and Brazilian fund Pitanga as well as IDB Lab, the "innovation laboratory" of the Inter-American Development Bank. Satellogic said the funding will enable the company to speed up the deployment of its satellite constellation, with the goal of providing imagery of the entire Earth at a resolution of one meter and updated every week. That goal will require about 90 satellites, which the company seeks to launch within the next two years. (12/20)

Venture Funds Invest in Italy's D-Orbit (Source: Space News)
Two venture capital funds have invested in Italian space company D-Orbit. Seraphim Capital and Noosphere Ventures have recently invested in D-Orbit, although the company declined to say how much it raised from the funds. D-Orbit plans to conduct a demonstration of its InOrbit Now (ION) rideshare service in March 2020 when its ION cubesat carrier is scheduled to launch on an Arianespace Vega rocket. D-Orbit also recently unveiled Aurora, a cloud-based software suite for small satellite constellations. (12/20)

FCC Approves More Orbits for SpaceX Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
The FCC has approved SpaceX's request to increase the number of orbital planes for its Starlink constellation. The FCC said SpaceX can field satellites in 72 planes around the Earth at 550 kilometers, three times as many as the commission approved in April. SpaceX told the FCC that by tripling the number of orbital for the first 1,584 Starlink satellites, it could build out enough coverage to offer internet access in southern states by the 2020 hurricane season. The FCC rejected requests to delay or deny the change by Kepler Communications because the Starlink satellites would be too close to its planned constellation, and by SES because of potential interference issues. (12/20)

FCC Approves HawkEye 360's Additional Satellites (Source: Space News)
The FCC also granted HawkEye 360's application for 15 additional satellites. A license issued this month permits HawkEye 360 to launch up to 80 satellites over 15 years in order to maintain a constellation of 15 operational spacecraft. The company has three pathfinder satellites in orbit today, and 15 more under construction. HawkEye 360 asked the FCC to defer further evaluation of a filing the company submitted in January to begin laying the regulatory groundwork for an expanded constellation of 80 operational satellites. A company executive said the firm chose to take a piecemeal approach to licensing, focusing first on near-term needs instead of trying to coordinate spectrum for a potential larger constellation. (12/20)

Startup Offers Two Satellites and a Mirror to Track Hypersonic Threats (Source: Space News)
A startup says it has technology to allow the military to track hypersonic missiles from space. Rhea Space Activity (RSA) and its partner Lunar Resources pitched to the Air Force a concept to deploy two spacecraft to manufacture a large mirror in space. The mirror would be installed, in orbit, into a telescope that would be used to detect hypersonic vehicles. Spotting and tracking hypersonic missiles is hard because they are 10 to 20 times dimmer than what the U.S. normally tracks by satellites in geostationary orbit. At the Space Pitch Day event, the Air Force awarded Lunar Resources a $750,000 Small Business Innovation Research Phase 2 contract, with RSA as a subcontractor, to get the project moving. (12/20)

Appropriators Offer "Minibus" Bills to Keep Government Open Through Fiscal 2020 (Source: Space Policy Online)
Appropriations bills to fund the federal government through the rest of fiscal year 2020 are now awaiting the president's signature. The Senate passed the two "minibus" appropriations bills Thursday, two days after the House approved the bills. Highlights of the bills include $22.6 billion for NASA, although with less than what the administration requested for lunar lander work, and $40 million to start establishing the Space Force within the Air Force. The bills also include several regulatory provisions, such as an extension of NASA's waiver to the Iran-North Korea-Syria Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA) sanctions to allow it to continue purchasing Soyuz seats and other work with Russia on the ISS through 2025. (12/19)

How Many People Does Space Force Need? (Source: Breaking Defense)
A key issue for the Space Force will be determining how many personnel are transferred to it. About 16,000 civilian and military personnel will be shifted from Air Force Space Command to the Space Force early next year. What's unclear, analysts say, is how many other Air Force personnel involved with space will be moved to the Space Force, and what will happen to the 10,000 Air Force Space Command personnel who will not be transferred to the Space Force. (12/20)