December 31, 2019

Hurricane Season is Over, But Threats to Space Coast Rocket Launches are Still Out There (Source: Florida Today)
In 2017, as Hurricane Irma churned in Atlantic waters with its sights set on Florida, an Air Force spaceplane tasked with a top secret mission sat on the pad at Kennedy Space Center, waiting for its ride to space. Some 600 miles to the southeast on Sept. 7, the 400-mile-wide Irma was a Category 5 storm packing maximum sustained winds of 175 mph – a catastrophic scenario for anyone in its path, including the Boeing-built X-37B. In 72 hours, the outer bands of Irma would start spinning uncomfortably close to the Space Coast.

The Air Force had a critical decision to make: thread the needle and launch the robotic spacecraft before Irma hit, or wait for the storm to pass? Its ride to orbit, SpaceX’s Falcon 9, could be ready in time. So could company and Air Force support personnel. Turns out the safest place for the 29-foot-long spacecraft was anywhere other than Cape Canaveral. Click here. (12/26)

Solar Sail in Earth Orbit is Big Breakthrough for China (Source: China Daily)
The Shenyang Institute of Automation (SIA) announced on Thursday that China's first solar sail, SIASAIL-I, has successfully verified a number of key technologies in orbit, a big breakthrough in China's solar sail development. The solar sail developed by the institute of the Chinese Academy of Sciences based in Northeast China's Liaoning province is a spacecraft powered by the reflected light pressure of the sun on the spacecraft's membrane. Because it does not consume additional chemical fuel, a solar sail is considered to be the one and only spacecraft that may reach outside the solar system. (12/27)

UK Satellites to Help Lead the Fight Against Climate Change (Source: Gov.UK)
Ministers today (30 December) announced backing for ground-breaking research analysing satellite images that will better predict the future impact of climate change in towns and cities and inform future government action. A new £5 million satellite data center involving the Universities of Edinburgh and Leeds will use cutting-edge satellite technology to help combat climate change, including helping lower the risk of people being affected by flooding. The data center will bring together 50 of the UK’s brightest and best PhD researchers to help solve climate change. (12/30)

The Seven Most Exciting Space Missions of 2020 (Source: MIT Technology Review)
Last year was a dizzying one for space (and not always in a good way), but 2020 will prove to be just as busy, if not busier. There are a slew of missions on the world’s docket, going to the moon, to Mars, and into orbit. Some of these involve humans; some are for robots only. Here are the seven missions you ought to keep your eye on into the new year. Click here. (12/31)

China's Next Moonshot Could Decide Who Owns the Future (Source: The Hill)
2019 began with the landing of the Chinese Chang’e-4 on the lunar far side, carrying with it the Yutu-2 rover. The year has just ended with the return of the Long March 5 to launch service. Both events suggest that China is poised to do great things in space exploration in the coming year. Chang’e-4 is China’s second moon landing. Chang’e-3 landed in the Mare Imbrium in December 2013 and deployed the first Yutu rover. Both the lander and the rover were designed to operate during the lunar day, which lasts almost two weeks, powered by solar panels. They would go into sleep mode during the lunar night.

If one wants to start an argument in space policy circles, the question of whether China or the United States is ahead in the new space race will serve very well. From one perspective, NASA is far and away ahead of anyone. NASA is the senior partner on the International Space Station. The space agency is poised to certify commercial crew services to be offered by SpaceX and Boeing, restoring America’s capacity to fly astronauts to and from space. NASA is the only organization on the planet that has sent probes throughout the solar system, from Mercury to Pluto and beyond.

In regard to the narrower race for which side will be first to return to the moon and establish a base or settlement, China is clearly ahead. Since the moon is the gateway to the rest of the solar system, who will be the first to do those things is a very serious question. The answer could determine who owns the future, China, ruled by a tyrannical government, or the United States, with its traditions of freedom and tolerance. (12/30)

Raise A Glass To A New Decade In Space (Source: Forbes)
This last decade was ushered in without too much fanfare. In the depths of the Great Recession, our nation’s new president was left sorting through a financial mess that had come from policy decisions more than 20 years in the making. The usual cost overruns on major space programs were commonplace and the Iridium constellation had just suffered an on-orbit loss due to a collision with a defunct Russian communication satellite. For the first time, the international space community suffered a catastrophic failure that created even more space debris, all because of poor space situational awareness and a lack of norms of behavior.

Irrespective of the continued mess of program overruns, terminations and a wandering agenda, something instrumental emerged and brought us to where we find ourselves in space today—at the dawn of an exciting era of space exploration. The rapid expansion of the information economy and its billionaires' interest in space exploration has changed its direction forever and ultimately demanded the creation of the Space Force.

Until fairly recently, the exploration and exploitation of space had been the domain of governments, with the exception of a handful of remote sensing and telecommunication companies, many of whom were heavily backed by their respective governments. Rooted in dreams sprung from their own childhoods, a handful of individuals with wealth on the order of whole countries' gross domestic product (GDP) began exploring those dreams. Perhaps the most renowned of these individuals is Elon Musk, about whom I have written extensively. Musk is very likely this century’s Cornelius Vanderbilt and his singular impact on the space economy continues to be profound. (12/30)

Veteran Soviet Cosmonaut Reveals What Russia Needs to Do to Add Some Oomph to Its Space Program (Source: Sputnik)
Once enjoying nearly uncontested superiority in space with its group of space stations, fleets of robots exploring distant planets and plans to prepare for a Mars mission as soon as the early 2000s, Russia’s space program has faced growing competition recently not only from other countries, but from private space companies such as SpaceX. Gennady Padalka, a veteran Soviet and Russian cosmonaut best known for his record 437-day stay aboard the Mir space station, has offered his perspective on what’s holding back the Russian space program, and what the country can do to get it back on track. Click here. (12/30)

Iridium Would Pay to Deorbit its 30 Defunct Satellites — for the Right Price (Source: Space News)
Iridium Communications completed disposal of the last of its 65 working legacy satellites Dec. 28, while leaving open the possibility of paying an active-debris-removal company to deorbit 30 that failed in the decades since the operator deployed its first-generation constellation. Virginia-based Iridium started deorbiting its first constellation, built by Motorola and Lockheed Martin, in 2017, as it replaced them with second-generation satellites from Thales Alenia Space.

Of the 95 satellites launched between 1997 and 2002, 30 malfunctioned and remain stuck in low Earth orbit, according to Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Seven of those defunct satellites have orbits where their lowest altitude, or perigee, drops below 600 kilometers — the point at which atmospheric drag is sufficient to naturally deorbit them within a few decades. The remaining 23, however, are orbiting 100 to 200 kilometers higher, according to McDowell, which means they will likely stay aloft at least 100 years, absent active removal.

When asked by SpaceNews if Iridium would be willing to pay an active-debris-removal venture deorbit its remaining first-generation satellites, Iridium CEO Matt Desch said it would “for a low enough cost.” He floated the idea of $10,000 per deorbit, but acknowledged that price would likely be far below what a debris-removal company could realistically offer. “You know at what point [it’s] a no-brainer, but [I] expect the cost is really in the millions or tens of millions, at which price I know it doesn’t make sense,” he tweeted. (12/30)

14th Air Force Redesignated as Space Operations Command (Source: USAF)
By order of Secretary of the Air Force Barbara M. Barrett, effective Dec. 20, Fourteenth Air Force was officially redesignated as Space Operations Command. Air Force military and civilian personnel previously assigned to the Fourteenth Air Force are now assigned to SPOC by virtue of the redesignation action. The SPOC directly supports the U.S. Space Force’s mission to protect the interests of the United States in space; deter aggression in, from and to space; and conduct space operations. (12/30)

Is It Terminal? Mess Threatens DoD SATCOM & Multi-Domain (Source: Breaking Defense)
The third GPS III satellite sporting the jam-proof, spoof-proof military signal called M-Code is due to be launched next month. Sadly, troops won’t be able to use that encrypted signal until at least 2021 (if then, given the program’s history of delays) because there aren’t any receivers for it yet fielded. Even though satellite communications are critical to future multi-domain operations (MDO), the Pentagon seems incapable of fixing long-standing problems with ground terminals and mobile receivers that stop users in the field and weapons platforms from communicating efficiently.

What’s the problem? Some satellite terminals/receivers link to only one frequency or one type of satellite; ships and Humvees use outdated terminals that would be too expensive to replace; and sometimes new satellites end up orbiting the Earth for years without any users because the terminals to make them useful weren’t built on time. (For example, the first Navy’s Mobile Objective User System, or MUOS, satellite was launched in 2012 and the constellation of five sats was declared fully operational in November, but according to GAO “the user community still cannot monitor and manage MUOS.”) (12/30)

When Your Next Door Neighbor is Spaceport America (Source: The Verge)
The spaceport’s primary tenant is Virgin Galactic, a space tourism venture created by billionaire Richard Branson. A seat on the company’s spaceplane goes for $250,000 a pop, and so far, around 600 people have put down deposits in the hopes of flying to the edge of space. The Verge Science team had come to Spaceport America to get an idea of what those customers will experience in the years ahead. When these big spenders arrive to fly, they’ll travel to this very sparse part of New Mexico and spend a few days at Spaceport America, training for their trips and enjoying the modern lounge area designed by Virgin Galactic.

Also when they come, they’ll need a place to stay. That could lead them to a tiny oasis with just two stoplights next door — the town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. To visit Spaceport America, we had to travel through Truth or Consequences — nicknamed T or C by its residents. Venturing from one place to the other was like traveling through time. The spaceport embodies the future of aviation and spaceflight, with reflective surfaces everywhere, a swanky cappuccino bar, and an LED walkway that lights up whenever you step on it.

Just 43 miles down the road, T or C looks like it’s been ripped straight from a 1950s Western, with frontier-style homes, a handful of main roads, and various funky souvenir shops that sell local artwork, turquoise jewelry, and crystals. Nearby hot springs offer a respite to visitors after a long day in the Sun. Though the two places could not be more different, they are inextricably linked. The residents of Truth or Consequences approved an extra tax to help fund the spaceport over the last decade. They’re looking forward to finally seeing some of the big changes that they were promised when the project was first announced. They were told that the spaceport would provide an influx of jobs and tourists who were looking to explore the nearby towns whenever they came to fly to space (or watch their loved ones fly to space). (12/30)

Florida Still in the Running for Space Force Command Headquarters (Source: Florida Today)
Reports of Florida’s demise as the future command headquarters of the U.S. Space Force — the newest branch of America’s military — it turns out, have been greatly exaggerated. According to state officials and lobbyists, Florida is still a contender to host the Space Force Command HQ. “We’re seeing a full court press in Florida among Florida’s congressional delegation,” aerospace consultant John Boyd said after President Trump signed the new branch into existence last week.

"Gov. Ron DeSantis, Sen. Rick Scott, who enjoy a very close relationship with the president, they are working to convince the president to do the Space Force headquarters in the sunshine state,” Boyd added. Earlier this year, when the U.S. Air Force, out of which the Space Force is being created, released a list of six locations it was considering as the seat of the new Space Command, Florida wasn’t included. (12/27)

The Biggest Black Hole Findings of 2019 (Source: Space.com)
Black holes are dark spots in the fabric of space-time, incredibly dense singularities with such strong gravity that nothing can escape their clutches. They spend their time doing one thing: gobbling up matter. Get close enough to a black hole, and you're cosmic spaghetti, stretched to bits, sucked inward, never to return. Simple and straightforward, right?

But as it turns out, black holes are more than just cosmic vacuum cleaners. In 2019, physicists peered into the fathomless darkness and snapped the first-ever picture of a black hole. They also learned more about how these bizarre and insatiable beasts work. From their propensity to gain and lose hair, to their mysterious innards, to where they may lead, here are 14 new things we learned about black holes in 2019. Click here. (12/30)