December 6, 2019

Inmarsat Delists From Stock Exchange After Buyout (Source: Space News)
British satellite operator Inmarsat delisted from the London Stock Exchange Dec. 5, completing a $3.3 billion buyout that some shareholders sought to delay. The High Court of Justice in England and Wales approved the buyout by a private equity consortium Dec. 3, completing the last step Inmarsat needed for the deal to close. Inmarsat, an operator of 14 geostationary communications satellites, now belongs to Connect Bidco, a consortium formed by Apax Partners in the U.K., Warburg Pincus in the U.S., and two Canadian pension firms. (12/5)

Air Force Projects Iincreased Launch Activity for 2020 (Source: Space News)
At least twice as many national security launches are projected for 2020 compared to 2019, according to U.S. Air Force projections. “It’s really going to be an exciting year,” Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s launch enterprise, told SpaceNews Dec. 5. “We could have as many as 11 national security launches in 2020, although I don’t think we’ll get that many,” he said. “It’ll probably end up between eight and 10.”

That would be a dramatic increase over 2019, when only four national security launches were carried out, all by United Launch Alliance. In January, a Delta 4 Heavy flew the NROL-71 for the National Reconnaissance Office. In March, the Air Force’s WGS-10 satellite was launched aboard a Delta 4 Medium. In August, an Atlas 5 flew an Air Force AEHF-5 satellite, and a GPS 3 vehicle was launched aboard a Delta 4 Medium. (12/5)

Luxembourg Expands its Space Resources Vision (Source: Space News)
Étienne Schneider, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, frequently tells the story of how he got interested in building a space resources industry in the country. His efforts to diversify the country’s economy several years ago led to a meeting with Pete Worden, at the time the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center and a proponent of many far-reaching space concepts. He recalled Worden advocating for commercial space: “Why shouldn’t you go for space mining activities?” ... “When he explained all this to me, I thought two things,” Schneider said. “First of all, what did the guy smoke before coming into the office? And second, how do I get him out of here?”

In June, we met with [NASA Administrator Jim] Bridenstine and we talked about signing an agreement of cooperation between NASA and the Luxembourg Space Agency. Our aim is to really develop together all kinds of new activities in space. We’re trying to bring U.S. companies together with Luxembourg-based companies and see how they can cooperate. Through our Luxembourg Space Agency, we want to open the doors for them to ESA programs as well. That’s why it’s important for us to have this collaboration with NASA. (12/6)

Capella Space Announces First in a Series of Global Partnerships (Source: Space News)
Capella Space, a radar satellite startup, announced an agreement Dec. 4 making Remote Sensing Instruments (RSI) of India Capella’s exclusive reseller in that nation and giving RSI non-exclusive reseller rights for the rest of Southeast Asia. “Satellite imagery and remote sensing is global by nature and we plan to be very active in international markets outside of the United States,” Payam Banazadeh, Capella CEO and Founder, said by email. “We will be announcing more global partnerships over the next six months as we build our global presence and prepare for the commencement of our commercial services in 2020.” (12/5)

Air Force Soon to Release Revised Launch Solicitation in Response to GAO’s Ruling (Source: Space News)
The Air Force will soon release a revised request for proposals for the procurement of national security launch services in response to concerns raised by the Government Accountability Office in a Nov. 18 ruling. “We are going to take corrective action,” Col. Robert Bongiovi, director of the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center’s launch enterprise, told SpaceNews Dec. 5.

“We appreciate GAO’s efforts,” said Bongiovi. “We’re trying to be transparent.” The criteria for evaluating launch providers that submitted proposals for the National Security Space Launch program was one of a series of objections raised by Blue Origin in a pre-award protest. GAO did not challenge the Air Force’s overall procurement strategy but objected to the evaluation criteria laid out in the request for proposals. (12/5)

Envisioning the Next 50 Years in Space (Source: Space News)
Fifty years ago, the Apollo 11 moon landing changed how the world viewed space exploration. For the millions of people who watched Neil Armstrong take his first step on the moon’s surface, it inspired new horizons for the human spirit and imagination and even offered the possibility of life beyond our pale blue dot.

It’s that same imagination that has led experts in the space industry to create increasingly sophisticated innovations like the International Space Station and the Mars Curiosity rover, which have led to further research and exploration in the past half-century. Even so, since the 1969 moon landing, space exploration has largely stagnated. Humans haven’t revisited the moon since Apollo 17 in 1972 and a mere 571 people have been in Earth’s orbit. Click here. (12/5)

What We Now Know (and Still Don't) About Life on Mars (Source: CNN)
For decades, space was the final frontier. But as space exploration advanced, scientists increasingly set their sights on a new frontier: Mars. The first lander to reach Mars was launched nearly 50 years ago, but much about the red planet remains a mystery. Scientists are still attempting to bring samples of Mars' red soil back to Earth for further study, and human trips to Mars are still years from being feasible. After decades of roving, research, and taking illuminating photos of the red planet, the biggest question remains: Could there be life on Mars? Click here. (12/6)

Research Suggests That Hibernation is a Likely Option to Make Deep Space Exploration a Reality (Source: Phys.org)
Space travelers sleeping in hibernation chambers before continuing with their missions, whether to go on a trip to Jupiter or hunt down an extraterrestrial creature. The concept was first imagined in the 20th century before making its way to the big screen. Are these images getting hauntingly prophetic? For future missions to succeed, radical changes will be needed in the way astronauts operate in space. According to a study by the European Space Agency (ESA), putting astronauts into a state of suspended animation may be the way to go.

A team of researchers investigated how hibernation would influence the design of a crewed mission to Mars. Findings show that it would be very beneficial to build smaller spacecraft. By removing the crew's living space that's no longer needed and lessening supplies, the team conceived a design that decreases the spacecraft's mass by a third.

"We worked on adjusting the architecture of the spacecraft, its logistics, protection against radiation, power consumption and overall mission design," said Robin Biesbroek of ESA's Concurrent Design Facility (CDF), a state-of-the-art center that enables specialist teams to carry out initial assessments of proposed future missions. CDF's goal is to evaluate the advantages of human hibernation for a trip to a planet like Mars. (12/6)

Russian Progress Cargo Ship Follows SpaceX Dragon to International Space Station (Source: CNS News)
A Soyuz booster propelled a Russian Progress cargo ship into orbit early Friday, kicking off a three-day flight to deliver 2.7 tons of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. The flight came less than 24 hours after SpaceX launched a station-bound Dragon cargo ship from Cape Canaveral on Thursday.

The Progress MS-13/74P spacecraft lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 4:34 a.m. EST, the moment Earth's rotation carried the launch pad into the plane of the space station's orbit — a requirement for spacecraft attempting to rendezvous with a target moving at nearly five miles per second. The climb to space went smoothly and concluded eight minutes and 45 seconds after launch when the Progress supply ship separated from the Soyuz 2.1a booster's third stage. The spacecraft's solar arrays and antennas deployed as planned a few moments later. (12/6)

ESA Gets Its Biggest Budget Ever, Supports Reusable Spaceship and ISS Extension (Source: Space.com)
Reusable spaceships and the International Space Station shine in the European Space Agency's (ESA) largest budget ever — $15.9 billion. This past week (Nov. 27-28) in Seville, Spain, European ministers in charge of space activities along with participants from Canada and the European Union gathered for the ESA's Council at Ministerial Level, or Space19+, to allocate funding for the space science programs they have planned for the 2020s.

"Together we have put in place a structure that sees inspiration, competitiveness and responsibility underpin our actions for the coming years, with ESA and Europe going beyond our previous achievements with challenging new missions and targets for growth along with the wider industry," ESA Director General Jan Wörner said at the event, according to a statement.

At the meeting, the ESA's 22 member states were asked to approve programs for the upcoming decade. Among the new programs is an initiative to fly LISA, the first space-based gravitational-wave detector, alongside the black-hole-mission Athena. Additionally, ESA green-lit a new reusable spaceship, confirmed support for a groundbreaking Mars mission and emphasized its continued commitment to the space station. Regarding the space station, ESA committed to continuing its support until 2030. This includes continuing to contribute to transportation and habitation modules that will be used for NASA's Gateway, the planned space station that will orbit the moon. (12/5)

NASA's New Climate Science Recruits Are Elephant Seals with Fancy Hats (Source: Space.com)
Maybe you'd like to deride this seal's fashion choices. Here's why you shouldn't: While this isn't the most ornate fascinator ever to grace a photo shoot, it sparkles with science. That's because the headpiece consists of an antenna plus a sensor that tracks the temperature of the ocean water the seal dives through. A NASA scientist is using data gathered by this sensor and others like it to better understand how oceans and currents are storing energy as the climate warms.

One particular female southern elephant seal was the star of the newest research published by the project. The seal's upgraded fascinator allowed scientists to gather data during every dive the animal made over the course of three months in the southern summer, from October 2014 to January 2015. These animals dive more than 80 times each day, and previous tags could collect data from only a few excursions daily. (12/5)

Rocks From Mars Could Be Put in Quarantine on the Moon to Avoid 'War of the Worlds Style Disaster (Source: Daily Mail)
Martian rocks could be locked down in quarantine on the moon to prevent them from contaminating Earth and creating a War of the Worlds-style disaster, an expert has claimed. Interplanetary infection is a major concern for ongoing space exploration, and all avenues are being investigated to ensure both Earth and Mars remain clean. Storing Martian rocks on the moon is being looked at as a potential solution as it would prevent the creation of a direct path to Earth's fragile ecosystems. This 150,000-mile (400,000-km) barrier would present its own issues, scientists acknowledge, but could offer invaluable protection to life on Earth. (12/5)

European Plan to Tackle Space Debris? Hug It Out (Source: The Guardian)
The European Space Agency is working to tackle the issue of space debris with the technological version of a big hug. It hopes to be able to use tentacle-like mechanical arms to embrace a dead satellite and remove it from orbit. Other options considered include casting a net over the object, using a single robotic arm or firing a harpoon. At ESA’s ministerial council last month, the agency allocated €412m to space safety programs, some of which will go toward a mission aimed at removing defunct satellites from orbit.

The head of ESA’s space debris office, Holger Krag, said work on developing the mission would start now with the aim of designing something that could be used again. “The goal is to make these removal actions happen more frequently, and therefore they need to be cheap,” he said. “The technology that we will most likely use now is actually consisting of some sort of arms, like tentacles, that embrace the object because you can capture the object before you touch it.” (12/5)

Jacobs Supports NASA in New Space Exploration Tech, Innovations (Source: Washington Exec)
Jacobs has announced the winners of a nationwide competition to identify new space exploration technologies or innovations, in support of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center. The challenge directly engaged the public in the advanced technology development process, with an eye toward enhancing critical aspects of human spaceflight safety, affordability, schedule or capability. The winning team — a group of Georgia Tech student researchers was led by Professor W. Jud Ready — will receive a $10,000 prize for their proposal titled “Ionic Liquid Interactions with Functionalized Carbon Nanotubes for Supercapacitors.” (12/3)

Warfare in Space - America Seeks Faster Ways to Launch Military Satellites (Source: Economist)
The military must be possible to launch them quickly if, for whatever reason (whether enemy action or otherwise), an orbiting asset stops working and needs replacing. That concept is known as “responsive space”, and, in today’s outsourced world, it often means calling on the private sector to do the actual launching. American officials are therefore pleased that a firm called Rocket Lab, whose services they often rely on for lifting payloads of up to 150kg, has quickened the tempo of cubesat launches from its pad in New Zealand to once a month.

Rocket Lab hopes that, by early next year, it will have improved this rate to once a fortnight—an objective which will be assisted by its construction of a second launch pad in Virginia. Rocket Lab is also a pioneer of the 3D printing of rocket parts, such as the nozzles, valves, pumps and main combustion chamber of the motor. That reduces the number of components involved, and greatly speeds up manufacture and assembly. Rockets being expensive, no one wants to carry a large inventory of them. Having a “just in time” approach to launcher availability is therefore desirable.

Relativity Space, another American firm, also plans to print its rocket, the Terran 1. This will carry a payload of 900kg. Its first orbital launch is scheduled for next year. Relativity Space’s biggest printers produce five-metre sections of propellant tank. Its most precise ones create engine parts with an accuracy of 40 millionths of a metre. A conventionally manufactured rocket of similar size would contain, the firm says, nearly 100,000 parts. Terran 1 has less than 1,000. That simplifies the supply chain and accelerates the testing of parts. Click here. (12/5)

Scientists Fed an Ancient Earth Organism Space Metals. It Started 'Dancing' (Source: Motherboard)
Scientists have discovered that a single-celled organism, a descendant of some of the earliest living creatures on Earth, is able to colonize a meteorite, growing and synthesizing nutrients. Their experiment, published on Monday in the journal Scientific Reports, may give us a way to look for the signatures of past life on other planets.

"This process was very enigmatic and exciting, how the chemical energy of a stone fragment can be transformed into the biochemical energy of a living entity,” said Tetyana Milojevic, the first author of the study. “To find an answer to understand this process, I think it's a great moment.”

Living on a space rock is just one more oddball accolade that the species, Metallosphaera sedula, can add to its growing list. First isolated from a volcanic field in Italy in 1989, the microbe is considered an extremophile because it prefers to live in conditions that would be uninhabitable to most other organisms. Such organisms are helpful for probing the early history of Earth, with its harsh and inhospitable environments, as well as the possibilities for life in the universe. (12/5)

How a White Dwarf Is Vaporizing Its Giant Planet (Source: Sky & Telescope)
This week, astronomers report the first-ever, albeit indirect, evidence for a planet orbiting a white dwarf – the dense remnant of a Sun-like star that has used up its nuclear fuel. A team of astronomers describes their spectroscopic study of a 19th-magnitude hot white dwarf known as WD J091405.30+191412.25, located some 1,500 light-years away in the eastern part of Cancer. Observations with the X-Shooter spectrograph on the European Southern Observatory (ESO) Very Large Telescope reveal the existence of a circumstellar disk of gas, just some 20 million kilometers across.

Astronomers have long suspected that white dwarfs cannibalize any remnant planets in orbit around them. Indeed, disks of infalling planetary debris have been found around white dwarfs before, but they always had a rocky composition. Instead, the disk around WD J0914+1914 appears to consist solely of hydrogen, oxygen and sulfur – the elements found in the deeper atmospheric layers of icy giant planets like Neptune. Moreover, the white dwarf is accreting material from the disk at an unprecedented rate of 3,000 tons per second. (12/5)

NASA is Quietly Helping Satellite Firms Avoid Catastrophic Collisions (Source: New Scientist)
NASA has been quietly helping select satellite companies avoid catastrophic collisions in orbit – for a price. Documents obtained by New Scientist show that in September, NASA renewed an agreement with satellite imagery company Maxar Technologies to help protect four of the firm’s DigitalGlobe satellites. The spacecraft collect high-resolution images for customers including the US Department of Defense and Google Earth. According to the documents, NASA analysts will predict close approaches with other spacecraft or orbital debris, and provide Maxar with timely warnings. (12/5)

S7 Space to Relocate Sea Launch Floating Spaceport to Russia in 2020 (Source: Tass)
S7 Space will relocate the Sea Launch floating platform and the command vessel to Russia’s Far East in 2020, the company said in a statement on Thursday. "The relocation of the launch platform and the assembly and command ship to a Far Eastern port is planned in 2020," the statement says. By now, the company "has obtained all the necessary permissions for the spaceport’s relocation, including from the US Department of State," the press office specified.

After they are relocated to Russian territory, the launch platform and the assembly and command ship will be temporarily based at the Slavyanka Ship Repair Plant in the port of Slavyanka. S7 Group (the holding company that integrates S7 Space Transport Systems) is the owner of the assets of the Sea Launch rocket and space compound where 36 launches (including 32 successful) were carried out by the end of May 2014. The sea compound comprises the Odyssey floating launch platform and the assembly and command vessel where rockets are assembled and control of pre-launch operations is exercised. The vessels are based in California. (12/5)

Dreams of Space, Skepticism and the Right (Source: Splice Today)
Among enthusiasts of space exploration, for instance, there are factions that want to: adopt a crash program of sending humans to Mars; return humans to the moon and treat Mars as a long-term goal; emphasize robotic exploration over human; build up an industry of orbital tourism; orbit giant solar panels as an energy solution; emphasize free-market principles in whatever gets done in space; expand government space activities for national prestige and security; foster international cooperation through multilateral space projects; and more.

Some of those ideas are diametrically opposed, while others have differences of priority or emphasis. But the proponents of all of them share what I’ll call “the space dream,” a belief that humanity can benefit greatly from expanded involvement in space. I share the space dream, though I’ve tended to migrate among the factions, once seeing more plausibility for near-term Mars colonization and asteroid mining than I do today, and more recently being frustrated that free-market space activity, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink satellites, is undermining astronomy. Click here. (12/5)
 
Virgin Galactic Touts Major Progress as it Prepares to Fly (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
Virgin Galactic has made huge strides this year in its race to take paying passengers into space, and New Mexico is reaping benefits, company CEO George Whitesides told a packed audience on Thursday. Touting its “memorable year,” Whitesides said, “Our crew vehicle reached space for the first time, and since then, we’ve achieved milestone after milestone.”

That includes flying the Virgin Galactic spaceship VSS Unity into suborbit for a second time in February, the official opening of the company’s “Gateway to Space” operations center in August at Spaceport America in southern New Mexico, and listing on the New York Stock Exchange in October that made Virgin Galactic the world’s first publicly traded commercial human spaceflight company. (12/5)

The Ethics of Space Exploration (Source: The Strand)
I took an astronomy course because, like most humanities students, I needed to fulfill a breadth requirement, and space sounded cool. I ended up finding a second-year course called “Life on Other Worlds”. The course focused on the multidisciplinary study of space through the lens of finding life on other worlds. I took the course to check a box for graduation, but it ended up being one of my favourite courses I have ever taken because of the thought-provoking ethical questions we considered.

I will never forget the last lecture when my professor, Dr. Michael Reid, made an announcement that immediately received a round of applause: “Close your laptops; this won’t be on the final exam. We are finally going to talk about aliens.” Not to discourage anyone from taking the course, but there are a lot of things you need to know about life and other worlds separately before you can talk about them together. You need to understand the constituent parts to understand the last lecture, or, more accurately, to understand where to go from there.  

Space exploration was founded on a bed of nationalism, and the current rise in the public’s interest in space is also due to nationalism. When talking about the beginnings of space exploration, it is impossible not to mention “The Space Race”, the competition between Russia and America over who could have the most “firsts” in the realm of space exploration. This Space Race, and its subsequent victories for astronomy as a science, happened during the Cold War when Russia and America were already at odds. The Moon landing was a monumental event in American history, not just because of the accomplishments in science and math that led to it, but because it was 'American'. Click here. (12/5)

Storms, Erosion a Costly Problem at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (Source: UPI)
Kennedy Space Center in Florida has spent $100 million fixing storm damage and rebuilding sand dunes to protect launch pads in the past 10 years, and that number is expected to grow dramatically in the coming years. New studies indicate sea level rise is accelerating and will impact low-lying areas, including the space center, sooner than previously thought.

The space center's strategy to date has been to rebuild sand dunes every time they are washed away by a storm so that buffer is maintained between launch pads and the sea. The shoreline restoration area is about 3.2 miles along an outer road that circles the space center. A study by non-profit Climate Central recently found that historic launch pads 39A and 39B, from which the Apollo moon missions lifted off, are among the most vulnerable. Each is about a quarter-mile from the Atlantic Ocean.

Both launch sites are undergoing multimillion-dollar upgrades, by SpaceX for commercial launches and eventual goals to reach Mars and by NASA for its planned Artemis moon missions. "We are very certain that rising sea level is a trend that is increasing and will get worse," said Maya Buchanan, an environmental scientist with Climate Central, an independent organization of scientists and journalists. "The sand and limestone geology in Florida is not helping the space center's situation. It's more at risk because of erosion, and water can seep into the soils there," Buchanan said. (12/6)

Rocket Lab Launches Japanese Satellite That’s Designed to Spit Out Shooting Stars for Olympics (Source: GeekWire)
Rocket Lab’s Electron rocket lifted off from its New Zealand launch pad today, sending a shooting-star satellite and six other miniaturized satellites into orbit. Japan’s ALE-2 satellite is designed to drop bunches of chemical pellets into the atmosphere from orbit, producing fiery streaks of glowing plasma that look like meteor showers. The “Sky Canvas” mission, arranged with logistical help from Seattle-based Spaceflight, could well light up the skies over the Tokyo Olympics’ opening ceremonies next June.

New Zealand authorities cleared the satellite for launch after determining that the displays wouldn’t pose a danger and would have a “negligible” effect on light pollution. The six other payloads are 2-inch-wide PocketQube microsatellites from Alba Orbital, built for purposes ranging from a demonstration of satellite-to-satellite communications to a student-led experiment to measure human-made electromagnetic pollution. (12/6)

Bridenstine Implores Congress to Finalize FY2020 Appropriations for Desperately Needed HLS (Source: Space Policy Online)
Speaking at a Space Transportation Association (STA) event on Capitol Hill today, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine implored Congress to finalize FY2020 appropriations rather than keeping NASA funded by Continuing Resolutions (CRs) — or worse, allowing a shutdown.  In particular, funding for Human Lander Systems (HLS) is “desperately” needed to meet the White House’s goal of returning astronauts to the Moon by 2024.

Fiscal Year 2020 began more than two months ago on October 1, but Congress has not passed any of the FY2020 appropriations bills, including the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) bill that funds NASA.  The House and Senate have passed their respective versions and are negotiating on a compromise, but its fate is tied in with other appropriations bills and the overall tense political climate in Washington. In the meantime, the government is operating under a CR that expires on December 20.  Under a CR, agencies are held to their prior year spending levels and cannot begin new programs or terminate existing ones. (12/5)

Now That's An Active Asteroid (Source: Cosmos)
Scientists poring over data from NASA’s OSIRIS-REx mission are trying to figure out why the near-Earth asteroid Bennu is periodically ejecting rocks the size of ping-pong balls. The find came “sort of by accident,” says Harold Connolly Jr, a cosmochemist and meteoriticist at Rowan University, US, when another member of the OSRIRIS-REx team noticed “stars” in the spacecraft’s navigation camera, in places where stars aren’t supposed to exist.

“It turns out they weren’t stars; they are particles being ejected from the asteroid. This was an absolutely stunning discovery,” says Connolly, who is co-author of a paper describing the find in the journal Science. Initially, he says, the team thought they might be seeing the type of activity previously seen on comets. “But this isn’t what we are apparently seeing.” Comet-like activity should be accompanied by plumes of gas, as well as solid particles, “but if there is gas, we can’t see it. It’s just particles ejecting off the surface.” (12/6)

Green Light for BRICS Satellite Amid Space Arms Race Fears (Source: Sputnik)
The plan was first mooted by China to improve co-operation around natural disasters. But it took shape later when BRICS space agencies agreed to build a “virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites." The Indian space ministry has indicated major progress in terms of establishing a BRICS satellite for various applications including natural resources management and disaster management. The five-nation group of BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) plans to share crucial data under a “virtual constellation of remote sensing satellites” which is made up of satellites contributed by BRICS space agencies. (12/5)

Black Holes Formed From Dark Matter Could Be Making Dead Stars Explode (Source: New Scientist)
Dead stars are exploding all around the universe and we aren’t really sure why – but now a pair of researchers think that minuscule black holes made from dark matter might be to blame. Burnt out stars known as white dwarfs can ignite into a type Ia supernova when they gather matter from a neighbouring star or merge with other astronomical objects. Exactly how this works is still an open question. (12/6)

Boeing Starliner Poised For Dress Rehearsal (Source: Aviation Week)
Boeing’s first space-bound CST-100 Starliner capsule has been hoisted atop a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket for a practice launch countdown ahead of its planned Dec. 19 trial run to the International Space Station (ISS). “A beautiful sight,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine wrote on Twitter. The dress rehearsal, officially known as the Integrated Day of Launch Test and scheduled for Dec. 6, is one of the final milestones of Boeing's Commercial Crew contract. (12/5)