January 22, 2020

Aerospike Rocket Engines are More Efficient Than Classic Ones (Source: Space Daily)
On December 20th, 2019 ARCA started the tests for its advanced aerospike engine LAS 25DA, for the water-based, electric Launch Assist System (LAS) rocket. After reading the test data from the sensors for both classic and aerospike rocket engines, we clearly saw that the aerospike rocket engines are more efficient than the classic ones. The tested aerospike engine has a dry weight of 184kg (405lbs) and it's rated to 25 metric tons of thrust. It is currently the world largest, being shy of only 10cm, (4 inches) in diameter compared with the largest circular aerospike engine ever built, Rocketdyne's 250K pounds of thrust from the middle of the 60s. (1/22)

CASIS Delays Meeting to Assess NASA Report (Source: CASIS)
The nonprofit that runs the part of the International Space Station designated a national lab is postponing a public meeting next month. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), also known as the ISS National Laboratory, said Tuesday that it was postponing its annual public meeting that had been scheduled for Feb. 7 because of the impending release by NASA of an independent report on its operations. The delay in the meeting will allow the organization to work with NASA to develop a plan for implementing any recommendations in that report. CASIS has not announced a new date for the meeting. (1/22)

Nine Finalists in Name-The-Rover Contest (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA has picked nine finalists for the name of its next Mars rover. The agency has opened public voting on the nine finalists — Endurance, Tenacity, Promise, Perseverance, Vision, Clarity, Ingenuity, Fortitude and Courage — selected from 155 semifinalists in a student competition. Public voting will remain open through next Monday, although the results will only be a "consideration" in a final selection of the name. NASA will announce the winning name for the Mars 2020 rover in March. (1/22)

Pentagon Advances Plans for Missile Tracking Constellation (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon's Space Development Agency (SDA) is moving ahead with plans for a constellation of missile-tracking satellites. The agency issued a broad area announcement Tuesday seeking technologies that would be used for that satellite constellation. SDA wants to have at least several dozen satellites in orbit by late 2022 with a mix of sensing and communications payloads to locate targets on the ground and at sea, and track advanced missiles such as hypersonic glide vehicles. That constellation will grow over time, and the SDA intends to ultimately deploy multiple constellations that collectively could amount to thousands of satellites. (1/22)

Budget Battle Hampers EU in Space (Source: Space Daily)
The European Union has big plans for its space and defence industries, but cuts to the bloc's proposed budget for 2021-27 of some 200 billion euros ($220 billion) have caused alarm. The European Defence Fund has seen its proposed share fall from 13 to seven billion euros and space programs have lost 20 percent of their allocations.

The initial budget plan earmarked huge growth in funding for defence as the bloc looks to become a more credible geopolitical player, but with richer member states looking to trim their contributions after Brexit, a slimmed-down plan was put forward by Finland when it held the rotating EU presidency. Romanian conservative MEP Christian-Silviu Busoi, chairman of the European Parliament's Industry Committee, warned that the cuts would jeopardise the Galileo program -- the European satellite navigation system -- and Copernicus, the EU's Earth observation program.

The EU's competition and digital supremo Margrethe Vestager warned that money was needed to back "new ideas and new technology" and said she hoped it would be available in the next budget. Budget haggling will rumble on for some time, with EU Council President Charles Michel facing the unenviable task of bridging the near 240 billion euro gap between the demands of the European Parliament and Finland's proposal. (1/21)

EU Provides $222 Million for Space (Source: Space News)
The European Union is providing 200 million euros ($222 million) in funding to support Europe's space industry. Half the funding, announced Tuesday, would be in a form of a loan to ArianeGroup to help the company finance its share of the cost of the Ariane 6. The other half will be invested in funds supporting space startups in Europe. EU officials said the funding represents a "game changer" in its support for European space companies. (1/22)

Capella Reveals SAR Satellite Design (Source: Space News)
Capella Space revealed a new design for its synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites Tuesday. The revised design features a 3.5-meter deployable radar antenna and larger solar arrays. The new satellite design weighs 100 kilograms, twice the size of its prototype, Denali, launched more than a year ago. The company said the revised design, based on customer feedback, will provide improved radar images at a resolution of 50 centimeters. The first of the new satellites, called Sequoia, will launch in March. (1/22)

Dawn Aerospac Considers Air-Launch System (Source: Space News)
A space propulsion startup is also examining an air-launch system. Dawn Aerospace, with facilities in New Zealand and the Netherlands, is commercializing thrusters that use nitrous oxide and propene instead of hydrazine, with the first of those thrusters flying on smallsats launching this year. The company is interested in expanding that technology to an air-launch system, which would feature a suborbital spaceplane than then deploys a two-stage rocket that could place up to several hundred kilograms into low Earth orbit. Company officials said such a vehicle would not fly for at least four years, though. (1/22)

LEGO Plans ISS Model (Source: The Verge)
Space fans who like LEGO, or LEGO fans who like space, be ready to open your wallets again. LEGO announced Tuesday it is releasing a model of the ISS next month. The 864-piece model features the station's current configuration and includes a shuttle and spacewalking astronauts. While the real ISS has a cost in excess of $100 billion by some accounts, the LEGO model can be yours for $69.99. (1/21)

Starliner’s Thruster Performance Receiving Close Scrutiny From NASA (Source: Ars Technica)
Nearly one month ago, Boeing completed the first orbital test flight of its Starliner spacecraft with a near-perfect landing at White Sands Space Harbor in New Mexico. The mission had to be cut short due to a well-publicized timing error that delayed the spacecraft's service module from performing an orbital insertion burn. This caused the thrusters on board the service module, which provides power to Starliner during most of its mission, to fire longer than expected. As a result, the spacecraft did not have enough fuel to complete a rendezvous with the International Space Station, a key component of the test flight in advance of crewed missions.

Two weeks ago, NASA said it had initiated two investigations. One would find the root cause of the "mission elapsed timer anomaly" over the course of about two months, and the second will determine whether another uncrewed test flight of Starliner is required before astronauts fly on the vehicle. The NASA release did not mention thruster performance, but an agency source said that engineers are looking closely at the performance of the Starliner propulsion system.

In addition to four large launch abort engines, the service module has 28 reaction control system thrusters, each with 85 pounds of thrust and 20 more-powerful orbital maneuvering thrusters, each with 1,500 pounds of thrust. he service module thrusters were stressed due to their unconventional use in raising Starliner's orbit instead of performing one big burn. As a result, the company had to shut down one manifold, which effectively branches into several lines carrying propellant to four thrusters. "We even shut down one manifold as we saw pressure go low 'cause it had been used a lot," he said. The NASA source said eight or more thrusters on the service module failed at one point and that one thruster never fired at all. (1/21)

BAE to Buy Business Units From Collins, Raytheon (Source: Space News)
BAE Systems announced Monday it is acquiring GPS and military communications businesses from two companies for more than $2 billion. BAE will buy Collins Aerospace's military Global Positioning System unit for $1.9 billion and Raytheon's Airborne Tactical Radios division for $275 million. These two businesses are being sold in order to clear the antitrust regulatory requirements of the pending merger between Raytheon and United Technologies Corp. BAE Systems officials called the acquisitions "unique opportunities" to expand the company’s defense electronics, radio and GPS business. (1/21)

Rocket Lab Schedules First NRO Launch for Jan. 31 at New Zealand Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab's first launch of 2020 will be a mission for the National Reconnaissance Office. The launch, scheduled for a window that opens Jan. 31 at the company's New Zealand launch site, will fly a payload designated NROL-151, details of which neither the company nor the NRO disclosed in Monday's announcement. This is the NRO's first launch awarded under a program the agency started in 2018 called Rapid Acquisition of a Small Rocket (RASR) to use commercial providers to launch small satellites. (1/21)

US and China Plan Civil Space Dialogue (Source: Space News)
American and Chinese officials are planning a bilateral meeting on civil space issues this spring. The Civil Space Dialogue, scheduled for March, will be the first such meeting between the two countries since 2017, after plans for a meeting last year fell through. No reason for the inability to schedule the meeting, earlier reported as to be expected in fall 2019, was offered. The last meeting between the NASA administrator and the head of the China National Space Administration (CNSA) was the International Astronautical Congress in 2018 in Bremen, Germany. (1/21)

Skylo Raises $100 Million+ for Connecting Vehicles to Satellites (Source: Space News)
A startup has raised more than $100 million to provide vehicle connectivity using geostationary satellites. Skylo exited from stealth mode Tuesday by announcing it raised $103 million in a Series B round led by SoftBank. The company earlier raised $13 million from several funds, including Boeing HorizonX. Skylo has developed a compact satellite terminal to connect machines to its network using capacity on existing GEO communications satellites. The company argues this approach can provide frequent and affordable connectivity to trucks, boats or other vehicles. (1/21)

Group to Rate Satellite Sustainability (Source: Space News)
A consortium in making progress on a system to rate the sustainability of satellites. The Space Sustainability Rating, announced by the World Economic Forum last year, is being developed by a group of organizations in the U.S. and Europe that seeks to quantitatively measure how well individual satellites or satellite systems ensure the long-term sustainability of space. Current work involves selecting what factors will go into the rating and the weighting factors for each. An initial version of the rating may be ready by late this year or early next year. (1/21)

IceEye Can Track "Dark" Vessels at Sea (Source: Space News)
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) company Iceye has developed a product that tracks "dark" vessels at sea. Iceye combines observations from its constellation of three SAR satellites with other data sources to provide customers with radar satellite images of vessels that are not broadcasting their identification, position and course with Automatic Identification System (AIS) transponders. The technology is designed to help government agencies, nongovernmental organizations and commercial customers curb drug and human trafficking, find illegal fishing vessels and enforce rules against illegal transshipment of goods. (1/21)

2020 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame Induction (Source: KSCVC)
Veteran astronauts Michael E. Lopez-Alegria, Pamela A. Melroy and Scott Kelly have been selected to receive one of the highest honors in their industry. This May, they will be inducted into the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame® at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, and will join the just 99 individuals who currently hold that esteemed honor as the “First Class of the New Decade.”

On May 16, 2020 at 11:00 am, join the visitor complex on the bottom floor of Space Shuttle Atlantis to honor these heroes during the 2020 induction ceremony. Selected by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, inductees must have made their first flight at least 17 years before the induction, must be a U.S. citizen, a NASA-trained commander, pilot or mission specialist and have orbited the Earth at least once. (1/21)

Scientists Just Discovered That an Asteroid May Have Ended 'Snowball Earth' 2.2 Billion Years Ago (Source: USA Today)
Some 2.2 billion years ago, an asteroid slammed into the Earth, leaving behind a massive, 43-mile-wide crater in what's now Western Australia, scientists announced. It's the world's oldest known impact site, the new study said, one that also may have changed Earth's climate: It occurred at a time that coincided with Earth’s recovery from an ice age known as "Snowball Earth," where most of Earth’s surface was covered with ice sheets up to 3 miles thick, according to a statement from Imperial College in London.

The impact left behind a scar on the land that's known as the Yarrabubba impact crater. "The age we've got for the Yarrabubba impact structure makes it the oldest impact structure on the planet," said study co-author Chris Kirkland. That's about half the age of Earth itself and 200 million years older than the previous record-holder, the 190-mile-wide Vredefort Dome in South Africa. After blasting into the continental ice sheet, the impact could have released up to 11,000 trillion pounds of water vapor into the atmosphere, a potent greenhouse gas that may have played a role in modifying Earth’s climate. (1/21)

Will the Boeing / SpaceX Space Race Be Fair? (Source: Medium)
Musk made it clear that SpaceX should have hardware delivered by the end of February or at worst early March, and ready for launch shortly thereafter. Bridenstein, on the other hand, stressed the desire for additional tests of the parachute system on the Crew Dragon, and said that NASA is going to be rethinking how to use this new hardware. Specifically, they will consider if they’d like to change their current plan to have a short mission to the ISS, and instead have the astronauts stay for an extended period.

Since NASA is a government funded agency, there are complex politics behind every public message — messages often designed to keep the congress people who write the budgets happy. As we watch the similarly politically motivated actions in the following months, we will be playing close attention to see if Boeing is required to put their capsule through the same tests and experiences the same timeline delays as we’re seeing for SpaceX. Let’s look at the facts:

SpaceX has had a successful launch to the ISS, numerous successful parachute tests, pad abort tests, and now a successful mid launch abort test. They are being asked for potentially more testing of their parachutes. On the other side, Boeing had a parachute not deploy during their on-the-ground abort test, and announced that landing on 2 of 4 parachutes was deemed a success and their schedule would not be effected. They also had an unsuccessful launch to the ISS that is being called a success because they had their capsule return to Earth just fine. Currently, we see plans for a June 2020 launch with three people, and a subsequent launch planned with 4 people in December. These 7 humans will each cost more to launch on these Boeing capsules than they would cost to launch in the proven Russian Soyuz capsules. (1/21)