January 29, 2020

Tethers Unlimited Reports Successful Operation of Space-Debris Removal Device (Source: Space Daily)
Tethers Unlimited has successfully demonstrated on-orbit operation of the Terminator Tape, an affordable, lightweight solution for removing space debris from on orbit. In early September 2019, an automated timer unit on the Prox-1 satellite, launched in late June 2019 by the Air Force Research Laboratory's University Nanosatellite Program, activated deployment of TUI's Terminator Tape module. The Terminator Tape is a small module, weighing less than two pounds and about the size of a notebook, designed to attach to the exterior of a satellite. (1/29)

China to Launch Mars Probe in July (Source: Space Daily)
China announced that it will launch its first Mars mission probe in July this year, China Youth Daily reported Thursday, adding that this is the first time the country disclosed the launch month of its Mars exploration program. The Mars probe will be sent by the Long March-5 Y4 carrier rocket, said the newspaper, citing sources from the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC). The Long March-5 Y4 rocket has recently completed a 100-second test for its high thrust hydrogen-oxygen engine, which is the last engine examination before the final assembly. (1/24)

Mars' Water Was Mineral-Rich and Salty (Source: Space Daily)
Presently, Earth is the only known location where life exists in the Universe. This year the Nobel Prize in physics was awarded to three astronomers who proved, almost 20 years ago, that planets are common around stars beyond the solar system. Life comes in various forms, from cell-phone-toting organisms like humans to the ubiquitous micro-organisms that inhabit almost every square inch of the planet Earth, affecting almost everything that happens on it. It will likely be some time before it is possible to measure or detect life beyond the solar system, but the solar system offers a host of sites that might get a handle on how hard it is for life to start. (1/22)

Space Traffic Is Surging, And Critics Worry There Could Be A Crash (Source: NPR)
A rocket from the commercial company SpaceX lifted off on Wednesday morning with some 60 satellites aboard. Once they reached low Earth orbit, the satellites were released and began to fan out like a deck of cards. They follow predictable paths around the Earth, but along the way those paths can cross with other things in orbit — satellites from other companies, old rocket stages, loose bits of metal — and cause a catastrophic collision.

Some satellite operations experts say that all too often, only one thing stands in the way of disaster: an automated email alert sent to the inboxes of operators on the ground. "That is crazy," says Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, which promotes sustainability in space. "But that's currently the status of things."

Now Weeden and others feel it's time for a hard look at the system for managing space traffic, which they think is ad hoc and ill-prepared for what's to come. In just three launches since November, SpaceX has added nearly 200 satellites to a slice of the sky above Earth that's already pretty congested. It plans to launch hundreds more this year, as does a rival company, OneWeb. Both companies say they are diligently complying with voluntary standards to minimize space debris, but critics say those standards simply aren't adequate. (1/29)

GAO: NASA Commercial Crew Program: Significant Work Remains to Begin Operational Missions to the Space Station (Source: SpaceRef)
To fly as soon as possible, NASA has been planning to complete its reviews of the contractors’ systems under aggressive time frames. This approach is risky because it assumes the contractors will complete multiple activities on time. Boeing and SpaceX must conduct additional test flights, train astronauts, and get a license from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA).

FAA licenses cover the contractors’ launch and reentry activities. FAA may grant waivers for changes to the license that do not jeopardize public safety. For example, FAA may grant waivers for changes in launch trajectory. NASA needs to know when such changes have been made in case they affect the crew. While NASA and FAA have coordinated on launch licensing for years, they have not yet decided how they will communicate about waivers. As a result, NASA may not have all the information it needs for launch decisions. (1/29)

Wilbur Ross at Davos: Getting to the Trillion-Dollar Space Economy (Source: USDOC)
Trump Administration initiatives will encourage economic growth from space activities, and encourage like-minded nations to do the same. To this end, President Trump reestablished the National Space Council in 2017 to coordinate national space policy and prioritize economic development and technological advancement. Within the Commerce Department, we revitalized the Office of Space Commerce, which was established more than 30 years ago to help enable commercial space activities.  

Today, growth in the commercial space industry is driven primarily by venture capital and private entrepreneurs. In the past 10 years, more than $25.7 billion has been invested in 535 space companies globally. In 2019 alone, $5.8 billion was invested — the largest investment year on record.  Also last year, roughly 43 percent of space startup investment went to companies outside the United States, and over 70 countries now have meaningful space activities. Click here. (1/29) 

GAO Warns of More JWST Delays (Source: Space News)
A report Tuesday by the U.S. Government Accountability Office warned that NASA's James Webb Space Telescope may face further launch delays. The report said that a joint confidence level analysis of the mission's cost and schedule completed in October concluded there was only a 12% chance the mission would launch by March 2021, its current launch date. That analysis suggested a delay of up to several months was likely, in large part because of issues last year that consumed much of the program's schedule margin. Officials with NASA and prime contractor Northrop Grumman said earlier this month they were confident they could stay on the current schedule, noting that use of schedule margin had dropped significantly in the second half of last year. (1/29)

Raytheon Wins $197 Million Ground System Contract for Missile Warning Satellites (Source: Space News)
Raytheon has won a $197 million U.S. Air Force contract to design a ground system that will be used to collect and process data from missile warning satellites. The five-year contract is to develop what the Air Force calls the Future Operationally Resilient Ground Evolution, or FORGE. Raytheon beat competitors BAE Systems and Booz Allen Hamilton. FORGE will replace the Lockheed Martin-developed technology the Air Force currently uses to manage and process data from the Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) missile warning satellite constellation. (1/29)

Kepler Opts For In-House Development of Satellites (Source: Space News)
Kepler Communications has decided to manufacture its satellite constellation in-house. The company said it will build its constellation of 140 satellites in a 5,000-square-foot facility at its Toronto headquarters. The company said it made that decision after an "exhaustive analysis" of the supply chain for smallsats, concluding that the industry has "a significant challenge ahead in maturing the supply chain" for smallsat components. (1/29)

Two Companies to Build Air Force Space Weather Sensors (Source: Space News)
Two companies have won Air Force contracts to build space weather sensors. Applied Technology Associates received a $5 million contract to build Compact Environmental Anomaly Sensor 3, which the Air Force says will provide a "comprehensive measure of the space environment." Teledyne Brown Engineering won a $1.8 million contract for ECP-Lite, which will provide "a focused subset" of space weather measurements, particularly of energetic charged particles. The sensors will be integrated on spacecraft for launch late this year and early next year. (1/29)

Virgin Orbit to Provide Responsive Launch Services to ImageSat (Source: Tech Crunch)
Virgin Orbit announced a partnership with ImageSat International for the responsive launch of imaging satellites. Under the agreement, Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne vehicle would launch small imaging satellites built by ImageSat on short notice. The companies argue this can provide an end-to-end solution for national security and intelligence customers. (1/29)

Russia Plans Nuclear Space Tug (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos is planning to launch a nuclear space tug in a decade. A Roscosmos official said in a conference presentation that the nuclear-powered tug would launch in 2030 and, after flight tests, would go into serial production and be available for commercial use. Roscosmos did not discuss specific uses for such a system, or how much it would cost. (1/29)

NASA Seeks Input on New ‘Tech Flights’ Solicitation that Allows for Human-tended Suborbital Payloads (Source: NASA)
Suborbital spaceflight is valuable for testing and fine-tuning innovative technologies for future missions to the Moon and Mars. NASA’s Flight Opportunities program has tested more than 150 different space technologies in relevant environments aboard suborbital rockets, rocket-powered spacecraft, high-altitude balloons and aircraft with reduced-gravity flight profiles.

The 2020 “Tech Flights” solicitation includes something new that will let researchers from industry and academia accompany their payloads on suborbital flights conducted under grants from the NASA solicitation. NASA is seeking comments from the suborbital research community and prospective flight providers on the proposed implementation of this new policy.

“Human-tended payloads on suborbital flights is something NASA has considered for a long time,” said the Associate Administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate Jim Reuter. “Now that commercial suborbital vehicles are quickly approaching their inaugural flights with passengers in addition to payloads, NASA is preparing to take advantage of what they have to offer our research community.” Click here. (1/29)

Inside SpinLaunch, the Space Industry’s Best Kept Secret (Source: WIRED)
Last summer, a secretive space company took up residence in a massive warehouse in the sun-soaked industrial neighborhood that surrounds Long Beach Airport. Reflections of turboprop panes flit across the building’s mirrored panes. Across the street a retro McDonnell Douglas sign perches above the aerospace giant’s former factory, and just around the corner Virgin Orbit is developing air-launched rockets.

It’s a fitting headquarters for SpinLaunch, a company breathing new life into the decades-old idea of using giant mechanical slings to hurl rockets into orbit. The man behind this audacious plan is the serial entrepreneur Jonathan Yaney. For years he ran SpinLaunch out of a former microprocessor plant in Silicon Valley, down the road from Google. Now the company is ready to open a proper rocket factory, where it will churn out launch vehicles and, if all goes well, take its first steps into the cosmos. Click here. (1/29)

AFRL and Blue Origin Partner on Test Site for BE-7 Lunar Lander Engine Development (Source: AFRL)
The Air Force Research Laboratory and Blue Origin are developing a new test facility for the Blue Origin BE-7 lunar lander engine at the AFRL rocket lab here. Capital improvements, funded by Blue Origin, will allow BE-7 testing in a simulated space-like environment. Planned work includes adding liquid hydrogen (LH2) and liquid oxygen (LOX) propellant capabilities, along with other facility upgrades.

AFRL and Blue Origin signed a 15-year Cooperative Research and Development Agreement Dec. 11, 2019 to develop a test facility for the Blue Origin BE-7 Lunar Lander Engine here. The CRADA was signed by Dr. Shawn Phillips, chief of the Rocket Propulsion Division, and Bob Smith, CEO of Blue Origin. The BE-7 engine is a new, high performance 10,000 pound-thrust dual-expander cycle engine for in-space applications, including Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lunar lander.

The new AFRL test capabilities will support various development, qualification, and production acceptance tests of the BE-7 engine under future Commercial Test Agreements, also to be funded by Blue Origin. The CRADA focuses on a public-private partnership to create a superior upper stage engine and in-space propulsion testing capability that directly supports near-term national space objectives, and provides enduring infrastructure to support current and future national security and commercial space requirements. (1/27)

Fury Over 'Space Junk' Mounts as Musk Set to Launch 60 for Starlink Satellites (Source: Sputnik)
Starlink is a vast satellite constellation conceived by American company SpaceX to provide Internet access to remote parts of the globe. It potentially comprises up to 42,000 small satellites. Elon Musk's SpaceX is preparing to launch 60 Starlink "internet satellites" into space on 29 January amid critics' fury over the resulting "wall of space junk" flooding Earth's orbit. The Starlink satellites are tightly packed into a 229-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket, which is currently on a launchpad at Florida's Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (1/29)