January 31, 2020

Iran Breaks Monopoly of Know-How to Launch Satellites (Source: Space Daily)
Iran broke the monopoly of nine states over know-how to launch satellites, spokesman for Ministry of Defense Aerospace Organization Ahmad Hosseini said on Tuesday. Ahmad Hosseini made the remarks in an interview about launching Zafar satellite. Military missiles and satellite rockets have two very different use in terms of system design and system integration. Ballistic missiles are used in hostility and should be capable of operating quickly and with high mobility, but satellites are for civilian application and carried in separate stages.

The official added that nine countries, plus the Zionist regime, have the capability of launching satellite rockets, Russia, the US, China, the European Union, Japan and India have launching pads, after which we have had launch pads. Deputy Minister of Communication and Information Technology said on January 22 that Zafar Research Satellite has been developed by specialists and elites of the University of Science and Technology and has been delivered to the Space Organization for putting into orbit. (1/29)

Hurlburt-Based Air Force Wing Commander Selected as Vice Commander of Space Force (Source: DoD)
The chief, space operations, United States Space Force, announced that Brigadier General-select Michael E. Conley, commander, 1st Special Operations Wing, Air Force Special Operations Command, Hurlburt Field, Florida, will become vice commander, Space Operations Command, United States Space Force, Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. (1/30)

Spitzer Telescope Mission Ends (Source: NASA)
NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope formally ended operations Thursday. Controllers sent final commands to the spacecraft Thursday afternoon, putting it into a permanent safe mode. Spitzer launched in 2003 on a prime mission of two and a half years to perform infrared astronomy. NASA decided last year to end the mission because the spacecraft's increasing distance from the Earth in its orbit around the sun made it challenging to operate. Much of the infrared astronomy that Spitzer carried out will be resumed by the James Webb Space Telescope, launching next year, and the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope scheduled for launch in the mid-2020s. (1/30)

Rocket Lab Launches NRO Satellite From New Zealand (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office Thursday night. The company's Electron rocket lifted off from its New Zealand launch site at 9:56 p.m. Eastern and placed into orbit a payload known as NROL-151. Neither Rocket Lab nor the NRO released details about the payload, including its mission. Rocket Lab said the rocket's first stage survived re-entry and remained intact until reaching the ocean as the company works to eventually recover and reuse those stages. The launch is the first of up to a dozen planned by the company this year. (1/31)

Comtech Acquiring Gilat Satellite Networks (Source: Space News)
Satellite ground equipment company Comtech is acquiring Gilat Satellite Networks for $532.5 million. Comtech is buying Gilat for $10.25 a share, paid 70% in cash and 30% in Comtech stock. Comtech expects the combined company will generate close to $1 billion in annual sales. Comtech says the acquisition will position it to capitalize on large anticipated demand for new ground segment infrastructure. Comtech regularly sells satellite ground equipment to the U.S. government, while Gilat is far more successful in international markets. (1/31)

NASA Plans Suborbital Research Solicitation (Source: Space News)
NASA plans to allow researchers to fly with their payloads on commercial suborbital vehicles. A draft solicitation released this week by NASA's Flight Opportunities program would, for the first time, permit scientists to ride with their payloads on vehicles like Blue Origin's New Shepard and Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo. Both vehicles have flown NASA payloads, but the agency has required them to be automated. Advocates of human-tended suborbital payloads argue that such payloads can be less expensive and more reliable than automated ones. (1/30)

A Russian "Inspector" Spacecraft Now Appears To Be Shadowing An American Spy Satellite (Source: The Drive)
Publicly available data suggests that a Russian inspector satellite has shifted its position in orbit to bring it relatively close to a U.S. KH-11 spy satellite. Russia has a number of what it calls "space apparatus inspectors" in orbit, which the U.S. government and others warn the Kremlin could use to gather intelligence on other satellites or function as "killer satellites," using various means to damage, disable, or destroy those targets. This is just one of a number of space apparatus inspectors and other curious satellites that the Kremlin has put into orbit over the past decade. (1/30)

Satellites a Big Target for Hackers (Source: Space News)
While satellites are becoming a bigger target for hackers, companies may be ill-prepared to protect them. In a conference panel Thursday, a satellite industry executive said there is a gulf between the space and the cybersecurity sectors and that everyone would benefit from closer collaboration. Rather than just requiring companies to comply with a checklist of regulations, government agencies could also help educate the industry on how to prepare and prevent attacks, he suggested. (1/30)

US Sees Record Year for Private Space Sector in 2020 (Source: Space Daily)
The US plans to step up its space rocket launches in 2020, officials said Wednesday, an increase driven largely by private sector companies like SpaceX. The government is expecting to issue between 40 to 50 licenses in the 2020 budget year which began in October, said Wayne Monteith, the official in charge of space flight at the FAA. By comparison, the FAA gave out 31 licences in 2019. These licenses include rockets that place spacecraft into orbit, but also test flights of space tourism companies like Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic, and even the return to Earth of SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsules from the International Space Station. (1/30)

SpaceX Launches 60 More Starlink Satellites From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
SpaceX successfully launched its fourth batch of Starlink satellites Wednesday. The company's Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport after several days of weather-related delays and deployed the 60 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit about an hour later. The rocket's first stage landed on a droneship in the Atlantic, while other boats caught one of the two payload fairing halves. The company, meanwhile, is making changes to the Starlink satellites' design, including increasing their mass and making them "fully demisable" upon reentry. (1/30)

Satellites on Potential Collision Course Fail to Connect (Source: BBC)
Two satellites made a close pass to each other but did not collide Wednesday evening. The IRAS astronomy satellite passed close to the GGSE-4 satellite at 6:39 p.m. Eastern about 900 kilometers above Pittsburgh, but observations after the close approach confirmed the satellites did not collide. Predictions earlier in the day at one point estimated a 1-in-20 chance of a collision between the two defunct, non-maneuverable satellites. The close approach highlighted the concerns about orbital debris. (1/30)

Boeing Takes Financial Hit on Commercial Crew Program (Source: Space News)
Boeing said Wednesday it would take a $410 million charge related to its commercial crew program. The company said the primary reason for the charge was to "provision" the company if NASA determined that Boeing needed to perform another uncrewed test flight of its CST-100 Starliner spacecraft. A test flight last month was cut short because of a timer problem, preventing the spacecraft from docking with the International Space Station. Boeing officials said that other aspects of the flight went well, but it will ultimately be up to NASA to decide if a second uncrewed test flight is required or if Boeing can proceed to a crewed test flight as originally planned. (1/30)

House Subcommittee Advances NASA Authorization Bill (Source: Space News)
The House space subcommittee advanced a NASA authorization bill Wednesday while acknowledging issues with it. The space subcommittee approved the bill on a voice vote after passing several amendments, sending the bill to the full House Science Committee. Members said language in the bill calling for a human return to the moon by 2028 should not be interpreted as a rejection of NASA's Artemis program, with a goal of a 2024 human lunar landing, and that nothing in the bill prevents NASA from carrying out that earlier mission. Some members said they had concerns about the bill's language on human lunar lander development, and would seek changes as the bill progressed through the House. (1/30)

$3.3 Billion Estimate for C-Band Spectrum (Source: Space News)
A group of satellite operators estimates it will cost $3.3 billion to free up C-band satellite spectrum for terrestrial applications. The C-Band Alliance, whose members include satellite operators Intelsat, SES and Telesat, said that estimate covers the cost to clear 300 megahertz of C-band spectrum for U.S. 5G wireless networks while continuing to serve satellite-dependent television broadcasters. About half that cost would be for new satellites. Legislation introduced in the Senate Tuesday would cap reimbursement costs for clearing spectrum at $6 billion, but allow only $1 billion in incentive payments to satellite operators, which companies say is too low. (1/30)

Space Florida Asks Legislature for Improved Financing Authority (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space Florida is seeking to accelerate its ability to strike financing deals with companies. The state space development organization currently has to get permission from Florida's governor and several cabinet members to finalize deals with companies to finance new projects, which can create delays for and uncertainties about those deals. A bill currently in the state legislature would streamline the process for approvals. (1/29)

Solar Telescope Produces Best-Yet Images (Source: Nature)
A new telescope has produced the best images yet of the sun. The National Science Foundation released Wednesday the first images from the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, located on the Hawaiian island of Maui. The telescope, which cost $344 million and took two decades to develop, has a mirror four meters across able to produce high-resolution images of the sun, seeing features as small as 35 kilometers across. Scientists say the observatory should revolutionize our understanding of the sun. (1/30)

Japanese Space Tourist Drops Plans to Bring Girlfriend (Source: The Verge)
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa has dropped plans to participate in a reality TV show to select a girlfriend to accompany him on a trip around the moon. Maezawa said he had "mixed feelings" about participating in the proposed TV show, similar to "The Batchelor" but with the winner accompanying Maezawa on his SpaceX Starship mission around the moon as soon as 2023. He said 27,722 women "with earnest intentions and courage" had applied to participate, and he apologized to them for this "selfish decision of mine." (1/29)

SpaceX Successfully Catches One Fairing Half From Latest Starlink Launch (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX is one step closer to an even more re-usable launch system today, after it successfully recovered one of the halves of the fairing used on its Starlink satellite launch. The fairing half was caught by its “Ms. Tree” vessel, a ship at sea in the Atlantic strung with a large net specifically for the purpose of recovering these launch craft components.

SpaceX had been aiming to catch both halves of the fairing, but the other (intended to land on “Ms. Chief,” another ship SpaceX operates specifically for this purpose) instead landed in the open water. SpaceX says it had a “soft landing” on the water, however, and it will be attempting to recover that half, too — though its purpose in using the ships is to avoid the much more difficult, costly and damaging process of fishing the fairing out of the ocean.

The primary reason SpaceX wants to recover these fairings is financial: It can shave another $6 million or so off the cost of its launches by re-using previously flown fairings. The company’s whole approach focuses on re-usability, because the more it can re-fly from a used rocket, the less it costs on a per-launch basis. (1/29)

Bigelow Aerospace Sets Sights on Free-Flying Station After Passing on ISS Commercial Module (Source: Space News)
The founder of Bigelow Aerospace says his company decided not to pursue a NASA competition for a commercial International Space Station module because of funding concerns, but remains interested in a separate effort for supporting a free-flying facility in low Earth orbit. Robert Bigelow said the funding NASA offered was too low. NASA announced Jan. 27 it selected Axiom Space to use the port through its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) program.

When NASA issued the request for proposal in June for the docking port, NASA said it projected making $561 million available for both the docking port solicitation and a separate one to support development of a free-flying commercial facility. “That was asking just too much” of the company, Bigelow said. “So we told NASA we had to bow out.” Bigelow said that NASA later indicated to him the agency might have erred with that funding estimate. “They shouldn’t have made the statements that they did regarding that particular number, let’s put it that way,” he said.

In the draft NextSTEP request for proposals for a free flyer, NASA has said the $561 million figure is not a “hard constraint” on the program’s budget. “Offerors should propose what they feel is required to close their business case,” the agency said. NASA has yet to release a final version of that RFP, even though the agency said it would do so by December. Bigelow says his company remains interested in that program, depending on funding. In the meantime, it is continuing work on a habitation module concept for NASA’s lunar Gateway through a separate NextSTEP effort. (1/29)

Hyten Offers Peek Into Space Force Budget Deliberations (Source: Air Force Magazine)
Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. John Hyten provided a nugget of insight into how the Pentagon will structure its first budget request for the Space Force since the new service was created in December, saying the process will shed light on previously hidden parts of the military space enterprise. Right now, the Space Force only has one employee—its commander, Gen. Jay Raymond—and it encompasses just those assets owned by the Air Force.

Over time, the service is expected to bring in space systems from the Army and Navy, while some federal space partners, such as the National Reconnaissance Office, will stay separate. Some money that goes toward programs at the NRO and others is already represented in the Air Force budget under a setup known as “pass-through funding.” Setting up a budget that adequately reflects the Defense Department’s space investments will be one of the hardest challenges for the military as it stands up the Space Force, Hyten said. (1/29)

NASA Authorization Bill Would Limit Public-Private Partnership Toward Artemis Goals (Source: Quartz)
Few observers were expecting the Democrat-dominated House to endorse the Trump administration’s push to return to the moon by 2024, and it didn’t, endorsing a more Mars-focused agenda. But what surprised many was a decision to eliminate the use of public-private partnerships to develop moon landers and technology to exploit resources on the lunar surface.

The National Space Society and the Commercial Spaceflight Federation encourage lawmakers to leave the choice of exploration methods to the engineers and scientists at NASA. Even the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, often seen as a voice for traditional aerospace, offered a decidedly lukewarm appraisal, calling it a “topic of significant discussion.”

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, a former lawmaker himself, made a personal appearance at the subcommittee hearing after cautioning that the bill “imposes some significant constraints on our approach to lunar exploration. As you know, NASA has successfully fostered the development of a rapidly expanding commercial economy for access to space.” (1/30)

Xplore and Nanoracks Partner to Commercialize Deep Space (Source: NanoRacks)
Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing "Space As A Service" has announced a partnership in which Nanoracks will provide commercial deep space flight opportunities for its customers and serve as a customer interface for payload design, preparation and integration on Xplore missions to the Moon, Mars, Venus, Lagrange Points and near-Earth asteroids. Xplore founder Lisa Rich said, "Xplore and Nanoracks have joined forces to create higher-cadence, low-cost flight opportunities to the inner solar system via the Xplore Xcraft." (1/30)

Nuclear Waste Could Power Space Exploration (Source: Space Daily)
British university researchers have turned their attention to deserted nuclear power plants and the tonnes of waste they still house despite long ago having closed down. What they have stumbled upon seems to store great potential, even when it comes to space travel. University of Bristol researchers have developed and tested next-generation diamond batteries that exploit energy from radioactive materials, thereby sharpening the issue of nuclear waste recycling. The work is being done as part of a project called Advanced Self-Powered sensor units in Intense Radiation Environments, or ASPIRE. (1/26)

US Space Force Seeks Civilians to Join Staff (Source: Space Daily)
The U.S. Space Force, the new branch of the Armed Forces established Dec. 20, has begun advertising to fill civilian staff positions in its initial headquarters, called the Office of the Chief of Space Operations. Advertisements for the first 35 positions were posted last week, with a second wave of positions to follow soon. The Space Force is seeking candidates with expertise in functions such as human resources, financial management, intelligence, communications, logistics and contracting.

"The law passed by Congress and signed by the President directed immediate establishment of the U.S. Space Force and authorized a modest initial staff," said Gen. Jay Raymond, chief of space operations and senior member of the Space Force. As a result, we are moving quickly to hire individuals with the expertise, passion and vision to build the sixth branch of the Armed Forces as a lean, agile and focused military service." (1/29)

Seraphim's 2020 Predictions (Source: Seraphim)
2019 was a year of record VC investment in SpaceTech ($4.1bn invested according to Seraphim’s Space Index). The year the promise of mega-constellations started to be become a reality and Space officially becoming a military arena. With Apple unofficially entering the fray for delivering ubiquitous connectivity, 2020 has a lot to live up to. Although it may well be that headlines will focus on the race to go back to the Moon, deep space exploration and human space flight, we at Seraphim believe that the impacts SpaceTech will have back down here on Earth will be real talking points in 2020. Click here. (1/31)

Another Shot at Bringing a SpaceX Rocket Plant to Los Angeles Port (Source: Daily Breeze)
SpaceX could soon build a facility in the Port of Los Angeles that would manufacture the Starship — a spacecraft the Hawthorne company wants to eventually send to Mars. The facility would potentially bring in 300 jobs. City officials, meanwhile, have expressed hope that it could lure other aerospace companies to San Pedro and boost the South Bay’s reputation as a high-tech hub. Port commissioners are expected to weigh issuing a permit during a closed session on Thursday, Feb. 6, which would open the way for SpaceX to build a rocket manufacturing plant on Terminal Island. The permit would then go before the board in open session at its Feb. 20 meeting.

If approved, SpaceX would manufacture its 100-passenger Starship spacecraft and the giant rocket Super Heavy on the property, directly across the channel from what will be San Pedro’s new waterfront development. Both are designed to be reusable. The rockets, too massive to transport on highways, would be manufactured at the port and then taken by ship to Cape Canaveral, Florida, or Texas for launch. It was only a year ago that the private aerospace company company, which Elon Musk founded in 2002, pulled the plug on an already-approved lease for 18 acres on Terminal Island, saying it could do the work faster in Texas. (1/29)

New Mexico Expects $1Bbillion Impact From Spaceport America by 2024 (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
Spaceport America is poised to become a major economic engine in southern New Mexico with nearly $1 billion in accumulated economic benefits for the state by fiscal year 2024, according to a new report unveiled at the Roundhouse Thursday morning. The study, prepared by accounting firm Moss Adams under contract with the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, says the Spaceport already has achieved positive returns on the state’s $220 million investment, with $33 million in direct economic impacts in FY 2019 alone, and $141.5 million in total accumulated impacts between FY 2016 and FY 2019.

Apart from such direct benefits as new high-wage jobs, the totals include “indirect” impacts from increased spending at local businesses, plus “induced” benefits from increased economic activity in general as more money circulates through the local economy.

Taking all those things together, the report projects $956 million in total accumulated economic impacts for the period between FY 2016 and FY 2024. That reflects an expected ramp-up in activities as Virgin Galactic begins commercial spaceflights this year and as other companies increase their operations at the Spaceport, said Moss Adams Consulting Director John Tysseling, who discussed the new report at a news conference in the Roundhouse with Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham and Spaceport CEO Dan Hicks. (1/30)

Are We Due For Another Human Spaceflight Accident? (Source: Forbes)
If I Were A Young Astronaut I’d Be Asking Some Tough Questions. Last summer’s Apollo 11 celebrations reflected and ignited enthusiasm for the promise of today’s spaceflight and its future: new private entrants like SpaceX and Blue Origin, a bevy of exciting startups representing the optimism of a new generation, and leadership committed to a return to the moon in four years.

In a few months we will mark the fiftieth anniversary of Apollo 13, NASA’s successful failure. Despite mechanical catastrophe, the team brought three astronauts home safely from the moon. We should recognize Apollo 13 with equal fervor and attention as Apollo 11, for failure may be more instructive for NASA’s future than success. Not that its future endeavors are bound to fail, but failure is certainly possible if the agency repeats past mistakes. (1/29)

Is Trump's Moonshot Heading for a Roadblock? (Source: Al Jazeera)
On Wednesday afternoon in Washington, DC, a little-known United States House of Representatives subcommittee is set to take a first consequential step that could throw the Trump administration's plan to land astronauts on the moon in 2024 - and the aerospace companies that have been developing lunar landing systems - into turmoil.

The US House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics' Chair, Representative Kendra Horn (a Democrat), told Al Jazeera that not only has the ranking member, Representative Brian Babin (a Republican and a strong supporter of the administration), cosponsored the bill with her, but that it is in direct response to "repeated requests" made by her subcommittee and others to NASA that have gone unanswered. (1/29)

All Eyes Are On the Next Liquidity Event When it Comes to Space Startups (Source: Tech Crunch)
At the FAA’s 23rd Annual Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington, DC on Wednesday, a panel dedicated to the topic of trends in VC around space startups touched on public versus private funding, the right kinds of space companies that should even be considering venture funding and, perhaps most notably, the big L: Liquidity.

Moderator Tess Hatch addressed the topic in response to an audience question that noted while we’ve heard a lot about how much money will flow into space-related startups from the VC community, we haven’t actually seen much in the way of liquidity events that prove out the validity of these investments. “In 2008, a company called Skybox was created and a handful of years later Google  acquired the company for $500 million,” Hatch said. “Every venture capitalist’s ears perked up and they thought ‘Hey, that’s pretty good ROI in a short amount of time — maybe the space thing is an investable area,’ and then a ton of venture capital investments flooded into space startups, and all of these venture capitalists made one, or maybe two investments in the area."

"Since then, there have not been many — if any — liquidity events: Perhaps Virgin Galactic going public via the SPAC (special purpose vehicle) on the New York Stock Exchange late last year would be the second. So we’re still waiting; we’re still waiting for those exits, we are still waiting for companies to pave the path for the 400+ startups in the ecosystem to return our investment.” (1/29)