February 10, 2020

NASA's Experimental X-59 Supersonic Jet to Be Complete By End of 2020 (Source: Space Daily)
Since 2016, Lockheed Martin has been working in collaboration with NASA on a new supersonic X-59 QueSST for the space administration's Low-Boom Flight Demonstrator program, scheduled for test flights in 2022. NASA's new experimental supersonic X-plane will be flying across the US by the end of 2020, a representative of Lockheed Martin, who was commissioned to build the plane, said on Friday.

Officially named X-59 QueSST or just X-59, it was greenlit for final assembly in 2019. NASA aims to develop it into an ultra-quiet craft that can travel faster than the speed of sound across land. Further testing will follow the plane's completion this year to ensure that this is the case and that the plane not only functions and reaches the desired speeds, but also remains silent enough to not disturb the public. Construction is only Phase 1 of the entire project. Phase 2 will see further testing, certifications and acoustic (or sound) validation. (2/10)

Atlas Rocket Launches Solar Research Satellite at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
An Atlas 5 successfully launched a European-American mission to study the sun Sunday night. The Atlas 5 411 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 11:03 p.m. Eastern and deployed the Solar Orbiter spacecraft nearly 53 minutes later. The spacecraft, a European-led mission with NASA participation, will pass slightly closer to the sun than Mercury in its orbit. That orbit will become more inclined over time to allow it to observe the poles. Scientists believe that its observations, in conjunction with NASA's Parker Solar Probe and other spacecraft, will help them better understand the sun's magnetic field and the development of solar flares and coronal mass ejections. (2/10)

Virginia ISS Cargo Launch Scrubs Scrubbed for Ground Equipment Anomaly (Source: Space News)
NASA has postponed the launch of a cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station after a last-minute scrub Sunday. A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket was scheduled to launch the Cygnus cargo spacecraft at 5:39 p.m. Eastern, but an issue with "off-nominal data" in ground equipment first delayed the launch to the end of its five-minute window and then scrubbed it. The next launch attempt is no earlier than Thursday at 4:05 p.m. Eastern. At a pre-launch press conference, NASA officials said they were reviewing the schedule of upcoming cargo missions and may change it depending on when commercial crew vehicles are ready to take astronauts to the station. (2/10)

Iran Fails Again to Launch Satellite (Source: AP)
An Iranian rocket failed to put a satellite into orbit Sunday. A Simorgh rocket lifted off at about 10:45 a.m. Eastern from the Imam Khomeini Spaceport carrying a small communications satellite called Zafar. Iranian government officials said that while the rocket reached space, it failed to gain enough velocity to attain orbit and instead fell back to Earth. The government said it will attempt to launch another Zafar satellite as soon as June. This failure is the latest setback for Iran's space program, which suffered two launch failures early last year and a launchpad explosion during preparations for another launch last August. (2/10)

Space Force Enlists RAND to Gauge Commercial Support Capabilities (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has requested a study on the capabilities of the commercial space industry. The RAND Corp. is carrying out the study, requested in October, to identify commercial space technologies that the Space Force could put into use as well as the potential risks of employing commercial systems during an armed conflict. The one-year study was directed by Maj. Gen. William Liquori when he was director of strategic requirements, architectures and analysis at Air Force Space Command; his office is now part of the Space Force. (2/10)

Boeing Plans Comprehensive Code Review (Source: Space News)
Boeing will perform a complete review of the software on its CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle after two serious errors. In a media teleconfence Friday, Boeing officials said the company will "reverify" about one million lines of code after the revelation last week that engineers found a second problem with software that could have caused the spacecraft's service module to bump into the crew module after separation just before reentry. NASA said there were "numerous process escapes in the design, development and test cycle for software" for the vehicle, and will use an organizational safety review to better understand why Boeing's software development processes failed to catch those errors. (2/10)

Japan Launches Spy Satellite (Source: Asahi Shimbun)
Japan launched a reconnaissance satellite Saturday night. An H-2A rocket lifted off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 8:34 p.m. Eastern and placed into orbit the IGS Optical 7 imaging satellite. That satellite will replace IGS Optical 5, which is nearly at the end of its five-year life. The launch was scheduled for late January but postponed by a technical issue. (2/10)

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. 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)

House, Senate Differ on 5G Satellite Spectrum Transfer (Source: Space News)
Members of Congress have varying reactions to an FCC proposal to transfer C-band satellite spectrum for 5G terrestrial uses. The plan, unveiled last Thursday by FCC Chairman Ajit Pai, would provide up to $14.7 billion to satellite operators if they can quickly clear 280 megahertz of C-band spectrum. While the leadership of the Senate Commerce Committee endorsed the plan, the leaders of the House Energy and Commerce Committee warned that the "questionable legal basis for the satellite incentives will likely result in litigation" that would delay the introduction of 5G services. Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA) also criticized the size of the deal and the fact that the satellite operators who would receive the payments are headquartered outside the country. (2/10)

Nanoracks is Offering Unbeatable Rideshare Pricing and Services (Source; Space Daily)
Recently, we at Nanoracks announced that we are now offering small satellite deployment opportunities on SpaceX dedicated rideshare missions - and our first mission is targeted for Q4 2020. We've been very busy - and now just a few spaces still remain on our port, and we want to give you the best deal possible! We're selling discounted rates through April 2, 2020 - giving you the opportunity to not only virtually meet with our team, but also sign your launch deal in person if you will be at either Satellite 2020 in Washington, DC or the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. (2/10)

SpaceX’s First Astronaut Nission Could Take Off in May (Source: Tech Crunch)
SpaceX is getting very close to its goal of flying actual astronauts aboard its Crew Dragon spacecraft. After a successful in-flight abort (IFA) test in January, it had basically crossed off all the major milestones needed before flying people, first on a demonstration mission referred to as “Demo-2” by SpaceX and its commercial crew partner NASA.

We now know the working date that SpaceX  is aiming for with that crucial mission: May 7. To be clear, that’s very much a working date and the actual mission could slip either later, or even earlier, according to Ars Technica’s Eric Berger who first reported the timeline. The Government Accountability Office released a report last week detailing progress on the commercial crew program and noted that the Crew Dragon capsule that will be used to fly astronauts for Demo-2 was on track to be completed “3 months earlier” than was expected based on most recent timelines. (2/10)

2021 NASA Budget Request Includes $3.3B for Human Lunar Landers, $430M for Moon Resource Development (Source: Tech Crunch)
The Trump White House today issued its fiscal 2021 budget request, and it included a 12% increase in requested funding to NASA’s coffers, as expected. That puts the total request for NASA at $25.2 billion, nearly half, or $12.3 billion, of which is earmarked specifically to support NASA’s efforts to return to the surface of the Moon and to eventually land people on Mars.

$3.3 billion is for human lunar lander systems that will be used to take astronauts to the Moon’s surface from staging positions in lunar orbit. It outlines that these will rely on “competition, industry innovation and robust Government oversight” to produce safe and reliable systems for “sustainable exploration.” A $430 million pool is included to specifically fund a “Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative,” which includes the development and demonstration of technologies that will be employed to take advantage of Moon-based resources for power generation, astronaut habitats and exploration tools. (2/10)

NASA Would Get $4 Billion for SLS Rocket and, Orion Capsule, Millions More for Rover, Space Suit, Mars (Source: Tech Crunch)
The proposed 2021 NASA budget adds $4 billion for continued development of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, which combined will be used to provide transportation of astronauts from Earth to the Moon. The budget specifically says that these funds will be used by the agency to “complete these systems and start to establish a regular flight cadence.”

Also included in the request are $175 million for spacesuits to be used by astronauts on the surface of the Moon, along with $212 million for rovers that will be used for transportation. There’s $254 million included for the Commercial Lunar Landing Services (CLPS) program through which NASA is sourcing private partners to deliver scientific and cargo payloads to the Moon’s surface ahead of sending astronauts back in 2024. Another $529 million is set aside for the “robotic exploration of Mars,” including a return mission to bring a Martian soil sample back to Earth for the first time ever. (2/10)

Trump Adds $15.4 Billion for U.S. Space Force in 2021 Budget Request (Source: Space News)
The Trump administration’s $740.5 billion budget request for national defense in 2021 includes $15.4 billion for the U.S. Space Force, according to documents released by the Pentagon on Feb. 10. In the 2021 budget the U.S. Air Force transferred $15.4 billion from existing accounts to the Space Force.

The $15.4 billion request continues to fund programs and activities that were managed by the Air Force but the budget was developed with strong input from the U.S. Space Force, said Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond. (2/10)

Trump Proposes $4.8 Trillion Budget, Amid Record $1 Trillion Deficit (Sources: Vox, AP)
President Trump on Monday unveiled a $4.8 trillion 2021 budget proposal that includes spending cuts that would nullify a two-year deal negotiated with Congress last summer. The new budget includes $590 billion in non-defense spending and $740.5 billion in defense spending. It would slash Commerce Department funding by 37%, the Environmental Protection Agency by 26%, the Department of Housing and Urban Development by 15%, the Department of Health and Human Services by 9% and the Education Department by 8%.

It seeks an 8% cut to the Agriculture Department's budget, a 21% cut to the State Department and foreign aid and an 11% cut to the Labor Department. It would reduce funding for Energy Department by 8%. Trump posted a tweet on Saturday vowing, “We will not be touching your Social Security and Medicare in Fiscal 2021 Budget.” One day later, the Wall Street Journal published a report indicating that Trump is doing exactly that with his budget proposal. The president's budget cuts nearly half a trillion dollars from Medicare over the coming decade.

The U.S. budget deficit for the 2019 budget year, which ended Sep. 30, was $984.4 billion, reflecting the impact of the $1.5 trillion tax cut President Trump pushed through Congress in 2017 and increased spending for military and domestic programs that Trump accepted as part of a budget deal with Democrats. The Congressional Budget Office is projecting that the deficit for the current 2020 budget year will hit $1 trillion and will remain over $1 trillion for the next decade. (2/10)