February 26, 2020

L3Harris Experimental Satellite On Track for USAF Critical Design Review (Source: Janes)
The L3Harris-built Navigation Technology Satellite-3 (NTS-3) platform is on track for a critical design review (CDR) by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), after the GPS satellite testbed cleared a preliminary design review by air force officials in February. "It is basically the forerunner for the next-generation of capability in GPS satellites," said Bill Gattle, president of space systems at L3Harris' space and airborne systems division.

The program's development was financed under a 40-month contract with AFRL that began in February 2019, the company anticipating an NTS-3 launch date within the next two years, Gattle told Jane's on 18 February. (2/21)

Sea Launch Assets Leaving California for New Russian Operator (Source: The Grunion)
Sea Launch’s mobile Odyssey launchpad was loaded onto a cargo ship, the Xin Guang Hua, for transport from California. The 46,000-ton launchpad, last used in 2014, is expected to arrive near Vladivostok, Russia, in March. Russian aviation company S7 Group completed its purchase of Sea Launch in 2018. (2/26)

SpaceX Starlink to Support DoD IoT Experiment (Source: Space News)
The Air Force is planning a three-day experiment in April of its Advanced Battle Management System — an open architecture family of systems that will connect sensors and weapons from different services and allied nations so they can share information. The Air Force requested $302 million in the 2021 budget for ABMS experiments. The program started out as a replacement to the JSTARS radar surveillance aircraft but it has evolved into a broader effort to connect military systems across the battlefield.

The April experiment “is going to be massive,” Roper told reporters at the Pentagon on Friday. Aircraft, ships and ground troops at military bases across the United States will be connected via SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, said Roper. Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne also might play a role in the experiment with a simulated launch vehicle that would help demonstrate the capabilities of “responsive launch,” he said.  (2/25)

US Military Recruits Sworn In by ISS Astronaut in Orbit (Source: Florida Today)
Most military recruits probably wouldn't be able to recall exactly who swore them into service. But more than 1,000 future service members were part of an unforgettable ceremony Wednesday when Army Col. Andrew Morgan, stationed on the International Space Station some 250 miles in low-Earth orbit, swore in recruits at 150 locations across the country.

This first-ever nationwide oath of enlistment from space, spearheaded by the Army, was primarily hosted at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, but also at high schools and recruiting stations from coast to coast. "Today marks the first day of the rest of your lives," Morgan, floating in his blue flight suit with an Army shirt underneath, said before asking recruits to stand and raise their right hand. "You will be forever changed by the decision to serve your country." (2/26)

SpaceX Gets Approval to Build its Mars Spaceship at Port of L.A. (Source: LA Times)
SpaceX’s road map to Mars now includes the Port of Los Angeles. The Los Angeles City Council approved a permit Tuesday that allows the Elon Musk-led company to use a site on Terminal Island at the port to build aerospace parts. With the vote, SpaceX is now cleared to start work at the site; last week, the L.A. Board of Harbor Commissioners green-lighted the permit.

SpaceX representatives told L.A. City Councilman Joe Buscaino’s office that the company was interested in the port site because it needed additional manufacturing capacity for its Starship spaceship and rocket booster. A SpaceX representative at last week’s harbor commissioners meeting did not mention Starship by name during his presentation of the project, but he said the company would use the port site to further its goal of creating an interplanetary society that includes Mars. (2/25)

Virgin Galactic Releases Fourth Quarter Results (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Virgin Galactic announced its financial results for the fourth quarter and full-year ended December 31, 2019... “Throughout 2019, we continued to achieve key milestones in our mission to open access to space in a safe, innovative and affordable way,” said George Whitesides, Chief Executive Officer of Virgin Galactic. “During the fourth quarter, we took major steps toward reaching that goal by completing our transaction with Social Capital Hedosophia and becoming publicly listed on the NYSE, as well as building operational readiness at Spaceport America in New Mexico."

"The progress we made in 2019, combined with the high level of interest from potential customers, underpin the steps we are taking toward reopening ticket sales. We are continuing to build on our strong momentum as we enter the most exciting chapter of our story to date and prepare for commercial launch.” Click here. (2/25)

Virgin Galactic Hints At More Delays for Start of SpaceShipTwo Commercial Flights (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic executives suggested Feb. 25 that the beginning of commercial flights of its SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle might slip again, even as the company starts planning to resume ticket sales. Virgin Galactic reported a net loss of nearly $211 million on revenue of about $3.8 million for 2019. That revenue came from flights of research payloads on SpaceShipTwo test flights as well as unspecified engineering services. The company had adjusted earnings before interest, taxes, debt and amortization (EBITDA) of –$187 million for 2019, compared to an adjusted EBITDA of –$132 million in 2018.

However, there may be few, if any, additional commercial flights in the year. “While we would like to have some commercial revenue this year, the main focus for this year, from a company and engineering perspective, is working to get the vehicles, and our operations, prepared for long-term, regular commercial service,” Whitesides said. That includes completing the flight test program for SpaceShipTwo, optimizing the “end-to-end customer experience” that includes events before and after each flight, and readying the vehicles for long-term, high-flight-rate operations. (2/25)

Virgin Galactic Shares Fall After it Posts Further Losses (Source: CNN)
Virgin Galactic, the ambitious space tourism startup founded by British entrepreneur Richard Branson, posted a net loss of $73 million for the fourth quarter. For the year, the US-based company reported a loss of $211 million on revenue of just $3.8 million. It was widely expected that the company would still be burning through cash as it works to clear its suborbital space plane with regulators so it can send its first paying customers aloft. Galactic executives said Tuesday that the company has cleared 20 of the 29 testing milestones that are required before it can receive approval from the FAA to begin commercial flights

Following its earnings report, Virgin Galactic (SPCE) shares fell more than 5% during after hours trading. The company officially began trading on the New York Stock Exchange in October. Investors have sent the stock on a meteoric, albeit volatile, climb in recent weeks even though there have been no significant updates from the company. Its shares are up nearly 200% so far in 2020 and analysts say that may be because investors are excited about the broader space industry. Virgin Galactic is the only company among a crop of so-called "new space" ventures, which includes SpaceX and Blue Origin, that's publicly traded. Even analysts who are optimistic about Virgin Galactic's future say investors may be getting ahead of themselves. (2/25)

Northrop Grumman Makes History, Mission Extension Vehicle Docks to Target Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Four and a half months after its launch on a Proton-M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Northrop Grumman’s Mission Extension Vehicle has made history, successfully docking with its target satellite above Geostationary Orbit to extend that satellite’s lifetime well beyond the original plan.

The successful maneuver marked a groundbreaking change in how satellites are operated in orbit, with the Mission Extension Vehicle capable of not just extending a satellite’s life but also moving defunct satellites to safer orbits. Tom Wilson, President, SpaceLogistics LLC, said, “Our Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV-1) provides an innovative, satellite life extension service.  Together, Northrop Grumman, SpaceLogistics LLC, and Intelsat have taken the first step in pioneering in-space logistics services for both commercial and government customers.” (2/26)

Kratos and Bechtel Join Northrop Grumman ICBM Team (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman has added two companies to its team developing a next-generation ICBM. Defense and space contractor Kratos and the engineering firm Bechtel have joined Northrop Grumman's Ground Based Strategic Deterrent (GBSD) team, the companies announced Tuesday. Bechtel will provide launch system design, construction and integration services while Kratos Defense and Security Solutions will supply missile and payload transporters. GBSD will be a decadeslong effort to design, develop, produce and deploy a replacement for the current Minuteman 3 intercontinental ballistic missile. (2/25)

Orion Launch Abort Motors Tested Ahead of Planned 2022 Crewed Flight (Source: NASA)
Northrop, meanwhile, completed the final test Tuesday of the launch abort motors that will be used on NASA's Orion spacecraft. A 30-second hotfire test of an attitude control motor that is part of the launch abort system was the third and final test needed to qualify the motor for use on the system. One more test of a separate abort motor is planned before the overall system is fully qualified. That system will be flown for the first time on the Artemis 2 mission, the first crewed Orion flight expected no earlier than 2022. (2/25)

Canada Funds More Lunar R&D Efforts (Source: Radio Canada International)
The Canadian Space Agency issued awards Tuesday to several companies and universities to develop technologies for future exploration of the moon. The seven contracts, worth about $3.25 million, cover designs of potential future lunar rovers, instruments and related technologies. The awards are part of the agency's Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program, which plans to spend more than $100 million over five years on lunar exploration systems. (2/25)

Nike Plans "Space Hippie" Sneakers (Source: Inhabitat)
Nike says NASA is serving as the inspiration for a new line of sneakers called "Space Hippie." Just as NASA is planning to use in-situ resources for future exploration, the company says it will turn waste material at its factories into shoes, including recycled foam material in their soles called "Crater Foam." Nike hasn't announced when the four different Space Hippie shoe designs will go on sale. (2/25)

SpaceX Delays ISS Cargo Launch to Replace Falcon-9 Upper Stage (Source: NASA)
SpaceX's next launch will be delayed by several days to replace the rocket's upper stage. NASA announced Tuesday that the launch, of the CRS-20 cargo mission to the International Space Station, is now scheduled for the night of March 6, a slip of nearly five days. The agency said SpaceX detected a problem with a valve motor in the second stage of the rocket, and decided the best course of action was to replace the stage with another already at the launch site. The Dragon will deliver more than 2,500 kilograms of experiments and supplies to the station. (2/25)

India Plans First GSLV Launch of 2020 Next Week (Source: Firstpost)
India's first launch of the year is scheduled for next week. The Indian space agency ISRO announced Tuesday that a GSLV rocket will launch its GEO Imaging Satellite (GISAT) 1 spacecraft March 5. GISAT-1 will provide continuous, but low-resolution, images of the Indian subcontinent from geostationary orbit. (2/25)

Boeing Starliner Demo Lacked Pre-Launch End-to-End Test (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
In the weeks since Boeing flew its astronaut capsule on an ill-fated demo flight, questions about the company’s testing procedures prior to the mission have started to emerge — putting safety at the center of a debate on the future of human spaceflight. NASA is on the verge of sending astronauts back to space from U.S. soil for the first time in almost a decade, but it’s doing it with commercial companies who are taking the lead on key decisions when it comes to flying with a crew. Now it seems some of those decisions are raising flags among safety experts.

Boeing and NASA officials are expected to release the results of an independent investigation into the set of issues that occurred during Boeing’s late December test of Starliner, its astronaut crew capsule, within the next week. But speaking to the Orlando Sentinel, members of NASA’s safety advisory panel expanded on some of the testing decisions Boeing made that drew questions about whether Starliner was ready to fly.

Critically, the panel learned early this month that Boeing did not perform a full, end-to-end integrated test of Starliner in a Systems Integration Lab with ULA’s Atlas V rocket. The test typically shows how all the software systems during each component of the mission would have responded with each other through every maneuver — and it could potentially have caught the issues Boeing later experienced in the mission. (2/26)

Boeing Buying Russian Components for Starliner (Source: Sputnik)
In development for nearly a decade, the Starliner program was Boeing's answer to the decommissioning of the Space Shuttle program in 2011, which left NASA and allied space agencies dependent on Russian Soyuz rockets to take crews to the International Space Station. Boeing is buying Russian-made power converters for its new Starliner manned capsule programme, the company's space division has confirmed. Earlier, Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said he was "surprised" after finding out that a private company in Voronezh, a city about 465 km south of Moscow, was producing parts for the Starliner program. (2/26)

NASA's VIPER Moon Mission to Seek Out Lunar Water Slips to 2023 (Source: Space.com)
NASA is delaying the launch of a long-lived rover designed to sniff out water on the moon. The agency announced plans for the new VIPER mission (the name is short for Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover) in October 2019 as part of the Artemis program to land astronauts on the moon by 2024. VIPER is meant to map water ice on the moon, which exploration planners hope could be turned into drinking water and rocket fuel. At the time of the announcement, VIPER was due to launch in December 2022, but the planned date has now slipped to the next year.

Zurbuchen did not provide additional comments about what those upgrades might look like; the 100-day science mission, roving distance and ability to withstand the frigid lunar nights were all components of original announcements about VIPER. Although VIPER is a new mission, developed as part of NASA's Artemis program, it is heavily based on designs for a previous mission, Resource Prospector, which NASA canceled in 2018. Two of VIPER's instruments were adopted from work on that mission. (2/26)

NASA Invites Competitors to Bid on Lunar Rover Pole Delivery (Source: Space News)
NASA is seeking bids on the delivery of a rover to the lunar poles. The agency said Tuesday it issued a task order to the 14 companies in its Commercial Lunar Payload Services program, asking them to bid on the launch of the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission. VIPER will go to the lunar poles to look for deposits of water ice believed to exist in craters there. The launch of VIPER, previously scheduled for late 2022, is now planned for 2023, a delay NASA says will allow it to incorporate improvements to extend the rover's mission. (2/25)

The Moon Is Full of Money (Source: Nautilus)
In the 1990s the rumors began: talk of new fuels there, strange isotopes. Probes from India, China, the United States dove and hovered like hornets over a jam pot. Then water! Confirmed! In two shakes the moon went from a circular corpse to a whiteboard covered in calculations. Some picture it now as the industrial hub of the inner solar system. They see alien-hunting telescope farms, hotels, zoos, gardens, and everyone having sloooooow sex in one-sixth of Earth’s gravity. Plus swimmers like flying fish, cubic basketball, gymnasts like figures in a dream. Lunar eveningwear! Genetic warehousing! Glass roads! (2/25)

Europe's ExoMars Rover Needs Repairs, Jeopardizing Schedule (Sources: BBC / Ars Technica)
The rover on Europe's ExoMars mission needs repairs before its launch. The rover, Rosalind Franklin, will undergo a "pit stop" during prelaunch preparations to repair solar panel brackets that have come loose. ESA announced earlier this week that it will hold a joint briefing with Roscosmos, its partner on ExoMars, March 12 to provide an update on the status of the mission, scheduled for launch this summer. The announcement of the briefing has heightened speculation that ExoMars won't be ready in time for that launch because of ongoing work on the parachutes used for its landing system. (2/25)

Ohio and Kentucky Participation Critical in NASA’s Push for Exploration (Source: Dayton Daily news)
Southwest Ohio is “critically important” to NASA’s mission as it works to once again send Americans into space — and possibly to Mars a decade or more from now — through businesses making “generational leaps” in the technology, the agency’s administrator said after a visit to the area. Overall, the aerospace industry is a $150 billion export for the United States, and aerospace is the only industry that runs a trade surplus, said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who was with Ohio and Kentucky congressmen and regional leaders in aerospace and aeronautics industries.

The aerospace and aircraft industries are Ohio and Kentucky’s top exports. Aerospace products and parts were Kentucky’s largest export at $12.5 billion in 2018, according to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, while aircraft engines and parts were Ohio’s top export at $5.2 billion, according to the trade research organization Word’s Top Exports. (2/24)

Astra Launch From Alaska Postponed for Weather (Source: Space.com)
Bad weather has postponed the first launch attempt for DARPA Launch Challenge competitor Astra. DARPA said Monday that a "major winter weather event" forecast to hit the launch site on Alaska's Kodiak Island had postponed Tuesday's scheduled launch by Astra of its Rocket 3.0 vehicle. A new launch date has not been announced, although airspace restrictions are in place for launch attempts Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The launch is the first of two that Astra, the sole remaining competitor in the challenge, is scheduled to perform from the site. (2/25)

Spaceport Camden Advocates Hope For FAA Approval As Opponents Plan Debate (Source: WJCT)
Advocates and opponents to Spaceport Camden are speaking out as a Federal Aviation Administration application process continues. A FAA decision on the planned spaceport was expected by the end of 2019, but the Camden Board of County Commissioners changed the application to focus on smaller vehicles. In a Monday interview on First Coast Connect with Melissa Ross, Camden County Administrator and Project Leader Steve Howard said smaller rockets are an emerging market segment.

To supporters of the project, Spaceport Camden’s location might seem ideal. The site has existing aerospace heritage and was even considered as a launch site for the Apollo Moon Mission. Georgia has the aerospace engineering experience to support the project as well as the interest in the spaceport, according to Howard.

The hope is that Spaceport Camden will create jobs in the Southeast Georgia region through direct employment at the spaceport and indirectly through tourism. According to the Georgia Economic Development Authority, the state is Home to more than 800 aerospace companies and a total workforce of more than 108,000. Howard compared Spaceport Camden to Space Florida’s previous project. When Space Florida was considering building two launch pads, the Florida organization estimated 2,500 jobs, both direct and indirect, would be reated. (2/24)

Georgia Spaceport Critic Challenges FAA Safety Calculations for Alaska Launch (Source: SPACErePORT)
One of Georgia's vocal opponents to the Spaceport Camden project has pointed out potential errors in the hazard zone calculations being used for Astra's upcoming launch from Alaska's spaceport on Kodiak Island. In a letter to the FAA's associate administrator for space, and to other U.S. federal and Alaska officials, Steve Weinkle points out that the Kodiak that the Hazard Exclusion Zone for Astra's DARPA launch is "seriously flawed" with more than 90% lying outside of the actual launch trajectory hazard area.

The outreach to FAA was intended to point out quality control issues at Alaska and with the FAA, suggesting similar issues may be present with the Georgia spaceport's launch safety analysis. "Our argument has been that the FAA internal procedures and oversight favors AST's mandate to promote commercial space activities over its mandate to protect public safety." (2/24)

Trump Looks to Expand Space Cooperation with India (Source: Times of India)
President Trump praised India's lunar exploration program in a speech Monday. Trump, speaking at a rally in a stadium in the Indian city of Ahmedabad, congratulated India for the "exciting progress" it had achieved on its Chandrayaan program of lunar missions, saying it was "moving along rapidly far ahead of schedule." Chandrayaan-2, Indian's second lunar mission, launched last year; its lander crashed while attempting to land on the lunar surface but its orbiter is expected to operate for several more years. Trump said that the U.S. "is looking forward to expanding space cooperation with India" but did not announce any specific new initiatives. (2/25)

Australia's Launch Industry Seeks Government Support (Source: Space News)
Australia's emerging launch industry says there are a number of ways the Australian government can support them. At a recent conference, companies developing launch vehicles and commercial spaceports said the government can help streamline the regulatory process as well as commit to buying Australian services in much the same way the U.S. government procures launches from domestic companies. They also suggested a "national pathfinder mission" like a smallsat lunar orbiter could help promote the country's overall space industry. (2/25)

Rocket Lab’s NASA Moon Launch to Kick Off New Era of Ultra-Cheap Deep Space Exploration (Source: Teslarati)
Rocket Lab will soon take its tiny Electron rocket further than any similarly-sized vehicle before it, sending a NASA satellite to the Moon and potentially kicking off a new era of unprecedentedly cheap space exploration.

On February 14th, the world-leading small satellite launch company announced – alongside NASA – that the space agency had awarded it a $9.95 million launch contract worth $9.95 million to send the $13.7 million Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) CubeSat to lunar orbit. In other words, NASA has contracted a full-up scientific mission to the Moon for less than $25M total – almost unfathomably cheap compared to all interplanetary exploration performed in the last half-century. (2/24)

NASA Lander Confirms Marsquakes Exist (Source: Reuters)
NASA's InSight lander has confirmed the presence of "marsquakes" on the red planet. Initial findings from the mission, published Monday, said that the seismometer on the lander has detected 450 quakes of "modest" strength to date. Those marsquakes are created as the planet cools and contracts, causing fractures in its outer layers. Results published Monday also included information about atmospheric conditions and the discovery of a local magnetic field 10 times stronger than expected. (2/25)

Magnetic Field at Martian Surface Ten Times Stronger Than Expected (Source: Space Daily)
New data gleaned from the magnetic sensor aboard NASA's InSight spacecraft is offering an unprecedented close-up of magnetic fields on Mars. Scientists reveal that the magnetic field at the InSight landing site is ten times stronger than anticipated, and fluctuates over time-scales of seconds to days.

"One of the big unknowns from previous satellite missions was what the magnetization looked like over small areas," said lead author Catherine Johnson, a professor at the University of British Columbia and senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute. "By placing the first magnetic sensor at the surface, we have gained valuable new clues about the interior structure and upper atmosphere of Mars that will help us understand how it - and other planets like it - formed." (2/25)

NASA 'Hidden Figure' Dies at 101 (Source: Washington Post)
NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson, who became famous from the book and movie Hidden Figures, died Monday at the age of 101. Johnson worked for NASA and its predecessor, NACA, and performed calculations to support NASA's early human spaceflight missions as one of many African-American women whose contributions to the agency were not recognized until recently. Johnson received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. "At NASA we will never forget her courage and leadership and the milestones we could not have reached without her," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in a statement about her passing. (2/25)

'Green Suicide' if UK Launches From Scottish Site (Source: Mirror)
At the UK’s most northerly tip, plans are in place for our very own version of Cape Canaveral. The UK Space Agency has identified this sparsely populated spot near Sutherland, Scotland, as the best place to launch small rockets carrying satellites. If approved, up to 12 launches a year could be made from the site.

Development agency Highland and Islands Enterprise (HIE) says it would create up to 250 jobs across Scotland, 44 of them in the local community, as well as being a boost for tourism. But the area, known as The Flow Country, is widely considered to be the largest area of blanket bog in the world and holds 400 million tonnes of carbon – more than every tree in the UK.

It is feared rockets blasting satellites into space will not only shatter the calm of this fragile ecosystem and terrify its rare wildlife, but any launch failures, hazardous fuels or flaming debris will be a significant fire risk. Scientists say once the peat is disturbed, the damage is done for good and the impact will be felt more widely than just in this remote corner of the UK. Last May, fire destroyed 22sq miles of peatland, doubling Scotland’s greenhouse gas emmisions for the six days it burnt. (2/23)

Tyler Winklevoss’s Ticket to Space Now Worth $3 Million in Bitcoin (Source: Decrypt)
For the past six years, Bitcoin has moved much closer to the moon than any of Virgin Galactic’s ticket holders. Talk about opportunity cost. In January 2014, Gemini co-founder Tyler Winklevoss bought a ticket on spaceflight company Virgin Galactic’s passenger-carrying ship for $250,000 with Bitcoin. At today’s prices, the ticket is now worth over $3 million. The price of Bitcoin is now worth $9830, making the opportunity cost of buying the tickets much greater. Over the past six years, the price of the tickets has jumped 1174%. (2/24)

Here Are All the Ways to Visit Space This Decade (If You’re Extremely Rich) (Source: Popular Science)
Have you always dreamt of leaving Earth? Are you a member of the two, or better yet three commas club? Well it’s a great time to be alive because after decades of delays, the space tourism industry may finally be taking off. Not just the kind Dennis Tito pioneered in 2001, where you buy a ticket from the Russian government to visit the International Space Station (ISS), but real honest-to-goodness free market tourism with multiple private companies vying to turn your hard-earned millions into an out-of-this-world experience. Click here. (2/24)

How Scientists Will Track Astronauts' Mental Performance on Mars Missions (Source; Space Daily)
A recent all-Canadian neuroscience research team spent seven days in the Mars Habitat (the Hab) at the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) on a simulated mission trying to tackle that exact problem - developing a capability to monitor brain health and performance in real time. Using mobile electroencephalography (EEG) to measure brain waves, we were able to successfully monitor five different aspects of cognitive brain function: perception, attention, memory, learning and decision-making. We were also able to observe deficits in brain function brought about by stress, depression and cognitive fatigue. (2/26)