February 7. 2020

NASA Brings Voyager 2 Fully Back Online, 11.5 Billion Miles From Earth (Source: Inverse)
In an incredible feat of remote engineering, NASA has fixed one of the most intrepid explorers in human history. Voyager 2, currently some 11.5 billion miles from Earth, is back online and resuming its mission to collect scientific data on the solar system and the interstellar space beyond. The spacecraft had run into trouble on January 28, when NASA revealed that it had unexpectedly — and for unknown reasons — shut down. The world held its breath. The fix is no mean feat: It takes 17 hours one-way to communicate with Voyager 2 from Earth, which is the furthest away manmade object in space. That means a single information relay takes 34 hours. (2/7)

Federal Red Tape Hamstrings Florida's Commercial Space Growth (Source: Politico)
The arm of the Florida state government tasked with revitalizing its space economy is facing years of delays in acquiring excess federal land and facilities to attract new commercial customers, says Frank DiBello, the CEO of Space Florida. The public-private partnership established in 2006 has been buying up federal land and infrastructure on Florida’s space coast since 2011, when the space shuttle program was retired and the industry contracted dramatically, and leasing it to commercial customers like Boeing or Blue Origin.

But significant delays in Washington are slowing things down, asserts DiBello, who has led Space Florida since 2009 and previously managed the aerospace business at consulting firm KPMG. “Right now when there is federal property that is excess or could be turned over to the state for purposes of meeting the market need, we have to go through a federal process that is long and cumbersome,” DiBello said. “I would love to see that streamlined. We're pretty far down on the pecking order.”

"One example is we took an old facility that was used for processing the shuttle ... [and] spent money to make it a world class manufacturing facility that Boeing is using today to process its Starliner. ... We put money into Orbiter Processing Facilities One and Two to make those available for the Air Force and its classified flight program, the X-37. From the time that the shuttle retired and we were facing devastating job losses, we have more than replaced every job lost and done a lot to commercialize former federal property that is no longer needed or underutilized and make it available as world-class facilities for this next generation of commercial space activity." (2/7)

Boeing Reacts to NASA Review of Starliner Test Anomalies (Source: Boeing)
We accept and appreciate the recommendations of the jointly led NASA-Boeing Independent Review Team (IRT) as well as suggestions from the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel following Starliner’s Orbital Flight Test (OFT). Their insights are invaluable to the Commercial Crew Program and we will work with NASA to comprehensively apply their recommendations. Regarding the Mission Elapsed Timer anomaly, the IRT believes they found root cause and provided a number of recommendations and corrective actions.

The IRT also investigated a valve mapping software issue, which was diagnosed and fixed in flight. That error in the software would have resulted in an incorrect thruster separation and disposal burn. What would have resulted from that is unclear. The IRT is also making significant progress on understanding the command dropouts encountered during the mission and is further investigating methods to make the Starliner communications system more robust on future missions. We are already working on many of the recommended fixes including re-verifying flight software code. (2/7)

How Boeing is Helping NASA to Revive Spaceflight Innovation (Source: Yahoo Finance)
Boeing has been in the limelight for over a year with its Max 737 Jet scandal, but the company is also a large contributor to spaceflight innovation. Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre joins the On The Move panel to discuss Boeing’s space operations. Click here. (2/6)

India Proudly Showcases its Anti-Satellite Weapon at Arms Expo (Source: Ars Technica)
This week, India's Ministry of Defense is holding Defexpo 2020. One of the main exhibits is a large display showing off a copy of the hardware used during Mission Shakti, the successful anti-satellite test conducted by India in March, 2019. During this test the country successfully fired a missile from the ground to destroy a satellite at an altitude of 300km.

Prime Minister Modi characterized the test as a critical one for his nation, saying, "It shows the remarkable dexterity of India’s outstanding scientists and the success of our space program." After the U.S., Russia, and China, India became the fourth nation to impact a satellite. The main placard describing the test provided details about the 13-meter-tall, three-stage missile with solid-rocket motor propulsion. It also includes the last image of the satellite as seen by the missile's seeker before interception, as well as an aftermath image captured by an optical tracking system. (2/7)

RUAG Space Dispenses Another Batch of Airbus OneWeb Satellites (Source: Space Daily)
Thirty-four OneWeb Satellites were launched onboard a Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on February 7. RUAG Space had critical mission products onboard that were customized for the mega satellite constellation. OneWeb is building a communications network with a constellation of low-Earth-orbit satellites that will provide connectivity to people around the world. As a key OneWeb supplier, RUAG Space built the satellite dispenser, which functions as an interface between the Soyuz rocket and satellites. The dispenser is tailored to the need of a constellation like OneWeb, being able to deposit up to 36 satellites safely into space.

RUAG Space manufactures the satellite panels used by OneWeb Satellites in Titusville, Florida. The OneWeb structures (satellite back-bone) are manufactured using the Automated Potting Process (APM). The APM process-developed by RUAG Space-is a revolutionary production method that uses a pick and place machine to rapidly position special inserts filled with adhesive into the satellite structure's sandwich panels. (2/7)

NASA to Industry: Send Ideas for Lunar Rovers (Source: Space Daily)
As NASA's Artemis lunar exploration program mounts toward a robust decade of modern science, research, and human exploration at the Moon, the agency is asking American companies to think about how to get around on the lunar surface. NASA issued two separate Requests for Information (RFI) seeking industry approaches for development of robotic mobility systems and human-class lunar rovers. With these RFIs, NASA seeks to foster an emerging American market of lunar transportation capability by engaging the terrestrial vehicle and robotic communities.

First, the space agency is asking for concepts on robotic mobility systems to transport instruments across the lunar surface, conducting critical scientific research across wide areas of terrain, including areas where humans may not explore. To expand the exploration footprints of the first woman and next man on the Moon, NASA also is seeking industry feedback on relevant state-of-the-art commercial technologies and acquisition strategies for a new lunar terrain vehicle or LTV. The LTV will be a human-rated, unpressurized (unenclosed) rover that will be used to help astronauts explore and conduct experiments somewhere humans have never been before: the lunar South Pole. (2/7)

At Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Blue Origin's Water Tower is One of the Tallest in the World (Source: Florida Today)
Half a dozen heavy-duty cranes pierce the horizon above Cape Canaveral's Launch Complex 36, clear visual cues of the work being done by Blue Origin teams to prepare the pad for upcoming rockets. Just below their tallest points, the skeletal forerunner of a massive hangar and processing facility is also taking shape here, designed to process New Glenn rockets before they roll out to the pad. Some 300 feet in height, New Glenn will rise over most structures at the complex, save for the launch tower and lightning towers.

But eyes gazing toward the tip of the Cape can't miss one more soaring figure at Launch Complex 36: a 351-foot-tall water tower. Designed to store hundreds of thousands of gallons of water for liftoff sound suppression and temperature control, the new tower's gray exterior has yet to be painted, showing where teams joined its massive segments. Even from miles away, it's visible to the naked eye. Blue Origin might have a record-breaker on its hands, though there's no official list of world's tallest water structures. It's taller than other water towers on the range, like those at pad 39A and 39B, both of which top off at 290 feet. And it reaches higher than the 307-foot water tower at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, previously thought to be the world's tallest. (2/7)

Trump’s NASA Budget Will Earmark 12% Boost for Agency in 2021 (Source: Wall Street Journal)
President Trump will propose a 12% boost to NASA’s 2021 budget, with most of the increase aimed at fulfilling his goal of returning U.S. astronauts to the moon’s surface by 2024, according to administration officials. The increase includes nearly $3 billion in new funding to develop human landers, these officials said, with total agency outlays projected to climb to $25.6 billion in one of the largest overall spending increases requested for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since the 1990s.

Expected to be highlighted as part of the budget package set for release next week, the numbers indicate Mr. Trump is doubling down on oft-repeated pledges to have industry-government partnerships transport NASA back to the moon by 2024. The agency’s budget for the current fiscal year is roughly $22.6 billion, and is separate from spending by the Air Force, the newly created Space Force and a wide range of classified space programs.

The president’s State of the Union address stressed the administration’s commitment to space, “which is backed up by the 2021 budget numbers,” said a spokesman for the White House Office of Management and Budget. “Space exploration will reinvigorate the landscape of American science,” the spokesman said, adding that eventually it will result in a human mission to Mars, part of a broader strategy to reassert America’s space dominance. (2/7)

FCC Sets December C-Band Auction, Offers Up To $14.7 Billion for Satellite Operators (Source: Space News)
Intelsat, SES and other satellite operators could receive up to $14.7 billion to cover the cost of losing C-band spectrum and to expedite transitioning those airwaves to 5G cellular networks. The FCC plans to auction 280 megahertz of satellite C-band spectrum to 5G cellular networks Dec. 8, and will allow satellite operators to collect up to $9.7 billion in incentive payments if they help speed up the spectrum transfer, Chairman Ajit Pai said Feb. 6.

Those incentive payments would be in addition to $3 billion to $5 billion to pay for new satellites, signal filters and other technologies needed to ensure satellite operators can provide with just 200 megahertz of spectrum the services they currently provide with 500 megahertz. “It’s only fair that every single reasonable cost should be covered,” Pai said at an event hosted by the Information Technology And Innovation Foundation here. “So, under my draft rules, the winning bidders in the C-band auction would be required to reimburse satellite operators for their reasonable relocation costs.” (2/7)

Rocket Lab Advancing Spacecraft Bus Design (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab says 2020 will be the year of the satellite as it rolls out its new spacecraft design. In an interview, Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck said the company expects to launch its first Photon small satellite in the second quarter on a test mission. Photon is a bus designed to host a wide range of payloads, and Beck said the company has seen interest in Photon from both government and commercial customers. The company, which is also increasing the launch rate of its Electron rocket this year, said that Photon will demonstrate that Rocket Lab is not just a launch company but a more comprehensive space company. (2/7)

Canada Issues Contracts for Military Satellite Surveillance System (Source: SpaceQ)
The Canadian military has issued contracts to four companies to study concepts for a space-based surveillance system. The Department of National Defence issued a total of seven contracts to Airbus Defence and Space, MDA Space Systems, Satconsult and UrtheCast to study technical and financial aspects of a satellite system for Earth imaging. The department did not disclose the total value of the short-term study contracts. (2/7)

Recycling Your Corpse On Mars (Source: Space.com)
While some people are interested in learning how to live on Mars, one person wants to study how to die there. J.J. Hastings, a bioengineer who led an analog Mars mission, worked with a fashion designer on a "Martian death garment." The garment, a multilayered white silk robe, would be placed on the corpse as part of a death ritual. It would also be incorporated into a "human recycler" that would recover the body's resources, like minerals and salt, to sustain a human habitat on Mars. (2/7)

Star Wars? Not Quite, Pentagon Says, But Space Force Vision Includes Weapons (Source: Washington Examiner)
Manned spacecraft firing at adversaries beyond Earth's orbit may not be the mission of the Space Force, but staying one step ahead of aggression, including by deploying space-based weapons, falls within its national security scope, a Pentagon official said. “We have the most to lose,” Stephen L. Kitay, deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy at the Pentagon, said Thursday morning at an event organized by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies.

Historically, the Department of Defense has put satellites in space for communication and GPS needs without regard for assuring their capabilities throughout a conflict, Kitay said. The Space Force’s job will be to assure their protection in a contested space. “We put them up there and … assumed it was a sanctuary, but we were not as concerned about the threats that we see today."

War fighter support from space has long been an integral part of the Pentagon’s national security strategy, but the new Space Force will seek creative ways to protect space architecture better and defend it with offensive measures. “We have also progressed from seeing space purely as a support function to recognizing it is a war-fighting domain in its own right,” Kitay said. (2/6)

Should SDA Move to Space Force? (Source: Space News)
The current and former heads of the Pentagon's Space Development Agency have different views on whether the organization should become part of the Space Force. Current SDA Director Derek Tournear said at the SmallSat Symposium Thursday that SDA, charged with developing disruptive space systems for the military, will "eventually" become part of the Space Force, following guidance from the fiscal year 2020 defense authorization act. However, Fred Kennedy, the former director of SDA, said a day earlier at the same conference that consolidating SDA into the Space Force would be a bad idea, comparing it to "giving SpaceX to Lockheed." (2/7)

OneWeb Plans Satellite Design Changes (Source: Space News)
OneWeb will pause its launch campaign this spring to make changes to the design of the satellites. OneWeb says it intends to pause its launch campaign for a month after one more launch planned for March. Additional short pauses are envisioned after launches planned for May and June. OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel said the company is redesigning one element of the spacecraft, which he did not identify but said involved "minor modifications" to spacecraft hardware. He said the April pause won’t delay achieving global coverage by the end of 2021 as previously planned. (2/7)

Fisherman Pulls In Huge Piece of SpaceX Crew Capsule Weeks After Intentional Explosion (Source: WESH)
A Florida charter fishing captain has what appears to be the door of spaceship on display in his driveway after making the catch of a lifetime off the Daytona Beach coast. David Stokes, of Ponce Inlet, found what appears to be the parachute door from the Space X Dragon Crew capsule and parachutes. The discovery was made 10 days after the Jan. 19 Space X test in which a rocket was deliberately blown up. Stokes said he is fairly certain that what he was seeing was part of the spaceship, so he and his friends started recording.

After making a pass, Stokes insisted they go back. He and his friends were able to pull the door up fairly easily, but the weight attached to it, the actual parachutes made the recovery difficult. “After 40 minutes or so of wrestling with it, inches by inches, we finally pulled it all up,” Stokes said. (2/6)

Starliner Faced “Catastrophic” Failure Before Software Bug Found (Source: Ars Technica)
During its quarterly meeting on Thursday, NASA's Aersopace Safety Advisory Panel dropped some significant news about a critical commercial crew test flight. The panel revealed that Boeing's Starliner may have been lost during a December mission had a software error not been found and fixed while the vehicle was in orbit. The software issue was identified during testing on the ground after Starliner's launch, said panel member Paul Hill, a former flight director and former director of mission operations at Johnson Space Center in Houston. The problem would have interfered with the service module's (SM) separation from the Starliner capsule.

"While this anomaly was corrected in flight, if it had gone uncorrected it would have led to erroneous thruster firing and uncontrolled motion during SM separation for deorbit, with the potential for catastrophic spacecraft failure," Hill said. At Thursday's meeting, Hill revealed the second issue related to software and thruster performance publicly for the first time. According to a source, Boeing patched a software code error just two hours before the vehicle reentered Earth's atmosphere. Had the error not been caught, the source said, proper thrusters would not open during the reentry process, and the vehicle would have been lost. (2/6)

SpaceX Plans a Spinoff, IPO for Starlink Business (Source: Bloomberg)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX plans to spin out and pursue a public offering of its budding space-internet business Starlink, giving investors a chance to buy into one of the most promising operations within the closely held company. SpaceX has already launched more than 240 satellites to build out Starlink, which will start delivering internet services to customers from space this summer, President Gwynne Shotwell said Thursday at a private investor event hosted by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in Miami.

“Right now, we are a private company, but Starlink is the right kind of business that we can go ahead and take public,” said Shotwell, SpaceX’s chief operating officer. “That particular piece is an element of the business that we are likely to spin out and go public.” Investors have to this point had limited ways to own a piece of SpaceX, which has become one of the most richly valued venture-backed companies in the U.S. by dominating the commercial rocket industry. (2/6)

Why Astra Built a Space Startup and Rocket Factory in Silicon Valley (Source: Tech Crunch)
There’s a new launch startup in the mix called Astra, which has been operating in semi-stealth mode for the past three years, building its rockets just a stone’s throw from the heart of startup central in Alameda County, Calif. Astra’s  approach isn’t exactly a secret — its founders didn’t set out to hide anything and industry observers have followed its progress — but CEO Chris Kemp says he’s not particularly bothered about flying under the radar, so to speak.

Yes, the company had a somewhat splashy mainstream public premiere via a Bloomberg Businessweek profile on Monday, but that was more by virtue of writer Ashlee Vance’s keen interest in the emerging space economy than a desire for publicity on the part of Kemp or his cohorts. In fact, the CEO admitted to me that were it not for Vance’s desire to expound on the company’s efforts and a forthcoming attempt at winning a $12 million DARPA prize for responsive rocketry, Astra would still be content to continue to operate essentially undercover.

That’s just one way in which Astra differs from other space startups, which typically issue press releases and coordinate media events around each and every launch. Kemp, a former NASA CTO, and Adam London, an aerospace engineer who previously founded rocket miniaturization startup Ventions, designed their rocket startup from the ground up in a way that’s quite different from companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Rocket Lab. (1/6)