April 30, 2020

Panel Sounds Alarm Over ISS National Lab (Source: Aviation Week)
After a damning report by an independent review team, NASA is revamping its oversight of the Florida-based nonprofit organization that runs the U.S. National Laboratory programs of the International Space Station (ISS).The ISS National Laboratory is “not a national laboratory in any sense other than its legislative designation,” the report notes.

The 68-page independent review team assessment, titled “A Strategy for the Future of the International Space Station National Laboratory and Commercial Low-Earth Orbit Development,” was initiated by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine last August and released on April 6. The report calls for significant changes in NASA’s oversight of the National Laboratory research and technology development operations and its partner in the program, the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS). (4/24)

NASA Picks SpaceX, Dynetics and Blue Origin-Led Teams to Develop Artemis Moon Landers (Source: Space.com)
NASA has picked three teams to develop new lunar landers that will carry astronauts to the surface of the moon. The agency has awarded contracts to SpaceX, a Blue Origin-led team, and a Dynetics-led team to design and build a human landing system for the Artemis program, which aims to establish a sustainable, long-term human presence on and around the moon by the late 2020s.

NASA’s commercial partners will refine their lander concepts through the contract base period ending in February 2021. During that time, the agency will evaluate which of the contractors will perform initial demonstration missions. NASA will later select firms for development and maturation of sustainable lander systems followed by sustainable demonstration missions. NASA intends to procure transportation to the lunar surface as commercial space transportation services after these demonstrations are complete. During each phase of development, NASA and its partners will use critical lessons from earlier phases to hone the final concepts that will be used for future lunar commercial services. (4/30)

Variety of Approaches Funded for Lunar Lander (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX has offered a version of its giant Starship vehicle to land NASA astronauts on the moon, while Blue Origin and Dynetics lead industrial teams working on more conventional lander concepts. NASA is expected to pick one of the lander concepts to attempt a crewed mission to the lunar surface as soon as 2024, the first in series of moon expeditions planned during the space agency’s Artemis lunar program.

Blue Origin won 60 percent of the total funding amount awarded by NASA Thursday. According to NASA, the contract values are: Blue Origin: $579 million; Dynetics: $253 million; SpaceX: $135 million. The funding only covers a 10-month “base period” in the Human Landing System contract scheme. NASA plans a continuation review in February 2021, during which agency officials will likely select two of the three companies to continue with full-scale lander development efforts. But NASA has not ruled out continuing with all three concepts. (4/30)

NASA Scientists Tapped to Mature More Rugged Seismometer System to Measure Moonquakes (Source: Space Daily)
NASA hasn't measured moonquakes since Apollo astronauts deployed a handful of measuring stations at various locations on the lunar surface and discovered unexpectedly that Earth's only natural satellite was far from seismically inactive. If Terry Hurford, a geophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, has his way, a next-generation, highly rugged seismometer that he is now developing with his Arizona State University partner will be one of the innovative new technologies and systems that NASA uses to explore the Moon in greater detail under its Artemis program. (4/30)

GAO Warns of NASA Cost Spike (Source: Space News)
A report Wednesday by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) warned of additional cost growth for NASA's exploration programs. The report said that costs for those programs, notably the Space Launch System, would likely grow once a new launch date is set for the Artemis 1 mission. NASA's cost baselines are based on a March 2021 launch readiness date the mission that now appears unlikely. Across all of NASA's programs, the average cost increase grew for the third straight year, to 30.9%, although the increase in the last year was due almost entirely to NASA exploration programs and the Mars 2020 rover mission. (4/30)

Boeing Defense and Space Revenues Outperform Commercial Airplane Business (Source: Defense One)
For the first time in 12 years, Boeing executives expect the company’s defense and space unit to outperform its commercial airplane business, which is reeling from coronavirus and 737 Max losses. Boeing’s defense business has not outperformed its commercial side since 2008, when the commercial market was still recovering from post-9/11 declines and U.S. defense spending spiked during the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The prediction comes on the back of pre-existing problems in the Boeing Defense, Space & Security division. The company’s defense unit took a $1 billion hit in the first quarter of 2020, adding to the growing list of financial woes for the company trying to dig itself out of a massive hole. (4/30)

Space Industry Groups Petition for Pandemic Relief Funding (Source: Space News)
Industry groups are petitioning the government to make changes in a coronavirus relief program that shuts out many space startups. In a letter Wednesday, the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and SmallSat Alliance asked the government to revise rules for the CARES Act and the Paycheck Protection Program, particularly how small businesses are defined. Under current rules, venture-backed startups are penalized because of an "affiliation" rule that counts the employees in all the companies backed by those investors, often pushing them beyond the 500-employee threshold for eligibility. Without a change in the rules, the organizations said, many startups may have to lay off employees since they cannot get aid. (4/30)

DoD Could Support Three Launchers in a "Perfect World" (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon would, in a "perfect world," support more than two launch vehicle providers. Will Roper, head of acquisition for the Air Force, said he was satisfied that a RAND study released earlier this week confirmed the Pentagon's view that there is only enough demand to support two launch providers in the long term. Adding a third provider "would be great if we had funding," he said, as it would boost U.S. global competitiveness by discouraging foreign players from entering the market. However, he insisted that the upcoming National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement contracts will be awarded to only two companies. (4/30)

Northrop Grumman Optimistic for Satellite Servicing Demand (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman is cautiously optimistic about the demand for satellite servicing. The company highlighted its accomplishments in that area during its first quarter earnings call Wednesday, including the successful docking of its MEV-1 life extension vehicle with an Intelsat satellite and a DARPA award for the RSGS satellite servicing program. Satellite life extension will be a "robust and growing market," company executives said, while it is "bullish but cautious" about more complex satellite servicing, given the technical challenges involved. (4/30)

Mars Helicopter Now Named 'Ingenuity' (Source: NASA/JPL)
The small helicopter hitching a ride to Mars on the Mars 2020 mission has a new name. NASA announced Wednesday that the helicopter will be named Ingenuity, a name proposed by an Alabama high school student in a naming contest. Ingenuity is a two-kilogram technology demonstrator that will be deployed from the Mars 2020 rover, which was renamed Perseverance earlier this year. It will attempt to demonstrate the ability to fly in the tenuous Martian atmosphere, paving the way for future aerial missions that could serve as scouts for human or robotic explorers. (4/30)

Hubble Confirms Comet Breakup (Source: Space.com)
Hubble Space Telescope images have confirmed that a comet once predicted to be a brilliant spectacle in the night sky has broken up. The Hubble images, taken earlier this month, showed that the nucleus of comet C/2019 Y4 ATLAS has broken up into 25 to 30 fragments. The brightening of the comet earlier this year suggested it could be easily visible with the naked eye by April or May, but the comet has dimmed since the nucleus fragmented. Astronomers say the fragmentation is still interesting to study, since events on that scale are seen rarely. (4/30)

NASA Test Directors Eagerly Await Artemis Launch (Source: Space Daily)
Before NASA's mighty Space Launch System (SLS) rocket can blast off from the agency's Kennedy Space Center to send the Orion spacecraft into lunar orbit, teams across the country conduct extensive testing on all parts of the system. Guiding that effort at the Florida spaceport are NASA test directors, or NTDs.

NTDs within the Exploration Ground Systems program are in charge of flight and ground hardware testing in Kennedy's Launch Control Center firing rooms 1 and 2, where activities involved with preparing rockets, spacecraft and payloads for space can be controlled from computer terminals. They are responsible for emergency management actions, helping lead the launch team during all facets of testing, launch and recovery. (4/28)

Dream Chaser Spaceplane Set to Get Wings (Source: Space Daily)
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC), the global aerospace and national security leader owned by Eren and Fatih Ozmen, uncrated both wings for its Dream Chaser spaceplane this month at the company's Louisville, Colorado production facility. The wings' arrival kicks off the much-anticipated integration phase of a beautiful and critical differentiator for Dream Chaser, the world's only spaceplane owned by a private company and under contract with NASA. "The wings are here and now we truly have butterflies in anticipation of this integration phase for Dream Chaser," said SNC President Eren Ozmen. (4/24)

Space Force Awards L3Harris $500 Million Contract for Anti-Jam Satellite Modem (Source: Space Daily)
The U.S. Space Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded L3Harris Technologies a five-year, $500 million ceiling, indefinite delivery, indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract - with an initial delivery order of $30.6 million - for the Air Force and Army Anti-jam Modem (A3M). A3M provides the Department of the Air Force and Army with a secure, wideband, anti-jam satellite communications terminal modem for tactical satellite communication operations. The contract and order were received in the first quarter of 2020. (4/24)

Iran Vows New satellite Launch Citing No International Ban (Source: Sputnik)
Previously, the US condemned Iran's launch of a military satellite into low orbit, claiming that the act violated a UN Security Council resolution. Iran's Foreign Ministry has stated that its recent launch of the "Noor" ("Light" in Farsi) military satellite doesn't violate any international resolutions. The ministry's spokesman stressed that in this light, the US attempts to appeal to UN Security Council Resolution 2231 to condemn the Iranian actions are not adequate.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Iran should "be held accountable for what it's done", claiming that the launch violated Resolution 2231. Russia disagreed with Washington's view, arguing that the US itself has "flagrantly breached" the norms of international law and violated the resolution and is now simply trying to divert attention. (4/24)

Kourou Spaceport to Reopen (Source: CNES)
The Guiana Space Center will resume launch activity May 11, following the French government's decision to lift a national lockdown on that date. Preparations will restart for a Vega launch and an Ariane 5 launch, both of which are now expected to occur during the summer. The French space agency CNES said personnel traveling to the Guiana Space Center in South America will have to follow protective measures, including social distancing prior to flight and a 14-day quarantine after landing. (4/29)

OHB Cancels Dividend Amid Pandemic Slowdown (Source: OHB)
German rocket and spacecraft builder OHB is canceling plans to issue a 7.5 million-euro ($8.2 million) dividend, citing the coronavirus. OHB had announced plans to proceed with the dividend in March, but said April 28 that scrapping it is “an important component in order to be able to react flexibly to current developments.” OHB leadership will propose canceling the dividend at its May 26 annual general meeting. (4/29)