May 18, 2020

Lockheed Martin to Pay $300 Million More to Suppliers Hit by Coronavirus (Source: Reuters)
Lockheed Martin said on Friday it would pay an additional $300 million to its suppliers hurt by a sharp economic slowdown caused by the coronavirus crisis. The company, which makes the F-35 fighter jets, has already injected $450 million in payments to suppliers. Lockheed’s advances comes as the Pentagon has increased the amount of interim payments it makes to defense contractors in an effort to give them a financial boost amid the pandemic.

The company has hired over 3,400 new employees in the United States since the pandemic began, and said it remains on track with its plans to hire 12,000 new employees by the end of the year. (5/18)

Searching With Sasquatch: Recovering Orion (Source: Space Daily)
For Artemis missions, NASA's Orion spacecraft will be traveling at 25,000 mph as it reenters the Earth's atmosphere, which will slow it down to 325 mph. Parachutes will then bring it down to about 20 mph. During the parachute deploy sequence, hardware will be jettisoned and fall into the Pacific Ocean below while the recovery ship awaits near the landing site. Keeping the ship and recovery team safe is critical to mission success.

The Landing and Recovery team, led by Exploration Ground Systems at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is prepared to safely recover Orion and attempt to recover the jettisoned hardware. A four-person team of engineers from NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston will also be onboard the U.S. Navy recovery ship with a "Sasquatch" - no, not an elusive hairy creature, but a very important software tool created specifically for Orion.

"Sasquatch is the software NASA uses to predict large footprints - that's why we call it Sasquatch - of the various debris that is released from the capsule as it is reentering and coming through descent," said Sarah Manning, a Sasquatch operator and aerospace engineer from the Engineering Directorate at Johnson. (5/18)

NASA Funds Four Research Projects on COVID-19 Impacts (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's Earth Science Division is supporting the science community as it investigates the many changes the pandemic situation has brought to light. Through its Rapid Response and Novel Research in Earth Science (RRNES) initiative, the agency is providing funding for selected, rapid-turnaround projects that make innovative use of satellite data and other NASA resources to address the different environmental, economic and societal impacts of the pandemic. NASA announced last month the first RRNES projects and is continuing to evaluate new project proposals. Click here. (5/15)

Space Experts Call For US Unity On Tackling Orbital Junk (Source: Law360)
As the expanding mass of space junk in orbit continues to up the risk of collisions in space missions, the U.S. government can only combat the hazard if it taps a single agency to spearhead the country's mitigation efforts, experts said at a virtual event Wednesday. (5/14)

The Weirdest Images Ever Taken on Mars (Source: Gizmodo)
We so very, very badly want to find life on Mars, making the planet a gigantic Rorschach test onto which we can project our hopes and dreams. It doesn’t help that these images, taken by satellites and rovers, are often grainy, ambiguous, and lacking a sense of scale. As our wishful eyes gaze upon this alien landscape, our minds play tricks, causing us to substitute the known for the unknown. We’ve assembled a slideshow of our favorite Martian optical illusions. Click here. (5/18)

Japanese Artificial Meteor Satellite Malfunctions (Source: Space.com)
A satellite launched by a Japanese startup won't be able to generate artificial meteor showers as expected. Astro Live Experiences (ALE) launched last December ALE-2, a satellite loaded with pellets that, when released, would create colorful displays as they burn up in the Earth's atmosphere. However, the company recently said it found that the mechanism for releasing the pellets on the spacecraft is not working. ALE will instead move ahead with a new satellite, ALE-3, scheduled for launch in late 2022. (5/18)

Senators Urge Air Force to Support Launch Procurement Losers (Source: Spae News)
Two senators are asking the Air Force to continue funding companies that received agreements to support launch vehicle development even if they don't win an upcoming contract. In a letter last week, Sens. Patty Murray (D-WA) and Rick Scott (R-FL) asked the Air Force to ensure that the companies that received Launch Service Agreement (LSA) awards to support launch vehicle development will retain those agreements even if they are not selected for a National Security Space Launch Phase 2 procurement contract. Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and United Launch Alliance received LSA funding in 2018, and all three, along with SpaceX, are competing for two Phase 2 contracts. The Air Force has stated only companies that win Phase 2 procurement contracts scheduled to be awarded this summer will keep receiving LSA funds. (5/18)

Michoud Reopening for SLS and Orion Work (Source: Space News)
NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility will partially reopen today to allow some work to resume on Space Launch System and Orion hardware. The facility is moving from Stage 4 to Stage 3 of NASA's response framework for the coronavirus pandemic, allowing some mission-critical workers to return to the site for SLS and Orion activities. NASA cited easing of stay-at-home orders in New Orleans, where Michoud is located, along with a two-week decline in COVID-19 cases there as the reason for moving down to Stage 3. Michoud employees who can telework are instructed to continue to do so. (5/18)

Space Council Advisory Group Grows (Source: Space News)
The White House announced a revised roster for the National Space Council's Users' Advisory Group Friday. The advisory committee has five new members, including former congressman John Culberson, who previously chaired the House appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. Four members originally named to the group when it was reconstituted two years ago will no longer be on the committee. The White House also announced Saturday that the National Space Council will meet Tuesday morning at NASA Headquarters. The agenda for that meeting has not yet been disclosed. (5/18)

Toward a Coherent Artemis Plan (Source: Space News)
The SpaceX Starship, now aggressively being developed with the company’s own funds, is the obvious choice for the Artemis launch vehicle, as it offers a payload capacity similar to the NASA Space Launch System at less than one-tenth the cost. To go beyond low Earth orbit, however, it would need to be refueled in space. Under its Artemis contract, NASA is funding the company to create this additional capability. Accordingly, SpaceX has released artwork showing the booster being used to land and take off from the moon.

This latter application of Starship is not a good idea. Starship is estimated to have a dry mass of 100 metric tons. To refuel it in LEO to fly to the Gateway with its payload of 100 tons would require 300 tons of liquid oxygen and methane (LOx/CH4) propellant. This could be supported with three tanker Starship flights to LEO. But then to land on the moon, discharge its cargo, and return to the Gateway would require a further 400 tons of propellant delivered to the Gateway, or four trans-lunar tankers. Each of these would need to be enabled for flight from LEO to the gateway by three further tanker flights, for a total of 20 Starship launches for each piloted lunar mission. (5/18)