May 2, 2020

NASA's Billions of Investment in SpaceX Have Been 'Very Beneficial,' Agency Chief Says (Source: CNBC)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine believes the billions his agency has invested in Elon Musk's SpaceX have been well worth it as the company prepares to launch astronauts for the first time this month. "The investments that we have made into SpaceX and the investment SpaceX has made in itself have really resulted in I think something that is going to be very beneficial, not just for human space exploration, but beneficial for the economy," Bridenstine said during a press conference on Friday.

NASA has awarded SpaceX with several contracts over the past two decades, ranging from development of new spacecraft to transporting cargo to the International Space Station. Under the Commercial Crew program, NASA awarded SpaceX more than $3.1 billion to fund development of its Crew Dragon capsule. Boeing also received over $4.8 billion of investment from NASA to develop a competing spacecraft called Starliner. (5/1)

Telesat and Loral Could Be Combined Into One Public Company (Source: SpaceQ)
As Telesat was holding its quarterly results call with investors, Loral Space and Communications, one of two principal shareholders in the company, announced the possible combination of Loral and Telesat. It’s not the first time this has been suggested, but this time Loral said that they were in “advanced discussions” with the other principal shareholder in Telesat, the Canadian Public Sector Pension Investment Board. (5/1)

USAF Kicks Off Early Study For Hypersonic Cruise Missile (Source: Aviation Week)
The U.S. Air Force has taken the first step in an acquisition process that could lead to an air-launched hypersonic conventional cruise missile. A “sources sought” notice published April 28 on the federal government’s procurement web site kicks off a market research study for the “future hypersonics program.” The Air Force seeks responses from companies involved in the integration of a Weapon Open System Architecture-based, solid-rocket boosted missile with an air-breathing propulsion system in the second stage. (4/28)

Unlike NASA, Brevard County Sheriff Asks People to Come See Historic Space Launch (Source: Florida Today)
Brevard County Sheriff Wayne Ivey is encouraging people to come to Brevard County to watch the scheduled May 27 historic launch of a SpaceX rocket with two astronauts aboard. It would be the first launch of astronauts from U.S. soil since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. Scheduled for 4:32 p.m., the 230-foot-tall rocket will take astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station in a Crew Dragon capsule.

But Ivey's invitation runs contrary to a NASA recommendation for people to watch the launch on television. Administrator Jim Bridenstine reiterated that call on Friday during a pre-launch news conference ahead of the May 27 mission. "This is a phenomenal time in our space industry, and the space industry is vital to our success here in Brevard County," Ivey said at a news conference Friday that dealt with a variety of topics related to the coronavirus pandemic.

"So we want everybody to enjoy that launch. It's another piece of great American history that's happening right here in our backyard. So we want everybody to have that opportunity to enjoy it. But we want them to do it safely." Ivey advised people coming here for the launch to practice "family social distancing," with individual families staying in small groups, and being "mindful of others in that regard." (5/1)

Local Officials Scramble to Plan for Crowds on Heels of Coronavirus (Source: Florida Today)
Prior to the emergence of the novel coronavirus, a half-million or more people were expected to crowd the county's beaches, river shores and causeways to watch the historic launch. Local hotels, restaurants and tourist spots were looking forward to those crowds filling their tills. But on the heels of the coronavirus outbreak, nobody really knows what to expect. "It was gonna be a momentous thing to mark the occasion of U.S. manned flight," said Cocoa Beach Mayor Ben Malik. "I think now it may be a somewhat subdued celebration." (4/28)

HowSpace Tourism and Rockets to Mars Became 'Critical' Business During the Pandemic (Source: CNN)
Vacant office buildings, factories and restaurants across the country serve as ghostly reminders of a shuttered economy. But the US space industry has remained open for business. SpaceX continues to build and test early prototypes of its Starship spacecraft. And the company continues to launch batches of satellites into orbit as part of its plan to debut a multibillion-dollar telecom business later this year. Factories belonging to Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic  — both of which are developing space tourism vehicles — also remain open for workers. And some startups, such as Firefly and Relativity, are still working to design rockets that might not be ready to fly for months or years into the future.

In Covid-19 guidelines it issued in March, the US government deemed the space industry part of the country's "critical infrastructure." The Department of Defense and NASA have asked their private-sector partners to continue working on key programs, such as SpaceX's upcoming mission to shuttle two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station. The federal government said its list of crucial business sectors is intended to outline which functions are "critical to public health and safety, as well as economic and national security," and state governments have widely adhered to that guidance in lockdown orders.

But critics say these "critical business" designations have given the space industry broad license to continue work on projects that are far from critical. "It's a free-for-all," said Laura Seward Forczyk, a consultant and founder of space research firm Astralytical. "And it's less to do with public health and more about economics." Space companies say they can safely continue their efforts and protect their workforce. People who are able to work remotely stay home, they say, and workers required to be hands-on at factories are following social distancing guidelines whenever possible by spacing out workers' shifts. (5/1)

Committee Leaders Request GAO Evaluation of ISS National Lab Management (Source: House Science Committee)
Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) and Ranking Member Frank Lucas (R-OK) along with Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics Chairwoman Kendra Horn (D-OK) and Ranking Member Brian Babin (R-TX) sent a letter to Government Accountability Office (GAO) Comptroller Gene Dodaro requesting a broad examination of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space’s (CASIS) performance, management, and governance structure.

CASIS is a non-profit organization that currently manages the International Space Station National Laboratory (ISSNL). In the letter, the Committee leaders express longstanding concerns regarding CASIS’s use of the its ISSNL resource allocation, its internal governance structures, and its transparency and accountability to NASA and Congress, including those identified in a recently released Independent Review Team report. 

“The unique environment offered by the ISSNL is an invaluable resource to facilitate research and development,” said the Committee Chairs and Ranking Members in the letter. “Congress has sought to encourage commercial and cross-agency partnerships as one path to the full utilization of this resource, but CASIS’s organizational struggles appear to have undermined progress. As Congress addresses broader questions surrounding the ISS, its ongoing mission, and the future of NASA-supported research and development in low Earth orbit, it is imperative to ensure that an effective and accountable entity is in place to manage the full range of activities conducted through the ISSNL.” (5/1)

SpaceX’s Moon Starship is a Brilliant Step Toward Reusable Mars Rockets (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX’s newly-announced Moon Starship is a fairly radical departure from the Mars-focused, fully-reusable vehicle the company has been pursuing for years. Unintuitively, that may be the perfect half-step towards truly reusable Mars rockets. With a substantial amount of money now on the table for SpaceX to begin initial work on its Moon Starship, it’s worth analyzing just how different it is from the Starship the company is working on today. Click here. (5/1)

After Buying Planetary Resources, ConsenSys Sets its Space Ideas Free — But Will Sell Off the Hardware (Source: GeekWire)
It’s been a year and a half since the assets of Planetary Resources, the asteroid mining venture headquartered in Redmond, Wash., were acquired by a blockchain venture called ConsenSys. Now we’re finding out what ConsenSys is doing with those assets. TruSat, a project that aims to use the power of crowdsourcing to upgrade the world’s satellite-tracking capabilities, has been transformed from a ConsenSys Space product into an independent, community-led open-source project.

The project is now managed by a committee that includes Chris Lewicki, who served as Planetary Resources’ president and CEO; and Brian Israel, Planetary Resources’ former general counsel. Both men joined ConsenSys Space in connection with the acquisition in October 2018. “This transition of TruSat to a community-managed project was accelerated by the extraordinary economic conditions we’re living through, which has led ConsenSys Space to suspend its operations,” the committee said in an email to backers. “Determined to give TruSat a chance to survive and thrive beyond ConsenSys Space, the original team behind TruSat will continue to support the project beyond their time with ConsenSys.”

“ConsenSys irrevocably pledges that it will not initiate a lawsuit against any party for infringing a Planetary Resources patent or Planetary Resources intellectual property, for so long as such party is acting in good faith,” the company says. The patents being offered up include plans for microsatellites, dual-use imaging and optical communication systems and the design that Planetary Resources was going to use for its crowdfunded space telescopes, as well as the company’s method for prospecting and mining asteroids. ConsenSys will auction off most of the hardware at its Redmond office and machine shop, with 118 lots for sale in an online-only sale that runs from May 28 to June 4. (5/1)

Space Committee Leader Unhappy With NASA Lunar Lander Approach (Source: House Science Committee)
"I am troubled that NASA has decided to ignore congressional intent and instead press forward with Human Landing System awards to try to meet an arbitrary 2024 lunar landing deadline,” said Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX). “As the Apollo program showed us, getting to the Moon and back safely is hard. The multi-year delays and difficulties experienced by the companies of NASA’s taxpayer-funded Commercial Crew program—a program with the far less ambitious goal of just getting NASA astronauts back to low Earth orbit—make clear to me that we should not be trying to privatize America’s Moon-Mars program, especially when at the end of the day American taxpayers—not the private companies—are going to wind up paying the lion’s share of the costs. I want our Nation to pursue the inspiring goals of returning to the Moon and then heading to Mars, but we need to do it sensibly and safely while we also protect the interests of the tax paying public.”

“America’s human space exploration program has inspired generations and led to discovery, development and innovation,” said Chairwoman of the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Rep. Kendra Horn (D-OK). “Returning humans to the Moon safely is an important and worthy endeavor for our nation. It is also a challenging one that requires significant investment of taxpayer dollars to achieve. I was disappointed to see that NASA’s decision on lunar landing systems development starkly contrasts the bipartisan House NASA Authorization bill and the advice of experts on minimizing risk and ensuring the highest likelihood of success in landing humans on the Moon.”

“Unfortunately, more than a year after their announcement to accelerate the Artemis program, NASA has yet to provide Congress a transparent architecture and technical and cost assessment, despite our repeated requests. The American taxpayer deserves to know their money is being spent wisely, especially if they are being asked to invest billions of taxpayer dollars in a private lunar landing system. Our nation should dream boldly and pursue aspirational goals but we have to do so thoughtfully and intentionally. I look forward to working with NASA in good faith to steer our nation’s space program in a direction that allows our country to achieve inspiring goals and explore space in a responsible and measured way.” (5/1)

NASA Commits to Future Artemis Missions with More SLS Rocket Engines (Source: NASA)
NASA has awarded a contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne to manufacture 18 additional Space Launch System (SLS) RS-25 rocket engines to support Artemis missions to the Moon. The contract to produce 18 engines is valued at $1.79 billion. This includes labor to build and test the engines, produce tooling and support SLS flights powered by the engines. This modifies the initial contract awarded in  2015 to recertify and produce six new RS-25 engines and brings the total contract value to almost $3.5 billion with a period of performance through Sep. 30, 2029, and a total of 24 engines to support as many as six additional SLS flights.

“This contract allows NASA to work with Aerojet Rocketdyne to build the rocket engines needed for future missions,” said John Honeycutt, the SLS program manager at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. “The same reliable engines that launched more than 100 space shuttle missions have been modified to be even more powerful to launch the next astronauts who will set foot on the lunar surface during the Artemis missions.”

Each SLS rocket uses four RS-25 engines, providing a total of 2 million pounds of thrust to send SLS to space. The SLS rocket leverages the assets, capabilities, and experience of NASA’s Space Shuttle Program, using 16 existing RS-25 shuttle engines for the first four SLS missions. These engines were updated with new controllers – the brains that control the engine – and upgraded and tested to fly at the higher performance level necessary to launch the SLS, which is much larger and more powerful than the shuttle. (5/1)

Alabama Connections Run Strong in NASA Picks for Moon Lander Systems (Source: Made in Alabama)
Huntsville-based Dynetics is one of the three prime contractors selected to build human lander systems. “There’s really no more exciting mission than delivering humans to other planetary bodies,” said Kim Doering, Dynetics vice president of Space Systems. “However, it’s also among the most challenging endeavors, particularly given the goal of landing on the moon in 2024. We believe Dynetics has the recipe for success.”

The company is developing the Dynetics Human Landing System, a single structure providing the ascent and descent capabilities that will launch on the ULA Vulcan launch system. The next-generation Vulcan rocket is being produced at the sprawling United Launch Alliance production facility in Decatur, America’s largest rocket factory.

Also selected as a prime contractor is Washington-based Blue Origin, which will build the three-stage lander to be launched on its own New Glenn Rocket System and the Alabama-built ULA Vulcan rocket. Blue Origin earlier this year officially opened a 350,000-square-foot rocket engine production facility in Huntsville, where it will produce its heavy-lift BE-4 rocket engine. (4/30)