May 4, 2020

NASA and SpaceX Finalizing Hardware for Historic Crew Launch (Source: Space News)
NASA and SpaceX are in the final phases of preparation for a commercial crew test flight scheduled for launch late this month. SpaceX conducted the last in a series of tests Friday for the Crew Dragon parachute system, one of the final steps before the Demo-2 mission launch. NASA and company officials said in briefings Friday they are preparing for a series of reviews in the next few weeks leading up to the May 27 launch. NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley will have an extended stay on the International Space Station, the length of which will depend on the health of the Crew Dragon spacecraft docked to the station and the readiness of the next Crew Dragon spacecraft. Despite optimism about the status of Crew Dragon, NASA is proceeding with plans to buy a Soyuz seat from Roscosmos for an October mission, with a deal expected to be completed within days. (5/4)

RAND Team Recommends Third DoD Launcher to Reduce Risk (Source: Space News)
The team that worked on a RAND Corporation study on national security launch says the Pentagon should find ways to support a third launch provider. The Air Force, which released the study last week, concluded that the study backed its plan to select only two companies in the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 launch service procurement. However, RAND analysts said that the study showed the need to support a third provider to mitigate risks through 2023 or 2024 that there might not be enough certified rockets to launch national security satellites. They argued that, among other measures, the Air Force should not withdraw Launch Service Agreement funding previously awarded to Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman and ULA if they are not selected for Phase 2 contracts. (5/4)

Telesat to Pick Constellation Prime Soon (Source: Space News)
Telesat now expects to select a prime contractor for its low Earth orbit constellation in the next few months. Telesat executives said they deferred a decision on the contractor until key enabling technologies were mature enough to ensure the system would meet cost and performance targets. Telesat is choosing between two bids, but declined to say which manufacturers had joined forces, dropped out or been otherwise disqualified. Telesat expects to begin deployment of the constellation in 2022 with the launch of 78 satellites into polar orbits, followed by 220 satellites launched into inclined orbits by the end of 2023. (5/4)

Maxar Expects New Imaging Constellation to Launch Next Year (Source: Space News)
Maxar says its first WorldView Legion imaging satellites will launch next year. Maxar will begin integrating imaging payloads developed by Raytheon Intelligence & Space onto satellites this summer. A first set of satellites will launch in early 2021 and a second later that year, both on Falcon 9 rockets. The initial set of six satellites will allow Maxar to triple its collection of imagery with a resolution of 30 centimeters while offering views of specific regions as many as 15 times a day. (5/4)

SpaceShipTwo Makes First Flight From Spaceport America (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic conducted the first test flight of SpaceShipTwo from its New Mexico spaceport May 1 as the company edges closer to finally beginning commercial flights of the suborbital spaceplane. The company’s WhiteKnightTwo aircraft, with the VSS Unity SpaceShipTwo attached to it, took off shortly before 11 a.m. Eastern from Spaceport America in southern New Mexico. After reaching a planned altitude of about 15,000 meters, WhiteKnightTwo released SpaceShipTwo, which glided back to the runway at the spaceport.

While SpaceShipTwo has performed many glide flights, all previously took place from Mojave Air and Space Port in California. SpaceShipTwo arrived with WhiteKnightTwo at Spaceport America in February to begin a final series of glide and powered test flights before starting commercial operations. Pilots Dave Mackay and CJ Sturckow performed maneuvers during the glide test to compare the vehicle’s performance against earlier tests. They and the rest of the flight team also used the flight to familiarize themselves with operations in the New Mexico airspace. (5/1)

Georgia Congressman Advocated for Spaceport Near $2 Million Property He Bought (Source: Savanah Morning News)
Congressman Earl L. “Buddy” Carter (R-GA) bought a large undeveloped piece of land down the road from a proposed spaceport in Camden County in May of 2018. A month later he led the U.S. House of Representatives Georgia delegation in urging the Federal Aviation Administration to move the project forward. The Spaceport project is still pending and Carter still owns the property.

He said recently he bought it for hunting and fishing, not as an investment. As such, he did not need to disclose the purchase to the FAA, other Congressmen or to constituents through his Congressional financial disclosure forms, he said. A deed dated May 8, 2018 names Earl L. Carter as the buyer of a 471-acre tract of land from Florida-based Challenged Investments LLC. Camden County tax records indicate the purchase price was $2,050,000. (5/2)

Only NASA Would Spend Billions To Make A Reusable Engine Disposable (Source: NASA Watch)
NASA will pay a staggering $146 million for each Artemis SLS rocket engine, according to Ars Technica. "However, this is not the true price of these engines. NASA has previously given more than $1 billion to Aerojet to "restart" production of the space shuttle era engines and a contract for six new ones. So, according to the space agency, NASA has spent $3.5 billion for a total of 24 rocket engines."

Only NASA would spend billions to develop a reusable engine and then spend billions more to make the reusable engine into a disposable engine. But wait - there's more. Its not the first time NASA spent vast sums of money upgrading an old engine design. Aerojet Rocketdyne also got a pile of money to develop the modified Apollo era J-2 (J-2x) engine for use on the SLS' predecessor the Ares V. And where did the $1.4 billion J-2x funding go? Answer: a bunch of engines that will never be used and hardware that needed to be re-redesigned for RS-25. (5/4)

SpaceX Aces Last Dragon Parachute Test Before Crew Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX completed Friday the last drop test of the Dragon crew capsule’s parachutes before the first launch of astronauts on the human-rated ship May 27, while technicians at Cape Canaveral have mated the spacecraft’s crew module with its unpressurized trunk section. The drop test from a C-130 cargo plane Friday was the 27th and final test of the “Mark 3” parachute design SpaceX will use for the Crew Dragon spacecraft. Drogue parachutes and then four main chutes unfurled from a test vehicle designed to mimic the Crew Dragon’s weight during return to Earth.

SpaceX said in a tweet that the parachute test moves the Crew Dragon “one step closer” to flying NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station, “and safely returning them back to Earth. Meanwhile, SpaceX’s Dragon processing team at Cape Canaveral have connected the spaceship’s pressurized crew module with the spacecraft’s rear trunk, which generates electricity through body-mounted solar panels and houses radiators for thermal control in orbit. (5/3)

Luxembourg Joins Group of 22 Space Agencies Coordinating Future of Space Exploration (Source: LSA)
The International Space Exploration Coordination Group (ISECG), which has recently released its annual report, is an international forum for promoting coordinated efforts toward human and robotic space exploration on and around the Moon and Mars. The Luxembourg Space Agency, which heads the SpaceResources.lu initiative, is proud to join this group of highly influential agencies and aiding in the development of a well thought out, unified approach to space resource exploration and utilization. Last month, senior managers representing 17 international space agencies, including for the first time the Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), gathered virtually for a meeting of the ISECG. (4/30)

Rocket Lab CEO Expects Extended Industry Downturn (Source: CNBC)
Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck says the impact of the coronavirus crisis on the space industry is in "early days," as he expects a tough environment for at least 18 more months. "If you're one of these space companies that doesn't have a big runway and a product, perhaps it's time to think about consolidation," Beck said. Beck fears the disappearance of space capabilities provided by companies to the U.S., as well as funding being distributed ineffectively. (5/3)

NASA Evaluation Sees SpaceX Lunar Lander as Innovative But Risky (Source: Space News)
A NASA evaluation suggests that the agency selected SpaceX for one of the three human lunar lander awards as a high-risk, high-reward option that could provide significant capability but may not be ready in time for a 2024 landing. According to a NASA source selection statement for the Human Landing Services (HLS) program, dated April 28, SpaceX had the weakest adjectival rating of the three companies selected, with technical and managerial ratings of “Acceptable.”

Blue Origin received a technical rating of Acceptable and a managerial rating of “Very Good,” while Dynetics received technical and managerial ratings of Very Good. SpaceX received several strengths based on the proposed capabilities of the Starship vehicle it bid, a spacecraft much larger than the other winning proposals. The system “meets or exceeds all of NASA’s threshold values” for functional and performance requirements, the document states. (5/4)

Working in the Shadow Space Program: A General Electric Engineer’s Work on MOL and Other Space Programs (Source: Space Review)
Richard Passman was an engineer who worked on a number of classified space programs, including the Manned Orbiting Laboratory. Dwayne Day interviewed Passman about his career shortly before Passman’s death last month. Click here. (5/4)
 
Commercial Crew Safety, in Space and on the Ground (Source: Space Review)
NASA once thought that hundreds of thousands of people would come to Florida for the first commercial crew launch. Jeff Foust reports that while that scenario is now unlikely, the agency and SpaceX are still focused on getting the Demo-2 mission launched safely and successfully. Click here. (5/4)
 
In the Recession, Space Firms Should Focus on Earth Imagery (Source: Space Review)
The severe economic downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic has affected many companies in the space industry. Nicholas Borroz argues that companies best placed to survive and even thrive in this environment are those that provide Earth imagery or analysis of it. Click here. (5/4)
 
SPICA: an Infrared Telescope to Look Back Into the Early Universe (Source: Space Review)
One of the finalists for ESA’s next medium-class space science mission is an infrared space telescope called SPICA. Arwen Rimmer describes the science the proposed mission could accomplish, and how the pandemic has affected work on it. Click here. (5/4)

NASA Hope to Resume SLS Testing Within Weeks (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
NASA hopes to resume testing of the Space Launch System in the next few weeks. Work on the upcoming "Green Run" static-fire test of the first SLS core stage at the Stennis Space Center has been suspended since mid-March because of the coronavirus pandemic. That work will resume, at a reduced pace, later this month. The first launch of SLS is now not expected until late next year. (5/4)

Berkeley to Build NOAA Satellite Sensor (Source: Space News)
The University of California Berkeley has won a $7.5 million contract to build a sensor for a NOAA space weather mission. The university's Space Sciences Laboratory will build the Supra Thermal Ion Sensor in addition to supporting launch and on-orbit checkout of the instrument. The sensor is designed to measures solar energetic particles and provide advance warning if a shock wave produced by those particles is headed for Earth. The sensor will fly on NOAA's Space Weather Follow-On Lagrange-1 mission in 2024. (5/4)

Russian ComSats to Launch on Proton in July (Source: Sputnik)
Two Russian communications satellites will launch on a Proton in late July. The Express-80 and Express-103 satellite were to launch earlier this year, but the launch was postponed by technical issues with the Proton. Last month, three Proton rockets already at the Baikonur Cosmodrome were shipped backed to a Khrunichev factory in Moscow to replace defective parts. Repairs to the Proton that will launch the Express satellites are slated to be complete in June, with launch scheduled for July 30. (5/4)