June 2, 2020

Outer Space: A Victim of Power Competition? (Source: Jurist)
While the world was grappling with the COVID-19 pandemic, US President Donald Trump signed an executive order allowing Americans to have the right to engage in commercial exploration, recovery, and use of resources in outer space. This move by the US government has certainly marked a turning point in the development of international space law. It is the first time a nation has made an explicit statement that it doesn’t view space as a “global commons.”

Space powers generally have not been comfortable with viewing space as a common heritage of mankind. With the increase in technology, commercial and political inclination towards space mining is growing. However, is outer space once again a victim of power politics? This article shall focus on the loopholes in existing space law treaties, the increasing competition between the space powers, and the reasons that space mining is attractive to the space powers. Finally, it shall highlight the potential risks of such power competition and the need for a common global governance framework. Click here. (6/1)

Canadian Space Tourist Trip Wasn't for Business, Must Pay Taxes (Source: Canadian Press)
Canadian space tourist Guy Laliberté can't classify his flight to the ISS more than a decade ago as a business trip. A Canadian tax court ruled last week that Laliberté, the founder of Cirque du Soleil, has to pay taxes on 90% of the $41.8 million (U.S. $30.9 million) he spent for the 2009 trip, ruling that the flight was not a business trip and thus exempt from taxes. Laliberté, who paid the taxes several years ago but was seeking to get the money back, said through a spokesperson he was disappointed with the court's decision but did not plan to appeal. (6/2)

The Age of Commercial Space Tourism is Finally Ready for Lift Off (Source: Telegraph)
The first crewed SpaceX capsule docked to the International Space Station. After decade-long delays, the age of commercial space tourism is finally ready for lift off. When Frank Sinatra crooned ‘Fly Me To The Moon’ he surely couldn’t have imagined doing so on a reality TV dating competition. But earlier this year Yusaka Maezawa did just that, tweeting a casting call for single women to join him on the world’s first private circumlunar flight, scheduled for 2023. Within days Maezawa had 27,722 applications, eager to take their seat beside him on Elon Musk’s SpaceX rocket, and ‘shout our love from outer space’. (6/1)

Virgin Galactic Stock Soars After Successful SpaceX Crew Launch (Source: CNN)
Virgin Galactic was an unexpected beneficiary of the Demo-2 commercial crew launch. Shares in the suborbital spaceflight company soared in early trading Monday, apparently in reaction to the success of the SpaceX commercial crew flight. The company lost some of those early gains but still closed up nearly 3%. The stock market has often treated Virgin Galactic as a proxy for the broader commercial space industry, especially for companies like SpaceX that are privately held. (6/2)

NASA Puts Hold on Human Spaceflight Reorganization (Source: Space News)
NASA has put on hold a reorganization of its human spaceflight directorate as it looks for a new leader. NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk said Monday that the reorganization of the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, started earlier this year by its leader, Doug Loverro, has been paused after Loverro's abrupt resignation from the agency last month. NASA is in the process of looking for a replacement for Loverro, a process that Jurczyk said should be completed in "weeks, not months," and that person will then have the opportunity to review and potentially change that reorganization. (6/2)

Astronauts Gave SpaceX's New Spacesuits a '5-Star Review' (Source: Business Insider)
SpaceX launched its first human passengers, NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, into orbit on Saturday. They were wearing new spacesuits — the first time the company's suits were tested by humans in space. The astronauts wore the spacesuits for part of the 19-hour-long flight to the International Space Station (ISS), where they'll stay for the next one to four months. Hurley said the suits are "very comfortable." Behnken added: "Both Doug and I, we'd have to give the suits a five-star rating." (6/1)

Dragon Astronauts Get to Work on ISS (Source: Space News)
The two astronauts who flew the Crew Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station are now getting to work on the station. Bob Behnken and and Doug Hurley will spend up to four months on the station helping to maintain the station, work that the station's commander, Chris Cassidy, said Monday had already started. That work could include several spacewalks to install batteries for the station's power system delivered by a Japanese cargo spacecraft last week. NASA officials said they should know in about a month how long Behnken and Hurley will remain on the station. (6/2)

UCF Provides Maps, Ice Favorability Index to Companies Looking to Mine the Moon (Source: UCF)
The 49ers who panned for gold during California’s Gold Rush didn’t really know where they might strike it rich. They had word of mouth and not much else to go on. Researchers at the University of Central Florida want to give prospectors looking to mine the moon better odds of striking gold, which on the moon means rich deposits of water ice that can be turned into resources, like fuel, for space missions.

A team lead by planetary scientist Kevin Cannon created an Ice Favorability Index. The geological model explains the process for ice formation at the poles of the moon, and mapped the terrain, which includes craters that may hold ice deposits. The model, which has been published in the peer-reviewed journal Icarus, accounts for what asteroid impacts on the surface of the moon may do to deposits of ice found meters beneath the surface. (6/1)

Space Force Rescue Units Prepare for ‘New Era’ of Commercial Human Spaceflight (Source: Space News)
Three hours before the SpaceX Crew Dragon launch May 30, teams of combat rescue specialists staged at military bases in Florida, South Carolina and Hawaii went on alert status in the event of a mission abort. The task force of about 150 personnel and eight aircraft is under the command of the U.S. Space Force’s 45th Space Wing at Patrick Air Force Base, Fla. It is deployed to ensure that if astronauts abort the mission, they are recovered anywhere in the world where they might land.

The U.S. military’s rescue units have supported NASA operations for six decades but this is a “new era” because astronauts are flying in commercial capsules and each requires different procedures and training, said Maj. Gen. John Shaw, commander of the Combined Force Space Component of U.S. Space Command at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. (6/1)

SpaceX Flight Impossible Without UCF Alumni (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
When the SpaceX took off from Cape Canaveral, it might well have carried a bumper sticker reading: IF YOU ARE ON BOARD THIS, THANK A UCF GRADUATE. For half a century, the University of Central Florida has been working to send men and women into space, and space explorations to distant planets. Today, UCF is known for its many accomplishments, but when the idea of a Central Florida university first came up, backers had their eyes clearly on the stars. Their original proposed name for the proposed school was Space University.

The emphasis on space has only grown at UCF over the last half-century. Nearly 1,000 UCF graduates have received degrees in Aerospace Engineering, and this year there are more than 1,400 aerospace majors. In the mid-1950s, state officials realized that members of the post-World War II baby boom would soon be reaching college age and the state’s three schools, Florida A&M, the University of Florida and Florida State University could not handle the deluge. Most people thought the new school would be placed in Brevard County, perhaps Cocoa or Titusville to serve the growing space program and its hundreds of contractors. But Orlando advocates were not going to let the school get away. (6/2)

In Central Florida's Volusia County, Let’s Reach for the Stars (Source: Daytona Beach News Journal)
Convergence is a powerful force. When the planets are lined up, things happen as though they were destined to happen. As we assess the future of our community, the convergence of several factors is presenting Volusia County with opportunities that form a framework of a very bright future. The community’s resume is becoming more dynamic thanks to these and other factors.

Opportunity is knocking. We are answering with the proposed establishment of the Commercial Space Industry Overlay District, set for the second and final public hearing by the Volusia County Council on June 2. This initiative is the result of years of study and offers high degrees of specificity relative to hosting aerospace companies. Primarily, it is a tool that triggers laser-focus on commercial space opportunities and speeds compliance reviews. This makes Volusia County more competitive and allows it to keep pace in the rapidly evolving aerospace industry.

The overlay would be an amendment to the county’s Comprehensive Land Use Plan. It offers no compromise on our growth standards. It offers no incentives. This week, the Volusia County Council will consider the proposal to adopt the Commercial Space Industry Overlay District. It has been years in the making. It has been reviewed by industry leaders, the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity and the Volusia Growth Management Commission. It paves the way for a bright economic future for the generations that follow. (5/31)

Fact Check: Trump Claim Of Saving Space Program Off Base (Source: AP)
President Trump is making claims on space that are off course from reality. He took full credit for the government's role in the launch of the first-ever private spacecraft to attain orbit with astronauts on board. Trump also asserted that he saved the space program after President Obama had ruined it and suggested that a Mars mission with astronauts was imminent. Those are exaggerations. "With this launch, the decades of lost years and little action are officially over... Past leaders put the United States at the mercy of foreign nations to send our astronauts into orbit. Not anymore. Today we once again proudly launch American astronauts on American rockets.”

THE FACTS: It's not true that government's role in SpaceX’s launch is due all to Trump. The path to a commercial launch was paved over more than 10 years, spanning both the administrations of Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama. Under Bush, NASA began an effort to commercialize space following the shuttle Columbia disaster in 2003, which killed its crew of seven. In 2006, he started a program to get commercial companies to deliver cargo to the International Space Station.

The Obama administration “pushed it harder, much harder,” said space policy professor Henry Lambright. With the Space Shuttle program winding down, the Obama administration worked to broaden the space commercialization effort, giving money to private companies to develop spacecraft that could carry astronauts to orbit. In a briefing with reporters last month, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine specifically acknowledged the work of Charles Bolden, Obama’s NASA administrator, who he said helped make the SpaceX launch possible. “This is a program that demonstrates the success when you have continuity of purpose going from one administration to the next,” Bridenstine said. (6/2)

Can We Save the Night Sky From Satellite Streaks? (Source: Ars Technica)
As much of the world has slowed down amid COVID-19, the same cannot be said for the burgeoning small satellite broadband industry. In recent weeks, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk announced he hopes to move the company’s Starlink broadband service to public beta in about six months. And that very same day, the Federal Communications Commission unanimously approved new rules for preventing orbital debris and collisions in space (those rules have been revised so as to not hamper NASA, but they still require more analysis, tracking, and disclosure from satellite companies).

Astronomy advocates say we are running out of time to preserve pristine views in the night sky, companies sending satellite constellations into space say they are mitigating the threat their satellites could pose to skywatchers. The fleets of low-cost satellites will certainly be beneficial for telecommunications and Earth observation customers, particularly those living in remote areas. Crowds of satellites decrease the "revisit time" between satellite passes and make it easier to stay in touch, or to get frequent images during natural disasters. Yet astronomers warn that without care, the satellites could ruin science observations and also make it difficult for groups like Native Americans who see the sky as part of their culture. Space organizations in Europe and the United States are already sounding alarm bells in reports and press releases. (6/1)

SpaceX Launch Is ‘Wakeup Call’ For Russia’s Space Program (Source: Moscow Times)
Russia has lost its long-held monopoly as the only country able to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station following the flawless manned launch by U.S. company SpaceX. The Russian space agency congratulated the United States and Elon Musk's SpaceX on the first crewed flight ever by a private company, but experts said the launch should be a wakeup call for Roscosmos. “The success of the mission will provide us with additional opportunities that will benefit the whole international program,” cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, Roscosmos executive director for crewed space programmes, said in a brief video address.

“These [US funded Russian] flights have been an unexpected chance for Moscow to keep producing Soyuz and retain a significant voice in negotiations over the ISS,” said Isabelle Sourbes-Verger, a specialist in space policy at the French National Center for Scientific Research. The Russian space agency has also earned large sums by ferrying astronauts: a seat in the Soyuz costs NASA around $80 million. If SpaceX starts taking up all US astronauts, "the annual losses could be more than $200 million, a significant loss for Roscosmos's budget of around $2 billion," said Andrei Ionin, an expert at the Tsiolkovsky Space Academy in Moscow.

While Musk, the ambitious entrepreneur behind SpaceX, has named the price of a seat on his spacecraft as $60 million, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin has announced Russia is working to cut its price by 30%. he appearance of a rival such as SpaceX should be a “wakeup call” for the Russian space industry, which is “in far worse shape than those in charge admit,” said Ionin. A decade ago Russia was behind a large proportion of the world’s launches, but that is no longer the case today due to competition from China and SpaceX. “When we were losing the launches market, Roscosmos said everything was fine because we were the only ones sending people up to the ISS. Now that fig leaf has fallen off.” (5/31)

Russian Space Agency Says SpaceX Launch 'Should Have Happened Long Ago,' Describes Trump Praise as 'Hysteria' (Source: Newsweek)
Aspokesperson for Russia's space agency took a dig at the U.S. after the successful launch of two U.S. astronauts aboard a SpaceX craft bound for the International Space Station (ISS)—while also describing President Donald Trump's praise of the successful mission as "hysteria." "The hysteria raised after the successful launch of the [SpaceX] Crew Dragon spacecraft is hard to understand," Vladimir Ustimenko, a spokesperson for Roscosmos, wrote on Twitter, referring to Trump's statement.

"What has happened should have happened long ago. Now it's not only the Russians flying to the ISS, but also the Americans. Well that's wonderful!" he added. NASA had relied on Roscosmos, Russia's space agency, to transport American astronauts to the ISS since the U.S. space agency's final space shuttle flight in 2011. Since then, the U.S. had been working with SpaceX and Boeing to end its reliance on Russia for transport into space. (6/1)