June 6, 2020

European Space Policy for a Sustainable Economy: Council Adopts Conclusions (Source: EU)
Space policy can play an important role in achieving a sustainable EU economy. The Council today adopted a set of conclusions acknowledging the important contribution of space activities to the development of skills, technologies and services needed to build a society that is capable of addressing global challenges in a changing world. These include climate change, ecosystem degradation, health crises, food security and migration.

The Council underlines that Earth science and European space data, services and technologies may contribute to the European Green Deal, enabling Europe to become a global leader in the transition to a sustainable world, solving societal challenges and preserving the functioning of natural ecosystems, for the benefit of future generations.

It invites the Commission to develop an in-depth analysis of the European New Space current landscape and future perspectives and its contribution to the EU economy, and underlines the importance of supporting member states with emerging space capabilities, as well as their industry and academia, in their active involvement to unlock the full potential of the EU space economy and strengthen its economic resilience. (6/5)

Nigeria to Revise its National Space Policy and Strategy (Source: Space In Africa)
The recently inaugurated leadership of the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) led by Dr Francis Chizea has affirmed its commitment to reviewing the National Space Policy and Strategy. The new acting Director-General was appointed in May to consolidate the agency’s operations as well as drive the objectives for establishing the agency.

In an interview with Space in  Africa, the Acting Director-General said that one of his first duties would be to set up necessary committees with the approval of the agency’s board and legislative council. The new leadership will revise the space document as a form of an evaluation process that will determine the achievements and failings of the policy and how it tallies with current needs and events.

“One thing I have set out to do in the coming weeks is to review our space policy, the more reason behind it is because this policy was approved 2001 and policies should be reviewed after five years. Currently, things are changing very fast, and there are also some sentences you would want to change or add. So looking at the space policy will entail reviewing all those things detailed in the 25 years road map for the implementation”. (6/5)

A Love Letter to Space and How it Restored My Faith (Source: The Appalachian)
A lethal virus was declared a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, effectively shutting down cities across the country. An African American man was killed in police custody after being arrested for allegedly using a counterfeit $20 bill on May 25. Demonstrations erupted across the country. About 12 minutes after liftoff, the Crew Dragon shuttle carrying Behnken and Hurley separated from its second stage, marking their successful entry into orbit and the beginning of their nearly 19-hour coast to the International Space Station.

It seems like witnessing history should be a once-in-a-lifetime circumstance. None of us expected to witness history like we have in 2020, with one life-altering, insurgent moment falling like dominos in succession of one another. Waking up every day in isolation, seeing atrocities unfold against innocent people and peaceful protesters, not knowing what tomorrow has in store, has left me pretty pessimistic.

However, amidst all the unpredictability, anxiety and unrest, witnessing the history of America taking flight in space again made me glad to be alive during this time of dread. That day, I fell in love with space. Space gives me something to hold on to. Something to invest my time in. Something to turn to when my social media feed is overwhelming and the home page of The New York Times shows no sign of things looking up. (6/4)

America’s Triumphant Return to Space? Or 1981 All Over Again? (Source: Baltimore Sun)
The launch of U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station aboard a SpaceX capsule and rocket on May 30 was a milestone in human spaceflight, marking the first time humans have flown into space on a commercial vehicle. More important for U.S. space interests, the flight to the space station with humans is the first from U.S. soil since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet in 2011, the end of a near decadelong embarrassment of paying Russia $80 million to fly a single astronaut into orbit.

The question is, what will become of this? Is this SpaceX launch a harbinger of a long-sought era of space tourism and routine access to space? I’d like to think so. But one must admit, this feels a lot like 1981. NASA’s Space Shuttle program was launched with the promise of making access to space affordable and commonplace. The Space Shuttle fleet of four vehicles was to provide a cheap, biweekly ferry into low-Earth orbit.

People from all walks of life were to hitch a ride. Journalists, artists, even “Sesame Street’s” Big Bird were on the shortlist to fly. The maiden launch of Space Shuttle Columbia in April 1981 was met with great fanfare, as to be expected, with an excitement not seen since the Apollo era of moon landings. As with the space shuttles in 1981, the recent NASA SpaceX launch carried only two astronauts. But tagging along for the ride are the dreams of many who feel that, finally, the Space Age is truly upon us. (6/4)

Space Force Thinking About NASA-Style Partnerships with Private Companies (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force will be far smaller than the other military services but way more dependent on technology to do its job. While the Space Force will develop satellites and other technologies in-house, it also plans to follow the NASA playbook and team up with the private sector, said Col. Eric Felt, head of the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Space Vehicles Directorate. (6/4)

AFRL Targets Space Ops In New Orbits (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s next big space project will focus on “nontraditional orbits,” says the lab’s head of the Space Vehicles Directorate Col. Eric Felt, such as the area near the Moon and very low orbits where satellites need constant boosting to keep from plummeting back to Earth. “The best payoff is coming from things that we’re not currently doing in space today,” Felt said of AFRL’s technology development programs for the Space Force.

The Space Vehicles Directorate is running an internal contest between four teams, one of which will prevail and be funded for a demonstration, Felt said. He said he expects to pick a winner as early as next month, but didn’t want to go into details about the candidates. He did note that of the four teams involved one is working on possible uses of “vLEO” — that is, very low Low Earth Orbits of around 200 to 300 kilometers above the Earth’s surface. Satellites (with the exception of short-lived experiments) rarely operate in those altitudes because they require constant propulsion to keep them from being tugged back into the atmosphere by gravity. And, historically, satellite propulsion systems were expensive and heavy.

Another team is looking at cislunar space: the orbits between Geosynchronous Orbit, 36,000 kilometers up, and the Moon. Some definitions include orbits slightly beyond the Moon as well. And one of the key projects underway at AFRL crosses that air and space boundary: the so-called XVI project to test out putting a Link 16 tactical data link on Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites to expand connectivity across domains. (6/5)

Magnetism, Not Gravity, Rules in the Milky Way's Core (Source: Sky & Telescope)
What governs the dynamics of gas close to the center of our Milky Way galaxy? Gravity is the standard answer. After all, there’s a 4 million-solar-mass black hole hiding there. But new data from NASA’s Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) reveal that strong magnetic fields may actually dominate, just like they do in the Sun’s corona. The new result may shed light on two outstanding questions about the galactic center. (6/4)

SpaceX Can Now Send Humans to Space. It Just Needs a Market (Source: MIT Technology Review)
SpaceX achieved something historic this past weekend with its Demo-2 launch. The company’s Crew Dragon vehicle became the first private spacecraft to take humans into orbit—a milestone for NASA, the American space industry, and the company itself. Afterwards, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told reporters that the mission had helped establish the success of a new business model, where NASA is one of many customers turning to private industry to meet its travel needs into low Earth orbit.

Much of the media said that SpaceX had just launched a “new era” of spaceflight, where low Earth orbit is commercialized and private vehicles can now ferry people to and from space. “NASA doesn’t want to be the owner and operator of the hardware,” said Bridenstine. “We also don’t want to be the only customer. We want SpaceX and others to go get customers that aren’t us.”

But while SpaceX is now a proven option for sending people into orbit (Boeing will be too, once it shows that its Starliner vehicle can take astronauts into space), it’s too early to say there’s a viable market of customers who want to use this option. “I think this launch, and Crew Dragon, are more symbolic than they are real in terms of opening up orbit to widespread private travel,” says John Logsdon, a space policy expert at George Washington University. (6/3)