June 7, 2020

On 10-Year Anniversary of SpaceX Falcon 9, Elon Musk Plots Out Mars Timeline for Starship (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Musk confirmed SpaceX plans to get Starship on an uncrewed mission to the fourth planet from the sun by 2022 and with humans by 2024. “Starship is the key to making life multiplanetary & protecting the light of consciousness,” Musk wrote. He also figures that it will take about 25 years, or roughly 12 transfer windows - when Mars and Earth are in the right position to make the trip economical - for whatever presence is on Mars to be self-sustainable, not relying on support from Earth.

Musk has previously stated his belief that the human species needs to branch out and colonize on other planets. “We’re faced with a choice. Which future do you want? Do you want the future where we become a space-faring civilization and are in many worlds and are out there among the stars or are forever confined to Earth? And I say it’s the first, and I hope you agree with me," Musk said in a speech last September to SpaceX employees at the company’s testing site in Boca Chica, Texas.

“The reality is as far as we know this is the only place at least in this part of the galaxy, or in the Milky Way, where there is consciousness and it’s taken a long time for us to get to this point,” Musk said. And so his goal is to take advantage of what could be a short window of opportunity to expand humanity’s footprint. Progress on the new space vehicle continues in Texas after halting similar work in Cape Canaveral last year. Musk had said its Florida operations would remain focused on its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy operations and refocus all Starship work to Texas. (6/5)

NASA Investigating Former Official’s Contacts With Boeing on Lunar Contracts (Source: Wall Street Journal)
NASA’s inspector general is investigating an allegation that a high-ranking NASA official earlier this year improperly guided Boeing Co. regarding an agency competition for lucrative lunar-lander contracts, according to people familiar with the details. The probe, according to these people, focuses on communications Boeing officials had with the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s human-exploration office, Doug Loverro, before he resigned in May. (6/7)

General Atomics Partners with Space Development Agency to Demonstrate Optical Intersatellite Link (Source: General Atomics)
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced today that it has partnered with the U.S. Space Development Agency (SDA) to demonstrate and conduct a series of experiments for an Optical Intersatellite Link (OISL) utilizing GA-EMS’s internally developed 1550nm (nanometer) wavelength laser communication terminals (LCTs). This will be one of the first Department of Defense contracted efforts to develop and deploy a state-of-the-art 1550nm LCT to test capabilities to increase the speed, distance, and variability of communications in space. (6/5)

Northrop Grumman to Adapt Proven Cygnus Technology for Artemis Human Habitation (Source: Northrop Grumman)
Northrop Grumman Corporation (NYSE: NOC) has been awarded a contract by NASA to execute the preliminary design and development of the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO). It is to be deployed in lunar orbit as the first crew module of the NASA Gateway, a space station orbiting the moon providing vital support for long-term human exploration of the lunar surface and deep space. This award is a follow-on to the Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships 2 (NextSTEP-2) Appendix A contract. A subsequent modification will be definitized for the fabrication, assembly, and delivery of the HALO module. (6/5)

Special Operations Command is Diving Into Space (Source: C4ISRnet)
The need for U.S. Special Operations Command to rely on existing space-based capabilities while developing its own has increased in recent years, especially as SOCOM expands its focus from the counter-terrorist fight to a near-peer competition, an organization leader said recently. “We’ll be learning a lot over the next couple years with how we are going to partner with the Space Force, Air Force and other services who are doing things in space,” Special Reconnaissance Program Executive Officer David Breede said at the virtual Special Operations Forces Industry Conference May 12. “We are now delving into space-based capabilities.”

SOCOM’s space efforts run the gamut from leveraging existing capabilities from other services to developing its own cubesats and hosted payloads to put on orbit. The command’s increased attention on space is part of a broader effort across the Department of Defense. In 2019, the department began a significant reorganization to focus more on space, standing up the Space Development Agency, reestablishing U.S. Space Command, and forming the U.S. Space Force. As those organizations continue to develop over the next few years, SOCOM will determine where they fit into the broader DoD efforts in space. (6/6)

NASA Awards Northrop Grumman Artemis Contract for Gateway Crew Cabin (Source: NASA)
NASA has finalized the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost. Orbital Science Corporation of Dulles, Virginia, a wholly owned subsidiary of Northrop Grumman Space, has been awarded $187 million to design the habitation and logistics outpost (HALO) for the Gateway, which is part of NASA’s Artemis program and will help the agency build a sustainable presence at the Moon. This award funds HALO’s design through its preliminary design review, expected by the end of 2020.

“This contract award is another significant milestone in our plan to build robust and sustainable lunar operations,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “The Gateway is a key component of NASA’s long-term Artemis architecture and the HALO capability furthers our plans for human exploration at the Moon in preparation for future human missions to Mars.” The HALO will be the pressurized living quarters where astronauts will spend their time while visiting the Gateway. About the size of a small studio apartment, it will provide augmented life support in tandem with NASA’s Orion spacecraft. (6/5)

Maxar Studies Legion Spacecraft for NOAA Weather Mission (Source: Space News)
Under a new National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration six-month study contract, Maxar Technologies will explore the application of its Legion-class satellite to weather observation from low Earth orbit. “This is not just a technical study, it’s more programmatic,” Al Tadros, Maxar vice president of space infrastructure and civil space, told SpaceNews. “How do you develop and deploy a capability? How do you refresh technologies on a regular basis?”

NOAA is awarding a series of study contracts to explore potential instruments, spacecraft, business models and mission concepts for a space-based architecture to succeed the Joint Polar Satellite System and GOES-R series. As of June 2, NOAA had awarded 26 contracts for analyses of instrument and mission concepts. Fourteen of the contracts fund studies related to geostationary and extended orbits. Another 12 studies focus on low Earth orbit sounding. (6/5)

BlackSky Launching Two Satellites on June Starlink Mission (Source: Space News)
Earth-observation company BlackSky will launch two satellites as co-passengers on a SpaceX Starlink mission expected to occur June 24, Nick Merski, vice president of space operations for Spaceflight Industries, told SpaceNews. Spaceflight’s rideshare business Spaceflight Inc. is arranging the launches for BlackSky, said Merski, who is responsible for supporting BlackSky and formerly directed the BlackSky constellation program.

After the SpaceX rideshare, BlackSky has another four satellites booked to launch on India’s new Small Satellite Launch Vehicle this year, though delays with that program have made a launch date unclear, Merski said. BlackSky has four satellites in orbit from launches in 2018 and 2019 that were built in-house by Spaceflight Industries. The company hopes to have 16 satellites in low Earth orbit by early 2021. (6/5)

With SpaceX, America looks back to The Final Frontier (Source: Florida Politics)
Last week’s successful rocket launch was a nice reminder of what we can accomplish together as a nation. Founded in 2002, the goal of SpaceX is to get our country back among the stars; specifically, to get Americans in space via domestic means. The public/private partnership of NASA and SpaceX found its way May 30, accomplishing this mission by sending two astronauts to the International Space Station who are now floating around drinking Tang. (6/6)

In Space it Will Be America First and America Alone (Source: Irish Times)
Let’s light this candle”, the final Earth-constrained words of NASA astronaut Doug Hurley on Saturday, referring to the imminent ignition of the SpaceX Falcon rocket underneath him. These same words, fittingly nostalgic, were used by astronaut Alan Shepherd on May 5, 1961, when he launched on Freedom 7 to become the first American in space.

The joint NASA and SpaceX Demos-2 launch at Cape Canaveral on Saturday marked the beginning of a new era of American Spaceflight. It is difficult to put into words the deeply meaningful nature of the launch to those involved in human spaceflight and exploration, but the meaning to those outside of the space program was clear. As was widely reported, this was the first launch of “American astronauts, on an American rocket, on American soil” in nearly a decade, shown live on “Launch America: Mission to Space Live.”

The space industry may have been born on international competition, but there is no doubt that it owes its growth to international cooperation and now thrives due to its ‘international, interdisciplinary and intercultural’ nature. The nationalistic messaging, compounded by the timing of such messaging, left many space enthusiasts feeling a complex range of emotions. Click here. (6/5)

To Deter Attacks on Satellites, U.S. Needs a Strategy to Identify Bad Actors (Source: Space News)
A trusted attribution process underpins a credible deterrence strategy. What is often overlooked in today’s space strategies and policies is the need for a robust space attribution process. That is the ability to trace the origin of an action against space architectures. Without being able to determine the origin or source of a hostile or malicious action, the ability to respond appropriately seems doubtful.

A credible and trusted attribution process underpins a successful deterrence strategy. Using lessons from the nuclear community and insights from decades of experience operating in the space domain, a sound space attribution framework should include data and information from multiple sources. Attribution should be thought of as a process, not as a singular event or piece of knowledge.

Because of the relative newness of space as a warfighting domain, it can be helpful to consider attribution frameworks from other efforts. In particular, space attribution can benefit from considering nuclear forensics and attribution. The nuclear attribution process incorporates data and information from nuclear forensics, the intelligence community (IC) and law enforcement to inform national leadership on the origin of source material and technology used in a nuclear detonation. (6/5)

Virgin Orbit Moving Ahead with U.K. Launch Plans (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit and the British government are continuing efforts to begin flights of the company’s air-launch system from an English airport by early 2022 despite challenges on both sides of the Atlantic. Virgin Orbit and the U.K. Space Agency, along with Spaceport Cornwall, held an online suppliers conference June 4 to provide an update about the company’s plans to operate from the southwestern England spaceport, also known as Cornwall Airport Newquay, using its LauncherOne rocket and modified Boeing 747 carrier aircraft.

“We’re confident that we can get to that end goal of that launch toward the end of ’21 or early ’22,” said Miles Carden, spaceport director for the Cornwall Council, which has helped fund infrastructure improvements to the airport in partnership with Virgin Orbit and the U.K. Space Agency. (6/5)

Department of Energy Looks to Support Space Exploration (Source: Parabolic Arc)
DOE recently rejoined the National Space Council and will be supporting NASA’s activities under the Vice President’s leadership and the President’s Space Policy. To that effect, DOE experts have been meeting regularly with their counterparts at NASA to better align DOE’s capabilities and expertise with U.S. space program activities in order to support America’s return to the Moon, its next giant leap to Mars, and its future beyond.

One of the most fundamental needs for any space mission is a reliable and sustained supply of power, and this is where DOE’s vast, diverse research complex will, among other things, be critical to the development of energy generation, storage, and transmission systems on the Moon and eventually on Mars. As part of a broader strategy to regain American global leadership in nuclear energy, DOE is leading efforts with the private sector to promote the development and deployment of small modular reactors (SMRs) and microreactors. (6/6)

We’re Very Close to Finding a Solar System like Our Own (Source: Air & Space)
An international research group led by René Heller from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Göttingen, Germany, claims to have found a star-exoplanet pair closely resembling the Sun-Earth system, based on their statistical data analysis. This distant solar system circles the star Kepler-160, a G dwarf star like our Sun located about 3,000 light years from Earth.

Heller and colleagues used a novel method to make their discovery. Rather than detecting step-wise jumps in the star’s light curve, they created a detailed physical model of Kepler-160’s brightness variations. This new technique revealed a fourth, previously unknown planet circling the star.

The new planet has been given the preliminary designation KOI 456.04. It’s projected to be in the habitable zone—an orbit that would allow the presence of liquid water on its surface. The planet completes an orbit around its host star in 378 days, very close to Earth’s year of 365.25 days. KOI 456.04 is a bit less than twice the size of our own planet. (6/5)