July 14, 2020

Russia Not Interested in US Lunar Cooperation, Prefers China (Source: Space Policy Online)
The head of Russia’s space state corporation, Dmitry Rogozin, said he is not interested in working with the U.S. on lunar exploration. He prefers China, “a worthy partner,” while the U.S. lunar program is “more of a political project.” NASA and Roscosmos are partners in the International Space Station (ISS) program, which has survived the changed U.S.-Russian geopolitical environment since Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

NASA is talking to all the ISS partners about their interest in participating in the Artemis program to return astronauts to the lunar surface by 2024 and establish a sustainable program of lunar exploration and utilization thereafter.  The other partners are Canada, Japan, and 11 European countries working through the European Space Agency (ESA).

As a first step, NASA is gauging interest in international participation in building the Gateway, a small space station that will be in lunar orbit.  Because of its operational similarity to the ISS, NASA is leveraging the Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) that governs ISS cooperation to formulate new agreements with ISS partners. NASA officials have indicated that the process is moving forward with Canada, Europe and Japan, but less quickly with Russia although NASA is hoping Russia will provide an airlock. (7/13)

Sadly, None of the Big Rockets We Hoped to See Fly in 2020 Actually Will (Source: Ars Technica)
This was supposed to be the year of the big rocket. At one point, as many as four large, powerful boosters were slated to take flight this year. Alas, we now know for sure that none of them are going to make it. These include Arianespace's Ariane 6, NASA's Space Launch System, Blue Origin's New Glenn, and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan-Centaur. Our confidence in each of these boosters launching in 2020 ranged from medium-high for the Ariane 6 (oops!) to low for New Glenn and Vulcan-Centaur.

Given that none of these rockets will, in fact, debut this year, we decided to revisit the realm of heavy lift. We will also add three more contenders for a 2021 launch: Japan's H3 rocket, Northrop Grumman's Omega booster, and SpaceX's Super Heavy first stage. Here, we try to rank these seven vehicles by which will launch soonest. Please note these are estimates based upon vastly incomplete information and are almost certainly wrong. Click here. (7/13)

House Appropriators Criticize "Ominous" Shift in NASA Priorities (Source: Space Policy Online)
The House Appropriations Committee is criticizing NASA’s “ominous” shift in priorities away from legacy programs and those with environmental and educational benefits to meet a “politically motivated timeline” for the Artemis program to put astronauts back on the Moon by 2024. In its report on the FY2021 appropriations bill that funds NASA, the committee not only rejects the Trump Administration’s effort to increase NASA’s budget by 12 percent to pay for Artemis, but reallocates $1.5 billion to what was requested for science, technology, and education activities the Administration wants to reduce or terminate entirely.

The committee minces no words in its explanatory report, released today, about where Artemis falls in its priority list. It does not reject a return to the Moon. Indeed, it provides $628 million for Human Landing Systems (HLS), fully funds the Orion crew spacecraft, and adds $400 million to the request for the Space Launch System (SLS). But adequately funding science, especially earth science, and STEM education are more important. (7/13)

House Appropriators Reject Plan to Elevate NOAA Space Commerce Office (Source: Space Policy Online)
House appropriators are again rejecting the Trump Administration’s proposal to elevate the Office of Space Commerce at NOAA to the Secretary of Commerce’s level where it would be the nucleus for a new Bureau of Space Commerce. The Administration has not been successful in convincing Congress of the merits of the idea. Last year, Senate appropriators demanded an independent report on the pro and cons that has not been publicly released yet.

President Trump’s Space Policy Directive-2 and Space Policy Directive-3 envision a greatly expanded role for the Department of Commerce in regulating commercial space activities. It would also become the interface with the civil and commercial sectors on Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Traffic Management (STM), relieving DOD of that role. Today, NOAA’s Office of Commercial Remote Sensing Regulatory Affairs (CRSRA) regulates commercial remote sensing satellites and the Office of Space Commerce (OSC) is focused on creating an Open Architecture Data Repository of space data as the first step in what it hopes will be its SSA/STM role in the future. (7/13)

Saving Space From 'Star Wars' Style Misperceptions (Source: War on the Rocks)
Dogfights in orbit. Spacecraft blasting at each other with lasers. Targets that erupt into fireballs and vanish. The world still doesn’t know what a conflict in space might look like, because the norms and capabilities of such an event are still largely unwritten. But to many, the idea of a war in space conjures imagery from Star Wars, which George Lucas famously modeled after World War II air combat.

One thing is certain: If policymakers imagine space to be the same kind of warfighting domain as its terrestrial counterparts, the sustainability of space as a commons is at risk. In a world where space wars imitate Star Wars, orbital debris poses an existential threat to the future of space development. Now is the time for the United States to seriously consider arms control measures for anti-satellite weapons that generate orbital debris.

Now that the United States is officially constructing doctrines and capabilities from a fresh canvas, it serves as a timely opportunity to argue why debris-generating anti-satellite weapons are so ill-advised. These systems, known as kinetic weapons because they shoot targets at high velocities, will have long-lasting consequences for our way of life. (7/13)

SpaceX Hit by Back to Back Falcon 9 and Starship Rocket Delays (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX has been hit by multiple back-to-back Falcon 9 launch and Starship test delays in a period of a few days, ending the company’s second attempt at a potentially record-breaking month. Originally scheduled to launch no earlier than June 22nd, give or take, SpaceX’s own Starlink-9 satellite mission kicked off the misfortune and has suffered the most. After SpaceX announced an indefinite delay on July 11th to allow for “more time for checkouts”, Starlink-9 is not expected to launch for several more days at best.

On July 13th, SpaceX announced that another summer mission targeting a NET July 14th launch had also been delayed indefinitely to allow teams to inspect the Falcon 9 rocket’s upper stage and potentially replace hardware. Those two delays have had follow-on effects on subsequent launches planned in late July and early August but the actual end-results will be hard to determine until SpaceX has settled on alternate launch dates for Starlink-9 and ANASIS II. Meanwhile, all throughout those orbital-class launch delays, the first Raptor engine test with SpaceX’s fifth full-scale Starship has been consistently delayed and is now expected no earlier than this week (roughly July 15-19). (7/14)

Delay for Falcon-9 Launch of South Korean Satellite (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The planned launch of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket Tuesday from Cape Canaveral of a South Korean military communications satellite has been delayed. "Standing down from tomorrow’s launch of Anasis 2 to take a closer look at the second stage, (and) swap hardware if needed,” SpaceX tweeted Monday. “Will announce new target launch date once confirmed on the range.” It’s the second SpaceX mission to be postponed indefinitely in recent days as the company tries to cut turnaround times for reused rockets and produce new upper stages at a rapid rate to to meet a fast-paced launch schedule in the coming weeks. (7/13)

SpaceX Rocket Aims to Smash NASA Space Shuttle Reuse Record (Source: Teslarati)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 booster is on track to smash an orbital-class rocket reuse record set by a NASA Space Shuttle orbiter in 1985 – and in more ways than one. On July 11th, SpaceX announced that Falcon 9 booster B1058 had successfully completed a static fire ignition test a few days prior to its second launch. If the Falcon 9 first stage launches before July 23, it would beat the current record turnaround time of an orbital class rocket. The record is currently 54 days between Shuttle Atlantis' STS-51-J and STS-61-B missions. (7/12)

Swamp Watch: Peter Thiel’s New Man In The Defense Department (Source: Defense One)
The Pentagon’s new 33-year-old head of research and engineering lacks a basic science degree but brings deep connections to Donald Trump and controversial Silicon Valley venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Defense officials announced Monday that Michael Kratsios, formerly the White House’s chief technology officer, would serve as acting undersecretary for research and engineering, a post that oversees top-priority projects in hypersonics, quantum computing, microelectronics, and other fields.

Kratsios came to the White House in 2017 as deputy CTO, and moved up to CTO last year. He led efforts to further White House investment in artificial intelligence and quantum science and to expand U.S. partnerships in those areas. As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold, he helped launch a project to apply U.S. supercomputers to the U.S response. But Kratsios was a “weird pick” for these senior technical roles, according to one person who has served as both a senior White House and Defense Department official advising on technology issues.

Kratsios holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and a focus on ancient Greek democracy. The person he’s replacing, Michael Griffin, holds a Ph.D. in aerospace engineering and served as a NASA administrator. Indeed, Kratsios will be less academically credentialled than most of the program-managers he oversees. So how did he get here? After Princeton, he went to work for Peter Thiel, who was an early backer of the Trump campaign and who has played a key role in the administration’s approach to technology. Thiel-backed ventures like Anduril and Palantir are playing a growing role in the Defense Department. (7/13)

YAM-3 to Carry Blackjack Payload on SpaceX Ride-Share (Source: Space News)
Orbital's YAM-3 satellite, which will launch early next year on a SpaceX ride-share mission, will carry a payload called Sagittarius A* for Blackjack. That payload is intended to test Pit Boss, the mission management system that will make it possible for Blackjack satellites to autonomously acquire, process and distribute information to users. It will be a risk reduction mission in preparation for the production of the main Blackjack satellites planned for launch in late 2021. (7/13)

"New" Russian ISS Module Completes Final Tests (Source: TASS)
A long-delayed Russian space station module has completed final tests ahead of a launch next year. The Nauka multipurpose laboratory module passed a final series of tests in a vacuum chamber at a Khrunichev facility, Roscosmos said Friday. The agency said it plans to ship Nauka to the Baikonur Cosmodrome next week, with a launch planned in the spring of 2021. Work on Nauka started in 1995, but its development suffered a long series of technical problems. (7/13)

SLS Replaces Saturn V on Alabama License Plates (Source: CollectSpace)
 The Space Launch System is replacing the Saturn 5 on Alabama license plates. The state's new "Dare to Explore" plates feature the SLS, with the moon and Mars in the background. The plates replace the "First to the Moon and Beyond" that were first issued in 2005 with a Saturn 5. Like the earlier plates, proceeds from the new plates will go to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, where one of three remaining Saturn 5 rockets is on display. (7/13)

Charlie Crist, Astronaut and NASA Administrator Talk Space with Pinellas County Students (Source: Florida Politics)
Pinellas County students got a glimpse of outer space from the comfort of their homes Monday morning. U.S. Rep. Charlie Crist hosted an hour-long online town hall for Pinellas County students, families and teachers to discuss NASA’s future. Crist, who represents Florida’s 13th Congressional District, was joined by astronaut Mike Fincke and NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine.

“The classroom is often where a love of science actually begins, so thank you to all our teachers tuning in today,” Crist said in his opening statement. The group discussed the Artemis program, which includes plans to send the first women and the next men to the moon. Bridenstine, a former U.S. Rep. for Oklahoma and first elected official to be NASA administrator, emphasized the need for diversity in the space program as they continue studying  space and space travel. (7/13)

What’s in a Name When it Comes to an “Accord”? (Source: Space Review)
Two months ago, NASA announced the Artemis Accords, a set of agreements countries would have to sign on to in order to participate in the Artemis program. Jeff Foust reports on the purpose of the accords and the various issues some in the space community have raised about them. Click here. (7/13)
 
U.S. Satellites Increasingly Vulnerable to China’s Ground-Based Lasers (Source: Space News)
The Defense Intelligence Agency warned in January 2019 that China likely will field in 2020 a ground-based laser weapon that can counter low-orbit space-based sensors. By the mid-to-late 2020s it may field higher power systems that could damage the structures of non-optical satellites. How real is the threat? Analysts have already identified five Chinese laser bases. One in Xinjiang has four main buildings. One of these building is thought to be for tracking satellites, while equipment in the other three could be used to dazzle or disable satellite sensors.

If the Xinjiang facility is representative of the other four, all five bases can be located and are vulnerable to aerial attacks. In addition to these bases, China operates several satellite laser ranging stations. These have been used to determine the orbits of satellites and space debris but could be used to damage U.S. and allied satellite sensors. Of the world’s 50 satellite laser ranging stations, five fixed stations are in Shanghai, Changchun, Beijing, Wuhan and Kuming. Two Chinese satellite laser ranging stations are mobile. (7/10)

CSI: Rocket Science (Source: Space Review)
What happens when a rocket test goes awry? Jeff Smith uses the example of a problem during a test last year of a solid rocket motor being developed for Northrop Grumman’s OmegA rocket of how such problems are investigated and resolved. Click here. (7/13)
 
Not So Dark Skies (Source: Space Review)
A recent book makes the argument that space settlement could be so detrimental to humanity it shouldn’t be attempted. Al Globus makes the case that the book’s analysis, done correctly, should reach just the opposite conclusion. Click here. (7/13)
 
Enhancing Space Deterrence Thought for Nuclear Threshold Threats (Source: Space Review)
In the conclusion of his analysis of space deterrence strategy, Christopher Stone offers recommendations for how the United States should respond to emerging space threats. Click here. (7/13)

Court Approves UK Purchase of OneWeb (Source: BBC)
A federal court approved Friday the sale of OneWeb to the British government and Bharti Global. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of New York approved the deal, announced a week earlier. The British government and Bharti Global, an Indian telecom company, plan to spend $1 billion to acquire and recapitalize OneWeb, a deal set to close by the end of the year. (7/13)

NASA Shifts Policy on Planetary Protection (Source: Space News)
NASA has implemented changes to its planetary protection policies to reflect plans for exploration of the moon and Mars. The changes, announced in a pair of policy directives last week, put most of the moon outside of polar regions in the lowest category of NASA's planetary protection scheme, with no requirements for missions landing there, and also directs studies for how to address planetary protection for future human Mars missions. The directives stem from recommendations made in an independent review of NASA's planetary protection policies last year. (7/13)

Voyager Space Holdings to Acquire Pioneer Astronautics (Source: Space News)
Voyager Space Holdings is acquiring space technology company Pioneer Astronautics. The sale, a cash-and-stock transaction, was announced early Monday. Longtime Mars exploration advocate Robert Zubrin founded Pioneer Astronautics in 1996 to work on technologies needed to support future human missions to the moon and Mars. The sale will provide Pioneer Astronautics with additional capital for its work, and allow Voyager to leverage its intellectual property for other customers. Voyager, a holding company established last year that is focused on the space industry, acquired another space technology company, Altius Space Machines, last fall. (7/13)

Eumetsat Moves Satellites From Ariane 5 to Ariane 6 (Source: Space News)
Eumetsat will move two satellites originally planned to launch on the Ariane 5 to the Ariane 6. Eumetsat, the European weather satellite agency, said the delay in building the Meteosat Third Generation satellites means that two of them, MTG-S1 and MTG-I2, will launch in 2023 and 2025 respectively on Ariane 6. Arianespace plans to retire the Ariane 5 in 2022, and one of the last launches of that rocket will be used for the first Meteosat Third Generation satellite, MTG-I1. Work on the satellites has been delayed by technical issues as well as the pandemic. (7/13)

A Grapefruit-Sized Black Hole May Be Hiding in Our Solar System (Source: BGR)
The hunt for the ever-elusive “Planet Nine” has taken scientists down some very strange roads. The idea that a planet exists in the outer reaches of our solar system and can’t be easily seen has been floating around for some time, and observations of other objects in the area suggest that there’s something big generating a gravitational pull. The easiest explanation would be a planet, but it’s not the only possibility.

Now, scientists from Harvard University in partnership with the Black Hole Initiative want to test the theory that the object that appears to be lurking on our system’s edge is actually a black hole. Yep, you read that correctly; there may be a black hole lurking right in our cosmic back yard. The researchers plan on searching for this so-called “primordial” black hole using data from the Legacy Survey of Space Time, or LSST mission. The researchers say that they can use the data to search for evidence of accretion flares, which are created when objects get too close to a black hole. (7/12)

Starfighters Supports Super/Hypersonic Tests at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Starfighters)
With heightened DoD interest in hypersonic flight, commercial jets capable of Mach-2+ are an attractive testbed for evaluating new technologies intended for use on (or against) the coming breed of hypersonic aerospace vehicles. Starfighters Aerospace, with its fleet of F-104 jets at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, has been recruited to support recent flight tests of innovative hardware intended for military use.

The company's one- and two-seat supersonic aircraft, certified by the FAA for research and development programs, offers this capability at a fraction of the cost of current military aircraft. Tests successfully conducted last week included an instrument mounted under the aircraft's wing, flown at supersonic speeds over the Atlantic ocean in airspace adjacent to the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Click here. (7/13)

Spaceport America to Host Virtual Space Camp (Source: KRQE)
Exciting news for kids as Spaceport America will be hosting a virtual space camp. The camp is free and will focus on STEM activities for elementary and middle school students. All the science and space-based activities will utilize materials found at home. Space Camp kicks off July 20 on Spaceport America’s Facebook page. They will release a new activity and lesson every morning at 10 a.m. until Friday, July 24. Each video will include an educational aspect featuring staff from the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. (7/13)

Former Spaceflight CEO and French Entrepreneur Join Forces to Launch Astronaut Training Startup (Source: GeekWire)
If the 2010s were the decade when small satellites revolutionized the space industry, the 2020s will be when commercial space odysseys finally go mainstream. At least that’s the gamble that Jason Andrews, the co-founder and former CEO of Seattle-based Spaceflight Industries, is taking with French-born tech entrepreneur Nicolas Gaume.

Today Andrews and Gaume are taking the wraps off Orbite, a Seattle startup that will focus on getting would-be spacefliers ready for those future odysseys. “You’re going to go to a space camp for the next generation,” Gaume said. Gaume said Orbite (pronounced the French way, as “or-beet”) will focus on preflight training amid luxury accommodations. “Some people may never fly, by the way,” he said. “They’ll come to experience the preparation and hopefully get an amazing experience out of it.” (7/14)

Space Force STARCOM to Ensure Force Training and Readiness (Source: USSF)
STARCOM will train and educate space professionals, and develop combat-ready space forces to address the challenges of the warfighting domain of space.  Complete stand up of STARCOM is scheduled for 2021. In the interim, a provisional Space Training and Readiness Delta, led by an O-6, will be established in July at Peterson AFB. This unit will serve as the parent organization for a number of education, training, and operational test and evaluation units transferring to the Space Force in summer 2020. (6/30)

Hayabusa2 Returning to Earth in December with Asteroid Samples (Source: Kyodo)
Japan's Hayabusa2 spacecraft will return to Earth in December. The Japanese space agency JAXA said the spacecraft will arrive back on Earth Dec. 6, with a capsule carrying samples of the asteroid Ryugu reentering and landing in Australia. The main spacecraft will fly past Earth for an extended mission. Hayabusa2 launched in 2014 and will be the second mission to return samples from an asteroid. (7/14)

House Appropriators Unhappy with Space Force Acquisition Management (Source: Space News)
House appropriators are unhappy with the state of the U.S. Space Force's acquisition management. A report accompanying a spending bill to be taken up by the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday criticized the lack of a "Senate-confirmed senior civilian leader" responsible for space acquisitions. The lack of such an official is, the report stated, a "fundamental problem which must be addressed for the Space Force to succeed." The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act directed the Pentagon to name an assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration by 2022. (7/14)

Space Florida Supports Pursuit of Space Command HQ (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida held a call with staff from the Florida Congressional delegation to share details about the eight Florida communities that were submitted to the U.S. Air Force as candidates to house the U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM) headquarters. Following a basing eligibility overview process in partnership with Enterprise Florida, the Florida Defense Support Task Force and the Florida Defense Alliance, Governor Ron DeSantis has endorsed nomination letters for eight Florida communities to host the headquarters for USSPACECOM. (7/8)

NASA's Deep Space Station in Australia Is Getting an Upgrade (Source: Space Daily)
The Deep Space Network is NASA's interplanetary switchboard that enables constant communications with our robotic spacecraft. In March, one of the network's largest antennas - Deep Space Station 43 (DSS-43) in Canberra, Australia - began undergoing much-needed upgrades. Forty-eight years old and 70 meters (230 feet) wide, the dish recently received a new X-band frequency cone. Inside the cone is a powerful state-of-the-art transmitter system and highly sensitive receivers, which will be used to send commands to spacecraft and receive telemetry and science data back from robotic missions exploring the solar system. (7/13)

Space Bones (Source: University of Zurich)
The Dragon space capsule returned 250 test tubes containing human stem cells that spent a month on the International Space Station. The recovered tubes were then flown across the country to Florida's Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The next day, two scientists removed the screws from the lid and opened the box. It was the moment of truth. Far away in Zurich, Oliver Ullrich held his breath. The professor of anatomy at the University of Zurich is the director of the UZH Space Hub. The experiment with stem cells on the ISS is his brainchild, and that of his colleague Cora Thiel, a molecular biology researcher at UZH.

The two scientists and their team hope that their space project will provide new insights into how gravity influences the development and functioning of cells. Ullrich first investigated the behavior of cells in the absence of gravity at the Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg in 2004. “I hadn’t expected that the cells would react so strongly to weightlessness. These weren’t minor changes, but fundamental processes.” Ullrich quickly recognized the potential benefits his discovery could have for the manufacturing of tissue structures.

In conventional labs, human tissue is usually grown with the help of a so-called matrix. These tiny structures support the growing cells and protect them from being crushed by the forces of gravity. “This is anything but natural, of course,” says Oliver Ullrich. After the first few experiments, the UZH professor was convinced that it should be possible to manufacture human tissue in 3D without any additional matrix or other auxiliary structure – in other words, using a much simpler and possibly cost-effective method. Click here. (7/ 13)

Look Out Mars: Here We Come with an Fleet of Spacecraft (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Mars is about to be invaded by planet Earth — big time. Three countries — the US, China and the United Arab Emirates — are sending unmanned spacecraft to the red planet in quick succession this month, in the most sweeping effort yet to seek signs of ancient microscopic life while scouting out the place for future astronauts. The U.S., for its part, is on July 30 dispatching a six-wheeled rover the size of a car, named Perseverance, to collect rock samples that will be brought back to Earth for analysis in about a decade. Each spacecraft will travel more than 300 million miles before reaching Mars next February. It takes six to seven months, at the minimum, for a spacecraft to loop out beyond Earth's orbit and sync up with Mars' more distant orbit around the sun.

Scientists want to know what Mars was like billions of years ago when it had rivers, lakes and oceans that may have allowed simple, tiny organisms to flourish before the planet morphed into the barren, wintry desert world it is today. The UAE spacecraft, named Amal, is an orbiter scheduled to rocket away from Japan, on what will be the Arab world’s first interplanetary mission. The spacecraft, built in partnership with the University of Colorado Boulder, will arrive at Mars in the year the UAE marks the 50th anniversary of its founding. China will be up next, with the flight of a rover and an orbiter sometime around July 23; Chinese officials aren’t divulging much. The mission is named Tianwen, or Questions for Heaven. (7/13)