July 7, 2020

NASA’s Most Iconic Building is 55 Years Old and Just Getting Started (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA's Kennedy Space Center is now nearly six decades old—it was formally created on July 1, 1962 as a separate entity from Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama. Construction began soon after. At the time, the "Launch Operations Directorate" under Wernher von Braun and his team of German scientists was based at Marshall. But NASA's leaders realized they would need their own facilities in Florida alongside the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. So they created a new "Launch Operations Center" on nearby Merritt Island. President Lyndon B. Johnson would rename the facility Kennedy Space Center a week after President John F. Kennedy's November 1963 assassination in Dallas. (7/5)

India Holds Superiority Over China for Satellite Surveillance (Source: India Defense News)
India have eyes above China's satellites looking down at the nation's borders in the north. Though China does have more satellites, India outdoes them when it comes to surveillance satellites. India has deployed the world's most powerful surveillance satellite CARTOSAT-3, and RISAT-2BR1 to observe the northern borders. In its orbit 509 km above, the satellite is keeping an eye on both Pakistan and China. The Chinese presence in Ladakh was spotted in March itself by these satellites. China's reluctance to de-escalate was also spotted by the nation's eyes in the sky.

CARTOSAT-3 can take pictures of objects with just 25 cm size up to areas of 16 square kilometres and transfer it to ground station within seconds. It's much more capable than America's World View 4 satellite. RISAT-2BR1 satellite can do surveillance in adverse conditions and in dark. China has launched 363 satellites to India's 118. As they fear American intrusion, the focus is on South China sea. Only once in five days, the Chinese satellite flies over the Indian border. Following the conflict with India, they have launched another surveillance satellite. (6/30)

L3Harris hiring two hundred engineers in Utah (Source: KSTU)
L3Harris is the eighth biggest private employer in Salt Lake County, the 15th biggest in Utah and they are one of the ten biggest defense contractors in America. But don’t feel bad if you haven’t heard of them. It’s supposed to be that way. L3Harris manufactures technology they can’t really talk about, says their Vice President of Engineering in Utah, Aurora Taylor-Rojas. Beyond just continuing their work, L3Harris is building a new factory in Utah and they are advertising 200 new positions for engineers. (7/6)

Why Outer Space Matters in a Post-Pandemic World (Source: Phys.org)
With all of the immense challenges we face on Earth this year, space can feel like an afterthought. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the hope of a growing space industry was palpable. Ribbons were cut, buildings were dedicated and Australia's space industry was going to triple in size in just ten years. But a few weeks into March, Europe and then Australia were slowly grinding to a halt as the reality of COVID-19 set in.

Satellite images from ESA's Copernicus Sentinel-2 mission in space showed the extent to which the virus lockdown was affecting major cities. Next came the dramatic global economic downturn that seemed certain to crush Australia's space ambitions. Consultants began sending a flurry of email surveys to see how everyone in the industry was coping. How would this change the future of our nation's newest dream?

Work in the space industry has always continued even under the most difficult circumstances. Missions take years to plan and launch. The global space industry has, out of necessity, always embraced uncertainty. Innovation will not stop. International cooperation is still strong. Missions are continuing. It was just announced that the European Union is signing a billion-euro agreement with French global launch services company Arianespace, with the hope of injecting another 16 billion euros into the European space industry by 2027. (7/6)

General Atomics Wins NASA Smallsat for Earth Science (Source: NASA)
General Atomics has won a contract to build a NASA space science smallsat mission. The $32.9 million contract, announced Thursday, covers the development and operations of the Total and Spectral Solar Irradiance Sensor-2 spacecraft. NASA previously awarded a contract to the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at the University of Colorado Boulder to built the main instrument for the mission. The satellite will enabled continued measurements of solar irradiance to help scientists understand the sun's influence on climate. NASA has not disclosed a launch date for the mission. (7/6)

China Launches Two Satellites Within 48 Hours (Source: Space News)
China carried out two launches less than 48 hours apart over the weekend. A Long March 4B launched a high resolution Gaofen "multi-mode" Earth observation satellite from the Taiyuan launch center in north China occurred at 11:10 p.m. Eastern Thursday. The satellite will provide sub-meter-resolution full-color images, has multispectral capabilities and utilizes an atmospheric synchronization calibrator for reducing the impact of fog and haze on imagery.

A Long March 2D carried the Shiyan-6 (02) experimental remote sensing satellite into orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:45 p.m. Eastern Saturday. Chinese media said the satellite is intended for "space environment study and related technology experiments." A similar description is used for Yaogan series satellites, which are understood by Western analysts to be used for military reconnaissance. (7/6)

Israel Launches Spy Satellite on Shavit Rocket (Source: Space News)
Israel launched a reconnaissance satellite Sunday night. A Shavit rocket lifted off from the Palmachim air base in central Israel at 9:00 p.m. Eastern and placed the Ofek 16 satellite into orbit. The satellite is the latest in a line of Israeli satellites that produce high-resolution imagery for the country's military. The previous Ofek satellite, Ofek 11, launched in 2016. (7/6)

Blue Canyon to Produce Satellite Buses for DARPA Blackjack (Source: Space News)
Blue Canyon Technologies has a contract to produce up to 20 satellite buses for DARPA's Blackjack program. The company is currently producing four satellite buses for the program under a $14.1 million contract awarded last month by DARPA. The contract has options for DARPA to buy up to 20 satellites for $99.4 million. The contract puts Blue Canyon in a position to become the leading supplier of satellites buses for Blackjack, an elaborate project to demonstrate the military utility of a mesh network of small satellites in low Earth orbit. Although DARPA signed study contracts with other bus providers, only Blue Canyon has a production contract. (7/6)

National Spaceports: The Past (Source: Space Review)
The Defense Department is considering concepts for “national spaceports” at the existing launch ranges in Florida and California. Wayne Eleazer looks at how the ranges were managed in the past as a guide for the future. Click here. (7/6)
 
It’s (Small) Rocket Science, After All (Source: Space Review)
Rocket Lab, the leader among small launch vehicle startups, suffered a setback over the weekend when an Electron launch failed. Jeff Foust reports other small launcher companies have also struggled technically, even as US government agencies offer new contract opportunities for them. Click here. (7/6)
 
“Artemis 8” Using Dragon (Source: Space Review)
Could a Crew Dragon spacecraft be sent to the Moon? Robert Zubrin lays out the case for how a version of the Apollo 8 mission could be done with existing spacecraft and launch vehicles. Click here. (7/6)
 
Enhancing Space Deterrence Thinking for Nuclear Threshold Threats (Source: Space Review)
In the second part of his examination of space deterrence strategy, Christopher Stone uses the example of North Korea as a way to explore the threats facing the US, and US space systems in particular. Click here. (7/6)

NASA Still Honors A Nazi Who Used Slave Labor To Build His Rockets (Source: NASA Watch)
At a time when everyone seems to be taking a hard look at commemorating past events with a light shone on racism and the denial of human rights, one would think that someone at NASA would reconsider having the heroic bust of a Nazi SS member who used slave labor to build his rockets as the way to greet people who arrive for work every day at NASA Marshall Spaceflight Center. NASA openly admits that von Braun used slave labor. Yes he was the first center director at Marshall and led a large part of the Apollo effort that landed humans on the Moon. No one is suggesting that this be erased from the history books. But should NASA continue to honor him like this? (7/6)

Could There Be Life Near These Two New Super-Earths? (Source: Popular Mechanics)
Astronomers have discovered a new crop of super-Earths orbiting a red dwarf star just 11 light-years away. Two exoplanets have been confirmed, while a third is still awaiting confirmation. The star, GJ 887, is an M-type red dwarf and appears to be unusually quiet, which is good news in the search for life's building blocks. GJ 887 is the 12th closest planetary system to Earth, according to NASA. The recently discovered planets around it lie just outside the habitable zone, where liquid water—not water vapor or ice—could exist on the surface of a rocky world. Astronomers believe worlds that lie within this region could potentially house life.

With orbital periods lasting 9.8 and 21.8 days, respectively, GJ 887b and GJ 887c are too close to the star to be habitable. Computer simulations revealed that surface temperatures could stretch to around 170 degrees Fahrenheit. The third, unconfirmed planet, however, has a much longer 50-day orbital period and lies just within the habitable zone. (7/6)

L3Harris Begins Deployment of Air Force Satellite Constellation for Reconnaissance (Source: Space News)
L3Harris says it has launched the first of a constellation of small reconnaissance satellites for the U.S. Air Force. L3Harris said Monday the constellation of small satellites will provide imagery to military operators on the ground. It launched the first satellite two years after receiving a fixed-price contract from the Air Force. The program is classified, so details such as the value of the contract, the date of the launch or the vehicle that flew the satellite cannot be disclosed, but the Air Force did allow the company to reveal the program's existence as an example of a "responsive space" system. (7/7)

OneWeb Revival Could Harm Astronomy (Source: Space News)
A revival of OneWeb could be bad news for astronomers. At a conference Friday, astronomers said the potential for up to 48,000 OneWeb satellites could significantly affect observations because those satellites, orbiting at higher altitudes than SpaceX's Starlink constellation, would be visible longer each night. Astronomers said they hope that the U.K. government, who will be one of the new owners of OneWeb, will be more proactive in addressing astronomers' concerns. The same astronomers, by contrast, praised SpaceX for working with astronomers and taking measures like its "VisorSat" design to reduce the brightness of the Starlink satellites. (7/7)

NOAA Forecasters Get New Capability for Storm Tracking (Source: Space News)
New satellite radio occultation data is arriving just in time for weather forecasters. NOAA forecasters predicting an active 2020 hurricane season are refining storm track and intensity forecasts thanks to data from multiple satellites, including the six-satellite COSMIC-2 system launched last year that collects radio occultation data. A new NOAA Hurricane Weather Research and Forecasting computer model incorporates COSMIC-2 data along with other weather satellites in polar and geostationary orbits. NOAA plans in the future to incorporate commercially procured radio occultation satellite data. (7/7)

Roscosmos Adviser Arrested for Espionage (Source: Sputnik)
An adviser to the head of Roscosmos has been arrested on espionage charges. Ivan Safronov is accused of providing classified information to NATO security services, according to the Russian Federal Security Service, which did not provide additional details about the allegations. Roscosmos said that Safronov's arrest is not related to his work as an adviser to Dmitry Rogozin but instead earlier work covering military and space topics for Russian publications. (7/7)

Supercritical Water Could Bathe Some Exoplanets (Source: Science News)
Some exoplanets might have an exotic state of water that's not quite either liquid or gas. New research argues that a class of planets known as "mini-Neptunes" might be rocky worlds covered with a layer of "supercritical" water, an exotic phase of water that is between a liquid and a gas. Modeling of mini-Neptunes indicates that some of that class of exoplanets seen to date, particularly those orbiting close to their stars, are more likely to have supercritical water rather than layers of hydrogen and helium gas. (7/7)