July 5, 2020

Rocket Lab Launch Fails to Achieve Orbit (Source: Space News)
A Rocket Lab Electron rocket failed to reach orbit during a July 4 launch after a problem during the rocket’s second-stage burn. The Electron rocket lifted off from the company’s Launch Complex 1 at Mahia Peninsula, New Zealand, at 5:19 p.m. Eastern. The launch was originally scheduled for July 3 but pushed back two days because of poor weather in the forecast, only for the company to move up the launch to July 4 based on a reassessment of the weather.

The initial phases of the launch appeared to go as planned, although the vehicle’s passage through “max-q,” or maximum dynamic pressure, appeared to be rougher than what was seen in previous launches. Onboard video taken shortly before first-stage separation showed material appearing to peel from the rocket, although it was not clear if it simply a decal applied to the rocket or something more substantial. The onboard video from the rocket froze about five minutes and 45 seconds after liftoff, or three minutes into the seconds stage burn. At six and a half minutes after liftoff, a launch controller on the company’s webcast of the launch said, “Initiating mishap response plan.” (7/4)

Rapid Arctic Meltdown in Siberia Alarms Scientists (Source: Washington Post)
Alexander Deyev can still taste the smoke from last year’s wildfires that blanketed the towns near his home in southeastern Siberia, and he is dreading their return. “It just felt like you couldn’t breathe at all,” said Deyev, 32, who lives in Irkutsk, a Siberian region along Lake Baikal, just north of the Mongolian border. But already this year, fires in the spring arrived earlier and with more ferocity, government officials have said. In the territory where Deyev lives, fires were three times as large this April as the year before. And the hot, dry summer lies ahead.

Much of the world remains consumed with the deadly novel coronavirus. The United States, crippled by the pandemic, is in the throes of a divisive presidential campaign and protests over racial inequality. But at the top of the globe, the Arctic is enduring its own summer of discontent. Wildfires are raging amid ­record-breaking temperatures. Permafrost is thawing, infrastructure is crumbling and sea ice is dramatically vanishing. In Siberia and across much of the Arctic, profound changes are unfolding more rapidly than scientists anticipated only a few years ago. Shifts that once seemed decades away are happening now, with potentially global implications. (7/3)

How A Bold US Senator Is Leveraging The Space Race For A Better Tomorrow (Source: Forbes)
The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), an agency within the Defense Department that analyzes and disseminates space derived intelligence for the U.S. government, has moved to leverage the commercial space systems that have become a key piece of its infrastructure. As commercial prices decrease while quality increases through competition, commercial systems and services have secured the confidence and support of important facets of the government, including the key member of the all-important Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, Senator Roy Blunt.

Senator Blunt's growing rhetorical advocacy has translated into tangible support that bolsters the industries around the small satellite ecosystem. As recent events have transpired throughout the first half of 2020, data derived from commercial platforms have demonstrated considerable utility, making older, more exquisite space systems nearly obsolete. The implications of this shift say less about the current commercial companies’ data delivery and point more to the operational reliability of their geospatial information. (6/30)

Beyond Earth Institute Releases New Insights on Human Space Expansion (Source: SpaceRef)
Space policy think tank the Beyond Earth Institute has revealed new research findings in a report titled, "Policy Recommendations to Accelerate the Establishment of Communities in Space." The report is the result of series of interviews with seven thought leaders within space policy, education, and exploration. Based on the expertise of these figures within the industry, Beyond Earth authors made the derived policy recommendations:

1) The US Government must revamp the arms and export control regime, including ITAR and CFIUS, as these regulations in their current form are hurting high-tech U.S. commercial development, failing to achieve their goals, and impeding progress towards permanent human habitation of space. 2) The international aerospace industry should establish voluntary norms of behavior surrounding commercial activities in space. These norms may be administered by trade associations and should be designed to influence any future regulatory, legal, or diplomatic framework covering private sector space activity. 3) The US Government should establish a whole-of-government sectoral trade and exploration agreement with like-minded allies focused on space commercial development and the eventual establishment of permanent human communities in space. (7/1)

China Launches Satellite for Space Environment Study (Source: Xinhua)
China successfully sent a satellite for space environment study and related technology experiments into the planned orbit from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China on Sunday. The satellite, the second of the Shiyan-6 series, was launched by a Long March-2D carrier rocket at 7:44 a.m. (Beijing Time), according to the center. Sunday's launch was the 338th by the Long March rocket series. (7/5)