April 16, 2021

SpaceX Wins NASA Contest to Build Astronaut Lunar Lander (Sources: Florida Today, CNBC)
Elon Musk’s SpaceX beat out teams led by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin and Leidos subsidiary Dynetics to win a NASA contract to build its next crewed lunar lander. SpaceX’s contract is worth $2.9 billion. Three groups, the Blue Origin National Team, Dynetics and SpaceX, had been vying to win the highly sought-after contract each with different approaches and spacecraft. Blue Origin’s team included a partnership with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper.

NASA had originally said it would choose two groups in order to promote competition and ensure redundancy in case one company can’t deliver in time. This was the same approach NASA used for its commercial Crew program to return astronauts to the International Space Station when it chose SpaceX and Boeing to both build capsules. So far only SpaceX has been successful in achieving that goal.

Choosing one provider may have come down to budget. Last year NASA had originally requested $3.2 billion for the human lunar landing system. Instead, Congress earmarked $850 million for the spacecraft. Earlier this month, the Biden administration proposed a $24.7 billion budget for NASA, which included an additional $325 million for the Artemis program. According the to the Washington Post, SpaceX’s bid was the lowest by a wide margin with the bid from Dynetics being the most expensive. (4/16)

NASA Study of Path Forward for Artemis Gateway Delays SpaceX Cargo Contract (Source: Space News)
NASA has yet to start a contract it awarded to SpaceX more than a year ago for delivering cargo to the lunar Gateway. NASA selected SpaceX's Dragon XL for the Gateway Logistics Services program, a contract with a value of up to $7 billion over 15 years to carry cargo to the lunar Gateway.

However, NASA officials recently noted that it has yet to formally start work on the contract, instead issuing a number of small contract modifications for preparatory activities. NASA said that it is currently conducting an overall assessment of the Artemis program, including schedules for the development of Gateway, and will wait until after that study is complete before deciding when to issue a formal authorization to proceed on that logistics contract. (4/16)

France Names New Space Chief (Source: CNES)
The French government has selected a new head of its space agency, CNES. The government this week formally appointed Philippe Baptiste as the new president of CNES, succeeding Jean-Yves Le Gall. Baptiste worked in computer science fields such as artificial intelligence, and also was chief of staff to Frédérique Vidal, the Minister for Higher Education, Research and Innovation, whose portfolio includes space. Baptiste said in confirmation hearings he supported the Ariane 6 launch vehicle and also endorsed a European Union proposal to develop a broadband satellite constellation. (4/16)

NASA Adds ULA Vulcan to Launch Services Contract (Source: NASA)
NASA added United Launch Alliance's new Vulcan Centaur rocket to a key contract. The agency said Thursday that Vulcan was added to the NASA Launch Services II contract, making it eligible to compete for future agency satellite launches run through that program. Vulcan Centaur is scheduled to make its first flight late this year. NASA added Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket, also still under development, to the contract last year. (4/15)

California Supports Satellite Mapping of Greenhouse Gas Producers (Source: Space News)
A consortium that includes the state of California, JPL and Planet will collaborate on a constellation of satellites to track greenhouse gas emissions. Carbon Mapper, announced Thursday, is a partnership that will develop a series of satellites with hyperspectral imagers designed to pinpoint emissions of carbon dioxide and methane. The satellites will be based on Planet's Skysat series of spacecraft, with the first two scheduled for launch in 2023.

The program dates back to a pledge made in 2016 by then-Gov. Jerry Brown for California to "launch its own damn satellites" to monitor climate change in response to concerns the Trump administration would cut research in the field. (4/16)

LeoLabs Adding Satellite Tracking Capacity (Source: Space News)
LeoLabs is adding more sensors and data processing capacity to improve tracking in preparation for a surge in satellite launches. The company operates three radars for tracking satellites and debris in orbit, with a fourth under construction and two more planned for 2022. The company currently tracks 14,000 satellites and pieces of debris, and expects to be tracking 250,000 two years from now. LeoLabs offers a collision avoidance service, leveraging the computing power of Amazon Web Services to check trajectories. In the coming years, LeoLabs will add new services aimed at emerging industries like satellite servicing and active debris removal. (4/16)

Iceye Establishes U.S. Headquarters and Manufacturing Facility in California (Source: Space News)
Iceye is establishing a new satellite manufacturing facility and U.S. headquarters in Southern California. The Finnish company announced Thursday it is setting up a satellite manufacturing facility, research and development laboratory, and mission operations center in Irvine, California. The company also announced an agreement April 15 with In-Q-Tel, the U.S. intelligence community's nonprofit investment organization, that includes an unspecified investment in Iceye. (4/16)

Ball Hires Former Federal Officials to Bolster Space Team (Source: Politico)
Raha Hakimdavar, who was previously a hydrologist and acting national program lead for the U.S. Forest Service’s remote sensing, monitoring and geospatial analysis research activities, is now the director of space sciences at Ball Aerospace. Tom McIntyre , who was most recently deputy director of the National Reconnaissance Office’s Office of Space Launch, is now director of government relations at Ball Aerospace. (4/16)

Will Sanctions Against Russia Impact Space? (Source: Politico)
Americans and Russians were living and working together 254 miles above the White House when President Joe Biden announced new sanctions on Thursday to punish Moscow for its attempt to interfere in the American presidential election and cyberattacks. (There are currently five American, four Russians and one Japanese astronaut aboard the International Space Station.)

Russia is expected to respond in some way to the sanctions. But will it impact the relationship between the two nations’ civil space programs? It’s possible, said Jeffrey Edmonds, a former director for Russia on the National Security Council, especially if ties between the two countries in space weaken. For example, the U.S. no longer relies on Russia for rides to the space station, and there are no plans for Russia and the U.S. to work together when the International Space Station is retired this decade.

“It is not beyond the imagination that at some point Russia could sever all space cooperation with the United States as a show of its discontent with U.S. policy,” Edmonds said. “I see it as low probability at this point but definitely something worth keeping an eye on. If Russia wants to respond strongly to U.S. actions, it may choose to do so in areas where it sees itself in more peer-to-peer terms, space being one of those.” (4/16)

Pentagon Confirms Videos Show UFOs (Source: CNN)
The Defense Department has confirmed that leaked photos and video of "unidentified aerial phenomena" taken in 2019 are indeed legitimate images of unexplained objects. Photos and videos of triangle-shaped objects blinking and moving through the clouds were taken by Navy personnel, Pentagon spokeswoman Sue Gough said in a statement to CNN. She also confirmed that photos of three unidentified flying objects — one "sphere" shaped, another "acorn" shaped and one characterized as a "metallic blimp" — were also taken by Navy personnel.

"As we have said before, to maintain operations security and to avoid disclosing information that may be useful to potential adversaries, DOD does not discuss publicly the details of either the observations or the examinations of reported incursions into our training ranges or designated airspace, including those incursions initially designated as UAP," Gough said. Click here. (4/16)

NASA Funds Interstellar Probe and Space Habitats Made From Fungi (Source: Gizmodo)
The latest round of NASA funding to boost the development of advanced concepts includes a space-based neutrino detector, an interstellar probe powered by solar sails, and a radio telescope built inside a crater on the far side of the Moon. The NIAC program encourages out-of-the-box thinking. An idea proposed by Lynn Rothschild, a scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California, does exactly that, as NASA explains:

[The team] will further study ways to grow structures, perhaps for future space habitats, out of fungi. This phase of research will build on previous mycelia production, fabrication, and testing techniques. Rothschild, along with an international team, will test different fungi, growth conditions, and pore size on small prototypes at environmental conditions relevant to the Moon and Mars. The research will also assess terrestrial applications, including biodegradable plates and rapid, low-cost structures. (4/13)

NASA Funds Research into Flying Environmental Sensors for Venus Exploration (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The LEAVES (Lofted Environmental and Atmospheric VEnus Sensors) architecture is a “swarm” approach to obtaining key, in situ, Venus atmospheric data for exceptionally low cost and risk. This is made possible by an ultra-lightweight, passively-lofted, inexpensive atmospheric sensor package that can be deployed directly from orbit without an aeroshell and is sensitive enough to yield valuable new, transformative information on planetary atmospheres.

LEAVES uniquely enables atmospheric sensing through combining miniaturized sensors, electronics, and communications on a lightweight physical “kite” that acts as a passive, drifting body when in the presence of a substantial planetary atmosphere, like the cloud-bearing upper and middle atmosphere of Venus. This allows for ~9 hours of science operations at the targeted regions in Venus’ clouds. (4/15)

Here’s How New Space Tech is Helping Electronic Warfare Forces on the Ground (Source: C4ISRnet)
The Space Development Agency is providing valuable and rapid electronic warfare capabilities in the tactical sphere, a top Pentagon official said. Previously, most of the tactical electronic warfare support from the space sensing layer resulted from collaboration between the military and the intelligence community, which created barriers to timely information sharing for war fighters on the ground. Now with organic, so-called Title 10 space sensors deployed by the Space Development Agency, data can be shared more quickly.

The sensors deployed in orbit by the agency create organic military capabilities with real-time access and that provide greater force protection, according to David Tremper, director of electronic warfare within the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisition and Sustainment. The speed becomes especially important as adversaries’ abilities to sense and target friendly systems is becoming more expansive, Tremper said. Forces also have a much wider area to defend. (4/13)

Space Command's Home Will Be Decided by Congress, Lamborn Says (Source: The Gazette)
When former President Trump awarded the permanent basing of U.S. Space Command headquarters to Alabama, where he had some of his highest approval ratings, in his final week in office, he yanked the command from front-runner Colorado Springs. In so doing, he triggered a pair of government investigations that lawmakers say could ultimately doom Trump's decision.

Where Space Command is based has wide-ranging implications, from U.S. efforts to confront adversaries’ hostile actions in orbit to billions of dollars in unneeded investments of taxpayer funds, leaders have argued. Trump overruled the Air Force secretary’s advice by choosing Alabama on Jan. 13, just seven days before he left office. The results of ongoing reviews could sway President Biden or Congress to reverse it. Colorado Republican Rep. Doug Lamborn, whose district includes the current Space Command headquarters, said the process was politicized and flawed from the beginning.

"Their decision was originally for Colorado Springs," he said. "They were told by the president, 'You change this to Alabama,' and they just went back and found ways to justify that decision." Lamborn says it doesn't matter what the Air Force thinks now. "It really doesn't matter to me what the Air Force wants to do because the military is under civilian control," Lamborn said. "They do blow it sometimes. And this is just another example of that," he said. (4/13)

Do We Need a Space National Guard? Colorado Says Yes, but Congress is Not So Sure (Source: Air Force Times)
The Colorado House of Representatives unanimously passed a bill Friday that lays the legal framework for the state to establish the Colorado Space National Guard. But before any Coloradans head to the recruiting station, they should know there’s a catch — the U.S. Congress has to authorize a Space National Guard first.

The new state legislation will allow “[Colorado’s] Air National Guard space units to transition to the Space National Guard once the federal government establishes the Space National Guard,” according to its summary. The bill also updates all state laws referencing the branches of the armed forces — such as employment protection laws — to include the active-duty Space Force as well.

The bill, which is currently under consideration in the state Senate, is written so that the Space National Guard portions only take effect “if the federal government creates the Space National Guard in the ‘FY 2022 National Defense Authorization Act.’” Greg Dorman, legislative director for the Colorado Department of Military and Veteran Affairs, notes that the “Colorado National Guard was home to the first Air Guard and Army Guard space units.” (4/15)

Russia is Going Back to the Moon This Year (Source: Space.com)
Russia is revisiting its Soviet space heritage for a new series of missions that will take the nation back to the moon. The first of those missions, dubbed Luna 25, is scheduled to launch this October, ending a 45-year drought of Russian moon landings with the nation's first arrival at the south pole, where, like everyone else targeting the moon, Russian scientists want to study water locked below the surface in permanent ice. But Luna 25 is only the beginning. There are five lunar missions in various planning stages. In 2023 or 2024, Russia plans to launch Luna 26, this time an orbiter that would look for magnetic and gravitational anomalies in the moon and capture high-precision images of potential landing sites.

Then, in 2025, it would be back to the surface with Luna 27, which Zelenyi called "I think the most important." Like the lander arriving this year, Luna 27 will target the moon's south pole and carry European landing software. But also on the robot courtesy of the European Space Agency would be a first: a drill that can gather south-pole lunar rock without melting compounds like water ice found in the material.

In addition, the lander will carry a suite of instruments designed to study how the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing out of the sun and across the solar system, affects the lunar surface. The final two missions in the Luna series as described by Zelenyi don't yet have launch dates. But Luna 28, also known as Luna-Grunt, would build directly on its predecessor by bringing back to Earth cryogenically stored samples from the lunar south pole that would retain water ice and other so-called volatile compounds. (4/15)

The EmDrive Isn’t Dead Yet ... Says the Guy Who Invented the EmDrive (Source: Popular Mechanics)
After a widely reported set of recent studies all but killed the controversial EmDrive, the propulsion device’s inventor has fired back by pointing out what he calls critical errors in the research. The device theoretically works by trapping microwaves in a shaped chamber where their bouncing produces thrust. The chamber is closed, meaning from the outside, it will appear to simply move without any fuel input or any thrust output. You can’t have spontaneous, created momentum without an explicable push, which is why many scientists don’t take the EmDrive seriously.

Several research groups—including at NASA and DARPA—have continued exploring the device’s viability. Using a new measuring scale and different suspension points of the same engine, TU Dresden scientists “were able to reproduce apparent thrust forces similar to those measured by the NASA team, but also to make them disappear by means of a point suspension, ...When power flows into the EmDrive, the engine warms up. This also causes the fastening elements on the scale to warp, causing the scale to move to a new zero point. We were able to prevent that in an improved structure.

Roger Shawyer, inventor of the device, has offered his rebuttal. “The NASA cavity, which is the basis for [TU Dresden’s] work and at least three other organizations’ work is fatally flawed,” he said. “It’s a flat endplate cavity for a start. If you do the simple geometry, you’ll see that you’ve got a wavefront phase error approaching half a wavelength. You’re never going to get traveling waves in a flat front cavity. There are many other problems he has.” As for the next practical steps in the continuing development of the device, Shawyer suggested flying first-generation EmDrive thrusters and then flying small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the second and third generations. (4/13)

Blue Origin Suborbital Space Tourism Missions Coming "Soon" (Source: The Verge)
With recent New Shepard launches, Blue Origin has been gradually testing new hardware tailored for flying humans. The last mission, NS-14 in January, included little screens and push-to-talk buttons for each of the capsule’s six passenger seats. That capsule also had upgraded “acoustics and temperature regulation” as well as microphones and speakers to “test a number of astronaut communication and safety alert systems.”

Blue Origin hasn’t said when exactly it’ll fly humans for the first time, and during the broadcast today, the company’s spokespeople only said that the first crewed flight would happen “soon.” The company, founded in 2000, hoped to launch humans for the first time before the end of 2020, but its launches last year were delayed. (4/14)

Branson Sells Over $150 Million in Virgin Galactic Stock (Source: CNBC)
Sir Richard Branson sold more than $150 million worth of the company’s stock over the past three days, a securities filing on Wednesday revealed. Branson, the founder of Virgin Galactic, took the company public through a SPAC merger with Chamath Palihapitiya’s firm in 2019. Branson’s sale comes a month after Palihapitiya sold his remaining personal stake in the company. Virgin Group remains the largest shareholder in Virgin Galactic, with a 24% stake. (4/15)

Japan's Ispace to Deliver UAE Lunar Mission (Source: Delano)
Space robotics firm ispace is to deliver the Emirates Lunar Mission rover to the moon in 2022, after signing as a key strategic partner. The Japanese firm, which has a subsidiary in Luxembourg, will transport the Rashid rover to the moon on its lunar lander during Mission 1, part of its commercial programme known as ‘HAKUTO-R’. Ispace said that in addition to payload delivery services, it will also provide wired communication and power during the cruise phase, and engage in wireless communication on the lunar surface. Ispace was selected as a partner based on its technological credibility, the firm said. (4/14)

What Early Users Think About Starlink Service (Source: CNBC)
To get real-life first impressions of the service, CNBC spoke to more than 50 people who have been using Starlink. Those surveyed included households in Canada and 13 U.S. states: California, Colorado, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Ohio, Oregon, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming. The majority of these Starlink users are in rural or remote areas, such as farmland or wilderness, with limited access to terrestrial broadband options – and a few with no access altogether.

“I expect to keep the service long term,” a user in Montana told CNBC. “The price of the beta for the service is more reasonable than any other option we have, and those are worse in performance. I will keep Starlink as long as its the only broadband option available to me.”

SpaceX priced the user equipment well below its actual cost, with the company currently absorbing about two-thirds of the cost of the customer equipment. Users’ upfront costs ranged from $550 to as much as $800 – varying based on taxes, shipping costs, and additional equipment needed such as roof mounts or third-party items for installation. (4/15)

South Texas Locals Warn SpaceX Expansion Could Lead to More Environmental Harm and Gentrification (Source: Texas Standard)
Local officials and activists in the Rio Grande Valley are concerned that these launches are harming the environment, and that further expansion of the company in South Texas could increase gentrification.

Gaige Davila, a writer and editor of the Port Isabel-South Padre Press, told Texas Standard that activists have been warning about the potential negative impacts of SpaceX’s presence in the area since 2014.

“What [activists] are now saying is that not only could these test launches and this attempted expansion of SpaceX into what they’re calling ‘Starbase’ … is that not only could it impact the environment there but it could impact cities like the Laguna Madre area which consists of South Padre Island, Port Isabel, Laguna Vista, Laguna Heights, but also into Brownsville,” Davila said. (4/14)

SpaceX Mating Crew Dragon to Falcon-9 for Next NASA ISS Mission (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX trucked its Crew Dragon Endeavour spacecraft — refurbished with a new heat shield and structural enhancements — across the Cape Canaveral spaceport this week for attachment to a Falcon 9 rocket ahead of a planned liftoff next Thursday with four astronauts heading to the International Space Station. The crew capsule arrived Tuesday at the hangar near pad 39A at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

Once the capsule was inside the cavernous hangar, SpaceX teams lifted the spacecraft of its transporter and rotated it horizontal for a connection with its Falcon 9 launcher. SpaceX plans to roll the Falcon 9 and Crew Dragon Endeavour up the ramp to pad 39A later this week ahead of a test-firing and a launch dress rehearsal this weekend. (4/14)