April 20, 2021

Ingenuity Helicopter's Success Could Bring More on Future Missions (Source: Space News)
After a successful first flight of the Mars helicopter Ingenuity, NASA is looking ahead to future flights and, perhaps, future helicopters. At a briefing Monday, project officials said the helicopter's first flight earlier that day went as expected. The next flight is scheduled for Thursday, going to an altitude of five meters and going sideways two meters and back before landing. The project hopes to perform up to four flights in the next two weeks that will will push the limits of the helicopter. NASA officials noted at the briefing that Ingenuity has demonstrated technology that could be used for future Mars missions, although it's uncertain when a helicopter will next fly on Mars. (4/20)

NRO Plans Growth in Commercial SAR Imagery (Source: Space News)
NRO expects to sign new deals with commercial providers of satellite radar imagery. NRO awarded SAR imagery provider Capella Space a contract in late 2019 to experiment with the use of the company’s data and figure out the utility of the data for national security. A future round of commercial imagery contracts will focus on SAR imagery, the director of the NRO's Commercial Systems Program Office said. The NRO got a significant response to a request for information last year about domestic providers of SAR imagery. (4/20)

Army Considers Tactical Space Sensors (Source: Space News)
U.S. Army leaders have signed off on plans to explore the development of a "tactical space layer." The effort, led by the U.S. Army's Futures Command, based in Austin, Texas, will examine the use of satellites in low Earth orbit to give soldiers dedicated surveillance, navigation and imaging capabilities. Of particular interest is navigation services, as the Army worries that adversaries in a conflict will jam GPS and want to have backup systems available. The project will focus on "rapid experimentation and prototyping efforts for tactical space-based sensors with supporting ground-based equipment," the Army said Monday. (4/20)

Thaicom a Barrier to Parent Company's Sale (Source: Space News)
A Thai company wants to buy the parent of satellite operator Thaicom, but not Thaicom itself. Gulf Energy Development, a Thailand-based power producer, proposed buying Intouch Holdings for $5.4 billion, but said it did not want to acquire all the outstanding shares of Thaicom. The company is asking Thailand's securities regulator to waive a requirement to make an offer for all of the satellite operator's shares. Thaicom reported a 23.7% decline in revenues from sales and services in 2020, primarily because it had to deorbit the Thaicom 5 satellite in February 2020. (4/20)

China Plans $3 Billion Investment in Space Data Supercomputing (Source: Reuters)
China plans to invest $3 billion in a supercomputing center devoted to space data. The center, to be established at the Wenchang launch center by the end of the year, will focus on "big data" services, using information from satellites to assist the aerospace and maritime industries. That data is expected to come from proposed Chinese commercial satellite constellations. (4/20)

Astronaut Launch to Boost Space Coast Tourism (Source: Florida Today)
As another generation of astronauts launches from the Space Coast — now on SpaceX rockets — Laurilee Thompson is seeing a resurgence of revenue at her Dixie Crossroads restaurant, tied to the space program. And so are other local businesses, ranging from hotels to gas stations. Space Coast Office of Tourism Executive Director Peter Cranis said an estimated 220,000 people from outside the county came to Brevard for the first SpaceX Crew Dragon human spaceflight last May.

Unlike in the shuttle era, the Office of Tourism now can track visitor counts through a sophisticated method of using cellphone signals, and can determine how many of the phones in a particular area are from out of the county. The estimated visitor spending for the first Crew Dragon launch was $44 million — and that doesn't count the spending for those who were here for an earlier launch attempt that was scrubbed. The timing of the next crewed launch is not ideal for tourism —  6:11 a.m. Thursday. But that could encourage more space fans to come into Brevard a day or two earlier, check into a local hotel, and plan to stay through the weekend, in case the first launch attempt is scrubbed.

Cranis said that, with the increasing cadence of crewed and uncrewed launches — potentially 40 to 50 launches this year — people coming to the Space Coast for a random week of vacation have a pretty good chance of viewing a launch. If you live on the Space Coast, rocket launches are common sights. But, if you live in the Northeast or Midwest, "it's a real bucket-list item for many people," Cranis said. And a launch like Thursday's scheduled Crew-2 mission, with four astronauts flying ina Crew Dragon capsule to the International Space Station, is extra-special. (4/19)

Satellite Imagery Key to Powering Google Earth (Source: Space Daily)
One of the most comprehensive pictures of our changing planet is now available to the public. Thanks to the close collaboration between Google Earth, ESA, the European Commission, NASA and the US Geological Survey, 24 million satellite photos from the past 37 years have been embedded into a new layer of Google Earth - creating a new, explorable view of time on our planet.

In the biggest update to Google Earth since 2017, users can now discover our planet in an entirely new dimension - time. With a new feature called Timelapse in Google Earth, users can witness nearly four decades of change across the entire planet. The update will show the visual evidence of the drastic changes taking place in our world including the effects of climate change and human behavior. (4/16)

Astronauts Need a Fridge (Source: Space Daily)
For astronauts to go on long missions to the moon or Mars, they need a refrigerator. But today's fridges aren't designed to work in zero gravity - or upside down if oriented that way when a spacecraft lands on another planet. A team of engineers from Purdue University, Air Squared Inc., and Whirlpool Corporation is working on building a fridge for zero gravity that operates in different orientations and just as well as the one in your kitchen, giving astronauts access to longer-lasting and more nutritious food. (4/15)

Boos for NASA’s Human Lunar Landing System Award to SpaceX (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Congressman Robert Aderholt (R-AL) released a statement after NASA awarded the Human Lander System (HLS) contract to SpaceX: “NASA’s award decision today raises a lot of questions. NASA and the U.S. Air Force recently agreed to very high SpaceX prices, several times the price on the company’s web site, for a launch of Gateway elements, and for national security payloads. The years of delay in the development of the Falcon Heavy, as well as recent tests of the Starship program as reported in the news, also raise technical and scheduling questions. Given the importance of our space program to our national security, I will be asking NASA a number of questions about today’s announcement and about their management of the program.” (4/19)

NASA Executive Submitted Over $350,000 in Fraudulent COVID-19 Loans, Benefits (Sources: Fox43, NASA Watch)
A Senior Executive Service employee for NASA plead guilty Monday to submitting fraudulent applications for over $350,000 in COVID-19 economic relief loans and unemployment benefits, according to court documents. 36-year-old Andrew Tezna took advantage of COVID-19 relief efforts and fraudulently submitted three Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan applications to two financial institutions in the amount of $272,284, court documents say.

Tezna then submitted fake IRS tax returns and falsely claimed non-existent payroll expenses to support his PPP loan fraud. He admitted to authorities that he filed a false Financial Disclosure Report with NASA, officials said. Tezna also fraudulently submitted two additional Economic Injury Disaster Loan Program applications to the Small Business Administration that totaled $69,500. On top of that, he applied for COVID-related unemployment benefits from Virginia.

Court documents say the unemployment application was for his mother-in-law, who they learned was retired and did not qualify for the benefits. The dispersed unemployment payments totaled $15,950. Tezna used the money to pay off a personal loan for a residential pool, a personal loan for a minivan, credit card debt, a dog breeder and even put a down payment on a new car, court documents say. According to NASA Watch: Several sources report that he liked to post pictures of himself and his wife on Instagram as they visited Trump Winery in Virginia. That account has been taken offline. (4/20)

All In on Starship (Source: Space Review)
NASA announced Friday that it had selected SpaceX as the sole company to win a contract to develop and demonstrate crewed lunar landers for the Artemis program. Jeff Foust reports on how NASA’s human space exploration program has become intertwined with SpaceX’s ambitions. Click here. (4/20)
 
Higher Burning: The Air Launched Sortie Vehicle of the 1980s (Source: Space Review)
The TV series “For All Mankind” recently featured a shuttle-like vehicle launching from atop a C-5 cargo plane. Dwayne Day explores how that was based on concepts studied in the early 1980s by the Air Force for a spaceplane that could launch from a Boeing 747. Click here. (4/20)
 
Putting SpaceX’s Starship Program in the Proper Context (Source: Space Review)
SpaceX’s Starship vehicle has attracted attention and scrutiny for its unconventional approach to vehicle development. Wayne Eleazer explains just how much it stands out in the long history of launch vehicle projects. Click here. (4/20)

Can We Make Mars Earth-Like Through Terraforming? (Source: Planetary Society)
Mars was once an Earth-like world. When life emerged on our watery planet sometime between 3.5 to 4 billion years ago, Mars was also home to lakes of liquid water and possibly flowing rivers. Combined with a thick atmosphere, a magnetic field to shield against radiation, and a variety of organic molecules, Mars had favorable conditions to form and support life as we know it.

Mars probably didn’t remain habitable for very long, though. The Red Planet lost its magnetic field sometime between 3 to 4 billion years ago, which allowed the solar wind––an incessant stream of energetic particles coming from the Sun––to strike and strip away most of the planet’s atmosphere and surface water, turning Mars into the chilly desert we see today. Can we reverse nature’s effects and terraform Mars into a habitable planet again? Here’s what it could take.

There are a few different schools of thought on how—or if—we could heat up Mars’ atmosphere and make it more hospitable to life. Elon Musk has suggested, for example, that we could terraform Mars by exploding nuclear bombs over its polar caps. The CO2 added to Mars’ atmosphere by vaporizing the polar caps would only double the air pressure, a far cry from the comparable pressure to Earth required for conditions warm enough to sustain surface liquid water and atmospheric water vapor. Click here. (4/19)

Satellite Images Reveal Russian Military Deployment to Ukraine Border (Source: Daily Beast)
A day after the European Union’s top diplomat warned that over 100,000 Russian troops have now gathered on Ukraine’s border and in annexed Crimea, new satellite images show the mighty stockpile of military equipment that the Kremlin has deployed to back them up. On Monday, the EU foreign affairs chief Josep Borrell said a massive Russian army has gathered on the Ukraine border, adding: “It’s the highest military deployment of Russian army in Ukrainian borders ever... When you deploy a lot of troops, a spark can jump here or there.” (4/20)

SoCal Aerospace Companies Step Up for Artemis (Source: Los Angeles Business Journal)
“It’s great to be in L.A.,” said Joseph Cassady, executive director of Aerojet Rocketdyne’s space division. “We have to have pressure transducers and temperature sensors and all that kind of stuff. With L.A. being the hub that it is for the aerospace industry, we don’t have a shortage of people (who can make those things) close by.”

Dozens of local companies big and small are working behind the scenes as contractors for a range of projects related to the Artemis program. This includes researchers at Jet Propulsion Laboratory and consultants working to develop electric thrusters for the Lunar Gateway space station and to engineer systems for the Orion spacecraft set to bring astronauts into lunar orbit. Later this year, Long Beach-based rocket manufacturer Rocket Lab USA Inc. will attempt its first mission to the moon. The company has been selected by NASA to deploy a small satellite (roughly the size of a microwave) called CAPSTONE into a precise lunar orbit. (4/19)

Analyst: NASA's Lunar Lander Decision a 'Major Snub' to Blue Origin (Source: Puget Sound Business Journal)
NASA's selection of SpaceX to be the sole provider of a $2.89 billion lunar lander vehicle for its next moon voyage is a surprising decision and a "major snub" to rival Blue Origin, an aerospace analyst said Monday. NASA picked SpaceX over a team led by Kent-based Blue Origin as the supplier of a vehicle that will make history: It will carry the first woman to the moon.

Both Blue Origin, which leads a group of major space companies it calls the National Team, and aerospace investment analysts were stunned by NASA's decision. "The National Team doesn’t have very much information yet. We are looking to learn more about the selection,” said a Blue Origin spokesperson. Blue Origin, which submitted its proposal to NASA in December, had no other comment and its Twitter account was silent.

Veteran aerospace analyst Ken Herbert said the decision was a head-scratcher. He said in a note to his clients that just two weeks ago NASA expressed a desire to have two lunar lander offerings, not one. "It is highly unusual for NASA to go sole-source on a manned spacecraft, with the agency having selected at least two different vendors to provide rockets, commercial cargo spacecraft and commercial crew spacecraft for their operations for more than a decade," Herbert wrote. (4/19)

SpaceX Considers Alaska-Based Starlink Stations (Source: Alaska Public Media)
An aerospace and technology company is considering building key parts of a satellite network in Alaska — including Ketchikan, Nome and Fairbanks — that, according to the company, could help improve internet access across the globe. It’s part of a project currently being developed by California-based SpaceX called Starlink. The company says its low-cost satellite dishes could eventually offer high-speed satellite internet, even in sparsely populated areas.

The company plans to build ground stations around the world, with facilities spanning the globe from Europe to Australia to the southern tip of South America. SpaceX filed an application last week with the Federal Communications Commission to build a “gateway earth station” consisting of eight antennas at a site in Ketchikan. (4/19)

Russia's Cooperation with China on Upcoming Space Station Looks Promising Despite Decision to Build its Own (Source: Global Times)
Russia will withdraw from the International Space Station (ISS) after reaching its planned lifespan in 2024 and is working on a new station to replace it, Russian media reported. Chinese observers said that Russia's decision to build its own space station is consistent with its self-reliant principle of developing the aerospace industry but it will not overlook the option to cooperate on China's upcoming space station, as the craft might be the only operational station in orbit that will be open to foreign partners following the retirement of the ISS.

Russia announced on Sunday that it will end its participation in the ISS project after the current agreement expires in 2024, according to the Russian Deputy Prime Minister, Yuri Borisov. He said that the ISS's "condition leaves much to be desired" as a number of technical malfunctions have been mounting, Russian media outlet RT reported on Sunday. (4/20)

Amazon Executive in Conflict of Interest Row over UK Space Role (Source: City A.M.)
A senior Amazon executive is said to be in the running for a role as UK government space adviser despite concerns over serious conflicts of interest. Peter Marquez, head of space policy at Amazon, has been put forward to serve as a temporary, unpaid adviser to the government. He would take up the position alongside his job at the US ecommerce giant, the Times reported.

The mooted appointment is said to have sparked concerns among Cabinet Office officials about conflicts of interest in the race to roll out satellite internet networks. The UK government last year invested £400m to help bail out Oneweb, a British government planning a network of low-orbit satellites to provide remote broadband. Amazon has launched a similar venture dubbed Project Kuiper. Marquez, a former White House national security official, was appointed as Amazon’s first head of space policy in September last year. (4/20)

Elon Musk Wants to Move Fast and Break Space (Source: The New Republic)
Late last month, a pair of satellites operated by Starlink and OneWeb—two companies working to launch constellations of small, low-orbiting satellites that beam internet access all over Earth—almost collided, passing within nearly 200 feet of one another. As The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday, this was only the latest near miss: In late 2019, a Starlink satellite passed dangerously close to a European Union weather satellite.

Apparently, the EU took the potential collision a lot more seriously than Starlink, which is part of SpaceX, the rocketry firm in Elon Musk’s growing business portfolio. “The agency said it was only able to contact Starlink via email, and the company told it they would take no action, so EU engineers had to initiate a collision avoidance maneuver,” according to the Journal.

Space is getting crowded, and experts worry that we might one day face a catastrophic cascade of proliferating space debris, which could in turn knock out satellites, disable GPS service, and generally render space travel and global communications impossible for a generation. While there’s blame to go around—along with a few nascent efforts by governments and NGOs to do something about the problematic buildup of space debris—the latest set of concerns revolves around constellations of low-orbiting satellites that companies like SpaceX are launching. (4/19)