April 21, 2021

NASA and the New Urgency of Climate Change (Source: Space News)
The strongest expression of any administration’s policies is its budget. The Biden administration has been slow to roll out its fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, but finally released a budget outline for discretionary spending, which includes NASA, April 9.  That budget proposal offers NASA’s Earth science program, which received $2 billion in fiscal year 2021, an increase of $250 million, or 12.5%. The document stated that the additional funding would be used “to initiate the next generation of Earth-observing satellites to study pressing climate science questions,” but offered no other details.

That funding, though, is just a small part of the administration’s overall investment in climate change research. The budget includes more than $4 billion “to improve understanding of the changing climate and inform adaptation and resilience measures,” the proposal stated. NOAA, for example, would get an increase of about half a billion dollars to accelerate work on a new generation of weather satellites that would also provide data for studying climate change. And NASA’s overall budget rose by 6.3%, with space technology and human spaceflight also getting increases.

Neither the White House nor NASA have elaborated on how it proposed using that additional funding beyond new satellites. The widespread expectation in the Earth sciences field, though, is that the funding will allow NASA to speed up development of missions recommended by the Earth sciences decadal survey published more than three years ago. (4/19)

U.S. Role in Global Greenhouse Gas Constellation Still TBD (Source: Space News)
The United States is expected to play a supporting role in an international campaign to monitor greenhouse gas emissions from space. Through the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites, nations are coordinating efforts for space-based monitoring of air quality, greenhouse gases, the ozone layer and natural climate drivers like solar energy. China, Europe and Japan are making major investments in satellites to help verify how well countries are fulfilling commitments they made to reducing greenhouse gas emissions as part of the Paris climate agreement.

The United States, in contrast, is preparing to demonstrate sophisticated greenhouse gas sensor technologies but currently has no plans for ambitious atmospheric monitoring missions. “Other countries are making great contributions and pushing as hard as they possibly can,” said David Crisp, a NASA JPL atmospheric physicist helping to coordinate efforts to track carbon dioxide and methane by the 34 space agencies that make up the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites. “We are relying on their contributions. There’s no way around that at this point, but I would like our country to lead.” (4/19)

Machinist Apprenticeship Program Advances on Space Coast (Source: SCCAP)
The Space Coast Consortium Apprenticeship Program (SCCAP) – an industry-driven apprenticeship sponsored by SpaceTEC Partners, Inc. in partnership with education partner Eastern Florida State College (EFSC) and led by advanced manufacturing companies operating on Florida’s Space Coast, today announces the launch of the first cohort of Advanced Machinist apprentices. Participating companies include Knight’s Armament, Blue Origin, Diamondback America and Precision Shapes.

Under the program, ten SCCAP Advanced Machinist apprentices will begin the two-and-one-half year State of Florida registered program during the summer semester starting May 17, 2021, attend academic coursework and hands-on lab training at EFSC Cocoa Campus for two nights a week and will also work full-time on the manufacturing floors of participating companies. (4/19)

Incremental Improvements While Spaceflight Remains Far From Routine (Source: Florida Today)
For Space Coast residents able to step outside and watch rockets tear through the sky, spaceflight might seem more routine than ever. And it's not slowing down – the industry is inhaling billions of dollars in private and government investments, massive rocket factories like Blue Origin's are on the rise, and several new rockets are expected to fly in the next year alone.

But crewed spaceflight makes "routine" a complicated word. Humans add countless factors to missions and their safety weighs heavily on industry leaders like Elon Musk, who has personally promised the children of astronauts his company will do everything in its power to ensure the safety of their parents. An emergency abort scenario that sees the astronauts rapidly thrust away from the Falcon 9 rocket below them, for example, could not only endanger lives but also ripple out to ISS accessibility, launch cadence, and public perception of spaceflight.

The latter is especially critical to the several companies vying to make space tourism accessible and safe. Experts generally agree that technological progress, experience, and historical lessons make today's crewed missions safer than ever. In the bigger picture, human spaceflight might not be "there" yet as far as being fully routine, but they say progress in this arena is expectedly incremental. (4/18)

Musk’s Satellite Internet Project Is Too Risky, Rivals Say (Source: AP)
Elon Musk’s internet satellite venture has spawned an unlikely alliance of competitors, regulators and experts who say the billionaire is building a near-monopoly that is threatening space safety and the environment. The Starlink project, owned by SpaceX, is authorized to send some 12,000 satellites into orbit to beam superfast internet to every corner of the Earth. It has sought permission for another 30,000.

Now, rival companies such as Viasat, OneWeb Global, Hughes Network Systems and Boeing are challenging Starlink’s space race in front of regulators in the U.S. and Europe. Some complain that Mr. Musk’s satellites are blocking their own devices’ signals and have physically endangered their fleets. Mr. Musk’s endeavor is still in beta testing but it has already disrupted the industry, and even spurred the European Union to develop a rival space-based internet project to be unveiled by the end of the year.

The critics’ main argument is that Mr. Musk’s launch-first, upgrade-later principle, which made his Tesla electric car company a pioneer, gives priority to speed over quality, filling Earth’s already crowded orbit with satellites that may need fixing after they launch. “SpaceX has a gung-ho approach to space,” said Chris McLaughlin of OneWeb. “Every one of our satellites is like a Ford Focus—it does the same thing, it gets tested, it works—while Starlink satellites are like Teslas: They launch them and then they have to upgrade and fix them, or even replace them altogether,” Mr. McLaughlin said. (4/19)

NASA Chief: Russian Cosmonauts Unlikely Fly on U.S. Crew Capsules Until Next Year (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
NASA’s acting administrator said Tuesday he does not expect Russian cosmonauts to start launching to the International Space Station on U.S. commercial crew vehicles until next year.

A proposed agreement with Russia to ensure the space station is always staffed with an international crew is awaiting U.S. government approval. The no-funds-exchanged agreement has been in discussion by NASA and Russian space agency officials for years, but sign-off of a final deal has hit roadblocks in recent months. Steve Jurczyk, NASA’s acting administrator, said Tuesday that the draft version of an “implementing agreement” between NASA and Roscosmos is still being reviewed by the U.S. State Department. (4/20)