April 30, 2021

AST & Science Lists on Nasdaq (Source: Seraphim)
Seraphim portfolio company AST & Science is now trading on Nasdaq as “ASTS” following the successful completion of its SPAC merger. The AST team have been able to achieve the extraordinary in a remarkably short amount of time. When we first met founder Abel Avellan and the team in early 2018, we were immediately struck by two things; the potential of AST to bridge the divide between the satcoms and telecoms sectors, and the drive of Abel to build a massive business that would positively impact the lives of billions of people. (4/29)

Inter-Satellite Laser Links Key to DoD 'Transport Layer' (Source: Space News)
Each of the satellites in the Space Development Agency’s mesh network known as the Transport Layer could have as many as five laser links to communicate with other satellites, airplanes, ships and ground stations. Realizing that goal will require “affordable” optical terminals that can be mass produced and comply with basic technical standards, said Derek Tournear, director of the Space Development Agency. SDA is soliciting information from commercial suppliers about the state of the technology and their ability to mass produce small laser links for SDA’s satellites, Tournear said. (4/28)

NASA Reactor Plan Aims at Nuclear Crewed Mars Mission by 2039 (Source: Aviation Week)
More than sixty years after the U.S. began serious studies into nuclear propulsion for space travel, NASA is taking the first steps on a new path to develop nuclear-powered engines for crewed missions to Mars by the end of the next decade. The agency is reviewing industry responses to the first phase of a plan with the Energy Department to mature a prototype nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactor and engine design for use in space. (4/30)

Biden-Harris Administration Shows Strong Support for NASA in First 100 Days (Source: SpaceRef)
In the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris Administration, NASA has taken bold steps to expand America’s exploration and scientific frontiers, advancing the nation’s commitment to build back better through innovation, combat climate change, re-establish America’s standing abroad, and inspire the next generation. Click here. (4/29)

‘It’s Time’: Blue Origin Teases Ticket Sales for its New Shepard Rocket (Source: The Verge)
Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin is finally getting ready to sell tickets for seats on its suborbital New Shepard rocket. No details on price or timelines yet, but the company tweeted a video on Thursday featuring a cowboy-hat-wearing Jeff Bezos driving an electric Rivian truck through the Texas desert right after Blue Origin’s 15th New Shepard test flight on April 14th. “Guys, how exciting is this, c’mon,” he said before stepping out to inspect the company’s crew capsule, which had just landed under parachutes (without a crew inside). (4/29)

45th Space Wing Becomes 45th Space Launch Delta (Source: SPACErePORT)
According to an Air Force source, in the 'very near future' the 45th Space Wing, headquartered at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida, will be officially renamed the "45th Space Launch Delta" in keeping with the new naming convention for Space Force units. (4/29)

Stratolaunch Flies World's Largest Airplane on 2nd Test Flight (Source: Space.com)
The biggest airplane ever built now has two flights under its belt. Stratolaunch's Roc carrier plane, which is being groomed to haul hypersonic vehicles aloft, conducted its second-ever test flight Thursday morning (April 29). The giant aircraft, which features a wingspan of 385 feet (117 meters), took off from Mojave Air and Space Port in southeastern California at 10:28 a.m. EDT on a data-gathering shakeout cruise that lasted three hours and 14 minutes. (4/29)

Northrop Impresses Investors With Earnings, Notes Space Successes (Source: Aviation Week)
Northrop Grumman hit a proverbial home run with its first-quarter 2021, reporting outsized revenue and earnings, as well as providing a slightly higher forecast for the whole year. First-quarter sales grew 6% year-over-year to $9.2 billion from $8.6 billion. Space Systems rose by 31% to $2.6 billion. Space benefited from higher volumes on restricted programs and NASA programs. Launch & Strategic Missiles benefited from the ramp-up for the Ground Based Strategic Deterrent program. (4/30)

New NOAA Nominee Has Space Background (Source: Politico)
Another new Biden nomination of note is Rick Spinrad, who has been picked to run the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which has a substantial space portfolio, including the Space Weather Prediction Center. E&E News had a nice run-down this week on Spinrad, who retired as the agency’s chief scientist in 2016 and during his three-decade government career also did a stint as director of the ocean, atmosphere and space modeling and prediction division in the Office of Naval Research. (4/29)

Rebuilding America's Military: The US Space Force (Source: Politico)
The hawkish Heritage Foundation published a Space Force blueprint this week recommending that at least some missions of another space organization with a reputation for agility — the National Reconnaissance Office — also be folded into the newest military branch. “Those that can be accomplished by a uniformed service, along with the on-orbit systems and select personnel that execute those missions, should be transferred to and consolidated under the command and control of the Space Force,” it says. Click here. (4/27)

SBIRS GEO Flight 5: Atlas V Stacked for Important National Security Launch (Source: ULA)
United Launch Alliance's (ULA's) Atlas V rocket, entrusted to launch all of the satellites in one of the most important U.S. national security space constellations, is being readied to deploy the next craft in the high-priority series. An Atlas V 421 vehicle was assembled this past week at the Vertical Integration Facility (VIF), located near Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Liftoff is targeted for May 17. (4/29)

Rename the Lunar Gateway to the Collins Lunar Gateway (Source: Change.org)
The Lunar Gateway will be a space station in orbit around the Moon that will provide staging for all future lunar astronauts in the Artemis Program. Before they descend to the surface of the Moon, they will all pass through the Gateway. I make this petition to rename the Lunar Gateway to the Collins Lunar Gateway. Michael Collins was one of the three astronauts aboard Apollo 11, the mission that landed the first men on the Moon. However, Michael Collins did not descend to the surface. He remained alone in orbit for the entirety of his fellow astronauts' trip to the surface. He orbited the Moon for nearly 21 and a half hours by himself.

The Lunar Gateway should be renamed after him. He watched as his fellow astronauts descended onto the surface, just as many astronauts will do from the Gateway in the future. Michael Collins passed away the morning that I am creating this petition, and I believe that his legacy should be honored by NASA and the space community in this way. He was an explorer, trailblazer, and an inspiration to many, including myself. Those who seek to follow his path will be able to honor the legacy he left by living and passing through the Collins Lunar Gateway on the way to blaze their own trails and carry the fire. Sign the petition here. (4/29) 

Ingenuity Helicopter UAS Scrubs Fourth Mars Flight Test (Source: Space.com)
Ingenuity scrubbed its fourth test flight on Mars Thursday. Telemetry returned from Ingenuity a few hours after the scheduled test showed that the 1.8-kilogram helicopter did not take off. Project engineers believe that a timer issue that prevented a preflight test earlier this month also kept Ingenuity grounded Thursday. They plan to try the flight again Friday. (4/30)

ESA to Build Second Deep-Space Comm Antenna in Australia (Source: ESA)
The European Space Agency will build a second dish for deep-space communications in Australia. ESA announced Thursday that, working in cooperation with the Australian Space Agency, it will build a 35-meter radio antenna at its New Norcia station in Western Australia, joining a similar dish already there. The new antenna will feature design upgrades, such as supercooled electronics, to increase its gain by 40%. ESA will use the antenna to support current and future missions to Mars, Jupiter, Mercury and elsewhere in the solar system. (4/30)

Senate Confirms Bill Nelson as NASA's Next Administrator (Source: Space News)
The Senate unanimously confirmed Bill Nelson as the next administrator of NASA Thursday. The Senate confirmed Nelson's nomination to lead the agency by unanimous consent just one day after the Senate Commerce Committee favorably reported his nomination. Nelson had widespread support from the space industry for his nomination, and no senators expressed any opposition to his bid to run NASA during the confirmation process. "I am honored by the president's nomination and the Senate vote," Nelson said in a NASA statement after the Senate confirmed him. "I will try to merit that trust." (4/30)

Weather Issues Prevent Planned Crew Dragon Splashdown Off Florida Coast (Source: NASA)
Weather will prevent a Crew Dragon spacecraft from returning Saturday. NASA said Thursday night that continued high winds at the planned recovery zone off the Florida coast forced them to delay the Crew-1 spacecraft's departure from the station Friday evening and splashdown Saturday. NASA and SpaceX will meet later today to determine the next landing opportunity. The spacecraft was previously scheduled to return on Wednesday but was delayed by high winds and waves. (4/30)

Measuring the Moon's Nano Dust is No Small Matter (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) are now measuring tinier moon dust particles than ever before, a step toward more precisely explaining the Moon's apparent color and brightness. This in turn might help improve tracking of weather patterns and other phenomena by satellite cameras that use the Moon as a calibration source.

NIST researchers and collaborators have developed a complex method of measuring the exact three-dimensional shape of 25 particles of moon dust collected during the Apollo 11 mission in 1969. Researchers now can use X-ray nano computed tomography (XCT), which allows them to examine the shape of particles as small as 400 nanometers (billionths of a meter) in length. (4/29)

FAA Approves Test Flights for Multiple Starship Vehicles (Source: Reuters)
The FAA has approved the next SpaceX Starship test flight. The agency said it authorized SpaceX to proceed with the test flight of not only the SN15 prototype currently on the pad in Boca Chica, Texas, but also the SN16 and SN17 vehicles under development. The FAA said it approved three vehicles because SpaceX is making few changes to the vehicle and the company agreed to use the FAA's methodologies for risk calculations. The SN15 suborbital test flight could take place as soon as today, depending on weather conditions at the test site and vehicle readiness. (4/30)

Boeing Executive Moves to Maxar (Source: Space News)
A longtime Boeing satellite executive is taking a new job at Maxar Technologies. Chris Johnson is Maxar's new senior vice president of space programs delivery, overseeing spacecraft and robotic systems from design to distribution. Johnson spent more than 20 years at Boeing, where he was most recently president of Boeing Satellite Systems International. Johnson joins Maxar as it deals with the in-orbit failure of the Sirius XM-7 satellite that came to light after its December launch. Sirius XM recorded a $220 million noncash impairment charge related to the failure in its financial results this week, not reflecting any potential insurance recoveries. (4/30)

China Plans Four Space Station Launches in 2021 (Source: Space Daily)
China plans to launch two cargo spaceships and two manned spacecraft for building its own orbit station within this year, Hao Chun, the China Manned Space Agency (CMSA) director, said. "We will launch cargo spaceship Tianzhou-2 and manned spacecraft Shenzhou-12 in May and June. The missions of cargoship Tianzhou-3 and manned craft Shenzhou-13 are scheduled for September and October," Hao said. Shenzhou-12 will carry three Chinese astronauts who will work on the orbit for three months, while another three, brought by Shenzhou-13, will spend half a year there.

Hao added that the orbit station building consists of two stages - tests of key technologies and the construction of the station itself. Both phases include six missions, the first two having been completed. In 2021, China also plans to carry out six missions, sending two experimental modules as well as launching two cargoships and two manned spacecraft. The country seeks to finish the construction of Tiangong, designed for 15 years of work, by 2022, and officially launch it in 2023. (4/30)

Chinese Rocket Stage Likely Making Uncontrolled Reentry (Source: Space News)
The core stage of the rocket that launched the first module of China's space station this week will make an uncontrolled reentry in the coming days. The Long March 5B core stage was left in orbit after deploying the Tianhe module, and appears to be tumbling. That suggests the core stage will make an uncontrolled reentry, although exactly when and where is impossible to predict now. Its orbit means the core stage could come down anywhere between 41.5 degrees north and south latitudes. (4/30)

How China's Zhurong Will Attempt to Touch Down on Mars (Source: Space Daily)
The next visitor to the planet will be Tianwen-1 mission's lander, which will attempt to reach the surface of the Mars in mid-May. To enter the Martian atmosphere, it will use a slightly different technique than other recent missions. The ambitious mission has orbiting, landing and roving components - the first mission to include all three on its first attempt. It has already been circling the red planet since it entered Mars's orbit on February 24. In size, Zhurong falls between Spirit and the Perseverence and it is carrying six pieces of scientific equipment.

Based on an early overview of the mission by some Chinese researchers, we know the landing sequence the spacecraft will attempt to follow. On May 17, Zhurong - protected by an aeroshell (a protective shell surrounding the spacecraft which includes the heat shield) - will enter the atmosphere at a speed of 4 km/s. When it slows down enough, parachutes will be deployed. In the last phase of the sequence, rockets with variable thrust engines will be used for further deceleration.

In contrast with its American counterpart, Tianwen-1 will employ two reliable technologies - a laser range finder to work out where it is relative to Martian terrain and a microwave sensor to determine its speed more accurately. These will be used for navigational correction during its parachuted descent phase. During the powered descent phase at the end, optical and Lidar imaging will assist in hazard detection. Just before touchdown, an automated obstacle avoidance sequence will begin for soft landing. (4/30)