April 6, 2021

SpaceFund Venture Capital Announces First Close of Second Fund (Source: SpaceFund)
SpaceFund announced it has reached and surpassed the planned first close of $5 million for its $20 million BlastOff Fund today. The Houston and Austin-based company says commitments to the fund have reached $9 million as of Monday morning. SpaceFund began life at the end of 2019, announcing its first LaunchPad fund in the fall of that year. The proof-of-concept fund closed in August of 2020 and has already invested in 13 exciting space startup companies. Continuing SpaceFund’s strategic plan, the BlastOff Fund will build on those investments and expand the firm’s portfolio with larger investments, including some in later-stage companies. (4/6)

Fix Space Force Acquisition Now! (Source: Breaking Defense)
If the Space Force wants to have a maximum impact in its second year, it needs to get acquisition right — right now. Acquisition is, sadly, nowhere near as exciting as the accoutrements or trappings of the service, but it will have a greater long-term impact on the Space Guardians than whatever camo uniform they adopt.

Getting acquisition right speaks to the culture of the service. There’s a unique chance here as this is the first time in nearly 70 years where the Defense Department can craft a wholly new service with new pathways to buy and field equipment. At its core this means building a culture of risk acceptance and tolerance — not avoidance. It means being willing to try new things and field new architectures without a guarantee that they will work and, if they fail, learning and improving. It means encouraging innovation and adaptation from the ground-up, not forcing consensus from the top down. (4/5)

Numerica Plans Telescopes for Satellite Tracking (Source: Space News)
A startup is deploying a network of telescopes with sensors that can track satellites even in daytime. Numerica is installing six telescopes in the United States, Australia and Spain to monitor satellites in the geostationary belt and beyond, funded by $3 million the company won in 2019 at a pitch day event hosted by the U.S. Air Force to attract space industry firms to the military market. Daytime imaging today is performed by a handful of very large and expensive telescopes, and Numerica argues its technology will make it easier to track satellites. (4/6)

Germany's DLR to Use Lockheed Martin Software for Space Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
The German space agency DLR will use space traffic management software developed by Lockheed Martin. DLR, which operates the German space situational awareness center along with the German Air Force, selected Lockheed Martin's iSpace, a system that is used by the U.S. military, U.S. intelligence agencies and the government of Australia. That system collects data from hundreds of optical, radar, infrared and radio sensors operated by governments, commercial companies and academia to provide space situational awareness. Lockheed said iSpace will be used to task German sensors to monitor objects of interest and space events such as collisions, maneuvers, breakups and launches. (4/6)

Chinese City Boasts Space Cluster (Source: Space News)
The Chinese city of Guangzhou is developing a cluster of space companies. The city is hosting the new headquarters for the space business of Geely Technology Group, a Chinese automaker that has announced plans for a low Earth orbit satellite constellation for navigation, connectivity and communications needed for self-driving cars.The city is also home to CAS Space Exploration, a launch company related to the Chinese Academy of Sciences developing solid- and liquid-fuel rockets, including those that would be able to land and be reused. The implication is that Geely satellites would launch on CAS Space rockets as part of a Guangzhou space cluster, but Geely didn't comment on its launch plans. (4/6)

Engine Problem Blamed for Starship Landing Explosion (Source: Space News)
Elon Musk said an engine problem caused a SpaceX Starship prototype to explode when attempting to land last week. Musk tweeted that a methane fuel leak in one Raptor engine triggered a fire that damaged part of the engine's avionics. That caused a "hard start" when the engine reignited for the landing, leading to the explosion. All four Starship failed test flights since December are linked to propulsion system problems, including issues getting sufficient propellant to the engines when landing as well as the failure of an engine to ignite for a landing burn. Musk said SpaceX is working "six ways to Sunday" to fix the problem for the next Starship prototype, SN15. (4/6)

Russia's Kosmokurs Closes, Citing Red Tape (Source: Moscow Times)
A Russian space tourism company is shutting down. Kosmokurs said Tuesday it was scrapping plans to develop a suborbital vehicle because of "insurmountable difficulties" in securing use of a spaceport and getting regulatory approvals. The company, founded in 2014, had intended to develop a suborbital vehicle capable of carrying up to seven people and had the support of Roscosmos, but had disclosed few specifics about its plans or progress before announcing it would shut down. (4/6)

NASA to Support South Korean Lunar Mission (Source: Space.com)
NASA has selected a team of scientists to participate in a South Korean lunar orbiter mission. The nine scientists will be part of the overall science team for the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO) mission launching in 2022. NASA is cooperating on the mission, led by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, by providing an instrument and offering communications and navigation support. KPLO, South Korea's first mission beyond Earth orbit, will characterize the lunar surface and look for traces of water ice in permanently shadowed craters at the poles. (4/6)

Australian 'Space Command' Could be a Force for Good - or a Cause for War (Source: Space Daily)
As the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) celebrated 100 years with a spectacular and well-attended flyover in Canberra yesterday, many eyes were lifted to the skies. But RAAF's ambitions go even higher, as its motto "through adversity, to the stars" hints. The Chief of Air Force, Air Marshall Mel Hupfeld, announced the intention to create a new "space command".

Having a dedicated space command will bring Australia into line with Canada, India, France and Japan, all of which recently created similar organisations within their armed forces. Unlike the US Space Force, which is a separate branch of the military in addition to the army, navy and air force, Australia's space command will oversee space activities across the Australian Defence Force. Creating a space command is a smart move - but we must be careful to ensure it doesn't add fuel to a cycle of military escalation in space that has already begun. (4/2)

Space Force To Boost Threat Tracking (Source: Breaking Defense)
One of the first tasks for the fledgling Space Warfighting Analysis Center will be to flesh out a plan for improved intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance sensors to keep tabs on space-based threats, says Maj. Gen. Leah Lauderback, hear of Space Force’s ISR Directorate. The new center, known as the SWAC, will “be able to get after the force design of what do we want an ISR enterprise to look like from a capability perspective, whether that’s on orbit or not,” she said. (4/2)

Companies Race to Design Private Space Stations Before ISS Goes Offline (Source: Axios)
Companies are rapidly designing private space stations that could one day dominate operations in orbit around Earth. NASA is hoping private industry will start to take over operations in low-Earth orbit once the ISS comes to an end, creating a robust commercial market in that part of space. Commercially operated private space stations are a big part of NASA's vision to buy services from companies in orbit and then focus on further afield goals like getting to the Moon and Mars.

NASA detailed an initiative at the end of March asking companies to partner with them in the development of private space stations that might act as a destination for NASA astronauts and research in the future. Under these agreements, NASA would help support the companies as they develop the space stations and carry out preliminary design reviews — an important technical assessment of what it will take to get a station flying — by the end of fiscal year 2025.

On the heels of that announcement, Sierra Nevada Corporation announced its plans to build a private space station. Another company, Axiom Space, already has plans in motion to build its own commercial space station after first attaching a module to the International Space Station at some point in the coming years. (4/3)

Lockheed Martin Expands Quick, Affordable Launch Capability with ABL Block Buy (Source: Lockheed Martin)
ABL Space Systems will provide Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] with routine launches of RS1 rockets to accelerate payload technologies into orbit. Lockheed Martin will purchase up to 26 vehicles through 2025 and then up to 32 additional launches through 2029. Launches could use a network of U.S. and international launch sites, including Vandenberg Space Force Base, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and in the United Kingdom.

Lockheed Martin benefits from ABL's lower-cost launch vehicle by accelerating risk reduction with demonstration missions, which lay the groundwork for future large efforts. As a new entrant, ABL gets the benefit of a long term partnership and stable launch manifest for its future growth. ABL provides launch services with the RS1 launch vehicle and GS0 deployable launch system, which are both under development with funding from the U.S. Space Force. RS1 is capable of delivering up to 2,976 lbs to low Earth orbit. GS0 is a containerized system operable by a small team to rapidly launch RS1 from new sites in the U.S. and around the world. (4/5)

NASA to Launch Spaceship to 'Punch' Asteroid, Stop Future Impacts (Source: Jerusalem Post)
Stopping an asteroid impact is something that has been tossed around in both science fiction and serious scientific discussions. Various solutions have been proposed and displayed. But NASA scientists actually have a plan in place to "punch" an asteroid away, or rather, have a spaceship collide with it head-on.

The concept seems ridiculous, almost like an April Fool's Day joke. But the project is very real, and is well into the planning and development phases. The project is known as the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) Mission, and has been developed by NASA and John Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory along with several NASA centers. (4/4)

Mysterious Rumblings From Inside of Mars Detected by NASA Lander (Source: Sky News)
Scientists at NASA have reported an exciting detection by its Insight lander on Mars - mysterious rumblings coming from the interior of the planet. The researchers believe the seismic events may be caused by a sudden release of energy from the planet's interior, but the nature of that release remains unknown and puzzling.

Intriguingly, the new rumblings are believed to have originated in a location on Mars called Cerberus Fossae, where two other previous candidate events are believed to have originated. Although these rumblings have sometimes been called "Marsquakes" the planet is not believed to have a similarly active tectonic system like Earth's that causes earthquakes.

And curiously, the previous seismic events detected by the space agency's InSight lander - which arrived on the planet's surface in 2018 - occurred almost a full Martian year ago, or two Earth years, during the Martian northern summer. Scientists had predicted this season would offer the lander its best opportunity to listen for quakes because the winds on the planet would become calmer. (4/5)

The Status of Russia’s Signals Intelligence Satellites (Source: Space Review)
While Russia has been making progress building up its military space capabilities in some areas, it is lagging in others. Bart Hendrickx examines long-running efforts by the Russian military to develop a series of signals intelligence satellites. Click here. (4/5)
 
The Paper Chase: Declassifying and Releasing Space History Documents From the Cold War (Source: Space Review)
Historians have taken advantage of declassified archives and other resources to reveal new details about the early Space Age. Dwayne Day talks with Asif Siddiqi to share their wish lists for documents they would like to see to learn more about those programs. Click here. (4/5)
 
NASA Revises its Low Earth Orbit Commercialization Plans (Source: Space Review)
One element of NASA’s low Earth orbit commercialization strategy announced nearly two years ago had support for commercial space stations, but a lack of funding slowed that effort. Jeff Foust reports on how the agency is revamping its approach to assisting the industry on the development of stations that could one day succeed the ISS. Click here. (4/5)