May 27, 2021

Lunar Infrastructure Coming Into Focus (Source: Quartz)
There is a global push to explore our nearest astronomical neighbor, with landers and rovers from around the world queuing up for visits and billions of dollars invested in the vehicles that will carry humans back for the first time in more than 50 years. Now companies and space agencies alike are thinking about investments that could enable more productive work on the moon.

“The biggest to start with would be communication—especially for small spacecraft, it can be very difficult to communicate back to Earth,” explains John Thornton of Astrobotic. “The next critical piece of infrastructure on the moon is going to be…a power grid at the poles of the moon. GPS would be nice. That’s the basic building blocks of the infrastructure.” Astrobotic is one of five US firms working with NASA to create vertical solar arrays that could be used to power charging stations on the moon.

For the rest, our focus shifts across the Atlantic, where the European Space Agency is sponsoring a public-private partnership to design and eventually build out three to six satellites orbiting the moon that will provide communications and navigation services to lunar explorers. Project Moonlight, as the effort is called, relies on two competing consortia. One, led by Surrey Satellite Technology, includes SES and Airbus. Another, led by the Italian hardware manufacturer Telespazio, includes Inmarsat, the privately-held UK satellite firm, which would operate the network and is currently tasked with figuring out what potential customers will require as the project is designed. If everything goes according to plan, one of the groups will sign a final contract in 2023, and the satellites could be launched in 2025. (5/27)

Living in the Dawn of a Golden Era of Space Exploration (Source: Viva Technology)
There is a lot of traffic around Mars these days. The United States, China, the European Space Agency (ESA), India and the United Arab Emirates all currently have probes orbiting the red planet. And while the United States is currently the only one with rovers operating on the surface (and, as of last week, the first interplanetary helicopter, Ingenuity), China plans to land its own vehicle sometime next month.

The multiple missions are part of a new golden era of space exploration. Unlike the first one, which captured the imagination of a generation in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, and played out against the backdrop of the Cold War competition between the United State and the Soviet Union, the current space race is not confined to national space agencies with deep pockets. Click here. (5/26)

A New Biosignature for Detecting Life on Distant Planets (Source: Space.com)
The new research takes its starting point from the idea that stoichiometry, or chemical ratios, can serve as biosignatures. Since "living systems display strikingly consistent ratios in their chemical make-up," Kempes explains, "we can use stoichiometry to help us detect life." Simon Levin explains, "the particular elemental ratios we see on Earth are the result of the particular conditions here, and a particular set of macromolecules like proteins and ribosomes, which have their own stoichiometry." How can these elemental ratios be generalized beyond the life that we observe on our own planet?

The group solved this problem by building on two lawlike patterns, two scaling laws, that are entangled in elemental ratios we have observed on Earth. The first of these is that in individual cells, stoichiometry varies with cell size. In bacteria, for example, as cell size increases, protein concentrations decrease, and RNA concentrations increase. The second is that the abundance of cells in a given environment follows a power-law distribution. The third, which follows from integrating the first and second into a simple ecological model, is that the elemental abundance of particles to the elemental abundance in the environmental fluid is a function of particle size.

While the first of these (that elemental ratios shift with particle size) makes for a chemical biosignature, it is the third finding that makes for the new ecological biosignature. If we think of biosignatures not simply in terms of single chemicals or particles, and instead take account of the fluids in which particles appear, we see that the chemical abundances of living systems manifest themselves in mathematical ratios between the particle and environment. These general mathematical patterns may show up in coupled systems that differ significantly from Earth. (5/21)

Canada Wants to Put a Rover on the Moon in the Next 5 Years (Source: Global News)
Science Minister Francois-Philippe Champagne says Canada plans to land a rover on the moon in the next five years. The Canadian Space Agency says the unmanned robotic vehicle will aim to gather imagery and measurements on the moon’s cratered surface, showcasing technologies from Canadian companies in a polar region of the earth’s only natural satellite.

Conducted in partnership with NASA, the mission hopes to have the rover make it through an entire lunar night, which lasts about two weeks and presents major technological challenges due to the extreme cold and dark. Lisa Campbell, president of the space agency, says it will put out a request for proposals on design and development from two companies in the coming months. (5/26)

NASA Tests System for Aircraft Positioning in Supersonic Flight (Source: Space Daily)
NASA recently flight tested a visual navigation system designed to enhance precise aerial positioning between two aircraft in supersonic flight. The Airborne Location Integrating Geospatial Navigation System (ALIGNS) was developed to prepare for future acoustic validation flights of the X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology airplane. The X-59 is designed to reduce the loud sonic boom, heard on the ground when an aircraft flies at supersonic speeds, to a quiet thump - a technology that will be demonstrated when the X-plane flies over communities starting in 2024. (5/20)

Russia Shows Design of Future Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft (Source: Sputnik)
Russia's state space agency Roscosmos revealed the design of future satellites and orbital stations equipped with space nuclear-powered tug technology at the New Knowledge forum in Moscow. Alexander Bloshenko, executive director for advanced programs and science at Roscosmos, presented two images of future spacecraft with the Zeus nuclear-powered tug - one with rotary magnetoplasma engines, and one with ion engines.

According to the presentation, a satellite with a 500 kilowatt nuclear reactor will weigh up to 22 tons. It is expected to be launched from the Vostochny spaceport on board the Angara-A5V heavy rocket with the Fregat upper stage. Bloshenko noted that the first mission of the spacecraft with a nuclear-powered tug, scheduled for 2030, will include the flight to the moon, then to Venus, then to Jupiter. The total duration of the mission is expected to be 50 months. (5/21)

State of the Nigerian Space Program (Source: Space in Africa)
The Nigerian National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) is one of the oldest space agencies in Africa, boasting a workforce of over 3,500 people, more than any other space agency on the continent. On the last day of 2020, Nigeria’s President approved the 2021 budget, which allocated USD 86.5 Million to the country’s space program for the 2021 fiscal year, a 54% increase from the 2020 budget. In 2020, the Agency commissioned and fully funded 23 Quick Win projects. One of the projects is the building of the first made in Nigeria satellite.

The Agency has also set out plans to begin constructing two new satellites, the NigeriaSat-3 and Nigeria SAR-1. In April 2021, Dr Halilu Ahmad Shaba was announced as the new Director-General of the Agency. Space in Africa had a chat with Dr Shaba, who has just resumed office, about what the Agency is up to, what the plans are, and his visions for the Agency. Click here. (5/26)

Pentagon Working with Contractors to Combat Chinese IP Theft, Boost Cybersecurity (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon is working with companies to protect space technology from Chinese espionage. At a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Wednesday, Darlene Costello, acting head of Air Force acquisitions, said the Defense Department and contractors across many sectors of the industry "have their best people" working to combat intellectual property theft. Cybersecurity remains a major problem, though, she said, and the Pentagon continues "to challenge our industry partners and work with them on our cybersecurity and our intellectual property." [SpaceNews]

China Forms Company to Develop, Manage Megaconstellation (Source: Space News)
The Chinese government has created a company dedicated to creating and operating a 13,000-satellite broadband constellation. The government announced last month the creation of the China Satellite Network Group Co. Ltd., following comments from senior space industry officials earlier in the year that a company will be formed to oversee a national low Earth orbit broadband constellation. The government has not disclosed the contractors for the constellation, but the fact that China Satellite Network Group is separate from existing major contractors CASC and CASIC suggest that other actors, such as other state-owned enterprises and commercial sector space companies, could be involved in the construction of the constellation. (5/27)

GAO Warns of Risks to Artemis Plan (Source: Space News)
A GAO report warned that technical and managerial issues could put NASA's plans to return humans to the moon in 2024 at risk. The report released Wednesday found that shifting requirements and new technologies pose risks to the development of the lunar Gateway and lunar landers. NASA also has not designated Artemis as a formal program, and thus doesn't have the management and documenting requirements the agency requires of programs. The report prompted some members of Congress to call for an independent review of the Artemis effort and for NASA to implement "strong corrective actions" to ensure its success. (5/27)

South Korea Signs Onto Artemis Accords (Source:Parabolic Ar)
South Korea has become the 10th country to sign the Artemis Accords, which establish a practical set of principles to guide space exploration cooperation among nations participating in NASA’s 21st century lunar exploration plans. Minister of Science and ICT Lim Hyesook signed the Artemis Accords for the country during a ceremony held May 24 in Seoul. South Korea joins Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, Ukraine, and the United States, and is the first nation to sign the Accords under the Biden Administration. (5/27)

Europe Denies OHB Protest to Galileo Contracts (Source: Reuters)
A European court has rejected a motion by OHB to suspend Galileo contracts awarded to two other companies earlier this year. OHB filed suit after ESA awarded contracts for second-generation Galileo satellites to Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, arguing that Airbus had hired an OHB executive to help its bid. The European General Court initially suspended the contract awards, but ruled this week to reject the OHB motion to throw out the awards entirely. (5/27)

Space Force Plans Only Six More Launches With Russian RD-180 Engines (Source: Defense One)
The Space Force says only a half-dozen more national security launches will use Russian-made RD-180 engines. Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice chief of space operations, told the Senate Armed Services Committee this week that while the service has congressional authorization to use the RD-180 engine, which powers the Atlas 5, for 18 more launches, it expects to use it on only six launches. The Space Force will then transition to the Vulcan rocket, which uses Blue Origin's BE-4 engine, as well as SpaceX's Falcon vehicles. (5/27)
 
European Weather Agency Evaluating Plans Amid Industry Changes (Source: Space News)
The new head of Europe's weather satellite agency is reevaluating the organization's practices given changes in the space industry. Phil Evans took over as Eumetsat's director general in January as the agency prepares to launch a new generation of polar and geostationary orbit weather satellites. He said in a recent interview Eumetsat is reviewing its traditional processes to avoid being left behind amid the industry's accelerating pace of change, such as including studying the use of smallsat constellations. (5/27)

Leonardo Gets Rent-Free Hangar Deal in Northwest Florida (Source: Pensacola News Journal)
Santa Rosa County Commissioners on Tuesday agreed to allow Leonardo Helicopters to move into the $2 million Helo-Hangar - just built at the Peter Prince Airport and was funded with the economic development franchise fee. The 24-month lease at the hangar will help Leonardo establish its official presence in Santa Rosa County while it begins construction on its 100,000-square-foot support center at Whiting Aviation Park. The county is not charging Leonardo rent at the hangar, contingent upon the company's $25 million capital investment at the industrial park.

When Leonardo moves to the new facility, the county will market the facility at Peter Prince to other aviation companies. The county broke ground at Whiting Aviation Park in August 2020, and recently finished a $9.8 million infrastructure project that laid the groundwork for Leonardo and other future buildings to be constructed at the park. Leonardo, awarded a $176 million contract to supply new training helicopters for the Navy, said it hopes to open at the park in the first quarter of 2023. (5/26)

New Fronters Delay Won't Change Mission Themes (Source: Space News)
A delay in the competition for the next New Frontiers planetary science mission won't change the potential destinations for it. NASA announced earlier this month it was postponing the New Frontiers 5 competition by two years, and would use a new list of destinations eligible for that mission based on the outcome of the planetary science decadal survey to be released next year. However, the co-chairs of the decadal's steering committee announced this week that they would recommend no changes to the of "mission themes" for that competition, which range from lunar sample return to studies of Saturn's moon Enceladus. The decadal will recommend potential destinations for future New Frontiers missions. (5/27)

Russia and China Invite Other Countries to Join Lunar Effort (Source: TASS)
Russia and China are inviting countries to join their lunar development program. A Roscosmos official said the countries sent invitations to "a number of our respected partners," including ESA. Roscosmos hopes to hold bilateral meetings with prospective partners at a space exploration conference next month in St. Petersburg, Russia. (5/27)

Europa May Have Volcanoes (Source: Space.com)
Europa, the icy moon of Jupiter, may have deep-sea volcanoes. A new study concluded that the tidal forces that heat the moon's interior and create a subsurface ocean of liquid water could also power volcanoes at the bottom of that ocean. That could raise the prospects of life there similar to what's seen in hydrothermal vents on the seafloor on Earth. (5/27)

Hawking's Papers Donated to Museums and Libraries (Source: The Guardian)
Stephen Hawking's papers and other items will be donated will be donated to museums and libraries as a tax break. The contents of Hawking's office at Cambridge University will go to the Science Museum in London, while his archive of papers and other documents, including a script from his appearance on "The Simpsons," will go to Cambridge's library. The donations will offset several million dollars of tax bills on his estate. (5/27)

Honeybee Robotics and mPower Technology Chosen to Design Lunar Charging Station (Source: Space Daily)
Honeybee Robotics and mPower Technology report that the companies have been selected to provide an innovative lunar charging solution for NASA. As electric vehicle charging stations are popping up across the globe, the Moon may soon join in the trend. NASA has selected five commercial teams to develop designs for vertically deployable solar array systems for the lunar surface as part of the Vertical Solar Array Technology (VSAT) project within NASA's Game Changing Development program.

These systems may one day be used as charging stations to recharge rovers, battery packs, and other electrical equipment used by spacecraft and astronauts. These solar charging stations would be dropped off by lunar rovers and would deploy large solar arrays to supply sustainable power. The stations would be easily maneuverable, folding up into a volume of less than half a cubic meter for ease of transportation between charging sites.

Two uniquely innovative companies, Honeybee Robotics of Altadena, California, and mPower Technology of Albuquerque, New Mexico, have teamed and will be awarded one of these NASA development contracts. mPower is an industry leader in the design and fabrication of lightweight, flexible, resilient space-qualified photovoltaics, called DragonSCALES. (5/27)

Branson: Watching Virgin Galactic’s First Human Spaceflight From Spaceport America (Source: Virgin.com)
15 years ago, New Mexico embarked on a journey to create the world’s first commercial spaceport. When I first met New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson, I said to him: “We’ll build you a spaceline if you build us a spaceport.” His response was: “We’ll build you a spaceport if you build us a spaceline.” 15 years later, we launched the first human spaceflight from that very same place, marking an important milestone for both Virgin Galactic and New Mexico.

I am so proud of the team for their hard work and grateful to the people of New Mexico who have been unwavering in their commitment for commercial spaceflight from day one. Their belief and support have made today’s historic achievement possible. This is an important step for the team’s flight test program, as the flight collected useful data and carried revenue-generating scientific research experiments as part of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program. The team are now reviewing the test data and then plan to proceed with confidence to the next flight test milestone. Click here. (5/21)

Breaking Down Virgin Galactic’s Latest Flight Test Campaign (Source: Parabolic Arc)
This was VSS Unity‘s first powered flight in 27 months, the sixth powered flight of the spacecraft’s test flight program, and the third to exceed the 50-mile (80.4 km) that the FAA considers to be the boundary of space. The internationally recognized boundary of space, known as the Karman line, is at 100 km (62.1 miles). It was the 10th powered flight of the SpaceShipTwo test program. The other tests were conducted by VSS Enterprise, which broke up during its fourth powered flight in 2014. None of VSS Enterprise‘s flights reached suborbital space. Saturday's test was the first of four flights that Virgin Galactic hopes will allow it to complete a test program that began in October 2010.

Company officials announced the following three flight tests, in order: 1) four employees will evaluate the cabin experience for future passengers; 2) Richard Branson will conduct his own evaluation of the passenger experience; and 3) Italian Air Force officers will evaluate how the vehicle can be used to train future astronauts and for conducting human-tended experiments. Branson and the seven others will be aboard the flights as mission specialists. Virgin Galactic has not yet received approval from the FAA to begin flying passengers, who will be officially known as spaceflight participants but whom Virgin Galactic will call astronauts.

Company officials have said the three remaining flight tests could be completed by late summer or early fall if all goes well. That would require a quicker turnaround than the company has demonstrated in the past. The time between VSS Unity‘s first and second suborbital flights in December 2018 and February 2019 was 72 days. After flight tests are completed, VSS Unity and its VMS Eve mothership would spend about four months undergoing maintenance and upgrades to prepare for commercial service. Then VSS Unity would start carrying spaceflight participants in early 2022. It would be joined by the newest SpaceShipTwo, VSS Imagine, which will begin flight tests later this year. (5/26)

Japan's Ispace Selected as Service Provider for All Three Canadian Space Agency’s Capability Demonstrations (Source: ispace)
ispace has been selected by three Canadian companies to carry out lunar transportation or lunar data acquisition services. The three companies—which include Mission Control Space Services Inc. (Mission Control), Canadensys Aerospace (Canadensys), and NGC Aerospace Ltd (NGC)—were announced as the three first awarded contributions for the Canadian Space Agency’s (CSA) Capability Demonstration opportunity as part of the agency’s Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP).

All three of the awarded companies have chosen ispace to carry out critical services for their respective missions. Each of the CSA-awardee companies selected ispace based on the company’s technical credibility to succeed in the required mission. ispace is in the process of finalizing contracts to provide payload delivery services for Canadensys and for a data acquisition service for NGC, respectively. (5/27)

With First Starlink Shell In Orbit, SpaceX has Minimized the Program's Costs for Deployment (Sources: SpaceFlight Insider, SPACErePORT)
In the race to place megaconsellations of satellites into orbit for global broadband service, SpaceX is clearly a head of the pack. Wednesday's launch was the 29th Starlink mission and brought the total number of satellites launched into orbit to 1,737 since 2019. This particular mission marked the completion of the first Starlink shell. The company anticipates all its current satellites should be in their final orbit by the end of 2021.

Starlink has had the advantage of being a priority for SpaceX, with the company devoting the majority of its launches to the effort. But what does this mean for Starlink's cost? A glimpse of SpaceX's internal accounting would be revealing, but the information has not been shared publicly. With a paid-for standing army of launch vehicle and payload processing personnel, and a stable of refurbished and readily available rockets, Starlink is able to launch with minimal new investments at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Every launch uses a rocket already bought multiple times over, and is processed by workers who otherwise might be idle, whose annual labor costs might well have been covered by other customers. (5/26)

SpaceX Conducts 100th Successful Consecutive Flight (Source: Ars Technica)
SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets have had an unblemished run of 100 successful launches, many of which have resulted in landings as well. SpaceX has lost one additional mission, but this didn't occur during a launch. Rather, the Amos-6 payload blew apart in September 2016 during a propellant loading that preceded a static fire test. The company has safely launched 91 rockets since the Amos-6 mishap.

The rocket for today's mission has only launched one other time, boosting the Sentinel-6A Earth science mission for NASA last November. That launch took place from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and the first stage has since been shipped across the country to Florida. It seems likely that one or more Merlin engines were swapped out on the first stage because SpaceX performed a static fire test of the vehicle earlier this week, something the company usually doesn't do before a Starlink mission.

SpaceX has rarely used such a "young" rocket for a Starlink mission. This may suggest that the company's customers are getting more comfortable using Falcon 9 first stages with more experience or that SpaceX is launching so quickly that this was simply the next rocket up. This was the 16th launch of a Falcon 9 rocket this year, keeping the company on pace to make an orbital launch attempt every nine days in 2021. (5/26)

Lockheed, General Motors Team Up on Lunar Rover Plan (Source: UPI)
Two American corporate giants, defense firm Lockheed Martin and automaker General Motors, will develop new lunar rovers for upcoming moon missions, the companies announced. Lockheed and GM plan a fleet of robotic and piloted rovers, which would move farther than Apollo's so-called moon buggies. The farthest distance an Apollo rover traveled was about 4.7 miles from the landing site. The new technologies will be needed to "support the first excursions of the Moon's south pole, where it is cold and dark with more rugged terrain," the companies said. (5/26)

DoD: Standardization is Key for Laser Comm Systems (Source: Space News)
Companies around the world are refining laser terminal technology and adopting standards. Mynaric announced May 26 that it demonstrated the first optical intersatellite links following the SDA standard. The test was performed in April in a Naval Research Lab testbed. Standards may seem like a minor detail, but the Pentagon officials are adamant. They do not want multiple vendors selling proprietary optical terminals that cannot communicate with one another. (5/26)