June 17, 2021

NASA-Sponsored Student Experiments to Blast Off From Virginia Spaceport (Source: NASA)
After being developed via a virtual learning experience, more than 70 experiments built by university students across the United States are ready for flight on NASA suborbital flight vehicles. The launch of a NASA Terrier-Improved Orion suborbital sounding rocket carrying some of the students’ experiments will be conducted at 8 a.m. EDT on June 24 from NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (6/17)

Space Force Wants to Use Directed-Energy Systems for Space Superiority (Source: C4ISRnet)
The head of the Space Force acknowledged that the U.S. is developing the “appropriate” directed-energy systems to maintain American space superiority, although he declined to provide details in the unclassified setting of a June 16 congressional hearing. Noting that directed-energy systems could be a possible defensive tool for American satellites, Rep. Jim Langevin, D-R.I., asked Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond whether the United States was adequately developing a directed energy portfolio “to be an effective capability for space dominance.” (6/16)

SpaceX Launches Newest GPS Satellite on Reused Booster (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
SpaceX has launched another next-generation Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite for the Space Force. This was the 19th Falcon 9 launch in 2021, and GPS-III-SV05 is the company’s fourth overall mission for the GPS program and the first to use a flight-proven first stage booster. The first stage previously launched GPS-III-SV04, the previous GPS mission, in Nov. 2020. After doing its job, booster B1062 touched down on the deck of Just Read the Instructions roughly 8 minutes and 30 seconds after launch. (6/17)

Masten Designs Rocket Mining System to Extract Lunar Water (Source: Masten)
At Masten, we’re working to accelerate the realization of space ecosystems on the Moon, Mars, and beyond. Our goal is to unlock the value in space to ultimately benefit humans on Earth. So how do we achieve that? First, we’ll enable regular, sustainable access to the lunar surface. Then, we’ll make it possible to extract and utilize extraterrestrial resources, such as water, methane, and rare-Earth metals. These resources can be used not only for fuel and power, but they also open the door to new commercial applications and technology innovations that can help preserve our resources on Earth.

Our new method for a Rocket Mining System gets us one step closer to achieving this mission. This system would enable rapid, reliable, and ongoing extraction of lunar ice and volatiles located at the Moon’s polar and permanently shadowed regions. Masten teamed up with Honeybee Robotics and Lunar Outpost to design a new Rocket Mining System that can rapidly extract frozen volatiles from the Moon. This method disrupts lunar soil with a series of rocket plumes that fluidize ice regolith by exposing it to direct convective heating. (6/17)

FAA Releases Final Environmental Impact Statement for Georgia Spaceport (Source: SPACErePORT)
After a lengthy and delayed process, the FAA has released a Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS) for the proposed Camden Spaceport in southeast Georgia, which could now lead to the issuance of a Launch Site Operator License to Camden County. The FEIS identifies a "preferred alternative" for the kind of orbital launches that would be conducted from the spaceport, namely a representative small vehicle that would carry 100-300 pounds of payload to LEO, using approximately 1,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and 750 gallons of RP-1. Suitable onsite storage would have a capacity for 350,000 gallons of liquid oxygen and 200,000 gallons of RP-1.

For this representative launch vehicle the FEIS anticipated up to 12 launches per year, limited to an azimuth of 100 degrees from true north (heading east-southeast), with stages dropping 200-300 miles offshore. If and when an actual launch vehicle is identified, an additional EIS would be required to determine its impacts, or whether it fits within the parameters of the representative launch vehicle. Spaceport Facts, an organization critical of the Georgia effort, points out that the specifications of the representative launch vehicle (a "fictional tiny rocket") do not match any known small rocket program. (6/17)

LeoLabs Partners with SpaceX for Rideshare Mission Support (Source: LeoLabs)
LeoLabs is pleased to announce that we will provide our Launch and Early Orbit tracking service to SpaceX’s customers as part of their SmallSat Rideshare Program. Drawing on the success of providing this service to satellite operators on the Transporter-1 mission, LeoLabs will provide this support to users for the next six Transporter missions plus multiple smaller rideshares. LeoLabs Launch and Early Orbit is a real-time operational satellite tracking service that has been proven to help satellite operators reliably identify and establish contact with their payloads, with data deliveries beginning just hours after mission launch. (6/17)

Congress Could Narrow Role of FAA Space Office (Source: Politico)
The chair of the House Transportation Committee revealed on Wednesday that he has big plans to reform the FAA’s oversight of the commercial space industry, beginning with ending the agency’s mandate as both promoter and regulator of the growing industry. “It’s time to end the FAA’s dual mandate,” Rep. Peter DeFazio said at a wide-ranging aviation subcommittee hearing with agency and space industry officials. He believes the time has come to end the promotion role as was done when the commercial aviation industry was maturing.

“I intend to soon introduce legislation to do that,” DeFazio said. “NASA can promote commercial space. The Commerce Department, you know, can promote it. The private sector can promote it themselves. It is not up to the FAA to promote commercial space and regulate at the same time, in the interest of public health and safety.” (6/17)

Fully Reusable Rockets Will Crush Supersonic Planes (Source: Next Big Future)
Every two weeks, SpaceX can produce enough Raptor engines for a complete production Starship. The SpaceX plan is to speed up production by four times to make 100 Starships every year. A SpaceX staff of 3000 will produce the 100 Starships and their Raptor engines every year. This means the cost of the Starship will be about $20 million and the plan is to bring the price down to $5 million.

This means the SpaceX Starship which can go to mach 20 will start at a cost that is 6 to 25 times less than the price of planned commercial supersonic jets. The price of Starship will get cut another four times as production rate is increased. Each SpaceX Starship will be 10 to 100 times cheaper than each supersonic commercial jets. The SpaceX Starship will be 2 to 15 times faster than the supersonic jets. The SpaceX Starship has a more advanced testing program. SpaceX Starship can transport heavier payloads.

SpaceX will need to research and improve the safety of the design by 1000 times or more to achieve the needed safety for commercial passengers. SpaceX will generate revenue and flight experience from space launches, Starlink business and point to point cargo delivery anywhere on Earth. (6/4)

Parsons Integrates Secondary Payload On Latest Atlas V Launch (Source: Parsons)
Parsons Corp. delivered the secondary payload on the recent SBIRS GEO5 Altas V launch as part of the existing $100 million Launch Manifest Systems Integrator (LMSI) contract. Awarded in 2019, LMSI is designed to expand access to space and maximize the orbit delivery potential of each launch. The company designs, develops, tests, and integrates multi-manifest satellite vehicles on U.S. Government space launch systems.

Parsons successfully integrated two Technology Demonstration Orbiters (TDO-3 and TDO-4) to ride-share on the SBIRS GEO5 mission, utilizing integrated flight system housing developed by Parsons. The TDO-3 and TDO-4 smallsat payloads are sponsored by the Department of Astronautics at the United States Air Force Academy (USAFA). (6/16)

Why a Digital Culture is an Imperative for the U.S. Space Force (Source: Space News)
Beyond the imperative for change, aspiring to be a digital service is a natural fit for the Space Force. China and Russia are rapidly developing capabilities that threaten U.S. satellites in orbit and challenge the stability of the space domain. The need to address these concerns more directly is the reason why the United States Space Force was established. However, simply standing up a new military service is not enough.

The Space Force is projected to be about 16,000 strong — which is one-tenth the size of the next smallest branch of the armed forces, the U.S. Marine Corps. With such a lean workforce, the Space Force must be extraordinarily proficient, efficient and effective. The leaders charged with building this service recognize this imperative and are pursuing a digital transformation to create a competitive advantage. The Space Force’s Vision for a Digital Service is about leveraging knowledge, tools and practices to accelerate the delivery of capabilities, streamline bureaucratic processes, empower data-driven decisions and advance operations. (6/17)

Air Force Defends Choice of Alabama’s Redstone Arsenal to Host U.S. Space Command (Source: Space News)
Acting Secretary of the Air Force John Roth on June 16 pushed back on suggestions that the recommendation to relocate U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama was politically tainted. “I have personally no evidence that the decision was politically motivated,” Roth told members of the House Armed Services Committee during a hearing Wednesday.

Roth was responding to questions from Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-CO), who has been a vocal critic of the selection of the U.S. Army’s Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama, as the future location of U.S. Space Command’s headquarters. The command is currently based at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado. Former Air Force secretary Barbara Barrett announced the decision in January in the final days of the Trump administration. Lamborn and other Colorado lawmakers have alleged the Trump White House improperly influenced the process. (6/16)

Computer Trouble Hits Hubble Space Telescope, Science Halted (Source: Click Orlando)
The Hubble Space Telescope has been hit with computer trouble, with all astronomical viewing halted, NASA said Wednesday. The orbiting observatory has been idle since Sunday when a 1980s-era computer that controls the science instruments shut down, possibly because of a bad memory board. Flight controllers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland tried to restart the computer Monday, but the same thing happened.

They’re now trying to switch to a backup memory unit. If that works, the telescope will be tested for a day, before the science instruments are turned back on and observations can resume. For now, the cameras and other instruments are in a so-called safe mode. (6/16)

Russia Plans Longer Duration Stays for Cosmonauts on ISS (Source: TASS)
Russian cosmonauts may routinely spend a year on the ISS at a time going forward. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said that Pyotr Dubrov will be the first in a series of cosmonauts who spend a year, rather than six months, on the station. Rogozin said those extended missions are needed to support biomedical research. Dubrov is spending a year on the station, along with NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, because the Soyuz seats that they would have used to return from the station in October will instead be taken by a director and actress flying to the station to film scenes for a movie. (6/17)

NASA Sees Science as Ingenuity Kicks Up Dust on Mars (Source: Nature)
The Ingenuity helicopter on Mars is providing some unexpected science. Images from several of the helicopter's flights show a cloud of dust on the ground below it, even when the helicopter is flying as high as five meters above it. The images suggest that dust can get transported into the thin Martian atmosphere more easily that once thought, which could help scientists better understand the dynamics of dust devils seen previously on Mars. (6/17)

China Sends Crew to Tianhe Space Station (Source: Space News)
China's Shenzhou-12 crewed spacecraft docked with the Tianhe space station module early Thursday, hours after launch. Shenzhou-12 and its crew of three launched on a Long March 2F from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9:22 p.m. Eastern Wednesday. The spacecraft docked with the Tianhe space station core module at 3:54 a.m. Thursday. Astronauts Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo will spend three months aboard Tianhe, the core module of China's new space station, performing spacewalks and testing various technologies. (6/17)

Spacesuit Problem Slows Deployment of New ISS Solar Arrays (Source: CBS)
A spacesuit problem kept astronauts from completing all their tasks on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Wednesday. NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough encountered a problem with a display unit on his spacesuit, which required him to go back to the airlock and reset the unit. That caused him and ESA astronaut Thomas Pesquet to fall behind schedule on their work to deploy the first in a series of new solar arrays. They were able to install the panel, but ran out of time before they could deploy the array. The two are scheduled to perform a second spacewalk Sunday to complete the work and install a second panel. (6/17)

Ahead of July 30 Flight, NASA and Boeing Complete Work on 80 Recommendations for CST-100 (Source: Space News)
NASA and Boeing have closed out recommendations from an independent review of the first CST-100 Starliner test flight. NASA said that Boeing had completed work on 80 recommendations from that review of the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) mission 18 months ago, where a series of problems cut the mission short and kept the spacecraft from docking with the ISS. A second uncrewed test flight, OFT-2, is scheduled for July 30 and, if successful, could allow a crewed flight by the end of the year. (6/17)

ESA Members Approve EU Financial Framework, Consider China/Russia Lunar Collaboration (Source: Space News)
ESA members have approved an agreement governing its partnership with EU on space programs. ESA leaders said that members unanimously approved the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement (FFPA) at this week's ESA Council meeting. ESA said they negotiated the FFPA to ensure that ESA members who are not a part of the EU, like the UK, can participate in programs like Copernicus. ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher separately said that, while ESA had been invited by China and Russia to participate in the International Lunar Research Station, members were still evaluating the proposal and had made no decisions on any role ESA might play. (6/17)

Parts Shortage Disrupts Satellite Supply Chain (Source: Space News)
Satellite manufacturers are grappling with component shortages. COVID-19-related supply chain disruption has caused a microchip shortage that could take years to settle, exacerbated by surging demand for technology during the pandemic as consumers stayed at home. Satellite manufacturers said that while they are not affected by semiconductor shortages to the same degree as the automotive and consumer electronics sectors, they are still seeing impacts on their supply chains. (6/17)

UK's Horizon Technologies Orders Clyde Space Cubesats for Maritime Surveillance (Source: Space News)
British maritime surveillance venture Horizon Technologies has ordered two more cubesats from AAC Clyde Space. The two satellites join Amber IOD-3, which AAC Clyde Space is building for deployment from the ISS this summer. The additional Amber satellites come a month after Horizon Technologies secured Series A funding in the single-digit millions of dollars to build out a constellation of six satellites to detect signals from ships operating clandestinely. (6/17)

Melroy Nomination as NASA Deputy Administrator Moves Forward (Source: Senate Commerce Committee)
Pam Melroy is one step closer to being NASA's next deputy administrator. The Senate Commerce Committee favorably reported her nomination on a voice vote during an executive session Wednesday. The committee also advanced the nomination of Rick Spinrad to be NOAA administrator. The nominations go to the full Senate for a final confirmation vote. (6/17)

China Leading US in Some Key Smallsat Reconnaissance Capabilities (Source: Politico)
A set of briefing slides put together by the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is making the rounds and ranks countries on their prowess when it comes to commercial small satellites. And it is setting off alarms. The categories, for which NGA awarded countries gold, silver and bronze medals, include best panchromatic resolution; synthetic aperture radar; video; multispectral imaging; shortwave and midwave infrared; and hyperspectral imaging. Also ranked were the revisit times for electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar satellites.

The results: The U.S. tops out in pan resolution, or black and white images, as well as synthetic aperture radar. But China holds the gold and silver medals for video and wins the gold and bronze in hyperspectral imaging, according to NGA. China also won the gold to the United States’ silver in electro-optical persistence, or the ability to revisit a spot on the ground. “We kind of invented this and now we’re losing it,” said Charles Beames. As for midwave infrared, “we’re not even in the ranking,” he added. (6/17)

Policy Group: Congress Should Assign DoD Responsibility for Planetary Defense (Source: Politico)
Congress needs to make clear the military is responsible for planetary defense and preparing for the remote but catastrophic possibility of an asteroid threatening the Earth, according to a new paper published by the American Foreign Policy Council. Peter Garretson, a retired Air Force officer and space strategist, points out that a 2001 commission recommended a “joint civil and military initiative to develop a core space infrastructure that will address emerging national needs for military use and planetary defense.”

“Unfortunately, the intervening two decades have not resulted in such a coordinated initiative, but instead the lack of legislative clarity has led to competing and often contradictory impulses,” Garretson writes. It is time for Congress to fix that, he added. “Now that a Space Force and dedicated U.S. Space Command exist, it is appropriate for Congress to author legislation affixing these responsibilities to the agencies statutorily tasked to ’protect the interests of the United States in space’ and conduct operations in, from, and to space to defend U.S. vital interests.” (6/17)

Russia Preparing to Supply Iran With Advanced Satellite System to Surveil Military Targets (Source: Washington Post)
Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced satellite system that will give Tehran an unprecedented ability to track potential military targets across the Middle East and beyond, according to current and former U.S. and Middle Eastern officials briefed on details of the arrangement. The plan would deliver to the Iranians a Russian-made Kanopus-V satellite equipped with a high-resolution camera that would greatly enhance Iran’s spying capabilities, allowing continuous monitoring of facilities ranging from Persian Gulf oil refineries and Israeli military bases to Iraqi barracks that house U.S. troops. The launch could happen within months, they said. (6/17)

New Managing Partner Joins SpaceFund Investment Team (Source: Space Fund)
The fast-rising SpaceFund venture capital team announced its newest member today. James Mertz brings a highly successful career in family office, energy, and real estate investing to a team that has already shaken the space investment world with its early successes and thought-leading investment strategies. Mr. Mertz joins Meagan Crawford as a managing partner of the rapidly-growing "BlastOff" fund, where they oversee and manage the fund's portfolio of leading-edge space technology companies. (6/17)

SpaceX Retires Brand New Starship to Focus on Orbital Launch Buildup (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX has moved its newest finished Starship straight from its Boca Chica, Texas factory to a nearby ‘rocket garden,’ all but guaranteeing an early retirement. Built as the first of several planned backups to Starship SN15, which debuted a number of significant upgrades in April and May, it appears that Starship serial number 16 (SN16) has been retired to a display stand after its only sibling became the first full-size prototype to successfully survive a launch and landing on May 5th.

SN16 actually reached its full height before SN15 lifted off and was more or less complete by May 10th. Since then, the prototype has remaining more or less untouched, seemingly waiting for SpaceX to decide its fate in lieu of Starship SN15’s major success. Ultimately, with SN16 now sitting side by side with SN15 at what will likely become a sort of open-air SpaceX museum, it appears that the company has made up its mind.

Given that SN16 was quite literally completed within days of SN15’s launch and landing, it seemed an almost foregone conclusion that SN16 would fly. For a few weeks, it even looked possible that SpaceX would attempt to reuse Starship SN15. However, SpaceX appeared to decide against reuse and rolled its first flight-proven full-size Starship from the pad to a plot of land expected to host a future ‘garden’ for retired SpaceX rockets. (6/17)