June 2, 2021

NASA Stacks Elements for Upper Portion of Artemis II Core Stage (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) team fully stacked three hardware elements together May 24 to form the top of the rocket's core stage for the Artemis II mission. NASA and core stage prime contractor Boeing connected the forward skirt with the liquid oxygen tank and intertank flight hardware inside an assembly area at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

Teams had previously stacked the liquid oxygen tank and intertank on April 28. The joining of the three structures together is the first major assembly of core stage hardware for Artemis II, the first crewed Artemis mission and second flight of the SLS rocket. Next, technicians will work to complete outfitting and integrating the systems within the upper structure. (5/28)

Viasat Wants FCC to Halt Subsidies to SpaceX Starlink (Source: Space News)
Viasat is asking the FCC to reconsider broadband subsidies it gave to SpaceX's Starlink. Viasat, in an application for review made public Tuesday, is asking the FCC to examine $885 million in Rural Digital Opportunity Fund (RDOF) awards it made to SpaceX in December, arguing that the Starlink system cannot provide the level of service required by the awards.

Viasat says it was not allowed to bid for RDOF awards with its proposed low Earth orbit constellation, even though it already offers broadband services using geostationary satellites. This request is separate from one Viasat made to the FCC last month asking it to reconsider a modification it made to SpaceX's Starlink license in April. Viasat is expected to go to federal court as soon as today to try to block the license modification and seek an environmental review of the Starlink constellation. (6/2)

JWST Launch Likely Slipping to November (Source: Space News)
American and European officials acknowledged Tuesday that the Ariane 5 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope will likely slip to at least mid-November. At a briefing Tuesday, ESA and Arianespace said they were finishing reviews of a payload fairing issue seen on two Ariane 5 launches that had grounded the booster since last August. Ariane 5 launches are now scheduled to resume in the latter half of July, with two launches planned before the JWST mission. That schedule likely pushes the JWST launch from the end of October to at least the middle of November, officials said. (6/2)

ESA Contracts with Airbus for Next-Generation Galileo Satellites (Source: Space News)
ESA and Airbus signed a contract for a new series of Galileo satellites that had been delayed by a court case. The $855 million contract, signed last week, covers the construction of six second-generation Galileo satellites by Airbus. ESA awarded contracts to Airbus and Thales Alenia Space in January for those satellites, but OHB, which also bid on the contracts, protested the contracts.

The General Court of the European Union ruled last month that while OHB's claims that Airbus illegally acquired trade secrets by hiring an OHB executive were not unfounded, the potential for "major technical and financial consequences" for the Galileo program led the court to reject OHB's suit. (6/2)

D-Orbit Readies Rideshare Mission (Source: Space News)
D-Orbit has revealed the lineup of satellites and hosted payloads on its next rideshare mission. The company said it will carry seven satellites for a variety of customers, as well as three hosted payloads that will remain attached to the In-Orbit Now (ION) Satellite Carrier after the deployment of the satellites. The mission will also test a sail to increase drag and speed up its deorbiting. D-Orbit said that ION will launch in June, but did not disclose the launch vehicle carrying it. (6/2)
 
Nap Quest: How Suspended Animation Could Fuel Space Exploration (Source: NOW Northrop Grumman)
Consider the star nearest to us, Proxima Centauri. While it’s just around the corner in galactic terms — a mere 4.25 light years away — do the math and you’ll discover it’s more than 40 trillion kilometers from Earth. According to NASA, the Voyager 1 spacecraft, now traveling at 17.3 km/s, would take more than 73,000 years to reach the Proxima Centauri system. At the speed of light, the journey would still take almost four and a half years.

For astronauts, this is daunting. A review in the Gravitational and Space Biology Bulletin notes that, even with faster propulsion systems, there are a host of problematic physical and psychosocial effects associated with long-term space exploration that could negatively impact mission outcomes. But what if there was another way?

Suspended animation could be an alternative to traditional travel. Controlled reduction of humans’ overall body temperature could effectively send space travelers into a state of hibernation, allowing for significantly reduced consumption of resources while simultaneously avoiding some of the negative effects of long-term cohabitation in cramped crew quarters. Both NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have begun preliminary research into cryosleep solutions. But how exactly would this suspended snooze-fest work? Click here. (5/31)

Airbus to Study Quantum Communications Satellite Network (Source: Space News)
The European Commission has selected a consortium led by Airbus to study a quantum communications network. The proposed EuroQCI network would use satellites and terrestrial fiber optic cables to provide secure communications across Europe. The network aims to fortify communications surrounding government institutions, air traffic control, health care facilities, banks and power grids. The 15-month study contract, worth several million euros, is separate from an effort by a British startup, Arqit, to develop a satellite communications network using quantum encryption. Arqit is raising $400 million by merging with a SPAC in a deal announced last month. (6/2)

Germany's OroraTech Raises $7 Million for Wildfire Tracking Constellation (Source: Space News)
A German startup has raised a funding round to support development of a satellite constellation to track wildfires. OroraTech raised $7.1 million in a Series A round announced Tuesday. The company said it will use the funding to support initial development of a constellation of smallsats, including payloads hosted on Spire cubesats, designed to provide early detection of wildfires. The company plans to have a "minimum viable constellation" of 14 spacecraft in orbit by 2023. (6/2)

Germany May Subsidize Starlink Hardware (Source: Wall Street Journal)
The German government may subsidize consumer hardware needed for SpaceX's Starlink system. The government is considering offering subsidies of about 500 euros per person to purchase the antenna and other hardware needed to use the Starlink system. SpaceX currently charges 499 euros, plus shipping, for that equipment to German participants in its beta test. A German government minister said the subsidies, which would also be offered to customers of other satellite broadband providers, were intended to address a lack of internet access in remote parts of the country that became clear during the pandemic. (6/2)

Amazon Wants India's Approval for Kuiper Broadband Service (Source: Economic Times)
Amazon is expected to request permission from the Indian government to offer its Project Kuiper satellite broadband services there. Indian government sources said they expected to talk soon with Amazon about obtaining licenses and other authorizations needed to provide broadband internet access in the country. Both SpaceX and OneWeb, partially owned by Indian telecom pany Bharti Global, are already in talks to provide satellite broadband services in India. (6/2)

Online Dating in Space (Source: New Zealand Herald)
An online dating service wants to set up the first date in space. LUSSO, which bills itself as the "most exclusive and most expensive dating site in the world" with an annual fee of more than $10,000, says it's looking for two customers to go on a date while in space. The lucky couple, the company said, would need to be "willing to go into space and have the financial power to back it up." In other words, LUSSO isn't offering to pay for either the suborbital or orbital spaceflight. (6/2)

US Military is Starting to Get Really Interested in Starship (Source: Ars Technica)
As part of last week's federal budget rollout, a process during which the White House proposes funding levels for fiscal year 2022, the US Air Force released its "justification book" to compare its current request to past budget data. The 462-page book contains a lot of information about how the Air Force spends its approximately $200 billion budget.

For those tracking the development of SpaceX's ambitious Starship vehicle, there is an interesting tidbit tucked away on page 305, under the heading of "Rocket Cargo". The Air Force plans to invest $47.9 million into this project in the coming fiscal year, which begins October 1.

"The Department of the Air Force seeks to leverage the current multi-billion dollar commercial investment to develop the largest rockets ever, and with full reusability to develop and test the capability to leverage a commercial rocket to deliver AF cargo anywhere on the Earth in less than one hour, with a 100-ton capacity," the document states. (6/1)