June 25, 2021

Military Space Cooperation Between Luxembourg and USA (Source: Delano)
Luxembourg’s burgeoning space sector is attracting interest from the US Space Force, with the Luxeosys Earth observation satellite, space situational awareness and satellite communications seen as ways for the grand duchy to step up support for its allies. Kelli L. Seybolt, US deputy undersecretary of the Air Force’s international affairs office, visited Luxembourg on Thursday and Friday to meet with government officials and private space sector players. Space Force is a branch of the Air Force.

“I don’t envy the problem,” she said speaking to Delano about Luxembourg struggling to meet its NATO commitments. Alliance members in 2014 pledged to spend 2% of GDP on their militaries, a challenge for the grand duchy’s small army of 400 active soldiers. In 2019, Luxembourg would have had to spend €1.2bn on defence to meet the 2% pledge. It spent around €395m on its military. A slew of investments, including in space, is helping raise the sum from 0.6% of GDP to 0.72% by 2024. (6/24)

New Zealand Minister in Dismisses 'Confused' Greens Party's Rocket Lab Fears (Source: NewsHub)
The minister who signs off on space launches has dismissed the Green Party's fears that Rocket Lab is launching potentially dangerous military hardware into space. "I think they're slightly confused about what Rocket Lab is doing," Regional Economic Development Minister Stuart Nash told Newshub after Green MP Teanau Tuiono submitted a Member's Bill to change the law governing space launches.

Tuiono's proposed law change would amend the Outer Space and High Altitude Activities Act to prohibit the launching of military hardware into space from New Zealand. He mentioned Rocket Lab, which often launches hardware from Mahia Peninsula on behalf of the US military. (6/25)

What Are the Limits of Space Exploration? (Source: CGTN)
What will be needed to achieve safe and successful exploration in the future? Is human fragility a limit that can be overcome when exploring space and how? We put this question to Eleonora Zeminiani, a space engineer from Thales Alenia Space Italia. Zeminiani is an expert in the optimization of human space exploration, or, simply put, a "space businesswoman."

"I think that right now we are very limited by the fragility of human beings. If it were just for our machines, we could venture everywhere. But we really need to take care of the astronauts and cosmonauts," she says. "[Sustainable space travel] means how far you can go without needing to rely on the Earth for supplies. All your crew, your staff, can work and operate safely and reliably far from Earth, but also how you can make this financially viable. I mean, if you want to do this in the long run, you need investors. You need to create the market. You need to have an economic purpose in doing that. So you need the resources. You need to create products, you need to create services." (6/24)

Go Go Gadget CubeSat! (Source: Cosmos)
A CubeSat that will split in two so it can fly in formation will use a “bee’s eye” sensor to feed information back to Earth, Australia’s new space commander has told parliament. Air Vice-Marshall Cath Roberts also told a federal inquiry into the space industry about the dangers of space debris as space gets more congested. The M2 CubeSat was launched into orbit in March, and earlier this month demonstrated Australia’s first in-orbit use of artificial intelligence (AI) by correctly recognizing hand-written characters. That was a crucial test of its capability before the 12-unit spacecraft is split into two six-unit craft using a built-in spring. (6/25)

NASA Has Always Needed Private Companies to Go to the Moon (Source: Quartz)
“We got to the Moon without private contractors, if I’m not mistaken,” US rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) said yesterday, leading me to collapse in a frothing heap. NASA administrator Bill Nelson had a calmer response: “In the Apollo program, Mr. Congressman, we got to the Moon with American corporations.”

A dozen major US companies worked closely with the US space agency to build the vehicles that took the first humans to the lunar surface. NASA scientists and engineers planned the mission and the technology needed to accomplish it, then worked with the most advanced tech firms of the day to produce rockets, capsules, landers, suits, and rovers. There’s no doubt Apollo was a big government program, but the private sector was essential.

In the last decade, the US space program has made major leaps by handing more work directly to private firms. Rather than designing a new space vehicle to carry cargo or astronauts to the International Space Station and hiring someone to build it, NASA effectively told its needs to the marketplace, and accepted proposals from companies that would not only design the spacecraft, but operate them as a service. This choice launched SpaceX and a new era of private sector space in the US. (6/24)

China Building New Space Environment Monitoring Station (Source: Xinhua)
China has started building a monitoring station as part of a network to study space weather, according to China's National Space Science Center (NSSC). The NSSC, which is affiliated to Chinese Academy of Sciences, said the station is being built in Siziwang Banner, north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. Spread over 400 mu (about 26.67 hectares), it is expected to be completed in 2023. The station will use large-scale high-frequency radar array as the main detection equipment, and integrate various detection means such as radio radar, active and passive optics, cosmic rays and geomagnetic field. (6/24)

Nelson Adds to NASA Leadership Team (Source: NASA)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced four new additions to the agency’s senior staff. Shahra Anderson Lambert will serve as senior advisor for engagement and Bale Dalton will serve as the deputy chief of staff. Nelson also announced Bryan Gulley as media relations specialist and Justin Weiss as deputy press secretary. (6/24)

NASA Extends Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System Mission (Source: Parabolic Arc)
NASA has awarded a contract to the University of Michigan for the Cyclone Global Navigation Satellite System (CYGNSS) for mission operations and closeout. A constellation of eight microsatellites, the system can view storms more frequently and in a way traditional satellites are unable to, increasing scientists’ ability to understand and predict hurricanes. The total value of the contract is approximately $39 million. The CYGNSS Science Operations Center is located at the University of Michigan. (6/25)

Astronaut Scholar Program Taps Embry-Riddle Innovator (Source: ERAU)
Through a combination of leadership, research excellence and a desire to change the world with science, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University incoming senior Grace Robertson has been named to the 2021 class of Astronaut Scholars, an organization that deems her “among the best and brightest minds in STEM.” The Astronaut Scholars Program awarded recipients from universities throughout the country scholarships up to $15,000, membership in the Astronaut Scholar Honor Society, an invitation to the Innovators Gala in August and various mentoring opportunities from astronauts, scholar alumni and space industry executives. (6/22)

SpaceX Postpones Transporter-2 Launch (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX has postponed a Falcon 9 launch scheduled for today for technical issues. The company said Thursday the Transporter-2 mission, which had been scheduled for launch Friday afternoon, would be delayed to provide "additional time for pre-launch checkouts." SpaceX has not disclosed a new launch date; airspace restrictions are in place for launches Saturday, Sunday and Monday, but some customers have said the next opportunity will not be until Monday. Transporter-2 is the company's second dedicated rideshare mission, carrying dozens of smallsats. (6/25)

Atlas Rocket for Boeing Crewed Mission Arrives at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
On June 21, United Launch Alliance unloaded its Atlas V rocket first stage, and Dual Engine Centaur Upper stage in Port Canaveral, Florida, ahead of Boeing’s Crewed Flight Test mission. The booster and its second stage began their journey to the Cape after leaving ULA’s production facility in Decatur Alabama on June 14. The rocket components were transported by the company’s appropriately named “Rocketship” by river and sea to reach its destination.

Boeing’s CFT mission is expected to launch later this year, and will be Boeing’s first crewed launch to the International Space Station in support of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The launch will loft the company’s CST-100 “Starliner” spacecraft into orbit, taking NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore, Nicole Mann and Mike Fincke to the station. (6/25)

Orbion Raises $20 Million for Plasma Thrusters (Source: Space News)
Satellite propulsion company Orbion Space Technology has raised a $20 million Series B round. The company says it will use the funding to scale up production of its Aurora plasma thrusters for small satellites. The company is looking to ramp up production to hundreds of units per year to meet demand from commercial constellations and from the U.S. government, such as units it is providing to Blue Canyon for satellites it's producing for DARPA's Blackjack program. (6/25)

Leaf Space Adds Ground Stations to Network (Source: Space News)
Leaf Space has added three more ground stations to its managed network service to support customers on SpaceX's Transporter-2 mission. Adding sites in Sri Lanka, the Azores and Scotland increases Leaf Space's total ground station count to 12, which will support 14 satellites from six customers on that mission. The company expects to activate three more ground stations in the third quarter of this year amid the small satellite industry's rapid expansion. (6/25)

Ingenuity Spurs Study of Larger Mars Helicopters (Source: Space News)
The continued success of Ingenuity is supporting studies of larger Mars helicopters. Ingenuity made its eighth flight on Monday, flying 160 meters over 77 seconds. The small helicopter is continuing an "operations demonstration" working in conjunction with the Perseverance rover, which is expected to continue for at least a few more months. Engineers at NASA are studying concepts for much larger helicopters that could carry up to five kilograms of scientific payload and travel 10 kilometers per flight. Such helicopters could access areas inaccessible to rovers, or study regions of astrobiological interest to avoid contamination. NASA has not announced any firm plans to include helicopters on any future Mars missions. (6/25)

Software-As-A-Service Finding Followers in Space Business (Source: Space News)
The space industry is increasingly adopting "software-as-a-service" business models. As the space sector expands, companies large and small are adopting new service-based business models that promise the benefits of space without the demands of satellite manufacturing, government regulations, launch integration or space data delivery. An important benefit of the service model for space companies is scale, as subscription service providers reap the rewards of a large customer base. (6/25)

Nelson Says Artemis Plans Pending Decision on GAO Protest (Source: Space News)
NASA is awaiting a decision from the Government Accountability Office on protests of the agency’s lunar lander contract before releasing more details on plans to return humans to the moon,  NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told a House committee June 23. Nelson said those plans will depend on whether the GAO upholds protests filed by Blue Origin and Dynetics of NASA’s award of a single Human Landing System (HLS) contract to SpaceX in April. The GAO has until Aug. 4 to rule on the two protests.
 
Nelson did not elaborate on the options that the agency is considering, including what it would do if the GAO upholds either or both protests. However, he said the agency would announce those plans shortly after the GAO rulings, which is expected by Aug. 4. (6/25)

Artemis 1 SLS Rocket Taking Shape at KSC (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The first Space Launch System rocket continues to take shape at the Kennedy Space Center. Workers this week installed the Launch Vehicle Stage Adapter on top of the core stage. That serves as the interface between the core stage and the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, the SLS's upper stage. NASA will install the upper stage and a mass simulator of the Orion spacecraft to perform tests, then replace the mass simulator with the actual Orion spacecraft for the Artemis 1 mission, scheduled for launch no earlier than November. (6/25)

MRO Views Chinese Rover (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) is living up to its name by performing reconnaissance of a Chinese rover. Recent images from MRO show the Zhurong rover has continued to move further away from its landing platform. China's space program has provided few updates on Zhurong's activities since its landing, beyond releasing a few images taken by the rover. (6/25)

Turkey Wants to Build Somalia Spaceport (Source: Garowe Online)
The Turkish government is interested in building a spaceport in Somalia. The head of the Turkish Space Agency said the spaceport would support launch vehicles Turkey is proposing to develop, potentially in cooperation with Russia. The spaceport could support launches on eastward trajectories that would be difficult to do from Turkey itself. The government didn't give a schedule for the spaceport project but indicated it would be willing to invest up to $1 billion in the project. (6/25)

Virgin Galactic Receives FAA License to Carry Passengers to Space (Source: Virgin Galactic)
Virgin Galactic announced that the FAA updated the company’s existing commercial space transportation operator license to allow the spaceline to fly customers to space. The company also announced that it has completed an extensive review of data gathered from its May 22 test flight and confirmed that the flight performed well against all flight objectives. The adjustment to Virgin Galactic’s operator’s license, which the company has held since 2016, marks the first time the FAA has licensed a spaceline to fly customers. (6/25)

UK Satellites will Help Fight Climate Change and Save Wildlife (Source: Space Daily)
Monitoring and tackling climate change and tracking endangered wildlife are among the exciting features of three UK-built satellites set to launch on a SpaceX rocket this week. UK companies have received nearly 15 million pounds from the UK Space Agency, through the European Space Agency's Pioneer Partnership Programme, to develop the trio of satellites due to lift off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (6/24)

Technical Snags Make US Astronauts' Lunar Landing in 2024 'Less Likely', GAO Says (Source: Sputnik)
NASA's 2024 deadline to return humans to the Moon looks increasingly unlikely due to reliance on technology that has yet to be fully developed, the General Accountability Office (GAO) said in a report on Thursday. "A fast-tracked schedule to meet this ambitious date - along with some technical risks - mean that it's less likely a lunar landing will happen in 2024," a GAO press release explaining the report said. "For example, most of the lunar projects are still early in development and some are relying on immature technology."

NASA's pace to develop a lander needed to shuttle astronauts between a spacecraft orbiting to Moon and the lunar surface relies on a schedule that is most likely overly ambitious, the release said. The pace is "months faster" than other spaceflight programs and a lander is inherently more complex because it supports human spaceflight, the release added. (6/25)

NASA to Send Mannequins to Moon to Prepare for Crewed Missions (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's upcoming Artemis I mission to the moon, planned for later this year, won't have a human crew, but the space agency is preparing three inanimate occupants of the Orion capsule to measure radiation and vibrations. The Artemis I "crew" members, mannikins, will help NASA test radiation, vibration and impacts from landing before the space agency plans to send astronauts in an Orion capsule by 2023. That mission will be the first time since Apollo programs ended in 1972 that astronauts have ventured into Deep Space.

New data is needed because NASA's technology, spacecraft and medical understanding have advanced significantly since the last lunar missions half a century ago, according to the space agency. Two of the mannequins, are designed with materials to mimic bone and human organs. Named Zohar and Helga, they will be festooned with over 2,000 dosimeters to help NASA understand space radiation exposure.

NASA refers to Zohar and Helga as phantoms. One will wear a protective radiation vest and one will not. The third mannequin is a human-sized rubber dummy used to teach cardiopulmonary resuscitation, which will have two dosimeters, as well as vibration sensors, Mark Baldwin, engineer and program manager for NASA contractor Lockheed Martin, said. (6/24)

Sierra Space: New Nuclear Propulsion System as Part of DARPA’s DRACO Program (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Sierra Space will supply the propulsion components and integration services for a Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) system under a recent contract with General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS). GA-EMS and Sierra Space will develop and demonstrate an on-orbit NTP system for DARPA's Demonstration Rocket for Agile Cislunar Operations (DRACO) program.

While the primary mission of DRACO is to enable fast transit time between Earth and the moon, the development of nuclear powered spacecraft propulsion is also expected to open up deep space exploration to humans. NTP uses a nuclear reactor to heat propellant to extreme temperatures before expelling the hot propellant through a nozzle to produce thrust. Compared to conventional space propulsion technologies, NTP offers a high thrust-to-weight ratio around 10,000 times greater than electric propulsion and two-to-five times greater specific propellant efficiency than chemical propulsion. (6/24)

Iridium Wins Contract to Develop Hosted Navigation Payload for Low Earth Orbit (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Iridium has secured a $30 million research and development contract with the United States Army to develop a payload which will support the concept of a rapidly deployable small satellite constellation, with the goal of providing more effective data transmission to the soldiers in the field. The payload will be hosted by another Low Earth Orbit commercial satellite constellation and used alongside Iridium’s existing network. Although the partner is not yet announced, it could include mega-constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink, Amazon’s upcoming Project Kuiper, or satellites of the OneWeb and ViaSat constellations. (6/24)

Fresh Group of Chinese Astronauts Readying for Orbit (Source: Space Daily)
bAs construction of China's space station gradually unfolds, the country needs fresh vigor to carry out the ambitious endeavor. Currently, the Astronaut Center of China in Beijing is training the third group of Chinese astronauts. The 18 new astronauts-17 men and one woman-are in three groups: seven will become spacecraft pilots, another seven will eventually be space flight engineers and the last four will become mission payload specialists, said the China Manned Space Agency.

They are undergoing systematic and sophisticated training before qualifying for space missions, the agency said. Before this latest group, China had 21 astronauts from two generations. Among them, 12 have taken part in space flight exercises during seven missions, including the latest Shenzhou XII. Several in the two generations who had not taken part in any space flight activities during their service have already retired. The selection for the third-generation team began in May 2018 and wrapped up in September 2020. About 2,500 applicants participated in the process. (6/18)

Europe Seeks Disabled Astronauts, More Women in Space (Source: Washington Post)
The European Space Agency says it was “blown away” by the record number of applicants — more than 22,000 — hoping to become the continent’s next generation of space travelers, including more women than ever and some 200 people with disabilities. In releasing the results of a new recruitment drive aimed at more astronaut diversity, the agency acknowledged Wednesday that it still has work to do on gender balance. Just 24% of the applicants were women, up from 15% at the last hiring drive in 2008.

The hiring campaign didn’t specifically address ethnic diversity, but stressed the importance of “representing all parts of our society.” The agency received applications from all 25 member nations and associate members, though most came from traditional heavyweights France, Germany, Britain and Italy. ESA specifically sought out people with physical disabilities, for a first-of-its-kind effort to determine what adaptations would be necessary to space stations to accommodate them. (6/23)

NewSpace Journal Released (Source: NewSpace Journal)
The June issue of New Space is out now! In this month’s issue explore research on technologies, systems, and infrastructure that could enable the commercial development of lower Earth orbit and cislunar space; the business case for lunar ice mining; and much more. Click here. (6/25)