June 30, 2021

Musk Hopes SpaceX’s Starlink Internet Service Can Get 500,000 Users in a Year (Source: Market Watch)
Elon Musk says SpaceX’s Starlink satellite-internet service should be available worldwide in August, and he hopes to have half a million users within a year. Speaking via videoconference for the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Musk said about 1,800 Starlink satellites have already been launched, and the internet service currently has nearly 70,000 users in 12 countries. “We’re, I think, on our way to having a few hundred thousand users, possibly over 500,000 users within 12 months,” Musk said. It’s unclear how realistic that number is, as Musk is notorious for failing to meet his own overly optimistic forecasts. (6/29)

Space Force Selects 50 Transfers from Army, Navy, Marine Corps (Source: UPI)
Fifty active-duty Army, Navy and Marine Corps personnel have been chosen to transfer to the U.S. Space Force and will join the branch in July. The group will test integration efforts to bring additional personnel into the new military branch, founded in 2019 with a mandate to deter aggression and protect the interests of the United States in space. The transfers, who will join the branch next month, were selected from a pool of 3,700 officers and enlisted personnel who submitted applications in March. Another 350 will be selected for transfer in July, each matched to specific Space Force specialties, including space operations, intelligence, cyber, engineering and acquisition. (6/30)

Former SpaceX Director Tyler Grinnell Named Virgin Orbit’s Flight, Launch VP (Source: GovWire)
Tyler Grinnell, former director of launch and recovery operation at SpaceX, has joined Virgin Orbit to serve as vice president of flight and launch activities. He will be responsible for driving team operational pacing and efficiencies to help Virgin Orbit keep up with a growing customer base for flight and launch services, the company said. Grinnell held multiple engineering and management roles related to launch operations, avionics and instrumentation at SpaceX over the past 12 years. (6/29)

A Space Laser Shows How Catastrophic Sea Level Rise Will Be (Source: WIRED)
An actual space laser is cruising 300 miles above your head right now. Launched in 2018, NASA’s ICESat-2 satellite packs a lidar instrument, the same kind of technology that allows self-driving cars to see in three dimensions by spraying lasers around themselves as they roll down the street and analyzing the light that bounces back. But instead of mapping a road, ICESat-2 measures the elevation of Earth’s surface with extreme accuracy.

Scientists used ICESat-2’s new lidar data to map the planet’s land that’s less than 2 meters above sea level, which makes it vulnerable to the creep of sea level rise. Marrying this data with population figures, they calculated that 267 million people currently live in these at-risk areas. Assuming a sea level rise of 1 meter by the year 2100, they project that 410 million people will ultimately live in an affected zone. Asian countries like Bangladesh and Indonesia are particularly vulnerable, but the United States and Europe will also have no shortage of at-risk populations. (6/30)

Musk Calls for Reform After SpaceX Flight Canceled Due to Air Space Crowding (Source: Newsweek)
SpaceX founder Elon Musk is calling for systematic reform after Tuesday's Space X flight was canceled due to a range issue with an aircraft in the launch zone. SpaceX was prepared to launch the Transporter 2 mission, but 11 seconds before take-off, the launch was scrubbed due to "fouled range."

Tuesday's "fouled range" was a rare occurrence for most lift-offs. Range violations have become typically avoidable now that the East Coast US military wing has taken over jurisdiction and that communication of the strict "keep-out zones" has improved. According to SpaceX's webcast host, an aircraft may have strayed into the temporarily restricted airspace. "Fouled range" is typically declared when a vehicle or pedestrian of some kind has failed to heed warnings and entered the launch "range" during a live launch attempt. (6/29)

Outer Space Is Becoming the Final Junkyard (Source: National Review)
Policy makers are finally taking space debris seriously. At the recent G-7 Leaders’ Summit, delegates recognized “the importance of developing common standards, best practices and guidelines related to sustainable space operations” to preserve orbital integrity. Even the World Economic Forum, typically not known to be a bastion of serious problem-solving, is getting in on the action. They’re developing a space sustainability rating, which can provide much-needed transparency and assessment of how national space agencies are dealing with debris.

Given America’s renewed commercial and scientific ambitions in space, we need to make space debris a priority. Spacefaring nations treated orbit like a junkyard for over 60 years. The first piece of debris, created in 1957, was the rocket body from Sputnik 1. Now, there are at least 20,000 pieces the size of a softball, 500,000 pieces the size of a marble, and hundreds of millions of smaller pieces. Because they move so fast, even tiny debris can destroy a spacecraft.

When governments were the only actors in space, the risk of collision was negligible. With the private sector ramping up its operations, however, things will be getting crowded. (6/29)

Russia and China Could Team Up to Challenge US Space Superiority (Source: Air Force Magazine)
Sanctions are crushing Russia’s efforts to counter American space superiority, but analysts have a rising concern that Russian President Vladimir Putin may link up with China’s wealth to develop the weapons that could stop American war fighters in their tracks.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond has warned that America’s adversaries are already operating as if space was a war fighting domain, exhibiting ground and space-based weapons capabilities that can target vulnerable American satellites. House Armed Services Committee chairman Adam Smith admitted that satellite survivability and redundancy were his priorities for fending off adversaries, but a closer look at the budget was necessary. (6/29)

12 UCF Researchers Honored with Asteroids Named After Them (Source: UCF Today)
Adozen University of Central Florida space researchers were honored recently when planetary bodies were named after them. This brings the total number of current UCF researchers whose names are attached to asteroids to 19, along with another 12 former researchers. The honor comes just in time for today’s International Asteroid Day, which was started in 2015 to raise awareness about asteroids. The small planetary bodies could offer untold riches in rare and precious metals if mined, but they could also be catastrophic if a large one was to hit Earth. (6/30)

Spaceport America Refinances Bonds, Projects Savings of $8.2 Million (Source: Las Cruces Sun-News)
The agency overseeing New Mexico's Spaceport America will save millions in taxpayer funds after refinancing its 2009 and 2010 construction bonds, it announced Friday. The New Mexico Spaceport Authority completed the refunding, in which higher-interest bonds are, in effect, refinanced with a lower interest rate. The $35.4 million refunding of the spaceport bonds led to a reduction from a 4.5 percent annual interest rate to less than 0.8 percent. That will save $8.2 million over the nine years it will take to pay off the bonds, the agency said. (6/28)

UK's Unst Space Center to Rebrand as SaxaVord Spaceport (Source: Shetland Times)
The Shetland Space Centre in Unst is changing its name to SaxaVord Spaceport. The company behind the space centre said the move was to make Shetland synonymous with the new space economy. Saxa Vord is the name of the highest hill in Unst which overlooks both the launch site and the former RAF Saxa Vord base where launch control and mission support personnel will be accommodated. SaxaVord Spaceport CEO Frank Strang said the name change was “really a case of back to the future”, having bought the base back in 2005. (6/30)

NASA Administrator Names Johnson and Kennedy Center Directors (Source: NASA)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has named Vanessa Wyche director of the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Janet Petro director of Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Wyche has served as the acting director of Johnson since May 3 and Petro has served as the acting director of Kennedy since May 17.

Before being named acting director, Wyche had served as deputy director of Johnson since August 2018. Prior to being named Kennedy’s acting director, Petro had served as the center’s deputy director since 2007. She was central to Kennedy’s transition to a multi-user spaceport, bringing a variety of new commercial and government partners to Kennedy. (6/30)

New $500 Million Investment Positions OneWeb to Complete Initial Constellation (Source: Space News)
OneWeb has secured the funding it needs to complete its initial constellation after Bharti Global invested an additional $500 million. The new investment, a call option it exercised Tuesday, gives the Indian telecom company 38.6% of OneWeb, while the U.K. government, Eutelsat and Softbank will each own 19.3%. Bharti's investment means OneWeb has secured the $2.4 billion it needs for deploying 648 satellites by 2022, providing connectivity to enterprise, government, maritime and aviation customers. Arianespace is due to launch another batch of 36 satellites for OneWeb Thursday morning. (6/30)

Virgin Orbit Plans Six Launches Annually Starting in 2022 (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit executives said Tuesday they expect to perform at least one more launch this year, but will double its launch rate to six next year, including launches out of Guam and England. (6/30)

Commercial Helicopter Encroaches "Unrealistically Gigantic" Restricted Zone, Scrubbing SpaceX Launch (Source: Space News)
SpaceX scrubbed a Falcon 9 launch Tuesday after a range violation, which frustrated the company's CEO. SpaceX halted the countdown in the final seconds because an aircraft, which later turned out to be a commercial helicopter, violated restricted airspace around the Cape Canaveral launch site. Elon Musk complained that the restricted zone was "unreasonably gigantic" and called for regulatory reform. The FAA has been working on new approaches to restrict the size and duration of airspace closures, but besides Musk both the aviation industry and Congress have complained that the pace of those efforts has been too slow. (6/30)

Revised Momentus SPAC Deal Halves Company's Valuation (Source: Space News)
A revised merger agreement between in-space transportation Momentus and a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) cuts Momentus's valuation in half. A revised registration statement that Stable Road Acquisition Company, a SPAC, filed with the SEC Tuesday said that several factors led it to revise the value of the deal from more than $1.1 billion to $566 million. That includes ongoing national security concerns that the U.S. government raised about Momentus's original Russian co-founders, who have since divested their shares. The first launch of the company's Vigoride tug has slipped to mid-2022 and its backlog has decreased as it lost customers. Stable Road has until mid-August to complete the merger with Momentus. (6/30)

China Outlines Space Priorities (Source: Space News)
China’s space administration has outlined its priorities in space systems for the next five years. China National Space Administration (CNSA) Secretary General Xu Hongliang laid out the main activities and focus of the country's civilian space endeavors in a press conference earlier this month. Those priorities range from a series of robotic lunar missions and planning for later Mars and Jupiter missions to completion of China's space station and development of new launch vehicle technology. China's government is expected to publish a dedicated space white paper later in the year that will provide more details about those plans. (6/30)

Israel's Spacecom Buys Stake in Nuran Wireless (Source: Space News)
Israeli satellite operator Spacecom is buying a 9.3% stake in Canadian rural connectivity provider Nuran Wireless. The $3.2 million deal includes exclusive rights for providing satellite capacity and bandwidth to Nuran's future operations in Africa, where Spacecom provides services with its Amos-17 spacecraft. The agreement also covers managed services contracts Nuran has to extend French telco Orange's mobile network in Cameroon and Congo. (6/30)

Russia Launches Cargo to ISS (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A Progress cargo spacecraft is on its way to the International Space Station after a launch Tuesday evening. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:27 p.m. Eastern and placed the Progress MS-17 spacecraft into orbit. The Progress will dock with the station Thursday at about 9 p.m. Eastern. The spacecraft is carrying more than 2,400 kilograms of propellant, supplies and other cargo for the station. (6/30)

Cygnus Cargo Craft Departs ISS (Source: Space.com)
A Cygnus cargo spacecraft departed the station Tuesday. The Cygnus NG-15 spacecraft, also known as the S.S. Katherine Johnson, was unberthed by the station's robotic arm and released at 12:25 p.m. Eastern. The Northrop Grumman spacecraft had been at the station since February. The Cygnus will perform a secondary post-departure mission, deploying several small satellites, before reentering late this week. (6/30)

Australia's Gilmour Space Raises $46 Million for Eris Rocket (Source: Space News)
Australian small launch vehicle developer Gilmour Space raised $46 million in a Series C round. The company said the round is led by Fine Structure Ventures, an American venture fund affiliated with Fidelity Investments, along with Australian venture capital firms and retirement funds. Gilmour said the new round "will give us runway" to a first orbital launch of its Eris rocket next year. The company got the backing last month of the government of Queensland to establish a launch site in the Australian state. (6/30)

Analytical Space Expands with Executive Hires (Source: Space News)
Satellite communications startup Analytical Space Inc. hired several new executives. The company announced it hired former KSAT Inc. chief executive Katherine Monson as its chief commercial officer and Jose Velazco, former technical supervisor for JPL's Advanced RF and Optical Technology Group, as chief innovation officer. The company, which also hired new financial and human resources executives, is developing Fast Pixel Network, a data transport network the company is establishing in low Earth orbit. (6/30)

Voyager Holdings Hires Former Air Force Counsel (Source: Space News)
Voyager Space Holdings has hired the former general counsel of the Air Force as its chief legal officer and general counsel. Tom Ayres served as the Department of the Air Force's top counsel during the Trump administration and worked on the implementation of the legislation that created the U.S. Space Force. Voyager has acquired several companies with the goal of becoming a vertically integrated space exploration industry player. (6/30)

NASA Named Best Workplace (Source: NASA)
For the ninth straight year, NASA has been named as the best place to work in the federal government. The Partnership for Public Service ranked NASA as number one among large agencies in its latest annual review. It also ranked NASA's response to the pandemic as the best among large federal agencies. (6/30)

Montana State University, NASA Partner to Study Snow From Space (Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle)
A NASA research plane passed over a patch of land in central Montana four times last winter in an effort to gather data on how snow falls and collects in the prairie. On the ground — at Montana State University’s Central Agricultural Research Center in Moccasin, Montana — researchers and students were gathering measurements throughout the windy winter in a partnership with NASA. The research was a part of NASA’s SnowEx program, a five-year project designed to figure out what snow pack qualities, like density and water content, can and cannot be measured from space. (6/29)