July 1, 2021

Space Florida Breaks Ground on Launch and Landing Facility Utility Corridor (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida has started the first phase of development at the Launch and Landing Facility (LLF), marking the next big step in attracting industry to Florida’s Cape Canaveral Spaceport, which encompasses NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. The more than one-mile-long utility corridor project will provide power, water and communications service to large portions of property adjacent to the LLF, opening up development opportunities for companies wishing to join the Cape’s growing commercial space ecosystem.

The LLF joins the Cecil Spaceport and Space Coast Regional Air and Spaceport as part of Florida’s Spaceport System to serve increasing commercial and government aerospace missions. These three sites offer coastal capabilities for aircraft, air-launched spacecraft, and runway landings of winged spacecraft. (7/1)

SpaceX's First Civilian Crew Will Have 'One Hell of a View' from the Spaceship's Toilet in a New Glass Dome (Source: Business Insider)
SpaceX's first civilian crew is poised to enjoy what may be the best bathroom views in human history. It's not clear how the toilet facilities work on SpaceX's Crew Dragon spaceship - the design is shrouded in proprietary secrecy. But we do know that the toilet is on the ceiling. That area of the spaceship will also feature a glass dome, called a cupola, that SpaceX is installing at the nose of the capsule.

So while passengers are using the toilet, they'll be able to gaze out the windows, according to Jared Isaacman, a billionaire entrepreneur and jet pilot who purchased four seats on SpaceX's spaceship for a civilian mission to space. The trip will be the first orbital spaceflight ever with no professional astronauts on board. It will also feature the first space toilet with a 360-degree view. (7/1)

'Extreme' White Dwarf Star Sets Cosmic Records for Small Size, Huge Mass (Source: Reuters)
In their death throes, roughly 97% of all stars become a smoldering stellar zombie called a white dwarf, one of the densest objects in the cosmos. A newly discovered white dwarf is being hailed as the most "extreme" one of these on record, cramming a frightful amount of mass into a surprisingly small package.

Scientists said on Wednesday this highly magnetized and rapidly rotating white dwarf is 35% more massive than our sun yet boasts a petite diameter only a bit larger than Earth's moon. That means it has the greatest mass and, counterintuitively, littlest size of any known white dwarf, owing to its tremendous density. Only two other types of objects - black holes and neutron stars - are more compact than white dwarfs. (7/1)

Physicists Observationally Confirm Hawking’s Black Hole Theorem for the First Time (Source: MIT News)
There are certain rules that even the most extreme objects in the universe must obey. A central law for black holes predicts that the area of their event horizons should never shrink. This law is Hawking’s area theorem, named after physicist Stephen Hawking, who derived the theorem in 1971. Fifty years later, physicists at MIT and elsewhere have now confirmed Hawking’s area theorem for the first time, using observations of gravitational waves.

In the study, the researchers take a closer look at GW150914, the first gravitational wave signal detected by the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO), in 2015. The signal was a product of two inspiraling black holes that generated a new black hole, along with a huge amount of energy that rippled across space-time as gravitational waves.

If Hawking’s area theorem holds, then the horizon area of the new black hole should not be smaller than the total horizon area of its parent black holes. In the new study, the physicists reanalyzed the signal from GW150914 before and after the cosmic collision and found that indeed, the total event horizon area did not decrease after the merger — a result that they report with 95 percent confidence. (7/1)

NASA Preps 'More Complex and Riskier' Hubble Space Telescope Fix (Source: C/Net)
The Hubble Space Telescope has spent over three decades bringing us glorious images and data, but it's showing its age. The Hubble team is still troubleshooting a problem with the telescope's payload computer -- a piece of hardware built in the 1980s -- that controls its science instruments. So far, the fixes haven't worked, but the agency isn't giving up hope.

The computer issue cropped up on June 13. "After analyzing the data, the Hubble operations team is investigating whether a degrading memory module led to the computer halt," NASA said. As the investigation continues, NASA is preparing to turn on backup hardware that's part of the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit where the payload computer lives. The team is eyeing a power regulator component as well as hardware that sends and formats commands and data.

"If one of these systems is determined to be the likely cause, the team must complete a more complicated operations procedure to switch to the backup units," NASA said in an update. "This procedure would be more complex and riskier than those the team executed last week, which involved switching to the backup payload computer hardware and memory modules." This next step is set to occur over at least the next week and will involve executing the procedure in a simulation before it's attempted with the real telescope. (7/1)

Wally Funk Will Fly to Space on New Shepard’s First Human Flight (Source: Blue Origin)
Fulfilling a lifelong mission to become an astronaut, Wally Funk will fly to space on New Shepard’s first human flight on July 20 as an honored guest. She will join Jeff Bezos, his brother Mark Bezos, and the auction winner on the flight.  Wally’s journey to space began in the 1960s when she was the youngest graduate of the Woman in Space Program, a privately-funded project which tested female pilots for astronaut fitness.

Later known as the “Mercury 13” – thirteen American women successfully underwent the same physiological and psychological screening tests as the astronauts selected by NASA for Project Mercury, but they never flew to space. Wally was the youngest graduate of this program. She was the first female FAA inspector and first female NTSB air safety investigator. The 82-year-old pilot will now be part of the first crew on New Shepard, and the oldest person ever to fly to space. (7/1)

Posey: Selling Space Every Day in Every Way (Source: Rep. Bill Posey)
Rep. Bill Posey (R-FL), representing Florida's Space Coast in Congress, shared his with his constituents: "Building our space program around a priority of returning to the Moon while advancing commercial, civil and military space launch capabilities is driving billions of dollars in local investments and innovation leading to the creation of thousands of space-related jobs right here in our community."

"At a recent House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing, in response to my question on the progress at the Space Coast, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson stated that the “Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station has unlimited possibilities. The place is throbbing with excitement. All of the old, abandoned launch pads from the early days of Gemini, Mercury and Apollo and all of the various other military missions…they are coming to life.”

We have a saying in our office: “We sell Space every day in every way!” Our efforts are paying off and the Space Coast is helping to keep America the leader in space. (7/1)

SpaceX Launches 88 Small Satellites on Polar Rideshare Mission at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched 88 satellites on its second dedicated rideshare mission Wednesday. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 3:31 p.m. Eastern, with satellite deployments starting nearly an hour later. The Transporter-2 mission carried satellites for a variety of commercial and government customers, including the first satellites for the Pentagon's Space Development Agency. The rocket's first stage, making its eighth launch, landed back at Cape Canaveral. The launch was the 20th this year for SpaceX, putting it on track to shatter its record for most launches in a year: 26, set last year. (7/1)

Virgin Orbit Launches Seven Small Satellites From California in Second Operational Launch (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit launched seven cubesats on its second operational launch Wednesday. The company's LauncherOne rocket separated from its Boeing 747 aircraft at 10:47 a.m. Eastern off the Southern California coast. Deployment in low Earth orbit of the seven satellites, from the DoD's Space Test Program, Royal Netherlands Air Force and Polish company SatRevolution, took place about 40 minutes later. This was the second successful launch of the air-launch system, after a launch of cubesats sponsored by NASA in January. Virgin Orbit expects to perform one more launch this year, with six scheduled for next year. (7/1)

Favoring Inmarsat, Court Blocks Dutch Spectrum Sale (Source: Space News)
A court has blocked the Dutch government's plan to sell spectrum in a victory for Inmarsat. The Hague District Court ordered a provisional injunction Wednesday, telling the government to consult with Inmarsat to find another solution for releasing the frequencies for terrestrial 5G services next year. Inmarsat had warned that the government's plan to auction spectrum around 3.5 gigahertz would interfere with its maritime and safety services and force the company to move a ground station in the country. (7/1)

UK Funds Will Kickstart Space Technology Projects (Source: Space Daily)
The call for Grants for Exploratory Ideas, part of the National Space Technology Programme aims to fund short, three-month long projects that support innovative space technology activities, encourage collaboration between industry and academia, and encourage new entrants to the space sector. Projects could include knowledge transfer, skills development, market studies, and proof of concepts for space technology. The UK Space Agency is encouraging those who are new to space technology to participate in the call. Established businesses, non-profits and academics are also welcome to apply. (7/1)

SpaceX Ordered to Provide Hiring Records for Legal Probe (Source: CNBC)
A federal court has ordered SpaceX to comply with a Justice Department subpoena of its hiring records. The court ruled Wednesday that SpaceX has 21 days to turn over hiring records sought by the department as part of a probe about whether SpaceX discriminated against job applicants based on citizenship. SpaceX fought the subpoena, arguing it was overly broad and "absent reasonable justification." (7/1)
 
Astra to Trade on Nasdaq After SPAC Deal (Source: Space News)
Small launch vehicle company Astra will start trading on the Nasdaq today. Astra announced Wednesday it closed its merger with Holicity, a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC), after Holicity's shareholders voted to approve the deal. Astra will trade under the ticket symbol ASTR on Nasdaq. The SPAC deal raised nearly $500 million for Astra, which will use the proceeds to scale up its business. The company said its next launch will be later this summer, but has not disclosed a more specific schedule or customer. (7/1)

Relativity Takes Former California Boeing C-17 Factory for New HQ (Source: Space News)
Relativity will move into a giant new headquarters and factory in Long Beach, California. The launch company said the former Boeing C-17 factory next to Long Beach Airport, covering one million square feet, will become a factor for producing its Terran R reusable rocket starting next year. Relativity will maintain its existing Long Beach factory for making the smaller Terran 1 rocket. (7/1)

Orbital EOS Eases Data Analysis From Imaging Satellites (Source: Quartz)
In 2018, thousands of emigrants from Africa and the Middle East risked their lives crossing the Mediterranean Sea to Europe in small, overcrowded boats. Juan Peña Ibáñez and Pablo Benjumeda Herreros flew in search and rescue aircraft for Spain’s Maritime Safety Agency. At the time, as many as 30 boats approached Spain daily. “From the aircraft I can only see 15, 20, 30 miles. I need to monitor hundreds of miles,” Benjumeda said.

The answer was returning to the university for advanced degrees in remote sensing, and launching a company, Orbital EOS, that uses satellite data to more efficiently monitor the world’s oceans for all kinds of activity. “The area [we saw] in four hours [could be] imaged by a satellite in 30 seconds.” Orbital EOS analyzes data collected by radar satellites. This information is precise enough that machine learning software that can identify substances floating on top of water, like oil and chemical spills, by differences in their surface tension. This is a rare capability, and became the first service Peña and Benjumeda offer.

An opportunity to demonstrate the technique arrived with a maritime accident near Sri Lanka. In May, the shipping vessel X-Press Pearl suffered a catastrophic fire and sank, spilling its cargo of chemicals and micro plastics into the sea. Residents are already seeing catastrophic impacts on local marine life. The owner of the ship and Sri Lanka’s government say that no oil has spilled from the vessel. Orbital EOS’ analysis of recent data collected by Capella satellites produces a different picture. Analysis of the radar data suggest that hundreds of tons of oil spilled from the vessel. (7/1)

Capella SAR Satellites Use Electric Thrusters (Source: Space News)
Radar satellite company Capella Space is using electric thrusters from Phase Four on its satellites. Capella's fourth synthetic aperture radar satellite was among the payloads on the SpaceX Transporter-2 rideshare launch Wednesday. It and other Capella satellites use Phase Four thrusters, making Capella the first customer to publicly vouch for the on-orbit performance of Phase Four's Maxwell engines. (7/1)

New Bags Studied to Contain Bad Odors on ISS (Source: WHYY)
You might not think there’s much to smell in space — but, according to the odor lab’s manager, Susana Tapia-Harper, space missions are known for getting pretty ripe. “Especially space vehicles that have been in use for a long period of time, and that don’t get a lot of fresh air over that time,” she said, “there have been reports that those kind of smell like locker rooms.” Astronaut Scott Kelly once said that the International Space Station smelled remarkably similar to a jail he once toured — featuring similar “combinations of antiseptic, garbage, and body odor.”

Tapia-Harper said minimizing smells during space missions is important for a couple reasons. “We really want astronauts to be able to focus on their job.” she said. “If you can imagine if you had to do your homework in a nasty bathroom, it would be hard to concentrate. So that’s the kind of situation we want to avoid for our astronauts.” But it’s not just about astronauts’ focus or quality of life — “If an emergency occurs on any of our space vehicles, like a fire or an ammonia leak, we want our astronauts to be able to have a very sensitive sense of smell so they can detect it immediately and then fix that problem without delay.”

One solution NASA has been working on is new trash bags with a superior ability to stop stench. Tapia-Harper remembers the experience testing one trash bag that was designed for use on the Orion (and was already being tested on the ISS). As the testing indicates, trash bags on long-range space missions have to work a lot harder than your normal trash bag. “In that test, we included things like food trash — moldy food trash — that we allowed to mold over an extended period of time. We also evaluated dirty wipes and towels, but that test also included things like pee, like fecal waste in dirty diapers, and also vomit. (6/18)

Astronauts Demonstrate CRISPR/Cas9 Genome Editing in Space (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers have developed and successfully demonstrated a novel method for studying how cells repair damaged DNA in space. Cells have several different natural strategies by which damaged DNA can be repaired. Astronauts traveling outside of Earth's protective atmosphere face increased risk of DNA damage due to the ionizing radiation that permeates space.

Therefore, which specific DNA-repair strategies are employed by the body in space may be particularly important. Previous work suggests that microgravity conditions may influence this choice, raising concerns that repair might not be adequate. However, technological and safety obstacles have so far limited investigation into the issue.

Now, researchers have developed a new method for studying DNA repair in yeast cells that can be conducted entirely in space. The technique uses CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology to create precise damage to DNA strands so that DNA repair mechanisms can then be observed in better detail than would be possible with non-specific damage via radiation or other causes. The method focuses on a particularly harmful type of DNA damage known as a double-strand break. (7/1)

Japan Wants More Spaceports (Source: Space News)
The Japanese government sees the development of more spaceports as key to becoming a hub for space activity in Asia. Support for new spaceports is one of several initiatives that emerged from an economic growth strategy meeting hosted by Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The plan offered few details on how those spaceports will be developed, although there are several proposals for launch sites in the country. Other aspects of the plan include backing work on smallsat constellations and development of next-generation space technologies. (7/1)

Branson Coy on Tourism Spaceflight Plans (Source: AP)
Richard Branson remains coy about when he'll fly on Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle. Asked Wednesday about when he might fly, Branson said he had to be "circumspect" because Virgin Galactic is publicly traded, but added he is ready "when the engineers tell me that I can go to space." Virgin Galactic previously said Branson would be on the second of three upcoming flights schedules through the fall. A report last month claimed Branson could go first, as soon as the July 4 weekend, but there have been no updates from the company about its schedule. (7/1)

Amazon Expanding Around Seattle to Support Project Kuiper (Source: GeekWire)
Amazon is making more real estate moves east of Seattle, adding hundreds of Amazon Web Services roles in Redmond, Wash. The tech giant is also adding more space in Redmond for its satellite operation Project Kuiper. New lab space in Redmond will be used for research and development related to Project Kuiper, the initiative that will create a constellation of low Earth orbit satellites to increase global access to broadband. Amazon said a new 22,000-square-foot facility will “provide additional space for our growing team and help accelerate research, development, and testing for the program.” (6/29)

Remembering the Crew of Soyuz 11, the Only Astronauts to Die in Space (Source: Astronomy)
From the outset, Soyuz 11 was an unhappy assignment. Salyut 1 was launched in April 1971, but it first crew failed to dock with the station during the Soyuz 10 mission. That meant it was up to Alexei Leonov (the world’s first spacewalker), Valeri Kubasov, and Pyotr Kolodin to try again with Soyuz 11. But three days before launch, during a routine exam, doctors found a swelling on Kubasov’s right lung. Fearing tuberculosis, the whole crew was replaced by their backups. Kubasov’s inflammation turned out to be due to a pollen allergy, but top brass unflinchingly stood by their decision.

The cosmonauts were mad; Kolodin returned to his room and got drunk, crying in rage and frustration. Yet, it must have been no easier for the backup crew, who were now faced with accomplishing the longest space mission ever attempted. Late on June 29, Soyuz 11 finally undocked from Salyut 1. Three hours later, with their primary mission complete, the cosmonauts fired their ship’s engine to return to Earth. Volkov jokingly asked flight controllers to ensure that a supply of cognac — a traditional welcome-home gift — was waiting for them at their landing site.

Twenty-nine minutes before touchdown, while still at an altitude of around 100 miles (160 kilometers), explosive charges fired, as planned, to separate Soyuz 11’s orbital and instrument modules. The bell-shaped capsule was now the crew’s only defense against the fiery furnace of re-entry. What happened next happened fast. As soon as the other modules were jettisoned, the pressure inside the crew capsule precipitously fell. All the air was escaping from Soyuz 11. Based on the positions of the astronauts’ bodies upon their discovery, investigators concluded that Dobrovolski and Volkov had unstrapped from their seats to attempt to find the source of the leak. Within 110 seconds, all three cosmonauts were dead. (6/29)

Russia Races Tom Cruise and Musk for First Movie in Space (Source: Space Daily)
On October 5, one of Russia's most celebrated actresses, 36-year-old Yulia Peresild is blasting off to the International Space Station (ISS) with film director Klim Shipenko. Their mission? Shoot the first film in orbit before the Americans do. If their plan falls into place, the Russians are expected to beat Mission Impossible star Tom Cruise and Hollywood director Doug Liman, who were first to announce their project together with NASA and Space X, the company of billionaire Elon Musk. (7/1)

Assembly of Satellite to Track World's Water Shifts from US to France (Source: Space Daily)
Set for launch next year, the Surface Water and Ocean Topography mission will help scientists monitor Earth's ocean, as well as the amount of fresh water in its lakes and rivers. The Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) mission program shipped the scientific heart of the satellite to France. A U.S. Air Force C-17 airplane carrying the hardware - which includes finely tuned research instruments - left March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, California, on June 27. It arrived June 30, at a Thales Alenia Space clean room facility near Cannes, France, where engineers and technicians will spend the next year integrating the hardware with the rest of the satellite. (7/1)