July 19, 2021

Rocket Lab Completes Anomaly Review, Next Mission on the Pad in July (Source: Rocket Lab)
Leading launch and space systems company Rocket Lab today announced it has concluded an extensive review into the cause of the anomaly that resulted in the loss of its “Running Out Of Toes” mission launched on May 15, 2021. With the root cause of the issue identified and corrective measures now in place, Electron will be back on the pad for the next mission from Launch Complex 1 later this month.

The May 15 anomaly occurred after 17 successful orbital flights of the Electron launch vehicle which has deployed more than 100 satellites to orbit since 2018. Immediately following the anomaly, Rocket Lab launched a rigorous internal review, assembling its investigation team with oversight by the FAA. The investigation team scoured thousands of channels of telemetry and systems data from the flight and worked systematically through an extensive fault tree analysis to determine the cause of the failure.

The review concluded that an issue occurred within the second stage engine igniter system almost three minutes and 20 seconds into the flight. This induced a corruption of signals within the engine computer that caused the Rutherford engine’s thrust vector control (TVC) to deviate outside nominal parameters and resulted in the engine computer commanding zero pump speed, shutting down the engine. With corrective measures now in place, Rocket Lab is returning to the pad with an even more reliable launch vehicle to meet a busy launch schedule in the second half of 2021. (7/19)

Lockheed Martin Tops List of Donors to 'Sedition Caucus' (Source: Popular Information)
In the first six months of 2021, Lockheed Martin has already donated to 53 members of Congress who voted on January 6 to overturned the election results. The defense contractor has donated to more GOP objectors than any other major company, according to an analysis of new FEC filings. (7/19)

Sierra Space Secures Senior Aerospace Exec Tom Vice as CEO (Source: Business Wire)
Sierra Space, the new commercial space subsidiary of Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC), has named senior aerospace executive Tom Vice as the company’s Chief Executive Officer. Vice joins Sierra Space following an extensive career in aerospace, including most recently serving as CEO for Aerion Corp. Editor's Note: Aerion abruptly halted operations in May 2021, amid plans to develop major manufacturing operations on Florida's Space Coast. Vice is a Space Coast resident. (7/19)

Space Economy Grows to $447 Billion (Source: Space Foundation)
The global space economy grew by 4.4% in 2020 according to a new report. The Space Report 2021 by the Space Foundation, released last week, estimated the global space economy to be $447 billion in 2020, up from a revised total of $428 billion in 2019. Commercial space activity grew even faster, up 6.6% to $357 billion. (7/19)

Virgin Galactic Stock Has Worst Week Ever (Source: Bloomberg)
Despite the success of its SpaceShipTwo flight, Virgin Galactic stock had its worst week ever last week. The company's shares fell 39% last week, in part because of plans it announced the day after Branson's flight on SpaceShipTwo that it would sell up to $500 million in stock. Investors also expected the company to make more news about its sales and growth plans after the flight. Virgin Galactic stock has been notorious for its volatility: its shares fell 43% in 13 days after going up 260% in the preceding 30 days. (7/19)

Malaysian Satellite Drifts From Orbital Slot (Source: Space News)
Malaysian operator Measat says it's maintained control of an aging communications satellite that has drifted out of its slot in geostationary orbit. Measat-3 has been drifting westward from its slot at 91.5 degrees east in GEO for nearly a month, raising concerns the company had lost control of the spacecraft. ExoAnalytic Solutions, a space tracking company, first detected a problem June 21, and noted it appeared to be tumbling. Measat said Saturday it has maintained continuous telemetry and command control, and deactivated the spacecraft's transponders to avoid causing interference. The Boeing-built satellite launched in 2006, and Measat ordered a replacement satellite, Measat-3d, in 2019. (7/19)

China Tests Suborbital Spaceplane (Source: Space News)
China launched a suborbital vehicle Friday to test a reusable launch system. The vehicle launched from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and later landed at an airport just over 800 kilometers away at Alxa League in Inner Mongolia. China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. announced the flight but provided no imagery or other information about the flight. This test comes after a September 2020 launch of what was likely a reusable spaceplane that spent several days in orbit before landing. (7/19)

Hubble Back Online with Backup Systems (Source: Space News)
The Hubble Space Telescope resumed science operations Saturday after a month-long outage. NASA said controllers successfully switched the telescope to a backup payload computer and resumed operations of its instruments. Hubble stopped observations June 13 when the payload computer malfunctioned, an issue engineers believe was caused by a faulty power control unit. The nearly five-week outage was the longest for Hubble in years. (7/19)

Luxembourg Developing Quantum Satellite System (Source: Space News)
Satellite operator SES is leading a consortium to develop a communications system for Luxembourg that uses quantum encryption. The group will devise a satellite and terrestrial network for Luxembourg's Quantum Communications Infrastructure project, whose backers say will provide better cybersecurity for critical infrastructure. SES says satellite-enabled cybersecurity will be an integral element of reliable quantum communications infrastructures. Luxembourg is also participating in the EU's broader European Quantum Communication Infrastructure. (7/19)

Air Force Selects 29 Companies for Comm Network Support (Source: Space News)
Several space companies are among the 29 selected by the Air Force for contracts to feed data into a common network. Umbra, Kymeta, Hughes Network Systems and Hypergiant Galactic Systems received indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contracts last week for the Joint All-Domain Command and Control (JADC2) program, which seeks to ensure sensors from all the services feed data into a common network. JACD2 highlights the importance of artificial intelligence to analyze data and imagery as well as space-based communications to transmit them. (7/19)

How Can You Become a Space Tourist? (Source: Space Daily)
Two companies are offering short suborbital hops of a few minutes: Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic. In both cases, up to six passengers are able to unbuckle from their seats to experience a few minutes of weightlessness and take in the view of Earth from space.

Virgin Galactic has said regular commercial flights will begin from 2022, following two more test flights. Their waiting list is already long, with 600 tickets so far sold. But the company predicts it will eventually run up to 400 flights per year. Two seats on one of the first flights are up for grabs in a prize draw. As for Blue Origin, no detailed calendar has been announced. "We're planning for two more flights this year, then targeting many more in 2022," a spokesperson said.

Another way to get to space is via reality television. Space Hero, an upcoming show, says it plans to send the winner of a competition to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2023. SpaceX is also getting into the space tourism game, but its plans involve journeys that are far longer. The costs are also predicted to be astronomical -- tens of millions of dollars. (7/19)