July 31, 2021

Aging Infrastructure the ‘Single, Greatest Threat’ to NASA Missions and Technology (Source: FedScoop)
NASA infrastructure should be part of the wider effort to fund federal research and development infrastructure, said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-TX, during a House Science Subcommittee hearing Thursday. The chair of the full committee said NASA‘s infrastructure needs include one of the nation’s most powerful supercomputers, utility and access systems across nine centers and other research and test facilities, wind tunnels for developing subsonic and hypersonic aircraft, and clean rooms and vacuum chambers for building sensitive interplanetary spacecraft.

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson has previously said the agency’s full list of infrastructure needs is more than $5.4 billion, which includes $2.6 billion in deferred maintenance — roughly 7% of its $39 billion asset value. “NASA’s infrastructure represents the single, greatest threat to mission success,” said Robert Gibbs, associate administrator for NASA’s Mission Support Directorate. “Practically 82% of our facilities are beyond their designed life.”

Exactly how lawmakers plan to approach the problem remains up in the air. “While the path forward in Congress might not yet be totally clear, my commitment to addressing our R&D infrastructure needs is steadfast,” Johnson said. “Science, research and innovation are our future.” (7/29)

SPACs on Trial (Source: New York Times)
“SPACs are clearly problematic, in that they fail to disclose their economics very well,” said the Stanford professor Michael Klausner, “but there’s not been a lot of old-fashioned fraud.” Trevor Milton’s Nikola fraud case is “pretty extraordinary,” he added. Milton pleaded not guilty and his legal team said he had been wrongfully accused. He was released on a $100 million bond. The charges do call into question SPACs’ key selling points. Direct negotiations with a small set of investors in a SPAC make for a more thorough understanding of companies, as compared to the traditional I.P.O. roadshow, proponents argue.

But the incentives to consummate deals — SPACs have a two-year time limit to spend their cash — may lead some to miss red flags. Supporters also say that SPAC mergers allow retail investors to get exposure to young, innovative companies earlier than the more staid I.P.O. process. The S.E.C. recently settled a civil suit with several parties involved in the merger of space technology company Momentus with a SPAC, saying that sponsors being lied to about a company’s true prospects did not absolve them of a “failure to undertake adequate due diligence.” (7/30)

Graft at SpaceX's Starbase (Source: El Run Run)
Numerous local vendors say that the leading high-tech, cutting-edge industry in our region, SpaceX, has been bedeviled by the ages-old border affliction, the "mordida." Speaking on condition of anonymity, many former vendors in the food industry and other materials suppliers who serviced SpaceX say that locally-hired purchasing employees – unbeknownst to outside SpaceX administrators – have implemented apparent cost-cutting measures which result in shaving a few bucks off the costs of their wares while pocketing a slice off the top for themselves.

The result, they said, was that local vendors have seen their profit shrink by a couple of dollars per serving to the point that it is no longer worth their while to do business with the company located some 21 miles off Boca Chica beach, a site now called Starbase by Elon Musk. "The California-based administrators don't know that this is taking place under their own noses," said a vendor who grew tired of paying the required mordida to one of SpaceX's local purchasers. (7/28)

Redwire to Demonstrate In-Space Additive Manufacturing on ISS for Lunar Operations (Source: Space Daily)
Redwire reports that it is launching new manufacturing hardware to the International Space Station (ISS) that will demonstrate additive manufacturing processes using lunar regolith simulant. This demonstration is critical to advancing the ability to develop a permanent presence for humankind on the Moon using in-situ resources.

This will be the first time that lunar regolith simulant has been used for 3D printing in space. The mission is currently set to launch onboard Northrop Grumman's 16th commercial resupply mission (NG-16) no earlier than 5:56 p.m. EDT Tuesday, Aug. 10, from Pad-0A of the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. (7/30)

Two More Artemis I Deep Space Cubesats Prepare for Launch (Source: Space Daily)
Two additional secondary payloads that will travel to deep space on Artemis I, the first flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, are ready for launch. The Team Miles and EQUilibriUm Lunar-Earth point 6U Spacecraft (EQUULEUS) CubeSats are tucked into dispensers and installed in the Orion stage adapter - the ring that connects Orion to the SLS rocket. They are joining five other secondary payloads that were recently installed.

These small satellites, known as CubeSats, will conduct a variety of science experiments and technology demonstrations. The CubeSats will deploy after the Orion spacecraft separates from SLS. Developed by Miles Space in partnership with software developer Fluid and Reason, LLC, the Team Miles CubeSat will travel to deep space to demonstrate propulsion using plasma thrusters, a propulsion that uses low-frequency electromagnetic waves. (7/30)

How AI Is Helping Space Debris Removal Efforts (Source: Analytics India)
The ClearSpace-1 chaser craft will locate debris autonomously with the help of its AI-enabled cameras embedded in the system. Upon identification, its robotic four arms will collect the junk and the duo will enter the Earth’s atmosphere and burn up. An EPFL scientist spearheading the project said the central focus is to develop deep learning algorithms to reliably estimate the 6D pose (three rotations and three translations) of the target.

UK based Futiju, in collaboration with Astroscale UK, University of Glasgow and AWS, is using quantum-inspired computing and AI for removing space junk. AWS is providing Cloud and AI, ML tools for the project. Artificial Neural Network based rapid trajectory design algorithms has been developed by the University of Glasgow. Fujitsu’s Digital Annealer provides an alternative to quantum computing tech. The Annealer focuses on rapid solutions for complex optimization problems at a lesser cost and a lesser tedious process as compared to quantum computing methods.

Startup SHIPinSPACE has outlined a plan to build a Space Debris-fed Spacecraft (DefeS) that will employ AI to track space junk. The system will capture debris, incinerate junk with robotic arm driven lasers and use the energy generated to power the spacecraft thrust rather than burning it in the atmosphere. The spacecraft will use the debris as a propellant for the spacecraft to find other debris making it sustainable and effective. (7/31)

Royal Air Force Stands-Up UK Space Command (Source: EU Today)
A special ceremony held at UK Space Command Headquarters at RAF High Wycombe this week marked the official stand up of UK Space Command, with the first ‘Space Operator’ Badges presented to personnel. Space plays a vital role in the UK Armed Forces' ability to undertake the majority of defence tasks, with any disruption to the space domain likely to lead to significant consequences for civilian, commercial, economic and military activity.

The stand-up of UK Space Command is a crucial step to ensure UK interests are protected in space: it also builds on the commitments outlined in the Defence Command Paper, investing an additional £1.4 billion on space over the next 10 years. The ability to operate in Space is further enhanced by an increase in Defence funding of £24 billion over the next four years, as announced by the Prime Minister last year. (7/31)

$100M Gift from Irvine Co.’s Bren Powers Caltech Space Electricity Idea (Source: OC Register)
Orange County’s billionaire real estate developer Donald Bren has donated at least $100 million to a Caltech project that aims to generate solar power in space and beam it back to earth. In 2013, Bren agreed to a 10-year commitment to Space Solar Power Project at the Pasadena institute. The years-long effort will reach a milestone in the coming months when it launches the first space test of technology that could change how the world creates and distributes electricity.

The project’s genesis came a decade ago when Bren had a conversation about space power with Caltech’s then-president Jean-Lou Chameau. Soon a faculty group started discussing the possibilities of what seemed far-fetched at the time. Eventually, Caltech presented Bren with a proposal. In 2013, the school started the work, and Bren began his donations, which Caltech says now exceed $100 million. (7/31)

Bezos is Making a 'Dent' in Van Horn Texas (Source: Fox Business)
Bezos celebrated the quaint town, saying "I also want to thank the town of Van Horn. This is a small and amazing little town. And you know, we're making a dent in it. And we appreciate you for allowing us to be part of your town" said Bezos after completing his 10 min trip to outer space on Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket. Bezos’ Blue Origin flight had been in the works for over a decade, which makes us wonder, why did he choose Van Horn, Texas of all places?

In the mid-2000s, Bezos actually bought more than 150k acres of land just 25 miles away from Van Horn, thinking the land was perfect for designing and testing rocket engines. Bezos also interviewed with a local newspaper back in 2005, where he expressed his desire for land in West Texas. He mentioned that as a young boy he spent his summers in South Texas at his grandfather’s ranch. In terms of Van Horn, he felt it was secluded and away from heavily populated areas, making it the perfect spot to test rockets. (7/31)

Lobbying Spending Skyrockets as Billionaire Space Race Takes Off (Source: Open Secrets)
These billionaires’ “space race” comes as lobbying spending by their space travel and aerospace manufacturing companies also soars. Branson’s Virgin Galactic, along with its affiliates VOX Space and Virgin Orbit, spent $360,000 lobbying the federal government in the first half of 2021 with its spending jumping from $60,000 in the first quarter of the year to $300,000 in the second.

Musk’s SpaceX spent $1.2 million on lobbying in the first half of 2021, on track to outpace the $2.2 million the company spent on lobbying in 2020. Bezos’ Blue Origin spent $910,000 in the first half of 2021, boosting its spending from $320,000 in the first quarter to $590,000 over the last three months after the space company was beat by SpaceX for a $2.9 billion NASA contract to land astronauts on the moon. (7/30)

California Town Near Vandenberg Considers FAA Spaceport Application for Airport (Source: Paso Robles Daily News)
The Paso Robles City Council will discuss a pre-application for a FAA Spaceport License, in conjunction with Vandenberg Space Force Base, with the Paso Robles Airport Committee at its Aug. 3 meeting. Getting a spaceport license does not authorize anyone to conduct any launches. Getting a spaceport license does open the door to opportunities for attracting high-paying space tech-related jobs in research and development to the City of Paso Robles. (7/31)

Russia Blames Software Error for Nauka Misfire (Source: Space Policy Online)
Russia finally issued a statement about what happened yesterday when the Nauka module suddenly fired its engines after docking with the International Space Station (ISS). Blaming it on a software error, the statement downplayed the incident, just as NASA officials did during a teleconference yesterday afternoon. But a NASA flight director is more blunt saying the space station brought “a knife to a gun fight” during the ordeal. (7/31)