August 13, 2021

Upcoming Falcon Heavy Will Expend Center Booster, Recover Others at Sea (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX filed an FCC application for Falcon Heavy USSF-44 mission recovery operations and, more specifically, for the simultaneous recovery of two Falcon Heavy boosters at sea. Likely to be launched in October, the Falcon Heavy’s first such mission for the US military will require SpaceX to expend the rocket’s center booster and recover both side boosters at sea with two separate drone ships.

Falcon Heavy’s USSF-52 launch isn’t as demanding and its mission profile is expected to allow SpaceX to recover all three boosters. Per its FCC application, SpaceX expects the mission to occur no earlier than September 25. Ultimately, while delays are possible and likely probable, there now appears to be a strong chance that Falcon Heavy will launch for the first time in 28 months before the end of 2021. (8/13)

No Pressure Suits? Bezos, Branson Spark Alarm Over Safety in Space (Source: Bloomberg)
The billionaires who blasted into space in recent weeks did so with style. Neither Blue Origin or Virgin Galactic equipped the passengers of their spacecraft with pressure suits to protect them from a rapid decompression outside Earth’s atmosphere. Such suits are required by NASA and other nations as a result of hard-earned lessons from fatal accidents, but no such standards apply to the companies racing to commercialize space. Congress has exempted such ventures in the U.S. from any federal safety oversight for crews.

Some say it’s time to end the restriction on government oversight of an enterprise that is notoriously risky. Rockets are akin to giant bombs that have proved difficult to harness with high reliability, and the harsh environment of space leaves little margin for error. There have been 379 human flights to space by the U.S. since the early 1960s, four of which ended in fatal accidents, according to George Nield. That means there was about a 1% chance of failure.

The moratorium on safety oversight, which began in 2004 and was spurred by millions of dollars in lobbying, extends at least through 2023. Sgobba, Nield and others say the moratorium has outlived its usefulness. What’s more, they fear a catastrophe on one the flights could cripple the burgeoning industry for years. “It is time, I believe, to update our human spaceflight regulatory framework,” Nield said. (8/13)

How Virgin Galactic Controlled Press Coverage Of Launch (Source: KUNM)
New Mexico taxpayers have invested over $225 million into Spaceport America and after many years of waiting, they finally saw Virgin Galactic CEO Richard Branson blast into space on July 11th. More flights will follow customers paying up to $450,000 for a seat. The event drew media from around the world. But their ability to cover the flight was severely curtailed.

Because as Virgin Galactic portrays it to the world, they’re trying to democratize space. Well, we already know the business model limits how many people can actually do that. But at least for the world to share in ways that are direct in the experience, through people like me, through media, through reporters, through people covering it through, you know, that kind of democratization, to share the experiences, that makes it what Virgin Galactic wants to be.

If they limit and restrict and not allow that independent coverage of it, then all you're getting are company images and sound bites and anything they want to show and present to the world. And that becomes a marketing promotional tool. That's not reporting on what's going on. That's not what reporters do. And if you limit what reporters do, then all you get is that marketing. (8/12)

Intuitive Machines Selects SpaceX for Launch of Third Lunar Lander Mission (Source: Space News)
Commercial lunar lander developer Intuitive Machines will launch its third lunar lander mission on a SpaceX Falcon 9, the same vehicle the company selected for its first two lander missions. Intuitive Machines announced Aug. 10 that its IM-3 lander mission will launch on a Falcon 9 in 2024. The Nova-C lander will carry up to 130 kilograms of payloads to the lunar surface. Company spokesman Josh Marshall said the company has not selected a landing site for the mission.

The company previously selected SpaceX to launch its IM-1 and IM-2 lander missions, which are currently scheduled to launch in the first and fourth quarters of 2022, respectively. The companies did not disclose the terms of the launch contract, but Marshall said the IM-3 award was a new contract and not an option on the previous contracts. (8/10)

The Surprising Genius of 3D Printed Rockets (Source: YouTube)
3D printed rockets save on up front tooling, enable rapid iteration, decrease part count, and facilitate radically new designs. Here's a video tour of Relativity's rocket factory. (8/12)

Canada Invests $1.15 Billion in Telesat Constellation (Source: Space News)
The Canadian government will invest more than $1 billion into Telesat's Lightspeed low Earth orbit constellation. Telesat said Thursday the Canadian government will provide $1.15 billion for the 300-satellite system in exchange for Telesat investing in Canadian infrastructure to build out Lightspeed, including hundreds of jobs and scholarships. Telesat has now secured commitments for about two-thirds of the $5 billion cost of the system, with the rest of the funding to primarily come from debt financing from export-credit agencies. (8/13)

Pandemic Didn't Dampen Smallsat Enthusiasm (Source: Space News)
The space sector, including smallsats, has proven to be resilient throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. During a presentation at the Small Satellite Conference, Euroconsult said they were worried early in the pandemic that governments would turn away from space initiatives to address healthcare and other concerns, but instead governments around the world continued to increase spending on space initiatives. Private funding for space ventures has also soared, thanks in part to SPACs, with more investment in the industry in the first six months of 2021 than in all of 2020. (8/13)

Rocket Lab Strikes Deal with Varda for Space Factories (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab won a contract for three missions of its Photon satellite bus from a space manufacturing startup. Rocket Lab will perform three Electron launches of Photon spacecraft from the first quarter of 2023 through 2024, each carrying a "space factory" developed by Varda Space Industries. That startup, which raised $42 million last month in a Series A round, intends to use the missions to demonstrate production of fiber optic cables, pharmaceuticals and semiconductors, but has disclosed few other details about its plans. Rocket Lab has launched two Photons on test flights in the last year, and will use Photon to support the launch of NASA's CAPSTONE lunar cubesat late this year. (8/13)

Astra to Launch Spire Satellites (Source: Space News)
Astra announced Spire will be a customer of its small launch vehicles. Astra said Thursday that it will start launching Spire cubesats in the spring of 2022, but did not disclose the number of launches or other terms of the deal. Astra has previously announced contracts with NASA, Planet and the U.S. Space Force. Its next launch is scheduled for no earlier than Aug. 27 carrying a Space Force test payload. (8/13)

Spire Partners with Hancom Group in First Commercial Satellite Mission for South Korea (Source: Spire Global)
Spire Global is expanding its East Asian operations, announcing a new partnership and satellite mission with its first South Korean Space Services customer, Hancom Group. This will be the first commercial satellite mission for a private South Korean company. Hancom will host an optical payload on a Spire 3U nanosatellite, named “HANCOM” to support the launch of a new product focused on the agriculture sector, including landscaping applications, and expansion of its existing image analysis portfolio offerings. Hancom will also act as Spire’s first reseller within South Korea. (8/12)

OneWeb, Spire, and Orbit Fab to Test Collaboration Platform (Source: Space News)
A new collaboration tool could make it easier for satellite operators to avoid collisions. OneWeb, Spire Global and Orbit Fab will test the new collaboration platform developed by Slingshot Aerospace designed to provide operators with better communication and coordination, including notifications about planned maneuvers. The three companies, in addition to other undisclosed pilot customers participating in Slingshot's pilot program, account for 53% of satellite constellations in low Earth orbit. (8/13)

Teathers Proven to Speed De-Orbiting (Source: Space News)
Electrodynamic tethers can greatly speed up the deorbit of smallsats. Tethers Unlimited tested its Terminator Tape tether on three satellites, the company said, including on one of two satellites of the Dragracer mission launched last November. The spacecraft with the tether deorbited in eight months while its twin, placed in the same initial orbit, won't reenter until at least 2032. The company says the tests have demonstrated that such tethers can be an effective tool for speeding up the deorbiting of smallsats. (8/13)

US and South Korea Agree to Space Security Cooperation (Source: Yonhap News)
South Korea and the United States have agreed to strengthen cooperation on space security. Representatives of the U.S. State Department and South Korea's foreign ministry met in Washington this week, with space security one of the topics on the agenda. The officials agreed to "strengthen comprehensive and systematic cooperation related to space security" between the two countries, but did not mention specific details of what that strengthened cooperation would involve. (8/13)

Army Brigade Teaches the Importance of Space (Source: Space News)
An Army brigade is teaching other parts of the military about the importance of space. Headquartered at Fort Carson in Colorado Springs, the Army's 1st Space Brigade is part of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command. One mission of the brigade is to work with other military units to demonstrate how dependent they are on satellites and how to deal with jamming or other disruptions. For example, this month the 1st Space Brigade will begin training Marines on how the Army uses space-based capabilities to support warfighters. (8/13)

NASA Renames Plum Brook Station to Honor Armstrong (Source: WEWS)
NASA's Plum Brook Station in Ohio was renamed after Neil Armstrong this week. A ceremony Wednesday marked the formal change in the site's name to the Neil Armstrong Test Facility, after legislation changing its name passed Congress and was signed into law late last year. The facility, run by the Glenn Research Center, includes thermal vacuum and other test chambers for space hardware. (8/13)

Startups From Japan and Israel to Team Up to Make Oxygen on Moon (Source: Japan Times)
Japanese and Israeli startups recently agreed to cooperate on an experimental project to generate oxygen on the Moon, a potential technology that could make possible long-term lunar missions independent of Earth in the future. Under the project, Israel’s Helios Project Ltd. will undertake demonstration tests to extract oxygen by melting lunar soil at a high temperature and electrolyzing it. Japan’s Ispace Inc. will deliver equipment for the experiments twice between 2023 and 2025. (8/13)

New Evidence of a Large Cold Spot Partly Causing Dimming of Betelgeuse (Source: Ars Technica)
Scientists at the Chinese Academy of Sciences (NAOC) decided to take a closer look at the star's spectra in the near-infrared wavelength based on observations gleaned from the Weihai Observatory of Shanghai over the course of the dimming period. To do so, the team developed a new technique for determining the effective temperatures of red supergiants like Betelgeuse.

"Our method is based on the measurement of titanium oxide (TiO) and cyanide (CN) molecular lines in stellar spectra," said co-author Sofya Alexeeva of NAOC. "The cooler a star is, the more these molecules can form and survive in its atmosphere, and the molecular lines are stronger in the stellar spectrum. In a hotter atmosphere, these molecules dissociate easily and do not survive."

That analysis revealed a dramatic cooling during the dimming period of about 170 Kelvin, from 3646 K (6103 F) to 3476 K (5797 F), which the authors attribute to large convective cells forming on the stellar surface. Alexeeva et al. suggest that this cooling was likely confined to a large dark spot, as opposed to the entire star cooling down. (8/12)

In Leak Investigation, Russia Blames NASA Astronaut with Sabotage (Source: Ars Technica)
Russia's state-owned news service, TASS, published an extraordinarily defamatory article about NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor. The publication claims that Auñón-Chancellor had an emotional breakdown in space, then damaged a Russian spacecraft in order to return early. The article publicly reveals her previously undisclosed health condition (deep vein thrombosis) on orbit, which was successfully treated upon her return to Earth.

As for the leak, a micrometeoroid strike was ruled out. Some Russian media reported that it had been caused by a manufacturing or testing defect, and this seems to be the most plausible theory. At the same time, however, sources in the Russian government started baseless rumors that perhaps a disgruntled NASA astronaut had drilled the hole.

There are a number of troubling aspects about this article, particularly as it relates to Dr. Auñón-Chancellor. The TASS article says such a condition could have caused a "psychological crisis" that induced her to want to return to Earth early. Also, there is a very reasonable explanation for the hole. The TASS article dismisses the possibility that the problem happened on Earth, before launch. But this is almost certainly what happened. Most likely a technician accidentally damaged the Soyuz spacecraft and sought to cover up this error by applying a makeshift patch. (8/12)