August 31, 2021

NASA Plans Small Business Opportunities Expo in October (Source: NASA)
The NASA Small Business Opportunities Virtual Expo 2021 with industry-specific networking rooms is sponsored by the NASA Office of Small Business Programs (OSBP). This year the Expo will host an overview of the Artemis program to include technical and contractor panels and afternoon industry-specific networking rooms. Click here. (8/31)

US, South Korea Agree to Enhance Security Cooperation in Outer Space (Source: Space News)
South Korea’s air force will join U.S. Space Force-led joint military drills aimed at bolstering the latter’s defense capabilities in outer space. This is part of a broader agreement reached Aug. 27 during a bilateral meeting between Republic of Korea (ROK) Air Force  chief of staff, Gen. Park In-ho, and U.S. Space Force Gen. John W. Raymond, chief of space operations, at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs. Under the agreement, the two sides will also set up a joint consultative body on space policy, share information on space surveillance and improve joint space operations capabilities such as missile defense. (8/30)

The Little Satellite That Could: From Triana to DSCOVR to Orbit (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s Triana spacecraft, aka “Goresat,” seemed doomed to spend the rest of its days in storage. Dwayne Day recounts how the spacecraft finally made it to space with a new name and a revised mission. Click here. (8/30)
 
Cooperation, Competition, Conferences, and COVID (Source: Space Review)
The leaders of NASA and several other space agencies gathered in Colorado last week to discuss cooperation on various issues. Jeff Foust reports on what NASA’s Bill Nelson and others had to say about the future of the International Space Station and a perceived space race with China. Click here. (8/30)
 
“Starship to Orbit” Ought to be a Tipping Point for Molicy Makers (Source: Space Review)
SpaceX is making rapid progress on the first Starship/Super Heavy vehicle able to go to orbit. Doug Plata argues that should be a wakeup call for the White House, NASA, and Congress as they plan sending humans to the Moon and Mars. Click here. (8/30)
 
The Billionaires Compete and the US Wins the 21st Century Space Race (Source: Space Review)
The competition this summer between Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson to be the first to go to space attracted plenty of attention, but also criticism. Eytan Tepper discusses how it’s a sign that the United States is leading a new, commercially oriented space race. Click here. (8/30)

SpaceWorks Developing Satellite Rendezvous/Docking Connector (Source: SpaceWorks)
SpaceWorks is currently on track to test its new hardware product that could revolutionize how future space stations, satellites, and space telescopes are built. FuseBlox is a scalable and multifunctional rendezvous and docking connector technology that will enable on-orbit satellite servicing, modular assembly of large space structures, and space-based manufacturing and construction. Current sponsorship is provided by the Air Force Research Laboratory Space Vehicles Directorate’s Commercial Readiness Program. (8/30)

Second Stage Motor For Hypersonic Missile Tested (Source: Defense News)
The U.S. Navy has conducted a second-stage solid rocket motor test for a hypersonic weapon in development, the service announced Aug. 26. The Navy deemed the Aug. 25 test in Promontory, Utah, a success, which included firing the first-stage rocket motor. The event also put the thrust vector control system on the missile booster to the test.

The event is another step toward the fielding of a Navy and Army co-designed common hypersonic missile. The Navy and Army will each take the missile’s glide body and tailor it for sea-launched and ground-launched use. The Army plans to field its ground-launched Long-Range Hypersonic Weapon by the end of fiscal 2023. (8/26)

NASA’s Big Rocket Misses Another Deadline, Now Won’t Fly Until 2022 (Source: Ars Technica)
Publicly NASA is still holding onto the possibility of a 2021 launch date for the debut flight of its Space Launch System rocket. This week, an agency spokesperson told Ars that "NASA is working toward a launch for the Artemis I mission by the end of this year." However, a source said the best-case scenario for launching the Artemis 1 mission is spring of next year, with summer the more realistic target for a test flight of the heavy lift rocket and Orion spacecraft.

The space agency is already running about two months behind internal targets for testing and integrating the rocket at Kennedy Space Center, and the critical pre-flight tests remain ahead. Although years late and many billions of dollars over budget, the launch of this rocket will in some ways be a minor miracle. For a large bureaucracy like NASA, completing complex human spaceflight tasks is difficult. And the SLS rocket is complex both technically and politically.

Concerned about job losses after the space shuttle retired, Congress imposed this rocket on the space agency, down to dictating its various components to ensure that space shuttle contractors such as Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and Aerojet Rocketdyne continued to receive substantial space program funding. Each contractor was given a "cost plus" contract that ensured funding but provided little incentive for on-time delivery. (8/31)

UK Company Supports Ukrainian Lunar Mission (Source: Ukrinform)
The British company Spacebit, in cooperation with American partners, will carry out the first Ukrainian mission to the Moon in 2022, within the framework of which equipment for scientific research will be delivered to the satellite surface. As part of the mission, which will cost the Ukrainian side about USD 1.5 million, equipment for conducting scientific research on the lunar surface will be delivered to the satellite.

According to Tanasyuk, such a mission will allow Ukraine to join the club of privileged countries that delivered cargo to the satellite. Only three countries - the United States, China, and Russia - were successful in such logistics. (8/31)

NASA Funds Project to Make STEM Learning More Inclusive (Source: UCI News)
Through its Minority University Research and Education Project, NASA has granted $750,000 to fund a project proposed by UCI and Oregon State University to expand access to science, technology, engineering and math learning opportunities for underserved students. UCI and OSU are among 10 institutions receiving the Ocean Biology and Biogeochemistry award, which is intended to improve understanding of climate change and its effects. (8/30)

German Startup Rocket Factory Augsburg Performs Critical Tests Ahead of 2022 Debut (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The German startup Rocket Factory Augsburg, or RFA, has concluded another test of their RFA One rocket. In the test, the company performed a destructive cryogenic pressure test of their first stage prototype. The company has shown a video in which the prototype stage broke apart after it was fueled with cryogenic nitrogen to test the quality of the welds and determine the pressure at which the structure fails. The milestone is the latest for the company which is aiming to develop a reusable launch vehicle for small payloads. The first flight of RFA One is currently slated for late 2022, following more testing and development. (8/30)

Cassidy to Lead National Museum (Source: Dallas Morning News)
A retired U.S. Navy SEAL and former chief astronaut for NASA was named president and CEO of the National Medal of Honor Museum. Chris Cassidy will take the helm of the museum, which is expected to open in Arlington’s entertainment district in 2024. The museum will share stories of some of the 3,500 people who have received the National Medal of Honor, the country’s highest honor for valor in combat. There are 67 living recipients of the medal. (8/30)

Cosmonauts Find New Cracks in Russian ISS Module (Source: Reuters)
Russian cosmonauts have discovered new cracks in a segment of the International Space Station that could widen. "Superficial fissures have been found in some places on the Zarya module," Vladimir Solovyov, chief engineer of rocket and space corporation Energia, told RIA news agency. "This is bad and suggests that the fissures will begin to spread over time." He did not say if the cracks had caused any air to leak. (8/30)

Shares of Globalstar Soar 64% on Report iPhone 13 Will Use Satellites Directly (Source: CNBC)
Shares of Globalstar, a satellite services provider, closed up 64% on Monday following a report that the next iPhone will have the ability to utilize satellite communications. TFI International Securities analyst Ming-Chi Kuo predicted in a note to investors Sunday that Apple is “optimistic about the trend of satellite communications” and will likely include the ability to connect to extraterrestrial networks in its upcoming iPhone.

The new iPhone is expected to launch this fall. Apple has not announced any details on the device yet. The phone doesn’t have an official name, but many are referring to it as the iPhone 13 for now. Kuo said Globalstar is most likely to partner with Apple. The company has an existing satellite phone network of 24 satellites in low Earth orbit. (8/30)

iPhones Linked to Satellites? (Source: Bloomberg)
Don't count on the next iPhone being capable of satellite communications, at least immediately. An analyst's report over the weekend suggested the iPhone 13, due to be unveiled later this year, would include electronics for satellite communications, perhaps through Globalstar satellites. The technology, though, will be focused on messaging in emergency situations where terrestrial cell networks are not available, rather than for voice calls. The features may not be ready until at least next year, even if the hardware capability is included on the next iPhones. (8/31)

Astra Shares Plummet After Alaska Launch Failure (Source: Bloomberg)
Shares in small launch vehicle company Astra plummeted Monday after its launch failure. The company's shares fell as much as 25% in early trading Monday before closing down nearly 19%. The sharp drop came after a failed orbital launch attempt Saturday. The company, which started trading publicly two months ago after completing a SPAC merger, has seen its shares go from a peak of more than $15 a share in early July to $9.49 at the close of trading Monday. (8/31)

HASC Chairman Wants DoD Plan for Tactically Responsive Commercial Launches (Source: Space News)
The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee wants the Pentagon to submit a plan for how it will use commercial launch vehicles for tactically responsive missions. Rep. Adam Smith (D-Wash.) included the provision in the "chairman's mark" version of the National Defense Authorization Act to be marked up by his committee Wednesday. Last year's bill included similar language directing the Defense Department to set up a responsive launch program and estimate funding needed for the program over five years, and the new language suggests that the committee is dissatisfied that the Pentagon did not act on it. (8/31)

ExoTerra Developing Electric Thrusters for Blackjack (Source: Space News)
ExoTerra Resources will provide electric thrusters that Blue Canyon Technologies is building for DARPA's Blackjack program. The first satellites with the ExoTerra thrusters could launch next year. Blue Canyon, a Raytheon subsidiary, won a $14.1 million DARPA contract in 2020 to manufacture four Blackjack satellites, with options to build 16 additional small satellites. (8/31)

Global Space Leaders Differ on Approach to Space Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
Space agency leaders agree that space traffic management is important but disagree how it should be managed. During a panel session at the Space Symposium last week, some agency leaders called for the United Nations to lead the process in order to develop a common, sustainable solution. Others, though, warned that the slow process of the UN doesn't match the urgency of the problem, and advocated for alternative approaches of governments working together to develop solutions. (8/31)

Legislation Intended to Create Space National Guard (Source: Space News)
Reps. Doug Lamborn (R) and Jason Crow (D), both from Colorado, announced Aug. 30 they are introducing legislation to establish a Space National Guard as a reserve component of the U.S. Space Force. Lamborn and Crow are members of the House Armed Services Committee and co-chairs of the House Space Force Caucus.  The HASC on Wednesday is scheduled to take up the National Defense Authorization Act for 2022.
 
The issue of whether the Space Force should have its own Space National Guard has been debated since the Space Force was signed into law in December 2019. National Guard Bureau leaders have openly challenged DoD’s decision to stand up a U.S. Space Force without defining the role the National Guard would play in supporting the new service.

Eight states — Alaska, Hawaii, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, Arkansas and Ohio — and Guam have nearly 2,000 personnel who specialize in space operations. Most are from the Air National Guard and a small number are from the Army National Guard. (8/30)

Russia’s Future Orbital Station to be Surrounded by a Cloud of Satellites (Source: TASS)
A cloud of satellites will be flying around the Russian Orbital Service Station (ROSS) that Russia intends to create, said Vladimir Solovyov. "A squadron of satellites may be created for the ROSS. We believe that this will be something new in space technology, if some cloud of spacecraft will be flying at a distance of 100-200 km from the station with their specific tasks," Solovyov said. Russia’s future orbital outpost will feature a module with an external platform to service, refuel and repair spacecraft, the chief designer said. "If something happens to a spacecraft, a small space tug would approach it to tow it and bring it to the station," he explained. (8/30)

How AWS is Opening up Space With the Cloud (Source: Space News)
Clinton Crosier, a retired U.S. Air Force major general who helped organize the standup of the U.S. Space Force, recently celebrated his anniversary of joining cloud giant AWS to lead its newly created Aerospace and Satellite business team. "Because AWS is such a well-established company with mechanisms and processes, all the admin was done. We were able to focus on building the space business that offers the cloud to the space enterprise. Unlike when I stood up the U.S. Space Force two years ago when we started from scratch, AWS had a lot of the pieces in place."

We want to create an opportunity where anybody in the world can be part of the space industry. One of the things we’ve done is lower the barrier. In the past a company would have to expend $20, $30, $40 million to build out their own enterprise infrastructure architecture with the cloud. Rather than spending $30 million on an enterprise and then having to dedicate 50 people to manage it, AWS can do that for you and can spend that $30 million on your mission. So that’s the first piece.

The second piece is AWS Ground station. We launched AWS Ground Station about two years ago, and that was the same concept: don’t go spending millions of dollars building ground station infrastructure, use ours, pay by the minute for only what you use, and invest your money back in the business or the mission end of your space capability. (8/30)

Small Launch Vehicles Grow Up (Source: Space News)
For years after Boeing and Lockheed Martin combined their launch vehicle businesses into a joint venture, ULA had a lock on the medium- to heavy-lift launch market in the US. SpaceX would eventually challenge that, but it would take years of effort, including a lawsuit, for that company to win national security launch business.

Besides the prospect of Blue Origin and perhaps Northrop Grumman bidding on future contracts, startups that originally focused on small launch vehicles are looking to move into larger markets. In recent months, both Relativity Space and Rocket Lab have unveiled plans for rockets that can serve medium-class payloads for commercial and government customers. Click here. (8/30)

Can Investing in Space Give You Rocket-Fueled Returns? (Source: The National)
The space race is back on, but this time it is commercial companies battling it out rather than Cold War rivals the US and the Soviet Union, while investors are placing their bets on the winners in the hope of generating rocket-fuelled returns. The so-called SpaceTech sector remains the final frontier for investors but with big names such as Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Elon Musk’s SpaceX commercialising space travel and commandeering attention, it is impossible to ignore.

Around $6.4 billion was invested in SpaceTech in the first half of 2021 – the equivalent to 85 per cent of investment for the whole of 2020, according to new research from Seraphim. The pace of growth is accelerating – of this, $3.7bn was in the second quarter, up from $2.7bn in the first. The space industrial revolution is “demonstrably in full swing” as 34 rockets launched 573 satellites during the second quarter, Seraphim says.

This is the most exciting new frontier of them all but, as ever with a hot new sector, investors must beware the hype or risk of getting sucked into an investment black hole. Private equity funds and venture capitalists are pouring money into space travel, satellite communications, telecoms, Earth imaging and aerospace. Before 2021, just six space companies had gone public, raising a combined $800 million. So far this year, 12 space-related businesses have announced special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) mergers, representing more than $7bn of investment, Seraphim says. (8/30)

Russia's Space Agency Postpones Rocket Testing After Donating ‘Almost All’ its Liquid Oxygen to Hospitals (Source: Russia Today)
Russia's space agency Roscosmos has postponed testing of its rocket engines because almost all the liquid oxygen that it produces is instead being delivered to Covid-19 patients who have been affected by the pandemic's third wave. That's according to Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin, who wrote on Twitter on Sunday that the state-owned space agency is "helping in any way" it can. "We have been transferring almost all the oxygen produced by our enterprises to medical institutions for three months now, forcing us to postpone the testing of rocket engines," he explained. (8/30)

Russia to Create Reusable Space Freighter to Replace Progress Resupply Ships (Source: TASS)
Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corporation plans to create a new reusable space freighter based on the latest Oryol crewed spaceship currently in development, said Vladimir Solovyov. "We want to create a reusable cargo spaceship based on the Oryol [spacecraft]," Solovyov said. The new space freighter will replace operational Progress resupply ships currently used to deliver cargo to the International Space Station, conduct refueling operations and adjust the orbit, the Energia chief designer said. (8/30)

Pigeons Mistaking Starlink Dishes for Bird Baths (Source: BBC)
"It's actually been very good but I noticed a series of outages - some a second, some longer," says Prof Alan Woodward. The University of Surrey cyber-security expert is talking about his new satellite broadband service from space entrepreneur Elon Musk's Starlink company. The outages, he thinks, may be caused by a lot of "pesky pigeons", which "have taken a fancy to sitting on the dish." That small grey dish sits on the kitchen roof. To the curious pigeon, it might conceivably look like a modern bird bath rather short on water. (8/28)

To Catch Rockets, SpaceX Installs First ‘Mechazilla’ Arm on Starship Launch Tower (Source: Teslarati)
One month after SpaceX stacked Starship’s South Texas ‘launch tower’ to its full height, the company has installed the first arm on what amounts to the backbone of ‘Mechazilla.’ At the end of July, after less than four months of work, a team of SpaceX workers and contractors installed the final prefabricated section of a ~145m (~475 ft) tall tower meant to support orbital Starship launches.

Above all else, SpaceX’s first custom-built ‘launch tower’ is a sort of backbone or anchor point for several massive, mechanical arms that will accomplish the actual tasks of servicing – and, perhaps, catching – Starships and Super Heavy boosters.

Work on all three of the arms expected to make up what SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has described as “Mechazilla” has been visibly underway since the last week of June as a small army of welders carefully assembled dozens of sections of heavy-duty steel pipe into house-sized frames. Almost exactly two months later, SpaceX has installed the first of those three arms on the exterior of Starship’s skyscraper-sized launch tower. (8/30)