August 6, 3031

TESS Considering Companion Smallsat Mission (Source: Space News)
The leaders of a NASA exoplanet mission are considering using a spare camera for a companion mission that would enable them to confirm existing discoveries and make new ones. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) launched in April 2018 to perform an all-sky survey. The spacecraft’s four cameras observe regions of the sky for weeks at a time, looking for minute dips in brightness of stars caused when exoplanets cross is front of, or transit, those stars. TESS, which completed its two-year primary mission in 2020 and is now in an extended mission, has discovered thousands of potential exoplanets. (8/6)

Who Gets to Be an Astronaut? (Source: TIME)
On Sep. 15, if all goes according to plan, Jared Isaacman—the billionaire CEO of Shift4 Payments—and three other private citizens will strap into a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft—all four seats paid for by Isaacman—and blast off for three days in orbit on the mission dubbed Inspiration4. Unlike most of the rest of us, they will have spent time off of the planet. But will that earn them the label of "astronaut?" It's an increasingly relevant question. With the opening of the private space sector, all manner of people are queuing up to fly. But what do we call them?

"I try not to get all wrapped around the word," says Nicole Stott, a retired NASA astronaut. "Maybe it's just a question of achieving a presence in some place with whatever role you have when you're there." ... "Anybody who has the responsibility on their shoulders, for their own safety and the safety of the others in the spacecraft, yeah, I'd probably say that crosses the [astronaut] threshold for me," says space historian Andrew Chaikin. "I think it's entirely possible that as more and more people go into space, the word astronaut will simply go away," says Chaikin. "It will just fall out of use." (8/6)

Sixth RS-25 Engine Test Conducted at Stennis for SLS (Source: NASA)
NASA conducted its sixth RS-25 single-engine hot fire Thursday on the A-1 Test Stand at Stennis Space Center in South Mississippi. It was a continuation of its seven-part test series to support development and production of engines for the agency’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket on future missions to the Moon. Operators fired the engine for more than eight minutes (500 seconds), the same amount of time RS-25 engines need to fire for launch of the SLS rocket. (8/5)

ULA Expects BE-4 Engines Before 2022 (Source: Space News)
The CEO of ULA expects to receive its long-delayed BE-4 engines by the end of the year. In an interview, Tory Bruno said he is planning to receive the first BE-4 flight engines from Blue Origin for his company's Vulcan rocket by the end of the year. Those first engines were once expected to be ready in 2017, but Bruno said the testing has taken far longer than expected, as has building production engines. The engine performance, though, meets or exceeds expectations. He said ULA's relationship with Blue Origin is "solid" and that all the chatter about ULA considering ending its partnership with Blue Origin is just that: chatter. (8/6)

BE-4 Engine Development Suffered 'Hardware Poor' Situation (Source: Ars Technica)
Development of the BE-4 reportedly suffered from a "hardware poor" test program. The engine development program, sources said, lacked components to build engines for testing, which led to extended periods where no engines were on the test stand in Texas. The company more recently has added resources for the program, allowing it to scale up production and testing. (8/5)

Firefly to Become the Premier Supplier of Rocket Engines and Spaceflight Components for the Emerging New Space Industry (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Firefly Aerospace, Inc., a leading provider of economical and dependable launch vehicles, spacecraft, and in-space services, today announced the launch of a new line of business dedicated to supplying rocket engines and other spaceflight components to the emerging New Space industry.

“Our goal with this line of business is to become the Tier 1 supplier of components to the New Space industry,” said Tom Markusic, CEO of Firefly Aerospace. “Our component sales business model has inherent advantages over businesses that focus on a single (e.g., rocket engines) or narrow range (e.g., valves) of components.”

The development of this new line of business was born out of the overwhelming interest in Firefly’s technology and the need, within the New Space industry, to shorten the time to market and have a reliable and consistent sourcing partner for the components necessary to develop spaceflight vehicles. Firefly is unique in that it not only builds and operates spaceflight vehicles, such as its Alpha rocket, but will also become a premier sourcing partner for other New Space companies. (8/6)

Ready For Reuse: Space Force Leveraging Recycled Rockets (Source: National Defense)
In June 2021, the Space Force successfully launched the fifth GPS III Space Vehicle onboard a previously flown SpaceX Falcon 9 launch vehicle, a first for national security space launch missions. The Space Force has “collaborated extensively with industry since 2016 to develop standards for launch vehicle reuse,” Pentecost said. The contract for the launch contains no restrictions on previously flown boosters, he said. “The USSF worked with SpaceX to accelerate the use of previously-flown boosters.” (8/6)

Virgin Galactic Ups Ticket Prices, Delays Commercial Service (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic is reopening ticket sales for suborbital flights but also pushing back the start of commercial service. Virgin Galactic said it will resume selling tickets at prices starting at $450,000, far above the $250,000 it previously charged. Those people who signed up with the company's "One Small Step" program will have the first opportunity to buy tickets.

Virgin Galactic had planned to start commercial flights in early 2022, but said it's extending a maintenance period on its vehicles, scheduled to begin after the next SpaceShipTwo flight in September, to allow the vehicles to fly more frequently. The company now projects beginning commercial space tourism flights late in the third quarter of 2022. (8/6)

Planet Aligns with SpaceX for Launch Services (Source: Space News)
Planet has designated SpaceX as its "go-to launch provider" through 2025. Planet announced a multi-launch contract with SpaceX that will start with the launch of 44 SuperDove imaging cubesats in December on SpaceX's Transporter-3 rideshare mission. Planet did not reveal the number of satellites or launches covered by the agreement. (8/6)
 
China Launches Comsat, More Long March 3B Launches to Come (Source: Space News)
China launched a GEO communications satellite Thursday. The Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 12:30 p.m. Eastern and placed the Zhongxing-2E spacecraft into a geostationary transfer orbit. China plans to launch seven more Long March 3B rockets in the remaining five months of 2021, officials said after the launch. (8/6)

Missile Defense Sensor Passes Design Review (Source: Space News)
A new missile defense sensor payload developed by Northrop Grumman and Ball Aerospace has passed a critical design review. The payload is one of two being manufactured for the U.S. Space Force's Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared (Next-Gen OPIR) geosynchronous satellites made by Lockheed Martin. A competing payload is being developed by Raytheon. Lockheed and the Space Force have not made a decision on which sensor will fly on the first three GEO Next-Gen OPIR geosynchronous satellites, scheduled to launch starting in 2025. (8/6)

Australia's Space-Focused Accelerator Features Five Startups (Source: Space News)
Australia's first space-focused accelerator is showcasing a group of startups. The five startups include Arlula, which develops software designed to make it easier to collect space data from multiple satellite operators, and Exodus Orbitals, which plans to launch an open satellite platform to orbit early next year. Moonshot, which has accelerated 25 space startups and made 10 investments since launching in 2017, says it operates differently from other accelerators in that each investor in its fund is also a mentor for its programs, committing to share their experience and networks. (8/6)

LeoLabs Working with New Zealand to Monitor Satellites in Orbit (Source: Space News)
Space tracking company LeoLabs is working with the New Zealand Space Agency on a cloud-based software platform for monitoring space activity. LeoLabs started work with the agency on the Space Regulatory and Sustainability Platform in 2019, moving from a prototype to a working system that tracks objects in low Earth orbit and ensures satellite operators are fulfilling commitments made when applying for launch licenses. LeoLabs operates several radars, including one in New Zealand, for tracking objects in orbit. (8/6)

Ingenuity Performs 11th Mars Flight (Source: Space.com)
Ingenuity's latest flight on Mars was a success. JPL said Thursday that the small Mars helicopter performed its 11th flight Thursday, spending 130.9 second in the air. The flight, slated to travel 380 meters, was designed to send Ingenuity to a new landing zone for future flights where it will scout terrain for the Perseverance rover. Perseverance is preparing to collect its first Martian rock sample, which the rover will cache along with about three dozen others for later return to Earth. (8/6)

India Plans Launch of GEO Imaging Satellite (Source: IANS)
India will launch an imaging satellite to GEO next week. The Indian space agency ISRO has set Aug. 12 as the launch date for the GISAT-1 satellite, also known as EOS-3, on a GSLV rocket. The satellite will provide low-resolution imagery of India and the surrounding region from geostationary orbit. The launch has been delayed several times since early last year by technical problems as well as the pandemic. (8/6)

Impact of Space Station Spin Requires Study (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Space engineers will analyze whether a glitch that caused the ISS to spin out of its normal orientation could have impacted any of its systems, a Russian space official said. Sergei Krikalev, the director of crewed space programs at the Russian space corporation Roscosmos, emphasized that last week’s incident did not inflict any observable damage to the space station but he said that experts would need to study its potential implications.

“It appears there is no damage,” Krikalev said in an interview broadcast by Russian state television. “But it’s up to specialists to assess how we have stressed the station and what the consequences are.” NASA emphasized Wednesday that the station was operating normally and noted that the spin was within safety limits for its systems. (8/6)

Blue Origin's Petty Drama Exposes Its Own Flaw (Source: Inverse)
Blue Origin may have lost its appeal contesting NASA’s awarding rival SpaceX the contract to build a lunar lander vehicle. Still, Jeff Bezos’s space company is not taking the defeat lying down. The space company published an infographic on its website Wednesday arguing that the SpaceX landing vehicle, a modified version of SpaceX’s Starship, is unproven and potentially unsafe for astronauts.

This is not the first time Blue Origin has taken a swing at another billionaire’s space company. The company tweeted a similar infographic on July 9 favorably comparing its New Shepherd vehicle to the SpaceShip Two of Virgin Galactic, owned by Richard Branson, and noting that Virgin’s vehicle does not fly above the Karman line, the internationally recognized boundary of outer space.

But whatever the technical merit of Blue Origins' arguments in their new attack on SpaceX, it may be for nothing but spite, given that the GAO rejected Blue Origins' appeal. SpaceX and Elon Musk now have the go-ahead to keep working on the lunar Starship for NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to return humans to the moon. “There is no chance of SpaceX not proceeding with HLS for Artemis III,” Laura Seward Forczyk, founder of space consulting firm Astralytical, wrote in a tweet on Thursday. “NASA says it won. The GAO says it won. Attacking SpaceX only spreads negativity.” (8/5)

Goodbye Galileo! Brexit Britain 'in Driving Seat' as New Project Tipped to 'Rival' EU (Source: Express)
On Monday, Prime Minister Boris Johnson opened a £35million centre at Airbus Stevenage, "for the manufacturing of satellites," before reminding the public in a video about the "deal with did a year ago to buy OneWeb". OneWeb is the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband constellation, acquired by the Government, along with Bharti Global, to provide "global" Internet coverage, The tech company, based in London, recently declared itself "financially stable" after raising the $2.4 billion funding necessary to roll out the remaining 650 satellites in its constellation.

It has teamed up with Airbus, Europe's largest space company, to "design and manufacture" the satellites at Orbit House – Airbus' state-of-the-art and environmentally friendly new space and defence headquarters. And Chair of the Parliamentary Space Committee David Morris has told Express.co.uk that it also sets the UK up with another huge opportunity. He said: "There's a potential here for OneWeb and Airbus to work together even more in the future. (8/6)

SpaceX 'Sleeves' Tanks for Starship Fueling (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX’s final Starship tank farm design involves seven Starship-derived storage tanks and seven contractor-built tank sleeves. Measuring around 12m (~40 ft) wide and 40m (~130 ft) tall, those “cryo shells” will enclose all seven SpaceX-built tanks, allowing the company to fill the 1.5m (~5 ft) gap between them with an insulating solid, gas, or some combination of both. With those shells and insulation, SpaceX’s custom-built Starship tank form should be more than capable of storing cryogenic liquid oxygen and methane for days or even weeks. (8/6)

Space Honey: This Utah Metal is a Key Ingredient to Space Exploration (Source: ABC4)
When the James Webb Space Telescope departs Earth and heads into the ethers of space later this year, it’ll be taking a bit of Utah with it. Quite a bit, actually. The soon-to-be orbiting observatory’s design and function are highlighted by the use of a 21 foot, 4 inch-wide interlocking mirror of 18 gold-plated pieces made from something called beryllium.

When it comes together, the mirror resembles a large, yellow honeycomb, an unintentional nod to the material’s origin in the Beehive State. The material used to create the massive goldenrod mirror that will enable scientists and researchers to obtain a better understanding of the final frontier and perhaps even the beginning of space and time itself was mined entirely in Utah at the Spor Moutain mining spot in Juab County.

What makes beryllium, a pure element found on the periodic table (remember that from high school?), so valuable are the properties that make it perfect for space travel, according to Utah Geological Survey Senior Geologist Stephanie Mills. “It’s a metal and it’s very lightweight,” Mills explains to ABC4.com. “It’s able to withstand high temperatures and things like that, which makes it ideal for aerospace and defense applications, which is where most of it gets used in today’s economy.” (8/5)

Hermeus Fully-Funded to Flight with $60 Million U.S. Air Force Partnership (Source: Johnson City Press)
Hermeus, the aerospace company developing Mach 5 aircraft, announced today the signing of a $60 million U.S. Air Force partnership for flight testing its first aircraft, Quarterhorse. Quarterhorse will validate the company's proprietary turbine-based combined cycle (TBCC) engine, based around the GE J85 turbojet engine, and is the first in a line of autonomous high-speed aircraft. By the end of the flight test campaign, Quarterhorse will be the fastest reusable aircraft in the world and the first of its kind to fly a TBCC engine.

The award was made under the AFWERX Strategic Funding Increase (STRATFI) program led by the Presidential and Executive Airlift Directorate (PE) as a follow-on to a Phase II SBIR contract. The collaboration also includes support from the Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The technology set Hermeus has chosen positions the company firmly in the dual-use space for hypersonic technology, i.e. technologies normally used for civilian purposes but which may have military applications. (8/5)

New Mexico Space Industry Experiences Post-Branson Boom (Source: GovTech)
When Sir Richard Branson flew into suborbit from Spaceport America on July 11, New Mexico's reputation as a global hot spot for the emerging commercial space industry climbed right along with him. Branson's flight cast an unprecedented international spotlight on New Mexico as the birth place for commercial space travel.

But while most public attention is riveted on Virgin Galactic and Spaceport America, a lot more space development is also gaining momentum in New Mexico, particularly in Albuquerque, where government entities and business organizations are partnering to build out state-of-the-art facilities and programs that could turn the city into a bustling center of production for new space technologies. (8/3)

Blue Origin’s Powerful BE-4 Engine is More Than Four Years Late—Here’s Why (Source: Ars Technica)
After more than four years of frustrating delays, Blue Origin is finally making significant progress toward completing development of its powerful BE-4 rocket engine. At present, engineers and technicians are assembling the first two flight engines in Kent, Washington. The company aspires to deliver these two flight engines to ULA before the end of this year, although that increasingly appears to be a "stretch" goal. Delivery may slip into early 2022. And in order to make this deadline, Blue Origin plans to take the somewhat risky step of shipping the engines to its customer before completing full qualification testing.

Blue Origin has said almost nothing publicly about the engine development. Therefore, this story attempts to provide some context for why the BE-4 engines are late. It is based on anonymous sources at the company's headquarters as well as industry officials, some of whom would likely be fired if they were named. In response to questions for this article, a spokeswoman for Blue Origin, Linda Mills, offered only a single-sentence reply. "We’re on track to deliver the engines this year," she said.

According to these sources, the flight engines to be delivered to ULA, no. 1 and no. 2, are not yet fully assembled. But most of the components are built. The good news is that Blue Origin believes it has retired all of the significant technical risks. Engineers have already tested the BE-4 engine in a configuration close to that of the flight engines, and it has performed well during hot firings that approximate the duty cycle of a Vulcan first stage launch. Click here. (8/5)

Top 30 Space Execs to Watch in 2021: Airbus’ Debra Facktor (Source: Washington Executive)
Debra Facktor joined Airbus U.S. Space & Defense, Inc. at the outset of the pandemic, bringing with her extensive experience in space engineering, business and communications. “Taking on a new job during a pandemic was not my plan, but Airbus has been providing U.S. customers with innovative solutions for more than 50 years,” Facktor said. “The opportunity to build the U.S. space business was too exciting to pass up!”

Her Day 1 mission was to build up a space and engineering team brimming with satellite experience and hit the ground running. She did just that, leveraging Airbus OneWeb satellites, Airbus’ small satellite manufacturing joint venture with OneWeb, and kicked off satellite programs for OneWeb, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and other Airbus customers. Diving in feet first also meant joining the AOS board and successfully shepherding the joint venture through the pains of COVID and orchestrating the merger of Airbus Houston operations into Airbus U.S. (7/7)

Astra Announces Multi-Launch Contract and First Launch with DoD (Source: Astra)
Astra Space announced a launch window beginning August 27, 2021 for its first commercial orbital launch with the United States Space Force. Following this launch, Astra is under contract to perform a second launch later this year. “We are thrilled to partner with Astra on this mission and believe this showcases critical low-cost, mobile and responsive launch capability,” said Colonel Carlos Quinones, Director, Department of Defense Space Test Program. 

Space Force contracted the launch through the Defense Innovation Unit’s Other Transaction Agreement with Astra. Space Force will be launching a test payload for the Space Test Program (STP-27AD1). STP-27AD1 will be conducted from Astra’s Kodiak Spaceport, located at the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska. The launch window will begin at 1:00PM PT, on August 27, 2021 and will be open through September 11. (8/5)

Central Florida Tech Fund Invests in Local Startups, Possibly Including Space Perspective (Source: Orlando Inno)
When venture capital firm Kirenaga Inc. prepped the launch of its Central Florida Tech fund nearly two years ago, some investors asked the same question. The investors kicked their money into the fund, primarily focused on early-stage investments in tech companies between the Gulf Coast and Space Coast, but they were curious if they would get their money back if Kirenaga failed to find enough investable firms, Kirenaga Partner Jim Thomas told Orlando Inno. “I said ‘Are you kidding me?’ ”

Kirenaga plans to raise $100 million and invest in 15-20 startups over three years. In fact, Kirenaga is seriously eyeing six more companies to invest in the near future, Thomas said. These include Space Perspective Inc. Based at Kennedy Space Center, the company will send tourists to the edge of the atmosphere in a balloon capsule. (8/3)

China Launches German Comsat Venture (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
China launched two small communications satellites for a German venture Wednesday. A Long March 6 rocket lifted off at 7:01 a.m. Eastern and placed the KL-Beta-A and KL-Beta-B satellites into low Earth orbit. The Shanghai Institute for Microsatellite Innovation of the Chinese Academy of Sciences built the two satellites for German-based KLEO Connect, which plans to use them to test Ka-band technologies for future satellite systems. (8/5)

Starliner Launch Delay Could Last (Sources: Space News, NASA)
NASA and Boeing aren't planning to make a new CST-100 Starliner attempt any time soon. NASA said late Wednesday that the Atlas 5 rocket carrying Starliner will roll back to its vertical assembly facility today, rather than yesterday as originally expected, to investigate a problem with valves in the spacecraft's propulsion system. NASA did not state when a new launch attempt would take place, but appeared to rule out any opportunity before next week, when a Cygnus cargo spacecraft will launch to the station. NASA said only that they "will look for the next available opportunity after resolution of the issue." (8/5)

Inmarsat Beats Back Eutelsat Challenge in French Court (Source: Space News)
Inmarsat's European Aviation Network (EAN) has survived a challenge from Eutelsat in a French court. Eutelsat argued that EAN's heavy use of a ground network is at odds with the intent of Inmarsat's S-band license from the European Commission. EAN pairs an air-to-ground network of cell towers with an S-band satellite payload to provide in-flight connectivity services across Europe. However, France's Conseil d'Etat ruled against Eutelsat, just as Court of Justice of the European Union, which interprets European Union laws for member countries, dismissed a similar challenge in April. (8/5)

Eutelsat and SES Seek Turnaround After Decline in Video Business (Source: Space News)
Both Eutelsat and SES are seeing improvements in their broadcast businesses. SES reported a 3.9% decline in video business in the first six months of 2021, but that was an improvement over the 8% decline seen in the first half of 2020. Eutelsat saw a 6.6% decline in video revenues in its fiscal fourth quarter, but saw "some signs of normalization" in that sector. Broadcast services account for a majority of revenues at both satellite operators. (8/5)

NRO Extends Maxar Contract for Satellite Imagery (Source: Space News)
The NRO exercised a contract option with Maxar for satellite imagery. The agency exercised the second of three one-year options on the company's existing EnhancedView Follow-On contract signed in 2018. Each option year is valued at $300 million. Maxar officials said in an earnings call Wednesday that delays in delivery of key components have pushed back the launch of the first of its new WorldView Legion imaging satellites to between March and June of 2022. (8/5)

Momentus CEO Wants to Move Beyond Recent Problems (Source: Space News)
The new CEO of Momentus hopes to turn the page on the company's past regulatory problems. John Rood took over as CEO this week, having previously served as undersecretary of defense for policy. He said in an interview that the company is making good progress implementing a national security agreement it reached with the federal government in June to address concerns that blocked launches earlier this year of its first Vigoride tugs. The company is also reporting success in ground tests of a new version of its water plasma thruster, which it hopes to fly next June. (8/5)
 
Help Wanted: SpaceX Seeking Mixologist for Starbase Bar (Source: The Verge)
The latest job opening at SpaceX's Boca Chica, Texas, test site is for a "spaceport mixologist." The job listing on the SpaceX website states that the company is looking for people "who have superior mixology experience with a focus in resorts, bars, and full service restaurants." The company has a "Starbase Tiki Bar" at Boca Chica as well as a "High Bar" atop a vertical assembly building at the site. (8/5)

China's New Station Poses Competition for ISS Customers (Source: Space News)
China's new space station could become a competitor to commercial ISS activities and future commercial stations. At a conference presentation Wednesday, the CEO of Nanoracks, Jeff Manber, said his company lost a customer to the new Chinese station for the first time. That demonstrates, he said, the need for the U.S. to continue to attract international users to the ISS as NASA plans to transition to commercial space stations. (8/5)

Pandemic Adds $13.5 Million to GPS Contract Cost (Source: Space News)
Disruptions caused by the pandemic added $13.5 million to the cost of a new GPS control system. The Space Force announced this week it was adding $13.5 million to the existing $3.7 billion contract with Raytheon to develop the Global Positioning System Next Generation Operational Control System, or OCX, citing "late government-furnished equipment impacts and excusable delay overrun costs." That included costs related to international border closures and mandatory quarantines associated with the installation of 17 global monitoring stations. (8/5)

Startups Seek to Augment GPS (Source: Space News)
Startups are developing approaches to augment or backup GPS. Several companies are developing technologies to provide the increased accuracy required for autonomous cars or other new transportation systems, while others are looking at ways to provide backup navigation services in the event GPS was unavailable. Companies like TrustPoint and Xona intend to establish small satellite constellations in LEO to augment existing global navigation satellite services and eventually operate independently of them. (8/5)

Russian ISS Movie Project Still Being Finalized (Source: Space News)
Plans to film a Russia movie in space are still taking shape two months from launch. In a pitch for funding to a Russian commission, the producer and director of "The Challenge" say they're still fine-tuning the script for the movie, where a female doctor is rushed to the International Space Station to perform heart surgery on an ailing cosmonaut. About 35 to 40 minutes of the movie will be shot on the ISS during a 12-day stay in October, with the film's release no earlier than late 2022. (8/5)

Ingenuity Prepares for Distance Flight (Source: Space.com)
NASA is gearing up for the next flight of its Ingenuity Mars helicopter. JPL said Wednesday the flight, scheduled for as early as this morning, will see Ingenuity fly for a little more than two minutes and travel 385 meters. The flight will be the 11th for the small helicopter, which is now serving as a scout for the Perseverance rover. (8/5)