September 13, 2021

Cumberland Residents and Advocates Hoping to Scrub Proposed Georgia Spaceport (Source: GPB)
Cumberland Island: It's one of the most unique barrier islands in all of America. Just off the coast in Southeast Georgia, it lies just five miles from where Camden County officials are hoping to build a spaceport. The spaceport, they say, would mean tourism and big business for the county. But rockets launched from the spaceport would soar directly over Cumberland. And the potential for a mid-air accident has alarmed Cumberland residents and environmental advocates. Click here. (9/10)

New Glenn Transporter Erector passes through Port Canaveral (Source: Florida Today)
Tugboats pulling a barge carrying the Transporter Erector for Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket heads out of Canaveral Locks into the Banana River Sunday, Sep. 12, 2021. The ultimate destination is Blue Origin's Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (9/12)

SpaceX vs. the Environmentalists (Source: The  Hill)
SpaceX and its founder, Elon Musk, face another potential legal challenge to their dream of conquering space. In addition to the lawsuit filed by Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin, a group of environmentalists would like to shut Musk’s business down entirely. The Blue Origin lawsuit imposes delays in developing SpaceX’s Human Landing System (HLS) because of document storing and sharing problems at the Department of Justice (DOJ). However, the big threat to SpaceX’s operation in Boca Chica, Texas, and the SpaceX Starship’s development comes from the environmental lobby.

SpaceX’s Starbase launch facility is located next to a wildlife preserve. The problem, from the environmentalists’ point of view, is that Musk’s development plan for the Starship involves test vehicles blowing up and raining debris on the preserve. This adversely affects several “vulnerable” species. Frequent road closures and other activities at the site have only added to the environmental cause célèbre. Many environmentalists would like to stop SpaceX from conducting any more launches at Boca Chica to protect the wildlife preserve.

Even if the regulators approve orbital operations at the Boca Chica Starbase, various environmental groups are likely to take the matter to court if past behavior is any indication. The controversy could be tied up in litigation for years, further delaying America’s return to the moon. The clash between space exploration and the environment is fraught with irony. Strictly speaking, Musk is an environmentalist. His electric car company, Tesla, is an attempt to wean drivers away from vehicles powered by internal combustion. Environmentalists’ desires to preserve endangered species have stalled infrastructure projects and other human needs for decades. (9/12)

We Need to Figure Out How to Have Sex in Space (Source: The Conversation)
Houston, we have a problem! Love and sex need to happen in space if we hope to travel long distances and become an interplanetary species, but space organizations are not ready. National agencies and private space companies — such as NASA and SpaceX — aim to colonize Mars and send humans into space for long-term missions, but they have yet to address the intimate and sexual needs of astronauts or future space inhabitants.

This situation is untenable and needs to change if we hope to settle new worlds and continue our expansion in the cosmos — we’ll need to learn how to safely reproduce and build pleasurable intimate lives in space. To succeed, however, we also need space organizations to adopt a new perspective on space exploration: one that considers humans as whole beings with needs and desires. (9/12)

Bezos Battle Over Broadband with Musk Moves to the UK (Source: Daily Telegraph)
Jeff Bezos has brought his battle with Elon Musk to Britain, as Amazon hires a phalanx of lawyers and lobbyists for its upcoming satellite internet service. The company has hired legal and ­regulatory executives from satellite companies OneWeb, Eutelsat and Inmarsat in the UK, France and Luxembourg as it gears up to launch its Kuiper broadband service.

It comes as Amazon is locked in a ­bitter war of words with Mr Musk’s SpaceX over proposals for Starlink, the rocket company’s own satellite internet network. Amazon last week accused Mr Musk of believing that “rules are for other people” in a furious attack on the technology billionaire’s conduct. The two companies have been sparring over Starlink’s plans for its own system, with Amazon claiming the proposals break US regulations. (9/12)

SpaceX’s Starlink Broadband to be Available in Japan’s Remote Areas Next Year (Source: Space News)
SpaceX’s Starlink satellite broadband service will be available in Japan’s remote areas starting in 2022. Japan’s major mobile provider, KDDI has partnered with SpaceX to “offer an urban mobile connectivity experience to its rural mobile customers” via its 1,200 remote mobile towers. The pair will start by offering Starlink broadband to customers living in mountainous regions and islands for no additional charge, said the Tokyo-based teleco. The satellite network will also serve as backup in case terrestrial telecom lines are disrupted during natural disasters or blackouts. (9/13)

The two organizations have conducted a series of technical demonstrations after receiving an experimental license from Japan’s Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications, according to KDDI. They are working to win a formal license by the end of the year. The Japanese firm didn’t disclose the financial terms of the agreement.

ULA Dropped Out of GOES-U Competition as Atlas Approaches Retirement (Source: Space News)
NASA awarded SpaceX a contract Friday for the launch of a weather satellite after United Launch Alliance dropped out. SpaceX won a $152.5 million contract for the Falcon Heavy launch of the GOES-U satellite in 2024. GOES-U is the fourth and final satellite in the GOES-R series of geostationary weather satellites. ULA won contracts for the launches of the first three using the Atlas 5, but the company said it had to withdraw its bid for GOES-U because all of its remaining Atlas 5 vehicles have been sold to other customers. (9/13)

Astronauts Install Solar Fixture During ISS Spacewalk (Source: CBS)
Two astronauts completed a spacewalk outside the International Space Station Sunday. Akihiko Hoshide and Thomas Pesquet spent nearly seven hours outside the station, installing a fixture that will be used for a future solar array and replacing a sensor. The spacewalk was the first time ESA and JAXA astronauts performed a spacewalk together without a NASA astronaut. The spacewalk was scheduled for last month but postponed when NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei reported having a pinched nerve that kept him from performing it. Pesquet took the place of Vande Hei on the rescheduled spacewalk. (9/13)

Perseverance Collects Two Mars Rock Samples (Source: Space News)
NASA's Perseverance Mars rover has collected its first two samples for later return to Earth. Scientists and other officials said Friday they were pleased that the rover collected two samples from a rock called Rochette after an earlier sampling effort of another rock failed to collect any material. Scientists said that earlier rock was weaker than expected, and the sample crumbled into powder during the sampling process. The samples Perseverance collects will be returned to Earth by two later NASA and ESA missions, but officials said those missions are still in early phases of study, including examining various trades on their design and schedule. (9/13)

Geospatial Intelligence Companies Struggle to Educate Customers About Their Capabilities (Source: Space News)
The geospatial intelligence industry says many customers don't understand what modern satellite systems can provide. During a Satellite 2021 panel last week, executives said even people in the space industry don't appreciate what constellations of optical and SAR imaging satellites, combined with advanced analysis techniques, can do. They said they're working to "re-educate" customers used to traditional approaches of buying images and waiting weeks, instead of hours, to observe the same area again. (9/13)

Povlsen Won't Appeal Scottish Spaceport Decision (Source: Aberdeen Press and Journal)
A billionaire landowner who tried to block development of a Scottish spaceport says he won't appeal a court decision against him. Anders Holch Povlsen went to court to try to halt development of the launch site near Sutherland because of environmental concerns, but the court ruled against him last month. He said that while he has "deep reservations" about the project, he concluded that filing an appeal wouldn't be effective. Povlsen is also an investor in a rival spaceport project in the Shetland Islands. (9/13)

Researchers Enlist Robot Swarms to Mine Lunar Resources (Source: Science Daily)
Building a base on the moon was once something out of science fiction, but now scientists are starting to consider it more seriously. Researchers are investigating methods for mining lunar resources to build such a base, using swarms of autonomous robots. A University of Arizona team has received $500,000 in NASA funding for a new project to advance space-mining methods that use swarms of autonomous robots. (9/9)

DLR Agrees Cooperation with Spanish Start-Up Pangea Aerospace (Source: Space Daily)
The German Federal Government is turning to efficient start-ups in its quest to ensure independent and competitive access to space for Europe. With their ideas and vision, they can accelerate the development of new technologies in the launcher market. To further that goal, the German Aerospace Center Lampoldshausen site signed an agreement with the Spanish start-up Pangea Aerospace this summer 2021.

Their common aim is to test several aerospike engine, an innovative engine concept which can improve rocket engine efficiency by 15 percent. For this purpose, hot-fire tests will be carried out from October 2021 using several technology demonstrators developed by Pangea Aerospace and installed on the European research and technology test stand P8. Hot-run tests are comprehensive functional tests. They are an important step in the run-up to a first flight. The P8 test stand is one of DLR's large-scale facilities and is unique within Europe. Among other things, it enables development tests to be carried out with smaller engines or components. (9/13)

Watchdog Launches Probe of How FAA De-Conflicts Space and Aviation Flights (Source: CNN)
The Transportation Department's inspector general says it is reviewing how officials prevent everyday flights and commercial space flights from sharing the same airspace and potentially colliding. The review of the department's FAA comes as space flights have exploded in frequency since 2016, and shortly after the agency grounded a prominent commercial spaceflight company, Virgin Galactic, until an investigation into founder Richard Branson's flight is complete.

During that July flight, the company's SpaceShipTwo supersonic spaceplane flew outside of its designated FAA airspace for nearly two minutes. "Over the past 5 years, FAA has gone from licensing about one commercial space launch per month to now licensing more than one launch every week," Matthew Hampton, the assistant inspector general for aviation audits, said Wednesday in a memo announcing the probe. The audit was requested by the ranking members of the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and its Subcommittee on Aviation, Hampton said in the memo. (9/9)