September 17, 2021

Space Museum Voted Non-Profit of the Year by Chamber of Commerce (Source: ASM)
The American Space Museum is honored to be chosen the "Non-Profit of the Year" by the Cocoa Beach Regional Chamber of Commerce at their 33rd awards ceremony last Friday night. The award comes with an $11,000 in value advertising package from local media outlets, as well as the prestige of being a recognized leader in Brevard County. The nonprofit museum is located at 308 Pine Street downtown Titusville. It is open Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. For additional information click here. (9/17)

SpaceX Aims to Send Up To 6 Civilian Flights a Year After Inspiration4 Success (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
With the successful launch of the first all-civilian flight on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon, the company is looking to ramp up similar flights in the near future. Benji Reed, SpaceX’s senior director for its human spaceflight program projected as many as a half a dozen flights a year. “There’s nothing really that limits our capability to launch,” he said. “It’s about having rockets and Dragons ready to go and having everything in the manifest align with our other launches.” (9/17)

FAA Invites Public to Comment on Draft Environmental Review of SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy Program (Source: FAA)
The FAA invites the public to provide its input on the draft environmental review for the proposed  SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy program in Boca Chica, Texas. The draft document, formally called a Draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), evaluates the potential environmental impacts of SpaceX’s initial mission profile for the program, including launch and reentry. It also reviews debris recovery, the integration tower and other launch-related construction, and local road closures in Boca Chica, among other issues.

The FAA plans to hold virtual public hearings on Oct. 6 and 7 as part of the 30-day public comment period that ends on Oct. 18, 2021. SpaceX cannot launch the Starship/Super Heavy vehicle until the FAA completes its licensing process, which includes the environmental review and other safety and financial responsibility requirements. The proposed Starship/Super Heavy operations fall outside of the scope of the existing 2014 Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) and Record of Decision for the Boca Chica launch site and requires this additional environmental review under the National Environmental Policy Act. (9/17)

Planet Gains More SPAC Investment (Source: Planet)
Planet has added another investor to its SPAC deal. The Earth observation company said Thursday that the Canada Pension Plan Investment Board will contribute $50 million to a funding round that is being done in parallel with the SPAC merger announced in July. The new funding brings the total size of the deal to as high as $595 million. Planet separately announced its second quarter earnings Thursday, reporting $30.4 million in revenue, up 19% from the same quarter a year ago. The company projects full-year revenue of $130 million. (9/17)
 
DoD Looks Beyond Deterrence With New Space Capabilities (Source: Space News)
The U.S. military sees war in space as all but inevitable, and is planning accordingly. Secretary of the Air Force Frank Kendall said last month the Space Force will invest in new capabilities to deter and win if deterrence fails. Those capabilities remain classified, although the Space Force did reveal it deployed an advanced ground-based communications jammer made by L3Harris that could be used to disrupt enemies' satellite communications. Kendall warned any type of escalation can result in miscalculations and human errors which is why a space war is a "conflict that no one wants." (9/17)

New Geospatial Intelligence Strategy/Policy Nearing Completion (Source: Federal News Network)
A new geospatial intelligence strategy will direct the use of commercial sources. NGA Director Vice Adm. Robert Sharp is expected to soon sign the new policy that will direct government agencies looking for GEOINT sources to first consider commercial options before requesting government capabilities. An NGA official discussing the upcoming policy at a conference this week said the new strategy is "flipping the script" from past approaches to use government capabilities first. (9/17)

Satellite Operators Need More Accurate SSA Data (Source: Space News)
Space situational awareness data used by satellite operators isn’t accurate enough to support the decisions they need to make on whether and how to maneuver their spacecraft to avoid potential collisions. A survey of members of the Space Data Association, a group of satellite operators, revealed no consensus in the criteria they used to determine what is a “high-interest” close approach in either low Earth orbit or geostationary orbit.

GEO operators, for example, use a threshold of a projected miss distance ranging from 1,000 to 15,000 meters, and a probability of collision ranging from 1 in 10,000 to 1 in 1 billion. “The criteria and the thresholds they were using are all over the map,” he said. “Maybe it’s unrealistic to expect that they wouldn’t be different because each operator has varying levels of sophistication and varying levels of resources and SSA data they have access to. But, it was striking for us just how different these things are.” (9/16)

SpaceX Working More Diligently to Avoid Starlink Collisions (Source: Space News)
SpaceX says it now coordinates closely with government and commercial satellite operators to avoid any potential collisions involving its Starlink satellites. A SpaceX official said the company works closely with organizations ranging from NASA and ESA to OneWeb and ULA, coordinating maneuvers to avoid close approaches. SpaceX stepped up its efforts after ESA complained two years ago it had to move one of its Earth science satellites because a Starlink spacecraft came too close, a problem exacerbated by a breakdown in communications between ESA and SpaceX. Starlink satellites are equipped with automated collision avoidance systems, which resulted in more than 2,000 maneuvers over a recent six-month period. (9/17)

India Considers Reusability Modifications to GSLV Rocket (Source: The Hindu)
India's space agency is studying ways to make its GSLV Mark 3 rocket reusable. An ISRO official said at a conference this week that the agency is funding "mini projects" for reusability, such as the ability to land boosters vertically like SpaceX. Technology demonstrators could be ready as soon as next year, although the agency didn't predict when it would be able to start recovering and reusing GSLV stages. (9/17)

SpaceX Expanding in Brownsville Texas (Source: Brownsville Herald)
SpaceX is leasing additional facilities in Brownsville, Texas. The company signed leases for 100,000 square feet of warehouse space at the Brownsville airport and a nearby industrial park. SpaceX will spend $500,000 to renovate the airport warehouse in exchange for a rent abatement. The warehouse will likely be used for inventory and possibly light manufacturing to support its Starship development efforts at Boca Chica. (9/17)

Space Coast is Finally Getting its Own SpaceX Falcon 9 Booster (Source: Florida Today)
After more than a decade of hosting launches of SpaceX's workhorse rocket, the Space Coast is finally getting a Falcon 9 booster to call its own. Starting next year, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex guests will be able to explore the nine main Merlin engines, re-entry scorch marks, grid fins used for in-flight steering, and massive landing legs attached to the 156-foot booster built in California. All that hardware helped launch two missions: the Thaicom 8 communications satellite in 2016 and the three-core Falcon Heavy's premiere in 2018.

Unlike historic rockets in the complex's "Rocket Garden" like early Atlas and Mercury-Redstone, however, Falcon 9 will get special treatment: it will be mounted horizontally in a new attraction called "Gateway: The Deep Space Launch Complex." It was transported from SpaceX's spaceport facilities to the Visitor Complex on Tuesday. (9/17)

Shenzhou-12 Carries Chinese Station Astronauts Back to Earth (Source: Space News)
China's Shenzhou-12 spacecraft landed early Friday, returning three astronauts after three months in space. The spacecraft touched down inside the designated landing zone near Dongfeng in the Gobi Desert, Inner Mongolia, at around 1:34 a.m. Eastern Friday. On board Shenzhou-12 were commander Nie Haisheng, Liu Boming and Tang Hongbo, who spent three months in the Tianhe core module of China's new space station. The next crewed mission, Shenzhou-13, is scheduled to launch next month, after next week's launch of a new cargo spacecraft to Tianhe. (9/17)

Inspiration4 Off to a Quiet Start After Flawless Launch (Source: CBS)
The four-person Inspiration4 crew spent their first full day in space Thursday, although they had little to say publicly about their flight. While both the Inspiration4 project and SpaceX said the four people on the Crew Dragon spacecraft were doing well, the project didn't release any video and waited until late Thursday night to publish the first photos of the mission since launch. The crew did have a private communications session with patients at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, and commander Jared Isaacman placed what was described as the first sports bets made from space. The Crew Dragon spacecraft is expected to splash down Saturday evening off the Florida coast. (9/17)

L3Harris to Develop Satellite Factory in Indiana, After Expanding Florida Capacity (Source: Space News)
L3Harris Technologies opened a new factory Thursday that will be used for building missile defense satellites. The classified facility in Fort Wayne, Indiana, will be used to build satellites for contracts the company has with the Space Development Agency and Missile Defense Agency. L3Harris in August announced it is also expanding its Palm Bay, Florida, site to increase production capacity for classified military satellites. (9/17)

Xplore and Keck Observatory Announce Innovative Collaboration (Source: Space Daily)
Xplore Inc., a commercial space company providing Space as a Service has announced a collaboration with the W. M. Keck Observatory in Waimea, Hawai'i. The Keck Observatory, the world's leading optical/infrared observatory, will assist Xplore in concept development and science case definition for the company's family of Xplore Space Telescopes (XST).

The XST series of commercial space telescopes take full advantage of Xplore's high performance Xcraft platform to carry a suite of innovative sensors to address a wide range of astronomical and planetary observations. The collaboration with the Keck Observatory will help align the observational capabilities of the XSTs with the needs of the astronomical community. By leveraging commercial practices and advanced technology, XSTs can be deployed in a fraction of the time and cost compared with existing space-based observatories, enabling more science for more astronomers. (9/15)

Rapid Increase in Global Light Pollution (Source: Space Daily)
Global light pollution has increased by at least 49% over 25 years, new research shows. This figure only includes light visible via satellites, and scientists estimate the true increase may be significantly higher - up to 270% globally, and 400% in some regions. The study, led by the University of Exeter, examined light emissions from 1992 to 2017. The findings show differing regional trends, but emissions have increased almost everywhere and there is "limited evidence" that improved technology has cut light pollution. (9/15)

OneWeb Signs Distribution Deal with Peraton, Broadens Reach Into Military Market (Source: Space News)
Under a new agreement with U.S. defense contractor Peraton, OneWeb’s satellite communications services will be more widely available to military users in hard-to-reach areas, including ships at sea. Low Earth orbit satellite communications “is a game-changing capability for maritime, aviation, defense and other customers operating in remote environments outside of standard network coverage areas,” said Nate White.

Peraton is a systems integrator that provides managed satcom services to the government. The Pentagon frequently turns to integrators to stitch together networks from multiple vendors. Leonardo DRS Global Enterprise Solutions provides similar services. (9/16)

Space Club Plans "Destination Space" Program for Florida Students (Source: NSCFL)
Destination Space 2021 will be conducted in a similar format as last year due to COVID-19. Students will participate in a 7-day countdown to Launch Day, with lessons and hands-on activities related to Living and Working in Space with a focus on Mars. Day 8 (Nov. 3) is “Launch Day” where each student will design, build and launch a water bottle rocket. Students will also participate in “Post Launch” Days 9 & 10 where they will design and plan how to colonize Mars.

Once again Jim Kennedy (former NASA KSC director) will narrate videos on the space industry and importance of STEM, and all students will watch an IMAX movie. Other activities will include a virtual tour of the space center and a pre-recorded presentation from a scientist, engineer or astronaut. Sounds like another fantastic Destination Space program!

Destination Space has proven to motivate our school administrators and teachers to increase emphasis on teaching math and science, as well as stimulating student interest in those subjects. Our classroom visits also will provide students with leadership and inspirational tools that will tie everything together. On behalf of the NSCFL, we are requesting our community’s financial help once again.  All contributions to the NSCFL (a 501c3 entity) will go directly to Space Week. Contributions can be made online at www.nscfl.org. (9/15)