September 2, 2021

After Abortion Ban, Texas Governor Says Elon Musk Likes State's Social Policies (Source: CNBC)
A new Texas law practically bans abortions in the state, but Texas Governor Greg Abbott has defended the state's conservative social policies, saying he "frequently" talks to Elon Musk and says the SpaceX founder "consistently tells me that he likes the social policies in the state of Texas." Musk responded with a tweet that seems to take issue with Abbott's remarks: "In general, I believe government should rarely impose its will upon the people, and, when doing so, should aspire to maximize their cumulative happiness. That said, I would prefer to stay out of politics." (9/2)

D-Orbit Signs Agreement With HyImpulse Technologies for joint EU-based Launch and Deployment Mission (Source: Parabolic Arc)
D-Orbit announced the signing of an agreement with HyImpulse Technologies aiming at a joint launch and deployment mission that will leverage HyImpulse’s SL1 launcher and D-Orbit’s ION Satellite Carrier. SL1 is a three-stage hybrid rocket designed to transport to LEO satellites of up to 500 kg. ION Satellite Carrier (ION) is D-Orbit’s proprietary orbital transportation vehicle designed to ferry a batch of satellites across orbits and release each satellite into a customized orbital slot, while at the same time operating multiple hosted payloads during a single mission.

This partnership will offer, for the first time, a combination of a launcher and orbital transportation vehicle that maximizes the mass of SL1’s payload to Sun-synchronous orbit, and leverages ION Satellite Carrier to deploy satellites into orbits with distinct values of parameters like altitude, inclination, and local time of the ascending node (LTAN).

The scope of the contract includes a study of a late payload integration that will enable third parties to board the launch vehicle as late as possible for use cases like preserving pharmaceutical and biological payloads, apply last-minute changes to the manifest, and replace payloads that are suffering development delay with others that are ready-for-fly. (9/1)

FAA Grounds Virgin Galactic’s Spacecraft During Investigation of Branson Flight Issues (Source: CNBC)
The FAA grounded Virgin Galactic on Thursday, as the federal regulator investigates the company’s previous spaceflight that carried founder Richard Branson. “Virgin Galactic may not return the SpaceShipTwo vehicle to flight until the FAA approves the final mishap investigation report or determines the issues related to the mishap do not affect public safety,” the FAA said. Shares of Virgin Galactic turned negative and fell after the FAA’s announcement. (9/2)

FAA Investigating Off-Course Descent of Virgin Galactic’s Flight with Richard Branson (Source: The Verge)
Richard Branson’s July flight to the edge of space is under investigation by the FAA for veering out of its designated airspace mid-flight, the FAA said on Wednesday after a report from The New Yorker. The mission’s two pilots were alerted to yellow and red light warnings mid-flight that, according to sources in The New Yorker, should’ve prompted them to abort the mission. The flight continued and ultimately landed safely.

Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo spaceplane air-launched from its carrier aircraft on July 11th carrying founder Branson and three company employees over the firm’s New Mexico spaceport, Spaceport America. The rocket plane soared 53.5 miles high, skimming the edge of space for a few minutes of weightlessness before free-gliding back to a runway, using the rocket-propelled momentum from its ascent. Branson and the company lauded the mission as a success shortly after, with the company’s president Mike Moses telling reporters “the ship looked perfect” at touchdown.

But as the space plane was accelerating toward peak altitude, the two pilots, Dave Mackay and Michael Masucci, saw cockpit warnings that indicated the ship wasn’t flying as steeply as it should have been. Such warnings “should scare the crap out of you,” Masucci was quoted by The New Yorker as saying in a 2015 meeting with other company pilots. That gave the pilots two options, per company procedures: “implement immediate corrective action, or abort the rocket motor,” the magazine reports. Triggering an abort and returning Branson and his crew to ground without reaching space would’ve been the safest option at the time, multiple sources said. (9/2)

Northrop Grumman Discusses Antares NG-16’s Eventful Countdown, Talks Future Missions (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
On August 10, the S.S. Ellison Onizuka launched on an Antares 230+ rocket from Pad-0A at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility. The NG-16 countdown was hampered with helium and ground computer issues leading up to the final T-0 mark. But teams at Northrop Grumman were able to launch at the end of the launch window with Antares performing a better-than-expected ascent to orbit for the Cygnus spacecraft.

During the countdown, the launch team noted that a helium storage tank located adjacent to Pad-0A was leaking 'precipitously.'  Before the poll to start fueling the first stage of the Antares rocket with RP-1 kerosene and liquid oxygen (LOX), the launch team decided to send the Red Team back to Pad-0A to fix the leak on the ground helium tank. The Red Team for Antares launches is made up of technicians and engineers from both Northrop Grumman and Virginia Space.

“They identified a release valve that was leaking, and they were able to get it to reset. And then we were able to reopen the isolation valve to stop the leak and flow helium to the vehicle again to start loading up the pressure bottles.” At T-6 minutes 45 seconds, the NASA Test Director told the Launch Conductor they were “no go” due to a backup computer failure and that it would take 4 minutes to recycle the computer system. Another potential issue the launch team kept aware of was a boat near the launch hazard area. (9/1)

HASC Makes Plan To Force DoD Use Of Commercial Space (Source: Breaking Defense)
With a move to prohibit new Space Force programs unless the service acquisition chief certifies there is no available commercial alternative, the House Armed Services Committee is taking a stance that the Defense Department must begin relying more on commercial space services. The language came as an amendment crafted by the ranking member of the Strategic Forces subcommittee Rep. Mike Rogers, R-AL, to the fiscal 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA).
 
The amendment, included in a bloc of others that were okayed by the committee, reads: “The Space Force may not establish a program of record unless the Service Acquisition Executive first determines that there is no commercially available capability that would meet the threshold objectives for that proposed program.” Another amendment, proposed by Rep. Mike Waltz, R-FL, seeks to open a path for commercial on-orbit servicing on military satellites. (9/2)

HASC Approves Defense Bill, Including Space National Guard (Source: Space News)
The House Armed Services Committee approved a defense authorization bill Wednesday that would establish a Space National Guard and promote commercial space technology. The committee approved an amended version of the National Defense Authorization Act on a 57-2 vote after a 16-hour markup. The bill includes an amendment introduced by two Colorado congressmen creating a Space National Guard as a reserve component of the Space Force. It also directs the Space Force to first seek commercial alternatives that can be procured on the open market before starting a new procurement in-house. Other space-related provisions range from next-generation satellite communications to a report on Defense Department efforts to reduce space debris. (9/2)

SpaceX: Amazon's FCC Request a Delaying Tactic (Source: Space News)
SpaceX says Amazon's request that the FCC dismiss amended plans for its next-generation Starlink constellation is a delaying tactic. Amazon argued in an FCC filing last week that SpaceX's proposed changes should be dismissed because they comprise two configurations for the nearly 30,000 follow-on satellites that SpaceX has in store for its second-generation constellation, doubling the technical effort for both the FCC and other operators. In a response this week, SpaceX called Amazon's request "a continuation of efforts by the Amazon family of companies to hinder competitors to compensate for Amazon's failure to make progress of its own." SpaceX argued that the two configurations don't require more spectrum or create more interference for other satellite operators. (9/2)

House Members Urge DoD Approval of Lockheed Martin's Aerojet Acquisition (Source: Space News)
A bipartisan group of House members is asking the Defense Department to support Lockheed Martin's proposed acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne. The letter this week to Deputy Defense Secretary Kathleen Hicks was signed by nine Republican and four Democratic House members from states where the two companies have operations. The lawmakers argue that the deal is needed "to ensure that our defense industrial base is on the strongest footing possible" for rocket propulsion. The letter comes amid speculation that the deal will be challenged by antitrust regulators. (9/2)

SpaceShip Two Flight Deviated From Intended Path (Source: New Yorker)
Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo reportedly strayed from its restricted airspace on its most recent suborbital flight. The vehicle was not climbing as steeply as planned during its powered ascent, causing a warning that the vehicle was going out of its "entry glide cone" and thus running the risk of not being able to glide back to a runway landing. While the vehicle landed safely, flight tracking data showed it flew outside of its planned airspace for a time before landing. The pilots ignored, or chose not to act on, that warning during ascent by shutting down the engine early, as doing so could have kept the vehicle and its crew, including company founder Richard Branson, from reaching space. The company said in a statement that it disputed "the misleading characterizations and conclusions" in the report but acknowledged the flight deviated from its trajectory because of high upper-latitude winds. (9/2)

Russia Plans to Remain an ISS Partner (Source: CNN)
The head of Roscosmos says Russia has no plans to end its participation in the International Space Station prematurely. In his first interview with a Western news outlet, Dmitry Rogozin said that "divorce within a station is not possible" and that Russia was committed to staying with the station program through its retirement. Rogozin had previously stated that Russia would not continue to work together on the station unless Western sanctions were lifted, but in the new interview he claimed those comments were a "problem in interpretation." He asked that the U.S. be "kind and wholehearted" and set conditions for any future cooperation with Russia in space accordingly. (9/2)
 
China Plans Mars Helicopter Similar to Ingenuity (Source: Space News)
China has announced plans to develop a Mars helicopter strikingly similar to NASA's Ingenuity. A prototype of a "Mars surface cruise drone" passed an acceptance review last month, the National Space Science Center of the Chinese Academy of Sciences announced. The helicopter, similar in appearance to Ingenuity, could be considered for future Chinese Mars exploration but Chinese officials did not identify a mission on which the drone may fly. (9/2)

Germany's Space Agency to Sponsor Payloads on Isar's Spectrum Rocket (Source: Space News)
The German space agency DLR is accepting applications to fly payloads free of charge on launched by Isar Aerospace.As a condition of winning a $13 million microlauncher competition sponsored by DLR, the company is required to launch institutional payloads aboard two demonstration missions of its Spectrum rocket in 2022 and 2023. DLR started accepting applications this week from European institutional customers interested in securing a place aboard the two Spectrum missions. Among the requirements for applicants are a maximum payload weight of 150 kilograms and a target orbit achievable from Norway’s Andøya Spaceport. (9/2)

NASA Michoud Facilities Damaged by Hurricane Ida (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility suffered minor damage from Hurricane Ida. NASA says that there is roof damage to several buildings at the New Orleans center and debris scattered across center property. No flight hardware at the center, where portions of the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System are manufactured, was damaged. Inspections are continuing, with assessments limited by a lack of power at the facility. (9/2)

StarLab Oasis Opens in Abu Dhabi (Source: NanoRacks)
Nanoracks, the world’s leading provider of commercial access to space, is pleased to announce the launch of a new Space AgTech company, StarLab Oasis.  This expansion highlights Nanoracks commitment to address the growing problems of desertification, climate change, water scarcity and food security. The research on the impact of harsh space environments and arid Earth conditions on agriculture, led us to the deserts of Abu Dhabi.

Nanoracks partnered with the Abu Dhabi Investment Office (ADIO) in an effort to accelerate the growth of Abu Dhabi’s AgTech ecosystem that will impact not only this region but the world.  ADIO is committing to a multi-year economic development effort to allow a world-class, historic commercial space and farming research center in Abu Dhabi.

StarLab Oasis will focus on advancing the knowledge and technology of organisms and food that are produced in the harsh environment of space.  The company will consist of an international team of researchers who will bring expertise in bioengineering, plant sciences, genomic seed technology, closed loop environment systems, robotics, and automated software systems. (8/25)

NASA Selects Ball Aerospace for Two Landsat Next Studies (Source: Via Satellite)
NASA has selected Ball Aerospace for two studies that will look at instrument architectures and designs for the next generation of Landsat. The Landsat program is a joint program between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The studies are part of the Landsat ext architecture series and will explore constellation satellite concept and single satellite concept.

NASA is currently preparing for the launch of Landsat 9 in September with United Launch Alliance. This satellite will replace Landsat 7 and join its sister satellite, Landsat 8 to collect data of the planet. Ball Aerospace built the imaging sensor Operational Land Imager for both Landsat 8 and 9. As part of the two studies announced Monday, Ball will examine instrument architectures that extend the OLI and Reduced Envelope Multispectral Imager (REMI) instrument designs to address new spectral bands, improved spatial resolution and new orbit parameters. (8/30)

Phantom Space Acquires Florida-Based Micro Aerospace Solutions (Source: Via Satellite)
Phantom Space Corp., the Arizona-based company space company led by the former Vector Space CEO Jim Cantrell, has acquired space systems developer Micro Aerospace Solutions (MAS) operating out of Melbourne, Florida. This is Phantom’s second acquisition of the year, following its May 2021 acquisition of propulsion space systems developer StratSpace, which is also based in Arizona. Phantom aims to mass manufacture launch vehicles, satellites, and space propulsion systems. The company is already booking 2023 launches for its Daytona rocket and 2024 launches of its Laguna rocket.

MAS specializes in micro satellites, thruster design, propulsion systems, attitude control, command and data handling, and computer communications systems for spacecraft and rockets. They have proprietary wide-band communications hardware which aims to allow for a broader range of connectivity in multiple spectrums. MAS has also been involved in the design, development and flight of several International Space Station payloads. (8/17)

Russia's ISS Systems Deteriorating (Source: Space Daily)
A Russian space official on Tuesday raised concerns about the deteriorating state of Russia's segment of the International Space Station due to out-of-date hardware, warning it could lead to "irreparable failures." In recent years, the Russian segment of the ISS has experienced a string of problems, including air leaks caused by cracks, raising questions about the safety of the rotating crews onboard. "Around 80 percent of the inflight systems on Russia's segment have reached the end of their service period," said Vladimir Solovyov. (8/31)

NASA Begins SLS Vibration Testing at Kennedy Space Center (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
In preparation for its first flight, NASA’s Space Launch System is undergoing a series of vibrational and acoustic tests to ensure it is ready to navigate the harsh conditions of liftoff and aerodynamic forces during ascent. When a spacecraft or launch vehicle begins its journey lifting off from the launch pad, it naturally experiences several levels of vibration from factors such as aerodynamic pressure, winds at altitude, and vibrations from the rocket’s own engines.

The electronic guidance, navigation and control systems onboard the rocket are preprogrammed to account for these vibrations and inhibiting factors, but they must be able to discern the natural vibrations from the rocket and the ones coming from external forces in order to keep the vehicle on the proper alignment. In order to ensure these electronic systems are fit to fly, they must first undergo modal testing on the ground before SLS is rolled to the launch pad.

According to NASA, more than 300 sensors were placed on the SLS rocket as well as the mobile launcher that will carry the vehicle to the launch pad. The tests are expected to take place in 10-hour increments over several nights inside the Vehicle Assembly Building. An Orion mass simulator was placed on top of the vehicle to simulate the load forces SLS will experience once the real Orion and stage adapter are placed atop the rocket, which is slated to occur in September or October. (9/1)

NRO Innovating Faster in Era of Great Power Space Competition (Source: Air Force Magazine)
The National Reconnaissance Office is further integrating with the Space Force and U.S. Space Command while also innovating faster to keep up with the threat posed by adversaries in space, NRO leaders said. “We are taking a fresh look at the philosophy,” said Space Force Col. Chad Davis, NRO director of the Office of Space Launch. Davis said recent actions by China and Russia are pushing the NRO to pick up its game. “That’s driven by the environment that we’re seeing in space today,” he said. “The threat demands it, the environment demands it, and the organization is stepping up to respond.”

Davis said even for such a flat, innovative organization, cradle-to-grave satellite design and launch for intelligence collection is evolving faster. “I’ve been around the organization for a long time. I’m seeing even a fresh look on that, and for a very innovative, agile organization, we’re taking it to the next level,” he said. NRO Director Chris Scolese said China is investing money, manpower, and research in counterspace capabilities. “How we fend off this competition and where we go from here largely depends on how much we accelerate our development and how much we’re able to improve the capabilities we already have in space.” (8/31)

Air Force Rescue Crews Ready to Respond to SpaceX, Boeing Launch Malfunctions (Source: Space Daily)
U.S. Air Force rescue teams have completed training in preparation for possible emergency bailouts of space launches by SpaceX and Boeing. The training took place last week in the Atlantic Ocean and the Banana River near the Florida-based Patrick Space Force Base, the Air Force said Monday in a press release. The teams included pararescuemen, airmen and maritime operations from the 38th Rescue Squadron. Boeing has plans to launch its unmanned Starliner spacecraft from Florida. Earlier this month, Boeing postponed the launch because of problems with valves in the capsule's propulsion system. (8/31)

Inspiration4 Crew to Conduct Health Research (Source: Space Daily)
The crew of Inspiration4 will partake in a first-of-its-kind health research initiative to increase humanity's knowledge on the impact of spaceflight on the human body. Once in orbit, the crew will perform carefully selected research experiments on human health and performance, which will have potential applications for human health on Earth and during future spaceflights.

Additionally, SpaceX, the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) at Baylor College of Medicine and investigators at Weill Cornell Medicine will collect environmental and biomedical data and biological samples from Inspiration4's four crew members before, during, and after this historic spaceflight. Empowered by NASA's Human Research Program, TRISH is a virtual institute that finds and funds disruptive science and medical technology in order to reduce health and performance risks in space explorers. (9/1)

Aerion Supersonic Assets may be Liquidated by Year's End After Company Shut Down in May (Source: Florida Today)
Aerion Supersonic — the high-profile Melbourne company that envisioned building a futuristic commercial airliner flying at Mach 4 — will have its assets liquidated after it ran out of money. Aerion shut down suddenly in May, scuttling plans to employ at least 675 workers and build a $375 million global headquarters and manufacturing campus at the north side of Melbourne's international airport. (9/1)

Leadership Changes at Voyager and Altius (Source: Voyager Space)
Voyager Space announced its subsidiary, Altius Space Machines, has appointed Patrick Loner as the company's new chief executive officer. Loner will be taking over the role from founder and former CEO Jon Goff, who will be transitioning to his new position as vice president of on-orbit servicing at Voyager Space. (9/1)

Embry-Riddle Professor Resigns Over COVID-19 Policies (Source: LinkedIn)
Yesterday, on the first day of classes for the 21–22 academic year, I resigned from Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University after twenty-one years and a few days because the university's Covid policies were wrong. Embry-Riddle would not allow faculty members to require those in their classrooms and those in their offices to require masks, and the university would not allow faculty with specific concerns about their own or others' health to teach remotely.

Engineering ethics starts with protecting the health, safety, and well-being of the public. Requiring masks in classrooms and close spaces like offices is a cheap and effective strategy to reduce Covid transmission, as ERAU’s experience during the 20–21 academic year demonstrated. (9/1)

NASA Says its Next Lunar Vehicle Won’t Be Your Grandpa’s Old Moon Buggy (Source: Slash Gear)
NASA has published a new request for information that seeks lunar vehicle ideas from American companies. The space agency is specifically interested in a type of Moon-based vehicle that will be able to transport astronauts to the lunar South Pole, doing so while navigating the unique terrain and long, cold nights found on our moon.

NASA has big plans for its next manned Moon mission, one that will, ideally, see astronauts conducting a variety of scientific experiments on the lunar surface before the end of this decade. There are many considerations that come with putting humans on the Moon, including how they’ll get around the celestial body. Under its new request for information, NASA is asking companies to share their “input on approaches and solutions” for this kind of human transport vehicle.

Among other things, NASA says it needs to know whether companies are willing to provide lunar vehicles that it will be able to buy outright to own and use, or whether these companies would instead be able to offer this type of transport as a commercial service. (8/31)