September 24, 2021

NASA Artemis' New Split Personality (Source: Quartz)
This week, NASA split its human spaceflight division in two. Administrator Bill Nelson said one directorate would focus on operational activities in space, and the other would develop new technologies and concepts for future missions. In effect, the move separates NASA’s work in low-Earth orbit from decisions about how the space agency will return astronauts to the moon through the Artemis program.

This is not an unusual structure on its face; a similar organization was used by NASA prior to 2011, and the US military separates the people responsible for developing and testing new technology from those who operate it. Instead, the decision is controversial because of its context: It removes responsibility for plotting out the Artemis mission from associate administrator Kathy Lueders, who previously oversaw all human spaceflight programs, and now will focus on operations. A former NASA official, Jim Free, came back from the private sector to take on the job of developing plans for going to the moon and Mars. (9/22)

Cracks Found on the International Space Station are a 'Fairly Serious Issue' (Source: Business Insider)
Cracks are appearing on the International Space Station, and retired NASA astronaut Bill Shepherd says they're a "fairly serious issue." After Russian cosmonauts spotted the cracks on the station's Zarya module, Vladimir Solovyov, flight director of the Russian segment of the ISS, publicly revealed the discovery in August. The cracks don't pose a danger to astronauts at this time, NASA says, and the agency told Insider last month that nobody had identified "new potential leak sites" on the station.

But in a House committee hearing on Tuesday, Shepherd told Congressional representatives that "there are probably other cracks we haven't found yet." ... "As far as I know, the Russian engineers and the NASA engineers — they've analyzed it — they don't exactly understand why these cracks are appearing now," Shepherd said. (9/22)

Let's Talk About Sex — in Space (Source: DW)
Sexuality is intrinsic to human nature and inevitably factors into space missions. But while space science is progressing, our understanding of sex in space is still basic. NASA insists that no humans have had sex in space, and American astronauts famously avoid the topic. The few experiments that have been conducted on space sex focused on animals, not humans. "We need to know more about sexuality in space if we are serious about long-duration space flights. Sexuality is very possibly going to be a part of that," said Paul Root Wolpe, who spent 15 years as a senior bioethicist at NASA.

Addressing sexuality in space isn't just important because it's what's on everyone's mind. Asked by DW whether sexuality is part of an astronaut's training, Matthias Maurer replied: "No, but maybe it should be." "If we look at sexual health as a core component of health, it's important to understand the conditions we are putting individuals in," said Saralyn Mark, former senior medical adviser to NASA. Sex and masturbation are linked to physical and mental health — that doesn't change in space.(9/22)

Flying on Mars Getting Tougher as Ingenuity Helicopter Gears Up for 14th Hop (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Ingenuity helicopter is getting ready for its 14th Red Planet flight, but the thinning Martian air is making such sorties more and more challenging. The coming sortie, which could occur any day now, is a straightforward hop compared to some of the more daring scouting flights that Ingenuity has been making to aid NASA's Perseverance rover, mission team members said in a recent update. There's a good reason for the simplicity: The 4-pound (1.8 kilograms) chopper will test higher rotor spin speeds to see if it can keep flying in rapidly changing seasonal atmospheric conditions on Mars. (9/22)

Amid Covid Lockdown, Rocket Lab Nearing Completion of Second New Zealand Launch Pad (Source: Gisborne Herald)
Rocket Lab is about to put the finishing touches to its second Mahia launch pad. “We are in the last stages of construction for Launch Complex 1 Pad B with one final component awaiting installation — the top clamp on the strongback that holds Electron in place when it is vertical on the pad,” a Rocket Lab spokeswoman said. “The fabrication of the top clamp was delayed by the national Alert Level 4 lockdown but since restrictions outside of Auckland have eased, we expect to receive and instal the top clamp in the coming weeks.

“Otherwise, work continues for our Mahia staff at Launch Complex 1 under the region's Alert Level 2 conditions — with remote virtual support where necessary from Rocket Lab's Auckland-based engineering staff — to complete Pad B and support a first launch from there in the coming months.” The company's Mahia launch facility opened in September 2016. Also today, the company announced it had signed a dedicated launch contract with Astroscale Japan, to carry out one of the world's first technology demonstrations of removing large-scale debris from orbit. The mission is scheduled for lift-off from Mahia in 2023. (9/22)

US Space Command Says It Has the Backs of NASA, Allies, Commercial Partners (Source: Air Force Magazine)
The U.S. military plans to “be there” for NASA and commercial providers of “critical” space capabilities as activity picks up on and around the moon. Commander of the joint-service U.S. Space Command, Army Gen. James H. Dickinson, made the pledge during a speech on Sep. 21. Newly reestablished in 2019 as the military’s 11th combatant command, U.S. Space Command’s “two-part focus” includes “traditional, enduring, no-fail, supporting space functions like position, navigation, and timing, satellite communications, missile warning, and support [of] the human spaceflight operations” at NASA, Dickinson said. He added that the Artemis program, NASA’s planned lunar exploration campaign, “presents an exciting opportunity” for the command. (9/22)

SpaceX’s Orbital Starship Launch Debut May Be Pushed to 2022 by Slow FAA Reviews (Source: Teslarati)
In a rare sign of material progress, SpaceX and the FAA have finally released what is known as a draft environmental assessment (EA) of the company’s South Texas Starship launch plans. Set to be the largest and most powerful rocket in spaceflight history when it first begins orbital launches, the process of acquiring permission to launch Starship and its Super Heavy booster out of the wetlands of the South Texas coast was never going to be easy.

The Boca Chica site SpaceX ultimately settled on for its first private launch facilities – initially meant for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy but later dedicated to BFR (now Starship) – is simultaneously surrounded by sensitive coastal habitats populated by several threatened or endangered species and situated mere miles as the crow flies from a city whose temporary population oscillates from a few thousand to tens of thousands.

SpaceX’s initial draft PEA is extremely conservative, requesting permission for what amounts to a bare minimum concept of operations for orbital Starship launches. At a maximum of 3-5 orbital launches per year, a PEA and subsequent launch license approved as-is would likely give SpaceX just enough slack to perform basic Earth orbit launches and no more than one or two orbital refilling tests per year. However, as an example, a five-launch maximum would almost entirely prevent SpaceX from launching Starship to Mars, the Moon, and maybe even high-energy Earth orbits without using all of its annual launch allotments on a single mission. (9/21)

Here’s a Sneak Peek at the Far-Out Future of Space Travel (Source: WIRED)
From Star Trek-like medical scanners to concepts for off-planet agriculture like in The Expanse, science fiction has often inspired actual research at NASA and other space agencies. This week, researchers are meeting at a virtual conference for the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program to brainstorm and investigate sci-fi-like ideas, some of which may very well shape the missions of the next 20 years. Click here. (9/22)

Smallsat Specialist OrbAstro Busy Building Downstream Dreams (Source: Space News)
OrbAstro, a space-as-a-service startup with visions of flying “tiny satellites in large flocks,” is ready to launch its first half-dozen smallsats in 2022. With a January launch lined up in India, spots reserved on upcoming SpaceX rideshare missions and a launch agreement with an undisclosed third provider, OrbAstro says it has five commercial satellites plus a pilot satellite for an in-house project all scheduled to launch next year. The UK and New Zealand-based company expects to add one or two more missions to its 2022 roster in the coming months.

OrbAstro says it has taken deposits for a dozen more satellites slated for launch in 2023-2024. “Many of these are pilot missions for large nanosat [and] microsat constellations,” OrbAstro CEO and co-founder Ash Dove-Jay said. The 12-person company, which was founded in 2018 by two of the three original employees of Oxford Space Systems, announced Sept. 23 a contract with Singapore-based satellite propulsion provider Aliena PTE Ltd. to fly its all-electric attitude and orbit control system onboard OrbAstro’s first microsatellite scheduled for launch a year from now. (9/23)