September 27, 2021

Satellite Cellular: Lynk Signs Contracts With First Two Mobile Operators (Source: Lynk)
Lynk Global, an independently verified cell-tower-in-space connectivity provider, has signed its first commercial agreements with Aliv in the Bahamas, and Telecel Centrafrique in the Central African Republic. Lynk’s satellites will enable Aliv and Telecel subscribers to stay connected everywhere on the planet using a standard unmodified mobile phone. As Flagship partners, Aliv and Telecel have acquired first-to-market rights to implement Lynk’s service in their respective countries. Lynk’s global commercial service is scheduled to be launched next year, and more agreements are expected in the coming months. (9/22)

What Should be Prioritized in the Race to Avoid Climate Disaster? (Source: The Economist)
It's not too late to avert a climate disaster. The question is, how? We map out the three priorities: reducing emissions and finding ways to suck carbon out of the air, adapting to climate change; and navigating the fraught global politics to reach agreement at November’s UN Climate Conference in Glasgow. Click here. (9/27)

Our Climate Projections for 2500 Show an Earth that is Alien to Humans (Source: The Conversation)
The recently published United Nations assessment of Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) warns that current promises from governments set us up for a very dangerous 2.7 degrees Celsius warming by 2100: this means unprecedented fires, storms, droughts, floods and heat, and profound land and aquatic ecosystem change.

While some climate projections do look past 2100, these longer-term projections aren’t being factored into mainstream climate adaptation and environmental decision-making today. This is surprising because people born now will only be in their 70s by 2100. What will the world look like for their children and grandchildren?

In our model, we found that global average temperatures keep increasing beyond 2100. Under those scenarios, vegetation and the best crop-growing areas move towards the poles, and the area suitable for some crops is reduced. Places with long histories of cultural and ecosystem richness, like the Amazon Basin, may become barren. Further, we found heat stress may reach fatal levels for humans in tropical regions which are currently highly populated. (9/26)

Named for Orlando Astronaut John Young, Awards Laud Makers of History (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The first John Young History Maker Celebration took place in May 2005 at the Orange County Regional History Center, with the awards’ namesake, Capt. John Young, in attendance. (Young died in 2018 at age 87.) A distinguished Navy pilot, Young was selected by NASA in 1962 to join Astronaut Group 2. He flew six space missions and was part of two significant space “firsts” — as the pilot for Gemini 3 in 1964 and as mission commander of the Space Shuttle program’s first orbital flight in 1981.

As an astronaut, Young must have known he was making history, but the world of legal segregation Butler faced in 1957, when she arrived in Orange County, did not bode well for historic political success. She plunged into community activity and eventually joined the campaigns of other Black candidates before running herself. In the early 1980s, some folks considered Orlando activist Mable Butler too outspoken to win election to public office. The former social worker was known for encouraging confrontation. But by 1998, Butler’s style of love and confrontation had won her historic roles as the first Black woman on Orlando’s City Council and the first Black member of the Orange County Commission.

Deemed Orange County’s most visible advocate for minority issues, she lived on a street that had been renamed in her honor in 1994. On Sept. 28, Butler will be honored again when she becomes the 15th recipient of the Historical Society of Central Florida’s John Young History Maker Award, which each year recognizes a Central Floridian whose lifetime of achievement has made a historic impact on the community. (9/26)

Elon Musk, Wildcat Oil Man (Source: ESG Hound)
The projected monthly natural gas usage for SpaceX at Boca Chica would require 18% of the total gas production in the entirety of Cameron county for 20 years (Texas RRC data). SpaceX intends to drill wells close to the Boca Chica launchpad, it revealed during a hearing before the Railroad Commission of Texas, the state’s energy regulator. As of January 2021 production had yet to start because of a legal dispute between the SpaceX subsidiary Lone Star Mineral Development and another energy company. SpaceX plans to use the methane it extracts from the ground for its launch operations.

50 million SCFs per day is quite a lot. They’re going to be drilling and fracking like madmen in, I kid you not, the Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge, if they want to be powering a 250 Megawatt power plant. This field in one of the areas SpaceX purchased mineral rights for produced a grand total of 300 million SCF from 2000-2005 and nothing since. That’s six (yes six) days of SpaceX plant consumption.

The nearest actively producing gas gathering system is in West Hidalgo county 80 miles away. Elon Musk wants to drill, frack, treat, pipe and process an entire vertically integrated oil and gas operation, that is required for the proposed STARBASE facility. In a wildlife refuge. In a county that currently minimally impacted by Oil and Gas E&P externalities. And the worst part, he doesn’t think the public deserves to know. (9/26)

Ecuadorian Space Agency (EXA) Joins SmallSat Catalog (Source: Orbital Transports)
EXA, the Ecuadorian Space Agency, announced it is making its CubeSat hardware products available through the Orbital Transports SmallSat Catalog. EXA is an aerospace research and development institution that designs and builds extreme hardware for CubeSats. The Agency provides satellite components that break the limitations of budget and power typical of the CubeSat form factor. Flight heritage from 10+ missions backs their technology, which is currently in use in U.S., European, Asian, and Latin American spacecraft.

Satellite products from EXA being added to the SmallSat Catalog include flight-proven patch antenna systems for S-band and GNSS; compact attitude control actuators; high energy-density battery arrays and deployable solar panels; an integrated CubeSat all-in-one system core providing EPS, OBC, and SDR; and the KRATOS integrated and custom-configurable 1U CubeSat bus providing everything needed for the spacecraft to fly except the payload. (9/27)

China Launches Imaging Satellite on Small Vehicle (Source: Xinhua)
A Chinese small launch vehicle placed an imaging satellite into orbit early Monday. The Kuaizhou-1A lifted off at 2:19 a.m. Eastern from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, carrying the Jilin-1 Gaofen 02D imaging satellite. The launch was the first for the Kuaizhou-1A, a solid-fueled small rocket, since a failure a year ago. (9/27)

Spaceflight Inc. Signs Rideshare Customers for GEO and Lunar Mission (Source: Space News)
Spaceflight will send payloads to geostationary orbit and the moon on a fourth-quarter 2022 rideshare mission. Intuitive Machines will fly a version of its Sherpa tug as a secondary payload on the IM-2 lunar lander mission. Sherpa will swing around the moon and go to geostationary orbit, with the ability to deliver payloads into lunar orbit as well.

Another customer of that mission is Orbit Fab, which will place a propellant tanker into GEO. The tanker is part of an architecture the company is developing that also includes "fuel shuttles" that will transport propellant from the tankers to client spacecraft. Orbit Fab placed a small demonstration tanker into sun-synchronous orbit in June, but sees GEO offering the most demand for its services, including government customers. Spaceflight says it's seeing a steady increase in interest in lunar missions from prospective customers, and hopes this mission will demonstrate the value of flying rideshare payloads on future lunar missions. (9/27)

NASA Needs New "Astrovan" for Launch Site Astronaut Transport (Source: NASA)
NASA is looking for a new Astrovan for Artemis missions. The agency released a request for information Friday seeking input on ideas on how to transport astronauts from their crew quarters at the Kennedy Space Center to the launch pad for Artemis launches. The agency says it's looking for ideas that are "unique, embrace new technology, and visually embody Artemis to the public," and requires that it be a zero-emission vehicle. Among the options NASA is weighing is to refurbish the Airstream Astrovan used for shuttle missions. (9/27)

Blue Origin Announces Next Customers to Fly on New Shepard’s Upcoming Human Flight on Oct. 12 (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin announced New Shepard’s 18th mission, NS-18, will lift off on Tuesday, October 12, carrying four astronauts to space and back, including Dr. Chris Boshuizen, a former NASA engineer and co-founder of Planet Labs, and Glen de Vries, Vice-Chair, Life Sciences & Healthcare, Dassault Systèmes and co-founder, Medidata. The two other astronauts will be announced in the coming days. (9/27)

RocketStar Ready for Second Suborbital Flight Attempt at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
New York-based RocketStar plans to launch its aerospike-powered rocket for the first time this fall, carrying a prototype satellite for resource-mapping startup Lunasonde on a brief suborbital trip. The 12-meter rocket that RocketStar calls Cowbell aims to reach 21,000 meters on its test flight, depending on final safety requirements from NASA for launching from Launch Complex 48 — a multi-use launchpad at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

Although RocketStar estimates this mission will only last eight minutes, Lunasonde expects that will be enough time for its onboard subsurface radar imager to collect valuable reflectance data to support its development. RocketStar had planned to launch Cowbell on its first suborbital launch in early 2019 to test what the company has described as a proprietary aerospike engine. After receiving regulatory approval to launch Cowbell from a floating barge off the coast of Florida, RocketStar canceled the mission three days ahead of liftoff citing safety concerns. (9/27)