October 4, 2021

Shatner and Blue Origin Employee Confirmed for Oct. 12 Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Blue Origin confirmed Monday that actor William Shatner, who played Captain Kirk on “Star Trek,” will fly into space on a suborbital launch Oct. 12 from West Texas. Shatner will fly on the second launch of Blue Origin’s New Shepard booster with human passengers — and the 18th New Shepard launch overall — following a first crewed mission in July. On that flight, aviation pioneer Wally Funk, 82, became the oldest person to fly to space on the July 20 launch. Shatner, 90, will break that record.

Shatner will join three others on the New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin announced the first two passengers last week, and the company said Monday one of its executives, Audrey Powers, will also strap in for the ride to space next week. Powers, an engineer and a lawyer, is Blue Origin’s vice president of mission and flight operations. She served as an International Space Station flight controller for NASA before joining Blue Origin in 2013. “As an engineer and lawyer with more than two decades of experience in the aerospace industry, I have great confidence in our New Shepard team and the vehicle we’ve developed,” Powers said. (10/4)

Arianespace to Launch GSAT-24 Satellite for NSIL with Ariane 5 (Source: Parabolic Arc)
NewSpace India Limited (NSIL) has entrusted Arianespace with the launch of its GSAT-24 telecommunications satellite. GSAT-24 is scheduled for launch in the 1st quarter of 2022, from the Guiana Space Center, Europe’s Spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on one of the seven Ariane 5 missions remaining to be performed with the heavy-lift launcher. (10/4)

Study Finds Photosynthesis in Venus' Clouds Could Support Life (Source: Astrobiology)
New data analysis has found that the sunlight filtering through Venus' clouds could support Earth-like photosynthesis in the cloud layers and that chemical conditions are potentially amenable to the growth of microorganisms. Biochemistry Professor Rakesh Mogul is the lead author of the study, Potential for Phototrophy in Venus' Clouds, published online this weekin the journal Astrobiology's October 2021 special issue focused on the possible suitability of Venus' clouds for microbial life, and constraints that may prohibit life. (9/30)

DoD Seeks Ideas for Hybrid Architecture of Govt & Commercial Sats (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department is seeking ideas from industry on how to develop a "hybrid architecture" of government and commercial satellites. The solicitation by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) says it wants to "integrate emergent commercial space sensor and communications capabilities with U.S. government space systems" and is looking for ideas from space and information technology companies for how to do so. A hybrid architecture would give DoD more flexibility to access commercial systems during conflicts if U.S. satellites came under attack. The idea of a hybrid architecture that brings together commercial and government satellites has been talked about for years but there is still no plan for how to exactly do that. Proposals are due to DIU on Oct. 18. (10/4)

Space Force to Share Threat Models with Industry (Source: Space News)
The Space Force says a meeting with industry later this month on space threats won't be business as usual. Andrew Cox, director of the Space Warfighting Analysis Center, said participants at the classified event Oct. 27 "are going to probably get the largest trove of threat models that have ever been released, ever." The meeting, which will focus on early-warning satellites and how to make future systems more resistant to anti-satellite weapons, is not a traditional briefing about contract opportunities but instead an attempt to bring the private sector into early deliberations on what capabilities the Space Force will need in the coming years. (10/4)

SLS Launch Likely Slips to 2022 (Source: Space News)
A top NASA official says the first SLS launch will "more than likely" slip into next year. At a webinar last week, NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana said a formal target date for the Artemis 1 mission will be set after meetings this week with officials about the progress preparing the SLS for launch. Cabana said modal testing of the SLS, where it is subjected to vibrations, finished last week, and the Orion spacecraft will be rolled over to the Vehicle Assembly Building around the middle of the month to be installed on the rocket. NASA officials had been holding out hope that Artemis 1 would launch before the end of this year but had increasingly been hedging their bets. (10/4)

Nelson Hopes Funding Deal Includes Lunar Lander, Hurricane Repairs (Source: Space News)
NASA's administrator says he remains confident the agency will secure the funding it needs for its priorities, including the Human Landing System. A continuing resolution passed last week to keep the federal government open included $321.4 million for NASA to cover repairs to facilities damaged by two hurricanes in the last year. Bill Nelson said in an interview last week that the funding is a downpayment on around $5 billion for infrastructure repairs across the agency that he is seeking as part of a $3.5 trillion budget reconciliation package. He said he is continuing to push to include funding for other agency priorities, like HLS, in the Senate, and predicted that in the end, "NASA will have the funds that it needs." (10/4)

Space Force Creates Intelligence Branch (Source: Space News)
The Space Force has established an intelligence organization. The Space Force Intelligence Activity, stood up last month at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, is an interim step before the Space Force creates a separate National Space Intelligence Center. The new organization will be staffed by teams of space and counterspace analysts who are now under the National Air and Space Intelligence Center and will eventually transfer to the new space center. The Space Force is seeking $20 million in fiscal year 2022 to establish the center. (10/4)

Millennium Plans Small Sats for Missile Defense (Source: Space News)
Smallsat manufacturer Millennium Space sees opportunities in missile defense. The company, owned by Boeing, is providing a bus for an experimental missile warning satellite for the Space Force launching next year. Millennium now hopes to use the experience gained from this project to win larger contracts for space-based missile defense systems. The company is working with Raytheon on a Space Force study for sensors that could track hypersonic missiles from medium Earth orbit. (10/4)
 
NASA Funds Ball and L3Harris Weather Satellite Instruments (Source: Space News)
NASA awarded study contracts to two companies for future weather satellite instruments. The contracts awarded Friday to Ball Aerospace and L3Harris, worth about $8 million each, will study instruments for Geostationary and Extended Observations (GeoXO), NOAA's next generation of geostationary satellites. The companies will perform Phase A studies of geostationary sounders to inform NASA and NOAA's work to select the hyperspectral infrared instrument for the GeoXO constellation. (10/4)

CASIS Invests in Launchspace Debris Removal Tech (Source: Space News)
The organization that runs the ISS National Laboratory is funding a startup's work on orbital debris removal technology.Launchspace Technologies Corp. said it received a $214,500 grant from CASIS to test advanced materials in space that it plans to use for its orbital debris remediation system. Its Debris Impact Pads house sensors to measure information about particles impacting them, and will be mounted on the Bartolomeo platform on the exterior of the station. (10/4)

Vandenberg Hosts 2000th Launch (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Last week, Vandenberg Space Force Base saw its 2,000th launch with the orbiting of an Earth observation satellite. On Sep. 27, 2021, a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 401 rocket launched the Landsat 9 Earth-viewing satellite into a near-polar, sun-synchronous orbit from Space Launch Complex 3. The spacecraft is operated by NASA and the United States Geological Survey.

Activated on Oct. 5, 1941, as Camp Cooke, it was renamed Cooke Air Force Base in 1957 upon transfer to the Air Force. A year later, on Oct. 4, 1958, it was officially named after General Hoyt Vandenberg, the Air Force’s second Chief of Staff. It was re-designated a Space Force base on May 14, 2021. Switching to a Space Force bae was a major step in acknowledging space as a war-fighting sector.

This 2,000th launch celebrates the tens-of-thousands of personnel who have taken great pride in the roughly 98,000-acre range and test facility, starting with its very first launch — a Thor Intermediate Range Ballistic Missile — on Dec. 16, 1958. Today, Vandenberg has 56 launch structures that can support commercial and government customers. Currently, the base houses approximately 15,000 military, family members, contractors and civilian employees. Vandenberg is located about 160 miles northwest of Los Angeles near Lompoc, California. (10/4)

60 Years Ago: NASA Selects Houston (Over Tampa) as Site for New Manned Spacecraft Center (Source: NASA)
On May 25, 1961, President John F. Kennedy committed the nation to achieve the goal of “landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth” before the end of the decade. NASA’s Space Task Group (STG), in charge of America’s human spaceflight program, was already working on Project Mercury to put astronauts into Earth orbit, but with the additional task of a human lunar landing, it soon outgrew its facilities at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia.

The agency decided it needed a dedicated field center for human spaceflight and on Sep. 19, 1961, after evaluating multiple sites around the country, NASA announced that the new Manned Spacecraft Center would be built near Houston, Texas. NASA established the STG to manage America’s human spaceflight program. Based at NASA Langley, the STG developed Project Mercury to place American astronauts in space and eventually into Earth orbit. With President Kennedy’s commitment for a human lunar landing, the STG’s scope dramatically increased, requiring larger facilities. In July 1961, NASA Administrator James E. Webb appointed a team to find a location for such a center.

Criteria for a suitable site included: barge transportation in ice-free waters; a mild climate; all-weather commercial jet service; a nearby Department of Defense air base; a nearby university; at least 1,000 acres of land; and property that could be acquired at a reasonable cost. Twenty-three sites met the criteria, and a team of inspectors visited all the locations. Although Tampa, Florida, emerged as the most favorable candidate, Houston eventually won out – Texas politicians played a role in the decision. (9/20)

The Myth That Politics Dominated JSC Placement: It Was the University Factor (Source: Space KSC)
The popular myth is that Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson somehow steered the [JSC location] decision to his home state. That myth is not supported by the evidence. But members of Congress, governors, and many others with a vested interest tried to interfere in the selection. Word leaked out through Aviation Week magazine that NASA might be looking to move its Space Task Group headquarters. According to the article, the leading candidate cities were Houston, Texas and Tampa, Florida.

The U.S. Air Force, during the Eisenhower administration, in April 1960 announced their intention to close MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa by mid-1962. Local leaders were scrambling to find a reuse for the base. For Tampa, the Space Task Group was political manna. With Cape Canaveral about 150 miles to the northeast, MacDill to them seemed a logical solution. While the NASA selection team began visiting potential sites, events elsewhere in the world decided MacDill's fate — and won Houston the new field center.

In 1961, Soviet Premier Khrushchev tested the inexperienced new American president by escalating events in Berlin. On July 31, the Air Force announced that MacDill would remain open indefinitely, with its B-47 bomber fleet remaining closer to Europe and Cuba. Air Force chief of staff Curtis LeMay believed MacDill could house both the 306th Bomb Wing and the new NASA facilities. But the reality was, so long as MacDill remained a military base, it would be a prime target for an enemy nuclear attack. Another problem was attracting technical personnel. Representatives of local universities acknowledged that they lacked the graduate programs NASA sought for their engineers and scientists, although such programs were planned for the near future. (9/19)

NASA Plans Careful Restart for Mars Helicopter After Quiet Period (Source: Space Daily)
The Mars helicopter Ingenuity is on its own without NASA's guidance for two weeks as the sun interferes with communications to the Red Planet. Sometime around Oct. 14, NASA plans to check in with the helicopter and the Mars rover Perseverance. Previous rovers have endured so-called solar conjunction communication dropouts, but never has a tiny aircraft sat alone on the planet for so long with no Earthly contact.

"Ingenuity is unique, something never tried before," said Jaakko Karras. "It contains all kinds of components and construction methodologies that have no parallel on Mars. We just don't know what will happen during the conjunction, although we're hopeful," Karras said. Potential hazards during conjunction include dust storms that could cover Ingenuity's solar panels, which are crucial for battery recharge, Karras said. Or, coarse Martian dust could penetrate sensitive technology. There's also a risk that extreme temperature fluctuations -- as low as -130 F -- could stress components beyond their breaking points, Karras said. (10/1)

Investigating the Potential for Life Around the Galaxy's Smallest Stars (Source: Space Daily)
When the world's most powerful telescope launches into space this year, scientists will learn whether Earth-sized planets in our 'solar neighborhood' have a key prerequisite for life - an atmosphere. These planets orbit an M-dwarf, the smallest and most common type of star in the galaxy. Scientists do not currently know how common it is for Earth-like planets around this type of star to have characteristics that would make them habitable.

The team studied whether the soon-to-launch James Webb Space Telescope, or the currently-in-orbit Hubble Space Telescope, are capable of detecting atmospheres on these planets. They also modeled the types of atmospheres likely to be found, if they exist, and how they could be distinguished from each other. (10/1)