October 8, 2021

SpaceX Hits $100 Billion Vvaluation After Secondary Share Sale (Source: CNBC)
The valuation of Elon Musk’s SpaceX crossed $100 billion following a share sale by insiders announced this week, CNBC has learned. SpaceX has an agreement with new and existing investors to sell up to $755 million in stock from company insiders at $560 a share, according to people familiar with the deal. The purchase offer represents a secondary sale of existing shares, sources said. The new valuation of $100.3 billion, up from $74 billion in February, means SpaceX has achieved a rare status as a private company: A $1 billion unicorn, 100 times over. (10/8)

Earthwork Installation at Woodruff Park Honors Astronaut Stephanie Wilson (Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
In celebration of the International Day of the Girl, a 4,800 square-foot natural art exhibit is being created in Woodruff Park, 91 Peachtree Street NW, in downtown Atlanta, according to a press release. The installation will also raise awareness about NASA’s Artemis Program and inspire women and girls through the STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) exhibit.

The Earthwork will be on display from Oct. 11-22 as an eco-friendly grass artwork featuring active NASA astronaut Stephanie Wilson, who spent 42 days in space -- the most of any female African-American astronaut. The intent of the art exhibit is to inspire women and girls, and especially people of color, to aim higher and reach for more advantageous goals. (10/4)

8-Year-Old Asteroid Hunter From Brazil Is Officially The World's Youngest Astronomer (Source: Science Alert)
When Nicole Oliveira was just learning to walk, she would throw up her arms to reach for the stars in the sky. Today, at just eight years of age, the Brazilian girl is known as the world's youngest astronomer, looking for asteroids as part of a NASA-affiliated program, attending international seminars and meeting with her country's top space and science figures.

In Oliveira's room, filled with posters of the Solar System, miniature rockets and Star Wars figures, Nicolinha, as she is affectionately known, works on her computer studying images of the sky on two large screens. The project, called Asteroid Hunters, is meant to introduce young people to science by giving them a chance to make space discoveries of their own. (10/1)

Russia’s Space Budget Slashed by 16 Percent as Putin Expresses Displeasure (Source: Ars Technica)
Russia plans to slash funding for spaceflight activities during the coming three-year period, from 2022 to 2024. The cuts will come to about 16 percent annually, several Russian publications report. For 2022, the state budget for space activities will be set at 210 billion rubles ($2.9 billion), a cut of 40.3 billion rubles ($557 million) from the previous year.

Similar cuts will follow in subsequent years. The most significant decreases will be in areas such as “manufacturing-technological activities" and "cosmodrome development." Funding for "scientific research and development" was zeroed out entirely. Russian President Vladimir Putin is unhappy with the performance of Russia's space program. At a space industry meeting on Sep. 29, they report, Putin criticized the industry’s failure to fulfill directives on long-term goals in the space sphere. In 2020, for example, Roscosmos failed to hit 30 of the 83 stated goals of the national space program.

Putin has reportedly told the Russian space corporation, Roscosmos, that it must increase the reliability of Russian rockets and "master" the next generation of launch vehicles. This directive has come in response to growing competition in the global space launch business, particularly from US-based SpaceX. (10/8)

Abbott: Musk Likes Texas' Social Policies (Source: Daily Beast)
Elon Musk announced during a shareholder meeting on Thursday that Tesla will move its headquarters from Silicon Valley to Texas, weeks after the governor boasted that the billionaire likes the state’s “social policies.” Texas last month enacted a restrictive new abortion law that bans the procedure in pregnancies that are more than six weeks and and deputizes private citizens to sue anyone who assists in providing one. (10/8)

In reaction to the law, another billionaire, Salesforce’s Marc Benioff, publicly offered to relocate any Texas employees who are concerned about access to reproductive care. Musk went in the opposite direction. “I’m excited to announce that we’re moving our headquarters to Austin, Texas,” the world’s richest person said during the shareholder meeting. (10/7)

Lockheed Martin Completes SBIRS GEO-6 Missile Warning Satellite (Source: Electronics Weekly)
Lockheed Martin is highlighting it has completed the U.S. Space Force’s latest missile warning satellite ahead of schedule – the SBIRS GEO-6 is ready for launch, after finishing production nearly a month ahead of schedule. The satellite – Lockheed Martin’s sixth Space Based Infrared System Geosynchronous Earth Orbit missile warning vehicle – is now in storage awaiting its launch in 2022. It will join the Space Force’s constellation of missile warning satellites, equipped with infrared surveillance sensors that collect data to detect missile launches, expand technical intelligence gathering and improve battlefield situational awareness. (10/6)

SpaceX Adding More Crew Dragons to Fleet (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX is about to double the size of its fleet of Crew Dragon spaceships. The company is debuting a new spacecraft for a NASA launch later this month, and is building a fourth human-rated capsule that should be ready for flight early next year. Sarah Walker, director of SpaceX’s Dragon mission management office, confirmed the company is readying a fourth Crew Dragon spacecraft for an inaugural flight next year. SpaceX and NASA officials previously announced that the next NASA crew mission, known as Crew-3, scheduled for liftoff Oct. 30 will use a new vehicle.

“It’s really exciting to introduce another Crew Dragon to our fleet to support our human spaceflight manifest,” Walker said. “We’ve got another one in the production line now. It should be ready in the spring to support more human spaceflight missions.” The addition of two more Crew Dragon capsules to SpaceX’s fleet will give the spaceflight provider an inventory of four human-rated spaceships. Walker said that fleet should be sufficient to support the company’s growing manifest of crew missions for NASA and private customers. (10/6)

Rocket Lab Selected to Launch NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has been selected to launch NASA’s Advanced Composite Solar Sail System, or ACS3, on the Electron launch vehicle. NASA’s ACS3 technology demonstration uses composite materials - or a combination of materials with different properties, in its novel, lightweight booms that deploy from a CubeSat to support a solar sail. Just as a sailboat is powered by wind in a sail, solar sails employ the pressure of sunlight for propulsion, eliminating the need for conventional rocket propellant.

Data obtained from the ACS3 demonstration will guide the design of future larger-scale composite solar sail systems that could be used for space weather early warning satellites, near-Earth asteroid reconnaissance missions, or communications relays for crewed exploration missions. ACS3 will launch as part of a rideshare mission, scheduled for lift-off from Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand in mid-2022. (10/7)

Student Experiments Float Over New Mexico (Source: Space Daily)
University students from North and South America put their classroom knowledge and technical skills to the test when their experiments flew on a recent NASA scientific balloon flight over New Mexico. Launched Sep. 14 from Fort Sumner, New Mexico, the balloon carried the High-Altitude Student Platform or HASP, with its 11 student experiments and also 23 student experiments through the RockOn! Program. (10/7)

NASA Announces 60 Teams for 2022 Student Launch Competition (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has announced the 60 teams from 22 states and Puerto Rico selected to compete in the 2022 Student Launch - one of seven Artemis Student Challenges. The nine-month challenge, held at Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, provides a realistic experience for middle school, high school, and college students to follow the engineering design process NASA and industry engineers use when developing and operating new hardware. Editor's Note: Three Florida teams are among the 60, including Plantation High School, the University of South Florida, and the University of Florida. (10/7)

NASA's SLS Passes Key Review for Artemis I Mission (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has completed the design certification review (DCR) for the Space Launch System Program (SLS) rocket ahead of the Artemis I mission to send the Orion spacecraft to the Moon. The review examined all the SLS systems, all test data, inspection reports, and analyses that support verification, to ensure every aspect of the rocket is technically mature and meets the requirements for SLS's first flight on Artemis I. (10/7)

Empowering Artemis with Communications and Navigation Interoperability (Source: Space Daily)
With Artemis, NASA will establish a long-term presence at the Moon, opening more of the lunar surface to exploration than ever before. This growth of lunar activity will require new, more robust communications, navigation, and networking capabilities. NASA's Space Communications and Navigation (SCaN) program has developed the LunaNet architecture to meet these needs.

LunaNet will leverage innovative networking techniques, standards, and an extensible framework to rapidly expand network capabilities at the Moon. This framework will allow industry, academia, and international partners to build and operate LunaNet nodes alongside NASA. These nodes will offer missions four distinct services: networking, navigation, detection and information, and radio/optical science services. (10/7)