November 17, 2021

Nelson and Rogozin Discuss ASAT Test Debris (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson discussed the Russian ASAT test with the head of Roscosmos Tuesday as other Russian officials downplayed the incident. Nelson said that he expressed to Dmitry Rogozin "dismay over the danger our astronauts and cosmonauts continue to face on the International Space Station" over Monday's test. Rogozin said that "we are moving on, ensuring the safety of our crews on the ISS, making joint plans." The test, which has created more than 1,500 pieces of tracked debris so far, has been widely condemned by governments, companies and organizations. Russian officials Tuesday acknowledged the test took place, but defense minister Sergei Shoigu claimed "the resulting fragments do not pose any threat to space activities." (11/17)

Russians Knew ASAT Debris Consequences (Source: Space News)
A former U.S. intelligence official says the Russians had to know the consequences of the ASAT test. Sue Gordon, former principal deputy director of national intelligence, called comments like those by Shoigu disingenuous because Russia knows the space environment as well as any nation. Gordon was speaking Tuesday at a Center for Strategic and International Studies online forum with others who also criticized Russia for conducting the test. Kevin O'Connell, former director of the Office of Space Commerce, called the test "an incredibly irresponsible move by the Russians, obviously, and terribly disappointing." (11/17)

Europe Alarmed by Russian ASAT Test (Source: Space News)
The European space industry says it's alarmed by the ASAT test. In sessions at the Space Tech Expo Europe conference Tuesday, agency leaders and company executives all expressed dismay about the test. Philippe Baptiste, head of the French space agency CNES, said models by his agency project a 5% increase in the odds of a collision in low Earth orbit. While sustainability of space activities was already a prominent issue for many, the test created a cloud of its own over proceedings at the conference and questions as to what can be done. (11/17)

LeoLabs Busy Tracking Russian ASAT Debris Ring (Source: Space News)
The test is keeping one space tracking company busy. LeoLabs is monitoring the growth of debris from the Russian ASAT test, and expects it to spread into a ring over time based on what happened after China's 2007 ASAT test and the 2009 Iridium-Cosmos collision. LeoLabs, which operates a growing network of groundbased radars to track satellites and debris, expects to be issuing collision alerts for many years to help satellite operators dodge the new debris field. (11/17)

Scout Space Wins USAF SBIR Award for Space Tracking (Source: Space News)
Another startup has won Air Force funding to study integrating ground- and space-based data for improved space tracking. Scout Space won an Air Force SBIR award to demonstrate that data collected in space, combined with data from traditional ground sensors, significantly improves the accuracy of space debris tracking and can help better predict collisions. The company flew a sensor earlier this year on Orbit Fab's first tanker spacecraft, and is working on its own cubesats that would carry sensors that act as "traffic cameras in space." (11/17)

Space Force Struggling to Take Advantage of Satellite Servicing (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is not yet ready to take advantage of satellite servicing technologies. At a conference Tuesday, Karl Stolleis, space robotics and logistics team lead of the U.S. Space Force, said the service was still "struggling" with satellite servicing and related technologies, with many still seeing it not being available until far in the future, despite the emergence of commercial systems now. He added that services such as refueling would be game changing for the military, though, giving it more freedom to maneuver satellites without worrying about shortening the satellites' lifetimes. (11/17)

Exolaunch Books More Rideshare Space on SpaceX Rockets (Source: Space News)
Exolaunch has signed a multi-launch contract with SpaceX. The German launch services provider will purchase additional capacity on SpaceX Transporter rideshare missions over the next two years. Exolaunch has previously signed agreements for four SpaceX Transporter missions through 2022. More than 95% of that capacity, at more than 100 satellites and with a combined payload mass of 3,000 kilograms, has already been booked. [SpaceNews]

Australia's Fleet Space Raises $26 Million for Smallsat IoT Constellation (Source: Space News)
Australian satellite operator Fleet Space Technologies raised $26.4 million in a Series B round. The round, announced Tuesday, was led by several existing investors and values the company at $126 million. Fleet is developing a constellation of smallsats to provide internet-of-things services. With funding from the latest round, Fleet Space plans to expand its manufacturing capability and hire 70 skilled workers. (11/17)

Inversion Raises $10 Million to Develop Cargo Reentry Capsule (Source: Space News)
Inversion has raised $10 million in seed funding to develop a reentry capsule to bring cargo from space back to Earth. The startup has designed a reusable capsule to conduct round trips to space, allowing it to deliver cargo to space stations and bring items back. The company's founders say they will try to fill an emerging need in the space industry for a "high cadence and affordable capability" to deliver cargo to space and bring supplies back. The seed funding will help accelerate development of a small demonstrator that could be launched in 2023. (11/17)

Sidus Space, Formerly Craig Technologies, To Go Public (Source: Sidus Space)
Space Coast-based Sidus Space, formerly Craig Technologies, has submitted paperwork wth the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission relating to a proposed initial public offering of its common stock. The number of shares to be offered and the price range for the proposed offering have not yet been determined. The initial public offering is expected to take place after the SEC completes its review process, subject to market and other conditions.

Sisus announced in October that they have closed a private placement of $3 million of its Class A common stock. Sidus Space describes itself as a "Space-as-a-Service company focused on commercial satellite design, manufacture, launch, and data collection, with a vision to enable space flight heritage status for new technologies and deliver data and predictive analytics to both domestic and global customers." (10/29)

Northrop Grumman Taps Automotive Industry for Lunar Rover Work (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman is teaming with several aerospace and automotive companies on a lunar rover concept. Northrop unveiled the design of a lunar terrain vehicle rover Tuesday that could be used by astronauts on future Artemis missions but also be operated remotely. Northrop is working with Intuitive Machines and Lunar Outpost, as well as automotive companies AVL and Michelin. NASA issued a request for information this summer on lunar rover concepts, but has not set a schedule for procuring a rover. (11/17)

Orion Spacecraft Production Continues with Lockheed, Airbus for Artemis 2 and 3 (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The arrival of the second Orion European Service Module (ESM) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in October signified the beginning of months of final assembly of the first crewed Orion spacecraft that will fly four people on the Artemis 2 mission. Following the delivery of the ESM from prime contractor Airbus Defence and Space to Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin, the two primary elements of the Artemis 2 Orion Service Module are now being bolted together.

Lockheed Martin is processing Orion flight hardware for Artemis 2 and Artemis 3 as a part of their Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) in the Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Building at KSC. As they process the Artemis 2 Orion Crew and Service Modules to be mated next year, the ATLO team also received the next Crew Module (CM) pressure vessel and is also simultaneously beginning build-up of the Crew Module and Crew Module Adapter (CMA) structures for Artemis 3. (11/16)

Blockchain Cubesat Could Precede Constellation (Source: Space News)
Villanova University researchers are conducting a series of experiments that could help define future blockchain constellations. Researchers programmed a singleboard computer to serve as a node for the Ethereum Private blockchain on a cubesat that will launch on a Firefly Alpha rocket early next year. The satellite will test the ability of the blockchain node to process transactions in space and could be the precursor for a constellation that would enable blockchain transactions with other satellites. (11/17)

NASA Slowly Restoring Hubble Instruments (Source: Space.com)
NASA is making slow progress in restoring the Hubble Space Telescope's instruments to normal operations. The instruments went into safe mode last month because a computer timing issue. One instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, resumed operations earlier this month. NASA said Tuesday it's working to bring back online another instrument, the Wide Field Camera 3. It's also working on a more permanent fix to the timing issue, but said it may take several weeks to implement those changes. (11/17)

Axiom-1 Science & the Push Toward Greater Commercialization of Space Research (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
When the Axiom-1 mission lifts off from the Kennedy Space Center early next year, it will take with it four humans on the first-ever all-private astronaut flight to the ISS (International Space Station). At its core, the mission focuses on science and education, and the four-person crew will conduct 25 experiments with more than 100 hours of hands-on, human-tended research during the mission’s eight-day stay aboard the outpost.

While a relatively short flight, Axiom-1 will feature three crew customers in Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe, with a research focus based on their individual scientific goals and partnerships with various organizations. Click here. (11/17)

Orbite’s Plans for Space Training Complex (Somewhere in the US) Get a Boost From French Designer Philippe Starck (Source: GeekWire)
The French designer who created the look for Virgin Galactic, Spaceport America and Axiom Space’s orbital habitat has taken on yet another space-centric project: the space training complex planned by a Seattle-based venture called Orbite. Orbite says Philippe Starck will design its Astronaut Training and Spaceflight Gateway Complex, which is expected to consist of multiple buildings and go into operation at a U.S. location in late 2023 or 2024.

For now, that’s about all that can be said about the project. Further details, including the site selected for the complex and the specifics of Starck’s vision for the facility, will be announced in the months ahead. “We will have to wait a little more during the winter,” Orbite co-founder Nicolas Gaume told GeekWire. “We thought it was great to announce that such an amazing designer, who shares so much of our vision for astronaut orientation, preparation and training, could be disclosed.” (11/17)

Galaxy Collisions Preview Milky Way’s Fate (Source: Scientific American)
In approximately five billion years, as the sun expands into a red giant star roughly the diameter of Earth’s orbit around it, our galaxy will collide with its nearest large neighbor, Andromeda. As gravity draws the pair toward each other for a close encounter, stars will be ripped from their orbits to make spectacular tails, and gas and dust will be squeezed toward the approaching nuclei, destroying the stately, grand spirals that have existed for almost three quarters of the age of the universe.

Eventually the centers of the galaxies will merge, and the gas pouring toward the center will ignite an explosion of star formation, producing stars more than 100 times faster than either galaxy does today. It will also feed the now quiet supermassive black holes that lurk at the centers of both galaxies. The black holes will grow while releasing a storm of energetic particles and radiation that will easily outshine the light from all the stars in both galaxies combined. After another 100 million years or so, the two supermassive black holes will spiral toward each other and merge into a single black hole in a cataclysm that will send strong gravitational waves reverberating throughout space. (11/17)

Russia’s TASS News Agency to Open Permanent Bureau on ISS (Source: TASS)
The TASS Russian News Agency will be the first of all global mass media outlets to open a permanent bureau on the International Space Station. A memorandum of cooperation by TASS and the Russian space corporation Roscosmos for a joint project was signed by TASS Director General Sergei Mikhailov and Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin on November 17.

The first TASS correspondent onboard the orbital outpost will be Hero of Russia, cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin. His task will be to report on the space station’s daily routine. His reports will be available to the agency’s readership from TASS news resources and his photo and video contributions will be uploaded to the agency’s website and official pages on social media. (11/17)