November 3, 2021

Space Force Plans Up To $2.3B In COMSATCOM Contracts (Source: Breaking Defense)
Beginning next month, the Space Force intends to issue a series of solicitations for commercial satellite communications bandwidth, equipment and services — with up to $2.3 billion in awards to be issued between 2022 and 2023.

The acquisition plan, outlined today in an industry briefing by Mike Nichols of the Commercial Satellite Communications Office (CSCO), covers COMSATCOM bandwidth from L-band to Ku-band to X-band for a variety of US military organizations, including Combatant Commands and the Space Force itself. Under the plan, CSCO intends to issue requests for proposals (RFPs) in 2021 worth up to $970.1 million, and worth up to $1.33 billion in 2022. The actual contract awards are expected to be made in 2022 and 2023, respectively. (10/29)

China's Rocket Pi Buys Methane Engines (Source: Space News)
A Chinese launch startup has signed a deal for rocket engines. Rocket Pi is buying methane-liquid oxygen engines from Jiuzhou Yunjian in a deal valued at several million dollars. A single Lingyun-70 engine will power the first stage of Rocket Pi's Darwin-1 reusable small launch vehicle, while a smaller Lingyun-10 engine will be used on its second stage. Rocket Pi, which raised a round of funding in July, said at the time it projected a first test flight of Darwin-1 in 2023. (11/1)

Exodus Orbitals Plans Satellite Leases For Now (Source: Space News)
Launch delays have forced a startup to change its business approach. Exodus Orbitals is in talks about leasing satellites as plans to launch its own are delayed seven months to October 2022. The venture is adjusting its strategy to speed up the start of commercial operations as it seeks to secure its first funding round. The company ultimately plans to launch software-defined satellites that can be used for in-orbit testing of flight software or other applications. (11/1)

National Geographic to Fly Cameras on Artemis Missions (Source: CollectSpace)
National Geographic will fly cameras on the first crewed Artemis mission. NASA said Friday it selected National Geographic for a non-reimbursable Space Act Agreement where the company will work with NASA on lightweight cameras installed on the inside of the Orion spacecraft flying the Artemis 2 mission to document the first crewed mission to the moon in more than a half-century. The company, partly owned by Disney, says it will create "an immersive experience aboard Orion" with its equipment and use its media portfolio to share that information with the world. (11/1)

China Launches Reconnaissance Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a new group of reconnaissance satellites Wednesday. A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 3:43 a.m. Eastern and placed the Yaogan-32 02 satellites into orbit. Chinese media described the spacecraft as remote sensing satellites, but they are believed to have military applications. (11/3)

NASA, Space Force See Growing Opportunities to Use Commercial Space Services (Source: Space News)
Both NASA and the Space Force see growing opportunities to leverage commercial space capabilities. During a panel discussion Tuesday, Alex MacDonald, NASA's chief economist, said competitive forces in the industry are going to help drive down the cost of "core elements of human space exploration." He cited as an example several proposals to develop commercial space stations that are key to NASA's plans to retire the ISS and shift to commercial facilities as one of many customers.

Gen. David Thompson, Space Force vice chief of space operations, said on the same panel that he sees more opportunities for the service to use commercial services, leveraging its experience with commercial satellite communications. The next area of interest to the Space Force is commercial services for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, he said. (11/2)

Isotropic Systems Tests Flat-Panel Antennas (Source: Space News)
Isotropic Systems has successfully completed field tests of its flat-panel antenna. In the tests, the antenna was able to link with multiple satellites in geostationary and medium Earth orbit at the same time, marking what the company called the first-ever demonstration of multi-orbit connectivity with a single multi-link terminal. Isotropic carried out the tests with SES, an investor in the startup who is interested in using the antennas to provide seamless service using its GEO satellites and O3b satellites in medium Earth orbit. (11/3)

Long Duration Spaceflight Could Cause Brain Damage (Source: Space.com)
Long-duration spaceflight may create brain damage similar to that caused by concussions. A study of Russian cosmonauts, published last month, found elevated levels of proteins in their blood that serve as a biomarker for brain damage. Researchers said the cosmonauts showed no signs of traumatic brain injuries, but instead more like what's seen after suffering a concussion. That may be caused by the effects microgravity has on the ability of the brain to eliminate wastes. (11/3)

DoD OTAs Help Space Consortium Fund $1B in Prototypes (Source: National Defense)
The Space Enterprise Consortium is on pace to provide approximately $1 billion in funding for prototypes in 2021 using other transaction authority agreements. "It's a foundational tool for how we are rapidly being able to put request for prototype proposals out to industry and awarding them almost 40 percent faster than we could have through some of our traditional [Federal Acquisition Regulation]-based contracts," said Program Executive Officer for Space Enterprise Col. Timothy Sejba. (11/2)

AFRL Space Vehicles Directorate Holds First Space Cyber Summit (Source: Space Daily)
The Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate held an inaugural Space Cyber Summit October 13-14. More than 140 space professionals participated in the in-person and virtual event held at Kirtland AFB. The gathering included space experts from across AFRL, the U.S. Space Force, several federally funded research and development centers, NASA, and many other organizations. (11/3)

Prepping JWST for December Launch (Source: Space Daily)
NASA is in the final stages of preparation to launch the nearly $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope, an engineering marvel that may reveal secrets of time and the universe, from South America on Dec. 18. Technicians are preparing to load the space observatory with fuel that will power it for up to 13 years as it orbits the sun about one million miles from Earth. The telescope will have to deploy a massive solar shield the size of a tennis court to keep its infrared instrument cold enough to see billions of light years in the distance. (11/2)

SpaceFund Invests in Rhea Space Activity for Autonomous Space Navigation Through Cislunar Space and GPS-Denied Environments (Source: SpaceFund)
SpaceFund Inc. announced today that it has invested in the rapidly growing astrophysics start-up company Rhea Space Activity (RSA). SpaceFund’s capital injection into RSA will energize the company’s ongoing development of scientific and engineering infrastructure needed to create a holistic, world-leading Lunar Intelligence (LUNINT) capability as soon as 2024. This capability will yield a vital product for the commercial space sector: the introduction of an autonomous navigation capability that will help the NewSpace ecosystem travel further into the solar system. (11/3)

Blockchain + Space (Source: Space News)
Blockchain has key space applications that have nothing to do with cryptocurrency. The distributed ledger technology at the heart of blockchain offers a tool for enhancing cybersecurity, streamlining supply chain management and raising money without the assistance of financial institutions. NASA, the European Space Agency and companies of all sizes are devising and testing applications for this foundational technology, which is still in its infancy.

Some space-related blockchain applications are related to cryptocurrency. Individual satellites and constellations promise to extend cryptocurrency networks and enhance their resiliency. Blockstream Satellite, J.P. Morgan, SpaceChain and Villanova University are testing their ability to process blockchain transactions on satellites and on nodes installed on the International Space Station. (11/3)

UK and France Reach New Agreement on Climate Change Mission (Source: Space Daily)
The UK Space Agency has provided new funding for a joint British and French MicroCarb mission dedicated to monitoring atmospheric carbon dioxide - the main greenhouse gas responsible for climate change. Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, and Laurence Monnoyer-Smith, Director of Sustainable Development of the French space agency, CNES, signed an implementation arrangement for the MicroCarb mission.

The UK will provide a further 3.9 million pounds for the mission, due to launch in early 2023, which will be the first European satellite dedicated to measuring atmospheric CO2 from all around the world - the main greenhouse gas caused by human activity. MicroCarb's data will contribute to global efforts to measure how much carbon is being emitted by natural processes and how much by human activities. This information will help inform decisions on tackling climate change. (11/3)

NASA Astronauts Harvest Green Chile on the ISS, Make Space Tacos (Source: C/Net)
Take fajita beef. Add rehydrated tomatoes and artichokes. Put it in a tortilla. Top with Hatch chile you spent months growing. Do all of this while in orbit around Earth on the International Space Station. And that's the recipe for space tacos. Astronauts on the ISS indulged in a special treat after harvesting peppers that have been growing on the ISS since July. The plants are from NuMex "Española Improved" seeds, a hybrid Hatch chile. Hatch refers to a town and region in New Mexico known for its peppers. (11/1)

US, UK Support Creation of Military Space UN Group (Source: Breaking Defense)
A proposal supported by the UK and US for the creation of a UN working group on military space issues is making progress and may see a vote by the UN General Assembly by year's end. "There is no doubt that there is a growing range of threats to space systems, and a risk that those threats could lead to miscalculation and, in turn, escalation and conflict," said James Cleverly, a UK minister. (11/1)

Air Force Lab Tightens Focus on Space Force R&D (Source: Air Force Magazine)
The Air Force Research Laboratory has named Andrew Williams to the newly created role of deputy technology executive officer for space science and technology. Williams will oversee research that will advance missions for the US Space Force. (11/1)

Beware: Gaia May Destroy Humans Before We Destroy the Earth (Source: The Guardian)
I don’t know if it is too late for humanity to avert a climate catastrophe, but I am sure there is no chance if we continue to treat global heating and the destruction of nature as separate problems. That is the wrongheaded approach of the United Nations, which is about to stage one big global conference for the climate in Glasgow, having just finished a different big global conference for biodiversity in Kunming.

This division is as much of a mistake as the error made by universities when they teach chemistry in a different class from biology and physics. It is impossible to understand these subjects in isolation because they are interconnected. The same is true of living organisms that greatly influence the global environment. The composition of the Earth’s atmosphere and the temperature of the surface is actively maintained and regulated by the biosphere, by life, by what the ancient Greeks used to call Gaia.

Almost 60 years ago, I suggested our planet self-regulated like a living organism. I called this the Gaia theory, and was later joined by biologist Lynn Margulis, who also espoused this idea. Both of us were roundly criticised by scientists in academia. I was an outsider, an independent scientist, and the mainstream view then was the neo-Darwinist one that life adapts to the environment, not that the relationship also works in the other direction, as we argued. (11/2)

Palm Bay Artist's Painting That Orbited Earth Aboard SpaceX Inspiration4 Capsule (Source: Florida Today)
As a budding young artist at Riviera Elementary in Palm Bay, Jonlouis Gonzalez remembers going outside to the kickball field to watch rocket and space shuttle launches streak across the sky from Cape Canaveral. Now 27, Gonzalez is an established "space art" fixture in Miami's contemporary art scene. And one of his colorful paintings featuring two dancing astronauts flew into orbit aboard Inspiration4, SpaceX's historic all-civilian orbital mission in September. (11/1)

Chinese Satellite Hints at Space Warfare Prowess by Dodging US Surveillance (Source: South China Morning Post)
Shijian 20, China’s most advanced communication satellite, was approached by US surveillance satellite but reportedly moved away at speed. Monitoring rivals’ satellites is needed to avoid collisions, but the US is also concerned about Chinese satellites’ potential warfare capabilities. (11/2)

'Balding' Black Holes Prove Einstein right Again on General Relativity (Source: Space.com)
A new physics breakthrough shows how Einstein's theory of general relativity continues to hold up, even for "balding" black holes. Black holes are regions of spacetime where gravity's pull is so strong that nothing, not even light, can escape from being dragged in and "eaten." Einstein's theory of general relativity predicted the existence of black holes and that, no matter what such an object "eats," black holes are characterized only by their mass, spin and electrical charge. Astrophysicists refer to this as the "no-hair" theorem. (11/2)

NASA’s Artemis Rover Passes Critical Design Review (Source: NASA)
NASA’s first lunar mobile robot, the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) has passed its Critical Design Review (CDR), a critical milestone indicating that the rover has a completed design and has been approved by an independent NASA review board. The mission can now turn its attention to the construction of the rover itself, which will launch on a SpaceX Falcon-Heavy rocket for delivery to the Moon by Astrobotic’s Griffin lander under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative.

As part of the Artemis program, the VIPER mission is managed out of NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley, and its primary objective is to get a close-up view of the location and concentration of ice as well as other resources at the Moon’s South Pole. By using an onboard suite of instruments developed across the agency and with commercial partners, the mission will be able to identify and eventually map where ice and other resources exist across and below the lunar surface. This resource mapping mission will bring NASA a significant step closer to its goal of the first long-term presence on the Moon and add to our understanding of the origin of lunar water. (10/27)