November 4, 2021

Satellites Key to Earth Environment Monitoring (Source: Quartz)
Spacecraft can again be the validator for human cooperation on Earth. The biggest announcement to come out of the UN climate meeting so far is the goal of ending deforestation by 2030, which includes subsidies for developing countries. “Wealthy countries pay forest asset holders not to cut down their forest [as] a counter-subsidy to the normal economic incentives to turn it into agricultural land, [but] it doesn’t work if you don’t have an independent monitoring system,” said Andrew Zolli, the chief impact officer at the satellite firm Planet. (11/4)

Blue Origin Lunar Lander Lawsuit Dismissed by Federal Judge (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
A Federal Claims judge dismissed a lawsuit by Blue Origin over NASA’s decision to award the Human Landing System contract solely to SpaceX. In April of this year, NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth $2.9 billion to build a human-rated Moon lander based on the company’s Starship design, which is currently in development. It was hoped NASA would choose two commercial providers for redundancy in the development process in much the same way as was done for the Commercial Crew Program with SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner.

However, because of inadequate funding provided by Congress for the program, NASA opted to choose SpaceX as it had the lowest bid. Blue Origin had bid $5.9 billion while the third company competing for the HLS contract, Dynetics, had bid even higher. Shortly after the decision, Blue Origin and Dynetics filed a protest with the Government Accountability Office, which prevented NASA from allocating money to SpaceX until the situation was resolved.

In July, the GAO sided with NASA, stating that NASA had “reserved the right to make multiple awards, a single award, or no award at all.” Blue Origin then filed a lawsuit with the U.S. Court of Federal Claims in August, which the company called, “an attempt to remedy the flaws in the acquisition process found in NASA’s Human Landing System.” On Nov. 4, Judge Richard Hertling dismissed the lawsuit. (11/4)

NRO Issues RFP for Commercial Satellite Imagery (Source: Space News)
The National Reconnaissance Office issued a request for bids Wednesday for commercial satellite imagery. The agency is seeking domestic suppliers of satellite imagery under a new program called Electro-Optical Commercial Layer (EOCL). Bids are due Dec. 3 and contracts will be awarded in early 2022. The contracts will replace the existing one NRO has with Maxar, valued at $300 million a year. An NRO official declined to say how much it would spend on EOCL, but said that the government's requirements for satellite imagery are increasing and future contracts will reflect that growing demand. (11/3)

FCC Approves Boeing's Plan Application for Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
The FCC approved Boeing's application for a 147-satellite V-band satellite constellation on Wednesday. Boeing proposes to launch 132 satellites to low Earth orbit at 1,056 kilometers, with the rest placed in highly inclined orbits between 27,355 and 44,221 kilometers, providing global connectivity. V-band, which is a higher frequency than the Ku- and Ka-band systems more commonly used for satellite communications, offers faster speeds but also higher interference risks. The FCC's approval starts a six-year clock for Boeing to launch half the system and a nine-year deadline for the full constellation. A Boeing executive said this fall the company was still looking for partners for its constellation as it awaited FCC approval. (11/4)

FCC: Boeing's Constellation Won't Interfere With Starlink (Source: Ars Technica)
Starlink operator SpaceX claimed that Boeing's plan would cause interference, but the FCC rejected SpaceX's argument that Boeing should face additional requirements. "SpaceX raises concerns about interference from Boeing's uplink beams to its highly inclined satellites and recommends that Boeing utilize higher gain antennas on those satellites with corresponding reductions in uplink power levels. We decline to adopt SpaceX's proposal," the FCC said. (11/4)

Firefly Hires Former USAF Officer to Sell Launches (Source: Space News)
Firefly Aerospace has hired a former Air Force officer to lead the subsidiary responsible for sales of launches and other services. The company said Wednesday that Jason Mello will be the new president of Firefly Space Transportation Services, formerly Firefly Black, which will now handle commercial and government sales of its Alpha rocket as well as space tugs and lunar landers. Firefly has traced the cause of the first, failed Alpha launch in September to a faulty electrical connection, and expects to attempt its next Alpha launch in late January. Firefly is also considering partnering with other companies on development of its Beta medium-class rocket. (11/4)

Musk is Building Starbase, a City With a Spaceport to the Moon, Mars and Beyond. Here’s What’s Inside (Source: Foreign Policy)
Elon Musk has made no secret of his intention to found a settlement on Mars, but his latest venture is to establish a city on Earth. Sited around the SpaceX South Texas launch site at Boca Chica, Musk’s idea is to call the city Starbase, Texas. It would house all those who work at the launch site, those who intend to fly on the rocket, and be a tourist destination for those wanting to witness the awesome power of a launch. Click here. (11/4)

Hotline Could Defuse Space Tensions with Russia, China (Source: Space News)
A Space Force general thinks that hotlines with Russia and China could defuse any tensions about space operations. Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, U.S. Space Force deputy chief of space operations for operations, cyber and nuclear, told reporters Wednesday that such hotlines could avoid any miscommunications about space activities, similar to a hotline set up between the U.S. and Russia during military operations in the skies above Syria. The risk of mischaracterizing what any country is doing in space is even greater than in the air because objects in orbit are hard to see, he said. "I think the idea merits a full-scale discussion." (11/4)

The Guide for the Next Decade of Space Research Just Dropped (Source: WIRED)
How does NASA decide to use the space science funds it’s given—around $23 billion in 2021? For its scientific missions in space and on the ground, the agency—and pretty much all of the space scientists in the US—take their cues from the Astrophysics and Astronomy Decadal Survey. Every decade since the 1960s, teams of hundreds of experts, led by a steering committee organized by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, have produced these massive reports aimed at recommending space exploration and research for the next ten years and beyond.

This year’s survey—officially called “Pathways to Discovery in Astronomy and Astrophysics for the 2020s”—was released today. It’s been dubbed “Astro2020” for short, despite its release in late 2021. It was due last year, but the Covid-19 pandemic caused significant delays in an already difficult process for the approximately 150 scientists who made up its 13 panels focusing on topics like cosmology, galaxies, stars, particle physics, and the state of the profession. Click here. (11/4)

Space Force Kicks Off "Orbital Prime" Effort for On-Orbit Operations (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is kicking off a new initiative to fund commercially developed technologies for orbital operations. The "Orbital Prime'' effort will support development of technologies for on-orbit servicing, assembly and manufacturing. The project, run by SpaceWERX, the space-focused arm of the Air Force technology incubator AFWERX, will provide SBIR/STTR awards to companies that partner with academic or nonprofit institutions to work on key technologies.

Successful projects will be eligible for much larger "strategic financing" awards that require companies to secure matching funds from private investors. The first Orbital Prime awards are planned for early 2022, and could lead to in-space demonstrations of technologies within three years. (11/4)

OneWeb and Leonardo Partner to Offer LEO Service to DoD (Source: OneWeb)
OneWeb, the low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communications company, and Leonardo DRS, a leading innovator in communications, defense, and security, announced today a new partnership to jointly offer LEO service for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD). (11/2)

Intelsat and OneWeb Demo Global Multi-Orbit Satellite Service to U.S. Department of Defense (Source: Intelsat)
Intelsat, operator of the world’s largest integrated satellite and terrestrial network, OneWeb, and Linchpin Solutions, a leader in C5ISR systems and programs, successfully demonstrated a multi-orbit satellite communications solution for representatives of the U.S. Army and Department of Defense (DoD). This is a strategic demonstration to the U.S. DoD that shows transport diversification between the geostationary orbit (GEO) and low Earth orbit (LEO) constellations with seamless switching between them. (11/3)

OneWeb to Distribute Services Through BT (Source: OneWeb)
OneWeb announced a deal for telecom company BT to distribute its satellite broadband services. BT is currently testing the integration of OneWeb services on its networks, with initial customer trials scheduled for early next year. OneWeb said the tests will focus on the use of its satellites to provide supplementary backhaul services for locations where additional or backup capacity is needed. The agreement signed this week builds on a memorandum of understanding between the companies announced in July. (11/4)

A NASA Rocket Scientist Won the Virginia Lottery. This is How she Picked Her Numbers (Source: Herald-Sun)
An honest to goodness rocket scientist won $1 million in the Virginia Lottery. Norma Farr of Newport News “rocketed” to millionaire status via the Mega Millions game, state officials said. Farr has been a lab leader at the NASA Langley Research Center for 35 years, according to her LinkedIn profile. She bought her Mega Millions ticket online, and her approach to picking her numbers is not what you might expect from someone with degrees in mathematics and computer science. Formulas and calculations are no use when it comes to a random lottery, so Farr let the lottery computer pick her numbers, officials said. (11/3)

Virgin Orbit Plans Launch Operations in Japan (Source: Virgin Orbit)
Virgin Orbit has announced a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II to procure twenty flights of the LauncherOne rocket and to lead the effort to provide funds and support for those orbital missions to launch from Japan’s Oita Prefecture. The terms of the MOU call for ANA HOLDINGS and several of its partners to fund the manufacturing of a new set of the mobile ground support equipment used to prepare Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne system for flight from a pre-existing runway, with a target of making Oita a LauncherOne-ready spaceport by as soon as the end of 2022, pending appropriate regulatory approvals in the US and Japan. (11/4)

UK-Led Mission to Support Earth Science (Source: UK Space Agency)
A British-led Earth science mission has completed its initial design. The Traceable Radiometry Underpinning Terrestrial- and Helio-Studies, or TRUTHS, spacecraft, is intended to be a "climate and calibration observatory in space" to assist measurements of the Earth's climate by other spacecraft. TRUTHS is pending approval and funding by the European Space Agency at its next ministerial meeting in late 2022, with launch planned for late this decade. (11/4)

Russia and US Find Common Ground in Space Analog Mission (Source: Foreign Policy)
Six people will begin an eight-month space mission today — without leaving Moscow. The Scientific International Research in Unique Terrestrial Station, or SIRIUS, project features three Russians, two Americans and one Emirati living in a sealed habitat in a Moscow laboratory intended to simulate a long-duration spaceflight. The experiment is designed to test how the crew can operate for an extended period in isolation without getting on each others' nerves. "This is a stressful situation," said Oleg Blinov, who will serve as crew commander. "If we don't remain upbeat, it'll be difficult to get through it." (11/4)

Elon Musk Is Building a Sci-Fi World, and the Rest of Us Are Trapped in It (Source: New York Times)
Weirdly, Muskism, an extravagant form of capitalism, is inspired by stories that indict … capitalism. At Amazon Studios, Mr. Bezos tried to make a TV adaptation of the Culture space opera series, by the Scottish writer Iain Banks (“a huge personal favorite”); Mr. Zuckerberg put a volume of it on a list of books he thinks everyone should read; and Mr. Musk once tweeted, “If you must know, I am a utopian anarchist of the kind best described by Iain Banks.”

But Banks was an avowed socialist. And, in an interview in 2010, three years before his death, he described the protagonists of the Culture series as “hippy commies with hyper-weapons and a deep distrust of both Marketolatry and Greedism.” He also expressed astonishment that anyone could read his books as promoting free-market libertarianism, asking, “Which bit of not having private property and the absence of money in the Culture novels have these people missed?” (11/4)

Agency Says SpaceX Boca Chica Operations Have Severely Impacted Wildlife Refuge, Criticizes FAA Environmental Assessment as Inadequate (Source: Parabolic Arc)
SpaceX’s operations at its Boca Chica test site in Texas have severely impacted the adjacent Lower Rio Grande Valley National Wildlife Refuge and its wildlife due to rocket explosions, wildfires and excessive road and beach closings, according to a letter from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to the FAA. The Jan. 22 letter said that SpaceX’s plans to significant expand its operations and physical footprint to include launches of the Super Heavy and Starship rockets will further exacerbate the impacts on the sensitive wetlands and the endangered species that reside there.

FWS officials urged the FAA to conduct a much more rigorous environmental review of the plans than it is currently performing. “Frequent closures of the Refuge caused by SpaceX activities are already substantially impairing both the Refuge’s ability to adequately manage the Refuge and the public’s enjoyment of the Boca Chica Beach area for wildlife-dependent recreation. There are both ‘adverse’ and ‘severe’ impacts to Refuge public use, management, wildlife, and habitat from the SpaceX activities,” the letter said.

FAA has issued a preliminary environmental assessment (PEA) with the preferred option of approving the expanded operations. The agency held two public hearings on the project last month. The deadline for public comments was Nov. 1. FWS said the impacts of SpaceX’s operations have been much greater than anticipated when the federal government approved the Boca Chica facility in 2014. The FAA conducted an environmental impact statement (EIS) that included a FWS analysis of the impact on the operations on the local area. (11/3)

Ice Drill Being Sent to the Moon Late Next Year (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
As work continues on the human-side of hardware development for NASA’s Artemis program, the agency is hard at work planning robotic precursor missions to the areas astronauts are expected to explore in just a few short years. On Nov. 3, 2021, NASA announced a landing site location for an ice-mining experiment set to be delivered to the Moon by Houston-based Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander. The location chosen is a ridge not far from Shackleton crater at the Moon’s south pole, NASA said.

It is thought this location, which engineers and scientists have been analyzing for months via data from the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, could have ice below the surface. The area also receives sufficient light for a roughly 10-day mission, the agency said, while also providing a clear line of sight to Earth for communications. (11/3)

FCC Approves Boeing’s 147-Satellite V-Band Constellation (Source: Space News)
The Federal Communications Commission has approved Boeing’s application to develop and operate 147 non-geostationary (NGSO) broadband satellites. Boeing applied for a license for a constellation using high-frequency V-band spectrum nearly five years ago, amid a surge in NGSO applications from SpaceX, OneWeb and others. The company is the last in the FCC’s first round of NGSO applications to get a decision on its constellation plans. It now has six years to launch half its planned satellites to comply with regulatory rules, and nine years to deploy the rest of the constellation. (11/3)

Blue Origin’s New Glenn Pathfinder Makes an Appearance (Source: GoSpaceLaunch)
Today, Blue Origin Space Coast facility crews rolled out a New Glenn pathfinder. The test article will be used for ground crews to test lifting and moving of the rocket. Just like any rocket manufacturing company, safety comes first. Workers can be seen in the photos for scale. When completed, New Glenn is to lift off from Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral, FL. Following stage separation, the first stage flies back to Earth and lands nearly 1,000 km downrange on a moving ship, allowing the booster to land in heavy sea-states. The second stage engines ignite and the 7-meter fairing separates. Click here. (11/3)