December 20, 2021

Pluto's Strange Ice Patterns Explained by New Theory (Source: Nature)
In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons probe sent back some intriguing images of Pluto. Huge polygonal patterns could be seen on the surface of a nitrogen-ice ice filled basin known as Sputnik Planitia. This week, a team put forward a new theory to explain these perplexing patterns. "We find that sublimation-driven convection readily produces the observed polygonal structures if we assume a smaller heat flux (~0.3 mW m−2) at the base of the ice layer than the commonly accepted value of 2–3 mW m−2 (ref. 7). Sustaining this regime with the latter value is also possible, but would require a stronger viscosity contrast (~3,000) than the nominal value (~100) considered in this study. (12/15)

Russia to Increase Soyuz Capsule Production for Growing Tourism Demand (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos is directing Energia to increase production of Soyuz spacecraft for space tourism missions. Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said he instructed Energia to provide a plan for how it will increase production of Soyuz spacecraft from two per year to four. Those additional spacecraft would be used for commercial missions to the space station. Energia had, until recently, been building four Soyuz spacecraft annually to support transport of cosmonauts and astronauts to the station, but reduced production when NASA prepared to introduce commercial crew spacecraft. (12/17)

NASA Names Bowen and Hoburg for Dragon Capsule Flight to ISS (Source: NASA)
NASA has assigned two astronauts to a SpaceX Crew Dragon ISS mission in 2023. NASA said Thursday that Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg will be the commander and pilot, respectively, of the Crew-6 mission, expected to launch to the station in the spring of 2023. Bowen flew on three shuttle missions from 2008 to 2011, while Hoburg will be making his first space flight. The other two members of the Crew-6 mission, likely from international partners, will be named later. (12/17)

Pentagon Moves to Prove the Feasibility of Biomanufacturing in Space (Source: NextGov)
Ethics experts will support a new DARPA project that could pave the way for the Defense Department's first space-based manufacturing option. With an ambitious aim to one day enable the creation of molecules and resources relevant to space flight—inside physical locations beyond humans’ home planet—the Pentagon’s research arm launched a new program to explore the viability of biomanufacturing in space.

A recently released broad agency announcement details DARPA’s anticipated 18-month effort, deemed the Biomanufacturing: Survival, Utility, and Reliability beyond Earth, or B-SURE program. B-SURE was designed to help the defense agency answer foundational questions regarding a future where it could deliver equipment and microorganisms into space that insiders can use to produce materials or resources for things like food and fuel, as needed. (12/2)

How to Prevent Conflicts on the Way to Mars (Source: The Economist)
The early days of the American space program—days of white-knuckle test flights and solo orbital missions—called for pilots with qualities such as supreme self-confidence, unflinching bravado and ice in their veins. Or, to put it less kindly, “narcissism, arrogance and interpersonal insensitivity.” That was the assessment of one of NASA’s first staff psychiatrists, Patricia Santy. Mars astronauts must survive not only deep space but one another’s company. It took Apollo 11 about three days to get to the Moon and two days to make it back.

A voyage to Mars will probably be an 18-month round trip in a spacecraft no larger than a small house, as well as perhaps a year spent on the planet. Humans are more complicated than spacecraft. But Dr. Noshir Contractor likens his work to weather-forecasting. Weather is a complex, non-linear interaction of factors including air temperature, pressure and wind speed. Yet models can reliably predict next week’s temperatures and chances of rain. Avoiding conflict can discourage the creative friction that can generate new or better ideas. Conflict associated with tasks is different from that associated with personalities. Conflict over ideas can be helpful. But when conflicts get personal, things can get ugly.

NASA believes it can now feed prospective crew members’ physical, intellectual and personality traits into its model and, with 75% accuracy, predict who will clash with whom during a mission. Equipped with such information, Dr Contractor’s team is trying to come up with ways to mitigate problems, including by tweaking the “playbook” given to crew members. This is the hour-by-hour schedule that lays out details of tasks, including who will work when with whom. (12/18)

RBC to Use Inmarsat Satellites for IoT Applications (Source: GeekWire)
RBC Signals is working with Inmarsat to provide internet-of-things services. RBC Signals will use its ground stations, along with Inmarsat satellites, to support IoT applications such as shipping, energy and agriculture. The agreement allows for dynamic allocation of spectrum, power levels and geographic reach to meet the needs of customers. (12/17)

Purdue Professor to Fly With Experiment on Virgin Galactic Mission (Source: Purdue University)
A Purdue University professor will fly to space with his research. NASA's Flight Opportunities program selected a proposal by Steven Collicott to conduct a fluid dynamics experiment on a Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo flight. Collicott will go with the experiment on the suborbital flight, the date for which has not been announced. NASA started accepting proposals for researchers to fly with experiments on commercial suborbital vehicles nearly two years ago and selected a proposal from Alan Stern last year to conduct research on a SpaceShipTwo flight. (12/17)

Intelsat Restructuring Plan Approved for Bankruptcy Exit (Source: Space News)
Intelsat won approval from a bankruptcy court for a restructuring plan that will allow it to exit Chapter 11 bankruptcy early next year. The U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia approved the plan that cuts the satellite operator's debt from about $16 billion to $7 billion. Intelsat CEO Stephen Spengler said the company now stands to emerge from Chapter 11 early next year, following regulatory approvals and securing the financing laid out in the restructuring plan to recapitalize the business. Creditors gave the plan broad support after satellite operator SES agreed to drop its opposition to the restructuring plan in return for changes to how Intelsat distributes assets across Intelsat entities post-bankruptcy. (12/17)

Satellogic Going Public Next Week (Source: Space News)
Earth imaging firm Satellogic expects to go public next week. Company CEO Emiliano Kargieman said at World Satellite Business Week Thursday that shareholders of the SPAC that is merging with Satellogic are scheduled to vote on the deal Monday. That would allow the merger to close and Satellogic to start trading on Nasdaq on Wednesday. The proceeds of the merger will fund deployment of a constellation of 300 satellites by 2025 that will provide daily high-resolution imaging of the Earth. (12/17)

DoD Authorization Bill Adds $645 Million More Than President Biden Requested (Source: Space News)
The new defense authorization bill adds more than $645 million to Defense Department space programs compared to the Biden administration’s request. Of the $645.7 million boost, $548.7 million is for U.S. Space Force satellites and launch vehicle programs, and includes $205.2 million for classified programs, according to an analysis by Avascent. That funding, though, must be separately appropriated, and it's not a given that appropriators will approve every item in the NDAA. (12/17)

Pléiades Satellite Enters Service After August Vega Launch (Source: Space News)
A Pléiades Neo high-resolution imaging satellite entered service without the problems that led to an insurance claim on an earlier satellite. Pléiades Neo 4 started commercial operations this week after its launch on a Vega rocket in mid-August. Pléiades Neo 3, the first of four 30-centimeter-resolution imaging satellites Airbus plans to have in orbit by mid-2022, entered commercial service in early November, but suffered what Airbus Defence and Space called an "equipment issue" leading to an insurance claim. That problem has not impacted service, an Airbus official said. (12/17)

UK's Satellite Vu Orders Satellite From SSTL (Source: Space News)
British Earth observation startup Satellite Vu has ordered its first satellite from SSTL. The companies announced Thursday that SSTL will build the first in a constellation of seven satellites equipped with mid-wave infrared imagers for launch in late 2022. Satellite Vu will use the imagery for environmental and energy efficiency applications, such as tracking emissions and heat losses from buildings. Satellite Vu raised $20 million in October in a round led by Seraphim Space. (12/17)

Opening a 50-Year-Old Christmas Present From the Moon (Source: ESA)
A pretty special gift unwrapping will soon take place – a piercing tool built by ESA will open a Moon soil container from Apollo 17 that has gone untouched for nearly 50 years. The opening will allow the extraction of precious lunar gases which may have been preserved in the sample. Analysis of the gaseous volatiles will allow scientists to better understand the geology of the Moon and help engineers to design better sampling tools and techniques for future missions to the Moon or even Mars.

The gas extraction experiment is part of the larger Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis (ANGSA) program that coordinates the analysis of pristine Moon samples from the Apollo era. And for the first time ever, ESA is involved in the opening of soil returned from the Moon. “The opening and analyses of these samples now, with the technical advancements achieved since the Apollo era, can enable new scientific discoveries on the Moon. This can also inspire and inform a new generation of explorers,” says Francesca McDonald. (12/16)

Could This Space Rock Reveal the Origins of Life? (Source: Daily Beast)
A volunteer meteorite-hunter made an incredible discovery in March this year while scouring an English field and pleading to the spirit of his late father for assistance. Derek Robson found one of the oldest, rarest space rocks in humanity’s possession partially buried in a horse’s muddy hoofprint. This 4.6-billion-year-old hunk of olivine and phyllosilicates had apparently fallen to Earth a few weeks earlier after traveling from some distant point beyond Mars. Now scientists at Loughborough University, in central England, are gently probing the fragile, two-inch rock.

The meteorite’s uncontaminated insides could surrender vital clues about some of the deepest mysteries of our solar system’s early history. Scientists have begun scrutinizing the meteorite using a dizzying array of methods and instruments: “vibrational spectroscopy to identify functional groups, powder x-ray diffraction to identify different mineralogical phases and elemental analysis to determine the relation proportions of the chemical elements within the sample.”

They're looking for evidence of amino acids. These acids, which can survive for billions of years inside meteors, form the proteins that are found in all living things. The acids are, in other words, the building blocks of life. To be clear, amino acids have turned up in other meteorites. But every time scientists find these prebiotics in some old space rock, they have to ask themselves—was the acid there before the rock hit Earth? “It is important to be mindful that terrestrial contamination can be possible.” (12/16)

Georgia Spaceport Drama Adds a New Chapter (Source: The Current)
This week, a grassroots effort to stop Camden County from buying land for its Spaceport Camden site ended up in court. A group submitted signatures representing 10% of the county's citizens on a petition requesting a referendum on the purchase. The effort to develop a spaceport on a polluted industrial site has had detractors from Day One for several reasons -- the flight path over homes and Cumberland Island National Seashore, the property's environmental risks and the $11 million in county money spent on the plan, to name a few.

The Friday court hearing requested an injunction on the land purchase until the matter of the referendum, allowed by the Georgia Constitution, could be sorted out. In the meantime, all parties are waiting for a much-delayed decision on an operating license by the Federal Aviation Administration. The next due date is Monday. No matter how that lands, a letter from the FAA to the Department of the Interior reminds everyone that there is another round of hurdles: "If the license is approved it would not authorize a single launch.” (12/19)

SELC: FAA’s Review for Georgia Spaceport License is Fraught with “Factual Mistakes and Legal Errors" (Source: Parabolic Arc)
In response to the Federal Aviation Administration’s announcement today to issue a record of decision on the license application for Spaceport Camden, the following statement is from Brian Gist, senior attorney for the Southern Environmental Law Center: “Virtually from the start, the FAA’s review of Spaceport Camden has been fraught with factual mistakes and legal errors. We will carefully review the FAA’s decision to ensure that it fully complies with all applicable laws.” (12/20)

UK's Space Forge Secures £7.6m to Fund Trial of Factory Satellites (Source: The Guardian)
Last year, when Josh Western and Andrew Bacon set up their company Space Forge, they had a garage to work in and little else. Today, the two Cardiff-based entrepreneurs have a staff of 25 and are now planning further expansion after raising £7.6m of international seed-funding. The financing – to be announced later this week – should allow the company to start a remarkable aerospace endeavor: deploying satellites in which new alloys, medicines and semiconductors can be manufactured in outer space and then brought back to Earth.

The first missions are now planned for the end of 2022. Getting into space is the issue. Space Forge, which has already received backing from the UK Space Agency and the European Space Agency, believes its reusable factories will provide the answer. These oven-sized craft, called ForgeStar orbital vehicles, will be launched into orbit more than 300 miles above Earth. They will exploit the simple launch systems that aerospace companies such as Virgin Orbit are developing. (12/18)

Japanese Space Tourists Return to Earth with Russian Cosmonaut (Source: Space News)
A Soyuz spacecraft safely returned to Earth Sunday night with a Russian cosmonaut and two Japanese private astronauts on board. The Soyuz MS-20 spacecraft undocked from the station at 6:50 p.m. Eastern and landed in Kazakhstan nearly three and a half hours later. The spacecraft brought back Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin along with Japanese private astronauts Yusaku Maezawa and Yozo Hirano after nearly 12 days in space. Maezawa said in an interview last week that he enjoyed his time on the station despite dealing with space sickness. The flight was the first dedicated commercial Soyuz mission to the ISS, and Maezawa and Hirono were the first Space Adventures customers to go to the station in more than a decade. (12/20)

SpaceX Launches Twice in 16 Hours (Source: Space News)
SpaceX conducted two Falcon 9 launches less than 16 hours apart Saturday. One Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 7:41 a.m. Eastern and placed 52 Starlink satellites into a mid-inclination orbit. The booster used in the launch was on its 11th flight, a record for SpaceX. Another Falcon 9 lifted off at 10:58 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and placed the Turksat 5B communications satellite into a geostatonary transfer orbit. The Airbus-built satellite will operate from 42 degrees east in GEO and provide Ka- and Ku-band services. (12/20)

Falcon 9 Sets Reuse Milestone with California Starlink Launch (Source: Space News)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a new set of Starlink satellites Dec. 18, setting a new reusability mark for the vehicle in the process. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base on 18 Dec. The rocket’s upper stage deployed a payload of 52 satellites into a mid-inclination orbit nearly 16 minutes later. The rocket’s first stage landed on a droneship about eight and a half minutes after liftoff. The booster completed its eleventh flight, a record for SpaceX.

The stage was first used for the Demo-1 commercial crew test flight in March 2019 and subsequently launched the Radarsat Constellation Mission, SMX-7 radio satellite and seven sets of Starlink satellites. With this mission, SpaceX has launched nearly 1,950 Starlink satellites, of which about 1,800 are in orbit. Of SpaceX’s 29 Falcon 9 launches this year — another record for the company — 17 had Starlink satellites as the primary payload. (12/18)

A Giant Canyon on Mars Has Tons of Water in It (Source: MSN)
There's a Grand Canyon of sorts on Mars that's 10 times longer and 5 times deeper than the one on earth and recently scientists discovered a lot of water in it. ESA's ExoMars trace gas orbiter found the water using a special probe which can detect hydrogen molecules underground. Earlier technology wasn't able to do that so this is huge. And the surface area of the water that appears to be there could apparently cover the Netherlands. Most of Mars' water is frozen at the planet's poles but since this water is closer to the equator some of it could be unfrozen. Scientists aren't sure why there's so much water in the canyon but they plan to find out on future missions to the red planet. (12/19)

NASA Anxious to Send a $10 Billion Telescope to Space (Source: Florida Today)
The numbers are staggering: Ten billion dollars. Twenty-five years of design and development. The ability to see billions of years into the past. But there's also this figure: 344. That's how many potential "points of failure" there are, any one of which could doom the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA scientists and officials have for decades anticipated this space-based observatory, seen as successor to the famous Hubble, and the discoveries it could bring as it peers even deeper into the universe's multibillion-year-old story. But they are equally nervous about the precision required for its success.

Despite not even being at its eventual million-mile orbital distance from Earth, the telescope has already seen its fair share of challenges: delays caused by hardware hiccups like loose screws, work pauses due to its sheer complexity, the coronavirus pandemic, and general cost overruns leading to multiple federal investigations. But the results its 18 gold-plated hexagonal tiles promise to help deliver could be staggering in scope – and bring a burst of public excitement not seen since the famous Hubble Deep Field that captured thousands of galaxies in a single image. (12/20)

Interoperability Demo Planned Between DARPA’s Blackjack and PredaSAR Satellites (Source: Space News)
Radar imaging startup PredaSAR won a $2 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to demonstrate interoperability between its satellites and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s Blackjack constellation. Under the contract, announced last week by the Space Force’s Space Systems Command, PredaSAR will install a laser communications terminal on one of its satellites and attempt to pass data to the Blackjack constellation. Blackjack satellites will be deployed in low Earth orbit for communications, navigation and missile detection experiments.

Neither Blackjack nor PredaSAR has yet deployed any satellites. DARPA plans to launch as many as 12 satellites in 2022. PredaSAR, founded in 2019, is projecting its first launch for the fourth quarter of 2022. The company intends to become a commercial provider of imagery collected by synthetic aperture radar sensors. (12/16)

Honeywell and Skyloom to Produce Laser Crosslinks for Military and Commercial Satellites (Source: Space News)
U.S. aerospace giant Honeywell announced Dec. 15 it has teamed with telecommunications startup Skyloom to produce laser crosslink terminals for commercial and military satellites. Optical links enable satellites to communicate with each other and reduce networks’ reliance on ground stations. They provide much higher transmission data rates than traditional radio-frequency communications. (12/15)

Science Fiction Revisited: Space Ramjet Propulsion (Source: Phys.org)
In science fiction stories about contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, there is a problem: What kind of propulsion system could make it possible to bridge the enormous distances between the stars? It cannot be done with ordinary rockets like those used to travel to the moon or Mars. Many more or less speculative ideas about this have been put forward—one of them is the "Bussard collector" or "Ramjet propulsion". It involves capturing protons in interstellar space and then using them for a nuclear fusion reactor.

Researchers have now analyzed this concept in more detail. The result is unfortunately disappointing for fans of interstellar travel: it cannot work the way Robert Bussard, the inventor of this propulsion system, thought it up in 1960. It was envisioned that particles can be collected in the proposed magnetic field and guided into a fusion reactor, allowing acceleration up to relativistic speeds. However, when the size of the magnetic funnel is calculated, hopes of a visit to our galactic neighbors quickly fade. To achieve a thrust of 10 million newtons—equivalent to twice the main propulsion of the Space Shuttle—the funnel would have to have a diameter of almost 4000 kilometers. (12/20)

US Hypersonic Weapon Test Fails Third Time in a Row (Source: Russia Today)
The US military didn’t succeed in conducting a test of a hypersonic missile prototype, with the munition failing to decouple from its carrier aircraft. This is the third failure in a row for the US ARRW hypersonic weapon program. The unsuccessful attempt to test the new missile prototype was made by the US Air Force on Wednesday. The munition failed to leave its carrier aircraft for an unspecified reason, returning safely back to the ground. The ARRW is one of the US’ programs to develop hypersonic weaponry, with the Pentagon hoping it will beat competition from Russia and China.

The stated goal of the program is to reach initial operational capability with the missile in September 2022, yet underwhelming testing progress might push that objective further into the future. The new unsuccessful test of the AGM-183A missile is the third failure for the US hypersonic weapons program this year. Two previous tests, conducted back in April and July were also unsuccessful. The April test appeared to be similar to the new flop, with the missile failing to separate from the carrier aircraft. (12/18)

Destinations on Earth Where Apollo Astronauts Trained for the Moon (Source: Stars Insider)
When John F. Kennedy delivered his famous "We choose to go to the Moon" speech on September 12, 1962, the US President set in motion a national goal of landing a man on the Moon before 1970. But long before Neil Armstrong could take his "one small step for man" on July 20, 1969, dozens of astronauts went through years of rigorous training to get a sense of what space would be like. To make this instruction as realistic as possible, sites were chosen on Earth that looked eerily similar to the lunar surface. But where is this unworldly terrain? Click here. (12/20)

NASA's SLS Rocket Just Got $3.2 Billion More Expensive (Source: Motley Fool)
At an estimated $1.55 billion in cost per launch, and $209 billion total over its 30-year history, the U.S. Space Shuttle program was easily NASA's most expensive project since the Apollo Moon Program -- but NASA's next project is going to make it look like a bargain. Two years ago, an investigation by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget (OMB) estimated that each time NASA launches its new Space Launch System (SLS), taxpayers will ante up "over $2 billion." s it turns out, OMB was being optimistic.

Last week, NASA awarded Northrop Grumman a $3.2 billion contract to build booster rockets for five SLS rockets that will participate in the Project Artemis moon program. For each of the Artemis IV, V, VI, VII, and VIII, Northrop Grumman will build a pair of rocket boosters to help lift the massive rockets into orbit, then send them on to the moon. The company will also build a test booster for the Artemis IX "Booster Obsolescence and Life Extension" (BOLE) program -- so 11 boosters in all. These boosters are essential to the Artemis program, providing "more than 75% of the thrust for each SLS launch," as NASA explains, but they do come at a cost.

Specifically, each rocket booster will cost taxpayers -- and benefit Northrop Grumman -- more than $290 million. To put that number in context, when NASA hired SpaceX to launch its Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) U spacecraft in September, the total cost of the Falcon Heavy rocket that will do the work -- including the core stage and two side boosters (all of which are reusable) was just $152.6 million. (12/20)

How NASA's Psyche Mission Will Explore an Unexplored World (Source: Phys.org)
Launching in August 2022 and arriving at the asteroid belt in 2026, NASA's Psyche spacecraft will orbit a world we can barely pinpoint from Earth and have never visited. The target of NASA's Psyche mission—a metal-rich asteroid, also called Psyche, in the main belt between Mars and Jupiter—is an uncharted world in outer space. From Earth- and space-based telescopes, the asteroid appears as a fuzzy blur. What scientists do know, from radar data, is that it's shaped somewhat like a potato and that it spins on its side.

By analyzing light reflected off the asteroid, scientists hypothesize that asteroid Psyche is unusually rich in metal. One possible explanation is that it formed early in our solar system, either as a core of a planetesimal—a piece of a planet—or as primordial material that never melted. This mission aims to find out, and in the process of doing so, they expect to help answer fundamental questions about the formation of our solar system. (12/20)

Artemis I Integrated Testing Update (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft are undergoing integrated testing at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport to ensure they are “go” for launch of the Artemis I mission early next year. After stacking the Orion atop the SLS rocket, the engineers completed several tests to ensure the rocket and spacecraft are ready ahead of the Artemis I wet dress rehearsal. These tests included ensuring Orion, the core stage, and boosters can communicate with the ground systems and verification testing to make sure all the pieces of the rocket and spacecraft can power up and connect to the consoles in the Launch control Center.

During a recent core stage power test, engineers identified an issue with one of the RS-25 engine flight controllers. The flight controller works as the “brain” for each RS-25 engine, communicating with the SLS rocket to provide precision control of the engine as well as internal health diagnostics. Each controller is equipped with two channels so that there is a back-up, should an issue arise with one of the channels during launch or ascent. In the recent testing, channel B of the controller on engine four failed to power up consistently. The controller had powered up and communicated successfully with the rocket’s computers during preliminary integrated testing, in addition to performing a full duration hot fire during Green Run testing with all four RS-25 engines earlier this year at NASA’s Stennis Space Center.

NASA and lead contractor for the RS-25 engines, Aerojet Rocketdyne, also test all RS-25 engines and flight controllers for Artemis missions at Stennis prior to integration with the rocket. After performing a series of inspections and troubleshooting, engineers determined the best course of action is to replace the engine controller, returning the rocket to full functionality and redundancy while continuing to investigate and identify a root cause. (12/17)

NASA Pushes Back Artemis I Moon Rocket Launch After Glitch (Source: C/Net)
Getting to the moon isn't easy. NASA is looking to kick off a new era of moon exploration in earnest with the launch of the uncrewed Artemis I mission, but a technical issue means takeoff will likely have to wait a little longer. NASA had been targeting a February 2022 launch, but is now looking into launch opportunities in March and April. The massive Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule are all stacked up, but testing revealed an issue with a flight controller for one of the rocket's engines. "The flight controller works as the 'brain' for each RS-25 engine, communicating with the SLS rocket to provide precision control of the engine as well as internal health diagnostics," NASA explained. One of the controller's two channels was not powering up consistently. The controller had worked fine during earlier testing, but NASA decided to replace it entirely while investigating what might have caused the glitch to occur. (12/20)

UFOs: Will We Soon Rewrite Textbooks on Our Place in the Universe? (Source: The Hill)
Over the last century, we have seen an exponential increase in the understanding of the physical universe. International observatories on Earth and in space have produced magnificent images spanning the full range from the small scale of black holes to the large-scale structure of the entire observable universe. Now, we are in the midst of a discovery of even greater magnitude, but few are even acknowledging it. And incredibly, it is what many regard as the modern icon of quack science - unidentified objects, traditionally labeled UFOs, that may represent technological equipment manufactured by an advanced extraterrestrial civilization.

Almost overnight UFOs have gained acceptance by the government and some in academia as worthy of scientific study. With this shift came a new label from the U.S. military: unidentified aerial phenomena (UAP). Now, they are increasing the target of dedicated research, including Harvard's Galileo Project in search for extraterrestrial equipment near earth as well as Stanford's research program on unusual materials.

They are also the reason behind the establishment of a new office in the Pentagon charged with establishing a science plan to: 1) Account for characteristics and performance of UAP that exceed known science or technology, including propulsion, aerodynamics, materials, sensors, countermeasures, weapons, electronics and power generation; and 2) Provide the foundation for possible investments to replicate these advanced characteristics and performance. (12/19)

Stoke Space Raises $65 Million for Reusable Launch Vehicle Development (Source: Space News)
Stoke Space raised $65 million in a Series A round announced Dec. 15, funding development and testing of the upper stage of a reusable launch vehicle. The company, based in the Seattle suburb of Kent, Washington, said Breakthrough Energy Ventures led the round. Stoke announced earlier this year its intent to create a fully reusable launch vehicle, starting with the second stage. This round, the company said, will allow it to complete development of a prototype of that stage and conduct a series of flight tests starting at the end of 2022.

Those tests will start as low-altitude vertical takeoff and landing tests, said Andy Lapsa, co-founder and chief executive of Stoke, in an interview, moving progressively toward higher-altitude tests. The first flights will be at the company’s test site in Moses Lake, Washington, although he said high-altitude flights may need to take place elsewhere. The company hasn’t disclosed many details about its vehicle concepts or key technologies. He did say the vehicle won’t use “brittle ceramic tiles” for thermal protection, since they don’t meet their requirements for a system that can be turned around rapidly with minimal inspections.

The vehicle does feature an engine that looks “very different from conventional engines,” Lapsa said, but didn’t reveal design details. That design will enable it to operate both at low altitudes and in vacuum. “It’ll be by far the highest performing rocket engine for any of the small launchers.” Stoke previously won Small Business Innovation Research awards from NASA and the National Science Foundation for a “novel rocket engine configuration” intended for upper stages and planetary landers, as well as an “integrated propulsion solution to enable reusable upper stages.” (12/16)

China Envisions Crewed Moon Missions by 2030 (Source: ROOM)
According to the chief designer of the Long March family of rockets, Long Lehao, China is currently developing a heavy duty launch vehicle that could be capable of sending Chinese astronauts to the moon by 2030. The statement, announced on state media CCTV earlier this month, said that the rocket “can send a 150-ton spacecraft into low-Earth orbit, which is equivalent to launching a Tiangong space station at a time.” At the same time, said Lehao, “it can also send a 30-ton spacecraft to the moon, which is equivalent to four Chang'e-5 probes.” Expected to be a kerosene-liquid oxygen fueled rocket, the former deputy chief designer of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program said that the technologies behind the project are already at a mature stage of development and that a first flight of the launch vehicle could take place within the next five years. (12/20)

Space Force Marks Second Anniversary (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force marks its second anniversary. Over the past two years its ranks have grown to more than 6,500 uniformed members known as guardians, and about an equal number of civilian employees. Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno, director of the Space Force staff, said last week that the service got off to a rough start as the public did not understand why a military branch for space was needed. She suggested that a drumbeat of news reports about China's technological advances in space and hypersonic missiles, and Russia's ASAT test last month, provided clear illustrations of the role that space plays in national security. (12/20)

China's New Heavy-Lift Human-Rated Rocket Testing Planned in 2026 (Source: Space News)
China could conduct the first test flight of a heavy-lift rocket intended to support human lunar exploration as soon as 2026. Long Lehao, a senior space industry figure and Long March launch vehicle designer, told state media that schedule earlier this month. The envisioned crew-rated rocket would be capable of sending 27 metric tons into lunar transfer orbit and uses technologies developed for the Long March 5. The new rocket may offer a faster approach to human lunar missions than the larger Long March 9 slated to make its first launch late this decade. (12/20)

Boeing Starliner Test Flight Could Launch in May 2022 (Source: Space News)
A CST-100 Starliner uncrewed test flight delayed from August could take place next May. NASA and Boeing announced last week that they will switch service modules for that OFT-2 test flight, with OFT-2 now using the service module originally constructed for the Starliner's crewed test flight, with a May launch of OFT-2 now under consideration. That will allow engineers to continue to investigate the cause of stuck valves in the original OFT-2 service module that postponed an August launch of the mission. (12/20)

Axiom to Send Second Private Astronaut Mission to ISS (Source: Space News)
NASA selected Axiom Space for a second in a series of private astronaut missions to the ISS. The Ax-2 mission will launch between the fall of 2022 and late spring of 2023, spending up to two weeks on the station. The Crew Dragon spacecraft for Ax-2 will be commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson with an Axiom customer, John Shoffner, serving as pilot. Axiom is gearing up for the Ax-1 mission to the station scheduled for launch no earlier than Feb. 21. (12/20)

Malaysia Developing Space Engagement Plan (Source: Space News)
Malaysia is developing a national space blueprint to drive the growth of its space sector. The "Malaysia Space Exploration 2030" blueprint, presented by a government minister at a parliamentary hearing last week, focuses on the manufacturing of remote-sensing satellites, satellite components and data-driven downstream services. The plan also includes bolstering international cooperation by signing MOUs with "agencies of excellence in developed countries in the field of space technology." (12/20)

Texas Mayor Reassures Residents That Noise From SpaceX Engine Testing Will Abate Soon (Source: KXXV)
Residents near a SpaceX Texas test site will have to put up with additional noise from engine testing for a few more weeks. In a letter last week, the mayor of McGregor, Texas, said the increased noise from the SpaceX engine test site there was because of a switch to tests of Raptor 2 engines on a horizontal test stand. SpaceX is working to complete a second vertical test stand, which will reduce the noise residents hear, but the mayor said that new test stand would take two to three more weeks to complete. (12/20)

Hans Mark Passes Away at 92 (Source: Austin American-Statesman)
Hans Mark, a former secretary of the Air Force and NASA deputy administrator, has died. Mark died Saturday in Texas at the age of 92. Mark, a nuclear physicist, held positions including director of NASA's Ames Research Center and director of the National Reconnaissance Office before serving as secretary of the Air Force from 1979 to 1981. He was NASA deputy administrator from 1981 to 1984, playing a major role in starting up the space station program. He later became chancellor of the University of Texas. (12/20)

Florida Tech Astrophysicist Ready for Webb Telescope’s Answers (Source: Florida Tech)
A fledgling astronomer since early childhood and now an accomplished astrophysicist at one of the country’s leading research institutions, Florida Tech’s Eric Perlman is excited about Dec. 24. That’s when the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope is scheduled to launch from French Guiana. About six months later, after the device’s deployment and checkout from its position more than one million miles from Earth, the quest for answers to some of the biggest astrophysical mysteries should be underway.

Over his nearly 30-year career, Perlman has been awarded time on major telescopes including the Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Hubble Space Telescope. The latter had been the most powerful tool for space-based observations. However, with its 21-foot diameter mirror (the Hubble’s was 8 feet), Webb can make an observation similar to Hubble’s famous Ultra Deep Field observation, which took 16 days, in a speedy seven hours. More importantly, it can peer far deeper into space – more than 13 billion years ago. (12/15)

Luxembourg Invests $10 Million Euro in NorthStar (Source: SpaceQ)
The Luxembourg Future Fund (LFF) announced today that it will make a €10 million (CAD$14.5 million) investment in NorthStar Earth & Space in support of sustainable space activities. (12/17)

AFRL Jumpstarts Early Research on Cislunar Monitoring, Satellite Servicing (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Air Force Research Laboratory has chosen the first two winning teams in its new Space University Research Initiative (SURI) program, with research projects designed to build on-orbit servicing capabilities and improve space monitoring, including in cislunar space beyond Earth’s orbit. Maj. Gen. Heather Pringle, AFRL director, told reporters today that the SURI program “started out as a pilot” and is aimed at transitioning “high-risk, high-reward ideas in science” to “applied technology and advanced technology development. SURI is being managed by AFRL’s Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR), and is aimed at combining so-called 6.1 basic research with early 6.2 applied research.

In March 2021, the lab issued a notice of the first funding opportunity under SURI, with “awards of up to $1,000,000 per year per award spanning three to five years in the areas of Space Logistics and Mobility and Space Domain Awareness (SDA).” The winning proposal in the logistics and mobility arena is called “Breaking the ‘Launch Once, Use Once’ Paradigm.” Its goal is to develop “fundamental and applied research” for On-orbit Servicing, Assembly, and Manufacturing that can be transitioned to AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate and Northrop Grumman.

In the Space Domain Awareness (SDA) category, the winning proposal is titled “Space Object Understanding and Reconnaissance of Complex Events (SOURCE).” SOURCE will push “techniques for analyzing sensor data” as it researches “how to build more efficient algorithms for sampling modeling and predicting dynamics in orbit.” (12/20)