December 22, 2021

Russian Citizens Are Now Being Prepped for Nuclear War (Source: Daily Beast)
The rhetoric on Kremlin-funded state television is amping up the sense of urgency around Russian President Vladimir Putin’s NATO “ultimatum.” Olga Skabeeva, the host of a state TV show said Tuesday: “The level of anxiety has reached its maximum. We’re 20 days away from the expiration of the ultimatum and the stakes are rising, even though it seems they couldn’t be any higher.” One day after Moscow submitted a draft of its Russia-U.S. security treaty, containing demands that NATO roll back its military deployments in Europe and deny membership to Ukraine and other post-Soviet countries, Deputy Foreign Minister Sergei Ryabkov threatened that Moscow would raise the stakes if the West didn’t treat its demands seriously.

Kiselyov, notorious for his previous assertion that Russia is the only country that can reduce the U.S. to a pile of radioactive ash, revisited his beloved “argument” to explain why the U.S. will be willing to entertain Putin’s unreasonable proposition. He asserted that Russia is willing to suffer any consequences and go to any lengths to get what it wants: “Never before has anyone published the texts of the proposed treaties. But never before in the 21st century has the situation been so acute, and the risks so great. Non-standard situations require non-standard approaches. Secondly, we’re holding very strong cards in our hands. Our hypersonic weapons are guaranteed to produce a response that is so unpleasant for America to hear: being reduced to radioactive ash.” (12/21)

Ground Equipment Issue Among Reasons for Angara Launch Delay (Source: TASS)
Poor weather and technical problems have postponed an Angara test flight. The launch of the Angara-A5 rocket, scheduled for Thursday from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia, has slipped to Friday. An industry source blamed the delay on "ground equipment problems and weather conditions." The launch will be the third test flight of the vehicle dating back to 2014. (12/22)

AFRL and Northrop Grumman Test Space-Based Solar Power Tech (Source: Space News)
The Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) and Northrop Grumman have tested technology that could be used for space-based solar power. The test, conducted at a Northrop lab in Maryland, demonstrated that a "sandwich tile" can transform solar power into radio-frequency power that, on a spacecraft, could be beamed down to Earth. The lab test paves the way for the technology to be launched to orbit in a military experiment planned for 2025. Space-based solar power is a key focus of AFRL, which awarded Northrop Grumman a $100 million contract in 2018 to develop the payload for a demonstration called Arachne. (12/22)

Satellogic SPAC Postponed (Source: PR Newswire)
Earth-imaging company Satellogic has again postponed the completion of its merger with a SPAC. CF Acquisition Corp. V shareholders were scheduled to vote Monday on the merger, the final step before the deal closes and Satellogic becomes a publicly traded company. However, the SPAC adjourned the shareholder meeting to Dec. 30 "to continue discussions regarding potential additional financing for the post-combination company." The SPAC gave a similar reason for deferring a vote earlier this month. Satellogic had expected to start trading on the Nasdaq as soon as today had the shareholder vote took place Monday. (12/22)

SpaceX: No COVID Outbreak at California HQ (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX says that a surge of COVID-19 cases linked to the company is not evidence of an outbreak at its headquarters. Data released Monday by Los Angeles County health officials reported 132 cases at SpaceX's Hawthorne, California, headquarters, more than any other business in the county. SpaceX said Tuesday that the 132 cases is the total dating back to September when several employees contracted COVID-19 at a non-work event outside of company facilities. Only one of the cases is known to have been contracted at work, the company said, and the figure does not mean there are 132 active cases among company employees currently. (12/22)

Judge Blocks Land Purchase for Georgia Spaceport (Source: The Current)
A Georgia judge has issued a temporary restraining order blocking a county from acquiring land for a spaceport. The order, issued Tuesday, prevents Camden County from completing a deal to purchase land from Union Carbide for Spaceport Camden while the court reviews a petition for a referendum on the transaction. The order came a day after the FAA issued a license for the spaceport. (12/22)

Startups May Fail Waiting for DOD Contracts, Investors Say (Source: Breaking Defense)
Silicon Valley insiders are warning that the Defense Department is too slow to move startup programs from the development stage to production. "We have, at most, two years before founders walk away and private capital dries up. And many, many startups will go out of business waiting for DOD to award real production contracts," said Katherine Boyle, of Andreessen Horowitz. (12/21)

CesiumAstro Accelerates Active Phased Array Payload Development for Lunar Applications (Source: Space Daily)
CesiumAstro, with support from NASA, is accelerating radio frequency (RF) active phased array antenna development enabling dual function communications and sensing for lunar and cislunar applications across common Ka-band, TDRS (Tracking and Data Relay Satellite), and 5G mmWave frequency bands. High-performance communication links for lunar and deep space missions are essential to large scale lunar infrastructure and operations. CesiumAstro will demonstrate the next generation of its Nightingale active phased array antenna as part of a Phase II NASA SBIR contract recently awarded by the agency as a follow-on to a Phase I NASA SBIR contract supporting its conceptual design. (12/20)

Tensions with Russia are Now Spilling Into Space, Complicating International Space Station Partnership (Source: Washington Post)
For more than 20 years, the International Space Station has served not just as an orbiting laboratory for science but as a vehicle for diplomacy, hosting astronauts from 19 different countries who work side-by-side in space when, in some cases, their leaders could not get along on the ground. Today, Russia and the US are at odds over several issues, including Russia’s possible invasion of Ukraine.

The Biden administration has also leveled sanctions on Russian leaders for the poisoning of Alexei Navalny, the opposition leader and one of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most outspoken critics. It also has sanctioned Russia for its interference in U.S. elections as well as punishing Russian companies for supporting Russian hackers. To make matters worse, Russia and China are constantly attacking U.S. satellites a number of ways, including lasers, jammers and cyber breaches. And last month, Russia fired a missile that destroyed one of its dead weather satellites, creating a massive field of more than 1,500 pieces of debris

Earlier this year, Russian officials accused NASA astronaut Serena Auñón-Chancellor of drilling a hole in the space station during a personal crisis. After the article was published, top NASA officials came to her defense. “We stand behind Serena and her professional conduct,” Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator of the space operations mission directorate wrote on Twitter. “We do not believe there is any credibility to these accusations.” The tensions will complicate plans to extend the life of the space station, which after more than 20 years in the vacuum of space, is showing signs of age. (12/22)

Spaceport Camden Receives FAA Approval. But Legal Hurdles Remain (Source: GPB)
A proposed launch facility in Southeast Georgia for small commercial rockets has come one step closer to becoming a reality, as the Federal Aviation Administration on Monday granted the Camden County Board of Commissioners a license to operate Spaceport Camden. The license permits the county to build and run a vertical launch facility, control center complex, alternate control center, visitor center, and mission preparation area on roughly 100 acres of land along the coast of the Atlantic Ocean, roughly halfway between Brunswick and the Georgia-Florida state line.

The Camden County Board of Commissioners, which began pursuing the project in 2015, issued a statement heralding the FAA's approval as marking a “mission accomplished.” “We are no longer a one-dimensional economy solely reliant on the brave sailors and contractors at Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay for economic prosperity,” said Camden County Board of Commissioners Chairman Gary Blount in the statement.

Under the FAA license, Spaceport Camden would host up to 12 launches per year, only one of which could be held at night. Each rocket would carry a small payload weighing between 100 and 300 pounds. The booster rocket that powers takeoff would fall between 200 and 300 miles offshore into the Atlantic Ocean, never to be recovered. Even with the federal go-ahead, the fate of Spaceport Camden remains up in the air, as a grassroots campaign is underway to block the county from purchasing the land from chemical company Union Carbide. (12/21)

Phantom Space's Cantrell Sued for "Looting" Vector (Source: VL Wind Down Creditors’ Liquidating Trust)
Phantom Space CEO Jim Cantrell formerly led Vector Space, a launcher startup that filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2019. Phantom Space is considered a potential user of Georgia's Spaceport Camden. Cantrell had this to say about the FAA's new license for the Georgia spaceport: Phantom Space is thrilled to see Spaceport Camden open for business. The additional launch capacity aligns well with our efforts..." Here is an excerpt from the lawsuit, filed on 10 December 2021 in the district court of Delaware:

"This action concerns Cantrell’s disloyal and systematic looting of Vector for his own personal financial gain in order to fund Cantrell’s personal racing hobby and other business ventures unrelated to Vector. Through this action, the Trustee seeks redress for this gross dereliction of Cantrell’s fiduciary duties as an officer and director of Vector, including his self-interested payments and waste of Vector assets derived from Vector investor funds for his personal use, including for use in Vintage—Cantrell’s separate vintage automobile and racing business. In addition, the Trustee seeks to recover $100,000 plus interest attributable to a promissory note Cantrell executed to record certain of his cash diversions that has been in default for years." (12/11)

ESA Contract to Advance Vega-C Competitiveness (Source: Space Daily)
ESA's Vega-C launch vehicle will fly in the second quarter of 2022 offering more performance to all orbits and extended mission flexibility at a similar cost to the current Vega. A new contract aims to widen these mission capabilities to capture new opportunities and satisfy emerging market needs to 2027. The ESA-Avio contract is worth euro 51 million over two and a half years. The signature event in Paris on 15 December was attended by Daniel Neuenschwander, ESA's Director of Space Transportation, and Maurizio Cutroni, Avio's CCO, on behalf of Guilio Ranzo, CEO at Avio. (12/17)

NASA Completes Upper Part of Artemis II Core Stage (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has completed assembly of the upper, or forward, part of the core stage for the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket that will send the Artemis II crew on their lunar mission. Boeing, the lead core stage contractor, completed joining the forward part of the rocket, and then lifted it out of the assembly structure at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans.

To construct this part of the core stage, the team first stacked three major parts of the stage-the forward skirt, the liquid oxygen tank, and the intertank. The forward skirt sits atop the rocket's core stage, and it and the intertank are outfitted with the rocket's flight computers and avionics systems that control SLS during launch and ascent. (12/17)

FAA Posts Draft Environmental Assessment for Sierra Space Landing Operations in Florida (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Today, the FAA posted a Draft Environmental Assessment (EA) for Sierra Space to conduct Dream Chaser reentry operations at the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) in Florida. The public comment period ends on January 24, 2022. Sierra Space is seeking a Vehicle Operator License and is proposing up to 14 reentry operations at SLF during 2022-2026:  one in 2022, up to two in 2023, up to three in 2024, and up to four in both 2025 and 2026.

The FAA license evaluation process includes the environmental review as well as safety, risk and financial responsibility requirements. At this time, the FAA does not intend to host a public meeting. However, a slide deck presentation discussing the Draft EA is posted here for review. (12/21)

5 Things to Know About a Pair of Small But Mighty Weather Instruments (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Launched Tuesday to the space station, the COWVR and TEMPEST two instruments could lead the way to big improvements in gathering key information for weather forecasting. The Compact Ocean Wind Vector Radiometer (COWVR) is no bigger than a minifridge. The Temporal Experiment for Storms and Tropical Systems (TEMPEST) is even smaller – about the size of a cereal box. Yet these two compact science instruments are designed to do a big job: to make the same high-quality atmospheric observations as weather satellites many times their size and at a fraction of the cost.

Built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, the two radiometers are part of the U.S. Air Force’s Space Test Program-Houston 8 (STP-H8) and were sent to the ISS Tuesday as part of SpaceX’s 24th commercial resupply mission for the agency. They’re considered technology demonstrations, and if they perform as planned, weather forecasting could be in for a technological boost. Click here. (12/21)

Lunar Robot Wars (Source: ESA)
Driving and walking rovers competed to survey a shadowy analogue of the south polar lunar surface for useable resources during the inaugural ESA-ESRIC Space Resources Challenge. Some 13 teams from across Europe and Canada took part in last month's field test, with the winners due to be announced shortly.

The Space Resources Challenge - supported by ESA and the European Space Resources Innovation Centre (ESRIC) in Luxembourg - is asking European (and Canadian) researchers and institutions to develop and demonstrate a system of one or more vehicles capable of prospecting resources on the Moon in the near future.

Massimo Sabbatini, overseeing the contest for ESA, comments: "ESA is analysing the results of the first field test of the Challenge and the competition is fierce. There was a wide range of participants and technological solutions to the problem of prospecting: notably different locomotion techniques - legged, wheeled, tracked, and so on - and approaches, such as single versus multiple vehicles and aerial vehicles. The jury is out!" (12/17)

London ‘Uniquely Well-Placed’ as Space Sector Heads for M&A Boom in 2022 (Source: City AM)
The UK’s space sector is bound for an explosion in mergers and acquisitions (M&A) next year – with London “uniquely well-placed” for a leading role in the forecasted frenzy. Managing associate of Linklaters technology practice, Katie Williams told City A.M., that an increase in M&A activity is likely, with banks and other financiers expected to open up the fiscal floodgates to the sector in the months ahead.

“London’s role as a global center for the finance and industry providers that support the space industry, as well as being the UK headquarters of a number of the governmental bodies responsible for space policy development and regulation, means the city has a real and current ability to play a significant part in the growth and advancement of the space sector – both in the UK and elsewhere,” she said.

“Businesses are already starting to think more strategically about the commercial opportunities available in space,” Williams continued, with many of the world’s largest technology companies already investing heavily in the development of satellite technology. The raft of industry promises that are anticipated to be realised next year – with the first-ever scheduled launches expected to take off from UK soil – will inevitably push more finance behind the industry and spur more acquisitions. (12/20)

Clay Mowry (and Chanaria) Leaves Blue Origin for Voyager Space (Source: Via Satellite)
Blue Origin Vice President of Global Sales Clay Mowry is leaving Jeff Bezos’ launch company to take a chief revenue officer (CRO) position at Denver-based space exploration company Voyager Space. Mowry will lead revenue and sales operations for the company and its subsidiaries. He joins a rapidly growing roster of senior executive Voyager Space hires that most recently includes former Nanoracks CEO Jeffrey Manber joining as president of international business and space stations and former Airbus CEO Dirk Hoke joining its advisory board.

Editor's Note: Also departing Blue Origin this month is AC Charania. Charania served as Blue Origin's lunar campaign director and also led the company's civil space sales. He was with Blue  Origin for just over 3.5 years. (12/21)

2021 in Review: Space Tourism Begins – for Billionaires, Anyway (Source: New Scientist)
This year, the extraordinarily wealthy flocked to space. After decades of deferred promises, the space tourism industry got going in earnest, beginning with short flights aboard privately funded craft. Three different commercial ventures carried ultra-rich passengers into space in 2021. It began with Richard Branson, who took a 90-minute suborbital flight aboard his Virgin Galactic space plane, SpaceShipTwo, on 11 July.

Whether or not the flight counts as having gone to space, though, remains a contentious subject – the US government defines space as beginning 50 miles (or just over 80 kilometers) up, which was the altitude of Branson’s flight, but the internationally held definition of space, the Kármán line, is 100 kilometers above Earth. Following the US government definition, Branson was the first person to visit space on a spacecraft made by his own company. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos came a close second on 20 July, when he rode his firm Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket on a suborbital flight past the Kármán line.

While Bezos reached a higher altitude than Branson at 107 km, the flight was shorter at 11 minutes, including 3 minutes of weightlessness. New Shepard flew again on 12 October with new passengers, including Star Trek actor William Shatner. Meanwhile, in September, SpaceX pulled off the feat of sending a spacecraft into actual orbit without any government-trained astronauts aboard. Paid for and commanded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, this Crew Dragon flight, titled Inspiration4, was much longer than the other private flights, with the four passengers circling Earth for three days. (12/15)

2021 Marks a Record-Breaking Year of 30 Launches on the Space Coast (Source: WESH)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 mission to resupply the ISS on Tuesday was the last launch of 2021, capping a record-breaking year for SpaceX. It was the 30th Florida launch for the year, a year that has seen more of these rockets launch than ever before. (12/21)

Moon, Mars Spaceflights Impossible Without Cooperation with Russia (Source: TASS)
Spaceflights to the Moon and Mars would be impossible without NASA’s cooperation with Russian colleagues, NASA’s International Space Station Program acting deputy chief scientist Bob Dempsey told TASS Monday.

"We have a lot of cooperation. We will have to continue to do that, you know, as we continue the space station to whenever its end of life is, and you know, going to the moon and Mars," Dempsey said. "There's no way we can do that without cooperation with the Russians. I think there'll be a part of that too." He noted that sometimes one side brings hardware to the ISS for the other side to use. In particular, that is the case with the Plasma Kristall experiment, which involves injecting fine dust particles in plasma, which turns the dust into highly charged particles. (12/20)

New Government Office Tasked with Investigating UFO Sightings (Source: Today)
Are we alone in the universe? We may not know for sure, but we’re a step closer to potentially finding out. The National Defense Authorization Act calls for a new government program focused on investigating unidentified aerial phenomena, or UFOs. “If there’s a reported incident, now there’s a requirement for us to react to that information and go and collect that information,” said Lue Elizondo, the former director of the Advanced Aerospace Threat Identification Program.

The program seeks to quickly investigate unidentified aerial phenomena, share information with other countries, tell Congress if other nations or some other entity are behind the cases and check into reports of service members who have experienced health issues after they encounter unknown objects. The government has had experience with UFO matters. In 2017, the Pentagon also revealed it had run a clandestine program dedicated to investigating UFOs. (12/21)

Uplift Aerospace Wants to Make Concrete from Moon Dust (Source: Utah Business)
While growing up in Draper, Utah, Josh Hanes became fascinated by outer space. As a pre-teen, he even tried to invent propulsion systems to take people to the moon. Two decades later, 31-year-old Hanes is consumed with another space challenge—what people will actually do and need once they launch past Earth’s atmosphere and into space?

This fall, his Park City startup Uplift Aerospace inked a deal with NASA to launch the first “space vault,” selling rare and unique items from Earth. Think: a space exhibition of one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces and artwork from iconic creators. Some pieces will be sold to the public, while others will be curated as space artifacts in public museums.

Up next: Uplift will sell more useful items to commercial astronauts on the ISS, whether it’s unique foods not available in space or products that make the harsh environment of space a little more comfortable. “We’ll be creating history’s next marketplace and enabling commerce in space,” Hanes says. “It’s incredible.” (12/9)

Seraphim Joins Astroscale’s Largest Funding Round of $109 Million (Source: Seraphim)
Seraphim Space Investment Trust plc made a new $12.5m investment into Astroscale Holdings Inc, the market leader in satellite servicing and long-term orbital sustainability across all orbits. The $110m series F round which was led by Japanese investor THE FUND and was backed by a group of investors including Seraphim Space, Japan Growth Capital Investment Corporation and AXA Life Insurance. The future of space sustainability is critical which is why Seraphim is backing the leader in this category to address the future needs of the market. (12/21)

Searaphim Intests in HawkEye 360 (Source: Seraphim)
Seraphim Space Investment Trust plc made a new $25 million investment into HawkEye 360 Inc. the world’s leading commercial provider of space-based radio frequency (RF) data and analytics. HawkEye 360 is delivering a revolutionary source of global knowledge based on radio frequency geospatial intelligence to those working to make the world a safer place. The company operates the first-of-its-kind commercial satellite constellation to detect, characterise, and geolocate a broad range of RF signals, revealing hidden and previously uncharted activities across land, sea and air.

The inability to act quickly enough hinders the ability of first responders to save lives and law enforcement to halt hidden illegal activities.  Hawkeye’s growing constellation of satellites pick up radio frequency signals generated on Earth from VHF radios, radars, cell towers, satellite phones, emergency beacons and more to help deliver timely actionable intelligence. Applications include maritime domain awareness – combatting illegal fishing and piracy. (12/21)

Sidus Space to Support NASA NASA Astra Program (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space has been awarded a contract to support NASA's Advanced Space Technology Roadmapping Architecture (ASTRA) project. NASA's Autonomous Systems Lab (ASL) team will join Sidus Space to integrate and demonstrate for the first time, Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) derived autonomous operations in a spaceflight environment. The demonstration will provide the necessary flight heritage for an autonomous system development platform to be used throughout the Artemis project and beyond.

ASTRA will infuse multiple new technologies, including an autonomous imaging system on a Sidus-built LizzieSat-1 satellite which will then be deployed from the ISS using the SSIKLOPS deployer. The ASTRA imaging system will capture images of targets on Earth during predefined times to test autonomous functionally of conducting imaging system operations, capturing images of specific targets, and imaging system downlink and memory performance. (12/17)

Sidus Space to Support Mission Helios Blockchain Cubesat (Source: Sidus Space)
In addition to the ASTRA technologies aboard LizzieSat-1, Sidus Space will also provide launch and integration services for the ERC-20 token community, Mission Helios. As a decentralized space community, Helios plans to pioneer a new and innovative space-based blockchain technology that will mint satellite imagery through non-fungible tokens (NFTs) on the Ethereum blockchain.

Under the agreement, Sidus Space will provide launch and mission services to test the first-ever blockchain-based 1U (approximately 10 cm3) satellite imagery system aboard the multi-mission LizzieSat platform. LizzieSat-1 will launch and deploy from the ISS utilizing the SSIKLOPS deployer. (12/17)

Rivian Picks Georgia for Truck Production Site (Source: Site Selection)
Rivian, the electric truck pioneer that was just a gleam in RJ Scaringe’s eye about five years ago, announced last week its plan to invest $5 billion and create as many as 7,500 jobs at a site east of Atlanta that will produce up to 400,000 vehicles per year. Construction on the facility on 2,000 acres in Walton and Morgan counties is expected to begin in summer 2022, and the start of production is slated for 2024. Site considerations included logistics, environmental impact, renewable energy production, availability and quality of talent and fit with Rivian company culture, the company said.

RJ Scaringe visited the state one time. “It was a make or break moment,” he says, and Georgia Governor Brian Kemp was between meetings. “He helicoptered in. RJ was in a truck. They went for a ride and they came back. Both CEOs knew this was the right place to be. I had the pleasure of sitting in the back seat while they were talking. That is a fast vehicle.”

The company’s plant in Normal, Illinois, was recently approved for its own 623,000-sq.-ft. expansion. That will bring the total footprint of the Normal plant to approximately 4 million sq. ft., with further plans to extend warehouse, storage, and production capacity onsite. “Rivian’s hiring in Normal is scaling rapidly,” the company said, “with plans to hire an additional 800-1,000 employees in Normal by the second quarter of 2022.” (12/20)

After Controversial FAA License Decision, Georgia Spaceport Officials Point to Vertical Launch Demand, Highly Trained Workforce (Source: WSBTV)
Camden County is the ideal location to meet growing launch demand from the commercial space industry - a $447 billion industry that Bank of America predicts will grow to $3 trillion by 2047. Not only does Camden County have a highly trained military workforce that can transition upon retirement to employment into the commercial space industry, the surrounding area has transportation infrastructure such as roads and rail that can provide support to the investment community.

A recent study for the Pentagon found that the majority of US Spaceports are unsuitable for future launch needs because they are horizontal, not vertical launch sites like Spaceport Camden. The study notes, “[d]ue to the inherent performance limitations of horizontal launch, the future space economy will be dependent on vertical launch.”

The study also found that without additional vertical lift capacity at sites like Spaceport Camden “…the U.S. will still remain precariously dependent on a handful of key spaceports – a dependency that, if not resolved, will undermine U.S. interests strategically and commercially in the next decade.” (12/20)

SSC and SatRevolution to Launch EO Constellation From Swedish Spaceport (Source: SSC)
Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) and the Polish space company SatRevolution have signed an agreement to launch SatRevolution's STORK Earth observation satellite constellation into LEO from Esrange Space Center in Sweden, and subsequent constellation operation management. The agreement also includes cooperation on developing services using SSC’s Earth Observation data analytics capabilities through its subsidiary, GlobalTrust. (12/13)

L3Harris Teams with Moog on Hypersonic Missile Detection (Source: Shepard Media)
L3Harris and Moog Engineering will support work in the US to deliver LEO-based detection and tracking of hypersonic missiles. L3Harris Technologies and Moog Engineering have received a $7.87 million contract for supplemental work with the Space Development Agency (SDA) on satellites to track hypersonic missiles. The two companies will support work to ‘develop and deliver space vehicles to detect and track hypersonic vehicles from low Earth orbit [LEO]’, the DoD announced on 14 December. Approximately 88% of the supplemental effort will be performed by L3Harris.

L3Harris and SpaceX each received contracts in October 2020 to design and develop four missile warning satellites apiece (these awards were confirmed in January 2021 after the unsuccessful bidders lost an appeal). The eight satellites will comprise the initial tracking layer of the National Defense Space Architecture, which will eventually consist of hundreds of LEO satellites. (12/16)

Petition Seeks Special Election to Block Georgia Spaceport Land Purchase (Source: Spaceport Facts)
Over 4,000 petitions were filed in Camden County Probate Court on 14 December to compel a Special Election to prohibit the commissioners from purchasing the Union Carbide property for Spaceport Camden. More than 4,000 petitions were validated against the Voter ID list. This is about 600 more than required under the Georgia Constitution to force a Special Election within 60 to 90 days. The question on the Special Election ballot is:

“Shall the resolutions of the Board of Commissioners of Camden County, Georgia authorizing the Option Contract with Union Carbide Corporation and Camden County’s right and option to purchase the property described therein be repealed.” A vote of YES will stop the property purchase. (12/16)

Interstellar Probe: A Mission for the Generations (Source: BBC)
Imagine working on a project you know you have no hope of seeing through to completion. Would you have the motivation to even get it going? Absolutely, says Ralph McNutt from Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory. McNutt, with colleagues, has just published a detailed report that envisions a long-lived interstellar probe - a mission to the space between the stars.

NASA's legendary Voyagers are travelling through this domain right now, but McNutt's probe would go further and faster and would expect still to be working 50-100 years after leaving Earth. "Suppose this thing launched in 2036, and it got to the end of the nominal mission in 2086," he pondered. "That puts me at about 130 years old. I'm not going to worry about it. You have to hand these things off. I say to people, 'if you're into instant gratification, do not get involved with space exploration'." (12/20)