January 19, 2022

NASA Targeting Late March for Artemis I Launch (Source: Space Policy Online)
NASA is targeting the end of March for Artemis I, the first launch of the Space Launch System rocket with an uncrewed Orion spacecraft. The actual date is yet to be determined, but the agency is confident enough to open the process for media to apply to cover the launch at Kennedy Space Center. The agency official in charge of the initiative also laid out a tentative schedule for future Artemis missions showing the U.S. human return to the Moon in 2025. (1/18)

Rocket Lab Closes Acquisition of SolAero Holdings (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab USA has closed the previously-announced transaction to acquire SolAero Holdings, Inc. (SolAero), a supplier of space solar power products and precision aerospace structures for the global aerospace market, for $80 million in cash. Rocket Lab announced the execution of the agreement to acquire SolAero on December 13, 2021 pending certain closing conditions. (1/18)

Space Traffic Management Conference Planned at UT Austin (Source: UT Austin)
The Space Security, Safety, and Sustainability (SSSS) Program at the University of Texas at Austin, in partnership with the International Academy of Astronautics (IAA), will hold the 8th annual Space Traffic Management conference, “Anthropogenic Environmental Impact and Assessment of Space Traffic on Space Operations and Implications for Climate Change Monitoring”. The conference will take place on March 2-33 at the University of Texas at Austin and via Zoom Webinar. Click here. (1/18)

Arianespace to Launch Microcarb on Vega C (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Arianespace has been awarded a launch contract by ESA, on behalf of the European Commission, to launch Microcarb in 2023 on Vega C. Microcarb is a 190kg satellite developed by CNES that will be delivered into a sun-synchronous orbit, 650km above the Earth. Microcarb is a small satellite designed to map sources and sinks of carbon dioxide (CO2)—the most important greenhouse gas — on a global scale. (1/18)

SpaceX On a Roll for 2022, Launches More Starlink Satellites from Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
SpaceX launched more Starlink satellites Tuesday night, bringing the total number of such satellites launched to more than 2,000. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport and deployed its payload of 49 Starlink satellites about 15 minutes later. The Falcon 9 first stage, making its tenth flight, landed on a droneship in the Atlantic. With this launch, SpaceX has launched 2,042 Starlink satellites to date, of which 1,879 are in orbit. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk tweeted over the weekend that 1,469 satellites were active, with another 272 moving to operational orbits. (1/19)

Falcon 9 Booster Becomes Fourth to Launch and Land Ten Times (Source: Teslarati)
For the fourth time, a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster has successfully completed ten orbital-class launches and landings. The booster performed its job without issue, boosting the payload and second stage mostly free of Earth’s atmosphere and about a quarter of the way to orbital velocity (2.2 km/s or Mach 6.5). As is now routine, B1060 then separated from the upper stage, flipped around, coasted to an apogee of ~130 km (80 mi), reentered Earth’s atmosphere, and touched down on one of SpaceX’s drone ships.

Unlike most other SpaceX launches, that drone ship – named A Shortfall Of Gravitas (ASOG) – was stationed southeast of Kennedy Space Center and off the coast of the Bahamas, where the weather and warmer seas are calmer and more optimal for safe booster and fairing recovery. Starlink 4-6 is the second time SpaceX has significantly customized a Starlink launch trajectory to optimize for booster recovery after Starlink 4-5, a virtually identical mission that launched on January 6th. (1/18)

Congressional Budget Delay Could Delay Space Force Launches (Source: Space News)
The lack of a fiscal year 2022 appropriations bill could delay some Space Force launches. Gen. John Raymond, head of the Space Force, said Tuesday that its 2022 budget request included funding for five national security launches, and if Congress passes a spending bill next month, the service will proceed with those five. However, he said that if Congress instead passed a continuing resolution for the rest of the fiscal year, two of those missions would be delayed to 2023 or later. He did not state which launches would be delayed other than they are “really important launches for us as we compete to win against Russia and China.” (1/19)

Space Force Submitting 'Bold' Budget Request for 2023 (Source: National Defense)
The Space Force's upcoming budget request will be "bold" and advance the Pentagon's pursuit of an improved satellite architecture that would be more resilient against enemy attacks or other disruptions, the service's top officer said Jan. 18. Defense observers are eagerly awaiting the release of President Joe Biden’s fiscal year 2023 budget blueprint. Annual presidential budget submissions to Congress typically come in February, but the next one could be delayed until March, according to reports.

Meanwhile, lawmakers have yet to enact a full-year appropriations bill for fiscal year 2022, and federal agencies are currently operating under a continuing resolution which is slated to last through Feb. 18. The Space Force has requested $17.4 billion for 2022, a 13.1 percent increase in funding compared to 2021. The ongoing CR, which generally freezes program funding at 2021 levels, is already having a detrimental effect on the Space Force, which recently celebrated its second birthday in December, Raymond noted. (1/18)

Space Force Turns Focus to Future Space Architecture (Source: Space News)
Raymond said 2022 will be “even more consequential” for the Space Force than its first two years. He said the Space Force will turn more attention in the coming year to designing the military’s future space architecture. Raymond established a Space Warfighting Analysis Center to manage the architecture designs using digital models and simulations, and it has completed its first study on the future mix of missile warning and missile tracking satellites. Future work will focus on space communications and the design of a so-called tactical ISR architecture, short for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance. (1/19)

AFRL Official to Develop Space Force Satellites Architecture (Source: Space News)
The head of the Air Force Research Lab's Space Vehicles Directorate is taking a new job at the Pentagon. Col. Eric Felt will be moving to a new post this summer as deputy executive director of the Space Force's architecture, science and technology directorate at the Pentagon. At AFRL, Felt has focused on space science and technology efforts, maturing the components of satellites and then demonstrating new capabilities on orbit with flight experiments and then transitioning those into operational capabilities. He will be replaced by Col. Jeremy Raley, who currently runs the Space Rapid Capabilities Office, a Space Force procurement organization also located at Kirtland. (1/19)

Hypersonic Weapons Can’t Hide from New Eyes in Space (Source: Scientific American)
China’s test flight of a long-range hypersonic glide vehicle late last year was described in the media as close to a “Sputnik moment” in the race to develop new ultrafast maneuvering weapons. But even as senior U.S. military officials publicly fretted about missiles that are, for the moment at least, effectively invincible, the Pentagon was quietly making strides on an entirely novel way to help shoot down these weapons.

Late last December the U.S. Department of Defense’s Missile Defense Agency (MDA) gave the green light to a pair of contractors—L3Harris and Northrop Grumman—to pivot from design to prototype fabrication of a Hypersonic and Ballistic Tracking Space Sensor (HBTSS) system. This technology is intended to solve one of the Pentagon’s most vexing technical challenges: how to detect and track the hypersonic glide vehicles that exploit blind spots in today’s radar networks. (1/18)

NATO Releases Space Policy (Source: Breaking Defense)
NATO has released its first space policy, a document focused on space support and space domain awareness. The policy, published Monday, says NATO members will “fulfill and sustain requirements for space support in NATO operations, missions and other activities” in various areas. NATO has no plans to develop its own space capabilities but instead will rely on those of its 30 members. The document, in development for years, comes as European Union takes steps to develop a space security strategy independent of NATO. (1/19)

EarthDaily Picks Loft Orbital to Operate Constellation (Source: Space News)
EarthDaily Analytics has selected condosat operator Loft Orbital to build, launch and operate a fleet of 10 Earth-observation satellites on its behalf. Under the $150 million deal, modified OneWeb satellite platforms that Loft Orbital recently ordered from Airbus will be used for EarthDaily’s constellation. The company was formed by Antarctica Capital last February after the private equity company bought parts of UrtheCast that sought creditor protection to avoid bankruptcy. It expects to deploy the full constellation of nine satellites, with one orbital spare, in 2023 for agriculture, insurance, commodity trading and other markets. (1/19)

ESA May Accelerate Sentinel-1B Replacement (Source: Space News)
ESA may accelerate the launch of a radar imaging satellite after another satellite malfunctioned last month. Sentinel-1B has been out of service since Dec. 23 after its radar antenna's primary and backup power systems failed. Efforts to fix the power system have not been successful, but ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher said Tuesday that those efforts continue. A new satellite, Sentinel-1C, is nearing completion and currently scheduled to launch around the middle of next year. Aschbacher said ESA is looking into whether that satellite could be launched earlier, possibly by the end of this year. (1/19)

China's Landspace Readies for First Launch (Source: Space News)
Chinese private company Landspace is working towards the first launch of its new methane-fueled Zhuque-2 rocket. Satellite imagery and deleted social media postings indicate that work is progressing on a new complex for methane-liquid oxygen launch vehicles at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in northwest China, including the presence of a Zhuque-2 test article. Landspace CEO Zhang Changwu said in an interview last November that Zhuque-2 could lift off in the first quarter of 2022, which could make it the first orbital launch attempt of a rocket using methane and liquid oxygen propellants. (1/19)

After Six Decades, Russia Will Build its Final Proton Rocket This Year (Source: Ars Technica)
Russia's main space corporation, Roscosmos, said it is in the process of building four more Proton rockets before it shuts down production of the venerable booster. Roscosmos said the four rockets are on an assembly line in Moscow. After their production is complete, these four rockets will be added to its present inventory of 10 flight-ready Proton-M rockets. Russia said it plans to launch these remaining 14 Proton rockets over the next four or five years. Russia plans to transition payloads, such as military communications satellites, that would have launched on Proton to the new Angara-A5 rocket. (1/18)

SES Consolidates (Source: Space News)
Satellite operator SES is absorbing its SES Networks business unit. SES Networks was formed in 2016 as part of the company's acquisition of O3b Networks and its medium Earth orbit constellation. The consolidation is similar to the integration of SES Video into the overall company in 2020 following the retirement of that business unit's CEO, Ferdinand Kayser. SES is preparing to launch the O3b mPOWER constellation this year. (1/19)

Israel Moves Toward Artemis Accords Agreement (Source: Space News)
Israel appears to be next in line to sign the Artemis Accords. Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid tweeted Sunday that he had won approval from the government to sign the U.S.-led accords, which outline safe and sustainable space exploration practices. Israeli media reported a formal signing ceremony could occur next week when the Israel Space Agency hosts the 17th Ramon International Space Conference. (1/19)

Axiom Commercial ISS Mission Delayed One Month to March 31 (Source: NASA)
The launch of a commercial mission to the International Space Station has slipped a month. NASA said Tuesday that Axiom Space's Ax-1 mission, previously scheduled to launch Feb. 28, is now scheduled for March 31. NASA said "additional spacecraft preparations and space station traffic" was the reason for the delay. Ax-1 will send four people to the station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon for an eight-day stay. (1/19)

Curiosity Rover Finds Martian Organics (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has found organic compounds on the red planet, but scientists said that is not necessarily evidence of life. In a study published Tuesday, researchers said an instrument on Curiosity had detected compounds rich in carbon-12, an isotope of carbon. On Earth, metabolic processes preferentially use carbon-12, so detecting organics with high levels of that isotope is suggestive of life. However, scientists said the compounds could be created by other processes, such as interaction with ultraviolet light or carbon dioxide, that do not require the presence of life. Those involved in the study said they need more data to determine which process created the compounds. (1/19)

Virgin Galactic Distances Itself From Chairman After Controversial Uyghur Comments (Source: City AM)
Virgin Galactic has distanced itself from comments made by its chairman yesterday, urging that his views do not reflect that of the company’s. Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya told the All-In Podcast audience that “nobody cares about what’s happening to the Uyghur Muslims.” Venture capitalist Palihapitiya, amidst a discussion of human rights, said “of all the things that I care about, (it) is below my line.” (1/18)

Air Force Thunderbirds training at Spaceport America (Source: KRQE)
The iconic ‘Thunderbirds’ have landed at Spaceport America for a training mission. The Air Force’s demonstration squadron made its first appearance at the facility near Truth or Consequences last week. The team has trained at their home base, Nellis Air Force Base, Nevada in previous years. They will be at the Spaceport through next week. (1/18)

With Spaceport Camden in Limbo, Here Are the 12 Other US Launch Sites (Source: Savannah Morning News)
The proposed Spaceport Camden would make Georgia the ninth U.S. state home to an orbital launch facility. Most Americans are familiar with the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, the longtime home of NASA and now the base for Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin commercial ventures. But there are 12 other spaceports scattered across the country. Here’s a look at those other launch facilities. (1/19)

China Rocket Material Used for Olympic Ski Helmets (Source: Xinhua)
Chinese scientists have developed a strong ski helmet with space technology originally used on the Long March-5 rocket, the country's heaviest launch vehicle and the carrier of Mars probe Tianwen-1. The helmet has been tested on Chinese freestyle skiers during their training on aerials and halfpipes for the upcoming Winter Olympics. They must be lightweight and show strong resistance to impact. The same principles apply to spacecraft, and scientists hoped to take advantage of the rocket's structure and materials to improve skiers' safety. (1/18)

NASA Confirms Russian ASAT Test Doubled Debris Risk to ISS (Source: Space Policy Online)
NASA confirmed today that the risk of orbital debris penetrating the International Space Station has doubled because of Russia’s recent antisatellite test. Shards from the destroyed Russian satellite careened towards the ISS, forcing the seven crewmembers, including two Russians, to secure in place for a day until the immediate threat passed. But the long-term threat remains from the increase in the background debris field. U.S. officials and other experts are calling for an end to debris-generating ASAT tests. (1/18)

Where is the Edge of Space? (Source: Cosmos)
Have you ever looked up at the night sky and wondered: how far away is space? What distances can we climb to in our atmosphere before we reach the edge, and does that line even exist? Cosmos Magazine’s Lauren Fuge delves into this conundrum within the context of 2021’s billionaire “astronauts” and their race to space. Click here. (1/18)