January 23, 2022

OneWeb Satellites Cranking Out Two Satellites Per Day at Cape Canaveral Spaceport Factory (Source: Florida Today)
Walk into the OneWeb Satellites visitor lobby, and you'll notice a throwback wall plaque displaying a black-and-white photo of a Ford Model T, the rudimentary car that debuted in 1908. What gives? Technicians on this futuristic factory floor at Kennedy Space Center's Exploration Park use artificial-intelligence software and geolocation-equipped torque wrenches to carefully assemble satellites — completing two per day — for launch into low-Earth orbit.

"Classically, it would take two years to 10 years to build a spacecraft. We build — from cradle to grave — in about seven days," Hinds said, standing next to the Model T photo. Workers on Merritt Island typically finish building two satellites per day inside the 142,000-square-foot building. Each cube-shaped satellite measures about the size of a washing machine, weighs about 330 pounds, uses about 300 watts of power, and takes one week to build. In orbit, each satellite can receive and transmit data across an area roughly the size of Alaska.

The state contributed about $20 million in incentives toward the factory's $36 million price tag. The company projected its total capital investment would reach $85 million. Today, Hinds said OneWeb Satellites employs about 200 people in Florida and 100 people in France. Hinds said it costs roughly $1 million for his factory to produce a satellite. Since production started, he said assembly has accelerated from a 10-day to a seven-day process. And Hinds considers the 648-satellite constellation "Gen 1" of the payload capabilities that the Merritt Island factory can produce. (1/21)

Astra Fires Up Rocket for First Time at Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Awaits Launch Date Approval (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Astra, a company seeking to carve out a segment of the growing small satellite launch market, test-fired its two-stage rocket at Cape Canaveral on Saturday in preparation for an upcoming demonstration flight for NASA. The engine test-firing, called a static fire test, occurred at Space Florida's Launc Complex 46 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport as Astra prepares to deliver four small CubeSat nano-satellites into orbit under contract to NASA’s Venture Class Launch Services program.

Chris Kemp, Astra’s founder and CEO, tweeted that the company will announce the target launch date and time for the mission after receiving a launch license from the Federal Aviation Administration. The static fire test was expected to be a prerequisite for Astra receiving an FAA launch license. (1/23)

SpaceX Cargo Dragon Undocks from Station for Monday Splashdown (Source: NASA)
A SpaceX cargo Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Docking Adapter on the station’s space-facing port of the Harmony module at 10:40 a.m. EST. Dragon will now fire its thrusters to move a safe distance from the space station. Controllers will command a deorbit burn Monday, Jan. 24. After re-entering Earth’s atmosphere, the spacecraft will make a parachute-assisted splashdown about 4:05 p.m., off the coast of Florida near Panama City. (1/23)

Space Force Wants Funding for a New Mission — Tracking Ground Targets (Source: C4ISRnet)
The U.S. Space Force wants to take on a new mission — tracking ground targets with space-based sensors — and the service expects to wrap up a review and requesting funding for the effort in fiscal 2024, according to the service’s top official. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John Raymond said last February the service was “thinking through” its role in the tactical intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) mission and in May he revealed a previously classified effort to develop a space-based ground moving target indicator, or GMTI, capability. (1/19)

Space Force Foresees Need for Cislunar Space Domain Awareness Within Decade (Source: Air Force Magazine)
The Space Force’s top officer thinks the U.S. needs to be able to surveil cislunar space as soon as five years from now to defend U.S. interests on and around the moon. Chief of Space Operations Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond explained his estimate—the need for cislunar space domain awareness in the next five to 10 years—during a webinar Jan. 19. NASA, with its mission of exploration and science, has said it plans to go back to the moon “hopefully here in the not-too-distant-future,” Raymond said. “I think for them to do their job, they have to have a domain that’s safe, and secure, and stable.”

NASA hopes to land astronauts on the moon’s surface by 2025 but will first send its vehicles on two test-flights to cislunar space and back—the first of those flights uncrewed, the second crewed but without a landing. Meanwhile, NASA and companies are planning a number of robotic missions.

Raymond said he views the Space Force’s role as “providing capabilities for our country’s way of life, and our way of war, and making sure that [space] is safe and stable so all can operate in it.” He said the Space Force already has the job, through the monitoring of objects in orbit, of protecting astronauts on the International Space Station. He alluded to dangers such as debris like that caused by Russia’s test of an anti-satellite weapon in November. (1/19)

What's Up with SpaceX's Ocean Launch Platforms? (Source: @SpaceOffshore)
Q: Any news on the oil platform they purchased? Not seen any updates for ages. A: Great question on the Starship rigs... There is no news. Deimos has not been touched in Brownsville. Phobos was stripped down to a clear platform in Pascagoula and has now been sitting there idle since. The last thing Elon said was "We're not thinking about the rigs right now" (1/23)

Weaponizing Space Not ISRO’s Mandate, a Q&A with ISRO Chief S. Somanath (Source: The Week)
He is a film buff, and has offered to sit for a session dedicated only to discussing film dialogues—be they from potboilers or classics, Akira Kurosawa or Adoor Gopalakrishnan. S. Somanath, 58, the chief of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) himself has a cine star flamboyance about him, with his thick mop of hair, dark moustache and stylish mannerisms. Click here. (1/23) https://www.theweek.in/theweek/specials/2022/01/20/weaponising-space-not-isro-mandate-says-new-chief-s-somanath.html

Spaceport Cornwall Still on Course for Virgin Orbit Rocket Launch in 2022 (Source: Cornwall Live)
It’s all systems go for rocket launches to take place in Cornwall this year. Spaceport bosses in the Duchy said all the pieces of the puzzle are falling into place to make sure Virgin Orbit can use Newquay airport to launch microsatellites into space from Cornwall towards the end of the year. Melissa Thorpe, the head of Spaceport Cornwall, said the organization continues to work with Sir Richard Branson’s company to ensure two launches take place in 2022.

The first launch would also be the opportunity to send Kernow Sat 1, a satellite designed and manufactured in Cornwall with a view to carry out earth science such as measuring ocean plastic pollution or mapping tree planting and deforestation or coastal erosion and look at issues that affect the Duchy, into space on the first trip. (1/21)

Roscosmos: US Visa Denial to Cosmonaut Chub Puts His Safety on ISS (Source: TASS)
The safety of Russian cosmonaut Nikolay Chub during his mission on the International Space Station (ISS), scheduled for 2023, has been called into question after the United States refused him an entry visa, Russia’s space agency Roscosmos told reporters on Saturday. "This situation calls into question the very safety of the Russian cosmonaut’s mission on the ISS and the safety of the Station’s US segment due to the unpreparedness of the Russian cosmonaut in case of an emergency," Roscosmos said. The Russian state corporation clarified that nobody will ever launch an untrained crew into space. (1/22)

NASA Upgrades its Asteroid Hazard Software to Use Sunlight (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) just upgraded the software it uses to assess potentially hazardous asteroids to account for sunlight's affect on orbits, among other changes. While there are no immediate known space rock hazards to Earth despite decades of careful searching, astronomers continue to scan the skies, just in case. The new impact monitoring algorithm, called Sentry-II, upgrades software in use for 20 years. Sentry-II will periodically scan a table of potentially hazardous asteroids with known orbits, generated by the Center for Near Earth Object Studies managed by JPL. (1/23)

Malta’s New Space Exploration Strategy (Source: Lovin Malta)
Malta has just launched its first official strategy to enable space exploration, during a press conference held earlier today. The strategy, which is being headed by Innovation Minister Owen Bonnici and Task Force Chief Omar Cutajar, is made up of a set of policies with goals mapped out until 2027. “We are fully intent on making sure that the strategy moves forward. We are going to consult with the general public, and once that consultation process is closed in March, we are going to keep on working so that this strategy is translated into practice,” Minister Owen Bonnici said. (1/21)

Expedition 66 Kicks Off 2022 with Plenty of Science, Including 4 Experiments from Florida-Based Redwire Space (Source: MyNews13)
After spending nearly a month in orbit, the Cargo Dragon capsule that launched shortly before Christmas is preparing to splashdown off the coast of Florida. The capsule was sent to the orbiting outpost with about 6,500 pounds of cargo, including gifts for the astronauts of Expedition 66 to enjoy the holiday season. Among the purely fun goodies for the orbiting outpost were four experiments sent by Redwire Space, headquartered in Jacksonville, Fla. They included three plant-based experiments and one focused on manufacturing in space.

Dave Reed, who serves as Redwire’s Florida Operations Director, is helping to oversee these projects. He has been working with science payloads for decades, going back to his start with NASA in the 90s. His first roll was as a mission analyst and program engineer starting in 1991. Reed retired from NASA to work in the private sector with his final job as the Chief of Science Program Development and Payload Engineering Subject Matter Expert at Kennedy Space Center. (1/22)

Lingkong Tianxing Successfully Completed its First Flight Mssion in 2022 (Source: Weixin)
Chinese firm Lingkong Tianxing Technology Co., which raised more than $46.3 million for its hypersonic spaceplane plans in 2021, successfully completed the first flight test this year at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on 23 January. This is also the 10th flight mission of the "Tianxing" series of rockets! Kick off the high-density launch in 2022. (1/23)

Florida Defense Industry Economic Impact Analysis (Source: Enterprise Florida)
During 2020, the state experienced a 12% nominal increase in direct defense spending – growing from $44 billion in 2018 to $49.3 billion in 2020. As the $49.3 billion rippled through the economy, it supported nearly 860,200 jobs and generated over $96.6 billion in value-added economic impacts, or 8.5% of the Florida economy. The total economic impact increased nominally by 1.7% to $96.6 billion, or 8.5% of Florida’s 2020 Gross State Product (GSP)

Defense-related spending accounted for a just over 860,200 direct, indirect, and induced jobs. Although defense spending increased by 12%, or $5.3 billion nominally, the number of total jobs supported declined from 2018 by 6%, or 55,000, as in-person household spending was temporally restricted due to COVID-19 safety protocols. Click here. (1/20)

Satellite Launches and Space Tourism Could Soon Be a Huge Part of the Economy (Source: CBS News)
In the early days, space exploration was purely a project of the government. But a push toward privatization is well underway. Barry Petersen takes a look at some of the groundwork being done here on Earth to turn space into a center of commercial activity. Click here. (1/22)