January 27, 2022

3 Predictions For Space Tourism In 2022 (Source: Forbes)
Space tourism made a lot of headlines last year, from Richard Branson’s launch over New Mexico to Jeff Bezos’s first flight – and then second flight with William Shatner and third flight too – to Inspiration4 and Yusaku Maezawa’s 12 days aboard the ISS. After literal decades of waiting for space to be open to ordinary (albeit wealthy and/or celebrity) citizens, 2021 is the year that history books will likely mark as the official beginning of space tourism and greater access to space for all.

Zero-G's Matt Gohd estimates that the two main players in the suborbital space tourism game are likely booked up through 2022. “I’m guessing Blue [Origin] is pretty well set for 2022,” estimates Gohd. “And with Virgin [Galactic] not getting back up til Q3 or later with 600-700 people with deposits before anyone can book,” purchasing a seat and flying this year will be tricky. Any company that can offer an unforgettable space or space-esque (in the case of ZERO-G) experience will see growth in the coming year and beyond.

“People have an increased awareness for cool experiences,” says Gohd. “The quest for experiences transcends the need for things.” While 2022 might not sound like much will happen from a space tourism perspective, that’s no deterrent to anyone who’s interested in the industry – as an operator or future tourist. “Welcome to the Roaring 20s.” Perhaps soaring is a better term, all puns intended. Once Virgin Galactic works through its backlog of reservations and Blue Origin releases pricing for their flights, the reusability and reliability of suborbital space tourism should help drive price down and hopefully make it accessible to more travelers. (1/6)

Boom Supersonic Selects Greensboro, North Carolina for First Supersonic Airliner Manufacturing Facility (Source: Boom)
Boom Supersonic, the company building the world's fastest and most sustainable supersonic airliner, today announced it has selected the Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro, North Carolina as the site of its first full-scale manufacturing facility. The Overture Superfactory will be a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility, including the final assembly line, test facility, and customer delivery center for the Overture supersonic airliner. Carrying 65 to 88 passengers, Overture is capable of flying on 100% sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) at twice the speed of today's fastest passenger jets. (1/26)

New Tech Spurs Spaceplane Vision: Halfway Around World in 40 Minutes (Source: Space Daily)
Seattle-area company Radian Aerospace plans to build and commercialize a true spaceplane that could take off from a commercial runway, fly to space and return under its own power -- a feat never achieved in aerospace history. The company emerged from secrecy in an announcement last week that said a former Boeing official who oversaw that company's X-33 spaceplane program, Livingston Holder, is now its chief technology officer.

The company plans a "single-stage-to-orbit" plane. Holder acknowledged in an email to UPI that flying a true spaceplane "is very difficult" but said some "technologies that we are using were not available during earlier programs." He said Radian plans to "take advantage of years of advancements in materials science, reduction in component size, weight and power, as well as manufacturing technologies."

A British company, Reaction Engines, may beat Radian into space with its Skylon spaceplane concept that has been under development for decades, Seedhouse said. The company plans its first test flight in 2022. The best minds at NASA have worked on spaceplane concepts for decades, Iain Boyd, professor of aerospace engineering and director of the Center for National Security Initiatives at the University of Colorado, said in an interview. (1/26)

Satellite Manufacturers Explore Greater Use of 3D Printing (Source: Space News)
Satellite manufacturers may be approaching a tipping point in the 3D printing of spacecraft. Nearly all satellites built today have some 3D-printed parts, but these are limited primarily to relatively simple mechanical bracketing systems and similar structural components. Companies are looking at how they can make greater use of 3D-printing technologies for spacecraft, including for more complex components. However, printing entire satellites may remain a long-term goal given both technical and cost challenges. (1/27)

Next Cygnus to Honor Piers Sellers (Source: Northrop Grumman)
Northrop Grumman's next Cygnus mission to the ISS will be named after the late NASA astronaut Piers Sellers. The company said Wednesday the NG-17 Cygnus mission, launching in mid-February, will be named the S.S. Piers Sellers after the astronaut, who flew on three shuttle missions and later was the deputy director for science and exploration at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Sellers died in 2016. (1/27)

Former Astronauts Join Tomorrow.io Advisory Board (Source: Tomorrow.io)
Two former astronauts are joining the advisory board of Tomorrow.io. The company says that Steve Smith and Kathryn Sullivan are joining the advisory board of the company, which is developing a constellation of satellites to collect data for weather forecasting. Sullivan served as administrator of NOAA after leaving NASA, while Smith is currently on the board of directors of the ISS National Laboratory. Tomorrow.io announced plans in December to merge with a SPAC, raising up to $420 million to fund development of that satellite constellation. (1/27)

Inspiration4 Mission's Mystery Seat Winner Was Kyle Hippchen (Source: AP)
The person who won a seat on the Inspiration4 mission but gave it to a friend has come forward. Kyle Hippchen, an airline pilot, originally won the seat by buying entries in a competition to raise money for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. However, after he found out that he weighed more than the upper limit set by SpaceX for flying on the Crew Dragon spacecraft, he decided to give the seat to a friend from college, Chris Sembroski. In return, Sembroski flew some personal items into space for Hippchen, who attended the launch and also flew on a zero-g aircraft flight with other friends and family of the crew. (1/27)

Celebrating Women in Satellite (Source: Via Satellite)
To commemorate International Women’s Day, Via Satellite is celebrating women who are leaders in the satellite industry. For this feature, we are asking people in the satellite industry to highlight women in the industry who have made a difference in their careers and for the greater satellite and space industry. Click here. (1/19)

Sultanate of Oman and Virgin Orbit Announce International Consortium for Deep Space Mission (Source: Virgin Orbit)
The Sultanate of Oman, Virgin Orbit, SatRevolution and Tuatara of Poland, and Oman’s ETCO announced a memorandum of understanding to collaborate on Oman’s first deep-space mission. The agreement also establishes a foundation for the parties to work together to send the first Omani small satellite to low Earth orbit on Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne from Spaceport Cornwall later this year. (1/26)

Xplore to Fly Sensors on OrbAstro Nanosatellites (Source: Space News)
Xplore Inc., a firm best known for developing its own Xcraft satellite, is purchasing nanosatellites from Orbital Astronautics Ltd. While Xplore continues developing ESPA-class Xcraft, the company plans to launch sensor suites for Earth-observation and astronomical missions on OrbAstro cubesats. (1/26)

Star Trek Tribute Mission to Fly on ULA’s Vulcan Inaugural Launch (Source: Space News)
In a Star Trek tribute, Celestis will launch cremated remains on the first flight of the United Launch Alliance Vulcan Centaur rocket. The Celestis mission, dubbed the Enterprise Flight, will launch more than 150 capsules containing cremated remains, DNA samples and messages from Star Trek fans as a tribute to actress Majel Barrett Roddenberry and her husband Star Trek creator Gene Roddenberry. (1/26)

GAO Squashes $22M Space Force Satellite Contract Protest (Source: Law360)
The Government Accountability Office refused to undermine the Defense Information Systems Agency's evaluation of proposals for a $22.2 million satellite services task order, finding that a protesting engineering firm would not have been eligible for the contract. Maryland-based AIS Engineering had failed to substantively address an "unacceptable" rating it received on one of four evaluation criteria for a Space Force commercial satellite communications task order. (1/25)

There is Risk to Invasive Life on Interplanetary Spacecraft (Source: Quartz)
COSPAR, which was launched in 1958 in the UK, brings together roughly 3,000 scientists every two years in different locales to discuss potential problems impacting space exploration. “The Earth must be protected from the potential hazard posed by extraterrestrial matter carried by a spacecraft returning from an interplanetary mission,” the COSPAR document states. “The conduct of scientific investigations of possible extraterrestrial life forms, precursors, and remnants must not be jeopardized.”

The potential threats such space missions carry with regard to biological contaminants reaching Earth are also highlighted in a recent paper by McGill University professor Anthony Ricciardi and his colleagues. “The likelihood of a live extraterrestrial organism hitching a ride, being successfully transported to Earth and establishing a foothold here is thought to be quite small,” said Ricciardi, a professor of Invasion Ecology & Aquatic Ecosystems. “But current biosecurity approaches must be enhanced to address these hazards as space missions increase in frequency and scale.” (1/27)

D-Orbit Going Public with SPAC Merger (Source: D-Orbit)
Launch services provider D-Orbit is going public through a SPAC merger. The Italian company, which arranges rideshare launches of smallsats using its ION Satellite Carrier system, said Thursday it would merge with Breeze Holdings Acquisition Corp. in a deal that will provide up to $185 million in cash and value the company at $1.28 billion. Supporting the transaction is The Charles F. Bolden Group, an advisory firm founded by former NASA Administrator Charles Bolden (1/27)

EU to Release Satellite Broadband Plans (Source: Space News)
The European Union will release its satellite broadband plans in the next few weeks. Thierry Breton, the E.U. commissioner responsible for space policy, said at a conference this week that he will present a legislative proposal for the project in the coming weeks, which would enable Europe to start searching for partners to create the sovereign multi-orbit network. The system is intended to provide secure communications and broadband services as well as "reduce European dependencies on non-European commercial initiatives" like Starlink and OneWeb, Breton said. The system will also serve European military needs. (1/27)

White House NSC Calls for Satellite Norms (Source: Space News)
A White House official called for the development of norms for satellite-to-satellite interactions. In a talk Wednesday, Audrey Schaffer, director of space policy at the National Security Council, said such norms would "avoid the risk of miscalculation and misperception" during activities like satellite servicing or debris removal where an approaching spacecraft could be mistaken for an aggressor. Such norms could include safe separation distances between spacecraft. (1/27)

Astroscale Anomaly Pauses Satellite Servicing Test (Source: Space News)
Astroscale has paused a test of a satellite servicing spacecraft after an unspecified anomaly. The company was preparing for an autonomous capture of a client satellite by its ELSA-d spacecraft when "anomalous spacecraft conditions" forced it to halt the test. Both spacecraft are operational and "safely separated," the company said. ELSA-d successfully conducted a first capture test in August, but this test involved greater distances between the spacecraft and autonomous operations. (1/27)

NASA Awards Venture-Class Launch Contracts (Source: Space News)
NASA awarded contracts to a dozen companies for smallsat launch services. NASA announced Wednesday that the companies won Venture-Class Acquisition of Dedicated and Rideshare (VADR) contracts to perform launches of agency smallsats. The companies include existing launch providers, startups developing new rockets and launch brokers. The contracts allow the companies to compete for task orders for individual launches, with the maximum value of all the VADR contracts capped at $300 million over five years.

The companies include: ABL Space Systems, Astra Space, Blue Origin Florida LLC, L2 Solutions, Northrop Grumman, Phantom Space Corp., Relativity Space, Rocket Lab USA, Spaceflight Inc., SpaceX, United Launch Services LLC, and Virgin Orbit. (1/27)

Cosmonaut Receives US Visa for ISS Training (Source: Space News)
A Russian cosmonaut has received a visa to go to the U.S. for training after an initial denial. Roscosmos said Wednesday that Nikolai Chub received the visa to go to the Johnson Space Center for space station training. Roscosmos officials complained over the weekend that the U.S. had denied a visa. The State Department declined to comment on the specific case, citing federal laws that keep visa records confidential but reiterated U.S. support for "important bilateral cooperation" on the ISS. (1/27)

University Spy in Germany 'Passed Ariane Rocket Details to Russia' (Source: Space Daily)
German prosecutors on Thursday said they had charged a Russian scientist working at a Bavarian university with espionage, accusing him of sharing information about Europe's Ariane space rocket program with Moscow. The accused, identified only as Ilnur N., was arrested last June, the latest in a string of alleged Russian spies uncovered on German soil at a time of the worst tensions between Russia and the West since the Cold War. (1/27)

Israel Signs Artemis Accords (Source: Space News)
Israel has signed the Artemis Accords. Uri Oron, direct-general of the Israel Space Agency, signed the document Wednesday, a little more than a week after the country's foreign minister announced his country's intent to join the accords. Israeli officials said they hope to use the agreement to enhance its space cooperation in the fields of research, science, and innovation. Israel is the 15th country to sign the Artemis Accords. (1/27)

Air Force Wants Laser Communication Pods To Securely Link Fighter Aircraft With Satellites (Source: The Drive)
The Air Force’s AFWERX program is funding development of a pod to enable beyond-line-of-sight laser communications between aircraft and satellites in orbit. Such a concept is not new, but recent developments in optical technologies could make it more feasible to deploy such a system across a large force. Given the threats traditional radio frequency-based networks face, developing more resilient and hardened forms of communications, such as laser links, will no doubt prove very valuable in a future conflict in which electronic warfare could degrade the military’s vital networks.

AFWERX awarded a Phase 1 Small Business Technology Transfer contract this week to Space Micro, a San Diego-based firm that designs electro-optical sensors, software subsystems, and communications technologies for satellites. Space Micro is calling the project DEFORMO and says their goal is to develop an “Air-to-Space Laser Communications Pod that could be deployed on a variety of USAF aircraft.” (1/26)