February 13, 2022

Starship is Freaking Out SpaceX Competitors, and NASA (Source: Politico)
“It is the kind of thing we used to talk about as ‘wouldn’t it be great if we could do these kinds of things?’” said Scott Altman, a former astronaut who is now president of ASRC Federal, a space R&D company. But NASA officials — and their longtime aerospace contractors — are watching with a mix of awe and horror. “They are shitting the bed,” said a top Washington space lobbyist who works for SpaceX’s competitors and asked for anonymity to avoid upsetting his clients.

NASA and its major industry partners are simultaneously scrambling to complete their own moon vehicles: the Space Launch System mega-rocket and companion Orion capsule. But the program is billions of dollars over budget and years behind schedule — and, many would argue, generations behind SpaceX in innovation.

As Starship progresses, it will further eclipse the argument for sticking with SLS, according to Rand Simberg, an aerospace engineer and space consultant. "Once the new system’s reliability is demonstrated with a large number of flights, which could happen in a matter of months, it will obsolesce all existing launch systems,” he said. “If SLS is not going to fly more than once every couple of years, it’s just not going to be a significant player in the future in space, particularly when Starship is flown,” he added. (2/12)

Advanced Space, USAF Sign Deal to Collaborate on Cislunar Activities (Source: Space Daily)
Advanced Space LLC., a leading space solutions company, has entered into a Cooperative Research And Development Agreement (CRADA) with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space Vehicles Directorate, and the Spacecraft Technology Division to share data collected from cislunar space through the CAPSTONE mission.

Advanced Space owns and operates the CAPSTONE mission going to the Moon in the early part of 2022. CAPSTONE, Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment, is a pathfinder mission for NASA's Artemis program using a small spacecraft, CubeSat. It will be one of the first to ever fly in the unique Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO). (2/11)

Future Gravitational Wave Detector in Space Could Uncover Secrets of the Universe (Source: Space Daily)
New research has shown that future gravitational wave detections from space will be capable of finding new fundamental fields and potentially shed new light on unexplained aspects of the Universe. Scientists showed the unprecedented accuracy with which gravitational wave observations by the space interferometer LISA (Laser Interferometer Space Antenna) will be able to detect new fundamental fields. The researchers suggest that LISA, the space-based gravitational-wave (GW) detector which is expected to be launched by ESA in 2037 will open up new possibilities for the exploration of the Universe. (2/11)

Office of Space Commerce Rolls Out Prototype Space Catalog for Traffic Management (Source: Space News)
Commerce Department officials on Feb. 11 unveiled a prototype for a space catalog and traffic software platform that would provide basic situational awareness and traffic management services. Known as the open architecture data repository, the OADR is a cloud-based system designed to track satellites and debris in space, and eventually replace the space catalog currently maintained by the U.S. military. The data would be used to calculate the probability of collisions in orbit, an issue of growing concern to the space industry as large numbers of satellites are being launched and more debris is generated. (2/12)

A New Chinese Rocket Company has Raised More Than $100 Million (Source: Space.com)
One of China's newest launch startups has been raising serious money for its range of increasingly complex "Gravity" launch vehicles. Orienspace was founded in 2020 and secured initial funding of $65 million. The firm has just secured a further $47 million, making it one of the most well-backed Chinese launch startups despite its youth. The company aims to launch its first rocket, Gravity 1, in 2023. Gravity 1 uses a combination of a liquid propellant core stage with simpler, solid propellant boosters. The 102-foot-long (31 meters) rocket is planned to be capable of launching 6,600 pounds (3,000 kilograms) to low Earth orbit, or LEO.

Larger, more challenging Gravity 2 and 3 launch vehicles are to debut in 2024 and 2025 and are capable of sending 33,000 pounds (15,000 kg) and 66,100 pounds (30,000 kg) to LEO, respectively. The latter will be a reusable rocket using kerosene fuel and liquid oxygen, with the possibility of developing a three-core version, similar to how SpaceX adapted the Falcon 9 rocket into the Falcon Heavy. (2/13)

Declining Value of Space SPACs Could Trigger Mergers and Acquisitions (Source: Space News)
Space companies that went public in the last year only to see their valuation drop precipitously may soon become targets of acquisitions. Potential acquirers range from other emerging space companies looking to move up the value chain to large aerospace companies that want to diversify. “Absolutely,” said Matt O’Connell, operating partner at DCVC, when asked if falling share prices of publicly traded space companies made them takeover targets. “The stock price is a red flag that is going to attract people’s attention.”

Many space companies that went public in the last year through mergers with special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs) have suffered sharp declines in share prices and thus their valuations. When Astra Space announced a year its intent to go public through a SPAC merger, the deal valued the company at $2.1 billion. As of the close of trading Feb. 11, Astra had a market cap of just over $850 million.

Such declines could make companies targets for mergers and acquisitions, or M&A. “It’s not the end of the world that these stocks have traded down,” said Jim Murray, partner at PJT Partners. “An unintended consequence of all these companies going public is perhaps a wave of M&A in ’22, ’23 and ’24.” One potential source of deals involves companies seeking vertical integration by purchasing suppliers, as Rocket Lab has done with three such acquisitions last fall. Another involves companies seeking to move into new markets, such as launch providers going into satellite manufacturing or services. (2/12)

SpaceX’s Monstrous, Dirt-Cheap Starship May Transform Space Travel (Source: The Economist)
When a Saturn V took off to send men to the moon, the only bit of the 2,800 tonnes of hardware which came back was a cramped five-tonne capsule with three men inside. Each new mission meant a new Saturn V. With Starship, the idea is that all the hardware will come back: the massive booster stage almost immediately, the second, orbital stage after fulfilling whatever mission it had been sent on. It is designed to be not only the biggest rocket ever built, but also the cheapest. Existing rockets cost tens to hundreds of millions of dollars per launch (the Saturn V may have cost over $1 billion in today’s money). Despite Starship’s size, SpaceX hopes to cut that to single-digit millions.

Starship’s unprecedented combination of size and frugality could upend the economics of the space business closer to Earth, too. An industry used to shaving grams of mass and cramming complicated payloads into small cargo bays will see those restrictions lifted. Some scientists are already imagining extravagant space missions that would make full use of the rocket’s huge capacity. NASA intends to use it to land astronauts on the Moon; America’s soldiers are eyeing it up too. And Starship is vital to the future of SpaceX itself, which was valued in its most recent funding round at more than $100 billion.

But first the rocket needs to fly. Its first orbital flight, though, needs approval from regulators, who were deluged with thousands of public comments. Officials have promised a decision within weeks. But broader environmental issues could yet force the firm to suspend work at Boca Chica entirely. An internal memo leaked last year revealed serious problems with the “Raptor” engines intended to power Starship. In his press conference, Musk left himself a fair amount of wiggle room. An orbital flight, he said, might come in “a couple of months”—though it could also slip to the end of the year. (2/11)

SpaceX Considers Shifting Starship Testing to Florida (Source: Space News)
SpaceX is prepared to shift testing of its Starship next-generation launch vehicle from Texas to Florida if there are extended delays in an ongoing environmental review, company founder and chief executive Elon Musk said Feb. 10. “We don’t have a ton of insight into where things stand with the FAA,” he said. “We have gotten sort of a rough indication that there may be an approval in March, but that’s all we know.”

One potential outcome of that review, though, is to perform a more rigorous environmental impact statement (EIS), which could take more than a year to complete, putting any launch activity from Boca Chica on hold during that process. "...So we would have to shift our priorities to Cape Kennedy,” he said. SpaceX previously obtained environmental approvals for Starship launches from KSC, and the company has restarted work on a launch site for Starship at Launch Complex 39A, adjacent to the existing pad now used by Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy.

“I guess our worst-case scenario is that we would be delayed for six to eight months to build up the Cape launch tower and launch from there,” he said. It’s unclear, though, whether the earlier environmental review for Starship at KSC would have to be updated to take into account the current configuration of the vehicle, which has evolved significantly since the completion of that review. In the long run, though, Musk said SpaceX expects to use KSC as a major launch site for Starship and is building a factory there to produce those vehicles. (2/11)

With Protests, Space Force Will Have to Defend $700M Award for Remote Sensing Support (Source: Space Force)
Space Force decided to move away from the incumbent on a $678 million contract for remote sensing support when it picked newcomer Booz Allen Hamilton for the work. Now Space Force must give more explanation on why it did so after two protests were filed by Science Applications International Corp. and ManTech International.

The Systems Engineering and Integration Service Support contract was held by SAIC and being recompeted under the OASIS professional services vehicle. ManTech pursued the award as a takeaway like Booz Allen did. SAIC and ManTech are challenging the evaluation of their proposals. Both are arguing that if the evaluation was done properly, they would have been selected for the award. The work traces back to a contract first won by TASC in 2010. Five years later, TASC was acquired by Engility. SAIC then acquired Engility in 2019. (2/11)

Twitch Streamer: I Loved Floating in Zero Gravity But Struggled with the Journey Back to Earth (Source: Business Insider)
As a kid, I never expected to become an astronaut. I'm a game designer and do livestreaming on video platform Twitch under the name "MeepsKitten," where I have more than 3,200 followers. Now, I'm the first pansexual person to go into space — it's crazy. I found out my dad and I were flying to space on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket six months before the flight. We had to keep it a secret from everyone.

The moment we lifted off, we all cheered. The upward thrust became stronger as the rocket flew higher and obviously, the sky got darker. The view of the Earth was incredible — like nothing I'd ever seen before. When the capsule reached the edge of space, we unbuckled our seatbelts and floated around in zero gravity. It felt like I was in a dream. We planned in training what to do in the capsule in zero gravity. I took photographs, fist-bumped dad, did somersaults, and said my catchphrase "Meowdy" for my Twitch followers. Those three minutes floating in zero gravity were the quickest three minutes of my life.

After strapping myself back into the seat, we started descending. This was the hardest part for me because it's when you experience the most G-force. It felt like my face was being pulled back, there was a lot of pressure on my chest, and I got a bit dizzy. The rest of the crew didn't feel as bad as me. Back at the training center, everybody was smiling and hugging, but I couldn't function. I was speechless from the experience. It was a dream come true. (2/12)

Astronomers Now Say the Rocket About to Strike the Moon is Not a Falcon 9 (Source: Ars Technica)
About three weeks ago Ars Technica first reported that astronomers were tracking the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket, and were increasingly confident that it would strike the Moon on March 4. This story set off a firestorm of media activity. Much of this coverage criticized SpaceX for failing to properly dispose of the second stage of its Falcon 9 rocket after the launch of NOAA's Deep Space Climate Observatory mission, or DSCOVR, in 2015.

The British tabloids, in particular, had a field day. Even the genteel European Space Agency tut-tutted, noting that it takes care to preserve enough fuel to put spent rocket stages into stable orbits around the Sun. However, it turns out we were all wrong. A Falcon 9 rocket is not going to, in fact, strike the Moon next month. Instead, it's probably a Chinese rocket. Bill Gray, who writes the widely used Project Pluto software to track near-Earth objects and was the original source for the Falcon 9 hitting the Moon story, acknowledged the error on his website Saturday.

It was an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Jon Giorgini, who realized this object was not in fact the upper stage of a Falcon 9 rocket. He wrote to Gray on Saturday morning explaining that the DSCOVR spacecraft's trajectory did not go particularly close to the Moon, and that it would therefore be a little strange if the second stage strayed close enough to strike it. This prompted Gray to dig back into his data, and identify other potential candidates. He soon found one—the Chinese Chang'e 5-T1 mission launched in October 2014 on a Long March 3C rocket. (2/12)