February 16, 2022

Space Coast Event Highlights Racial Diversity in Space Program (Source: ASM)
The American Space Museum in Titusville has teamed with the Moore Culture Center & Museum for a Feb. 19 “Diversity in the Space Program” panel discussion focused on minority space workers. The Moore facility honors the memory of slain civil rights leaders Harry T. and Harriett V. Moore during Black History Month. Several minority space workers were placed on the agenda to share their experiences working at Kennedy Space Center. (2/16)

NASA Challenge Seeks Tech to Shine Light on Precision Lunar Landings (Source: NASA)
Humans are returning to the Moon to expand upon the discoveries achieved during the Apollo missions and explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. Landing safely on the Moon’s rocky terrain, especially in the dark of the lunar night and in shadowed regions, will be challenging. NASA is looking to businesses, academic institutions, entrepreneurs, and other innovators to advance new technologies that could help human and robotic explorers safely land on the Moon.

As part of the NASA TechLeap Prize, the Nighttime Precision Landing Challenge No. 1 invites applicants to submit proposals for sensing systems that can detect hazards from an altitude of 250 meters or higher and process the data in real time to help spacecraft land safely in the dark. Up to three winners may receive awards of up to $650,000 each to build their payloads, as well as the opportunity to test their technology on a suborbital flight at no additional cost.  (2/15)

Cocoa-Based Vaya Space Completes First Suborbital Test Flight (Source: Talk of Titusville)
Vaya Space announced the successful launch of its hybrid rocket from Mojave, California on January 29th, 2022 operating under an existing FAA waiver. The suborbital flight demonstrated its hybrid rocket design using 3D printed fuel grains created from recycled thermoplastics. This launch paves the way for rapid acceleration of Vaya Space’s go-to-market strategy as the Company scales for production, with its first commercial orbital launch planned for 2023.

The unique design of Vaya Space’s STAR-3DTM Engine is highly stable, non-toxic, non-hazardous and non-explosive at ambient temperatures and pressures. It only becomes high energy fuel when combined with liquid oxidizer and ignited; which means it can be safely transported, stored and handled, providing an environmentally friendly alternative to conventional rocket fuels. Robert Fabian, Vaya Space President, said, “Creating new technology is not without its challenges. This achievement follows over 90 successful static hot fire tests and is a true testament of our innovative engineering and dedicated team.”

In preparation for its first launch planned from Cape Canaveral, Vaya Space has signed a Space Act Umbrella agreement with NASA, and secured its first launch contract with several launch reservations placed for 2023 and 2024. “Now that we’ve successfully flight tested our technology, Vaya Space is ready to disrupt the smallsat launch services market; providing unmatched safety, affordability and eco-friendly access to space,” added Vaya Space Vice President Jack Blood. Headquartered in Cocoa, Florida and operating from the Florida Space Coast, Rocket Crafters, Inc., d/b/a/ Vaya Space, is a hybrid rocket propulsion systems and small satellite launch services company. (2/16)

New Research Opportunity: Advanced Materials (Source: CASIS)
The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory, seeks research proposals focused on In-Space Production Applications: Advanced Materials and Manufacturing. With this solicitation, CASIS seeks applied research and development projects leveraging the ISS National Lab within the areas of advanced or exotic materials production and associated technologies. CASIS will host an informational webinar on February 28, 2022, at 1 p.m. EDT to discuss ISS facilities and capabilities associated with this research announcement. Click here. (2/15)

Chancery Puts Deadlocked Aerojet Board Into Time Out (Source: Law360)
A Delaware Chancery Court judge on Tuesday granted a temporary restraining order to prevent two factions of Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc.'s deadlocked eight-member board from using the company's name or resources to take sides in an upcoming board election. The Chancellor also said she would consolidate the two dueling lawsuits from each four-member faction and expedite the case. The company must remain a neutral party while the board is deadlocked. (2/15)

DoD Seeks to Strengthen Oversight of Industry Mergers (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon says it will strengthen oversight of proposed mergers in the defense and aerospace industries. A Defense Department report released Tuesday on the state of competition in the industrial base said that the DoD "will support the Federal Trade Commission and the Department of Justice in antitrust investigations and recommendations involving the defense industrial base" when such mergers threaten its interests. The report comes days after Lockheed Martin called off its acquisition of Aerojet Rocketdyne after the FTC sued to block it. DoD's prime contractors have narrowed from 51 to 5 since the 1990s, the report stated.(2/16)

White House Critical of Shrinking Defense Industrial Base (Source: Reuters)
A report from the Biden administration takes aim at the shrinking defense industrial base in the US, citing the existence of just five prime contractors and lack of diversification in the sourcing of missiles. The dearth of suppliers "can pose mission risk and, particularly in cases where the existing dominant supplier or suppliers are influenced by an adversary nation, pose significant national security risks," according to the report. (2/15)

End of Lockheed Bid for Aerojet Rocketdyne May Impact Space, Missile Markets (Source: Space Daily)
The end of Lockheed's bid doesn't mean someone else won't come along and buy Aerojet. "It would not be surprising if Aerojet ended up being purchased by another company -- the fact that they agreed to be acquired by Lockheed Martin indicates that they are open to this, even though they have released a statement saying they would press ahead as an independent company," said Cynthia Cook.

And although the Biden Administration has signaled it will oppose anti-competitive consolidation in the defense industry, Lockheed and other contractors may seek other acquisition targets soon, she said. "It's too soon for us to know how the Biden Administration will handle similar deals in the defense sector. We need a few more examples before we can draw conclusions," Cook said. Aerojet Rocketdyne is best-known for producing RS-25 rocket engines that powered the space shuttle, while it has modified those for use on the newer SLS moon rocket for NASA.

Aerojet also works on engines for hypersonic missile systems, a niche where it has only one other U.S. competitor, Virginia-based Northrop Grumman. The FTC had argued that buying Aerojet would have allowed Lockheed to cut off other contractors from critical components needed to build missiles. But trying to block Lockheed's deal doesn't make sense if the government wants to see Aerojet Rocketdyne thrive, said Marco Cáceres. It's important to recognize that Aerojet is facing stiff competition for rocket engines from Elon Musk's SpaceX, numerous small launchers and Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, Cáceres said. (2/15)

Union Representing ULA Workers Gets Historic 100% Strike Sanction Vote (Source: WAFF)
ULA's workers' union is preparing for contract negotiation and for the first time in history, every single member voted yes to the strike sanction vote. Every three or four years, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Local Lodge 44 Union negotiates a contract with United Launch Alliance. Union members vote ahead of time with the intent to see who is willing to go on strike if they can’t reach a fair contract. Union President David Story says usually 90 percent or more vote ‘yes.’ This time every single member said yes.

He says they feel taken advantage of. “Roughly two decades we have made concessions on every contract,” said Story. “We’ve given up pension, retiree healthcare, in some classification, we’ve agreed to a $20 per hour pay cut in the last contract to stay competitive with Space X.” Story says the vaccine mandate enforcement was the last straw. He says they explicitly went back on contracts to fire 13 people. Workers have gone on strike before. They went on strike for two weeks the last time they negotiated their contract in 2018. They also went on strike over a decade earlier in 2005. Contract negotiations start in mid-April. (2/16)

China to Make 6 Human Spaceflights, Rocket's Maiden Flight in 2022 (Source: Space Daily)
China will make six manned space flights in 2022 to complete the building of its space station and see the maiden flight of Long March-6A, the country's first carrier rocket powered by a solid and liquid engine. Ma Tao, deputy director of the Space Department of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), revealed on Wednesday China's rocket launch plan at a press conference. (2/11)

UK's Orbex Prepares for Rocket Launch 'Dress Rehearsals' as Launchpad Arrives at Test Site (Source: Space Daily)
The first rocket launchpad constructed in the UK for more than 50 years is now in place at the Orbex test site in Kinloss, Scotland. The new launchpad - known as 'Orbex LP1' - recently completed an 80-mile road trip from Peterhead to Kinloss on two trucks, accompanied by a police escort. The three-hour journey through the dramatic Scottish countryside during sun, rain and snow was captured in a short film which is here.

The film also shows the 40-tonne structure being crane-lifted into place at the Orbex rocket launch test site at Kinloss. Orbex LP1 was fabricated by Motive Offshore Group, a leading Scottish company specialising in the design and manufacture of marine and lifting equipment. It was constructed onsite at Motive's headquarters in Banff, Scotland, and is built and tested to meet strict international standards. (2/16)

EU Moves Ahead with Broadband Constellation Plan (Source: Space News)
The European Union is moving ahead with a broadband constellation despite two negative internal assessments of it. The E.U. released its legislative proposal for the secure connectivity constellation Tuesday, a day before the European Space Summit in Toulouse, France. Using a fleet of about 100 satellites in LEO along with existing satellites in MEO and GEO, the constellation will cost about 6 billion euros ($6.8 billion), with the E.U. itself providing 2.4 billion euros. However, an "impact assessment" describing the proposed constellation received two negative opinions from the E.U. Regulatory Scrutiny Board, citing several issues such as a lack of "analytical coherence" and no timetable. Those negative opinions required an E.U. vice president to step in to allow the legislative proposal to proceed. (2/16)

See How NASA Seals a Large Satellite Inside a Rocket Fairing (Source: Digital Trends)
New images from NASA show the rarely seen sight of a satellite being sealed inside the rocket fairing ahead of next month’s launch. The fairing is a vital part of the rocket design, making the launch vehicle more aerodynamic while protecting the payload from the extreme forces experienced during the rapid ascent to space. The series of four images show the NOAA Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-T (GOES-T) undergoing the final preparations ahead of its expected March 1 launch from Cape Canaveral in Florida. Click here. (2/15)

SECAF Asks Space Force to Explore Use of Commercial Imaging Constellations (Source: Space News)
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall has asked the Space Force to see how commercial satellite constellations can meet military imaging requirements. Joseph Rouge, Space Force deputy director of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), said Tuesday that Kendall asked the Space Force to look at how commercial systems can provide tactical ISR from space. The Space Force is now in conversations with the military services, the global combatant commands and various defense and intelligence agencies to understand their needs and determine what mix of government and commercial satellites can best meet them. (2/16)

GAO: DoD Should Better Prepare for China's Space Advances (Source: Space News)
The GAO says the Defense Department has to be better prepared to respond to China's advances in space, cyberwarfare and artificial intelligence. A three-page summary published Tuesday of a classified report concluded the DoD needs to "maintain supply chains, gather intelligence, and responsibly leverage emerging space, cyber, and AI technologies in response to potential threats." For space, that includes the need to revamp its satellite-based communications architecture and ground-based systems for the command and control of satellites. (2/16)

China Testing New Lunar Orbit (Source: Space News)
A Chinese spacecraft originally launched as part of a lunar sample return mission is testing a new orbit around the moon. According to amateur satellite trackers, the service module from the Chang'e-5 mission launched in late 2020 is now in a distant retrograde orbit (DRO) of the moon. That orbit will be used by NASA's Orion spacecraft on the upcoming Artemis 1 mission and was considered for the now-defunct Asteroid Redirect Mission. China has not given a formal update on that spacecraft since last May, and Western observers believe it is being used to test astrodynamics techniques. (2/16)

Ukraine Conflict Could Endanger Satellites (Source: Breaking Defense)
Military and commercial spacecraft could become targets in a Ukraine conflict. Russia's November 2021 test of an antisatellite weapon has generated speculation similar weapons could be used on spacecraft providing imagery or other support to Ukraine if Russian forces invade. Russia could also use jamming, laser "dazzling" or cyberattacks to disrupt space capabilities. One uncertainty is how the U.S. or NATO would respond if commercial satellites, rather than military ones, are attacked. (2/16)

How America Can Become a Leader in Cleaning Up Space (Source: Space News)
During the first National Space Council meeting of the Biden administration, Vice President Kamala Harris reinforced the importance of outer space for national security, economic development, and environmental security. The future security and sustainability of space hinges on dealing with the over 8,000 metric tons of dead objects already in orbit, including at least 900,000 individual pieces of debris that can be lethal to satellites, which clutter the most heavily-used parts of Earth orbit today.

To do this, the US needs to implement a holistic Space Environment Management (SEM) program, and the most important missing element of that program is the development of remediation capabilities that can remove debris from orbit and help clean up the space environment. A successful U.S. remediation program must create a sustained market beyond just government spending. This is likely the most difficult element to achieve and the most important. One-off government contracts and prize competitions are unlikely to meet this goal by themselves, particularly when faced with a large technological leap, non-technical regulatory obstacles, and a lack of a well-established market for customers.

So, what is the pathway for the United States to establish a remediation program? The program should be aimed at developing a set of capabilities for removing both large and small orbital debris as well as just-in-time collision avoidance that can prevent collisions without actually removing the debris and future technologies to reuse or recycle derelict space objects. It should also include commitments from the U.S. federal government to purchase the removal or remediation of a set number of debris objects a year and should be led by a civil agency, such as NASA or the Department of Commerce. (2/16)

India Gears Up for Reusable Winged Spacecraft Test (Source: Times of India)
India is gearing up for a landing test of a proposed reusable vehicle. In the RLV-LEX experiment, a model of a reusable vehicle, similar in appearance to the X-37B, would be dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of three to five kilometers and glide to a runway landing. That test is scheduled for the next few months. That test is a key step towards an orbital flight of the uncrewed vehicle. (2/16)

NASA Releases IXPE Image (Source: Space.com)
NASA has released the first image from an X-ray astronomy satellite. The image from the Imaging X-ray Polarimetry Explorer (IXPE) spacecraft shows the supernova remnant Cassiopeia A, the same object observed by the Chandra X-Ray Observatory after its launch in 1999. IXPE launched in December on a mission to study polarized X-ray radiation. (2/16)

Astronauts to Join Hall of Fame in June Ceremony at KSC (Source: CollectSpace)
Three astronauts, including two who flew on the final shuttle mission, will join the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. David Leestma, Sandy Magnus and Chris Ferguson will be formally inducted into the hall in June at the Kennedy Space Center. Leestma was on three shuttle missions from 1984 to 1992 and carried out a spacewalk. Magnus flew on the STS-112 shuttle mission in 2002 and Ferguson on STS-115 in 2006 before they went together on STS-126 in 2008, which delivered Magnus to the station for a stay of more than 130 days before returning on STS-119. The two then flew on STS-135, the final shuttle mission, in 2011. (2/16)

Satellites Provide Eyes on Russian Military Surrounding Ukraine (Source: Space News)
Commercial Earth observation is fulfilling its promise of transparency. Government agencies have always tracked the movement of military troops and equipment. Now, the world is watching Russian forces on Ukraine's border thanks to commercial satellites equipped with electro-optical and synthetic aperture radar (SAR) sensors.

Planet images show a pontoon bridge near the Russian-Ukrainian border. Maxar imagery tracks the location of troops, equipment, tents and vehicles in Belarus, Crimea and western Russia. Capella Space SAR imagery reveals armored vehicle movement. Giving the world a common operating picture makes it "much harder now for governments to stay on the sideline," said Cardillo, former National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency director. "And, I am hopeful that such a transparency will lead to harsher consequences should Putin act on his threat." (2/16)