February 2, 2022

UK Releases New Military Space Strategy (Source: Space News)
The British government released a new military space strategy Tuesday that calls for more investment in space systems. The strategy projects spending an additional $1.9 billion over the next decade, primarily for a global constellation of satellites in low Earth orbit to provide surveillance and intelligence for military operations. The program, called Istari, also would fund advanced laser communications technology for high-speed delivery of data from space to Earth.

In a related project called Minerva, the U.K. Space Command will experiment with a network of satellites that can autonomously collect, process and disseminate data from U.K. and allied satellites to support military operations. Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston said the strategy reflects the reality that "nefarious, reckless activities" are being conducted in space, and the U.K. wants to be at the forefront of ensuring space is available for everyone's use. (2/2)

China's Cooperation with International Space Community Fruitful (Source: Space Daily)
China has been engaged with the international space community over the past five years, yielding fruitful results in space science, technology and application, a Chinese official said. China launched a lunar research station project with Russia, and carried out extensive international cooperation in manned spaceflights, lunar exploration projects, Mars explorations and other missions, said Wu Yanhua, deputy director of the China National Space Administration.

The official also highlighted the signing of the BRICS Remote-Sensing Satellite Constellation agreement, the launches of the China-France Oceanography Satellite and the China-Italy Electromagnetic Monitoring Experiment Satellite. China also pressed ahead the BeiDou system in the standard systems of many international organizations in fields such as civil aviation and maritime affairs.

To improve the international community's capacity for disaster prevention and mitigation, data of the Chinese Gaofen-1 and Gaofen-6 remote sensing satellites have been offered free of charge 550,000 times in 158 countries and regions. The country has also provided data of Fengyun meteorological satellites to 121 countries and regions. (1/28)

UCF to Lead $10 Million NASA Project to Develop Zero-Carbon Jet Engines (Source: Space Daily)
The University of Central Florida (UCF) is developing new technology that is expected to make airplane engines emission free, potentially revolutionizing the aviation industry. UCF put together a team of experts and stakeholders to evaluate their innovation, which aims to not only make aviation fuel green, but also create engines and fueling systems that easily integrate into current airport infrastructure thus saving airports and aircraft manufacturers millions of dollars as they look to retrofit. (1/28)

Telesat Working with Cobham on Constellation Ground Segment (Source: Space News)
Telesat is moving ahead with the ground segment of its Lightspeed constellation despite delays on the space segment. Danish equipment supplier Cobham SATCOM plans to install the first of 30 global landing stations in Canada, with construction set to begin in spring 2023. The ground infrastructure will be critical for providing the 15 terabits per second of global capacity that Telesat aims to offer with its full constellation. However, the satellites themselves are delayed because of pandemic-related supply chain problems affecting prime contractor Thales Alenia Space. Telesat has not yet fully secured the final $2 billion of the $5 billion needed to develop the LEO constellation. (2/2)

ULA Prepares for March 1 Launch of GOES-T Weather Satellite at Florida Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Launch preparations are underway for the next GOES weather satellite. At a briefing Tuesday, government and industry officials said they were on track for the March 1 launch of the GOES-T weather satellite on an Atlas 5 from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The launch trajectory will be optimized from previous Atlas 5 GOES launches to give GOES-T four to five years of additional orbital lifetime. Officials also said they were confident that they had corrected the problem with the spacecraft's main instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager, that shortened the expected life of the GOES-17 spacecraft. (2/2)

SpaceX Unveils More Powerful Starlink Service (Source: The Verge)
SpaceX has announced a more powerful, and more expensive, version of its Starlink service. Starlink Premium will use a larger, high-performance antenna capable of downlink speeds of up to 500 megabits per second, compared to a peak of 250 megabits per second with the conventional service. That additional bandwidth will come at a price: while SpaceX charges $499 for the regular Starlink antenna and $99 per month for that service, Starlink Premium will charge $2,500 for the antenna and $500 per month for the service. (2/2)

mPower Raises $10 Million for Solar Panels (Source: Space News)
Startup mPower Technology said Tuesday it raised $10 million to accelerate production of silicon-based solar panels that gained flight heritage last summer. Early-stage investment firm Cottonwood Technology Fund led the Series B funding round, joined by Hemisphere Ventures and other space investors. The company, spun off from Sandia National Laboratories in 2015, makes interconnected photovoltaic cells that the company argues are more customizable than traditional cells on the market, while also more flexible and cheaper to produce with automated processes. The technology first gained flight heritage onboard a small satellite SpaceX launched in June 2021 for Lynk Global, a startup developing a direct-to-cellphone connectivity constellation. (2/2)

Blue Origin Tests New Glenn Fairing at Armstrong Test Facility (Source: GeekWire)
Blue Origin has successfully tested the payload fairing for its New Glenn rocket. The company recently conducted a test of the separation system for the fairing, seven meters in diameter, at NASA's Neil Armstrong Test Facility, the former Plum Brook Station in Ohio. The test took place in the world's largest vacuum chamber to simulate the environment the payload fairing would experience. Blue Origin did not update its schedule for the rocket's first launch in the announcement of the fairing test. (2/2)

Stennis Economic Impact Facts Released (Source: NASA)
Stennis Space Center (SSC), NASA's primary rocket engine test facility and key location for other federal and state agencies, has posted a new 2021 Economic Impact Fact Sheet that highlights the site’s impact on the Gulf Coast region and beyond. SSC has a direct global impact of $949,999,000, with 37.2 percent of that attributed to the Department of the Navy, 27.4 percent from NASA, 28.2 percent from "other" agencies, 3.3 percent from the Department of Commerce, and 3.9 percent from construction of facilities. Closer to home, SSC has a direct 50-mile radius impact o $754,294,000. As of Sept. 30, 2021 there were 5,000 employees, the majority of them, 2,018, employed by the Navy and contractors.

Another 1,357 are NASA contractors, with NASA itself accounting for 455 civil servants. The employee count includes 1,500 scientific/engineering employees. There are 180 workers with doctorates, 716 with masters, and 1,749 with bachelors. The average salary with benefits is $105,000. Mississippi's Pearl River County provides 23.9 percent of the workforce, Hancock County 19.3 percent, Harrison County 18.4 percent and other Mississippi counties 5.3 percent. Louisiana's St. Tammany Parish supplies 23.9 percent of workers and other Louisiana parishes 5.3 percent. Other states provide 3.9 percent of workers. Click here. (1/31)

Is There Enough Room in Space for Tens of Billions of Satellites, as Elon Musk Suggests? We Don’t Think So (Source: Space News)
As researchers interested in orbital capacity, it’s surreal to wake up and find Elon Musk commenting on the question that has been central to your work: how many satellites can we fit in low Earth orbit (LEO)? According to a recent interview with the Financial Times, Mr. Musk’s stance is that tens of billions of satellites can coexist in LEO. While we agree this is an important question to ask, especially for someone planning on launching thousands of his own satellites in the near future, his estimation is overly optimistic.

Looking at the physical volume occupied by a satellite as a capacity metric is misleading – it’s like trying to estimate the capacity of a highway by figuring out how many stopped cars could fit on the pavement. In practice, both cars and satellites moving at high velocities need to leave some following distance between vehicles for safety. On Earth, the size of your following distance depends on factors like the quality of your brakes and tires, visibility, speed, and the risk tolerance of the driver. In space, following distance depends on how well you know the actual locations of the satellites involved, their maneuver capabilities and strategy, and the way the satellites are slotted within their shell.

Rigorous, technical work on orbital capacity and a deep understanding of the tradeoffs of various constellation designs are critical to support policy and regulatory discussions about the rational, equitable, efficient, and economical use of LEO. Space is a communal and finite resource — for better or for worse, when one nation uses it, it limits the orbits that can be used by others. We encourage all operators, like Mr. Musk, to factor orbital efficiency into their design process to achieve self-safe and neighbor-safe orbits and constellations in order to maximize the availability of precious LEO volume for all users. (1/4)

Astra Targets Jan. 5 for Debut Florida Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Astra Space, which is based in Alameda, California, looks to make its debut launch from CCSFS’s Space Launch Complex 46. It has been given a window to launch from 1-4 p.m. Saturday pending approval from the Federal Aviation Administration. The company announced it expected to receive its launch license by Friday. The forecast calls for 70% chance of good weather Saturday.

Astra’s Rocket 3.3 is small in comparison to the Falcon 9, standing only 38 feet tall and with a payload capacity of 331 pounds. The company has only reached orbit once, on a demonstration mission for the Space Force from a launch complex in Kodiak, Alaska last November. The Florida mission is its first operational mission, aiming to send four small satellites as part of NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. Astra Space was one of three companies to win funds as part of NASA’s Venture Class Launch Services Demonstration 2 contract, and bid $3.9 million for this launch. (2/1)

Air Force to Fund Demonstrations of Space Internet Services That Integrate Multiple Constellations (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Air Force will fund demonstrations of space internet services where military users can access broadband services from commercial constellations in different orbits. The Air Force Research Laboratory announced plans for these demonstrations in a Jan. 31 solicitation. The military wants to be able to use internet services from satellites in geosynchronous, medium and low orbits relying on a common user terminal, a capability that is being marketed by the industry but AFRL wants to see further demonstrated.

Companies are asked to submit proposals for multi-orbit, multi-band networks where users can switch between space internet providers as needed. The experiments are part of an AFRL program called Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI), launched in 2017 to explore how emerging services like SpaceX’s Starlink, OneWeb and others could be integrated with traditional satcom networks and be used to support military operations. (2/1)

NASA and SpaceX Investigating Delayed Dragon Parachute Opening (Source: Space News)
NASA and SpaceX are investigating the delayed opening of a parachute on a cargo Dragon spacecraft that recently returned to Earth, an incident similar to one that took place on a Crew Dragon spacecraft last year. NASA confirmed Feb. 2 that the cargo Dragon spacecraft that splashed down off the Florida coast Jan. 24, concluding the CRS-24 space station resupply mission, suffered a delayed opening of one of its four main parachutes but still allowed the capsule to safely land. (2/2)

NASA Delays SLS Roll Out to March, Sets Up Late Spring for Moon Mission Debut (Source: Florida Today)
On Wednesday, NASA announced that its SLS rocket and uncrewed Orion capsule won't roll out to its launch pad until at least March, setting up a late spring launch date for its mission to the Moon. Agency officials revealed in a statement Wednesday, "While the teams are not working any major issues, engineers continue work associated with final closeout tasks and flight termination system testing." The megarocket will remain inside the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Kennedy Space Center during the completion of the pre-flight tests.

Following a successful wet dress rehearsal, NASA officials are expected to announce a targeted Artemis I launch date. "NASA is reviewing launch opportunities in April and May," agency officials stated. According to Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager, "the April window opens on the 8th and closes on the 23rd. And then, if we were to need May, it would open on the 7th and close the 21st." (2/2)

Starship Interior Concept (Source: Design Freedom)
Could you live on a Starship? With the exciting development of SpaceX’s Starship and the Super Heavy launch system, we wanted to look at the possible interior design configurations and propose a design that had the potential to support a crew to the Moon and Mars.

Our designs are intended to allow people interested in the Starship program to visualise the possible configurations and better understand how a crew could live, work, and socialise in confined spaces. And how much storage/supplies would be required for long and short duration missions. The design and orientation are configured for 30 Crew living in positive and zero-G conditions. Click here. (2/2)

ESA Supports the White House on Greenhouse Gas Monitoring (Source: Space Daily)
When Joe Biden was inaugurated as President one year ago, he fulfilled his promise to rejoin the Paris Agreement and set a course for the US to tackle the climate crisis by supporting global efforts to limit global warming. ESA recently joined the President's Council of Advisors on Science and Technology by public video link to share European plans and expertise on measuring carbon dioxide and methane from space.

With our climate on the brink of crisis, the COP26 conference, held in Scotland in November 2021, ended with a global agreement to accelerate action on climate. The Glasgow Climate Pact, combined with increased ambition and action, means that limiting global temperature rise to 1.5 C above pre-industrial levels remains just about in sight, but it will only be delivered with concerted and immediate global efforts.

Limiting the amount of greenhouse gases we pump into the atmosphere is absolutely essential to achieving these goals and to averting disaster. As nations around the world take steps to drastically curb carbon emissions, measuring and monitoring carbon dioxide and methane gases in our atmosphere is key to helping nations show that they are accomplishing their emission reduction goals. Just as a significant reduction in greenhouse gas emissions requires a global effort to address the climate crisis, working together to monitor emissions transparently is also needed. (1/25)

NASA, Space Station Partners Approve First Axiom Mission Astronauts (Source: NASA)
NASA and its international partners approved crew members for Axiom Space’s first private astronaut mission to the International Space Station. The flight, called Axiom Mission 1 or Ax-1, is targeted to launch Wednesday, March 30, from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida on a flight-proven SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The Ax-1 crew will fly on Crew Dragon Endeavour to and from the space station. After 10 days in orbit, the Ax-1 crew will splash down off the coast of Florida.

Axiom Space astronauts Michael López-Alegría, Larry Connor, Mark Pathy, and Eytan Stibbe are prime crew members of the Ax-1 mission. López-Alegría, who was born in Spain, raised in California, and a former NASA astronaut, will serve as the mission commander. Connor, of Dayton, Ohio, will serve as pilot. Pathy, from Canada, and Stibbe, from Israel, will be mission specialists. The quartet is scheduled to spend eight days aboard the orbiting laboratory conducting science, education, and commercial activities before their return to Earth. (2/2)