February 24, 2022

Rocket Lab Officially Opens Third Launch Pad, First Mission Scheduled to Launch Within a Week (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab USA, Inc (Nasdaq: RKLB) (“Rocket Lab” or “the Company”), a global leader in launch and space systems, today announced the completion of its second orbital launch pad at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand – the Company’s third dedicated pad for its Electron rocket - and confirmed the new pad’s first mission will be a dedicated commercial launch scheduled to lift-off within a week’s time.

Pad B is based within Rocket Lab Launch Complex 1, the world’s first private orbital launch site, located in Mahia, New Zealand. The new pad is Rocket Lab’s third for the Company’s Electron launch vehicle and joins the existing Pad A at Launch Complex 1 and a third launch pad at Rocket Lab Launch Complex 2 in Virginia, USA. With two operational pads within the same launch complex, Rocket Lab doubles the launch capacity of its Electron launch vehicle. (2/23)

Status Update on Astra's Launch Failure Investigation (Source: Astra)
Earlier this month, we launched for the first time out of Cape Canaveral. While this mission represented historic firsts for Astra, we experienced an anomaly during flight and were unable to deliver the payload to orbit. We deeply regret the loss of the mission and are working to investigate and identify the root cause of the issue. While our current investigation is ongoing, I wanted to share a little more about our process for investigating issues in flight.

The FAA authorized Astra to lead the investigation, is providing oversight to ensure any public safety issues are identified and addressed, and will approve the final report. Astra is executing our FAA-approved investigation plan, in addition to industry best practices, which enables us to not only determine and resolve the root cause of a failure, but look across the rest of our systems to see what else might be impacted and make those systems more robust as well. This is a rigorous process that moves rapidly from theory, to experimentation, to action. Click here. (2/22)

Plans for SpaceX-Run Wastewater Treatment Facility at Florida Spaceport Prompt Public Meeting Request (Source: Talk of Titusville)
The Brevard County Commission unanimously approved a public hearing on a permit request by SpaceX, which wants to build a wastewater treatment facility. A representative from SpaceX may soon offer some additional insight into the company’s planned developments at ksc after the Brevard County Commission voted 4-0 on Tuesday to request a public hearing from the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 

The agency is overseeing a permit request from the California-based company, which is seeking to develop a wastewater treatment facility that “would discharge 0.003 MGD of non-process wastewater to Oyster Prong, a Class II waterbody within the Indian River Lagoon Outstanding Florida Waterbody.” MGD stands for “millions of gallons per day,” meaning that the discharge is 3,000 gallons per day.

Nathan Slusher, a Titusville resident and chair of the Libertarian Party of Brevard County, said he was alarmed by reading the notice of the draft permit, which did not elaborate on what that discharge would contain or what mitigating factors SpaceX would implement to ensure that the Indian River Lagoon would not be negatively impacted. (2/23)

NRO Warns Satellite Operators to Prepare for Attacks After Russian Invasion (Source: Space News)
As Russia begins its invasion of Ukraine, the head of the NRO is warning satellite operators to prepare for attacks. In a talk Wednesday, NRO Director Chris Scolese said he believed that Russia is willing to extend the Ukraine conflict to space. He did not comment specifically on what actions the Russians might take but he said it's easy to imagine based on past behavior, such as ongoing GPS jamming. Both U.S. government and commercial satellites are potential targets, he warned, telling operators to "ensure that your systems are secure and that you're watching them very closely because we know that the Russians are effective cyber actors." (2/24)

State Department: ISS and ExoMars Cooperation with Russia Thus Far Unaffected (Source: Space News)
American and European officials, though, say civil space cooperation with Russia has not been affected yet. During a panel discussion Wednesday, State Department officials said cooperation between NASA and Roscosmos on the International Space Station was continuing, and an ESA official said work with Roscosmos on the upcoming ExoMars launch was also unaffected.

Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin said he valued the "professional relationship with NASA" but criticized the U.S. government in general, including sanctions levied on Russian space companies more than a year ago. The State Department said it used sanctions and export controls to delay Russian military space activities, including antisatellite weapons. (2/24)

Ukraine Crisis Challenges International Space Station Cooperation (Source: Space Daily)
The crisis over Russia's Ukrainian aggression presents NASA and other space agencies with the most serious diplomatic strain in the 22-year history of the International Space Station partnership, experts said. Russia is a major partner with the United States, Europe, Japan and Canada in the space station's maintenance and operation. Russia provides critical cargo and crew transport, along with engines that fire periodically to keep the station aloft. Cosmonauts and astronauts often work side-by-side in the orbiting laboratory.

The partnership is unlikely to dissolve immediately, but NASA may be prompted to accelerate plans to build commercial space stations if the Ukraine crisis deepens, Jeff Manber, a president with Denver-based Voyager Space, told UPI. Manber formerly worked in Russia for a key spacecraft company there, RKK Energia. "Clearly, the charmed life of the ISS is facing its biggest challenge yet," Manber said, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin's announcement Monday that he would send troops into Eastern Ukrainian separatist regions. (2/24)

Northrop Grumman Wins $341 Million Space Force Contract for Deep Space Tracking Radar (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman won a $341 million Space Force contract to develop a space tracking radar system. The Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) will be able to track objects in geosynchronous orbit, higher than existing radars. The contract covers developing of the first of three DARC sites, in the Indo-Pacific region, with a prototype completed by September 2025. (2/24)

ISS Partners Foresee Complications From Transition (Source: Space News)
NASA's plans to transition from the International Space Station to commercial space stations could create complications for ISS partners. During a panel discussion Wednesday, an ESA official said the barter agreements currently used by ISS partners won't work on a commercially operated station, and ESA may not be able to purchase services directly from a station operated by an American company. Alternative approaches could include using NASA as an intermediary between ESA and the companies, or the use of multinational consortia to operate stations. (2/24)

Rocket Lab to Use New Pad for Next Launch (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab's next launch will be the first from a new pad. The company said Wednesday that its Electron launch of a radar imaging satellite for Japanese company Synspective will take place from Pad B at Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand. The company built the second pad there to increase the launch rate there, including being able to support rapid-response missions. That launch is scheduled for Monday. (2/24)

Exolaunch Signs with Turkey's Plan-S to Launch Satellites on SpaceX Rideshare (Source: Exolaunch)
Launch services provider Exolaunch has signed a contract with a Turkish satellite startup. Exolaunch will launch three IoT technology demonstration satellites for Plan-S Satellite and Space Technologies on a SpaceX rideshare mission in the second half of this year. Plan-S, established last year, is working on an IoT smallsat constellation to provide services in Turkey, Central Asia, Africa and the Middle East. (2/24)

Thales Alenia Space Wins Study Contract to Develop Payload to Extract Oxygen on the Moon (Source: Space Daily)
Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), has signed a study contract with the European Space Agency worth one million euros for a payload concept to extract oxygen from Moon rock. For a sustainable habitation on the Moon, humans will need to utilise resources that they find on the Moon rather than transport these resources from Earth; one of these resources is oxygen.

Thales Alenia Space teams in the UK have worked with AVS, Metalysis, Open University and Redwire Space Europe to specify a demonstration payload for a European Space Agency Lunar Mission that uses molten salt and electrolysis to extract oxygen from Moon rock 'regolith'. The winning proposal from an ESA competition between multiple industrial consortia, this payload concept will demonstrate that In Situ Resource Utilisation (ISRU) can be performed on the Moon efficiently and to produce oxygen in the quantities required by future Moon colonies. (2/24)

MIT Lunar Station Corp Helps Support Safe Lunar Missions (Source: Space Daily)
This year NASA hopes to return astronauts to the Moon as early as March or April. Strategically, the Moon has something essential for life in space: water. Lunar ice can supply oxygen for human life and hydrogen fuel for deep space travel. But, navigating the dangerous Lunar surface is not for the faint of heart. You wouldn't build a home on sand. Would you? The Moon is no different. Wrong calculation could mean disaster and loss of life.

Outside the protection of our home planet, deep space is dangerous. Particles and radiation emanating from the Sun can spark cancer and irreversible maladies. According to the Associated Press, new measurements show the Moon has hazardous radiation levels. The prospect of a Lunar base necessitates that we find the safest location on its surface.

Lunar Station, an MIT spinout, provides a new generation of Lunar intelligence for exploration, discovery, and commercial organizations planning and pursuing missions on the Moon. Similar to the function of land use planning on Earth, Lunar Station helps to guide decisions on land evaluation and use for maximum potential with least risks. It involves the execution and interpretation of surveys of topography, elevation, soils, and other aspects of land, including potential deposits of Lunar ice and precious minerals underground. (2/24)

Texas Company Sold "Potentiallay Tainted" Rocket Fuel (Source: Justice Department)
A Texas company was convicted for supplying "potentially tainted" rocket fuel for NASA and Defense Department launches. The Justice Department said Wednesday Anahuac Transport Inc. pled guilty to fraud regarding contracts for transporting fuel for launches. The contracts required the companies to certify that the tankers had not previously carried chemicals incompatible with the fuel, but the company falsified documents regarding tankers that had carried incompatible chemicals. The company accepted a two-year ban on frederal government contracting and surrended $251,000 in proceeds. The announcement did not disclose what launches used the potentially contaminated fuel but noted SpaceX was one of the companies affected. (2/24)

Meteorite Sells for $12,600 at Auction (Source: BBC)
One meteorite is worth far more than its weight in gold. A 1.7 gram meteorite that fell on the English town of Winchcombe last year sold at auction this week for $12,600, or nearly 120 times the price of gold. The meteorite was sold at an auction by Christie's that included other meteorites and related artifacts. One item was a doghouse that was hit by a meteorite in 2019 in Costa Rica, leaving a hole in its corrugated tin roof. It sold for more than $44,000, although that was a small fraction of pre-auction estimates. (2/24)

Clean Driving Technology Enables Cleaner Rocket Fuel (Source: Space Daily)
A chemical used in electric vehicle batteries could also give us carbon-free fuel for space flight, according to new UC Riverside research. In addition to emission reductions, this chemical also has several advantages over other types of rocket fuels: higher energy, lower costs, and no requirement for frozen storage. The chemical, ammonia borane, is currently used for storing the hydrogen in fuel cells that power electric vehicles. UCR researchers now understand how this combination of boron and hydrogen can release enough energy to also launch rockets and satellites. (2/24)

NASA Opens Second Phase of $5 Million Lunar Power Prize Competition (Source: Space Daily)
Under Artemis, NASA plans to return to the Moon using innovative technologies to explore more of the lunar surface than ever before. This will require lunar surface systems that can deliver continuous, reliable power to support mining and construction, research activities, and human habitation.

The newest phase of NASA's Watts on the Moon Challenge offers up to $4.5 million in prizes to design, build, and demonstrate a prototype that addresses technology gaps in power transmission and energy storage. Maximizing system efficiency and minimizing system mass will be an important part of what the challenge participants address in their designs, given that transporting all the needed equipment to sustain human presence on the lunar surface will require multiple missions. (2/24)