April 20, 2022

NASA 'Holoported' a Doctor Onto the International Space Station (Source: CNET)
I have a new noun for your vocabulary: Holoportation. It's an amalgam of "hologram" and "teleportation," and though it may seem like it, it isn't just a niche sci-fi term buried somewhere in Isaac Asimov novels and Star Trek episodes.

In October, NASA used this mind-boggling, futuristic mechanism to bring NASA flight surgeon Dr. Josef Schmid onto the ISS while he was safely planted on our planet. No rockets necessary. Schmid was joined on this transdimensional journey by Fernando De La Pena Llaca, the CEO of AEXA Aerospace, an organization that helped develop the holoportation equipment. (4/17)

Evidence of Farming on Exoplanets Should be Visible to the James Webb Telescope (Source: Discover)
One of the key developments separating modern civilization from the hunter gatherer societies of the past is the invention of farming, which took place about 10,000 years ago. The big advantage of farming is that it sustains a much larger population than hunting and gathering. This led to the emergence of cities, the sharing of natural resources and of ideas and innovations.

It has also had a big impact on the Earth itself. The effects of farming are visible in the grid-like arrangement of fields, in the way light is reflected from photosynthetic plants and in the chemicals it releases into the atmosphere, particularly by industrial-scale agriculture.

Now a group of astronomers and astrobiologists say this atmospheric signature must be clearly visible from space and that a similar signal could also be generated by a farm on another planet. “The spectral signature of such an “ExoFarm” is worth considering in the search for technosignatures,” say Jacob Haqq-Misra at the Blue Marble Space Institute of Science in Seattle, and colleagues. They go on to explore what such a signature might look like and how easily it could be detected by the current generation of space telescopes such as the James Webb. (4/14)

Air Force Secretary Wants Part-Time Space Force Guardians, Not Reserves (Source: Military.com)
The Department of the Air Force is pumping the brakes on creating a National Guard or reserve component for the Space Force, opting instead for full-time or part-time Guardians in a new congressional proposal. The legislative proposal, which was submitted to Congress earlier this month and approved by Force Secretary Frank Kendall, seemingly would combine the Space Force's active-duty and reserve elements.

"This component proposal is a new approach to managing reserve component forces by merging what has traditionally been called active-duty forces and reserve forces into a new component that provides full-time and part-time service options to guardians," said Lt. Col. Justin Brockhoff. (4/18)

X-59 Returns to California (Source: NASA)
The X-59, NASA’s quiet supersonic experimental aircraft, has arrived back at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, California, following several months of critical ground tests in Ft. Worth, Texas. Ground tests on the X-59 were done to ensure the aircraft’s ability to withstand the loads and stresses of supersonic flight. The vehicle’s fuel systems were also calibrated and tested at Lockheed Martin’s Ft. Worth facilities. (4/18)

This New Satellite is a Game Changer for Tracking How Our Environment is Changing (Source: CNN)
The Environmental Mapping and Analysis Program, or EnMAP, is capable of measuring things that would otherwise be invisible, from the degree of pollution in a river flowing through a forest to the nutrient supply within a plant.

The images EnMAP will take are so high in resolution that scientists will be able to study the environment at a previously unachievable level of detail for space-based observing systems, scientists told CNN. The highly sophisticated satellite was designed to study the environmental impact of the climate crisis, observe how environments respond to human activities and to monitor the management of the world's natural resources. (4/15)

Rocket Lab Secures Multi-Launch Contract with HawkEye 360, Confirms First Launch Planned from Virginia (Source: Business Wire)
Rocket Lab announced it has been selected by Virginia-based HawkEye 360 to launch three Electron missions for the radio frequency geospatial analytics provider. The first of the three missions is scheduled to be Rocket Lab’s inaugural Electron mission from Launch Complex 2 on Wallops Island, Virginia, ushering in an era of Rocket Lab launches from U.S. soil from no earlier than December 2022.

The multi-launch contract with HawkEye 360 will see Rocket Lab deliver 15 satellites (five clusters) to low Earth orbit across three Electron missions anticipated between late 2022 and 2024. Rocket Lab will first deploy three HawkEye 360 satellites as part of a rideshare mission, followed by six satellites each on two dedicated Electron launches. (4/19)

Space Force Budget Presents a Bridge Strategy for Missile Warning, Tracking Architecture (Source: C4ISRnet)
U.S. Space Force leaders say the missile warning and tracking architecture supported in the service’s fiscal 2023 budget request is a “bridging strategy” — a way to maintain existing programs in a critical mission area as new capabilities are developed.

The service laid out that strategy in late March, requesting $3.4 billion — about $1 billion more than Congress appropriated in fiscal 2022 — to keep the Next-Generation Overhead Persistent Infrared System satellites and ground segment on track. The request also proposed another $1.2 billion to continue developing systems to track hypersonic missiles from low and medium Earth orbits and ensure the associated ground capabilities are aligned with the satellite work. (4/19)

Glide Breaker Program Enters New Phase (Source: Space Daily)
DARPA is seeking innovative proposals to conduct wind tunnel and flight testing of jet interaction effects for Phase 2 of the Glide Breaker program. The overall goal of Glide Breaker is to advance the United States' ability to counter emerging hypersonic threats.

Phase 1 of the program focused on developing and demonstrating a divert and attitude control system (DACS) that enables a kill vehicle to intercept hypersonic weapon threats during their glide phase. Phase 2 will focus on quantifying aerodynamic jet interaction effects that result from DACS plumes and hypersonic air flows around an interceptor kill vehicle. (4/19)

Small Spacecraft Electric Propulsion Opens New Deep Space Opportunities (Source: Space Daily)
For decades, innovators at NASA's Glenn Research Center have been developing large, high-power electric propulsion (EP) systems that harness the power of the Sun to energize inert gases and turn them into extremely efficient thrust. Higher fuel efficiency means less propellant is needed, lowering launch costs while allowing spacecraft designers to reduce overall spacecraft weight to carry more payload mass, like technology demonstrations or more powerful scientific instruments.

The agency's primary EP efforts have centered on large exploration and science missions, like the 7-kilowatt (kW) NEXT-C gridded-ion system currently flying on the Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission and the 12-kW Advanced Electric Propulsion System used on the Power and Propulsion Element for NASA's lunar orbiting space station known as Gateway.

However, over the last five years, the Small Spacecraft Electric Propulsion (SSEP) project at NASA Glenn has been advancing high-performance sub-kilowatt (<1-kW) Hall-effect thruster and power processing technologies to enable smaller spacecraft. By utilizing smaller craft - those that could fit inside the trunk of your car versus being the size of your car - the agency opens more opportunities to conduct ambitious deep space missions at a fraction of the cost. (4/20)

Potential Chinese Rocket Debris Falls on India (Source: Space News)
Debris that fell in India may be parts of a Chinese rocket. India's space agency is examining a large metal ring and a cylinder-like object that fell in rural western India April 2, with initial reviews suggesting it is debris from a Long March 3B rocket stage that reentered that day. There were no reports of injuries or property damage, and China has not commented on the incident. (4/20)

China Relocates Spacecraft Docked to Space Station (Source: Xinhua)
A cargo spacecraft moved from one docking port to another on China's space station Tuesday. The Tianzhou-3 spacecraft undocked from the rear port of the Tianhe core module at 5:02 p.m. Eastern and, after maneuvers, docked with the module's front port four hours later. A new cargo spacecraft, Tianzhou-4, is scheduled to launch to the currently unoccupied station in May, followed by a new crew on Shenzhou-14 in June. (4/20)

Perseverance Rover Arrives at Martian River Delta (Source: Space.com)
NASA's Perseverance rover has arrived at the remains of a river delta on Mars. The rover has reached rock outcrops that are the remnants of a river that flowed into Jezero Crater billions of years ago. The rover's arrival at the delta is a major milestone for the mission as scientists plan to analyze the rocks there, and collect samples of them, to understand the habitability of the planet early in its history. (4/20)

Liquid Water on Europa? (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Scientists think liquid water could exist close to the surface of Jupiter's moon Europa. A new study says "double ridge" features on that moon's icy surface are similar to those seen on Greenland, where researchers have discovered pockets of liquid water near the surface. If the same is true on Europa, those subsurface water pockets could access organic materials deposited on the surface, providing building blocks for life. While NASA has looked at a Europa lander mission that would follow its Europa Clipper orbiter, the new planetary science decadal survey instead recommended going to Saturn's moon Enceladus because of its plumes of material and environmental conditions that are less harsh. (4/20)

Lockheed Martin Space Unit Sees Decrease in Sales (Source: Lockheed Martin)
Lockheed Martin reported decreased sales but increased profits for its space unit. The company said Tuesday its Space Systems division saw a 15% decrease in net sales in the first quarter of 2022 compared to a year ago, partly because of lower volumes on projects like Orion and the Human Landing System. Operating profit increased 8%, though, thanks to increased earnings from its stake in United Launch Alliance. (4/20)

Lonestar Plans Lunar Data Center Payload (Source: Space News)
A cloud computing startup plans to fly a payload on a commercial lunar lander to demonstrate data centers on the moon. Lonestar will fly a "data center in a box" the size of a hardcover book on the IM-2 lunar lander by Intuitive Machines, scheduled for launch in early 2023. Lonestar will also test data transfer and storage capabilities during the IM-1 mission launching later this year. Lonestar's long-term plans call for data centers on the moon to complement terrestrial centers, enabling organizations to back-up critical systems by storing them on the moon. (4/20)

Space Business Roundtable Plans Webinar on National In-Space Servicing Strategy (Source: WSBR)
The Washington Space Business Roundtable will host an April 28 panel conversation with key interagency representatives involved with the drafting of this critical Report released in early April. Audience members will be invited to participate in what we anticipate will be a robust and lively discussion. Click here. (4/19)

Launch Startup Vaya Partners with C8 Secure forCybersecurity, Launches (Source: Space Daily)
SmallSat launch services provider Vaya Space announced their strategic partnership with C8 Secure to provide turn-key cybersecurity solutions for the space industry. In addition, Vaya Space has agreed to provide launch services to Continent 8 Technologies, the parent corporation of C8 Secure, as they develop and implement plans to create a new satellite constellation to augment their global network of data centers.

Continent 8 Technologies currently operates advanced data centers at 80 locations across Europe, the Americas and Asia, providing highly reliable managed hosting services, security and global network solutions for today's online business-critical platforms. (4/6)

Blue Canyon Technologies to Supply Spacecraft Buses for HelioSwarm Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Small satellite manufacturer and mission services provider Blue Canyon Technologies LLC or "BCT" or "Blue Canyon", a wholly-owned subsidiary of Raytheon Technologies, was selected to build eight X-SAT Venus ESPA-class microsatellite buses for NASA's HelioSwarm science mission. The purpose of the mission will be to study the solar wind and space plasma turbulence.

The HelioSwarm mission is a multi-spacecraft observatory that will capture the first multiscale in-space measurements of fluctuations in the magnetic field and motions of solar wind turbulence. Launching in 2028, one hub spacecraft and eight small satellites will move in coordinated orbits as a swarm using a highly elliptical, lunar resonant earth-orbit. In addition to the spacecraft buses, Blue Canyon will integrate the science instrument payloads and perform spacecraft-level environmental testing. (4/4)

Planetary Science Decadal Endorses Mars Sample Return, Outer Planets Missions (Source: Space News)
A study outlining priorities in planetary science for the next decade backs continued efforts to return samples from Mars while recommending NASA pursue missions to the planet Uranus and an icy moon of Saturn. The final report of the planetary science decadal survey, developed by a committee of the National Academies and released April 19, also recommended work on a space telescope to track near Earth objects, a Mars lander to look for evidence of life and a lunar rover to collect samples that would be returned by astronauts. (4/19)

Hope for Solving Space Debris (Source: Aerospace America)
Celine D’Orgeville has a space laser. More specifically, her team at the Australian National University has built a laser that could nudge pieces of space junk off collision courses. As far as she can tell, the laser is the only one like it on the planet. The project has stalled, however. Her team ran out of funding before they could test the laser at Mount Stromlo Observatory in Australia. As such, the world’s only known space junk laser is currently disassembled and sitting in storage.

Nevertheless, the laser exemplifies the industry’s growing determination to solve the space junk problem, the rich tableau of ideas about how to do it and the fact that it won’t be easy. Preventing collisions requires careful tracking and, if necessary, a maneuver to avoid an impact. Whereas legacy databases such as the Space Force’s update positional information on satellites every eight hours, LeoLabs can do so within minutes.

Other companies are looking at different approaches to the problem of space traffic management. Privateer of Hawaii emerged from stealth mode in March to say it will launch sensor technology to space that can track debris as small as a few centimeters, a similar size to LeoLabs. At the moment, anyone can go to the Privateer website and play with an open access version of its Wayfinder software, which pools together government and industry tracking data to provide live updates about satellite and debris positions. (4/19)