May 18, 2022

U.S. Officials say Pentagon Committed to Understanding UFO Origins (Source: Reuters)
Two senior U.S. defense intelligence officials said on Tuesday the Pentagon is committed to determining the origins of what it calls "unidentified aerial phenomena" - commonly termed UFOs - but acknowledged many remain beyond the government's ability to explain. The two officials, Ronald Moultrie and Scott Bray, appeared before a House of Representatives intelligence subcommittee for the first public U.S. congressional hearing on the subject in a half century.

It came 11 months after a government report documented more than 140 cases of unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, that U.S. military pilots had observed since 2004. The 2021 report included some UAPs revealed in previously released Pentagon video of enigmatic objects exhibiting speed and maneuverability exceeding known aviation technology and lacking any visible means of propulsion or flight-control surfaces. Bray said those incidents, including one described by Navy pilots as resembling flying Tic Tac breath mints, are among cases still categorized as "unresolved." (5/17)

NASA Partnership Brings STEM, Tutoring Programs to Space Coast Town (Source: Talk of Titusville)
The East Mims Learning Center will officially kick off this Saturday, May 21st, with an eight-week tutoring program for middle school students running from May 31 through July 22. The program will also highlight the NASA connection through offerings from NASA’s Center for Space Education. There will also be a field trip to the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex at the end of the eight weeks.

Interested parents can now sign up their students for a registration interview. The portal for teachers to apply to work at the center is also active on Employ Florida’s website. Click here. (5/18)

Rocket Engine Exhaust Pollution Extends High Into Earth's Atmosphere (Source: Space Daily)
Reusable space technology has led to a rise in space transportation at a lower cost, as popularized by commercial spaceflights of companies like SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. What is poorly understood, however, is rockets' propulsion emissions creating significant heating and compositional changes in the atmosphere. Now researchers have assessed the potential impact of a rocket launch on atmospheric pollution by investigating the heat and mass transfer and rapid mixing of the combustion byproducts for altitudes up to 67 kilometers into the atmosphere.

"We show that pollution from rockets should not be underestimated as frequent future rocket launches could have a significant cumulative effect on the Earth's climate," said co-author Ioannis Kokkinakis. The researchers found the production of thermal nitrogen oxides (NOx), components of the combustion exhaust, can remain high up to altitudes with an ambient atmospheric pressure above or even slightly below the nozzles' exit pressure, i.e., below an altitude of approximately 10 km. At the same time, the emitted mass of carbon dioxide as the rocket climbs 1 kilometer in altitude in the mesosphere is equivalent to that contained in 26 cubic kilometers of atmospheric air at the same altitude. (5/18)

SpaceX Launches Third Batch of 53 Starlink Satellites in a Week (Source: Florida Today)
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launched a set of Starlink satellites Wednesday morning, the third such launch in less than a week. The Falcon 9 liftoff from Kennedy Space Center's Launch Complex 39A at 6:59 a.m. Eastern and deployed its payload of 53 Starlink satellites into orbit an hour later. The booster landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. The launch followed Falcon 9 launches from California and Florida last Friday and Saturday, which also carried Starlink satellites as SpaceX continues to build out its broadband constellation. (5/18)

DoD Tackles Supply Chain Issues for Space Projects (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon's Space Development Agency (SDA) and its contractors have scrambled to deal with supply chain problems that have affected the entire space industry. SDA plans to launch 28 satellites between September and next March, but those spacecraft have been affected by shortages of microprocessors, focal plane arrays and lower-end items. SDA Director Derek Tournear said industry competitors agreed to share parts to help the agency meet that schedule. He warned similar supply chain problems would likely be a factor for the larger set of Transport Layer Tranche 1 satellites entering development. (5/18)

DARPA Gains Success in Satellite Laser Links (Source: Space News)
Two small satellites launched last summer by DARPA successfully tested a laser intersatellite link last month. CACI International, the supplier of the optical terminals, said more than 200 gigabits of data were transmitted and received over a distance of about 100 kilometers during the 40-minute test involving the two Mandrake 2 satellites. The project was funded by SDA and the Air Force Research Laboratory to test optical intersatellite links, a key technology for DARPA's Blackjack program and SDA's Transport Layer. While not all Transport Layer Tranche 0 satellites will have intersatellite links, SDA's Tournear said all Tranche 1 satellites will. (5/18)

AST SpaceMobile Committed to Constellation Deployment (Source: Space News)
AST SpaceMobile will start deploying operational satellites in 2023 even if an upcoming experimental satellite fails. The company's operational BlueBird satellite program has continued amid more than 700 ground tests performed on BlueWalker 3, the experimental satellite scheduled to launch this summer. BlueWalker 3 will test the ability of the satellite to connect directly to handsets in tests under an FCC experimental license and in several other countries. AST SpaceMobile is on track to complete a second manufacturing facility in Texas by the end of 2022, which would enable the company to ramp up to producing six BlueBird satellites a month the following year. (5/18)

NASA Plans End for InSight Mars Mission as Dust Covers Lander's Solar Panels (Source: Space News)
NASA confirmed Tuesday that the end is in sight for the InSight Mars lander. Project officials said that dust accumulating on the spacecraft's solar panels, along with increased dust in the atmosphere from seasonal changes, mean power levels are dropping to critical levels. Spacecraft controllers will start turning off science instruments and put the lander's robotic arm into a final "retirement pose" in the next few weeks, and operate the main instrument, a seismometer, intermittently through the summer. Power levels will likely cause the spacecraft to cease operations entirely by the end of the year, which NASA had anticipated for some time. (5/18)

Innospace Will Conduct Suborbital Launch from Brazil’s Alcântara Spaceport (Source: PayloadSpace.com)
Innospace, a South Korean rocket startup, has reached an agreement with Brazil to launch the first suborbital test flight of HANBIT TLV in Q4 of this year from the Alcântara Space Center. The 15-ton thrust, single-stage hybrid rocket that will be flown from Brazil is but one step in a longer journey. HANBIT TLV is designed to validate the first stage of HANBIT Nano, Innospace’s forthcoming small launcher with 50 kg of payload capacity. The suborbital vehicle will carry SISNAV, an inertial navigation system payload, for the Brazilian military. (5/5)

Uzbekistan Seeks Satellite Broadband Coverage (Source: Space News)
Uzbekistan is trying to convince Starlink and OneWeb to bring their satellite broadband services to the Central Asian country. Top officials recently met with Starlink and OneWeb representatives in the country’s capital, Tashkent, asking for their satellite broadband services to be made available in Uzbekistan. The country's space agency signed a memorandum of understanding with OneWeb Monday to begin discussions on regulatory issues for OneWeb operations in the country. (5/18)

Canada Plans Space-Based Arctic Satellite Monitoring (Source: Space News)
The Canadian government is bolstering its defense and surveillance capabilities in the Arctic with a focus on using space assets and new technology. The Canadian federal budget proposal released last month included nearly $200 million to start research on modernizing the joint Canada-U.S. North Warning System in the Arctic. Canadian Defence Minister Anita Anand said Russia's invasion of Ukraine and concerns about its activities in the Arctic prompted the funding request. Canadian and U.S. defense officials still have to work out the specifics of the modernization, but estimated it will cost around $10 billion over several years, and include some space systems like communications. (5/18)

NASA Launch Windows for Artemis 1 Extend Into 2023 (Source: Ars Technica)
NASA is planning Artemis 1 launch dates well into next year, just in case. NASA released a schedule of launch windows for the first flight of the Space Launch System this week, which included planning not just for this summer and fall but through the first half of 2023. NASA said that document "is not meant to convey anything about the probability of launching in 2022 or 2023" but instead is part of standard planning. At a House appropriations hearing about the agency's budget Tuesday, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson projected a launch in August. (5/18)

SES 22 and Nilesat 301 Take Slow Boat to Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Two geostationary satellites scheduled to launch later this year on Falcon 9 rockets arrived at Cape Canaveral by ship. SES 22 and Nilesat 301, scheduled to launch in June on separate Falcon 9 rockets, arrived at Port Canaveral over the weekend on a transport ship. Thales Alenia Space built both spacecraft and originally planned to fly them from France to Florida on an Antonov cargo plane, but the Russian cargo airline that operates the plane can't operate in the United States or Europe because of sanctions. (5/18)

First Air Force Transitions to AFSPACE (Source: Space Daily)
The Department of Defense designated First Air Force, headquartered at Tyndall AFB in Florida, as 'Air Forces Space' (AFSPACE), and the fifth service component to U.S. Space Command May 3. The change postures First Air Force to provide airpower expertise and advocacy in support of USSPACECOM's mission to conduct operations in, from and to space while integrating spacepower into the support of First Air Force's homeland defense mission.

On July 15, 2021, First Air Force, now AFSPACE, assumed the operational command and control of the Human Space Flight Support, or HSFS, mission, which was previously executed by the Combined Force Space Component Command at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. This First Air Force mission is executed through its assigned Detachment 3 (Det. 3) based at Patrick Space Force Base in Florida.

Det. 3, formerly commanded by Space Launch Delta 45, realigned under First Air Force during a redesignation and change of command ceremony held at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, also that day. Air Force Lt. Gen. Kirk Pierce, commander, First Air Force, Continental U.S. NORAD Region, AFNORTH, and now AFSPACE, affirmed his team's commitment to USSPACECOM. (5/13)

Coast Guard Concludes Investigation Into Royal Caribbean Ship's Interference with SpaceX Launch (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
One of the world’s largest cruise ship ran afoul of SpaceX earlier this year when Royal Caribbean’s Harmony of the Seas wandered into waters it was supposed to avoid because of a launch attempt. The incident on Jan. 30 caused a scrub of the SpaceX Falcon 9 trying to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as the vessel had previously left from Port Canaveral like it normally would on a Sunday departure.

Leading up to the attempted launch, SpaceX commentators said the Coast Guard was trying to get word to the ship that it had ventured into the down-range safety zone off the coast of Brevard County, but the ship was not able to vacate the zone in time. Mission managers shouting “Hold! Hold ! Hold!” scrubbed the launch with less than a minute before the planned liftoff. It was able to launch the following day without issue sending the COSMO-SkyMed Second Generation FM2 satellite run by the Italian Space Agency into orbit.

Now more than three months later, the Coast Guard has concluded its investigation of the incident, as it’s the entity establishing and enforcing the safety zones. “When these zones are violated, the Coast Guard may pursue administrative enforcement actions,” reads a statement from the U.S. Coast Guard 7th District Southeast. “Such actions may include monetary fines and or future vessel control actions.” The Coast Guard did not elaborate what sort of action was taken if any against Royal Caribbean. (5/17)

Gilmour Space Completes Full Duration Test Fire of New Phoenix Rocket Engine (Source: Space Daily)
An Australian launch services company known for its orbital-class hybrid rocket technology, Gilmour Space Technologies, has unveiled a new 3D printed liquid rocket engine that will power the third stage of its Eris rocket to orbit. The company has shared a video of a successful 190-second Mission Duty Cycle (or mission duration) test fire of its new regeneratively-cooled liquid rocket engine.

Eris is a three-stage rocket being developed by Gilmour Space for launching small satellites into low earth orbits. Its maiden launch is targeted to be at the end of this year from the Bowen Orbital Spaceport in north Queensland, pending regulatory and other approvals. (5/17)

NASA Concerns Over SpaceX’s KSC Starship Launch Pad Too Close to Commercial Crew and Falcon Heavy Pad (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
David West, a member of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, said SpaceX plans to eventually launch the huge next-generation Starship rocket, currently under development in South Texas, from the Kennedy Space Center could pose a risk to the Falcon 9 and Dragon launch facility at pad 39A. “There are obvious safety concerns about launching the large, and as yet unproven, Starship in such close proximity, reportedly only 300 yards or so, from another pad, let alone the path so vitally necessary for the commercial crew program.”

Pad 39A is also the only launch facility currently capable of launching SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, necessary to haul some heavier NASA and U.S. military spacecraft into orbit. SpaceX is finishing work on a Starship launch pad in South Texas, but the FAA is reviewing the environmental impacts of SpaceX’s operations at the site before issuing a commercial launch license for the first full-up Starship orbital test flight. (5/13)

DIU Selects Nuclear-Powered Spacecraft Designs for 2027 Demonstrations (Source: Space News)
The Defense Innovation Unit announced May 17 it selected Ultra Safe Nuclear Corp. and Avalanche Energy to develop small nuclear-powered spacecraft for in-space demonstrations planned for 2027. DIU, a Silicon Valley-based Pentagon organization that works with commercial industries and startups, awarded both companies “other transaction” contracts to demonstrate nuclear propulsion and power technology for future DoD space missions. OT contracts, increasingly used in military space projects, are negotiated faster than traditional defense procurements.

The selection of Ultra Safe Nuclear and Avalanche comes just seven months after DIU issued a solicitation for small nuclear-powered engines for space missions beyond Earth orbit. Ultra Safe Nuclear will demonstrate a chargeable, encapsulated nuclear radioisotope battery called EmberCore. Avalanche Energy developed a handheld micro-fusion reactor called Orbitron. Orbitron devices may be scaled down in size and enable their use as both a propulsion and power source. (5/17)

NASA, Air Liquide Continue Working on Artemis 1 WDR Issues (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
NASA’s Artemis 1 flight vehicle remains in the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida while work to investigate and fix problems found in April at the launch pad continues. A series of issues were discovered during three attempts to perform the Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) while the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket were out at Launch Pad 39B.

While the Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) program and prime launch processing contractor Jacobs are troubleshooting issues with connections from the Mobile Launcher to the vehicle in the VAB, they are also working with gaseous nitrogen (GN2) contractor Air Liquide to verify that the purge gas supply can meet the flow rate and duration requirements to support an SLS launch attempt. (5/16)

Chinese Military Thinking on Orbits Beyond GEO (Source: Space Review)
Military interest in the region of space beyond geostationary Earth orbit, such as cislunar space, is growing. Kristin Burke examines how that region of space is treated in Chinese academic military papers and its implications for space security. Click here. (5/16)
 
“Times are Changing”: NASA Looks to Move Beyond the Traditional Contract (Source: Space Review)
NASA administrator Bill Nelson called traditional cost-plus contracts a “plague” on the agency during a congressional hearing earlier this month. Jeff Foust reports on how the agency is looking to make greater use of fixed-price contracts and competition, and the challenges it faces doing so. Click here. (5/16)
 
All the Myriad Worlds (Source: Space Review)
What’s your favorite moon in the solar system? (You do have one, right?) Dwayne Day offers his favorite moons, based not just on science but also the stories they tell. Click here. (5/16)
 
Kosmos 482: Questions Around a Failed Venera Lander From 1972 Still Oorbiting Earth (But Not for Long) (Source: Space Review)
Fifty years ago, the Soviet Union launched a mission to Venus that was stranded in Earth orbit. Marco Langbroek examines what’s known about the last element of that mission still in orbit and when it’s likely to reenter. Click here. (5/16)

Paso Robles Plans Spaceport Activities With Cal Poly and Stellar Explorations (Source: KEYT)
Support of Paso Robles' Spaceport designation is increasing, the City signed two letters of intent to partner for Spaceport activities with Cal Poly and Stellar Explorations. City officials said that Paso Robles is in the process of seeking a "spaceport" designation for the municipal airport.

"The Spaceport concept in Paso Robles is in support of horizontal launches only, primarily to get CubeSats (small satellites) into earth’s orbit," said the city. "The development of the spaceport would be through a license from the Federal Aviation Administration, rather than any new construction or infrastructure." (5/16)

Citizen Scientists Help Discover More Than 1,000 New Asteroids (Source: Ars Technica)
On International Asteroid Day in 2019, a group of research institutions launched a program that could make a deep impact on our knowledge of the diminutive bodies. Using citizen science to train a machine-learning algorithm, the Hubble Asteroid Hunter project identified more than 1,000 new asteroids; the discoveries could help scientists better understand the ring of heavenly bodies that primarily float between Mars and Jupiter.

Asteroid Hunter is a collaborative effort between various groups, including the European Science and Technology Centre, the European Space Astronomy Centre’s Science Data Centre, the Zooniverse citizen science platform, and Google.

In 2019, the researchers sent out a call for citizen scientists to collaborate on the crowd-sourced effort. Through the Zooniverse platform, 11,400 members of the public from around the world identified asteroid trails in 37,000 composite images taken by the Hubble Space Telescope between 2002 and 2021. The citizen scientists pored over the images for a year and identified more than 1,000 trails. (5/16)

Russia to Focus on Life-Science Experiments on ISS (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos plans to carry out a large number of life-science experiments on the ISS, director of the state corporation's research and analysis center Igor Potashny said. "We are currently planning quite a wide range of life-science experiments as the next most groundbreaking stage of space exploration is pilot-controlled exploration of outer space. It is necessary to find out how a human will behave under the influence of external space factors," he said.

It is necessary now to compile a list of biological entities that may be modified and studied, Potashny noted, adding that for this purpose, among other things, a 3D-bioprinter has been delivered to the ISS, which confirmed the possibility of growing in space without the influence of the Earth's gravitational pull. (5/16)

Question of Space National Guard Heats Up Following Legislation, Hearings (Source: Breaking Defense)
With new legislation introduced to force the creation of a Space National Guard program, the question of the newest military service’s structure is once again in the spotlight. On May 3, Gen. Jay Raymond, the Space Force head, told a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing that a Space Guard setup could be done two ways: “Either have a separate Space National Guard or take the capabilities from the Guard and move them into” a single component concept.

Speaking May 13 in front of the House Appropriations defense subcommittee, Raymond elaborated, saying that working out the service structure is a top priority for him. The issue has been simmering ever since the creation of the Space Force in December 2019, with National Guard leadership vocally making the case for a new branch. Indeed, in early 2020 top Guard adjutants general broke with the Pentagon to speak out in favor of a separate Space Guard, and began a congressional lobbying campaign.

“Without a National Guard component for Space Force, we risk losing many talented individuals who want to keep serving their country and their states after they leave active duty, and that is simply unacceptable,” Feinstein said in the announcement of the legislation. “Creating a Space Force National Guard would also save money and ensure a smoother process in the event we need to activate personnel. Not establishing a Space National Guard was a mistake when Space Force was created, and this bill will remedy that.” (5/13)

Riding Along For An L-1011 Pegasus Air Launch Flight Demonstration (Source: Aviation Week)
For the demo mission, Don Walter, chief pilot of L-1011 flight operations, devised a flightpath that approximated a typical launch profile. For airspace and time reasons, the route took us over California’s Central Valley toward Bakersfield rather than into the Stargazer’s more regular haunts in the Pacific test ranges off the coast from Vandenberg Space Force Base.

Our approach to the launch point was at roughly half the speed and one-third the altitude of a standard mission. Walter’s navigation waypoints were therefore spaced out to replicate the final 12 min. of the sequence in terms of time rather than distance and brought us to the initial point (IP) after approaching downwind from the south and reversing course for the launch.

A typical box could measure 10 X 40 mi., Walter said, and provides a small margin for launch delay in the event of a last-minute detection of a potential orbital conflict with a crewed or active spacecraft. “We’re doing 8 mi. a minute, so we can go for 4 min. and the launch director can delay the launch—usually by 30 sec. or so—within that period,” he said. (5/4)