May 20, 2022

Tuberville: Colorado A ‘Sore Loser’ in Space Command’s Huntsville Move (Source: AL.com)
U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said in a statement Thursday that Colorado politicians are suffering from “sore loser syndrome” over evaluations that have made Huntsville’s Redstone Arsenal the “preferred” choice to be the permanent home of U.S. Space Command headquarters.

Tuberville called on leaders to “embrace” the Air Force’s decision and that energy moving forward should focus on the relocation of Space Command from its startup home in Colorado Springs. “At this point, the biggest thing standing in the way of SPACECOM is political inertia and sore loser syndrome, each a detriment to U.S. military effectiveness,” Tuberville said. (5/19)

New Space Force Service Component Targets China Threat (Source: National Defense)
In response to China’s growing military capabilities, the U.S. Space Force will stand up its first service component outside of Space Command in Indo-Pacific Command, said a service official May 19. Though making the service components official is still “pre-decisional,” China’s pacing threat necessitated the first service component in the Indo-Pacific region, said Lt. Gen. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief for operations, nuclear and cyber. (5/19)

Boeing and ULA Launch Starliner to ISS From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Boeing's CST-100 Starliner is on its way to the International Space Station after a launch Thursday evening. An Atlas 5 lifted off at 6:54 p.m. Eastern, carrying Starliner on the OFT-2 uncrewed test flight. At a postlaunch briefing, NASA and Boeing said the spacecraft was performing well despite suffering the failure of 2 of 12 thrusters during the spacecraft's orbital insertion burn a half-hour after liftoff.

Engineers are investigating the failure, but officials said they don't expect it to affect the spacecraft's approach to the station. Starliner is projected to dock with the station around 7:10 p.m. Eastern today, remaining there for several days of tests before returning to Earth. (5/20)

Space Force Focuses on Satellite Cybersecurity (Source: Space News)
The Space Force is emphasizing the need to protect satellite ground systems from cyberattacks. Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, deputy chief of space operations for nuclear and cyber, said Thursday that Russia's invasion of Ukraine demonstrated that cyber threats to space systems are not limited to satellites themselves, noting the attack on Viasat's KA-SAT network that targeted user terminals, not the satellite. Saltzman said more time would be needed to evaluate the events in Ukraine as the conflict grinds on. (5/20)

China's Orienspace Raises $60 Million for Launch Vehicle Development (Source: Space News)
Chinese launch vehicle developer Orienspace has raised $59.9 million in a Series A funding round. The company says the funding will support work on its Gravity-1 medium-class launch vehicle, slated for a test flight as soon as mid-2023. With a payload capacity of up to 6,500 kilograms, it would be the largest-capacity launcher in China's nascent commercial space sector. The company will also use the funding to work on a reusable engine capable of producing 100 tons of thrust for its future Gravity-2 rocket. (5/20)

Telesat Demonstrates Connectivity for Lightspeed Constellation (Source: Space News)
Telesat demonstrated high-speed connectivity in India last month using a four-year-old prototype satellite. The Phase 1 satellite, launched in 2018 to assist in development of Telesat's Lightspeed constellation, carried out tests with an Indian teleport operated by Nelco in late April, demonstrating "fiber-like" connectivity. Telesat announced plans to partner with Nelco in September 2020. Other satellite operators have since made similar alliances with other Indian companies as the country looks to ease protectionist measures to encourage foreign investments. (5/20)

Inmarsat Tests Mesh Network for Maritime Vessels (Source: Space News)
Inmarsat successfully tested a mesh network that enables ships to switch from satellite to terrestrial connectivity by using other vessels as stepping stones to land-based signal towers. The company plans to use the technology to offload its satellite capacity to terrestrial networks at ports and other congested areas, even if a ship is not close enough to connect directly to the shore.

The maritime mesh network is part of the multi-orbit Orchestra constellation strategy that Inmarsat announced last year, which includes using low Earth orbit satellites starting in 2026 for addressing areas of high bandwidth demand that can't be offloaded terrestrially. (5/20)

NASA Seeks Ideas for Exploration Strategy (Source: Space News)
NASA is seeking public input on a set of objectives that will guide its long-term exploration strategy. The agency released this week 50 objectives grouped in four areas: transportation and habitation, lunar and Martian infrastructure, operations and science. NASA is seeking comments on those objectives through the end of the month and plans two stakeholder meetings this summer to discuss the feedback. The objectives are intended to guide long-term plans for human missions to the moon and Mars, including a "gap analysis" to compare those objectives with existing and planned programs. (5/20)

SpaceX Paid Off Flight Attendant for Musk Sexual Harassment (Source: Insider)
SpaceX paid $250,000 to settle a sexual harassment claim against Elon Musk. A person who worked as a flight attendant on a SpaceX corporate jet alleged that Musk harassed her in 2016. After the person filed a complaint about the incident with SpaceX's human resources department in 2018, the company paid her $250,000 in a severance package that included a nondisclosure agreement and promise not to sue. Musk, who did not originally respond to the story before publication, called the accusations "utterly untrue" in a series of tweets overnight, alleging they were politically motivated. (5/20)

Russia Launches Reconnaissance Satellite (Sources: NasaSpaceFlight.com, TASS)
Russia launched a reconnaissance satellite Thursday. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 4:03 a.m. Eastern and placed the Bars-M reconnaissance satellite, designated Cosmos 2556, into a sun-synchronous orbit. Russian media, meanwhile, acknowledged that Cosmos 2555, a military satellite launched on an Angara 1.2 rocket April 29, reentered this week. The spacecraft suffered some kind of technical malfunction that kept it from raising its orbit. (5/20)

Russia Calculating Sanctions in Decision for ISS Crew Swaps (Source: TASS)
Russia now expects to make a decision on ISS crew swaps next month. Dmitry Rogozin, head of Roscosmos, said Thursday he expects a Russian government decision on swapping Soyuz and commercial crew seats to be made in the first 10 days of June. He said the decision will depend in part on "NASA's position on sanctions against Russia" but did not elaborate. NASA officials reiterated this week that they need to finalize by late June the crew assignments for the Crew-5 Crew Dragon mission to the ISS launching in September. (5/20)

Space Perspective Raises $17 Million to Accelerate Florida Balloon Tourism Plans (Source: Space News)
Stratospheric ballooning company Space Perspective has raised an additional $17 million. The funding from a new group of investors will allow the company to accelerate its growth, it announced Thursday. The company is developing Spaceship Neptune, a vehicle carrying eight passengers that will go up to an altitude of 30 kilometers, providing views of the Earth like those from space for several hours. Commercial flights are scheduled to begin in late 2024. (5/20)

India Plans Abort Tests for Crewed Capsule System (Source: Indian Express)
India's space agency is preparing for two abort tests of its Gaganyaan crewed spaceflight this year. The head of ISRO, S. Somanath, said one test in September will demonstrate the capsule's abort system from an altitude of 15 kilometers, while a second test in December will be conducted at a higher altitude. The Gaganyaan program originally had a goal of flying Indian astronauts this year to mark the 75th anniversary of India's independence, but it has been delayed at least in part because of the pandemic. (5/20)

China's Mars Rover Ready to Hibernate (Source: Xinhua)
China's Zhurong Mars rover is going into hibernation for the Martian winter. The China National Space Administration said that dust storms are decreasing the amount of sunlight reaching the solar-powered rover. Spacecraft controllers put the rover into a dormant mode on Wednesday and don't plan to revive it until December, when they expect conditions to improve. (5/20)

Impulse Space Propulsion Raises $20M to Bring Last-Mile Delivery to Space (Source: LA TechWatch)
Impulse Space Propulsion is focused on in-space transportation services for the inner solar system to complement the ever-increasing number of launches.  While costs per payload have significantly decreased, by extending “last-mile” capabilities, orbital missions can be grouped together resulting in more efficiency and accessibility – essentially building a hub-spoke model for space.  The company is initially focused on Low Orbit Earth to handle a wide array of uses beyond launch like payload delivery, servicing, deorbiting, and space station realignment.

Tom Mueller is the founder of the Company and he has always been interested in in-space transport as well as from Earth.  His work on space vehicle designs after leaving SpaceX led to the creation of Impulse Space Propulsion. Offering a competitive, efficient and effective solution to deliver payloads to their destinations is the goal of the Company.  With existing launch vehicles needing partners and future launch vehicles further reducing the cost to orbit, there will be more missions to deliver space capability.  As such, providing a price competitive solution is going to be key. (5/20)

Printed Rocket May Launch June 1 From Florida (Source: Long Beach Business Journal)
While many rocket manufacturers use 3D-printing technology to create components for spacecraft, the first entirely printed rocket may take flight as early as June 1. That was announced by Long Beach, CA-based Relativity Space. The company successfully completed a 60-second full-duration mission duty cycle test for stage two of its rocket, the Terran 1, at Stennis Space Center in April.

The test marks the first time a 3D-printed stage has undergone acceptance testing. Relativity also completed acceptance testing for all nine Aeon 1 engines for stage one of the rocket. The company completed its first full-duration mission duty cycle of the Aeon, which ran for 310 seconds, in January. Both stages will now be shipped to Relativity’s launch pad, LC-16, at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (5/18)

Pollution From SpaceX, Blue Origin, Virgin Galactic's Rockets May Harm Human Health, Climate (Source: Business Insider)
The pollution from rockets built by SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic could damage human health and hurt the Earth's climate, a new study shows. "Atmospheric pollution from rockets," published on Tuesday in the journal Physics of Fluids, digitally modelled the exhaust gases coming from a standard rocket, similar to one of SpaceX's reusable Falcon 9s, at various altitudes.

The increase in rocket launches by commercial space companies such as Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic "could have a significant cumulative effect on climate," the study said. This is because of the amount of carbon gases and nitrogen oxides being produced with each launch. The study found that the concentration of nitrogen oxides, which an ascending rocket releases into two cubic kilometers of atmospheric air, was considered "hazardous to human health" under the World Health Organization's (WHO) standards. (5/19)

NASA Pushing Prize Competitions with New Awards (Source: Washington Technology)
A couple of winners already made their announcements, but NASA has now released the full slate of 13 companies that have joined its Open Innovation Services 2 vehicle through an on-ramp process. NASA uses that vehicle to run challenges, where companies are tasked with solving some of the agency's hardest technical problems. On top of adding that group of 13, NASA also raised the vehicle’s ceiling from $24.9 million to $175 million. (5/19)

Don’t Be Dazzled by Russia’s Laser Weapons Claims (Source: Breaking Defense)
Claims by a top Russian official that Moscow has unveiled a powerful new laser weapon prototype to attack drones and satellites being used in Ukraine should be taken with a boulder of salt, experts say. “As with some many things that comes from the Russians, it’s hard to separate fact from fiction,” said Mark Lewis, head of the National Defense Industrial Agency’s Emerging Technologies Institute.

Laura Grego, an astrophysicist at MIT with expertise in directed-energy, summed up: “There’s not a lot of detail, but from what there is, there’s no need to hyperventilate.” Speculation about the new weapon began on Wednesday after statements to Russian state television by Yury Borisov, Russia’s deputy prime minister in charge of military development, claimed that a prototype of a drone-killing laser weapon had already been tested and is being used in Ukraine. (5/19)

Pentagon Has Quietly Growing Doubts About Boeing's Direction (Source: The Air Current)
The Pentagon has a significant stake in the company's long-term health as Boeing's single biggest customer. The Pentagon's top leaders, including the Secretary of the Air Force, recently sought internal and third-party analyses and recommendations on the future of the company.

Boeing's top leadership has sought to allay concerns about the company's performance and direction, as it concentrates resources on solving certification, design and manufacturing challenges across its business. "We're on the verge of turning the corner," said chief financial officer Brian West last week. Yet the scene now unfolding at Boeing in May 2022 has distinct echoes of an earlier run-up to leadership changes at Boeing in the fall of 2019. (5/18)