June 24, 2022

Space Chief Hopes for ‘Kennedy Moment’ from European Leaders (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Josef Aschbacher heads the European Space Agency, a formidable force when it comes to scientific exploration, telecoms and Earth observation. But so far, the agency is still unable to put its own astronauts into orbit, relying on Russia and the United States for crewed spaceflight and some other high-profile missions. The 59-year-old aims to change that and hopes the recent turmoil caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine will jolt European leaders into action.

In the long term, however, Aschbacher said “it is clear that for critical components, for critical missions, we need to make sure that we can do it (ourselves).” Earlier this year he hinted that this could include crewed launches. He praised a recent speech by Emmanuel Macron — delivered days before Russia invaded Ukraine — in which the French president called for a bolder European space policy.

“That was a bit of a Kennedy moment, but we need to hear this in other countries as well,” Aschbacher said, referring to U.S. President John F. Kennedy’s speech in 1962 — at the height of the Cold War — detailing plans to land a man on the moon. “I would hope that the same Kennedy moment would happen in Germany and Italy, in the UK and Belgium and so on.” Such ambition is also needed if Europe wants to capitalize on the growing space economy fueled by private ventures such as Elon Musk’s SpaceX, he said. (6/23)

Capstone Launch Will Kick Off NASA’s Artemis Moon Program (Source: WIRED)
A toaster-sized probe will soon scope out a special orbit around the moon, the path planned for NASA’s Lunar Gateway space station. The Gateway, to be rolled out later this decade, will be a staging point for the astronauts and gear that will be traveling as part of NASA’s Artemis lunar program. The launch of this small yet powerful pathfinding probe will inaugurate the Artemis mission, finally setting the space agency’s ambitious moon projects in motion. (6/24)

UCF Grads Take Lead in Developing NASA's Gateway (Source: UCF)
UCF Knights are leading the team helping to create NASA’s Gateway — an outpost that will orbit the moon to advance deep space travel, research and habitation. KSC was selected as the hub for Gateway specifically because of the employees who work there. Nearly 30% of KSC employees graduate from UCF, which has long been the top supplier of aerospace and defense graduates in the nation. Click here. (6/24)

Second Segment Added to Starship Launch Tower at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The second section of the Florida launch tower for SpaceX’s huge Super Heavy and Starship rocket was lifted on top of the first tower segment Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center, continuing construction of a structure that will stand more than 400 feet tall. SpaceX transferred the second metal tower segment — itself as tall as a five-story building — from a staging and construction site at the company’s KSC facility to Launch Complex 39A Wednesday night.

A large crane at pad 39A lifted the second tower section onto the lower segment Thursday morning. The first section of the orbital launch tower rolled out to pad 39A on June 15, and was raised into position on the tower’s foundation Monday. Four more tower segments are visible at the Roberts Road property, where SpaceX is fabricating individual sections of the Starship pad before moving them to pad 39A. (6/23)

Long History of Flowing Water Recorded in Clay-Bearing Sediments on Mars (Source: Space Daily)
A region on Mars may have been repeatedly habitable until relatively late in Martian history, says a new paper by Planetary Science Institute Senior Scientist Catherine Weitz.

Some of the most extensively preserved landforms on Mars created by running water on its surface are found within the Margaritifer Terra region where deposits of clay-bearing sediments have been identified. "The presence of clays indicates an environment favorable for life because clays form and remain stable under neutral pH conditions where water persists long-term that minimizes evaporation to form other minerals like sulfates," Weitz said. (6/23)

Microsoft and Xplore Team on Ground Station and Control System for NOAA Polar Satellites (Source: Space News)
Microsoft and Xplore worked with NOAA to show how commercial services could support operations of polar-orbiting weather satellites. In the test, NOAA obtained data from the NOAA-18 satellite through an Azure Orbital ground station to Microsoft's Azure cloud. Commands to the satellite were sent with Xplore's Major Tom mission control software running in Azure Orbital. The test demonstrated the roles that services like ground stations and cloud networks can play in operating spacecraft and processing data from them. NOAA expects to make use of such services in its next generation of weather satellites. (6/24)

NanoAvionics Sells Hyperspectral Cubesat Already in Orbit (Source: NanoAvionics)
NanoAvionics has sold a hyperspectral satellite already in orbit to an unnamed customer. The D2/Atlacom-1 cubesat launched last year as a technology demonstration mission, including tests of a hyperspectral sensor from Dragonfly Aerospace. NanoAvionics said with those tests complete, it sold the satellite to a company that will use it for Earth imaging applications. (6/24)

India's SSLV Rocket Could Fly Again Soon (Source: Mint)
A long-delayed Indian small launch vehicle could finally fly in the next two months. An official with the Indian space agency ISRO said Friday that the first launch of the Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) is now expected in the next one to two months, but did not offer a more precise schedule. The vehicle's inaugural launch has slipped by several years, in part because of pandemic-related delays. (6/24)

BepiColombo Makes Close Fly-By of Mercury (Source: ESA)
ESA's BepiColombo made its second flyby of Mercury Thursday. The spacecraft passed about 200 kilometers above the planet's surface early Thursday, returning images of the planet's cratered terrain and other data. The flyby is the second of six for BepiColombo, developed by ESA in collaboration with Japan's JAXA space agency, before it enters orbit around the innermost planet in 2025. (6/24)

NASA Objected to Moon Dust Auction (Source: CollectSpace)
An auction of moon dust from Apollo 11 really bugged NASA. RR Auction has planned to sell a tiny amount of moon dust that had been fed to cockroaches as a toxicology experiment decades ago and later extracted. However, NASA's Office of the General Counsel objected to the auction, arguing that the dust remained NASA property. RR Auction said it withdrew the lot, which included the cockroach carcasses along with the dust, to allow time to settle ownership of the items. (6/24)

Jeff Bezos’ Ship, Named for His Mom, Will No Longer Be Used to Catch Rockets (Source: CNN)
Jeff Bezos made a grand public announcement a year ago that he purchased a ship to capture Blue Origin rockets after they return from space. But now the company says it is doing away with that plan, seeking a more “cost effective” alternative. Blue Origin could still use the ship for another purpose or abandon the project altogether.

One alternative to the big ship is to opt for an autonomous, seafaring platform or barge, much like the droneships that SpaceX uses to catch its rockets after flight. Click here. (6/23)

OneWeb to Resume Satellite Launches (Source: Space News)
OneWeb expects to resume launches of its satellites late this year through SpaceX and NewSpace India Ltd. A OneWeb executive said at a conference Thursday that those launches will begin in the fourth quarter, using Falcon 9 and GSLV Mark 3 rockets, and should be completed by the second quarter of next year. That schedule would allow the company to offer global service by the end of 2023. OneWeb was forced to revise its launch plans after Russia's invasion of Ukraine made it impossible to continue using Soyuz rockets to launch its satellites. (6/24)

Hughes and OneWeb Tea to Serve Broadband to Greenland Base (Source: Space News)
Hughes Network Systems and OneWeb have partnered to provide broadband internet access to a remote U.S. military base. The companies announced this week that they have successfully deployed a prototype low Earth orbit network at Thule Air Base in Greenland. The network is fast enough to enable video conferencing, streaming video and interactive games. The base, the northernmost U.S. military installation, is out of reach of geostationary satellites or other means of providing broadband access. (6/24)

SatixFy Hires New CEO (Source: Space News)
Satellite communications equipment make SatixFy has named a new CEO as it moves ahead with plans to go public. The company announced Thursday it hired David Ripstein, CEO of British automotive-focused telematics provider GreenRoad Technologies, as its new CEO. SatixFy chair and CFO Yoav Leibovitch has been serving as interim CEO since the death in April of Yoel Gat. The company says its efforts to go public through a SPAC merger are proceeding, with the deal expected to close in the second half of this year. (6/24)

Isar Aerospace to Launch D-Orbit Satellite Transfer Vehicle (Source: Space News)
Isar Aerospace will launch an orbital transfer vehicle for space logistics company D-Orbit. The companies announced the contract this week for a launch no earlier than 2023 on Isar's Spectrum launch vehicle. Spectrum is designed to launch 700 kilograms to sun-synchronous orbit, and D-Orbit's ION Satellite Carrier orbital transfer vehicle can host several cubesats and microsatellites per mission. The first Spectrum launch is no earlier than late this year.

Spectrum’s first and second flight will carry European payloads that are being selected as part of a competition run by German space agency DLR. DLR started inviting applications June 20 for free flights on Isar Aerospace’s second mission, which is slated to fly in 2023. Isar signed an agreement in 2021 for using a launch pad at Norway's Andoya spaceport. (6/24)

X Prize Foundation Considers Space Debris Removal Competition (Source: Space News)
The X Prize Foundation is considering an active debris removal competition. At the Fourth Summit for Space Sustainability Thursday, X Prize CEO Anousheh Ansari said the organization is looking at several options for a competition that range from removing a single large rocket body to several smaller objects or debris. The foundation, which previously ran competitions for suborbital human spaceflight and lunar landers, thinks a debris removal prize could spur technology innovation as well as raise public awareness and address policy issues. (6/24)

NASA Satisfied with SLS WDR Test Results, No Plans for Another (Source: NASA)
NASA is not planning to perform another countdown rehearsal of the Space Launch System. The agency said Thursday that the fourth wet dress rehearsal, conducted Monday, was sufficient, and that it will move the rocket back to the Vehicle Assembly Building next week. The launch of the rocket on the Artemis 1 mission could take place as soon as late August. NASA will provide more details about its plans at a briefing later today. (6/24)

Eight Sunspots Emerge on Sun, Major Solar Storm Could Cause Blackouts on Earth (Source: Hindustan Times)
Eight new sunspots came into view of the Earth, creating risk of a major solar storm this week. There is a possibility that GPS systems will crash. Solar flares are also associated with radio blackouts that might occur this week. (6/21)

Governments Working with Industry on Space Sustainability (Source: Space News)
Governments and companies are working on parallel paths for space sustainability. The first meeting of a U.N.-chartered working group last month started discussions among countries on best practices and rules of the road in space, such as a ban on direct-ascent ASAT tests. Companies, largely left out of those discussions, say they are working together on more decentralized approaches, like exchanging information on their satellites to provide more accurate warnings of potential close approaches. (6/24)

A Modern Space Race Needs to be Built on Sustainability (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers have called for a more sustainable approach to the UK's National Space Strategy in a new publication from The University of Manchester, On Space. Based on leading research and expertise on innovative and emerging technologies, experts are calling for sustainability to be at the forefront of humanity's next phase of space exploration. In On Space, experts ask policymakers to consider space debris, satellite orbits and the investment needed to roll out sustainable space technology on Earth.

Many technologies used to counter climate change, including solar panels, started out as space-age innovations. Future innovations in space technology could be used to further reduce carbon emissions here on Earth. Dr Peter Roberts argues that one way to combat the problem of space debris is to coordinate International space policymakers to agree to prioritise the use of Very Low Earth Orbits (VELO) for commercial operations to lessen humanity's impact on the space environment. Higher level orbits should be reserved for science, crewed activities, and space exploration. (6/23)