July 17, 2022

SpaceX Launches Latest Batch of Starlink Internet Satellites From Florida (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX launched yet another batch of Starlink internet satellites from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Sunday, tying its previous annual launch record just seven months into the year. The 10:20 a.m. ET liftoff from Launch Complex 40 took 53 of the internet-beaming satellites to low-Earth orbit, then saw the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage land on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean. It marked the booster's 13th flight to date.

All told, SpaceX has launched nearly 3,000 Starlink satellites over 51 missions. The company plans on boosting thousands more to provide worldwide coverage for the service that starts at $110 per month. With at least a dozen more launches planned through the end of this year, SpaceX is almost sure to eclipse 40 total and help push the Space Coast to the unofficial goal of 50-plus missions before the end of 2022.

The launch also marked the Space Coast's 31st of 2022, tying with last year's record. A cadence like this hasn't been seen since the Space Race of the 1960s, when a variety of rockets and ballistic missiles were flown from the Eastern Range. The next launch, again with a batch of Starlink internet satellites, is set for no earlier than Sunday, July 24. (7/17)

UAE Sets Out Plan to Build Network of Highly Accurate Radar Satellites (Source: The National)
The UAE will develop a series of highly accurate satellites to improve forecasting and monitor climate change. The Dh3 billion National Space Fund, announced earlier this year, will pave the way for the research and construction of the 'Sirb' project. The constellation of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR) satellites can create highly detailed radar images of land use, ice cover and surface changes, with a wide range of scientific and commercial applications. Scientists can use the data to trace oil spills, track maritime vessels and monitor crop yields, a government statement said. (7/17)

UAE Establishes $817 Million Fund for Space Sector (Source: Arab News)
UAE President Mohamed bin Zayed announced an $817 million fund to support space sector in a post on Twitter early Sunday. The Fund’s first project to be launched to space will be a constellation of advanced remote sensing satellites using radar technologies to provide unparalleled imaging capabilities. The constellation is to be named Sirb after the Arabic term for a flock of birds. Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the UAE vice president, prime minister, and ruler of Dubai, said on Twitter the fund aims to supporting the establishment of national companies in the space sector and boost national strategic and research projects. (7/17)

What Does it Take to Fly on Blue Origin? An Application and (Maybe) a Rocket Load of Money (Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
A flight to space with Blue Origin is as simple as filling out an application online, paying potentially tens of millions of dollars for the 11 minutes you’ll spend in the stars and a trip the the small far West Texas town of Van Horn. Like many other things, Blue Origin is fairly tight lipped about what a seat on its rockets cost. Oliver Daemon, the 18-year-old son of a European millionaire, had a ticket bought by his father for $28 million for the first manned Blue Origin flight in July 2021.

For your part, Blue Origin has a form on its website where it asks space-faring hopefuls to share contact information, date of birth, a bio with less than 500 characters, what excites them the most about Blue Origin space flights and what adventures they’ve had in the past. It’ll also ask you what year you want to fly and how many tickets you want to buy. The exact price per ticket, though, is as unknown to those outside the company as what a black hole looks like up close. (7/17)

Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Signs the Artemis Accords (Source: US Dept. of State)
The United States welcomes Saudi Arabi’s signing of the Artemis Accords on July 14, affirming its commitment to safe, sustainable, and responsible space exploration. Mohammed Saud al-Tamimi, CEO of the Saudi Space Commission, signed the Accords on behalf of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and was joined during a virtual ceremony by Her Royal Highness Princess Reema bint Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, Ambassador to the United States, Abdullah bin Amer al-Swaha, Saudi Minister of Communications and Information Technology, Bill Nelson, Administrator of the NASA, Martina Strong, Chargé d’Affaires for the United States Mission to Saudi Arabia, and Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary Jennifer R. Littlejohn from the Department of State Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs. (7/16)

How Science, Space Travel May Help Families Living with Neurological Conditions (Source: KXAN)
The Dell Children’s Medical Center hosted the 17th National Conference on Hydrocephalus, a buildup of fluid in the brain, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. The conference linked how the things astronauts experience in space could help people back home living with neurological conditions. “We’ve learned with astronauts on long-duration space flight that they have developed a disorder that also looks as though it’s causing the spinal fluid pressure to be increased,” said Dr. Michael A. Williams.

Hydrocephalus could happen to anyone at any time due to a brain injury, tumor, infection or for unknown reasons as part of the aging process. Dr. Michael Barratt, a NASA astronaut specializing in aerospace medicine, and Dr. John Wellons, a pediatric neurosurgeon and neuroscientist discussed health issues associated with space travel, particularly Space Flight-Associated Neuroocular Syndrome (SANS) and how research on SANS and other conditions has the potential to help people living with hydrocephalus. (7/17)

Journey to the Mystery Planet: Why Uranus is the New Target for Space Exploration (Source: Guardian)
Studies have shown Uranus to be a very odd world. While the rest of the planets in our solar system spin like tops, Uranus lies on its side. And although it is not the farthest planet from the sun, it is the solar system’s coldest. Uranus also endures seasons of extraordinary magnitude. Each pole spends decades bathed in non-stop sunlight, before experiencing decades of total darkness. A human being who was born at sunset near the pole disappearing into autumn darkness, would have to wait 42 years to see their first spring sunrise.

Despite these astronomical oddities and extremes, surprisingly little effort has been made to get up close to Uranus. Only one robot probe has ever visited it – in 1986 – when the US Voyager 2 craft swept past on its grand tour of the solar system. It revealed a massive, featureless, pale blue world with an atmosphere of hydrogen, helium and methane, a rich family of moons and a powerful magnetic field. Earlier this year, the US National Academy of Sciences urged NASA to launch a Uranus probe as its highest-priority flagship mission for the next decade, putting NASA under enormous pressure to design and fund such a mission.

But timing is tight. Celestial mechanics dictate that a Uranus mission will have to be launched in 2031 or 2032 to reach Jupiter at the right time to exploit it for a gravity assist. This leaves NASA with a decade to design the probe, raise the $4bn or more to build it, complete its construction and then launch it on its 13-year voyage. Most ideas for the mission envisage a main craft that would orbit Uranus, survey the planet while occasionally swinging near some of the its moons and rings for close inspection. A companion probe could also be dropped into the Uranian atmosphere to study its composition. (7/16)

One Town, Two Frontiers: Inside Tiny Van Horn, Texas — Home to Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin (Source: Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
Van Horn has never really been a household name for most Texans. It’s about an eight-hour drive from Dallas-Fort Worth, past the wooded hills west of Abilene and the flatlands of the Permian Basin, where the earth stretches toward a boundless sky. There, in the foothills of far West Texas, you’ll come to Van Horn, a speck on the map no more than three square miles. This frontier community of 1,893 people that was once a rest stop for mail carriers going between El Paso and San Antonio now plays host to a new kind of traveler jetting to a new frontier: space.

Jeff Bezos brought a media frenzy to the town when he picked a site less than 30 miles away for his Blue Origin rocket launches. But folks who call the town home say the engineers, space tourists and visitors who come to watch the rocket blasts haven’t changed Van Horn, where the streets are dusty, the buildings a testament to history and the people seemingly largely content with the lives they lead. Since the first high-profile launches, Blue Origin’s presence has become more obvious on Broadway Street, with murals and banners lining the thoroughfare. The company completed its fifth human space flight on June 4, when six people took the 11-minute flight 62 miles above the earth.

And while the town has brought space travel enthusiasts through for the launches and become home to around 100 Blue Origin workers, residents and leaders in Van Horn aren’t sure what it means for the future. They don’t know if — or for how long — they’ll be able to capture tourist business. They don’t expect to see much of the millionaires and billionaires who will soar into the great unknown because they can fly directly to the launch site. And the employees’ earnings could have negative effects on the town, which relies on grants to do things like fix roads and maintain waterworks because of its median household income of $34,853. (7/17)

Starlink's Massive Growth Results in Congestion, Slow Speeds for Some Users (Source: PC Magazine)
Starlink has received praise for delivering high-speed broadband to rural areas across the world. But this past week, Wisconsin resident Lindsay Bernhagen decided to “rage quit” SpaceX’s satellite internet system out of sheer frustration. The reason? Her Starlink internet service has slowed to a crawl, making it difficult to get any work done. “It was really fast for the first few months, and then it got predictably bad every single day,” said Bernhagen, who decided to switch back to her previous internet provider.

“I was lagging so much I couldn’t participate in the video meetings,” she said. Download speeds would drop to 8 to 10Mbps in the afternoon. “It was at the point I couldn’t be functional at my job.” Bernhagen isn’t alone. Hundreds of miles south near Leonard, Texas, John Lawyer has encountered download rates on his Starlink dish that can dive as low as 1Mbps, especially during the evenings. Speeds "are absolutely getting worse,” he said. (7/15)

Vaya Space Awarded All2Space Satellite Launch Contract (Source: Vaya Space)
Vaya Space, Inc. the vortex-hybrid engine rocket company and emerging leader in sustainable space access, today announced that All2Space has signed an exclusive contract to launch their satellite constellation with Vaya Space. All2Space is CubeSat developer and launch aggregator with Brazilian Space Agency heritage focused on Latin American operations, with plans to develop and manage their own constellation. The signing of agreement between Vaya Space and All2Space will initially focus on the Latin American market, and this contract will further enhance Vaya’s first-mover advantage in the Latin American space industry.    

Vaya Space successfully conducted its inaugural launch earlier this year.  The Company also recently announced multiple agreements with NASA to share technology and demonstrate the company’s industry-leading engine performance at both the Stennis Space Center and at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Vaya is expanding commercial operations in Florida and Brazil, leveraging their industry low-cost position and reliability. 

In addition to providing launch services for All2Space, Vaya will work with All2Space affiliated Ideia Space to launch a satellite built by students in Brazil as part of their industry-specific education. Building on work with the Michaelis Foundation for Global Education and multiple US universities, such as Athens State University’s STEM-SAT1 Project, this contract will further extend Vaya’s impact supporting global STEM education. (7/15)

Feinstein and Rubio: Senate Must Back Creation of ‘Space National Guard’ to End a Needless Division (Source: Defense News)
At a time when China and Russia are seeking to overtake the United States in space — having grown their combined space assets by 70% from 2019 to 2021 — we cannot afford any setbacks in our own space program. That’s why we created the Space Force in 2019 — to maintain our edge in space. Active duty Air Force units with space missions were transferred to the new service to intensify focus on this critical domain. But there was a key exception: Space units in the National Guard were left under the Air Force because a corresponding “Space National Guard” was never formed.

We have proposed establishing a National Guard component for the Space Force to eliminate that needless division. On June 22, the House Armed Services Committee voted to include this provision in its version of the National Defense Authorization Act, and the Senate should follow suit. Our space units should operate as a seamless team, but they can’t do that while divided between two services. Instead, they’re dependent on added bureaucracy to conduct basic functions — training troops, acquiring resources, setting standards, inspecting units and mobilizing personnel. The division also makes it impossible to build a strong organizational culture. Editor's Note: The Navy and Marine Corps do not have National Guard components. (7/14)

Early Tests Prove Technical Breakthrough in Affordable, High-performance Telescope for Real Time Detection of Small, Dark, Fast-Moving Objects in Cislunar and Deep Space (Source: TransAstra)
Orbital logistics and space mining leader TransAstra Corporation today announced the successful completion of the proof-of-concept phase for its new Sutter Telescope System, which detects and tracks small, dark, fast-moving objects in cislunar and deep space with a hundred times greater strength and accuracy than existing telescopes, at a fraction of the cost.

Originally invented to enable prospecting for the vast mineral wealth in asteroids, the Sutter Telescope System significantly advances space domain awareness capabilities, increasing orbital safety for both humans and equipment and improving orbital traffic management everywhere in cislunar space in particular, from low Earth orbit to the Moon. The system was field tested at the Tuscon, Arizona-based Irvin Marvin Winer Memorial Mobile Observatory. “This technology has profound implications for our ability to access space more safely and affordably,” said TransAstra CEO Dr. Joel C. Sercel. (6/21)

Thales, Qualcomm, Ericsson To Test Space-based 5G Network Tech (Sources: Aviation Week, LandMobile)
Aerospace company Thales Group, mobile phone chip maker Qualcomm Technologies and telecommunications company Ericsson plan to test and validate low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite-based 5G network technologies for mobile phones. According to Ericsson, the tests could mean that its future 5G smartphones could use 5G connectivity anywhere on Earth and provide complete global coverage for wideband data services, including places normally only covered by legacy satellite phone systems with limited data connectivity capabilities. The space-based network could also be used as backup support to terrestrial networks in the event of major network outages or disasters. (7/12)

SpaceX and Dish’s Super-Shady War for the World (Source: IEEE Spectrum)
Billionaires, satellite links, political chicanery: a present-day, oligopolistic game of jockeying for prime placement in the 12-gigahertz spectrum has at least a few of the ingredients of a thriller. Or—given the outsize personalities involved (including Elon Musk and Michael Dell) and the epic, five-year duration of the dispute to date—maybe more like a space opera.

At issue is a set of frequencies where Musk’s SpaceX sets its Starlink Internet service, the company's well-publicized play for broadband beaming down from low-Earth orbit to satellite dishes in remote areas. Charlie Ergen’s Dish Network Corp., which transmits TV on these frequencies and is one of the two big satellite viewing providers in the United States, has launched a 5G wireless service and wants to increase its signal volume in this wavelength. Musk’s side says the move would make debilitating static for his satellites; Ergen’s engineers say that’s nonsense. As for Dell (you may recall Dell laptops) his private investment firm holds interest in some of the airwaves in play. At the moment, they’re siding with Dish.

The current field, more precisely 12.2 to 12.7 GHz in the Ku microwave band, is a lot of bandwidth lightly used—primarily today for assorted satellite broadcasts, live feeds, ISS tracking, and military recon drones. But the corporates fighting over it recently cranked up their clashing. The sides are lobbying a shorthanded Federal Communications Commission, with recent highlight swipes including Musk blasting his foes as “super shady and unethical” while taking return fire from Dish for “flimsy” and “far-fetched” objections to opening bandwidth. (7/15)

SpaceX Filling Top Legal, Policy Posts After Firing Musk Critics (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX, after firing employees critical of Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk last month, is recruiting for a dozen legal and government affairs positions. The company seeks lawyers for government contracts, regulatory matters and telecommunications, as well as government affairs professionals for appropriations, broadband, and satellite policy, a SpaceX online jobs board shows. SpaceX fired “a number” of workers responsible for an open letter critical of Musk’s behavior, Bloomberg News reported June 17, citing an internal company memo. The letter faulted Musk’s behavior and tweets as “a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us.” (7/15)

Liquid Nitrogen Discharge Reported at SpaceX Texas Launch Pad (Source: Bloomberg)
An untold amount of liquid nitrogen was released at the SpaceX launch pad in deep South Texas, state and federal regulators said. Aerial photos taken on July 8 and circulating on social media depict what appears to be a cryogenic liquid and vapors on wetlands next to the launch pad. (From an aerial photo, nitrogen can look like snow on the ground.) The US Fish & Wildlife Service, Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and the Galveston office of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers confirmed the incident to Bloomberg. (7/14)

How Americans Feel About Space (Source: Five Thirty Eight)
In a July 2021 poll from YouGov/The Economist, a majority of Americans said the U.S. should send astronauts to the moon and Mars. This was true across political parties, with slim majorities for Democrats, Republicans and independents. Most Americans are on the same page about funding space exploration, too. About a third of Democrats, Republicans and independents said government funding of space exploration should be kept the same, and about 40 percent of each group said funding should be increased.

Find me another issue where roughly the same share of Republicans and Democrats agree that the government is not spending enough money. Grandpa Buck would be happy to know that about three-quarters of Americans across the political spectrum — 77 percent of Democrats, 76 percent of Republicans and 75 percent of independents — also agreed that the effort made to land the first astronauts on the moon was definitely or probably worth it. (7/15)

NASA and Roscosmos Agree on ISS Crew Seat Exchange (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
After years of planning, a crew seat exchange deal has been formalized by NASA and Roscosmos and should see a Russian cosmonaut fly in Crew Dragon in September. Coincidentally, this was announced by NASA the same day the Kremlin announced Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin was replaced. The agency said the exchange agreement was finalized and would see NASA astronaut Frank Rubio fly aboard Soyuz MS-22 in late September 2022 and Russian cosmonaut Anna Kikina fly with SpaceX’s Crew-5 Dragon, also planned for September. (7/15)

New Head of Russian Space Corporation Will Need to Revise Space Program (Source: TASS)
New CEO of Roscosmos, Yury Borisov, needs to revise the Federal Space Program until 2025, as well as make adjustments to the work planned until 2035, in order to solve the issues the state corporation is facing now, scientific director of the Moscow Space Club Ivan Moiseyev said. "He will have to revise the Federal Space Program until 2025, which is currently in force, … and, accordingly, make adjustments to the work that is being carried out under the program from 2025 to 2035. At the same time, a number of programs will have to be abandoned according to some criteria," the expert said.

According to Moiseyev, Roscosmos is currently experiencing serious difficulties, in particular with import substitution and a decrease in funding for space projects. "We had a very large proportion of components from the United States and, accordingly, they need to be changed, and changing means not just taking and replacing, but they need to be tested, the tests are long, expensive and complex." (7/16)

Angara 1.2 To Conduct Commercial Mission From Vostochny In 2023 (Source: Aviation Week)
Roscosmos State Space Corp. is eager to launch new Angara modular rockets from its Vostochny commercial spaceport in 2023. But the first variant to lift off from the facility in Russia’s Far East will be a light Angara 1.2, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin said July 6. (7/7)

Power Beamed From Space, Rocket Cargo: UK Military Looking at ‘Game-Changing’ Space Tech (Source: Breaking Defense)
The UK military could be on the brink of “unexpected, game-changing, spin-off technologies” in space, according to the Ministry of Defence’s Director for Space, Air Vice-Marshal Harv Smyth — including everything from beaming solar power back to earth to mining asteroids for rare materials. Smyth described how technological advancement in the space domain was moving at “breakneck pace,” offering up “enormous opportunities” to armed forces.

But he warned the MoD needs to be thinking now about its role as new capabilities in space come online in the coming years, or risk being left to scramble after the fact. This included the sector’s ability to operationalize new capability at “eye-watering speeds,” he claimed. “We are starting to witness agile acquisition in near real time, the perfect example being from the ongoing Ukraine crisis. Who’d have thought a single tweet from the Ukrainian Vice Prime Minister asking Elon Musk for support from Space X’s Starlink [Low Earth Orbit satellite] capability would result in a positive reply in just a few hours and battle-winning MDI [multi-domain integration] capability delivered in days,” he said. (7/15)

China Launches Two New Remote Sensing Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
China on Saturday launched a Long March-2C carrier rocket to place two satellites in space. The pair of satellites, Siwei 03 and 04, were lifted at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in the northern province of Shanxi and soon entered the preset orbit. They will provide commercial remote sensing services for sectors such as land resources investigation, natural disaster monitoring, urban planning and safety. The mission marked the 427th flight of the Long March carrier rockets. (7/16)

8 UCF Researchers Among 1st to Use James Webb Space Telescope This Year (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The $10 billion JWST delivered on a stellar promise 30 years in the making with out of this world images that left University of Central Florida researchers gawking. Noemi Pinilla-Alonso, a UCF planetary scientist, was with her team at the Florida Space Institute when the images dropped. The four researchers gathered around a computer sharing a plastic bag of popcorn and pointing out galaxy clusters, cosmic ridges and new stars 13 billion lightyears away at the edge of time and the birth universe.

Pinilla-Alonso is among the eight UCF researchers and one alumna who will be using the solar system’s mightiest space telescope to answer long-held questions, or (more probably) discover questions scientists haven’t thought to ask yet. NASA received more than 1,100 proposals from 44 countries hoping to use the JWST during its first year of operations, but only 286 proposals were selected. Among them, Pinilla-Alonso is part of three investigative teams, including one that she’s leading, which will be researching “trans-Neptunian objects” (TNOs) or objects found past Neptune as part of the Kuiper Belt that extends to the edge of the solar system. (7/16)

Private Investment in Space Companies Dropped During Q2 Despite Monster SpaceX Round (Source: CNBC)
Private investment in space companies dwindled in the second quarter — weighed down by broader economic and market headwinds — but was salvaged in part by a funding round at Elon Musk’s SpaceX, according to a report Thursday by New York-based Space Capital. Space infrastructure companies brought in $2.5 billion of private investment in the second quarter, including SpaceX’s recent $1.7 billion, the bulk of the total. The quarterly figure represents a 45% drop from the same period in 2021, a record year for space investment.

Space companies, especially those which recently went public, have suffered a rocky first half of the year as investors turned on technology and growth stocks. The space economy hasn’t been spared from rising interest rates, inflation or supply chain disruptions. According to the report, capital has largely sat on the sidelines as well — at least temporarily. (7/14)