July 18, 2022

Firefly Prepares for Second Alpha Launch From Vandenberg (Source: Space News)
Firefly Aerospace is preparing for a second launch of its Alpha rocket in late August or early September. The company's interim CEO, Peter Schumacher, said in a recent interview that the rocket is ready at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, and the company is waiting for validation of a new debris model and FAA launch license. A launch date, he said, will depend on those factors as well as the schedule of other launches from the range. The first Alpha launched from Vandenberg last September but failed to reach orbit because of a failure of one of its first-stage engines. If the second launch is successful, the company is planning a launch for NASA as soon as November, followed by up to six launches in 2023. (7/18)

China's Cargo Craft Undocks From Space Station (Source: Xinhua)
A Chinese cargo spacecraft undocked from the country's space station Saturday night. The Tianzhou-3 spacecraft undocked from the Tianhe core module at 10:59 p.m. Eastern and will reenter in the near future. The spacecraft had been docked to the station since last September. The undocking sets the stage for the launch of the Wentian lab module for the station. (7/18)

Hawaii Establishes New Authority to Manage Maunakea Observatories (Source: Scientific American)
A new law will change how a mountain home to several major observatories will be managed. Hawaii's governor signed into law earlier this month a bill that transfers management of the summit of Maunakea from the University of Hawaii to a new authority whose members include native Hawaiians, state officials and others. Supporters of the act hope it can defuse conflicts between native Hawaiians and astronomers over current and proposed observatories on the summit, including the Thirty Meter Telescope, whose construction remains on hold after protests. (7/18)

Northrop Grumman, NASA to Conduct Next SLS Booster Test This Week (Source: Space Daily)
Northrop Grumman and NASA are preparing for a full-scale static test of the Space Launch System booster at the company's facility in Utah this week. "This particular ground test will demonstrate some new materials, a completely new steering system, and a new way to ignite the motor," said Bruce Tiller, manager of the SLS Booster Program. (7/17)

Alabama Team Seeks Aerospace Growth Opportunities at Farnborough Airshow (Source: Made in Alabama)
Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield is leading a team of economic development specialists from across Alabama at next week’s 2022 Farnborough International Airshow as part of a strategic push to facilitate growth in the state’s economically important aerospace and defense sector. Secretary Canfield said the Farnborough Airshow represents a unique opportunity for Alabama’s economic development team to forge new relationships with industry leaders and strengthen existing connections through focused meetings in a single location. (7/14)

Starlink Moved Its Satellites 1,700 Times To Evade Russian Missile Debris (Source: WCCF Tech)
SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet constellation has revealed that it had to maneuver its satellites more than a thousand times after the Russian Federation launched an anti-satellite missile last year. SpaceX shared this information in a filing to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) which described the status of its constellation and shared other details such as the number of satellites that were deorbited this year and other failures that the spacecraft might have experienced. (7/16)

Space Systems Command Awards GPS Support Contract to Lockheed Martin (Source: Space Daily)
Space Systems Command awarded Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company the contract to deliver operations and sustainment support services for the Global Positioning System IIR/IIR-M/III/IIIF. The support contract provides specialized sustainment services to maintain the GPS IIR/IIR-M/III/IIIF space vehicles and signal in space, and meet evolving requirements for a resilient system for the joint warfighters and civil users worldwide. (7/15)

Northrop Grumman Taps Solstar for HALO Module Wi-Fi (Source: Space News)
Solstar Space will provide Wi-Fi access for crew and devices in the NASA lunar Gateway Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, under a contract the New Mexico in-orbit communications startup signed with Northrop Grumman Corp. Within the HALO module, which is scheduled to launch in 2024 and serve as an initial habitat for crews visiting the lunar Gateway, Solstar will provide Wi-Fi access through a device smaller than a laptop.

“Persistent connectivity is crucial for space-based operations,” Solstar co-founder Mark Matossian said in a statement. The Solstar wireless access point “will provide a Wi-Fi network for connectivity that will support astronaut communications with ground control, the lunar surface and spacecraft, while also supporting payload integration, experiments and more,” Matossian added. “It will securely connect Wi-Fi-enabled components including computers, smart phones and IoT sensors, creating a collection of space-based networked devices.” (7/18)

'Black Hole Police' Discover Dormant Black Hole Outside Our Galaxy for First Time (Source: CNN)
An elusive type of black hole has been discovered in a neighboring galaxy for the first time, according to a new study based on observations from the European Southern Observatory's (ESO's) Very Large Telescope. Dormant stellar-mass black holes, which form when massive stars reach the end of their lives, are particularly hard to spot since they do not interact much with their surroundings. This is because, unlike most black holes, dormant ones don't emit high levels of X-ray radiation.

While thought to be fairly common cosmic phenomenon, this type of black hole previously had not been "unambiguously detected outside our galaxy," according to the team of US and European researchers involved in the study. The newly detected black hole, called VFTS 243, is at least nine times the mass of our sun, and it orbits a hot, blue star weighing 25 times the sun's mass, making it part of a binary system. (7/18)