July 19, 2022

The Transformation of JWST (Source: Space Review)
It was little surprise that the first images from the James Webb Space Telescope would get an overwhelmingly positive reaction from scientists and the public. Jeff Foust reports that the image release is part of a broader transformation of JWST in terms of science, technology, and even policy. Click here. (7/18)
 
Not Necessarily for the NRP: Final Thoughts on the Casa Grande Crosses (Source: Space Review)
Some people have speculated that a set of concrete crosses in the Arizona desert was used to calibrate CORONA spy satellites. Joseph T. Page II offers new evidence to conclude that those crosses were used for other purposes. Click here. (7/18)
 
ASATs and Space Law: Quo Vadis? (Source: Space Review)
The Russian ASAT demonstration last November has led to renewed calls for a testing ban. Leia-Maria Lupu and Maira Sophie Müller examine what international law today says about the consequences of such tests. Click here. (7/18)

L3Harris and Northrop Grumman Win SDA Contracts to Develop Missile Tracking Satellites (Source: Space News)
L3Harris and Northrop Grumman won $1.3 billion in Space Development Agency (SDA) contracts to build missile tracking satellites. SDA announced Monday it selected the two companies to each build 14 satellites for its Tracking Layer Tranche 1, a constellation designed to track the latest generation of ballistic and hypersonic missiles being developed by countries like Russia and China. The L3Harris contract is valued at $700 million and the Northrop contract at $617 million. The satellites will be launched in batches of seven starting in April 2025. (7/19)

Buzz Aldrin's Moon Landing Jacket Could Fetch $2 Million at Auction (Source: WESH)
Buzz Aldrin is auctioning off a trove of personal items and historic artifacts from his storied career -- including the jacket he wore during the moon landing. The only space-flown garment from the Apollo 11 mission still in private hands, the coverall is expected to attract bids of up to $2 million, according to the sale organizer, Sotheby's. Made from a then-newly developed fireproof material known as Beta Cloth, the jacket is emblazoned with Aldrin's name and the NASA logo. The ones worn by fellow crew members Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins are both now housed at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. (7/19)

Two Companies Join SpaceX in the Race to Mars, with a Launch Possible in 2024 (Source: Ars Technica)
Relativity Space has not launched a single rocket, and Impulse Space has never tested one of its thrusters in space. Nevertheless, on Tuesday, the two California-based companies declared their intention to launch an ambitious mission that will land on the surface of Mars in fewer than three years. This would be the first commercial mission to Mars, and normally such a claim could be safely dismissed as absurd. But this announcement—audacious though it may be—is probably worth taking seriously because of the companies and players involved.

Founded in 2015, Relativity has raised more than $1 billion and should launch its small Terran 1 rocket later this year. The company, which seeks to 3D print the majority of its vehicles, is already deep into the development of the fully reusable Terran R rocket. This booster is intended to be somewhat more powerful than SpaceX's Falcon 9 and would carry the commercial mission to Mars. Relativity plans to have the Terran R rocket ready to launch in 2024, with the Mars payload flying on its debut mission in the late 2024 window to Mars.

Impulse Space is newer, at less than a year old, but not without experienced engineers. The company was founded by Tom Mueller, the first employee hired at SpaceX and leader of its propulsion department for more than a decade. His engines power the Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy, and Dragon vehicles. Mueller considers launch a "solved problem" and is developing a line of non-toxic, low-cost thrusters to serve the in-space propulsion market. (7/19)

U.S. Space Force Names Clemson University its Newest Strategic Partner (Source: Clemson)
The U.S. Space Force welcomed Clemson University as an official member of its University Partnership Program (UPP) at a Memorandum of Understanding signing event on July 18. Universities are selected based on four criteria: the quality of STEM degree offerings and space-related research laboratories and initiatives; a robust ROTC program; a diverse student population; and degrees and programming designed to support military, veterans and their families in pursing higher education. (7/18)

DirecTV Opposes Dish 5G Spectrum Plan (Source: Space News)
DirecTV says a 5G plan by rival Dish Network would degrade satellite TV reception. In an FCC filing Monday, DirecTV said its satellite TV customers face major disruption if broadcast rival Dish Network gets to deploy 5G wireless services in the 12-gigahertz spectrum band. DirecTV commissioned a study by satellite consulting firm Savid that concluded interference levels would exceed limits currently in place in the U.S. by a factor of up to 100,000. OneWeb and SpaceX previously warned that Dish's plans for terrestrial 5G services would interfere with their satellite broadband systems. (7/19)

NASA Delays VIPER Lunar Rover Mission (Source: Space News)
NASA is delaying the launch of a lunar rover mission by a year to perform more testing of its lander. NASA said Monday that the Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) mission will launch in November 2024 to the moon's south pole, a year later than planned. NASA said it directed additional ground testing of the Griffin lunar lander that Astrobotic is building to deliver VIPER under a task order through the agency's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. That task order, originally worth $199 million, has now increased to $320 million to cover additional testing and other work on the rover. VIPER will search for water ice at the lunar south pole, which interests scientists and those planning future human missions. (7/19)

Northrop Grumman Selects Solstar for Gateway Wifi (Source: Space News)
Northrop Grumman has selected Solstar Space to provide a wifi network on a module for NASA's lunar Gateway. The companies announced Monday the contract for setting up the wifi network on the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module, which will serve as an initial habitat for the Gateway after its 2024 launch. The network will support both visiting crews as well as sensors and other devices on the module. (7/19)

Raytheon Acquiring NORSS (Source: Space News)
Raytheon is acquiring Northern Space and Security (NORSS), a space domain awareness startup. U.K.-based NORSS provides orbital analyst technical services to the U.K. Space Agency and recently won a contract with the Ministry of Defence to develop a new simulator system for developing and testing future British military satellites and constellations. The value and terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. (7/19)

UK Launch Startups Moving Toward Liftoff (Source: Space News)
British launch startups have yet to achieve liftoff, but say they are making good progress to their first launches. Orbex and Skyrora are working on small launch vehicles and have progressed to testing of engines and, in the case of Orbex, a complete prototype of its rocket. Another company, Astraius, is developing a rocket that can be deployed from a C-17 cargo aircraft. The companies are reticent to set first launch dates, which are unlikely to be before 2023. (7/19)

US and UK Strengthen Partnership in Space Security (Source: Space News)
The United States and the United Kingdom are working to strengthen their partnership in space-related security efforts. Collaboration in space between the countries entered a new phase in April when the commanders of U.S. Space Command and U.K. Space Command signed an Enhanced Space Cooperation memorandum of understanding. The agreement is a non-legally binding framework for deeper military cooperation in the space domain. It calls for exchanging more information, harmonizing military space requirements and identifying potential joint activities. The agreement could also serve as a model to enhance U.S. and U.K. partnerships with other nations. (7/19)

Russia's Luna Lunar Lander Likely Delayed Again (Source: TASS)
A long-delayed Russian lunar lander mission could be pushed back again. The Luna-25 mission, which had been scheduled to launch in September, may be delayed to some time in 2023 because a sensor for the spacecraft's landing system failed to meet requirements, reducing the probability of a successful landing. Changing the sensor, or other aspects of the landing system to compensate for the sensor's performance, would push back the launch to 2023 "at the earliest" according to an industry source. Lunar-25 has suffered extensive delays in its development. (7/19)

Inspiration4 Crewmember Joins Blue Origin (Source: GeekWire)
A private astronaut who flew on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft last year is going to work for Blue Origin. Chris Sembroski flew on the three-day Inspiration4 mission last year, having won the seat in a contest. Sembroski, who was working as an engineer for Lockheed Martin at the time of that mission, announced Monday he has joined Blue Origin as an avionics engineer. He didn't disclose what programs he would be working on at Blue Origin. (7/19)

Ozone Depletion Over North Pole Produces Weather Anomalies (Source: Space Daily)
Many people are familiar with the hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, but what is less well known is that occasionally, the protective ozone in the stratosphere over the Arctic is destroyed as well, thinning the ozone layer there. This last happened in the spring months of 2020, and before that, in the spring of 2011.

Each time the ozone layer has been thinned out, climate researchers subsequently observed weather anomalies across the entire northern hemisphere. In central and northern Europe, Russia and especially in Siberia, those spring seasons were exceptionally warm and dry. In other areas, such as polar regions, however, wet conditions prevailed. These weather anomalies were particularly pronounced in 2020. Switzerland was also unusually warm and dry that spring.

New calculations make it clear: the cause of the weather anomalies observed in the northern hemisphere in 2011 and 2020 is mostly ozone depletion over the Arctic. The simulations the researchers ran with the two models largely coincided with observational data from those two years, as well as eight other such events that were used for comparison purposes. However, when the scientists "turned off" ozone destruction in the models, they could not reproduce those results. (7/11)

Terran Orbital Successfully Completes Next Step In Demonstrating Space-To-Ground Optical Link (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Boca Raton-based Terran Orbital Corp. announced the first signal acquisition of the Terabyte Infrared Delivery (TBIRD) Lasercom Optical Link on NASA’s Pathfinder Technology Demonstrator 3 (PTD-3) satellite. Acquisition of the Lasercom Optical Link means that the spacecraft and the optical ground terminal have successfully exchanged laser communication signals — bringing PTD-3 one step closer to full payload commissioning. (7/19)

Trial Opens in Pratt & Whitney Florida Cancer Cluster Lawsuit, More Than 10 Years After it was Filed (Sources: Palm Beach Post, Law360)
When Jennifer Dunsford, her husband and three children moved into a new house in The Acreage in 2003, they expected it to be their “forever home.” However, five years later, her youngest son was diagnosed with brain cancer. Soon, Dunsford discovered that three other youngsters in the sprawling rural community in the western reaches of Palm Beach County had recently received similarly grim news. As is the case of most cancer-clusters throughout the United States, no cause was ever found. But, he said, state agencies found no evidence either the water or the soil was contaminated.

A 2010 report from the Florida Department of Health found elevated levels of cancer in children in The Acreage and designated the area as a pediatric brain cancer cluster. 12 years after Dunsford asked for the investigation, she told her story to a jury as the first witness in a long-delayed and much-anticipated trial that will determine whether jet engine manufacturer Pratt & Whitney will be blamed for the cancer cluster.

Instead of taking dirt that had been soaked with jet fuel to a facility to be cleaned and recycled, attorney Mara Hatfield claims it was sold as fill to people who were building homes on low-lying, flood-prone lots in The Acreage. A biostatistician told Florida jurors Monday that radioactive waste from the former Pratt & Whitney rocket and aerospace testing site had contaminated the neighborhood. (7/22)

Astraius Picks Northrop Grumman to Provide Solid Rocket Motors for Air-Launch System (Source: AstroAgency)
Astraius, the UK-based, horizontal launch company, has today announced two key suppliers for its innovative launch solution. Northrop Grumman has been selected as the first and second stage motor supplier, and Exquadrum will provide the upper-stage motor. With these best-of-the-best industry leaders, Astraius is on-track for first launch in Spring 2024. Northrop Grumman’s Orion solid rocket motors will boost the Astraius launch vehicle after its extraction from the unmodified C-17 carrier aircraft. Completing the mission, Exquadrum’s bespoke Astraius upper stage will precisely place satellites in their intended orbits. (7/19)