July 8, 2022

SpaceX Sends Starship Back to Launch Pad Ahead of 1st Orbital Test Flight (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX may have all the pieces in place soon for the first orbital test flight of Starship. The company rolled Starship 24, the 24th prototype of the next-generation rocket, back to the launch pad at its Boca Chica, Texas facility this week. “Ship 24 was transported to the pad at Starbase in preparation for the first orbital flight test of Starship,” the company posted to its Twitter account Wednesday. (7/7)

Millions in Grant Money Head to UCF for Space Research (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
An army of Knights are among the researchers charging their way into final frontier with innovative projects shaping the future of space travel. Perhaps it’s unsurprising due to the University of Central Florida’s history tied to the American space program. As need for more aerospace engineers rose, the “space university” opened its doors to education in 1968 — the same year the Apollo 8 mission took humans into the moon’s orbit.

Since then, students and professors have taken full advantage of being only 35 miles from Kennedy Space Center collaborating with NASA, developing new technologies and techniques straight out of science fiction. In the last 18 months, UCF has had 71 space-related research projects approved and awarded with grants exceeding $10 million, according to UCF spokeswoman Zenaida Kotala.

Some of the research projects include: 3-D printed sensors for astronauts to monitor ship’s integrity; a device that would create a landing pad for a rocket as it lands; and developing cost-effective and logistically feasible way to mine lunar ice. The projects’ vary widely but nearly half of them, 31, are moon-research related. Click here. (7/8)

Russia Criticized for ISS Promotion of Ukraine Invasion (Source: Space News)
NASA criticized Russia for using the International Space Station to promote its invasion of Ukraine. In a statement late Thursday, NASA said it "strongly rebukes" Russia for political activity on the ISS in support of its war. The statement did not identify the political activity, but it comes three days after Roscosmos published images of the three Russian cosmonauts on the station holding flags of two Russian-occupied regions of Ukraine. The NASA statement stands in contrast to previous comments by the agency's leadership, who have emphasized a "very professional" relationship with Russia on ISS operations despite the war. (7/8)

ESA Considers Alternatives to Ukraine-Built Vega-C Upper Stages (Source: Space News)
ESA says it continues to study options for ensuring a supply of upper stage engines for the Vega C ahead of that vehicle's first launch. At a briefing Thursday, ESA and Avio officials said they were ready for a first launch of the Vega C on July 13, carrying an Italian physics satellite and six cubesats. The Vega C, an upgraded version of the Vega rocket with improved payload performance, uses an upper stage engine manufactured in Ukraine, and Russia's invasion raised questions about the supply of that engine. ESA says they have a stockpile of engines to support Vega C launches through the "medium term" and is looking into several backup options, including accelerating the M10 engine being developed for the Vega E. (7/8)

Space Force Effort to Open Doors to Private Sector is a Slow Go (Source: Space News)
Companies are finding the Space Force slow to open a "Front Door" intended to make it easier to work with the service. The Front Door initiative is intended to provide a one-stop-shop for learning about contracting opportunities and engaging with Space Systems Command (SSC). However, Joy White, executive director of SSC, acknowledged the command was not responding to inquiries from companies as fast as it should. White said SSC also is working to figure out an easier process to allow companies to participate in face-to-face "industry day" meetings the command plans to host on a monthly basis, including one on cislunar space domain awareness later this month. (7/8)

Defense Innovation Unit Selects Contractors to Build Hybrid Space Network (Source: Space News)
The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) awarded contracts to four companies to demonstrate a hybrid architecture where commercial, civil and military satellites can share data. Anduril, Aalyria Technologies, Atlas Space Operations and Enveil received the awards to develop networks, analytic tools and other resources that can combine data from multiple sources. On-orbit demonstrations are planned within 24 months, said DIU. (7/8)

SpaceX Launches More Starlink Satellites from Florida, Recovers Booster (Sources: Space.com, Space Daily)
SpaceX launched a set of Starlink satellites Thursday. The Falcon 9 lifted off on schedule at 9:11 a.m. Eastern and deployed 53 Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit 15 minutes later. The booster, on a record-tying 13th flight, landed on a droneship in the Atlantic Ocean. With this launch, more than 2,500 Starlink satellites are currently in orbit.

This was the 50th launch of Starlink satellites for the company. This also marks the 13th flight for this Falcon 9 first stage booster, which previously launched the Crew Demo-2, ANASIS-II, CRS-21, Transporter-1 and Transporter-3 missions followed by eight successive Starlink flights. Less than 10 minutes after liftoff, the Falcon 9's first stage rocket came back to Earth, touching down on the SpaceX droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast. The 13th successful launch ties a record the company set during another of its Starlink satellite launches in June. (7/8)

Russia Launches Glonass Navigation Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Russia launched a Glonass navigation satellite Thursday. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 5:18 a.m. Eastern and deployed a Glonass-K satellite into orbit. The spacecraft is the fourth in the Glonass-K series of satellites intended to have improved accuracy and a longer spacecraft lifetime. (7/8)

Space Force Beefing Up Space System Cybersecurity (Source: Space News)
Cybersecurity of space systems is a growing concern for the Space Force. Lt. Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of Space Operations Command, said Thursday that the service is working to better understand cybersecurity threats to space systems, including ground systems and networks. The Space Force is now looking to add more squadrons of cyber specialists to support military units that operate communications, surveillance and navigation satellites. (7/8)

CAPSTONE Performs Trajectory Correction (Source: Space News)
The CAPSTONE lunar cubesat performed its first trajectory correction maneuver Thursday. Advanced Space, the company that operates CAPSTONE for NASA, said the spacecraft successfully performed a maneuver Thursday morning, adjusting its orbit to take it 1.4 million kilometers from Earth. The trajectory will allow the spacecraft to enter orbit around the moon in November while minimizing the propellant needed for the orbital insertion. The maneuver was delayed by a communications problem with the spacecraft that the company says was triggered by a sequence of events, including an improperly formatted command sent to the spacecraft and a fault in spacecraft flight software that kept the cubesat's radio from properly rebooting. (7/8)

X-38B Breaks On-Orbit Record (Source: Space.com)
The X-37B has set a record for its longest mission. The secretive military spaceplane has been in orbit for 781 days, breaking the record of 780 days set on its previous mission. The X-37B launched in May 2020 on the OTV-6 mission, and the Space Force has provided few details about what the vehicle is doing in orbit and when it will return. (7/8)

Saturn V to be Featured on US Dollar Coin (Source: CollectSpace)
The Saturn V rocket will appear on a U.S. dollar coin in 2024. The U.S. Mint released the design for the coin, part of a series called the American Innovation $1 Coin program that features designs from all 50 states as well as D.C. and several territories. There are several variations of the design featuring the rocket, with one to be selected by the Secretary of the Treasury for use on the coin that will be minted in 2024. (7/8)

Knights Race to the Top in Rocketry Competition (Source: UCF)
On a warm Saturday morning, a group of UCF students set out on a mile-long walk across the Mojave Desert to retrieve the rocket they launched at the Friends of Amateur Rocketry 51025 Competition. For some, the walk would have been a tiring trek. But for the Knights, this was a victory lap. They just successfully launched the rocket that they built from scratch — with no prior experience — 10,750 feet in the air at 770 miles per second.

The launch was so successful it landed the team in first place for the 10K Open Class category, marking the first time a team from UCF has won a top spot in this competition. “To win first place in the 10,000 feet competition is almost surreal,” says Dawson Wells ’22, an aerospace engineering major and the recovery lead for the team. “Starting this project, none of us had any prior rocketry experience. We had to do our own research, reach out to UCF alumni and connect with many rocketry experts to make this project work and succeed." (6/30)

Washington State High School Students to Represent the US in International Competition in London (Source: Komo News)
A group of students at Newport High School in Bellevue are celebrating a well-deserved win. The team of high school students beat more than 720 other teams representing 41 states to win the American Rocketry Challenge. The group will now represent the U.S. at the international competition in London in July. (7/5)

NASA Re-establishes Contact with CAPSTONE Spacecraft (Source: Space News)
A lunar cubesat is communicating again with controllers. NASA and Advanced Space, the company that operates the CAPSTONE spacecraft, said the cubesat started transmitting again Wednesday morning after contact was lost shortly after its deployment Monday. CAPSTONE is in good health and preparing to perform a trajectory correction maneuver this morning that had been postponed because of the communications outage. The cause of that problem remains under investigation, but Advanced Space said it was confident that it would not happen again. (7/7)

DoD Explores 5G Capabilities (Source: Space News)
Satellite operators are closely following Defense Department projects related to 5G networks. A $600 million DoD initiative to demonstrate 5G wireless networks at military bases nationwide is primarily focused on terrestrial communications, but satellite operators see opportunities to provide similar services. The Pentagon views the 5G race as part of the U.S. strategic competition with China. DoD could leverage mobile 5G to fill communications needs not currently met by military satellites, said one industry official. Commercial mobile 5G from space could be a worthwhile option for the Defense Department to fill future narrowband communications needs, given that current military satellites that provide those services are oversubscribed. (7/7)

Aerojet Rocketdyne's New Board Includes Bolden, Blakey, James (Source: Defense News)
A slate of candidates backed by Aerojet Rocketdyne's CEO won election to the company's board over a rival set backed by its former executive chairman. The company said Wednesday that CEO Eileen Drake and seven other people backed by her were elected to the board by shareholders. Those new board members include former NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, former FAA Administrator Marion Blakey and former Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James. Warren Lichtenstein, who has been executive chairman of Aerojet, lost along with a rival set of board candidates.  Drake and Lichtenstein had been in a long-running battle over the company's future. (7/7)

India Launched Experimental Weather Payload on Last Week's PSLV (Source: Space News)
An Indian startup says a space weather payload it launched on a PSLV rocket last week is functioning. Digantara placed the experiment on the upper stage of the PSLV that launched three satellites for Singapore last week. That upper stage remains in orbit as the PSLV Orbital Experimental Platform, acting as a bus for hosted payloads like Digantara's experiment. The platform carries six payloads in total, including a satellite deployment system developed by Indian startup Dhruva Space. (7/7)

72 Orbital Launches in First Half of 2022, Led by US, SpaceX (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Orbital launches are on a record pace through the first half of this year. There were 72 launches in the first half of 2022, a pace that if continued would break the record of 135 successful orbital launches set last year. SpaceX performed 27 Falcon 9 launches, more than any other country or organization. American companies performed 37 successful launches in the first six months of the year, with China second at 21. (7/7)

Denver Airport CEO Nominated to Lead FAA (Source: Washington Post)
The White House has nominated the CEO of Denver International Airport as the next administrator of the FAA. Phil Washington spent most of his career in transit, including leading transit authorities in Denver and Los Angeles, before being hired last year to run Denver's airport. He also led the Biden transition team for transportation after the 2020 election. His nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. (7/7)

Spaceflight Experiment Recurve Launches in Support of Warfighter Comms (Source: Defense News)
The Air Force Research Laboratory’s spaceflight experiment Recurve launched July 2 from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California, supporting the U.S. Space Force. Recurve is one of several CubeSats designed, built and operated within the Space Vehicles Directorate at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico. A new feature includes cognitive radio frequencies capabilities, Recurve program manager Kate Yoshino said in a news release from the lab. (7/6)

Musk Had Twins with Company Exec Last Year (Source: Space Daily)
Billionaire tech entrepreneur Elon Musk had twins last year with an executive at one of his companies, online outlet Insider reported Wednesday, citing Texas court documents. The babies' mother, 36-year-old Canadian Shivon Zilis, is an executive at Neuralink, Musk's brain-implant maker, and has worked at multiple of his other companies, including OpenAI and electric car manufacturer Tesla, Insider said. (7/7)

AIR and Nigerian Space Agency sign MOU to Collaborate on Agriculture Monitoring (Source: Space Daily)
On July 4, 2022, the Aerospace Information Research Institute (AIR), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) in Beijing through an online event with the National Space Research and Development Agency (NASRDA) of Nigeria to boost collaboration on crop monitoring with the goal to help the country achieve Zero Hunger goal, which is among 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) described by the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

The objective of the MOU is to provide the framework for future partnership and collaborations between AIR and NARSDA, aiming to promote the application of space technology in crop monitoring research in Nigeria from the aspects of cooperative research and capacity building. (7/7)

Kleos Space Invests for Future Growth in the UK (Source: Space Daily)
Kleos Space Ltd is to set up operations at the Space Park Leicester, a world-leading hub for innovative research, enterprise and education in space and earth observation. Kleos is a 'space-powered' Radio Frequency Reconnaissance Data-as-a- Service (DaaS) and Mission-as-a-Service (MaaS) provider. The new UK facility will provide access to a buoyant technology-centred community and state- of-the-art facilities for research, development, and manufacturing. The move is part of a long- term strategy for Kleos' growth and investment to support the UK market. (7/7)

Humans on Mars: Pathways Toward Sustainable Settlement (Source: Space Daily)
Is sustainable human exploration of Mars possible? How will humans affect the new environment? Around 60 researchers from the University of Bremen and other institutes are investigating these questions as part of an initiative. On July 8, 2022, the University of Bremen is set to launch its large-scale initiative "Humans on Mars - Pathways Toward a Long-Term Sustainable Exploration and Settlement of Mars."

Around 60 researchers from eight faculties are working together to address the question of how concepts for long-term, sustainable human exploration and colonization of Mars might look. This initiative is not about technological feasibility - such as designing a suitable spacecraft for the long flight there. Instead, the focus is on people and the complex challenges they are likely to face on the ground. Equally important is the question of its effects - on the pristine environment of Mars and, not least, on our dealings with Earth. (7/7)

Space Florida, Israel Innovation Authority Announce Ninth-Round Winners of Innovation Partner Funding (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida, the aerospace and spaceport development authority for the State of Florida, and the Israel Innovation Authority, an independent, publicly-funded agency created to address the needs of the local and international innovation ecosystems, are pleased to announce the ninth-round winners of industrial research and development funding tied to the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership Program. Click here. (6/27)

Could We Eavesdrop on Communications That Pass Through Our Solar System? (Source: Space Daily)
Communications across the vastness of interstellar space could be enhanced by taking advantage of a star's ability to focus and magnify communication signals. A team of graduate students at Penn State is looking for just these sorts of communication signals that might be taking advantage of our own sun if transmissions were passing through our solar system.

Because communications across interstellar distances would face a variety of challenges related to transmission power and fidelity across such vast expanses, the researchers believe any communication efforts would likely involve a network of probes or relays, like cellular telephone towers in space. In this study, they looked to one of our nearest stars, which should be the closest node in a communication network.

The researchers looked more than 550 times the Earth-sun distance opposite the sky from Alpha Centauri - the closest stars to our own system that might be the nearest node in a communications network - which is where a probe would be located in our solar system in order to use the sun as a lens. This enabled the researchers to potentially detect radio transmissions that might be signals sent directly to Earth to communicate with us, signals being sent to other probes exploring the solar system, or perhaps even signals being sent through the gravitational lens back to Alpha Centauri. (7/7)

Carnegie Mellon is Reimagining Nanosatellite Capabilities with Orbital Edge Computing (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University's College of Engineering are setting out on a mission to reimagine the capabilities of nanosatellites in low-Earth orbit. Backed by a $7 million grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Cyber-Physical Systems (CPS) Frontiers Program, the CMU initiative will transform constellations of nanosatellites into sophisticated distributed computing platforms, building the foundation for a wide range of novel applications in public safety, defense and intelligence, carbon mapping, traffic management and precision agriculture, among others. (7/7)