September 30, 2022

ESA Selects Harmony as 10th Explorer Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Following preparatory activities and a stringent process ESA Member States today formally selected Harmony for implementation as the tenth Earth Explorer mission within the FutureEO program. This unique satellite mission concept is, therefore, now set to become a reality to provide a wealth of new information about our oceans, ice, earthquakes and volcanoes - which will make significant contributions to climate research and risk monitoring.

This exciting new mission will comprise two identical satellites orbiting Earth in convoy with a Copernicus Sentinel-1 satellite. Each Harmony satellite will carry a receive-only synthetic aperture radar and a multiview thermal-infrared instrument. Together with observations from Sentinel-1, Harmony will deliver a wide range of unique high-resolution observations of motion occurring at or near Earth's surface. (9/25)

UK's Spaceport Cornwall Open for Business (Source: Business Cornwall)
Spaceport Cornwall has officially opened its Space Systems Integration Facility, heralding a new era of capability within small satellite services. Virgin Orbit CEO, Dan Hart, attended the opening ceremony, along with Ian Annett, the deputy CEO of the UK Space Agency. This facility forms part of the Center for Space Technologies, which also comprises the Space Systems Operation Facility, an adjacent R&D work and office space that will complete early next year.

The opening of the state-of-the-art building comes ahead of the first-ever orbital UK launch and will be where the six satellite payloads will be integrated into Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne rocket. (9/30)

Firehawk’s Rocket Engines and 3D-Printed Fuel Hit Testing Milestones Ahead of First Launch (Source: Tech Crunch)
Although today’s rocket engines are advanced and powerful, they tend to rely on traditional — and naturally volatile — fuels. Firehawk Aerospace has a safer and more stable new solid fuel, new engines, and millions in new funding to take it through the next round of tests to its first in-atmosphere demonstration launch.

Firehawk appeared on the scene two years ago with a fresh take on hybrid engines; the breakthrough made by CEO Will Edwards and chief scientist Ron Jones was to give that fuel a structure and 3D print it in a specially engineered matrix.

The structured, solid fuel grain is more stable and easier to transport than other fuels, and burns in a very predictable way. The company designed engines around this concept and tested them at smaller scales, though they have also been working on the kind of engine you might actually use if you were going to space. But the company has said that one of the strengths of the system is its adaptability. (9/27)

Crew-5 Launch Preparations Continue Amid Hurricane Threat (Source: Space News)
NASA is, for now, moving ahead with plans for a launch of the next crew to the International Space Station early next week as it watches an approaching hurricane. NASA held a flight readiness review Sep. 26 for the Crew-5 mission, scheduled for launch Oct. 3. The Crew Dragon spacecraft will carry NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and Roscosmos cosmonaut Anna Kikina to the station.

Officials acknowledged at a briefing after the review that the schedule is dependent on weather as Hurricane Ian heads towards the west coast of the Florida peninsula, with effects to be felt throughout the state, including the Kennedy Space Center. That forecast prompted the agency to announce Sept. 26 that it would roll back the Space Launch System from Launch Complex 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building, a process completed by early Sep. 27. (9/27)

Vaya Space Wins International Green Award for Sustainability and Environmental Impact (Source: Vaya)
Vaya Space, Inc., the vortex-hybrid rocket engine company and emerging leader in sustainable space access, today announced that it has been awarded the International Green Apple Environment Award and named as a Global Green World Ambassador. The International Green World Awards represents the world's premier recognition for companies and countries for their positive impact on the environment.

Established in 1994, The Green Organization is an international, independent, non-profit, non-political, environment group dedicated to recognizing, rewarding, and promoting environmental best practice around the world. The program is considered the biggest environmental awards campaign worldwide, recognizing governments, ministries, companies, organizations, and communities across the private and public sectors. Previous winners include The Coca-Cola Company, Phillip Morris, DoTERRA, Infosys, BNP Paribas, and the Desalinization Institute in Saudi Arabia. (9/27)

24 Hours From ‘Go’: Next Space Force ‘Responsive Launch’ Experiment Aims to Loft Satellite in a Hurry (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force’s next “Tactically Responsive Space” experiment will feature an attempt to launch a satellite within 24 hours of receiving the “go” order. “What we have challenged that team to do … is to rapidly respond to a real threat with an operational capability using operational crews on operationally relevant timelines,” said Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein.

If the service can pull that off during its attempt next summer, it would represent an unprecedented feat for the Pentagon’s long-running effort to achieve the capability to launch satellites to meet wartime timelines for space-based capabilities, such as battlefield intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance.  Indeed, so-called ‘responsive launch,’ the ability to launch practically on demand, has been a Holy Grail for the Pentagon for more than a decade — see Operationally Responsive Space —arguably without much real-world progress until very recently. The last such experiment managed relatively speedy work by getting a satellite up in just under a year.

“We have spent a lot of time admiring the problem of how to be responsive in space,” Guetlein said. “We are done admiring the problem, and we are getting after the combatant commands’ need to truly protect and defend the peaceful use of space.” The rapid launch is part of SSC’s planned VICTUS NOX (roughly translating to “defeat the darkness”) mission to build a low Earth orbit satellite equipped with a sensor to keep tabs on adversary satellites and danger space debris. (9/28)

Majority of Tracked Russian ASAT Debris has Deorbited (Source: Space News)
Nearly two-thirds of the debris tracked from last year’s Russian anti-satellite (ASAT) test has since deorbited, but it could take more than a decade for the rest to reenter. In a talk at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies (AMOS) Conference here Sept. 28, Deshaun Hutchinson, an orbital analyst with the Space Force’s 18th Space Defense Squadron, said that as of August, there were 1,783 tracked objects associated with the November 2021 destruction of the Cosmos 1408 satellite by a Russian direct-ascent ASAT. (9/29)

NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Reboost Possibility (Source: NASA)
NASA and SpaceX signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement Thursday, Sept. 22, to study the feasibility of a SpaceX and Polaris Program idea to boost the agency’s Hubble Space Telescope into a higher orbit with the Dragon spacecraft, at no cost to the government.

There are no plans for NASA to conduct or fund a servicing mission or compete this opportunity; the study is designed to help the agency understand the commercial possibilities. SpaceX – in partnership with the Polaris Program – proposed this study to better understand the technical challenges associated with servicing missions. This study is non-exclusive, and other companies may propose similar studies with different rockets or spacecraft as their model. (9/29)

Senate Confirms Saltzman to Lead Space Force (Source: Space News)
The Senate confirmed the nomination of the next head of the U.S. Space Force. The Senate voted Thursday by unanimous consent to promote Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman to general and assign him as chief of space operations. Saltzman succeeds Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, who is retiring after 38 years of service. Raymond was the first chief of the military space branch established in December 2019. (9/30)

Hungary's 4iG to Acquire Stake in Israel's Spacecom (Source: Space News)
Hungarian communications company 4iG plans to buy a majority stake in Israeli satellite operator Spacecom in stages following resistance from Israel's government. Israel's Ministry of Communications approved a plan by 4iG to buy an initial 20% of Spacecom. Under 4iG's agreement with Spacecom, it can increase its ownership by another 31% over the next three years if it can get approvals from the operator's shareholders and the Israeli government. While the companies announced the $65 million deal last year, the Israeli government raised concerns about foreign control of Spacecom, including 4iG's ties to Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban. (9/30)

SECAF Warns of Destabilization of Militarized Space (Source: Space News)
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall warned that competition in space is becoming more destabilizing. Speaking Thursday at the Center for American Progress, he said that the "unfortunate truth is that space has become to a certain degree militarized" and mentioned activities by China and Russia. "A characteristic of space, unfortunately, is that it's a sort of a no man's land where each side has the other side under observation, and there's instability associated with that, because whoever moves first could have a significant advantage," he said. (9/30)

Firefly Aborts Launch Attempt at California Spaceport (Source: Space.com)
Firefly Aerospace aborted a launch of its Alpha rocket just as its engines ignited early Friday. The rocket's four engines appeared to ignite for a launch at 3:51 a.m. Eastern at Vandenberg Space Force Base, only to shut down immediately. The company said the rocket "went into auto abort" but did not disclose additional details about the issue that caused the abort. The company has a backup launch window early Saturday but has not officially announced a new launch date yet. (9/30)

China Transfers Space Station Module to New Docking Port (Source: Xinhua)
China moved a lab module to a new docking port on its space station Friday. The Wentian module undocked from one port on the Tianhe core module and moved to a side port, a process that took about an hour. The maneuver sets up the launch of another space stationm module expected in October. (9/30)

Minimal Damage From Ian at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
The Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Space Force Station survived Hurricane Ian with only minor damage. KSC officials said late Thursday only "minimal" damage was reported at the center from the storm as it passed by earlier in the day. The center instructed employees to return to work Friday "in accordance with their supervisor's guidance." The Space Force also reported minimal damage to Cape Canaveral facilities, which will start to reopen on Friday. (9/30)

Juno Makes Flyby of Europa (Source: AP)
NASA's Juno spacecraft returned stunning photos Thursday after a close flyby of Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The spacecraft passed about 350 kilometers from the moon early Thursday, the closest approach to the moon by a spacecraft since Galileo two decades ago. A camera on Juno took closeup images of the moon, although the spacecraft did not detect any plumes of liquid water thought to erupt from the surface. (9/30)

Hubble and JWST Image Dimorphos After DART Impact (Source: NASA)
Two space telescopes captured the larger-than-expected aftermath of the collision of the DART spacecraft with the asteroid Dimorphos. NASA released images Thursday taken by the Hubble Space Telescope and James Webb Space Telescope, showing plumes of material streaming away from the asteroid in the hours after impact. The observations were challenging for JWST in particular, requiring the spacecraft to track the asteroid at much higher rates than it was designed to do. The images will help scientists better understand the dynamics of the collision and the nature of Dimorphos. (9/30)

SOFIA Telescope Makes Final Flight (Source: Sky & Telescope)
The SOFIA airborne observatory flew off into the sunset. The Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, a Boeing 747 with a 2.5-meter infrared telescope, made its final science flight this week as NASA winds down the project. NASA announced earlier this year it would shut down SOFIA at the end of the fiscal year, following a recommendation from the astrophysics decadal survey, which concluded that SOFIA's scientific productivity was not worth its high cost. (9/30)

Investing in Space: Where Does NASA Go From Here? (Source: CNBC)
America’s interest in space is fueled by taxpayer dollars. So how does the public think the agency should spend its money? A Pew survey in 2018 painted a stark picture: Just 13% of Americans thought sending astronauts back to the moon should be a top priority, whereas 62% prioritized tracking objects that could hit Earth. It’s a sharp difference from where the agency is spending most of its money currently.

NASA maintains the path back to the moon through SLS and Orion is “sustainable,” even if costly and behind schedule. And don’t get me wrong: There’s a huge difference in what Artemis seeks to accomplish, versus missions like DART.

But the path to building a permanent human presence on the moon and beyond will require more than what one space agency or company can create, and it’s a disservice to think that flying passengers to the surface with the regularity of SLS — at most once a year — represents  a meaningful return to the moon. Ultimately, the Artemis mission tagline, “We are going,” undersells what NASA can, and does, take on. (9/30)

Sierra Space Weighs Public Offering to Help Fund Space Station (Source: Reuters)
Sierra Space, a subsidiary of private aerospace contractor Sierra Nevada Corp, may go public or pursue other funding options that would accelerate the company toward its goal of building a space station, company executives told Reuters. No private company has built a space station. Sierra is working with Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin to construct one, called Orbital Reef, in competition with other programs from companies such as Lockheed Martin and Axiom Space.

She declined to discuss whether the company would consider a traditional initial public offering or a special-purpose acquisition company (SPAC). A $1.4 billion funding round last year, valuing the company at $4.5 billion, allowed Sierra Space to double its workforce to nearly 2,000, come closer to completing its Dreamchaser spaceplane in 2023, and expand ground tests of an inflatable habitat central to the Orbital Reef concept. (9/23)

Infrastructure, Allies and ‘One Space Effort’ Key to Keeping US Ahead of China in Space (Source: Breaking Defense)
In order to stay ahead of China in the space domain, the US needs to increase investment in its infrastructure and develop stronger relationships with allies and partners, according to an official from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. Steven Butow, DIU’s Space Portfolio director, said increasing investment in “both physical and digital infrastructure” and having strong ties to its allies will help in “building the space economy” of the US and in times of war. It’ll also require bringing in all the different space-related efforts from agencies under one effort.

“In order to compete and retain its leadership role, the U.S. must clearly articulate a North Star vision for space that transcends administrations, and aggressively pursue a whole-of-nation action plan to achieve it,” according to the report. “Both the vision and plan must integrate and synchronize efforts across civil, commercial and national security space and leverage both the disruptive innovation that is rapidly maturing within the new space economy domestically and abroad.” (9/29)

Dangerous, Expanding Satellite Population Poses Policy Challenges to US Government (Source: Breaking Defense)
The rapid increase in constellations comprising large numbers of satellites pose serious environmental hazards in space and to the atmosphere, but mitigation is challenging — in large part because there hasn’t been enough research on what can be done, finds a new report from the Government Accountability Office. The report, released today, explained that there are “almost 5,500 active satellites in orbit as of spring 2022, and one estimate predicts the launch of an additional 58,000 by 2030.” Large constellations in low Earth orbit (LEO) “are the primary drivers of the increase,” the report said. (9/29)

Space Force Still Struggling to Ingest Commercial Space Monitoring Data (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force’s Delta 2, responsible for space domain awareness, is still working to figure out how commercially supplied satellite and debris monitoring data can be routinely used by Space Command in keeping an eye on the heavens, according to Col. Mark Brock, Delta 2 commander. He said that taking advantage of commercial observation capabilities — which in some cases are more accurate and up to date than data acquired from the military’s own Space Surveillance Network of radar and telescopes — continues to be a challenge, in part one of the service’s own making. (9/29)

Space Force Wants to Create Temporary ‘Training Ranges’ in Orbit (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force’s second-in-command says that his service is building what he described as a “space test and training range” that could offer Space Force guardians and their international partners brief opportunities to practice operating with real spacecraft in orbit overhead. The real-world practice would mark a change of pace from the largely-virtual simulation that most Space Force training consists of. However, the nature of orbital physics means there likely will not be dedicated real estate dedicated to military training purposes.

“It’s just a matter of establishing with a specific set of spacecraft in a specific region for a specific period of time the sets of activities that you need to do, you do them at that point in time for that purpose and then [regular] activity continues,” said Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David Thompson in a conversation with Defense One on Wednesday. “So in reality, the physical range is the entire domain of space. It’s bringing together people and tools and an approach at a specific point in time and in space to conduct tests and training.” (9/29)