October 9, 2022

SpaceX Successfully Lofts Intelsat Galaxy Duo (Source: NasaSpaceflight.com)
SpaceX launched Intelsat’s Galaxy 33 (G-33) and Galaxy 34 (G-34) satellites on Saturday from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The launch came after scrubbing two previous attempts due to a helium issue. This mission adds to SpaceX’s already record-setting year, marking their 46th flight of 2022. SpaceX can maintain such a high launch cadence by using flight-proven first-stage boosters and payload fairings.

The two satellites launched on top of booster B1060, which ties the record for the most-flown booster in SpaceX’s fleet, numbering 14. This was also the first time a commercial payload flew on a booster with that many flights under its belt. The booster previously supported GPS-III-SV03, Türksat-5A, Transporter-2, as well as 10 different Starlink missions. This marked the 145th overall landing for a Falcon 9 first stage. The drone ship will take the booster back to Port Canaveral to be prepared for a future flight. (10/9)

Virgin Orbit Eyes Fresh Fundraising (Source: Sunday Times)
The boss of Richard Branson-backed Virgin Orbit has admitted the satellite launching company needs to find more funds after its US “SPAC” share listing raised less than half of the planned $483 million last year. Dan Hart said he would begin seeking fresh funding once it has completed the first ever space launch from UK soil, planned for next month. (10/9)

Could an Asteroid Destroy Earth? (Source: Space.com)
After dominating the Earth for more than 160 million years, the dinosaurs finally met their doom thanks to a visitor from space. Around 66 million years ago, an asteroid measuring at least 6 miles (10 kilometers) across dealt the dinosaurs' world a devastating blow, triggering earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions and climate catastrophes that soon rendered 75% of all living creatures extinct. But, through all this, Earth itself remained.

Does this mean our planet is immune to an asteroid Armageddon? If the dreaded dino-killing asteroid wasn't enough to end the world, then what would it take? Could a space rock actually destroy the entire Earth — and how big would it have to be? The short answer is: It would probably take a rock as big as a planet to destroy our planet. But it would take far, far less to obliterate life on Earth — or most of it, anyway. (10/9)

Rocket Lab Successfully Launches 31st Electron Rocket, Breaks Annual Launch Record (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab USA broke its annual launch record with the launch of “It Argos Up From Here,” a dedicated launch for General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS). The mission was Rocket Lab’s 31st Electron launch overall and the eighth for the year to date, besting the company’s previous record of seven launches in 2020. Rocket Lab has now successfully launched a mission every month since April 2022, delivering frequent and reliable access to orbit. (10/7)

New Space Arms Race Could Hinder Exploration Efforts (Source: Space.com)
163 countries in the United Nations General Assembly voted to create a working group to stave off a space arms race. As that working group now gathers in Geneva, its members face an unsettling problem: the growing weaponization of space poses a threat to human spaceflight in more than one way. (10/7)

Rocket Builder Astra Space Gets Delisting Warning From Nasdaq (Source: CNBC)
Embattled small rocket-builder Astra revealed Friday that it received a delisting warning from the Nasdaq after its stock spent 30 consecutive days below $1 per share, a violation of the exchange’s requirements. The company has 180 days to lift its share price or face delisting, according to a regulatory filing. Astra stock closed Friday at 59 cents per share, down more than 90% this year and more than 95% off its 52-week high of $13.58. The company debuted on the Nasdaq in July 2021 via a merger with a special purpose acquisition company. (10/7)

Why the Pentagon Fears Russia and China’s Star Wars Weaponry (Source: Fox News)
Early last month senior Pentagon officials huddled for two days of top secret discussions about Russia and China’s space weapons. Experts from the U.S. Space Command, the Missile Defense Agency, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence and the CIA, among others, delivered classified briefings on the grave threat posed by these incredibly destructive high-tech devices. A highly-classified tabletop wargame followed.

The danger of space warfare is increasing, as the two-theater war scenario that the U.S. has long feared is no longer hypothetical. Moscow and Beijing are strengthening their anti-U.S. partnership at a time when Russia is engaged in a brutal war on Ukraine and China is turning ever more aggressive with Taiwan. Having all but lost the conventional phase of the war, Putin is reportedly mulling nuclear warfare, which may trigger NATO intervention even as China menaces Taiwan.

Russian and Chinese strategists view U.S. reliance on space as both our strategic advantage and Achilles heel. Many Americans don’t realize just how dependent we are on space for many aspects of our civilian life, as well as for warfighting. We rely on our satellites for global navigation, water management, power grid monitoring, weather forecasting, broadband access, and telecommunications for applications ranging from banking to education to telemedicine, among other things. (10/7)

CAPSTONE Back Under Control (Source: Space Policy Online)
The CAPSTONE cubesat on its way to the Moon to scout a new orbit for NASA is returning to normal operations. Built, operated and owned by the private sector, the spacecraft suffered an anomaly on September 8 that caused it to spin out of control. Operators now have stopped the spinning and regained 3-axis attitude control allowing CAPSTONE to point its solar arrays towards the Sun to restore power and its antenna toward Earth to improve communications. It still will reach lunar orbit on November 13 as planned.

The 55-pound Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) spacecraft, about the size of a microwave oven, was developed through NASA’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Designed and built by Terran Orbital, the spacecraft is owned by Advanced Space in Westminster, CO on behalf of NASA. The two companies operate it jointly. (10/7)

The British Film Executive Who Wants to Send Tom Cruise to Space (Source: BBC)
Donna Langley is a woman with big plans, not least to send Tom Cruise into space. As the chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group, she's the first British woman to run a major American film studio. Langley tells BBC News that Cruise plans to take a rocket up to the International Space Station. The movie plot, which Cruise and director Doug Liman pitched to her on Zoom during the pandemic, "actually takes place on earth, and then the character needs to go up to space to save the day".

The hope, she adds, is that Cruise will be "the first civilian to do a spacewalk outside of the space station". For Universal, the space film is clearly still an aspiration at this stage. (10/5)

China Sends Two Satellites to space Via Offshore Rocket Launch (Source: Xinhua)
China successfully launched two test satellites from a launch platform in the Yellow Sea on Friday. The CentiSpace-S5/S6 test satellites with LEO satellite navigation enhancement system were lifted off by a Long March-11 carrier rocket at 09:10 p.m. (Beijing Time) and they have entered the planned orbit successfully. The satellites will be used to monitor the performance of the global navigation satellite system in real time, and carry out navigation augmentation and intersatellite laser communication tests. (10/7)

New Era for Spaceport America as its First Aerospace Director, Bill Gutman, Retires (Source: Las Cruces Sun News)
Bill Gutman's retirement from Spaceport America at the end of September came during a quiet time at the southern New Mexico facility. Virgin Galactic is undergoing a period of maintenance to its fleet elsewhere, and the spaceport's other full-time tenants were working quietly. SpinLaunch, a company testing a centrifugal launch system that hurls satellites toward space, had completed its 10th suborbital launch days earlier.

Construction was underway at the spaceport's operations center to mitigate irregular settling related to the domed building's original construction. The spaceport's emergency department was cleaning one of its firefighting vehicles. And Gutman, the spaceport's aerospace director since 2009, was clearing his desk and turning in his radio. While his title has changed over 13 years, his portfolio has remained consistent. Dividing his time between the spaceport and its business offices in Las Cruces, Gutman has been responsible for flight safety and maintaining the facility's launch site operator license with the FAA.

He also works with the spaceport's tenants and customers and plays a role in development of the spaceport infrastructure and facilities. He has also been a frequent visitor to classrooms and public events to talk about the spaceport and aerospace more widely. His involvement with the spaceport and the state's investment in aerospace goes back more than two decades. (10/7)