November 1, 2022

Labor Shortage Still Pinching Aerospace and Defense Sector (Source: Defense News)
Despite signs the labor market is starting to cool, aerospace and defense industry executives said they’re still struggling with hiring, training and the loss of skilled workers. A review of the first batch of quarterly earnings calls shows top defense firms still see a tighter labor market and higher costs associated with it taking a toll on sales and profit margins. Amid the exodus of employees across the economy over the last 12 months, 70% of companies in the aerospace and defense sector saw increased turnover, according to a new workforce study.

Raytheon has hired 27,000 people this year and needs 10,000 more. At its subsidiary, Pratt & Whitney, which makes aircraft engines for civil and military customers, it’s taking time to train workers in how to cast parts. “It’s not necessarily a capacity issue, it’s labor availability,” Hayes said. “I mean, how do you get trained welders working efficiently? That remains a challenge.”

Overall turnover rose to 7% versus nearly 6% the year before. The talent shortage comes as many companies in the sector are ramping up production amid the rebound of air travel from the pandemic and an increase in global demand for weapons linked to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, as well as a new focus on space travel and exploration. (10/31)

Māori Voices Left Out as New Zealand's Space Sector Grows (Source: Stuff)
American aerospace manufacturer Rocket Lab launched the first New Zealand-built satellite into space in August 2020. Read this story in te reo Māori and English here. / Pānuitia tēnei i te reo Māori me te reo Pākehā ki konei. But as the nation’s space sector grows, there are concerns Māori voices are being left behind.

Public consultation on the Government’s Aerospace Strategy and Space Policy Review concluded on Monday, October 31, and has faced criticism for being too rushed for Māori to have meaningful input. The consultation documents point towards the need for greater engagement with Māori on New Zealand’s space activities. (11/1)

Rocket Maker Orbex Will Also Run Sutherland Spaceport (Source: The Times)
A rocket manufacturer will run a Scottish space port and is promising to create dozens of jobs. Orbex has signed a lease with Highlands and Islands Enterprise to operate the Sutherland site for 50 years with an option of a further 25 years. The company, based in Forres, Moray, hopes to use the land on the A’ Mhoine peninsula to launch its own rockets. It has appointed Jacobs, the engineering group which counts NASA among its customers, as the construction contractor and plans to create about 40 jobs from the £20 million investment over the next three years. (11/1)

Laughing Gas Could Point to Alien Life on Earth-Like Planets (Source: Physics World)
The presence of nitrous oxide in the atmospheres of Earth-like exoplanets could be a signature of the presence of extraterrestrial life – according to a study done by researchers in the US led by Edward Schwieterman at the University of California, Riverside. Using advanced computer models to support their proposal, the team believes that its work could offer important insights for exoplanet studies by current and future observatories – including the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).

Astronomers know of more than 5000 exoplanets – which are planets that orbit stars other than the Sun – and that number keeps growing. As telescopes improve, astronomers are getting better at determining the compositions of exoplanet atmospheres, and these measurements play an important role in the search for extraterrestrial life. This is done by making spectroscopic measurements on starlight that has passed through exoplanet atmospheres. (10/31)

Sidus Space Engages Dawn Aerospace to Implement Propulsion Technology into LizzieSat (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced agreement with Dawn Aerospace to implement its green, chemical propulsion technology into LizzieSat. Among the novel characteristics of LizzieSat is that its size allows Sidus to include propulsion and provide precision pointing and maneuvering otherwise not available to smaller cubesats. Additionally, propulsion provides a longer life on orbit which means continued data transfer and revenue opportunity.

Each LizzieSat is 100kg with approximately 20kg dedicated to payloads including remote sensing instruments. The larger mass also allows design for redundancy and reliability into the spacecraft. Dawn is a space transportation company, specializing in non-toxic chemical satellite propulsion and sustainable space launch. Dawn has provided in-space propulsion products – used to propel satellites – to customers globally since 2019. (11/1)

Russia and Iran Expand Space Cooperation (Source: Space Review)
Russia and Iran are gradually expanding cooperation in space, but without drawing much attention to it. Bart Hendrickx examines those cooperative efforts that include both remote sensing and communications satellites. Click here. (11/1)
 
Aiming for the Moon, Crashing on Earth: The Rise and Fall of the 1989 Space Exploration Initiative (Source: Space Review)
The demise of the Space Exploration Initiative was not the end of discussions about the future of human space exploration in the 1990s. Dwayne Day discusses the various proposals and studies that examine ways to return humans to the Moon without the sticker shock of SEI. Click here. (11/1)
 
The Debate About Who Should Regulate New Commercial Space Activities (Source: Space Review)
The FCC recently approved a rule reducing the amount of time satellites can remain in orbit after the end of their missions, a move intended to address orbital debris. Jeff Foust reports it also rekindled debates about which agencies should be involved in regulating commercial space activities. Click here. (11/1)
 
ISRO’s LVM3-M2 Mission: an Expansion of India’s Commercial Activities (Source: Space Review)
OneWeb resumed launches of its broadband satellite constellation this month with the launch of 36 satellites on an Indian rocket. Ajey Lele describes how this is a major step forward for India’s efforts to win more commercial launch business. Click here. (11/1) 

NASA Expects SpaceX to Perform Orbital Starship Launch This Year (Source: Space News)
NASA expects SpaceX will be ready to perform the first orbital launch attempt of its Starship vehicle as soon as early December. An agency official told an advisory committee meeting that the Starship launch is on track for early December pending final tests, including a static-fire test of all 33 Raptor engines in the Super Heavy booster, and wet dress rehearsals. SpaceX also needs an FAA launch license. NASA is slowly following the launch, which it sees as the first in a series of flight tests for the lunar lander version of Starship. (11/1)

Satellite Manufacturer Scrubs Plans for Florida Expansion. Here’s Where They’re Heading Instead (Source: WFTV)
A satellite manufacturer that had big plans for Florida’s Space Coast has made a decision to expand in California instead. Terran Orbital proposed bringing hundreds of high-paying jobs to Central Florida in partnership with Space Florida, investing $300 million to build the largest satellite manufacturing facility in the world.

“Terran Orbital’s advanced manufacturing capabilities, which were originally planned for expansion on Florida’s Space Coast in partnership with Space Florida, have been accelerated and will now be based in Irvine, California.” (11/1)

Lockheed Martin Ups Stake in Terran Orbital, Invests $100 Million to Expand Smallsat Manufacturing (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin is investing $100 million in smallsat manufacturer Terran Orbital, which is backing away from plans of fielding its own satellite constellation. Terran Orbital said Monday that Lockheed was increasing its stake in the publicly traded company from 9.4% to 33.% with the investment. Terran Orbital will use the investment to expand satellite manufacturing facilities in California and no longer plans to build a separate factory in Florida. It will also no longer pursue a constellation of radar imaging satellites called PredaSAR, instead offering the PredaSAR satellites as products for customers.

Headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, Terran Orbital plans to spend the new funding to expand satellite manufacturing facilities in Irvine, California, and is canceling plans to build a large factory on Florida’s Space Coast in partnership with Space Florida. Executives concluded that PredaSAR was dragging down the market value of Terran Orbital after learning about the recent acquisition of its competitor York Space by a private equity firm and that York’s market value was $1.12 billion, or more than three times the valuation of Terran Orbital. (10/31)

Blue Origin Delivers BE-4 Engines for ULA's Vulcan (Source: Blue Origin)
Blue Origin has delivered the BE-4 engines for the first Vulcan Centaur launch. Blue Origin said Monday that the second of the two engines arrived at United Launch Alliance's factory in Decatur, Alabama, to be installed on the Vulcan booster; the first of the engines has already been integrated with the rocket. The first Vulcan launch is now scheduled for the first quarter of 2023. (11/1)

Large, Potentially Hazardous Asteroid Discovered (Source: New York Times)
Astronomers have discovered the largest potentially hazardous asteroid in years. The asteroid, 2022 AP7, was found by astronomers using a telescope in Chile, observing near twilight. The asteroid, 1.5 kilometers across, crosses the Earth's orbit and currently comes as close at seven million kilometers to the Earth. Over time, the asteroid may come closer to the Earth, and "way down the line, in the next few thousand years, it could turn into a problem for our descendants," said one astronomer. (11/1)

Nine Tenets for Space Force Acquisition (Source: Space News)
The Space Force's acquisition chief has outlined a set of tenets for the service. In a memo Monday, Frank Calvelli laid out nine "space acquisition tenets" intended to drive change in the procurement of satellites and space systems in general. "The traditional ways of doing space acquisition must be reformed in order to add speed to our acquisitions to meet our priorities," he wrote. Among the tenets he listed in the memo are building smaller satellites, avoiding overclassification and completing ground systems before launching satellites. (11/1)

SpaceLink Could Close Without New Investment (Source: Space News)
Space data relay company SpaceLink plans to wind down operations barring a last-minute investment. Australia's Electro Optic Systems (EOS) Holdings Ltd., SpaceLink's parent company, revealed plans in September to focus on its core defense and space business, and seek outside investment to support SpaceLink that has yet to materialize.

SpaceLink would need approximately $70 million in the near term to complete its contracts with satellite vendors, make down payments on launches and purchase long-lead items, and $250 million to complete its data-relay constellation. EOS, which acquired Silicon Valley startup Audacy, established SpaceLink in 2020 to develop a constellation of communications satellites in medium-Earth orbit to relay data between the ground and low Earth orbit. (11/1)

China Docks Science Module to Space Station (Source: Space News)
A Chinese module docked at the country's space station Monday. The Mengtian module docked with the forward port of the station's Tianhe docking hub at 4:27 p.m. Eastern Monday, nearly 13 hours after launch. Mengtian is designed to host a range of science experiments with areas of research including fluid physics, combustion and materials science and space technologies. it joins both Tianhe and Wentian, another lab module launched earlier this year. (11/1)

Firefly Aerospace Seeks New Investment (Source: Reuters)
Firefly Aerospace is reportedly seeking to raise up to $300 million. The company, which reached orbit a month ago on the second launch of its Alpha rocket, is raising the money in a private round. The company and AE Industrial Partners, the majority owner of Firefly, declined to comment, but Firefly CEO Bill Weber said in October the company was planning to raise a new round. (11/1)

Japanese Lunar Lander Slips Launch to Nov. 22 From Florida Spaceport (Source: Space News)
Japanese lunar lander developer ispace has slipped the launch of its first mission to later this month. The company said Monday that its HAKUTO-R M1 mission, previously scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 Nov. 9-15, will now launch no earlier than Nov. 22. The lander recently arrived at Cape Canaveral for final launch preparations. The launch will also carry as a rideshare payload NASA's Lunar Flashlight, a cubesat that will go into orbit around the moon to look for water ice at the lunar south pole. Lunar Flashlight was originally to fly on Artemis 1, but delays in work on its propulsion system meant it was not ready in time to be installed on the rocket last fall. (11/1)

Arianespace and Space Machines Explore Cooperation in Orbital Transfer Services (Source: Space News)
Arianespace is exploring the compatibility of its rockets with orbital transfer vehicles being developed by Australian startup Space Machines Company. The companies signed an agreement that lays the groundwork for their cooperation, which could later see them jointly offering services to customers seeking post-launch in-space logistics. Space Machines Company is developing the Optimus-1 tug scheduled to launch in 2023 on a Falcon 9 rideshare mission, but wants its tugs to be compatible with other launch vehicles as well. (11/1)

SpaceX Launches Falcon Heavy Tuesday Morning for DoD, Recovers Two Boosters at Spaceport (Sources: WESH, SPACErePORT)
There has been such an increase in rocket launches from the Cape, they’ve almost become routine. But Tuesday’s launch of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy was anything but usual. We have not seen one liftoff since 2019 mainly because the payload for the Falcon Heavy is so big and very expensive. The gap between launches has been over the two main clients, the Department of Defense and NASA, getting their payloads ready.

The rocket successfully separated its upper stage, with a classified military satellite as its primary payload. The payload's progress from that point was not made public. Meanwhile, the two side boosters returned successfully to SpaceX's twin landing pads at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The center booster was not intended for recovery, but a SpaceX ship was waiting downrange to recover the rocket's two fairing halves. (11/1)

Probes Provide Glimpse of Phobos Moon's Interior (Source: Space.com)
MARSIS involves a 40-meter-long antenna beaming low frequency radio waves down to the surface. Most of the radio waves are reflected directly back from the surface, but some penetrate deeper, where they encounter transitions between layers of different composition and structure, and are reflected back by these boundaries. The stronger the reflection in the resulting 'radargram', the brighter the returning radio signal.

The radargram from across a narrow track on Phobos shows a bright line, split into two and labeled A–C and D–F respectively. The A–C section was captured using the old MARSIS software to compare with D–F, which utilizes the new software and which shows much more detail. The main bright line is the reflection from the surface of Phobos, but beneath that there is evidence for fainter lines that could just be interference, or 'clutter,' from features on the surface, but they could also be caused by structures below the surface.

Getting even closer to Phobos will provide radargrams with even greater resolution than that achieved here. The plan over the next few years is to employ MARSIS as close as 40 kilometers (24.9 miles) to Phobos. "The orbit of Mars Express has been fine-tuned to get us as close to Phobos as possible during a handful of flybys between 2023 and 2025," said Cicchetti. Mars Express isn't the only mission focused on Phobos. In September 2024, the Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) plans to launch the Martian Moon eXploration (MMX) spacecraft. (10/31)

US to 'Hold Russia Accountable' if Satellites Attacked (Source: Space Daily)
he United States will respond in an "appropriate" way to any Russian attack against US commercial satellites, the White House said Thursday after a Russian official suggested they could become legitimate targets in space. "Any attack on US infrastructure will be met with an appropriate response in an appropriate way," National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters. The United States will "hold Russia accountable for any such attack, should it occur."

Kirby was responding to comments by a Russian foreign ministry official, Konstantin Vorontsov, at the United Nations on Wednesday that use of commercial satellites "in outer space for military purposes" by Western countries is an "extremely dangerous trend." ... "These states do not realize that such actions in fact constitute indirect participation in military conflicts," Vorontsov said. "Quasi-civilian infrastructure may become a legitimate target for retaliation." (10/27)

Mini-Radar for Asteroid CubeSat (Source: Space Daily)
This 10-cm box will make history as the smallest radar instrument to be flown in space - and the very first radar to probe the interior of an asteroid. Its target? The Dimorphos asteroid, which on the night of 26 September had its orbit diverted and a vast 10,000 km plume sent out into space by collision with NASA's DART mission.

This radar instrument, connected to a quartet of 1.5 m-long antenna booms, will be flown aboard the aircraft-carry-on-sized Juventas CubeSat, which will in turn be flown to Dimorphos aboard ESA's Hera spacecraft, due to be launched in two years' time. Hera - currently taking shape at OHB in Germany and Avio in Italy - will fly to Didymos to perform a close-up survey of the aftermath of the DART impact, gathering key information such as the size of DART's crater, the mass of Dimorphos as well as its make-up and internal structure. (10/28)

NASA Taking a Page Out of DHS’ Book with a New Acquisition Innovation Lab (Source: Federal News Network)
The success of the Procurement Innovation Lab at the Department of Homeland Security is spawning the next iteration of efforts. NASA is preparing to launch the NAIL — the NASA Acquisition Innovation Lab. Karla Smith Jackson, the senior procurement executive and deputy chief acquisition officer at NASA, said at the ACT-IAC ELC event on Oct. 24 that the space agency is modeling its newest effort after DHS’ highly successful initiative. (10/31)

Lockheed Martin Invests $100 Million in Terran Orbital (Sources: Space News, Florida Today)
Lockheed Martin today said it is investing another $100 million in Terran Orbital to help fuel the smallsat maker’s expansion plans. In 2021, Terran Orbital selected Kennedy Space Center to base its new headquarters and satellite production facility, a massive development it says will become the largest of its kind in the world while generating thousands of jobs for the Space Coast. (10/31)

Aisha Bowe Becomes The First Black Woman Set To Travel To Space With Jeff Bezos-Founded Blue Origin (Source: AfroTech)
Aisha Bowe is out of this world…literally. In a post shared on LinkedIn, the STEMBoard founder and CEO revealed that she is anticipating becoming the sixth Black woman and the first to fly on Blue Origin’s New Shepard to head to space.

She follows in the footsteps of trailblazers like Mae Jemison, who became the first Black woman to travel to space in 1992. “Since then, there are only four other Black women who carry that distinction: NASA astronauts Stephanie Wilson, Joan Higginbotham, Jessica Watkins and Dr. Sian Proctor of the SpaceX Inspiration4 Mission,” Bowe continued in her post. (10/28)

New NSF and NASA-Funded Research at Florida Tech Investigates Martian Soil (Source: Florida Tech)
Studies have shown crops can grow in simulated Martian regolith. But that faux material, which is similar to soil, lacks the toxic perchlorates that makes plant growth in real Red Planet regolith virtually impossible. New research involving Florida Tech is examining how to make the soil on Mars useful for farming.

Florida Tech's Andrew Palmer, co-investigator and ocean engineering and marine sciences associate professor, along with Anca Delgado, principal investigator at Arizona State University, and other researchers are participating in the study, “EFRI ELiS: Bioweathering Dynamics and Ecophysiology of Microbially Catalyzed Soil Genesis of Martian Regolith.” This National Science Foundation and NASA-funded project will use microorganisms from bacteria to remove perchlorates from Martian soil simulants and produce soil organic matter containing organic carbon and inorganic nutrients. (10/31)