November 23, 2022

USU Leads International Space Mission to Shed Light on Brazil's Vexing GPS Problem (Source: Space Daily)
In certain regions of Brazil, don't be surprised if your GPS device behaves erratically. For years, researchers have been scratching their heads, looking for a solution to the unreliable GPS signals in regions near the Amazon. The cause? Plasma bubbles in space.

Next week, NASA will launch a joint U.S.-Brazil satellite that will be deployed from the International Space Station, with scientific instruments developed by Utah State University and collaborators. The goal of the mission is to investigate plasma bubbles that form high in the ionosphere over the equator.

Charles Swenson, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at USU, has worked with Brazil's Instituto Tecnologico de Aeronautica for years, developing the satellite and researching answers to why this area of the globe is so highly affected by the space weather phenomenon. (11/16)

Saalex Launch Team Assisting with Upcoming Space Mission to Study the Impact of Climate Change on Earth’s Water (Source: Saalex)
Saalex Corporation’s Expendable Launch Vehicle Integrated Support 3 (ELVIS 3) team is supporting the launch of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) satellite, which is currently scheduled for next month from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The mission is designed to help mankind gain a better understanding of how climate change is impacting oceans, lakes and rivers.

Once in orbit, SWOT will survey nearly all of Earth’s water bodies. By collecting data from the ocean, SWOT will aid scientists in their investigation of the processes by which seawater absorbs atmospheric heat and carbon, which has a significant impact on global temperatures and climate change. (11/16)

From Space Regulator to Astronaut: Q&A With George Nield (Source: Reason)
For the first time ever, more people will go to space as commercial astronauts than as government astronauts in 2022. Admittedly, the government astronauts spent more total time off-world this year than their private counterparts—stints on the International Space Station (ISS) are long and space tourism hops are short—but given the state of the industry, those trends are unlikely to reverse anytime soon.

One of those commercial astronauts was George Nield. He retired four years ago as the head commercial space regulator at the FAA, and on March 31, 2022, he became a beneficiary of the industry he once regulated when he boarded Blue Origin's New Shepard for its fourth manned flight. (This flight attracted some additional press attention because it was also supposed to contain the tattooed comedian and adjunct influencer Pete Davidson, though he later pulled out.) Click here. (11/22)

A Platform Approach to Space Exploration (Source: Harvard Business Review)
The traditional approach to space exploration is to treat each project, meaning each rocket launch, as a one-off customized megaproject. NASA provides the classic example of this approach. It treats each launch as a big, one-off, bespoke investment — trying to deliver a “quantum leap” or “big bang.” Donna Shirley, a manager on NASA’s Pathfinder mission, describes them as “magnificent mission[s] in the grand old style.”

The problem with that approach is that the various missions are constructed independently from each other. Components and systems are not updated and transferred from one project to the next — they are instead re-imagined. Click here. (11/22)

ESA Member States Approve $17.5 Billion Budget (Source: Space News)
European Space Agency member states have agreed to commit 16.9 billion euros ($17.5 billion) to agency programs over the next three years, ESA leadership announced at a briefing in Paris at the end of the two-day ministerial meeting. The figure is short of the roughly 18.5 billion euros ESA sought going into the meeting, but a significant increase over 2019.

ESA is seeking to create a more sustainable path for space exploration, starting with growing commercial partnerships in lunar exploration. At a conference last week, ESA officials said they were trying to incorporate commercialization into its exploration plans, such as through the Moonlight initiative for lunar communications and navigation. ESA is also considering paying for commercial delivery services from small lander providers while working on its own larger lunar lander. (11/23)

France, Germany, Italy Agree on Launcher Development (Source: Space News)
Three European countries announced an agreement Tuesday on launch vehicle development. The governments of France, Germany and Italy said they agreed on developing a new framework to support launch vehicle financing, including incentivizing Ariane 6 and Vega C to reduce costs. The agreement also supports work on small launch vehicles and allows them to compete for future European institutional missions. ESA said it welcomed the agreement and that it would help secure funding for launch vehicle efforts. The agreement also suggested revisiting longstanding ESA policies on geographic return, where countries get a share of contracts based on their funding commitments. (11/23)

Viasat Wins $325 Million for US DoD Communications (Source: Space News)
Viasat won a $325 million contract to provide communications services for U.S. Special Operations Command. The five-year contract includes communications equipment and networking services, supporting the command's program executive office for tactical communications systems. The sole-source contract extends the deal Viasat won in 2017 worth $350 million over five years. (11/23)

Space Force Creates Permanent Presence in Indo-Pacific Command (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force has established a permanent presence in the Indo-Pacific region. The Space Force formally established Tuesday a unit within U.S. Indo-Pacific Command (Indo-Pacom), the Defense Department's largest combatant command, based in Hawaii. U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific will initially be staffed by 21 service members led by Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir, a former commander of the space launch wing at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. Despite its small size, Space Forces Indo-Pacific will play an important role in supporting U.S. Indo-Pacom's growing needs for space-based capabilities such as satellite navigation, communications and missile warning. (11/23)

Hungary to Spend $100 Million with Axiom to Send Astronaut to ISS (Source: Space News)
The Hungarian government plans to spend $100 million to send an astronaut to the International Space Station in two years through a deal with Axiom Space. Hungary's foreign minister, Péter Szijjártó, said at the ESA ministerial meeting Tuesday that the government was in the process of selecting an astronaut for the flight, tentatively scheduled for late 2024 or early 2025 and lasting a month. The cost of the mission is similar to what Hungary spends on ESA programs over three years. (11/23)

China Plans Use of TSS to Test Space-Based Solar Power (Source: Space News)
China intends to use its newly-completed Tiangong space station to test key technologies required for space-based solar power. A Chinese official said at a conference Wednesday that the station's robotic arms will demonstrate on-orbit assembly of modules to test space-based solar power technologies. It is likely to test and verify capabilities such as power generation, conversion and transmission. The China Academy of Space Technology said it would test space-based solar power technologies in low Earth orbit in 2028, followed by tests in geostationary orbit. (11/23)

SpaceX Launches Eutelsat But Not Dragon Cargo Mission on Same-Day Florida Attempt (Sources: NASA, Space News)
SpaceX launched a communications satellite for Eutelsat Tuesday night. The Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 9:57 p.m. Eastern and placed the Eutelsat 10B satellite into a supersynchronous transfer orbit. The rocket's booster, making its 11th flight, was expended on this mission. The launch took place despite weather forecasts that projected only a 10% chance of acceptable conditions. However, the weather did not cooperate earlier in the day for a Falcon 9 launch of a cargo Dragon spacecraft to the ISS, and SpaceX scrubbed the launch shortly before the scheduled 3:54 p.m. liftoff time from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (11/23)

The Not-Quite-Tangible Reality of Virtual Ground Stations (Source: Space News)
The satellite communications industry is trying to "virtualize" ground networks. Converting hardware into software installed and managed remotely via third-party data centers would give satellite operators more flexibility over their networks and speed up how quickly they can respond to customer demands. Those efforts could bear fruit over the next several years but face technical challenges. (11/23)

Another Artemis 1 Auxiliary Payload Anomaly (Source: NASA)
A NASA-funded cubesat launched on the Artemis 1 mission has suffered a problem with its propulsion system. The LunaH-Map spacecraft was unable to fire its thrusters as planned to go into lunar orbit Monday, possibly because of a valve that is partially stuck, NASA said Tuesday. NASA is looking at options that could allow the cubesat to take an alternative path into lunar orbit if the propulsion system can be fixed, or possibly perform flybys of near-Earth asteroids. The spacecraft was designed to go into polar orbit around the moon to map ice deposits on the moon, and the agency says the instrument that would do this is working well. (11/23)

NASA Proposes Repurposing Aging Earth Science Spacecraft for Wildfire and Storm Tracking (Source: Science)
Scientists are proposing to use aging NASA Earth science satellites for tracking wildfires and storms. NASA is considering options for extended missions for the Aqua, Aura and Terra spacecraft, which launched between 1999 and 2004 and have long exceeded their six-year primary missions. Scientists would like to use the spacecraft, which are expected to be able to operate through the middle of the decade, for alternative applications, including monitoring storms and wildfires. NASA is weighing whether the $85 million a year currently spent to operate them would be better used on developing future Earth System Observatory missions. (11/23)

Active Chemistry Detected on Exoplanet (Source: Nature)
Astronomers have detected active chemistry in an exoplanet for the first time. In papers published Tuesday, astronomers said James Webb Space Telescope observations of the exoplanet WASP-39b showed evidence of patchy clouds and sulfur dioxide, suggesting photochemical reactions in its atmosphere that would produce it. The composition of the planet's atmosphere suggests it formed further from its host star and migrated inwards to its current location. (11/23)

Astronomer Pasachoff Passes (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Astronomer and veteran eclipse observer Jay Pasachoff has died at age 79. Pasachoff, a professor at Williams College, traveled around the world to observe dozens of solar eclipses during his six-decade career to study the solar corona. He also wrote extensively on astronomy, from textbooks to magazine articles. (11/23)

European Space Sector Commits: Earth is Ours, We Must Cherish It (Source: ESA)
ESA and 22 other European space actors have come together to sign a “Statement for a Responsible Space Sector”. Space exploration has allowed us to look back on our planet in a way that no human could imagine before, revealing a fragile world with limited resources. As today’s statement explains, the responsibility to take care of our planet extends to and depends on, our actions in space.

ESA is honored to collaborate with space stakeholders in the signature of this Statement for a Responsible Space Sector, which makes clear: “Our objective is to provide a foundation for the sustainable, long-term economic development of the space sector and to increase the contribution of space activities to the sustainable development of society.” (11/21)

China Issues 10 Science Challenges in Astronautics (Source: Xinhua)
Chinese space scientists and engineers published 10 science and technology challenges in the field of astronautics for 2022 at the ongoing China Space Conference. This list of challenges includes -- power acquisition from cosmic dynamics, the search for habitable exoplanets and signs of life, key technologies for a shuttle-like space transport system, the monitoring of and defence against near-Earth asteroids, and development of artificial light synthetic materials for extraterrestrial subsistence.

Long-distance, high-power wireless energy transfer technology, in-situ construction on the surface of the moon utilizing regolith, trans-media aircraft control, AI-enabled, autonomous, collaborative work on space constellation, and high-precision prediction of the Earth's upper atmospheric flow field evolution, are also mentioned on the list as problems to crack in space exploration. (11/22)

INDOPACOM Prepares to Activate Space Force Command in Hawaii (Source: Sarts and Stripes)
U.S. Space Forces Indo-Pacific Command will become the fifth component command in the region when it’s activated Tuesday during a ceremony in Hawaii. It joins U.S. Pacific Fleet, U.S. Pacific Air Forces, U.S. Army Pacific Command and U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific — all headquartered on Oahu — as component commands under U.S. Pacific Command, the region’s combatant command. (11/22)

Berlin to Back French-Built Rockets in Race Against Musk (Source: Bloomberg)
Germany is ready to back the development of a new generation of French-built space launchers better able to compete with the latest rockets from Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Berlin will put its weight behind future projects of ArianeGroup, a joint venture of Airbus SE and Safran SA, so long as those programs are open to technology from European startups, according to people familiar with the plans.

Specifically, Germany plans to back the next generation Ariane 7 launcher, said one of the people, who asked not to be identified because the preparations are private. Officials for ministers in Germany and France declined to comment on Ariane 7. ArianeGroup also didn’t respond to messages after office hours Friday. (11/22)

The Race to Develop Space-Based Solar Power is Heating Up (Source: ASPI)
While some countries—China, Japan, India, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States—and the European Union are in the race to develop Space-Based Solar Power (SBSP) first, the two leading countries in this competition are China and the US. In recent decades, China has become increasingly interested in SBSP and appears to be the leader in this area.

In 2008, SBSP was listed as a key research program. In March 2016, Zhang Yulin, a national lawmaker and deputy chief of the armament development department of the Central Military Commission, said that China would make use of the space between the earth and the moon for solar power and other industrial-development purposes. He linked SBSP to China’s national goals, declaring, ‘The earth–moon space will be strategically important for the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation.’

Chinese scientists expect to construct small to medium-sized solar power stations to be launched into the stratosphere to produce electricity between now and 2025 and build a megawatt-level power station in 2030. In June, China announced that it would launch an ambitious space solar power plant program in 2028, two years ahead of the original schedule. At around the same time, researchers from Xidian University successfully tested a 75-meter-high steel structure to divert solar power from outer space. (11/22)

JAXA to Look Into Cause of Probe Lunar Landing Failure (Source: NHK)
Japan's space agency says it will try to determine why its plan to land an unmanned probe on the moon failed. The Omotenashi probe was launched last Wednesday from Kennedy Space Center atop a NASA rocket. It was intended to be the first Japanese lander on the moon. But officials at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency ditched the plan early Tuesday Japan time, after failing to establish stable communications with the craft.

JAXA officials said in an online briefing that they tried until around 2 a.m. to slow down the probe for a landing, but could not receive radio waves from it. Hashimoto Tatsuaki, a professor at JAXA's Institute of Space and Astronautical Science, oversaw the probe's development. He said his team thought there was a 60 percent chance of success but had to give up before the landing process could start, so it was much more than a failure.

Hashimoto expressed huge disappointment, noting that developing the probe cost about 800 million yen, or more than 5.6 million dollars. JAXA plans to set up a task force to examine why the probe's solar panel was not properly positioned to receive sunlight, making it impossible to charge Omotenashi's batteries. The glitch destabilized telecommunications with the ground. The agency says analysis of Omotenashi's trajectory suggests the panel could receive sunlight from around March next year. (11/22)

Naval Academy Football Uniforms Highlight Space Ties (Source: Outkick)
As Navy looks ahead to the 123rd Army-Navy game next month, the Midshipmen are gearing up. Literally. The football program unveiled its new uniforms for this year’s matchup and they are out of this world. Again, literally. Navy and Under Armour debuted astronaut-themed uniform that honor the school’s deep-rooted ties to NASA. One might ask what the Navy has to do with space, but there are actually a lot of close ties.

Fifty-four United States Naval Academy graduates have gone on to become astronauts, which is the most of any institution. The first graduate to become an astronaut was Alan Shepard, who was one of NASA’s first seven astronauts and later became the first American in space on May 5, 1961. He then returned to space in 1971, when Apollo 14 landed on the moon, and he went on two moonwalks! (11/21)