November 3, 2022

SpaceX Launches Eutelsat at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX launched a Eutelsat communications satellite overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 1:22 a.m. Eastern, at the end of a two-hour launch window. The rocket placed the Hotbird 13G satellite into geosynchronous transfer orbit, deploying it 36 minutes after liftoff. The satellite is similar to Hotbird 13F, launched by SpaceX last month, and will join it at 13 degrees east in GEO to provide video services. (11/3)

Saltzman Takes Command of Space Force (Source: Space News)
Gen. B. Chance Saltzman assumed command of the U.S. Space Force Wednesday. Saltzman took over as Chief of Space Operations from Gen. John Raymond in a change-of-command ceremony at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland attended by Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson and Elon Musk, among others. Saltzman "knows his way around the space domain," Austin said at the ceremony, also thanking Raymond for establishing "foundations for the culture and the traditions" of the new service. (11/3)

Amazon, Microsoft, and SpiderOak Support DoD Hybrid Satellite Networks (Source: Space News)
Amazon, Microsoft and SpiderOak Mission Systems have joined a Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) project for developing hybrid commercial-government satellite networks. DIU's goal is to demonstrate a hybrid space architecture using commercial communication systems as transport pipes to move data collected by imaging satellites and deliver it quickly to military and government users. Amazon and Microsoft would provide cloud computing services, as well as Amazon's Project Kuiper satellite constellation in development, while SpiderOak offers cybersecurity software for space applications. (11/3)

Exotrail to Launch Orbital Transfer Vehicles on Isar Rockets (Source: Space News)
Exotrail has signed an agreement to launch orbital transfer vehicles it is developing on Isar Aerospace rockets. The companies announced the agreement Thursday, which covers multiple launches of Isar's Spectrum rocket from Norway and French Guiana between 2024 and 2029. The companies did not disclose terms of the deal. Exotrail is working on an orbital transfer vehicle (OTV) called spacevan that uses electric propulsion systems the company has also developed. It believes its OTV can carry more payloads and provide higher performance than other vehicles using chemical propulsion. (11/3)

Russia Launches Missile Warning Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Russia launched a missile warning satellite Wednesday. A Soyuz-2.1b rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia at 2:48 a.m. Eastern and placed the Cosmos 2563 satellite into orbit. The satellite is believed to be part of the Tundra series of missile early warning satellites operating in highly elliptical orbits. (11/3)

Wing and Fuselage Builders Picked for Assembly of Next Virgin Galactic Spaceplanes in Arizona (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic has selected two companies to produce major components of its future suborbital spaceplanes. Virgin announced Wednesday that Bell Textron and Qarbon Aerospace will build the major subassemblies of its Delta-class spaceplanes. Virgin Galactic will perform final assembly of the vehicles at a new factory in Arizona that it announced in July. The Delta-class vehicles, designed for higher flight rates than its existing SpaceShipTwo vehicle, are scheduled to begin commercial flights no earlier than late 2025. The company is scheduled to release its third-quarter financial results after the markets close Thursday. (11/3)

CAPSTONE Readies for Lunar Orbit Insertion (Source: NASA)
The CAPSTONE lunar cubesat mission is closing in on the moon. The spacecraft performed a trajectory correction maneuver last week after exiting a safe mode caused by a valve problem with one of its thrusters. The cubesat is scheduled to make its lunar orbital insertion maneuver on Nov. 13. (11/3)

China's New Station Lab Model Now Operational (Source: Xinua)
A Chinese space station lab module is now open for business. The robotic arm on the Tiangong space station moved the Mengtian module from the port where it docked on Monday to its final position on the station opposite the Wentian module overnight, creating a T-shaped station. The astronauts on board the station entered the new module for the first time several hours later. (11/3)

Uncontrolled Chinese Rocket Reentry Expected Friday (Source: Aerospace Corp.)
The Long March 5B rocket core stage that launched China's Mengtian science module remains in orbit ahead of an uncontrolled reentry, like three previous launches of the rocket. That reentry is expected late Friday, plus or minus 10 hours. (11/3)

JWST Data Could Become More Accessible (Source: Science)
Astronomers are debating whether data from the James Webb Space Telescope should be freely available immediately after it makes observations. Most observations have a one-year proprietary period, where the data are limited to the astronomers who proposed the observations. Some astronomers, though, are pushing to do away with any proprietary period, something NASA is considering as part of an open data policy from the White House. Others, though, are worried that astronomers who proposed the observations but have limited resources could end up getting scooped. (11/3)

Chain of Fuels (Source: Quartz)
Earlier this year, United Launch Alliance CEO Tory Bruno and his colleagues released a white paper outlining how the US government should invest about $22 billion in creating a Strategic Propellant Reserve in space. It’s not a new idea, but the team of rocket scientists and economists has put out a sophisticated model of the business plan to do it as a public-private partnership between the government and industry.

The scheme lines up with a number of trends in space: NASA’s Artemis program is already planning to explore the water ice in the Moon’s south pole with an eye toward exploiting it, and private investors are increasingly eager to plunge into the hypothetical lunar economy. ULA rival SpaceX is planning to refuel its Starship vehicle in space in order to use it as a lunar lander.

The paper envisions setting up an industrial ice mine on the Moon, then storing water in convenient locations around the solar system. Then, as needed, the relatively simple process of electrolysis would split water molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, a common propellant mixture for rockets. A depot on the Moon’s surface could refuel lunar landers and support habitats. Another in a special orbit around the Moon and the Earth would be ideal to fuel future Mars-bound spacecraft. (11/3)

Beyond Gravity to Supply ULA with Composite Payload Fairings, Adds to Amazon Satellite Contract (Source: Composites World)
In mid-March this year, Beyond Gravity (formerly RUAG Space, Zürich, Switzerland) was awarded a contract to develop and deliver the carbon fiber-reinforced polymer (CFRP) dispenser system for Amazon’s planned satellite constellation. Now, United Launch Alliance has also awarded Beyond Gravity the contract to supply 38 carbon fiber payload fairings for its Vulcan rockets (more about the payload fairings below), which are being used to deploy the Amazon satellites. (11/2)

RocketStar Receives U.S. Space Force Contract to Develop Fusion-Powered Deep Space Propulsion (Source: Yahoo! Finance)
RocketStar has been awarded a contract by the United States Air Force AFWERX program for a Phase II Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award to continue its effort in the development a fusion-powered space engine called the Boron-Enhanced Electric Propulsion (BEEP) Drive. The BEEP Drive project is a collaboration between Rocketstar, Rhea Space Activity, Inc., and Miles Space, Inc. (11/2)

The Promise and Perils of the New Space Boom (Source: Brookings Institute)
The growth of the private space industry is extraordinary. The rapid expansion of commercial space activity, as well as its integration into key government programs and services, represents a leap into uncharted waters. The rise of entrepreneurial “New Space” companies will challenge the capacity of both individual states and the international community to regulate and coordinate private space activity effectively.

As the cost of placing payloads in space declines, the political and strategic importance of commercial space flight will only grow. Ensuring space is governed responsibly will be essential. Space has become accessible to more countries and offered opportunities for corporate cachet, discovery, and profit. In the last 15 years, commercial activity in space has tripled, from $110 billion in 2005 to $357 billion in 2020, and it is projected to rise to $1.1 trillion by 2040. Click here. (11/2)

Huntsville's Rocket Center Gets $250,000 Gift for Space Exploration Memorial (Source: AL.com)
The U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville announced Wednesday the donation of $250,000 by the Madison County Commission to help fund a Space Exploration Memorial at the museum. The NASA/Marshall Retirees Association earlier this year unveiled plans to build the memorial to “recognize and honor the people and companies whose dedicated teamwork made America’s space exploration possible from right here in Huntsville, Alabama.” (11/2)

Cruise Planners Reserves Two Capsules for Space Perspective Balloon Flights (Source: Yahoo! Finance)
Cruise Planners is excited to announce that they are working with Space Perspective to offer their clients a chance to break barriers and go beyond the final frontier: space. Cruise Planners has reserved two full capsules scheduled to fly in 2025 & 2027 respectively on Spaceship Neptune, developed to be the most accessible, most sustainable, and safest spacecraft on or above Planet Earth.  The six-hour journey takes eight Explorers and a pilot to the edge of space in a luxurious pressurized capsule propelled by a SpaceBalloon. (11/2)

Wallops Electrical Engineer Named NASA Goddard’s 2022 ‘Innovator of Year’ (Source: NASA)
Scott Hesh, an electrical engineer at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore, was announced Nov. 2 as the FY22 IRAD Innovator of the Year, an award presented by the agency's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. (11/2)

NASA System Enables Launch of Multiple Suborbital Science Payloads (Source: NASA)
Newly proven technology developed at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility near Chincoteague, Virginia, turns a single sounding rocket into a hive deploying a swarm of up to 16 instruments. The technology offers unprecedented accuracy for monitoring Earth’s atmosphere and solar weather over a wide area.

The Swarm Communications technology, as dubbed by its NASA Wallops creators, spreads sub-payloads up to 25 miles out from the rocket. Each cannister streams its unique telemetry and science data using onboard radios through the host rocket’s communications system to the ground. (11/2)

NASA Updates ISS Commercial Crew Flight Manifest, Including Boeing's Starliner (Source: SpaceRef)
NASA and its mission partners are gearing up for a busy 2023 with crew launches and returns to and from the ISS. NASA worked closely with its international partners and commercial crew providers, Boeing and SpaceX, to secure new target launch dates for the upcoming flights that are optimal for space station needs.

NASA and Boeing now are targeting April 2023 for the agency’s Crew Flight Test (CFT), the first flight with astronauts on the company’s CST-100 Starliner. The date adjustment deconflicts visiting spacecraft traffic at the space station as NASA and Boeing work together to achieve flight readiness. Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX are targeting mid-February 2023, for launch of the agency’s Crew-6 mission. NASA and SpaceX also are targeting fall 2023 for launch of the agency’s Crew-7 mission. (11/3)

ESA and ArianeGroup Consider Family of Reusable Launchers (Source: Arianespace)
A space transport system is a crucial component in European sovereignty. This is a long-term project and technological changes and new developments have to be anticipated well in advance. The European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Commission have issued key initiatives in this area and ArianeGroup has responded by proposing a family of reusable, eco-friendly launchers. Click here. (10/26)

Starship's Potential Impacts (Source: Space News)
With Starship on deck, speculation is turning to the massive vehicle's impact. Starship could slash launch costs by orders of magnitude. On a dollars per kilogram basis, Starship pricing "can be aggressively low,"  John Olds, SpaceWorks Enterprises principal engineer, said Oct. 26 during a panel at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Ascend conference. "For all of the in-space ambitions that we have as a community being fulfilled, we have to lower the cost and increase the reliability of space access. Starship is an important step."

Starship also could pave the way for development of "equipment and materials that we need to build things in space, from space stations to large structures that tie back to Earth," said Chris Dreyer, director of engineering for the Colorado School of Mines Center for Space Resources. NASA expects SpaceX to attempt the first Starship orbital flight as soon as early December. (11/2)