More of the "Star Trek" family will get the chance to boldly go where no one has gone before. This week the Texas-headquartered space burial company Celestis announced that their upcoming Enterprise Flight would be adding more esteemed "Star Trek" franchise names to their memorial rocket mission. Celestis delivers respectful "memorial spaceflight services" for anyone who wishes to salute and honor the life of family members, loved ones and friends with a majestic off-Earth experience.
Representing a pair of respected behind-the-scenes luminaries, the flight now includes Greg Jein, a veteran model maker and VFX guru who created many models seen in the "Star Trek" series, and "Star Trek" pioneer and associated producer/director Robert H. Justman, the person recognized as Gene Rodenberry's "right hand man" who helped land Sir Patrick Stewart as Jean Luc Picard for "Star Trek: The Next Generation." (11/3)
Virgin Galactic’s Losses Mount as the Space Tourism Company Still Has Yet to Fly Passengers (Source: Observer)
Virgin Galactic posted a quarterly loss three times higher than last year due to higher research and development costs and lower revenue. The company posted a net loss of $146 million for the three months ended Sept. 30, compared with a $48 million net loss in the same period last year. The widened loss was in part driven by increased research and development cost, which came at $97 million in the June-September quarter, three times higher than last year. Quarterly revenue was only $767,000, down 70 percent from a year ago. (11/3)
Virgin Galactic Eyes 2023 to Begin Tourism Flights (Source: Space News)
As Virgin Galactic prepares to resume flights of its first suborbital vehicle, it says its second vehicle is facing delays. Company executives said in an earnings call Thursday that its SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity, remained on schedule to begin commercial flights in the second quarter of 2023 as it and its carrier aircraft, VMS Eve, finish an extended refurbishment period. However, the company said that personnel demands for that, along with work on its future Delta-class spaceplanes, meant that work on the VSS Imagine spaceplane was delayed, and that vehicle would not be ready for commercial service before the end of 2023. (11/4)
Eutelsat Satellite Designed for Jam-Resistant Service (Source: Space News)
A Eutelsat communications satellite launched early Thursday will help the company deal with jamming. Hotbird 13G, launched by SpaceX, will join Hotbird 13F, launched last month also by SpaceX, at 13 degrees west in GEO, where they will replace the aging Hotbird 13B, 13C and 13E spacecraft providing video service. The two new spacecraft are more resistent to jamming, such as what Eutelsat experienced on other satellites recently, reportedly by Iran. Hotbird 13G also carries a payload for the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS), which Europe uses to augment and improve global positioning systems in the region. (11/4)
Arksys Offers Spaceflight Deal for SBIR and STTR Projects (Source: Space News)
Arkisys is offering companies low-cost options for in-space testing of technologies they are developing. The company said it will offer companies with SBIR or STTR contracts the ability to fly payloads on its Port spacecraft for as little as $150,000. Arkisys says it will lose money on the payload flights themselves, but hopes to recoup it with additional services or other opportunities. The Port spacecraft is scheduled to launch in 2024. (11/4)
Indian Satellite Reenters Over Indian Ocean (Source: The Hindu)
An Indian radar satellite reentered after 13 years in orbit. The Indian space agency ISRO said the Risat-2 satellite, launched in 2009, reentered Oct. 30 over the Indian Ocean west of Jakarta. ISRO said it does not believe that any pieces of the 300-kilogram satellite would have survived to hit the ocean. (11/4)
ULA to Launch JPSS-2 at California Spaceport on Thursday (Source: Noozhawk)
A delayed launch of a weather satellite has been rescheduled for next Thursday. NASA and United Launch Alliance said they have rescheduled the launch of the JPSS-2 polar-orbiting weather satellite for Nov. 10 at 4:25 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. The launch was previously scheduled for this week but postponed to replace a battery in the Atlas 5's Centaur upper stage. The launch will also carry LOFTID, a NASA technology demonstration of an inflatable reentry system. (11/4)
Chinese Rocket Stage Falls Into Pacific Ocean (Source: Space News)
A Chinese rocket stage reentered over the Pacific Ocean early this morning. The core stage of the Long March 5B rocket reentered at 6:01 a.m. Eastern over the south-central Pacific Ocean, according to U.S. Space Command. The stage, placed in orbit in the launch Monday of a Chinese space station module, had been closely tracked because of the risk its uncontrolled reentry posed. In the hours before the stage reentered, French and Spanish authorities closed airspace over regions where the stage was set to overfly as a precaution. This was the fourth time a Long March 5B core stage was left in orbit for an uncontrolled reentry. The only larger objects to make uncontrolled reentries are the Skylab and Salyut 7 space stations. (11/4)
NASA Rolls SLS Rocket to Florida Launch Pad (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
NASA rolled out the Space Launch System vehicle to the pad overnight. The vehicle left the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center shortly before midnight and will be in place at Launch Complex 39B later this morning. NASA says it is on track for the next Artemis 1 launch attempt on Nov. 14, with backup opportunities Nov. 16 and 19. (11/4)
FCC to Create Space Bureau (Source: Space News)
The chairwoman of the FCC announced plans Thursday to create a Space Bureau to support increasing work overseeing space systems. In a speech at a Satellite Industry Association event, Jessica Rosenworcel said she proposed to reorganize the existing International Bureau, whose work includes satellites, into a Space Bureau and a standalone Office of International Affairs. The reorganization, she said, would support more resources going toward satellite systems, which she said is necessary as the number of satellites increases. Industry officials welcomed the announcement as a sign that space will get more attention at the FCC. The reorganization still requires discussions with Congress and with other FCC commissioners, and may take several months to complete. (11/4)
SES Delays O3b mPower Constellation Service (Source: Space News)
SES is pushing back the introduction of its O3b mPower constellation. The company says that it is delaying the start of service from the second to the third quarter of 2023 because of delays getting the satellites ready for launch. Two satellites each will launch on Falcon 9 rockets in December, January and February. O3b mPower is designed to provide significantly more capacity than SES' current low-latency O3b network in MEO, which the fleet operator says is needed to meet growing demand from government and mobility customers, including aviation and maritime. (11/4)
NRO Seeks Hyperspectral Imagery Providers (Source: Space News)
The NRO plans to soon release an RFP for commercial hyperspectral imagery. An NRO official said Thursday the agency will request proposals to offer such imagery before the end of the year. The NRO is building on the momentum from recent contract awards for commercial space imagery, including three multibillion-dollar deals for electro-optical imagery, five study contracts for radar imagery and six study contracts for radio-frequency data. (11/4)
Civilian Space Traffic Management Office Coming Along, But ‘Don’t Expect Magic’ (Source: Space News)
The head of the Office of Space Commerce said development of a civil space traffic management (STM) system will be gradual process. Richard DalBello said Thursday the standup of a civilian STM office is moving along, but cautioned the process will move slower and more incrementally than many expect. That process includes establishing a cloud computing infrastructure, signing agreements with the Defense Department and commercial entities for space situational awareness data and figuring out processes for sending out warnings of potential collisions. That will be an incremental process, he said, without a "big magic date" when his office takes over from the Defense Department. (11/4)
Terran CEO on Abandoning Florida Facility Plans (Source: Florida Today)
In terms of getting a KSC facility up and running, Terran CEO Marc Bell said, it would have been another three years until it came online and began churning out satellite hardware. But Terran Orbital's growing list of needs, along with the growth of the space industry overall, meant the company needed to start expanding as soon as possible. "I wanted the building, but I can't wait three years," Bell said. "We were two years in (including negotiations), and we still hadn't broken ground."
"Space Florida was great, the governor's office was great, everyone was great. Everyone tried. The original land they gave us was supposed to be ready-to-build, but it turned out to have some environmental issues," Bell said. The company and Space Florida, which operates the LLF after taking it over from NASA after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011, had not yet broken ground on the factory that was announced last year. "If I could have broken ground a year ago, it would be a different story," Bell said.
Both Space Florida and Bell confirmed Terran Orbital had not received any financial support or incentives from the state before making the decision to stay in California. Before the announcement, it had been referred to as "Project Kraken" and would have been located just south of the LLF's control tower. Space Florida is now focusing on "Project Oz," a different company that's expected to make a $250 million investment and bring about 500 jobs to the space center. As of last month, construction permit applications show Project Oz is moving forward. (11/3)
Government Approach to UK Space Policy is ‘Uncertain and Disjointed’, say MPs (Source: Evening Standard)
The Government’s approach to the UK’s space policy is “uncertain and disjointed”, MPs have said, amid concerns that benefits of the taxpayer-funded £400 million stake in OneWeb satellite company still remain unclear. In a new report published by the Commons Science and Technology Committee, a cross-party group of MPs has called for regular scrutiny of the OneWeb investment.
In July 2020, the Government took a 33% stake in OneWeb to rescue it from bankruptcy, as part of a consortium with India’s Bharti Global. The move was seen as an attempt to give the UK a platform in the highly coveted low earth orbit (LEO) space, providing internet connections for businesses and governments around the world. But the committee said success from the investment is yet to be seen. (11/4)
Landing Tech, Terrain Relative Navigation, Validated and Ready for Spaceflight (Source: Astrobotic)
Astrobotic announced today that its terrain relative navigation (TRN) landing suite for lunar landers, Optical Precision Autonomous Landing (OPAL), was fully validated during a week-long terrestrial flight test campaign above the mountains of the northern Mojave Desert in California. The OPAL hardware and flight software was subjected to similar conditions that it will experience during the Peregrine Mission 1 (PM1) lunar landing slated for early 2023.
During the more than 100km terrestrial flight path, the OPAL system repeatedly generated accurate, real-time location estimates by comparing captured images to onboard maps, created in advance from orbital imagery. The accuracy of these location estimates is vital for the TRN landing software to guide a spacecraft safely and precisely to a target landing site on the lunar surface where nothing like GPS is available. (11/3)
NASA Makes Progress with New Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services (Source: Space Daily)
As astronauts explore the South Pole region of the Moon during Artemis missions, they will be able to go farther and conduct more science than ever before thanks to a new Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV). Instead of owning the vehicle, NASA plans to contract it as a service from industry.
The draft request for proposals for the LTV Services (LTVS) contract is now ready for industry to review, and NASA will accept feedback until Dec. 1. The draft outlines NASA's expectation for use of the LTV on the lunar surface in the 2028 timeframe. After taking industry feedback into account, NASA plans to issue a final request for proposals by early 2023. (11/3)
BAE Inaugurates GPS Tech Center of Excellence in Iowa (Source: Executive Biz)
BAE Systems has opened a Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based facility that will house its GPS technology design, engineering and manufacturing operations and support business growth efforts. The company said Tuesday it invested $100 million in the construction of the new site, where its navigation and sensor systems business will be located.
BAE’s new center of excellence covers 278,000 square feet of land and is planned to accommodate 800 employees. It will operate under the company’s electronic systems sector, which covers commercial, defense and space electronics design and development. Aside from the Cedar Rapids site, BAE also has operations in Austin, Texas; Huntsville, Alabama; and Manchester, New Hampshire. (11/2)
Keysight Combines 5G and SatNav Systems to Accelerate Location Based Services (Source: Space Daily)
Keysight Technologies announced that it is first to gain Global Certification Forum (GCF) validation of a 5G location based services (LBS) Assisted Galileo (A-Galileo) test case by combining 5G new radio (NR) and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) technology.
This industry achievement will accelerate the implementation of LBS in smartphones by enabling mobile phone vendors to verify that designs comply to the latest 3GPP specifications that support accurate location positioning in a wide range of sectors, including healthcare, road and aerial transportation, emergency and rescue services, public safety, and homeland security. Highly precise positioning services also enable mobile operators to deliver personalized services supporting entertainment, hospitality, and retail applications. (11/2)
NASA Invites BGU Scientist to Present Lunar Power Plan Without Energy Storage (Source: Space Daily)
NASA and several other national space agencies have recently revived their lunar colonization programs. One of the key factors that needs to be solved is how to power a future such colony. Can uninterrupted solar power feasibly be realized without energy storage? On Earth, providing 100% of electricity demand 100% of the time solely from renewables, but without energy storage, is unfeasible.
This earth-bound mindset has been challenged recently by a paradigm shift developed by Ben-Gurion University's Prof. Jeffrey Gordon, which he was invited to present to NASA in late August. A large part of the challenge derives from any location on the Moon on average spending half of the lunar rotational period of 29.5 days in the dark.
In his paper, Gordon documents a feasible strategy where uninterrupted electricity would be produced by photovoltaic (PV) arrays installed around a 360 latitudinal ring close to (but not at) a lunar pole, with transmission lines installed to the O2 plants for which there would then be substantial remote siting flexibility. (11/1)
Do You Speak Extraterrestrial? (Source: Space Daily)
What does humanity do when we discover we are not alone in the cosmos? A new international research hub at the University of St Andrews will coordinate global expertise to prepare humanity for such an event and how we should respond. While we might never learn about the existence of life beyond Earth, or even about another intelligent civilization, there's a chance it could be detected sooner rather than later. But are we prepared?
The new SETI Post-Detection Hub, hosted by the Centre for Exoplanet Science and the Centre for Global Law and Governance of the University of St Andrews, will act as a coordinating center for an international effort bringing together diverse expertise across both the sciences and the humanities for setting out impact assessments, protocols, procedures, and treaties designed to enable a responsible response. (11/3)
ArianeGroup to Develop Phoebus for ESA to Demonstrate Future Ariane 6 Carbon Upper Stage (Source: Space Daily)
ArianeGroup has received a 50-million-euro agreement from the European Space Agency (ESA) to continue the development of PHOEBUS, a super-light carbon composite upper stage demonstrator. This work will enable development of the next Ariane6 upper stage, by raising the maturity level of cryogenic composite technologies.
The objective is to reduce the weight of the upper stage by using carbon fiber instead of metal for structures such as tanks.
PHOEBUS (Prototype for a Highly OptimizEd Black Upper Stage) is a key program on the path to a further optimized upper stage called ICARUS (Innovative Carbon ARiane Upper Stage). PHOEBUS is built of carbon composites rather than metal, leading to lower cost and lower weight. It will increase payload capacity and thus contribute to a more sustainable use of resources. (11/3)
Planets Can Be Anti-Aging Formula for Stars (Source: Space Daily)
Planets can force their host stars to act younger than their age, according to a new study of multiple systems using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory. This may be the best evidence to date that some planets apparently slow down the aging process for their host stars.
While the anti-aging property of "hot Jupiters" (that is, gas giant exoplanets that orbit a star at Mercury's distance or closer) has been seen before, this result is the first time it has been systematically documented, providing the strongest test yet of this exotic phenomenon.
A hot Jupiter can potentially influence its host star by tidal forces, causing the star to spin more quickly than if it did not have such a planet. This more rapid rotation can make the host star more active and produce more X-rays, signs that are generally associated with stellar youth. (11/3)
ALMA Observatory in Chile Targeted by Cyberattack (Source: Space Daily)
The ALMA space telescope in the Chilean Andes suffered a cyberattack over the weekend that has downed its website and suspended its work. ALMA, the world's most powerful telescope for observing molecular gas and dust, studies the building blocks of stars, planetary systems, galaxies and life itself.
The attack Saturday on ALMA's computer systems did not compromise its powerful antennas or any scientific data, it said on Twitter. The cyberattack forced the suspension of astronomical observations, left the observatory with limited email services, and its website still offline four days later. (11/2)
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