November 5, 2022

In a First, Space Force Picks Private University as War College (Source: Air Force Times)
The Space Force has chosen Johns Hopkins University as its graduate and postgraduate military school for officers, becoming the first branch of the U.S. armed forces to leverage a private university rather than create a new war college. Starting next July, Johns Hopkins will offer a 10-month, accredited professional military education program that draws on its world-renowned courses in international studies and engineering, the Space Force’s Space Training and Readiness Command told Air Force Times on Thursday. (11/4)

NASA Stennis Space Center, Rocket Lab Cut Ribbon on New Tenant Agreement (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Stennis Space Center and Rocket Lab USA cut the ribbon Nov. 4 on a new agreement for the aerospace company to locate its engine test complex at the rocket propulsion site near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. NASA, Rocket Lab, and key elected officials gathered in the Stennis Test Complex for an official ribbon-cutting ceremony to mark launch of the new 10-year agreement. Rocket Lab expects to make a substantial capital investment in the project in upcoming years and also create dozens of jobs for the surrounding area. (11/4)

The Impact of SpaceX Rideshare Missions on the Small Launch Market (Source: Parabolic Arc)
As the use of small satellites went from a trickle to a gusher, more than 100 startups formed to develop small rockets to launch the hundreds and eventually thousands of payloads that would need rides to orbit. But, these startups have found the wells to be, if not exactly dry, then seriously depleted. The problem is not drainage but rather rideshares. SpaceX has found a way to capture a large share of the small satellite launch market with a series of Transporter missions. Click here. (11/4)

Global Governmental Space Exploration Investments to Reach $31B by 2031 as Players Reach for the Moon (Source: Euroconsult)
The latest edition of the Prospects for Space Exploration report from Euroconsult predicts global governmental investments in space exploration will reach $31B within the next decade. The report identifies key budget drivers that include the continuation of increased funding in transportation, orbital infrastructure, and in lunar exploration. The public and private focus on establishing a sustainable lunar presence, while also maintaining a sustained LEO human presence, will also beat the heart of space exploration roadmaps in the years to come.

Despite ongoing geopolitical issues, Euroconsult’s latest ‘Prospects for Space Exploration’ report found that more countries than ever are joining the space exploration market. Newcomers or recent players include Australia and the UAE, with overall government investments towards space exploration in 2022 at 59% higher than 10 years ago.

Space transportation programs are expected to remain the most funded application for the next decade, reaching $10.7B by 2031. This is in part due to the support needed for the development of the human lunar landers and the SLS/Orion as part of the Artemis program. To this end, the Artemis accords have been signed by a total of 21 nations, signaling wide-scale international collaboration and a new wave of global investments which will result in lucrative partnership agreements with private sector companies that are expected to grow in the coming years. (11/3)

Inmarsat Government Selects Rocket Lab to Develop L-Band Radio (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab USA has been selected by Inmarsat Government as partner to develop and manufacture an L-band radio in support of NASA's Communications Services Project (CSP). CSP seeks to accelerate the development of commercial near-Earth communications services by partnering with satellite communications (SATCOM) providers. Rocket Lab will help enable Inmarsat's InCommand, a real-time, near-Earth telemetry, command, and control (TT&C) service for satellites in low Earth orbit for the CSP with the Company's new Frontier-L radio connecting to Inmarsat's ELERA global L-band network in geosynchronous orbit. (11/4)

Rocket Lab Delivers Final Solar Panels for NASA Gateway's Power and Propulsion Element (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab USA has delivered the final solar panels to Maxar that will fly on the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) for NASA's Gateway lunar space station. SolAero Technologies Inc, a leading space solar power provider acquired by Rocket Lab, was awarded the contract in 2019 from Maxar to design and manufacture the solar panels that will supply nearly 70 kilowatts of electrical power to Gateway, an essential element of NASA's Artemis missions that will land the first woman and first person of color on the surface of the Moon. (11/4)

Rivada Space Networks Issues RFP for its Satellite Constellation (Source: Space Daily)
Rivada Space Networks GmbH, a European network company launching a unique connectivity constellation for Government and Enterprise communications, has issued its request for proposals for 600 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites, having released the RFP for the associated heavy-lift launch services two weeks ago. The company anticipates selecting a prime contractor for the space segment, parts of the ground segment and system integration for the LEO constellation by the end of 2022 in parallel to the selection of the launch service provider. (11/4)

GOP Election Success in House Risks Defense Budget ‘Dysfunction’ (Source: Bloomberg)
A potential Republican takeover of the US House next year is raising jitters over defense priorities, despite the party’s traditional hawkishness and projections of greater national security spending. The defense budget will likely be caught in protracted battles over raising the nation’s debt limit and cutting discretionary spending if the GOP wins the House and the Senate stays in Democratic hands or has a very small Republican lead, defense market analysts say.

“The outcome for defense is collateral damage of what will be pretty harsh debates,” Byron Callan, the managing director of Capital Alpha Partners LLC, said in an interview. “It is going to amplify what is going to be a protracted period of uncertainty.” (11/2)

Joint Commerce, STRATCOM Commercial SSA Pilot Planned for December (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Commerce and Defense departments are targeting December to initiate their joint pilot program to demonstrate how commercial space monitoring data can be used to keep eyes on satellites, dangerous debris, and potential on-orbit crashes, according to a senior Commerce official. That pilot project will use SPACECOM’s Unified Data Library (UDL) as a data base, DalBello said. The UDL is a DoD data lake created to safely ingest SSA data from numerous sensors, including from commercial and allied providers, and redistribute it to military users. (11/3)

Large Chunk of Chinese Rocket Comes Crashing Down, Lodges in Field (Source: Futurism)
A gigantic piece of a Chinese Long March 2D rocket has seemingly plummeted back down to Earth and lodged itself in a crop in the northwestern province of Gansu, as seen in images shared on Chinese social media. The images show a massive metal structure lodged vertically in some freshly tilled soil, sticking out some 20 to 30 feet. The piece likely belonged to a rocket China launched on Saturday to deliver satellites into orbit, but officials have yet to weigh in. (10/31)

Black Holes Can Behave Like Quantum Particles (Source: Space.com)
lack holes have properties characteristic of quantum particles, a new study reveals, suggesting that the puzzling cosmic objects can be at the same time small and big, heavy and light, or dead and alive, just like the legendary Schrödinger's cat. The new study, based on computer modeling, aimed to find the elusive connection between the mind-boggling time-warping physics of supermassive objects such as black holes and the principles guiding the behavior of the tiniest subatomic particles.

The study team developed a mathematical framework that placed a simulated quantum particle just outside a giant simulated black hole. The simulation revealed that the black hole showed signs of quantum superposition, the ability to exist in multiple states at once — in this case, to be at the same time both massive and not massive at all. (11/1)

A Space Rescue Service? Calls Grow to Create a Quick Response Force for Astronauts in Distress (Source: Politico)
Lost in space? Don’t count on being rescued — by NASA or the Space Force, or even the company that built your private spaceship. At least not yet. As dozens more people travel to orbit for days and even weeks — and hundreds are predicted to inhabit private stations or moon bases in the coming years — a rescue service will be needed for spacefarers in distress, say government advisers and industry insiders. But no such plans are currently in the works.

For the foreseeable future, private astronauts will travel at their own risk. Congress has barred the federal government from regulating the safety of human spaceflight until at least next October, as part of a hands-off approach intended to allow the industry to mature. The lack of rescue capabilities is a gap that industry leaders and regulators say will have to be filled sooner rather than later — before government or private astronauts are stranded due to spacecraft malfunctions or accidents, require unanticipated medical help or run out of key supplies.

One option being debated by industry officials and space researchers is a new government agency, possibly with similar search-and-rescue responsibilities to the Coast Guard, that could also address other growing space challenges, such as clearing dangerous debris from orbit. Others would like to see an international agency or body akin to the one established to coordinate the rescue of submariners. (11/2)

Scientists Just Discovered an Entirely New Way of Measuring Time (Source: Science Alert)
Marking the passage of time in a world of ticking clocks and swinging pendulums is a simple case of counting the seconds between 'then' and 'now'. Down at the quantum scale of buzzing electrons, however, 'then' can't always be anticipated. Worse still, 'now' often blurs into a haze of uncertainty. A stopwatch simply isn't going to cut it for some scenarios.

A potential solution could be found in the very shape of the quantum fog itself, according to researchers from Uppsala University in Sweden. Their experiments on the wave-like nature of something called a Rydberg state have revealed a novel way to measure time that doesn't require a precise starting point. Rydberg atoms are the over-inflated balloons of the particle kingdom. Puffed-up with lasers instead of air, these atoms contain electrons in extremely high energy states, orbiting far from the nucleus.

Inducing atoms into Rydberg states is a handy trick for engineers, not least when it comes to designing novel components for quantum computers. Having more than one Rydberg wave packet rippling about in a space creates interference, resulting in unique patterns of ripples. Throw enough Rydberg wave packets into the same atomic pond, and those unique patterns will each represent the distinct time it takes for the wave packets to evolve in accordance with one another. It was these very 'fingerprints' of time that the physicists behind this latest set of experiments set out to test, showing they were consistent and reliable enough to serve as a form of quantum timestamping. (10/31)

The New Leader of Space Force Wants a ‘Combat-Credible’ Command (Source: Gizmodo)
The U.S. Space Force, the smallest of all six uniformed military branches in both budget and personnel, has a new leader who on his first day talked up making his command “combat ready” as tensions between the biggest space faring nations grow larger. The world is becoming increasingly dangerous and preserving U.S. national security interests in space is growing harder every day… A resilient, ready, and combat-credible Space Force is indispensable to deterrence today, tomorrow, and every day after that. In the worst case, if deterrence fails, the Space Force will be an indispensable component of our joint force at war.” (11/3)