December 16, 2022

With Success of Artemis I, When will NASA Fly Artemis II? (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
While the latest announced timeline for that flight is no earlier than May 2024 — only 18 months away — NASA officials after Sunday’s successful landing kept referring a two-year turnaround between Artemis I and II, which would put its launch closer to the end of 2024. Astronaut Randy Bresnik, who since 2018 has been heavily involved with Orion and Artemis decisions, said typically there would be two years from the announcement of the crew until launch, “ideally assigning the crew to it so that we can start building their spacesuits, getting them involved in training and getting them ready to go in that two-year mark.”

That regime could mean a launch pushed into 2025, but there could be room to speed up that timeline. Farther down the line, Artemis III is slated for no earlier than 2025, but that too could slip in the domino effect between launches. That’s the mission that looks to return humans, including the first woman, to the surface of the moon. (12/13)

Scientists May Have Found the Frst Water Worlds (Source: Ars Technica)
Two planets that were originally discovered by the Kepler mission may not be what we thought they were. Based on an initial characterization, it was thought these planets were rocky bodies a bit larger than Earth. But continued observation has produced data that indicates the planets are much less dense than we originally thought. And the only realistic way to get the sort of densities they now seem to have is for a substantial amount of their volume to be occupied by water or a similar fluid.

We do have bodies like this in our Solar System—most notably the moon Europa, which has a rocky core surrounded by a watery shell capped by ice. But these new planets are much closer to their host star, which means their surfaces are probably a blurry boundary between a vast ocean and a steam-filled atmosphere. (12/15)

Japanese Asteroid Visitor’s Tiny Payload Delivers Big Results (Source: Cosmos)
In the two years since Japan’s Hayabusa2 jettisoned a small capsule to eagerly waiting scientists in the desert of South Australia, researchers have been picking through its contents, keen to unearth the secrets of our early solar system. The capsule contained just 5.4 g of material from the asteroid Ryugu, which Hayabusa2, scooped up in a landmark mission in late 2018.

By performing isotopic analysis, French scientists have obtained further insight into the chemistry and origins of the asteroid and furthered our understanding of the early Solar System. Click here. (12/16)

Comet Interceptor to Await Target at Lagrange Point (Source: ESA)
ESA and OHB have signed a contract to move forward with the design and construction of ESA’s ambitious Comet Interceptor spacecraft, planned for launch in 2029. Unlike other missions, Comet Interceptor’s target has not yet been discovered. That’s because it would take too long to build a mission on the short timeframe of a potential target entering the Solar System for a spacecraft to reach in time. Instead, Comet Interceptor will be ready and, unless a suitable target is identified before launch, waiting 1.5 million km ‘behind’ Earth as viewed from the Sun (at the gravitationally stable Lagrange point 2) for a suitable comet or even an interstellar object to enter the inner Solar System for the first time. (12/15)

Space Force Officially Deactivates Lockheed-Built Military Communications Satellite (Source: GovCon Daily)
The U.S. Space Force's 4th Space Operations Squadron has officially retired and placed in a disposal orbit a satellite designed to provide high-volume, secure voice and data communications, due to the culmination of its operational life. The Lockheed Martin-built Defense Satellite Communications Systems III satellite B7 spent nearly three decades working as part of a geosynchronous orbit military satellite constellation to provide high-priority communication capabilities to the Department of Defense, the Space Force said Wednesday. (12/16)

Advent International to Acquire Maxar for $6.4 Billion (Source: Space News)
Maxar announced Friday a private equity firm is acquiring it for $6.4 billion. Advent International will pay $53 per share in cash for Maxar, more than double Maxar's stock price of $23.10 at the close of trading Thursday. The acquisition will help Maxar "to accelerate investment in and development of the company's next-generation satellite technologies and data insights for its customers," the company said in a statement. Maxar is the U.S. government's primary supplier of satellite imagery and manufactures communications and other satellites. The deal is expected to close in mid-2023. (12/16)

Space Force Wants Fixed Price Acquisition of Small Satellites (Source: Space News)
The Space Force's acquisition head says he wants to buy smallsats with fixed-price contracts. Speaking at a luncheon Thursday, Frank Cavelli, assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisitions and integration, emphasized his desire to reform space acquisition by moving away from larger satellites produced on cost-plus contracts. He expects the U.S. Space Force to start transitioning to smaller satellites and end procurements of billion-dollar satellites that, on average, take seven years to develop. He said he is looking ahead to the first Vulcan launch next year and will closely monitor the next-generation OCX ground control system for GPS and Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System space-tracking system. (12/16)

Senate's Defense Authorization Passes (Sources: Washington Post, Roll Call)
The Senate passed a defense authorization bill Thursday. The Senate approved the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2023 on an 83-11 vote, after the House passed the bill last week. The bill authorizes $858 billion for defense programs in 2023. Congress also passed a one-week continuing resolution to fund the government through Dec. 23. The chair of the House Appropriations Committee said Thursday she expects to release the omnibus spending bill for 2023 on Monday afternoon for Congress to pass next week. (12/16)

Russia May Be Jamming GPS Over Some Cities (Source: WIRED)
Russia appears to be jamming GPS signals in some cities as a defensive measure. GPSJam, which collects information on the status of navigation satellite networks using data from aircraft, has detected increased GPS disturbances in several western Russian cities starting early this month. Analysts speculate that the disturbances are jamming by the Russian military to defend against drones or missiles that use GPS navigation. The jamming started after several missiles fired by Ukraine hit Russian bases. (12/16)

Falcon 9 Launches CNES/NASA SWOT Ocean Topography Satellite (Source: Space News)
A Falcon 9 successfully launched an ocean science satellite for NASA and the French space agency CNES. The Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:46 a.m. Eastern from Vandenberg Space Force Base and deployed the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) spacecraft 52 minutes later. SpaceX delayed the launch a day to perform additional inspections of two first-stage engines. SWOT is a $1.2 billion mission to measure water surface heights with a much greater resolution than past missions, enabling studies of many more inland water bodies and improved ocean studies. Those measurements will contribute to climate change studies. (12/16)

SpaceX Reschedules Starlink Launch (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX has another Falcon 9 launch scheduled for later today but has dropped plans for nearly simultaneous launches. A Falcon 9 will launch the first two O3b mPOWER satellites, built by Boeing for satellite operator SES, from Cape Canaveral at 4:21 p.m. Eastern. SpaceX, at one point, had a separate Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites scheduled from the Kennedy Space Center less than a half-hour later, but the company said late Thursday it was "prioritizing" the SES launch and delayed the Starlink mission to Saturday. (12/16)

China Launches Experimental Satellite (Source: Space News)
China launched a satellite on a Long March 11 Friday. The rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 1:17 a.m. Eastern and placed the Shiyan-21 satellite into orbit. Little info was revealed about the Shiyan-21 satellite, which is part of a line of experimental spacecraft. The launch was the seventh by a Chinese vehicles over less than 10 days. (12/16)

Rocket Lab Virginia Launch Slips to Sunday (Source: Space News)
The first Electron launch from Virginia has slipped again to Sunday. Rocket Lab said late Thursday that the Electron launch, previously scheduled for Friday from Wallops Island, Virginia, would be pushed back until Sunday to give NASA and the FAA more time to complete range-related paperwork. Wallops officials see the introduction of Electron from the site as the beginning of a new era of increased launch activity that will create jobs and investment in the region. Virginia Space, which operates the commercial launch sites at Wallops, is in discussions with several other companies interested in launching there. (12/16)

NASA Aborts RS-25 Engine Test at Stennis (Source: NASA)
NASA aborted a static-fire test of a redesigned RS-25 engine for the SLS. The engine was fired on a test stand at the Stennis Space Center this week but was shut down 209.5 seconds into a 500-second burn. NASA said the test was shut down by "a non-flight system" used to monitor the engine and that it was working with Aerojet Rocketdyne to understand the problem. The test was the first in a series to support restarted production of the shuttle-era RS-25 for later Artemis missions. The first four SLS missions, including last month's Artemis 1, use engines built for the shuttle program. (12/16)

Australia Needs to Prioritise Local Launch Providers to Grow its Sovereign Space Capabilities (Source: The Strategist)
Visiting senior US Space Force officials were on the money when they said Australia is a ‘pot of gold at the end of the rainbow’ for future space operations. Australian space launch providers like Gilmore Space Technologies, Equatorial Launch Australia and Southern Launch have known for some time that Australia has advantages that enable launch vehicles to be sent into any trajectory at any inclination.

The country’s geographic position and relatively clear skies make it a prime location for assured access to space. Global companies such as Virgin Orbit have taken notice and are beginning to establish their footprints in Australia to take advantage of these competitive strengths. If heeded, calls for deeper cooperation between governments and the commercial space sector are likely to attract further foreign investment and put Australia’s space sector on a growth path for many years to come. The challenge, however, remains how to enable such investment while ensuring that Australian launch providers can effectively compete for contracts. (12/16)

Australian Site Hopes to Host Suborbital Launch Before Christmas (Source: Cosmos)
An Australian launch site hopes to host at least one suborbital flight before Christmas. The Whaler's Way Orbital Launch Complex in South Australia scrubbed a launch Thursday of a Kestrel 1 rocket built by ATSpace, an Australian company with Taiwanese roots. That rocket suffered an oxidizer leak that could not be repaired on the pad. A second Kestrel 1 rocket is being prepared for launch this weekend. (12/16)

Arqit Quantum, ESA’s QKDSat Partner, is Quitting Satellites in Favor of Terrestrial Quantum Key Distribution (Source: Space Intel Report)
Quantum encryption startup Arqit Quantium Inc., which has a partnership agreement with the European Space Agency (ESA) to build and launch a quantum key distribution satellite, is abandoning its satellite plans after developing a terrestrial technology it says is as good as satellite transmission for all but the most demanding government applications. The stunning announcement could put into question much of the received wisdom about the superiority of low-orbit satellites for QKD applications. (12/15)

AST SpaceMobile and NASA Sign Joint Agreement to Improve Spaceflight Safety (Source: AST SpaceMobile)
AST SpaceMobile, the company building the first and only space-based cellular broadband network accessible directly by standard mobile phones, today announced that its subsidiary, AST & Science, LLC, and NASA recently signed an agreement to formalize both organizations’ dedication to maintaining and improving safety in the shared environment of space. (12/15)

Russian Spacecraft Springs Major Coolant Leak on ISS (Source: Ars Technica)
A Russian spacewalk was canceled at the last minute on Wednesday night when a spacecraft attached to the International Space Station unexpectedly sprang a large leak. Cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin were dressed in spacesuits, with the airlock depressurized, when flight controllers told them to standby while the leak in a Soyuz spacecraft was investigated. The spacewalk was subsequently called off shortly before 10pm ET. At no time were any of the crew members on the space station in danger.

However, the leak does raise questions about the viability of the Soyuz spacecraft, which is the ride back to Earth for Prokopyev, Petelin, and NASA's Frank Rubio. They launched to the space station back in September on board this Soyuz vehicle and are due to return to Earth next spring. After three hours Monday night the leak remained ongoing, showing no sign of abating. (12/15)

SpaceX's Key Man (Source: Quartz)
Back in the day when NASA was betting millions that a California start-up could fly cargo to the International Space Station on the cheap, they made Elon Musk get “key man” insurance. The space agency worried that without Musk’s capital and commitment, the project would fail, and they’d need financial compensation. A dozen years later, NASA is more reliant on SpaceX than ever.

Musk is not deploying the same strategic focus we saw in SpaceX’s early days. And we’ve observed that the biggest threat to SpaceX will be if Musk’s other ventures impact his ability to keep raising capital to fund the mammoth cost of his most ambitious space projects. There’s only so many hours in a day, after all, and divided attention is divided attention.

But until another firm can out-execute Musk’s rocket company, speculation about SpaceX’s future will be purely academic. Its ostensible rivals, from Blue Origin to Boeing, have yet to deliver as consistently or cheaply. NASA and the Pentagon would love to another credible (and affordable) bidder for everything from launch vehicles to Moon landers. Will 2023 be the year that changes? (12/15)

Euroconsult Sees Continued Increase in Government Space Budgets (Source: AstroAgency)
Leading space consulting and market intelligence firm Euroconsult has released the 22nd edition of its annual “Government Space Programs” report this week, evidencing a continued increase in global governments’ space budgets. This year has seen a cumulative spend of $103B in 2022, a 9% increase since last year and a record high for the sector. Despite the recent pandemic crisis, governments have increased their investments in the sector to further support the development of their industry and sustain their ambitions. 

This growth is notably significant in the defense area, reaching 16% in 2022 and topping a new record at $48B. Current geopolitical tensions have confirmed space as a strategic operational theater for hybrid warfare tactics, pushing governments to sustain their investments in ‘traditional’ space applications such as Telecommunications, Navigation and Earth observation, but also more prominently in Space Security & Early Warning systems to further protect their space assets.

On the civil side, government expenditures are increasingly driven by Human Spaceflight missions, which now attracts more and more new entrants encouraged by the socio-economic benefits and prestige brought by these programs. (12/15)

Artificial Gravity May Offer A Myriad of Benefits to Humans in Space (Source: UC Irvine)
Future space habitats may offer hybrid, variable gravity environments to accommodate both human and commercial needs. Researchers have assembled what may be the first exhaustive literature review of artificial gravity opportunities, challenges, and potential impact on humans in space. The study was conducted by 100 Year Starship.

The team collaborated on the study entitled "Challenges and Benefits to Human Operations in Variable & Partial Gravity Earth Orbiting Habitats." Microgravity causes a number of health and performance issues for humans including space adaption syndrome, circulatory and cardiovascular issues, muscle atrophy, bone resorption and visual changes, all of which are driving greater interest in artificial gravity as a potential solution in addition to or in place of current countermeasures.

The researchers report that although artificial gravity would likely prove to be an effective multisystem preventative against the deleterious impact of microgravity, countermeasures such as exercise, pharmaceuticals, and nutrition have been perceived to be much more cost effective and easier to implement. (12/15)

Spire Global to Launch Six Satellites on SpaceX Transporter-6 Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Spire Global will launch six satellites on the SpaceX Transporter-6 mission from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The satellites will demonstrate advancements and new capabilities for Spire's weather and aviation solutions.

Spire will launch two demonstration satellites carrying next-generation Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B) payloads, which collect aircraft position data. The satellites will expand Spire's existing ADS-B constellation and play an integral role in improving coverage and latency for the Company's aviation products. (12/15)

UAE and AWS Sign Agreement to Support Long-Term Growth in the Region's Space Ecosystem (Source: Space Daily)
The UAE Space Agency and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have signed a Statement of Strategic Intent and Cooperation to support the creation of a vibrant, sustainable, competitive, and innovative space sector, designed to support the Space Agency's long-term development goals: the Emirati - AWS Space Industry Development Program (EASID), the Emirati - AWS Talent for Space Program (EATS), and the Emirati - AWS Open Data Sponsorship Program. (12/9)

ICEYE Announces a Framework Contract with European Maritime Safety Agency (Source: Space Daily)
ICEYE, the global leader in satellite persistent monitoring of the planet and an expert in natural catastrophe solutions, announced the start of a multi-year framework contract with the European Maritime Safety Agency (EMSA) to support their efforts in managing various aspects of maritime operations with SAR data.

ICEYE will deliver SAR imagery to EMSA over these next years to enhance their operational support to a wide range of European organizations, in the scope of EMSA's Earth Observation Services. ICEYE owns the world's largest SAR satellite constellation and the data from its spaceborne sensors can be combined with multiple auxiliary information sources from the ground. ICEYE expects that this agreement will improve the efficiency and speed of the incredible work EMSA is doing already. (12/8)

Saudi Arabia Plans Research on China's TSS (Source: Space Daily)
Scientists from Saudi Arabia will soon have the opportunity to carry out an experiment aboard China's Tiangong space station that is expected to help with the design and production of high-efficiency solar cells. The Saudi experiment will focus on studying the effects of cosmic rays on the performance of high-efficiency solar cells.

Two institutions from Saudi Arabia, the National Center for Nanotechnology and Advanced Materials and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology, are involved in the project, which is among the first nine international science programs selected by the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs and China Manned Space Agency to be conducted on board the Tiangong station. (12/9)