December 20, 2022

Russia May Expedite Launch of Next Space Capsule After Leak (Source: AP)
Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos said Monday that a coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station doesn’t require evacuation of its crew, but the agency kept open the possibility of launching a replacement capsule, if needed.

Roscosmos said a panel of experts would determine later this month whether the Soyuz MS-22 capsule could be safely used by the crew for its planned return to Earth or if it should be discarded and replaced. It said the next scheduled launch of a Soyuz was in March but could be expedited, if necessary. (12/19)

Cornwall's Surfing Capital is About to Become the U.K. Space Capital (Source: National Geographic)
The population of the small Cornish town of Newquay is sometimes 20,000 and sometimes 100,000, depending on the season. For over a century it’s been considered a British Isles beauty spot and as such is well-established – infamous even – as a destination for tourists.

It’s also considered by some as the perfect place for the U.K.’s first space port. The facility in question, Spaceport Cornwall, received its launch license in October 2022 and is effectively open for business. So on top of great beaches, natural beauty and a pleasing climate Newquay seems set to add another string to its bristling bow of assets: the site of the U.K.'s first satellite launch from home turf. It's happening soon, too: its makers hope its first orbital payload will blast off before the end of 2022.

Whilst wandering the windswept walkways of Newquay’s coastal path, or surfing in the famous swells of its seas, one might be forgiven for thinking that the Cornish town has always relied on its tourism to get by, but that’s not the case. A rich heritage of managing and utilising its natural resources are built into it and its surrounding towns: Mining, knitting, and fishing have all played a part in the success of Newquay. It just so happens its next local industry may be a literal step out of this world. (12/19)

SpaceX Aces Three Falcon 9 Launches in 34 Hours (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX has successfully launched three Falcon 9 rockets less than 34 hours apart, leaving the company only one mission shy of CEO Elon Musk’s ambitious target of 60 launches in 2022. The period was almost even more intense, with two launches briefly scheduled minutes apart and all three set to launch in the space of 10-11 hours.

But the more conservative sequencing SpaceX ultimately settled on still produced impressive results and allowed the company to break its own world record for the fastest time to complete three launches of the same rocket. In June 2022, SpaceX managed three similar launches – a Starlink mission, a scientific Earth observation satellite, and a commercial communications satellite – in 36 hours and 18 minutes.

Six months later, SpaceX has shaved more than two hours off of its own feat with the successful launches of another Earth observation satellite, a pair of commercial communications satellites, and 54 Starlink satellites in 33 hours and 46 minutes. (12/19)

Timelapse Video Shows Artemis 1 Orion's Return to Earth (Source: Simeon Schmauß)
Approach and reentry of the Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft after its return from the Moon on Dec 11, 2022. It was captured by modified GoPro Hero 4 cameras attached on the Solar Arrays and in the window of the docking port. The video was sped up, upscaled and enhanced to remove compression artifacts. Click here. (12/19)

First Deep Space Biology Experiment Begins (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's BioSentinel has carried living organisms farther from Earth than ever before - more than one million miles. Aboard the shoebox-sized CubeSat are microorganisms, in the form of yeast - the very same yeast that makes bread rise and beer brew. On Dec. 5, BioSentinel was 655,730 miles from Earth when the BioSentinel team at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley sent commands to the spacecraft to kick off the initial experiment for the first long-duration biology study in deep space. Scientists are now able to see how living organisms respond to deep space radiation.

Artemis missions at the Moon will prepare humans to travel on increasingly farther and longer-duration missions to destinations like Mars. Because yeast cells have similar biological mechanisms to human cells, including DNA damage and repair, studying yeast in space will help us better understand the risks of space radiation to humans and other biological organisms. BioSentinel's science results will fill critical gaps in knowledge about the health risks in deep space posed by space radiation. (12/18)

Building a Powerhouse in Deep Space (Source: Space Daily)
Gateway will be humanity's first space station in lunar orbit and serve as an essential element of NASA's Artemis missions. As astronauts live and work on Gateway to enable sustained exploration and research in deep space, their efforts will be made possible by the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE). A foundational component of the lunar outpost and the most powerful solar electric spacecraft ever flown, PPE will provide Gateway with power and allow it to maintain its unique orbit around the Moon.

NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland leads the agency's partnership with Maxar Technologies to design and build PPE, developing next-generation technology and capabilities to enable Artemis missions and prepare for human missions to Mars. PPE will generate 60kW of electrical power, which will power Gateway's subsystems and its solar electric propulsion (SEP) system to keep the station in orbit around the Moon. PPE leverages technology advancements from past successful electric propulsion missions - such as the recent DART mission - to help NASA push the boundaries of what's possible in deep space. (12/20)

STARCOM publishes Foundational Doctrine on Sustainment (Source: Space Daily)
Space Training and Readiness Command recently released its latest keystone-level Space Doctrine Publication - Space Doctrine Publication (SDP) 4-0, Sustainment - which articulates extant best practices and lessons learned for sustainment of space forces. SDP 4-0 presents the United States Space Force's current body of knowledge pertaining to the sustainment of space forces and capabilities, providing the Guardian's perspective on the best way to approach sustainment of operations in the space domain throughout the competition continuum.

It also identifies considerations for interaction with governmental and nongovernmental agencies, multinational forces, and other interorganizational partners. "Strength and security in space provides national leaders with independent options and enables freedom of action in both space and other warfighting domains while contributing to international security and stability," said Maj. Gen. Shawn Bratton, STAROCM commander. (12/18)

US Space Entities Examine Future Space Technology (Source: Space Daily)
Seventy professionals from the space ecosystem gathered for the Space Futures Workshop, Nov. 29-30, to examine future technologies and forge a path towards ensuring the U.S. maintains its advantage in the increasingly congested and contested space domain. Convened by NewSpace New Mexico, the event held at the University of Colorado Boulder, marked the fifth time that U.S. Space Force leaders and stakeholders met with industry leaders to quantify the global state of space and discuss future implications of defending U.S. interests in the domain.

The group borrowed from NATO's Long-Term Defense Planning process and designed the workshop around three steps to future planning: 1/ Construct realistic and detailed possible scenarios for the future. 2/ Identify the positive and negative aspects of those scenarios and develop strategies to move toward the positive and away from the negative outcomes. 3/ Determine the essential capabilities required to execute the strategies and develop long-term roadmaps for the needed science and technology. (12/18)

Rocket Lab Reschedules 1st US Launch to January (Source: Space Daily)
Rocket Lab has announced the launch window for its first Electron mission from U.S. soil has been rescheduled to January 2023. The move of the planned launch window from December 2022 to early 2023 was driven by weather and the additional time that NASA at Wallops and the FAA required to complete essential regulatory documentation for launch. The delay in documentation left only two days in the originally scheduled 14-day launch window and both of those final remaining days were unsuitable for launch due to bad weather.

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within NASA's Wallops Flight Facility is now closed for launch activity for the remainder of the December due to holiday airspace restrictions, preventing further launch attempts in 2022. Now scheduled for January, the mission will still take place from Virginia. (12/20)

NASA's InSight Mars Lander Fails to Phone Home (Source: NASA)
NASA's InSight Mars lander missed a planned communications session, raising fears the mission may nearly be over. NASA said late Monday that the lander did not respond to communications from Earth on Sunday. One possibility is that power levels have dropped low enough that it can no longer communicate with Earth, effectively ending the mission. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory said last month that it would declare the mission over if the lander missed two consecutive communications sessions, but would listen for some time after that just in case. (12/20)

Northrop Grumman to Refurbish ATMS Instrument for NASA and NOAA (Source: NASA)
Northrop Grumman has won a NASA contract to refurbish an instrument built for engineering tests for use on a future mission. The $13.3 million contract modification announced last week will cover work to refurbish the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS) Engineering Development Unit, a engineering version of the ATMS instrument developed for the Joint Polar Satellite System program. That work will allow the refurbished instrument to fly on QuickSounder, a smallsat demonstration mission to support NOAA's planning for its next-generation weather satellite architecture. (12/20)

Omnibus Spending Bill Includes $25.4 Billion for NASA (Source: Space News)
An omnibus spending bill released early Tuesday provides NASA with nearly $25.4 billion in fiscal year 2023. The bill, released after final negotiations between House and Senate negotiators, allocated $25.384 billion for NASA, a 5.6% increase from 2022 but less than the nearly $26 billion the agency sought in its budget request in March. The bill fully funds most exploration and space operations programs but makes some cuts to the request in science and space technology. A disaster supplemental funding bill includes an additional $189.4 million for hurricane damage repairs to NASA facilities. The House and Senate are scheduled to vote on the bill this week before the current continuing resolution funding the government expires Friday. (12/20)

SpaceX Could Begin Second-Gen Starlink Deployment Before January (Source: Space News)
SpaceX could launch the first second-generation Starlink satellites this month. In a filing with the FCC last week, SpaceX said it anticipates launching the first Gen2 satellites before the end of December. One Starlink launch is currently scheduled for late December. SpaceX noted those plans in a filing asking the FCC for special temporary authority to connect those satellites to existing user terminals so it can start providing services while awaiting longer-term approval. The Gen2 satellites are designed to provide additional broadband capacity and support direct-to-smartphone services. SpaceX separately announced Monday that it now has more than one million Starlink subscribers, up from the 250,000 it reported in March. (12/20)

SpaceX to Provide Ukraine with More Starlink Terminals (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX had agreed to provide the government of Ukraine with more Starlink terminals. A government minister said more than 10,000 additional terminals would be shipped to Ukraine in the coming months, with several European governments agreeing to share the costs of the terminals. The government needs the new terminals to provide connectivity that recent Russian missile attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure have disrupted. (12/20)

Russia Considering Options for Soyuz After Possible Micrometeoroid Damage (Source: TASS)
The head of Roscosmos said the agency would decide on how to deal with a coolant leak on a Soyuz spacecraft in a week. Yuri Borisov told a Russian newspaper Monday that he expects working groups to reach a conclusion on the status of the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft by Dec. 27. The two options currently being considered are to have the crew return home on Soyuz MS-22 as planned in March or to accelerate the development of Soyuz MS-23 and launch it with a crew to the station to replace Soyuz MS-22. Imagery of the spacecraft's exterior showed what appears to be the source of the leak, a hole 0.8 millimeters across that may have been caused by a micrometeoroid or orbital debris impact, but the investigation into the cause of the leak is continuing. (12/20)

Apollo 21: Upgrading the Lunar Module for Advanced Missions (Source: Space Review)
The Apollo 17 mission ended exactly 50 years ago, concluding the first era of human lunar exploration. Dwayne Day and Glen Swanson discuss what could have followed had NASA adopted proposals from Grumman for advanced versions of its Lunar Module for additional missions. Click here. (12/19)
 
The Secret Payloads of Russia’s Glonass Navigation Satellites (Source: Space Review)
Russia’s Glonass satellites do more than provide navigation services. Bart Hendrickx explores what’s known about additional payloads carried on those satellites, from detecting nuclear explosions to performing naval signals intelligence. Click here. (12/19)
 
Starship, Twitter, and Musk (Source: Space Review)
As SpaceX makes slow progress on development of Starship, its CEO and founder is distracted by his acquisition of Twitter. Jeff Foust reports on concerns some have that Musk’s focus on Twitter, and the controversies that have ensued there, have taken his focus away from a goal of making humanity multiplanetary. Click here. (12/19)
 
Satellite Bombs, Gliders, or ICBMs? Krafft Ehricke and Early Thinking on Long-Range Strategic Weapons (Source: Space Review)
Just before the dawn of the Space Age, German-born engineer Krafft Ehricke was working for American aerospace company Convair, examining future concepts for strategic weapons. Hans Dolfing examines a recently unearthed paper from Ehricke’s archives where he examined the tradeoff of missiles, satellites, and alternatives. Click here. (12/19)