January 27, 2023

Starfighters Conducts F-104 Captive-Carry Test for Italian Air Launch Concept (Source: Starfighters)
Starfighters Space, the only commercial company in the world with the capability to fly at sustained Mach 2 with  the capability to launch payloads to space, reports that the National Research Council of Italy recently flew its Aviolancio rocket under the wing of an F-104 Starfighter from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The “captive-carry” test was designed to collect data for a future air launch. The project is funded by the Italian government. Click here. (1/24)

SpaceX’s Backup Dragon Launch Pad on Track for 2023 Debut (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX has begun building a backup launch pad for its Cargo and Crew Dragon spacecraft and says the facility could be ready for use as early as fall 2023. The plan arose because NASA reportedly told SpaceX it was worried that the company’s first Florida Starship launch site – colocated at the only pad currently able to launch SpaceX Dragon spacecraft – could add too much risk. In September 2022, NASA and SpaceX acknowledged plans to modify LC-40 for Dragon launches and indicated that both parties had decided to proceed. (1/26)

Chinese Company Provided Satellite Imagery for Russian Attacks in Ukraine (Source: Space News)
The United States has levied sanctions on a Chinese company for providing radar imagery to Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine. Changsha Tianyi Space Science and Technology Research Institute, also known as Spacety, and its Luxembourg-based subsidiary are among a number of entities hit by sanctions as part of a move against the private paramilitary organization Wagner Group. Spacety provided synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imagery of locations in Ukraine using two satellites to Terra Tech, a Russia-based technology firm supporting Wagner. The sanctions against Spacety were part of broader measures by the U.S. Treasury Department targeting Wagner Group, designating it as a transnational criminal organization. (1/27)

Colorado Senators Get SecDef Meeting, Press Him on Space Command HQ (Source: Space News)
Two Colorado senators met with the Secretary of Defense about the headquarters for Space Command after threatening to hold up Pentagon nominations. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper said Thursday they met with Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and urged him to reverse the Air Force's decision to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters. The two Democratic senators had voted against a DoD nominee earlier this week, with Bennet stating he would consider placing holds on future nominees until he could meet with Austin. The senators did not disclose what was discussed with Austin or whether Austin is even considering overruling the Air Force's decision made in the final days of the Trump administration to relocate U.S. Space Command headquarters from Colorado Springs to Huntsville, Alabama. (1/27)

Calvelli: Despite Cislunar Goals, Space Force Focus is on Terrestrial Ops (Source: Space News)
A Pentagon official said the focus of the Space Force will continue to be on supporting terrestrial military operations. Frank Calvelli, assistant secretary of the Air Force for space acquisition and integration, said there had been discussion about a role for Space Force in cislunar space, including support of NASA. However, he said "right now what's important is tackling our core mission areas" of providing space services to support military operations on Earth. Those core mission areas, he said, include satellite-based communications, space domain awareness, precision navigation and timing, and missile warning and tracking. (1/27)

NASA and Roscosmos Continue Soyuz/Commercial ISS Seat Barters (Source: Space News)
NASA is still in discussions with Roscosmos about future crew exchanges between Soyuz and commercial crew vehicles. A Russian cosmonaut, Andrey Fedyaev, will fly on the Crew-6 mission launching Feb. 26 for a six-month stay at the International Space Station, continuing "integrated crews" that started last fall. At a briefing this week, NASA officials said they were still working on plans for seat exchanges for missions in the fall and beyond. NASA wants to continue flying integrated crews to ensure both Americans and Russians are on the station should either Soyuz or commercial crew vehicles be unavailable for an extended time. (1/27)

Spain's Hispasat Adds Environmental Sustainability Focus (Source: Space News)
Spanish operator Hispasat plans to use a satellite it is launching next month to support sustainability initiatives. Hispasat announced last week it had bought a 10.85% stake in Sylvestris, a sustainability-focused subsidiary of Spanish energy and petrochemical company Repsol, whose "Green Engine" project seeks to offset carbon dioxide emissions produced by industrial activity by reforesting burned or wasted land. That project could be assisted by Amazonas Nexus, a GEO satellite scheduled to launch next month on a Falcon 9. Using broadband and narrowband communications, Hispasat said the satellite could support a mix of sensor devices for monitoring remote forests, including surveillance cameras. (1/27)
 
NASA Asteroid Mission Seeks Alternative Launch Option (Source: Space News)
A NASA smallsat asteroid mission that lost its original ride to space is looking at alternative plans. Janus was to launch as a secondary payload on Psyche to fly by binary asteroids. However, Psyche's slip to an October 2023 launch resulted in a trajectory that was not suitable for Janus. The project's principal investigator said this week that the team is looking at different mission concepts, including doing a flyby of the near Earth asteroid Apophis before that asteroid goes by Earth in 2029. The mission is also addressing concerns about the spacecraft's electric propulsion system, whose performance could not be fully verified in ground testing. (1/27)

China Plans Another Lunar Lander/Rover (Source: Space.com)
China is planning to send another rover to the moon later this decade. The Chang'e-7 mission will include an orbiter and lander, with the lander carrying a rover and a hopper that move into shadowed regions of craters to look for ice. The rover for that mission will be slightly larger than the Yutu-2 rover currently operating on the far side of the moon as part of the Chang'e-4 mission, and will have more autonomy and different instruments. (1/27)

India Prepares for RLV Demonstrator (Source: India Today)
India is preparing to conduct a drop test of a reusable launch vehicle demonstrator. The test, slated for some time in the next few weeks, will carry the RLV-TD winged vehicle, similar in design to the X-37B, aloft under a helicopter. The helicopter will release the vehicle, allowing it to glide back to a runway landing. (1/27)

Indian Solar Science Mission Prepares for June/July Launch (Source: The Hindu)
India's first solar mission is scheduled to launch in the middle of the year. The Indian space agency ISRO accepted delivery this week of a key instrument for the Aditya-L1 spacecraft, which will observe the sun from the Earth-sun L-1 Lagrange point. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in June or July, ISRO said. (1/27)

NASA Remembrance Day Honors Fallen Astronauts (Source: Florida Today)
NASA held its annual Day of Remembrance Thursday. Ceremonies at the Kennedy Space Center and other centers observed the day to mark the Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia accidents. NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana, a former astronaut, urged NASA employees and contractors to ensure that everyone can speak up if they see something wrong. "I don't want to ever have to go through another Columbia," he said. (1/27)

SpaceX Starlink Quietly Adds ‘Sleep Schedule’ Feature (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX quietly rolled out a new feature for Starlink, its low-latency, high-speed satellite internet service that will allow users to set a “sleep schedule” to conserve energy. In a screenshot shared to Reddit by u/FateEx1994, the new feature will allow Starlink users to conserve their power by scheduling a time for Starlink to sleep.

During this time, Starlink will pause internet service and stop melting snow. Service and performance could be interrupted during this time, so it is recommended users clear snow from their satellite upon the device’s reactivation in the morning. (1/26)

US Can’t Afford to Dawdle on Investing in Space-Based Solar Power (Source: The Hill)
The premise is simple. Traditional terrestrial solar power is a suboptimal source of energy because it is inhibited by the Earth’s atmosphere and unavailable at nighttime. By contrast, by placing large solar energy collecting satellites in space and transmitting energy via microwave beams down to rectifying antennas on Earth, it would be possible to obtain power 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Domestically, the U.S. military is at the forefront of pioneering SSP component technology and developing a proof of concept. In April of 2022, the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) conducted a successful terrestrial microwave power beaming test to demonstrate the feasibility of electrical energy transmission. Meanwhile, the Air Force Research Laboratory is investing in the Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research Project (SSPIDR), which will culminate in a demonstration of solar energy collection in space, conversion to microwave energy, and power beaming down to Earth in 2025.

Some in the private sector have begun to recognize SSP’s potential. For instance, a decade after it received a generous donation to support SSP initiatives, CalTech just launched a Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD) to evaluate multiple energy collection and transfer technologies. At least three U.S. startups are developing the tech as well, and one U.S. design is also being considered as a model for development by ESA. But that interest isn’t matched in the U.S. government — at least not yet. (1/26)

Space Tourism is the Future — Do We Have the Workforce to Run It? (Source: Innovation Map)
Studies have shown that in the upcoming years, commercial space exploration will hike up the economical database, by generating more than expected revenue. On these grounds, space tourism won't be limited to suborbital flights but rather take onto orbital flights, this revolutionary expenditure will change the future. Everything aligns when the right team works together endlessly to reach the stars.

The space exploration will only take place with enthusiastic and empowered individuals catering towards their roles. The main question that still goes unanswered is who will run space tourism. This expenditure has opened multiple career opportunities for the future workforce to take on for diversification and exploration of space. According to experts, travelers would prefer a livelihood in space for which companies are working day and night to figure out accommodation and properties. The ideas include having space hotels, offices, research labs, and tents for operations. (1/26)

How Scotland Has Taken the Lead in the UK's Space Race (Source: ITV)
On the same shores where long boats were once launched, Shetland’s industrial landscape is about to enter a new stratosphere. SaxaVord spaceport has completed construction on the first vertical launch stool in mainland Europe, no small feat for an island community.

SaxaVord CEO Frank Strang said: “Space is all about geography, maths and physics. Our geography allows us to launch into the right trajectories to get to the right orbits economically and efficiently and it means you get the most value for money here. It’s all about our location.” (1/25)

Reused Falcon-9 Carries Heaviest Payload Yet, on 9th Flight, with Fifth Use of Fairings (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX's workhorse Falcon 9 rocket lifted its heaviest payload ever into low Earth orbit on Jan. 26, launching 56 new Starlink satellites. The Falcon 9 first-stage booster had been used eight times previously, including on two crewed missions to the ISS. The 56 Starlink satellites, weighing a combined 17.4 metric tonnes, were protected by a five times reused fairing during the ascent. (1/27)

Blue Origin Plans to Fly All-Female Crew to Suborbital Space (Source: Space.com)
Blue Origin plans to fly an all-female crew to suborbital space in the next year or so. The news comes courtesy of Lauren Sanchez, the girlfriend of Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos. Sanchez revealed that she plans to lead the six-person mission aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle. We don't know the identities of the other five passengers, but Sanchez said they will be "women who are making a difference in the world and who are impactful and have a message to send." (1/26)

Earthlike Planets Should Readily Form Around Other Stars (Source: Science.org)
How hard is it to give birth to an Earth? To assemble the right mix of rock, metal, and water, in a balmy spot not too far from a star? For a long time, planetary scientists have thought Earth was a lucky accident, enriched with water and lighter “volatile” elements—such as nitrogen and carbon—by asteroids that had strayed in from the outer edges of the early Solar System, where those materials were abundant.

A series of new studie suggests all the ingredients were much closer at hand when Earth was born. The findings, based on painstaking chemical analysis of meteorites, imply that planet-forming disks around other stars, too, should be well-stocked with the makings of wet, rocky planets that might be hospitable to life. “It makes the enrichment in volatile elements of a planet more generic,” says Alessandro Morbidelli. Even if a young planet doesn’t receive a delivery from the far reaches of the newborn planetary system, he says, “it doesn’t change habitability.” (1/26)

Space Acquisition Leaders Target Satellite Ground System Gaps (Source: Breaking Defense)
Frank Calvelli, head of space acquisition for the Department of the Air Force, has made crystal clear over recent days his intent to resolve the long-standing problem of Pentagon satellites becoming operational years before ground equipment needed to use them is ready.

In particular, Calvelli is pledging to finally complete two of the most infamously delayed Space Force ground efforts: the software-based Next-Generation Operational Control System (OCX) for the new GPS III satellites; and the Military GPS User Equipment (MGUe) to provide radios capable of receiving the encrypted M-Code signal designed to avoid jamming. (1/26)

US Space Command’s Shaw Sees Need for Rapid, Responsive Launch (Source: Defense News)
A senior U.S. Space Command official sees an increasing need for a rapid launch capability as threats from adversaries like China and Russia put on-orbit assets at risk. Lt. Gen. John Shaw, deputy commander of SPACECOM, said there’s a growing need for on-demand launch capabilities that can be leveraged to replace or augment satellites, a concept referred to as tactically responsive space.

The Space Force has been crafting an acquisition strategy for tactically responsive space and is planning a demonstration later this year. For that mission, dubbed “Victus Nox,” the service is working with Millennium Space Systems to produce and deliver a satellite in just eight months and Firefly Aerospace to launch it with just 24 hours of notice. The mission follows a 2021 demonstration in which Northrop Grumman’s air-launched Pegasus XL rocket carried a Space Force satellite to orbit with a 21-day call-up period. (1/26)

NASA Safety System Enables Rocket Lab Launch From Virginia (Source: Space Daily)
A revolutionary NASA flight safety system has enabled a new era of space transportation with the successful flight of Rocket Lab USA's Electron rocket Jan. 24, from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. This mission was enabled by NASA's work in developing the NASA Autonomous Flight Termination Unit (NAFTU). Tuesday's launch was the first-ever flight of the NAFTU flight safety system.

While other, proprietary autonomous flight termination systems are in use today, NAFTU is different in that it was designed to be used by any launch provider at all U.S. launch ranges to ensure public safety during launch operations. To date, 18 companies have requested the NAFTU software through NASA's technology transfer process. Rocket Lab was among the first applicants for the software, enabling their launch from Wallops. (1/26)

Truck-Sized Asteroid Misses Earth (Source: Space Daily)
A truck-sized asteroid that suddenly loomed out of the darkness a few days ago -- with the Earth in its sights -- sailed harmlessly past us on Thursday, space scientists said. Asteroid 2023 BU whizzed past without incident and back out into the blackness of space. At its nearest point, the asteroid was just 2,200 miles from Earth's surface -- just a quarter of the height of many geostationary satellites. (1/26)

Boom Supersonic Begins Construction On North Carolina Superfactory (Source: Simple Flying)
Boom Supersonic has kicked off construction of its Overture Superfactory today in Greensboro, North Carolina. This manufacturing facility will house the final assembly line, as well as a test facility and customer delivery center for the company’s flagship supersonic airliner, the Overture.

North Carolina economists estimate that the entire Boom manufacturing program will grow the state’s economy by at least $32.3 billion over 20 years. Nonetheless, the Overture program has faced recent challenges, including losing Rolls-Royce as the manufacturer of the engine which will power the aircraft. Boom expects to hire over 2,400 workers at the Superfactory by 2032. (1/26)

What Fuels American Technology Supremacy? One Key Factor is Immigration (Source: Quartz)
In the 1930s, a group of Hungarian geniuses fleeing repression in Europe—including Edward Teller, John von Neumann, Theodore von Kármán and Paul Erdős—came to the US and were cheekily known as The Martians after revolutionizing a half-dozen scientific fields. More controversially, German scientists who served the Nazi regime became important players in the early days of NASA. In today’s world of global technical competition, openness to immigration is an enabler of success. 38% of American Nobel Prize winners are foreign born. 36% of US innovative output comes from immigrants. Immigration to the US since 1965 increased innovation 8% and real wages by 5%.

Or you can look at individuals: Indian-born Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, South African-born SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, or Russian-born Google co-founder Sergei Brin, all working in the US. Hiring foreign nationals is much more difficult in the space tech sector. Just about everything related to rockets and spacecraft is considered a dual use technology with both civil and military applications and restricted to US citizens or permanent residents. That has led to blow ups, like former Momentus founder Mikhail Kokorich, a Russian national, being ousted from his company.

Late last year, Enzo Bleze and Nick Orenstein, founders of HStar Space, argued the US should link reforms of its temporary work visas and International Traffic in Arms Regulations (ITAR) that govern technology access. Even if more foreign nationals can legally work in the US, they would likely not be able to work in the space sector. Even clarifying the rules to allow more exceptions for fairly banal space tech would be helpful. Meanwhile, US agencies are fretting about whether the US space industrial base can remain competitive with China. One obvious way to compete is to make sure the most talented scientists and engineers in the world can come here. (1/26)

Arecibo Observatory Advocacy Partnership Seeks to Continue Science There (Source: ASAP)
The Arecibo Science Advocacy Partnership (ASAP) is a team of scientists and educators from Puerto Rico and around the world, working on the long-term sustainability of the Arecibo Observatory. ASAP seeks to advance the scientific excellence of the Arecibo Observatory and to publicize its accomplishments in astronomy, aeronomy, and planetary radar. We also work to mobilize the existing broad base of support for Arecibo science within the fields it serves directly, the broad scientific community, and the general public.

ASAP is seeking donations to support the advocacy work we do in favor of the Arecibo Observatory. Our goals are that scientific work and the maintenance and development of the existing research infrastructure continues at the new Arecibo Center for STEM Education and Research, and that plans for a large radio telescope on site to replace the collapsed 305-m William E. Gordon receive funding, first for an engineering study, then for building. Click here. (1/26) 

Scientists Warn Giant Asteroid Is Actually Swarm of Particles, Nearly Impossible to Destroy (Source: Futurism)
Researchers have found that some asteroids that are largely made from small pieces of rubble could be very difficult to deflect if one were to ever hurtle towards Earth, a terrifying finding that could force us to reconsider our asteroid defense strategies. It's an especially pertinent topic considering NASA's recent successful deflection of asteroid Didymos by smashing its Double Asteroid Reduction Test (DART) spacecraft into it last year, a proof of concept mission meant to investigate ways for humanity to protect itself from asteroid threats. (1/24)

Boeing Partnerships to Enhance Texas STEM Education, Workforce Development (Source: Simple Flying)
Boeing has teamed up with Kelly Heritage Foundation in a seven-year partnership to enhance STEM education and increase workforce development in Texas, with the collaboration to include a $2.3 million investment. The company has also agreed to sponsor the Boeing Center at Tech Port, an exhibition center at the Port San Antonio campus that will offer aerospace-focused learning events. (1/24)

USSF, USCG Team Up to Optimize Space Capabilities for Warfighters (Source: Executive Gov)
The research arms of the U.S. Space Force and U.S. Coast Guard have agreed to collaborate on delivering enhanced space-related capabilities for the joint warfighter. Under a memorandum of agreement, the USSF Science, Technology, and Research Directorate and USCG Research and Development Center will coordinate the sharing of information and best practices between the organizations to develop warfighting capabilities and technologies, USSF said.

USCG Research and Development Center will provide the USSF directorate with access to its infrastructure, facilities and personnel to support mission objectives and operations in the space domain. (1/25)

The Future of Space Travel Might Rely on Buildings Made of Mushrooms (Source: Astronomy)
Growing structures made of mushrooms on the Moon might seem like something straight out of a Ray Bradbury story. But it turns out to be more practical, and is happening more promptly, than you might think. Just two years from now, a project is slated to head Moonward to test whether mycotecture — the use of mushrooms and other fungal substances for architectural purposes — could play a pivotal role in helping humanity construct the first off-planet habitats on the Moon and beyond.

The brainchild of architect Chris Maurer and his team at redhouse, working in collaboration with NASA and the MIT Center for Bits and Atoms, this potentially game-changing building technique is surprisingly straightforward. From the redhouse lab in Cleveland, Maurer began by showing me a metal tube from which he extracted a chain of vibrantly green algae bundles. These are chaetomorpha, and they are destined to become mushroom food.

Once added into an inflatable mold with water, the chaetomorpha grow into their intended form before scientists add mycelium — the thready, root-like structure from which mushrooms grow. The mycelium eats the chaetomorpha, filling up the mold as it develops and expands into its desired structural shape. At this point, pressurized air is used to compact the shaped mycelium into a dense, semi-rigid material. It is then cooked to both solidify the fungal building block and kill off any living organisms that could otherwise contaminate extraterrestrial environments. (1/25)

Colorado's Senators Voted Against Pentagon Nominee to Spur Meeting on Space Command (Source: KUSA)
Colorado's two Democratic U.S. senators broke with their party to vote against confirming a Department of Defense nominee late Monday after what they described as Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin's refusal to discuss the Pentagon's pending decision to move Space Command headquarters from Colorado to Alabama.

In a largely symbolic but attention-getting move, U.S. Sens. Michael Bennet and John Hickenlooper joined 33 Republicans in voting "nay" on the nomination of Brendan Owens to be assistant secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment in the Biden administration's first defense department nomination to make it to the Senate floor in the new Congress. (1/25)

NATO’s Forthcoming Space Center for Excellence Hits Key Milestone (Source: Defense News)
NATO is one step closer to launching a new space center of excellence in southern France, meant to hone key roles for the alliance to address in the domain. Representatives from 15 nations in the alliance signed an operational memorandum of understanding Jan. 18 in Paris, moving closer to the center formally becoming “NATO-accredited” and a full-fledged center of excellence (COE), the French Ministry of Defense announced Jan. 20. (1/25)

Italian Woman Wants to Beat Macron’s Man to the Moon (Source: Politico)
Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti has thrown her hat into the ring to become the first European to land on the moon. As part of its Artemis program, the United States is aiming to send astronauts back to the moon later this decade and the European Space Agency is in talks to secure a seat on one of the landers.

Cristoforetti, who returned last year from a mission commanding the International Space Station, will face tough competition for any future seat. In December, France’s President Emmanuel Macron opened the race to land a European on the lunar surface when he backed French astronaut Thomas Pesquet during a visit to NASA’s headquarters alongside U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris. (1/25)

We Need a New Model of Space Governance to Address Today's Challenges (Source: New Scientist)
The two-horse race that characterized our early exploration of space has been transformed into a global, highly dynamic industry. Our existing models of space governance and collaboration are no longer effective and we urgently need new ones that address emerging geopolitical, economic and sustainability challenges. The space industry is rightly seen as pioneering: not only does it continually expand the boundaries of exploration, but it enables growth at home. From communications to meteorology to engineering, it has an outsized impact on our economies, adding high-value services and creating skilled jobs. With more than 70 nations now operating space programs. We urgently need to update international rules, says chair of the UAE Space Agency Sarah Al Amiri. (1/25)