February 10, 2023

As Record Rocket Launches Crowd Airspace, the FAA Fights to Limit Travel Disruptions (Sources: CNBC, Ars Technica)
Space companies are launching more rockets than ever, ratcheting up competition for air space just as travelers return to flying in droves — and leaving the Federal Aviation Administration in the middle to keep things moving. The FAA has long been responsible for overseeing U.S. airspace, mitigating air travel disruptions due to weather, military events or technical glitches. Add in the rapidly expanding space launch market, and the complicated puzzle-work of making room in the skies gets all the more delicate.

The FAA managed US airspace for a record-breaking 92 space missions in 2022, up 33 percent from the year prior, and it expects to top that this year. That number includes both rocket launches and capsule re-entries and has been steadily climbing. Some of the agency’s strategies for addressing the growing demand include minimizing the time airspace is closed and expanding beyond popular travel spots like Florida to launch sites as far away as Alaska. Florida poses the most challenges.

Most of last year’s missions launched from Florida, and at the same time the Sunshine State has drawn more and more travelers in recent years and faces frequent thunderstorms several months a year. Airlines operated 722,180 flights to, from, and within Florida last year, marking a faster recovery to pre-pandemic flying levels in the state than the national average. This led to clashes, such as when the FAA had to talk NASA out of Artemis I launch attempts around the Thanksgiving holiday. (2/10)

Ovzon Ditches Ariane-5, Opts for Falcon-9 (Source: Ars Technica)
The Swedish broadband provider Ovzon said this week that manufacturing delays will preclude its 1.5-metric ton Ovzon 3 satellite from launching on an Ariane 5 rocket. The smaller satellite had been intended to piggyback on one of Arianespace’s last few Ariane 5 launches between December and February. But that was not possible due to delays by satellite-maker Maxar.

With Ariane 5 near retirement, Ovzon turned to the Falcon 9 rocket for a ride to geostationary orbit. Shifting to a SpaceX Falcon 9 means Ovzon 3 is now looking at a launch between July and September this year from Cape Canaveral, Florida. “While we are clearly disappointed in the continued delays in production of the satellite, we remain perfectly confident with the market demand of Ovzon 3," Ovzon CEO Per Norén said. (2/10)

SpaceX Conducts Successful Super Heavy Static-Fire Test (Source: Ars Technica)
At around 3:15 pm local time in South Texas, SpaceX ignited its Super Heavy rocket for a "full duration" test of its Raptor engines. According to SpaceX founder Elon Musk, the launch team turned off one engine just prior to ignition, and another stopped itself. Still, he said 31 of 33 engines would have provided enough thrust to reach orbit. This is a huge milestone for SpaceX that potentially puts the company on track for an orbital test flight during the second half of March, or possibly early April.

A great day for space ... As Ars reports, this is the most engines ignited on a rocket, ever. The thrust output of these engines, too, was likely nearly double that of NASA's Saturn 5 rocket or Space Launch System. The good news for SpaceX is that, at least from early views, the launch infrastructure in South Texas looked mostly unscathed. Overall this was a great day for SpaceX, and for NASA as well, as the space agency is counting on Super Heavy and Starship to help land humans on the Moon later this decade. (2/10)

NASA Tests Redesigned Shuttle Main Engine (Source: Ars Technica)
The space agency conducted its first hot fire test of the year of a modified RS-25 rocket engine on Wednesday at the Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. This was part of a "certification" program to determine that the design of the engine is ready to proceed into production, NASA said. The test featured a range of new components and lasted for 500 seconds, the full duration of a firing needed to get the Space Launch System rocket to orbit.

Reuse no longer needed ... Four of these main engines will power the SLS rocket. For the first four Artemis missions, the SLS will use left-over engines from the space shuttle program. The engine tested this week is a slightly simplified design of the old shuttle engine, which features new manufacturing technologies but is no longer reusable, as the space shuttle main engines were. Certification testing of the new RS-25 engine is on track to be completed in the fourth quarter of 2023, with new production engines slated to begin in 2024. (2/10)

Mysterious Dark Galaxy Emits No Visible Light (Source: Science Alert)
Galaxies come in many different shapes and sizes, but the basic ingredients seem fairly consistent. There's usually a big black hole at the center, a bunch of stars and gas, and a generous serving of dark matter that helps glue the whole thing together. Stars, gas, and swirling core of heated material stand out with the radiant beauty of a city in the night. However, one newly discovered dwarf galaxy located a mere 94 million light-years away is defying expectations. It's named FAST J0139+4328, and it's not emitting any optical light. In fact, it's barely emitting any light at all. FAST J0139+4328 appears to be what is known as a dark galaxy. Aside from a small smattering of stars, the galaxy seems to be made up almost entirely of dark matter. (2/9)

Google's Bard AI Gives Incorrect Answer, Share Price Drops (Source: Space.com)
A space-related AI error, though, cost Google billions of dollars. The search engine giant demonstrated a new AI chatbot called Bard this week, intended to show off the company's capabilities in AI compared to ChatGPT. In the demonstration, a user asked Bard for examples of new discoveries by the James Webb Space Telescope, and it responded by claiming JWST had captured the first image of an exoplanet, an achievement actually made nearly two decades earlier by another observatory. The underwhelming overall performance of Bard caused Google's shares to drop 9%, knocking $100 billion off its market cap — about 10 times the cost of JWST. (2/10)

Ukraine to SpaceX: Pick a Side (Source: RFE/RL)
A Ukrainian government official criticized SpaceX's efforts to limit Ukraine's use of Starlink for offensive military actions. Mykhaylo Podolyak, an adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, said that SpaceX needed to choose sides between helping Ukraine or backing Russia. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said Wednesday that Ukraine's use of Starlink services donated by SpaceX for offensive activities, like controlling drones striking invading Russian forces, had not been anticipated by the company, which had since taken steps to restrict such use of the system. (2/10)

NanoAvionics Doubles Satellite Production Space (Source: Space News)
NanoAvionics has doubled its small satellite production space to meet the needs of constellation operators. The Lithuanian company has opened a new 1,200-square meter manufacturing, assembly, integration, and testing facility next to its headquarters. The company's CEO said NanoAvionics can now build up to a few hundred identical satellites simultaneously, depending on their complexity. The transformation is part of a multimillion-dollar investment plan from Norway's Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace, which bought a majority stake in the company last year. (2/10)

UAE's Mars Orbiter Shifts Orbit (Source: The National)
The Hope Mars mission is moving into a new orbit to study a Martian moon. The UAE spacecraft, formally known as the Emirates Mars Mission, is adjusting its orbit two years after arriving at Mars, project officials said this week. The new orbit will bring the spacecraft as close as 100 kilometers from Deimos, the smaller of the planet's two moons, enabling new studies of its surface features and composition. (2/10)

Chinese Astronauts Conduct TSS Spacewalk (Source: Xinhua)
Two Chinese astronauts performed a spacewalk outside the Tiangong space station Thursday. Fei Junlong and Zhang Lu conducted the spacewalk, lasting about seven hours, to do work on the station's exterior, including installing payloads and equipment. The Chinese government announced the spacewalk only after it had been completed, and did not broadcast it live. (2/10)

India's SSLV Rocket Reaches Orbit (Source: Space News)
India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLV) reached orbit on its second launch Thursday night. The rocket lifted off at 10:48 p.m. Eastern carrying the EOS-07 Earth observation satellite and two cubesat secondary payloads. The Indian space agency ISRO declared the launch a success, placing the satellites into orbit at an altitude of 450 kilometers. The first SSLV launch last August failed when the shock of stage separation for the rocket's second stage saturated accelerometers in the vehicle's guidance system, triggering a "salvage mode" that resulted in the rocket placing its payload in an unsustainably low orbit. (2/10)

Large Defense Contractors Looking to Buy Small Space Companies (Source: Space News)
Major defense companies are looking to buy smaller space companies amid a market shakeout. During a panel discussion at the SmallSat Symposium, executives said increasing defense spending for space activities is leading prime contractors to look for growth opportunities. Space businesses with strong government links and a robust earnings outlook are prime acquisition targets for defense primes. Some smaller companies that went public through SPAC mergers but have since struggled could also be targeted for acquisitions. (2/10)

Kelly: Commercial Space is Key to US Space Competitiveness (Source: Space News)
Sen. Mark Kelly (D-AZ) said that the commercial space industry has a key role in ensuring the U.S. can compete successfully on the global stage. Kelly, a former astronaut, said that the United States needs more launch providers and capabilities, with roles the government can play to support their development. He also called on companies "to step up to the plate" by accelerating development and production of new vehicles. Kelly chairs the Senate Armed Services Committee's subcommittee on emerging threats and capabilities, focusing on the competitive threats posed by adversaries like China and Russia. (2/10)

NASA Authorization Bills Being Prepped in House and Senate (Source: Space News)
The House and Senate are planning new NASA authorization bills in this Congress. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA), chair of the Senate Commerce Committee, said she would pursue a multiyear NASA authorization bill to "give a clear understanding of the direction that Congress would like to see" for the agency. A NASA authorization was included in the CHIPS and Science Act passed last year but had limited provisions and did not authorize new funding. The House Science Committee has included a NASA authorization among its priorities for the new Congress. (2/10)