April 15, 2023

Aerojet Gets $215 Million to Boost Production of Solid Rocket Motors, for Ukraine Weapons (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department has agreed to provide Aerojet Rocketdyne $215.6 million to expand its rocket propulsion manufacturing faciltiies in order to speed up production of missiles for Ukraine, the Pentagon announced April 14. Aerojet Rocketdyne makes rocket engines and propulsion systems for space vehicles, ballistic missiles and military tactical weapons. Aerojet will use the funds to expand and modernize facilities in Arkansas, Alabama, and Virginia, where the company manufactures rocket propulsion systems. Aerojet, one of only two major U.S. defense producers of solid rocket motors, is in the process of being acquired by L3Harris pending regulatory approval. (4/14)

SpaceX May Lease High Bay 1 in NASA's VAB (Source: Ars Technica)
Last August, NASA issued an agency announcement asking for industry proposals to lease the Vehicle Assembly Building High Bay 1 at Kennedy Space Center. This is the same iconic building in Florida where NASA stacks its Space Launch System rocket. In November, NASA selected a proposal. However, agency spokeswoman Patti Bielling declined to name the winner, telling Ars that terms are still being negotiated, and "the process does not conclude until the parties execute the lease, at which time NASA will announce the selection."

I bring this up because two people have told me that SpaceX won the competition to use the high bay for its Starship program. The sources said SpaceX does not plan to perform stacking operations inside the VAB, but rather will use the facility for storage and integration of payloads on Starship before flight. This might be an interim usage by SpaceX while the company develops a larger facility on Roberts Road near the Florida spaceport. It sounds like SpaceX will continue to build Starships in South Texas and ship them to Florida for the time being. (4/14)

Firefly Completes Static Test Fire for Next Launch (Source: Ars Technica)
The Texas-based launch company said Wednesday night that it completed a full-duration static fire test for the third launch of its Alpha rocket, confirming that "all systems and components are operating within flight parameters before launch." The test was conducted at the company's facilities at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.

An uncertain launch date ... The company has not provided a launch date for the mission. In fact, as part of the Space Force's VICTUS NOX responsive space mission, Firefly will need to have the payload encapsulated, mated, launched, and placed into low-Earth orbit within 24 hours of receiving the launch notice and orbit requirements. The program aims to demonstrate the United States’ capability to rapidly respond to on-orbit needs during a conflict. (4/14)

China Declares a Price War on SpaceX (Source: Ars Technica)
Chinese space authorities plan to drastically cut the cost of space launches in response to challenges from SpaceX's reusable rockets, the South China Morning Post reports. According to the publication, the country's Long March rockets can deliver a payload to orbit at about $3,000 per kilogram. The country's space officials are apparently concerned about the potential for SpaceX's Starship to reduce the cost by a factor of 10 or more.

It will take some time ... The details in the article are fairly sparse, but Chinese space officials appear to be contemplating the development of a large reusable space plane that can carry both large amounts of cargo and passengers into low-Earth orbit, as well as being capable of point-to-point travel. Dubbed the Long-Range Aerospace Transportation System, Chinese officials are aiming to develop the vehicle and bring it into operational readiness by the 2040s. (4/14)

Europe Unlikely to Pivot to Reuse Soon (Source: Ars Technica)
Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël said Europe would have to wait until the 2030s for a reusable launch vehicle, European Spaceflight reports. Israël explained that, in his opinion, Ariane 6 would fly for more than 10 years. Europe would then look to transition to a reusable successor for introduction in the 2030s.

A decade is a long time ... Europe currently has two development programs as part of an effort to develop a reusable launch vehicle, Prometheus and Themis. However, these programs are more akin to SpaceX's Grasshopper test vehicle rather than something resembling a reusable, orbital-class rocket. If Europe waits another decade or longer to introduce a reusable launch vehicle, it will fall significantly further behind the United States and China in launch technology. (4/14)

Might Lockheed Martin Buy ULA? (Source: Ars Technica)
It has been about six weeks since Ars first reported that United Launch Alliance is up for sale by its parent companies, Lockheed Martin and Boeing, who each own a 50 percent stake. In that time, there has been a flurry of speculation about who will acquire the company. However, this week, the Space Case newsletter makes a compelling case that Lockheed is likely to buy out Boeing and operate the launch company on its own.

The newsletter sets a value of $4 billion to $5 billion on ULA based on its operating income of about $200 million. It also provides a credible rationale for Boeing wanting to sell its share for immediate revenue, which could shore up Boeing's balance sheet. So what's the case for Lockheed? "Lockheed Martin isn’t looking to sell its stake in ULA. It has ample financial flexibility and is looking to double down on the recent success of its space businesses. Additionally, it is the only company that could see material cost savings by fully acquiring ULA," the newsletter states. (4/14)

The Next Battle for U.S. Military Launch Contracts is About to Begin (Source: Space News)
In the fiercely competitive space launch industry, United Launch Alliance and SpaceX have established themselves as the reigning providers of U.S. national security launch services, leaving little room for potential rivals to challenge their dominance. However, with the Space Force’s latest strategy to procure future launch services, new doors of opportunity may finally open for up-and-coming contenders.

“Our strategy shows a lot of confidence in the commercial sector,” said Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, program executive officer for assured access to space at the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command. In a bid to expand the military’s capabilities for putting payloads in space, Purdy’s office in February rolled out a draft solicitation for the National Security Space Launch (NSSL) Phase 3, a multibillion-dollar procurement of launch services projected for 2025 through 2029.

The goal is to procure reliable launch services for traditional military and intelligence heavy-lift missions while seeking smaller, medium-size rockets to deploy the Pentagon’s new proliferated constellation in low Earth orbit. The forthcoming Phase 3 procurement also addresses criticism that surfaced four years ago when the Air Force formulated the NSSL Phase 2 plan. Lawmakers and industry players at the time expressed reservations about the strategy, alleging that it stifled fair competition. (4/14)

In Navy Experiment, Commercial Satellites Serve as Key Weapons Against Drug Traffickers (Source: Space News)
In an experiment last fall near Virginia’s coast, a team of engineers used commercial hardware, software and satellite data to show the U.S. Navy how it could quickly turn information from satellites into useful intelligence. The Office of Naval Research sponsored the experiment to identify readily available technologies that could help U.S. Southern Command to detect and identify illegal drug-trafficking boats that turn off their lights at night and do not emit radio signals. (4/14)

Space Debris Problem Spurs a Bold Change in US Government Regulations (Source: Space.com)
The fast-growing space debris issue is top of mind at a new space-focused division of the U.S. government. "Satellite and orbital debris rules" will be one of the primary responsibilities of the newly created Space Bureau of the FCC. The regulator announced the new bureau on Tuesday. The FCC is trying to pivot quickly amid a fast-changing space environment; more satellites launching and an increasing collision risk are among the challenges it faces. For example, that the regulator has an application backlog representing 60,000 new satellites targeting low Earth orbit. (4/12)

New Map of Dark Matter Validates Einstein's Theory of Gravity (Source: Gizmodo)
Scientists using data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope in Chile have made a detailed map of dark matter’s distribution across a quarter of the sky. The map shows regions the distribution of mass extending essentially as far we can see back in time; it uses the cosmic microwave background as a backdrop for the dark matter portrait. The team’s research will be presented at the Future Science with CMB x LSS conference in Kyoto, Japan. (4/12)

Florida Lightning Strike Results in Groundbreaking Find: USF Scientist ‘Never Seen This… on Earth’ (Source: The Hill)
A professor at the University of South Florida discovered something never-before-seen on Earth after analyzing a dirt sample that was struck by lightning. The phosphorus material, he said, was observed for the first time in solid form on this planet. “We have never seen this material occur naturally on Earth,” said Matthew Pasek, professor of geosciences. “Minerals similar to it can be found in meteorites and space, but we’ve never seen this exact material anywhere [here on Earth].”

“We do find materials like these spheres in a number of different lightning strikes so I would bet for certain that there are other occurrences like this in lightning strikes and probably beyond that.” While Pasek said it’s unlikely the material could be mined for uses similar to other phosphates, there are plans to further investigate the material to see if it could be officially declared a mineral. According to the professor, it’s important to understand how much energy lightning has because then we know how much damage a lightning strike can cause on average and how dangerous it is. (4/12)

Russia Will Use International Space Station 'Until 2028' (Source: Space Daily)
Russia said Wednesday it planned to use the International Space Station until 2028, an apparent reversal of an earlier announcement to quit the orbiting laboratory after 2024. In July last year, Moscow said it was leaving the ISS "after 2024" as ties unravelled between the Kremlin and the West over Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine. On Wednesday, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, Yuri Borisov, said Moscow's participation in the international space project had been extended. (4/12)

Spotlight on Ganymede, Juice's Primary Target (Source: Space Daily)
Why focus on Ganymede? There are a handful of key reasons Juice will home in on Ganymede. Firstly, Ganymede is thought to have a salty ocean beneath its icy shell. This ocean may be large enough to wrap around the entire planet, although we're unsure of what it's like. What is it composed of, and how deep is it? One of Juice's key goals at Ganymede is to explore this body of water, while also comparing it to Jupiter's other ocean-bearing moons to get a clearer picture of these worlds as potential habitats for life.

Ganymede also displays complex interactions with the space environment around Jupiter, one of the most intense and dynamic regions in the Solar System. It is also the only moon - and one of only three solid bodies - in the Solar System to generate its own intrinsic magnetic field. How does it do this? What drives and maintains Ganymede's internal dynamo, and why don't we see one on other moons? Ganymede's magnetic field forms a little magnetic bubble (a magnetosphere) that exists within the larger magnetosphere of Jupiter itself; this bubble constantly interacts with the electromagnetic fields and hot, ionised matter (plasma) flooding the region, and produces strong auroras. (4/13)

Keep US Space Command Headquarters in Colorado (Source: Washington Examiner)
The nation must ensure that the Space Command is on the surest possible footing for future success. This is crucially important to remember as the Biden administration considers whether to reverse former President Donald Trump's politically contemptuous and strategically reckless directive to relocate the U.S. Space Command headquarters from Peterson Space Force Base in Colorado to the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama. A Government Accountability Office study found the "appearance of bias" in Trump's decision. That puts it mildly. (4/13)

The Daily Life of Astronauts on the Space Station is a Test for What's Next in Space Exploration (Source: CBC)
NASA has edged closer to its goal of sending humans back to the moon, thanks to work being done by astronauts who live in space for months at a time, conducting experiments and doing medical research. Now an ambitious new documentary, filmed entirely by astronauts aboard the ISS, is providing a glimpse of what future space travellers can expect.

Space Explorers: Moonrise on the ISS follows seven astronauts as they go about their daily lives on the space station. They are candidates for NASA's Artemis program that plans to land humans on the moon again by the end of the decade. But the astronauts are not only in front of the camera. You can't send a production crew into space, so they also became the cinematographers.

The documentary is an intimate look at the physical and emotional realities of living in space. Years of training are put to the test as the crew overcomes disorientation in zero gravity, responds to potential catastrophic emergencies and learns how to function as a close-knit team. Each of them shares their perspectives on the future of spaceflight, and how mankind got to this point in space exploration since humans last set foot on the moon during the Apollo missions of the '60s. (4/13)

'Momentum High' as Austin's Firefly Aerospace Prepares for Moon Missions with NASA (Source: Austin American-Statesman)
As NASA gears up to return to the moon in the coming years, Cedar Park-based aerospace company Firefly Aerospace is preparing technology that will play a key role in two trips in the next several years. Firefly is working full speed ahead as it prepares for government and commercial missions that will bring its customers more access to space in the coming years, including supporting NASA’s upcoming moon exploration, according to company leaders. This includes a new contract it was awarded last month, through which the company will help bring experiments and explore the near and dark sides of the moon for NASA. (4/13)

Clearing the Air From Apollo to Artemis, NASA Tests New CO2 Scrubber on Space Station (Source: Space.com)
A new air filtration system featuring a first-of-its-kind, magnetic-bearing air blower has been installed on the International Space Station (ISS). The carbon dioxide scrubber not only advances the life support capabilities for the orbiting laboratory's crew, but may possibly benefit future astronauts on the moon and Mars as well. California-based Calnetix Technologies announced on April 13 that its high-speed blower system was deployed with NASA's Four Bed Carbon Dioxide Scrubber (FBCO2) that has been operating continuously on the space station for the past two months. (4/14)