June 10, 2023

OneWeb, Eutelsat Demo Multi-Orbit Terminal Connection For NATO (Source: Aviation Week)
OneWeb and Eutelsat have demonstrated for NATO representatives the ability to connect their respective low-Earth-orbit (LEO) and geostationary-orbit (GEO) satellites to a single mobile terminal. The demonstration was done in at Eutelsat’s teleport facility in Rambouillet, France. (6/9)

NASA and Marshall's Big Goals for Moon Return (Source: AL.com)
The busy Environmental Test Lab at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville opened its doors Friday for a tour to celebrate NASA’s new lunar exploration partnership with rocket company Blue Origin. NASA announced a $3.4 billion moon lander contract in May with Blue Origin. The agency has a similar contract with SpaceX. “Nearly $3.4 billion has come through the center under Human Landing System program contracts with a plan for an additional $10 billion over the next five years should things go well, which I anticipate they will,” NASA Human Landing System leader Lisa Watson-Morgan said.

Marshall has “a little over 200 people” supporting the Artemis program in Huntsville and “upwards of 300, 400 more across the agency,” Watson-Morgan said. She is also based at Marshall. Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for exploration systems development, thanked the team for leading the procurement of “another path for a lander for the moon” in Blue Origin. “We have really big goals for Artemis,” Free said. “We want to conduct a mission a year to the lunar surface, taking four crew down for 30 days at a time.”

“These long duration stays will allow us to do unbelievable science, which is at the front of what we’re doing. And developing test technology to send humans to Mars,” Free said. “That’s not said lightly. That’s what we are doing. Bringing on new partners like Blue Origin will help us achieve that cadence.” Free said Blue Origin’s lander will be used on the Artemis V landing mission. It will ensure competition and capability for future landings, he said. SpaceX will provide the first lander. (6/10)

New Zealand Releases New National Space Policy (Source: SpaceRef)
New Zealand has released a new National Space Policy on May 31st, 2023. Described in a press release by New Zealand Economics Development Minister Barbara Edmonds as “the next giant leap in New Zealand’s Space Journey,” it reflects the country’s increasingly important role in the global space ecosystem and its very real awareness of the threats to that ecosystem. Edmonds said that the new policy is “presenting a clear and connected picture of New Zealand’s space interests to the world.” (6/9)

Space Canada Releases Defense Recommendations (Source: SpaceQ)
Space Canada recently released a new policy position paper.  Called “Innovating at Home, Defending Our Interests: Canada’s Space Innovators’ Contribution to National Defence,” it’s focused on Canada’s role in the increasingly important space defence domain. The Department of National Defence identified the Space Domain as a key focal point going forward in their recent Defence Policy “Strong, Secure, Engaged (SSE).” 

They noted that “satellites underpin an increasing range of daily activities,” that “space-based assets are critical for modern militaries,” and that there are increasing concerns both in Canada and around the world regarding issues like space debris and anti-satellite weaponry (ASATs) that could jeopardize these economically and strategically important tools. DND said that they were going to engage in a number of new initiatives focused on space: including working with allies to ensure “continuous access to the space domain” and promote Canada’s interests in space, invest in space capabilities. (6/9)

Draft House NDAA Would Create Space National Guard (Source: Breaking Defense)
The House Armed Services military personnel subcommittee draft of the fiscal 2024 defense policy bill, obtained by Breaking Defense, would establish a Space National Guard, as well as approve the Biden administration’s plan to create a  “hybrid Space Component” comprising both full- and part-time Guardians in lieu of a separate Space Force Reserve.

In addition, the subcommittee’s markup of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) would add 800 Guardians to the Space Force’s active duty end-strength, as requested by the service — including establishing a dedicated Space Force legislative liaison. The Space Force currently relies on the Air Force to run its relationships with Congress. (6/9)

China's Parachute System Makes Controllable Landing of Rocket Boosters (Source: Xinhua)
During a recent space launch, China tested a parachute system that can help guide fallen rocket boosters into targeted areas, the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology said. The system was used on a Long March-3B rocket carrying a BeiDou navigation satellite into orbit on May 17 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province, according to the academy. Developed by the academy, the parachute brought down the rocket boosters to a predetermined location, narrowing the range of the landing area by 80 percent. (6/9)

Plants Grown Without Sunlight Could Help Feed Astronauts (Source: Science)
Robert Jinkerson, a chemical engineer at the University of California (UC), Riverside, thinks the answer is for astronauts to grow their own on-board garden—in the dark, with plant growth fueled by artificial nutrients rather than sunlight. It won’t be easy; after all, plants evolved for hundreds of millions of years to extract energy from sunlight. But Jinkerson believes it can be done by reawakening metabolic pathways plants already possess—the same ones that power the germination of seeds buried in the ground and then shut off once a seedling’s leaves start to reach for the Sun.

In his vision of the future, electricity from solar panels could transform water and carbon dioxide (CO2) exhaled by a spacecraft’s crew into simple, energy-rich hydrocarbons that genetically modified plants could use to grow—even in the darkness of space or the dim light on Mars, which receives less than half as much sunlight as Earth. (6/8)

Will Artemis Astronauts Look for Life on the Moon? (Source: Space.com)
Heather Graham, an organic geochemist at NASA Goddard, said the study team is very aware of the many ways that humans are the biggest vector of microbes to the moon. "We will soon have 50 years of history of humans and their objects on the surface with no stringent requirements regarding forward contamination," she said. Graham pointed out that the way the study team is approaching this problem isn't necessarily because they think Artemis missions will cause a flood of microbes to bloom immediately near the lunar south pole in a "dorm room fridge" scenario.

"Rather…we will almost certainly deposit hearty spores in protected micro-niches where the max temperature and radiation protection features at that site will allow them to persist," Graham said. "This is the 'survival' end of the scale with spores present." Over time, Graham said, ongoing exploration of the moon could continue to deliver water and carbon sources to these locations, which could one day result in growth. (6/9)

China Wants to Launch a Moon-Orbiting Telescope Array as Soon as 2026 (Source: Space.com)
China wants to put a small constellation of satellites in orbit around the moon to create a radio telescope that would open a "new window" into the universe. The array would consist of one "mother" satellite and eight mini "daughter" craft. The mother would process data and communicate with Earth, and the daughters would detect radio signals from the farthest reaches of the cosmos. Putting such an array in orbit around the moon would be technically more feasible than building a telescope directly on the lunar surface, a venture that NASA and other space agencies are currently considering as one of the next big steps in astronomy. (6/9)

House Oversight Plans UFO Hearing After Unconfirmed Claims of Crashed Alien Spacecraft (Source: ABC News)
The powerful House Oversight Committee is in the "early stages" of preparing a hearing on UFOs in the wake of unconfirmed claims from a former intelligence official that the U.S. has allegedly found crashed alien spacecraft -- an account the Pentagon says is unsubstantiated. Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., was first asked about these claims by a NewsNation reporter on Tuesday and said, "I've heard about it, I don't know anything about it. ... We plan on having a hearing."

In a subsequent statement to ABC News on Wednesday, Oversight Committee spokesman Austin Hacker said: "In addition to recent claims by a whistleblower, reports continue to surface regarding unidentified anomalous phenomena. The House Oversight Committee is following these UAP reports and is in the early stages of planning a hearing." (6/8)

Critical for Space Industry: Bridge Replacement to Cape Canaveral Spaceport Opens Ahead of Schedule (Source: Florida Today)
A newly built NASA Causeway high-level bridge, marks a milestone in mainland-to-Cape space-related ground transport. Construction kicked off in December 2021 on the $126 million bridge replacement project. Work crews are replacing the smallish 1964-vintage causeway — complete with outdated drawbridge — with twin high-rise fixed bridges towering 65 feet above the Indian River Lagoon. Urgency to replace the aging, low-level bascule bridges and drawbridge accelerated after a 2017 NASA engineering study warned they could become too unsafe to support heavy spacecraft and freight loads.

FDOT officials expect crews to complete the second, westbound bridge by early 2026. KSC Director Janet Petro said ULA, Blue Origin, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Delaware North advocated for the NASA Causeway replacement project. In 2019, Space Florida, NASA and FDOT teamed up to secure a $90 million U.S. Department of Transportation grant to cover the lion's share of the project. (6/9)

House Republicans Introduce Bill to Create an Independent NOAA (Source: Space News)
A bill introduced June 9 by a group of Republican House members would turn NOAA into an independent agency, but keep its commercial space responsibilities in the Commerce Department. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Act of 2023, introduced by Rep. Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) and 13 other Republican members, would formally establish NOAA into law and create it as an independent agency, rather than as part of the Commerce Department as it is today. (6/9)

Space Force in Talks with Allies About How to Jointly Protect Space Assets (Source: Space News)
U.S. Space Force deputy chief of space operations Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt during a recent trip to Germany and the United Kingdom heard a consistent message from allies: They don’t expect the United States to bear all the costs of protecting satellites from cyber attacks and other threats. Burt said a growing number of spacefaring nations are looking to work with the United States on technologies and strategies to defend their assets from anti-satellite weapons, and are increasingly making their own investments in space defense systems. (6/9)

Ursa Major Confirms Layoffs: ‘Necessary Workforce Reductions’ (Source: Space News)
Rocket propulsion startup Ursa Major confirmed on June 9 that it has laid off workers as it reorganizes the company. Ursa Major is a venture-funded maker of rocket engines for small and medium launch vehicles. The company was founded in 2015 and manufacturers engines in Berthoud, Colorado. The company has won several U.S. Air Force contracts to support the development of its liquid engine for hypersonic and small launch vehicles. CNBC reported on Friday that 27% of the company’s 250-employee workforce was laid off. (6/9)

Terran Orbital and ImageSat International (ISI) Prepare for the Launch of the RUNNER-1 Earth Observation Satellite (Source: Terran Orbital)
Terran Orbital announced final launch preparations for the RUNNER-1 satellite. The satellite will be launched aboard the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket as part of the Transporter-8 rideshare mission scheduled from SLC-4E at Vandenberg Space Force Base. RUNNER-1, developed jointly by Terran Orbital and ImageSat International, is a multi-purpose remote sensing satellite capable of sub-meter high-resolution multi-spectral imaging and color video.

The satellite is slated to join ISI's constellation of satellites and provide services to the Chilean Government as part of the contract awarded to ISI to build out the country’s national space program. RUNNER-1 will also serve the Chilean government in its national space development program, which was awarded to ISI following an extensive international tender process. The satellite, domestically called FASat Delta, is a key component of the Chilean national space program vision. (6/8)

Iridium Calls on US to Follow Canada’s Ligado Rejection (Source: Space News)
Iridium Communications is redoubling efforts to reverse U.S. regulatory approval for Ligado’s terrestrial wireless plans after Canada rejected the network following GPS interference concerns. Ligado had sought similar approval from Canada that it secured from the U.S. Federal Communications Commission in 2020 to deploy a 5G network using satellite L-band spectrum, including with restrictions designed to guard against interference. However, the Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) declined to approve the request May 31 following a public consultation. (6/9)