June 15, 2023

How to Help Decipher SETI's Message From 'A Sign in Space' (Source: Business Insider)
SETI sent a message from Mars to Earth to simulate how aliens' attempts at communication may play out. The mysterious message is posted online for anyone to study and attempt to decode. The project's lead artist suspects it'll take several weeks to months for someone to crack the code. Click here. (6/3)

A Moon of Saturn Has All the Ingredients Needed for Life (Source: Space.com)
For the first time, phosphorus — the rarest of six elements upon which life as we know it depends — has been found in a tiny ocean-bearing moon in our solar system. Scientists combing through data sent home by NASA's Cassini spacecraft nearly 15 years ago said they have found plentiful phosphorus in water geysers that routinely blast into space from Enceladus, a tiny moon of Saturn and one of the most likely places in the solar system where life might exist.

Enceladus is an ice-covered moon that harbors an enormous ocean of liquid water underneath an icy crust. Scientists have previously found other key building blocks of life in the moon's ocean including carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, sulfur and oxygen. However, phosphorus, which teams up with sugars to form a skeleton to DNA molecules and also helps repair and maintain cell membranes, had so far eluded detection. (6/14)

Space Force Working to Define What it Means to be a Guardian (Source: Space News)
Amid the growing pains that come with being a new military branch, the U.S. Space Force is trying to establish its brand and build an identity. “The amount of work that we’ve done in three years is absolutely eye-watering to me, but we’re still trying to figure out how to navigate” within the large military bureaucracy, said Lt. Gen. DeAnna Burt, deputy chief of the U.S. Space Force for operations, cyber and nuclear.

Burt said service leaders are being challenged on multiple fronts. As the smallest branch, the Space Force has a flatter structure and senior officers wear several hats. As a new organization less than four years old, the Space Force also wants to innovate, and has pushed changes in personnel policies, fitness tests and uniform design. The Space Force is responsible for organizing, training and equipping forces to conduct operations in the space domain, such as flying satellites and ensuring these assets are always available.

The service today has more than 12,900 members, known as guardians. That includes about 8,409 uniformed military and 4,519 civilians. By comparison, the Space Force’s parent service, the U.S. Air Force, has about 328,820 active duty personnel and 152,231 civilians. (6/14)

Aerojet’s Merger With L3Harris Is Crucial To Preserving Competition In Large Solid Rocket Motors (Source: Forbes)
When sixth-ranked U.S. defense contractor L3Harris disclosed plans late last year to merge with Aerojet Rocketdyne, it seemed like an ideal solution to a pressing challenge faced by the Pentagon. As the defense industry consolidated in the years after the Cold War ended, much of the flexibility in the supply chain for military systems disappeared. There are now only two domestic producers of large solid rocket motors, and one of them—Northrop Grumman—is conflicted by its strategy of competing in the missile business using the rocket motors it produces.

Despite a behavioral remedy that the Federal Trade Commission insisted on when it allowed Northrop’s 2018 merger with Orbital to go forward, any company competing against Northrop in the missile business has to worry about competition-sensitive information leaking to its rival when it buys rocket motors from the company. This situation might be sustainable if Northrop and Aerojet had similar shares of the large SRM market, but that is not how things have played out. Northrop Grumman has gradually eclipsed Aerojet Rocketdyne by becoming the sole supplier of large SRMs for most military and civil programs.

In fact, Aerojet’s biggest opportunity going forward in the large SRM segment of the market is to supply motors for one stage of the military’s next-generation ICBM—an opportunity that wouldn’t exist had system integrator Northrop Grumman not invited Aerojet to join its ICBM team. It is anybody’s guess whether Aerojet can hang on indefinitely with a narrow slice of the market, or whether Northrop Grumman will end up owning a monopoly. Against that backdrop, the L3Harris bid to merge with Aerojet is a godsend for a Pentagon. L3Harris is basically an electronics company with no role in building missiles or space boosters. Thus, absorbing Aerojet would raise no antitrust issues, either horizontally or vertically, in the industry’s structure. (6/14)

Vulcan Aces Engine Test, But Upper Stage Anomaly Will Delay Launch for a While (Source: Space News)
The Vulcan rocket took a critical step toward its much-anticipated debut launch last week with a successful engine-firing test. However, one critical issue remains unresolved before the large booster can lift off. This final hurdle involves modifications to the rocket's Centaur V upper stage, which exploded during a test at the end of March. On Tuesday, the CEO of ULA, Tory Bruno, wrote that a root cause of the failure had been identified, and the investigation has been concluded. As part of their recent updates, neither Bruno nor ULA established a new target launch date. Two sources indicated the flight likely would not occur before the fourth quarter of this year due to additional needed work. (6/14)

For the First Time in Decades, Congress Seems Interested in Space-Based Solar Power (Source: Ars Technica)
As far as legislative moments go, the passage of a minor amendment to an innocuous US House resolution on Wednesday was not exactly groundbreaking. But for space exploration enthusiasts, the amendment offered by US Rep. Kevin Mullin, D-CA, was kind of a big deal. That's because, for the first time since the 1970s, the idea of space-based solar power has been addressed legislatively by the US Congress. (6/14)

UAE Searches for Companies to Build Asteroid Belt Spacecraft (Source: The National)
The UAE Space Agency has begun its search for private companies that can help develop their most ambitious space project yet – a mission to an asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. A new campaign called 'Space Means Business' was launched on Wednesday, giving about 30 opportunities available for local and international companies to be involved in building the MBR Explorer spacecraft. (6/14)

Virgin Orbit's Gingiss Joins Terran Orbital as COO (Source: Terran Orbital)
A former Virgin Orbit executive has landed at Terran Orbital. Tony Gingiss is the new chief operating officer at Terran Orbital, the satellite manufacturer announced Wednesday. He held a similar position at Virgin Orbit until the company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in April. Before that, he was CEO of Airbus OneWeb Satellites, the joint venture of Airbus and OneWeb that built the first-generation OneWeb satellites. (6/15)

Muon Space Launches Climate Data Satellite on Transporter Mission (Source: Space News)
That Transporter-8 mission also featured the first satellite by Muon Space to support climate monitoring work. The 70-kilogram satellite is a technology demo for the company, founded in 2021 to collect climate data at a high cadence. Muon, which has raised $35 million to date, plans to launch satellites next year to test microwave and multispectral instruments it is developing. (6/15)

China Sets National Record with 41 Satellites Launched on One Rocket (Source: Xinhua)
China set a new national record for the most satellites placed in orbit on a single launch. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Thursday from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center and placed 41 Jilin-1 imaging satellites into orbit. That broke the record of 26 satellites on a single launch, set just a week ago on a launch of a Lijian-1 rocket. (6/15)

China Developing Launch Pad for Solid-Fuel Rockets at New Spaceport (Source: Space News)
China has started construction of a launch pad for commercial solid-fuel rockets. The new project is part of the wider Hainan Commercial Launch Site for which two pads are currently under construction for liquid-fuel rockets. The new solid-fuel pad is expected to be finished in about six months, offering more launch opportunities for the growing number of solid-fuel vehicles under development. The new Hainan launch complexes are intended to provide greater and more flexible access to launch facilities for companies. (6/15)

LinkedIn Deletes Account of SpaceX's Software Engineer. Here's Why (Source: Hindustan Times)
Kairan Quazi expressed his disappointment on Instagram and questioned how he could be deemed unfit to access LinkedIn while being qualified to work at SpaceX. Do you remember Kiran Quazi, the 14-year-old who made headlines for being hired by Elon Musk’s SpaceX? Well, this young talent, who defied age barriers both in college and at the spacecraft company, recently took to Instagram to express his disappointment. Despite his extraordinary achievements, Quazi shared that his LinkedIn account has been deleted as it doesn’t meet the platform’s age criteria. (6/14)

Sun's Coldest Region Stores Secret to Heating Million-Degree Corona (Source: Phys.org)
Nearly 5,000 kilometers above the sun's surface lies a century-old question for solar physicists—how are temperatures in the star's upper atmosphere (corona) hundreds of times hotter than temperatures at the sun's visible surface? An international team of scientists has a new answer to the question—commonly referred to as the sun's coronal heating problem—with new observational data obtained with the 1.6-meter Goode Solar Telescope (GST) at Big Bear Solar Observatory (BBSO).

Researchers have unveiled the discovery of intense wave energy from a relatively cool, dark and strongly magnetized plasma region on the sun, capable of traversing the solar atmosphere and maintaining temperatures of a million degrees Kelvin inside the corona. Researchers say the finding is the latest key to unraveling a host of related mysteries pertaining to Earth's nearest star. (6/14)

Satellite Swarms for Science 'Grow Up' at NASA Ames (Source: Space Daily)
Teamwork makes the dream work, and at NASA that doesn't apply only to humans. Researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California's Silicon Valley are developing satellite swarms, which are groups of spacecraft working together as a unit, without being managed individually by mission controllers. A swarm's ability to perform autonomously will make new types of science and exploration possible, particularly as they venture farther into deep space. Ames' work on swarm technologies has been underway for decades.

This summer, swarm science will reach a major milestone as NASA launches the Starling mission into space. It will test technologies that let four spacecraft operate in a coordinated manner without resources from the ground. And the results of Starling's experiments will be of great interest to researchers at Ames who, right now, are preparing a future swarm mission to study the Sun. A swarm is not to be confused with a constellation, although both refer to a group of spacecraft working toward a common goal. If you're operating a lot of spacecraft individually, you've got a constellation. While useful in certain scenarios, scaling up their numbers can make costs and mission complexity skyrocket. (6/15)

The End of Satellite TV (Source: Quartz)
It may surprise you that satellite operator revenue, and especially satellite TV revenue, has been falling for years. That’s largely driven by the ability to stream television over terrestrial broadband internet—and it’s forcing companies to look for new business models. “The economics of space have changed. Revenues on a per unit basis are radically different,” Grady explains, noting that just seven years ago, a satellite operator’s sales team could find one video customer and live off it; today, that operator might need to find hundreds or thousands of data customers to build a business. (6/15)

The Death of the Satellite Phone (Source: Quartz)
Multiple companies are working on the technology to link satellites to mobile phones. Apple has already rolled out limited space connectivity for iPhones. Most of these efforts are focused on consumers, but the cost-benefit analysis of plugging cell phones into satellite networks isn’t entirely clear for companies like Verizon or Vodafone. The real target of this tech may be the government—particularly military and intelligence users of expensive satellite phones. The US Space Force is already talking about how to modernize how it deploys satellite communications. Even limited connectivity to cheap devices might be useful: Instead of find my iPhone, the Pentagon could use “find my soldier.” (6/15)

The 'World's First Space Factory' Has Successfully Been Deployed (Source: Interesting Engineering)
A California-based startup co-founded by a SpaceX veteran, Varda Space Industries, announced it has successfully deployed its first satellite, W-Series 1, in orbit. The company aims to kickstart the mass production of materials in space that either can't be produced on Earth or are developed faster and with higher quality in microgravity conditions. "The world's first space factory's solar panels have found the sun and it's beginning to de-tumble," Varda announced on Twitter, shortly after the satellite was lifted to orbit aboard SpaceX's Transporter-8 mission on Monday, June 13. (6/14)

$1.2 Billion Spacecraft Will Soon Probe Dark Energy and Dark Matter (Source: Interesting Engineering)
The European Space Agency's (ESA's) $1 billion Euclid spacecraft is scheduled to launch next month aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft was designed to uncover the secrets of the "dark universe." If successful, it could be a "game-changer" for the global astronomical community, Prof Adam Amara, who thought up the concept behind the spacecraft, told the BBC in an interview.

The spacecraft will capture high-resolution images of the sky from Lagrange Point 1, a stable orbital location between the Earth and the Sun. Its goal is to observe both images far away from the distant past of the cosmos as well as closer images of the more recent universe. By doing so, it will shed light on how the universe has evolved over the past 10 billion years. (6/14)

Why Virgin Galactic Stock Zoomed 4% Higher on Wednesday (Source: Motley Fool)
Space stock Virgin Galactic Holdings drifted skyward on Wednesday, rising by 4% in value. The rocket boost came from an analyst tracking the company, now bullish on its prospects. Virgin Galactic's move easily eclipsed the S&P 500 index on the day; this only drifted less than 0.1% higher. That prognosticator was Alembic Global Advisors' Pete Skibitski, who now believes Virgin Galactic can be classified as neutral at a price target of $4.75 per share. Prior to that, he had recommended it as underweight (i.e., sell). (6/15)

This Is Virgin Galactic's Achilles' Heel (Source: Motley Fool)
Basically, the company isn't yet up and running with the whole commercial space travel thing. In fact, it noted that the most recent successful flight was helping it "...[evaluate] the end-to-end astronaut training and spaceflight experience." Breaking out of the Earth's atmosphere is a lot harder than catching a flight to Miami for the weekend.

Financially speaking this is a problem for Virgin Galactic. In the first quarter of 2023, the company generated a grand total of $392,000 worth of revenue against operating expenses of $163.8 million. The bottom of the company's earnings statement shows a loss of $0.57 per share, up from a loss of $0.36 in the prior year. While it is true that Virgin Galactic has been building its business and appears to be on the cusp of getting to full operating status, it will need to generate a lot of revenue to get to break even. It could take years. (6/15)

The Space Industry is Heading for Consolidation (Source: Axios)
The space industry is heading toward a period of consolidation that could shake up the space economy in the short term but create a leaner, more nimble industry in the process. After companies merge, go under and are acquired, the industry could be better positioned for growth, experts say. Space industry funding hit an eight-year low during the first three months of the year, a 53% drop from the previous quarter, according to a report released by Space Capital in April. (6/13)

MICROMILSPEC Debuts Official U.S. Space Force Watch (Source: HypeBeast)
After two years of development, Oslo-based label MICROMILSPEC has debuted the official U.S. Space Force Watch, a custom-designed, ready-for-service timepiece made in collaboration with members of the United States Space Force (USSF). Exclusively available in the U.S. for active members, veterans and associated personnel of the USSF, the watch features a black PVD-coated stainless steel case, with a design inspired by “the identity and mission of the USSF.” Click here. (6/14)

Tomorrow.io Raises $87 Million for Weather Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
Tomorrow.io raised $87 million in a Series E funding round to support its campaign to gather weather and climate data. Tomorrow.io launched its first radar satellite, R-1, April 15. Since then, the company has confirmed that all systems including its space-based radar are functioning well. Soon, Tomorrow.io will begin sharing radar data from R-1 and R-2. Tomorrow.io satellites equipped with microwave sounders are expected to begin launching in 2024. (6/14)

Deloitte Releases Report on the Space Economy (Source: Deloitte)
We are at the dawn of a new era of space exploration, with opportunities across industries. Discover how your organization can participate in—and potentially profit from—the emerging space economy. This report explores business opportunities in three areas: HERE Right here, on Earth, the space economy’s historical barriers to entry are being decreased, de-risked, and democratized. NEAR Very near, in Earth’s orbits, entrepreneurs and enterprises alike are turning possibility into profitability, today. THERE Out there, in deep space, a new frontier for human health, wealth, and wisdom awaits. Additional opportunities and issues are relevant across all three areas, or Everywhere. Click here. (6/14)

L3Harris Taps MDA for Another Space Development Agency Tracking Layer Contract (Source: SpaceQ)
MDA will once again work with L3Harris on the Space Development Agency’s (SDA) Tracking Layer program using its expertise to to build Ka-Band steerable antennas with control electronics. MDA had previously worked with L3Harris on the SDA’s Tranche 0 Tracking Layer program. For that program L3Harris had been contracted to develop four prototype satellites. Those satellites are scheduled to launch later this year. (6/13)

Commerce Slates Mid-July for Next Round of Space Traffic ‘Industry Engagements’ (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Commerce Department is planning at least two meetings with industry officials for July to discuss next steps in crafting a space traffic “coordination” system — including one with satellite operators designed in part to encourage better sharing of spacecraft location data with both the government and among themselves, according to a senior department official. As a result of the 2018 White House Space Policy Directive-3, Commerce has been working to relieve the Defense Department of the burden for monitoring the ever-more crowded heavens and providing warnings to non-military space operators about potential on-orbit collisions. (6/13)

3 Predictions for the Future of Space Exploration — Including Your Own Trips (Source: NPR)
After returning to Earth, Peggy Whitson spoke with All Things Considered host Mary Louise Kelly and shared a few thoughts about the future of space exploration: 1) Space exploration will be a mix of public and private money. 2) More people will be able to go to space. 3) The goals depend on the person — and the country — that's traveling. Click here. (6/14)

Mars Map Archive Puts the Entire Red Planet in the Palm of Your Hand (Source: Space.com)
Viewing the Martian landscape is now easier than ever before, thanks to a new map generated from a treasure trove of data collected by NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. The new map, compiled with the help of supercomputers and cloud computing, provides a high-resolution, three-dimensional experience of Mars' otherworldly terrain. Click here. (6/13)

Sally's Night Events Mark 40 Years Since 1st US Woman Flew in Space (Source: CollectSpace)
From an afternoon at the ballpark to Afternoon Tea, museums and science centers across the United States are celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first American woman in space. Sally's Night is a nationwide celebration of women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) led by the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum. Now in its third year, the event was named in honor of the late astronaut Sally Ride. Ride made history on June 18, 1983, when she launched as a member of NASA's STS-7 crew on the space shuttle Challenger. (6/12)

Efforts to Establish Laws for Space Boosted by Ukraine Partnerships (Source: U. of Leicester)
Pioneering work into establishing international co-operation in space activity is taking place at the University of Leicester, thanks to links established with academics in Ukraine in the wake of war. The University’s pioneering £100 million enterprise hub Space Park Leicester recently hosted a unique conference from 25-26 May titled ‘International Cooperation in Space Activity’. It drew experts from the UK, Ukraine and beyond working in fields such as tech, law, and research, to consider solutions and develop a new understanding of the complex situations that space activity presents. (6/5)

SpaceX Launch Gives a Big Sendoff to Starfish Space’s Satellite Docking Craft (Source: GeekWire)
A well-traveled SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket today launched dozens of satellites, including an experimental docking craft created by a Seattle-area startup called Starfish Space. Starfish Space’s Otter Pup was attached to Orbiter SN3, a space tug provided by Launcher Space. During the months ahead, Otter Pup will separate itself from Orbiter SN3 and conduct a series of maneuvers using a xenon-fueled electric propulsion system. The primary goal is to return to the vicinity of the orbital tug and then use an electrostatic-based capture mechanism to latch onto a docking target. (6/12)

Arianespace and Orbex to Explore European Launch Partnership (Source: Space Daily)
Arianespace and Orbex, a UK-based provider of small satellite launch services, have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to study possible future cooperation to answer its customers' requirements. It is expected that future collaboration would be particularly beneficial for customers planning small satellite constellations, providing a flexible solution for Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) payloads. Light and heavy-lift launch vehicles could jointly support customers in deploying their initial constellations into the required orbital planes, provide precise injections of a smaller number of satellites through dedicated missions, as well as provide replenishment and replacement launches. (6/14)

ExLabs Awarded Space Force Contract for Robotic Capture System (Source: Space Daily)
Exploration Laboratories (ExLabs) has been selected by SpaceWERX for a Direct-to-Phase II SBIR contract in the amount of $1.7M, focused on Autonomous Capture and Acquisition to investigate its potential to fill capability gaps. ExLabs, is developing next-generation scale spacecraft for capture and control operations for orbital debris clean-up, paving the way for deep space missions for natural resource retrieval.

AFRL and SpaceWERX have partnered to streamline the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) process by accelerating the small business experience through a faster proposal-to-award timelines. (6/9)

Terran Orbital Supervises Italian Students Building Satellite for First Vatican Space Mission (Source: Space Daily)
A satellite created with the help of Terran Orbital's Italian subsidiary, Tyvak International, successfully launched Monday, carrying Pope Francis's iconic "Statis Orbis" coronavirus pandemic prayer heavenward. The Polytechnic University of Turin (PoliTO) CubeSat Team and DIANA Robotics Team designed the 3U CubeSat spacecraft for the papal Spei Satelles or Satellites of Hope space mission, which blasted off Monday from the Vandenberg Air Force in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (6/14)

Japan Revises Basic Plan on Space Policy (Source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
The government formally decided on the revised Basic Plan on Space Policy that lays out the course of space policy for the next 10 years. The basic plan, revised for the first time in three years, was adopted at the headquarters’ meeting. In addition to placing continued emphasis on space security, the revised plan included the strengthening of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s functions and roles, as well as the strategic nurturing of and support for internationally competitive companies. (6/13)

General: Space Force Budget Cap Cause for Concern (Source: National Defense)
The US Space Force is set to see a budget reduction due to the recent debt ceiling agreement between the Biden administration and Congress, which would cap Space Force budget increases to 3.3 percent over the next year. Gen. David Thompson expressed concern about the impact of these cuts, particularly as the service seeks to expand its capabilities. (6/12)