June 16, 2023

KSC Events Salute 40 Years of American Women in Space (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is marking the 40th anniversary of astronaut Sally Ride becoming the first American woman in space with multiple events this week. On Thursday and Friday, panels of former female astronauts and NASA officials will gather at 11 a.m. to discuss their histories and how they helped change the workplace. There will be photo opportunities after the 40-minute session in the Heroes and Legends attraction.

Thursday panelists are scheduled to include former astronauts Anna Fisher and Kathy Thornton; Caley Burke of NASA’s Launch Services Program; Col. Erin R. Guiden, U.S. Space Force; Kelly DeFasio, KSC site director for Lockheed Martin Spacecraft Orion and Kimberlyn B. Carter, Exploration Ground System with Kennedy Space Center. The panel on Friday will include Fisher and Thornton plus Vanessa Wyche, director of Johnson Space Center; Noelle Zietsman, vice president of Boeing Exploration Systems; and Nancy Cuty, partnership development manager with NASA Kennedy Center Planning. (6/12)

Technical Problem Postpones Final Ariane 5 Launch (Source: Space News)
Arianespace has postponed the final launch of the Ariane 5, potentially for several weeks, after discovering a potential problem with pyrotechnical systems on the rocket. Arianespace announced June 15 it was postponing the 117th and final launch of the Ariane 5, which had been scheduled for June 16 from Kourou, French Guiana. A brief statement, made shortly after rollout of the rocket from its final assembly building to the launch pad was canceled, said only that there was “a risk to the redundancy of a critical function” on the rocket. (6/15)

Seven US Companies Collaborate with NASA to Advance Space Capabilities (Source: NASA)
NASA will partner with seven U.S. companies to meet future commercial and government needs, ultimately benefitting human spaceflight and the U.S. commercial low Earth orbit economy. Through unfunded Space Act Agreements, the second Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 initiative (CCSC-2) is designed to advance commercial space-related efforts through NASA contributions of technical expertise, assessments, lessons learned, technologies, and data.

The companies selected for the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 are: Blue Origin, Northrop Grumman Systems, Sierra Space, SpaceX, Special Aerospace Services, ThinkOrbital, and Vast Space. NASA selected these proposals based on an evaluation of their relevance to achieving the agency’s goals and its ability to provide the requested resources, as well as the feasibility of the company’s business and technical approach. Each party bears the cost of its participation through the agreements. Click here. (6/15)

How a Shady Chinese Firm’s Encryption Chips Got Inside the US Navy, NATO, and NASA (Source: WIRED)
From TikTok to Huawei routers to DJI drones, rising tensions between China and the US have made Americans—and the US government—increasingly wary of Chinese-owned technologies. But thanks to the complexity of the hardware supply chain, encryption chips sold by the subsidiary of a company specifically flagged in warnings from the US Department of Commerce for its ties to the Chinese military have found their way into the storage hardware of military and intelligence networks across the West.

Hualan—and in particular its subsidiary known as Initio, a company originally headquartered in Taiwan that it acquired in 2016—still supplies encryption microcontroller chips to Western manufacturers of encrypted hard drives, including several that list as customers on their websites Western governments' aerospace, military, and intelligence agencies: NASA, NATO, and the US and UK militaries. Federal procurement records show that US government agencies from the FAA to the Drug Enforcement Administration to the US Navy have bought encrypted hard drives that use the chips, too. (6/15)

Eutelsat to Sell Broadband Unit (Source: Space News)
Eutelsat plans to sell a European retail broadband business it acquired just a few years ago. Eutelsat said Thursday it would sell that business to an "experienced private operator" but did not disclose either the buyer or the value of the deal. The sale includes assets the French satellite operator bought just three years ago from European capacity reseller Bigblu Broadband. Eutelsat said the sale of its European retail broadband activities follows successes in a wholesale business strategy for its geostationary satellite services. (6/16)

Luxembourg Buys SES Capacity for NATO (Source: Space News)
Luxembourg has agreed to buy capacity from SES on its O3b mPower network for use by the government and NATO allies. Under the 10-year MEO Global Services program, Luxembourg's government will acquire $211 million of capacity on O3b mPower, which it will make available to other NATO members. The U.S. Space Force has allocated $59 million in its proposed 2024 budget to buy services from O3b mPower. SES described parliamentary approval for the program as an important step in Luxembourg's defense space strategy to bolster government satellite communications capabilities. (6/16)

CesiumAstro Wins USAF Contract for Drone Satellite Antennas (Source: Space News)
CesiumAstro won a U.S. Air Force contract to develop a phased array antenna for remotely piloted drones. The $3.6 million agreement, known as a Tactical Funding Increase where the government and private investors split the cost 50/50, covers development of an antenna for the MQ-9 Reaper that would allow the drone to communicate with low and medium Earth orbit satellites in Ka-band. The agreement includes a 2025 demonstration where a Reaper, equipped with that antenna, will fly and stream live video through the O3b mPower network. (6/16)

Astronauts Complete ISS Power System Upgrade (Source: CBS)
Two astronauts completed an upgrade of the International Space Station's power system on a spacewalk Thursday. Steve Bowen and Woody Hoburg spent five hours and 35 minutes outside the station installing the second of two IROSA solar arrays delivered on a Dragon cargo spacecraft last week. Six such IROSA arrays are now in place on the station, augmenting the station's power as its original solar arrays gradually degrade. The spacewalk was the second for Hoberg and the tenth for Bowen, who is now in third place for cumulative spacewalk time at nearly 66 hours, trailing Russia's Anatoly Solovyev and former NASA astronaut Michael López-Alegría. (6/16)

Virgin Galactic to Fly First Commercial Tourism Flight This Month (Source: Space News)
Virgin Galactic confirmed plans Thursday to fly its first commercial SpaceShipTwo mission at the end of the month. The company said Thursday its "Galactic 01" mission is set to fly between June 27 and 30 from Spaceport America in New Mexico. Three Italians will be on the suborbital flight conducting research. The first mission to carry individuals who signed up for space tourism flights, Galactic 02, is scheduled for early August, with future flights planned on a monthly cadence. (6/16)

Garan Joins ispace as US CEO (Source: ispace)
Former NASA astronaut Ron Garan is the new CEO of ispace's U.S. subsidiary. The Japanese company announced Thursday it hired Garan to lead ispace technologies U.S., a Denver-based company that is leading development of the Series-2 lunar lander. That lander will be used on a mission led by Draper for NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. (6/16)

Swedish Astronaut Could Join Next Axiom Mission to ISS (Source: ESA)
A Swedish astronaut could soon fly to the ISS on an Axiom Space mission. ESA said Thursday it proposed Marcus Wandt for the flight to the ISS under an agreement announced in April involving ESA, Axiom and the Swedish National Space Agency. Wandt was part of the 2022 ESA astronaut class as one of 11 "reserve" astronauts who would not be part of the agency's formal astronaut corps but would receive training and be available for specific flight opportunities. (6/16)

How to Spot a BS Space Company: Red Flags to Evaluate Whether a Space Company is Legitimate (Source: Astralytical)
Is this new space startup all hype and no substance? Is it full of BS or may it actually succeed? Here are some red flags I use to analyze and evaluate the likelihood whether a space company will fail or if the company is legitimate. I get spicy in this video as I call out the types of space companies that should not be taken seriously. Click here. (6/16)

Intriguing Correlation Between Earthquakes and Cosmic Radiation (Source: Space Daily)
There is a clear statistical correlation between global seismic activity and changes in the intensity of cosmic radiation recorded at the surface of our planet, potentially helping to predict earthquakes. Surprisingly, it exhibits a periodicity that escapes unambiguous physical interpretation. The CREDO project, initiated in 2016 by the Institute of Nuclear Physics of the Polish Academy of Sciences, attempts to verify the previously known hypothesis that earthquakes could potentially be predicted by observing changes in... cosmic radiation. Statistical analyses have shown that a correlation between the two phenomena does indeed exist, but manifests characteristics that no one had expected. (6/16)

Scientists Report 'Benchmarks' for Extreme Space Weather (Source: Space Daily)
High-energy 'relativistic' electrons - so-called "killer" electrons - are a major source of radiation damage to satellites and so understanding their patterns of activity is crucial. Bursts of charged particles and magnetic fields from the Sun can tear open the Earth's magnetic field, giving rise to geomagnetic storms. During these events the number of killer electrons in the outer radiation belt can increase by orders of magnitude and become a significant space weather hazard. (6/16)

NASA Offers Fly-Fix-Fly Testing for SmallSat Planetary Observation (Source: Space Daily)
After a 12-day stratospheric flight, winners of NASA's first TechLeap Prize are now analyzing data from technologies that may improve autonomous observation capabilities for small spacecraft flying over Earth, the Moon, or other worlds. Their payloads were selected through the TechLeap Autonomous Observation Challenge No. 1, which asked teams to develop technologies to autonomously detect, locate, track, and collect data on short-lived events, such as wildfires, unique aerosol dispersions like dust and steam plumes, or events on other planetary bodies such as geysers on the icy moons of Saturn and Jupiter.

NASA's Flight Opportunities program, managed at Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, enabled three research teams to fly, fix issues, and fly again less than a year after their first individual flight tests. (6/16)

Lunar Characterization Device Gets Early Funding (Source: Space Daily)
An innovative flashlight to allow scientists to see the dark areas of the Moon to better understand their composition has been selected to participate in NASA's Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program. The EmberCore Flashlight: Long Distance Lunar Characterization with Intense Passive X- and Gamma-ray Source Phase 1 project is a 9-month concept feasibility study that will evaluate source parameters and possible mission architectures. If successful, the proposal team may progress to Phase 2 and eventual maturation of the concept. (6/16)

Prodded by GAO, Space Force Reconsiders Future Military-Use GPS Constellation, Receivers (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force is considering new plans for the future of the Global Positioning System (GPS) constellation — including the possibility of adding more satellites carrying its encrypted military-only signal — in the wake of findings by Congress’s watchdog agency that show likely capability shortfalls. Government Accountability Office (GAO) reviewed the service’s GPS upgrade efforts in a June 5 report, “GPS Modernization: Space Force Should Reassess Requirements for Satellites and Handheld Devices,” and found fault with two major aspects. (6/15)

Project Kuiper Urges Regulators to Focus on Satellite Maneuverability Rules (Source: Space News)
Governments should consider requiring satellites over a certain altitude to be maneuverable to improve space sustainability, according to an executive for Amazon’s proposed Project Kuiper constellation. Kalpak Gude, Project Kuiper’s head of domestic regulatory affairs, urged governments June 14 to encourage more satellites to have “maneuverability-with-an-outcome capability” — either through regulations or best practice guidelines — as orbits become more congested. (6/15)

Vast Selects Impulse Space for Haven-1 Space Station Propulsion (Source: Vast)
Vast, a pioneer in space habitation technologies, has selected Impulse Space to provide its Haven-1 Space Station propulsion system. Impulse Space and Vast will work closely to integrate the propulsion system as a key subsystem of Haven-1, scheduled to launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket to low-Earth orbit in August 2025 and is expected to be the world’s first commercial space station. (6/15)

Former Spaceflight CEO Joins Law Firm to Support Commercial Space Clients (Source: Space News)
The former chief executive of Spaceflight has joined a major law firm to lead its efforts in supporting the commercial space industry. Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati announced June 15 that Curt Blake had joined its Seattle office as senior of counsel as the firm starts a NewSpace industry group serving a growing number of clients in the industry. (6/15)

Cislune Wins Four NASA Contracts to Develop the Infrastructure for a Lunar Gas Station (Source: SpaceRef)
Cislune, a technology lab working to accelerate the timeline of placing humanity back on the Moon, took home four big wins this year in the form of NASA Phase I SBIR and STTR contracts. Cislune, which received two SBIRs and two STTRs, is working to create the core technologies that will allow for lunar tourism, and eventually, long-term human settlement on the Moon. Cislune has previously won NASA grants from 2021 and 2022 that contributed to that same overall mission. (6/13)

China’s Space Ambitions Could Cripple Nebraska Farms, Sen. Ricketts Warns (Source: KLKN)
Republican U.S. Sen. Pete Ricketts of Nebraska is sounding the alarm over the Chinese Communist Party’s space ambitions. Speaking during a Foreign Relations Committee hearing, he warned that China threatens necessary aspects of daily life, including agriculture. “From using ATMs to harvesting our food, we all rely on satellite technology,” Ricketts said. “In my home state of Nebraska, for example, we rely heavily on satellite technology to run our harvesting machines, tractors and so forth. In fact, one farmer told one of my staff members that if it wasn’t for satellite technology, he was worried that his equipment would be useless.” (6/14)

US Space Command Calls Out Lack of Chinese Transparency in Space (Source: Space & Defense)
The Deputy Commander of the US Space Command has called out the Chinese for their lack of transparency in the space domain. Lt. Gen. John E. Shaw says the Chinese wall of silence is the biggest hurdle to other nations knowing what is happening in the space domain. “The Secretary of Defense recently said that the lack of communication and interaction can lead to miscommunication, misperception, and misinterpretation, and then things that could go wrong – and that can happen in any domain.”

Shaw says the US Space Command wants to communicate with their Chinese counterparts, but they hit a brick wall. “When there are conjunctions with Chinese (space) platforms, we email them, but we never get a response. Even the Russians know how to communicate with us. They may not always do it and may not always be responsible for actions, but at least you know about it.” (6/15)

City Receives First Letter of Intent From Asia for Spaceport (Source: Paso Robles Daily News)
The City of Paso Robles recently received its first Letter of Intent (LOI) related to the Paso Robles Spaceport project from a company headquartered in Asia. The international LOI was submitted by Gran Systems, a space technology company based in Taiwan that designs and builds CubeSat systems, among other space-related products. The CEO of Gran Systems recently toured the proposed Paso Robles Spaceport and tech corridor area and met with Paso Robles Airport Manager Mark Scandalis to discuss opportunities for establishing its California facility in Paso Robles. (6/14)

County Kept Taxpayer Meter Running Well After Georgia Voters, Courts Snuffed Chances for Spaceport (Source: Georgia Recorder)
In the year since Camden County residents overwhelmingly voted against local rocket launches, county officials have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to revive lofty plans to transform the region into Georgia’s space coast. A Georgia Supreme Court ruling in February upholding county residents’ rights to reign in unpopular government decisions ended supporters’ hopes of building a spaceport in southeast Georgia.

Camden County’s legal fees continued to mount as it appealed the case up to the state’s highest court in an attempt to overturn a March 2022 vote prohibiting the county from completing a $4.8 million real estate deal for the planned launch site. Currently, Camden County is fighting to recoup nearly $1 million it paid in advance for a purchase agreement with Union Carbide for land to use for the proposed spaceport. The county also needed attorneys to defend itself in its long-running fight to keep spaceport spending details from the public. Newly published spaceport invoices reveal millions of dollars spent since 2015 applying for a FAA license, as well as costs for attorneys, consultants, and other experts. (6/15)

Cornwall Council Won't Investigate Spaceport Cornwall Over Safety Concerns (Source: Cornwall Live)
The leader of Cornwall Council announced the council will not investigate its spaceport in Newquay over expert claims that had the rocket exploded on the runway before its doomed launch in January "people would have been killed." Hundreds of people attended the Virgin Orbit launch at Spaceport Cornwall on January 9 which was ultimately a failure. A dislodged fuel filter caused the first attempt to launch satellites into orbit from the UK to fail. (6/15)