April 2, 2024

NASA Taps Firelake-Arrowhead JV for Construction Management Services (Source: Executive Gov)
Firelake-Arrowhead NASA Services will provide NASA with construction management services under a potential $38.8 million contract. The small business and its subcontractor, Leidos will perform construction management, inspection, surveying and testing services at Glenn Research Center and Neil Armstrong Test Facility in Ohio, and other NASA centers. (4/1)

Canada to Invest Moe in Telesat Lightspeed Constellation (Source: Space News)
The Canadian government is boosting its investment in Telesat's Lightspeed constellation. Telesat said Monday it received a letter from the Canadian government last week that agreed to terms for a loan worth 2.14 billion Canadian dollars ($1.6 billion) for Lightspeed, nearly half the 198-satellite network's $3.5 billion budget. The government will also have the option to purchase 10% of Lightspeed for $300 million.

The new loan is 50% higher than one announced in 2021, but requires Telesat to pay off the loan in 15 years versus 20 years under the original agreement. Telesat recently reported 704 million Canadian dollars in revenue for 2023, down 9% year-on-year when adjusted for changes in foreign exchange rates. Telesat blamed an industry-wide decline in satellite TV revenues for the decline. (4/2)

Terran Orbital Reports Higher Revenues (Source: Space News)
Smallsat manufacturer Terran Orbital reported higher revenues in 2023 but still had a significant loss. The company announced Monday revenues of $135.9 million for the year, up from $94.2 million in 2022, but had a net loss of $151.8 million in 2023, down only slightly from 2022. Terran Orbital, which delayed the release of its financial results by a week, canceled a planned earnings call for today, citing its ongoing strategic review. The company is still evaluating a proposal by Lockheed Martin to acquire the two-thirds of Terran Orbital it does not already own for $1 a share, plus payment for stock warrants and assumption of $313 million in debt. (4/2)

CopaSAT Selling Militarized Starlink Terminals (Source: Space News)
CopaSAT, a supplier of communications equipment, is seeing a surge in orders for a militarized version of a Starlink terminal. The company designed a ruggedized satellite internet terminal that uses the Starshield electronically steered antenna built by SpaceX with enhanced encryption intended for government and military use. CopaSAT said it saw an opportunity because the standard terminal offered by SpaceX lacks the durability needed for harsh battlefield environments. Its $30,000 Storm V3 terminal provides a hardened enclosure for the antenna and other components. The company has received orders for about 150 of the terminals from U.S. military organizations. (4/2)

Cabana Now Advising at IBX (Source: IBX)
A former NASA official is now advising a company involved in several space ventures. IBX announced Monday that it hired Bob Cabana as a senior adviser to support its portfolio of companies that include Axiom Space, Intuitive Machines and Quantum Space. Cabana retired from NASA at the end of last year after more than two years as its associate administrator, the highest-ranking civil service post at the agency. He was previously director of the Kennedy Space Center and a NASA astronaut who flew on four shuttle missions. (4/2)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Mission From California Spaceport (Source: Noozhawk)
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites Monday evening. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 10:30 p.m. after a few days of weather-related delays. The rocket deployed 22 Starlink satellites into orbit. As with another launch last month, the twilight launch was visible across southern California and Arizona as the plume was backlit by the sun. (4/2)

Rocket Lab to Launch NASA and South Korean Payloads From New Zealand in April (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab will launch satellites for NASA and a South Korean institute later this month. The company said Monday an Electron is scheduled to launch from New Zealand no earlier than April 24. It will place into low Earth orbit NEONSAT-1, an Earth observation satellite for the Satellite Technology Research Center at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, and NASA's Advanced Composite Solar Sail System (ACS3). The launch will require multiple burns by the Electron's kick stage to place NEONSAT-1 into a 520-kilometer orbit and ACS3 into a 1,000-kilometer orbit. (4/2)

Trash From the International Space Station May Have Hit a House in Florida (Source: Ars Technica)
An object that hit a house in Florida last month may have been debris from the International Space Station. An object weighing nearly one kilogram fell through the roof and both floors of a two-story house in Naples, Florida, March 8. The location and time of the fall align with the reentry of a pallet of used ISS batteries. NASA has recovered the debris and is analyzing it to determine if it was from the station. The home's owner said he is still waiting to hear from "the responsible agencies" about paying for the damage. (4/2)

A Space Telescope’s Cloudy Future (Source: Space Review)
NASA’s fiscal year 2025 budget request released last month proposed delays and cutbacks for a number of science missions, including the long-running Chandra and Hubble space telescopes. Jeff Foust reports on how astronomers are worried that the proposed cuts to Chandra in particular could threaten the future of both the telescope and X-ray astronomy. Click here. (4/2)
 
Touching Space (Source: Space Review)
Europe’s Euclid space telescope launched last year includes an artwork featuring the literal fingerprints of hundreds who worked on the mission. Artist Lisa Pettibone describes the creation of that piece and the value of combining art and science. Click here. (4/2)
 
Strategic Implications of China Winning the Space Rescue Race (Source: Space Review)
As human activities grow in space, there will be requirements to rescue personnel just as on Earth. Benjamin Johnis and Peter Garretson describe why it is vital for the US military to start examining its roles in space rescue now before China establishes its rules. Click here. (4/2)

Space is Essential for Infrastructure. Why Isn’t it Considered Critical? (Source: Cyberscoop)
The increasing importance of space systems to everyday economic activity and a rapidly expanding space economy has many experts arguing that these systems ought to be designated as critical infrastructure in order to better protect them. This debate is coming to a head amid the Biden administration’s ongoing rewrite of Presidential Policy Directive 21, which is the key federal policy document governing the security of critical infrastructure.

Experts are deeply divided about whether the policies in place are enough to handle threats posed to space systems. Designating the space sector as critical infrastructure would task a federal agency to oversee the sector’s risks — choosing what the federal government calls a “sector risk management agency.” It would also create an industry-led council that acts as a go-between for private firms and the federal government, a move that could improve information sharing between government and industry — particularly regarding the threat of satellites being hacked. (4/1)

Colorado Air and Space Port Receives $555,555 in Grants (Source: Denver Gazette)
The Colorado Air and Space Port received a $500,000 grant from the Colorado Department of Transportation, and another $55,555 in an Adams County grant match, to rehabilitate the pavement on taxiways and parking ramps. The money will be used for “pavement maintenance, including crack sealant, a seal coat application, and new pavement markings. Originally called Front Range Airport, it was designated by the FAA as a commercial spaceport — Colorado’s first — in 2018. (4/1)

TEXUS Suborbital Rockets Propel Scientific Research with Recent Successful Launches (Source: Space Daily)
On March 24, 2024, the Airbus-managed TEXUS 60 sounding rocket embarked on its mission from Esrange Space Center in Kiruna, Sweden, at precisely 10:45 CET. This launch successfully achieved an apogee of 251 kilometers, facilitating 362 seconds of invaluable microgravity conditions. Onboard were critical experiments from the German Aerospace Center (DLR), including Simona and GECO, in addition to a collaborative effort with the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA), dubbed Phoenix 2. (4/1)

Finishing Touches for South Australia's First Permanent Spaceport Ahead of Inaugural Launch (Source: Space Daily)
New launch facilities at the Koonibba Test Range, South Australia's first permanent spaceport, are almost complete ahead of the impending inaugural launch. Located northwest of Ceduna, the range is a partnership between Southern Launch and the Koonibba Community Aboriginal Corporation. It is the largest commercial testing range in the Southern Hemisphere.

Space Industries Minister Susan Close visited the site ahead of the suborbital test launch of German manufacturer HyImpulse's SR75 rocket, which, subject to final regulatory approval, will go ahead at the end of April or early May. The rocket will reach an altitude of 50 kilometers before parachuting back to Earth where it will be recovered for testing. (4/1)

Russia Has a Plan to “Restore” its Dominant Position in the Global Launch Market (Source: Ars Technica)
It has been a terrible decade for the Russian launch industry, which once led the world. The country's long-running workhorse, the Proton rocket, ran into reliability issues and will soon be retired. Russia's next-generation rocket, Angara, is fully expendable and still flying dummy payloads on test flights a decade after its debut. And the ever-reliable Soyuz vehicle lost access to lucrative Western markets after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Yet there has been a more fundamental, underlying disease pushing the once-vaunted Russian launch industry toward irrelevance. The country has largely relied on decades-old technology in a time of serious innovation within the launch industry. So what worked at the turn of the century to attract the launches of commercial satellites no longer does against the rising tide of competition from SpaceX, as well as other players in India and China. Through the first quarter of this year, Russia has launched a total of five rockets, all variants of the Soyuz vehicle. SpaceX alone has launched 32 rockets. China, too, has launched nearly three times as many boosters as Russia.

Russia has a plan to reclaim the dominance it once held in the global launch industry. In a recent interview published on the Roscosmos website (a non-geo-blocked version is available here) the chief of the Russian space corporation, Yuri Borisov, outlined the strategy by which the country will do so. The first step, Borisov said, is to develop a partially reusable replacement for the Soyuz rocket, called Amur-CNG. The country's spaceflight enterprise is also working on "ultralight" boosters that will incorporate an element of reusability. (4/1)

As Space Security Scares Mount, India Works on Military Space Capabilities (Source: The Wire)
Recent US intelligence suggesting Russia may be proposing to locate a nuclear weapon in space to target satellites, resulted in panic not just in the US, but the rest of the world, not geared to counter the new threat. The reality of China with colossal budgets, being far ahead in the race, is bringing attention to India’s steps towards its defense space efforts led by the Defense Space Agency (DSA) formed in 2019 to create a tri-service integrated Aerospace Command led by the Indian Air Force. (3/29)

SwRI Building Space Fueling Station for Astroscale, Space Force (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
For decades, running out of fuel typically has meant the end of the mission for spacecraft orbiting Earth. Now, however, Southwest Research Institute is building a sort of space gas truck that could eliminate that limitation. The nonprofit research organization’s growing space program will build, integrate and test a small demonstration fueling spacecraft as a subcontractor for Astroscale U.S., a Denver-based space services company, as part of a $25.5 million contract with the U.S. Space Force.

Astroscale awarded SwRI a roughly $17 million contract to build the Astroscale Prototype Servicer for Refueling, or APS-R, that’s slated to fly in geostationary orbit — in sync with the Earth’s rotation — where it will be able to refuel other spacecraft with hydrazine. (4/2)

Why China Might Beat the U.S. Back to the Moon (Source: Time)
To hear the U.S. tell it, we’ll be the first to stick the landing. “The statement I’ve heard around NASA is, ‘We want to be there to greet them when they arrive,’” says Howard McCurdy, professor emeritus of public administration and policy at American University. If the space agency holds to its notion of flying the Artemis II crew on a looping journey around the far side of the moon late next year, and landing the Artemis III crew in the south polar region in 2026 or 2027, the next boot prints on the moon will indeed be American. But don’t count on it.

China's Blue Book calls for the first taikonauts to land on the moon before 2030 and for an International Lunar Research Station (ILRS) to be established with multiple partners—including Russia, Belarus, Pakistan, and South Africa—in the decade to follow. Those timelines are not unrealistic, according to experts. “There’s no question that the technology they have is verging very close to being competitive with us,” says Sean O’Keefe. “Two years ago, I would not have said that, but they are really improving to the point that [the 2030] objective is conceivable.” Click here. (4/1)

Solicitation Released for Next Batch of SDA Satellites (Source: Defense Scoop)
The Pentagon's Space Development Agency has released a request for proposals for the Gamma variant of its Tranche 2 transport layer satellites, aiming to enhance global communications for warfighters. This solicitation seeks to procure around 20 space vehicles from a single supplier, contributing to a broader constellation of 216 systems designed to offer persistent, encrypted connectivity worldwide in support of military operations. (3/29)

Space Force Lags in AI, Machine Learning Adoption (Source: FNN)
Artificial intelligence has the potential to play a key role in helping the Space Force achieve what service’s chief Gen. Chance Saltzman calls “actionable space domain awareness” and avoid “operational surprise.” But the service is “not doing enough” to take advantage of the technology. “There are some things that we are doing. A lot of it is on the backs of young guardians that are Supra Coders, but we need to go beyond that,” Lt. Gen. Doug Shiess, commander of U.S. Space Forces-Space, said during the Mitchell Institute’s Spacepower Security Forum Wednesday.

The 18th and 19th space defense squadrons, for example, monitor the Space Surveillance Network, which tracks objects orbiting Earth. This involves analyzing vast amounts of data to predict potential collisions of objects in space, such as satellites or debris, and taking preventive actions to avoid accidents. The process still involves a significant amount of manual effort from the guardians. (3/29)

A Joint Business Venture to Help Maintain National Security in Space (Source: FNN)
Two commercial space companies have agreed to work together on enhancing national security capabilities in the commercial space domain. Voyager Space and Palantir are using their abilities to help support and protect new technologies to be used on the International Space Station, and the soon to come Starlab commercial space station. I wanted to find out more about what this agreement means and get an overview of those involved, so I spoke to Matt Kuta, Co-Founder, President and Chief Operating Officer of Voyager Space. Click here. (3/29)

Top Astronomer Warns That Elon Musk's Mars Plans Are a Dangerous Delusion (Source: Futurism)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has said he plans to put a million people on Mars by 2050 — with his ex-girlfriend Grimes presumably being one of those colonizers. But Martin Rees, respected astrophysicist and member of the Royal Households of the United Kingdom under the lofty title of "Astronomer Royal," is saying not so fast — and calling Musk's plans a "dangerous illusion."

He made his bold-face remarks for the House of Lords' podcast Lord Speaker’s Corner, in which he also called Musk an "extraordinary figure” who has a "rather strange personality," alluding to Musk's increasingly erratic behavior. "I don’t think it’s realistic and we’ve got to solve those problems here on Earth," he said. "Dealing with climate change on Earth is a doddle compared to making Mars habitable. So I don’t think we should hold that out as a long-term aim at all... I think there might be a few crazy pioneers living on Mars, just like there are people living at the South Pole, although it’s far less hospitable than the South Pole," he said. (3/31)

Pluto Now Arizona's Official Planet (Source: Arizona Capitol Times)
Gov. Katie Hobbs won’t say whether she believes Pluto is a full-fledged planet or something less. But as far as she’s concerned, it now belongs to Arizona to the extent a state can “own” a planet. Without comment, the governor signed legislation Friday designating Pluto as Arizona’s “official state planet.” (3/30)

Mars Express Achieves 25,000 Orbits (Source: Space Daily)
Celebrating a significant milestone, ESA's Mars Express has completed its 25,000th orbit around Mars, capturing yet another breathtaking view of the Red Planet to commemorate this achievement. The latest image, taken from a high altitude by the High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC), showcases the vast Tharsis region, known for hosting Mars's most colossal volcanoes, and features a surprise appearance from Phobos, Mars's largest moon. (3/28)

The Role of a Reluctant Regulator in Space Sustainability (Source: Space News)
One of the first debris mitigation regulations was enacted two decades ago by the Federal Communications Commission. Among its provisions was a requirement that a company licensed by the FCC or seeking market access in the U.S. had to deorbit its satellites no more than 25 years after its mission ended. FCC officials and others said those regulations have been beneficial to space sustainability.

“The FCC was really doing us a favor by taking some of this on,” recalled Scott Pace, director of George Washington University’s Space Policy Institute. “The FCC was not exactly chomping at the bit to get into this.” Karl Kensinger, who has worked on satellite issues at the FCC for 30 years and is currently special counsel in the FCC’s new Space Bureau, said the rules have helped spur better behavior by satellite operators globally. (4/1)

Telesat and Government of Canada Agree to Terms on C$2.14 Billion Loan in Support of Telesat Lightspeed (Source: Telesat)
Following several months of negotiations between Telesat and federal officials, the Government of Canada (GoC) is prepared to invest C$2.14 billion in Telesat Lightspeed by way of a loan to Telesat LEO Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Telesat, that is developing and will own and operate the highly advanced Telesat Lightspeed Low Earth Orbit (LEO) global broadband satellite constellation. (4/1)

Astronauts Have an Unexpected Ability That Helps Them 'Fly' Through Space (Source: Science Alert)
Grounded on Earth, even the most uncoordinated humans can easily sense where our limbs are flapping about and if we're moving, falling or sitting upright with the inputs from a few handy bodily systems. But take away gravity, pop on a virtual reality headset, or sit in a moving car, and things get a little woozy. Luckily, astronauts are pretty darn deft at adapting to microgravity when stationed aboard orbiting spacecraft. A new study has found no apparent changes in people's ability to gauge movement while they're in space or after they touch back down.

The near-absence of gravity alters astronauts' motion perception such that they feel like they're moving faster than they really are when zipping around their cramped, weightless quarters. And yet they can still accurately judge how far they've traveled down a hallway in visual simulations, during and after spaceflight, the study found. "Based on our findings it seems as though humans are surprisingly able to compensate adequately for the lack of an Earth-normal environment using vision." (3/31)

China Advances Space Capabilities with Latest Multirole Satellite Launch (Source: Space Daily)
The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) successfully launched the Yunhai 3B satellite into orbit using the Long March 6A carrier rocket. The launch occurred at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center in Shanxi province at 6:51 am on Wednesday, marking a notable achievement in the country's space mission portfolio. (3/28)

ESA CubeSat will Probe Asteroid with Radar as Part of Hera Mission (Source: Space Daily)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has embarked on a groundbreaking mission with the unveiling of the Juventas CubeSat, a compact spacecraft integral to the Hera mission aimed at exploring the Didymos binary asteroid system. This pioneering endeavor will mark the first radar investigation within an asteroid, focusing on the Dimorphos moonlet, comparable in size to the Great Pyramid. (3/28)

Life on Enceladus? Europe Eyes Astrobiology Mission to Saturn Ocean Moon (Source: Space.com)
Europe could be heading to the Saturn moon Enceladus in search of life, according to a new report from planetary scientists who are masterminding a future large-class mission to the outer solar system. The European Space Agency (ESA) is exercising considerable forward-thinking with its "Voyager 2050" program, which describes the scientific goals and missions for the middle of this century. Its overarching theme of "moons of the solar system" was chosen in 2021, and now an expert report has recommended that Enceladus should be the primary target. (3/31)

Black Holes Are Even Weirder Than You Imagined (Source: New Yorker)
Recently, two supermassive black holes, with a combined mass of twenty-eight billion suns, were measured and shown to have been rotating tightly around each other, but not colliding, for the past three billion years. And those are just the examples that are easiest for the public to make some sense of. To me, a supermassive black hole sounds sublime; to a scientist, it can also be a test of wild hypotheses. Click here. (3/30)

NASA's Mini Moon Rovers Go for a Test Drive Ahead of 2025 Private Lunar Launch (Source: Space.com)
NASA test drove the mini autonomous rovers that will soon fly to the moon and collectively map the lunar surface. The rovers are part of a technology demonstration called Cooperative Autonomous Distributed Robotic Exploration (CADRE), which is designed to show that a group of robotic spacecraft can work together without direct human control. NASA took the suitcase-sized rovers for a test drive across Mars Yard at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to simulate the rugged terrain they’ll experience on the moon.

A series of tests, performed in August 2023 using two full-scale development models while the spacecraft were still under construction, confirmed the mini CADRE rovers were able to drive in unison and adjust their coordinated path to avoid obstacles, according to a statement from NASA. (3/31)

A Leap Forward in Satellite Monitoring (Source: Space News)
Beyond Gravity (formerly RUAG Space) is a leading space supplier and recently launched a new SSA solution distinguished by its outstanding accuracy and data quality. The solution leverages over six years of data collection from diverse sources and was built together with a trusted partner. Beyond Gravity’s SSA product not only tracks satellite overflights but also offers its users comprehensive ground footprint intelligence, revealing details about the satellite’s onboard technology and instruments. This empowers users with an in-depth understanding of a satellite’s capabilities. (4/1)

Have We Already Found Alien Life? (Source: New York Magazine)
Exciting rumors have been swirling in the halls of astrobiology. The James Webb Space Telescope, which has been scrutinizing the cosmos in unprecedented detail since its deployment in 2022, has been on a tear lately, and folks in the know say it might finally have detected life beyond Earth. That’s the buzz, anyway. Says astrophysicist Rebecca Smethurst, as reported by The Spectator, “I think we are going to get a paper that has strong evidence for a biosignature on an exoplanet very, very soon.”

“So many people want this to be the year. There will definitely be claims,” says Sara Seager, an MIT professor of astrophysics. “There won’t be any robust findings.” One reason it’s hard to pin down unequivocal evidence of life is that we don’t really know what life is. Here on Earth, biology involves DNA and carbohydrates and requires liquid water, but the chemistry could be different on other worlds. (3/31)