April 6, 2024

California Rep. Led Law That Allows U.S. Space Force to Charge Clients for Indirect Costs From Launches (Source: Noozhawk)
Commercial launch providers could see a new line item on their bills for sending payloads into orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base and other military ranges to cover the costs of wear and tear from the boost in business. Rep. Salud Carbajal, D-Santa Barbara, said the annual defense policy bill signed late last year allows the U.S. Space Force to seek reimbursement for the indirect costs for wear and tear on key facilities to ensure they remain ready to support missions into the future. (4/4)

Virgin Galactic Is Raising Prices and Customers Are Still Buying (Source: Motley Fool)
When Virgin Galactic was just a big idea, it asked people to buy advance tickets for $200,000. Today, Blue Origin, which Virgin Galactic views as its closest peer, is charging something closer to $1 million per ticket on its ships. Virgin Galactic, however, has a backlog of advanced customers to work through. And yet, it has still been able to do some price testing. For a while Virgin Galactic had two prices -- one for scientific research (sort of like business travelers) and another for general consumers.

Business class costs $600,000, with consumers paying $450,000. The big takeaway here is that early ticket buyers were given a big discount, even though the price rose from what could be termed teaser prices in the very early days. As the company has begun to start regular flights, however, it has realized that there are plenty of people who want to fly into space. As a result, it has increased consumer ticket prices so they are on par with business customers. Basically, there's just one ticket price, and it is $600,000. That's still well below the $1 million that peer Blue Origin is charging.

It is good news that Virgin Galactic has been able to sell seats at materially higher prices than it has historically charged. The bad news is that it still has a backlog of customers to work through at lower ticket price points. That's not going away quickly, given the quarterly flight cadence. So the big story is still the company's efforts to get its next-generation ship, which can carry more customers, off the ground in 2026. But, assuming it does just that, the revenue potential could be materially higher than it looks like it is today. (4/4)

Axe Falls On China’s Secret “Space Base” In The Americas; Argentina May Inspect Espacio Lejano Station (Source: EurAsian Times)
Argentina’s effort to distance itself from China is becoming increasingly evident. It is now serious about conducting a formal inspection of a Chinese “space station” built on Argentine soil. The Chinese “space station,” positioned 18 miles from the village of Bajada del Agrio in Argentina’s southwestern province of Neuquén, was established in 2014 through an agreement between China and the administration of the then-President, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Argentina’s Congress did not approve the station until February 2015. However, construction had already begun in 2013, and it was completed in 2017. The base, which China controls through a 50-year lease, stands on a 200-hectare plot and comprises a 16-story antenna. It is staffed by personnel from the China Satellite Launch and Tracking Control General (CLTC), a unit ultimately under the authority of the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Strategic Support Force. (4/5)

NASA Selects University Teams to Compete in 2024 RASC-AL Competition (Source: NASA)
Fourteen undergraduate and graduate teams from across the country were selected as finalists to compete in one of NASA’s longest running student challenges — the Revolutionary Aerospace Systems Concepts – Academic Linkage (RASC-AL) competition. The competition fuels innovation and challenges undergraduate and graduate teams to develop new concepts to improve our ability to operate on the Moon, Mars and beyond. Finalists will travel to Cocoa Beach, Florida next June to present their proposed concepts to a panel of NASA and aerospace industry leaders. (4/4)

Ambitious New Dark Matter-Hunting Experiment Delivers 1st Results (Source: Space.com)
A new experiment designed to search the cosmos for its most mysterious "stuff," dark matter, has delivered its first results. While the Broadband Reflector Experiment for Axion Detection (BREAD) developed by the University of Chicago and the DOE's Fermilab hasn't turned up dark matter particles just yet, the new results place a tighter constraint on the type of characteristics scientists can expect such particles to have.

The BREAD experiment itself also served up an exciting new recipe that could be used in the hunt for dark matter — a relatively inexpensive one that doesn't take up a vast amount of space. BREAD takes a "broadband" approach to search for hypothetical dark matter particles called "axions" and associated "dark photons" across a larger set of possibilities than other experiments, albeit with slightly less precision. (4/4)

Earth May Seem Like a One-of-a-Kind Planet, but it Actually Has a Twin (Source: NPR)
Earth may seem like a one-of-a-kind planet, but it actually has a twin. Today, Venus is the hottest planet in our solar system. But a long time ago, it looked a lot like Earth. For our series on the science of siblings, NPR's Regina Barber reports on how Venus grew up to be so different. Click here. (4/5)

Payload Research: Q1 Space Industry via Charts (Source: Payload)
The first three months of 2024 was another busy quarter for the space industry, underscored by continued growth in SpaceX’s launch cadence and a solid VC funding environment. Below are the four charts defining the quarter. The total number of global orbital launch attempts in Q1 increased by 10 missions in 2024, a 19% year-over-year increase. The growth can be attributed to SpaceX, which saw an increase of 11 launches in Q1 2024 vs. Q1 2023. More capacity is on the horizon with Vulcan, Starship, New Glenn, and a host of Chinese launch startups set to increase launch cadence over the next year. Click here. (4/3)

Largest Cosmic Map May Upend Dark Energy and Prove Einstein Wrong (Source: Business Insider)
Scientists have constructed the largest 3-D map of our universe to date, and it's come with a couple of interesting surprises. "So far, we're seeing basic agreement with our best model of the universe, but we're also seeing some potentially interesting differences," Michael Levi said. The Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, DESI, which produced the new map, consists of 5,000 tiny robots attached to a telescope in Arizona that collects light from various stages of our universe.

It suggests that dark energy may be completely different than scientists thought, shaking a foundational pillar of our understanding of the universe. Dark energy, as we understand it right now, is terrifying to think about because it means our universe is expanding faster and faster until one day galaxies will be moving away from us so quickly that their points of light in our night sky will wink out of existence. That's the future we're headed for if dark energy continues at the rate it's going. And until Thursday, that's what many astronomers thought: that dark energy was a constant, unchanging force. Click here. (4/4)

SpaceX Begins 2024 with Several Record-Breaking Feats (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com)
While SpaceX’s launch cadence was increased substantially in 2023, the company has a stated goal of launching 148 times in 2024. This translates into a 50 percent increase in launch cadence needed to achieve this goal which would average more than 12 launches per month. In the first quarter of 2024, SpaceX completed 31 Falcon 9 missions which would put the company on track to complete 125 launches by the end of the year.

While this is about 20 launches short of the stated goal, in recent years the company has been continually increasing its cadence, translating into this cadence being higher during the second half of every year. To put SpaceX’s current cadence into perspective, the company has achieved the same number of launches in the first three months of 2024 as it did in all of 2021. During those months, SpaceX teams were able to break turnaround time records on all three Falcon-capable launchpads. (4/5)

NASA May Have Inadvertently Redirected An Asteroid At Mars (Source: IFL Science)
In 2022, NASA sent a spaceship to slam into an asteroid about the size of the Great Pyramid of Giza in an attempt to alter its course. The mission was a success, and demonstrated that it is possible to redirect objects in space, great news for a planet that isn't a huge fan of being wiped out by asteroids. As well as successfully redirecting the asteroid Dimorphos, it sent huge boulders flying off from the loosely bound asteroid, ranging in size from 1 to 7 meters in diameter. These boulders are not moving at huge speeds relative to the parent rock – their average speed is 0.3 meters per second – but that is enough to achieve escape velocity from Dimorphos. (4/5)

Mysterious 'Glory' Lights Spotted On Planet Outside Solar System For First Time Ever (Source: Study Finds)
Astronomers have discovered potential evidence of a phenomenon known as the “glory” effect on a planet beyond our solar system, a first-of-its-kind observation that might shed light on the habitability of distant worlds. The so-called “glory light” effect is a fascinating phenomenon that looks like rings of light surrounding a central bright spot.

This happens when light from a star (like the Sun) is scattered in a specific way by tiny particles in the atmosphere of a planet or moon. These particles bend the light, creating a series of colorful, concentric circles. It’s similar to seeing a rainbow around your shadow when you’re looking opposite the sun on a misty day, except this occurs on a much larger scale and can be seen from space. The effect has only once been found on another planet – Venus – meaning that, if confirmed, this is the first “glory” ever to be detected outside our solar system. (4/5)

Booster 11 Rollout for Engine Testing as Starbase Continues to Change (Source: NASASpaceFlight.com)
Peparations for the fourth flight of Starship are in full swing, with Ship 29 having completed its engine testing campaign, while Booster 11 rolled to the Orbital Launch Pad (OLP) to complete its own engine test campaign. Elon Musk noted the fourth flight of Starship is set for May. After rolling out to complete its engine test campaign, Ship 29 performed two static fires. The first one involved normal six-engine static fire to verify all the engines. The second static was a single-engine burn from the header tanks. Click here. (4/4)

Varda Space Industries Raises $90 Million (Source: Space News)
Varda Space Industries has raised $90 million to scale up production of systems to manufacture pharmaceuticals in orbit and return them to Earth. Varda announced April 5 it raised a Series B round led by venture firm Caffeinated Capital, with participation from Lux Capital, General Catalyst, Founders Fund and Khosla Ventures. The company has raised $145 million to date. (4/5)

What's the Earliest the Moon Could Have Formed? (Source: Phys.org)
Astronomers are pretty sure they know where the moon came from. In the early solar system, a Mars-sized object dubbed Theia smashed into Earth. This cataclysmic collision knocked a huge mass of material into orbit, which coalesced and cooled into the moon. But establishing exactly when this occurred is a difficult task. At the 55th annual Lunar and Planetary Science Conference (LPSC 2024) last month in The Woodlands, Texas, researchers proposed a new timeline of events that moves the giant impact earlier than previous predictions, at just 50 million years after the formation of the solar system. (4/4)

Roscosmos Approves Design of Russia’s Future Orbital Station (Source: TASS)
Roscosmos has approved the preliminary design of a future Russian orbital station (ROS). "The preliminary design of Russia’s orbital station has earned approval from the state corporation Roscosmos," the statement reads. Roscosmos and the main contractors are in the process of concluding government contracts for building the station.

Roscosmos recalled that the proposed orbital outpost would serve as the base of Russia’s national space program when the International Space Station (ISS) ended its life cycle. The station’s core module will have six docking ports for accommodating add-on modules. Each of the station's modules will be replaceable, if necessary, so the ROS’s service life is likely to last decades. The station will stay in a polar orbit with an inclination of up to 97 degrees. (4/2)

Secure World Foundation Releases Global Counterspace Capabilities Report (Source: Secure World Foundation)
Space security has become an increasingly salient policy issue. Over the last several years, there has been growing concern from multiple governments over the reliance on vulnerable space capabilities for national security, and the corresponding proliferation of offensive counterspace capabilities that could be used to disrupt, deny, degrade, or destroy space systems. This in turn has led to increased rhetoric from some countries about the need to prepare for future conflicts on Earth to extend into space, and calls from some corners to increase the development of offensive counterspace capabilities and put in place more aggressive policies and postures.

We feel strongly that a more open and public debate on these issues is urgently needed. Space is not the sole domain of militaries and intelligence services. Our global society and economy is increasingly dependent on space capabilities, and a future conflict in space could have massive, long-term negative repercussions that are felt here on Earth. Even testing of these capabilities could have long-lasting negative repercussions for the space environment, and all who operate there. The public should be as aware of the developing threats and risks of different policy options as would be the case for other national security issues in the air, land, and sea domains. Click here. (4/3)

Africa's Space Conference in Angola Highlights International Cooperation (Source: Xinhua)
Participants in the New Space Africa Conference 2024 held in Luanda, Angola's capital, are calling for great efforts to boost international cooperation and exchange experiences in the space industry. The conference, held from Tuesday to Friday, was attended by more than 400 people, including representatives from space agencies and officials from more than 24 African countries, envoys of the African Union (AU) and representatives from globally renowned aerospace entities.

In his opening speech, Mohammed Belhocine, the AU commissioner for Education, Science, Technology, and Innovation, highlighted global collaborative efforts to develop the African space industry, saying that Africa is open to all partnerships. (4/5)

Earth Spinning Slower May Prompt Negative Leap Second (Source: USA Today)
Earth's slower rotation may mean that universal time will have to skip a second for the first time ever, researchers have found. As climate change escalates the melting of ice caps and rising sea levels, the Earth is rotating slowly enough to require a negative leap second. The need for a leap second, a method used to adjust atomic clocks, was initially set for 2026 but has been delayed to 2029, study author and geophysicist Duncan Agnew found. But the next leap second is expected to be the first negative leap second instead of an extra one. (4/3)

Skykraft Satellite Filings Publishes for 2976-Satellite ADS-B Air Traffic Management Constellation (Source: AJOT)
Skykraft has moved one step closer to providing global space-enabled ADS-B and VHF communications services in 2026 with acceptance by the International Telecommunications Union of its spectrum filing for a constellation of 2976 satellites. The constellation will provide the world’s first full-service space-enabled air traffic management service and will make aviation safer and more sustainable, efficient, and resilient.

Building on the 10 prototype satellites launched and tested in 2023, Skykraft will launch further pre-production satellites in 2024. In 2025, the rollout of the operational constellation will begin with the launch of 50 more satellites, leading to an operational service in 2026. The number of satellites will continue to grow in the following years. (4/5)

Boeing 1 Month Out From 4 Years of Catchup to SpaceX with 1st Crewed Starliner Flight (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
After nearly four years of playing catchup, Boeing is finally set to join SpaceX as one of two commercial partners capable of flying NASA astronauts to the ISS. Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner is aiming for a May 6 launch, carrying commander Barry “Butch” Wilmore and pilot Sunita “Suni” Williams on the Crew Flight Test. They will fly atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 41.

The duo are looking to dock Starliner with the ISS for about eight days before bringing the spacecraft back home for a ground landing in the western U.S. It will pave the way for Boeing to begin regular service to the station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program, the remedy to reliance on Russia for ferry service to the ISS after the end of the space shuttle program in 2011. (4/3)