April 7, 2024

SpaceX Launches Falcon 9 Rocket Launch from Vandenberg (Source: Lompoc Record)
SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 with 21 Starlink satellites to low-Earth orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday evening. Six of the satellites contain Direct to Cell capabilities, an internet technology that acts like a cellphone tower in space that helps to eliminate dead zones on Earth.

Following stage separation, the Falcon 9 rocket's first-stage reusable booster landed on the "Of Course I Still Love You" autonomous droneship stationed in the Pacific Ocean. The mission marked the sixth flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched Crew-7, CRS-29, PACE, Transporter-10, and one Starlink mission. (4/6)

Can the African Space Industry Meet the Challenges of Development? (Source: Afrik21)
What does the future hold for space in Africa? How is it contributing to managing the climate crisis? These and many other questions will be on the agenda at the NewSpace Africa Conference, which opens on 2 April 2024 in Luanda, Angola. The conference will be attended by heads of African space agencies and international private companies, as well as decision-makers and officials from the African Union (AU), such as Tidiane Ouattara, who has just been appointed Chairman of the African Space Council within the African Union Commission (AUC).

According to Space in Africa, growth in this sector is set to leap 16% to reach $22.64 billion by 2026. This industry enhances the development of several sectors, including telecommunications, defense, security, maritime, aviation, mining, agriculture, environment, development, education, health, etc. A few months ago, the Kenya Space Agency (KSA) signed a partnership agreement with the Mount Kenya Nature Reserve to exploit satellite images for the conservation of the mountain bongo, a species of antelope in danger of extinction.

This space observation will be carried out using the Taifa-1 satellite launched into orbit in 2023 by the KSA with the support of SpaceX. One of the satellite’s many missions is to provide data on climate change, as Kenya is one of the countries on the continent most affected by this phenomenon, which manifests itself in prolonged droughts in the north. In addition to Kenya, South Africa, Egypt, Algeria, Nigeria, Morocco and Ethiopia have already launched several satellites into Earth orbit. (3/28)

World on Record Pace for 250 Launches in 2024 (Source: Douglas's Substack)
The world’s launch providers set a record pace with 63 attempts during the first quarter of 2024, putting them on pace for more than 250 launches this year. The figure is 10 attempts higher the 53 orbital launches conducted during the same period in 2023. There were a record 223 launches last year, with 211 successes, 11 failures and one partial failure. Click here. (4/1)

How to Deepen U.S.-Japan Space Cooperation to Meet the Urgent Security Challenges Ahead (Source: CSIS)
While Japan’s 2008 Basic Space Law created the legal basis for the country to pursue national security space activities, its 2022 security documents provided the impetus for “radically expand[ing] the use of space systems for national security.”

Sitting in the middle of a complex Indo-Pacific security environment, Japan’s regional security concerns are dominated by expanding Chinese and North Korean military arsenals and antagonistic activities, while Russia’s invasion of Ukraine presages what aggression in the region could look like. Tokyo has set 2027 as a key milestone for strengthening its national defense with space capabilities as one part of a broader strategic effort that includes force modernization, munitions acquisitions, infrastructure improvements, and enhanced training and exercises. Click here. (3/29)

Musk Outlines Plans to Increase Starship Launch Rate and Performance (Source: Space News)
SpaceX could attempt to land a Starship booster as soon as the vehicle’s fifth flight as Elon Musk outlined plans to increase both the flight rate and the performance of the launch vehicle. SpaceX posted on social media April 6 the video of an undated, but apparently recent, presentation the company’s founder and chief executive gave at its Starbase facility at Boca Chica, Texas. The presentation focused on the Starship vehicle built and launched there.

Musk said that the fourth Starship/Super Heavy launch is planned “in about a month or so.” That is consistent with comments by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell at the Satellite 2024 conference March 19, where she said that flight was scheduled for early May, pending an updated FAA launch license. If the company holds to that schedule, the launch would take place less than two months after the vehicle’s third flight. The goal of the fourth flight is for the Starship upper stage to get through the “high heating regime” of reentry and make a “controlled splat” into the ocean, he said. On the third flight, Starship broke up during reentry.

Musk said SpaceX also wants to bring the Super Heavy booster back intact on the next flight, having it land “on essentially a virtual tower” in the Gulf of Mexico. That would allow the company to proceed with an attempt to bring the booster back to Starbase for a landing. “If the landing on the virtual tower works, then we will actually try on Flight 5 to come back and land on the tower,” he said. “That is very much a success-oriented schedule, but it is in the realm of possibility.” (4/6)

Scientist Say They Have First Experimental Evidence of Gravitons That Could Connect Quantum Mechanics and Relativity (Source: Quantum Insider)
A research team led by Chinese scientists has provided the first experimental evidence hinting at the existence of gravitons, theoretical particles believed to mediate the force of gravity. This discovery marks a significant step toward bridging the gap between quantum mechanics and general relativity, two pillars of modern physics that have remained largely incompatible.

The research, carried out by a collaboration between scientists from Nanjing University in eastern China, the United States, and Germany, involved placing a thin layer of semiconductor under extreme conditions. By cooling the semiconductor to near absolute zero and applying a magnetic field 100,000 times stronger than the Earth’s, the team managed to excite the semiconductor’s electrons to move in unison. (4/5)

Oklahoma Spaceport Could Benefit From Possible Tax Credit Program (Source: KECO)
NASA is running out of launch sites for its growing number of rockets into space. So the Oklahoma legislature wants to take advantage of the shortage by resurrecting a tax credit program to help develop the Oklahoma Space Port at Burns Flat. House Bill 3426 is making its way closer to the governor’s desk after winning approval in the House and a State Senate Committee.

District 55 Rep. Nick Archer (R-Elk City) says if the bill is passed, it would allow the state to enter the market with small to medium solid state rockets. The bill was approved on a 65-28 vote and sent to the Senate where the Aeronautics and Transportation Committee gave approval Tuesday on a 10-1 vote. The measure was referred to the Finance Committee in the Senate. Sen. John Haste of Broken Arrow, who helped author the bill, explained that the bill and its $30 million tax credit proposal is a replacement of an earlier attempt made many years ago but it was allowed to expire because of the lack of industry interest at the time. (3/28)