May 24, 2024

NASA Defends Artemis Cost and Schedule Amid Panning of Possible Changes (Source: Space News)
NASA Administrator Bill Nelson defended the cost and schedule performance of the agency’s Artemis lunar exploration effort even as officials hinted as the possibility for changes in one upcoming mission. At a May 23 hearing, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee’s commerce, justice and science subcommittee, pressed Nelson on costs associated with Artemis and suggested that the agency convene an independent review of those costs.

She asked Nelson to describe “what NASA is doing to hold contractors accountable for cost overruns and scheduling delays” including whether the agency withheld payments to contractors for those overruns. She did not cite specific cases with Artemis but rather past studies on the overall costs of the program, including one estimate by NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) that each of the first four Space Launch System/Orion launches will cost $4.2 billion. (5/23)

Intelsat Plans Life-Extension Extension with MEV Spacecraft (Source: Space News)
Intelsat has signed a new deal to make continued use of two Northrop Grumman satellite life extension spacecraft. The companies announced Thursday that the Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV) 2 spacecraft currently docked to the Intelsat 10-02 spacecraft will remain there an additional four years, to 2030. MEV-2 has been docked to the satellite since 2021, providing stationkeeping services under a deal originally planned to last five years. The companies said the twin MEV-1 spacecraft, currently attached to Intelsat 901, will undock as planned in 2025 and then be used to extend another Intelsat spacecraft yet to be identified. (5/24)

Europe Resolves to Increase Space Competitiveness (Source: Space News)
European officials adopted a resolution calling for increased competitiveness of Europe's space sector. The resolution, adopted at a joint Space Council meeting of EU and ESA member states Thursday, did not include any new initiatives to support European companies but instead emphasized ongoing efforts. Eurospace, a European space industry group, said after the meeting that the resolution did not go far enough and called for an "industrial strategy for space" in Europe to address weak demand for space products within Europe and counter growing competition from the United States and China. EU officials also confirmed after the council meeting that it is unlikely a draft EU space law will be released until after parliamentary elections next month. (5/24)

Space Force STEP Program Open for Experimental Payload Development (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is soliciting bids from commercial satellite manufacturers for a program to fly experimental payloads. The Space Test Program office issued Thursday its final request for proposals for the Space Test Experiments Platform (STEP) 2.0 contract, aimed at harnessing the commercial small satellite market. Space Systems Command will select vendors that can manufacture small satellite buses or pre-built spacecraft with capacity to host various experimental military payloads and sensors. The STEP 2.0 procurement is estimated to be worth up to $237 million. (5/24)

Stanford Center to Focus on Spacecraft Autonomy (Source: Space News)
A new center at Stanford University seeks to bring together industry and academia to develop spacecraft autonomy technologies. The Center for AEroSpace Autonomy Research (CAESAR) at Stanford held a kickoff event this week to discuss its plans to leverage AI technologies to improve spacecraft autonomy. While CAESAR held its kickoff this week, the center has been working on projects for the last nine months focused on autonomous rendezvous, proximity operations and docking, as well as rapid characterization of space objects. (5/24)

SpaceX Launches Thursday Starlink Mission at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX marked the fifth anniversary of the first dedicated Starlink launch with another launch. A Falcon 9 lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center Thursday night and placed 23 Starlink satellites into orbit. The launch took place five years to the day after the first Falcon 9 launch dedicated to Starlink satellites. SpaceX has conducted more than 160 Starlink launches to date, more than half of which have taken place since the start of last year. (5/24)

Russia Disrupts Starlink Service in Ukraine (Source: New York Times)
Russia has found new ways to disrupt Starlink services on the battlefront in Ukraine. Ukrainian forces have reported an increase in jamming of Starlink signals, causing services to slow dramatically. It was unclear if Russia was able to interfere with the Starlink signals themselves or with GPS signals used by Starlink receivers. (5/24)

Musk Denies SpaceX Stock Offer Planned (Source: MarketWatch)
Elon Musk says SpaceX is not trying to raise money with a new stock tender offer. A report Thursday said that the company was offering shares at a price that would value SpaceX at $200 billion. Musk responded to the report on X by stating that SpaceX "has no need for additional capital and will actually be buying back shares," adding that the company does "liquidity rounds" to allow employees to sell shares twice a year. (5/24)

Air Force's Controversial Plan to Transfer National Guard Units to Space Force Gets Gutted by House (Source: Military.com)
Governors would retain the right to nix proposed transfers of units from their National Guards to the active-duty Space Force under a measure approved by a House panel that significantly waters down a controversial Air Force plan. The amendment to the House Armed Services Committee's National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA, would also make transferring units optional, rather than required, if the legislation becomes law. (5/23)

SpaceX Raptor Engine Blows Up During Testing (Source: Digital Trends)
An explosion occurred on Thursday at SpaceX’s test facility in McGregor, Texas, sending flames and a huge plume of smoke into the sky. Reports from NASASpaceflight, which runs a live stream of the site, suggested it occurred during the ground-based testing of a Raptor rocket engine of the kind used by the company’s next-generation Starship rocket. (5/23)

Euclid Telescope Spies Rogue Planets Floating Free in Milky Way (Source: The Guardian)
Astronomers have spotted dozens of rogue planets floating free from their stars after turning the Euclid space telescope to look at a distant region of the Milky Way. The wandering worlds were seen deep inside the Orion nebula, a giant cloud of dust and gas 1,500 light years away, and described in the first scientific results announced by Euclid mission researchers. (5/23)

Twelve Nations Commit to Zero Debris Charter (Source: Space Daily)
Twelve nations have signed the Zero Debris Charter at the ESA/EU Space Council, committing to long-term sustainability in Earth orbit. The European Space Agency (ESA) also signed the charter as an International Organisation (IGO). The Zero Debris Charter aims to become debris neutral by 2030, first unveiled at the ESA Space Summit in Seville in November 2023.

For the first time, countries have committed at the national level, positioning Europe as a leader in clean space initiatives. Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Estonia, Germany, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Sweden, and the United Kingdom have pledged to adhere to the charter. Over 100 organizations are expected to sign soon. (5/23)

Black Holes Redirect Powerful Beams Across Space (Source: Space Daily)
Astronomers have discovered that huge black holes are redirecting powerful beams of particles into space. This discovery, made using NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the National Radio Astronomical Observatory's (NRAO) Very Long Baseline Array (VLBA), reveals the widespread impact black holes can have on their surrounding galaxies.

A team of astronomers examined 16 supermassive black holes in galaxies with hot gas detected in X-rays by Chandra. Using radio data from the VLBA, they studied the directions of particle beams a few light-years away from the black holes. This analysis provided a picture of the current aim of each beam from Earth. Each black hole emits two beams in opposite directions. (5/23)

BAE Enters Final Environmental Testing Stages of Roman Space Telescope’s Primary Instrument (Source: Executive Gov)
BAE Systems is anticipated to test and deliver the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope’s Wide Field Instrument to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in summer 2024 in preparation for the observatory’s May 2027 launch. The company said Tuesday it is in the final stages of WFI’s environmental testing at its Boulder, Colorado facility, having completed vibration and acoustic demonstrations, as well as the initial baseline and second thermal vacuum tests. (5/22)

Potentially Habitable Earth-Sized World Discovered Just 40 Light-Years Away (Source: Science Alert)
A world that bears more than a passing similarity to Earth has just been discovered orbiting a star just 40 light-years from the Solar System. This exoplanet has a very similar radius to our home planet, suggesting a similar rocky composition. Tantalizingly, Gliese-12b, as the exoplanet is named, is at a distance from its host star that could be habitable to life as we know it.

"In my opinion, this planet will give us the clearest answer yet for any potentially habitable planet as to whether it could support habitable conditions," astrophysicist Shishir Dholakia said. "Its host star is inactive, it's extremely nearby and therefore very characterizable." What we don't yet know is whether Gliese-12b has an atmosphere. (5/24)

Europe’s ‘Dark Universe’ Telescope Shares First Scientific Data and New Cosmic Images (Source: The Next Web)
A space mission exploring the “dark universe” has released its first scientific data — and five new extraterrestrial snapshots. Captured by the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Euclid telescope, the observations paint a never-before-seen picture of the cosmos. They also offer new insights into the properties of celestial bodies. The images are at least four times sharper than any taken from ground-based telescopes, according to ESA. (5/23)

The Tesla Elon Musk Launched Into Space Has A 22 Percent Chance Of Hitting Earth (Eventually) (Source: IFL Science)
Six years ago, Elon Musk's SpaceX launched a Tesla into space, in a stunt that even the most hardened Musk haters would grudgingly admit is pretty cool. The Roadster has since been on one hell of a journey, currently moving away from Earth at the impressive speed of 25,290 kilometers per hour, with an arguably more impressive fuel efficiency of 10,671 kilometers per liter (25,100 miles per gallon), at the time of writing.

Since its launch on February 6, 2018, the car has orbited the Sun 4.1 times according to tracker Where Is Roadster, rolling over as it goes. In 2018, we got a close look at the vehicle as it made a close approach to Earth. "The initial Tesla orbit grazes that of the Earth, so one might expect an initial period with enhanced collision probabilities with the Earth before it is randomized onto a more NEA-like trajectory," the team continued.

Looking at the Tesla's orbit, which crosses the orbit of Mars and Earth, the team was able to predict the likelihood it would crash into the terrestrial planets (including our favorite one, Earth). The car will make another close approach in 2047 at about 5 million kilometers (3.1 million miles). Beyond 100 years, repeat close encounters with the planets make long-term predictions of the car's chaotic orbit "impossible". (5/23)

Amid Influence of Starlink, Thales Buys Israeli Company Get SAT (Source: Breaking Defense)
Call it a Musk effect: the success of constellations like SpaceX’s Starlink and Starshield has the Pentagon hungry for satellite communications (SATCOM) solutions with more capabilities, prompting firms like the French company Thales to shift their approach and even acquire new businesses, according to company executives. “Really now what the [US Defense Department] wants is terminals that can do any orbit, any network, any band, on the move,” said Aaron Brosnan.

A response by Thales to that desire is to pitch the Ka-band Milli Sling Blade antenna manufactured by the Israeli company Get SAT. Thales acquired Get SAT in part for the rights to products like the Milli Sling Blade, which uses electronically steered phased array antenna technology. “Thales confirms the acquisition of GET Sat,” a Thales official told Breaking Defense. (5/23)

How Can Space Travel Lead to Medical Breakthroughs? Veteran Astronaut Explains (Source: Space.com)
In the microgravity environment of low Earth orbit, there are many more experiments and research opportunities that can take place in the fields of medical science and developing biomedical technologies that can benefit us on the ground. That's because microgravity makes alterations to organisms such as human bacteria and viruses, DNA, and even transforms the way cells function, enabling astronauts to conduct research that wouldn't be possible elsewhere. But astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) are not just conducting the experiments; they are the focus of some research as well. Click here. (5/22)

Starship Taking Aim At Florida Launch With 2 Towers and 'Far Better' Alloy Than Stainless Steel 301 (Source: Benzinga)
Elon Musk has revealed that the company is contemplating launching its Starship rocket, aimed at returning humans to the Moon, from Florida. All development and manufacturing of the Starship currently takes place at Starbase in Texas. All three of the Starship’s past test flights launched from the commercial spaceport located in Cameron County near the Gulf of Mexico.

However, Musk took to social media and said the company aims to build two Starship towers at Cape Canaveral in Florida, hinting at plans to launch Starships from the state. While one of the two towers is expected to be at Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A, the location for the second is still under consideration, the CEO said. “We're aiming to build two towers at the Cape for Starship, one at 39A and another tbd (we don't have final approval yet),” Musk wrote. Musk also added that the team at SpaceX has developed a new metal alloy “far better” than stainless steel 301 for the Starship. (5/22)

'They Will Flip': Earth's Poles are Shifting and it is Not a Good Sign for Life on Our Planet (Source: Business Today)
Research based on satellite observations suggests that the current shift is driven by 'blobs' of intense magnetic fields deep inside the Earth. Click here. (5/23)

Firefly Aerospace Considers $1.5 Billion Sale Amid Space Industry Consolidation (Source: Space Impulse)
Firefly Aerospace is reportedly exploring a potential sale that could value the company at around $1.5 billion. According to sources familiar with the situation, Firefly’s investors are working with an adviser to assess strategic options. The company specializes in small and medium-lift launch vehicles, as well as lunar landers and space utility vehicles. Its Alpha rocket has secured contracts from DoD, NASA, and commercial satellite operators.

Adding to its portfolio, Firefly aims to launch its Blue Ghost spacecraft to the moon later this year. This mission would carry scientific instruments as part of a NASA program, further solidifying the company’s role in the growing lunar economy. While a sale is not guaranteed, Firefly has made significant progress and demonstrated its potential with the reported $1.5 billion valuation. The company has raised approximately $572 million in funding, including a $300 million Series C round co-led by AE Industrial Partners in November 2023.

The potential sale comes as the space industry is experiencing a wave of consolidation and merger activity. If Firefly proceeds with a deal, it would mark the ninth transaction in the sector this year alone, following major moves like the acquisition of Intelsat by SES. (5/24)