June 10, 2024

Using the Moon's Soil to Support Life, Energy Generation and Construction (Source: University of Waterloo)
A research team from the University of Waterloo's Laboratory for Emerging Energy Research (LEER) is looking into processing lunar regolith, the moon's top layer of soil and dust, into usable materials for life support, energy generation and construction. This includes investigating the use of defunct satellite material as a fuel source when mixed with lunar regolith. The LEER team conducted experiments using simulant "lunar" regolith synthesized and supplied by NASA. (6/10)

Spaceport America Cup Returns to Las Cruces (Source: Las Cruces Sun News)
The Spaceport America Cup (SAC) is a partnership between The Experimental Sounding Rocket Association and New Mexico Spaceport Authority to host an Intercollegiate Rocket Engineering competition. The first was in 2017.

SAC offers college engineering students the opportunity to test their engineering work and network with leaders in the industry, while competing against other teams. The competition is a week-long series of events for the 127 teams expected to travel to Doña Ana County to participate in this year's Spaceport America Cup. (6/10)

Astronauts Test SpaceX Starship Hardware and Spacesuits for Artemis 3 Moon Mission (Source: Space.com)
To prepare for the Artemis 3 moon-landing mission, in late April two astronauts donned Axiom Space's new spacesuits and for the first time tested out a mock version of the vehicle that will get them to the moon. Scientists and engineers say the test — the first of its kind since the Apollo era — provided feedback on how well the spacesuits, being built by Axiom, worked with a test version of SpaceX's Starship Human Landing System (HLS), NASA's vehicle of choice to ferry astronauts to and from the moon during the Artemis 3 mission.

Two astronauts, Axiom Space's Peggy Whitson and NASA's Doug Wheelock, donned spacesuits in a full-scale mockup of the airlock that is perched on Starship's airlock deck. Each spacesuit also included a full-scale "backpack" model of the portable life support system, according to a statement by Axiom.

During the test, the astronauts interacted with a control panel in the airlock to ensure the controls were within reach and could be activated while wearing gloves, NASA said. They also practiced using a test elevator, which will take astronauts and their equipment from the Starship deck to the moon's surface for moonwalks during Artemis program missions. (6/9)

NovaSpace Sees Growth in In-Orbit Services and Space Situational Awareness (Source: NovaSpace)
NovaSpace finds that space safety and sustainability concerns are driving cautious interest for In-Orbit Services and commercial Space Situational Awareness and projects around $4.6 billion in commercial revenue over the decade. With another 28 000 satellites to be launched in the next decade (a +76% increase compared to last decade, from Novaspace’s report Satellite to Be Built & Launched 2023), adding to over 6 000 active satellites and 130 million space debris (only 35 000 of which large enough to be tracked), satellite operators see a growing need for SSA solutions enabling safer spaceflight. Novaspace estimates that commercial SSA services and data sales will generate some $2.5 Billion in revenue for providers over the next decade. (6/6)

FAA Bill Signals Progress for Companies Working on Hypersonic Aircraft (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Since its founding nearly four years ago, Houston-based Venus Aerospace has been focused on building a hypersonic spaceplane that can take passengers across the world in only a few hours.

Chief Technical Officer Andrew Duggleby, who founded the company  in June 2020 with his wife and company CEO Sassie Duggleby, said there are a few key milestones that come to mind as he reflects on these first four years. The passing of the FAA reauthorization bill last month includes new language designed to help regulate and design policies in the field of hypersonic and supersonic aircraft development and implementation. The bill will help push innovation for high-speed flight in the United States by establishing protocols for testing high-speed prototypes and helping make sure testing and implementation can be done safely. (6/1)

University of Florida and UCF Collaborate on Space-Edge Accelerator to Boost Space Business Development (Source: The Capitolist)
The University of Florida and the University of Central Florida, alongside two other universities nationwide, are collaborating to launch the Space-Edge Accelerator, aimed at advancing space business development. The pair of schools, as well as Arizona State University and Vanderbilt University, will host a 12-week selective course covering biomedical innovation.

The instruction serves to cultivate entrepreneurial students’ knowledge of space climate and the future of human space flight. Examples include stem cell and vaccine development, advances in precision medicine, manufacturing, creating medical equipment for microgravity, and AI and predictive analysis in space. Each selected student will receive mentorship, working alongside a leader in the space industry to build connections and promote growth in the sector. (5/29)

German Space Technology Startup Sets Up U.S. Office in Albuquerque (Source: New Mexico Inno)
A German startup developing advanced pieces of space hardware has picked Albuquerque as the headquarters of its wholly owned U.S. subsidiary, with customer and employee growth expected in the Duke City after rolling out a new product offering.

iBOSS GmbH, founded in 2017 in Aachen, Germany, has spent the past half-decade developing a space technology called ISSI, or Intelligent Space System Interface. Thomas Schervan, the startup's co-founder and CEO, described the technology as a sort of "USB for space."

Schervan explained it allows pairs of space systems — such as configuration, coupling or robotics technologies — to connect and share power and data. The goal of the connector, he said, is to add more flexibility to companies or agencies' operations in space, particularly in the area of in-space servicing, assembly and manufacturing, known as ISAM. (6/3)

Rocket Lab Shoots for 50th Electron Launch (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab will conduct its 50th Electron launch later this month. The company announced Friday it set a launch date of no earlier than June 18 for the launch, which will carry five satellites for French company Kinéis as part of its 25-satellite Internet of Things constellation. The launch is the first of five Rocket Lab will conduct for Kinéis. (6/10)

ESA Astronaut Tim Peake to Lead Axiom Mission to ISS (Source: The Observer)
Former ESA astronaut Tim Peake could return to space next year on a commercial mission. Peake, who retired from ESA after a single long-duration flight to the ISS, is expected to be named commander of an all-British commercial mission in the coming weeks. That mission would launch as soon as next year through Axiom Space, and Peake said it would likely include John McFall, who has been training with ESA as the first "para-astronaut" with a physical disability. (6/10)

Boeing’s Starliner is Ready for Human Flight, But is it Too Late? (Source: The Hill)
Why did Boeing stumble coming out the gate while SpaceX soared ahead? The short answer is that while SpaceX is a small, nimble company that can make and execute decisions quickly, Boeing is large and bureaucratic. Boeing never before and will likely never again accept a fixed price contract in which cost overruns come out of its corporate pocket rather than the United States government.

Starliner is contracted to fly just six crewed missions to the International Space Station compared to 14 for the SpaceX Crew Dragon. If Boeing has any hope of earning back a return on its investment, it has to sell commercial flights of the Starliner, just as SpaceX has the Crew Dragon. “We don’t know whether Boeing has the capacity to do additional commercial missions at this time,” said Laura Forczyk. Is it time to cut losses and just cancel the Starliner?

Absent another alternative, such as a crewed version of the Sierra Space Dream Chaser, NASA and Boeing will have to find a way to make Starliner work. The Atlas V is set to retire soon. The Starliner can be launched on the Vulcan Centaur rocket, which has only flown once and is not yet human-rated. Boeing is a partner in Blue Origin’s proposed Orbital Reef space station. Starliner is slated to provide crew transportation for the facility, along with a crew version of the Dream Chaser, a good start for commercial missions. (6/9)

Indian Billionaires Take On Musk and Bezos in India’s Internet Space Race (Sources: DNA, Financial Times, Times of India)
Indian billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Bharti Mittal will be locking horns with their western counterparts Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. All four prominent businessmen eye a major chunk of the satellite communications market in India, estimated at $2.3 billion in 2023.

Mittal recently made a massive investment with OneWeb India getting the nod from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to launch commercial satellite broadband services with Eutelsat OneWeb. Ambani’s Jio has entered a partnership with Luxembourg-based SES Satellites. Ambani’s Jio plans to provide high-speed broadband internet services to inaccessible geographies in India with the satellite-based gigafiber service called JioSpaceFiber.

The company anticipates receiving commercial satellite spectrum allocation soon and has committed to complying with the regulatory framework set by the Department of Telecommunications. However, even if Ambani and Mittal are able to secure approvals ahead of Musk, it is unlikely they will ever be able to rival Starlink's network. (6/10)

Space Development Agency Calls on Satellite Builders to Diversify Suppliers (Source: Space News)
The Space Development Agency is pushing prime contractors to line up secondary and tertiary suppliers for key satellite components amid fears of supply chain shortfalls that could delay the agency’s ambitious schedule for deploying a new proliferated architecture in low-Earth orbit. (6/9)

Chang'e-6 Highlights China's Goal to Build International Collaboration (Source: Space Daily)
Chang'e-6 demonstrates China's ongoing promotion of international cooperation in space exploration. The spacecraft carried four international payloads. Foreign scientists invited to witness the launch and lunar landing of their instruments aboard Chang'e-6 expressed gratitude to China. Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency (ESA), tweeted his thanks, noting that the ESA is proud to participate in the mission. (6/9)

Ariane 6 to Launch SpaceCase SC-X01 for Heat Shield Demonstration (Source: Space Daily)
SpaceCase SC-X01, built by ArianeGroup, will be launched by the same company's Ariane 6 rocket. During its three-hour mission, SpaceCase will stay attached to the rocket's upper stage before detaching minutes prior to a controlled deorbit and destruction in Earth's atmosphere. While the upper stage is designed to burn up harmlessly, SpaceCase SC-X01 is engineered to withstand the intense heat generated during re-entry at speeds of 28,000 km/h. (6/7)

Ohio State Students to Test Space Food Solutions for NASA (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's Deep Space Food Challenge kicks off its final eight-week demonstration this month, and a new crew is running the show.
NASA's partner for the Deep Space Food Challenge, the Methuselah Foundation, has teamed up with Ohio State University in Columbus to facilitate the challenge's third and final phase. The university is employing current and former students to serve on a "Simunaut" crew to maintain and operate the food production technologies during the demonstration period. (6/9)