June 19, 2024

98th Space Range Squadron Takes Warfighter Readiness to Next Level (Source: USSF)
The Orbital Warfare Range of the National Space Test and Training Complex provides operational environment presentation, dedicated space domain awareness, time space position information data, safety of flight, security and range control in support of Space Force test, training and experimentation activities.

NSTTC-O is operated and managed by the Range and Aggressor Delta, Space Delta 11, under the authority of Space Training and Readiness Command. DEL 11 is comprised of five squadrons, and the newest is the 98th Space Range Squadron, activated in 2022. The 98th SRS provides a safe and secure operationally representative live-on-orbit environment to test developmental and operational space systems. (6/18)

ExLabs Raises $1.9 Million From SpaceWERX (Source: Space News)
Exploration Laboratories, or ExLabs, a startup focused on space resources, has secured $1.9 million in funding through a Space Force agreement. The Tactical Funding Increase (TACFI) from SpaceWERX, split between government and private investors, will allow the company to advance technology for an autonomous capture and acquisition robot called ACQR. It is designed to work with a spacecraft ExLabs is developing called Space Exploration and Resource Vehicle to manipulate large objects in space. (6/19)

Space Industry Group Warns of Escalating Cyber Threats (Source: Space News)
The commercial space industry is facing an onslaught of cyber attacks and other threats, but lacks the resources and coordination to adequately defend itself, the head of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) warned June 18. “Every week we’re recording over 100 attacks against critical infrastructure related to space systems,” Erin Miller, executive director of Space ISAC, said on a webcast hosted by the National Security Space Association.

Most space companies would have a difficult time defending against well-orchestrated cyber attacks by a nation state, she said. (6/18)

Back Talks Neutron, Launch Cadence (Source: The Register)
Unlike Electron, Neutron will initially only be launched from the company's Wallops Island facility in Virginia, USA. While the choice of location will doubtless please some customers, Beck gives a far more prosaic reason for launching the Neutron from Wallops rather than the company's New Zealand complex: "The challenge there is we can take all the liquid oxygen that is produced in New Zealand and half-fill the tank once. There's just not the industrial base to support such a machine."

According to Beck, delays with Neutron's Archimedes engine were not due to the engineering involved but the time it took to "stand up all the elements to support production." A milling machine that used to take three months to arrive ended up taking 18. Just getting enough concrete to construct the launch pad presented a challenge.

On cadence: "Elon's a little bit of an anomaly," says Beck, "because he creates his own demand with the mega-constellation ... If you took away Starlink, then that's 90 percent of SpaceX's cadence." Beck's figure is a little high, but his reasoning is sound. Without Starlink launches, SpaceX's cadence would be considerably lower. (6/19)

Season's First Tropical Storm Aims for Starbase (Source: ABC13)
Tropical Storm Alberto formed on Wednesday in the southwestern Gulf of Mexico, the first named storm of what is forecast to be a busy hurricane season. Alberto was located 185 miles east of Tampico, Mexico and 295 miles south-southeast of Brownsville, Texas. It had top sustained winds of 40 mph, according to the National Hurricane Center in Miami. The storm has already created more than 4 feet of storm surge in San Luis Pass, Texas, which is located just south of Galveston Island. Numerous homes along the coast have already flooded. (6/19)

Virginia Spaceport to Host Suborbital Launches for Student Experiments (Source: Shore Daily News)
More than 50 student and faculty teams are sending experiments into space as part of NASA’s RockOn and RockSat-C student flight programs. The annual student mission, “RockOn,” is scheduled to launch from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a Terrier-Improved Orion sounding rocket Thursday, June 20, with a launch window that opens at 5:30 a.m. EDT. (6/19)

LVM3 M3 Upper Stage Re-enters Atmosphere (Source: ISRO)
On June 14, 2024, the cryogenic upper stage of the LVM3 M3/OneWeb-2 India mission re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere. The nearly 3-ton rocket body (NORAD ID 56082) was left in an orbit of 450 km altitude after injecting 36 OneWeb satellites on March 26, 2023. (6/18)

Lockheed Martin Wins $2.27 Billion GEO Weather Satellite Contract (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin has won a contract worth up to $2.27 billion to build the next generation of geostationary orbit weather satellites. NASA announced Tuesday it awarded Lockheed a contract for the GeoXO satellites that includes firm orders for three satellites and options for four more. The new GeoXO spacecraft will be based on Lockheed Martin’s modernized LM 2100 satellite bus. Lockheed built the GOES-R series of weather satellites as well, with the last of the series scheduled to launch next week. (6/19)

NASA and Boeing Again Extend Starliner Stay on ISS (Source: Space News)
NASA and Boeing are extending the stay of the CST-100 Starliner spacecraft at the International Space Station again. At a briefing Tuesday, officials said they had pushed back the undocking of Starliner to late June 25, with a landing in the early morning hours of June 26 at White Sands, New Mexico. The delay will give engineers time to wrap up analysis of thruster issues seen with the spacecraft as well as helium leaks. Officials said they are confident that neither problem poses a safety risk for the crew.

Tests over the weekend confirmed good performance from all but one suspect thruster, while helium leak rates had diminished. NASA also announced it was revising plans for spacewalks at the station, with Mike Barratt taking the place of Matt Dominick on a spacewalk rescheduled for June 24. Dominick had reported unspecified "suit discomfort" issues when preparing for a June 13 spacecraft that was scrubbed. (6/19)

Test Uncovers Likely Cause of Starliner's Failed Thrusters (Source: Inverse)
During the final phase of the Starliner’s docking rendezvous two weeks ago, as the vehicle was in the final stretch to deliver the project’s first-ever passengers to the ISS for Boeing’s Crew Flight Test mission, five thrusters on the Starliner failed. On Saturday, the Boeing Starliner pushed ever so slightly against the ISS as part of a test to evaluate the failed thrusters.  One thruster called B1A3 showed only 11 percent thrust during one firing, and nothing on a second firing. The team decided to deselect it. It will not be used for the remainder of Starliner’s flight. But the other four were still in need of evaluation on Saturday June 15, during a hot fire test.

The testing leads the teams to believe that the thrusters are prone to overheating during docking. Higher temperatures may have caused propellant to vaporize, interrupting the mixing of oxidizer and fuel required for the thrusters to properly work, which then reduced the thruster pressure and resulted in the lower readings. (6/19)

Slovenia to Become ESA’s 23rd Member State (Source: ESA)
Slovenia signed the Accession Agreement to the ESA Convention on 18 June 2024. Upon ratification, Slovenia will become the 23rd ESA Member State. In a ceremony taking place at ESA Headquarters in Paris, the Agreement was signed by the Prime Minister of the Republic of Slovenia Dr Robert Golob and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher. (6/19)

CesiumAstro Raises $65 Million (Source: Space News)
Space antenna company CesiumAstro has raised an additional $65 million. The company announced the Series B+ round Tuesday led by Trousdale Ventures, increasing the total raised by the company to $156 million. CesiumAstro plans to expand its staff to bolster research and development and manufacturing both domestically and internationally. The company is developing phased array antennas for use on spacecraft and entered the in-flight connectivity market last year. (6/19)

Spain's FOSSA Raises $6.8 Million for Cubesat IoT Network (Source: Space News)
Spanish startup FOSSA has raised $6.8 million for a network of tracking cubesats. The company said Tuesday that it raised the Series A round that Portuguese early-stage investor Indico Capital Partners co-led with the venture arm of Nabtesco, a Japanese aerospace component maker. The company has launched 17 picosatellites to date to demonstrate Internet of Things services, although all but one of those satellites have since deorbited. The new funding will support work on around 20 slightly larger cubesats to start offering full commercial connectivity services for remote monitoring and tracking devices. (6/19)

China Announces First Astronaut Candidates From Hong Kong, Macau (Source: Space Daily)
The China Manned Space Agency said on June 11 that a payload specialist from Hong Kong and another from Macau were among 10 candidates for the country's fourth batch of astronauts. Hong Kong leader John Lee called it “a glorious page in Hong Kong's history”. (6/11)

Pluto and the Largest Moon of Neptune Might Be Siblings (Source: New Scientist)
Neptune’s largest moon, Triton, and the dwarf planet Pluto may have shared a common origin before being separated in the early solar system, an analysis of their composition suggests. Triton and Pluto have both been visited once by spacecraft, the former by NASA’s passing Voyager 2 in 1989 and the latter by NASA’s New Horizons probe in 2015. Both are icy bodies smaller than Earth’s moon with similar densities that appear to have hosted subsurface oceans at some point. (6/18)

Nagoya University Develops Advanced Heat-Switch for Lunar Rovers (Source: Space Daily)
Astronauts driving vehicles on the Moon face extreme temperature fluctuations, with highs of 127C (260F) and lows of -173C (-280F). Reliable machines capable of operating under these conditions are crucial for future lunar missions. Nagoya University in Japan, in collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, has developed a heat-switch device designed to extend the lifespan of lunar rovers. Their study was published in the journal Applied Thermal Engineering. (6/7)

Universities Providing Programs for Space and Aerospace Medicine (Source: The Conversation)
To meet the evolving demands of human spaceflight, educators and universities are looking to develop a way to train specialists who understand both the limitations of the human body and the constraints of engineering design. Some schools and hospitals, such as the University of Texas Medical Branch, have residency training programs for medical school graduates in aerospace medicine. Others, such as UCLA and Massachusetts General Hospital, have specialty training programs in space medicine, but these currently target fully trained emergency medicine physicians.

A team at the University of Colorado has created a program that integrates human physiology and engineering principles to train medical students to think like engineers. This program aims to help students understand human health and performance in the spaceflight environment. It approaches these topics from an engineering design and constraints perspective to find solutions to the challenges astronauts will face. (6/18)

Shining Light on Mental Health in Space Science Community (Source: SOEST)
The severity of anxiety and depressive symptoms in the planetary science community is greater than in the general U.S. population, according to a study led by a University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa scientist. Survey results showed that anxiety and depression is a major problem within planetary science, especially among graduate students and early career researchers.

The authors also found that anxiety, depressive, or stress symptoms appear greater among marginalized groups, such as women, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community. And further, when examining the correlation between marginalized communities and considering leaving planetary science, LGBTQ+ respondents were more likely to be unsure about staying in the field. (6/17)

An Unexpected Eye-Opener of Space Travel (Source: Texas A&M)
Gravitational changes experienced by astronauts during space travel can cause fluids within the body to shift. This can cause changes to the cardiovascular system, including vessels in and around the eyes. Individuals traveling to space with commercial companies may not be as fit or healthy as astronauts, making it even more important to understand the role that fluid shift plays in cardiovascular and eye health. (6/13)

Space Force Cancels 3 Satellites Planned for MEO (Source: Air and Space Forces)
The Space Force dropped RTX, the company formerly called Raytheon, from “Epoch 1” of its planned missile warning/missile tracking satellites in medium-Earth orbit June 17. Space Systems Command in Los Angeles cited rising costs and schedule delays for the move. Two more contractors are still on pace to support Epoch 1: Millenium Space Systems, a Boeing subsidiary, which is on contract to build six satellites; and L3Harris, which contracted to design and build payloads, but not satellites. Millenium passed a critical design review in November and began production, and L3Harris’ payload passed its preliminary design review in April. (6/17)

UN Security Council Struggles to Achieve Space Security Outcomes (Source: Open Canada)
It may come as a surprise that until this April the United Nations (UN) Security Council had never taken up the issue of outer space security despite the Council’s primary responsibility for the maintenance of international peace and security. Outer space has become an increasingly important environment for global well-being with a wide array of space-based services underpinning many critical civilian activities from telecommunications to navigation to remote sensing of the Earth.

Regrettably, just as global society is discovering ever more benefits from outer space activity, leading space powers are characterizing it as a “war-fighting domain” while accusing one another of having been the first to “weaponize” this vital if vulnerable environment. The ethos of cooperation imbued in the Outer Space Treaty with its stress on space activity being “in the interests and for the benefit of all countries”; its insistence on each party paying “due regard” to the rights of others and its prohibition on the stationing of nuclear weapons or other WMD in orbit, is currently under severe strain.

Precious little has actually been done by states to fulfill the resolution’s direction to negotiate “further measures”. Part of the problem has been that since it last negotiated an agreement in 1996 the Conference on Disarmament has been a largely moribund body, unable to agree and implement a basic programme of work let alone negotiate anything. As security perspectives and threat perceptions differ amongst the member states no common ground has emerged for any new agreement. (6/17)

Virgin Galactic Stock Tumbles After Reverse Stock Split (Source: Yahoo! Finance)
Virgin Galactic (SPCE) shares are trading lower after the company implemented a 1-for-20 reverse stock split, which took effect on Monday. This action, aimed at increasing the company's stock price and meeting listing requirements, has triggered a sell-off among investors. (6/17)

SpaceX Sidelines Falcon 9 After Rare T-0 Abort (Source: Aviation Week)
SpaceX is sidelining a Falcon 9 rocket for additional inspections following a rare launch abort at engine ignition. Stymied by poor weather and other issues last week, SpaceX was trying for the third time to launch the Falcon 9 with 22 Starlink satellites when an abort was called. (6/17)

Nations Realize They Need to Take Risks or Lose the Race to the Moon (Source: The Conversation)
Further delays are likely and there are many technical challenges yet to overcome. Some might wonder whether it is going to happen at all. I am convinced it will because, unlike the Apollo programme, which would be unaffordable in today’s climate, the current lunar endeavor will pay off in financial and exploration terms. Extracting water ice from craters at the lunar south pole could facilitate journeys from the Moon to other destinations such as Mars, bringing down the cost of space exploration.

This is why the booming space industry seems fixed on the Moon as a destination right now – countries simply cannot afford to miss this boat. The space sector can boost whole economies. It is almost certain that by the mid-2030s there will be two lunar bases in operation. Private and state-owned companies will harness its resources, manufacture products, generate energy and offer stays for tourists. (6/17)

How Billionaires are Racing to Profit From Space (Source: iNews)
While no country can claim territory or own land on the Moon under the Artemis Accords, “companies can create a safety zone around the material they mine – meaning other groups can’t interfere with it, which could lead to a de facto land claim on the region.” Click here. (6/18)

What’s Next For Spaceport America? (Source: Los Alamos Daily Post)
What’s next for Spaceport America? Maybe it’s time to go back to Plan A. In case you’re wondering, Virgin Galactic was Plan B. “Spaceport America began as New Mexico’s dream to integrate and promote its space industry to grow the state’s economy,” wrote space economist Thomas Matula. “Instead, it got lost in this detour into suborbital space tourism.” As a Ph.D. candidate, Matula worked on the initial feasibility study for a spaceport.

“That study envisioned a very different spaceport from the one operating today,” he wrote. “Instead of a facility built around an anchor client, Virgin Galactic, whose business is based on the transport of tourists into suborbital space, back in 1991 (the proposed spaceport) was supposed to be the flagship of New Mexico’s space industry.” Matula wonders how the founders’ vision pivoted to space tourists. State officials followed a shiny object. Besides, space tourism was easier to explain (and sell) to legislators than space research and development.

Spaceport America has four other tenants, but they “bear little evidence of any strategic integration with New Mexico’s space industry,” Matula wrote. Maybe so, but they have invested substantially in their facilities here, they’ve notched successes, and together they could be the foundation of the spaceport’s next chapter. This month a consultant is expected to deliver a master plan to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority that examines growth opportunities for the state’s aerospace industry and identifies strengths and challenges for the facility. (6/17)