June 5, 2024

Air Force Looks to Expand Rocket Cargo Vendor List (Source: Breaking Defense)
The U.S. Air Force is seeking additional companies for its rocket cargo delivery initiative, aiming to transport supplies globally within 90 minutes using commercial space capabilities. This effort, part of the ROC STAR project, focuses on leveraging commercial innovations to achieve rapid, cost-effective logistics. (6/4)

NASA Fixes Hubble (Source: Space News)
NASA is changing the operating mode of the Hubble Space Telescope after one of its gyros malfunctioned. The agency said Tuesday that after one of three remaining gyros went offline in late May, the latest in a series of problems with that gyro, it would switch the telescope into a single-gyro mode, using one of the other two working gyros while putting the other into reserve. That approach is intended to maximize the life of the telescope, with a 70% chance that at least one gyro will be working into the mid-2030s.

The single-gyro mode does reduce the efficiency of Hubble observations and limits the telescope's ability to observe some objects. Officials said they would not pursue options for a private mission to reboost or repair Hubble, like the one studied by SpaceX, concluding the risks were too high at this time. (6/5)

Iridium Wins $94 Million for DoD Comms Support (Source: Space News)
Iridium has won a $94 million contract to provide communications support services for the Defense Department. The award by the Space Systems Command's Commercial Space Office (COMSO) within the U.S. Space Force is for ground infrastructure services in support of the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) program. eESS is designed specifically for the DoD and approved users that provides communication services through Iridium's satellite network, effectively "a giant DoD family plan" for global satellite communications. (6/5)

Eutalsat Focused on Multi-Orbit Broadband (Source: Space News)
Eutelsat is betting its future on providing multi-orbit broadband services. With its acquisition of OneWeb last year, Eutelsat is the only major GEO satellite operator which also has an operational LEO constellation. In an interview, CEO Eva Berneke said the company is seeing strong demand from mobile backhaul and maritime markets, and expects aeronautical multi-orbit services to emerge in 2025.

She said she doesn't expect the acquisition of Intelsat by SES to significantly alter the landscape for multi-orbit services. The company is also planning a "progressive" deployment of a second-generation OneWeb constellation, allowing it to gradually introduce new technologies. (6/5)

K2 Space to Test Satellite Bus on Transporter-12 (Source: Space News)
Satellite manufacturing startup K2 Space will launch its first mission later this year. The spacecraft, launching on SpaceX's Transporter-12 rideshare mission in October, will be a tech demo mission to test key subsystems the company is developing for its Mega Class satellite bus. That bus is a large spacecraft designed to accommodate payloads weighing 1,000 kilograms with 20 kilowatts of power, optimized to take advantage of low-cost launch options like Falcon 9.

The company recently was selected by Space Force and Space Development Agency for a $3.8 million Tactical Funding Increase, or TACFI, award to fly DoD payloads on its first Mega Class satellite, and has signed a contract with an unnamed global satellite communications operator to study using that bus for a constellation. (6/5)

Europe's Revolv Space Focuses on Small Satellite Subsystems (Source: Space News)
European startup Revolv Space is looking to find a niche in providing key subsystems for small satellites. The company, which recently raised 2.6 million euros, is working to develop the type of mechanisms and moving parts common on large satellites for the growing small satellite market. It is focusing on power-generation components, with its first product, a solar array drive assembly, sold to two customers so far. (6/5)

Rocket Lab Launches Second PREFIRE Mission From New Zealand (Source: Space News)
Rocket Lab launched the second NASA PREFIRE cubesat Tuesday night. An Electron rocket lifted off from the company's New Zealand spaceport at 11:15 p.m. Eastern and placed the PREFIRE, or Polar Radiant Energy in the Far-InfraRed Experiment, cubesat into sun-synchronous orbit. The satellite joins a twin spacecraft launched on another Electron a week and a half earlier. The mission will use the cubesats to measure infrared emissions at the poles to improve weather and climate models. (6/5)

SpaceX Launches Tuesday Starlink Mission From Florida (Source: Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites, some with direct-to-cell payloads, Tuesday night. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 10:16 p.m. Eastern and placed 20 Starlink satellites into orbit. Thirteen of the satellites have direct-to-cell payloads, with more than 50 such spacecraft now in orbit. The launch took place on the 14th anniversary of the first Falcon 9 launch. (6/5)

SpaceX Secures FAA OK for Thursday Starship Launch (Source: Ars Technica)
SpaceX has secured an updated FAA launch license for its next Starship launch. The license will allow SpaceX to proceed with Thursday morning's scheduled launch of the fourth Starship/Super Heavy test flight from Boca Chica, Texas. The license includes provisions that could allow SpaceX to speed up future flights by allowing SpaceX to skip an investigation in certain failure scenarios that do not pose safety risks to the uninvolved public. (6/5)

Law Firm Creates Space Regulatory Calculator (Source: Space News)
A law firm has created a "regulatory calculator" to assist space companies. The Space Regulatory Calculator is an online tool by Aegis Space Law designed to assist startups with licensing and other requirements from federal agencies like the FAA, FCC and NOAA. It will help companies determine what licenses and permits they need and the schedules for obtaining them. (6/5)

Axiom Performs Spacesuit Test (Source: Axiom Space)
Axiom Space has performed the first integrated test of the spacesuits it is developing for NASA's Artemis lunar missions. In the test, NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock and former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, now Axiom's director of human spaceflight, wore the suits in a test involving a mockup of the SpaceX Starship lunar lander. The test was designed to see how well the suits integrated with lander systems. Axiom has also tested the suit in NASA's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, although so far without an astronaut inside. (6/5)

Blue Origin Works Toward New Glenn Debut, Ramps BE-4 Deliveries (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
Blue Origin has been busy progressing on many of its projects as target dates move closer. New Glenn continues to inch closer to launch, facilities are being expanded, BE-4 engines have been delivered to ULA, and New Shepard has returned to crewed flights. With the September launch window of NASA’s EscaPADE Mars mission closing in, teams are working through the tail-end of tests at Launch Complex 36 (LC-36) to prepare the site for its first static fire and launch.

On March 12, Blue rolled back the New Glenn Pathfinder first stage after completing cryogenic and ground system testing on the launch pad. The 7-meter-wide and 45-meter-long stage made the trek back to the company’s campus at Exploration Park, just outside the gates of Kennedy Space Center. Click here. (6/4)

A Mini-Neptune in the Habitable Zone in a Binary Star System (Source: Universe Today)
Sometimes, it seems like habitable worlds can pop up almost anywhere in the universe. A recent paper from a team of citizen scientists led by researchers at the Flatiron Institute might have found an excellent candidate to look for one – on a moon orbiting a mini-Neptune orbiting a star that is also orbited by another star.

That’s a lot of things orbiting each other, so let’s dive into some details of the star system known as TOI 4633. It has two potential planets. One has a relatively short 34-day orbit but whose existence was only found by radial velocity measurements, as it doesn’t cross between the Earth and its host star. It also has yet to be confirmed by exoplanet hunters.

Another planet, known for now at TOI 4633c, is much more intriguing. It falls into the size category of a “mini-Neptune,” meaning it is slightly smaller than the 8th planet in our solar system but is likely still a gas giant with a thick atmosphere. It orbits its host star once every 272 days – making it one of the 40 longest-orbiting planets out of the thousands discovered so far. (6/4)

New Earth-Sized Planet Discovered Orbiting a Star That Will Live 100 Billion Years (Source: SciTech Daily)
Researchers using global robotic telescopes discovered an Earth-sized planet, SPECULOOS-3 b, orbiting an ultra-cool red dwarf within the Milky Way. This planet, tidally locked and likely lacking an atmosphere due to intense radiation, offers new insights into long-lived red dwarfs, which are anticipated to be among the last stars burning in the universe. (3/29)

Winners Announced in Gateways to Blue Skies Aeronautics Competition (Source: NASA)
The California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, team, with their project titled “Aero-Quake Emergency Response Network,” took first place at the third annual Gateways to Blue Skies Competition. Competing among eight finalist teams that presented their ideas for aviation-related systems for natural disasters, the California State Polytechnic University, Pomona team earned the top award at the 2024 Blue Skies Forum. (6/3)

Maine Company Plans to Launch Small Satellites Starting in 2025 (Source: Phys.org)
Representatives for a Maine company that plans to send small satellites into space from the Northeast's most rural state said they will start launches next year. Brunswick-based bluShift Aerospace hopes to turn Maine into a hub for the launching of commercial nanosatellites and has been making progress toward that goal for more than three years. A successful recent round of fundraising means commercial suborbital launch is on track to start in 2025, company officials said Tuesday. (6/4)

NASA's OSIRIS-APEX Unscathed After Searing Pass of Sun (Source: NASA)
Mission engineers were confident NASA’s OSIRIS-APEX (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification – Apophis Explorer) spacecraft could weather its closest ever pass of the Sun on Jan. 2, 2024. Their models had predicted that, despite traveling 25 million miles closer to the heat of the Sun than it was originally designed to, OSIRIS-APEX and its components would remain safe.

The mission team confirmed that the spacecraft indeed had come out of the experience unscathed after downloading stored telemetry data in mid-March. (6/4)

We’ve Finally Seen Matter Plunge into a Black Hole (Source: Scientific American)
In 2018 astronomers using multiple telescopes discovered a black hole, called MAXI J1820+070, that gave Mummery and his team the opportunity they needed. Located about 10,000 light-years away, this black hole has been feeding on material siphoned from a nearby star, and for a few months, observers watched as it gorged itself on a hefty serving of stellar gas, gaining a good view of its thick, hot accretion disk that glowed brightly in x-rays. Two of NASA’s space-based telescopes, Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) and Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER), tuned to the black hole and gathered a glut of x-ray data. (5/23)

Rocket Development Builds on Tried and True Experience for New Orbital Missions (Source: Breaking Defense)
In this Q&A with Northrop Grumman’s Kurt Eberly, director of Space Launch, we discuss: the latest on the Antares, Pegasus, and Minotaur rockets; as well as a new Medium Launch Vehicle being developed. Click here. (6/4)

NASA to Measure Moonquakes With Help From InSight Mars Mission (Source: NASA)
The technology behind the two seismometers that make up NASA’s Farside Seismic Suite was used to detect more than a thousand Red Planet quakes. The most sensitive instrument ever built to measure quakes and meteor strikes on other worlds is getting closer to its journey to the mysterious far side of the Moon.

It’s one of two seismometers adapted for the lunar surface from instruments originally designed for NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which recorded more than 1,300 marsquakes before the mission’s conclusion in 2022. Part of a payload called Farside Seismic Suite (FSS) that was recently assembled at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, the two seismometers are expected to arrive in 2026 at Schrödinger basin, a wide impact crater about 300 miles (500 kilometers) from the Moon’s South Pole. (5/29)

New Model Suggests Partner Anti-Universe Could Explain Accelerated Expansion Without the Need for Dark Energy (Source: Phys.org)
The accelerated expansion of the present universe, believed to be driven by a mysterious dark energy, is one of the greatest puzzles in our understanding of the cosmos. The standard model of cosmology called Lambda-CDM, explains this expansion as a cosmological constant in Einstein's field equations. However, the cosmological constant itself lacks a complete theoretical understanding, particularly regarding its very small positive value.

To explain the accelerated expansion, physicists have proposed alternative explanations such as quintessence and modified gravity theories, including scalar-tensor-vector gravity. Additionally, explanations beyond four dimensions, like the braneworld scenarios in the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati (DGP) model, modify gravity at large distances due to the effect of a higher-dimensional bulk on our four-dimensional brane, and variable brane tension.

In my work, I propose another model to explain the present accelerated expansion of the universe. Unlike existing models, this does not require any form of dark energy or modified gravity approaches. However, there is a price to pay: we need a partner anti-universe whose time flow is oppositely related to our universe. (6/4)

Radical Hypersonic Engine Blasts Hotfire Tests (Source: New Atlas)
Hypersonic aircraft will need hypersonic engines. With that goal in mind, Ursa Major under a US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) contract has conducted a series of hotfire tests of its advanced Draper liquid-fuel rocket engine at its Berthoud, Colorado headquarters.

With their ability to fly well in excess of Mach 5, hypersonic missiles and other vehicles are regarded as one of the great potential game changers when it comes to future strategic and tactical military planning. If such weapons could be made practical, especially by being maneuverable in flight at lower altitudes, they would be able to penetrate current air defense systems and destroy targets by sheer kinetic energy. (6/4)

Space Force Must Address Cybersecurity in Commercial Acquisitions (Source: C4ISRnet)
Now in its fourth year, the service has increasingly turned to commercial solutions for enhancing resiliency. Thus far, Space Force has leveraged private sector contracts to proliferate and diversify its satellite constellations as part of an acquisitions strategy to exploit what it has and buy what it can.

While redundancy and diversification are crucial for resilience, commercial space systems are increasingly vulnerable to digital compromise. Cyberattacks have become the most cost-effective means for adversaries to disrupt satellites, ground stations, and user devices for accessing space-based networks. (6/3)

Bahrain to Host International Space Forum (Source: News of Bahrain)
Bahrain is set to make history this summer as it hosts the prestigious sixth edition of the International Space Forum (ISF) for the first time in the Middle East and North Africa region. From July 2-3, the Kingdom will become the epicenter of global space dialog, welcoming an elite assembly of space leaders, policymakers, and experts to explore how space technology can transform diplocmacy and economic development in the MENA region. (6/3)

NTT Launches Space Unit (Source: TelecomTV)
Japanese giant NTT is pulling together its various assets, projects and plans associated with space, satellites and high-altitude platform station (HAPS) developments under one brand, NTT C89, as it takes the next steps in its “space integrated computing network” strategy. (6/3)

Artemis Generation Shines During NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge at KSC (Source: NASA)
Members of the Artemis Generation kicked up some simulated lunar dust as part of NASA’s 2024 Lunabotics Challenge, held at The Astronauts Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education at the agency’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. When the dust settled, two teams emerged from Artemis Arena as the grand prize winners of this year’s competition.

Teams from Iowa State University and the University of Alabama shared the Artemis grand prize award for scoring the most cumulative points during the annual competition. Judges scored competing teams on project management plans, presentations and demonstrations, systems engineering papers, robotic berm building, and science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) engagement.  (6/3)

New Zealand’s Nascent Space Industry Aims for the Stars (Source: Reuters)
The grassy plains on the east coast of New Zealand’s South Island, once home to cattle, have been transformed into a key aerospace facility for the Pacific nation as it looks to become a global hub for advanced aircraft and space exploration. New Zealand is inviting aerospace firms from around the world to set up at the new Tawhaki National Aerospace Center on the Kaitorete spit, a 25 kilometer long and 3km wide coastal site. (6/3)