July 9, 2024

Military-to-Civilian Space Traffic Transition Nears Critical Juncture (Source: Space News)
The Office of Space Commerce is finally on the cusp of beta testing its Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS), a U.S. government initiative six years in the making. The upcoming test will be a moment of truth for TraCSS, a cloud-based system being developed to provide basic space situational awareness and space traffic coordination services for civil and commercial space operators. The TraCSS project has lagged behind initial timelines, and according to a senior OSC official, its biggest challenges lie not in the complexities of orbital tracking, but in navigating the maze of government bureaucracy. (7/8)

Blue Abyss Receives Ohio Capital Budget Funding (Source: Blue Abyss)
Blue Abyss has received one-time funding of $1.8 million from the Ohio Capital Budget to advance its mission of fostering innovation, education, and economic growth within the region. The company recently purchased land in Brook Park, adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport and close to NASA’s Glenn Research Center, Neil A. Armstrong Test Facility and Ohio Aerospace Institute, where it aims to commence construction of its facilities in the second half of 2024.

The Blue Abyss Center and hotel will occupy a 12-acre site adjacent to Cleveland Hopkins International Airport, close to NASA’s training facilities and world-class universities and hospitals. The facility will house the world’s largest and deepest R&D Pool, measuring 40m by 50m on the surface, with a 16m wide shaft plunging to a depth of 50m. It will hold 42,000 cubic meters of water. (7/8)

Australia's Spacefaring Future (Source: Launchpad)
Move over, China and India. The next great space power might just be the land and down under: Australia. Located in the Southern Hemisphere, Australia is uniquely positioned to provide polar and sun-synchronous launches for satellites. Its close ally New Zealand shares the same benefit, and has spawned its own major space company in the form of Rocket Lab, which just recently expanded into Australia.

Surrounded by ocean on all sides, with massive amounts of empty land, and an economy hungry to diversify beyond its traditional mining and energy sectors, Australia has tremendous potential to become a new hub for launches in the growing space economy, with many new companies springing up around the recently formed Australian Space Agency.

Spaceport congestion is a major issue, with little real estate left to support the industry’s growing needs. But the Australian Space Agency aims to change that. The US recently agreed to a deal that allows the shipment of American rocket parts and equipment into Australia, boosting the country’s fledgling industry with tech from the best. The same deal that it shares with New Zealand, and helped Rocket Lab dominate the launch market in the Southern Hemisphere. (7/9)

Maxar Upgrades Satellite Imagery Basemaps (Source: Space News)
Maxar Intelligence’s new global basemap offers 15-centimeter imagery for metropolitan areas. The Vivid Advanced 15-centimeter HD Basemap, unveiled July 9, will be particularly important for mapping and navigation applications, said Bryan Smith, Maxar 2D products director. Maxar began offering global satellite imagery with a resolution of 30-centimeters per pixel in 2023. Prior to that, Maxar’s basemap offered 50-centimeter resolution worldwide and 30-centimeter resolution for select cities. (7/9)

Aerojet Rocketdyne Updates RS-25s for Artemis Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Aerojet Rocketdyne has successfully upgraded the RS-25 engines for NASA's Artemis IV mission, marking the first flight of the advanced SLS Block 1B configuration. These engines, the last from the space shuttle era, now feature modern flight computers designed to endure higher temperatures near the SLS solid rocket motors. (7/9)

NASA Meets with Commercial Space Station Makers (Source: Space Daily)
NASA recently held a meeting with 20-plus companies to draft utilization requirements for the development of future commercial space stations. The focus was on ensuring these stations support continued scientific research in low Earth orbit, including human research, technology demonstrations and Earth observation. (7/3)

Florida/Israel Grant Program Picks Winners (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida and the Israel Innovation Authority announced the award recipients of the 11th round of funding from the Space Florida-Israel Innovation Partnership Program.  The program has supported the research, development, and commercialization of aerospace and related technology projects for the benefit of Florida’s and Israel’s economy since 2013. To date, Florida and Israel have helped fund over $22 million in valuable and innovative research. This year’s award recipients are:

KBR Wyle Services (Titusville, Florida) and Purammon LTD (Israel) will develop a novel wastewater treatment system for use in crewed spaceflight. Lockheed Martin (Merritt Island, Florida) and StemRad (Israel) will develop systems and technologies to protect astronauts from dangerous radiation that can pose a significant risk during crewed human spaceflight.

Guident Autonomous Intelligence (Boca Raton, Florida) and Novelsat Limited (Israel) will develop and demonstrate an advanced autonomous vehicle communication system focusing on low-latency satellite services. SRF Consulting Group (Tallahassee, Florida) and Mobility Insight (Israel) will develop, deploy, and manage a pilot of Mobi’s Traffic Management as a Service (TMaaS) system in Central Florida. (7/9)

Coping with Starship (Source: Space Review)
As Ariane 6 approaches the launch pad for its inaugural launch, some wonder if it and other vehicles stand a chance against SpaceX’s Starship. Jeff Foust reports on how companies are making the cases for their rockets while, in some circumstances, keeping a close eye on Starship development. Click here. (7/8)
 
The Little Rocket that Could: Thor in the Early Days at Vandenberg (Source: Space Review)
In the conclusion of his examination of the Thor rocket’s legacy at Vandenberg, Dwayne Day provides a gallery of launches of that rocket from there in the early Space Age. Click here. (7/8)
 
Welcome to the Age of Space Skepticism and a Growing Revolt Against Elites (Source: Space Review)
Commercial space activities have opened new opportunities, but also created a backlash. Tony Milligan discusses how those activities, and the people behind them, have sparked criticism from people who see spaceflight as only an “elite pastime” that should be curtailed. Click here. (7/8)
 
Remembering Starfish Prime (Source: Space Review)
This week marks the 62nd anniversary of Starfish Prime, a US nuclear weapons test in space that had impacts both on satellites and the ground. Ajey Lele notes this anniversary carries renewed interest given claims Russia is developing a space nuclear weapon. Click here. (7/8)

Germany's Integral Role in the Ariane 6 Launch Program (Source: Space Review)
The Ariane 6, Europe's new launcher, is set for its maiden voyage on 9 July 2024. This rocket aims to provide Europe with reliable and cost-effective access to space, succeeding the Ariane 5 while offering greater flexibility. Germany stands as the second-largest contributor to ESA's Ariane 6 program, with the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR) in Bonn coordinating its contributions. DLR has played a significant role in developing Ariane 6, particularly through extensive engine tests and upper stage evaluations at its Lampoldshausen facility. (7/9)

Eye Test for Lunar Impact Surveyor (Source: Space Daily)
The European Space Agency (ESA) has approved the Lunar Meteoroid Impact Observer (Lumio) mission, which will operate from an Earth-Moon Lagrange point to monitor meteoroid impacts on the lunar farside. Lumio will also conduct an advanced autonomous navigation experiment using its onboard camera to determine its orbit and distance from the Moon.

The mission utilizes a sophisticated testbed named 'Retina' (Realistic Experimental FaciliTy for vision-based Navigation) to develop and verify the vision-based navigation algorithms required for Lumio's operations. Retina consists of various opto-mechanical components arranged along two optical lines on an optical bench in a darkroom. (7/8)

Quantum Detectors Poised to Reveal Dark Matter Mysteries (Source: Space Daily)
A major scientific enigma may be closer to resolution as researchers harness cutting-edge quantum technology. Scientists are deploying the most sensitive dark matter detectors ever constructed, showcased in "A Quantum View of the Invisible Universe" at the Royal Society's Summer Science Exhibition. The exhibition features interactive displays and demonstrations. (7/8)

Gravitics Wins $125M Contract From Axiom for Commercial Space Station Hardware (Source: Geekwire)
Gravitics has won a $125 million contract from Axiom Space to provide a pressurized spacecraft for Axiom’s yet-to-be-launched commercial space station. The hardware would play a utility role by providing a variety of support services for Axiom Station. Axiom Station’s first space module is being built by Thales Alenia Space. That habitation module would be attached to the ISS in the 2026 time frame, and when it’s time for the ISS to be retired, Axiom plans to detach its hardware to serve as a standalone orbital outpost.

Gravitics would help Axiom build out its orbital infrastructure. The startup, founded in 2021, offers a product line of spacecraft ranging in diameter from 3 meters to a Starship-sized 8 meters. The spacecraft to be built for Axiom will be 4 meters in diameter, with its own propulsion system and power system. Gravitics’ deal with Axiom points the way toward an ecosystem for building and operating commercial space stations. (7/9)

Direct-to-Cell Starlink Satellites Brighter Than Others (Source: PC Magazine)
Don’t be surprised if you spot SpaceX’s cellular Starlink technology lighting up the night sky: A new study finds that the company’s “direct to cell” satellites are nearly five times brighter than a regular Starlink satellite. A team of scientists published a paper examining SpaceX’s new direct-to-cell Starlink satellites, which the company began launching in January.

Although there are only about 100 of these satellites in orbit, they already stand out from the rest of the Starlink constellation for their ability to reflect sunlight. The study finds the direct-to-cell satellites average about 4.9 times more in brightness when measuring all the Starlink satellites at a common distance. (7/8)

Quasars are 'Cosmic Signposts' Pointing to Rare Supermassive Black Hole Pairs (Source: Space.com)
there must be a large population of supermassive black hole binaries out there that are on the cusp of colliding and creating an even more monstrous daughter supermassive black hole. But where are they? New research suggests that quasars — the luminous hearts of active galaxies, which are powered by feeding supermassive black holes — could be the answer to that question. The team behind the research thinks that galaxies with quasars could be seven times more likely to host supermassive black hole binaries than other galaxies. (7/8)

We Need to Consider Alternatives to Dark Matter that Better Explain Cosmological Observations (Source: The Conversation)
Do constants of nature — the numbers that determine how things behave, like the speed of light — change over time as the universe expands? Does light get a little tired travelling vast cosmic distances? It was believed that dark matter and dark energy explained these cosmological phenomena, but recent research indicates that our universe has been expanding without dark matter or dark energy.

Doing away with dark matter and dark energy resolves the “impossible early galaxy problem,” that arises when trying to account for galaxies that do not adhere to expectations regarding to size and age. Finding an alternative to dark matter and energy that complies with existing cosmological observations, including galaxy distribution, is possible. (7/8)

The Mathematics Professor Who Wanted to Nuke the Moon to Save the World (Source: GOOD)
Alexander Abian was a mathematics professor at Iowa State University. In a 1991 campus newsletter, he proposed his “Moonless Earth theory,” according to which “blowing up the Moon would solve all of human life’s problems.” He didn’t have a personal grudge for the moon, but rather he believed that demolishing it would mean the end of seasons, which would eliminate natural disasters. (7/8)

Perseverance Triumphs: How SHERLOC Was Brought Back to Life on Mars (Source: SciTechDaily)
After six months of effort, an instrument that helps NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover look for potential signs of ancient microbial life has come back online.

After a mechanical failure halted SHERLOC’s operations on the Perseverance rover, NASA engineers conducted thorough testing and innovative fixes to restore the instrument. Their efforts, which included manipulating the rover’s components to free a stuck lens cover, enabled continued exploration and data collection on Mars, focusing on geological signs of ancient life. (7/6)

SpaceX Sexual Harassment Lawsuit Spotlights Elon Musk's Brand of Cancel Culture (Source: Bloomberg)
At SpaceX, sexual harassment became a joke a long time ago. Some years back, employees at the company holiday party were treated to a 10-minute parody video, one of those eye-rolling exercises where your bosses awkwardly try to land a few punch lines. The video’s sourest note plays a few minutes in, when a narrator chides a staffer who’s just grabbed her colleague Brian Bjelde’s butt. “We have a very strict sexual-harassment policy,” the voiceover intones, “and you’ve got to get it right.”

Cut to the same woman practicing her harassment technique on Bjelde, who’s now SpaceX’s vice president for human resources. While he faces an office wall, hands over his head, she spanks him several more times, and another woman helps her refine her form, like a golfer. The eventual punch line is a freeze-frame of her hand on Bjelde’s bum accompanied by a chime and a green check mark, indicating that her harassment now meets with company approval. (7/8)

SpaceX Sends Up Space Coast's 50th Rocket Launch of the Year (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX continued the Space Coast’s record rocket launch pace with a Monday evening liftoff from Cape Canaveral. A Falcon 9 rocket on the Turksat-6A mission carrying a Turkish communications satellite to a geosynchronous transfer orbit lifted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. This was the 15th flight of the first-stage booster, which made a recovery landing downrange.

It was the 50th launch of the year from either Canaveral or neighboring Kennedy Space Center with SpaceX responsible for 47 of them. The other three have been from United Launch Alliance during a year that could see more than 100 missions fly for the first time, besting 2023’s record of 72 launches. (7/8)

Space Force Plans First-of-a-Kind Conclave to Prioritize User Needs (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Space Force is planning a first-ever meeting with combatant commanders, other US agencies and allies to hammer out near-term requirements and priorities for space capabilities, according to the head of Space Operations Command (SpOC). The service needs to set priorities and balance amongst competing demands, while also ensuring that Guardians have downtime to train as new technologies and capabilities come on board, Lt. Gen. David Miller said.

At that meeting, the Space Force will “level set” with the user community “on the capacity that we have — including modernization that we might need to take forces down in order to build new capability,” he explained. SpOC then will “build a plan for the future that goes out at least two to three years” that will be refreshed “every six months.” (7/8)

Space Force Preparing for the Age of Proliferated LEO Networks (Source: Space News)
A shift to constellations is forcing the Space Force to reconsider how it will use those spacecraft. The Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA) represents a paradigm shift in military space operations and is forcing the Space Force to rethink its structure and practices. Lt. Gen. David Miller, head of the Space Force's Space Operations Command, said space operations units will need a "different mindset" to make the best use of large numbers of satellites rather than a handful of long-lived spacecraft. (7/9)

House Bill Directs NASA to Study New Asteroid and Orbital Debris Missions (Source: Space News)
A House spending bill would direct NASA to begin studies of an asteroid mission and orbital debris inspection mission not in the agency's budget proposal. The House Appropriations Committee released Monday the report accompanying a commerce, justice and science spending bill for fiscal year 2025 that the committee will take up today. The report includes a provision directing NASA to spend up to $25 million on an orbital debris inspection mission, something that NASA had not stated plans to develop.

It also includes $5 million to study a potential mission to the asteroid Apophis done in cooperation with the private sector. The report calls for increased spending on Mars Sample Return even as NASA studies alternative approaches and expresses support, but no specific funding levels, for the Chandra X-Ray Observatory. (7/9)

MDA Space to Buy Components From Belgium's Aerospacelab (Source: Space News)
MDA Space will buy satellite components from Belgian manufacturer Aerospacelab. Aerospacelab announced Monday that it will provide more than 200 battery charge regulators, used to manage power distribution and battery charging in satellite systems, for MDA Space's Aurora satellites over a three-year period starting in 2026. This deal marks another step in MDA Space's supply chain development for Aurora, which was unveiled in March as a new line of software-defined satellites with Telesat as the anchor customer. (7/9)

Hydrogen Sulfide Identified in Exoplanet Atmosphere (Source: Reuters)
Astronomers are raising a stink about an exoplanet. The exoplanet, HD 189733 b, has traces of hydrogen sulfide, a gas linked to rotten eggs, in its atmosphere, according to spectroscopic observations by the James Webb Space Telescope. The planet was already not particularly hospitable, with high temperatures and molten glass raining through its atmosphere. "This is not a planet we humans want to visit, but a valuable target for furthering our understanding of planetary science," said Guangwei Fu, the scientist who led the latest study of the planet. (7/9)

Nine UK Startups Join California-Based Accelerator (Source: Space News)
Nine space startups based in the United Kingdom will participate in an accelerator program based in California. Mandala Space Ventures said Monday that the startups picked for the SoCal-UK Space Accelerator will spend eight weeks in virtual courses and finish with an in-person pitch day at Caltech. The SoCal-UK Space Accelerator is one of four accelerators the UK Space Agency announced in February as part of a pilot program with up to £500,000 of funding. (7/9)

Pentagon Keeps Commitment to Sentinel Nuclear Missile as Costs Balloon (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department has decided to proceed with the $140 billion Sentinel ICBM program despite cost and schedule problems. Undersecretary of Defense for Acquisitions William LaPlante certified that the Sentinel program met statutory criteria to continue following a comprehensive review triggered by a critical Nunn-McCurdy breach earlier this year when costs exceeded projections by 25%. Officials maintain that replacing the Minuteman III ICBMs with the new Sentinel system is crucial for maintaining the land-based portion of the U.S. nuclear triad. (7/9)

Iceye to Provide SAR Imagery to Ukraine (Source: Iceye)
Radar mapping company Iceye is enhancing its work with Ukraine. The company announced Monday that it signed a memorandum of cooperation with Ukraine's defense ministry that ensures that synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images taken by Iceye's satellites are not used by hostile countries. Iceye will also provide SAR expertise to support defense activities. The agreement builds on earlier work that included the purchase of an Iceye satellite by a Ukrainian charity to support the country's war effort. (7/9)

A Groundbreaking New Experiment Explores Quantum Gravity (Source: Popular Mechanics)
designed an experiment so sensitive that it can measure a gravitational force equal to one-quintillionth of a Newton (on the scale of 1 attoNewton) on a particle weighing only 0.43 milligrams. However, the lead scientist stresses that this measurement is still “a million miles away” from demonstrating quantum gravity. “What we’re saying is that this is a step on the way towards measuring quantum gravity effects,” Tjerk Oosterkamp explains.

Being able to measure these effects could be an important first step toward a clearer understanding of quantum gravity—which could unlock secrets about the very origin of the universe itself. (7/9)

Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex Stars Alongside 'Fly Me to the Moon' (Source: Space Coast Daily)
Florida’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is set to star alongside Hollywood A-listers, Scarlett Johansson, Channing Tatum and Woody Harrelson, in the upcoming movie, “Fly me to the Moon”. The movie tells the fictional story of marketing genius Kelly Jones (Johansson), as her world collides with that of Cole Davis (Tatum), a NASA employee who has been given the difficult task of keeping America’s mission to put a man on the moon afloat. The movie will feature many of the spectacular visual highlights of the Visitor Complex. (7/9)

Earth’s Inner Core Rotation Has Begun Moving Backwards (Source; Earth.com)
Research spearheaded by Dr. John Vidale, Dean’s Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, has confirmed a slow deceleration of Earth’s inner core rotation to the point where it is moving backwards. This perplexing shift may have profound implications for our planet. (7/8)

China Has Big Plans for Asteroid 2015 XF261 (Source: Israel Hayom)
China plans to launch an asteroid deflection and observation mission before 2030, targeting the near-Earth asteroid 2015 XF261 or 2019 VL5 with a diameter of about 30 meters. The mission will involve an observer probe to analyze the asteroid for 3-6 months and an impactor probe to collide with it, deviating its flight path initially by a few inches to test planetary defense capabilities and study asteroid dynamics, evolution, and origins. (7/8)

Scout Space Selected for DARPA’s Commercial Tech Initiative (Source: Space News)
DARPA has selected the startup Scout Space to participate in the BRIDGES (Bringing Classified Innovation to Defense and Government Systems) consortium. BRIDGES, launched by DARPA in 2023, aims to connect innovative small companies and nontraditional defense contractors with classified Department of Defense research and development efforts. The initiative seeks to bridge the gap between cutting-edge commercial technologies and classified defense needs, particularly in areas considered critical to maintaining U.S. military superiority. (7/8)

SpaceX is Tearing Up a Texas Town’s Bird Community (Source: Daily Beast)
It appears birds have entered the orbit of things Elon Musk couldn’t care less about, joining the likes of Twitter (RIP) and advertisers (“Go f*** yourself”). A New York Times report outlined how SpaceX’s operations in Boca Chica, Texas, have devastated the community’s bird migration habitat. Fires have broken out after rocket launches, and mud and trash have cut through and tarnished the area. It’s left bird nests destroyed, eggs missing, and federal officials angry.

Records observed by the Times showed that Musk and his SpaceX team took advantage of the federal bureaucracy to expand the company’s headquarters in Boca Chica, playing the purposes of various federal agencies against each other to limit oversight on some issues—like wildlife management—while advancing the interests of others. “They kept saying, ‘No, we are not going to do that, we are not going to do that,’ and then they came back and said, ‘Yes, we are,’” Mark Spier, the then-top National Park Service official who oversaw the SpaceX expansion. “We were being misled.” (7/7)

Patrick Space Force Base Earns Annual Award for Installation Excellence (Source: Space Coast Daily)
Secretary of Defense Lloyd J. Austin III announced Patrick Space Force Base as the Space Force recipient of the Commander in Chief’s Annual Award for Installation Excellence July 1. The award recognizes the outstanding and innovative efforts of the teams of people who operate and maintain U.S. military installations, selecting one base from each military service, plus the Defense Logistics Agency each year.

This year’s Space Force Installation Excellence selection board consisted of a cross functional team from the Headquarters United States Space Force staff. Space Launch Delta 45 authored a cross-coast concept of operations to streamline launch control capabilities by syncing Patrick SFB and Vandenberg SFB mission commands into a single focal point. The effort added redundant coverage, cut manpower needs by 50%, increased mission assurance by 110%, and drove standardization of training across both ranges. (7/8)

FCC Seeks Public Input on Mechanisms Enabling Greater Government Access to Non-Federal Satellite Services (Source: Executive Gov)
The Federal Communications Commission’s Office of Engineering and Technology is seeking additional comments from the public regarding ways that would increase federal government access to non-federal satellite services, including commercial ones. Of particular interest to OET are comments on approaches that would provide federal earth stations with interference protection when they communicate with commercial satellite network bands that are not allocated for federal fixed or mobile satellite services. (7/8)

Astronomers Find Surprising Ice World in the Habitable Zone (Source: Phys.org)
A team of astronomers has identified a temperate exoplanet as a promising super-Earth ice or water world. The findings, enabled by JWST observations, show that the habitable zone exoplanet, LHS 1140 b, is not likely a mini-Neptune, a small so-called gas giant—large planets composed mostly of gas—with a thick hydrogen-rich atmosphere. The planet, located about 48 light-years away in the constellation Cetus, emerges as one of the most promising habitable zone exoplanet candidates known, potentially harboring an atmosphere and even a liquid water ocean. (7/8)

3D Printing a 100-Home Community in Texas, and Someday on the Moon (Source: CBS)
A Texas company — driven by a mission to create faster, better and more affordable housing — is 3D printing homes. It’s also working with NASA to 3D print on the Moon. ICON Technology in 2012 won a NASA Phase III SBIR grant worth $57 million that runs through 2028. Click here. (7/8)

JAXA to Support Work on Commercial Space Station Technologies (Source: Space News)
Japan’s space agency is seeking industry proposals for technologies that could contribute to future commercial space stations as the government studies what role it would play in supporting efforts to replace the International Space Station. The request for proposals is part of a new Space Strategic Fund established by the Japanese government and administered by the space agency JAXA, which will offer one trillion yen ($6.2 billion) over 10 years to Japanese companies to help expand the country’s space industry. (7/8)