September 23, 2024

CR Puts Key Defense Programs At Risk (Source: Breaking Defense)
Top Pentagon officials warn that key defense projects, including munitions production, the initial deployment of the B-21 stealth bomber, and Columbia-class submarine construction, could be at risk if a long-term continuing resolution is implemented for fiscal year 2025. Congress has one week to pass a stopgap funding bill, with House and Senate leaders working to reach an agreement after House Speaker Mike Johnson's (R-La.) initial proposal, which included the conservative SAVE Act, was rejected by Democrats and some Republicans. (9/20)

Images Show Russia's New Sarmat Missile Suffered Major Test Failure (Source: Reuters)
Russia appears to have suffered a "catastrophic failure" in a test of its Sarmat missile, a key weapon in the modernisation of its nuclear arsenal, according to arms experts who have analysed satellite images of the launch site. The images captured by Maxar on Sept. 21 show a crater about 60 metres (200 feet) wide at the launch silo at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in northern Russia. They reveal extensive damage that was not visible in pictures taken earlier in the month. (9/23)

Small Launchers: Same Old Story (Source: Ars Technica)
Same old story ... For example: "We offer flexibility," said Miguel Belló Mora, executive chairman of Orbex, a small launch vehicle developer based in the United Kingdom. "We can’t compete on price per kilo." We wish these small launch companies well, but this is the same kind of talk that has been around for years. The reality is that the small launch business has small margins and is extremely demanding. It also doesn't engender confidence that most of these companies are still not close to having an operational rocket. (9/22)

Arianespace Hopes Iris² Constellation Will Restore Launcher Competitiveness (Source: Ars Technica)
Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël recently gave an interview to the French publication Les Echos that has been shared by European Spaceflight. It sounds like the once-dominant commercial satellite launch firm, which has been run over by the SpaceX steamroller, is tired of being asked about the SpaceX steamroller. Israël said Europeans should "stop just comparing SpaceX and Elon Musk with Arianespace."

Why? ... His reasoning for this was that SpaceX is not just a launch company but one that controls a broader value chain that includes satellite manufacturing and operation through Starlink. “He competes against the entire space industry on his own,” said Israël. In order to compete with SpaceX, he explained, “the entire European space sector must be united and ambitious.”

Israël identified Europe’s planned Iris² satellite constellation as a key project to ensure future competitiveness. “Our hopes rest on the Iris² constellation promoted by the European Commission,” he said. The future of this project, however, appears to be uncertain, especially after the sudden departure of Thierry Breton from the European Commission this week. (9/22)

China Readies for Long March 8 Debut (Source: Ars Technica)
Upgraded Long March 8 rocket nears its debut. China completed a launch site rehearsal for a new, improved version of its medium-lift Long March 8 rocket this month, Space.com reports. Teams at the new Hainan commercial space launch site conducted tests with the first Long March 8A rocket, including integration with the launch pad and fueling. The new launcher is now set to fly for the first time around December.

More room for more satellites ... The liquid-fueled, two-stage rocket boasts an increased payload capacity and enhanced mission adaptability and will provide crucial support for large-scale satellite constellation deployment. The new Long March 8A achieves this greater lifting power, about 7.7 metric tons to Sun-synchronous orbit, with upgraded second-stage engines that use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. The new variant also features a payload fairing measuring 17 feet (5.2 meters) in diameter, allowing it to carry more volume and thus more satellites into orbit. (9/22)

German Cubesat to Hitch a Ride on Artemis II Lunar Mission (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's Artemis II will be the first crewed test flight in the Artemis program, paving the way for the Artemis III lunar landing, planned for 2026. On board the Orion spacecraft, NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen will orbit the Moon several times, testing key technologies for future lunar landings.

Along with the crew, the mission will carry small CubeSats to conduct experiments and test new space technologies. One of these CubeSats will be a German satellite, selected by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR), marking a significant moment in international cooperation. NASA and the German Space Agency at DLR formalized the agreement securing the inclusion of this German technology on the Artemis II mission. (9/20)

CNES Issues Call to Develop Standardized Launcher Ground Systems (Source: European Spaceflight)
CNES has issued a call for the development of standardized ground systems that would allow a single launch pad to be used by multiple rockets. The Guiana Space Centre in French Guiana is owned by the French government and is operated by CNES. In early 2021, the agency announced that it planned to revamp the space centre’s old Diamant launch facility to host a number of commercial micro and mini-launch providers.

In July 2022, Avio, HyImpulse, Isar Aerospace, MaiaSpace, PLD Space, Rocket Factory Augsburg, and Latitude were pre-selected to operate from the new facility. (9/17)

Soyuz Returns Three Crewmembers From ISS (Source: NASA)
A Soyuz spacecraft safely landed in Kazakhstan this morning, returning three people from the International Space Station. The Soyuz MS-25 spacecraft landed at the designated landing zone on the Kazakh steppes at 7:59 a.m. Eastern, nearly three and a half hours after undocking from the ISS. The Soyuz returned Roscosmos cosmonauts Nikolai Chub and Oleg Kononenko, who spent 374 days on the ISS, a record for an ISS mission. It also returned NASA astronaut Tracy C. Dyson, who spent six months on the station. (9/23)

China's Deep Blue Crash Lands Reusable Launcher (Source: Space News)
A reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator flown by a Chinese company suffered a crash landing Sunday. Deep Blue Aerospace carried out the test of its Nebula-1 first stage at 1:40 a.m. Eastern at a test site in Inner Mongolia. The rocket ascended to its planned altitude on the three-minute hop, but suffered a problem as it hovered above the landing pad, causing it to hit the pad hard and explode. Despite the failure, Deep Blue Aerospace emphasized the positives in a statement, claiming that its Nebula-1 stage successfully completed 10 out of 11 major verification tasks outlined for the flight. Notably, the test was the first high-altitude vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing (VTVL) test in China using an orbital-class rocket stage. The company is planning another test in November. (9/23)

Space Command Group Expands Use of Commercial Capabilities (Source: Space News)
A U.S. Space Command organization established to harness commercial technology for space domain awareness is taking on broader responsibilities. Barbara Golf, U.S. Space Force strategic advisor and head of the Joint Task Force-Space Defense Commercial Operations (JCO), said that the JCO is moving beyond its original purpose to assist efforts between government agencies and commercial partners to monitor space activities, detect threats and plan operations. Golf said the JCO is venturing into new areas, such as tracking electronic signals emissions to identify jamming sources and delivering battlefield intelligence to military commands using commercial sources like Earth observation satellites. (9/23)

NASA Creates Space Sustainability Division (Source: Space News)
NASA has established a division that will better coordinate its various activities in space sustainability. NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy announced that the agency received congressional approval the previous day to formally establish a Space Sustainability Division. That division, located in the Space Operations Mission Directorate, will manage several existing offices devoted to orbital debris studies and related policy and technology issues. Creating such an organization was one goal of NASA's Space Sustainability Strategy it announced in April. She also called on orbital debris researchers to redouble efforts to reduce uncertainties in debris modeling, stating that one reason there has been little policy action on reducing debris is because of vast differences in models of debris population and risks. (9/23)

Commerce On Track to Roll Out TraCSS (Source: Space News)
The Office of Space Commerce is on track to roll out the first version of its TraCSS space traffic coordination system this month. Richard DalBello, director of the office, said at AMOS on Friday that the first version of TraCSS will open by the end of this month to a group of beta testers, who will provide feedback for changes that will be incorporated into the system in the following months. DalBello said that the transition to TraCSS from the Defense Department's existing Space-Track system should be complete by the end of 2025, although it will be up to DoD to decide when to turn off Space-Track. (9/23)

China Conducts Two Launches (Source: Xinhua)
China conducted two launches hours apart Friday. A Long March 2D lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 12:11 a.m. Eastern and placed six Jimin-1 Kunafu imaging satellites into orbit. A Kuaizhou-1A then lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 5:43 a.m. Eastern and deployed four satellites for the Tianqi IoT constellation. Chinese media said that both launches were successful. (9/22)

US Space Force to Help Set Up Semiconductor Plant in India (Source: Times of India)
India is set to establish its first national security semiconductor fabrication plant that will supply chips to the US armed forces, allied  militaries, and Indian defense forces. The announcement follows a groundbreaking agreement between India and the United States, as detailed in the joint fact sheet released after the meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and President Biden. (9/22)

China Presses Forward on Launcher Reusability (Source: NSF)
Private Chinese launch providers continue to march at pace toward reusability, with two companies performing test high-altitude hops of their Vertical Takeoff and Vertical Landing (VTVL) prototype vehicles. Landspace achieved a 10 km altitude flight in late August with its ZhuQue-3 hopper prototype. This week, Deep Blue Aerospace flew its Xingyung-1 reusable test vehicle for the third time, completing many goals, but experienced an anomaly during landing.

The ZhuQue-3 prototype conducted a successful 10 km high-altitude test flight, lasting 200 seconds and, crucially, including an engine reignition test. Landspace shared several videos including views looking down from the landing legs, which are reminiscent of SpaceX’s Grasshopper pathfinder which contributed to the development of the Falcon vehicles. In the following week, an additional 360-degree VR version was released. Click here. (9/19)

Scientists Discover Signs of Water All Over The Moon's Surface (Source: Science Alert)
According to a new analysis of mineralogy maps, water and hydroxyl – another molecule made up of hydrogen and oxygen – can be found in multiple locations across all lunar latitudes and terrains, even where the Sun shines down most powerfully. It's a discovery that has multiple implications. It can help us understand the Moon's geological history and ongoing processes, and inform future crewed missions to Earth's satellite. (9/22)

SpaceX Laying Roots in South Texas: Decade Since Breaking Ground at Boca Chica (Source: Valley Central)
It has been 10 years since SpaceX CEO Elon Musk broke ground at Boca Chica beach to create what is now known as Starbase. SpaceX officially broke ground at Boca Chica on Sept. 22. At the time, Musk promised to begin investing in South Texas and stated that the construction of a launch site would create hundreds of jobs for locals.

As of May, the space company has provided over 7,300 jobs across Cameron County and also provided over 55,000 Texans with Starlink internet, according to its economic impact report. While locals have conflicting feelings about the space company laying down roots in South Texas, there is no doubt the experiments that have come out of Starbase are fast evolving. Now equipped with a second launch tower and an entire community of engineers living in Boca Chica (Starbase), SpaceX has planted roots in South Texas. The tech billionaire has also alluded to moving his SpaceX Headquarters to Texas. (9/22)

Axiom Wanted To Build A Space Station. Now It Can Barely Pay Its Bills (Source: Forbes)
Axiom Space, a startup cofounded by billionaire Kam Ghaffarian, has a lofty goal: to build private space stations that allow humans to live and work off-planet en masse. But lately the Houston-based company has been grappling with a more earthly concern — a struggle for survival. According to internal documents, seven former employees who spoke on the condition of anonymity due to nondisclosure agreements, and space industry experts, a severe cash crunch, business challenges and a cold reception to its latest fundraising efforts have hamstrung Axiom and led to extensive layoffs and pay cuts.

Axiom had intended to build an orbiting outpost using the International Space Station as a base. The plan was to build modularly, connecting sections of “Axiom Station” to the ISS, finishing work on them in space and finally detaching the completed station to fly free. It would make money by hosting tourists and companies looking to use microgravity conditions for things like drug development and semiconductor manufacturing. But Forbes has learned that plan has been upended by Axiom’s slow progress on the first module and the prospect that the ISS may have to be deorbited two years earlier than planned.

Now, a year after raising $350 million in a round led by Saudi Arabia's Aljazira Capital and South Korean pharma company Boryung at a valuation of $2 billion, giving it a total of $500 million in funding, the startup is struggling to convince investors to give it more money to fund a smaller, less commercially lucrative station, former employees told Forbes. (9/17)

The Next President Should End NASA’s Space Launch System Rocket (Source: Scientific American)
In the annals of U.S. pork barrel spending, NASA’s Space Launch System rocket towers over rivals like Alaska’s “bridge to nowhere” or the U.S. Air Force’s $10,000 toilet seat, and not just on account of its eventual 365 foot height. At $5.7 billion for the first launch, a throwaway SLS rocket and its Orion capsule will costs orders of magnitude more than their reusable competitors per launch.

Those costs matter to the $25 billion space agency, which hopes in the next decade to return astronauts to the moon, deorbit the International Space Station, visit the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, and much more. “For NASA, this is not a time for business as usual,” said Norman Augustine, chair of a National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine (NASEM) panel that released a report on NASA in September warning of risks to the agency’s future springing from a mismatch of its ambitions and means.

Unfortunately, business as usual is just what NASA has with SLS. Foisted on the Obama administration in 2010 by senators from NASA center states incensed about jobs losses after the space shuttle’s retirement, the “Senate” Launch System stands as a monument to Sunbelt socialism. Incredibly wasteful, each launch will throw away left-over reusable space shuttle engines—some of the most peerless technology ever built by humanity—making them dead ends as innovations. Click here. (9/17)

Secrets Don't Make Friends: Space Force Making Strides on Allied Info Sharing, Canadian General Says (Source: USSF)
While challenges remain, the Space Force has made visible progress in recent months in hurdling classification barriers that traditionally have blocked real-world integration of US and allied operations, according to the senior allied officer embedded with Space Operations Command (SpOC). Canada’s Brig. Gen. Kyle Paul, who serves as SpOC deputy commander for operations, plans, training and force development (S3/5/7), said on Wednesday that top Space Force leaders are actively pushing for reducing classification levels, and that is showing results. (9/20)