November 1, 2024

Concerns About Elon Musk, Russia's Putin Not Fading Yet (Source; VOA)
Some of SpaceX's work is so sensitive that the United States has given Musk high-level security clearances due to his knowledge of the programs, raising concerns among some that top secret U.S. information and capabilities could be at risk. During one conversation, those officials said, Putin allegedly asked Musk not to activate Starlink, a SpaceX subsidiary that provides satellite internet services, over Taiwan as a favor to China.

Musk has previously denied frequent calls with Putin. In 2022, Musk said he had spoken to the Russian leader just once, but The Journal said there have been repeated conversations since then. Musk has not commented or responded to the Journal article on X. Russia has also denied there have been frequent conversations between Putin and Musk. The Pentagon has so far declined to refute or confirm the allegations.

“There is no doubt that Russia is cultivating many possible channels of influence in the United States and other Western countries,” said Paul Pillar, a former senior CIA officer. “Russia would regard a wealthy and influential business mogul such as Musk as potentially a highly useful channel and thus a relationship worth nurturing,” he said. Editor's Note: Russia's approach is to gather 'kompromat' on influential foreigners so they can be exploited later." (10/30)

Europe Accepts SpaceRISE Consortium's Broadband Constellation Plan (Source: Space News)
The European Commission has approved a long-delayed plan to develop a satellite broadband constellation. The commission announced Thursday it accepted a best-and-final offer submitted by the SpaceRISE consortium, led by satellite operators SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat, for the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²) constellation. A contract for designing and operating more than 290 satellites by 2030 to support government communications remains subject to final negotiations, which are slated to conclude before the end of this year. The total cost of IRIS² remains uncertain, but may significantly exceed original projections of six billion euros ($6.5 billion). (11/1)

NASA Safety Panel Urges Safety Focus at SpaceX (Source: Space News)
A NASA safety panel called on the agency and SpaceX to "maintain focus" on safety after a series of recent anomalies. At a meeting Thursday, members of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel noted recent anomalies involving the Falcon 9 rocket, including one that led to the loss of a set of Starlink satellites in July. Those incidents, while unrelated to one another, demonstrate that NASA and SpaceX "need to maintain focus on safe Crew Dragon operations and not take any 'normal' operations for granted," one panel member stated, particularly as SpaceX increases its flight rate. The panel also praised NASA for its handling of the problems with Boeing's Starliner spacecraft on its crewed test flight this summer, saying the agency's processes demonstrated "a healthy safety culture." (11/1)

Congress Members Hope to Save Chandra (Source: Space News)
Several members of Congress are continuing their push to save the Chandra X-ray Observatory from proposed budget cuts. In a letter this week to the Chandra X-ray Center, which operates the space telescope, six members of the Massachusetts congressional delegation sought details on the operations of Chandra, its scientific productivity and implications to the astronomical community if the mission was prematurely ended. NASA proposed a 40% cut in Chandra's budget for fiscal year 2025, but had since stated it will maintain the telescope's budget for 2025 and defer decisions on any reductions in its operations until after a final 2025 appropriations bill is passed. Astronomers had warned the proposed cut could effectively end Chandra. (11/1)

Voyager Space Hires Magana (Source: Space News)   
Voyager Space has hired a longtime industry executive to lead its national security work. The company said Thursday it hired Matt Magaña as executive vice president of national security for the company, which has steadily acquired subsidiaries to build a vertically integrated operation focused on advancing space exploration. Magaña was previously a senior leader at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. He said Voyager's strategy is to leverage its specialized technologies and multinational partnerships in support of defense programs that face growing demands for advanced subsystems. (11/1)

Russia Launches Military Satellite at Plesetsk Spaceport (Source: TASS)
Russia launched a military satellite Thursday. A Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 3:51 a.m. Eastern and placed the unidentified satellite into orbit successfully, Russia's Defense Ministry stated. The government did not disclose details about the satellite but its orbit is the same as those used by Bars-M imaging satellites. (11/1)

China's Cosmoleap Developing Reusable Launcher (Source: Space News)
A Chinese startup has raised money to develop a launch vehicle whose recovery system emulates the one that SpaceX uses for Starship. Cosmoleap announced more than 100 million yuan ($14 million) in funding on Friday to advance development of a reusable rocket called "Yueqian" or "Leap". The medium-class rocket features a reusable first stage that will fly back to the launch site and be caught by "chopsticks" on the launch tower, the same approach SpaceX uses for the Super Heavy booster on its much larger Starship vehicle. Cosmoleap is projecting an initial test launch of its rocket in 2025 or 2026. (11/1)

China's CAS Space to Enter Launch Market (Source: Space News)
Chinese commercial launch provider CAS Space is looking to enter international markets. The company operates the Kinetica-1 or Lijian-1 solid-fuel rocket, which has launched four times since 2022, and is developing the larger Kinetica-2 rocket. A company executive said at the recent International Astronautical Congress that it is looking to attract customers outside of China given the strong competition within China for launch services. One challenge, the company acknowledges, is export control restrictions that make it nearly impossible for CAS Space to work with American or European customers. (11/1)

Astrobotic and Bridgestone Developing Lunar Tires (Source: Astrobotic)
Lunar lander developer Astrobotic is working with Bridgestone to develop a tire for use on the moon. The companies announced the partnership Thursday to work on a tire that would be used on CubeRover, a lunar rover the size of a kitchen stove that Astrobotic is developing. The metallic tire has an elastic structure to provide better handling and shock absorption when traversing the lunar terrain. The companies didn't disclose when they expected the CubeRover equipped with those tires to be driving on the moon. (11/1)

Even Uranus Might Be Hiding An Ocean World (Source: IFL Science)
Ocean worlds, such as Europa around Jupiter and Enceladus around Saturn, are recent and fascinating discoveries. These moons hide, far beneath their icy crusts, a deep liquid ocean. Other moons and dwarf planets also hide liquid oceans underneath, and the latest candidate is Miranda – the smallest of Uranus's five round moons.

Miranda might be the smallest round object in the Solar System. It has a diameter of just 470 kilometers (290 miles). Its surface area is just about the area of Texas. Still, it is a complex world. Its surface is among the most extreme we have observed anywhere and features the tallest cliff in the Solar System: Verona Rupes, which has a drop of about 20 kilometers (12 miles). An equivalent cliff on Earth would have to be over 270 kilometers tall. (10/31)

Black Holes Could be Driving the Expansion of the Universe, New Study Suggests (Source: Live Science)
A radical hypothesis suggesting black holes could be behind the accelerating expansion of our universe has been stirring up controversy among astronomers. A new study may contain the first tantalizing hints it could be real. Astronomers may have found tantalizing evidence that dark energy — the mysterious energy driving the accelerating expansion of our universe — could be connected with black holes. (10/31)

NanoAvionics Microsatellite Struck by Micro Object in LEO (Source: Gizmodo)
This week, satellite company NanoAvionics revealed that its MP42 microsatellite bus survived a hit in low Earth orbit, which left behind a 0.2-inch-hole (6 millimeters) on one of its solar arrays. The company discovered the impact thanks to the satellite’s selfie-taking skills, with the chickpea-sized crater appearing in an image taken by the satellite’s onboard camera this month. (10/31)

Hera's HyperScout Captures Spectral View of Earth from Deep Space (Source: Space Daily)
In the spirit of Halloween, Hera's HyperScout H imager has captured a series of spectral views of Earth, offering a haunting yet fascinating depiction. These images, taken through multiple spectral bands, highlight Earth in a spectral palette ranging from blue to red, showcasing the capabilities of Hera's advanced imaging instrument. (11/1)

Colt and Rivada Collaborate to Launch High-Speed, Secure Global Connectivity (Source: Space Daily)
Colt Technology Services, an international digital infrastructure provider, has announced a strategic partnership with Rivada Space Networks to establish an advanced connectivity network designed for high-speed, secure data transfer. Rivada Space Networks revealed that the first satellite launch is set for 2025, with service deployment expected in 2026. (10/31)

SpaceX, Already a Leader in Satellites, Gets Into the Spy Game (Source: New York Times)
SpaceX over the last year started to move in a big way into the business of building military and spy satellites, an industry that has long been dominated by major contractors like Raytheon and Northrop Grumman as well as smaller players like York Space Systems. This shift comes as the Pentagon and U.S. spy agencies are preparing to spend billions of dollars to build a series of new constellations of low-earth-orbit satellites, much of it in response to recent moves by China to build its own space-based military systems.

SpaceX is poised to capitalize on that, generating a new wave of questions inside the federal government about the company’s growing dominance as a military space contractor and Mr. Musk’s extensive business operations in China and his relations with foreign government leaders, possibly including President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia. (10/31)

Blue Origin Enters Presidential Endorsement Controversy (Source: Kent Reporter)
Blue Origin became part of a pulled presidential endorsement controversy the past several days involving owner Jeff Bezos and the Washington Post newspaper, also owned by Bezos. The Post announced Oct. 25 it would not endorse a presidential candidate in the Nov. 5 election after its editorial board had already drafted its endorsement of Democrat Kamala Harris over Republican Donald Trump, according to several media reports.

Within hours of that announcement, Blue Origin’s David Limp, chief executive officer, and Megan Mitchell, vice-president of government relations, briefly met with Trump after an Austin, Texas campaign speech, according to the Associated Press. “Some critics suggested Bezos ordered the non-endorsement to protect his business interests, acting out of fear of retaliation if Donald Trump were elected,” according to an Oct. 29 CBS News report. (10/29)

‘Stop Messing With Texas Waters’: Residents Blast State Regulators at SpaceX Permit Hearing (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
South Texas residents aren’t buying SpaceX’s reassurances that its Starship operation near Boca Chica Beach doesn’t pollute area waters. Nearly four dozen people gave Texas environmental regulators an earful at a recent public meeting in Brownsville over the company’s request for a permit that would allow it to dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of industrial wastewater into the sensitive wetlands surrounding its launch site. Hundreds more submitted written comments. (10/31)

India's DoT Asks Starlink, Amazon to Furnish Security-Related Compliances (Source: Economic Times)
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has asked both Elon Musk-owned Starlink and Jeff Bezos’s Amazon to provide compliances regarding certain security parameters as it looks to process their applications for offering satellite communications services in the country. “Their applications can be processed only after they submit the compliance. The firms have so far not replied.” (10/31)

Russian Threats To Elon Musk And Strikes On SpaceX Dishes Skyrocket (Source: Forbes)
While The Wall Street Journal has been blasting out its bombshell story that Elon Musk has had “secret conversations” with Vladimir Putin for the last two years, this same timeline has been marked by the Kremlin’s unending barrage of threats against SpaceX’s founder, and military assaults on his Starlink satellite terminals crisscrossing Ukraine.

These threats have ranged from dark hints of assassinating Musk - from the same Kremlin clique that has despatched henchmen armed with radioactive polonium, or the Soviet chemical weapon Novichok, to deal with political enemies - to cascading warnings that Russian missiles could be fired at SpaceX satellites circling the globe. (10/31)

Musk Explains Why Trump White House would Benefit SpaceX (Source: Teslarati)
Elon Musk said a Trump White House would benefit SpaceX’s Starship program and the optimistic goals it has to bring uncrewed launches to Mars within two years. A month ago, Musk said 2026 would be the ideal year to attempt the first launches with the intention of landing on Mars. 2028 would be the first year SpaceX could attempt to take humans to Mars. Musk said during the conference yesterday that he believes a Trump White House would be more beneficial for SpaceX’s Starship plans because of “overregulation.” (10/30)

Political Unity Is Rare But We Agree America’s Future Lies In Space (Source: Forbes)
What many of the country’s top policy makers are saying about our country’s space budget behind closed doors needs to be shouted from rooftops. A few rebels have even begun doing something verboten for decades: publicly contradicting the official President’s Budget Request. “The budget is going to need to double or triple over time” Frank Kendall, the sitting Secretary of the Air Force, recently said while discussing the challenge of securing space assets against an ascendent axis of autocracies on a flat-line Air Force budget.

The simple truth is that both NASA and the US Space Force are woefully underfunded, the Space Force cataclysmically so. It’s no single administration or person’s fault, certainly no Space Force Guardian. Rather, it is the unprecedented confluence of both humanity’s unceasing ambition to explore and exploit coupled with a menacing adversary’s organized challenge to our vision of promoting and governing it. Space may be infinite, but no government’s budget can be for very long — even that of the United States. (10/30)

Space May Be Worse for Humans Than Thought (Source: The Economist)
Space is not a very hospitable place. There is no air. Depending on whether you are in sunlight or not, it is either freezing cold or roasting hot. There are subtler hazards, too. Even when provided with oxygen and a stable temperature by their spacecraft, astronauts seem to sicken the longer they spend away from Earth. (10/30)

Ukrainian Astronomers Propose to Travel on Asteroids Between Planets (Source: ITC)
Ukrainian scientists have come up with an interesting solution to one of the most pressing problems of space exploration: how to safely transport people to Mars. Their research proposes to use natural space travelers — asteroids — as interplanetary vehicles. Their analysis of more than 35,000 near-Earth asteroids (NEAs) identified 120 promising candidates that could serve as natural spacecraft between Earth, Mars, and Venus.

These «space ferries» could potentially reduce travel time by up to 180 days, which would significantly reduce the health risks to astronauts. Asteroids could also provide additional benefits: their natural caverns and surfaces could serve as shields against cosmic radiation, and the asteroids themselves could become a source of resources for space travelers. (10/31)

AI-Enhanced Satellites to Track “Dark Ships” (Source: Space News)
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries’ AIRIS system aims to improve the detection of “dark ships” that disable AIS tracking to avoid detection. Using AI-driven Earth-observation cameras, AIRIS will monitor and selectively relay data on suspicious vessels in real-time, potentially aiding in efforts against illegal fishing and piracy. (10/31)

Instead of Going Boldly on Space, Harris Has Taken a Steady Approach (Source: New York Times)
For America’s direction in space, the course set by Vice President Kamala Harris during the Biden administration has been less to boldly go where no one has gone before and more like when on “Star Trek” Captain Kirk gave the command “Steady as she goes.” One sign of continuity in space policy is that Mr. Biden even set up a space council. Over the past 50 years, only three presidents — George H.W. Bush, Donald J. Trump and Mr. Biden — thought that space issues were weighty enough to warrant setting up a White House-level body to handle them.

While Ms. Harris has not made major shifts, she has added personal touches to U.S. space policy, including placing a greater emphasis on international diplomacy and highlighting how space technology can be employed to improve life on Earth. (10/30)

Airbus and Telesat to Work Together on Airline Satellite Internet (Source: SpaceQ)
Telesat announced on Monday at the APEX expo in Long Beach, California that they and Airbus would be working together on providing high speed internet connectivity to airline passengers. They’ve signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Airbus on enabling Telesat’s Lightspeed constellation of Low Earth orbit (LEO) communication satellites to work with Airbus’s upcoming Airspace Link HBCplus platform. (10/29)

From Apollo to the Polls, Poppy Northcutt Now 'Helping Democracy Survive' (Source: KTRK)
Frances "Poppy" Northcutt is a woman of many talents. An engineer, attorney, and during election season she holds the title of election judge. Northcutt says the idea of helping during an election came years ago during the 1970s. She's not an actual judge but her responsibility as an election judge means she's in charge of her polling location. According to the Texas Division of Elections, there are nearly 18.6 million registered voters across the state for this election. (10/30)

Mars Likely Never Had Any Sort Of Life, Says Renowned Geologist (Source: Forbes)
A feature of life is that it changes its surroundings, but from everything that we can see so far for Mars, the planet looks like it is dead, Mojzsis, an American-born Hungarian, told me at Konkoly Observatory. Mars may have once hosted organic prebiotic chemical networks which represented the first "steps" towards life. But Mojzsis thinks that's as far as the red planet got on the road to producing biochemistry that would have led to actual biological organisms.

There is no chemistry there of any sort that is really out of equilibrium with the environment, Mojzsis, a professor at the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, told me. Mars has always been outside of the habitable zone of our solar system, he says. If life really got started there, my opinion is that it should still be there affecting its environment, says Mojzsis. (10/30)

GAO Sides with Space Force on Inmarsat Protest Over $114 Million Contract (Source: Law360)
The U.S. Government Accountability Office has denied a protest from satellite communications contractor Inmarsat over the U.S. Space Force's award of a $114.6 million contract for Ku-band satellite bandwidth and equipment to Global Enterprise Solutions, Inc. (GES), ruling that the government was justified in its selection. (10/31)