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January 3, 2022
Space Coast in 2021: Launches, Tourism and Lots of Science (Source: Spectrum News13)
Dozens of launches, critically important science and the dawn of space tourism were some of the key highlights for the year that was in space. There were 31 launches from the Space Coast, ranging from experiments and human launches to the International Space Station to science and military missions to low Earth orbit and beyond.
Peter Cranis, the executive director of the Space Coast Office of Tourism, said the proliferation of launches is helping the economy of the Space Coast return to pre-pandemic levels of activity. “From an occupancy perspective, you see that the weeks where there are launches really spiking,” Cranis said. “Of course, comparing ourselves to 2020, in 2021 we’re way beyond that. So, we were really looking back to 2019 numbers. And seeing we were matching 2019 and, in some cases, beating it in a given week. So, ’21 was really an impressive turnaround for us.” Click here. (12/30)
More Private Rocket Companies are Set to Light Up Space Coast with Launches in 2022 (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
Delays aside, 2022 could see five companies performing regular launches from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station with many more from Kennedy Space Center. “The Eastern Range received 225 requests to launch from the Cape in the past 365 days," said Space Force Brigadier Gen. Stephen Purdy. "We prepared to launch 172 times and entered countdown for 41 of those, with 36 successful launches.” Those 36 liftoffs could climb significantly in 2022 and, eventually, rocket launches could happen daily or beyond. Click here. (12/28)
The Biggest Launch Failures (and Recoveries) of 2021 (Source: Space.com)
Rocketry is hard, and international players in the industry are constantly trying to learn from any failures. The year 2021 saw more than 10 failures of various missions during or shortly after launch, from the United States to China to South Korea. Here is the list of failed space missions this year and what we know about plans for the future. Click here. (12/30)
SpaceX Almost Loses Falcon 9 Booster at Sea (Source: Teslarati)
After more than a week at sea, the SpaceX Falcon 9 booster responsible for the company’s 100th successful landing finally returned to port on Wednesday, revealing that it nearly toppled into the sea during the recovery process. Falcon 9 B1069 completed its first launch without issue early on December 21st, carrying a reused Cargo Dragon capsule into space and sending it on its way towards orbit and the ISS. Nine minutes after liftoff, it touched down on drone ship Just Read The Instructions (JRTI) without any apparent issue, more or less hitting the platform’s painted bullseye.
While it’s difficult to determine with certainty, B1069 appeared to be in fine condition after landing, standing roughly straight up with all nine Merlin 1D engines well above the drone ship’s deck. That was decidedly not the case when the once-flown Falcon 9 booster finally sailed into Port Canaveral eight and a half days later. There remains plenty of ambiguity about how exactly things transpired after the landing but when B1069 was finally within eyeshot, the booster was significantly damaged, riding low on all four legs, inches away from falling off the drone ship’s deck, and only partially attached to the “Octagrabber” robot tasked with securing it.
Based on photos of the damaged rocket taken by Teslarati, most or all of B1069’s nine Merlin 1D (M1D) engines suffered likely irreparable damage to their fragile bell nozzles. It appears that B1069 somehow fell on top of the drone ship’s Octagrabber robot during or after its recovery attempt, as the creases would be far cleaner if the booster had merely landed hard and pressed its M1D nozzles against the deck. But a very short fall onto Octagrabber still doesn’t quite explain the apparent damage to one of the booster’s landing legs or the fact that it’s sitting lower to the deck than usual – both potentially indicative of a hard landing. (12/30)
SpaceX’s Proposed Florida Starship Launch/Landing Complex Draws Environmental, Beach Access Concerns (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX proposes to build a launch and landing site for its Starship rockets at the north end of Kennedy Space Center in an area wedged between the historic pads built for moon rockets and Canaveral National Seashore. During the era of space shuttles, which flew from the pair of former moon-rocket pads, the road providing access to the seashore’s southern end at Playalinda Beach was routinely closed for launches.
The potential for regular or prolonged closures of the beach-access road and the destruction of coastal wetlands resulting from SpaceX’s launch and landing site has drawn Audubon Florida’s concern. The natural environment adjoining the proposed launch site, including habitat of Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge, is “one of the most important birding sites in Eastern North America,” said Audubon Florida’s director of advocacy, Charles Lee.
Lee would not comment further, pending Audubon’s review of SpaceX plans. A formal and detailed study overseen by NASA of potential environmental impacts from the rocket pad is poised to start in early 2022. If developed, the 175-acre rocket site would be Launch Complex 49, or LC-49, spreading across 175 acres about 1.5 miles north of the LC-39B, the nearest of the two launch sites used by Apollo moon rockets and space shuttles. (12/27)
FAA Delays Starship/Boca Chica PEA to 28 Feb. (Source: SpaceX)
The FAA had intended to release the Final PEA for Boca Chica Starship/Super Heavy launch operations on 31 December 31. However, SpaceX is currently drafting responses for the over 18,000 public comments received on the Draft PEA. SpaceX is also preparing the Final PEA for the FAA’s review and acceptance. In addition, the FAA is continuing consultation and coordination with other agencies. The planned 28 February release will allow the FAA to review the Final PEA, including responses to comments, and coordinate with agencies at the local, State, and Federal level.
The completion of the environmental review process does not guarantee that the FAA will issue an experimental permit or vehicle operator license to SpaceX for Starship/Super Heavy launches at Boca Chica. SpaceX’s license application must also meet FAA safety, risk, and financial responsibility requirements per 14 CFR Chapter III. FAA cannot issue a decision document, which could include a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) or decision to initiate and environmental impact statement, until all consultations are complete. (12/28)
SpaceX Creating the Noise of Progress in McGregor (Source: Waco Tribune-Herald)
McGregor City Council Member Steven Dutschmann remembers a Sunday morning in November when, aggravated by SpaceX’s rocket testing, he vainly searched for a phone number, email address or company contact. He wanted someone to explain why SpaceX had obliterated his sound barrier. “If I had a neighbor making this much noise, I’d call the police. Here, I didn’t have anyone to call,” Dutschmann said. “I get it. They have a business to run. But that does not give them the right to disturb the peace.”
McGregor and SpaceX have developed a symbiotic relationship. Elon Musk’s company leases nearly 4,300 acres in the city’s industrial park, where it tests the rocket engines it uses to haul satellites and other payloads into orbit. Under development nearby is a second plant, a $150 million facility to build nearly a thousand Raptor 2 rocket engines annually. Musk first broached the subject of McGregor landing a rocket production plant in July, tweeting it would champion volume production of Raptor 2 rocket engines, while a factory in California would focus on Raptor Vacuum rockets. (1/1)
SpaceX Starship Orbital Launch Delayed by FAA (Source: Capital.com)
SpaceX was forced to push back the first orbital flight of its Starship/Super Heavy spacecraft after the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) set a new target date for environmental approvals back to 28 February. Starship, which is intended to one day take crewed missions to the moon and Mars, is now expected to launch on its first orbital mission sometime in early March.
The FAA said it received 18,000 public comments about the draft Programmatic Environmental Assessment (PEA), which is used to access the environmental impact around the Boca Chica launch site in Cameron County Texas. Due to the high volume of comments the FAA decided to push back the release of the final PEA from its original date of 31 December. (12/30)
SpaceX Raises Over $337 Million in Fresh Funding (Source: Reuters)
Billionaire Elon Musk's SpaceX has raised $337.4 million in equity financing, the rocket company disclosed in a regulatory filing on Wednesday. SpaceX, which counts Alphabet Inc. and Fidelity Investments among its investors, hit $100 billion in valuation following a secondary share sale in October. It had raised about $1.16 billion in equity financing in April. (12/29)
Musk Says SpaceX Will Land Humans on Mars in 10 Years in the Worst-Case Scenario (Source: Business Insider)
Elon Musk said SpaceX will land humans on Mars with its Starship rocket in 10 years' time, in the worst-case scenario. During an episode of the Lex Fridman Podcast released on Tuesday, Fridman asked Musk when he thinks SpaceX will land human beings on the Red Planet. After a 20-second pause, the billionaire replied: "Best case is about five years, worst case 10 years."
Musk told Fridman that the determining factors included "engineering the vehicle," adding that "Starship is the most complex and advanced rocket that's ever been made... The fundamental optimization of Starship is minimizing the cost per ton to orbit and ultimately cost per ton to the surface of Mars," Musk told Fridman. Currently, nobody can fly to Mars for one trillion dollars, Musk told Fridman. "No amount of money can get you a ticket to Mars," he said on the podcast. (12/29)
Blue Origin Joins U.S. Military ‘Rocket Cargo’ Program (Source: Space News)
Blue Origin has signed a cooperative agreement with the U.S. military to explore the possibility of someday using its rockets to transport cargo and people around the world. A cooperative research and development agreement known as a CRADA was signed Dec. 17 with Blue Origin, a U.S. Transportation Command spokesman said Dec. 29. U.S. TRANSCOM oversees global military logistics operations.
The command last year signed similar agreements with SpaceX and with Exploration Architecture Corp. (XArc). Blue Origin is the third company to ink a CRADA for the rocket cargo program. Under CRADAs, companies agree to share information about their products and capabilities but the government does not commit to buying anything. U.S. TRANSCOM’s analysis of industry data will inform the newly created “rocket cargo” program led by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the U.S. Space Force.
The Air Force in its budget proposal for fiscal year 2022 is seeking $47.9 million to conduct studies and rocket cargo demonstrations. The rocket cargo project will use modeling and simulations to analyze the military utility, performance and cost of transporting loads on commercial rockets and air dropping cargo payloads. (12/29)
Firefly Ownership Concerns Halt Vandenberg Work While Polyakov Works to Divest (Source: Space News)
Firefly Aerospace says the government has halted activities at its Vandenberg launch site while its largest shareholder sells its stake in the company. Noosphere Ventures, run by Ukrainian-born Max Polyakov, said Wednesday it will hire an investment bank to sell its roughly 50% stake in Firefly. That sale was requested by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), Noosphere said, although the specific reason for the sale wasn't disclosed. Firefly said that, as a result of that CFIUS request, "the government has made a decision to limit our operations at Vandenberg" until the issue is resolved. Firefly had been planning a second launch of its Alpha rocket from Vandenberg as soon as late January. (12/29)
Astra Space: Headed For Dis-Astra (Source: Investing.com)
Kerrisdale Capital is short shares of Astra Space, a $2 billion space launch company formed at the peak of the 2021 SPAC bubble—with no revenue, no track record of reliability, and no established market for its undersized vehicle. A story stock that’s yet another example of the questionable businesses going public via SPACs, Astra faces massive obstacles in its quest to develop a viable business model.
Astra is poorly positioned within an overcrowded market for small launch vehicles. Its main competitors will soon be launching larger 1,000kg+ payload rockets while Astra has yet to overcome developmental hurdles necessary to successfully launch even a single satellite into any of the emerging broadband mega-constellations.
Shortly after Astra announced its SPAC merger, the company increased its payload capacity goal (not a trivial matter in rocket programs) and signed a “secret” deal with a competitor for access to some of the competitor’s more powerful engine IP—both clear signs that Astra is struggling to keep pace with market leaders. (12/30)
Astra Space Faces Critics, Skeptics as it Plans Florida Launch (Source: UPI)
Astra Space, one of few new rocket companies to reach orbit, is facing stiff criticism from skeptics about its business model as it plans its first launch from Florida. The California-based company announced Dec. 6 that it planned to launch NASA satellites in January from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. Since then, the company has released no further details about a launch date and has not responded to requests for an interview or more information.
Astra holds a contract to launch tiny NASA satellites within the next six months under the space agency's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program, but neither Astra nor NASA has confirmed the payload for the upcoming launch. On Wednesday, Astra became the target of a harsh critique by New York-based financial firm Kerrisdale Capital, which said the rocket company has "no revenue, no track record of reliability, and no established market for its undersized vehicle."
After the report, the stock plummeted 10%. It recovered some of that value Thursday, closing up 2.1% at $6.75. At least two law firms have announced they are investigating Astra for possible "violations of the securities laws" following the Kerrisdale report. "The business proposal doesn't make sense," Lionnet said. "Astra wants you to believe that it can sell cheap rockets for launches tailored to individual customers. But not everyone can afford a [custom] suit. There is no indication that the number of customers they need are actually out there." (12/31)
New Mexico Should Make Space Industry its Economy Moonshot (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
It was a swing and a miss to get U.S. Space Command’s headquarters in Albuquerque nearly a year ago. As disappointing as that was, New Mexico remains a premier location to build a thriving ecosystem of commerce related to space innovation — the nation’s newest gold rush. All the things that made New Mexico a merit-based leader for Space Command are still in place — as are the issues that likely held it back.
It’s no small irony that a state with massive brain power — perennially top-ranked in such high-tech resources as Ph.D. scientists and federal research dollars per capita — struggles with such basics as public safety and education. The challenge today is to keep the state’s historic role as a key player in the space industry moving forward despite peripheral challenges and setbacks that diminish the state’s standing as an innovation leader.
Last month’s aborted mission of 1,000 new jobs researching and designing satellites at the planned Orion Center offers an important lesson. Without pointing fingers at the vetting process or questioning if the deal ever really had legs, you have to wonder what other space-related opportunities were lost because the city put a lot of eggs in one basket. Fortunately, there are many others here with an eye on what’s becoming a formidable prize. (12/29)
Virgin Orbit SPAC Approved, But Proceeds Halved (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit will get less than half the capital it originally expected to receive from its SPAC merger. Shareholders in NextGen Acquisition Corp. II, a SPAC, voted Tuesday to approve its merger with Virgin Orbit, with the merger expected to close by the end of the month. When the merger was announced in August, the companies said the deal would raise up to $483 million, but in Tuesday's announcement of the shareholder vote, they said the proceeds of the merger were just $228 million, of which $68 million came from the SPAC itself. That suggests a high rate of redemptions by SPAC shareholders, an issue with SPAC mergers in general in recent months. (12/29)
Virgin Orbit and Arqit Expand Launch Agreements (Source: Space Daily)
Virgin Orbit has announced has signed a new launch contract covering two dedicated launches for Arqit Quantum, Inc. a global leader in quantum encryption technology, plus additional commitments. The two Arqit satellites delivered to Earth orbit by Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne air-launched system will be the core component of Arqit's Platform-as-a-Service, delivering the root source of randomness to all Arqit data centers using Arqit's ground breaking Quantum protocol ARQ19. (12/28)
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A World Divided by Covid and Other Ills United to Explore Space (Source: New York Times)
America was a nation divided, but that did not stop it from building parts of the James Webb Space Telescope in a red state and testing them in a blue one. The European Union and Russia were facing off over Ukraine and other issues this year, but scientists from both sides will benefit greatly from the discoveries that could soon be within reach.
And while the pandemic snarled supply chains around the world, no lockdown could derail the telescope’s trajectory to the stars: Parts were assembled across multiple nations, then tested in the US and the final product ended up on a launchpad in French Guiana before being hurtled into outer space on Christmas Day. In some ways, the James Webb Space Telescope told a story seldom heard these days: the tale of nations coming together for a common ambition.
At a time when countries are divided over climate change, migration and a disease that has killed millions, the spacecraft — launched to search for habitable planets and to seek out the earliest, most distant stars and galaxies — was a potent reminder that international cooperation on grand-scale projects was still possible. With cooperation, however, has come competition as well. China, which did not participate in the project, is intending to launch its own space telescope expected to be a kind of competitor. China has also been teaming up with Russia on its own missions as the Russia-U.S. space alliance has come under strain because of political tensions between the countries. (12/30)
NASA Says Webb’s Excess Fuel Likely to Extend its Lifetime Expectations (Source: NASA)
After a successful launch of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope Dec. 25, and completion of two mid-course correction maneuvers, the Webb team has analyzed its initial trajectory and determined the observatory should have enough propellant to allow support of science operations in orbit for significantly more than a 10-year science lifetime. (The minimum baseline for the mission is five years.)
The analysis shows that less propellant than originally planned for is needed to correct Webb’s trajectory toward its final orbit around the second Lagrange point known as L2, a point of gravitational balance on the far side of Earth away from the Sun. Consequently, Webb will have much more than the baseline estimate of propellant – though many factors could ultimately affect Webb’s duration of operation. (12/29)
JWST Component Deployments Underway (Source: Space News)
NASA has started the long and risky process of deploying the sunshield on the James Webb Space Telescope. NASA said Tuesday it lowered into position two structures that hold the five-layer sunshield. That sunshield will be unfolded and stretched into position in the next several days, allowing the spacecraft's telescope and instruments to cool to temperatures only a few dozen degrees above absolute zero. Project engineers have called the sunshield deployment process one of the riskiest elements of the mission, but also said they were confident, based on extensive prelaunch tests, that it would be successful. (12/29)
JWST Performs Second Maneuver En Route to L-2 (Source: NASA)
NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has performed a second course correction maneuver. NASA announced Monday that the maneuver took place 60 hours after launch, as planned, tweaking the spacecraft's trajectory towards the L-2 Lagrange point. The next major step for JWST is to begin deployment of its sunshield, a process expected to begin today and take several days to complete. (12/28)
NASA, Private Space Industry May Reach New Heights in 2022 (Source: Space Daily)
Space exploration may shatter records in 2022 with the launch of the most powerful rocket ever in a flight beyond the moon, a space telescope that will peer into the dawn of the universe and groundbreaking science on Mars. The New Year also may see SpaceX's deep space Starship rocket fly above the atmosphere, expansion of space tourism and new rocket launches from companies such as United Launch Alliance and Firefly Aerospace.
Meanwhile, Elon Musk's SpaceX plans to dominate the global launch industry again with its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy after launching a record 31 orbital missions in 2021. Most of those launches will carry the company's own Starlink broadband Internet communications satellites. Click here. (12/27)
In 2022 a Moonrush Will Begin in Earnest (Source: The Economist)
During the cold-war space race the Apollo missions were mostly about making a political and technological point. Having made it, they duly ceased. Now, approaching half a century after astronauts last walked on the Moon, a new age of lunar exploration is dawning. This time the goal is to sustain operations there. More people are in on the action, too. South Korea’s first lunar spacecraft, an orbiter, is to be launched this summer. The UAE hopes to become, in the autumn, the first Arab country to operate a craft on the Moon. And Israel hopes to land a probe on the far side of the Moon—a feat accomplished so far only by China.
The UAE rover will be delivered by hakuto-r, a landing craft built by Japan's ispace, launched by SpaceX. Hakuto-r will also carry a baseball-sized rover from Japan’s space agency. India likewise plans to put a spacecraft on the Moon in this coming year—its first attempt having (as did a previous try by Space il) crashed into the lunar surface in 2019. Russia is another hopeful. It last landed a vehicle, Luna-24, on the Moon in 1976. Luna-25 is to blast off in the coming year, too.
The most ambitious Moon efforts, though, are America’s. NASA's Artemis program aims to return people there by the middle of the decade. The coming year should see at least 18 NASA-sponsored lunar missions, some of which will deliver equipment and supplies for later use. The Artemis "Gateway" orbiter is scheduled for a 2024 launch. The protective outer shell of Gateway’s living space is being built by a Franco-Italian firm. ESA is also chipping in Esprit, a module that will allow Gateway to be refueled once it is in lunar orbit. Canada is making the station’s mechanical arm. And Thales Alenia Space is at work on a second habitable module, i-hab. (12/30)
2022 Is Full of First Steps to the Moon (Source: New York Times)
Robotic missions to Mars and advances in space tourism dominated the space activities of 2021. But in 2022, the moon is likely to stand out, as companies and governments launch various moon-bound spacecraft. Most of those missions revolve around Artemis, NASA’s multibillion dollar effort to return astronauts to the moon later in the decade and conduct routine science missions on its surface in preparation for farther treks to Mars (a far more ambitious endeavor that will likely not happen in this decade).
But before astronauts make the moonshot, a series of rocket tests and science missions without humans will need to be completed. 2022 is the year for those initial steps toward the moon. Two new rockets central to NASA’s lunar plans will launch to space for the first time, each with more power than the Saturn 5 rocket from the Apollo program. And other countries are expected to join the march to the moon as well. Click here. (1/1)
Big Rockets, Massive Asteroids and More Space Highlights for 2022 (Source: New York Times)
Sometime this coming year, two rockets that have never been to space — the NASA Space Launch System and the SpaceX Starship — are expected to lift off. They’re both very big and about as different as two rockets can be.
The Space Launch System, or SLS, is NASA’s interplanetary launch vehicle. It is years behind schedule and billions of dollars over budget. Built by traditional aerospace contractors, each launch costs about $2 billion and each rocket can be used only once. NASA says its Artemis program can’t get astronauts back to the moon without the giant rocket. Its first test flight, with no people aboard, will lift a capsule called Orion around the moon and back to Earth. The launch, known as Artemis 1, is scheduled for March or April. Click here. (1/1)
Here's 7 Things the International Space Station Taught Us in 2021 (Source: Space.com)
The International Space Station is the world's most extreme and expensive scientific laboratory. In its more than 20 years of operations it has housed thousands of experiments, providing fascinating insights into the effects of microgravity on the human body, cultured cells or various materials and chemical processes. Here are the most interesting findings that the space station delivered in 2021. Click here. (12/30)
NASA Selects New Members for Artemis Rover Science Team (Source: Space Daily)
When NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover, or VIPER, explores and samples the soils at the Moon's South Pole, scientists anticipate it will reveal answers to some of the Moon's enduring mysteries. Where is the water and how much is there? Where did the Moon's water come from? What other resources are there? What other questions could VIPER answer? NASA sought ideas and recently chose eight new science team members and their proposals that expand and complement VIPER's already existing science team and planned investigations. (12/28)
Japan Wants a JAXA Astronaut to be First “Non-American” to Join a NASA Lunar Landing (Source: Space News)
Japan’s recently elected prime minister set an end-of-the-decade goal for sending Japanese astronauts to the moon as part of the U.S.-led Artemis program. “We will promote the Artemis project to perform manned activities on the moon, and in the late 2020s, we will try to realize the lunar landing of Japanese astronauts,” said Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida.
Kishida, Japan’s former top diplomat and the head of the country’s long-ruling Liberal Democratic Party, said the goal was part of a revised space policy roadmap he’s submitting for cabinet approval. Japan’s new fiscal year begins April 1. The revised roadmap calls for cooperating with Japan’s private sector to develop crewed lunar rovers and other “systems that are essential for human activities on the moon.” (12/29)
MIT Engineers Test an Idea for a New Hovering Lunar Rover (Source: Space Daily)
Aerospace engineers at MIT are testing a new concept for a hovering rover that levitates by harnessing the moon's natural charge. Because they lack an atmosphere, the moon and other airless bodies such as asteroids can build up an electric field through direct exposure to the sun and surrounding plasma. On the moon, this surface charge is strong enough to levitate dust more than 1 meter above the ground, much the way static electricity can cause a person's hair to stand on end. (12/27)
2021 Was an Epic Year for Mars Exploration (Source: Space.com)
Mars exploration took some big steps forward in 2021. During this very eventful year, two nations joined the Mars club, a helicopter plied Red Planet skies for the first time ever and humanity kicked off an ambitious interplanetary sample-return campaign. A lot of the action took place in February, which saw the arrival of three high-profile missions at the Red Planet. The United Arab Emirates' Hope mission, the Arab world's first interplanetary effort, slipped into orbit around Mars on Feb. 9. Click here. (12/31)
Experiments Show Algae Can Survive in Mars-Like Environment (Source: Space Daily)
Chinese researchers have demonstrated that algae can survive in a Mars-like environment during four experiments since 2019, raising the hope that mankind might be able to turn the barren planet into an earth-like green one in the future. In a seven-hour experiment which took place in September this year, algae were carried by a helium balloon to an altitude of 30,000 meters and survived for four hours in lower than minus 30 degrees Celsius with intense ultraviolet light and oxygen deprivation, according to a report from the Changjiang Daily based in Wuhan, central China's Hubei Province.
The research team from the Institute of Hydrobiology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences conducted the four experiments in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region and northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region. The experiments proved that algae are robust. But further experiments are also needed to learn whether the species can grow or even multiply on the surface of Mars, said Wang Gaohong, a researcher at the Institute of Hydrobiology. (12/30)
Zero Gravity Conditions in Space May Advance Stem Cell Research, Scientists Say (Source: Space Daily)
The zero-gravity conditions in outer space may hold the key to producing large batches of stem cells for medical research and treatment of various diseases on Earth, according to a paper published Thursday by Stem Cell Reports. Biomanufacturing, a type of stem cell production that uses biological materials such as microbes to produce substances and biomaterials suitable for use in research and treatment, is more efficient in microgravity conditions, the researchers said.
Attendees at the 2020 Biomanufacturing in Space Symposium earlier this month identified more than 50 potential commercial opportunities for conducting biomanufacturing work in space. The most promising include disease modeling, biofabrication and stem-cell-derived products, according to the paper's authors. (12/30)
Scientists at PPPL and Princeton University Demonstrate a Novel Rocket for Deep-Space Exploration (Source: Space Daily)
The growing interest in deep-space exploration has sparked the need for powerful long-lived rocket systems to drive spacecraft through the cosmos. Scientists at the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) have now developed a tiny modified version of a plasma-based propulsion system called a Hall thruster that both increases the lifetime of the rocket and produces high power.
The miniaturized system powered by plasma - the state of matter composed of free-floating electrons and atomic nuclei, or ions - measures little more than an inch in diameter and eliminates the walls around the plasma propellent to create innovative thruster configurations. Among these innovations are the cylindrical Hall thruster, first proposed and studied at PPPL, and a fully wall-less Hall thruster. Both configurations reduce channel erosion caused by plasma-wall interactions that limit the thruster lifetime - a key problem for conventional annular, or ring-shaped, Hall thrusters and especially for miniaturized low-power thrusters for applications on small satellites. (12/27)
NASA’s Retiring Top Scientist Says We Can Terraform Mars and Maybe Venus, Too (Source: New York Times)
Since joining NASA in 1980, Jim Green has seen it all. He has helped the space agency understand Earth’s magnetic field, explore the outer solar system and search for life on Mars. As the new year arrived on Saturday, he bade farewell to the agency. Over the past four decades, which includes 12 years as the director of NASA’s planetary science division and the last three years as its chief scientist, he has shaped much of NASA’s scientific inquiry, overseeing missions across the solar system and contributing to more than 100 scientific papers across a range of topics.
While specializing in Earth’s magnetic field and plasma waves early in his career, he went on to diversify his research portfolio. One of Dr. Green’s most recent significant proposals has been a scale for verifying the detection of alien life, called the “confidence of life detection,” or CoLD, scale. He has published work suggesting we could terraform Mars, or making it habitable for humans, using a giant magnetic shield to stop the sun from stripping the red planet’s atmosphere, raising the temperature on the surface. Click here. (1/2)
NASA Selects Nine Space Technologies for Commercial Suborbital Flight Tests (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected nine space technologies under the agency’s 2021 TechFlights solicitation for testing aboard parabolic aircraft, high-altitude balloons, and suborbital rocket-powered systems. This $5.5 million investment in technology demonstration activities will support the advancement of a wide range of technologies that address mission needs for both NASA and the commercial space industry.
By exposing these innovations to many of the rigors and characteristics of spaceflight – without the expense of an orbital flight – NASA can more rapidly help ensure these technologies work correctly when they are deployed on future missions. The technologies were selected under the Flight Opportunities program within NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD), which develops transformative space technologies to enable future missions.
As part of the latest cohort of TechFlights selections, the organizations developing the selected technologies will receive a grant or collaborative agreement allowing them to purchase flights from a U.S. commercial flight vendor that best meets their needs – a process that can help decrease the time needed for bringing innovations from lab-based testing to flight test. This year’s solicitation again included an option for researchers to propose accompanying their payloads on suborbital space flights enabling them to tend to experiments in real time rather than relying on an automated experiment setup. (12/16)
NASA Research Boosts LED Lamps for Home and Garden (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's exploration requires research into how light affects both humans and plants: John Glenn's first trip into Earth orbit lasted just under five hours, but today, astronauts regularly stay six months or longer on the International Space Station. Experiencing over a dozen sunrises and sunsets each day means an astronaut's biological clock tends to be in the wrong time zone. And for longer deep space missions, NASA needs to develop ways to grow food without relying on sunlight.
NASA's lighting research, however, has had benefits far beyond space. It has helped develop biologically oriented LED technology for everyday life on Earth - giving people better rest and helping plants grow. Click here. (12/30)
Visual Displays in Space Station Culture (Source: Space Daily)
The International Space Station Archaeological Project is the first archaeological study of a human habitat in space. Because of the prohibitive cost of travelling to space, archaeologists have had to think of creative ways to investigate the material culture of the space station. One method is to analyze the thousands of photographs taken of the space station's interior.
Authors Dr. Justin St. P. Walsh, Dr. Wendy Salmond, and Dr. Alice Gorman have been analyzing the photographs, and have presented their findings in the December 2021 issue of Current Anthropology in their article "Visual Displays in Space Station Culture: An Archaeological Analysis." Beginning in January 2022, for sixty days, the authors will also be performing the first archaeological experiment in space. The crew will be documenting the station's in-situ material culture. (12/28)
Biden Commits to ISS Through 2030 Amid US-Russian Tensions (Source: Space Policy Online)
NASA announced today that the Biden Administration is committed to operating the International Space Station through 2030, a six-year extension. The sudden statement comes one day after a tense conversation where Russian President Vladimir Putin reportedly told President Joe Biden that any more U.S.-imposed sanctions could result in a “complete rupture” in relations. Russia is a major partner in the ISS.
Calling the ISS a “beacon of peaceful international scientific collaboration,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he was “pleased that the Biden-Harris Administration has committed to continuing station operations through 2030.” The ISS is a partnership among the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan, and 11 European countries working through the European Space Agency. The earth-orbiting laboratory is composed of the Russian Orbital Segment (ROS) and the U.S. Orbital Segment (USOS). (12/31)
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Biden Signs Defense Authorization Bill (Source: Space Policy Online)
President Biden signed a defense authorization bill into law Monday. The National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2022 authorizes spending for the Defense Department and includes a number of space-related policy provisions. However, Congress has yet to pass a full-year spending bill for the Pentagon or other federal agencies, which continue to operate under a continuing resolution that runs until February. (12/28)
Congress Turns Down a Space National Guard Again, But Space Force Isn’t Giving Up (Source: Air Force Times)
Military leaders this year continued pushing Congress to create a new National Guard as part of the fledgling Space Force, but lawmakers still aren’t convinced. The 2022 National Defense Authorization Act signed into law by President Joe Biden on Monday left out the provision to stand up a Space National Guard, and another which would rename the Air National Guard as the “Air and Space National Guard.”
Instead, lawmakers argued they don’t have enough information to create another branch of the National Guard. “This year’s NDAA asks for additional information from the Department of Defense about the establishment of a Space National Guard, because, simply put, we don’t know enough about the total cost and bureaucratic requirements of this expansion,” said Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-OK). The 2021 NDAA called on the Air Force to report back on the best way to organize space-focused Guardsmen and Reservists. Chief of Space Operations Gen. Jay Raymond, said in June that the paper was nearing the end of its approval process before heading to Capitol Hill.
One school of thought suggests a two-part structure: the Space Force, encompassing a single pool of active-duty personnel and part-time reservists; and the Space National Guard to handle state and certain overseas missions. Another proposal from the National Guard Bureau in February 2020 would have moved about 1,500 people from the Army and Air National Guards in seven states and one U.S. territory to a Space National Guard. Officials argued that would streamline chains of command by allowing those units to report to the Space Force and would minimize new costs. (12/30)
Space Force Enlists UT Austin to Help with Cutting-Edge Research (Source: Alcalde)
The U.S. Space Force draws on decades of military experience in orbit from the Army, Air Force, U.S. Space Command, the National Reconnaissance Organization, and other Department of Defense programs. Yet it also realized that collaboration with industry and academia would be key to its success. So, earlier this summer, the nation’s newest military branch signed a memorandum of understanding with UT Austin to help secure America’s future in space through cutting edge research and training of the next generation of Space Force recruits, known as Guardians. (1/1)
Space is Stressed, it's Time to Clean Up the Junk (Source: Khaleej Times)
Tech titans launching into space could spark off conflict between countries beyond the earth. The main protagonists are the United States and China that have made rapid strikes in the sector in recent years, including a space station that houses astronauts. This has echoes of the Cold War in the domain but there are two key differences this time: the USSR does not exist; Russia has fallen behind China.
Private players have joined the race; they compete with each while stoking tensions, albeit unintentionally with their ambitions of taking space travel to another sphere even if it is only for a brief 10 minutes. Talk of instant gratification. They are already raking in millions from the ultra-rich and adventurous, and this is only the beginning of paid trips to space.
Those who can afford the costs go beyond the confines of the planet but the world and environment are likely to pay a price if governments do not step in to regulate the sector before it is too late. These ultra-rich corporate czars are clearly not content with their achievements in technology and have raised their ambitions, which is great as they expand their horizons. But there’s a price to pay in the real world as we mentioned before. Let’s get down to brass-tacks. (12/30)
Elon Musk Rejects Claims His Satellites are Squeezing Out Rivals in Space (Source: California News Times)
Elon Musk argued against criticism that his company’s Starlink satellites occupy too much space in space, and instead space for “tens of billions” of spacecraft in orbit near Earth. Insisted that there might be. “The space is very huge and the satellites are very small,” Musk said. “This isn’t a situation that effectively blocks others. I haven’t blocked anyone from doing anything, and I don’t expect to.”
Musk rejected the proposal to “squeeze” future satellite competitors and compared the number of satellites in low earth orbit with the number he said was 2 billion cars and trucks on Earth. .. The “shell” of each orbit around the Earth is larger than the surface of the planet, with additional shells in the universe every 10 meters or so. “That would mean room for tens of billions of satellites,” he said. “Thousands of satellites are nothing. It’s like there are thousands of cars on Earth. It’s nothing.” (12/29)
Starlink Is Quietly Expanding, But Speeds Are Getting Worse (Source: Forbes)
Starlink, the satellite internet service operated by SpaceX, is slowly but surely expanding its coverage area across the US and beyond. According to a new report from internet data and analytics firm Ookla, as the company expands, its speeds seem to slow down. Starlink seems to be the best satellite internet provider on the market. According to Ookla, the company offers far and away the fastest download speeds, with a media speed of 87.25 Mbps (megabits per second). By comparison, competitor HughesNet offers median speeds of 19.30 Mbps, while Viasat achieved download rates of 18.75 Mbps.
Starlink is the only satellite internet service provider that is offering speeds that are comparable to fixed broadband providers, and the only one offering a connection that would meet the minimum threshold for broadband speeds (25 Mbps). Similarly, Starlink offers faster upload speeds than the competition. The media upload speed for Starlink clocked in at 13.54 Mbps — again, above the broadband threshold of 3 Mbps. It also significantly outpaced its competition. HughesNet achieved a media upload speed of 2.54 Mbps, while Viasat clocked in at 2.96 Mbps.
Now for the bad news: As Starlink slowly rolls out to more customers, it appears as though the company is experiencing slower median speeds. During the first quarter of 2021, Ookla clocked Starlink’s median download speeds at 97.23 Mbps and upload speeds at 13.89 Mbps. In the months since, Starlink’s median download speed has declined by nearly 10 Mbps, and upload speeds by 5 Mbps. Starlink is launching more satellites to increase its expansion, so speeds may improve. (12/23)
Viasat Readies Broadband Satellite for Falcon Heavy Launch (Source: Space News)
Viasat says its first ViaSat-3 broadband satellite remains on schedule for launch next year. A Viasat executive said the broadband payload developed by the company has been integrated with a Boeing-built bus for tests that will continue into early next year. The satellite is scheduled to launch in the first half of 2022 on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy. Viasat had initially planned to launch the first ViaSat-3 satellite in 2019 before pre-pandemic problems with an unnamed component supplier, and then manufacturing delays related to COVID-19, pushed it into 2022. (12/30)
Kepler to Test Network Terminal with Spire Satellite (Source: Space News)
Kepler Communications plans to use a Spire Global nanosatellite launching late next year to test a terminal it hopes to someday deploy by the thousands. The terminal is part of Kepler's Aether network, intended to provide real-time connectivity for spacecraft that can currently only relay information when passing over approved ground stations. The test on the Spire satellite will be limited to verifying hardware performance and data rates, but would enable Spire to evaluate how Aether could support Spire's LEO constellation of more than 110 Lemur smallsats. Kepler recently filed for permission to place Aether terminals on nearly 115,000 satellites. (12/27)
University of Florida Team Tests Optical Communications Technology Ahead of Small Spacecraft Swarm Demonstration (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Teams from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge and University of Florida (UF) in Gainesville are currently testing components of NASA’s CubeSat Laser Infrared CrosslinK (CLICK) B/C demonstration, aiming to validate that the technology can be packaged into a CubeSat and work as expected. CLICK B/C is the second of two sequential missions designed to advance optical communications capabilities for autonomous fleets of CubeSats.
Anticipated to deploy from the International Space Station in 2023, CLICK B/C’s ground testing occurs on an engineering development unit (EDU) at MIT. The EDU is a non-flight test unit that allows the team to assess the technology’s integration and correct any issues with the system’s hardware and software prior to building the actual system that will fly into space. (12/31)
A Clearer Satellite Image Could Mean Better Products and Tighter Security (Source: FNN)
From GPS to weather tech to national security, satellite imagery is used for all sorts of important aspects of life here on Earth. Now, one company is looking to vastly improve the quality of those images, which means improvements in all those sectors. HySpecIQ claims it is now positioned to become the world’s leading provider of space-based hyperspectral imagery. To find out more, I spoke with the company’s senior vice president of product and sales Tim Abbott. Click here. (12/6)
Nimble Chinese Satellite Grabs Hi-Res Images of US City in Seconds (Source: South China Morning Post)
The Beijing-3 small commercial satellite can take images while rotating at up to 10 degrees per second, a speed not seen on a satellite before. Coupled with AI on board, the satellite can monitor up to 500 areas of interest around the globe with nearly 100 revisits a day. The one-tonne commercial satellite launched by China in June performed an in-depth scan of the core area of the San Francisco Bay (3,800 square kilometers).
Most Earth observation satellites must be stable when taking images because attitude control mechanisms can produce vibrations that blur the images. But in this experiment on June 16, the Beijing-3 rolled and yawed wildly, the dramatic motion changing the angle of its camera’s line of sight to the ground when flying over North America. The movement allowed it to capture a larger area than satellites have managed until now. The image, taken from an altitude of 500 kilometers, had a resolution of 50 centimeters per pixel. The satellite can take images while its body was twisting at up to 10 degrees per second. (12/28)
Smallsat Launch Contest (Source: Orbital Transports)
Technology Investor and Entrepreneur Peter Wokwicz is teaming up with Orbital Transports to offer you the opportunity to launch your best idea into space. The SmallSats Contest is offering a $10,000 prize, a public announcement, and if desired the opportunity to be involved in the design, build, launch, and operation of a small satellite. We want to hear what you think can be launched into space that will improve some aspect of the world as we know it.
The winner will be chosen based on a combination of social or economic value. The idea must do good for the world and/or demonstrate a path towards profitability, be economical to build and launch, and fit within 2U or less of payload volume. If your entry is chosen, you will win $10,000, receive a public announcement and recognition, and have the opportunity to be involved in the smallsat's design, build, and operation. Submissions will be received through the SmallSats Contest website, www.smallsatscontest.com. (12/29)
Why Space Stocks Need a Bit of Elon Musk's Charisma (Source: The National)
Space stocks fizzled this past year despite their futuristic lure. Some Elon Musk-style boosterism, similar to what he did for the electric vehicle industry, might be just what they need to stage a turnaround in 2022. Mr. Musk has floated the idea of taking his SpaceX company public, and the parallel with EVs would be hard to ignore. Space exploration and electric vehicles both focus on a future that is not quite here yet, promising huge opportunities as new technologies evolve into viable companies.
But while stocks tied to the EV revolution soared this year, space-focused names – after some initial euphoria – trailed badly behind the broad market. High-profile tourist flights by Richard Branson’s publicly traded Virgin Galactic Holdings, and by Jeff Bezos’s privately held Blue Origin and Mr. Musk’s SpaceX, were not enough to overcome doubts about whether this is a real business or just a divertissement for billionaires. It does not help that the companies trading on exchanges lack a charismatic cheerleader to focus the market’s attention.
If Mr. Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies chooses to go public, that would solve some of those issues all at once. “It would be a tent-pole IPO,” said Nicholas Colas, co-founder of DataTrek Research. “It is that single asset that can focus people’s attention and make them understand what space investing is about. It isn’t about going to Mars or tourism, but getting hardware to space that is current, updated technology.” (12/30)
Cape Canaveral's Sidus Space Soars in Early Days of Public Stock Trading (Source: Florida Today)
Cape Canaveral's Sidus Space is now a publicly traded company worth nearly $200 million. And it is one of the few publicly traded companies started by a woman. Sidus Space was formerly known as Craig Technologies Aerospace Solutions, a division of Craig Technologies. It trades on Nasdaq with the ticker symbol "SIDU."
Craig Technologies founder and CEO Carol Craig also serves as founder of Sidus Space. Federal security regulations prevent her from commenting until after the initial public offering concludes Thursday. The company's initial public offering kicked off Tuesday with Sidus offering 3,000,000 shares at $5 each. But prices quickly soared, climbing as high as $29.70 before closing the day at $12.19. Sidus closed at $11.86 Wednesday.
According to the company's prospectus Sidus has 16.2 million shares of stock outstanding, with company insiders such as Craig owning the remaining stock. A $12 stock price would value the company at $192.2 million. According to the company's prospectus, Sidus had $885,000 in revenues for the first nine months of the year. But its expenses during the period were $2.3 million and the company recorded a net loss of $1.3 million. (12/15)
Spanish Launcher Startup PLD Space Closes a Series B Investment Round of $28 Million (Source: Space Daily)
PLD Space, the Spanish company that leads the space launch business for small satellites in Europe, has just closed a Series B funding round of $28 million. This operation, which brings the total capital raised by PLD Space to more than $50 million, will allow the company to advance in its upcoming milestones of value: the launch of its MIURA 1 suborbital rocket at the end of 2022 from El Arenosillo (Huelva), MIURA 5 orbital vehicle manufacturing and its launch in 2024 from French Guiana. (12/28)
Russia Launches OneWeb Satellites Atop Soyuz Rocket (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A Soyuz rocket carrying a set of OneWeb satellites launched Monday morning. The Soyuz-2.1b rocket took off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 8:10 a.m. Eastern with a payload of 36 satellites. The Fregat upper stage will complete deployment of the satellites nearly four hours after liftoff. (12/27)
ESA Proceeds with Copernicus Despite UK's Unresolved Status (Source: Space News)
The European Space Agency is continuing to press ahead on a series of Copernicus Earth science missions despite the lack of an agreement between Britain and the European Union on U.K. participation and funding. A Nov. 30 deadline for an agreement came and went without a deal, leaving a shortfall of 750 million euros ($850 million) for those programs. ESA has decided for now to continue work on six previously approved Copernicus missions, at least through their critical design reviews in 2024, in the hopes that the U.K. and E.U. will eventually reach an agreement that will fill the funding gap. (12/27)
Satellogic to Build High-Throughput Manufacturing Plant in Netherlands (Source: Space Daily)
Satellogic, a leader in sub-meter resolution satellite imagery collection, announced that it will be constructing a high-throughput satellite manufacturing facility in the Netherlands. This 57,000 square foot new location is expected to accelerate the company's assembly of satellites and accommodate its state-of-the-art manufacturing, integration, and testing equipment. In addition to having logistics capabilities and storage facilities designed for sensitive optic-mechanical and electronic parts, the facility will also host office and meeting space for approximately 80 persons to support hybrid working opportunities. (12/30)
Canada's NorthStar Plans New HQ in Luxembourg (Source: Space News)
Canadian space situational awareness startup NorthStar Earth & Space plans to set up European headquarters in Luxembourg after raising a round of funding there. Luxembourg Future Fund (LFF) said this month it is joining a $45 million investment round for Montreal-based NorthStar, which is developing a constellation of commercial imaging satellites to monitor what's happening in orbit and on Earth. NorthStar said it will create a Luxembourg-based "center of excellence" for space situational awareness and related activities. (12/27)
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Roscosmos Chief Criticizes ASAT Test (Source: New York Times)
The head of Roscosmos criticized the Russian ASAT test last month that generated debris in orbits that intersect the International Space Station. "No, I don't like it," Dmitry Rogozin said of the test in a recent interview, noting that "there is a lot of debris scattered across the orbit." The test has aggravated tensions between Russia and the United States that risk damaging the ISS partnership. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said Rogozin is "between a rock and a hard place" because it's difficult for him to criticize his own government. "He's had to be quite demure, which I understand completely," Nelson said. (12/28)
Angara Upper Stage Malfunctions in Test Launch (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The upper stage of an Angara rocket launched Monday reportedly malfunctioned, stranding it in a low transfer orbit. The Angara-A5 rocket lifted off from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome at 2 p.m. Eastern. The launch was a test flight, with the rocket's Persei upper stage performing a series of burns to place an inert payload into geostationary orbit. However, Russian sources said the second burn of the upper stage did not take place, keeping it in a transfer orbit likely to decay within days. Russian officials have not formally confirmed the problem, stating only that the initial phases of the launch were successful. (12/28)
After Milestone 2021, China’s Space Program to Continue at Pace in 2022 (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The year 2021 has been a historic one for China’s space program. The country achieved a successful landing on Mars, started on-orbit assembly of the modular Chinese Space Station, and has a wide range of orbital-class launch vehicles entering service and under development. Looking back at the launch statistics of 2021, China managed an average cadence of launching more than once a week for the first time in its orbital spaceflight history.
55 orbital launches have taken place – with most of these using rockets of either the legacy Chang Zheng 2, 3, and 4 family, or the next-generation Chang Zheng 5, 6, 7, and 8 series entering service to replace them. Other launches have come from the private company Galactic Energy with their Ceres-1 rocket, i-space with their Hyperbola-1, and the government-subsidized ExPace with their Kuaizhou vehicles. We recap the last year and look ahead to what is planned for 2022 and beyond in the Chinese space program. Click here. (12/30)
China Lifts Cooperation in Space Exploration (Source: South China Morning Post)
China has revealed an acceleration of its program to put a base on the moon, apparently prompted in part by concerns over American-led moves to set the rules for future lunar activities. What was once science fiction is now real. Meanwhile American strategic advantage is fast eroding. In a break with the steady pace of China’s moon program until now, space authorities have told state media it will set up an unmanned lunar research station, being jointly built with Russia, by 2027 – eight years earlier than planned.
At the same time it has been reported that China and Russia expect to sign a new deal for space cooperation, as competition with the United States intensifies. There are concerns that US agency NASA’s Artemis moon-landing program involves territorial claims. The US aims to return men to the moon by 2024 and base them there in new facilities, and put a space station in a lunar orbit. A US-sponsored accord, already signed by 12 allies, would allow governments or private companies to protect facilities by setting up safety zones barring entry to others.
China and Russia are opposed because it violates existing protocols including the UN moon agreement. Zhang Chongfeng, deputy chief designer of the manned space program, said in a recent published paper that China would have to “take some forward-looking measures and deploy them ahead of schedule.” (1/1)
Chinese Astronauts Conduct Six-Hour Spacewalk (Source: Space News)
Two Shenzhou-13 astronauts conducted a six-hour spacewalk Sunday to install equipment outside China's Tianhe space station module. Ye Guangfu started the spacewalk at 5:44 a.m. Eastern, followed nearly an hour later by mission commander Zhai Zhigang. The spacewalkers installed a third panoramic camera outside Tianhe, performed further tests of equipment and made preparations for future missions. The EVA is the fourth conducted since the launch of the Tianhe core module in April this year. (12/27)
China Space Station Maneuvers to Avoid Starlink Satellites (Source: Space News)
The Chinese government says its space station had to maneuver twice to avoid close approaches by SpaceX Starlink satellites. In a statement filed with the U.N. earlier this month, China said close approaches by two Starlink satellites in July and October prompted the maneuvers. The statement did not indicate how close the Starlink satellites came to the station, but outside analysis indicates the satellites came within five kilometers or less. SpaceX has not responded to questions about the incidents. (12/28)
China Launches Secret Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China launched a mysterious satellite early this morning. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 6:13 a.m. Eastern carrying a satellite called Tianhui-4. Chinese media called the launch a success but disclosed no information about the satellite other than its name. Previous spacecraft named Tianhui have been Earth imaging satellites. (12/29)
China Launches Experimental Satellite (Source: Space News)
China wrapped up a record-breaking year with the launch of an experimental communications satellite Wednesday. A Long March 3B rocket lifted off from launch complex 2 at Xichang in southwest China at 11:43 a.m. Eastern and placed the TJSW-9 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite was manufactured by the China Academy of Spaceflight Technology but no further details were revealed, suggesting it has at least some military uses. That launch was the 55th Chinese orbital launch attempt of 2021, far surpassing the previous record of 39 launches conducted by China in 2018 and 2020. (12/29)
China Launches Earth Observation Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China launched an Earth observation satellite Saturday night. A Long March 4C rocket lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 10:11 p.m. Eastern and placed the Ziyuan-1 02E spacecraft into a sun-synchronous orbit. The spacecraft is the latest in a series of spacecraft used for civil Earth resources applications. The rocket also carried a cubesat built by middle school students in Beijing. (12/27)
China Heads List of Space Rockets (Source: Space Daily)
China launched a Long March 3B carrier rocket at Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province early on Thursday, marking the completion of the country's annual launch schedule. The rocket blasted off at 0:43 am and transported the Communication Technology Demonstrator 9 experimental satellite into a geosynchronous orbit, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp, the nation's leading space contractor, said in a statement.
Developed by the company's China Academy of Space Technology, the satellite is tasked with verifying multiband, high-speed satellite communication technologies, the statement said. The mission was the 48th flight of the Long March rocket family this year.
Five-and-a-half hours earlier, a Long March 2D rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center and put the Tianhui 4 satellite into orbit. The satellite will be used to conduct scientific experiments and land surveys and collect geological information. Long March rockets have carried out more orbital launches this year than any other rocket family in the world, and all were successful. Earlier this month, the Long March family reached its 400th flight mission with a Long March 4B rocket lifting off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. (1/1)
India Wants Space Self-Reliance (Source: Telangana Today)
A new Indian space industry trade organization wants to make the country self-reliant in space. The Indian Space Association, established in October, includes both major government contractors as well as startups. The group's director general said the organization plans to work with Indian government agencies on efforts such as new policies and regulatory frameworks needed for the industry to grow. (12/29)
India Slips Satellite Launches to 2022 (Source: Indian Express)
The launch of three Indian Earth observation satellites has slipped to 2022. The three missions, which were scheduled for launch in the second half of 2021, are now scheduled for the first quarter of 2022, according to a monthly report from the Indian government. Those missions include the first launch of India's Small Satellite Launch Vehicle, a dedicated smallsat launcher. (12/28)
Shetland Spaceport Set for Liftoff with Plan for £4bn Share of Global Market (Source: The National)
A Shetland spaceport is set for takeoff this year, the UK Space Agency has confirmed. It will make the site the first in Europe to launch small satellites into orbit and is expected to propel Scotland’s burgeoning space sector into the stratosphere. The number of space businesses in Scotland has already increased by more than 65% since 2016, with a sustained annual growth rate of 12%.
More than twice as many people are employed in the industry in Scotland than in the rest of the UK. A new Scottish Space Strategy aims to create 20,000 jobs in the sector by securing a £4 billion share of the global space market by 2030. As well as hosting the largest launch capability in Europe, the aim is also to develop a world-leading environmental strategy for the industry by reducing emissions and supporting the use of satellite data for environmental monitoring.
Scotland is already a global hub for satellite manufacturing but companies then have to ship them overseas to countries like the US, India or Kazakhstan to be launched. Having the capability to launch from Scotland will make it easier – and cheaper – for Scottish companies to move from building to launching. (1/2)
Iran Launch of Simorgh Rocket Likely Failed to Orbit Payloads (Source: IRNA)
Iran announced Thursday it launched a rocket carrying three payloads, but it was unclear if the payloads reached orbit. Iranian state media said the Simorgh rocket carried three "research payloads" to an altitude of 470 kilometers. The announcement, though, did not explicitly state that the payloads reached orbit, and the top speed of 7.35 kilometers per second given in the report is a little less than the minimum orbital velocity. Satellite imagery earlier this month indicated Iran was preparing for a launch, but the Iranian government gave no advance notice. (12/30)
Iran Admits Rocket Effort Failed; France Condemns it Amid ‘Progress’ at Vienna Talks (Source: Times of Israel)
France on Friday condemned Iran’s launch of a rocket the day before, amid negotiations in Vienna to revive a 2015 nuclear deal between world powers and the Islamic Republic. “These activities are all the more regrettable as they come at a time when we are making progress in the nuclear negotiations in Vienna,” the French foreign ministry said.
On Thursday, Iran said it launched a rocket with a satellite carrier bearing three devices into space. But on Friday, Ahmad Hosseini, an Iranian defense ministry spokesman, revealed that the rocket failed to put its three payloads into orbit after the rocket was unable to reach the required speed, according to the news agency. (12/31)
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Space Tourism Took Off In 2021, Here’s How It Happened (Source: Forbes)
After years – nay, decades – of waiting, 2021 was the year that space tourism finally launched. In the span of 10 short days in July, the commercial spaceflight sector took two giant leaps as both Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin made successful first flights with paying customers aboard. While we still don’t have commercial space stations and the prices are wildly inaccessible for all but the 1% of the 1%, space tourism is officially here – and here to stay. Here are some of the highlights from the year’s successful launches and missions. (12/31)
2021: The Year of Space Tourism (Source: CNN)
When future generations write about the history of space travel, 2021 may well get its own chapter. "The year of the billionaires," it might be called. Jeff Bezos and Richard Branson each took supersonic joy rides to the edge of space, finally bringing their competing private-sector spacecraft into operation after around two decades of promises. Celebrities such as 90-year-old "Star Trek" actor William Shatner and "Good Morning America" co-host Michael Strahan followed soon after.
Another billionaire self-funded a historic, three-day mission aboard a SpaceX orbital capsule that flew higher than any human has traveled in decades. And all that promises to just be the beginning. The trio of space billionaires — Branson, Bezos and Elon Musk — have their eyes set squarely on the future. Over the past year, their visions continued to bump up against one another, stirring up plenty of controversy and one-upmanship. Here's a look back at some of the most memorable moments the commercial space industry had to offer in the last year. (1/1)
Japan’s Billionaire Maezawa to Release ‘No-Money World’ Movie After Trip to the Moon (Source: TASS)
Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa said in an interview with TASS on board of the International Space Station (ISS) that he planned to make a movie about the ‘no-money world’ after his future trip to the Moon. "I want to shoot movies about the no-money world. My explanation is not good so, people cannot understand what I imagine, so maybe I need a movie for understanding these things," he said. (12/30)
Humans Would Probably Start Eating Each Other in Space (Source: Metro)
Experts have warned that humans could end up eating each other if crops fail when we finally set up colonies in space. Two leading scientists looking at how we could leave Earth have told Metro about the challenges and opportunities that the ‘inevitable’ prospect offers our species. They earmarked Jupiter’s moon Callisto and Saturn’s counterpart Titan as possible destinations.
Charles Cockell, a professor of astrobiology at Edinburgh University, said the possibility that our planet becomes uninhabitable because of the climate crisis was a ‘catastrophically bad’ reason to make a colony. Instead, he believes it is sensible to spread the species out as an ‘insurance policy’ against extinction. ‘Even with the best technology, isolated human communities can degenerate very quickly. ‘If you put a group of people on Callisto, things start going wrong and the plant growth module breaks down, they are going to eat each other if there is no other way to survive.’
Dr Cameron Smith agreed that food supplies are a key issue. 'One of the first things that they would have to do is establish a really good farming system and put in a lot of stored food’, he explained. He cited the example of a Uruguyuan football team who worked together constructively after being stranded without food after a plane crash. The survivors did turn to cannibalism, but only among those who had already died. Dr. Smith added that any breakdown of order could be avoided by establishing pre-agreed rules to follow in the event of certain situations occurring. (12/26)
Glaciers in Himalayas Melting at ‘Exceptional’ Rate (Source: Independent)
Glaciers in the Himalayas are shrinking far more rapidly than glaciers in other parts of the world, threatening the water supply of millions of people in Asia, new research warns. The study, led by scientists at the University of Leeds, found that in recent decades, Himalayan glaciers have lost ice 10 times more quickly than they have on average since the Little Ice Age, when glaciers expanded around 400-700 years ago.
The ice loss is occurring so quickly, the research team described the rate as “exceptional”. The researchers reconstructed the extent and ice content of 14,798 Himalayan glaciers to reveal how large they were during the Little Ice Age. The model revealed that the glaciers we see today have now lost around 40 percent of their area, shrinking from a maximum of 28,000 square kilometers to around 19,600 sq km today. (12/27)
Darkness Caused by Dino-Killing Asteroid Snuffed Out Life on Earth in 9 Months (Source: Space.com)
The years following the asteroid impact that wiped out non-avian dinosaurs were dark times — literally. Soot from raging wildfires filled the sky and blocked the sun, directly contributing to the wave of extinctions that followed, new research has found.
After the asteroid struck, around 66 million years ago, the cataclysm extinguished many forms of life instantly. But the impact also caused environmental changes leading to mass extinctions that played out over time. One such extinction trigger may have been the dense clouds of ash and particles that spewed into the atmosphere and spread over the planet, which would have enveloped parts of Earth in darkness that could have persisted for up to two years.
During that time photosynthesis would have failed, leading to ecosystem collapse. And even after sunlight returned, this decline could have persisted for decades more, according to research presented Dec. 16 at the annual meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU), held in New Orleans and online. (12/30)
Should Pluto be a Planet Again? The Debate Rages On (Source: NBC)
A team of scientists wants Pluto classified as a planet again — along with dozens of similar bodies in the solar system and any found around distant stars. The call goes against a controversial resolution from 2006 by the International Astronomical Union that decided Pluto is only a “dwarf planet” — but the researchers say a rethink will put science back on the right path.
Pluto had been considered the ninth planet since its discovery in 1930, but the IAU — which names astronomical objects — decided in 2006 that a planet must be spherical, orbit the sun and have gravitationally “cleared” its orbit of other objects. Pluto meets two of those requirements — it’s round and it orbits the sun. But because it shares its orbit with objects called “plutinos” it didn’t qualify under the new definition.
As a result, the IAU resolved the solar system only had eight major planets — Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune — and Pluto was relegated from the list. But a study announced in December from a team of researchers in the journal Icarus now claims the IAU’s definition was based on astrology — a type of folklore, not science — and that it’s harming both scientific research and the popular understanding of the solar system. (12/30)
Billions of Starless Planets Haunt Dark Cloud Cradles (Source: Space News)
An international team composed of French, Japanese, and Spanish astronomers has found about 100 planets floating freely in space rather than orbiting stars. Extrapolating this sample to the rest of the Milky Way Galaxy suggests that there are billions of undiscovered starless planets tumbling aimlessly through space. Free Floating Planets (FFPs) have been known for about 20 years, but their origins have been shrouded in mystery. Are they born naturally in the cold cradle of an interstellar dark cloud, or do they form around stars like other planets, only to be exiled into eternal darkness?
The small number of known FFPs has limited chances to investigate them. In this research, the team compiled and analyzed around 100 TB of data taken over the course of 20 years, including data from new deep wide-field observations obtained with the best infrared and optical telescopes in the world (like the powerful Subaru Telescope's mosaic cameras, HSC and Suprime-Cam), to search for FFPs in the Upper Scorpius OB young stellar association.
After rejecting background stars and galaxies, they ended up with a catalog of 70-170 FFPs, depending on the selection criteria used, as well as more than 3000 more massive associated members. This almost doubles the number of known FFPs. The sheer number of FFPs found in this sample cannot be explained by the process of planets forming naturally from the contraction of small gas clouds in interstellar space. This indicates that planets formed around stars and then banished to the blackness must be an important contribution. (12/28)
The 10 Biggest Exoplanet Discoveries of 2021 (Source: Space.com)
The study of exoplanets helps address questions about our place in the solar system and in the universe. For example, learning about massive gas giants can boost our understanding about how Jupiter, one of Earth's major shields from cosmic strikes, got to be where it is now located. Searching for rocky planets in habitable zones around their distinct parent stars highlights the rarity and preciousness of our planet. And discovering what is possible out there certainly inspires our imaginations. Click here. (12/31)
The 10 Wildest Things We Learned About Black Holes in 2021 (Source: Space.com)
Scientists who study black holes can rest assured that their field will deliver astounding and mind-bending findings, year after year. And 2021 was no exception, with many exciting new results regarding these strange gravitational beasts. Here, we take a look at this year's most captivating black hole discoveries and how they've advanced our understanding of the universe. Click here. (12/30)
The 10 Strangest Space Structures Discovered in 2021 (Source: Space.com)
Orbiting more than 300 miles (480 kilometers) over Earth and separated by tens of millions of light-years from many of the interstellar objects it studies, the Hubble Space Telescope takes "working remotely" to a new extreme. Even as the world below grappled with another pandemic year, weird and wonderful space discoveries flooded in from above, with astronomers pulling back the curtain on monster black holes, invisible magnetic megastructures and a cosmic treasure trove of extraterrestrial planets. Click here. (12/31)
12 of the Strangest Objects in the Universe (Source: Space.com)
There's no questioning the fact that the universe is weird. Just look outside and you'll see all manner of strange, self-reproducing flora and fauna, crawling upon a blue ball of semimolten rock covered in a thin, hard shell and blanketed by a tenuous film of gases. Yet our own planet represents a tiny fraction of the peculiar phenomena that can be found lurking throughout the cosmos, and every day astronomers turn up new surprises. In this gallery, we take a look at some of the most outlandish objects in space. Click here. (12/30)
Air Force Academy Grad Embraces New NASA Role, Future of Spaceflight (Source: Air Force Academy)
Kelvin Manning has served in several critical roles in his nearly 30 years at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. He was the Florida spaceport’s associate director for more than a decade. He also held multiple key positions within the Space Shuttle Program, was the first division chief for the agency’s Orion spacecraft, and served on the last three NASA astronaut candidate selection boards.
But his recent appointment as Kennedy’s deputy director brings with it perhaps the greatest challenges, opportunities, and excitement yet. “There is a lot more responsibility resting on my shoulders – and I feel that,” Manning said. “But it’s an honor to have that level of responsibility and be able to lead this team in such a critical time in our nation’s history with regard to spaceflight.”
Working in tandem with Kennedy Director Janet Petro, Manning is helping guide the varied programs based at America’s multi-user spaceport into a new era of space exploration. NASA’s Artemis missions, which will launch from Kennedy, will land the first woman and first person of color on the Moon, preparing the way for long-term lunar exploration and sending the first astronauts to Mars. Gateway Deep Space Logistics will send cargo and supplies for crew to the Gateway outpost in lunar orbit in support of lunar operations in orbit and on the surface. (12/31)
Astronaut Clifford Passes Away (Source: CollectSpace)
Former NASA astronaut Rich Clifford has died at the age of 69. Clifford, an Army aviator, joined the NASA astronaut corps in 1990 and flew on three shuttle missions from 1992 through 1996. While at NASA he was diagnosed with Parkinson's disease, but flew on his final shuttle mission with only NASA doctors and his mission commander knowing his diagnosis. He died of complications from Parkinson's. (12/29)
LEGO to Launch NASA-Inspired Moon Sets in Time for Artemis I Launch (Source: CollectSpace)
LEGO is launching a new series of building toys themed around NASA's Artemis program just in time to coincide with the first mission. The toy company recently revealed the first two of its NASA-inspired LEGO City Space sets with hints of more to come. The new Rocket Launch Center and Lunar Research Base are scheduled for release on March 1, 2022.
After several delays, NASA is now looking to launch its Artemis I moon mission in March or April. The LEGO City Rocket Launch Center includes a mobile launch tower and rocket that resembles the Space Launch System (SLS) heavy-lift booster making its first flight on Artemis I. The LEGO rocket, which features NASA "meatball" and "worm" logos just like the real vehicle, stands more than 16.5 inches tall and 4 inches wide (42 by 11 cm). (12/29)
Hotel Near Kennedy Space Center with Rooftop Views of Rocket Launches to Open in March (Source: WFTV)
A new hotel opening in March near the Kennedy Space Center will feature a rooftop deck with a restaurant and “Space Bar” for guests to enjoy as they watch rocket launches from Florida’s Space Coast. The Courtyard by Marriott Titusville – Kennedy Space Center hotel is being developed by Delaware North in Titusville, the same company that operates the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
The Kennedy Space Center hotel will be located on Riverfront Center Boulevard off State Route 405 on part of the former site of the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, 7.1 miles from the space center and 6.4 miles from Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. A spokesperson for the hotel said the signature feature for the property will be a rooftop deck with a bar and restaurant called The Space Bar, offering views of the Indian River, Merritt Island and Kennedy Space Center. (12/31)
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Florida Aerospace Calendar
Click HERE to suggest new items and corrections.
Jan. TBD - Falcon-9 launch, Starlink satellites deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Jan. 10 - Falcon-9 launch, Transporter 3 rideshare satellites deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Jan. 10-12 - Spaceport Summit and SpaceCom 2022 conference, Rosen Shingle Creek Hotel, Orlando - https://spacecomexpo.com
Jan. 11 - National Space Club Florida Committee Virtual Lunch & Learn, 12:00 p.m. - https://www.nscfl.org/our-events/
Jan. TBD - Falcon-9 launch, COSMO-SkyMed satellite deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Jan. 21 - Atlas-5 launch, USSF-8 satellite deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Jan. 22 - Women In Defense Space Coast Chapter 9th anniversary event, Larsen Motorsports, Palm Bay, 11:30 a.m. - http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07eiwaqnc457de039a&llr=smyyv8nab
Jan. 27 - Florida Space Day, Capitol Building, Tallahassee - http://floridaspaceday.com/
Feb. 12 - NASA SLS Artemis 1 launch, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Feb. TBD - Atlas-5 launch, CST-100 Starliner Uncrewed Orbital Flight Test 2, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Feb. 21 - Falcon-9 launch, Axiom 1 commercial ISS crew, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Feb. TBD - Falcon-Heavy launch, USSF-44 satellite deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Mar. 1 - Atlas-5 launch, GOES-T satellite deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, 4:40 p.m. - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Apr. TBD - Falcon-Heavy launch, USSF-52 satellite deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Apr. 15 - Falcon-9 launch, NASA crew launch to ISS, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
Jun. TBD - Vulcan Centaur launch, Peregrine satellite deployment, Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Time TBD - http://www.spaceflightnow.com/tracking/index.html
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SPACErePORT news and editorial summaries are distilled and organized by me and don’t necessarily reflect my opinions or any SPACErePORT advertisers.
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