First privately built Indian space rocket launches

Chennai, India (AFP)

Nov 18, 2022

The first privately developed Indian rocket lifted off into the upper reaches of the atmosphere on Friday, in another milestone in the country's push to become a major space power.

The half-ton Vikram-S rocket launched before midday local time and travelled in an arc, live footage from the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) showed.

It safely splashed down into the sea six minutes later, according to the agency.

The rocket, developed by local startup Skyroot Aerospace, reached a peak altitude of 90 kilometers (55 miles), below the internationally recognized 100-km Karman line that separates Earth from outer space.

"It is indeed a new beginning, a new dawn... in the journey of India's space program," science minister Jitendra Singh said after the launch to a crowd of cheering technicians at the ISRO's launch facility on the southern island of Sriharikota.

The single-stage, solid-fuel rocket was built with "carbon composite structures and 3D-printed components", the government said Thursday ahead of the first Vikram-S mission, named "Prarambh" ("Start").

India has been bolstering its space program in recent years, including a crewed mission with Russian backing slated for 2023 or 2024.

Its capabilities and ambitions have grown, highlighted by the success of its rockets and missions beyond Earth.

In 2014, India became the first Asian nation to reach Mars with its Mangalyaan orbiter. Hailed for its low cost, that mission put India in a small club including the United States, Russia and the European Union.

And in 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi hailed India as a "space superpower" after it shot down a low-orbiting satellite, a move prompting criticism for the amount of "space junk" it created.

India is also working to boost its two percent share of the global commercial space market.

In October, ISRO's heaviest rocket yet successfully put 36 broadband satellites in low earth orbit.

Experts say India can keep costs low by copying and adapting existing space technology, and thanks to an abundance of highly skilled engineers who earn a fraction of their foreign counterparts' wages.

Source: Space Daily.

Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/First_privately_built_Indian_space_rocket_launches_999.html.

China's MD-22 hypersonic UAV could be strategic asset in near- or outer-space

by Scott N. Romaniuk, Tobias Burgers, and Shih-yueh Yang for SpaceWar.com

Sydney, Australia (SPX)

Nov 16, 2022

China has made significant advancements in the security and defense industries, and the Zhuhai airshow showcases its cutting-edge military weaponry technology. This includes concept fighter aircraft like the J-20 and J-16 as well as state-of-the-art unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), including stealth and hypersonic models like the MD-22. The MD-22 hypersonic UAV is said to be a unique idea that could help China compete with other countries in the hypersonic field.

The alleged hypersonic potential of China's MD-22 UAV has piqued the interest of many. There is hope that the MD-22, created by China's Guangdong Aerodynamic Research Academy (GARA) and the CAS Institute of Mechanics, will one day take people to the very edge of space. Rather than viewing the MD-22 as a singular drone-style weapon, it should be seen as a testing ground for the rapidly developing field of hypersonic weapons.

If the MD-22's specifications were true, it would be an incredible UAV, capable of travelling 8,000 kilometers at an average speed of 8,645 kilometers per hour while carrying more than 1,800 kilograms (4,000 pounds). It measures 10.8 meters long, or the length of a school bus; 4.5 meters wide, or the width of a Mini Cooper; and 1.6 meters high. It has a weight of one ton. The US MQ-9 Reaper weighs more than 2 tons.

The turboram accelerates the MD-22 to its maximum speed during takeoff, after which it switches to the scramjet for hypersonic flight. Potentially matching the MD-22's physical attributes are its theoretical capabilities. However, the claimed range of the aircraft is disputable unless carried by other large aircraft or rocket boosters. The similarities between the MD-22 and the Hongdu GJ-11 Sharp Sword stealth UAVs also highlight the aircraft's status as a showpiece. The practicality of its ostensibly high-altitude potential is also unclear.

The MD-22 is said to be capable of reaching speeds of up to Mach 7 and utilizing a wide range of thrusts thanks to its uniquely streamlined exterior and internal architecture. Supersonic speeds are those between Mach 1 and Mach 5, whereas hypersonic speeds are those above Mach 5. Sound has a speed of 1,225 kilometers per hour (699 miles per hour), meaning that hypersonic missiles can reach speeds of at least 6,000 kilometers per hour (3,748 miles per hour).

However, the MD-22 is rumored to have 24 internal and storage pylons that can take up to 680 kilograms (1,500 pounds) each, while the MQ-9 Reaper only has four hard points for weaponry. This means that the standard range of the vehicle can be expanded by installing additional fuel tanks. With a heavy payload, the Chinese-made MD-22 could theoretically travel faster than hypersonic missiles.

The MD-22, on the other hand, is purely theoretical outside of the AVIC Group's "Nantianmen Project," which is functionally equivalent to discussions of the Star Wars universe. Still, there are aspects of such a discussion that would be relevant even now.

Space Race 2.0

As major nations work to improve their hypersonic weapons capabilities, academics, professionals, and policymakers debate whether the floodgates are opening, resulting in a new arms race in the local domain, near- or outer-space, or both. The "space race" is back, with big countries once again showing a lot of interest in space and low-orbit military systems and striving for rapid breakthroughs.

Because of competing interests and rising competitiveness among governments in near- or outer-space, the likelihood of an incident leading to armed conflict has increased significantly. A war between nations could have devastating effects on international stability if it is sparked by events in space. There is a significant danger that this may spark a security dilemma, increasing the likelihood that many states will be dragged into a war that uses elements of both conventional and nuclear warfare.

Like any other country, China is conducting extensive research in electronics, thermal management, and command and control as part of a technology race to develop hypersonic weapons. China's drones are built with upgrades and new uses in mind, suggesting that the country's leaders are already planning for or even testing a variety of applications and follow-up models.

It is expected that China will showcase a broad variety of UAVs at upcoming shows, either to boast about its achievements or to plant the idea that massive advances are being made in the field of hypersonic weaponry.

Other Chinese propeller-driven or subsonic UAVs are comparable to their American counterparts. Such as the Chengdu GJ-1 (-1) / Wing Loong 1 armed drones, which are essentially equal to the MQ-1/MQ-9; the Rainbow CH-7 stealth high-altitude drone, which resembles the X-47B; and the WZ-8 / BZK-008 CH-91 surveillance drone, which is roughly equivalent to the RQ-5.

The MD-22, on the other hand, could, in theory, be a great leap forward and be used to make sixth-generation or even more advanced seventh-generation planes.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Chinas_MD_22_hypersonic_UAV_could_be_strategic_asset_in_near__or_outer_space_999.html.

Maine looks to grow space economy, for students, research and business

 by Brooks Hays

Washington DC (UPI)

Jun 7, 2021

Maine leaders have long been searching for ways to keep more of high school and college graduates from leaving the state. But lobstering and forestry, two stalwarts of the Maine economy, aren't what they used to be.

Enter the new space economy.

"There's something sexy about space," Terry Shehata, executive director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium, a NASA-funded nonprofit, told UPI.

Maine -- and its plethora of acreage, far from the light pollution of the Eastern Seaboard's major metropolises -- has always been a great place to gaze at the stars, but not necessarily to launch rockets.

The miniaturization of satellites and the rockets needed to put them into orbit, however, has changed the calculus. The barrier to entry is now low enough that space, or at least low-Earth orbit, is no longer the exclusive playground of national space agencies and giant defense companies.

States not traditionally associated with the aerospace industry -- Maine and Michigan, for example -- want in on the game.

Build it and they will come

In April, Maine Gov. Janet Mills signed LD 1923 into law, establishing the Maine Space Corp., a public-private partnership tasked with growing the state's aerospace industry.

When law goes into effect in August, the corporation will get to work filling leadership roles and codifying their goals and governance. Then it will begin crafting a strategic plan for the construction of the Maine Space Complex, which will feature launch sites, an innovation hub and a data analytics center.

Last year, a Maine-based startup company, bluShift Aerospace, launched the state's first rocket. Though it didn't quite reach space, it successfully showcased the capabilities of the company's "bio-derived" solid fuel.

bluShift, which hopes to begin launching small satellites using its carbon-neutral rockets, is one of several companies that Maine officials reached out to as they considered strategies for capturing a slice of the new space economy.

"We've been thinking about how to take the state to the next level for some time now," Shehata said.

More than a spaceport

Before pushing ahead with LD 1923 and the Maine Space Corp., Shehata and the consortium worked with members of the legislature to ensure Maine had built-in interest from businesses, researchers and community leaders.

"We knew that one of the critical assets that Maine has is geography in terms of being on the Eastern Seaboard and one of the positions to launch small satellites into polar orbits," Shehata said.

"But our primary concern has been whether we can capitalize on this new space economy in a way that utilizes our unique assets, spurs economic growth and workforce development, and do so in a way that would allow us to keep our students here in the state."

Surveys and market research revealed a healthy dose of local demand, but they also confirmed the suspicions of Shehata and others that a spaceport wasn't enough.

"What we're doing is more than a spaceport," Shehata said. "In addition to spaceport, we decided we needed to have this innovation center and data analytics hub to make sure we have a more complete complex."

All three units will collect fees and will be able to survive financially on their own, Shehata said, but the three hubs will operate collectively, as a coordinated, cohesive entity.

Building a more complete complex was key to ensuring the state developed infrastructure that could be used by a diversity of groups, said state Sen. Mattie Daughtry, the bill's lead sponsor, from communication providers to student engineers.

Stakeholder diversity

"This is not about putting out an 'open for business' sign or attracting Elon Musk- and Jeff Bezos-style launches," Daughtry told UPI, speaking of the bill. "It's about creating a leadership council that ensures all the different parties and stakeholders are working together."

For states without a long history of aerospace activity, a multifaceted approach is essential, said Dylan Taylor, a major investor in the new space economy and CEO of Voyager, a space exploration firm.

"The best strategies are integrated approaches where education, technology development, infrastructure, capital availability and the political support all dovetail around the industry," Taylor told UPI in an email. "Multi-stakeholder coordination is the key to success."

Global data, Maine applications

In addition to engaging Maine's students, Shehata and Daughtry cited the importance of bridging connections between the Maine Space Corp. and Maine's industries on the ground.

Ali Abedi, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Maine, who testified in support of LD 1923 earlier this year, is working to design and build small satellites outfitted with microspectral cameras.

"We can use those cameras to study the concentrations of phytoplankton in the water, so that could be useful to Maine's aquaculture industry," Abedi told UPI. "We can also use data from these cameras to study urban heat island effects.

"The third application is monitoring different forests. By studying the colors in different parts of forests, we can see where diseases might be spreading and harming the forest canopies."

Small satellites launched in Maine could be used to study forest, fields, cities and water bodies all over the globe, while also helping researchers monitor the Pine Tree State's own natural resources.

"We have to make sure that the value of the space complex comes back to the various sectors in Maine's economy," Shehata said.

The world economy is increasingly data driven. If companies in Maine can find a way to collect valuable information from low-Earth orbit, it won't be difficult to find customers willing to pay for it -- at least, according to Taylor's logic.

Data, Taylor said, is the draw.

"Now that we have a reusable, reliable and relatively inexpensive launch, there has been a flourishing of launching hardware into space," Taylor said in an email. "This in turn is generating a treasure trove of spaced-based data.

"With this data, entire new business models are being created. The capabilities are extraordinary, as evidenced by some of the space-based data that came out of the Ukraine conflict from the private sector."

Much of the data collected by small satellites launched from the Maine Space Complex won't be for sale -- it will be free, available to students at Maine's universities for all sorts of research purposes.

Broad benefits

Non-space industries will also benefit from work being done at the complex's innovation hub, supporters of the bill said.

"We already have companies right here in Maine that are pushing for climate-neutral launches and climate-friendly fuels," Daughtry said.

The work could aid broader efforts to reduce the United States' carbon footprint, she said.

For many in the new space economy, miniaturization is essential. Efforts to squeeze more tech into smaller confines require electronics and instruments to be as efficient as possible.

"Efforts to build more power-efficient circuitry or low-power radio communication systems with greater data efficiency can benefit other areas of technology," Abedi said.

Financing and the future

It will cost $50 million to $250 million to construct the Maine Space Complex, according to Shehata, but the Maine Space Corp. won't be starting from scratch.

Officials expect to utilize some existing infrastructure, including a pair of military facilities no longer in use -- Brunswick Naval Air Station in Southern Maine and Loring Air Force Base farther north, near the Canadian border.

It's not clear how the Maine Space Complex will be funded, but Shehata said the public-private partnership is likely to pursue federal grants, seek out commercial partners and perhaps even issue bonds.

The grant consortium that Shehata oversees will help the corporation get organized and provide some initial seed funding.

"We are going to basically provide back-office services to the corporation with additional funds that we are securing from the federal government to build up the infrastructure, and then in a few years, we will step aside and establish a strategic partnership with the corporation," he said.

It's about the kids

Supporters of LD 1923 and the Maine Space Complex expect the project to be financially sustainable without direct support from the state treasury and Maine taxpayers, but Shehata and Daughtry said facilitating collaboration is the primary goal.

"The goal is to be having a statewide effort on this," Daughtry said. "The thing that I am really excited about are the links between the space complex, space companies and academics.

"I'm really interested to see how high school students use some of these low-cost devices."

Shehata suggests the Maine Space Complex could bring more than 5,500 high-paying jobs to the state by 2042.

If a high school student gets a chance to study the state's resources using data captured by a satellite launched from Maine, maybe that engagement motivates them to pursue an engineering degree at the University of Maine.

And if the Maine Space Corp. is successful at capturing a slice of the new space economy -- expected to be worth $1.5 trillion by 2040 -- maybe, just maybe, upon graduation, that student won't have to look outside the state for a job in the aerospace industry.

Source: Space Daily.

Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Maine_looks_to_grow_space_economy_for_students_research_and_business_999.html.

Russia test-launches Angara A5 heavy lift space rocket

December 14, 2020

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia on Monday successfully test-launched its heavy lift Angara A5 space rocket for the second time, the country's military and space officials said. The rocket lifted off Monday morning from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in northwest Russia.

“It flies, damn it!” Dmitry Rogozin, head of Russia’s space agency Roscosmos, tweeted after the launch. Its first successful test launch took place in 2014 and was hailed by Russian President Vladimir Putin as “a major achievement for our space rocket industry and for Russia in general.”

Angara A5 is designed to replace the Proton M heavy lift rocket, but its development and manufacturing has been plagued by delays and technical problems. Roscosmos on Monday touted the increased environmental safety of the Angara rockets, as they “do not use aggressive and toxic propellants, significantly increasing environmental safety both in the areas adjacent to the launch complex and in the drop zones.”

Lack of critical technology restricts India's anti-satellite capabilities: IAF Vice Chief

by Rajesh Kumar

New Delhi (Sputnik)

Sep 08, 2021

In 2019, India successfully carried out an anti-satellite (ASAT) test in which a ballistic missile defense interceptor destroyed a state-owned Microsat-R satellite in a flight that lasted just over half a minute.

Two years after the government dubbed the ASAT test a success, Air Marshal Vivek Ram Chaudhari, Vice Chief of the Indian Air Force (IAF), divulged that the country lacks the indigenous technical capability to observe, track and identify non-allied objects in orbit. He acknowledged that there remains a wide gap in capability development for the nation's military satellite applications.

The vice chief said that space has become a playground for the world's best minds to continue evolving and breaking new ground. He has advised the country's defense research unit and space agency to integrate their existing capabilities into the air surveillance feature.

"The Air Force is aiming to expand its footprint in space exploration, in partnership with ISRO. The Kargil war [against Pakistan in 1999] served as a trigger for having additional satellites to enhance our operations. In recent times, increased focus on military space application has been one of the accelerating key factors," he said on Tuesday in New Delhi. The ISRO will launch five more satellites for the armed forces in the coming months, according to reports. Presently, Indian armed forces are said to have eight dedicated military satellites.

Observing that the ability to use aircraft as launch platforms may well be the future, Chaudhari said that space tech capabilities have become a crucial component for the IAF's military operations. "Our strategy is to fully integrate air and space capabilities to have a common operating picture in the aerospace medium," he emphasized.

India had conducted an ASAT test with a relatively small craft in comparison to communication satellites, with a surface area of some two square meters and at a low velocity. With the test, India joined a short list of countries-China, the United States, and Russia-that have demonstrated the space capability.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/Lack_of_critical_technology_restricts_Indias_anti_satellite_capabilities_IAF_Vice_Chief_999.html.

Earthlike planets in other solar systems? Look for moons

Urbana IL (SPX)

Sep 10, 2021

Finding an exact copy of the Earth somewhere in the universe sounds like a far-fetched notion, but scientists believe that because Earth happened in our solar system, something similar is bound to exist someplace else. University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign researcher Siegfried Eggl and his colleagues say orbiting moons may play a key role in keeping planets habitable over long periods and identified a method to find them.

"In our solar system, we have an average of 20 moons orbiting around each planet. So, we suspected there are moons around planets in other systems, too. There is really no reason why there shouldn't be any," said Eggl, a professor in the Department of Aerospace Engineering at UIUC.

Eggl said astronomers using the Atacama Large Millimeter Array have recently observed what they believe is evidence of a moon forming around the extrasolar planet PDS 70c. The next step is finding moons around planets that have two stars.

Some planets in other solar systems can be seen using very large telescopes like ALMA, the W.M. Keck observatory in Hawaii, or the European Southern Observatory in Chile, but fully formed moons are still too tiny to spot.

"We know they are there. We just need to look harder. But because it is so difficult to see them, we identified a way to detect them through the effect they have on a planet using transit timing variations."

Eggl said they can observe how planets behave in orbit and compare those observations to models with and without moons.

"We know the planets, stars, and moons in our solar system interact gravitationally like a giant board game," Eggl said. "The moon is tidally interacting with the Earth and slowing its own rotation, but the Sun is also there, tugging on both. A second star would act as another external perturber to the system."

When a planet passes in front of a star the star dims a little, Eggl said. A moon tugging on the planet is causing the planet to wobble slightly on its orbit. This wobble makes the darkening of the star occur sometimes earlier and other times later. In a double star system, additional variations in the time of transit are due to the forced, elliptical orbits of the planet and its moon. If detected, those variations can lead to additional insights into the properties of the system.

Much like proving there is wind by observing tree branches bending, Eggl said "This is an indirect proof of a moon because there's nothing else that could tug on the planet in that kind of fashion."

Of course, this assumes that planets did not lose their moons along the way.

"We first had to determine the orbital resonances in the systems we looked at," Eggl said. "When moons and planets have slightly elliptical orbits, they don't always move at the same speed. The more eccentric an orbit, the more frequencies can be excited, and we see these resonances become more and more important. At some point there will be overlapping resonances that can lead to chaos in the system. In our study we have shown, however, that there is enough stable 'real estate' to merit a thorough search for moons around planets in double star systems."

Billy Quarles, lead author of the study, said, "The major difference with binary systems is the companion star acts like the tide at the beach, where it periodically comes in and etches away the beachfront. With a more eccentric binary orbit, a larger portion of the stable 'real estate' is removed. This can help out a lot in our search for moons in other star systems."

The bottom line for Eggl is that our solar system is probably not as special as we'd like to think it is.

"If we can use this method to show there are other moons out there, then there are probably other systems similar to ours," he said. "The moon is also likely critical for the evolution of life on our planet, because without the moon the axis tilt of the Earth wouldn't be as stable, the results of which would be detrimental to climate stability. Other peer-reviewed studies have shown the relationship between moons and the possibility of complex life."

Source: Space Daily.

Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Earthlike_planets_in_other_solar_systems_Look_for_moons_999.html.

European Space Agency appoints Austrian scientist new chief

December 17, 2020

BERLIN (AP) — The European Space Agency said Thursday that Josef Aschbacher, an Austrian scientist who leads its Earth observation program, has been appointed as the organization's next head. The agency's 22 member states elected Aschbacher to be ESA's director general succeeding Jan Woerner, whose term ends on June 30.

Aschbacher currently oversees the ESA’s center for Earth Observation, near Rome, and has been deeply involved in some of the agency's most high-profile missions including the Copernicus fleet of satellites collecting environmental data about the planet from space.

The European Space Agency has lately begun discussing involvement in crewed missions beyond Earth's orbit, such as a possible return-to-the-Moon mission with NASA.

New UK Space Command set to follow US with a formal space domain agency

London (Sputnik)

Nov 20, 2020

The UK's newly announced Space Command is likely to pick up a number of projects already begun with its creation in mind and to partner closely with the US Space Force as part of a larger military confrontation with Russia and China in space.

On Wednesday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the creation of the British Space Command as part of the commonwealth's biggest defense expansion since the end of the Cold War. The news comes less than a year after the US established its own US Space Force (USSF) as a new branch of the US military, ostensibly in response to the growing space capabilities of Russia and China.

According to Johnson, "the international situation is more perilous and more intensely competitive than at any time since the Cold War and Britain must be true to our history and stand alongside our allies. To achieve this, we need to upgrade our capabilities across the board."

The British government began laying the groundwork for a space command over a year ago, following a Conservative December 2019 election pledge to establish the branch. In April, Air Vice Marshall Harvey Smyth was appointed the ministry's first space commander, tasked with further coordinating what would become the commonwealth's Space Command, with a Pounds 7 billion portfolio for the next decade.

UK Justifications Parallel US Space Force

In July, UK Defense Secretary Ben Wallace, writing in the Telegraph, warned of "the threat Russia poses to our national security" following a purportedly "provocative test of a weapon-like projectile from a satellite threatening the peaceful use of space."

Two months later, British Air Force Chief Marshal Mike Wigston warned that orbital space surrounding the Earth had become a "contested war-fighting domain" to which London must defend its access.

"Today we can no longer assume the unchallenged access to air or space that we have enjoyed for the last three decades, nor can we ignore the threat of air, ballistic and cruise missile attack," Wigston said, as reported by Sputnik.

The language closely mirrors that used by the Trump administration to justify creation of the US Space Force, a move decried by Russia and China as a serious threat to world peace and the creation of a military entity that does exactly what it claims to mitigate: the militarization of space.

"We can no longer assume that our space superiority is a given. If deterrence fails, we must be ready to fight for space superiority," stated the USSF chief of space operations, Gen. John Raymond, in remarks to federal lawmakers in February 2020.

In its Defense Space Strategy Summary, published in June 2020, the Pentagon outlined that one of its goals in pursuing the Space Force was to "promote burden-sharing with our allies and partners, developing and leveraging cooperative opportunities in policy, strategy, capabilities, and operational realms."

In July, Raymond hailed London's cooperation on the Artemis small satellite program, among other space-based ventures.

"Our Space Force and Air Force teams are currently evaluating where we can best leverage this capability across the space enterprise. Satellite communications is another area where we are working closely together. Our mutual needs for increased communications bandwidth and a more resilient SATCOM [satellite communications] architecture has the United States investigating partnership arrangements and hosted payloads on Advanced Extremely High Frequency [AEHF] evolved strategic satellite communications systems, Skynet and Wideband Global SATCOM [WGS] systems, to name a few," Raymond said, adding,

"Additionally, our nations recently reached agreement on technology safeguards that allows United States companies to support launching spacecraft from the UK."

Also in July, Raytheon's UK subsidiary signed a deal with the Defense Ministry's Defense Equipment and Support office to develop navigation satellites with increased resistance to jamming. The USSF also singled out jamming as a significant potential threat.

Projects Potentially Within the Scope of the Space Command

According to Defense News, the UK's Space Command is likely to take over development of the new Skynet 6 communications satellites and the possible creation of a UK Global Navigation Satellite System, along with surveillance satellites and ballistic missile defense radar networks.

However, the UK has also recently poured money into various international space projects, including half of the $1 billion July purchase of OneWeb, a startup that seeks to launch a broadband internet satellite megaconstellation of up to 650 satellites, which the UK would split with Indian mobile network operator Bharti Global.

In November 2019, London increased its annual financial commitment to the European Space Agency by 15%, to Pounds 474 million. The UK prime minister on Wednesday said that the opening of the commonwealth's Space Command would be accompanied by a new satellite launch site in Scotland, which would "launch its first rocket in 2022." It's unclear if Johnson intends to push the building of another launch pad or expand one of several existing commercial projects.

The Space Hub Sutherland project, a proposal approved in August to build a small rocket pad in Scotland's far north, could become a key launch base for the space program. The site was envisioned as a commercial launch pad for putting microsatellites into orbit, but risked being cancelled last month when US defense contractor Lockheed Martin, a major backer of the space hub, suddenly pulled its support.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise has said it hopes the Sutherland spaceport will be able to launch a rocket by the end of 2022, and noted that the spot's high latitude is ideal for placing satellites into polar orbits.

The Pentagon has been moving toward using smaller, cheaper satellites, leaning heavily on private space firms like SpaceX to adapt their small commercial satellites for military uses. Last month, the US Space Force handed SpaceX a lucrative contract to turn some of its Starlink low-orbit broadband internet satellites into ballistic missile early-warning devices. Another launch site also in the works, the Shetland Space Center, on Scotland's most northerly island, is where Lockheed will move its own program that was earlier planned for Sutherland. The site plans to be able to launch a rocket by 2021.

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/New_UK_Space_Command_set_to_follow_US_with_a_formal_space_domain_agency_999.html.

Europe, US 'climate guardian' satellite to monitor oceans

November 20, 2020

BERLIN (AP) — A "climate guardian" satellite set for launching this weekend will greatly help scientists keep track of the rise in sea levels, one of the most daunting effects of global warming, a senior official at the European Space Agency said Friday.

The satellite, known as Sentinel-6 Michael Freilich and jointly developed by Europe and the United States, contains cutting-edge instruments able to capture sea surface height with unprecedented accuracy, adding to space-based measurements going back almost 30 years.

“This is an extremely important parameter for climate monitoring,” said Josef Aschbacher, the European Space Agency's director of Earth observation. Billions of people living in coastal areas around the planet are at risk in the coming decades as melting polar ice and ocean expansion caused by warming push waters ever higher up the shore.

“We know that sea level is rising,” Aschbacher saud. The big question is, by how much, how quickly. Some studies estimate the world’s oceans will rise by at least 2 feet (61 centimeters) by the end of the century, hitting low-lying regions from Bangladesh to Florida.

Aschbacher said measurements dating back to the 1990s show average sea levels rising first by about 3 millimeters (0.12 inches) per year, but in the past couple of years the annual rate was almost 5 millimeters (0.2 inches).

While measurements are also taken at ground level, in harbors and other coastal areas, they don’t provide the same precise uniform standard as a single satellite sweeping the entire globe every 10 days, he said.

“If you measure it at sea level, you have one measurement device in Amsterdam and you have a different one in Bangkok and yet another one in Miami," Aschbacher told The Associated Press by video from ESA offices in Frascati, Italy. "But with a satellite, you can compare these measurements globally because it’s the same instrument that flies over all these areas.”

The probe's most powerful weapon is the Poseidon-4 radar altimeter, named after the trident-wielding Greek god of the sea. The instrument measures how long it takes for radar signals to bounce off the sea surface and back to the satellite.

The new satellite will also collect measurements at higher resolution than its predecessors, allowing researchers to peer more closely at small ocean features, especially along the coastlines. Other instruments on board will measure how radio signals pass through the atmosphere, providing data on atmospheric temperature and humidity that can help improve global weather forecasts.

The satellite is due to be carried into orbit Saturday from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The European Space Agency this week lamented the loss of two satellites when a European-built carrier rocket veered off course shortly after launch.

“This failure on Monday reminded us how risky the space business is,″ Aschbacher said. "We are always at the edge." Sentinel-6 is named after the late director of NASA’s Earth Science Division, Michael Freilich, an oceanographer who was key to getting the U.S. space agency to join the mission.

“We owe him a lot and he more than deserves to have this satellite named after him,” said Aschbacher. “I’m very sorry personally that he cannot push the button tomorrow.” Europe and the United States are sharing the 900-million-euro ($1.1-billion) cost of the 10-year mission, which includes the launch of an identical twin, currently called Sentinel-6B, in 2025.

It’s the first time that another space agency has been involved in ESA’s flagship Copernicus program, which already has seven satellites in orbit measuring the seas, atmosphere and land. Some data collected by the ESA and other agencies recently showed the impact of the coronavirus pandemic as seen from space.

Aschbacher said he hopes NASA and ESA will team up on future missions, too. “NASA is our strongest partner internationally,” he said. “We are discussing right now other options of cooperation based on the model of Sentinel 6-Michael Freilich.”

The two space agencies recently agreed to cooperate on a planned NASA outpost around the moon. But Aschbacher said lunar missions and others looking to Mars and beyond, shouldn't divert attention from the need to keep an eye on our own planet.

“We all know that (Earth) is undergoing enormous changes, extremely fast changes and changes we never had before on this planet with a speed and intensity caused, obviously, by humans," he said. "And we need to understand how this planet functions for our own survival, for our own future.”

First female general officer promotes, transfers to Space Force

 by Staff Sgt. James Richardson | Secretary of the Air Force Public Affairs

Washington DC (AFNS)

Aug 18, 2020

In a significant milestone for the nation's newest armed service, Lt. Gen. Nina Armagno became the first female officer to promote to three-star general and transfer into the U.S. Space Force during a ceremony at the Pentagon, Aug. 17.

Armagno will serve as the director of staff for Headquarters U.S. Space Force, where she will oversee day to day staff operations to include establishment activities for the new service.

"We're starting fresh. We're starting a clean sheet," Armagno said. "We're going to be agile, we're going to be nimble, and we're going to bring the best of everything into the space force."

Gen. John W. "Jay" Raymond, chief of space operations, officiated the ceremony and said Armagno was the right choice for the position for three qualities. She is a space expert, has broad experience as a commander and leader, and is a mentor and teacher to everyone.

"It is absolutely my honor to promote Nina as a lieutenant general in the United States Space Force," Raymond said. "This is a big job, and I'll tell you as much momentum as we have, as much as we've gotten done, there's 20 times more to do. Having your leadership to guide the staff to get this right for our nation is going to be really important, and I couldn't think of a better officer to do that."

Armagno earned her commission from the Air Force Academy in 1988. After graduating from Undergraduate Space Training in 1988, she served as a combat-mission-ready operator, instructor, evaluator and flight commander in strategic missile warning, space surveillance, space control, space launch and theater missile warning mission areas.

Armagno holds the unique distinction as the only Air Force officer to command both the U.S. Eastern and Western Ranges culminating in an unprecedented, flawless record with over 48 successful launch campaigns valued at more than $19 billion. She received the 2014 General Jerome F. O'Malley Distinguished Space Leadership Award, presented in part for her efforts to reorient Air Force philosophy to build the operational use of space systems at the highest levels of the Air Force.

During the ceremony, Armagno highlighted the leadership qualities she learned from space professionals throughout her career.. She said that there is a Space Force today because of the incredible space leaders of the past.

"This is about the years before us, the leaders, the hundreds of thousands of Airmen who have been doing space for decades," Armagno said. "These are the shoulders - the titans' shoulders -the space force was built uponthe shoulders we stand on today."

Source: Space War.

Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/First_female_general_officer_promotes_transfers_to_Space_Force_999.html.

SpaceX brings NASA astronauts home safe in milestone mission

By Issam Ahmed
Washington (AFP)
Aug 3, 2020

America's first crewed spaceship to fly to the International Space Station in nearly a decade returned safely to Earth on Sunday, splashing down in the Gulf of Mexico.

The successful mission, carried out jointly by SpaceX and NASA, demonstrated that the United States has the capacity once more to send its astronauts to space and bring them back.

The SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavor splashed into the water off Pensacola, Florida at 2:48 pm (1848 GMT), trailed by its four main parachutes.

It was the first water landing for a crewed US spaceship since the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz mission.

"It's truly our honor and privilege," said pilot Doug Hurley, who was joined on the mission by commander Bob Behnken.

"On behalf of the NASA and SpaceX teams, welcome back to planet Earth and thanks for flying SpaceX," replied SpaceX's Mike Heiman, to laughter in the control room.

A flotilla of civilian boats swarmed the landing zone as a recovery ship sped to the scorched capsule and hoisted it aboard with its crane.

The hatch opening was briefly delayed as a team worked to stop a leak of rocket fuel vapor, but around an hour after splashdown, the astronauts exited the capsule and headed for shore on a helicopter.

They were reunited with their families in Houston, where they walked off a plane -- in apparently good physical shape and upbeat spirits -- at a military base.

Addressing a socially distanced welcome ceremony in a hangar, Behnken, a veteran of the Space Shuttle program, praised the SpaceX team behind the successful mission.

"There's something special about having that capability to launch and bring your own astronauts home," he said.

A visibly excited SpaceX founder Elon Musk added the mission heralded a new era.

"We're going to go to the Moon, we're going to have a base on the Moon, we're going to Mars," he said.

"I'm not very religious but I prayed for this one."

- Space autonomy -

President Donald Trump -- who had traveled to Florida for the capsule's launch two months ago -- hailed its safe return.

"Thank you to all!" he tweeted. "Great to have NASA Astronauts return to Earth after very successful two month mission."

The United States has had to rely on Russia for rides to space since the last Space Shuttle flew in 2011.

The mission is also a huge win for Musk's SpaceX, which was founded in only 2002 but has leap-frogged its way past Boeing, its main competitor in the commercial space race.

The US has paid the two companies a total of about $7 billion for their "space taxi" contracts, though aerospace giant Boeing's efforts have badly floundered.

- Atmospheric re-entry -

The Crew Dragon capsule performed several precisely choreographed sequences in order to return home safely.

First, it jettisoned its "trunk" that contains its power, heat and other systems, which burned up in the atmosphere.

Endeavor then fired its thrusters to maneuver itself into the proper orbit and trajectory for splashdown.

As it re-entered the atmosphere at a speed of around 17,500 mph (28,000 kph), it experienced temperatures of 3,500 degrees Fahrenheit (1900 degrees Celsius).

It deployed two sets of parachutes on its descent, bringing its speed down to a mere 15 mph as it hit the Gulf of Mexico.

- Astro dads -

Behnken and Hurley began their day with a surprise wake-up call from their sons.

"Don't worry you can sleep in tomorrow. Hurry home so we can go get my dog!" said Theo, Behnken's six-year-old son.

The astronauts brought a toy dinosaur, which they had used as their zero-g indicator, back to Earth for their boys. The Endeavor's return marks only the beginning for the Crew Dragon as SpaceX and NASA look ahead to future missions.

Endeavor will now undergo a six-week inspection to certify the vessel as worthy of future low-Earth orbit missions.

The next mission -- dubbed "Crew-1" -- will involve a team of four: three NASA astronauts along with Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency mission specialist Soichi Noguchi.

Take-off is set for late September, and the crew are due to spend six months on the space station.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_brings_NASA_astronauts_home_safe_in_milestone_mission_999.html.

SpaceX completes test flight of Mars rocket prototype

Houston (AFP)
Aug 5, 2020

SpaceX on Tuesday successfully completed a flight of less than a minute of the largest prototype ever tested of the future rocket Starship, which the company hopes to use one day to colonize Mars.

"Mars is looking real," SpaceX founder Elon Musk tweeted in response to a fan.

The current Starship prototype is fairly crude: it's a large metallic cylinder, built in a few weeks by SpaceX teams on the Texas coast, in Boca Chica -- but it's still smaller than the actual rocket will be.

Several previous prototypes exploded during ground tests, during a learning process of trial and error.

In images shared Tuesday by several space specialists, including the space news website NASASpaceFlight.com, the latest prototype -- dubbed SN5 -- reached an undetermined altitude before descending to land in a cloud of dust, demonstrating good trajectory control.

"And when the smoke cleared, she stood there majestically, after the 150 meter flight!" tweeted NASA's top scientist, Thomas Zurbuchen.

The so-called "hop test" was planned to reach a 150-meter (492-foot) altitude, but SpaceX has not confirmed any details about the test flight.

In 2019, an earlier prototype -- the smaller Starhopper -- flew to 150 meters in altitude and returned to land.

The Starship envisioned by Musk will be 120 meters tall and will be able to land vertically on Mars.

"We are going to the Moon, we are going to have a base on the Moon, we are going to send people to Mars and make life multi-planetary," Musk said Sunday, after welcoming two NASA astronauts back from the International Space Station.

The astronauts had traveled in the Dragon capsule developed by SpaceX.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_completes_test_flight_of_Mars_rocket_prototype_999.html.

Rover mission follows centuries of fascination with Mars

JULY 29, 2020
By Brooks Hays

July 29 (UPI) -- During the last two decades, Mars has captured the imagination of the public and attention of NASA decision makers, just as the moon excited the nation and served as the north star for the agency during the '60s and '70s.

Thursday morning's planned launch of the Mars 2020 mission is the latest, and the most advanced step in exploring the Red Planet, built upon lessons from sending spacecraft to Mars at almost every launch opportunity since the 1990s.

Fascination with the planet, however, predates the first lunar landing or NASA's Mars Exploration Program.

For as long as humans have been looking at the sky and writing stories, Mars has been mythologized. The Romans named the god of war after Mars, and the Red Planet found its way into Greek, Norse, Hindu and Chinese literature.

The 1897 novel War of the Worlds by H.G. Wells, which depicts an invasion of England by Martians, was adopted for radio in 1938 -- a broadcast said to have caused panic among some listeners who didn't know it was fictional.

The concept of "little green men" -- often used generically to refer to aliens from any other planet, often as an invading force -- overall started gaining popularity in the late 1800s, and grew exponentially from there.

Popular stories have ranged from Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars in 1912 to the 1996 film Mars Attacks, which was adapted from a trading card series.

"Mars is a special place," Casey Dreier, chief advocate and senior space policy adviser for the Planetary Society, told UPI. "It's deeply embedded in our popular culture, going back hundreds, even thousands, of years -- even before we knew anything about Mars."

As more-capable telescopes arrived, Mars became more than just a red dot that grows larger every two years as its orbit comes closer to that of Earth's.

"You begin to see features that look vaguely like Earth, you have polar caps and you have light and dark features that change over time, and that's what I think inspired people to start imagining an Earth-like world with Earth-like things happening on the surface," Bruce Betts, chief scientist at the Planetary Society, told UPI.

Exploring the Red Planet

As early as the 17th century, astronomers realized that Earth and Mars shared commonalities. But while humans imagined Mars as a kind of alien Earth for decades, it wasn't until the early 2000s that scientists became certain of Mars' Earth-like history.

It was the Mars Exploration Program that revealed the full extent of the Red Planet's Earth-like qualities -- that Mars did once have water, lots of it, and that Red Planet was once habitable.

"That's all stuff we've learned relatively recently," the Planetary Society's Dreier said.

With each new mission to Mars, NASA's landers, rovers and orbiters have made discoveries that raised new scientific questions, exciting researchers and titillating the public's imagination.

And while the long history of human fascination has played an important role in fueling Martian exploration, both Betts and Dreier said NASA's mission planning decisions have been driven largely by science and pragmatism.

Not only do Mars' geologic wonders -- a water world dried and frozen in time -- offer a window into Earth's primordial past, but they're also closer than the interesting features found on any of Earth's planetary neighbors.

Mars is hard to get to, but everywhere else besides the moon is even harder.

"[Because] Mars missions are so much faster than other planetary missions, it allows technology to develop and engineers to push those boundaries on much shorter time scales," Dreier said.

The planning and execution of space missions to more distant targets can stretch a quarter of a century before scientists have their hands on fresh data.

Scientists working on the Mars 2020 mission will have to wait a little more than six months for the Perseverance rover to start returning usable data. That data -- and the insights they provide planetary scientists -- is likely to raise new questions about Mars. Rocks collected on this mission will not be brought back to Earth for a decade.

Beyond Mars missions

For now, NASA is working on plans for more scientific missions to Mars, and hopes to send humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s. But there is nothing concrete. A host of other plans for exploring the solar system exist, as well.

"As NASA's planetary science budget has gone up, we've seen a huge burst of non-Mars missions happening," Dreier said. "That's a consequence of Mars getting a lot of attention for a lot of years, and the rest of the planetary science community making an effort to get greater support and more funds."

NASA is working to once again ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, as well as finalizing plans for a human return to the moon.

The space agency also has several asteroid visitation missions in the pipeline, in addition to plans for a trip to Jupiter's moon Europa and the outer reaches of the solar system. Under NASA's Discovery program, tentative itineraries have been created for treks to Venus, Jupiter's moon Io and Neptune's moon Triton.

"There's kind of a joke that a human Mars landing has been 20 years away for the last 60 years, but it's not really a joke," the Planetary Society's Betts said.

"There is good science to be done all throughout the solar system, and there's a limited amount of money and resources," he said. "There is always division within the planetary science community about where you put your resources and where you send space missions."

Source: United Press International.
Link: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2020/07/29/Rover-mission-follows-centuries-of-fascination-with-Mars/4881595987885/.

Texas firm develops adaptable satellites with fast software upgrades

JULY 27, 2020
By Paul Brinkmann

July 27 (UPI) -- The U.S. Air Force and a private technology company in Texas started to develop new satellites this summer that are capable of quick software changes in orbit to respond to threats and to carry out new tasks.

Austin-based Hypergiant, which works on several kinds of artificial intelligence, has a formal but classified agreement to develop technology for the Air Force, with a potential $10 million contract in weapon systems support satellites, founder and CEO Ben Lamm said.

The company, founded in 2018, has about 200 employees and develops artificial intelligence for satellites, surveillance technology and other applications.

For the new military satellites, the goal is to create a new constellation of 24 to 36 satellites, called Chameleon, that could be retasked to avoid debris, counter new weapons and block new cyberattacks or whatever conditions they might encounter, Lamm said.

"We think this could be really helpful to lower the number of devices we have to launch to orbit to accomplish certain tasks," he said. "If you can make them adapt quickly, you don't have to launch as many or as often."

Pushing a software update to traditional satellites can take months, Lamm said, and the industry generally does that once or twice a year. Chameleon's goal is to enable updates in just a few minutes.

Such satellites still would be limited by their hardware to some extent, he said. For example, communications satellites could only be retasked with imaging the Earth if they were built and launched with cameras.

In the future, however, artificial intelligence might enable manufacturing and hardware upgrades in space, as well, Lamm said.

"We don't have to build a Transformer satellite at first that could do anything and add new hardware, but that is the direction we're going," he said, referring to the popular robot movie franchise Transformers.

Lamm calls himself a serial entrepreneur and a provocateur, who learned to seek innovative approaches partly because he traveled the world when he was young and realized how people around the planet live very different lives.

He previously founded an artificial intelligence company that worked on live conversation technology for customer service -- so-called chatbots -- that was acquired in 2018 by the publicly traded firm LivePerson, based in New York.

Whether hardware updates for satellites materialize, speedy, frequent software updates are a goal for the industry, said Shagun Sachdeva, an analyst with Northern Sky Research based in France.

"All manufacturers are going that way now, toward more versatile, software-designed satellites -- Airbus, Lockheed Martin, many others," Sachdeva said. "HyperGiant is adding more artificial intelligence, adding another layer of automation."

With artificial intelligence, satellites even could decide they need repair and fly to a repair satellite on their own, avoiding the path of space debris without instruction, she said.

Eventually, satellite networks will be fully autonomous, said Chris Quilty, founder of Quilty Analytics based in St. Petersburg, Fla.

"Updatable, adaptable satellites will improve resiliency and maximize critical infrastructure for various defense and commercial uses," Quilty said.

Source: United Press International.
Link: https://www.upi.com/Science_News/2020/07/27/Texas-firm-develops-adaptable-satellites-with-fast-software-upgrades/6121595518829/.

Metals in lunar craters provide new insights to its origin

Los Angeles CA (SPX)
Jul 02, 2020

Life on Earth would not be possible without the Moon; it keeps our planet's axis of rotation stable, which controls seasons and regulates our climate. However, there has been considerable debate over how the Moon was formed.

The popular hypothesis contends that the Moon was formed by a Mars-sized body colliding with Earth's upper crust which is poor in metals. But new research suggests the Moon's subsurface is more metal-rich than previously thought, providing new insights that could challenge our understanding of that process.

In a study published in Earth and Planetary Science Letters sheds new light on the composition of the dust found at the bottom of the Moon's craters. Led by Essam Heggy, research scientist of electrical and computer engineering at the USC Viterbi School of Engineering, and co-investigator of the Mini-RF instrument onboard NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), the team members of the Miniature Radio Frequency (Mini-RF) instrument on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mission used radar to image and characterize this fine dust.

The researchers concluded that the Moon's subsurface may be richer in metals (i.e. Fe and Ti oxides) than scientists had believed.

According to the researchers, the fine dust at the bottom of the Moon's craters is actually ejected materials forced up from below the Moon's surface during meteor impacts. When comparing the metal content at the bottom of larger and deeper craters to that of the smaller and shallower ones, the team found higher metal concentrations in the deeper craters.

What does a change in recorded metal presence in the subsurface have to do with our understanding of the Moon? The traditional hypothesis is that approximately 4.5 billion years ago there was a collision between Earth and a Mars-sized proto-planet (named Theia). Most scientists believe that that collision shot a large portion of Earth's metal-poor upper crust into orbit, eventually forming the Moon.

One puzzling aspect of this theory of the Moon's formation, has been that the Moon has a higher concentration of iron oxides than the Earth--a fact well-known to scientists. This particular research contributes to the field in that it provides insights about a section of the moon that has not been frequently studied and posits that there may exist an even higher concentration of metal deeper below the surface.

It is possible, say the researchers that the discrepancy between the amount of iron on the Earth's crust and the Moon could be even greater than scientists thought, which pulls into question the current understanding of how the Moon was formed.

The fact that our Moon could be richer in metals than the Earth challenges the notion that it was portions of Earth's mantle and crust that were shot into orbit. A greater concentration of metal deposits may mean that other hypotheses about the Moon's formation must be explored.

It may be possible that the collision with Theia was more devastating to our early Earth, with much deeper sections being launched into orbit, or that the collision could have occurred when Earth was still young and covered by a magma ocean. Alternatively, more metal could hint at a complicated cool-down of an early molten Moon surface, as suggested by several scientists.

According to Heggy, "By improving our understanding of how much metal the Moon's subsurface actually has, scientists can constrain the ambiguities about how it has formed, how it is evolving and how it is contributing to maintaining habitability on Earth."

He further added, "Our solar system alone has over 200 moons - understanding the crucial role these moons play in the formation and evolution of the planets they orbit can give us deeper insights into how and where life conditions outside Earth might form and what it might look like."

Wes Patterson of the Planetary Exploration Group (SRE), Space Exploration Sector (SES) at Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, who is the project's principal investigator for Mini-RF and a co-author of the study, added, "The LRO mission and its radar imager Mini-RF are continuing to surprise us with new insights into the origins and complexity of our nearest neighbor."

The team plans to continue carrying out additional radar observations of more crater floors with the Mini-RF experiment to verify the initial findings of the published investigation.

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: https://www.moondaily.com/reports/Higher_concentration_of_metal_in_Moons_craters_provides_new_insights_to_its_origin_999.html.

NASA Selects Astrobotic to Fly Water-Hunting Rover to the Moon

Washington DC (SPX)
Jun 12, 2020

NASA has awarded Astrobotic of Pittsburgh $199.5 million to deliver NASA's Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) to the Moon's South Pole in late 2023.

The water-seeking mobile VIPER robot will help pave the way for astronaut missions to the lunar surface beginning in 2024 and will bring NASA a step closer to developing a sustainable, long-term presence on the Moon as part of the agency's Artemis program.

"The VIPER rover and the commercial partnership that will deliver it to the Moon are a prime example of how the scientific community and U.S. industry are making NASA's lunar exploration vision a reality," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Commercial partners are changing the landscape of space exploration, and VIPER is going to be a big boost to our efforts to send the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 through the Artemis program."

VIPER's flight to the Moon is part of NASA's Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative, which leverages the capabilities of industry partners to quickly deliver scientific instruments and technology demonstrations to the Moon. As part of its award, Astrobotic is responsible for end-to-end services for delivery of VIPER, including integration with its Griffin lander, launch from Earth, and landing on the Moon.

During its 100-Earth-day mission, the approximately 1,000-pound VIPER rover will roam several miles and use its four science instruments to sample various soil environments. Versions of its three water-hunting instruments are flying to the Moon on earlier CLPS lander deliveries in 2021 and 2022 to help test their performance on the lunar surface prior to VIPER's mission. The rover also will have a drill to bore approximately 3 feet into the lunar surface.

"CLPS is a totally creative way to advance lunar exploration," said NASA's Associate Administrator for Science Thomas Zurbuchen. "We're doing something that's never been done before - testing the instruments on the Moon as the rover is being developed. VIPER and the many payloads we will send to the lunar surface in the next few years are going to help us realize the Moon's vast scientific potential."

VIPER will collect data - including the location and concentration of ice - that will be used to inform the first global water resource maps of the Moon. Scientific data gathered by VIPER also will inform the selection of future landing sites for astronaut Artemis missions by helping to determine locations where water and other resources can be harvested to sustain humans during extended expeditions. Its science investigations will provide insights into the evolution of the Moon and the Earth-Moon system.

NASA has previously contracted with three companies to make CLPS deliveries to the Moon beginning in 2021. Astrobotic is scheduled to make its first delivery of other instruments to the lunar surface next year. In April, the agency released a call for potential future lunar surface investigations and received more than 200 responses. CLPS is planned to provide a steady cadence of two delivery opportunities to the lunar surface each year.

"It is an enormous honor and responsibility to be chosen by NASA to deliver this mission of national importance," said Astrobotic CEO John Thornton. "Astrobotic's lunar logistics services were created to open a new era on the Moon. Delivering VIPER to look for water, and setting the stage for the first human crew since Apollo, embodies our mission as a company."

Source: Moon Daily.
Link: https://www.moondaily.com/reports/NASA_Selects_Astrobotic_to_Fly_Water_Hunting_Rover_to_the_Moon_999.html.

USSF field command structure reduces command layers, focuses on space warfighter needs

by Lynn Kirby for USSF News
Arlington VA (AFNS)
Jul 01, 2020

The Department of the Air Force and the United States Space Force have finalized the new service's organizational structure for echelons below the headquarters, reflecting the newest branch of the armed forces' guiding principles of being a lean, agile and mission-focused organization.

The USSF field organization will consist of three echelons of command, where the Air Force currently is organized into five echelons. USSF's organizational structure will initially consolidate and align all organize, train and equip mission execution from former Air Force space-related units.

"This is the most significant restructuring of space units undertaken by the United States since the establishment of Air Force Space Command in 1982," said Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett. "Innovation and efficiency are driving our mission as we position the Space Force to respond with agility to protect our nation's space capabilities and the American way of life."

In order of hierarchy, the USSF field echelons are named field commands, deltas and squadrons. There will be three field commands aligned with specific mission focuses: Space Operations Command, Space Systems Command, and Space Training and Readiness Command. SpOC and SSC will be led by three-star general officers, and STARCOM will be led by a two-star general.

Deltas will be O-6 led and will be organized around a specific function - operations, installation support, training, etc. Within the deltas will be squadrons focused on specific tactics. When the field command structure is fully implemented, it will eliminate one general officer echelon and one O-6 echelon of command. Functions formerly performed at the eliminated echelons will be realigned where appropriate within the USSF.

"This is an historic opportunity to launch the Space Force on the right trajectory to deliver the capabilities needed to ensure freedom of movement and deter aggression in, from and to space," said Gen. Jay Raymond, USSF chief of space operations.

"How we organize the Space Force will have a lasting impact on our ability to respond with speed and agility to emerging threats in support of the National Defense Strategy and Space Strategy."

SpOC will be the primary force provider of space forces and capabilities for combatant commanders, coalition partners, the joint force and the nation. The staff and operations elements of USSF at Peterson Air Force Base, Colorado, which is also the former AFSPC, will become the headquarters SpOC. There is an existing unit at Vandenberg AFB, California, named Space Operations Command, which will be renamed upon activation of the field command SpOC.

SSC will be responsible for developing, acquiring, and fielding lethal and resilient space capabilities for warfighters. Additionally, SSC will be responsible for launch, developmental testing, on-orbit checkout, and sustainment and maintenance of USSF space systems, as well as oversight of USSF science and technology activities.

Acquisition and development organizations to include the Space and Missile Systems Center, the Commercial Satellite Communications Office, and program offices of space systems transferring to USSF from other DoD organizations will form the building blocks of the new command, which will be built out in the months to come.

STARCOM will train and educate space professionals, and develop combat-ready space forces to address the challenges of the warfighting domain of space. Complete stand up of STARCOM is scheduled for 2021.

In the interim, a provisional Space Training and Readiness Delta, led by an O-6, will be established in July at Peterson AFB. This unit will serve as the parent organization for a number of education, training, and operational test and evaluation units transferring to the Space Force in summer 2020.

The next activities to stand up USSF field organizations include activation of SpOC, SSC and deltas beginning later in summer.

Source: Space War.
Link: https://www.spacewar.com/reports/USSF_field_command_structure_reduces_command_layers_focuses_on_space_warfighter_needs_999.html.

China eyes July 20-25 launch for Mars rover

Beijing (AFP)
July 1, 2020

China's first Mars rover should launch later this month, authorities said Wednesday, as the country races to catch up with the US dominance of space.

The Tianwen-1 Mars rover is scheduled to blast off from Hainan island, off China's south coast, between July 20 - 25, according to the Xichang Satellite Launch Center.

It will be China's first interplanetary mission, and takes place shortly before the next US Mars rover -- timed to launch no earlier than July 30.

Named after an ancient Chinese poem, the Tianwen-1 consists of an orbiter, rover and lander, and is expected to collect samples from the planet's surface, the launch center said.

The system will be carried into space on a Long March 5 rocket and is expected to reach Mars sometime in February 2021.

The dates have been chosen because the Earth and Mars are only aligned at an optimal position for spaceflight for a short period once every 26 months.

The US delayed the launch window of its own Perseverance probe -- its fifth Mars rover mission -- three times over the past month due to technical issues.

NASA initially said the launch must take place no later than August 15, but more recently suggested the window may be extended.

China has hugely expanded its space program in recent years to compete with the US and Russia, and has ambitions to put a man on the Moon.

In 2019, it sent the Yutu-2 rover to the far side of the lunar surface in a world first, and has also touted its cooperation with the European Space Agency.

A Chang'e 5 lunar probe is set to launch later this year, and a new space station is due for completion in 2022.

The US banned Chinese astronauts from using the International Space Station because of national security concerns.

Last week, China also launched the final satellite in its homegrown Beidou navigational system, which competes with the GPS system pioneered by the United States.

Source: Mars Daily.
Link: https://www.marsdaily.com/reports/China_eyes_July_20-25_launch_for_Mars_rover_999.html.

New Zealand rocket launch postponed due to wind gusts

by Don Jacobson
Washington DC (UPI)
Jun 11, 2020

Ground controllers scrubbed a launch in New Zealand Thursday that would have sent five small satellites into orbit.

Private aerospace company Rocket Lab grounded the launch due to high winds and rescheduled for this weekend.

"We have several days left in the launch window for this mission and will share a new launch attempt date soon," the company tweeted.

"We gave it our best shot, but today the winds won," Rocket Lab founder and CEO Peter Beck added.

With more strong winds forecast for the launch site on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula, Rocket Lab said the "Don't Stop Me Now" mission is now set to lift off no earlier than 12:43 a.m. EDT Saturday.

The original March 30 launch was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.

Rocket Labs' Electron rocket will send five satellites into orbit, including a Boston University experiment to measure solar winds and the Earth's magnetosphere.

The experiment aims for a better understanding of how solar winds change the environment in space near Earth and is part of NASA's CubeSat Launch Initiative, which promotes the use of small satellites for new space science experiments.

Other payloads include three spy satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office and an M2 Pathfinder communications satellite for the University of New South Wales and the Australian government.

The launch will be the 12th for an Electron rocket, which is considered a small vehicle with about 34,000 pounds of thrust on liftoff. By comparison, SpaceX's Falcon 9 is capable of 1.7 million pounds of thrust.

The mission will not include any testing or development for Rocket Lab's efforts to make the first-stage booster reusable, as several recent launches have done.

Paul Brinkmann contributed to this report.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/New_Zealand_rocket_launch_postponed_due_to_wind_gusts_999.html.

SpaceX, Amazon, OneWeb seek communications dominance in space

by Paul Brinkmann
Washington DC (UPI)
Jun 11, 2020

The developers of new communications satellite constellations - connecting virtually every part of the Earth - are engaged in a multibillion-dollar battle to develop dominance in space and the immense revenue that could bring, industry experts say.

Elon Musk's Starlink is part of a new wave of ventures by several companies to cover the globe with faster, better internet by using constellations of satellites that number in the thousands. At stake is the future of communications on Earth and in space. Competitors include Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' Project Kuiper and startup company OneWeb, which not long ago filed for reorganization under Chapter 11 of U.S. bankruptcy laws.

But the road to profitability is not navigated simply by launching scores of satellites at a single shot. Other factors come into play.

For example, Musk acknowledged recently that the cost of the user terminal is the biggest challenge for his project. He previously said he hoped to develop a terminal that would sell for under $300, but analysts say that will be difficult.

"Getting the signal to the customer [affordably] has always been the issue with new communications satellite service," said Hamed Khorsand, founder of California-based BWS Financial, which provides research on technology and communications companies.

"You can't just put up satellites and think that will solve everything. You have to have revenue," Khorsand said.

Both Starlink and OneWeb began in 2015. As OneWeb continued to develop, Starlink launched repeatedly. As of June 3, Musk's SpaceX has launched 480 Starlink spacecraft.

The company has said it anticipates to invest about $10 billion in Starlink, with a potential for $30 billion to $50 billion in annual revenue if the system becomes fully operational.

Musk said on Twitter recently that limited service could be tested by around August - when SpaceX aims to have 800 satellites in orbit - in what is called a beta validation. In technology development, beta validations attempt to demonstrate a new software or service to a limited number of potential users.

Enter Bezos, whose plans for space communications services under the Project Kuiper mantle, are shrouded in secrecy.

In the battle for funding, Bezos' deep pockets only grew deeper as the coronavirus pandemic sent more people online to shop. Analysts following the high-tech satellite slugfest say they have no idea how much Bezos - who consistently ranks among the wealthiest people in the world - is investing in Project Kuiper.

Amazon, though, aims to launch more than 3,200 satellites, according to filings with the Federal Communications Commission. But details of the constellation remain mostly under wraps as the company builds a new headquarters and prototype manufacturing laboratories near Seattle.

Like Starlink, OneWeb said it aimed to provide reliable internet service to remote regions. But OneWeb had only three launches and ran into funding trouble just as the pandemic took hold.

The company was testing and developing technology with 74 satellites in orbit and permits for up to 720.

In bankruptcy court, OneWeb reported assets of $3.3 billion, the most significant of which are radio-frequency licenses and licenses to receive signals in nations around the globe, while its debts and liabilities were $2.1 billion.

Pandemic hurt

Despite the positive balance sheet, the company said financial market fallout from the pandemic interrupted efforts to raise more money for expansion of the satellite network. As a startup, the company had no significant revenue.

OneWeb, based in Virginia and London, continues to operate with a reduced staff since it filed for bankruptcy in March and laid off about 450 workers - more than three-fourths of its payroll.

The satellite startup filed a new application with the FCC in late May to boost the number of planned satellites to 48,000.

OneWeb's move to seek more satellite permits is aimed at making it more attractive to a new owner, or for a sale of the existing satellites, analyst Khorsand said.

"It's really more about whether anyone can use the satellites that are up there already. I just don't know if they are compatible with any other company's technology, because most of the technology is pretty proprietary," he said.

Despite backing from major players like Airbus and Richard Branson's Virgin Group, OneWeb made its bankruptcy filing after a big investor, Japan-based Softbank Group, withheld additional funding in March as the pandemic spread and a recession took hold.

One veteran player had planned to join the fray, as well.

Intelsat reborn

Intelsat, founded in 1964, has been reborn with new investments several times. It planned a communications satellite constellation, but filed for bankruptcy protection in May as financial fallout from the pandemic hit many industries. The company cited only "substantial legacy debt" in its bankruptcy announcement.

Observers of the satellite communications industry are well-acquainted with struggling startups and bankruptcy - due to the high cost of getting underway and the time needed to become fully operational.

Costs increase more because federal and international regulations require thruster systems on the communications satellites to avoid potential collisions.

Khorsand noted that another firm in the competition, Iridium Communications, went bankrupt in 1999 after launching a communications satellite constellation. The company later emerged from bankruptcy and now provides service to major customers, including the U.S. military. It has 75 satellites in orbit.

With lucrative military contracts providing an enticement, SpaceX also is gunning for that market. The company said it already has worked with the Air Force to test the signal from Starlink.

SpaceX eventually wants to have an armada of satellites that would beam data around the globe, using laser optics in the vacuum of space that could move data close to the speed of light.

Iridium is the only commercial provider that presently uses such laser optics, said Chris Quilty, founder of Florida-based Quilty Analytics, an aerospace analyst firm.

New generation

Before such space laser connections can happen, Starlink will need a new generation of Starlink satellites, Quilty said. The current Starlink satellites in orbit aren't designed for that technology, he said.

"Starlink will have ground stations, but over the ocean, there are no ground stations, so it has to have a crosslink based in space to beam super-fast service around the world," Quilty said.

For Musk and Bezos, dominating the future of space communication also could benefit their long-term goals to explore the moon and Mars, Quilty said.

"You can't fund Mars exploration only on the launch business, especially if SpaceX is successful at shrinking the cost of launch dramatically, which is the company's goal," Quilty said.

"If Musk is successful at establishing a colony on Mars, a good communications link to Earth will be vital, and Starlink would help that."

Astronauts return to space from U.S. soil.

Source: Space Daily.
Link: https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/SpaceX_Amazon_OneWeb_seek_communications_dominance_in_space_999.html.