Monthly Archives: June 2021

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Update: SpaceX has delayed this mission to TBD to give teams more time for launch preparations. For the latest, visit our launch schedule here.

Weather conditions around Cape Canaveral Space Force Station should lean toward favorable for a fiery and "boomy" upcoming weekend kickoff hosted by a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Space Force forecasters are expecting 60% "go" odds for Friday's 2:56 p.m. liftoff from Launch Complex 40, citing the potential for summertime storms and thick clouds as the main concerns. The mission known as Transporter-2 will boost to orbit several smaller payloads owned by different companies.

"A boundary in the Southeast U.S. will gradually erode as the remnants of Tropical Storm Claudette pull northward," Space Launch Delta 45 forecasters said Tuesday. "This should mean much less storm coverage as the east coast sea breeze will rapidly move inland and push storms westward."

After liftoff and a rarely seen southbound trajectory that will hug Florida's coast, Falcon 9's first stage will separate and flip around for a return to the Cape's Landing Zone 1. The 162-foot booster will generate its signature triple sonic booms as it slows down and crosses the sound barrier, so spectators should be prepared for the powerful (but harmless) reverberations.

Friday's flight is the second dedicated mission for SpaceX's rideshare program, which allows a full-blown Falcon 9 flight to be split among dozens of customers. Those wanting to fly smaller payloads, such as scientific or experimental spacecraft, to similar points along a flightpath can opt for SpaceX's rideshare program and then wait until a mission profile meets theirspecifications.

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The first Transporter mission took flight from Cape Canaveral in January and delivered a record-breaking 143 payloads to orbit, including 10 of SpaceX's own internet-beaming Starlink satellites.

For the latest, visit floridatoday.com/launchschedule.

Contact Emre Kelly at aekelly@floridatoday.com or 321-242-3715. Follow him on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @EmreKelly. Support space journalism by subscribing atfloridatoday.com/specialoffer/.

Launch Friday, June 25

Visit floridatoday.com/space at 1:30 p.m. Friday, June 25, for live coverage.

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Weather OK for this week's SpaceX launch from Cape Canaveral - Florida Today

TAMPA, Fla. Leaf Space has added three more ground stations to its managed network service, helping the Italian company support its largest number of satellite customers on a single launch in an upcoming mission.

Adding sites in Sri Lanka, the Azores and Scotland increases Leaf Spaces total ground station count to 12, which will support 14 satellites from six customers due to launch on SpaceXs Transporter-2 ride-share mission. SpaceX recently said it plans to announce a new date for this launch, which had been slated for June 25, to take additional time for prelaunch checkouts.

Giovanni Pandolfi, Leaf Spaces co-founder and chief technology officer, said the company is on track to activate three more ground stations in the third quarter of this year amid the small satellite industrys rapid expansion.

The company provides ground segment services for satellite and rocket launches, early spacecraft operations, ongoing mission needs and space asset decommissioning.

Expanding our ground station network provides our customers with more coverage points, allowing more frequent and strategic communications with satellites on orbit providing them with more control, flexibility and the ability to scale quickly without additional operational or infrastructure costs, Pandolfi told SpaceNews.

Having more ground stations is particularly useful during the launch and early operations phase of a ride-share mission, he added, because it reduces the time between launch, satellite identification and commissioning, which ultimately allows customers to start using their spacecraft faster.

The new ground station in Sri Lanka also gives Leaf Space capabilities in the equatorial orbit for the first time, distributing its medium-latitude network to mitigate the risk of interference, among other advantages that provide customers more capacity with fewer antennas.

Pandolfi said the new station on the remote Shetland Islands in Northern Scotland boosts capacity for sun-synchronous and mid-inclination orbits.

It is also a very RF-clean environment, which of course is favorable for satellite operations, he said.

Founded in 2014, Leaf Space announced plans March 24 for a U.S. office to serve government and commercial markets.

Its customers include Swiss startup Astrocast, which has five satellites on the Transporter-2 mission and recently unveiled plans to go public to expand the constellation.

See the article here:

Leaf Space expands ground station network ahead of busy SpaceX ride-share mission - SpaceNews

Enlarge / Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, chairs the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology.

NASA/Joel Kowsky

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will appear at a committee meeting of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee on Wednesday, and the meeting could be full of intrigue when the subject of NASA's Artemis Program to land humans on the Moon and SpaceX comes up.

We can probably expect some happy talk as Nelsonwho as a US Senator in 2011 championed the development of the Space Launch System rocket alongside Kay Bailey Hutchisonreferences the recent stacking of the booster's core stage with its solid rocket motors at Kennedy Space Center. After a decade and more than $20 billion in costs, NASA's large SLS rocket is indeed finally getting closer to its first test launch.

But the real intrigue will involve the Human Landing System needed as part of the Moon program to take astronauts down to the lunar surface and back up to orbit. In April, due in part to a lack of funding from Congress, NASA selected SpaceX and its Starship vehicle as a sole provider for this critical component of Artemis. The space agency awarded $2.89 billion to SpaceX for the lander.

Nelson was formally named NASA administrator shortly after this award was made. He has supported the contract because he knows it is the only real chance that NASA has to make a 2024 landing. But he has repeatedly asked Congress for more funding so that NASA can support a second lander contract, either via the Biden administration's jobs and infrastructure billor as a straightforward budget addition.

That latter suggestion is the route recently taken by the Senate, which authorized the addition of $10 billion to NASA's budget as part of the Endless Frontier Act passed this month. The money would principally fund development of a second lander, likely the one being designed by a Blue Origin-led team, as well as some parochial NASA projects that can justifiably be described as pork.

What makes Wednesday's hearing before the House intriguing is that key US Representatives have signaled that they will not follow the Senate's lead. As part of its version of the Endless Frontier Act, the House Science Committee skipped authorizing funds for a second lunar lander. A US Representative from Seattle, near where Jeff Bezos' Amazon and Blue Origin companies are based, offered a stinging rebuke, telling The Wall Street Journal, "If Jeff Bezos wants to explore space, thats great, but I dont think he needs federal dollars."

So it seems clear that the House will not just throw more money at NASA for a second lunar lander. At the same time, the House is fairly hostile toward SpaceX and commercial space. The chair of the House Science Committee, Dallas Democrat Eddie Bernice Johnson, said she was "disappointed" after NASA selected SpaceX as its sole provider of a lunar lander in April.

Johnson's opposition was not a huge surprise. Last year, she and then-US Representative Kendra Horn issued a joint statement expressing concerns about NASA's plans to rely on a "commercial" provider for a lunar lander. NASA wanted to issue a fixed-price contract for the lander instead of a cost-plus contract. NASA explained that it had used fixed-price contracting as part of its Commercial Crew program, and it proved to be a cheaper and faster method. The agency seemed justified in this, as SpaceX Crew Dragons now safely ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

However, many in Congress have opposed this approach. They cite a desire for NASA to have more "oversight" over these contracts as a rationale for favoring cost-plus contracts. Yet an often unstated rationale likely has more sway over Congress. Under a cost-plus contract, Congress retains some control over who gets space jobs and in which states. Under fixed-price contracts, these decisions are left up to the contractors themselves.

Here is Johnson, in 2020, expressing her concerns about funding the lunar lander with a fixed-price contract:"The multi-year delays and difficulties experienced by the companies of NASAs taxpayer-funded Commercial Crew programa program with the far less ambitious goal of just getting NASA astronauts back to low Earth orbitmake clear to me that we should not be trying to privatize Americas Moon-Mars program, especially when at the end of the day American taxpayers, not the private companies, are going to wind up paying the lions share of the costs."

Given this backdrop, Wednesday's hearing, called to discuss NASA's budget request for fiscal year 2022, will be worth watching. Nelson's goal will be to secure some funding for Artemis, as he would like to have some competition to spur the program forward.

Johnson, meanwhile, is likely to be unhappy. After Congress appropriated so little funding for a lander in last year's budget, NASA said, 'Fine, we'll take the lowest cost option,' which was SpaceX. To make things worse, from her perspective, NASA ignored her preferred solution for going to the Moon, which was to bypass the commercial lander approach entirely. She supports the SLS rocket, the Orion spacecraft, and big government space programs that supply a lot of jobs. She made this clear during a hearing in 2016, when the prospect of using lower-cost commercial vehicles for space exploration came up.

To all those NASA and contract employees I would simply say, Congress supports SLS and Orion, she said. And we will continue to do so no matter what."

Read this article:

Congress isnt happy about SpaceXs lunar lander and may vent this week - Ars Technica

Startup space company Launcher has a new satellite platform that will carry stacks of CubeSats into space, the company announced after a nearly $12 million funding round.

The platform, called Orbiter, will send up to 330 pounds (150 kg) of mass to orbit. Initially, it will be used for rideshare missions that send fleets of small satellites into orbit, with a larger satellite riding aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Launcher's debut mission will take off aboard a Falcon 9 in October 2022.

"With Orbiter, small satellite constellation developers can take advantage of the rapid cadence and unprecedented price point of the SpaceX rideshare program to build their constellation at optimum cost and timing," Hawthorne, Calif.-based Launcher stated in a press release.

Related:See the evolution of SpaceX's rockets in pictures

Orbiter will also serve as the third stage of Launcher Light, a small rocket that Launcher hopes to get into low Earth orbit in 2024. The company said customers may want to consider Launcher Light for "additional orbits and schedules."

The rocket's comparatively diminutive size (at 50 feet (15 meters)) allows full dedication to a single small mission, as opposed to SpaceX's Falcon 9 (230 feet or 70 meters), in which Orbiter must fly as a rideshare vehicle.

Whatever option customers choose, most of the Orbiter components are designed and built by Launcher for "competitive pricing for its customers", the company added. Orbiter can also change the satellites' orbital velocity by roughly 0.3 miles (500 meters) per second, allowing the machines to go slightly higher or lower in their orbits.

Launcher Light will compete in a crowded, small rocket market that includes Rocket Lab's Electron and Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne. Back in 2018, however, Max Haot, the founder and chief executive of Launcher, told SpaceNews that the company is not prepared to rush into space. However, he added that Launcher Light does have the advantage to optimize for performance instead of asking its customers to make changes for their payloads.

"We have a very long-term view, 10 to 20 years," Haot said in the interview. "We don't believe that the people that got there a few years before will be the winners. We believe that the ones operating with the highest margin will be the winner."

Earlier this month, Launcher announced that it raised $11.7 million in a Series A funding round, co-led by Boost.VC and Haot, who put in $5 million from selling his Mevo camera business to Logitech. The company is also working on developing an E-2 engine for Launcher Light.

Haot said the extra money will help boost Launcher Light into orbit, along with funding the hiring of an additional 40 employees in 2021, almost double its current number of 30, according to Ars Technica. By flight time three years from now, Launcher plans to have 150 people on staff.

"Compared to our competitors, we are in the kindergarten of fundraising," Haot told Ars Technica. "This is a major acceleration of funding for us."

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Space startup Launcher to fly an orbital platform filled with CubeSats on a SpaceX rocket in 2022 - Space.com

One dozen bobtail squid that were raised at the Kewalo Marine Laboratory at the University of Hawaii boarded the International Space Station after catching a ride from a SpaceX resupply mission, according to The Guardian.

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The space mission is part of University of Hawaii doctoral student Jamie Fosters research on the effects of spaceflight on squid, The Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported,to help determine how long humans can remain healthy in space.

As astronauts spend more and more time in space, their immune systems become whats called dysregulated. It doesnt function as well, Foster told the Guardian. Their immune systems dont recognize bacteria as easily. They sometimes get sick.

The way an astronaut adjusts their body to low gravity in space is similar to the squids symbiotic relationship with natural bacteria to manage the deep sea creatures emission of light.

We have found that the symbiosis of humans with their microbes is perturbed in microgravity, and Jamie has shown that is true in squid,Margaret McFall-Ngai, a University of Hawaii professor who taught Foster, told the Guardian. And, because its a simple system, she can get to the bottom of whats going wrong.

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A professor at the University of Florida, Foster studies the interactions between microbial communities and their environments to better understand the molecular mechanisms that microbes use to adapt and respond to changes in the environment.

There are aspects of the immune system that just dont work properly under long-duration spaceflights, she told the Guardian. If humans want to spend time on the moon or Mars, we have to solve health problems to get them there safely.

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SpaceX sends thousands of baby squid to space station | TheHill - The Hill

The crew of the worlds first-ever all-civilian rocket ride to orbit is already training for Septembers launch aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Shift4 Payments CEO Jared Isaacman, commander of the upcoming Inspiration4 mission, this week tweeted the first photos showing the four crew members in their spacesuits.

Another week of training wrapped up at SpaceX for the Inspiration4 crew, Isaacman wrote in a message accompanying the photos.

Another week of training wrapped up @SpaceX for the @inspiration4x crew. We all got suited up Lots of academics, simulations & plenty of donations in the interest of science & a variety of medical training too. Back again real soon. pic.twitter.com/xwZD44LSm2

— Jared Isaacman (@rookisaacman) June 22, 2021

The Inspiration4 mission was announced in February 2021 after Isaacman secured the exclusive flight in a private deal with SpaceX. Part of the missions aim is to highlight the work of St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital in Memphis, Tennessee, and to raise money for the facility. Isaacman himself has already pledged $100 million to the hospital and is hoping others also will donate what they can.

Among those joining him for the three-day space trip will be Hayley Arceneaux. The 29-year-old physician assistant will set a number of new records during the mission as she will become the first bone cancer survivor to head to space, the first person to travel to orbit with a prosthetic body part (in Arceneauxs case, prosthetic leg bones), and the youngest American to orbit Earth.

The two other crew members include Dr. Sian Proctor, a trained pilot who was selected for the mission via an online business competition, and Christopher Sembroski, a veteran of the U.S. Air Force who works for Lockheed Martin.

Training for Septembers mission has been underway for several months and has included a ride in a centrifuge at the National Aerospace Training and Research Center in Pennsylvania to experience launch-like G-forces, and a hike up Washingtons Mount Rainier designed to enhance crew teamwork.

Earlier this year, SpaceX unveiled a new Crew Dragon spacecraft design featuring a glass dome that will guarantee Inspiration4 crew members stunning views of Earth and beyond. Engineers were able to fit the dome in place of the docking mechanism seen on other Dragons as this particular spacecraft wont be heading to the International Space Station.

Successful completion of the Inspiration4 mission will represent a significant step forward for SpaceXs plan to launch a commercial space tourism service.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic also aim to launch regular space tourism services, though their trips are suborbital and much shorter, and will only go as far as the Krmn line, a point 62 miles above Earth thats widely regarded as the starting point of space.

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, who also owns Blue Origin, is planning to ride a New Shepard rocket to the Krmn line with his brother and one other passenger next month in what will be Blue Origins first crewed launch in its 21-year history.

The rest is here:

SpaceXs first space tourism astronauts show off their suits - Digital Trends

Nasa and SpaceX have sent dozens of baby squid into space.

The animals, taken from Hawaii, will spend some time at the International Space Station before coming back down again.

Researchers hope that the stay will allow them to better understand how spaceflight affects the squid and use that information in the hope of protecting human health during long space missions, according to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser.

The squid baby Hawaiian bobtail squid, to be precise were raised at the University of Hawaiis Kewalo Marine Laboratory. They left for space earlier this month, on a SpaceX supply mission to the ISS.

The squid have a symbiotic relationship with natural bacteria that help regulate their bioluminescence.

When astronauts are in low gravity their body's relationship with microbes changes, said University of Hawaii professor Margaret McFall-Ngai, who Foster studied under in the 1990s.

We have found that the symbiosis of humans with their microbes is perturbed in microgravity, and Jamie has shown that is true in squid, said McFall-Ngai. And, because it's a simple system, she can get to the bottom of what's going wrong.

Foster is now a Florida professor and principal investigator for a NASA program that researches how microgravity affects the interactions between animals and microbes.

As astronauts spend more and more time in space, their immune systems become what's called dysregulated. It doesn't function as well, Foster said. Their immune systems don't recognize bacteria as easily. They sometimes get sick.

Foster said understanding what happens to the squid in space could help solve health problems that astronauts face.

There are aspects of the immune system that just don't work properly under long-duration spaceflights, she said. If humans want to spend time on the moon or Mars, we have to solve health problems to get them there safely.

The Kewalo Marine Laboratory breeds the squid for research projects around the world. The tiny animals are plentiful in Hawaiian waters and are about 3 inches (7.6 centimeters) long as adults.

The squid will come back to Earth in July.

Additional reporting by Associated Press

Read more:

SpaceX and Nasa shoot baby squid into space - The Independent