For the public, those were the first words heard from NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams—the crew of the space agency’s Boeing Crew Flight Test (CFT)—since they arrived at the orbital laboratory more than one month ago for an intended eight-day stay.

The Earth-to-orbit call between crew and NASA command was live streamed on the agency’s website. The event answered appeals from members of the media, made during a previous press conference, to see the astronauts on camera as concerns with Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner—which brought them to the ISS—continue to linger.

The spacecraft is contending with two key problems: helium leaks and deactivated or underperforming thrusters. The issues are concentrated within the spacecraft’s service module, which aids in maneuvers such as docking and undocking with the ISS.

NASA and Boeing have indicated that Starliner has more than enough helium to make it home but are continuing to assess the root cause of the leaks. During a hot fire test after docking, four out of the five affected thrusters performed as expected. The fifth was deactivated for the remainder of the mission.

Williams and Wilmore recounted their trip to the space station and the moment they realized that Starliner’s thrusters were not firing at full power. They also sang the spacecraft’s praises, with Wilmore even saying he was tempted to award his first perfect rating for its handling performance.

Separately, NASA and Boeing representatives held a press conference to provide the latest on ongoing ground thruster testing at White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico. Officials again did not provide a firm return date for Wilmore and Williams. But Steve Stich, manager of NASA’s Commercial Crew program, estimated that testing could wrap up by the end of the month, after which point teams will iron out a timeline.

Engineers hope to conduct as many evaluations as possible while the semireusable spacecraft, designed to survive 10 missions, is in orbit. Starliner’s service module, the expendable component of the spacecraft, will be jettisoned and lost as it reenters Earth’s atmosphere.

Astronauts Phone Home

Williams and Wilmore on Wednesday made their long-awaited first appearance on camera since arriving at the ISS on June 6, recounting the CFT’s progress so far.

“Launch was spectacular,” Wilmore said, adding that the spacecraft performed “unbelievably well” during operational capability checks.

However, on the second day of their journey to the ISS, the astronauts could tell something was amiss. As Starliner approached the orbital lab, a total of five reaction control system (RCS) thrusters on its service module either turned off or did not fire at intended strength. Williams and Wilmore commandeered the capsule manually for about one hour as teams on the ground assessed the issue.

“From that point on, you could tell that the thrust was degraded,” Wilmore said. “But it was still impressive.”

Even with less-than-optimal performance, the thrusters completed what Wilmore described as a perfect maneuver as they navigated the final 10 meters to dock Starliner with the space station.

According to Williams, the astronauts talk with mission crews once per week to share and analyze the data they’ve collected. She highlighted the capsule’s ability to serve as a “safe haven” in the event of an ISS evacuation—a role it fulfilled last month after a Russian satellite broke up in orbit.

“We are having a great time here on the ISS,” said Williams. “I’m not complaining, Butch isn’t complaining, that we’re here for a couple extra weeks.”

One question NASA and Boeing have received is whether Starliner could bring Williams and Wilmore home right now. Officials insist it could, but only in an emergency situation that would require the ISS to be evacuated. The astronauts were asked about their confidence level in that scenario.

“I feel confident that, if we had to—if there was a problem with the International Space Station—we could get in the spacecraft and undock, talk with our team, and figure out the best way to come home,” said Williams.

She later added, “I have a real good feeling in my heart that the spacecraft will bring us home no problem.”

Wilmore said he and his crewmate “trust the tests we are doing are the right ones we need to do to get us the right answers, to give us the data we need to come back,” adding that they are “absolutely ready” for a return based on current engineering data.

NASA could send a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule—which has completed all eight ISS Commercial Crew rotation missions to date—to retrieve the astronauts should Starliner’s issues persist. On Wednesday, Stich said the space agency has not yet opened those discussions with SpaceX, though he did not rule out the possibility.

The astronauts also described their view of Hurricane Beryl from space, saying that their families—who live in Texas and were in the storm’s path—are doing well. Wilmore said he is “90 percent sure” he could see the storm forming off the West coast of Africa days before it was named.

The 20-minute call concluded with some zero-gravity backflips by Williams and a big, smiling thumbs-up from Wilmore.

NASA, Boeing Share More Info

Stich and Mark Nappi, vice president and general manager of Boeing’s Commercial Crew program, addressed the media following the astronauts’ remarks.

According to Stich, Starliner will need to undock before mid-August, when SpaceX’s Crew-8 team swaps with the incoming Crew-9. Williams and Wilmore will need to return a few days before the Crew-9 launch window opens. Starliner remains a “go” for return in an emergency scenario, officials said. But they prefer to wait until ground testing is complete before attempting a by-the-books return,

Stich estimated that hot fire testing at White Sands could “optimistically” wrap up by the end of July, though it could be extended. Teams are working toward a nominal return flight readiness review, standard for crew rotation missions, that would give the green light to finish the mission as planned. 

Should more time be needed, NASA is in the process of approving a 45-day extension of the CFT, which is contingent on the health of Starliner’s batteries. According to Stich, those systems have shown no sign of wear and tear.

The goal of the test campaign is to recreate the firing pattern of one of Starliner’s faulty thrusters using an identical thruster—designed for a future mission—on the ground. Hot fire testing began on July 3, but Stich said crews have so far been unable to achieve the temperatures experienced by the thruster in orbit. Engineers believe the unusual firing pattern could be due to excess heat.

Teams will then attempt to predict how the thrusters might behave as Starliner undocks and flies home. Based on their learnings, they could modify the spacecraft’s flight path, deactivate certain thrusters, or fire them at different rates. Williams and Wilmore are capable of piloting Starliner manually if issues arise.

At the same time, Stich said White Sands personnel are evaluating the service module for Starliner’s inaugural crew rotation mission, Starliner-1, scheduled for February. The current service module has contended with a series of helium leaks, for which crews are attempting to uncover the root cause. Starliner-1’s service module won’t be redesigned, but Nappi said future models could incorporate changes based on the testing at White Sands.

The Outlook

Extended ISS stays are not necessarily uncommon, and the space station is designed to accommodate crew for months at a time if needed.

NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, for example, set a U.S. spaceflight record when his planned six-month mission was nearly doubled to 371 consecutive days aboard the orbital laboratory. Unlike Starliner, the Russian Soyuz capsule that ferried Rubio to the ISS was quickly ruled out as an emergency return vehicle, lending credence to the idea that Boeing’s issues are less severe.

However, NASA and Boeing face the added pressure of certification after close to a decade of delays to the Starliner program. In a prior press conference, Stich acknowledged that NASA and Boeing “understand it’s going to take a little bit longer” to certify Starliner than originally planned.

On Wednesday, the Commercial Crew manager said teams will decide between Starliner-1 or SpaceX Dragon’s Crew-10—which are booked for the same February launch window—once the CFT ends and postflight analysis is complete. The longer that takes, he said, the more likely it is that SpaceX will take over the mission.

Nappi agreed with that assessment, citing the need to understand and fix Starliner’s helium leaks as the biggest obstacle to certification.

NASA and Boeing said Wilmore and Williams will make one more Earth-to-orbit call before they depart the ISS, with more details to come.

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The Lego Group this week hosted a drone show under the stars, recreating imaginative spaceship designs submitted by children around the world—which the company has playfully dubbed Unidentified Playing Objects (UPOs)—using hundreds of small, buzzing aircraft.

Kids around the world were invited to submit UPO designs, with the winners seeing their spacecraft come to life (in Lego form, of course) at the Lego House in Denmark, where they will remain on display until June 17. The creations were also showcased Wednesday in Jersey City alongside Lego reconstructions of famous rockets, such as NASA’s Space Launch System.

“The imagination shown by young children around the world was mind-blowing, and this was one of the best experiences I have had,” said Didac Perez Soriano, associate master builder at the Lego House. “With so much of the universe still to be explored, we can’t say that what they have created isn’t possible—or even out there already.”

According to a recent study conducted on behalf of Lego by research firm Ipsos, 58 percent of kids surveyed said they want a career in space—more than their parents did when they were younger (49 percent) and more than any generation previously studied. In 2019, the company found that more children dreamed of being YouTubers than astronauts.

Kellie Gerardi—mission operations lead at software firm Palantir and a payload specialist and astronaut for Virgin Galactic, as well as a researcher, author, social media personality, mother, and Lego ambassador—saids meeting kids where they are, such as through play, is one of the best ways to inspire even more youngsters to pursue careers in space.

“I think [the research] goes to show that there is an innate fascination with the cosmos that exists. The tricky part is always bridging that gap,” Gerardi told FLYING. “Of course, space is incredibly exciting and interesting—who wouldn’t be amazed by it? But then how do you actually metabolize that excitement and turn imagination into motivation later in life?”

Gerardi has conducted microgravity research on behalf of the International Institute for Aeronautical Sciences (IIAS) for a decade, performing parabolic flights in reduced-gravity aircraft, known colloquially as vomit comets.

One of the institute’s goals is to send researchers into space—an honor Gerardi received when she flew on Virgin Galactic’s Galactic 05 dedicated science mission in November, with Lego figures of herself and 6-year-old daughter Delta. She is one of the first payload specialists to fly to space and one of the first 100 women to reach the cosmos.

“To me, that was the dream,” Gerardi said. “I built a career in the commercial space industry. I worked at the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, starting my career in space policy—how we allow and enable these companies to do commercial human spaceflight.”

Earthlings, We Come in Pieces

Six UPOs took to the skies Wednesday night in the form of drone constellations, illuminating the New York City skyline. Among them were a Shiba Inu-shaped spaceship with 360-degree windows, a turtle spaceship complete with a slide and ladder, and plenty more.

Lotty Ingle, a 10-year-old girl from the U.K. who dreams of collecting moon rocks and visiting unexplored planets, created a double bed design that flies on butterfly wings (for both aesthetic and eco-friendly purposes). Beneath the bed is a snack drawer to feed herself—and any aliens she encounters, of course.

“I would love to travel to all the planets that no one has discovered yet and see if there is life there and if they are just like us,” said Ingle. “I would really like them to try all my favorite snacks that I am bringing with me.”

Jordan Hardnett, a 12-year-old boy from Philadelphia who hopes to one day spacewalk across the galaxy in search of aliens, designed a time-traveling spaceship with night vision goggles to help astronauts see creatures on other planets.

“I would love to travel to space,” said Hardnett. “If I could fly, I would hope to find a different species, aliens, and any type of rock to research.”

Seven-year-old Jillian Granelli, also from the U.S., wants to one day live on another planet and build a home on the moon. Her UPO, a jetpack-wearing dinosaur, is built to fly her all around the Milky Way.

“If I could travel to space, I would say hi to aliens and become friends with them,” Granelli said. “Especially the Lego aliens.”

Sebastian Mikkelsen, a 10-year-old boy who came all the way from Denmark to watch his UPO take flight, hopes to become the next Danish astronaut and visit Jupiter and Mars. His creation, a straw hat spaceship with reindeer antlers for wings, comes equipped with a high-tech computer lab and a gaming room.

“I would bring things like stones, gases, and minerals (from the planets) back home to Earth to show my classmates,” said Mikkelsen. “Maybe we can use them to develop new things that can help us on Earth. It could be new forms of energy and better electricity.”

The junior UPO designers are far from the only kids with an interest in space.

According to the study commissioned by Lego, which surveyed 16,000 children in Generation Alpha, more than three-quarters of kids aged 4 to 14 say they want to travel to the final frontier. Fifty-eight percent of them say they would like to work in space, with more than half wanting to become astronauts when they grow up.

Another 86 percent of children are interested in discovering new stars, planets, and galaxies. Nearly 7 in 10 (68 percent) believe there are aliens out there waiting to be found.

The kids’ responses were more than backed up by their parents, among whom 61 percent say their child wants to fly to space. Two-thirds of them say their child has an interest in space, and more than three-quarters think Generation Alpha children have the greatest opportunity to explore space.

Sixty-two percent of parents genuinely believe their child will one day be able to reach the final frontier. They voted Generation Alpha as more likely than any other generation to make the biggest contribution to the world’s scientific knowledge of space.

Capturing the Imagination

In addition to her work with Palantir, Virgin Galactic, and IIAS, Gerardi is also the author of the children’s book series Luna Muna, which follows the adventures of a young girl curious about the cosmos. The book was read aloud on the International Space Station (ISS) last year by the crew of Axiom Space’s Axiom-2 mission.

Gerardi said that young people naturally have plenty of interest in outer space. But there is a gap in the market for materials that capture that interest, such as books.

“We have to intentionally make those connections to allow kids to benefit from that innate curiosity and help them build on it,” Gerardi said. “So that, very similarly I think, was my motivation for creating a children’s book series that centers space, meets kids where they’re at with their imagination, and encourages them to see themselves represented in that way.”

Gerardi is excited about initiatives that target undergraduate students and connect them with internships at commercial space companies, government agencies, and academic institutions. IIAS, for example, offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses on astronautics, flight test engineering, and spacesuit evaluation at partner universities such as the Florida Institute of Technology and the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

The ISS National Laboratory offers internships and fellowships with companies such as Axiom Space, Blue Origin, and SpaceX, and government partners, including NASA and the Department of Defense. These organizations and others aim to send more non-NASA researchers and science experiments to space, opening the cosmos to a wider range of actors.

“It was hands down the absolute best experience of my life, and I still have intense emotional saturation six months later thinking about it,” Gerardi said of her journey to space on Galactic 05. “We had a mandatory medical debrief immediately after the flight. And the only thing I reported was cheek soreness because I was grinning through boost the entire time.”

Gerardi hopes to recreate that experience for as many people as possible. And inspiring children to explore careers in space using Legos or books is how it begins.

“The goal was always so much bigger than flying myself. It was helping blow open the door to commercial human spaceflight,” she said. “And so watching the next generation, thinking about what they’ll grow up experiencing—this access to space, where the next generation of researchers can really use space as a laboratory to benefit humanity—is just very fulfilling to think about.”

Gerardi believes being an astronaut is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to career paths in the space ecosystem for the next generation. But unless children see and understand those other jobs, it can be difficult for them to imagine they exist.

“I view space as our shared past and our shared future,” Gerardi said. “And I think that our next giant leap is going to require the talents of artists, engineers, and everyone in between…I think really we’re standing on the doorstep to a new, golden age of spaceflight.”

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United Launch Alliance (ULA) on Friday will attempt the 16th and final launch of its Delta IV Heavy rocket, one of the world’s most powerful—and expensive—commercially produced launch vehicles. The launch was initially scheduled for Thursday afternoon but was scrubbed a few minutes before takeoff.

The mission represents ULA’s 160th overall and the 45th and final flight for the Delta family of rockets as the manufacturer transitions to its Vulcan Centaur. Vulcan made its maiden voyage in January, carrying a Peregrine lunar lander for commercial customer Astrobotic.

“The Delta legacy will live on through Vulcan,” said Gary Wentz, vice president of government and commercial programs for ULA. “We also take this moment to celebrate the thousands of men and women who made the Delta program such a success over the decades. We carry their lessons and wisdom with us into the future.”

ULA is a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. It produces the Delta and Atlas families of rockets, primarily for U.S. government use. Delta IV Heavy is the third-highest capacity launch vehicle in operation, behind NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy.

The Mission

Friday’s mission, NROL-70, is on behalf of the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which develops and operates spy satellites to collect intelligence and support disaster relief and humanitarian efforts. NROL-70 is ULA’s 35th mission for the NRO and 99th for U.S. national security.

The mission’s payload is classified. But it is possibly intended to give the U.S. more eyes and ears in the stars, which could be used to listen into communications or radio transmissions, for example. Delta IV Heavy is the only rocket in the world that meets all of the requirements to perform the mission, according to ULA.

“The NROL-70 mission will strengthen the NRO’s ability to provide a wide range of timely intelligence information to national decision makers, warfighters, and intelligence analysts to protect the nation’s vital interests and support humanitarian efforts worldwide,” ULA said on its website.

The 235-foot-tall spacecraft will lift off from Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral as early as 1:37 p.m. EDT Friday. On ascent, the rocket looks as if it is catching fire, but this is by design, as hydrogen gas used to cool it down before takeoff ignites and burns off. The process is mitigated by a staggered engine ignition, which reduces the amount of hydrogen burned.

First stage separation is expected to occur about five minutes into the mission, followed by the ignition of the main engine and jettisoning of the payload fairing. The spacecraft’s route and final destination are classified.

The Machine

Over six decades, Delta rockets have launched 388 times. About two-thirds of those launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, the base for Friday’s mission. Delta IV rockets have successfully launched 44 times, carrying payloads on behalf of the NRO, NASA, Air Force, and Space Force.

Delta IV comes in three configurations: Medium+, with either two or four solid rocket motors, and Heavy. Each vehicle consists of a common booster core, upper stage, and payload fairing.

Delta IV Heavy features three common booster core tanks, which power a RS-68A engine system built by Aerojet Rocketdyne. RS-68A is the largest hydrogen-burning engine in existence, according to ULA. The engines burn cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen, each delivering about 700,000 pounds of thrust at sea level.

Atop the booster is a Delta Cryogenic Second Stage (DCSS), or upper stage, which is also fueled by cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen. It is powered by a single RL10C-2-1 engine, also produced by Aerojet Rocketdyne, that produces nearly 25,000 pounds of thrust. The DCSS avionics system provides guidance and flight control for the booster.

Encapsulating the spacecraft is a payload fairing: a three-piece shell designed to shield cargo from the launch and ascent. The payload fairing can be installed off pad, improving safety and minimizing the use of launch facilities.

The History

Incredibly, the Delta family of systems has been in use since 1960. Initiated by NASA in the late 1950s, the program is derived from the Thor intermediate-range ballistic missile, which was later modified into a space launch vehicle.

The inaugural Delta launch in 1960 was unsuccessful. But it paved the way for Delta rockets to launch the world’s first Telstar and Intelsat communications satellites, birthing the phrase, “Live, via satellite!” The launch vehicles also carried NASA’s Pioneer and Explorer scientific spacecraft and delivered the first weather observatory, the Tiros and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES), to space, revolutionizing weather forecasting.

Over the years, ULA updated Delta rockets to make them larger, more advanced, and more durable. The company installed larger first stage tanks, strap-on solid rocket boosters, and advanced electronics and guidance systems, increased the rocket’s propellant capacity, upgraded the main engine, and developed upper stage and satellite payload systems.

The earliest Delta models stood about 90 feet tall, with a mass of 112,000 pounds. Today, Delta IV Heavy towers 235 feet high and weighs 1.6 million pounds at launch. Liftoff thrust, meanwhile, has skyrocketed from 150,000 pounds in 1960 to 2.1 million pounds.

Later Delta models would help usher in the GPS era by sending constellations of navigation satellites into orbit. Delta II launched four dozen satellites over two decades, and Delta IV launched seven.

Delta II—which made its final flight in 2018—completed eight NASA missions to Mars, including the delivery of the Spirit and Opportunity rovers, over the course of 155 flights. It also flew missions to Mercury and visited asteroids, moons, and comets within the solar system.

Delta II has launched probes that “touched the sun,” uncovered exoplanets deep in the Milky Way, and scanned large swaths of the universe using infrared vision. In 2014, it launched the first orbital test flight of NASA’s Orion capsule, which will ferry astronauts around the moon and back during the Artemis II mission in 2025.

By 2002, Boeing had developed Delta IV for the Space Force’s Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. That year, the rocket made its debut flight carrying a Eutelsat 33B, its only commercial payload to date. It delivered its first Air Force payload the following year. In 2007, ULA launched the first operational Delta IV Heavy, sending a Space Force Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite into orbit.

The Legacy

Fifteen flights later, Delta IV Heavy is set to become the final Delta rocket to be retired. In addition, ULA has 17 remaining launches for Atlas V, the country’s longest-serving active rocket. Atlas V is cheaper to launch than its counterpart, but it uses Russian-made rather than American-made engines.

Once Delta IV and Atlas V are off the manifest, ULA will transition all launches to Vulcan, which is less expensive than both predecessors. Like previous ULA launch systems, Vulcan is expendable. It was designed primarily for the National Security Space Launch program, as well as for commercial launches such as January’s mission. Customers include Amazon’s Project Kuiper, which placed an order for 38 launches.

ULA will need to compete with the likes of SpaceX, which in 2023 launched more satellites than any other company. SpaceX in 2010 debuted its reusable Falcon 9 launch vehicle, which undercut Delta IV’s price tag. Delta IV, Falcon 9, and SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy, introduced in 2018, are all under contract with the Pentagon to launch expensive military satellites in the coming years.

In addition, SpaceX has an agreement with the Space Force to take over the vacant Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California, which hosted Delta IV launches until 2022. The company may further look to acquire room at Space Launch Complex-37 at Cape Canaveral, where ULA will launch Friday barring any hiccups.

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Long Beach, California-based Rocket Lab last month submitted an SEC filing detailing the agreement: a deal to design, manufacture, deliver, and operate 18 “space vehicles” worth up to $515 million. For whom, though, is a mystery—the firm did not detail the specific customer, the purpose of the deployments, or the technology being delivered. But there are a few clues.

Rocket Lab’s SEC filing, dated December 21, 2023, said the company signed an agreement with a “United States government customer” to produce the 18 vehicles. Launches under the contract are expected to begin in 2027, shortly after the first customer delivery. 

The deal calls for Rocket Lab to operate the vehicles through 2030, with an option to extend that to 2033. At minimum, the firm will rake in $489 million from the contract, with options and incentives for a further $26 million.

While it’s unclear which agency is purchasing the technology, signs point to the Space Development Agency (SDA), an organization within the U.S. Space Force.

SDA is buying up hundreds of low-cost, industry-procured satellites to deploy in low Earth orbit (LEO). These will create a satellite “constellation” capable of detecting mobile missile launchers, ships, and other threats in real time for U.S. military forces on the ground. The initiative is called the Proliferated Warfighting Space Architecture, or PWSA.

The project contains five tranches, or stages. One of these, Tranche 2, is projected to include 90 communications systems (called “Beta” satellites) comprising a Transport Layer, which will provide military connectivity on Earth beyond the line of sight. In August, SDA awarded a total of $1.5 billion to defense contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman to build 72 satellites for that component, called Transport Layer Tranche 2 Beta.

That’s a lot of fancy terminology. But in short, SDA needs 18 more satellites to fill out the roster. Does that number sound familiar? Derek Tournear, director of the SDA, last month acknowledged the figure and hinted that the organization is closing in on a purchase.

“We are looking at putting another 18 [Beta] satellites on contract, and we are looking at a third vendor to do that,” Tournear said at a National Security Space Association event on December 7. “We should make that announcement shortly.”

Tournear’s comments are not confirmation that SDA is Rocket Lab’s mystery customer. But the launch provider certainly fits the bill of that “third vendor,” and a collaboration between the two may make a lot of sense.

A Good Fit?

Rocket Lab got its start solely as a launch provider but has since expanded with a Space Systems business, which produces satellite components such as radios and solar panels. In fact, that unit actually outperformed the company’s launch business in the third quarter, leading all segments with $46.3 million in revenue.

Given the shift in business focus, a partnership with SDA makes sense. 

The organization introduced the PWSA initiative in 2019, launching the first two batches of Tranche 0 satellites this year. A third and final wave is expected to join them soon. Meanwhile, the agency has poured billions into Tranche 1 contracts for Lockheed, Northrop, and York Space Systems, with the first Tranche 1 satellites slated for launch in September. As of October, it was in the source selection phase for another batch of Tranche 2 vehicles.

Tranche 2 Beta satellites will deploy ultra-high frequency and S-band radio frequencies, which are used by the military for voice and data transmission. In November, SDA successfully demonstrated communications between satellites and earthbound receivers through the vacuum of space, using the Tranche 0 spacecraft deployed earlier this year.

Like SDA, the U.S. Space Systems Command is also developing LEO satellite constellations, part of a push by the Space Force to acquire small satellites for applications such as missile warnings. In other words, there’s plenty of demand for what Rocket Lab is supplying.

In addition, Rocket Lab and SDA have a prior relationship. In 2022, the company formed a national security subsidiary to hone in on the U.S. defense and intelligence market. That year, it won two SDA contracts worth $14 million to build separation systems for 84 SDA satellites, built by Lockheed and a second undisclosed supplier.

Rocket Lab on the Rebound

Like Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, Rocket Lab this year felt the wrath of the FAA after a September mishap. But with a massive contract now in hand, the company may be headed for a rebound.

The accident earlier this year, which destroyed a payload aboard the firm’s Electron rocket, may have something to do with the launch segment’s recent struggles compared to the Space Systems business. But with FAA authorization to resume flying and a return to action in December, the company’s flagship rocket is back—and, in fact, it had a record year.

Electron flew 10 times in 2023, besting the company’s record of nine flights the year before. That’s at the top of the list for any launch provider not named SpaceX—rival United Launch Alliance, for example, flew just three times. The two-stage rocket also made its first mission on U.S. soil and flew twice in the span of one week, setting a new high mark for turnaround time.

While Rocket Lab specializes in Electron missions out of spaceports in Virginia and New Zealand, the company also earned seven suborbital launch contracts this year: five from Leidos, one from the Department of Defense, and another from a confidential customer. 

In addition to Electron, Rocket Lab since 2019 has produced the Photon, a satellite bus that uses chemical propulsion to fly in LEO, mid Earth, geostationary, or lunar orbit, and even on planetary journeys. First launched in 2020, Photon can be configured for an array of uses from satellite constellations to hosted payloads, such as NASA’s 2022 Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (Capstone) mission. There are four in orbit.

The company is further developing the larger Neutron rocket, expected to debut in 2025. Earlier this year, it purchased $16.1 million in assets from the now-defunct Virgin Orbit, including a lease to one of the Richard Branson-owned company’s Long Beach facilities and key manufacturing infrastructure. 

In October, Rocket Lab opened an engine development center to produce the spacecraft’s new Archimedes engine. A few years ago, it also won a $24.35 million Space Force award to develop Neutron’s upper stage.

With all of that recent activity plus December’s massive contract, Rocket Lab will be hoping it can cling to the number two ranking among launch providers for the foreseeable future.

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This week, the FAA closed its mishap investigation into New Shepard 23, an uncrewed, suborbital cargo mission that crashed in September 2022. The investigation, which looped in NASA and the National Transportation Safety Board as official observers, grounded Bezos-owned Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket, which in the months prior had ferried a total of 31 people to the edge of the atmosphere.

To be clear, New Shepard is not yet cleared for takeoff. That won’t happen until Blue Origin implements 21 corrective actions identified by the FAA—including an engine redesign—to prevent a similar incident. After that, the company can modify its launch license, giving it the green light to resume flying.

In a statement to FLYING and a post on X, formerly Twitter, Blue Origin confirmed it received the FAA’s notice and “[plans] to fly soon.”

We’ve received the FAA’s letter and plan to fly soon. https://t.co/J2bCKETQe7

— Blue Origin (@blueorigin) September 27, 2023

But just how soon? In a March update, Blue Origin said higher-than-expected operating temperatures created a “thermo-structural failure” in one of New Shepard’s nozzles. It added that it had already begun tweaking the spacecraft and expected to fly again late this year.

“Blue Origin is implementing corrective actions, including design changes to the combustion chamber and operating parameters, which have reduced engine nozzle bulk and hot-streak temperatures,” the company said. “Additional design changes to the nozzle have improved structural performance under thermal and dynamic loads.”

The company appeared to reiterate the late 2023 target in its statement—and that may be more than just talk. Earlier this month, two sources familiar with Blue Origin’s launch manifest told Ars Technica the company is tentatively planning an uncrewed test flight for early next month. If all goes well, it could launch its first crewed mission since August 2022 in mid-February.

How We Got Here

Included in the FAA’s announcement of the investigation’s closure was an agency assessment of what went wrong last September. It agreed with Blue Origin: “Higher than expected engine operating temperatures” caused a structural failure in one of the engine nozzles.

Just over one minute into the flight, which lifted off from the company’s Launch Site One in Texas, both New Shepard and its cargo capsule reversed course back to Earth. An onboard launch vehicle system detected the issue with the nozzle, triggering an abort and separation of the capsule from the rocket (as intended) and shutting down the engine.

The capsule floated gently to the desert floor on parachutes. The propulsion module, on the other hand, was destroyed on impact. However, all debris landed within a designated hazard area, and no injuries or property damage were reported.

Now, Blue Origin will need to address the 21 actions laid out by the FAA. These include a redesign of both the engine and nozzle components and unspecified “organizational changes.” The latter is detailed in the FAA’s letter to Blue Origin, which is not publicly available because it includes proprietary data and U.S. Export Control information, the FAA said.

What’s Next?

New Shepard is the vehicle Blue Origin relies on for its space tourism business, which carries people and cargo to about 340,000 feet in altitude for a few minutes of weightlessness. The experience is similar to the one offered by rival Virgin Galactic, owned by another billionaire business mogul, Richard Branson.

So far, Blue Origin has made a handful of successful flights with New Shepard. The company’s passengers have included Bezos himself, Star Trek icon William Shatner, and Good Morning America host and former NFL defensive end Michael Strahan. Aerospace pioneer and “Mercury 13” candidate Wally Funk set several records during her flight—some since superseded. Actor and comedian Pete Davidson also booked a seat before backing out. 

While the “organizational changes” specified by the FAA are unclear, Blue Origin this week shook up its top brass with the appointment of Dave Limp, who will depart his role as senior vice president of devices and services at Amazon. Limp spearheaded the launches of products such as Alexa and Echo, known to be pet projects of Bezos.

The Amazon executive will replace outgoing CEO Bob Smith, who oversaw New Shepard’s maiden voyage, in December. Under Smith, Blue Origin has struggled to launch its New Glenn super-heavy lift rocket, missed out on lucrative Pentagon contracts to rivals SpaceX and United Launch Alliance, and faced accusations of a toxic workplace permeated with discomfort and misogyny. The firm’s Orbital Reef space station partnership with Sierra Space is also reportedly on the rocks.

Blue Origin isn’t the only company tied up with the FAA. Elon Musk-owned SpaceX faces its own mishap investigation into the April 20 crash of Starship, a super-heavy lift rocket akin to New Glenn. That investigation remains open, and as of July 31, SpaceX had yet to file paperwork outlining the corrective actions it would take. 

However, the company continues to launch droves of Starlink satellites and conduct International Space Station crew rotation missions for NASA with its Crew Dragon. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, has flown commercial missions in back-to-back-to-back months, with a fourth planned for Thursday.

When New Shepard was first sidelined, Blue Origin looked like the clear leader in space tourism, with a half dozen commercial flights under its belt. At the time, Virgin Galactic itself was grounded and had yet to serve paying customers. 

By now, Blue Origin’s competitors have leapfrogged it in the modern space race. But with New Shepard getting closer to reintroduction, the door is still very much open for Bezos to recapture the lead.

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The post Blue Origin Flights to ‘Soon’ Resume After FAA Closes Investigation appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

As Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin contends with a mishap on an uncrewed 2022 New Shepard flight that has sidelined commercial operations until later this year, Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic on Thursday announced it’s gearing up for its first commercial spaceflight later this month. The mission, “Galactic 01,” is slated to carry three crew members of Italy’s Air Force and National Research Council into orbit between June 27 and 30.

But that’s not all. After the three Italians conduct microgravity research on Galactic 01, Virgin Galactic plans to launch a second sojourn with private astronauts, “Galactic 02,” in early August—with monthly missions for ticket holders to follow.

“We are launching the first commercial spaceline for Earth with two dynamic products—our scientific research and private astronaut space missions,” said Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier. “This next exciting chapter for Virgin Galactic has been driven by innovation, determination, and a commitment to delivering an unparalleled and truly transformative customer experience.”

Colglazier’s claim to the first commercial spaceline doesn’t quite tell the full story—Blue Origin had completed several routine commercial flights before being grounded by the FAA.

But Virgin Galactic’s arrow is pointing up. Following a quiet stretch in the wake of Branson’s highly publicized maiden voyage in 2021—brought on by the combination of an FAA investigation and refurbishing delays—the company returned to space in May with the crewed Unity 25 mission. That marked its fifth spaceflight aboard the VSS Unity spacecraft and its second with humans in tow.

And while Blue Origin has already made several trips to the edge of the atmosphere, Virgin Galactic has the potential to match it. Its backlog of more than 800 passengers has netted it about $210 million in ticket sales, with some customers paying as much as $450,000—and many having placed orders over a decade ago.

Blue Origin is less public about its ticket sales. But reports suggest prices range from a few hundred thousand dollars to several million, which may position Virgin Galactic as the more affordable, though less proven, option. This month’s launch will serve as its biggest litmus test to date—and so far, investors are enthusiastic.

“@VirginGalactic announces the start of commercial spaceflight service with #Galactic01 flight this month. A huge well done to the team, so excited for our astronauts to inspire more people to look to the stars,” Branson wrote on Twitter on Thursday.

With the impending Galactic 01 launch, it’s fair to say Branson’s Virgin Galactic and Bezos’ Blue Origin are officially entwined in a modern-day space race. 

The two trailblazers have traded several virtual blows in recent years. Branson beat Bezos to space but has since contended with an FAA grounding and the shutdown of Virgin Orbit. That opened the door for Blue Origin, which flew a few high-profile customers to space before being grounded itself. 

Blue Origin was also tapped by NASA to build the landing system for the Artemis V moon mission, scheduled for 2029. Virgin Galactic, meanwhile, has signed several manufacturing and supplier deals with companies such as Boeing and Axiom Space.

Interestingly, Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin’s commercial offerings are nearly identical: Customers aboard a capsule are ferried to the edge of the atmosphere by a booster from which the capsule separates, granting a few minutes of weightlessness and spectacular views.

Both Virgin Galactic’s spacecraft—consisting of the VSS Unity spaceship and VMS Eve “mothership”—and Blue Origin’s New Shepard are reusable, with boosters capable of landing gently on the pads from which they launched. The key difference is the former’s capsule glides to the ground like a plane, while the latter’s floats down on parachutes. New Shepard also climbs about 6.5 miles higher than its competitor, though both ascend more than 300,000 feet.

So far, Blue Origin, by virtue of its earlier commercial launch, is leading the new space race. But with New Shepard still sidelined, Virgin Galactic has a chance to steal the crown by beginning routine flights. It will all depend on the success—or failure—of June’s commercial debut.

The post Virgin Galactic Sets Commercial Launch Date as Modern-Day Space Race Heats Up appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

The Artemis program, set to take humans back to the lunar surface, successfully completed its first major mission by testing Orion—NASA’s newest human-rated spacecraft.

According to NASA, the Artemis I flight test broke several records, which included launching the world’s most powerful rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS).

Over Orion’s nearly 26-day journey, the spacecraft performed two lunar flybys within 80 miles of the moon’s surface and traveled nearly 270,000 miles away from Earth—the farthest any human-rated spacecraft has flown. In total, Orion traveled more than 1.4 million miles during its trip.

• READ MORE: Artemis I, the Rocket That Could

“With Orion safely returned to Earth we can begin to see our next mission on the horizon which will fly crew to the Moon for the first time as a part of the next era of exploration,” said Jim Free, NASA associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate. “This begins our path to a regular cadence of missions and a sustained human presence at the Moon for scientific discovery and to prepare for human missions to Mars.”

Onboard the spacecraft sat Commander Moonikin Campos, a sensor-laiden mannequin, biology experiments, and a Snoopy doll, to measure the various conditions future astronauts may face on later missions to the moon and Mars.

Astronauts will be onboard the next mission, Artemis II, currently scheduled for May 2024. However, Artemis astronauts will not touch down on the lunar surface until Artemis III the following year.

Orion’s splashdown also marked a special anniversary for the agency.

“The splashdown of the Orion spacecraft—which occurred 50 years to the day of the Apollo 17 Moon landing—is the crowning achievement of Artemis I. From the launch of the world’s most powerful rocket to the exceptional journey around the Moon and back to Earth, this flight test is a major step forward in the Artemis Generation of lunar exploration,” said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. 

“It wouldn’t be possible without the incredible NASA team. For years, thousands of individuals have poured themselves into this mission, which is inspiring the world to work together to reach untouched cosmic shores,” Nelson said. “Today is a huge win for NASA, the United States, our international partners, and all of humanity.”

• READ MORE: Liftoff: NASA’s Artemis I Launches Into Space, History

Splashdown.

After traveling 1.4 million miles through space, orbiting the Moon, and collecting data that will prepare us to send astronauts on future #Artemis missions, the @NASA_Orion spacecraft is home. pic.twitter.com/ORxCtGa9v7

— NASA (@NASA) December 11, 2022

According to NASA, Orion approached Earth’s atmosphere at almost 25,000 miles per hour—nearly 32 times the speed of sound. The spacecraft was also the first to complete a skip maneuver, where the spacecraft dipped into Earth’s atmosphere to reduce its speed, then reentered to make its final approach.

“Orion has returned from the Moon and is safely back on planet Earth,” said Mike Sarafin, Artemis I mission manager. “With splashdown we have successfully operated Orion in the deep space environment, where it exceeded our expectations, and demonstrated that Orion can withstand the extreme conditions of returning through Earth’s atmosphere from lunar velocities.”

The post Artemis I: Orion Completes Journey Around the Moon appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Urban Sketchers is a global community of artists who practice drawing specific locations in cities and towns all over the world. The group’s motto is “show the world one drawing at a time”.

Drawing was a dormant hobby for Buike when she joined the group in 2012. She had recently retired and now that she had more time, chose to resurrect the hobby. She eased back into it.

“It’s like riding a bicycle…I remembered the basics of drawing and it just took time and practice to regain my former skills,” she said.

Around the same time she joined the Museum of Flight in Seattle as a volunteer. This gave her free access to the museum which is filled with subjects—namely the museum artifacts waiting to be drawn. When she joined the MOF, they were about to install a new space exhibit.

“The Full Fuselage Training, a.k.a Space Shuttle Trainer,” Buike recalled. “I’d been following the NASA space program from childhood as my mother watched every launch on TV from Mercury on.”

The day FLYING met Buike she was at the MOF waiting for the B-29 Doc to arrive from Wichita, Kansas. It was a sunny day, and Buike was sketching one of the aircraft on outdoor display while we waited for the B-29 to arrive. There were not many people waiting for the aircraft’s arrival, as the announcement of its visit to Seattle had not been made available to the general public.

“What I enjoy most is sketching special events at the Museum of Flight,’ said Buike. “As a volunteer, I often hear about things happening that aren’t announced to the public, such as the arrival of an aircraft or moving them around. I make a point to go over to watch and sketch from observation.”

Yes, There Are Rules

Some museums have very specific rules about capturing images of their artifacts. Sometimes this is done to protect the integrity of the artifact so that it cannot be copied, other times it is because flash photography can be damaging or distracting to other visitors.

When it comes to drawing, the challenge can be the materials used in the creation process.

Some museums permit colored pens, others only allow pencils to be used. Buike’s full kit includes pencil, pen, and watercolor applied to sketchbooks.

Buike often uses line-and-wash drawing, which is when a drawing is marked out by a pen and then tinted with diluted ink or watercolor.

 “I work in small sketchbooks, most of my own making—especially during “Inktober”—I use a tan toned paper with various kinds of black ink and white gel pens,” she says.

One of Buike’s favorite subjects to draw is the Space Shuttle trainer. The shuttle trainer is a mockup of the shuttle that was used to train astronauts on procedures they would need to use in space. It is one of four ships that went to museums when the shuttles were retired in 2011. 

 “I thought it would be fun to have an insider’s view of it being assembled,” said Buike. “I’ve sketched that more than any other craft.” she said.  

Sometimes Buike has an audience when she works.

“I’ve never drawn what I’d call a crowd but people do stop to look and chat. Often they are hesitant to interrupt me, but I always say, ‘That’s alright, I’m waiting for paint to dry.’”

Buike noted she had a moment when a father and a little girl were watching her work. 

“We chatted a little. As she left, she said, ‘I want to be like you.’”Buike keeps track of her drawings—approximately 3,500 in all—on her Flickr photostream “That’s the total sketches since 2012, not all aviation. Most of my aviation ones are in the ‘Museum of Flight’ album where there are about 275. I have a few more, done other places, but most are there.”

The post Aviation as Sketch Art appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Next, the 322-foot tall rocket will be rolled from launch pad 39B back to NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Florida’s Kennedy Space Center, where engineers will remediate minor issues found during the wet dress rehearsal on June 20. There, the SLS will remain for up to eight weeks before its first launch window in late August.

It’s all part of the first launch of NASA’s Artemis Program, aimed at sending the first woman and person of color to the moon’s surface. This first mission, Artemis I, will be an uncrewed journey around the moon and back to Earth.

“During the wet dress rehearsal activities, we have incrementally added to our knowledge about how the rocket and the ground systems work together, and our teams have become proficient in launch procedures across multiple sites,” said Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for common exploration systems. “We have completed the rehearsal phase, and everything we’ve learned will help improve our ability to lift off during the target launch window. The team is now ready to take the next step and prepare for launch.”

• READ MORE: What is the World’s Most Powerful Rocket?

During Monday’s wet dress rehearsal, the ground teams simulated launch day activities down to just 10 seconds before liftoff. Previous attempts were cut short following a multitude of problems, including temperature limit issues, faulty core stage valves, and propellant leaks.

According to NASA, the rocket’s most recent issue involved a hydrogen leak at the connection point between an umbilical cord, stretching from the tail service mast and the rocket’s core stage. Engineers will inspect and likely repair the cord once the SLS returns to the VAB. During the last rehearsal, launch controllers “masked the data associated with the leak” to accomplish other objectives.

“The team continues to impress me with their creative thinking and resourcefulness,” said Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, Artemis launch director. “Our Artemis launch team has worked quickly to adapt to the dynamics of propellant loading operations. With each milestone and each test, we are another step closer to launch.”

NASA now aims to return the SLS to the launch pad in late August, and will set a target launch date after “replacing hardware associated with the leak.” Stick with FLYING for updates on our return to the moon.

The post Artemis I Moon Rocket Moves a Step Closer to Launch appeared first on FLYING Magazine.

Imagine fleets of automated, spacefaring robots with sophisticated technology designed to capture orbiting space junk and harvest it for raw materials. 

Or, imagine an uncrewed orbiting spacecraft that has the ability to actually build satellites and other useful machines while floating in space. 

Or, what if engineers built small, autonomous machines that could repair and maintain a space station orbiting the moon? 

Far fetched? Perhaps. Nonetheless, ideas like these are currently being discussed by scientists and other experts focused on transforming the space around Earth into an active environment with valuable benefits to society.

Some of the technological first steps required to achieve these ambitious concepts are happening in laboratories like The Rendezvous Proximity Operations and Docking (RPOD) Lab, operated by Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC) subsidiary SpaceLogistics, outside Washington, D.C.

Engineers at the RPOD Lab helped develop SpaceLogistics’ Mission Extension Vehicle (MEV), the first operational automated commercial spacecraft to successfully approach a satellite in geosynchronous orbit (GEO) 22,000 miles from Earth, dock with it, and provide propulsion and pointing control. The MEV-1 mission in 2020 was a huge leap forward in an area known as in orbit satellite servicing.

Sophisticated sensor arrays, image processing, complex software, effective testing, guidance systems, and precise remote piloting, all played a role in MEVs success. 

“SpaceLogistics’ pioneering RPOD technology for servicing in orbit is the catalyst for the bigger picture of humans building a responsible and enduring existence in orbit and beyond,” says Quenten Duden, Business Development and Operations, Civil and Space at SpaceLogistics. “We have proven technology that is a vital piece to the overall aspiration of a sustainable existence in space.” 

• READ MORE: Inside the Historic Mission to Service an Orbiting Satellite

“To exist in space, we need to learn to mine, manufacture, assemble, and operate in orbit and beyond,” Duden says.

Long term, the technology behind the MEV and other satellite servicing spacecraft could someday lead to machines programmed to build facilities in space for mining and manufacturing. 

“To assemble large parts from small parts, we need to deliver a capability in orbit that allows us to maneuver without regret, assemble with precision and repeatability, and architect the future for affordable upgrades and long life,” says Duden, who serves SpaceLogistics as a mission architect. 

You might say Northrop Grumman has a bit of experience in this arena. Its roots include designing and building the Lunar Module lander that took Apollo astronauts to the surface of the moon. 

Now, the company leads an industry team supporting the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST)—history’s largest and most complex space observatory—now orbiting the sun.

Mining Asteroids

Asteroids are believed to contain large deposits of rare metals such as platinum and gold that potentially would be worth millions of dollars. They also might contain raw materials to manufacture rocket fuel.

Learning how to manufacture rocket fuel from raw materials in space could open the door to long-distance space travel, including space colonization, according to NASA studies.

Currently, every spacecraft must begin each mission with all the necessary fuel to complete the entire voyage. But what if rockets launching from Earth only needed enough fuel to achieve orbit? Think of the weight it would save. These rockets could fill up for the rest of the trip at an orbiting depot with fuel made from asteroids by autonomous spacecraft.

In fact, NASA has already been making small steps toward the dream of one day mining asteroids. 

In 2020, the agency’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully landed on an asteroid, measuring about a third of a mile wide, called Bennu, located 200 million miles away. After collecting a sample, OSIRIS-REx began its return journey to Earth and is now on track to be the first U.S. mission to bring back an asteroid sample next year. 

“The mission will develop important technologies for asteroid exploration that will benefit anyone interested in exploring or mining asteroids, whether it’s NASA or a private company,” said Dante Lauretta, a University of Arizona scientist working on the mission on NASA.gov.

OSIRIS-REx is still a long way from spacecraft that can reliably offer commercial asteroid mining services. But it’s the start of what could be a very long and fascinating journey.

Maintaining and Repairing Space Stations

Sophisticated satellites also could be engineered to maintain and repair space stations orbiting Earth or the moon. 

NASA’s Artemis Program, which aims to return astronauts to the lunar surface, includes a proposal to build an outpost orbiting the moon. If built, the Lunar Gateway would serve as a way station for astronauts traveling to and from the moon as well as a staging point for deep space exploration. Initially, Gateway will be maintained, repaired, and inspected by a smart robotic system outfitted with mechanical arms. Perhaps someday, automated spacecraft could accomplish these tasks. 

• READ MORE: NASA’s Mega Moon Rocket to Return to Launch Pad

Assembling Satellites in Space

Thinking about space technology in the far future, experts have proposed the possibility of developing automated robot spacecraft that could build structures in Earth orbit, such as large satellites. 

For example, the James Webb Space Telescope recently deployed in solar orbit had to be launched in one piece atop an Ariane 5 rocket. The huge observatory including its tennis-court sized sunshield was carefully folded into a compact shape to fit it into the rocket. 

Scientists were worried that something might go wrong when the telescope’s huge solar array unfolded in space. 

Although everything went as planned, those complex folding design requirements might have been avoided with the help of sophisticated automated spacecraft. 

“Imagine if, instead of having to build the whole thing on Earth and do this very arcane stuff to fold it up and fit it into a rocket, what if you launched it in a bunch of pieces and assembled it on orbit?” says space policy expert Brian Weeden, director of program planning at Secure World Foundation. “There’s a whole bunch of opportunities there for future scientific instruments that could be far bigger than the James Webb—even if rockets stay the same size.”

• READ MORE: All You Need to Know about the James Webb Telescope

LEGO-like Satellites

Machines that build things in space would be a long way off, but industry experts are talking about what technology it might require to get us there. 

One idea involves constructing satellites made of standardized and easily changeable components—sort of like sophisticated LEGO building blocks. With this kind of design a sophisticated service satellite might be able to easily swap out broken or worn out components. Interchangeable components would make it possible to upgrade satellites or change their capabilities. 

Engineers and operators could more easily switch or upgrade an orbiting satellite’s cameras for different missions, Weeden says. “Or you could swap out the antenna system or change the radio frequencies it operates on. There’s a lot of potential opportunity there. That’s the kind of technology being developed right now.”

Leading the Way

These aspirational ideas about mastering life in space are theoretical because satellite service is just now emerging as an industry. SpaceLogistics is one of several members of an organization called the Consortium for Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations (CONFERS) that aims to foster communication among industry players, which might help the industry as a whole achieve important breakthroughs. 

“It’s about setting industrial standards for space—for how we do RPOD, how we do refueling—trying to lead the way,” SpaceLogistics president Rob Hauge told FLYING. “On everything we’re doing, we’re trying to be cooperative.”

Supported by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and coordinated by the Secure World Foundation, other members include Airbus, Voyager Space, and Redwire Space. CONFERS goals include “building common understanding between developers, operators, customers, investors, insurers, and government policy makers.”

Harvesting Space Junk

CONFERS is also involved in industry projects aimed at developing autonomous spacecraft to clean up countless pieces of space junk orbiting Earth. 

Space debris, which moves at speeds up to 17,500 mph, can potentially damage or even destroy satellites, space stations, and spacecraft. Debris especially poses a collision risk to satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO)—an area within about 1,200 sm above the planet.

Japan, the European Union, and most recently the United Kingdom have all announced programs aimed at demonstrating the ability to remove space debris in LEO, Weeden says. “When that happens, that will be very important.”

Space policy experts believe it might be possible one day to capture the most valuable space junk and harvest it for raw materials so it can be used again. But as Hauge says, “I think we’re a long way away.”

As far off as some of these ideas may be, portions of the initial technology are being developed now—baby steps in a longer journey toward a dream of mastering space. 

Editor’s note: Jeremy Kariuki contributed to this report.

The post Baby Steps Toward Space Mining and Manufacturing appeared first on FLYING Magazine.