After 13 years of operation, 20 launches, five test flights, two drone ship crash landings, and a launch failure, SpaceX has come face to face with the holy grail of spaceflight - reusability. On Dec. 22, 2015,
the company successfully landed the first stage of an orbital rocket at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The milestone mission also involved the successful deployment of 11 Orbcomm satellites. SpaceX has inspected the returned stage, and
though the booster has been deemed ready for relaunch, the company expects to retain it for display.
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She's Just a Cosmic Girl From Another Galaxy
Virgin Galactic has announced LauncherOne's dedicated air-launch platform -- Cosmic Girl. The aircraft is a Boeing 747-400 that was previously operated by Virgin Atlantic. The plan is to mount the LauncherOne rocket under the left wing where a fifth spare engine is sometimes installed for transportation [like this]. SpaceShipTwo will continue to be developed for manned flights.
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Getting More Than What You Asked For
NASA will receive more than $19 billion in the 2016 fiscal year, which is $756 million more than the requested amount. Although not all programs were winners, most major programs received the requested funding or well above it. This was, in part, enabled by a spending bill passed in Oct. of 2015 that increased the spending caps for discretionary programs. The Commercial Crew Program received the requested budget of $1.24 billion.
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Boeing's Starliner Gets Second Order
Boeing has received its second Starliner order from NASA to launch astronauts to the ISS. This is the third in a series of four orders NASA will make under their Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts. Boeing and SpaceX, who are the winners of the first two orders, have begun preparations for their initial missions. The contracts guarantee Boeing and SpaceX a minimum of two and maximum of six missions to the ISS. Each mission will carry up to four NASA or NASA-certified individuals. Boeing earned their second order under their Starliner program after successful completion of interim design and development tests and reviews that met NASA's criteria.
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The Stars & Stripes Makes Plutonium Again
The U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Oak Ridge National Laboratory has announced that they have successfully restarted production of plutonium-238 (PU-238) after almost 30 years.
Under an agreement between NASA and the DOE, the laboratory will initially be producing 300-400 grams of the material per year; the production is aimed to average 1.5 kilograms per year at a cost of $15 million through automation and scale-up processes by the end of the decade. The laboratory's projected output will be sufficient for one or possibly two deep space exploratory missions every decade. The next NASA mission planning to use the material is the Mars 2020 rover, due to be launched in July 2020.
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Making of Dr. FrankenSat
Space Systems Loral (SSL) announced that it was selected by NASA to develop on-orbit robotic satellite assembly technology as part of the agency's Tipping Point initiative. This technology will enable the construction of large satellites that cannot be launched fully assembled. Instead, the satellite pieces can be packaged such that it fits conveniently within a standard launch vehicle fairing. The new technology will also have the ability to replace some satellite parts (e.g., antennas and solar panels) during the mission. This will not only extend the total mission life but also allow the satellites to accommodate changing market requirements. The current contract extends through a ground demonstration, but a separate contract will be required for a flight demonstration.
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- UK Calls for Space Startups [Link]
- Reaction Engines adds BAE's Chris Allam to Board [Link]
- Generation Orbit Completes Third Test Flight [Link]
- Thales Alenia Tests 5kW Hall Thruster [Link]
- UAE and China Sign Space Program Agreement [Link]
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This month, author Frank White and SFF Founder Jim Muncy
share their respective
NewSpace initiatives with Dr. David Livingston on The Space Show.
[Link]
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Other Cool Things
SpaceX Landing [Video]
LRO's Earthrise [Link]
Akatsuki Around Venus [Link]
USPS Unveils Space Stamps [Link]
First Space-bound 3D Printed Airframe [Link]
Astronaut Applications [Link]
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UPCOMING LAUNCHES
Jan 15
Long March 3B - Belintersat 1
Jan 17
Falcon 9 - Jason 3
Jan 20
PSLV - IRNSS 1E
Jan 25
Proton - Eutelsat 9B
Jan 27
Ariane 5 - Intelsat 29e
Jan TBD
Falcon 9 - SES 9
Rockot - Sentinel 3A
Dnepr - Paz
Soyuz - Glonass M
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NEWSPACE MENTIONS IN THIS ISSUE
BAE Systems
Boeing
Deimos Imaging
Elecnor
Generation Orbit
MadeInSpace
Microsoft
Midland Development Corp
Orbital ATK
Reaction Engines
Space Systems Loral
SpaceX
Thales Alenia
United Launch Alliance
UrtheCast
Virgin Atlantic
Virgin Galactic
XCOR Aerospace
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