got sufficient northern exposure.”
In its strategy, the Department of the Air Force said there is a need for “domain awareness through new technologies ranging from over the horizon radar to space assets.”
FEARS OF ‘MISCOMMUNICATION’
Michael Sfraga, chair and distinguished fellow of the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute, said an imminent war in the Arctic is unlikely.
“I think that’s a low probability,” said Sfraga, who is based in Alaska. But he believes the risk will increase as countries step up activities.
“The higher probability, unfortunately, is a miscommunication: An exercise gone wrong, a missile fired by mistake, Russian bombers are escorted out of our airspace and there’s a miscommunication between pilots,” he said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now casts things in a different light, he added. “No one thought something like Ukraine would actually happen. If anybody would have told you 20 years ago that China would have built islands in the South China Sea and claimed that territory, I would have said that seems pretty far-fetched.” The lesson for the United States is to remain “vigilant and diligent.”
It’s well known that Russia derives a significant portion of its GDP from natural resource development in the Arctic, Sfraga said. It’s also continuing to expand its military presence and capabilities in the region. “China, which sometimes forgets that it’s not actually an Arctic state, is doing everything it can to establish its own influence in Arctic governance and economic development.”
“While there’s no imminent threat of conflict in the Arctic, the increasing activity and proximity of these aggressive powers requires the U.S. to maintain situational awareness and operational capacity,” he said.
The United States has to be better prepared to operate in the Arctic, Sfraga said, and noted that satellite-based services are sorely needed in the area.
“Satellite communications, imagery, all of those things are very important to our national and civil security, search and rescue,” he said. “There’s just limited capacity.”
“Presence equals influence,” he said. “Showing potential adversaries that you can actually conduct operations and protect your own interests in a landscape like the Arctic serves as a deterrent and is incredibly important.”
This article originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of SpaceNews magazine.
In its strategy, the Department of the Air Force said there is a need for “domain awareness through new technologies ranging from over the horizon radar to space assets.”
FEARS OF ‘MISCOMMUNICATION’
Michael Sfraga, chair and distinguished fellow of the Wilson Center’s Polar Institute, said an imminent war in the Arctic is unlikely.
“I think that’s a low probability,” said Sfraga, who is based in Alaska. But he believes the risk will increase as countries step up activities.
“The higher probability, unfortunately, is a miscommunication: An exercise gone wrong, a missile fired by mistake, Russian bombers are escorted out of our airspace and there’s a miscommunication between pilots,” he said.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine now casts things in a different light, he added. “No one thought something like Ukraine would actually happen. If anybody would have told you 20 years ago that China would have built islands in the South China Sea and claimed that territory, I would have said that seems pretty far-fetched.” The lesson for the United States is to remain “vigilant and diligent.”
It’s well known that Russia derives a significant portion of its GDP from natural resource development in the Arctic, Sfraga said. It’s also continuing to expand its military presence and capabilities in the region. “China, which sometimes forgets that it’s not actually an Arctic state, is doing everything it can to establish its own influence in Arctic governance and economic development.”
“While there’s no imminent threat of conflict in the Arctic, the increasing activity and proximity of these aggressive powers requires the U.S. to maintain situational awareness and operational capacity,” he said.
The United States has to be better prepared to operate in the Arctic, Sfraga said, and noted that satellite-based services are sorely needed in the area.
“Satellite communications, imagery, all of those things are very important to our national and civil security, search and rescue,” he said. “There’s just limited capacity.”
“Presence equals influence,” he said. “Showing potential adversaries that you can actually conduct operations and protect your own interests in a landscape like the Arctic serves as a deterrent and is incredibly important.”
This article originally appeared in the May 2022 issue of SpaceNews magazine.
The Sun is about 150 million kilometers ( 1 AU, or 93 million miles ) from Earth. Astronomers originally measured its distance by triangulation, but they now use radar, bounced either directly from the Sun or from other bodies whose distance is known in AU from Kepler's third law. knowing the Sun's distance, we can find its radius form its angular size.
NASA to buy five additional Crew Dragon flights
by Jeff Foust — June 2, 2022
Crew-2 Crew Dragon
NASA stated it plans to add five more missions to SpaceX's commercial crew transportation contract, which would be enough to support ISS operations to 2030 provided Boeing's Starliner soon enters service. Credit: NASA
WASHINGTON — NASA is planning to purchase five more Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station from SpaceX, a move the agency says is needed to ensure long-term access to the station.
In a procurement notice published June 1, NASA announced its intent to issue a sole-source modification of its existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities, or CCtCap, contract with SpaceX to add five missions to the station later this decade.
NASA said in the filing that it needed to add the missions to the contract for several reasons, including delays in the development and certification of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew vehicle, projections of when the additional missions would be needed and “the technical challenges associated with establishing and maintaining” crew transportation systems capable of flying every six months.
The notice added that the additional missions “will ensure redundant and backup capabilities through 2030” for the ISS. The White House announced at the end of last year its intent to extend ISS operations through 2030, an extension supported other station partners except for Russia.
In a blog post published without fanfare by NASA late June 1, agency officials said the additional missions will ensure that they can bring Starliner into service without rushing it. “It’s critical we complete Starliner’s development without undue schedule pressure while working to position both Boeing and SpaceX for sustainable operations in the years ahead,” said Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager.
“Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 went very well and we hope to be able to certify the Starliner system in the near future,” said Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA. “However, we will need additional missions from SpaceX to implement our strategy of having each commercial provider flying alternating missions once per year.”
The original CCtCap awards to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 provided each company with six operational, or post-certification, missions. Boeing has yet to perform any post-certification missions, as Starliner is still in testing. SpaceX is currently on its fourth post-certification mission, Crew-4, which launched to the station in April.
NASA, anticipating that SpaceX would soon complete all six missions while Starliner was still in development, awarded SpaceX three additional mission in February for $776 million. The new modification, if it goes forward, would bring the total number of post-certification missions awarded to SpaceX to 14.
By the time SpaceX starts flying those additional missions, Boeing’s Starliner should be in service. NASA and Boeing officials said after the completing of the OFT-2 uncrewed test flight May 25 that they believed they would be able to proceed with a crewed test flight as soon as late this year. If that is successful, Starliner could begin post-certification missions as soon as the fall of 2023, after SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission slated to launch in the spring of 2023.
If that schedule holds, and NASA is able to alternate missions between the two companies, Boeing’s current contract would support missions launching through 2028. SpaceX’s extended contract would allow missions to 2030, with SpaceX returning to two missions a year after the conclusion of Boeing’s contract.
NASA said in the statement that the extension planned for SpaceX “does not preclude NASA from seeking additional contract modifications in the future for additional transportation services as needed.” In the case of Boeing, an extension would likely also require certification of a new launch vehicle, as its current Starliner missions are slated to fly on the Atlas 5, a vehicle that United Launch Alliance is no longer offering for sale and plans to retire, lik
by Jeff Foust — June 2, 2022
Crew-2 Crew Dragon
NASA stated it plans to add five more missions to SpaceX's commercial crew transportation contract, which would be enough to support ISS operations to 2030 provided Boeing's Starliner soon enters service. Credit: NASA
WASHINGTON — NASA is planning to purchase five more Crew Dragon missions to the International Space Station from SpaceX, a move the agency says is needed to ensure long-term access to the station.
In a procurement notice published June 1, NASA announced its intent to issue a sole-source modification of its existing Commercial Crew Transportation Capabilities, or CCtCap, contract with SpaceX to add five missions to the station later this decade.
NASA said in the filing that it needed to add the missions to the contract for several reasons, including delays in the development and certification of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner crew vehicle, projections of when the additional missions would be needed and “the technical challenges associated with establishing and maintaining” crew transportation systems capable of flying every six months.
The notice added that the additional missions “will ensure redundant and backup capabilities through 2030” for the ISS. The White House announced at the end of last year its intent to extend ISS operations through 2030, an extension supported other station partners except for Russia.
In a blog post published without fanfare by NASA late June 1, agency officials said the additional missions will ensure that they can bring Starliner into service without rushing it. “It’s critical we complete Starliner’s development without undue schedule pressure while working to position both Boeing and SpaceX for sustainable operations in the years ahead,” said Steve Stich, NASA commercial crew program manager.
“Boeing’s Orbital Flight Test-2 went very well and we hope to be able to certify the Starliner system in the near future,” said Phil McAlister, director of commercial space at NASA. “However, we will need additional missions from SpaceX to implement our strategy of having each commercial provider flying alternating missions once per year.”
The original CCtCap awards to Boeing and SpaceX in 2014 provided each company with six operational, or post-certification, missions. Boeing has yet to perform any post-certification missions, as Starliner is still in testing. SpaceX is currently on its fourth post-certification mission, Crew-4, which launched to the station in April.
NASA, anticipating that SpaceX would soon complete all six missions while Starliner was still in development, awarded SpaceX three additional mission in February for $776 million. The new modification, if it goes forward, would bring the total number of post-certification missions awarded to SpaceX to 14.
By the time SpaceX starts flying those additional missions, Boeing’s Starliner should be in service. NASA and Boeing officials said after the completing of the OFT-2 uncrewed test flight May 25 that they believed they would be able to proceed with a crewed test flight as soon as late this year. If that is successful, Starliner could begin post-certification missions as soon as the fall of 2023, after SpaceX’s Crew-6 mission slated to launch in the spring of 2023.
If that schedule holds, and NASA is able to alternate missions between the two companies, Boeing’s current contract would support missions launching through 2028. SpaceX’s extended contract would allow missions to 2030, with SpaceX returning to two missions a year after the conclusion of Boeing’s contract.
NASA said in the statement that the extension planned for SpaceX “does not preclude NASA from seeking additional contract modifications in the future for additional transportation services as needed.” In the case of Boeing, an extension would likely also require certification of a new launch vehicle, as its current Starliner missions are slated to fly on the Atlas 5, a vehicle that United Launch Alliance is no longer offering for sale and plans to retire, lik
NASA selects Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace for spacesuit contracts
by Jeff Foust — June 1, 2022
Collins spacesuit
A lunar spacesuit being developed by a team led by Collins Aerospace, which, along with Axiom Space, won NASA contracts to develop and provide spacesuits for Artemis missions and the ISS. Credit: Collins Aerospace
Updated 7 p.m. Eastern with additional contract details.
WASHINGTON — NASA awarded contracts to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to provide spacesuits for International Space Station spacewalks and Artemis moonwalks, although neither the agency nor the winning companies offered many technical or financial details.
NASA announced June 1 it selected the two companies for Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services, or xEVAS, contracts to support the development of new spacesuits as well as purchasing spacesuit services. The companies will own the suits they develop and will effectively rent them to NASA for space station and Artemis missions, while also being able to offer the suits to other customers.
The goal, NASA officials said at a briefing about the awards, is to have lunar spacesuits ready for the Artemis 3 lunar landing mission, currently scheduled for no earlier than 2025. NASA will also conduct an “orderly transition” from existing, decades-old suits on the ISS to the new suits around the same time.
NASA earlier planned to develop suits internally though an effort known as the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU, but shifted gears to a services model with competition, building on the accomplishments of commercial cargo and crew transportation. NASA is making xEMU data and other capabilities available to the companies to support their work.
“I really believe that all of that data is helping to reduce the risk and speed that transition process up to the contractor community,” said Lara Kearney, manager of the extravehicular activity and human surface mobility program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “We were at a great place to transition just because of how mature the xEMU was at the time.”
Axiom, which is working with a team of companies that includes David Clark Company, KBR and Paragon Space Development Corporation, intended to develop spacesuits to support its commercial space station plans.
“We have a number of customers who already would like to do a spacewalk,” explained Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom, said at the briefing. “It’s fantastic to have a partnership where we can benefit from the years of experience that NASA has and all the work they’ve done to advance designs.”
Collins Aerospace, working with ILC Dover and Oceaneering, plans to make use of experience that includes development of the Apollo moonwalking suits and the spacesuits used today on ISS spacewalks.
“The goal is to take the foundations that NASA laid with the xEMU in partnership with industry and evolve that technology, and create a suit that is compatible with the entire spectrum of crew members,” said Dan Burbank, senior technical fellow at Collins.
Both Burbank, a former astronaut, and Suffredini, a former NASA ISS program manager, emphasized their commitment to meeting NASA’s extensive requirements for the suits, including being compatible with astronauts ranging in height from the 5th percentile woman to the 95th percentile man.
However, the companies provided few technical details about their suit designs, and NASA did not even have illustrations of the winning designs to show, electing instead to release an illustration of two moonwalking astronauts wearing suits not necessarily associated with either company. Collins did later release several illustrations of its proposed suit as well as images of that design being testing in a lab.
The total value of the xEVAS contracts is $3.5 billion through 2034, a figure that assumes all task orders are exercised. NASA officials at the briefing declined to break out that total between the two companies, stating that information will instead be in the source selection statement for the procurement, expected to be
by Jeff Foust — June 1, 2022
Collins spacesuit
A lunar spacesuit being developed by a team led by Collins Aerospace, which, along with Axiom Space, won NASA contracts to develop and provide spacesuits for Artemis missions and the ISS. Credit: Collins Aerospace
Updated 7 p.m. Eastern with additional contract details.
WASHINGTON — NASA awarded contracts to Axiom Space and Collins Aerospace to provide spacesuits for International Space Station spacewalks and Artemis moonwalks, although neither the agency nor the winning companies offered many technical or financial details.
NASA announced June 1 it selected the two companies for Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services, or xEVAS, contracts to support the development of new spacesuits as well as purchasing spacesuit services. The companies will own the suits they develop and will effectively rent them to NASA for space station and Artemis missions, while also being able to offer the suits to other customers.
The goal, NASA officials said at a briefing about the awards, is to have lunar spacesuits ready for the Artemis 3 lunar landing mission, currently scheduled for no earlier than 2025. NASA will also conduct an “orderly transition” from existing, decades-old suits on the ISS to the new suits around the same time.
NASA earlier planned to develop suits internally though an effort known as the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit, or xEMU, but shifted gears to a services model with competition, building on the accomplishments of commercial cargo and crew transportation. NASA is making xEMU data and other capabilities available to the companies to support their work.
“I really believe that all of that data is helping to reduce the risk and speed that transition process up to the contractor community,” said Lara Kearney, manager of the extravehicular activity and human surface mobility program at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. “We were at a great place to transition just because of how mature the xEMU was at the time.”
Axiom, which is working with a team of companies that includes David Clark Company, KBR and Paragon Space Development Corporation, intended to develop spacesuits to support its commercial space station plans.
“We have a number of customers who already would like to do a spacewalk,” explained Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom, said at the briefing. “It’s fantastic to have a partnership where we can benefit from the years of experience that NASA has and all the work they’ve done to advance designs.”
Collins Aerospace, working with ILC Dover and Oceaneering, plans to make use of experience that includes development of the Apollo moonwalking suits and the spacesuits used today on ISS spacewalks.
“The goal is to take the foundations that NASA laid with the xEMU in partnership with industry and evolve that technology, and create a suit that is compatible with the entire spectrum of crew members,” said Dan Burbank, senior technical fellow at Collins.
Both Burbank, a former astronaut, and Suffredini, a former NASA ISS program manager, emphasized their commitment to meeting NASA’s extensive requirements for the suits, including being compatible with astronauts ranging in height from the 5th percentile woman to the 95th percentile man.
However, the companies provided few technical details about their suit designs, and NASA did not even have illustrations of the winning designs to show, electing instead to release an illustration of two moonwalking astronauts wearing suits not necessarily associated with either company. Collins did later release several illustrations of its proposed suit as well as images of that design being testing in a lab.
The total value of the xEVAS contracts is $3.5 billion through 2034, a figure that assumes all task orders are exercised. NASA officials at the briefing declined to break out that total between the two companies, stating that information will instead be in the source selection statement for the procurement, expected to be
released publicly in late June. In many other commercial procurements, NASA has released the value of individual awards to companies.
NASA spokesperson Rebecca Wickes later told SpaceNews that the individual contract values will not be published in the source selection statement. Instead, that document will list the percentage difference in the prices compared to other bidders,
“We guaranteed them an amount to make sure we could get them going and they had skin in the game, and we’re going to be careful to protect that,” said Mark Wiese of NASA, who chaired the source selection board for the xEVAS competition. He did not disclose those guaranteed amounts.
“NASA will protect the exact amounts of contract guaranteed minimums and/or individual task order award amounts due to the proprietary nature of the commercial solutions while also protecting the ongoing competitive nature of this contract,” Wickes said.
NASA said in the statement that each company “has invested a significant amount of its own money” into development, but did not disclose those amounts. Burbank said that since he focused on the technical side of spacesuit development, he did not know how much the company had spent. Recent work for the xEVAS contract, he said, “is just the latest version of continual investment in internal R&D.”
Suffredini said that Axiom’s suit development was entirely internally funded. “Now you have to go figure out what that is,” he said.
Both companies said they expected to have spacesuits ready for testing on the ISS and for the Artemis 3 mission by the mid-2020s, but another company plans to test its own spacesuit in orbit before then. As part of the Polaris Program announced in February and funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, SpaceX is developing a version of its Crew Dragon pressure suit that can be used for spacewalks. That suit will be tested on the Polaris Dawn mission scheduled for later this year.
NASA spokesperson Rebecca Wickes later told SpaceNews that the individual contract values will not be published in the source selection statement. Instead, that document will list the percentage difference in the prices compared to other bidders,
“We guaranteed them an amount to make sure we could get them going and they had skin in the game, and we’re going to be careful to protect that,” said Mark Wiese of NASA, who chaired the source selection board for the xEVAS competition. He did not disclose those guaranteed amounts.
“NASA will protect the exact amounts of contract guaranteed minimums and/or individual task order award amounts due to the proprietary nature of the commercial solutions while also protecting the ongoing competitive nature of this contract,” Wickes said.
NASA said in the statement that each company “has invested a significant amount of its own money” into development, but did not disclose those amounts. Burbank said that since he focused on the technical side of spacesuit development, he did not know how much the company had spent. Recent work for the xEVAS contract, he said, “is just the latest version of continual investment in internal R&D.”
Suffredini said that Axiom’s suit development was entirely internally funded. “Now you have to go figure out what that is,” he said.
Both companies said they expected to have spacesuits ready for testing on the ISS and for the Artemis 3 mission by the mid-2020s, but another company plans to test its own spacesuit in orbit before then. As part of the Polaris Program announced in February and funded by billionaire Jared Isaacman, SpaceX is developing a version of its Crew Dragon pressure suit that can be used for spacewalks. That suit will be tested on the Polaris Dawn mission scheduled for later this year.
👍1
Ingenuity “hunkering down” during Martian dust storms and winter
by Jeff Foust — May 30, 2022
Ingenuity
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter is waiting out dust storms and a winter season that reduce the amount of power its solar panels generate and thus its ability to fly. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
WASHINGTON — Dust storms and changing seasons will limit the ability of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter to fly for the next several months, a project engineer said May 27.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released May 27 a video compiled from images taken by Ingenuity on a record-setting flight April 8. On that flight, the helicopter traveled 704 meters at a speed of 5.5 meters per second, the longest and fastest flight yet for the tiny helicopter.
That flight was the 25th for Ingenuity, which was originally intended to perform no more than five flights over the course of a few weeks in April 2021. The helicopter’s most recent flight, and the 28th overall, was April 29.
Ingenuity, though, lost communications with the Perseverance rover, which serves as a relay between the helicopter and controllers back on Earth, on May 3. Contact was reestablished two days later, with engineers concluding that the rover had gone into a “low-power state” when its battery levels dropped below a lower limit.
In a May 6 statement, JPL said that increased dust in the atmosphere was blocking sunlight, reducing the power Ingenuity’s solar panels could generate. The lab said it was taking steps to reduce the helicopter’s battery usage, such as reducing the temperature at which the helicopter turns on heaters.
“We are hopeful that we can accumulate battery charge in order to return to nominal operations and continue our mission into the weeks ahead,” Teddy Tzanetos, team lead for Ingenuity at JPL, said in the May 6 statement. In the May 27 release of the flight video, JPL said only that “the team is looking forward to its next flight on Mars.”
“Currently we’re going through the worst of the Martian dust storm season. The skies are full of dust and our solar array generation is way down,” said Jaakko Karras, chief engineer for Ingenuity, after a May 27 presentation at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference. However, he said Ingenuity is now heading into winter, with less solar power and colder temperatures.
“The hope is that, if we can make it through both of those,” he said, referring to the dust storms and winter, “in a handful of months we’ll start getting back into Martian spring where we get very energy positive again and back to business.”
That will limit the ability of Ingenuity to continue flying. Karras said there may be tweaks the mission can do, like parking the helicopter on an incline to increase the amount of sunlight reaching the arrays, an approach previously used for solar-powered rovers like Spirit and Opportunity. However, he noted it may be difficult to land the helicopter on the right incline. For now, the helicopter is “mostly hunkering down,” he said.
He didn’t saw how long it would be before Ingenuity will fly again and how frequently. “It will certainly be at least a couple of months before we’re back to the more luxurious energy levels that we’re used to,” he said.
by Jeff Foust — May 30, 2022
Ingenuity
NASA's Ingenuity Mars helicopter is waiting out dust storms and a winter season that reduce the amount of power its solar panels generate and thus its ability to fly. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
WASHINGTON — Dust storms and changing seasons will limit the ability of NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter to fly for the next several months, a project engineer said May 27.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory released May 27 a video compiled from images taken by Ingenuity on a record-setting flight April 8. On that flight, the helicopter traveled 704 meters at a speed of 5.5 meters per second, the longest and fastest flight yet for the tiny helicopter.
That flight was the 25th for Ingenuity, which was originally intended to perform no more than five flights over the course of a few weeks in April 2021. The helicopter’s most recent flight, and the 28th overall, was April 29.
Ingenuity, though, lost communications with the Perseverance rover, which serves as a relay between the helicopter and controllers back on Earth, on May 3. Contact was reestablished two days later, with engineers concluding that the rover had gone into a “low-power state” when its battery levels dropped below a lower limit.
In a May 6 statement, JPL said that increased dust in the atmosphere was blocking sunlight, reducing the power Ingenuity’s solar panels could generate. The lab said it was taking steps to reduce the helicopter’s battery usage, such as reducing the temperature at which the helicopter turns on heaters.
“We are hopeful that we can accumulate battery charge in order to return to nominal operations and continue our mission into the weeks ahead,” Teddy Tzanetos, team lead for Ingenuity at JPL, said in the May 6 statement. In the May 27 release of the flight video, JPL said only that “the team is looking forward to its next flight on Mars.”
“Currently we’re going through the worst of the Martian dust storm season. The skies are full of dust and our solar array generation is way down,” said Jaakko Karras, chief engineer for Ingenuity, after a May 27 presentation at the National Space Society’s International Space Development Conference. However, he said Ingenuity is now heading into winter, with less solar power and colder temperatures.
“The hope is that, if we can make it through both of those,” he said, referring to the dust storms and winter, “in a handful of months we’ll start getting back into Martian spring where we get very energy positive again and back to business.”
That will limit the ability of Ingenuity to continue flying. Karras said there may be tweaks the mission can do, like parking the helicopter on an incline to increase the amount of sunlight reaching the arrays, an approach previously used for solar-powered rovers like Spirit and Opportunity. However, he noted it may be difficult to land the helicopter on the right incline. For now, the helicopter is “mostly hunkering down,” he said.
He didn’t saw how long it would be before Ingenuity will fly again and how frequently. “It will certainly be at least a couple of months before we’re back to the more luxurious energy levels that we’re used to,” he said.