NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Award
Funding: up to $125,000
Study Period: 9 months

Solar System Pony Express
Joshua Vander Hook
NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
Pasadena, Calif.

The Solar System Pony Express is a global, multi-spectral, high-resolution planetary surveyor supported by regular visits from a cycler satellite network to retrieve petabits of data for transit to Earth.

Spaceport CamdenFAA Project Status Update The FAA is continuing to develop the Final EIS. As part of that process the FAA has consulted with Federal and state agencies, and their comments are being incorporated into the Final EIS. In addition, the FAA has completed a number of consultations including Section 4f of the Department of Transportation Act, Section 7 of the Endangered Species Act (with National Marine Fisheries and US […]

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA has named the landing site of the agency’s Perseverance rover “Octavia E. Butler Landing,” after the science fiction author Octavia E. Butler. The landing location is marked with a star in this image from the High Resolution Imaging Experiment (HiRISE) camera aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO).

NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Phase I Award
Funding: up to $125,000
Study Period: 9 months

Autonomous Robotic Demonstrator for Deep Drilling (ARD3)
Quinn Morley
Planet Enterprises
Gig Harbor, Wash.

It is now believed that subglacial liquid water exists on Mars, at a depth of 1.5 km in the South Polar Layered Deposits (SPLD). This evidence was published by Orosei et al. in 2018, and immediately sent reverberations through the aerospace community.

Chris McKay, Senior Scientist for the NASA Ames Research Center was heard on the Planetary Radio podcast saying: “If we’re going to do astrobiology, we need to not just see it, we need to get a piece of it, we need to get a sample of it. So I think this becomes a very strong argument for deep drilling” (Kaplan, 2018).

• The plasma crystal experiments are one of the first and most successful research projects on the ISS.
• The first long-term tests under weightlessness started on March 3, 2001: They provide insights into physical processes at the atomic level.
• ISS astronauts are always part of the plasma research team, including Thomas Reiter during his Astrolab mission.
• From 22-29. The next experiments on board the ISS will run on March 2021.

COLOGNE, Germany (DLR) — For 20 years they have been a reliable source of new insights into physics: the plasma crystal experiments on board the International Space Station ISS. Basic knowledge for the textbooks of the future is the main goal of this research. Various applications can be derived from the knowledge gained, in particular in the fields of medicine, environmental protection, space travel as well as semiconductor and microchip technologies. 

By means of technology transfers, plasma research also opens up new fields of application, based for example on the development of miniaturized laboratory systems suitable for space travel. The first ISS crew already had plasma research on their agenda and on March 3, 2001 the starting shot was given for the first long-term tests under weightlessness. The current crew will now carry out the latest series of experiments at the end of March.

PASADENA, Calif. (NASA PR) — NASA’s Mars 2020 Perseverance rover performed its first drive on Mars March 4, covering 21.3 feet (6.5 meters) across the Martian landscape. The drive served as a mobility test that marks just one of many milestones as team members check out and calibrate every system, subsystem, and instrument on Perseverance. Once the rover begins pursuing its science goals, regular commutes extending 656 feet (200 meters) or more are expected.

• government on course to legislate for UK spaceflight by the end of this year
• first-ever launch into space from British soil could have lift-off in the early 2020s
• UK spaceflight plans would create high-skilled jobs in an industry worth £14.8 billion, as we build back better from the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

LONDON, March 5, 2021 (UK Department for Transport PR) — A giant leap in British spaceflight history is being made today (5 March 2021) as the government publishes its commercial spaceflight consultation response, paving the way for space launches from UK soil.

WASHINGTON, March 4, 2021 (Bill Posey/Charlie Crist PR) – U.S. Representatives Bill Posey (R-Florida) and Charlie Crist (D-Florida) reintroduced their bipartisan legislation to create American jobs, advance technology and keep America first in space. The American Space Commerce Act (H.R. 1369) supports American leadership in space by providing an incentive for American space firms to keep investing in America and launching from American soil.

The 2019 Report to Congress of the U.S. – China Economic and Security Review Commission states that “China is taking steps to establish a commanding position in the commercial launch and satellite sectors relying in part on aggressive state-backed financing that foreign market driven companies cannot match.” The report further adds, “China has already succeeded in undercutting some U.S. and other foreign launch and satellite providers in the international market, threatening to hollow out these countries’ space industrial bases.”

A month ago, it cost $3,000 per kilogram to send a payload to the International Space Station (ISS). Today, it will cost you $20,000 per kilogram for exactly the same payload.

NASA jacked up the price by 666 percent on Feb. 25, apparently without any prior notice to its user community. The change was quietly announced on the space agency’s website.

SpaceNews reports the decision has caused some consternation over at Nanoracks and other companies that regularly send payloads to the orbiting laboratory.

• Move follows Palihapitiya’s sale of shares worth nearly $98 million in December
• Virgin Galactic shares continued weeks-long decline after news broke
• Palihapitiya indirectly owns a large stake through Social Capital Hedosophia

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Virgin Galactic Chairman Chamath Palihapitiya has sold 6.2 million personal shares in the suborbital space tourism company worth about $213 million. The sale zeros out his personal stake in Virgin Galactic.

The move follows Palihapitiya’s sale of 3.8 million shares worth $97.8 million in December. The nearly $311 million gain is more than triple the $100 million he personally invested in Virgin Galactic when it went public 16 months ago.

PARIS (ESA PR) — For the first time, scientists, using satellite data from the Copernicus Sentinel missions, are now able to detect individual methane plumes leaking from natural gas pipelines around the globe.