Will Suborbital Space Tourism Take a Suborbital Trajectory?
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BUSINESS | POLITICS | PERSPECTIVE AUGUSTT 20211 WILL SUBORBITAL TAKE A SPACE SUBORBITAL TOURISM TRAJECTORY? INSIDE n Small launch vehicles grow up n Propulsion underpins sustainability n A schedule better suited for Artemis VISIT SPACENEWS.COM FOR THE LATEST IN SPACE NEWS N A S A ’ S S P A C E L A U N C H S Y S T E M FOR THE PIONEER IN ALL OF US Meet the rocket that will bring humanity’s pioneering spirit back to the Moon, on to Mars and beyond: NASA’s Space Launch System. America’s launch vehicle for human exploration of deep space, built for long-term crewed missions beyond Earth’s orbit. boeing.com/sls CONTENTS AUGUST 2021 DEPARTMENTS 3 QUICK TAKES 25 COMMENTARY Michael Lencion Unlocking new economic frontiers in space 25 COMMENTARY Leo Mondale Space tourism’s environmental price tag 29 CONNECTING THE DOTS Achieving sustainable space 08 14 16 30 ON NATIONAL Is suborbital The proof Powering SECURITY space tourism is in the thrust sustainability In the new space era, on a suborbital More than a dozen satellite Efficient, affordable a changing role for the trajectory? propulsion firms say they thrusters are crucial for U.S. government The era of commercial have successfully fired new ensuring sustainable space 32 FOUST FORWARD suborbital human spaceflight thrusters in the last few years, operations. Propulsion A schedule better may finally be here, signaling a coming of age for advances promise to make suited for Artemis but whether it lasts isn’t a market promising to propel it easier to manage and certain. Neither is its smallsats to new heights. safely deorbit sprawling importance. constellations. UPCOMING ISSUES 18 21 Starting with our Small launch National security September issue, vehicles grow up launch in transition SpaceNews will be published the first week Relativity Space and The Space Force is starting to of the month. Rocket Lab have plans for look ahead to its NSSL 3 launch rockets that can serve competition even as it faces a medium-class payloads longer wait for ULA's Vulcan for commercial Centaur to begin launching and government NSSL 2 missions. customers. COVER: Jeff Bezos celebrates his July 20 suborbital spaceflight aboard Blue Origin's New Shepard spacecraft. Credit: Blue Origin ABOVE: Technicians attempt to repair valves in the propulsion system on Boeing's CST-100 Starliner that have forced an extended delay in the launch of the spacecraft on an uncrewed test flight. Credit: Boeing @SpaceNews_Inc @spacenewsinc Fb.com/SpaceNewslnc youtube.com/user/SpaceNewsInc linkedin.com/company/spacenews SPACENEWS.COM | 1 VOLUME 32 | ISSUE 8 | $4.95 !$7.50 NON"U.S.# CHAIRMAN EDITORIAL CORRESPONDENTS ADVERTISING SUBSCRIBER SERVICES Felix H. Magowan EDITOR!IN!CHIEF SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT DIRECTOR TOLL FREE IN U.S. [email protected] Brian Berger Debra Werner Paige McCullough Tel: +1-866-429-2199 Tel: +1-303-579-2892 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] Fax: +1-845-267-3478 +1-571-356-9624 Tel: +1-571-278-4090 CEO HELSINKI OUTSIDE U.S. BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGERS Greg Thomas SENIOR STAFF WRITERS Andrew Jones Tel: +1-845-267-3023 Kamal Flucker [email protected] Je! Foust [email protected] Fax: +1-845-267-3478 Tel: +1-571-356-9957 [email protected] kfl[email protected] Tel: +1-571-385-1483 MOSCOW Tel: +1-571-402-5706 [email protected] ACCOUNTING SPECIALIST Matthew Bodner OUTSIDE NORTH AMERICA SALES Pam Washburn Sandra Erwin [email protected] Go to spacenewsmediakit.com Tony Kingham [email protected] [email protected] for more information [email protected] Tel: +1-502-553-0728 Tel: +1-571-356-9022 WARSAW Jarosław Adamowski Tel: +44 (0) 20 8144 5934 Jason Rainbow [email protected] [email protected] CONTACT US Tel: +1-571-356-9531 8609 Westwood Center Drive Suite 110 PMB 1024 ART DIRECTION Tysons Corner, VA 22182 Robin McDowall Tel: +1-571-421-2300 mcdowalldesign.com SPACENEWS (ISSN 2328-9376) is published monthly by SpaceNews Inc., 8609 Westwood Center Drive Suite 110 PMB 1024 Tysons Corner VA 22182, USA. SpaceNews is not a publication of NASA. ANNUAL SUBSCRIPTION RATES: $219 U.S. Domestic mail; $239 Canada; $289 International mail. Periodicals postage paid at Alexandria, Va., and at other mailing offices. Postmaster: Send all UAA to CFS. (See DMM 707.4.12.5); NON! POSTAL AND MILITARY FACILITIES: send address corrections to SpaceNews, PO Box 460654, Escondido, CA 92046. SpaceNews is registered with the British Postal System and Canada Post International Publications Mail (Canada Distribution) Sales Agreement No. 546046. To order SpaceNews, to change an address or for subscription information, call our toll free number (in the U.S.) 866-429-2199, or write to SpaceNews, Customer Service, PO Box 460654, Escondido, CA 92046 or email [email protected]. For changes of address, attach an address label from a recent issue. TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Main: 571-421-2300; Circulation: 866-429-2199, fax 845-267-3478; Advertising: 571-278-4090. PHOTOCOPY PERMISSION: For permission to reuse material from SpaceNews Inc., ISSN 1046-6940, please access www.copyright.com or contact the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc. (CCC), 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, 978-750-8400. CCC is a not-for-profit organization that provides licenses and registration for a variety of uses. For bulk reprint requests of more than 500, send to SpaceNews Attn: Reprint Department. 2 | SPACENEWS AUGUST 2021 QUICK TAKES SIGNIFICANT DIGITS $45M The size of the insurance claim Measat is expected to file for its drifting Measat-3 satellite. The Malaysian operator said it was unable to rescue the aging GEO satellite despite maintaining continuous telemetry and command control since an anomaly first appeared in June. $46M While NASA showed off a prototype of its Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU) lunar spacesuit in 2019, the suits won’t be ready for use on a lunar landing mission until 2025, according to a new report. The amount Japanese lunar lander company ispace raised the Series C round from several Japanese investors, led by ven- MOON SUITS WON’T BE READY IN TIME FOR 2024 LANDING ture capital firm Incubate Fund. The latest obstacle to NASA’s plans to return humans to the moon in 2024 is the spacesuit the The company will use the funding astronauts would wear. NASA’s inspector general concluded in a report released Aug. 10 that the new for its second and third robotic spacesuit NASA is developing for lunar missions, called the xEMU, won’t be ready until at least April 2025. lunar lander missions, scheduled The report blamed funding shortfalls, technical problems and the pandemic for delays that wiped out for launch in 2023 and 2024. The the program’s 12-month schedule reserve. NASA has spent $420 million on spacesuit development company’s first lander, already fully funded, is currently being as- dating back to the Constellation program, and foresees spending $625 million more to complete the sembled in Germany for launch in xEMU. A change in acquisition strategy where NASA will procure spacesuit services, rather than the suits the second half of next year. themselves, could result in suits that don’t make use of NASA’s xEMU investment. $46M CONSTELLATION INFATUATION The Canadian government will invest more than $1 billion into Telesat’s Lightspeed low Earth orbit Coincidentally, also the (LEO) constellation. Telesat said Aug. 12 the Canadian government will provide $1.15 billion for the amount raised by a Chinese company that plans to develop 300-satellite system in exchange for Telesat investing in Canadian infrastructure to build out Lightspeed, hypersonic spaceplanes. Beijing including hundreds of jobs and scholarships. Telesat has now secured commitments for about two-thirds Lingkong Tianxing Technology of the $5 billion cost of the system, with the rest of the funding to primarily come from debt financing from Co., Ltd., also known as Space export-credit agencies. Transportation, said the funds South Korean company Hanwha is investing $300 million in LEO broadband provider OneWeb. will be used for development of commercial suborbital and Hanwha, which plans to build and deploy its own megaconstellation by 2030, is taking an 8.8% stake in hypersonic vehicles. It aims for a OneWeb in a transaction expected to close in the first half of 2022. Hanwha has built its space portfolio by first flight of a suborbital space investing in South Korean satellite manufacturer Satrec Initiative and acquiring British antenna developer tourism vehicle prototype in 2023 Phasor Solutions. OneWeb, which has said its first generation satellite system is fully funded, hasn’t said how followed by a first crewed test in it would use the new investment. 2025, with a “global” hypersonic vehicle to follow by 2030. The Inmarsat, meanwhile, plans to add at least 150 LEO satellites to its global fleet, stepping up competition company performed a flight of against OneWeb, Telesat and others developing megaconstellations for enterprise markets. The British a 3.7-metric ton demonstrator satellite operator is investing $100 million over the next five years to lay the groundwork for deploying named Jiageng-1 in 2019. 150-175 LEO spacecraft, which will join the satellites in its GEO and HEO fleet from 2026 in a constellation it NASA/JOEL KOWSKY calls Orchestra. SPACENEWS.COM | 3 QUICK TAKES ROCKET ROUNDUP An Ariane 5 launched on its first mission in nearly a year July 30, successfully placing the Star One D2 and Eutelsat Quantum commincations satellites into geostationary transfer orbits. The launch was the first for the Ariane 5 since August 2020 because of problems with the payload fairing separation system seen on that earlier launch as well as one in February 2020.