[MUSIC] Time is money, and we spend a lot of time on this program talking about overruns on space missions. Can we just admit that it's almost always given that things cost more and take longer than what companies estimate? Then when a program overruns into years of delays and more than $1 billion in overspends, we can truly say that there are serious problems here. I think I might need to lighten the mood, Maria. Are you ready for this one? Braising myself. How did? How did the space teddy bear cross the road? The space teddy bear? What road? I gotta get you hung up for the details, what road? He walked. He walked! What? He walked. He walked? Oh, oh my god! Oh my God! (laughing) It's a total misdirect! You got me! You got me. (laughing) T-minus. 20 seconds to L-O-I, T-minus. Open aboard. Today is August 2nd, 2024. I'm Maria Varmazes. I'm Alice Karoof, and this is T-minus. (upbeat music) USGAO reviews NASA's Gateway program, Boeing encouraged another $125 million in losses on Starliner. Sierra Space is prepping the Dream Chaser for launch. And today we're launching a new segment on T-minus Space. Every Friday we're going to be sharing the space traffic update from our partners at nasaspaceflight.com. It's a new collaboration that we're really excited about. NSF will be sharing a roundup of the weekly launch news and taking a look ahead at what we can expect in the next seven days. Big things are on the horizon, so stick around for the second part of the show. (upbeat music) Happy Friday, everybody. Let's get into today's intel briefing, shall we? And a new report has been released by the US Government Accountability Office covering NASA's Gateway program. For those who are wondering, what is that exactly? You'd be forgiven for forgetting that the US Space Agency is planning on a full lunar support system to include the Habitation and Logistics Outpost Space Station, which is also known as HALO, which was originally due to launch in 2022. Obviously that didn't happen, and it has been a while since we've gotten an update. NASA now says that they do not expect the launch of the initial elements of the Gateway program, and that's HALO and the power and propulsion element known as PPE, both of which are needed to launch 12 months ahead of Artemis IV, until at least December, 2027. And the baseline cost estimate is $5.3 billion. The report found, yeah, the report found that the Gateway program's projects HALO and PPE have made progress in the last year. However, it does state that Gateway faces some significant challenges. For example, the mass of the pieces is too high. So if it isn't reduced, they may not be able to reach the correct lunar orbit once launched. That is not a minor issue. And so GAO is making one recommendation that NASA should ensure that the Gateway program documents and communicates an overall mass management plan before its next program level review. NASA for its part has agreed with the GAO's recommendation. - And speaking of overruns, well, Boeing is once again in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. The aerospace giant has tallied up its total cost at the latest round of testing, and it's not painting a pretty picture. The program has already incurred over $1 billion in losses due to overruns and the latest problems with the propulsion system that of course has delayed return of the capsule from the ISS. And they've cost an additional $125 million. And the rumor mill is in overdrive after a well-known space journalist pushed for NASA to comment on whether the Starliner would bring back Sony, Williams and Butch Wilmore to Earth. NASA responded that it's evaluating all options for returning the Starliner crew, prompting some to conclude that they will be returned on a SpaceX Dragon capsule, and not on the Boeing design. Well, we are expecting an update on the Starliner crewed mission next week. - The US government is seeking proposals for a presentation layer, which is the user interface for the traffic coordination system for space also known as TRAX. NOAA's office of space commerce is soliciting commercial capabilities for a web-based graphical user interface and a data products service that generate formatted human readable data products. The government also requires that the contractor build the TRAX website to present the graphical user interfaces and data products. So more details can be found in the RFP by following the link in our show notes. - Sierra Space says it's in the final testing and launch preparations phase for its dream chaser, Spaceplane and Starshoot, a cargo module. The company commenced testing at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the inaugural mission to resupply to the International Space Station. If there's any room up there. Sierra Space has also signed an agreement with All Points Logistics for repurposing the reusable Spaceplane on site in Florida on future missions. Sierra Space and NASA teams have spent the last several weeks preparing for the work ahead, which includes final environmental testing, close out checks on propulsion and electrical systems, the application of remaining thermal protection tiles and pre-launch processing for the dream chaser's rocket ride to space. - The European Space Agency has unveiled a new subscription based space mobility service called Omega. The Omega service would allow customers to buy and integrate ready to use smart propulsion systems that can be added to their satellite backed by a full turnkey or ready to use service. Customers would be able to call on the Omega service throughout a satellite's lifetime from launch deployment and collision avoidance to end of life deorbiting. The initiative is part of ESA's Boost exclamation point program, which provides a 390,000 euros co-funding from ESA in partnership with Don Aerospace from the Netherlands and New Zealand, URX Space from Spain and Spherical Systems from the Netherlands. - The UK Space Agency has developed a new tool to help with collision avoidance in space. The National Space Operations Center has integrated a new monitor space hazards platform, which includes a feature called maneuver trade space plots. UKSA says the new feature will help UK satellite operators visualize collision risks and plan avoidance maneuvers. - Over to Germany now and Polaris space planes have signed an agreement with the German Aerospace Center, DLR, to conduct joint research and development activities. The plan is to pave the way for regular flights of horizontal takeoff space planes and transport hypersonic aircraft in national, European and intercontinental airspace. As part of the cooperation, the DLR Institute of Flight Guidance will investigate the possible uses of its launch coordination center to safely integrate Polaris aircraft into the airspace. - Dan Droblonski has been appointed as Chief Executive Officer, effective on August the 5th at Rocket Propulsion Company, ESA Major. Droblonski will succeed ESA Major founder, Joe Laurianti, who has led the company for the past nine years. ESA Major's co-founders and leaders remain in their current positions and are working to ensure a seamless transition. - And that concludes our Friday briefing, but stick around for the new space traffic update from NSF. If you're looking for more information on any of the stories that we've mentioned, then head on over to the selected reading section of our show notes. There, you will also find a few extra stories. One's on the Crew 10 assignments, a financial update from MOOG, and information on the Humans in Space Road Show held by Boryeong this week. - Hey, Team Miners Crew, tune in tomorrow for Team Miners Deep Space, our show for extended interviews, special editions and deep dives with some of the most influential professionals in the space industry. Tomorrow, we have a turning Michael listener explaining to us his thoughts on what the end of the Chevron difference means to the US space industry. It's a fascinating listen. Check it out while you're flying home from the Ascend conference in Las Vegas or leaving the ISS RDC conference in Boston or heading to Utah for small sat. There's so much going on right now, but you don't want to miss it. - We're so excited to bring you our new segment, the Space Traffic Report from our partners at nasaspaceflight.com. Elysia Siegel will be bringing us a roundup of the weekly launch news from the week that has been and will be taking a look ahead at the week to come. - I'm Elysia Siegel for NSF and this is your weekly Space Traffic Report for Team Miners Space. This week, we finally had the return to flight of Falcon 9 after it suffered a launch failure during the Starlink Group 9-3 mission earlier in July. This return to flight took place on July 27th at 545 UTC from Launch Complex 39A in Florida. The mission carried none other than 23 more Starlink satellites into low Earth orbit. This launch took place just 15 days, three hours and 10 minutes after the previous mission, making it one of the fastest returns to flight in history and certainly the fastest of the last few decades. It was also faster than Falcon 9's two previous returns to flight, which lasted 176 days for Sierra 7 and 153 days for Amos 6. Thankfully, no issues happened during the mission and Falcon 9's streak of successful flights has begun once again. The first stage for this mission, B-1069, was flying for a 17th time and it successfully landed on SpaceX's drone ship, just read the instructions. This was also the first time SpaceX used a new vessel named Go Cosmos in order to recover the faring halves for the mission. SpaceX's vice president of launch said on social media that Go Cosmos is currently replacing Doug, one of SpaceX's multi-purpose recovery vessels in Florida, while it undergoes maintenance. Once Doug gets back into action, Bob will head out for maintenance as well and Go Cosmos will take over its duties in the meantime. As is typical for SpaceX, the company wasted no time and launched again almost 24 hours after that return to flight. That lift off took place on July 28th at 509 UTC from neighboring Space Launch Complex 40 in Florida. The mission was also carrying another 23 Starlink V2 mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The booster supporting this mission, B-1077, was flying for a 14th time and it successfully landed on a shortfall of Gravitas. But wait, there's more. Just a few hours later that day at 922 UTC, SpaceX launched yet another Falcon 9, this time from Vandenberg. The mission was carrying, yep, you guessed it, more Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit. This one, however, also had 13 Starlink direct to cell satellites on board. This means that SpaceX not only returned Falcon 9 to flight, but also performed three missions in less than 28 hours. While not a record for SpaceX, the record for three consecutive missions is actually closer to 20 hours, it definitely is quite a flex to not just come back, but to come back with this sort of cadence. And as usual for Falcon 9, the booster for this mission, B-1071, successfully completed its 17th launch and landing, touching down on, of course, I still love you, a little over eight minutes after liftoff. Wrapping up the month of July, we had another launch, but this time by ULA with the venerable Mighty Atlas V rocket. Liftoff from the company's launch pad at Space Launch Complex 41 took place on July 30th at 1045 UTC, just a few minutes after sunrise. The mission, called USSF-51, was a classified mission for the US Space Force, carrying an undisclosed number of payloads into a geosynchronous orbit. Post-launch tracking data shows at least three objects that have been identified from this launch, but, well, let's say it wouldn't be the first time we eventually discover more objects being deployed in orbit. Atlas V was flying in the 551 configuration, which means it carried a five meter diameter fairing, five solid rocket motors on the first stage, and a single RL-10 engine on the Centaur upper stage. The five meter fairing was also the short version, so whatever was being flown on this mission probably wasn't a very bulky object like one of the big military satellites. This was ULA's 100th national security mission and the 58th and final national security mission flown by Atlas V. Going forward, all national security missions performed by ULA will be flown on the Vulcan Centaur rocket. In fact, the USSF-51 mission was supposed to fly on Vulcan, but was moved to the Atlas V because Vulcan was behind schedule. This, however, is not the final flight of Atlas V. The rocket still has another 15 missions on its schedule, eight of them in support of Amazon's Kuiper constellation, six of them for Starliner's operational missions to the ISS, and the other remaining mission for the launch of Viasat's second Viasat 3 satellite. That Atlas V launch concludes all the launches that have happened in July, which ends at only 13. This is, of course, due to Falcon 9's grounding, which only allowed SpaceX to fly six times in July, compared to the usual 10 to 14 times. Despite this, the US still leads the worldwide rank with 86 launches. China was also not very active this month, with just three launches in July, but we did get to see the debut flight of Arian 6. And moving into the month of August, we had the launch of a Chongzhang 3BE from China. Lift-off took place on August 1st at 1314 UTC from Launch Complex 2 at the Shichang Satellite Launch Center. The rocket was carrying China's second WHG satellite into a geosynchronous orbit. This satellite, called Weixing Hulianwang Gaogui, which roughly translates into satellite internet, high orbit satellite, is suspected to be an experimental, high throughput communications satellite to be located in an inclined orbit at geosynchronous altitude. And of course, with Falcon 9 back in action, there was yet another Starlink launch to wrap up the week. The mission, Starlink Group 10-6, lifted off just this morning from Launch Complex 39A, carrying another 23 Starlink V-2Mini satellites into low Earth orbit. The mission comes just about six days after the previous launch from LC-39A, breaking that pad's turnaround record by about a day. The first day, to be 1078, was flying for a twelfth time on this mission, and it successfully landed on SpaceX's drone ship a shortfall of Gravitas. Going into next week, we should be hours away from Electron's next launch from New Zealand. This mission was delayed from last week due to bad weather, but has now been rescheduled for August 2nd. The opening of the two-hour window is set to take place at 1615 UTC. SpaceX and Northrop Grumman are teaming up again this weekend to carry another Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station. Falcon 9 is set to lift off on August 3rd at 1528 UTC from Space Launch Complex 40 with the SS Francis Dick Scobey Cygnus spacecraft. The weather forecast currently shows only a 50% chance of favorable conditions due to an oncoming tropical storm in Florida, so don't be surprised if this mission ends up delaying a few days. But if the mission does indeed lift off this weekend, Cygnus is set to be captured by the ISS robotic arm on August 5th at 755 UTC. Just a day after Cygnus, another Falcon 9 is set to launch from Vandenberg, and this one will be the first mission of another Starlink Group. The mission, called Starlink Group 11-1, is set to take place within a four-hour launch window that opens on August 4th at 7 o'clock UTC. And nope, we have no idea what's new for Group 11, but it'll give us a lot to talk about, that's for sure. From the other side of the world, a Changjiang 6A is set to launch from Taiwan, carrying a yet unknown payload. Lift off for this mission is expected to take place at around 7 o'clock UTC. And to end the week, we'll have another Falcon 9 from Florida carrying another batch of Starlink satellites. This one is kind of dependent on whether the Cygnus mission flies on time or not. If it does, lift off would take place within a four-hour window, opening on August 8th at 1236 UTC. I'm Alicia Siegel for NSF, and that's your weekly space traffic report. Now back to T-Minus Space. Thanks, Alicia and NSF, for that Space Traffic Report. We will be right back. (upbeat music) Welcome back. We've talked a lot about Space Debris this week. New research, new ideas, new rendezvous and proximity missions. Thank you, Address J. So it should come as no surprise that Astroscale, the team behind the Address J mission, have come up with a new way to raise awareness about the problem of space debris. They've gamified it. You think it's easy to snag this stuff? Okay, then show us what you got. Astroscale have released a game called Space Protector. It's free on their website, and we have included a link to it in our show notes. There's your weekend plan sorted. No need to track down a PS5, this is an in-browser game. The object of the game is to find a client's spacecraft, rendezvous with it and capture it all in five minutes, while managing fuel levels, of course. This all sounds quite familiar, kind of like real life, huh? The game comes in three different levels, not that easy mode as well, easy mode. Alice may or may not have wasted some time earlier today testing this out. Yeah, I failed it. It's really not that easy. Gaming is definitely not my strong point. Astroscale does say that it's recommended for players aged 10 and older to do its level of difficulty. Well, I'm definitely over that. Well, I hope everybody knows some very skilled 10-year-olds. And the game is based on a real mission developed by Astroscale UK. The mission Cosmic, which stands for Cleaning Outer Space Mission through Innovative Capture, is a UK national active debris removal mission. Its mission is to, as the name suggests, remove two inactive British satellites currently orbiting Earth. And of course, the game links to details on the mission itself. It's a very clever way of raising awareness about the problem with Space Drunk and to steal a catchphrase from another gaming franchise, Space DeRee, gotta catch 'em all. I wonder which one that was. (laughing) I kicked the tires on this thing too, and yeah, orbital mechanics absolutely kicked my butt. So let us know if you try it out and manage to do better than either of us. Yeah, I'm sure it's not that difficult. (laughing) (upbeat music) That's it for Team Minus. For August the 2nd, 2024, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. We'd love to know what you think of our podcast, your feedback ensures that we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, and we really, really, really hope you do, please share a rating review in your podcast app. Please also fill out the survey in the show notes, or send us an email to space@n2k.com. We are privileged that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment, your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how at n2k.com. This episode was produced by Alice Carruth. Our associate producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester, with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Our executive editor is Brandon Karp. Simone Petrella is our president. Peter Kilpey is our publisher. And I am your host, Maria Varmazes. Thank you for listening, everyone. Have a wonderful weekend. (upbeat music) - T-minus. (upbeat music) (water splashing) [BLANK_AUDIO]
