NASA and the Private Sector - Page 127

TRUTH OR CONSEQUENCES — The concept of space tourism was all the rage when Spaceport America was pitched to New Mexico taxpayers a decade ago as a gateway for rich adventurers willing to pay $250,000 for a ride to the heavens. But as the state has waited year after year for the first of what were supposed to be regular flights into space from the nearly $220 million facility, people behind the program are reimagining it more as a hub for the commercial spaceflight industry rather than space tourism.

That change in approach could require pouring millions more in public money into a place that plenty of critics have called one of state government’s biggest boondoggles. Dan Hicks, new executive director of the spaceport, says the spaceport must construct additional facilities and offer more services to draw more business.

“The world is going to space,” he says, arguing New Mexico should try to keep up with a new industry that is changing rapidly.

The sting of the spaceport’s dawdling start is especially strong in this struggling community. Sierra County, which includes Truth or Consequences, approved a special tax to 10 years ago to help pay for the spaceport in the so-far unfulfilled hopes of reaping the benefits of expanded tourism from the rich and famous.

“When the spaceport first opened, tourism was the focus,” says Tanya Harrison, a research scientist with the Space Technology and Science Initiative at Arizona State University. “The whole commercial space sector has really changed.”

NASA’s shuttle program is over, the federal government is encouraging private companies to take on a bigger role in the future of space exploration, and wealthy investors are financing a space race of their very own, though flying passengers on high-priced adventures has become less of a priority.

Other spaceports have popped up to serve private companies that are taking to the skies for research and for government contracts such as servicing the International Space Station.

With the first purpose-built spaceport, New Mexico might seem well-positioned to capitalize on the corporate race to space. But, Hicks says, the state could be bypassed amid growing competition.

Sitting in a sparse office not far from a 12,000-foot runway in the Southern New Mexico desert where the company Virgin Galactic has planned for years to launch its spaceflights, Hicks is a sharp contrast to many of the space industry’s more high-profile characters. If Virgin Galactic’s founder and spaceport’s most recognizable booster, British entrepreneur Richard Branson, is a self-styled rebel billionaire, Hicks comes off like a high school football coach. Recently retired from White Sands Missile Range, just over the mountains from the spaceport, Hicks took over at what could prove a pivotal time.

“What I’m concerned about is 10 years have gone by and these other states are starting to catch up,” Hicks said, eyeing a map of the country depicting new spaceports or rocket launch facilities in the works.

He says New Mexico has advantages in what are still the early years of commercial spaceflight.

The 18,000-acre property sits underneath restricted airspace and, with White Sands Missile Range next door, Spaceport America has plenty of room to operate without other air traffic overhead.

The site’s relatively high altitude means rockets can carry a bigger payload, and the desert air won’t cause rockets to corrode as they might in more humid climates.

Spaceport America has seen nearly 40 launches since opening in late 2011. UP Aerospace, for example, has fired off suborbital sounding rockets for NASA, the Department of Defense and university research.

But much of the activity has had little to do with commercial spaceflight. The spaceport has hosted a summit on drone technology, and it served as the backdrop for photo shoots, including a wedding. More than 1,000 students from around the world will descend this week on the property for a rocketry competition.

But the end of the space shuttle era has freed up room for private companies at facilities like Kennedy Space Center. In addition, other states are offering incentives to attract the industry.

To compete, Hicks says, New Mexico will need to invest more money in Spaceport America.

In the next five years, he hopes to at least begin the process of designing and building another runway, connect the spaceport to a nearby freight rail line, construct a payload processing facility and improve the vertical launch sites — the pads where rockets are fired into space.

The financing could come from public works accounts funded by taxpayers, from private businesses or a combination of sources.

Additional facilities could be particularly enticing for smaller companies, says Harrison, the professor at Arizona State University. But there are only a few big players, she adds, and those firms are either gravitating to other spaceports or building their own.

Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, has set up a launch site in West Texas. World View, the near-space exploration company, built its corporate headquarters around a new spaceport in Tucson, Ariz. SpaceX, founded by entrepreneur Elon Musk, has been a big-name tenant at Spaceport America but has done much of its recent work in California and Florida while building a launch site of its own in southern Texas.

Even Virgin Galactic has done much of its testing in Mojave, Calif., where a former Marine base in the desert has become an airport and spaceport with a railroad link and recently upgraded manufacturing facilities. It’s just a couple hours’ drive from downtown Los Angeles.

Hicks is lobbying state lawmakers to view further development at the spaceport as an investment in an engine for the Southern New Mexico economy.

WASHINGTON — Russian company Glavkosmos is seeking to become a major player in the small satellite launch market, with plans to launch up to 120 satellites as secondary payloads on three Soyuz missions this year.

Glavkosmos, a subsidiary of Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, said June 14 that it will launch 72 small satellites as secondary payloads on the Soyuz-2.1a launch of the Kanopus-V-IK remote sensing satellite, scheduled for July 14 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.

Vsevolod Kryukovskiy, launch program director at Glavkosmos, said in a June 19 interview that the smallsat customers for that launch come from the United States, Germany, Japan, Canada, Norway and Russia. He declined to identify specific customers, although he said they include both companies and universities. The spacecraft range in size from single-unit cubesats up to a 120-kilogram microsatellite.

“We’ll do the most technically challenging cluster mission ever,” he said. The satellites will be deployed into three separate orbits, after which the rocket’s upper stage will perform a deorbit maneuver.

Kryukovskiy said Glavkosmos is also arranging the launch of secondary payloads on two Soyuz launches planned for December from the new Vostochny Cosmodrome in Russia’s Far East region. “We’ll have about 40 microsats that we’ll launch from Vostochny, and that will be the first international launch from this new Russian cosmodrome,” he said.

While many launch providers use brokers to arrange secondary payloads, Glavkosmos is working directly with most of its smallsat customers, Kryukovskiy said. “With most of our customers we have a direct contract, and we’re trying to avoid any brokers on the market,” he said. “According to our experience, it’s much easier to work directly.”

He noted, though, that Glavkosmos is working with Spaceflight, a Seattle-based company that brokers secondary payload opportunities, on a one-time basis for its upcoming launch. Glavkosmos is also working with a German company, ECM Space Technologies, to handle cubesat integration.

Glavkosmos plans additional smallsat launch opportunities beyond this year. In 2018, he said Glavkosmos expects to have rideshare opportunities on three Soyuz launches, two to sun-synchronous orbits and one to a highly elliptical orbit. He added he expects to have a similar number of launch opportunities in future years.

“We currently plan to do a smallsat cluster to sun-synchronous orbit every year,” he said. “This is a big market for the Soyuz, and we think this market is growing for us.”

Kryukovskiy said Glavkosmos considers its biggest competition India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV), which has launched a number of smallsats in the last few years. A PSLV launch in February placed a record 104 satellites in orbit, all but three of which were cubesats.

“We’re trying to beat PSLV. That’s our main target for the next couple of years,” he said. Glavkosmos believes it can offer more launch opportunities and a more reliable vehicle, although the PSLV has had more than 35 consecutive successful launches. Glavkosmos also offers a backup policy whereby if the launch a satellite is manifested on is delayed, that satellite can be shifted to another launch.

“Our price is more reasonable,” he added, but did not disclose the prices it charges for smallsat launches.

Kryukovskiy said Glavkosmos is also taking note of ongoing efforts to develop small launch vehicles designed to provide dedicated launches of smallsats. That has included discussions with Rocket Lab, the U.S.-New Zealand company developing the Electron small launch vehicle, details of which he said he could not discuss.

“We believe that, for sure, we are competitors in this market,” he said of small launchers. “But we believe that we could find a solution to work together.”

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA—Blue Origin announced plans to manufacture its BE-4 engine in a state-of-the art production facility to be built in Huntsville, Alabama -- the Rocket City.

The new facility will be in Cummings Research Park, the nation’s second-largest research park, and construction can begin once an engine production contract with United Launch Alliance is awarded. The BE-4 is America’s next rocket engine and will power United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket, once down-selected. The production of this engine would end the nation’s dependence on Russia for access to space for critical national security space systems.

Two BE-4s would be used on the Vulcan booster rocket. The BE-4 will also power Blue Origin’s New Glenn reusable launch system with seven BE-4s on the reusable first stage and a vacuum-optimized BE-4U on New Glenn’s second stage. Blue Origin awaits the final public approval processes of the local package by the City and County governments during their respective July meetings.

Using the latest design and manufacturing techniques, the BE-4 is made for both commercial and government missions. The BE-4 uses oxygen-rich staged combustion of liquid oxygen and liquefied natural gas to produce 550,000 lb. of thrust. Development of the BE-4 began in 2011. Testing of the BE-4 is currently underway.

“Alabama is a great state for aerospace manufacturing and we are proud to produce America’s next rocket engine right here in Rocket City,” said Robert Meyerson, President of Blue Origin. “The area’s skilled workforce and leading role in rocket propulsion development make Huntsville the ideal location for our state-of-the-art manufacturing facility.”

Blue Origin will employ up to 342 people in this new facility. The company will make approximately $200 million in capital investment in the state.

"This announcement today is excellent news for our state. I am pleased to see Blue Origin investing in Alabama, and I look forward to working with them and other businesses to continue boosting economic development opportunities,” commended U.S. Senator Richard Shelby.

The announcement took place at the historic Davidson Center for Space Exploration under the Saturn V rocket, a nod to the community’s aerospace heritage. Blue Origin builds on that aerospace heritage and positions the Huntsville/Madison County community in the commercial space industry.

Alabama Governor Kay Ivey said of the announcement, “We are excited to welcome Blue Origin to Alabama. I must commend founder Jeff Bezos and company President Robert Meyerson for their vision to create this innovative company, and for choosing to make Alabama its home sweet home! Because of this investment, more Alabamians can provide a better living for their families, and it helps cement Alabama as the preferred destination for the aerospace industry.”

Many economic development partners contributed to the effort to successfully recruit Blue Origin to the state. These partners include the Governor’s office, the Alabama Department of Commerce, the Tennessee Valley Authority, the City of Huntsville, Madison County, and the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber.

“Blue Origin’s decision to locate its BE-4 engine manufacturing center in Huntsville reflects the deep and longstanding capabilities in the city that became the cradle of the nation’s rocket program,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “Huntsville is a hub of innovation in every facet of aerospace, making it the perfect home for this Blue Origin facility.”​

Blue Origin chose Huntsville, Alabama for this project because of the high-tech aerospace manufacturing workforce and ecosystem, including NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, nearly 300 private aerospace and defense contractors, and the University of Alabama in Huntsville, number 14th in NASA research funding in the nation.

“Huntsville is proud to be the nation’s propulsion center of excellence, and we couldn’t ask for a better partner than Blue Origin to join our team. When you look at NASA’s visionary work at the Marshall Space Flight Center, the talent and capacity of Huntsville’s space industry partners, and our expertise in research and development, engineering, and manufacturing, Blue Origin is joining a truly remarkable environment,” said Huntsville Mayor Tommy Battle.

"Today's announcement ensures that our community will continue to be at the center of the world's rocket propulsion development. Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin will build on the legacy of the German rocket team and the Marshall Space Flight Center to power the growing commercial rocket business that will be a critical part of our nation's future space program,” stated Madison County Commission Chairman Dale W. Strong.

In support of Blue Origin, the City of Huntsville, City of Madison, and Madison County have provided funding for their three school systems to launch an experiment on a Blue Origin rocket in Summer 2018. The school systems will determine how to select teams, and then they will work with the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber and Dream Up, an organization that supports space-based learning, to design and develop their payload.

“Blue Origin reinforces our regions’ place as the Rocket City, and a center of excellence for rocket propulsion. Blue Origin’s presence will have a positive impact on our State, our region and our community,” said Chip Cherry, President and CEO of the Huntsville/Madison County Chamber. “This is an important development for Cummings Research Park’s next era of expansion and we look forward to a long and productive relationship with Blue Origin.”

WASHINGTON — SpaceX intends to launch a final upgrade to the Falcon 9 rocket, known as the Block 5, later this year, and has three Falcon Heavy launches planned for the next 18 months.

Gwynne Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, confirmed in a June 22 appearance on “The Space Show” online radio show that the Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 will be the “final design spin,” following just a few months after an “incremental” Block 4 version that will be more of a transition model.

“We are flying Block 3s right now,” Shotwell said. “Block 4s start flying shortly, and then Block 5 at the end of this year. We definitely have gotten better [at] more smooth introducing of change. You don’t see the big impacts to production we’ve had before when we’ve changed vehicle designs.”

SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk had previously stated in an online question-and-answer session in October 2016 that Block 5 would be the final upgrade to the Falcon 9 design. The Falcon 9 Block 5 is expected to be far more reusable than the Block 3. Shotwell said a Block 5 booster could relaunch “ a dozen or so times.” The Block 3, by comparison, has an estimated life of two or three missions.

Shotwell said the Block 5 version of the Falcon 9 won’t need refurbishing, but will mainly undergo inspections prior to launch, streamlining the process compared to the first reused boosters.

“We’ve worked a lot on this particular vehicle. A lot of the active components, the valves, have been redesigned and requalified for much higher levels and much longer duration,” she said.

Despite describing the Block 5 as the final version of the Falcon 9, Shotwell hinted at the possibility of a future version of the rocket that could use the Raptor engines designed for transportation to Mars. Shotwell said Raptor, a liquid methane and oxygen engine for SpaceX’s interplanetary spaceship, has undergone “many dozens of tests” and is progressing well.

“The original idea for those engines were to serve as a propulsion system for the big Mars system, but we are looking at the utility of it on the Falcon program,” she said.