The Space Review

[Orionid]

Review: Losing the Sky
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 14, 2021



Losing the Sky
by Andy Lawrence
Photon Productions, 2021
paperback,150 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-1-8383997-2-6
US$8.37
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1838399720/spaceviews

At a meeting of the American Astronomical Society last week, astronomers working on the issue of potential interference from satellite megaconstellations had some good news. Observations of the “VisorSat” versions of SpaceX’s Starlink satellites, so named because they’re equipped with visors intended to keep sunlight from hitting reflective surfaces on the satellites, were considerably darker than their unmodified counterparts. The original Starlink satellites had an average visual magnitude of 5 once in their final orbits, while the VisorSats were at magnitude 6.5, four times dimmer.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4191/1

[Orionid]

Sword and shield: defending against an American anti-satellite weapon during the Cold War
by Dwayne A. Day Monday, June 14, 2021


Launch of an ASM-135 anti-satellite missile from an F-15 Eagle in 1985. The missile was equipped with an infrared seeker and minutes later it destroyed an Air Force satellite. Two years before this test, the CIA identified possible Soviet countermeasures to the weapon, estimating that they could be available by the later 1990s. (credit: USAF)

On September 13, 1985, Major Wilbert D. “Doug” Pearson, flying an F-15A fighter aircraft named “Celestial Eagle,” pulled his aircraft into a steep climb and fired a single ASM-135 anti-satellite missile at the sky. Moments later, the missile slammed into the US Air Force’s Solwind P78-1 satellite, blasting it to smithereens—producing both orbital debris and considerable controversy. It was the culmination of an ASAT development program started in the 1970s and dedicated to giving the United States the capability to destroy Soviet satellites. Now, a newly declassified 1983 CIA report indicates that the United States was concerned about how the Soviet Union might defend against the American ASAT weapon. It offers interesting insights into the possible countermeasures that may still be valid today, nearly four decades later.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4192/1

[Orionid]

Giant ferocious steps from Jeff Bezos
by Sam Dinkin Monday, June 14, 2021


Jeff Bezos, seen here at a 2017 Blue Origin event, appears to be devoting more attention to his spaceflight company as he prepares to step down as Amazon CEO. (credit: J. Foust)

The Blue Origin motto is Gradatim Ferociter, Latin for step by step ferociously. In the past month, several of those steps have been revealed to be both giant and ferocious. In some ways Blue Origin’s owner, Jeff Bezos, is like Robert Heinlein’s character D.D. Harriman, who put everything on the line to open space and go there himself. Unlike Harriman, he is relying not only on Blue Origin’s industriousness, but also seeking a major government development contract.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4193/1

[Orionid]

Is a billionaire space race good for the industry?
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 14, 2021


Four people will be on the first crewed flight of New Shepard on July 20, including company founder Jeff Bezos and the person who bid $28 million for a seat in an auction Saturday. (credit: Blue Origin)

At one point in Saturday’s auction for a Blue Origin New Shepard seat, the bidding action slowed, prompting a rally cry of sorts from the auctioneer. “The more you pay for it, the more you enjoy it,” he implored.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4194/1

[Orionid]

Review: My Remarkable Journey
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 21, 2021



My Remarkable Journey: A Memoir
by Katherine Johnson with Joylette Hylick and Katherine Moore
Amistad, 2021
hardcover, 256 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-0-06-289766-4
US$25.99
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0062897667/spaceviews

At a hearing last week by a Senate appropriations subcommittee about NASA’s fiscal year 2022 budget proposal, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) asked NASA administrator Bill Nelson about funding for the agency’s Independent Verification and Validation Facility, located in his state. In 2019, NASA renamed the facility after Katherine Johnson, the Black mathematician who became famous after the publication of the book Hidden Figures and the release of the movie of the same title. Nelson responded he would investigate the funding issue for the facility, then added, “if I might, tell you a story about Katherine Johnson.” He then mentioned the movie version of Hidden Figures.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4195/1

[Orionid]

Why Astrofeminism?
by Layla Martin Monday, June 21, 2021


There are few companies in the space industry founded by women, just one example of the field’s gender gap.

The ancient universal practice of studying the moon, planets and stars from Earth helped to define primordial calendars and shape our earliest conception of gods, spirits, seasons, and tides. Today, space-based assets educate and connect humanity as well as revealing information that furthers efforts to mitigate anthropogenic climate change. At its best, what space offers us is the possibility to evolve the human condition. The power of space has benefited the United States on a global scale for decades, inspiring generations while expanding democratic soft power. To illustrate, in every single place around the world I’ve spent time in, from Akiruno, Tokyo to Zanzibar, Tanzania, I’ve observed local people proudly wearing NASA t-shirts! From a non-scientific perspective, images of space reveal patterns of light and color that are so beautiful it’s difficult to describe them as anything other than magical. Yet, they are in fact, very real!
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4196/1

[Orionid]

A shifting balance of space cooperation?
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 21, 2021


Roscosmos director general Dmitry Rogozin used a conference last week to express support for international cooperation in space exploration, even while continuing to raise questions about the future of the International Space Station. (credit: Roscosmos)

For nearly three decades, cooperation in human spaceflight has been defined by the partnership between the United States and Russia in the International Space Station program. After the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US brought Russia into its space station program with the goal of keeping Russia’s space program engaged in peaceful endeavors rather than producing missiles for Iran or North Korea. (It also had the benefit of providing a new justification for a space station program that, in the US, was facing threats of cancellation.) For better or worse, the two countries have worked together, along with Europe, Japan, and Canada, to build and operate the ISS to this day.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4197/1

[Orionid]

Burning Frost, the view from the ground: shooting down a spy satellite in 2008
by Dwayne A. Day Monday, June 21, 2021


Launch of an SM-3 missile from the cruiser USS Lake Erie in February 2008 on an intercept course with a disabled American reconnaissance satellite. (credit: US Navy)

In February 2008, a missile fired from the Aegis class cruiser USS Lake Erie, several hundred kilometers northwest of Hawaii, blasted high into the sky and a few minutes later destroyed a malfunctioning top-secret American satellite. The operation was known as “Burnt Frost,” and according to American officials, it was undertaken to prevent potentially toxic debris from the satellite from falling on populated areas. The operation occurred only a few months after a heavily criticized Chinese anti-satellite test produced a large amount of orbital debris. The American action was designed to minimize the generation of debris but was nevertheless controversial. Now, a newly published account of the decision-making that led to the American action provides unique insight into how it was made. The author, orbital debris expert and longtime space writer Nicolas Johnson, died in April at age 71, and his article, titled “Operation Burnt Frost: A View From Inside,” was made available free of charge by the journal Space Policy.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4198/1

[Orionid]

Scrutinizing the Russian-Iranian satellite deal
by Bart Hendrickx Monday, June 21, 2021


Signing of a pre-contractual agreement on a Russian-Iranian satellite project by Leonid Makridenko (VNIIEM), Alireza Zolali (Bonyan Danesh Shargh) and Sergei Baskov (NPK Barl) in August 2015. (Source)

On June 11, the Washington Post published an article claiming that Russia is preparing to supply Iran with an advanced remote sensing satellite that will give Tehran an unprecedented ability to track potential military targets across the Middle East and beyond. When asked to comment on the story the following day, President Vladimir Putin dismissed it as “fake news” and “nonsense”. However, plans for the joint satellite project were openly reported in the Russian and Iranian media until several years ago and an analysis of various recent Russian online sources corroborates the Post’s claim that it is not far away from launch.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4199/1

[Orionid]

Review: Project Hail Mary
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 28, 2021



Project Hail Mary: A Novel
by Andy Weir
Ballantine, 2021
hardcover, 496 pp.
ISBN 978-0-593-13520-4
US$28.99
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0593135202/spaceviews

When The Martian hit bookshelves in 2014 (see “Review: The Martian”, The Space Review, February 17, 2014), it became not just a bestselling novel but also a book embraced by the space exploration community. Andy Weir told a story of a stranded astronaut on Mars that was both thrilling and mostly accurate from science and engineering standpoints. By the time the film version hit theaters in the fall of 2015, even NASA hopped on the bandwagon, cooperating with the film’s production and using it to promote its own human Mars exploration plans (see “The Martian and real Martians”, The Space Review, October 5, 2015.)
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4200/1

[Orionid]

Global space traffic management measures to improve the safety and sustainability of outer space
by Jamil Castillo Monday, June 28, 2021


Minor damage to the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the International Space Station, presumably from a debris strike, is the latest examine of the hazards posed by space debris. (credit: NASA/CSA)

Relying on space being “big” is no longer an option. More than 3,000 satellites operate in Earth orbit along with hundreds of thousands of pieces of debris. In October 2020, a company that tracks objects in low Earth orbit warned about an old satellite and a rocket’s upper stage, both inoperable, that had a greater than 10% chance of colliding. Inspections in May of this year revealed that a piece of debris had hit Canadarm2, the International Space Station’s robotic arm.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4201/1

[Orionid]

Before you go, Administrator Nelson
by Roger Handberg Monday, June 28, 2021


Astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Thomas Pesquet perform a spacewalk earlier this month to install new solar arrays on the International Space Station. NASA needs to plan now for a successor to the ISS, which may not last beyond 2030. (credit: NASA)

Every NASA administrator has an expiration date when they enter office, just like Major League Baseball managers or NBA coaches. The boundaries on their tenure can come with the end of the appointing president’s tenure: surviving across administrations is possible but usually limited to until a successor is nominated. More likely, the administrator either will leave office when the president does, or earlier due to issues with the administration—especially White House staff—or of their own volition.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4202/1

[Orionid]

Jumpstarting European NewSpace
by Jeff Foust Monday, June 28, 2021


Thierry Breton, the EU commissioner responsible for space, holds up a signed agreement between the European Commission and European Space Agency after a ceremony Tuesday in Brussels. (credit: ESA)

On June 22, officials from the European Commission and the European Space Agency gathered in Brussels for a signing ceremony. After many months of negotiations, the two sides had finally reached an agreement, formally known as the Financial Framework Partnership Agreement, governing how they will cooperate on programs such as the Galileo navigation satellite constellation and the Copernicus series of Earth observation satellites.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4203/1

[Orionid]

Shipkillers: from satellite to shooter at sea
by Dwayne A. Day Monday, June 28, 2021


The nuclear-powered cruiser Admiral Ushakov (ex-Kirov) next to the Slava-class cruiser Marshal Ustinov. These ships, which entered service in the late 1970s and early 1980s, were bristling with antennas and anti-ship missiles. Their targets were U.S. Navy aircraft carriers. (credit: Wikipedia (US Navy photograph during a port visit in 1992))

In late summer 1973, a US reconnaissance satellite photographed a large warship under construction at Leningrad Shipyard Ordzhonikid 189 on the Baltic. The warship had a distinctive bottom plate and was obviously one of the largest vessels ever built by the Soviet Union. The CIA soon designated it as Baltic Combatant #1, or BALCOM 1 for short. Throughout the 1970s satellites continued to fly overhead as the warship took shape, photographing the shipyard as workers installed a nuclear reactor and large diagonal silos for launching massive cruise missiles.[1] Eventually the ship was named Kirov and arrived in Northern Fleet waters in early October 1980. Late that year, the ship was conducting cruise missile and surface-to-air missile firings. By that time, a second Kirov was under construction and preparing for launch in 1981.[2]
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4204/1

Note: Because of the Fourth of July holiday weekend, next week’s issue will be published on Tuesday, July 6.

[Orionid]

Reviews: Examining the life of John Glenn
by Jeff Foust Tuesday, July 6, 2021



The Last American Hero: The Remarkable Life of John Glenn
by Alice L. George
Chicago Review Press, 2020
hardcover 368 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-1-64160-213-6
US$30.00
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1641602139/spaceviews

Mercury Rising: John Glenn, John Kennedy, and the New Battleground of the Cold War
by Jeff Shesol
W.W. Norton & Co., 2021
hardcover, 416 pp., illus.
ISBN 978-1-324-00324-3
US$28.95
https://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1324003243/spaceviews

John Glenn is clearly one of the most famous figures in the history of American spaceflight despite a relatively brief career at NASA. Selected as part of the Mercury 7 class in 1959, he became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962, providing a much-needed shot of confidence (or, at least, reassurance) for the country after a series of spaceflight firsts by the Soviets. By 1964, though, Glenn was out of NASA, pursuing new careers in business and politics that led to four terms in the Senate, capped by a second flight to space on the shuttle.
https://www.thespacereview.com/article/4205/1