News from Space Symposium | Space-tracking ideas proliferating as fast as orbital debris

Monday, April 3 View this email in your browser News from the 33rd Space Symposium NOAA exploring greater use of alternative satellite weather data Jeff Foust, COLORADO SPRINGS The U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is exploring ways to deal with a proposed cut in future weather satellite programs, including greater use of commercial and international data sources over the long term, an agency official said here Monday. President Trump's 2018 budget blueprint, released March 16 by the White House Office of Management and Budget, supported the continued development of NOAA's current weather satellite programs, the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES). However, the document said the administration would seek unspecified "annual savings" from the Polar Follow On program for future polar orbiting satellites after JPSS-2 "by better reflecting the actual risk of a gap in polar satellite coverage." SEE FULL STORY. Space-tracking ideas proliferating as fast as orbital debris Debra Werner, Colorado Springs Commercial firms are developing models, simulations, algorithms and proposing new sensors to help the government improve its ability to tackle the problems of adversaries and orbital debris threatening U.S. satellites. Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., for example, developed Proximity Operations and Rendering (PROXOR), a simulation tool designed to help customers determine how well new ground- or space-based sensors will perform their Space Situational Awareness (SSA) functions. "PROXOR provides a realistic, time-based mission and sensor data simulation that enables the evaluation of performance of various architectures and algorithms," said Susan Hagerty, Ball Aerospace staff consultant. SEE FULL STORY Space-tracking ideas proliferating as fast as orbital debris Debra Werner, COLORADO SPRINGS Launchspace Technologies Corp. proposes sending platforms as large as football fields into low Earth orbit to sweep up space debris. The platforms also would be equipped with sensors to help U.S. government agencies detect and track orbiting satellites and debris. Launchspace Technologies' patented plan to clean up debris calls for sending Debris Collection Units into equatorial orbit to capture debris ranging in size from 1 millimeter to five centimeters. That debris poses a serious problem for government and commercial satellite operators because it remains largely untracked and unavoidable, said Marshall Kaplan, chief technology officer for Launchspace Technologies of Bethesda, Maryland. SEE FULL STORY Space Foundation has a new CEO Phillip Swarts, COLORADO SPRINGS The Space Foundation has hired a new chief executive. The organization announced Thursday that Thomas E. "Tom" Zelibor, a retired U.S. Navy rear admiral, will start as its new CEO April 30.  He was previously chairman and CEO of Lightwave Logic Inc., Longmont, Colorado-based communications technology company developing next-generation photonic devices for high speed fiber-optic telecommunications and data communications. The hiring, made after a five-month national search, comes as the Space Foundation holds its flagship event, the 33rd Space Symposium, April 3-6 here. SEE FULL STORY Zipline system to carry crews away from Starliner in an emergency Jeff Foust, ROYAL GORGE, Colo. The same system used by thrill-seeking tourists could also one day save the lives of astronauts flying on a commercial crew vehicle. Boeing and United Launch Alliance announced April 2 that they had completed testing of the Emergency Egress System (EES) for the new crew access tower at Cape Canaveral's Space Launch Complex 41, which will host Atlas 5 launches of Boeing's CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle starting next year. SEE FULL STORY Blue Origin erects New Shepard outside the Broadmoor Brian Berger, COLORADO SPRINGS Crews worked through the night installing Blue Origin's hard-to-miss display outside the main exhibit hall at the 33rd Space Symposium here. A New Shepard suborbital booster that flew five times between its 2015 debut and last October's in-flight abort test towers over conference attendees making their way between the Broadmoor hotel's conference center and exhibit hall. SEE FULL STORY Tuesday's print edition of the SpaceNews Show Daily will feature a special report on satellite cybersecurity and our one-on-one interview with Rep. Mike Rogers, the chairman of the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee. GOT NEWS? If you have news you want to break during the show, be sure to email us. No promises, but we certainly can help get the word out. Visit SpaceNews.com throughout the day for the latest from the 33nd Space Symposium.   Special coverage sponsored by Twitter LinkedIn Facebook About SpaceNews | Privacy Policy | Advertise Copyright © 2017 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314