| | | |  Jeff Foust —The fiscal year 2018 budget request for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration offers full funding for ongoing major weather satellite programs while deferring work on future efforts. The NOAA request, released May 23 with the rest of the administration's budget proposal, would provide nearly $1.58 billion for NOAA satellite procurement activities, down from the nearly $1.98 billion those programs received in the fiscal year 2017 omnibus spending bill passed in early May. NOAA's two major satellite programs would remain on track in the budget request. The Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite R (GOES-R) program, developing a new generation of geostationary weather satellites, would get $518.5 million in the 2018 request. That is down more than $230 million from what the program received in 2017, but identical to the projected 2018 funding level in NOAA's 2017 budget request. | |  Tereza Pultarova — RemoveDebris, a space-junk-wrangling spacecraft once slated to hitch a ride to the International Space Station with SpaceX in June, won't launch until the end of 2017 or early 2018 to allow additional NASA safety reviews, according to the European project's manager. The 100-kilogram spacecraft, developed by a consortium of 10 European companies including Airbus Defense and Space and Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., would be the largest and heaviest satellite deployed from the ISS. "Nothing of this size has ever been launched from the ISS before," said Jason Forshaw, RemoveDebris project manager at the University of Surrey's Surrey Space Centre, which leads the consortium. | |  Jeff Foust — Rocket Lab, a U.S.-New Zealand company developing the Electron small launch vehicle, declared success on its first launch May 25, although the rocket failed to reach orbit.In a statement, the company said the Electron lifted off from its private launch complex on New Zealand's Mahia Peninsula at 12:20 a.m. Eastern (4:20 p.m. local time.) The rocket reached space on an apparent suborbital trajectory three minutes later. "It was a great flight. We had a great first stage burn, stage separation, second stage ignition and fairing separation," Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said in a statement. "We didn't quite reach orbit and we'll be investigating why, however reaching space in our first test puts us in an incredibly strong position to accelerate the commercial phase of our program, deliver our customers to orbit and make space open for business." | | |  Phillip Swarts — Whichever engine is not selected by United Launch Alliance to power the Vulcan rocket could lose its Air Force funding, although top acquisition officials declined to say Wednesday whether they would definitely take that action.
"Once ULA makes their decision, that's a choice that ULA makes, I'm interested in the launch service capability," said Maj. Gen. Roger Teague, the director of space programs in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Acquisition. Speaking to reporters at the Pentagon, Teague declined to say whether the Air Force would cancel funding for the development of whichever engine ULA does not select, but said that the service is focused on launch services rather than engine development. | |  Jeff Foust — Spaceflight, a company that arranges launches for small satellites, announced May 17 is it purchasing a launch from Rocket Lab for payloads seeking access to a less common orbit. Seattle-based Spaceflight didn't disclose the terms of the deal for the Electron launch, although Rocket Lab has previously quoted a launch price of as low as $4.9 million for a dedicated launch. The companies have also yet to determine the launch date for the mission. | |  Debra Werner — The Founder Institute plans to attract would-be space entrepreneurs to its worldwide network of incubators with generous financial incentives and mentorship from industry veterans. "This is an international call for anyone working in space or passionate about space to launch a company," said Adeo Ressi, co-founder and chief executive of the Founder Institute, a business incubator based in Palo Alto, California. "Our goal, which admittedly might be a bit of a stretch goal, is to have 500 new space and space-exploration companies launched by 2025." Since it was founded in 2009, Founder Institute has established operations in 180 cities and become one of the world's largest incubators for technology startups, helping to establish nearly 3,000 companies. How many have been space-related? "Zero," Ressi told SpaceNews. "There is definitely a pipeline problem in space entrepreneurship today. We want to fix it with these incentives." | |  Jeff Foust— The White House's fiscal year 2018 budget proposal seeks to cancel five NASA Earth science projects and confirms plans to shut down the agency's education office as part of more than $560 million in cuts from 2017. The proposal, released May 23, offers $19.092 billion for NASA, $561 million less than what the agency received in a fiscal year 2017 omnibus spending bill enacted earlier this month. That amount matches values in a leaked spreadsheet last week, indicating cuts to NASA science, exploration, space operations and other major accounts. "At $19.1 billion, we have a very positive budget that retains the same parameters we saw in March, and which reflects the president's confidence in our direction and the importance of everything we've been achieving," NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot said in a statement. | | | | | | |
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