SpaceNews This Week | Amendment to Senate bill allows continued imports of Russian rocket engines

June 16, 2017 View this email in your browser sponsored by   Amendment to Senate bill allows continued imports of Russian rocket engines Jeff Foust — Senators overwhelmingly passed an amendment to an Iran-Russia sanctions bill June 15 to fix language some argued could have prevented NASA and others from launching missions on rockets that use Russian engines. In discussion on the Senate floor June 15, several senators said a provision of S. 722, a bill that imposes sanctions on both Iran and Russia for their destabilizing actions in the Middle East and elsewhere, would have prevented the importation of Russian rocket engines for use on civil and commercial launches. That provision requires the president to impose sanctions on organizations that work with the defense and intelligence sectors of the Russian government. Those sanctions include a ban on procuring goods and services from those organizations. Op-ed | Budget proposal fails to recognize NASA's growing importance to nation Frank Slazer — NASA named the "newest class of American heroes," as U.S. Vice President Mike Pence remarked during a June 12 ceremony in Houston to introduce 12 new astronauts to the program as NASA looks to a new era of space exploration. In his remarks, the vice president stressed the importance of NASA's work to inspire young people and demonstrate American leadership to the world and pledged that "NASA will have the resources and support needed to continue to make history, to push the boundaries of human knowledge, and advance American leadership to the boundless frontier of space." We applaud Vice President Pence's support for a great NASA, and industry stands ready to work to assure that NASA can meet this bold vision for American space leadership. Unfortunately, the administration's fiscal year 2018 budget request seeks to cut NASA's FY 2017 budget by more than $560 million dollars and then hold spending flat through 2022, further eroding NASA's buying power from levels that are already below those of the 1990s. Planetary Resources sets aside Earth observation system Jeff Foust — A year after announcing plans to develop a constellation of Earth observation satellites, Planetary Resources has set that effort aside to focus on its core mission of asteroid prospecting. The company announced in May 2016 a satellite system called Ceres that would ultimately include 10 small satellites capable of providing hyperspectral and mid-wave infrared imagery. That announcement was tied to a $21.1 million funding round for the Redmond, Washington-based company. At the time, Planetary Resources argued that Ceres would provide information not readily available from other Earth observation systems, offering useful insights for agriculture, natural resources and other fields. The system would also test out instrument technologies needed for the company's future missions to near Earth asteroids that would look for resources like water ice. Panasonic Avionics: "jury's still out" on profitability of in-flight connectivity Caleb Henry — Panasonic Avionics, one of the largest providers of satellite-enabled broadband to aircraft, says the long-term viability of inflight connectivity as a moneymaker remains an open question. Lower capacity costs, something buyers have typically praised, are acting as a double-edged sword, according to David Bruner, Panasonic Avionics' vice president of global sales and marketing, thinning profit margins to the point of concern.  Bruner said Panasonic has just under 1,600 aircraft connected, and anticipates adding around 700 more this year out of a backlog of 2,500. A substantial number of the company's customer airlines are located in the Asia-Pacific, including Singapore Airlines, Air China, and Taiwan-based Eva Air — a concentration that motivated Panasonic to become an anchor customer for the Eutelsat-172b satellite that launched June 1. Canada under fire for approving Norsat sale to China's Hytera Communications David Pugliese — The Canadian government has come under fire for approving the sale of a Vancouver-area satellite technology company to a Chinese firm. Opposition MPs in the House of Commons are accusing the Liberal Party government of turning a blind eye to national security after it approved the sale of Norsat International to Hytera Communications Corp. of Shenzhen. Norsat's list of defense clients includes the U.S. Department of Defense, U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, Republic of Ireland Department of Defense, Taiwan Army and Scandinavian defense forces. The proposed sale dominated debate in the House of Commons June 13 and June 14. NASA closing out Asteroid Redirect Mission Jeff Foust — With administration plans to cancel it announced earlier this year, and a lack of congressional support, NASA is in an "orderly closeout" phase of its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) while keeping alive some of its key technologies for other applications. In a presentation at a June 13 meeting of the Small Bodies Assessment Group (SBAG) here, Michele Gates, program director for ARM at NASA Headquarters, said the mission received its "notice of defunding" from agency leadership in April, weeks after a budget blueprint document for fiscal year 2018 released by the White House called for cancelling the mission. "We are in an orderly closeout phase, capturing all the good work that has been done across the team, and transitioning activities as appropriate to other potential missions or archived for future use," she said. From the Magazine Suborbital space race? Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin will get there when they get there   Jeff Foust — There are a few things a would-be suborbital space tourist must have. One, obviously, is a bank account large enough to afford the six-figure ticket price for a spaceflight. He for she also needs a tolerance of the risks inherent in spaceflight and be in at least decent health to handle the g-forces of launch and reentry. Perhaps most importantly, though, a space tourist needs patience. Read More Twitter LinkedIn Facebook Advertise with Us | Privacy Policy | Subscribe Copyright © 2017 SpaceNews Inc., All rights reserved. Our mailing address is: SpaceNews Inc. 1414 Prince St, Suite 204 Alexandria, VA 22314