|  Jeff Foust, COLORADO SPRINGS — Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross says his department is gearing up to add space traffic management to its growing portfolio of commercial space responsibilities.
Speaking at the 34th Space Symposium here Tuesday, Ross said the Commerce Department was taking several steps to implement a draft space traffic management (STM) policy, announced by Vice President Mike Pence a day earlier, that would assign the department the responsibility for providing some space situational awareness services.
"The department stands ready to work with other executive branch agencies, and the private sector, to develop an STM strategy that creates benchmark standards for the entire world," he said.
| | |  Jeff Foust, COLORADO SPRINGS — After a months-long impasse, the Senate may vote to confirm Jim Bridenstine as the next administrator of NASA later this week.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) filed a cloture motion Monday on Bridenstine's nomination. The Senate could vote on the motion as soon as Wednesday, with only a simple majority required for passage.
If approved, there would be up to 30 hours of debate on the nomination before a vote. That vote, sources say, could take place Thursday, depending on the amount of debate and other Senate business.
| | |  Jeff Foust, COLORADO SPRINGS — Rocket Lab is postponing its next launch by a few weeks because of a technical problem, but the company says it is optimistic about its long-term prospects as demand for its small launch vehicle grows.
The company, headquartered in the United States but with launch operations in New Zealand, announced April 17 that it was postponing a launch of its Electron rocket scheduled for April 19 because of a problem detected in a wet dress rehearsal a few days earlier.
In an interview during the 34th Space Symposium here, Rocket Lab Chief Executive Peter Beck said that engineers detected "unusual behavior" in a motor controller for one of the nine engines in its first stage. "We want to take some time to review that data," he said on the decision to delay the launch.
| | |  Sandra Erwin, COLORADO SPRINGS — Anyone who has been away from the national security space business for a while and is now just coming back would not recognize it, say senior military officials. In the past few months alone, the Trump administration has made space a top national security concern. And the rhetoric is being followed by bigger budgets.
This is a time of "historic change," said Air Force Gen. John "Jay" Raymond, commander of Air Force Space Command.
In a keynote speech on Tuesday at the 34thSpace Symposium. Raymond said he sees unprecedented high-level focus on space and "space friendly budgets." This is also a time of never-before-seen collaboration between the military and the intelligence community on space modernization and strategies to deter and compete against growing space powers like Russia and China.
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Lockheed Martin Space develops best-in-class space architecture, from satellites and ground-based systems to interplanetary and human-rated spacecraft, unlocking the power of space for humanity. | | | |  Debra Werner, COLORADO SPRINGS — The National Reconnaissance Office developed and launched Corona, the first U.S. imaging satellite in two years. NRO is determined regain that speed and agility by expanding internal research and development, and taking advantage of commercial capabilities, NRO Director Betty Sapp said April 17 at the 34th Space Symposium here.
"Commercial space will be fully leveraged in satisfying user needs and fully considered in the development of every future space system," Sapp said. "Just as we do in other areas, we want to design only what we must and buy everything that we can."
As an example of its increased reliance on commercial products, Sapp cited NRO's plan to take over management of the U.S. National Geospatial Intelligence Agency's EnhancedView contract beginning Sept. 1.
| | |  Debra Werner, COLORADO SPRINGS — International space experts conducted a spirited debate April 16 on whether national or international laws should govern space mining at the Space Law Workshop at the 34th Space Symposium here.
"The problem is there is currently not legal certainty about what is allowed and what is not allowed," said Tanja Masson-Zwaan, former president of the International Institute of Space Law (IISL). "In the Outer Space Treaty, the question of whether you can own extracted resources is not clearly answered."
The United States and Luxembourg have passed laws giving companies the rights to space resources they extract. Companies are relying on that legal authority to attract investment for their plans to mine the moon and asteroids.
| | |  Sandra Erwin and Brian Berger, COLORADO SPRINGS — Orbital ATK on Monday revealed new details about the rocket it has been developing over the last three years in an effort to take U.S. Air Force launch contracts away from United Launch Alliance and SpaceX.
With the Air Force expected to select up to three companies this summer to build and test rockets capable of launching intermediate to heavy-class national security payloads, Orbital ATK executives announced at the 34th Space Symposium here that they have picked Aerojet Rocketdyne's RL10C engine to power the upper stage of a next-generation launch vehicle they are now calling OmegA.
OmegA's solid-fuel lower stages, as previously disclosed, are based on space shuttle solid rocket motor segments developed by Orbital ATK, and solid strap-on boosters used on ULA's rockets.
| | |  Debra Werner, COLORADO SPRINGS — Four years after the Obama administration began loosening rules on space technology exports, companies experiencing the benefits are looking to the Trump administration for further regulatory relief.
"It's not mission accomplished," Fred Shaheen, Boeing's chief council for global trade controls, said at the Satellite 2018 conference in Washington earlier this month. "Export control reform is definitely not done. There's so much left to do."
When communications satellites were included in the U.S. Munitions List, the State Department's list of defense articles subject to extensive International Traffic and Arms Regulations (ITAR), "a lot of foreign parties were not interested in talking to American companies because of the regulatory hurdles they would have to go through," Shaheen said.
Although those hurdles are lower, "we don't want to rest on our laurels," Mike Gold, Maxar Technologies vice president for regulatory and policy, said in an interview. "Technology is in a constant state of change and export control reform needs to keep pace."
| | |  Caleb Henry, WASHINGTON — Some 19 months after announcing its intent to buy the assets of Sea Launch, Russian aviation group S7 has closed the purchase.
In a statement released April 17, Sea Launch CEO Sergey Gugkaev said the transaction gives S7 the ocean-faring mobile launch platform Odyssey, the Commander support vessel, as well as certain equipment and intellectual property rights.
"This finally achieves a long and difficult process of title transferring to S7 Group which started in late 2016," he said.
| | |  Caleb Henry, WASHINGTON — Spaceflight Industries has secured rideshare opportunities on two Vega rocket missions for tiny satellites.
European launch provider Arianespace on April 17 said Spaceflight will launch "a microsatellite and a significant number of cubesats" on a proof of concept flight of Europe's Small Spacecraft Mission System (SSMS), an adapter designed for cubesats and other satellites that are smaller than what typically launch on Vega. Seattle-based Spaceflight's contract includes "a subsequent Vega SSMS flight about one year later," Arianespace said.
"Striking this deal with Vega will serve a growing part of our market demand — namely organizations that need a diversified launch plan for small satellite constellations," Curt Blake, president of Spaceflight, said in a statement. "We are thrilled to add Arianespace to our network of launch partners."
| | |  Caleb Henry, WASHINGTON — An FCC commissioner said Tuesday she was astonished the White House did not give the telecom regulatory agency a seat on the National Space Council.
Commissioner Jessica Rosenworcel said April 17 that the Federal Communications Commission "needs to coordinate more closely with other federal authorities" as it navigates through new space activities.
"Right now the National Space Council is considering policy changes to help promote the growth of the commercial space industry," she said. "Their efforts encompass everything from streamlining licenses to reforming export controls, protecting airwaves, to facilitating space activities … the FCC should have a seat at the table. It's a glaring omission that this agency does not, because through our oversight of the airwaves and licensing of satellite services, we have an important role ensuring the viability of space for future generations."
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