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SpaceX launched a Swedish communications satellite Wednesday. A Falcon 9 lifted off at 6:04 p.m. Eastern from Cape Canaveral and placed the Ovzon 3 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. Maxar built the 1,500-kilogram satellite, which will spend the next several months moving to its final position in geostationary orbit at 59.7 degrees west. Ovzon 3 is the first fully owned satellite for the company, founded in 2006 to provide mobile satellite terminals and which later expanded to connectivity services using capacity leased on other satellites. [SpaceNews]
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a complaint against SpaceX regarding its firing of eight employees a year and a half ago. Those employees alleged they were fired after circulating an open letter within the company calling on it to distance itself from the social media activities of its CEO, Elon Musk, who they said was "a frequent source of distraction and embarrassment for us." The NLRB says that letter was an activity protected under the National Labor Relations Act. SpaceX has until Jan. 17 to formally respond to the complaint, with a hearing scheduled for early March.
United Launch Alliance laid off 75 employees involved in launch operations last summer. Those layoffs affected 40% of its launch operations staff at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and 12% at Cape Canaveral. A company executive said at the time that "strategic business realignments" led to the layoffs, which the company had not previously disclosed. ULA is no longer launching Atlas or Delta rockets from Vandenberg as it transitions to the new Vulcan Centaur, set to make its debut as soon as Monday from Cape Canaveral. ULA currently has about 2,300 employees, less than a quarter the size of SpaceX and Blue Origin. [Bloomberg]
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As the Ingenuity helicopter continues its flights on Mars, NASA is incorporating lessons learned from it into future vehicles. JPL announced this week that Ingenuity performed its 70th flight on Mars last month, traveling 260 meters in a little more than two minutes. Ingenuity was sent to Mars with the Perseverance rover with the intent of conducting no more than five flights as a technology demonstrator, but its performance led NASA to continue operations, using it as a scout for Perseverance. The project manager for Ingenuity said last month that Ingenuity is providing data to improve aerodynamic and thermal modeling for use on similar helicopters planned for the Mars Sample Return program. [SpaceNews]
The head of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) plans to step down later this year. The aerospace industry organization announced Wednesday that CEO Dan Dumbacher will retire from the organization at the end of September. Dumbacher joined AIAA in his current role, previously called executive director. He had worked at NASA for 30 years and later was a professor at Purdue University. The AIAA Board of Trustees has hired an executive search firm to help find Dumbacher's successor. [AIAA]
A poisonous gas could be a sign of life on a moon of Saturn. Scientists said at a conference last month that the Cassini spacecraft detected traces of hydrogen cyanide in plumes emitted from the surface of the icy moon Enceladus. While cyanide is toxic for humans, it is also a key building block for complex organic compounds that are the building blocks of life. The finding bolsters the case that liquid water ocean under the icy surface of Enceladus could be inhabitable. [Science News]
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www.YorkSpaceSystems.com, Careers | | Extraterrestrial Taste Tests
"One tester gave rave reviews and 'wouldn't mind eating this all week as an astronaut.' Other people were more muted in their praise, even though they went back for second helpings."
– From an American Chemical Society press release about a study where researchers developed what they called the "optimal" meal for a mission to Mars: a salad that includes soybeans, poppy seeds, barley, kale, peanuts, sweet potato and/or sunflower seeds.
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