FAA Defends Fines, Delays in SpaceX Launch Licensing

Plus: China plans 2025 launch for asteroid sample return mission and SpaceX adds Starlink to Hawaiian Airlines fleet

A SpaceNews daily newsletter | Wednesday, September 25, 2024 Top Stories The head of the FAA defended fines and launch licensing delays involving SpaceX Tuesday, citing safety. During a hearing of the aviation subcommittee of the House Transportation Committee, FAA Administrator Mike Whitaker said fines the agency levied against SpaceX last week for violating terms of launch licenses last year were justified because of safety concerns. He added delays in updating the license for the next Starship flight were also based on safety issues like the impact of sonic booms from the returning Super Heavy booster. He added that "complying with the regulations would be the best path" for SpaceX to accelerate the licensing process. In a letter later in the day, SpaceX criticized Whitaker's comments, citing factual errors. "In fact, every statement he made was incorrect," the company claimed. [SpaceNews] The U.S. Space Force is proceeding cautiously with its plans to replace aging weather satellites. The program executive for sensor satellites at Space Systems Command told reporters that the service will first analyze data from current and future experimental satellites before deciding what satellites might replace a decades-old system known as the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP). The service plans to make "architectural-level decisions" before proceeding with procuring specific satellite systems despite the age of the DMSP system. [SpaceNews] China will launch the Tianwen-2 mission to collect samples from a near Earth asteroid next year.  Bian Zhigang, deputy head of the China National Space Administration, said Tuesday that the mission is scheduled to launch next year and travel to the asteroid 2016 HO3 Kamo'oalewa. The spacecraft will return samples to Earth and perform a gravity-assist flyby to send it to the comet 311P/PANSTARRS. While a precise launch schedule was not provided, previous indications suggest Tianwen-2 will launch on a Long March 3B rocket in May 2025. [SpaceNews] Viasat won an Air Force Research Lab contract to provide advanced satellite communications antennas for military aircraft. The $33.6 million contract, announced by the company Tuesday, is part of the Defense Experimentation Using Commercial Space Internet (DEUCSI) program, which seeks to integrate commercial space internet constellations into military satellite networks. Viasat will focus on the development of Active Electronically Scanned Array antennas for tactical aircraft, including rotary-wing platforms. [SpaceNews] Hawaiian Airlines has equipped most of its fleet of transpacific airliners with Starlink. The airline said Tuesday that Starlink is now available on the 42 Airbus aircraft in its fleet and will add it to the Boeing 787 aircraft it operates or has on order. The company was the first major airline to announce a deal with Starlink in April 2022 for a service SpaceX touts as indistinguishable from low-latency internet access at home. A SpaceX executive said at World Space Business Week last week that the company has around 2,500 aircraft under contract for Starlink services. [SpaceNews] Earth observation company Planet unveiled a product Tuesday for monitoring global forests. The Forest Carbon Monitoring product offers quarterly estimates of the amount of carbon stored in branches, leaves and other plant tissue above ground at a resolution of three meters per pixel. Planet believes the product "will underpin global carbon markets" and could be useful for efforts like upcoming European Union regulations that require companies to ensure that their products don't come from land that was deforested after Dec. 31, 2020. [SpaceNews] Other News A developing hurricane will delay the launch of the next crew to the International Space Station. NASA said Tuesday it delayed the Crew-9 launch by two days, to Saturday at 1:17 p.m. Eastern, to avoid the effects of Tropical Storm Helene, which is expected to strengthen to a major hurricane before making landfall in northern Florida. Tropical storm warnings are in effect along the Atlantic coast of Florida. The Crew-9 mission will send NASA astronaut Nick Hague and Roscosmos cosmonaut Aleksandr Gorbunov to the ISS on a Crew Dragon spacecraft. [Florida Today] SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California at 12:01 a.m. Eastern Wednesday carrying 20 Starlink satellites. The satellites were deployed into orbit about an hour later. The 20 satellites included 13 with direct-to-cell payloads. [Spaceflight Now] A Chinese commercial rocket launched five satellites Tuesday. The Lijian-1, or Kinetica-1, solid-fuel rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 7:33 p.m. Eastern. Among the satellites on the launch was a Jilin-1 synthetic aperture radar imaging satellite and two Yunyao-1 satellites that collect radio occultation data for weather forecasting. [Xinhua] Radian Aerospace has performed the first tests of a prototype of its proposed orbital spaceplane. The company said Wednesday that it performed taxi tests and "short hops" of its PFV01 vehicle at an airfield in Abu Dhabi. The tests were intended to study the handling characteristics of the aircraft and compare them to models. The company is working on a spaceplane called Radian One that would be able to take off and land horizontally and transport people and cargo to low Earth orbit. [SpaceNews] Maxar Intelligence has created a headquarters for its international government business in London. The Colorado-based company said Tuesday the London office will help it capitalize on growing global demand for geospatial intelligence. Maxar cited the U.K.'s commitment to advanced space capabilities as a key factor in choosing London for the international headquarters. [SpaceNews] Absence from gravity makes the heart grow weaker. Research published this week found that the human heart experienced changes that resemble aging after just a month in space. Scientists used "tissue-on-a-chip" technology to study heart tissue and mimic beating patterns, finding over the course of the month-long experiment on the ISS that the tissue got weaker and experienced molecular and genetic changes. The tissue returned to normal after returning to Earth. [Nature]   Enemy Mine "There's a mantra from when I was a tank officer that there's no such thing as a friendly minefield. There is also no such thing as friendly debris." – Dennis Wille, senior director for national security business development at Astroscale U.S., discussing the hazards of orbital debris during a panel Tuesday at Payload's Space Capitol Forum.   A premier press release service designed to elevate your company's visibility and target our audience. Publish your company's press release with Stellar Dispatch today. Belgian spacetech gem VEOWARE secures €2.5 million euro to empower spacecrafts with next-generation agility By Veoware Space SpaceNews Celebrates 35th Anniversary as a Global Media Brand By SpaceNews Uniting Industry Leaders and Cutting-Edge Solutions to Shape the Future of Manufacturing By Manufacturo, Inc Leanspace secures €10.5 Million to Champion Next-Gen Satellite Constellation Operations By Leanspace Forward First Up to a friend or Subscribe for yourself Copyright © 2024 Multiverse Media Inc., All rights reserved. You signed up to receive this newsletter on Spacenews.com. 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