Plus: A moment of excitement for Artemis
| By Dan Robitzski
Welcome back to our weekly newsletter highlighting the opinions and perspectives of the SpaceNews community.
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If the United States is serious about getting orbital or lunar nuclear power off the ground, it needs to start building out the necessary testing and development infrastructure today, according to a commentary article by aerospace engineer David Schleeper.
And "even if testing and demonstration capacity existed, another major choke point emerges at the spaceport," Schleeper wrote. "Kennedy Space Center needs a dedicated high-bay, secure handling area, cranes, workforce pipelines and regulatory compliant procedure for enriched uranium systems. Attempting to squeeze nuclear payload operations into multipurpose spacecraft facilities would overlook radiological safety requirements and overload existing infrastructure, jeopardizing non-nuclear missions. A purpose-built integration facility is essential."
He argued in his article that NASA should immediately pursue new test and demonstration facilities specifically designed around the additional hazards of nuclear payloads, so that missions can launch without putting crews or workers on the ground at serious risk.
You can see the rest of the article here. | | | | |
NASA's second Artemis mission, a crewed lunar flyby, recently completed its second wet dress rehearsal and is nearing its history-making launch. And yet, space author Christopher Cokinos argued in a recent opinion article, detractors are indifferent to the Artemis at best and cynical at worst.
In his article, Cokinos went point by point, tackling criticisms of the Artemis program and the Space Launch System that will propel it to space ranging from cost, to slow timelines, to repeatability, urging readers to reawaken their sense of awe for space exploration.
"Critics think that one reason Artemis 2 isn't a banner headline is it's a fly-by. It won't orbit the moon. I doubt the wider public cares particularly about that difference," Cokinos wrote.
"What is manifest: This mission is taking humans farther than they have gone before. Four humans will travel farther than any humans before. Let me say that again: Four humans will travel farther than any humans before. Doesn't that amaze you? Your response is 'meh?'"
See the rest of the article here. | | | | | |  | | SLS and Orion on the pad during the Artemis 2 wet dress rehearsal Feb. 2. Credit: NASA/John Kraus
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The United States government is poised to complete its GPS III constellation next month, representing a major upgrade to position, navigation and timing (PNT) infrastructure. But simply upgrading GPS doesn't go far enough to ensure PNT services as Earth orbit grows increasingly contested and PNT services are more readily disrupted, according to a new commentary article by Zephr.xyz CEO and co-founder Sean Gorman.
Rather than piecemeal updates, Gorman argued, the U.S. needs to investigate new PNT strategies that include greater resilience at the receiver end, and layering infrastructure with redundancies and alternatives based on the assumption that service will inevitably get disrupted at some level.
"GPS was built for a world in which satellite signals were largely uncontested, but modern war does not respect that assumption," Gorman wrote. "Completing GPS III is necessary, but it is not sufficient."
See the rest of the article here.
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