Category Archives: Space Exploration

About the author: John Austin is director of the Michigan Economic Center and a nonresident senior fellow at the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and the Brookings Institution.

The three billionaire space-exploration amigos Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos, and Elon Musk are getting some critical reactions to their uber-expensive space flight projects.

While some lament the vanity, others point to the lack of scientific merit. But the criticism hasnt yet mined the vein of deepest irony, as well as the looming danger that makes their space games such a distraction from our most fundamental challenges. As they race to space, back on earth the global economic system created by democratic regimes that allowed them to get rich in the first place is under assault from without and within. And these winners in globalization arent doing much to preserve it, but instead funding their own ego-driven projects.

The threat from without comes as China uses its corrupting, dependency-building Belt and Road development initiative, surveillance state, restrictions on free speech, and attacks on democratic institutions and norms as tools to replace the open, rules-based, economic and trade regime organized by the U.S. and its democratic allies, with its own closed model of authoritarian politics and economic development.

The threat to democracy from within comes from our failure to diminish yawning geographic economic disparities and opportunity gaps. Gaps individuals like our space billionaires have too often exacerbated, what with their own wealth-hoarding, alleged nonpayment of taxes, and resistance to providing decent pay, working conditions and bargaining power for their employees. These wealth differentials are politically dangerous as the gap grows between thriving global city regions and struggling communities in heartland regions of our democraciesenabling anti-democratic populism that poses an imminent challenge to the stability of our political order here and abroad .

Unless wealthy elites in Europe and North America, including these space cowboys who have profited so enormously from the West-led international capitalist system, put their money and influence to work to reduce wealth inequalities at homeand partner to strengthen the economies and polities of democracies abroadthey may soon witness the death of the goose that has laid their golden eggs.

These billionaires were made because of the West and democracies principles for organizing the world economy: freedom to innovate and create businesses with disruptive new ideas and technologies; to have these ideas and technology protected by laws and patents; to benefit from a very light touch of state regulation and control; to take advantage of a relatively free and mobile market for labor; as well as the unencumbered free flow of goods and information across the globe. These are all tenets of the post-World War II liberal trade and political order constructed purposefully by the U.S. and our democratic partners.

All of these conditions are imperiled by the rise of authoritarian anti-democratic leaders and models like Chinas, which empowers corrupt leaders, actively dismantles democratic institutions, throws up barriers to the free flow of ideas, people and trade in favor of self-service and obeisance to autocrats and hollow nationalist sentiments.

In their 2012 book Why Nations Fail, economists Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argue that even prosperous civilizations can fail when exploitive elites keep grabbing the spoils for themselves versus redistributing wealth in the form of opportunity-building investments like education and infrastructure, which benefit all and build a healthy middle class. They also argue that when you combine rotten regimes, exploitative elites and self-serving institutions, it is a national recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately, that is what we have seen recently in the U.S., and even among once strong and West-leaning allies like Turkey, Hungary, Poland and Brazil. Support for parties with disturbing anti-democratic tendencies has grown and become alarmingly high even in democratic stalwarts like Germany with its Alternative for Germany right-wing party, and in France with Marine Le Pens nationalist movement.

The tragi-comic race to space among billionaire business elites is not really that funny. These elites could use their outsized influence on our culture, our politics, and their big bucks to fight for democracy and capitalism. Look at what Bill Gates, with a similarly sized ego and pocketbook has accomplished in the arena of global health.

And we know what we need to do to help democracies win.

Yes, we must work together as allies, as President Biden has been urging, to focus on winning the strategic competition with China for global political and economic high ground..

But a major priority lies at hometo attack the root causes of anti-democratic populism with a people and place-focused economic development policy within our own democracies. These moguls and other global business leaders should be at the front of the parade seeking a minimum corporate international tax, a hike in the tax rates for millionaires and billionaires, and expansive national investments in education, child care, infrastructure and clean energy and higher education, akin to those proposed by Biden here in the U.S.

Closing gaps in wealth and opportunity also need to have an important focus, with particular attention to the once mighty older industrial regions of our Western democracies.As I have written before, these are the geopolitically significant places where many residents feel ignored or, even worse, looked down upon and patronized. As we learned at a recent trans-Atlantic symposium on populism and place, this, coupled with economic anxiety, concern about losing ones place in a changing world and perceptions that their communities are in decline, leads proud residents of industrial regions to embrace messages of nativism, nationalism, isolationism and economic nostalgia that are peddled by right-wing populist leaders. These movements encourage anti-democratic behaviors, such as distrust of institutions, the press and a breakdown in support for the civil rights of others. This nurtures the fierce political polarization that is undermining Western democracies.

These anti-elite and anti-democratic populist sentiments will not change until their root causes are addressed:the real and perceived decline of once-thriving industrial communities. There is good evidence demonstrating that when older industrial communities continue to decline, residents are receptive to the polarizing messages of populists and nativists. At the same time, accumulating evidence suggests that when older industrial communities secure new economic footing, anxiety and fear among their inhabitants give way to optimism and hope for the future.

After World War II, Western government and business leaders worked hand-in-glove to invest in and rebuild economies, many broken by war, in part to fend off communist movements and the then seeming appeal of the since-discredited Soviet economic and political model.International-minded business leaders supported political leaders in building the open, rules-based, international economic and trade regime that brought decades of relative peace and more prosperity for more people around that world than ever before. It is this regime that made it possible for Branson, Bezos, and Musk to innovate and fly.

Our democracies could use their help on the ground.

Guest commentaries like this one are written by authors outside the Barrons and MarketWatch newsroom. They reflect the perspective and opinions of the authors. Submit commentary proposals and other feedback toideas@barrons.com.

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Bezos, Musk, and Branson Should Boost Democracy on Earth, Not Flee to Space - Barron's

Every wondered why SpaceX is called so? It literally does not have a meaning. Here is Elon Musk, the CEO of the commercial spaceflight organisation, to clear the cloud surrounding its name. Read to find out.

SpaceX is actually called Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. Yes, heard it right! SpaceX is the acronym for its broader full name. Elon Musk took to the microblogging site, Twitter to share this information about SpaceX official name. He informed that SpaceX is the abbreviation of the"official name"Space Exploration Technologies Corporation.

According to Britannica, SpaceX is an American commercial aerospace company founded in 2020. It maneuvres space aerospace transportation services and communications. The company has its headquarters in Hawthorne, California. The goal of SpaceX, as stated by Musk is "reducing space transportation cost to enable the colonisation of Mars."

The company entered the spacecraft-making business with Falcon 1 rocket, a two-stage-fuelled craft designed to send small satellites into orbit. As per reports, the Falcon Rocket was much cheaper to build and operate in comparison to its competitors. The company also developed the Merlin engine, a compact, energy-efficient system that enabled an inexpensive budget for the spacecraft. In the coming times, the company also looks forward to making reusable space launch vehicles for more sustainable space travel.

In a milestone, SpaceX launched its first crewed flight in a Dragon Capsule on May 30, 2020. Astronauts Doug Hurley and Robert Behnken were the first humans to travel to space in commercial spaceflight.

The company began with Flacon 1, which made its first attempt to space in March 2006. However, it failed due to a fuel leak. Subsequently, it made two more attempts in vain, in March 2007 and August 2008. Nevertheless, in September 2008, it made its first successful attempt to send a liquid-fuelled rocket to orbit. Following this, the commercial spaceflight company bagged a $1.5 billion contract from the National Aeronautics and Space and Space Administration (NASA).

The journey from Falcon 1 to Falcon 9 was a milestone for SpaceX. In December 2010, the company became the first commercial spaceflight company to launch the Dragon capsule into orbit successfully and return it to Earth. Interestingly, Falcon 9 was designed so that it could be reused. When the first rocket stage returned to Earth, it was reused during a re-launch in 2017. Meanwhile, the company developed a Falcon Heavy Rocket, which took its first test flight to space in 2018. It placed into orbit around the Sun a Tesla Roadster with a mannequin in a spacesuit. The company now aims to shoot settlers to Mars by 2023.

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What is SpaceX's official name? Elon Musk just revealed space company's real name & goal - Republic World

Amoako Boafo Courtesy of Mariane Ibrahim gallery and the artist

The 37-year-old Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo's rise at auction has been meteoric.

And now, he is actually going into space. Or at least, his painting will be.

To launch its new art program, the Utah-based company Uplift Aerospace has asked Boafo to paint three exterior panels of a Blue Origin New Shepard rocket that will launch on a roundtrip space mission this autumn. This is the same type of rocket that carried the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos (also a big art collector) into space earlier this month.

Boafo will travel out to Texas in the autumn to paint his work, titled the Suborbital Triptych, on three removable panels which will be attached to the apex of the rocket. "There are special paints. I cant say more at this stage about the materials but soon!", Boafo tells The Art Newspaper.

"I am drawn to the idea of my works going into a new orbit, literally," Boafo says. "This will further push my vision for my practice. I am honoured to be one of the first Black men to have my work sent to space. Im very excited to be a part of this from a historical standpoint."

Boafo is conscious of his home country's attitude towards space exploration in creating this piece: "Ghanaian people are interested in learning and observing faraway galaxies... and I think more importantly we are interested in relating it back to earth, by solving local problems. Ghana has one of the most advanced research programs, our national space agencys history stretches back over a decade."

The Blue Origin New Shepard rocket launches earlier this month Courtesy of Blue Origin and Uplift Aerospace

For now, Boafo says he cannot give much away about the work he is creating, other than to say: "When we think of space exploration and space research, we think of the future. So, it is important to me that this joyful representation of Blackness is honoured, and in this way will be cemented in history. This will be clear in the work I am creating, for future generations."

Being a part of the Uplift art project, Boafo says, "signals to the rest of the world that Africa, African art and African artists are valuable enough to be a part of that [space travel] history. Also, it means a lot to me that my message of Black joy and self-determination is a part of it."

Boafo's gallerist Mariane Ibrahim, who has galleries in Chicago and Paris, was involved in the project from the start, "coordinating logistical aspects and making sure the artist's vision is fully preserved in the project," Ibrahim says. "Since this is the first project of this kind, there are no precedents, no road map, so we worked with Amoako Boafo, Uplift and Blue Origin to align our goals for the success of the 'mission'."

Ibrahim is interested in the meeting point of art, exploration and science: "Much like science and exploration, art is also about solving problems, whether through the evolution of techniques and materials, or through new aspects or representation. Amoako, is involved in both."

Uplift will make a charitable donation to some (yet to be announced) non-profits, chosen by Boafo, that support "conservation and healthcare", according to a statement.

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'I am honoured to be one of the first Black men to have my work sent to space': Amoako Boafo to paint triptych on rocket - Art Newspaper

Scott Parazynski, who has completed five spaceflights and even summitted Mt. Everest, joined Everett's OceanGate to travel to the depths of the Atlantic Ocean.

EVERETT, Wash. Former NASA astronaut Dr. Scott Parazynski loves to explore.

"I'm driven to go to places that are difficult to reach, that really involve commitment," he said.

After completing five spaceflights, traveling across Antarctica and even summitting Mt. Everest, Parazynski's newest adventure took him to the ocean floor to document the world's most famous shipwreck.

"Everyone around the world knows the Titanic. And the fact that it's 12,800 feet beneath the ocean and really inaccessible, it's sort of the Everest of submersible diving," Parazynski told KING 5.

Parazynski joined OceanGate, an Everett company which owns and operates submersibles, to travel to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with a team of mission specialists to capture new images and video of the shipwreck.

The company has already completed four expeditions to the Titanic this summer and is currently on the last one for this season.

"There's so many things under water to explore, and by taking people to the Titanic and getting the awareness of what can be done underwater, I hope we'll get a cadre of mission specialists that say, 'look, I want to go every year,'" said Stockton Rush, who is the CEO and founder of OceanGate.

The most recent footage from OceanGate shows the ship is rapidly deteriorating. The video shows what's left of a first class balcony and the telemotor where the ship's wheel once was. There is also footage of the collapsed forward mast and the Titanic's bow.

Click below to view the footage:

On the most recent mission, Parazynski was also joined by his wife, Professor Meenakshi Wadhwa, who is the director of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration, and the NASA Mars Sample Return program scientist. Wadhwa is in charge of making sure the samples being collected by NASA's Perseverance Rover are brought back to earth in good condition.

"Robotic exploration is incredible at being able to do that, but the human experience is something that's totally different, and being able to see it with your own eyes is going to be transformational," said Wadhwa about the Titanic expedition.

The mission also included P.H. Nargeolet, who is on OceanGate's team of experts. Nargeolet was the leader of six expeditions to the Titanic wreck site between 1987 and 2010 and was in charge of retrieving more than 5,500 Titanic artifacts.

OceanGate is embarking on its final expedition to the Titanic this week to continue gathering footage. The goal is to make a precise 3D image of the Titanic to better track the ship's decay and possibly predict how long it will be there.

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Former NASA astronaut joins Everett company in expedition to the Titanic - KING5.com

For Dr. Bernard Kokenge, PHD 66, Ohio University isnt just the place where he earned a doctoral degree he never intended to get. Its the community where he and his wife started their family and continue to make memories. And its where some sage advice from a professor led to a career that took his workand his nameto the moon and beyond.

The older you get, the more you look back, says Kokenge, who resides in Springboro, Ohio, with his wife, Joy. We look back on our days at Ohio University and how it was so formative for usnot just the academic part but the living. It helped us to prepare for the future.

The newlywed couple arrived in Athens 60 years ago this month, with Joy expecting their first child and Kokenge accepted for graduate studies in the Department of Chemistry. They moved into old military barracks on East State Street that had been converted into married student housing14 units total, each housing eight families, and all without air conditioning.

Kokenge came to campus with a goal of earning a masters degree and becoming a college professor. A qualifying exam given to graduate students at the time instead landed him in the chemistry departments doctorate programOHIOs first PhD program, established in 1956.

There might have a been a little bit of disappointment in the sense that it looked like I was going to be there a little longer, Kokenge remembers. Joy chimed in right way, saying, Lets stick it out. We were there, and we wanted to make the most of it.

Kokenge was one of approximately 15 graduate students in the program that yearall men and only two of them married. He studied under the direction of the now late Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Dr. James Tong whose research was supported by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission. It was research that not only proved valuable in his future career but provided Kokenge a summer grant that supplemented the $1,800 stipend he earned during the rest of the academic year.

We didnt have much, and we really had to scrape by, Kokenge says. But it was the best years of our life.

The Kokenges were there in 1963 when comedian Bob Hope touched down at the Ohio University Airportthen located near their military barracks apartment off East State Streetfor a performance on campus. They watched as President Lyndon B. Johnson delivered his Great Society speech on The College Green in May 1964. And, like all Athens Campus students in those days, their OHIO years were marked by regular flooding of the Hocking River, which the Kokenges remembered turned Peden Stadium into a lake and buckled the floors of Grover Center.

Their fondest memories, however, were of OHIOs annual Homecoming festivitiesand those of 1964 in particular. That was the year that Joy, seven months pregnant with their second child, was named Mrs. Ohio University through the Universitys chapter of the National Association of University Dames, an organization for the wives of married students. Joy served as president of OHIOs affiliate of the National Association of University Dames from 1963-64.

Homecomings were always a big thing, and we always enjoyed them, Joy says. We got to ride in the Homecoming Parade in 1964, so that was a real highlight. We were also invited to President Aldens home for the National Association of University Dames Putting Hubby Through program.

Indeed, Joy did help get her husband not only through, but to Ohio University, where, Kokenge proudly says, We pursued my PhD.

It was Joy and a professor at the University of Dayton, where Kokenge earned his bachelors degree in chemistry, who convinced him to pursue graduate studies. And it was Joy who took to the typewriter, using two sheets of onionskin paper separated by carbon paper, to compile all the chemical formulas and research in her husbands 126-page dissertation.

When it came time for Kokenge to look for jobs, the now late Professor Emeritus of Chemistry Dr. Robert Kline steered the soon-to-be OHIO graduate in a life-changing direction. With several job offers in hand, Kokenge came to Kline for his advice.

Having worked with the U.S. Department of Energys Los Alamos National Laboratory, Kline recommended that Kokenge accept an offer from the Monsanto Research Corp.s Mound Laboratory in Miamisburg, Ohio, a facility operated by the Atomic Energy Commission.

He said, Bernie, I can only recommend what I know about, Kokenge remembers of his conversation with Kline. He had an idea of what Mound was doing, and he said, Youre going to have a unique opportunityone that not too many people will haveif you work there.

Kokenge started his career as a senior research chemist at the Mound Laboratory, which at the time was engaged in the development of nuclear weapon componentsas an offshoot of the Manhattan Projectand the creation of a new way of generating power. Scientists at Mound had invented what was known as radioisotopic thermoelectric generators (RTGs), a type of nuclear battery fueled by plutonium-238. Kokenges work at Mound focused on the RTG batteries and, most notably, improving and refining plutonium-238 fuels, a task and a challenge he successfully completed, earning him a patent on the modified fuel form in 1972.

I was fortunate to join Mound at a time when this concept of plutonium-238 heat sources was just starting, Kokenge says. Dr. Kline told me Id have a chance to do some things that are very unique, and, boy, was he right on.

Some of the plutonium-238 RTGs produced at Mound, and later fueled by Kokenges improved plutonium-238, powered spacecrafts and scientific instruments of several NASA missions. RTGs used during the Apollo missions and moon landingand still on the lunar surfacestudied everything from the bodys atmosphere to its seismic activity. 1975s Viking Mars Landers, the first missions to land on Mars, included RTGs that operated for four to six years. And Pioneer 10, NASAs first mission to the outer planets, continued to send signals back to Earth for more than 30 years, powered by Kokenges plutonium-238 fuel.

Kokenges achievements at Mound literally launched his name into space. His signaturealongside those of NASA workers and contractorscan be found on scientific instruments on the moon and on the Galileo spacecraft, which plunged into Jupiters atmosphere in 2003.

None of this would have been possible without those RTGs, Kokenge says. They were the sources of power, the onboard power utility if you will, for all these scientific probes. We were only one small part of an overall effort, but you feel good about contributing to what the United States has been able to do over the years in space exploration. Youve done something thats left a footprint on our scientific endeavors.

Kokenge moved into management at Mound, eventually becoming associate director of the laboratory, responsible not only for the space program but also for the research, development and production of nuclear weapon components.

In 1986, Kokenge finally landed the career he had set out for when he enrolled at OHIO. He accepted a position as vice president of strategic planning and program development at Kentucky Christian College, where he was also afforded the opportunity to teach chemistry and physics. He went on to become a consultant for the U.S. Departments of Energy and Labor, using his college education and work at the Mound Laboratory to help index the chemicals and toxic materials workers had been exposed to over the years.

Kokenge retired in April 2020, and as the couple embarked on a new chapter in their lives, they couldnt help but think back to where it all began.

It was a sad day when we moved out of the barracks, Joy recalls. We had such great friends down there. Wed do limbo in the yards and have parties in the evenings. We just had a great time, and it was like a big familyand great memories.

Those memories have continued over the years. The Kokenges stayed in touch with some of the friends they made in Athens and with Dr. Tong, last visiting with him in October 2010 when they returned to campus for a football game. And theyve kept up with visits to their first home as a family.

In May, they participated in the OHIO @ home series, taking a virtual tour of the new Chemistry Building on the Athens Campus. The couple returned to campus this summer to see the new 34,000-square-foot facilitythe 21st-century version of the research labs and classrooms Kokenge experienced back in the 1960s when the chemistry program was housed in a building across from Bentley Hall.

Im personally grateful to Ohio University and its professors for the training, the encouragement and the recommendations I received over the years, Kokenge says. Joy and I have been blessed to be able to do a lot of things over the years, and we are so grateful to Ohio University for the experience we had. It was the best experience.

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60 years later, Bobcats reflect on OHIO learning, living and 'the best years of our life' - Ohio University

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson on Monday commended Virgin Galactic founder Sir Richard Branson after he traveled to the edge of space as a passenger on his company's VSS Unity spacecraft.

"We put up Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom into suborbit 60 years ago, and now we've come to this, and I think it's great," Nelson, who went to space in the 1980s, said in an interview on CNBC's "Squawk Box."

Branson's flight was a milestone nearly two decades in the making after the billionaire businessman started his space tourism firm in 2004. VSS Unity on Sunday reached an altitude of 86.1 kilometers, which is equivalent to 53.5 miles or about 282,000 feet. It took off from Spaceport America in New Mexico and later landed back at the facility.

Branson's closely watched flight made him the first of the billionaire space company creators to fly on his own spacecraft, ahead of Jeff Bezos, who started Blue Origin, and Elon Musk, who founded SpaceX.

Bezos, founder and executive chair of Amazon and the world's wealthiest person, is scheduled to travel to space a week from Tuesday on Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket.

Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin are more direct rivals, competing in the area called suborbital space tourism. SpaceX flies longer trips into orbit and has carried astronauts to the International Space Station.

Musk has a ticket for a future flight on a Virgin Galactic trip.

Billionaire entrepreneur Richard Branson prepares to spray champagne after flying with a crew in Virgin Galactic's passenger rocket plane VSS Unity to the edge of space at Spaceport America near Truth or Consequences, New Mexico, U.S., July 11, 2021.

Joe Skipper | Reuters

"I think what these billionaires are doing is great, and I think what Elon Musk has done, going to orbit with astronaut crews, I think that is great," Nelson said, describing all efforts to venture beyond the Earth's surface in philosophic language.

He also pushed back on criticisms that it is not worthwhile. "We never want to lose our character as explorers, as adventurers," said Nelson, a former Democratic U.S. senator from Florida who officially took the helm at NASA in May.

Nelson is a former astronaut, too. In 1986, while a member of the House of Representatives, Nelson served as a payload specialist on a NASA mission, orbiting the Earth nearly 100 times over six days.

Virgin Galactic on July 1 announced its plans for Sunday's test spaceflight, including Branson's participation. Bezos' scheduled flight on July 20 was already public at that point, prompting a widespread belief that Branson intentionally wanted to beat Bezos to space.

Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic executives have publicly gone back and forth about the boundary of space, and Nelson said the spirit of competition and "trash talk" is an understandable element to what some have billed as the billionaire space race.

But as far as the U.S. is concerned, Nelson said the government is focused on China.

"The real space race, which used to be with the Soviet Union years ago, I think that space race is going to be more and more with China, as the Chinese government becomes increasingly aggressive in their space program and, I might say, very successful."

Nelson said China has not been very transparent around its space program, but noted the U.S. has been able to work with rival nations the former Soviet Union, now Russia in space despite geopolitical tensions that existed on Earth.

"Back in the middle of the Cold War, 1975, an American spacecraft rendezvoused and docked with a Soviet spacecraft and the crews lived together for nine days," Nelson recalled. "Ever since we have had cooperation between the Russians and the Americans in civil space. They are our partners on board the International Space Station."

China's efforts thus far "reminds us of the old Soviet Union early days, but we broke that mold with the Russians," he said.

CNBC's Michael Sheetz contributed to this report.

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NASA chief says Richard Branson's flight was a great milestone in human space exploration - CNBC

Stable Road Acquisition Corp.s shares fell 10% Wednesday, after the Securities and Exchange Commission charged the company, its space-exploration acquisition target and executives with making misleading comments.

Stable Road SRAC, -0.10% a special-purpose acquisition company, or SPAC agreed to merge with Momentus Inc., an early-stage space-exploration company, last fall at an enterprise value of about $1.2 billion. The SEC said in a release Tuesday that former Momentus Chief Executive Mikhail Kokorich claimed that Momentus had successfully tested its technology in space, but in fact its only in-space test had failed, and that the parties misrepresented national-security concerns about Kokorich that could preclude the company from receiving government contracts, with all of the false claims included in SEC filings.

Momentuss former CEO is alleged to have engaged in fraud by misrepresenting the viability of the companys technology and his status as a national security threat, inducing shareholders to approve a merger in which he stood to obtain shares worth upwards of $200 million, Anita Bandy, associate director of the SECs enforcement division, said in a release.

The SEC plans to move forward with charges against Kokorich, while the other named parties Stable Road, its sponsor as well as CEO Brian Kabot, and Momentus have agreed to settle the charges for collective civil penalties of more than $8 million as well as certain protections and other penalties.

See also: More money is pouring into the space industry

The SEC has been looking closer at SPACs since the funding mechanism boomed during the COVID-19 pandemic, bringing another space-exploration company, Virgin Galactic Inc. SPCE, -3.88%, to the public markets along with sports-gambling company DraftKings Inc. DKNG, -1.57%, a host of electric-vehicle companies and many more.

For more: SPACs arent dead, but they dont look too healthy

This case illustrates risks inherent to SPAC transactions, as those who stand to earn significant profits from a SPAC merger may conduct inadequate due diligence and mislead investors, SEC Chairman Gary Gensler said in a statement. Stable Road, a SPAC, and its merger target, Momentus, both misled the investing public. The fact that Momentus lied to Stable Road does not absolve Stable Road of its failure to undertake adequate due diligence to protect shareholders.

The SEC filed a complaint against Kokorich in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that seeks to bar him from acting as an officer or director of a public company, as well as other penalties. The complaint states that Kokorich, a Russian citizen, left the U.S. on Jan. 27, two days after resigning as CEO of Momentus, which is based in Santa Clara, Calif. The 45-year-old is currently residing in Switzerland, according to the complaint.

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Space-exploration SPAC targeted by SEC in crackdown - MarketWatch

A plasma rocket engine now being tested holds new promise for NASAs space exploration plans.

NASA would get a budget boost under a new House spending plan, including for its return to the moon.

A space analytics company has hired a team of veteran staffers to raise its profile on Capitol Hill.

WELCOME BACK TO POLITICO SPACE, our must-read briefing on the policies and personalities shaping the new space age in Washington and beyond. Email us at [emailprotected] with tips, pitches and feedback, and find us on Twitter at @bryandbender. And dont forget to check out POLITICO's astropolitics page for articles, Q&As and more.

TOTAL TRANSFORMATION: Thats what rocket company Ad Astra is ultimately hoping to achieve in deep space travel as it continues to test-fire its VASIMR plasma engine into the weekend with the goal of reaching a 100 hours set by NASA.

This is electric propulsion taken to a new level of power, the companys CEO, Franklin Chang-Diaz, told us on Thursday from Houston. Weve been after that goal for many years now. Assuming everything stays all together, the rocket seems to be comfortable and all the temperatures stable. Everything seems to be working out. Its a big deal for us.

How does it work? Chang-Diaz, a mechanical engineer and former NASA astronaut, calls the engine, with an exhaust temperature of 5 million degrees, an alphabet soup of super-charged particles. This is what the sun and stars are made out of.

He added that there is no other electric rocket that has the capability. The most powerful operational electric rocket is 5 kilowatts. Were at 80 kilowatts right now and weve been running for more than three days. No one has ever fired a rocket at this level.

Ultimately, the vision is essentially marrying a nuclear-electric power source to the engine, he added. We believe nuclear-electric is the end game.

Why it could be a game-changer: Ad Astra was the only one of the three companies awarded NASA contracts in 2015 under the NextSTEP public-private partnership that is still in the running. If it can successfully complete the engineering phase, Chang-Diaz maintains, the engine could fuel a total transformation of the transportation scheme.

We can see missions to Mars that could be two to three months one way and even faster than that as the technology progresses, he explained, compared to seven to eight months and maybe even longer. It would completely transform the way transportation is done.

That also means moving stuff from low-Earth orbit to the vicinity of the moon, picking up trash, repositioning satellites, transporting supplies, essentially supporting a logistics traffic system, he said.

As for human space travel? Less radiation, less consumables, everything is better, Chang-Diaz said. A nuclear-electric engine would also mean spacefarers could more easily turn back or change course if needed, unlike traditional spacecraft, which are essentially designed to coast to their destination. When you have a rocket like ours, you are really thrusting all the time, Chang-Diaz said.

Whats his biggest worry? Right now its not whether the engine will work; its almost boring to watch, he said. Its whether the companys facility can survive the test. The vacuum requirements are extreme. Its putting a lot of exhaust into a chamber. You have to remove it, he said. The electricity we have to feed into the facility is very expensive. The facility is the challenge, at least now. Maybe a year ago I would have said the rocket was the challenge. Now the facility is the challenge.

NASA BUDGET BOOST: The House Appropriations Committee this week marked up its version of the fiscal 2022 NASA budget, calling for an increase in funding for human space exploration, including a $150 million boost to the Human Landing System program to return American astronauts to the surface of the moon.

But is it enough to fund a second design for the HLS, as Congress wants? The space agencys sole award to SpaceX in April set off a round of recriminations and a pair of protests from teams led by Blue Origin and Dynetics. SpacePolicyOnline has more on what it all might mean for getting back to the moon, calling the panels proposal to select a parallel design meager.

Overall, the House appropriations panel approved $25.04 billion for the space agency for next year, nearly $2 billion over this years budget.

Read up: The full committee report on the Commerce, Science, Justice and Related Agencies spending bill and the draft legislation.

NRO DOUBLES DOWN: Planet Labs announced Thursday that the National Reconnaissance Office has renewed its contract for unclassified satellite imagery for defense and intelligence missions.

The super-secret NRO, which builds and operates the nations spy satellites, has increasingly relied on commercial imagery in recent years, opening up new opportunities for remote sensing companies such as Planet Labs, BlackSky Global, HySpecIQ and Maxar. The agency said last year it plans to award multiple such contracts in the future.

This is a standalone award directly to Planet, but we are also awaiting a competitive solicitation for commercial imagery services that will be open for multiple companies to compete, a Planet spokesperson told us. The contract amount was not disclosed.

The original Planet Labs contract was signed in 2019.

Plus: National Reconnaissance Office official picked to run Space Force acquisitions command, via Space News.

INTO THE WILD BLUE YONDER: Richard Bransons flight to the edge of space aboard Virgin Galactics SpaceShipTwo went off without a hitch on Sunday. But an even bigger test for the burgeoning space tourism industry is the the first human flight scheduled for 9 a.m. Tuesday from West Texas of Blue Origins New Shepard, with a crew that includes the companys founder, Jeff Bezos.

Who else is going? Blue Origin on Thursday named the final member of the crew, 18-year-old Oliver Daemen, who will be the youngest person to travel to space.

Parting gift: The Amazon founder, who also owns The Washington Post, this week committed to donate $200 million to renovate the Smithsonians National Air & Space Museum in Washington and build a new education center. It marks the single biggest donation since the founding gift to the institution in 1846 from James Smithson.

"We're delighted that Jeff is making this commitment to help us extend the Smithsonian's reach and impact, as we seek to inspire the next generation of scientists, astronauts, engineers, educators and entrepreneurs, Steve Case, chair of the Smithsonian Board of Regents, said in a statement.

More: Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin will bring science along on their joyrides, via Popular Science.

And: Russias space chief wishes his oligarchs invested in space like Branson and Musk, via ArsTechnica.

WAKE UP CALL? We checked in with a range of space policy experts for this weeks POLITICOs China Watcher newsletter on what Chinas recent run of major successes means for the future of space commerce and exploration.

What to worry about: The [Chinese Communist] Party has control over vast state resources and can plan long term on which sectors to fund, says Namrata Goswami, a space policy scholar and co-author of Scramble for the Skies: The Great Power Competition to Control the Resources of Outer Space.

Those sectors, she said, include space resource utilization such as mining on the moon and developing renewable energy via space-based solar power, as well as leap-frogging in high-tech areas such as artificial intelligence, robotics and quantum computing.

U.S. policymakers have failed to grasp that this is part of China building a space infrastructure that would benefit and help it overtake the U.S. by 2049, she said. President Xi Jinping has included space as part of his focus on turning China from manufacturing into a high tech and innovation sector focused on services.

What might be next? They will test in-space power beaming, land reusable rockets, establish a lunar research station, build a solar power satellite prototype, test lunar 3-D printing, capture a small asteroid and return it to Earth, and fly nuclear-powered spacecraft, said retired Air Force Lt. Col. Peter Garretson, a space strategist who is now a senior fellow in defense studies at the American Foreign Policy Council.

These ventures are aimed at creating the building blocks for an Earth-independent supply chain to become an in-space industrial giant and dominant space power, he added.

Will China treat space differently? Scott Pace, who served as executive secretary of the White House Space Council until January, says he has few illusions that Beijing will treat space any differently than its aggressive economic and security behavior here on Earth. Will Chinese behavior in commercial space be markedly different than in other commercial sectors? Pace asked. Probably not. Will Chinese behavior in outer space be different than in other shared domains, such as the oceans? Maybe.

Not everyone seems so worried. China is definitely advancing its capabilities and the relative power balance is shifting, Brian Weeden, director of program planning at the Secure World Foundation, told us. But that is generally because they started from a much lower point than the U.S. did.

I dont quite buy into the China hype, he added, but I am concerned.

TEACHING MOMENT: Kayrros, an Earth observation analytics company specializing in the energy sector with offices in New York and Houston, recently enlisted an influential team of lobbyists at the S-3 Group to educate on Kayrros, a geospatial platform that leverages satellites to provide global, real-time and granular measurement to better understand the energy market and related infrastructure developments, according to a recent public disclosure.

Kayrros lobbying team includes Mike Ference, who was an aide to former Rep. Eric Cantor and Sens. Jim Inhofe and Roy Blunt; Matt Bravo, who worked for Rep. Steve Scalise; Kevin Casey, former senior policy director of the Democratic Caucus; Olivia Kurtz, a former chief of staff to Sen. Susan Collins who also worked for former Rep. Mike Castle; and Jose Ceballos, a former Department of Transportation official.

TRIVIA

Congrats to Kevin Canole, a senior program specialist in the Office of International and Interagency Relations at NASA headquarters, for being the first to correctly answer that the Apollo 13 astronauts traveled the farthest of any humans from Earth.

This weeks question: How many moons are there in our solar system? And which one is the largest and which moon is the smallest?

The first person to email [emailprotected] with the correct answers gets bragging rights and a shoutout in the next newsletter!

NASA seeks proposals for commercial space station development: Space News

NASA, Northrop Grumman finalize moon outpost living quarters contract: NASA

NASA says its figured out whats wrong with the Hubble: Futurism

NASA identifying, addressing spacesuit development challenges: Aviation Week

Space startup Momentus hires former U.S. defense official as CEO: Reuters

Space startup Momentus charged by SEC with misleading investors: The Verge

China is using mythology and sci-fi to sell its space program to the world: The Space Review

Israel's SpaceIL secures funds for new lunar mission: The Associated Press

City-sized asteroids smacked ancient Earth 10 times more often than thought: Space.com

Star Treks warp drive leads to new physics: Scientific American

TODAY: New Space New Mexicos State of the Space Industrial Base conference continues.

TUESDAY: The House Science, Space, and Technology Committee holds a hearing on Spectrum Needs for Observations in Earth and Space Sciences at 10 a.m.

TUESDAY: The Washington Space Business Council hosts NRO Director Chris Scolese at 1 p.m.

Link:

The rocket engine that could transform space travel - Politico

South Koreas space program is set for a major boost with new satellites to keep it at the forefront of the 6G communications competition and more eyes in the sky for national security purposes, the science minister said.

Lim Hye-sook said this means launching multitasking satellites on home-grown rockets, and eventually a mission to the moon. Space exploration will be the platform for new businesses, Lim, who received her doctorate in electrical engineering and computer science from the University of Texas, said in interview with Bloomberg this week.

WATCH: South Koreas Science and ICT Minister Lim Hye-sook discusses the countrys advances in its space program.

South Korea saw limits removed on its rocket development earlier this year when the U.S. lifted restrictions in a bilateral agreement, which could help the country build more powerful rocket engines and quickly play catch-up in the commercial space business. U.S. President Joe Biden and President Moon Jae-in ended bilateral missile guideline in May that had long restricted Seouls development of missiles to under the range of 800 kilometers (500 miles).

One big test comes in October when South Korea plans to launch its three-stage Nuri rocket, a $1.8 billion project designed to put a 1.5-ton satellite into a orbit about 600 to 800 kms above the Earth. It would be a major advancement over its two-stage Naro space vehicle built with domestic and Russian technology that was hit by delays and two failed launches before a successful flight in 2013 -- carrying a 100-kilogram (220-pound) research satellite.

The space industry is a cutting edge industry thats based on intelligence, but also a crucial one for national strategy in terms of securing national security and public safety, Lim said. She didnt mention any specific country that may be watched from above but the military threat from North Korea has persisted since the Cold War, while a more aggressive China has raised concerns among some in Seoul.

South Korea may be a world leader in several tech sectors, but its space program lags behind that of neighbors China and Japan. North Korea has fired off intercontinental ballistic missiles and a rudimentary civilian rocket using ICBM technology that could be seen as exceeding what South Korea has launched so far.

South Korea has been pushing to fully activate its 425 Project of high-resolution surveillance satellites as early as next year, which would have civilian and military applications to watch the Korean Peninsula including North Korea.

South Korea is planning to build its own satellite navigation system, as well as a 6G communications satellite network, Lim said, adding it plans to send a spaceship to the moon by 2030. South Korea has been aiming to send a probe there for more than a decade, and in May it joined NASAs Artemis program, which plans to return humans to the lunar surface.

Lim also talked about plans to bolster the semiconductor industry, coronavirus research and heading to the moon in the interview.

Here are some highlights:

In the semiconductor industry for example, the memory chip sector is one where South Korea is the best in the world. However, were unable to secure an edge for the system semiconductor market. Securing an edge would be extremely helpful in securing a gateway to the world supply chain.

Were pushing for many South Koreans to be learning digital technology to lessen the impact of the digital divide, and were actively cultivating human resources regarding software and artificial intelligence. We have also opened our AI data to the public. We anticipate this would bring positive effects across all industries in Korea.

Were looking forward to putting together the research conducted separately by universities and research institutes. We think itll take the role of a holistic support system for virus research support and the latest facilities for research.

The most significant part is that Korea gets to participate in space exploration. We will make an effort to operate in a transparent and responsible way. We plan on expanding space exploration-related investment through joining the Artemis program and revising our system to work on the foundation for the private sector to lead in space exploration.

Should we have our own Korean satellite Global Positioning System, we will have an accurate and detailed positioning system. The reason we need this is for its precision that will be utilized by our new businesses and industries such as urban air-mobility, drones, and self-driving services.

(Updates with additional quote.)

Before it's here, it's on the Bloomberg Terminal.

See the original post:

South Korea Seeks to Move Up Its Spot in Global Space Race - Bloomberg

Liu Boming took in the dizzy view. Around him lay the inky vastness of space. Below was the Earth. Wow, he said, laughing. Its too beautiful out here. Over the next seven hours Liu and his colleague Tang Hongbo carried out Chinas second spacewalk, helped along by a giant robotic arm.

Mission accomplished, the two taikonauts Chinas astronauts clambered back into their home for the next three months: Beijings new space station. The core module of the station, named Tiangong, meaning heavenly palace, was launched in April. There will be more spacewalks. The station will keep growing, Liu said.

Meanwhile, on Mars, a Chinese rover was exploring. Video shows the vehicle trundling over a rocky surface. There is even sound: an eerie mechanical groaning. Since landing in May the Zhurong probe has been busy seeking clues as to whether Mars once supported life. There is no answer yet: so far it has travelled just over 410 metres.

China is only the second country to land and operate a rover on the red planet, after the US. The frantic tempo of the China National Space Administrations (CNSA) recent programme is reminiscent of the cold war, when Moscow and Washington were superpower rivals scrambling to put the first man in space and land on the moon.

Half a century on, space has opened up. It is less ideological and a lot more crowded. About 72 countries have space programmes, including India, Brazil, Japan, Canada, South Korea and the UAE. The European Space Agency is active too, while the UK boasts the most private space startups after the US.

Space today is also highly commercial. On Sunday Richard Branson flew to the edge of space and back again in his Virgin Galactic passenger rocket. On Tuesday, Bransons fellow billionaire Jeff Bezos is due to travel in his own reusable craft, New Shepard, built by the Amazon founders company Blue Origin and launched from west Texas.

Non-state actors play an increasingly important role in space exploration. Elon Musks SpaceX vehicles have made numerous flights to the International Space Station (ISS), and since last year they have transported people as well as cargo. Later this year Musk is due to send his own all-civilian crew into orbit though he isnt going himself.

Even so, space still reflects tensions on Earth. Astropolitics follows terrapolitics, says Mark Hilborne, a lecturer in defence studies at Kings College London. Up there anything goes, he adds. Space governance is a bit fuzzy. Laws are few and very old. They are not written for asteroid mining or for a time when companies dominate.

The biggest challenge to US space supremacy comes not from Russia heir to the Soviet Unions pioneering space programme, which launched the Sputnik satellite and got the first human into space in the form of Yuri Gagarin but from China.

In 2011 Congress prohibited US scientists from cooperating with Beijing. Its fear: scientific espionage. Taikonauts are banned from visiting the ISS, which has hosted astronauts from 19 countries over the past 20 years. The stations future beyond 2028 is uncertain. Its operations may yet be extended in the face of increasing Chinese competition.

In its annual threat assessment this April, the office of the US Director of National Intelligence (DNI) described China as a near-peer competitor pushing for global power. It warns: Beijing is working to match or exceed US capabilities in space to gain the military, economic, and prestige benefits that Washington has accrued from space leadership.

The Biden administration suspects Chinese satellites are being used for non-civilian purposes. The Peoples Liberation Army integrates reconnaissance and navigation data in military command and control systems, the DNI says. Satellites are inherently dual use. Its not like the difference between an F15 fighter jet and a 737 passenger plane, Hilborne says.

Once China completes the Tiangong space station next year, it is likely to invite foreign astronauts to take part in missions. One goal: to build new soft-power alliances. Beijing says interest from other countries is enormous. The low Earth orbit station is part of an ambitious development strategy in the heavens rather than on land a sort of belt and rocket initiative.

According to Alanna Krolikowski, an assistant professor at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, a bifurcation of space exploration is under way. In one emerging camp are states led by China and Russia, many of them authoritarian; in the other are democracies and like-minded countries aligned with the US.

Russia has traditionally worked closely with the Americans, even when terrestrial relations were bad. Now it is moving closer to Beijing. In March, China and Russia announced plans to co-build an international lunar research station. The agreement comes at a time when Vladimir Putins government has been increasingly isolated and subject to western sanctions. In June, Putin and his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping renewed a friendship treaty. Moscow is cosying up to Beijing out of necessity, at a time of rising US-China bipolarity.

These rival geopolitical factions are fighting over a familiar mountainous surface: the moon. In 2019 a Chinese rover landed on its far side a first. China is now planning a mission to the moons south pole, to establish a robotic research station and an eventual lunar base, which would be intermittently crewed.

Nasa, meanwhile, has said it intends to put a woman and a person of colour on the moon by 2024. SpaceX has been hired to develop a lander. The return to the moon after the last astronaut, commander Eugene Cernan, said goodbye in December 1972 would be a staging post for the ultimate giant leap, Nasa says: sending astronauts to Mars.

Krolikowski is sceptical that China will quickly overtake the US to become the worlds leading spacefaring country. A lot of what China is doing is a reprisal of what the cold war space programmes did in the 1960s and 1970s, she said. Beijings recent feats of exploration have as much to do with national pride as scientific discovery, she says.

But there is no doubting Beijings desire to catch up, she adds. The Chinese government has established, or has plans for, programmes or missions in every major area, whether its Mars missions, building mega constellations of telecommunications satellites, or exploring asteroids. There is no single area of space activity they are not involved in.

We see a tightening of the Russia-China relationship, Krolikowski says. In the 1950s the Soviet Union provided a wide range of technical assistance to Beijing. Since the 1990s, however, the Russian space establishment has experienced long stretches of underfunding and stagnation. China now presents it with new opportunities.

Russia is poised to benefit from cost sharing, while China gets deep-rooted Russian technical expertise. At least, thats the theory. Im sceptical this joint space project will materialise anytime soon, says Alexander Gabuev, a senior fellow at the Carnegie Moscow Centre. Gabuev says both countries are techno-nationalist. Previous agreements to develop helicopters and wide-bodied aircraft saw nothing actually made, he says.

The Kremlin has been a key partner in managing and resupplying the ISS. US astronauts used Russian Soyuz rockets to reach the station, taking off from a cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, after the Space Shuttle programme was phased out. But this epoch seems to be coming to an end as private companies such as SpaceX take over. I expect US-Russian relations to get worse, Gabuev says, adding that Americans no longer need Russias help.

Moscows state corporation for space activities, Roscosmos, has faced accusations of being more interested in politics than space research. Last month the newspaper Novaya Gazeta reported that Roscosmoss executive director of manned space programmes, former cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, had been fired. His apparent crime: questioning an official decision to shoot a film on the Russian section of the ISS.

The film, Challenge, is about a female surgeon operating on a cosmonaut in space, and has been backed and financed by Roscosmos . It stars Yulia Peresild, who is due to head to space in October with director Klim Shipenko. The launch seems timed to beat Tom Cruise, who is due to shoot his own movie on board the ISS with director Doug Liman.

Krikalev, who spent more than 800 days in space and was in orbit when the USSR collapsed, apparently told Roscomoss chief, Dmitry Rogozin, that the film was pointless. Rogozin its co-producer has called on the west to drop sanctions in return for Russias cooperation on space projects. Putin, Rogozins boss, appears to not be very interested in other planets, though, and is more concerned with nature and the climate crisis these days.

Space is one of the areas that has traditionally transcended politics. The Mir space station worked at a time of east-west tensions. There was symbolic cooperation. Whether this will continue in the future is really up for debate, Hilborne says. The US is very sensitive about what happens in space.

Most observers think the US will remain the worlds pre-eminent space power, thanks to its innovative and flourishing private sector. Chinas Soviet-style state programme appears less nimble. Despite ambitious timetables, and billions spent by Beijing, it is unclear when or even if an astronaut will return to the moon. The 2030s, perhaps? Will they be American or Chinese? Or from a third country?

It may well be that the first person to boldly go again doesnt merely represent a nation or carry a flag. More likely, they will emerge from a lunar lander wearing a spacesuit with a SpaceX logo on the back a giant leap not only for mankind, but for galactic marketing.

Excerpt from:

The space race is back on but who will win? - The Guardian