Iridium Next enters the homestretch · a fund of nearly $1 billion to support space startups. The fund, supported by the government and other organizations, would offer $940 million

MARCH 26, 2018BUSINESS | POLITICS | PERSPECTIVE

I N S I D E

■ Q&A with USSTRATCOM boss ■ Replacing JSTARS■ China space insights

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Iridium Next enters the homestretch

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ABOVE: Stephen Hawking, who died March 14 at age 76, receives a commemorative NASA montage in 2015 from then-NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. The montage includes a photo of Hawking’s 2007 zero-gravity flight (NASA/Michael Cockerham).

ON THE COVER: A CLUSTER OF IRIDIUM NEXT SATELLITES ABOUT TO BE ENCAPSULATED INSIDE A FALCON 9 PAYLOAD FAIRING.

C O N T E N T S 0 3 . 2 6 . 1 8

DEPARTMENTS

FEATURES

9Iridium Next enters the homestretchA decade of work is about to

come to fruition for Iridium.

21China space insightsThe just-concluded

National People’s

Congress provided a rare

opportunity for updates

on China’s space program.

12JSTARS replacementThe Air Force says it’s time to

move on, but Congress isn’t

quite ready to replace the

ground surveillance aircraft.

16Q&A: U.S. Air Force Gen. John HytenThe STRATCOM boss says

U.S. space strategy, budget

moving ‘down the right path.’

@SpaceNews_Inc youtube.com/user/SpaceNewsInc linkedin.com/company/spacenewsFb.com/SpaceNewslncFOLLOW US

3 QUICK TAKES

6 NEWS Spacecom ready to

order Amos-8

NASA to allow

nuclear power systems

for next Discovery

mission

Japan to add second

launch pad for H3

24 ON NATIONAL SECURITY Space Force fans, be

careful what you wish

26 COMMENTARY Beyer and Miracky A new governance

model to grow U.S.

space launch capability

28 COMMENTARY Robert Zubrin Moon Direct:How to

build a moon base in

four years

32 FOUST FORWARD The never-ending

appropriations story Come See Us! April 16-19Stop by the SpaceNews booth during the 34th Space Symposium to get your free trial subscription to the magazine.

Booth 730 in the Ball Aerospace Exhibit Center

2 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

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GLOBAL SPACE APPLICATIONS CONFERENCE (GLAC 2018)

21 - 23 May 2018 | Montevideo, Uruguay

www.glac2018.org

It is with great pleasure that the IAF welcomes you to its upcoming event in the IAF Global Conferences series, the Global Space Applicati ons Conference, GLAC 2018. GLAC 2018 is designed to encouraging the sharing of programmati c, technical and policy informati on, as well as collaborati ve soluti ons, challenges, lessons learnt, and paths forward among all nati ons with the desire to improve space applicati ons and their usage. The GLAC 2018 will provide an excellent opportunity to review the state of the art of satellite-based applicati ons, with a focus on: Farming and fi shing, Integrated risk management, Climate, Natural resources, Mapping, Legal Aspects (Legal Regulati ons).

Global Space Applications Conference

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QUICK TAKES

HEAD TO HEAD The U.S. Air Force split a set of new launch contracts between SpaceX and United Launch

Alliance. The Air Force announced March 14 it was awarding SpaceX three launches of GPS

3 satellites on Falcon 9 vehicles from late 2019 through 2020 in an order valued at $290

million. The Air Force also ordered two Atlas 5 launches of the AFSPC-8 and -12 missions to

geosynchronous orbit in 2020 in a deal valued at $351 million. AFSPC-8 will carry a third pair of

Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program satellites while AFSPC-12 will fly a wide-

field-of-view testbed and set of auxiliary payloads.

DigitalGlobe announced the same day that it selected selected SpaceX to launch the first

phase of its Legion satellite imaging constellation. DigitalGlobe said the initial block of the

multi-satellite WorldView Legion constellation will be launched on two Falcon 9 rockets in 2021.

The company didn’t disclose the number of satellites that will be launched on those missions.

The satellites will double to triple the company’s existing capacity for high-resolution satellite

imagery.

Meanwhile, ULA is making efforts to win more commercial business for its Atlas and future

Vulcan rockets. Speaking March 12 at Satellite 2018, ULA president and CEO Tory Bruno said

the company is working to focus more attention on commercial customers through measures

like taking sales and marketing of the Atlas in-house. Bruno said the first two Vulcan launches,

planned for 2020, will also be commercial missions and will be part of efforts to win certification

of the vehicle for government missions. However, he said the bulk of ULA’s business will

continue to be with government customers. Bruno declined to state when the company will

select an engine for the Vulcan’s first stage other than “soon.”

SIGNIFICANT DIGITS

$50BElon Musk has hit the jackpot, but not at SpaceX. Shareholders of Te-sla, the electric car company that Musk also runs, approved a pay package March 21 for Musk that could be worth more than $50 bil-lion over the next decade, depend-ing on how well the company meets goals tied to its market value and revenues. Musk said that he expects to remain CEO of Tesla under the new compensation package, even while maintaining his roles leading SpaceX and other ventures.

$20.7BThe omnibus spending bill that cleared Congress last week provides NASA with more than $20.7 billion for fiscal year 2018. The bill offers NASA more than $1.6 billion above the administration’s original re-quest, and is also above House and Senate versions of spending bills developed last year. The bill funds four Earth science missions slated for cancellation in the 2018 request as well as NASA’s education office, slated for closure in the proposal. It also fully funds the Restore-L satel-lite servicing mission and includes $350 million to build a second mo-bile launch platform for the SLS.

$12.5BThe U.S. Defense Department is seeking a total of $12.5 billion for unclassified national security space systems in its 2019 budget request. That figure comes from a detailed analysis of an aggregated account known as MFP-12 in the budget proposal.

ULA CEO Tory Bruno SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell

QUICK TAKES

ISPA

CE,/E

SA


NEW FUND TO BOOST JAPANESE STARTUPSThe Japanese government will establish

a fund of nearly $1 billion to support

space startups. The fund, supported by the

government and other organizations, would

offer $940 million to Japanese companies

in the space industry. The fund is part of

a broader packaage that includes human

resources and technical support for startups

and plans to establish a legal regime for

space resources and other innovative space

applications.

SERVICE SECTORThe European Space Agency is revising a planned mission to deorbit a defunct satellite

in order to study potential satellite servicing applications. ESA’s e.Deorbit program was

originally focused on launching a satellite to deorbit the Envisat spacecraft by 2023. However,

ESA has decided to use the program to study technologies that could be used not just for

cleaning up orbital debris but also servicing satellites. ESA’s Clean Space Office will receive

about 10 million euros this year to study those technologies.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzō Abe meets with ispace CEO Takeshi Hakamada. The Japanese govern-ment announced March 20 plans to support space startups, including a new venture fund.

ONEWEB WANTS 1,200 MORE SATELLITESOneWeb is seeking FCC

permission to nearly

triple the size of its

satellite constellation.

The company, which

currently has a license

for 720 satellites, is

seeking to add 1,260 to

its constellation. The

company said that changes

in FCC rules regarding how

long companies have to

deploy their systems led

them to see to increase the

size of their constellation.

OneWeb is also requesting

to expand a proposed

separate medium Earth

orbit constellation from

1,280 to 2,560 satellites.

ESA’s e.Deorbit mission is developing robotic arms and nets to cap-ture Envisat, which completed its mission in 2012.

RELA

TIVITY

SPACENEWS.COM | 5

QUICK TAKES

A startup company has reached an agreement with NASA to take over a test stand

at the Stennis Space Center. Relativity signed a 20-year exclusive use agreement

for the E-4 Test Complex, which includes four test cells and 1,400 square meters of

office space over 10 hectares. Relativity plans to use the facility for tests of its Aeon 1

engine and Terran launch vehicle, which make use of 3D-printing technologies. The

company expects to perform an initial test launch of that vehicle in late 2020.

A DOZEN DEMS SIGN BRIDENSTINE LETTERMore than 60 House members signed a

letter asking the Senate to confirm Jim

Bridenstine as NASA administrator. The

members, led by space subcommittee

chairman Rep. Brian Babin (R-Texas), include

all the Republican members of the House

Science and Armed Services Committees,

as well as a dozen Democrats. In the March

20 letter, they asked Senate leadership to

confirm Bridenstine “swiftly” to avoid a

leadership vacuum at the agency with the

impending retirement of acting administrator

Robert Lightfoot. Bridenstine’s nomination is

stalled in the Senate because of opposition

from Democratic members as well as Sen.

Marco Rubio (R-Fla.)

RELATIVITY REACHES DEAL TO USE NASA TEST STAND

careers.eumetsat.int

FROM HERE. YOU CAN MAKE A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE

PREPARING AND DEVELOPING FOR MISSION SUCCESSEUMETSAT currently has a number of opportunities for passionate engineers and scientists to play a central

role in developing the EUMETSAT Polar System - Second Generation (EPS-SG) programme:

• SYSTEM ENGINEERING MANAGEMENT (closing date: 15 April 2018)

• OPERATIONS PREPARATION ENGINEERING (closing date: 6 May 2018)

• PROGRAMME MANAGEMENT SUPPORT AND COORDINATION (closing date: 12 May 2018)

The EPS-SG programme will monitor weather, the environment and climate over a period of 21 years based on three successive pairs of Metop-SG satellites, the first of which is planned for launch in 2021-2023.

EUMETSAT is the system authority for the development of the full EPS-SG system, including the overall ground segment, system integration, verification and validation, launch and early operations phase (LEOP) services, system commissioning and operations.

EUMETSAT IS AN EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES EMPLOYER

Seeking to return a borrowed sat-

ellite as soon as possible, Israeli

fleet operator Spacecom is very

close to purchasing a new satellite

dubbed Amos-8.

Jacob Keret, a Spacecom senior vice

president, said March 14 that satellite

manufacturers “hungry” for business in

the midst of a multiyear slump have be-

come more amenable during procurement

negotiations.

Spacecom for the past year has bor-

rowed AsiaSat-8 from Hong Kong operator

AsiaSat as a gapfiller for Amos-6, a large

telecom satellite destroyed in SpaceX’s 2016

Falcon 9 pre-launch explosion. The loaner

satellite costs Spacecom $22 million a year.

“This caused us to spend more money

than we have anticipated,” Keret said. “We

are spearheading the process of selecting

a vendor for Amos-8 satellite that we plan

to launch at the end of 2020, about 30

months from now. I would assume that

the vendor would be selected within the

next months or six weeks.”

Back-to-back spacecraft losses in

2015 and 2016 sent Spacecom from fleet

expansion to fleet recovery. Preceding

the destruction of Amos-6, Spacecom’s

Russian-built Amos-5 satellite ceased

working in orbit due to a power system

failure in 2015, just four years after launch.

What should have by now been a fully

owned four-satellite fleet with margin for

expansion is instead two fully owned sat-

ellites and a borrowed spacecraft.

Keret said Amos-17, a replacement for

Amos-5, remains on track for a 2019 SpaceX

launch. Spacecom is using money paid

toward the derailed launch of Amos-6 to

launch Amos-17, and intends to launch

Amos-8 with SpaceX as well.

Cobbett Hill Earth Station, a British

teleport operator, signed a lease agree-

ment in March for C-band capacity on

Amos-17, becoming the first customer on

the satellite. Keret said Spacecom aims to

pre-sell about 30 percent of the satellite’s

capacity ahead of launch.

Amos-17 will be located at 17 degrees

east with coverage over Europe, Africa, the

Middle East and parts of Asia reaching to

West China. Boeing is building the satellite

with C-, Ku- and Ka-band transponders.

Keret said Africa is struggling with an

oversupply of satellite capacity, but argued

Amos-17 will be differentiated enough

to generate meaningful business. The

Boeing-supplied digital payload enables

“enormous” flexibility, he said, such as

the ability to uplink in one frequency and

downlink in another. The satellite will also

have advanced interference-suppression

capabilities, preventing stray signals and

intentional jamming from disrupting

communications, he said.

“This is something which is very import-

ant, especially in Africa,” he said. “Sometimes

systems are going out of calibration and

it affects many other customers.”

Keret said the satellite’s high-throughput

C-band payload will have four times the

spectrum efficiency of traditional C-band,

and will be used for managed services to

cellular operators wanting to expand their

reach by satellite. Spacecom is courting

direct-to-home television broadcasters

in Europe and Africa with Amos-17’s Ku-

band capacity, and defense customers

with the satellite’s steerable Ka-band spot

beams, he said.

Amos-8 will be smaller than Amos-17,

Keret said, and will carry Ku- and Ka-band

capacity. SN

NEWS COMMERCIAL SATELLITES

Tired of renting, Spacecom close to placing order for Amos-8


SSLCALEB HENRY

Spacecom is paying AsiaSat $22 million a year to borrow AsiaSat-8 (shown)while it prepares a replacement for Amos-6, which was lost in a September 2016 pre-launch accident.

NASA to allow nuclear power systems for next Discovery missionCiting progress in producing pluto-nium-238, NASA will allow scientists

proposing missions for an upcoming

planetary science competition to use

nuclear power sources.

Jim Green, director of NASA’s planetary

science division, said the agency was re-

versing an earlier decision prohibiting the

use of radioisotope power systems (RPS)

for spacecraft proposed for the next mis-

sion in the agency’s Discovery program.

A “long-range planning information”

announcement about plans for the com-

petition, issued Dec. 12, said that the use

of such power systems would not be

allowed, although missions could use

radioisotope heater units, which use a

very small amount of plutonium to keep

spacecraft elements warm.

NASA made that decision based on

projected use of existing stocks of pluto-

nium-238 (pu-238) for upcoming missions,

such as the Mars 2020 rover. Dragonfly,

one of the two finalists for the next New

Frontiers medium-class planetary science

mission, also plans to use an RPS, as well

as potential future missions the moon that

require nuclear power to operate through

the two-week lunar night.

“We have some liens against the ra-

dioisotope power,” Green said at a Feb.

21 meeting of NASA’s Planetary Science

Advisory Group, citing those upcoming

missions. The agency, he said, needed to

balance mission demands against existing

stocks of plutonium and efforts currently

ramping up to produce new supplies of

the isotope, which should reach a goal

of 1.5 kg a year by around 2022. “The last

thing we want to do is to select a mission

and then not be ready to fly it.”

At the time of the meeting last month,

though, Green said the agency was re-

viewing the prohibition against using

nuclear power for the Discovery com-

petition at the request of the scientific

community, but didn’t offer a schedule

for completing that review.

Green, speaking March 19 during

the 49th Lunar and Planetary Sciences

Conference at The Woodlands, Texas,

said NASA went back to the Depart-

ment of Energy to review current and

projected supplies of pu-238. The status

of production of the isotope, as well as

projected demands, led him to conclude

it would be feasible to allow the use of

RPS on the next Discovery mission, in the

form of two multi-mission radioisotope

thermoelectric generators, or MMRTGs.

“The confluence of when that would

happen, and when these two programs

would really move out, just seemed to

come together a little bit for us and would

enable us to move in this direction,” he said,

referring to demands from Discovery and

any future, but undefined, lunar missions.

Aiding that decision, he said, was the

progress being made by the Department

of Energy of restarting pu-238 production.

“That’s gone well,” he said, in spite of con-

cerns recently expressed by the Govern-

ment Accountability Office about scaling

production to meet the 1.5 kg-a-year goal.

Planning for the next Discovery mission

is still in its earliest stages. NASA plans to

release a draft solicitation in September,

followed by the final announcement in

February 2019. NASA will select finalists

for further study in December 2019, with

a winner chosen in June 2021 for launch

no later than the end of 2026.

The decision to allow the use of RPS

on Discovery was just one piece of good

news at a rather upbeat town hall meeting

about NASA’s planetary science program.

“Overall, planetary science is doing

incredibly well,” Green said, citing the

progress on a number of missions as well

as the agency’s proposed 2019 budget,

which offers $2.2 billion for planetary

science. “This is spectacular. Planetary

science has never had this high a budget.”

While attendees at the meeting wel-

comed the news about budgets and the

use of RPS, some wondered if that suc-

cess was coming at the expense of other

science programs at NASA or elsewhere

in the federal government.

Green noted that, in past years, plan-

etary science has suffered significant

budget cuts at the expense of other parts

of NASA. “Many of us lived through some

really austere times,” he said. “It’s now

our time in the sun to shine.” SN

NEWS PLANETARY SCIENCE

SPACENEWS.COM | 7

NAS

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IC

JEFF FOUST

A labeled pull-apart view showing the major components of the MMRTG, or Multi-Mission Ra-dioisotope Thermoelectric Generator.

Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator

Stack of eight GPHS modules

General Purpose Heat Source (GPHS) module

Thermoelectric module

Radiator fins

Seeking to double the number of

launches it can conduct annually,

Japan will add a second launch

pad to the Tanegashima spaceport

to support its next-generation H3 rocket.

Ko Ogasawara, Mitsubishi Heavy Indus-

tries’ vice president and general manager

for space systems, said March 12 at the

Satellite 2018 conference in Washington,

that Japan’s current launch infrastructure

is constraining the company’s ability to

launch more than around four missions

per year. By comparison, Arianespace,

SpaceX and United Launch Alliance,

average at least twice that amount.

Ogasawara said MHI has only one

launch pad for H2A, the rocket it currently

builds and launches mainly for domestic

government missions. He estimated it

takes roughly two months to refurbish

the pad between missions, limiting the

maximum number of launches Tane-

gashima can support.

Ogasawara said MHI wants to be able

to “launch two vehicles in three weeks”

with H3, which starts service in 2020.

“That is a requirement for H3 launch

vehicle development, so we will do that

with the use of two launch pads,” he said.

The Japan Aerospace Exploration

Agency selected MHI in 2014 to build the

H3 rocket as a lower cost, more commer-

cially attractive launch vehicle for Japan.

H3 replaces the H2A, used for satellite

launches, and the H2B, used for resupply

missions to the International Space Station.

Ogasawara said 2017 was a banner year

for MHI, having completed six launches

in 12 months. Measuring over 15 months,

MHI completed nine launches, he said.

“H3 will increase launch numbers in a

year up to 10. This is our plan … if we have

enough orders from the market,” he said.

MHI has had a very limited presence

in the commercial market. In 2015, the

company performed its first commercial

satellite launch, orbiting the Telstar 12 Van-

tage communications satellite for Canadian

fleet operator Telesat on an H2A. Last year

British fleet operator Inmarsat secured an

H2A launch in 2020 for one of the two

Inmarsat-6 satellites Airbus is building.

Ogasawara said MHI is preparing

dispensers for small satellite constella-

tions desiring to launch on H3. Those

dispensers will be able to release 10 to 20

satellites from a single launch, he said.

H3 is designed to launch with zero,

two or four strap-on boosters, allowing it

to deliver between two and seven metric

tons to geostationary transfer orbit. MHI

completed a full-thrust test of H3’s new

first stage engine, the LE-9, last month,

Ogasawara said.

Without strap-ons, H3 features three

LE-9 engines. With side boosters, the

rocket uses only two LE-9s. Ogasawara

said the version without strap-ons will

be the lowest priced, making it more

suitable for smallsats. SN

NEWS LAUNCH INDUSTRY

Japan to add second launch pad to support H3 rocket

MHI wants to be able to launch twice in three weeks with H3, which starts service in 2020


KATE

PAT

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ON

/SPA

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JAXA

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CALEB HENRY

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency selected MHI in 2014 to build the H3 rocket as a lower cost, more commercially attractive launch vehicle for Japan.

Ko Ogasawara, MHI vice president and general manager for space systems

SPACENEWS.COM | 9

IRID

IUM

IRIDIUM NEXT

and even complement, those broadband

constellations and other alternatives.

He sat down with SpaceNews to dis-

cuss the deployment of Iridium Next,

its business case and the company’s

financing efforts.

How is the deployment of the Iridium Next constellation going?It’s going well. Last year we had four

successful launches. I was able to attend

all four of them. It’s just been spectacu-

lar. But as exciting as the launches are,

the real thing that we care about is the

satellites: could we acquire them, and

could we put them into service? And

Over the next several months,

four Falcon 9 rockets will lift

off from California, starting

with a launch scheduled for

March 29. They will place into orbit the

remaining 35 satellites of the Iridium

Next constellation. (One of the rockets

will carry only five satellites, sharing

the launch with a U.S.-German Earth

science mission.) Those satellites will

join the 40 satellites launched last year,

completing the constellation.

But as Iridium finishes its new constel-

lation, it’s facing a changing competitive

landscape. As one of the few survivors

from the previous generation of low

Earth orbit constellations from the 1990s,

it’s now up against a new wave of com-

petitors planning megaconstellations of

hundreds or thousands of satellites, and

with bandwidth far beyond what Iridium

Next can offer. Is Iridium doomed again?

The company’s executives aren’t

worried. They acknowledge that, while

Iridium Next can provide more bandwidth

than the original system, it’s still much

slower than the various constellations

under development. Instead, the com-

pany is focusing on its ability to provide

reliable, cost-effective services in key

sectors, from aviation and maritime to

the emerging Internet of Things (IoT)

market, where speed is less critical.

Bryan Hartin, the executive vice pres-

ident for sales and marketing at Iridium,

made the argument at the recent Satellite

2018 conference in Washington that his

company’s system could co-exist with,

An Iridium Next satellite undergoes pre-launch preparations at a SpaceX facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California, in preparation for a March 29 launch.

Iridium Next enters the homestretch

the good news is that out of the 40 that

have launched 34 of those are in service.

There’s nothing wrong with the other

six. They’re just drifting to their final

location, which should happen toward

the middle of this year. So we’re very

excited about that.

In terms of completing the constel-

lation, we’ve got four more launches.

It’s going to be a little bit more of a

condensed time frame than it was last

year. But we should be completing the

constellation toward the middle of this

year. We’re saying August now in terms

of when the constellation launches will

be done and the drifters will be in place.

A decade of work is about to come to fruition for Iridium

JEFF FOUST

IRIDIUM NEXT

How are the Iridium Next satellites being used for new or existing services?Those 34 that are in service support all

our existing customers. So whether we’ve

got customers in aviation, maritime, land

mobile or IoT, they have had no disruption

to their service and they have not had to

upgrade or touch their equipment at all.

That was a big design criterion for us,

that we did not have to do any hardware

changes or touch the existing subscribers.

And then the new products and ser-

vices are what we call Certus. We have

four Value-Added Manufacturer, or VAM,

partners to build the products across the

four verticals. We’ve got Cobham who’s

building our maritime product; Thales,

who is building products in aviation,

maritime and land mobile; and then

L-3 and Rockwell Collins are building

aviation products. Cobham and Thales

have their products in sea trials and the

results so far are good.

The key differentiator for us was Certus.

It’s not just the fact that we have a new

constellation but that it gives us the abil-

ity to offer what we call true broadband

speeds in the MSS space. So our wheel-

house with the initial products is going to

be 350 [kilobits per second] transmit and

700 receive. We’re hitting those speeds in

the tests on the actual vessels today. And

that’s important because 350/700 speed

provides us with a superior alternative to

Inmarsat when it comes to comparing

us to their BGAN, FleetBroadband and

SwiftBroadband products. Overall, we feel

really good about where we’re at.

What customer segments are expressing the most interest: aviation, maritime or land mobile?It’s been really solid across the three, I

think primarily for a couple of reasons.

One, we’re able to offer the speeds that

we’ve talked about, this 350/700, and

the partners all know that we can deliver

on that. It gives a superior alternative

to Inmarsat but it also gives choice. In-

marsat has sort of a monopoly and has

taken advantage of some of these service

providers, and they are eager to have a

choice, a real alternative.

The other thing is our strategy this

time in terms of the product: we’re

not doing it all ourselves. We’re relying

on these VAMs to do that and they’re

world-class companies. Certus is Latin

for certain, reliable and sure, and that’s

what we want to stand for, particularly

being really the last MSS provider to

solely focus on the L-band.

We complement VSAT. We’ve got a

lot of vessels today that will deploy our

L-band product to back up VSAT, but we’re

not here to compete with VSAT. We’re

happy to provide Certus if somebody

10 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

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Ten Iridium Next satellites mated, stacked and un-dergoing encapsulation inside a Falcon 9 fairing.

doesn’t think they need VSAT, but if they

want to have a complement the VSAT,

we want Iridium Certus to be the de

facto standard for VSAT backup globally.

As you’ve been developing Iridium Next, a whole new generation of LEO constellations has emerged, many of which promise broadband services much faster than Iridium can offer. How do you compete against them?We’ll use OneWeb as an example. So

everybody comes to me and says,

“OneWeb’s LEO, you’re LEO, and they

offer higher speeds that are going to

put you out of business.” But there are

a few key differences.

They’re LEO, but they’re not L-band,

they’re Ku-band. We’ve got global cov-

erage and L-band is just more reliable

than Ku. That’s why I mentioned the

VSAT providers in maritime, they all have

L-band backup. Whether it’s weather

or you get out of coverage, they have

to have a backup to be able to commu-

nicate. With Ku, they may have global

coverage but it’s just not going to work

all the time. If it’s raining cats and dogs

in the Straits of Malacca or Singapore,

Ku doesn’t work. That’s why you have

to have L-band backup.

The other differentiator is the cross-

links. That’s been the mainstay of our

architecture, which gives us the ability

to offer this global coverage but we don’t

have to rely on all these gateways via

the crosslinks. If you originate a call in

Australia and you’re trying to call me in

Washington D.C., it traverses the satel-

lites and drops in our primary gateway

in Tempe. So that helps reduce costs.

They’re going to have to support all those

gateways, and how are they going to do

that in the ocean? I’m not totally sure.

And then there’s speed. So, yes, the

speeds that they offer are a lot faster

than what I just recited to you in terms

of 350/700. But we run into that today

with VSAT and, like I said, I’m not here to

compete with that. I’ll complement them.

They need L-band back up in different

parts of the world or different verticals.

We’ll do that just like we do today with

Intelsat and SES and Eutelsat and ViaSat.

I view them kind of as another VSAT

operator that just so happens to be in

LEO versus GEO.

One of those companies planning a broadband constellation is SpaceX, which is launching your Iridium Next satellites. Have you had any partnership discussions with them?Probably not as much as we have with

some of the others. We would like them

to stay focused on the launches. They’ve

got enough to do there in our minds.

The other question is what is Elon’s true

focus: is it to be a new entrant for com-

mercial satellite services here on Earth,

or is this a building block for what he

sees as what he needs for Mars? You’ve

got to give him credit, they put two test

satellites up in that one launch. We’ll see

where that goes, but in my view they’re

not somebody that’s necessarily going

to compete with us.

Given the progress Iridium is making, why does the company need to raise additional funding? Is it only because of delayed payments for Aireon’s aircraft-tracking payloads?We’re fully financed. It’s a $3 billion

program and we’ve grown the business.

We’ve met or overachieved our opera-

tional EBITDA estimates for the last three

years. But what [Chief Financial Officer]

Tom [Fitzpatrick] wanted to make sure is

that we’ve got some financial flexibility

and we can ensure our liquidity out for

the next several years without having

to depend on the Aireon payment or

anything like that. And that’s what this

does. It’s $360 million in five-year senior

notes and Tom’s been working with the

banks to get their concurrence that we

can modify the existing financing agree-

ments for this. It just gives us flexibility,

and it ensures our liquidity well out in

the future to 2023 and beyond.

Do you see any issues completing that funding?No. Tom feels he’s done a lot of the leg-

work in advance. But that is one of the

other key differences between us and

some of the new entrants, but also some

of our competitors. Take Globalstar or

Orbcomm. They talked about replace-

ments but they didn’t really have the thing

fully financed to be able to guarantee to

the marketplace that they were going to

be able to do these replacements. And

that’s one of the big differences between

us and some of our competitors: we’re

not doing four launches then scratch-

ing our head of how we’re going to do

the next four. It’s all planned out with

Thales and SpaceX.

My mandate and my team’s mandate

is that we’ve got to introduce Iridium

Certus products and services, which is

extremely important, but we’ve also got

to maintain our existing business and

I’m proud of the fact that we’ve been

able to do so. We keep the business

running, and running successfully,

demonstrating that growth so that when

Tom and [CEO] Matt [Desch] go out to

start talking about this public offering

they’ve got a good solid business track

record to refer to. SN

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Iridium CEO Matt Desch and Bryan Hartin, Iridium VP forsales and marketing, watch the second launch of IridiumNext satellites.

C4ISR

U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson calls it a “bold move”: Cancel a $6.5 billion

purchase of high-tech ground surveil-

lance aircraft and shift that mission to a

network dubbed “advanced battle man-

agement system.”

The argument the Air Force makes in

its 2019 budget request for not buying new

aircraft to replace the Joint Surveillance

Target Attack Radar System, or JSTARS,

is rather straightforward. It can’t survive

modern air defenses.

The Air Force in 2011 started a five-

year study that looked at options for

replacing the aging fleet of 17 airlin-

er-size JSTARS. Up until a year ago, it

was moving down the conventional

path of selecting a new airplane to take

over when the current fleet is taken out

of service in 2024.

At some point during this period of

analysis, the realization set in that a new

JSTARS would be useless in conflicts

against adversaries that have advanced

air defenses.

Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David

Goldfein explained this thinking during

a recent congressional hearing. JSTARS

today flies in “uncontested” airspace over

the Middle East, “where I can actually

place any aircraft I have in the inventory

anywhere I want and fly it for as long as

I want, because there’s nothing that can

actually take it out or threaten it.”

The Trump administration’s national

defense strategy directs the military to

focus on “contested environments.”

That means figuring out how to fight in

places that are within the range of Chi-

nese or Russian surface-to-air missiles.

That would make JSTARS a nonstarter,

Goldfein argued. “They know what our

asymmetric advantages are and they’ve

invested in capabilities to take those

away from us.” Their strategy is to “hold

us off at ranges where we can either no

longer perform our mission.”

If JSTARS were taken down during a

conflict, U.S. troops on the ground would

be “blind to enemy activity.”

All this led the Air Force to conclude

that the traditional “platform solution” is

not going to work, Wilson told lawmakers.

JSTARS’s ground moving target indi-

cator and battle management command

Air Force: It’s time to pull the plug on JSTARS; Congress: Not so fast

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U.S. Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson and Air Force Chief of Staff David Goldfein, shown during a January visit to an air base in South Korea, are pushing for replacing the service’s fleet of aging JSTARS aircraft with an advanced battle management system that includes satellites. Members of Congress representing JSTARS bases and contractors are pushing back.

functions could be done elsewhere by

other platforms, she said. The future

battle-management network would be a

vast improvement over JSTARS because it

would bring in data from sensors in space,

from C-130s, drones and F-35 fighters.

War commanders want this, Wilson said.

“Fuse all of that data to give you a much

more comprehensive picture on what’s

going on on the ground.” Operators “don’t

really care what platform it came off of.”

But recent exchanges on Capitol Hill

suggest the Air Force is having a hard

time selling this vision. Lawmakers who

represent JSTARS bases and contractors

are pushing back hard. Others don’t really

understand what the Air Force wants to

do. And because JSTARS supports troops

on the ground, the debate appears to be

turning into a repeat of the A-10 Thun-

derbolt II; Air Force leaders wanted to

retire the close-air support aircraft but

Congress has stubbornly kept it alive.

“We understand the projected threats

to our forces are real and that the Air

Force has submitted a budget that does

not include JSTARS recap. However,

completely walking away from this pro-

gram may prove to be an unacceptable

level of risk to our warfighters for this

committee,” said Rep. Michael R. Turner

(R-Ohio), chairman of the House Armed

Services tactical forces subcommittee.

The subcommittee’s ranking Demo-

crat, Rep. Niki Tsongas of Massachusetts,

questioned the rationale for terminating

the new version of JSTARS. If threats are

as serious as they seem, why isn’t the Air

Force eliminating its fourth-generation

fighters or other reconnaissance systems

based on commercial aircraft?

Tsongas also called out the Air Force

for downplaying the risks involved with

the alternative network plan, “specifically

the time risk, the cost risk and potential

vulnerability of such a network to jam-

ming or cyber attack,” she said.

Army Lt. Gen. Anthony Ierardi, di-

rector of force structure, resources, and

assessments for the Joint Staff, said

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The U.S. Air Force operates a fleet of 17 JSTARS aircraft that the service says could be easily shot down by a near-peer adversary such as Russia or China.

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current JSTARS aircraft would stay in

service at least until the mid-2020s. But

lawmakers complained that would be a

risky gamble because the new battle-com-

mand network might not be operational

until 2035. “I acknowledge your concern

with the timeline,” said Ierardi. The plan

includes a “graceful degradation” in the

numbers of JSTARS while the battle-man-

agement network is being developed.

Under repeated questioning from

Turner and Tsongas at a hearing in early

March, Air Force Lt. Gen. Jerry Harris Jr.,

deputy chief of staff for strategic plans

and requirements, acknowledged that the

2011 analysis “underestimated the pace of

change in the threats” and officials needed

to come up with a plan B.

Rep. Trent Kelly (R-Miss.) reminded Air

Force officials that soldiers and Marines could

be endangered if JSTARS was removed from

service. “And I hope you guys will really re-

think this because we really cannot accept

a gap and our capabilities until we have a

replacement,” Kelly told Air Force leaders.

“We shouldn’t chase shiny objects until

we have one that works,” he said. “We still

have counterinsurgency fight going on and

we can’t afford to just fight a peer fight, we

have to fight them both.”

The JSTARS debate, meanwhile, has stirred

speculation about the possibility of shifting

missions to space. That has been attempted

before, unsuccessfully. The Air Force in the late

1990s teamed up with the Defense Advanced

Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and the

National Reconnaissance Office to develop a

constellation of radar remote-sensing satel-

lites that would provide global coverage. The

project was nixed in the 2000 budget.

Fred Kennedy, director of DARPA’s tacti-

cal technology office, said it was “probably

a good idea to cancel it back then” because

the technology was not mature. He said it

might be worth revising the idea of deploy-

ing more radar sensors in space. “Now we

have the communications infrastructure,

the ground segment,” he told SpaceNews in

a recent interview. “I simply have to plant

sub-constellations into the network, the

nodes that we want. [Radiofrequency] nodes,

or optical sensing nodes,” he said. “I‘ll be able

to use the resources of the space internet, the

processing and storage. I don’t see why we

couldn’t plant a node with a ground moving

target indicator…I think we’re smart enough

to figure out how to do it now.”

On how to replace JSTARS, he said, “there

is certainly a possibility of moving that mis-

sion to space and doing the control segment

somewhere. You would have global coverage

as opposed to limited airborne coverage today.”

There are trade offs, however. “You have

to give up some advantages of airborne plat-

forms like having to look from thousands

of kilometers away. It would be an interest-

ing trade in terms of what kind of radar we

build,” he said. “It might be interesting to do

a demonstration of an RF mission of this

class just to see if it can be done.”

John Johnson, former vice president

and general manager of Northrop Grum-

man Electronic Systems, said some of the

JSTARS functions could be moved to space.

“The Air Force and the [National Reconnais-

sance Office] should take a look at that,” he

told SpaceNews.

Northrop Grumman is currently the

prime contractor and systems integrator for

JSTARS. For the recapitalization program that

the Air Force wants to terminate, Northrop

Grumman and Lockheed Martin are propos-

ing business jet concepts, whereas Boeing

pitched a 737-size platform. Contractors still

plan to submit proposals should Congress

keep the program alive over the objections

of the Air Force.

“Recapitalization of programs is always

contentious,” Johnson said. “It’s the compet-

itive nature of the defense industry. There’s

always somebody out there who says they

have a better widget.”

As to what the Air Force is trying to do,

“I applaud them,” Johnson said. “They are

trying to eliminate singular mission plat-

forms. What they are doing I think is the

right thing: Put everything into an integrated

architecture,” he said.

It will not be easy, though. “It will be really

a struggle,” Johnson said. SN

The future battle-management network would be more resilient than JSTARS because it would bring in data from sensors in space and an array of drones and other aircraft

Army Lt. Gen. Anthony R. Ierardi, director of force structure, resources, and assessments for the Joint Staff, sought to reassure lawmakers that current JSTARS aircraft will remain in service until a new battle-command network is ready to take over.

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MILITARY SPACE

U.S. Air Force Gen. John Hyten is

the nation’s top officer in charge

of the nuclear arsenal. He’s also

one of the most outspoken

military leaders on the issue of national

security space, and has called for changes

in how the Pentagon trains and equips

forces to defend space systems, pushing

the Defense Department to “go faster.”

Hyten oversees nearly 184,000 military

and civilian personnel as head of U.S.

Strategic Command in Omaha, Nebraska.

The command is responsible for strate-

gic deterrence, nuclear modernization,

missile defense, global strike and space

operations.

The general visited SpaceNews earlier

this month for a wide-ranging interview.

He offered his take on the president’s

budget, Pentagon acquisition reforms and

the ongoing debate over how the military

should be organized to fight in space.

Wars in space and “great power competition” are now major top-ics of conversations in Washing-ton. Is there a risk of telling our enemies too much about our space vulnerabilities?

I like the law Congress passed last year

about what we have to do to deal with

space as a warfighting domain. I like the

way they structured it. I like the study they

commissioned to look at what the future

of space wars will be. I like the way the

president talked about space as a warf-

ighting domain. We’re going to work all

those issues. When you have something

that is so critical to the country and it’s

become a critical capability, our adver-

saries look at that and start developing

ways to counter that capability.

How vulnerable are we in space?Because of the vast amount that we’ve

invested over the years, our overhead

architectures are well beyond anything

our adversaries can counter. We are in

good shape in the near term. But are we

going to be in good shape in the long

term? We didn’t build our systems for a

contested environment. I think it’s great

that everybody is talking about it. One

concern I have is that people will think

that we are vulnerable today and that our SANDRA ERWIN

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Hyten: Space strategy, budget, acquisitions moving ‘down the right path’

Air Force Gen. John HytenCommanderU.S. Strategic Command

entire overhead architecture can somehow

disappear tomorrow. That is not going

to happen. So we have to make sure that

doesn’t change as we go into the future.

That’s why we have to move fast.

What do Washington policymakers need to understand about this issue?The most important thing about this whole

discussion is that space is a warfight-

ing domain. That’s where the president

started, where the Congress started. Both

said we’re going to have to look at a space

force. I love that the debate is the right

debate. I love the fact that the adminis-

tration is embracing it. I love the fact that

Congress is embracing it. I like that we

have to do an independent assessment

of a space force. I like the fact that the

president is involved. This is important

to our future security. A lot of people joke

about helmets and uniforms. That’s not

the issue. The issue is the threats. The

administration, all parties are interested in

that problem. The vice president and the

National Space Council have embraced

this. We’ll be working with the VP on this

topic over the next few weeks.

How do you see the ‘space force’ debate going from here?The president should be involved; he’s the

commander of chief. The National Defense

Authorization Act has set deadlines. This

is not slow. I have to have a warfighting

“conops” or concept of operations for

space by June. The deputy secretary of

defense has to submit recommendations

in August. As long as we have a budget

and we can go forward, these are very fast

time lines in this town. Usually you get

multi-year tasks. I’m very happy with the

discussions right now. But I don’t like it

when I get questions on helmets.

What are your initial takeaways from the president’s budget proposal for fiscal year 2019?When I was at Air Force Space Command

two years ago, we defined a vision of the

future, the “Space Enterprise Vision.” The

current leader of Space Command, Gen. Jay

Raymond, took that vision and developed

a concept of operations for space. The Air

Force took that conops and translated it

into a budget. What pleases me is that the

budget for the first time in a long time grows

by a lot. We are starting down the path of

building the warfighting capabilities. And

there’s an urgency in the department now

to figure out how to move fast.

Do you expect the Pentagon to really move fast? I know it’s doable. Can we work with in-

dustry close enough so we can achieve

the things that are in the budget? It will

be a challenge. There are lots of histori-

cal examples of how this country moves

fast when the need demands it. It’s usually

in response to a tragic event or an urgent

threat. This is an urgent threat. The leader-

ship that we have in the department right

now in acquisition is pretty impressive. The

new undersecretary of defense, Mike Grif-

fin, is someone who understands space

pretty darn well. That’s an awesome thing.

Deputy Secretary Patrick Shanahan is also

committed to going fast. As a combatant

commander, I will be cheering them on.

What immediate goals does DoD need to achieve in military space programs?

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“A lot of people joke about helmets and uniforms. That’s not the issue. The issue is the threats.”

U.S. Air Force Gen. John Hyten testifies March 20 before the Senate Armed Services Committee.

MILITARY SPACE

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First, we need to get launch costs under $100

million. If you watch the recent contract awards,

they are coming down. But we are not there all

the way. We’re still not sure where the dual ac-

cess to space is going to come from. But it’s in a

good place right now. Secondly, we have to get

to three- to five-year development time lines for

satellites. We’re not there yet on the military side.

But we are there on the commercial side. We have

to translate those practices into the government

side. Thirdly, we have to get to modular space-

craft where we can take existing government or

commercial buses and integrate new payloads.

We’re not there on the government side but the

commercial side does it.

What about ground systems?The biggest piece is an integrated ground archi-

tecture. Defining that future architecture is critical.

The Air Force is going down that path. If we have

to spend a billion dollars for a new ground system

for every satellite we build, then it all falls apart.

The practices are there in industry. But we have

to translate that into the military culture.

What are DoD leaders doing specifically to accelerate space modernization?I have this conversation frequently with Gen.

Paul Selva [vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of

Staff]. Selva leads the Joint Requirements Over-

sight Council. He told me: “If you bring me a set

of urgent requirements I can get it through in a

couple of months.” He is now putting mandates

on the bureaucracy to go fast. The key is to focus

on capabilities. We should not define the systems

in the JROC. We should define the capabilities

we need. And then leverage the innovation in

industry to deliver those capabilities. The rea-

son JROC has taken so long is that we define

the system through the requirements process.

That will change.

What is the status of the military’s strategy for fighting in space?I have to deliver to Congress by June 1 the warf-

ighting conops that will be based on the enterprise

“If we have to spend a billion dollars for a new ground system for every satellite we build, then it all falls apart.”

Gen. John Hyten, right, welcomes U.S. Defense Secretary James Mattis, left, to Offutt Air Force Base, Nebraska, home of U.S. Strategic Command.

SPACENEWS.COM | 19

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vision from two years ago. We are not

done yet. The work has already been

done by the Air Force and National Re-

connaissance Office for the most part. I

just have to put in the needs of the Army

and the Navy. One area where we have

not trained the joint warfighters across

the force is about how to integrate space

into operations. There’s a small group

of space people who understand it. Air-

minded people, ground-minded peo-

ple, maritime operators, they all need

to know what space does for them and

how to integrate the space operation

into a terrestrial operation. That will re-

quire more work to identify what train-

ing is needed.

What concerns do you have about the modernization of the U.S. nuclear arsenal?We are trying to drive speed into nuclear

modernization, too. For the life of me,

I still don’t understand why in 1958 we

could build a three-stage solid rocket in-

tercontinental ballistic missile and de-

liver 800 in five years. Everything. New

missile holes, new bases, command and

control, all done in five years. Now it takes

us 15 to 20 years to build 400. I think we

have the ability to go much faster. I want

to make sure we don’t have any gaps.

The current Minuteman, I’m confident,

will last until 2030. That means I need

the [Ground Based Strategic Deterrent]

program coming online without any de-

lays. We are ready today. I just want to

make sure that the commander 10 years

from now can still say that.

The nuclear command, control and communication (N3C) program has been criticized for its outdated technology. What are your views on where this goes?This is an old system. But it’s very secure.

If you want a cyber-secure system, build

it in the 1960s. Our systems have land

line; they’re closed networks. Nobody

envisioned there would be any connec-

tivity. It’s very resilient against threats,

and I’m very confident it can handle

anything today. But not 10 years from

now. When you bring on all the new

systems — the B-21 bomber, the [long-

range, stand-off] cruise missile, the GBSD,

the Columbia-class submarines — all

are going to come in with a new com-

mand-and-control architecture. They are

not going to build the ‘60s architecture.

They will have modern technology and

have to plug into the new NC3 architec-

ture. I’m spending a lot of time now to

make sure we understand, as we move

into this new architecture, what it needs

to do and can it still be cyber secure?

Defense Secretary Jim Mattis came to

see us in September. We probably spent

half a day talking NC3. We’re going to

have a plan this year. SN

“If you want a cyber-secure system, build it in the 1960s.”

Minuteman 3 launch control centers, built in the 1960s, aren’t exactly state of the art — but they are very secure against cyber attacks. “When you bring on all the new systems…all are going to come in with a new command-and-con-trol architecture. They are not going to build the ‘60s architecture,” Hyten says.

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SPACENEWS.COM | 21

XIN

HU

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CHINA’S SPACE PROGRAM

China’s legislature wrapped up

its annual session in Beijing last

week after making headlines for

lifting a two-term limit on the

Chinese presidency, making Xi Jinping

the People’s Republic’s most powerful

leader since founder Mao Zedong.

But in the shadow of the major politi-

cal stories, the involvement of dozens of

space sector officials in the high-profile

18-day long rubber-stamp political gath-

ering also provided a rare opportunity for

updates on various aspects of China’s

space program and an outline of its re-

liably nebulous scheduling.

The first big announcement was the

return-to-flight for the Long March 5 —

the new, heavy-lift rocket that is crucial

to major near and medium-term Chi-

nese space plans. The launcher debuted

successfully in late 2016 but suffered an

apparent first stage issue shortly after

launch second time out, last July.

The cause of the failure was not re-

vealed, but the test firing of new cryo-

genic YF-77 engines which power the

first stage began in February.

The third flight is now expected around

November, and will carry the experimental

Shijian-20 telecommunications satellite,

based on a new, large DFH-5 satellite

platform, according to Zhang Hongtai,

president of the China Academy of Space

Technology (CAST) which develops and

manufactures satellites and spacecraft.

Zhang told press that the new satellite

platform will eventually increase the

country’s high-throughput communi-

cations capacity to 1 terabit per second,

up from the current 20 Gbps with the

predecessor DFH-4.

Significantly, a successful return-

to-flight would pave the way for major

missions. The fourth or fifth Long March

5, both due for launch in 2019, would

carry the Chang’e-5 lunar sample-re-

turn mission, which had been set for

November 2017.

Also depending on a successful launch

is the Long March 5B, the version of the

rocket designed for lofting the 20-metric-ton

modules for the Chinese Space Station. It

is expected to have its test flight in June

2019, according to a spokesperson for the

China Manned Space Agency (CMSA).

Tianhe, the space station core module

containing living quarters for China’s

astronauts, will be first up into low Earth

orbit. Zhou Jianping, chief designer of

China’s human spaceflight program

and a member of the China’s top po-

litical advisory body, said that Tianhe

would launch “around 2020,” assuming

a nominal Long March 5B test flight. It

is to be joined by two science modules

by around 2022, and later a co-orbiting

Hubble-class “optical module,” which

could dock for maintenance and repairs.

Joan Johnson-Freese, a professor

of national security affairs at the Naval

War College in Newport, Rhode Island,

expressing her personal views, stressed

that the Chinese will not be too concerned

with delays or timetables, and will be

content with steady progress.

The CMSA also revealed that the Long

March 5B launch will carry into low

Chinese space program insights emerge from National People’s Congress

ANDREW JONES

The 13th National People’s Conference wrapped up its first legislative session March 20 in Beijing.

CHINA’S SPACE PROGRAM

Earth orbit a payload which signifies

China’s ambitions to move beyond that

realm.

Aboard will be an early test of one

of two versions of a new-generation

crewed spacecraft, a large successor to

the Shenzhou and designed for human

lunar landings and potential deep space

missions, including to near-Earth aster-

oids and Mars.

The completion of a prototype of a

500-ton-thrust kerolox rocket engine

is expected this year, to be used for a

planned Saturn 5-class launcher, the

Long March 9, which is planned to fly

for the first time in 2030 and to be used

as part of crewed missions to the moon

and a robotic Mars sample return.

Johnson-Freese thinks China will offi-

cially announce a human lunar program

“once all the puzzle pieces are in place,

whenever that might be”.

Moon and Mars updatesThe Chang’e-4 lunar lander and rover

spacecraft which will attempt the first-

ever soft landing on the far side of the

moon in November or December, is

now undergoing thermal vacuum tests

according to Zhao Xiaojin, a senior of-

ficial at CAST.

The pioneering mission, which will

aim to set down in the South Pole-Ait-

ken Basin, first requires a communica-

tions-relay satellite, to launch in May or

June, to be placed in a halo orbit at the

second Earth-Moon Lagrange point.

Wu Ji, former director of China’s grow-

ing space science efforts and a newly

appointed member of the consultative

body of the national parliament, stated

that this first launch will also carry two

microsatellites for trialing very-long-

baseline interferometry.

Wu Weiren, chief designer of China’s

lunar exploration program, spoke of ex-

panding robotic missions to the moon.

“As only the moon’s south pole can get

the sunlight in most of its area throughout

the year, we want to land at such a place

where there might be abundant sunshine

and possibly water to build a research

station,” Wu said. The vision, which has

not yet been approved by the government,

includes three to four missions to the

lunar poles in the early and mid-2020s,

focusing on technology verification and

in-situ resource utilization.

Preparations for China’s first indepen-

dent interplanetary mission, planned for

launch in the summer 2020 Hohmann

transfer window, are also progressing.

Zhou Weijiang, a researcher with the

China Aerospace Science and Technol-

ogy Corporation (CASC), the state-owned

main contractor for the space program,

told Chinese newspaper Science and

Technology Daily that tests simulating

Mars atmospheric entry, descent and

landing had begun early this year.

Space industry reform?This year’s parliamentary sessions were

the first of a new five-year cycle and saw

a freshly selected national legislative body.

While a new cabinet and a reorganization

of ministries and government bodies were

announced, the changes did not touch

the space industry. Reform is expected in

the future, given the expansion of China’s

space program in recent years, and factors

such as the 2014 decision to allow private

capital into the space sector and an ongo-

ing civil-military integration campaign.

The China National Space Admin-

istration (CNSA), a small figurehead for

international engagement rather than

a true space agency, remains without

a permanent leader after the previous

appointee was promoted to governor of

Fujian province early in 2018.

John Sheldon, co-founder of ThorGroup

GmbH, a strategic space and cyberspace

consultancy based in Switzerland, and

publisher of SpaceWatch.Global, says the

parliamentary sessions are likely not as

important as the five year plans and Com-

munist Party of China (CPC) central com-

mittee decision making in terms of space

policy, budgets, and strategic priorities.

“They are useful, however, in terms of

garnering popular support for the CPC

and its agenda, as well as sending signals

domestically and abroad,” Sheldon notes.

Both CASC and the China Aerospace

Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC),

a defense contractor, state they are devel-

oping reusable spaceplanes, but offered

no new details and only vague timelines.

Initially using combined propulsion for

suborbital flights, the groups say they are

planning to solve the immense challenges

of single-stage-to-orbit by around 2030.

Such announcements could, “suggest

to Chinese citizens a strong China that

is on par with, if not superior, to great

powers like the U.S. and Russia, thus

demonstrating the validity of CPC rule,”

Sheldon adds.

No mention was made of Tiangong-1,

the country’s first space lab, launched in

2011 but now doomed to make an uncon-

trolled atmospheric reentry around the

end of the month, according to a March

21 estimate from the European Space

Agency’s Space Debris Office. Both the

leadership of the CPC and the aerospace

community will have been glad that the

reentry – which has drawn international

attention as well as hyperbole — did not

occur during its showpiece political

event. SN

22 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

XINHUA

A Long March 5 rocket rolls out in 2017.

Explore Mars, Inc. Presents:

The Humans to Mars Summit 2018May 8-10, 2018

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ON NATIONAL SECURITY Sandra Erwin

A branch of the service dedicated to space

warfare is a titillating prospect. And

ever since the topic of a “Space Force”

was brought up by President Trump,

congressional hawks can’t stop talking about it.

Trump and other proponents of a stronger

military posture in space argue that this is nec-

essary to counter and deter what other countries

are doing to “deny” the United States unfettered

access to space and freedom to operate there.

The Pentagon has started a congressionally

mandated review of how to organize the mili-

tary space apparatus for an era of “great power

competition.” Despite political pressure from the

House Armed Services Committee, the review is

supposed to be impartial on whether the solution

is a space force, aka space corps.

Everyone loves a shiny object. But it’s hard to

imagine the Pentagon will want to yank space

authorities and functions from the Air Force and

create a completely new organization.

Some experts worry that this has become too

much of a distraction. In fact, the Trump admin-

istration has yet to put out a National Space Pol-

icy. That would be a necessary first step for the

military to figure out its future responsibilities

with regard to space.

“If they want to move forward with a space

force, it will take a lot of years and a lot of effort,”

said Michael Dodge, assistant professor and direc-

tor of graduate studies at the University of North

Dakota’s department of space studies.

The administration and Congress have to de-

cide, first and foremost, whether the space regime

truly needs a separate force. And if the answer

is yes, can they justify the headache that they

would have to go through in order to create one?

Space Force fans, careful what you wish for

“If they were going to do it, I would recom-

mend proceeding cautiously,” Dodge said. “In

particularly, I would want to hear the opinions of

the Air Force on how they think this might im-

pact national security. That can’t be taken lightly.”

Separating a military portfolio that a service

has had for decades and putting it into something

that doesn’t even exist yet certainly should give

policymakers pause, he said. Beyond the Wash-

ington turf battles and national security issues,

there are international concerns as well. “Are we

giving the perception that we are escalating the

peaceful environment of space?” Dodge asked.

Even if the United States doesn’t put any weap-

ons in space, standing up a space force could be

interpreted as escalation.

“We need an official national space policy

to come out first before we start talking about a

significant and substantial change to the legal

structure that creates service branches in the

United States,” said Dodge.

Although there is strong momentum in the

House for a space corps, the Senate has been qui-

eter on the subject. NASA overseer Sen. Bill Nelson

(D-Fla.) told Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S.

Strategic Command, that he is “not too keen on

ripping space out of the Air Force.”

Speaking last week at a hearing of the Sen-

ate Armed Services Committee, Hyten said he

is enthused by the conversation on space as a

domain of war. But he believes more time will be

needed to study a reorganization of the service.

“Someday, we’ll have a space corps or space force

in this country. But I don’t think the time is right

for that right now.”

Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.) pressed Hyten to

explain what potentially could set off a war in

space. What rules must countries follow to avert a

conflict in space? Hyten said he could not discuss

that topic in an open forum. “All I can tell you is

that they are being very aggressive in establishing

what they perceive as norms.”

The reality, he said, is that “there are no such

things as norms of behavior in space.”

On that note, here’s a thought: The United

States does need competent space warriors, but

also diplomats who understand the international

web of treaties and laws, and can help the military

plan for whatever crisis in space comes next. SN

24 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

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A new governance model to grow US space launch capability

The rapid market development for

commercial space launch services

over the past several years threatens

to overwhelm the capacity of the

federal government to efficiently manage

airspace usage between planes, unmanned

aerial vehicles, and spacecraft. To address

this challenge, the federal government can

develop a strong governance model based on

existing principles to ensure the long-term

resiliency of the U.S. space launch capability.

Current state of space launchTen spaceports are available across the U.S. from

Alaska to Florida; however, only four of these are

currently launching rockets into orbit. Varying

utilization between these facilities can lead to

an inefficient use of airspace with suboptimal

outcomes for businesses and government alike.

Modernization efforts at some of these

facilities — such as migration to Automated

Flight Safety System and range scheduling sys-

tem upgrades — should help increase launch

cadence at a few key spaceports in the future.

The other six spaceports (supported by signif-

icant public funding) are also facing financial

and development issues which could result

in their closure over the next five to 10 years.

These limitations in early infrastructure ca-

pacity, coordination, and inefficient airspace

allocation have created backlog in new space

launches. At the same time, the annual number

of launches by the three primary providers in

the U.S. market (United Launch Alliance, SpaceX,

and Orbital ATK/Northrup) and new entrants

(Blue Origin, Vector Space Systems, Rocket

Lab, and Virgin Galactic) continues to increase.

With the commercial appetite for space launch

growing, the federal government will soon need

a more sustainable, safe, and adaptable way to

manage airspace. This growing need will re-

quire collaboration with relevant stakeholders,

including commercial airlines, airports, space

launch providers and spaceport facilities — not

to mention the challenges associated with the

use of unmanned aerial systems (UAS) by ci-

vilian enthusiasts, retail and service-oriented

companies, or foreign governments.

What to consider in a new governance modelWhen designing the sort of unified manage-

ment plan required for coordinating complex

space launches, the government can use eight

key criteria as guiding principles:

• Leadership and culture• Policies and guidelines• Roles and responsibilities• Communication and information sharing • Decision-making process

With the commercial appetite for space launch growing, the federal government will soon need a more sustainable, safe, and adaptable way to manage airspace

COMMENTARY Bill Beyer and Bill Miracky

26 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

Orbital ATK launches its Antares rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport co-located with NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia.

• Mechanisms of accountability• Metrics and measurement• Coordination and safety

The government could begin by establish-

ing a pilot experience at one spaceport as a

test case for building a “localized model” of

the governance structure. The model should

refine each of these seven elements according

to national priorities and standards but also

account for the unique local considerations

of the facility, such as geographic location,

demand, capacity, etc.

Areas of responsibility (AOR) for the test

case facility — and eventually all 10 spaceports

— should define zones for coordination and

management. Authorities, most likely the FAA,

should convene representatives from all the

key stakeholders. As consensus or disagree-

ment emerges, critical data points can be

funneled up to senior decision makers in the

federal government and businesses for exec-

utive-level discussions hosted by the National

Space Council. The federal government can

then work to establish a management plan at

the national level.

The process can look to current and pro-

posed guidelines relating to the specifics of

space launch, including request for launch,

flight plans, licenses, etc. The discussion can

then focus on assigning specific roles and

responsibilities for launch service-providers,

spaceport operators, and the government.

Established protocols for reporting and mon-

itoring airspace before and during a launch

must be set-up as well.

To manage the airspace, a system of ac-

countability must also provide enforceable

mechanisms and policies to deter UAS op-

erators from flying (whether handheld toys

or full-sized aircraft) near a launch site and

disable them if they come too close.

To measure successes or potential setbacks,

the government can determine benchmarks

on efficiency. To do so, the federal government

will first need to establish the upper and lower

boundaries of current space launch capacity.

It can then compare these standards to new

outcomes after changes from the governance

structure have been implemented.

Finally, the federal government, in concert

with state and local government, can develop

clear strategic and policy goals for future

spaceport locations to support commercial

and national security interests. Given the

current backlog of launches and the very real

challenges relating to launch windows and

airspace management, the federal govern-

ment can determine how best, if at all, to use

existing, underutilized spaceports.

Additionally, exploring financial incen-

tives would allow the federal government to

encourage a broader geographic footprint

for U.S.-based launch services. By combining

this with a localized (and eventually national)

governance model for decision-making, the

United States government can effectively tackle

the current challenges of space launch while

minimizing risk, boosting job creation, and

limiting airspace disruption. This approach

can help businesses keep up with rising de-

mand and help ensure the long-term viability

of America’s space launch capability in a new

wave of commercial space exploration. SN

Engineers at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, watch as a Centaur upper stage is mated to the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket that launched the GOES-S weather satellite March 1.

SPACENEWS.COM | 27

BILL BEYER IS A DELOITTE CONSULTING LLP

PRINCIPAL WHO LEADS ITS FEDERAL SPACE

INITIATIVES. BILL MIRACKY IS A DELOITTE

CONSULTING MANAGING DIRECTOR WHO FOCUSES

ON DELOITTE’S FEDERAL CIVIL GOVERNMENT

STRATEGY AND FEDERAL AVIATION INITIATIVES.NAS

A/KI

M S

HIF

LETT

SPAC

EX

Moon Direct: How to build a moonbase in four years

The recent amazing success of the Fal-

con Heavy launch offers America an

unprecedented opportunity to break

the stagnation that has afflicted its

human spaceflight program for decades. In

short, the moon is now within reach.

Here’s how the mission plan could work. The

Falcon Heavy can lift 60 tons to low Earth orbit

(LEO). Starting from that point, a hydrogen/

oxygen rocket-propelled cargo lander could

deliver 12 tons of payload to the lunar surface.

We therefore proceed by sending two such

landers to our planned base location. The best

place for it would be at one of the poles, be-

cause there are spots at both lunar poles where

sunlight is accessible all the time, as well as

permanently shadowed craters nearby where

water ice has accumulated. Such ice could be

electrolyzed to make hydrogen-oxygen rocket

propellant, to fuel both Earth-return vehicles

as well as flying rocket vehicles that would

provide the lunar base’s crew with exploratory

access to most of the rest of the moon.

The first cargo lander carries a load of

equipment, including a solar panel array,

high-data-rate communications gear, a mi-

crowave power-beaming set up with a range

of 100 kilometers, an electrolysis/refrigeration

unit, two crew vehicles, a trailer, and a group

of tele-operated robotic rovers. After landing,

some of the rovers are used to set up the so-

lar array and communications system, while

others are used to scout out the landing area

in detail, putting down radio beacons on the

precise target locations for the landings to

follow.

The second cargo lander brings out a 12-

ton habitation module, loaded with food,

spare spacesuits, scientific equipment, tools,

and other supplies. This will serve as the as-

tronauts’ house, laboratory, and workshop

of the moon. Once it has landed, the rovers

hook it up to the power supply and all systems

are checked out. This done, the rovers are re-

deployed to do detailed photography of the

base area and its surroundings. All this data

is sent back to Earth, to aid mission planners

and the science and engineering support

teams, and ultimately forming the basis of a

virtual reality program that will allow millions

of members of the public to participate in the

missions as well.

The base now being operational, it is time

to send the first crew. A Falcon Heavy is used

to deliver another cargo lander to orbit, whose

payload consists of a fully fueled Lunar Ex-

cursion Vehicle (LEV). This craft consists of a

two-ton cabin like that used by the Apollo-era

Lunar Excursion Module mounted on a one-

ton hydrogen/oxygen propulsion system

filled with nine tons of propellant, capable of

delivering it from the lunar surface to Earth

Using Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy, NASA could return to the moon for under $700 million a year

COMMENTARY Robert Zubrin

28 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket, which made its debut Feb. 6, is the foundation of author Robert Zubrin’s “Moon Direct” plan for affordably returning humans to the moon within four years.

HOW TO BUILD A LUNAR BASE IN FOUR YEARS

First Launch Falcon Heavy LaunchCARGO: • Solar panel array

• High-data-rate communications gear

• Microwave power- beaming set up with a range of 100 kilometers

• Electrolysis/ refrigeration unit

• Two crew vehicles trailer

• Teleoperated robotic rovers

Rovers set up the solar array, communications system and radio beacons on precise target locations for the landings to follow

Second Launch Falcon Heavy LaunchCARGO: • 12-Ton habitation module

• Food

• Spare spacesuits

• Scientific equipment

• Tools and other supplies.

Rovers hook up the module to the power supply and all systems are checked out

Rovers are redeployed to do detail photography of the base area and surroundings

Final Launches Falcon Heavy LaunchCARGO: • 1 Fully fueled Lunar Excursion Vehicle (LEV)

A human-rated Falcon 9 launches crew in a Dragon capsule to LEO where they transfer to the LEV.

Dragon remains behind in LEO

Crew travels to a permanently shadowed crater and, making use of power beamed to them from the base, use telerobots to mine water ice

1 2 3

orbit. A human-rated Falcon 9 rocket

then lifts the crew in a Dragon capsule

to LEO where they transfer to the LEV.

Then the cargo lander takes the LEV, with

the crew aboard, to the moon, while the

Dragon remains behind in LEO.

After landing at the moon base, the

crew completes any necessary set up

operations and begins exploration. A

key goal will be to travel to a perma-

nently shadowed crater and, making

use of power beamed to them from the

base, use telerobots to mine water ice.

Hauling this treasure back to the base in

their trailer, the astronauts will feed the

water into the electrolysis/refrigeration

unit, which will transform it into liquid

hydrogen and oxygen. These products will

then be stored in the empty tanks of the

cargo landers for future use — primarily

as rocket propellant but also as a power

supply for fuel cells and a copious source

of life-support consumables.

Having spent a couple of months ini-

tiating such operations and engaging in

additional forms of resource prospecting

and scientific exploration, the astronauts

will enter the LEV, take off and return to

Earth orbit. There they will be met by a

Dragon — either the one that took them

to orbit in the first place or another that

has just been launched to lift the crew

following them — which will serve as

their reentry capsule for the final leg of

the journey back home.

Thus, each mission that follows will

require just one $100 million Falcon

Heavy launch and one $60 million Fal-

con 9 launch to accomplish. Once the

base is well-established, there will be

little reason not to extend surface stays

to six months.

Assuming that cost of the mission

hardware will roughly equal the cost to

launch it, we should be able to create and

sustain a permanently occupied lunar

base at an ongoing yearly cost of less

than $700 million. This is less than four

percent of NASA’s current budget — or

about a quarter of what is being spent

yearly on the agency’s now obsolete

SPACENEWS.COM | 29

SPACENEWS GRAPHICSOURCE: ROBERT ZUBRIN

NAS

A

Space Launch System program which has

been going on for over a decade without

producing a rocket.

The astronauts will not be limited to exploring

the local region around the base. Refueled with

hydrogen and oxygen, the same LEV space-

craft used to travel to the moon and back can

be used to fly from the base to anywhere else

on the moon, land, provide on-site housing

for an exploration sortie crew, and then return

them to the base. We won’t just be getting a

local outpost: we’ll be getting complete global

access to an entire world.

Currently, NASA has no such plan. Instead

it is proposing the build a lunar orbiting space

station dubbed the Deep Space Gateway. This

boondoggle will cost several tens of billions of

dollars, at least, and serve no useful purpose

whatsoever – except perhaps to provide a launch

manifest for the Space Launch System. We do

not need a lunar-orbiting station to go to the

moon. We do not need such a station to go to

Mars. We do not need it to go to near-Earth

asteroids. We do not need it to go anywhere.

If we do waste our time and money building

it, we won’t go anywhere.

If you want to get to the moon, you need to

go to the moon. We now have it in our power

to do so. Let’s seize the time. SN

COMMENTARY Robert Zubrin

30 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

ROBERT ZUBRIN IS PRESIDENT OF PIONEER

ASTRONAUTICS AND THE MARS SOCIETY. AN UPDATED

EDITION OF HIS BOOK, “THE CASE FOR MARS: THE

PLAN TO SETTLE THE RED PLANET AND WHY WE

MUST” WAS RECENTLY PUBLISHED BY THE FREE PRESS.

U.S. Vice President Mike Pence gets a close look at a recovered Falcon 9 booster during a February visit to Kennedy Space Center, Florida, for the National Space Council’s second public meeting.

The Deep Space Gateway will cost several tens of billions and serve no useful purpose beyond providing a manifest for SLS

SPACENEWS.COM | 31

ON THE HORIZON

DATE EVENT PLACE DATE EVENT PLACE

28-29 Paris Space Weekparis-space-week.com Paris, France

3-5 Space 2.0infocastinc.com/event/space-2-0/

Silicon Valley, CA

3-5 IAA Regional Meeting Denver, CO

9-12 Earth and Space 2018earthspaceconf.mst.edu Cleveland, OH

16-19 Space Symposiumspacesymposium.org

Colorado Springs, CO

APRIL 21-23 Global Space Applications Conferencewww.glac2018.org

Montevideo, Uruguay

22-24 Space Tech Expo 2018www.spacetechexpo.com Pasadena, CA

24-27International Space Development Conferenceisdc.nss.org/2018/

Los Angeles, CA

28-014S Symposium (Small Satellites Systems & Services)atpi.eventsair.com/QuickEventWebsite-Portal/4s2018/4s

Sorrento, Italy

MAYMARCH

14 IAA Academy Dayiaaweb.org/content/view/721/948/ Pasadena, CA

14-22 42nd COSPAR Scientific Assemblyiaaweb.org/content/view/721/948/ Pasadena, CA

15-16 Satellite & Space Missions Conferencesatellite.conferenceseries.com Rome, Italy

JULY

4-9 Small Satellite Conferencesatellite.conferenceseries.com Logan, UT

AUGUST

15-16 Space Forumwww.spaceforum.com

Luxembourg City

15-17 IAA SciTech Forum 2018 Moscow, Russia

MAY

21-234th IAA Conference on Dynamics and Control of Space Systems (DYCOSS)dycoss2018.com

Changsha, China

16-18 44th Aerospace Mechanisms Symposiumaeromechanisms.com Cleveland, OH

FOUST FORWARD Jeff Foust

When Congress released the text of

the omnibus spending bill for fiscal

year 2018 on the evening of March

21, providing NASA with more than

$20.7 billion, some hailed language in the bill that

gives NASA’s Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope

(WFIRST) $150 million. They saw it as a rejection of

the administration’s proposal earlier this year to

cancel the mission.

Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.), a member of

the Senate Appropriations Committee, included

WFIRST in a list distributed by his office of NASA

programs funded in the bill. That entry had a par-

enthetical “which had been eliminated under the

President’s budget.”

There’s just one problem: the proposal to cancel

WFIRST was in the administration’s 2019 budget

request, released in February, and not in the 2018

proposal, which requested $126.6 million for the

mission. Plans to cancel the multibillion-dollar space

telescope are still alive, at least on paper.

That confusion is understandable. The 2018

budget proposal sought to close NASA’s educa-

tion office and cancel five Earth science missions,

but appropriators reversed those plans, funding

the office and four of the missions. (The fifth, the

Radiation Budget Instrument, or RBI, had already

been terminated by NASA for what the agency said

were technical and programmatic, not budgetary,

reasons.) But the administration’s 2019 budget re-

quest, perhaps anticipating that reversal, repeated

cuts to education and the same five Earth science

missions — even the already-canceled RBI.

Last fall, NASA officials said they were con-

sidering including a request for a second mobile

launch platform for the Space Launch System in

The never-ending appropriations story

its 2019 budget proposal, citing its potential to help

shorten the gap between the first two SLS launches.

However, that didn’t make it into the final proposal,

with agency officials blaming the cuts on “various

priorities” needing funding.

And yet, the final 2018 omnibus bill included

$350 million for that second mobile launch plat-

form, even though it hadn’t been included in the

previous versions of 2018 appropriations bills. “This

is fantastic news,” said Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) in a

statement after the release of the omnibus, noting

it would support hundreds of jobs at the Kennedy

Space Center.

With the 2018 omnibus bill now essentially

complete (although, as of press time, there was

a last-minute veto threat from President Trump

regarding border wall funding), attention can turn

to the 2019 proposal. Plans to cancel Earth science

missions and close NASA’s education office seem

to have no greater odds of success this time around

than in 2018. But what about WFIRST?

NASA Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot

said that decision was based on priorities, includ-

ing a greater focus on exploration. “It was a budget

decision. It’s not a performance issue at all,” he said

at the Goddard Memorial Symposium March 14,

citing the mission’s overall cost of $3.2–3.9 billion.

“When we looked at the balance of the total budget,

in discussion with the administration, they said they

didn’t want to bite that big of a bullet right now.”

But, if appropriators can find $350 million for a

second mobile launch platform in 2018, one can

imagine them keeping WFIRST going in 2019: the

agency’s 2018 budget proposal projected spending

about $300 million on WFIRST in 2019.

Appropriators offered a hint of what they thought

about the proposal to cancel WFIRST in the 2018

omnibus bill. “The agreement reiterates the impor-

tance of the decadal survey process and rejects the

cancellation of scientific priorities recommended

by the National Academy of Sciences decadal sur-

vey process,” the bill’s accompanying report states.

WFIRST is the top-ranked flagship mission in the

most recent astrophysics decadal survey.

An even bigger accomplishment for appropri-

ators in the next year might be to complete their

2019 spending bills before the release of the 2020

budget proposal and eliminate at least one source

of confusion. SN

THE FEDERAL APPROPRIATIONS PROCESS HAS

BECOME SO EXTENDED THAT IT’S SOMETIMES

CONFUSING WHAT YEAR WE’RE IN

32 | SPACENEWS 03.26.18

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