October 3, 2017

LIGO Scientists Win Nobel Physics Prize (Source: New York Times)
Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in Physics this morning for their discovery of gravitational waves. The prize will be shared by Rainer Weiss of MIT and Kip Thorne and Barry Barish, both of Caltech, for their work leading the development of the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-wave Observatory (LIGO). Scientists using LIGO announced last year the discovery of the first graviational wave, a spacetime phenomenon predicted by Einstein's theory of general relativity and created by two colliding back holes. LIGO has detected several more gravitational waves since. A fourth person involved in the development of LIGO, Ron Drever, passed away earlier this year. (10/3)

ISS Partners Want Clarity on Lab's Future (Source: Space News)
International Space Station partners are hoping to get clarity on the long-term future of the station sooner rather than later. During a panel session at last week's International Astronautical Congress in Australia, NASA's Bll Gerstenmaier said he hoped that the the partnership would reach a decision on what to do with the ISS post-2024 within the next two years, so that investors considering commercial partnerships involving the station have time to earn a return on their investment. That view was shared by some other representatives of ISS partners on the panel. Gerstenmaier rejected setting a firm date for the end of the station, seeking instead to develop criteria for transitioning from the ISS to other platforms. (10/3)

Spaceflight Wins NASA Secondary Payloads Contract (Source: Geekwire)
Spaceflight has won a NASA contract to provide secondary payload services. The three-year contract, with a maximum value of $5.48 million, covers the integration of 24 "U-class" payloads in 2018 with options for a similar number in both 2019 and 2020. Such payloads are typically university-built cubesats that NASA has arranged to fly on its own missions. (10/3)

Methane Bursts Could Have Allowed Martian Lakes (Source: New Scientist)
Bursts of methane could have allowed Mars to keep liquid water on its surface. A new study suggests that "explosive burps" of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas, from ice deposits could have warmed the planet enough for brief periods to allow liquid water to exist on its surface. The methane would have worked in concert with carbon dioxide already in the atmosphere to provide the extra warming, but some studies suggest the early Martian atmosphere had less carbon dioxide than previously thought. (10/3)

Freon Not a Reliable Indicator of Life Out There (Source: Cosmos)
Freon may not be the tracer of life beyond the solar system that some scientists originally thought. A new study found evidence of the compound in a newly formed star system that is too young for life to exist. Scientists had previously speculated that Freon might be a good tracer of biological activity, since it is made through biological and industrial processes, but its discovery in a new star system means that the discovery of that compound alone is not evidence of life. (10/3)  

UK Scientist Wins Reality TV Astronaut Nod (Source: BBC)
A British scientist now has an unusual endorsement in her bid to become an astronaut: winning a reality TV show. Suzie Imber, a professor of planetary science at the University of Leicester, won a BBC Two show Sunday titled "Astronauts: Do you have what it takes?" On the show, she and 11 other contestants went through a series of challenges overseen by former Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield. By winning the show, Imber gets a "recommendation" to join ESA's astronaut corps, but with no guarantee of a future selection. (10/3)

Mars Mission Sequels (Source: Space Review)
On the same day last week at the International Astronautical Congress in Australia, SpaceX and Lockheed Martin offered updates to Mars mission architectures unveiled last year. Jeff Foust reports on the changes, and the distinct differences between the two approaches. Click here. (10/3) 
 
SpaceX Prepares to Eat its Young (Source: Space Review)
One of the key messages from Elon Musk’s talk at the International Astronautical Congress was his plan to focus exclusively on his BFR rocket in the future. Dick Eagleson ponders some of the implications of that decision for NASA and other companies. Click here. (10/3)
 
Is India Looking Towards Space-Based Resources? (Source: Space Review)
The United States, Luxembourg, and other nations are interested in developing space-based resources. Peter Garretson and Namrata Goswami examine whether India has similar interests and a willingness to back that interest with policy and law. Click here. (10/3)
 
Blue Origin and Virgin Orbit on the Launch Range (Source: Space Review)
SpaceX is not the only company pursuing reusable launch vehicles. Antoine Meunier discusses updates Blue Origin and Virgin Orbit offered at a recent conference about their partially reusable, but very different, launch systems under development. Click here. (10/3) 

Russia to Decide on Super-Heavy Space Rocket Soon (Source: Tass)
Russia may shortly make a decision on developing a super-heavy carrier rocket, Chief Designer of Energiya Rocket and Space Corporation Yevgeny Mikrin said. "Now a decision on a medium-range rocket has been made and we hope that soon a decision on a super-heavy carrier will be passed," the chief designer said. Russia’s Moon exploration program envisages creating a near-Moon station. The Federatsiya new piloted spacecraft is planned to be launched to the Moon. The new super-heavy carrier rocket is needed for the full-fledged implementation of the lunar program, he noted. As the chief designer said, "a new module weighing up to seven tonnes can be launched [to the Moon] with the help of an Angara or Proton carrier," he said. (10/2)

The Mysterious Bright Spots on Ceres May Have a Common Origin (Source: New Scientist)
The bright spots of Ceres, a dwarf planet in the main asteroid belt, have provoked curiosity and speculation ever since NASA’s Dawn spacecraft spotted them in 2015. Now it seems they might all have formed the same way, even though they are made of different materials. Ceres is speckled with hundreds of bright splotches. An international team led by Ernesto Palomba at the National Institute for Astrophysics in Rome is analysing the light reflected by them – as observed by Dawn, presently in orbit around Ceres – to identify any differences between them.

“The bright spots are only bright relative to Ceres’ already-dark surface,” says Nathanial Stein, a collaborator at the California Institute of Technology. “If you saw those spots on Earth or even on [the asteroid] Vesta you would consider them to be dark spots.” While the biggest and brightest spots are in Occator crater, more exist elsewhere on the dwarf planet. “Almost all of them are associated with impact craters,” says Stein. The team found 90 per cent of the bright spots are in craters or are debris ejected from a crater.

Researchers theorise that the spots are the result of the heat of an impact melting subsurface materials, which then well up to the surface to create the bright spots. Most of the spots are made from the same basic material as the rest of Ceres’s surface: calcium or magnesium carbonates mixed with ammonia-rich clays. But a handful of the spots in the youngest craters – including the exceptionally bright spots in Occator crater – are made of sodium carbonates without nearly as much ammonium clay. (10/2)

Has NASA asked SpaceX to Not Launch Falcon Heavy From LC-39A? (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
A recent post on Reddit has suggested that SpaceX had been asked by NASA to not launch its Falcon Heavy rocket from the historic Launch Complex 39A at the space agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. As is so often the case on the Internet, unconfirmed rumors can often spread misinformation that is then taken as fact. Is there any credibility to this rumor?

SpaceFlight Insider reached out to both SpaceX and NASA about the veracity of this statement and received responses from both of these organizations suggesting that this rumor does not appear to be based on fact. NASA directed us to SpaceX as they are the manufacturer of the Falcon Heavy and SpaceX provided SpaceFlight Insider with the following: We are targeting no earlier than the end of 2017 for Falcon Heavy’s inaugural flight from Launch Complex 39A in Florida.

Other sources, who requested anonymity, have told SpaceFlight Insider that SpaceX is planning to use LC-39A as a site to launch the Falcon Heavy from, with Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 handling some launches of their highly successful Falcon 9 – all this, apparently, refutes the above statement. SpaceX also has launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and is having a launch site developed in Boca Chica, Texas. (10/2)