November 13, 2017

Swarm of Nanosatellites Could Visit Over 300 Asteroids (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
European scientists have proposed a mission consisting of 50 tiny spacecraft, which could visit and study over 300 asteroids in a timespan of just over three years. The concept, named Asteroid Touring Nanosat Fleet, envisions a swarm of nanosatellites propelled by innovative electric solar wind sails (known as E-sails) taking images and studying the composition of asteroids. The tiny spacecraft would perform flybys of their targets at a range of around 620 miles (1,000 kilometers). Each nanosatellite would visit six or seven space rocks before returning to Earth. (11/12)

Orbital ATK: Continued Antares Success, More Antares Launches (Source: Space News)
The launch is the first in a string of cargo missions that Antares will fly over the next few years. Three of the previous four Cygnus missions used United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5, in part because of upgrades to the Antares after an October 2014 launch failure. Orbital ATK officials said the remaining missions under its original Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract, as well as at least the first two missions under its CRS-2 contract, will use the Antares. The company has not been successful in marketing the Antares to other customers, although it says it continues to seek additional business for the vehicle. (11/13)

Triton Messed With Neptune's Moons (Source: New Scientist)
Neptune likely had an ordinary collection of moons until Triton came along. Models of Neptune's moons suggest that it had a "well-behaved" set of moons, similar to Uranus, until the planet's gravity captured Triton, a Kuiper Belt object that formed separately. Triton flung around Neptune's smaller moons, and crashed into others. That explains why the planet has several small moons either very close or very far from the planet, and also how Triton ended up in a circular orbit after being captured into an elliptical one. (11/13)

World View Tourism Craft Takes a Back Seat to Stratollite Business (Source: Arizona Daily Star)
World View says it's seeing growing customer interest in its "stratollite" high-altitude balloons. The company said it flew four stratollites from late September through October for several customers, including NASA, and will be on a pace for 100 flights a year by the second half of next year. The company originally planned to use the balloons to provide a near-space experience for tourists, but the company says it's deferring that work to focus on the uncrewed stratollites, with flights carrying humans to "fall in" at some point in the future. (11/13)

A Tale of Two Rockets (Source: Space Review)
An Orbital ATK Antares rocket successfully launched a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on Sunday, the rocket’s first flight in more than a year. Jeff Foust reports on the launch and the challenges that medium-class rocket is facing in the launch market. Click here. (11/13)
 
The Outer Space Treaty and States’ Obligation to Remove Space Debris: a US Perspective (Source: Space Review)
It’s widely believed that cleaning up orbital debris requires new laws or even international treaties. However, Ram S Jakhu and Md Tanveer Ahmad argue that existing laws give the US the authority it needs to remove orbital debris. Click here. (11/13)
 
An Open Letter to Vice President Pence and the National Space Council on Space Traffic Management (Source: Space Review)
As the National Space Council starts its work, one topic it will likely address is space traffic management. Three authors, in an open letter to the council and its chairman, suggest establishing a new agency to deal with this issue. Click here. (11/13)
 
The Moon and America’s (and the World’s) Defense (Source: Space Review)
Some Mars exploration advocates seen a return to the Moon as an unnecessary detour. Gary Fisher proposes a lunar base that could support future Mars missions and other applications, although in a very unconventional way. Click here. (11/13)

China Teases Hypersonic Military Attack Aircraft Designs (Source: Sputnik)
A news report on the Chinese CCMF channel has revealed a glimpse of a top-secret JF-12 hypersonic wind-tunnel in which prospective - and presumably military - hypersonic aircraft are being tested. Aerodynamic tunnels are commonly used to test the properties of machines prior to full scale production. In the case of aircraft that tend to be big and expensive, small models of new plane designs are positioned in wind tunnels to reveal how the new craft withstand high winds. Click here. (11/13)

In the case of hypersonic planes, a tunnel is required that can simulate an aircraft movement at speeds much faster than the speed of sound. China has now demonstrated their own version. Built in 2012, the JF-12, dubbed ‘Hyper Dragon,' has been a carefully kept secret. The 2.5 meter wide, 265 meter long installation reportedly cost almost $7 million to construct and is capable of creating wind speeds up to 10 times the speed of sound, or about 7,680 mph. (11/13)

Thousands of Scientists Issue Bleak 'Second Notice' to Humanity (Source: Washington Post)
In late 1992, 1,700 scientists from around the world issued a dire “warning to humanity.” They said humans had pushed Earth's ecosystems to their breaking point and were well on the way to ruining the planet. The letter listed environmental impacts like they were biblical plagues — stratospheric ozone depletion, air and water pollution, the collapse of fisheries and loss of soil productivity, deforestation,  species loss and  catastrophic global climate change caused by the burning of fossil fuels.

“If not checked,” wrote the scientists, led by particle physicist and Union of Concerned Scientists co-founder Henry Kendall, “many of our current practices put at serious risk the future that we wish for human society and the plant and animal kingdoms, and may so alter the living world that it will be unable to sustain life in the manner that we know.” But things were only going to get worse.

To mark the letter's 25th anniversary, researchers have issued a bracing follow-up. In a communique published Monday in the journal BioScience, more than 15,000 scientists from 184 countries assess the world's latest responses to various environmental threats. Once again, they find us sorely wanting. “Humanity has failed to make sufficient progress in generally solving these foreseen environmental challenges, and alarmingly, most of them are getting far worse,” they write. (11/13)

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