China Launches Algerian
Satellite (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
China successfully launched a Long March 3B rocket on Sunday, December
10 with the first Algerian geostationary communications satellite,
known as Alcomsat-1. Liftoff took place at 16:40 GMT (11:40 a.m. EST)
from the Launch Complex 2 at the Xichang Satellite Launch Center (XSLC)
in China’s Sichuan Province. (12/10)
Russia Says Satellite
Could Have Caused Radioactive Pollution (Source: Space
Daily)
Russian scientists on Friday said radioactive pollution detected in
Europe in September was not linked to one of the country's nuclear
facilities and speculated that a satellite could be the cause.
Scientists at the Nuclear Safety Institute looked into the origin of
"extremely high" readings of radioactive ruthenium reported in some
parts of Russia by the meteorological service.
Results shown to journalists in Moscow on Friday did not pinpoint the
source of the pollution, but scientists dismissed suggestions that
Mayak, a facility in the Russian Urals that processes spent nuclear
fuel, was the origin. "While we still cannot say with certainty what
caused the release, we cannot rule out that a space object such as a
satellite or a fragment of one containing Ruthenium-106 re-entering the
atmosphere could have been such a source," a statement by the
scientists said. (12/8)
UK Taking Steps to Boost
Space Startups (Source: Space News)
The British government is taking steps to make the country a haven for
space startups. At a conference last week, the U.K. Space Agency
announced it would provide £200,000 ($268,000) to kickstart four new
space technology business incubators. The new incubators will bring the
total number of U.K. space startup clusters to 15. The largest, in
Harwell, currently hosts 80 companies, with a goal of growing to 200
companies by 2030. (12/10)
Bacterial Community on
ISS Resembles Homes (Source: UC Davis)
Microbiologists at the University of California, Davis who analyzed
swabs taken by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and
compared them with samples from homes on earth as well as the Human
Microbiome Project found that the microbial community in this unique
habitat was very diverse and more closely resembled that of homes than
of humans. This study, titled "A microbial survey of the International
Space Station (ISS)" was published today, Tuesday December 5th, in
PeerJ, a peer-reviewed open access journal.
This work was part of a nationwide citizen science project called
Project MERCCURI. The project is a collaboration between UC Davis and
other organizations including Science Cheerleader, a group of current
and former professional cheerleaders pursuing careers in science and
math. (12/5)
This Company Has the
Largest Fleet of Orbiting Satellites in Human History. Here's What It
Plans to Do Next (Source: Inc.)
Having an eye in the sky can be helpful. Planet Labs has more than 200.
The San Francisco-based startup was founded by three NASA employees in
2010. Their work hinged on a simple question: What if we launched
phones into orbit? "We thought the cost of satellites had far too many
zeros on the end," says Will Marshall, Planet Labs' co-founder and CEO.
"Smartphones have 90 percent of what you need to make a satellite. So
our question was, could we make a smartphone work in space?" The newly
formed Planet Labs team got to work creating a compact, pared-down
satellite. The result isn't quite the size of a smartphone--but, at 10
inches long and four inches tall and wide, it's far smaller than many
of the school bus-size ones currently in orbit. Click here.
(12/8)
Fashion on the Final
Frontier: The Story of the Spacesuit (Source: New Atlas)
Ever since NASA retired the silver lamé Mercury spacesuits of the early
1960s astronauts have fallen a little behind in the fashion department,
but now a new generation of spacesuits is being developed for both the
public and private sectors. Suiting up for the final frontier isn't
just about looks of course, it's about surviving and working in one of
the harshest environments possible – an environment that will kill you
in just 20 seconds without some high-tech protection. So what exactly
is a spacesuit, and what will the spacefaring fashionistas of the
future be wearing? Click here.
(12/7)
Breaking the Glass
Ceiling in Space (Source: The Hindu)
Naoko Yamazaki was always going to reach for the stars. As a little
girl in the 1970s, Ms. Yamazaki used to sit on her living room couch in
Japan’s Chiba prefecture, not far from Tokyo, and watch science fiction
anime, dreaming about space. Over three decades later, on April 5,
2010, she donned an orange space suit and boarded the space shuttle
Discovery. Eight and a half minutes later she had breached the “final
frontier”, her childhood dream became a reality. Ms. Yamazaki became
the second Japanese woman (and 54th woman globally) to have flown to
space. To date, 60 women have accomplished this feat, some 10% of the
total number of astronauts. (12/9)
China and US Quietly Hold
Third Civil Space Dialogue (Source: GB Times)
Beijing quietly hosted the third China-US Civil Space Dialogue on
November 30, with the two sides exchanging plans for human and robotic
space exploration, and discussing engagement through multilateral
mechanisms. The meeting was co-chaired by Tian Yulong,
secretary-general of China National Space Administration (CNSA), and
Jonathan Margolis, assistant secretary of state of the US Department of
State. The dialogue is an initiative designed to facilitate exchanges
between China and the United States on a range of space-related issues,
working around and filling a void created by an effective US
Congressional ban on NASA dealing with Chinese entities.
As Marcia S Smith observed upon the establishment of the dialogue, NASA
and the and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy are
prohibited from expending any funds to “develop, design, plan,
promulgate, implement, or execute a bilateral policy, program, order,
or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate
bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company.” The
prohibition was inserted in 2011 by Rep. Frank Wolf, then Chairman of
the Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies,
into the appropriations bills that fund NASA, and has since been
retained.
China has been effectively barred from joining the International Space
Station (ISS) project due to US objections, citing possible technology
transfer to a Chinese space programme which is entwined with the
country's military, as well as concerns over espionage and human rights
abuses. At the same time, proponents of cooperation with China state
the need for dialogue on issues including the long-term sustainability
of the space environment as human reliance and use of outer space
grows. (12/11)
Trump to Send Astronauts
Back to the Moon -- and Eventually Mars (Source: CNN)
President Donald Trump wants to send astronauts where no man has gone
before. During a signing ceremony in the Oval Office on Monday, Trump
will authorize the acting NASA administrator Robert M. Lightfoot Jr. to
"lead an innovative space exploration program to send American
astronauts back to the moon, and eventually Mars."
"The President listened to the National Space Council's recommendations
and he will change our nation's human spaceflight policy to help
America become the driving force for the space industry, gain new
knowledge from the cosmos, and spur incredible technology," deputy
White House press secretary Hogan Gidley said Monday. (12/11)
Breakthrough Listen Will
Check Interstellar Object to Make Sure it’s Not a Starship
(Source: GeekWire)
Was that cigar-shaped, fast-moving interstellar object a spaceship?
Almost certainly not, but Breakthrough Listen will check just to make
sure. The Breakthrough Listen campaign, which checks celestial targets
for radio signals from intelligent civilizations, will turn the Green
Bank Telescope in West Virginia toward the object, known as ‘Oumuamua,
for 10 hours of observations starting Wednesday.
Scientists will check for emissions across four radio bands, during
four key “epochs” based on ‘Oumuamua’s period of rotation. ”Oumuamua’s
presence within our solar system affords Breakthrough Listen an
opportunity to reach unprecedented sensitivities to possible artificial
transmitters and demonstrate our ability to track nearby, fast-moving
objects,” Andrew Siemion, director of the Berkeley SETI Research
Center, said. “Whether this object turns out to be artificial or
natural, it’s a great target for Listen.” (12/11)
UCF Researcher Works to
Explain Mars Clay (Source: UCF)
“The basic recipe for making clay is you take rock and you add heat and
water,” said Kevin Cannon, a postdoctoral researcher at the University
of Central Florida who led the research while completing his Ph.D. at
Brown University. “This same material used for ceramics and pottery on
Earth is also found on Mars, and now we think it may have formed
beneath a thick steamy atmosphere just after the planet formed.” New
research suggests the clays formed during the creation of the Martian
crust itself, long before any water could have flowed on the planet.
The scattering of the clay would be the result of impacts on the Red
planet years after its initial formation.
Cannon and his co-authors, planetary scientists at Brown, said the
scenario offers a means of creating widespread clay deposits that
doesn’t require a warm and wet climate or a sustained hydrothermal
system on early Mars. State-of-the-art climate models suggest an early
Mars where the temperature rarely crept above freezing and where water
flow on the surface was sporadic and isolated. (12/7)
Sierra Nevada's Dream
Chaser Space Plane Aces Free-Flight Drop Test (Source:
Space.com)
Sierra Nevada Corporation's privately built Dream Chaser space plane
aced a critical test Saturday (Nov. 11) during a successful free-flight
over California's Mojave Desert. The uncrewed Dream Chaser made a
smooth landing at Edwards Air Force Base during the free-flight test at
NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California, NASA
officials said in a statement. Earlier this year, officials at the
Armstrong center, where Dream Chaser is being tested, said the space
plane would to be dropped from an altitude of 12,500 feet by a Columbia
234-UT helicopter for this test.
Sierra Nevada is developing Dream Chaser to deliver supplies to the
space station for NASA under the agency's Commercial Resupply Services
2 (CRS-2) program. Under that agreement, Sierra Nevada will fly at
least six cargo delivery missions for NASA by 2024, agency officials
said in the Nov. 11 statement. Two other companies, SpaceX and Orbital
ATK, will use their own spacecraft to fly delivery missions for NASA as
part of the CRS-2 program. (12/11)
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