November 12, 2018

Muscle Cells of 8 Central Floridians Will Go to Space for a First-of-its-Kind Experiment (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The muscle cells of eight Central Floridians will be launched into space this month for a first-of-its-kind experiment. The tiny cells will travel in chips smaller than business cards, inside a lab about the size of a small box, to their cosmic destination: The International Space Station. There, the cells will spend seven days orbiting their owners on Earth.

When the cells return home, scientists will analyze how the stay in microgravity affected them. How does the weightlessness of space contribute to muscle loss? Why do astronauts come home so weak? And how could that information help us understand the kind of muscle loss that happens as we age?

It’ll be the first time that scientists will test muscle cells individually in space, said Dr. Paul Coen, a researcher at Florida Hospital’s Translational Research Institute for Metabolism & Diabetes, which conducted the study that obtained the muscle cells. Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and microgravity experiment company Micro-gRx, both in Lake Nona, developed the “lab on a chip” in partnership with research and development company SpacePharma. (11/12)

Rocket Lab’s Modest Launch Is Giant Leap for Small Rocket Business (Source: New York Times)
A small rocket from a little-known company lifted off Sunday from the east coast of New Zealand, carrying a clutch of tiny satellites. That modest event — the first commercial launch by a U.S.-New Zealand company known as Rocket Lab — could mark the beginning of a new era in the space business, where countless small rockets pop off from spaceports around the world. This miniaturization of rockets and spacecraft places outer space within reach of a broader swath of the economy.

The rocket, called the Electron, is a mere sliver compared to the giant rockets that Elon Musk, of SpaceX, and Jeffrey P. Bezos, of Blue Origin, envisage using to send people into the solar system. It is just 56 feet tall and can carry only 500 pounds into space. But Rocket Lab is aiming for markets closer to home. Behind Rocket Lab, a host of start-up companies are also jockeying to provide transportation to space for a growing number of small satellites.

Space Angels, a space-business investment firm, is tracking 150 small launch companies. Chad Anderson, Space Angel’s chief executive, said that although the vast majority of these companies will fail, a small group possess the financing and engineering wherewithal to get off the ground. Their rockets are shrinking, because satellites are shrinking. Advances in technology and computer chips have enabled smaller satellites to perform the same tasks as their predecessors. And constellations of hundreds or thousands of small satellites, orbiting at lower altitudes that are easier to reach, can mimic the capabilities once possible only from a fixed geosynchronous position. (11/12)

Satellite Images Show North Korea ‘Continuing Missile Program at 16 Secret Sites’ (Source: Daily Beast)
North Korea is carrying on with its ballistic missile program at 16 secret facilities, new satellite images have revealed, undermining President Donald Trump’s boasts that he persuaded the hermit kingdom to abandon its weapons production and work toward denuclearization. The images, reported by The New York Times, show North Korea is continuing to make improvements at more than a dozen launching sites. The development suggests North Korea’s promise to shut down one major test site was an attempted deception.

The secret missile bases were identified in a study to be published Monday by the Beyond Parallel program at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington think tank. The disclosure is another blow for negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea. Nuclear talks between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a high-ranking North Korean official were called off last week as the two sides hit an impasse. The U.S. believes North Korea’s progress on nuclear disarmament has been too slow, while Kim Jong Un wants the U.S. to ease up its sanctions against his country. (11/12)

Japan Recovers Experiment Capsule From ISS (Source: Asahi Shimbun)
Japan's space agency recovered a capsule Saturday that survived the reentry of a cargo spacecraft. JAXA said that ships were able to recover an experimental capsule from the Pacific Ocean containing about one kilogram of experiment specimens. The capsule separated from the HTV cargo spacecraft as it reentered over the Pacific, with the main cargo spacecraft burning up as expected. The capsule could provide another means of returning cargo from the station, something only possible today with SpaceX's Dragon and the Soyuz crewed vehicle. (11/12)

India Preps GSLV Launch as Cyclone Approaches (Source: UNI)
India is preparing for a GSLV launch this week despite an approaching cyclone. A GSLV Mark 3 rocket is scheduled to launch the GSAT-29 communications satellite Wednesday from the country's spaceport at Sriharikota. The Indian space agency ISRO said that while rains associated with an approaching cyclone will reach the spaceport by Wednesday, it should be able to get the launch off since the cyclone itself won't arrive until Thursday. (11/12)

Changes Soon for Astrobiology Institute (Source: Space News)
NASA plans to phase out its virtual institute devoted to astrobiology in favor of an alternative approach to coordinating research. The NASA Astrobiology Institute, established 20 years ago, will be shut down by the end of next year, replaced with five "research coordination networks." NASA argues that the institute, and its overhead expenses, are no longer needed given the maturity of the field, but some scientists are worried about what this means for the agency's support, and funding, of astrobiology research. Agency officials say that they will continue to fund astrobiology research, and that the new networks will provide more flexibility in how it supports that work. (11/12)

European Scientists Select ExoMars Rover Landing Site (Source: BBC)
European scientists have selected their preferred landing site for the ExoMars 2020 rover. Those scientists, meeting in the U.K. last week, chose the Oxia Planum region near the Martian equator. That area contains clays and other minerals formed from interaction with water earlier in the planet's history, and scientists think could be an ideal location to look for evidence of any past life there. The landing site decision will have to be formally approved later by ESA and Roscosmos, with a final decision expected in mid-2019. (11/12)

Scottish Landowners Approve Spaceport Bid (Source: Aberdeen Press and Journal)
Scottish landowners have approved a proposal to build a spaceport on their property. Members of Melness Crofters Estate voted to back the proposed launch site in northern Scotland, allowing the project to move ahead into the next stage of planning, including environmental studies. Nearly 60 percent of landowners voted in favor of the proposal, but opponents claim not all the ballots were properly registered. (11/12)

Russia's RD-180 Could Lift New Heavy Rocket (Source: TASS)
Russian RD-180 engines could find new life on a proposed heavy-lift rocket. Energomash CEO Igor Arbuzov said the RD-180 engine built by his company could be used on the second stage of a future heavy-lift rocket, one unlikely to fly before the late 2020s. The engine could also be considered for a "modernized" version of the Soyuz-2 rocket. The RD-180 is currently used by United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5, but that vehicle will be phased out during the first half of the 2020s as the company introduces its Vulcan rocket, powered by Blue Origin's BE-4 engine. (11/12)

The Mars Society's Robert Zubrin Has a 'Moon Direct' Plan to Drive a Lunar Economy (Source: Space.com)
The Moon Direct plan, which Zubrin laid out in today's edition (Oct. 31) of the journal The New Atlantis, aims to send astronauts directly to the moon, rather than making a pit stop at NASA's planned Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. That space station would orbit the moon and serve as an outpost for crewed missions to the moon, Mars and deep space. Zubrin argued that the Gateway is unnecessary and instead suggested building a moon base. This idea, Zubrin argued, would reduce mission propulsion requirements, as well as other costs associated with building and maintaining a lunar gateway. (11/1)