February 22, 2023

A Giant Planet Seems to Be Lurking Somewhere in Our Solar System (Source: Science Alert)
When we look at really distant objects, such as dwarf planets beyond Pluto, we find their orbits are a little unexpected. They move on very large elliptical (oval-shaped) orbits, are grouped together, and exist on an incline compared to the rest of the Solar System. When astronomers use a computer to model what gravitational forces are needed for these objects to move like this, they find that a planet at least ten times the mass of Earth would have been required to cause this.

It is super-exciting stuff! But then the question is: where is this planet? The problem we have now is trying to confirm if these predictions and models are correct. The only way to do that is to find Planet Nine, which is definitely easier said than done. Scientists all over the world have been on the hunt for visible evidence of Planet Nine for many years now. Based on the computer models, we think Planet Nine is at least 20 times farther away from the Sun than Neptune. We try to detect it by looking for sunlight it can reflect – just like how the Moon shines from reflected sunlight at night.

However, because Planet Nine sits so far away from the Sun, we expect it to be very faint and difficult to spot for even the best telescopes on Earth. Also, we can't just look for it at any time of the year. We only have small windows of nights where the conditions must be just right. Specifically, we have to wait for a night with no Moon, and on which the location we're observing from is facing the right part of the sky. (2/19)

Fission Fragment Rocket Engine Concept Puts Planets 100 Light Years Away Within Reach (Source: Auto Evolution)
We’re yet to build a true outpost on another world, we’re far from finding ways of keeping astronauts perfectly safe during long voyages through the vastness of space, and, more importantly, we’re yet to discover a means of propulsion capable of opening up nearby star systems within a decent time frame, one that would not require generation ships to reach.

Ideas on any of the above topics, and much more, are aplenty, but very few of them have a chance of ever becoming a reality. Yet NASA has a nose for picking the best ones from this massive crowd of thoughts. It does so through a program called Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC), which this year recognized no less than 14 concepts as potentially relevant for the space industry, and awarded them various grants.

One of the ways currently being researched to get spaceships moving is by using nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP). Such a design calls for the heat produced by a nuclear reaction (read fission) to be used to generate thrust. This is done by means of working fluid (most often, liquid hydrogen) getting heated to a high temperature, expanded, and expelled through a nozzle. NASA has been looking at this way of doing things for the past six decades or so. It does so because NTPs promise to at least double the efficiency of chemical rockets currently in use, opening the doors to crewed missions to Mars and perhaps even beyond. (2/21)

China’s LEO Push Looms Over Western Expansion Efforts (Source: Space News)
Ambitious plans from China for a global broadband network could hamper Western constellation operators seeking to maximize their international subscriber numbers. While finer details about these plans remain under wraps, they come amid China’s aggressive pursuit for more international infrastructure under its colossal Belt and Road initiative, which seeks to capitalize on the country’s economic strength to play a higher profile role in global affairs.

China’s international satellite communications presence is set to change in the next five to 10 years as the country deploys a global network in low Earth orbit (LEO). A Chinese LEO constellation with strong government backing could make it harder for western operators to compete internationally, particularly in countries with deep political ties to China. Belarus, Pakistan, Venezuela, Bolivia, Laos, and other counties that have previously bought GEO satellites from China “might be more likely to lean towards a Chinese constellation for government projects,” said Blaine Curcio, a senior affiliate consultant for Euroconsult. (2/22)

Japan's Iwaya Giken Plans Balloon Capsule Venture (Source: AP)
A Japanese startup is getting into the stratospheric balloon tourism business. Iwaya Giken unveiled a design for a capsule that would be carried aloft to an altitude of 25 kilometers, giving those on board views of the Earth similar to those seen from space. Unlike Space Perspective and World View, two companies that are working on large vehicles capable of holding about 10 people, the Iwaya Giken capsule has room for only two people. The company plans to offer flights for $180,000 per person, with the first flight as soon as late this year. (2/22)

Sidus Space Secures Additional Launches with SpaceX (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced it has signed an agreement with SpaceX to launch on Transporter missions manifested for 2024 and 2025. This additional agreement further extends the Company’s relationship with SpaceX, chosen in part due to their successful and reliable launch capabilities. Sidus Space expects the Maiden Flight of LizzieSat on SpaceX Transporter-9 later this year. Along with launching in 2023, the new agreement adds two additional flights in 2024 and two flights scheduled for launch in 2025, each of which are on upcoming Transporter missions. (2/22)

Terran Orbital Wins $2.4 Billion Contract to Develop 300 Satellites for Rivada (Source: Terran Orbital)
Terran Orbital announced Wednesday it won a contract worth $2.4 billion to build 300 satellites for Rivada Space Networks. The satellites, weighing 500 kilograms each, will carry communications payloads for Rivada's proposed broadband constellation, with launches scheduled to begin as soon as 2025. Rivada had previously announced plans for a 600-satellite constellation, and the announcement didn't indicate if Rivada had downsized its constellation or plans to select a second vendor. Rivada also has not disclosed what funding it has raised to pay for this constellation. (2/22)

SpaceX Moves Crew Launch to Feb. 27 (Source: Space News)
A SpaceX commercial crew mission to the International Space Station has slipped a day. NASA said late Tuesday it rescheduled the Crew-6 launch to Feb. 27 to give SpaceX and the agency more time to complete work on the Crew Dragon and Falcon 9 as well as wrap up several studies of several minor issues. Crew-6 will deliver NASA, Roscosmos and Emirati crew members to the station for a six-month stay. The mission is not affected by the ongoing investigation into a coolant leak on a Progress spacecraft docked to the station earlier this month.

Roscosmos said Tuesday it believed that "external influences" caused a hole 12 millimeters across in the Progress radiator from which the coolant leaked. NASA said it was conducting its own review of images of the Progress, but cautioned that it was not necessarily caused by a micrometeoroid or orbital debris impact. (2/22)

SpaceX Says It Is On Track for March Starship Launch (Source: Space News)
A SpaceX executive said Tuesday that the company remained on track to perform the first Starship orbital launch attempt next month. Speaking at the Space Mobility conference Tuesday, Gary Henry, senior adviser for national security space solutions at SpaceX, said both the Starship booster and the pad were in "good shape" after a static-fire test earlier this month. That test was "the last box to check" before an orbital launch, pending an FAA launch license that he expected the company to receive in the very near future. That would set the company up for an orbital launch attempt likely sometime in March, although the company has not provided a more specific schedule. (2/22)

Space Force Goes Nontraditional with Commercial Vehicles (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is looking for ways to support future military operations with nontraditional space transportation systems and on-orbit logistics. Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, program executive officer for assured access to space at the Space Systems Command, said at the Space Mobility conference Tuesday that the service was interested in using commercially available vehicles to support combatant commands, which could range from "rocket cargo" delivery to on-orbit servicing of spacecraft. The Pentagon spends more than a billion dollars a year on launch services but it’s still too early to project what it might spend on rocket cargo deliveries or on-orbit services. (2/22)

Purdy: Small Launchers Earned Place in Launch Procurement Plans (Source: Space News)
Space Force Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy said that smaller launch companies made the case to be able to complete in the next round of National Security Space Launch (NSSL) contracts. He said the draft NSSL Phase 3 procurement released last week was heavily influenced by new players in the launch industry that want a seat at the table and are investing in launch systems the government wants to leverage. Phase 3 will have a two-track approach with one track devoted to more conventional launch services and the other offering opportunities to companies to compete for individual launches. There are no guarantees these new vehicles will be ready or able to launch when Phase 3 missions start in 2027, but Purdy said the door should be left open. (2/22)

NASA Imagery Shows Chinas Mars Rover Hasn't Moved in Months (Source: Space News)
Images from a NASA Mars orbiter show that the Chinese Zhurong rover has not moved for months. An image taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Feb. 7 showed the rover was in the same location as an image taken last September. Zhurong went into hibernation last May to conserve power during the winter season at its landing site, but was expected to resume operations in December. Chinese officials have not provided recent updates on the status of the rover, and did not mention it during commemorations this month of the second anniversary of the arrival of the Tianwen-1 mission at Mars. (2/22)

ClearSpace Passes Gate for First Planned Debris Mission (Source: Space News)
ClearSpace has completed the first major review for an orbital debris removal mission. The company said Tuesday the ESA-funded ClearSpace-1 mission passed a review called Key Performance Gate 1 at the end of last year, allowing the company to start procuring components for the spacecraft. The Swiss company won a $117 million ESA contract in 2020 to develop the mission, scheduled to launch in 2026 to capture and deorbit a Vega upper stage left in orbit from a 2013 launch. ClearSpace is also competing with Japan-based Astroscale for a U.K. Space Agency contract to remove two as-yet-unidentified spacecraft from LEO in 2026. (2/22)

Spain's PLD Space Adds $63.9 Million for Launcher Development (Source: Space Intel Report)
Spanish small-launcher startup PLD Space has brought its fundraising up to EUR 60M ($63.9M) with support from retail investment platform
Sego Finance. The company seeks to raise UR 150M in a Series C round to finance its Miura 5 orbital vehicle. PLD's Miura 1 suborbital rocket's first launch campaign starts in March. (2/22)

Better Tools Needed to Identify Ancient Life on Mars (Source: Space Daily)
Current state-of-the-art instrumentation being sent to Mars to collect and analyze evidence of life might not be sensitive enough to make accurate assessments, according to a research team co-led by a Cornell University astronomer. In a paper published in Nature Communications, visiting planetary scientist Alberto Fairen, and an international team of researchers, claim that ancient organic material in Martian rocks could be difficult, if not impossible, to detect with current instruments and techniques. (2/22)

New Transmitter Design for Small Satellite Constellations Improves Signal Transmission (Source: Space Daily)
Small satellites have special needs when it comes to transmitter (TX) technology. For one, they have stringent limitations on power consumption as they draw energy from solar panels and cannot easily dissipate generated heat. Moreover, small satellites need to communicate with fast-moving targets that can be over a thousand kilometers away. Thus, they require efficient and precise beam steering capabilities to direct most of the transmitted power towards the receiver.

On top of this, small satellite TXs have to generate different types of circularly polarized (CP) signals depending on the situation. Put simply, they need to faithfully generate both left-handed and right-handed CP signals to avoid interference with another transmitted signal with the opposite handedness. Additionally, they sometimes need to generate dual CP signals to establish high-speed data links.

Satisfying all these requirements simultaneously has proven to be challenging, especially when TXs are meant to operate with high-speed communication. Fortunately, a research team from Japan led by Associate Professor Atsushi Shirane from Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech), have been working on a convincing solution. An innovative TX design that solves all the above-mentioned issues, will pave the way for better small satellite-based communications. The proposed TX operates from 25.5 GHz to 27 GHz in the Ka-band used for next-generation high-speed satellite communications. (2/22)

Redwire Partners with Starfish Space for Otter Pup Satellite Docking Mission (Source: Space Daily)
Jacksonville-based Redwire has partnered with Starfish Space to provide Redwire's ARGUS space domain awareness camera for Starfish Space's first-ever satellite docking mission, Otter Pup. Additionally, Redwire has secured a contract option with Starfish Space to demonstrate Redwire's Cerebro Resident Space Object tracking software in orbit upon the completion of the primary mission.

Starfish Space's mission will demonstrate the first-ever docking of two commercial satellites in low-Earth orbit. Redwire's Argus camera system will enable Starfish Space's Otter Pup satellite to determine the relative position of its docking target, a critical capability needed to achieve mission success. Upon completion of the satellite docking mission, Redwire may remotely install its Cerebro Resident Space Object tracking software into the ARGUS camera system, leveraging proven ExoAnalytics algorithms, to demonstrate space domain awareness mission applications for the Department of Defense. (2/22)

Envisioning the Next Generation of Space Telescopes (Source: Space News)
The latest astrophysics decadal survey, called Astro2020 and published in November 2021, recommended that NASA pursue development of a space telescope six meters across that operates in the ultraviolet, visible and near infrared. The telescope, with an estimated cost of $11 billion, would launch in the early 2040s. One of the first steps was to give that telescope, unnamed in the decadal survey, a moniker. Last fall, NASA quietly started referring to that telescope as the “Habitable Worlds Observatory,” using the term in presentations and congressional testimony.

The designation — a working name for now — is intended to reflect the telescope’s mission to study potentially habitable exoplanets while also serving as a general-purpose observatory for astrophysics, he explained. (It was also, some astronomers noted, an improvement over the designation NASA has been using: IROUV, an acronym for infrared, optical and ultraviolet.) Beyond the name, though, there are few details about the Habitable Worlds Observatory, including even a notional illustration of it. (2/21)

Texas Plans Huge Public Investment in Space (Source: Ars Technica)
As part of the state's biennial budget process, Texas Governor Greg Abbott has called on the state legislature to provide $350 million to create and fund a Texas Space Commission for the next two years. "With companies seeking to expand space travel in coming years, continued development of the space industry in the state will ensure Texas remains at the forefront not only in the United States, but the entire world," Abbott stated in his budget document for the 88th Legislature.

"Further investment will cement Texas as the preeminent location for innovation and development in this rapidly growing industry. Due to increased competition from other states and internationally, further planning and coordination is needed to keep Texas at the cutting edge." In their initial drafts, both the House and the Senate budget bills for this legislative session include the full $350 million in funding for a space commission. A source in the Texas Legislature said details about the commission's funding priorities were expected to be worked out later in the legislative session, which ends on May 29.

However, the framework for the proposed space commission appears to have been prepared by a Houston-based workforce-development organization called TexSpace, which published an annual report in December calling for the creation of such a commission. According to this document, the commission would "focus on policy and arranging statewide strategy by monitoring local, state, and federal policies and opportunities and establishing an economic ecosystem for Texas' space enterprises." It would include 15 members, including those appointed by political officials, as well as an appointee each from SpaceX and Blue Origin. (2/21)

Want to Travel to Mars? Here’s How Long the Trip Could Take (Source: Popular Science)
Despite what Star Trek’s warp-speed journeys would have us believe, interplanetary travel is quite the hike. Take getting to Mars. Probes sent to the Red Planet by NASA and other space agencies spend about seven months in space before they arrive at their destination. A trip for humans would probably be longer—likely on the timescale of a few years.

There are a lot of things that a human crew needs to survive that robots don’t, such as food, water, oxygen, and enough supplies for a return—the weight of which can slow down a spacecraft. With current technology, NASA calculations estimate a crewed mission to Mars and back, plus time on the surface, could take somewhere between two and three years. “Three years we know for sure is feasible,” says Michelle Rucker, who leads NASA’s Mars Architecture Team in the agency’s ​​Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. Click here. (2/21)

Vast Acquires Launcher, Drops Launch Vehicle Development (Source: Vast)
To accelerate its mission to expand humanity across the solar system by developing long term human habitation in space, Vast has acquired space startup Launcher. Vast is building an artificial gravity station with many times the volume of the International Space Station in low Earth orbit. While steadily making progress toward this goal, Vast will be partnering with a global array of customers, including from the commercial sector and U.S. and international governments and organizations, for its advanced in-space products.

Notably, this acquisition provides Vast with an established set of talent to accelerate in-house advanced manufacturing and development capabilities as well as spacecraft technologies. In addition, with Launcher’s Orbiter space tug and hosted payload platform, Vast plans to reach orbit this year to develop and test its on-orbit space station components and subsystems. Vast will continue the Orbiter space tug and hosted payload products as well as its staged combustion rocket engine E-2, and will focus on liquid rocket engine products instead of developing its own launch vehicle. (2/21)

Russia Claims an “External Impact” Damaged its Progress Spacecraft (Source: Ars Technica)
Russia's main space corporation, Roscosmos, provided updates on Tuesday about its two spacecraft that recently suffered failures to their cooling systems while attached to the ISS. Although there were several items of note in these updates—which are not readily available to Western audiences due to Russian Internet restrictions—perhaps the most surprising claim is that both the Soyuz MS-22 and Progress MS-21 spacecraft were damaged near their heat radiators by "external impacts."

Although micrometeoroids and specks of orbital debris have periodically damaged the space station and visiting vehicles during more than two decades of operation, impacts have never resulted in "serious consequences" like with the Soyuz and Progress vehicles in the last two months. So what are the odds that two Russian vehicles would be struck in the same general area in two months, with both of these strikes disabling the spacecraft's thermal cooling systems? The odds seem incredibly low.

Moreover, if there are so many micrometeorites intersecting with the space station's orbit, why is the outpost not riddled with holes? NASA does not presently have a sensor or other means of recording hits to the ISS unless they cause notable damage. But given that the Soyuz and Progress vehicles only make up 1 percent or less of the station's footprint in space, the ISS would likely be incurring significant damage if there was a cloud of micrometeorites or debris. (2/21)

In 'Kerbal Space Program 2', the Fun Is in the Failure (Source: Vice)
To err is human, but to forgive… that’s Kerbal. That was my overarching feeling as I played Kerbal Space Program 2 (KSP2), the sequel to the beloved simulation game of the same name, at a special event held at a real space center to preview its release on early access on Friday, February 24.

In the world populated by Kerbals, the game’s cartoonish humanoids, there is no rocket too faulty for the launchpad, no trajectory too dangerous to chart, and no Kerbal whose love for spaceflight is tempered by even the remotest sense of self-preservation. This resolute affability in the face of certain doom was a big part of the charm of the first iteration of KSP, initially released in 2011, and it continues to serve as a reminder of the essential Kerbal message—failure is fun—in the sequel. (2/20)

NASA is Mapping Duststorms From Space with This New Device (Source: CNN)
Sand and dust storms are a global phenomenon. These fine dust particles can be carried by winds across thousands of miles, impacting health and livelihoods. According to the UN, dust storms have dramatically increased in recent years due to climate change, land degradation and drought. Climate scientist Natalie Mahowald hopes that by learning more about dust storms, we can plan for the future. She’s spent the last two decades tracking dust across the globe – and now, is working with NASA on a new instrument called EMIT.

The first-of-its-kind, space-borne imaging spectrometer is helping to map dust colors. Scientists can use the data in their climate models to work out how different minerals heat or cool the planet, explains Mahowald. Each type of dust has its own unique light-reflecting signature: for example, white dust reflects solar radiation, or heat, while “red and the dark dust absorbs it,” she says. EMIT (the Earth Surface Mineral Dust Source Investigation) will “revolutionize what we can do,” says Mahowald. “We can use that (data) to better understand what the impact of desert dust is.” (2/20)

DoD's National Security Innovation Capital Awards $1.5M to New Frontier Aerospace to Expand Hypersonic Engine Development (Source: New Frontier)
National Security Innovation Capital (NSIC) has awarded a $1.5M contract extension to New Frontier Aerospace (NFA) to complete the development of NFA's revolutionary 3D printed Mjölnir rocket engine. The extension is the next step after NFA's successful delivery of Mjölnir's first component, developed under an initial $750K contract awarded in August of 2021. (2/21)