February 23, 2023

Have Scientists Found a Rogue Supermassive Black Hole? (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Supermassive black holes reside in the centers of most large galaxies. The question is: Do these hungry behemoths ever escape from their hosts to roam freely in the void? Scientists might have just spotted one such runaway supermassive black hole, according to a new study. Their clue is a Hubble Space Telescope image, on which a narrow streak of stars is emerging from a distant galaxy.

What piqued scientists’ interest was an almost straight trail of stars emerging from a dwarf galaxy. At first glance, the feature resembled jets spewed out by active galactic nuclei, but a close examination showed that its properties are unlike anything seen before. For one, the light shows clear signatures of starlight rather than plasma, unlike typical jets. The trail’s shape — pencil sharp at the top and somewhat wider close to the galaxy — is also exactly the opposite from what we associate with AGN jets.

The team suggests that we are looking at the trace of a runaway black hole as it travels through the gas surrounding its galaxy at some 1,600 kilometers per second. The black hole's passage shocks the medium, prompting the formation of stars in its wake. There are several ways for a supermassive black hole to escape from a galaxy's center. When two galaxies crash into each other, their supermassive black holes coil toward the center of the gravitational well like roulette balls on a spinning wheel. (2/22)

Galaxies Matured Earlier Than Expected (Source: Reuters)
Astronomers used the James Webb Space Telescope to find galaxies in the early universe that were far more mature than they expected. A study published this week found six galaxies in JWST images that appeared to be as mature as the Milky Way yet date back to less than 800 million years after the Big Bang. The galaxies are much more compact that the Milky Way, and appear to have evolved far faster than current models predicted. "The early universe is a freak show," quipped one astronomer. (2/23)

Starship's NASA and Commercial (Starlink) Missions Will Inform Potential DoD Use Cases (Source: Space News)
SpaceX is looking at national security applications of its Starship vehicle, including rocket cargo services. A company executive said at a conference this week that SpaceX's experience using Starship for Starlink launches and NASA's Artemis lunar landings will help the U.S. military better understand how to employ it for cargo delivery and other missions. SpaceX won a $102 million, five-year contract from the Air Force Research Lab in 2020 to study rocket cargo delivery. The military envisions a future when it could be cheaper to send cargo via rocket than by transport aircraft, as well as applications where transport by plane or ship is not feasible. (2/23)

Cabana: Challenges Ahead for Maintaining NASA Budget Levels (Source: Space News)
NASA officials warn that securing the budget it needs for Artemis and other missions could be difficult in the coming year. Speaking at the SpaceCom conference Wednesday, NASA Associate Administrator Bob Cabana said that getting a budget increase like the nearly 6% boost it got in fiscal year 2023 will face "some challenges" in 2024. Those concerns revolve around proposals by the new House Republican leadership to cut spending to 2022 levels for fiscal year 2024. Officials said that could affect all NASA programs, but specifically noted their desire to avoid a big gap between Artemis 3 and 4. (2/23)

Capella and Asterra to Advance SAR Offerings (Source: Space News)
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) company Capella Space is partnering with data analytics firms to help increase access to SAR imagery. The company said Wednesday that it is partnering with three companies to give them access to SAR imagery for analytics applications from energy to mapping flooding. Capella said it created the analytics partner program to support increasing demand for SAR data.

Another SAR analytics company is considering developing its own satellite. Israeli geospatial analytics firm Asterra had relied on radar imagery from government satellites, but found it difficult to get the imagery it needed for those satellites given high demand from the space agencies that operate them. Asterra is in "advanced talks" for a satellite that could be deployed in 2025 or 2026. (2/23)

Terran Orbital's Rivada Deal Could Be Largest Ever (Source: Space News)
Terran Orbital believes the contract it announced Wednesday with Rivada Space Networks is the largest smallsat deal ever. The $2.4 billion contract covers production of 300 smallsats for Rivada's planned communications constellation for launch as soon as 2025. Marc Bell, CEO of Terran Orbital, said he thinks the deal is the largest ever for a smallsat constellation. Shares in Terran Orbital rose more than 70% in trading Wednesday. (2/23)

Japan's H3 Scrub Linked to Electrical Fault (Source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
An electrical fault scrubbed the first launch attempt of Japan's H3 rocket last week. The Japanese space agency JAXA said that a circuit that supplies power from a battery for the main engine shut down just before the rocket's solid-fuel boosters were scheduled to ignite. Engineers believe a signal transmission problem from ground control systems to the rocket caused the circuit to shut down. The agency is working to make another launch attempt before March 10, but has not announced a new date yet. (2/23)

SpaceX Adjusts Starlink Pricing (Source: CNBC)
SpaceX is adjusting pricing for its Starlink system based on capacity. Users in places with limited network capacity will see their monthly rate increased $10 to $120. However, those in places with excess capacity will get a $20 discount to $90 per month. SpaceX also increased the price for its Starlink service for RV users by $15 per month to $150. (2/23)

NASA's MAVEN Mars Orbiter Recovers From Safe Mode (Source: NASA)
A NASA Mars orbiter is recovering from a glitch that put it into safe mode. NASA said the MAVEN orbiter went into safe mode Feb. 16 when it powered up an inertial measurement unit (IMU) ahead of a planned maneuver. The spacecraft exited safe mode a day later by going into an "all stellar" mode for determining its orientation that does not rely on the IMU. MAVEN is set to resume normal science and data relay operations today. (2/23)

Failure to Launch (Source: Quartz)
In January, ABL Space Systems’ rocket got 700 ft off the ground before it fell back down and exploded, while Virgin Orbit saw a launch attempt fail during the same month that cast the company’s financial future in doubt. In October, Firefly managed to get its rocket into orbit, but one that was too low, so the satellites it launched quickly fell back to Earth. After a series of failures in 2022, Astra has had to pivot to a new vehicle design.

Indeed, of the dozens of attempts to start viable small launch companies in the wake of the SpaceX success in the previous decade, just one Western firm—Rocket Lab—is regularly putting satellites on orbit. (Two Chinese start-ups have launched satellites, though they use simpler and less efficient solid-fuel rockets.)

All of these companies exist in the shadow of SpaceX. While Elon Musk’s launch business is focused on larger spacecraft, it also operates rideshares several times a year for more than 100 small satellites to fly into space at once. That’s a cheaper option for satellite companies, at least by the kilogram, than Rocket Lab’s Electron vehicle. There are other considerations, though, like timing, flexibility and orbital destinations, that give dedicated small rocket firms an advantage. (2/23)

Strange DNA Found in the Desert Offers Lessons in the Hunt for Mars Life (Source: Washington Post)
The Atacama Desert in Chile is just about the driest place on Earth. In spots, it looks a lot like Mars. But it’s not lifeless, even in the hyper-arid regions. Using state-of-the-art equipment to probe the desert rocks, researchers found bits of DNA from an intriguing mix of microbes. Strikingly, 9 percent of the genetic fragments belong to organisms unknown to science, making them part of the “dark microbiome.” These organisms are bacteria that are “so strange and different,” that researchers could not identify any known relatives.

“In almost half of the cases, the databases could not clearly say what we had in our hands,” said lead researcher Armando Azua-Bustos. And that brings him back to the Mars analogy: The Atacama, he and his scientific colleagues believe, is a brilliant test bed for the search for Martian life. But the same search conducted with versions of the instruments on today’s Mars rovers could barely detect the microbial signatures. That means finding conclusive evidence of present or past life in Martian soils is going to be difficult without bringing samples back to Earth.

The research seems to bolster the long-term Mars exploration strategy of NASA and ESA. They are in the midst of a multistage mission called Mars Sample Return. If all goes as planned, samples of Martian soil obtained by NASA’s Perseverance rover — which just celebrated its second anniversary on Mars — will be hauled back to Earth sometime early in the next decade for scrutiny in high-containment laboratories. Microbial life, especially if extinct and long fossilized, may exist at or beyond the farthest limit of what can be detected with the kind of instruments small enough to be blasted into space and landed on another planet. (2/21)

Is Space Command Still Coming to Huntsville? Tuberville Speaks on Delay (Source: AL.com)
Imminent announcements have turned into false alarms on multiple occasions in recent months regarding a final-and-official decision on locating U.S. Space Command at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville. And still the limbo and uncertainty remain. “Somebody’s got to make the call,” U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville of Alabama said Wednesday.

As Alabama’s senior senator – a role he inherited with the retirement of former Sen. Richard Shelby – Tuberville is spearheading efforts in Washington to secure Space Command for Redstone. Beyond the prestige of having another command based at Redstone Arsenal, Space Command would bring more than 1,400 jobs to the Huntsville area.

Still, after a series of studies and analysis that all identified Redstone as the best location, that ultimate decision has yet to be communicated. The decision comes from the desk of the Secretary of the Air Force, Frank Kendall. But Tuberville said he expects that decision won’t come without a sign-off from President Joe Biden. “I’ve gotten to know Secretary Kendall well,” Tuberville said. “At least once or twice a month, we visit about it. It’s always positive. But it’s still got to come from the White House. So there’s nothing else we can do. I mean, we’re just we’re waiting for a decision.” (2/22)

County Rejects Funding for Space Coast Air Show (Source: Florida Today)
After a testy back-and-forth between an events promoter and Brevard County commissioners Tuesday, the commission again decided against providing the Cocoa Beach Air Show with public tax money to help fund the event. Tuesday's decision came two months after the commission unanimously rejected a proposed $87,852.20 tourism "major events grant" for this year's Cocoa Beach Air Show, which is slated to run in mid-April and feature the U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds.

Bryan Lilley, chairman of the National Air, Sea and Space Foundation, promoter of the Cocoa Beach Air Show, on Tuesday came back, seeking a $53,795.80 grant. Funding for the grant would have come from revenue generated by Brevard County's 5% tourist development tax on hotel rooms and other short-term rentals. (2/21)

Space National Guard Cost Overstated, Association Says (Source: Federal Times)
The National Guard Association of the United States urged passage of bipartisan Senate legislation that would create a Space National Guard service under the Space Force, saying it can be done at much lower cost than previously estimated. Introduced by Sens. Dianne Feinstein, D-CA, and Marco Rubio, R- FL, the Space National Guard Establishment Act is co-sponsored by Sens. Lisa Murkowski, R-AK, Kyrsten Sinema, I-AZ, Alex Padilla, D-CA, Michael Bennet, D-CO, John Hickenlooper, D-CO, Rick Scott, R-FL, Mike Braun, R-IN, and Marsha Blackburn, R-TN.

Rep. Jason Crow, D-CO, plans to introduce companion legislation in the House, according to Feinstein’s office. Lawmakers considered similar legislation in the 117th Congress; the bill passed the House but never came to a vote in the Senate. The National Guard Bureau puts that one-time price at about $250,000, which would cover the full cost to move 1,000 space professionals in 16 Air National Guard units across eight states and territories to the new component. They now provide 60% of the military’s space electronic warfare capability, the only mobile, survivable missile-warning capability and 100% of the surge capacity. Guard space units are in Alaska, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, New York, Ohio and Guam. (2/21)

Space Brings Transparency to the War in Ukraine (Source: Axios)
Detailed images of the battlefield in Ukraine taken from space and satellite internet beamed to the war's front lines have shaped the year-long conflict — and how the public understands it. Space-based technologies have been essential to warfighting for decades, but their use in the conflict in Ukraine has demonstrated how they can give citizens a clear view of war.

Planet, Maxar and other companies are using satellite images beamed back from orbit to reveal details of what's happening on the ground. In April 2022, satellite photos disproved claims by Russia that images of bodies in the streets of Bucha were staged by Ukrainian forces. Photos from Maxar showed bodies in the streets before Russian forces pulled out of the city. SpaceX's Starlink has also been key to Ukraine's efforts, allowing people on the ground to access the internet and aiding in situational awareness on the battlefield. (2/21)

Farming on the Moon (Source: ESA)
Sooner or later, settlers on the Moon will have to become farmers. A new ESA Discovery project led by Norway’s Solsys Mining is looking into the treatment of lunar soil to create fertiliser for growing plants. The good news is that analysis of lunar samples returned to Earth in the past by Moonwalkers and robots shows sufficient essential minerals are available for plant growth, apart from nitrogen compounds. The bad news is that lunar soil (or ‘regolith’) compacts in the presence of water, creating problems for plant germination and root growth. Click here. (2/22)

Relativity Plans March 8 Liftoff From Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Relativity Space)
Relativity is scheduled for its first launch of Terran 1, called "GLHF" (Good Luck, Have Fun), from Launch Complex 16 in Cape Canaveral, Florida. Our launch window opens at 1300ET on March 8, 2023. This launch of Terran 1 is the first orbital attempt by Relativity and will not include a customer payload.

Standing 110 ft. tall and 7.5 ft. wide, Terran 1 is the largest 3D printed object to attempt orbital flight. As a two-stage, expendable rocket, Terran 1 has nine 3D printed Aeon engines on its first stage and one Aeon Vac on its second stage. Like its structure, all Relativity engines are entirely 3D printed, and use liquid oxygen (LOX) and liquid natural gas (LNG), which are not only the best for rocket propulsion, but also for reusability, and the easiest to eventually transition to methane on Mars. (2/22)

New Mexico Spaceport Authority Plans New Building at Spaceport America (Source: Parabolic Arc)
With Virgin Galactic (once again) promising that suborbital tourism flights from Spaceport America in New Mexico are right around the corner, the authority that oversees the facility has decided it needs a brand new building there. The Spaceport Technology and Reception Center’s mission “will be to become the welcoming face to staff, visitors, and prospective customers visiting or working at Spaceport America.

The proposed 30,000 square foot STARC building will be a multi-use facility; it will house the Spaceport’s core IT server center, staff offices and conference rooms, an Auditorium, food preparation and dining area, virtual experience center, and 2nd and 3rd floor lounge and viewing areas,” according to a request for proposals (RFP) issued by the New Mexico Spaceport Authority (NMSA). (2/21)

Delving Deeper: Super Heavy Thrust and Counting Down to Flight (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
The orbital test flight of Starship is just around the corner. Starship has conducted a 31-engine static fire, a single-engine spin prime test, and multiple Booster quick disconnect (QD) tests in the last few weeks. However, the question remains if the ground service equipment (GSE) can handle almost double the thrust of the static fire, which will happen during the actual launch attempt – currently targeting March. Furthermore, SpaceX is preparing more mitigations to reduce the damage to the launch equipment. Click here. (2/22)

Whitesides Plans Congressional Run in California (Source: SpaceRef
George Whitesides, a former senior executive at Virgin Galactic and former chief of staff at NASA, has announced plans to run for Congress representing California's 27th Congressional District. The district, which is north of Los Angeles and includes the Mojave spaceport, is currently is tesides also co-founded Megafire Action, an advocacy and policy organization that seeks to support solutions for the megafire crisis. President Biden won this seat by 12.4%, the third highest margin of any district in America currently represented by Republican Mike Garcia. Garcia is among those members who voted to overturn the results of the 2020 election. (2/22)

Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, Marco Rubio Oversee Bipartisan Push for Funding All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (Source: Executive Gov)
Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand, D-NY, and Marco Rubio, R-FL., are spearheading a bipartisan proposal to increase the budget for a Senate office for unidentified aerial phenomena. A total of 16 senators signed a letter to push for robust funding of the All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office in the fiscal year 2023 budget under the National Defense Authorization Act. AARO was created last year in an aim to report and resolve UAP sightings and potential threats through data from the Department of Defense and the intelligence community. (2/21)

Space Week Brings Thousands to Central Florida for Commercial, Military, and Civil Space Networking (Source: SPACErePORT)
Multiple space events were held this week in Orlando, attracting over 3000 registered attendees and 125 exhibitors (each with multiple staff for booth support) to what is now billed as "Space Week." The annual SpaceCom event was combined with the 49th Space Congress and focused on commercial, NASA, FAA, and NOAA space programs. These were preceded by the Space Force's inaugural Space Mobility event, and an annual Global Spaceport Summit.

The combined events were co-located at the Orlando/Orange County Convention Center and fed millions of dollars into the Central Florida economy. This was the largest turnout for SpaceCom/Space Congress. Free access to the exhibit hall opened the event and its participating companies to an even broader audience. Organizers are planning a return to Orlando, with a bigger exhibit hall and more conference space. (2/23)