May 7, 2023

Female Astronauts May Be the Ticket for Mars Trips (Source: Newser)
When it comes time to make the long, long trip to Mars, researchers suggest that all-female astronaut crews would be a good idea. For space exploration, a study published in Scientific Reports found, women have the more efficient body type. On a mission lasting 1,080 days, per Phys.org, a crew of four women would save $158 million on food, in addition to the storage space aboard that the food would require. And women would, in general, be less of a drain on resources than men.

Female crew members use less oxygen and water and produce less carbon dioxide. Researchers found women lost 29% less water through sweating during an aerobic exercise, meaning they needed less water to rehydrate. And size differences alone provide advantages without men in the crew. Astronauts have barely enough room to work shoulder-to-shoulder or back-to-back in spots on the International Space Station. Smaller members would be able to get the same work done at least as efficiently in the same space. (5/7)

Starlink Hits Incredible Subscriber Milestone as Potential IPO Looms (Source: Teslarati)
Starlink has hit a substantial subscriber milestone, largely thanks to its record user growth over the past six months. SpaceX has been laboring toward profitability ever since its founding by Elon Musk. One of its primary tools to help achieve that financial success is its satellite internet service, Starlink. Now, as the service has grown in both coverage and offerings, it has reached a new subscriber milestone, which could be critical as the company probes a potential IPO.

According to SpaceX, initially reported by Sawyer Merrit on Twitter, Starlink has achieved a subscriber count of 1.5 million users and a record user growth of 3,600 new subscribers daily. Helping to grow its subscriber count so substantially over the past six months has been the expansion of services and offerings from the internet provider. Most notably, by expanding into aviation and maritime use cases, SpaceX is poised to dramatically increase revenues from these typically internet-starved sectors. Moreover, for land-based customers, Starlink has introduced satellite receivers for those on the go and for customers in some of the harshest conditions on the planet. (5/6)

New Standard Will Aid in Development of Spaceport Descriptions (Source: ASTM)
ASTM International’s commercial spaceflight committee (F47) has approved a new standard that will aid spaceports in developing descriptions of their sites and capabilities, including location and contact information. The new standard will soon be published as F3610. According to ASTM member Mark Greby, the standard will lead to spaceport descriptions that will provide potential customers and other members of the public with a meaningful understanding of the described sites.

In addition to helping spaceports and their visitors, the standard will benefit regulatory bodies by providing a basic understanding of local spaceports, or at a federal level for capability overview and assessment of potential national assets. Click here. (5/2)

Financial Institution in Latin America Deploying Millions of Dollars of Gilat Technology for Satellite Connectivity (Source: Gilat)
Gilat Satellite Networks announced today that a financial institution in Latin America is deploying millions of dollars of Gilat technology for satellite connectivity. Thousands of Gilat VSATs are being deployed across the country for communications backup over satellite to expand the reliability and robustness of the network, which serves branches of a world-leading financial services company. (5/4)

Why Launch Rockets When You Can Just Fling Them Into Space? (Source: Bloomberg)
What if you could simply throw an object into space? That’s broadly the approach taken by SpinLaunch Inc. As its name suggests, the California startup largely eschews fuels such as refined kerosene or liquid oxygen. Instead, it aims to use what might be described as a giant salad spinner to hurl objects skyward. A dart-shaped space vehicle sits inside a vacuum chamber at the end of an arm that rotates at dizzying speeds. When the missile reaches the desired velocity—up to 5,000 miles per hour—it’s released through a chimney-like exit port running vertically along the rim of the chamber. (5/5)

New Mexico Museum of Natural History & Science Hosts NASA Scientists (Source: KOB4)
You can learn a lot from New Mexico’s Museum of Natural History and Science, but it’s not every day you get a lesson from Dr. Michael Meyer, the lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program. Close to a dozen space science leaders decided to plan the next 20 years of exploration on the red planet in Santa Fe, because New Mexico looks similar to Mars. The experts say they could not leave without visiting the Mars exhibit in Albuquerque Friday morning. So, the museum made a whole day of it, inviting close to 800 students from local schools to learn more about Mars and see the Perseverance replica before it leaves in June. (5/5)

Mighty Mice in Space May Help Patients With Bone and Muscle Loss on Earth (Source: CASIS)
Nearly half of all adults over the age of 50 are at risk for bone fractures caused by osteoporosis. Many older adults who break a bone end up on extended periods of bed rest, which further weakens bones and muscles. To improve care for such patients, a team of scientists took their bone and muscle research to a place with the ultimate bed rest—the near-weightless environment provided by the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory.

Microgravity induces bone and muscle loss at an accelerated rate and allows scientists to study the mechanisms behind bone and muscle loss in ways not possible on Earth. Researchers from the University of Connecticut and the Jackson Laboratory sent genetically engineered “Mighty Mice” to the ISS to examine what happens when two proteins involved in the regulation of bone and muscle mass—myostatin and activin A—are inhibited. Results have implications both for patients on Earth and astronauts on long-duration spaceflight missions. (5/3)