July 16, 2023

British Space Race Sees Investments Worth £240m (Source: This is Money)
Investors are still ploughing cash into Britain’s burgeoning space sector despite the high-profile failure of Virgin Orbit’s rocket launch in Cornwall. The UK welcomed £240 million from investors last year for space-related projects – behind only the United States and China. (7/16)

SpaceX Launches 16x-Flown Falcon 9, After 48-Hour Delay, Unexpected Static Fire Test (Source: AmericaSpace)
Two days later than planned, SpaceX successfully launched its fourth Falcon 9 of July a few minutes shy of midnight Saturday. The veteran B1060 core—which already boasted 15 prior flights to her credit—saw an initial attempt for her record-tying 16th mission scrubbed at T-40 seconds early Friday and an unplanned Static Fire Test milestone inserted into her pre-launch schedule yesterday, before successfully taking 54 Starlink internet communications satellites safely uphill on the 47th Falcon-class mission of 2023. (7/16)

Industry Offers Wish List for Commercial Space Legislation (Source: Space News)
As the House Science Committee considers a commercial space bill, industry officials advocated for key topics they believe should be included in that legislation. A July 13 hearing by the committee offered the industry an opportunity to weigh in on topics they believe should be included in a commercial space package that the committee is developing, from commercial human spaceflight safety to oversight of emerging space activities.

One of the top issues is extending the current restriction on the Federal Aviation Administration’s ability to regulate safety for people who fly on commercial spacecraft. That restriction, often called the “learning period” by industry, was included in a 2004 commercial space act with the intent of allowing companies to gain experience upon which regulations could then be based. (7/15)

Truly to Open 1st Zero-Gravity Hard Seltzer Bar Aboard Astronaut Training Aircraft (Source: Space.com)
Truly, the hard seltzer line from the same brewery as Samuel Adams, is launching this year's "seltzer season" with what it has billed as "the first-ever zero-g drinking experience:" the Truly Zero Gravity Bar. The brand is stocking a chartered parabolic flight — the same type used to train astronauts to be prepared to work in microgravity — with a variety of its hard seltzer flavors. Five winning fans and their guests will then have the opportunity to see how "Lightly Fantastic" drinking Truly can be when floating weightless. (7/15)

These 3 Orion Spacecraft Will Carry Artemis Astronauts to the Moon (Source: Space.com)
Three crew-carrying spacecraft are getting ready for their big moon missions. The Orion capsules for the Artemis 2, Artemis 3 and Artemis 4 moon missions are coming together at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida under stewardship of contractor Lockheed Martin. (7/15)

Where Did the Interstellar Object 'Oumuamua Come From? Its Speed Could Tell Us (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers will be able to figure out what kind of stars interstellar objects such as 'Oumuamua come from, and therefore something about their compositions, based on their velocity as they enter our solar system, new research suggests. So far, astronomers have discovered only two confirmed interstellar objects (ISOs) in our solar system, 'Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov. They couldn't have been more different from one another: 'Oumuamua lacked any kind of cometary tail, whereas Borisov looked like a typical comet.

Though we've only spotted two ISOs to date, it's expected that thousands of them are passing through our solar system at any given time, most too far away from us to be detected. However, most or all of those ISOs likely began life as comets around other stars, before an encounter with a Jupiter-sized planet, or perhaps a fly-by star, ejected them into interstellar space. In our solar system, "for every one comet that Jupiter [and Neptune] pushed into the Oort Cloud, it completely ejected 10. (7/15)

Three Ongoing Missions Study Human Side of Moon and Mars Missions (Source: NSF)
While a lot of the focus when it comes to space travel beyond Earth orbit is on the spacecraft, multiple studies are underway to explore the human side of what NASA calls “Moon to Mars Exploration.” Those studies include physical health, mental health, and even training astronauts to recognize geology that could answer many questions about our place in space.

The European Space Agency (ESA) is studying what rocks and minerals might be found on upcoming Artemis lunar missions, the German Space Agency (DLR) is looking at ways to improve blood flow during long-duration spaceflights by having people lay in bed, and NASA is studying what a year on Mars might do to a crew’s mental health. Click here. (7/15)