September 25, 2023

Here’s What it Yakes to Make Lunar Living Possible (Source: Fortune)
To make the mission of NASA’s historic Artemis program a reality, we must tackle the challenges of designing a living space for astronauts. Taking the shape of an orbiting lunar gateway, astronauts’ lunar home will feature spartan living quarters that will provide a more sustainable, comfortable, and extensive life-support framework on the moon. The design and development must center on safeguarding astronauts from radiation exposure and the extreme cold of the lunar nights. Click here. (8/30)

Could the Moon be a Home to Humans? (Source: Good Morning America)
National Geographic’s space issue takes a look at our progress on the moon and examines what could be the first lunar human colony. Click here. (9/22) 

Artemis Accords: Changing the Narrative from Space Race to Space Cooperation (Source: Space News)
The Accords, announced in 2020, are an international collaborative effort co-led by NASA and the U.S. State Department. They foster a spirit of partnership that unites not only the United States but also an expanding roster of nations across the globe. Currently, there are 29 signatory nations and eight founding nations (Australia, Canada, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, UAE, UK, and the United States). Most recently, Germany became the 29th country to sign on. Click here. (9/21)

SpaceX Keeps Busy at Texas Starbase (Source: WCCF)
After a flurry of activity late last month and for most of September, the tempo surrounding SpaceX's next planned orbital test flight for its Starship rocket seems to have broken due to regulatory constraints. However, true to form, SpaceX is busy testing and building new rockets at its facilities in Boca Chica, Texas, and word on the street suggests that the firm is making upgrades to the flight termination system of the booster that will fly the second test flight. At the same time, other testing in Boca Chica shows that the firm recently blew up a tank likely to test its structural limits as part of the Starship development program. (9/23)

Space Force Takes Possession of NOAA Weather Satellite (Source: Space News)
The Space Force has taken possession of another NOAA weather satellite. The Space Force announced Friday it would take over operations of GOES-15, a geostationary weather satellite launched in 2011 and put into on-orbit storage in 2020. GOES-15, to be renamed EWS-G2, will move to a slot over the Indian Ocean to fill a weather satellite gap there. The Space Force took over another retired NOAA satellite, GOES-11, in 2020 to provide coverage over that region. That spacecraft, now called EWS-G1, is expected to run out of stationkeeping propellant next year. (9/25)

Air Force to Get WGS-12 Communications Satellite (Source: Space News)
The Air Force plans to move ahead with a new communications satellite. Boeing will receive a contract in the coming months for WGS-12, the latest in the Wideband Global Satcom series. Congress included $442 million in a defense spending bill for WGS-12, but a provision in a House version of the authorization bill for 2024 would have blocked work on WGS-12 until the Air Force certified that WGS-12 provided services not available on commercial spacecraft. Space Systems Command said last week it formally notified Congress last week that WGS-12 does not duplicate commercial capabilities. (9/25)

Space Commerce Office Making Progress (Source: Space News)
The Office of Space Commerce says it is making good progress on a civil space traffic coordination system. Officials said an increased budget from 2023 has allowed it to hire staff and procure commercial services needed for its TraCSS system, set to begin initial service in late 2024. That service will also rely on data from DoD, and the Space Force plans to provide the office with its "high-accuracy catalog" to support TraCSS. Gen. Chance Saltzman, head of the Space Force, said in a separate interview that he was satisfied with the focus the Commerce Department was putting on TraCSS but would not rush to hand over civil space traffic responsibilities to it. (9/25)

Space Force Considering China Hotline (Source: Reuters)
The Space Force is considering setting up a hotline with its Chinese counterparts. Gen. Chance Saltzman said a direct line of communications would help deescalate any crises between the two nations in space. Such a hotline is still being discussed internally within the Space Force and has not yet been formally proposed to China. (9/25)

India's Lunar Lander Not Responding After Deep Sleep (Source: Outlook)
India's Chandrayaan-3 lander has not responded to commands after the sun rose at its location on the moon. India's space agency ISRO has been trying since late last week to restore contact with the lander after the end of the two-week lunar night, but without success so far. The lander was not equipped with systems to keep it warm during the extended night, but engineers were hopeful that the spacecraft might still be able to operate once the sun rose. ISRO said it will continue efforts for two weeks, through sunset at the landing site, to reestablish contact with the lander. (9/25)

Research Shrinks Expectations for Lunar Ice (Source: Physics World)
Researchers have sharply decreased estimates of the amount of water ice at the lunar poles. A study published last week found that permanently shadowed regions at the lunar poles, where temperatures remain cold enough for ice to survive, are younger than previously thought because of changes in the moon's axial tilt early in its history. That means that those permanently shadowed regions would have accumulated less ice. However, researchers noted that the study also helps create more accurate maps for where those smaller ice deposits are, assisting future robotic and human missions there. (9/25)

Helicopters Could Map the Magnetic Fields on Mars (Source: Phys.org)
Helicopters equipped with a magnetometer could be used to conduct magnetic field investigations within the crust of Mars, providing important insights into the present characteristics and early evolution of the red planet. Outside of small areas on the Martian surface that exhibit magnetized crust, the red planet does not currently possess a global magnetic field, which scientists hypothesize is in stark contrast to what Mars was like billions of years ago. (9/18)

This Exoplanet is Probably a Solid Ball of Metal (Source: Universe Today)
Gliese 367 b (or Tahay) is certainly an oddball. It’s an Ultrashort Period (USP) planet that orbits its star in only 7.7 hours. There are almost 200 other USP planets in our 5000+ catalogue of exoplanets, so Gliese 367 b isn’t unique in that regard. But it’s an outlier in another way: it’s also an ultra-dense planet—almost twice as dense as Earth. That means it has to be almost pure iron. (9/20)

T-Mobile and SpaceX's Satellite-Cellular Partnership May Be Grounded For Now (Source: Cord Cutters)
A little more than a year ago, T-Mobile CEO Mike Sievert and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk came together to unveil a partnership to offer a hybrid service that utilized satellites to boost the coverage and range of cellphones, with a promises of expanding coverage and eliminating dead zones for customers. Fast forward to today, and there’s been nothing but silence from the companies on the project.

Part of the delay is linked to SpaceX’s giant new Starship rocket, which exploded in a test flight in April and has been grounded by the Federal Aviation Administration, according to The Information. That report said that the companies’ cellular ambitions are tied to larger satellites that depend on Starship’s larger 160-foot tall frame for transport. (9/24)

Poppy Seed-Sized Fuel Pellets Could Power Nuclear Reactors on the Moon (Source: Space.com)
Scientists in the U.K. have created mini, seed-sized nuclear fuel cells that could power futuristic flower-shaped reactors on the moon as soon as 2030. The tiny new fuel cells, developed by researchers at the Nuclear Futures Institute in Wales, are roughly the size of poppy seeds. The mini pellets are a type of tri-structural isotropic particle (TRISO) fuel, which is made from uranium, carbon and oxygen surrounded by a hard, ceramic-like shell. The cells are much more durable and efficient than traditional nuclear fuels, which makes them perfect for space exploration. (9/22)

NASA's PACE Spacecraft Triumphs in Space Simulation (Source: SciTech Daily)
Consider it the “mother of all tests.” This summer, the PACE spacecraft (short for Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) completed a critical phase of its launch journey: the thermal vacuum test (TVAC), where it was subjected to extreme temperatures and pressures in a specialized chamber at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. The objective? To verify the performance of the satellite once it’s launched and operational. (9/18)

Branson Talks New Climate Change Coalition and His Plans to Return to Space (Source: NBC News)
Sir Richard Branson’s next mission: combating climate change. The billionaire British entrepreneur announced his latest initiative, Planetary Guardians, at a news conference Monday while in New York for the United Nations General Assembly. Branson's portfolio also includes his commercial space program, Virgin Galactic, which launched its first shuttle into space last month. While running many businesses he’s aware of his own carbon footprint.

"We’ve managed to get the price of going into space, from a carbon point of view right down to a minimum. ... If you’re running a space line, you’ve got to reduce the cost of taking people into space dramatically from a carbon point of view. So all of us in positions where we can make a big difference have got to make a big difference.” Branson, now 73, said he intends to return to space. "I booked it for my 80th, 90th and 100th birthday, and I'm an optimist, so my 110th as well," he said. (9/23)

Will Rocket Failure Delay Rollout of China’s Satellite Network Missions? (Source: South China Morning Post)
Beijing-based Galactic Energy’s winning record of nine successful launch missions for its Ceres-1 rocket ended on Thursday, potentially delaying the expansion of China’s Jilin-1, the world’s largest Earth observation satellite network. Its latest rocket failed to send a high-resolution imaging satellite into orbit. The company made the announcement six hours after the 12.59pm Beijing time lift-off from the Jiuquan satellite launch center in the Gobi Desert.

Its latest mission was to deliver a Gaofen-04B satellite to the Jilin-1 constellation, China’s first – and currently the world’s largest – commercial remote sensing system, with more than 100 satellites in orbit. The Gaofen-04B, built by Chang Guang Satellite Technology (CGST) in Jilin province, northeastern China, was designed for the Jilin-1 constellation, with a lightweight imaging system and a reported resolution of better than 50cm. Jilin-1 is expected to grow to 300 satellites by 2025. (9/22)

We Should Be Looking for Small, Hot Dyson Spheres (Source: Universe Today)
So far, efforts to detect Dyson Spheres (and variation thereof) by their “waste heat” signatures have come up empty, leading some scientists to recommend tweaking the search parameters. In a new paper, astronomy and astrophysics Professor Jason T. Wright of the Center for Exoplanets and Habitable Worlds and the Penn State Extraterrestrial Intelligence Center (PSTI) recommends that SETI researchers refine the search by looking for indications of activity. In other words, he recommends looking for Dyson Spheres based on what they could be used for rather than just heat signatures. (9/20)

Pentagon Plans to Transfer ‘High Accuracy’ Space Tracking Data to Commerce (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Defense Department plans to start transferring its extremely precise data about the whereabouts of satellites and dangerous space debris to the Department of Commerce (DoC) next year to help underpin the latter’s effort to establish a space traffic advisory service, according to a senior Space Force official. (9/22)

One of The Most Mysterious Stars in The Galaxy Could Soon Be Explained (Source: Science Alert)
One of the most mysterious stars in the Milky Way might soon have an explanation for its odd behavior. It's called Boyajian's Star, or KIC 8462852 – less formally known as Tabby's Star, a yellow-white glimmer some 1,470 light-years away – and its strange short-term brightness fluctuations and longer-term changes have so far defied scientists' attempts at explanation. There are several candidates for what might be going on, but progress has stalled for want of more detailed information. But we won't have to wait much longer. (9/19)

Scientists know of phenomena that can cause a star's light to dim. The most obvious example is an orbiting exoplanet. But exoplanets cause periodic dips in starlight, that usually block the same small percentage of light each time. Boyajian's Star dims erratically, at differing depths, with no perceivable pattern in the timing of the dips. A one-off dip could be an occultation, or something random passing between us and the star. But that's not what we've seen with Boyajian's Star, either. In fact, records show it's also gone through periods of significant brightening. It truly is just an absolute weirdo (although maybe not the only one of its kind). (9/19)