September 27, 2023

Study Sheds New Light on Strange Lava Worlds (Source: Space Daily)
Lava worlds, massive exoplanets home to sparkling skies and roiling volcanic seas called magma oceans, are distinctly unlike the planets in our solar system. To date, nearly 50% of all rocky exoplanets yet discovered have been found capable of maintaining magma on their surfaces, likely because these planets are so close to their host stars they orbit in fewer than 10 days. Being so close causes the planet to be bombarded by harsh weather and forces surface temperatures to the extreme, making it all but completely inhospitable to life as we know it today.

Now, in a new study, scientists have shown that these sweeping molten oceans have a large influence on the observed properties of hot rocky Super-Earths, such as their size and evolutionary path. Their research, published recently in The Astrophysical Journal, found that due to lava's extremely compressible nature, oceans of magma can cause lava-rich planets without atmospheres to be modestly denser than similarly sized solid planets as well as impact the structure of their mantles, the thick inner layer that surrounds a planet's core. (9/27)

Lack of SLS Rockets Limit NASA Artemis Manifest (Source: NSF)
NASA and its advisory bodies remain concerned about the low flight rate planned for its crewed Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, but the space agency doesn’t have enough vehicles to fly more often this decade. Hardware to launch only two more SLS vehicles is available until development of the Exploration Upper Stage (EUS) upgrade is completed, which isn’t expected to be ready to launch on Artemis IV until late 2028 at the earliest.

Following the Artemis II lunar flyby test flight planned late next year, the Artemis III Orion and crew could be the only one flying to the Moon in the following four years, but NASA still has the option to buy more Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stages (ICPS) built by United Launch Alliance and continue flying the current Block 1 version SLS. ULA has noted that the ICPS production line will remain open until next year, when the Delta IV that ICPS is derived from retires; however, NASA once again affirmed its choice not to buy any more ICPS units in mid-September.

The gap between Artemis III and Artemis IV in the Artemis manifest has increased in the last year. Artemis III will see the final launch of the initial, Block 1 version of SLS, which uses the ICPS as an in-space second stage. Artemis IV will be the debut launch of the SLS Block 1B version, which replaces ICPS with the Exploration Upper Stage, which is still in development and will also require a new mobile launcher. (9/26)

Space Critical Infrastructure: Breaking the Binary Debate and a Call for Space Council Action (Source: Space News)
As the orbital space around our planet continues to fill with new satellites and those satellites provide us with more terrestrial services, the space domain is viewed as increasingly critical. From there, the conversations quickly shift to critical infrastructure designation. Those calls have grown louder in the past two years.

A critical infrastructure designation means the potential for emergency federal funding in the event of a major disruption of critical services and more consistent access to federal government decision-making processes like the Sector Councils run by the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA). Discussing policy matters like critical infrastructure designations may be a good way to get a fussy toddler to sleep or to get yourself uninvited from trendy parties, but as we discuss the space domain, there are real impacts to this question.

A rush to designate space as critical infrastructure under our current and terrestrially based model risks missing operations and functions that occur in space that are critical to the survival of space assets or humans operating in space. The conditions in space demand a model that conforms to the realities of the space domain and provides policymakers with a third option outside of to designate or not to designate. Click here. (9/26)

The Race for More Space: The Flawed Logic Behind Making Space a 17th Critical Infrastructure (Source: Space News)
A bipartisan group of lawmakers recently introduced the Space Infrastructure Act, which pursues a recommendation made by the Cyberspace Solarium Commission 2.0 to designate space as the 17th U.S. critical infrastructure sector. While it’s encouraging to see Congress considering this issue seriously,  designating space as a critical infrastructure sector puts form over substance and would not actually address the risk posed by adversaries like China and Russia or from natural phenomena such as space weather.

This legislation would only harm the rapidly evolving space industry and further dilute the limited government resources directed at ensuring the security and resilience of our nation’s critical infrastructure. Despite their importance and prevalence, space systems do not and should not comprise their own critical infrastructure sector. To put it simply, there is no critical infrastructure function or service performed in space that does not already exist within one of the 16 extant critical infrastructure sectors, such as communications, transportation, information technology, and government facilities. (9/26)

Starpath Robotics Wants to Mine Moon Water for Rocket Fuel For Off-World Colonies (Source: Tech Crunch)
Starpath Robotics has emerged from stealth with an ambitious plan to design, launch and operate machines to mine and refine water for rocket propellant using resources on the moon and Mars. Starpath’s initial plans look something like this: A fleet of around 50 mining machines will drive around the surface of the moon and dig up massive quantities of dirt; they will bring that dirt to a processing plant or refinery that purifies the dirt into water and then splits those water molecules into their constituent atoms. (9/26)

Soyuz Returns Astronauts From ISS (Source: Space News)
A Soyuz spacecraft landed in Kazakhstan this morning, wrapping up a record-setting mission for the three people on board. The Soyuz MS-23 spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station at 3:54 a.m. Eastern and landed in Kazakhstan at 7:17 a.m. Eastern. On board were Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio, who had spent 371 days in space. That marked a record for the longest mission to the ISS and, for Rubio, the longest spaceflight by a NASA astronaut. Their stay was extended by six months when the Soyuz they used to fly to the station last September suffered a coolant leak, requiring its replacement. (9/27)

Space Force to Expand Responsive Launch Effort (Source: Space News)
After the success of the Victus Nox mission, the U.S. Space Force is looking for new challenges for responsive launch. The Victus Nox spacecraft, built by Millennium Space Systems and launched by Firefly Aerospace, was operational 37 hours after its Sept. 14 launch, which itself took place on 24 hours' notice. The mission "set the bar really high" for responsive space, Space Force officials said Tuesday, but future demonstrations are planned to push the limits of how fast payloads can be launched. That includes a mission named Victus Haze which is being planned with the Defense Innovation Unit, bids for which were due earlier this month. (9/27)

China Moves Toward Commercial Cargo for TSS (Source: Space News)
China's human spaceflight agency has chosen four proposals for development of commercial cargo services to its Tiangong space station. Out of 10 received proposals deemed to have met requirements, four have been selected to advance to a detailed design study phase, the China Manned Space Engineering Office announced Tuesday. The competition is seeking to develop systems that can transport at least 1,800 kilograms of cargo for a price of no more than $17.2 million per metric ton. The agency did not outline future phases of the program or a timeline, nor did it indicate how many proposals could eventually receive approval for implementation. All four selected proposals were from state-owned companies. (9/27)

Xage Wins $17 Million Space Force Contract for Cybersecurity (Source: Space News)
Cybersecurity firm Xage Security won a $17 million contract to protect the Space Force's Space Systems Command networks for the next five years. The contract, announced Wednesday, is for the protection of information networks, satellite ground stations, modems and other Space Force assets. Xage specializes in so-called "zero trust" software used to thwart network intrusions. (9/27)

Space Force Selects APL for Cybersecurity Evaluation (Source: Space News)
The Space Force has selected the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL) to evaluate cybersecurity of a new satellite ground network. Under a $10 million contract announced Tuesday, APL will assess the ground systems of the Evolved Strategic Satcom (ESS) satellites that are being developed for nuclear command control and communications. Lockheed Martin and Raytheon each won $30 million contracts to develop prototypes of that ground segment, called Griffon. (9/27)

Is Big LEO Sustainable as a Business? (Source: LinkedIn)
It appears that a number of unforeseeable (and certainly unpreventable) cosmic events (like solar storms) can cause rampant destruction of space-based assets, which is the underlying presumption of what happened to with SpaceX's recent loss of Starlink satellites. But the growing field of debris poses a more consistent threat. Add to that, the fact that the Starlink satellites fly three different orbital altitudes that are 20km apart. So satellites in the top orbit will ultimately pass through the lower orbits during the de-orbiting process. Does that mean that the propensity for inter-satellite collisions on the way down are increased? I would think so.

The degree of sophistication and coordination amongst a wide array of services is paramount to the longevity, let alone survival of LEO assets in an environment that is doing its best to render destruction. With 40,000 satellites expected to complete the Starlink constellation and the addition of OneWeb, Kuiper, Lightspeed and whoever else decides to launch a mega LEO constellation, things are bound to get interesting in the years ahead - and more expensive.

I used to think that the arm waving by those citing inescapable destruction from a growing field of both debris and satellites was perhaps a bit overstated. But now, I wonder. Thousands of avoidance maneuvers by Starlink satellites alone suggest that they're traversing a minefield - the mines being high speed projectiles just looking for a target. (9/20)

China Launches Recon Satellite (Source: Xinhua)
China launched another reconnaissance satellite Tuesday. A Long March 4C rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 4:15 p.m. Eastern and placed the Yaogan-33 04 satellite into orbit. The satellite is part of a series of military reconnaissance spacecraft. (9/27)

Stoke's Hopper2 Aerospike Test Flight Demonstrates Advanced Reusable Rocket Technology (Source: New Atlas)
Startup Stoke Space has successfully completed a 15-second vertical launch/vertical landing test of its Hopper VTVL reusable rocket that is capable of atmospheric reentry and landing after acting as a launch vehicle second stage. The goal was to demonstrate a number of advanced systems for future second stage rockets.

In an aerospike, the curve of the conical section acts like half the cross section of a rocket's bell that contains the escaping gases. The air around the cone acts like the other half. As the rocket ascends, the change in ambient air pressure allows the aerospike to automatically adjust the bell section for greater efficiency, Another advantage of the ring of thrusters means that by throttling the thrusters individually, they can be used for attitude control. (9/24)

NASA Open to Contracting Ideas for ISS Deorbit (Source: Space News)
NASA is allowing bidders to choose the type of contract they would use to develop a deorbit module for the ISS. NASA released the final request for proposals last week for the United States Deorbit Vehicle, a spacecraft that would dock to the station and handle the final phases of the station's deorbiting at the end of its life. NASA is giving bidders the option of proposing to develop the vehicle under either a cost-plus or fixed-price contract, with later assembly and other work handled under a separate fixed-price contract. NASA said giving bidders that option is designed to "maximize value to the government and enhance competition." Proposals are due in mid-November. (9/27)

Senate Shutdown Stopgap Bill Includes Learning Period Extension (Source: Washington Post)
The Senate will consider a short-term spending bill in a long-shot bid to avoid a government shutdown. The bill, which passed a vote Tuesday night by a 77-19 margin, would fund the government from the start of the 2024 fiscal year Oct. 1 through Nov. 17. The continuing resolution (CR) is attached to a short-term reauthorization of the FAA that would, among its provisions, extend the "learning period" restricting the FAA's ability to regulate commercial spaceflight participant safety by three months to Jan. 1. Even if the CR passes the Senate, though, it is unclear when or even if the House will take it up. (9/27)

Rocket Lab Reduces Revenue Projection (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has reduced its financial guidance for the third quarter after an Electron launch failure. The company said Tuesday it is now projecting $66-68 million in revenue for the quarter, down from $73-77 million, which it said is because one launch that had been scheduled for the quarter would be delayed because of the Sept. 19 launch failure. The company provided no updates on the investigation into the failure other than it would return to flight "as soon as investigations are complete and corrective measures are in place." (9/27)

Scientists Open OSIRIS-REx Sample Canister (Source: Ars Technica)
Scientists have gotten their first peek inside the OSIRIS-REx sample return canister. Scientists opened the lid of the canister in a clean room at the Johnson Space Center Tuesday, two days after it landed in the Utah desert. Dante Lauretta, the principal investigator for the mission, said there is "some black dust-like material" inside the lid that he thinks is material from the asteroid Bennu. Inside the canister is an estimated 250 grams of rocks from the asteroid that the spacecraft collected in 2020. (9/27)

Sidus Space Makes Management Changes (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced the appointment of Leonardo Riera to the position of Chair of the Board of Directors and the promotion of Jared Novick to the role of Chief Operating Officer. (9/27)

New Mini Antennas Approved for SpaceX Starlink (Source: TS2)
The FCC has approved SpaceX’s application for two new models of antennas for its satellite communication system, Starlink. According to the application submitted by SpaceX, the new mini antennas measure 29 × 25 cm. These antennas are designed to provide portability and allow consumers to benefit from high-speed broadband communication with low latency, even in rural and remote areas. (9/21)

Solid Rocket Boosters for NASA's Space Launch System Rocket Delivered to KSC (Source: Florida Today)
Ten motor segments that make up twin solid rocket boosters of NASA's Space Launch System rocket are now at Kennedy Space Center, the first sign that stacking the 320-foot moon rocket is on track to begin later this fall. (9/26)

Did Jeff Bezos Finally Pick the Right CEO to Get Blue Origin to Orbit? (Source: Quartz)
Blue Origin has a new CEO. Dave Limp, the former head of Amazon’s device division, will succeed Bob Smith, who joined from Honeywell in 2017. Blue Origin has pushed an ambitious vision of thousands of humans living and working in space, but its greatest accomplishment so far has been developing New Shepard.

Limp is also notable in not having an aerospace engineering background; besides Musk, he’ll be the first CEO of a modern rocket company without one. He did, however, oversee Amazon’s Kuiper satellite project. Limp is walking into a job replete with challenges: New Shepard has been grounded for more than a year since the failure of an uncrewed mission in 2022. Blue Origin’s long-awaited orbital rocket, New Glenn, is now four years behind its original schedule and may debut next year.

Blue Origin won a contract to develop a vehicle to carry astronauts to the surface of the Moon and plans to launch a futuristic space station, but it hasn’t shared updates on the complex technology needed to realize these missions. The company is also waiting to see the BE-4 rocket engines it built for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket take flight. That vehicle was supposed to make its debut this year, but it’s been delayed due to issues apparently unrelated to Blue’s engines. (9/26)

Akin Adds Top Space Industry Leader, Building Out its Space Regulatory and Policy Practice (Source: Akin)
Akin is pleased to announce that Dr. Michael Mineiro, a former U.S. government official with deep experience in U.S. space law and policy, has joined the firm’s telecom, media and technology (TMT) practice. He joins the firm as a senior counsel and is based in Washington, D.C. Immediately prior to joining Akin, Dr. Mineiro was senior vice president of legal, regulatory and government affairs at HawkEye360, a space-based RF analytics company. (9/26)

New Mexico Balloon Research Flight Terminated as NASA Investigates Anomaly (Source: KRQE)
NASA is currently working to recover one of its projects after an undefined incident caused them to terminate the flight. According to NASA, a scientific balloon carrying its FIREball-2 project was launched Monday morning from Fort Sumner. FIREball-2’s mission was to study nearby galaxies to better understand their formation and evolution. After reaching an altitude of more than 124 thousand feet, NASA said the balloon experienced an “anomaly” and terminated the flight west of Clovis just after 9 p.m. (9/26)

How to Build Better Extraterrestrial Robots (Source: Yokohama University)
Running on the beach versus a paved road can change an athlete’s stride, speed and stability. Alter the force of gravity, and that runner may break their personal record or sink into the ground. Researchers have to consider such parameters when designing extraterrestrial rovers and landers — which can trawl where no person has stepped foot. To better inform this work, a multi-institutional team analyzed the flow of simulated regolith, a type of fragmental debris that covers the moon and rocky planets, using an artificial gravity generator on the International Space Station. Click here. (9/26)

With Help of A.I. We May Soon Know if Life Existed on Mars (Source: Carnegie Science)
A team of scientists led by Carnegie’s Robert Hazen and visiting scholar Jim Cleaves of the Tokyo Institute of Technology and the Blue Marble Space Institute for Science have discovered what they’re calling the “holy grail of astrobiology,” a simple and reliable test for signs of past or present life on other planets. Their findings are published in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

The research team—which included Carnegie’s Anirudh Prabhu, Michael Wong, and George Cody, as well as Grethe Hystad of Purdue University and Sophia Economon of Johns Hopkins University—report that, with 90 percent accuracy, their artificial intelligence-based method distinguished modern and ancient biological samples from those of abiotic origin. Simply put, the new test reliably determines whether the history of a sample under examination included something that was once alive. (9/25)

U.S. Space Command Leaders Will Be Asked to Defend ‘Irregularity’ in Colorado HQ Pick (Source: AL.com)
The House Armed Services Committee expects to hear some of the nation’s top military leaders discuss their involvement Thursday in President Biden’s decision to make Colorado the U.S. Space Command’s permanent home. That White House decision came instead of moving the headquarters to Huntsville, which ranked highest in the Pentagon’s official base comparison. (9/26)

The Failure Points of an ‘Integrated Deterrence’ Strategy in Space (Source: The Hill)
Soon after the U.S. Space Force rewrote its mission statement, Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall stated the Air Force and Space Force “cannot sustain deterrence by standing still.” He believes integrated deterrence in its current form is insufficient to deter aggression, especially in space. 

Deterrence should dissuade adversaries from involving space in any conflicts. The United States’s dwindling space dominance is challenged by peer competitors and near-peer rivals who recognize, likely even more so than the American public, that America’s asymmetric advantage in orbit is also its Achilles’ heel. And they are prepared to supplant America’s leadership in space, relegating the United States to a follower of authoritarian powers. (9/25)

ISSNL and Privateer Partner on Wayfinder (Source: CASIS)
The International Space Station National Laboratory and Privateer Space announced a partnership to bring additional resources to the growing space economy. In 2022, Privateer developed Wayfinder, a free online tool that provides real-time data of satellite and debris visualization in space. The platform can be used by interested partners and agencies, as well as the general public, to keep space safe and accessible. Wayfinder can also serve as a marketplace for low-cost access to a variety of global remote sensing data to improve life on Earth.

The Privateer team has coordinated with the ISS National Lab to develop a white label version of Wayfinder that will be housed on the ISS National Lab website, providing space traffic information to those interested in leveraging the orbiting laboratory for research purposes. Through this partnership, the ISS National Lab seeks to provide additional information on the space station for incorporation into the tool, including crew and launch schedules, research investigations being done on station, and more. (9/26)

Responding to Evolving Space Risks (Source: Newsweek)
As other countries' access to space increases, so are the measures that the U.S. will have to take to protect their various space assets. While some invest in anti-satellite measures and soft-kill strategies like laser dazzling, it becomes imperative to study and prepare against these potential threats. Wars on Earth are increasingly influenced by commercial spacecraft. The war in Ukraine and the heavy use of Starlink, GPS, and commercial imagery by a smaller power as they take on a larger foe is an emergent example of what we can expect to see in the future. The intel that space assets provide can clearly change the tide of war, making these spacecraft increasingly vulnerable targets in future wars. Click here. (9/25)

Space Force Chief Says Commercial Satellites May Need Defending (Source: Ars Technica)
Like the US Navy has long protected sea lanes during conflict, the military could be called upon to defend commercial satellites from attack, particularly as the Pentagon relies more on commercial networks for communication and surveillance, the Space Force's top general said last week. (9/25)

SECAF authorizes Space Force Good Conduct Medal (Source: USSF)
U.S. Space Force Guardians are now eligible to receive the Space Force Good Conduct Medal (SFGCM) if eligibility criteria are met, effective immediately. This medal recognizes “exemplary behavior, efficiency, and fidelity of enlisted members of the United States Space Force,” according to a memo signed by SECAF Frank Kendall. The memo also outlined award eligibility for the SFGCM will be retroactive to the date the U.S. Space Force was established by law, Dec. 20, 2019. Eligibility for the award includes members demonstrating the Space Force core values of Character, Connection, Commitment, and Courage; members will receive the SFGCM after serving in the Space Force for three years. (9/25)

Nuclear 'Pasta' Cooked Up by Dead Stars Could Unravel the Secrets of Stellar Afterlife (Source: Space.com)
Imagine cooking pasta at a temperature of over a trillion degrees. But this isn't just any ordinary Sunday-night dish; it's the "nuclear pasta" found inside neutron stars. Researchers have just revealed that these strange nuclear shapes penetrate far deeper into the cores of neutron stars than we ever thought possible, and that this can radically alter the properties of those dead stars. The matter within them is so compressed that atomic and even nuclear bonds are broken. It's just a giant, hot sea of free-floating neutrons, electrons and protons, bound together through the complex interactions of the strong nuclear force.

Given these extreme conditions, astronomers still do not understand exactly how the matter of neutron stars composes itself. One possibility is that neutron stars are really hybrids. Their crust and outer layers consist almost entirely of neutrons, with some electrons and protons thrown into the mix. But their cores experience such extreme pressures and densities that even neutrons break down, leaving behind a dense semi-liquid of quarks — the most fundamental constituent of matter. (9/25)

Our Entire Galaxy is Warping, and a Gigantic Blob of Dark Matter Could Be To Blame (Source: Space.com)
A gigantic blob of invisible dark matter has bent our galaxy out of shape, a new study suggests. Scientists initially believed that the Milky Way was a flat disk dominated by two spiral arms trailing stars from a central bar, but measurements taken since the mid-20th century reveal that it's bent inexplicably out of shape. (9/25)