October 17, 2023

Japan's H3 Return-to-Flight Moves to 2024 (Source: Bloomberg)
Japan's H3 rocket is now expected to return to flight early next year. Officials with the Japanese space agency JAXA and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries said they they are working to return the vehicle to flight after a failure on its inaugural launch early this year. Mitsubishi says it expects to eventually launch up to six H3 rockets a year. (10/17)

Exoplanet Has Quartz in Clouds (Source: Space.com)
An exoplanet has clouds containing crystals of quartz. In a paper published Monday, astronomers said spectroscopic observations of the exoplanet WASP-17 b by the James Webb Space Telescope showed evidence of quartz nanocrystals, about 10 nanometers across, in the atmosphere of that planet. WASP-17 b is a type of exoplanet known as a "hot Jupiter" that orbits close to its parent star and has temperatures of about 1,500 degrees Celsius. Astronomers said that while they expected some kind of aerosols in that exoplanet's atmosphere, they did not expect to detect quartz. (10/17)

NASA Postpones ISS Spacewalk (Source: NASA)
NASA has again postponed a spacewalk from the International Space Station. NASA said Monday that the spacewalk, scheduled for Thursday, will be moved to later this year. That spacewalk had already been delayed once by a coolant leak last week from a radiator on the Russian Nauka module on the station, and NASA said Monday that the latest delay will give engineers more time to study the impacts of coolant residue on internal systems. Another spacewalk remains scheduled for Oct. 30. (10/17)

China to Launch Second Lunar Comms Satellite in 2024 (Source: Space News)
China plans to launch a second lunar communications satellite next year. Queqiao-2 is set to launch on a Long March 8 rocket from the Wenchang spaceport in early 2024, the satellite's developer said at a conference earlier this month. The 1,200-kilogram satellite will feature a 4.2-meter-diameter parabolic antenna and a mission lifetime of more than eight years. The spacecraft will operate in a "frozen orbit" around the moon, with its initial task being relaying communications for the Chang'e-6 mission to return samples from the lunar farside. That mission is scheduled to launch in the second quarter of 2024. (10/17)

Berkeley Partners with Ames for $2 Billion Research Center in California (Source: Space News)
The University of California Berkeley is partnering with NASA's Ames Research Center on a $2 billion research center. The Berkeley Space Center, announced Monday, will be built on the NASA Ames campus in Mountain View, California, with 130,000 square meters of offices and laboratories planned. The university and other tenants will use the center for work in aviation, space and other technologies. Construction of the center is projected to start in about three years, pending environmental reviews. (10/17)

Urban Sky Raises $9.75 Million for Balloon Imagery Platform (Source: Space News)
Urban Sky raised $9.75 million to expand its use of stratospheric balloons that provide high-resolution imagery. The company announced the Series A round on Monday co-led by three investors. The company has developed a "microballoon" that can operate in the stratosphere, providing color images at resolutions as sharp as 10 centimeters. The new funding will allow the company, currently operating in Colorado, to expand to more regions and to develop more advanced cameras. Urban Sky argues it does not currently compete directly with satellite imagery because of the higher resolution it offers. (10/17)

Seraphim Picks 10 Companies for Accelerator (Source: Space News)
Seraphim Space has selected 10 space-related businesses for its latest accelerator class. The three-month program connects young space companies with mentors and potential investors as they seek the funds they need to get off the ground. The newest class of startups includes companies from India, Poland, Singapore, the United Kingdom and the United States and range from geospatial information providers to a developer of laser communications systems for smallsats. (10/17)

Why is Space So Dark Even Though the Universe is Filled with Stars? (Source: The Conversation)
People have been asking why space is dark despite being filled with stars for so long that this question has a special name – Olbers’ paradox. Astronomers estimate that there are about 200 billion trillion stars in the observable universe. And many of those stars are as bright or even brighter than our sun. So, why isn’t space filled with dazzling light? The study of distant stars and planets helps astronomers like me understand why space is so dark. Click here. (10/16)

Citing Slow Starship Reviews, SpaceX Urges FAA to Double Licensing Staff (Source: Ars Technica)
In a remarkably frank discussion this week, several senior SpaceX officials spoke with Ars Technica on background about how working with the Federal Aviation Administration has slowed down the company's progress not just on development of the Starship program, but on innovations with the Falcon 9 and Dragon programs as well.

The SpaceX officials said they want to be clear that the FAA is doing a reasonably good job with the resources it has, and that everyone supports the mission of safe spaceflight. However, they said, the FAA needs significantly more people working in its licensing department and should be encouraged to prioritize missions of national importance. Click here. (10/17)

International Team Reveals Source of Largest Ever Marsquake Recorded (Source: Phys.org)
A global team of scientists have announced the results of an unprecedented collaboration to search for the source of the largest ever seismic event recorded on Mars. The study, led by the University of Oxford, rules out a meteorite impact, suggesting instead that the quake was the result of enormous tectonic forces within Mars' crust.

The quake, which had a magnitude of 4.7 and caused vibrations to reverberate through the planet for at least six hours, was recorded by NASA's InSight lander on May 4, 2022. Because its seismic signal was similar to previous quakes known to be caused by meteoroid impacts, the team believed that this event (dubbed "S1222a") might have been caused by an impact as well, and launched an international search for a fresh crater. (10/17)

Hypervelocity Impact Experiments Probe the Origin of Organics on the Dwarf Planet Ceres (Source: Space Daily)
One of the most exciting findings from NASA's Dawn mission is that Ceres, the largest object in the asteroid belt that lies between Mars and Jupiter, hosts complex organics. The discovery of aliphatic molecules, which consist of carbon and hydrogen chains, in conjunction with evidence that Ceres has abundant water ice and may have been an ocean world, means this dwarf planet might have once harbored the main ingredients associated with life as we know it.

How the aliphatic organics originated on Ceres has been the subject of intensive research since their discovery in 2017. Some studies have concluded that a comet or other organic-rich impactor delivered them to Ceres; others indicate the molecules formed on the dwarf planet after its primordial materials were altered by briny water. But regardless of their origin, the organics on Ceres have been affected by the pervasive impacts that have pockmarked its surface. (10/17)

Space Sector Investors Followed Government Contracts in the Third Quarter (Source: CNBC)
Investment in the space sector, especially from venture capital, is consistently flowing into companies that are pursuing and winning government contracts, according to a report Monday by New York-based Space Capital. “In this market – 21 months into this liquidity crunch – people are chasing government dollars. They’re more willing to chase government dollars and infrastructure companies have line of sight to a lot of that,” Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson told CNBC.

The firm’s third quarter report found that space infrastructure companies brought in $1.6 billion of private investment during the third quarter. That brings the sector to $8.4 billion in investment year-to-date, surpassing the total $8.3 billion invested in 2022. (10/16)

Blue Origin Unveils Multi-Use Platform For Earth Orbit, Beyond (Source: Aviation Week)
Blue Origin is working on reusable rockets, orbital outposts and lunar landers. Tying the systems together is a large, multi-use platform that can host, deploy and refuel spacecraft, as well as perform other services from Earth orbit, cislunar space and beyond. Blue Origin is unveiling the platform, named Blue Ring, on Oct. 16, along with a new business unit, In-Space Systems, to broadly market its transportation, hosting, refueling, data relay, cloud computing and other services.

“It has a lot of capability and a lot of energy. It is a platform that has versatility across multiple missions and multiple customers on any given launch,” Lars Hoffman said. For starters, Blue Ring can host and/or deploy 1,100-lb.-class satellites on a dozen generic ports, as well as anchor a 2-ton-class satellite on a top deck. A single Blue Ring can carry more than 6,660 lb. of payloads, depending on whether the spacecraft would be flown to single or multiple Earth orbits—including geostationary—and/or to Lagrange points, cislunar space,  lunar orbits or even to interstellar space. (10/16)

India: 21st Century’s Newest Space Powerhouse (Source: Astralytical)
Space exploration has long been dominated by a very exclusive club of nations. The US and the USSR/Russia have been leaders for more than 60 years, with the 21st century witnessing China become an unquestioned peer nation to these established space superpowers. Europe and Japan have long been the solidified “second-tier” space powers, with no crewed programs of their own but hosting substantive domestic heavy launch capabilities and a proven ability to send missions beyond Earth’s orbit.

India has now entered the chat. 2023 may indeed be seen as the year that India “came out” as a major space powerhouse, capping decades of diligent work building up their domestic space capabilities. India has begun racking up unique and historic space achievements and there are even greater accomplishments on the horizon. As India rises the ranks of global space powers, the geopolitical impacts of its space program will continue to grow, creating both opportunities and potential for conflict. Click here. (10/16)

Roads Not Taken in Satellite Photo-Reconnaissance: Part 1, the 1960s (Source: Space Review)
During the 1960s there were many proposals for reconnaissance satellites that never got much beyond the concept stage. Dwayne Day examines what is known about some of those ideas for photo-reconnaissance space systems. Click here. (10/16)
 
Commercial Lunar Landers Prepare for Liftoff (Source: Space Review)
After years of development, the first commercial landers developed as part of a NASA program are finally ready for launch. Jeff Foust reports on the progress of those landers and whether they can beat the odds. Click here. (10/16)
 
The Brave New World of Space (Source: Space Review)
The new space race emerging among countries and companies draws comparisons to the original space race of the 1960s. Aditya Chaturvedi examines changing geopolitics amid the growing importance of space. Click here. (10/16)
 
Maybe Space Shouldn’t Be for All (Source: Space Review)
Space advocates have long attempted to attract as wide an audience as possible to their positions. A.J. Mackenzie argues that approach should have some limits, as demonstrated by two recent events. Click here. (10/16)

Payload Pioneers 2023 (Source: Payload)
When we launched the Payload Pioneers, we hoped to get a diverse group of 30 rising stars in the space community under 30 years old who were contributing fresh issues to the industry. Boy, did our community deliver. We are so impressed with the caliber of our winners, who are working in roles from cofounders to engineers to investors, and we can’t wait to share more about them with you. Click here. (10/16)

Army Exploring New Options to Tap Commercial Satellite Networks (Source: Space News)
The military’s demand for satellite internet was a topic of interest last week at the U.S. Army’s largest annual trade show. “What we heard is the need for resiliency and agility,” said Ray Lindenmayer, director of business development at Intelsat, a global satellite operator. With the Army as the military’s biggest user of satellite services, providers like Intelsat are eager to meet the demand, especially for improving connectivity for mobile users. The Army wants seamless access to satellites in various orbits, so if one network goes down, others instantly take over. “They don’t want single points of failure,”  Lindenmayer said. (10/16)

A New Record is Achieved… Outside Earth and By Something Unexpected (Source: Softonic)
When we talk about records, most people typically think of a human (or several) accomplishing a great feat. And, well, we also tend to imagine it’s something done on Earth. Although there are more than a few records set in space (mostly by astronauts), they are indeed not very common. Indeed, just a few weeks ago, this very thing happened. On September 27th, NASA‘s Parker Solar Probe became the fastest human-made object. The probe sent by the U.S. space agency reached a speed of 635,266 kilometers per hour as it approached the Sun at a distance of only 7.26 million kilometers, closer than any other spacecraft before. (10/16)

Benjamin Moore Partners with Blue Origin to Reveal Color of the Year (Source: CollectSpace)
What do you get when you mix a commercial spaceflight company with a manufacturer of premium paints? A shade of blue with a focus on inspiring future generations about STEM education and careers in the space industry. Representatives from Benjamin Moore visited Blue Origin's site in Cape Canaveral to reveal their pick for Color of the Year 2024 and a new partnership with Blue Origin's not-for-profit Club for the Future. "We are absolutely thrilled to announce the Benjamin Moore Color of the Year for 2024 as Blue Nova 825," said Andrea Magno. (10/16)

Félicette the French Space Cat, the World's Only Feline Astronaut (Source: RFI)
The Soviets liked dogs because they were easy to train. The Americans preferred mice for their size, or monkeys for their similarities with humans. As for cats, France remains the only country to have ever tried putting them in space. To understand why, we have to go back to a time when space travel was only just becoming a reality, and researchers were still groping for the limits of what might and might not be possible. Click here. (10/15)

World's Universities Prepare Lunar Rover Moonshots (Source: Cosmos)
Nearly two dozen teams from five nations have entered a space engineering challenge to be held in Adelaide next year. The Australian Rover Challenge (ARCh) – organised by the Andy Thomas Center for Space Resources at the University of Adelaide – is an annual robotics competition in which entrants develop semi-autonomous rovers capable of completing a series of tests in a lunar simulation. Among the entrants are 10 Australian teams, including the most recent ARCh winners from Monash University, which also finished second in the ‘world’ University Rover Challenge held in Utah in June. (10/16)