October 2, 2023

Evolution of Modern BioAstronautics (Source: LinkedIn)
The challenge of BioAstronautics is to functionally integrate human medicine with agriculture, using ecological approaches. We have to do this while emphasizing human nutrition, health, and performance focused on crew capabilities and safety the entire time. We have to optimize and ensure crops systems performance, while minimizing risk of pathogens to the crops and humans in the system. The most critical but least understood aspects are the soil microbial and fungal decomposers, which interconnect the human and the crop soil microbiome. Click here. (9/17)

Despite Launch Failure, Rocket Lab is Doing Just Fine (Source: SpaceWorks)
Rocket Lab’s September launch failure likely won’t lead to their demise but it does open the door for other launch providers to catch up while Rocket Lab investigates the failure. Firefly Aerospace just successfully demonstrated tactically responsive space access with their Victus Nox mission and seems poised to capitalize on that success. ABL is working towards another test launch to prove they are ready for commercial operations. Stoke Aerospace recently conducted a hop test with their second stage rocket and even more companies continue to advance the development of their launch systems. (9/22)

What Would China’s Collapse Mean for the Race to the Moon? (Source: The Hill)
eopolitical analyst Peter Zeihan has a prediction that could throw the idea of a moon race between two superpowers in doubt. Zeihan believes that China has at most 10 years before it collapses. Zeihan thinks China’s end is near because of the fall in birth rates, which has only accelerated since the end of the one-child policy. China’s belligerence, even toward commercial firms that might be inclined to invest in that country, is not helpful.

China has not recovered from the strict lockdown measures instituted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Chinese President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on the flow of information, an attempt to prevent the rise of rivals, means that he will not have any warning to change policies until it is too late. By the way, China is also experiencing a real estate bubble that could wreak havoc when it eventually bursts.

It’s no secret that one reason why Artemis has garnered political support is fear that China will return to the moon before the NASA-led alliance can, garnering the international prestige and, perhaps, the rich natural resources that Earth’s nearest neighbor has in abundance. But everything changes if, as Zeihan predicts, China collapses. With no space race and no threat of a Chinese space hegemony, supporters of the Artemis program will have to scramble for other reasons to return to the moon. (10/1)

US-China Rivalry Spurs Investment in Space Tech (Source: BBC)
China says it is committed to the peaceful exploration of space, and has previously dismissed US concerns about its space program as "a smear campaign against China's normal and reasonable outer space endeavors". The rivalry is spurring huge investment by NASA. In the year to the end of September 2021 the agency says its spending was worth $71.2bn to the US economy - a 10.7% increase on the year before.

While big names like SpaceX might attract the headlines, NASA's spending reaches much further into the economy. "A quarter of our spending is going to small businesses," says Bill Nelson. That money can accelerate the growth of small firms, particularly start-ups, says Sinead O'Sullivan, a former NASA engineer and now space economist at Harvard Business School. (9/26)

The Man Who Played a Key Role in the First Suborbital Launch at Thumba (Source: The Hindu)
Praful D. Bhavsar, a veteran of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) who passed away in Ahmedabad aged 97 on Saturday, had played an instrumental role in the very first sounding rocket launch from Thumba on November 21, 1963. This, in the public mind, was the event which marked the beginning of India’s glittering space saga. Dr. P.D. Bhavsar was project scientist and principal investigator for that first rocket-borne experiment from the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station (TERLS) which used an American-made Nike-Apache sounding rocket and a sodium vapour payload supplied by France. (10/1)

Boeing Struggles to Find a Business Case for Starliner Capsule (Source: Washington Post)
Boeing had big plans for its new space capsule, even before it won a $4.2 billion contract in 2014 to develop a spacecraft for NASA to fly astronauts to the ISS. If space were indeed going to open to the masses, as many at the time were predicting, Boeing wanted to position itself as the premier spacecraft provider, the way it had with commercial airliners.

Nearly a decade later, those dreams have crumbled. Not a single person has flown Boeing’s spacecraft to space. No one has booked a private flight. The company has had to absorb about $1.4 billion in cost overruns, and NASA’s safety advisers have called for an independent review of the program. Meanwhile, SpaceX, which received a contract at the same time Boeing did, but for nearly 40 percent less money, has flown eight missions to the ISS for NASA, as well as additional private astronaut crews. One top NASA official called Boeing’s inability to get its CST-100 Starliner capsule into regular use an “existential” challenge.

Some NASA officials think one cause may be the way the commercial crew program was set up — a fixed-price contract after years of cost-plus ones that allowed contractors to pass to NASA any excess expenses they encountered in developing the project. Asked whether Boeing plans to continue with the program long-term, John Shannon suggested that was in doubt. “I wish I had the answer to it right now,” he said. The concern, he said, is that the private market for space travel is uncertain and plans for commercial space stations that would provide a need for regular launches have yet to materialize. (10/2)

Starlink Partners With Jumia to Expand Services in Africa (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX will partner with e-commerce firm Jumia Technologies AG to expand its satellite broadband services in Africa. Jumia, which counts Pernod Ricard SA and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as investors, will sell Starlink’s satellite terminals and other kits in some African nations, starting with Nigeria in coming weeks. Jumia will benefit from the agreement by having the first sales and distribution deal of the kits on the continent. (10/2)

Supernovae Struck the Earth 3 Million and 7 Million Years Ago (Source: Universe Today)
A recent study examines how the Earth was hit by blasts from supernovae that occurred 3 million years ago (Mya) and 7 Mya with the goal of ascertaining the distances of where these blasts originated. Using the radioactive isotope 60-Fe, which is produced from supernovae, a team of researchers was able to determine the approximate astronomical distances to the blasts, which they refer to as Pliocene Supernova and the Miocene Supernova. (10/1)

Craig Technologies Found a Way to Score More Government Contracts. Here's How Your Company Can, Too (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Craig Technologies — a Merritt Island-headquartered tech firm serving the aerospace industry which several years ago developed a digital platform called GovLead that helps it win more government contracts than average — now has made it available for other companies to use, as well.

Craig Technologies released its government contract interface platform on Sept. 27 after eight years of success using it internally. A few revisions made it market-ready, though much of the core functionality was developed over the years in response to specific demands. A single seat on the platform costs $65, and the company hasn't pinpointed revenue goals for the product yet, said Director of Business Development Greg Sheppard. (10/2)

More Sample Than Anticipated From OSIRIS-REx (Source: NASA)
Scientists working on the OSIRIS-REx sample return canister are dealing with too much of a good thing. NASA said Friday that curation of samples from the spacecraft is going slower than originally expected because of the large amount of asteroid material coating the inside of the sample canister lid. Scientists have already started to analyze one dust sample from the spacecraft as they work to curate other material. "The very best 'problem' to have is that there is so much material, it's taking longer than we expected to collect it," said one scientist. (10/2)

General Atomics Wins $14.2 Million From SDA for In-Space Laser Comm (Source: Space News)
The Space Development Agency awarded a $14.2 million contract to General Atomics for an in-space demonstration of laser communications in "degraded" conditions. The contract calls on General Atomics to produce two optical communications terminals hosted on two small satellites for an in-space demonstration of how laser inter-satellite links can operate when affected by radiation or orbital debris. For the demonstration, General Atomics will host the terminals on two 75-kilogram satellite buses known as half-ESPA GA-75. (10/2)

NASA to Fund Four Small Heliophysics Missions (Source: NASA)
NASA will fund four studies of small heliophysics missions. The agency announced Friday it picked four concepts for Small Explorer, or SMEX, studies, which will receive unspecified funding to mature their designs. The missions are Cross-scale Investigation of Earth's Magnetotail and Aurora (CINEMA), Chromospheric Magnetism Explorer (CMEx), Extreme ultraviolet Coronal Mass Ejection and Coronal Connectivity Observatory (ECCCO) and Magnetospheric Auroral Asymmetry Explorer (MAAX). (10/2)

Maritime Launch Unveils Commercial Suborbital Program at Spaceport Nova Scotia (Source: Space Daily)
Maritime Launch Services unveiled its suborbital launch program currently scheduled to begin during the second quarter of 2024. Maritime Launch's suborbital program called Dedicated Altitude Research and Testing (DART), is a program designed to offer flight opportunities to researchers across a wide range of mission capabilities, ranging from building and testing new concepts, high speed tracking, conducting research, and testing payloads intended for future orbital missions as well as upper atmospheric monitoring and sampling.

During this first commercial suborbital launch campaign planned for early 2024, Maritime Launch's manifest will carry experiments totaling up to 15kg across two separate launch configurations. The DART program is available to serve a variety of clients including industry, academia, government agencies, as well as research and educational institutions in North America and internationally. (10/1)

India's Private Space Sector Skyrockets (Source: Space Daily)
When Indian entrepreneur Awais Ahmed founded his satellite startup in Bangalore in 2019, his country was still a year away from opening the space industry to the private sector. Since then, the private space sector has taken off in India, joining a rapidly growing global market. There are now 190 Indian space start-ups, twice as many as a year earlier, with private investments jumping by 77 percent between 2021 and 2022, according to Deloitte consultancy. (10/1)