October 20, 2023

Next-Generation Rocket for China's Human Space Missions On Track (Source: Space Daily)
China's forthcoming rocket designed for manned space missions, Long March 10, is on course for its initial launch around 2027, says a senior designer from the project team. The advanced launch vehicle is being developed at the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), a primary contributor to rocketry in China and a subsidiary of the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corp.

Zhang Zhi, a veteran rocket designer at CALT, indicated that the development of Long March 10 is proceeding as per the timetable. "The Long March 10 will be a brand new type of launch vehicle and will be tasked with launching the country's new-generation crewed spacecraft and the lunar landing module," Zhang said. He emphasized the vehicle's high standards of reliability and operational safety, designed to meet the demands of future lunar missions. (10/20)

Polaris Dawn Crew Meets Embry-Riddle Eagles, Inspects Camera System to Use in 2024 Space Mission (Source: ERAU)
While engineering a camera to capture a spacewalk, notoriously one of the most dangerous feats carried out by astronauts, a team of Embry‑Riddle Aeronautical University students focused on a single button. Dubbed LLAMAS, for Literally Looking at More Astronauts in Space, the camera project is the product of a collaboration with alumnus Jared Isaacman, who helmed SpaceX’s Inspiration4 mission, the first privately crewed spaceflight.

Isaacman is now commander of SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn mission, set to launch in 2024. During that mission’s planned five days in orbit, at least one crewmember will exit the Dragon capsule to perform the world’s first spacewalk by a non-government-employed astronaut. The camera now being built — by graduate and undergraduate students led by Dr. Troy Henderson, director of Embry‑Riddle’s Space Technologies Lab — will capture it all. (10/16)

Craig Searle Joins HawkEye 360 as VP of Strategic Finance (Source: Executive Gov)
HawkEye 360 has selected Craig Searle as vice president of strategic finance. Searle served as a member of HawkEye 360’s Board of Directors four years prior to his appointment, the Herndon, Virginia-based enterprise announced on Thursday. (10/19)

NASA Begins Final Testing Phase of Updated Aerojet Rocket Engines for SLS (Source: Executive Gov)
NASA conducted a hot fire test of an updated version of the Aerojet Rocketdyne-built RS-25 engine on Oct. 17 at the Stennis Space Center’s Fred Haise Test Stand. The event marks the first of 12 hot fires comprising the final certification testing phase of the new rocket engine, a new set of which will power the Space Launch System, a.k.a. SLS, beginning with the fifth mission under the Artemis lunar exploration program, NASA said Wednesday. (10/19)

James Webb Space Telescope Spots Jet Stream on Jupiter Stronger Than a Category 5 Hurricane (Source: Space.com)
On Thursday (Oct. 19), scientists announced that, beyond offering us fresh eyes on the solar system, the JWST's images of our cosmic neighborhood are also presenting us with new data about a planet we thought we knew quite well: Jupiter. Basically, after examining images the JWST captured of Jupiter in 2022, a team of researchers realized there's a high-speed jet stream on the planet that's more than 3,000 miles (4,800 kilometers) wide and traveling at about 320 mph (515 kph.) This is something that has never been seen before. (10/19)

Two Cubesats Likely Lost in Latest European Rocket Mishap (Source: Gizmodo)
Arianespace’s latest Vega mission failed to deploy two of its payloads to orbit, likely due to a failure with the release mechanism with the rocket’s upper stage. Vega VV23 lifted off on October 8 from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana at 9:36 p.m. ET. The rocket was carrying an Earth observation satellite and a weather satellite, as well as 10 cubesats.

Shortly after launch, Arianespace announced that its primary payloads, the Airbus Defense’s THEOS-2 and the Taiwan Space Agency’s FORMOSAT-7R/TRITON satellites, and eight of its secondary payloads were successfully deployed. The company noted, however, that the separation of two cubesats “is still to be confirmed.” (10/19)

Astronomers Say New Telescopes Should Take Advantage of “Starship Paradigm” (Source: Ars Technica)
A consensus among leading American astronomers is that NASA's next wave of great observatories should take advantage of game-changing lift capabilities offered by giant new rockets like SpaceX's Starship. Launching a follow-on to JWST on Starship, for example, could unshackle the mission from onerous mass and volume constraints, which typically drive up complexity and cost, a panel of three astronomers recently told the National Academies' Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics.

"The availability of greater mass and volume capability, at lower cost, enlarges the design space," said Charles Lawrence, the chief scientist for astronomy and physics at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. "We want to take advantage of that.” Sometime around the end of the decade, the thinking goes, NASA should be ready to officially kick off development of these new telescopes. First should be a large telescope called the Habitable Worlds Observatory, which would be comparable in size to Webb with a primary mirror around 6 meters across and a coronagraph or a starshade to blot out starlight, enabling direct observations of planets around other stars, or exoplanets. (10/18)

'No Prospects': Russians Slowly Leaving Legendary Spaceport City (Source: Space Daily)
Surrounded by the vast sand dunes of the Kazakh steppe, on satellite images the city of Baikonur looks like an oasis of glimmering lights in an otherwise dry desert. Leased by Russia from Kazakhstan since the collapse of the USSR, the legendary launch site was for years the heart of the Soviet space programme, sending both the first artificial satellite and human into space. Russia, whose lease on the site will expire in 2050, continues to regularly use the cosmodrome to send Russian and foreign crews to the ISS. (10/20)

Launch of Ovzon 3 Targeted for As Soon As December 2023 (Source: Space Daily)
Swedish satellite company Ovzon, in collaboration with SpaceX and Maxar, is working towards a launch window of early December for its Ovzon 3 satellite. "The final assembly and testing of the satellite, in addition to the complex modeling associated with changing launch vehicles, has progressed well and according to plan in recent months. We are now moving forward with further detailed launch planning and with transportation of the satellite to the launch site in Cape Canaveral, Florida. There are always some uncertainties regarding spacecraft launches that are not possible to predict, but we are now getting really close", says Per Noren. (10/20)

Year 2075: Martian Rovers Saved from Cyber Attack (Source: Space Daily)
The scene was set: a research base on the Red Planet was struck by a cyberattack and eight teams on Earth had just a matter of hours to save it. Far from being a farfetched scenario, cyberattacks are unfortunately a daily problem for all sectors, including space exploration, and can have devastating consequences.

The 'Pwn The Rover' hacking contest was held on 17 October at ESA's mission control centre in Darmstadt, Germany, in collaboration with Fraunhofer SIT and ATHENE-Center. Its goal was to bring together, educate and inspire younger generations in the realm of cybersecurity. The hackathon was challenging, really pushing teams in a mix of time-limited and tricky but plausible scenarios. (10/20)

Space Force Pushes for Classification Changes Among Allies (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force is making a major push to work more closely with allies abroad, including seeking changes in classification processes. Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein, commander of the Space Systems Command, said at a conference this week that his command's office of international affairs is busier than ever, working with 28 countries, many under agreements reached just in the last 18 months. Officials said the Space Force is taking unprecedented steps to work with international partners because of the shared nature of the space domain and a surge in global investments in space technology. Others said one challenge is the difficulty of sharing information on space programs that is mostly classified, but that they are working to change those classification policies. (10/20)

DoD Report Cites China's Continued Space Development (Source: Space News)
A Pentagon report concluded China is continuing to close gaps with the United States in key space capabilities. The annual report by the Defense Department on Chinese military and security developments, released Thursday, stated that Chinese space systems are increasing the possibility it could gain the advantage in a future conflict through attacks on American satellites, citing work on various anti-satellite technologies. A major point of concern raised in the Pentagon's assessment is China's continued reluctance to engage in military-to-military communications with the United States. The U.S. Space Force has previously warned that a lack of transparency about space activities fuels the risk of misunderstandings and miscalculations. (10/20)

SpaceX Frustrated by FAA Pace in Starship Licensing (Source: Space News)
A SpaceX executive said the company is increasingly frustrated by the slow pace of FAA launch licensing for Starship. In testimony this week at a Senate hearing, Bill Gerstenmaier said the company's next Starship vehicle has been ready for launch for more than a month but is still waiting on an FAA launch license, with no clear timetable of when that will be ready. That updated license will depend not just on the FAA's review of improvements related to public safety but also a U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service environmental review of pad upgrades. That licensing pace, he warned, will slow development of Starship, including the version the company is developing for NASA as an Artemis lunar lander. (10/20)

Ariane 6 Test Rescheduled to Late November (Source: Space News)
A key test of Europe's Ariane 6 rocket has been rescheduled for late November. A long-duration static-fire test of the rocket's core stage was planned for early October but delayed by problems with a hydraulics system in the vehicle. ESA said Thursday the test is now scheduled for around Nov. 23, a month after another practice countdown and short firing of the core stage's engine. ESA officials said access to space will be a key topic of next month's European Space Summit, including seeking commitments for stabilizing the Ariane 6 and Vega C programs. ESA also confirmed Thursday that two cubesats failed to separate from their adapters on a Vega launch earlier this month, but that the issue won't affect the next Vega launch next spring. (10/20)

UK to Help Fund Maritime Surveillance Satellite Replacement (Source: Space News)
The British government will help fund the replacement for a maritime surveillance cubesat lost in the Virgin Orbit launch failure in January. Horizon Technologies, whose Amber IOD-3 was among the payloads on that failed launch, said it received a $1.5 million grant from the U.K. government that will cover nearly half the cost of a replacement. The new Amber Phoenix cubesat will be built by AAC Clyde Space. Horizon Technologies is proposing to deploy a constellation of more than 20 satellites to collect radio-frequency signals for ship tracking with a latency of 30 minutes. (10/20)

Skylo Developing IoT Tech for GEO Satellites (Source: Space News)
A startup says it has made progress in developing technology to provide internet-of-things services using geostationary satellites. Skylo has signed partnerships with every major chipset company to enable its service, which combines cellular networks with GEO satellites. Through partnerships with Viasat and Inmarsat, Skylo has access to spectrum for global coverage, but has so far offered limited service in the U.S. and Europe. Skylo plans to expand its network, starting with the Asia-Pacific region, next year. (10/20)

Japan Awards $80 Million to ispace for Lunar Lander (Source: Reuters)
Japanese lunar lander developer ispace has won an $80 million award from the Japanese government. The grant, a version of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award, will support development of a new Series 3 lander for a 2027 mission to the moon. The Series 3 lander, a successor to the Series 1 lander used on its failed landing mission earlier this year, will be able to carry more than 100 kilograms of payload to the lunar surface. It will be different from a lander formerly called Series 2 but recently renamed APEX 1.0 that us being designed by ispace's U.S. subsidiary. (10/20)

Varda to Land Space Capsules in Australia (Source: Ars Technica)
Varda Space Industries has signed an agreement to land capsules in Australia. The agreement announced Thursday with Australian spaceport operator Southern Launch will allow Varda's capsules to land at the Koonibba Test Range starting as soon as the company's second mission in mid-2024. Those capsules are launched on spacecraft and return materials, like pharmaceuticals, manufactured in orbit. Varda launched its first mission in June but has run into problems securing approvals from the FAA and U.S. Air Force to land the capsule at the Utah Test and Training Range. (10/20)

Astronomers Detect Radio Burst From Eight Billion Light Years Away (Source: Nature)
Astronomers have detected a distant, powerful radio burst. In a paper published Thursday, astronomers reported discovering the burst eight billion light-years away. That distance surprised astronomers, who were unsure if the bursts, created in this case from colliding galaxies, could exist that long ago. The burst was also 3.5 times more powerful than expected based on models of such events. (10/20)

Mysterious Signals From 'Hell Planet' 40 Light-Years From Earth Could Finally be Solved by JWST (Source: LiveScience)
The first super-Earth astronomers ever discovered has given off strange signals for nearly two decades, and scientists may have finally figured out why. Volcanoes on this hellish world periodically open up and spew hot gas that forms an atmosphere, only for that atmosphere to burn off and leave the planet bald again, a new study suggests. Testing that theory will involve training the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) on the strange exoplanet. (10/19)

The Impact and Associated Risks of AI on Future Military Operations (Source: FNN)
With the transformative potential of artificial intelligence, we are entering an era of national security reshaped by revolutionary technology. AI presents the potential to improve future military operations by enhancing decision-making, combat effectiveness and operational efficiency. The U.S. military is already harnessing AI for autonomous reconnaissance and combat systems, data analysis and cybersecurity.

Within the next five years, AI will enable new, advanced applications like swarm intelligence for enhanced situational awareness, predictive analytics to forecast enemy movements, and strengthened cybersecurity. These developments will be facilitated by the convergence of computational growth, big data and emerging technologies in wearables and embedded systems that could make the military more efficient, agile and capable. Click here. (10/18)

Heart Cells in Space Help Advance Treatments for Cardiovascular Disease (Source: CASIS)
Heart disease is the leading cause of death globally, and once cardiovascular tissue is damaged, there’s no means of restoring its function. But it’s possible damaged tissue could be regenerated via stem cell therapies. To that end, a team of scientists took their research to new heights by leveraging the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory to study microgravity’s effects on heart cells.

Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which can transform into many different cell types including heart cells, are at the forefront of regenerative medicine research. Previous experiments have shown that spaceflight induces physiological changes in cardiac function, but this pioneering experiment was the first to study how microgravity affects the human heart and its functionality at the cellular level. (10/19)

Canada to Invest $740 Million in Satellite Tech for Better Earth Data (Source: Reuters)
Canada on Wednesday said it will invest C$1.01 billion ($740.90 million) over the next 15 years in satellite technology to boost the earth observation data that it uses to track wildfires and other environmental crises. The new initiative called Radarsat+ will gather information about Earth's oceans, land, climate, and populated areas, a statement by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) said.

Data collected from earth observation technologies allows scientists to see how the planet changes and make decisions to deal with emergencies like wildfires or longer-term issues like climate change. (10/18)

Amazon Plans 77 Satellite Launches for Project Kuiper (Source: Puget Sound Business Journal)
Seattle-based Amazon has lined up 77 launches to deploy its constellation of 3,236 telecommunications satellites, and the first two are scheduled for Dec. 30 and 31. Amazon calls this the “largest commercial procurement of launch vehicles in history,” though the claim obscures a pertinent detail. Starlink, the SpaceX constellation that Amazon’s Project Kuiper will compete with, already has deployed more than 4,600 satellites with more to come and hasn’t had to procure launch vehicles because it has its own.

SpaceX, which has satellite production facilities in Redmond, has been using its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets to deploy its satellites. The Project Kuiper launches will happen aboard Arianespace, United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin rockets, with all the United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin launches happening out of Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida, according to Project Kuiper Senior PR Manager Brecke Boyd. Of the 77, 18 are contracted to Arianespace, departing from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. (10/18)

A Giant European Telescope Rises as U.S. Rivals Await Rescue (Source: Science)
A web of steel girders is rising from the flattened summit of Cerro Armazones, 3000 meters above sea level in Chile’s Atacama Desert. The dome it will support will be vast—with a footprint as big as a soccer field and almost as tall as the Statue of Liberty— and unexpectedly nimble: It will smoothly rotate on rails as a giant telescope inside tracks stars through the night.

Everything about the aptly named Extremely Large Telescope (ELT) inspires awe. Its main reflector will be a bowl of silvered glass 39 meters across—the size of three IMAX screens—and the patchwork of 798 hexagonal mirror segments that comprise it must together form a perfect parabola down to a few tens of nanometers. The biggest optical telescope ever built, it will take pictures of Earth-like worlds around others stars and look for signs of life in their atmospheres.

As ELT marches toward completion in 2028 or 2029, U.S. astronomers can only look on in envy. A pair of similarly ambitious U.S.-led projects—the Giant Magellan Telescope (GMT) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT)—once vied with ELT to be first on the sky. Although the projects are also polishing mirrors, they have not begun construction—and success is not assured. Unable to find enough funding from private and international sources, they are waiting for the National Science Foundation (NSF) to bail them out. (10/18)

China Details Solar System Exploration Plans (Source: NSF)
In the last few weeks, China has not only conducted several launches — of which one failed — but also detailed its Solar System exploration plans for the next decade, with updated details and target dates for several missions. China revealed an updated roadmap for its lunar and deep space exploration missions over the next seven years. The main focus was the sixth, seventh, and eighth missions of the Chang’e lunar exploration program.

Chang’e 6 will be China’s second robotic sample return mission to the moon, which is currently slated for 2024. Over the course of a planned 53-day mission duration, it will aim to obtain soil and rock samples from the far side of the Moon and return them to Earth. It is expected to return about two kilograms of samples, from about two meters below the surface. The mission will also carry French, Italian, Swedish, and Pakistani secondary payloads, up to 10 kilograms in mass. Click here. (10/18)