November 21, 2023

Astrophysicist: Black Holes Actually Consume Entropy (Source: Science Alert)
Beginning in 1981 physicist Jacob Bekenstein – whose work came just shy of making us refer to Bekenstein radiation – discovered two remarkable, unintuitive facts about black holes and their event horizons. One, the volume contained within black holes represents the absolute greatest amount of entropy that any similarly sized volume in the universe can have. Put another way, black holes are spheres of maximum entropy.

Of all of the wonderful creations in the universe, why did nature choose black holes to contain the most entropy? Is this a mere coincidence, or is this teaching us something valuable about the connection between quantum mechanics, gravity, and information? That sense of twinned unease and excitement should rachet up when you learn the second fact about black holes that Bekenstein discovered. When you add information to a black hole, it gets larger. (11/21)

MDA Wins $131 Million Contract for Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
Canada's MDA has won a $131 million contract from an unidentified customer for a satellite constellation. MDA said the the contract will allow the company to start engineering work on the 36-satellite constellation for the unidentified customer, using a software-defined satellite design like MDA is using for Telesat's Lightspeed constellation. That design is different from the one MDA and Rocket Lab are providing for Globalstar. MDA said the contract value could quadruple if the company is selected to proceed with full-scale production of the satellites. (11/21)

US Prioritizes Space Needs at Radio Spectrum Conference (Source: Space News)
Space issues are one of the priorities for the United States as a major radio-frequency spectrum conference kicks off. U.S. officials said in a call Monday, the first day of the 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) in Dubai, that supporting the growth and U.S. leadership of the space economy was one key goal for the delegation. That includes allocations of spectrum for space-to-space communications and for fixed satellite services in the 17-gigahertz band. Officials did not comment on a proposal to review satellite power limits, which has become a divisive issue among satellite operators ahead of WRC-23. (11/21)

EchoStar's Huge Jupiter-3 Satellite Performing Well after Launch (Source: Space News)
EchoStar's Jupiter-3 is performing as expected after deploying solar arrays and antennas in geostationary orbit. The Maxar-built spacecraft, launched in July on a Falcon Heavy, has reached its slot at 95 degrees west in GEO. L3Harris, which built the satellite's four large reflector antennas, announced Monday that the antennas have deployed as planned. The nine-ton satellite, providing Ka-band broadband services, is slated to begin commercial operations by the end of the year. (11/21)

Boeing CST-100 Starliner On Track for First Crewed Flight in April (Source: Space News)
NASA says Boeing's CST-100 Starliner is on schedule for its first crewed flight in April. At a NASA advisory committee meeting Monday, the agency said Boeing had made good progress on fixing two issues with Starliner discovered earlier this year that pushed back the launch to April. Boeing has completed the removal or other mediation of flammable tape used in wire harnesses and will conduct a parachute drop test in January to confirm the performance of redesigned "soft links" in the system. The Crew Flight Test mission will send two NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for a brief stay. (11/21)

North Korea Planning Reconnassance Satellite Launch (Source: AP)
North Korea is again gearing up to launch a reconnaissance satellite. The Japanese government said North Korea informed it of a planned launch as soon as Wednesday in a launch period that runs through the end of the month. The restricted zones for the launch are the same as for two failed launches of its Chollima-1 rocket in May and November, suggesting that this launch will be similar. Those earlier launches carried reconnaissance satellites. (11/21)

First New Glenn Launch to Carry NASA Mars Satellites (Source: Space News)
NASA expects a Mars smallsat mission to be on the first launch of Blue Origin's New Glenn next year. At an advisory committee meeting Monday, NASA said that it expected ESCAPADE, a pair of smallsats that will go to Mars, to be on the inaugural New Glenn launch within the next year. NASA acknowledged there is some risk New Glenn, years behind schedule, won't be ready in time, but declined to estimate the chances the launch will go off as scheduled. NASA selected Blue Origin earlier this year to launch ESCAPADE in an award valued at $20 million. (11/21)

China Adds UAE University to Moon Base Partnership (Source: Space News)
China has added a United Arab Emirates university to its list of partners for a planned moon base. China's Deep Space Exploration Laboratory signed a memorandum of understanding with the UAE's University of Sharjah earlier this month for cooperation on the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), the Chinese-led lunar base project. Cooperation will include the interchange of scientific and technological experiments, data exchange and analysis, teaching and training, and the development of space exploration capabilities. (11/21)

Starship Debris Fell on Caribbean (Source: Sattrackcam)
I estimate the point of vehicle destruct to be in the middle of the Gulf or Mexico, although it could be closer to Cuba and Florida. The question then becomes: how far downrange from the destruction point would any remaining debris end up? The answer strongly depends on the speed upon destruction, and the sizes and masses of any debris. NOAA weather radar shows a debris trail near Puerto Rico. There is also video from Puerto Rico of what looks to be a large Starship remnant reentering. This is some 800 km further downrange than my model results, and probably caused by a sizable part of Starship (i.e. considerably larger and heavier than the debris pieces I modeled) disintegrating upon atmospheric reentry.

Editor's Note: The calculations that ensured Starship's debris would fall safely offshore of Puerto Rico and further-downrange islands were impressive (assuming they exist)! Could any conditions in the upper atmosphere have caused the debris to veer further south? Click here. (11/18)

NASA Tests a Prototype Europa Lander (Source: Universe Today)
In 2024, NASA will launch the Europa Clipper, the long-awaited orbiter mission that will fly to Jupiter (arriving in 2030) to explore its icy moon Europa. Through a series of flybys, the Clipper will survey Europa’s surface and plume activity in the hopes of spotting organic molecules and other potential indications of life (“biosignatures”). If all goes well, NASA plans to send a follow-up mission to land on the surface and examine Europa’s icy sheet and plumes more closely. This proposed mission is aptly named the Europa Lander. (11/19)