November 30, 2023

Sultan Al Neyadi Promotes UAE's Role in Space (Source: The National)
Sultan Al Neyadi has been spending time with family and adjusting to life on Earth after living in space for half a year. The Emirati astronaut toured all seven emirates to promote his mission. He was joined by mission colleagues Stephen Bowen and Woody Hoburg. (11/28)

Ready to Help India Build its Own Space Station, Says NASA Chief Bill Nelson (Source: CNBC)
India is working towards having its own space station by 2040 and Nelson said that NASA would be happy to help India in building its space station and using it for commercial purposes. "Commercial space station can open a lot of avenues for research including pharma research in zero gravity. If India wants, we can collaborate and share our experience", he said. (11/28)

Uranus and its Icy Secrets: What NASA Would Learn From a Mission to a Wild World (Source: The Conversation)
Unvisited by spacecraft for more than 35 years, Uranus inhabits one of the least explored regions of our solar system. Although scientists have learned some things about it from telescopic observations and theoretical work since the Voyager 2 flyby in 1986, the planet remains an enigma.

Uranus and Neptune, the eighth planet from the Sun, are vastly different from the other planets. Both are ice giants, composed largely of compounds such as water, ice, ammonia and methane; they are places where the average temperature is minus 320 to minus 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Exoplanets challenge our understanding of planetary formation and evolution. Uranus, comparatively close to us, is our cornerstone for learning about them. (11/28)

SpaceX Acquires Parachute Maker Pioneer Aerospace for $2.2 Million (Source: The Information)
SpaceX is parachuting in to rescue one of its vendors from bankruptcy. The rocket company is acquiring Pioneer Aerospace—which makes parachutes for space vehicles as they return to Earth—for $2.2 million, according to a Florida bankruptcy filing. The acquisition, which was approved by a judge on November 22, hasn’t been previously reported.

It’s SpaceX’s first publicly known acquisition since 2021, when the company acquired the small satellite company Swarm, whose founders and technology are now central to SpaceX’s planned direct-to-cell product. SpaceX paid $524 million for Swarm in a mostly stock deal. (11/28)

Why Was a Space Force Guardian Aboard a Coast Guard Arctic Cutter? (Source: FNN)
A member of the Space Force has become the first guardian to receive a service medal from the Coast Guard. The guardian spent three weeks aboard the Coast Guard Cutter Healy in the Arctic. It’s cold up there. Capt. Henry Cho was there to monitor an experiment. The reason that we care about it is because ionosphere has radio properties, meaning we can bounce radio signals off of it. So that’s relevant for communications, for both ground communications or radio, but also space communications like SATCOM and GPS. (11/28)

Los Alamos Scientists Help NASA with Technology to Explore Boundary of Solar System (Source: KOB4)
New Mexico scientists are working with NASA on a project to map out the boundary between the solar system and the rest of the galaxy. NASA as well as others in the science community have come together to build a revolutionary spacecraft. They’re calling it the Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe mission, better known as “IMAP.” (11/28)

Data From NASA’s Webb Telescope Backs Up Ideas on Planet Formation (Source: Ars Technica)
Where do planets come from? The entire process can get complicated. Planetary embryos sometimes run into obstacles to growth that leave them as asteroids or naked planetary cores. But at least one question about planetary formation has finally been answered—how they get their water.

As friction from the gas and dust of a protoplanetary disk moves pebbles inward toward the star, they bring water and other ices to planets after crossing the snow line, where things warm up enough that the ice sublimates and releases huge amounts of water vapor. This was all hypothesized until now.

NASA’s James Webb Telescope has now observed groundbreaking evidence of these ideas as it imaged four young protoplanetary disks.The telescope used its Medium-Resolution Spectrometer (MRS) of Webb’s Mid-Infrared Instrument (MIRI) to gather this data, because it is especially sensitive to water vapor. (11/28)

Finnish Team Found Out the Composition of Asteroid Phaethon (Source: University of Helsinki)
Asteroid Phaethon, which is five kilometers in diameter, has been puzzling researchers for a long time. Until now, theories about what happens on Phaethon's surface near the Sun have remained purely hypothetical. What comes off the asteroid? How? The answer to the riddle was found by understanding the composition of Phaethon.

In a recent study by researchers from the University of Helsinki, the infrared spectrum of Phaethon previously measured by NASA's Spitzer space telescope is re-analyzed and compared to infrared spectra of meteorites measured in laboratories. They found that Phaethon's spectrum corresponds exactly to a certain type of meteorite, the so-called CY carbonaceous chondrite. It is a very rare type of meteorite, of which only six specimens are known. (11/28)

Solar Activity Likely to Peak Next Year (Source: Royal Astronomical Society)
Researchers have discovered a new relationship between the Sun’s magnetic field and its sunspot cycle, that can help predict when the peak in solar activity will occur. Their work indicates that the maximum intensity of solar cycle 25, the ongoing sunspot cycle, is imminent and likely to occur within a year. (11/28)

Do Glaciers on Mercury Suggest Such a Planet Could be Habitable? (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Data on Mercury collected by NASA’s Messenger orbiter continue to yield new results long after the end of the mission in 2015. In the latest and perhaps most surprising result, scientists have used Messenger data to discover salt glaciers on the baked planet’s surface. New evidence suggests the subsurface layers are rich in volatiles, which might once have created habitable conditions — and the same might be true on Mercury-like exoplanets.

Scientists also discovered that some of these areas had sunk more than two kilometers, deeper than an impact could have caused. Other studies revealed surprising amounts of sulfur, chlorine, and potassium, which are volatiles on Sun-scorched Mercury. Volatiles will quickly turn to gas when exposed, and when they sublimate, they leave shallow hollows tens of meters deep. Data has also previously shown water ice frozen in permanently shadowed polar craters. (11/28)

Strange 'Blob' Circling Milky Way's Central Black Hole is Shooting Powerful Radiation at Earth Every 76 Minutes (Source: Live Science)
Something near the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way has been firing regular blasts of high-energy gamma-rays toward Earth, and scientists may finally know what it is. Astrophysicists conclude that the bursts of radiation are emanating from a blob of gas spinning around the black hole at almost one-third the speed of light. The gamma-ray radiation pulses from around Sgr A* were first detected belting Earth in 2021. The team behind the observation knew that the radiation couldn't be coming from within the supermassive black hole  itself, however. (11/28)

Astronomers Discover Six Planets Orbiting a Nearby Sun-Like Star (Source: Washington Post)
Astronomers have discovered a six-pack of planets, formed at least 4 billion years ago and remarkably unchanged since, orbiting a nearby sun-like star. The new planets could provide a breakthrough in the understanding of how planets form and why there are so many between the sizes of Earth and Neptune, a class known as “sub Neptunes” that is astoundingly common in our galaxy. But what makes these planets unusual, in addition to their large number, is that they are locked into a resonance with one another as they orbit the star. One planet, for example, will make precisely three orbits while an adjacent planet makes two. (11/29)

SpaceX Rockets Keep Tearing Blood-Red 'Atmospheric Holes' in the Sky, and Scientists are Concerned (Source: Live Science)
Astronomers have discovered a new type of "aurora" created by falling SpaceX rocket boosters that punch temporary holes in the ionosphere. Experts are concerned that these blood-red light shows could be causing unknown problems for astronomy and communication. De-orbiting SpaceX rockets are smashing temporary holes in the upper atmosphere, creating bright blobs of light in the sky. Now, scientists have warned that these "SpaceX auroras," which look like glowing red orbs of light, could be causing unrecognized problems. (11/28)

Could This—Finally—Be Humanity's First Permanent Lunar Base? (Source: Gizmodo)
Thales Alenia Space and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) are embarking on a pioneering venture to construct the first permanent human outpost on the Moon, a critical component of NASA’s Artemis program. The Multi-Purpose Habitat (MPH) -- a component of NASA’s Artemis program -- could conceivably result in the first permanent Moon base. No costs or timelines for deployment were provided, but the module likely won’t appear on the lunar surface before the 2030s. (11/29)

Spire Global Unveils Novel High-Resolution Weather Forecast Model for Energy and Commodity Sectors (Source: Space Daily)
Spire Global announced a significant advancement in weather forecasting technology. The company unveiled its High-Resolution Weather Forecast model, a specialized regional weather forecasting service tailored to meet the intricate needs of the energy and commodity markets. This fresh solution from Spire offers precise and customizable weather forecasts that extend up to six days, with the unique ability to operate at resolutions as fine as 1 kilometer. This remarkable capability covers every point on the globe, encompassing even the most isolated regions and vast open oceans. (11/29)

Boosting Rocket Reliability at the Material Level (Source: Space Daily)
Now there is a new generation of reusable rocket engines and vehicles that promise much larger payloads and greater reuse. Unlike Falcon 9, the 390-foot-tall SpaceX Starship, powered by its new Raptor engines, can land both the booster and the second stage for reuse, thereby further reducing launch costs. Blue Origin has its own next-generation BE-4 engine that will power its 320-foot New Glenn launch vehicle.

"The new class of reusable launch vehicles is likely to transform the space industry by lowering launch costs and improving space accessibility," says Zack Cordero at MIT. "This will enable applications such as mega constellations for space-based internet and space-based sensing for things like persistent, real-time CO2 emissions monitoring."

Reusable rocket research is just one of several Cordero Lab projects to address emerging aerospace applications. Cordero is also developing technologies for in-space manufacturing of larger space structures such as solar cells, solar sails, and reflectors, enabled by the greater payloads of heavy-lift reusable rockets. Cordero's novel manufacturing technique uses plastic deformation to fold metallic feedstock into net-shaped reticulated structures. These structures can then precisely contour a reflector surface using embedded electrostatic actuators. (11/29)