To support ISRU technology maturation, NASA issued a Request for Information (RFI) on Nov. 6 to formulate its future Lunar Infrastructure Foundational Technologies (LIFT-1) demonstration. NASA's primary objective for LIFT-1 is to demonstrate ISRU technologies to extract oxygen from lunar soil, to inform eventual production, capture, and storage. Additional LIFT-1 objectives may include demonstrating new landing technologies, surface operations, and scalable power generation in the Moon's South Pole region. (11/7)
Unleashing the Power of Melanin in Space for Next-Gen Biomaterials (Source: CASIS)
Exploring the mysteries of the natural pigment melanin in the unique microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS) could lead to groundbreaking advances in biomaterial production on Earth and beyond. An experiment from the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory will study microbes in space to try to uncover new melanin variants for applications ranging from radiation-resistant protective coatings for spacecraft and space suits to improved drug delivery and stability. The investigation aims to lay the foundation for the in-space production of melanin biomaterials. (11/7)
Wearable Devices May Prevent Astronauts Getting 'Lost' in Space (Source: Space Daily)
In leaving the Earth's surface, we lose many of the cues we need to orient ourselves, and that spatial disorientation can be deadly. Astronauts normally need intensive training to protect against it. But scientists have now found that wearable devices which vibrate to give orientation cues may boost the efficacy of this training significantly, making spaceflight slightly safer. (11/6)
CNES, Pasteur Institute and SupBiotech Sending "Cerebral Ageing" Experiment to ISS (Source: Space Daily)
The Cerebral Ageing experiment aims firstly to create the conditions for studying complex human cellular structures in vitro over long periods in space. It subsequently seeks to analyze the effects of long-term space travels on their physiology. This experiment has been designed by scientists at the Institut Pasteur and SupBiotech, working closely with CNES (French Space Agency) experts. (11/7)
A Critical Look: European Orbital Launch (Source: Astralytical)
A few years ago, in 2021, Arianespace achieved a milestone: it conducted 15 successful launches in a year. That launch total was well above the ~10 launches the company usually conducted annually. Recently, though, Arianespace hasn’t even come close to that annual average. In 2022, the company launched just five times. By 2023’s end, Arianespace will have launched 1/5th of its 2021 record—three.
Why are European launches declining? Is Soyuz to blame? Is it because Ariane 6 isn’t ready? Is it something else? The less expensive and more available Soyuz rocket attracted customers who would otherwise have passed Arianespace by. Those customers could contract with a European company to use the lower-cost Soyuz instead of going to Russia directly. Politically, it looked better.
The use of Soyuz at Arianespace’s launch complex in Kourou (which is close to the equator) allowed access to more orbits without compromising its upmass capability. Capturing more customers using Soyuz, while not manufacturing an in-Europe alternative, appears to have been shortsighted. The EU, ESA, and Arianespace invested in Russian assets, not European ones. Click here. (11/6)
ESA Approves European Commercial ISS Cargo Program (Source: Space News)
Member states of ESA have approved the start of a commercial cargo program. ESA members backed a proposal to begin a program to support commercial development of spacecraft that can transport cargo to and from the ISS by 2028. An initial phase will provide two to three awards to industry for design work, using about $80 million of existing funding. Later phases will require funding provided by ESA member states at a 2025 ministerial meeting.
The agency sees the program as a
first step toward developing a European human spaceflight capability.
ESA members also approved several measures related to launch, including
increased financial support for the Ariane 6 and Vega C as well as
holding a launch services competition for some missions open to any
European vehicle. (11/7)
LeoLabs Tracks Unusual Maneuvers by Russian Satellites (Source: Space News)
Data from commercial space tracking company LeoLabs shows unusual maneuvers by Russian satellites. The radar tracking data revealed that Resurs-P3, a Russian Earth-observation satellite, performed a large maneuver in November 2022 after years of inactivity. That maneuver brought it close to a Russian military satellite, Cosmos-2562, likely to allow that spacecraft to collect imagery of Resurs-P3. The maneuvers show the importance of monitoring even suspected dead satellites. Resurs-P3 deorbited last month and Cosmos-2562 is in a low orbit that will cause it to soon reenter of it does not maneuver. (11/7)
Carlson Steps Down at Dish Network (Source: Space News)
The CEO of Dish Network is resigning ahead of its merger with EchoStar. The company announced Monday that Erik Carlson will step down as CEO at the end of the week. Carlson was due to step down once the merger with EchoStar closed to make room for EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan, who would serve as CEO of the combined company. The companies said when they announced the merger in August that it should be completed by the end of the year, but have not provided an updated timing. (11/7)
Astra Secures Financial Lifeline (Source: Space News)
Astra announced Monday it secured an interim financing deal while working to raise more money. The company said that two funds linked to early investors in Astra have agreed to provide $13.4 million in initial financing, including buying an $8 million loan that Astra defaulted on last week when its cash reserves fell below a level prescribed in the deal. The financing also includes a $3.05 million bridge loan due next Friday. The funding, Astra said, is intended to give the company time to secure additional funding that could include "strategic transactions." Shares in Astra fell more than 20% in trading Monday after news of the loan default on Friday, and the new financing was announced after the markets closed. (11/7)
Canada Sponsors Space Business Accelerator in SoCal (Source: Space News)
The Canadian government is backing an accelerator for space companies in Southern California. The 2024 SoCal-Canadian Space Accelerator will include Canadian space entrepreneurs seeking to raise between $500,000 and $20 million. The two-month virtual accelerator, run by California-based Mandala Space Ventures, will culminate with pitch events in California and at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. (11/7)
Starlink Driving Increased Revenue at SpaceX (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX is on track to bring in $9 billion in revenue this year and $15 billion next year. The growth in revenue, according to sources familiar with the company's finances, is driven by its Starlink broadband constellation, which will exceed launch revenue next year. SpaceX is set to record more than $3 billion in earnings this year. (11/7)
Axiom AX-3 Mission May Use New Launch Tower at LC-40 (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A private astronaut mission next January may be the first to use a new launch tower. The Ax-3 mission is in line to be the first crewed mission to launch from Cape Canaveral's LC-40, where SpaceX is wrapping up construction of a tower to support cargo and crew missions. Crewed missions have launched from LC-39A, but a schedule conflict with the IM-1 lunar lander mission, which must use that pad because it can fuel the lander just before launch, would move Ax-3 to SLC-40. If the new tower is not ready in time, Ax-3 will launch from LC-39A and the IM-1 mission will be postponed. (11/7)
Japan's DESTINY+ Asteroid Mission Delayed by Epsilon S Rocket Problems (Source: Space.com)
A Japanese asteroid mission has suffered a launch delay. The DESTINY+ mission was to launch next year on an Epsilon S rocket, but problems with the rocket's development have delayed the launch to 2025. DESTINY+ will travel to the near Earth asteroid Phaethon, an object scientists speculate may be a defunct comet nucleus. (11/7)
Oldest Known Black Hole Discovered (Source: Washington Post)
Astronomers have discovered the oldest known black hole. The object was detected in combined observations of the James Webb Space Telescope, which found the black hole's host galaxy, and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which detected the X-ray emissions from material around a supermassive black hole in the galaxy's core. That black hole is about 13.2 billion light-years from Earth and dates back to just 470 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery, astronomers said, supports a model where such black holes form from large clouds of gas rather than starting small and growing over time. (11/7)
NASA Worm Creator Honored (Source: NASA)
NASA honored the person who created the agency's distinctive "worm" logo. At a ceremony Monday, NASA gave Richard Danne the agency's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for his work in the 1970s designing the logo. It served as NASA's official logo from the mid-1970s until 1992, when NASA returned to its original "meatball" logo, but in 2020 NASA brought back the worm logo for limited uses. (11/7)
Charting the Course: A Blueprint to Continued U.S. Leadership in Space (Source: Space News)
The need for U.S. leadership in space goes far beyond the direct economic benefits. The country that leads the way in space exploration sets the standards for how we operate there. On the one hand, you have the values of freedom, transparency, and open science shared by America and our allies. On the other, the authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army. To support U.S. space exploration, Congress has passed legislation that lays a foundation for how this enterprise can operate.
The last law to support America’s commercial space growth was enacted in 2015—a lifetime ago for an innovative industry like this. In that bill, we encouraged private sector investment in space activities, created more stable and predictable regulatory conditions, and ensured a continued focus on safety. Now, eight years later, it’s time to reevaluate how we can continue supporting America’s commercial space sector and build on that legislation. As the Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, I’ve joined our Committee Chairman, Frank Lucas, to introduce a bill that does just that.
Our current legislation modernizes our laws to continue achieving these goals in a few key ways. It establishes a certification process for new and ongoing activities in space, providing certainty for our expanding commercial space sector. It improves our space situational awareness, which aids us in reducing risks of orbital debris. It extends the learning period for commercial human spaceflight so we can continue to innovate in this flourishing sector. And finally, it makes sure we’re operating within our international treaty obligations, which helps ensure American companies can operate in space without worry of international interference. (11/6)
My Suborbital Life, Part 8: Welcome to Space! (Source: Space Review)
On Thursday, Alan Stern successfully completed his first suborbital spaceflight with Virgin Galactic. He describes some of important, but little-discussed, aspects of the experience. Click here. (11/6)
Big Rockets for Big Science? (Source: Space Review)
There is a growing push among developers of large science missions to make use of new heavy-lift launch vehicles that offer increased mass and volume at potentially lower costs. Jeff Foust reports on the benefits of that approach as well as its challenges. Click here. (11/6)
The FCC’s Authority in Regulating Orbital Debris (Source: Space Review)
The FCC last month issued its first-ever fine to a company for failing to properly dispose of a satellite after the end of its life. Leighton Brown and Paul Stimers discuss the FCC’s action and the agency’s legal basis for regulating orbital debris. Click here. (11/6)
Rocks From Mars Are Hitting Earth, And Something Is Odd About Their Age (Source: Science Alert)
hunks of Martian rock ejected from their homeworld by processes such as violent impacts have wended their way through the Solar System to end up – smack! – crashing into Earth. As we collect these samples of our neighboring planet, a curious pattern has emerged. Most of the samples seem to be rocks that formed on the red planet fairly recently; a peculiarity, given most of the Martian surface is so old.
It is possible the measures of age are largely wrong. Different dating techniques have returned different results, which means scientists aren't fully confident in estimates of when these rocks formed on Mars. A team of scientists from the US and UK has now found a way to resolve this problem. And, to their surprise, many of these rocks are indeed quite young – just a few hundred million years old, in fact. This information could provide clues about how long the meteorites took to get here, as well as geological processes on Mars. (11/6)
ESA's Proba-3 Formation Flying Mission Proceeds to Final Checks (Source: Space Daily)
The European Space Agency's (ESA) ambitious Proba-3 mission has recently completed a critical environmental testing campaign, marking a significant milestone on its path toward a 2024 launch. Conducted in Ottobrunn, Germany, these tests have proven that the mission's equipment can endure the harsh conditions of launch and the extreme thermal environment of outer space. The comprehensive campaign included activation tests for the mission's mechanisms and a thorough validation of the propulsion system, ensuring readiness for the operational challenges ahead.
Proba-3 represents a pioneering endeavor for ESA, aimed at demonstrating high-precision formation flying between two spacecraft. This technique has profound implications for future space missions, particularly those requiring synchronized operation of separate platforms. The two satellites will maintain close proximity while orbiting Earth, creating an artificial eclipse to study the Sun's obscured corona-a region typically concealed by the sun's bright light. (11/6)
Workshop Highlights NASA's Support for Mobility, in-Space Servicing (Source: Space Daily)
NASA leadership, including Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, participated in a workshop on space mobility and in-space servicing on Nov. 7. The Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC) workshop aimed to create a nationwide aerospace community alliance that provides global leadership in space mobility and in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) for use in Earth orbit, lunar orbit, deep space, and on planetary surfaces. (11/6)
Zephr Raises $3.5M to Bring Next-Gen GPS to Major Industries (Source: Space Daily)
Zephr, a leading developer of next-generation GPS technologies, has announced a $3.5 million seed round led by Space Capital and First Spark Ventures as it officially launches a groundbreaking "networked GPS" solution to dramatically improve GPS accuracy and reliability, creating new economic opportunities for many current and emerging industries. The new funding will support Zephr's GTM strategy as the company gears up for rapid growth over the next year. (11/6)
Where is the True Center of the Universe? (Source: Big Think)
If you were to measure the recession speed and distance of every galaxy in the Universe, you could trace everything back to a single point, and find, perhaps surprisingly, that point isn't centered on us. However, that point, several millions of light-years away, doesn't hold any special significance at all, and can't rightly be regarded as the center of the Universe in any meaningful way. That's because what we conventionally think of as the Big Bang didn't occur at a single point in space, but rather long ago and everywhere at once: at a moment in time. Here's how to properly think about the "center" of the Universe. (11/2)
Great Britain’s First Commercial Crewed Spaceflight is in the Works (Source: The Hill)
Recently, the UK Space Agency and Axiom Space signed an agreement for a possible space mission on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon with an all-British crew. SpaceX was not specifically named in the contract, but Axiom, which is developing commercial modules for the ISS with a plan to eventually build a private space station, is serving as a middleman between SpaceX and entities desiring to travel into space. The company provides training, mission planning and other services for private spaceflights.
One of those details is who will actually fly on the mission. Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to visit the ISS, could come out of retirement to command the mission. The UK Space Agency announced that no decision had been made about Peake’s participation in the mission. The BBC indicates that the total cost of the mission will be in the range of $244 million. The all-U.K. space flight would be paid for by corporate and other institutional sponsors. The British taxpayers will not be asked to foot the bill. (11/5)
Europe to Issue Launcher "Challenge" in Seville Space Talks (Source: Reuters)
Europe is poised to challenge the private sector to develop rockets and a new generation of space entrepreneurs, its top space official said on Monday, marking a tentative step towards matching the runaway growth of rival SpaceX. The head of ESA was speaking at the start of two days of ministerial talks in Seville, Spain, on efforts to shore up Europe's faltering launcher programs and galvanize human and robotic exploration activities.
"The launcher challenge...will stimulate new European commercial space transportation services," Director General Josef Ashbacher told ministers from the agency's 22 nations. "It will lower the cost of public funding and stimulate a new market for European space entrepreneurs." The comments reflect weeks of advance negotiations balancing the interests of Europe's leading space nations, including Germany, which wants to promote competition to encourage its flourishing mini-launcher startup sector. (11/6)
Juno Discovers Salts and Organic Compounds on Ganymede’s Surface (Source: NSF)
After a flyby of Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, in 2021, Juno and a team of scientists have discovered the presence of mineral salts and organic compounds on the surface of the icy moon. The new findings will allow scientists to better understand where Ganymede came from and the composition of its deep subsurface ocean.
“The presence of ammoniated salts suggests that Ganymede may have accumulated materials cold enough to condense ammonia during its formation. The carbonate salts could be remnants of carbon dioxide-rich ices,” said lead author Federico Tosi. Interestingly, it seems as though the salts and organic compounds are localized to areas in which Ganymede’s magnetic field can shield them from surrounding radiation. (11/4)
LeoLabs Tracks Unusual Maneuvers by Russian Satellites (Source: Space News)
Data from commercial space tracking company LeoLabs shows unusual maneuvers by Russian satellites. The radar tracking data revealed that Resurs-P3, a Russian Earth-observation satellite, performed a large maneuver in November 2022 after years of inactivity. That maneuver brought it close to a Russian military satellite, Cosmos-2562, likely to allow that spacecraft to collect imagery of Resurs-P3. The maneuvers show the importance of monitoring even suspected dead satellites. Resurs-P3 deorbited last month and Cosmos-2562 is in a low orbit that will cause it to soon reenter of it does not maneuver. (11/7)
Carlson Steps Down at Dish Network (Source: Space News)
The CEO of Dish Network is resigning ahead of its merger with EchoStar. The company announced Monday that Erik Carlson will step down as CEO at the end of the week. Carlson was due to step down once the merger with EchoStar closed to make room for EchoStar CEO Hamid Akhavan, who would serve as CEO of the combined company. The companies said when they announced the merger in August that it should be completed by the end of the year, but have not provided an updated timing. (11/7)
Astra Secures Financial Lifeline (Source: Space News)
Astra announced Monday it secured an interim financing deal while working to raise more money. The company said that two funds linked to early investors in Astra have agreed to provide $13.4 million in initial financing, including buying an $8 million loan that Astra defaulted on last week when its cash reserves fell below a level prescribed in the deal. The financing also includes a $3.05 million bridge loan due next Friday. The funding, Astra said, is intended to give the company time to secure additional funding that could include "strategic transactions." Shares in Astra fell more than 20% in trading Monday after news of the loan default on Friday, and the new financing was announced after the markets closed. (11/7)
Canada Sponsors Space Business Accelerator in SoCal (Source: Space News)
The Canadian government is backing an accelerator for space companies in Southern California. The 2024 SoCal-Canadian Space Accelerator will include Canadian space entrepreneurs seeking to raise between $500,000 and $20 million. The two-month virtual accelerator, run by California-based Mandala Space Ventures, will culminate with pitch events in California and at the Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. (11/7)
Starlink Driving Increased Revenue at SpaceX (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX is on track to bring in $9 billion in revenue this year and $15 billion next year. The growth in revenue, according to sources familiar with the company's finances, is driven by its Starlink broadband constellation, which will exceed launch revenue next year. SpaceX is set to record more than $3 billion in earnings this year. (11/7)
Axiom AX-3 Mission May Use New Launch Tower at LC-40 (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A private astronaut mission next January may be the first to use a new launch tower. The Ax-3 mission is in line to be the first crewed mission to launch from Cape Canaveral's LC-40, where SpaceX is wrapping up construction of a tower to support cargo and crew missions. Crewed missions have launched from LC-39A, but a schedule conflict with the IM-1 lunar lander mission, which must use that pad because it can fuel the lander just before launch, would move Ax-3 to SLC-40. If the new tower is not ready in time, Ax-3 will launch from LC-39A and the IM-1 mission will be postponed. (11/7)
Japan's DESTINY+ Asteroid Mission Delayed by Epsilon S Rocket Problems (Source: Space.com)
A Japanese asteroid mission has suffered a launch delay. The DESTINY+ mission was to launch next year on an Epsilon S rocket, but problems with the rocket's development have delayed the launch to 2025. DESTINY+ will travel to the near Earth asteroid Phaethon, an object scientists speculate may be a defunct comet nucleus. (11/7)
Oldest Known Black Hole Discovered (Source: Washington Post)
Astronomers have discovered the oldest known black hole. The object was detected in combined observations of the James Webb Space Telescope, which found the black hole's host galaxy, and the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, which detected the X-ray emissions from material around a supermassive black hole in the galaxy's core. That black hole is about 13.2 billion light-years from Earth and dates back to just 470 million years after the Big Bang. The discovery, astronomers said, supports a model where such black holes form from large clouds of gas rather than starting small and growing over time. (11/7)
NASA Worm Creator Honored (Source: NASA)
NASA honored the person who created the agency's distinctive "worm" logo. At a ceremony Monday, NASA gave Richard Danne the agency's Exceptional Public Achievement Medal for his work in the 1970s designing the logo. It served as NASA's official logo from the mid-1970s until 1992, when NASA returned to its original "meatball" logo, but in 2020 NASA brought back the worm logo for limited uses. (11/7)
Charting the Course: A Blueprint to Continued U.S. Leadership in Space (Source: Space News)
The need for U.S. leadership in space goes far beyond the direct economic benefits. The country that leads the way in space exploration sets the standards for how we operate there. On the one hand, you have the values of freedom, transparency, and open science shared by America and our allies. On the other, the authoritarian regime of the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army. To support U.S. space exploration, Congress has passed legislation that lays a foundation for how this enterprise can operate.
The last law to support America’s commercial space growth was enacted in 2015—a lifetime ago for an innovative industry like this. In that bill, we encouraged private sector investment in space activities, created more stable and predictable regulatory conditions, and ensured a continued focus on safety. Now, eight years later, it’s time to reevaluate how we can continue supporting America’s commercial space sector and build on that legislation. As the Chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, I’ve joined our Committee Chairman, Frank Lucas, to introduce a bill that does just that.
Our current legislation modernizes our laws to continue achieving these goals in a few key ways. It establishes a certification process for new and ongoing activities in space, providing certainty for our expanding commercial space sector. It improves our space situational awareness, which aids us in reducing risks of orbital debris. It extends the learning period for commercial human spaceflight so we can continue to innovate in this flourishing sector. And finally, it makes sure we’re operating within our international treaty obligations, which helps ensure American companies can operate in space without worry of international interference. (11/6)
My Suborbital Life, Part 8: Welcome to Space! (Source: Space Review)
On Thursday, Alan Stern successfully completed his first suborbital spaceflight with Virgin Galactic. He describes some of important, but little-discussed, aspects of the experience. Click here. (11/6)
Big Rockets for Big Science? (Source: Space Review)
There is a growing push among developers of large science missions to make use of new heavy-lift launch vehicles that offer increased mass and volume at potentially lower costs. Jeff Foust reports on the benefits of that approach as well as its challenges. Click here. (11/6)
The FCC’s Authority in Regulating Orbital Debris (Source: Space Review)
The FCC last month issued its first-ever fine to a company for failing to properly dispose of a satellite after the end of its life. Leighton Brown and Paul Stimers discuss the FCC’s action and the agency’s legal basis for regulating orbital debris. Click here. (11/6)
Rocks From Mars Are Hitting Earth, And Something Is Odd About Their Age (Source: Science Alert)
hunks of Martian rock ejected from their homeworld by processes such as violent impacts have wended their way through the Solar System to end up – smack! – crashing into Earth. As we collect these samples of our neighboring planet, a curious pattern has emerged. Most of the samples seem to be rocks that formed on the red planet fairly recently; a peculiarity, given most of the Martian surface is so old.
It is possible the measures of age are largely wrong. Different dating techniques have returned different results, which means scientists aren't fully confident in estimates of when these rocks formed on Mars. A team of scientists from the US and UK has now found a way to resolve this problem. And, to their surprise, many of these rocks are indeed quite young – just a few hundred million years old, in fact. This information could provide clues about how long the meteorites took to get here, as well as geological processes on Mars. (11/6)
ESA's Proba-3 Formation Flying Mission Proceeds to Final Checks (Source: Space Daily)
The European Space Agency's (ESA) ambitious Proba-3 mission has recently completed a critical environmental testing campaign, marking a significant milestone on its path toward a 2024 launch. Conducted in Ottobrunn, Germany, these tests have proven that the mission's equipment can endure the harsh conditions of launch and the extreme thermal environment of outer space. The comprehensive campaign included activation tests for the mission's mechanisms and a thorough validation of the propulsion system, ensuring readiness for the operational challenges ahead.
Proba-3 represents a pioneering endeavor for ESA, aimed at demonstrating high-precision formation flying between two spacecraft. This technique has profound implications for future space missions, particularly those requiring synchronized operation of separate platforms. The two satellites will maintain close proximity while orbiting Earth, creating an artificial eclipse to study the Sun's obscured corona-a region typically concealed by the sun's bright light. (11/6)
Workshop Highlights NASA's Support for Mobility, in-Space Servicing (Source: Space Daily)
NASA leadership, including Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy, participated in a workshop on space mobility and in-space servicing on Nov. 7. The Consortium for Space Mobility and ISAM Capabilities (COSMIC) workshop aimed to create a nationwide aerospace community alliance that provides global leadership in space mobility and in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing (ISAM) for use in Earth orbit, lunar orbit, deep space, and on planetary surfaces. (11/6)
Zephr Raises $3.5M to Bring Next-Gen GPS to Major Industries (Source: Space Daily)
Zephr, a leading developer of next-generation GPS technologies, has announced a $3.5 million seed round led by Space Capital and First Spark Ventures as it officially launches a groundbreaking "networked GPS" solution to dramatically improve GPS accuracy and reliability, creating new economic opportunities for many current and emerging industries. The new funding will support Zephr's GTM strategy as the company gears up for rapid growth over the next year. (11/6)
Where is the True Center of the Universe? (Source: Big Think)
If you were to measure the recession speed and distance of every galaxy in the Universe, you could trace everything back to a single point, and find, perhaps surprisingly, that point isn't centered on us. However, that point, several millions of light-years away, doesn't hold any special significance at all, and can't rightly be regarded as the center of the Universe in any meaningful way. That's because what we conventionally think of as the Big Bang didn't occur at a single point in space, but rather long ago and everywhere at once: at a moment in time. Here's how to properly think about the "center" of the Universe. (11/2)
Great Britain’s First Commercial Crewed Spaceflight is in the Works (Source: The Hill)
Recently, the UK Space Agency and Axiom Space signed an agreement for a possible space mission on board a SpaceX Crew Dragon with an all-British crew. SpaceX was not specifically named in the contract, but Axiom, which is developing commercial modules for the ISS with a plan to eventually build a private space station, is serving as a middleman between SpaceX and entities desiring to travel into space. The company provides training, mission planning and other services for private spaceflights.
One of those details is who will actually fly on the mission. Tim Peake, the first British astronaut to visit the ISS, could come out of retirement to command the mission. The UK Space Agency announced that no decision had been made about Peake’s participation in the mission. The BBC indicates that the total cost of the mission will be in the range of $244 million. The all-U.K. space flight would be paid for by corporate and other institutional sponsors. The British taxpayers will not be asked to foot the bill. (11/5)
Europe to Issue Launcher "Challenge" in Seville Space Talks (Source: Reuters)
Europe is poised to challenge the private sector to develop rockets and a new generation of space entrepreneurs, its top space official said on Monday, marking a tentative step towards matching the runaway growth of rival SpaceX. The head of ESA was speaking at the start of two days of ministerial talks in Seville, Spain, on efforts to shore up Europe's faltering launcher programs and galvanize human and robotic exploration activities.
"The launcher challenge...will stimulate new European commercial space transportation services," Director General Josef Ashbacher told ministers from the agency's 22 nations. "It will lower the cost of public funding and stimulate a new market for European space entrepreneurs." The comments reflect weeks of advance negotiations balancing the interests of Europe's leading space nations, including Germany, which wants to promote competition to encourage its flourishing mini-launcher startup sector. (11/6)
Juno Discovers Salts and Organic Compounds on Ganymede’s Surface (Source: NSF)
After a flyby of Jupiter’s largest moon, Ganymede, in 2021, Juno and a team of scientists have discovered the presence of mineral salts and organic compounds on the surface of the icy moon. The new findings will allow scientists to better understand where Ganymede came from and the composition of its deep subsurface ocean.
“The presence of ammoniated salts suggests that Ganymede may have accumulated materials cold enough to condense ammonia during its formation. The carbonate salts could be remnants of carbon dioxide-rich ices,” said lead author Federico Tosi. Interestingly, it seems as though the salts and organic compounds are localized to areas in which Ganymede’s magnetic field can shield them from surrounding radiation. (11/4)
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