December 14, 2023

Preparations Underway for January Axiom Space Private Astronaut Mission (Source: Space News)
As Axiom Space gears up for its third private astronaut mission to the International Space Station in less than a month, SpaceX is still determining what launch pad it will use for it. Axiom Space, NASA and SpaceX said they were preparing for a Jan. 9 launch of the Ax-3 mission, using a Crew Dragon spacecraft on a Falcon 9. Liftoff is scheduled for 8:18 p.m. Eastern that day, with a docking with the ISS at about 5:15 a.m. Eastern Jan. 11.

The launch will use the same Crew Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 booster as the Ax-2 mission in May, said Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX. “Both vehicles are on track with margin to support the Ax-3 launch in early January,” she said. (12/13)

Regulators Identify Potential Satellite Transmission Limit Changes (Source: Space News)
International regulators reached a compromise on potential changes to satellite transmission power limits. The agreement, reached during the World Radiocommunication Conference, will allow technical studies for changing Equivalent Power Flux Density (EPFD) limits on the condition that there would not be any regulatory action resulting from them until at least 2031.

Companies developing low Earth orbit satellite systems, including Amazon and SpaceX, lobbied for changing EPFD limits, arguing they were outdated and constrained their plans, while GEO satellite operators opposed any changes that could cause interference. One analyst called the deal "a hard-fought compromise which neither side is claiming as a victory." (12/14)

Senate Members Concerned About 'Mission Authorization' Legislation (Source: Space News)
Members of a Senate committee raised concerns with a White House proposal for mission authorization of novel space activities. At a hearing of the Senate Commerce Committee's space subcommittee Wednesday, Sen. Kyrsten Sinema (I-AZ), chair of the subcommittee, said the proposal from the National Space Council last month had "numerous ambiguities" and other issues, but did not elaborate.

A key concern others have raised about the proposal is that it splits responsibilities between the Departments of Commerce and Transportation. Witnesses said at the hearing that in no case would a company need to get approval from both agencies and that they would engage in interagency consultation about any cases that might fall between the two agencies. (12/14)

NASA Plans to Extend TEMPO Pollution Monitoring (Source: Space News)
A NASA Earth-science hosted payload is working so well the agency wants to extend its life. The Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution, or TEMPO, instrument is on the Intelsat 40e GEO satellite to monitor atmospheric pollution over North America. TEMPO started operations in August, providing 10 to 12 scans per day as opposed to daily scans from low Earth orbit satellites. A NASA manager said they plan to "baby" the instrument to ensure it operates for at least 10 years. (12/14)

Falcon Heavy's X-37B Mission Faces Extended Delay (Sources: Ars Technica, Florida Today)
The Falcon Heavy launch of the X-37B spaceplane could be facing an extended delay. A Space Force official said the rocket would roll back to the hangar to address "a couple of technical glitches" with the vehicle. Neither the Space Force nor SpaceX have provided details about the issue, but the service hopes to get X-37B launched before the end of the month. That delay could have ripple effects for other missions planning to launch from Launch Complex 39A. Meanwhile, a Falcon 9 launch of Starlink satellites remains grounded because of weather, with no new launch date announced. (12/14)

Pakistan Approves Space Policy (Source: Dawn)
The government of Pakistan has approved its first national space policy. The new policy, announced Wednesday, will allow foreign companies to provide satellite services like communications in Pakistan. The policy would also provide funding for Pakistan's space agency, the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission, for research and development. (12/14)

South Korea's Lunar Orbiter Performing Well (Source: Nature)
Scientists are pleased with the performance of South Korea's first lunar orbiter. At the AGU Fall Meeting conference this week, scientists said data from the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter, also known as Danuri, is "beyond our expectations." Danuri carries several instruments, including a NASA-provided camera to peer into shadowed regions of craters. The only problem is with one camera designed to take images in polarized light that is operating slower than expected. Danuri has exceeded its one-year lifetime and could operate for years more. (12/14)

OSIRIS-REx Mission Honored with National Space Club Award (Source: National Space Club)
NASA's OSIRIS-REx asteroid sample return mission has won another honor. The National Space Club announced Wednesday that the mission won its Robert Goddard Memorial Trophy, its highest honor. The award is given to the individual or organization that made a substantial contribution to U.S. leadership in space. OSIRIS-REx returned more than 100 grams of samples from the asteroid Bennu in September, concluding a seven-year mission. The award will be formally presented at the Goddard Memorial Dinner next March. (12/14)

MoonPie Targets Alien Demographic (Source: AdAge)
A snack food company, apparently having run out of humans to sell to, is now marketing to aliens. MoonPie kicked off a new campaign recently that features ads written in Lincos, a language developed in the 1960s for extraterrestrial communication. The ads, displayed in various locations worldwide, are not meant to be read by humans, the company claims. "I genuinely believe there are aliens. And I think if you were to market to them, this is the way you would do it," said Jeff Benjamin, chief creative officer of Tombras, the ad firm that created the ads. The company has not yet reported any uptick in sales. (12/14)

Are Tiny Black Holes Hiding Within Giant Stars? (Source: Science)
Two years ago, Earl Bellinger contemplated a curious question: Might itty-bitty black holes from the dawn of time be lurking in the hearts of giant stars? A new study by Bellinger and colleagues suggests the idea is not so far-fetched. Astronomers could detect these trapped black holes by the vibrations they cause on the star’s surface. And if there’s enough of them out there, they could function as the mysterious dark matter that holds the universe together. (12/13)

Rusty Launchpad Shows Risk of Russian Space Dreams Slipping Away (Source: Bloomberg)
The world’s largest spaceport is showing the strain of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s ongoing war in Ukraine. Russia has run the historic Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan since the end of the Cold War and the two governments have pledged to make it the hub for a new Soyuz-5 rocket program that will compete against Elon Musk’s SpaceX. (12/13)

ISRO has Earned Over Rs 4,000 Crore by Launching Satellites for Other Countries (Source: Business Today)
India's Minister of Science and Technology, Jitendra Singh, highlighted a seismic shift in the past 4-5 years in India's space exploration prowess. He described the increasing investments from private avenues as well as increased revenue generated from launching satellites for other countries like the United States and Russia.

Singh underlined the exponential growth of the space startup sector, which escalated from a single entity in 2019 to over 190 presently, attracting private investments exceeding Rs 1,000 crores. Singh drew comparisons with NASA, highlighting that half of NASA's resources come from private companies, emphasising India's progress in private space launches. (12/14)

Ball Aerospace to Lead NASA Solar-Magnetism Study (Source: BizWest)
Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. has been selected by NASA to manage a concept study for the space agency’s proposed Chromospheric Magnetism Explorer mission. The CMEx mission “could provide new insights into how magnetism drives eruptive activity on and near the surface of the sun,” Ball said. “The science of CMEx aims to help the scientific community better its understanding of our sun and its impacts on space, Earth and other planets.” (12/13)

James Webb Space Telescope Identifies 'Tiniest Free-Floating Brown Dwarf' (Source: UPI)
NASA said its James Webb Space Telescope has spotted the "tiniest free-floating brown dwarf" ever identified. "Brown dwarfs are objects that straddle the dividing line between stars and planets," the space agency said. "They form like stars," but don't have enough mass to cause nuclear fusion in their cores the way stars do. (12/13)

Iran's Defense Ministry Advances 'Sarir' Satellite Launcher for Space Exploration Program (Source: Tehran Times)
Ahmad Hosseini Mounes underscored the significance of the Sarir satellite launcher, affirming its completion in design and the initiation of construction phases for its subsystems, stating the 'Sarir' satellite launcher marks the initial step towards reaching the geostationary orbit. He also highlighted the strides in stabilizing the Simorgh launcher for future use.

Acknowledging the collaborative efforts within the space sector, he emphasized the active involvement of various organizations operating under the Supreme Space Council, highlighting the Defense Ministry's integral role in overseeing the comprehensive stages of space technology development over the past 15 years. (12/13)

Musk and GOP Decry Biden "Regulatory Harassment" Following $900 Million SpaceX Loss (Source: The Street)
Following SpaceX's challenge of the initial decision, the FCC said in a statement that Elon Musk's space company failed to "meet basic program requirements" in its bid to receive funding through the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund program. The program is meant to expand broadband access in rural areas.

Brendan Carr, a Republican commissioner on the FCC, wrote in a dissenting opinion that the FCC's decision "cannot be explained by any objective application of law, facts or policy," suggesting instead that it is actually the result of what he called the Biden Administration's "pattern of regulatory harassment" of Musk. "What actually happened is that the companies that lobbied for this massive earmark (not us) thought they would win, but instead were outperformed by Starlink, so now they’re changing the rules to prevent SpaceX from competing," Musk said. (12/13)

Millennium to Apply Victus Nox Lessons to Missile Warning Satellites (Source: C4ISRnet)
In September, Millennium Space Systems played a key role in a Space Force mission to demonstrate the ability to deliver a spacecraft and launch it on rapid timelines. The company now says it wants to apply lessons from that mission, dubbed Victus Nox, to other areas including the Space Force’s Missile Track Custody program. “We will definitely be able to transfer that knowledge and leverage that success from Victus Nox on programs like Missile Track Custody,” said CEO Jason Kim.

For Victus Nox, Millennium took advantage of its active Altair satellite bus production line to deliver a spacecraft in a matter of months — a process that typically takes years. Then, just 60 hours before lift off, the Space Force notified the company that it should ship the satellite to Vandenberg Space Force Base in California and integrate it to a Firefly Aerospace rocket. (12/13)

UK Space Command Advancing Istari Constellation Plans (Source: Aviation Week)
UK Space Command is looking to be on contract next year for a cluster of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites that will form a component of the UK’s planned Istari intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) spacecraft. (12/13)

Amazon's Project Kuiper Completes Successful Tests of Optical Mesh Network in Low Earth Orbit (Source: Amazon)
After demonstrating 100 Gbps optical links between its prototype satellites, Project Kuiper will include laser links on every satellite in its constellation to form a mesh network in space.

Since the successful launch and deployment of two prototype satellites in October 2023, Project Kuiper has been conducting extensive testing of its end-to-end communications payload and network. In November, we confirmed we had validated all priority systems and subsystems within 30 days of launch, and we shared a first look at demos over the Kuiper network. One critical system that was part of that testing—but has remained confidential until now—was our optical inter-satellite link (OISL) capabilities. (12/14)

Space Force Gets a New Command, New Geographic Component in Latest Reorg (Source: Breaking Defense)
As it approaches its fourth birthday later this month, the Space Force recently put into place a number of organizational changes that senior leaders see as bringing it closer to the optimal structure to ensure readiness — announcing today the latest move to redesign its field command supporting US Space Command.

That change bifurcates Space Operations Command (SpOC) to separate its organize, train and equip mission from its operational support mission as the Space Force component to SPACECOM. The new operational command, called Space Forces-Space, was activated Dec. 6, the service said in its announcement. It will be led by Lt. Gen. Doug Schiess, who previously was dual hatted as vice commander of SpOC and the leader of SPACECOM’s Combined Force Space Component Command. (12/13)

LeoLabs: Russia, China Time Suspicious Space Activity for Some US Holidays (Source: Breaking Defense)
Space monitoring startup LeoLabs says it has spotted a trend: Russia in particular, but China too, seem to be timing potentially threatening on-orbit activities to coincide with US holidays — presumably when fewer American skywatchers are actually looking. “It may be on purpose. It probably is,” Ed Lu, LeoLabs cofounder and chief technology officer, told Breaking Defense.

The latest evidence happened on Nov. 23, US Thanksgiving, when Russia’s Cosmos 2570 satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) revealed itself to be a Matryoshka (nesting) doll system — comprising three consecutively smaller birds, performing up-close operations around each other, according to the company.

Similarly, on the 25 and 26 of November 2022, LeoLabs said it observed China’s spaceplane, which Beijing calls Test Spacecraft 2, “conduct[ing] rendezvous and proximity operations” that involved a docking maneuver by a satellite it released, Victoria Heath, LeoLabs team lead for communications and marketing, told Breaking Defense. A second docking “likely took place” around Jan. 10, 2023, she said. (12/12)

Exoplanet Discoveries Reveal Earth's Profound Rarity in the Cosmos (Source: Big Think)
We are now well into a new era of astronomy, where distant planets (called exoplanets) are being detected at a fast clip. At last count, there have been 5,557 confirmed discoveries of exoplanets and another 10,000 candidates awaiting confirmation. These discoveries have given rise to “comparative planetology,” dedicated to investigating the properties of different worlds. Out of the vast number of discovered exoplanets, few are comparable to Earth. (12/13)

Earth May Have Had All the Elements Needed for Life All Along − Contrary to Meteorite Origin Theories (Source: Space.com)
For many years, scientists have predicted that many of the elements that are crucial ingredients for life, like sulfur and nitrogen, first came to Earth when asteroid-type objects carrying them crashed into our planet’s surface.

But new research published by our team in Science Advances suggests that many of these elements, called volatiles, may have existed in the Earth from the beginning, while it formed into a planet. Volatiles evaporate more readily than other elements. Common examples include carbon, hydrogen and nitrogen, though our research focused on a group called chalcogens. Sulfur, selenium and tellurium are all chalcogens. (12/13)

Planets Orbiting Pulsars Should Have Strange and Beautiful Auroras. And We Could Detect Them (Source: Universe Today)
The first exoplanets that were discovered were found around pulsars.  By studying the pulses of radiation from host star, astronomers detected slight irregularities in their otherwise clock-like rhythm. The cause; planets orbiting the pulsar. In a new paper published on 7 December by a team of Swiss scientists, they propose that exoplanets around pulsars may well experience aurora by simulating their magnetic environment. (12/12)

Inside a Texas Company's Attempt to Land on the Moon (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Within weeks, Houston’s Intuitive Machines could become the first commercial company to make a soft landing on the moon. Its launch window, opening Jan. 12 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, comes amid a resurgence in lunar exploration. More advanced and affordable technologies are prompting government and private moon shots. But success is not guaranteed.

Russia, India and Japanese company ispace each attempted lunar landings earlier this year. India was the only one to succeed. Intuitive Machines’ Nova-C lander, embarking on the IM-1 mission, could be the 23rd successful mission to gently touch down on the moon’s surface — and the first U.S. spacecraft to accomplish this in more than 50 years. (12/13)

Satellite Images Show China Building Houses on Neighbor's Territory (Source: Newsweek)
Satellite photographs this month provided some of the clearest views of China's massive construction project within the borders of neighboring Bhutan, the tiny Himalayan kingdom with which Beijing is trying to negotiate a major land deal. Pictures from imagery provider Maxar Technologies showed large-scale construction activity in the remote Jakarlung Valley, one of two areas in northern Bhutan where Beijing's quiet land grab is taking place. (12/13)

Asteroid Mining Startup Runs Into Trouble in First Mission (Source: Gizmodo)
Since launching its first test mission to vaporize bits of an asteroid in space, AstroForge has struggled to keep a hold of its spacecraft and is now at risk of losing the ability to send commands to the in-orbit demonstration. AstroForge has big plans: mining asteroids for platinum and processing the materials in space before selling them on Earth for lucrative profit. The company’s demonstration mission, however, has had a series of issues since launch, proving once again that space is, like, really hard.

This week, AstroForge provided a worrying update on its Brokkr-1 satellite demo mission. The satellite launched on April 15 onboard SpaceX’s Transporter-7 mission and immediately experienced a setback. AstroForge had difficulty identifying its satellite among the 50 other spacecraft that were part of SpaceX’s rideshare mission, eliciting the help of other space companies to find a signal from Brokkr-1 20 days after launch.

The company then had trouble deploying the spacecraft’s solar panel array, because the magnetic field generated by its refinery system prevented the satellite’s ability to actively orient it, according to AstroForge. AstroForge said it had actually discovered the issue with the magnetic field ahead of launch but decided to go ahead with the mission anyway. (12/13)

NASA: Some Icy Exoplanets May Have Habitable Oceans and Geysers (Source: NASA)
A NASA study expands the search for life beyond our solar system by indicating that 17 exoplanets (worlds outside our solar system) could have oceans of liquid water, an essential ingredient for life, beneath icy shells. Water from these oceans could occasionally erupt through the ice crust as geysers. The science team calculated the amount of geyser activity on these exoplanets, the first time these estimates have been made. They identified two exoplanets sufficiently close where signs of these eruptions could be observed with telescopes. (12/13)

Permafrost Thaw: a Silent Menace (Source: ESA)
Ice is without doubt one of the first casualties of climate change, but the effects of our warming world are not only limited to ice melting on Earth’s surface. Ground that has been frozen for thousands of years, called permafrost, is thawing – adding to the climate crisis and causing serious issues for local communities.

Scientists estimate that the world’s permafrost holds almost double the amount of carbon that is currently in the atmosphere. When permafrost warms and thaws, it releases methane and carbon dioxide, adding these greenhouse gases to the atmosphere and making global warming even worse. While permafrost cannot be directly observed from space, a lot of different types of satellite data, along with ground measurements and modelling, allow scientists to paint a picture of permafrost ground conditions. (12/13)

Massive 'Lighthouses' on the Moon Could Light the Way for Future Lunar Astronauts (Source: Space.com)
A lighthouse for the moon — what a bright idea. In long-form engineering speak it is called Lunar Utility Navigation with Advanced Remote Sensing and Autonomous Beaming for Energy Redistribution, or LUNARSABER. The idea comes from Honeybee Robotics, a concept selected as part of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's 10-year Lunar Architecture (LunA-10) initiative.

This tower of power would be nearly 330 feet (100 meters) tall, a deployable structure topped by solar panels that integrates such things as power storage and transfer, communications, as well as position, navigation, and timing, even surveillance capacity into a single infrastructure. Honeybee Robotics technologists anticipate that LUNARSABER can be scaled to over 650 feet (200 meters) in height above the lunar landscape to boost its service range. (12/13)

Eutelsat OneWeb Signs Exclusive Distribution Agreement to Deliver Connectivity Services Across Libya (Source: Eutelsat)
Eutelsat Group announced the signing of an exclusive distribution partnership agreement between Eutelsat OneWeb, its connectivity business unit and Rawafed Libya for Telecommunications & Technology (RLTT), the Libyan telecoms operator, for the delivery of high-speed, low latency connectivity across Libya. (12/13)

Pentagon Reshuffles U.S. Space Force Organization (Source: Aviation Week)
The Pentagon has reshuffled how it presents its space-focused forces to combatant commands, modifying a scheme that has lasted for just less than four years, with a broader goal of improving readiness. (12/12)

Amazon Seeks Dismissal of Lawsuit Over Kuiper Satellite Launch Contracts (Source: Reuters)
Amazon.com asked a Delaware court to dismiss a lawsuit brought by shareholders over the company's Kuiper satellite launch contracts, arguing in a filing that the plaintiffs failed to prove that directors acted in bad faith in approving one of the e-commerce giant's biggest capital expenditures. The Cleveland Bakers and Teamsters Pension Fund, a multi-employer fund, in August sued Amazon in the Delaware Court of Chancery alleging Amazon's board awarded contracts to Jeff Bezos' space company Blue Origin without proper diligence and without considering rocket rival Elon Musk-owned SpaceX's rockets. (12/12)

Elon Musk Wants Jeff Bezos to 'Get Out of his Hot Tub and Yacht' so Blue Origin Can Be More Successful, Biographer Says (Source: Business Insider)
Elon Musk's biographer said the billionaire wants Jeff Bezos to "get out of his hot tub and yacht," and focus his efforts on his aerospace company, Blue Origin. During a recent appearance on the "Diary of a CEO" podcast, Walter Isaacson said the competitors "don't hang out together," but that "Musk respects Bezos." (12/13)

5 Essential Reads on Modern Lunar Missions (Source: The Conversation)
Here are five stories that The Conversation U.S. has published over the past year about lunar exploration, including why people want to go back to the Moon, what Chandrayaan-3 found during its initial foray across the lunar surface and the ever-growing problem of lunar space junk. Click here. (12/13)

Scotland's Spaceport Plans Secure Funding Boost (Sources: BBC, UKTech)
The UK Space Agency has announced funding of more than £6.7m to further Scotland's spaceports ambitions. Orbex, which is building low-carbon orbital launch services at Sutherland Spaceport on the A’ Mhòine peninsula, secured £3.3m. HyImpulse has received nearly £3.4m to test its hybrid propulsion system ahead of its launch from SaxaVord Spaceport in Shetland. Both companies plan to use the funding to support carbon-neutral operations and develop green rocket fuel. There are plans for five spaceports in Scotland, all at different stages of readiness. (12/13)

If China is Worried About SpaceX, it Should Encourage ‘Astropreneurs’ of its Own (Source: South China Morning Post)
SpaceX is certainly changing things up for all spacefaring nations. I am not surprised that these achievements and the speed at which they have been accomplished are focusing the minds of the leadership of China’s space program. China could adopt policies that encourage and support home-grown space “astropreneurs” who invest in parallel commercial development, exploitation and technological breakthroughs. This is beginning to happen. (12/13)

JAXA Identifies Cause of Explosion during Rocket Engine Test (Source: Yomiuri Shimbun)
JAXA has concluded that an explosion during a ground combustion test of an engine for the new Epsilon S solid-fuel rocket in July was caused by the melting and scattering of a metal part from the ignition device inside the engine. JAXA suspected that damage to the propellant and the heat-insulating material that wrapped the propellant caused excessive heat, leading to the explosion. Through experiments, it found that such damage is not caused even when the propellant and the insulating material are exposed several times to weight eight to nine times the acceleration at the time of transportation.

Meanwhile, it was confirmed that the metal part, if melted, could damage the insulating material, triggering extraordinary combustion. JAXA has drawn up measures to prevent the metal part from melting, including covering it with insulating material. It will conduct another combustion test to find out the effectiveness of the measures. (12/13)

Indian Astronaut on the Moon by 2040 (Source: Indian Express)
Following the success of the Chandrayaan-3 mission to the Moon, the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) now plans to send Indian astronauts to the Moon by 2040, said chairman S Somanath. Four test pilots have been selected from the Indian Air Force as “Astronaut-Designates” for the Gaganyaan Earth orbit mission. They are going through mission-specific training at the Astronaut Training Facility in Bengaluru added Somanath. (12/13)

Canadians are Global Finalists in the Space Apps Challenge (Source: SpaceQ)
In early October over 280,000 students globally participated as part of teams in 2400 locations in the NASA led Space Apps Challenge. From that weekend hackathon 587 teams were selected as Global Nominees of which 40 were selected as Global Finalists including two from Canada. The NASA led Space Apps Challenge has grown into a huge global event in 185+ countries and territories and now includes participation from 13 space agencies including the Canadian Space Agency. (12/11)

Sen. Collins Meets with Maine Native NASA Astronaut Jessica Meir (Source: WFVX)
Sen. Susan Collins recently met with NASA astronaut Jessica Meir, the first Maine woman to travel to space. The two sat down Monday at Sen. Collins' office in Washington, D.C., and discussed Dr. Meir's accomplishments, from her journey as a student at Caribou High School to exploring the vastness of space as a NASA astronaut. (12/12)