January 18, 2024

Stoke Space Aims to Rival SpaceX With Reusable Rockets (Source: Wall Street Journal)
While SpaceX has made huge advancements in landing and relaunching fairings and boosters, it is yet to create an entirely reusable system. Startup Stoke Space is hoping to change this, but right now its rocket system is still a way off. Click here. (1/17)

Turkey's First Astronaut Set to Boost Erdogan's Ambitions (Source: Space Daily)
When Turkey's first astronaut blasts off for the International Space Station (ISS) this week, he will embody his country's pride and President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's grand geopolitical ambitions. Alper Gezeravci, a 43-year-old fighter pilot and colonel in Turkey's air force, will be joining Swedish, Italian and Spanish astronauts aboard a shuttle provided by the private Axiom Space company, which will be conducting its third flight under a partnership with NASA.

Erdogan has displayed a keen interest in the mission, which comes against the backdrop of a raging economic crisis at home and signs -- despite his best efforts -- of the Turkish leader's limited influence on world events, including the wars in Gaza and Ukraine. (1/18)

ARMADAS Showcases Autonomous Space Construction Robots for NASA (Source: Space Daily)
NASA's innovative approach to building large-scale infrastructure in space has reached a new milestone with the Automated Reconfigurable Mission Adaptive Digital Assembly Systems (ARMADAS). This cutting-edge project, developed by a dedicated team at NASA's Ames Research Center, is geared towards meeting the critical needs of future long-duration and deep-space missions.

At its core, ARMADAS utilizes a trio of inchworm-like robots to autonomously assemble, repair, and reconfigure structures from structural building blocks, tailored for a range of space hardware systems. The recent laboratory demonstration of ARMADAS technology at NASA Ames saw these robots autonomously construct a meter-scale shelter structure, similar in size to a small shed, using hundreds of building blocks. (1/17)

SpaceX and ESA Collaborate on ISS Mission Featuring Advanced German Experiments (Source: Space Daily)
ESA's Swedish astronaut, Marcus Wandt, will support a mission known as Muninn, marking the first time an ESA astronaut participates in a commercial mission organized by Axiom. Wandt's 14-day mission will be a blend of maintenance work and scientific inquiry, where he is slated to conduct 20 experiments.

Of these, half involve German scientific involvement, overseen by the German Space Agency at the German Aerospace Center (DLR). This collaboration extends to esteemed German institutions like the DLR Institute of Aerospace Medicine, the Institute of Materials Physics in Space, the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), Charite hospital in Berlin, and the universities of Giessen, Greifswald, and Kiel. (1/18)

Astronomers Rule Out One Explanation for the Hubble Tension (Source: Phys.org)
Perhaps the greatest and most frustrating mystery in cosmology is the Hubble tension problem. Put simply, all the observational evidence we have points to a universe that began in a hot, dense state, and then expanded at an ever-increasing rate to become the universe we see today. Every measurement of that expansion agrees with this, but where they don't agree is on what that rate exactly is. Click here. (1/17)

Greenland Losing 30 Million Tonnes of Ice Hourly (Source: The Guardian)
The Greenland ice cap is losing an average of 30m tonnes of ice an hour due to the climate crisis, a study has revealed, which is 20% more than was previously thought. Some scientists are concerned that this additional source of freshwater pouring into the north Atlantic might mean a collapse of the ocean currents called the Atlantic meridional overturning circulation (Amoc) is closer to being triggered, with severe consequences for humanity. (1/17)

James Webb Telescope Detects Earliest Known Black Hole (Source: NPR)
When the Hubble Space Telescope first spotted the galaxy GN-z11 in 2016, it was the most distant galaxy scientists had ever identified. It was ancient, formed 13.4 billion years ago — a mere 400 million years after the Big Bang. For such an old and compact galaxy, it was oddly luminous. An explanation for all that light?: a supermassive black hole about 1.6 million times the mass of our Sun. The black hole itself doesn't emit any light — but all the material screaming toward it may well be hot and bright enough to produce the galaxy's intense radiance. (1/17)

Can Solar Power be Beamed Down From Space? Yes. Is it Commercially Viable? Not Yet (Source: The Register)
A year after the launch of the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) is revealing the highs and lows of the mission. Glitches aside, it's all been a tremendous success and a credit to the engineers and scientists involved. "Solar power beamed from space at commercial rates, lighting the globe, is still a future prospect. But this critical mission demonstrated that it should be an achievable future," said Caltech President Thomas F Rosenbaum, the Sonja and William Davidow Presidential Chair and professor of physics. (1/17)

Supernova Survey Hints Dark Energy Could be Changing (Source: Astronomy Magazine)
The most refined and comprehensive version of the technique that discovered dark energy has returned a new result that scientists are calling “tantalizing,” potentially hinting that dark energy may not be as constant as generally assumed. The new analysis reaffirms — with greater confidence — that the universe’s expansion is accelerating due to some unknown source of energy that comprises 70 percent of the universe, which astronomers call dark energy.

And in their analysis, the way that the rate of this expansion ramps up is a close fit to the simplest and most accepted model of dark energy, called lambda cold dark matter (ΛCDM), in which the density of dark energy is constant and never changes. But it’s not quite an exact fit — and that’s where the intrigue lies. “There are tantalizing hints that dark energy changes with time,” said Tamara Davis. “We find that the simplest model of dark energy — ΛCDM — is not the best fit. It’s not so far off that we’ve ruled it out, but in the quest to understand what is accelerating the expansion of the universe this is an intriguing new piece of the puzzle. A more complex explanation might be needed.” (1/11)

Private Space Firms Had Their Worst Fundraising in a Decade (Source: Payload)
Private space companies raised $17.9B last year—a 25% reduction from 2022 and the lowest in ten years, according to a report released today by venture fund Space Capital. Bigger picture: Overall venture investment fell 38% from 2022 to 2023. Rising interest rates, a spate of bank failures, and bad returns from publicly-traded space firms made private investors leery of throwing cash at capital-intensive start-ups.

The biggest losers were firms utilizing space data, particularly location-based services. One major exception: Metropolis, a company that uses machine learning and GPS data to manage parking facilities, saw the largest single deal of the previous quarter, raising more than $1B. Moving forward, Space Capital predicts using AI to boost the value of data collected in space will be a top theme for 2024. (1/16)

Analysis Recommends Budget, Personnel Growth for Space Force (Source: Breaking Defense)
A new paper by the Mitchell Institute urges the US Space Force to develop a strategy and technology to secure cislunar space and the moon, recommending an annual budget increase of about $250 million and an addition of approximately 200 personnel. (1/17)

DoD Plans to Reduce Space Program Classifications to Promote Cooperation with Allies (Source: Space News)
The Defense Department plans to reduce classification of space programs that has been an obstacle to closer cooperation with allies and the commercial space industry. John Plumb, assistant secretary of defense for space policy, said Wednesday that Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks signed a memo last year to remove "legacy classification barriers" for space programs.

This does not mean classification is going away, he said, but it indicates that the Pentagon is taking a hard look at where secrecy might have gone overboard. Plumb also said his office is developing a new strategy for integrating commercial space capabilities into defense programs, one that is intended to complement the Space Force's own commercial integration plan. (1/18)

House Committee Affirms Artemis Support (Source: Space News)
A House committee said it continues to support NASA's Artemis lunar exploration program despite its latest delay. NASA announced last week that the Artemis 2 and 3 missions would be delayed by nearly a year to correct safety issues with Orion and provide more time for development of a lunar lander and spacesuits.

Members of the House Science Committee said in a hearing Wednesday that they were disappointed in the delay, and sought details on cost and schedule issues with the program, but added they continued to back the program. One witness, former NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, argued that Artemis is poorly designed and offered an alternative architecture for returning humans to the moon, but members did not seem interested in pursuing a revamp of Artemis. (1/18)

China Launches Cargo to TSS (Source: Space.com)
China launched a cargo spacecraft to its Tiangong space station Wednesday. A Long March 7 spacecraft lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 9:27 a.m. Eastern and placed the Tianzhou-7 spacecraft into orbit. That spacecraft docked with the Tiangong station a little more than three hours later. The Tianzhou spacecraft is designed to carry up to 7,400 kilograms of cargo, such as crew supplies and equipment, for the three-person crew on the station. (1/18)

Rocket Lab Delays New Zealand Launch (Source: Rocket Lab)
Rocket Lab has delayed its next Electron launch by more than a week. The company had planned to launch Electron early Thursday from its New Zealand spaceport, but announced Wednesday it was delaying the launch to no earlier than Jan. 27 for "final pre-launch checkouts" and to avoid an incoming storm. The Electron is carrying four space situational awareness satellites built by Spire for NorthStar Earth and Space. (1/18)

Report Calls for Increased DoD Cislunar Activity (Source: Space News)
A report calls on the Defense Department to increase its activities in cislunar space. The report Wednesday from the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said the U.S. military should step up collaboration with NASA and support the development of infrastructure for scientific and economic activities in cislunar space, citing the threat of competition from China. That infrastructure would include communications, navigation and space domain awareness capabilities. The report recommended an additional $250 million a year for DoD cislunar space activities. (1/18)

Impulse Space Developing High-Energy Kick Stage (Source: Space News)
Impulse Space plans to develop a high-energy kick stage. The company on Wednesday announced Helios, a large kick stage fueled by liquid oxygen and methane designed to send payloads weighing several tons from low Earth orbit to geostationary orbit in less than a day. Impulse Space argues that using Helios on a Falcon 9 can give that rocket two-thirds the performance of the Falcon Heavy for far less money. The first flight of Helios is planned for early 2026. Helios is intended to complement Mira, the company's existing orbital transfer vehicle for smallsats and hosted payloads in low Earth orbit. (1/18)

Germany's OHB Gets New CEO (Source: OHB)
German space company OHB System has a new CEO. The company announced this week that it has appointed Chiara Pedersoli as CEO. She succeeds Marco Fuchs, who will join the company's supervisory board. OHB, which announced plans in August to go private through a deal with KKR, said it projects 1.3 to 1.4 billion euros in revenue in 2024. (1/18)

What Would Happen if Earth Stopped Spinning? (Source: Space.com)
Almost everyone and everything not attached to the planet would continue to move at the current speed of Earth's rotation, around 1,000 mph (1,600 km/h) at its fastest, which is along the equator. "The momentum of all the material that's normally rotating — the water, the air, all the buildings and things like that — would cause them to keep going," said Andrew Layden. "So they [would] split off the surface and just keep going around and around, basically, in a low orbit around the Earth." The only parts of our planet that would likely be less affected would be at or near the poles, which rotate little or not at all. Still, the extreme force would likely trigger tsunamis and earthquakes, so things would be pretty bad for the entire Earth. (1/16)

US Space Force Needs More to Effectively Deter, Win Wars (Source: Defense News)
One of the oft repeated phrases by political and military leaders during National Defense Authorization Act and defense budget rollout is how important it is to get the bill passed so we give our men and women in uniform everything they need to be successful in deterrence and warfighting. Providing what our armed forces require, given the threats facing our nation, is very important and should be the main focus of Congress and the White House. Unfortunately, the Space Force has not been given all it requires to deter and/or win a war for space superiority in great power conflict.

First, current policy has restrained the Space Force from generating the requirements and resource requests necessary to achieve a credible deterrence and warfighting Space Force. Instead, current policy and strategic frameworks like the U.S. Space Priorities Framework focuses the service on enable and support missions for the joint force (i.e., terrestrial military operations). As a result, the service has not developed space deterrence and warfighting force postures that enable space superiority against our adversaries, but rather have continued on the path of graceful degradation via under attack. (1/17)

High Hopes for Japan's 'Moon Sniper' Mission (Source: Phys.org)
Japan's "Moon Sniper" spacecraft will attempt a historic touchdown on the lunar surface this weekend using pinpoint technology the country hopes will lead to success where many have failed. With its Smart Lander for Investigating Moon (SLIM) mission, Japan wants to become the fifth nation to pull off a fiendishly tricky soft landing on the rocky surface.

The descent of the lightweight SLIM craft, nicknamed the "Moon Sniper" by space agency JAXA, is scheduled to start at midnight Japan time on Saturday (1500 GMT Friday). The craft is targeting an area within 100 meters of a spot on the lunar surface—far less than the usual landing zone of several kilometers. Success would reverse Japan's fortunes in space after two failed lunar missions and recent rocket failures, including explosions after take-off. (1/17)

SpaceX Requests 43 Acres of Boca Chica State Park From Texas (Source: KVEO)
A Texas Parks and Wildlife commission meeting will take place next week to consider the exchange of 43 acres of Boca Chica State Park to SpaceX, in return for nearly 500 acres near Laguna Atascosa. A notice posted by Texas Parks and Wildlife stated that a meeting will be held at 9 a.m. Jan. 25, in which the commission will consider authorizing the acquisition of 477 acres near the Laguna Atascoca National Wildlife Refuge Bahia Grande Unit. (1/17)

Rumors Circulating That James Webb Has Discovered Life on Another World (Source: Futurism)
Ars Technica reports that the persistent rumor that the James Webb Space Telescope has found a planet with strong signs of life has recently hit a new high among the scientific community. A lot of the hype may be overblown, but at the very least the speculation reflects the space telescope's extraordinary promise in the field of exobiology. Though a NASA official told Ars that no "definitive evidence" has been found so far, they acknowledged the possibility of a huge discovery on the horizon that — sorry, folks — would take years worth of followup research to confirm. (1/16)

Scientists Created a 'Giant Quantum Vortex' That Mimics a Black Hole (Source: New Scientist)
A giant quantum vortex may allow researchers to study black holes. This vortex is an eddy in a special form of liquid helium that displays quantum effects. The result has some properties similar to black holes, allowing it to act as a sort of simulator.

In the areas around black holes, the rules of gravity and quantum mechanics interact, leading to effects that are not observable anywhere else in the cosmos. This makes those regions particularly important to study. “There’s all this interesting physics that occurs around black holes, but so much of it is out of reach,” says Silke Weinfurtner at the University of Nottingham in the UK. “So we can use these quantum simulators to investigate the phenomena that happen around black holes.”

To build their quantum simulator, Weinfurtner and her colleagues used superfluid helium, which flows with extraordinarily low viscosity – 500 times lower than that of water. Because it moves without friction, this form of helium exhibits unusual quantum effects, and it is known as a quantum fluid. The researchers placed the helium in a tank with a spinning propeller at the bottom. As the propeller rotated, it created a tornado-like vortex in the fluid. (1/17)

US Must Beat China Back to the Moon, Congress Tells NASA (Source: Space.com)
The delays in NASA's Artemis moon program are making some members of Congress nervous. The U.S. House of Representatives' Committee on Science, Space and Technology held a hearing about the new Artemis plan and multiple members voiced concern about the slippage. "I remind my colleagues that we are not the only country interested in sending humans to the moon," Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-OK) said in his opening remarks.

"The Chinese Communist Party is actively soliciting international partners for a lunar mission — a lunar research station — and has stated its ambition to have human astronauts on the surface by 2030," he added. "The country that lands first will have the ability to set a precedent for whether future lunar activities are conducted with openness and transparency, or in a more restricted manner." (1/17)

EchoStar Makes Move to Refinance Billions in Dish Network Debt (Source: Denver Business Journal)
The financial moves planned to rescue a struggling Dish Network from its crushing debt load are starting to take shape, six days after the company’s new parent company, EchoStar Corp. restructured. Colorado-based EchoStar Corp. (Nasdaq: SATS) is offering to refinance billions in Dish Network debt coming due over two years and replace it with higher-interest debt that matures in 2030. (1/17)

Astroscale Reveals Concept of Operations for its In-Orbit Refueling Vehicle (Source: Space News)
Astroscale is developing an in-space refueling vehicle that will shuttle back and forth between a fuel depot in geostationary Earth orbit and a client satellite. The refueling vehicle will carry and transfer hydrazine to its client spacecraft, “rather than the client having to maneuver to a fuel depot, allowing client operations to continue uninterrupted,” the company said Jan. 17.

Astroscale, headquartered in Japan with a U.S. subsidiary based in Colorado, is a provider of space services to extend the life of satellites. The company last year won a $25.5 million contract from the U.S. Space Force to develop a refueling vehicle. Under the private-public partnership agreement, the project will get an additional $12 million in funding from Astroscale and its suppliers.

The vehicle will be a small satellite about the size of a gas pump, designed to conduct multiple refueling missions in GEO. APS-R will rendezvous and dock with a fuel depot operated by Orbit Fab, a startup developing so-called gas stations in space. The company is working on a hydrazine fueling station to be deployed 36,000 kilometers above Earth, partly funded by a $13.3 million contract from the Pentagon’s Defense Innovation Unit. (1/17)

Axiom and SpaceX are Disrupting Europe’s Traditional Pathway to Space (Source: Ars Technica)
The European Space Agency’s (ESA) has a deal with Axiom Space to get more Europeans in orbit. But does the partnership benefit European taxpayers who fund the agency’s operations? Inside the Crew Dragon capsule will be a quartet of space travelers, including Swedish fighter pilot Marcus Wandt. Wandt is the first but not the only reserve astronaut with his ticket to space while his seemingly more successful colleagues who made the proper astronaut corps are still in training. Poland, too, has signed up and expects to fly its reservist, Sławosz Uznański, on another Axiom mission later this year.

Compared to their overall investment in space activities, the price these countries pay to see their nationals float in microgravity is not negligible. In addition to Wandt and Uznański, the ESA astronaut reserve pool includes nine other candidates, none of them officially employed by ESA. By filling this astronaut reserve pool, ESA seems to have created a market for Axiom Space. Although the cost of the Axiom missions is paid through ESA, most of this money goes to the Texas-headquartered Axiom Space and its launch provider, SpaceX. (1/16)

Australia Keeping an Eye on Secret Chinese Space Plane (Source: Cosmos)
There’s a deadly war-game unfolding above our heads right now with China and the US almost simultaneously launching space planes which can interfere with low orbit satellites. And one Australian company which is monitoring the space plane otbits in real time says their potential can be devastating. “There’s no hiding in space,” says managing director of LeoLabs Australia Terry van Haren. “It’s all observable to anyone who has the suitable sensors.” (1/17)

Congress Approves Space Force Part-Timers, But Still No Space Guard (Source: Military Times)
The Space Force will become the nation’s first military service that allows troops to switch between full-time and part-time work without formally transferring to a Reserve component or the National Guard. The youngest branch of the armed forces has lacked its own part-time workforce since its creation in 2019. That changed as part of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act, signed into law by President Joe Biden in December. Now the service begins the difficult work of figuring out how to make the legislation a reality for the 9,000 or so uniformed guardians under its purview, as well as Air Force Reservists in space-related jobs. A phased implementation is expected to last five years. (1/16)

Pakistan Government Nears Approval for National Space Rules (Source: APP)
The federal government is on the verge of finalizing the National Space Rules, marking a significant stride in the execution of the National Space Policy. After thorough consultations with vital stakeholders, including the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA), Ministry of Science and Technology, Ministry of IT and Telecom, PEMRA, SPARCO, and other key entities, these regulations are poised for official approval. The National Space Rules are designed to lay the foundation for the establishment of the National Space Agency (NSA) under the National Space Policy.The rules are set to define the composition and powers of the NSA, providing a comprehensive framework for its functioning. (1/17)

Space Travel Taxes Astronauts’ Brains. But Microbes on the Menu Could Help in Unexpected Ways (Source: The Conversation)
Feeding astronauts on a long mission to Mars goes well beyond ensuring they have enough nutrients and calories to survive their multi-year journey. Providing astronauts with the right diet is also paramount in supporting their mental and cognitive health, in a way unlike previous missions. So we need to radically rethink how we feed astronauts not only on a challenging mission to Mars, which could be on the cards in the late 2030s or early 2040s, but to prepare for possible settlement on the red planet.

That includes acknowledging the role of microbes in mental health and wellbeing, and providing astronauts with the right foods and conditions for a variety of these beneficial microbes to grow. Our research aims to do just that. Clinical trials show improving diet quality can lead to profound improvements in depression and anxiety symptoms. Diet also affects the size and function of a specific brain region – the hippocampus – that is crucial to learning and memory, as well as for maintaining mental health.

The relationship between gut microbes and mental health and behaviour goes both ways. Gut microbes influence our mental health and behaviour, and these, in turn, influence our gut microbes. Other components of our microbiomes – viruses, fungi and even parasites – and the oral and lung microbiome are also linked to mental and brain health. Importantly, we share microbes with others, including via the exchange of air, which is highly relevant in closed-environment systems such as inside spacecrafts. So ensuring all astronauts have the healthiest and most diverse of microbes for the whole of the mission is vital. (1/16)

Career Journey: Cooking Up a Job as a Space Food Scientist (Source: NASA)
As the Space Food Systems manager at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Xulei Wu works with a team to create tasty, shelf-stable meals for astronauts aboard the International Space Station and, soon, for crews flying to the Moon as part of the Artemis program. What does it take to become a space food scientist at NASA? We met up with Wu to learn more about her journey from creating meals for camping in the deep woods, to making foods for exploring deep space. Click here. (1/16)

Oman Set to Make History with Middle East's First Spaceport (Source: i24)
Oman has unveiled ambitious plans for the construction of the Middle East's inaugural spaceport, with expectations for it to be fully operational by the year 2030. Etlaq, as it is named, is destined to be a cutting-edge facility designed to accommodate space launchers of all sizes, strategically located in the port city of Duqm. (1/15)

International Experts Call for Rules for Commercial Research in Space (Source: The Gateway)
Private citizens or corporations that collect data or research in space pose unique ethical concerns, Tim Caulfield said. Previously, space travel was “largely funded by the public purse.” But, “if space flight is funded primarily or largely by private companies like Blue Origin [and] SpaceX, what rules do they need to follow?”

Caulfield noted some in-flight research topics of interest, such as the effect of microgravity on the human body or impact of space travel on the optic nerve. One issue with private companies funding research is they do not have to publicly share their findings, Caulfield said. ”If we share data, we’re more likely to advance knowledge. And so when you’re talking about a mix between public and private companies, maybe there’s not going to be as much sharing. The company has shareholders that they’re responsible to. Is that going to have an impact on how data is shared?”

“What we want to do is create a norm where transparency is the expectation,” Caulfield says. "I think that this benefits the companies to follow these norms for liability reasons. If something goes sideways, there’s a [public relations] element to it.” (1/16)

Stem Cell-Derived Brain Organoids on Ax-3 Mission Seek to Improve Modeling for Neurodegenerative Diseases (Source: CASIS)
Researchers funded by the National Stem Cell Foundation (NSCF) are turning to the microgravity environment of the ISS to better understand and model what causes these debilitating diseases as part of an investigation flying on Axiom Space’s third private astronaut mission. 

The mission will mark the fifth flight to the orbiting laboratory for NSCF, which is aiming to study tissue changes within stem cell-derived brain organoids to pinpoint where inflammation begins in the brain. NSCF will send human brain organoids derived from patients with two different types of degenerative brain diseases—Parkinson’s and PPMS—to the ISS. (1/17)