March 9, 2024

Mystery KSC Visitor Complex Tourist Attraction in the Planning Stage (Source: Florida Today)
Officials at the KSC Visitor Complex declined to divulge details, saying announcements will occur in the near future. But a NASA draft environmental assessment reveals the mystery attraction will occupy 4.1 acres and reach up to nine stories tall just south of the space shuttle Atlantis building. (3/8)

Big, Dead Satellite's Crash Was a Space-Junk Wakeup Call (Source: Space.com)
There is some interesting residual fallout from the recent nosedive to Earth of the European Remote Sensing satellite, or ERS-2. Following its launch in April 1995, ERS-2 studied our planet for nearly 16 years. The willy-nilly nature of an out-of-control satellite fall is cause for the willies. Darren McKnight at LeoLabs said that the probability of casualties on the ground from a single reentry is small. However, the aggregate risk grows over time.

"It is not a question of 'if' but rather 'when' a derelict object will survive to Earth's surface and result in significant damage, a fatality or injury," McKnight told Space.com. And when that fateful day arrives, there will be an uproar regarding uncontrolled satellite reentries, McKnight said. The "global standard" is the 25-year rule — that is, get each satellite out of orbit within 25 years of the end of its mission, he added. (3/7)

Justin Sun's $28 Trillion Trip to Nowhere (Source: Protos)
Serial crypto entrepreneur Justin Sun, who has also paid for lunch with Warren Buffett and to briefly be a representative to the World Trade Organization (WTO) for Grenada, spent $28 million to win an auction giving him first dibs on a trip to space through Blue Origin. If he’d appeared for the initial launch, he’d have been joined by Jeff Bezos and his brother Mark but apparently, there was a scheduling conflict. Sun also pushed his multi-million dollar, auction-won lunch with Warren Buffett back multiple times, claiming he was suffering from kidney stones.

The reluctance to take his already-paid-for trip into space is harder to understand. Sun has seemingly shut down most of his connections with the US mainland and has refused to appear for six Blue Origin launches. Coincidentally, he’s also in the midst of numerous lawsuits and court cases, with an SEC trial set to begin soon and a slew of civil suits, some of which have been settled. It’s unclear if Justin Sun has lost the will to travel into space or has decided against ever setting foot in America again. (3/8)

Space One Postpones Bid to be Japan's First Private Firm to Put Satellite in Orbit (Sources: Japan Times, Ars Technica)
Tokyo-based startup Space One, racing to be Japan’s first private-sector firm to put a satellite into orbit, postponed the launch of its solid-fueled rocket on Saturday morning after a ship was detected in the downrange "maritime warning area." The launch was initially scheduled to take place from a new space facility in Kushimoto, Wakayama Prefecture, shortly after 11 a.m., but the ship was detected in the area with just 10 minutes to go.

Kozo Abe said there were no technical problems with the launch and that the next attempt could come as soon as Wednesday, with the company likely to give a more detailed schedule at least two days before the new date. Space One is aiming to use its Kairos rocket to put a small government satellite into orbit. The Kairos rocket will launch with a small "quick response" spacecraft for the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office, which is responsible for Japan's fleet of spy satellites. (3/9)

US Once Considered a Program to Reverse-Engineer Alien Spacecraft (Source: Politico)
The Pentagon has disclosed that the government once considered a program to recover and reverse-engineer any captured alien spacecraft, an effort that never came to fruition but fueled conspiracy theories about a cover-up. A program was proposed to the Department of Homeland Security in the 2010s, code-named “Kona Blue,” to reverse-engineer any recovered extraterrestrial craft. The effort was eventually rejected by DHS leaders “for lacking merit.” (3/8)

Space Force Eyes Expanded Network of ‘Neighborhood Watch’ Satellites (Source: C4ISRnet)
The Space Force said it may develop a new constellation of domain awareness satellites to detect and track objects in geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles above Earth. Space Systems Command — the service’s acquisition arm — is in the early phases of planning for the capability, according to March 5 notice, and is seeking industry feedback as it studies the prospect of increasing its portfolio of observation satellites. (3/8)

Widespread Solar Storm Struck Spacecraft Near the Sun, Earth and Even Mars (Source: Space.com)
A solar outburst on April 17, 2021 was so widespread that six spacecraft at different locations and positions felt the blast. High-speed protons and electrons, also known as solar energetic particles (SEPs), were observed by spacecraft not only between the sun and Earth, but as far away as between Earth and Mars! According to NASA, this was the first time something like this has happened. (3/8)

Mystery of Jupiter's Great Blue Spot Deepens with Strangely Fluctuating Jet (Source: Space.com)
The mysterious workings of Jupiter's intense magnetic field are coming to light, thanks to a tiny jet buried deep in the gas giant's atmosphere. Every four years, this jet appears to fluctuate like a wave. While it's not yet clear what drives this atmospheric jet, new findings reveal some clues about the invisible, complex workings of an intense area of magnetism near Jupiter's equator, dubbed the "Great Blue Spot." (3/8)

UCF Study Unlocking the Icy Secrets of Neptune's Birth (Source: SciTech Daily)
A ring of icy rocks orbiting our sun just beyond Neptune may give us a glimpse of how Neptune — and other objects in the outskirts of our solar system — were formed. Mors-Somnus, a binary duo comprised of a pair of icy asteroids bound by gravity, was recently concluded to have originated within the Kuiper Belt, meaning it can serve as a basis to study and enrich our understanding of the dynamical history of Neptune and celestial bodies known as trans-Neptunian objects (TNOs).

The promising study marks the first time this has been achieved and serves as a significant landmark for the UCF-led Discovering the Surface Compositions of Trans-Neptunian Objects program — or DiSCo-TNOs — which is part of the first cycle of the James Webb Space Telescope’s (JWST) many programs focused on analyzing our solar system. Ana Carolina de Souza Feliciano and Noemí Pinilla-Alonso, a postdoctoral fellow and professor in planetary science at UCF’s Florida Space Institute respectively, are co-authors of the study. (3/8)

China Targets 2030 for Mars Sample Return Mission, Potential Landing Areas Revealed (Source: Space News)
China is making progress towards a 2030 launch for its Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission and has narrowed down potential landing areas. Work on China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return mission is progressing “relatively smoothly” and will launch around 2030, said Sun Zezhou.

China’s Tianwen-3 Mars sample return architecture is a simpler approach than NASA’s, yet is still a very complex mission. Two Long March 5 launches will carry a lander and ascent vehicle and an orbiter and return module respectively. Entry, descent and landing will build on technology used for the Tianwen-1 rover landing. (3/8)

Terran Orbital 'Looking at Everything,' CEO Says After Lockheed Martin Takeover Bid (Source: CNBC)
Satellite manufacturer Terran Orbital  is “looking at everything” regarding the company’s future, said CEO Marc Bell, as it considers Lockheed Martin’s acquisition offer. “We found out about [Lockheed’s takeover bid] when the rest of the world found out about it,” Bell said on CNBC’s “Manifest Space” podcast.

Lockheed’s proposal submitted last week values Terran Orbital at nearly $600 million, or about a third of its equity valuation from when the company went public via a special purpose acquisition company, or SPAC, two years ago. The defense giant is already a significant stakeholder in Terran Orbital, with a 28.3% stake. Terran Orbital declined to comment on a shareholder lawsuit filed Wednesday in response to the company’s board adopting a “poison pill” stock rights plan after Lockheed’s offer. (3/8)

Turn $10k Into a Fortune With These 3 High-Risk, High-Reward Space Stocks (Source: Investor Place)
Today’s high-risk space stocks to buy represent a slice of tomorrow’s $1 trillion space sector. Rocket Lab USA (RKLB): A billion-dollar backlog represents solid revenue streams over the next few years. Planet Labs PBC (PL): A US Navy contract affirms the space imagery company’s utility. AST SpaceMobile (ASTS): The space-based telecom race boils down to two key competitors. (3/8)

Russia, China Planning For Joint Nuclear Power Plant On The Moon By 2035 (Source: Forbes)
Plans for installing a joint nuclear power plant on the moon’s surface within the next decade are being considered by Russian and Chinese officials, the head of Russia’s space agency said Tuesday, a project he said could allow for the development of lunar settlements amid similar efforts by the U.S.

The Creation of Vulcan: ULA's Mark Peller (Source: NSF)
In this special episode of NSF Live, Lon talks with Mark Peller, who is VP of Major Development at United Launch Alliance, and responsible for the development of the Vulcan Rocket, that just debuted at the beginning of this year, with the launch of the Peregrine Lunar lander. We will talk about the development, and the future of the Vulcan launcher. Click here. (3/6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mE8mYvW3qY8

Central Florida Man Among NASA’s Newest Astronauts Known as ‘The Flies’ (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
NASA’s astronauts corps swelled with a new class of graduates Tuesday, including one man who grew up watching space shuttles launch from his Volusia County schoolyard. Luke Delaney, 44, who was born in Miami but raised in DeBary and attended both DeLand and Deltona High School in Volusia, was one of 10 NASA astronaut candidates along with two international candidates from the United Arab Emirates chosen as members of the 23rd astronaut group in December 2021 from among 12,000 applicants. (3/5)

NASA Unveils Design for Message Heading to Jupiter’s Moon Europa (Source: NASA)
When it launches in October, the agency’s Europa Clipper spacecraft will carry a richly layered dispatch that includes more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. Following in NASA’s storied tradition of sending inspirational messages into space, the agency has special plans for Europa Clipper, which later this year will launch toward Jupiter’s moon Europa.

At the heart of the artifact is an engraving of U.S. Poet Laureate Ada Limón’s handwritten “In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa,” along with a silicon microchip stenciled with more than 2.6 million names submitted by the public. The microchip will be the centerpiece of an illustration of a bottle amid the Jovian system – a reference to NASA’s “Message in a Bottle” campaign, which invited the public to send their names with the spacecraft. (3/8)