December 3, 2024

Broken Water Pipe Knocks Out Data Processing for NASA Sun-Studying Spacecraft (Source: Space.com)
Scientists won't be able to process much of the data gathered by NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and IRIS spacecraft for a while, thanks to a burst water pipe. That pipe — a 4-inch-wide (10 centimeters) cooling water line in a server room at Stanford University in California that's home to the SDO Joint Science Operations Center (JSOC) — burst on Nov. 26. "This caused major flooding in the building and extensive water damage in the lab that houses the machines that process and distribute data from the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager (HMI) and Atmospheric Imaging Array (AIA) instruments and from the IRIS spacecraft," JSOC team members wrote. (12/2)

When a Telescope Is a National-Security Risk (Source: The Atlantic)
In the early months of 2023, the astronomer Željko Ivezić found himself taking part in a highly unusual negotiation. Ivezić is the 59-year-old director of the Vera Rubin Observatory, a $1 billion telescope that the United States has been developing in the Chilean high desert for more than 20 years. He was trying to reach an agreement that would keep his telescope from compromising America’s national security when it starts stargazing next year.

This task was odd enough for any scientist, and it was made more so by the fact that Ivezić had no idea with whom he was negotiating. “I didn’t even know which agency I was talking to,” he told me on a recent video call from his field office in Chile. Whoever it was would communicate with him only through intermediaries at the National Science Foundation. Ivezić didn’t even know whether one person or several people were on the other side of the exchange. All he knew was that they were very security-minded. Also, they seemed to know a great deal about astronomy. (12/2)

Trump May Cancel NASA's Powerful SLS Moon Rocket—What That Would Mean for Elon Musk and the Future of Space Travel (Source: Phys.org)
Space journalist Eric Berger recently posted on X: "To be clear, we are far from anything being settled, but based on what I'm hearing it seems at least 50-50 that NASA's Space Launch System rocket will be canceled." No official announcements have been made. However, such a move could be in line with previous speculation that the Trump administration could gut Nasa, forcing it to contract out much of its work to the private companies.

But could another rocket easily take the place of the SLS? This question goes to the heart of what America wants to achieve amid an emerging 21st-century space race. China has pledged to send its astronauts to the lunar surface by 2030. Unlike the US, China is usually conservative in its estimates, so we can assume deadline slippage is unlikely. Meanwhile, several elements of Artemis are holding up the schedule. (12/2)

Atmospheric Analysis Shows Venus Never Had Earth-Like Life (Source: The Guardian)
With a surface hot enough to melt lead and with clouds of sulphuric acid above it, it is a planet often called Earth’s “evil twin” – similar in size, yet worlds apart. Some scientists have long believed it was once much more hospitable, home to cooler temperatures and oceans of liquid water. But now researchers have dealt a blow to the idea that Venus ever hosted life as we know it.

Scientists say an analysis of the planet’s atmosphere has revealed the interior of Venus is dry, suggesting it has never had the oceans of liquid water traditionally thought necessary for life to begin. “This doesn’t completely rule out any life. It rules out Earth-like life,” said Tereza Constantinou. (12/2)

World's 2nd Fastest Supercomputer Runs Largest-Ever Simulation of the Universe (Source: Space.com)
The world's second fastest supercomputer — it used to be the fastest, before its rival machine came online earlier this month — has created the most complex computer simulation of the universe to date. The goal of this simulation is to test what researchers describe as "cosmological hydrodynamics." The supercomputer is known as Frontier, lives at Oak Ridge National Laboratory — and is a beast of a device. Built to be the first exascale supercomputer, it can perform up to 1.1 exaFLOPS, which is equal to 1.1 quintillion (10^18, or 1,100,000,000,000,000,000) floating-point operations per second. (12/2)

Europe Weighs its Future in Space (Source: Space Review)
The United States is not the only country wondering what the next administration will do in space policy. Jeff Foust reports that, in Europe, the prospect of changes in US-European space cooperation is fueling calls for the continent to invest more in space capabilities. Click here. (12/3)
 
Tollways in Space: From Sci-fi to Saving Grace (Source: Space Review)
The space industry has struggled to develop financial models for funding removal of orbital debris even as the problem of debris worsens. Polina Shtern offers an approach that treats orbits as tollways to pay for debris cleanup. Click here. (12/3)
 
Donald Trump’s Approach to US Space Policy Could Throw Up Some Surprises, Especially with Elon Musk on Board (Source: Space Review)
The impacts of the incoming Trump Administration on space policy are still to be determined nearly a month after the election. Bleddyn Bowen and P.J. Blount discuss what could change and what might remain the same in the next administration. Click here. (12/3)

NASA, Space Force Plans Will Lead to New Contracts (Source; ClearanceJobs)
NASA aims to complete a crewed mission to the moon in 2025 via Artemis 2, while the US Space Force plans to expand capabilities and award contracts through the Commercial Augmentation Space Reserve. The incoming Trump administration might accelerate these efforts, benefiting contractors such as Blue Origin and SpaceX. (12/2)

Varda Wins $48 Million for Reentry Vehicle Testing (Source: Space News)
Varda Space Industries won a $48 million contract to test military payloads on its reentry vehicles. The four-year contract from the Air Force Research Lab (AFRL) leverages Varda's W-Series reentry capsules as platforms to test payloads at hypersonic speeds. Commercial reentry capsules would give the Air Force an operational environment to test vehicle subsystems under real flight conditions in a more cost-effective manner. Varda's next mission, scheduled for launch in early 2025, will showcase the Varda Hypersonic Testbed vehicle and carry an AFRL spectrometer to collect data during reentry. (12/3)

Inleqtion Wins $11 Million DoD Contract for Optical Atomic Clock (Source: Space News)
Quantum technology firm Infleqtion won a Defense Department contract to develop atomic timing technology with implications for satellite navigation. The $11 million contract, announced Monday, supports work on Tiqker, a compact optical atomic clock that can be integrated into standard server racks. The award underscores growing military interest in GPS-independent navigation tools amid concerns about potential weaknesses in GPS, whose signals can be jammed or spoofed. (12/3)

CSF Changes Name (Source: Space News)
An industry group is changing its name slightly to reflect an expanded focus. The Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF) announced Tuesday it has changed its name to the Commercial Space Federation. The name change reflects the fact that most of its members work in other parts of the space industry than launch, CSF said. The organization is establishing six "industry councils" in specific sectors, from launch to remote sensing, to allow members to focus on specific priorities. CSF is also creating a political action committee to support members of Congress advocating for commercial space. (12/3)

PLD Secures $11 Million Euro Loan for Rocket Development (Source: Space News)
PLD Space secured a loan to fund development of the launch facility for its Miura 5 rocket. The company announced Monday it obtained an 11 million euro loan from COFIDES, a Spanish financing agency. The loan will go towards development of facilities at the European spaceport in French Guiana for the company's Miura 5 small launch vehicle. That rocket is scheduled to make its first launch there as soon as the end of 2025. (12/3)

China Launches 100th Long March 3B (Source: Space News)
China launched a communications satellite on the 100th flight of the Long March 3B. The rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 12:56 a.m. Tuesday and placed into a geostationary transfer orbit the Tongxin Jishu Shiyan-13 (TJS-13) satellite. TJS-13 will be used for satellite communication, radio and television, data transmission and other services, Chinese state media reported, along with technology tests. The spacecraft, like previous TJS missions, likely also has military applications. The launch was the 100th for the Long March 3B, of which 96 have been successful. This was also China's 60th orbital launch of the year, with the country likely to fall far short of its goal of 100 launches for the year. (12/3)

SpaceX Valued at $35 Billion? (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX's valuation could soar in a new stock offering. The company is reportedly planning to offer insider shares to sell in a tender offer at a price that would value the company at about $350 billion. That would be far higher than the $210 billion valuation from the previous tender offer earlier this year and well above earlier reports the company was seeking a $255 billion valuation. SpaceX would be the most valuable private company if the deal goes through. (12/3)

Spaceport 1 Planned as Scotland's Third Spaceport (Source: STV)
A facility called Spaceport 1 will be Scotland's third spaceport. Work is underway on the site on North Uist in the Outer Hebrides. The facility, with an estimated cost of $3.3 million, will be completed by next spring and support suborbital launches, although spaceport officials have not disclosed what vehicles will operate from the site. More than 1,000 local residents signed a petition opposing the spaceport on environmental concerns. Spaceport 1 will join SaxaVord Spaceport and Sutherland Spaceport, both of which are designed for orbital launches. (12/3)