August 20, 2017

Risk Takers Are Back in the Space Race—and That’s a Good Thing (Source: Singularity Hub)
“In a fight between Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos, who would win?” Peter Diamandis asked Blue Origin’s Erika Wagner to kick off a conversation with a panel of space entrepreneurs at Singularity University’s Global Summit this week in San Francisco.

“So, Peter, let me tell you about what we’re doing at Blue Origin,” Wagner answered rather diplomatically, eliciting chuckles from the audience. “We’re really looking towards a future of millions of people living and working in space. The thing I think is really fantastic…is that the universe is infinitely large, and so, we don’t need any fisticuffs.” Click here. (8/17)

Space Dust Kills Satellites Like Tiny Atom Bombs (Source: The Economist)
How is a speck of dust like an atom bomb? It sounds like a child’s riddle. But the answer may explain the fate of many satellites that have failed prematurely in orbit over the years. For the riddle to work, the speck must be travelling at 70km a second, or thereabouts. If it is, the riddle’s solution is that both can generate an electromagnetic pulse capable of knocking out unprotected electronic equipment.

That, at least, is the hypothesis now being investigated by Sigrid Close of Stanford University. Dr Close came up with it in 2010, when she was shooting small particles at various types of spacecraft material placed inside a vacuum chamber at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, Germany. These experiments suggested that when a micrometeoroid, to give such dust its technical name, collides with a satellite, it will not just do a small amount of mechanical damage. If traveling fast enough, it will also create a shock wave that vaporises part of the spacecraft’s metallic skin. (8/17)

Solar Eclipse Will Cost America Almost $700 Million in Lost Productivity (Source: NBC)
Add next week's total eclipse of the sun to the list of worker distractions that cost U.S. companies hundreds of millions of dollars in lost productivity. American employers will see at least $694 million in missing output for the roughly 20 minutes that outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas estimates workers will take out of their workday on Monday to stretch their legs, head outside the office and gaze at the nearly two-and-a-half minute eclipse. (8/18)

Assembly Complete for Minotaur Launcher at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
Using industrial cranes at a no-frills launch pad on the eastern tip of Cape Canaveral, a team of Orbital ATK and U.S. Air Force technicians have fully stacked a modified Cold War-era missile set for launch next week with a $49 million satellite built to track other objects in orbit.

The Minotaur 4 rocket, made up of five solid-fueled stages, is scheduled to fire into space from pad 46 at Cape Canaveral next Friday night, Aug. 25, at 11:15 p.m. EDT (0315 GMT on Aug. 26). The mission has a four-hour window to lift off, or else wait until another day. (8/19)

Space Florida Transforms SLC-46 for New Launch Capabilities (Source: Space Florida)
On August 25, Orbital ATK is scheduled to launch its Minotaur 4 rocket from Space Florida’s Space Launch Complex (SLC) 46 at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The launch of the ORS 5 mission for the US Air Force (USAF), will be the first launch from the pad since 1999, as well as the first since Space Florida renovated the complex.

“Over time, Space Florida has managed SLC-46 through a significant transformation, making the facility one of the most capable and adaptable at the Cape,” said Space Florida President and CEO Frank DiBello. “The Orbital ATK launch means that every U.S. vertical launch provider now has operations at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. We are excited to see the pad reignite with activity, and look forward to hosting Orbital ATK and other launch providers as we enter a new season of life for this historic facility.” (8/18)

Russia Could Launch Spektr-RG Space Observatory with German Telescope in 2018 (Source: Space Daily)
Russia could launch the Spektr-RG (Spectrum Roentgen Gamma) space observatory with the German eRosita X-ray telescope in October 2018, a spokesperson of the Lavochkin Research and Production Association aerospace company told Sputnik on Monday.

The Spektr-RG observatory is supposed to be placed at Lagrange point L2, an orbital location where gravitational forces of the Moon and Earth would balance out a centrifugal force of a smaller third body, such as a space observatory, stabilizing it. (8/16)

NASA Sends Mice to Space Station to Study Space Travel Health Risks (Source: Space Daily)
With Monday's SpaceX launch a success, a group of mice are en route to the International Space Station. The rodents are being sent to ISS as part of an ongoing effort by NASA to study the impacts of longterm space travel on human health. Mice are biological similar to humans, yet relatively simple, physiologically speaking, which is why they an ideal model for human health studies. (8/15)

Astronauts Showcase Space Art Created with Childhood Cancer Patients (Source: NASA)
Patients from around the world will have the opportunity to see a spacesuit art project they helped create. Astronauts currently living and working on the International Space Station will unveil the project at 10:25 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, Aug. 23. The 20-minute, Earth-to-space call will air live on NASA Television and the agency’s website.

Expedition 52 crew members will answer questions from international partner astronauts and several patients turned artists in Mission Control Houston. In the fall of 2016, spacesuit UNITY was created at cancer hospitals in Houston, Canada, Germany, Russia and Japan with collaboration from astronauts from NASA and its international partners ESA (European Space Agency), Roscosmos, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. (8/18)

18 Space Suits From Science Fiction, From Worst to Best (Source: The Verge)
Space suits are cool — and complicated. Earlier this week, my colleague Loren Grush launched her new series Space Craft by seeing what wearing one is like. The answer? Exhausting. Unsurprisingly, science fiction writers, movie directors, and prop-makers also love space suits — you’ll find them everywhere from Robert A. Heinlein’s novel Have Space Suit — Will Travel, to the latest Alien movie. But not everybody does their homework: for every fictional space suit that’s more than just a fancy costume, there’s one that’s impractical and nonsensical even in a fictional world.

There’s no such thing as an “ideal” space suit, because you need specific features for different environments. But we can answer a few basic questions. Is a fictional space suit safe and wearable for its characters? Does it perform its task well? And does it realistically look like it could perform that task? With that in mind, here are some of the greatest and most cringeworthy depictions, arranged from worst to best. Click here. (8/19)

ULA Hits 120 Successful Missions with NASA Satellite Launch (Source: Denver Business Journal)
A United Launch Alliance rocket launched a NASA communications satellite into orbit Friday, completing its 120th consecutive successful mission. The Centennial-based company's Atlas V rocket blasted off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport at 8:30 a.m. and just under two hours later delivered NASA's Tracking DATA and Relay Satellite-M into orbit. The TDRS-M satellite is part of a fleet of NASA orbiters that relay phone calls and data traffic for the International Space Station and other space hardware. (8/18)