August 30, 2017

How Do Astronauts Exercise in Space? (Source: The Verge)
The environment of the International Space Station isn’t exactly hospitable to the human body. Thanks to microgravity, astronauts experience a variety of health and physical changes while living in space — some of which they can counteract through daily exercise and other activities. But the space environment also exposes astronauts to other elements that cannot necessarily be mitigated.

Most of these health changes stem from the fact that our bodies aren’t built for space. Human beings have evolved here on Earth over millennia, so our bodies have adapted to excel in a gravity environment under the protection of our planet’s atmosphere. In lower Earth orbit, however, those ubiquitous elements are taken away, and the body’s various systems adapt accordingly. Click here. (8/29)

Weightlessness Affects Health of Astronauts at Molecular Level (Source: MIPT)
A team of scientists from Russia and Canada has analyzed the effect of space conditions on the protein composition in blood samples of 18 Russian cosmonauts. The results indicated many significant changes in the human body caused by space flight. These changes are intended to help the body adapt and take place in all the major types of human cells, tissues, and organs. Click here. (8/30)

Private Companies Drive 'New Space Race' at NASA Kennedy Space Center (Source: Fresno Bee)
"We have invested a lot as a center, as a nation into Kennedy Space Center to ready us for that next 50 years of spaceflight and beyond," said Tom Engler, the center's director of planning and development. "You see the dividends of that now, these commercial companies buying into what we're doing." Click here. (8/30)

Webb Telescope Surrounded by Rising Waters at JSC (Source: Scientific American)
After unleashing days of torrential rains and devastating floods that swamped Houston and much of southeastern Texas, the former Hurricane Harvey is now threatening NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC)—and with it some of the space agency’s most valuable assets, such as the $8.6 billion James Webb Space Telescope.

As of this writing, there have been no reports of flooding at Building 32 or other critical JSC facilities, and the center possesses several electric generators as backup in the event of a power outage. JSC lies 13 feet above sea level at its lowest point, and 22 feet at its highest—making it a relatively lofty point in the surrounding landscape, much of which is already submerged beneath rising floodwaters. (8/29)

Hurricane Relief Debate Recalls Sandy Funding for KSC (Source: Daily Beast)
Texas Senator Ted Cruz is all in favor of federal relief funding for damages in his state after Hurricane Harvey. But he and other Congressional leaders are being called out for hypocrisy after they voted against similar support for Hurricane Sandy in 2012. At the time, Paul Ryan complained that some of the Sandy money was going to non-Sandy-related frippery like “sand dunes at the Kennedy Space Center,” clearly intending to give the impression that lawmakers saw in the Sandy bill a big piñata to cram full of whatever goodies they wanted.

In fact, Hurricane Sandy did damage the shoreline at Cape Canaveral, leaving two launch pads exposed to the ocean. So it was Sandy related! Either Ryan knew that and lied, or he didn’t know it and he ignorantly shot his mouth off anyway without looking into the facts. Neither interpretation is flattering. (8/29)

Space Club to honor Lifetime Achievers and Rising Star in September (Source: NSCFL)
The National Space Club, Florida Committee's September 12 luncheon will feature the presentation of awards for Lifetime Achievement and the Rising Star. Lifetime Achievement honorees include Mark Dowhan, Ted Hartselle, and John Presnell. The Rising Star honoree is Matthew Breault. The luncheon will be held at the Radisson Resort at the Port – Convention Center in Cape Canaveral. Click here. (8/29)

Aging Telkom-1 Satellite Suffers Antenna Glitch (Source: Space News)
An antenna problem has disrupted services for customers of an Indonesian communications satellite. PT Telkom Indonesia said Aug. 26 that its Telkom-1 satellite lost antenna lock the day before, and that it has not yet been able to restore normal service. The company is shifting customers to two other satellites, which will require repointing a large number of ground antennas. Telkom-1, built by Lockheed Martin, is three years past its 15-year design life. (8/30)

Is Telkom-1 Falling Apart? (Source: Ars Technica)
New evidence gathered by a US-based firm that tracks objects in geostationary orbit, ExoAnalytic Solutions, suggests the Telkom-1 satellite may be falling apart. The company uses algorithms to review data collected by its global network of 165 optical telescopes for anomalies, and one of its instruments in Eastern Australia spotted the satellite apparently breaking apart. "What you see there appears to be a lot of reflective materials emanating from the spacecraft," ExoAnalytic's chief executive officer, Doug Hendrix, told Ars in an exclusive interview. "They could be solar panels, fuel, or other debris. We don’t really know."

This is the second satellite in about two months to experience such an issue in geostationary orbit, a location about 36,000km above the planet where satellites can easily maintain their position over a fixed point on Earth. On the morning of June 17, the Luxembourg-based satellite operator SES lost at least partial control of a large satellite in geostationary space. ExoAnalytic has observed fragments of the AMC-9 satellite, too. (8/30)

Spectrum Interference Concerns for AeroMACS and Globalstar (Source: Space News)
A proposed aircraft safety communications system could cause unacceptable interference for Globalstar's satellite system. In an FCC filing, Boeing raised concerns about the AeroMACS system proposed by the WiMAX Forum to handle communications among aircraft and support vehicles while at airports. Boeing said it was concerned that the system, as currently designed, could exceed interference limits for Earth-to-space links in Globalstar's system, which shares spectrum with AeroMACS. A WiMAX Forum said the organization was unaware of any issues beyond Boeing's filing. (8/30)

India Identifies Domestic Satellite Builders (Source: The Hindu)
The Indian space agency ISRO has started the process of identifying domestic companies that can build satellites. ISRO issued a call for proposals this week for single companies, or groups of companies, to propose building communications, remote-sensing and other satellites that ISRO currently assembles in-house. The agency plans to select up to six finalists for initial three-year contracts, which will include training and support as the winning companies build up their satellite manufacturing capabilities. (8/30)

Bumpy Start for Asgardia "Space Kingdom" (Source: Wall Street Journal)
A new "space nation" is having trouble getting off the ground. More than 100,000 people have signed up to be citizens of Asgardia, a virtual entity that seeks United Nations recognition and eventually plans to be the first nation in space. As part of that effort, Asgardia has developed a draft constitution, which has been hotly debated by its citizens on topics ranging from taxes to making it a "space kingdom" with its founder, Russian businessman and scientist Igor Ashurbeyli, as monarch. Asgardia is also grappling with demographic issues: just 16 percent of its virtual citizens are women. (8/30)

JPL Proposes Exploring Venus with a Clockwork Rover (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) proposes taking a page out of a Swiss watchmaker's handbook to design a long-lived rover to explore Venus' surface. Utilizing centuries-old mechanical computing concepts, but with a modern upgrade, engineers at JPL hope to design a rover capable of exploring the unforgiving Venusian terrain and returning data to Earth. Click here. (8/29)

Dream Chaser Rolls Through Tow Tests at NASA Armstrong (Source: NASA)
During this 60-mph tow test, a pickup truck pulled the Dream Chaser test vehicle on Edward’s runway to validate the performance of the spacecraft's nose skid, brakes, tires, and other systems. The company has performed the tests at 10 mph, 20 mph, and 40 mph over the last few months to lead up to the 60-mph runway test. Range and taxi tow tests are standard for winged vehicles that touchdown on a runway to prove the overall spacecraft handling post-landing. Click here. (8/29)

~3 Mile Wide Asteroid to Pass Close to Earth on Sep. 1 (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
A large rock will fly past Earth on Sep. 1, 2017, at a distance of 4.4 million miles. Asteroid 3122 Florence, named after modern nursing founder Florence Nightingale, is the largest object to make a close-encounter since NASA began tracking near-Earth objects (NEO) in the 1990s.

“While many known asteroids have passed by closer to Earth than Florence will on Sept. 1, all of those were estimated to be smaller,” said Paul Chodas, manager of NASA’s Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS) at the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Florence is estimated to be about 2.7 miles (4.4 kilometers) in diameter. Were an asteroid of that size to strike Earth, it would have worldwide effects. However, this particular rock is not expected to present a risk of collision with the planet anytime soon as its next close approach will not be until after the year 2500. (8/29)

Soyuz Launch Customers Search for Cause of Cubesat Failures (Source: Space News)
Four of the 72 miniature satellites sent into orbit July 14 on a Russian Soyuz 2.1a rocket alongside the primary customer, the Kanopus-V-IK Russian Earth-imaging satellite, are not responding to commands from their operators and two additional cubesats are not in their intended orbits.

Dauria Aerospace, Russia’s first privately owned and operated satellite manufacturing company, announced Aug. 29 that it has been unable to establish contact with the two MKA-N cubesats the firm designed and built for the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos.

Two additional cubesats, the Moscow Aviation Institute’s Iskra-MAI-85 and Moscow State University’s Cosmo Mayak, are not responding to commands from their operators. In addition, one of Spire Global’s eight Lemur-2 satellites and one of Earth-observation company Planet’s Flock 2k Doves are not in their intended orbits. (8/29)