September 9, 2017

Research Shows How an Alien Observer Might Detect Earth (Source: Queen's University)
A group of scientists from Queen’s University Belfast and the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Germany have looked at how an alien observer might be able to detect Earth using our own methods. They find that at least nine exoplanets are ideally placed to observe transits of Earth, in a new work published in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Thanks to facilities and missions such as SuperWASP and Kepler, we have now discovered thousands of planets orbiting stars other than our Sun, worlds known as ‘exoplanets’. The vast majority of these are found when the planets cross in front of their host stars in what are known as ‘transits’, which allow astronomers to see light from the host star dim slightly at regular intervals every time the planet passes between us and the distant star. (9/9)

New Canadian Telescope Will Map Largest Volume of Space Ever Surveyed (Source: McGill)
A Canadian effort to build one of the most innovative radio telescopes in the world will open the universe to a new dimension of scientific study. The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, today installed the final piece of this new radio telescope, which will act as a time machine allowing scientists to create a three-dimensional map of the universe extending deep into space and time.

The Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment, known as CHIME, is an extraordinarily powerful new telescope. The unique “half-pipe” telescope design and advanced computing power will help scientists better understand the three frontiers of modern astronomy: the history of the universe, the nature of distant stars and the detection of gravitational waves. (9/7)

Rationale and Framework for a Canadian National Space Policy (Source: SpaceQ)
Canada's Space Advisory Board makes clear in its report that we are at a critical juncture in the state of the Canadian Space Program. One the SAB’s Key Proposals was: Develop, in time for the next federal budget, a new space strategy and follow-on space plan that provides the policies, programs and funding essential for the revitalization of Canada’s space capacity. Click here. (9/7)

SpaceX Reveals First Look at Full Spacesuit (Source: AFP)
Elon Musk has given his followers a first look at what the future of space travel will be. Well, in his eyes anyway. Musk posted a photograph to Instagram of a spacesuit designed for NASA astronauts to wear. The person modeling the suit is seen in front of a spacecraft he hopes astronauts will be able to travel in to the International Space Station in 2018. Click here. (9/8)

Cape Canaveral Facilities Prepare for Hurricane Irma (Source: Space News)
NASA and companies that operate launch sites and other facilities at Cape Canaveral are preparing for the arrival of a powerful hurricane that has already postponed one launch on the other side of the country.

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center closed Sept. 8 for the hurricane, and will remain closed through Sept. 11. As was the case with Hurricane Matthew, which passed just offshore in October 2016, a small “rideout” team will remain at the center through the storm, monitoring conditions and performing initial damage assessments after the storm passes. (9/8)

How South Australia Could Propel Itself to a Big Share of the $400 Billion Global Space Economy (Source: The Adelaide Now)
In two weeks, Adelaide will welcome an estimated 4000 space industry heavyweights from around the globe. The International Astronautical congress, which has been held every year since 1950, is the premier meeting of the global space community.

Hosted by the International Astronautical Federation, International Academy of Astronautics and International Institute of Space Law, this year’s event will include lectures and presentations about life on Mars, outer space settlements, solar sailing, space junk retrieval missions and South Australia’s role in the development of space tugs and buses. Click here. (9/8)

Hawaiian Observatory Signs New Agreement with NASA (Source: Hawaii Tribune-Herald)
NASA is continuing its partnership with the W.M. Keck Observatory with a new five-year cooperative agreement. Under the agreement, which takes effect March 1, Keck will support next-generation space-based missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope set to launch next year.

“NASA’s continuing partnership with Keck will ensure that astronomers and planetary scientists can carry out important ground-based observations necessary for the success of NASA missions and their scientific objectives.”

Keck, which operates twin 10-meter telescopes atop Mauna Kea, said the agreement will allow it to continue research with NASA on the quest for habitable Earth-like exoplanets, understanding dark energy and dark matter, finding microbial life on Mars, and supporting future planetary missions, such as a visit to Jupiter’s moon Europa. (9/9)

U.S. Regulators Propose to Relax Satellite Constellation Rules (Source: Space Intel Report)
U.S. regulators propose to relax requirements for satellite constellations in non-geostationary orbit to give them more time to deploy their systems, and to permit networks that focus on specific geographic areas and do not cover all U.S. territory. But they remain undecided about how to accommodate high-altitude platforms.

The proposals, which the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) announced Sept. 7, will be discussed on Sept. 26 at the agency’s open meeting. They are particularly good news for the larger constellation, such as proposed by SpaceX, which had chafed at the FCC’s current deployment milestones. The new proposals also benefit networks backed by SES Networks’ O3b and Space Norway, whose constellations are not intended to provide all-U.S. coverage. (9/9)

Solar Flares Interfered With Radio Network’s Ability to Warn People About Hurricane Irma (Source: Motherboard)
A series of massive explosions on the Sun caused a radio network designed to warn people of hurricanes in remote regions, including the Caribbean, to go on the fritz during the time period when it would have been issuing information about Hurricane Irma, both the manager of the network and a NOAA representative confirmed to Motherboard. (9/8)

Massive Sunspots and Solar Flares: The Sun Has Gone Wrong and Scientists Don't Know Why (Source: Newsweek)
If you still have your solar viewing glasses from the eclipse, now is a good time to slap them on and look up at the sun. You’ll see two big dark areas visible on our star. These massive sunspots are regions of intense and complicated magnetic fields that can produce solar flares—bursts of high-energy radiation. You can just make them out with solar viewing glasses, but they’re better viewed through a solar telescope.

These two huge sunspots are currently causing quite a bit of consternation and interest. The solar storms they’ve sent toward Earth may affect communications and other technologies like GPS and radio signals. They’re causing amazing displays of the northern and southern lights. And space weather scientists like us are excited because we wouldn’t normally expect this much activity from the sun at the moment. (9/8)

Fast Radio Bursts and SETI’s High Bar for Evidence (Source: Air & Space)
Repeating Fast Radio Burst (FRBs) have puzzled astronomers for years. We still don’t know what they are, other than being high-energy phenomena originating from outside our galaxy that last only for a few milliseconds, and sometimes repeat. Recently, radio bursts emanating from a previously known source named FRB 121102 were observed in detail by Vishal Gajjar and colleagues using the Green Bank Telescope in West Virginia. They detected 15 bursts during two 30-minute scans, in a frequency range between 100 MHz and 1 GHz. The bursts changed in their spectral extent, and several of them peaked in brightness at frequencies above 6 GHz.

So how do we know whether a signal is of natural or artificial origin? A signal that was neither highly regular (such as from a pulsar) nor completely random (such as the cosmic background radiation) would be a good candidate for a sign of alien technology. In such a case, we would also expect the signal to be in a very narrow frequency range, as any alien civilization would be expected not to waste energy. The FRBs seem to satisfy the first criterion, and to some degree the second.

Will it always be like this, where we detect signals, especially radio signals, that don’t fit our expectations about an artificial source, so by default we assume they’re natural in origin? What if alien technology doesn’t fit our expectations?  Where does that leave us? For one thing, it sets the bar very high for claiming an intelligent extraterrestrial signal. And perhaps it should be that high. But unless a radio signal has actual content that we can understand, we may never accept it as a signal from an alien civilization. (9/8)

Is Space Tourism Really the Best Way to Test Rocket Technology? (Source: Inverse)
Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Blue Origin, has repeatedly voiced his hopes that space tourism could be an effective avenue for testing out and advancing reusable spaceflight architecture, as a way to slash the costs of launching things out beyond Earth’s atmosphere. Bezos believes space tourism can ”drive up the rate of practice” by using space tourism as both a valuable revenue stream, and as a method for testing out and validating reusable launch vehicles.

There’s just one problem: it’s not a very realistic plan, if you ask the former director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center, George Abbey. Abbey, when asked about Bezos’s comments on space tourism as R&D, and if testing reusable launch vehicles made sense, he told Inverse in pretty blunt terms: “No, I don’t think so.” He said Very few people are going to happily buy tickets on launches under the guise that this is part of “practice” for Blue Origin. (9/8)

Hurricane Irma Postpones California Rocket Launch (Source: Florida Today)
Hurricane Irma’s reach is now being felt nearly 3,000 miles from the Space Coast, forcing the postponement of a planned rocket launch from California next week. United Launch Alliance had been preparing for Sep. 14 launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying a classified U.S. intelligence mission from Vandenberg Air Force Base. But launch team members who would have traveled west from Cape Canaveral needed to help prepare their homes and families as the major hurricane approached Florida. (9/8)