October 1, 2017

We’ve Grossly Underestimated How Much Cow Farts Are Contributing to Global Warming (Source: Gizmodo)
A new NASA-sponsored study shows that global methane emissions produced by livestock are 11 percent higher than estimates made last decade. Because methane is a particularly nasty greenhouse gas, the new finding means it’s going to be even tougher to combat climate change than we realized.

We’ve known for quite some time that greenhouse gases produced by cattle, sheep, and pigs are a significant contributor to global warming, but the new research, published in Carbon Balance and Management, shows it’s worse than we thought. Revised figures of methane produced by livestock in 2011 were 11 percent higher than estimates made in 2006 by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)—a now out-of-date estimate. (9/29)

Hubble Spots Farthest-Ever Incoming Active Comet (Source: Space.com)
The Hubble Space Telescope captured a view of Comet C/2017 K2 (PANSTARRS), called K2 for short, as it came in from out beyond Saturn's orbit, 1.5 billion miles from the sun. As it approaches the sun and the temperature rises from minus 440 degrees Fahrenheit, the comet is developing a fluffy cloud of dust, called a coma, which surrounds its frozen body. While the comet's nucleus appears to be just 12 miles across, the coma stretches 10 times Earth's diameter. (9/29)

Can SpaceX Afford its New Mars Rocket — and Will There be a Market for It? (Source: The Verge)
Musk made one thing very clear: SpaceX’s future is the BFR. The company is no longer going to put resources into improving its current line of Falcon 9 vehicles or its bigger, next-generation Falcon Heavy. Instead, all of the company’s research and development resources will go into creating the new monster rocket. “He can now use those same now-proven people who have built flight hardware to now redesign the spacecraft,” said Charles Miller.

The revenue SpaceX currently receives from launching satellites and servicing the International Space Station will also go toward funding the development of the rocket, Musk said. Right now, business does seem to be good: SpaceX has a full manifest of customers, and the company significantly increased its launch frequency to 13 so far this year (up from eight last year). NASA is also paying SpaceX to send cargo, and soon astronauts, to the ISS.

Whether this is enough to fund the $10 billion development of a new rocket is unclear, though. And we’ll likely never know for sure. “The launch business is notoriously secretive in terms of prices,” Brian Weeden, a space expert at the Secure World Foundation, a nonprofit that specializes in space security, tells The Verge. “Plus, the price of launching a satellite depends on how much you’re willing to pay, where you want to go — it depends on a lot of stuff.” Click here. (9/30)

Army Concerned About Satcom Jamming (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Army is seeking congressional help to secure its satellite communications. Army leaders told a House Armed Services subcommittee that the ground system the service currently uses, called Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T), is susceptible to jamming. The Army is seeking to shift $545 million from WIN-T to alternative technologies, including commercial modems that can better protect against jamming. (9/28)

Europe Considers Sentinel Earth Observation Expansion (Source: BBC)
Europe is considering an expansion of the Sentinel Earth-observation program. The European Space Agency is considering six concepts for additional types of satellites that would be included in the Sentinel program, such as those that would monitor carbon dioxide emissions. A final decision would be made by ministers of ESA's member states in late 2019, with launches of the chosen satellites in the mid-2020s. The Sentinel program currently includes a series of satellites with radar, optical and other sensors to monitor the planet. (9/28)

ULA Gets $832 Million Contract Modification for Mission Assurance, Sustainment (Source: DOD)
United Launch Services, a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has been awarded an $832 million modification to a previously awarded U.S. defense contract for its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program. This contract provides mission assurance, program management, systems engineering, and integration of space vehicle with launch vehicle, launch site and range operations, and launch infrastructure maintenance and sustainment.

Space Travel the Next Frontier for Boeing's Muilenburg (Source: Post & Courier)
Commercial space travel, hypersonic aircraft and the ability to be anywhere in the world within two hours are among the technologies Boeing Co. expects to develop in the next few decades, the aerospace giant's top executive said this week.

Dennis Muilenburg, speaking during the Washington Ideas conference in the nation's capital, said the company that currently builds 787 Dreamliners in North Charleston is investing billions of dollars in a new generation of technology that will help bring to life inventions that were once the stuff of science fiction novels.

"Over the next decades, you'll see airplanes become more efficient, environmentally friendly and with better passenger comforts, but also higher-speed travel," said Muilenburg, Boeing's chairman, president and CEO. "The idea of hypersonic flight, six times the speed of sound or faster — think about it, a mile a second." (9/29)