October 2, 2017

Why is NASA Checking Out This Asteroid? (Source: KQED)
On September 22, a spaceship visited Earth—NASA can confirm that it wasn’t alien property. It was NASA’s own OSIRIS-REx probe, swinging by Earth in a gravitational “slingshot” maneuver designed to fling it toward a 2018 rendezvous with an asteroid named Bennu. The spacecraft will become NASA’s first mission ever to visit an asteroid, collect samples of its ancient materials, and return them to Earth for laboratory analysis. Click here. (9/29)

NASA Wants to Know Cost of Space Solar Power (Source: Discover)
Harnessing the sun’s energy with orbital space power stations and beaming the power to Earth has been a science fiction dream ever since Isaac Asimov wrote a 1941 short story called “Reason.” But the idea has never quite gotten off the ground despite decades of intermittent interest and research for the United States and other countries. NASA hopes to keep the idea going by funding a one-year study of how much it would cost to make commercially viable space-based solar power into a reality.

The new space solar power study by the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado is one of five research projects chosen by NASA to examine new opportunities for commercial development in space. In this case, the research will consider the government regulations and private investments needed to establish space solar power stations that could beam power to Earth-based collecting stations. But it will also examine how space solar power could support robotic mining operations on the moon or asteroids–a stepping stone toward enabling long-term human space exploration and possible colonization of the solar system beyond Earth. (9/30)

Secret NASA Report 'Recommended All-Female Mars Missions' After Studying Astronauts' Sexual Dynamics (Source: Independent)
NASA secretly considered all-female missions to Mars in a report examining sexual dynamics among astronauts, it has been claimed. The paper showed the space agency had considered enforcing a strict gender divide on potential long-haul missions, according to astronaut Helen Sharman. Britain’s first person in space said the rumored document, filed “some years ago”, was designed to address the “impure thoughts” mixed spacefaring crews might suffer.

The document’s age could explain its apparent lack of consideration of same-sex attraction. “It found that the crew should be the same gender – all men or all women.” All-female crews would have been better than all-male, the report is said to have concluded, due to women's superior cooperation skills. (9/29)

UAE Plans for "Mars Science City" (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
A new project to build a Mars Science City in the United Arab Emirates was unveiled during annual government meetings on Sept. 26, 2017, in Abu Dhabi. The ambitious $136 million (AED 500 million) project was launched by Vice President Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum and Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan. The goal is to inspire youth to pursue careers in science and engineering as the UAE continues to position itself as an emerging player in space exploration. (10/1)

Ariane 5 Launches Satellites After Recent Last-Second Scrub (Source: Space News)
An Ariane 5 successfully launched two communications satellites Friday, three weeks after a last-second scrub. The Ariane 5 lifted off from Kourou, French Guiana at 5:56 p.m. Eastern and placed the Intelsat-37e and Bsat-4a satellites into their planned geostationary transfer orbit. The launch was previously scheduled for Sept. 6, but a problem with one of the rocket's two solid-fuel boosters aborted the launch. Boeing-built Intelsat-37e is the latest in Intelsat's Epic fleet of high-throughput satellites, while SSL-built Bsat-4a will provide direct-to-home television services for Japanese operator BSAT. (10/2)

MDA Close to Finalizing DigitalGlobe Acquisition (Source: Space News)
MDA is about to finalize its acquisition of DigitalGlobe. The companies said late last week that they expect the deal to close this week, after the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States found no unresolved national security issues regarding the deal. The companies announced the $2.4 billion deal in February. (10/2)

UAE Plans Human Spaceflight Program (Source: Space News)
The United Arab Emirates plans to establish its own human spaceflight program. Officials with the UAE Space Agency said at the International Astronautical Congress last week that they will soon start the process of selecting four to six people for a national astronaut corps.The first UAE astronaut is expected to fly by 2021. The country plans to partner with other countries for flights into space, which officials said will be part of a broader scientific program. (10/2)

World View Launches Balloon From Arizona (Source: Arizona Daily Star)
World View has launched its first high-altitude balloon from "Spaceport Tucson" in Arizona. The launch of the experimental "stratollite" took place from a pad built next to World View's new headquarters adjacent to the Tucson airport. The pad is a key part of the company's plans to develop and fly the stratospheric balloons which can carry out some of the same missions as satellites, including imaging and communications. (10/2)

Japan Delays Next Epsilon Rocket Launch (Source: JAXA)
Japan has postponed the launch next month of a small launch vehicle. The agency said that the Epsilon launch of the Advanced Small-size Radar Satellite, or ASNARO-2, that was scheduled for Nov. 12 would be postponed because of an incompatibility found in the electrical system of the rocket. A new launch date has not been announced. The launch will be the third for the Epsilon, designed for small payloads. (10/2)

Canada Considers Robot Arms for Deep Space Gateway (Source: Canadian Press)
Canada is studying developing robotic arms to support the proposed Deep Space Gateway. The Canadian Space Agency awarded a contract to MDA to study concepts for robotic arms for use on that cislunar outpost, building upon the country's expertise with the shuttle and station robotic arms. The Deep Space Gateway remains just a concept being studied by NASA, with potential opportunities for international cooperation. (10/2)

Fourth "Indie Galactic Space Jam" Links Gamer Talent to Space Workforce in Florida (Source: IGSJ)
Sep. 28 - Oct. 1 marked the 4th ever Indie Galactic Space Jam in Orlando. This year provided additional fun challenges, better resources and greater opportunity for talent exposure and an amazing crop of speakers from both the Space and Video Game industry. The event allowed gamer/coders to to build something extraordinary with talented peers from all over Central Florida.

Everyone was welcome to participate throughout the 48-hour Jam, including artists, programmers, game designers, UI & UX designers, sound designers, writers, poets, interpretive dancers, people excited about games, people excited about space, and people who like to eat pizza. Click here. (10/2)

Did Dark Matter Cause Early Supermassive Black Holes? (Source: Cosmos)
The earliest gigantic black holes in the universe were seeded by dark matter. Ancient supermassive black holes that existed less than a billion years after the Big Bang have long presented a puzzle: how did they get so big so fast? A solution may be at hand. How fast a black hole can grow depends on how big it already is. This poses a problem: if it should take more than a billion years to grow a black hole with 10 billion times the mass of the Sun, how come we see such black holes when the universe itself was less than a billion years old?

Some proposals have suggested that they formed from the remnants of the earliest stars, or directly from the collapse of large clouds of gas, or even from the collisions of smaller black holes. These proposals have difficulty achieving the required black hole mass, or require very particular conditions. Another idea is that such massive black holes must have grown from seed black holes that were themselves extremely large. But this only kicks the question further down the road. Where did the large seed black holes come from?

According to Hirano’s team, fast relative motion between gas and dark matter may have prevented the formation of stars in some places in the early universe. In these places, dark matter would clump together until it was large enough for its gravity to draw in streams of supersonic gas created by the Big Bang, forming a dense cloud of turbulent gas. (10/2)

Welcome Mat for Aliens Unveiled in Australia (Source: Guardian)
The planet’s first cosmic welcome mat – here to welcome extraterrestrial life to the Adelaide Convention Center and the 68th International Astronautical Conference – seems comically small and slightly askew. It’s not that the mat itself is small: it’s standard doormat size, perhaps a bit larger. But conference venue entrances are built to compensate for masses of foot traffic, and it’s here that the mat finds itself: between the oversized doors and the oversized floor sticker covered in sponsor branding, welcoming delegates to the conference.

But then again: who is to say how big the aliens who could be joining us in Adelaide are? Perhaps they will be tiny. This welcome mat could be huge. The mat is an art project from experimental philosopher Jonathon Keats and space archeologist Alice Gorman, and in the context of the IAC it’s hard to know what to make of it. Most people seem to make nothing of it at all, walking determinedly through the doors towards the exhibition hall. (10/2)

Musk's Dazzling Mars Plan Overlooks Some Big Nontechnical Hurdles (Source: The Conversation)
Between here and success, Musk and SpaceX will need to traverse an unbelievably complex risk landscape. Many will be technical. The rocket that’s going to take Musk’s colonizers to Mars hasn’t even been built yet. No one knows what hidden hurdles will emerge as testing begins. Musk does have a habit of successfully solving complex engineering problems though; and despite the mountainous technical challenges SpaceX faces, there’s a fair chance they’ll succeed.

As a scholar of risk innovation, what I’m not sure about is how SpaceX will handle some of the less obvious social and political hurdles they face. To give Elon Musk a bit of a head start, here are some of the obstacles I think he should have on his mission-to-Mars checklist. Click here. (10/2)

SR-72 Hypersonic Drone Might Have Already Been Tested by Skunk Works (Source: IBT)
Lockheed Martin's SR-72 might have already reached the testing phase and could be arriving a lot sooner than expected. There has been a lot of talk about the US developing hypersonic drones and weapons by 2040, but reports suggest that flights and tests have already begun.

Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works division is developing the plane, which is touted to bring in the "hypersonic revolution". It will replace the iconic SR-71 Blackbird, which was retired by the US Air Force in 1998. The SR-72 is likely to serve as a reconnaissance and strike aircraft that can reach speeds of up to Mach 6 – six times the speed of sound, or approximately 7,409 mph. According to the report, a small demonstrator aircraft was spotted landing at Skunk Works' grounds in California, which is believed to be closely associated with the SR-72 project. (10/1)