January 2, 2018

NASA's NEOWISE Mission Finds Two Objects That Will Fly-By Earth Soon (Source: IB Times)
NASA's NEOWISE mission has recently discovered some celestial objects traveling through our neighborhood, but at a comfortable distance, giving space-nuts across the world the first taste of what the 2018 skies have to offer. The comet and asteroid-hunting division of NASA detected what they called 2016 WF9 and C/2016 U1 NEOWISE. The latter is the larger of the two space objects. It has a diameter between 0.3 to 0.6 miles and has low reflective qualities. (1/2)

First African-American Astronaut for Space Station Blasting Off in 2018 (Source: Laboratory Equipment)
The first African-American astronaut to join the crew of the International Space Station will blast off from Earth, and will spend months in orbit next year. Jeanette Epps, 46, will launch in May 2018 to be a flight engineer on Expedition 56, and will remain on board the ISS for Expedition 57, NASA announced last week.

Also on board will be Andrew Feustel, a veteran astronaut, who will take off in March 2018 to begin his posting as part of Expedition 55. “Each space station crew brings something different to the table, and Drew and Jeanette both have a lot to offer,” said Chris Cassidy, chief of the Johnson Space Center’s astronaut office. “The space station will benefit from having them on board.” (1/2)

Could TRAPPIST-1 Host Alien Life? Two Planets in the Star System Could Hold Onto Their Atmospheres (Source: Newsweek)
Arguably the most exciting star system studied this year—beyond our own, of course—could fulfill an important likely prerequisite for finding life beyond Earth, according to a new paper. The paper looks at what sort of atmosphere could surround each of the seven rocky, Earth-sized planets that orbit a star known as TRAPPIST-1.

An atmosphere is basically a giant gas blanket that can help protect a planet from the barrage of dangerous radiation that can otherwise come from a star. But stars also produce what astronomers call stellar wind, a blast of charged particles traveling as fast as 1000 miles per second, which can degrade that atmosphere. So the scientists behind the new paper decided to model what kind of stellar wind the TRAPPIST-1 star might produce and how it might affect its seven planets.

Three of those planets, TRAPPIST-1e, f, and g, are particularly intriguing to astronomers because they're located in what astronomers call the habitable zone. That's the ring around a star that is far enough away for water not to boil off a planet's surface, but close enough that liquid water could exist, not just ice. Both TRAPPIST-1g and h should be able to cling to their atmospheres despite the onslaught of stellar wind. That means TRAPPIST-1g, nestled in the habitable zone, may possess not one but two likely criteria for hosting alien life. (1/2)

A Physicist Pushes for Interstellar Travel (Source: APS)
As Solar Sail Principal Investigator for NASA’s Near Earth Asteroid Scout project, Les Johnson is currently working on developing and testing a solar sail that is slated to launch in 2019, the first interplanetary solar sail mission led by the United States (Japan launched a mission in 2010). Its destination will be an asteroid within the solar system known as 1991VG, thought to be a rocky world about 50 meters across circling the Sun in an Earth-like orbit. (1/1)

RFP: Commercial Space Vehicle Emissions Modeling (Source: TRB)
The Transportation Research Board's Airport Cooperative Research Board (ACRP) has released a request for proposals to develop a method to estimate emissions from commercial space vehicles. Commercial space vehicle operations generate emissions, yet there are no formal, standardized procedures for estimating these emissions, and very limited data. A method is needed to help practitioners estimate emissions in a consistent manner, and since the FAA’s Aviation Environmental Design Tool (AEDT) is the standard model for estimating airport-related emissions, it is desirable for a method to be compatible with AEDT. Proposals are due February 1, 2018. Click here. (1/1)

Relaunching Woomera (Source: The Age)
South Australia's Woomera Rocket Range had been lying idle for some 20 years until the Keating government decided to join the space race, hitching its star to German know-how and finance. In July 1994, cabinet gave the go-ahead to an agreement between Australia and West Germany for the recovery of a space capsule in the desert. The small, Russian-built spacecraft housed "Express", a project involving German and Japanese re-entry and micro-gravity experiments.

The Minister for Small Business, Customs and Construction told cabinet the project raised new business prospects for Woomera and would give local contacts about $750,000 worth of work originally and put Woomera under international attention as a space industry center. In January 1995, the $80 million, German capsule that was to have landed in Woomera after 5½ days in orbit crashed in the Pacific soon after launch from Japan.

That was not the end of it. The following April, cabinet decided to freeze funding for the National Space Program, including the Australian Space Office. The program had been running since 1986, but the Keating government was looking for savings and space was an easy hit. (1/1)

NASA May Send a Drone to Titan in 2025 (Source: Air & Space Magazine)
Johns Hopkins researcher Elizabeth “Zibi” Turtle already had the coolest name in planetary science. Now she has the coolest mission, too. Almost has, we should say. Today NASA picked her Dragonfly Titan lander as one of two projects with a chance to launch under the agency’s New Horizons program in 2025 (the competition is a sample return mission to the same comet Rosetta visited in 2014).

Only one of these concepts will be selected for funding in 2019 (with a cost cap of $850 million), but I can tell you which one I’d choose, even before the detailed tradeoffs are done. Click here. (12/20) https://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/nasa-may-send-drone-titan-2025-180967612/

2018 May (Almost) be the Year for Commercial Human Suborbital Spaceflight (Source: Space Review)
After years of delays, two companies are edging closer to flights of commercial suborbital vehicles carrying people. Jeff Foust reports on those companies’ progress and the effect they will have on the suborbital research field. Click here. (1/2)
 
Will 2018 be a Step Forward or a Step Back for SpaceX? (Source: Space Review)
Last year was perhaps the most successful in the history of SpaceX, but what will the company do for an encore in 2018? A.J. Mackenzie argues that the company faces new risks in 2018 with the introduction of new vehicles, among other challenges. Click here. (1/2) 
 
Next Christmas in the Kuiper Belt (Source: Space Review)
Next New Year’s Day, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft will make a close flyby of a small object, or objects, in the Kuiper Belt. Jeff Foust previews the science, and the technical challenges, of the flyby. Click here. (1/2) 
 
Why the US Should Notify the Public of All Satellite Reentries (Source: Space Review)
A year ago, a classified US satellite reentered over the South Pacific without any advance warning or other notice by US government agencies. Charles Phillips discusses why, for safety’s sake, the government should provide a warning of such reentries without disclosing the satellite’s mission. Click here. (1/2)

The Immensity of the Universe, and Our Place In It (Source: SyFy)
I suspect that if you asked most people, they could identify what a lot of basic astronomical objects are. Moons, planets, asteroids, stars. Fewer, maybe, could give you a good definition of galaxy — I see it misused a lot to mean solar system —  but that's OK; it's not like you run across a galaxy every day (well, besides the fact that you live in one).

But that means that even fewer people know that galaxies tend not to go through the Universe solo. Lots of them live together in gigantic groups called clusters, and some of these clusters are big. Like, really big. Click here. (1/1)

World View Stratollite Balloons Planned for 2018 (Source: Space News)
World View is planning for an active 2018 for its high-altitude "stratollite" balloons despite a recent testing incident. Speaking at a conference last month, the company's CEO said the company has a "really full" manifest of flights of its stratospheric balloons, which the company argues combine the best aspects of satellites and drones. The company is still investigating an incident at its Tucson, Arizona, headquarters last month where a balloon, reportedly filled with hydrogen gas, burst and caused minor damage to neighboring homes and businesses. The company said it does not have any current plans to use hydrogen in ground testing or flights from its Tucson facility. (1/1)

India's PSLV Return to Flight Set for Jan. 10 (Source: PTI)
The return to flight of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) is now scheduled for Jan. 10. The launch, of a Cartosat-2 remote sensing satellite and 30 secondary payloads, will be the first for the PSLV since an August launch where the rocket's payload fairing failed to separate. A review by the Mission Readiness Review committee and Launch Authorization Board will take place "soon" to confirm the launch date, a space agency official said. (1/1)

Israeli Cubesats Formation Flight Test Planned (Source: Jerusalem Post)
An Israeli university plans to carry out the first test of formation flying involving cubesats late this year. Three 6U cubesats being developed at Technion-Israel Institute of Technology are scheduled for launch in late 2018 on a PSLV rocket. The satellites will test the ability to fly in formation for a year through the use of small thrusters and atmospheric drag. The mission is supported by the Israeli Space Agency and a private foundation. (1/1)

With Crew Dragon Processing, SpaceX Footprint Expands at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Florida Today)
In a sign that astronaut launches from Florida are growing nearer, SpaceX recently leased an Air Force facility where it will prepare Dragon capsules to fly crews to the International Space Station. The 45th Space Wing said work on the capsule called Crew Dragon or Dragon 2 would take place in Area 59, a former satellite processing facility on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The Air Force in 2014 announced plans to close the facility as a cost-saving measure and potentially make it available for commercial use.

Overall, Monteith said the Air Force has now leased or licensed over one million square feet of facilities to the commercial sector through the Commercial Space Launch Act. “Another way that we are breaking down barriers and removing impediments to the growth of the commercial industry,” he said. “At the end of the day, it also benefits the taxpayer.”

NASA also has transferred numerous former shuttle facilities to commercial tenants or government agencies such as the Air Force or Space Florida. They include the lease of historic launch pad 39A to SpaceX, where Falcon 9 rockets are slated to launch the crew-carrying Dragons on their way to the ISS. (1/1)

Ukraine’s Lofty Ambitions, Fallen to Earth (Source: New York Times)
Ukraine was once a vital part of the Soviet space program, home to many research institutes and rocket factories. Now, wracked by war and shaken by political upheaval, the nation struggles to hold on to its scientific traditions. On a recent visit, I was struck by the determination of researchers stripped of the resources taken for granted in the West. The biologist still tending a jar filled with bacteria once destined for space. The retiree holding together a small astronomy museum in Kiev with spare parts and pluck. Click here. (1/1)

Scobee Center Reveals the Beauty of the Heavens, the Excitement of Space Travel (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
The Scobee Education Center on the campus of San Antonio College gives local students and others an astronaut’s-eye-view of the excitement of space travel and the beauty of the universe. It’s named for the Space Shuttle commander who died in the 1986 Challenger explosion and his wife, who has carried on the mission to promote space-science education.

Both Francis Richard “Dick” Scobee and June Scobee Rodgers attended San Antonio College in the early 1960s. After he died, she and other surviving family members of the shuttle crew got together to continue the Teacher in Space mission by creating the Challenger Center for Space Science Education. The nonprofit organization promotes scientific literacy and prepares students for success in what today is known as STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). (1/1)

If We Can Put a Man on the Moon, Why Can’t We Put a Man on the Moon? (Source: Wall Street Journal)
NASA’s current plans for returning astronauts to the moon aren’t affordable and likely won’t produce sustainable, long-term economic benefits, according to an independent research study commissioned by the agency. Released last month without publicity, the report advocates using asteroids to produce fuel outside the atmosphere for both robotic and manned missions, in what would be the most extensive public-private cooperation in the history of space exploration. (1/1)

Looking Ahead: Space Missions for 2018 (Source: Sky & Telescope)
Yesterday's launch of a Zenit-3F rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan carried AngoSat, Angola's first communications satellite — unremarkable but for marking the last of 85 scheduled launches in 2017. No new planetary missions departed Earth in 2017, but Juno continued to explore Jupiter, Cassini wrapped up its mission at Saturn in a dramatic Grand Finale, and the current U.S. administration pivoted the focus of NASA's human space exploration once again.

A mission roll call for 2018 reads a lot like our list of space exploration and science missions to watch in 2017, as some launch windows slipped into the next calendar year. But that's space exploration for you. Here are space and science exploration missions to watch for in 2018. Click here. (1/1)

China Plans Giant Constellations of Tiny Satellites (Source: Aviation Week)
China is investing in new large satellite constellations for both commercial and military benefit. By 2022, two Chinese companies alone could account for more than 700 new high-resolution micro- and nano-satellites.  While serving to enhance the resilience of China’s space operations, these constellations also engage new players in the pursuit of the Chinese policy of civil-military integration. These include new “private” companies connected to the People’s Liberation Army. (1/2)

Orbital ATK's Purchase of French Propellant Stirs Controversy With US Provider (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Orbital ATK is enmeshed in a dispute with government officials about foreign purchases of solid propellant. The company purchased several thousand tons of ammonium perchlorate from a French company at a lower price than the sole U.S. provider, American Pacific, to see if it is suitable for use in missiles and launch vehicles. That move has been criticized by some White House officials, who believe it damages the overall defense industrial base. American Pacific argues it needs multiyear purchase guarantees to operate efficiently, and has the support of Scott Pace, executive secretary of the National Space Council. Orbital ATK, meanwhile, is studying developing its own ammonium perchlorate plant for long-term savings. (1/1)