January 3, 2018

From 'Flags and Footprints' to Having a Routine Presence in Space (Source: The Hill)
“One mission, one destination” is the typical strategic mindset common to NASA’s science and human exploration missions, which results in developing required capabilities from scratch (e.g. SkyCrane) or looking at reusing existing technologies for other mission uses with minimal design change (heritage technology is preferred assuming that it drives down mission costs, a fact not always true, especially if such capabilities do not exist anymore — e.g. Orion TPS).

While science missions are largely competitive and outcome focused, human missions start by establishing a destination — the political choice of Moon or Mars — often becoming a solution in search of a problem. Since the Apollo era, the overall result of this “swing” approach has basically resulted in “grounding” the human space program, negatively affecting the morale of the working force, and making many feel that it is little more than a job welfare program.

To achieve a sustainable presence in space with commercial and international partners allowing both human and robotic exploration (as Space Policy Directive – 1 outlines), NASA’s new focus should be on development, deployment, and maintenance of: 1) Multipurpose mission concepts; and 2) A robust space-based infrastructure. Click here. (1/2)

War in Space: Not What You Think (Source: Space News)
War in space is real, but it's nothing like what's depicted in science fiction. What is taking place in space is electronic warfare, such as jamming communications and navigation signals. As a result there is a real conversation under way about war in space, albeit one of cyber and electromagnetic attacks, not spaceships shooting at each other. "Counterspace is now part of conventional warfare because space itself is part of conventional warfare," said one expert during an online discussion about space warfare last month. (1/2)

China Aims for 35 Launches in 2018 (Source: GB Times)
China has ambitious launch plans for 2018 that could result in shattering the country's record for the the most launches in a year. At a conference Tuesday, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation announced its "work model" for 2018 called for 35 launches in the year, including two launches to support the Chang'e-4 mission to land on the far side of the moon and the return to flight of the heavy-lift Long March 5 rocket. Launches planned by private Chinese ventures not included in that assessment could bring the total number of launches to more than 40. China carried out 18 launches in 2017, and its record for the most launches in a year is 22, set in 2016. (1/2)

ISS Needs Transition Plan for Research (Source: Space News)
As utilization of the International Space Station reaches a peak, a study recommends NASA develop a transition plan for that research. The midterm review of the life and physical sciences in space decadal survey, released last month, said it was "essential" that NASA develop a transition plan for ISS research after 2024, the current end date for station operations. NASA is required by a law passed last year to develop an overall transition plan, which was due to Congress last month but is still reportedly in development. The report also recommended the use of alternative platforms, from terrestrial labs to suborbital vehicles, to carry out related research. (1/2)

Thai Startup Raises $9M for Satellite Venture (Source: Deal Street Asia)
A startup space company in Thailand is planning to raise more than $9 million this year. The funds raised by mu Space Corp. will go towards business development and expansion to support work on its first communications satellite. The company, which started with $3 million last year, plans to launch that satellite in 2021 on Blue Origin's New Glenn rocket. (1/2)

North Korea Finishes Advanced Recon Satellite (Source: Space Daily)
South Korean newspapers have reported that their neighbor to the north has completed development of a new reconnaissance satellite, the first that will enable North Korea to transmit data to Earth. JoongAng Ilbo, a Seoul daily newspaper and one of the nation's largest, reported that an anonymous South Korean government source told them about the impending launch of the new satellite, which has the capability to deploy from a mobile launcher.

The satellite has been named Kwangmyongsong-5, the Korean word for "Lode Star," a reference to the star that apparently shone across the sky on the day of the birth of the late North Korean leader Kim Jong-il. As the name suggests, it is the fifth in a series of observation satellites that North Korea claims are meant for weather forecasting. (12/29)

UK Searches for Domestic Space Entrepreneurs (Source: Space Daily)
The UK Space Agency is offering young people expert advice for their ideas of how satellites could improve life on Earth and a share of a 50,000 pounds prize, in a competition launching today (Tuesday 2 January). The SatelLife Challenge, now in its second year, is looking for innovative proposals from those aged 11 to 22 which have the potential to use data collected from space to benefit our economy, health or the environment.

Ideas from last year's competition ranged from solutions to help increase the survival rate of heart attack victims by using GPS trackers in fitness devices, to an app that warns people about impending natural disasters, guides them safely away and alerts emergency services. (1/2)

Japan Launches Super-Low-Orbit Satellite to Test Ion Engines (Source: New Scientist)
A satellite designed to orbit the earth at the lowest altitude ever has been successfully launched by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). The 400-kilogram satellite – known as Tsubame – will be used to take high-resolution images of Earth and measure oxygen levels. If successful, it may pave the way for more super-low-orbit satellites that are easier and cheaper to launch.

Tsubame initially began orbiting at an altitude of 480 kilometres, but will be gradually lowered over the next two years to test how far it can go. It is being driven by a highly fuel-efficient ion engine powered by electricity and xenon gas that JAXA hopes will help withstand atmospheric drag. The satellite was launched from Tanegashima Space Centre in Kagoshima Prefecture at 10:26 on the morning of December 23. The following day, it sent out signals confirming that everything was working. (1/2)

Report Calls for ISS Research Transition Plan and Use of Alternative Platforms (Source: Space News)
With utilization of the International Space Station reaching a maximum, and with its long-term future uncertain, a recent report recommends that NASA develop transition plans and make use of alternative platforms, including commercial vehicles, to carry out critical microgravity research.

The midterm assessment of the 2011 decadal survey on life and physical sciences research at NASA, released by a committee of the National Academies Dec. 15, supported efforts by NASA to increase research on the ISS, but warned the agency needed to act soon to develop a transition plan for such research after 2024. Click here. (1/2)

Astronauts Identify Mystery Microbes in Space for the 1st Time (Source: Space.com)
NASA astronauts successfully sequenced the DNA of microbes found aboard the International Space Station, marking the first time unknown organisms were sequenced and identified entirely in space. Previously, microbes had to be sent to Earth for analysis, and this new sequencing marks an important step in diagnosing astronaut illnesses and, someday, identifying any DNA-based life found on other planets, NASA officials said in a statement. Researchers back on Earth have now verified the microbe identifications are correct, marking the experiment a success. (1/2)

NASA 2018 To-Do List: Land on Mars, Bring Space Rock Home, Touch the Sun and More (Source: Newsweek)
Plenty of people like to spend the last few days of an old year planning what they'd like to accomplish in the new one. But typically, that list isn't quite as ambitious as the video to-do list NASA has released recounting its 2018 plans. The video details 18 launches, projects and goals that the agency wants to focus on this year.

Some of the highlights are launches you may already have heard about. The Mars Insight lander is due to launch in May and land in time to celebrate Thanksgiving on the Red Planet. Once it arrives, it will spend its time studying the interior of Mars, including tracking so-called "Marsquakes," which could tell planetary geologists what the inside of the planet is made of. And Mars Insight won't just teach us about Mars—learning more about the Red Planet's formation will also tell us more about Earth's early days.

Another 2018 highlight project is already flying to its destination: the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft, which launched in 2016 and is bound for an asteroid called Bennu. It's due to arrive in August, when it will carefully snag a piece of the space rock to bring home to Earth for scientists to study. Click here. (1/2)

Mystery Solved? Gravity Waves Behind Jupiter's Weird Switching Jet Stream (Source: Space.com)
The mystery of Jupiter's strangely switching jet stream may have just been solved. Gravity waves are likely causing Jupiter's jet stream to change direction, a new study suggests. The new results could reveal information not just about clouds in the atmospheres of planets in our own solar system, but also about those moving above the surfaces of alien worlds, researchers said. (1/2)

Sue Finley is the Longest Serving Woman at NASA and She Has No Plans to Stop (Source: KPCC)
No matter how complex or convoluted a formula may be, math problems always have answers. That’s what’s kept Sue Finley engaged through six decades of space exploration. This month Finley completes her 60th year at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, making her the longest serving woman at NASA. She started two days before Explorer 1 launched in 1958. (1/2)

NASA-Led Study Solves a Methane Puzzle (Source: JPL)
A new NASA-led study has solved a puzzle involving the recent rise in atmospheric methane, a potent greenhouse gas, with a new calculation of emissions from global fires. The new study resolves what looked like irreconcilable differences in explanations for the increase.

Methane emissions have been rising sharply since 2006. Different research teams have produced viable estimates for two known sources of the increase: emissions from the oil and gas industry, and microbial production in wet tropical environments like marshes and rice paddies. But when these estimates were added to estimates of other sources, the sum was considerably more than the observed increase. In fact, each new estimate was large enough to explain the whole increase by itself. (1/2)

Sea Launch--Still in California--Posts Return-to-Flight Manifest, Without Customers Listed (Source: Russian Space Web)
A Sea Launch flight manifest was posted without much fanfare on the Russian-language version of the corporate web site for the Sea Launch venture, apparently, shortly after the successful campaign to launch the Zenit rocket with the Angosat-1 satellite on Dec. 26, 2017. Although the schedule detailed all the launch dates with accuracy to a month, it listed no customers or their payloads to be carried during any of these missions.

It was unclear, whether Sea Launch was in negotiations with any potential riders at the time. The description accompanying the schedule also said that the permanent office of the S7 company had been established at the home port of the Sea Launch vessels in Long Beach, California, to handle the tasks of re-activating the facility and resuming launch operations. Based on estimates from a monitoring group, the complex would be ready for operations in 2018, the S7 Group said.

The company also announced that the Russian firms RKK Energia, Roskosmos State Corporation and the Ukraine-based Zenit manufacturer Yuzhmash would be partners in Sea Launch, which would be managed from Moscow by the S7 KTS company, also known as S7 Space. (1/2)

SpaceX Ruled Roost in 2017, Boosting U.S. to No. 1 in Global Launches (Source: Parabolic Arc)
SpaceX had a banner year in 2017, launching a record 18 times and helping to propel the United States to the top of the global launch table with a perfect 29-0 record. The U.S. total made up 32.2 percent of 90 orbital launches worldwide, which was an increase over the 85 flights conducted in 2016.

The 29 American launches were a leap of seven over the 22 flights conducted the previous year. This is the highest number of American orbital launches since the 31 flights undertaken in 1999. However, that year the nation’s launch providers suffered four failures whereas they were perfect in 2017. Click here. (1/2) 

Market Innovation Driving CubeSats into the Mainstream (Source: Satellite Today)
Some of the world’s most exciting space developments are occurring in a small form factor: CubeSats. Backed by strong commercial funding and more launch availability, CubeSats are no longer just the domain of academic learning experiments; they are becoming core to government and commercial missions. The era of CubeSat 2.0 has arrived. Click here. (1/2)

India: Making Life Thrive on Mars (Source: Deccan Herald)
For Indian space scientists who are planning a second, and more ambitious, outing, to Mars in 2020, including tests of the Martian soil by a lander, the results of an experiment at Wageningen University & Research Center in The Netherlands, could well prove to be like manna from heaven. For one, the experiment carried out by Dr G.W.W. Wamelink, a senior ecologist, has thrown up a surprise arrival of two offspring of the earthworm in Mars’ soil stimulant — signifying reproduction in alien mud — and the possibility of these earthworms making the loam more fertile for growth of all types of plants. (1/2)

China Wants to Grow Plants and Insects on the Moon (Source: IB Times)
China is set to launch a pair of lunar missions in 2018 that will help it achieve something that no other country has so far been able to pull off: Land on the far side of the moon. The missions, known collectively as Chang'e 4, are the country's latest in a string of space breakthroughs over the past few years. The first of the lunar missions is scheduled to be launched in June when a Long March 4C rocket will carry a 425kg relay satellite and station it about 60,000km behind the moon, providing a communications link between Earth and the lunar far side.

Once the link is successfully established, China will launch the second mission to send a lander and rover to the far side of the moon. A safe landing on the unexplored region on the moon is expected to be achieved with the help of timely guidance by the satellite. Other than equipment to study the geological conditions of the region, the Chang'e 4 lander will also carry a container filled with seeds and insects. The container, which will be made from aluminium alloy, will demonstrate the growing process of plants and animals on the moon.

"The container will send potatoes, arabidopsis seeds and silkworm eggs to the surface of the moon. The eggs will hatch into silkworms, which can produce carbon dioxide, while the potatoes and seeds emit oxygen through photosynthesis. Together, they can establish a simple ecosystem on the moon," said Zhang Yuanxun, chief designer of the container. The container will be equipped with a layer of insulation to protect its contents from extreme temperatures. It will also be fitted with light pipes to ensure the growth of the plants and insects inside, while specially-designed batteries with high energy density will also be installed to provide a consistent energy supply. (1/2)

Expanding Beyond Earth: Others Seek To Lead While We Drag Our Feet (Source: NASA Watch)
While NASA drags its feet with regard to the notion of establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon and/or Mars, nations like China and India are wasting no time taking the lead. What is it about the Moon and Mars that excites these (and other) nations so much? Why can't we make up our mind where/how/when to go - and then stay focused on a plan? Meanwhile we happily build huge expensive rockets that are chronically late with no money for payloads to fly on them. (1/2)