March 2, 2018

Private Space Exploration Could Help Make America Great Again (Source: National Review)
President Trump should continue to encourage the promising efforts of SpaceX and other private companies. History is replete with examples of great nations sliding slowly into decline. Six hundred years ago, Ming Dynasty China sent Admiral Zheng He on seven voyages throughout the western Pacific and Indian Ocean to explore, collect tribute, and expand trade. Zheng’s ships were massive and state-of-the-art: 400 feet long, 170 feet wide, powered by nine masts. His voyages were a huge success. But after his death, subsequent generations sought to minimize his accomplishments. China’s focus turned inward, its energy was expended on building the Great Wall, and it started to decline.  

Great nations do great things, but when they stop challenging themselves, their greatness tends to recede into historical memory. As Americans stood on the surface of the moon, their government decided to cancel the final three lunar missions, Apollos 18, 19, and 20, in order to shift NASA’s focus to the earth-orbiting Skylab space station and then to the Space Shuttle. For the past 45 years, the United States has been effectively locked in low-Earth orbit and does not presently even have the capability to launch its own astronauts into space.

Great nations do great things, until they don’t and cease to be great. Today America, under the leadership of President Trump, faces a choice. It must decide if is satisfied to have made those first nine voyages and six landings on the moon, or if it wants to reverse the mediocrity that followed by creating a regulatory environment that incentivizes the emerging space economy. Our private sector has shown the potential to do great things in space. We should be behind its efforts every step of the way. (3/2)

When Will We Colonize Mars? NASA Timeline for Sending Humans in 2030s (Source: Business Insider)
NASA may say an early goodbye to the International Space Station (ISS) in order to kick-start missions to Mars. The Trump administration's priorities for NASA, outlined in the proposed 2019 budget, suggest a hard, early cutoff for funding the ISS. The budget would also halt work on a high-end next-generation telescope and gut NASA's $100 million dollar education program.

It's all with an eye toward the administration's ultimate goal of getting humans to Mars by the 2030s. That's a vision former President Obama shared, but his ideas for what to do at the space agency in the meantime focused more on exploring asteroids and previously undiscovered corners of the solar system, not putting people back on the moon, which Trump wants to do soon. Click here. (3/1)

In Response to Trump Budget, NASA Ending Separate Technology Plan (Source: Ars Technica)
Even though Congress has yet to consider President Trump’s new NASA budget, the agency is already moving swiftly to implement some of its core principles. Among those is a White House desire to end a separate program within the agency focused on the development of advanced new spaceflight technologies intended to keep NASA at the cutting edge. A similar situation occurred during the 2000s when NASA formulated the Constellation Program. Because of vast funding needs for the Ares rockets and a spacecraft that became Orion, NASA cannibalized technology research to pay for hardware.

With an annual budget that has varied between $500 million and $1 billion, the Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) develops the kinds of technology NASA needs to explore deeper into space, such as advanced propulsion and power systems, in-space manufacturing, and new means of landing on far-off worlds. If humans really were to expand beyond low-Earth orbit, R&D of this type was deemed critical. But Trump's plan is to realign the space technology program by folding it into NASA’s “Exploration” program, which is managing development of deep space hardware Congress has directed the space agency to build—the Space Launch System rocket, Orion spacecraft, and ground systems at Kennedy Space Center.

This “restructuring” is already happening. Some former space technology officials have begun sounding the alarm about these changes being made without oversight from Congress. “Disastrous news!” tweeted Mason Peck. He served as the space agency’s chief technologist earlier this decade. “NASA is already dismantling STMD even though the President's budget is only a month old. Don't give up. We need Space Technology if we want NASA to have a bold future. I hope Congress will reject this gutting of NASA's technology investments.” (3/2)

White House Stance on Metal Tariffs Rocks Aerospace Markets (Source: Reuters)
A White House call for tariffs on aluminum and steel imports drove stock prices lower this week. Remy Nathan, vice president for international affairs at the Aerospace Industries Association, said retaliation and higher costs could hit exports and affect global supply chains, having a negative impact on the aerospace and defense industries' trade, which had an $86 billion surplus last year. (3/1)

Putin Boasts Military Might with Animation of Florida Nuke Strike (Source: CNN)
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Thursday used a concept video of unlimited range nuclear warheads apparently raining down on Florida -- President Donald Trump's home away from home -- to tout his country's new firepower. Putin boasted about the Kremlin's resurgent military might during his annual address to his nation's Parliament, hyping weaponry that he said would render NATO defenses "completely useless."

Putin, who is up for re-election March 18, used Thursday's speech to showcase his country's strides in military technology. "Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential in the world, but nobody listened to us," he said. "Listen now."

To drive home his point, Putin spoke as a video showed multiple nuclear warheads streaking through space before showering down on what appears to be the outline of the state of Florida. "But even this is not the end," Putin said. "We've developed new strategic weapons that don't use ballistic trajectory at all, which means that missile defense will be useless against it." (3/1)

Experts Aghast At Russian Claim Of Nuclear-Powered Missile With Unlimited Range (Source: NPR)
In his annual state of the nation address on Thursday, Russian President Vladimir Putin unveiled a nuclear-powered, nuclear-armed cruise missile that he claimed could fly indefinitely and deliver a warhead to any point on the earth's surface. The weapon seems so fantastical that some analysts simply didn't believe the initial reports of the missile that appeared on social media early Thursday.

"I had my doubts," says Pavel Podvig, who runs the Russian Strategic Nuclear Forces blog. Podvig thought that perhaps something was lost in translation. But after watching the speech for himself on YouTube, he realized Putin had really made the claim: "Apparently, that's what he said."

According to Putin's prepared remarks to the Russian Federal Assembly, he said that "in late 2017, Russia successfully launched its latest nuclear-powered missile at the Central training ground. During its flight, the nuclear-powered engine reached its design capacity and provided the necessary propulsion." (3/2)

Russian Experts: "You Cannot Put a Nuclear Engine on a Cruise Missile" (Source: The Insider)
"I read quotes from Putin's statement. There is some confusion: such things are impossible, and are not needed in general. You can not put a nuclear engine on a cruise missile. And there are no such engines. There is one such megawatt-class engine in development, but it is a spacecraft and, of course, no tests could be carried out in 2017 - well, if in 2027 such an installation will be tested.

"To say 'hindsight' that last year tests were carried out ... And where are the decades of study? There have been some similar developments in the Soviet Union, but all ideas to put nuclear engines on air, not space vehicles - airplanes, cruise missiles - were dropped in the 50s of the last century," Moiseev said. (3/2)

More Hype? Russian Engineers Finish Work on Laser Capable of Shooting Down Enemy Satellites (Source: Space Daily)
An informed source told Russian media that the new laser weapon was developed with the help of know-how accumulated by the Beriev A-60 airborne laser laboratory. "An evolution of this system has taken place; the completed work will allow us to make a step forward in the creation of such aircraft," the source said, speaking on condition of anonymity. (2/28)

Astranis Startup Plans GEO Constellation (Sources: Fast Company, VentureBeat)
With $18 million in funding from Andreessen Horowitz in hand, Astranis is pursuing an approach it believes has never been tried before: inexpensive, small geostationary satellites that can each have 10 gigabytes per second of capacity for covering an area the size of a small- or even mid-sized country. Although Gedmark, previously the cofounder and executive director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, certainly hopes his company can help bring broadband to people in the third world who will benefit from it.

A lot of companies seem to be focusing on LEO at the moment. For example, LeoLabs, which is a spin-off of SRI International, monitors space debris in LEO. So Astranis may be on to something by zooming in on GEO while the field is relatively open. Gedmark says he and cofounder McLinko have developed proprietary software that makes their satellites cheaper and faster to build, launch, and operate. (3/2)

DARPA Also Entering Satellite Constellation Arena (Source: Space News)
DARPA is pursuing a program to develop a low-cost satellite constellation. DARPA's Blackjack program seeks proposals from industry for "commoditized satellite buses capable of hosting military payloads" with the goal of demonstrating a system that can provide persistent global coverage for less than a single "exquisite" satellite. DARPA is also planning to brief contractors on what its view of the future of space is, including "how to technologically and culturally disrupt the space enterprise, from the ground up." DARPA Director Steven Walker said that space will be one of his priorities given growing threats to existing military space assets. (3/1)

Kratos Entering Satellite Constellation Arena with Division Sale (Source: Space News)
Kratos is selling off one of its business units to focus on satellite communications and drones. The company said it will sell its Public Safety & Security System Integration Business for $69 million. The sale will allow the company to devote resources to areas of growth, which include smallsat constellation operators designing their ground systems, high-throughput satellites that have more complicated radiofrequency systems, and an increase in U.S. defense space spending. Kratos CEO Eric DeMarco said the company is "trying to pick the winners" among the various constellations under development, but didn't disclose who he thought those winners are and any contracts Kratos has with them. (3/1)

Japanese Astronaut Selected to Command ISS (Source: Kyodo)
A Japanese astronaut has been selected to command the International Space Station in 2020. The Japanese space agency JAXA announced Friday that Akihiko Hoshide will serve as commander of the station for the latter part of a six-month stay that begins in May 2020. He will be the second Japanese commander of the ISS after Koichi Wakata in 2014. (3/1)

Landing Pad, Refurbishment Facility Considered for SpaceX Texas Site (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
SpaceX may expand its South Texas launch site under construction to include landing and refurbishment of rockets. Texas State Rep. René Oliveira, whose district includes the launch site near Brownsville, said he believed the site could become a "superfacility" that would ultimately support the company's ambitions for human missions to Mars. Oliveira said he had received "tentative commitments" from SpaceX that the first launch there will take place in 2019. (3/1)

AGI and Google Support Asteroid Institute (Source: GeekWire)
Two companies are supporting an institute's efforts to study potentially hazardous asteroids. AGI and Google Cloud will support the B612 Foundation's Asteroid Institute, providing cloud computing infrastructure and software for a project called Asteroid Decision Analysis and Mapping (ADAM). That project seeks to better analyze orbits of near Earth asteroids to determine potential threats and, if needed, scenarios for taking action. (3/1)

Space Station Getting a Floating AI Assistant (Source: BGR)
Whether or not virtual assistants like Siri and Alexa actually make our lives better is debatable to say the least. Is navigating the myriad of voice cues really faster or more convenient than just tapping on your smartphone screen a few times? Whichever side of the issue you fall on, it’s clear that AI is here to stay, so the European Space Agency is planning to embrace it with a fancy virtual assistant of its own, and it’s headed to the International Space Station this year.

The new AI is the product of a partnership between Airbus and IBM, and it’s called the Crew Interactive Mobile Companion. That’s not a terribly catchy name, so they just call it CIMON (pronounced “Simon,” I assume) for short, and it’ll be put through its paces by astronaut Alexander Gerst. The device and the digital personality that resides within it are designed to aid the ISS crew in various tasks, walking them through procedures and offering advice when needed. (3/2)

NASA Sounding Rocket Mission Will Trace Auroral Winds (Source: NASA)
From the ground, the dance of the northern lights, or aurora borealis, can look peaceful. But those shimmering sheets of colored lights are the product of violent collisions between Earth’s atmosphere and particles from the Sun. AZURE is the first of eight sounding rocket missions launching over the next two years as part of an international collaboration of scientists known as The Grand Challenge Initiative – Cusp. These missions will launch from the Andøya and Svalbard rocket ranges in Norway. (3/2)

NASA Finds a Large Amount of Water in an Exoplanet's Atmosphere (Source: HubbleSite)
Using Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, scientists studied the “hot Saturn” called WASP-39b — a hot, bloated, Saturn-mass exoplanet located about 700 light-years from Earth. By dissecting starlight filtering through the planet’s atmosphere into its component colors, the team found clear evidence for a large amount of water vapor. In fact, WASP-39b has three times as much water as Saturn does. (3/1)

New Battery Could Power Mars Transport (Source: Cosmos)
Chinese scientists have developed rechargeable batteries that can operate at temperatures low enough to operate in hostile environments such as Antarctica or the warmer regions of Mars. The performance of current lithium batteries declines below minus-20 degrees Celsius, dwindling to 12% by minus-40. This means, for example, that the batteries that power the Mars Rovers need to be heated to keep them from grinding to a halt.

However, research published in the journal Joule unveils a lithium battery design with good performance as low as minus-70 degrees Celsius. The design substitutes conventional metal electrodes for organic polymers and employs a low-freezing-point electrolyte – the chemical which carries the current within the battery. (3/2)

Cellphones on the Moon? Not So Fast (Source: New York Times)
If a phone buzzes on the moon and no one’s there to answer it, does it make a sound? What does it matter, it’s bound to make news. Phone companies Vodafone and Nokia said that they planned to build a cellular network in space to support what would be the first privately funded moon landing, planned for next year. The announcement earned headlines around the world, but much more would have to be done to make the plan a reality.

The companies vowed to produce what would be groundbreaking technology, weighing in at less than a kilogram, to provide a fourth-generation, or 4G, cellular network, which a pair of lunar vehicles would use to communicate with a base station. The station would then transmit data and high-definition video back to Earth via different medium. The cellular network promises not only an energy-efficient form of communication, but also one that has been widely tested, according to Robert Böhme, the chief executive and founder of PTScientists. (3/1)

Why The U.S. Has Never Been More Vulnerable, Despite SpaceX's Wins (Source: IBD)
The American public's first sign that space warfare is being waged won't be giant explosions lighting up the sky or X-Wing fighters crashing to the ground. Instead, everyday conveniences that we take for granted would be disrupted, such as ATMs and streaming videos. But the world's most powerful military could be crippled if an enemy destroyed or disabled critical space infrastructure as part of a space war. Click here. (3/1)

Japan's Hayabusa2 Has Detected Its Ryugu Asteroid Target (Source: JAXA)
On February 26, 2018, Hayabusa2 saw its destination -asteroid Ryugu- for the first time! The photographs were captured by the ONC-T (Optical Navigation Camera - Telescopic) onboard the spacecraft. Images were taken on February 26th. The distance between Ryugu and Hayabusa2 when the images were taken is about 1.3 million km. Ryugu as seen from Hayabusa2 is in the direction of the constellation Pisces.

"Now that we see Ryugu, the Hayabusa2 project has shifted to the final preparation stage for arrival at the asteroid. There are no problems with the route towards Ryugu or the performance of the spacecraft, and we will be proceeding with maximum thrust," explains Project Manager, Yuichi Tsuda. (3/1)

Why France is Building a ‘UN for Space’ (Source: GovInsider)
In December, France brought together the heads of the world’s space agencies to set up the Space Climate Observatory. Members will share with each other Earth observation data collected by their own satellites, and make it available to the international scientific community. “It is a little bit like a United Nations of space,” he says. The observatory will allow, for the first time, a repository of accurate and independent data on climate change which can be validated across multiple countries, Weiss adds. “We will have accuracy that is unmatched until today.” (3/2)

Africa: The Black Panther Will Take Us Into Outer Space (Source: SpaceRef)
In the movie, "Black Panther", Wakanda is a fictional African country of the future that is the most technologically advanced in the world. Presently, in the real world there are African nations advancing in scientific innovation and space technology as they join the rest of the world in exploring the benefits of space development. There will be approximately two billion people in Africa by 2040. Which I see it as an opportunity for exponential growth in creativity, and an explosion in entrepreneurial innovation for the continent.

The perception is that there is no expectation of growth in any type of technology development on the African continent. Yet, innovation is taking place, and entrepreneurial incubation centers are springing up all over the continent. Today there are real examples of hundreds of new and advanced innovative labs and tech hubs that are starting across the continent. These hubs are supported by Google, GE, Facebook, Airbus, IBM and even the United Nations in countries, such as, Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, and Uganda, just to name a few. (3/2)

UAE Astronaut Program Application Deadline Extended (Source: The National)
More Emiratis will have the chance to be one of the UAE’s first astronauts as the registration deadline for the UAE Astronaut Program has been extended to March 31. The Mohammed bin Rashid Space Center announced on Thursday that the extension is to allow more Emiratis to apply. The extension will also provide the centre with more time to begin to process the large numbers of applications they have already received. (3/2)

Could a Giant Impact Have Vaporized Earth to Create the Moon? (Source: Sky & Telescope)
From all the time and effort humans have put into observing and studying the Moon, there is an awful lot we still don’t know about it, particularly how it formed. Most planetary scientists agree that our Moon was created when a planet-sized body hit Earth after it had almost completely formed. But they seem to disagree on nearly everything else. Now, a group of researchers has come up with an idea that upends that so-called “Big Splat” theory: If the giant impact first completely obliterated Earth, the Moon might have formed from our planet’s vaporized remains.

They developed computer models showing that when two planet-mass objects collide, one possible outcome is that they become a synestia, a mass of vaporized rock and metal that takes the shape of a giant donut connected to a metal-rich central bulge. The bulge is the surviving core of the planet. It’s connected to an outer torus made mostly of silicate rocks that spins rapidly and expands beyond the lunar orbit.

In their model, the Moon forms within the orbiting torus of the synestia. As the rock vapor radiates heat and cools down, it begins to condense into droplets of liquid rock. Bits of solid rock, launched into orbit by the impact, act as seeds that accrete droplets, growing into moonlets that eventually merge together. Eventually the synestia shrank under the lunar orbit, leaving behind a fully formed but still molten Moon. (3/2)

Philadelphia Doctor's Astronaut Health Project Gets NASA Funding (Source: Temple Health)
NASA announced this week that it will fund nine proposals to help answer questions about astronaut health and performance during future long-duration missions. Among the proposals selected for funding is research led by David A. Goukassian, MD, PhD, Associate Professor in the Center for Translational Medicine at the Lewis Katz School of Medicine at Temple University. Dr. Goukassian’s research will examine differences in how radiation-induced cardiovascular disease risk thresholds affect men and women. (2/20)