June 28, 2018

Shining a Light on Japan's Space Startup Environment (Source: Via Satellite)
Although Japan develops some of the most cutting-edge space technology in the world, it’s fair to say the country’s commercial space sector has been largely restrained. For a long time, the Japanese space sector has more or less revolved around science and research, with JAXA and academic institutions playing core roles. While the government has been quite supportive of such endeavors, “the idea of a private, venture-driven space ecosystem was not on the cards,” says Astroscale Chief Operating Officer (COO) Chris Blackerby.

At the same time, Japan traditionally doesn’t really embody the same level of entrepreneurialism that has become the hallmark of locales like Silicon Valley, Blackerby says. Due to social pressure, for years young Japanese engineers either stayed in academia, or pursued careers at one of the select few established commercial juggernauts.

But over the last five to 10 years, that narrative has begun to morph. According to Blackerby, “there’s more of a prioritization from the government on industrialization and commercialization” of advanced space capabilities, as Japan hopes to inject some life into its stagnant economy. That shift has coalesced with a changing mindset in the younger generation, who “want to do something different … and not work for a big conglomerate,” Blackerby says. (6/27)

Hardy Organisms Threaten Interplanetary Contamination (Source: Space Daily)
In professor George Fox's lab at the University of Houston, scientists are studying Earth germs that could be contaminating other planets. Despite extreme decontamination efforts, bacterial spores from Earth still manage to find their way into outer space aboard spacecraft. Fox and his team are examining how and why some spores elude decontamination. Their research is published in BMC Microbiology.

To gain access into the uber-sanitized clean rooms at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center or the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, employees pass through a series of lobbies. One, with adhesive floor mats, traps dirt carried on shoes. Another, about the size of an old phone booth, delivers a forced-air shower where dozens of air jets blow away dirt and debris. Only after these sterilization measures can they don the bodysuits, head covers and other disinfected regalia.

And still, bacteria survive and have been carried onboard the International Space Station and found on the Mars Rover. The ability of bacteria to survive extreme conditions could potentially lead to a process called 'forward contamination.' As with natural selection, the cleaning process inside clean rooms will eventually kill off the weaker bacteria while a stronger strain adapts and is unphased by the cleansers. "No matter what we do, some bacterial spores appear to be finding ways to escape decontamination," said Madhan Tirumalai. (6/28)

NASA Tech Cuts Airframe Noise by 70% on GIII Testbed (Source: AIN Online)
A series of NASA test flights with a Gulfstream GIII testbed last month demonstrated that airframe noise can be reduced by more than 70 percent on landing approach using non-propulsive technologies. The Acoustic Research Measurement (ARM) flights, conducted at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California, tested technologies such as landing gear fairings and the FlexSys morphing-wing flap. For the noise tests, the modified GIII flew at an altitude of 350 feet over a 185-sensor microphone array deployed on the Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

The experimental landing gear tested by NASA had fairings that are porous along their front, allowing some of the air to flow through the fairing, minimizing drag, while also deflecting some of the airflow around the gear. Meanwhile, the landing gear cavity was treated with a series of chevrons near its leading edge and sound-absorbing foam at the trailing wall, as well as a net stretched across the opening to align airflow more with that of the wing.

To reduce wing flap noise, NASA used the experimental, flexible flap that had previously been flown as part of its Adaptive Compliant Trailing Edge (ACTE) project. The ACTE flap, built by FlexSys of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is a seamless design that eliminates gaps between the flap and the main body of the wing. (6/27)

Army Troops for Space Force? (Source: Space News)
Army troops could become part of the proposed Space Force. Brig. Gen. Tim Lawson, deputy commanding general for operations at the Army Space and Missile Defense Command, said it was yet to be determined if that command or other Army elements would be rolled into the Space Force. He backed, though, the work by Air Force Gens. John Hyten and Jay Raymond on space issues, saying that if the Space Force does get off the ground, "these are the two guys that are going to get us there and are going to get us there right." (6/27)

Expanded Northrop Challenges Aerojet (Source: Space News)
The acquisition of Orbital ATK by Northrop Grumman could spell problems for Aerojet Rocketdyne's solid propulsion business. Aerojet is counting on winning business for a next-generation ICBM, the GBSD, in order to maintain its ability to make large solid-rocket motors after losing business such as the solid-rocket motors for the Atlas 5 and Vulcan. Northrop is one of the companies bidding on the GBSD program but, as part of the approval process for buying Orbital ATK agreed to make its motors available to companies on a "non-discriminatory basis." That, though, has done little to ease Aerojet's concerns about competing with Northrop. (6/27)

Another Chinese Rocket Stage Crashes Near Town Downrange (Source: GB Times)
Video captured the explosion of the first stage of a Chinese rocket after it hit the ground near a town. The video showed the Long March 2C stage exploding near a town in Guizhou Province after Wednesday's launch. A red cloud from the rocket's toxic propellants could be seen rising from the crash site. There were no reports of injuries or damage from the falling stage, which apparently landed in a zone officials had evacuated for the launch. (6/27)

Organic Molecules Detected on Enceladus (Source: Washignton Post)
Scientists have detected complex organic molecules spewing from Saturn's moon Enceladus. Data collected by the Cassini mission showed that the plumes being emitted from the icy moon contain complex compounds such as aromatics. Such compounds can be evidence of biological activity in the moon's subsurface ocean, scientists said, although there are other processes that can create them. (6/27)

Oumuamua is a Comet, Not an Asteroid (Source: Nature)
An object passing through the solar system from interstellar space is a comet, not an asteroid. Astronomers discovered the object, named 'Oumuamua, last year and found that it was on a trajectory that showed it came from outside the solar system. While originally classifying the object as an asteroid, new observations show that it is emitting jets of gas, likely as ice warmed up and sublimated. "It's an unusual comet, and that’s pretty exciting," said one astronomer. (6/27)

Ocasio-Cortez is an Asteroid, and a Congresswoman (Source: Business Insider)
A rising star in the Democratic party already has her name among the stars — or at least in the solar system. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez upset incumbent Rep. Joe Crowley in a primary election Tuesday for Crowley's House seat in New York. She has an asteroid named after her, 23238 Ocasio-Cortez, in recognition for a second-place finish at the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in 2007. A group of astronomers decided to name asteroids after science fair winners as a way providing special recognition to those students. (6/27)

Virgin Orbit Gears Up for Captive Carry Test Flight (Source: Space News)
Virgin Orbit is planning a key test of its LauncherOne system as soon as next week, a final step before the vehicle’s first launch later this summer. Stephen Eisele, vice president of business development of Virgin Orbit, said that company was gearing up for a “captive carry” test of its air-launch rocket, flown on a customized Boeing 747.

That flight, he said, will gather “flutter and aerodynamics testing” data. “The next test after that is the first orbital flight.” Workers will be attaching the pylon that holds LauncherOne to the aircraft’s left wing in the next few days, he said. Only a single captive carry flight is currently scheduled, he said, but added “it doesn’t preclude us from doing another if needed.” That test will also include demonstrating the deployment mechanism, releasing the inert LauncherOne test article to drop back to Earth. (6/28)

Satellite Industry Doing Surprisingly Well Against Cyber Threats, Experts Say (Source: Space News)
The satellite industry has done a good job bolstering its cyber defenses absent the sort of high-profile attack that has spurred other industries to step up their efforts. But the risk of a “defining cyber event” remains, a panel of experts said. “We have not had an industry event really publicly embarrass the industry in a big, broad way,” said Stuart Daughtridge of Kratos Defense and Security. Such attacks are often necessary to awake an industry’s “cyber ecosystem” to the threats it faces.

Last year Symantec caught a China-affiliated hacker group called Thrip that had attacked two satellite companies, a U.S. Defense Department contractor, and a geospatial-imaging firm, and was actively rooting around for ways to take control of satellites in space. One cyber-defense measure experts expressed concern about was a possible over-reliance on “air gapping” — a practice of keeping systems disconnected from the internet to prevent the introduction of malware. But isolated networks still need to be updated, and malware hidden in flash drives or other devices can still infect an offline system if physically introduced. (6/28)

ABS Puts 15 Unused Orbital Slots on the Market (Source: Space News)
Satellite feet operator ABS says it has more orbital slots than it can use and is willing to sell the extras to other satellite operators. “We have 15 unpopulated slots that we are looking for partners with,” said Jim Simpson, ABS’s CEO. Not every orbital slot is of the same value. Simpson said some are only a year or two away from expiring, per International Telecommunication Union rules.

That limited time means preserving such a slot would likely require using an existing satellite as a placeholder until a new satellite could be built and launched. The usefulness of each slot also depends on its position above the Earth and the associated spectrum rights. (6/28)

Speeding Up Space Acquisition ‘Number One Issue,’ White House Adviser Says (Source: Politico)
The “number one issue” the National Space Council must tackle is the Pentagon’s acquisition system’s inability to swiftly take advantage of commercial innovation, according to Eric Stallmer, president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation and a member of the White House council’s User Advisory Group.

“Unanimously, everyone on the Users Advisory Group ... agrees the acquisition system, primarily with the Air Force, is not optimal,” Stallmer says. “There is so much advancement, innovation, privately-developed technologies the Air Force could adopt immediately but the acquisition is just so slow.”

The advisory group announced by Vice President Mike Pence in February includes representatives from major companies like SpaceX, United Launch Alliance and Northrop Grumman, as well as smaller players like Relativity Space and former astronauts like Buzz Aldrin. It is expected to meet about three times a year to provide advice to the National Space Council headed by Pence. (6/22)

ALPA Raises Space Ops Concerns (Source: AVweb)
Congress needs to take action now to ensure that commercial space operations are safely integrated into the national airspace, ALPA president Tim Canoll told the U.S. House aviation subcommittee on Tuesday. The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation must work with the industry to develop standards for communication, navigation and surveillance, Canoll said, and certify that space flights are compatible with aviation operations.

Congress also needs to develop comprehensive regulations that ensure safety in space-vehicle design and flight-crew qualification, training and certification, he said. The committee members also heard from officials from Blue Origin, SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance. Audrey Powers, deputy general counsel for Blue Origin, told the committee the existing regulatory environment is “cumbersome,” noting that her company must comply not only with FAA regulations but also U.S. Air Force requirements. (6/27)

Buzz Aldrin: How We Can Make Mars Missions a Reality (Source: FOX News)
While the private sector continues to expand and help shape the future of space exploration, former astronaut Buzz Aldrin believes billionaires aren’t necessarily the answer to conquering the unrelenting quest for knowledge among the stars. Aldrin recalled a conference last year when former NASA administrator Daniel Goldin voiced his desire to seeing billionaires back a Mars mission.

“We’re going to let our future be done by somebody who has more money than somebody else -- and for their purposes, their objectives? I don’t think that’s the way humanity should be doing things. I think we do things with teamwork,” Aldrin said. That’s not to say Aldrin isn’t a fan of SpaceX founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos, the CEO of Blue Origin and Amazon, along with the other companies such as United Launch Alliance that are innovating and competing to help bring new technology to the industry.

Aldrin, a fierce advocate for manned missions to the Red Planet, noted that such a daunting task has to be accomplished by a “coalition of capable nations” rather than individuals. “We need to include everybody whether it’s approved by people or not – it has to, because if we can’t entice them then it’s competing at a very expensive level.” When it comes to Mars, the 88-year-old hopes to maintain a constant presence on the planet and has already conceptualized a plan to complete the epic journey – with the most critical element being refueling, something he suggests could be done on the moon. (6/27)

Elon Musk: This is Why We Have to Build Civilizations in Space (Source: CNBC)
Human civilization is likely the only advanced civilization in the “observable Universe," finds a study from the the Future of Humanity Institute (FHI) at Oxford University — and that's why it's so important that humans build civilizations in space, says Elon Musk. “This is why we must preserve the light of consciousness by becoming a spacefaring civilization [and] extending life to other planets,” said Musk.

“It is unknown whether we are the only civilization currently alive in the observable universe, but any chance that we are is added impetus for extending life beyond Earth,” Musk tweeted Sunday. To safeguard human life requires moving beyond the blue planet, in Musk's view, because earth is likely to become uninhabitable. "There will be some eventual extinction event" if humans stay on earth forever, Musk said. (6/26)

IKEA Hitches a Ride to Mars with NASA to Create Curious Collection on Space (Source: DesignBoom)
IKEA‘s latest collection takes inspiration from life in space, following research conducted in partnership with NASA‘s mars desert research station. the RUMTID collection comprises four different product ranges that tackle four separate issues when it comes to urban, small space living: time, space, water and air. (6/27)

The Future of the Johnson Space Center Is Up in the Air (Source: Houstonia)
Usually 'Citizens for Space Exploration' meetings are kept purposefully vague. Nobody is supposed to be pushing for support for any particular one of the 10 centers that make up the civil space program. But that’s out the window as they file into U.S. Representative Brian Babin’s (R-TX) office, which is decked out with a wall of framed NASA posters. “What can I do for you, Bob?” Babin asks, turning to the group, which is seated around a long conference table.

Without even glancing down at the papers in front of him, Mitchell launches in. “Well, it’s like this,” he says. “We don’t fly the space shuttle. We only use Mission Control for the International Space Station. The other side of it hasn’t been used in years. The Johnson Space Center is the home of human spaceflight, but we’re not getting what we should be getting. We feel we’re being squeezed out.”

What’s frustrating is that while the JSC is struggling, things seem to be going well for NASA as a whole. The agency finally has a new leader. Engineers are making progress constructing the Orion capsule and Space Launch System rocket for the Mars jump. There’s even been a slight bump in funding. Locally, though, there’s growing concern that other centers across the country—the Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California, and the Kennedy Space Center in Florida—are getting ahead of the Johnson Space Center. (6/22)

The Quest to Find a Trillion-Dollar Nuclear Fuel on the Moon (Source: Bloomberg)
India’s space program wants to go where no nation has gone before -– to the south side of the moon. And once it gets there, it will study the potential for mining a source of waste-free nuclear energy that could be worth trillions of dollars.

The nation’s equivalent of NASA will launch a rover in October to explore virgin territory on the lunar surface and analyze crust samples for signs of water and helium-3. That isotope is limited on Earth yet so abundant on the moon that it theoretically could meet global energy demands for 250 years if harnessed.

The upcoming launch of Chandrayaan-2 includes an orbiter, lander and a rectangular rover. The six-wheeled vehicle, powered by solar energy, will collect information for at least 14 days and cover an area with a 400-meter radius. The rover will send images to the lander, and the lander will transmit those back to ISRO for analysis. A primary objective, though, is to search for deposits of helium-3. Solar winds have bombarded the moon with immense quantities of helium-3 because it’s not protected by a magnetic field like Earth is. (6/26)

The Billionaire Space Race Is Making Life Difficult for Airlines (Source: Bloomberg)
On Feb. 6, Elon Musk’s SpaceX launched its largest rocket into the blue Florida sky. Onboard was “Starman,” a dummy strapped into the billionaire’s cherry red Tesla roadster. Minutes later, fans cheered as Musk topped himself by nailing a simultaneous landing of the Falcon Heavy’s boosters. It was arguably a turning point for the commercial space age.

Airlines were somewhat less thrilled. On that day, 563 flights were delayed and 62 extra miles added to flights in the southeast region of the U.S., according to FAA data released Tuesday by the Air Line Pilots Association, or ALPA. America’s airspace is a finite resource, and the growth of commercial launches has U.S. airlines worried. Whenever Musk or one of his rivals sends up a spacecraft, the carriers which operate closer to the ground must avoid large swaths of territory and incur sizable expenses.

“Commercial space launch needs to be better integrated into the national airspace,” noted Caryn Schenewerk, Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX’s senior counsel and director of government affairs. The Falcon 9 exceeds 60,000 feet on launch “in a quick 90 seconds,” with its reusable rocket boosters only requiring use of the airspace for one minute before landing. (6/27)

Meet the Brooklyn Rocket Startup Testing Engines Out of Storage Containers on Long Island (Source: The Verge)
On a deserted airplane runway in Long Island, New York, sit a handful of 10-foot-tall shipping containers filled with pressurized tanks, cables, and machinery. Most of the time, the area is still, but every few days here, a siren will sound over a loud speaker and an announcer will caution people to clear off. Then the roar of a rocket engine fills the air.

This is the engine test site for a fledgling rocket startup called Launcher. Based out of Brooklyn, New York, the company was formed in March 2017 by Max Haot, an internet entrepreneur who created the video streaming company Livestream. Haot sold Livestream to Vimeo last year and is now focused solely on getting Launcher off the ground. He says he’s always been interested in space, but he was really inspired to break into the industry when he first saw SpaceX’s website a decade ago. (6/27)

Weird Stuff Swirls in Air of Huge, Puffy Alien Planet (Source: Space.com)
An international team of astronomers has identified traces of metals and possible signs of water in one of the least dense exoplanets ever found, according to a new study. The exoplanet, called WASP-127b, is about 1.4 times larger than Jupiter but only 20 percent as massive, with a surface temperature of 2,060 degrees Fahrenheit (1,127 degrees Celsius). WASP-127b, which was discovered in 2016, lies approximately 332 light-years away from Earth. The "hot Jupiter" alien world takes just over four Earth days to orbit its parent star.

Using the OSIRIS instrument on the Great Telescope of the Canary Islands (GTC),the researchers found a high concentration of alkali metals in the atmosphere of WASP-127b, including sodium, potassium and lithium. The presence of these metals suggests that the planet has partly clear skies, study team members said. The planet’s host star, WASP-127, is also believed to have an abundance of lithium. This suggests that this extrasolar system formed from a cloud of material that was enriched by a supernova, or the death of a giant star called an asymptotic giant branch (AGB) star, the researchers said. (6/26)

This Scientist Thinks Aliens Will Need to 'Catch' Stars to Survive (Source: Space.com)
One scientist thinks that future intelligent aliens might survive by collecting, storing and harnessing the power of stars. Dan Hooper, a senior scientist at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, outlined this concept in a new paper. He suggested that, over the next 100 billion years or so, an intelligent extraterrestrial civilization will likely become isolated and in need of power as the universe continues to expand. In the paper, Hooper explained that these aliens might need to use stars as an alternative energy source.

Hooper suggested that such a civilization would capture stars and extract their power using Dyson spheres — theoretical structures, originally described by sci-fi writer Olaf Stapledon in his novel "Star Maker" and first officially proposed and popularized by physicist Freeman Dyson. (6/26)

US-Made Fisher Space Pens Celebrating 50 Years of Space Travel (Source: ABC News)
The famous Fisher Space Pens have been used by NASA astronauts on every manned space mission for the last 50 years.
"This is the original astronaut space pen used on all man's space flights -- American and Russian," Matt Fisher, the company's vice president of sales and marketing, as well as the inventor's grandson, told ABC News.

On its website, NASA said the Space Pen "functioned in a weightless environment, underwater, in other liquids, and in temperature extremes." Matt Fisher said his grandfather, Paul Fisher, was "one of the original pioneers" in the ball pen business, starting the Fisher Pen Co. in 1948. (6/26)

Why SpaceX and Boeing Can Sell Spots on Commercial Space Taxis to Private Travelers (Source: GeekWire)
When NASA’s Phil McAlister worked out the contracts with SpaceX and Boeing to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station, he made sure they could make some money on the side. The contracts contain a clause that allows the companies to propose putting a private spaceflight participant in one of the extra seats aboard SpaceX’s Dragon craft or Boeing’s Starliner spaceship, said McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA Headquarters.

“Contractually, we put a hook in there,” McAlister said today at the Space Frontier Foundation’s annual NewSpace conference in Renton. “I made sure it was there. It was very important for that capability to be in the contract.” The clause kicks in once SpaceX and Boeing get their space taxis certified for flight, which could happen as early as next year. Paying passengers could then be added to the four-person crews that the companies are contractually required to carry for NASA. (6/26)

Aliens May Not Exist – But That’s Good News for Our Survival (Source: New Scientist)
Scientists at the wonderfully named Future of Humanity Institute in Oxford have poured cold water on Hawking’s and others’ optimism. They have carried out a thoughtful statistical analysis by dissecting a mathematical relation known as the Drake equation, which allows us to calculate the probability of extraterrestrial life based on the combined probabilities of all the ingredients for life being in place.

The authors of the new study offer two insights, one pessimistic and the other more cheery. The first is that Fermi’s paradox is easy to resolve. The reason we have not had any messages from ET is because, well, there is no ET out there. They calculate the probability we are alone in the universe to be in the range of 39%–85% and the probability that we are alone in our own galaxy to be between 53% and 99.6%. Basically, don’t hold your breath.

Biologists, of course, hate all this silly speculation. They quite rightly point out that we still do not properly understand how life originated here on Earth, so how can we possibly have any confidence in anticipating its existence or nonexistence elsewhere? I did say that the study also provided some cheer. Some have claimed we have not found ET yet because intelligent life (including us) always annihilates itself before it can successfully develop the technology for interstellar travel or communication. But maybe the silence is simply because no such alien civilisations exist. (6/27)