June 5, 2018

Students Design Robot to Help with Mining Ice on Mars (Source: ERAU)
NASA researchers have discovered thick deposits of ice beneath Mars' surface which will be key to sustaining human explorations on the dry planet, but getting to the frozen water underneath the ice-cemented rock and dust could be a challenge. Embry-Riddle students hope to help solve the challenge by designing a robot to mine the ice, which could be used for human consumption, hygiene, growing of plants and even to make rocket propellant for the journey home.

The robot was built for NASA’s 9th annual Robotic Mining Competition at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) which took place May 14-18. This is the ninth year Embry–Riddle has been selected as one of about 50 universities and colleges. Nine Embry-Riddle students from the Robotics Association on the Daytona Beach Campus majoring in computer science and mechanical, software, aerospace and electrical engineering participated in the competition. A high school student from St. Augustine, who previously attended a summer camp at Embry-Riddle, also was part of the team. (5/23)

Boulder-Size Asteroid, on Collision Course with Earth, Disintegrates into Fireball (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
A boulder-size asteroid disintegrated harmlessly over Africa, just hours after its weekend discovery.It's only the third time scientists have spotted an incoming asteroid on a direct collision course with Earth. The previous times were in 2008 and 2014. The asteroid, dubbed 2018 LA, was discovered out near the moon's orbit early Saturday morning, aiming straight for Earth. NASA reported the latest episode Sunday night.

Asteroid trackers at NASA and elsewhere quickly determined the rock — about 6 feet across — was too small to pose any danger. It burned up in the Saturday evening sky over Botswana, eight hours after first being noticed. Initial estimates had the impact zone stretching from southern Africa across the Indian Ocean into New Guinea. Tracking systems narrowed it down to southern Africa. (6/4)

ESA Plans for Protecting EU Funded Projects From Non-EU ESA Members (Source: Financial Times)
The European Space Agency is considering changes to how it manages programs done in cooperation with the European Union. Under the proposal, decisions on programs carried out by ESA but funded by the EU, such as the Galileo satellite navigation and Copernicus Earth observation programs, would be "ringfenced" to prevent interference from ESA members who are not EU members. That effort is in response to concerns that Britain, post-Brexit, may seek to interfere with Galileo procurement activities in ESA unless it is allowed to remain in the program. The proposal comes as the EU plans to invest more in space, raising questions about the long-term independence of ESA. (6/5)

Bridenstine Talking ISS Privatization (Source: Washington Post)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says he is talking with companies interested in taking over operations of the International Space Station. In an interview, Bridenstine said that he's talked with many large corporations "that are interested in getting involved in that through a consortium," although he did not disclose any of them. The administration's 2019 budget request proposes ending federal funding of the ISS in 2025, a move opposed by some key senators. (6/5)

Residents Concerned About Colorado Spaceport Impacts (Source: Denver Post)
A proposed spaceport near Denver has some rural Colorado residents worried. Spaceport Colorado at Front Range Airport, just east of Denver, hopes to host launches of horizontal takeoff and landing vehicles on flight paths that would taken them over portions of eastern Colorado, and the FAA is currently evaluating its license application. Residents under that flight corridor are worried about risks from launch accidents and believe that any benefits from the spaceport would accrue only to the Denver area. "All of the risk is in rural Colorado, and any benefit goes to the Front Range," said a former state senator. (6/5)

IMAP Picked by NASA for 2024 Mission (Source: Popular Mechanics)
NASA has selected a small spacecraft to study the interaction of the sun with cosmic radiation. The Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP) will examine the heliosphere, the boundary where the solar wind collides with interstellar particles. IMAP, slated for launch in 2024 to the Earth-sun L1 Lagrange point, will measure the cosmic radiation that does make it past the heliosphere, observations that could also better characterize the radiation environment astronauts will be exposed to on future deep space missions. (6/4)

Planets Can Easily Exist in Triple Star Systems (Source: Space Daily)
Researchers have mapped out regions where exoplanets can exist within triple star systems. The study shows that there are large stable areas where exoplanets can indeed exist in both binary and triple star systems. A binary star system is where two stars are in orbit around each other, while a triple system is when a third star orbits around both the stars in a binary system. "Because of the complex dynamics between these stars and planets, it was previously thought improbable that many planets would have stable orbits in these regions," says Franco Busetti. (6/5)

Juno Mission Extended Through 2021 (Source: Business Insider)
NASA's Juno mission at Jupiter will, as expected, get an extension. Juno, which entered orbit in July 2016, was originally planned to have only a two-year prime mission at Jupiter, but a thruster problem has kept the spacecraft in a longer orbit around the planet, limiting the data it's collected to date. An extension expected to be formally announced soon will keep Juno operating through at least July 2021. (6/5)

Curiosity Rocks On with Sample Analysis (Source: NASA)
The Curiosity rover is analyzing its first Martian rock samples in over a year. The lab instruments on the rover had been idle because of problems with the drill on the rover's arm that prevented it from collecting samples for analysis. With a new drilling method now tested, the rover is now able to collected powdered rock samples for the labs. NASA also announced Monday it will hold a briefing Thursday on new science results from the mission. (6/5)

Canada Doles Out R&D Money While New Space Strategy Remains Overdue (Source: Space News)
The Canadian government might release its new space strategy in the coming months but in the meantime has provided $20 million in research funding for domestic space companies and universities. The strategy is already more than a year behind schedule. Navdeep Bains, Canada’s minister of innovation, science and economic development, said the government is committed to provide a future roadmap on space projects Canada intends to undertake. Bains announced 26.7 million Canadian dollars ($20.5 million) in funding for 46 space-related research projects at various aerospace firms and universities. (5/29)

Conservatives Slam Liberals Over Canadian Space Program (Source: SpaceQ)
Lost in the noise of a possible trade war with our closet ally the U.S., is the fact that the Conservative Party has decided to take notice and complain about the ongoing wait for a new space strategy. The attention is in the form of a letter from Conservative MP Matt Jeneroux of Edmonton Riverbend, the official opposition critic for science in the Conservative shadow cabinet, sent to Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Bains.

The letter takes issue with the Liberal government not just on a new strategy, but in how the government has dealt with Honeywell’s takeover over COM DEV and subsequent layoffs. It also takes aim at MDA becoming a business unit within U.S. owned Maxar Technologies, a strategy MDA initiated and created, and ownership of RADARSAT-2. Lastly it takes aim at the U.S. led flagship space telescope program WFIRST which Canada had to bail out on due to a lack of commitment by the government. Liberal or Conservative government, it doesn’t matter which, both have a recent history of being mostly talk, with little to no action. (6/4)

SpaceX to In-House Mass Produce Starlink Internet Satellite Hardware (Source: Teslarati)
SpaceX is rapidly expanding it’s Starlink internet constellation development to prepare for full-scale production and aims to bring nearly every major piece of satellite and network hardware and software in-house, according to details revealed in dozens of job postings. While not explicit, this appears to indicate a significant convergence of multiple possible paths to an operational constellation.

Put simply, SpaceX now intends to build every single major component of its 4400+ satellite network in-house. It’s almost easier to list the things SpaceX does not mean to build themselves, but here’s a stab at the components to be built in-house: satellite structures, laser (optical) data interlinks, on-orbit phased array antennae, digital signal processor (DSPs) software and hardware to aim those antennae, solar arrays, battery systems, power electronics, custom integrated circuitry and systems on a chip (SoCs), user terminals and larger gateways, network operations, production automation, autonomous satellite constellation management, and much, much more. (6/4)

Victoria Meadows’ Earthly Visions of Alien Life (Source: Quanta)
On a standard quarter-acre lot in Seattle, the astrobiologist Victoria Meadows has nurtured an Eden of apple and plum trees, blueberry bushes, strawberry undergrowth, a pair of 80-foot-tall western red cedars too big to hug, groves of Japanese maples and an alien-looking cycad tree. Lilac bushes mingle scents with a 30-foot climbing rose trained over an arch. Bamboo borders a reflecting pool. Beds of dill, borage, tarragon, shiso and chives, a pool house doubling as an orchid hothouse and ferns fill the spaces between. It was here, surrounded by lush photosynthesizers, that Meadows wrote some of her best work on the telltale signatures of oxygen and other atmospheric gases that would indicate alien life on a faraway planet. Click here. (6/5)