Muscle Cells of 8 Central
Floridians Will Go to Space for a First-of-its-Kind Experiment
(Source: Orlando Sentinel)
The muscle cells of eight Central Floridians will be launched into
space this month for a first-of-its-kind experiment. The tiny cells
will travel in chips smaller than business cards, inside a lab about
the size of a small box, to their cosmic destination: The International
Space Station. There, the cells will spend seven days orbiting their
owners on Earth.
When the cells return home, scientists will analyze how the stay in
microgravity affected them. How does the weightlessness of space
contribute to muscle loss? Why do astronauts come home so weak? And how
could that information help us understand the kind of muscle loss that
happens as we age?
It’ll be the first time that scientists will test muscle cells
individually in space, said Dr. Paul Coen, a researcher at Florida
Hospital’s Translational Research Institute for Metabolism &
Diabetes, which conducted the study that obtained the muscle cells.
Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute and microgravity
experiment company Micro-gRx, both in Lake Nona, developed the “lab on
a chip” in partnership with research and development company
SpacePharma. (11/12)
Rocket Lab’s Modest
Launch Is Giant Leap for Small Rocket Business (Source:
New York Times)
A small rocket from a little-known company lifted off Sunday from the
east coast of New Zealand, carrying a clutch of tiny satellites. That
modest event — the first commercial launch by a U.S.-New Zealand
company known as Rocket Lab — could mark the beginning of a new era in
the space business, where countless small rockets pop off from
spaceports around the world. This miniaturization of rockets and
spacecraft places outer space within reach of a broader swath of the
economy.
The rocket, called the Electron, is a mere sliver compared to the giant
rockets that Elon Musk, of SpaceX, and Jeffrey P. Bezos, of Blue
Origin, envisage using to send people into the solar system. It is just
56 feet tall and can carry only 500 pounds into space. But Rocket Lab
is aiming for markets closer to home. Behind Rocket Lab, a host of
start-up companies are also jockeying to provide transportation to
space for a growing number of small satellites.
Space Angels, a space-business investment firm, is tracking 150 small
launch companies. Chad Anderson, Space Angel’s chief executive, said
that although the vast majority of these companies will fail, a small
group possess the financing and engineering wherewithal to get off the
ground. Their rockets are shrinking, because satellites are shrinking.
Advances in technology and computer chips have enabled smaller
satellites to perform the same tasks as their predecessors. And
constellations of hundreds or thousands of small satellites, orbiting
at lower altitudes that are easier to reach, can mimic the capabilities
once possible only from a fixed geosynchronous position. (11/12)
Satellite Images Show
North Korea ‘Continuing Missile Program at 16 Secret Sites’
(Source: Daily Beast)
North Korea is carrying on with its ballistic missile program at 16
secret facilities, new satellite images have revealed, undermining
President Donald Trump’s boasts that he persuaded the hermit kingdom to
abandon its weapons production and work toward denuclearization. The
images, reported by The New York Times, show North Korea is continuing
to make improvements at more than a dozen launching sites. The
development suggests North Korea’s promise to shut down one major test
site was an attempted deception.
The secret missile bases were identified in a study to be published
Monday by the Beyond Parallel program at the Center for Strategic and
International Studies, a Washington think tank. The disclosure is
another blow for negotiations between the U.S. and North Korea. Nuclear
talks between Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and a high-ranking North
Korean official were called off last week as the two sides hit an
impasse. The U.S. believes North Korea’s progress on nuclear
disarmament has been too slow, while Kim Jong Un wants the U.S. to ease
up its sanctions against his country. (11/12)
Japan Recovers Experiment
Capsule From ISS (Source: Asahi Shimbun)
Japan's space agency recovered a capsule Saturday that survived the
reentry of a cargo spacecraft. JAXA said that ships were able to
recover an experimental capsule from the Pacific Ocean containing about
one kilogram of experiment specimens. The capsule separated from the
HTV cargo spacecraft as it reentered over the Pacific, with the main
cargo spacecraft burning up as expected. The capsule could provide
another means of returning cargo from the station, something only
possible today with SpaceX's Dragon and the Soyuz crewed vehicle.
(11/12)
India Preps GSLV Launch
as Cyclone Approaches (Source: UNI)
India is preparing for a GSLV launch this week despite an approaching
cyclone. A GSLV Mark 3 rocket is scheduled to launch the GSAT-29
communications satellite Wednesday from the country's spaceport at
Sriharikota. The Indian space agency ISRO said that while rains
associated with an approaching cyclone will reach the spaceport by
Wednesday, it should be able to get the launch off since the cyclone
itself won't arrive until Thursday. (11/12)
Changes Soon for
Astrobiology Institute (Source: Space News)
NASA plans to phase out its virtual institute devoted to astrobiology
in favor of an alternative approach to coordinating research. The NASA
Astrobiology Institute, established 20 years ago, will be shut down by
the end of next year, replaced with five "research coordination
networks." NASA argues that the institute, and its overhead expenses,
are no longer needed given the maturity of the field, but some
scientists are worried about what this means for the agency's support,
and funding, of astrobiology research. Agency officials say that they
will continue to fund astrobiology research, and that the new networks
will provide more flexibility in how it supports that work. (11/12)
European Scientists
Select ExoMars Rover Landing Site (Source: BBC)
European scientists have selected their preferred landing site for the
ExoMars 2020 rover. Those scientists, meeting in the U.K. last week,
chose the Oxia Planum region near the Martian equator. That area
contains clays and other minerals formed from interaction with water
earlier in the planet's history, and scientists think could be an ideal
location to look for evidence of any past life there. The landing site
decision will have to be formally approved later by ESA and Roscosmos,
with a final decision expected in mid-2019. (11/12)
Scottish Landowners
Approve Spaceport Bid (Source: Aberdeen Press and Journal)
Scottish landowners have approved a proposal to build a spaceport on
their property. Members of Melness Crofters Estate voted to back the
proposed launch site in northern Scotland, allowing the project to move
ahead into the next stage of planning, including environmental studies.
Nearly 60 percent of landowners voted in favor of the proposal, but
opponents claim not all the ballots were properly registered. (11/12)
Russia's RD-180 Could
Lift New Heavy Rocket (Source: TASS)
Russian RD-180 engines could find new life on a proposed heavy-lift
rocket. Energomash CEO Igor Arbuzov said the RD-180 engine built by his
company could be used on the second stage of a future heavy-lift
rocket, one unlikely to fly before the late 2020s. The engine could
also be considered for a "modernized" version of the Soyuz-2 rocket.
The RD-180 is currently used by United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5, but
that vehicle will be phased out during the first half of the 2020s as
the company introduces its Vulcan rocket, powered by Blue Origin's BE-4
engine. (11/12)
The Mars Society's Robert
Zubrin Has a 'Moon Direct' Plan to Drive a Lunar Economy
(Source: Space.com)
The Moon Direct plan, which Zubrin laid out in today's edition (Oct.
31) of the journal The New Atlantis, aims to send astronauts directly
to the moon, rather than making a pit stop at NASA's planned Lunar
Orbital Platform-Gateway. That space station would orbit the moon and
serve as an outpost for crewed missions to the moon, Mars and deep
space. Zubrin argued that the Gateway is unnecessary and instead
suggested building a moon base. This idea, Zubrin argued, would reduce
mission propulsion requirements, as well as other costs associated with
building and maintaining a lunar gateway. (11/1)
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