November 29, 2018

NASA Chief Says US Within 10 Years of Continuous Manned Presence on Moon (Source: The Hill)
NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine says the U.S. is within 10 years of having a continuous manned presence on the moon, which will lay the groundwork for expanding space exploration to Mars. “Right now we’re building a space station, we call it ‘Gateway,’ that’s going to be in orbit around the moon — think of it as a reusable command module where we can have human presence in orbit around the moon. From there we want reusable landers that go back and forth to the surface of the moon,” Bridenstine told Hill.TV’s Jamal Simmons and Buck Sexton on “Rising.”

“We think we can achieve this in about 10 years, the idea being prove the capability, retire the risk, prove the human physiology and then go on to Mars,” he continued. Bridenstine joined “Rising” to detail NASA’s plans to partner with nine U.S. companies to travel to the moon, a key component of NASA’s plan to extend human space exploration. The administrator said he hopes to drive innovation by creating a commercial marketplace called the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program (CLIPS). (11/29)

NASA Announces 9 Private Partners for Return to the Moon (Source: Inverse)
NASA is launching a new effort to encourage private businesses in the United States to get into space. In Washington D.C. Thursday, leaders at the space agency announced that nine privately owned companies will be able bid on contracts to deliver supplies to the moon. And industry sources tell Inverse that this news is just the start of something much larger.

The space companies announced Thursday are: Astrobotic Technology, Pittsburgh; Deep Space Systems, Colorado; Draper, Massachusetts; Firefly Aerospace, Texas; Intuitive Machines, Houston; Lockheed Martin Space, Colorado; Masten Space Systems, California; Moon Express, Cape Canaveral, Florida; and Orbit Beyond, New Jersey. (11/29)

Particles Crossing to Our World Could Open Portal to Dark-Matter Realm (Source: New Scientist)
Myriad dark-matter hunters have spent decades trying to trap their prime suspect. They may yet prevail. But their struggle has led a new wave of hunters to try a different approach. Rather than tailoring their search for a single candidate, they are embracing the possibility that dark matter consists of a panoply of particles and forces – an entire dark sector operating in parallel to our own.

This hidden realm would be accessible by only the faintest lines of communication: particles capable of carrying messages from the dark side to the world of familiar matter. Now the plan is to track those go-betweens as they pass messages through these dark portals, wiretapping them to learn about the universe on the other side. Click here. (11/28)

Astronomers Just Detected an Enormous Ancient Galaxy Orbiting The Milky Way (Source: Science Alert)
Just as moons orbit planets, planets orbit stars, and stars orbit galactic cores, galaxies can be orbited by other, much smaller galaxies. The Milky Way has several of these hangers-on, most notably the Large and Small Magellanic clouds, the only two of our galaxy's satellites visible to the naked eye. Now, thanks to Gaia data - the most comprehensive map of our sky ever compiled - astronomers have just found another one. And it's absolutely huge - as big as the Large Magellanic Cloud, or about one-third of the size of the Milky Way. (11/28)

SpaceX Has a Bold Timeline for Getting to Mars and Starting a Colony (Source: Inverse)
Elon Musk wants to send humans to Mars, and it could happen as soon as 2024. The SpaceX CEO has outlined a plan to get people to the red planet, with bold visions of refueling rockets to “planet hop” and explore the furthest reaches of the solar system.

Many plans for a Mars settlement expect a community in matters of decades. The United Arab Emirates aims for a city of 600,000 by 2117. Astrobiologist Lewis Dartnell told Inverse last month that “while the first human mission to land on Mars will likely take place in the next two decades, it will probably be more like 50-100 years before substantial numbers of people have moved to Mars to live in self-sustaining towns.” SpaceX is aiming for a much, muck faster timeframe. Click here. (11/28)

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Just Survived a Massive Crash in Outer Space (Source: LiveScience)
Gravity is big and weird and difficult to study. It moves through space as a wave, sort of like how light does. But these waves are subtle and difficult to detect. They occur in measurable amounts only after massive events, like the collision of black holes. Researchers announced that they found no evidence of "gravitational leakage." Scientists had thought it was possible for gravity to penetrate high dimensions (those beyond the four that humans experience — up/down, side to side, forward/backward, time) even though light does not. If that happened, the force of gravity would lose more of its energy than light does while passing through space.

But comparing the light and gravitational waves from that neutron star collision showed that this wasn't happening. All our dimension's gravity appears to be staying right where it belongs, as Albert Einstein predicted in his theory of general relativity. The researchers in the new study also analyzed gravitational waves to see whether the graviton — the theoretical particle that carries gravity — might have mass, like other particles do. If there was such a thing as a "massive graviton," gravitational waves would also have mass, and if these waves had mass, they would exhibit signs of momentum, unlike light particles, which are massless. That would also be a violation of general relativity. But, again, it didn't happen.

Overall, researchers found, Einstein's theories of gravity remain basically intact. The researchers also analyzed gravitational waves to see whether the graviton — the theoretical particle that carries gravity — might have mass, like other particles do. If there was such a thing as a "massive graviton," gravitational waves would also have mass, and if these waves had mass, they would exhibit signs of momentum, unlike light particles, which are massless. That would also be a violation of general relativity. But, again, it didn't happen. Overall, researchers found, Einstein's theories of gravity remain basically intact. (11/29)

NASA Curiosity Rover Investigates Shiny Object on Mars (Source: C/Net)
Mars is a dusty place, so when something shiny shows up, it stands out. NASA's Curiosity team posted an update to its mission blog on Wednesday with a lovely look at a shiny lump sitting on the planet's surface. The target of Curiosity's curiosity is nicknamed "Little Colonsay" and it looks like a small nugget. The rover's ChemCam captured a close-up view of the object on Monday.  "The planning team thinks it might be a meteorite because it is so shiny," writes Curiosity team member Susanne Schwenzer. "But looks can deceive, and proof will only come from the chemistry." (11/29)

Former Air Force Space Wing Commander Appointed to Lead FAA Space Office (Source: FAA)
U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Elaine L. Chao today announced Wayne R. Monteith has been appointed to the position of Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation at the FAA. Monteith’s appointment is effective January 20, 2019.  Monteith is a proven aerospace leader with nearly 30 years of planning and managing activities to integrate Department of Defense, civil, commercial, and intelligence community space capabilities. Monteith is a recently retired US Air Force Brigadier General who previously served as the Commander, 45th Space Wing, Patrick Air Force Base, Florida and led operations for the busiest and most successful spaceport in the world. (11/29)

White House Considers Space Force Alternatives (Source: Defense One)
The White House is reportedly studying alternatives to an independent Space Force. In a memo a month ago, the White House requested the Pentagon look at not just establishing a Space Force as an independent military branch but also the "Space Corps" concept, which would remain a part of the Air Force but, in one option, incorporate space-related elements of the Army and Navy. The memo may have been triggered by White House concerns that Congress would reject creating a standalone Space Force. Vice President Mike Pence and Patrick Shanahan, the deputy secretary of defense, are expected to discuss this issue at a meeting today. (11/29)

India Launches 31 Satellites on PSLV (Source: PTI)
India successfully launched 31 satellites overnight. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off on schedule from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at 11:28 p.m. Eastern. It initially deployed its primary payload, the HysIS hyperspectral imaging satellite, then maneuvered to a lower orbit to deploy 30 smallsat secondary payloads, including satellites for BlackSky, Planet, Spire and a number of other smallsat startups. (11/29)

South Korea Tests Small Launcher Engine (Source: Yonhap)
South Korea successfully tested an engine to be used on a small launch vehicle it is developing. The engine powered a suborbital rocket that lifted off Wednesday from the Naro Space Center. The engine fired for 151 seconds, exceeding the goal of 140 seconds, and sent the rocket to a peak altitude of more than 200 kilometers before splashing down nearly 430 kilometers downrange. The engine tested on that flight will be used on South Korea's KSLV-2 launch vehicle, expected to make its first flight in 2021. (11/29)

Spain's PLD Plans Larger Small Rocket (Source: Space News)
A Spanish startup has made a small launch vehicle it is designing a little bigger. PLD Space said its Miura 5 rocket, formerly known as Arion 2, will now be able to place 300 kilograms into a sun-synchronous orbit, double its original capacity. The change came as a result of an ESA review of the vehicle, part a 300,000-euro contract awarded to the company by the agency. PLD Space says Miura 5 will perform its first launch in the third quarter of 2021. (11/29)

Fewer Variants for Newer Rockets (Source: Space News)
Launch companies are reducing the number of vehicle options to lower their costs. United Launch Alliance once offered 41 different versions of its Atlas and Delta rockets, changing the payload fairing, upper stage and number of strap-on boosters. The company has reduced that number to 18, and will ultimately have only four versions of the Vulcan Centaur when it enters service in the 2020s. Blue Origin, meanwhile, will fly only a single version of its New Glenn rocket, saying that the cost savings through such standardization makes it worth even launching the rocket half-empty. (11/29)

Telesat Wins DARPA Blackjack Study for LEO Constellations (Source: Telesat)
Telesat has won a contract as part of DARPA's Blackjack program for studying low Earth orbit satellite constellations. The award, announced this week, will explore the military applications of spacecraft based on those Telesat plans to use for its LEO satellite constellation, and having those military spacecraft link to Telesat's constellation using laser communications. Blackjack is a DARPA program to explore the use of LEO smallsat constellations for military applications previously reserved for larger spacecraft. (11/29)

UK NavSat Initiative Could Suffer Spectrum Shortage (Source: Sky News)
British plans to develop its own satellite navigation system post-Brexit could be stymied by a lack of spectrum. The British government announced plans earlier this year to study the feasibility of building its own satellite navigation system if it is unable to work out an agreement with the EU regarding access to parts of the Galileo system once the country leaves the EU next year. However, one expert noted that the available spectrum for satellite navigation systems has already been allocated to other systems, forcing Britain to undertake complex negotiations with those countries at the International Telecommunication Union to access that spectrum. (11/29)

Cyber Threats Taken More Seriously by Ground Station Operators (Source: Space News)
Teleport operators are taking cybersecurity more seriously. Those facilities, which provide the link between satellites and ground networks, are taking stronger measures to protect their networks and satellites from attack through measures ranging from keeping important systems disconnected from the internet to improved physical security. The satellite industry has so far managed to avoid a high-profile cyber attack, something experts attribute both to the industry's vigilance and how oblivious much of the world is to the magnitude of the services it provides. (11/29)

Russia Plans Moon Base by 2040 (Source: TASS)
Russia's long-term plans for lunar exploration include a base on the moon by 2040. The plan, discussed at a meeting Wednesday between Roscosmos and the Russian Academy of Sciences, involves first testing technologies on the International Space Station and robotic missions to and around the moon. The first Russian landing on the moon with people would take place "after 2030" with development of a base to follow after 2035. Roscosmos did not disclose an estimated cost of the plan. (11/29)