December 26, 2018

China Got on the Bandwagon to Provide Global Satellite Internet (Source: Quartz)
Over the weekend, China launched a satellite into low-earth orbit, the first step of a plan to provide global satellite internet to people who still don’t have reliable access. Nearly 3.8 billion people are unconnected to the internet, and women and rural poor are particularly affected. The satellite, called Hongyun-1, took off at China’s national launching site Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center on Dec. 22. Hongyun-1, or “rainbow cloud,” is the first of 156 satellites of the same name developed by state-owned spacecraft maker China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC). A Long March 11 rocket, made by another state-owned firm, China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, carried the Hongyun-1.

CASIC intends to launch all the Hongyun satellites by around 2022 to form a constellation that will improve internet access in remote parts of China, and eventually in developing countries, a plan first announced in 2016. Most of the satellites will operate 1,000 kilometers  (620 miles) above the earth, far lower than satellites are typically placed. The project is “moving the internet currently on the ground into the sky,” said Hou Xiufeng, a spokesperson for CASIC, “It’s China’s first true low-orbit communication satellite… The launch will greatly boost commercial space.” (12/24)

Uranus Was Slammed by an Object Twice the Size of Earth (Source: BGR)
It’s been a big year for Uranus. We’ve learned quite a bit about the planet thanks to new research efforts aimed at explaining why it behaves dramatically different when compared to the other planets in our system. Back in July we learned that the planet’s bizarre rotation — it spins at a nearly 90-degree angle to our Solar System’s other worlds — was likely caused by some kind of incredible impact a long time ago. Now, a new study out of the UK is supporting the collision theory and provides a video of just how such a crash might have looked.

Anyone who took high school physics class knows that affecting an object the size of Uranus would take an incredible amount of energy. Using computer simulations, researcher Jacob Kegerreis of Durham University in North East England estimates that the object that struck the planet would have been at least twice the size of Earth.

The collision likely happened very early on in Uranus’s development, even before the planet’s moons had taken shape. This could explain why the lopsided planet’s moons also have a habit of spinning at an angle unlike the rest of planets in our system. What’s particularly interesting about this new work is the timeline over which the collision has been plotted. Such a crash would have been cataclysmic for Uranus and, if Kegerreis and his computer models are correct, the dramatic crash took place over the course of mere hours. (12/24)

Putin Crows as He Oversees Russian Hypersonic Weapons Test (Source: ABC)
Russian President Vladimir Putin oversaw a test Wednesday of a new hypersonic glide vehicle, declaring that the weapon is impossible to intercept and will ensure Russia's security for decades to come. Speaking to Russia's top military brass after watching the live feed of the launch of the Avangard vehicle from the Defense Ministry's control room, Putin said the successful test was a "great success" and an "excellent New Year's gift to the nation." (12/26)

ESA Restructures Satellite Servicing (Source: Space News)
ESA is restructuring a satellite servicing program to make it more attractive to companies. The e.Deorbit program is being expanded beyond its original focus on developing systems to deorbit the defunct Envisat satellite. Companies can now propose to deorbit any satellite weighing more than 100 kilograms that would not come down naturally in the next five years, as well as offer refueling and repair services. ESA wants to encourage the development of European satellite servicing capabilities, a field dominated currently by American efforts. (12/26)

Utima Thule Puzzles Scientists (Source: Space.com)
As New Horizons approaches Ultima Thule, scientists are puzzled by one aspects of the object. Because the object is irregularly shaped, scientists had expected to see changes in brightness, known as a lightcurve, as it rotated. However, observations so far have yet to reveal such brightness variations. Explanations for the flat lightcurve range from the pole of rotation of Ultima Thule being pointed right at the spacecraft to the object being surrounded by a cloud of dust or even a collection of tiny moons. New Horizons is on track to fly by Ultima Thule next week, with its closest approach just after midnight on New Year's Eve. (12/26)

House Kills Senate Space Bill (Source: Space News)
A commercial space bill approved by the Senate Thursday died in the house Friday. The Space Frontier Act, S.3277, failed to get the two-thirds majority needed for passage under suspension of the rules in the House. The bill had lackluster support from House Science Committee Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), who didn't think the bill went far enough, and incoming committee chair Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), who was concerned the bill hadn't been properly vetted. There was also, according to industry sources, opposition from the incoming chair of the House Transportation Committee, Peter DeFazio (D-OR) Johnson said she supported some aspects of the bill, such as extending authorization of the International Space Station, and planned to revisit them next year. (12/26)

China Launches Secret Satellite (Source: GB Times)
China also placed a secret satellite into orbit Monday. A Long March 3C launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:53 a.m. Monday and placed a satellite called TJS-3 into a geostationary transfer orbit. Few details are known about the satellite, but the first two satellites in the series, also in GEO, are believed to be carrying out signals intelligence or missile early warning missions. (12/26)

Reigniting the Spirit of Earthrise (Source: The Hill)
On Christmas Eve 50 years ago, the crew of Apollo 8 took a serendipitous and sublime photo of the Earth. It showed our planet seeming to rise over the limb of the moon, pitting ourtiny, fragile, blue and white orb against the infinite blackness of space. The photo had an impact on our world just as dramatic as the image itself, finding its way into major publications, giving the public a renewed sense of awe and pride in our planet, and even jumpstarting the environmental movement that led to President Nixon creating the Environmental Protection Agency.

More than anything else, the Earthrise image helped Americans in 1968 see that we could still do great things. It also shows why the upcoming Congress must commit to fully supporting a space program that ignites change and inspires millions.

Even decades after the Earthrise photo, NASA’s civil space missions continue to provide awe and wonder. In recent , the INSIGHT spacecraft successfully soft landed on Mars, Voyager 2 reached interstellar space and the International Space Station marked its 30th anniversary orbiting Earth. As we approach the new year, the New Horizons mission will be getting ready for our first encounter with a distant small world called Ultima Thule. (12/26)

After Three Decades on Capitol Hill, Nelson Leaves Behind Legacy of Space Policy (Source: WMFE)
Senator Bill Nelson’s more than three decades long political career has come to an end. After a contentious election and chaotic recount, Governor Rick Scott will take over as Florida’s Senator next month. On one of his last days in office, Senator Bill Nelson saw Congress pass the Space Frontier Bill. It extended the life of the International Space Station and rolled back regulations to help develop commercial space partnerships.

“This bill is another step, building on the NASA authorization act nearly a year ago,” Nelson said to his Senate colleagues.  “Indeed it is my privilege to be out here and to be a part of the passage of this legislation.” It’s fitting that one of Nelson’s last feats as a lawmaker was passing a space bill. For the better part of 30 years, the 76-year-old native-Floridian championed space policy. (12/26)

Urban Planning for the Moon Village (Source: Space News)
The first thing to remember about Moon Village is that it’s not a village on the moon. That disclaimer comes up in nearly every presentation about the concept of an open partnership supporting lunar exploration. “I’m not looking at building some houses, a church, a cinema, all of this. It’s not that,” said Jan Woerner, director general of the European Space Agency, during a news conference at the International Astronautical Congress in Bremen, Germany, in October.

Woerner, who has advocated for the concept since before he took the reins of ESA, said the idea is not about human spaceflight at all, really. “Moon Village is not the colonization of the moon,” he said. “I don’t want to move people away from the Earth to live on the moon.” So, what is it? “The idea of the Moon Village is a multipartner, open concept,” he said. “The Moon Village is not one project or one program. It says, ‘Let’s do it together.’”

But while Woerner might be the most famous advocate for Moon Village, it’s not an ESA program. Instead, the concept is being organized, loosely, by a nonprofit organization established in 2017 called the Moon Village Association. “We found that, in order to implement the vision of the Moon Village, you need an organization that can create a permanent platform,” said Giuseppe Reibaldi, president of the association who previously worked for 35 years at ESA. (12/26)

Number of World's Space Launches in 2018 Exceeds 100, Space Industry Source Says (Source: Sputnik)
In 2018, the number of space launches carried out throughout the world surpassed 100 for the first time since 1990, a source in the Russian rocket and space industry told Sputnik on Wednesday, adding that the space activity activation was explained by the doubling of Chinese space launches. "A total of 112 space launches have been carried out so far this year. The number of launches per year for the last time exceeded 100 in 1990," the source said.

According to the source, the number of space launches is set to reach 115, with three more launches scheduled for 2018. "In general, the increase [in the number of space launches] was ensured by China, which conducted 18 space launches in 2017 and will carry out a total of 39 launches in 2018 with one more launch planned [this year]," the source said. (12/26)

Roscosmos Subsidiary Signs Contract for Third Commercial Launch of Soyuz (Source: TASS)
Glavkosmos Launch Services, a subsidiary of Russia’s space corporation Roscosmos, has signed a contract for a third commercial launch of the Soyuz-2.1a carrier rocket, the company’s marketing director Yevgeny Solodovnikov told reporters on Wednesday. Earlier, the company signed two contracts to launch South Korean remote sensing satellites CAS500-1 and CAS500-2 atop Soyuz-2.1a carrier rockets. They are scheduled to be launched in late April and late July 2020, from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

"We have signed a contract for the third launch. I will not reveal other details right now. The information will be made public early next year," he said. The official added that the October 11 aborted launch of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket, carrying Russian cosmonaut Alexei Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague, did not affect the demand for commercial Soyuz launches. (12/26)

What Did Plato Think the Earth Looked Like? (Source: New York Times)
“Hey, don’t take that, it’s not scheduled,” Frank Borman said, joking to his fellow Apollo 8 astronauts, Bill Anders and James Lovell, on Dec. 24, 1968. They were orbiting the moon, farther from Earth than any humans had ever been. On the fourth pass, they were confronted by an extraordinary sight that jolted them out of their regimented procedures. There, seen through a small window, was Earth itself, rising out of the void.

For a split second, the astronauts were dazzled by the luminescent blue sphere, whorled by a white cloud cover. Then, as they were trained to do, they went back to work. As it turned out, Mr. Anders was the one who snapped a color photo, just after his fellow astronauts, Frank Borman and James Lovell, called his attention to the greatest photo op in history.

The color film proved to be the key; a similar photo had been taken two years earlier, but without the dazzling blue. When the photo was republished on the cover of Life magazine, and beamed out on America’s color TVs, billions of others had to same chance to look back at Earth in all its cerulean glory. That this life-giving place was the same thing as Creation was a message the astronauts reinforced on the same day, with their reading from the Book of Genesis. (12/24)

2019 Calendar of Space Events You Can't Miss (Source: Business Insider)
When it comes to events in space, 2019 is going to be an extraordinary year. That's not to say 2018 will be an easy act to follow. After all, SpaceX debuted the world's most powerful operational launch system (called Falcon Heavy), sent a car beyond Mars, and helped lift off more orbital rockets than in any year since 1990.

With a few exceptions, NASA also had a momentous 12 months: The US space agency announced its first-ever commercial astronaut crews, began a new hunt for Earth-like planets, sent a probe to "touch" the sun, and landed its InSight robot on Mars. China, meanwhile, crashed an old space station into the ocean and launched a small fleet of moon satellites. Click here. (12/24)

Is the Gateway the Right Way to the Moon? (Source: Space News)
Sometime in 2028, competing for attention alongside a presidential election and the return of the Summer Olympics to Los Angeles, NASA will return humans to the surface of the moon. A lunar lander will depart the cluster of modules in an elliptical orbit around the moon, called Gateway, and descend. One stage will take the lander to a low lunar orbit and then separate, after which the descent module will handle the rest of the journey to the lunar surface. A crew of up to four will spend days — perhaps up to two weeks — on the surface before boarding the ascent module, which will take them back to the Gateway.

At least that’s NASA’s plan for now. A year after President Donald Trump formally directed NASA to return humans to the moon in Space Policy Directive (SPD) 1, the agency has developed the outlines of a plan to carry that out, while emphasizing the language in the policy to do so in a “sustainable” manner and with international and commercial partners. But as the agency describes two of the biggest elements of the plan, the Gateway and a “human-class” lunar lander, it’s still struggling to sell the proposal to its various stakeholders, including its own advisers.

As NASA started to implement SPD-1, it made use of something it had already proposed: a cislunar habitat called the Deep Space Gateway. Under the agency’s previous “Journey to Mars” plans, the Deep Space Gateway was intended to test out technologies needed for future human deep space missions, including expeditions for Mars proposed for the 2030s. Click here. (12/24)