February 25, 2019

Astronauts Optimistic for ISS Launch After Botched Flight (Source: AFP)
Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin and US astronaut Nick Hague said Thursday they were ready to head into space again next month after their last launch ended in failure. The two men previously took off in a Soyuz rocket for the International Space Station in October, but an accident minutes after blast-off sent them plunging back to Earth -- a very rare event for manned flights. (2/21)

NASA Selects Experiments for Possible Lunar Flights in 2019 (Source: Space Daily)
NASA has selected 12 science and technology demonstration payloads to fly to the Moon as early as the end of this year, dependent upon the availability of commercial landers. These selections represent an early step toward the agency's long-term scientific study and human exploration of the Moon and, later, Mars.

"The Moon has unique scientific value and the potential to yield resources, such as water and oxygen," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. "Its proximity to Earth makes it especially valuable as a proving ground for deeper space exploration." NASA's Science Mission Directorate (SMD) initiated the request for proposals leading to these selections as the first step in achieving a variety of science and technology objectives that could be met by regularly sending instruments, experiments and other small payloads to the Moon. Click here. (2/22)

Creating a Space Colony Cryptocurrency (Source: Space Daily)
The international space community is rapidly approaching the day when human colonies will orbit the Earth. Eventually, such colonies with populate the Solar System with human frontiers on Mars and possibly on Europa, one of Jupiter's moons. The ultimate goal will be the establishment of human colonies beyond the Solar System. One side effect will be interstellar commerce.

Such commerce will require a financial system based on a method of payment. In the U.S. payments are based on the dollar. In Europe, the Euro is used for financial exchange. There are eight major currencies in the world today and the value of each is continuously changing relative to each other. On Earth, changing currency values are annoying but usually a major problem.

Transaction times are typically short and do not usually cause transactions to be difficult. However, in space inter-colony distances are extremely long and information transit times can be minutes to days, and even years. Currency exchanges may not be possible. Therefore, creating and using a single currency among these colonies may be very practical. This is an ideal situation for a cryptocurrency that is purely digital. The units of this currency should be uniquely identifiable. For example, we might want to use the "Digital Universal Currency," otherwise known as the DUC Coin. The value of the DUC could be set to the value of one US dollar. (2/22)

Smallsat Growth on Shaky Foundations (Source: NSR)
The advent of small satellites and the enabling satellite miniaturization technologies have opened up abundant opportunities in the space industry. From technology development and in-orbit demonstration missions to mega satellite constellations, it has brought a palpable change in the space ecosystem. While the relative simplicity and the associated low-cost architecture are enabling (the much needed) easier access to the space applications, the challenge lies in the readiness of the existing infrastructure to support this rapidly growing market.   

Despite a 30% decline in launch rates in 2018, small satellites are expected to regain growth in the near terms and over the next decade. NSR’s Small Satellite Markets, 5th Edition forecasts over 7,000 small satellites to be launched by 2027, with constellations expected to dominate the market which, in some cases, are planning to deploy unprecedented numbers at a record pace.

A market that has historically been relatively slow to develop will now experience an accelerated expansion. This is bound to put immense pressure on the existing infrastructure and the different stakeholders in the supply and value chain. A quick look at some of the elements of the industry outlines the potential repercussions of this unparalleled growth in the market. Click here. (2/19) 

DARPA Official to Lead DOD Space Development Agency (Source: Space News)
A top DARPA official will be the first head of the new Space Development Agency (SDA). In a memo to Acting Defense Secretary Patrick Shanahan, Undersecretary of Defense for Research and Engineering Mike Griffin designated Fred Kennedy, head of DARPA's Tactical Technology Office, as the director of the new agency. The selection of Kennedy comes two months after Griffin picked him to lead a study of how that agency should be organized. Griffin is seeking about $150 million for the SDA in the Pentagon's 2020 budget proposal to support work on an "initial set of next-generation military space capabilities." (2/25)

First Man Wins Visual Effects Oscar (Source: Deadline.com)
First Man won an Oscar at the Academy Awards last night. The film, about Neil Armstrong, received the award for best visual effects, beating out special effects-laden competitors like Avengers: Infinity War. The film lost out on two awards for sound effects and one for production design. When the film premiered last fall, it was initially considered a candidate for more prestigious awards, particularly for star Ryan Gosling and director Damien Chazelle. However, lackluster reviews shut the film out of top-tier categories. (2/25)

DoD Space Force Proposal Seeks Special Authorities to Transfer People and Programs From Other Services (Source: Space News)
In a draft proposal to establish a United States Space Force inside the Department of the Air Force, the Pentagon would ask Congress to approve “special temporary authorities” for the secretary of defense to transfer personnel, programs and other resources from other services to the new branch.

The special authorities would extend over a five-year transition period, starting on the day the new branch is authorized by Congress, with an option to request an additional two-year extension, says a draft of the DoD proposal labeled “pre-decisional” that was reviewed by SpaceNews. The document has to be approved by the White House Office of Management and Budget before it is submitted to Congress.

During the five-year transition, according to the draft proposal, the Secretary of Defense could “transfer officers and enlisted members of the armed forces within the Department of Defense to become officers and enlisted members of the United States Space Force.” Transfers could be made on a voluntary or involuntary basis. The proposal suggests the Pentagon believes it could take that long to align personnel and funding for the Space Force until it reaches its projected size of 12,000 to 15,000 people, most of whom would come from existing organizations. (2/25)

Scientists Create DNA-Like Molecule to Aid Search for Alien Life (Source: Room)
DNA as we know it consists of four key ingredients called nucleotides; guanine, adenine, thymine and cytosine – these are the most basic subunits of DNA and they are often abbreviated by their first letter; G, A, T and C. This fixed alphabet limits the size of the terrestrial book of life.

Is it possible to make this book bigger and stuff in more letters? Well apparently, yes it is. In a research breakthrough funded by NASA, scientists have synthesised a molecular system that, like DNA, can store and transmit information but instead of four information carriers, they have squeezed in eight.

Dubbed "hachimoji" DNA (from the Japanese "hachi," meaning "eight," and "moji," meaning "letter”), a team of US based researchers, have tested their ‘alien’ DNA and discovered that it not only reproduced the molecular recognition behavior of standard 4-letter DNA but it also met the Schrodinger requirements for a Darwinian system of molecular evolution – a hallmark for supporting life. (2/25)