April 1, 2019

Is Space Mining a Viable Future? (Source: Space Daily)
Space is the final frontier for resource exploitation. Asteroids orbiting near earth are masses of potential riches such as platinum, fresh water, and other resources scarce on earth. However, with this new technology for space mining there comes a host of unexplored questions about the complexities of taking from intergalactic sources.

First to be considered are the environmental implications of space mining. The low gravity and harsh temperature changes off earth means that robotics and equipment have to be more complex and larger than those used on earth and therefore will require more resources for production whose extraction will harm the environment.

A preliminary life cycle analysis done on the environmental impact of space mining by Hein et al. shows that space mining could actually result in significantly reduced carbon emissions compared to extraction on earth. Earth mining techniques, especially of rare metals, is a highly polluting process. Whereas only launch emissions would remain in earth's atmosphere for space mining, and future companies would hopefully invest in cleaner rocket fuels, further reducing CO2 emissions. (4/1)

Lunar Whiplash (Source: Space Review)
Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA last week to accelerate its human spaceflight plans so it can land a human on the south pole of the Moon by 2024. Jeff Foust reports this charge is the latest in a recent series of policy changes that have created more questions than answers. Click here. (4/1)

The Implications of India’s ASAT Test (Source: Space Review)
Last week India surprised the world by carrying out a direct-ascent ASAT test, destroying one of its own satellites. Ajey Lele discusses the background of the test and why it is not as destabilizing as some might think. Click here. (4/1)

Déjà Vu as Space Policy (Source: Space Review)
Vice President Pence’s speech appeared to harken back to previous efforts to set audacious deadlines for NASA. Roger Handberg argues the new goal is a dance between operational reality and political reality. Click here. (4/1)

Destination Moon: China’s First Mover Advantage and America’s Second Mover Advantage (Source: Space Review)
As NASA works on its accelerated return to the Moon, Chinese officials have discussed the potential for setting up a base at the lunar poles. John Hickman examines the advantages and disadvantages of the two countries’ efforts. Click here. (4/1)

Space Florida Gains Approval for Industry Recruitment Deals (Source: WMFE)
Space Florida’s board has approved projects to acquire flight simulators and a clean room for two secret companies in Florida. The state agency tasked with growing Florida’s aerospace industry wants to acquire $125 million worth of flight simulators and lease them back to a South Florida based company. In return, the company promises to create 73 new high-paying jobs.

The board also approved a plan to acquire up to $12 million in financing for a new clean room and other upgrades for another company in Pinellas County. Space Florida will lease the manufacturing facility to the company, which says it will create 42 new high paying jobs. The two companies were unnamed since they are publicly traded and requested discretion before board approval.

At a meeting Monday in Tallahassee, the board also approved an agreement to lease a manufacturing plant to another company — Firefly aerospace. Firefly will build its rockets at the facility just south of Kennedy Space Center and launch from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. (4/1)

NASA Laser Reflector Aboard Israeli Lunar Lander Could Aid Future Navigation (Source: Space.com)
Israel's Beresheet lunar lander is a joint project of the nonprofit group SpaceIL and the company Israel Aerospace Industries. Along for the hop to the moon is a NASA laser retro-reflector array comprised of eight mirrors made of quartz cube corners that are set into a dome-shaped aluminum frame. If Beresheet successfully plants itself on the moon on April 11, NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will eventually use its laser altimeter to shoot laser pulses at the retro-reflector. Using this technique, Beresheet's lunar location can be pinpointed to within 4 inches.

NASA is interested in dotting the moon with many such retro-reflectors in the future. These would serve as permanent "fiducial markers" on the moon, meaning future craft could use them as points of reference to make precision landings. The instrument NASA placed on Beresheet, called the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center/MIT Laser Retro-reflector Array (LRA) for Lunar Landers, is located on the top side of the Israeli lander so it can be seen from above. (4/1)

NASA Announces top Three Designs for Homes on Mars (Source: CNN)
NASA has taken another step to make interplanetary living a reality, naming the top three finalists for its ongoing 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge last Thursday. The challenge, which began in 2015, has seen teams competing to design shelters suitable for the Moon, Mars and -- optimistically -- beyond.

For the fourth level of the third phase of the competition, 11 teams were asked to create full-scale renderings of their designs using modeling software, and short videos explaining their choices. Each model was evaluated for architectural layout and aesthetics, as well as the feasibility of their construction and scalability, among other traits. Previous stages focused on architectural renderings and technologies required to build each design's components. Click here. (4/1)

There Is Definitely Methane on Mars, Scientists Say. But Is It a Sign of Life? (Source: Space.com)
We may be one step closer to cracking the Mars methane mystery. NASA's Curiosity rover mission recently determined that background levels of methane in Mars' atmosphere cycle seasonally, peaking in the northern summer. The six-wheeled robot has also detected two surges to date of the gas inside the Red Planet's 96-mile-wide Gale Crater — once in June 2013, and then again in late 2013 through early 2014.

These finds have intrigued astrobiologists, because methane is a possible biosignature. Though the gas can be produced by a variety of geological processes, the vast majority of methane in Earth's air is pumped out by microbes and other living creatures. Some answers may soon be on the horizon, because that June 2013 detection has just been firmed up. Europe's Mars Express orbiter noted the spike as well from that spacecraft's perch high above the Red Planet, a new study reports.

"While previous observations, including that of Curiosity, have been debated, this first independent confirmation of a methane spike increases confidence in the detections," said study lead author Marco Giuranna. And that's not all. Giuranna and his team also traced the likely source of the June 2013 plume to a geologically complex region about 310 miles (500 kilometers) east of Gale Crater. (4/1)

UCF Researchers Set Standard for Making Synthetic Martian Dirt (Source: UCF)
Imagine a big, metal machine, similar to a food processor. But instead of shredding cabbage for coleslaw or pureeing chickpeas for hummus, it’s pulverizing rocks and minerals to make out-of-this-world dirt. This is a familiar scene for Kevin Cannon, a researcher who founded the nonprofit Exolith Lab, an extension of UCF’s Center for Lunar and Asteroid Surface Science.

Cannon and his team of undergraduate students crush, sieve and carefully combine pure minerals to create research-grade simulants that replicate the physical, chemical and spectral makeup of soil on the moon, Mars and asteroids. Click here. (4/1)

Space Florida Seeks Approval To Secure Funding For Two Secret Aerospace Companies (Source: WMFE)
Two new private space companies could soon be calling Florida home. Space Florida wants to negotiate private investments for two secret companies that could create more than 100 high-paying jobs. Space Florida’s board will vote Monday on two mystery projects code-named Prime and Midnight Blue.

The state agency wants to secure up to $125 million for Project Prime. In return, the company will create 73 jobs in the state with salaries of around $80,000. Midnight Blue is seeking up to $12 million in investment, and in turn promises to create 42 jobs with a salary of around $68,000. Space Florida’s Dale Ketcham said the money isn’t a tax incentive. Instead, the agency helps negotiate deals between the space companies and private investors like banks and venture capitalists.

“Nothing that we do is backed by the full faith and credit of the state, so there’s not taxpayer risk. We’re not betting with house money,” said Ketcham. “The private sector is very comfortable with the deals Space Florida has structured over the decades, so they are comfortable and confident with our understanding of what needs to happen.” (4/1)

Cape Canaveral, Summer of ’69 (Source: Air & Space)
On July 16, 1969, as Apollo 11 prepared for liftoff, the banks of the nearby Indian River in Titusville, Florida, some seven miles from the launch pad, were crowded with hundreds of thousands of citizens who had come to see history being made. I was a 22-year-old photographer for Time magazine. My idea for pictures wasn’t simply to follow the rocket from launch pad to a distant point of flame in the sky. I chose instead to aim my cameras at this gathering of the faithful.

After the calamities of 1968 (the assassinations of Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert Kennedy and the escalation of the Vietnam War), the Apollo mission gave a weary public an awe-inspiring event to share with loved ones. Looking back at the photographs 50 years later, I’m struck by the degree to which they captured a glimpse of America in 1969. Click here. (4/1) 

India Launches Military Satellite, Dozens of Microsatellites (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
India successfully launched a military satellite and more than two dozen secondary payloads Sunday night. The Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) lifted off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center at 11:57 p.m. Eastern, placing into one orbit EMISAT, a satellite for the Indian military that will be used to track radars from orbit. The PSLV's upper stage then maneuvered into a lower orbit to release 28 smallsat secondary payloads, including 20 Dove imaging satellites for Planet and four Lemur-2 satellites for Spire. The upper stage later moved to yet another lower orbit to conduct additional experiments. The launch was the first of the QL version of the PSLV with four solid strap-on boosters. (4/1)

India Delays Moon Mission Again (Source: ANI)
After Sunday's PSLV launch, India's space agency ISRO revealed another delay for its lunar lander mission. K. Sivan, chairman of ISRO, said that the Chandrayaan-2 spacecraft is now scheduled for launch in May. That launch, on a larger Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle, will come after two more PSLV launches also scheduled for May, he said. Chandrayaan-2, which includes an orbiter as well as a lander and rover, was previously scheduled for launch later this month. (4/1)

China Launches Data Relay Satellite (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
China launched a data relay satellite Sunday. The Long March 3B rocket launched from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 11:50 a.m. Eastern and placed the Tianlian 2-01 satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. The satellite is the first in a second generation of geostationary satellites that will serve as data relays, connecting other satellites with ground stations. (4/1)

ESA's CHEOPS Planet Hunter Ready for Launch in 2019 (Source: ESA)
A European satellite to look for exoplanets is ready for launch. ESA said last week that its Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite, or CHEOPS, satellite, has completed final tests at an Airbus Defense and Space facility. The satellite will be shipped to French Guiana later this year for launch on a Soyuz rocket between mid-October and mid-November. CHEOPS will measure transits by exoplanets as they pass in front of the stars they orbit  to improve estimates of their size and composition. (3/29)

Orange County Icon Will Be One of the First Astrotourists (Source: Orange County Register)
One evening, while visiting her friend the British billionaire Sir Richard Branson on his private island in the Caribbean, Julie Hill decided to become an astronaut. The Newport Coast-based land development magnate visits Necker Island annually, but on this occasion, she brought her astrophysicist brother along. When the cocktail conversation turned toward her host’s then-fledgling space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, the siblings playfully goaded each other about which of them had the right stuff. But Hill didn’t need much convincing. (4/1)

Vector Overcoming Challenges to Reach Launch Pad (Source: Ars Technica)
Like a lot of companies that aspire to launch rockets, Vector has had its ups and downs along the way to the launch pad. But in an interview with Ars, Vector's co-founder and chief executive, Jim Cantrell, said the micro-launch company is continuing to make progress toward space and intends to launch two rockets this year.

"Basically we’ve had to revise our development plan," said Cantrell, who had previously hoped to see Vector make its first space launch in 2018. Vector's new plan targets the launch of a suborbital rocket, Vector-R B1001, for June. (There is no formal launch date yet set, Cantrell said.) This mission will have a customer, but Cantrell isn't ready to say who yet. Then, before the end of the year, the company intends to fly its first orbital rocket, Vector-R B1003, from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Alaska. (4/1)

Russian Cosmonauts to Experiment With Propeller-Driven Drone on ISS (Source: Sputnik)
Russian cosmonauts will carry out an experiment on controlling a drone driven by a propeller on board the International Space Station, said Alexander Bloshenko. "The experiment has been introduced into the program", Bloshenko said. During experiments with the propeller-driven drone, it is first planned to work out the design of its body and propulsion system. Based on results received, a second drone will be developed, designed to work in outer space. Tests with the drones are planned to last until 2023. (3/27)