June 18, 2019

How an Atomic Clock Will Get Humans to Mars on Time (Source: NASA JPL)
NASA navigators are helping build a future where spacecraft could safely and autonomously fly themselves to destinations like the Moon and Mars. Navigators today tell a spacecraft where to go by calculating its position from Earth and sending the location data to space in a two-way relay system that can take anywhere from minutes to hours to deliver directions. This method of navigation means that no matter how far a mission travels through the solar system, our spacecraft are still tethered to the ground, waiting for commands from our planet.

That limitation poses obvious problems for a future crewed mission to another planet. How can astronauts navigate far from Earth if they don't have immediate control over where they're going? And how can they accurately land on another planet when there's a communication delay that affects how quickly they can adjust their trajectory into the atmosphere?

NASA's Deep Space Atomic Clock is a toaster-size device that aims to answer those questions. It's the first GPS-like instrument small and stable enough to fly on a spacecraft. The technology demonstration enables the spacecraft to know where it is without needing to rely on that data from Earth. In late June, the clock will launch on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket into Earth's orbit for one year, where it will test whether it can help spacecraft locate themselves in space. (6/14)

Arianespace and ESA Announce Jupiter Probe Launch Contract (Source: ESA)
The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer, Juice, will ride into space on an Ariane launch vehicle, Arianespace and ESA confirmed today at the International Paris Air Show. Juice is the first large-class mission in ESA's Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 programme. Its mission is devoted to complete a unique tour of the Jupiter system.

Juice will spend at least three years making detailed observations of the giant gaseous planet Jupiter and in-depth studies of three of its largest moons and potentially ocean-bearing satellites, Ganymede, Europa and Callisto. The launch period for Juice will start in mid-2022 aboard an Ariane 5 or an Ariane 64 launch vehicle – depending on the final launch slot from from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana, South America. (6/17)

Cosmologists Clash Over the Beginning of the Universe (Source: WIRED)
In 1980, the year before Hawking’s talk, the cosmologist Alan Guth realized that the Big Bang’s problems could be fixed with an add-on: an initial, exponential growth spurt known as cosmic inflation, which would have rendered the universe huge, smooth, and flat before gravity had a chance to wreck it. Inflation quickly became the leading theory of our cosmic origins. Yet the issue of initial conditions remained: What was the source of the minuscule patch that allegedly ballooned into our cosmos, and of the potential energy that inflated it?

Hawking, in his brilliance, saw a way to end the interminable groping backward in time: He proposed that there’s no end, or beginning, at all. According to the record of the Vatican conference, the Cambridge physicist, then 39 and still able to speak with his own voice, told the crowd, “There ought to be something very special about the boundary conditions of the universe, and what can be more special than the condition that there is no boundary?” Click here. (6/17)

A New Accounting for Apollo: How Much Did it Really Cost? (Source: Space Review)
As NASA embarks on another effort to return humans to the Moon, it’s worth reexamining how much it cost to get them there the first time, 50 years ago. Casey Dreier presents a new detailed analysis of those costs, which approach $300 billion in tolday’s dollars. Click here. (6/17) 
 
Doomed From the Start: The Manned Orbiting Laboratory and the Search for a Military Role for Astronauts (Source: Space Review)
Fifty years ago this month, President Nixon formally cancelled the Manned Orbiting Laboratory program. Dwayne Day notes that, years earlier, an unknown Air Force officer predicted the program’s fate. Click here. (6/17) 
 
Streamlining the Space Industry’s Regulatory Streamlining (Source: Space Review)
Through a series of space policy directives, the Trump Administration has called for reforms of commercial space regulations, from launch to remote sensing. Jeff Foust reports that many in industry are finding that this regulatory streamlining isn’t working out quite as they expected. Click here. (6/17) 
 
Icarus Falling: Apollo Nukes an Asteroid (Source: Space Review)
Long before Deep Impact and Armageddon, an MIT class in the 1960s examined how it could deflect a threatening asteroid. Dwayne Day examines how the concept leveraged the Saturn V and other Apollo-era technologies. Click here. (6/17) 
 
'For All Mankind' Provides a Look Into a Different Space Race (Source: Space Review)
A new drama for Apple’s upcoming streaming video service is about an alternative history regarding the race to the Moon. Mark Whittington wonders if it will capture viewers’ interest. Click here. (6/17) 

Craig Technologies Test Platform to Fly On ISS in October (Source: Orlando Business Journal)
Merritt Island-based Craig Technologies: The company's first Craig-X Flight Test Platform is scheduled for an Oct. 12 launch on Northrup Grumman’s NG-12 rocket as it heads to the International Space Station. The Craig-X platform is designed to mount externally to the International Space Station and can host components from other companies for testing on the outside of the ISS at a low cost and a reduced time frame.

Craig Technologies' customers include Rincon Research, Quest Institute, Alfred University, Second Baptist School, Cobra Puma Golf, Explore.org, Genesis Dimensions, and Lamborghini in partnership with the Houston Methodist Research Institute. (6/17)

Alabama Playing Major Role in ULA’s Next-Gen Vulcan Centaur Rocket (Source: Made in Alabama)
Inside the United Launch Alliance’s sprawling rocket factory in Morgan County, preparations are being made to get America’s next-generation launch vehicle – the Vulcan Centaur – ready for flight and positioned for critical missions. “The Vulcan Centaur rocket is purpose-built for American national security space launch requirements, and it begins in Alabama,” said Mark Peller, vice president of Major Development for ULA. (6/17)

FAA Seeks to Enable Return of Supersonic Passenger Aircraft (Source: Wall Street Journal)
U.S. aviation regulators unveiled plans to ease noise restrictions for testing proposed supersonic commercial planes in American skies, part of a broader initiative to promote development of such technology. The effort, described Monday during the international air show, looks to eliminate regulatory hurdles that effectively have stymied a number of startups and established aerospace companies from testing new commercial supersonic designs in U.S. airspace.

“Supersonic aircraft are back on the horizon,” acting Federal Aviation Administration chief Daniel Elwell said during a panel discussion. He predicted that the development work is likely to prompt research and design efforts outside the U.S. As a result, he said, today’s projects warrant eventually drafting new noise limits for the supersonic segment of flights. (6/17)