June 23, 2019

Tyler Winklevoss Bought a Ticket to Space With Bitcoin When it Was at $800: ‘I Won’t Make That Mistake Again’ (Source: CNBC)
In January, 2014, Tyler and Cameron Winklevoss each bought a ticket to travel to the edge of space on Virgin Galactic. They bought them with bitcoin. “I won’t make that mistake again,” Tyler Winklevoss tweeted Thursday. That’s because the price of a single bitcoin at the time was $800, Winklevoss said. On Friday, bitcoin is trading at $9,914.66 as of 3:57 p.m. EST, according to CoinDesk.

A Virgin Galactic ticket is valued at $250,000. At that price Tyler would have spent roughly 312.5 bitcoin on his ticket, which today would valued at nearly $3.1 million. (6/21)

India is Making a Play to Become a Major Space Power (Source: The Hill)
India has started to make decisions that will make that country a major space power. The south Asian country is responding to China’s progress in space. It has not only set the date for the launch of its next moon mission; it has also decided that it needs its own independent space station. India's much-delayed Chandrayaan-2 space probe will be launched to the moon on July 15 of this year, 50 years after the day that Apollo 11 launched. The Indian moon probe will take almost two months on a low-energy trajectory before landing at the lunar south pole on Sept. 6 or 7.

ISRO has announced that it would like to build its own space station sometime in the 2020s. It will be a relatively small module, about 20 metric tons, and it would allow Indian astronauts to remain in Earth orbit for up to 20 days while performing experiments. ISRO plans to deploy the Indian space station about five to seven years after the first flight of the Gaganyaan, a crewed orbital spacecraft being developed by the ISRO. India would also like to join as an international partner with NASA’s planned Artemis program to return to the moon. (6/21)

Indian Startup Bellatrix Aerospace Raises $3 Million (Source: Space News)
An Indian satellite propulsion startup with eventual plans to also build a small launch vehicle has raised $3 million from a group of venture capital investors. Bangalore, India-based Bellatrix Aerospace intends to use the funds to demonstrate its thruster technology in space. Bellatrix is building propulsion systems for all sizes of satellites. Formed in 2015 at the Indian Institute of Science, Bellatrix currently consists of 14 people, but will use the investment to increase that number. (6/21)

Academics Cast Doubt on UK Spaceport Plans (Source: Caithness Courier)
Two university academics 'got a rocket' after claiming a spaceport in the far north would adversely affect the local economy and environment. Trudy Morris, the chief executive of the Caithness Chamber of Commerce and Highlands and Islands Enterprise blasted the findings of the study which cast doubt on the economic benefits of the £17.3 million project.

The research by Prof Mike Danson, of Heriot-Watt University, and Geoff Whittam, of Glasgow Caledonian University, cast doubts on claims that 40 high-quality jobs would be created by the scheme. They also expressed concern that far from bringing jobs and prosperity to the area, the spaceport proposed for the A'Mhoine site, near Tongue in Sutherland would obstruct the development of other businesses. The academics questioned the choice of the site over others and suggested earlier studies overstated the level of community support while "not paying enough attention to infrastructural issues and environmental designations." (6/21)

Bezos Says Reaching Mars Without First Going Back to the Moon is an ‘Illusion’ (Source: CNBC)
Everyone from President Donald Trump to Elon Musk is understandably excited at the prospect of humans eventually reaching Mars, but Jeff Bezos says focusing on reaching Mars before first establishing a presence on the moon is an “illusion.” The president recently tweeted that NASA should keep its sights set on Mars, rather than “talking about going to the moon", and Musk says SpaceX will transport humans to the distant “Red Planet” by 2024, two years after the aerospace company plans to land its first unmanned rocket on Mars.

However, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — whose aerospace company Blue Origin is busy engaging in the modern-day “space race” — said going to the moon “is actually the fastest way to get to Mars.” “If you’re gonna need a lot of supplies and fuel and bulk materials to go to Mars, you’re much better lifting them off the moon than you are lifting them off the Earth,” Bezos said. “It’s an illusion that you can skip a step,” Bezos said. “Skipping steps slows you down, it’s seductive but wrong.” (6/21)

Comet Mission Given Green Light by European Space Agency (Source: Physics World)
The European Space Agency (ESA) is to launch a probe to visit a comet originating from the outer solar system. The €150m Comet Interceptor spacecraft, proposed by a team led by UK-based researchers, will launch in 2028. It will be the space agency’s first so-called “fast” or F-class mission, which take under a decade from selection to launch and weigh less than 1000 kg.

The mission will take off together with ESA’s Ariel satellite, which will scrutinise the atmospheres of extrasolar planets. Once in space, the Comet Interceptor will travel to the L2 Lagrange point– a gravitational-balance point over a million kilometres beyond the Moon’s orbit – where it will lie in waiting for its quarry: a comet on its first dive in from the very farthest reaches of our planetary neighborhood. (6/21)

How Martian Microbes Could Survive in the Salty Puddles of the Red Planet (Source: Space.com)
In extraordinarily salty puddles of water resembling ones you might find on Mars, bacteria can survive getting completely dried out, suggesting that the Red Planet may be more habitable than previously thought, according to a new study. Since there is life virtually wherever there is water on Earth, research into whether Mars was once capable of hosting life — and whether it still might host it — typically focuses on the past or current presence of liquid water on or below its surface.

However, the cold, thin atmosphere that Mars has nowadays means liquid water likely cannot exist on its surface for any length of time. Still, just before dawn, evaporating frost on the Martian surface can drive humidity up to 100 percent, said Mark Schneegurt, an astrobiologist. At its peak, the humidity on Mars can resemble the drier parts of the Atacama Desert in Chile, the driest place on Earth aside from its poles, which nevertheless is home to life. In addition, a variety of salts often found on the surface of Mars could absorb this moisture. Because the briny fluids that result have a lower freezing point than water, they could withstand the frigid temperatures that prevail on the Red Planet's surface — and potentially harbor life. (6/21)