July 6, 2019

NASA Will Look for Life in Space with a Nuclear-Powered Drone (Source: The Hill)
NASA has announced its plans for a nuclear-powered aerial drone, Dragonfly, that will fly from place to place on Saturn’s moon Titan. Dragonfly is planned to launch in 2026 for an expected landing in 2034. The lengthy flight will include a gravity-assist maneuver to increase the probe’s velocity. The wild card that may change that is the SpaceX Starship, capable of sending Dragonfly on a quicker, more direct route, which may be available as early as 2021.

Dragonfly will be the first space probe that will travel on an alien world entirely by air. It will have a suite of cameras that will take pictures both at a distance and close up. Dragonfly will also carry a mass spectrometer to analyze the chemical makeup of the materials it encounters. It will be able to conduct meteorological studies while in flight and seismographic studies of Titan’s interior at each site where it lands. (7/5)

Pocket Watch Inspired by the Moon Landing Sells for Record $4.5 Million (Source: CNN)
A timepiece by famous English watchmaker George Daniels has set a new world record, selling at auction for £3.6 million ($4.5 million) at auction. The Space Traveller, a yellow-gold watch with a double-link chain and a gold and blued-steel, double-ended key, sold at Sotheby's in London and set a record for an English watch.

The watch, described by Daniels as "the kind of watch you would need on your package tour to Mars," was one of only 23 pocket timepieces handmade by the master watchmaker. Inspired by the 1969 US moon landing, the Space Traveller was built to show both solar and sidereal time -- respectively, time reckoned according to the relative positions of the earth and the sun, and the relative positions of the earth and the stars -- equation of time (the difference between the time shown on clocks and on sundials), and phases of the moon. (7/5)

Five Reasons Future Space Travel Should Explore Asteroids (Source: The Conversation)
On the same day that the Earth survived an expected near-miss with asteroid 367943 Duende, Russian dashcams unexpectedly captured footage of a different asteroid as it slammed into the atmosphere, exploded, and injured more than 1,000 people. That day in Chelyabinsk in February 2013 reminded the world that the Earth does not exist in a bubble.

Asteroids provide a direct connection between the Earth and interplanetary space. Craters such as the Barringer Crater in Arizona are a stark reminder. The dinosaurs died out due to a different impact not far away in the Gulf of Mexico. But elsewhere in the universe, asteroids may actually transport life between different planets. While the world reflects on the first flight to the moon and our future on Mars, we think asteroids – the so-called “minor planets” – deserve recognition. Here’s why. (7/5)

Supersonic Flight Meets Another Challenge Besides Noise Reduction (Source: Aerotime)
Three U.S. based startups racing to build a successor to the iconic Concorde face another major hurdle besides developing a low-boom jet that would meet noise restrictions for supersonic passenger flights over land, already being eased by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), strong support from the Trump administration. The problem is, flying faster than the speed of sound will result in a heavy carbon footprint. Supersonic jetliners will be even larger polluters than subsonic airplanes, and that is the concern that the startups need to address as well.

Advances in aerodynamic design, materials and propulsion have inspired the possibility of a revival of supersonic passenger flight, as well as public excitement surrounding the idea. However, mounting public and political concerns about global carbon emissions have also risen. Subsonic aircraft are already known to be some of the worst polluters on the planet in terms of the amount of CO2 emissions per passenger, and the aviation industry is feeling the pressure to focus on sustainability, including alternative fuels and new engine technology. Click here. (7/5)

Forget the Moon—We Should Go to Jupiter’s Idyllic Europa (Source: WIRED)
Europa is an idyllic moon with an ice-covered ocean that may hide some form of life, even though plans to send a spacecraft there keep receding farther and farther away into the Jovian mists. But that hasn't killed the dream of sending something, anything, to that corner of the solar system. NASA had planned to launch the Europa Clipper mission in 2022 to circle Jupiter and pass Europa dozens of times. The idea was to swoop low and check for elements of life by analyzing particles of ice, water, and rock that may be spewing out from the moon’s surface like the spray of a geyser.

But the ambitious $2 billion mission has stumbled. Earlier this year, the launch date slipped from 2022 to 2023, and there’s still no rocket to get it there. NASA’s Space Launch System rocket is behind schedule and over budget, according to the Government Accountability Office, while a commercial rocket like the SpaceX Falcon Heavy would take twice as long to reach Europa from Earth as the SLS, which can make the trip in about three years.

NASA is hoping to start building the Europa Clipper spacecraft later this year while both rocket systems continue testing. But a NASA Inspector General report released in May found that space agency officials underestimated both the time and money needed to get the Europa Clipper mission off the ground. Meanwhile, a follow-up mission to be launched two years after—called Europa Lander, which would put some kind of device on the crusty surface—has become less certain. The report concluded that given the current pace of work, that mission could not even consider launching until 2030. (7/5)

Exomoons That Run Away From Their Planets Could Become ‘Ploonets’ (Source: New Scientist)
Despite a lot of searching, we haven’t found a moon around an exoplanet yet. According to a new study, that could be because these exomoons have been ejected from orbit around their home planet and turned into miniature planets called “ploonets”. Our own moon may even become a ploonet one day. Mario Sucerquia at the University of Antioquia in Colombia and his colleagues modelled the interplay between exomoons and the giant planets they could orbit – gas worlds between 0.5 and 1.8 times the mass of Neptune. (7/4)

TESS Finds a Wee World Orbiting a Wee Nearby Star (Source: SyFy Wire)
The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, is finishing up its first year of observations from Earth orbit. It has already found over 750 "objects of interest," that is, exoplanet candidates, with 20 having been confirmed so far. A lot more are coming: TESS is observing something like 200,000 nearby stars, and is expected to find tens of thousands of planets!

One of these stars is L 98-59. It's a red dwarf, a tiny, cool, dim bulb of a star just 34.5 light years from Earth. It has about a third of the Sun’s mass and size, and only about 1% of the Sun's brightness. Even at its relatively close distance you'd need (big) binoculars to spot it. TESS found three planets orbiting it (so far), and all of them are roughly Earth-sized. Two of the planets (called L 98-59 c and d) are super-Earths, with diameters 1.35 and 1.6 times Earth's. That's still small enough that they may be rocky worlds like our own planet. But it's the third planet (L 98-59 b) that's really fun: It's smaller than Earth, about 0.8 times Earth's diameter! (7/2)

NASA Nixes Hunt for Deadly Asteroids (Source: Quartz)
NASA says it can’t afford to build a space telescope considered the fastest way to identify asteroids that might impact the Earth with terrible consequences. A 2015 law gave the space agency five years to identify 90% of near-Earth objects larger than 140 meters in diameter, which could devastate cities, regions and even civilization itself if they were to impact the planet. NASA isn’t going to meet that deadline, and scientists believe they have so far only identified about a third of the asteroids considered a threat.

Researchers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led by principal investigator Amy Mainzer, developed a proposal for a space telescope called NEOCam that would use infrared sensors to find and measure near-Earth objects. The National Academy of Sciences issued a report this spring concluding that NEOCam was the fastest way to meet the asteroid-hunting mandate. But NASA will not approve the project to begin development. (7/5)

Saturn's Icy Moon Enceladus Is Likely the 'Perfect Age' to Harbor Life (Source: New Scientist)
Neveu and his colleagues used simulations to calculate Enceladus' age using data gathered by the Cassini spacecraft, which orbited Saturn for 13 years. The scientist and his team published their findings last April in the journal Nature Astronomy. One of Cassini's major discoveries was that Enceladus had an ocean filled with hydrothermal vents. "It's very surprising to see an ocean today," Neveu told Live Science after the talk. "It's a very tiny moon and, in general, you expect tiny things to not be very active [but rather] like a dead block of rock and ice."

But not only does the tiny moon most likely have an ocean, this Washington-state-size icy moon has the habitat needed for life, including sources of chemical energy and sources of essential elements such as carbon, nitrogen, hydrogen and oxygen, Neveu said. "But there's [another] dimension of habitability...time," Neveu said.

If the ocean is too young – for example, only a couple of million years old – there probably wouldn't have been enough time to mix those ingredients together to create life, he said. What's more, that's not enough time for little sparks of life to spread enough for us Earthlings to detect them. On the other hand, if the ocean is too old, it's as if the planet's "battery" is running out of juice; the chemical reactions needed to sustain life might stop, Neveu said. (7/2)

Chasing SpaceX, Amazon Seeks to Launch 3,236 Internet Satellites (Source: Bloomberg)
Amazon.com Inc. asked for U.S. permission to launch 3,236 communications satellites, joining a new space race to offer internet service from low orbits and challenge the fleet planned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX. Amazon in a July 4 filing told the Federal Communications Commission its Kuiper satellites will deliver broadband to tens of millions of consumers and businesses that now lack adequate access to the internet. The agency coordinates trajectories and radio-frequency use.

The FCC already has approved nearly 13,000 low-Earth orbit satellites. Those include 11,943 for Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp., which launched an initial batch of 60 spacecraft in May. At low-Earth orbit -- altitudes of 112 to 1,200 miles (or about 180 to 2,000 kilometers) -- satellites need to race around the globe to stay aloft, completing orbits in as little as 90 minutes. As one moves toward the horizon it will hand off signal duties to the next satellite coming by. Many satellites are needed if continuous, widespread coverage is the goal. (7/5)

UK-Led Solar Science Mission to Use Cubesats (Source: Space Daily)
Named after a Celtic goddess of the Sun, SULIS is a UK-led solar science mission, designed to answer fundamental questions about the physics of solar storms. The mission consists of a cluster of small satellites and will carefully monitor solar storms using state-of-the-art UK technology, as well as demonstrating new technologies in space. Once funded, the mission will study the nature of solar eruptions, and track huge magnetic clouds of charged gas as they travel at high speed on a collision course with Earth. (7/5)

To Be a Rising Star in the Space Economy, Australia Should Also Look to the East (Source: Space Daily)
The UK's space agency is already planning for spaceflights to Australia, taking just 90 minutes. This week it announced the site of its first "spaceport". Where exactly a spacecraft might land in Australia is still anyone's guess. Australia wants to become a bona fide space power in the emerging space economy - exemplified by the rise of private space companies such as SpaceX, Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and others.

The Australian government founded the Australian Space Agency just one year ago. It is about to invest tens of millions of dollars in international space projects. But right now, it could be argued, it has a large problem: How will Australia connect to the rest of the international space economy? On the one hand, tying Australia's space economy to the Americans and Europeans makes sense. Both have large markets and developed space industries. Close ties to both will likely ensure a steady stream of business. On the other hand, there are benefits to pursuing a new type of multilateralism that is less US- or Euro-centric.

Through the Square Kilometer Array project, Australia has links with China and India. Compared to the Americans and Europeans, these two countries have different competitive strengths in the global space industry. Positioning between them could put Australia in a unique place in the global production networks of space science and technology. This is particularly so if relations between some of these larger players are distant (the United States and China, for example). Australia could benefit from being a go-between. (7/5)