August 24, 2019

Sending Even a Tiny Message Through a Black Hole Would Make It Evaporate (Source: LiveScience)
If you want to send a message through a wormhole, you better make it brief. Under certain circumstances,  a message could be passed through a theoretical wormhole connecting black holes in different universes, physicists have found in a new study. Unfortunately, their results show that only a tiny amount of information (measured in quantum bits, or qubits) could be exchanged.

"In our specific setup, we found disappointing results in the sense that it's only on the order of one or two qubits, or a few bits of information, that you can send through the wormhole," Sam van Leuven, co-author of the new paper and a researcher at the University of the Witwatersrand in Johannesburg, told Live Science.

Typically, if you were to send something into a black hole, it would end up in the center, at an infinitely dense point known as the singularity, never to return to its previous life. But if a black hole were connected to another black hole through a wormhole and the trajectory of the message were just right, it could,  theoretically, cross through and exit on the other side of that wormhole — which could be in an alternate universe. (8/23)

Exoplanets Could Have Better Conditions for Life Than Earth (Source: CNN)
Earth seems like the perfect hub for life because it's the only planet known so far to host it -- but new research suggests that other planets could have oceans that are even more hospitable, offering life that is more varied than we know it. Researchers used NASA-developed software called ROCKE-3D to simulate ocean circulation and climates on different types of exoplanets, or planets outside our solar system.

Oceanic life on Earth depends on an upward flow, or upwelling, which moves nutrients from the dark depths to sunlit portions where photosynthetic life thrives. More upwelling means more nutrient resupply, which means more biological activity, researchers say. So, a research team used the software to identify "which (types of) planets will have the most efficient upwelling and thus offer particularly hospitable oceans," Stephanie Olson, lead researcher at the University of Chicago, said Thursday while presenting the research at the Goldschmidt Geochemistry Conference in Barcelona.

"We found that higher atmospheric density, slower rotation rates, and the presence of continents all yield higher upwelling rates," Olson said. "A further implication is that Earth might not be optimally habitable -- and life elsewhere may enjoy a planet that is even more hospitable than our own." (8/23)

Wynwood Space Art Exhibition and Fundraiser Event in Miami on Sep. 19 (Source: Space for Art Foundation)
Meet the "Artistic Astronaut" Nicole Stott during this specially curated Experience featuring hand crafted dishes, space-themed cocktails, fine Space artwork, live dance performances, along with out of this world VR experiences. Witness the Premier of the "Exploration" Art Space Suit made with artwork from children in over 40 countries! Shown for the first time to the public. Click here. (8/23)

Is a $2 Billion Prize for Landing on the Moon a Good Idea? (Source: Planetary Society)
Advocates for prize incentives argue that they raise awareness, stimulate new ways of thinking, and are cost-effective: the sponsor pays only for success. But prize incentives are not a silver bullet, and from the standpoint of public policy, they should be used with caution. While they sound promising—why not pay only for success?—they can actually represent a significant gamble, particularly if the sponsoring organization relies upon a successful outcome.

Furthermore, prize competitions represent an effective abdication of public oversight and public policymaking. Instead of doing the hard work to build an enduring political coalition, prize competitions seek to avoid the messy but important role of democratic oversight, turning the public treasury into nothing more than a lottery to be paid out to a select few who can even compete. A 2014 Deloitte study on the usefulness of prize competitions makes a distinction between "push" and "pull" incentives.

Push mechanisms pay for directed effort; research grants, fixed-cost, and cost-plus contracts are examples of push mechanisms. Prize incentives are an example of the "pull" mechanism, which attracts entities willing to be paid for an outcome and are willing to foot the bill for their effort. Push mechanisms tend to be used for large, complex problems where the pathway to an outcome is uncertain, expensive, or require significant amounts of upfront capital. A pull mechanism is, by design, riskier for both the participant and the sponsor: the sponsor gives up control over the process and the participant assumes the financial risk of pursuing it. (8/23)

NASA Said to be Investigating First Allegation of a Crime in Space (Source: BBC)
NASA is reported to be investigating a claim that an astronaut accessed the bank account of her estranged spouse from the International Space Station, in what may be the first allegation of a crime committed in space. Anne McClain acknowledges accessing the account from the ISS but denies any wrongdoing. Her estranged spouse, Summer Worden, reportedly filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission.

Ms McClain has since returned to Earth. The astronaut told the New York Times through a lawyer that she was merely making sure that the family's finances were in order and there was enough money to pay bills and care for Ms Worden's son - who they had been raising together prior to the split. Ms McClain and Ms Worden, who is an Air Force intelligence officer, married in 2014 and Ms Worden filed for divorce in 2018. Investigators from Nasa's Office of Inspector General have contacted both over the allegation, the New York Times reported.

Ms McClain graduated from the prestigious West Point military academy and flew more than 800 combat hours over Iraq as an Army pilot. She went on to qualify as a test pilot and was chosen to fly for NASA in 2013. There are five nternational space agencies involved in the ISS and a legal framework sets out that national law applies to any people and possessions in space. So if a Canadian national were to commit a crime in space, they would be subject to Canadian law, and a Russian citizen to Russian law. Space law also sets out provisions for extradition back on Earth, should a nation decide it wishes to prosecute a citizen of another nation for misconduct in space. (8/24)

NASA Must Shift its Focus to Infrastructure and Capabilities that Support Dynamic Missions (Source: Space News)
NASA exploration programs, including Constellation, Journey to Mars and the Asteroid Redirect Mission were developed by a talented group at NASA burdened with 1960s-style management. Not surprisingly, the first solution to the new Moon/Mars goal that came out of NASA’s traditional thought processes was to throw more money at the old plan, execute it with the usual people and hope for different results. Also not surprisingly, that effort generated more slippages and stirred up new political risk. Thankfully, that phase has clearly been ended.

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First Woman on the Moon Could Be a Soldier (Source: Stars & Stripes)
Lt. Col. Anne McClain is one of 12 female astronauts who could become the first woman on the moon by 2024, a list compiled by NASA shows. She’s also the only one of the 12 who’s in the Army. After President Donald Trump directed NASA in late 2017 to return to the moon, the space agency said it would make putting the first woman on the lunar surface one of its key objectives.

But the Army, which most people associate with earthbound, ground warfare rather than space travel, may appear to be an unusual pool from which to draw astronauts. McClain, who joined NASA in 2013, is nevertheless a seasoned astronaut, and has 2,000 flight hours in 20 different aircraft under her belt, including the Black Hawk helicopter and C-12 Huron transport plane. McClain’s recent stint on the International Space Station will also help her as she competes to be part of NASA’s return to the moon, Kimbrough said. (8/22)

Unpiloted Soyuz Spacecraft Aborts Space Station Docking (Source: CBS News)
An unpiloted Soyuz spacecraft carrying supplies and an experimental robot attempted to dock with the International Space Station early Saturday, but the spacecraft, unable to lock onto guidance signals, began slewing widely about its long axis, prompting Russian flight controllers to order an abort. In the tense moments leading up to the abort, cosmonauts Alexander Skvortsov and station commander Alexey Ovchinin, monitoring the approach from inside the station's aft Zvezda module, lost sight of the gyrating Soyuz in their television monitors.

At that point, the spacecraft was less than 300 feet away from the target docking port atop the Russian Poisk module. "We're making every attempt we can think of to try to track it down visually right now," one of the cosmonauts radioed Russian flight controllers. NASA controllers at the Johnson Space Center in Houston then radioed the station's other four crew members to make sure they were up and aware of the apparent malfunction with the Soyuz KURS rendezvous system. (8/24)

What’s in Thailand’s New Military Space Center Launch? (Source: The Diplomat)
Last week, reports surfaced that the Thai military had launched a facility to preserve Thailand’s national security in outer space. Though details still remain unclear about the facility and its future prospects, the development nonetheless spotlighted the broader issue of Thailand’s development of its national space policy.

Thailand has long had an interest in outer space, with its involvement in areas such as research and development and satellite navigation dating back decades and the involvement of agencies like the Geo-Informatics and Space Technology Development Agency (GISTDA). But over the past few years, there have been efforts to both better manage and expand the development of space policy and to expand certain aspects of it through various initiatives, such as the creation of the National Space Policy Committee and the development of satellites.

According to the state-run National News Bureau of Thailand (NNT), the new space operations center, which was launched on August 17, was intended to serve as the primary organization to preserve Thailand national security in the space domain. The space center would reportedly help lay the foundation for the development of several missions including space operations, outer space patrols, satellite communications, and international engagement in certain space-related activities. (8/23)

NASA’s Jim Bridenstine Visits University Of Colorado’s ‘Eye Opening’ Aerospace Building (Source: CBS4)
The first step taken by NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine into the University of Colorado’s newest building in Boulder on Friday was a step into the future. “For the Artemis program — which will take the next man and the first woman to the south pole of the Moon within five years — it very well could be that the first prototype of that lander could be built right here in this room,” he said.

On Friday Bridenstine got a tour of CU’s brand new Aerospace Engineering Science Building. “It’s been eye opening to see the great collaboration between the students, the researchers, the professors and also the collaboration between the university itself and then government and industry as well,” he said. (8/23)

Race Begins to Send Space Tourists, Build Lunar Colonies (Source: Outlook India)
Fifty years ago, when the first man walked on the Moon, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk was not even born, Blue Origin owner Jeff Bezos was just a five-year-old kid, and Virgin Galactic''s Richard Branson was still a teenager. Today these tech entrepreneurs are leading the efforts to make space tourism a reality. Talks of space tourism is, in fact, not new. Branson, who founded Virgin Galactic as the world''s first commercial "spaceline", has been talking about it for couple of decades now. But with serious competition coming from the likes of Musk and Bezos, a trip to space on a commercial vehicle never looked so closer to reality as it is now.

If you still think it to be too far fetched an idea, consider this: Virgin Galactic has already received reservations from more than 600 people from 60 countries for places to fly on its aircraft WhiteKnightTwo and spacecraft SpaceShipTwo. In May this year, Branson announced that Virgin Galactic''s development and testing programme had advanced sufficiently to move the spaceline staff and space vehicles from Mojave, California to their commercial operations headquarters at Spaceport America, New Mexico. At a media event on August 15, company officials even showcased the spaceport''s ability to handle flight operations.

While Virgin Galactic wants to give its customers "a unique, multi-day experience culminating in a personal spaceflight that includes out-of-seat zero gravity and views of Planet Earth from space", SpaceX late last year announced that Japanese billionaire Yusaku Maezawa had reserved seat for a trip around the Moon aboard its Starship rocket, formerly known as the Big Falcon Rocket, which is still being developed. Meanwhile, Bezos''s Blue Origin, which aims to help people set up colonies on Moon and other planets, is preparing two rockets - New Shepard and New Glenn - for space tourism purposes. (8/24)

Vector’s Setback Not Seen as a Broader Industry Problem (Source: Space News)
When small launch vehicle developer Vector announced it was suspending operations Aug. 9, many in the industry wondered if this was the beginning of a long-anticipated shakeout of an overcrowded market. Instead, the problems may be specific to the company. Employees took to social media to report that the company’s three offices in Arizona and California were being closed. The company would only say that a “core team” remained to consider options for completing its Vector-R small launch vehicle.

Vector didn’t elaborate on the financial problems that caused the layoffs and change in leadership. Industry sources claim that one of Vector’s largest venture capital backers, Sequoia, withdrew its funding for the company, but the fund didn’t respond to a request for comment. In June, the company said they were preparing for a suborbital test flight of the Vector-R later in this summer from Pacific Spaceport Complex-Alaska ahead of a first orbital launch of the rocket, capable of placing 60 kilograms into low Earth orbit. The setback was all the more surprising because, two days earlier, the company won its first launch contract from the U.S. Air Force.

Industry sources familiar with Vector, speaking on background, attribute the company’s problems not to running out of money, or running into technical problems, but instead how the company was run. Those sources pointed to a high level of turnover among executives and infighting that one person described as “total chaos.” The company’s distributed structure exacerbated those issues: while Vector’s headquarters was in Tucson, Arizona, where it planned to manufacture its rockets, development work was done in Huntington Beach, California, while a third office in San Jose, California, was primarily devoted to a separate satellite project called GalacticSky. (8/23)

Big Rockets Cutting in as Little Launchers Vie for Smallsat Business (Source: Space News)
The advantage that Arianespace and SpaceX offer to smallsat developers is price: on a per-kilogram basis, a large rocket is usually less expensive than a small one. SpaceX also emphasizes its ability to offer lower prices by leveraging reusability. “Because of the launch capacity that we have and the availability of hardware from our success with reusability, it really enables us to enter this market directly from a business perspective,” Bednarek said.

If small launch vehicle providers are worried about losing business to lower-cost rideshare options, they’re not publicly showing concern. Dozens of companies are working on small launchers, a number that continues to grow despite a widespread belief that the market, even in the absence of any rideshare competition, can support only a small fraction of those companies. (8/23)

As Fires Devastate the Amazon Rainforest, NASA Satellites Capture Grim Images (Source: Space.com)
Often referred to as "the planet's lungs" because it provides 20% of the world's oxygen, the Amazon rainforest has been ablaze for weeks. NASA has captured satellite images of the billowing smoke from the catastrophic fires, which continue to spread. As of today (Aug. 23), the wildfires have reached a number of Brazilian states, including Amazonas, Para, Mato Grosso and Rondonia, and the tropical forests of Bolivia.

NOAA/NASA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a natural-color image using  the VIIRS (Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite) instrument on Wednesday (Aug. 21). The image shows smoke from the fires gathered over the Amazon across South America.  Imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite also shows the progression of the wildfires, including growing amounts of smoke over the region.

Brazil's National Institute for Space Research (INPE) has so far detected 39,601 fires this year in the Amazon, as reported by The New York Times. While it is currently the dry season in this region, INPE reports that there has been a 79 percent increase in fires from 2018 during the same period. (8/23)

AsiaSat Shareholders Accept Privatization Offer (Source: Space News)
Shareholders of satellite operator AsiaSat have voted overwhelmingly in favor of privatization, setting the company on a course to delist from the Hong Kong stock exchange on Sep. 5. AsiaSat said Aug. 23 that shareholders controlling 99.8% of shares not already held by its majority owners, CITIC and Carlyle, voted in favor of privatization. (8/23)