August 4, 2019

Who Will Be the First Woman on the Moon? (Source: Space.com)
Of the 12 people who have walked on the moon, zero have been women. NASA's Artemis program aims to change that by landing the first woman on the moon. "I have a daughter. She is 11 years old, and I want her to see herself in the same position that our current, very diverse astronaut corps currently sees itself, having the opportunity to go to the moon," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said. "In the 1960s, young ladies didn't have the opportunity to see themselves in that role."

NASA hopes that landing a woman on the moon may inspire new generations to dream big and work hard by providing representation for young girls. To date, only 64 of the 566 people who have flown to space have been women. Click here. (8/2)

Cape Canaveral Could See 2 Launches in 1 Week (Source: Click Orlando)
The Eastern Range will be busy for the next week hosting two launches for two different rockets. SpaceX is currently targeting no earlier than Monday to launch Israeli satellite company SpaceCom’s satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Space Launch Complex 40. The AMOS-17 spacecraft, manufactured by Boeing, will provide TV, phone and internet services to Africa, Europe and the Middle East.

Also this week, United Launch Alliance Atlas V will lift off from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport with an Air Force satellite. The payload, AEHF-5, is the fifth communications satellite in the Lockheed Martin-built Advanced Extremely High Frequency series for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center. Atlas V rockets launched the first four AEHF satellites from 2010 to 2018. (8/3)

SpaceX's Super Heavy Rocket Could Bring Sonic Booms to Tampa (Source: WMFE)
SpaceX will launch and land its newest space vehicle Starship at Kennedy Space Center, according to a new environmental assessment filed by the private company. The launch system is made up of two parts: the 31-engine booster called Super Heavy and Starship — a cylindrical, futuristic looking vehicle that can carry payloads and possibly humans to places like the moon or Mars.

All together, the system will stand about 387 feet tall. SpaceX said it will modify Launch Complex 39-A to support both the launch and landing of the new system. According to models filed by SpaceX, since the spacecraft will return on a west-to-east trajectory over most of Central Florida, communities from KSC to Tampa, could hear sonic booms during landings. (8/2)

That Time NASA Wanted to Build a Floating Airport on Lake Erie (Source: Popular Mechanics)
In the years after World War II, the sky was the limit for Cleveland. One of the industries that powered Cleveland to its mid-century prominence was aeronautics. In 1925, the city became the first in the country to have a municipal airport, and 22 years later, it led the way in building the first downtown airport: Burke Lakefront along the Lake Erie shore.

In 1969, a NASA official in Cleveland announced an idea for a new airport, capable of accommodating the largest jets being made and supersonic transports. The airport would be an enormous transportation hub offering luxurious accommodations to travelers and access to all the transportation Cleveland had to offer. And it would sit right in the middle of Lake Erie.

“And of course, by the 1960s, we were absolutely going to be flying supersonic,” Bednarek said. “This idea of building airports in water, away from cities and away from neighbors, was very attractive.” It also wasn’t new. In the 1930s, officials suggested floating airports for the Thames River in London and the Seine River in Paris. Futurist Norman Bel Geddes even, well, floated such an airport off the southern tip of Manhattan. (8/2)

The Moon and Mercury May Have Thick Ice Deposits (Source: NASA)
Earth’s Moon and Mercury, the closest planet to the Sun, may contain significantly more water ice than previously thought, according to a new analysis of data from NASA’s LRO and MESSENGER spacecraft. The potential ice deposits are found in craters near the poles of both worlds. On the Moon, "We found shallow craters tend to be located in areas where surface ice was previously detected near the south pole of the Moon, and inferred this shallowing is most likely due to the presence of buried thick ice deposits,” said lead author Lior Rubanenko.

In the past, telescopic observations and orbiting spacecraft have found glacier-like ice deposits on Mercury, but as of yet not on the Moon. The new work raises the possibility that thick ice-rich deposits also exist on the Moon. The research may not only help resolve the question regarding the Moon’s apparent low ice abundance relative to Mercury, but it could also have practical applications. (8/2)

If Aliens Are Flashing Laser Beams at Us, We Now Have a Way to Detect Them (Source: Space.com)
Are aliens using super powerful flashlights to get our attention? Astronomers think there's a chance they are. Since the invention of the radio, humans have been silently listening to the stars, wondering if we are alone in the universe. But if intelligent alien life does exist, the extraterrestrials could be using other forms of technology to communicate. Astronomers are beginning to not only listen to the cosmos but also gaze toward it for other signs of alien tech: laser beams.

Breakthrough Listen, the most extensive Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) program in history, announced that its team will begin looking for new signs of alien technology using the Very Energetic Radiation Imaging Telescope Array System (VERITAS) in Arizona. Using VERITAS, astronomers will begin scanning the night sky for nanosecond flashes of light from nearby stars. Like a lighthouse beacon for the cosmos, these brief pulses of optical light would outshine any nearby stars and could indicate a method of alien communication. (8/3)