September 19, 2019

How to Feed a Mars Colony of 1 Million People (Source: Space.com)
When it comes to plans for crewed missions to Mars, NASA typically assumes round trips with only brief stopovers on the Red Planet. However, commercial space companies have emerged with the goal of colonizing outer space, with SpaceX specifically aiming to develop a civilization on Mars. The most practical strategy for long stays on Mars involves living off resources that already exist on the Red Planet instead of relying on resupply ships from Earth. The five major consumable resources that researchers identified Martian settlements would need include energy, water, oxygen, construction material and food, and the first four are potentially abundant on Mars.

"We were working with a lot of people who wanted to grow plants in the simulated Mars soils we create, and this led us to look at what research was being done in terms of producing food for future human missions to the moon or Mars," Cannon said. "It turns out most of the focus has been on very low-calorie vegetables, and the latest innovations in alternative protein sources were not being considered. We asked the question: Instead of a short NASA-style mission to Mars, what would it take to feed a city of 1 million people, like what SpaceX is imagining?"

The researchers noted that raising farm animals for dairy and meat would not be practical on Mars in the near term because of the challenges of shipping them across space. At the same time, they noted that most people do not want to go completely vegetarian. The solution? Insect farms and lab-grown meat, they suggested. Insect farms are well-suited for Martian cuisine, as they provide a lot of calories per unit land while using relatively minor amounts of water and feed, the researchers said. Crickets in particular are one of the more promising examples of edible insects, with cricket flour potentially incorporated and hidden in many different recipes, they noted. (9/18)

The Top Pentagon Space Command Officer Met With Billionaire Investors Musk, Bezos and Branson (Source: CNBC)
The Air Force’s newly minted U.S. Space Command general said he has recently met with billionaire space race investors Richard Branson, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk, as the service branch looks to expand its own capabilities. “All of the above, all of the above,” U.S. Air Force Gen. Jay Raymond said, when asked if he had met with the founders of Virgin Orbit, Blue Origin and SpaceX. “I see great advantage in doing that, and I’m excited that they are doing what they are doing, because it’s going to pay huge dividends for us as well,” he said

SpaceX has won hundreds of millions of dollars in Pentagon launch contracts, successfully putting multiple valuable spacecraft into orbit with its massive Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets. At the same time, Blue Origin is building its New Glenn rocket to be one of the most powerful and capable in the world and hopes to compete for future Air Force contracts. Finally, Virgin Orbit’s smaller LauncherOne rocket is expected to begin launching in the next few months. Because Virgin Orbit launches its rockets from under the wing of a modified Boeing 747, the military is particularly interested in the flexibility and speed with which the company could launch spacecraft. (9/18)

Pentagon Taps Microsoft and Ball to Pilot New Military Satellites (Source: Quartz)
The Pentagon has chosen satellite-maker Ball Aerospace and Microsoft’s Azure cloud business to demonstrate the computing infrastructure for a network of 20 satellites the Department of Defense is planning to launch in 2021. The partners will use new satellite antennae to pull data down from existing military satellites directly into Microsoft data centers.

The satellite demonstration contract was issued by the US Air Force’s Space and Missile Command as part of its Commercially Augmented Space Inter-Networked Operations, aka CASINO, project. The terms of the contract were not disclosed. The operative question, from the point of view of Steve Smith, a Ball vice president leading the project, is “how do you handle large volumes of data, from large distributed constellations?” (9/17)

US Air Force Selects Hughes to Strengthen SATCOM Resilience (Source: Space.com)
Hughes Network Systems has been awarded a $2.2M contract funded by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC), through the Space Enterprise Consortium (SpEC), to produce an Enterprise Management and Control (EM and C) prototype for satellite communications (SATCOM). The prototype will include the Hughes Flexible Modem Interface (FMI). (9/17)

China is Trying to Steal Military Space Tech. The US is Running Stings to Stop It (Source: Quartz)
On Aug. 21, Pengyi Li walked to his gate at Honolulu International Airport, ready to board a flight to Hong Kong. Before he could get on the plane, federal agents arrested the 33-year-old Chinese national. Authorities say Li thought the bag of export-controlled electronics he had in his possession had come from rogue US brokers. The transaction was instead part of an elaborate undercover sting operation.

Li’s arrest was the culmination of a two-year investigation into an effort to smuggle sensitive components used in spacecraft and missiles out of the US and into China, according to a sealed criminal complaint obtained by Quartz. In 2017, Department of Homeland Security investigators offered radiation-hardened microchips and advanced aerospace sensors to an unnamed Hong Kong-based company in exchange for more than $150,000, according to the complaint.

The theft of US technology by Chinese companies, many state-backed, is among the key drivers of the trade war between the two nations that is roiling the global economy. Prosecutors rarely identify the ultimate end user for smuggled goods in public, but the sought-after components offer several clues. Radiation-hardened circuits are used to build vehicles that leave the Earth’s atmosphere, like satellites that can spot missiles or spy on other countries, but require exotic materials and extensive testing to produce. Accelerometers are used to guide spacecraft and missiles, and require precise engineering to ensure accuracy. Attempts to steal components like these highlight where China has yet to match US production.. (9/16)

Some NASA Contractors Appear to be Trying to Kill the Lunar Gateway (Source: Ars Technica)
During a hearing of the House space subcommittee on Wednesday, the outlines of a battle over the future of NASA's Artemis Moon program emerged. Yet it was not a partisan fight over whether the Republican White House plan to land humans on the Moon by 2024 should or shouldn't happen. Instead, some members of both political parties questioned how the space agency planned to conduct the Artemis program.

These members, including Oklahoma Democratic representative and committee chair Kendra Horn, as well as Alabama Republican representative Mo Brooks, were particularly skeptical of private rockets in their comments and questions during the hearing. They also pressed NASA on why the agency is not moving more quickly with development of a powerful second stage upgrade for the agency's Space Launch System rocket. This "Exploration Upper Stage" would increase the amount of mass the rocket could send to the Moon from 26 tons to 37 tons.

Wednesday's hearing was notable because it appears to mark an escalation in an intense lobbying battle going on behind the scenes by some contractors—most likely led by Boeing—to kill NASA's proposed Lunar Gateway and instead accelerate funding for the Exploration Upper Stage. Publicly, it began with an op-ed in The Hill by Doug Cooke, a former NASA associate administrator who helped oversee the design and early development of the SLS rocket. In his article, Cooke argued that the fastest and surest way for NASA to land humans on the Moon is to ignore commercial launchers, bypass the Gateway, and accelerate development of the Exploration Upper Stage. (9/19)

Audit Faults NASA for Failing to Detect Schedule Delays for Moon Return (Source: Sputnik)
NASA's push to return humans to the Moon by 2024 is threatened by a failure to account for schedule delays and cost overruns, the General Accountability Office said. "For example, NASA should enhance contract management and oversight to improve program outcomes," the report said. "NASA's past approach in this area has left it ill-positioned to identify early warning signs of impending schedule delays and cost growth or reap the benefits of competition."

The report recommended that NASA provide sufficient cost and schedule reserves to address unforeseen risks, and also begin producing "realistic cost estimates and assessments of technical risk." In addition, GAO estimated that NASA's calculations of cost growth for the Space Launch System program is understated by more than $750 million. (9/19)

Northrop Grumman Realigns Sectors; Two Leaders Retiring (Source: Seeking Alpha)
Northrop Grumman has announced an organizational realignment alongside a pair of executive retirements. The company is aligning around four operating sectors, effective Jan. 20: Aeronautics Systems, Defense Systems, Mission Systems and Space Systems. That move is to combine "businesses that have shared markets, customers and technologies," says CEO Kathy Warden. Chief Strategy and Technology Officer Patrick Antkowiak and President of Technology Services Christopher Jones have said they intend to retire. (9/18)

Want To Explore Mars? Send Humans To The Moons Of Mars First: Phobos And Deimos (Source: Universe Today)
Humans to Mars. That’s the plan right? The problem is that sending humans down to the surface of Mars is one of the most complicated and ambitious goals that we can attempt. It’s a huge step to go from low Earth orbit, then lunar landings, and then all the way to Mars, a journey of hundreds of millions of kilometers and 2 years at the least.

But there are two places humans can go which are a stepping stone between Earth and Mars. Base camps that would let us gather our resources in relative safety before dropping down into that gravity well. I’m talking about the moons of Mars: Phobos and Deimos. Click here. (9/179) 

We Keep Looking for Space Aliens. Are They Looking for Us? (Source: NBC)
Is Earth cataloged by even a single population of extraterrestrials? If so, what do they really know about terra firma? You may consider this an idle question, of no greater importance than asking if gerbils enjoy oboe concertos. But the answer is of real consequence for those who scan the skies for signals from intelligent aliens. After all, if extraterrestrials are unaware of our world and its properties, what would spur them to transmit signals in our direction?

Additionally, if you’re among the many folks who are convinced that aliens are sailing through the troposphere, it might help your self-esteem to know that extraterrestrials could have learned enough about us to pay a visit. It seems a safe bet that if advanced aliens do exist in our galaxy, they would at least know our planet is here. (9/18)

A Sliver of the Atmosphere is About to Cause Big Problems on Earth (Source: Inverse)
I am often asked how carbon dioxide can have an important effect on global climate when its concentration is so small — just 0.041% of Earth’s atmosphere. And human activities are responsible for just 32% of that amount. I study the importance of atmospheric gases for air pollution and climate change. The key to carbon dioxide’s strong influence on climate is its ability to absorb heat emitted from our planet’s surface, keeping it from escaping out to space.

The scientists who first identified carbon dioxide’s importance for climate in the 1850s were also surprised by its influence. Working separately, John Tyndall in England and Eunice Foote in the United States found that carbon dioxide, water vapor, and methane all absorbed heat, while more abundant gases did not. Scientists had already calculated that the Earth was about 59 degrees Fahrenheit (33 degrees Celsius) warmer than it should be, given the amount of sunlight reaching its surface. The best explanation for that discrepancy was that the atmosphere retained heat to warm the planet.

Earth’s upper atmosphere controls the radiation that escapes to space. The upper atmosphere is much less dense and contains much less water vapor than near the ground, which means that adding more carbon dioxide significantly influences how much infrared radiation escapes to space. (9/89)

How Satellites and Telescopes are Tracking the Effects of Global Change, Down to the Millimeter (Source: Air & Space)
In the Davis Mountains of far west Texas, at the University of Texas McDonald Observatory, astronomers spend their nights peering at the stars through some of the world’s most powerful telescopes. Soon they’ll be adding a more down-to-Earth job. Within sight of the giant domes, NASA is installing a sprawling network of equipment to help researchers study planetary change.

Nearby, scientists have set up new global-positioning-system stations—tripods topped with bulbous heads that communicate with GPS satellites to determine their precise location on Earth’s surface. On a neighboring mountain, technicians plan to build a powerful laser system that can zap a beam of light up to a satellite, then clock how quickly it reflects back to Earth. Together, all this high-tech equipment will allow scientists to pinpoint individual spots of ground at McDonald Observatory to within millimeters.

Similar activities are going on all over the world. NASA is helping to upgrade Earth-measuring observatories from Tahiti to South Africa. By linking the McDonald measurements with the others, researchers aim to better understand how Earth’s shape, rotation, and gravity change over time. Called geodesy, this field of science underlies almost every aspect of modern life, whether it’s using Google Maps to find the nearest coffee shop or determining how sea level is rising as the planet warms. (9/18)

Rocket Lab Readies Launch Complex 2 for Electron Launches From U.S. Soil (Source: SpaceRef)
Rocket Lab, the global leader in dedicated small satellite launch, and Virginia Space at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), have completed a major construction milestone ahead of the first Electron launch from U.S. soil. The recent installation of the launch platform at Rocket Lab’s second launch site, Launch Complex 2, marks one of the final steps in the construction of the new pad being built by the Rocket Lab and Virginia Space teams. (9/18)

House Stopgap Funding Bill Includes No Extra NASA Funding (Source: Space News)
A House version of a stopgap spending bill does not include any special provisions for NASA, which threatens to delay work on lunar landers needed for the agency to achieve its goal of returning astronauts to the moon by 2024. The House released late Sept. 18 a draft of a continuing resolution (CR) that would fund the federal government once the 2020 fiscal year started Oct. 1. The CR would fund the government at 2019 levels through Nov. 21 to give Congress time to finalize full-year appropriations bills. (9/18)

Air Force Tries to Set Record Straight on What the Space Force is Really About (Source: Space News)
A major concern is a misconception that the Space Force will set national space policy and will lead in what historically have been civilian efforts like space exploration and economic exploitation of space, Thompson said. “There’s a discussion about this grand vision that the Space Force is going to orchestrate economics, and civil and all kinds of other sectors of the economy to take us to the moon and Mars,” he added. “That’s not the way the American system works.” (9/18)

NASA Moon Orbiter Fails to Spot India’s Lunar Lander (Source: Space.com)
NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) has reportedly failed to spot India’s Chandrayaan-2 lunar lander, which apparently crashed during its Sept. 6 touchdown attempt. LRO’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera instrument, or LROC, imaged the intended south pole touchdown site for the lander, which is called Vikram, as planned yesterday (Sept. 17). But "long shadows in the area may be obscuring the silent lunar explorer," Mark Carreau wrote. “It was near dusk as the region prepares to transition from a two-week lunar day to an equally long lunar night, so shadows covered much of the region, and Vikram may not be in the LROC’s field of view." (9/18)

SpaceX May Soon Be a $120 Billion Company, Morgan Stanley Says (Source: Business Insider)
After SpaceX's successful launch of 60 experimental Starlink internet satellites in May, CNBC reported the company's estimated value was about $33.3 billion. This barely eclipsed the valuation of Tesla, the electric-car company Musk heads. This was a roughly $10 billion jump in valuation compared with estimates from 2017. But a new report by Morgan Stanley Research sees a lot more potential for disruption of the internet industry with SpaceX's planned constellation of nearly 12,000 Starlink satellites.

Titled "SpaceX, Starlink and Tesla: Moving into Orbit?" and sent to Business Insider on Tuesday, the document gives SpaceX a base valuation of $52 billion — an increase of more than 50% compared with the latest reported number. However, that's just the middle-of-the-road estimate: The firm's range in value for SpaceX is roughly a hundredfold. If you're a pessimist, and Starlink either struggles to turn its first few hundred satellites into a working internet service or fails to get many customers, the analysts said their "bear case" for SpaceX is just $5 billion. Their "bull case," on the other hand, is a staggering $120 billion. (9/18)

Giant Asteroid Crash Caused an Ancient Ice Age on Earth, But Also Gave Life a Boost (Source: CNN)
Earth endured an ancient ice age 466 million years ago when a giant asteroid broke apart and sent waves of dust toward our planet over the next 2 million years, according to a new study. And surprisingly, while the massive inflow of dust caused global temperatures on Earth to plummet, it also provided a chance for new evolving species to flourish.

The 93-mile-wide asteroid was in the asteroid belt located between Mars and Jupiter when it collided with something else and broke apart, creating a wealth of dust that flooded the inner solar system. "It is analogous to standing in the middle of your living room and smashing a vacuum cleaner bag, only at a much larger scale," said Birger Schmitz, lead study author and professor of geology at Lund University. (9/18)