September 27, 2019

Norway's Hybrid Rocket System Scales Up (Source: Aviation Week)
Norwegian aerospace contractor Nammo is working with ESA to help industrialize flight-proven hybrid propulsion technology for the development of a family of low-cost, responsive suborbital rockets and small-payload orbital launch vehicles. The NorthStar launch family builds on the company's successful launch of a Nucleus technology demonstrator rocket last year. (9/16)

Technical Leadership Needed to Solidify NASA Exploration Budget, Meet Schedule (Source: Quartz)
“I want to be able to strongly make the case for acceleration for Artemis, for moving forward with landing a woman on the moon," said Kansas Rep. Jerry Moran. "But for me to convince my colleagues, I need information I don’t yet have.” One reason there are no numbers is that there is still no permanent NASA executive leading the human-exploration program. The acting leader, Ken Bowersox, testified last week that “I wouldn’t bet my oldest child’s upcoming birthday present or anything like that” on meeting the 2024 deadline.

Bowersox argued that an aggressive goal would be smarter for NASA, even if the actual deadline is missed. Yet there’s a risk that the push to meet the deadline will overwhelm the other goals of the program. Congress is now delaying its 2020 budget decision until the end of November, so NASA won’t get the money it needs to build necessities like a lunar lander for another two months. Six months ago, when this plan was launched, one aerospace engineer told Ars Technica that his company would need to start on a lander “today” to make a 2024 deadline. (9/27)

NASA Needs a Second Mobile Launcher for Its Massive SLS Megarocket (Source: Space.com)
In a turn from the agency's original plan, NASA has awarded a contract for a second mobile launcher to be built at Kennedy Space Center. In 2018, the space agency announced that a second mobile launcher wouldn't be built because there were no funds for its construction in the 2019 budget. Instead, NASA planned to modify the existing mobile launcher.

Now, NASA has announced that Bechtel National, Inc., of Reston, Virginia, will design and build a second mobile launcher, known as Mobile Launcher 2, or ML2. Having a second launcher will cut the amount of time between two versions of NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), the most powerful rocket the agency has ever built. Bechtel National is expected to complete the design, build, testing and commissioning of the mobile launcher within 44 months, beginning on July 1, according to NASA. (9/25)

NASA’s New Moon Spacesuits are Almost Finished, and They Look Far-Out (Source: SyFy Wire)
NASA is designing new spacesuits for the Artemis lunar mission that's shooting for the moon by 2024, and they might make you feel like you’re looking at something straight off a movie set. The thing is that NASA’s current design just won’t make it on the moon. The suit astronauts on the ISS wear now, the EMU (Extravehicular Mobility Unit), was not made for moonwalking, but for spacewalks or EVAs (Extravehicular Activities).

Because of this, the space agency recently made an announcement at the Wernher von Braun Memorial Symposium that the prototype of its next-gen EVA suit, the xEMU, just passed its preliminary design review and is on its way to being tested in space by 2023. Reaching this level hasn’t been easy for the xEMU (never mind the designers behind it). Passing the preliminary design review means that the baseline design for the new suit is operating as it should. So far, xEMU has survived 30 runs in the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory. Click here. (9/25)

Project Will Look at Cloud Data Processing in Low-Earth Orbit (Source: C4ISR & Networks)
The Defense Innovation Unit is working with Ball Aerospace and Microsoft on a project that would show how cloud processing would handle data distributed from satellites in low-Earth orbit. "This partnership with Ball Aerospace enables us to bring satellite data to ground and cloud faster than ever, leapfrogging other solutions on the market," Microsoft's Tom Keane says. (9/26)

The Rogue Satellites’ Redemption (Source: The Atlantic)
Two years after illegally launching tiny satellites into orbit, a start-up named Swarm is trying to convince regulators it’s going to play by the rules. Four of Swarm’s SpaceBEE satellites reached orbit nearly two years ago, but they were never supposed to leave Earth. Swarm had asked federal regulators for permission to launch and operate in space, as all American companies must do. Its application was rejected. The satellites launched anyway. When they crossed the boundary of Earth’s atmosphere, Spangelo instantly became a space outlaw.

Swarm's Sara Spangelo was hopeful she could repair her relationship with federal regulators. That now seems to have happened. The FCC fined Swarm $900,000, but also approved future launches. Officials feared that the satellites, smaller than most miniature satellites already in orbit, couldn’t be reliably tracked. When the FCC fined Swarm, the agency said the company had risked satellite collisions and threatened “critical commercial and government satellite operations.” An investigation by the agency also uncovered “unauthorized” tests Swarm had conducted on the ground before the illegal launch.

The twist is that the SpaceBEEs were eventually found to be trackable in orbit. The satellites include radar reflectors that Spangelo said make each satellite appear 12 to 24 times larger than its actual size to both government and commercial tracking systems. Neil Grace, an FCC spokesperson, said he was unable to confirm this assertion, and declined to comment on the agency’s relationship with Swarm today. (9/27)

A Googler Built a Tool to Spot Satellites From Your Backyard - No Telescope Required (Source: Android Police)
We humans have always loved looking up to the stars, but for a few decades, the night sky hasn't only been populated by natural phenomena. A plethora of satellites are orbiting our planet, and if you know just when to look up, you might even be able to see some flying over your head. Google graphics and computer vision engineer James Darpinian has developed a web app that helps you identify where to look to spot these objects by utilizing Street View and browser notifications as well as weather warnings.

The web app is accessible via James Darpinian's website and is optimized for both mobile and desktop. Once you allow it to access your location, it shows your position on the globe plus a timeline of satellites flying over your position when it's dark. You can click or tap each entry to preview the orbit. A huge button labeled "See where it will appear in your sky" takes you to a dimmed Street View point of view, letting you identify over which building or tree to look for to see the flying object. (9/25)

The Gut in Space: How Bacteria Change in Astronauts' Digestive Systems (Source: Space.com)
A new tool developed by researchers at Northwestern University shows spaceflight consistently alters the diversity of bacteria in astronauts' guts. The tool, called Similarity Test for Accordant and Reproducible Microbiome Abundance Patterns (STARMAPS), was used to analyze data from various experiments, including samples collected from mice sent to the space shuttle and International Space Station, NASA's Twins Study and Earth-based studies on the effects of radiation on the gut.

A wide array of data suggests that mice on the space shuttle and space station underwent changes similar to those that astronaut Scott Kelly experienced during his 11 months in space. The new study also shows that these microbiome changes are most likely caused by microgravity, rather than by radiation, according to a statement from Northwestern University in Illinois. (9/25)

What Will We Eat on Mars? Scientists Already Have Our Menu Planned (Source: The Takeout)
Mars’s atmosphere is not conducive to raising livestock, meaning humans would need to rely on advanced food technologies and alternative sources of protein if they wish to follow a non-vegan diet. Meat, fish, milk, and eggs could very well appear on the Martian table, though they’d have to be grown in bioreactors from cells that have been imported from earth.

Researchers believe that most of the plants we know and love could also make appearances on the Red Planet; they could be grown with hydroponics and possibly in Martian soil that’s been fertilized to replicate the growing conditions on Earth. All plants would need to be grown indoors so that the light and atmosphere can be strictly controlled, meaning that farming will favor plants that require little water, a small footprint, and a high yield. Things that will not be found in the space colonies of the future: organic produce, all-natural products, and almond milk (growing almonds requires a spectacular amount of water).

In addition, nearly everything grown on Mars will be genetically modified, so if you want to keep GMOs out of your diet, you’ll need to give up on all your spaceman dreams. If you can’t wait another hundred years to start eating like you’re living on the final frontier, head to Eat Like a Martian, a website created by the researchers than can direct you to the companies that are already producing the food of the future. Click here. (9/26)

The WFIRST Spacecraft Will Use Starglasses To See Exoplanets (Source: Forbes)
In the mid-2020s, NASA will launch the Wide Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST). One of its missions will be to study planets orbiting distant stars, including direct imaging of many of the larger planets. But imaging exoplanets directly is a huge challenge. While a planet does emit infrared light, it is overwhelmed by the brilliant light of a star. It would be like trying to capture the light of a firefly fluttering near a large spotlight. To see the firefly, you somehow have to block the light of the spotlight.

One of the more ambitious ways to do this would be to launch a telescope with a separate thin foil sheet. By placing the sheet some distance away from the telescope, the light of a star could be blocked while allowing the light from planets to be observed. This is the idea behind NASA's Starshade project. But Starshade is still in the idea stage. The logistics of aligning the telescope and starshade in space, and keeping them aligned, is a huge technical challenge. Fortunately there is another way to block starlight, known as a coronagraph. (9/25)

New Frontier for Science as Astronomers Detect Gas Molecules in Comet From Another Star (Source: Phys.org)
An international team of astronomers have made a historic discovery, detecting gas molecules in a comet which has tumbled into our solar system from another star. It is the first time that astronomers have been able to detect this type of material in an interstellar object. The gas detected was cyanogen, made of a carbon atom and a nitrogen atom bonded together. It is a toxic gas if inhaled, but it is relatively common in comets. The discovery marks an important step forward for science as it will now allow scientists to begin deciphering exactly what these objects are made of and how our home solar system compares with others in our galaxy. (9/27)

Get Ready for More Interstellar Objects, Astronomers Say (Source: Phys.org)
Gregory Laughlin and Malena Rice weren't exactly surprised a few weeks ago when they learned that a second interstellar object had made its way into our solar system. The Yale University astronomers had just put the finishing touches on a new study suggesting that these strange, icy visitors from other planets are going to keep right on coming. We can expect a few large objects showing up every year, they say; smaller objects entering the solar system could reach into the hundreds each year.

"There should be a lot of this material floating around," said Rice, a graduate student at Yale and first author of the study. "So much more data will be coming out soon, thanks to new telescopes coming online. We won't have to speculate." (9/26)

A Different Kind of Gravitational Wave Detector (Source: Phys.org)
Hidden deep in a basement at Stanford stands a 10-meter-tall tube, wrapped in a metal cage and draped in wires. A barrier separates it from the main room, beyond which the cylinder spans three stories to an apparatus holding ultra-cold atoms ready to shoot upward. Tables stocked with lasers to fire at the atoms—and analyze how they respond to forces such as gravity—fill the rest of the laboratory.

The tube is an atom interferometer, a custom-built device designed to study the wave nature of atoms. According to quantum mechanics, atoms exist simultaneously as particles and waves. The Stanford instrument represents a model for an ambitious new instrument ten times its size that could be deployed to detect gravitational waves—minute ripples in spacetime created by energy dissipating from moving astronomical objects. The instrument also could shed light on another mystery of the universe: dark matter. (9/17)

Fly Your Experiment to the Space Station with Bioreactor Express Service (Source: Space Daily)
ESA is partnering with Kayser Italia to offer the Kubik facility on the International Space Station to commercial customers. The new Bioreactor Express Service allows users to conduct experiments in weightlessness. Customers can use existing experiment containers, customise them, or develop an entirely new container to match their requirements. The starting price is euro 160 000 and covers the flight using an existing experiment container - from conception to launch and returning scientific data within a year. (9/27)

China Opens Up Ginormous Alien-Hunting Telescope (Source: Futurism)
After three years of tests, China is opening up its gigantic 500-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope to astronomers from all over the world, Nature reports — the largest single-dish radio telescope in the world. The telescope will be scanning twice as much sky as the next-largest single dish telescope, the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico, according to Nature. It’ll be able to detect even the faintest of radio waves emanating from celestial objects like pulsars and entire galaxies — and could even be used to discover distant worlds that might harbor alien life. (9/25)

Trump Posting of Spy Satellite Image Jeopardizes U.S. Access to Allies' Imagery (Source: Space News)
The posting of a classified spy satellite image by President Trump could eventually backfire on the U.S. Trump tweeted the satellite image last month of an Iranian launch pad after an explosion during launch preparations there. While the president has the authority to declassify such imagery, that is usually done through a more coordinated process, say former intelligence officials. That may make allies more wary about sharing their own classified information with the U.S. out of fears it could be similarly released. (9/27)

DoD Sponsors Prize Competition for Satellite Imagery (Source: Space News)
A Defense Department office is starting a new competition involving satellite imagery. The Defense Innovation Unit (DIU) has posted the satellite images for its second prize challenge, known as xVIEW2, which focuses on using artificial intelligence to assess damage from natural disasters. DIU is encouraging machine learning experts to apply their algorithms to the imagery to detect "key objects" in the images and assess damage. DIU said more than 3,000 people have signed up to compete in the challenge, which runs to Nov. 22. (9/27)

Nobody Knows What Made the Gargantuan Crater on the Dark Side of the Moon (Source: Live Science)
Billions of years ago, something slammed into the dark side of the moon and carved out a very, very large hole. Stretching 1,550 miles (2,500 kilometers) wide and 8 miles (13 km) deep, the South Pole-Aitken basin, as the tremendous hole is known to Earthlings, is the oldest and deepest crater on the moon, and one of the largest craters in the entire solar system.

For decades, researchers have suspected that the gargantuan basin was created by a head-on collision with a very large, very fast meteor. Such an impact would have ripped the moon's crust apart and scattered chunks of lunar mantle across the crater's surface, providing a rare glimpse at what the moon is really made of. That theory gained some credence earlier this year, when China's Yutu-2 rover, which settled into the bottom of the crater aboard the Chang'e 4 lander in January, discovered traces of minerals that seemed to originate from the moon's mantle.

Now, however, a study throws those results — and the crater's origin story — into question. After analyzing the minerals in six plots of soil at the bottom of the South Pole-Aitken basin, a team of researchers argues that the crater's composition is all crust and no mantle, suggesting that whatever impact opened the crater billions of years ago did not hit hard enough to spray the moon's innards onto the surface. (9/25)

Too Big Planet Orbits Too Small Star (Source: Space.com)
Astronomers say they were surprised to discover a large planet orbiting a relatively small star. The exoplanet, GJ 3512b, is about half the mass of Jupiter, orbiting the red dwarf star GJ 3512, about one-eighth the mass of the sun. Astronomers said they did not expect to find a planet that large orbiting a red dwarf based on past discoveries of only smaller planets around such stars. The planet's size can't be explained by conventional models for planet formation. (9/27)

Armstrong Spacesuit Replicas On the Move (Source: CollectSpace)
With the baseball season winding down, a bunch of Neil Armstrongs will be heading for new homes. The National Air and Space Museum placed full-sized replicas of Neil Armstrong's Apollo 11 spacesuit in 15 Major League Baseball stadiums this summer to mark the 50th anniversary of the mission. With the regular season ending this weekend, those statues will now go 12 science and history museums across the country, as well as the U.S. Mission to International Organizations in Vienna. The remaining two will be kept in the National Air and Space Museum's permanent collection. (9/27)

Senators Question Artemis Cost Estimates (Source: Space News)
Senate appropriators advanced a NASA funding bill Thursday but raised questions about the lack of cost information about the Artemis program. The full Senate Appropriations Committee voted unanimously to send the commerce, justice and science (CJS) spending bill to the full Senate, making no changes to the bill. The CJS subcommittee approved the bill Tuesday. The bill includes $22.75 billion for NASA, of which more than $6.2 billion would go to exploration programs. The report accompanying the bill, though, stated that "it is difficult to weigh the impacts" of moving up the goal of returning humans to the moon to 2024 without knowing how much the program will cost. (9/27)

LeoSat Casts Wider Net for Constellation Design/Development Partners (Source: Space News)
LeoSat is looking for new partners to build a revised satellite constellation. LeoSat started working with Thales Alenia Space in 2014 to design a constellation of up to 108 low Earth orbit satellites intended to provide connectivity to customers willing to pay a premium for large volumes of low-latency capacity. The company now wants to gauge bids from other manufacturers as it deals with challenges in raising funding. The company is facing a January 2021 deadline for launching at least one satellite to secure spectrum for the overall system. (9/27)

Stratolaunch Hiring Again as New Plans Percolate (Source: GeekWire)
Stratolaunch is showing new signs of life. The company, founded by the late Paul Allen, developed a giant aircraft for an air-launch system that made its first, and to date only, test flight in April. While a number of key executives have left the company since then, Stratolaunch is posting new job openings, including for two test pilots. Stratolaunch hasn't commented on its plans, or rumors it has found new investors. (9/27)

Senators Want FAA to Revise Proposed Launch Regulations (Source: Space News)
The ongoing debate about commercial launch regulatory reform has attracted attention of senators. Language in a report accompanying the Senate's version of a transportation spending bill last week stated that a proposed rule published by the FAA for public comment earlier this year "creates unnecessary barriers to entry for new companies" and ignores the recommendations of an earlier aviation rulemaking committee. The report recommended the FAA publish a new version of the draft rule for additional comment before making a final rule. Many in the commercial launch industry had previously criticized the proposed rules, intended to streamline launch licensing, as a step backward for the industry. (9/27)

Bloomberg Joins Effort for Satellite Climate Monitoring (Source: AP)
Billionaire Michael Bloomberg is joining an effort by the state of California and Planet to track climate change. The Satellites for Climate Action initiative will start with using imagery from Planet's existing satellites to analyze emissions from coal-fired power planets, and will then expand to new satellite technologies to track greenhouse gases as well as new analytics tools. Bloomberg's foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, did not disclose how much it will contribute to the effort. Last year, outgoing California Gov. Jerry Brown announced the state's partnership with Planet on greenhouse gas monitoring that could include the state's own satellites, although a state official said such satellites are at least two to three years in the future. (9/27)

Peter Beck: In 5 Years, 5,000 Spacecraft Will Be Looking for Launch (Source: The Hindu)
We’re in an exciting new era when it comes to satellite technology. There is a shift away from large geostationary platforms... Now, we’re seeing a shift towards small satellites that are highly capable but faster and more cost-effective to build and launch. Constellations of these satellites provide resiliency in numbers, and also present better opportunities for innovation as technology develops since they only have an orbital lifespan of a few short years.

There is massive demand to get these small satellites on orbit, and that’s where Rocket Lab has found its success. Rocket Lab has now completed seven launches (eight, since) with a 100 per cent launch success rate for customers. We’ve delivered 35 satellites (39, since) to orbit for various commercial and government customers, including NASA and the US Air Force. We have monthly launches scheduled for the rest of the year — in fact we are licensed to launch from New Zealand up to 120 times a year. Our manifest for 2020 and beyond is booking up fast.

In the next five years, by some estimates, around 5,000 spacecraft will be looking for a ride to orbit. At last count, more than 130 companies are trying to build launch vehicles to cater to this market. To date, Rocket Lab is the only commercial, dedicated small satellite launch provider to have flown. (9/7)

Ariane 6 Core Engine Completes Qualification Tests (Source: ESA)
Ariane 6, Europe's next-generation launch vehicle, has passed another key development milestone. Its Vulcain 2.1 liquid-fuelled engine has now completed its qualification testing, which means combined tests can now begin. The main stage Vulcain 2.1 engine will deliver 135 t of thrust to propel Ariane 6 in the first eight minutes of flight up to an altitude of 200 km. A review last week marked the culmination of two Vulcain static firing test campaigns over 15 months on two demonstration models in test facilities at the DLR German Aerospace Center test facility. (9/27)

How Blink-182’s Tom DeLonge Became a U.F.O. Researcher (Source: New York Times)
For decades, the discussion of whether or not U.F.O.s exist has been debated in American pop culture and within science communities. That all reached a fever pitch last week when the United States Navy confirmed that three widely shared videos captured by naval aviators in 2004 and 2015 were indeed real and showed what it called “unidentified aerial phenomena.” The “unidentified” part of that statement sparked excitement among U.F.O. enthusiasts.

The three videos show mysterious objects in the sky and contain audio of pilots trying to make sense of what they were seeing. They had gained notoriety since being published in 2017 and 2018 by The New York Times and a company called To the Stars Academy of Arts & Sciences. Founded in 2017, it is run by a team of 12, including several former government employees, who try to advance society’s understanding of scientific phenomena through the lenses of entertainment, science and aerospace.

As news of the Navy’s statement spread, many people took note of the academy, and more specifically one of its founders: Tom DeLonge, who was from 1993 until 2015 a guitarist and singer for the band Blink-182. How, many wondered, did the guy from Blink-182 become involved in U.F.O. research? "Everyone still looks up to the United States government as having the resources, the intellect and the duty to deal with subjects like this," said DeLonge. "We’ve been waiting around as scholars and researchers on the subject for many decades and hoping to God that one day the government would come out and acknowledge what this is." Click here. (9/27)

Reaction Engines to Support Research Into UK Spaceport Feasibility (Source: Reaction Engines)
At the UK Space Conference, Science Minister Chris Skidmore and UK Space Agency confirmed a further £1.3 million towards developing spaceport plans in England, Scotland and Wales as part of the government’s spaceflight programme, LaunchUK. The funding will be shared between three sites around the country and Reaction Engines will play a key role supporting the assessment undertaken by the owners of Machrihanish Airbase company behind one of these sites; the Machrihanish Airbase Community Company (MACC).

Reaction Engines will assist MACC and project consultants to explore the feasibility of using the Campbeltown Airport site in Argyll, Scotland, for future SABRE technology flight test operations. The study will also assess the potential for down-range landing support operations to future operational SABRE vehicles. (9/26)

Scientists Are Starting to Take Warp Drives Seriously, Especially One Specific Concept (Source: ScienceAlert)
In recent years, the scientific community has become understandably excited and skeptical about claims that a particular concept – the Alcubierre Warp Drive – might actually be feasible. The theory behind a warp propulsion system is relatively simple. Originally proposed by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994, this concept for an FTL system is viewed by man as a highly theoretical (but possibly valid) solution to the Einstein field equations, which describe how space, time and energy in our Universe interact.

In layman's terms, the Alcubierre Drive achieves FTL travel by stretching the fabric of space-time in a wave, causing the space ahead of it to contract while the space behind it expands. In theory, a spacecraft inside this wave would be able to ride this "warp bubble" and achieve velocities beyond the speed of light. This is what is known as the "Alcubierre Metric".

Interpreted in the context of General Relativity, the interior of this warp bubble would constitute the inertial reference frame for anything inside it. By the same token, such bubbles can appear in a previously flat region of spacetime and exceed the speed of light. Since the ship is not moving through space-time (but moving space-time itself), conventional relativistic effects (like time dilation) would not apply. (9/25)

A Smarter Habitat for Deep Space Exploration (Source: Phys.org)
In order to explore the moon or Mars, astronauts need smart habitats that will support life and remain operational when they are vacant. To advance the design of autonomous systems for space habitats, NASA is funding a multi-university Space Technology Research Institute called Habitats Optimized for Missions of Exploration, or more fittingly, HOME.

Mario Bergés, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering (CEE), is leading the Carnegie Mellon University research team working under the auspices of HOME. Their task is to enable complete situational awareness in the habitat by providing it with capabilities to process and interpret its own data and make decision recommendations that can be passed on to robotic systems or suggested to human occupants. Click here. (9/25)

NASA Satellite Watches as Black Hole Rips Apart a Star (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
A black hole will suck in anything, and for the first time, a NASA satellite captured the moment one devoured a star. NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), which is up in space scanning the universe for planets caught the stellar Armageddon in what NASA is calling a “tidal disruption event.” Followup observations by more satellites and Earth observatories detailed the destruction of the star. (9/27)

Astrophysicists: Gamma-Ray Jets Exceed the Speed of Light (Source: Big Think)
Astrophysicists propose that gamma-ray bursts may exceed the speed of light. The superluminal jets may also be responsible for time-reversibility. The finding doesn't go against Einstein's theory because what the scientists found is that while these bursts surpass the speed of light in surrounding gas clouds, that only happens in the jet mediums, not in a vacuum.

Jon Hakkila likens what they found to skipping stones across the pond. If someone was to throw such a stone into the water towards you, the stone would go through the air in between hops faster than the waves that it causes are moving through the water. As it gets closer, you will see the waves that are produced by each skip in reverse order. The most recently created ones will get to you first and those from the early skips along the water would come last. (9/25)

Malkovich, Schwartz Among Seven Cast in Netflix ‘Space Force’ Series Alongside Steve Carell (Source: Variety)
The upcoming Netflix comedy series “Space Force” has added seven new cast members, Variety has learned. John Malkovich, Ben Schwartz, Tawny Newsome, and Diana Silvers will all appear in series regular roles, while Jimmy O. Yang, Don Lake, and Alex Sparrow have landed recurring guest star roles. They join previously announced cast member Steve Carell, who is also the show’s co-creator and executive producer. In addition, Paul King has been tapped to direct two episodes of the series, including the pilot.

The show, which was ordered straight to series in January, is described as a workplace comedy centered around the people back on Earth tasked with creating a sixth branch of the armed services. The announcement came shortly after President Donald Trump directed the Pentagon to create the so-called space force. In December, he signed an order for the Pentagon to create the Space Command, seen as the first step in establishing a space force that would fall under the purview of the U.S. Air Force. (9/26)

‘For All Mankind’ an Alternate History With a Soviet Space Race Win (Source: Tech Crunch)
Apple’s new premium subscription TV service is launching on November 1, and one of its original shows is “For All Mankind.” The series is a fictional period piece set in the late ’60s/early ’70s that follows an alternate timeline in which Soviet Russia, not the U.S., is the first to land a human on the Moon. It seems like there will be a lot of fallout as a result of the U.S. losing this key battle in the space race, but the biggest divergence from our actual history might be that the Americans seem to go all-in on an astronaut qualification and training program for women much earlier than they did in real life. Click here. (9/27)

Humankind Did Not Live With a High-Carbon Dioxide Atmosphere Until 1965 (Source: Phys.org)
Humans have never before lived with the high carbon dioxide atmospheric conditions that have become the norm on Earth in the last 60 years, according to a new study that includes a Texas A&M University researcher. Titled "Low CO2 levels of the entire Pleistocene Epoch", the study shows that for the entire 2.5 million years of the Pleistocene era, carbon dioxide concentrations averaged 250 parts per million. Today's levels, by comparison, are more than 410 parts per million. In 1965, Earth's carbon dioxide atmospheric concentrations exceeded 320 parts per million, a high point never reached in the past 2.5 million years, the study shows. (9/25)

ISS Should Orbit Forever With UN-Like Crews, Roscosmos Chief Says (Source: DW)
Humanity needs the ISS to conquer deep space, according to the head of Russia's space agency, Dmitry Rogozin. The orbiting station should keep operating indefinitely with crews from all over the world, he added. In the future, the ISS would be used as an "assembly shop, a repair base, a refueling station for ships heading into deep space," said Russia's top space official, Dmitry Rogozin. "I think the ISS would always be there." (9/26)

NASA Announces New Tipping Point Partnerships for Moon and Mars Technologies (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected 14 American companies as partners whose technologies will help enable the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach. The selections are based on NASA’s fourth competitive Tipping Point solicitation and have a combined total award value of about $43.2 million. This investment in the U.S. space industry, including small businesses across the country, will help bring the technologies to market and ready them for use by NASA.

“These promising technologies are at a ‘tipping point’ in their development, meaning NASA’s investment is likely the extra push a company needs to significantly mature a capability,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). “These are important technologies necessary for sustained exploration of the Moon and Mars. As the agency focuses on landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024 with the Artemis program, we continue to prepare for the next phase of lunar exploration that feeds forward to Mars.” Click here. (9/27)