October 23, 2019

NASA Wants to Send a Probe to the Hellish Surface of Venus (Source: WIRED)
With all the talk about sending humans to the moon and eventually Mars, it can be easy to forget there are other planets worth exploring. But a team of researchers at NASA has set its sights on Venus, Earth’s closest neighbor and one of the least understood planets in the solar system. Since the first (crash) landing on Venus in 1966, by a Soviet probe, spacecraft have only survived a total of a few hours on the planet’s surface.

But NASA’s new probe is being designed last up to 60 days on the punishing Venusian surface. Known as the Long-Lived In-situ Solar System Explorer, or LLISSE, each of the probe’s components is specially engineered to withstand the high temperature, high pressure, and reactive atmosphere that define that infernal planet. Unlike the car-sized rovers NASA drops on Mars, LLISSE is small because it will have to hitch a ride with other spacecraft headed to the neighborhood. It’s a cube less than 10 inches to a side, and it's packed with instruments to test everything from the Venusian atmosphere to its geology. (10/23)

White House Wants Space Force Rollout Plan (Source: Space News)
The White House has directed the Pentagon to develop a public communications plan for the Space Force. While the new military branch is still pending congressional approval, the White House wants to be ready for a public rollout event soon after it is approved — and in less than the 90 days that the Defense Department had been planning to formally stand up the Space Force. Administration officials expressed concern that the Defense Department does not yet have Space Force visuals, such as a flag and seal, that the president would expect to show at a rollout event, and White House also would like to move quickly to nominate a chief of staff of the Space Force. (10/23)

Arianespace Proposes Lunar Rideshare Mission in 2023 (Source: Space News)
Arianespace has proposed a 2023 rideshare mission to the moon. Company CEO Stéphane Israël said at the IAC Tuesday the rideshare mission, launched on an Ariane 6, will be able to deliver 8,500 kilograms into a lunar transfer orbit. He said he expects both government and private customers for that mission. Israël also said Arianespace will push for a European crewed spaceflight program at the European Space Agency's 2022 ministerial meeting. (10/23)

Mars Soil Is Very Weird, the Mole's Struggles Show (Source: Space.com)
The mole's Mars struggles have not been in vain. The burrowing heat probe aboard NASA's InSight Mars lander was designed to go 10 to 16 feet (3 to 5 meters) underground, using a self-hammering tool dubbed "the mole." But the mole got stuck just a foot (0.3 m) or so down shortly after its February 2019 deployment and could not be budged for months. "We scratched our heads for quite a while trying to figure out what we could do," InSight project manager Tom Hoffman said.

The InSight team homed in on two possible explanations for the mole's lack of progress: Either there was a big rock blocking its way, or the little digger had lost friction with the Red Planet's soil. Without a good grip on the dirt, the mole can't move much. Last week, we got some good news: The InSight team had gotten the mole to move a few centimeters using a "pinning" technique, pressing the lander's soil scoop against the mole to create friction. That result showed that hypothesis number two was probably on the money and offered hope that the mole could eventually get down to its prescribed depth.

But even if that doesn't end up happening, the mole will still have taught the team some interesting things about Mars. For example, unlike typical holes dug here on Earth, the one excavated by InSight's mole has no lip of dirt around its rim, Hoffman said. "Where did the soil go?" he said. "Basically, it got pounded back into the ground, so it seems like it’s very cohesive, even though it’s very dusty." And this is a weird combination of characteristics, strongly suggesting that Mars dirt is alien in more ways than one. (10/23)

EOS Data Analytics Plans SAR Constellation (Source: Space News)
EOS Data Analytics plans to start launching a constellation of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites in 2022. The satellites, weighing about 200 kilograms, will have 3.6-meter deployable antennas to gather imagery with a resolution of 25 centimeters per pixel. The company is owned Noosphere Venture Partners, which is creating a vertically integrated space entity that includes launch provider Firefly Aerospace and a thruster company, Space Electric Thruster Systems. (10/23)

New RUAG Rocket Fairing Design Offers Smoother Quieter Ride (Source: Space Daily)
Satellites are built to live in the harsh environment of space but engineers must also factor in the rigours of the journey there. ESA has helped RUAG Space Switzerland to develop new rocket fairings that offer a smoother quieter ride to space. RUAG manufactures fairings for Europe's Ariane and Vega launchers and has recently shown how a micro-perforation of the facesheet of the panels of the fairing can reduce noise and vibrations, and how a new hinge and actuation system could reduce the shock of separating the fairing from the launch vehicle when it reaches space.

Pyrotechnic systems for fairing separation require thorough testing before being qualified for flight, which is intense, expensive and requires vacuum conditions. A major benefit of RUAG's replacement low-shock separation and jettison system is that no expensive vacuum chamber is needed for tests because separation relies on a slightly slower non-pyrotechnic process making the friction with air in ground testing much less significant. RUAG can achieve the same results using a set of pre-loaded hinges and pneumatic actuators combined with a passive jettison system that pushes the parts away once the separation systems are actuated. (10/23)

NASA and Luxembourg Agree to Cooperate in Space (Source: Space News)
NASA signed a memorandum of understanding with its counterpart in Luxembourg on space cooperation. The agreement with the Luxembourg Space Agency, signed during the IAC Tuesday, could include work on space resources, an area of interest for Luxembourg. The country announced a separate agreement with ESA last week to support the development of a Space Resources Research Center. In an interview, Étienne Schneider, deputy prime minister of Luxembourg, said the country would soon launch a venture capital fund for space startups as it continues its focus on supporting companies in the space resources field, despite some high-profile setbacks in the last year. (10/23)

China's Unusual Find on Moon Not So Unusual (Source: Space.com)
An unusual material found on the far side of the moon by China's Chang'e-4 mission may not be so mysterious after all. Earlier this year Chinese scientists said they had found a "gel-like" material in images by the lander's Yutu-2 rover. Newer, higher resolution images taken by the rover show that material is likely "impact glass" created when minerals are melted during impacts. Astronauts found similar impact glass material during the Apollo 17 mission. (10/23)

Spacesuit Gloves Contaminated During All-Woman Spacewalk (Source: Space.com)
The spacesuit gloves of a NASA astronaut were contaminated during the historic all-woman spacewalk on Friday (Oct. 18), but it's probably just space grease. When astronauts Christine Koch and Jessica Meir embarked on a spacewalk to replace one of the International Space Station's battery charge-discharge units (BCDU), there was a contaminant on one of Koch's gloves when she re-entered the station. But it's most likely that this "contaminant" is just grease from the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm, Koch said during a post-spacewalk webcast. (10/22)

New SMC Focus: Space Control, ‘Domain Awareness’ (Source: Breaking Defense)
The Air Force has created a new Special Programs Directorate aimed at “delivering special space capabilities to dominate in war, in, from and through space,” says its head, Col. Stephen Purdy. Purdy said the new directorate — part of Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) — is a redesign of the former Space Superiority Systems Directorate, “focused on end to end space control,” instead of simply space situational awareness (SSA).

“We are the integrators of space control,” Purdy said in his slide presentation. He noted that the “number one mission of the directorate is to work across SMC, with the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), and other mission partners to deliver space warfighting capabilities.” The shift seems to signal a stronger focus on development of systems for detection, tracking and targeting of enemy spacecraft. Space control in Joint Doctrine refers to both defensive operations (which up to now has included SSA) and offensive counterspace operations (which Air Force officials are loathe to discuss in public.) (10/21)

Boeing Marketing its Small GEO Satellite to International Governments (Source: Space News)
Boeing is hoping to sign up international buyers for its new communications satellite bus aimed at the small geosynchronous market. At the 2019 International Astronautical Congress this week, the company will be pitching the Boeing 702x spacecraft to several potential customers, said Eric Jensen, vice president of Boeing’s global commercial satellite sales. (10/21)

We Are Sending Spider Robots to the Moon In 2021 (Source: Tom's Guide)
A private British space company is planning to send a 2-pound spider robot to the moon, the first crawling rover to walk in our satellite. And if it’s successful, more will follow so they can help us establish permanent colonies and scare the hell out of lunar kids. UK-based Spacebit will launch on board the Peregrine, a lander made by a U.S. company called Astrobotic. The Peregrine will get to Moon thanks to a United Launch Alliance Vulcan rocket that will launch from Cape Canaveral some time in 2021.

Once on the surface of the Moon, the creepy crawler will start its 10-day-long mission to recognize the terrain around the rover using its onboard full HD video camera. The spider will also have laser eyes to take depth data: a 3D LIDAR system will map the terrain around it in detail to send it back to Earth. (10/22)

The Biggest Barrier to Future Space Exploration is in Our Heads (Source: Fast Company)
In 1945 British science fiction writer Arthur C. Clarke—now best known for 2001: A Space Odyssey—correctly predicted the invention of satellites, the first of which launched into space in 1958. Then in 1963, Clarke predicted that a man would land on the moon and safely return to Earth sometime around the year 1970—which Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin did in the summer of 1969. In 1973, Clarke predicted a future where humans would be able to monitor outer-space threats such as asteroids and other near-earth objects—NASA established its Near-Earth Object Observations Program in 1998.

Much of what Clarke suggested about our future in outer space, however, has slipped further and further behind schedule in recent years. For example, he predicted commercial space flights by the year 2011 and a manned mission to Mars by 2021. He also spoke of a manned mission to Jupiter by 2099, which experts say looks pretty unlikely at this point.

Clarke was hardly alone in his optimism about what we could accomplish in outer space, and when we might accomplish it. Many others—including experts whose field was science rather than science fiction—have made predictions that we’ve failed, so far, to turn into reality. Why has the trajectory of our reach into space gone so far off course? Click here. (10/22)

Reaction Engines Precooler Test Hits Mach 5 (Source: UK Space Agency)
Reaction Engines has successfully tested its innovative precooler at airflow temperature conditions representing Mach 5, or five times the speed of sound. This marks a significant milestone in the development of the UK-designed SABRE™ engine and paves the way for a revolution in hypersonic flight and space access.

The precooler heat exchanger is a vital component of Reaction Engines’ revolutionary SABRE air-breathing rocket engine and is an enabling technology for other pre-cooled propulsion systems and a range of commercial applications. The UK government committed £60 million through the UK Space Agency and European Space Agency to aid preparations for the design, manufacture and testing of SABRE demonstrator engines. This has led to further private investment from BAE Systems, Rolls-Royce and Boeing HorizonX. (10/22)

Quintillion, ATLAS Space Operations Expand Strategic Data Infrastructure in Arctic (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Quintillion Networks and ATLAS Space Operations today announced plans for North America’s highest latitude ground station, to be located 250 miles inside of the Arctic Circle in Utqiagvik, Alaska. Upon its completion in the first quarter of 2020, the new Quintillion-ATLAS 3.7 meter ground station will be put to use immediately by U.S. Government and commercial customers. By utilizing Quintillion’s existing fiber optic infrastructure, ATLAS adds this valuable and geographically diverse site to its growing global FREEDOM network to provide greater data access from space. (10/20)

Hypersonic Planes a Step Closer After Breakthrough That Prevents Engine Melting at 4,000mph (Source: The Telegraph)
Hypersonic planes that can take passengers from London to New York in under an hour are a step closer to reality thanks to British technology. Engineers at Oxfordshire-based Reaction Engines have successfully tested a pre-cooling system that allows engines to withstand Mach 5, or speeds of nearly 4,000mph.

Mach 5 is more than twice as fast as the cruising speed of Concorde and more than 50pc faster than the SR-71 Blackbird aircraft, the world’s fastest jet-engine powered aircraft. However, travelling at such an extreme speeds has been hard to achieve up until now because the extreme conditions cause the engine to melt. Air entering at Mach 5 can reach in excess of 1,000 degrees.  (10/22)

SpaceX Plans to Start Offering Starlink Broadband Services in 2020 (Source: Space News)
SpaceX is confident it can start offering broadband service in the United States via its Starlink constellation in mid-2020, the company’s president and chief operating officer Gwynne Shotwell said Oct. 22. Getting there will require the company to launch six to eight batches of satellites, Shotwell told reporters during a media roundtable. SpaceX also has to finish the design and engineering of the user terminals, which is not a minor challenge, Shotwell acknowledged.

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has a Starlink terminal at his house and he used it to send a tweet early on Oct. 22.”Sending this tweet through space via Starlink satellite,” he tweeted to his 29 million followers. ”Whoa, it worked!!” Shotwell said SpaceX will need to complete six to eight Starlink launches — including the one that already took place in May — to ensure continuous service in upper and lower latitude bands. (10/22)

Impeachment is Threatening to Derail Trump’s Mission to the Moon (Source: Quartz)
On Dec. 11, 1998, the Judiciary Committee in the US House of Representatives approved three articles of impeachment for president Bill Clinton. The week before, on Dec. 4, NASA launched its first module to the orbiting platform that would eventually become the International Space Station. Despite the chaos then engulfing the capital, the space agency managed to kick-off the most successful space project of the last two decades, the orbiting lab that has been the focus of the world’s human spaceflight efforts for two decades.

President Donald Trump’s administration is now attempting to get its own ambitious program off the ground, with a goal of landing astronauts, including the first woman, on the moon by 2024, four years sooner than planned. US lawmakers have not committed to funding this project on the president’s schedule, and  NASA now says it won’t be able to even estimate the full cost of it until 2020. With the impeachment inquiry announced by Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi on Sep. 24 deepening, the White House’s political capital is likely to be more focused on defending the president than winning space bucks to meet the new deadline.

What made things different in the 1990s? Clinton, never known as the most disciplined president, managed to keep up the public appearance of business as usual during his impeachment proceedings. He “compartmentalized” his staff to focus on work and delivered boring speeches about policy, two things Trump is unlikely to do. (10/22)

China Unveils New Rockets to Give Competition to India (Source: Times of India)
Keeping an eye on the growing satellite launch market, China has unveiled a bunch of small space rockets to give a tough competition to India. China Rocket, the commercial space wing of rocket-maker China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology, unveiled a slew of sollid-fueled rockets codenamed 'Smart Dragon' and liquid-propellant rocket Tenglong on Sunday. The rockets will make debut launches in the next two years. China's move is timed with the upcoming test launch of In dia's mini-PSLV rocket or small satellite launch vehicle (SSLV) by year-end. (1021)

The Dinosaur-Killing Asteroid Acidified the Ocean in a Flash (Source: Business Insider)
About 66 million years ago, an asteroid more than 6 miles wide struck modern-day Mexico. The impact sparked wildfires that stretched for hundreds of miles, triggered a mile-high tsunami, and released billions of tons of sulfur  into the atmosphere. Within a minute of hitting the Earth, the Chicxulub asteroid had bored a hole nearly 100 miles wide into the sea floor, creating a bubbling pit of molten rock and super-hot gas. The contents of that fiery cauldron skyrocketed, creating a mountain-high plume that poured acid rain into the oceans.

While scientists knew catastrophic events on land following the asteroid's impact triggered the mass extinction of 75% of life on Earth (including the dinosaurs), the mechanism by which ocean species perished was less certain. Now, a study in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences found that the barrage of acid rain following impact was probably the killer. After the asteroid crash, the study authors wrote, the oceans underwent rapid and intense acidification. That then disrupted marine food webs and sparked a mass extinction. (10/21)

Switching From Asteroid Mining to Blockchain (Source: GeekWire)
A year after taking over the assets of a Redmond, Wash.-based asteroid mining company known as Planetary Resources, ConsenSys Space has unveiled its first project: an app-based system that makes use of amateur observers and Ethereum blockchain technology to keep track of satellites. The open-source TruSat app was released tonight in conjunction with the International Astronautical Congress here in Washington, and is aimed at addressing what’s expected to be a satellite traffic jam in low Earth orbit.

TruSat is an initiative led by ConsenSys Space in partnership with the Secure World Foundation, the Society of Women in Space Exploration and Moriba Jah, a space scientist and aerospace engineer at the University of Texas at Austin. It’s aimed at analyzing the naked-eye satellite observations that are made by volunteers and submitted via the app, to come up with more accurate information about the orbits of thousands of satellites. Blockchain technology, which is best known as a software-based foundation for cryptocurrencies, would be used in this case to provide transparency about the source of orbital data. (10/21)

Pence Talks Up Space Property Rights (Source: GeekWire)
Vice President Mike Pence recapped the Trump administration’s plans to put astronauts on the lunar surface and promote space commerce today, with an added twist: emphasis on private property rights relating to space resources. Pence, who chairs the White House’s National Space Council, also played up international space cooperation during his official welcome address to the International Astronautical Congress, meeting this week here in Washington.

Pence’s main theme focused on NASA’s Artemis program to send “the first woman and the next man” to the moon by 2024, and then move on to Mars. “We are well on our way to making NASA’s ‘moon to Mars’ mission a reality,” Pence said. “The long-term exploration and development of the moon, Mars and other celestial bodies will require the use of resources found in outer space, including water and minerals. And so we must encourage the responsible commercial use of these resources.”

Pence hinted that the United States will be developing new policies relating to the use of space resources. “We will use all available legal and diplomatic means to create a stable and orderly space environment that drives opportunity, creates prosperity and ensures our security on Earth into the vast expanse of space,” he said. (10/22)