February 16, 2020

New Image Shows Betelgeuse Isn’t Dimming Evenly (Source: Ars Technica)
From Earth's perspective, one of the brightest stars in the sky is the red supergiant Betelgeuse. Found in the constellation of Orion, it's large enough and close enough that when it's destroyed in an inevitable supernova, it will put on a spectacular light show for anyone who happens to be on Earth to see it. So when the star started dimming late last year, speculation rose that the show was about to start.

Because Betelgeuse is so large and so close, it's actually possible to resolve some details of its surface rather than simply seeing it as a point source of light. Some astronomers have used the Very Large Telescope at the European Southern Observatory to do just that, and they've found something extremely weird: Betelgeuse's dimming isn't even. Betelgeuse was more or less spherical about a year ago. By December, it was most decidedly not. While the upper hemisphere of the star looked much as it had a year earlier, the lower portion looked diffuse and distorted, with at least two regions of distinct brightnesses. (2/14)

Will Betelgeuse Explode? After ‘Unprecedented’ Dimming The Giant Star Is Now Changing Shape (Source: Forbes)
Spectacular new images taken using the European Southern Observatory’s Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Cerro Paranal in Chile, published today, reveal that red supergiant star Betelgeuse isn’t just dimming, but could also be changing shape. The star in the constellation of Orion has been visibly dimming since late 2019, and now stands at just 36% of its normal brightness. Astronomers and experienced stargazers can easily see the difference, and it’s got them talking ... about the chance of the star becoming a supernova.

Is the dimming associated with a change in Betelgeuse that could lead to the star “going supernova?” In that scenario, Betelgeuse’s explosion could mean it shines as bright as a full moon for a few months. Its apparent shape has changed. So what’s going on? “The two scenarios we are working on are a cooling of the surface due to exceptional stellar activity or dust ejection towards us,” says Montargès. “Of course, our knowledge of red supergiants remains incomplete, and this is still a work in progress, so a surprise can still happen.” (2/14)

High-Ranking Research Programs Power UAH Aerospace Collaborations (Source: YellowHammer)
Aerospace engineering researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville are modeling how a future U.S. spacecraft might be engineered for nuclear propulsion. They are also studying how reliable rocket engine components can be printed using advanced manufacturing techniques. These two projects illustrate why UAH consistently ranks among the nation’s top programs for federally financed aerospace research. In 2018, the university earned a No. 5 ranking for research activities in the field, according to data from the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Judith Schneider, a professor in UAH’s Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Department, said the university’s location in Cummings Research Park means it is perfectly positioned for collaborations with aerospace companies and government agencies located on Redstone Arsenal. Marshall Space Flight Center, NASA’s center for propulsion research and a frequent collaborator, stands nearby. Major aerospace and defense firms including Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman all have a major presence in Huntsville, which also hosts homegrown firms such as Dynetics. (2/15)

It Turns Out Rust Is... a Great Shield for Deadly Space Radiation (Source: Futurism)
Lifehack for future space commuters: Leaving your ship out in the rain could save your life. That’s because new research suggests a layer of powdered rust is a particularly effective shield when it comes to blocking dangerous cosmic radiation — the kind that bombards astronauts and their equipment once they leave the safety of Earth’s atmosphere. Oxidized metal, especially gadolinium (III) oxide, blocks more radiation by weight than anything else out there, according to research published last month in the journal Radiation Physics and Chemistry. The study, a joint effort of Lockheed Martin and North Carolina State University, could give engineers a new tool for keeping crewmembers safe during long forays into space. (2/14)

Astra Emphasizes Rapid Iteration In Its Quest for Low-Cost, Rapid Launch (Source: Space News)
As Astra prepares for its first orbital launch attempt, the company is setting expectations accordingly and taking the long view towards its goal of frequent, low-cost access to space. The launch window for Astra’s first orbital launch from Pacific Spaceport Complex – Alaska now opens Feb. 25, according to a U.S. Coast Guard notice published Feb. 12. The company will have daily windows from 3:30 to 7:00 p.m. Eastern through March 3.

Chris Kemp, chief executive of Astra, confirmed that launch window but didn’t give a specific date when the company would make its first launch attempt. The rocket, dubbed “One of Three,” will be flying to the spaceport on Kodiak Island, Alaska, in a few days. That launch, he confirmed, will be the first of two missions as part of the DARPA Launch Challenge, a competition by DARPA to demonstrate responsive launch capabilities. Astra is the sole remaining competitor in the challenge after the other two finalists, Vector and Virgin Orbit, dropped out last year. (2/14)

Puppy Love! Astronaut's Reunion with Her Dog After a Nearly Yearlong Flight Made Us Cry (Source: Space.com)
After spending a record-breaking 328 days in space, NASA astronaut Christina Koch returned to Earth and reunited with the furriest member of her family: her pup, LBD (which stands for Little Brown Dog). Yesterday (Feb. 13), Koch shared a video of the heartwarming reunion on Twitter and Instagram. "Not sure who was more excited. Glad she remembers me after a year!" Koch wrote on Twitter alongside the video. And, in watching the video itself, they both look thrilled to be together again. Click here. (2/13)

How Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin is Aiming to Have People Live and Work in Space (Source: Yahoo Finance)
Blue Origin, a spaceflight company founded by Amazon’s CEO Jeff Bezos in 2000, is ready to start testing some of its new products. Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferre breaks down the details. Click here. (2/12) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aaaT2uYqhOI

Blue Origin’s New Rocket Engine Production Facility Opens in Alabama (Source: Tech Crunch)
Blue Origin  is set to open its new rocket engine production center in Alabama on Monday. The new Huntsville facility will be able to produce its rocket engines at a much higher rate than is currently possible, which will be useful as the company is using its in-development BE-4 engine for its own New Glenn rocket, as well as for supplying the United Launch Alliance with thrust for its new Vulcan launch vehicle.

Blue Origin started working on BE-4 in 2011, and though it was originally designed for use specifically on Blue Origin’s own New Glenn rocket, which is its first orbital launch vehicle, in 2014 ULA announced it would be using the engines to power its own next-generation Vulcan craft as well. BE-4 has 550,000 lbs of thrust using a mixture of liquid natural gas and oxygen for fuel, and is designed from the ground up for heavy lift capability. (2/14)

Breakthrough Listen’s Search for Intelligent Life Releases Unprecedented Data Survey (Source: Parabolic Arc)
The Breakthrough Listen Initiative today released data from the most comprehensive survey yet of radio emissions from the plane of the Milky Way Galaxy, the region around its central, 4-million-solar-mass black hole, and observations of the interstellar comet 2I/Borisov.

Breakthrough Listen Principal Investigator Andrew Siemion announced the release of the nearly two petabytes of data at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. It marks the second “data dump” from the four-year-old, $100M search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) initiative. A first download of a petabyte of radio and optical telescope data was released in June 2019, marking the largest release of SETI data in the history of the field.

The raw data – yet to be fully analyzed by astronomers – comes from a survey of the radio spectrum between 1 and 12 gigahertz (GHz). About half was captured via the Parkes Radio Telescope in New South Wales, Australia, which, because of its location in the Southern Hemisphere, is perfectly situated and outfitted to scan the entire galactic disk and galactic center. (2/16)

New Technologies, Strategies Expanding Search for Extraterrestrial Life (Source: NRAO)
Emerging technologies and new strategies are opening a revitalized era in the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI). New discovery capabilities, along with the rapidly-expanding number of known planets orbiting stars other than the Sun, are spurring innovative approaches by both government and private organizations, according to a panel of experts speaking at a meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle, Washington.

New approaches will not only expand upon but also go beyond the traditional SETI technique of searching for intelligently-generated radio signals, first pioneered by Frank Drake’s Project Ozma in 1960. Scientists now are designing state-of-the-art techniques to detect a variety of signatures that can indicate the possibility of extraterrestrial technologies. Such “technosignatures” can range from the chemical composition of a planet’s atmosphere, to laser emissions, to structures orbiting other stars, among others. (2/15)

Rocket Lab Wins NASA Contract for Lunar Cubesat Launch (Source: Space News)
NASA awarded a contract to Rocket Lab Feb. 14 for the launch of a cubesat mission that will serve as a precursor for the agency’s planned lunar Gateway. A Rocket Lab Electron will launch the Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment (CAPSTONE) satellite from the company’s Launch Complex 2 site at Wallops Island, Virginia, in early 2021. The contract for the dedicated launch is valued at $9.95 million.

CAPSTONE, a 25-kilogram satellite being built by Colorado-based Advanced Space under a $13.7 million contract awarded in September, will go into a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon, the same orbit proposed for the lunar Gateway. CAPSTONE will demonstrate the stability of that orbit, which has never been used by a spacecraft before, to support planning for the Gateway. (2/15)

Massive Asteroid Sill Swing by Earth After Valentine's Day (Source: CNN)
Not long after Valentine's Day ends, a massive asteroid estimated to be between 1,443 feet and 3,248 feet long will pass by Earth around 6:05 a.m. ET on Saturday. Based on the size range, it could be anywhere between the size of a suspension bridge to taller than a skyscraper. But the experts at NASA's Center for Near Earth Object Studies say we're in no danger. The asteroid will pass within 3,590,000 miles of Earth. That's 15 times the distance from Earth to the moon, according to NASA. (2/14)

Finland Needs Its Own Space Research Center (Source: Uutiset)
Finland must increase its investments in the business and technologies of space, according to a report commissioned by the Prime Minister's Office. The report recommended setting up a "Space Situation Center" so that authorities could monitor data on satellite systems observing Finnish territories as well as study the effects of space weather. The rapid global expansion of the space industry is making it less expensive to launch tech into Earth's orbit. This is a development the scientific working group found affects Finland's national security and economic interests. (2/15)

SpaceX Delays Next Starlink Launch From Cape Canaveral Due to Hardware Issue (Source: Florida Today)
SpaceX has delayed the launch of its next Starlink mission from Cape Canaveral due to hardware issues, the launch provider confirmed Saturday evening. "Standing down from (Sunday's) Starlink launch," SpaceX said via Twitter. "Team is taking a closer look at a second-stage valve component." The Falcon 9 rocket is now scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex 40 about 10:04 a.m. Monday. The Air Force's 45th Weather Squadron is expecting 80% "go" conditions for the attempt. (2/15)

Antares Rocket Lifts Off from Virginia on Space Station Cargo Mission (Source: Spaceflight Now)
A twin-engine Northrop Grumman Antares rocket climbed into orbit Saturday from Virginia’s Eastern Shore carrying a Cygnus supply ship bound for the International Space Station with a compact electron microscope, a flame combustion experiment, a range of biological investigations, fresh cheese, fruit and vegetables for the research lab’s three-person crew.

The 139-foot-tall Antares launcher lifted off from pad 0A at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at 3:21:04 p.m. EST Saturday after Northrop Grumman scrubbed two previous launch attempts due to an issue with ground support equipment and unfavorable winds aloft. Powered by two Russian-built RD-181 engines producing more than 860,000 pounds of thrust, the Antares rocket cleared lightning protection towers at the launch pad and headed southeast from the spaceport at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (2/15)

Property Development Is Starting To Take Off At The Houston Spaceport (Source: BisNow Houston)
When people think of a spaceport, they envision an upright rocket launching into the sky. But the Houston Spaceport is chasing a different kind of liftoff — the commercial kind. Combined with a 12% budget increase for NASA in Fiscal Year 2021, and regular economic infusion from the Johnson Space Center, space is keeping commercial real estate humming here on the ground.

The Houston Spaceport is on the southeast side of Ellington Airport, a public and military-use airport about 15 miles southeast of Downtown Houston. Phase 1 of the spaceport broke ground in June. The Phase 1 expansion covers 154 acres, and includes the construction of streets, water and wastewater infrastructure, pipelines, electric power and distribution, as well as communications facilities. That phase is expected to be completed in the first half of 2021. (2/13)

Virgin Galactic's Record-Breaking Week Doesn't Stop Short-Sellers (Source: Bloomberg)
Richard Branson’s Virgin Galactic Holdings Inc. may close at another record on Friday after hitting new highs every day this week, but bearish bets are climbing too. The space-tourism company told investors last night that the spaceship VSS Unity successfully completed another test flight during its relocation to New Mexico and was on track for the final stages of its test-flight program. The New Mexico-based company is gaining for the sixth day and has climbed about 45 per cent during this latest rally.

The Branson-founded company will compete against rivals like Elon Musk’s Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin LLC to get the space tourism market off the ground this year. None of that has deterred short sellers, who have racked up US$388 million in bearish bets against roughly 31 per cent of Virgin Galactic’s free float, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. Shorts are down roughly US$214 million in mark-to-market losses since November, including a US$10 million loss today, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3.

None of that has deterred short sellers, who have racked up $388 million in bearish bets against roughly 31 per cent of Virgin Galactic’s free float, according to financial analytics firm S3 Partners. Shorts are down roughly US$214 million in mark-to-market losses since November, including a US$10 million loss today, according to Ihor Dusaniwsky, managing director of predictive analytics at S3.“This is not a very crowded short although with a stock borrow fee of just over 12 per cent, there is tightness in the stock loan market which means there is not an unlimited supply of borrows available,” Dusaniwsky said in an email. He added that “if short selling increases again, rates will go up and it will be more difficult to get in the name.” (2/14)

Is Virgin Galactic And Its Version Of Space Travel Finally For Real? (Source: Forbes)
Virgin Galactic blasted off on Valentine’s Day 2020, rising more than 21% to a 52-week high despite a falling stock market. The company was founded in 2004 by Sir Richard Branson (#478 on the Forbes billionaire list with, $4 billion) and has yet to earn a profit. Why did the stock rocket upward? The company made a three-hour positioning flight. It flew its passenger spacecraft, SpaceShipTwo, from Mojave Airport in California to its commercial headquarters at Spaceport America’s Gateway to Space building in New Mexico.

But the simple flight was, as the company puts it with its typical hype, “another vital step on its path to commercial service.” As part of the ‘getting ready for space’ process, Virgin Galactic has moved 100 team members to New Mexico, hired 70 local people, and now has transferred the space craft and carrier ship. (2/14)

New Mexico Delegation Urges Space Force to Utilize State Assets (Source: Albuquerque Journal)
Members of New Mexico’s congressional delegation and Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham want the newly created U.S. Space Force to take advantage of what the state has to offer. Grisham, U.S. Sens. Tom Udall and Martin Heinrich and U.S. Reps. Ben Ray Luján, Deb Haaland and Xochitl Torres Small – all Democrats – sent a letter to Gen. John W. Raymond, commander of U.S. Space Command, urging him to utilize the state’s existing public and private sector space capabilities as the Space Force develops its infrastructure and mission. (2/16)