April 2, 2020

Hubble Finds Best Evidence for Elusive Mid-Sized Black Hole (Source: Phys.org)
Astronomers have found the best evidence for the perpetrator of a cosmic homicide: a black hole of an elusive class known as "intermediate-mass," which betrayed its existence by tearing apart a wayward star that passed too close. Weighing in at about 50,000 times the mass of our Sun, the black hole is smaller than the supermassive black holes (at millions or billions of solar masses) that lie at the cores of large galaxies, but larger than stellar-mass black holes formed by the collapse of a massive star.

These so-called intermediate-mass black holes (IMBHs) are a long-sought "missing link" in black hole evolution. Though there have been a few other IMBH candidates, researchers consider these new observations the strongest evidence yet for mid-sized black holes in the universe. It took the combined power of two X-ray observatories and the keen vision of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope to nail down the cosmic beast. (3/31)

SpaceX Starship Outfitted With Tesla Battery Packs and Motors (Source: Teslarati)
Following in the footsteps of the late Mk1 vehicle, SpaceX’s latest Starship prototype has been outfitted with several Tesla battery packs and motors over the last few weeks. CEO Elon Musk has confirmed in the past that SpaceX intends to try to use Tesla batteries to power Starship rockets and Tesla motors to drive the ships’ large aerodynamic control surfaces.

By all appearances, a Tesla Model S motor’s appearance on the exterior of a Starship prototype recently moved to the launch pad is a first for SpaceX. However, in 2019, SpaceX at one point planned to use and even installed battery packs on Starship Mk1 components before the ship was prematurely destroyed during testing. The nosecone those battery packs were installed in still sits in the middle of SpaceX’s growing Boca Chica rocket factory. (4/2)

Bacteria in Rock Deep Under Sea Inspire New Search for Life on Mars (Source: U-Tokyo)
Newly discovered single-celled creatures living deep beneath the seafloor have given researchers clues about how they might find life on Mars. These bacteria were discovered living in tiny cracks inside volcanic rocks after researchers persisted over a decade of trial and error to find a new way to examine the rocks. Researchers estimate that the rock cracks are home to a community of bacteria as dense as that of the human gut, about 10 billion bacterial cells per cubic centimeter (0.06 cubic inch).

In contrast, the average density of bacteria living in mud sediment on the seafloor is estimated to be 100 cells per cubic centimeter. “I am now almost over-expecting that I can find life on Mars. If not, it must be that life relies on some other process that Mars does not have, like plate tectonics,” said Associate Professor Yohey Suzuki. (4/2)

Boeing Offers Staff Buyouts as Coronavirus Takes Toll (Source: Wall Street Journal)
Boeing is offering buyout packages to its workforce, the plane maker’s first major step to reduce labor costs as it grapples with the coronavirus pandemic’s deepening toll on global aviation. A Boeing spokesman said the company expected several thousand employees to accept voluntary layoffs or retire. However, Boeing executives increasingly believe potential involuntary layoffs and production cuts may be unavoidable, depending on how the crisis unfolds, people familiar with the matter said. (4/2)

Pandemic’s Tourism Impact Predictable, But Blow to Florida’s Aerospace Industry Unexpected (Source: Center Square)
The severity of the COVID-19 pandemic’s fallout on Florida’s tourism economy and workforce was predictable, but the state’s burgeoning aerospace industry has taken a hit few saw coming. London-based OneWeb, a joint investor with European aerospace giant Airbus in a Space Coast satellite-manufacturing plant, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, claiming the stock market crash fostered by the COVID-19 crisis has dried up venture capital, making it impossible to proceed with plans.

"It is with a very heavy heart that we have been forced to reduce our workforce and enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy,” OneWeb CEO Adrian Steckel said Friday, confirming COVID-19 as the cause. "The company's remaining employees are focused on responsibly managing our nascent constellation and working with the court and investors."

OneWeb Satellites said it and AirBus will continue to manufacture satellites on Merritt Island’s Exploration Park, but is scaling back, despite receiving billions in investment from SoftBank, the Japanese conglomerate, and others. OneWeb Satellites in July completed its 105,500-square-foot, $300 million plant in Exploration Park, just outside NASA's Cape Canaveral Spaceport gates and across the street from Blue Origin's rocket factory. The plant created 250 high-paying jobs and 3,000 “indirect jobs through the supply chain,” according to the Florida Department of Economic Opportunity (DEO), which assembled a $17.5 million incentives package for the plant in 2017. (3/30)

If Space Startups Fail, the Pentagon’s Going to Need Some New Plans (Source: Defense One)
Literally and figuratively, there’s no area of military activity that’s further away from the coronavirus than U.S. military assets in space. But the economic effects of the counter-virus lockdown are causing potentially fatal problems for some young space companies and that could threaten the Defense Department’s plans. Like a lot of tech startups, some young space companies are facing a capital crunch and may not make it through the year, like communications satellite maker OneWeb, which filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy on Friday.

Those companies that have a mix of government and business customers will fare better than those that don’t, French surmised. Rocket Lab is booked solid for launches in 2020. The government of New Zealand’s response to COVID-19 had caused a launch delay (Rocket Lab runs a lunch site in the country.) Still, French said he didn’t expect it to affect business. “We’re ready to get back to our high launch cadence. Back on track with our manifest,” he said.

“What I’m worried is we might see some other space companies might start to see their customer base is not showing up like they thought,” said Harrison. “Some of these companies could be hurt, could even go out of business and their could be ripple effects for DOD in programs where the military was expecting to leverage a robust commercial space marketplace to buy components, to modify satellites that were being built for commercial purposes and then to use for military purposes, to tap into a dynamic launch environment. There are a lot of ways this could have secondary or tertiary effects on the military going forward.” (3/31)

NASA Human Spaceflight Reorganization Planned (Source: Space News)
NASA's human spaceflight directorate is planning changes to its structure in the coming weeks. At a committee meeting Wednesday, an agency official said that Doug Loverro, who took over as associate administrator for human exploration and operations four months ago, is starting to make changes to his organization, with a restructuring being rolled out "in a matter of weeks." One change is to move a division responsible for life and physical sciences research to NASA's science directorate. NASA is also expected to soon release the results of an independent review announced last August of the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, the organization that operates the portion of the ISS designated a national laboratory. That report, and NASA's response to that review, will be published "very shortly." (4/2)

Rocket Lab Launches On Hold During Pandemic (Source: Space News)
Small launch vehicle company Rocket Lab is optimistic about its long-term prospects despite a current hiatus in launches. The company's Electron launches in New Zealand are on hold because of the coronavirus pandemic, but a Rocket Lab executive said this week it expects to resume monthly launches later this year. Demand for launches, including from U.S. government agencies, remains strong, with its 2020 manifest full and 2021 "starting to fill up." The company is using the break in launches to focus more attention on development of its Photon satellite platform. (4/2)

Space Micro Wins $3 Million From Space Force for Laser Comm (Source: Space News)
Space Micro has won a $3 million contract from the U.S. Space Force for a laser communications terminal. The award stems from Space Micro's presentation at Air Force Space Pitch Day in November, where it received an initial $750,000 award. Under the $3 million Space Force contract, Space Micro will deliver in late 2021 an engineering model of a laser communications terminal developed for commercial geostationary satellites with a data rate of up to 100 gigabits per second. (4/2)

Momentus to Develop In-Space Satellite Transport (Source: Space News)
Momentus has signed up a Taiwanese customer for a 2021 mission. Momentus will provide in-space transportation for a satellite built by Odysseus Space for Taiwan's National Cheng Kung University, using the Vigoride vehicle designed to move small satellites from their drop-off point in orbit to their final destination. Odysseus is working with the Taiwanese university on the Intelligent Remote-Sensing and Internet Satellite (IRIS) A spacecraft, designed to test technology to improve the quality of downlink signals. Momentus says that interest in its system remains strong, and it is continuing hardware development using two shifts of personnel to ensure proper physical distancing during the pandemic. (4/2)

NASA Gets 12,000 Astronaut Applications (Source: NASA)
More than 12,000 people submitted applications in NASA's latest astronaut selection round. The deadline for submitting applications was Tuesday, with the agency now starting a selection process that will end with a new astronaut class in the summer of 2021. The number of applications was the second-highest in the agency's history, but down a third from the previous, record-setting round in 2016. NASA noted that it increased the educational requirements in this round and shortened the application period from two months to one. (4/2)

NASA and ESA Fund Pandemic Projects (Source: Space News)
Both NASA and the European Space Agency are funding projects related to the coronavirus pandemic. ESA announced this week it is seeking proposals from European companies interested in using ESA satellites to provide relief services, such as telemedicine and education, with a particular emphasis on services in Italy. NASA is requesting proposals from researchers who want to use NASA Earth science data to study changes in the environment caused by the slowdown in activities during the pandemic or can otherwise inform decision making. Within NASA, the agency is soliciting ideas from employees about how it can support pandemic response efforts, such as producing ventilators or personal protection equipment. (4/2)

Air Force Invites Pandemic Countermeasure Projects (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Air Force's small business program is also seeking ideas for countermeasures to the pandemic. The Small Business Innovative Research call released this week is the first one that includes COVID-19 "defeat and mitigation related to Air Force operations and activities" as an area of interest. Some companies see the SBIR solicitation as an opportunity for startups in space and defense to adapt their existing technologies to respond to the pandemic. (4/2)

OSTP Chief Takes Role as Acting NSF Chief (Source: Science)
The White House science adviser is taking on a second job as acting director of the National Science Foundation. The White House said Wednesday that Kelvin Droegemeier will serve as acting NSF director in addition to being director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy. France Córdova's six-year term as NSF director ended earlier this week, and the administration's nominee to be the next director, Sethuraman Panchanathan, is pending confirmation in the Senate, which is on recess at least until late April. (4/2)

SpaceX Bans Zoom Due to Security Concerns (Source: Reuters)
Zoom bombs at SpaceX as the launch company bans the use of the videoconferencing system. The company, in an internal memo, said that use of Zoom was not allowed by its employees because of "significant privacy and security concerns." Zoom has soared in popularity in recent weeks as an alternative to in-person meetings canceled by the pandemic, but is also facing scrutiny about its privacy as well as so-called "Zoom bombing," where hackers take over Zoom meetings. A NASA spokesperson said the agency also prohibits the use of Zoom, although agency employees have participated in Zoom meetings hosted by other organizations, like the National Academies. (4/2)

This Is Why Earth, Surprisingly, Is The Densest Object In Our Solar System (Source: Forbes)
Of all the planets, dwarf planets, moons, asteroids and more in the Solar System, only one object can be the densest. You might think, based on the fact that gravitation is a runaway process that just builds upon itself to a greater and greater degree, that the most massive objects of all  things like Jupiter or even the Sun  would be densest, but they're less than a quarter the density of Earth.

You might go a different route, and think that the worlds that are made out of the greatest proportion of the heaviest elements would be the densest, too. If that were the case, however, Mercury would be the densest world, and it isn't. Instead, of all the large objects that are known in the Solar System, Earth is the densest of all. Here's the surprising science of why.

Density is one of the simplest non-fundamental properties of matter you can imagine. Every object that exists, from the microscopic to the astronomical, has a certain amount of energy-at-rest intrinsic to it: what we commonly call mass. These objects also take up a given amount of space in three dimensions: what we know as volume. Density is just the ratio of these two properties: the mass of an object divided by its volume. (3/31)

Space Force Awards a $1.2B Contract to L3Harris to Better Track Objects on Orbit (Source: C4ISRnet)
The U.S. Space Force has awarded L3Harris Technologies a contract worth as much as $1.2 billion for the upkeep and modernization of the military’s ground-based sensors that track objects and activities in space. The contract, which could last as long as 10 years, is part of the Maintenance of Space Situational Awareness Integrated Capabilities, or MOSSAIC, program. That contract is a follow-on to the Systems Engineering and Sustainment Integrator program, which L3Harris won in 2002. In an April 1 announcement, L3Harris said the contract covered sustainment services for current and future ground-based space domain awareness sensors and space battle management command and control capabilities. (4/2)

The Worm Is Back (Source: NASA)
The original NASA insignia is one of the most powerful symbols in the world. A bold, patriotic red chevron wing piercing a blue sphere, representing a planet, with white stars, and an orbiting spacecraft. Today, we know it as “the meatball.” However, with 1970’s technology, it was a difficult icon to reproduce, print, and many people considered it a complicated metaphor in what was considered, then, a modern aerospace era. Enter a cleaner, sleeker design born of the Federal Design Improvement Program and officially introduced in 1975. It featured a simple, red unique type style of the word NASA. The world knew it as “the worm.”

NASA was able to thrive with multiple graphic designs. There was a place for both the meatball and the worm. However, in 1992, the 1970s brand was retired - except on clothing and other souvenir items - in favor of the original late 1950s graphic. Until today. The worm is back. And just in time to mark the return of human spaceflight on American rockets from American soil. The retro, modern design of the agency’s logo will help capture the excitement of a new, modern era of human spaceflight on the side of the Falcon 9 launch vehicle that will ferry astronauts to the International Space Station as part of the Demo-2 flight, now scheduled for mid- to late May. (4/2)

Astronaut Urine to Build Moon Bases (Source: Space Daily)
The modules that the major space agencies plan to erect on the Moon could incorporate an element contributed by the human colonizers themselves: the urea in their pee. European researchers have found that it could be used as a plasticizer in the concrete of the structures. NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and its Chinese counterpart plan to build moon bases in the coming decades, as part of a broader space exploration plan that will take humans to more distant destinations, such as Mars.

However, the colonization of the Moon poses problems such as high levels of radiation, extreme temperatures, meteorite bombardment and a logistical issue: how to get construction materials there, although it may not be necessary. Transporting about 0.45 kg from the Earth to space costs about $10,000, which means that building a complete module on our satellite in this way would be very expensive. This is the reason why space agencies are thinking of using raw materials from the moon's surface, or even those that astronauts themselves can provide, such as their urine. (3/30)

Japanese Airport Proposed for Virgin Orbit Spaceport (Source: Virgin Orbit)
Virgin Orbit, the California-based small satellite launch company, has announced a new partnership with Oita Prefecture to bring horizontal launch to Japan. With the support of regional partners ANA Holdings Inc. and the Space Port Japan Association, Virgin Orbit has identified Oita Airport as its preferred pilot launch site — yet another addition to the company’s growing global network of horizontal launch sites — in pursuit of a mission to space from Japan as early as 2022.

Virgin Orbit and Oita Prefecture have agreed to commence a joint technical study to facilitate development of the future spaceport. Oita Prefecture is widely recognized in Japan as not only a top-ranked tourist destination, but also as a hub for numerous high-tech ecosystems, including the steel, petrochemical, semiconductor, and automobile industries. The Oita Prefectural Government now has ambitions to extend that leadership into the space domain. (4/2)

Blue Origin Pressing for Tourist Rocket Launch During Pandemic (Source: The Verge)
Employees at Jeff Bezos’ aerospace firm Blue Origin are outraged that senior leadership is pressuring workers to conduct a test launch of the company’s New Shepard rocket — designed to take wealthy tourists into space — while the COVID-19 pandemic devastates the United States.

To conduct the flight, Blue Origin officials are considering transporting employees from the company’s main headquarters in Kent, Washington — a town near Seattle where COVID-19 cases have surged — to a small town in West Texas called Van Horn. The town, which has a population of just over 2,000, is home to Blue Origin’s test launch facility where the company has conducted all past flights of the New Shepard rocket.

Many employees fear that traveling to Van Horn might expose them to the novel coronavirus and inadvertently introduce COVID-19 to the residents of the rural town where there is very little infrastructure to handle an outbreak. The Verge spoke exclusively with four Blue Origin employees who all asked to remain anonymous for fear of retaliation from the company. They say they are frustrated by the company’s desire to conduct a launch, as it could unnecessarily jeopardize the health of employees at Blue Origin and residents of Van Horn. (4/2)

NASA Outlines Lunar Surface Sustainability Concept (Source: NASA)
When NASA sends astronauts to the surface of the Moon in 2024, it will be the first time outside of watching historical footage most people witness humans walking on another planetary body. Building on these footsteps, future robotic and human explorers will put in place infrastructure for a long-term sustainable presence on the Moon. NASA recently proposed a plan to go from limited, short-term Apollo-era exploration of the 1960s, to a 21st Century plan in a report to the National Space Council. With the Artemis program, we will explore more of the Moon than ever before to make the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

“After 20 years of continuously living in low-Earth orbit, we’re now ready for the next great challenge of space exploration – the development of a sustained presence on and around the Moon,” said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. “For years to come, Artemis will serve as our North Star as we continue to work toward even greater exploration of the Moon, where we will demonstrate key elements needed for the first human mission to Mars.”

On the surface, the core elements for a sustained presence would include an emphasis on mobility to allow astronauts to explore more of the Moon and conduct more science: 1) A lunar terrain vehicle or LTV, would transport crew around the landing zone; 2) The habitable mobility platform would enable crews to take trips across the Moon lasting up to 45 days; and 3) A lunar foundation surface habitat would house as many as four crew members on shorter surface stays. (4/2)

Dark Matter and Dark Energy - Exploring the Start of the Universe (Source: YouTube)
What did the ancient Greeks recognize as the universe? In their model, the universe contained Earth at the center, the Sun, the Moon, five planets, and a sphere to which all the stars were attached. This idea held for many centuries until Galileo’s telescope helped allow people to realize that Earth is not the center of the universe. They also found out that there are many more stars than were visible to the naked eye. All of those stars were in the Milky Way Galaxy.

In the early 20th century, an astronomer named Edwin Hubble Figure below discovered that what scientists called the Andromeda Nebula was actually over 2 million light years away, many times farther than the farthest distances that had ever been measured. Hubble realized that many of the objects that astronomers called nebulas were not actually clouds of gas, but were collections of millions or billions of stars that we now call galaxies. Click here. (4/1)

In Parallel With Rocket Development, Firefly Launches Lunar Lander Initiative (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
A souped-up version of the Israeli Beresheet moon lander built in Texas could be ready to carry NASA science and technology payloads to the lunar surface before the end of 2022, according to officials from Firefly Aerospace. Firefly’s Genesis lander is one of several major projects being developed by the company headquartered just north of Austin, Texas. The company is also developing the Alpha small satellite launcher, and a bigger rocket named Beta is on the drawing board. Officials hope to learn this month whether NASA will sign Firefly to deliver experiments to the moon. (4/1)