April 10, 2021

How New Satellite Data Sources Enhance Investigative Journalism (Source: TechJournalist)
The right satellite images can be the ‘smoking gun’ in an investigation against mischief and wrongdoing. Our own investigations have proven the value of satellite data. Whether it’s images portraying crimes against humanity, severe environmental misconduct or just clues that something might go wrong for further verification, visual intelligence can be an essential mean to present a corpus delicti.

For my own investigations, this has proven to be highly effective. But there are caveats to conventional satellite data. Clouds constitute one major problem. They can cover at the wrong time an area of interest and miss the action. Culprits may know this and try to avoid, for instance, illegal at-sea transhipments in cloudless weather conditions or cut forests illegally when they can hide behind from the spying eyes of satellite images.
The latest generation of satellite earth monitoring technology has several answers to this problem.

One of such companies proposing alternatives to the conventional visual remote sensing data is HawkEye 360. The company uses formation-flying satellites to build a class of radio frequency (RF) data. The data by the space tech startup based in Virginia, US could prove valuable for investigating land-based conflicts, fish fraud and IUU fishing activities more broadly, sanction breaking at-sea transfers, to name a few examples. It says it provides the data to governments and private parties, who uses it in various ways such as for defence programs, wildlife protection, and maritime applications. (4/9)

Space Coast Official Had Ties to Gaetz and Greenberg (Source: Florida Today)
At an October fundraising dinner in Cape Canaveral, U.S. Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL) — already a subject, perhaps unknowingly, of a Department of Justice sex-trafficking probe against associate and former Seminole County tax collector Joel Greenberg (R-FL) — touted his longtime friendship with Brevard County Commissioner John Tobia (R-FL). Speaking to the crowd of Republican donors, Gaetz joked that Tobia would "steal my girlfriends" when the two men shared an apartment as state legislators in Tallahassee, according to three people who attended the closed-door event. Tobia wasn’t in attendance at the fundraiser and said he’s not going to try to guess what Gaetz meant by his ribbing at the October dinner.

Tobia called the allegations against Gaetz "extremely, extremely serious" and said he didn't "have any knowledge of the alleged activities." No Brevard politician has been implicated in the federal investigation. Tobia also revealed that Greenberg was a former constituent, and he once took a boat ride with Greenberg to view Greenberg's property on an island in the Indian River Lagoon. The meeting, which took place in 2017, was around when Greenberg was alleged to have committed some of the offenses for which he now faces federal prison.

Tobia was first elected to the Florida House in 2008, followed by Gaetz in 2010. Ideological kindred spirits, the pair shared strong conservative views that put them to the right of most of their colleagues, occasionally standing together under pressure to conform from establishment leaders. The alliance coalesced into the "Liberty Caucus," a rogue-ish faction of the Republican wing that reportedly scored fellow legislators on their conservative bona fides. (4/9)

Acting NASA Administrator Remarks on Biden Budget Request (Source: NASA)
“This $24.7 billion funding request demonstrates the Biden Administration’s commitment to NASA and its partners who have worked so hard this past year under difficult circumstances and achieved unprecedented success.

“The president’s discretionary request increases NASA’s ability to better understand Earth and further monitor and predict the impacts of climate change. It also gives us the necessary resources to continue advancing America’s bipartisan Moon to Mars space exploration plan, including landing the first woman and first person of color on the Moon under the Artemis program.

“We know this funding increase comes at a time of constrained resources, and we owe it to the president and the American people to be good and responsible stewards of every tax dollar invested in NASA. The NASA workforce and the American people should be encouraged by what they see in this funding request. It is an investment in our future, and it shows confidence in what this agency has to offer.” (4/9)

$200,000 Streaming Rigs and Millions of Views: Inside the Cottage Industry Popping Up Around SpaceX (Source: CNN)
For a few hours one recent Saturday, Jack Beyer stood on the roof of his Land Rover, watching as SpaceX employees toiled under a 160-foot-tall silver rocket prototype that towered like an otherworldly visitor over the otherwise barren landscape. Beyer, a Los Angeles-based photographer and contributor to the space news site NASASpaceflight.com, had by that point been staying at a South Texas hotel for a month, watching and waiting and filming as SpaceX prepared to launch the prototype — an early iteration of Starship.

Beyer is only one member of one part of what has become a cottage industry around SpaceX's launch operations. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. Musk — who has said that he doesn't spend money on advertising — has embraced the people documenting the updates at this development facility for a vast online audience. Their recordings and online updates serve as promotion for SpaceX, and sometimes even allow Musk to keep tabs on South Texas operations when he's out of town.

The size and passion of Musk's fandom means people like Beyer can earn decent money doing that job. They may have to spend thousands of dollars on camera equipment, but in return they get access to hundreds of thousands of doting fans, and millions of YouTube views. Beyer said the channel's contributors are paid for their work, though most of them keep side gigs to pay the bills. But lately, Beyer has made it a full-time job. The contributors to NASASpaceflight aren't the only ones doing this. Tim Dodd, who uses the moniker Everyday Astronaut, has amassed nearly 1 million subscribers on his YouTube channel. (4/9)

YouTuber Records Himself Trespassing at SpaceX’s Starship Facilities (Source: The Verge)
A YouTuber recorded himself entering SpaceX’s Starship rocket facilities in south Texas last month, freely sauntering on site. No security stopped him from wandering around the underside of SN11, the 16-story-tall rocket prototype that would launch and explode just a few days later. The video was posted to a small YouTube channel called Loco VlogS, which is run by “Caesar.” Caesar did not respond to multiple emails and DMs asking for comment.

For space enthusiasts, SpaceX’s sprawling rocket campus in Texas just a few miles north of the Rio Grande is a tantalizing museum of rocketry just laying out in the open, housing millions of dollars worth of tech — some of which SpaceX has pitched to the Air Force and NASA. It doesn’t have the towering walls or advanced security one might expect a company to have for safeguarding sensitive (and potentially dangerous) rocket hardware. (4/8)

Revive the US Space Program? How About Not (Source: The Guardian)
The US space program was a sprawling and expensive endeavor, perhaps too complicated a subject to understand in one sitting, but its cost was apparent. An “inner city” high school teacher quoted in a 1969 article from the Nation said: “Every time one of those things blasts off I can’t think of anything except all that money we need here on earth.’’ While the fantasy of “out there” was trotted around the world as the next step in human advancement, people on the ground were suffering.

Neil Armstrong said, “I think we’re going to the moon because it’s in the nature of the human being to face challenges.” But that quintessential human being is a myth, those challenges unmet. There is a distinction to be made between the people of earth and the people from earth. In that gap, the most expendable cease to exist. (4/9)

'Why We Go' Space Exploration Series Launches (Source: ASU)
The Interplanetary Initiative at Arizona State University and the Translational Research Institute for Space Health (TRISH) are launching a monthly discussion series examining interplanetary exploration through conversations with diverse experts optimistically answering the question, “Why do humans go to space?” The four-part virtual series dives into the philosophy and passions behind the desire to travel into deep space. (4/7)

Australian Firm Develops Technology to Blast Space Junk From Orbit (Source: 1News)
Experts say millions of pieces of debris pose a risk to astronauts and billions of dollars worth of satellites. Leading the effort is Dr Ben Greene, CEO of space intelligence firm EOS. He says it will be a “real breakthrough for space technology worldwide”. The technology will help protect $900 billion-worth of satellites and crucial space infrastructure orbiting earth. “We depend on space for our banking, navigation, movement of groceries and supplies across the country,” Greene said. Aimed at billions of stars, the laser pinpoints a piece of junk, another laser far more powerful and invisible to the naked eye is fired at the debris to shunt it from orbit. (4/9)

More Than 5,000 Tons of Extraterrestrial Dust Fall to Earth Each Year (Source: CNRS)
Micrometeorites have always fallen on our planet. These interplanetary dust particles from comets or asteroids are particles of a few tenths to hundredths of a millimeter that have passed through the atmosphere and reached the Earth's surface. To collect and analyze these micrometeorites, six expeditions led by CNRS researcher Jean Duprat have taken place over the last two decades near the Franco-Italian Concordia station (Dome C), which is located 1,100 kilometers from the coast of Antarctica. Dome C is an ideal collection spot due to the low accumulation rate of snow and the near absence of terrestrial dust.

These expeditions have collected enough extraterrestrial particles (ranging from 30 to 200 micrometers in size)5, to measure their annual flux, which corresponds to the mass accreted on Earth per square meter per year. If these results are applied to the whole planet, the total annual flux of micrometeorites represents 5,200 tons per year. This is the main source of extraterrestrial matter on our planet, far ahead of larger objects such as meteorites, for which the flux is less than ten tons per year. (4/8)

USAF Test Pilot School Graduates First Space Test Fundamentals Class (Source: USSF)
The U.S. Air Force Test Pilot School graduated the first-ever Space Test Fundamentals class April 6, 2021, at Edwards Air Force Base, California. Fifteen enlisted, officer, civilian Airmen and Guardians represent the first class dedicated to testing within the newly contested domain of Space. Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, the U.S. Space Force chief of space operations, was on-hand to give the graduation address.

“You were handpicked from a pool of over 160 applicants, not only to attend this inaugural Space Test course, but also to help us build this course and define its future as the initial Space Test cadre,” said Raymond. “You were the “Beta testers” of the course itself, simultaneously studying hard and developing the future of our space test education and training program.” The course enables the USSF to enhance its test and evaluation mission and multiply its ability to deliver combat-ready space forces. (4/8)