April 24, 2021

NASA Gets What it Wanted: Independent, Reliable Access to Space (Source: Ars Technica)
In three months, NASA will come upon the 10th anniversary of the final space shuttle flight, a period that was surely melancholy for the space agency. When the big, white, winged vehicles touched down for the final time in July 2011, NASA surrendered its ability to get humans into space. It had to rely on Russia for access to the International Space Station. And the space agency had to fight the public perception that NASA was somehow a fading force, heading into the sunset.

Now we know that will not be the case, and the future appears bright for the space agency and its international partners. On Friday morning, NASA and SpaceX launched the third mission of Crew Dragon that has carried astronauts into space. After nearly a decade with no human orbital launches from the United States, there have been three in less than 11 months. Another successful mission further confirmed that the combination of Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon spacecraft is a reliable means of getting crews to the International Space Station. (4/23)

NASA’s Bold Bet on Starship for the Moon May Change Spaceflight Forever (Source: Ars Technica)
When NASA astronauts return to the Moon in a few years, they will do so inside a lander that dwarfs that of the Apollo era. SpaceX's Starship vehicle measures 50 meters from its nose cone to landing legs. By contrast, the cramped Lunar Module that carried Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin down to the Moon in 1969 stood just 7 meters tall.

This is but one of many genuinely shocking aspects of NASA's decision a week ago to award SpaceX—and only SpaceX—a contract to develop, test, and fly two missions to the lunar surface. The second flight, which will carry astronauts to the Moon, could launch as early as 2024.

NASA awarded SpaceX $2.89 billion for these two missions. But this contract would balloon in amount should NASA select SpaceX to fly recurring lunar missions later in the 2020s. And it has value to SpaceX and NASA in myriad other ways. Perhaps most significantly, with this contract NASA has bet on a bold future of exploration. Until now, the plans NASA had contemplated for human exploration in deep space all had echoes of the Apollo program. NASA talked about "sustainable" missions and plans in terms of cost, but they were sustainable in name only. (4/23)

Biden Fills Out Science Team with NOAA, DOE, and Diplomacy Picks (Source: Science)
President Joe Biden is rounding out his science team. The White House yesterday announced nominees to lead the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the Department of Energy’s (DOE’s) Office of Science, and the Department of State’s Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Science Affairs. The trio includes two veterans of government service and one newcomer.

NOAA, one of the country’s premier climate-focused agencies, held a dubious distinction under former President Donald Trump: It went his entire term without an administrator who had been confirmed by the U.S. Senate. Yesterday, Biden moved to end its string of acting leaders, nominating Rick Spinrad, an oceanographer at Oregon State University (OSU), Corvallis, and a longtime NOAA hand, as the agency’s next head. (4/23)

China Reveals Moon Station Plan With Russia (Source: Global Times)
In the latest show of China’s consistent open-mindedness in the space sector, China National Space Administration and its Russian counterpart issued a joint declaration on cooperation in the creation of the International Lunar Research Station (ILRS), with the two sides emphasizing the facility is open to all international partners interested in cooperation, the CNSA disclosed to the Global Times on Saturday, which marked the Space Day of China 2021. (4/24)

Prepping for Ingenuity’s Third Flight Test (Source: Parabolic Arc)
During its second flight, on April 22, Ingenuity autonomously climbed to 5 meters (16 feet) in height, traveled 2 meters (7 feet) to the east and back, and remained airborne 51.9 seconds. It also made three turns, totaling about 276 degrees.

We’re being cautious with each new foray in the skies of Mars as we continue to build confidence in the capabilities of this new exploration platform. For the third flight, we’re targeting the same altitude, but we are going to open things up a bit too, increasing our max airspeed from 0.5 meters per second to 2 meters per second (about 4.5 mph) as we head 50 meters (164 feet) north and return to land at Wright Brothers Field. We’re planning for a total flight time of about 80 seconds and a total distance of 100 meters (330 feet). (4/24)

ARK Sells Former Chamath SPAC Virgin Galactic (Source: The Street)
When Cathie Wood takes action, the market notices. ARK's Cathie Wood has sold about 20% of their stake in Virgin Galactic, contributing to the stock's recent decline. It's another blow for the stock, which was one of the first high profile de-SPAC transactions at the onset of the recent SPAC boom. Recall, Virgin Galactic was Chamath Palihapitiya's first go round in SPACs as Social Capital Hedosophia (IPOA) took the company public in a $2B deal that closed all the way back in 2019.

As the SPAC market has come under fire recently, a point of contention is that SPAC sponsors don't stick around. A narrative that was fueled higher when Chamath and Richard Branson sold several hundred million dollars of Virgin Galactic stock earlier this year. (4/23)

Market Analysis Given Short Shrift as Companies Cash In on SPAC Spree (Source: Space News)
An enduring streak of large private investments not seen the space industry’s six decades of existence has taken hold in the past several years. By Northern Sky Research’s count, the space sector has garnered close to $32 billion in investments since the current wave of financing started in 2014 when Google paid $500 million for Skybox. While $32 billion pales in comparison to the inflation-adjusted $288 billion the United States shelled out during the 1960s to beat the Soviet Union to the moon, the unrestrained spending NASA marshaled to win the Space Race seems to be finding an echo in the current wave of thoughtless investments.

But this time, there’s no moon-or-bust crash program driving the influx of capital. Instead, we are seeing a rush to write blank checks without detailed consideration for what commercial enterprises worldwide value most: the market. In 2020 alone, investment in space companies hit a record $8.9 billion — $2 billion more than 2019 — despite a pandemic that disrupted the broader economy. This year is off to an even faster start with no fewer than four space companies going public by merging with special-purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs. SPACs raise money by issuing stock before setting out to buy a promising business with the proceeds. The enterprise valuation of recent targets is notably sky high and looks completely disconnected from the real value of the acquisition target’s potential market.

This current deal trend creates the unsettling feeling that proper due diligence on expected performance is very light as the race heats up to grab funding quickly. Notwithstanding risks of inflation and higher interest rates that could put a serious damper on cash available to invest, the past several years have been rife with questionable investments — from fabulously ‘out there’ ideas to seemingly more earthly ‘reasonable’ ones, many of which led to nowhere, not even orbit. Oftentimes, a well-thought-out business is secondary to the promise of huge potential future revenues. (4/23)

Billboard Outside SpaceX HQ Disses Mars Focus (Source: Market Insider)
A billboard appeared outside of SpaceX's headquarters that read "Mars sucks," signed by "Earth." The billboard was set up on Earth Day by LA-based creative agency Activista. Elon Musk's plan to colonize Mars have led experts to debate whether resources could be better spent on Earth. "What doesn't suck? #earth," the company tweeted on Thursday. "But the way we treat it frankly, sucks." (4/23)

Russia Hopes to Sell More RD-180 Rocket Engines for Atlas (Source: UASS)
Russia’s Roscosmos expects talks with American customers on further deliveries of Russian RD-180 rocket engines to restart after the test flights of the US Starliner spacecraft, Roscosmos Head Dmitry Rogozin said on Friday. "They are scheduled to perform another test flight in September. They launch it atop an Atlas rocket. The main propulsion system for the Atlas 5 first stage is our RD-180 engine. If their tests are a success, we expect the negotiations on further deliveries to resume," Rogozin said.

As TASS reported earlier, Russia’s Energomash Research and Production Association handed over on April 14 the last six RD-180 engines to representatives of Pratt & Whitney, United Launch Alliance and RD Amross under the existing contract. The RD-180 liquid propellant rocket engine developed and manufactured by Energomash is intended for use in the US Atlas family of launch vehicles. Overall, Energomash has delivered 122 RD-180 rocket engines to the United States over more than 20 years of cooperation. (4/23)

Meet Zimbabwe’s First Space Lawyer (Source: Chronicle)
She exudes charisma and confidence. Her deep-rooted passion for law and love of space drove her to relentlessly pursue her dream of combining the two into one career to become a space lawyer. A space lawyer supports governmental or commercial space activities by attending meetings and negotiations, drafting and reviewing documents. Ms Ruvimbo Samanga (25) of Bulawayo works at the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa as a consultant on geographic information systems (GIS) policy. (4/24)

'This is Not SpaceX Property - This is My Property': SpaceX Looks to Recast South Texas Town as 'Starbase' (Source: San Antonio Express-News)
When he’s in town, Elon Musk surely can’t miss neighbor Rosemarie Workman’s frayed “Come and Take It” flag whipping in the coastal breeze. Truck engines drown out the songs of the area’s many birds. A quarter mile down the street, a silver rocket nosecone marks the skyline, and behind the small ranch homes, massive tracking antennas aim skyward. So goes another afternoon for the holdouts in the tiny community next to SpaceX’s Starship facility near Boca Chica Beach, about 25 miles east of Brownsville.

Musk said the proposed city of "Starbase" will encompass “an area much larger than Boca Chica.” According to property records, SpaceX and its affiliates — Dog Leg Park and the Flats at Mars Crossing — are gobbling up real estate throughout the area. The company hasn’t spoken publicly about its plans, but the Starbase name is taking hold among SpaceX fans.

“We’ve been going through it for a long time, and we’ve got to live here,” said Workman. “You don’t want to say some of the words you’d like to use — they’re still neighbors, whether you like it or not.” SpaceX has already bought out many of her neighbors. And in October, the company sent the dozen or so remaining property owners an e-mail “final offer” of three times their property’s appraised value — roughly $150,000. “They say it’s the final offer in every offer,” Workman said. (4/23)

Now Launching to the Space Station: Vaccinated Astronauts (Source: New York Times)
Without hospitals or medical specialists in space, NASA and other space agencies have always been concerned about astronauts falling sick during a mission. To minimize the chances of that, they typically spend the two weeks before launch in quarantine. A Covid-19 superspreader event at the space station would disrupt operations.

Shane Kimbrough, the NASA astronaut who is the commander of Crew-2, said all four astronauts had received Covid vaccinations. “I guess it went fine,” he said. “We all have a little bit different reactions, just like most people do. So we’re no different in that regard. But we’re thankful that we have the vaccines.” (4/23)

Antimatter Stars May Lurk in the Solar System’s Neighborhood (Source: New Scientist)
There could be several stars made of antimatter in our solar system’s neighbourhood. There have been small hints that these strange and unlikely objects, called antistars, could exist, and a search for the gamma rays that they are expected to produce has turned up 14 candidates. When matter and antimatter meet, they annihilate in a shower of radiation, including high-energy gamma rays. This is expected to happen fairly often at the surfaces of antistars – if they exist – as regular matter falls onto them. (4/23)

With Hightened Confidence in Reusability, Musk Says it Will ‘Revolutionize Space’ (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
“The thing that’s really important to revolutionize space is a rapidly reusable rocket that is reliable, too,” Musk told reporters after Friday's crew launch. “It’s been 19 years since starting SpaceX and there’s been a lot of adventures along the way, tough times and a lot of good times. I’d say it’s only recently, though, that I think full and rapid reusability can be accomplished. I wasn’t sure for a long time, but I am sure now.” (4/23)

Climate Crisis Has Shifted the Earth’s Axis (Source: The Guardian)
The massive melting of glaciers as a result of global heating has caused marked shifts in the Earth’s axis of rotation since the 1990s, research has shown. It demonstrates the profound impact humans are having on the planet, scientists said. The planet’s geographic north and south poles are the point where its axis of rotation intersects the surface, but they are not fixed. Changes in how the Earth’s mass is distributed around the planet cause the axis, and therefore the poles, to move.

In the past, only natural factors such as ocean currents and the convection of hot rock in the deep Earth contributed to the drifting position of the poles. But the new research shows that since the 1990s, the loss of hundreds of billions of tonnes of ice a year into the oceans resulting from the climate crisis has caused the poles to move in new directions. The scientists found the direction of polar drift shifted from southward to eastward in 1995 and that the average speed of drift from 1995 to 2020 was 17 times faster than from 1981 to 1995. (4/23)

How a Space Doctor Keeps Astronauts Healthy on the ISS (Source: Space Daily)
From muscle loss to radiation exposure and the psychological effects of confinement, spaceflight takes a toll on those lucky enough to experience it. European Space Agency flight surgeon Adrianos Golemis, who is responsible for the health of astronaut Thomas Pesquet during the SpaceX Crew-2 mission, shared some insights on the field of space medicine. Click here. (4/22)

Using Exoplanets as Dark Matter Detectors (Source: Space Daily)
In the continuing search for dark matter in our universe, scientists believe they have found a unique and powerful detector: exoplanets. In a new paper, two astrophysicists suggest dark matter could be detected by measuring the effect it has on the temperature of exoplanets, which are planets outside our solar system. This could provide new insights into dark matter, the mysterious substance that can't be directly observed, but which makes up roughly 80% of the mass of the universe.

When the gravity of exoplanets captures dark matter, the dark matter travels to the planetary core where it "annihilates" and releases its energy as heat. The more dark matter that is captured, the more it should heat up the exoplanet. This heating could be measured by NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, an infrared telescope scheduled to launch in October that will be able to measure the temperature of distant exoplanets. "If exoplanets have this anomalous heating associated with dark matter, we should be able to pick it up," Juri Smirnov said. (4/23)