August 1, 2021

Space Tourists Fly at Their Own Risk — Nobody is Regulating Their Safety (Source: Business Insider)
Experts say the space tourism industry is far from ready for the masses. There are currently no regulations for Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic space flights when it comes to anything from passenger safety to air traffic and environmental pollution. Space law experts told Insider the industry is still too new to be heavily regulated and federal agencies will likely take many years to develop policies to make trips to the edge of space as safe as a flight across the country.

The FAA has the authority to regulate commercial travel to outer space through its Office of Commercial Space Transportation, but Congress has imposed a moratorium through 2023 on regulating the industry. As it stands, individuals that currently purchase space tourism tickets must sign an informed consent document and a series of waivers releasing the companies from liability if the ticket-holders are injured or killed. "The safety of the passengers is not under consideration during the [FAA] reviews," Frans Von der Dunk said. "They know they're participating in a risky thing. The main concern for regulators is that no third parties are impacted." (8/1)

While the Wealthy Spend Millions, One Aviation Firm is Selling Microgravity Rides for a Fraction of the Cost (Source: Business Insider)
The Zero Gravity Corporation, or simply "Zero-G," is the company behind "G-Force One," a special Boeing 727 aircraft that offers a zero gravity experience through parabolic flight. For $7,500, flyers get 15 opportunities to experience weightlessness without leaving the Earth's atmosphere. Participants won't be deemed astronauts, but they'll be getting the same weightless experience that Jeff Bezos, Richard Branson, and some of their passengers spent millions of dollars to get. (8/1)

Tourism Returning to South Texas Towns, Thanks to SpaceX (Source: KVEO)
SpaceX's Starbase site is growing and the demand for more employees is rising. “No I would’ve never thought here!,” said Philip Russel, a SpaceX fan visiting from Georgia when asked if he ever thought Mars exploration would happen in South Texas. Many space exploration fanatics are like Russel, flocking to Boca Chica Village for the orbital launch of the fully stacked Starship SN20 and Super Heavy B4. According to the City of Brownsville hotel occupancy tax for the 2020 fiscal year, the city lost over $200,000 in revenue due to the pandemic, but for January through March of 2021, the city of Brownsville said that they are seeing a slow increase in tourism. (7/31)

Senate Confirms NASA CFO (Source: Space News)
The Senate confirmed the White House’s nominee to be chief financial officer of NASA July 30, rounding out the senior leadership positions at the agency. The Senate, on a voice vote late in the day, confirmed Margaret Vo Schaus to be the agency’s CFO. The White House nominated her for the position April 23. She had previously been director of business operations in the Office of the Under Secretary of Research and Engineering at the Department of Defense, and earlier worked at the Departments of Energy and Justice and at the Government Accountability Office. (7/31)

Russia's Next ISS Module Readied for Launch (Source: TASS)
Russia’s Prichal node module, to be launched to the International Space Station (ISS) in November, was sent to the Baikonur launch center on Saturday, according to Russia’s state-run space corporation Roscosmos. Earlier, the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia completed Prichal’s technological trials as part of the modified Progress M-UM space freighter. Prichal will be delivered to Baikonur by rail. (7/31)

Roscosmos: Aging ISS Creates 'Additional Risks' Beyond 2024, Recommends New Russia-Only Station (Source: TASS)
Although NASA believes that from the standpoint of engineering, it can maintain the work of the ISS at least until 2028, Roscosmos said its council of chief designers had considered the current state of the Russian segment of the ISS and concluded that due to aging of the largest part of the station’s equipment "further exploitation of the Russian segment of the ISS after 2024 creates additional risks."

"To prevent termination of continuous exploration of outer space infrastructure it has been suggested to establish a national manned space complex on the low-earth orbit - the Russian orbital service station," Roscosmos added. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Yuri Borisov announced in April that the condition of the International Space Station (ISS) left much to be desired and Russia might focus on creating its own orbital outpost. Roscosmos Chief Dmitry Rogozin said that Russia’s Energia Space Rocket Corp. had been assigned the task of making the first basic module for a new Russian orbital station ready in 2025.

Russia’s future space station will have an inclination of 97-98 degrees. It will fly over the entire planet every two days and will be above the Arctic every one and a half hours, which is important for providing support to the Northern Sea Route. Russia will launch the new space station’s conceptual design before the end of summer. (8/1)

Some Bizarre Hawking Theories Proved Right, Others Still Unproven (Source: Space.com)
Stephen Hawking was one of the greatest theoretical physicists of the modern age. Best known for his appearances in popular media and his lifelong battle against debilitating illness, his true impact on posterity comes from his brilliant five-decade career in science. Beginning with his doctoral thesis in 1966, his groundbreaking work continued nonstop right up to his final paper in 2018, completed just days before his death at the age of 76.

Hawking worked at the intellectual cutting edge of physics, and his theories often seemed bizarrely far-out at the time he formulated them. Yet they're slowly being accepted into the scientific mainstream, with new supporting evidence coming in all the time. From his mind-blowing views of black holes to his explanation for the universe’s humble beginnings, here are some of his theories that were vindicated … and some that are still up in the air. Click here. (8/1)

Ariane 5 Launches Two Satellites on First Mission in Nearly a Year (Source: Space News)
An Ariane 5 successfully launched two commercial communications satellites July 30 in the first flight of the rocket in nearly a year, and the first of two missions before it launches NASA's James Webb Space Telescope. The Ariane 5 lifted off from the spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana. The rocket’s upper stage deployed the Star One D2 satellite 30 minutes after liftoff and the Eutelsat Quantum satellite six minutes later, both into geostationary transfer orbits.

Star One D2 is a Maxar-built satellite for Brazilian operator Embratel Star One. The 6,190-kilogram satellite carries a payload of C-, Ka-, Ku- and X-band transponders that will serve a variety of applications, from broadband service in Central and South American to government communications over the Atlantic. The spacecraft will operate from 70 degrees west in GEO.

Eutelsat Quantum was built by Airbus Defence and Space for Eutelsat through a public-private partnership with the European Space Agency. The 3,461-kilogram satellite, based on a platform developed by Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., is the first commercial satellite with a “fully flexible” software-defined payload, allowing its spot beams to be reconfigured to meet changing markets. Eutelsat will initially operate the satellite at 48 degrees east in GEO to provide Ku-band service in the Middle East and North Africa. (7/30)

Greenland: Enough Ice Melted on Single Day to Cover Florida in Two Inches of Water (Source: Guardian)
Greenland’s vast ice sheet is undergoing a surge in melting, with the amount of ice vanishing in a single day this week enough to cover the whole of Florida in two inches of water, researchers have found. The deluge of melting has reached deep into Greenland’s enormous icy interior, with data from the Danish government showing that the ice sheet lost 8.5bn tons of surface mass on Tuesday alone. A further 8.4bn tons was lost on Thursday, the Polar Portal monitoring website reported.

The scale of disappearing ice is so large that the losses on Tuesday alone created enough meltwater to drown the entire US state of Florida in two inches, or 5cm, of water. Ice that melts away in Greenland flows as water into the ocean, where it adds to the ongoing increase in global sea level caused by human-induced climate change. (7/30)

Three Americans Create Enough Carbon Emissions to Kill One Person, Study Finds (Source: Guardian)
The lifestyles of around three average Americans will create enough planet-heating emissions to kill one person. While it takes just 3.5 Americans to create enough emissions in a lifetime to kill one person, it would take 25 Brazilians or 146 Nigerians to do the same, the paper found. Emissions from a single coal-fired power plant are likely to result in more than 900 deaths, according to the analysis.

The new research builds upon what is known as the “social cost of carbon”, a monetary figure placed upon the damage caused by each ton of carbon dioxide emissions, by assigning an expected death toll from the emissions that cause the climate crisis. The social, or financial, cost of carbon has become a widely-used metric after its creation by economist William Nordhaus, who subsequently won a Nobel prize, in the 1990s. The measurement calculates the damage caused by a ton of emissions, factored with the ability to adapt to the changing climate. (7/29)

ISS 'Cartwheels' After Nauka Misfires, NASA Not Worried (Source: Quartz)
The entire assembly began to tilt and tumble after a newly-arrived Russian module malfunctioned and began firing its thrusters uncontrollably. Only the rapid response of flight controllers in Moscow and Houston, and of the 10 astronauts onboard, kept the $1 billion space lab on course. “We proceeded to do headstands and cartwheels,” Zebulon Scoville, a flight director on duty in Houston during the episode, said in a tweet. “Olympic judges would be proud.”

Senior NASA officials were quick to downplay the incident, insisting the crew was never in any danger during a roughly 45 minute period when the space station lost attitude control, or the ability to maintain the vehicle’s orientation relative to the planet below. But the team responsible for the space station was clearly worried the unexpected maneuvers might have damaged the solar arrays that power the orbiting lab, although no issues have been identified so far. (7/30)