December 15, 2021

BWXT Delivers Fuel to NASA to Support Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (Source: Space Daily)
BWX Technologies, Inc. has reached a critical milestone in the nation's pursuit of space nuclear propulsion by delivering coated reactor fuels to NASA in support of its space nuclear propulsion project within the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate. Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP) is one of the technologies that is capable of propelling a spacecraft to Mars and back. Innovative new nuclear fuels and reactors required for the mission must be able to withstand the extremely high temperatures and corrosive conditions experienced in the engine during spaceflight.

BWXT has been able to leverage its decades of specialty and coated fuel manufacturing experience as well as its existing licensed production facilities to be the first private company to deliver relevant coated fuels that will be used in NASA testing scheduled next year. Under the terms of a previously announced contract awarded to BWXT by Idaho National Laboratory, the company will continue to produce fuel kernels, coated fuel kernels, and design materials and manufacturing processes for fuel assemblies. (12/15)

SatRevolution Secures Series B Funding from Virgin Orbit (Source: Space Daily)
SatRevolution S.A. has secured Series B funding from Virgin Orbit, the US-based responsive launch and space solutions company that has announced a planned business combination with NextGen Acquisition Corp. II. The Transaction values SatRev at approximately $150 million, and will support SatRev's business development. The Transaction, signed at World Satellite Business Week, follows a strategic partnership established by SatRev and Virgin Orbit in June this year under which both companies seek to develop business applications for the use of nanosatellites.

SatRev has to date launched two satellites with Virgin Orbit as part of the LauncherOne Tubular Bells: Part One mission. Two more SatRev satellites are awaiting launch as part of Virgin Orbit's Above the Clouds mission launching next month. SatRev and Virgin Orbit plan to jointly offer up to 500kg of hosted payload services on LauncherOne rockets, turnkey solutions for rapid deployment of space services, and much more. (12/15)

RUAG Space: First Fully U.S.-Made Fairing Launched Atop ULA Atlas V (Source: Space Daily)
On 7 December a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket launched the Space Test Program (STP)-3 mission for the U.S. Space Force (USSF) Space Systems Command (SSC) from the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. "This flight is a key milestone for us," said Dan Merenda, managing director RUAG Space USA. "For the very first time, a fully U.S.-made fairing from us will fly into space." It is also the first time a payload fairing made in the Out-of-Autoclave production process will fly aboard an Atlas V rocket.

The fairing for the ULA rocket for the STP-3 mission was produced at the RUAG Space site in Decatur, Ala. Previously, RUAG Space in Emmen, Switzerland, had built the Atlas V's 5.4-meter-diameter payload fairings. These have flown successfully more than 30 times. (12/15)

Space Force Sees Value in Commercial Innovations (Source: Space News)
The US Space Force commercially augmented space inter-networked operations, aka CASINO, is looking for ways to introduce commercial technology into military space initiatives. "The pace of innovation on the commercial and industry side is such that in order to be good stewards of the taxpayer dollars, we need to find better ways to leverage commercial innovation," said Lt. Col. Tim Trimailo. (12/14)

Embry-Riddle Building Instruments for Mars-Bound Satellites (Source: Aviation Pros)
In addition to the EagleCam project, which challenged students to build a camera system to document mankind’s return to the moon in 2022, Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University students are taking part in yet another outer space mission — this time, building hardware that will be launched to Mars, as part of a $55 million NASA mission. 

Dubbed the Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE) mission, the project aims to prove that spacecraft meant to explore other planets can be built, tested and launched for less than $80 million, and still accurately record complex scientific data. Similar NASA science missions in the past have exceeded $500 million in cost. (12/14)

Chinese Launch Fails, Two Satellites Lost (Source: Space News)
A pair of Chinese satellites were lost in a Kuaizhou-1A launch failure late Tuesday. The Kuaizhou-1A small solid-fuel rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 9 p.m. Eastern. Chinese state media confirmed the launch failure hours later, tersely stating that the launch had failed and the specific reasons are being further analyzed and investigated. The flight carried the first two satellites for Geespace, a subsidiary of automaker Geely, to test navigation assistance and connectivity for autonomous driving. The rocket was grounded for a year after a September 2020 failure but launched successfully three times before this failure. (12/15)

No Decision Yet on Where to Build OneWeb Second-Generation Satellites (Source: Space News)
OneWeb has yet to decide where it will build its second-generation satellites, contrary to reports last week. At the World Satellite Business Week conference Tuesday, a OneWeb executive said the company was still evaluating where the spacecraft would be built and that it would look at the "best in class everywhere" for building them. The comments came after another OneWeb executive told a U.K. Parliament committee last week that the company was planning to shift production from Florida, where the first-generation satellites are being built, to the U.K. (12/15)

Albedo Secures NOAA License for 10-Centimeter Imagery Satellites (Source: Space News)
Earth observation startup Albedo has secured a NOAA license for satellite imagery with resolutions as sharp as 10 centimeters. Albedo plans to operate a fleet of refrigerator-size satellites to gather optical imagery at 10 centimeters resolution and thermal imagery with four-meter resolution. That optical imagery is far sharper than any commercial satellite imagery currently on the market, which made some question how NOAA would handle the request. The NOAA license falls under a category called Tier 3, with more national security restrictions. (12/15)

Viasat Share Price Drop Won't Affect Inmarsat Acquisition (Source: Space News)
A drop in Viasat's share price won't affect its acquisition of Inmarsat, the two companies said. Viasat announced the deal in November that included stock valued at the time at $3.1 billion. However, Viasat's stock has dropped significantly since then, reducing the value of those shares by about $1 billion. Both Inmarsat and Viasat executives shrugged off the stock's decline in separate sessions at World Satellite Business Week, saying it will not affect the acquisition. The deal is scheduled to close in the second half of 2022. (12/15)

More SpaceX Employees Complain of Sexual Harassment (Source: The Verge)
Several former SpaceX employees say sexual harassment at the company is a problem that is not taken seriously. One former employee published an essay Tuesday describing her experiences with harassment at SpaceX that led her to leave the company. Several others separately offered their own accounts of harassment, which they argued the company didn't take sufficient actions to address. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell, in an email to company employees over the weekend, said SpaceX will be examining its human resources practices, including both internal and external audits. (12/15)

Kayhan Space Raises $3.7 Million for Situational Awareness and Collision Avoidance System (Source: Space News)
Space traffic management startup Kayhan Space has raised $3.75 million in a seed round. The round, co-led by Initialized Capital and Root Ventures, will support development of Kayhan Pathfinder, a subscription-based space situational awareness and collision avoidance system. The system collects and analyses space situational awareness data to simulate scenarios and generate maneuver plans for operators so they can avoid collisions. (12/15)

SPAC Deal Companies Have Underperformed (Source: Space News)
While the pace of SPAC deals in the space industry may have slowed, the mechanism for going public isn't dead. During a panel discussion at the TechCruch Sessions: Space 2021 conference Tuesday, investors said the fact that some companies that have gone public through SPACs so far have underperformed, interest in them is declining. However, that may pick up again next year when more funding is available for concurrent private placement rounds known as PIPEs. They said SPACs have been a boon to the space sector because they have provided liquidity for space startup investors. (12/15)

Aerospace Corp. to Assess Commercial Space Startups for Its Government Customers (Source: Space News)
The Aerospace Corporation is starting a new initiative to help connect government customers with new commercial space entrants. The Commercial Space Futures program will serve as a gatekeeper on behalf of the government, checking out a company's finances, business plans and technologies. This comes as the U.S. military says it wants to buy more products and services from commercial space companies but is still trying to figure out how to work with the new space sector and attract suppliers that have not traditionally pursued government contracts. (12/15)

HyspecIQ Builds Advisory Board (Source: Space News)
Hyperspectral imagery startup HyspecIQ is beginning to fill out its advisory board. The company has named to the board Ray Palumbo, the retired U.S. Army general who served as the Pentagon’s director for defense intelligence, and Shanti Rao, a JPL engineer and architect for the Carbon Mapper greenhouse gas monitoring constellation. HyspecIQ has been moving rapidly since it announced a $20 million investment in September. HyspecIQ plans to launch its first satellite in 2023 and a second spacecraft soon after. (12/15)

James Webb Space Telescope Launch Delayed to NET Christmas Eve (Source: Space.com)
The launch of NASA's James Webb Space Telescope has been delayed yet again. NASA's long-awaited space observatory is now scheduled to lift off from French Guiana no earlier than Dec. 24, two days later than previously planned. "The James Webb Space Telescope team is working a communication issue between the observatory and the launch vehicle system," NASA officials said. "This will delay the launch date to no earlier than Friday, Dec. 24. We will provide more information about the new launch date no later than Friday, Dec. 17." (12/14)

RBC Signals Teams Up with Inmarsat to Boost Internet-of-Things Connectivity (Source: GeekWire)
Redmond-based RBC Signals has made a strategic agreement with one of the world’s biggest satellite operators, Inmarsat, to put more networking firepower into its range of Internet of Things applications for enterprise customers. The agreement, announced today in conjunction with the World Satellite Business Week conference in Paris, pairs Inmarsat’s worldwide ELERA and Global Xpress satellite networks with RBC Signals’ ground-based infrastructure for applications that include oil and gas, maritime traffic management, agriculture and utilities.

RBC Signals will be able to scale its use of Inmarsat’s connectivity dynamically to match shifting needs for spectrum, power levels and geographical reach. Internet of Things applications, and particularly industrial IoT applications, are a “significant growth area for RBC Signals,” company founder and CEO Christopher Richins said. (12/14)

US FAA and Brazil Space Agency to Cooperate Could Lead to US Launches at Alcantara (Source: FAA)
The FAA and the Brazilian Space Agency (AEB) met on December 2 to discuss cooperation in the area of commercial space licensing activities. They will jointly advance commercial space licensing and authorizations, including standards and procedures for environmental reviews, ground safety, launch and re-entry notices and mishap response, and other expectations and processes for US companies to use Brazil's Alcantara spaceport. (12/14)

Sidus Space Announces Pricing of Initial Public Offering (Source: Sidus Space)
Space Coast-based Sidus Space announced the pricing of its initial public offering of 3,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock at a price of $5.00 per share to the public for a total of $15,000,000 of gross proceeds to Sidus Space, Inc. The Class A common stock is expected to begin trading on the Nasdaq Capital Market on December 14, 2021 under the symbol "SIDU." The offering is expected to close on December 16, 2021, subject to customary closing conditions. (12/13)

Rising From the Antarctic, a Climate Alarm (Source: New York Times)
As the world warms, Dr. Russell and others say, the unceasing winds that drive the upwelling are getting stronger. That could have the effect of releasing more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, by bringing to the surface more of the deep water that has held this carbon locked away for centuries. In addition, the Southern Ocean is getting warmer, and that has another important climate effect. Some of this upwelling water, which is already relatively warm, flows beneath ice shelves on the Antarctic coast that help keep the continent’s vast, thick ice sheets from reaching the sea more quickly.

In effect, “Antarctica is melting from the bottom,” said Henri Drake, an MIT oceanographer. That, scientists say, is already adding to sea level rise. Over time it could contribute much more, potentially swamping coastlines in the next century and beyond. While the potential magnitude of all these effects remains unclear, oceanographers and climate scientists say that it is increasingly urgent to understand this interplay of powerful forces and how human activity is transforming them. “There’s lots of questions left,” said Lynne Talley, an oceanographer at Scripps Institution of Oceanography. Were the West Antarctic ice sheet to flow into the ocean, seas could rise as much as 12 feet over centuries. Already, the rate of melting of these glaciers is accelerating. (12/14)

Astranis Unveils Insurance Package for Falcon Heavy Launch (Source: Space News)
Startup Astranis unveiled more details Dec. 14 of the insurance package covering its first commercial small satellite, which SpaceX is slated to launch to geostationary orbit (GEO) as a secondary payload on a Falcon Heavy rocket next spring. The insurance covers the launch plus one year of satellite operations, Astranis CEO John Gedmark announced.

“This is the first time a new satellite from a new space company has ever secured this kind of insurance policy,” Gedmark said in a statement. Gedmark declined to elaborate when he told SpaceNews that the launch would be insured back in September, when Astranis announced plans to use Falcon Heavy instead of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 workhorse. An industry source said the insurance coverage is worth $40 million, priced at a rate in the “mid-teens.” (12/14)

Why the World’s Astronomers Are Very, Very Anxious Right Now (Source: New York Times)
What do astronomers eat for breakfast on the day that their $10 billion telescope launches into space? Their fingernails. “You work for years and it all goes up in a puff of smoke,” said Marcia Rieke of the University of Arizona.

Dr. Rieke admits her fingers will be crossed on the morning of Dec. 22 when she tunes in for the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope. For 20 years, she has been working to design and build an ultrasensitive infrared camera that will live aboard the spacecraft. The Webb is the vaunted bigger and more powerful successor to the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronomers expect that it will pierce a dark curtain of ignorance and supposition about the early days of the universe, and allow them to snoop on nearby exoplanets.

After $10 billion and years of delays, the telescope is finally scheduled to lift off from a European launch site in French Guiana on its way to a point a million miles on the other side of the moon. An informal and totally unscientific survey of randomly chosen astronomers revealed a community sitting on the edges of their seats feeling nervous, proud and grateful for the team that has developed, built and tested the new telescope over the last quarter-century. (12/14)

Vulcan Continues Path to its Maiden Launch as ULA Turns 15 (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
On December 14, 2006, a Delta II rocket launched from VAFB (Vandenberg Air Force Base) SLC-2 (Space Launch Complex 2) on the NROL-21 mission. This launch marked the first mission for ULA (United Launch Alliance) and the beginning of its 15-year history. The Delta rocket family has three more launches before being phased out with the Vulcan-Centaur rocket. Delta has seen an extensive history with operations of nearly 65 years and operating in two different countries. Delta started its life in two different rockets during the late 1950s.

Vulcan’s PTT (Pathfinding Tanking Test) booster was delivered to CCSFS via ULA’s RocketShip in February 2021. The PTT is fitted with two pathfinder BE-4 engines. The goal of testing with the PTT is to help validate Vulcan launch operations and procedures and familiarize the ULA launch team with Vulcan. In February 2021, the PTT was lifted onto the MLP for the first time. From there the MLP and PTT were put in the SPOC (Spaceflight Operation Center) for storage as Atlas V continued operations.

The PTT will be replaced on MLP with the first flightworthy Vulcan first stage. Vulcan will continue further testing on the pad, including a FRF (Flight-Readiness Firing) of its BE-4s. The BE-4s are currently in qualification testing before being delivered to ULA in 2022. The PTT stage will be outfitted with its own flight-ready BE-4s and will be used on its own mission. The first Vulcan using two GEM-63XLs will launch Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander. A second Vulcan, using four GEM-63XLs, will launch Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser to resupply the ISS. Vulcan will continue to launch Dream Chaser for six missions to the ISS. (12/14)

At SpaceX, We're Told We Can Change the World. I Couldn't, However, Stop Getting Sexually Harassed (Sources: Lioness, Futurism)
I started at SpaceX as an intern in 2017, joined the team full time in 2019 as a build reliability engineer, and was later promoted to mission integration engineer. I worked at Cape Canaveral, integrating the flagship crewed mission and Demo-2; I personally evaluated technical risk for the vehicle, among several other roles at the company. For a woman, particularly an Asian American woman, to reach a position at this level in the space industry is next to impossible.

A few weeks after my start date, a fellow intern approached me in our intern housing and grabbed my butt while I was washing my dishes. I reported the incident to a superior and another colleague, but the matter was never brought to HR. I had to continue living in the residence with this man. Over my next two years as a SpaceX intern, countless men made sexual advances toward me. In 2018, during a team bonding event, a male colleague ran his hand over my shirt, from my lower waist to my chest. I told my supervisors what he had done, then met with HR and reported the inappropriate behavior, but no one followed up. This man remained part of the team I reported to and worked for. Click here. (12/13)

James Webb Space Telescope Placed Atop Ariane 5 Launcher (Source: Parabolic Arc)
On Saturday 11 December, the James Webb Space Telescope was placed on top of the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch it to space from Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. After its arrival in the final assembly building, Webb was lifted slowly about 40m high and then carefully manoeuvred on top of Ariane 5, after which technicians bolted Webb’s launch vehicle adapter down to the rocket. This whole process was performed under strict safety and cleanliness regulations, as it was one of the most delicate operations during the entire launch campaign for Webb. (12/14)

New Mexico 'Build Back Better' Regional Grant Finalist Focused on Space (Source: USDOC)
Sixty finalists for Phase 1 of the American Rescue Plan’s $1 billion Build Back Better Regional Challenge have been announced. The 60 finalists – each a coalition of partnering entities – have proposed projects that will develop or scale industry sectors, develop and train the workforce of today, and build resilient economies. Finalists will now compete for Phase 2 of the Challenge, which will award 20-30 regional coalitions up to $100 million to implement 3-8 projects that support an industry sector. The deadline for Phase 2 is March 15, 2022.

The Central New Mexico Community College application features a coalition that "aims to address and capitalize on the growing commercial space industry in New Mexico by creating the 'New Mexico Space Valley Coalition.' If provided an implementation grant, the coalition proposes projects to support the construction of a space valley center, rocket operations facility, and expansion of related facilities." Click here. (12/13)

NASA Enters the Solar Atmosphere for the First Time, Bringing New Discoveries (Source: NASA)
For the first time in history, a spacecraft has touched the Sun. NASA’s Parker Solar Probe has now flown through the Sun’s upper atmosphere – the corona – and sampled particles and magnetic fields there. The new milestone marks one major step for Parker Solar Probe and one giant leap for solar science. Just as landing on the Moon allowed scientists to understand how it was formed, touching the very stuff the Sun is made of will help scientists uncover critical information about our closest star and its influence on the solar system. (12/14)

Airbus and OneWeb Expand Partnership to Connect European Defence and Security Forces (Source: OneWeb)
Airbus and OneWeb have signed a distribution partner agreement to provide low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite communication services for military and governmental use. As the leading provider of military satellite communication services in Europe, Airbus will offer new communication services utilising the OneWeb constellation to select European and UK armed forces, and civil protection and security forces, from the end of 2021. (12/14)

Eutelsat Wins "Strategic Transaction of the Year” Award for Its Investment in OneWeb (Source: Eutelsat)
Eutelsat communications (Euronext Paris: ETL) is delighted to receive the "Strategic Transaction of the Year” award at this year's World Satellite Business Week in recognition of its strategic investment in LEO constellation operator, OneWeb. The award is a recognition of Eutelsat's strategic move in April 2021 to take a leading stake in OneWeb alongside Bharti Global and the UK government. The transaction consolidates Eutelsat's position as the only global satellite operator combining resources in geostationary orbit with unique access to the Low Earth Orbit segment. (12/13)

Most Rocket Lab Staff Set to be Based Outside New Zealand by Early Next Year (Source: Stuff)
Rocket Lab’s center of gravity has shifted further away from New Zealand and towards North America after it announced it would buy United States space solar tech company SolAero for $80 million. Rocket Lab will take on 425 staff as a result of the acquisition, which is expected to be complete by the end of March.

That will take Rocket Lab’s total number of staff to more than 1100, of whom spokeswoman Morgan Bailey confirmed 525 were currently based in New Zealand. Rocket Lab, which is already headquartered in the US and listed on the Nasdaq stock exchange, will manufacture and launch its next line of larger Neutron rockets in the US. (12/14)

NASA Partners with Axiom Space for Second Private Astronaut Mission on International Space Station (Source: Click Orlando)
Axiom Space was selected to lead the second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station, NASA announced on Monday. Axiom Mission 2 is set to launch between fall 2022 and late spring 2023 from Kennedy Space Center, according to officials. Officials said Ax-2 will be docked at the space station no longer than 14 days as space crew members, suggested by Axiom, and ultimately, reviewed and approved by NASA, embark on a mission centered on scientific research and outreach activities.

“NASA and Axiom will negotiate in-orbit activities for the private astronauts to conduct in coordination with space station crew members and flight controllers on the ground,” a release shows. This announcement comes as NASA and Axiom continue to progress toward Axiom Mission 1, their first private astronaut mission to the space station, scheduled to launch no earlier than Feb. 21, 2022. (12/13)

'Don’t Look Up' is Fiction. Here’s the Real Science of That Doomsday Scenario (Source: Ars Technica)
Two low-level astronomers discover a "planet killer" comet hurtling toward Earth but struggle to get anyone to pay attention in Don't Look Up, a new satirical sci-fi from Netflix. Directed by Adam McKay (The Big Short), it's a mostly amusing, star-studded confection that ably skewers science denial and cynical politicking even in the face of almost certain annihilation.

Near-Earth objects do exist, and astronomers track them diligently, even though the real-world likelihood of a planet-killing comet or asteroid colliding with Earth is vanishingly small. Naturally, when McKay needed scientific input for his doomsday scenario, he turned to NASA. The space agency recommended Amy Mainzer, an astronomer at the University of Arizona's Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.

"In real life, we don't know of anything that's headed our way that poses any sort of imminent impact threat," said Mainzer. "However, I did loosely base the comet on Comet NEOWISE, which we discovered last year. We do see these long-period comets that come from the outer parts of the Solar System. They pop up without a lot of warning because they move with incredible velocities relative to the Earth. Fortunately for us, space is really, really big, so most of the time, there's absolutely no chance of an impact whatsoever." (12/13)

2021 Was the Weirdest Year in Space Ever (Source: Gizmodo)
With space stations performing impromptu backflips, rockets careening out of control, billionaires going into space like they just don’t care, and space junk threatening to cause disaster nearly every week, 2021 will go down as one of the more memorable years in space. The chaos kinda makes sense. Rocket launches are getting cheaper by the minute, which is creating unprecedented opportunities for us to do increasingly weird and reckless things in space. 2021 was likely the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can expect later this decade. With that said, here’s our review of the weirdest year in space—at least so far. Click here. (12/13)

Space Force Holds War Game to Test Satellite Network Under Attack (Source: Reuters)
The United States is testing satellite resiliency to threats from China and Russia miles above the earth's surface, just weeks after Russia shot down an aging communications satellite. The computer-aided simulations included potential shooting down of U.S. missile-tracking satellites, satellite jamming, and other electronic warfare "effects" that are possible tactics in space warfare. Actual satellites are not used.

During a visit to Schriever Space Force Base in Colorado, Deputy Secretary of Defense Kathleen Hicks saw the 'Space Flag' simulated space training exercise hosted by U.S. forces. It was the 13th such exercise, and the third to involve partners such as Britain, Canada and Australia. "It happens in rooms like that ... people at a relatively junior level in many cases. Collaborating and thinking through challenges and trying to figure out concepts that seem to make sense and discarding ideas that go astray," Hicks told reporters. (12/13)

Jeff Bezos’ Space Joyride Emitted a Lifetime’s Worth of Carbon Pollution (Source: Gizmodo)
Social media erupted this week when a single passage from this year’s World Inequality Report went viral comparing the carbon footprint of a short space joyride to a lifetime’s worth of emissions for the world’s poorest. The statistic perfectly encapsulates the unequal distribution of between those who cause climate damage and those who suffer from it.

The report doesn’t name the two billionaires most often associated with space travel: Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. Musk’s SpaceX has been launching plenty of rockets, though none for tourism purposes yet. Bezos’ Blue Origin has, though, including sending the CEO himself in a heavily covered event in July. (Richard Branson, a third billionaire, has also sent himself to the edge of space.) All of those flights have carbon costs alongside their fiscal ones. (12/10)

Spelunking on the Moon: New Study Explores Lunar Pits and Caves (Source: CU Boulder Today)
The moon may be a mostly uniform expanse of gray, but if you look closely, you can still find a few nooks and crannies in its surface, from deep trenches to pits and maybe even caves. Now, researchers at CU Boulder have set out to explore what the environment might be like inside some of these shadowy features—many of which are too dark to see clearly from orbit.

The team’s preliminary results suggest that pits and caves on the moon showcase remarkably stable conditions. They don’t seem to experience the wild swings in temperature that are common at the moon’s surface, said Andrew Wilcoski, a graduate student in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences at CU Boulder. He will present the group’s initial findings Friday at the American Geophysical Union fall meeting in New Orleans. The take-home message: What is it like to go spelunking on the moon?

Future lunar explorers may want to pay attention. Pits and caves, Wilcoski explained, are potentially ideal places for the space colonies of the future. Their walls and crevices are naturally homey and might protect humans from the sun’s dangerous radiation. Some scientists have also wondered if lunar pits and caves could be rich in natural resources that astronauts covet. That includes ice, which explorers could mine to collect water for drinking, showers and even rocket fuel. (12/13)

Einstein's Theory of General Relativity Passes One of its Toughest Tests Yet (Source: Space.com)
In a new study, researchers report the results of one of the most ambitious and involved challenges to general relativity ever undertaken. They analyzed observations of a double-pulsar system made by seven different radio telescopes around the world from 2003 to 2019. Pulsars are a type of neutron star, or superdense stellar corpse, that emit powerful beams of radiation and particles from their magnetic poles. These beams are continuous, but they appear to pulse (hence the name) because pulsars are rotating; this light can be seen only when a pole is pointed at Earth.

The pulsar pair that the research team investigated lies about 2,400 light-years from Earth. One of the pulsars spins 44 times per second, whereas the other completes one rotation every 2.8 seconds. The two objects orbit a common center of mass once every 147 minutes, each of them moving through space at around 620,000 mph (1 million kph), team members said.

"Such fast orbital motion of compact objects like these — they are about 30% more massive than the sun but only about 24 kilometers across — allows us to test many different predictions of general relativity — seven in total!" study co-author Dick Manchester said. And the quality matched the quantity: The study achieved levels of precision unprecedented for a general relativity test, team members said. "Apart from gravitational waves and light propagation, our precision allows us also to measure the effect of 'time dilation' that makes clocks run slower in gravitational fields," Manchester said. (12/13)