April 23, 2022

Powerful Fire Breaks Out In "Space Capital" Of Russia, Cause And Place Not Disclosed (Source: UkraNews)
In the city of Korolyov near Moscow, where many enterprises of the space and rocket industry are located, a large fire began. Later, the "Korolyov Center for Security and Civil Defense of the Population" said that "in the industrial zone on Frunze Street, the roof of the building caught fire." Work was carried out on it, as a result of which a fire occurred.

The authorities remained silent for a long time, not saying what exactly caught fire. There is also no information about this in local pages on social networks, although the whole city sees smoke from the fire. Koroliov is unofficially called the "space capital of Russia," the city is considered one of the largest scientific and production centers in the Moscow region. Many enterprises and institutes located here are related to the military-industrial complex and the rocket and space industry. (4/22)

Space X is Now the Largest Private Employer in Brownsville (Source: Houston Chronicle)
SpaceX has more than 1,600 direct employees at its rocket manufacturing facility in Boca Chica, Brownsville Mayor Trey Mendez said Thursday during his state of the city address. And 71 percent of those workers are residents of the Rio Grande Valley. "Not only have they become our largest private employer, but they recently added a substantial presence within the city for various operations," he said. (4/22)

Awaiting FAA's Starbase Environmental Review (Source: @SciGuySpace)
According to tweets from Ars Technica's Eric Berger: "We're one week from the FAA's latest "estimated completion date" of the environmental review process at SpaceX's Boca Chica launch site in South Texas. To be clear: I have no confirmed information. But what I'm hearing suggests another delay is likely. Frankly we are at the point in this process where I think the chance of a Starship orbital launch in 2022 is probably significantly less than 50 percent. This is due to a variety of technical and regulatory factors. But you should set your expectations accordingly." (4/22) 

In Detecting Alien Life on a Faraway Planet, Methane May be the Key (Source: Reuters)
For humankind, evidence for life beyond Earth is unlikely to be as dramatic as an alien spaceship landing, say, next to the Eiffel Tower in Paris. It is more likely to come from telescope observations of a faraway planet bearing atmospheric chemicals suggestive of biological activity. Researchers on Monday said methane may be the first detectable sign of extraterrestrial life if discovered in the atmosphere of a rocky planet orbiting in the "habitable zone" - the area not too hot and not too cold for liquid water to exist on the planetary surface - around a sun-like star. (3/28)

Pluto’s Orbit is Surprisingly Unstable (Source: Universe Today)
Pluto’s orbit is radically different from those of the planets, which follow nearly circular orbits around the Sun close to its equator, projected outward (aka. the ecliptic). In contrast, it takes 248 years for Pluto to complete a single orbit around the Sun and follows a highly-elliptical orbit that is inclined 17° to the Solar System’s ecliptic plane. The eccentric nature of its orbit also means that Pluto spends 20 years during each period orbiting closer to the Sun than Neptune.

The nature of Pluto’s orbit is an enduring mystery and something that astronomers became aware of very shortly after it was discovered. Since then, multiple efforts have been made to simulate the past and future of its orbit, which revealed a surprising property that protects Pluto from colliding with Neptune. As Dr. Malhotra told Universe Today via email, this is the orbital resonance condition known as a “mean motion resonance”. (4/20)

Overlooked Gravitational Wave Signals Point to 'Exotic' Black Hole Scenarios (Source: Space.com)
In a new analysis of their gravitational wave data, scientists with the international LIGO-Virgo Collaboration (LVC) have discovered 10 new examples of merging binary black holes. Over the past seven years, the researchers have observed 90 gravitational wave signals — ripples in the space-time continuum that indicate "cataclysmic events" such as black hole mergers, the research team said in a statement. They originally detected 44 such mergers during a six-month observational period in 2019, but a second look at the data using a different methodology revealed 10 additional ones. (4/21)

Here's Why Scientists Want NASA to Send a Flagship Mission to Uranus (Source: Space.com)
A $4.2 billion mission to the seventh planet could change the way we see the solar system, scientists say. A key committee of scientists has recommended that a flagship mission to Uranus should be NASA's highest-priority large planetary science mission for the next decade. Uranus is a mostly unexplored world; NASA's only visit to the seventh planet was Voyager 2's brief fly-by on Jan. 24, 1986, during which scientists discovered some of the planet's rings and moons.

Chloe Beddingfield thinks that there's compelling broad planetary and even exoplanet science to be done at Uranus. "A flagship mission to the Uranian system will provide an incredible opportunity to explore how ice giant systems, which are common in the galaxy, formed and evolved," she said. That crossover with exoplanet science may have helped Uranus' cause.

The Uranus Orbiter and Probe mission will cost in the region of $4.2 billion, according to initial evaluations. Some scientists thought that a more affordable concept costing under $900 million would be the only way to get a Uranus mission off the ground. How long it will take to reach Uranus depends on when a spacecraft launches. A gravity-assist from Jupiter is required for a larger spacecraft to avoid an unduly long journey. The giant planet's position means a Uranus mission would preferably launch in 2031 or 2032 to arrive at Uranus in 2044 or 2045. (4/21)

SpaceX Shut Down a Russian Electromagnetic Warfare Attack in Ukraine Last Month — and the Pentagon is Taking Notes (Source: C4ISRnet)
Russia’s halting efforts to conduct electromagnetic warfare in Ukraine show how important it is to quickly respond, and immediately shut down, such attacks, Pentagon experts said. But the U.S. needs to get much better at its own EW rapid response, they said — and can learn a lot from how the private sector has handled these situations.

Brig. Gen. Tad Clark, director of the Air Force’s electromagnetic spectrum superiority directorate, said modern wars will increasingly involve electromagnetic warfare, particularly to shape the battlefield when conflicts begin. Dave Tremper pointed to SpaceX’s ability last month to swiftly stymie a Russian effort to jam its Starlink satellite broadband service, which was keeping Ukraine connected to the Internet.

“The next day [after reports about the Russian jamming effort hit the media], Starlink had slung a line of code and fixed it,” Tremper said. “And suddenly that [Russian jamming attack] was not effective anymore. From [the] EW technologist’s perspective, that is fantastic … and how they did that was eye-watering to me.” The government, on the other hand, has a “significant timeline to make those types of corrections” as it muddles through analyses of what happened, decides how to fix it and gets a contract in place for the fix. (4/20)

Moon Markets Emerge (Source: Quartz)
Northern Sky Research released the second edition of its Moon Markets report this month, which identified 70 commercial lunar missions being prepared in the next decade. “The surprising thing was the sheer amount of potential and need for transportation to get to the Moon,” says Hussain Bokhari, an NSR consultant who worked on the report.

That’s good news for rocket makers, but also for the framework NASA is using to hire companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin, which counts on them investing their own capital and offering services to non-NASA customers. It’s the same approach that led to the creation of SpaceX’s reusable Falcon 9 and its Dragon spacecraft.

While major international missions like Artemis will be the cornerstone of future lunar activity, Bokhari says that smaller scale near-term efforts, like NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, provide a low-risk way to prove out key technologies and business models. Click here. (4/20)

"Virgin Orbit National Systems" - New Name for Virgin's Orbital Launch Company (Source: Virgin Group)
Virgin Orbit National Systems is a US-incorporated, wholly-owned subsidiary of Virgin Orbit, LLC. It provides the national security community of the USA and allied nations with responsive, dedicated, and affordable launch services for small satellites bound for Low Earth Orbit. Headquartered in El Segundo, California, Virgin Orbit National Systems can provide study, analysis, integration, and launch services using Virgin Orbit's LauncherOne, while ensuring our customer’s critical information is protected. (4/21)

Educating Youth on Future Lunar Operations (Source: Lunar Camp Glenn)
Lunar Camp Glenn is a simulation of being on the moon. It is based on NASA and businesses' plans for a Lunar Camp. An educational Esports game. Click here. (4/1)