July 23, 2022

China's FAST Telescope Detects over 660 New Pulsars (Source: Xinhua)
Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), or the "China Sky Eye," scientists have identified over 660 new pulsars. Pulsars (fast-spinning neutron stars) originate from the imploded cores of massive dying stars through supernova explosions. With their high density and fast rotation, they are an ideal laboratory for studying the laws of physics in extreme environments. (7/23)

Startup SCOUT Piques Space Force Interest with Space Data Software (Source: Breaking Defense)
Tiny startup SCOUT Space has caught the eye of the Space Force with its software for integrating space observation data taken from numerous satellite sensors, winning a demonstration contract from the Air Force Research Laboratory’s AFWERX technology accelerator. Under the Phase 2 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) award, announced today, SCOUT will work with AFRL’s Intelligence Systems Division and the Space Force’s Delta 2 responsible for space domain awareness (SDA), according to company officials.

The firm also has been having conversations with Space Force’s Space Operations Command, including about the possibility of providing SDA payloads for hosting on military satellites used for other missions. While SCOUT is developing its own sensors and flew a demo version of its space inspection payload, called Vision, last June, CEO Eric Ingram told Breaking Defense on Thursday the wee, 15-person firm — launched in 2019 and headquartered in Alexandria, Va. — is “ultimately a data and service company.” (7/22)

How Living on Mars Time Taught Me to Slow Down (Source: NPR)
This comic, illustrated by Anuj Shrestha, is inspired by an interview with NASA engineer Nagin Cox. Nagin Cox is a spacecraft operations engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. For her current mission, Cox serves as the deputy team chief of the engineering operations team for the Mars 2020 Perseverance rover. Click here. (7/22)

ULA Refines Plan To Reuse Vulcan Rocket Engines (Source: Aviation Week)
The term “operational reusability” means different things to different space companies. For SpaceX and Blue Origin, rockets that land themselves and quickly return to the launchpad are key to goals to cut costs and develop technologies for human settlements beyond Earth. With the award of 38 Vulcan launches for Amazon’s Project Kuiper, ULA took the BE-4  engine reuse program off the back burner & refined its concept of operations. The initial plan was to have a giant helicopter snare the returning engine pod midair as it descended under parachute. The helicopter would then fly the engines to a recovery ship.

ULA still plans to jettison the spent BE-4 engines (along with some still-to-be-determined amount of the engines’ aluminum attachment ring), deploy an inflatable aeroshell to bleed off speed and then deploy parachutes. However, after additional tests and analysis, ULA  determined that the aeroshell, known as a hypersonic inflatable aerodynamic decelerator, can effectively double as a splashdown pad, eliminating the need for a helicopter. “It turns out the decelerator makes an excellent raft,” says Tory Bruno. With the simplified recovery plan, ULA figures it needs to refly an engine three times on average to begin saving money. With the helicopter operations, ULA would have needed six.

Because Vulcan optimized for DoD high-energy missions, propulsive flyback is not a viable option. "We have a big, high-performance booster to get our upper stage almost orbital so that it has as much propellant as possible to do the complicated orbital stuff,” Bruno says. As a result, Vulcan 1st stage flies about twice as fast & twice as high as SpaceX's Falcon 9 and is much farther downrange than a Falcon 9 when it separates from the upper stage.BE-4 engine splashdown will take place some 1,300 mi. from launch site, depending on trajectory. (7/20)

New Method Increases Lunar Mapping Accuracy to Unprecedented Levels (Source: Space Daily)
The surface of the moon and rocky planets, Mars in particular, are of huge interest to anyone trying to explore our solar system. The surface must be known in as much detail as possible, for missions to land safely, or for any robotic vessel to drive across the surface. But until now, the methods to analyze images from e.g. orbiting spacecraft have entailed a huge work load and immense computer power - with limited results.

A project from now former PHD student at the Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, Iris Fernandes, has changed that. Studying the limestone formation Stevns Klint in Denmark, she developed a method to interpret shadows in images, so the exact topography can be extracted. The method is even much quicker and less work-intensive. (7/22)

Johns Hopkins APL Assembles First Global Map of Lunar Hydrogen (Source: Space Daily)
Using data collected over two decades ago, scientists from the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, have compiled the first complete map of hydrogen abundances on the Moon's surface. The map identifies two types of lunar materials containing enhanced hydrogen and corroborates previous ideas about lunar hydrogen and water, including findings that water likely played a role in the Moon's original magma-ocean formation and solidification.

APL and NASA scientists used orbital neutron data from the Lunar Prospector mission to build their map. The probe, which was deployed by NASA in 1998, orbited the Moon for a year and a half and sent back the first direct evidence of enhanced hydrogen at the lunar poles, before impacting the lunar surface. The team calibrated the data to quantify the amount of hydrogen by the corresponding decrease of neutrons measured by the Neutron Spectrometer, one of five instruments mounted on Lunar Prospector to complete gravitational and compositional maps of the Moon. (7/22)

Space Command Head Addresses China, Russia Threats (Source: Fox News)
Chief of Space Operations for the U.S. Space Force Gen. John ‘Jay’ Raymond stressed the need for international norms when it comes to space operations, while pointing to problems posed by Russia and China. Addressing the Aspen Security Forum on Tuesday, Raymond said China was growing its program at a fast pace, explaining "China has gone from zero to 60 very quickly, and they are clearly our pacing challenge because…they're moving at speed they have the economy to support the development. (7/20)

Counting the Cost of America’s Fickle Fascination with Space Travel (Source: Philadelphia Inquirer)
Taxpayers footing the bill should continue asking if manned space exploration is still too expensive. NASA has many missions in which the only human involvement is by long distance from Earth. Should it continue paying steep prices to send humans when expendable machines could travel for much less? In most cases, automated probes and other calibrated machines might do the job.

The moon has not been a manned space flight destination for 50 years because the expense of a return didn’t seem worth it. Even now, renewed interest in the moon is based on using it as a base to send humans to Mars. The red planet has become the bauble dangled before Congress each year to entice NASA’s budget approvals. Stretching its spending across more years doesn’t mean space exploration would end. It might take more time, but as Einstein explained, time is relative. (7/21)

NASA Taps Houston Companies to Launch Revolutionary New Spacesuit Project (Source: CultureMap Houston)
Two startups - including Houston-based Axiom Space - have been tasked with helping NASA gear up for human space exploration at the International Space Station and on the moon as part of a spacesuit deal potentially worth billions of dollars. NASA recently picked Axiom and Collins Aerospace to help advance spacewalking capabilities in low-earth orbit and on the moon by outfitting astronauts with next-generation spacesuits. While headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Collins has a significant presence in the Houston Spaceport.

Axiom and Collins were chosen under an umbrella contract known as Exploration Extravehicular Activity Services (xEVAS). The contract carries a potential value of $3.5 billion. Michael Suffredini, co-founder, president, and CEO of Axiom, says his company’s “innovative approach to xEVAS spacesuits provides NASA with an evolvable design that enables cost-efficient development, testing, training, deployment, and real-time operations to address a variety of EVA needs and operational scenarios for a range of customers, including NASA.” (7/18)

Virtuoso Partners with Virgin Galactic for Ticket Sales Referral Program (Source: Business Wire)
Virtuoso, the leading global network specializing in luxury and experiential travel, and Virgin Galactic, an aerospace and space travel company, today announced a strategic partnership to make a limited number of seats for Virgin Galactic’s spaceflight experience available to Virtuoso’s global client base.

Virgin Galactic’s elegant and distinctive flight system takes off and lands on a runway and allows passengers to experience weightlessness and breathtaking views of Earth, all in unparalleled comfort. In the lead up to space flight, Future Astronauts enjoy access to the flagship membership community, including exclusive events, trips and activities around the world. The experience culminates in a multi-day, all inclusive astronaut training and hospitality program for the customer and three guests at Virgin Galactic’s planned innovative campus – all delivered with trademark Virgin style and designed to enrich the transformative experience of space. (7/21)

India Now Wants You to Take Your Future Vacation in Space! (Source: Hindustan Times)
India is in the process of developing indigenous capabilities toward space tourism through the demonstration of human spaceflight capability in Low Earth Orbit. India's National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) also seeks to promote active participation of the private sector in carrying out end-to-end space activities, which includes space tourism. (7/22)

NASA Releases New Lake Mead Satellite Images, Shows Dramatic Water Loss Since 2000 (Source: CNN)
New satellite images released by NASA Wednesday reveal the dramatic loss of water at Lake Mead due to the ongoing mega-drought. “The largest reservoir in the United States supplies water to millions of people across seven states, tribal lands, and northern Mexico,” NASA wrote about the image. “It now also provides a stark illustration of climate change and a long-term drought that may be the worst in the US West in 12 centuries.”

When you compare these two natural-color images – one acquired on July 6, 2000, and the other on July 3, 2022 – you can see the lake full and, in the most recent imagery, you can see the mineralized lakeshore which used to be underwater. (7/21)

A New Film Challenges the James Webb Telescope's Controversial Name (Source: WIRED)
One thing has diminished astronomers’ enthusiasm over the images of stellar nebulae, exoplanets, and distant galaxies NASA released last week: the powerful new space telescope’s name. NASA officials named the flagship space probe after former administrator James Webb, who helmed the agency and served in the State Department in the 1950s and ’60s and is alleged to have been complicit in enforcing policies that discriminated against gay and lesbian government workers during the “Lavender Scare.” (7/21)

The Inner Solar System Spins Much More Slowly Than it Should. Now, Scientists May Know Why (Source: Space.com)
The inner solar system spins much more slowly than the laws of modern physics predict, and a new study may help to explain why. A thin disk of gas and dust — known as an accretion disk — spirals around young stars. These disks, where planets form, contain leftover star-forming material that is a fraction of the star's mass. According to the law of conservation of angular momentum, the inner part of the disk should spin faster as the material spirals slowly inward toward the star, similar to how figure skaters spin faster when they bring their arms closer to their bodies.

Earlier research suggested that friction between regions of the accretion disk or magnetic fields generating turbulence (and creating friction) may slow down the rotational speed of infalling gas. "Because electrons are negative and cations are positive, the inward motion of ions and outward motion of electrons, which are caused by collisions, increases the canonical angular momentum of both," the researchers explained. "Neutral particles lose angular momentum as a result of collisions with the charged particles and move inward, which balances out the increase in the charged-particle canonical angular momentum." (7/22)