September 27, 2022

New Theory Concludes That the Origin of Life on Earth-Like Planets is Likely (Source: Space Daily)
Does the existence of life on Earth tell us anything about the probability of abiogenesis - the origin of life from inorganic substances - arising elsewhere? That's a question that has confounded scientists, and anyone else inclined to ponder it, for some time. A widely accepted argument from Australian-born astrophysicist Brandon Carter argues that the selection effect of our own existence puts constraints on our observation. Since we had to find ourselves on a planet where abiogenesis occurred, then nothing can be inferred about the probability of life elsewhere based on this knowledge alone.

At best, he argued, the knowledge of life on Earth is of neutral value. Another way of looking at it is that Earth can't be considered a typical Earth-like planet because it hasn't been selected at random from the set of all Earth-like planets. However, a new paper by Daniel Whitmire is arguing that Carter used faulty logic. Though Carter's theory has become widely accepted, Whitmire argues that it suffers from what's known as "The Old Evidence Problem" in Bayesian Confirmation Theory, which is used to update a theory or hypothesis in light of new evidence.

Whitmire continues, "However, my existence is old evidence and must be treated as such. When this is done the conclusion is that it is much more probable that my conception was easy. In other words, the evidence of life on Earth is not of neutral value in making the case for life on similar planets. As such, our life suggests that life is more likely to emerge on other Earth-like planets - maybe even on the recent "super-Earth" type planet, LP 890-9b, discovered 100 light years away. (9/27)

Outpost Completes Successful Flight Tests of Their Autonomous Paraglider (Source: Space Daily)
During a technical session at IAC, Michael Vergalla, CTO of Outpost, presented a paper on the findings of Outpost's two successful flight tests on a breakthrough technology of an autonomous paraglider re-entry system to enable industry-leading payload Earth return capabilities from orbit. The tests, conducted in April 2022, are a huge milestone for Outpost in creating a technology that will disrupt the future of satellite operations.

The autonomous high altitude paraglider system enables Outpost to achieve precision landing accuracy of its satellite system and customer payloads. This is meaningful because all enterprise-class spacecraft experience a 100km or more error dispersion when entering the atmosphere, making conventional low-altitude deployment of parachutes incapable of a precise and pre-coordinated landing. (9/25)

Who Wants to Go to the Moon? Europe Names Astronaut Candidates (Source: Space Daily)
The European Space Agency announced a team of seven astronauts on Wednesday to train for NASA's Artemis mission to the moon -- but only one will have the chance to become the first European to walk on the lunar surface. The candidates -- France's Thomas Pesquet, Britain's Tim Peake, Germany's Alexander Gerst and Matthias Maurer, Italy's Luca Parmitano and Samantha Cristoforetti, and Denmark's Andreas Mogensen -- have all completed at least one mission on board the International Space Station.

Between them, the team has the equivalent of 4.5 years in orbit and 98 hours of spacewalking. Three of the astronauts will be selected to go to the Lunar Gateway, a planned station that will orbit the moon. But only one will set foot on the moon by the end of the decade. At some point, the ESA will have to decide which of the seven candidates will get to go. (9/21)

DART Pokes Asteroid (Source: Space News)
NASA's DART spacecraft successfully collided with a small asteroid Monday night. The Double Asteroid Redirection Test spacecraft hit Dimorphos, an object 160 meters across orbiting the larger near-Earth asteroid Didymos, as planned at 7:14 p.m. Eastern. The spacecraft hit within 17 meters of the center of Dimorphos after autonomously guiding its way to the asteroid in the mission's final hours. The deliberate impact is a test to see how such "kinetic impactors" could be used in the future to deflect hazardous asteroids. Astronomers will be measuring the change in the orbit of Dimorphos over the coming weeks to measure the impact's effectiveness. (9/27)

Colorado's Senators Push Again for Space Command HQ Decision (Source: Space News)
Colorado's senators are pushing the Air Force to decide on the permanent headquarters for U.S. Space Command. The letter from Sens. Michael Bennet (D) and John Hickenlooper (D) argues that the Ukraine conflict and China's expansion in the Pacific require the Air Force to move quickly on a decision. The senators argue that keeping Space Command at Peterson Space Force Base would allow the command to reach full operational capability sooner and less expensively than moving it to Redstone Arsenal in Alabama, the recommendation the Air Force reached in January 2021. (9/27)

China Launches Four Satellites (Source: Xinhua)
China carried out two launches Monday. A Long March 2D rocket lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center at 9:38 a.m. Eastern and placed the Yaogan-36 reconnaissance satellite into orbit. A Long March 6 lifted off from the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 7:50 p.m. Eastern and placed into orbit Shiyan-16A, Shiyan-16B and Shiyan-17, which official media described as experimental satellites for Earth observation applications. (9/27)

Trans Astronautica and Celestron to Develop Space Telescope (Source: Space News)
Trans Astronautica Corp. announced an agreement Tuesday with telescope manufacturer Celestron to develop a space-qualified version of a telescope. Over the next year, TransAstra plans to modify the Celestron Rowe-Ackermann Schmidt Astrograph telescope design and substitute materials to produce a telescope that can withstand radiation exposure, temperature swings and the vibration and shock loads of space launch. TransAstra envisions launching several such telescopes to track objects from medium Earth orbit out to the moon. (9/27)

DoD and Commerce "Working Together" on Space Traffic Management (Source: Breaking Defense)
An agreement between the Defense Department and Commerce Department on space traffic management (STM) left many unanswered details. The agreement, announced at the National Space Council meeting earlier this month, is intended to support the transition from Defense to Commerce of civil STM work. However, the agreement merely directed the two agencies to work together on the transition and left for future discussion issues such as exchanging commercial space situational awareness data and sharing information about the orbits of classified spacecraft. (9/27)

California Governor Vetoes Light Pollution Bill (Source: LA Times)
California Gov. Gavin Newsom vetoed a bill intended to address light pollution. The bill would have required shielding on lighting on state buildings installed after Jan. 1 to reduce the amount of light sent into the sky. That light brightens the night sky and is a growing issue with the switch to more energy-efficient but brighter LEDs. Newsom vetoed the bill because of "unfunded and potentially significant" costs to the state for implementing it. (9/27)

Florida Airbus-OneWeb Apprentices Win International Competition in Chicago (Source: SCCAP)
The Space Coast Consortium Apprenticeship Program (SCCAP), Kamm Consulting Group, and GAP Turnkey Solutions Partner Festo Didactic North America kicked off the first ever live SCCAP/FESTO Mechatronics Competition at the IMTS Student Summit in Chicago on Sep. 12. The competition culminating with a  narrow first-place win by Carolyn MacGowan and Kate Borelli, SCCAP apprentices and employees of Airbus OneWeb Satellites with manufacturing facilities at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.

The competition was planned to strengthen a US Germany Apprenticeship Exchange program. Eight apprentices squared off in four separate teams of two to compete for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place awards. All teams competed in several Industry 3.0 challenges on Festo Mech Lab units in a didactic approach to familiarize themselves with the tasks they would need to perform for the ultimate Industry 4.0 challenge to troubleshoot a problem on the Cyberphysical lab, which is a smaller-scale, fully automated manufacturing production line. (9/26)

SpaceX Produces 1M Starlink Terminals ~19 Months After Preorders Opened (Source: Teslarati)
Starlink’s ramp is accelerating, and it is getting undeniable. Just around 19 months since opening pre-orders for the satellite internet system, SpaceX has produced 1 million Starlink terminals. Elon Musk confirmed the news on Twitter, noting that “Starlink now over 1M user terminals manufactured.” This is incredibly impressive as SpaceX only opened pre-orders for Starlink kits in February 2021, just around 19 months ago. Prior to February 2021, SpaceX had only been distributing beta invites for several months. (9/25)

UK Builds Leadership in Space Debris Removal and In-Orbit Manufacturing with National Mission and Funding Boost (Source: Gov.UK)
Two UK-based companies are designing missions to clear hazardous space junk alongside the launch of a new programme to back cutting-edge space technology, the UK Space Agency has announced. ClearSpace and Astroscale have been awarded £4 million from the UK Space Agency to design missions to remove existing pieces of space debris, working with a consortium of industry partners.

Once the designs are complete, the teams, along with other UK space companies, could receive further funding to see the UK’s first national space debris removal mission launch in 2026. The projects will directly support the creation of 70 new jobs, with further opportunities to increase growth in the wider UK space sector, which already supports 47,000 jobs and generates an income of £16.5 billion each year. (9/26)