December 13, 2022

Breakthrough in Nuclear Fusion Could Allow Humans to Spread Throughout the Universe (Source: Raw Story)
Our potential to spread through space, by colonizing distant planets and building space stations, is limited by the amount of energy we can harness to power such efforts. But all that might be about to change due to a breakthrough in our ability to create a potentially unlimited source of clean energy through a process known as nuclear fusion. This breakthrough, which was officially announced today by the U.S. secretary of energy Jennifer Granholm, was achieved by scientists working at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory.

One of the biggest challenges in space exploration is the amount of energy required to power long-term missions and establish human settlements on other planets. Nuclear fusion could provide a constant and reliable source of energy for deep space missions and off-planet colonies. One of the key benefits of fusion is its ability to produce energy without emitting greenhouse gases or other pollutants. This would make it an ideal source of power for human settlements on other planets, where the environment is fragile and cannot support traditional forms of energy production.

In addition, the abundance of hydrogen in the universe makes it a readily available fuel for fusion reactions, ensuring that settlements could rely on this energy source for the long term. Another advantage of fusion is its potential for propelling spacecraft. The high temperatures and energetic particles produced by fusion reactions could be used to generate thrust, allowing for faster and more efficient travel through space. This could potentially revolutionize space travel, enabling humans to explore and settle further into the depths of the galaxy. (12/13)

The Trumpification of Elon Musk (Source: WIRED)
An owner-CEO has more power over their company than a president does over their country. But trying to report on what’s happening by expecting either his abject failure or resounding success and then using his most attention-grabbing tactics as evidence for that thesis is not doing anyone a service. As with Trump, the real story is often what’s going on below the level of newsmaker in chief. It’s about the actual numbers around Twitter’s advertising, not Musk’s claims that advertisers are coming back. It’s about who’s actually joining and leaving Twitter, not about who’s threatening to leave.

It’s about Twitter’s role in the world—its importance to natural-disaster management or to any number of communities for whom it’s a store of social wealth—rather than just how much money it will lose. Musk and Trump subvert the ability to focus on such nuances by making the story all about themselves. Musk is definitely terrible. Just as Trump was unequivocally unfit to be president, Musk is unequivocally cruel, vindictive, a heartless manager, and a troll who amplifies extremists.

Both the Trump and Musk sagas show that we are still in the thrall of the great-man theory of history. The desire so many have to see people like these either soar or burn produces an attendant bias in evaluating them—a feeling that their actions are the only ones that really matter. That’s what produces this breathless obsession with their every move and blinds us to more complex information that might paint a clearer picture of the messier reality—and whatever future we’re barreling toward. (12/13)

Planet, Accenture Team for Geospatial Intelligence (Source: Space News)
Planet and Accenture have signed a collaborative agreement to promote the use of geospatial intelligence in support of supply chain and climate initiatives. Planet’s satellite imagery data will be used by Accenture across a broad range of industries for supply chain strategy and climate risk assessments, the companies said. “With its vast network of satellites, Planet offers one of the richest sources of daily, timely data about what is happening to our Earth,” said Tom Lounibos, managing director of Accenture Ventures. (12/12)

Leveraging the International Space Station for Education and Workplace Development (Source: CASIS)
The International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory is soliciting research focused on leveraging the ISS for education and training for space-focused careers. Proposals must seek to expand education programs, projects, or public-private partnerships that leverage the ISS for space-based research to engage K-12 students, enhance higher education, or seek to expand online educational engagement via existing or new programming. Click here. (12/12) https://www.issnationallab.org/iss360/nlra-2023-5-stem/?utm_source=edm&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nlra&utm_content=2023-5

Transporter 6 Readies for Launch at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Spaceflight.com)
Transporter 6 is coming up this month! With this one being arranged through our partners at ISISpace Group, we’re taking another batch of Kleos’ satellites to SSO. We’re pleased to have launched all of their satellites to date, and this launch will add four more smallsats to their constellation. Because of our years working together with Kleos to launch their spacecraft, this is a fairly routine mission for our teams. Processes run smoothly, as both teams know what needs to be done and how to get it done most efficiently. (12/13)

Satellite Operators Still Face Limited Selection of Small Launch Vehicles (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Although more than 100 companies formed to pursue the development of launch vehicles to serve the small satellite market, very few have emerged thus far to serve that market niche. In the West, Rocket Lab’s Electron is the only booster with any significant launch history. China has fielded multiple smallsat launch vehicles, but access to them is limited by technology transfer concerns. Additional launch vehicles will emerge in the years ahead. More competition will provide additional options for satellite operators and keep prices in check. Click here. (12/13)

SLS Mobile Launcher to be Upgraded Before Lunar Mission (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
The mobile launch platform for NASA's Space Launch System moon rocket has been booked for a series of inspections, repairs and upgrades before the first crewed Artemis moon flight scheduled for 2024. The Artemis 1 test flight that launched Nov. 16 caused expected damage to some of the structure's "soft goods" such as seals, gaskets, and hoses but Mike Sarafin, NASA's Artemis 1 mission manager, said it fared well otherwise. (12/9)

Need Emerges for Tactically Responsive Space Program (Source: Defense News)
The fiscal 2023 National Defense Authorization Act specifies prioritization of a stable line of funding to enable the US Space Force to establish a tactically responsive space program. This will likely be welcomed by Space Force leaders, who have pointed out that the ability to deploy new satellites quickly depends on efficient ground infrastructure, payload development, operations and sustainment, rather than simply launch support. (12/10)

Quantum Space Raises $15 Million for Cislunar Spacecraft (Source: Space News)
Quantum Space has raised $15 million to further development of the first in a constellation of satellites intended to provide services in cislunar space. Quantum Space said that Prime Movers Lab invested $15 million, which will support development of its QS-1 spacecraft the company announced in October it is building for launch in 2024 to cislunar space.

QS-1 is the first spacecraft in a constellation called QuantumNet that the company projects developing in cislunar space, also known as xGEO. The company foresees having more than 40 of what the company calls Scout spacecraft in service by 2032 throughout cislunar space. Those spacecraft will carry a variety of payloads, including communications, navigation and space situational awareness. QS-1 will launch as a rideshare payload, Jurczyk said, but future spacecraft will be delivered through an in-space transportation vehicle called Ranger that the company is also developing, capable of carrying four Scouts. (12/13)

Elon’s Twitter Dilemma (Source: Space News)
No one influences spaceflight today more than Elon Musk. SpaceX dominates the launch market with the Falcon 9, while Starlink is becoming a major, even essential, satellite broadband provider. Waiting in the wings is Starship, a vehicle that promises to further disrupt the launch market while also delivering astronauts to the lunar surface for the first time in more than half a century.

And yet, Musk is more distracted from space than ever. His attention, long balanced between SpaceX and electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla, now seems consumed by his latest acquisition, Twitter. Since taking over the social media company in a quixotic $44 billion acquisition in October, he has been fully engaged trying to remake — or break — the company. Twitter is where Musk is at his juvenile worst, exhibiting a crassness in stark contrast to the seriousness of geopolitical issues he wades into, along with a truculence that stokes the flames of a troublesome strain of tribalism.

As he fans the firestorm in his efforts to remake that company, every hour spent there is an hour less that could be spent at SpaceX, where he often had a hands-on presence. In late November, one person tweeted at Musk a meme showing a person, labeled Musk, lavishing attention on one child in a pool — Twitter — while the other, Tesla, is ignored and struggles to stay afloat. Below them is a skeleton at the bottom of the ocean, labeled “Mars mission.” (12/12)

Why Do Stanford, Harvard and NASA Still Honor a Nazi Past? (Source: New York Times)
From NASA to Stanford to the United States Army, American institutions continue to acknowledge — and sometimes even celebrate — high-profile former Nazis. The individuals honored aren’t obscure Holocaust guards who managed to skulk past immigration officers — some of them are historical figures whose relationship with America has been extensively chronicled.

The institutions that whitewash the Nazi past of men whose names grace Harvard and Stanford programs, part of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center and multiple locations in Huntsville, Ala., typically do so via deception by omission — erasing history by leaving out or sidelining inconvenient facts. By the 1960s, with the Space Race well underway, the former S.S. officer Wernher von Braun found himself meeting with U.S. presidents and being presented by the media as a math wizard working to get America to the moon. In other words: We didn’t just hire him, we made him a hero.

It seems it is less common to note a Nazi past than to look past it. Such is the case with the NASA Kennedy Space Center’s visitor complex in Florida, which is home to the Dr. Kurt H. Debus Conference Facility. In the official NASA biography of Debus there is but a short, vague paragraph about his life in Germany. On June 24, the Kennedy Space Center’s director, Janet Petro, accepted the National Space Club Florida Committee’s Dr. Kurt H. Debus Award; NASA’s webpage celebrating the event referenced Debus’s astronomical achievements, noting nothing of his S.S. membership and intimate involvement with building the V-2. (12/13)

Proposal for Picogram-Scale Probes to Explore Nearby Stars (Source: Space Daily)
In a forward-looking article, George Church, PhD, from Harvard University and the Wyss Institute, proposes the use of picogram to nanogram-scale probes that can land, replicate, and produce a communications module at the destination to explore nearby stars. "One design is a highly reflective light sail, traveling a long straight line toward the gravitational well of a destination star, and the photo-deflected to the closest non-luminous mass - ideally a planet or moon with exposed liquid water," states Dr. Church.

"Most living cells on Earth are picogram-scale and yet perform functions, such as replication from only simple chemical inputs, impossible for all current human-made machines," notes Dr. Church. He considers factors such as acceleration and deceleration, and how to build communications devices using some form of electromagnetic radiation. Environments suitable for microbial replication require appropriate temperature, chemicals, and energy sources.

"Clearly, a considerable amount of work remains for improving the theory, design, and testing aspects of this proposal, some of which can be done on Earth or within our home solar system," concludes Dr. Church. "This paper is part of a special issue of Astrobiology motivated by the discovery of the first large interstellar objects in our Solar System, Oumuamua and Comet Borysov. Because of its unusual shape and trajectory, some have suggested that Oumuamua could have been an interstellar probe - not a rock." (12/13)

Iranian Eutelsat Outage a Technical Problem (Source: Space News)
A technical problem, and not a deliberate action, knocked an Iranian TV network off a Eutelsat satellite last week. Iran's Press TV claimed last week that Eutelsat had "taken Press TV off air" and called it an attack on free speech. A Eutelsat spokesperson later said the service interruption was likely caused by "a technical incident on the feeder signal" and therefore not in its control. However, Eutelsat called on distributors to immediately cease broadcasting Press TV after the Council of the European Union singled the channel out in a Nov. 14 round of sanctions against Iran. (12/13)

UN Resolution Seeks Halt to ASAT Tests (Source: Space News)
The United Nations General Assembly approved a resolution calling on nations to halt destructive direct-ascent ASAT tests. The General Assembly approved the resolution last week among dozens of others dealing with international security and related topics, with 155 nations voting in favor of it. Nine nations voted against it, including China and Russia, while nine others abstained. The vote was welcomed by Vice President Kamala Harris, who announced in April that the U.S. would refrain from such tests, a pledge nine other nations have since formally adopted. (12/13)

ThinkOrbital Hires Rosen as President (Source: Space News)
ThinkOrbital, a space infrastructure startup, has hired a former SpaceX executive as president. The company announced last week that Lee Rosen, a former vice president of SpaceX, will be its president and chief strategy officer. Rosen had been an adviser to the company since its founding last year. The company has proposed a spherical habitat, called ThinkPlatform, that would be assembled in space using a robotic arm. Rosen said it could operate as a component of a larger commercial station or docked with a space vehicle like SpaceX's Starship. The company, which has secured research contracts through the Space Force's Orbital Prime program, is working to raise a pre-seed round of funding. (12/13)

China's TSS Attracts Western Researchers (Source: New York Times)
Some Western researchers are planning to fly experiments on China's space station rather than the International Space Station. A team at the University of Geneva is developing a gamma-ray burst detector called POLAR-2 it plans to fly on Tiangong in 2025. The researchers said they chose Tiangong because of the stiff competition for access on the ISS and because the ISS "is also not exactly so cheap and easy." China has offered access to Tiangong to other nations through a U.N. program. (12/13)

Will Musk's Twitter Obsession Harm SpaceX? (Source: Space News)
While some wonder if social media company Twitter can survive under its new owner, Elon Musk, others wonder if Musk and his space ambitions can survive Twitter. Musk has been consumed with reshaping Twitter since completing his $44 billion acquisition of the company in October, spending time there that previously went to his other ventures, including SpaceX. That's led to concerns he is losing focus on his long-term space ambitions, or his ability to carry them out should Twitter fail and destroy his investment. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said over the weekend he has been assured by SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell that Musk's work at Twitter will not be a distraction to SpaceX. (12/13)

SpaceX Plans Share Sales (Source: Bloomberg)
SpaceX will sell shares at a new, higher valuation. The company is offering to sell insider shares of the company at a price of $77 a share, valuing the company at $140 billion. The company was valued at $127 billion in July. The sale offers insiders a chance to sell their own shares and does not raise money for SpaceX itself, and it was not clear if SpaceX planned to raise money at that higher valuation. (12/13)

All’s Well That Finally Begins Well (Source: Space Review)
The Artemis 1 mission concluded Sunday with a successful splashdown of the Orion spacecraft in the Pacific. Jeff Foust reports on Orion’s return and what it means for the Artemis program and NASA going forward. Click here. (12/13)
 
Launching With Cost-Plus, Landing with Fixed-Price: the Financial Underpinnings of a Lunar Return (Source: Space Review)
The key elements of the Artemis program, the SLS and Orion, were developed under traditional cost-plus contracts. Tarak Makecha argues that NASA needs to shift to fixed-price contracts to keep Artemis sustainable in the long term. Click here. (12/13)
 
The First Photograph of the Entire Globe: 50 Years On, Blue Marble Still Inspires (Source: Space Review)
The 50th anniversary of Apollo 17 this month also marks the 50th anniversary of one of the most iconic images ever taken of the Earth. Chari Larsson examines the lasting impact of the “Blue Marble” image. Click here. (12/13)

NASA Awaits Lunar Space Suits for Artemis 3 (Source: Ars Technica)
A NASA official is confident that new spacesuits will be ready in time for the first Artemis lunar landing mission. NASA awarded a task order to Axiom Space in September to develop suits that would be worn by astronauts on the Artemis 3 and future lunar landing missions. Chris Hansen, NASA deputy program manager for spacesuits and lunar vehicles, said that both Axiom and Collins Aerospace, which has a separate task order for space station spacesuits, are "doing great" and expressed confidence Axiom would have its suits ready by Artemis 3. That mission is currently scheduled for launch no earlier than late 2025. (12/13)

Blue Origin Space Rangers, a New Animated Show (Source: Deadline)
A new animated series will feature Blue Origin, its founder and one of its customers. The "Blue Origin Space Rangers" show, announced Monday, will include Jeff Bezos and Michael Strahan, who flew on Blue Origin's New Shepard suborbital vehicle last year. The show is intended to get children interested in science and technology as well as "the challenges and opportunities of space for the benefit of Earth." The announcement was timed to the first anniversary of Strahan's flight, but also took place exactly three months after the last New Shepard mission, an uncrewed flight carrying research payloads, suffered an in-flight anomaly that destroyed its propulsion module. (12/13)

Scientists Find New Hints That Dark Matter Could Be Made Up of Dark Photons (Source: Space Daily)
Dark matter could be made up of ultralight dark photons that heated up our universe: this is a new scenario proposed in a study recently published in the scientific journal "Physical Review Letters". This hypothesis, the authors say, is in excellent agreement with observations made by the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph (COS) on board the Hubble Space Telescope, which takes measurements of the "cosmic web", the complex and tenuous network of filaments that fills the space between galaxies. (12/13)

New Nanosatellite Tests Autonomy in Space (Source: Space Daily)
In May 2022, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the Transporter-5 mission into orbit. The mission contained a collection of micro and nanosatellites from both industry and government, including one from MIT Lincoln Laboratory called the Agile MicroSat (AMS).

AMS's primary mission is to test automated maneuvering capabilities in the tumultuous very low-Earth orbit (VLEO) environment, starting at 525 kilometers above the surface and lowering down. VLEO is a challenging location for satellites because the higher air density, coupled with variable space weather, causes increased and unpredictable drag that requires frequent maneuvers to maintain position. Using a commercial off-the-shelf electric-ion propulsion system and custom algorithms, AMS is testing how well it can execute automated navigation and control over an initial mission period of six months. (12/12)

Poland's Hermaszewski Passes at 81 (Source: CollectSpace)
The first Pole to fly in space has died. Mirosław Hermaszewski died at the age of 81, his family announced Monday. Hermaszewski flew to the Salyut 6 space station in 1978 on a Soyuz spacecraft for a one-week mission, conducting 11 science experiments. That misison was his only space flight, returning to the Polish Air Force where he later became second in command before retiring in 2005. (12/13)

Space Force Faces Key Questions Ahead of Next Launch Services Procurement (Source: Space News)
The commercial launch market is undergoing a revolution, with providers finding increasing demand outpacing supply. The U.S. Space Force is in the process of defining the framework for Phase 3 of the National Security Space Launch program (NSSL). The follow-on from the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program, NSSL ensures that DoD has access to launch services to put the most critical military and intelligence collection assets into orbit — assets like GPS, space-based early warning, and other classified payloads.

Right now the program’s requirements are being met by two providers: United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX. The decisions that will shape Phase 3 are being made against an evolving geopolitical and commercial landscape, which are critical considerations for ensuring the United States has the launch services it needs now and in the future.

The deployment of SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, Amazon’s Project Kuiper constellation, and OneWeb’s constellation, on top of existing demands on the launch market are expected to strain America’s launch supply. ULA’s CEO, Tory Bruno, recently remarked that the “scarcity environment is a big shift in our industry.” There will be more government and commercial missions than both ULA and SpaceX are really able to fly, he said, “and that’ll be for a number of years.” (12/12)