December 14, 2022

From Liftoff to Splashdown: NASA Releases Supercut Video of Artemis 1 Highlights (Source: Gizmodo)
After traveling more than 1.4 million miles (2.2 million kilometers) on an historic journey to the Moon and back, NASA’s Orion capsule splashed down in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday following its near-perfect test flight. This week, NASA released a 24-minute video highlighting some of the most exciting moments from the 25.5 day mission from the moment the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket launched until the Orion spacecraft parachuted its way down. Click here. (12/13)

Battlefield Space: To The Moon And Beyond (Source: NBC)
After a successful test flight of NASA’s Artemis-1 moon mission, the space agency now turns its attention to returning Americans to the moon within two to three years. But the U.S. is not the only country with lunar ambitions. China is aggressively pursuing it own plans to land astronauts on the moon and build out a permanent base. Both countries openly talk about the need to have a military presence in space to defend against the other. Already, a dangerous cold war cat-and-mouse game involving U.S., Russian and Chinese satellites plays out every day. NBC News goes in-depth to explore the challenges in a potential battlefield that is complex, congested and contested. Click here. (12/13) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4XSgUZMhXK0

Antihelium Offers Hope in the Search for Dark Matter (Source: WIRED)
Physicists think Antihelium could be abundant in our galaxy, formed by the decay of dark matter, an invisible substance that seems to make up 85 percent of the universe’s matter. On Monday, researchers announced that they’d generated about 18,000 antihelium nuclei—and more notably, that they used their result to calculate the odds that Earth-based detectors could capture antihelium drifting in from space, where it might signify the presence of dark matter.

Between 2016 and 2018, they smashed more than a billion particles in the LHC’s 16-mile ring, based in Geneva. They zeroed in on a version of the antiparticle known as antihelium-3, composed of two antiprotons and one antineutron. While antimatter forms naturally on our planet, it usually consists of lightweight particles such as positrons, the antimatter counterpart of electrons, which are thousands of times less massive than antihelium. But antihelium-3 is relatively heavy, and the heavier the antimatter particle, the more rarely it will be produced.

A new instrument, called the General Antiparticle Spectrometer, is scheduled to launch in a balloon into the Antarctic atmosphere in late 2023, where it will look for antihelium along with other particles at an altitude of 25 miles. Astrophysicists have had to build the instruments to look for antimatter signals. Now, the threads are coming together, at least for antihelium-based dark matter searches. Astrophysicists have to watch for antihelium signals from space, and if they see any, they’d have to check that the antiparticles are consistent with theorists’ predictions about dark matter. (12/14)

Satellogic Signs Letter of Intent with Mexico for Dedicated EO Program (Source: Space Daily)
Satellogic has signed a letter of intent with Agencia Espacial Mexicana to develop a fully-featured and operational Constellation-as-a-Service program to monitor approximately 2 million square kilometers of the nation. The LOI provides a framework for the development of a Constellation-as-a-Service program, leveraging Satellogic satellites to deliver high-resolution multispectral (70cm GSD) imagery to support Mexico's innovation and participation in the New Space economy with multipurpose, country-wide monitoring up to three times a year, enhancing Mexico's EO competence via commercial capabilities. (12/14)

Musk is No Longer the Richest Person in the World (Sources: CNBC, Guardian)
Elon Musk is no longer the wealthiest person, according to Forbes, after a decline in Tesla share price meant that LVMH CEO Bernard Arnault knocked him from his lofty perch. Musk held the title of the world’s wealthiest man since September 2021, when he overtook Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. According to FactSet data, Musk presently owns 14.11% of Tesla’s outstanding shares, with a market value of $530 billion. Musk also owns more than 40% of SpaceX shares, adding billions on paper to his net worth, based on a $125 billion private market valuation from June 2022.

Musk acquired Twitter for $44 billion in October. As of December 2022 Twitter has a market cap of $41.09 Billion. He is under pressure to turn around Twitter, which was already struggling before he bought it, making a $221m net loss last year. Musk’s bankers are considering replacing some of the $13 billion high-interest debt that he used to buy Twitter with margin loans backed by Tesla stock. Meanwhile, Tesla shares closed down about 6.3% for the day, and have more than halved in value this year partially due to a sell-off that accelerated in the wake of Musk’s $44 billion Twitter acquisition. (12/13)

UCF Student Tracks Musk and Bezos Jet Travel on Two Twitter Accounts, Guess Which Account Twitter Suspended (Sources: Click Orlando, @levifishman)
A Twitter account run by UCF student Jack Sweeney that tracked Elon Musk’s private jet has now been suspended, even though Musk said the account amounted to free speech. @ElonJet was suspended this week. Sweeney said on his personal Twitter account that the jet-tracking account had been permanently suspended. Meanwhile, Sweeny's nearly identical account that follows Jeff Bezos' jets remains online. (12/14)

What's Next for Artemis? (Source: Florida Today)
Officials are still reviewing data from the nearly 26-day mission that began with liftoff of the Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center on Nov. 16, but progress is continuing for Artemis II, III, and beyond. The program's next flight is set to take astronauts to the moon on a similar profile to Artemis I, but it won't touch down on the surface. That's expected before the end of 2024. Artemis III, meanwhile, is being planned as the key flight that will put two people back on the lunar surface for the first time since the last Apollo mission in 1972. If everything goes according to plan, that could happen as soon as 2025.

At KSC's Operations and Checkout Building, the Orion capsule slated to fly Artemis II and its crew of four astronauts is being assembled and tested by Lockheed Martin technicians, according to KSC spokesperson Antonia Jaramillo. It was powered up for the first time in May. Artemis II's European Service Module, which provides power and propulsion to Orion, arrived at KSC from Germany last year. Jaramillo said it's nearing integration with the capsule and engineers are working to complete thermal and electrical checklists.

The ULA-built second stage for SLS, known as the Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage, is also being prepped at the company's Cape Canaveral Spaceport facilities. Once cleared by ULA, it will be transferred to KSC for integration with the SLS rocket as soon as other portions arrive at the Vehicle Assembly Building. Other hardware elements that complete SLS, like the core stage and side-mounted solid rocket boosters, are still being prepared for shipment to KSC via barge and rail, respectively. NASA centers in Louisiana and Mississippi are involved in prepping those segments. (12/13)

The Fusion Breakthrough Means Winning the Climate Change Race Could Be Just Decades Away (Source: Fortune)
The Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory fusion energy breakthrough will pave the way for advancements in national defense and the future of clean power, Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm and other officials said. Proponents of fusion hope that it could one day offer nearly limitless, carbon-free energy and displace fossil fuels and other traditional energy sources. Producing energy that powers homes and businesses from fusion is still decades away.

“It’s almost like it’s a starting gun going off,” said professor Dennis Whyte, director of the Plasma Science and Fusion Center at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a leader in fusion research. “We should be pushing towards making fusion energy systems available to tackle climate change and energy security.”

One approach to fusion turns hydrogen into plasma, an electrically charged gas, which is then controlled by humongous magnets. This method is being explored in France in a collaboration among 35 countries called the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor, as well as by researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a private company. Last year the teams working on those projects on two continents announced significant advancements in the vital magnets needed for their work. (12/13)

Bluewalker 3 On Target to Deliver the First and Only Space-Based Cellular Broadband Network (Source: Space Daily)
"The achievements to date for BlueWalker 3 validate the design roadmap for our BlueBirds, including deploying and flying the largest-ever commercial communications array in low Earth orbit, a key fundamental and patented technology to deliver space-based cellular broadband directly to unmodified phones," said Abel Avellan, Chairman and CEO of AST SpaceMobile. "On the back of the successful deployment of BW3's communications array, we look forward to initiating testing with our mobile network operator partners starting early in the first quarter of 2023." (12/14)

Keeping the Peace as Competition Rises in Space (Source: Space Daily)
With the rise of commercialized space flight and the threat of significant weaponization of space, it will take an international effort to develop and adopt agreed-upon regulations to maintain safety, according to speakers at a Duke Space Diplomacy Lab webinar.

"Given the increasing number of government and private sector actors with the capability of launching spacecraft with a wide range of commercial, defense, communications and intelligence capabilities, urgent space diplomacy is needed now more than ever to ensure that emerging space security contingencies can be mitigated as space becomes entrenched as an operational domain," said lab co-founder Benjamin L. Schmitt.

The Duke Space Diplomacy Lab launched earlier this year, with the goal of providing a forum for a multidisciplinary set of academics, students, diplomats, reporters and commercial spaceflight leaders to develop research, policy proposals and solutions to mitigate risks and ensure "a secure and sustainable future of humanity in space." (12/12)

Outer Space Talks are a Welcome Addition to the US-Africa Leaders Summit (Source: Space Daily)
President Joe Biden is hosting the Second US-Africa Leaders Summit in mid-December 2022. The focus will be on eight areas: economic engagement; peace, security and good governance; democracy and human rights; regional and global health security (including recovery from COVID-19 and pandemic preparedness); food security; climate change; diaspora ties; and education and youth leadership.

Of the 55 African heads of governments, 49 have been invited to the summit. Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan are currently on suspension from the Africa Union due to coups d'etats, hence they were not invited. Western Sahara (officially called Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic), though a member of the African Union, is not recognised by the US, so it was not invited. The US has no ambassador exchange with Eritrea, hence its exclusion. (12/9)

Rwanda and Nigeria Join Artemis Accords (Source: Space News)
Rwanda and Nigeria became the first African countries to sign the Artemis Accords Tuesday. Officials from the two countries signed the Accords during a ceremony that was part of the U.S.-Africa Leaders Summit in Washington. Twenty-three countries have now signed the Artemis Accords, which outline best practices for safe and sustainable space exploration. At an event Monday, U.S. officials said they were working to find ways to encourage more emerging space countries to join, even if they have no near-term plans to participate in the Artemis lunar exploration effort. (12/14)

Bill Nelson Came to NASA To Do Two Things, and He’s All Out of Bubblegum (Source: Ars Technica)
President Biden nominated Nelson to become the administrator of NASA in March 2021. At the time, Nelson seemed too old for a space agency that was rapidly changing. He also had been a critic of the commercial space industry that the agency was increasingly turning to for lower-cost services. And he had harshly criticized the previous administrator, Jim Bridenstine, saying a politician should not lead the space agency. (Nelson was a politician for 45 years prior to leading NASA.) My story about his nomination reflected these concerns.

None of this mattered in the nominating process. Nelson's former colleagues in the US Senate, where he served for 18 years, swiftly confirmed him to the position by a voice vote. Since then, Nelson has led NASA like a statesman. Behind the scenes, he ensured he had two capable lieutenants to assist. Pam Melroy, only the second woman to command a space shuttle, became his deputy administrator. Nelson's friend and another former shuttle commander, Bob Cabana, was tapped to become associate administrator. Nelson delegated the technical details to them.

And he did what he does best—schmooze. Along the way, he has managed to pretty much charm everyone, including some of us in the media who were skeptical. He has been, by no means, perfect. Often he speaks in platitudes and generalities. But he is getting the job done. Nelson does not deserve credit for all of the space agency's achievements during the 18 months since he took over as administrator. Many of these projects were begun years or decades ago. But he has brought them over the finish line and led the agency into what is a golden era for many of its programs. (12/13)

Bill Nelson: NASA Gets Assurance Musk's Twitter Purchase Won't Distract SpaceX (Source: GovCon Daily)
Elon Musk’s acquisition of Twitter has prompted NASA to ask whether the transaction would have an impact on the business magnate’s rocket company, SpaceX. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said he was assured by SpaceX President and four-time Wash100 awardee Gwynne Shotwell that the purchase of the social media platform would not distract the launch services provider from its mission. (12/14)

Indra, Centum Partner to Build Space Surveillance Radar for India (Source: Janes)
Spanish technology company Indra has signed an agreement with Bangalore-based Centum Electronics to submit a joint proposal to the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to manufacture a space surveillance radar that can improve the security of India's spatial assets. Indra and Centum Electronics will “undertake together the statement of work of the programme, namely the manufacturing, installation, integration, and testing of the radar”, Jaime Temes, international commercial director for defence at Indra told Janes.

The radar that will be manufactured by the two companies will be based on Indra's S3TSR radar, Temes said. The S3TSR radar is “capable of providing positional information of orbital objects by means of space surveillance”, and has been “in operation by the Spanish Air Force since 2018”, he added. (12/8)

Indra Works With Oman on Satellite Observation Center (Source: Indra)
Indra is working with the Ministry of Finance and the National Survey Authority (NSA) of the Ministry of Defence of the Sultanate of Oman on the implementation of an advanced Earth observation center to provide the country with critical capacity to boost the competitiveness of its economy and improve the services provided by the authorities to its citizens.

The project forms part of the Sultanate of Oman Vision 2040 plan promoted by the country’s government to modernize its infrastructures, diversify the economy and create high-quality employment. The new center will be equipped with Indra software capable of generating high value-added products and services based on satellite images, particularly those collected by the Sentinel constellation of the European Copernicus program, one of the most advanced currently in existence.

The company will provide advice on designing the center’s business strategy and help define the lines of development to be followed in the coming years. The areas it will focus its activities on include maritime traffic safety, the protection of critical infrastructures, land use control, analysis of the growth of urban areas and environmental protection. (12/14)

UAE Proposes to Develop Gateway Airlock (Source: The National)
The United Arab Emirates may provide an airlock module for the lunar Gateway. A Boeing executive said at a conference last week in Abu Dhabi that it was working with the UAE on a proposal to develop an airlock module for the Gateway. At an event Monday in Washington, a NASA official said the agency was in talks with an unnamed new partner to contribute the airlock and hoped to finalize the agreement in a matter of months. Russia was originally slated to provide the airlock but declined to participate in the Gateway program. (12/14)

China's FAST Telescope Reveals Unprecedented Details of Milky Way (Source: Space Daily)
The vast space between billions of stars in the Milky Way is not empty, but filled with thin interstellar medium. Using the Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Radio Telescope (FAST), or the "China Sky Eye," Chinese scientists revealed the unprecedented details of the Galactic interstellar medium. The research team published their new findings Saturday in the latest journal Science China: Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy.

During the sensitive survey for pulsars using the FAST, the spectral line data of the interstellar medium was recorded simultaneously. Though the fine calibration is still underway, the results available are already the most sensitive for detecting neutral hydrogen gas clouds to date, showing unprecedented details about the distribution of neutral hydrogen gas.

Compared to all previous surveys, the improvement in angular resolution and sensitivity in the survey conducted by Han's team is "impressive," said John M. Dickey, emeritus professor with the University of Tasmania in Australia and the University of Minnesota in the United States, adding that the results are worthy of international attention. The research team has also revealed the luminous regions ionized by bright stars and the diffuse ionized gas of unknown origin. (12/12)

ABL's Next Launch Attempt Now Planned for January (Source: ABL Space Systems)
ABL Space Systems will wait until January to make another attempt to launch its RS1 rocket. The company said Tuesday that they scrubbed the previous launch attempt last week because of electrical interference in its avionics that only shows up during propellant loading. The company said the issues appears to be thermoelectrical or thermomechanical in nature, and will spend the coming weeks isolating and correcting the problem. The next launch window from Kodiak, Alaska, opens Jan. 9. (12/14)

New Chinese Rocket Fails on Maiden Launch (Source: Parabolic Arc)
Reports say that a new Chinese launch vehicle powered by liquid oxygen and methane failed during its maiden flight on Wednesday after liftoff from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. Early reports indicate that LandSpace Technology Corp.’s Zhuque-2 (ZQ-2) booster failed to reach orbit after the early shutdown of a vernier engine on its second stage. It is not known what payloads were aboard the rocket.

ZQ-2 is a two-stage rocket that will be capable of placing 4,000 kg (8,818 lb) into a 200 km (124-mile) high orbit or 2,000 kg (4,409 lb) into a 500 km (311-mile) high sun-synchronous orbit. The booster’s first stage uses four TQ-12 engines powered by liquid oxygen and methane (methalox). The second stage uses a single TQ-12 engine and a TQ-11 engine that will act as a vernier thruster. (12/14)

NASA Open to Closer Space Ties with India (Source: The Hindu)
A NASA official said the agency is willing to work more closely with India on its human spaceflight program. Kathy Lueders, NASA associate administrator for space operations, told reporters after a talk in India that she wants to build upon existing data exchanges through the NASA-ISRO Human Space Flight Working Group. That could include information on topics like training protocols. India is continuing work on its Gaganyaan program to send humans into orbit as soon as 2024. (12/14)

Russia Plans to Supply RD-191 Rocket Engines to India, Possibly License Their Manufacture in India (Source: RBC)
Roscosmos is exploring the possibility of supplying ten RD-191 rocket engines to India over a five-year period starting in 2024. This was stated by Deputy General Director for the implementation of state powers of the state corporation Valery Sherin at an expanded meeting of the Federation Council Committee on Economic Policy, RBC correspondent reports. “In the period from 2024 to 2029, we are considering the possibility of supplying about ten RD-191 rocket engines manufactured by NPO Energomash,” he said.

At the talks, they discussed, among other things, the transfer of a license for the right to manufacture engines in India, it was about engines in the range from 100 to 400 tons. Arbuzov specified that the negotiations were taking place against the backdrop of India developing launch vehicles for a manned program. (12/13)

SpaceX Lawyers Tapped to Support Musk's Twitter Legal Issues (Source: New York Times)
Elon Musk has turned to SpaceX for legal help at Twitter. After much of Twitter's legal staff departed once Musk completed his acquisition of the social media company in October, Musk has brought in more than a half-dozen lawyers from SpaceX to help at Twitter. Among them are two SpaceX vice presidents for legal and government affairs. (12/14)

All Points Adds Bridenstine to Board, Seeks Role in Payload Processing (Source: Florida Today)
A Florida company is looking to get into the satellite processing business with the help of a former NASA administrator. All Points Logistics, a technical services company, announced this week it added Jim Bridenstine to its board of advisers. He will help the company as it pursues a new line of business offering payload processing and testing services, using a new facility it proposes to build on Florida's Space Coast. (12/14)

Imagining Big Changes in a Small Timeframe (Source: Ft. Myers Florida Weekly)
“We know that investing in space technology and solving hard problems will result in inventions and technology that didn’t exist before, and we’ve seen the practical benefits over the 60-plus year history of NASA, but we don’t always know what they’ll be,” said Dan Lockney, the technology transfer program executive for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

The technology transfer program makes NASA’s innovations and patents available for public use. Mr. Lockney said his favorite story of an unexpected use for NASA tech is that of a miniaturized camera on a chip for satellites to take deep-space images. The only terrestrial application NASA could think of was for spy gadgets. He said they were surprised when Nokia contacted them wanting to add miniaturized cameras to cellphones. Click here. (12/14)

World Cup Soccer Balls Flew Aboard Falcon 9 First Stage (Source: CollectSpace)
Two World Cup soccer balls went to space before going to Qatar. SpaceX flew the balls on the first stage of an unspecified Falcon 9 mission, going on a suborbital trip to an altitude of 123 kilometers before landing on a droneship. SpaceX partnered with Qatar Airlines, which transported the space-flown soccer balls to Qatar, on the promotion, which SpaceX used to advertise its Starlink service. (12/14)

Tiangong Solidifies China's Permanent Crewed Presence in Earth Orbit (Source: NextGov)
The International Space Station is no longer the only place where humans can live in orbit. On Nov. 29, 2022, the Shenzhou 15 mission launched from China’s Gobi Desert carrying three taikonauts – the Chinese word for astronauts. Six hours later, they reached their destination, China’s recently completed space station, called Tiangong, which means “heavenly palace” in Mandarin. The three taikonauts replaced the existing crew that helped wrap up construction. With this successful mission, China has become just the third nation to operate a permanent space station.

China’s space station is an achievement that solidifies the country’s position alongside the U.S. and Russia as one of the world’s top three space powers. As scholars of space law and space policy who lead the Indiana University Ostrom Workshop’s Space Governance Program, we have been following the development of the Chinese space station with interest.

Unlike the collaborative, U.S.-led International Space Station, Tiangong is entirely built and run by China. The successful opening of the station is the beginning of some exciting science. But the station also highlights the country’s policy of self-reliance and is an important step for China toward achieving larger space ambitions among a changing landscape of power dynamics in space. (12/13)

Space Force Readies Eastern Range for Two Minutes-Apart SpaceX Launches (Source: Click Orlando)
Two SpaceX launches are scheduled minutes apart on Friday at the Cape Canaveral Spaceport. The first launch, set for 4:21 p.m. on Friday, will carry the first two O3b mPOWER broadband internet satellites into medium-Earth orbit for SES of Luxembourg. That launch will take place at Launch Complex 40. The second launch, set for 4:39 p.m., is a Starlink mission launching from Launch Complex 39A. The 45th Weather Squadron says weather will be excellent for whichever rocket launches Friday, with a 90% chance of good weather. (12/14)

Mars Rover Hit by a 387-Foot Dust Devil (Source: Washington Post)
Scientists have seen plenty of dust devils on Mars, and now, for the first time, they’ve heard one. The vortex made a direct hit on NASA’s Perseverance rover, peppering the spacecraft with dust and whispering into a microphone that the team had smartly included in their package of instruments. The sound of the dust devil, published Tuesday to accompany a paper in the journal Nature Communications, is subtle. It’s crackly and percussive, like radio static, though one might more generously imagine a breeze ruffling some distant palm fronds.

The trove of data coming from the encounter has thrilled scientists, who are keenly aware of the outsize influence Martian dust has on the planet’s climate. The fine-grained particles also can damage scientific instruments on Martian landers and rovers and potentially blanket solar panels to the point of uselessness. Studying the rover’s gritty recordings can provide insights into the way dust might affect ongoing Mars missions, and maybe even future human exploration. (12/13)

China’s Busy Year Continues with Four Launches in Six Days (Source: NasaSpaceFlight.com)
With Monday’s launch of the Shiyan-20A satellite aboard a Chang Zheng 4C rocket, China has rounded out a busy few days which have seen four orbital launches – including the debut of one new rocket and the first successful flight of another. With just under three weeks remaining, 2022 has already been a record year for China in space, with Monday’s launch marking the country’s fifty-ninth attempted orbital mission of the year.

The country’s previous record of 55 or 56 launches – depending on the inclusion of an unconfirmed orbital missile test – was set last year. Depending on the interpretation, this mark was either equaled or surpassed by China’s 56th launch of 2022 at the beginning of the recent flurry of launches last Wednesday, Dec. 7. (12/12)

Chang'e-5 Samples Suggest Exploitable Water Resources on the Moon (Source: Xinhua)
By studying lunar samples retrieved by the Chang'e-5 mission, Chinese scientists found that lunar soil grains retain more solar wind-implanted water at the middle latitude region than previously thought. Based on this finding, the scientists predict that there is a large amount of water resources available for utilization at the high latitude region of the moon.

Scientists had previously discovered the presence of surficial water on the moon. They believed that solar wind implantation, volcanic outgassing, and asteroid/comet impacts are likely to be important sources of surficial water on the moon. But how does water reach and remain on the moon? How much water is in the lunar soil? How is the water distributed spatially? A study of the lunar soil samples returned by China's Chang'e-5 mission has shed new light on these questions. (12/13)

Air Force's New Squadron to Boost South Korea's Space Operations Capabilities (Source: Korea Times)
With the space emerging as a new warfighting domain today, the Republic of Korea Air Force has also joined the race, as evidenced by the establishment of its Space Operations Squadron earlier this month. Although the Air Force has had space-related units under its wing, they have been all operated separately, raising questions over their effectiveness. Maj. Kim Jong-ha, the inaugural commander of the squadron, expected that their incorporation will help strengthen the nation's space operations capabilities.

The squadron is an organization born by integrating existing units, including the Space Operations Unit launched in 2019, to carry out various missions such as space debris fallout forecasts. Two other units ― the Space Intelligence Center under the Air Force's Space Center and the Satellite Control Center under the Air Intelligence Wing ― have also been integrated into the squadron. The launch of the squadron comes as North Korea has been ratcheting up tensions on the Korean Peninsula by launching ballistic missiles on 31 occasions this year, including eight rounds of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) launches. (12/13)

Plants in Space: the Next Gastronomical Frontier (Source: Cosmos)
art of sustaining a continuous, independent presence anywhere in space – be it Earth orbit, the Moon or even Mars – will require plants to be grown, tended and harvested locally. This is no mean feat, given the vastly different conditions in space and on other celestial bodies to those on the life-giving Earth. There are a few interesting candidates – including a type of pond weed from Adelaide, Australia – and methods such as vertical gardening, hydroponics and aeroponics.

How can we adapt plants for a life in space, asks Seidel, especially given our dependence on them for so many aspects of our daily lives – diet, pharmacology, filtration and recycling, just to name a few. And how can we adapt to inevitable evolutionary changes likely to happen to plants in a completely new environment? As Seidel notes, “they don’t want infestations of weeds on Mars. Nor fields of fungi”. These are questions currently wide open for exploration as humanity steps out into new frontiers. (12/13)

Ashurbeyli Inaugurated as Leader of Space Nation "Asgardia" (Source: Asgardia)
Dr. Igor Ashurbeyli has been re-elected as Head of Nation by the Residents of Asgardia, after successfully serving his first five-year term in office. Dr. Ashurbeyli won an overwhelming majority of 93.17% in the election, which was held in September 2022. The broadcast on 13 December was the first event of its kind to be hosted in a digital space environment. It was broadcast live from the 3D renders of the Asgardia National Ark, which will be Asgardia’s physical habitable location orbiting the Earth in the future. Click here. (12/13)

Ariane Launches Weather Satellite, Two Intelsats (Source: BBC)
The first in a new generation of European weather satellites was launched Tuesday by an Ariane 5. The Meteosat Third Generation Imager-1 satellite, also called Meteosat-12 was sent to orbit along with two Intelsat communications satellites. Meteosat-12 will be able to return full disk images of the Earth every 10 minutes from geostationary orbit, compared to one every 15 minutes from existing satellites. The satellite also carries a lightning detector. (12/13)