January 31, 2023

Untangling a Knot of Galaxy Clusters (Source: Space Daily)
Astronomers have captured a spectacular, ongoing collision between at least three galaxy clusters. Data from NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory, ESA's XMM-Newton, and a trio of radio telescopes is helping astronomers sort out what is happening in this jumbled scene. Collisions and mergers like this are the main way that galaxy clusters can grow into the gigantic cosmic edifices seen today. These also act as the largest particle accelerators in the universe.

The giant galaxy cluster forming from this collision is Abell 2256, located 780 million light years from Earth. This composite image of Abell 2256 combines X-rays from Chandra and XMM-Newton in blue with radio data collected by the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT), the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR), and the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA) all in red, plus optical and infrared data from Pan-STARRs in white and pale yellow. (1/31)

Will Machine Learning help Us Find Extraterrestrial Life? (Source: Space Daily)
When pondering the probability of discovering technologically advanced extraterrestrial life, the question that often arises is, "if they're out there, why haven't we found them yet?" And often, the response is that we have only searched a tiny portion of the galaxy. Further, algorithms developed decades ago for the earliest digital computers can be outdated and inefficient when applied to modern petabyte-scale datasets.

Now, research has applied a deep learning technique to a previously studied dataset of nearby stars and uncovered eight previously unidentified signals of interest. "In total, we had searched through 150 TB of data of 820 nearby stars, on a dataset that had previously been searched through in 2017 by classical techniques but labeled as devoid of interesting signals," said Peter Ma. "We're scaling this search effort to 1 million stars today with the MeerKAT telescope and beyond. We believe that work like this will help accelerate the rate we're able to make discoveries in our grand effort to answer the question 'are we alone in the universe?'" (1/31)

Watch Distant Worlds Dance Around Their Sun (Source: Space Daily)
In 2008, HR8799 was the first extrasolar planetary system ever directly imaged. Now, the famed system stars in its very own video.
Using observations collected over the past 12 years, Northwestern University astrophysicist Jason Wang has assembled a stunning time lapse video of the family of four planets - each more massive than Jupiter - orbiting their star. The video gives viewers an unprecedented glimpse into planetary motion.

"It's usually difficult to see planets in orbit," Wang said. "For example, it isn't apparent that Jupiter or Mars orbit our sun because we live in the same system and don't have a top-down view. Astronomical events either happen too quickly or too slowly to capture in a movie. But this video shows planets moving on a human time scale. I hope it enables people to enjoy something wondrous." An expert in exoplanet imaging, Wang is an assistant professor of physics and astronomy in Northwestern's Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences and a member of the Center for Interdisciplinary Exploration and Research in Astrophysics (CIERA). (1/31)

China's Deep Space Exploration Lab Eyes Top Global Talents (Source: Space Daily)
China's Deep Space Exploration Lab (DSEL) said Monday that it is inviting top global talents to apply for the 2023 Overseas Outstanding Young Talents Program, to promote the development of deep-space exploration. According to the DSEL, the program, funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, aims to attract outstanding young scholars from overseas, who have made achievements in the natural sciences, engineering and technology, to come and work in China.

Applicants are invited to take part in research on aerospace science and technology, space science and technology, planetary science, physics, astronomy, nuclear science and technology, biology, chemistry and materials science, electronic information and technology, mechanical engineering, artificial intelligence and other fields related to deep-space exploration, said the DSEL. (1/31)

In-Space Missions Announces Asia-Pacific Rideshare Mission (Source: Space Daily)
In-Space Missions Ltd is partnering with Singapore Space Technologies Ltd (SSTL) to initiate Faraday Dragon, an Asia-Pacific regional satellite rideshare mission targeted for launch in 2025. Faraday Dragon will fly multiple payloads for regional space players including government, commercial, financial, research and educational organisations.

In-Space Missions, which is owned by BAE Systems, is collaborating with SSTL on a service-orientated model which aims to support and develop satellite assembly and payload integration capabilities in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific region. Faraday Dragon will be presented at a workshop facilitated by SSTL at the Global Space and Technology Convention (GSTC) being held in Singapore in February. (1/31)

Small Satellites Forum Back Again in Spain in its Fourth Edition Next February (Source: Space Daily)
The aerospace sector at an international level will meet again in Spain with the celebration of the international forum "Small Satellites and Services International Forum" (SSSIF), which will take place in Malaga from February 21 to 23. The meeting, which this year will celebrate its fourth edition, will serve to analyze the main technical characteristics of current small satellites, the challenges that technology has today, future needs, as well as other current issues, such as the role of women in space. (1/31)

Perseverance Rover Completes Cache of Mars Samples (Source: Space.com)
The Perseverance Mars rover has completed a sample cache on the Martian surface. The rover deposited the tenth and final sample tube over the weekend, completing a depot the rover started last month. The depot will serve as a backup for NASA's Mars Sample Return campaign if Perseverance can't return samples it is keeping on board to a future lander. That lander will carry two helicopters based on Ingenuity that will fly to the cache and pick up sample tubes, one at a time, and bring them to the lander for return to Earth. (1/31)

Lockheed Martin Readies New Mid-Size Satellite Bus (Source: Space News)
Lockheed Martin is planning the first flight of a new mid-sized satellite bus later this year. The company said Tuesday that the first LM 400 bus will carry a Lockheed Martin narrowband communications electronically steered array payload. A second demonstrator projected to fly in 2024 will be a synthetic aperture radar payload. The demonstration missions, the first in a series of self-funded missions planned by Lockheed, are intended to show the performance of the bus in low, medium and geostationary orbits. Lockheed Martin will produce these satellites at a new 3.5-million-square-foot facility in Denver. (1/31)

NASA Reaches "Full Utilization" of ISS (Source: Space News)
NASA has maxed out its utilization of its share of the International Space Station given crew and cargo limitations. In a presentation Monday, a NASA official said the agency had reached "full utilization" given limits on the amount of large cargo items as well as cargo that requires refrigeration. The amount of cargo stowed on the station, including in passageways between modules, requires NASA to add more time in crew activities so that astronauts can retrieve items. Doing more work on the ISS will require changes in research practices, such as doing more analysis on the station and limiting the experiments that require round trips to and from the station. (1/31)

LeoLabs Commissions Space Tracking Radar in Australia (Source: Space News)
LeoLabs has commissioned its newest space tracking radar in Australia. The West Australian Space Radar will bolster the company's ability to track objects in medium- and high-inclination low Earth orbits as they pass over the Southern Hemisphere where there are fewer assets to track space objects, augmenting an existing company radar in New Zealand. The new S-band radar can detect track objects as small as two centimeters in diameter. (1/31)

House Passes Remote Sensing Bill (Source: Space News)
The House passed Monday a minor commercial remote sensing bill. H.R. 290, passed by the House on a voice vote, reinstates a provision that expired in 2020 that requires the Commerce Department to provide annual reports on commercial remote sensing licensing activities. It also sets in law a 60-day timeline for reviewing applications, matching current regulations. The bill was sponsored by the chairman and ranking member of the House Science Committee, which they said was a sign of continued bipartisan cooperation by the committee in the Republican-led Congress. (1/31)

Inmarsat Satellite Arrives in Florida for February Launch (Source: Space News)
Inmarsat's next satellite arrived at its launch site after a lengthy plane trip. An Airbus Beluga plane carrying the 5,500-kilogram Inmarsat-6 F2 (I-6 F2) satellite, built by Airbus, landed at the Kennedy Space Center after a three-day trip that started in France with multiple stops. Airbus turned to the Beluga because Antonov cargo planes that have traditionally been used are in short supply since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. A Falcon 9 is scheduled to launch I-6 F2 in mid-February. (1/31)

NASA Plans Another ISS Spacewalk for Solar Array Installation (Source: NASA)
NASA confirmed plans Monday for another ISS spacewalk later this week. Nicole Mann and Koichi Wakata will take their second spacewalk in two weeks on Thursday, continuing work the started on their previous spacewalk to install mounting equipment for future solar arrays. They will conduct additional tasks, such as relocating a foot restraint and routing a power cable, as time permits. The spacewalk will start at 8:15 a.m. Eastern and is scheduled to last six and a half hours. (1/31)

Joint US/India SAR Satellite Readies for Launch (Source: Times of India)
A joint NASA-ISRO Earth science satellite is nearing final preparations for launch. The NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) spacecraft payload, an S- and L-band radar, is scheduled to leave the Jet Propulsion Laboratory this week and go to India, where it will be integrated with the spacecraft. NISAR is scheduled for launch as soon as late this year on an Indian GSLV rocket to map land and ice elevations. (1/31)

Sierra Space Completes Third Successful Test of Inflatable Habitat Unit Designed for First Commercial Space Station (Source: Sierra Space)
Sierra Space's LIFE Habitat (Large Integrated Flexible Environment) successfully completed a third stress test – this time for duration – exceeding NASA certification requirements and demonstrating the inflatable structure’s integrity for sustaining human life in space for long periods of time. This latest assessment, called an Accelerated Systematic Creep Test, is a destructive materials testing method by which test engineers load the test unit – a subscale version of the inflatable habitat – with a sustained amount of pressure over time until it fails.

The unit’s “softgoods” pressure shell burst after over 150 hours, exceeding NASA’s short-term, recommended creep duration target of 100 hours. High-strength softgoods materials are sewn and woven fabrics – primarily Vectran – that become rigid structures when pressurized and can provide safe and sustainable architecture for space habitation. The company will conduct a second subscale Systematic Accelerated Creep Test early in 2023. Stress tests on full-scale LIFE™ Habitat units will begin later in the year as part of Sierra Space’s ongoing softgoods certification process. (1/31)

Engineers Cite Comparable Values Between Pre-Flight Predictions & Actual Data from Space Launch System (Source: Executive Gov)
The post-flight analysis team of the Artemis I Space Launch System rocket is interpreting and reviewing data for their final report on the mission’s performance. Their findings will be used to refine plans for future Artemis missions to the moon and beyond, NASA said Friday. Over four terabytes of pre-launch and launch information as well as nearly 31 TB of imagery data were gathered by SLS support engineers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

A new RS-25 engine controller enabled the team to amass more than 100 measurements including temperatures, speeds, pressures and vibrations. They found that the engines’ thrust and mixture ratio control valves were within 5 percent of their value predictions, while internal pressures and temperatures were within 2 percent of pre-flight predicted values.

“The correlation between actual flight performance and predicted performance for Artemis I was excellent,” SLS program manager John Honeycutt said. “There is engineering and an art to successfully building and launching a rocket, and the analysis on the SLS rocket’s inaugural flight puts NASA and its partners in a good position to power missions for Artemis II and beyond.” (1/30)

Sidus Space Announces Pricing of $4.5 Million Public Offering (Source: Sidus Space)
Sidus Space announced the pricing of an underwritten public offering of 15,000,000 shares of its Class A common stock in lieu thereof. Each share of Class A common stock is being sold to the public at a price of $0.30 per share. The gross proceeds to the Company from this offering are expected to be approximately $4.5 million. In addition, Sidus Space has granted the underwriters a 45-day option to purchase up to an additional 2,250,000 shares and Pre-Funded Warrants to cover over-allotments, if any. The offering is expected to close on February 2, 2023, subject to customary closing conditions. (1/31)

Human Spaceflight Safety in a New Commercial Era (Source: Space Review)
This week, as NASA marks the 20th anniversary of the loss of Columbia, the agency says it’s redoubling its efforts to learn from that and past accidents to avoid another. Jeff Foust reports that those efforts come as human spaceflight shifts to the private sector, creating a new set of issues to ensure safety. Click here. (1/30)
 
Space-to-Ground Capabilities are the Answer to Deterring Invasion of Taiwan (Source: Space Review)
The US military raised concerns last year that China may be developing fractional orbital bombardment systems and other space-to-ground weapons. Christopher Stone argues that the best way to counter such weapons is for the US to develop similar ones. Click here. (1/30)
 
Our Solar System is Filled with Asteroids that are Particularly Hard to Destroy (Source: Space Review)
The recent success of NASA’s DART mission might suggest that scientists have figured out how to deal with a potentially hazardous asteroid. Fred Jourdan and Nick Timms explain their research that shows that asteroids like the one DART hit might actually be difficult to handle. Click here. (1/30)

There are 6 Billion Earth-Like Planets in the Milky Way Galaxy Alone, Astronomers Suggest (Source: Physics-Astronomy.com)
Maybe you think one Earth is enough. But what if there were billions? Researchers make a new estimate that the number of Earth-like planets in our Milky Way galaxy can reach as high as 6 billion. Astronomers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) analyzed data from NASA’s Kepler mission to reach a stunning conclusion. The information on 200,000 stars was gathered by the Kepler planet-hunting spacecraft from 2009 to 2018.

The criteria used by the scientists for selecting such a planet maintained it had to be rocky, about the same size as Earth, and orbiting a star like our Sun. This planet also had to be in the habitable zone of its star, where the conditions would be just right to potentially allow for water and life. “Our Milky Way has as many as 400 billion stars, with seven percent of them being G-type. That means less than six billion stars may have Earth-like planets in our Galaxy." (1/30)

Former NASA Astronauts to Receive Congressional Space Medal of Honor (Source: NASA)
Vice President Kamala Harris will award former NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken the Congressional Space Medal of Honor at 4:25 p.m. EST on Tuesday, Jan. 31. Hurley and Behnken will receive the award for bravery in NASA’s SpaceX Demonstration Mission-2 (Demo-2) to the International Space Station in 2020. (1/30)

After a Failure 4 Months Ago, the New Shepard Spacecraft Remains in Limbo (Source: Ars Technica)
More than four months have passed since the launch of Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket ended in failure. The failure has grounded the New Shepard fleet ever since. The rocket's single main engine failed about one minute into the flight, at an altitude of around 9 km, as it was throttling back up after passing through the period of maximum dynamic pressure. At that point a large fire erupted in the BE-3 engine, and the New Shepard capsule's solid rocket motor-powered escape system fired as intended, pulling the capsule away from the exploding rocket.

Three days after this accident with the New Shepard-23 mission, the bipartisan leadership of the House Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics sent a letter to the FAA, calling for a thorough investigation. The chair of the subcommittee, US Rep. Don Beyer (D-VA), urged Blue Origin to be transparent. The company has not heeded this advice.

Founded by Jeff Bezos more than two decades ago, Blue Origin has largely been non-transparent in its activities during its existence, only rarely offering glimpses of its work through carefully choreographed public relations campaigns. Bezos almost never speaks with space journalists about the company's activities. This has continued with the New Shepard-23 investigation. To date, Blue Origin has said nothing publicly about the failure, its investigations, or the next steps. It appears that Blue Origin might be targeting a time period from April 1 to June 1 of this year for its next New Shepard flight. (1/30)

Crew Dragon Vehicle Could Be Used to Evacuate ISS Astronauts in an Emergency (Source: The Verge)
A SpaceX Crew Dragon vehicle currently docked to the International Space Station (ISS) could be used to transport extra crew members back to Earth in the event of an emergency, NASA announced. The plan is for NASA astronaut Frank Rubio to travel in the SpaceX Crew Dragon along with the four Crew-5 members and for Russian cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to travel in the Soyuz that experienced the leak. (1/30)

Cubesat That Launched on SpaceX Falcon 9 Will Test Water-Based Propulsion (Source: Space.com)
A Japanese propulsion company developing water-based thrusters is set to test its system on a Sony nanosatellite launched earlier this month. Pale Blue was chosen by Sony to provide in-orbit propulsion for its Star Sphere project, which will offer still images and 4K video services for artistic and educational use and provide "space perspectives." Sony's first satellite for the project launched along with 113 other satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket on SpaceX's Transporter 6 mission on Jan. 3. The 6U cubesat is named Star Sphere-1 and carries a full-frame camera. (1/30)

Anomalies' Spell Disaster for Space Companies' Search for Money (Source: Washington Post)
In spaceflight, “anomaly” is a sanitized word for “failure.” And there have been a lot of them recently, bringing a highflying industry back to ground and driving home a point that has been overlooked, or forgotten, as space has emerged as a hot sector in the economy: Flying rockets is an enormously risky and difficult business. The day after Virgin Orbit suffered its loss, another start-up space company, ABL Space Systems, suffered “an anomaly and shut down prematurely,” it said on Twitter, meaning the rocket’s engines stopped firing, causing it to fall, crash into the launchpad and explode.

As the economy tightens, many space companies are now struggling. Riding the enthusiastic wave of investment, several space companies went public through SPACs, or special purpose acquisition companies, trying to raise the cash to propel them to orbit. Investors jumped in, some of them without a lot of knowledge about the specific challenges of an industry that is in large part reliant on the careful combustion of thousands of gallons of volatile propellant. But now, as the economy tightens and fears of recession loom, many of those companies have come crashing down, and investment is tightening.

After its failure, Virgin Orbit, the company founded by Richard Branson, saw its stock plummet, and it’s now trading below $2 a share. Astra, another rocket company aimed at going after the small satellite industry, has also struggled to get off the ground. In November, after posting a net loss for the third quarter of $5 million, it said it was laying off 16 percent of its workforce. That followed a notice from Nasdaq warning it would delist the company after it failed to trade above $1 a share for 30 consecutive days. (1/25)

Two Vulcan Commercial Launches to Certify for Military Missions (Source: Aviation Week)
The baseline plan to certify the Vulcan for NSSL missions includes two demonstration flights. On its debut mission in late March, Vulcan is expected to send Astrobotic's small lunar lander on a trajectory to the Moon. The rocket will also carry a pair of prototype satellites for Amazon's Kuiper constellation. Vulcan's second flight, targeted for this summer, was purchased bu Sierra Space for its first Dream Chaser cargo mission to the ISS. On its third flight, expected in late 2023, Vulcan is expected to carry its first nationa security payload. (1/16)

Modified Boeing 777 to Replace NASA's DC-8 Research Aircraft (Source: Aviation Week)
NASA's long-running search for a replacement for its venerable McDonnell Douglas DC-8 Earth-science aircraft is over. The agency has acquired a former Japan Airlines Boeing 777 for conversion into a future research platform. (1/16)

Sierra Space Reveals Plan for NextGen Spaceplane (Source: Aviation Week)
Sierra Space's Dream Chaser is on track to become the first operational commercial lifting body when it makes its planned orbital debut later in 2023. "We're started off with the cargo vehicle, the DC-100, but now we're in the design phase of the DC-200 and the DC-300, which is a national security variant," said Tom Vice. The DC-200 design is 40% larger and may well emerge as a winged spaceplane [similar to Boeing's X-37] rather than another lifting body. (1/16)

Space Force Association Launches Florida Chapter (Source: Space Force Association)
As the Space Force’s Space Launch Delta 45 heads into successfully launching over 50 rockets this year with no sign of slowing, Florida is launching more exciting events and organizations than ever. To support the Guardians, as well as over 16,000 aerospace companies in Florida, the Space Force Association (SFA) has successfully launched it own Florida Chapter. The chapter has a leadership team in place and working toward SFA’s priority to support SF Guardians. Rob Fabian (President), Martin Amen (Vice President), and Susie Dabrowski (SE Region VP) attended the inaugural meeting.

FL Chapter SFA member, Brian Baluta, Lockheed Martin (LM) coordinated SFA’s sponsorship of Artemis 1 launch promotion events. FL Chapter members Rob Fabian, Martin Amen, Benneth Perez (Director of Outreach), and Susie Dabrowski attended LM’s launch events, 27-29 August, including a Mission Briefing, Kennedy Space Center Launch Pad 39B tour and launch viewing. Eric Sundby, SFA Executive Director and Matt Anderson, SFA COO also attended the launch viewing, along with members of the SFA Media team. (1/25)

Ball Aerospace Wins Follow-On Contract for Second WSF-M Satellite (Source: Airforce Technology)
Ball Aerospace has been awarded a follow-on contract to produce and deliver the US Space Force’s (USSF) second Weather System Follow-on-Microwave (WSF-M) satellite. Awarded by the US Space Systems Command (SSC), the contract option is valued at approximately $78m. The newly exercised contract option will further cover the development and fabrication of the second WSF-M space vehicle (SV-2). The new WSF-M satellite will feature a government-furnished, energetic-charged particle (ECP) sensor and a passive microwave-imaging radiometer instrument. (1/27)

University of Florida Sends Pharma Research to ISS (Source: UF)
UF Associate Professor Siobhan Malany, Ph.D., sent a tissue-chip experiment to the International Space Station in November to investigate whether a drug compound made from tomatoes can restore age-related muscle loss. The experiment returned to Earth this week and the data collected will help scientists understand how microgravity affects human muscle biology and could lead to new therapies for age-related muscle loss. Click here. (1/14)

Meteorites Reveal Likely Origin of Earth's Volatile Chemicals (Source: Phys.org)
Meteorites have told researchers the likely far-flung origin of Earth's volatile chemicals, some of which form the building blocks of life. They found that around half the Earth's inventory of the volatile element zinc came from asteroids originating in the outer solar system—the part beyond the asteroid belt that includes the planets Jupiter, Saturn, and Uranus. This material is also expected to have supplied other important volatiles such as water.

Volatiles are elements or compounds that change from solid or liquid state into vapor at relatively low temperatures. They include the six most common elements found in living organisms, as well as water. As such, the addition of this material will have been important for the emergence of life on Earth. Prior to this, researchers thought that most of Earth's volatiles came from asteroids that formed closer to the Earth. The findings reveal important clues about how Earth came to harbor the special conditions needed to sustain life. (1/27)

Space at the Heart of Innovation (Source: Forbes)
The space industry has recently passed the horizon to enter a new golden age. This sector is currently experiencing an industrial revolution , but many rockets are unable to meet the demands of heavy space transport and the cost of such launches is often too high. HStar Space Transport is an aerospace company that is revolutionizing the diverse space transportation market segment by developing fully reusable heavy-duty rockets and offering service solutions to transport passengers and satellites into space.

HStar strives to help countries and organizations around the world participate in the space industry, paving the way for new international developments and partnerships. The American start-up aims to offer its customers a safe and reliable travel experience. By improving the safety and reliability of spaceflight, it will enable organizations and individuals to embark on innovative space missions, giving them the opportunity to explore areas and possibilities never before considered. These services include satellite deployment, manned travel and freight transportation. (1/29)

Radio Signal Captured From Most Distant Galaxy So Far (Source: KALB)
Astronomers from Canada and India said they have recently captured a radio signal from the most distant galaxy from Earth so far. The researchers from McGill University and the Indian Institute of Science said the signal was captured at a specific wavelength known as the 21 cm line with the use of the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India.

They said this is the first time this type of radio signal has been detected at such a distance. “A galaxy emits different kinds of radio signals. Until now, it’s only been possible to capture this particular signal from a galaxy nearby, limiting our knowledge to those galaxies closer to Earth,” Arnab Chakraborty, a post-doctoral researcher at McGill University, said. (1/25)