January 9, 2023

China's Mars Mission May Be In Trouble (Source: Space News)
China's first Mars orbiter and rover appear to be in trouble. The Zhurong rover, which went into hibernation last year during the winter season at its Utopia Planitia landing site, was expected to resume operations in December. However, according to Chinese sources, the rover has not yet made contact with controllers. While there has so far been no official comment, the rover may have been impacted by dust storms in the area that reduce the ability of the rover to generate power from its solar panels. Controllers have also experienced problems trying to contact the Tianwen-1 spacecraft orbiting Mars, which they hoped to use to communicate with Zhurong. (1/9)

China Launches Multiple Satellites on Long March 7A (Source: Space News)
Two Chinese launches overnight placed commercial and classified payloads into orbit. A Long March 7A lifted off from the Wenchang Satellite Launch Center at 5 p.m. Eastern Sunday and placed the Shijian-23 experimental satellite into a geostationary transfer orbit. Two smaller payloads, Shiyan-22A and Shiyan-22B, were also onboard and will be used for in-orbit verification tests of new technologies such as space environment monitoring, according to Chinese state media. A Ceres-1 solid-fuel rocket from private firm Galactic Energy lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center at 12:04 a.m. Eastern Monday, placing five small satellites into sun-synchronous orbit. The launch was the fifth for the Ceres-1. Galactic Energy is now looking to ramp up launch activities and plans 8 to 10 Ceres-1 launches in 2023. (1/9)

Delta Airlines Offers Free Wi-Fi Via Viasat (Source: Space News)
Delta's plan to provide free wi-fi on all its flights could be a boon for satellite operators. The airline's CEO said last week that wi-fi enabled by its satellite operator partner Viasat will be available for about 80% of its domestic routes in the United States from February, with more planes added each week. JetBlue also offers free wi-fi using Viasat, and one industry analyst said Delta's move will pressure other airlines to offer free wi-fi, driving demand for satellite bandwidth. (1/9)

NASA's ERBS Satellite Reenters Near Alaska (Source: Space News)
A defunct NASA satellite launched nearly 40 years ago reentered late Sunday. NASA announced Friday that the Earth Radiation Budget Satellite (ERBS) satellite would make an uncontrolled reentry late Sunday, with some components of the 2,450-kilogram satellite reaching the ground. The spacecraft reentry took place around 11:04 p.m. Eastern, the Space Force reported early Monday, off the coast of Alaska near the Aleutian Islands. ERBS launched on the space shuttle Challenger in 1984 to study the balance between energy the Earth absorbed from the sun and energy it radiated away, as well as to monitor ozone in the stratosphere. It operated until 2005. (1/9)

Senators Ask White House to Boost NASA and NSF Astrophysics Funding (Source: Space News)
Five U.S. senators have asked the White House to boost the budget requests for NASA and NSF to support astrophysics programs. The letter, sent last month to the Office of Management and Budget and Office of Science and Technology Policy by senators from Hawaii, Maryland and New Mexico, asked them to include an additional $150 million each in the NASA and NSF budget proposals for fiscal year 2024 to support priorities in the Astro2020 decadal survey for astrophysics. That would allow NASA to move ahead with planning for a future large space telescope and NSF to back development of ground-based optical and radio observatories. (1/9)

Hedron Developing Data Relay Network for Satellite Operators (Source: Space News)
A startup is working to enable automatic networking in space using optical links. Hedron is developing technology for a space data-relay network that would allow satellite operators to instantly get data from their spacecraft, taking advantage of optical links as part of the system. The company is working on its first satellite, a technology demonstrator, it plans to launch next year. (1/9)

Israel Setting Up Military Space Unit (Source: i24 News)
Israel's military is setting up a space branch. The Israel Air Force announced last week it would create a "space administration" to be led by a lieutenant colonel to review "how Israel can use space for purposes that cannot be specified." Some analysts see the announcement as a step towards establishing an independent space force to ensure that space capabilities are not neglected by the air force, a similar rationale to the one used to establish the U.S. Space Force. (1/9)

Space Force Decides Against Commercial Weather Data Procurement (Source: Breaking Defense)
The U.S. Space Force concluded that it is premature to procure weather data as a commercial service. The Space Force issued a request for information last year to determine if there were vendors that could provide optical and infrared weather data and received several responses. However, the service concluded that what is available is not better than procuring and operating its own weather satellites. The Space Force is working to deploy new weather satellites before the last of the aging DMSP weather satellites goes out of service in the middle of the decade. (1/9)

Science and Technology Issues for the 118th Congress (Source: Congressional Research Service)
Many science and technology policy issues that may come before the 118th Congress represent areas of continuing Member interest. Examples include cross-cutting issues that affect scientific and technological progress, agricultural research, climate change, Defense Department research, earth science, space, and water. Other issues represent new or rapidly transforming areas such as biotechnology, energy, information technology and social media, financial technology, and telecommunications. Click here. (1/4)

Florida Space Industry Careers (Source: Spectrum News 13)
On January 8, 2023, east-central Florida cable news channel Spectrum News 13 aired an episode of "In Focus" about space industry careers in the Space Coast region. The program was anchored by Greg Angel.  Participants were News 13 Brevard County news reporter Greg Pallone and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-FL). Click here. (1/8)

ROCK Robotic Announces ROCK Base (Source: Space Daily)
ROCK Robotic announced the availability of ROCK Base, a state-of-the-art, triple-band multi-constellation RTK/GNSS base station. ROCK has also joined the Web3 GEODNET initiative, the world's largest decentralized GNSS reference network. The combined solution will support critical applications in civil surveying, high-definition mapping and digital twin creation, as well as many next-generation robotic solutions. The ROCK Base is a triple-frequency, 1,400-channel, full-constellation GNSS receiver capable of tracking all major signals transmitted from GPS, GLONASS, Galileo, Beidou, QZSS, and the IRNSS navigation satellite constellations. (1/9)

Scientific Samples, Hardware Return From ISS for More Study (Source: Space Daily)
A radiation protection vest, olive oil, and sutured tissues are among the scientific samples returning from the International Space Station on the 26th SpaceX commercial resupply services mission for NASA. The Dragon spacecraft, which arrived at the station Nov. 27, is scheduled to undock on January 9, with splashdown several hours later off the coast of Florida. The cargo returns to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where scientists can make additional observations and analyses of their experiments before the effects of gravity fully kick back in. Many also conduct more in-depth analysis later in their home labs. (1/9)

Fossil Plants Suggest UV Radiation Played Part in Mass Extinction Events (Source: Space Daily)
New research has uncovered that pollen preserved in 250 million year old rocks contain compounds that function like sunscreen, these are produced by plants to protect them from harmful ultraviolet (UV-B) radiation. The findings suggests that a pulse of UV-B played an important part in the end Permian mass extinction event. (1/9)

Starlink Satellite Trains: Is This the Future of the Night Sky? (Source: Washington Post)
“We were a bit baffled at first then realized, ‘wait that must be Starlink.’ Then my wife got her star tracker app out, and it showed that’s what we had seen.” The view, while equal parts mesmerizing as it is surprising, has astronomers wondering, is there any way to dim the lights on these satellites or are we doomed to a mega constellation future? Murray captured the 46 objects launched on Aug. 31 by SpaceX clumped together, reflecting the sun back to observers on Earth.

To a certain extent, it is in the company’s best interest to limit how visible their constellation is. Seeing them at night is a byproduct of them not achieving operational orbit. For however long they are parked or navigating past the ISS and Tiangong altitudes, it is that much longer they are not providing internet to customers and not making money for SpaceX.

Visibility of these satellites impact critical scientific work from our planet. As SpaceX works to limit its visibility, astronomers are worried about the big picture. A study simulating the effects of 65,000 proposed satellites published in the Astronomical Journal found that 1 in 5 observations of the night sky will be streaked by the passing of satellites. (1/6)

Enabling a New Space Paradigm: Harnessing Space Mobility and Logistics (Source: CSPS)
Space Mobility and Logistics (SM&L) has recently been declared a core competency by the U.S. Space Force (USSF). SM&L encompasses capabilities meant to make spacecraft more maneuverable, adaptable, and resilient, including inspection, materiel logistics, orbit modification, refueling, client augmentation, and active debris removal. For each of these capability areas, USSF can adopt one or more of four general approaches (Participant, Customized, Anchor Tenant, and Owner) that provide a clearer roadmap to allow USSF to build a mature SM&L architecture. Though additional optimization could be done to figure out strategies and approaches for more specific applications, the least optimal choice is to do nothing at all. Click here. (1/5)

Storage In Outer Space (Source: Forbes)
As people do more in outer space, they will need IT resources nearer to them to avoid long latencies. We have written in the past about start-ups that want to put data centers in orbit around the earth (such as Cloud Constellation). Earlier in 2022 Lonestar Data Holdings announced that it wants to build a data center on the Moon for backing up the world’s data and also supporting lunar edge processing needs. Taiwan-based SSD controller and storage product company Phison announced that their SSDs have been certified to be used in lunar data centers. Let’s look closer at these developments.

Lonestar wants to archive data on the moon in its lunar data centers to protect that data from human or natural damage and data loss. In addition, as more activities are done on the moon that generate data or need data processing, having a lunar data center facility will avoid the latency and energy consumption penalties from sending that data back to the earth.

Because the Moon is tidally locked with the earth and one face always faces the earth, direct line of sight communication will be possible with a data center on the moon. The company has signed contracts for prototype demonstrations of its systems on two lunar landers launched by NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services program. In the latter half of 2023 NASA will send a Nova-C lander to the Moon’s South Pole on an Artemis spacecraft that is scheduled to include a hardware prototype from Lonestar. This is to be a one-kilogram storage device with 16TB of storage. Click here. (12/27)

Your Guide to Navigating the Space Economy (Source: McKinsey)
It’s been 50 years since the Apollo 17 crew returned to Earth following a historic lunar landing. Space exploration has come a long way since: Thanks to lower costs and greater technological capabilities, the space economy can deliver value to almost any business sector, writes senior partner Ryan Brukardt. Explore these insights to understand how businesses that pursue emerging opportunities now can gain a first-mover advantage. Click here. (12/19)

'A Unique Way to Honor a Loved One': Inside Celestis, the Company Sending Human Ashes to Space (Source: Florida Today)
Matthew Gallagher passed last year, but his journey is far from over. In fact, he still has some 240,000 miles to go before a portion of his ashes touch down on the moon. This year, some of Matthew's ashes will be joined by those of dozens of others on a flight known as "Luna," a mission organized by spaceflight memorial company Celestis. The small samples will launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of a larger NASA-backed mission hosted by a lunar lander.

Celestis, though not a household name, has been around for decades as one of the first – and most successful – commercial space companies. From astronauts to celebrities to students, its participants have run the gamut. When they found Celestis, the Gallaghers almost immediately knew it was the best way to honor their son. "We knew that we had to find a way to honor him. When we found (Celestis), we knew this is what we had to do for our son. This would fulfill his dream of going to space," Cori Gallagher said.

Since the decision, the Gallaghers have raised more than $16,000 on GoFundMe to pay for the "Luna" service offered by Celestis. The fundraiser remains open for those looking to contribute. Astrobotic's Peregrine lander, selected by NASA to help advance research ahead of putting two astronauts on the surface sometime before 2030, is expected to touch down on the northern part of the moon. Among its payloads will be the ashes processed and provided by Celestis. (1/8)

Space Mining – Grinding Away Into Reality (Source: Space.com)
A cash flow cascading from the heavens is a provisionary but promising harvest from asteroid mining. It’s already a “claim jumping” enterprise with assertions that billions, trillions, even quadrillions of dollars are looming in deep space, ripe for the picking and up for grabs. Several space mining groups, eager to dig into extraterrestrial excavation of asteroids, have already come and gone. Left behind are torn, tattered and beleaguered business plans.

"They didn't succeed and their plans were very ambitious, too far out, and just didn't happen," Abbud-Madrid told Space.com. Numbers of nations also ballyhooed space mining, but for the good, he said, they all brought attention to a vital fact: Resources are an enabler of space exploration. In that regard, water has become the main objective of everywhere we want to go, Abbud-Madrid added.

But a "who-ville" of questions are in play: Who is going to obtain the data required to locate valuable resources in space? Who is going to identify the concentrations of material available, drill, excavate, extract and purify it? Who is going to provide the transportation, the power and the communications? Who is not just going to mine, but to use the resources for making structures for space exploration? (1/7)

SpaceX Boca Chica Plans Largest Launch in History (Source: Port Isabel Press)
Jan. 31 is scheduled to see the test launch of not only the Super Heavy Booster 7 at Starbase, Texas but also SpaceX’s Starship S24. The test is planned to be an orbital flight which will ensure the booster can lift the vehicle as well as make sure the Starship can perform an unmanned orbital rotation.

The booster boasts an impressive 17.5 million pounds of thrust as well as 5000 tonnes of mass on takeoff. After bringing Starship to near space heights, and a fourth of its orbital speed, the booster will land in the Gulf of Mexico to simulate landing on the Starship Tower Launch arms.
Starship itself will travel along a ballistic trajectory, or free fall flight, at orbital speeds. Its re-entry position is planned to be in the Pacific Ocean. If successful, then it will hit the water about 100 kilometers off the coast of Kauai in Hawaii.

This launch is planned to be the largest in history and as such will have some impact on the Brownsville, Port Isabel and South Padre Island area. Launches of this sort are not worry-free, however. During a test launch earlier this year, there was an explosion that was so powerful it shook the lighthouse in Port Isabel, raising concerns about damage to the structure and other historic buildings in the area. Editor's Note: Musk says: "We have a real shot at late February. March launch attempt appears highly likely." (1/5)

Florida Starship Pad Construction Ramps Up With Arrival of Chopsticks Carriage (Source: Spaceflight Now)
The next piece of SpaceX’s growing Starship infrastructure at Kennedy Space Center arrived at Launch Complex 39A on Friday. A carriage apparatus for the Starship pad’s mechanized chopstick arm system rolled to the complex for installation on the launch pad tower. The chopstick system will move up and down the nearly 500-foot-tall Starship launch tower. The chopstick carriage departed SpaceX’s Roberts Road construction site at Kennedy overnight and rode a transporter for the 7-mile journey, passing by the Vehicle Assembly Building and the Kennedy Space Center press site on the way to pad 39A. (1/6)

Astronauts Memorial Foundation Notes Artemis I With New Collectible (Source: CollectSpace)
The Astronauts Memorial Foundation (AMF) has taken note of NASA's recent return to the moon with a new collectible note. The foundation, which honors those who have given their lives for the U.S. space program, has partnered with Elite Coinage and Rex3 Printing to create a note highlighting the space agency's Artemis I mission. Planned as the first in a series, a portion of the proceeds from the sale of the limited edition notes will be donated to the AMF.

Similar in size and stye to a banknote but without being legal tender, the AMF Artemis I commemorative notes feature a two-sided full-color design. The collectible also includes features that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Similar to government-level security precautions, the Artemis I note is printed on a substrate paper with anti-alteration properties and entirely random thread patterns, which can only be seen under the proper illumination. The notes are registered on a blockchain using Elite Coinage's patent-pending Non-Fungible Physical ("NFP") technology, ensuring their authenticity. (1/7)

8 Years of Lightning Growth in India's Space Sector (Source: Sunday Guardian)
The Indian Space Programme and its ecosystem have been in a state of unprecedented vibrancy with various achievements since the Modi government came at the helm—from building its heaviest satellite at 5854 kg to manufacturing its own navigation satellite system. Under the current regime, advancement in space technology has registered moonshot gains. The Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) since 2014 has successfully performed 44 spacecraft missions, 42 launch vehicle missions and 5 technology demonstrators.

Moreover, in order to boost the space research activities, Space Technology Incubational Centers (STIC) at some of the key locations of the country were established, since 2018. To boost the start-up culture in the space industry, the establishment of Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Center (IN-SPACe) was announced in June 2020 by the Government of India, as an autonomous body under the Department of Space. This was to create an eco-system for the industry, academia and start-ups and to attract major share in the global space economy, by authorizing and regulating activities of NGEs in the space sector through detailed guidelines and procedures.

In addition to that, setting up of IN-SPACe and enhancing the role New Space India Limited (NSIL) are the two major thrust areas in the reforms. GSAT-24 communication satellite, which is the first demand driven mission of NSIL, was launched from Kourou, French Guiana, in June 2022. Moreover, NSIL has signed 19 Technology Transfer Agreements and has successfully transferred 8 ISRO developed Technologies to Indian industry. In addition to that, the development in the space sector is set to achieve more milestones in the future. (1/8)