May 31, 2023

NASA Wants People to Stop Cyberbullying Its UFO Researchers (Source: Daily Beast)
NASA officials began the agency’s long-awaited public hearing on UFOs on Wednesday with a plea for people to stop bullying the agency’s UFO experts. Nicola Fox, an associate administrator for NASA, said that the agency’s 16 expert panelists had faced a wave of online harassment for their research into unidentified anomalous phenomena, or UAPs, which NASA classifies as sightings that can’t be ruled out as aircraft or known natural phenomena.

“It is really disheartening to hear of the harassment that our panelists have faced online all because they are studying this topic,” Fox said. “Harassment only leads to further stigmatization of the UAP field, significantly hindering scientific progress and discouraging others to study this important subject matter.” Daniel Evans, another NASA official, expressed hope that “conversations like this one are the first step to reducing the stigma surrounding UAP reporting.” (5/31)

A Strategic Framework for Space Diplomacy (Source: Space Policy Online)
Driven by these new commercial opportunities and the geo-strategic importance of space, the number of space faring nations has dramatically increased. Countries without current launch capacities are investing in space-based assets and infrastructure. The norms, best practices, and principles that guide outer space activities must evolve to promote responsible stewardship of the outer space environment and maximize the benefits of the growing space economy for current and future generations. Click here. (5/31)

Worried About China, U.S. Lays Out ‘Space Diplomacy’ Goals (Source: Washington Post)
It’s not breaking news that cutthroat competition between the United States and China has gone to infinity and beyond — outer space, that is. But the State Department unveiled a blueprint Tuesday to showcase a new hope of setting up a “rules-based international framework” for managing it. The “Strategic Framework for Space Policy” is the kind of government document that earnestly prescribes “[c]ontinue identifying synergies” as a policy goal. But it makes for an interesting one-stop-shop for assessing U.S. fears and ambitions — and the depth of the rivalry with China in the final frontier.

The report quotes from the Director of National Intelligence’s 2023 Threat Assessment, which cites China’s assertive space policy “with the intent to match or surpass the United States by 2045.” ... “China’s space activities are designed to advance its global standing and strengthen its attempts to erode U.S. influence across military, technological, economic, and diplomatic spheres” that section continues.

Among the developments the framework attempts to address is the sharp rise of commercial space travel. Here, the report has two warnings.
One is about the temptation countries that are trying to develop space programs may feel to partner with, well, not just not-the-United States but competitors or hostile rivals. Another is about the State Department’s dual-hat role. It will promote the U.S. space industry, while encouraging new players to adopt U.S.-endorsed best practices. But it will also try to keep U.S. space technologies out of the hands of bad actors. (5/30)

Maxar Explores New Uses for Earth Observation Satellites (Source: C4ISRnet)
Maxar Technologies, which provides satellite imagery to the Defense Department and intelligence community, is considering how its Earth-facing spacecraft sensors could serve a dual-purpose in observing objects and activity in orbit. The company is one of three firms on contract with the National Reconnaissance Office, the agency that develops and operates spy satellites, to provide imagery over the next 10 years through its Electro-Optical Commercial layer program, or EOCL. (5/30)

Congress Threatens to Block Space Command Funding Over HQ Location Controversy (Source: NBC News)
Republican and Democratic members of Congress from Alabama submitted a draft House bill late last week that would block funding for the continued growth of U.S. Space Command's temporary headquarters in Colorado. Two congressional officials said the bill would prohibit the command from spending money on constructing, leasing or modernizing facilities until the secretary of the Air Force formally selects and publicly announces the location of its permanent headquarters, which the Trump administration said would be in Huntsville, Alabama.

Alabama lawmakers are concerned that the Biden administration and the Air Force have slowed the process with the goal of building a fully operational headquarters in Colorado and then arguing that a move would result in a pause in Space Command operations. Rep. Doug Lamborn, a Republican who represents Colorado Springs and has Peterson Space Force Base in his district, made that argument on Twitter last week. He contended that moving the headquarters to Alabama would prevent Space Command from reaching full operational capability for “four to six years.”  (5/31)

North Korea Says it Will Try Again ‘Soon’ to Launch Spy Satellite (Source: Washington Post)
North Korea said it would launch another rocket carrying a military spy satellite “as soon as possible,” after admitting Wednesday’s attempt had failed in midflight due to “serious” defects. North Korean military officials had said the country needed a “reliable reconnaissance information system” so that it could keep “a grip on enemy military activities in real time,” citing joint military exercises between the US and South Korea. North Korea fired a new type of rocket named Chollima-1 — after a mythological flying horse — Wednesday from its west coast and over South Korea’s westernmost Baengnyeong Island, according to South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff. (5/31)

Seoul Salvages North Korean Satellite Wreckage After Emergency Evacuation Alarms (Source: AFP)
North Korea attempted to launch a spy satellite Wednesday but it crashed into the sea after a rocket failure, with the South Korean military retrieving part of the likely wreckage in a potential intelligence bonanza. South Korea's military said it had managed to locate and salvage a portion of the suspected debris. South Korean defense officials said the launch briefly triggered “false alarm” evacuation alerts in South Korea and Japan. (5/30)

Lawmakers Approve Texas Space Commission to Better Compete in Civil, Commercial and Military Space (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Texas lawmakers have approved a space commission to better compete with Florida, Colorado and other states already capitalizing on the new era of space exploration. The Texas Space Commission would create a strategy and incentives to boost the state’s presence in civil, commercial and military space. It was approved by the state House and Senate this month, and the proposal still needs a signature from Gov. Greg Abbott to become law on Sep. 1.  Legislators also appropriated $350 million to the commission in its budget for fiscal years 2024 and 2025.

The idea has been the brainchild of TexSpace, a nonprofit created in 2021 by former NASA astronaut Jack “2fish” Fischer, the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership and Gallant Culture. “The state of Texas doesn’t have the vehicle, if you will, right now to remain competitive,” said James Adams, executive director of TexSpace. “Other states across the country are already playing in this game.” (5/30)

SpaceX Launches Starlink Satellites From California (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX launched another set of Starlink satellites overnight. A Falcon 9 lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base at 2:02 a.m. Eastern, deploying 52 Starlink satellites 17 minutes later. The booster, making its 14th flight, landed on a droneship in the Pacific Ocean. (5/31)

Spain's PLD Space Delays Suborbital Launch (Source: Reuters)
Weather scrubbed a suborbital test flight by Spanish startup PLD Space. The company had planned to launch its Miura 1 rocket early Wednesday from a Spanish military aerospace test site, but postponed the launch because of gusty upper-level winds. The company did not disclose a new launch date. Miura 1 is a suborbital prototype for the company's Miura 5 small launch vehicle. (5/31)

Saturn Moon Geyser Shoots Water 10,000 km (Source: Science)
An icy moon of Saturn has a plume of water vapor stretching for 10,000 kilometers. In a paper published Monday, scientists said observations of Enceladus by the James Webb Space Telescope revealed the plume, much longer than expected, extending from the moon's surface. Earlier models of the moon, based on data from the Cassini spacecraft, expected that the plumes would extend for only hundreds of kilometers. Scientists believe the plume is linked to a subsurface ocean that could have the ingredients to support life. (5/31)

Quest for Alien Signals in the Heart of the Milky Way Takes Off (Source: Space Daily)
Akshay Suresh, a graduate student at Cornell University, spearheads an extraordinary scientific endeavor - a groundbreaking mission to uncover periodic signals emanating from the core of the Milky Way called the Breakthrough Listen Investigation for Periodic Spectral Signals (BLIPSS). Such repetitive patterns could be the key to unlocking the mysteries of extraterrestrial intelligence in our galaxy. Suresh and his co-authors detail the project's results thus far in a paper accepted for publication in the Astronomical Journal, "A 4-8 GHz Galactic Center Search for Periodic Technosignatures." (5/31)

UF Scientists: One-Third of Galaxy's Most Common Planets Could be in Habitable Zone (Source: Space Daily)
Our familiar, warm, yellow sun is a relative rarity in the Milky Way. By far the most common stars are considerably smaller and cooler, sporting just half the mass of our sun at most. Billions of planets orbit these common dwarf stars in our galaxy. To capture enough warmth to be habitable, these planets would need to huddle very close to their small stars, which leaves them susceptible to extreme tidal forces.

In a new analysis based on the latest telescope data, University of Florida astronomers have discovered that two-thirds of the planets around these ubiquitous small stars could be roasted by these tidal extremes, sterilizing them. But that leaves one-third of the planets - hundreds of millions across the galaxy - that could be in a goldilocks orbit close enough, and gentle enough, to hold onto liquid water and possibly harbor life. UF astronomy professor Sarah Ballard and doctoral student Sheila Sagear published their findings the week of May 29 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ballard and Sagear have long studied exoplanets, those worlds that orbit stars other than the sun. (5/31)

North Korea Launch Fails, Satellite Lost (Source: Yonhap)
A North Korean rocket failed shortly after liftoff Tuesday, plunging into the ocean with its spy satellite payload. The Chollima-1 rocket lifted off at 5:29 p.m. Eastern but apparently malfunctioned, falling into the sea 200 kilometers west of the South Korean island of Eocheong. The South Korean military recovered at least one component of the rocket, which they believed to be the interstage section between the first and second stages. The North Korean government confirmed the launch failed, blaming it on the failure of the rocket's second-stage engine. North Korea announced several days ago plans to conduct the launch to place a reconnaissance satellite into orbit. (5/31)

Axiom Crew Ends Mission with Florida Gulf Coast Splashdown (Source: Space News)
Axiom Space's second private astronaut mission to the International Space Station ended with a successful splashdown Tuesday night. The Crew Dragon spacecraft flying the Ax-2 mission splashed down at 11:05 p.m. off the coast from Panama City, Florida, 12 hours after undocking from the station. The four-person crew, commanded by former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, were in good spirits after the nine-day mission, which included eight days at the ISS. The crew had a "very busy time" while on the ISS, a NASA official said Tuesday, conducting more than two dozen experiments as well as outreach activities. (5/31)

Telesat Plans Another Test Satellite for Broadband Constellation (Source: Space News)
Telesat announced Tuesday plans to launch another prototype satellite for its Lightspeed broadband constellation. Telesat said it ordered the LEO 3 satellite from the University of Toronto's Space Flight Laboratory, a manufacturer of smallsats. The satellite is already in an advanced stage of production and will launch in the coming months. It will allow Telesat to continue tests that had used the LEO 1 satellite, which launched in 2018 but has run out of stationkeeping propellant. (5/31)

Russia Delays Lunar Lander Mission Again (Source: TASS)
Russia has again delayed the launch of a lunar lander mission. The Luna-25 mission, previously scheduled to launch in July, will now launch no earlier than August, Roscosmos announced Tuesday. The agency said it needs more time to complete testing of the lander before it will be ready to launch. Luna-25, Russia's first lunar lander mission since the 1970s, has suffered years of development delays. (5/31)

Cosmonauts Plan Yearlong Stay on ISS (Source: TASS)
The next cosmonauts to go to the ISS will spend a year there. Russian officials said this week they approved crew assignments for upcoming Soyuz missions to the ISS. Oleg Kononenko and Nikolay Chub, assigned to the Soyuz MS-24 spacecraft launching in September with NASA astronaut Loral O'Hara, will stay on the ISS for a year. That will allow Soyuz MS-25, launching in March 2024, to fly a Belarusian cosmonaut on a short-duration mission, returning on Soyuz MS-24 with a Russian cosmonaut and O'Hara. (5/31)

Civilian Astronaut Launch Signals Wider-Opening for China's Space Sector (Source: Space Daily)
Traditionally, China's astronauts are selected from among fighter plane pilots with ample flying experience, as they can control the machinery and have the training to stay calm should an emergency arise in space. Yet among the three astronauts aboard Shenzhou XVI, which is taking them to Tiangong, China's space station, is Gui Haichao, a professor from Beihang University. He is the first civilian China has sent into space, and will conduct space science experiments, collect and analyze data and maintain the lab devices on the space station. That's good news for the nation's space science, as he will be more professional in carrying out research experiments on the space station. (5/31)

China Readies for Launch of Broadband Constellation (Source: Space News)
China is building up launch capacity to support the deployment of its own broadband constellation. China plans to launch the first of 13,000 satellites for the Guowang constellation later this year but lacks the launch capacity to deploy the system in a timely manner. China is now building production and testing facilities as well as new launch pads at Wenchang spaceport on Hainan island to enable a much greater launch cadence for new rockets, including the Long March 8. One assembly facility near Wenchang will ultimately produce up to 50 Long March 8 rockets a year. (5/31)

Spain Signs Artemis Accords (Source: Space News)
Spain is the latest country to sign the Artemis Accords. Spanish officials signed the Accords in a ceremony in Madrid Tuesday attended by NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. Spain is the 25th country to sign the document, which outlines best practices for safe and sustainable space exploration. The signing took place as the U.S. State Department released its first Strategic Framework for Space Policy, a new white paper that described the roles that space can play in diplomacy and vice versa. The framework outlines how diplomatic tools like the Artemis Accords can advance U.S. policy objectives in space, as well as how space can advance broader diplomatic goals. (5/31)

Northrop Grumman’s Deep-Space Radar Passes Critical Design Review (Source: Space News)
A deep-space radar developed by Northrop Grumman for the U.S. Space Force passed a critical design review. The company said Tuesday that its Deep-Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) completed that review as well as a software demonstration of its ability to track objects in geostationary orbit. The $341 million radar will be located in the Indo-Pacific region, and Northrop Grumman is expected to deliver a prototype by late 2025 or early 2026. The Space Force is looking for locations for two other radars, one in Europe and the other in the United States. (5/31)

Viasat Completes Inmarsat Acquisition (Source: Space News)
Viasat has completed its multibillion-dollar acquisition of Inmarsat. The combined company has 19 satellites in orbit across Ka-, L- and S- band spectrum to provide connectivity and safety services across maritime, aviation, government, and consumer markets. Their merger is part of a broader wave of consolidation as satellite operators look to bolster their defenses amid a growing competitive threat from Starlink in the satellite broadband market. (5/31)

Robots Hold The Keys to Exploring Our Solar System (Source: Popular Mechanics)
We’ve made great strides in the past half-century of exploration of our solar system, lead by both human and robotic exploration. We’ve walked on the moon and roved on Mars. We’ve buzzed Pluto and danced in Jupiter’s orbit. But we have only scratched the surface. As we look ahead to the next century of exploration, we’ll have to strike just the right balance of cost and scientific gain as we decide whether humans or robots should lead the way.

We have sent robotic probes to almost every corner of the solar system. Within the inner solar system, our trusted machine emissaries have landed on the moon, Mars, and even Venus (if only for only a few minutes). We’ve had several semi-autonomous rovers operating on the Red Planet, in addition to orbiters around Mars, Venus, and Mercury. We’ve taken samples of asteroids and comets and successfully returned those samples to Earth for further study. Click here. (5/29)

SpaceX and the Science of Failure (Source: The Hill)
When SpaceX’s Starship exploded not long after launch last month, it was generally seen as a failure. But for SpaceX, and for science and technology in general, failure can be the key to success. This type of rapid innovation cycle has worked for SpaceX. The company’s first rocket was the Falcon 1. Its first three launches were failures, followed by two successes — a fairly low success rate. Then Falcon 9 became the workhorse rocket for a decade, with just two failures in 232 launches, for a phenomenal success rate of 99 percent.

The public perception of science as a constant upward trajectory toward greater knowledge is wrong. Science is full of setbacks, twists and turns, and dead ends. Nearly everything that happens in the lab will never make it into print. Then again, even mistakes can lead to discoveries. (5/29)

Death of a Launch Company (Source: Space Review)
Virgin Orbit executives hoped someone would buy the company out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy and allow it to resume operations. Instead, Jeff Foust reports, the company’s assets were sold at auction last week to several other aerospace companies, marking the end of the air-launch venture. Click here. (5/30)
 
Red Planet Reality (Source: Space Review)
A space-themed reality show, hosted by William Shatner, will premiere on the Fox network next week. Dwayne Day discusses how, in the long history of efforts to create space reality shows, you have to fake it to make it. Click here. (5/30)
 
The Case for Space Ethics (Source: Space Review)
Government officials often talk about the importance of responsible space behavior, but what it means to be responsible is not defined. Magdalena Bogacz describes the importance of establishing an ethical framework for space. Click here. (5/30)
 
Navigating Space Bioethics (Source: Space Review)
Human spaceflight poses a number of medical challenges, and with them ethical issues. Vanessa Farsadaki outlines those bioethical questions posed by humans in space. Click here. (5/30)
 
China’s Spaceplane Returns: Is This a New Weapon in Their Counterspace Arsenal? (Source: Space Review)
An uncrewed Chinese spaceplane landed earlier this month after about nine months in orbit. Ajey Lele examines what little is known about the spaceplane and its potential role in potential future conflicts in space. Click here. (5/30)

Ancient Ocean on Mars? Chinese Rover Finds Marine Sediments (Source: EarthSky)
Decades of research using remotely-sensed data have extracted evidence for the presence of an ocean in the northern lowlands of Mars in the Hesperian, but these claims have remained controversial due to the lack of in situ analysis of the associated geologic unit, the Vastitas Borealis Formation (VBF).

The Tianwen-1/Zhurong rover was targeted to land within the VBF near its southern margin and has traversed almost 1.2 miles (2 km) southward toward the interpreted shoreline. We report here on the first in situ analysis of the VBF that reveals sedimentary structures and features in surface rocks that suggest that the VBF was deposited in a marine environment, providing direct support for the existence of an ancient (Hesperian) ocean on Mars. (5/30)

Telesat Orders Prototype Satellite to Continue LEO Broadband Tests (Source: Space News)
Telesat plans to launch another low Earth orbit (LEO) prototype satellite in the coming months to continue tests after an aging demonstrator for its delayed broadband constellation ran out of fuel. The Canadian geostationary satellite operator announced May 30 that it had ordered a microsatellite called LEO 3 from Space Flight Laboratory (SFL), part of the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies (UTIAS). (5/30)

First Saskatchewan-Made Satellite to Launch with SpaceX (Source: Global News)
A satellite from the University of Saskatchewan will go into orbit on Saturday as it launches with the SpaceX CRS-28 rocket. The team believes this is the first made-in-Saskatchewan satellite to reach space, and it will remain in orbit for a year collecting radiation data. “The RADSAT-SK cube satellite began development in spring 2018 with about 20 engineering undergraduate students on board,” said Sean Maw at the USask College of Engineering. (5/30)

North Korea Seeks 'Real-Time' Monitoring of U.S. and Allies with Satellite (Source: Japan Times)
North Korea has confirmed that it will launch its first spy satellite in June, with a senior official citing a need to monitor the U.S. and its allies "in real time" as they hold a series of ongoing joint military exercises, state-run media said Tuesday. Japan on Monday ordered the Self-Defense Forces to prepare to shoot down a North Korean ballistic missile or rocket that threatens Japanese territory, the Defense Ministry said, after Pyongyang notified Tokyo of plans to launch the satellite before June 11. (5/30)

Moon Exploration: Humanity’s Next Home (Source: WIRED)
Space exploration has come a long way since we sent the first man to the Moon. NASA, the US space agency, has set a goal to establish a sustainable human settlement on the Moon’s surface through its Artemis program. NASA expects to land the first woman and the first person of color on the Moon by 2024 and to establish a sustainable presence by 2028. This will pave the way for a long-term lunar presence. This Moon exploration program is named after Artemis, the Greek goddess of the Moon and twin sister to Apollo, which was also the name of a spaceflight program between 1961 and 1972. Click here. (5/29)