March 27, 2024

Final Delta IV Heavy Rocket Carries NROL-70 on Historic Mission (Source: Space Daily)
The last mission of the venerable Delta IV Heavy rocket, marked by the launch of the NROL-70 security payload, is scheduled for March 28, 2024, at 1:40 PM EDT from SLC 37, Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. This event not only signifies the conclusion of the Delta Rocket lineage but also celebrates its rich history of achievements and innovations in space exploration. (3/27)

NASA Supports Reliable Robotics' Autonomous Flight R&D (Source: AIN Online)
Reliable Robotics has secured new contracts from NASA and the Department of Defense supporting the company's efforts to commercialize remotely piloted aircraft. NASA, in partnership with Ohio University, granted $6 million for autonomous flight technology research, while the Air Force's AFWERX unit has included Reliable in a program potentially offering up to $1.9 million in matched government funding. (3/26)

Musk Says 'Almost Anyone' Can Afford A $100,000 Ticket To Mars  — But 57% Of People Can't Cover A $1,000 Emergency (Source: Benzinga)
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has outlined an ambitious plan for enabling affordable travel to Mars, potentially opening up space colonization to a broader segment of Earth’s population. In a conversation with TED conferences head Chris Anderson in 2022, Musk suggested that a ticket to Mars could hypothetically be priced at $100,000, a figure he believes would be accessible to most people.

Musk’s statement has sparked debate regarding its realism and sensitivity to economic disparities. With the average U.S. annual salary in the fourth quarter of 2023 reported at $59,384 by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, and nearly two-thirds of Americans living paycheck-to-paycheck, the feasibility of saving $100,000 for a Mars trip seems distant for many. (3/26)

Orbex Patents Reusability Tech (Source: Orbex)
Orbex, the only UK owned orbital launch services and rocket manufacturing company, has successfully patented its REFLIGHT reusable rocket technology following patent approval in several European markets as well as the United States. The technology is uniquely suited to micro-launcher rockets like Orbex’s Prime rocket since it enables recovery of the launch vehicle by repurposing existing structural features, while adding very little additional weight to the vehicle.

REFLIGHT enables reusability with very limited overall performance penalty and no additional rocket propulsion emissions in the upper atmosphere during re-entry. This should be compared to other reusable launch systems using powered descent (rocket engine firings) to slow down the vehicle during re-entry and landing. The REFLIGHT system repurposes the interstage structure. After Stage 1 detaches from Stage 2, the interstage on top of Stage 1 reconfigures into four ‘petals’ which fold out and create drag forces that passively reorients and slows the spent rocket stage’s descent to Earth for a low velocity landing at sea. (3/26)

DIU Contracts Mission for Satellite Servicing (Source: Space News)
A mission next year will attempt to service a military satellite in geostationary orbit. The mission, overseen by the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU), will use the Mission Robotics Vehicle being developed by Northrop Grumman's subsidiary SpaceLogistics. That spacecraft will approach a military satellite and use robotic arms to install a camera built by Katalyst Space Technologies on the satellite's launch adapter ring. The mission is part of DIU's Modularity for Space Systems project, an effort to match commercial technologies with military needs for in-orbit services. (3/27)

China Launches Military Weather Satellite (Source: Space News)
China launched another military weather satellite late Tuesday. A Long March 6A rocket  lifted off from Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center at 6:51 p.m. Eastern and deployed the Yunhai-3 (02) satellite. The Yunhai series are assessed to be military meteorological satellites by some Western analysts. (3/27)

In-Orbit Wins AFWERX Spacecraft Docking Contract (Source: Space News)
Startup In Orbit Aerospace has won an AFWERX contract to develop spacecraft docking technologies. The electrostatic adhesion technology being developing under the Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) contract, in cooperation with the University of Colorado, will enable In Orbit's vehicles to dock with one another and could also be used for docking with other cooperative or uncooperative objects for refueling, debris removal or other services. In Orbit was founded in 2020 to offer third-party logistics and infrastructure for in-space manufacturing and research, and has plans to develop vehicles for transporting cargo to and from future commercial space stations. (3/27)

Astrobotic Hires NASA Vets to Lead Next Lunar Missions (Source: Space News)
Astrobotic has hired several industry veterans to help the company as it develops a second, larger lunar lander. The company announced it hired Steve Clarke, a former NASA official, as its vice president of landers and spacecraft and Frank Peri, former head of the safety and mission assurance office at NASA Langley, as director of engineering. Two former NASA associate administrators for space technology, Mike Gazarik and Jim Reuter, will serve as advisers. Astrobotic says it expects to wrap up the investigation into its Peregrine lander mission in a matter of weeks and will apply lessons learned from that for its larger Griffin lander, which will carry NASA's VIPER lunar rover. (3/27)

NASA Optimistic for Voyager 1 Fix (Source: Space News)
A NASA official was optimistic that a computer problem with the Voyager 1 spacecraft can be fixed. Speaking at a National Academies committee meeting last week, Joseph Westlake, director of NASA's heliophysics division, said he believed the project was on "a path now to resolution" regarding the faulty flight data system (FDS) computer on the nearly 50-year-old spacecraft. A problem with the FDS has caused Voyager 1 to transmit unusable data since last November. Westlake said engineers have concluded a memory unit on the spacecraft has failed, and engineers are working to move flight software in that section of memory to another part of the computer. He did not estimate how long that would take. (3/27)

NOAA Weather Satellite's Falcon-Heavy Launch Moved to Late June (Source: NOAA)
The launch of a NOAA weather satellite has been rescheduled for late June. NASA and NOAA announced Tuesday that the Falcon Heavy launch of the GOES-U geostationary orbit weather satellite is planned for June 25. The launch had been scheduled for late April but was postponed after SpaceX found a liquid oxygen leak in the rocket's center core booster. GOES-U is the fourth and final satellite in the GOES-R program. (3/27)

NASA Picks Instruments for Artemis Lunar Landing, Including for Plant Growth (Source: NASA)
NASA has selected three instruments to be flown on future Artemis lunar landing missions. NASA announced Tuesday it will fund development of a seismometer suite, a crop growth experiment and regolith instrument that would be deployed by astronauts on the Artemis 3 mission, although NASA said that final decisions about when the instruments would be manifested for flight will be made later. NASA said the instruments are the first step in the agency's response to a report on high-priority science that should be conducted on Artemis 3. (3/27)

Japans Koichi Wakata Retiring From Astronaut Corps (Source: NHK)
A Japanese astronaut is retiring after more than three decades of service. Koichi Wakata will retire from JAXA at the end of the month, which also marks the end of the current Japanese government fiscal year. He was selected by Japan as an astronaut in 1992 and has flown to space five times, including three long-duration missions to the International Space Station. He most recently was on the Crew-5 Crew Dragon mission in 2022-23; his previous flights were on the shuttle and Soyuz. (3/27)

Starliner’s First Commander: Don’t Expect Perfection on Crew Test Flight (Source: Ars Technica)
While it doesn't have the same relevance to public consciousness as safety problems with commercial airliners, a successful test flight of Boeing's Starliner spacecraft in May would be welcome news for the beleaguered aerospace company. This will be the first time the Starliner capsule flies into low-Earth orbit with humans aboard. NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams are in the final stages of training for the so-called Crew Flight Test (CFT), a milestone running seven years behind the schedule Boeing said it could achieve when it won a $4.2 billion commercial crew contract from NASA a decade ago. (3/25)

Blue Origin Space Station Taking Shape for NASA (Source: Business Insider)
NASA has granted Blue Origin $172 million to create Orbital Reef, a space station designed for astronauts and tourists, emphasizing the necessity for life support systems. Blue Origin recently achieved significant progress by completing four milestones, demonstrating the effectiveness of Orbital Reef's regenerative system, which ensures the provision of clean air and water for occupants. (3/26)

Sidus Space Releases Quarterly Financial Results (Source: Sidus Space)
Total revenue for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 totaled approximately $6.0 million, a decrease of $1.3 million compared to the same period in 2022. Adjusted EBITDA loss for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 totaled $10.9 million as compared to a loss of $9.7 million for the same period the prior year. Net loss for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023 was $14.3 million as compared to a net loss of $12.8 million for the same period the prior year. (3/27)

Incoming Illegal NGSO Service Crackdown (Source: Space News)
Operators of satellites in non-geostationary orbit (NGSO) could be forced to turn off beams when flying over countries that have not authorized them, do more to disable bootleg dishes in these territories, or a mix of both, depending on who you ask about new global rules in the works. Approval to study ways for cracking down on unauthorized NGSO services was one of the most surprising outcomes of the recent 2023 World Radiocommunication Conference (WRC-23) in Dubai, a quadrennial event for updating radio wave regulations.

Depending on the results of these studies, the measures could be put up for approval as soon as 2027, when the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), an arm of the United Nations, will bring countries together again to update global spectrum regulation. When a broadcast satellite is being developed, international regulations require every technical effort to be made to prevent its radio waves from spilling into countries that have not approved the service.

NGSO satellites currently do not have a similar limitation, making it possible for users with a compatible antenna to connect to them in a country that has not given their operator a license. Sources who attended WRC-23, but did not want to be named, said the crackdown is mainly targeted at SpaceX’s Starlink, the world’s largest NGSO broadband constellation currently in operation. (3/26)

Chinese Moon Plans, Commercial Company Updates, and Wenchang Commercial Pad (Source: NSF)
China detailed its lunar exploration plan for the near future and gave an outlook for the program beyond that. The next mission to the Moon, Queqiao-2, launched in March of this year. This mission, though, is only the beginning of a set of missions for the Chinese lunar exploration plan. Next up, the Chang’e-6 mission, a 53-day long exploration mission, will launch in May of this year on a Chang Zheng 5 rocket. Click here. (3/26)

From Kepler-452b to Proxima Centauri b: Exoplanets that are just like Earth (Source: Times of India)
Earth is the only planet we know of that harbors life, but it may not be alone in the universe. Scientists have discovered thousands of exoplanets, or planets orbiting other stars, and some of them are remarkably similar to our home world. These exoplanets are of great interest to astronomers and astrobiologists, who hope to find signs of life beyond our solar system. Here are seven exoplanets that are just like Earth, in terms of their size, composition, temperature, and habitability. Click here. (3/26)

Missile Defense Agency Executive Director Accused of Misusing Office for Personal Gain (Source: WAFF)
The Department of Defense’s Inspector General has made its findings public regarding the highest-ranking civilian in the Missile Defense Agency. Inspector General Robert Storch found that Laura DeSimone, the current Executive Director of MDA, violated a litany of business and ethics norms. The 3- year investigation found she misused her office for personal gain by engaging in an intimate, sexual relationship with a subordinate based in Huntsville. That subordinate is another woman the IG says she also tried to help promote. (3/25)

Chinese Scientists Call for Focus on Asteroid Missions (Source: Space News)
China should intensify its asteroid research and focus on sample return mission plans, according to scientists. China’s future asteroid exploration should focus on “low-cost, high-frequency sample return missions, and emphasize strengthening coordination between missions,” according to a paper published recently in the Chinese Journal of Space Sciences. Establishing scientific design teams can also help better serve China’s future asteroid explorations. (3/26)

He Quit Heading the Pentagon’s UFO Office. Now a Report of His Has Shaken Up Ufology (Source: Guardian)
Evidence is not the point. Some will never be swayed. “There’s the absolute true belief, which would suggest it is more akin to a religion than an actual factual thing,” he says. “And those are the people that you’re never going to convince, no matter what you put in front of them. I can lay out the pictures of the classified programs that they mistook, and they still wouldn’t believe it. They would say, ‘No, that was derived from alien technology.’”

And what if the government does eventually get its hands on aliens and their flying saucers? “It’s not their job [to keep it secret],” he says. “It would immediately get turned over to Nasa, and Nasa would immediately disclose it to everybody. That’s their job.” Click here. (3/22)

Engineers Heat Up Dark Universe Telescope, Restoring Euclid's Sight (Source: Gizmodo)
ESA's Euclid telescope is back in action after an experimental procedure restored its ability to see the light in the cold, dark depths of space. After noticing a gradual dip in the amount of light measured by Euclid from its surrounding stars, the team behind the mission devised a plan to heat parts of the spacecraft to get rid of frozen water molecules that had accumulated on the telescope’s mirrors. The plan was risky and not guaranteed to work, but things are looking good for Euclid so far.

Mission control de-iced the first two mirrors and, sure enough, more light began creeping in through Euclid’s optical instruments. Euclid’s coldest mirror was heated from -232 to -171 degrees Fahrenheit (-147 to -113 Celsius). “It didn’t need to get hot, because in a vacuum this temperature is enough to quickly evaporate all the ice,” said Mischa Schirmer. “And it worked like a charm! Almost immediately, we were receiving 15% more light from the Universe. I was certain that we would see a considerable improvement, but not in such a spectacular way.” (3/26)

SpaceX Wants to Orbit Cellular Starlink Satellites Closer to Earth (Source: PC Magazine)
SpaceX is pressing the FCC for even more clearance to orbit Starlink satellites closer to Earth, citing the performance benefits. A month ago, the company requested FCC clearance to orbit some second-generation Starlink satellites between 340 to 360 kilometers from Earth — or about 200 kilometers (124 miles) below their planned orbits. On Friday, SpaceX filed the same request, but for its cellular Starlink satellite system, which will be able to beam connectivity to phones on the ground. If granted, the company would then be able to orbit the satellites at the 300km orbits, in addition to the existing 500km altitudes. (3/25)

Governor Announces Membership of Texas Space Commission, Research Consortium (Source: Click2Houston)
Governor Greg Abbott announced the establishment the Texas Space Commission. Along with this announcement, the Governor appointed the inaugural members of the commission’s Board of Directors and the Texas Aerospace Research and Space Economy Consortium (TARSEC) Executive Committee. The Texas Space Commission was formed with the goal of strengthening the state’s influence in aerospace activity by promoting innovation in space research and exploration. The organization will be governed by its Board of Directors, which consists of nine members. Click here. (3/26)

NASA Selects First Lunar Instruments for Artemis Astronaut Deployment (Source: NASA)
NASA has chosen the first science instruments designed for astronauts to deploy on the surface of the Moon during Artemis III. Once installed near the lunar South Pole, the three instruments will collect valuable scientific data about the lunar environment, the lunar interior, and how to sustain a long-duration human presence on the Moon, which will help prepare NASA to send astronauts to Mars. Click here. (3/26)

Russian Soyuz Delivers Crew of 3 to the International Space Station (Source: CBS News)
Two days after launch, a Russian Soyuz crew ferry ship caught up with the International Space Station Monday and moved in for a picture-perfect docking, bringing two short-duration crew members and a NASA astronaut starting a six-month stay in orbit. (3/25)

Bizarre ‘Hot Jupiter’ Planets Keep Surprising Astronomers (Source: Scientific American)
Planets the mass of Jupiter are significantly more massive than all other classes of planets and require a unique process to form. Jupiter-mass planets must first build a core out of rock and ice and then build a gaseous envelope large enough to start a process called runaway accretion, where they hoover up all nearby material and increase their mass 10-fold in less than a million years. Classic formation theories predicted that this process would take place far from the star, past the location where the ambient temperature is below the freezing point of water. Click here. (3/25)

A Dead Star Will Soon Spark a Once-in-a-Lifetime Display in Earth’s Skies (Source: Scientific American)
T Coronae Borealis—often shortened to T CrB—is what astronomers call a nova. T CrB last erupted in 1946, and its behavior suggests that its next paroxysm is due any moment between now and September. When this occurs, T CrB will become visible to the naked eye as a temporary jewel in its constellation’s stelliferous crown. And far from treating it as a mere spectacle, astronomers are going to use this latest outburst as a chance to learn more about novae, which are oft-overlooked drivers of cosmic chaos.

To understand why T CrB has got astronomers so hyped, it helps to have a primer on your average nova. Each one involves a perilous pairing between a white dwarf, the small carcass left behind at the end of certain stars’ life, and a “normal” companion star—in the case of T CrB, a puffy red giant. The white dwarf is so dense that it’s able to gravitationally pilfer hydrogen from its companion, which snows onto the dwarf’s surface. This veneer heats up and eventually ignites, sparking an unstoppable chain reaction that culminates in a nuclear explosion. (3/25)

Starlink Terminals Are Falling Into the Wrong Hands (Sources: Bloomberg, ArcaMax)
SpaceX’s Starlink touts its high-speed internet as “available almost anywhere on Earth.” In the real world, its reach extends to countries where Elon Musk’s satellite-enabled service has no agreement to operate, including territories ruled by repressive regimes. A Bloomberg investigation identified wide-spanning examples of Starlink kits being traded and activated illegally. How they are smuggled and the sheer availability of Starlink on the black market suggests that its misuse is a systemic global problem, raising questions about the company’s control of a system with clear national security dimensions.

In Yemen, which is in the throes of a decade-long civil war, a government official conceded that Starlink is in widespread use. Many people are prepared to defy competing warring factions, including Houthi rebels, to secure terminals for business and personal communications, and evade the slow, often censored internet service that’s currently available. Or take Sudan, where a year-long civil war has led to accusations of genocide, crimes against humanity and millions of people fleeing their homes. With the regular internet down for months, soldiers of the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces are among those using the system for their logistics, according to Western diplomats.

“It is deeply concerning because it’s unregulated and headed by a private company,” Emma Shortis, a senior researcher in international and security affairs at the Australia Institute, an independent think tank in Canberra, said of the Starlink system. “There’s no accountability on who has access to it and how it’s being used.” (3/25)

Organizing to Deter or Prevail in Space Warfare (Source: War On The Rocks)
Does the United States need both an armed service and a unified combatant command to defend its national interests in outer space? The answer is yes, given the imperatives to counter threats posed by foreign powers to the freedom of space and assure effective support to joint or combined military operations. Indeed, as former Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David Thompson stated, “Both China and Russia are regularly attacking U.S. satellites with non-kinetic means, including lasers, radio frequency jammers, and cyber-attacks.” (3/26)

PSLV’s POEM-3 Re-Enters Earth, Falls in Pacific Ocean (Source: Times of India)
The Indian Space Research Organization's PSLV Orbital Experimental Module-3 (POEM-3) successfully re-entered Earth's atmosphere in a controlled manner, leaving minimal orbital debris. The spent rocket stage had been transformed into a stabilized platform for conducting experiments. (3/25)

Why Scientists Are Making Space Data Into Sounds (Source: Frontiers)
When you travel somewhere where they speak a language you can’t understand, it’s usually important to find a way to translate what’s being communicated to you. In some ways, the same can be said about scientific data collected from cosmic objects. All telescopes — including Chandra, Webb, the Hubble Space Telescope, plus dozens of others — in space need to send the data they collect back to Earth as binary code, or digital signals. Typically, astronomers and others turn these digital data into images, which are often spectacular.

By taking these data through another step, however, experts on this project mathematically map the information into sound. This data-driven process is not a reimagining of what the telescopes have observed, it is yet another kind of translation. Instead of a translation from French to Mandarin, it’s a translation from visual to sound. Astrophysical data engaging multiple senses like the sonifications could establish additional avenues of trust, increase access, and promote awareness of accessibility in sighted and blind or low-vision communities. In short, sonifications helped people access and engage with the Universe. (3/25)

Saturn's Moon Enceladus Top Target for ESA (Source: ESA)
A fresh, icy crust hides a deep, enigmatic ocean. Plumes of water burst through cracks in the ice, shooting into space. An intrepid lander collects samples and analyses them for hints of life. ESA has started to turn this scene into a reality, devising a mission to investigate an ocean world around either Jupiter or Saturn. But which moon should we choose? What should the mission do exactly? A team of expert scientists has delivered their findings. (3/25)