April 14, 2024

Environmental Concerns Raised by Rocket Flights over San Diego County (Source: San Diego Union Tribune)
“I, along with thousands of other residents of the South Coast, am significantly impacted with each launch, including being woken up from a deep sleep on occasion, while my dogs are terrified, my house shakes, and the sonic booms are felt physically, with a deep shock.” Conservationists say the noise disturbs native wildlife such as red legged frogs, the western snowy plover, seals and sea lions, and it interferes with commercial and recreational fishing. Nearby public beaches and fishing grounds are often closed during the launches.

“The launches are extremely loud and destructive,” said Mandy Sackett in San Diego, senior California policy coordinator for the Surfrider Foundation. “Sound impacts are grossly underestimated,” Sackett said, and she urged the Coastal Commission to “pump the brakes” on the increase. Another downside are the latex weather balloons released before every flight to check atmospheric conditions. The balloons carry batteries and electronics that reach the stratosphere and then burst from the pressure before falling back to earth or into the ocean, where the equipment sinks with little chance of being recovered. (4/14)

Japan to Pick 2 Astronauts From 7 Candidates for Moon Landing (Source: Kyodo News)
Japan will select two astronauts to send to the Moon in 2028 or later from seven candidates after the Japanese science ministry and the U.S. space agency on Wednesday confirmed flight opportunity allocations in the U.S.-led Artemis Moon exploration program. Some of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's candidates, including two trainees recruited in February last year, expressed their hope to be picked for the Artemis program and become the first non-American astronaut to land on the Moon. (4/11)

Relativity Space Wins $8.7 Million U.S. Air Force Contract for Additive Manufacturing Research (Source: Space News)
Relativity Space, a company that builds launch vehicles using 3D printing technology, has secured an $8.7 million contract with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) to explore real-time flaw detection in additive manufacturing. Real-time flaw detection in 3D printing is the ability to identify defects as parts are being printed. This is an important technology as additive manufacturing works by laying down thin layers of material on top of each other so each layer adds to the potential for imperfections.

The two-year research contract is from AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio. The work for this project will be done at Relativity’s factory in Long Beach, California, using the company’s Stargate 3D printing platform, known for its large-scale metal printing capabilities. “This effort with Relativity Space is in response to a congressional demand signal,” Adam Hicks, a physicist at AFRL’s Materials and Manufacturing Directorate, said. (4/14)

Tiny Black Holes Left Over From the Big Bang May Be Prime Dark Matter Suspects (Source: Space.com)
Tiny black holes, created seconds after the birth of the universe, may survive longer than expected, reigniting a suspicion that primordial black holes could account for dark matter, the universe's most mysterious stuff.

Not only has a recent change in thinking regarding how black holes "evaporate" prompted a reassessment of primordial black holes' viability as dark matter suspects, but as the search for a dark matter particle continues to mostly draw a blank, more researchers could begin to look at the primordial black hole dark matter theory more seriously. (4/13)

SpaceX Launch Marked Record Turnaround Time with Record Booster Reflight (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
SpaceX managed a Starlink launch from Cape Canaveral Friday night less than three days since the last rocket blasted off from the same launch pad, setting a turnaround record while also using a first-stage booster for a record-setting 20th flight. LC-40 was used for the last Starlink launch that came at 1:40 a.m. Wednesday, so the turnaround came only two days and 20 hours after, besting the previous record by nearly 26 hours. (4/12)

NASA Budget Woes Could Doom $2 Billion Chandra Space Telescope (Source: Washington Post)
NASA spent $2.2 billion to build and launch the Chandra X-Ray Observatory in 1999, and it has performed brilliantly, scrutinizing deep space, black holes, galaxy clusters and the remnants of exploded stars. It sees things that other space telescopes can’t see, because it literally has X-ray vision. If Congress approves the Biden administration’s 2025 budget request for NASA science missions, they say, the Chandra mission will be effectively terminated. (4/14)

This Little Robot Can Hop in Zero-Gravity to Explore Asteroids (Source: Space.com)
A three-legged robot named SpaceHopper could help combat the challenges of exploring low-gravity environments, such as those found on asteroids or moons. The SpaceHopper program was first launched two and a half years ago as a student research project at ETH Zurich university in Switzerland. And recently, researchers tested the hopping robot in a simulated zero-gravity environment during a European Space Agency parabolic flight, according to a statement from the university. (4/14)

SpaceX Launches Friday Night Starlink Mission at Florida Spaceport (Source: SPACErePORT)
SpaceX launched another batch of Starlink satellites on Friday night. This was the 20th flight for the booster, which landed downrange on a droneship. (4/12)

Sierra Space Wants to Drop Cargo From Orbit to Anywhere on Earth in 90 Minutes (Source: Space.com)
Sierra Space unveiled a radical new concept for on-demand cargo delivery from Earth orbit. The company aims to land critical supplies anywhere on the planet within 90 minutes of when it was requested. Sierra Space says the concept could enable soldiers on the battlefield or in remote areas to acquire much-needed supplies on quicker timescales, as they'd be far from traditional infrastructure used to transport goods on the ground. The Ghost orbital delivery platform could also aid first responders in disaster-stricken areas and bolster humanitarian efforts. (4/12)

One of the Universe's Most 'Extreme' Dead Stars Just Sprang Back to Life Unexpectedly (Source: Space.com)
The universe's most extreme stars just got a little bit more unexpected and mysterious. Scientists were astounded when they witnessed a "dead" neutron star with one of the most powerful magnetic fields in the cosmos unexpectedly spring back to life. The reactivation of this highly magnetic neutron star or "magnetar" doesn't conform to the current understanding of these exotic celestial objects. The team made the discovery of this magnetar's return from the dead when they spotted strange radio signals from the closest known magnetar to Earth, XTE J1810-197, located around 8,000 light-years away. (4/12)

Office of Space Commerce Selects Colorado and Maryland Locations for TraCSS Operations Centers (Source: Space News)
The Office of Space Commerce will set up operations centers in Colorado and Maryland for its civil space traffic coordination system. Richard DalBello, director of the Office of Space Commerce, announced that the primary operations center for the Traffic Coordination System for Space (TraCSS) will be at the David Skaggs Research Center, operated by NOAA in Boulder, Colorado. A secondary center will be at another NOAA facility in Suitland, Maryland.

While the Boulder center will be the primary location, the Suitland site will be up and running first, said Sandy Magnus, chief engineer for TraCSS, in an interview after the panel. In Suitland, the office is able to take over a room from another program, while the Boulder facility will require some renovations first. When both centers are up and running, the Boulder center will largely handle operations while Suitland will handle systems engineering and IT support. The centers will operate around the clock but rely heavily on automation. (4/12)

Spain's HALO Space Unveils Capsule Design for Stratospheric Space 'Glamping' (Source: Space.com)
Stratospheric balloon company HALO Space plans to offer aspiring space travelers the space tourism equivalent of glamping. Instead of tight space suits and stomach-churning G-forces typically attached to a rocket flight, the company's pressurized capsule, attached to a helium-filled balloon, will offer comfy swivel seats, giant windows and a selection of fine cuisine.

The Spanish-headquartered firm unveiled the design of the 3.9-ton (3.5 metric tonnes) Aurora capsule at an event in London on Wednesday, April 10, and said it hoped to begin commercial operations in 2026. HALO Space is one of two companies currently readying its balloon technology to begin commercial operations in the next two years. The other is Florida-based Space Perspective. HALO Space plans to fly from spaceports in the Mojave Desert in the U.S., Spain, Australia and Saudi Arabia. (4/12)

Putin Lauds Soviet Republics for Contribution to Space Exploration (Source: TASS)
The USSR made great contributions to the advancement of space exploration, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting in the Kremlin with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko and Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky and Belarusian cosmonaut Marina Vasilevskaya, who recently returned from the ISS. He emphasized that now Russia and Belarus continue this joint work. "And the fact that the first Belarusian cosmonaut flew into space is just another manifestation of our joint activities. (4/12)

Russia to Launch Over 100 Spacecraft by Year-End (Source: TASS)
Russia will launch more than 100 spacecraft to build up the orbital constellation by the end of 2024, Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov told reporters. "More than 20 spacecraft have already been launched to build up the domestic orbital constellation in 2024. The launch of more than 100 spacecraft is planned by the end of this year. Therefore, we expect in total that 123 spacecraft will be launched in 2024, including 70 small ones," Manturov said. The domestic orbital constellation comprises more than 240 spacecraft, he added. (4/12)

Putin: No Task, Including Defense Capabilities, Can Be Solved Without Space (Source: TASS)
The space industry development contributes to solving any task, including bolstering the country’s defense capabilities, Russian President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting in the Kremlin with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko, and the two cosmonauts who have recently returned to Earth from the ISS - Russia’s Oleg Novitsky and Belarus’ Marina Vasilevskaya. (4/12)