April 23, 2024

Starship Faces Performance Shortfall for Lunar Missions (Source: America Space)
NASA understood that it was accepting a degree of risk when it selected Starship as the solitary lunar lander design for Artemis 3 and 4. The only alternatives were an overweight Dynetics lander and a Blue Origin lander which would need a substantial redesign to achieve NASA’s long-term goal of landing four astronauts on the Moon. In this context, Starship had significant upside, as it far exceeded the HLS performance requirements.

SpaceX claimed that it could deliver 100 tons of cargo to the lunar surface, which would reduce the operating costs of the Artemis Base Camp. In addition, SpaceX’s $2.9 billion bid was half the price of its competitors’ landers, since the company could offset Starship’s development cost by also utilizing it to launch satellites. However, its ability to reach the Moon was cast into doubt by an announcement by Elon Musk two weeks ago.

The most important part was arguably contained within one sentence:  “Currently, Flight 3 would be around 40-50 tons to orbit.” Prior to this, Starship’s estimated payload capacity had ranged between 100 and 150 tons to LEO. The most straightforward interpretation of Musk’s comment is that the rocket is suffering from a 50% underperformance. SpaceX is already designing an upgraded “Starship 2.”  Both stages of the rocket will be slightly longer and they will feature the improved Raptor 3 engine. (4/19)

Starship Will Be 500 Feet Tall for Mars Missions, Elon Musk Says (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX's Starship, the largest rocket in the world, will get even bigger as the company continues to target Mars missions in the future. Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of SpaceX, told employees on April 4 that Starship will eventually be as tall as 500 feet (150 meters), roughly 20% higher than the massive system aboard the Super Heavy rocket right now.

What's more, advances in reusability will have each launch cost roughly $3 million each, Musk predicted; that's less than a third of what a (much smaller) Falcon 1 rocket launch cost in 2004 when inflation is taken into account. (The figure two decades ago was $5.9 million, according to NBC, which is roughly $9.5 million in 2024 dollars.) (4/13)

Startups Want to Cool Earth by Reflecting Sunlight. There Are Few Rules and Big Risks (Source: NPR)
In the past year, the conversation around solar geoengineering as a climate solution has become more serious, says David Keith, geophysics professor and head of a new University of Chicago initiative to study a broad array of climate geoengineering ideas. "Suddenly we're getting conversations with senior political leaders and senior people in the environmental world who are starting to think about this and engage with it seriously in a way that just wasn't happening five years ago," Keith says.

But as money flows in – some from investors who hope to profit from this technology – regulations around outdoor experiments and possible broader deployments aren't keeping up, experts say. Because of the way the stratosphere works, a large-scale release of particles in one part of the world could impact a large part of the planet. Questions persist about possible risks of solar geoengineering for everything from global crops to droughts. And there are risks of unintended consequences that scientists and investors haven't yet imagined – the unknown unknowns of trying to engineer a cooler Earth. Click here. (4/21)

Chiefs of South Korea’s JCS, US Spacecom Meet (Source: Korea Herald)
Kim Myung-soo, the chair of South Korea’s Joint Chiefs of Staff, and Stephen Whiting, the commander of the US Space Command, met on Monday in Seoul. According to the JCS, Kim and Whiting held a meeting to discuss close two-way cooperation and to enhance South Korea-US alliance’s space capabilities amid growing North Korean threats in space and ongoing military exchanges between Russia and North Korea. North Korea launched its first military reconnaissance satellite in November last year, with plans to launch several more in the next few years. (4/22)

Are We Prepared for Chinese Preeminence on the Moon and Mars? (Source: Space.com)
The rate at which the Chinese have been catching up is alarming. According to a 2022 Pentagon report, the U.S. could lose its lead in space technology as soon as 2045. The report notes that, while U.S. industrial capacity is expanding, "the upward trajectory of the People's Republic of China…is even steeper, with a significant rate of overtake, requiring urgent action."

The report added that "the U.S. lacks a clear and cohesive long-term vision, a grand strategy for space that sustains economic, technological, environmental, social and military (defense) leadership for the next half century and beyond." With so many other major national issues that hold center stage, the Administration and Congress also do not appear to be appropriately focused and motivated in what truly constitutes the new Space Race. Stable bipartisan support remains, but we seem to lack a sense of national urgency. (4/22)

NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth (Source: NASA)
After some inventive sleuthing, the mission team can — for the first time in five months — check the health and status of the most distant human-made object in existence. For the first time since November, NASA’s Voyager 1 spacecraft is returning usable data about the health and status of its onboard engineering systems. The next step is to enable the spacecraft to begin returning science data again. The probe and its twin, Voyager 2, are the only spacecraft to ever fly in interstellar space (the space between stars). (4/22)

How Rocket Lab Outgrew Billionaire Elon Musk's Space Company in Q1 (Source: Motley Fool)
Rocket Lab stock is on a tear. Over just the past week, Rocket Lab has announced a $32 million U.S. Space Force contract to put a "VICTUS HAZE Tactically Responsive Space" satellite in orbit. Another Space Force contract will see Rocket Lab launch a DISKSat into very low earth orbit for $14.5 million. The company plans to reuse one of its Electron first-stage rockets in an orbital launch for the first time ever.

You might not guess it from the stock price (which is down 13% since the end of March), but all of the above follows Rocket Lab's announcement that it launched its 46th successful mission in March, and is planning to launch No. 47 later in April. As Rocket Lab gears up to report its financial results for first-quarter 2024 on May 6, the company clearly has some momentum. But the truth is even bigger than that: Rocket Lab is now growing faster than SpaceX. (4/22)

Astronomers Find Evidence Of A Massive Object Beyond The Orbit Of Neptune (Source: IFL Science)
Ateam of researchers say they have found the "strongest statistical evidence yet that Planet 9 is really out there" in the solar system after studying a population of distant, unstable objects that cross Neptune's orbit.

When it comes to discovering planets, finding them around other stars is actually a little easier than locating them around our own. Astronomers can watch for dips in light as planets pass their host star and block the light reaching our telescopes on Earth or in space, known as the "transit method"; or by observing the wobble of a star caused by planets orbiting it and the knock-on effect that has. Through these methods, and a few others, we have discovered thousands of exoplanets in the last few decades, while the number of planets in our solar system has remained at eight. (4/22)

Work Underway on Large Cargo Landers for NASA’s Artemis Moon Missions (Source: NASA)
Under NASA’s Artemis campaign, the agency and its partners will send large pieces of equipment to the lunar surface to enable long-term scientific exploration of the Moon for the benefit of all. NASA’s human landing system providers, SpaceX and Blue Origin, are beginning development of lunar landers for large cargo deliveries to support these needs.

NASA has contracted SpaceX and Blue Origin to provide landing systems to take astronauts to the Moon’s surface from lunar orbit, beginning with Artemis III. The agency has asked the two companies to develop cargo versions of their human lunar landers as an option under their existing contracts. These cargo variants are expected to land approximately 26,000 – 33,000 pounds (12 to 15 metric tons) of payload on the lunar surface and be in service no earlier than the Artemis VII mission. (4/19)

NASA Still Investigating Orion Heat Shield Issues from Artemis 1 Moon Mission (Source: Space.com)
Earlier this year, NASA announced it had delayed until September 2025 the crewed Artemis 2 swingby of the moon, a practice run to prepare for 2026's Artemis 3 mission, which will land astronauts near the lunar south pole. One reason cited for the 10-month delay was getting to the bottom of reentry heat shield data from Artemis 1, which sent an uncrewed Orion capsule to lunar orbit and back.

Engineers have been analyzing data from that shakeout cruise, which began with a launch by NASA's Space Launch System megarocket on Nov. 16, 2022. The 25-day Artemis 1 mission ended on Dec. 11, 2022, with the Orion capsule splashing down under parachutes in the Pacific Ocean off Baja California.

Orion's heat shield took on the 25,000 mph (40,000 kph) reentry speed that day, protecting the capsule ably. But soon thereafter, NASA and contractors began wrestling with the discovery that Orion's ablative heat shield wore away differently than predicted. Some areas of expected charred material ablated away in a manner not forecast by computer modeling and ground testing. Also, there was slightly more liberation of the charred material during reentry than anticipated. (4/18)

Head of NASA Says China Is Hiding Military Experiments in Space (Source: Futurism)
NASA's administrator is once again making outrageous claims about China's space capabilities — and in the process, fueling the off-world rivalry between the two. "We believe that a lot of [China's] so-called civilian space program is a military program," Administrator Bill Nelson said during remarks on Capitol Hill this week, per The Guardian. "And I think, in effect, we are in a race." (4/20)

The Ongoing Triumph of Ingenuity (Source: Space Review)
NASA sent its final commands to the Ingenuity Mars helicopter last week, three months after the helicopter’s final flight. Will Pomerantz describes the remarkable achievements of Ingenuity and its influence on future missions. Click here. (4/22)
 
NASA’s Strategy for Space Sustainability (Source: Space Review)
Earlier this month NASA announced a new Space Sustainability Strategy that outlines how the agency would address the growing threats posed by orbital debris. Jeff Foust reports on the strategy, which initially emphasizes getting a grasp on the problem rather than technological solutions. Click here. (4/22)
 
Tintin, the First Man in Space and on the Moon (Source: Space Review)
Years before Yuri Gagarin went into orbit or Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon, the Belgian cartoon character Tintin did the same. Anusuya Datta looks at Tintin’s exploits and how the cartoonist Hergé was able to make the journey realistic. Click here. (4/22)
 
Preventing Space Contamination Rises Up the Agenda (Source: BBC)
Hundreds of scientists from around the world are meeting in the UK this week to discuss the best ways of protecting our planet and other celestial bodies from contamination. Representatives from Nasa, the European Space Agency and agencies from China, Japan and India, as well as private companies, will be sharing techniques on how to explore other worlds responsibly. (4/22)

Jamming, Spoofing, Hacking: Today's Most Pervasive Counterspace Threats (Source: Space Policy Online)
While speculation about Russian nuclear weapons in space and actual destructive antisatellite tests grab the headlines, experts from two organizations that track “counterspace” activities are pointing out more immediate threats to satellite systems do not require such sophistication. Jamming or spoofing navigation satellites or hacking communications satellite ground terminals is much easier and can be disruptive not just to militaries, but the civilian population. Click here. (4/21)

Make Money in Your Sleep: How to Earn €18,000 in Bed for 2 Months and Help Future Space Missions (Source: EuroNews)
Long periods spent in space can impair sensory perceptions and motor reactions. This study hopes to tackle those challenges so missions aren't jeopardised. Earning money without ever having to get out of bed sounds like the dream job. Even better when you’re being paid thousands of euros. The German Aerospace Center (DLR) is looking for 12 candidates to spend 60 days in bed for its study in collaboration with NASA. Candidates who complete the two-month programme will be paid €18,000. (4/21)

L3Harris Strengthens Smallsat Supply Chain (Source: Defense News)
L3Harris has chosen Maxar to construct the satellite bus for its Space Development Agency Tranche 1 and Tranche 2 satellites, and Kelle Wendling, president of L3Harris' space systems sector, recently discussed the challenges and strategies in developing a mature supply chain for small satellites. Wendling shared insights from early lessons learned in the SDA's missile tracking satellite project, emphasizing the ongoing complexities of the supply chain and the importance of early and collaborative engagement with suppliers. (4/22)

Spain's PLD Space Raises $83 Million for Launcher Development (Source: Space News)
Spanish launch vehicle developer PLD Space has raised additional funding. The company announced Tuesday that it has raised a total of 78 million euros ($83 million) in outside investment to date, but did not disclose the size of the latest tranche of funding from its shareholders. The company has also received 42 million euros from the Spanish government in the last year. The funding will allow PLD Space to expand its manufacturing and test facilities for its Miura 5 small launch vehicle. That rocket is slated to make its first flight in 2025 and enter commercial service in 2026. (4/23)

Space Force Adjusts Classification for Some Tech and Training (Source: Space News)
The Pentagon has declassified some information about space electronic warfare technologies and training. Space Force Col. Christopher Fernengel said on a recent podcast that the service has moved that information, which had been at a "top secret special access program" level, down to secret or top secret, making it easier for the Space Force to collaborate with allies. Space electronic warfare involves manipulating the electromagnetic spectrum, including offensive actions like jamming or spoofing to hinder adversaries as well as defensive measures to protect friendly space assets. (4/23)

NASA Continues Assessment of Decadal Survey Mission Options (Source: Space News)
NASA is continuing efforts to respond to a decadal survey that set lofty goals for its biological and physical sciences (BPS) research. That report, released last September, recommended NASA pursue 11 key science questions and implement two research campaigns in those fields with costs in the billions of dollars. It also called for increasing NASA's BPS budget by a factor of 10 over the decade.

The director of NASA's BPS division says the agency is developing a strategy to implement the decadal's recommendations while acknowledging a 10-fold increase in the budget may not be realistic in the current fiscal environment. The strategy will also address a shift in research from the International Space Station to commercial stations as well as lunar and Mars research. (4/23)

SpaceX Injury Rates Continue to Exceed Industry Averages (Source: Reuters)
Injury rates at SpaceX continue to exceed industry averages. Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration for 2023 showed that SpaceX had injury rates higher than the space industry average and, in some cases, higher than the company reported in 2022. Its Starbase facility in Texas, for example, reported 5.9 injuries per 100 workers in 2023 compared to 3.8 injuries per 100 in 2022 and an industry average of just 0.8 injuries per 100. One expert warned that high injury rates could be a sign of poor production quality. (4/23)

India Readies Drop Test for Gaganyaan (Source: India Today)
The Indian space agency ISRO is gearing up for a drop test of its Gaganyaan spacecraft. In the upcoming test, a capsule will be dropped from a helicopter at an altitude of 3.5 to 4 kilometers to confirm the performance of the spacecraft's parachutes before splashing down. ISRO has not announced a date for the test, but it could take place within a week depending on the status of test preparations and weather conditions. (4/23)

Australia Criticized for Funding Astronaut Training (Source: The Guardian)
Australia's space agency is facing criticism for spending money training an astronaut who will have few opportunities to fly. The agency spent $466,000 to include Katherine Bennell-Pegg, its space technology director, in a European Space Agency astronaut training class that graduated on Monday. Unlike the ESA astronauts in that class, Bennell-Pegg is not eligible for ESA flight assignments, leaving commercial missions as the most likely option for her to go to space. The cost of seats on commercial missions to the ISS, though, exceeds the agency's annual budget of $34 million, prompting one senator to formally question the agency about its human spaceflight plans. (4/23)

Blue Origin Adds New Shepard Suborbital Flight (Source: SERA)
A private organization says it has signed an agreement for a dedicated Blue Origin New Shepard flight. The Space Exploration and Research Agency (SERA) announced Monday that it will buy all six seats on an upcoming, but unscheduled, New Shepard flight, reserving five of the seats for participants from countries that have none or only a few people into space. The sixth seat would be open people from any nation. SERA, previously known as the Crypto Space Agency, arranged the flight of one person on a New Shepard flight in 2022, funded through the sale of digital collectibles called non-fungible tokens, or NFTs. (4/23)