May 28, 2024

Black Hole Singularities Defy Physics. New Research Could Finally Do Away With Them (Source: Space.com)
According to new research, black holes could actually be entirely different celestial entities known as gravastars. "Gravastars are hypothetical astronomical objects that were introduced [in 2001] as alternatives to black holes," study co-author João Luís Rosa, a professor of physics at the University of Gdańsk in Poland, told Live Science in an email. "They can be interpreted as stars made of vacuum energy or dark energy: the same type of energy that propels the accelerated expansion of the universe." (5/26)

Why the US Can't Send Humans to Mars (Source: Business Insider)
Some of the US's earliest plans assumed humans could reach the Red Planet by the 1980s. Over the decades, technology and funding challenges have hampered the nation's hopes of crewed flights. To fully understand why the US hasn't sent humans to Mars despite sending more robots there than any other country, it just takes a trip down memory lane. Here's a history of the US's most promising crewed Martian missions that never were. Click here. (5/27)

European Space Telescope Photos Reveal New Insights in Deep Space (Source: USA Today)
The European Space Agency released five new images from the Euclid space telescope last week, showing some of the clearest images of the cosmos captured to date. The release, along with the first data provided by the space mission, gave researchers insight into the creation of galaxies and how the universe formed. The announcement also comes ahead of 10 scientific papers and the mission's main survey. Click here. (5/26)

North Korea Rocket Explodes After Monday Launch (Source: Yonhap)
A North Korean rocket carrying a reconnaissance satellite exploded after launch Monday. The rocket lifted off at about 9:44 a.m. Eastern from North Korea's Sohae Satellite Launching Ground, but the rocket appeared to explode in flight. North Korea's official news service confirmed the failure, blaming it on a new engine that uses liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants. The rocket was carrying Malligyong-1-1, a reconnaissance satellite. North Korea's Chollima-1 rocket suffered two launch failures last year before placing a spy satellite into orbit last November, but this appears to be a different, or at least modified, rocket. Japan, South Korea and the United States condemned the launch for violating U.N. Security Council resolutions regarding ballistic missile technology development. (5/28)

Weekend Launch Set for Boeing Starliner at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: Space News)
NASA and Boeing are moving ahead with another Starliner launch attempt this weekend. At a briefing Friday, officials said they concluded a helium leak in one thruster in the spacecraft's service module did not need to be repaired before launch, since the leak, traced to a damaged seal in a flange, can be managed even if it were to grow significantly. During that review, though, engineers discovered a "design vulnerability" with the overall propulsion system where an unlikely, but not impossible, series of failures could prevent Starliner from performing a deorbit burn. NASA and Boeing have developed a backup deorbit burn mode that could be used in the event those failures happened. The launch is scheduled for Saturday, with backup opportunities Sunday as well as June 5 and 6. (5/28)

Geespace Advances LEO Satellite Constellation for Global Coverage (Source: Space Daily)
In China, Geespace, a commercial aerospace company under Geely, is building and operating the Geely Future Mobility Constellation. This constellation has completed the deployment of two orbital planes. The third plane is scheduled to launch in the second half of this year, initiating global application services. The fourth plane will include direct-to-cell satellite communication payloads, supporting many existing mobile phones. Geespace plans to complete the first phase of the constellation with 72 satellites within two years, offering global real-time data communication services. (5/26)

Chinese Company Plans 10,000 Satellite Constellation (Source: Space News)
A Chinese company has filed plans for a 10,000-satellite constellation. Shanghai Lanjian Hongqing Technology Company, or Hongqing Technology, filed a notice with the ITU last week for the Honghu-3 constellation, featuring 10,000 satellites in 160 orbital planes. Hongqing Technology is linked to launch vehicle developer Landspace. The Honghu constellation plan appears to be the third 10,000-plus satellite megaconstellation planned by Chinese entities, following the national Guowang plan and the Shanghai-backed G60 Starlink proposal. (5/28)

China's Deep Blue Secures Funding for Reusable Rocket (Source: Space News)
Chinese rocket company Deep Blue Aerospace has secured new funding for its reusable rocket plans. The company announced it has recently closed Series B and B1 funding rounds that raised tens of millions of dollars. Deep Blue Aerospace plans to launch its first Nebula-1 rocket from a new commercial spaceport at Wenchang, Hainan island, before the end of the year. It will also attempt to land the rocket's first stage using retropropulsion and landing legs. Nebula-1 will initially be able to place up to 2,000 kilograms to low Earth orbit while a larger Nebula-2 rocket will have 10 times the payload capacity. (5/28)

SDA Plans Separate Ground Systems for Missile Warning Satellites (Source: Space News)
The Space Development Agency (SDA) plans to procure two separate ground systems in support of its experimental missile defense satellites. The first program, dubbed Advanced Fire Control Ground Infrastructure (AFCGI), will establish a cloud-based ground system at Redstone Arsenal in Alabama to control missile-tracking experiments like a constellation of satellites called Foo Fighter. SDA will also award a separate Advanced Fire Control Mission Integration (AFCMI) contract for processing and integrating the fire-control tracking data. SDA said it split the ground systems into separate contracts because ground mission integration and data mission integration require distinct skill sets. (5/28)

Amazon Plans for Generative AI in Space (Source: Space News)
Amazon Web Services expects generative AI to play a role in space. More than 60% of the company's space and aerospace customers are already using some form of AI in their businesses now, an AWS executive said. AWS has created a "generative AI for space" cell of a handful of people to engage with cloud customers to help develop next-generation capabilities using new deep-learning models in topics such as geospatial analytics, spacecraft design and constellation management. (5/28)

Satellogic Lays Off 13% of Staff (Source: Space News)
Earth imaging company Satellogic has laid off 13% of its staff. The company said in a filing with the SEC late Friday that it laid off 34 employees as part of "previously announced and ongoing efforts to reduce operational costs and control spending." Satellogic laid off 110 people last year as the company, which went public in a SPAC merger in 2022, seeks to reduce costs to compensate for revenue growth that has been slower than projected. Satellogic also raised $30 million last month in a convertible note agreement with cryptocurrency company Tether. (5/28)

Astronaut Hall of Fame Welcomes Veteran NASA Astronauts Hilmers and Ivins to the 2024 Class (Source: KSCVC)
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation’s Curt Brown has announced the 2024 U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees. Veteran astronauts David Hilmers and Marsha Ivins will join the 107 astronauts who have been inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame, located at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, since its creation more than 30 years ago. (5/28)

New Space-Based Study Shows Promising Results for Treating, Preventing Post-Traumatic Osteoarthritis (Source: CASIS)
More than 650 million people worldwide are affected by osteoarthritis, and few treatment options exist. However, new promising results from an International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory-sponsored experiment detail a tissue chip model that accurately reproduces the conditions under which post-traumatic osteoarthritis (PTOA) is initiated. Published in Frontiers in Space in March, these findings mark an important step forward in understanding and testing treatments for the underlying causes of osteoarthritis and related conditions. (5/28)

Protection of US Orbital Assets Coming Into Focus (Source: Wall Street Journal)
The US military with support from industry is focusing on defending satellites from both ground-based threats and emerging orbital dangers, particularly from Russia and China. "We need to act like it's a war in space," said Robert Winkler of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions. (5/27)