May 31, 2024

NASA’s Worries are Not Just About Space, but About Space Sustainability (Source: FNN)
The more nations launch satellites into space, the more crowded the orbit layers become, especially in the burgeoning low-earth orbit. NASA has a Space Environment Sustainability Advisory Board to help guide policy for an area of space that is starting to look like the Beltway at rush hour. The board has defined the problem in terms of five challenges. Click here. (5/30)

Boeing and Northrop Grumman Vie for Space Force PTS-R Contract (Source: Space News)
The U.S. Space Force will choose between Boeing and Northrop Grumman for a next generation of communication satellites. The Protected Tactical Satellite-Resilient (PTS-R) program aims to develop a constellation of satellites resistant to cyber attacks and jamming, ensuring U.S. forces can maintain secure communications in contested environments.

Both companies won contracts in 2020 to develop PTS-R prototype payloads for on-orbit demonstrations planned for fiscal year 2025, and Space Systems Command, in a notice last week, said new market research concluded that the two companies are the only ones capable of meeting the program's stringent requirements. The companies are now competing for a follow-on cost-reimbursement contract expected to be awarded in December for technology maturation and risk reduction work. (5/31)

Peru and Slovakia Join Aertemis Accords (Source: Space News)
Peru and Slovakia are the latest countries to sign the Artemis Accords. Officials from the two countries signed the Accords in separate ceremonies Thursday at NASA Headquarters, bringing the total number of nations that have signed the document to 42. U.S. officials said they are seeing growing interest in the Accords, which outline best practices in space exploration. The signings come a week after two dozen Artemis Accords countries met in Canada for a workshop to discuss issues related to the Accords, such as non-interference and interoperability. (5/31)

ESA Advances Zero Debris Charter (Source: Space News)
ESA has lined up an initial set of countries and companies to sign a non-binding agreement to limit growth of orbital debris. Twelve European countries signed the Zero Debris Charter last week, and a ceremony next week at the ILA Berlin Air Show will feature companies signing the charter. The document outlines processes signatories will follow to limit creation of debris, including prompt deorbiting of satellites and reducing risks of collisions and explosions in orbit. (5/31)

China Launches Two Missions From Xichang and Jiuquan (Source: Space News)
China carried out two launches Thursday. A Long March 3B lifted off from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center and placed the Paksat MM1 satellite into geosynchonous transfer orbit. Paksat MM1, built by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, will provide multiband communications services for Pakistan's government. A Ceres-1 rocket lifted off from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. It placed into sun-synchronous orbit a pair of Jiguang Xingzuo laser communications test satellites and three Yunyao-1 meteorology satellites with radio occultation and infrared imager payloads. (5/31)

Viasat Touts In-Flight Connectivity Advancements (Source: AIN Online)
Viasat is touting approval of Satcom Direct's Ka-band tail mount terminal for the Gulfstream G650 at EBACE 2024. The company also showcased various collaborations and innovations to improve inflight connectivity and passenger experience. (5/29)

Europe Focuses on Counterspace (Source: Breaking Defense)
The European Defense Fund is supporting development of a counterspace satellite program. The fund announced earlier this month is it allocating about $7 million towards development of an "Autonomous SSA Bodyguard Onboard Satellite," also known as Bodyguard. The system would be able to track threats to a satellite and even disable any approaching spacecraft. The program follows previous interest by France in particular on counterspace systems like lasers to defend satellites from attack, although experts note that this Bodyguard system could also be used offensively to attack other satellites. (5/31)

Japan Loses Contact with Venus Orbiter (Source: Space.com)
Controllers have lost contact with an aging Japanese Venus orbiter. The Japanese space agency JAXA said Wednesday that it has not been able to communicate with its Akatsuki orbiter since late April "due to an extended period of low attitude stability control mode." JAXA said it is continuing efforts to try to restore communications with the spacecraft.

Akatsuki launched in 2010 but suffered an engine malfunction that prevented it from going into orbit as planned. Engineers developed an alternative approach and got the spacecraft into orbit in 2015 to study the planet's climate. (5/31)

Momentus Awarded DARPA Contract for In-Space Construction Technologies (Source: Space Daily)
Momentus has secured a contract from DARPA to support the design and in-space demonstration of technologies for constructing large-scale structures in space. The DARPA Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials, and Mass-efficient Design (NOM4D) program aims to develop the foundations for building robust and precise structures in space. The program envisions transporting raw materials from Earth for in-orbit manufacturing. (5/31)

Starling Spacecraft Swarm Completes Primary Mission (Source: Space Daily)
After ten months in orbit, the Starling spacecraft swarm has achieved its primary mission objectives, marking a major milestone in swarm technology. Satellite swarms could potentially be used for deep space exploration. These autonomous networks can self-navigate, manage experiments, and adapt to environmental changes without relying on constant communication with Earth. (5/31)

NASA Provides New Near Real-Time Air Quality Data (Slource: Space Daily)
NASA has released new data offering detailed air pollution observations down to neighborhood levels. This data comes from the TEMPO (Tropospheric Emissions: Monitoring of Pollution) instrument, launched last year to enhance air quality observation from space. The data is available at NASA's Atmospheric Science Data Center in Hampton, Virginia. (5/31)

German Company HyImpulse Plans Additional South Australia Launches (Source: Space Daily)
Southern Launch and HyImpulse have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for more missions from the Koonibba Test Range and to explore using the Whalers Way Orbital Launch Complex for future launches of HyImpulse's SL1 orbital vehicle. The MoU follows a successful launch campaign where HyImpulse completed the maiden launch of their 11.5-meter-tall single-stage SR75 rocket from Southern Launch's Koonibba Test Range on May 3, 2024. (5/31)

South Korea's INNOSPACE to Launch Brazilian Satellites on HANBIT-Nano Rocket From Alcantara Spaceport (Source: Space Daily)
INNOSPACE, a South Korean private spaceflight startup producing small satellite launch vehicles, has signed new launch service agreements with the Federal University of Maranhao (UFMA) and Castro Leite Consultoria LTDA (CLC). This mission will use the HANBIT-Nano launch vehicle from the Alcantara Space Center in Brazil in the first half of 2025. (5/31)

NASA ‘Moon Tree’ Takes Root at DeLand Catholic School (Source: Orlando Sentinel)
After the launch of Apollo 11 from Cape Kennedy in 1969, Orlando’s Roman Catholic bishop said he should be the bishop of the moon. That claim was never made official, but now at least one of the diocese’s Central Florida schools has its own “moon tree.”

St. Peter Catholic School in DeLand received Wednesday a loblolly pine sapling from a seed that flew around the moon during NASA’s Artemis I mission in 2022. The school was one of only 50 chosen across the U.S. to receive the trees so far. It’s part of NASA’s Artemis Moon Trees initiative to spark interest in the space program. (5/29)

NASA Goddard, Maryland Sign Memo to Boost State’s Aerospace Sector (Source: NASA)
The Maryland Department of Commerce and NASA signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to collaborate on developing the state’s aerospace economy, focusing on areas surrounding Goddard’s Space Flight Center and Maryland’s Eastern Shore near NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia. (5/29)

Slovenia to Sign ESA Membership Agreement on 18 June (Source: STA)
Slovenia has completed talks on its full membership of the European Space Agency (ESA) and expects to become a new member as of 2025. Prime Minister Robert Golob will sign the accession agreement in Paris on 18 June, which will be followed by ratification in Slovenian parliament, the government said after its weekly session. (5/30)

Saudi Arabia on the Verge of Launching Trials for Outer Space Tourism (Source: Arab News)
Saudi Arabia is on the verge of launching an initiative in space tourism, according to a top official. The CEO of the Saudi Space Agency, Mohammed Al-Tamimi, discussed the expanding role of spaceports and satellite deployment on the opening day of the 2024 Future Aviation Forum in Riyadh. The first day of the event showcased significant developments in tourism, aviation, and space exploration. Key figures from various sectors emphasized the rapid growth and strategic initiatives driving the industry forward. (5/20)

JWST Spots Most Distant Galaxy Ever Seen—and It's Weirdly Bright (Source: Gizmodo)
Researchers recently observed a record-breaking galaxy beaming with young stars, which existed only 290 million years after the universe came into existence, challenging our view of the Cosmic Dawn with its unexpected luminosity.

On Thursday, a team of astronomers announced the discovery of the most distant and earliest galaxy ever seen, observed at a time less than 300 million years after the Big Bang. That may not seem like a short period of time but considering that the Big Bang likely took place 13.7 billion years ago, we’re looking at the cosmos during its infancy. (5/30)

Decades in the Making, this Complex Satellite Will 'Slice Through Clouds' (Source: CNN)
A complex satellite, decades in the making, has been launched to study how clouds and aerosols could shape our climate in the future. Click here. (5/30) https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/30/weather/video/clouds-climate-esa-earthcare-satellite-ldn-digvid-contd

Chinese Reusable Rocket Maker to Cooperate on New MEO Constellation (Source: Space News)
Chinese rocket maker Space Epoch has entered into a strategic partnership with satellite operator Shifang Xinglian to develop a constellation of medium Earth orbit satellites. Top officials from Beijing Jianyuan Technology Co., Ltd., also known as Space Epoch, or Sepoch, and Shifang Xinglian (Suzhou) Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd., (Shifang Xinglian) signed a strategic cooperation agreement in Beijing May 23. (5/30)

If the Big Bang Created Miniature Black Holes, Where Are They? (Source: Space.com)
The hunt for missing, miniscule black holes left over from the Big Bang may be about to heat up. Just as the trail for such diminutive black holes appeared to have gone cold, an international team of scientists has found clues in quantum physics that could reopen the case. One reason the hunt for these so-called primordial black holes is so pressing is that they've been suggested as possible candidates for dark matter.

If Big Bang-induced black holes are indeed out there, they'd would be absolutely tiny — some could even be as small as a dime — and therefore possess masses equal to those of asteroids or planets. Still, like their larger counterparts, stellar-mass black holes, which can have masses 10s to 100s times that of the sun, and supermassive black holes, which can have masses millions or even billions times that of the sun, tiny black holes from the dawn of time would be bounded by a light-trapping surface called an "event horizon." (5/29)

Astronauts Training in Arizona Desert for Moon Mission (Source: Mashable)
Some of the space agency's astronauts have been training in the Northern Arizona desert for the looming Artemis 3 mission, which is currently slated to land in September 2026. Decades of other U.S. space priorities (such as the Space Shuttle and building the ISS), along with the astronomical costs of sending astronauts to our natural satellite, have impeded such a return endeavor.

NASA has released images of the astronauts' May 2024 training in the desert, including a recent view of NASA astronauts Kate Rubins and Andre Douglas simulating a nighttime space walk (the official Artemis 3 astronaut crew has yet to be announced). Training in the dark or twilight is essential, as the conditions mimic the dark, shadowy regions Artemis astronauts will explore: NASA is going to the moon's south pole region, a place where the sun barely rises over the lunar hills. It's a world of profoundly long shadows and dim environs. (5/29)

Vulcan Vanishes: Real-Life Star Trek Planet Turns Out To Be Stellar Illusion (Source: SciTech Daily)
New research refutes the existence of Vulcan, a planet thought to orbit 40 Eridani A, attributing detected signals to the star’s surface activity. A planet thought to orbit the star 40 Eridani A – host to Mr. Spock’s fictional home planet, Vulcan, in the “Star Trek” universe – is really a kind of astronomical illusion caused by the pulses and jitters of the star itself. (5/30)