August 26, 2024

Cause Described for RFA's Test Failure (Source: Daily Record)
"We actually ignited eight motors, unfortunately one of these motors has developed an anomaly. We know now from the debris analysis that we have conducted that this anomaly was a very unusual one. It was most likely a fire in the oxygen pump. That's really difficult to contain, that spread on to neighboring engines."

An emergency stop and fire suppression systems were simply not enough to contain the fire, he said, and the remaining fuel and liquid oxygen on board the vehicle ignited. He said that no "major" parts of the launch site infrastructure were damaged in the explosion, and RFA are confident their engine design is "very sound". (8/24)

Loft Orbital and Marlan Space Join Forces to Create First Satellite Production Company in the Middle East (Source: Loft Orbital)
Abu Dhabi-based Marlan Space, a new space company affiliated with International Holding Company (IHC), has established a joint venture with Loft Orbital to form Orbitworks, the Middle East’s first private space infrastructure company.

Orbitworks marks a significant milestone in the UAE’s rapidly growing space sector, becoming the first to produce commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations. With an initial investment of over $100 million, Orbitworks aims to produce up to fifty 500 kg satellites annually. Loft Orbital, established in 2017, brings extensive expertise, technology, and a strong reputation to the venture, supporting a wide range of missions across telecommunications, earth observation, and scientific research. (8/26)

Space Coast Team Wins NASA Challenge to Make 'Deep Space Food' (Source: Space.com)
The challenge began in 2021 and, to date, has included more than 300 teams from 32 countries.; the endeavor is also split between NASA and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).Winners were selected during the first two phases of the competition, and the final, Phase 3, began in September 2023. Four American teams were awarded $50,000 each and invited to compete in the third and final phase of the competition, during which they had to construct a full-scale model of their food production system and demonstrate how it works.

Interstellar Lab in Merritt Island, Florida, took home the grand prize of $750,000. Barbara Belvisi and her team developed a small business that uses a combo of artificial intelligence, advanced equipment and bioscience to create ingredients that are plant-based and can be used in space as well as on Earth. Through its growth system, the food production operation is self-sustained, procuring microgreens, vegetables and even the insects needed to produce micronutrients. (9/25)

NASA Can Save its VIPER Rover with Private-Sector Help (Source: The Hill)
When NASA canceled its Volatiles Investigating Polar Exploration Rover (VIPER) project, it reached out to private companies to see if anyone in the commercial sector could complete the mission. Several companies have responded, including Intuitive Machines of Houston. The VIPER rover is designed to roll about the lunar south pole, prospecting for water ice. Water ice will be essential for humans to live and work on the moon long term.

According to Space News, Intuitive Machines is developing detailed plans to take VIPER to the moon if it can work out a deal with NASA. The prospect of VIPER becoming more of a public-private partnership illustrates the great advantage of a thriving commercial space sector to pick up where the space agency has let a project fall. (8/25)

New Hyperluminous Quasar Discovered (Source: Phys.org)
An international team of astronomers reports the discovery of a new hyperluminous quasar. The newfound hyperluminous quasar eFEDSJ0828–0139 has a spectroscopic redshift of 1.62. The mass of the SMBH in this quasar was found to be approximately 620 million solar masses. The study found that eFEDSJ0828–0139 has a very high infrared luminosity—at a level of 68 trillion solar luminosities and its Eddington ratio is 3.6. This confirms that eFEDSJ0828–0139 is a hyperluminous quasar with a very high black hole mass accretion rate. (8/26)

Boeing Employees Humiliated That SpaceX Will Rescue the Astronauts Stranded by Starliner (Source: Futurism)
"We have had so many embarrassments lately, we’re under a microscope," one Boeing worker told the NY Post, speaking under condition of anonymity. "This just made it, like, 100 times worse... We hate SpaceX," he added. "We talk shit about them all the time, and now they’re bailing us out."

"They have their own PR issues and don’t need two dead astronauts," he told NYPost. "But we didn’t think that there would be dead astronauts. We’d never have recommended that they use us if they thought that it was going to be unsafe for them." During a press conference over the weekend, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager Steve Stich characterized the argument as a "little disagreement about risk." (8/26)

LeoLabs Sees Defense Business Grow as Space-Tracking Needs Multiply (Source: Defense News)
When LeoLabs was founded in 2016, its focus was on using a network of ground-based radars to track space debris and satellites. Its customers were commercial companies and civil agencies concerned about safety in orbit. A lot has changed since then. The number of satellites in low Earth orbit — about 1,200 miles above the planet — grew from less than 1,000 to closer to 9,000.

The creation of the Space Force in 2019 and increasing threats from adversaries is driving more demand from military customers in the U.S. and abroad who want more insight into what’s happening in the domain. LeoLabs CEO Tony Frazier, who joined the company in February after 13 years at Maxar Technologies and its legacy companies, said those shifts have significantly changed the make up of the firm’s customer base, which is now mostly made up of defense clients. In the first quarter of this year, the company booked a record $20 million in new contracts, the majority of them for military customers. (8/26)

How the Search for Aliens Is Redefining Life in the Golden Age of Astrobiology (Source: Scientific American)
We’re at the time where we are looking at what astronomy, astrobiology, environmental sciences, climate sciences, exoplanets [and] planetary exploration are telling us, and we’re starting to [make a] universal Venn diagram of what things are and where they overlap. And I think we’re starting to see something pop out of this.

One of the great debates of astrobiology today is, is something alive? We don’t know. Is something intelligent? We don’t know. Is something conscious? We don’t know. If we’re starting to build organic robots and they are starting to act independently in a way that looks like they are living, then where is this frontier between living and nonliving? (8/22)

Racism Kept Him From Space When We Met. 61 Years Later, He Made It (Source: Washington Post)
It was Wednesday afternoon on Nov. 6, 1963, when I interviewed Capt. Edward J. Dwight Jr. at the Pentagon. He was 30, a U.S. Air Force jet fighter pilot with more than 1,500 hours of flying time and had recently been selected as the first African American for astronaut training. After the article was published, I lost track of Dwight. He faced overt racism in the training program, and less than three weeks after our interview, he lost his protector in the Oval Office when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated.

He was soon “de-selected” from the program, and he resigned from the Air Force in 1966. He became a sculptor and historian. And then, 61 years after he was first picked to train to exit Earth’s orbit, he finally made it to space on board the Blue Origin New Shepard-25 capsule on May 19, becoming the oldest person ever — at age 90 — to leave the planet’s atmosphere. “The trip on the Blue Origin capsule fulfilled my imagination . . . blasting off and being able to look down on Earth from the edge of space,” he told me. “It was absolutely fantastic.” “It was a long time coming,” he added. (8/25)

Nine Companies Picked for SpaceWERX Contracts (Source: Space News)
Nine space technology companies won a new round of contracts from the Space Force's SpaceWERX organization. The companies range from developers of satellites and reentry vehicles to producers of components such as batteries and antennas. The nine companies received a total of $146 million in Small Business Innovation Research funds, $155 million in additional government matching funds, and $217 million in private matching funds. Click here. (8/23)

RFA Inaugural Launch Delayed to 2025 After Pad Mishap (Source: Space News)
Rocket Factory Augsburg (RFA) has delayed its inaugural flight to 2025 after losing a first stage in an explosion last week. The company said Friday that one of nine engines in the first stage suffered a "very unusual" anomaly during a static-fire test four days earlier, one not seen in previous engine tests. The engine had a fire in its oxygen pump that engineers could not contain, leading to the destruction of the entire stage. RFA is working on improvements in the next first stage, already being manufactured, that would contain damage if an engine suffered a similar failure. RFA confirmed that the failure will delay the first launch of its ONE rocket to some time next year. (8/26)

Chevron Deference Decision Could Impact Orbital Debris Regulation (Source: Space News)
A Supreme Court decision could affect the FCC's ability to issue and enforce orbital debris mitigation regulations. The FCC has regulated orbital debris for companies it licenses for two decades, citing provisions in the Communications Act of 1934 that give it the authority to encourage "the larger and more effective use of radio in the public interest." However, officials at recent events have warned that may not be sufficient after the Supreme Court struck down the concept of "Chevron deference" in a ruling in June that had given agencies wider authority to interpret ambiguities in law.

The solution, they argue, is to give the FCC or another agency explicit authority to issue orbital debris mitigation regulations through law, perhaps as part of broader efforts to enact "mission authorization" regulations for new space activities. It comes as the FCC prepares to bring into force regulations passed nearly two years ago that shortens the time companies have to deorbit debris from 25 years to 5 years. (8/26)

Australia's Space Machines Co. Loses Smallsat After Transportter-10 Rideshare Launch (Source: Cosmos)
An Australian company says it has some regrets launching its first satellite on a rideshare mission. Space Machines Company launched its 280-kilogram Optimus satellite on the Transporter-10 mission in March, but was unable to establish communications with it and wrote the satellite off as a loss in May. The company's CEO said it took the company weeks to determine which of the dozens of satellites deployed on Transporter-10 was Optimus, which "sup-optimized" efforts to establish communications and do any troubleshooting. It was unclear, though, if the spacecraft could have worked if it had been identified earlier. The company is planning to launch a larger version of Optimus, to demonstrate satellite servicing technologies, on a dedicated Indian SSLV rocket in 2026. (8/26)

JAXA Ends Lunar SLIM Mission (Source: AFP)
Japan's space agency JAXA has formally ended the SLIM lunar lander mission. JAXA announced Monday that it was ending the mission after failing to hear from the lander in the latest communications pass. SLIM, or Smart Lander for Investigating Moon, landed on its side in January after suffering a thruster failure during its descent. Despite the off-kilter lander, the spacecraft was able to communicate with controllers. While not designed to survive the two-week lunar night, SLIM was able to operate into April. (8/26)

Milky Way Navigation in Dung Beetles Inspires Advanced Drone and Satellite Systems (Source: Space News)
An insect that has been navigating using the Milky Way for 130 million years is now inspiring innovations in drone, robot, and satellite navigation systems. The dung beetle, known for its unique ability to steer using the stars. Australian engineers are applying this natural technique to artificial intelligence technology with a sensor that accurately determines the orientation of the Milky Way in low-light conditions. (8/26)

Dramatic Surge in Deuterium/Hydrogen Ratio Unveiled in Venus’ Atmosphere (Source: SciTech Daily)
Recent findings from the Venus Express mission reveal unexpected water molecule concentrations in Venus’ atmosphere, suggesting it once harbored Earth-like water volumes. The study explores how solar radiation has increased the HDO/H2O ratio, providing insights into Venus’ climatic history and its implications for planetary habitability. (8/24)

China Produced Large Quantities of Water Using the Moon’s Soil (Source: BGR)
Researchers from China might have made a big step towards setting up a permanent mission on the Moon. They turned lunar soil into large quantities of water, using soil that the 2020 Chang’e-5 mission brought back from the Moon for their experiments. According to China’s state broadcaster CCTV, researchers from the Chinese Academy of Sciences discovered that minerals in the lunar soil contain large amounts of hydrogen. Heated to very high temperatures, the soil reacts to other elements. The chemical reaction produces water vapor that can then be collected. (8/25)

FCC Effectively Kills Off T-Mobile and SpaceX's Satellite Ambitions (For Now) (Source: Phone Arena)
T-Mobile and SpaceX have been trying to convince the Federal Communications Commission to reconsider its out-of-band power flux-density (“PFD”) limit of -120 dBW/m2 /MHz so that they can go forward with their plan of introducing satellite texting this year. They might want to prepare themselves for some bad news. In a new report that states the current rules for the deployment of supplemental coverage from space (SCS), the FCC has laid down its technical requirements. According to the rules, there won't be any relaxation on the power flux density limit of -120 dBW/m2 /MHz. (8/25)

Bluestone Invests in Qualis Corporation to Boost Missile Defense and Space Tech (Source: Space Daily)
Bluestone Investment Partners has finalized a strategic investment in Qualis Corporation, a Huntsville, Alabama-based firm specializing in missile defense and space systems technology. Qualis is known for its role in advancing next-generation missile defense and satellite communications systems, providing key services in modeling, simulation, and testing. The company excels in simulating RF waveforms, which is crucial for developing resilient communication and navigation systems in environments where GPS is unreliable or contested. At its headquarters, Qualis operates a state-of-the-art laboratory equipped with a hardware-in-the-loop (HWIL) high-performance computing setup for advanced modeling and simulation. (8/26)