October 18, 2024

Mars Is ‘Irrelevant to Us’ If Earth Is Doomed, Author of Legendary Mars Trilogy Says (Source: Vice)
Still, if we remove the monopoly men and the bloviating capitalists, you may be left wondering: are there any merits to these concerns offered as rationale to colonize Mars? “This is the ’emeritus complex,’ I call it. Someone who’s great in one field goes emeritus and begins to pontificate about fields he doesn’t know anything about…There is no Planet B. There is only Earth. We cannot get anybody off this planet in any useful way for helping human beings,” Robinson explained.

“Mars is irrelevant to us now. We should of course concentrate on maintaining the habitability of the Earth. My Mars trilogy is a good novel but not a plan for this moment. If we were to create a sustainable civilization here on Earth, with all Earth’s creatures prospering, then and only then would Mars become even the slightest bit interesting to us,” Robinson says in an interview with Farsight. “It would be a kind of reward for our success—we could think of it in the way my novel thinks of it, as an interesting place worth exploring more. But until we have solved our problems here, Mars is just a distraction for a few escapists, and so worse than useless.” (10/12)

ULA is Examining Debris Recovered From Vulcan Rocket’s Shattered Booster Nozzle (Source: Ars Technica)
When the exhaust nozzle on one of the Vulcan rocket's strap-on boosters failed shortly after liftoff earlier this month, it scattered debris across the beachfront landscape just east of the launch pad on Florida's Space Coast. United Launch Alliance, the company that builds and launches the Vulcan rocket, is investigating the cause of the booster anomaly before resuming Vulcan flights. Despite the nozzle failure, the rocket continued its climb and ended up reaching its planned trajectory heading into deep space.

The nozzle fell off one of Vulcan's two solid rocket boosters around 37 seconds after taking off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on October 4. There were some indications of a problem with the booster a few seconds earlier, as tracking cameras observed hot exhaust escaping just above the bell-shaped nozzle, which is bolted to the bottom of the booster casing. "We recovered some small pieces of the GEM 63XL SRB nozzle that were liberated in the vicinity of the launch pad," Julie Arnold said. "The team is inspecting the hardware to aid in the investigation." (10/17)

The Moon, Mars, Asteroids and Jupiter: China Reveals Ambitious Space Exploration Plans (Source: Space.com)
After collecting the first-ever samples from the far side of the moon, China is now setting its sights on even more distant destinations — Mars, asteroids and Jupiter, positioning itself as a key player in space exploration for the coming decade. The country's plans span the moon, near-Earth asteroids, comets, obtaining the first-ever samples from Mars and a mission to the Jupiter system in the next few years, according to top Chinese space officials. (10/17)

California Lawmaker Demands Records From State Agency That Rejected SpaceX Launch Increase (Source: Fox Business)
A California lawmaker is demanding answers from a state commission after it rejected a request from SpaceX to launch more rockets from a military installation in the state. California Republican state Assemblyman Bill Essayli has filed a public records request asking the California Coastal Commission (CCC) for records of communications concerning SpaceX and its CEO Elon Musk. In an interview with FOX Business, Essayli alleged that the CCC’s decision was politically motivated against Musk. (10/16)

The Rise of India's Private Space Firms (Source: Bloomberg)
Haslinda Amin reveals the burgeoning role of India's private space firms and their recent advances. Through interviews with leaders and innovators, learn how they are pushing the boundaries of space. Click here. (10/17) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z9KAIm6zUQk

NASA Has a Problem, and It's Offering Up To $3 Million if You Have a Solution (Source: ZDNet)
As NASA looks toward long-term lunar missions, a few problems have arisen -- specifically, how to create less trash in space and what to do with the trash that people create. That's why the US space agency started the LunaRecycle Challenge. This challenge is a two-phase competition, NASA says, focused on the design and development of recycling solutions that both reduce solid waste and improve the sustainability of longer-term lunar missions.

NASA is looking for physical hardware and digital twin or virtual replica designs. For Phase 1, NASA has provided a Mission Scenario for a hypothetical 365-day journey with technical requirements that teams must address in their solutions. Submissions for this phase are due March 31, 2025. NASA will announce a winner in May. (10/17)

Hyperspectral Imagery Startup Wyvern Looks to Raise US Presence with $6M Raise (Source: Tech Crunch)
Canadian remote sensing startup Wyvern is expanding south of the border. The Alberta-based company, which collects what it says is the highest-resolution hyperspectral imagery on the market, has raised $6 million to, among other things, expand into U.S. commercial and defense markets. Wyvern has already established an American subsidiary. (10/17)

Commerce Department Relaxes Some Space Export Controls (Source: Space News)
The Commerce Department announced it is relaxing some aspects of space export control. The department announced Thursday that it is changing controls will make it easier for U.S. companies to sell satellites, launch vehicles and other space-related technologies to close allies. One change removes licensing requirements for technologies related to remote sensing, space-based logistics and servicing spacecraft destined for the U.K., Canada and Australia, while a second rule removes licensing requirements for certain spacecraft components destined for roughly 40 allied nations. The department also issued a proposed rule for public comment on other changes to move spacecraft technologies from the U.S. Munitions List, under ITAR, to the Commerce Control List. That public comment period will be open to Nov. 22. (10/18)

NRO Looks to Improve Flow of Satellite-Based Intelligence (Source: Space News)
The NRO is defending its role in providing satellite-based intelligence to the U.S. military. At an event Thursday, NRO Deputy Director Troy Meink underscored the agency's efforts to rapidly deploy a new network of satellites designed to track ground targets in near real time. Military officials have expressed concerns that the NRO is not providing that information fast enough. Meink dismissed these criticisms, stating that the NRO works hand-in-hand with both military and intelligence agencies, but acknowledged that processing the sheer volume of data collected by the growing constellation of satellites remains a challenge. (10/18)

ESA and OHB to Collaborate on Asteroid Mission (Source: Space News)
ESA and OHB have signed a contract to begin work on an asteroid mission. The contract signed Thursday at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC), valued at 63 million euros ($68 million), allows initial work to begin on the Ramses mission to the asteroid Apophis, which will make a close flyby of Earth in 2029. Formal approval and full funding of the mission is not expected until ESA's next ministerial meeting in late 2025, but the contract is needed now to keep the mission on track to launch in 2028 to reach Apophis in time. (10/18)

France's Skynopy to Expand Use of Ground Station Excess Capacity (Source: Space News)
French ground station provider Skynopy is exploring ways to reuse more than 20 teleport sites owned worldwide by satellite operator Kinéis. The startup currently has agreements to use excess capacity across 15 ground stations from partners, including cloud computing giant Amazon Web Services. Skynopy said the deal paves the way for establishing its own sites, while continuing to rely on a growing network of ground station providers. (10/18)

Japan's ArkEdge Plans Navsat Constellation (Source: Space News)
Japanese startup ArkEdge Space won a contract from the Japanese space agency JAXA to study a navigation satellite constellation. That project will examine providing high-precision, global position, navigation and timing (PNT) signals using a low Earth orbit constellation. The company declined to comment on the value of the JAXA contract. ArkEdge Space will provide a conceptual design for a LEO-PNT satellite and its orbit. ArkEdge also will explore satellite and constellation tradeoffs, and consider signal formats and frequency bands. (10/18)

SpiderOak Makes Software Open-Source (Source: Space News)
Space cybersecurity firm SpiderOak announced Thursday that it will make its encryption-based software open source. The company said this decision allows external developers to contribute to the project and improve security features through collaboration. SpiderOak's software is sold to U.S. government agencies, as well as companies in the space and defense sectors. (10/18)

Spaceports Unite to Mature Their Capabilities (Source: Space News)
A group of international spaceports are banding together. Eight spaceports in six countries signed a memorandum of understanding during the IAC this week to address shared issues in the development and operation of their facilities. Those spaceports range from existing sites like Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia to proposed spaceports in Australia and Japan. In another presentation at IAC, researchers discussed a metric based on the technology readiness level to assess the maturity of spaceports, rating them on a one-to-nine scale from concept to advanced operations. (10/18)

Branson to Co-Pilot Space Perspective Balloon Flight, Plans Investment (Source: Space.com)
Richard Branson is going back to (near) space. Space Perspective, a company developing a stratospheric balloon system to take people to altitudes of about 30 kilometers, said Thursday that Branson would serve as co-pilot for the first crewed flight of the Spaceship Neptune system. Branson will also invest in the company. Space Perspective has performed uncrewed test flights of a prototype system and expects to begin crewed flights in 2025. Spaceship Neptune will take eight passengers to altitudes well short of conventional boundaries of space, and without the microgravity of spaceflight, but will provide people with views of the Earth similar to those from space. (10/18)

Starship Will Change What is Possible Beyond Earth (Source: The Economist)
In any normal week, the biggest-ever interplanetary probe blasting off to look for signs of life in the depths of an occult ocean would hog the headlines about space. But the launch of Europa Clipper on Oct. 14 was eclipsed, spectacularly, by the test flight the previous day of the Starship being developed by SpaceX, a launch provider, satellite-communications supplier and Mars-settlement enabler. Seven minutes after take-off a thin, waggling finger of rocket-fire guided the launcher’s huge first stage back to its launchpad in Texas, there to be grasped like the quarry of a giant praying mantis. The successful test-flight of SpaceX’s massive new space vehicle promises a host of new projects, including the colonization of Mars. (10/16)

Firefly to Launch True Anomaly’s Jackal Vehicle for U.S. Space Force Mission (Source: Space News)
Space technology firm True Anomaly has selected Firefly Aerospace’s Alpha rocket to launch its autonomous Jackal orbital vehicle for a U.S. Space Force rapid-response demonstration mission, the companies announced Oct. 17. Colorado-based True Anomaly will support the military’s Victus Haze mission, scheduled for 2025 as part of the Tactically Responsive Space (TacRS) program. The partnership with Firefly includes provisions for two additional missions, as both companies aim to strengthen their position in the military’s rapid-response space operations sector. (10/17)

GAO Report On Artemis Missions Exploration Ground Systems (Source: NASA Watch)
“The program has made progress, but the Artemis schedule poses challenges. Artemis II and III launches (planned for September 2025 and 2026, respectively): EGS is making progress refurbishing the Mobile Launcher 1 – the structure used to transport and launch key systems – and modifying elements to support crew during these missions. New capabilities are taking longer than planned, and the program has only limited time to address potential issues.

Artemis IV launch (planned for September 2028): EGS has made some progress toward this mission, such as modifying facilities to accommodate processing and launching the larger Space Launch System (SLS) Block 1B launch vehicle. However, much work remains, some of which cannot start until after the Artemis III launch.”  (10/17)

Glasgow’s Craft Prospect Selected as European Space Agency’s Rising Star (Source: Space News)
Glasgow-based space industry scale-up Craft Prospect Ltd has been chosen by the European Space Agency as a Rising Star in this year’s awards. Selected from companies across Europe, Craft Prospect is one of a handful of organizations recognized for the award by ESA’s commercialization team at the International Astronautical Congress currently taking place in Milan. The award seeks to honor start-ups and scale-ups in the European space sector who demonstrate exceptional innovation and high-growth potential. (10/17)

Nations Pursue Sovereign Space Capabilities Fortified by Commercial Services (Source: Space News)
Before launching its own satellite, Peru purchased about 10 Earth observation images annually. Since the Airbus-built PeruSat-1 reached orbit in 2016, Peru has gathered and stored more than 500,000 satellite images. “We can take images whenever we want, and the sovereignty is really important to us,” Lt. Col. Javier Ildefonso, Commander of Peru’s Space Operations Center, said in September at the Space Defense and Security Summit. “We will continue to buy the NewSpace technologies in the future. But at the same time, we want to develop our own technology as well.” (10/17)

SpaceX Starship Booster’s Grid Fins Also Deformed During Flight 5 (Source: WCCF Tech)
SpaceX's Raptor engines on the Starship Super Heavy booster weren't the only equipment on the booster that was warped after Starship Flight 5. A closer look at the test's footage shows that the booster's grid fins were also disfigured after the second stage Starship spacecraft separated from the first stage to start its journey. These fins are essential for the booster's landing, and despite the damage, they worked well to guide Starship Super Heavy back to the launch pad for the first tower catch of the Starship program. SpaceX also uses grid fins on the Falcon 9 rocket's first stage booster, but unlike the Starship test vehicles, the Falcon 9's fins are made out of titanium. (10/17)

Scientists Begin Search For Radio Signals From ‘Solar System 2.0' (Source: Forbes)
Scientists have just completed an extensive search for signs of alien technology in the TRAPPIST-1 star system, the so-called “solar system 2.0” just 41 light-years distant in the Milky Way. They found no evidence from within the star system, which is known to have seven planets orbiting a red dwarf star. That makes TRAPPIST-1 the star system most similar to the solar system.

The researchers used the recently upgraded Allen Telescope Array, an installation of 42 antennae in Lassen National Forest, California. This radio telescope’s primary purpose is to search for radio signals that could indicate extraterrestrial life. Some of its seven terrestrial planets — the most ever to have been found to orbit a single star — orbit in the star’s habitable zone, where it's warm enough for liquid water to exist on their surfaces. (10/17)

NASA’s $100 Billion Moon Mission Is Going Nowhere (Source; Bloomberg)
There are government boondoggles, and then there’s NASA’s Artemis program. More than a half century after Neil Armstrong’s giant leap for mankind, Artemis was intended to land astronauts back on the moon. It has so far spent nearly $100 billion without anyone getting off the ground, yet its complexity and outrageous waste are still spiraling upward. The next US president should rethink the program in its entirety.

As someone who greatly respects science and strongly supports space exploration, the more I have learned about Artemis, the more it has become apparent that it is a colossal waste of taxpayer money. The problems start with the mission, which is more political than scientific... Even if the Space Launch System is completed, there’s a hitch: It isn’t even powerful enough to actually get anyone to the moon, at least not in its current configuration. It will instead deposit its capsule, called Orion, into what’s called near-rectilinear halo orbit. Here, the capsule — which, despite $20 billion being poured into it, currently has a faulty heat shield — must rendezvous with a landing spacecraft, which will then take the astronauts to the lunar surface.

Simple, Artemis is not. A lot could go wrong. And that’s before NASA adds its new space station into the mix. Known as the Gateway, it will cost more than $5 billion to build, require perhaps $1 billion in annual maintenance and has no clear rationale. The idea is that, in future missions, Orion might dock at the Gateway, two astronauts will exit and board the lander, and the remaining crew will sit in the station and observe their colleagues collecting rocks. (10/17)

Why Does It Take So Long To Get To Jupiter's Moon, Europa? (Source: IFL Science)
The Europa Clipper is NASA’s largest planetary mission spacecraft, largely to shield itself from the charged particles accelerated by Jupiter’s powerful magnetic field. Propellant aside, the Europa Clipper is 3,241 kilograms (7,145 pounds), whereas the Voyagers, which took 18 and 23 months respectively to reach their closest approach to Jupiter, have just a quarter the weight in the same gravitational field. Rather than setting a direct course for the largest planet, it will instead head towards Mars, where it will undergo what is known as a gravity assist.

he Clipper will perform another adjustment and use Earth’s gravity to accelerate it towards its final destination. This looping means the total journey to Jupiter will be 2.9 billion kilometers (1.8 billion miles), or almost 20 times the distance between the Earth and Sun. (10/16)

NASA Pilots Add Perspective to Research (Source: NASA)
Flight research is often used to prove or refine computer models, try out new systems, or increase a technology’s readiness. Sometimes, pilots guide a research project involving experimental aircraft. For example, pilots play a pivotal role on the X-59 aircraft, which will fly faster than the speed of sound while generating a quiet thump, rather than a loud boom. In the future, NASA’s pilots with fly the X-59 over select U.S. communities to gather data about how people on the ground perceive sonic thumps. NASA will provide this information to regulators to potentially change regulations that currently prohibit commercial supersonic flight over land. (10/16)

Researchers Link Asteroid Ice to the Emergence of Life on Earth (Source: SciTechDaily)
Ice on ancient asteroids like Ryugu may have been crucial in kickstarting life on Earth. Researchers analyzed asteroid rocks and discovered fractures caused by freeze-thaw cycles. These processes likely enabled water and essential organic materials to be delivered to our planet, providing the necessary building blocks for life to emerge billions of years ago. (10/17)

Texas Once Denied An Astronaut The Right To Vote From Space (Source: Jalopnik)
Election day is right around the corner. Over 150 million Americans will cast a ballot next month to determine who will be the next President of the United States, including four people on the International Space Station. Voting from space might be a given today, but it took an astronaut being denied the right to vote for the practice to be legally enshrined.

NASA explored multiple options for Blaha, who was registered to vote in Texas, to cast his ballot in orbit. The space agency initially wanted Blaha to simply vote by email, according to the New York Times. However, the Texas Secretary of State announced state laws didn’t allow for email voting or voting from space in any way. George W. Bush, then-Texas governor, could have signed a proclamation to create an exception but didn’t. NASA and Texas eventually found a solution in August 1997 after Blaha returned home and Clinton won four more years in office. The Texas Legislature passed a law essentially allowing what the space agency wanted to do in the first place: send an email. (10/14)