November 17, 2024

SpaceX Launches Mystery Payload at Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Source: SpaceFlight Now)
SpaceX on Sunday launched a Falcon 9 rocket with a payload that has been shrouded in secrecy to the point of not disclosing any specifics of the mission, and not using its original name. Some publications have offered speculation regarding the functionality of the Optus-X spacecraft, claiming that it is the fulfillment of a contract announced in 2022 between Northrop Grumman and SpaceLogistics for a Mission Robotic Vehicle (MRV) spacecraft on behalf of Optus Networks Party Limited (Optus), an Australian telecommunications company.

Filings with the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) state that Optus is a subsidiary of Singtel Optus Pty. Ltd., which in turn is a subsidiary of Singapore Telecom Australia Investments Pty. Ltd., which is in turn is a subsidiary of SingTel Australia Investment Ltd., a British Virgin Islands investment holding company. A Northrop Grumman official referred questions about the mission to Optus, which has not responded to Spaceflight Now’s requests for additional information. (11/17)

Texas A&M Marks $200 Million Space institute Groundbreaking (Source: Houston Chronicle)
Texas A&M University made a giant leap toward bolstering its contributions to space exploration on Friday, when university officials marked a groundbreaking ceremony for its $200 million space center in Houston. Work will begin in January on the Texas A&M University Space Institute, which is designed to support efforts in aeronauts, robotics and space engineering.

Just eight days ago, the Texas A&M University System's Board of Regents approved $200 million to construct the four-story facility on a 32-acre lot next to NASA's Johnson Space Center. The building will have landscapes the size of Kyle Field mimicking the surfaces of the moon and Mars, plus research "garages" for experimental robots and vehicles, along with lab spaces, offices, classrooms and an auditorium. (11/16)

Rivada Suffers Liechtenstein Blow (Source: Advanced Television)
Liechtenstein, which has licensed the transmission frequencies for Rivada Space Networks, has cancelled its authorisation. It says Rivada hasn’t paid the annual fee, and moreover has not supplied a credible business plan. Two days previously Rivada had announced it had secured “expansion bandwidth” from Germany, but failed to say that it had lost its priority access to the Liechtenstein frequencies. The blow is potentially extremely damaging in that Liechtenstein can ‘re-allocate’ the ‘priority’ frequencies and would be normally considered a key asset for any operator. (11/15)

Senate Concerns About Musk Reliance (Source: Sen. Jeanne Shaheen)
Following reports of Elon Musk’s regular contact with Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials for the last two years, U.S. Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH), a senior member of the U.S. Senate Armed Services and Foreign Relations Committees, and Jack Reed (D-RI), the Chairman of the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee, are calling for the Departments of Justice and Defense to investigate whether this behavior should force a review of Musk’s continued involvement in SpaceX’s contracts with the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) and Intelligence Community (IC). (11/15)

JWST Data Points to Alternate Theory of Gravitation (Source: The Debrief)
The MOND theory, first proposed in 1983 by Israeli physicist Mordehai Milgrom, suggests modifying Newton’s second law to account for discrepancies observed in galaxy rotation curves without invoking dark matter. These modifications are relevant in regions of tiny accelerations, such as those experienced at the universe’s periphery, where JWST is now observing. JWST’s data aligns more closely with predictions made by MOND proponents than with Lambda-CDM models. (11/15)

‘Possibility of a Catastrophic Failure’: Inside the ISS Leak Problem That Has NASA Worried (Source: CNN)
A Russian-controlled segment of the International Space Station is leaking, allowing pressure and air to bleed out. The situation has reached a fever pitch as cosmonauts scramble to patch problem areas and officials from Roscosmos and NASA disagree about the severity of the problem. Problematic leaks were first identified in 2019 in a tunnel that connects a Russian module, called Zvezda, to a docking port that welcomes spacecraft carrying cargo and supplies.

But the rate at which the module is bleeding air hit a new high this year. Oversight officials in the United States now consider this issue to be the most pressing problem facing the aging space station, one that could threaten the safety of the crew, according to a recent Inspector General report. But while Roscosmos has directed its cosmonauts to search for and address problematic areas — which has reduced the leak rate — the Russian team “does not believe catastrophic disintegration … is realistic,” Bob Cabana said. (11/15)