December 22, 2024

Satellite Launched in Memory of Merritt Island’s Lauren Boss (Source: WFTV)
Saturday morning, a satellite built on our Space Coast is now in space after lifting off from California. The satellite will honor the life of Lauren Boss. Boss is a 21-year-old Merritt Island woman who died of sudden cardiac arrest. Her portrait, along with her favorite scripture, is now forever etched into the side of a Sidus Space Satellite. Sidus Space has named its satellite, LizzieSat2, “Lauren” for Lauren Boss. The satellite was aboard SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket launched from Vandenberg Space Force Base around 7 a.m. on Saturday. (12/21)

Plextek's Cutting-edge mmWave Technology for Space Operations and Sensing (Source: Space Daily)
Plextek, a leading consultancy recognized for its expertise in low Size, Weight, and Power (SWaP) sensing technology, has published its latest innovation in the field of in-orbit space operations and sensing. In their technical paper titled "Sensing in Space" Plextek showcases groundbreaking mmWave radar technology, designed to improve the safety and reliability of future space and satellite missions.

Plextek's mmWave radar technology is an accurate and efficient way of detecting objects as small as a millimeter through to much larger objects like dead or uncooperative satellites. It can also work in conditions which can be challenging for other types of sensors for instance, in eclipse, with sun in boresight, or even on a dusty and obscured lunar surface. (12/10)

Space Machines Company Unveils Optimus Viper Rapid Response Spacecraft (Source: Space Daily)
Space Machines Company (SMC) has introduced Optimus Viper, a rapid-response spacecraft designed to protect critical space assets and deliver high-fidelity intelligence. This cutting-edge platform operates within 10 kilometers of target satellites, providing unprecedented insights and actionable intelligence for space infrastructure security. The launch of Optimus Viper marks a significant evolution in space operations, combining a distributed production model with hyperscale capabilities to deliver rapid on-orbit responses for both commercial and national security applications. (12/20)

A Swarm of Sensors and Robots Showcases Moon Exploration Potential (Source: Space Daily)
A unique lunar research initiative is underway in the LUNA hall, where the German Aerospace Center (DLR) is advancing exploration technologies for the Moon. At the core of the project is a swarm navigation network, connecting payload boxes, sensors, rovers, and astronauts into a synchronized web for seamless communication and navigation. (12/20)

No, We Will Never Make it to Mars: America Assumes its Biggest Failure (Source: El Diario)
Going to Mars has always been on America’s top bucket list. NASA has always had this notion that there could be life on the red planet. NASA and the government of America have spent years and billions of dollars in the dream of sending human beings to Mars to make it a second home and for research and exploration. As researchers continue investigating, it looks like we will never make it to this planet.

Looking at the timeframe in which this goal needs to be achieved, it is very close to impossible and could be an epic failure. This is why: it is expensive; there are a lot of things to put in place that are needed to prepare humans for a new life, including astronomers. One of the key reasons this mission is still elusive is human safety concerns, and for the first time, the enormous obstacles that lie ahead are being acknowledged. (12/22)

Chinese Satellite Burns Up, Drops Debris Over US (Source: Forbes)
A defunct earth-imaging satellite made in China turned into a bright fireball Saturday night as it re-entered Earth’s atmosphere — and some of the remains may have made it to the ground in Mississippi, Missouri, Arkansas or surrounding states. The spectacle was widely mistaken for a meteor, but scientists confirm it was actually GaoJing 1-02 (Superview 1-02), one of a constellation of four satellites launched from China to low-earth orbit in 2016. (12/22)

Space Florida Closes 2024 With Impressive Project Record (Source: Space Florida)
Space Florida, the state’s aerospace finance and development authority, closes out 2024 with a 187-project pipeline valued at $6.8 billion — an approximate 24% increase from the year before — underscoring its leadership in the global aerospace economy. Leveraging its unique structure and unmatched financial tools, Space Florida continues to set the standard for aerospace commerce. Florida’s aerospace dominance is evident in its record-breaking 90 launches in 2024, transporting over 1,300 payloads totaling 2.6 million pounds, leading America in the global integrated space-earth economy. Click here. (12/19)

Astronauts on NASA's Gateway Space Station Will Wear Smart Undershirts to Stay Healthy (Source: Space.com)
Smart undershirts and AI algorithms will help keep astronauts healthy on NASA's planned Lunar Gateway moon-orbiting space station. The undershirts, made of a smart material known as Astroskin, have previously been tested on the ISS, but will require a redesign to make them fit for service in deep space, farther away from Earth. Canadian company Hexoskin will design the wearable device as part of a contract announced by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) on Nov. 26. (12/21)

SpaceX Launches 30 Satellites From California on Bandwagon-2 Rideshare Mission (Source: Space.com)
SpaceX launched 30 satellites to orbit early Saturday morning (Dec. 21). A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base on Saturday at 6:34 a.m. EDT (1134 GMT; 3:34 a.m. local California time), kicking off a rideshare mission SpaceX calls Bandwagon-2. Thirty satellites went up on Bandwagon-2, including payloads for South Korea's Agency for Defense Development as well as "Arrow Science and Technology, Exolaunch, HawkEye 360, Maverick Space Systems, Sidus Space, Tomorrow Companies Inc., True Anomaly and Think Orbital," SpaceX wrote in a mission description. (12/21)

3D-Printed Long-Range Solid Rocket Motor Aces Testing, Can Give Edge to US (Source: Interesting Engineering)
Two American firms have conducted successful flight tests of a new solid rocket motor with long-range capabilities. RTX and Colorado-based propulsion firm Ursa Major conducted the test at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake in California. Ursa Major’s Lynx 3D printing technology was used to manufacture the solid rocket motor. This, in combination with Raytheon’s digital engineering capabilities, enabled the partners to accelerate development times and cut production costs, according to a statement. (12/20)

Retired Military Weather Satellite Breaks Up (Source: Space News)
A defunct military weather satellite has broken up in orbit and created more than 50 pieces of debris, the latest in a series of similar incidents involving that line of spacecraft. The U.S. Space Force reported Dec. 19 that it had identified a “low-velocity fragmentation event” involving the DMSP-5D2 F14 spacecraft. The event took place Dec. 18 at an altitude of 840 kilometers, but the announcement did not disclose how much debris had been created by the event. Two commercial space situational awareness companies, LeoLabs and Slingshot Aerospace, said they were also tracking the breakup event. (12/20)

NASA’s Proposed Mars ‘Chopper’ Is Ingenuity on Steroids (Source: Gizmodo)
Almost a year after Ingenuity broke a blade and ended its experimental stint on Mars, NASA unveiled a new design concept for the Martian helicopter’s successor and it’s comparatively a big boy. NASA’s Mars Chopper, as it’s called, is about the same size as an SUV, fitted with six rotors, with each rotor hosting six blades (I already did the math for you, that’s a whopping 36 blades). The space agency recently revealed a rendering of the helicopter, which is still in its early conceptual and design stages, according to NASA. (12/20)

Scientists Observe 'Negative Time' in Quantum Experiments (Source: Phys.org)
Scientists have long known that light can sometimes appear to exit a material before entering it—an effect dismissed as an illusion caused by how waves are distorted by matter. Now, researchers at the University of Toronto, through innovative quantum experiments, say they have demonstrated that "negative time" isn't just a theoretical idea—it exists in a tangible, physical sense, deserving closer scrutiny. (12/21)

The Final Words Of Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov, The “Man Who Fell From Space” (Source: IFL Science)
On launch day, Gagarin did not act according to usual protocol, demanding a pressure suit before going down to the launchpad to talk with Komarov. It's possible he was trying to delay the launch enough to get it canceled, but if that was his plan it didn't work. Komarov was launched and made it to space inside the craft. Once there, however, things quickly went wrong when one of the solar panels failed to open, leaving his craft with little power.

The space agency ordered his descent, but his capsule began to spin. He had no way to control his altitude and couldn't get the spacecraft's bottom to face the ground, which meant the landing rockets couldn't cushion the landing. Instead, he tumbled straight down and slammed into the ground with the force of a 2.8-ton meteorite. According to Starman, Komarov's final words were picked up by US radio outposts in Turkey, saying "This devil ship! Nothing I lay my hands on works properly," as well as letting out cries of rage as he fell to his death. (12/21)

Rocket Lab Launches Sixth Synspective Radar Imaging Satellite (Source: Space News)
A Rocket Lab Electron successfully launched a radar imaging satellite for Synspective Dec. 21, days after that Japanese company lifted off on the stock market. The Electron rocket lifted off from Pad B of Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 1 in New Zealand at 9:17 a.m. Eastern. The launch was postponed a few days because of weather and a previous launch attempt was scrubbed Dec. 20 when the company reported an out-of-family reading with an unspecified sensor. (12/21)

The Universe Might Actually Contain 3 Time Dimensions and Only 1 Space Dimension (Source: Brighter Side)
In the proposed framework, three dimensions act as time dimensions, while one remains spatial. This shifts the very essence of velocity and kinematics. The researchers prove that Einstein’s postulate of light’s constant speed still holds true for superluminal observers. As Dragan notes, this approach integrates the quantum principle of superposition, where particles move along multiple paths simultaneously, transforming our understanding of determinism. Click here. (12/21)

How the Launch of China’s GuoWang Satellites Differs From its US Starlink Rival (Source: South China Morning Post)
The GuoWang internet satellites, launched this week as the first step in China’s answer to SpaceX’s Starlink constellation, featured notable differences from their US counterpart. Not only are the Chinese satellites “huge” and “heavyweight”, but they were also arranged inside the launch vehicle in a unique double-decker type of layout, according to the China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), which developed the Long March-5B rocket and the Yuanzheng-2 upper stage that delivered the 10 satellites into orbit on Monday.

Unlike the American Starlink satellites, which are stacked vertically within the rocket, the GuoWang satellites were mounted on two concentric tiers around a central support cylinder, optimizing the use of vertical and radial space within the payload fairing, CALT said on its social media account. (12/20)