Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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June 20th, 2023
Image credit: USGS
Mining the Moon is near at hand.
What better group to assess what’s ripe for the picking on that desolate, cratered world than the U.S. Geological Survey. The name says it all.
When it comes to economic extraction and sustainable management of the Moon’s resources, the USGS has turned its attention skyward to understand the nature, quantity, and quality of available lunar resources.
Illumination map of the south polar region of the Moon. Areas in black receive no sunlight, and areas in warmer colors are illuminated a greater fraction of the time.
Image credit: Base image mosaic from NASA, Arizona State University, and Applied Coherent Technology Corp.
As a government group, the USGS falls under the Department of the Interior. But in this instance, maybe it’s better tagged as an arm of the “Department of the Exterior” for deep space decision-making.
For more information, go to my new Multiverse Media SpaceRef story – “US Geological Survey Prospects the Future of Harvesting the Moon’s Resources” – at:
Also, go to this just-released assessment of lunar resource exploration that builds on USGS methodology long in use to appraise resources right here on Earth.
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The New Shepard NS-21 astronauts at apogee. Left to right: Victor Vescovo (upper left), Victor Correa Hespanha (lower left), Katya Echazarreta, Hamish Harding, Jaison Robinson, and Evan Dick. (June 4, 2022).
Image credit: Blue Origin
That missing submersible geared to visit the final resting spot for the Titanic has several links to space exploration and public space travel.
Onboard the tourist submarine is Hamish Harding who flew on Blue Origin’s suborbital New Shepard rocketship in June 2022.
Back on land, the crew of NS-21. Image credit: Blue Origin
Harding also joined Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin to the South Pole in 2016, accompanying Aldrin as the moonwalker became the oldest person, at 86, to touchdown in the Antarctic.
In another space-related tie to the feared loss of the submersible, Alan Stern of the NASA New Horizon mission that explored Pluto and beyond, made a similar voyage to the Titanic in July 2022. On that dive, Stern was with two Blue Origin suborbital space crewmates: Dylan Taylor and Evan Dick.
I wrote about Stern and his voyage to the Titanic via OceanGate’s submersible here at:
https://www.space.com/pluto-explorer-dive-titanic
Here’s hoping the OceanGate Expeditions vessel and its five-person team are rescued after their harrowing lost-at-sea ordeal.
Wait a minute!
Image credit: Barbara David
A round of new papers has taken a sharp look at what’s now termed Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena, or UAP.
For some, UAP is a new three-letter term for Unidentified Flying Objects or UFOs – a flying saucer stand-in that conquers up crashed or captured craft of extraterrestrial origin, even recovered pilots or passengers from afar.
The scene is an aviation forum, held June 12-16 in San Diego, California, held by the influential American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).
Image credit: Yannick Peings, Marik von Rennenkampff/AIAA
At the recent forum a suite of papers were included, all dedicated to sorting out what’s behind UAP observations – and provide rigor to analyzing what’s going on with the reported sightings:
- Detection, Characterization, and Evaluation of Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena
- Recommendations to Improve Acquisition and Management of Aviation-Related UAP Data
- Aerodynamic Interactions and Turbulence Mitigation by Unidentified Aerospace-undersea Phenomena
Force field
One paper investigates the hypothesis that the apparent lack of interaction of fast-moving unidentified aerospace-undersea phenomena with their surrounding physical media can be attributed to the implementation of a “functionalized force field.”
“As UAP pose a significant risk to flight safety, our work plays an important role in comprehending how they may operate. This knowledge could lead to the development of technologies that aid in the recognition and avoidance of UAP by aviators, mitigating the risks associated with these unexplained phenomena,” the paper explains.
UAP have been reported by Navy pilots unlike anything they have ever witnessed.
Image credit: Enigma Labs/Lt. Cmdr. Alex Dietrich
Flight characteristics
Addressed at the AIAA forum is the “Gimbal” video, arguably the most recognizable publicly-available footage of UAP. It was recorded in January 2015 off the coast of Jacksonville, Florida by a U.S. Navy jet outfitted with a sensor-laden targeting pod.
The officially released video shows an infrared-significant object skimming over cloud, with the object appearing to stop and rotate in mid-air.
Geometrical reconstructions of the Gimbal UAP incident, the researchers explain, corroborate witness accounts of an object exhibiting highly anomalous flight characteristics.
Image credit: Yannick Peings, Marik von Rennenkampff/AIAA
“At the range given by naval aviators, mathematical reconstructions show that the object conducted advanced maneuvers, despite the apparent lack of wings or infrared signatures indicative of conventional means of propulsion,” report the independent researchers.
For access to this UAP assessment, go to:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WsbMIm9QtEA
Weird nonsensical path
“This is not new work. It has been discussed for over a year,” Mick West, a former video game programmer and noted skeptic of the UAP video, told Inside Outer Space.
“Two paths emerge from the data,” West said, “one looks like the path of a plane, and one looks like it’s just an artifact of the camera jet’s path. The same curve but turned vertical in a way that’s entirely non-physical. Common sense would tell you to pick the first one, a distant plane.”
Mick West, debunker, skeptic, writer.
Credit: Mick West/Inside Outer Space screengrab
West added that “second-hand accounts of what happened, and years-old memories of the event that have changed over time, lead some to prefer the second, weird, nonsensical path.”
Also barely addressed, West continued, is the significant evidence that shows the apparent rotation of the object is actually due to the rotation of the camera, and the “object” being glare which obscures the true shape of the object.
“Based on the actual data we have, which has not changed since it was recorded, a distant plane or drone, flying away and to the left, fits best,” West said.
Shown at Congressional hearing, Video 1 2021 flyby movie showing a purported UAP.
Credit: Counterterrorism, Counterintelligence, and Counterproliferation Subcommittee/Inside Outer Space screengrab
Why AIAA?
Previously, under AIAA auspices, an Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Integration & Outreach Committee was formed.
This group was fashioned to improve aviation safety by enhancing scientific knowledge of, and mitigating barriers to, the study of UAP.
That AIAA study group has three subcommittees chartered to perform outreach activities, address human factors issues, and support stakeholders with hardware factors analysis related to the detection, characterization, and evaluation of UAP.
Flight safety and national security
While AIAA and its members wrap their minds around UAP, another group has been organized: the Americans for Safe Aerospace – a military pilot-led 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. It too is calling for transparency in the study of UAP, “operating in our airspace and posing a risk to flight safety and national security,” explains the group.
This new organization’s intent “is raising awareness of these issues, reducing the stigma of reporting and providing military and commercial pilot domain knowledge for policy makers.” It was founded by Ryan Graves, a former Lieutenant U.S. Navy F/A-18 pilot, who was the first active duty pilot to come forward to Congress about UAP.
Graves is also the sparkplug behind the AIAA’s Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena Integration & Outreach Committee.
Transparent disclosure
“Let’s identify what’s in our skies,” is the group’s mission credo explains the group’s website. “Identifying domain awareness gaps is critical to U.S. national security. If UAP are foreign assets, we must respond appropriately. If UAP continue to defy conventional explanation — we must invest in scientific research.”
The newly formed organization “supports military and commercial pilots and aerospace workers impacted by UAP, scientists committed to investigating this mystery, and concerned citizens who believe in transparent disclosure from our government.”
For more information on Americans for Safe Aerospace, go to:
I was pleased to take part in a Space.com podcast to take a lighthearted look at NASA’s recent report on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomenon (UAP), co-hosted by Rod Pyle and Tariq Malik.
Go to:
This Week In Space podcast: Episode 66 —NASA’s UFO report explained with Leonard David at:
Valentina Tereshkova.Image credit: Roscosmos
Today marks 60 years since the first woman launched into space.
On June 16, 1963, the 26-year-old Soviet cosmonaut Valentina Tereshkova flew the single-seat Vostok-6 spacecraft, an event now 60 years ago.
Some 20 years later, on June 18, 1983, American Sally Ride flew onboard a space shuttle on the STS-7 mission.
Statista has used data from World Space Flight to show which countries have seen the most female astronauts, cosmonauts, and taikonauts.
The U.S. takes the lead with 59, followed by seven Russians and then two Canadians, Chinese and Japanese nationals each.
Infographic credit: Statista
“A significant gap exists between the number of male and female astronauts/cosmonauts. A total of 325 men from the U.S. had become astronauts or orbital space tourists as of June 16, 2023,” reports Statista’s Anna Fleck. “The next highest numbers were 121 Russian men, 16 Chinese men, 14 Japanese men and 11 Canadian men.”
For more information on Statista, go to:
Image credit: French National Center for Scientific Research
Lunar samples returned to Earth by China’s Chang’e-5 Moon mission have been transported to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris.
Placed in an air-sealed container, the 1.5 grams of samples were given to France for scientific research during French President Emmanuel Macron’s visit to China last April.
Gift samples
As reported by the China Global Television Network (CGTN), the lunar samples originate from drilling and surface-gathering actions taken by Chang’e-5 in December 2020 at the Statio Tianchuan in the northeastern Oceanus Procellarum on the nearside of the Moon.
Box indicates Chang’e-5 lander on the basaltic plains of Oceanus Procellarum (“Ocean of Storms”) in December 2020. Image taken by Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. Image credit: NASA/GSFC/ASU
The gift samples will be studied in a joint effort by the French National Center for Space Studies (CNES), the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), the Paris Institute of Earth Physics (IPGP) and the University of Paris-Sorbonne for the next five to seven years.
China has announced plans to carry instruments from the European and French space agencies for the country’s second sample return mission, Chang’e-6, in 2024 from the farside of the Moon.
Soviet Luna 16
China presented Russia with 1.5 grams of lunar samples when Russian President Vladimir Putin visited China. Russia reciprocated by providing China with 1.5 grams of lunar samples during Chinese President Xi Jinping’s visit to Russia in March 2023.
The Russian lunar samples given to China originate from the drilled samples by the former Soviet Union’s Luna 16 mission in 1970.
Photo taking during Chang’e-5 surface sampling.
Credit: CCTV/Inside Outer Space screengrab
As noted by CGTN, a regulation on the management of lunar samples was released by the China National Space Administration (CNSA) in December 2020 encourages international research and sharing of scientific achievements on lunar samples.
Scientists from Australia, Russia, France, the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden have participated in scientific research on Chinese lunar samples, CGTN added.
Impact glass beads
Earlier, research scientists in China reported the finding of water inside tiny beads of glass scattered across the Moon by studying lunar soil brought back by China’s Chang’e-5 spacecraft.
Earlier this year, this finding was published in Nature Geoscience:
“A solar wind-derived water reservoir on the Moon hosted by impact glass beads” can be found here at:
Image credit: ThinkOrbital
NASA is partnering with seven U.S. companies, viewed as a step to bolster a U.S. commercial low Earth orbit economy.
Through unfunded Space Act Agreements, the intent is for selected firms to leverage NASA expertise, but ultimately the space agency can be a customer for the capabilities honed by the selected firms. According to NASA, the new set of agreements can foster more competition for services and more providers for innovative space capabilities.
The LEO seven
The companies selected to collaborate with NASA under the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities-2 are:
Blue Origin: Develop integrated commercial space transportation capability that ensures safe, affordable, and high-frequency US access to orbit for crew and other missions.
Northrop Grumman: Persistent Platform to provide autonomous and robotic capabilities for commercial science research and manufacturing capabilities in low Earth orbit.
Image credit: Sierra Space
Sierra Space: Developing the company’s commercial low Earth orbit ecosystem, including next-generation space transportation, in-space infrastructure, and expandable and tailorable space facilities providing a human presence in low Earth orbit.
SpaceX: Low Earth orbit architecture to provide a growing portfolio of technology with near-term Dragon evolution and concurrent Starship development. This architecture includes Starship as a transportation and in-space low-Earth orbit destination element supported by Super Heavy, Dragon, and Starlink, and constituent capabilities including crew and cargo transportation, communications, and operational and ground support.
Special Aerospace Services: An in-space servicing technology, propulsion, and robotic technology called the Autonomous Maneuvering Unit (AMU) and the Astronaut Assist-AMU for commercial in-space servicing and mobility applications intended for safer assembly of commercial low Earth orbit destinations, servicing, retrieval, and inspection of in-space systems.
ThinkOrbital: Development of ThinkPlatforms and CONTESA (Construction Technologies for Space Applications). ThinkPlatforms are self-assembling, single-launch, large-scale orbital platforms that facilitate a wide array of applications in low Earth orbit, including in-space research, manufacturing, and astronaut missions. CONTESA features welding, cutting, inspection, and additive manufacturing technologies, and aids in large-scale in-space fabrication.
Image credit: Vast
Vast: Technologies and operations required for its microgravity and artificial gravity stations. This includes the Haven-1 commercial destination, which will provide a microgravity environment for crew, research, and in-space manufacturing, and the first crewed mission, called Vast-1, to the platform. Development activities for larger space station modules will also take place under the Space Act Agreement.
For more information about NASA initiatives and commercial space, visit:
Radiation experiment equipment stationed outside China’s space station.
Image credit: CCTV/CMS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China’s new space station crew has carried out radiation biology and space science research, making use of an airlock to extend an experiment into space outside the station’s Mengtian lab module.
The Shenzhou-16 crew — Jing Haipeng, Zhu Yangzhu and Gui Haichao – prepared the experiment from within the Tiangong space station and then transferred the hardware into the space environment via an airlock.
Shenzhou-16 crew members deploy radiation experiment into space.
Image credit: CCTV/CMS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The experiment was jointly developed by the National Space Science Center under the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Dalian Maritime University. The equipment includes 13 sample box units carrying biomaterials, such as plant seeds, microorganisms and small animals.
Each sample box unit can control its interior temperature to assure survival of different model organisms.
Moon landing research
According to a report by Science and Technology Daily the experiment is designed to study the harsh impact of space radiation, the origin and evolution of life, and the development of space radiation mutagenic resources.
Image credit: CCTV/CMS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
The equipment is to be utilized for research over a five year period, able to support a number of projects.
As noted by China Central Television, citing the report, research on medical issues involving space radiation biological exposure “is of great significance to supporting China’s manned space program, including long-term crewed missions in orbit and crewed lunar landings.”
Deployed radiation experiment rolled out from airlock into the space environment.
Image credit: CCTV/CMS/Inside Outer Space screengrab
China launched the Shenzhou-16 crew to the orbital outpost on May 30, sending the taikonaut trio to the Tiangong space station for a five-month mission.
For a video look at the experiment, go to:
Image credit: Johan Swanepoel/Adobe Stock via RAND
The time for a global solution to space traffic management is now!
That’s the bottom line of a new RAND think tank research brief that warns if space leaders do not begin the work of establishing an international space traffic management organization (ISTMO) soon, “there is a significant chance that the world will lose key portions of its orbital resources — reducing space’s overall value to humanity.”
Led by RAND’s Bruce McClintock, the document explains that starting the work of establishing an ISTMO now might help reduce the possibility of future conflict in space.
“Rather than wait for a crisis to catalyze action, the space community should seize the moment and begin the work of building the governance structures needed to ensure the safety and sustainability of critical space assets, services, and activities,” the RAND briefing report observes.
By acting now, this will enable the international community to develop solutions for protecting and preserving space today and in the future.
Taking it in the Era
The RAND document observes that the “New Space Era” has brought significant advancements in security, connectivity, prosperity, and collective action.
“But this growth comes with substantial and increasingly urgent challenges,” the document states.
“Along with the expanding number of space objects and activities, new types of near-Earth operations, such as megaconstellations of satellites, space tourism, on-orbit servicing and manufacturing, space tugs, active debris removal, and just-in-time and artificial intelligence–driven collision avoidance maneuvers, have complicated the space domain, resulting in an orbital environment that is substantially more congested and risky.”
Chunk of junk zips by the International Space Station.
Image credit: NASA
The research brief observes that the goal should be an international space traffic management convention within the next five years that sets specific milestones for implementation within the next ten years.
To read the report — The Time for International Space Traffic Management Is Now – go to:
Curiosity’s location on Sol 3858. Distance driven since landing in August 2012 is 18.67 miles/30.05 kilometers.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover at Gale Crater is now performing Sol 3859 tasks.
Reports Abigail Knight, a graduate student at Washington University in St. Louis: “After several attempts to drive through difficult terrain, Curiosity successfully completed a drive of about 11 meters [36 feet] on Sol 3857!”
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3858, June 14, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Knight said that researchers have a straightforward plan primarily focused on driving farther as well as several observations of both nearby and distant targets.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3858, June 14, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Targets of interest
“After the recent drive, we have a new area to scope out targets of interest and have selected “Terebito,” which is located on a flat block of bedrock within reach of the rover’s arm,” Knight noted.
Curiosity is to first brush away the dust from Terebito with its Dust Removal Tool (DRT) before performing a quick “Touch-and-Go” observation with the Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) to assess the elemental composition of the bedrock.
Laser pings seen in this Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 3858, June 14, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
In addition to APXS, Curiosity will also investigate Terebito with Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) and Mastcam in this plan.
Curiosity Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) Remote Micro-Imager (RMI) photo acquired on Sol 3858, June 14, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/LANL
Hard crust
A second nearby target named “Boa Esperanca” is in an area with possible “duricrust,” a hard crust of soil that forms in dry places like Mars.
The robot’s Chemistry and Camera (ChemCam) and Mastcam will assess the composition of and document Boa Esperanca.
Curiosity Left B Navigation Camera image taken on Sol 3858, June 14, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
“The rover will also use Mastcam to document nearby regolith with interesting surface disruption features. Mastcam will document textures of Gediz Vallis ridge off in the distance as well as churned up terrain behind Curiosity from its previous drive attempts. This rear-view imagery will inform and support potential future drives through tricky terrain,” Knight pointed out.
Curiosity Front Hazard Avoidance Camera Left B image taken on Sol 3858, June 14, 2023.
Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Later on Sol 3858, Curiosity was set to drive a planned distance of about 56 feet (17 meters) and acquire the usual post-drive imagery to document its new location.
“We’re hopeful for another successful drive,” Knight concludes, and smoother sailing as Curiosity skillfully traverses the Martian terrain!”
