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A new study has recommended augmenting the U.S. strategic posture by “enabling the use of space for the defense of the United States across military domains.”

Specifically, the appraisal — Space and the Right to Self Defense — urges that the United States immediately begin the necessary steps to deploy a space-based interceptor (SBI) capability.

Optimal vantage point

“An SBI capability would dramatically augment U.S. terrestrially- and sea-based defensive capabilities, reduce the demands upon current systems, and provide the United States with the optimal vantage point for destroying enemy missiles regardless of their launch or target location, whether on land, at sea, in the air, or in space,” the June 2016 report by the Hudson Institute explains.

A critical benefit of an SBI layer, adds the report, “is the ability to destroy many missiles during their boost phase, while the missile is still over enemy territory and before the enemy can deploy their nuclear warheads, countermeasures, and decoys.”

Pivotal moment

“We have long since passed the threshold of concern that space will one day become the next battlefield, and we are at a pivotal moment,” the document adds. “The United States of America will not maintain its pre-eminent global power status by default nor absent further action. We must choose this path, and if chosen, we must better utilize the space domain to nullify any adversary’s ability to coerce and blackmail the United States with missiles, possibly armed with nuclear weapons.”

Vulnerability of space assets

Among the study’s findings:

• U.S. adversaries are investing in missile technologies to contest U.S. military pre-eminence and challenge U.S. technical superiority.

• Due to the vulnerability of, and the U.S. reliance on, space assets, adversaries have sought to target those assets with a variety of weapons including direct-ascent anti-satellite missiles.

• A space-based interceptor (SBI) capability is essential to augment U.S. terrestrially and sea-based capabilities, and keep pace with the threats we face.

• No treaty or international conventions or norms prohibits the deployment of an SBI capability.

• Continue investments in directed energy technology to one-day aid or replace space-based kinetic interceptors.

Challenge conventional thinking

Space and the Right to Self Defense, issued by the Hudson Institute, is authored by Rebeccah L. Heinrichs, the report’s study director and a Fellow at the Hudson Institute. She provides research and commentary on a range of national security issues, and specializes in nuclear deterrence, missile defense, and counter-proliferation.

The Hudson Institute is a research organization promoting American leadership and global engagement for a secure, free, and prosperous future. It was founded in 1961 by strategist Herman Kahn, dedicated to challenging conventional thinking and helps manage strategic transitions to the future through interdisciplinary studies in defense, international relations, economics, health care, technology, culture, and law.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To read the full report, Space and the Right to Self Defense, go to:

http://hudson.org/content/researchattachments/attachment/1499/20160627heinrichsspaceandtherighttoselfdefense.pdf

DENVER, Colorado – After 5 years of travel, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has gunned its way into orbit around giant Jupiter.

Launched on August 4, 2011 – the $1.13 billion Juno is the first solar-powered spacecraft designed to operate at Jupiter.

The spacecraft fired its main engine for some 35 minutes to insert itself into orbit around the massive Jupiter.

Burn, baby, burn

Space engineers, scientists and general public well-wishers burst into applause here at Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company given the word that Juno attained an initial orbit.

“The burn cut off within one second of what it was supposed to do,” reported Tim Gasparrini, Program Manager (Development) at Lockheed Martin.

It takes 48 minutes for transmission from Juno to get to Earth.

Lockheed Martin built the 4-ton Juno spacecraft and is on the flight operations team with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California.

Sunblock

Juno’s primary goal is to improve our understanding of Jupiter’s formation and evolution.

Gasparrini detailed one of Juno’s engineering marvels – a large titanium vault. “It’s like sunblock,” he said.

To protect sensitive spacecraft electronics, the probe carries a radiation-shielded electronics vault, weighing about 400 pounds (200 kilograms).

This titanium box is about the size of a SUV trunk.

First big radiation dose

The mood of the team is one of elation, said Kenneth Starnes, Lockheed Martin’s Juno program manager and leads the Juno flight team. “We are in orbit,” he said.

Starnes told Inside Outer Space that the immediate task post-insertion was how well Juno’s solar panels are performing. “This was our first big radiation dose,” he said, with engineers also looking at the state of charge on the spacecraft’s batteries.

Providing Juno’s energy are 18,698 individual solar cells.

Ditching into Jupiter

Juno’s first two orbits are 53 day orbits, Gasparrini said, “time to understand how the spacecraft responded to Jupiter.”

 The spacecraft will orbit Jupiter 37 times.

Juno will nosedive into Jupiter at the end of its last orbit – closing off the almost one-and-a-half year science phase of the mission.

“NASA is extremely serious about protecting other worlds,” Gasparrini said. While a small probability, to assure the probe will not crash into any moon of Jupiter, the craft will be purposely ditched into Jupiter, he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For more information on the Juno mission, go to my 2011 story detailing its building and testing:

SPACE.com Gets an Inside Look at Jupiter-Bound Spacecraft

By Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist

February 23, 2011 07:09am ET

http://www.space.com/10889-jupiter-spacecraft-juno-person.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is slated to implement a three Sol plan taking it through the holiday weekend.

At this writing, the Mars machinery is busy at work on Sol 1389.

Contact science

Sol 1389 activities on tap were to perform contact science with the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and its Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) on the target “Outjo.”

Curiosity’s Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite is to begin an analysis of some of the “Mojave2” sample that was collected a while ago, explains Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Mosaics

The Sol 1390 plan is to start off with a long science block. Mastcam starts the block off with a multispectral observation of the brushed target “Outjo.” Then the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) has a long distance RMI observation of Mt. Sharp, plus analyses of the targets “Outjo” and “Luanda.”

After ChemCam, Anderson adds, Mastcam turns back on and takes mosaics of “Bukalo” and “Bailundo” which are blocky deposits, “Keetmanshoop,” an outcrop of the Murray formation, and “Quimavongo,” a small crater.

SAM will also continue its sample analysis.

Wheeling onward

Anderson explains that on Sol 1391, the plan calls for wheeling the robot about 196 feet (60 meters) and then collect post-drive imaging.

In the early morning on Sol 1392, Navcam and Mastcam have a series of atmospheric observations.

Dates of planned rover activities are subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.

As of Sol 1387, Curiosity has driven 8.22 miles (13.23 kilometers).

A ShareSpace Foundation Gala event will be held on the 47th anniversary of Apollo 11’s historic return to Earth – and the 50th anniversary of Star Trek!

Joining Buzz Aldrin is Star Trek’s Mr. Sulu, George Takei, serving as host of the ShareSpace Foundation’s Apollo 11 Anniversary Gala. Star Trek alumna Nichelle Nichols (Uhura) as well as several other guest stars and astronauts are also taking part in the celestial celebration.

Star-studded evening

The event takes place on July 23, 2016 at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center with festivities taking place underneath a restored Saturn V rocket, the huge booster used for the Apollo lunar landing program. A specially crafted four-course dinner will be served underneath the restored Moon booster.

Long-time space news reporter John Zarrella (CNN) will serve as the evening’s emcee. NASA astronauts from each era of human space flight will commemorate the 47th anniversary of the historic Apollo 11 mission as well as the 50th anniversary of Star Trek: The Original Series.

The star-studded evening includes an Apollo 11 Memorabilia Silent Auction and special raffle, available only to gala attendees. Also, as part of the anniversary salute, Aldrin and Takei will share their experiences during a time when space travel transitioned from fantasy to reality. There will be a professional photo opportunity with Aldrin and Takei, among additional surprise benefits.

ShareSpace benefit

Event proceeds benefit Buzz Aldrin’s ShareSpace Foundation, a non-profit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to igniting children’s passions for science, technology, engineering, arts, and math (STEAM) by providing educators with interactive and engaging hands-on educational activities.

For detailed information on the July 23 event and purchasing tickets, go to:

http://web.sharespace.org/

 

The very independent Curiosity Mars rover is to be busy wheeling into the long 4^th of July weekend.

A number of sols are being planned by Earth operators, explains Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

At this writing, Curiosity is just wrapping up Sol 1387 activities.

Rock, soil targets

Anderson says that the plan for this sol was having the Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) to find analyze two targets: a rock named “Noordoewer” and a soil named “Savates.”

Mastcam was also set to document those targets and take a mosaic of the “Murray Buttes”. After that, the rover was to perform a short drive, followed by post drive imaging, Anderson notes.

Lastly, a request is in, Anderson adds, for the rover’s Navcam to take imagery of Mt. Sharp along with the post drive imaging to help target more long distance ChemCam Remote Microscopic Imager (RMI) images.

“On Sol 1388, we have an easy day: ChemCam has a calibration observation and Navcam has a couple of atmospheric monitoring observations,” Anderson explains.

 

 

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is busy at work during Sol 1386.

Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona reports the robot has been wheeled over 216 feet (66 meters) last Sol.

The Mars machinery is continuing on its path south between the “Baynes Mountains” and “Helgas Dune.”

The plan for Sol 1386 is to start off with Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) and Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) observations of the target “Trekkopje”, followed by a short science block.

 

 

Curiosity’s Mastcam is slated to start off the block with some atmospheric measurements, then Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) “is to join in the fun and analyze Trekkopje too,” Anderson adds.

Also on the schedule is for the rover to churn out a couple of small mosaics studying the rim of a nearby crater.

“Instead of driving, we will use MAHLI to do a check-up on our wheels in today’s plan,” Anderson notes.

 

A major U.S. launch provider has outlined a plan to enable a cislunar space economy based on their need for propellant and refueling in Earth orbit.

Dubbed the “Cislunar 1000 Vision,” the initiative foresees a self-sustaining economy that supports a 1,000 people living and working in space roughly 30 years from now.

A central element of the plan involves use of a souped-up Centaur rocket stage called ACES, standing for Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage. This liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen upper stage is designed to be reusable and can be refueled, perhaps by propellant made on Earth’s moon or extracted from asteroids.

The concept stems from an analysis and on-going technical work by United Launch Alliance (ULA), a 50-50 joint venture owned by Lockheed Martin and The Boeing Company to provide Atlas and Delta launch services.

A roadmap to attain the Cislunar 1000 Vision was recently detailed at the 7th joint meeting of the Space Resources Roundtable and the Planetary & Terrestrial Mining Sciences Symposium, held June 7-9, 2016 at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden, Colorado.

Go to my new Space.com story at:

Inside ULA’s Plan to Have 1,000 People Working in Space by 2045

By Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist

June 29, 2016 02:55pm ET

http://www.space.com/33297-satellite-refueling-business-proposal-ula.html

Flinging spacecraft to Mars is a multi-nation affair – driven to a large degree by the on-going quest to probe the Red Planet for signs of life, either long-gone or still in attendance.

Over the decades, billions of dollars has been spent to pick away at the question: Is there life on Mars? In 2016, that query is arguably more alive than whatever life story the planet is prepared to cough up.

Now en route, for instance, is the European Space Agency’s ExoMars 2016. It arrives at Mars this October, a mission consisting of a methane-sniffing Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) plus an entry, descent and landing demonstrator module, known as Schiaparelli. TGO promises to churn out new data that can help unravel the biological standing of that faraway world.

Europe’s mission this year is a newbie in Mars research. But it’s a precursor of things to come as a robotic existence proof concerning Mars as an extraterrestrial address for life.

Take a look at my new story on Space.com at:

Target Mars: Red Planet in World’s Crosshairs

By Leonard David, Space.com’s Space Insider Columnist

June 28, 2016 12:04pm ET

http://www.space.com/33290-mars-missions-nasa-europe-spacex.html

NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is now in Sol 1383 operations. Since landing in August 2012, the robot has snagged a total of 333,808 Images.

Last Sol, Curiosity was slated to take a Mastcam video of Phobos – a moon of Mars – crossing in front of the Sun, reports Ryan Anderson a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona.

Also on tap was a multispectral observation of the brushed target “Koes”. The rover’s Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) was scheduled to analyze the targets “Koes,” “Kongola,” and “Rundu” and Mastcam was slated to document those observations. After that the robot was to drop off some of the “Oudam” sample to the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) Instrument Suite for analysis.

 

 

Studying changing textures

“On Sol 1383 the rover will drive and then collect the usual post-drive images, including an 8×1 mosaic along the side of the rover to study changing textures as we drive,” Anderson said. “We’ll also take some extra Navcam images of a crater in the distance.”

The plan calls for an early morning science block for Sol 1384 to collect some atmospheric observations with Navcam and Mastcam.

 

 

Good viewing

Sol 1384 activities also include the robot collecting some atmospheric observations with Navcam and Mastcam.

On the schedule is a drive for about 230 feet (70 meters) and then collect standard post-drive images.

“Since the drive is expected to put us in a location with a good view of the surrounding geology, we will also do a 360 degree Mastcam mosaic at the end of the sol,” Anderson adds.

New map

Meanwhile, a new map has been issued showing the Curiosity rover’s location for Sol 1383.

The map shows the route driven by the Mars machinery through the 1383 Martian day, or sol, of the rover’s mission on Mars (June, 27, 2016).

Numbering of the dots along the line in the map (click for larger image) indicate the sol number of each drive. North is up.

From Sol 1378 to Sol 1383, Curiosity had driven a straight line distance of about 100.29 feet (30.57 meters).

Since touching down in Bradbury Landing in August 2012, Curiosity has driven 8.13 miles (13.09 kilometers).

The base image from the map is from the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment Camera (HiRISE) aboard NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Update: Videos

To view the Chinese reentry module landing via a You Tube/CCTV video, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sw4_H33K3vg

Also, go to:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFybXN7aRHM

New booster

China’s maiden voyage of its Long March 7 booster yesterday is a prelude of things to come this year – focused on expanding and upgrading its human spaceflight program.

Rocketing from the country’s new Kennedy Space Center-like Wenchang coastal spaceport, Long March 7 carried mini-satellites, as well as a sub-scale test capsule for future piloted space missions in low Earth orbit and deep space.

Reports from Chinese news agencies say the 2.6 metric ton (2,600 kilograms) reentry module has parachuted to a landing in Badain Jaran Desert in north China.

Space lab next

Long March 7 is the booster assigned the duty of launching cargo resupply ships – dubbed Tianzhou – to China’s multi-modular space station to be orbiting in the early 2020s.

 

 

Later this year, China is to loft the Tiangong-2 space lab. Following that launch, a two-person Shenzhou-11 craft will link up with the space lab. Early next year, a Long March 7 will loft a Tianzhou supply ship to the Tiangong-2 space lab.

 

 

Also on tap this year is the maiden blastoff of China’s Long March 5. This booster is scripted to hurl into Earth orbit space station modules, as well as support robotic lunar sample return from the Moon, and hurl a rover to Mars in 2020.