Leonard David's INSIDE OUTER SPACE

Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category

Wait-a-minute.
Image credit: Barbara David

China has reportedly embarked on a magnetic levitation (MagLev) system using an electromagnetic catapult to hurl a 50-ton space plane down a track at speeds up to Mach 1.6.

At the rail gun’s end, the space plane would use a propulsion system to reach orbit.

The South China Morning Post reports work on the idea is underway. Just how much momentum the research has behind it isn’t clear.

But if this sounds familiar…it is…and a wait-a-minute moment.

MagLifter concept. Image credit: NASA

Years ago, NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center showcased a 50 feet (15 meters) MagLev test track.

NASA engineers working on the concept, however, couldn’t levitate, attract, and speed the necessary moolah their way to the idea – essentially derailing work.

Image credit: NASA

Mass drivers

Waaay back in 1974, work on “mass drivers” was undertaken by the late Gerard O’Neill and colleagues at Princeton University and also the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Mass drivers were viewed then as the logical means for transporting lunar raw material to special spots in space, namely L-5.

Those mass drivers were electromagnetic launchers that could accelerate payloads in re-circulating buckets with superconducting magnet coils at a repetition rate of about ten per second.

Artwork shows Mass driver on Moon. Courtesy: Space Studies Institute (SSI)

Raw power

One application O’Neill proposed for mass drivers: toss baseball-sized chunks of ore mined from the surface of the Moon into space. Once in space, the ore could be used as raw material for building space colonies and solar power satellites.

Now decades later, enter the world of today’s bullet trains, high-velocity artillery shells, airplane catapults, hyped-up hypersonic vehicles, new materials, and superconductor thinking – time for a MagLev re-look for space?

Space technologists in China seemingly think so.

Go to: “China building giant hypersonic railgun for space launches” by Gabriel Honrada in Asian Times at:

China building giant hypersonic railgun for space launches

Also, for more information, go to these previous Inside Outer Space stories:

https://www.leonarddavid.com/navy-rail-gun-progress-ideal-for-the-moon/

https://www.leonarddavid.com/electromagnetic-mass-driver-back-to-the-moon/

Image credit: CGTN/inside Outer Space screengrab

A Long March-8 Y3 booster is being prepped for sendoff at China’s Wenchang Space Launch Center in south China’s Hainan Province.

The Queqiao-2 spacecraft is expected to be launched in the next several days, states the China National Space Administration (CNSA).

If successfully lofted, Queqiao-2 — or Magpie Bridge-2 – is built to serve as a relay platform and is an element of China’s fourth phase of the country’s lunar exploration program.

Frozen orbit

To achieve better visibility of the Moon’s south pole region, the Queqiao-2 relay spacecraft is to be stationed in a stable, “frozen” elliptical orbit around the Moon.

Image credit: CNSA

Once in place, the relay craft will operate from a Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO) of the Moon and support communications services for the already lunar-situated Chang’e-4, as well as the upcoming Chang’e-6, Chang’e-7, and Chang’e-8 Moon missions.

Once on duty, Queqiao-2 will make use of a 4.2 meter parabolic antenna to enable communication between China’s lunar surface operations and ground controllers.

Upgraded sentinel

This new and upgraded relay sentinel follows Queqiao-1, launched in May 2018. It supported China’s Chang’e-4 mission. That robotic lander and Yutu rover mission made the first soft landing on the far side of the Moon back in January 2019.

Queqiao-2  also totes a trio of scientific payloads: An extreme ultraviolet camera, an array neutral atom imager, and an Earth-Moon Very-long-baseline interferometry (VLBI) system.

This new lunar relay capability reportedly has a lifetime of more than 8 years.

Image credit: SpaceX

That milestone-making third test flight of the SpaceX Starship involved mishaps with the Super Heavy booster and the Starship vehicle.

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is “overseeing the SpaceX-led mishap investigation to ensure the company complies with its FAA-approved mishap investigation plan and other regulatory requirements,” according to the federal organization.

Super Heavy booster liftoff, but failed to achieve “soft” landing in ocean waters. Image credit: SpaceX/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Public safety

In a post-launch FAA statement “a mishap occurred during the SpaceX Starship OFT-3 mission that launched from Boca Chica, Texas, on March 14. The mishap involved both the Super Heavy booster and the Starship vehicle.”

No public injuries or public property damage have been reported, the FAA statement points out. “A mishap investigation is designed to further enhance public safety, determine the root cause of the event, and identify corrective actions to avoid it from happening again.”

Up, up and away! Image credit: SpaceX/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Return to flight…when?

As for future launches of the Starship, the FAA will be involved in every step of the mishap investigation process they state, “and must approve SpaceX’s final report, including any corrective actions.”

Any return to flight will be based on the FAA determining that any system, process, or procedure related to the mishap does not affect public safety.

“In addition, SpaceX may need to modify its license to incorporate any corrective actions and meet all other licensing requirements,” the FAA statement concludes.

Go to SpaceX Starship launch replay at:

https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3

Starship reentry, then breakup of vehicle. Image credit: SpaceX/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Peregrine commercial lunar lander imaged the Earth as it headed for destructive dive into the South Pacific ocean.
(Image credit: Astrobotic Technology)

It has been a rough and tumble start for hurling hardware and science experiments to the Moon under NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative, dubbed CLPS.

Under CLPS, American vendors have been contracted to assist the space agency in “re-booting” the Moon no earlier than September 2026 by way of an Artemis crew landing at the lunar south pole.

Commercial deliveries of scientific equipment, trial-running technologies, and showcasing capabilities, that’s what CLPS is about, a government-private sector partnership that adds up to a maximum of $2.6 billion in competitive contracts through 2028.

Odysseus captured this image less than 100 feet (30 meters) above the lunar surface while his main engine throttled down
Image credit: Intuitive Machines

Early speed bumps

NASA dollars, the agency relates, helps lay the foundation for sustained stays of human explorers on the Moon, while shoring up the creation of a lunar economy and gain the chops to march off to Mars.

That’s the off-and-running vision – but there are some early speed bumps.

Take a look at my new Scientific American story – “In NASA’s Push for the Moon, Commercial Partners Soar—And Stumble: NASA’s partnership with private industry to accelerate the U.S.’s return to the Moon is delivering lunar payloads—and mixed results” – at:

https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/whats-behind-nasas-commercial-lunar-hits-and-misses/

Image credit: SpaceX

The launch of SpaceX’s Starship OFT-3 has been given a go by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), as cited in a FAA License Modification Approval dated March 13, 2024.

“The FAA is authorizing the SpaceX Starship Super Heavy Orbital Flight Test 3 (OFT-3) launch. The FAA determined SpaceX met all safety, environmental, policy and financial responsibility requirements,” stated the FAA.

This flight – targeted for March 14 – was one part of the FAA’s license modification evaluation, a “Tiered Environmental Assessment” for the SpaceX Starship sortie and its Indian Ocean landing.

Record of decision

The FAA has issued a Finding of No Significant Impact Record of Decision.

This license applies to all phases of the proposed OFT-3 operation, the FAA notes in a statement. “This includes preflight preparations and liftoff from Texas, the water landing of the Super Heavy booster in the Gulf of Mexico, and the water landing of the Starship vehicle in the Indian Ocean.”

As posted by SpaceX, the third flight test of Starship is targeted to launch Thursday, March 14. The 110-minute test window opens at 7:00 a.m. Central Time.

A live webcast of the flight test will begin about 30 minutes before liftoff, and can be viewed via SpaceX and on X @SpaceX.

Starship departure in earlier test flight. Image credit: SpaceX/Inside Outer Space screengrab

Ambitious objectives

“As is the case with all developmental testing, the schedule is dynamic and likely to change, so be sure to stay tuned to our X account for updates,” reports SpaceX.

With two Starship tests under its belt, SpaceX explains that the third flight test “aims to build on what we’ve learned from previous flights while attempting a number of ambitious objectives.”

Those include:

— successful ascent burn of both stages

— opening and closing Starship’s payload door

— a propellant transfer demonstration during the upper stage’s coast phase

— the first ever re-light of a Raptor engine while in space

— a controlled reentry of Starship.

Image credit: SpaceX

New trajectory

As explained by SpaceX, this Starship flight will also fly a new trajectory, with the vehicle targeted to splashdown in the Indian Ocean.

“This new flight path enables us to attempt new techniques like in-space engine burns while maximizing public safety,” SpaceX adds.

For live coverage, go to: https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=starship-flight-3

A giant volcano hiding in plain sight in one of Mars’ most iconic regions.
Image credit: Background image: NASA/USGS Mars globe. Geologic interpretation and annotations by Pascal Lee and Sourabh Shubham (2024)

The Red Planet continues to surprise us. New research has unveiled a giant volcano and possible sheet of buried glacier ice.

Viewed as a groundbreaking announcement, the site on Mars for this new big reveal is in the eastern part of Mars’ Tharsis volcanic province, near the planet’s equator.

Due to its eroded, tough-to-spot nature, the feature has been missed since Mariner 9 imagery in 1971.

The finding has been reported during the 55th Lunar and Planetary Science Conference now under way in The Woodlands, Texas.

This just-reported study was conducted using data from NASA’s Mariner 9, Viking Orbiter 1 and 2, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter missions, as well as the European Space Agency’s Mars Express mission.

Newly discovered giant volcano is located in the “middle of the action” on Mars.
Image credit: Background image: NASA Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter (MOLA) digital elevation model.
Geologic interpretation & annotations by Pascal Lee and Sourabh Shubham (2024)

Potential destination?

The giant volcano had been hiding in plain sight for decades in one of Mars’ most iconic regions, at the boundary between the heavily fractured maze-like Noctis Labyrinthus (Labyrinth of the Night) and the vast canyon system of Valles Marineris (Valleys of Mariner).

The area in which the newly documented volcano sits is home to three other well known giant volcanoes: Ascraeus Mons, Pavonis Mons, and Arsia Mons.

Although more eroded and less high than these other volcanic counterparts, the newly discovered volcano rivals the others in diameter: about 280 miles (450 kilometers and measures roughly 29,600 feet in elevation.

“Its discovery points to an exciting new place to search for life, and a potential destination for future robotic and human exploration,” notes a statement from the SETI Institute.

Mars beckons. Human explorers can maximize the science output for unraveling the complex nature of the Red Planet.
Image credit: NASA/Pat Rawlings

Long-sought “smoking gun”

Lead author of the study is Pascal Lee, a planetary scientist with the SETI Institute and the Mars Institute based at NASA Ames Research Center.

“We were examining the geology of an area where we had found the remains of a glacier last year when we realized we were inside a huge and deeply eroded volcano,” Lee explains.

The volcano’s enormous size and complex modification history indicate that it has been active for a very long time. Furthermore, in its southeastern part lies a thin, recent volcanic deposit beneath which glacier ice is likely still present.

“This area of Mars is known to have a wide variety of hydrated minerals spanning a long stretch of Martian history,” explains Sourabh Shubham, a graduate student at the University of Maryland’s Department of Geology and the study’s co-author.

“A volcanic setting for these minerals had long been suspected. So, it may not be too surprising to find a volcano here,” Shubham added. “In some sense, this large volcano is a long-sought ‘smoking gun.’”

Human explorers on Mars will enlist a variety of tools to reveal the secrets of the Red Planet.
Image credit: NASA

Unknowns and mysteries

This new discovery, however, also underscores several mysteries.

For one, while it is clear that it has been active for a long time and began to build up early in Mars’ history, what is unknown is exactly how early. Likewise, although it has experienced eruptions even in geologically speaking “modern times,” it is not known if the feature is still volcanically active and might erupt again.

Mix in yet another unknown. If it has been active for a long time, could the combination of sustained warmth and water from ice have allowed the site to harbor life?

“It’s really a combination of things that makes the Noctis volcano site exceptionally exciting,” Lee senses. “It’s an ancient and long-lived volcano so deeply eroded that you could hike, drive, or fly through it to examine, sample, and date different parts of its interior to study Mars’ evolution through time.”

The huge canyon system of Valles Marineris is arguably Mars’ most dramatic landscape and offers a scientific bonanza for future expeditionary crews.
Image credit: ESA/DLR/FU Berlin (G. Neukum), CC BY-SA 3.0 IGO

Prime location

Lee concludes that its long history of heat interacting with water and ice “makes it a prime location for astrobiology and our search for signs of life.”

Finally, with glacier ice likely still preserved near the surface in a relatively warm equatorial region on Mars, “the place is looking very attractive for robotic and human exploration,” Lee said in the SETI statement.

The possible presence of glacier ice at shallow depths near the equator means that humans could potentially explore a less frigid part of the planet while still being able to extract water for hydration and manufacturing rocket fuel.

That made-on-Mars propellant is feasible by breaking down the water into hydrogen and oxygen.

For more details, go to “Giant Volcano Discovered on Mars” at:

https://www.seti.org/press-release/giant-volcano-discovered-mars

Also, go to the LPSC-presented paper detailing the new finding at:

https://www.hou.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2024/pdf/2745.pdf

Image credit: Austrian Space Forum (OeWF)

The 14th Mars Analog Mission of the Austrian Space Forum is starting today, carried out in cooperation with the Armenian Space Agency.

This analog test site is within the province of Ararat, chosen for its geological and topographic similarity to Mars and led by a dedicated Mission Support Center in Austria.

The Austrian Space Forum (OeWF) is a private space research institution.

Image credit: Austrian Space Forum (OeWF)

Carrying out their analog Mars duties: Crew Commander Anika Mehlis from Germany, Deputy Commander Robert Wild from Austria, Carmen Köhler from Germany, Iñigo Muñoz Elorza from Spain, Simone Paternostro from Italy and Thomas Wijnen from the Netherlands.

Image credit: Austrian Space Forum (OeWF)

Mission objectives

The AMADEE-24 mission has the following objectives:

— Explore instrument behavior while using instruments with the option of “humans-in-the-loop,” “humans as part of the workflow” (through two space suit prototypes with high realism, wearable systems, etc.).

— Developing platforms to test life detection or Earth science techniques and robotic support tools for astronautical missions. Creating concepts that enable high situational awareness for support teams that are not in the field.

— Investigating the analog as a model region for its Mars counterpart.

— Increasing the visibility of planetary science and human research activity.

— Develop the expertise to best manage astronaut missions to Mars: by providing a realistic model for a mission support center, planning the missions of analog astronauts*, and creating a comprehensive framework for decision making.

The AMADEE-24 analog mission can be viewed in a livestream presentation: Go to: https://www.youtube.com/live/gtokTylgR5g?si=Cc0KyRBGRGz4gIDo

Yucatan meets the Caribbean (red circle)
Image credit: Cambrian Foundation

That nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station years ago has made a destructive plunge to Earth.

That multi-ton Exposed Pallet 9 (EP9) carrying 5,800 pounds of batteries was jettisoned in 2021 from the space station using the Canada-supplied robotic arm.

Taking out the trash. Multi-ton pallet tossed off years ago returns to Earth.
Image credit: NASA/Mike Hopkins

The Combined Space Operations Center (CSpOC), based at Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif. published a final Tracking and Impact Prediction (TIP) message. That TIP gives reentry at 19:29 UTC plus or minus one minute, near 22.0 N, 85.5 W.

Image credit: SIBRS sensors monitor the Earth.
Image credit: US Air Force

The +- 1 minute suggests this is likely based on a Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) satellite sensor observation of the reentry fireball, says Marco Langbroek, an expert satellite watcher in the Netherlands. “The position is where Yucatan meets the Caribbean,” he adds.

SIBRS data is also one likely input into the Jet Propulsion Laboratory-hosted Center for Near-Earth Object Studies (CNEOS).

U.S. government sensor information contributes to gauging atmospheric impact events. Bolide data, for example, is filtered into the CNEOS fireballs database – info useful for NASA’s Planetary Defense Coordination Office.

Casualty risk: low

According to a pre-reentry statement by the European Space Agency, the total mass of the batteries is estimated at 2.6 metric tons, most of which may burn up during the reentry. “While some parts may reach the ground, the casualty risk – the likelihood of a person being hit – is very low,” the ESA statement added.

During the uncontrolled fall of space hardware, seconds and minutes count. They can add up to de-orbiting riff raff plunging into isolated ocean waters or reaching land.
(Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation/Center for Space Policy and Strategy)

EP9 was loaded with old Nickel-Hydrogen batteries and had the approximate mass of a large SUV.

The EP9 was delivered to the ISS via Japan’s HTV-9 (Kountori 9) on May 20, 2020.

The EP9 carried six Lithium-Ion battery Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) which replaced those existing ISS Nickel-Hydrogen batteries during an astronaut spacewalk.

Image credit:
EU Space Surveillance and Tracking (SST)

Note: Special thanks to Marco Langbroek and Bob Christy for reentry data.

Image credit: RPD/Sgt. Trong Nguyen

While the just-issued U.S. Department of Defense report on aerial strangeness found no link to extraterrestrial visitation, don’t tell that to the Roswell Police Department (RPD) in New Mexico.

Roswell is long associated with a reported 1947 site of an out-of-control UFO and its travel weary pilots. Dutifully, Roswell’s police have a new official patch – replacing an older emblem.

Older RPD patch.
Image credit: RPD

Small alien faces

“The new patch contains elements connecting it not only to the police department, but also the City of Roswell, the State of New Mexico and the Roswell community’s long association with UFO lore,”

The patch includes the city logo, a Zia symbol, a pair of small alien faces, and the phrasing, “Protect and Serve Those That Land Here.”

The patch also features the year the police department was established (1891), recognizing its 133-year history, and replaces a patch that has served RPD for more than 30 years and will now be retired.

Image credit: RPD

“The process to create a new patch began with an invitation to RPD employees – commissioned law enforcement officers as well as civilian staff – to submit design ideas,” notes an RPD statement.

Winning finalist

The new patch that will now represent the department was the one, from among the finalists, that proved the most popular among department employees who participated in an online survey. The chosen patch was crafted by Support Services Sgt. Trong Nguyen.

Distribution of the new patch to officers began March 6 “and will continue for some time as the department receives more patches from the company producing them,” the RPD posting adds.

Image credit: Roswell Daily Record

The ongoing transition to the new patch is expected to be completed by August 1.

As a new symbol of the department, the patch will be worn on the shoulders of officers’ uniforms and the image is to be used on various RPD printed and online materials.

No cover-up

Meanwhile, the DOD’s just-issued All-domain Anomaly Resolution Office (AARO) report states that there is no verifiable evidence that any UAP, aka UFO, sighting has represented extraterrestrial activity.

In UFO lore, the “Roswell incident” refers to the July 1947 “recovery of metallic and rubber debris from a crashed military balloon near Roswell Army Air Field personnel that sparked conspiracy theories and claims that the debris was from an alien spaceship” and part of a governmental cover-up, explains the new AARO report.

Image credit: DOD/AARO

The AARO document, citing earlier U.S. Air Force looks into the incident, points out that the USAF’s research did not locate or develop any information that indicated the Roswell Incident was a UFO event, nor was there any “cover-up” by the U.S. Government (USG).

Test dummies

Rather, those materials recovered near Roswell were consistent with a balloon of the type used in the then-classified Project Mogul. No records showed any evidence that the USG recovered aliens or extraterrestrial material, as explained in the AARO document.

The USAF subsequently published a follow-on report in 1997, The Roswell Report: Case Closed, with additional materials and analysis which supported its conclusion that the debris recovered near Roswell was from the U.S. Army Air Force’s balloon borne program.

Image credit: USAF/Alderson Laboratories anthropomorphic dummies of the type dropped from balloons.

The alleged “alien” bodies reported by some in the New Mexico desert, the Air Force “case closed” document explains, were test dummies that were carried aloft by U.S. Army Air Force high-altitude balloons for scientific research.

“Reports of military units that allegedly recovered a flying saucer and its ‘crew’ were descriptions of Air Force personnel engaged in the dummy recovery operations,” the Air Force Roswell report points out. “Claims of ‘alien bodies’ at the Roswell Army Air Force (RAAF) hospital were most likely the result of the conflation of two separate incidents: a 1956 KC-97 aircraft accident in which 11 Air Force members lost their lives; and a 1959 manned balloon mishap in which two Air Force pilots were injured.”

Taking out the trash. Multi-ton pallet tossed off years ago returns to Earth.
Image credit: NASA/Mike Hopkins

A nearly 3-ton leftover tossed overboard from the International Space Station is nearing its plunge toward Earth.

The multi-ton Exposed Pallet 9 (EP9) was jettisoned from the space station back in March 2021.

At the time, it was reported to be the most massive object ever tossed overboard from the International Space Station. Disposing of used or unnecessary equipment in such a way is common practice aboard the space station, as the objects typically burn up harmlessly in Earth’s atmosphere.

Image credit: Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, National Warning Center 1

Ahead of EP9’s reentry, the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, National Warning Center 1 in Bonn, Germany issued this information:

“Luminous phenomena or the perception of a sonic boom are possible. According to current information, the probability of debris hitting Germany is considered to be very low. If the risk increases, you will receive new information.”

Design for demise

Over the years, work has been done on designing spacecraft that have less chance of leftovers reaching Earth – an engineering effort dubbed “design for demise.”

Regarding what types of materials survive an atmospheric re-entry, information from the German Aerospace Center (Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt (DLR) is instructive.

DLR experts note that so-called fiber-ceramic composite materials are significantly more heat-resistant over metal materials.

Chart shows ground track of a set of used Nickel-Hydrogen batteries jettisoned from the International Space Station in 2021. Chart indicates situation as of March 8, and forecasts a reentry between approximately 15:35 CET and 22:25 CET on Friday March 8. The reentry zone effectively stretches from -51.6deg south to 51.6deg north.
Image credit: ESA

Natural reentry

The European Space Agency (ESA) Space Debris and Independent Safety Offices are closely monitoring the reentry of the pallet of used ISS batteries.

The batteries, nine in total, will undergo “a natural reentry,” which is now predicted between approximately 15:35 CET and 22:25 CET on March 8.

Image credit: NASA

“The total mass of the batteries is estimated at 2.6 metric tonnes, most of which may burn up during the reentry,” the ESA statement adds. “While some parts may reach the ground, the casualty risk – the likelihood of a person being hit – is very low.”

Catch and release. ISS robot arm is used for grabbing and letting lose space hardware.
Image credit: NASA

The reentry will occur between -51.6 degrees South and 51.6 degrees North.

ESA further notes that there are large uncertainties, primarily driven by fluctuating levels of atmospheric drag, that prevent more precise predictions.

“The closer we get to the expected reentry window, the better the concerned region can be geographically constrained,” ESA says, and also explains that a large space object reenters the atmosphere in a natural way approximately once per week. The majority of the associated fragments “burning up” before reaching the ground.

“Most spacecraft, launch vehicles and operational hardware are designed to limit the risks associated with a reentry,” ESA reports.

Image credit: The Aerospace Corporation/CORDS – Yellow Icon – location of object at midpoint of reentry window
Blue Line – ground track uncertainty prior to middle of the reentry window (ticks at 5-minute intervals)
Yellow Line – ground track uncertainty after middle of the reentry window (ticks at 5-minute intervals)
Pink Icon (if applicable) – vicinity of eyewitness sighting or recovered debris
Note: Possible reentry locations lie anywhere along the blue and yellow ground track. Areas not under the line are not exposed to the debris. 

For more information, go to my Space.com update – “5,800 pounds of batteries tossed off the ISS in 2021 will fall to Earth today” – at:

https://www.space.com/old-batteries-re-enter-atmosphere