Astropolitics 3.0: Reality Check
Friday, 13 September 2024 14:47
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In the foreword to Astropolitics 3.0: Reality Check, I have the privilege of introducing a work that not only maps the intricate pathways of space exploration but also deciphers the power plays shaping our future in outer space.
Having journeyed alongside Frank through numerous space ventures in the 2000s, I've witnessed firsthand his unique ability to navigate this complex arena.
Ou SpaceX makes history with first spacewalks by private citizens
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A pioneering private crew made history Thursday by performing the first commercial spacewalk, with NASA hailing it as "a giant leap forward" for the space industry.
The SpaceX Polaris Dawn mission, led by fintech billionaire Jared Isaacman, launched Tuesday from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, journeying deeper into the cosmos than any humans in half a century, since the Apollo era. China unveils asteroid defense plan following recent space event
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On Sept 5, Asteroid 2024 RW1 entered Earth's atmosphere, burning up about 25 kilometers above the Philippines. This event, coinciding with China's announcement of a new asteroid defense initiative, highlighted both the necessity and feasibility of such a plan.
While the odds of an asteroid causing significant damage are relatively low - most disintegrate upon entering the atmosphere - the Simulation Test Stand for China's lunar mission passes key milestone
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A newly-built high-altitude simulation test stand in Northwest China's Shaanxi province has successfully completed its test run, according to a report from China Space News on Wednesday. The test stand, designed to simulate the operating conditions for the main deceleration engine of China's manned lunar landing spacecraft, is seen as a significant achievement in the country's ongoing lunar expl PLD Space opens SPARK Program to schools for free satellite launches
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Primary, secondary, and vocational schools now have the chance to launch their projects into space through PLD Space's new SPARK Program. This initiative offers students, teachers, and researchers the opportunity to send experiments into space on the first two flights of the MIURA 5 rocket, planned for late 2025 and early 2026 - at no cost to participating institutions.
The SPARK Program i Astroscale secures major contract for UK Active Debris Removal mission
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Astroscale UK, the British arm of Astroscale Holdings Inc., has been awarded a GBP 1.95 million contract by the UK Space Agency to further develop its Cleaning Outer Space Mission through Innovative Capture (COSMIC) spacecraft. The COSMIC mission aims to remove two inactive UK satellites from orbit as part of a national Active Debris Removal (ADR) effort.
This phase of the mission will con NASA Taps BlackSky for High-Frequency Satellite Imaging to Boost Earth Science Research
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BlackSky Technology Inc. (NYSE: BKSY) has been chosen by NASA to supply high-frequency, time-diverse satellite imaging data for Earth observation projects under NASA's Commercial Smallsat Data Acquisition Program (CSDAP). This contract, which could reach a total value of $476 million, will run through November 2028 for participating contractors.
"Adding BlackSky's space-based intelligence Week in images: 09-13 September 2024
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Week in images: 09-13 September 2024
Discover our week through the lens
Growing pains in U.S. military’s satellite revolution
Friday, 13 September 2024 12:00
The satellite industry cannot ignore the huge potential of D2D services
Friday, 13 September 2024 12:00
SpaceX launches its 60th Space Coast mission for the year
Friday, 13 September 2024 11:10 Write a comment
SpaceX passed 60 launches for the year from the Space Coast early Thursday with a Falcon 9 mission taking a set of five satellites to space.
The rocket flying the BlueBird 1-5 mission launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 4:52 a.m.
Its first-stage booster flew for the 13th time and brought a sonic boom to parts of Central Florida with a return touchdown back at Canaveral's Landing Zone 1 eight minutes after liftoff.
The payload is the first five of a new constellation of satellites for Midland, Texas-based AST SpaceMobile, part of a space-based cellular broadband network in low-Earth orbit to be accessible by everyday smartphones for both commercial and government use.
Beta test users will be for AT&T and Verizon with an eventual coverage area across the U.S. and in select global markets.
SpaceX is honing in on breaking its 2023 record for launches from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral. It managed 68 last year.
So far in 2024, it has flown 60 of the 64 total launches among all Space Coast launch pads, with the other four coming from United Launch Alliance.
Aging, overworked and underfunded: NASA faces a dire future, according to experts
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Aging infrastructure, short-term thinking, and ambitions that far outstrip its funding are just a few of the problems threatening the future of America's vaunted civil space agency, according to the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
In a report commissioned by Congress, experts said that a number of the agency's technological resources are suffering, including the Deep Space Network—an international collection of giant radio antennas that is overseen by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Cañada Flintridge.
Report authors warned that NASA has, for too long, prioritized near-term missions at the cost of long-term investments in its infrastructure, workforce and technology.
"The inevitable consequence of such a strategy is to erode those essential capabilities that led to the organization's greatness in the first place and that underpin its future potential," the report said.
The choice facing the agency is stark, lead author Norman Augustine said Tuesday: Either the U.S. must increase funding for NASA, or the agency must cut some missions.
"For NASA, this is not a time for business as usual," said Augustine, a former executive at Lockheed Martin.
Want to walk in space? It might cost you more than money
Friday, 13 September 2024 11:01 Write a comment
A tech billionaire has become the first layperson to perform a space walk. Hundreds of miles above Earth, Jared Isaacman took part in an intricate performance of science and engineering that often comes with some serious health risks, even for professional astronauts.
Elon Musk's SpaceX partnered with Isaacman to bring the Polaris Dawn mission to life, which featured a five-day flight to 460 miles above the planet. From bulges in the hatch seal to an unresponsive button for accessing the ship, there were a few glitches during the trek. But the "risky venture," as SpaceX's vice president of build and flight reliability Bill Gerstenmaier put it, could have gone significantly worse.
"You have to embrace the suck," European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano told NPR.
"At one point during the spacewalk, you're going to be hot, you're going to be cold, your hands are going to hurt," he continued.
During a space walk in 2013, Parmitano's cooling system suffered a major malfunction—his helmet was filling with water, creeping up his skin and over his head because of the capillary pressure at zero G.
Fly over Mercury with BepiColombo
Friday, 13 September 2024 09:30 Write a comment
Video:
00:01:15
See Mercury in a whole new light, through the ‘eyes’ of the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft, as it sped past Mercury during its latest encounter on 4 September 2024.
During the flyby, BepiColombo’s three monitoring cameras (M-CAMs) captured detailed images of the planet’s cratered surface. Within these images, Mercury scientists identified various geological features that BepiColombo will study in more detail once in orbit around the planet.
One such feature, shown in this video, is the newly named Stoddart crater. The name ‘Stoddart’ – after artist Margaret Olrog Stoddart (1865–1934) – was recently assigned following a request from the M-CAM
BepiColombo’s fourth Mercury flyby: the movie
Friday, 13 September 2024 08:30 Write a comment
Video:
00:01:25
Watch the closest flyby of a planet ever, as the ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft sped past Mercury during its latest encounter on 4 September 2024.
This flyby marked BepiColombo’s closest approach to Mercury yet, and for the first time, the spacecraft had a clear view of Mercury’s south pole.
This timelapse is made up of 128 different images captured by all three of BepiColombo’s monitoring cameras, M-CAM 1, 2 and 3. We see the planet move in and out of the fields of view of M-CAM 2 and 3, before M-CAM 1 sees the planet receding into the distance at the end