Space Quote: No One Owns the Moon

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Moon as seen from the International Space Station. (NASA)

“No one, and no religion, owns the moon, and, were the beliefs of the world’s multitude of religions considered, it’s quite likely that no missions would ever be approved…Simply, we do not and never have let religious beliefs dictate humanity’s space efforts — there is not and should not be a religious test.”

-Statement by Celestis CEO and co-founder Charles Chafer in an email to Space.com regarding Native American concerns about a NASA -funded rocket taking human remains to the Moon next week. A second company, Elysium Space, will also be placing human remains on the Moon as part of this same mission. NASA separately noted in response to the Native American concerns, “We don’t have the framework for telling [private companies] what they can and can’t fly.”

Pic of the Week: The Last Full Moon of 2023

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The last full Moon of 2023. (Gianni Tumino from Ragusa, Sicily, Italy)

This week’s image is from Astronomy magazine’s Picture of the Day, labeled “The year’s last Full Moon.”

Here is what the caption states:

The last Full Moon of 2023 rises over the Mediterranean as seen from Aci Castello on Dec. 26. The ten frames in this composite image ranged from 1/800 to 1/100 second at ISO 400 with a zoom lens at 200 mm and f/13.

AstroForge Readies Secret Asteroid Mission

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If you were the operator of an airline yet you refused to share the planned destination of your planes, I can assure you that the Federal Aviation Administration would have issues. Yet AstroForge is planning to do just that – set off into the wild blue (or black) yonder in a spacecraft named Odin towards an asteroid that it refuses to name. Needless to say, but I will say it, some people are not very happy.

The New York Times had a story on this adventure, which quoted Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Massachusetts:

I’m very much not in favor of having stuff swirling around the inner solar system without anyone knowing where it is…It seems like a bad precedent to set.

The Odin spacecraft’s goal is to observe the satellite(s) in question so that AstroForge can identify those worth revisiting as part of a mining mission. Here is the plan in the words of AstroForge:

…get to deep space, perform a flyby of the asteroid target, and take high resolution images of the surface. It’s important to note that meeting just one of these objectives would be a groundbreaking achievement not just for AstroForge but for commercial space at-large.

While asteroid visits are not new, nor the idea of mining them, AstroForge would be the first commercial company to do so. The economics of such ventures are still being determined, but the company appears to have enough believers to fund such missions for now.

No specific date for the Odin launch has been set, but it is expected to occur in 2024.

Space Stories: A Volcanic Moon, an Indian X-ray Launch, and New Chinese Communication Satellites

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Image (Credit): JunoCam image of Jupiter’s moon Io during its close encounter. The image was taken at an altitude of about 1,500 miles. (NASA JPL and Southwest Research Institute)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Forbes: “A NASA Spacecraft Just Had A Close Encounter With A Volcanic Moon—See The Stunning First Image“

NASA’s spacecraft Juno just had a super-close encounter with the most volcanic world in the solar system—but its stunning first image could be among its last after 56 orbits of Jupiter. On December 30, the bus-sized spacecraft—orbiting Jupiter since 2016—got very close to Io, the giant moon of Jupiter. It reached a mere 930 miles (1,500 kilometers) from the moon’s surface. However, the spacecraft’s camera has suffered radiation damage and may not last much longer.

—Fox51 News: “India Kicks Off 2024 with X-ray Astronomy Satellite Launch“

India began 2024 with the launch of an X-ray astronomy satellite aboard the sixtieth flight of its Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle. The PSLV C58 mission lifted off at 9:10 AM local time (03:40 UTC) on Monday, Jan. 1, from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre. XPoSat, or X-ray Polarimeter Satellite, carries a pair of instruments that will be used to study X-ray emissions from astronomical sources. After deploying XPoSat, PSLV C58’s upper stage has remained in orbit as the third flight of the PSLV Orbital Experimental Module (POEM-3), serving as a free-flying platform hosting a range of attached payloads.

—SpaceNews: “First Satellite for Chinese G60 Megaconstellation Rolls Off Assembly Line“

The first satellite for a second planned Chinese low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation has been produced in new facilities in Shanghai. A new generation flat-panel satellite rolled off the assembly at the G60 digital satellite production factory in Shanghai’s Songjiang District Tuesday, Dec. 27, according to Chinese press reports. The satellite is the first for the G60 Starlink low Earth orbit communications megaconstellation. An initial 108 satellites of a total of around 12,000 G60 Starlink satellites are to be launched across 2024.

Top Astronomy Stories in 2023

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Image (Credit): Chart showing the planned travel of the JUICE spacecraft. (ESA, work performed by ATG under contract to ESA)

I wanted to start out the new year by first remembering all of the great missions from 2023. I also decided to group this work rather than focus on single missions.

Here is what I came up with:

NASA’s Moon Mission: We saw more progress towards the next steps in the Artemis program to put humans on the Moon, including NASA’s announcement of the four astronauts to lead the Artemis II mission, SpaceX’s tests of the Starship rocket, and the design of new spacesuits for the Artemis astronauts.

Other Attempts to Land on the Moon: We saw other nations also reaching for the Moon. While India had great success landing a rover on the lunar South Pole, both Russia and a commercial venture from Japan did not have similar luck. We also saw Japan trying it again late last year.

NASA Asteroid Missions: Asteroids were the big news this year, with Lucy encountering a surprise pair of asteroids, OSIRIS-REx bringing back a sample from the asteroid Bennu, and NASA launching the Psyche mission.

JWST Discoveries: This year we celebrated the anniversary of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which has been better than ever imaged. It is helping to change our understanding of the origin of the universe while poking and prodding at exoplanets to review their secrets.

ESA Missions: The European Space Agency (ESA) has also been very busy in 2023. For instance, the launch of the Euclid mission to study dark matter and dark energy, as well as the JUICE mission to study Jupiter and its moons, will assist with our understanding of the big picture as well as our own neighborhood.

That’s an impressive record, and I look forward to even more great news in 2024.