Space Stories: Mad Rush for the Moon, An Unusual Exoplanet, and Flinging the Earth

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

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Science.org: “Moon’s Scientifically Important Sites could be ‘Lost Forever’ in Mining Rush“

Science and commerce may be headed for a clash on remote terrain: the Moon. For the first time in half a century, NASA is sending a craft to the lunar surface, with the launch at the end of this year of Peregrine Mission 1, a lander built by the private company Astrobotic Technology. Dozens of other craft will soon follow, many as part of NASA’s Artemis program to return astronauts to the Moon. Most researchers are looking forward to a new golden age of exploration and science. But some are worried. They foresee that the advent of private landers will lead to a “Moon rush,” as companies race to grab valuable minerals and resources while trampling over scientifically important lunar sites. With space law offering little or no protection to these areas, researchers are starting to lobby governments and international agencies to do something before it’s too late.

—SciTechDaily: “Unusually Massive” – Astronomers Discover a Planet That Shouldn’t Exist“

Researchers at Penn State have discovered an unusually massive planet, LHS 3154b, orbiting an ultracool dwarf star. This finding, contradicting current theories, prompts a reassessment of star and planet formation processes. The discovery of a planet that is far too massive for its sun is calling into question what was previously understood about the formation of planets and their solar systems, according to Penn State researchers. In a paper published on November 30 in the journal Science, researchers report the discovery of a planet more than 13 times as massive as Earth orbiting the “ultracool” star LHS 3154, which itself is nine times less massive than the sun. The mass ratio of the newly found planet with its host star is more than 100 times higher than that of Earth and the sun.

—New Scientist: “Passing Star Could Fling Earth Out Past Pluto into the Oort Cloud“

If a passing star came near the solar system, Earth would probably be fine – but there is a small chance our entire world could get thrown to the outer reaches of the solar system, crash into another planet or even get stolen by the wandering star. The other planets in the solar system could suffer similar fates, and Mercury in particular would be at risk of falling into the sun.

Audit Report: Artemis III May Not Be Possible Until 2027

Posted on by onespaceman2000

The legislative branch’s audit arm, the Government Accountability Office (GAO), has some bad news regarding the Artemis mission to the moon – the landing on the Moon may need to wait until 2027.

Here is what the auditors said in their November 30 report, NASA Artemis Programs: Crewed Moon Landing Faces Multiple Challenges, about NASA’s delays:

As of September 2023, the Human Landing System program had delayed eight of 13 key events by at least 6 months. Two of these events have been delayed to 2025—the year the lander is planned to launch. The delays were caused in part by the Orbital Flight Test, which was intended to demonstrate certain features of the launch vehicle and lander configuration in flight. The test was delayed by 7 months to April 2023. It was then terminated early when the vehicle deviated from its expected trajectory and began to tumble. Subsequent tests rely on successful completion of a second Orbital Flight Test.

The Human Landing System was awarded to SpaceX, which has been having a few issues getting everything to work on schedule. Of course, this is just one of many issues that contribute to potential delays (such as the space suit), but I expect SpaceX does not want to be labeled as the drag on the program when we are trying to beat the Chinese to the Moon.

The audit report is comprehensive and serves as a warning that things are slipping and may continue to slip without sufficient attention.

Artemis represent an international effort to bring together the best parties from the government and private sector for something amazing. The Apollo missions to the Moon were run by one country as a central government program. This is a chance for everyone to shine using a whole new approach. We just need to keep up the momentum.

Space Stories: Space Station Gap, Martian Job Losses, and Canadian Astronauts Announced for Upcoming Missions

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): ISS view of Cuba back in December 2013. What you see here is a Russian Soyuz spacecraft is docked to the station. (NASA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—SpaceNews.com: “NASA Acknowledges Possibility of Short-term Post-ISS Gap“

While NASA seeks to maintain an uninterrupted human presence in low Earth orbit, an agency official said a short-term gap between the International Space Station and commercial successors would not be “the end of the world.” NASA’s current approach to its future in LEO counts on supporting development of commercial space stations with the goal of having at least one such station ready to support NASA astronauts and research by 2030, when the ISS is scheduled for retirement. A key question, though, will be whether any of the several companies working on such concepts will be ready by the end of the decade.

—KRON4 News: “Hundreds of California Jobs at Stake if NASA Mars Mission Axed“

Hundreds of tech and science jobs will be lost in California if NASA moves forward with a plan to cut funding from the Mars Sample Return (MSR) mission, according to state lawmakers. U.S. Senator Alex Padilla (D-Calif.) and Representative Adam Schiff (D-Calif.-30), sent a letter on Wednesday to NASA Administrator Bill Nelson to reverse a decision to slash the mission’s funding. The funding cut would “result in the loss of hundreds of California jobs, prevent the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) from making its 2030 launch window, and lead to the cancellation of billions of dollars in contracts supporting American businesses,” the lawmakers wrote.

—Space.com: “Canada Assigns Astronauts to Launch on Boeing’s Starliner, Back up Artemis 2 Moon Mission“

The Canadian Space Agency announced two astronauts will fly to space in the coming years on Wednesday (Nov. 22) as the country continues a historic ramp-up of its human space program in 2023. François-Philippe Champagne, the Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada, announced the assignments in front of a crowd of hundreds gathered in the lobby of Canadian Space Agency headquarters in Longueuil, Quebec.

Is Elon Musk Experiencing a Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): 2015 explosion of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. (ABC News)

SpaceX may have suffered a rocket loss yesterday, but everyone agrees that this is part of the process when trying something big.

What can we then say about Mr. Musk creating a second loss last week, but in this case it was a loss of confidence in his leadership at Twitter (yes, the site is also oddly called “x” even though the web address is still twitter.com)? Is that also part of the process when trying something big, or is he simply becoming a loss leader that is getting in his own way. And, more importantly to this site, is he squandering his other assets, including SpaceX?

The latest incident involves his support of an earlier post on Twitter that defamed the American Jewish community. It is unclear why Mr. Musk cannot act like an adult and focus on his businesses, but his actions have led to multiple firms pulling their advertising dollars from Twitter.

I agree his irresponsible behavior is nothing new, but it is starting to raise even more eyebrows as his businesses become more entangled with US Government missions. He is not just pushing a declining social app and electric cars, but rather he is also launching critical military satellites, bringing astronauts to the International Space Station, and planning to heavily support our return to the Moon.

Exhibit A – Kelsey D. Atherton, Chief Editor at the Center for International Policy, had this to say recently about Mr. Musk and SpaceX:

In the immediate term, Congress needs to investigate whether Musk’s public comments present a breach of contract on ethical or reliability grounds. Congress could require that any company that receives launch contracts must go public, ensuring at least some mechanism for shareholders to oust a CEO should they become a public or security liability.

I recommend reading the entire article. It is one voice at the moment, but the evidence is growing that Mr. Musk may be the wrong person to rely on in these times when he clearly cannot control himself. His “Rapid Unscheduled Disassembly” is painful to watch and something we need to guard against.

Starship Self-Destructs on Second Launch Attempt

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Starship hot-staging separation earlier today. (SpaceX)

Earlier today, SpaceX lost contact with its Starship rocket about 10 minutes into the launch. This happened after the second-stage separation, so while a successful landing of the rocket did not occur, the rocket had more success than the launch earlier this year.

After what appeared to be a self-detonation of the Starship rocket, the Federal Aviation Administration stated, “The anomaly resulted in a loss of the vehicle. No injuries or public property damage have been reported.” That includes the launchpad, which was basically destroyed during the last launch.

Baby steps.

It is not clear if this latest incident will lead to another long delay before another attempt is possible. And such tests are increasingly expensive when your reusable parts continue to blow up rather than land.

A lot is riding on these launches, as well as the reusable feature, given that NASA is estimating that as many as 20 Starship launches will be necessary under the Artemis III moon mission. Of course, if someone asked NASA to schedule 20 Space Launch System launches in this way, I doubt we would even be talking about an Artemis program.

Mr. Musk has promised a lot to the US space program. We need his full attention on this project.