Space Stories: An International Astronaut for Artemis, Martian Eruptions, and Surprisingly Young Stars in Our Galaxy

Posted on by onespaceman2000
 

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Politico: “NASA’s Moon Landing Mission will Include a Non-American, Harris Says“

NASA is hoping to send a group of astronauts to the moon before the end of the decade, and at least one of them won’t be American. During a National Space Council meeting Wednesday afternoon, Vice President Kamala Harris announced that an astronaut from another country will join the U.S. team…It’s a major diplomatic move for Washington as it attempts to build an international coalition in space to counter a similar initiative being pursued by China, which the U.S. believes is gearing up for future battles in orbit. Harris didn’t specify which nation will provide the astronaut.

—University of Arizona: “Recent Volcanism on Mars Reveals a Planet More Active Than Previously Thought“

A vast, flat, “featureless” plain on Mars surprised researchers by revealing a much more tumultuous geologic past than expected, according to a study led by researchers at the University of Arizona. Enormous amounts of lava have erupted from numerous fissures as recently as one million years ago, blanketing an area almost as large as Alaska and interacting with water in and under the surface, resulting in large flood events that carved out deep channels...Mars has long been thought to be a geologically “dead” planet where not much is happening. Recent discoveries have researchers questioning this notion,

—ScienceNews: “A Bar of Stars at the Center of the Milky Way Looks Surprisingly Young“

The biography of our home galaxy may be due for some revisions. That’s because a bar-shaped collection of stars at the center of the Milky Way appears to be much younger than expected. The bar is a prominent feature of our galaxy. It spans thousands of light-years and links the galaxy’s spiraling arms of stars, making them resemble streams of water coming from a spinning lawn sprinkler.

Starship Launch: A Few Legal Issues on the Ground

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The Starship rocket at the SpaceX facility located at Boca Chica, Texas. (SpaceX)

SpaceX and NASA are trying to get ready for the third launch of the Starship, a key component of the Artemis program. Yet some parties here are Earth are still steamed about the April 2023 Starship launch that spread debris at the Texas rocket site.

A group of organizations – the Center for Biological Diversity, American Bird Conservancy, Surfrider Foundation, Save RGV and the Carrizo/Comecrudo Nation of Texas, Inc. – have filed additional legal claims against the Federal Aviation Administration and U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The group’s main concerns, outlined in a press release from the Center for Biological Diversity, are:

  • the agencies’ failure to fully analyze and mitigate environmental harms from the April 20 explosion of the SpaceX Starship/Super Heavy rocket and launchpad at Boca Chica in south Texas;
  • the Fish and Wildlife Service failed to address the harm from the April 20 explosion and efforts to recover thousands of chunks of concrete and metal from sensitive tidal flat habitat; and
  • the Service further failed to address excessive noise and vibrations from the first launch, including reports that noise levels greatly exceeded what was expected.

Mary Angela Branch, board member at Save RGV, stated;

Approving a massive rocket test launch facility only steps from our state park and national wildlife refuge is unconscionable…This failed launch shows the extent of damage, not just to our wildlife and sensitive eco-system, but to our residential, recreational and tourist communities. The noise, debris, vibrations and explosion proved far too extreme to not be given full environmental assessment by the FAA and Fish and Wildlife Service. Failure to do so is pure negligence and exhibits a blatant disregard for our community life.

This may further slow down efforts to get the Starship testing back on track.

Many have already noted how dumb the first launch was with no provisions for the rocket exhaust. It set a bad precedent that will hang over the Starship launches as long as they continue in Texas.

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.