Top Astronomy Stories in 2023

Posted on by onespaceman2000
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.

ULA is Up for Sale

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): ULA’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket. (ULA)

United Launch Alliance (ULA), a space rocket partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is now being offered for sale. Both Blue Origin and Cerberus are showing interest, which could upset the space business as Blue Origin takes a big step forward or Cerberus gets into the space business.

ULA, formed in 2006, has both a wealth of experience as well as the confidence of the US military, even though SpaceX has been eating into that business. ULA also has ready commercial customers, including a partnership with Amazon to launch 47 rockets to bring the Kuiper broadband constellation into orbit.

The ties to Mr. Bezos, owner of Amazon, go even deeper than that. The ULA’s new rocket, the Vulcan Centaur, will use engines built by Blue Origin, another one of Mr. Bezos’ companies. This may make a Blue Origin a natural new owner to ULA.

The potential buyers may want to wait until the test launch of the Vulcan on January 8th. At that time, the Vulcan rocket will be used to launch the Astrobotic Peregrine commercial lunar lander, the first of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative designed to deliver science and technology experiments to the lunar surface.

None of this means Boeing or Lockheed Martin are moving away from space altogether. Boeing is still working on its Starliner to bring individuals and cargo to low-Earth orbit as well as its Space Launch System, which serves as the backbone of the Artemis program. Lockheed Martin will be busy as well with its Orion capsule and human landing system (with Blue Origin and Boeing as well), additional key components of the Artemis program.

Any reshuffling is okay as long as it adds to the array of commercial options for NASA. A new player like Cerberus might be welcome, but I also see some value to pushing an experienced and involved Blue Origin to the top of its game a little quicker so it can go head-to-head with SpaceX.

This should be interesting. Stay tuned.

NASA Had a Busy Year

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The introduction of the Artemis II crew, just one of many items highlighted in NASA’s new video summarizing 2023. (NASA)

This is the time of year for lists, so I wanted to highlight one of the more important lists, at least in the opinion of this writer. That’s right, we need to remember the important space milestones from this year.

Fortunately, NASA recently summed up its successes in 2023 with a new video titled NASA 2023: Nothing is Beyond Our Reach. The video highlights many of the Agency’s accomplishments this year, including the launch of the Psyche mission, the announcement of a crew for the Artemis II mission, and the OSIRIS-REx capsule retrieval.

It is quite a list. Luckily, NASA provided a list of links so you can read more about the various efforts:

Time to read up on 2023 before we dive into more activities in 2024.

Note: You can read a more detailed list of accomplishments at this NASA site.

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.