Space Quote: It’s Raining Satellites

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Credit: Image by Mohamed Hassan from Pixabay.

“Jonathan McDowell, an astronomer at the Harvard–Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in the US, recorded an average of between one to two Starlink satellites deorbiting each day in 2025. That figure is expected to rise to around five per day as SpaceX continues to grow its space internet constellation.”

-Statement in the UK’s Independent newspaper regarding SpaceX’s Starlink satellites burning up in the Earth’s atmosphere. Given that the satellites are only expected to last 5 years and there are already 8,500 in orbit, this should come as no surprise. Fortunately, the satellites are designed to burn up after their useful life space. Of course, that does not necessarily mean that burning debris and the related pollutants are welcome. It will only get worse once Amazon and China start pumping even more satellites into orbit.

The X37-B Mini-Shuttle Returns to Orbit

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The X37-B space plane. (US Space Force)

While the space shuttles are all safely stored in space museums around the country, the U.S. Space Force’s X37B space plane (or uncrewed mini-shuttle) is still in business.

The spacecraft returned to Earth orbit late last week, launched from the Kennedy Space Center. The X-37B can stay in orbit for multiple years, powered by both batteries and solar cells. The latest launch is the eighth such mission.

While the missions are generally classified, they are thought to be basic experiments to enhance the U.S. Space Forces capabilities. For example, the latest mission is testing a quantum navigation sensor that can detect a spacecraft’s location without GPS. Of course, other have said the spacecraft are spying on the Chinese space station and Russian satellites. It is certainly possible that the little shuttle has been busy with all of this.

The two X-37Bs, called autonomous, reusable orbital test vehicles, were built by Boeing and started flying in 2010, one year before the end of the crewed space shuttles servicing the International Space Station (ISS).

It is odd that Boeing has done so well with this shuttle yet so poorly getting a manned capsule safely to and from the ISS, but maybe it has more to do with the skills of Rockwell International, which build the manned shuttles and was later acquired by Boeing.

Space Stories: White House Destroys Satellite, US Nuclear Reactor Proposed for the Moon, and the End of the Lunar Trailblazer Mission

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Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Oregon Public Radio: “Why a NASA Satellite that Scientists and Farmers Rely On May Be Destroyed on Purpose“

The Trump administration has asked NASA employees to draw up plans to end at least two major satellite missions, according to current and former NASA staffers. If the plans are carried out, one of the missions would be permanently terminated, because the satellite would burn up in the atmosphere. The data the two missions collect is widely used, including by scientists, oil and gas companies and farmers who need detailed information about carbon dioxide and crop health. They are the only two federal satellite missions that were designed and built specifically to monitor planet-warming greenhouse gases.

—CNN: “NASA Wants US to be the First Nation to Put Nuclear Reactor on the Moon“

Acting NASA Administrator Sean Duffy has directed the agency to fast-track plans to put a nuclear reactor on the moon. Expediting work to place a reactor on the lunar surface to help power moon exploration efforts would keep the United States ahead of China and Russia, both of which have “announced on at least three occasions” a joint effort to develop such a project by the mid-2030s, according to a directive dated July 31 and obtained by CNN.

—NASA: “NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer Moon Mission Ends“

NASA’s Lunar Trailblazer ended its mission to the Moon on July 31. Despite extensive efforts, mission operators were unable to establish two-way communications after losing contact with the spacecraft the day following its Feb. 26 launch. The mission aimed to produce high-resolution maps of water on the Moon’s surface and determine what form the water is in, how much is there, and how it changes over time. The maps would have supported future robotic and human exploration of the Moon as well as commercial interests while also contributing to the understanding of water cycles on airless bodies throughout the solar system.

The Successful Launch of the NISAR Satellite

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Image (Credit): The NISAR satellite and its casing. (ISRO)

Earlier today the NASA-ISRO Synthetic Aperture Radar (NISAR) satellite was successfully launched from India’s Satish Dhawan Space Centre. ISRO stands for the Indian Space Research Organisation, which is India’s national space agency.

This first of its kind mission between NASA and India puts into orbit the NISAR satellite that can see the Earth in a new way, detecting the smallest of changes in the Earth’s surface from its 464 mile high orbit, including ground deformation, ice sheet movement, and vegetation dynamics. The addition list of satellite capabilities on the ISRO site include:

…sea ice classification, ship detection, shoreline monitoring, storm characterization, changes in soil moisture, mapping & monitoring of surface water resources and disaster response.

NASA’s Earth Science division director, Karen St. Germain, stated:

Observations from NISAR will provide new knowledge and tangible benefits for communities both in the U.S. and around the world…This launch marks the beginning of a new way of seeing the surface of our planet so that we can understand and foresee natural disasters and other changes in our Earth system that affect lives and property.

This will be useful information given that we run the risk of reverse-terraforming our Earth.

Space Stories: 25 Years of Humans on the ISS, Life in Outer Space, and Astronomical Interference

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): NASA astronaut Mike Hopkins space-walking outside the International Space Station (ISS) on December 24, 2013. (NASA)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—NASA: “Celebrating 25 Years of Continuous Human Presence Aboard the International Space Station “

NASA and its partners have supported humans continuously living and working in space since November 2000. A truly global endeavor, the International Space Station has been visited by more than 280 people from 23 countries and a variety of international and commercial spacecraft. The unique microgravity laboratory has hosted more than 4,000 experiments from more than 5,000 researchers in more than 110 countries. The space station also is facilitating the growth of a commercial market in low Earth orbit for research, technology development, and crew and cargo transportation.

—Max Planck Institute: “The Evolution of Life May Have Its Origins in Outer Space“

Using the Atacama Large Millimeter/submillimeter Array (ALMA), a team of astronomers led by Abubakar Fadul from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy (MPIA) has discovered complex organic molecules – including the first tentative detection of ethylene glycol and glycolonitrile – in the protoplanetary disc of the outbursting protostar V883 Orionis. These compounds are considered precursors to the building blocks of life. Comparing different cosmic environments reveals that the abundance and complexity of such molecules increase from star-forming regions to fully evolved planetary systems. This suggests that the seeds of life are assembled in space and widespread.

—Curtin University: “Interference to Astronomy the Unintended Consequence of Faster Internet“

Curtin University researchers have undertaken the world’s biggest survey of low frequency satellite radio emissions, finding Starlink satellites are significantly interfering with radio astronomy observations, potentially impacting discovery and research. Unintended signals from satellites – leaked from onboard electronics – can drown out the faint radio waves astronomers use to study the universe.