More Terra-forming on Earth

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Changes in land levels on the U.S. East Coast between 2007 and 2020. (Virginia Tech’s EOI Lab).

NASA is funding missions looking near and far to understand planets. One such study issued by scientists at Virginia Tech’s Earth Observation and Innovation (EOI) Lab, who used satellite data and ground-based GPS sensors, shows some ongoing changes here on planet Earth.

In reference to this study, NASA noted:

…the team reported that more than half of infrastructure in major cities such as New York, Baltimore, and Norfolk is built on land that sank, or subsided, by 1 to 2 millimeters per year between 2007 and 2020. Land in several counties in Delaware, Maryland, South Carolina, and Georgia sank at double or triple that rate. At least 867,000 properties and critical infrastructure including several highways, railways, airports, dams, and levees were all subsiding, the researchers found.

The study notes a number of reasons for these changes, including the after effects from the last ice age, man-made dams, and efforts to pump water back into aquifers. For example, in the case of Charleston, South Carolina, which is one of the fastest sinking cities on the East Coast, groundwater pumping is though to be the primary cause of this elevated rate of sinking.

This gives new meaning to the idea of keeping your eyes on the heavens, but also watching where you are stepping.

What is Musk Up to in Ukraine?

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): A starlink satellite dish. (Visitukraine.today)

Last year we learned that Elon Musk denied the Ukrainians access to Starlink when operating in the occupied portions of their country. He stated he did not want to be “complicit in a major act of war and conflict escalation.” And yet now we learn that Russia may be using Starlink in this same territory to illegally attack Ukraine, and Mr. Musk seems flustered and cannot seem to believe it is even possible.

It is unlikely that SpaceX is unable to determine where its equipment is being operated and whether it is being used by an invading party to suppress a sovereign nation. Mr. Musk has done a lot of good for Ukraine, yet his statements about Ukraine’s need to give up territory and now this kerfuffle seem to be part of his improper straying into world affairs that are not his affairs. Maybe it is time for the U.S. government to get involved if he is allowing an enemy to use his equipment to destroy a U.S. ally.

When asked about this Russian misuse issue, SpaceX stated:

If SpaceX obtains knowledge that a Starlink terminal is being used by a sanctioned or unauthorized party, we investigate the claim and take actions to deactivate the terminal if confirmed.

Let’s hope this is the case. It may not be an easy task to sort out the users if both Ukranian and Russian troops are operating in the same area, but it may be critical to the survival of Ukranian forces at a time that Washington is sitting on its hands and incapable of assisting Ukraine nor its NATO partners depending on such assistance.

These are bleak times for Ukraine. It would be unfortunate if all the good will Starlink has acquired is erased with this misdirection of company assets.

Note: Former Congressman Adam Kinzinger tweeted, “Why is @elonmusk shilling for Russia now> Why is he still a US govt contractor?” None of this is good for Musk, SpaceX, or America.

Update: Now we read that Elon Musk may be blocking Taiwan’s use of Starlink. I thought the US government was running Starlink under a separate program called Starshield. Mr. Musk really needs to be taken out of the equation.

Space Quote: A New Threat to Astronauts

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): The DSS-53 antenna at NASA’s Deep Space Network Madrid facility. (NASA/JPL-Caltech)

“And so, any capability that could disrupt that and that could therefore have some impact on services here on Earth and across the world should be of concern to anybody, I think. And including the fact that we have astronauts in — oftentimes in — in low orbit that — that could be at risk from an anti-satellite capability. So, you’re talking about potential human lives here too.”

-Statement during a press briefing by White House National Security Communications Advisor John Kirby regarding reports of a Russian nuclear anti-satellite weapon. Earlier in the week, Ohio Republican Rep. Mike Turner, who serves as the chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, shared sensitive information about this weapon with all Members of Congress.

Pic of the Week: Launch of the PACE Mission

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Engines of the SpaceX rocket carrying the PACE spacecraft into orbit. (SpaceX)

This week’s image is from SpaceX, which launched NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) mission into orbit earlier today (the Falcon 9 rocket engines are shown above). 

The spacecraft is designed to monitor the Earth from orbit. NASA explains the mission is this way:

Information collected throughout PACE’s mission will benefit society in the areas of ocean health, harmful algal bloom monitoring, ecological forecasting, and air quality. PACE also will contribute new global measurements of ocean color, cloud properties, and aerosols, which will be essential to understanding the global carbon cycle and ocean ecosystem responses to a changing climate.

The PACE’s mission is designed to last at least three years, though the spacecraft is loaded with enough propellant to expand that timeline more than three times as long.

Space Stories: Finding Water on Mars, Mini Solar Sails, and a Balloon-borne Telescope

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Image of Mars. (NASA)

Here are some recent stories of interest.

—Planetary Science Institute: “Vast, Potential Ice-Rich Deposit Found in Martian Equatorial Region“

A potential ice-rich portion of the Medusae Fossae Formation deposits may contain the largest volume of water in the equatorial region of Mars. Data from the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding (MARSIS) –  a subsurface radar sounder on the Mars Express orbiter searching for water and studying the Martian atmosphere – reveals layering in the Medusae Fossae Formation (MFF) deposits. These layers are likely due to transitions between mixtures of ice-rich and ice-poor dust, analogous to those in Polar Layered Deposits, according to the paper “Evidence of Ice-Rich Layered Deposits in the Medusae Fossae Formation of Mars” in Geophysical Research Letters. 

—University of California: “Small Solar Sails Could be the Next ‘Giant Leap’ for Interplanetary Space Exploration“

Nearly 70 years after the launch of the first satellite, we still have more questions than answers about space. But a team of Berkeley researchers is on a mission to change this with a proposal to build a fleet of low-cost, autonomous spacecraft, each weighing only 10 grams and propelled by nothing more than the pressure of solar radiation. These miniaturized solar sails could potentially visit thousands of near-Earth asteroids and comets, capturing high-resolution images and collecting samples.

—NASA: “NASA’s GUSTO Prepares to Map Space Between the Stars“

On a vast ice sheet in Antarctica, scientists and engineers are preparing a NASA experiment called GUSTO to explore the universe on a balloon. GUSTO will launch from the Ross Ice Shelf, near the U.S. National Science Foundation’s McMurdo Station research base, no earlier than Dec. 21. GUSTO, which stands for Galactic/Extragalactic ULDB Spectroscopic Terahertz Observatory, will peer into the space between stars called the interstellar medium. The balloon-borne telescope will help scientists make a 3D map of a large part of the Milky Way in extremely high-frequency radio waves. Examining a 100-square-degree area, GUSTO will explore the many phases of the interstellar medium and the abundances of key chemical elements in the galaxy.