Space Quote: British Satellite to Study Impact of Stars on Exoplanets

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Credit: Blue Skies Space

“Mauve will open a new window on stellar activity that has previously been largely hidden from view…By observing stars in ultraviolet light, wavelengths that can’t be studied from Earth, we’ll gain a much deeper understanding of how stars behave and how their flares may impact the environment of orbiting exoplanets. Traditional ground-based telescopes just can’t capture this information, so a satellite like Mauve is crucial for furthering our knowledge.”

–Statement by Professor Giovanna Tinetti, Chief Scientist and Co-founder of Blue Skies Space, regarding today’s launch of the Mauve cubesat satellite. This satellite contains a 13 cm telescope that will be used to observe hundreds of stars in the ultraviolet and visible wavelengths over a three-year period. Data from this mission will be sold via subscriptions, and used to study the stars and how their activity influences the habitability of distant exoplanets. You can find more information on the mission here.

The New Glenn Launch to Mars Scheduled for Tomorrow

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rending of the two EscaPADE probems approaching Mars. (NASA)

Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket is scheduled to be launched tomorrow afternoon with two Martian probes on board. A lot is riding on tomorrow’s launch. The mission is important for Blue Origin, as it tests its new rocket with its first real mission. It is also important to NASA, which is using the probes to better understand the Martian atmosphere.

Blue Origin’s reusable New Glenn rocket will put it in direct competition with SpaceX for future NASA missions. This redundancy is needed, particularly with SpaceX seeming to struggle with its projects related to the Atemis lunar mission.

The $100 million Martian mission, called Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (EscaPADE), involves a pair of identical spacecraft with a the goal of analyzing:

  1. how Mars’ magnetic field guides particle flows around the planet,
  2. how energy and momentum are transported from the solar wind through the magnetosphere, and
  3. what processes control the flow of energy and matter into and out of the Martian atmosphere.

The two probes will be launched towards Lagrange Point 2, where they will sit for more than a year before making an approach towards Mars. The probes are expected to go into orbit around Mars in September 2027.

Godspeed to Blue Origin and NASA.

Update: The launch has been delayed due to bad weather. The next attempt will be on November 12th.

Space Stories: Dragonfly Issues, NASA Under a Government Shutdown, and Threats from Venus

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Artist’s rendering of the Dragonfly on Titan. (NASA/Johns Hopkins APL)

Here are some recent space-related stories of interest.

—Physics World: “NASA Criticized Over its Management of $3.3bn Dragonfly Mission to Titan“

An internal audit has slammed NASA over its handling of the Dragonfly mission to Saturn’s largest moon, Titan. The drone-like rotorcraft, which is designed to land on and gather samples from Titan, has been hit by a two-year delay, with costs surging by $1bn to $3.3bn. NASA now envisions a launch date of July 2028 with Dragonfly arriving at Titan in 2034.

—USAToday: “Do Rockets Still Launch During a Government Shutdown? How NASA Could Feel the Effects“

NASA is far from immune to the effects of a looming government shutdown if congressional leaders fail to reach an agreement before midnight Oct. 1 to prevent one. At stake for the U.S. space agency if the federal government grinds to a halt? The progress of many of its science missions and access to its public outreach arm. NASA’s contingency plan for a shutdown, outlined in a guide from 2018, emphasizes that only “activities which are necessary to prevent harm to life or property” would be exempt from ceasing operations during a shutdown.

—Earth Sky: “‘Invisible’ Asteroids Near Venus: A New Danger to Earth?“

Astronomers across the globe are dedicated to identifying the near-Earth asteroids that could one day impact our planet. But there might be a group of potentially dangerous nearby asteroids that have remained invisible to astronomers so far. On September 24, 2025, an international team of researchers at the São Paulo State University (UNESP) in Brazil said that a group of asteroids sharing Venus’ orbit could have remained undetected so far due to their location in the sky. And they could pose a threat to Earth within a few thousand years.

Space Quote: Three Missions Launched to Monitor the Sun

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Image (Credit): A solar flare and eruption of solar material captured on June 20, 2013. (NASA/Goddard/SDO)

“These three unique missions will help us get to know our Sun and its effects on Earth better than ever before…This knowledge is critical because the Sun’s activity directly impacts our daily lives, from power grids to GPS. These missions will help us ensure the safety and resilience of our interconnected world.”

–Statement by Joe Westlake, Heliophysics Division director at NASA Headquarters, regarding Wednesday’s launch of three missions to investigate the Sun’s influence across the solar system – NASA’s Interstellar Mapping and Acceleration Probe (IMAP), Carruthers Geocorona Observatory, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Space Weather Follow On-Lagrange 1 (SWFO-L1) missions.

Space Quote: Threatened Cuts at Wallops Flight Facility

Posted on by onespaceman2000
Image (Credit): Presentation to students at the Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center. (Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center).

“This is an unacceptable and drastic step that will have a significant impact on local employees, residents, and visitors…My staff and I are in contact with NASA to better understand the reasoning behind this reported decision as it is contradictory to the proposed House budget. Wallops has long been a vital part of our community, and we will do everything we can to support the work that’s done there and the people who work there.”

-Statement by Congresswoman Jen Kiggans (R-VA), as quoted in The Virginian-Pilot, after NASA announced plans to close the visitor center at the Wallops Flight Facility on the Virginia coast. The visitor center has a NASA museum visited by students on field trips as well as the general public. It also acts as a viewing location for rocket launches from the site, which includes unmanned cargo missions to the International Space Station. Surprisingly, the White House did not bother keeping even the Republican congressional members in the loop on these cuts. Cutting back on public outreach is a sure way to undermine support for US space missions.

Credit: Wallops Flight Facility Visitor Center.