Palm-sized satellites, 3D-printed rockets herald new era in space

January 22, 2023 11:30 JST

TOKYO – An era has begun in which satellites can be easily launched. Palm-sized satellites are now possible thanks to advances in microminiaturization technology. Launch costs have dropped dramatically as rockets have become lighter.

It is expected that more than 20,000 satellites for observation and communication will be launched into space within the next 10 years. A total of about 30,000 satellites, including those currently in operation, will fly above the Earth, and this is expected to revolutionize life on the ground through the use of satellite data.

"BOOK MY LAUNCH." When you visit the website of Rocket Lab, a small rocket development company based in New Zealand and the U.S., an eye-catching statement jumps out at you. The company, from which you can easily request a satellite launch, is one of the startups that will lead the next generation of the space industry.

Since successfully putting its first satellite into orbit in 2018, Rocket Lab has successfully launched 29 times as of December 2022 and sent more than 150 satellites into space.

We visited its factory to get a close-up look at the front lines of satellite development and manufacturing.

There were many rockets in the process of being manufactured in the factory in Auckland, northern New Zealand. They were the company's Electron model, a small rocket for launching small satellites. The company finishes about one rocket per month.

Our first impression of their rocket is that it is quite small. With an overall length of about 18 meters and a diameter of about 1.2 meters, it is about a quarter the size of the current model of the Falcon 9 rocket (70 meters in length) of Elon Musk's SpaceX.

The cost of launching a small satellite, previously about $50 million, has been reduced to about $7.5 million. This is a major boost to space development by the private sector. Launched into Low Earth orbit (LEO) at an altitude of 2,000 kilometers or less, the Electron can carry satellites weighing up to 300 kilograms. When fully fueled before takeoff, the total weight of the rocket is about 13 tons.

Nine engines are built into the first stage of the rocket. Rocket Lab develops and manufactures its Rutherford engines, which are key components, in-house at its U.S. base.

In a world first, the company utilizes 3D printing for all major parts of the engines installed in the Electron, including the combustion chamber and pumps. In this way, it has achieved a complex and lightweight structure that was difficult to attain with conventional manufacturing technology.

The Rutherford's breakthrough is the use of an electrically driven pump that pumps fuel into the combustion chamber. In a typical rocket engine, the pump is driven by the gas generated by fuel combustion. The main components can be "printed" within 24 hours.

https://asia.nikkei.com/Business/Aerospace-Defense-Industries/Palm-sized-satellites-3D-printed-rockets-herald-new-era-in-space2

Scientists find 17-pound meteorite in icy Antarctica

Jan 21 2023

A daring team of scientists has endured the inhospitable conditions of the icy desert of Antarctica to recover five new meteorites, including a near-17-pound monster space rock.

The team of scientists included Field Museum and the University of Chicago researcher Maria Valdes, who estimated that of the 45,000 meteorites recovered to date from the icy wasteland of Antarctica, only 100 or so have been as large as the largest member of this new haul, which weighs 16.7 pounds (7.6 kilograms).

"Size doesn't necessarily matter when it comes to meteorites, and even tiny micrometeorites can be incredibly scientifically valuable, but of course, finding a big meteorite like this one is rare and really exciting," Valdes said in a statement.

The team, which was led by Vinciane Debaille, a planetary scientist at the Université Libre de Bruxelles (FNRS-ULB) in Belgium, was the first to explore new potential meteor sites that had been mapped using satellite imagery.

"Going on an adventure exploring unknown areas is exciting, but we also had to deal with the fact that the reality on the ground is much more difficult than the beauty of satellite images," Debaille said in the statement.

The team planned their excursion for Antarctica's summer, in late December, but temperatures in the region still hovered at around 14 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 10 degrees degrees Celsius). Valdes said that at some points during the mission, Antarctica was actually warmer than Chicago, but the weather felt more extreme to the team because of days spent riding snowmobiles and trekking through ice fields and nights spent sleeping in tents.

With such frigid conditions even in the midst of summer, Antarctica may seem like an unlikely place for anyone to choose to visit, yet for meteorite hunters like this team, this frigid vista offers unique opportunities. That's because Antarctica is one of the best spots across the globe to hunt for meteorites.

Antarctica is a desert with a dry climate, which reduces the amount of weathering experienced by meteorites. Also, across the white snowy landscape, the black hue of these space rocks stands out when they are at the surface of the region.

Conditions in Antarctica are even favorable for the discovery of meteorites that may have sunk beneath the snow and ice. This is because the churning motion of glaciers moving against rock can re-expose meteorites near the surface.

Though there is no denying the largest meteorite recovered by the team is a whopper, it's far from the largest or most massive example of such a space rock to reach Earth's surface. That record is held by the Hoba meteorite in Namibia. Hoba is 9 feet (2.7 meters) long, 9 feet wide and 3 feet (0.9 meters) thick and weighs around 66 tons, or 132,000 pounds (60,000 kg). That's almost 7,765 times heavier than the newly discovered Antarctic meteorite.

The whopping new space rock and the other meteorites recovered by the researchers will now be analyzed at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, while the team members will individually divide and study samples of sediments they collected from Antarctica.

Valdes is excited to learn what secrets the meteorites hold. "Studying meteorites helps us better understand our place in the universe," she said. "The bigger a sample size we have of meteorites, the better we can understand our solar system, and the better we can understand ourselves."

https://www.space.com/antartica-meteorite-discovered-17-pounds

Biden White House MonkeyPox Response Coordinator Urges Americans to Take the COVID, Flu, and MonkeyPox Vaccines at the Same Time

Published January 22, 2023 at 12:36pm

Back in September, Joe Biden announced a new team to lead the White House’s national monkeypox response.

Biden named Dr. Demetre Daskalakis as the White House National Monkeypox Response Deputy Coordinator.

On Friday Dr. Daskalakis announced that the CDC will now allow you to get the COVID vax, Flu vax, and MonkeyPox vax at the same time.

https://www.thegatewaypundit.com/2023/01/biden-white-house-monkeypox-response-coordinator-urges-americans-take-covid-flu-monkeypox-vaccines-time/

https://twitter.com/CDCgov/status/1616533650287329280

>>18200141

Well shit, so it is.

Scratch that one then.

>>18200147

>demerits

I got a ton of those, subtract a few more!

cheers

12 people shot at Baton Rouge night club Sunday morning, police say

PUBLISHED JAN 22, 2023 AT 10:21 AM | UPDATED JAN 22, 2023 AT 10:47 AM

Twelve people were shot inside a lounge on Bennington Avenue early Sunday morning and were brought to the hospital, officials said.

The shooting happened at the Dior Bar and Lounge at 4619 Bennington Avenue near College Drive around 1:30 a.m., said Sgt. L'Jean McKneely Jr., police spokesman.

Greater Baton Rouge Emergency Services brought five people to the hospital with injuries ranging from critical to stable, an EMS spokesperson said. The other seven victims were brought to the hospital by private vehicles.

By 10:15 a.m., the victims were all in stable condition, McKneely said.

"The shooting that happened overnight at a local venue was a senseless act of violence that will not go unchecked," Baton Rouge Mayor Sharon Weston Broome said in a statement Sunday.

Broome met with mayors of other major U.S. cities in Washington, D.C. last week, to discuss the issue of crime.

"I personally joined Chief Paul and members of the BRPD team overnight at the hospital," Broome said. "Law enforcement is actively investigating the case to bring the perpetrators to justice."

McKneely, with the police department, said the motive for the shootings is not yet known. An arrest has not been announced.

At the scene, there was crime tape and a bloodstain on the pavement Sunday morning. An employee at the bar declined to comment.

"We will not stop our work until everyone feels safe and individuals no longer turn to guns to resolve their differences," Mayor Broome said. "Please join me in praying for the victims and their families."

Anyone with information about the case is asked to call the Baton Rouge police at (225) 389-4864 or Greater Baton Rouge Crime Stoppers at (225) 344-7867.

https://www.theadvocate.com/baton_rouge/12-people-shot-at-baton-rouge-night-club-police-say/article_e44a4348-9a70-11ed-84a8-2305a732e39f.html