TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
Dec 6, 2023
Stars Versus Dust in the Carina Nebula
It's stars versus dust in the Carina Nebula and the stars are winning. More precisely, the energetic light and winds from massive newly formed stars are evaporating and dispersing the dusty stellar nurseries in which they formed. Located in the Carina Nebula and inside a region known informally as Mystic Mountain, these pillars' appearance is dominated by opaque brown dust even though it is composed mostly of clear hydrogen gas. Even though some of the dust pillars look like torches, their ends are not on fire – rather, they are illuminated by nearby stars. About 7,500 light-years distant, the featured image was taken with the Hubble Space Telescope and highlights an interior region of Carina known as HH1066 which spans nearly a light year. Within a few million years, the stars will likely win out completely and the dust torches will completely evaporate.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html?
Kevin McCarthy to depart House at end of year
12/06/23 11:26 AM ET
Former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Wednesday said he will depart the House at the end of the year.
“I have decided to depart the House at the end of this year to serve America in new ways. I know my work is only getting started,” McCarthy wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed.
“I will continue to recruit our country’s best and brightest to run for elected office. The Republican Party is expanding every day, and I am committed to lending my experience to support the next generation of leaders.”
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4345206-mccarthy-retire-house/
Iran Says It Launched Animals Into Orbit in Preparation for Human Space Missions
DECEMBER 6, 2023 4:35 AM EST
Iran said Wednesday it sent a capsule into orbit carrying animals as it prepares for human missions in coming years.
A report by the official IRNA news agency quoted Telecommunications Minister Isa Zarepour as saying the capsule was launched 130 kilometers (80 miles) into orbit.
Zarepour said the launch of the 500-kilogram (1,000-pound) capsule is aimed at sending Iranian astronauts to space in coming years. He did not say what kind of animals were in the capsule.
State TV showed footage of a rocket named Salman carrying the capsule into space.
Iran occasionally announces successful launches of satellites and other space crafts. In September, Iran said it sent a data-collecting satellite into space. In 2013, Iran said it sent a monkey into space and returned it successfully.
It says its satellite program is for scientific research and other civilian applications. The U.S. and other Western countries have long been suspicious of the program because the same technology can be used to develop long-range missiles.
https://time.com/6343265/iran-animal-capsule-space-orbit/
Drug startup aims to cure blindness by developing medications in space
Dec. 5, 2023, 9:46 a.m. ET
Drug startup LambdaVision is shooting for the stars with an ambitious plan to develop the world’s first cure for genetic blindness — from space.
LambdaVision was founded in 2009 with a mission to develop a protein-based artificial retina for patients with retinitis pigmentosa, a genetic cause of blindness, and macular degeneration, the leading cause of blindness in adults over 55, according to Bloomberg.
However, to manufacture a retina — the layer of tissue located at the back of the eyeball that converts light into optic nerve signals, then the images you see — lab workers need to deposit 200 paper-thin layers of light-sensitive protein in a polymer mesh, Bloomberg reported.
The company’s artificial retina is lightweight and only as big as a paper hole punch, according to Bloomberg. Should all go to plan, it could be ready for human testing in three to four years.
This tedious process is hard to get right on Earth, so the company has turned to the International Space Station in the hopes that less gravity could help production quality.
n space, “you get nice even layers” of the protein with less wasted material, Nicole Wagner, LambdaVision’s CEO, told Bloomberg.
“The goal is to be one of the first products manufactured in space that would be used here on Earth,” Wagner said.
Should LambdaVision’s artificial retina hit markets, it would be the first drug to have been produced in space.
It would also mark the first option for treating retinitis pigmentosa, which affects around 100,000 people in the United States and about 1.5 million people worldwide, per a news post on ISS’s website.
And though vision aids can help older adults dealing with age-related muscular degeneration, there is currently no pointed treatment or cure for the condition.
Since 2018, LambdaVision has sent eight experiments to the US National Laboratory at the ISS, and has found that developing its novel retinal implant in space results in a higher-quality product that requires less materials and production time, as well as lower costs.
In 2020, the company received a $5 million award from NASA to advance its research.
As part of the award, NASA supported a series of flight projects to bring LambdaVision workers to the ISS over three years, according to ISS’s news post.
Representatives for Farmington, Conn.-based LambdaVision did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Should LambdaVision’s retinal implant make a successful debut, it paves the way for a slew of other drugs that use a similar layer-by-layer production process.
https://nypost.com/2023/12/05/business/startup-aims-to-cure-blindness-with-drugs-made-in-space/
Nuclear power on the moon: Rolls-Royce unveils reactor mockup
Dec 6, 2023
The U.K. tech giant Rolls-Royce has unveiled a concept nuclear reactor that could power a future outpost on the moon.
The mini reactor, which appears to be about 3.3 feet (1 meter) wide and 10 feet (3 m) long, is not yet capable of producing any electricity, and it will take about six years and a few million dollars to get it ready for its debut space trip, if all goes according to plan.
The U.K. Space Agency awarded Rolls-Royce ÂŁ2.9 million ($3.7 million U.S. at current exchange rates) in March of this year to fund the development of the potentially groundbreaking moon tech, a mockup of which was unveiled at the U.K. Space Conference in Belfast last month.
"This funding has enabled crucial research and development of technologies that bring us closer to making the Micro-Reactor a reality," Abi Clayton, director of future programs at Rolls-Royce, said in a statement on Friday (Dec. 1). "Our Space Micro-Reactor Concept Model allows us to demonstrate how this technology will bring immense benefits for both space and Earth."
The reactor will rely on nuclear fission, the same process that enables Earth-based nuclear power plants to generate electricity. Most moon missions, including the rovers launched recently by China and India, have used solar energy as a power source, but that strategy has obvious limitations, as the moon is plunged into darkness for two weeks every month. Russia's 1970s Lunokhod rovers also relied on solar power while NASA's Apollo missions used hydrogen fuel cells to power the pioneering human lunar landings.
A simpler, less potent source of nuclear power used in spaceflight are radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). Those nuclear batteries rely on the natural process of radioactive decay, in which a less stable nucleus changes into a more stable one over time, releasing energy in the process. RTGs last a long time but don't produce enough power to keep a crewed mission going. The process of nuclear fission, on the other hand, splits a large atomic nucleus into smaller fragments. The reaction produces much more energy than simple decay but requires an external source of energy to kick-start it.
The new moon reactor will have a modular design, Rolls-Royce said, and have many possible uses on Earth as well.
"Micro-Reactor technology will deliver the capability to support commercial and defense use cases alongside providing a solution to decarbonize industry and provide clean, safe and reliable energy," Clayton said in the statement.
Rolls-Royce engineers are currently investigating methods that will enable the heat generated by the reactor through nuclear fission to be converted into electricity. In conventional nuclear reactors on Earth, this heat boils water, which then turns into a pressurized steam that turns a turbine. Such a system, however, might be a little too complex for a space-fit piece of tech.
"This innovative research by Rolls-Royce could lay the groundwork for powering continuous human presence on the moon, while enhancing the wider U.K. space sector, creating jobs and generating further investment," Paul Bate, chief executive of the U.K. Space Agency, said in the same statement.
https://www.space.com/moon-rolls-royce-nuclear-reactor-concept-unveiled
Wonder if Mar-a-Lago will be in it
China launches remote-sensing satellite for Egypt
Dec 5, 2023
China launched a remote-sensing satellite for Egypt late on Sunday (Dec. 3) as space cooperation between the two countries deepens.
A Long March 2C rocket lifted off from Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in the Gobi Desert at 11:10 p.m. EST on Sunday (0410 GMT, or 12:10 p.m. Beijing time on Dec. 4), with insulation tiles falling from the rocket as it rose into the sky. The China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation confirmed launch success within an hour of liftoff.
The main payload was the MISRSAT-2 remote-sensing satellite for Egypt. The satellite will deliver imagery with a resolution of 6.5 feet (2 meters) per pixel in panchromatic mode, or visible light, and 26.2 feet (8 m) per pixel for multispectral images, which will focus on several specific bands.
The satellite will assist Egypt's work on land and resource utilization, water conservancy, agriculture and other fields, according to China National Space Administration (CNSA).
CNSA described the cooperative satellite project as a milestone for China-Egypt space cooperation. China provided Egyptian personnel with training in satellite design and final assembly test operations and supported Egypt in building a satellite assembly and test center as part of the international collaboration. China also conducted a pair of satellite launches for the African country earlier this year.
Also aboard Sunday's launch were the Starpool 02-A and Starpool 02-B remote-sensing satellites, which were developed by the Chinese company Elliptical Space and Time (EllipSpace). All three satellites entered near-polar orbits.
The launch was China’s 55th orbital mission of the year. It was also the 499th Long March launch to date, according to CASC. The first liftoff of the venerable rocket family took place in April 1970.
https://www.space.com/china-launches-remote-sensing-satellite-for-egypt-video