TYB
NASA delays Starliner return a few more days to study data
6/18/2024, 11:46 AM
NASA and Boeing will take an additional four days to review all available data about the performance of the Starliner spacecraft before clearing the vehicle to return to Earth, officials said Tuesday.
Based on the new schedule, which remains pending ahead of final review meetings later this week, Starliner would undock at 10:10 pm ET on Tuesday, June 25, from the International Space Station (02:10 UTC on June 26).
This would set up a landing at 4:51 ET on June 26 (08:51 UTC) at the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
During a news conference on Tuesday, the program manager for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, Steve Stich, said the four-day delay in the spacecraft's return would "give our team a little bit more time to look at the data, do some analysis, and make sure we're really ready to come home."
Working two major issues
NASA is still trying to clear two major hardware issues that occurred during the spacecraft's flight to the International Space Station nearly two weeks ago:
five separate leaks in the helium system that pressurizes Starliner's propulsion system and the failure of five of the vehicle's 28 reaction-control system thrusters as Starliner approached the station.
Since then, engineers from NASA and Boeing have been studying these two problems.
They took an important step toward better understanding both on Saturday, June 15, when Starliner was powered up for a thruster test.
During this test, engineers found that helium leak rates inside Starliner's Service Module were lower than the last time the vehicle was powered on.
Although the precise cause of the leak is not fully understood—it is possibly due to a seal in the flange between the thruster and manifold—the lower leak rate gave engineers confidence they could manage the loss of helium.
Even before this decrease in the leak, Starliner had large reserves of helium, officials said. The test of the reaction control system thrusters also went well, Stich said. Four of the five thrusters operated normally, and they are expected to be available for the undocking of Starliner later this month.
These thrusters, which are fairly low-powered, are primarily used for small maneuvers. They will also be needed for the de-orbit burn that will set Starliner on its return path to Earth. Starliner can perform this burn without a full complement of thrusters, but Stich did not say how many could be safely lost.
First operational mission when?
NASA is being cautious about Starliner because this is the first crewed flight of the vehicle, which NASA funded to provide transportation services to the International Space Station.
The goal is to provide regular flights of four astronauts to the space station for six-month rotations. This initial test flight, carrying NASA astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams, is intended to provide data to certify the vehicle for operational missions.
The first opportunity for Boeing to fly one of these operational missions is early 2025, likely in February or March. NASA will soon need to decide whether to give this slot to Starliner or SpaceX's Dragon vehicle for the Crew-10 mission—NASA's 10th operational flight on Dragon.
Given the technical problems that cropped up on the current test flight, it seems likely that NASA will push Starliner's operational mission to the next available slot, likely in August or September of 2025.
However, Stich said Tuesday no decision has been made and that NASA needs to study the results of this test flight. "We haven't looked too much ahead to Starliner-1," he said.
"We've got to go address the helium leaks. We're not gonna go fly another mission like this with the helium leaks, and we've got to go understand what the rendezvous profile is doing that's causing the thrusters to have low thrust, and then be deselected by the flight control team."
Although Starliner's first crewed flight has challenged NASA and Boeing, Stich said the process has not been frustrating. “I would not characterize it as frustration," he said Tuesday. "I would characterize it as learning.”
https://arstechnica.com/space/2024/06/nasa-delays-starliner-return-a-few-more-days-to-study-data/
The Strawberry Full Moon of 2024 rises near the June solstice with an Antares encounter
June 18, 2024
The full moon of June, also called the Strawberry Moon, will occur on June 21 at 9:08 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (0108 UTC June 22), according to the U.S. Naval Observatory.
Observers in Oceania will see a nearly full moon pass in front of the star Antares, Alpha Scorpii, the brightest star in Scorpius, the Scorpion, on June 20.
In New York City, moonrise will occur at 8:49 p.m. EDT on June 21. The sun will set at 8:31 p.m. EDT on that day.
This full moon happens on the day after the Summer Solstice, the longest day of the year; full moons occur within a day of the solstices about every 19 to 20 years.
There's some dispute about what counts as a full moon falling "on the solstice" – it depends on how close in time one wants the two phenomena to be.
For example, the Summer Solstice in 2024 is counted as occurring at 4:05 p.m. EDT on June 20, and the full moon is a little more than 30 hours later.
The moon will pass in front of – or occult – Antares the day before the full moon, but the event won't be visible from New York.
North American sky watchers will see a very close pass of the moon just to the south of, or "below," Antares.
A full moon happens when the moon is opposite the sun with the Earth between the two. On the night side of Earth, that's when viewers can see a fully illuminated moon.
Full moons are reckoned relative to the positions of the moon and Earth; the timing of a full moon is the same all over the world, meaning any perceived differences in such timing are solely due to one's time zone.
While the moon turns full at 9:08 p.m. EDT in New York, for a London-based sky the full moon occurs at 1:08 a.m. local time the next day, and a Japan-based observer would see it happen at 9:08 a.m. local time.
While many around the world will only see the moon closely passing Antares, those located in a swath of the Pacific Ocean will see the moon pass in front of the star, which is the brightest in the constellation Scorpius, the Scorpion.
One of the larger cities this occultation will be visible from is Port Moresby, in Papua New Guinea, where one can see the moon touch Antares on June 21 at 8:10 p.m. local time, according to In-the-sky.org, and Antares will appear to emerge from behind the moon at 8:34 p.m.
Other places where one can see the occultation include Suva, in Fiji, where Antares passes behind the moon June 21 at 11:04 p.m. local time and emerges at 12:21 a.m. local time on June 22.
Unlike lunar phases, spotting occultations is affected by one's location. In the case of occultations by the moon, our natural satellite is close enough that moving from one part of the Earth's surface to another can alter the moon's apparent position against the stars by up to two degrees.
So, an observer in Honolulu, which is further north than Fiji or the Solomon Islands, will see the moon pass just to the south of Antares, in close conjunction at about 1:33 a.m. local time on June 21;
the moon will pass about 0.3 degrees south of the star, less than a single lunar diameter (the moon is so bright that Antares can be hard to spot so close by).
Other regions will be on the day side of Earth, so the Moon wouldn't have risen yet or will have set already when the occultation occurs.
cont.
https://www.space.com/strawberry-moon-occults-antares
Space industry group warns of escalating cyber threats, outmatched defenses
June 18, 2024
The commercial space industry is facing an onslaught of cyber attacks and other threats, but lacks the resources and coordination to adequately defend itself, the head of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (ISAC) warned June 18.
“Every week we’re recording over 100 attacks against critical infrastructure related to space systems,” Erin Miller, executive director of Space ISAC, said on a webcast hosted by the National Security Space Association.
Most space companies would have a difficult time defending against well-orchestrated cyber attacks by a nation state, she said.
The Space ISAC is a non-profit organization that analyzes and shares information on cyber threats and vulnerabilities related to space systems.
Space, terrestrial networks connected
Miller said space systems now face an expanding array of threats including jamming, suspicious satellite maneuvers and state-sponsored hacking campaigns. Space systems are closely connected with critical infrastructure in terrestrial networks, so the threats are serious, she said.
“When we look at what space systems are used for, it’s national security, the energy sector. our food supply chain, our aviation and our automotive industries. It’s everything that we rely on,” Miller said. Companies pay anywhere from $2,500 to $50,000 a year to be members of the Space ISAC.
The organization operates a “watch center” in Colorado Springs that monitors, analyzes data and alerts members about cyber threats, supply chain intrusions, space weather events and other risks based on intelligence provided by industry and government sources.
To better defend themselves, the ISAC urges companies to share information across the industry.
Russian cyber hacking has not stopped
The 2022 cyber attack on Viasat’s ground modems at the outset of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine was a high-profile example of the risks facing the industry.
Miller said this type of malicious activity has not stopped, even if it hasn’t garnered major headlines.
“In order to defend our critical infrastructure against these activities and attacks, we have to work together,” Miller said. Publicly available sources of information are not enough, she added.
“The timely actionable information comes from when companies come together in a community and they’re viewing it as an attack against one is an attack against all, and that’s the only way to outmaneuver the adversary, in my opinion.”
Miller said she is seeing growing interest from the U.S. government in collaborating with industry on cyber defense for space systems.
“I won’t name all the agencies but over the last seven working days, there hasn’t been a day that I haven’t had a meeting with a U.S. government agency trying to figure out how to work more closely with the space industry and the global space community,” she said.
“This is a high priority right now,” Miller added. “And it doesn’t have to be done in a classified environment only. It can be done unclassified.”
The cyber threats that we’re seeing today are likely to evolve, she said. “Living-off-the-land attacks could evolve to living off the constellation,” she said, referring to a type of cyber attack where intruders leverage legitimate software and tools already present on the targeted system to carry out malicious activities, rather than introducing external malware, which makes these attacks hard to detect by traditional security solutions.
Lack of lead agency complicates response
Miller said one of the challenges is the lack of a lead federal agency responsible for coordinating incident response to cyber attacks targeting space assets.
With authorities fragmented across multiple agencies, getting government assistance can be complicated.
“It’s always interesting to see how companies decide how they’re going to engage with the government, or who they want to call,” Miller said. “And I think that’s a symptom of a broader problem.”
The Space ISAC has identified about 50 different government agencies that have space operations as part of their mission portfolios. But with responsibilities splintered, “when everyone is responsible, no one is responsible,” Miller noted.
During cyber wargaming exercises, companies can’t even agree on which agency they would contact first in a crisis, she noted.
“There should be a responsible party or responsible agency looking at sector risk management,” Miller said. The Space ISAC is coordinating some activities, “however, we’re not the U.S. government.”
The stakes are becoming even higher as consumer technologies like iPhones gain satellite connectivity, Miller said. “It’s easier to see how much our lives actually depend on the security of space systems.”
https://spacenews.com/space-industry-group-warns-of-escalating-cyber-threats-outmatched-defenses/
Nato’s $1bn fund backs British start-up to build space factories
18 June 2024 • 6:46pm
A British start-up that is preparing to launch robot factories into space has secured funding from the Nato alliance’s $1.1bn (£870m) investment fund.
Cardiff-based Space Forge wants to put satellites into orbit and use the low-gravity conditions to make crystals for cutting-edge microchips, as well as new medicines and super-alloys.
The satellites would be the first in the world to be reusable, returning to Earth by unfurling a “Mary Poppins-style” umbrella upon completing their task.
Nato said this was a prime example of “dual-use” technologies the alliance is trying to cultivate to maintain an edge over Russia and China.
Using the vacuum of space and low-gravity conditions, Space Forge can grow highly pure “seed” crystals that can be used to produce tens of millions of sophisticated microchips that run faster and use less energy back on Earth.
It opens the door to a 50pc improvement in radar range and satellites that are 30pc to 50pc smaller, among other things.
Space Forge has already partnered with American defence giant Northrop Grumman to develop chips that will enable more powerful radar systems.
Josh Western, the start-up’s chief executive, told The Telegraph: “What we tell people is that the next industrial revolution is not going to be here on Earth, it is going to be in space.
“It’s a really fundamental chemistry breakthrough.”
Space Forge is due to carry out a test run within the next 12 months to prove to regulators that the novel landing technology works, likely by sending the satellite up on a SpaceX rocket launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
It will then follow this with another mission to demonstrate that space-made crystals can be safely returned to Earth.
Ahead of the trial, investment provided by the Nato Innovation Fund is helping to finance construction of the Forgestar 2 platform, which will be used in the second test.
Space Forge lost a satellite last year that was meant to be launched into space by Virgin Orbit’s “Start Me Up” mission, which failed.
The announcement came as the Nato Innovation Fund revealed the first four businesses it is backing.
Member states of the alliance announced the fund in 2022 following Russia’s attack on Ukraine and tasked it with nurturing “nascent technologies that have the power to transform our security in the decades to come”.
Of the first four start-ups the fund has confirmed investments in, three are British.
Alongside Space Forge, they include Bristol-based carbon fibre specialist iCOMAT, London-based chip designer Fractile and Germany-based ARX Robotics, which makes unmanned ground vehicles.
Andrea Traversone, the fund’s managing partner, said: “Our mandate is to back disruptive technologies to support defence, security and resilience in the alliance and these four companies are all good examples of that.
“But the most important thing we want to do is help these companies get their technologies adopted by our investors, the 24 member nations.”
He said the fund was holding talks with hundreds of other start-ups about potential investments and expected to announce more such deals in the coming months and years.
The fund operates on a 15-year horizon but does not disclose the size of its investments.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/06/18/british-start-up-spaceforge-factory-space-wins-nato-backing/