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https://www.nasa.gov/earth/climate-change/nasa-analysis-shows-irreversible-sea-level-rise-for-pacific-islands/
https://sealevel.nasa.gov/flooding-analysis-tool-pacific-islands/projected-flooding?units=meters
NASA Analysis Shows Irreversible Sea Level Rise for Pacific Islands
Sep 25, 2024
Climate change is rapidly reshaping a region of the world that’s home to millions of people.
In the next 30 years, Pacific Island nations such as Tuvalu, Kiribati, and Fiji will experience at least 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise, according to an analysis by NASA’s sea level change science team.
This amount of rise will occur regardless of whether greenhouse gas emissions change in the coming years.
The sea level change team undertook the analysis of this region at the request of several Pacific Island nations, including Tuvalu and Kiribati, and in close coordination with the U.S. Department of State.
In addition to the overall analysis, the agency’s sea level team produced high-resolution maps showing which areas of different Pacific Island nations will be vulnerable to high-tide flooding — otherwise known as nuisance flooding or sunny day flooding — by the 2050s.
Released on Sept. 23, the maps outline flooding potential in a range of emissions scenarios, from best-case to business-as-usual to worst-case.
“Sea level will continue to rise for centuries, causing more frequent flooding,” said Nadya Vinogradova Shiffer, who directs ocean physics programs for NASA’s Earth Science Division.
“NASA’s new flood tool tells you what the potential increase in flooding frequency and severity look like in the next decades for the coastal communities of the Pacific Island nations.”
Team members, led by researchers at the University of Hawaii and in collaboration with scientists at the University of Colorado and Virginia Tech, started with flood maps of Kiribati, Tuvalu, Fiji, Nauru, and Niue.
They plan to build high-resolution maps for other Pacific Island nations in the near future. The maps can assist Pacific Island nations in deciding where to focus mitigation efforts.
“Science and data can help the community of Tuvalu in relaying accurate sea level rise projections,” said Grace Malie, a youth leader from Tuvalu who is involved with the Rising Nations Initiative, a United Nations-supported program led by Pacific Island nations to help preserve their statehood and protect the rights and heritage of populations affected by climate change.
“This will also help with early warning systems, which is something that our country is focusing on at the moment.”
The analysis by the sea level change team also found that the number of high-tide flooding days in an average year will increase by an order of magnitude for nearly all Pacific Island nations by the 2050s.
Portions of the NASA team’s analysis were included in a sea level rise report published by the United Nations in August 2024.
Areas of Tuvalu that currently see less than five high-tide flood days a year could average 25 flood days annually by the 2050s.
Regions of Kiribati that see fewer than five flood days a year today will experience an average of 65 flood days annually by the 2050s.
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“I am living the reality of climate change,” said Malie. “Everyone (in Tuvalu) lives by the coast or along the coastline, so everyone gets heavily affected by this.”
Flooding on island nations can come from the ocean inundating land during storms or during exceptionally high tides, called king tides.
But it can also result when saltwater intrudes into underground areas and pushes the water table to the surface.
“There are points on the island where we will see seawater bubbling from beneath the surface and heavily flooding the area,” Malie added.
Sea level rise doesn’t occur uniformly around the world. A combination of global and local conditions, such as the topography of a coastline and how glacial meltwater is distributed in the ocean, affects the amount of rise a particular region will experience.
“We’re always focused on the differences in sea level rise from one region to another, but in the Pacific, the numbers are surprisingly consistent,” said Ben Hamlington, a sea level researcher at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California and the agency’s sea level change science team lead.
The impacts of 8 inches (15 centimeters) of sea level rise will vary from country to country.
For instance, some nations could experience nuisance flooding several times a year at their airport, while others might face frequent neighborhood flooding equivalent to being inundated for nearly half the year.
Researchers would like to combine satellite data on ocean levels with ground-based measurements of sea levels at specific points, as well as with better land elevation information.
“But there’s a real lack of on-the-ground data in these countries,” said Hamlington.
The combination of space-based and ground-based measurements can yield more precise sea level rise projections and improved understanding of the impacts to countries in the Pacific.
“The future of the young people of Tuvalu is already at stake,” said Malie. “Climate change is more than an environmental crisis. It is about justice, survival for nations like Tuvalu, and global responsibility.”
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https://www.nasa.gov/missions/analog-field-testing/hera-human-exploration-research-analog/crew-returns-from-simulated-trip-to-mars-take-a-peek-inside-their-journey/
https://analogstudies.jsc.nasa.gov/
Crew Returns from Simulated Trip to Mars—Take a Peek Inside their Journey
Sep 25, 2024
An all-volunteer crew on a simulated trip to Mars “returned” to Earth on Sept. 23, 2024, after being isolated in a tiny habitat at Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Their work is contributing to the science that will propel humanity to the Moon and eventually Mars.
The HERA missions provide valuable scientific insights into how humans may respond to the confinement, demanding work-life conditions, and remote environments that astronauts may encounter on deep space missions.
These insights help NASA prepare for humanity’s next giant leap to the Moon and Mars.
Campaign 7 Mission 3 started when HERA operations lead Ted Babic rang the bell outside the habitat 10 times, a ceremonial send-off wishing the crew a safe and successful simulated mission to Mars.
Seven rings honored the campaign, and three more signaled the mission—continuing a long-standing tradition.
At ingress, Anderson, a structural engineer at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia, told HERA’s mission control, “We’re going to take good care of this ship of yours on our journey.”
The HERA crew members participated in 18 human health and performance studies, seven of which were led by scientists from outside the United States.
These international studies are in collaboration with the United Arab Emirates’ Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre and the European Space Agency.
Throughout the simulation, the crew performed a variety of tasks. They harvested plants from a hydroponic garden, grew shrimp, deployed a small cube satellite to simulate data gathering, conducted a virtual reality “walk” on the surface of Mars, and flew simulated drones on the Martian terrain.
These activities are designed to immerse the crew in the task-focused mindset of astronauts. NASA scientists then monitor HERA crew to assess how routine tasks, along with isolation and confinement, impact behavior and performance.
As their mission progressed, the team experienced longer communication delays with mission control, eventually reaching five-minute lags.
This simulates the challenges astronauts might face on Mars, where delays could be up to 20 minutes.
Scientists studying HERA crew are interested to see how this particular group builds independent, autonomous workflows, despite this communication delay.
All crew members brought books to accompany them on their journey to the Red Planet, while Kent left behind letters for his two daughters to open each day.
McCandless also brought letters from loved ones, along with Legos, her favorite card game, and a vintage iPod.
Iakymov, an aerospace engineer with more than 15 years of experience in research and design, is carrying postcards and photos of family and friends.
Anderson, who describes herself as a massive space nerd, brought extra socks and “The Never Ending Story,” a book she has cherished throughout her life.
The crew all shared appreciation for being part of a mission that contributes to the aspirations of future human space exploration travel.
As the mission neared its end, McCandless and Anderson participated in a Groundlink—a live session connecting them with middle school students in a classroom in Coconut Grove, Florida, and in Olathe, Kansas.
Groundlinks provide a unique opportunity for students to engage directly with crew members and learn about the realities of long-duration missions.
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The students asked the crew about life inside the habitat, the challenges of isolation, and what it might be like to live on Mars. They were also curious about the crew’s favorite foods and activities.
McCandless shared her love for cheddar crisps and freeze-dried Pad Thai and proudly showed off favorite sports teams from her home state of Kansas, much to the cheers of the crowd.
Anderson displayed the massive collection of comics and fantasy books that she read inside the habitat.
In the late afternoon of Sept. 23, 2024, the crew egressed from HERA, marking the end of their 45-day simulated mission to Mars.
After stepping out of the habitat, the crew expressed gratitude for the opportunity and reflected on the mission’s significance.
“Following our safe passage to Mars, and our safe return to Earth, as the crew of Campaign 7, Mission 3, we hereby officially transfer this exploration vessel to the flight analogs operations team,” said Kent.
“We hope this vessel continues to serve as a safe home for future HERA crews.”
Want to Participate in HERA?
NASA is actively seeking healthy, non-smoking volunteers, aged 30 to 55, for future HERA missions.
Volunteers, who will be compensated for their participation, must pass a physical and psychological assessment to qualify.
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Robotic Moving ‘Crew’ Preps for Work on Moon
Sep 25, 2024
As NASA moves forward with efforts to establish a long-term presence on the Moon as part of the Artemis campaign, safely moving cargo from landers to the lunar surface is a crucial capability.
Whether the cargo, also known as payloads, are small scientific experiments or large technology to build infrastructure, there won’t be a crew on the Moon to do all the work, which is where robots and new software come in.
A team at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, spent the last couple of years infusing existing robotic hardware with a software system that makes the robot operate autonomously.
Earlier this month, that team, led by researcher Dr. Julia Cline of NASA Langley’s Research Directorate, ran demonstrations of their system called LANDO (Lightweight Surface Manipulation System AutoNomy capabilities Development for surface Operations and construction).
The demos took place in an area set up to look like the Moon’s surface, complete with fake boulders and a model lunar lander.
During the first demo, the team placed the payload, a small metal box, on a black pedestal. The robotic arm stretched over the scene, with its dangling hook poised to grasp the box.
As the team huddled nearby around computers, sensors on the arm scanned the surrounding area, looking for the metal box, which was outfitted with encoded markers — similar to QR codes — that revealed critical information about its position and orientation relative to the arm.
Using a graphic user interface, team member Amelia Scott also chose a location for LANDO to place the payload.
After locating the metal box and computing a safe path to move it, the arm began a slow, deliberate movement toward its target, coming in at a precise angle that allowed the hook to select a capture point on the payload.
Once engaged, the arm slowly lifted the payload from the pedestal, moved right, and gently lowered the payload to the simulated lunar surface.
With the payload safely on the surface, the system carefully disengaged the hook from the capture point and returned to its home position.
The entire process took a few minutes. Shortly after the first demo was complete, the team did it again, but with a small model rover.
“What we demonstrated was the repeatability of the system,moving multiple payloads to show that we’re consistently and safely able to get them from point A to point B,” said Cline.
“We also demonstrated the Lightweight Surface Manipulation System hardware – the ability to control the system through space and plan a path around obstacles.”
The system’s successful performance during the September demonstration marks the end of this project, but the first step in developing a larger system to go to the Moon.
Now that the team has determined how the system should function, Cline believes the next natural step would be to develop and test an engineering design unit on one of the landers going to the Moon as part of NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative.
The team is actively looking for industry partners who want to commercialize the capability.
Through CLPS, NASA is working with commercial companies to deliver science and technology demonstrations to the Moon.
The work behind LANDO could be directly infused into much larger versions of a lightweight surface manipulation system.
“The overall control system we’ve developed would apply to larger versions of the technology,” said Cline.
“When you think about the payloads we’ll have to offload for on the Moon, like habitats and surface power systems, this is the kind of general-purpose tool that could be used for those tasks.”
The LANDO system was funded through the Early Career Initiative in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD).
Through STMD, NASA supports and develops transformative space technologies to enable future missions.
As NASA embarks on its next era of exploration with the Artemis campaign, STMD is helping advance technologies, developing new systems, and testing capabilities at the Moon that will be critical for crewed missions to Mars.
https://www.nasa.gov/centers-and-facilities/langley/robotic-moving-crew-preps-for-work-on-moon/
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/manchester-to-host-2025-uk-space-conference
Manchester to host 2025 UK Space Conference
26 September 2024
Sponsored by the UK Space Agency, the biennial event brings together organisations with an interest in space to meet, network, discover business opportunities and help shape the future of the space sector.
The event will be held at Manchester Central on 16 to 17 July 2025.
Dr Paul Bate, Chief Executive of the UK Space Agency, said:
Following successful conferences in Newport and Belfast, and after opening new satellite offices across the UK this year, we are excited to host the UK Space Conference in Manchester, the world’s first industrial city.
We look forward to welcoming attendees from across the UK, forging new collaborations and championing the benefits of the space industry as a key provider of jobs, prosperity and innovation.
The UK space sector generates £18.9 billion and employs 52,000 people - and supports critical national Infrastructure, including energy grids and healthcare services.
Colin Baldwin, Executive Director of UKspace, official trade association of the UK space industry, said:
UKspace is delighted to be supporting the 2025 UK Space Conference.
This biennial event, organised by and for the sector through our strong and connected ecosystem, brings us together to discuss key issues and opportunities including addressing skills challenges, supporting fit-for-purpose regulation, spreading sustainability standards and promoting private investment – all of which underpins the long-term health of the sector.
This first UK Space Conference under the new government will enable the sector to showcase how it plays a significant role in the delivery of the Government’s five missions – high growth, safer streets, clean energy, opportunity for all and a society that is fit for the future.
In the early 19th century, the rapid growth of Manchester’s cotton industry drove the town’s expansion, putting it at the heart of new, global networks of manufacturing and trade.
The city is now the heart of the wider region’s thriving space sector, which comprises over 180 organisations and over 2,300 space professionals – collectively termed the North West Space Cluster.
Companies based in Manchester include graphene specialists Smart IR, who are using breakthrough technology to control infrared thermal radiation and Graphene Innovations Manchester, who have ambitions to develop human rated graphene space structures.
MDA Space UK is expanding their workforce and operations in all their UK locations, including their site near Manchester Airport, where their growing team designs and delivers digital systems and payloads for telecoms satellites.
The North West sector has been supported by investment from the UK Space Agency’s Local Growth initiative and STFC’s (Science and Technology Facilities Council) industrial cluster development, which is helping to drive its expansion, accelerate innovation and seize commercial opportunities.
STFC’s Alan Cross, Development Manager, North West Space Cluster, said:
From Jodrell Bank’s early breakthroughs to launch vehicle testing at Spadeadam in Cumbria, the North West has a proud legacy of driving space exploration and innovation.
Today, as the UK reaches for new frontiers, the North West’s space sector is thriving.
Manchester’s satellite manufacturing and the University of Liverpool’s missions to the International Space Station are just two standout examples of this, and the UK Space Conference 2025 in Manchester will showcase this vibrancy and progress.
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Dr Phil Carvil, Head of STFC’s North West Cluster Programmes said:
As we leverage space to tackle 21st-century challenges and prepare for humanity’s return to the Moon, the North West Space Cluster is excited to welcome the UK Space Conference 2025 to Manchester.
Our businesses and institutions across the region are leading the way in space innovation and collaboration, inspiring our next generations that they too can take part in shaping the future of space and benefiting society as a whole.
Renowned for being the birthplace of scientists James Joule and John Dalton, and sparking their discoveries in thermodynamics, meteorology and atomic theory, the region now boasts world class expertise in materials science and has unique capabilities in nuclear materials for deep space applications.
A University of Manchester lab holds a world-leading range of equipment for simulation of and experimentation into material behaviours in the extreme conditions of space exploration.
The largest scientific instrument in Human history, the Square Kilometre Array Observatory, is headquartered in Cheshire alongside the University of Manchester’s prestigious Jodrell Bank Observatory.
With investment from both the UK and European space agencies, the National Nuclear Laboratory is also developing the next generation of deep space power systems in Cumbria.
Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS Group said:
The UK space sector is growing, unlocking significant opportunities for economic growth throughout the UK whilst delivering innovative solutions to domestic and global challenges.
I’m delighted to see the UK Space Agency take its biannual conference to Manchester and we look forward to the event as an integral part of the space sector calendar.
In 2023 the UK Space Conference was hosted at the ICC in Belfast and brought over 1,700 leaders together from national and international industry, government and academia to Northern Ireland for three days and generated a direct economic impact of £1.7 million through visitor spend alone.
Local stakeholders in Northern Ireland reported that bringing the conference to Belfast provided Northern Ireland with a unique opportunity to promote its capabilities to an influential global space audience as well as to exchange ideas, plans and encourage development and success in the emerging space age.
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Juice spacecraft forming wake in solar wind
26/09/2024
Juice was launched on 14 April 2023, and has spent the last year making one full orbit around the Sun. During this time it has been immersed in an ever-changing environment of particles, photons and magnetic fields, spewed from our Sun.
“This environment is interacting with the spacecraft and charging up the surface of the spacecraft, altering Juice’s local environment, which is potentially a big problem for the instruments focused on measuring the spacecraft's natural surroundings,” explains study author Mika Holmberg of the School of Cosmic Physics at Dunsink Observatory in Ireland, part of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies.
“The main science objectives of Juice is to study Jupiter and its space environment, with a special focus on the habitability of Jupiter’s moons Europa, Ganymede and Callisto, which are all believed to have vast saltwater oceans under their thick ice surfaces.
But in order to study the habitability of these moons we need accurate and detailed measurements. Accordingly, any perturbations need to be fully characterised and corrected for.”
The lorry-sized Juice bristles with a total of ten cameras, probes and antennas.
Its two most sensitive instruments to surface charging are its Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation, RPWI, package and its Particle Environment Package, PEP, which will sample the plasma environment surrounding Jupiter, whose powerful magnetic field is surpassed in size only by that of the Sun’s own equivalent field.
Guided by initial solar wind measurements acquired by Juice three months after launch, the study team employed ESA-funded software called the Spacecraft Plasma Interaction Software, SPIS, to model the consequences for Juice.
Mika – who was previously an ESA Research Fellow at the Agency’s Space Environment and Effects section – explains:
“SPIS is typically used during the design phase of ESA missions, to simulate the risk of damaging electrostatic buildup – just like terrestrial static buildups on metal surfaces during very dry conditions – which can result in damaging discharges.
But the software can also be employed to study the impact on spacecraft measurements of the interaction between a spacecraft and its environment.’
The study found that the main spacecraft body and solar panels experiences charging up to around six volts, with its High Gain Antenna (which is covered in a different surface material and is acting as a Sun shield while JUICE is in the inner Solar System) could reach a potential of eight volts, while Juice’s always-in-shadow radiators, employed to dump waste heat, can reach up to negative 36 volts.
This surface charging distorts incoming particle trajectories and alters the energy of surrounding particles, especially in the case of low-energy particles.
The particle environment around the spacecraft is altered, and an ion wake is formed behind Juice, reaching more than 65 m behind it.
The characteristics of this wake need to be detailed so it will not be mistaken for a natural plasma structure when the particle instruments are performing their measurements within it.
The asymmetric shape of the spacecraft, which also incorporates materials with differing material properties, plus the ion wake, will also give rise to an asymmetric surrounding environment, which will need to be taken account of when it comes to electrical field measurements, which generally assume symmetry in these effects.
Finally, this interaction is causing the spacecraft itself to emit particles. For Juice, this is creating a dense cloud of electrons around the spacecraft, with a density of more than 130 times that of the local solar wind.
These electrons originating from the spacecraft will also be detected by the electron analysers aboard Juice and will need to be separated from solar wind particle observations.
Mika adds: “The results from this study will help the Juice particle and field observation teams to interpret their measurements and start developing correction techniques for the perturbations caused by the spacecraft-environment interaction.
This will be essential when it comes to maximising the scientific outcome of the mission, assessing the habitability of Jupiter’s moons.”
https://www.esa.int/Enabling_Support/Space_Engineering_Technology/Juice_spacecraft_forming_wake_in_solar_wind
https://www.forbes.com/sites/kevinholdenplatt/2024/09/25/russia-threatens-space-strikes-on-western-satellites-at-un-peace-forum/
Russia Threatens Space Strikes On Western Satellites At UN Peace Forum
Updated Sep 25, 2024, 03:12pm EDT
Just months after the White House charged the Kremlin is secretly developing nuclear-armed spacecraft to confront rings of Western satellites aiding besieged Ukraine, Moscow is stepping up its threats of launching a space blitz on these allied spacecraft.
Russian foreign ministry apparatchik Sergey Belousko issued a veiled warning to commercial space outfits that he accused of interfering in the Kremlin’s “internal affairs” - a coded reference to its invasion of Ukraine - and added retaliation could be in the works.
Belousko lashed out at these so-called supporters of Ukraine’s resistance during the Outer Space Security Conference hosted by the United Nations Institute for Disarmament Research in Geneva.
Belousko’s message underscored Russia’s potential wartime use of counterspace weaponry to target Western space ventures that have mostly provided humanitarian aid to democratic Ukraine after Russian tanks, missile brigades and jet fighters began blitzing the former Soviet republic.
When Moscow launched bombing campaigns aimed at obliterating Ukraine’s internet infrastructure, Elon Musk began rushing tens of thousands of SpaceX Starlink transceivers into the country - to hospitals, campuses and bomb shelters - while activating his mega-constellation of broadband-beaming satellites overhead.
Foiling Moscow’s attempts to barricade Ukraine inside a bullet-backed Iron Curtain infuriated the Kremlin leadership, and President Vladimir V. Putin began dispatching his lieutenants to warn of potential counterstrikes against these Western space auxiliaries.
Konstantin Vorontsov, a deputy director at the Russian foreign ministry, warned that even these civilian spacecraft could be targeted by Russian defense forces in a series of fiery speeches at UN gatherings in Geneva and New York.
Around the same time, Elon Musk told his handpicked biographer that Russia’s ambassador to the U.S. had personally told him the use of Starlink technology by Ukraine’s resistance fighters could impel Moscow to respond with tactical nuclear weapons.
While SpaceX’s founder engaged in frenetic behind-the-scenes diplomacy to prevent any nuclear clash, his satellites were still marked with Russian bullseyes, and the head of the Russian space agency Roscosmos even threatened Musk himself for aiding Ukraine’s “fascist forces”.
Then American intelligence agencies discovered the Kremlin’s clandestine project to loft spacecraft tipped with nuclear warheads into orbit, to perpetually stalk allied satellites and capsules.
The new round of threats issued by Sergey Belousko at the UN’s Palais des Nations, near the Swiss border with France, “had the same undertone of warning/veiled threat that other Russian officials have used in regards to Starlink and Western commercial space systems being used in and around Ukraine,” Victoria Samson, Chief Director, Space Security and Stability at the Washington-based think tank Secure World Foundation, told me in an interview.
The Foundation, which co-sponsored the global space convention, has a core mission of teaming up with government leaders, international organizations, academics and think tanks around the world to promote
“peaceful uses of outer space benefiting Earth and all its peoples,” and Samson, one of the top space security scholars in the U.S., acted as a moderator at the UN gathering - aimed at preventing an arms race in space.
Ironically, Belousko and his backers in the Kremlin fired off the latest challenge to the Western space powers and players at a conclave aimed at preventing “the threat or use of force in outer space” and “the placement of weapons in outer space.”
The Russian delegate’s threats “appear to be echoing early comments by Russian government officials,” Darren McKnight, Senior Technical Fellow at the world-leading spacecraft tracking firm LeoLabs, told me in an interview.
McKnight played a central role at the Geneva space assembly, outlining the technological leaps that have honed spacecraft monitoring and their potential role in future arms control and disarmament measures.
Silicon Valley-based LeoLabs is the leading-edge operator of a global web of phased array radars that continuously scan low Earth orbit while tracking more than 20,000 objects in flight - from spent upper stages of rockets to the shrapnel created by anti-satellite missiles crashing into their targets - and warns spacecraft operators of potential collisions on the horizon.
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This “living map of orbital activity,” combining radar imagery with AI tools to predict impending dangers around the clock, has likely already prevented countless orbital smash-ups, and LeoLabs has also helped map a safe trajectory for the International Space Station as it speeds through the orbital minefields created by past missile strikes, including Russia’s destruction of a Soviet satellite on the eve of its invasion of Ukraine.
In the hours and days following Moscow’s missile attack on the communist-era Cosmos 1408 satellite, McKnight told me, “LeoLabs mapped out the potentially intersecting orbits of the cloud of shrapnel produced by the Russian ASAT strike and the manned spaceflight corridor.”
An aerospace engineer and co-author of the book Artificial Space Debris (Orbit, a Foundation Series), McKnight headed LeoLabs’ race to map the explosion and its spread of deadly missile shards - traveling at seven times the speed of a bullet - orbiting the planet and threatening anything in its flightpath.
Russia’s robotic assassination of the Cosmos spacecraft, he said, endangered “all spacefaring nations.”
“There will be some potential collision risk to most satellites in LEO from the fragmentation of Cosmos 1408 over the next few years to decades,” McKnight predicted in a report published just days following the strike.
“While any ASAT test is a terrible idea, this one occurred in one of the worst possible orbits.”
Russia’s blasting its own satellite was carried out “less than 100km above the International Space Station,” he said, “and less than 100km below multiple commercial constellations including SpaceX’s Starlink fleet.”
Immediately after the strike, NASA ordered all the astronauts aboard the International Space Station to take shelter inside their docked capsules, ready to blast off if shrapnel ripped through the Station.
Any new Kremlin ASAT assault on a Western constellation could likewise trigger the ISS spacefarers to prepare for a rapid-fire evacuation, even as McKnight and his team at LeoLabs rush to chart the new dangers and risks of collisions in orbit.
NASA scientists have created intricate guidelines for action if the International Space Station faces a comparatively high chance of colliding with a shard of space debris, according to NASA expert James Cooney, an insider who led a study focusing on the ISS and its collision avoidance options.
Being hit by shrapnel “could be catastrophic” or “mission-ending” for the Station, he says, and could imperil the lives of its entire crew.
Officers at the Vandenberg Space Force Base in California monitor the government’s own radar tracking system - operated by U.S. Space Command - and constantly compare the ISS trajectory against all other traced objects in low Earth orbit.
They raise an alarm “if anything is predicted to pass within a ±2 km (local vertical) x 25 km x 25 km (local horizontal) volume within the next 72 hours,” says Cooney, who is based at NASA’s Flight Operations Directorate and helps calculate the Station’s risk of collision with any approaching shrapnel.
A high chance of collision triggers flight controllers to order a “Debris Avoidance Maneuver” - using the Station’s boosters to alter its trajectory just enough to avert any contact with the incoming space object.
During “high-risk conjunctions,” Cooney says, all astronauts are ordered to seek refuge inside their space lifeboats, or capsules - the emergency protocol that was invoked in the aftermath of the last Russian ASAT mission.
Because the ISS boosters are provided by a docked Russian Progress ship, any collision avoidance order has to be carried out jointly by flight controllers in Houston and Moscow, Cooney explains, which points to a potentially catastrophic flaw in the system.
The onetime head of the Russian space agency who personally threatened Elon Musk with retribution for providing Ukraine with Starlink stations also at one point - furious over Western sanctions on Russia - warned that he could abruptly recall the Progress spacecraft docked at the Station.
Without the Progress to periodically boost the ISS into a stable orbit, he threatened, the Station could come crashing down over the U.S. or Europe.
That raises the question of whether, if Russia’s commander-in-chief were to order an ASAT attack on SpaceX satellites that simultaneously endangered the International Space Station, Mission Controllers in Moscow would heed pleas from their American counterparts to carry out collision avoidance maneuvers to save the Station, or whether the Roscosmos team would even have that freedom under Putin’s wartime rule.
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Satellites images show Hurricane Helene gaining strength before Florida landfall
September 26, 2024
As Hurricane Helene continues making its way toward Florida — now at Category 2 status — satellites in Earth orbit have been watching from above.
The GOES-16 spacecraft in particular, operated by NASA and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), has delivered quite a bit of Helene footage, showing the storm gaining power while heading away from the Gulf of Mexico region and toward the southeastern U.S.
"Sunrise on intense convection within an intensifying Hurricane Helene this morning," the Cooperative Institute for Research in the Atmosphere (CIRA) wrote in an X post (formerly Twitter) on Thursday morning (Sept. 26).
The storm, which NOAA calls potentially "life-threatening" due to wind speeds and projected levels of flooding, is expected to make landfall in Florida on Thursday evening. By that point, it is also estimated to significantly intensify beyond its current state.
As of about 11:00 a.m. EDT (1500 GMT) on Thursday, the storm was approximately 255 miles (410 kilometers) southwest of Tampa, Florida, and tracking north-northeast at 14 mph (23 kph). Maximum sustained winds measured in at 105 mph (169 kph).
Previous GOES-16 satellite footage, collected when the storm was still mostly focused over the Gulf of Mexico, also offer clear indications of Helene's progressively increasing power.
On NOAA's Helene-tracking page, composite imagery from the GOES-East satellite mirrors those results, showing the storm following its anticipated trajectory while growing stronger.
Some previous GOES-16 imagery shows lightning spiraling in the storm's arms as well. Meanwhile, a sunrise-to-sunset time-lapse of the hurricane from Wednesday night (Sept. 25) shows it "bubbling, swirling, and slowly strengthening," CIRA wrote in a separate X post.
Another one of CIRA's X posts also highlights the way warm waters nurtured Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico: Heat maps reveal the sea surface temperatures of that body of water right around when Helene was about to approach.
This is of note because, as experts have said time and again, climate change — primarily driven by human activities like burning coal for cheap power — fosters the right conditions for hurricanes to occur more often and with greater might.
For example, hurricanes grow in power as their arms hang on to moist air and shuffle that moist air inward. Industrial emissions pave the way for global warming, which means warmer air, and warmer air means that hurricanes can hold on to more water vapor.
And Helene passed over warm Gulf of Mexico waters, shown in the GOES-16 satellite's heat maps, on its way toward Florida.
This is in part why it was able to gain so much power; experts are thus urging residents of the southeastern U.S. to brace for impact, following relevant instructions in their communities and evacuating if necessary.
Very warm waters await Hurricane Helene in the Gulf of Mexico as seen in this satellite imagery showing the sea surface temperatures of the body of water.
An advisory put out by NOAA on Wednesday warns of serious flash floods in certain zones, depicted in the image below, as well as tornadoes and wind speeds greater than 80 mph (130 kph).
"The mountainous terrain of the southern Appalachians will likely inundate communities in its path with flash floods, landslides, and cause extensive river and stream flooding," the organization said in an emailed statement to reporters on Wednesday (Sept. 25).
A Storm Surge Warning applies to areas in the U.S. as far inland as Indiana, but adjacent zones should also remain vigilant because hurricanes have the ability to spray out impacts far beyond their cores.
Power outages have already begun to occur in affected areas, including Georgia, Florida and even across the Carolinas.
Though scientists believe Helene will weaken after landfall in the U.S. occurs, they stress that strong and damaging winds will continue to penetrate through well after.
"NOAA's National Weather Service is alerting communities that Helene's flooding rainfall and high winds won't be limited to the Gulf Coast and are expected to travel hundreds of miles inland," the organization said in the emailed statement.
"Helene is an unusually large storm, whose windfield extends as far as 275 miles [440 km] from its center … The major flood risk includes the urban areas around Tallahassee, metro Atlanta and western North Carolina, including Asheville."
"Gusty winds, combined with saturated ground, will also raise the risk of falling trees that can cause loss of life, property damage, blocked roads, and lead to power outages," the statement reads.
https://www.space.com/hurricane-helene-satellite-footage-florida
New type of Kevlar heading to ISS in October for space debris protection tests
September 26, 2024
A next-generation space debris protection material is readying for a test trip to the International Space Station.
The material, a sibling of the space-blanket polymer Kevlar, has been developed by chemical giant DuPont and tested by NASA at its White Sands Test Facility (WTSF) in New Mexico.
The tests showed that the new Kevlar "EXO" material provides better protection against space debris impacts while being significantly lighter than conventional Kevlar.
"We were able to reduce the weight by as much as 40% and still have it pass the tests for orbital debris needs," Jill Clements, DuPont's global business development manager, told Space.com.
During the tests at WTSF, NASA researchers shot aluminum bullets 0.4 inches (1 centimeter) wide from special cannons at the speed of 4 miles (6.5 kilometers) per second at square targets 12 by 12 inches (30 by 30 cm) in size.
The simulated debris fragments couldn't pierce through the test shields even when a lower amount of the protective material was used compared to currently available space debris guards.
DuPont is now preparing samples of Kevlar EXO for a mission to the International Space Station (ISS) to verify how the material withstands the space environment.
"We will be doing atomic oxygen and UV [ultraviolet radiation] exposure testing," Clements said. "We don't at this point plan to use it for debris protection, because all the testing has been done on the ground."
Several patches 2 by 2 inches (5 by 5 cm) in size will be shipped to the ISS aboard a SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule in October and attached to the orbiting lab's exterior, where they will remain for several months.
DuPont introduced Kevlar EXO in April 2023, describing the new material as "the most significant aramid fiber innovation in over 50 years."
Aramids are a class of sturdy, heat-resistant synthetic fibers, a family that includes the iconic Kevlar.
Developed in 1965, Kevlar has been used in a variety of applications, including bullet-proof vests, combat helmets and protective clothing.
In space, Kevlar has served as a thermal insulator for satellites and, since the 1990s, as a key component in space debris protection systems.
Clements said Kevlar EXO is "a different type of material" than standard Kevlar, a sort of a "cousin of the traditional aramids."
The superior strength of the new material, which enables the overall mass reduction in space debris shields, will be a huge boon for the space sector, Clements thinks.
"We're hearing from the industry that it really is game-changing in the amount of weight it's allowing companies to take out from their orbital debris systems," said Clements.
"First, getting things off the ground is expensive, and second, companies don't want to waste their mass budget on space debris protection. They want to use it for their payload."
She said the new material will not only help satellite manufacturers and builders of crew and cargo-carrying spaceships; it could also protect future inflatable space stations in low Earth orbit, as well as habitats on the moon and Mars.
Clements foresees that Kevlar EXO will be indispensable for future moon and Mars exploration.
"As we look to get back to the moon and eventually to Mars, you just can't take enough weight out to get people to the moon plus supplies in any kind of large quantity," Clements said.
"You have to compensate somewhere, but at the same time, you need to get them there safely. We hope to be a valued part of that industry."
https://www.space.com/space-debris-protection-material-kevlar-exo-iss-test
NASA restarts art program with New York murals aimed at Artemis Generation
September 24, 2024
As NASA works to return astronauts to the moon, the space agency is resurrecting an Apollo-era program aimed at communicating the cultural significance of its missions.
A new era for the NASA Artist's Cooperation Program, or NASA Arts Program as it came to be known, has begun with two space-themed murals now on public view in New York's Hudson Square neighborhood in Manhattan.
Created in cooperation with the Hudson Square Business Improvement District, the two colorful side-by-side murals titled "To the Moon, and Back," were painted by the New York-based team of Geraluz and WERC.
"I am thrilled that NASA's Art Program is returning with such an impactful project that will inspire the next generation — the Artemis Generation — to be curious, dream big and hopefully join us in our work at NASA someday," said Pam Melroy, NASA's deputy administrator and a former astronaut, in a statement.
"To continue pushing the boundaries of discovery and exploration, we'll need future generations to think critically and use creativity and ingenuity to solve some of our biggest challenges, and art is essential in preparing young minds for this task," she said on Tuesday (Sept. 24).
"To the Moon, and Back" illustrates "a cosmic future with a universe of possibilities expressed through the dreams and aspirations of children," according to NASA's description of the work.
The use of geometrical patterns "invites deeper reflection on the exploration, creativity and our connection with the cosmos."
Gera "Geraluz" Lozano and Jari "WERC" Alvarez of Brooklyn were selected for the project through an open call for New York-based artists.
Their past work includes murals for the National Audubon Society, the New York City Department of Transportation and Sony Pictures.
Part of the couple's inspiration for the NASA murals was their five-year-old son.
"Amaru says he wants to be an astronaut; it was the perfect moment to ask him to dress up and help us conceptualize our design," wrote Lozano on Instagram.
"We had a vision when we saw the RFQ [request for questions]." The artists received a small award to cover their design fees, materials, labor and equipment.
The funds were provided by NASA and then matched by Hudson Square Business Improvement District (BID), a nonprofit that has worked for five years to transform Manhattan's former Printing District into a "thriving creative hub."
"We are thrilled to partner with NASA on this visionary project, bringing together the exciting world of space exploration and the vibrant, creative energy of Hudson Square," said Samara Karasyk, president of Hudson Square BID.
"This installation is not just a celebration of NASA's incredible mission, but a continuation of our commitment to transforming the public realm through groundbreaking public art."
"It will inspire the next generation, ignite curiosity about space exploration and strengthen our neighborhood's identity as a limitless hub for creativity, mirroring the infinite possibilities of outer space.
We can't wait to see how this installation captivates both locals and visitors alike," said Karasyk.
The NASA Art Program was founded in 1962 and included works created by the likes of Paul Calle, Robert McCall, Norman Rockwell, Andy Warhol, Robert Rauschenberg and Annie Leibovitz.
NASA donated about 2,000 of the program's Apollo-era pieces to the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in the 1970s.
Most of the space shuttle-period works are still held at Kennedy Space Center in Florida today.
Under the Artemis program, NASA is aiming to land the first woman, first person of color and next American on the moon.
Together with its international partners, NASA intends to explore the lunar south pole while gaining the skills needed to send humans to Mars.
The two "To the Moon, and Back" murals are located at 350 Hudson Street in New York City, on the outside of a nine-floor office building built in 1927.
https://www.space.com/to-the-moon-and-back-murals-nasa-art-program
https://www.nasa.gov/general/nasa-relaunches-art-program-with-space-themed-murals/
https://www.space.com/w-boson-mass-large-hadron-collider-solved
https://cms-results.web.cern.ch/cms-results/public-results/preliminary-results/SMP-23-002/
The W boson caused a particle mystery — but scientists have cracked the case
September 26, 2024
The mass of the W boson particle has been found by the Large Hadron Collider to be exactly what the Standard Model of particle physics predicts it to be, contradicting earlier results from Fermilab that hinted at a different mass and, therefore, the potential for new physics.
While the discovery further cements the Standard Model as our best depiction of the particle world, scientists had been hoping that their model was actually wrong, and that the discrepancy in the mass of the W boson could point the way to new theories that might explain puzzles such as the identity of dark matter, which accounts for 85% of all the matter in the universe yet remains effectively invisible to us.
Bosons are fundamental particles that carry the forces of nature.
The strong force that binds quarks together inside protons and neutrons is carried by a boson called the gluon, the electromagnetic force's boson is the photon, and the weak force, which is responsible for radioactive decay, has three bosons: W+, W– and the Z boson.
Measuring the masses of these particles is tricky, because they have an incredibly fleeting existence before they decay into other particles.
So, with their best efforts, physicists first create the bosons by colliding beams of protons traveling at almost the speed of light inside a particle accelerator.
For example, at the LHC, the protons collide with a total energy of 13 trillion electronvolts (eV).
Upon collision, the protons are forced to smash apart into other particles, some of which are bosons (this is how the Higgs boson, which carries the Higgs field that pretty much gives everything its mass, was discovered at the Large Hadron Collider).
The bosons themselves then also decay, and the best way to measure their mass is to combine the masses of all the particles that the decaying bosons produce.
Bosons decay into particles called leptons (or antileptons), which are electrons, muons or tau particles (a lepton is defined by a half-integer spin, so 1/2 or 3/2).
The Z boson decays into two further particles called muons, which are relatively easy to measure.
This is, in fact, why the Z boson's mass is well-known, with a value of 91,187.6 MeV and an error margin of ± 2.1 MeV (million eV).
The W+ and W– bosons, however, decay into a lepton (or antilepton) plus a neutrino, and that’s where the problem lies.
Neutrinos are very slight, elusive particles that can zip through detectors like ghosts. Trillions of neutrinos are even running through your body right now, but you can't tell.
That's why it takes a cubic kilometer of ice laced with photomultiplier tubes at the IceCube Neutrino Observatory at the South Pole to detect them.
The Large Hadron Collider can detect neutrinos as well, but it has only acquired this capability recently via two detectors, FASER (the Forward Search Experiment) and SND (Scattering and Neutrino Detector).
The LHC announced its first neutrino detections in August 2023.
The Standard Model predicts that the mass of the W+ and W– bosons is 80,357 MeV, ± 6 MeV, based on a theory that combines the electromagnetic force with the weak force, called "electroweak theory."
However, in 2022, physicists who re-analyzed old data from 2011 (produced by Fermilab's Tevatron particle accelerator in Illinois, USA) determined a W boson mass of 80,433 MeV, ± 9 MeV.
This took the W boson mass out of the range of the Standard Model.
If it was correct, then it implied new physics such as "supersymmetry" (which posits that every particle in the Standard Model has an additional, much more massive counterpart) and Quantum Loop Gravity (which describes how the fabric of the universe might be made of tiny quantum loops).
As a result, the physics world became very excited by the possibilities.
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Alas, it was not to be.
In 2023, the LHC's ATLAS experiment measured the mass of the W boson as 80,360 MeV ± 16 MeV, which is indeed in line with the Standard Model — but given Fermilab's tantalizing findings, there was a concern that ATLAS had some unrecognized systematic error affecting its measurements.
However, new measurements of the W boson's mass have been made by the LHC's Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, and are also consistent with the Standard Model, producing a mass of 80,360.2 ± 9.9 MeV.
This corresponds to just 1.42 x 10^–25 kilograms.
"Basically, we used a 14,000-ton scale to measure the weight of a particle that has a mass of 1 x 10^–25kg, or about 80 times the mass of a proton," physicist Michalis Bachtis of the University of California, Los Angeles, said in a statement.
Many physicists had of course been hoping there would prove to be a discrepancy in the mass of the W boson, as this would have opened the door for new physics that would be required to explain that discrepancy mass.
Taking supersymmetry as an example, this concept could point the way towards explaining dark matter.
A leading candidate for dark matter right now is a type of particle called a WIMP, which stands for Weakly Interacting Massive Particle — and a massive, weakly interacting particle would fit perfectly within the confines of supersymmetry.
Alas, currently no supersymmetric partners to particles in the Standard Model have yet been found, and the theory of supersymmetry is far from proven.
"Everybody was hoping we would measure it away from the theory, igniting hopes for new physics," said Bachtis.
"By confirming that the mass of the W boson is consistent with the theory, we have to search for new physics elsewhere, maybe by studying the Higgs boson with high precision as well."
Nevertheless, confirming the mass of the W boson does open the door to other things.
For example, it's possible to use this mass measurement to better judge the strength of the Higgs field, or to better understand electroweak theory.
These advancements are options because of the way the CMS measured the W boson mass: by calibrating the energy of the emitted muons with margin of error of just 0.01%, which is orders of magnitude more precise than what had once been thought possible.
"This new level of precision will allow us to tackle critical measurements, such as those involving the W, Z and Higgs boson, with enhanced accuracy," said Ph.D. student Elisabetta Manca, who has been working on this project with Bachtis for 8 years.
So, the Standard Model wins again — but with increasing cosmological mysteries such as dark matter, dark energy and even the Hubble tension, something in our understanding of physics is going to have to break at some point to light the way forward for the world of physics.
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https://www.space.com/spacex-elon-musk-faa-administrator-resign
https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1838978117072805999
SpaceX's Elon Musk calls on FAA chief to resign
September 25, 2024
SpaceX continues to engage the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in a heated and very public debate over launch licensing and alleged violations.
Earlier this month, the FAA announced that it planned to fine SpaceX a total of $630,000 for violations stemming from two launches in 2023.
SpaceX fired back with a letter to the U.S. Congress contesting the fines, arguing that the two alleged infractions were frivolous and should not be viewed as violations at all.
In addition to the letter, SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said in a post on X, the social media company he owns, that his company intendeds to sue the FAA for "regulatory overreach."
Now, following congressional testimony from FAA Administrator Michael Whitaker on Tuesday (Sept. 24) that touched upon the agency's fines and its delays in licensing the fifth test flight of SpaceX's giant new Starship rocket, Musk has ramped up the rhetoric against the FAA, posting to X that Whitaker "needs to resign."
Whitaker testified in front of the United States House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure Subcommittee on Aviation on Tuesday about the FAA's oversight of Boeing's manufacturing systems following multiple fatal airline disasters and doors flying off of airplanes mid-flight, amid other aviation incidents.
Following Whitaker's testimony, Rep. Kevin Kiley (R-CA) brought up the issues that plagued Boeing's new Starliner spacecraft during its first-ever crewed flight, which ended in the vehicle returning to Earth without its crew earlier this month.
A SpaceX Crew Dragon will now bring the two Starliner astronauts home in February, after their planned 10-day mission to the International Space Station turned into an eight-month odyssey.
Kiley told the FAA chief that Starliner's poor performance has "put in sharp relief an issue that many have raised regarding, perhaps, the undue scrutiny that [the] agency is giving to SpaceX" concerning the fines the agency proposed against the company.
"So I think safety is in the public interest, and that's our primary focus," Whitaker replied, adding that fines are "the only tool we have to get compliance on safety matters."
Kiley then asked about the delays in the FAA's licensing process for the fifth flight test of Starship, which SpaceX is developing to help get people to the moon and Mars.
SpaceX claims the vehicle has been ready to fly since early August, but the FAA says that its licensing reviews likely won't be done until late November.
"Are you saying that the delay of Starship is for safety reasons?" Kiley asked the FAA administrator.
"It is. I think launching these rockets is a safety issue under the NAS," Whitaker replied, referring to the National Airspace System, America's controlled and uncontrolled airspaces over both land and sea.
"And I think it's a situation that requires the same level of safety management and safety culture that we're working to implement at Boeing — [it] needs to also exist with commercial space," the FAA head added.
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Whitaker then stated that the delay in approving Starship's fifth launch stemmed from the company's failure to provide an updated sonic boom analysis within the designated timeframe, which added 30 more days to the FAA's process.
Additionally, Whitaker said SpaceX failed to comply with Texas law. SpaceX previously published a blog post about this specific delay, claiming that it was "driven by superfluous environmental analysis."
Following Whitaker's testimony on Tuesday, SpaceX published another letter, this time addressed directly to Rep. Kiley.
In the letter, the company argues that neither of the two items Whitaker referred to have anything to do with public safety, but instead are about "environmental considerations that had been previously evaluated as posing no risk to the environment."
The letter goes on to argue that Whitaker's statement that SpaceX violated Texas law "is simply wrong."
"SpaceX did not violate state law — SpaceX had a permit for deluge operations from Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ).
It is deeply concerning that the Administrator does not appear to have accurate information immediately available to him with respect to SpaceX licensing matters," the letter continues.
Starship consists of two vehicles, both of which are designed to be rapidly reusable: a 233-foot-tall (71 meters) booster called Super Heavy, and the 165-foot (50 m) upper stage, known as Starship or Ship for short.
The fully stacked Starship vehicle towers toward the sky at 400 feet (122 m). SpaceX aims to use Starship to help humankind reach the moon and Mars, in addition to helping loft the company's Starlink internet satellites and more.
Starship has flown on four test flights to date, the most recent of which was in June 2024. On that flight, the upper stage reached orbital velocity and survived a stunning reentry through Earth's atmosphere.
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SpaceX Starlink Mission
On Tuesday, September 24 at 9:01 p.m. PT, Falcon 9 launched 20 Starlink satellites, including 13 with Direct to Cell capabilities, to low-Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base in California.
This was the 10th flight for the first stage booster supporting this mission, which previously launched NASA Crew-7, CRS-29, NROL-186, EarthCARE, Transporter-10, PACE, and now four Starlink missions.
https://www.spacex.com/launches/mission/?missionId=sl-9-8
Leidos replaces Lockheed Martin on Artemis rover team
Updated September 26, 2024
Lunar Outpost, one of three companies that won NASA contracts earlier this year to begin design work on Artemis lunar rovers, has added Leidos to its team after parting ways with Lockheed Martin.
Colorado-based Lunar Outpost announced Sept. 24 that Leidos had joined its Lunar Dawn team that is designing a rover for NASA’s Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) Services program.
Lunar Outpost was one of three companies, alongside Astrolab and Intuitive Machines, selected for contracts by NASA in April for the first phase of the program.
Leidos will provide its expertise in human factors as well as areas like mission assurance and systems engineering.
“Astronaut safety is our number one priority when building our vehicle, and we are thrilled to have the industry leader in human-centered design on our team,” said Forrest Meyen, program manager for Lunar Dawn at Lunar Outpost, in a statement.
That statement listed the other members of the Lunar Dawn team: General Motors, Goodyear and MDA Space. Notably absent was Lockheed Martin, which Lunar Outpost had described as its “principal partner” on the rover when it won the NASA contract in April.
The website for Lunar Dawn also did not list Lockheed Martin as a partner.
In a Sept. 25 interview, Justin Cyrus, chief executive of Lunar Outpost, confirmed that Lockheed Martin was no longer involved in the rover project.
“We just weren’t able to reach an agreement as we were negotiating the terms and conditions of the statement of work for this contract,” he said.
He didn’t elaborate on the specific issues that led the companies to walk away. “We still think that Lockheed Martin is a great company,” he said. “However, it wasn’t a good fit for us or them to work together as a part of this contract.”
“We are no longer a part of the Lunar Dawn team as withdrawing made the most sense for our business and strategy,” Lockheed Martin said in a statement to SpaceNews Sept. 26.
“Over the last three years we have invested significant resources to develop lunar mobility technology.
This is in addition to evaluating our next steps for how this technology and our Lunar Mobility Vehicle can best be used on the Moon and toward building a future lunar economy.”
Cyrus said the companies decided to part ways about three months ago, although neither company publicly confirmed it before now.
After that decision, Lunar Outpost started discussions with Leidos about joining Lunar Dawn.
He said the companies held off announcing the teaming arrangement until the paperwork was complete.
Leidos is not a direct replacement for Lockheed Martin on the rover project.
“Leidos is bringing their own specific set of capabilities to the Lunar Dawn team,” he said, with the roles Lockheed would have handled reapportioned among the other companies involved.
Lockheed’s departure also means changes to the rover itself.
New illustrations of the rover released by Lunar Outpost reveal significant changes when compared to the illustration that Lunar Outpost released in April when it won the NASA contract.
The changes, Cyrus said, reflects removing Lockheed’s intellectual property, or IP, from the design,
“This rover doesn’t have any Lockheed Martin IP in it. This is only Lunar Outpost IP,” he said.
“We went through a pretty detailed effort to make sure that nothing was left over from working with Lockheed Martin.”
Lunar Outpost isn’t disclosing details about the revised design, although Cyrus said the company will share more details in the coming months.
He added that the design does meet or exceed NASA’s requirements for the LTV program, and that there “wasn’t too much rework” on the contract because of the change in companies involved.
Leidos had earlier been a bidder on the LTV program, offering a different design that was not selected by NASA.
The Lunar Dawn team is considering incorporating some unspecified elements of that design into the rover.
“There are a few things being evaluated from that previous Leidos design,” Cyrus said.
“It’s not out of the question that something might make its way in as we go throughout this process.”
https://spacenews.com/leidos-replaces-lockheed-martin-on-artemis-rover-team/
Japan launches IGS Radar 8 reconnaissance satellite with penultimate H-2A rocket
September 26, 2024
Japan launched the classified IGS-Radar 8 satellite early Thursday with the second-to-last H-2A rocket.
A Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) H-2A rocket in a figuration with a pair of SRB-A3 solid boosters lifted off from Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan at 1:24 a.m. Eastern (0524 UTC) Sept. 26. MHI confirmed separation of the IGS-Radar 8 reconnaissance satellite from the launch vehicle around two hours after launch.
Information Gathering Satellite (IGS) Radar 8 was launched into sun-synchronous orbit (SSO).
Japan’s Cabinet Satellite Information Center will operate the satellite. The IGS series includes both optical and radar satellites.
Radar 8 will gather data for intelligence purposes and environmental and natural disaster monitoring, as with earlier IGS satellites.
The H-2A debuted in 2001 and has flown 49 times with a single failure, suffered in 2003, resulting in the loss of the IGS-2 satellite.
The rocket’s 50th launch will be its last. The final H-2A core stage is now completed and is scheduled for shipment to the Tanegashima Space Center, MHI announced in a Sept. 25 statement.
That launch, expected in late 2024, will carry the Global Observing SATellite for Greenhouse gasses and Water cycle (GOSAT-GW) satellite.
The H3 will succeed the H-2A. The new generation H3 had a troubled start, with its first flight, in March 2023 suffering a second stage engine failure.
This resulted in the loss of the ALOS-3 payload. The failure led the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) postponing a mission to collect samples from the Martian moon Phobos from 2024 to 2026.
Since then, the rocket’s fortunes have improved. The H3 has since flown successfully twice, in February and July this year.
The fourth launch of the new rocket is currently scheduled for Oct. 20, according to JAXA, with a launch window running through Nov. 30.
The launch will carry the X-band defense communication satellite-3. Earlier this month, Eutelsat signed a multi-launch agreement for multiple H3 rockets from 2027.
JAXA is working on plans for a new, large and reusable launch vehicle for its future space transportation plans. The agency is considering liquid methane as the fuel for the rocket.
Thursday’s launch was Japan’s fifth in 2024. Prior launches were the H-2A launch of IGS-Optical 8, the H3 test flight number 2 and H3 flight three, carrying ALOS-4.
The privately developed Japanese Kairos rocket exploded seconds after liftoff in March.
Other Japanese spaceflight activities include the Active Debris Removal by Astroscale-Japan (ADRAS-J), launched on a Falcon 9 in February, and launch of the StriX radar satellites for Japanese company Synspective on Rocket Lab Electron rockets. A Falcon 9 also launched the joint ESA-JAXA EarthCARE mission.
https://spacenews.com/japan-launches-igs-radar-8-reconnaissance-satellite-with-penultimate-h-2a-rocket/
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