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Suborbital rocket set to launch 6 experiments from Sweden's Arctic spaceport on Nov. 22
Nov, 21, 2024
A suborbital rocket is set to help scientists take the next step in various realms of research with a launch from northern Sweden.
The launch window for the SubOrbital Express-4 mission â which will fly from the Esrange Space Center, above the Arctic Circle â opens on Nov. 22.
It will send six experiments from the U.S, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden briefly into space and provide precious minutes of microgravity.
Experiments aboard the rocket range from immune cell research, solar cell techniques and dust formation in space, to complex particle behavior, macroalgae reproduction and the behavior of water in microgravity.
"Sometimes, a few minutes in the microgravity of space is just what a research project needs to reach the next level, often resulting in great discoveries for humanity," Krister SjĂślander, head of payloads and flight systems at the Swedish Space Corporation (SSC), said in a statement.
The SubOrbital Express-4 mission will use a 41.3-foot-tall (12.56 meters), two-stage VSB-30 launch vehicle to send 902 pounds (409 kilograms) of experiment payload to an altitude of 165 miles (265 kilometers).
The mission is the 16th in a series of Materials Science Experiment Rocket (MASER) rockets launched from Esrange since 1987.
The European Space Agency (ESA) is the program's largest customer, funding several of the experiments on board SubOrbital Express-4.
MicACTin, from Karolinska Institutet, Sweden, aims to benefit astronauts' health and help develop immune system activation treatments by studying how microgravity affects T cells in the immune system.
LiFiCo, from Karlstad University, Sweden, is focused on improving solar cell efficiency by investigating how microgravity impacts liquid film coating processes to optimize solar cells.
DUST-II, developed at Hokkaido University, Japan, and Braunschweig University in Germany, will look at how dust grains form and grow in space, which could provide insights into phenomena such as giant stars, newly formed planetary systems and the atmospheres of exoplanets.
JACKS, from Brandenburg University of Applied Sciences and OvGU in Germany, will look at granular gasses and complex particle behavior, which aims to provide insights into the evolution of celestial bodies and energy transfer mechanisms.
BFS, run by the Stockholm University Baltic Sea Centre in Sweden, with analysis to be performed in collaboration with Helsinki University, will study the reproduction of macroalgae Bladderwrack (Fucus vesiculosus), which is common in the Baltic and Atlantic, and its synchronization with lunar cycles.
TATTS, from LinkĂśping University, Sweden and in collaboration with the University of Colorado, is designed to capture video of water behavior in microgravity as part of fundamental research into fluid dynamics in space.
The launch window runs through Dec. 3. Sweden's Arctic Esrange spaceport is also preparing to host orbital launches in the future.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/private-spaceflight/suborbital-rocket-set-to-launch-6-experiments-from-swedens-arctic-spaceport-on-nov-22
SpaceX and NASA show off how Starship will help astronauts land on the moon
Nov, 21, 2024
SpaceX and NASA have released new artwork detailing how the company's Starship rocket might ferry Artemis astronauts to the surface of the moon.
The renders show a variety of maneuvers and steps that SpaceX's reusable Starship vehicle will be required to perform as part of NASA's current plan for the Artemis 3 moon mission, currently slated for no earlier than 2026.
Under the current mission architecture, Starship (a version of it known as the Human Landing System) will dock in lunar orbit with NASA's Orion spacecraft Artemis astronauts will move from the capsule into the SpaceX vehicle.
From there, Starship will take the astronauts down to the surface of the moon, placing human boots on our lunar companion for the first time since 1972.
In one of the images, a sleek, white version of Starship's Human Landing System (HLS) docks nose-to-nose with Orion in orbit around the moon.
During this part of the mission, NASA's Artemis 3 astronauts would transfer from Orion into HLS.
One of the renders show two Starships, one normal configuration and one HLS variant, docking belly to belly in order to transfer fuel from one to the other.
Because HLS will be carrying heavy equipment destined for the moon, it will use up a lot of fuel escaping Earth's gravity.
It will need to be refueled on its journey to the moon, so SpaceX is developing an orbital propellant transfer technique.
The company tested a different version of the transfer on Starship's third integrated flight test.
As seen in the images, this HLS variant of Starship has a significantly different configuration than the standard version of the spacecraft.
The HLS in the renders has windows for the crew to look out of, and does not feature the fins found on typical Starship variants.
The HLS in these new illustrations also features a sleek white finish, as opposed to the stainless steel finish dotted with black thermal protection tiles seen on other Starships.
One of the renders shows two astronauts in Axiom Space moon suits making their way down to the lunar surface in an elevator.
Two astronauts, Axiom Space's Peggy Whitson and NASA's Doug Wheelock, tested such a capability in June 2024 when they donned Axiom's suits and carried out tests using an HLS mockup at SpaceX headquarters in California.
The test confirmed that there is enough space in the planned HLS airlock, deck and elevator for astronauts to carry out their mission while in Axiom's suits.
Another illustration portrays SpaceXâs Starship HLS with two of its six Raptor engines lit as it performs a braking burn prior to attempting to land on the moon.
NASA has delayed Artemis 3 until September 2026, after setting an initial target of 2024.
The delays are due to hardware development problems, including issues with Orion's heat shield and the prolonged development timeline that SpaceX has faced getting Starship ready for orbital flight.
SpaceX's proposed timelines for Starship have been optimistic, to say the least.
The company's president and chief operating officer, Gwynne Shotwell, said in 2019 that the company would be landing cargo on Mars with Starship "in five years."
Five years later, in 2024, Starship has yet to complete an orbital flight, although the company has made significant progress on each of the rocket's six test flights.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/artemis/spacex-and-nasa-show-off-how-starship-will-help-astronauts-land-on-the-moon-images
Unusual black hole light bursts puzzle astronomers: 'We are finding a lot of weird stuff'
November 22, 2024
Astronomers have stumbled upon a pair of massive black holes in a distant galaxy that are triggering unusual bursts of light.
These bright emissions, which appear to peak on a regular cycle, may be caused by the black hole duo disrupting a massive gas cloud â a phenomenon researchers say is the first of its kind to be detected.
The cosmic behemoths reside at the center of a galaxy named 2MASX J21240027+3409114, located roughly 1 billion light-years away in the northern constellation Cygnus.
These black holes complete an orbit once every 130 days while being just 16 billion miles (26 billion kilometers) apart â so close that light takes only a day to travel between them.
Over the past three years, they have consumed roughly 1.5 to 2 solar masses of gas from the hovering gas cloud, and they are expected to collide and merge in about 70,000 years, the researchers report in a new study published Nov. 13 in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.
Astronomers were first alerted to the strange emissions in March 2021 by an automated alert system that uses data from the Zwicky Transient Facility (ZTF) in California to spot rapidly flaring objects in the northern sky.
Initially, the event was flagged as a potential supernova due to the sudden brightening pattern. However, subsequent outbursts in 2022 prompted the study team to explore other explanations.
The event was soon reclassified as an active galactic nucleus (AGN), a term used for a black hole that feeds on material from a surrounding accretion disk.
However, spectra obtained from observatories in Mexico, India and Spain traced an intriguing M-shaped pattern in the data that recurred every two to three months, a cadence that neither a supernova nor an AGN could explain.
"This is very different from anything I have seen before," study lead author Lorena HernĂĄndez-GarcĂa, who is an astrophysicist at the Millennium Institute of Astrophysics in Chile, told Space.com.
In 2022, HernĂĄndez-GarcĂa and her team observed the same M-shaped spectral pattern in both X-ray and ultraviolet wavelengths in data from the Neil Gehrels Swift Observatory.
"That's when we said, 'This is something interesting,'" she said. "I'm looking at the light curve more or less every day to see what's happening."
So far, the data hasn't shown any characteristics of a tidal disruption event, or TDE, where a star is torn apart by a black holeâs gravity.
The model that best fits the data suggests a massive gas cloud approached the galaxy on a trajectory perpendicular to the orbit of the two black holes.
Larger than the binary system itself, the gas cloud would have then gotten torn apart by the black holes' immense gravitational forces.
If this is indeed the case, the M-shaped emissions can be explained by hunks of gas that are ejected into space each time a black hole swooshes through the gas cloud.
Nevertheless, the researchers are not yet ruling out the possibility of a previously unknown type of partial TDE occurring in this galaxy, HernĂĄndez-GarcĂa said.
Additionally, the ongoing merger of this galaxy with another one to its south, about 29,000 light-years away, may be generating significant dust.
Astronomers expect gas clouds like the newfound one to be common in many merging galaxies that host binary black holes, but none have been detected before.
HernĂĄndez-GarcĂa attributes the lack of previous detections to limited instrumentation, and noted that, since ZTF began operations in 2018, "we are finding a lot of weird stuff that wasnât possible to see before."
Due to the galaxy's vast distance from Earth, telescopes cannot directly observe the gas cloud or the black hole duo.
The study team is now brainstorming new observations to track the gas cloud and determine its origins â whether it is inherent to the galaxy, a byproduct of the ongoing merger, or just a passing interloper.
https://www.space.com/the-universe/black-holes/unusual-black-hole-light-bursts-puzzle-astronomers-we-are-finding-a-lot-of-weird-stuff
https://www.aanda.org/component/article?access=doi&doi=10.1051/0004-6361/202451305
Earth's 'second moon' is just visiting its cosmic parents for Thanksgiving
November 22, 2024
Earth's "second moon" won't be sticking around for Thanksgiving, but just as many of us will on Thursday (Nov. 28), it seems the asteroid was paying a visit to its relatives.
Analysis of the asteroid 2024 PT5, which will leave Earth on Monday (Nov. 25), conducted during its stay around our planet, shows it may have been born from material ejected from our true moon after one of the old collisions that left the lunar surface pitted and scarred with craters.
The leading theory of moon formation, the aptly named "giant impact hypothesis," suggests that Earth's loyal lunar companion was born when a titanic collision around 4 billion years ago sprayed out molten material from Earth that eventually cooled and condensed.
This means Earth is likely the grandparent of this "second moon," or "mini-moon."
"There are multiple lines of evidence suggesting that this asteroid may have a lunar origin," Carlos de la Fuente Marcos, discovery lead author and a professor at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, told Space.com.
"Current research favors its rapid rotation with a rotational period under one hour, to be expected if 2024 PT5 is either a large boulder from the surface of the moon or a fragment from a larger object."
The mini-moon's lunar origin is further hinted at by its spectra, which suggest its chemical composition matches well with lunar material brought to Earth by the Russian Luna missions and NASA's Apollo moon missions.
How Earth captured a mini-moon
The "mini-moon" asteroid originates from the Arjuna asteroid belt, a secondary asteroid belt made of space rocks that follow an orbit around the sun that's very similar to Earth's orbit, dwelling at an average distance of about 93 million miles (150 million kilometers) to the sun.
"Some Arjuna asteroid belt objects can approach Earth at a close range of around 2.8 million miles (4.5 million kilometers) and at a relatively low velocity of less than 2,200 miles per hour (3,540 km per hour)," Marcos explained.
"Asteroid 2024 PT5 will not describe a full orbit around Earth. You may say that if a true satellite is like a customer buying goods inside a store, objects like 2024 PT5 are window shoppers."
Mini-moon events are divided into two categories: those with long episode stays, during which the asteroid completes one or more full orbits of our planet over the course of one or more years, and short engagements in which the small body does not complete one full revolution.
These later, more temporary captures last just days, weeks, or even a few months.
Marcos said that, to become a mini-moon, an incoming asteroid has to approach Earth within a range of around 2.8 million miles (4.5 million km) and at about 2,200 mph (3,540 km per hour), a relatively slow speed.
These conditions were met by 2024 PT5 at 3:54 EDT (1954 UTC) on Sept. 29, 2024, marking the beginning of its short capture.
The occupation will end at 11:43 EDT (1543 UTC) on (Nov. 25), when perturbations caused by the sun's gravity will disrupt its orbit.
When it leaves Earth, the asteroid will return to its adoptive family of the Arjuna asteroid belt.
Marcos added that, thanks to the extensive astrometry obtained from the Teide Observatory, the determination of the orbit of 2024 PT5 has been greatly improved.
That means it is now well known enough for NASA to study this object using radar when it makes another close approach to Earth on Jan. 9, 2025. But that isn't all scientists have learned about this mini-moon so far.
As discussed, several papers have suggest that, before its adoption by the Arjuna asteroid belt, 2024 PT5 was a child of the moon, created when an asteroid struck the moon and caused material to be ejected.
These findings could also suggest that other bodies in the Arjuna asteroid belt owe their origins to the moon.
"In the lunar ejecta formation scenario, 2024 PT5 could be a large boulder from the surface of the moon that was ejected into cislunar space after a cratering event, subsequently evolving dynamically towards an orbit within the Arjuna asteroid belt," Marcos said.
"This object has helped the community to realize that lunar ejecta is probably a main source for the material that constitutes the Arjuna asteroid belt."
"I won't really be sad to see 2024 PT5 go; mini-moons come and go as they wish. I am just waiting for the next one," Marcos concluded.
"That wait will not be long; the next capture will probably happen within the next few months. The ongoing Near Earth Object surveys are now sensitive enough to pick up these objects on a regular basis."
https://www.space.com/earth-second-moon-2024-PT5-asteroid
https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024arXiv241108834D/abstract
Canada wants your help to name its 1st moon rover
November 21, 2024
Canada will soon roll a rover onto the moon, and you can help name the pioneering machine.
The Canadian Space Agency asked people around the world to pick from the semi-finalist names for the moon rover, which will launch no earlier than 2026. You can take part in the contest here, through Dec. 20.
The rover is part of a planned network of Canadian moon missions. Canada is partnering with NASA on the U.S. space agency's Artemis program, which aims to put astronauts on the moon later in the decade.
CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen was selected in 2023 for Artemis 2, a four-astronaut mission expected to circle the moon no earlier than next year in preparation for landing missions.
"Humanity is going back to the moon, and Canada is part of this exciting journey," CSA officials wrote in a statement Wednesday (Nov. 20), of the rover contest.
"A first Canadian rover is set to explore the south pole of the moon. It will demonstrate innovative key technologies, gather scientific information, and search for water in the form of ice."
The rover was announced in 2021 and will be built by Canadensys Aerospace, a Toronto-area company. As CSA noted, Canada's government spending on the moon includes several projects.
CSA also plans to build a lunar cart that will assist astronauts on the surface. Its Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP) is also funding payloads for future lunar science.
The largest Artemis contribution from CSA is the Canadarm3 robotic arm to serve NASA's planned Gateway space station in lunar orbit. The arm will be built by Canadian company MDA Space.
According to the CSA, these are the rover names you can vote for; the descriptions for each are provided by the space agency.
Athabasca: Athabasca is a river flowing from the Rockies [Rocky Mountains] through Alberta to Lake Athabasca.
Canada's rivers and streams have been the routes of the continent for millennia and continue to be pathways of discovery, transport and exchange.
The names of the rivers also reflect Canada's diversity and heritage. Future rovers from our fleet could continue this trend by taking names of other Canadian natural wonders.
Courage: To be brave and confident to do what you believe in, Courage is representative of the work that has led to the Canadian lunar rover.
This lunar rover mission is the outcome of over two decades of building and refining our expertise in rover technology with Canadian industry and academia.
Glacier: Glaciers are made of ice, and that is what the rover will be looking for: water in the form of ice.
The name also appeals to Canada's northness: glaciers are important features of Canada's west and Arctic. Our country is home to approximately 20% of Earth's glacier ice volume (excluding the Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets).
Pol-R: Creative spelling of Polar, which refers to regions close to the north pole or south pole.
A big part of Canada is located in the north polar circle, and the rover mission will be landing in the south polar region of the moon.
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/international-space-station/canada-wants-your-help-to-name-its-1st-moon-rover
https://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/astronomy/moon-exploration/first-canadian-rover-to-explore-the-moon.asp
ESA and JAXA sign statement on expanding deep space cooperation
November 21, 2024
The European and Japanese space agencies have issued a joint statement on furthering cooperation on planetary defense, the moon, Mars and beyond.
JAXA President Hiroshi Yamakawa and ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher signed a joint statement Nov. 20 in Tsukuba, Japan, outlining new cooperation in areas including planetary defense, Earth observation, post-ISS low Earth orbit activities, space science and Mars exploration.
Both agencies pledged to deepen their partnership across these areas and work towards future impactful missions.
The statement commits the two agencies to accelerating studying potential cooperation for ESAâs Rapid Apophis Mission for Space Safety (RAMSES) mission, which seeks to study the asteroid Apophis which will make a close approach to Earth in 2029.
The mission needs to be fully approved at the next ESA ministerial meeting in late 2025, but preliminary work is already underway.
The two agencies are also discussing potential collaborative small lander missions to Mars in the 2030s. These would leverage expertise in capabilities such as electric propulsion and entry, descent, and landing.
JAXA and ESA are also discussing planning for post-ISS LEO activities to meet scientific, societal, and economic goals.
They will also examine potential collaboration in lunar exploration, including joint analogue testing and synergizing robotic missions, given commitments to Gateway and Artemis.
ESAâs new lunar analog facility could be opened to JAXA engineers. The two agencies will also continue work on demonstrating interoperability of lunar communication and navigation capabilities, leveraging ESAâs Moonlight program.
In the realm of space science, the two agencies support continuing collaborative efforts in for the ESA-led New Advanced Telescope for High-ENergy Astrophysics mission, or Athena, as well as for the Medium-class missions candidates M-MATISSE and Plasma Observatory presently under competitive study.
There will also be continued dialogue on ESAâs large mission plans focusing on the moons of giant planets and JAXAâs LiteBIRD mission.
The statement highlighted decades of existing productive cooperation including joint missions such as the BepiColombo mission to Mercury and the EarthCARE mission to study how clouds and aerosols affect the Earthâs climate, and ESA and JAXA astronauts working together aboard the ISS.
The new collaboration between ESA and JAXA, termed âNext Big Cooperations,â is set to drive societal progress, scientific innovation, and sustainable space exploration, addressing critical global issues such as climate change and planetary defense, according to the statement.
The statement was well-received by ispace, a private Japanese company engaged in lunar exploration with a presence in Europe.
âAs a global company leading lunar development with entities in Japan and Europe, we sincerely welcome the recent announcement by the ESA and JAXA,â Takeshi Hakamada, ispace founder and CEO, said in a press statement.
âWe have had the privilege of working with both space agencies on significant exploration efforts and welcome the acknowledgement of commercial opportunities âwith the aim of contributing to new scientific discovery as well as human exploration on the lunar surface,â Hakamada added.
Meanwhile, Koichi Suzuki, deputy director for safety and mission assurance at JAXA, stated at the Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Germany Nov. 21 that the agency was building on recent exploration and LEO achievements including the SLIM moon landing, the Astroscale ADRAS-J mission supported by Commercial Removal of Debris Demonstration (CRD2), and EarthCARE.
In the future, Japan will return to the moon with the LUPEX south pole lunar landing in partnership with the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), work on a crewed pressurized rover for the Artemis program, and move to demonstrate the removal of large debris from orbit.
There will also be a focus on capabilities such as additive manufacturing.
https://spacenews.com/esa-and-jaxa-sign-statement-on-expanding-deep-space-cooperation/
https://twitter.com/AschbacherJosef/status/1859512100311146770
Anduril secures $99.7 million contract for Space Force network upgrade
November 21, 2024
Defense technology firm Anduril has won a $99.7 million U.S. Space Force contract to modernize the Space Surveillance Network (SSN), leveraging artificial intelligence to enhance space domain awareness and threat detection.
The five-year indefinite delivery indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contract, announced Nov. 21, will integrate Andurilâs Lattice software to autonomously process and distribute data from a global network of military space sensors, replacing legacy systems with a more advanced architecture.
Lattice enables machine-to-machine communication across diverse sensor types, including conventional and phased-array radars and telescopes.
This capability allows for real-time analysis of space objects, improving the militaryâs ability to track satellites, monitor space debris, and provide early warning of potential ballistic missile launches.
The contract builds on previous awards, including a $33.5 million series of contracts for SSN upgrades the company received over the past two years.
Anduril is also implementing SDANet, a mesh network that utilizes commercial space internet services like SpaceXâs Starlink to create high-speed connections between space domain awareness platforms.
U.S. Space Command has identified these network upgrades as an urgent priority, reflecting growing concerns about space-based threats and the need for more sophisticated monitoring capabilities.
The SSN, originally deployed in the late 1950s, has undergone incremental updates.
Anduril said its AI-powered approach marks a technological leap in the militaryâs space surveillance infrastructure.
https://spacenews.com/anduril-secures-99-7-million-contract-for-space-force-network-upgrade/
https://www.anduril.com/article/anduril-awarded-program-of-record-space-surveillance-network/
DirecTV calls time on plans to merge with Dish
November 22, 2024
DirecTV is walking away from plans to buy Dish Network over a failed debt-exchange offer, although some analysts expect the satellite TV providers will return to the deal table given the potential for billions of dollars in synergies.
Satellite operator EchoStar, which owns Dish, said in a Nov. 22 regulatory filing that DirecTV had notified the company that it would be terminating the deal at 11:59 pm Eastern.
Dish bondholders needed to agree to swap their existing debt for new debt issued by the merged entity at a reduced value for the transaction to go through, resulting in a âhaircutâ of about $1.57 billion.
The deal would have seen DirecTV buy Dish parent company Dish DBS, which also owns online streaming service Sling TV, for $1 while taking on roughly $9.75 billion of debt.
New Street Research analysts estimated the plan would generate nearly $9 billion in synergy value.
This potential value remains too high to ignore, New Street Research analyst Jonathan Chaplin said.
A combined company would also have more time and resources to find ways to transition a business that continues to lose satellite TV subscribers to online streaming services.
The companies have periodically revisited a potential merger over the years.
According to Chaplin, the next iteration of a merger may have to wait until bondholder litigation against EchoStar over earlier transactions they say moved billions of dollars in assets out of their reach is resolved.
âThe key reason this deal failed is because both sides in the litigation are convinced that they will win,â he said. âUnfortunately, the litigation could take a while.â
If the litigation is not resolved in the next few years, Chaplin expects the next major driver would be sizable DBS debt maturities due in July and December 2026.
âBondholders are convinced that DBS is insolvent and that the maturities will force the Company in bankruptcy,â he wrote.
âIf they are right, and if they take control of the asset, they will undoubtedly pursue a deal with [DirecTV]. If they are wrong, EchoStar will pursue the deal.
âThe synergies will erode over time, but we suspect they will be big enough that the deal will still be worth pursuing at any point in the future.â
EchoStar had outlined plans to aggressively expand its satellite and terrestrial mobile broadband services after offloading its video distribution business, aiming to strengthen its position to capitalize on opportunities such as the emerging direct-to-device market.
EchoStar and Dish did not respond to requests for comment.
https://spacenews.com/directv-calls-time-on-plans-to-merge-with-dish/
China quietly tested its first inflatable space module in orbit
November 22, 2024
China tested out a small expandable module in orbit during the recent Shijian-19 mission, an update more than a month after the spacecraftâs landing reveals.
The Shijian-19 retrievable satellite launched on a Long March 2D rocket from Jiuquan Sept. 27 and landed late Eastern Oct. 10 at the nearby Dongfeng landing site in the Gobi Desert.
The China Academy of Space Technology (CAST), which manufactured both Shijian-19 and the test module, revealed that the âinflatable flexible sealed moduleâ completed an on-orbit test in a Nov. 21 statement.
The module is described by CAST as a multifunctional sealed structure made from flexible composite materials.
The mission was deemed a complete success by CAST, a key division of Chinaâs state-owned contractor CASC, which also developed modules for the Tiangong space station.
CAST stated the module is in a compressed, folded state during launch and inflates upon reaching orbit.
This design offers advantages such as lightweight construction and high folding efficiency. CAST described the technology as a promising approach for constructing large-scale space-sealed modules and represents an important new direction in sealed module technology.
The company leveraged its expertise in system design, structures, mechanisms, thermal control, and space environment to achieve this breakthrough, according to the statement.
It added that ground-based testsâsuch as airtightness, debris impact, extreme pressure, vibration, and thermal vacuum testsâwere conducted in collaboration with partner organizations to validate the moduleâs performance.
China has earlier stated its interest in expandable or inflatable modules, but the Nov. 21 release appears to be the first public unveiling of related hardware.
The country has also revealed plans to begin expanding the Tiangong space station, starting with a multifunctial module to allow new modules to dock at the facility.
While renders of the plan appear to show new rigid modules similar to those already in orbit, an inflatable habitat could play a role in this planned expansion.
The Shijian-19 test echoes tests such as the BEAM demonstration by Bigelow Aerospace on the International Space Station, though smaller in scale and much shorter in duration.
A number of companies including Lockheed Martin and Sierra Space are testing inflatable habitat technology, which could be deployed in post-ISS low Earth orbit commercial space stations.
The Shijian-19 mission was described as the first test of a new generation of high-performance reusable retrievable space test platform by the China National Space Administration (CNSA).
As well as the expandable module, the roughly 3,500-kilogram Shijian-19 mission spacecraft carried payloads and experiments including staple and industrial crops for irradiation experiments aimed at fostering beneficial mutations, microbial specimens, and space technology experiments.
Shijian-19 was a short-duration version of the retrievable spacecraft, designed for missions lasting about two weeks.
A long-term configuration, equipped with solar arrays on its propulsion and power module, is capable of remaining in orbit longer, supporting extended experiments.
While China has the Tiangong space station for microgravity and other space-related experiments, it has limited downmass capabilities.
The recoverable portion of the Shijian spacecraft can carry between 500 to 600 kilograms of payload, increasing Chinaâs options for microgravity experiments.
The successful test of the inflatable module fills a technological gap in Chinaâs capabilities and potentially opens the door to future applications in deep space exploration and orbital habitats.
https://spacenews.com/china-quietly-tested-its-first-inflatable-space-module-in-orbit/
Introducing âUFOâ galaxiesâthe Milky Wayâs dustier cousins
Nov. 21, 2024
In a new study, a team of astrophysicists led by CU Boulder has set out to unravel the mysteries of UFOsânot the alien spacecraft, but a class of unusually large and red galaxies that researchers have nicknamed Ultra-red Flattened Objects, or UFOs for short.
The research shines a spotlight on some strange galaxies, said Justus Gibson, lead author of the study and a doctoral student in the Department of Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences.
CU Boulder researchers first discovered UFO galaxies in images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).
Now, Gibson and his colleagues think they know more about the galaxiesâ inner workings.
The researchers explained that UFOs are odd cosmic ducks for various reasons.
For starters, they reside near the limit of how far earlier space instruments, like the Hubble Space Telescope, could peer into the universe.
But Hubble had completely missed them because these galaxies emit very little visible light.
The new study relies on observations from the Webb telescope, a pioneering spacecraft that launched in December 2021.
Drawing on those images and computer simulations, the team reports that UFO galaxies seem to be similar in size and shape to the Milky Way. But these new galaxies are much dustier.
The team published its findings this October in The Astrophysical Journal.
âJWST allows us to see this type of galaxy that we never would have been able to see before,â Gibson said. âIt tells us that maybe we didn't understand the universe as well as we thought.â
The universe is turning out to be more interesting than some scientists assumed, said study co-author Erica Nelson, who first discovered the UFO galaxies.
âTheyâre so visually striking,â said Nelson, assistant professor of astrophysics at CU Boulder.
âTheyâre enormous red discs that pop up in these images, and they were totally unexpected. They make you say: âWhat? How?ââ
Hidden galaxies
Gibson noted that UFO galaxies look red because they emit very little visible lightâmost of the light that escapes these galaxies is infrared radiation, and what little visible light they emit is at the limit of what human eyes can see (red, in other words).
As a result, the UFO galaxies were all but invisible to Hubble, which only records visible light. The Webb telescope, in contrast, collects infrared light, which means itâs well-suited to spotting these kinds of objects.
âPrior to the launch of James Webb, we thought we would find really, really far away galaxies,â Gibson said. âBut we thought that closer to us, we already had a pretty good understanding of all the types of galaxies there are.â
In the new study, Gibson and his colleagues drew on observations from a collaboration called the JWST Advanced Deep Extragalactic Survey (JADES). In all, the team identified 56 UFO galaxies in images from JADES.
They found a lot of dust.
Biting the dust
The researchers noted that all galaxies, and even Earthâs solar system, contain interplanetary dust, the remnants of dying stars that exploded a long time ago, shooting tiny particles of metal far into space.
But the UFO galaxies contain a lot more dust than the Milky Wayâenough dust to block about 50 times more light from beaming into space. Itâs a bit like a sandstorm on Earth obscuring the sun.
The researchers also used computer simulations, or models, to understand how the galaxies are shaped. Gibson noted that galaxies can come in many shapes and sizes, from Frisbee-like discs to football shapes and spheres.
The teamâs calculations suggest that UFO galaxies may be shaped like run-of-the-mill discs (think Milky Way).
âYou have these big bad disksâlike our home, the Milky Wayâflying around space, completely invisible to us,â Nelson said.
How these galaxies got so dusty isnât clear. Nelson said she hopes that by studying them, astrophysicists can learn how galaxies grow and form new stars over time.
For now, the UFOs raise a lot more questions than answers.
âWhy on Earth do these galaxies have so much more dust than all the other galaxies?â she said. âGot me.â
https://www.colorado.edu/today/2024/11/21/introducing-ufo-galaxies-milky-ways-dustier-cousins
https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/1538-4357/ad64c2/meta
One contractor is on the Space Forceâs naughty list
November 21, 2024 03:56 PM ET
The Space Force has put a defense contractor on a blacklist intended to hold companies accountable for poor performance and program delays.
âThere is a company on the watch list today. I won't say who it is,â Lt. Gen. Philip Garrant, commander of Space Systems Command, told reporters at a Defense Writers Group event.
The Contractor Responsibility Watch List, or CRWL, was created in the 2018 National Defense Authorization Act to give Space Systems Command the power to stop underperforming contractors from getting new contracts.
Until today, the service has never confirmed if it has used the list.
The list âhas absolutely worked as intended. We've seen significant improvement in performance and attention at the most senior levels of the corporation,â Garrant said.
While Garrant didnât name the company, he said the contractor works on high-priority space programs.
The service wants to expand the tool in the 2025 NDAA and move the authority to blacklist contractors to Air Force space acquisition chief Frank Calvelli.
Calvelli has been known to publicly call out defense contractors for schedule delays, and has emphasized the need to hold industry accountable
Once the authority is moved, Calvelli will likely use it âmore frequently,â Garrant said.
Calvelli has been trying to address long-delayed âproblem childrenâ programs in the Space Force, including an RTX program called GPS Next Generation Operational Control Segment, or OCX, which are ground stations that will control the Pentagonâs constellation of GPS satellites, as well as an L3Harris space command-and-control system called Advanced Tracking and Launch Analysis System, or ATLAS.
The Space Force recently booted RTX from a contract to develop new missile warning and tracking satellites due to cost overruns and schedule problemsâan example of how the service is keeping contractors accountable, Garrant said.
â[Calvelli] has talked a lot about holding people accountable, whether they're in the government or in industry. Without particulars, in my tenure, we have relieved program managers that work for me, holding them accountable.
I would offer that removing one of the industry partners was holding them accountable to what they proposed to us from a cost, schedule, performance perspective.
Thatâs the indication,â he said.
https://www.defenseone.com/business/2024/11/one-contractor-space-forces-naughty-list/401227/
The fastest-moving stars in the galaxy may be piloted by intelligent aliens, new paper suggests
November 21, 2024
An advanced alien civilization may want to cruise around the galaxy, and the best way to do that is by steering their binary star system, a researcher proposes in a new paper.
Long-lived civilizations may have many motivations for wanting to move somewhere else in the galaxy.
They may need to escape an impending supernova, for example. Maybe they need to scout our new natural resources. Or maybe they just feel like exploring.
Given the enormous distances between the stars, however, interstellar travel is tremendously difficult and time-consuming.
So, instead of leaving their system, an intrepid alien species might decide to take their system with them. The main advantage of accelerating their own star would be that they get to keep it with them as they travel.
They would do this by causing their star to either radiate or evaporate in just one direction, which would propel the star, along with all of its planets, to a new location in the galaxy.
Astronomers have investigated whether "hypervelocity" stars (which, as their name suggests, are stars with an extraordinarily high velocity) may have been purposefully launched by alien civilizations, but the known candidates show no signs of artificial interference.
In a recent paper, Clement Vidal, a philosopher at the Vrije University Brussels in Belgium, pointed out that most stars are not solitary but rather belong to binary systems.
This means we might be missing half of the potential artificially accelerated stars.
Even better, binary systems offer many advantages over their solo counterparts, Vidal wrote in his paper, which has not been peer-reviewed or published in a scientific journal.
Vidal took a model system consisting of a neutron star with a low-mass star tightly orbiting it. This setup provides the most flexibility in steerability and thrust.
The alien civilization would have to figure out a way to eject material from the star. This could be from asymmetric magnetic fields or from some device that causes uneven heating on the stellar surface.
No matter what, the goal would be to get the star to eject more material in one direction than another. This would create thrust, pushing the binary system in the opposite direction, Vidal explained.
If the civilization were to place the machinery on or near the neutron star, where the strong gravity could provide a ready source of energy, they could steer the binary system by carefully cycling the machine off and on.
For example, if they activated the machine only at the exact same point in the orbit, they would send the binary system in one direction.
If they left the machine activated slightly longer, they would adjust their course, pointing their movement in any direction they wished along the orbital plane.
They could even steer their system in new off-orbit directions by altering the direction in which their machine was pointed, effectively changing the orbit of the neutron star around its companion.
Amazingly, there are real systems in the universe that match these kinds of characteristics, like the "black widow" pulsar PSR J0610-2100 and the "redback" pulsar PSR J2043+1711.
Both of those systems have significant accelerations. Although they are unlikely to be caused by alien engineering, they are worth looking into, Vidal concludes. At least, while they're still around.
https://www.livescience.com/space/extraterrestrial-life/the-fastest-moving-stars-in-the-galaxy-may-be-piloted-by-intelligent-aliens-new-paper-suggests
https://arxiv.org/abs/2411.05038