TYB
NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day
February 6, 2025
IC 2574: Coddington's Nebula
Grand spiral galaxies often seem to get all the glory, flaunting their young, bright, blue star clusters in beautiful, symmetric spiral arms. But small, irregular galaxies form stars too. In fact dwarf galaxy IC 2574 shows clear evidence of intense star forming activity in its telltale reddish regions of glowing hydrogen gas. Just as in spiral galaxies, the turbulent star-forming regions in IC 2574 are churned by stellar winds and supernova explosions spewing material into the galaxy's interstellar medium and triggering further star formation. A mere 12 million light-years distant, IC 2574 is part of the M81 group of galaxies, seen toward the northern constellation Ursa Major. Also known as Coddington's Nebula, the lovely island universe is about 50,000 light-years across, discovered by American astronomer Edwin Coddington in 1898.
https://apod.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html
More Than 400 Lives Saved with NASA’s Search and Rescue Tech in 2024
Feb 06, 2025
Did you know that the same search and rescue technologies developed by NASA for astronaut missions to space help locate and rescue people across the United States and around the world?
NASA’s collaboration with the international satellite-aided search and rescue effort known as Cospas-Sarsat has enabled the development of multiple emergency location beacons for explorers on land, sea, and air.
Of the 407 lives saved in 2024 through search and rescue efforts in the United States, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) reports that 52 rescues were the result of activated personal locator beacons, 314 from emergency position-indicating radio beacons, and 41 from emergency locator transmitters.
Since 1982, more than 50,000 lives have been saved across the world.
Using GPS satellites, these beacons transmit their location to the Cospas-Sarsat network once activated. The beacons then provide the activation coordinates to the network, allowing first responders to rescue lost or distressed explorers.
The Search and Rescue Office, part of NASA’s SCaN (Space Communications and Navigation) Program, has assisted in search and rescue services since its formation in 1979 Now, the office is building on their long legacy of Earth-based beacon development to support crewed missions to space.
The beacons also are used for emergency location, if needed, as part of NASA’s crew launches to and from the International Space Station, and will support NASA’s Artemis campaign crew recovery preparations during future missions returning from deep space.
Systems being tested, like the ANGEL (Advanced Next-Generation Emergency Locator) beacon, are benefitting life on Earth and missions to the Moon and Mars.
Most recently, NASA partnered with the Department of Defense to practice Artemis II recovery procedures – including ANGEL beacon activation – during URT-11 (Underway Recovery Test 11).
https://www.nasa.gov/missions/artemis/more-than-400-lives-saved-with-nasas-search-and-rescue-tech-in-2024/
NASA Goes Live: First Twitch Stream from Space Station
Feb 05, 2025
For the first time, NASA is hosting a live Twitch event from about 250 miles off the Earth aboard the International Space Station, bringing new audiences closer to space than ever before.
Viewers will have the opportunity to hear from NASA astronauts live and ask questions about life in orbit.
The event will begin at 11:45 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 12, livestreamed on the agency’s official Twitch channel:
https://www.twitch.tv/nasa
“This Twitch event from space is the first of many,” said Brittany Brown, director, Office of Communications Digital and Technology Division, at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“We spoke with digital creators at TwitchCon about their desire for streams designed with their communities in mind, and we listened.
In addition to our spacewalks, launches, and landings, we’ll host more Twitch-exclusive streams like this one.
Twitch is one of the many digital platforms we use to reach new audiences and get them excited about all things space.”
Although NASA has streamed events to Twitch previously, this conversation will be the first NASA event from the International Space Station developed specifically for the agency’s Twitch platform.
During the event, viewers will hear from NASA astronaut Don Pettit, who is currently aboard the orbiting laboratory, and NASA astronaut Matt Dominick, who recently returned to Earth after the agency’s Crew-8 mission.
The NASA astronauts will discuss daily life aboard the space station and the research conducted in microgravity.
Additionally, the event will highlight ways for Twitch users to engage with NASA, including citizen science projects and science, technology, engineering, and math programs designed to inspire the Artemis Generation.
https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-goes-live-first-twitch-stream-from-space-station/
Space Navigation Test, Plasma Crystal Research Top Wednesday Science Schedule
February 5, 2025
Space navigation and plasma crystals were the main research topics aboard the International Space Station on Wednesday.
The Expedition 72 crew also reorganized cargo and continued cleaning up after last week’s spacewalk.
Accurate navigation is critical as crew spacecraft are being readied to travel farther away from Earth-orbiting satellite systems and toward the Moon.
NASA Flight Engineer Don Pettit installed and activated the Navigation and Communication Testbed (NAVCOM) demonstration hardware inside the Columbus laboratory module.
NAVCOM is being tested as a more accurate alternative to a constellation of satellites known as the Global Navigation Satellite System.
NAVCOM may inform the development of lunar stations to transmit precise navigation data such as position and time on future crewed missions to the Moon.
Station Commander Suni Williams of NASA spent most of her day on cargo and life support work in the orbital lab.
She primarily worked inside the Permanent Multipurpose Module reconfiguring the cargo hold to optimize space.
Williams also spent a few moments transferring clean water from the Tranquility module into Roscosmos water tanks for temporary stowage.
Williams later joined NASA Flight Engineers Butch Wilmore and Nick Hague servicing spacesuits and stowing tools used during a Jan. 30 spacewalk.
Following her cargo and maintenance work, Williams wrapped up her shift stowing spacesuit batteries and preparing them for upcoming recharging activities.
Wilmore and Hague worked throughout the day in the Quest airlock stowing a variety of spacewalking tools used during the science and maintenance spacewalk.
Roscosmos Flight Engineer Aleksandr Gorbunov started his day setting up a video monitor for a study observing electrons, ions, neutral gas, and microparticles that interact strongly when charged and can turn into plasma crystals.
Gorbunov also assisted Williams with the water transfer tasks then replaced hardware in the Zvezda service module that purifies water vapor into potable water.
Flight Engineers Alexey Ovchinin and Ivan Vagner spent their day on routine maintenance and ongoing science activities inside the orbital outpost’s Roscosmos segment.
Ovchinin completed carbon dioxide monitoring near crew work areas and crew quarters then worked on Zvezda’s oxygen generator.
Vagner participated in a test to improve how international crews communicate with mission controllers from around the world.
https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacestation/2025/02/05/space-navigation-test-plasma-crystal-research-top-wednesday-science-schedule/
High point for Barra beach airport after NASA spot from space
Thu 6 February 2025 at 4:36 am GMT-8
It is the only one of its kind, a harum-scarum drop from the clouds onto a runway made of nothing but sand.
The airport on the Scottish island of Barra is famous the world over for its landing strip on the beach, drawing tourists and flight fright fans from across the globe.
But now the famous beachfront runway has climbed to new notoriety after being picked by NASA to show off its spaceborne Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER) satellite.
The airport appears in a selection of images released by the American space agency, one of only five locations ever shown from Scotland.
The Nasa image of Barra (Image: NASA) NASA’S caption to the image states: “Barra Island Eoligarry Airport is located in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland, U.K..
The airport is the only beach runway on the earth, relying on low tide to e open for take-offs and landings. Opened in 1936, there are now two daily flights between Barra and Glasgow.
The image was acquired august 24, 2021, covers an area of 15 by 19.5 km, and is located at 57 degrees north, 7.45 degrees west.”
The view from space – which shows the land in a reddish hue due to thermal imaging technology - clearly depicts the curved beach on Barra’s Traigh Mhòr beach where the plance makes its landing.
ASTER is a sophisticated satellite instrument developed as a collaboration between NASA and Japan’s Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry.
Since its launch in 1999, the satellite has been monitoring environmental changes and mapping the Earth’s surface in high resolution.
Its selection of Barra Airport highlights the unique intersection of natural beauty and innovation that the location represents, the airport said.
Michael Galbraith, Barra Airport Manager said: "Barra Airport has always been a special place, not just for those who work and travel here but for aviation enthusiasts around the world.
“Seeing our unique beach runway captured from space is a remarkable reminder of its global significance.
It’s fantastic to have Barra recognised in this way, highlighting both the natural beauty of Traigh Mhòr and the airport’s one of a-kind status."
https://uk.news.yahoo.com/high-point-barra-beach-airport-123642882.html
https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/images/pia26502-barra-airport-outer-hebrides-uk/
Blue Origin spins up lunar gravity for New Shepard flight
Wed 5 Feb 2025 // 17:33 UTC
Blue Origin has sent its reusable New Shepard rocket on another suborbital lob, this time simulating lunar gravity for capsule payloads.
The rocket launched this week following delays due to thick clouds and vehicle avionics issues.
Liftoff occurred at 1600 UTC, and the capsule reached 105 km above sea level before returning to Earth. One of the capsule's three parachutes failed to deploy correctly, although this did not affect the landing.
The 29th New Shepard flight was the 14th payload mission for the suborbital rocket, carrying 30 payloads from NASA, commercial companies, and research institutions.
Twenty-nine payloads were loaded into the capsule, and one was attached to the booster.
The capsule's reaction control system spun the vehicle for about two minutes to simulate lunar gravity.
The spin reached approximately 11 revolutions per minute, which simulated one-sixth of Earth's gravity at the midpoint of the crew capsule lockers.
Phil Joyce, Senior Vice President at Blue Origin, said: "New Shepard's ability to provide a lunar gravity environment is an extremely unique and valuable capability as researchers set their sights on a return to the Moon.
"This enables researchers to test lunar technologies at a fraction of the cost, rapidly iterate, and test again in a significantly compressed time frame."
Demand for simulated lunar gravity is increasing, although a launch on New Shepard is not strictly necessary, depending on the requirements of the payloads.
Companies such as ZeroG fly a Boeing 727 on parabolas, which means experiments can run in a sixth of Earth's gravity for short periods.
However, while the duration of lunar gravity that can be simulated on parabolic flights is measured in seconds, approximately two minutes is possible on a New Shepard flight.
The concept of spinning spacecraft to generate artificial gravity is not new. NASA gave serious thought to doing so with its Skylab station and, at one time, planned to add a centrifuge module to the International Space Station (ISS) before budget woes canceled the component.
Blue Origin boss Dave Limp described the company's approach as "an entirely new way to bring lunar gravity to NASA and other lunar technology providers."
Perhaps considering that certain elements within the US administration have their sights set beyond the Moon, Limp added: "Plus, we can adapt this New Shepard capability to closely mirror Mars and other solar system gravity environments in the future."
https://www.theregister.com/2025/02/05/new_shepard_lunar_gravity/
https://www.blueorigin.com/news/new-shepard-ns-29-mission
Putin sacks space agency chief after setbacks
Feb 6, 2025
Russian President Vladimir Putin sacked the head of the Roscosmos space agency on Thursday, the Kremlin said, citing the need to "develop" the corporation after suffering years of humiliating setbacks.
Yuri Borisov had been in the role since July 2022, presiding over the crash landing of the Luna-25 probe in August 2023, Moscow's first lunar lander mission in almost 50 years.
He has been replaced with Dmitry Bakanov, a 39-year-old deputy transport minister and former head of a satellite company, the Kremlin said.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the move was part of a "rotation", adding: "The corporation needs to dynamically develop."
Borisov often had extravagant ideas to develop Russia's space programme, including putting a nuclear reactor on the Moon with China, but struggled to put them into action.
Once a space-faring pioneer, Moscow has grappled with a loss of scientific talent and erratic funding since the collapse of the USSR, causing it to lag behind competitors like the United States and China.
The Russian segment of the International Space Station has suffered three coolant leaks in just over two years, with Moscow signalling it aims to pull out of the project as early as 2028 and build its own orbital station.
Borisov warned in 2023 that most Russian equipment on the station was beyond its warranty and that the ISS as a whole was "approaching the finish line of its existence".
Roscosmos also struggled with corruption under Borisov's tenure.
Prosecutors in December 2023 charged the deputy director of Roscosmos and two other accomplices with embezzling some $4.5 million from the crisis-hit sector.
https://www.kpvi.com/news/national_news/putin-sacks-space-agency-chief-after-setbacks/article_0d743b31-202f-536c-8e97-f7efd2fb0046.html
ATMOS Space Cargo is Go for Reentry
February 6, 2025
ATMOS Space Cargo, a German-based orbital reentry startup, received regulatory approval to fly the first test flight of its Phoenix reentry capsule, making it the first European company to attempt a reentry from space.
During the mission, scheduled to launch on SpaceX’s Bandwagon-3 rideshare mission as early as April, Phoenix will complete two Earth orbits before blasting through the atmosphere and landing in the Indian ocean—without any parachute.
The tech: Unlike other reentry capsules, which use ablative heat shields, Phoenix relies on an inflatable heat shield to protect its payloads from the shock and heat of reentry.
It inflates using a two-stage system of nitrogen gas canisters and air intakes to suck air out of the atmosphere, reaching a full diameter of 6 m.
The combination of light weight and large surface area make for a slower, cooler reentry.
Altogether, the 250 kg-class reentry vehicle can carry 100 kg of cargo at full capacity, an order of magnitude more efficient than other reentry technologies.
“It’s a very risky approach, but if it works, then there’s pretty much no technology out there that is as lightweight as ours,” ATMOS CEO Sebastian Klaus told Payload.
The mission: At least three payloads will be flying on Phoenix’s first test flight.
The German Aerospace Center’s Institute of Aerospace Medicine is flying its M-42 radiation detector to measure the radiation environment during orbit.
IDDK, a Japanese biotech firm behind the Micro Imaging Device, a one-chip microscopic observation technology, is sending a payload.
Frontier Space, a UK space biotech company developing a “lab-in-a-box” spacelab and bioreactor, is also flying tech onboard.
While these partners have received discounts to ride on the inaugural flight, ATMOS envisions future Phoenix flights to cost ~€45,000 ($46,613) per kg, or €4.5M ($4.7M) for the whole capsule, according to Klaus.
Later Phoenix reentry vehicles will be equipped with an on-board propulsion system, solar power, and more advanced communications tech to ensure that the vehicle can remain on orbit for up to three months.
What’s next: The company expects to fly approximately two missions in 2026 and four in 2027—with the ultimate goal of launching a reentry vehicle every month, according to Klaus.
And space on these missions is already filling up. In December, the company signed a contract with Space Cargo Unlimited to fly up to seven flights by 2027.
ATMOS plans to scale up the technology to meet demand, taking up to 25 metric tons of payload to orbit in a single flight, according to Klaus.
“Think about what you can do with 25 metric tons. You can talk about factories in space.
You can talk about catching a complete satellite and bringing it back down to earth. You can think about bringing back a rocket upper stage and making rockets reusable,” Klaus said.
https://payloadspace.com/atmos-space-cargo-is-go-for-reentry/
FAA bars helicopters, planes from sharing air space over Potomac
02/06/25 7:33 AM ET
Helicopters and airplanes are no longer allowed to share air space over the Potomac River near busy Reagan Washington National Airport, the FAA announced after a deadly Jan. 29 mid-air collision there killed 67 people.
The swath of airspace over the river will be reserved for airplanes, with exceptions, the FAA said in a Temporary Flying Restriction posted Tuesday.
If a medical, police, military or presidential helicopter must fly in that space, civilian aircraft will not be allowed, “to prevent potential conflicts in this airspace,” officials said.
In last week’s air tragedy, a U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter with three crew aboard collided with an American Airlines regional passenger jet with 60 passengers and four crew members.
Both aircraft plunged into the icy Potomac River.
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board are trying to determine whether the Black Hawk was too high at the time of the crash, among other facts.
The restriction on planes and helicopters near the Washington area airport is in effect until March 31, the agency said.
All 67 victims of the collision have been recovered and identified, authorities have said, and much of the jet, a Bombardier CRJ700, has been pulled from the water.
On Wednesday, the NTSB said the pieces of airplane have been taken by barge to a secure location “for a full wreckage layout and examination.”
Officials have said the submerged Black Hawk helicopter would be removed from the river this week.
https://thehill.com/regulation/transportation/5129625-faa-helicopters-planes-barred-air-space-sharing/
https://tfr.faa.gov/save_pages/detail_5_9909.html
Officials call for unified cyber standards for space systems
Feb 5, 2025 at 3:42 PM
As information sharing between allies and partners becomes increasingly important in the space domain, the US needs to create a uniform set of cybersecurity standards for its space systems, government officials said Tuesday.
Right now there are several entities and agencies who have or are working on their own set of cybersecurity standards for space systems.
These include the National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency, OASIS and commercial providers.
Additionally, a Biden-era executive order mandated practices that would protect commercial satellite systems against cyber attacks.
But if all of these standards are siloed, it will be more difficult to share them with international allies and they won’t be useful in protecting space systems against adversarial threats, Lauryn Williams, former chief of staff in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Industrial Base Policy, said during a Washington Business Space Roundtable discussion Tuesday.
Williams said that a meeting with Japanese officials during her stint in the Office of the National Cyber Director prior to her most recent post was her catalyst for wanting to develop a clear set of cyber standards for space systems.
“The Japanese government turned to me as the kind of cyber person sitting at the table, and they said, very straightforwardly, ‘What is your cybersecurity policy?
What is your cybersecurity standard?’ We could not answer that question. I cannot answer that question,” she said.
“We need to be able to answer that question, so that we can lead because that was the indication that I got, was that the Japanese were looking to us to be able to say, ‘Here it is.’
So that they and many of our other international partners could take and build on it,” she added.
“I hope that we’ve got a piece of that answer now, not the entirety of it, but the world really is looking to us on this.”
Erin Miller, executive director of the Space Information Sharing and Analysis Center (Space ISAC), echoed Williams’ need for a cohesive set of cyber standards.
She noted that ideally one agency would be in charge of setting these standards; for example, the Department of Homeland Security.
This, however, could be tricky since the federal government tends to fall behind commercial industry in terms of understanding cyber threats to space systems.
“There’s a lot of [standards] that are available that we can look at. We actually formed a task force in Space ISAC to look at all of these different standards and see if we can get a comprehensive view of how to address risks for space systems,” Miller told Breaking Defense on the sidelines of the event.
“But the challenge is that the commercial sector can do that, and organically we can come to a conclusion on how we’re all going to manage sector risk, but it’s still a commercial sector that’s driving it.
We need a complement from the federal government side to drive overall sector risk.”
Both Williams and Miller made clear that such a set of uniformed cybersecurity standards would benefit international cooperation.
Miller also used the opportunity to make her argument that space systems should be considered critical infrastructure.
With this, she explained that another benefit to having the DHS in particular take on the responsibility of creating space cyber standards would be allowing space systems to be considered critical infrastructure, something the space community has been advocating for for several years.
But the federal government maintains these systems do not qualify as critical infrastructure.
“Human lives depend on the security of space systems, and it’s not just humans in the US.
That’s another challenge, is that DHS has primarily been responsible for critical infrastructure that humans in the US rely on, and so risk management is based on US lives, but this is a global conversation,” Miller told Breaking Defense.
“People across the whole world are dependent upon the space systems, and we have a lot of international sales and trade and commerce that’s associated with our space systems and the use of them in countries around the world. So it’s dynamic.”
Though Miller said the DHS could be responsible for making the uniformed set of standards, she acknowledged that there is more than one agency capable of tracking critical infrastructure, so the DHS wouldn’t necessarily have to be the agency responsible for creating the standards.
https://breakingdefense.com/2025/02/officials-call-for-unified-cyber-standards-for-space-systems/