Tag Archives: space

This Documentary Explores The Loneliness Of A Mars Mission – Science Friday

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Listen to Universe of Art onApple Podcasts,Spotify,Google Podcasts,Stitcher,TuneInor your favorite podcasting app.

NASA is preparing to send humans to Mars. Although the launch date has been pushed back over the years, the agency says it wants to get there in the 2030s. And it has a lot on its to-do list. NASA needs to build new rockets, new habitable living spaces, new spacesuits, and new radiation shielding, just to name a few items.

But what if the one of the biggest challenges of these missions is not the engineering, but the mental health of the astronauts? Can all of the crew members get along with each other and stay alive over the course of three years in tight quarters and unforgiving environments? How will they cope with being separated from their families and friends for so long? And what lessons can they learn from astronauts whove lived on the International Space Stationand from our collective experience of isolation during the pandemic?

A new documentary, out March 8, explores all these questions and more. Its called The Longest Goodbye, and it dives intoNASAs Human Factors program, which includes a group of psychologists who are trying to figure out the best way to preserve astronauts mental health on a long and demanding mission.

Host D. Peterschmidt spoke to the films director, Ido Mizrahy, and one of its featured astronauts, Dr. Cady Coleman, about how NASA is thinking about tackling loneliness in space and what we can learn from astronauts whove already lived on the space station.

Plus, a listener shares his experience about performing a drumroll for the solar eclipse.

Universe of Art is hosted and produced by D. Peterschmidt, who also wrote the music. Our show art was illustrated by Abelle Hayford. Support for Science Fridays science and arts coverage comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Do you have science-inspired art youd like to share with us for a future episode? Send us an email or a voice memo touniverse@sciencefriday.com.

D. Peterschmidt

D. Peterschmidt is a producer, host of the podcast Universe of Art, and composes music for Science Fridays podcasts. Their D&D character is a clumsy bard named Chip Chap Chopman.

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This Documentary Explores The Loneliness Of A Mars Mission - Science Friday

Could these big expandable habitats help humanity settle the moon and Mars? – Space.com

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COLORADO SPRINGS Max Space wants to help humanity expand into the final frontier.

The startup is developing a range of inflatable space habitats, the largest of which could provide as much internal volume as a sports stadium. These plans, which Max Space unveiled on Tuesday (April 9) here at the 39th Space Symposium, are designed to help our species make the difficult leap off its home planet.

"The problem with space today is, there isn't enough habitable space in space," Max Space co-founder Aaron Kemmer said in a statement on Tuesday. "Unless we make usable space in space a lot less expensive, and much much larger, humanity's future in space will remain limited."

Related: Living on the moon: What it would be like (infographic)

Back in 2010, Kemmer co-founded the off-Earth manufacturing company Made In Space, which has sent multiple 3D-printing devices to the International Space Station (ISS) over the years. (Made In Space was acquired by Redwire in 2020.)

He says that experience helped convince him that expandable habitats are the future, citing one of the machines Made In Space modified for use on the ISS.

"It's like a three-story system on Earth, and all the engineering wasn't to make it work in space it was actually to get it down to a locker [size], just because there wasn't enough real estate in there," Kemmer told Space.com in an interview here at the symposium on Tuesday.

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Expandable habitats, as the name suggests, launch in compressed form to fit inside rocket fairings but increase in size greatly when deployed in space. They therefore offer much more bang for the buck volume-wise than traditional "tin can" module designs.

An expandable habitat with 100 cubic meters (3,530 cubic feet) of pressurized volume, for example, would be "at least an order of magnitude cheaper" than a comparable metallic one, Kemmer said. (For perspective: The ISS offers 388 cubic meters, or 13,700 cubic feet, of habitable volume, not including the space provided by visiting vehicles.)

This is not a sci-fi concept; three expandable module prototypes are actually circling Earth right now. They are Genesis 1 and Genesis 2, which are free fliers that launched in 2006 and 2007 respectively, and the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), which has been attached to the ISS since 2016.

All three were built by Nevada-based company Bigelow Aerospace, which closed its doors in 2020. The pressure-restraining hulls for Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 were designed and manufactured by Thin Red Line Aerospace, a small Canadian company run by Maxim de Jong Max Space's other co-founder.

The new startup, which has been in operation for about a year, is commercializing Thin Red Line Aerospace technology, Kemmer and de Jong said. But that tech isn't just a Genesis retread.

"It's a very, very, very different approach, where you're just putting fibers in an uncoupled scenario where they don't conflict with one another," de Jong told Space.com on Tuesday. The result, he and Kemmer said, is a cost-effective module that expands in a predictable and reliable way, and is highly scalable to larger sizes.

The new tech will get its first off-Earth test just two years from now, if all goes according to plan: Max Space has booked a spot on a SpaceX rideshare launch in 2026.

That mission will send a module the size of two large suitcases to orbit. However, that's the habitat's compressed configuration. Once deployed, it will expand to a pressurized volume of 20 cubic meters (706 cubic feet).

This deployment will set a new record for expandable habitats. The two Genesis prototypes both feature 11.5 cubic meters (406 cubic feet) of internal volume, while BEAM has 16 cubic meters (565 cubic feet).

Max Space has already built a full-size prototype of the first flight unit, which the company is using for ground testing, Kemmer said. It has started manufacturing the flight vehicle, which will not feature life-support systems but will have the same shielding and strength as human-rated versions.

Related: NASA's moon-orbiting space station will be claustrophobic, architect says

Max Space plans to keep moving fast after this pioneering module makes it to orbit. The startup aims to launch its first 100-cubic-meter (3,531 cubic feet) module in 2027 and to get a 1,000-cubic-meter (35,314 cubic feet) behemoth up by 2030. Even larger variants could potentially launch thereafter, aboard SpaceX's Starship megarocket or Blue Origin's New Glenn vehicle, the company said.

The goal is to provide a variety of destinations to a range of customers, from pharmaceutical companies that want to mass-produce medicines in microgravity to commercial space stations that want to expand their living space all the way to movie studios looking to film in orbit.

"We have several space production companies that we're talking to," Kemmer said. The company has already secured some customer contracts, including from the U.S. Space Force, he added.

But Earth orbit will be just the starting point for Max Space modules, if all goes according to plan.

"My dream is to have a city on the moon before I die," Kemmer said. "So I look at this like, this is going to be the habitat, the structures, that are going to go inside the lava tubes buried under the [lunar] surface."

The company's modules would then make their way to Mars, if all goes well, for Max Space wants to be a key enabler of off-Earth settlement. Indeed, that's why Kemmer and de Jong founded the company to help humanity extend its footprint out into the solar system.

"That was the entire reason," Kemmer said.

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Could these big expandable habitats help humanity settle the moon and Mars? - Space.com

Elon Musk Doubles Down on Mars Dreams and Details What’s Next for SpaceX’s Starship – Singularity Hub

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Elon Musk has long been open about his dreams of using SpaceX to spread humanitys presence further into the solar system. And last weekend, he gave an updated outline of his vision for how the companys rockets could enable the colonization of Mars.

The serial entrepreneur has been clear for a number of years that the main motivation for founding SpaceX was to make humans a multiplanetary species. For a long time, that seemed like the kind of aspirational goal one might set to inspire and motivate engineers rather than one with a realistic chance of coming to fruition.

But following the successful launch of the companys mammoth Starship vehicle last month, the idea is beginning to look less far-fetched. And in a speech at the companys facilities in South Texas, Musk explained how he envisions using Starship to deliver millions of tons of cargo to Mars over the next couple of decades to create a self-sustaining civilization.

Starship is the first design of a rocket that is actually capable of making life multiplanetary, Musk said. No rocket before this has had the potential to extend life to another planet.

In a slightly rambling opening to the speech, Musk explained that making humans multiplanetary could be an essential insurance policy in case anything catastrophic happens to Earth. The red planet is the most obvious choice, he said, as its neither too close nor too far from Earth and has many of the raw ingredients required to support a functioning settlement.

But he estimates it will require us to deliver several million tons of cargo to the surface to get that civilization up and running. Starship is central to those plans, and Musk outlined the companys roadmap for the massive rocket over the coming years.

Key to the vision is making the vehicle entirely reusable. That means the first hurdle is proving SpaceX can land and reuse both the Super Heavy first stage rocket and the Starship spacecraft itself. The second of those challenges will be tougher, as the vehicle must survive reentry to the atmospherein the most recent test, it broke up on its way back to Earth.

Musk says they plan to demonstrate the ability to land and reuse the Super Heavy booster this year, which he thinks has an 80 to 90 percent chance of success. Assuming they can get Starship to survive the extreme heat of reentry, they are also going to attempt landing the vehicle on a mock launch pad out at sea in 2024, with the aim of being able to land and reuse it by next year.

Proving the rocket works and is reusable is just the very first step in Musks Mars ambitions though. To achieve his goal of delivering a million people to the red planet in the next 20 years, SpaceX will have to massively ramp up its production and launch capabilities.

The company is currently building a second launch tower at its base in South Texas and is also planning to build two more at Cape Canaveral in Florida. Musk said the Texas sites would be mostly used for test launches and development work, with the Florida ones being the main hub for launches once Starship begins commercial operations.

SpaceX plans to build six Starships this year, according to Musk, but it is also building what he called a giant factory that will enable it to massively ramp up production of the spacecraft. The long-term goal is to produce multiple Starships a day. Thats crucial, according to Musk, because Starships initially wont return from Mars and will instead be used as raw materials to construct structures on the surface.

The company also plans to continue development of Starship, boosting its carrying capacity from around 100 tons today to 200 tons in the future and enabling it to complete multiple launches in a day. SpaceX also hopes to demonstrate ship-to-ship refueling in orbit next year. It will be necessary to replenish the fuel used up by Starship on launch so it has a full tank as it sets off for Mars.

Those missions will depart when the orbits of Earth and Mars bring them close together, an alignment that only happens every 26 months. As such, Musk envisions entire armadas of Starships setting off together whenever these windows arrive.

SpaceX has done some early work on what needs to happen once Starships arrive at the red planet. Theyve identified promising landing sites and the infrastructure that will need setting up, including power generation, ice-mining facilities, propellant factories, and communication networks. But Musk admits theyve yet to start development of any of these.

One glaring omission in the talk was any detail on whos going to be paying for all of this. While the goal of making humankind multiplanetary is a noble one, its far from clear how the endeavor would make money for those who put up the funds to make it possible.

Musk estimates that the cost of each launch could eventually fall to just $2 to $3 million. And he noted that profits from the companys Starlink satellites and Falcon 9 launch vehicle are currently paying for Starships development. But those revenue streams are unlikely to cover the thousands of launches a year required to make his Mars dreams a reality.

Still, the very fact that the questions these days are more about economics than technical feasibility is testament to the rapid progress SpaceX has made. The dream of becoming a multiplanetary species may not be science fiction for much longer.

Image Credit: SpaceX

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Elon Musk Doubles Down on Mars Dreams and Details What's Next for SpaceX's Starship - Singularity Hub

SpaceX launches Starlink satellites on record 20th reflight of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage – Space.com

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SpaceX has broken its rocket-reuse record yet again.

A Falcon 9 rocket launched 23 of SpaceX's Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Friday (April 12) at 9:40 p.m. EDT (0140 GMT on April 13).

It was the 20th liftoff for this particular Falcon 9 first stage, according to a SpaceX mission description, setting a new reusability mark for the company.The mission lifted off on the 43rd anniversary of NASA's first launch of its reusable spacecraft, the space shuttle, which first flew this day in 1981.

Related: Starlink satellite train: How to see and track it in the night sky

To plan, the Falcon 9's first stage came back to Earth for the 20th time, landing about 8.5 minutes after it launched on the drone ship A Shortfall of Gravitas, which was stationed in the Atlantic Ocean off the Florida coast.

The Falcon 9's upper stage, meanwhile, continued hauling the 23 Starlink satellites to low Earth orbit (LEO). The spacecraft were set to be deployed there about 65.5 minutes after liftoff.

SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk wants to help humanity colonize Mars and achieve a variety of other ambitious exploration feats. Rocket reusability is a key part of this vision, helping to cut the cost of spaceflight and increase its cadence.

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So SpaceX's reuse records don't tend to last long. The previous mark 19 flights for a Falcon 9 booster was first set in December 2023 and then repeated in February and March 2024.

SpaceX has now launched 38 orbital missions so far in 2024. Most of them have been dedicated to building out its Starlink broadband megaconstellation, which currently consists of nearly 5,650 operational satellites.

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SpaceX launches Starlink satellites on record 20th reflight of a Falcon 9 rocket first stage - Space.com

SpaceX launches U.S. military weather monitoring satellite – SpaceNews

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COLORADO SPRINGS A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket on April 11 launched a U.S. Space Force weather monitoring satellite. The vehicle lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base, California, at 7:25 a.m. Pacific.

The USSF-62 mission flew to orbit the U.S. militarys first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) satellite.

Made by Ball Aerospace a company recently acquired by BAE Systems WSF-M has a microwave imager instrument to collect weather data including the measurement of ocean surface wind speed and direction, ice thickness, snow depth, soil moisture and local space weather.

The spacecraft will operate in a low polar orbit. The Space Force has ordered a second WSF-M satellite, projected to be delivered by 2028. These satellites are part of a broader effort to modernize the militarys space-based environmental monitoring assets.

Data used for military planning

The data gathered by WSF-M will be provided to meteorologists in support of the generation of a wide variety of weather products necessary to conduct mission planning and operations globally every day, the U.S. Space Force said.

Just under eight minutes after liftoff and payload separation, the Falcon 9s first stage flew back to Earth and landed at Vandenbergs Landing Zone 4.

USSF-62 is the 37th launch performed by SpaceX so far in 2024 and its second national security space launch mission of the year. In February SpaceX launched the USSF-124 mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida, deploying six U.S. missile defense satellites for the Space Development Agency and the Missile Defense Agency.

Sandra Erwin writes about military space programs, policy, technology and the industry that supports this sector. She has covered the military, the Pentagon, Congress and the defense industry for nearly two decades as editor of NDIAs National Defense... More by Sandra Erwin

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SpaceX’s most-flown reusable rocket will go for its 20th launch tonight – Ars Technica

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Enlarge / File photo of a Falcon 9 rocket rolling out of its hangar at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida.

For the first time, SpaceX will launch one of its reusable Falcon 9 boosters for a 20th time Friday night on a flight to deliver 23 more Starlink Internet satellites to orbit.

This milestone mission is scheduled to lift off at 9:22 pm EDT Friday (01:22 UTC Saturday) from Space Launch Complex 40 (SLC-40) at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. Forecasters from the US Space Force predict "excellent" weather for the primetime launch.

Falcon 9 will blaze a familiar trail into space, following the same profile as dozens of past Starlink missions.

The rocket's first-stage booster will shut off its nine kerosene-fueled Merlin engines about two-and-a-half minutes into the flight, reaching a top speed of more than 5,000 mph (8,000 km per hour). The first stage will detach from the Falcon 9's upper stage, which will continue firing into orbit. The 15-story-tall Falcon 9 booster, meanwhile, will follow an arcing trajectory before braking for a vertical landing on a drone ship floating in the Atlantic Ocean near the Bahamas.

The 23 flat-packed Starlink spacecraft will deploy from the upper stage a little more than an hour after liftoff, bringing the total number of Starlinks in low-Earth orbit to more than 5,800 spacecraft.

Pretty much every day, SpaceX is either launching a rocket or rolling one out of the hangar to the launch pad. At this pace, SpaceX isredefining what is routine in the space industry, but the rapid-fire launch rate also means the company is continually breaking records, mostly its own.

Friday night's launch will break another one of those records. This first-stage booster, designated by the tail number B1062, has flown 19 times since its first flight in November 2020. The booster will now be the first in SpaceX's inventory to go for a 20th flight, breaking a tie with three other rockets as the company's fleet leader.

When SpaceX debuted the latest version of its Falcon 9 rocket, the Falcon 9 Block 5, officials said the reusable first stage could fly 10 times with minimal refurbishment and perhaps additional flights with a more extensive overhaul. Now, SpaceX is certifying Falcon 9 boosters for 40 flights.

This particular rocket has not undergone any extended maintenance or long-term grounding. It has flown an average of once every two months since debuting three-and-a-half years ago. So the 20-flight milestone SpaceX will achieve Friday night means this rocket has doubled its original design life and, at the same time, has reached the halfway point of its extended service life.

In its career, this booster has launched eight people and 530 spacecraft, mostly Starlinks. The rocket's first two flights launched GPS navigation satellites for the US military, then it launched two commercial human spaceflight missions with Dragon crew capsules. These were the all-private Inspiration4 mission and Axiom Mission 1, the first fully commercial crew flight to the International Space Station.

Remarkably, this will be the sixth Falcon 9 launch in less than eight days, more flights than SpaceX's main US rival, United Launch Alliance, has launched in 17 months.

It will be the 38th Falcon 9 launch of the year and the 111th flight of a Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy rocketthe 114th launch by SpaceX overallin the last 365 days. More than a third of SpaceX's Falcon 9 or Falcon Heavy missions, a number that will stand at 332 after Friday night's flight, have launched in the past year.

This month, for the first time, SpaceX demonstrated it could launch two Falcon 9 rockets in less than five days from the company's launch pad at Vandenberg Space Force Base, California. SpaceX has also cut the turnaround time between Falcon 9 rockets at Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center. The company's most-used launch pad, SLC-40, can handle two Falcon 9 flights in less than four days.

It's not just launch pad turnaround. SpaceX uses its drone shipstwo based in Florida and one in Californiafor most Falcon 9 landings. In order to meet the appetite for Falcon 9 launches, SpaceX is getting rockets back to port and re-deploying drone ships back to sea at a faster rate.

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SpaceX's most-flown reusable rocket will go for its 20th launch tonight - Ars Technica

SpaceX launches advanced weather satellite for US Space Force (video) – Space.com

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SpaceX launched its second national security mission of the year Thursday (April 11).

A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from California's Vandenberg Space Force Base at 10:25 a.m. EDT (7:25 a.m. local California time; 1425 GMT), on a mission for the U.S. Space Force called USSF-62.

USSF-62 will send the Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) satellite to low Earth orbit. WSF-M is a next-generation spacecraft that "will provide critical and actionable weather intelligence to military operations in all warfighting domains," according to BAE Systems, which developed and built the satellite.

Related:SpaceX: Facts about Elon Musk's private spaceflight company

WSF-M's primary instrument is a microwave imager, which will measure sea surface winds, the strength of tropical cyclones and gather other environmental data. Also flying on the satellite is a space weather sensor provided by the U.S. government, according to BAE Systems.

"Were absolutely thrilled be out here on the Central Coast, with a superb team primed and ready to launch the USSF-62 satellite," Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader for Space Systems Command's Launch Execution Delta, said in an emailed statement. "With each national security launch, we add to Americas capabilities and improve its deterrence in the face of growing threats."

The Falcon 9's first stage returned to Earth safely, touching down at Vandenberg's Landing Zone 4 just under eight minutes after liftoff. It was the third launch and landing for this particular booster, according to a SpaceX mission description.

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The rocket's payload fairing the "nose cone" that protects satellites during launch is also a spaceflight veteran, marking a first for a national security launch, Horne said in his statement.

USSF-62 is SpaceX's 37th launch of 2024 and its second of the year for the Space Force. A Falcon 9 launched the six-satellite USSF-124 mission from Florida's Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Feb. 14.

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SpaceX launches advanced weather satellite for US Space Force (video) - Space.com

SpaceX to have 2 launches on Wednesday of Starlink smallsats and Maxar WorldView Legion 1 & 2 SatNews – SatNews

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A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the Starlink 6-51 mission on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 9:24PM (UTC). LC-39AKennedy Space Center Florida, A batch of satellites for the Starlink mega-constellation SpaceXs project for space-based Internet communication system.

SpaceX Falcon 9 Block 5 is a two-stage rocket designed and manufactured by SpaceX for the reliable and safe transport of satellites and the Dragon spacecraft into orbit. The Block 5 variant is the fifth major interval aimed at improving upon the ability for rapid reusability.

SpaceX to launch Maxar WorldView Legion 1 & 2 mission for leading resolution and accuracy

Also scheduled for launch on Wednesday a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch the WorldView Legion 1 & 2 mission on Wednesday, April 17, 2024 at 6:30PM (UTC). WorldView Legion is a constellation of Earth observation satellites built and operated by Maxar. Constellation is planned to consist of 6 satellites in both polar and mid-inclination orbits, providing 30 cm-class resolution.

Space Launch Complex 4E has witnessed the launch of 141 rockets, including 141 orbital launch attempts, while Vandenberg SFB, California, has been the site for 752 rocket launches. The launch cost is $52 Million.

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SpaceX to have 2 launches on Wednesday of Starlink smallsats and Maxar WorldView Legion 1 & 2 SatNews - SatNews

This Week in Launch: A lonely SpaceX week – Space Explored

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Image: Jared Locke / Space Explored

This week were only seeing three launches, all of which are from SpaceX and two of those are for Starlink missions out of Florida. About what we expect from a company doing the majority of Earths launch capability.

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Continuing their three week streak of launching three or more Falcon 9s a week, SpaceX once again has three rockets scheduled to launch this week. For what Ive seen, they are the only company currently attempting any launches in the next seven days.

A rare quiet week from China it is I guess.

The first mission will be a commercial flight for DigitalGlobe with two of its next generation Worldview Legion spacecrafts. Because of the light weight of these two spacecraft, the booster will be return to LZ-4 after launching.

Following this mission well be back to the status quo of Starlink flights from Florida. The most annoying part of all of this is that SpaceX is seemingly skipping over Starlink Group 6-50. Every manifest Ive looked at shows them launching 6-51 and -52 this weekend continuing on with -53.

Its not uncommon for Starlink missions to fly out of order, but this is the first Ive noticed them skipping a number entirely. What does this mean? Nothing, maybe, probably nothing.

Anyways, these three missions will bring SpaceX up to 42 total launches for 2024 and will continue to push that launch rate in the right direction to meet its 148 launch goal.

While I was traveling a few weeks ago, Elon Musk gave an update on SpaceXs goal to make life multi-planetary with its Starship rocket down at Starbase. While there wasnt a whole lot new, there were some things worth mentioning.

In case you were wondering, the state of SpaceXs martian colony goal is strong with Musk restating how important it is that humanity has a backup. Hes hoping in the next 20 years SpaceX will be able to launch regular missions to the Red Planet, hoping eventually make it self sustaining and independent from Earth.

To do this, SpaceX will need to get Starship operational and upgrade it. A Starship 2 version is already well talked about and construction of those ships is underway. Starship 2 will see slight extensions in its propellent tanks and various other improvements SpaceX has learned launching its first generation Starship rockets.

Starship 3 is where things will get crazy, drastically expanding the length of its tanks to be more than 500 feet tall. However, Musk states that more increases could come to Starship 3 depending on how Starship 2 does.

So if youre looking at Starship and thinking how can this get any bigger? Well, it can, and it probably will.

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This Week in Launch: A lonely SpaceX week - Space Explored

SpaceX launches Space Force weather satellite designed to take over for a program with roots to the 1960s … – Spaceflight Now

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The Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) space vehicle was successfully encapsulated April 8, 2024, ahead of its scheduled launch as the U.S. Space Force (USSF)-62 mission from Vandenberg Space Force Base, Calif., marking a major milestone on its upcoming launch into low Earth orbit. Image: SpaceX

SpaceX launched a military weather satellite designed to replace aging satellites from a program dating back to the 1960s. The United States Space Force-62 (USSF-62) mission featured the launch of the first Weather System Follow-on Microwave (WSF-M) spacecraft.

Liftoff of the Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 4 East (SLC-4E) at Vandenberg Space Force Base happened at 7:25 a.m. PDT (10:25 a.m. EDT (1425 UTC), which was the opening of a 10-minute launch window.

The booster supporting this National Security Space Launch (NSSL) mission, B1082 in the SpaceX fleet, made its third flight after previously launching the Starlink 7-9 and 7-14 missions this year.

Were absolutely thrilled be out here on the Central Coast, with a superb team primed and ready to launch the USSF-62 satellite. It has an important mission ahead of it and were excited for flight-proven Falcon 9 to deliver the satellite to orbit, said Col. Jim Horne, senior materiel leader for the Space System Commands Launch Execution Delta, in a statement. And on this mission, were using a first-stage booster whose history is purely commercial.

About eight minutes after liftoff, B1082 touched down at Landing Zone 4 (LZ-4). This was the 17th land landing in California and the 295th booster landing for SpaceX.

A significant milestone for the company on the USSF-62 mission was the use of flight-proven payload fairings, which will be a first for an NSSL mission. They previously flew on the USSF-52 mission, which featured the launch of the X-37B spaceplane from NASAs Kennedy Space Center in December 2023.

With each national security launch, we add to Americas capabilities and improve its deterrence in the face of growing threats, Horne stated.

USSF-62 was one of three missions granted to SpaceX in May 2022 as part of the NSSL Phase 2 Order Year 3 award, which collectively are valued at $309.7 million. SpaceX launched USSF-124 in February 2024 and will likely launch the SDA-Tranche 1 satellites later this year.

Ball Aerospace, the manufacturer of the WSF-M, said the spacecrafts primary payload is a passive microwave radiometer, which has been demonstrated on previous spacecraft. It also boasts a 1.8 meter antenna, which combined with the primary instrument allow the spacecraft to address so-called space-based environmental monitoring (SBEM) gaps.

Its capabilities will provide valuable information for protecting the assets of the United States and its allies, primarily in ocean settings.

The WSF-M satellite is a strategic solution tailored to address three high-priority Department of Defense SBEM gaps specifically, ocean surface vector winds, tropical cyclone intensity, and energetic charged particles in low Earth orbit, said David Betz, WSF-M program manager, SSC Space Sensing, in a statement. Beyond these primary capabilities, our instruments also provide vital data on sea ice characterization, soil moisture, and snow depth.

The spacecraft is based on the Ball Configurable Platform and includes a Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) Microwave Imager (GMI) sensor and an Energetic Charged Particle sensor. Ball Aerospace has been involved with other, similar spacecraft, including the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (Suomi-NPP) and the Joint Polar Satellite System-1 (JPSS-1).

According to a public FY2024 Department of Defense budget document, the WSF-M system will consist of two spacecraft. Once the first is on orbit, it will assess the level of Ocean Surface Vector Wind (OSVW) measurement uncertainty and Tropical Cyclone Intensity (TCI) latency.

The first seeds of the program were planted back in October 2012 during whats called the Materiel Solution Analysis phase. That resulted in the Department of the Air Force issuing a request for proposals from companies in January 2017.

In November 2017, the Space and Missile Systems Center (now Space Systems Command) awarded a $93.7 million firm-fixed-price contract to Ball Aerospace for the WSF-M project with an expected completion date of Nov. 15, 2019.

This is an exciting win for us, and were looking forward to expanding our work with the Air Force and continuing to support warfighters and allies around the world, said Rob Strain, the then president, Ball Aerospace, in a 2017 statement. WSF-M extends Balls legacy of providing precise measurements from space to enable more accurate weather forecasting.

Roughly a year later, Ball received a $255.4 million contract modification, which provides for the exercise of an option for development and fabrication of the [WSF-M] Space Vehicle 1. This new contract also pushed out the expected completion date to Jan. 15, 2023.

In May 2020, the U.S. Space Forces SMSC noted the completion of the WSF-M systems critical design review that April, which opened the door to the beginning of fabrication.

Over the following year, the spacecraft went through a series of tests, running both the software and hardware through its paces. The primary bus structure was completed by August 2021 and by October 2022, the spacecraft entered its integration readiness review (IRR) and test readiness review (TRR).

Before that though, in May 2022, Ball was awarded a $16.6 million cost-plus-incentive-fee contract modification, which was for the exercise of an option for integration, test and operational work of the spacecraft. That brought the cumulative face value of the contract to about $417.4 million.

Shortly before the end of that year, in November 2022, Ball received a $78.3 firm-fixed-price contract modification to develop the second WSF-M spacecraft. That work is expected to be completed by Nov. 15, 2027, which would set up a launch opportunity no earlier than January 2028.

It was finally delivered from Balls facilities in Boulder, Colorado, to Vandenberg Space Force Base for pre-launch processing in February 2024.

This delivery represents a major milestone for the WSF-M program and is a critical step towards putting the first WSF-M satellite on-orbit for the warfighter, said Col. Daniel Visosky, senior materiel leader, SSCs Space Sensing Environmental and Tactical Surveillance program office, in a statement.It represents a long-term collaboration and unity-of-effort between the Space Force and our combined teams at Ball Aerospace, support contractors and government personnel.

This first WSF-M satellite, and eventually the second, will take the place of the legacy Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites, which have roots going back in the 1960s. The program features two primary satellites, which operate in sun-synchronous LEO polar orbits at about 450 nautical miles in altitude.

Originally known as the Defense Satellite Applications Program (DASP), the first of these legacy satellites launched in 1962 and they were classified under the purview of the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) as part of the Corona Program. The DMSP was declassified in 1972 to allow data to be used by non-governmental scientists and civilians.

According to a Space Force historical accounting, a tri-agency organizational agreement was forged between the DoD, the Department of Commerce and NASA following President Bill Clintons directive for the DOC and the DoD to converge their separate polar-orbiting weather satellite programs. Funding responsibility stayed with the DoD, but by June 1998, the operational responsibility of the DMSP transferred to the Department of Commerce.

Satellite operations for the DMSP then became the responsibility of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Office of Satellite and Product Operations (OSPO).

The program was not without issue over the years. In 2004, the DMSP-F11 satellite, launched in 1991 and retired in 1995, disintegrated and created dozens of pieces of orbital debris. In 2015, a faulty battery was blamed for a similar disintegration of DMSP-F13, which resulted in 147 pieces of debris.

That year, Congress ordered an end to the DMSP program and the yet-to-launch F20 satellite was to be scrapped.

In February 2016, the DMSP-F19 had its planned five-year mission cut short less than two years after launch. The satellite suffered a power anomaly that caused engineers to lose control of it. The spacecraft was declared lost in March.

The DMSP-F17 satellite, launched in 2006, was then relocated to the primary position vacated by F19. According to the Observing Systems Capability Analysis and Review (OSCAR), a tool developed by the World Meteorological Organization, there are three DMSP satellites still in service: F16, F17 and F18. They launched in 2003, 2006 and 2009 respectively.

The latter two have expected end-of-life dates of 2025, with F16 intended to conclude its mission in December 2023, according to the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS). However, that expiration has been extended as the WSF-M replacements are still on the way.

Its unclear if F17 and F18 can hang on until the second WSF-M spacecraft is completed and launched in 2028.

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SpaceX launches Space Force weather satellite designed to take over for a program with roots to the 1960s ... - Spaceflight Now

SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers – Advanced Television

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SpaceX has received good news from Indias government with reports that its Starlink broadband service is to receive an expedited fast-track approval to operate in India ahead of Elon Musks visit to the country. Starlink was also authorised for use in Albania last week. However, there are doubts in some quarters over Starlinks profitability.

Bloomberg, in a report, talks about Starlink losing hundreds of dollars on each of the near-3 million costly antenna terminals it has supplied to users.

SpaceXs CFO Bret Johnsen, speaking at the Washington Satellite 2024 event in March, declined to elaborate on Elon Musks suggestions to investors that Starlink had achieved breakeven cashflow last year. Johnsen said he did not want to quantify numbers but that it was in positive cashflow and profitable territory for our satellite business now.

One the positive side of the ledger Bloomberg says that SpaceX itself, which holds the rocket and Starlink businesses, is likely see overall sales of around $15 billion this year from $4.7 billion a year ago. Bloomberg says that SpaceXs current investors expect the company to need to raise more cash or get a fresh infusion from Musk himself.

SpaceXs weekend launch was managed with the 20th use of a Falcon 9 booster stage, a worlds record for the company. The launch means that there has been a total of 6,212 Starlinks launched of which 5,809 are still in orbit and 5,744 are considered by astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell.

The 20th launch means that SpaceX is halfway to matching the Space Shuttles record 39 orbital flights for its Discovery vehicle. The difference is that SpaceX used its Booster #1062 twenty times in just three-and-a-half years, while NASAs most successful Space Shuttle flew for 27 years (from 1984 to 2011).

Booster #1062 during its lifetime which no doubt will continue launched a batch of satellites for OneWeb, Nilesat 301 as well as Arabsats BADR-8. It has also helped put eight astronauts and more than 261 metric tons into orbit. It last launched on March 16th, and therefore a turnaround from landing to re-flight in just 27 days.

These launch records tend only to last for a few weeks until they are surpassed! SpaceX has handled 38 orbital missions this year.

Meanwhile, SpaceX last week asked the FCC for an experimental licence to cover the testing of 840 Direct-To-Cell satellites covering Australia (Optus), New Zealand (One New Zealand), Japan (KDDI), and Canada (Rogers). SpaceX explained that it intends to use a portion of its mobile partners authorised frequencies.

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SpaceX breaks records for re-use launchers - Advanced Television

There Appears to Be a Huge Problem With SpaceX’s Starlink – Futurism

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Did Elon Musk fib about the service breaking even? Balance Sheet

In a brief announcement on his social media platform last year, SpaceX CEO Elon Musk celebrated that the company's Starlink broadband service had "achieved breakeven cash flow."

"Starlink is also now a majority of all active satellites and will have launched a majority of all satellites cumulatively from Earth by next year," he said at the time.

But according to a damning new report by Bloomberg, Musk may have once again rigged the numbers in his favor by greatly underplaying the costs involved in launching the satellites, when in reality the company is losing "hundreds of dollars on each of the millions of ground terminals it ships."

According to Bloomberg's sources, SpaceX's accounting was "more of an art than a science" and the much-hyped system isn't actually profitable, despite Musk's assurances.

The company has kept its financials close to its chest, especially while fundraising. During a March press conference, SpaceX CFO Bret Johnsen appeared cagey, telling reporters in a carefully worded comment that "I dont know that I want to quantify those numbers, but we are in positive cash flow and profitable territory for our satellite business now."

In short, is SpaceX's Starlink business cashflow positive, as Musk claims, or merely in "profitable territory"? The distinction could make all the difference for Musk's outsize plans for space colonization.

The mercurial CEO has long argued that the internet satellite broadband arm of his space company will provide the funding necessary to get humans to Mars. According to Bloomberg, Starlink represents more than half of SpaceX's revenue this year.

As of now, SpaceX has launched 5,600 satellites into low-Earth orbit and is planning to launch tens of thousands more.

Despite eclipsing the total number of all operating satellites in Earth's orbit, Starlink isn't just struggling to cut even. Experts are concerned that trying to provide the entire globe with internet via satellites instead of expanding coverage with cell towers where needed could prove difficult, with speeds already beginning to decrease in 2022.

In other words, SpaceX will have to pump out untold numbers of satellites to keep up with quickly growing bandwidth demands.

That's not all the bad news. According to Bloomberg, all major US airlines have rejected SpaceX's Starlink to provide internet service on flights, though an exact reason as to why remains unclear.

Nonetheless, SpaceX has exceeded expectations when it comes to generating revenue over the years. Sales could grow from $4.7 billion a year ago to $15 billion this year, per Bloomberg's sources.

SpaceX may end up spinning off its internet service with a potential IPO. But that's still years out, according to company officials.

More on Starlink: SpaceX Announces Plans to Set 100 Starlink Satellites on Fire

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There Appears to Be a Huge Problem With SpaceX's Starlink - Futurism

SpaceX Planning Starlink 6-49 Launch Tonight, Which Will Make A Bit of History – Talk of Titusville

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Representative Starlink launch on a Falcon 9 Photo: Charles Boyer / ToT

I recently said that covering Starlink launches is almost like covering Southwest Airlines daily flights from Orlando International Airport to Austin, Texas. Its not that watching a rocket launch is boring, it never is, it is simply that SpaceX is flying missions to add to its Starlink constellation so regularly that it has become a reliable and routine service thats much like, well, airline flights departing from the airport.

Tonight is such a launch, but this one comes with a big twist: it is the 20th flight of one of the companys fleet of Falcon 9 boosters, and that is a first not only for SpaceX but also for spaceflight globally.

That this historic occasion is happening with little fanfare is a testament to the technical comptence of SpaceX generally, and the Falcon 9 teams that refurbish and launch them from the Cape specifically.

And while the booster and fairings are regularly reused, it must also be pointed out that their second stages are not, and that means that SpaceXs factory in Hawthorne, California is creating not only the second stages at a torrid pace, they are also building Merlin Vacuum engines to power them as well. It is a job extremely well done by everyone, and it should be acknowledged as such by the spaceflight community generally.

23 Starlink satellites, to be used in SpaceXs orbital-based Internet service.

The 45th Weather Squadron is forecasting all but perfect weather for a launch attempt tonight, with even better conditions tomorrow. Liftoff winds have less than a 5% chance of creating a Range Violation Friday, meaning a better than 95% chance of acceptable conditions. On Saturday, even that slight concern has been removed from the 45ths forecast.

Falcon 9 will take a southeasterly direction tonight, as is customary for Group 6 Starlink missions.

Given that the flight is immediately offshore with no return to launch site, there will be no sonic boom from the launch this evening on the Space Coast.

Tonight is slated to be the 20th flight of Booster B1062, a first for SpaceX and for spaceflight anywhere. We cover the record of this historic booster here: SpaceX Booster To Launch For 20th Time Friday Night.

That next flight is of interest because last May, Bill Gerstenmaier, SpaceXs vice president of build and flight reliability, said in May [2023] that engineers were in the process of certifying Falcon 9 boosters for up to 20 flights for Starlink missions, according to a report by Stephen Clark at Ars Technica.

Later in 2023, Nate Janzen, manager of launch pad systems and operations for SpaceX at Vandenberg told Santa Barbara, Californias Noozhaek that Next year, SpaceX will re-evaluate and conduct analysis with an eye toward certifying the first-stage boosters for 25 to 30 flights. Whether or not that certification has been achieved as of yet will be an interesting bit of news to follow.

Per SpaceX, Following stage separation, the first stage will land on the A Shortfall of Gravitas droneship, which will be stationed in the Atlantic Ocean.

After touching down on A Shortfall of Gravitas, the booster will be returned to Port Canveral after a few days, where it will be offloaded and transported to SpaceXs Hangar X facility at Kennedy Space Center, where it will be inspected, refurbished and possibly prepared for another next flight.

1: this includes Falcon 9, Falcon Heavy and Starship Heavy Launches 2: Amos-6 is discounted due to a pad failure, not an in-flight anomoly

SpaceCoastLaunchCalendar.comwill have a livestream of the launch if youre not able to watch the launch in person:Livestream

SpaceX will have a livestream of the launch on their website: Starlink 6-49. This will also be available on the X platform.

Spaceflight Now will have coverage of the launch starting about one hour before liftoff on Youtube: link

This evenings planned launch is from SLC-40 at Cape Canaveral, which means that the best direct views of liftoff are: Banana River Bridge on FL-528 Wnear Port Canaveral, or the southern parks on US-1 / S. Washington Avenuein Titusville. Kennedy Point Park and,Rotary Riverview Park (among others) are your best bets.

Cocoa Beach, Cocoa Beach Pier, Jetty Park Pier will have indirect views, meaning that liftoff will not be visible, but after the rocket clears the pad and any ground obstructions, you will be able to see Falcon 9 ascending clearly assuming there are no clouds between you and the rocket.

Being that the launch is in the evening, if you plan to attend in person, dont forget mosquito spray. Be prepared for potential pushes in the launch schedule, and keep up by monitoring the live stream links mentioned above.

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SpaceX Planning Starlink 6-49 Launch Tonight, Which Will Make A Bit of History - Talk of Titusville

Dave Murrow (AeroEngr BS’84) | Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences – University of Colorado Boulder

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Dave Murrow retired in 2023, capping a 36-year career serving the space exploration community. In retirement, he sits on NASAs Planetary Science Advisory committee, works with the Colorado state economic development office, and has established a consulting business, Space Connections.

Murrows most recent professional role was as the leader of Lockheed Martins Deep Space Exploration Business Development team. He worked with executives, communicators, and program execution teams to develop a multi-mission, 7-year backlog in the DSE market segment. He served in similar roles for the Lockheed Martin Human Spaceflight Advanced Programs team and for the Ball Aerospace Space Science and Exploration team.

At Lockheed Martin, he worked towards an expansive vision of exploration by designing human missions to the Moon, Mars, and asteroids. At Ball, he expanded the companys NASA footprint through pursuit of NASA science, technology, and human exploration missions.

Murrow joined industry after 13 years with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he began as an orbit determination analyst for the Galileo mission to Jupiter and served as the Cassini Mission Systems Engineer. Beckoned by Mars, he participated in the contract award, flight system development of the twin Mars '98 spacecraft. Adding the Stardust mission to Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar lander, he managed the successful 3-peat launch campaign between December 1998 and February 1999.

His JPL role followed aerospace engineering degrees at the University of Texas at Austin (MS 87), and the University of Colorado Boulder (BS 84, Honors). In Austin, he worked at the Universitys Center for Space Research, supporting high precision Earth gravity field development for the Topex mission. In 2003, Murrow inaugurated a graduate semester class in Interplanetary Mission Design in CU Boulder Aerospace. Over the last decade, he has also lectured on Launch Vehicles for CU Boulders unique Space Minor program.

A native of Boulder, Colorado, Dave now lives in Highlands Ranch with his wife, and has two grown daughters. He spends his free time traveling, reading, skiing, and hiking in the mountains.

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Dave Murrow (AeroEngr BS'84) | Ann and H.J. Smead Aerospace Engineering Sciences - University of Colorado Boulder

Maryland: Building on an Aerospace Legacy: Maryland companies navigate the commercial space race. – Site Selection Magazine

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A

n incubator of aerospace and aviation engineering going back nearly a century, the Lockheed Martin plant at Little River, Maryland, has a storied history. It was there that the Glenn L. Martin Companys developed the B-26, a medium-range bomber that flew more than 100,000 sorties during World War II. Parts of Gemini and Apollo spacecraft came out of the plant decades later. Shuttered last year as part of a corporate re-organization, the cavernous facility in fairly short order has received a new lease on life.

Literally. Rocket Lab, an agile player in the evolving commercial space game, agreed in November to rent and refurbish 113,000 sq. ft. from Lockheed Martin for a Space Structures Complex. To assist with project costs, the Maryland Department of Commerce is providing a $1.56 million repayable loan through its Advantage Maryland program. Slotted to create 65 new jobs, its a project the state government seemed eager to get.

With our states close proximity to several federal and defense agencies, combined with Marylands abundance of talented tech and engineering workers, said Commerce Secretary Kevin Anderson in a statement, this facility is sure to bring much success to both Rocket Lab and Marylands innovative space industry.

Founded in New Zealand in 2003 and headquartered now in Long Beach, California, Rocket Lab is what founder and CEO Peter Beck calls a one-stop space shop. It provides satellite design and manufacturing for both the U.S. government and private clients and launch services to customers that include NASA, the U.S. Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office. Rocket Lab technology went into the James Webb Telescope, developed in part at NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, just northwest of Washington, D.C.

Most aerospace companies, youre either a satellite guy or youre a rocket guy, Beck tells Site Selection. Were both, he says. So, when a customer comes to us, we can build a satellite, then we can launch the satellite and we can even operate the satellite with them.

Among recent, high-profile projects, a Rocket Lab Electron rocket sent NASAs CAPSTONE CubeSat on a path toward the moon from the companys Launch Pad 1 in New Zealand. CAPSTONE has settled into a pioneering lunar orbit, the same orbit planned for Gateway, a small space station from which NASA plans to return humans to the Moon.

We operated the spacecraft, says Beck, until it was time to turn it over to NASA.

Rocket Labs Middle River facility is to focus on composites and composite structures Were the only company, says Beck, thats building fully carbon composite launch vehicles with an eye toward building ever larger rockets.

For us to be able to pick up a facility of this size, one with large, open spaces and a hugely thick foundation, is incredibly rare, Beck says of the Lockheed Martin complex.

The facility offers other advantages, as well. Barge access will allow Rocket Lab to float spacecraft and rockets down Chesapeake Bay to its installation at NASAs Wallops Flight Facility at Wallops Island, Virginia. Wallops, says Beck, will be the exclusive launch platform for the companys Neutron rocket, now in development.

Having manufacturing capability so near the launch site is super, super helpful, he says.

The Space Structures Complex will expand Rocket Labs existing footprint in Maryland, where the company already operates a manufacturing facility for satellite separation systems and CubeSat dispensers in Silver Spring. Its experience in Maryland, Beck believes, bodes well for Rocket Labs expansion there.

Theres a deep aerospace community with lots of experience. Theres also a really deep composites industry. You can have a great building, but youre going to need to fill it with the best people to be successful, and what weve seen is a culture of getting stuff done that really aligns with our companys core values.

Were super lucky, Beck believes, because not just in Maryland but down the road at Wallops Island weve always been greeted with warmth and, quite frankly, excitement. Theyve really rolled out the red carpet, and its been a great experience for us.

Genesis: Beyond the Logo

Like Rocket Labs, Genesis Engineering has its fingers in numerous pies, opportunities being what they are in the new Wild West of space travel. Unlike Rocket Labs, Genesis is Maryland-born and bred. And Genesis, let it be known, engineered a singular coup in the history of product placement.

The Genesis logo, attached to Space Shuttle Discovery

Photo courtesy of Genesis Engineering

As astronaut Mike Massimino dangled outside Space Shuttle Discovery during a 2009 spacewalk, a NASA camera swung around to capture what looked like a bumper sticker. Blue letters on a white background, it read Genesis Engineering. Today, that memento hangs on a wall at a Genesis conference room at the companys headquarters in Lanham, near NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center.

That was the last time they allowed a contractor to fly their logo, says Robert Rashford, Genesis founder and CEO. We got free advertising for two days in space. Then they said, No more of that.

Rashford himself is an interesting story. The native of Kingson, Jamaica, emigrated to the U.S. in 1978, earning a degree in mechanical engineering from Temple University. After landing his first aerospace job with the space division of RCA in New Jersey, he moved to Maryland for a position with Fairchild Space and Defense, where he says he learned to build tools employed by spacewalking astronauts. Banking that experience, Rashford struck out on his own. He founded Genesis in 1993, seeding the new companys bank account with $350.

Today, Genesis employs about 200 people spread across four buildings in Lanham. The work that earned it that bumper sticker included supplying NASA with tools and tool lockers for stowing all manner of space gear packed to exacting specifications.

We also wrote scripts for the astronauts on the cadence of the spacewalk. That was our bread and butter for several years. Then, we designed and built hardware for the James Webb Telescope.

Having manufacturing capability so near the launch site is super, super helpful.

Peter Beck, Founder & CEO, Rocket Labs

The granular knowledge Genesis gathered from supporting shuttle spacewalks inspired one of the companys most ambitious projects to date. Who knew that spacesuits designed for EVAs (Extravehicular Activities), are essentially one-size-fits all? Ill-fitting suits, says Rashford, can cause skin abrasions and joint problems. Heating and cooling systems can leak water, cutting spacewalks short. The Genesis Single Person Spacecraft, (SPS) designed with the International Space Station, NASAs Gateway program and space tourism in mind, is a self-propelled module that a spacewalker would board to operate outside the mothership sans spacesuit and without the lengthy hours of pre-breathing required to prevent getting the outer space version of the bends.

You can eliminate all of that, says Rashford, because the pressure inside the vehicle is the same as inside the spacecraft.

Orbital Reef, conceived as a space-based business park, is a potential partner for SPS, although Rashford suggests that project led by Blue Origin is being slow-walked due to other Blue Origin priorities. Genesis, says Rashford, is looking for an investor to see SPS to the finish line.

In the meantime, Genesis is developing its first CubeSat, a miniaturized satellite for space research, creating a propulsion system for a private customer and bidding on a billion-dollar contract with Goddard to produce mass spectrometers for space applications.

We feel the time is right to do it, Rashford says. We have the staff, the confidence, the know-how and the partnerships. We think we stand a good chance of winning that contract because of what we have to offer.

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Maryland: Building on an Aerospace Legacy: Maryland companies navigate the commercial space race. - Site Selection Magazine

Stratasys to test 3D printed material on Moon – Aerospace Manufacturing

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Stratasys has announced that it will provide 3D printed materials for an upcoming lunar mission to test their performance on the surface of the Moon.

The experiments are part of Aegis Aerospace, Inc.s first Space Science & Technology Evaluation Facility mission (SSTEF-1). SSTEF is a commercial space testing service, developed by Aegis Aerospace in Houston, Texas under NASAs Tipping Point programme, to provide R&D services on the lunar surface. The SSTEF-1 project focuses on technology development for space infrastructure and capabilities for the Moon and near-earth space. The Stratasys experiments are sponsored by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

In this Moon mission, Stratasys will provide 3D printed samples that will be brought to the lunar surface by an unmanned lander in a carrier structure 3D printed by Stratasys. Three materials will be the focus of two different experiments led by Northrop Grumman.

The first experiment assesses the performance of a sample coupon part made with Stratasys Antero 800NA FDM filament filled with tungsten. Antero 800NA is a high-performance PEKK-based thermoplastic with excellent mechanical properties, chemical resistance, and low outgassing characteristics. Adding tungsten is intended to provide shielding against harmful radiation such as gamma rays or x-rays.

The second passive experiment is designed to see how 3D printed materials perform in space. It will include Antero 840CN03 FDM filament, which features ESD properties for use with electronics and was used on the Orion spacecraft. The experiment will also include a new ESD photopolymer manufactured by Stratasys partner Henkel for use with Stratasys Origin One 3D printers and designed for high-heat environments. This experiment will subject coupon samples of the 3D printed materials to Moon dust, low pressure that can lead to outgassing, and the rapid temperature swings that result from virtually no atmosphere on the Moon.

Additive manufacturing is an important technology for space missions where every ounce of weight matters and high performance is essential, said chief industrial business officer, Rich Garrity. This set of experiments will help us understand how to fully leverage 3D printing to keep people and equipment safe as we travel to the Moon and beyond.

Parts will be brought to the lunar surface by an unmanned lander in a Stratasys 3D printed carrier structure made from ULTEM 9085 thermoplastic, which is a material also commonly used in commercial aircraft interiors.

Stratasys is a leader in the global shift to additive manufacturing with innovative 3D printing solutions for industries such as aerospace, automotive, consumer products and healthcare. Through smart and connected 3D printers, polymer materials, a software ecosystem, and parts on demand, Stratasys solutions deliver competitive advantages at every stage in the product value chain. The worlds leading organisations turn to Stratasys to transform product design, bring agility to manufacturing and supply chains, and improve patient care.

http://www.stratasys.com

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Stratasys to test 3D printed material on Moon - Aerospace Manufacturing

NASA Craft Hunting Alien Life Will Carry a New Message From Humanity – Futurism

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An incredible time capsule. Anyone There?

One of NASA's latest probesis carrying on the grand tradition of blasting humanity's message out to the cosmos and this one's searching for life outside of our pale blue dot.

As Gizmodo reports, the space agency has recruited a nonprofit specializing in research and design for future interstellar messaging to assist in its quest not only to find whether Jupiter's icy moon Europa harbors the conditions for life, but also to communicate with anyone or anything that may come across the craft, too.

That nonprofit, named METI International after its "Messages to Extraterrestrial Intelligence" concept, toldGizmodo that the Europa Clipper mission was a "natural match" for its organization.

"METIs earliest contribution to the project draws on the science of linguistics, which identifies the major families of languages on Earth," METI founder and president Douglas Vakoch told the website in an email. "This let us identify a broadly representative sampling of languages to feature on the message plate."

In a commemorative plate mounted onto the roughly-triangular probe, NASA has inscribed a handwritten version of "In Praise of Mystery: A Poem for Europa," which was penned by US Poet Laureate Ada Limn specifically for the mission.

The craft also contains a far-out etching of a bottle surrounded by rings a reference to the agency's "Message in a Bottle" campaign, which urged the public to send their names to be included on the probe. In a microchip at the bottle's center, more than 2.6 million names were stenciled using an electron beam at NASA and CalTech's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

One of the mission's coolest communiqus, however, is on the other side of the craft. With METI's help, NASA compiled recordings of people saying the word "water" in 103 global languages and converted them into visual waveforms. Those waveforms were then etched onto the probe in a beautiful starburst design, with the American Sign Language symbol for water resting at its center.

In a nod to our species' own quest to find intelligent life, NASA also included the "Drake equation," named after revered astronomer Frank Drake, who in 1961 developed a formula to try to determine how many advanced civilizations may be out there.

Ultimately, as Vokoch explains, the Europa Clipper's message is more of a time capsule of sorts for future humans than its predecessors sent out on the Pioneer and Voyager missions.

"The more we developed the various parts of the message to be attached to the Europa Clipper," the METI founder told Gizmodo, "the clearer it became that none of these could be interpreted if they were discovered by someone who wasnt already familiar with the contents."

Whether discovered by alien civilizations or by future humans, the Europa Clipper's "message in a bottle" may not make sense to anyone who may find it but ultimately, as its collaborator says, that's beside the point.

More on extraterrestrial life: Scientists Check Whether Space Telescope Could Detect Life on Earth

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NASA Craft Hunting Alien Life Will Carry a New Message From Humanity - Futurism

Scientists Intrigued by Water Planet Where Ocean Appears to Be Boiling – Futurism

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Hot enough to cook an egg. Watery Depths

About 70 light years away from our solar system is a planet that may potentially be covered entirely with water. But before you start imagining oceans just like the ones here on Earth, astronomers at the University of Cambridge say the planet-wide sea could be as hot as a pot of boiling water.

The astronomers uncovered this planet after interpreting data they had picked up using the NASA's James Webb Space Telescope, subsequently publishing their findings in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics.

They trained their sights on the TOI-270 system, which consists of a red dwarf star orbited by three exoplanets. Of these three planets, they studied data from TOI-270 d, which scientists have described as a smaller version of Neptune due to its gaseous composition.

After crunching data, analysis of the atmosphere's chemical composition suggests it might instead be a "Hycean world" meaning a planet with a large ocean and hydrogen-rich atmosphere. And astonishingly, the scientists also calculated that its temperature could be as hot as 212 degrees Fahrenheit, the boiling point of water.

But the data is open to interpreation. Other scientists who have studied the same planet were quoted by The Guardian saying they think the planet has instead a rocky surface and is covered with a very dense atmosphere made up of super hot steam and hydrogen.

"The temperature in our view is too warm for water to be liquid," University of Montreal astrophysics professor Bjrn Benneke told The Guardian.

No matter the true nature of TOI-270 d, it's astonishing we're now able to pick up the chemical signatures of distant exoplanets.

Since humankind found the first detection of an exoplanet in 1992, the number of exoplanets we have found has grown to the thousands.

Maybe the real question: in that wealth of worlds, will we ever find a planet as hospitable as our own?

More on exoplanets: Astronomers Discover Potentially Habitable Planet

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Scientists Intrigued by Water Planet Where Ocean Appears to Be Boiling - Futurism

Hubble telescope exhibit gives hands-on experience – Coastal Review Online

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A scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope and its contributions to the exploration of planets, stars, galaxies and the universe make up a hands-on experience on display through June 23 at Cape Fear Museum of History and Science in Wilmington.

Hubble Space Telescope: New Views of the Universe is a traveling exhibit through National Aeronautics and Space Administration, or NASA. Hubble, a space-based observatory launched and deployed by the space shuttle Discovery in 1990, orbits 326 miles above the Earth, according to NASA.

The exhibit features the telescopes various instruments and the role that each one plays in providing new images and discoveries, and showcases Hubbles images and data of planets, galaxies, regions around black holes, and many other fascinating cosmic entities.

Visitors also get a glimpse of the various hurdles Hubble faced in its career and discover the role that astronauts played in repairing and servicing the observatory, and be introduced to the James Webb Space Telescope launched Dec. 25, 2021.

Cape Fear Museum at 814 Market St. is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday and 1-5 p.m. Sunday. Standard admission prices are $8 for adults; $7 for seniors, students and military with valid ID; $5 for children 6-17; and free for children 5 and under and for museum members.

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Hubble telescope exhibit gives hands-on experience - Coastal Review Online

Space exploration and colonisation: US, China, Russia and others | TheCable – TheCable

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Space exploration is dynamic and developments have been ongoing over the years with several countries actively engaged in space exploration; and have demonstrated interest in the long-term goal of space colonization. Three prominent countries at the fore of space exploration and showing interest in colonization include the United States, China, and Russia.

The United States, NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), has played a lead role in space exploration since when it was established in 1958. They have a rich history of crewed space missions, which included the Apollo moon landings. In recent years, NASA has paid more attention to projects some of which are:

These are just a few, and NASA is working on various other scientific missions, technological advancements, and international collaborations. For the latest updates and detailed information, its recommended to visit NASAs official website and follow their press releases and mission updates.

Private Companies: SpaceX, or Space Exploration Technologies Corp., founded by Elon Musk in 2002, is a private aerospace manufacturer and space transportation company. They have been driving interesting activity in various space exploration initiatives. This is aimed at revolutionizing space travel and making it more accessible. Some space exploration activities and projects that SpaceX has been working on include:

Another country doing some work is China. China National Space Administration (CNSA) has been actively working on space exploration with some achievements under its belt. It is noteworthy to mention that the space industry is evolving rapidly. Here are some major areas of Chinas space exploration efforts:

Furthermore, the Russian Roscosmos has a long history in space exploration, with a rich history of achievements dating back to the era of the Soviet Union. Here are some major areas of Roscosmoss space exploration efforts:

Besides, several African countries have shown an increasing interest in space exploration and have taken steps to develop their space capabilities. It is important to say that Africas involvement in space activities varies among its countries. Here are some major aspects of space exploration in Africa:

While these examples demonstrate the progress made by some African countries in space exploration, it is important to recognize that the level of involvement varies across the continent, and yes more work can be done through private organizations active involvement. Collaboration and the sharing of resources and expertise have been major conversations in promoting Africas presence in space exploration. Continued efforts and investments are likely to shape Africas role in future space activities.

In conclusion, while space exploration has led to numerous benefits and advancements, some challenges need to be addressed, including cost, environmental impact, and ethical considerations. Continued international collaboration and responsible exploration practices are crucial for ensuring the sustainable development of space activities.

Thank you for the investment in time, and I am open to conversations on furthering these thoughts. To be notified each time I publish a new post, follow my Medium: https://medium.com/@roariyo and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/olufemi-ariyo-923ba6130/ or send an email to [emailprotected]

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Space exploration and colonisation: US, China, Russia and others | TheCable - TheCable