Recent DPRK state media articles come amid construction of domestic space-related infrastructure

A North Korean media outlet drew attention on Friday to the peaceful nature of international space exploration efforts, but raised concerns about how some countries are attempting to militarize space.

Coming amid ongoing North Korean efforts to expand or modify domestic space launch infrastructure, the English-languagePyongyang Timesarticle could hint at a re-emerging but controversial area of priority interest for the DPRK.

Many countries are concentrating state investment on the space industry with projects for the development of outer space gaining strength internationally, the Pyongyang Timessaid, reflecting an article it published in June.

The Friday report drew attention to space-faring efforts by China, India, Iran, Myanmar, and Russia, describing them as brisk activities for the development of outer space for peaceful purposes on a worldwide scale.

But the article also warned of risky moves to militarize outer space, noting U.S. President Trumps recent request for the Department of Defense to create a space force.

Furthermore, it referenced French and Japanese plans to pursue space command forces, echoing a report published on August 5 by the Norths party daily Rodong Sinmun.

Overall, mentions of satellite launching capabilities and space exploration in DPRK state media are far from peak levels, an analysis of data aggregated byKCNA Watch showed.

But recent mentions by the North have been mostly aimed at criticizing Japanese military ambitions or reflecting on prior satellite launches through the lens of broader historical accomplishments.

As a result, the tone in some recent articles strikes a different chord.

In that regard, NK Pro contributing analyst Ankit Panda said the latestPyongyang Timesarticlesought to underscore that space activities are global by citing a range of recent launches and upcoming launches by countries big and small alike.

In the past, before major space launches, we similarly saw articles discussing the use of space.

(But) given the nonauthoritative vehicle here, we cant make all too much of it, he continued. But its notable to see talk of space launches in North Korean media.

As weve learned recently, the North Koreans have also clearly been expanding the Pyongyang satellite control center; Sohae, too, remains well-maintained and usable if needed.

In addition to ongoing developments at the two sites, representatives of the DPRKs National Aerospace Development Administration (NADA) told an NK News contributor in late 2017 that the country had plans to launch two further satellites.

Though those plans have yet to materialize, international observers are concerned that Pyongyang might seek to maintain its launch capability even though it announced an April 2018 moratorium of intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) and nuclear device testing.

Edited by James Fretwell

Main picture: KCNA

A North Korean media outlet drew attention on Friday to the peaceful nature of international space exploration efforts, but raised concerns about how some countries are attempting to militarize space. Coming amid ongoing North Korean efforts to expand or modify domestic space launch infrastructure, the English-languagePyongyang Timesarticle could hint at a re-emerging but controversial area

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North Korea highlights global interest in space exploration, militarization - NK News

NASA is gearing up to put the next man and first woman on the moon within five years. The space agency also plans to head to Mars for deep space exploration.

When NASA launches its next mission taking astronauts to the moon and then to Mars for deep space exploration, Florida will have had a hand in making that happen.

At least 409 companies from Florida, including Alternatives for Industry in Sarasota, are among the roughly 3,800 suppliers nationwide that will equip NASA's latest Orion mission, Artemis 1. The space agency plans to return to the moon by 2024 and embark on long-term lunar exploration by 2028.

It's really nice to be able to be part of that research. And I have to say, it's kind of cool to think that the parts that I handle, the parts that I inspect, that I've tested, are going to be in space for the next 30 years where they're orbiting Saturn or Jupiter, said Scott Courts, a physicist and applications scientist at Lake Shore Cryotronics in Westerville, Ohio.

Lake Shore Cyrotronics is building the Cernox temperature sensor. The gold-wired connectors inside the sensor are thinner in diameter than a strand of human hair. But the tiny sensing element made of copper, gold and ceramics can withstand temperatures ranging from minus-458 degrees Fahrenheit to plus-300 degrees.

The main companies contracting with NASA are those you would expect.

Lockheed Martin is working on Orion, which will be able to take astronauts to multiple destinations in space.

Boeing is the lead for the rocket and launch system which will transport crew members and support systems into deep space.

Aerojet Rocketdyne is responsible for 25 engines.

Northrop Grumman is handling the solid rocket boosters, said Kathryn Hambleton, a public affairs officer at NASA's headquarters.

Each of those companies has many suppliers across the country," she said. "And the suppliers list includes all the suppliers and vendors that work underneath those companies.

The list was published in January and has not been updated to reflect companies that have changed hands or moved.

"Companies do get listed for each program, so there are naturally duplicates. There are also companies with multiple locations supplying different parts of the system, they are counted in each state accordingly," Hambleton said.

Major budget

The fiscal year 2020 budget was amended to provide an increase of $1.6 billion above the president's initial $21 billion budget request, with no money taken from existing NASA programs, to bolster deep-space exploration.

NASA plans to use $1 billion to accelerate commercial partnerships, and another $651 million to complete the Space Launch System and Orion to support a 2024 moon landing.

An additional $132 million is budgeted for technology to help astronauts live and work on the lunar surface and in deep space as well as $90 million set aside to increase robotic exploration at the lunar South Pole before astronauts arrive, according to NASA's website.

The states with the largest number of companies supplying materials for the mission include more than 700 in California, 400-plus in Florida, more than 250 in Colorado and nearly that amount in Texas.

We're going to utilize the resources of the moon in order to learn how to live and work on another world," said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who spoke to reporters during a tour at NASA's Glenn Research Center facility in Sandusky, Ohio last month.

"What does that mean? That means we're going to use the water-ice. About 10 years ago, we learned that there's hundreds of millions of tons of water-ice in the South Pole of the moon. That water-ice represents air to breathe, it represents water to drink and it also represents rocket fuel, hydrogen and oxygen is the same rocket fuel that powers the space shuttles.

It's the same rocket fuel that will power the Space Launch System rocket, which is the largest most powerful rocket ever developed, Bridenstine said.

The system is the size of a 38-story building and will produce 8.8 million pounds of thrust at launch, according to Boeing's website.

NASA is gearing up to put the next man and first woman on the moon within five years.

Beth Burger is a staff writer for The Columbus (Ohio) Dispatch.

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Florida part of NASA mission to put next man, 1st woman on moon, then to Mars for deep space exploration - The Ledger

Theres always a lot of extraterrestrial dust floating down to Earth, but this dust is normally only a tiny fraction of the other dust in our atmosphere such as volcanic ash, dust from deserts and sea salt. But when a 93-mile (150 km) wide asteroid broke apart in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter some 466 million years ago (the middle of the Ordovician period), it created way more dust than usual.

Schmitz et al argue that the mid-Ordovician ice age was caused by global cooling, triggered by extra dust in the atmosphere of Earth from the breakup of a giant asteroid in the main asteroid belt. Image credit: NASA / JPL-Caltech.

Normally, Earth gains about 40,000 tons of extraterrestrial material every year. Imagine multiplying that by a factor of a thousand or ten thousand, said Dr. Philipp Heck, a curator at the Field Museum and researcher at the University of Chicago.

To contextualize that, in a typical year, one thousand semi trucks worth of interplanetary dust fall to Earth. In the couple million years following the collision, itd be more like ten million semis.

Our hypothesis is that the large amounts of extraterrestrial dust over a timeframe of at least two million years played an important role in changing the climate on Earth, contributing to cooling, Dr. Heck said.

Our results show for the first time that such dust, at times, has cooled Earth dramatically, added Dr. Birger Schmitz, from Lund University and the Field Museum.

Our studies can give a more detailed, empirical-based understanding of how this works, and this in turn can be used to evaluate if model simulations are realistic.

To figure it out, the team looked for traces of space dust in 466-million-year-old rocks, and compared it to tiny micrometeorites from Antarctica as a reference.

We studied extraterrestrial matter, meteorites and micrometeorites, in the sedimentary record of Earth, meaning rocks that were once sea floor, Dr. Heck said.

And then we extracted the extraterrestrial matter to discover what it was and where it came from.

Other studies had already established that our planet was undergoing an ice age around this time.

The amount of water in the Earths oceans influences the way that rocks on the seabed form, and the rocks from this time period show signs of shallower oceans a hint that some of the Earths water was trapped in glaciers and sea ice.

Dr. Heck, Dr. Schmitz and their colleagues are the first to show that this ice age syncs up with the extra dust in the atmosphere.

The timing appears to be perfect. The extra dust in the atmosphere helps explain the ice age by filtering out sunlight, the dust would have caused global cooling, Dr. Schmitz said.

Since the dust floated down to Earth over at least two million years, the cooling was gradual enough for life to adapt and even benefit from the changes. An explosion of new species evolved as creatures adapted for survival in regions with different temperatures.

The findings are published in the journal Science Advances.

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Birger Schmitz et al. 2019. An extraterrestrial trigger for the mid-Ordovician ice age: Dust from the breakup of the L-chondrite parent body. Science Advances 5 (9): eaax4184; doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aax4184

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Dust from Disintegrated Asteroid Triggered Mid-Ordovician Ice Age | Paleoclimatology, Space Exploration - Sci-News.com

Space is for everybody. It's not just for a few people in science or math, or for a select group of astronauts. That's our new frontier out there, and it's everybody's business to know about space.

Christa McAuliffe, Teacher and Challenger Astronaut

July 20, 2019 marked the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing, recalling not only the Cold War space race of an era gone by, but also generating nostalgia for one of humankinds greatest achievements our first steps on the moon. Yet, while the glory days of the Apollo missions are long gone, excitement for what many believe is a new golden age of exploration and discovery is happening right now.

From new missions to return to the moon to possibly establishing human colonies on Mars, space exploration has returned in force, with big ambition. But its not only future astronauts who are leading the charge into this new age of discovery. Some of the most anticipated discoveries are being generated via observatories, whether space-based ones like the Hubble Telescope, or giant ground-based traditional ones.

And while most of us wont be on a rocket anytime soon, the stars are definitely within reach right here in Michigan.

Three ways to kick off your star trek here on campus range from the historic Detroit Observatory in the Bentley Historical Library, to the planetarium at the University of Michigan Museum of Natural History, to telescopes wielded by the students and residents of Ann Arbor at the Student Astronomical Society.

Getting Starstruck

Excitement and passion for the sciences is tangible here on campus. More than a simple passion for education, or enthusiasm for the geekier side of all things space (live long and prosper), there has been a growing sense of animation among the community for the sciences.

Huge numbers of students are coming to the planetarium shows, says Lori Ann Dick, manager of marketing and communications at the Museum of Natural History. Weekend mornings are swarming. Its a real community.

The museum, which has been undergoing extensive renovations this past year, has hit the ground running in its multi-staged re-openings. The Planetarium and Dome Theater exhibit and interactive experience has proven to be an exciting, highly anticipated part of the museums ongoing work to update their facilities and improve the overall visitor experience to the museum.

Adds Gary D. Krenz, who works with the Detroit Observatory: I hear people excited about rejuvenating the pushing of boundaries. We are in a new phase of excitement, about exploring space. Theres been more public attention than I would have predicted. And at the core of this excitement, Dr. Krenz observes, Science has always been a combination of pure curiosity driven to push the bounds of knowledge. Where better to find a kindred spirit to this curiosity than on a university campus?

The reason for the excitement is threefold. First, both the museum and the observatory have a deep, rich history on campus.

Planetarium manager Matt Linke explains, The roots of the museum go back to the beginning of the University. Linke jokes, the original (museum) being a cabinet of curiosities almost 200 years ago! As for where these masses are coming from, Linke says Generations have attended the museum we already had the (audience) base, a kinship with those who came before.

While certainly the wonders of the museum draw visitors far and wide, it is undeniable that the museum also holds a special place in many Wolverine, and local Ann Arbor-ite, hearts. Revisiting old memories and making new ones all while engaging our child-like wonder and curiosity is in us all.

Dr. Krenz echoes this, emphasizing how the University has always held a track record for research and pushing the bounds of knowledge a reputation that started with the foundation of the Detroit Observatory in 1854. While the observatory itself is no longer an active research observatory, it remains an exciting hub for students.

Second, the emphasis on accessibility has been vital for drawing in both veteran science fans, and those eager to learn.

The museums renovated planetarium features wheelchair friendly ramps and seating, along with chairs that have removable arms, allowing for those with limited mobility to rise and seat themselves with ease.

But things dont stop there Linke highlights a new program for deaf children which was piloted at the planetarium, utilizing new technology to connect the exhibits accompanying soundtrack to the childrens auditory systems (such as implants). This enabled the visiting kids to experience the exhibit like any other child or adult might, providing a normalized experience for anyone and everyone. Its an impressive level of inclusion for children with disabilities, showcasing both the museum and the Universitys dedication to accessibility.

The observatory, too, has prioritized accessibility in the construction of the new annex an additional entrance to the observatory, which will feature not only wheelchair entrances, but classrooms, event spaces and exhibits.

From their headquarters in West Hall, the Student Astronomical Society tackles accessibility on the front lines of campus, working to inform, educate and showcase the wonders of astronomy to the campus community. As SAS outreach co-chair Josiah Sherk outlines, SAS hopes to focus on outreach, improving our open houses, as well as focusing on external outreach within the community.

These open houses often include a variety of activities structured to engage and inform students from any discipline or major about astronomy. From physics demonstrations and models, to tutoring University students in astronomy, and even hosting open stargazing sessions utilizing the observing facilities at Angell Hall, SAS offers a variety of resources and tools to all its members, students and locals.

Sherk further explains, We are dedicated to taking people with a passing interest in astronomy, or dedicated to astronomy as a career path, (and) bringing them together and providing them with opportunities to give back to their community.

Third, there is a key balance being struck between nostalgia for whats old and a passion for embracing whats new.

As Matt Linke observes, The Natural History Museum has been a presence on campus for the past 42 years, and the museum has moved four times We were in the Ruthven building for 90 years a place that was near and dear to heart.

The team at the museum has welcomed the move to the new Biological Sciences Building with optimism and excitement. But while the modern design of the museums new home is awe-inspiring, and renovations have brought more technologically advanced mechanics to the museums exhibits and organization, not everything in the newly reopened U-M museum is brand new. According to Dick, dozens of relics and exhibits from the old museum have been saved and brought to the new museum site.

Youre walking around all this new stuff, and then you see something and go, Oh, thats familiar! Linke jokes.

Back at the Detroit Observatory, a similar approach is underway. According to Dr. Kenz, new renovations dont include any direct change or update to the original historic building. Rather, the construction hopes to add to the pre-existing space, in lieu of replacing it.

The positive buzz around campus may be an indicator of a larger excitement brewing around the globe. Not everyone may share the cherished memories the Wolverines hold dear here in Ann Arbor, but this mix of nostalgia, accessibility and advancement can be seen on the national (and even international) level.

Dont Fix What Aint Broke

While the planetarium shows make for an excellent foray into the stars, SAS offers a more direct, hands-on way to continue your star trek through campus: telescopes.

Both the observatory and SAS offer regular stargazing sessions and related activities throughout the year. But with the observatory currently under renovation, its the perfect time for SAS to shine.

Aside from hosting most SAS events, Angell Hall also houses the Astronomy Department, along with its own observatory and viewing platform for students and faculty across campus.

New technology is undeniably helping to reinvent the field of astronomy, and the greater natural sciences, too. New smartphone apps like SkyView, Star Chart and Star Rover to name a few allow the everyday user to engage and interact with the stars on a new personal, more direct level. Many of these apps utilize augmented reality to enhance virtual stargazing. Users can use these apps to locate and view constellations, track objects in the sky and learn about our solar system. As cool as telescopes can be (they certainly recall a sense of vintage nostalgia), are apps the new everymans telescope? SASs Sherk says no.

Sherk says, Technology is developing as a tool, and its always been a tool it just helps us do things more efficiently. The fact of the matter is that something the size of a smartphone will never be able to do what a telescope can do.

While the capabilities of smartphones are seemingly immeasurable, it seems that no matter how advanced the classic iPhone or Samsung can get, their small size prevents the telescope from becoming obsolete. Sherk elaborates, Larger telescopes will have a clearer image, and theyll be able to see more. The reason we need to use a larger telescope is because it has a bunch of mirrors in it in order to capture as much light as possible to create a clearer image of what were trying to look at.

But, while telescopes continue to reign supreme, smartphones can still be a versatile tool for astronomical observation. Sherk explains, Lots of people like to take amateur astronomy photography; Theyll try to take pictures through their telescopes, and some people even like to use their smartphones (for this) ... Using smartphones for photography, or even helping your telescope to locate certain objects in the sky, that (becomes) a great tool.

For many, science often holds the connotation of new, cutting-edge and modern. Yet, when it comes to astronomy, it seems the old-fashioned methods cant be beat. Sometimes, new doesnt translate to better. As the saying goes, Dont fix what aint broke.

For the amateur astronomers or those eager to become one both SASs open houses and telescope viewing sessions, along with buzz-worthy apps, are great ways to continue your exploration through the stars right here at home.

To Infinity, and Beyond: A look to the future

Campus has its head in the stars and so, it seems, does the rest of the world. Beyond the bounds of Ann Arbor, things are kicking into gear to usher into a new age of scientific discovery and space exploration.

With advancing technology allowing for the realization of what were once impossible dreams, humanitys gaze once again returns to the moon. To some, a moon landing may seem to be an old hat-trick after all, its been done a few times already, hasnt it? But while a dozen moon landings, 24 lunar orbits and roughly 550 men and women launched into space may seem impressive, in actuality these numbers do not suggest an ease, or mastery of space travel. Rather, there is much more work to do.

The new Apollo 11? A lunar base on the moon by 2030. A goal emphasized by growing interest from private sector companies to engineer commercial flights to space, from the likes of Virgin Galactic and SpaceX. On a smaller, more immediate scale, 2024 has become the rallying point for humankinds return to the moon the baby-steps before the Star Wars-esque Lunar Base. Meanwhile, China and India have made space travel a new priority, suggesting that a modern-day space race is brewing a race potentially driven not only by politics, but by private-sector investment and innovation.

It is certainly an age of wonder that we have come upon. And for those who arent yet sold those who dont feel the tell-tale itch of curiosity to get up, go out and learn about science! here are a few passing words to change your mind.

To anyone who has yet to take a jaunt to the museum, Linke offers, Who doesnt want to see a dinosaur? (The museum has some very cool dinosaurs). Dick adds, Were open late on Thursdays, and its perfect for a date!

For the people who have deluded themselves into thinking telescopes arent the coolest thing about campus, Dr. Krenz enthuses, Theres nothing quite like looking through a telescope. Seeing the rings of Saturn very clearly, for instance, or the moons of Jupiter (The observatory) is still a place where people can (become) inspired; a place where people can touch the universe beyond the atmosphere.

So, consider taking a star trek here on campus. Experiencing the universe from behind an IMAX movie screen is all well and good but the real thing, now thats something worth seeing (and its free!). After all, its the final frontier.

See the article here:

How to take a star trek on campus - The Michigan Daily

Brad Pitt stars in upcoming science fiction film "Ad Astra" about an astronaut's journey throughout the solar system to find his missing father.

Now the actor is getting the chance to talk to someone with real-life experience in space.

Pitt had a conversation about life in space with Nick Hague, who has been an astronaut since 2013 and is currently part of the Expedition 59 and 60 crew on the International Space Station.

On the video call, the two discussed everything from Hague's day-to-day life to his relationship with NASA's team on the ground to what the astronaut thought of "Ad Astra."

The astronaut and some other residents on the ISS watched the film prior to his conversation with Pitt. He explained to the actor how grateful he was that he was raising awareness for space exploration.

"Thank you for what you're doing to contribute to the mission of awareness and to light that fire in the imaginations of the next generation of explorers," he told Pitt.

"I got to tell you it was really good," Hague said on the film. "The depictions, the settings, all, as you can tell, look very similar to the type of setting I've got around me."

Pitt asked about how Hague and the rest of the crew manage their sleep schedules and what their working hours are like.

Hague explained that astronauts on the ISS "do a lot to try to manage that circadian rhythm" by using different hues of the color spectrum to differentiate times of the day, following Greenwich Mean Time.

He shared that they typically have a 12-hour workday, from about 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., and the ISS does have a night shift on the ground.

"There's actually a massive team on the ground that is controlling about 95% of what happens on the space station, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year," Hague explained.

"It is an amazing orchestration of an international program that comes together to truly achieve something that we can't do alone," he continued. "It's through that strength through diversity that we're able to successfully operate at this station for two decades."

The actor was also interested in learning about the astronaut's current missions and what it's like being away from his family.

Hague shared that he's almost finished with his time in space -- he's been on the ISS for more than 180 days and is expected to return from his 200-day mission in early October.

In response to Pitt's question about how his time in space and away from his family affects his mental state, Hague explained that technology allows him to stay connected.

"Being apart from your family, your friends, your loved ones, is a challenge and one of the luxuries I think we have of working in low Earth orbit, close to the Earth, is the amount of connectivity that we have," Hague shared.

"The ability to make phone calls and check in on a routine basis, to every weekend being able to do a video conference with my kids and share a little bit of the experience of there with them, but also be a part of their life and understand what their going through on the ground so that we have shared experience," he added.

The astronaut also shared his thoughts on the notion of feeling insignificant when one has the chance to see Earth from space.

"One of the special things about being up here is being able to float over the window and see the Earth below -- to look down 250 miles, and with your naked eye you can see the crop circles in Kansas, in Missouri," he shared. "You can see humanity below you glide by as we go screaming through the sky at five miles a second."

"You get a perspective that you're away from the Earth and then [with] the same view you can see the moon rising over the horizon and you get this idea that ... I'm just kind of in the cosmos -- that perspective really challenges you because now you're looking down at everything you've ever known, all of humanity, right there and you have this deep appreciation for how big the universe really is."

Pitt ended the conversation in the best way possible -- by asking which actor portrayed an astronaut better: him in "Ad Astra" or George Clooney in 2013 film "Gravity."

Hague answered that Pitt was the winner there, and offered a compliment to the actor on his impact in opening audiences' eyes to space exploration.

"What you do and what you're able to do through story telling to inspire the next generation is so critical to the success of our programs in the future," Hague said.

Excerpt from:

Brad Pitt's out-of-this-world interview with NASA astronaut on Space Station - ABC News

As NASA makes a big push to land humans on the moon's surface by 2024, the European Space Agency (ESA) wants to learn more about the lunar caves that lie beneath.

ESA has released a call for proposals asking for creative ways to design a robotic mission that would explore these caves, which could be related to old underground lava tubes that dried up over the eons and collapsed. The campaign is available on ESA's Open Space Innovation Platform, and submissions are due by Sept. 27.

"Exploring and mapping these tubes could provide new information about the moon's geology, but they could also be an interesting option as long-term shelter for future human visitors to the moon," Franceso Sauro, director of ESA's Pangaea planetary geology astronaut training, said in a statement. "They would shield astronauts from cosmic radiation and micrometeorites and possibly provide access to icy water and other resources trapped underground."

Related: Lunar Lava Tubes Might Make Underground Moon Cities Possible

The missions have several scientific objectives associated with them, ESA explained. Future explorers would not only need to access, navigate and map the caves, but may use other resources. Some possible ideas include establishing communications between the cave and "the outside world," ESA said, while others involve instruments that could take measurements of the environment of the cave.

"Mission concepts may be based on a single rover or a distributed system of satellite, robotic or rover systems that operate together," Loredana Bessone, who is leading the hunt for ideas as head of ESA's analog field testing and exploration training, said in a statement. "Either way, we are looking for systems that would land on the lunar surface, identify and access a cave and contribute to the scientific exploration of the moon."

The statement did not say how (if at all) this would relate to NASA's exploration plans to land humans on the surface of the moon in 2024, but NASA has noted that it wants to land on the moon to establish a permanent human presence there. Lunar caves are a possible option to protect astronauts from long-term radiation on the surface, although our only knowledge of them so far comes from pictures of pits spotted from orbit.

Editors Note: This article was updated to reflect that the deadline for submissions is Sept. 27, not Oct. 31.

Follow Elizabeth Howell on Twitter @howellspace. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Europe Wants Ideas for Cave-Spelunking Moon Robots. Here's How You Can Help! - Space.com

Watch the trailers for the biggest movies coming out this weekend

Trailers for movies coming this weekend

Updated: 11:51 AM EDT Sep 19, 2019

"Ad Astra," in theaters everywhereAstronaut Roy McBride is on a mission through space to uncover the truth about his missing father, who went on a similar doomed space exploration mission 30 years before. Watch the trailer above and interviews with star of the film, Brad Pitt, talking about his interview with an astronaut and the making of the film below: "Rambo: Last Blood," in theaters everywhere When a friend's daughter is kidnapped, Rambo crosses the U.S.-Mexican border to bring her home but finds himself up against one of Mexico's most dangerous cartels. "Downton Abbey," in theaters everywhere The much-loved series is coming to the big screen. The Crawley family's story continues, as a letter from Buckingham Palace sets of a series of events that will change the family forever.

Astronaut Roy McBride is on a mission through space to uncover the truth about his missing father, who went on a similar doomed space exploration mission 30 years before. Watch the trailer above and interviews with star of the film, Brad Pitt, talking about his interview with an astronaut and the making of the film below:

When a friend's daughter is kidnapped, Rambo crosses the U.S.-Mexican border to bring her home but finds himself up against one of Mexico's most dangerous cartels.

The much-loved series is coming to the big screen. The Crawley family's story continues, as a letter from Buckingham Palace sets of a series of events that will change the family forever.

See the article here:

Watch the trailers for the biggest movies coming out this weekend - WCVB Boston

Space has become a $400 billion per year business; where does all that money even come from? If space exploration has to privatize in order to stay alive, what will the market demand for this technology look like? And as private sector innovation makes the Final Frontier look more and more like Earths suburban backyard, could we be overthinking the economic difficulties of space exploration? Matt Weinzierl joins me today to answer these questions.

Matt Weinzierl is the Joseph and Jacqueline Elbling Professor of Business Administration in the Business, Government, and the International Economy Unit at Harvard Business School and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research focuses on the optimal design of economic policy, in particular taxation, with an emphasis on better understanding the philosophical principles underlying policy choices. Recently, he has launched a set of research projects focused on the commercialization of the space sector and its economic implications.

Subscribe to Political Economy with James Pethokoukis in iTunes (and leave a 5-star review, please!), or by RSS feed. For all our podcasts in one place, subscribe to the Ricochet Audio Network Superfeed in iTunes or by RSS feed.

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Political Economy with James Pethokoukis: Matt Weinzierl on the economics of space - Ricochet.com

Thompson: A major concern is a misconception that the Space Force will set national space policy.

NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. Air Force leaders are working to dispel what they believe are misconceptions about the future Space Force as they continue to press lawmakers to enact the new branch of the armed services.

The Space Force has been the butt of countless jokes since President Trump announced 15 months ago he was directing the Pentagon to stand it up. But the Space Force has been serious business for the Air Force which will serve as the parent service. And as the legislative process nears the finish line, Air Force leaders worry that there are significant misunderstandings about what the Space Force will do and they are working to set the record straight.

Theres a lot of conversation going on about the mission, the vision, on what does it do? said Lt. Gen. David DT Thompson, vice commander of Air Force Space Command. And a lot of what is being said is inaccurate, Thompson told SpaceNews on Wednesday at the Air Force Associations Air Space & Cyber conference.

A major concern is a misconception that the Space Force will set national space policy and will lead in what historically have been civilian efforts like space exploration and economic exploitation of space, Thompson said. Theres a discussion about this grand vision that the Space Force is going to orchestrate economics, and civil and all kinds of other sectors of the economy to take us to the moon and Mars, he added. Thats not the way the American system works.

The Space Force will be much smaller than the other military services, but will have the same basic responsibility to organize, train and equip forces so they can be ready to respond during a crisis. For example, U.S. Space Command or another military combatant command would need space operators to help defend satellites if they are targeted by enemy lasers or anti-satellite missiles.

We have a lot of policy and guidance and direction about what the Space Force should be, said Thompson. Its going to be a sixth branch of the armed services. The job of a service is to organize, train and equip forces for combatant commanders.

Thompson, who is on the short list of candidates likely to be considered to run a future Space Force, has been among the small cadre of Pentagon officials working directly with congressional committees on the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2020 language to authorize a Space Force.

Senate and House conferees for the NDAA will meet tomorrow to begin the process of resolving differences between the House and Senate versions of the defense authorization bill.

Among the issues to be hashed out is whether to authorize the establishment of a Space Force as a sixth branch of the armed forces, and if authorized, lawmakers have to decide how much leeway they will give the Pentagon on the specific details of how the new service will be structured and resourced.

Thompson insisted that the Space Force will focus strictly on its military responsibilities but also will support the nations broader space policy goals which would be set by the president, the National Space Council and Congress.

Thompsons own Air Force Space Command might have contributed to the perception that the Space Force wants to take over all things space. The command released a report on Sept. 5 titled The Future of Space 2060 and Implications for U.S. Strategy that is based on a workshop the command hosted with experts and academics. The report calls for a national vision for space and lays out three scenarios that assume a major increase in the importance of space globally, with the United States exerting space leadership across the civil, commercial and military realms.

One scenario called Star Trek assumes significant global civil, commercial and military expansion in space, with thousands of humans living or working in space at a variety of habitats across cislunar space, the moon, and Mars.

A second scenario named Garden Earth, also assumes significant expansion of space activities but human presence is limited and most processes are controlled remotely or robotically.

The third scenario is Elysium. It too assumes growth in space activities and colonization, but large revenue streams have yet to materialize.

But when asked about the study, Thompson rejected the premise that it is advocating for the Space Force to take on a larger than necessary role. The futures posited in the study are meant to provide fodder for policy makers but the study in no way implies that the Space Force will dictate that path forward, Thompson said.

As space becomes an important engine of economic growth and a critical national security concern, many sectors of the government and the industry will have assigned responsibilities, Thompson said. Theres a role for the Space Force, a role for DoD, for NASA, for the commercial market, the intelligence community, the Department of Commerce, he said. Each sector has a role to help shape and achieve that future. The Space Force over time will have a large role to play, but to say its going to be the Space Forces job to take us in this direction is well beyond what weve ever asked for.

The Space Force will play a role getting us there, Thompson said. But at the higher level, the president and the National Space Council do the grand strategy and vision and its the Space Forces job to help execute.

Because civilian, military and many commercial space systems are all considered national assets, Thompson said the Space Force will prepare forces to protect our interests in space, and that includes commercial, civil and military. The broader vision, however, has to be marshaled as a whole of government. The Space Force will have significant responsibilities, said Thompson, but you just dont say, Hey Space Force, you go set the vision and take the entire nation down that path.

Thompson defended the importance of studies like The Future of Space 2060 to help set high level policy. These are possible futures we see, he said. The nation needs to ensure we have a strategy and vision to make sure we end up in one of these three futures. Its not out of sync.

What will Congress do next?

The final NDAA language will not be settled for several weeks. Thompson said he is optimistic about the outcome. You never know. It feels like both sides want to go in the same direction, he said. But when they get together in conference you never know what is going to come out. Hopefully theyre going to give us something.

The Air Force is ready to execute whatever legislation is passed, he said. All they have to do is give us something to work with.

Thompson and other defense officials have called on Congress to make sure they revise Title 10 of the U.S. Code to add a new armed service. Its a simple and fundamental change, he said. The law has to say you are authorized to create a Space Force.

The House version of the NDAA specifically says create a Space Corps, Thompson noted. Its not dramatically different than what DoD proposed, except the name.

The Senate version is less explicit. It says lets get started, prepare to do that in the future. Its a little different that the House, said Thompson. The Senate didnt specifically say you shall establish a Space Force but they started us down that path. Hopefully the conference will work it out, give us the authority, even if the authority says begin the work now and youre authorized to establish it by a certain date.

If the Space Force is authorized, it would be led by a four-star officer and its top civilian leader would be the secretary of the Air Force.

Trumps nominee to be the next secretary, Barbara Barrett, is expected to be confirmed by the Senate on Thursday.

Thompson said he has met with Barrett and that she expressed enthusiasm for the challenge ahead to get the Space Force off the ground. Shes told us several times, very clearly, Dont be constrained by the past. Start with a clean sheet of paper and tell me what the organization should be, Thompson said. Barrett believes the Space Force should be lean and nimble, he said. She is very much anti-bureaucracy. It sounds like shes just ready to go.

Continue reading here:

Air Force tries to set record straight on what the Space Force is really about - SpaceNews

BATON ROUGE, LA, Sept. 18, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Many factors make it possible to send astronauts into space, but the absence of onepotable waterwould make long-term space exploration inconceivable.

LSU Mechanical Engineering Assistant Professor Manas Gartia and his team of graduate studentsAbid Hasan, Nishir Mehta, Alisha Prasad, and Sushant Sahuare currently working alongside NASA advisor Michael Flynn on a water purification system that could help with NASAs lunar and Mars missions.

Most people may not realize there is a large amount of radiation in space that is harmful to astronauts and their equipment. But what if that radiation could be harnessed and used for their benefit? Not only is water the best way to absorb this radiation, its needed by astronauts for drinking and hygiene.

Gartia has created a radiation-driven catalytic-reactive oxygen species (ROS) production mechanism that will purify water in space by using gamma rays and X-rays to control biofouling, or biological fouling, of membranes in the water purification process.

The project, which was made possible through a LaSPACE grant, is for long-term space exploration, namely NASAs new Gateway spaceship that will orbit the Moon and serve as a temporary home and office for lunar expeditions and future human missions to Mars. Unlike the International Space Station, where astronauts are frequent visitors, water in the Gateway will remain relatively untouched for months at a time, meaning a high chance of bacterial growth in the water.

The current method of wastewater recycling, which consists of urine, flush, and humidity condensate (HC) on the ISS, includes pretreatment followed by distillation (urine and flush only), Gartia said. The solutions are passed through adsorptive/exchange beds and catalytic oxidation before using the purified water. HC is generally not pretreated, which makes biological growth in the storage tank highly prevalent.

Not only does the bacterial growth consume oxygen and produce extra biomass load, which is expensive to get rid of, in the ISS, but the pretreatment chemicals are inherently hazardous and must be resupplied in large quantities if used for treatment of other wastewaters, such as shower and hygiene.

In addition, increasing the water recovery rates from wastewater sources leads to contaminants getting more concentrated in the wastewater, and dissolved solids begin to precipitate out from the wastewater, fouling the treatment systems, Gartia said.

Biofouling alone contributes to 45% of all membrane fouling, especially in nanofiltration and reverse osmosis membrane filtration.

Membrane technology is an emerging, promising technology for treatment of waste water, Gartia said. However, all membrane suffers from fouling issues that include inorganic fouling, organic fouling, and biofouling, and can occur simultaneously. Several pre-treatment operations have been used, however, none of them provide a long-term comprehensive solution. In radio-catalytic processes, activation occurs through penetrating ionizing radiation, such as gamma rays or X-rays, to drive heterogeneous chemical reactions. This method can extend the life of a membrane in a cost-effective manner, since the cost of replacing a system in space is enormous.

Gartias project would also help with future Mars missions.

When astronauts go to Mars one day, it will take about 600-900 days for them to get there, Gartia said. The problem is humans are more susceptible to cancer-causing radiation in space after just 176 days. Technology allows us to go there, but theres no technology to prevent us from getting radiation. Water is the best way to absorb it.

With the Gateway set to be complete by 2026, Gartia has time to perfect his product for future space explorers.

Like us on Facebook (@lsuengineering) or follow us on Twitter and Instagram @lsuengineering).

Josh DuplechainLSU College of Engineering225-578-5706josh@lsu.edu

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LSU ME Professor Gartia Uses Radiation to Purify Water in Space - Yahoo Finance

Getting spacecraft into orbit is incredibly costly and difficult, and so scientists keep returning to the idea of a space elevator that can lift people and equipment out of Earth's atmosphere more easily. Now researchers have come up with a twist on the concept that - in theory at least - is doable with today's technology.

Rather than building a space elevator up from Earth, build a 'spaceline' down from the Moon, say astrophysicists Zephyr Penoyre from the University of Cambridge in the UK, and Emily Sandford from Columbia University in New York.

Based on their calculations, the researchers say such a construction is technically and economically feasible with the tools and materials we have today something that can't be said for the space elevator concept.

The benefit of a spaceline over a space elevator is that it would orbit Earth just once a month because it would be attached to the Moon, not Earth and that means less of a strain coming from centrifugal forces.

It wouldn't actually touch our planet, but dangle down into geostationary orbit some 42,164 kilometres (26,199 miles) above the surface ready to transport whatever was needed up into the further regions of space.

"By extending a line, anchored on the moon, to deep within Earth's gravity well, we can construct a stable, traversable cable allowing free movement from the vicinity of Earth to the Moon's surface," write Penoyre and Sandford in their paper.

"It would reduce the fuel needed to reach the surface of the moon to a third of the current value."

Crucially, super-strong materials that we already have, including the Zylon carbon polymer, would work in this scenario.

By hitting what's known as the Lagrange point where the gravitational forces of the Earth and Moon would come close to balancing each other out the researchers think enough stability for operations can be achieved.

(Penoyre & Sandford, arXiv.org, 2019)

There would be some kind of 'base camp' here, the researchers say:

"Such a base camp would allow construction and maintenance of a new generation of space-based experiments one could imagine telescopes, particle accelerators, gravitational wave detectors, vivariums, power generation and launch points for missions to the rest of the Solar System."

The counter weight of a base camp would also help keep the long cable anchored and stable it will need to stretch more than 300,000 kilometres (186,411 miles), after all.

As an added bonus the risk of getting hit by space objects (like meteors) is low, and the cable could be manufactured to withstand small hits, the researchers suggest.

The idea of a lunar spaceline isn't brand new, but this latest study shows that it's now feasible in terms of cost and practicality. It's worth bearing in mind that this is only a proof-of-concept though, and the work has yet to appear in a peer-reviewed journal. It's been uploaded for feedback from the industry on pre-print server arXiv.org.

In other words, work on a spaceline isn't going to get underway anytime soon, unfortunately. But it might give us a more viable alternative for low-cost space exploration than the space elevator and at least the maths checks out.

"We have calculated the tension and stresses on the spaceline, and showed that with modern materials it could be constructed within the fundamental limits of the materials," conclude the researchers.

The research is available on pre-print server arXiv.org.

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Astrophysicists Say One Space Elevator Concept Is Possible With Today's Technology - ScienceAlert

When NASA launches its next mission taking astronauts to the moon and then to Mars for deep space exploration, Oklahoma will have had a hand in making that happen.

At least eight companies from Oklahoma, including International Crystal Manufacturing in Oklahoma City, are among the roughly 3,800 suppliers nationwide that will equip NASAs latest Orion mission, Artemis 1. The space agency plans to return to the moon by 2024 and embark on long-term lunar exploration by 2028.

It's really nice to be able to be part of that research. And I have to say it's kind of cool to think that the parts that I handle, the parts that I inspect, that I've tested, are going to be in space for the next 30 years where they're orbiting Saturn or Jupiter, said Scott Courts, a physicist and applications scientist at Lake Shore Cryotronics in Westerville, Ohio.

Lake Shore Cyrotronics is building the Cernox temperature sensor. The gold-wired connectors inside the sensor are thinner in diameter than a strand of human hair. But the tiny sensing element made of copper, gold and ceramics can withstand temperatures ranging from minus-458 degrees Fahrenheit to plus-300 degrees.

The main companies contracting with NASA are those you would expect.

Lockheed Martin is working on Orion, which will be able to take astronauts to multiple destinations in space.

Boeing is the lead for the rocket and launch system which will transport crew members and support systems into deep space.

Aerojet Rocketdyne is responsible for 25 engines.

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Oklahomans are playing a role in NASA missions - Oklahoman.com

Elon Musk and his company, SpaceX, have been testing rockets from a launch site in Texas in an effort to eventually take humans to Mars. The launch site is next to a neighborhood east of Brownsville called Boca Chica, a tiny beach and fishing village that has been transformed by the rocket company.

Musk's company picked the spot to develop, test, and maybe someday launch its new spaceship, called "Starship." Starship is designed to fly cargo and crew to the moon and even Mars.

Maria Pointer thought the village, with one main street and fewer than two dozen residents, would be perfect for retirement. Then SpaceX moved in, something that, during launches, has Pointer excited.

"When you're juicing your oranges and you're looking out at a spaceship," Pointer said. "I would be talking to my mom going, 'Can you believe this?'"

The launch pad is about a mile and a half down the road, but test days are the real game-changer. Beaches close. The neighborhood's main access road closes. And deputies hand out warnings to residents.

"There is risk that a malfunction will create an over-pressure event that can break windows," the notices read.

Pointer boarded up her house. She said it's a love/hate relationship with SpaceX."Flip of the coin," Pointer said. "Heads is... look what we've got coming for the future. And then on the back side, it's like, where the hell do I go now? I mean, I can't stay here forever."

No question the Boca Chica has changed. Homeowner Cheryl Stevens said she feels like the company has encroached on the neighborhood.

"They're behaving as if this is Cape Canaveral. And it's not," Stevens said. "It's not a military base. It's just a regular neighborhood, and a public beach, and a state highway. And suddenly, because they're here, stop the presses. Everything has to change for SpaceX."

Judge Eddie Trevino Jr. is the top elected official in Cameron County, one of the poorest in Texas. SpaceX could bring in hundreds of new jobs and tens of millions of dollars.

"I can certainly appreciate their frustrations, but I gotta look at the big picture," Trevino said. "I think that's a big, big win, potential win for us. I feel bad for those people, but hopefully they'll understand and appreciate at the end of the day this was beneficial for the entire area."

Pointer is thrilled by the launches, but when she thinks about the future of space here, she worries about her own.

"It's bittersweet," Pointer said, lamenting that she'll eventually have to leave what was supposed to be her forever home.

"When do I have to move?" Pointer said, when asked what she would say to Musk. "That's what I would ask him, 'When do I have to move?'"

In the last few days, Pointer and several other homeowners have received letters from SpaceX offering to buy their homes at three times a fair market value. SpaceX says the offer is non-negotiable and expires in two weeks. Sellers would get to come back for VIP launch viewing.

"When SpaceX first identified Cameron County as a potential spaceport location, we did not anticipate that local residents would experience significant disruption from our presence," the company wrote in the letter obtained by CBS News.

A SpaceX spokesperson said in a statement to CBS News: "We are entering a new and exciting era in space exploration and Texas is playing an increasingly important role in our efforts to help make humanity multi-planetary. As we develop Starshipthe world's most advanced launch system everwe are listening and responding to our neighbors' concerns and are striving to minimize disruptions as much as possible. We are working closely with Cameron County to facilitate public safety and provide regular road and beach closure updates to the public through a telephone hotline and on Cameron County's website."

Musk says he'll visit Boca Chica next weekend to outline his company's future there.

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SpaceX launch pad transforms tiny Texas neighborhood: "Where the hell do I go now?" - CBS News

Portraying Asgardia, the UKs national media outlet, The I, dots all the is in its exhaustive insight on the newest star-oriented global communitys ideas, leaders, lawmaking, finance, and technical endeavors gaining scientific and commercial attention

The article focuses on a daring project of Dr Igor Ashurbeyli, an Azeri-Russian billionaire, aiming to populate the Moon with the first human colony by 2043 and budgeting around 100 billion per ark of its cosmic fleet to ensure human survival in case of any terrestrial cataclysm. Therefore, artificial gravity and procreation in space are currently Asgardias top priorities on its agenda.

According to the Nations Chair of ParliamentLembit pik, We are going to always have to push the boundaries of credibility. It is going to be a continuous effort but without it we wont get the answers to vital questions. That concerns Asgardiastechnical, commercial, and nation-building efforts as well as its activity within the current global trend of space exploration undergoing a sort of democratization, as the iNews reporter observes.

In October 2019, Asgardiasfar-sighted practical approach to human survival will gather the worlds top scientists in Germany for the First Space Science and Investment Congress to address the best ways of launching roughly 15 million people to space in the next couple of decades.

Follow the link to read the article

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15 Million Space Residents-to-Be 'Always Pushing Boundaries' - Asgardia Space News

Elon Musk's space exploration and rocket company, SpaceX, is working towards providing Internet connectivity for the world by sending a large number of satellites as part of its Starlink mission.

In May, Musk made a prediction that if the Starlink mission is successful it would bring between $30 billion to $50 billion net annual revenue to SpaceX's coffers.

Since then, however, Morgan Stanley has researched the matter further and estimates the amount to be$52 billion.

RELATED: SPACEX SUCCESSFULLY DEPLOYS FIRST ROUND OF STARLINK SATELLITES IN ORBIT

However, the report by Morgan Stanley points out that the estimate is dependent on whether SpaceX market shares rise or fall. If they rise, SpaceX could be worth $120 billion, but if they fall, they could be worth as 'low' as $5 billion.

First things first, Starlink is a mission that will send a large number of Internet satellites that would be hovering above Earth between 100 to 1,000 miles (160.9 to 1,609 km)away. Starlink would be in direct competition with older and larger current internet satellites, which stand at 22,236 miles (35,785.373 km) from Earth. A massive difference between Starlink and the other providers.

If successful, Starlink's estimated 12,000 satellites would provide faster and wider-reaching Internet services. This would make Starlink the biggest and strongest Internet operator, with more than six times the number of satellites operating in orbit.

How would the satellites be launched into orbit? They would be launched through SpaceX's rockets, the Falcon 9 rockets. The rockets would thrust 60 table-sized satellitesat a time into orbit.

Originally, the plan for SpaceX's launch of Internet satellites was due for 2027, but that date has been moved forward to2020 or 2021.

According to Morgan Stanley's report, if the 12,000-satellite-strongStarlink mission is successful, it could create quite a ruckus within the Internet industry.

The statement, named "SpaceX, Starlink, and Tesla: Moving into Orbit?" was sent to Business Insider on Tuesday, and predicted the base valuation of the company at $52 billion roughly 50% more than the previous predictions.

Analysts from the report wrote, "This assumes that expanding access to the internet drives broadband penetration from 50% to 75% of the global population, with SpaceX able to capture ~10% of the incremental broadband subscribers."

However, as Business Insider reports, if all goes wrong and SpaceX struggles to lock in Internet customers, the company would only be worth$5 billion ("bear case" net worth).If all goes according to plan, it would have a ("bull case") net worth of $120 billion.

It would place SpaceX's in the game alongside General Electric, Verizon, JPMorgan Chase, and Fannie Mae.

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SpaceX's Internet Service, Starlink, Could Make the Company Worth $120 Billion - Interesting Engineering

Janet Kavandi

Janet Kavandi, a 25-year veteran of NASA and former director of the agency's Glenn Research Center, has been appointed senior vice president for the space systems business area at Sierra Nevada Corp.

She will be responsible for overseeing the area's space technologies and spacecraft, space exploration systems and propulsion and environmental systems units, SNC said Monday.

I look forward to working collaboratively with the SNC team and our partners to achieve revolutionary goals in commercial spaceflight," said Kavandi.

The former astronaut has been credited with expanding NASA Glenn's role in the Artemis Program, which includes work on the Gateway power and propulsion element and Orion spacecraft testing efforts.

Kavandi joined the agency in 1994 and logged more than 33 days and 13.1M miles in space during three space shuttle missions that occurred from 1998 to 2001.

NASA inducted her into the Astronaut Hall of Fame in April.

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NASA Vet Janet Kavandi Named Sierra Nevada Space Systems Business SVP - ExecutiveBiz

September 19, 2019 - Two Merced College students have earned the right to rub elbows with NASA scientists next month.

Alvin Collier and Angelica Walker, both students at Merced College, have been selected to attend the NASA Community College Aerospace Scholars (NCAS) Onsite Experience at NASA Ames Research Center at Moffett Federal Airfield in Mountain View, Calif., Oct. 8-11, 2019.

Collier and Walker were chosen from a field of 499 community college students from across the U.S. to be part of NCAS. Collier and Walker have already successfully completed a five-week online course to prepare for the October trip.

The computer science students are among seven Merced College students who have participated in the NCAS program in the past six years, said computer science department professor Kathleen Kanemoto.

The NCAS program is specifically designed for community college students who may not follow a traditional path towards careers in science, technology, engineering or mathematics (STEM).

During the four-day visit to the Ames Research Center, students learn more about those types of careers and gain valuable exposure to NASA resources and staff.

They will also form teams to establish fictional companies interested in Mars exploration. Each team will develop and test a prototype rover, forming a company infrastructure, managing a budget, and developing communications and outreach.

The Minority University Research and Education Program (MUREP) funds NCAS. MUREP engages underrepresented and underserved students in STEM activities and career exploration through hands-on, authentic learning experiences. The goal is to develop and sustain a diverse workforce.

Walker was also accepted into NASAs L-Space Virtual Academy for 2019. This year, the Walker will work with groups developing missions to explore asteroids from Jupiter. Again, its a NASA effort to engage college students historically underrepresented in space exploration. The NCAS and LSpace Virtual Academy both open doors to future careers at NASA.

During the October seminar at Moffett Airfield, Collier and Walker will join the NASA tradition of engaging the nation in NASAs mission of exploration.

NCAS alumni often move on to NASA internships and ultimately enter the NASA workforce, says Torry Johnson, Minority University Research and Education Project (MUREP) Manager. It is rewarding to see the progression of a student from NCAS participant to NASA colleague.

More Information:http://ncas.aerospacescholars.org

For more on MUREP visit:www.nasa.gov/education/murepSource: Merced College

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Merced College Students Selected for NASA Program - Sierra Sun Times

Bill Nye and Hypergiant Industries Founder Ben Lamm both have a history with spaceand each other.

Back in February, Texas-based artificial intelligence industrial complex Hypergiant launched a division that would focus on AI-driven aerospace and astronautic software and hardware for the space industry, called Hypergiant Galactic Systems.

The following month, Hypergiant Galactic Systems announced a partnership with the Arch Mission Foundation. Together, the two companies plan to launch a series of satellites, starting in 2020, that would serve as the first relay points in the Interplanetary Internet.

As for Bill Nye: Most people know him as the famous Science Guy. But, hes also the CEO of The Planetary Society, the worlds largest and most influential nonprofit space organization dedicated to making advancements in science and exploration.

And most recently, Nye got a spot on Hypergiants Executive Advisory Board, which launched this summer. With his role, Nye intended to develop AI systems in two areas he deeply cares about: climate change and space exploration.

Its an extension of what Lamm intends to do with Hypergiant Industries: change the way people think about various enterprise sectors but also the planet, technology, space, and whats best for the entire human race.

On a Venture Dallas panel, Nye and Lamm came together with moderator Molly Cain, founder of GovCity Group, to talk about how America must consider the implications that technology advances can bring.

Launched by nine local dealmakers, Venture Dallas was a two-day summit that boosted relationships between local founders and out-of-town investors, putting North Texas even more on the map as an investment catalyst.

Here are our top takeaways. Lamm and Nye had lots to say on NASA, climate change, and game-changing ideas. For the record, when asked, Who do you want to be when you grow up, Lamm said, Bill Nye.

I went to Johnson Space Center with my Uncle Joe and had astronaut ice creamI think I was 10. I thought it was the greatest thing ever. And I was like, if theyre making this kind of stuff, what could they, possibly be making? Then, about three years ago, I found out that all the astronaut ice cream has never been to space, and its just a big hoax.

I dove in over the years. I was very lucky just to get to see a lot of how NASA worked over the years.

We focus on the intersection of critical infrastructure and defense in space. We think thats what makes life possible here and potentially possible out there, at some point. Its about a third of our overall focus and about 70 percent of our overall budget.

I think its endless. There are so many problems in space Youve got applied materials, got physics people, and electrical engineers. Historically, space has been very hardware-focused and is becoming more software-focused. I think that youre going to see more and more software players enter space.

Theres definitely money to be made. There are certain areas, like the search for life, that will be harder but there is a lot thats coming down in terms of things like data as a service.

Besides data as a service models, youve got AI and other kinds of software-based systems, leveraging the data thats coming down from space and doing amazing things with it. Everything from crop rotation to geological studies, smart cities to infrastructure planning, and GIS to defense is being informed by the data. And theres hardwareyouve got people building reusable rockets.

You can put a full constellation of satellites into space, and be smart about constellation management. As stuff starts to degrade and fall out of orbit, you could ladder that almost treated like a service. Its significantly cheaper [compared to] launching one giant spacecraft: If that doesnt work, its a big failurehundreds of millions of dollars down the drain.

It cant just be good enough, especially when peoples lives are on the line in space.

We lose money every month on R&D, but its the greatest group ever.

Tech companies, specifically, and other industries have a responsibility to rise up where their companies and their employees passions are and divert some of that into these problems.

You dont have to have an ocean cleanup company to clean up the ocean You can take some of your revenue, some of the profit, and some of the great women and men that work at your company. If thats their passion, you can support it.

Im pretty passionate about climate change. When you just look at data, you take out politicsone side versus the other. Its just there are things out there that if we dont make changes are going to kill us.

[Hypergiant] has an eight-person team thats focusing on leveraging AI and building some pretty cool stuff that well share soonthings we think could be transformative around climate change. And we want to be planetary site advocates for space. We want to advocate for people finding these new technologies and creating open-source tech and communities for people to leverage to help make the world a better place.

In the short term were trying to help cities be smart with their planning and infrastructure, and were trying to help people at home have the tools and research they need to be successful and make changes.

For fun, I took one class from Carl Sagan, a very well-known astronomer, and it changed my life. You may have seen the original Cosmos series or the remake two or three years ago. But his class was pretty much that series before it was a series. And then he started the Planetary Society in 1980.

NASA is still the biggest space agency by a factor of three or so. When it comes to space exploration, people from both sides of the aisle participate. Everybody loves space: Republican, Democrat, Independent. Everybody thinks space exploration is a worthy use of our intellect and treasure.

Now with the miniaturization of electronics and instruments, much smaller organizations than NASA can participate in remarkable ways, advancing space science and exploration.

We all depend on space. Its to the point where none of us can tell which side of the street were standing on. when were not working on our freaking phone. And thats a result of the global positioning system.

I want to explore planets writ large. I want to look for methane and distant atmospheres or so-called exoplanets: Very cool. But two things for me: I want to look for life on another world. If we defined life on another world, it would change the course of history. Everybody would feel differently about being a living thing in the cosmos.

The other thing thats important to me is: I dont want the earth to get hit with an asteroid. If the ancient dinosaurs had a space program it wasnt good enough.

In general, space improves the quality of life for everybody on Earth. What we want to do is ultimately provide clean water access, electricity, and internet access for everyone on the worldand thats going to require a spacecraft.

We want space agencies to make decisions to have efficient exploration. Nominally there is no business case, for exploring Mars. Youre probably wont make money, looking for life on Mars. But it would be extraordinary. And when you develop spacecraft and systems to do that, you create technology.

What you want are rockets that burn up on purpose. Thats another use of solar cell technology.

If youve been to Australia, they have tremendous trouble with invasive species. If you go to look for life on Mars and you bring along too many microbes from earth, you wont be able to tell one from the other. So lets all be thoughtful.

Theres a tremendous future, by the way, in space policy for sure. Theres many attorneys here, Theres a lot to be done in the laws associated with sharing space..

I get an email about once a week for a meeting: Bring your game-changing transformative disruptive ideas to this meeting. Yeah, I should do that. Yes, I should have a transformative game-changing disruptive idea. But thats generally not how it goes, everybody. Its incremental.

If people continue to resist the idea that we need to address climate change, these [game-changing] ideas are not going to emerge. For us on the science education side, climate change is the most serious problem humans have ever had.

Now there are 7.7 billion people on Earththere are going to be 9 billion by 2050, and there might be 10 billion by 2060. So somebodys gonna have to do something to feed all those people. And, were going to have less arable land. Theres less farmland due to desertificationwere drying out some areasand sea levels are rising. And the big thing is urbanizationmore people want to live in cities. And so theres less farmland, yet we are feeding everybody through genetic modifications and through improvements in agricultural technology, which is closely related to processing huge amounts of data. All these problems are solvable because we can crunch a lot of data.

Space exploration is where we solve problems that have never been solved before. And I claim climate change is going to do the same thing. Were going to be faced with enormous problems, and were going to figure it out.

Climate change can help us all realize that were all in this together. And that, really, is a derivative of space exploration.

We are going to need big ideas, huge ideas, Theres three things we want for everybody in the world: Clean water, renewable electricity, and access to the internet for everybody on earth. When people say it cant be done, and they wring their hands, I go crazy.

Theres nobody on earth whos not involved in the future of Earth. I want ushumankind to use space exploration to help us all understand that we are running the show now: Humans are in charge of the earth. Its up to us to decide where the freshwater goes, where the saltwater goes, how were going to desalinate water, how were going to feed everybody, and how were going to make the world more peaceful.

Comments were edited for brevity and clarity. Quincy Preston, Alex Edwards, and Maddie Preston contributed this report.

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The device, called the Eos Bioreactor, is one of the companys initial efforts focused on fixing the planets environment problems. It captures and stores carbon from the atmosphere.

The ideation space allows retailers and brand owners to experience and test some of SMLs latest technologies and developments.

Firefighters, police, soldiers, and search and rescue teams may become safer than ever with Hypergiant's development of helmets featuring an interactive head-up display.

Planned for completion in late 2020, the new facility will bring 500 new high-tech jobs with it.

Capital One asked 3,500 office workers520 from Dallasabout what impacts them in workplace design and employee experience.

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(Everyone's Favorite) Science Guy Bill Nye and Futurist Entrepreneur Ben Lamm on Space, Tech, and Opportunity - dallasinnovates.com

Fraser MacDonald, a writer and a lecturer in human geography at the University of Edinburgh, is the author of Escape From Earth: A Secret History of the Space Rocket, a new book that illuminates the life of Frank Malina, co-founder of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Though Malina was an accomplished scientist who made significant contributions to the field of rocketry in the 1930s and 40s, he remains a relatively obscure figure in the history of aerospace. MacDonalds thorough book explains why he isnt better known. He spoke with Air & Space senior associate editor Diane Tedeschi in August.

What compelled you to research the story of Frank Malina?

He is Americas first successful rocketeerthe person who made rocketry scientifically respectable. Yet, weirdly, he has only ever been a bit-part player in other peoples histories. A book about Malina is long overdue, not just because of his historic significance, but because his story is so full of intrigue, tragedy, and improbable good fortune.

Malina invented jet-assisted takeoff (JATO) and the WAC Corporal, the first sounding rocket developed in the United States. He also co-founded JPL and Aerojet. Do you think his accomplishments merit broader recognition?

Absolutely. Aside from his institutional legacies, many of his technical contributions have largely gone unnoticed: from hypergolic liquid propellants to the theory of long-duration solid propellants. He also helped develop the political infrastructure of space exploration: the International Academy of Astronautics, for example.

Why isnt Malina more well-known?

I dont think its a conservative conspiracy, but politics does play a role. Theres been a cloud over Malinas reputation for years. I think people have long suspected that he was a communist, and now the rumors of his party membership turn out to be true.

All of this has meant that Malina has not been an easy figure to celebrate, especially in anti-communist times. It also didnt help that he left the United States, and left practical rocketry, by the time that some of the most charismatic advances into space were being made.

Do you think the FBIs investigation of Malina was warranted?

Actually, I dothough I didnt at the beginning. I saw things rather differently by the end of the book. That doesnt mean that the FBI investigation of Malina was fairit often wasntbut he was a member of the communist party at a time when the party was routinely used as a front for intelligence operations. He must have known that being a communist working in classified defense research would attract some scrutiny.

Did Malina feel a sense of loyalty to the United States?

He was loyal. The complication is that he didnt put much store by nationhood or sovereigntyhis own or anyone elses. Malina was internationalist to his core. The problem was that some of his colleagues thought this aversion to flag-waving meant that Malina might be a Soviet agent. Malinas successor as director of JPL, Louis Dunn, made unfounded accusations of espionage, which sparked off a sprawling campaign against JPLs left-leaning engineers.

Was Malina comfortable accepting military contracts?

At the beginning, Id say he was sanguine rather than comfortable. He told himself that rockets might be needed to fight fascism. But he was deeply unhappy at the prospect of his Corporal missile becoming the bearer of a nuclear warhead. He started to have panic attacks in meetings. He even sought help from a psychoanalystnot realizing of course that his analyst was all along working for the FBI.

Did Malina ever cross paths with German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun?

As far as I know they met only once, at the 1965 International Astronautical Congress in Athens. I suspect Malina tried to avoid meeting him: He hated everything von Braun stood for. It made Malina queasy to think that engineers who had worked for the Nazi Party and the SS could be brought into the heart of the American space establishmentwhile campaigning anti-racists were left out in the cold.

What would you like people to know about Malina?

He was an ordinary person who made extraordinary advances in our journey to space. Malina was an anti-fascist and anti-racist. He took the risk of fighting for the political change that he believed was important. In the end, this cost him dearly. His friends had it even worse: They faced jail, deportation, blacklisting, and suicide. Frank Malina was ultimately someone who felt that transforming the Earth was more important than transcending it.

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Was the FBI Right to Hound One of America's Foremost Rocket Pioneers? - Air & Space Magazine

Rakesh Sharma, the first Indian in space, on life after the 1984 mission and what Hazza Al Mansoori, UAE's first astronaut who is headed to the ISS, potentially has in store

1984 is a year Indians are not likely to forget for a variety of reasons. Rakesh Sharma is one of them. A test pilot for the Indian Air Force, Sharma became the first Indian to travel to outer space. This feat, which Sharma so casually speaks of as a "job" that a "professional" was tasked with, not only taught Indians to dream, but gave the Indian space programme an iconic moment. When asked by the then prime minister Indira Gandhi how India looked from up there, he remarked, "Saare jahaan se achcha" (It's best in the world.), alluding to the famous patriotic song by Iqbal. Today, as the UAE gears up for one such moment with the propsect of having its first astronaut Hazza Al Mansoori in outer space, WKND spoke to Rakesh Sharma to understand what the distinction of "being the first" really means and the world of possibilities that space explorations open up for the rest of humanity. Edited excerpts:

What was the burden of expectations you were carrying during the 1984 mission?There is always a fair amount of excitement and anticipation because the experience is so out of the ordinary... something that every aviator aspires for. The other thing was that it was totally unexpected because our country did not have a manned space programme. From a professional standpoint, one hoped that everything would go well - not just the safety aspect but from the point of view of the mission objective. It was an important mission, and I was a professional representing not just the country, but the Indian Air Force and the flying community.

Reams have been written about the gruelling physical preparations you had to undergo. What did the mental preparation entail?I'd say the fact that I had been a test pilot for about 10 years by that time, and quite used to doing stuff that had never been done before. So, as far as mental conditioning was concerned, it was just another challenging mission. I guess it made it all the more exciting.

You describe the 72 hours when you were quarantined as being relaxing. No books, no television, no interaction. How could it not have been a gruelling process? It wasn't gruelling. I thoroughly enjoyed it. The context was just before that I was really busy completing a few reports and had to travel quite a bit. So, I was looking forward to it. It was a kind of vacation (laughs).

What were some of the most awkward questions you found yourself answering upon your return? Well, the most difficult question was, "Sir, how was it?". It was such an open-ended question. Which part of the mission do you describe? The expanse was so rich to answer that question that one would have to resort to clichs like "awesome" and "brilliant". The problem with simple questions which are asked over and over again is that you don't want to sound like a broken record.

You were also asked if you saw god. (Laughs) These questions came from religious people who were convinced that god lived above the clouds. I did not want to trivialise anybody's faith. This question was put to another great explorer, who said, "If you go to space to look for god, then you have some other kind of problem."

As an astronaut, space travel is a feat. As a person, what does it change?Time and time again, I've asked myself why I was given the chance to do something very few people on the planet have been able to do. That's my good fortune. I looked at it as a job that was given to somebody who was in military aviation. I had to ensure it was done without any glitches. In that sense, it was professionally satisfying, but beyond that, it has not affected me at all. I went back to my old career of test flying. After retirement, today, I remain fulfilled and content with the fact that I was a part of cutting-edge work.

You are often labelled the "reluctant space hero" because you like to keep a low profile. Does that kind of branding by the media do justice to you?I don't think anybody who is branded is happy about it because it slots you. It probably works for people in the entertainment industry because it puts them in everybody's face. It's like oxygen for them. For professionals, the hype doesn't work. I could either have looked at myself as the first Indian in space or 128th from the world.

There is a disconnect between how you perceive your space travel and how others see it. Where is the key difference between the two?I think the key difference is that you are involved in work that a) you cannot over-prepare for, b) you will always do it for the very first time, c) it is not without risks and d) it is challenging. And, of course, you would be live on national television. So, you don't want to mess up. So, there is some amount of stress on that score. You try to remain focused. But if you do get free time, just savour the experience itself. The compensation for everything was that I had an experience which really was out of the world.

That interaction when former Indian prime minister Indira Gandhi asked you how India looks from space and you replied "Saare jahaan se achcha" has become an important moment in India's space travel history. Was it a spontaneous response?It has become a bit symbolic and in becoming so, I think it has lost some of its deeper meaning. The deeper meaning being that ours is a secular nation, everybody is together and there is unity in diversity. That's what the song exemplifies. It was on top of my recall. When I was a student, it was the second de facto national anthem. In that sense, it seemed to fit perfectly with the mood.

You were also worried because Mrs Gandhi laughed right after.We didn't have a video link. We were only reacting to her audio. When she laughed, I thought perhaps I had crossed the line since you don't get to speak to the prime minister of the country very often. You're not trained for that (laughs).

Recently, the fading away of the Vikram lander raised concerns on whether developing countries like India should invest in space projects. Do you think there is any merit in that argument?That argument is as old as space exploration itself. It has been raised not only by Indians, but also Americans time and time again. I think the question itself is wrong. In today's world, where science is galloping at breakneck speed, it just doesn't make sense to try and do things sequentially. You will never ever keep up. You have to do things parallelly. Research and exploration must carry on. In any case, one should not only be looking at capital expenditure alone. One should factor in the returns on that expenditure. If you take that as the benchmark, I think we in India are running the cheapest and most successful space programme in the world. For a viable capital spend, you are getting much, much more in terms of connecting the country. So, as far as returns on investment are concerned, I think we've got a great story. Chandrayaan 2 has been a resounding success, except for the last bit, which is soft landing. The rover, in any case, wasn't designed to go more than 500 metres. But most of the work is being done by the orbiter, which is in good health. It's got eight sensors on board and will send the data which will be shared with the rest of the world.

The space race has only intensified in recent years. Many experts claim that by 2030, space travel will be available to citizens of most countries in the world. Is commercialisation of space travel something we should be wary of?What we need to be wary of is how it is going to grow. By that, I mean what is going to be the end use of this effort. We split the atoms, but we chose to make horrific weapons of destruction out of them. So, what we do with it, how we utilise the assets we are going to find is going to influence how we are going to live in the future. Will we continue to remain competitive? Especially when there is a United Nations' policy in place, which spells out that outer space belongs to humanity, not any one nation. So, if you are going to be doing this exploration using an exclusive model, then we will be exporting conflict from Planet Earth to outer space. Then, I think, the prospect of Star Wars will not be fictional any more (laughs). Space has the potential to be a unifying factor so that humanity, as a whole, can benefit. That is a perspective that even your astronaut is going to return with after his space flight.

As the first Indian in space, do you have a message for Hazza Al Mansoori, who is soon going to become the first Emirati in space?Just as I was, he is extremely fortunate to have got this opportunity. He is going to work with professionals who have been in this field for years. I think he should just enjoy the ride and I wish him happy landings and hope he is able to bring back all the results that people on the ground are expecting from him. I wish him a successful flight and a safe return. And I know it is going to be an enriching experience for him, in particular, and for everybody else in the UAE, in general, because the subject of space is going to beam right into their living rooms, thanks to your astronaut. anamika@khaleejtimes.com

Anamika Chatterjee

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First Indian in space's message to UAE astronaut Hazza Al Mansoori - wknd.