Category Archives: Space Exploration

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--In an annual State of Space 2022 commentary and video, Thomas Zelibor, CEO of Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983 for the global space ecosystem, speaks to business and government leaders about the transformation of the space industry, how space is already a critical infrastructure driving innovation for life here on Earth, and why it is so important that we prioritize workforce and education initiatives, while establishing norms of behavior to work together peacefully in space for the future of mankind.

State of Space: Then and Now

When we started the State of Space program in 2019, it was a different environment from what we are experiencing today. In fact, looking back, it would be safe to say that we were at the dawn of a new era for the global space community.

Project Artemis and our efforts to return to the Moon were in their infancy; the Hubble Space Telescope continued to reveal mysteries in our surrounding universe; commercial resupply missions to the International Space Station were occurring with regularity; and commercial space industry operations were starting to garner more interest by media, investors and the public, globally.

Three years later, the first space launch system (SLS) is stacked on the pad to launch this year for our first return to the Moon in generations; the James Webb Space Telescope is now unfolding at L2 to reveal more mysteries about our universe; commercial companies are now carrying astronauts and private citizens into space; and a $447 billion global space economy continues to grow in size, investment and employment. All the while, the world dealt with an unprecedented global pandemic that hampered economic growth and expansion.

State of Space 2022: The Era of Access and Opportunity

With 90 countries now operating in space, dozens of companies with orbital access capabilities, and growing global demands for talent to keep all these efforts going, it is easy to understand why Space Foundation calls this the era of access and opportunity.

Want further proof? Look at any news site, newspaper, or media outlet and youll find more expansive coverage of space today than you did during the Apollo era with far more diverse players than singular superpowers competing for supremacy.

Look at the continued and uninterrupted patterns of growth in government spending and private investment that are becoming more expansive than at any other time in our history.

Look at the demands by nation states as well as citizens for increasing access, understanding and imagery that space provides to monitor the safety, health and well-being of our planet as well as the natural disaster and national security threats that are ever present.

These are the facts of a vibrant and diverse ecosystem, and if done right, they will allow everyone to find their place in this dynamic environment.

State of Space 2022: What Would Life Be Like Without Space?

While the public will always envision rockets and astronauts when they think of space, the truth is that space is a critical infrastructure driving innovation for life here on Earth. In fact, there are more space activities happening here on Earth than in orbit around our planet.

But with Space, all these things and much more are possible. For as different as all of us are, we are all bound by common hopes and aspirations for a future where peace and prosperity are the values that bring us all together.

Todays era of access and opportunity is not bound by traditional approaches of solitary nations or enterprises going it alone to fulfill bold missions. But rather, we are establishing new relationships with greater possibilities for success as partners and investors. That is not just among countries, but also companies, communities and cultures.

Unfortunately, there are some leaders that see what we do by investing precious resources and energies in space activities as taking away from addressing the challenges that every country and community face here on Earth.

At Space Foundation, we would argue that the investment of resources and energies in these pursuits are the catalysts that will drive and create solutions we all want and need for our planet, our countries and our communities.

It should also not be a question of one path versus another. Rather, it is a question of how we work together to create understanding, build relationships, and address challenges that are far more common to one another than we may have previously realized.

State of Space 2022: A Global Showcase of Diversity of Thought, Approaches and Leadership

Much like we do at every Space Symposium, Space Foundation is honored to host an array of leaders from the international, national security, investment, insurance and private sectors to let you hear firsthand from them what is happening in their immediate universe.

The views they present are their own, but they speak to multiple perspectives that we need to be aware of as the global space ecosystem expands.

For Space Foundation, we see three key facets that deserve our utmost attention. They include:

Defining Space as a Critical Infrastructure

There is not a continent, country, company or community that is untouched by what we do with space either in orbit or back here on Earth. That dependence and the interdependence of every other critical infrastructure is linked to space. A day without space access and space-to-Earth technologies would be catastrophic to the worlds security, economies and ways of life.

Despite these operational realities, space is not officially classified as a critical infrastructure. Whether the reasons are bureaucratic or political, we are well past the time for governments here and around the world to embrace the facts and classify space for what it is a critical infrastructure where dependence grows greater every day. Global economies like the space economy, already valued at more than $447 billion and forecast to surpass a trillion-plus before the end of the decade, are not possible without becoming an infrastructure themselves. That has been proven time and again.

Space Force is in operation, a dedicated Space ISAC is in place, and more governments, countries and companies with direct space operations requires the official declaration to be made space is the critical infrastructure that will redefine our lives in the 21st century. Lets call it and classify it as such.

Prioritizing Workforce and Education Initiatives

While we may seek to classify specific assets and networks as infrastructures, it would be shortsighted to ignore the driving forces and energies that make infrastructures operate. It all starts with people. Without the necessary talent and the diversity of talent, no one is going anywhere in space, with space, or bringing space innovations to benefit life on Earth.

Engaging new workers, at all levels, in multiple skills and trades, will be the most challenging and competitive environment the global space community will encounter for the foreseeable future.

The space community has never been short in its ability to inspire generations of all ages by the work that it does. This year promises to be another with significant moments to come, but growing global demands for new networks, architectures, launch and recovery capabilities, environmental monitoring, and more are all at risk with a limited pipeline of talent to make those aspirations a reality.

Solutions to these challenges rest as much in boardrooms and at kitchen tables as they do in classrooms. Teachers cannot do this alone. It requires a cultural shift for lifelong learning that crosses boundaries of old if we are going to empower students, engage aspiring entrepreneurs, and foster cross-generational innovators.

Every country, company and community wants to be the home port of this talent. For those not willing to make the effort to develop and retain this talent and empower it to reach its fullest potential, the talent will go elsewhere. We live in a mobile world, and the pandemic has only accelerated talent transformation. The challenge before the space community is, What are we going to do to assure the missions we desire are possible?

There are already innovative shifts in curricula development, professional training, apprenticeships and more. But more shifts are necessary, especially shifts that ensure that any person, regardless of where they come from or whomever they may be, can find their place with space. There is space for everyone.

Establishing Norms of Behavior

In the sixty-plus years of the worlds space adventure, weve taken several momentous steps that have changed history. From Alexei Leonovs first step into the vacuum of space to Neil Armstrongs first boot print on the Moon, weve built on those transformative individual achievements.

For as expansive as space may be, all of us are operating in a closer and more condensed neighborhood than ever before. A look at a map of low-Earth orbits satellites, spacecraft and other in-orbit materials illustrates the challenge we are seeing unfold before us.

In the past year, space stations operated by the ISS partners, as well as the Chinese, have had to make orbital adjustments to safeguard their crews and structures from harm. Additionally, here on Earth, deorbiting debris from launch vehicles has posed risks to life.

For as meticulous as space faring peoples may be in putting a payload and its mission into orbit, we need to be just as meticulous in how and where we operate those payloads and missions to safeguard other operations and people that are in-orbit as well as on Earth.

Carelessness has consequences.

Comprehensive mission stewardship and establishing norms of behavior have always been important but they become even more important when physical and operational competition in the orbiting neighborhood begins to accelerate.

The forecasted launch manifest for 2022 tells us we are in for another record-breaking year. That is positive for a host of reasons, but smart, sustainable and responsible growth and conduct must be part of the equation.

While governments have a role to play here, it is industry that can be the solution drivers for some of these most challenging issues. This is why the private sector needs to have a greater voice in establishing the norms of behavior going forward.

State of Space 2022: History Worth Making

Like a lot of people in the space community, I am genuinely excited by what is happening. We have more countries, companies and missions than ever before. That more factor is the promise of 2022. We will have more of everything, but as a student of history, there is a lot to learn from eras of prosperity, as access and opportunity expand.

We simply have more to do.

While much can be drawn from history and lessons learned from the recent decades of space exploration, it is the next series of chapters that we are writing that will define our future and what others say about us in the future.

What do you want that history to say about us? Think about that for a moment. While history can certainly shape us, it does not have to define us either. That decision is up to us as individuals as well as prospective partners, but it remains our decision.

My challenge to you as prospective history-makers is to pursue our collective goals as teams, rather than as individuals. The rewards we generate will make us all broader and better, and like the first steps of Leonov and Armstrong, they will stand the test of time.

That is foundation building in its greatest form, and it will make all the difference in the world today, tomorrow and for years to come.

At Space Foundation, we look forward to working with you in those pursuits, because the innovations we advocate for together will be the benefits the world needs here on Earth and beyond.

That is history worth making.

See the complete State of Space 2022 keynote by Tom Zelibor at https://youtu.be/xJc3HWrScIY.

To replay the State of Space 2022 event, please register for access at http://www.spacesymposium365.org/agenda/state-of-space-2022/.

About Tom Zelibor

Tom Zelibor, Rear Admiral, USN (ret.), is the CEO for Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983 for the global space ecosystem. Headquartered in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Zelibor manages a national staff with a global impact across the business, government, education and local communities. Before joining Space Foundation in April 2017, Zelibor served as chairman and chief executive officer for Lightwave Logic Inc., among other executive roles in commercial enterprises. Prior to his leadership tenure in the private sector, Zelibor had a distinguished 30-year career in the United States Navy.

About Space Foundation

Space Foundation is a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983, offering a gateway to information, education and collaboration for space exploration and space-to-Earth industries that define the global space ecosystem. Driven by a partnership model, Space Foundation operates three divisions that unite the entire spectrum of stakeholders business, government, education and local communities through support from corporate membership, sponsorship, fundraising and grants. Symposium 365 is the premier source for media and events, including Space Symposium and The Space Report; Center for Innovation and Education is a lifelong learning provider; and Global Alliance facilitates collaboration around the world. Visit Space Foundation at http://www.SpaceFoundation.org, and follow on LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and YouTube.

All brand names and product names are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies.

Tags: Space Foundation, State of Space, Thomas Zelibor, space industry event, space technology, space innovation, space ecosystem, space exploration, space-to-Earth industries

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State of Space 2022 Offers Critical Lessons for Business and Government - Business Wire

BEVERLY A college student from Beverly has landed a fellowship to learn about the aerospace industry.

Amanda Desmond, a junior at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, has been named one of 51 Brooke Owens Fellows for 2022. She is the first student from the University of Massachusetts system to be selected for the program.

The fellowship is named after aerospace industry pioneer and pilot Brooke Owens, who died from cancer in 2016 at age 35. It provides internships in the field for exceptional undergraduate women and other gender minorities, according to UMass Amherst.

Its a really exciting opportunity, Desmond said. Theres a lot of mentorship involved and a really incredible network that theyve built.

Desmond, 20, will serve her 12-week internship this summer in Denver at Voyager Space, a company that describes itself as a global leader in space exploration. The company is part of the New Space industry of private space companies and startups. The industry is worth about $350 billion worldwide, according to Morgan Stanley.

Desmond said she was always interested in learning about space from reading books and watching movies, and credited her father, Mark Desmond, with encouraging her to think about the big picture.

I started reaching out to people who had built careers in the space industry to see what it was like and get their ideas and opinions, she said. I found out that people in the space industry are really happy to help. It made me think it was a possibility for me too.

Desmond said she found out there is a need in the industry not just for scientists and engineers but for people with a business background. That fits well with her double major of economics and space science.

Its an up-and-coming industry and I want to find out where I would play a role, even if its not the traditional engineering role, she said.

During her internship, Desmond will be working directly with Voyager Spaces CEO Dylan Taylor, who she said plays an influential role in the space industry.

Im excited to learn with him, she said.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

We are making critical coverage of the coronavirus available for free. Please consider subscribing so we can continue to bring you the latest news and information on this developing story.

Staff Writer Paul Leighton can be reached at 978-338-2535, by email at pleighton@salemnews.com, or on Twitter at @heardinbeverly.

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Beverly student wins fellowship in aerospace industry | News | salemnews.com - The Salem News

DateEventVenueTypeThursday,Feb. 17, 20227 p.m. PSTvon Krmn Lecture:One Year on Mars

Speakers:- Jennifer Trosper, Project Manager- Katie Stack Morgan, Deputy Project Scientist

Speaker:Emily Cardarelli, Scientist, SHERLOC

Speaker:Teddy Tzanetos, Ingenuity Team Lead

1 p.m. PST / 4 p.m. EST

Persys First Year on Mars with NASAs Mars Mission Team

Speaker:Sunanda Sharma, Scientist, SHERLOC

Online Talk and at Exploratorium,San Francisco

Virtual + In-Person

Speaker:Melissa Rice, Co-Investigator, Mastcam-Z

and

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum,New York City

Speaker:Alyssa Deardorff, Systems Engineer

and

Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum,New York City

Speakers:- Nagin Cox, Tactical Mission Lead- Adrian Brown, Deputy Program Scientist

1 p.m. talk Livestream from Intrepid

Speaker:Sunanda Sharma, Scientist, SHERLOC

Speaker:Melissa Rice, Co-Investigator, Mastcam-Z

Speakers: - Elio Morillo, Mechanisms Lead- Mitch Schulte, Program Scientist

1 p.m. talk Livestream from Intrepid

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One Year on Mars: Celebrate with the Perseverance Team NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva/Spaceengine

Physicists have discovered a tiny asteroid, about one kilometer wide, that is locked into the same orbit as Earthonly the second such cosmic body of its type that has been identified to date. And now, experts wonder if that asteroid could help us with future space travel.

Known as "2020 XL5," the asteroid will be trapped in Earth's orbit for at least 4,000 years according to simulations detailed in a new paper published earlier this month in Nature Communications. After that, it will escape from that orbit and fly off into our solar system. (It's considered a Trojan asteroid of Earth, following the naming convention for Jupiter's Trojan asteroids.)

In the meantime, 2020 XL5 is held in place due to a far-out concept in orbital mechanics, or the application of the laws of physics to describe the motion of spacecraft. It's called a "Lagrange point," and it's a gravitationally balanced position in space. Earth's new Trojan asteroid orbits Lagrange point 4 (L4) in an elliptical orbit that flings it nearer to the sun than Venus and about as far away as Mars.

Toni Santana-Ros, a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Alicante in the coastal Valencia region of Spain, led the new research on 2020 XL5. His team first spotted the asteroid in December 2020 using the Pan-STARRS observatory, a 1.8-meter telescope located at the summit of Haleakal in Maui, Hawaii. The team wasn't entirely sure that they'd located a new Earth Trojan asteroid, so they followed up by taking images with the Southern Astrophysical Research telescope in Chile.

Why was it so difficult to confirm the existence of this Trojan? It comes down to the "unfavorable viewing geometry of an object orbiting Earth-Sun's L4 or L5 points as seen from our planet," the authors note in the paper. "In short, these objects are often observable very close to the sun (i.e., at low Solar elongations) and under large phase angles (the sun-object-observer angle), meaning that a significant fraction of the object is shadowed as seen from Earth, which in turn implies the object being faint."

NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

Leonhard Euler, an 18th-century math and physics luminary, first observed these points. (Euler is perhaps best known for his popularizing the use of pi, as well as for his definition of the mathematical value "e," which is the basis for natural logarithms.) Euler discovered the first three known Lagrange points in the Earth-Sun system; these points of gravitational equilibrium between Earth and the sun are called L1 (Lagrange point 1), L2 (Lagrange point 2), and L3 (Lagrange point 3). All three fall along the same imaginary line that passes through both Earth and sun; two are on either side of Earth, and one is on the far opposite side of Earth's orbit around the sun.

Euler's studentJoseph-Louis Lagrange, the namesake of Lagrange pointsdiscovered the fourth and fifth such points, L4 and L5. These points fall a "distance" of two months away from Earth (both in front of and behind it), along its orbital path around the sun.

That brings us back to Lagrange points, which represent a special case of the "three-body problem," an unsolved issue for astronomers who want to track the collision course of three stars hurtling toward one another through space. The reason we can solve for Lagrange points is that the third bodyhere, 2020 XL5is tiny compared to Earth and the sun. It's like solving a system of equations by zeroing out one of the variables.

If massive gravity is one of the reasons that these Lagrange points are so stable, then it makes sense why Jupiter, the most massive (and nearly starlike) planet in our solar system, is absolutely loaded with objects in its Lagrange points. Between its L4 and L5 positions, there are an estimated 10,000 asteroids. Earth has just two known Trojan asteroids to date: 2020 XL5 and another called 2010 TK. But Jupiter's abundance of L4 and L5 objects may help scientists find more around Earth.

NOIRLab/NSF/AURA/J. da Silva

Lagrange points are mathematically cool and they represent the accumulated centuries' worth of astronomy work that has helped to create the scientific climate in which scientists discover new objects today. And Lagrange points have practical uses, too. That's because they form naturally stable little pockets where human-made objects, like satellites, can safely stay in place without using very much energy. The James Webb Space Telescope, for instance, is parked in orbit around Lagrange point 2 (L2), a gravitationally semi-stable location in space aligned with Earth and the sun.

But could we use Lagrange points in other ways? Santana-Ros notes that 2020 XL has an orbit that bobs above and below Earth's orbital plane. This means that to maneuver a spacecraft into a rendezvous (to orbit or land on it) would require a considerable velocity change; that would probably require too much fuel to be practical. The same applies to 2010 TK.

However, the new study points out that if other Earth Trojans are found in orbits that are less tilted, these might make handy bases as staging posts for exploration of the Solar System. They'd be much easier to take off from than from Earth or the moon because their gravity is so slight. They could even hold a wealth of resources that we could mine.

Perhaps most interestingly, objects like the 2020 XL Trojan asteroid could help humans edge further and further into outer space. We can easily predict where these objects will be, and we can land on and take off from them with almost no interference from gravity. This could mean turning flights to Mars into ones with a brief layover, helping to close the technological gap between the enormous power needed to leave Earth's gravity and the much steadier "pulse engine" type power needed to travel to Mars.

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A Newly Discovered Asteroid Shares Earth's Orbit and Could Be Key to Space Travel - Popular Mechanics

For more than two decades the International Space Station (ISS) has been the mainstay of human presence and research in space. More than 100 metres long, its the largest object ever placed in space, and its construction brought together the space agencies from the United States, Europe, Russia, Japan and Canada.

The ISS has hosted research that could not have been done anywhere else, in the fields of microgravity, space biology, human physiology and fundamental physics. It also provides a base for deep space exploration.

Now, the end of its life has been planned. According to NASA, the station is expected to be de-orbited by 2031 (an extension from the original plan to de-orbit by 2020). But if the ISS is so important, why is there an end-of-life plan at all?

The first components of the ISS were launched in the 1990s. And although many parts have been updated and replaced, its not feasible to replace everything.

In particular, the main structural components cant be replaced. While they are checked, monitored and repaired, there are limits to this. The ISS was not designed to last forever.

It survives in a harsh environment, travelling at 27,500 kilometres per hour, with a day/night cycle every 90 minutes (the time it takes the ISS to orbit Earth).

The temperature differences experienced during each cycle put a small fatiguing load on the structure. Over a few years, this is not significant. But over the course of decades this can cause fatigue failures in the metal structure.

So there comes a time when the costs and risks of maintaining the ISS become too high, and this has been determined to be in 2030.

As with all objects under the influence of gravity, given time the ISS would simply fall down to Earth. This is because, even at the orbital altitude of 400km, there is some drag due to small particles. In fact, the ISS currently requires a regular boost to lift its orbital altitude, which is slowly but constantly decreasing.

A natural re-entry would be a completely uncontrolled process, and there would be no way of predicting where this would take place. The responsible (and planned) approach is to use thrusters to slow the ISS down, causing the de-orbit to happen much faster and in a specific location decided in advance.

The slowing down will initially be done using thrusters on the station, and on support vehicles docked to the station. This process may take a few months and will slowly reduce the orbital altitude of the ISS, preparing it for the final re-entry phase.

In the final phase, the deceleration will be much more rapid, and will determine the ISSs final re-entry trajectory. Although it hasnt been decided exactly how the ISS will reach its final deceleration, the favoured option is to use three modified Russian Progress spacecraft.

The spacecraft will be docked to the ISS and fire their propulsion systems to achieve the required deceleration controlling the trajectory of the re-entry and the re-entry location.

It will take a couple of minutes for the ISS to pass through the atmosphere. Its likely the higher-altitude phase of this will take place near or above Australia.

The re-entry will be a visually spectacular event, resembling multiple large shooting stars. An increasing number of space debris breakup events have been observed and videoed over the last few years.

But these re-entries have been small objects, sized in the order of metres, such as the ATV-1 and Cygnus spacecrafts. Meanwhile, the ISS is about the size of a football field, and will be correspondingly more spectacular.

Due to the danger of components reaching the surface, it will be important to make sure they fall where there is minimal risk to people or property. Even a controlled re-entry will potentially spread pieces of debris over an area of hundreds, if not thousands, of kilometres.

This is why the ISS re-entry (and most space debris de-orbits) will target an area known as the South Pacific Ocean Uninhabited Area (SPOUA), the centre of which is known as Point Nemo, or the Spacecraft Cemetery .

The SPOUA is used as Earths dumping ground for space debris. Its the largest uninhabited area on Earth, and hence has the lowest risk associated with debris from re-entry.

The ISS will be travelling at something like 6km per second when it hits the atmosphere. This high speed will cause the air in front of the structure to heat up significantly, reaching temperatures in excess of 10,000.

This will cause the structure to break into smaller pieces. Most of it will burn up as it falls, but its very likely some small pieces will survive especially some of the heavier and denser internal components.

Any surviving debris will eventually sink into the ocean and disappear.

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The International Space Station is set to come home in a fiery blaze and Australia will likely have a front row seat - The Conversation AU

Grand Valley State University, in conjunction with the Grand Rapids Public Museum (GRPM), is hosting this years Roger That! conference from Friday, Feb. 18 to Saturday, Feb. 19. Roger That! will celebrate women in space, featuring talks with feminist icon and astronaut, Eileen Collins.

Collins was the first woman to pilot a United States Spacecraft on the Discovery shuttle flight in 1995.

In 1999, Collins made history for a second time as the commander of the Columbia, becoming the first woman to command a space shuttle mission.

I believe that space exploration is hugely inspirational to people of all ages, but in particular to young people, Collins said. It is my hope that the excitement of space will inspire our youngsters to study math, science, engineering and technology. The future of our country depends on the strong education of our diverse population.

Throughout the conference Collins will speak about her journey with NASA as well as her path to becoming a leading figure in space exploration.

On Feb. 18 Collins will deliver a lecture titled Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars at GVSUs Loosemore Auditorium on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus at 6:30 p.m.

GVSU will be live streaming this event for community members and students who wish to attend virtually.

Collins will also be delivering her lecture the following day, Feb. 19, at the Grand Rapids Public Museum at 11:00 a.m.

Tickets for both of these events are available for free through GVSUs Roger That! Website or grpm.org.

The conference will also be chronicling the life of Grand Rapids native, Roger B. Chaffee, who died alongside Gus Grissom and Ed White during the Apollo 1 pre-test flight due to a fire in the cockpit.

Collins will be speaking on Chaffees legacy in addition to her own journey, as she said he was an inspiration to many, including herself.

I wrote my book, Through the Glass Ceiling to the Stars, to inform and inspire young people to consider careers in the military and in space, Collins said. In addition, Roger Chaffee was one of my heroes and I believe it is important for people to understand his life and his motivation in the choices he made.

Another event in the conference will be the Design That! challenge for fourth through eighth grade students.

Here, GRPM and GVSU are having students work in teams to solve issues surrounding humans, technology, communities and equal opportunities in space.

The participants will have an opportunity to win prizes such as a class pizza party or museum pass bundles based on their presentation, originality and reflection on the issues theyre presenting.

GRPM and GVSU will also have extra space related activities set up around the museum and the Pew Grand Rapids Campus for event attendees.

At GRPM there will be planetarium showings highlighting the life and contributions of Roger B. Chaffee.

GVSUs physics and engineering department will also have tables set up throughout the museum showcasing various fields of study available within the respective departments and related hands-on activities for participants to enjoy.

For those unable to attend the Roger That! conference in person there will be recorded lectures from previous years available for viewing.

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Roger That! conference to celebrate women in space - Grand Valley Lanthorn

Black holes are fascinating. No human being has ever been near one, and it wasnt until 2019 that scientists even managed to take a snapshot of one. And yet, ever since they have first been hypothesized to exist, black holes have exerted an inexorable pull on our collective imagination. Black holes are a reminder of the strangeness of our universe, spots of infinite density and at the same time impenetrable emptiness. Since even light must bend to the gravity of a black hole, we cannot know what happens inside of it. They are the points where the laws of nature as well as our limited human imagination break down.

Video games love a good puzzle, and so its no big surprise that black holes have a habit of popping up here and there. What may be surprising, however, is just how many forms and shapes they take. As symbols of the unknowable and the extreme, black holes are highly malleable and appear in all sorts of games, playing many parts.

Before we cross the event horizon of this article, be sure to check out our other gaming content. If you're wanting to see the cosmos, our guide to the best space exploration games has you covered. We've also got our best VR space games guide for people seeking a truly immersive experience.

Warning: this article contains spoilers for the following games: Elite Dangerous, No Mans Sky, Outer Wilds, Exo One, Genesis Noir, If Found..., Night in the Woods, Dark Souls III, The Banner Saga 2, and Fortnite.

The first and most obvious place to look are space simulators. Space Engine, Universe Sandbox, and Black Hole Simulator, considered some of the best VR space experiences, are intricate and educational toys that give us a chance to gawk at black holes up close, to fiddle and prod and poke. What happens if we swap our Sun with a giant black hole? Or if we let two black holes collide? But no matter how detailed the simulation or how many objects we send into oblivion, we will always firmly remain on the outside, looking in.

Science-fiction games give themselves some more leeway when it comes to speculating about black holes. In Elite Dangerous, we undertake the long journey to one of the games black holes, with the most popular destination being Sagittarius A*, the supermassive black hole at the center of our galaxy. No Mans Sky and Outer Wilds actually let you enter black holes, but they function merely as glorified shortcuts to other parts of the universe. It makes you wonder where do black holes lead to?

While this approach arguably deprives black holes of some of their mystery, Outer Wilds does draw on the hypothesized counterparts of black holes: white holes that push instead of pull and expel everything that has fallen into a corresponding black hole. In the games fiction, the ancient people called the Nomai have figured out a way to travel through time and space using warp cores consisting of a black/white hole pair.

During the game, we get to visit the place where the Nomai created these cores: Black Hole Forge on the planet Brittle Hollow. One of the most memorable locations in Outer Wilds, Brittle Hollow is being devoured from the inside by the black hole at its center. Its an awe-inspiring sight, and if you happen to fall inside the hole, the white hole will spit you out in another corner of the solar system, alongside the discarded fragments of Brittle Hollow. The Nomais advanced technology is connected to the time loop that lies at the heart of the game; its technology powered by black holes that sends you back 22 minutes into the past every time the Sun goes supernova.

In Exo One, we embark on a cosmic journey in a gravity-manipulating spacecraft. The destination, it turns out, is a black hole that allows us to travel back in time, preventing a catastrophe on Jupiter that killed the main characters colleagues at the start of the game. Exo Ones cosmos is a fantastical, even mystical place. Its black hole isnt simply a space-time anomaly, but is intimately tied to the fate of our pilot.

It's somewhat reminiscent of the black hole time travel premise in Interstellar, where crossing the event horizon of a black hole allows someone to interact with the past and change events. With our current understanding of physics, it's almost certainly impossible, but it's a fascinating concept nonetheless.

A black hole as a journeys enigmatic endpoint, promising a chance to see and act beyond time; Genesis Noir, though a very different game from Exo One, follows a similar trajectory. The game presents an allegorical and fantastical interpretation of the events leading up to the Big Bang and the creation of our universe. Presented in a jazzy film noir style, the story follows the attempts of No Man (a metaphorical representation of time) to save his love Miss Mass (a metaphorical representation of, you guessed it, mass) from a bullet shot by Golden Boy (energy). To do so, No Man seeks to create a black hole that would swallow the bullet. But, since the shooting of Miss Mass is also what causes the Big Bang, saving her would also prevent the universe from coming into existence. In the end, No Man has an epiphany that convinces him to drop his quest and make place for the universe.

Genesis Noir is full of metaphors, and its black hole can be read as a stand-in for self-destructive urges and a negation of being itself. Even in this allegorical and abstract cosmogony, the significance of the black hole is decidedly personal and tied up in psychological struggles.

Genesis Noir is just one example of black holes acting as metaphors for personal crises. If Found... presents its narrative of Kasio, a young Irish trans womans struggles to be accepted and find her place, through an entwined dual narrative: one is an exploration of a diary, and the other a metaphorical science-fiction story. The sci-fi story revolves around a lonely astronaut called Cassiopeia and her discovery of a black hole which threatens to swallow Earth.

It soon becomes clear that the black hole expresses Kasios existential fears, feelings of isolation, and sense of futility. The breakdown of space-time inside a black hole is reframed as a personal, psychological breakdown: Time doesnt exist in a black hole. Every moment crushed together, past and present and future in one endless scream. No way to change anything.

Now, Night in the Woods doesnt explicitly name black holes, but its preoccupation with the night sky and metaphorical holes is very similar to If Found.... Here, too, our protagonist Mae is threatened by black emptiness expressing mental health crises, namely her feelings of emptiness, dissociation, and fragmentation. The game speaks of the hole in the center of everything and her diary depicts Mae being swallowed by a black hole-like maelstrom.

If black holes can be used as shorthand for personal crises, it stands to reason that they can also be symbols of cosmic crises. In Dark Souls III, the Sun turns dark after a certain point in the game. The ominous spectacle is never explained, but recalls either an eclipse, the Darksign (symbol of the dying light and the curse of the undead), or a black hole. The Banner Saga trilogy has a similar motif. In the third game, we learn about the existence of a subterranean Dark Sun, and that it was its destruction which released a giant serpent as well as an all-consuming Darkness that spreads across the world.

Even though these games do not, strictly speaking, show black holes, theres more than a little family resemblance between them, and they can easily be interpreted as black holes through the lens of myth and folklore, with the likes of apocalyptic dragons or wolves swallowing the Sun. Interestingly, the symbol of the dark or black Sun is a very old idea that predates our knowledge of black holes for many centuries. Its part of the tradition of alchemical and hermetic thought, signifying the dark, material fire as opposed to the pure and bright fire of the spiritual world.

All of this sounds like a very serious matter. But black holes can also be light-hearted, playful, and even silly. Just look at the End Event of Fortnites first chapter, when the entire game world disappeared into a black hole and made the game unplayable for a few days, or the black hole item in Ultimate Chicken Horse, which pulls on nearby objects and changes the trajectory of arrows.

For every grounded simulation, theres a mystical and reason-defying black hole. For every black hole that throws light on a characters deepest struggles, theres a playful or toy-like singularity. It is precisely because of their inherent emptiness and silence, their defiance of meaning and understanding, and their definition through negation and apparent paradox, that both exerts a powerful pull on our imagination and that enables black holes to play a vast range of very different parts.

As a cipher, the black hole can stand for the inescapable, for profound lack or distortion, for the grand and unknown mysteries of the universe, for fantastical possibilities and godlike power over space-time itself, and more. And since video games remain the only way of getting close to a black hole, they will continue being anything but a singularity in future games.

Play Outer Wilds, Elite Dangerous, Exo One, No Man's Sky, & Genesis Noir on Xbox Game pass

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The singular pull of black holes in games - Space.com

The 20th century was an unqualified success for American aerospace.While the legacy of the Apollo program defines the era, the procurement system under which it operated was highly inefficient and prohibitively expensive.

Unfortunately, that process persisted for decades under the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), where contracts were dominated by a handful of entrenched firms, enabled by institutional biases and preferences.The end result was inflated prices, delays, and a lack of innovation.

This period is best embodied by the Space Shuttle,envisionedas a cheap platform that would provide regular access to space perhaps as frequently as once per week with each flight costing as little as $20 million.The reality turned out to be decidedly less cost-effective.Upon its retirement in July 2011, the Space Shuttle had flown 134 missions, averaging $1.6 billion per launch, with total costs rising to $209 billion.

Luckily, after some false starts and barriers to entry, NASA has fundamentally shifted its strategy to embrace new, innovative companies.For example, to replace the Space Shuttle, the agency turned to the private sector with the Commercial Orbital Transportation (COTS) program.With small investments, COTS not only established two new viable launch vehicles and cargo vessels capable of resupplying the International Space Station (ISS), but also helped facilitate the current aerospace boom. Thanks in part to COTS, a new guard of firms have begun outcompeting predecessors on price and reliability, winning national security launch contracts and ferrying astronauts to the ISS.

Innovative designs that include reusable components have drastically cut launch costs. SpaceX charges $55 million per astronaut for a ride to the ISScomparedto $90 billion per seat paid to Boeing. While payloads sizes differ, other firms such as Relativity Space and Rocket Lab will further slash prices.SpaceX anticipates that the cost of launching Starship, a fully reusable super heavy vehicle, may end up below $2 million.

This new era of affordability made possible by increased competition has led to the development of a host of novel business ventures. Privatized space stations represent perhaps the most exciting possibility. As the ISS nears the end of its service, a private sector model is being developed under which NASA becomes a paid user on space stations instead of owning and operating the platform. This approachmight saveNASA up to $1.5 billion annually, freeing the agency to focus on its core mission, deep space exploration.

NASA has alreadyawardedseveral contracts to aerospace firms to develop private stations. Streamlined efficiency in the private sector and cheaper components mean that new stations could cost approximately one-hundredth of the amount needed to build the ISS.Potentially lucrative new markets exist, including hosting astronauts and tourists and conducting research under microgravity conditions.

NASA could achieve additional savings by reconsidering the role of the Space Launch System (SLS) in Artemis, the agencys flagship mission to explore the Moon and Mars. Billions over budget and years delayed, the lack of progress in the SLS jeopardizes the entire Artemis mission. It might have been canceled along with the rest of the George W. Bush-era Constellation program if not for the efforts of four high-profile senators whosavedthe rocket. One of them, former Sen. Bill NelsonClarence (Bill) William NelsonThe new era of American aerospace Franken on Senate resignation: 'They made it impossible for me to get due process' Why former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine endorsed a congressional candidate MORE (D-Fla.), now serves as NASA administrator.But like other unwieldy and costly procurement programs, the wide disbursement of jobs across the country helps ensure continued congressional backing. According to NASA, the SLSsupportsaround 25,000 jobs in 43 states, generating an impact of $4.7 billion.

The remarkable progress of domestic aerospace firms has led some to suggest that the SLS might be replaced, possibly with Starship or a similar platform.NASA must keep its options open rather than adhering to what might be an outdated concept.

The reliance on legacy contractors to build systems that NASA owns and operates is a notion that should be retired.Private firms under contract with the federal government have formed the new backbone of space commercialization and exploration.Thanks to recent innovations, the next decade will see more cost-effective access to space and far greater potential for exploration.

Competition in all areas of aerospace contracting represents a rare procurement triumph for the federal government.Through COTS and similar programs, NASA paved the way for the current breakaway success. The private-sector model has proven its worth, and should be relied upon not just at NASA, but across all federal agencies, when pursuing future ventures.

Sean Kennedy is director of research for Citizens Against Government Waste.

Excerpt from:

The new era of American aerospace | TheHill - The Hill

Using carefully selected terrestrial rocks, engineers try to figure out how to work with crumbly rocks like the one the rover encountered on its first sampling attempt.

Not long after, Perseverance successfully gathered a sample the size of a piece of chalk from a different rock. The team concluded that the first rock they had chosen was so crumbly that the rovers percussive drill likely pulverized it.

But engineers at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California, which manages the mission, want to understand why that first sample, nicknamed Roubion, turned to dust. The missions scientists and engineers had run extensive test campaigns on dozens of rock types prior to launch, but they hadnt seen any react exactly like Roubion. So a new test campaign was started one that would include a field trip, a duplicate of Perseverances drill, and JPLs unique Extraterrestrial Materials Simulation Lab. Answers remain elusive, but heres a closer look at the process.

How Do Spacecraft Deal with Dust Storms on Mars? Get the latest on the rest of NASAs Mars fleet with the Mars Report. The new installment focuses on the Red Planets recent dust storm. Watch how the agencys orbiters supported the InSight lander as its power plunged during the January event. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASU/MSSS. Download video Remembering Roubion

Re-creating the unique physical properties of Roubion would be key to the test campaign.

Of the rocks weve seen, Roubion had the most evidence of interaction with water, said Ken Farley of Caltech, Perseverances project scientist. Thats why it fell apart.

Rocks altered by water can be more susceptible to falling apart; theyre also highly valuable to Perseverances scientists. Water is one of the keys to life at least on Earth which is why Perseverance is exploring Jezero Crater. Billions of years ago, Jezero contained a river-fed lake, making it an ideal spot to look for signs of ancient microscopic life now. Perseverance is collecting samples that future missions could bring back to Earth to be studied in labs with powerful equipment too large to be sent to Mars.

Field Trip

It was very physical work, said JPLs Louise Jandura, chief engineer for sampling and caching, who has been leading the test campaign. We were chipping away with rock hammers and crowbars. A couple rocks were big enough that it took all five of us holding on to a stretched-out canvas to get it into the bed of our truck.

Next step: testing at JPL. One of the places where that happens is the Extraterrestrial Materials Simulation Lab, a kind of service center that prepares materials for testing elsewhere at JPL.

A Rock Superstore

The low-slung building sits on a hillside above the Mars Yard. Barrels out front contain reddish dust called Mojave Mars Simulant, a special recipe for re-creating the messy conditions rovers travel in. Piles of rocks some peppered with drill holes are strewn about a forbidding industrial saw near the entrance. In back stands a concrete bunker with rock bins labeled with names that sound like Mad Libs for geologists: Old Dutch Pumice, China Ranch Gypsum, Bishop Tuff.

I like to say we do artisanal selection and preparation of materials, said Sarah Yearicks, a mechanical engineer who leads the lab. Testing them is part manufacturing and part mad science.

Yearicks is one of the people who picked out the rocks at the Santa Margarita Ecological Reserve excursion. For the testing on Roubion-like rocks, Yearicks team worked with a construction-grade drill not a coring drill along with other tools, while Janduras team used a flight-like duplicate of Perseverances drill.The teams passed the rock samples back and forth, testing them in different ways.

Put to the Test

Janduras team ran their flight-like drill a few millimeters at a time, stopping to check that a core was still forming; if it had crumbled, theyd look at variables that might be the cause. For instance, the engineers tweaked the drills rate of percussion and the weight placed on its bit. They also tried drilling into the rock horizontally instead of vertically, in case the build-up of debris was a factor.

For every adjustment they made, it seemed, a new wrinkle would emerge. One was that fragile samples can still resist the percussive drill. When Janduras team reduced the force of percussion to avoid powderizing the sample, the drill bit couldnt penetrate the surface. But choosing a spot that holds up to stronger percussion means choosing one that likely interacted less with water.

Perseverance has so far captured six samples from highly weathered, water-altered rocks, and the team knows its capable of many more. But their experience with Roubion has prepared them for some of the extremes Mars will throw at Perseverance in the future. If they find more rocks like Roubion, the Extraterrestrial Materials Simulation Lab will be ready with its menagerie of Mars-worthy materials.

More About the Mission

A key objective for Perseverances mission on Mars is astrobiology, including the search for signs of ancient microbial life. The rover will characterize the planets geology and past climate, pave the way for human exploration of the Red Planet, and be the first mission to collect and cache Martian rock and regolith (broken rock and dust).

Subsequent NASA missions, in cooperation with ESA (European Space Agency), would send spacecraft to Mars to collect these sealed samples from the surface and return them to Earth for in-depth analysis.

The Mars 2020 Perseverance mission is part of NASAs Moon to Mars exploration approach, which includes Artemis missions to the Moon that will help prepare for human exploration of the Red Planet.

JPL, which is managed for NASA by Caltech in Pasadena, California, built and manages operations of the Perseverance rover.

For more about Perseverance:

mars.nasa.gov/mars2020/

and

nasa.gov/perseverance

News Media Contacts

Andrew GoodJet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.818-393-2433andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

Karen Fox / Alana JohnsonNASA Headquarters, Washington301-286-6284 / 202-358-1501karen.c.fox@nasa.gov / alana.r.johnson@nasa.gov

Excerpt from:

Testing Rocks on Earth to Help NASA's Perseverance Work on Mars NASA's Mars Exploration Program - NASA Mars Exploration

LUXEMBOURG, Feb. 15, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Asteroid Foundation's annual Asteroid Day activities will return to Luxembourg June 29 through July 2nd. Confirmed invitees include NASA astronauts Steve Smith and Ed Lu, ESA astronaut Michel Tognini, Cosmonaut Dorin Prunariu and XPRIZE CEO Anousheh Ansari. The 2022 Asteroid Day LIVE programme theme: "small is beautiful".

(PRNewsfoto/Asteroid Foundation)

In recent years, astronomers have been bringing small but beautiful samples of asteroids to Earth. Despite their size, analysis shows they are an invaluable link between the meteorite collections on Earth and the wider population of asteroids, unlocking the history of our solar system and giving clues to the future of space exploration.

There are some 50,000 meteorites in museums, universities and other research institutions around the world. Each one is a chip of an asteroid. By sampling a few carefully chosen asteroids in space, researchers can now begin linking meteorites on Earth to these asteroids.

A foretaste of this technique was given by the dust fragments returned from the stony asteroid Itokawa by the Japanese mission Hayabusa in 2011. Most recently, the Hayabusa 2 mission landed samples from carbonaceous asteroid Ryugu in Australia in December 2020. Meanwhile NASA's OSIRIS-Rex is currently en route back to Earth with samples of Bennu, another ancient carbonaceous asteroid. Those samples are due to arrive next year.

The meteorites also serve as a reminder that occasionally larger chunks of rock don't just fall to Earth but impact us. The Chelyabinsk meteor, which tore through the skies over Russia on 15 February 2013, was a sobering reminder. It damaged buildings, caused injury, and scattered meteorites over a large area.

Space agencies now take asteroid research extremely seriously. In March 2022, NASA will launch the Near Earth Asteroid Scout mission that will use a solar sail to encounter an asteroid just 20 metres across. In August, NASA will launch Psyche to an asteroid thought to be composed of mostly metal instead of rock. In September, NASA's DART mission will impact asteroid Dimorphos to test asteroid deflection techniques. Also, this year ESA will also begin building its Hera spacecraft that will survey the aftermath of the DART deflection test.

Story continues

Asteroid Day LIVE will be hosted on June 30th and will include interviews and will take our viewers behind the scenes and into laboratories, university departments and space agencies from around the world to highlight the vibrant science and technology that is occurring. In addition guests can attend the Asteroid Technical Briefing on June 29th, Gala Dinner on June 30th and Astronaut Meet & Greet on July 2nd.

In the lead up to June 30th, Asteroid Foundation will be hosting live Space Connects Us events every last Thursday of each month alongside their global partners. Kicking off the series will be scientists dubbed "Asteroid Killers". Co-hosted by ESA, the live event will take place Thursday, February 24th at 19:00 CET/13:00 ET and will include speakers from both ESA and NASA. Audiences will learn how and why asteroids move on and off the high-risk lists and how the two agencies work together to accurately predict asteroid impacts. Viewers can tune-in to the free virtual event via http://www.asteroidday.org/watch, YouTube, Twitch, ESA Web TV and get updates on Facebook.

To get notifications on other future events co-hosted with partners such as The Planetary Society, UNIVERSEH, SnT, the Association of Space Explorers, sign up for the Asteroid Day newsletter, follow us on Facebook and check back on asteroidday.org for future announcements.

Asteroid Day has been made possible thanks to partnerships with the Association of Space Explorers, Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), the B612 Foundation, the European Space Agency, the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, the Luxembourg Space Agency, OHB Systems, The Planetary Society, SnT, UNIVERSEH and Twitch.

About Asteroid Day:Asteroid Day is held on 30 June each year to mark the date of Earth's largest asteroid impact in recorded history, the Siberia Tunguska event. Asteroid Day was co-founded by astrophysicist and famed musician Dr Brian May of the rock group Queen, Apollo 9 astronaut Rusty Schweickart, filmmaker Grig Richters, and B612 President Danica Remy, to educate the public about the importance of asteroids in our history and the role they play in the solar system. In 2016, with the leadership of the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), the United Nations declared Asteroid Day to be a global day of education to raise awareness and promote knowledge in the general public about asteroids. Major events in past years have taken place in London, San Francisco, Washington, DC, Tanzania, Milan and Rimini, Italy; Garching, Germany; and Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; in addition to thousands of events worldwide. Over the past eight years, Asteroid Day has evolved to include the participation of major space organizations such as ESA, NASA, JAXA, Roscosmos and ISRO, as well as prominent scientists, astronomers, educators and media worldwide. Asteroid Day is a programme of the Luxembourg-based nonprofit Asteroid Foundation.

About Asteroid Foundation: Asteroid Foundation was formed in 2017 with a mission to promote worldwide awareness of asteroid opportunities and challenges, and the emerging space economy. The Asteroid Foundation undertakes programmes and activities to support scientists, engineers and students around the world providing free educational tools, newsletters, original articles and resources year round. Annually, the Foundation organizes events surrounding International Asteroid Day, a United Nations recognized day of education and awareness observed on 30 June. Visit their Flickr account to see pictures from previous events. Learn more at asteroidfoundation.org

About Association of Space ExplorersFounded in 1985, the Association of Space Explorers (ASE) is an international nonprofit 510c3 professional and educational organization of more than 400 flown astronauts and cosmonauts from 38 nations. ASE's International Committee on Near Earth Objects (NEO), chaired by former astronaut Tom Jones, works to promote global awareness of the asteroid impact threat. ASE delivers subject matter expertise and the astronaut perspective on key topics in the NEO hazard space, including developments in planetary defense, advancements in NEO discovery and characterization, and impactor mitigation campaign design. ASE NEO Committee members also support the bi-annual IAA Planetary Defence Conference and the annual Asteroid Day event in Luxembourg. https://www.space-explorers.org/

About B612 B612 is dedicated to protecting Earth from asteroid impacts. It does this by driving forward science and technologies needed to protect the Earth from asteroid impacts through the Asteroid Institute. It educates the public, the scientific community, and world governments about asteroids through programs such as Asteroid Day. Since the organization's inception in 2002, its work has been carried out entirely through the support of private donors. What started in 2002 as a visionary idea to develop the technology to deflect an asteroid has grown into a world-renowned organization and scientific institute with a key role in the emerging field of planetary defense. http://www.b612foundation.org

About BCEBroadcasting Center Europe (BCE) is a European leader in media services, system integration and software development in the areas of television, online video, streaming, radio, production and postproduction, telecommunication and IT. With its extensive experience in the media market, our team provides high-quality services and will always find the solution that matches your project and budget. With more than 200 highly qualified and motivated people, BCE serves about 400 clients in various sectors, such as TV channels, radio stations, film distributors, producers, advertising companies, sports federations, fashion, events, institutions and telecommunications operators. http://www.bce.lu

About ESAThe European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA is an international organisation with 22 Member States. ESA's programmes are designed to find out more about Earth, its immediate space environment, our Solar System and the Universe, as well as to develop satellite-based technologies and services, and to promote European industries. By coordinating the financial and intellectual resources of its members, it can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. http://www.esa.int

About Luxembourg Space AgencyLuxembourg Space Agency (LSA) develops the space sector in Luxembourg by fostering new and existing companies, developing human resources, facilitating access to funding, and supporting academic research. The agency implements the national space economic development strategy, manages national space research and development programs, and leads the SpaceResources.lu initiative. Furthermore, the LSA represents Luxembourg within the European Space Agency and space-related programs of the European Union and the United Nations. https://space-agency.public.lu/

About Luxembourg Chamber of CommerceThe main role of the Chamber of Commerce is to protect and promote the interests of businesses and the economy of Luxembourg. To enable it to fulfil this mandate, it has been granted the status of a public establishment, which comes with some significant prerogatives. Since membership of professional businesses is mandatory in Luxembourg, the Chamber of Commerce has high rates of affiliation, with 90,000 member companies, corresponding to 75% of the country's total salaried employment and 80% of Luxembourg's GDP, making it the biggest employers' group in the country. It represents all businesses in Luxembourg except those in the artisanal and agricultural sectors.

About OHB SystemsOHB SE is a European aerospace and technology group and one of the most important independent forces in the European space industry. With almost 40 years of experience in developing and executing innovative space technology systems and projects and a dedicated range of aviation/aerospace and telematics products, the OHB group is superbly positioned for international competition. OHB SE has approx. 3,000 employees in selected ESA member countries, allowing the Group to participate in numerous European programmes and missions.

In the space segment, the OHB group's activities include development and manufacture of satellites for the whole range of satellite-based applications as well as complex payloads. OHB contributes to the Ariane Launcher programme and is, for instance, working on the exploration of our solar system, with primary focus on Mars, the moon and asteroids.Learn more about the OHB group and its challenging projects: http://www.ohb.de

About The Planetary SocietyThe Planetary Society is the world's largest independent space-interest organization. Led by CEO Bill Nye and powered by space enthusiasts around the globe, the Society works to advance planetary exploration, the search for life, and planetary defense through education, innovation, advocacy, and global collaboration. Learn more at http://www.planetary.org.

UNIVERSEH - European Space University for Earth and Humanity UNIVERSEH The European Space University for Earth and Humanity is an alliance of the University Fdrale de Toulouse (France), the University of Luxembourg (Luxembourg), Heinrich-Heine-Universitt Dsseldorf (Germany), Lule tekniska universitet (Sweden) and Akademia Grniczo-Hutnicza im. Stanisawa Staszica w Krakowie (Poland). The alliance focuses on the development of educational activities and innovative collaborations in the European space sector. Reflecting European values, UNIVERSEH's objectives are to facilitate mobility and multilingualism, promote student inclusion and diversity, support interdisciplinary programmes, and strengthen pedagogical innovation and entrepreneurship in Europe. UNIVERSEH encourages the thematic mobility of students and teachers, promotes cooperation between higher education institutions and facilitates interaction on issues common to the European education systems. The alliance draws on its expertise, experience and relations with industry and public institutions in the space sector. UNIVERSEH was created in 2020 as part of the Erasmus+ "European Universities" initiative of the European Commission. Together, partners have the potential to reach more than 140,000 students, researchers and staff.

About Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT)The Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT) at the University of Luxembourg conducts internationally competitive research in information and communication technology (ICT) with a focus on creating socio-economic impact. The Centre attracts talented researchers from all over the world to work on collaborative projects with industry and the public sector. Learn more at wwwen.uni.lu/snt.

About Twitch TVIntroduced in June 2011, Twitch TV is an American video live streaming service that focuses on video game live streaming, including broadcasts of esports competitions. In addition, it offers music broadcasts, creative content, and more recently, "in real life" streams. https://www.twitch.tv/

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