Category Archives: Space Exploration

A group of local students got a chance to chat with a pair of special friends floating 250 miles above their heads on Tuesday.

In an online event organized by U.S. Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, students from Chester and Berks counties were able to have their questions answered by two astronauts on the International Space Station.

The students were eager to know what astronauts eat in space, whether they get homesick, how many years they need to train for space travel, what kind of research they are performing and much more.

NASA astronaut Megan McArthur and European Space Agency astronaut Thomas Pesquet seemed delighted to provide answers, happily explaining all the details about living in space.

Houlahan said she organized the event with the astronauts Tuesday because she has always been fascinated with the space program.

"When I was a little girl my role model was a woman named Sally Ride,the first American woman to go to space," the congresswoman shared. "It's so important to have people who inspire us and who we can look up to literally."

Houlahan said nearly 300 students from 20 schools submitted questions for the astronauts. Here are a few that were fielded by the astronauts.

Violet from Immaculate Conception Academy in Union Township

Pesquet said life on the space station is actually pretty similar to life on Earth.

He said the technological advances that have been made to the station over the past several decades provides the crew with many of the comforts of home.

"I think the most difficult thing today is not the physical hardship but being away from your loved ones for such an extended period of time," he said. "We spend six months at a time without being able to see our friends and families.

"But, then again, it's pretty cool to live in space."

Clarissa from Octorara Elementary School in Atglen

McArthur said one of the coolest aspects of being an astronaut is that there is no such thing as a typical day.

"Every day you're doing something different," she said. "You could be doing almost anything. Some days you might be fixing the toilet and doing some biology experiments and the other days you might be finding some lost hardware or preparing a spacesuit for space walk."

Stephen from Barkley Elementary School in Phoenixville

Pesquet said it is important to do research in space because there are things that scientists can observe in space that they cannot observe on the ground.

"There are some phenomena that are masked by gravity on the planet and when you come here to the space station you are free from these affects," he said, noting that scientists have studied things like how metals form alloys.

Michael from Delaware County Community College in Media

McArthur said researchers have been working on several experiments that have the potential to impact future space exploration as well as provide benefits for those back on Earth.

"One of the things we have working on a lot lately is water reclamation," she said. "While the technology is not in its infancy, we are making sure that these systems work, are efficient and are easy to establish."

Josette fromImmaculate Conception Academy in Union Township

Pesquet said the health of astronauts in space are affected in many different ways, explaining that he is exposed to more radiation from the sun, that there is a fluid shift inside his body and he will experience muscle and bone loss.

"We're not made to live in space," he said. "But the good thing is, thanks to the space station, we have been studying this for a long time now and have a good understanding of what it takes to have humans live safely in space for an extended period of time."

Kiran from the Montgomery School in Chester Springs

McArthur said she initially really liked the possibility of being a part of a mission that has this overwhelming goal of exploring the universe.

"And as a I learned more about being an astronaut I realized that you don't have to be good at one thing, you have to figure out how to do a bunch of different things and the challenges can be different every single day," she said. "That was appealing because I thought it would be interesting to learn so many different things and never know what was going to happen next."

To watch the complete broadcast, visit this link.

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Students from Berks-area schools chat with astronauts aboard International Space Station - Boyertown Berk Montgomery Newspapers

Last month, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) chose Elon Musks space exploration company SpaceX for a $2.9 billion contract to help develop the agencys moon landing project, Artemis. Now, Congress is debating an amendment to a science and research funding bill that would give $10 billion for the same project to Jeff Bezoss space company, Blue Origin, which lost the original contract. The company has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on lobbying Congress.

Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Washington) proposed the amendment to the Endless Frontier Act that would essentially directly award billions to Blue Origin. The company is based in Cantwells home state and, The Intercept reports, spent $625,000 lobbying the Senate in the first three months of this year alone. At least $50,000 of that has gone directly toward lobbying efforts for the Artemis program.

But theres a chance that the amendment may not end up in the final bill. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) has offered a counterproposal without the $10 billion handout to Blue Origin. The purpose of the amendment, as he wrote in the amendment itself, is To eliminate the multi-billion dollar Bezos Bailout.

Sanders voiced concerns over the privatization of space exploration and giving billions to Bezoss company on the Senate floor on Tuesday.

I worry very much that what we are seeing now is two of the wealthiest people in this country, Mr. Elon Musk and Mr. Bezos, deciding that they are going to take control over our space industry, he said. I have got a real problem with the authorization of $10 billion going to somebody who, among other things, is the wealthiest person in this country.

Sanders continued that criticism on Twitter on Wednesday morning. Jeff Bezos is the richest guy on the planet. Hes gotten $86 billion richer since the start of the COVID pandemic, he wrote. Does he really need $10 billion from Congress for space exploration?

Indeed, space exploration has gotten increasingly privatized over the past decade or so, and former President Donald Trump even slashed NASAs budget while voicing support for private commercial moon landers during his presidency.

Cantwell has argued that her amendment is necessary for redundancy, saying Trump had requested $3.4 billion for this, and then Congress never did anything about it.

She isnt wrong about this NASA was originally supposed to choose two companies so there could be a backup option if SpaceX couldnt deliver. The agency only chose one company after Congress failed to provide enough funding for the project.

However, that still doesnt explain why the award, given to the company that wasnt chosen for the project, would be so much larger than the original contract.

Cantwells amendment, meanwhile, could actually slow down the moon landing project, writes Ars Technica.

In reality, Cantwells amendment is probably more accurately interpreted as an effort to support Blue Origin, which is based in the state she represents, wrote Ars Technicas Eric Berger. Were the Cantwell amendment to be signed into law, NASA would have to reopen the competition, thus delaying work on the agencys return to the Moon and putting an already difficult target of 2024 into further jeopardy.

Blue Origin and Dynetics, the other company in competition for the contract, last month filed complaints with the Government Accountability Office over NASAs decision. Cantwells amendment would essentially bypass those complaints, which are still open.

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Sanders Says No Way to $10 Billion Taxpayer Handout to Bezos' Space Company - Truthout

Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station (ISS), said in an interviewlanding a rover on Mars is "almost indescribably difficult,"but humans are going to get there eventually to find out whether we're alone in the universe. He also addressed the curiosity over the recent sightings of UFOs, saying he has seen countless things in the sky that he doesn't understand, but concluding thatsomething we don't understand is intelligent life from another solar system is the height of foolishness. Hadfield became one of the most-loved astronauts in the history of space exploration after recording David Bowie's hit Space Oddityaboard the ISS in 2013.

The former pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. Navy discussed the importance of Mars exploration in a recent podcast. He also said that why people should not confuse UFO sightings as evidence of extra-terrestrial life.

Why are we trying to land on Mars? Well, I think the fundamental question is that Mars was a lot like Earth four billion years ago when life first formed on Earth. So, if it happened here, did it happen there? he said in the podcast on CBC.

Asked if he would ever consider a "one-way trip" to Mars, he said he has taken great risks in life for space exploration and he would be interested in it but he would need clarity on the ship, his team, and the objective of the mission. "We're going to get there eventually, and I'd love to be part of the team that makes that happen," he added.

One of the listeners asked him if he was following the growing discussion on social and mainstream media about sightings of unidentified flying objects (UFOs). To this, Hadfield said he has seen countless things in the sky that I don't understand", but to see something and immediately conclude it's intelligent life from another solar system is the height of foolishness and lack of logic.

He, however, added that the existence of extra-terrestrial life is worth thinking about, as the discussion over UFO sightings is intriguing and right on the brink between reality and science fiction and fantasy.

In 2013, footage of Hadfield floating inside the space station with a guitar and singing Ground Control To Major Tom had become a defining image of how astronauts live and spend time in isolation.

Several countries have launched unmanned missions to Mars, including the recent Chinese probe which landed the Zhurong rover on the planet. All these missions are conducting research and taking samples. Hadfield said if any of them finds one fossil then we would know humans are not alone in the universe.

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Astronaut Chris Hadfield Calls Talk of UFOs 'the Height of Foolishness' in Interview - Gadgets 360

Mission Control's Contributions to the Emirates Lunar Mission Launching to the Moon on a SpaceX Rocket in 2022

OTTAWA, Ontario (PRWEB) May 26, 2021

Mission Control Space Services Inc. (Mission Control) is pleased to announce that it is poised to open an exciting new chapter in Canadian space exploration thanks to a $3.04M contribution from the Canadian Space Agencys Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program. These funds will enable Mission Control to demonstrate artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics technologies on a new lunar mission, positioning the company as a leader in computer applications for space exploration.

With the support of the Canadian Space Agency, Canadian scientists and engineers will be able to participate in near-term missions to the lunar surface, said Ewan Reid, president and CEO of Mission Control.

Along with its subcontractor, Xiphos Systems Corporation, Mission Control will demonstrate a cutting-edge AI-integrated flight computer on the Emirates Lunar Mission (ELM), an international micro-rover mission led by the Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre in the United Arab Emirates, launched on a SpaceX rocket and delivered to the Moon by ispace of Japan in 2022. As a first for space exploration beyond low Earth orbit, this navigation computer installed as a payload on the ispace lander will host an AI application that harnesses deep-learning algorithms in an edge-computing architecture to recognize geological features in visual images as the rover drives around the lunar surface.

The outputs from the AI image classifier will be transmitted back to Earth for analysis by Mission Control and its academic partners at Concordia University, University of Winnipeg, Western University and Carleton University. These investigations will make use of the cloud-based Mission Control Software platform to enable the Canadian team to easily and securely access and visualize mission data.

This research will explore techniques for more advanced rover navigation, explained Dr. Melissa Battler, Mission Controls chief science officer. By demonstrating this new technology on the Moon, we will not only unlock potential autonomous decision-making capabilities for future rovers, but better support planetary-science missions going forward.

Working alongside outreach partners at SmartICE, Rocket Women, and Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Mission Control is also planning to engage students, underserved communities, and the wider public in what promises to be one of the first demonstrations of Canadian computing technologies on a lunar mission. By creating iconic moments for Canadian space exploration, the company hopes to inspire the next generation to reach for the stars.

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Award from Canadian Space Agency allows Mission Control to bring Canadian innovation to the Moon - PR Web

Fisher Space Pen and its founder, Paul Fisher, will be inducted into the Space Technology Hall of Fame for their innovations developed for space that now improve life on Earth.

They will be inducted during the 36th Space Symposium, to be held Aug. 23-26 in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The symposium is sponsored by the Space Foundation, a nonprofit advocate organization founded in 1983 for the global space ecosystem.

The Boulder City-based company is being recognized for its pens, which are used by U.S. astronauts while in space. The pen was created by the late Paul Fisher in the mid-1960s to address the unique atmospheric challenges of microgravity.

Since making their debut aboard the Apollo 7 mission in October 1968, Fisher Space Pens have flown on every crewed spaceflight. They are now sold worldwide.

Also to be inducted at the ceremony is Emisshield Inc., which makes heat-protective coatings used in commercial and industrial settings.

This years inductees truly represent the spirit of the Space Technology Hall of Fame. Both produce products that had their beginnings in space exploration and that are now found in homes, businesses and communities around the world, said Tom Zelibor, CEO of the Space Foundation. Congratulations to these visionary leaders who had the foresight to develop and market these tools so we can utilize them here on Earth.

The Space Technology Hall of Fame was founded in 1988 and recognizes life-changing technologies emerging from space programs while honoring the scientists, engineers and innovators responsible. To date, more than 80 technologies have been recognized.

Papillon wins safety awards from FAA

Papillon Grand Canyon Helicopters, which operates out of Boulder City Municipal Airport, recently received two awards from the Federal Aviation Administration for excellence in maintenance and compliance.

Founded in 1991, the FAA Diamond Awards are considered the highest industry honors within the William OBrien Aviation Maintenance Technician Awards program. The first Diamond Award of Excellence was for the 135 Air Carrier and Operation Certificate, which was earned by ensuring 100 percent of the companys certificated aviation technicians receive William OBrien Awards for various areas and disciplines.

The second award was given for Papillons 145 Certified Repair Station, which is a maintenance facility that has an FAA certificate issued under federal regulation and is engaged in the maintenance, preventive maintenance, inspection and alteration of aircraft and aircraft products.

Additionally, Papillon achieved the International Standard for Business Aircraft Operations stage three designation. Granted by the International Business Aviation Council, this accolade recognizes Papillon for achieving the highest level of compliance within the councils standard of best practices for aviation operations. The designation came after a rigorous, multiyear audit of the companys safety practices, safety reporting, dedication to ongoing improvement and overall safety-oriented company culture. Out of more than 6,000 eligible companies worldwide, only 280 aviation companies have achieved the stage three designation.

It is an honor to continue to receive these industry awards and recognition. We have an incredible team who deserves to be recognized for their extraordinary dedication to our customers safety while consistently exceeding industry standards for maintenance and compliance, said Brenda Halvorson, Papillons chief executive officer.

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Business Beat: Fisher Space Pen, founder named to hall of fame - Bouldercityreview

Landing a rover on Mars is "almost indescribably difficult," according to retired Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield.

Despite that reality, scientists have landed a handful of them on the Red Planet.

China's space agency is the latest to do so, dropping the Zhurong rover on Mars earlier this month. On Saturday, it took its first drive on the planet's surface.

Hadfield, who was the first Canadian commander of the International Space Station, saidconducting research on Mars is crucial to finding out whether we're alone in the universe.

"Why are we trying to land on Mars? Well, I think the fundamental question is that Mars was a lot like Earth four billion years ago when life first formed on Earth," he told Cross Country Checkup guest host Jason D'Souza on Sunday.

"So if it happened here, did it happen there? And it will be evident somewhere in the geologic record."

The rovers currently traversing Mars are conducting research and taking samples from the ground. If a rover finds one fossil, Hadfield said, "we will know we're not alone in the universe."

Hadfield joined Checkup as part of the program's regular Ask Me Anything series, and answered questions from listeners about Mars, unidentified flying objects and our responsibility as humans in space.

With roversand possibly one day humans landing on Mars, Ed Camelot in Edmonton asked "what's in it" for the Red Planet?

If there is life on Mars, whether fossilized or primitive, Hadfield saidit's important to consider what it would mean for us on Earth, and what responsibilities we have.

The 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty offers "fundamental building blocks of the legal system" for space-faring nations, he said.

That treaty is a basic framework on international space law, according to the UN, and outlines key principles, including that space exploration should be in the interest of all countries, and that states should avoid harmful contamination of outer space and celestial bodies.

"We're very careful with everything we've sent so far to Mars to make it to the absolute best of our ability to make it sterile so that it won't inadvertently bring life to Mars or react if there is some sort of primitive life on Mars," Hadfield said.

"If there was intelligent life or advanced life, we would treat it even more thoughtfully and more differently."

Asked whether he would ever consider a "one-way trip" to Mars, Hadfield said he has spent his entire life taking great risks for space exploration but astronauts don't make big journeys without proper preparation.

With that in mind, he told Checkup he would happily help with development of technology to enable Earthlings to live somewhere hostile, like Mars or the moon.

"I'm interested in it, but my question would be what ship and who with and what is the purpose?" Hadfield said.

"We're going to get there eventually, and I'd love to be part of the team that makes that happen."

Calling from Kamloops, B.C., Byron McDonald asked whether Hadfield is following the growing discussion about unidentified flying objects.

Often a taboo subject, the presence of UFOs has become a hot topic not only on social media, but in mainstream media and even the corridors of power in Washington, D.C.

The news magazine 60 Minutes recently aired a report about UFO sightings in U.S. airspace. Next month, a report on what the U.S. government calls unidentified aerial phenomena, or UAPs, will be delivered to Congress by U.S. intelligence agencies.

"Obviously, I've seen countless things in the sky that I don't understand," said Hadfield, a former pilot for the Royal Canadian Air Force and U.S. navy.

"But to see something in the sky that you don't understand and then to immediately conclude that it's intelligent life from another solar system is the height of foolishness and lack of logic."

Hadfield acknowledgedthe existence of extraterrestrial life is worth thinking about, and that it's likely that there is life in other parts of the universe.

"But definitively up to this point, we have found no evidence of life anywhere except Earth, and we're looking," he said.

Still, Hadfield saidit's not surprising that the conversation is gaining steam.

"It's intriguing and it's right on the brink between reality and science fiction and fantasy. And so it's all really fun to think about."

Written by Jason Vermes. Ask Me Anything with Chris Hadfield produced by Steve Howard.

Hear the fullconversation on CBC Listen,our free audio streaming service.

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Chris Hadfield on exploring Mars and the growing conversation about UFOs - CBC.ca

Federalist Publisher Ben Domenech sat down with renowned theoretical physicist and Harvard Professor Avi Loeb, on the latest episode of Fox News The Ben Domenech Podcast to discuss the importance of scientific inquiry beyond conventional academic consensus.

Institutions, Loeb said, should be taking risks to fund risky research as opposed to merely projects that can promise what they can deliver.

These are the most boring projects, Loeb said.If you can tell in advance what you can discover, then its not a major advance.

Loeb is the author of Extraterrestrial: The First Sign of Intelligent Life Beyond Earth, and said outer space ought to reclaim its fundamental role in the pursuit of academic progress considering the long-term guarantee of the Earths demise, whether it comes from armed conflict or an extraterrestrial-born Armageddon via asteroid.

Currently, all our eggs are in one basket here on Earth, Loeb said, and if any catastrophe happens here it could destroy everything we care about.

In the more immediate term, Loeb said humans need the inspiration captured by space exploration.

We need something beyond our troubles that lifts us up and gives meaning to our lives, said Loeb, emphasizing the Apollo program once served that purpose in landing the first people on the moon which changed the psychology of humans.

On the intersection of space and religion, Loeb said, they complement, rather than conflict with each other when refraining from attempts to explain physical phenomenon with theological ideas.

If you believe in God, then what you want is to appreciate reality to its greatest details, Loeb said. That will give you the wonder and awe that otherwise you would not have.

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Harvard Astronomer Avi Loeb Says Space Exploration Gives Meaning To Our Lives - The Federalist

Agence France-PresseMay 25, 2021 10:24:28 IST

China's Mars rover drove from its landing platform and began exploring the surface on Saturday, state-run Xinhua news agency said, making the country only the second nation to land and operate a rover on the Red Planet. The launch last July of the Tianwen-1 Mars probe, which carried the Zhurong rover, marked a major milestone in China's space programme. Tianwen-1 touched down on a vast northern lava plain known as the Utopia Planitia a week ago and beamed back its first photos of the surface a few days later.

The six-wheeled, solar-powered, 240-kilogramme (530-pound) Zhurong is named after a Chinese mythical fire god. Image credit: CNSA via AP

The Mars probe and rover are expected to spend around three months taking photos, harvesting geographical data, and collecting and analysing rock samples.

The six-wheeled, solar-powered, 240-kilogramme (530-pound) Zhurong is named after a Chinese mythical fire god.

China has now sent astronauts into space, powered probes to the Moon and landed a rover on Mars -- the most prestigious of all prizes in the competition for dominion of space.

The United States and Russia are the only other countries to have reached Mars, and only the former has operated a rover on the surface.

Several US, Russian and European attempts to land rovers on Mars have failed in the past, most recently in 2016 with the crash-landing of the Schiaparelli joint Russian-European spacecraft.

The latest successful arrival came in February, when US space agency NASA landed its rover Perseverance, which has since been exploring the planet.

The US rover launched a small robotic helicopter on Mars which was the first-ever powered flight on another planet.

China has come a long way in its race to catch up with the United States and Russia, whose astronauts and cosmonauts have decades of experience in space exploration.

It successfully launched the first module of its new space station last month with hopes of having it crewed by 2022 and eventually sending humans to the Moon.

Last week a segment of the Chinese Long March 5B rocket disintegrated over the Indian Ocean in an uncontrolled landing back to Earth.

That drew criticism from the United States and other nations for a breach of etiquette governing the return of space debris to Earth, with officials saying the remnants had the potential to endanger life and property.

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China's Zhurong rover begins its 90-day exploration of Utopia Planitia on Mars - Firstpost

LUXEMBOURG, May 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ --The Asteroid Foundation will launch Asteroid Day TV on 1 June 2021 with digital video content from Discovery Science, TED, IMAX, BBC, CNN, The Planetary Society, the European Space Agency (ESA), independent filmmakers and other educational content producers. The programming will cover themes such as asteroid discovery, planetary defense, space resources, asteroid exploration missions and more. Asteroid Day is an official United Nations' day of global awareness about the opportunities and challenges that asteroids present. 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 Foundation President Danica Remy to educate the public about the importance of asteroids in our history, the role they play in the solar system and how they could affect our future.

Asteroid DayTV will stream through the month of June, culminating with Asteroid Day LIVE on 30 June. This year's Asteroid Day LIVE theme explores 25 years of dedicated asteroid missions, highlighting the anniversary of the 1996 NEAR-Shoemaker launch, and looks to exciting future discoveries. Read more about this year's programme and see the confirmed LIVE participants on asteroidday.org. The Asteroid Day TV schedule will be updated weekly with new programme additions.

Twitchis Asteroid Day's premiere online partner and will deliver Asteroid Day TV all month long via their global platform. In addition, Twitch's science enthusiasts/educators DeejayKnight, EJ_SA, John "Das" Galloway, Dr Pamela Gay and the CosmoQuest crew, Scott Manley, Skylias, and others will host special live streams on Twitch during the month leading up to Asteroid Day on 30 June. The public can follow all these channels on Twitch to be notified of upcoming programs during June.

Asteroid Day's Luxembourg-based partners Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE) and SES, the leader in global content connectivity solutions, will make Asteroid Day TV available for millions to tune in via SES satellite.

For more details on how to watch Asteroid Day TV, visit https://asteroidday.org/asteroid-day-tv/#how-to-watch

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 Foundation 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, prompted by 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. Thousands of independently-organised events have taken place around the globe, encompassing 125 of the world's 195 countries.

Asteroid Day is been made possible thanks to partnerships with the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE), B612 Foundation, the European Space Agency (ESA), OHB Systems, Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce, Luxembourg Space Agency (LSA), The Planetary Society, SES and Twitch. Asteroid Day, Asteroid Day LIVE, Asteroid Day TV and SpaceConnectsUs are all programmes of Asteroid Foundation, a Luxembourg based non-profit.

Join in the Asteroid Day conversation on Social Media!

A Media Kitincluding quotes, photos, video and B-Roll videois available in theAsteroid Day Newsroom.Photos from previous Asteroid Day events in Luxembourg are available on Flickr.

Asteroid Day TV - SES Broadcast Connection Details:

Europe/Middle EastService Name: Asteroid Day 2021 HDService ID: 5711Transponder: 1.068 Satellite: Astra 1MOrbital Pos: 19.2 East Downlink Frequency: 11778.00 MHzPolarization: Vertical Modulation: DVB-S2 QPSK FEC: 9/10 SR: 27.5 MSym/s

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. https://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 Committee on Near Earth Objects (NEO), chaired by 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 related to NEOs, 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 FoundationB612 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 Broadcasting Center Europe (BCE)Broadcasting 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 on 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.www.bce.lu

About the European Space Agency (ESA) The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe's gateway to space. ESA is an intergovernmental organisation, created in 1975, with the mission to shape the development of Europe's space capability and ensure that investment in space delivers benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world. ESA has 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, ESA can undertake programmes and activities far beyond the scope of any single European country. It is working in particular with the EU on implementing the Galileo and Copernicus programmes as well as with Eumetsat for the development of meteorological missions. http://www.esa.int

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. The Chamber of Commerce implements projects and infrastructures for sustainable and prosperous economic development and therefore consists of several entities, such as:

House of EntrepreneurshipLaunched in 2016 by the Chamber of Commerce and the Ministry of the Economy as a single point of contact for existing and new entrepreneurs, the House of Entrepreneurship offers a wide range of services.

House of StartupsInnovation hubs, incubators, business accelerators and startup consulting services are all under one roof at the House of Startups (HoST), launched by the Luxembourg Chamber of Commerce in 2018. Several major hubs are already in place: the Luxembourg House of Financial Technology (LHoFT), the newly created Luxembourg-City Incubator (LCI), initiated by the Chamber of Commerce in cooperation with the City of Luxembourg, Groupe Crdit Agricole's international incubator, and the International Climate Finance Accelerator (ICFA).

House of TrainingLaunched in 2015 by the Chamber of Commerce and the Luxembourg Bankers' Association (ABBL), the House of Training trains thousands of people in a variety of fields such as banking and finance, entrepreneurship and management, law, industry marketing, human resources and many more.https://www.cc.lu

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 OHB SystemsOHB Systems is a European multinational technology corporation, headquartered in Bremen, Germany. They are and have been one of the leading companies in Europe's space sector for the past 35 years, particularly in their core business comprising low-orbiting and geostationary satellites. They have been developing and executing some of the key projects of our times such as the Galileo navigation satellites, the SARah reconnaissance system, the MTG meteorological satellites, the EnMAP environment satellite, the TET-1 technology testing vehicle and the Hispasat H36W-1, ELECTRA and EDRS-C telecommunications satellites. https://www.ohb-system.de/

About The Planetary SocietyThe Planetary Society is a non profit organization with the mission of empowering the world's citizens to advance space science and exploration. They introduce people to the wonders of the cosmos, bridging the gap between the scientific community and the general public to inspire and educate people from all walks of life, and they give every citizen of the planet the opportunity to make their voices heard in government and effect real change in support of space exploration. https://www.planetary.org/

About SESSES is a Luxembourgish satellite and terrestrial telecommunications network provider supplying video and data connectivity worldwide to broadcasters, content and internet service providers, mobile and fixed network operators, governments and institutions. With over 70 satellites in two different orbits, they combine a vast, intelligent network of satellites and ground infrastructure with industry-leading expertise to manage and deliver high-performance video and data solutions virtually everywhere on the planet. https://www.ses.com/

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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Asteroid Day TV Launches 1 June Kicking Off The Countdown To Asteroid Day 2021 30 June - PRNewswire

Last year, about a month into the pandemic, I reached for something comforting: the 1992 science-fiction novel Red Mars, by Kim Stanley Robinson. Id first read it as a teen-ager, and had reread it a handful of times by my early twenties. Along with its two sequels, Green Mars and Blue Mars, the novel follows the first settlers to reach the red planet. They establish cities, break away from Earths control, and transform the arid surface into a garden oasis, setting up a new society in the course of a couple hundred years. On the cover of my well-worn copy, Arthur C. Clarke declared it the best novel on the colonization of Mars that has ever been written. In my youth, I considered it a record of what was to come.

It had been a decade since Id last cracked open the book. In that time, Id become a journalist specializing in space, covering its practical, physical, biological, psychological, sociological, political, and legal aspects; still, the novels plot had always stayed with me, somewhere in the back of my mind. It turns on a series of questions about what we owe to our planetary neighborabout what we are allowed to do with its ancient geological features, and in whose interests we should be willing to modify them. In Robinsons future, a disgruntled minority of settlers argue that humanity has no right to alter a majestic place that has existed without us for billions of years; they undertake ecoterroristic acts to undermine Martian terraforming efforts and, in the end, succeed in keeping parts of Mars a wilderness. I used to think it sensible that their opinion was relegated to the margins. Reading the novel again, I wasnt so sure.

It seemed to me obvious, Robinson told me, over the phone this winter, when I asked him how hed come to place that particular dilemma at the center of his trilogy. Environmental ethicists have long debated how we ought to treat the Earth, and asked whether the natural world has intrinsic value. In 1990, one of Robinsons friends, a NASA astrobiologist and planetary scientist named Christopher McKay, posed the question Does Mars have rights? in a paper of the same name. Ultimately, McKay answered in the negative: he concluded that, when we speak of the value of nature, were really thinking of the value of living organisms. Unless the red planet is alive, McKay argued, were unlikely to extend to it the same environmental considerations that we apply to biospheres on Earth. I thought that might be true for Chris McKay, Robinson said. But people living on Mars would develop affection for the place as it is.

In February, NASA successfully landed a new robotic rover on the surface of Mars. Perseverance, as the vehicle is known, will roll around an area called Jezero Crater, searching for signs of life. It will collect up to thirty test-tube-size samples from the red rocks and dust, storing them so that a future mission can bring them into Martian orbit and, eventually, back to Earth. I have no ethical qualms about the tracks that Perseverance will lay down, nor about the part that it will play in absconding with a bit of Mars. But, in contemplating a future human presence on the planet, I start to worry about the questions presented in Robinsons books. If theres nobody around to stop us from doing what we want, what should we do?

Space exploration presents ethical quandaries even on Earth. Astronomers sometimes want to place telescopes on sacred land. In orbit, we scatter litter. Countries are now debating whether we have a right to mine the moon or asteroids, and asking who should be entitled to use such places as a second home. Space agencies and tech billionaires are working to solve the myriad technical issues associated with travelling to and staying off-world, but, once thats done, theres the problem of our conduct after we get there. Critics suggest that, in space, we risk repeating the mistakes of the colonial past, in which exploration was often a cover for the exploitation of native beings and environments.

Advocates of space settlement have long borrowed from an old-fashioned version of the American mythos, which holds that conquering the untamed wilderness of the New World made us better and more democratic as we advanced westward. At least symbolically, space, the final frontier, is sometimes presented as a savage land in need of humanitys beneficent influence. For a time, SpaceX, the private company run by Elon Musk, called its planned passenger vehicle the Mars Colonial Transporter. (In 2016, Musk announced that the vessel would be renamed, because it might end up travelling well beyond Mars.) In recent years, NASA has shifted away from non-inclusive languagethe agency now speaks of missions that are crewed rather than mannedbut not everyone has followed suit. We must remember that America has always been a frontier nation, Donald Trump said, in his 2020 State of the Union address, while describing renewed ambitions to settle the moon. Now we must embrace the next frontier: Americas Manifest Destiny in the stars.

The problems with such rhetoric can be seen most clearly when speaking to those whose stories it disrespects. Hilding Neilson, a Canadian astronomer, greeted me over Zoom, from his beige Toronto living room, with a stoic expression. I asked his opinion about the people currently leading the charge on space exploration, and he paused to compose himself. What I see... Im trying to say this in a way thats on the record, he began. What I see are organizations that view Mars in the same way that colonizers, pioneers, and settlers viewed the early Westthat it was terra nullius, a land of opportunity for them, and that the land was free to take.

Neilson, who studies the life cycles of stars, is Mikmaq; the indigenous nation that he belongs to extends over parts of eastern Canada and northern Maine. Its difficult to be sure, but its possible that he is the only First Nations faculty member in astronomy or physics in Canada. Its hard for scientists, especially in terms of astronomy and space exploration, to see themselves as anything but ethical, he said. Theres a whole system built around this idea of space exploration being ethical and pro-human, but its also one that doesnt necessarily hear voices from non-Western perspectives.

It is precisely in its interactions with Native communities that astronomy has acted most questionably. In the nineteen-nineties, the San Carlos Apache Tribal Council battled with officials over a plan to build the indelicately named Columbus telescope on Mt. Graham, in southern Arizonas Sonoran Desert, the tribes traditional homeland; in 2005, the Tohono Oodham Nation, also situated in southern Arizona, filed a lawsuit to contest construction of a proposed gamma-ray detector on the summit of nearby Kitt Peak, which they call Iolkam Duag and consider sacred. More recently, Native Hawaiians have objected to the placement of the Thirty Meter Telescope, or T.M.T., on Mauna Kea. Years ago, when I was fresh out of my undergraduate studies in astrophysics, I dismissed concerns about the T.M.T., seeing the matter as a contest between outdated religion and noble science. After speaking to members of the Knaka Maoli, or Hawaiian people, I was able to see how academics were using established power structures to get what they wanted. Today, each of these mountains hosts multiple telescope domes.

Neilson is largely in favor of space exploration, and thinks ethically settling other places is possible. But we have to be more inclusive of different perspectives, and to understand where our own mainstream perspectives come from, he said. It has to be about being part of Mars, as opposed to making Mars part of us.

Those who advocate for human space exploration make a number of arguably unexamined assumptions. These include the idea that travelling to other worlds is inevitable, that the drive to explore is somehow in our genes, and that technological advancement is equivalent to moral progress. I have heard it said that we will learn to exist better on Earth using techniques developed for living on Mars. Thats a really cute thought, Chanda Prescod-Weinstein, a theoretical particle physicist and cosmologist at the University of New Hampshire, told me. But figuring out how to settler-colonize the United States didnt help us live in a more ethical global community.

Video-chatting from her home office on the New Hampshire coast, Prescod-Weinstein told me a story about the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French astronomers who travelled to the colony of Saint-Domingue, now part of Haiti. Part of their mission was to figure out how to better measure distances, so ships could travel across the Atlantic fasterbasically, so that it would be easier to move members of my family and enslave them, she said. Tracing her ancestry back to both Barbados and Eastern Europe, Prescod-Weinstein is a queer, Black, Jewish, agender woman, and said that her second discipline has become Black feminist science, technology, and society studies. Two years ago, she was a panelist at Decolonizing Mars, an unconference at the Library of Congress.

I asked Prescod-Weinstein the question that Id been contemplating: Is Mars ours? Obviously, my answer to that is no, she said, laughing. Like, is the Earth ours? Im sitting here looking at the trees on the land behind my house. I depend on that photosynthesis, the entire exchange of taking in carbon and making it easier for me to breathe. So does the Earth belong to me or the trees? She worried about the disregard that humans can have for things that arent human; in some indigenous societies, she said, land is considered a family member. If we think about Mars as family, what do we want for our Mars family? I think we need to learn a different way of being in relation with each other.

In speaking about why we might not want to destroy rock faces on Mars, many of the people I interviewed talked about living biospheres on Earth. But perhaps taking the regard that weve developed for natural things on our planet and extending it to places where there might not be life is too much of a stretch. Rocks dont have rights, Robert Zubrin, an aerospace engineer and the founder of the Mars Society, which advocates settlement of the red planet, told me. They dont have the ability to do anything or desire to do anything. Michelangelo did not commit crimes against rocks by violating their right to be left alone in order to make statues.

Zubrin appeared on my laptop screen sporting wispy gray hair and an avuncular energyhes the kind of person you can imagine arguing with over Thanksgiving dinner. The shelves of his Colorado office were crowded with books, piles of paper, and two hard hats. In November, in an essay for National Review, Zubrin argued against the wokeists who he believes are trying to halt space exploration. The essay centered on a submission to the Planetary Science and Astrobiology Decadal Surveya once-in-ten-years affair in which scientists discuss their research prioritiestitled Ethical Exploration and the Role of Planetary Protection in Disrupting Colonial Practices. The papers twelve co-authors and hundred and nine signatories, Prescod-Weinstein among them, encouraged scientists to think about how to prevent capitalist extraction on other worlds, respect and preserve their environmental systems, and acknowledge the sovereignty and interconnectivity of all life.

A degree of planetary protection is enshrined in international law, in order to prevent backward or forward contamination. In 1967, the U.S. signed the Outer Space Treaty; its Article IX prohibits signatories from allowing Earth microbes to reach Mars, or from letting Martian biota hitch a ride to our planet, where they might infect terrestrial organisms. At the moment, Martian life is hypothetical, though an increasing number of scientists think that it could exist. Earth and Mars have both been hit by meteors during their four-billion-year history; some have been large enough to knock debris into orbit, and perhaps out toward other planets. Its possible that, in the past, microbes have travelled between our world and others. Tiny organisms might still be doing so today.

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Is Mars Ours? - The New Yorker