Dots of orbital debris are visible in this image of the Lunar Module Challenger from the Apollo 17 spacecraft, after docking maneuvers. The debris is from the Saturn S-IVB stage separation. NASA hide caption

Dots of orbital debris are visible in this image of the Lunar Module Challenger from the Apollo 17 spacecraft, after docking maneuvers. The debris is from the Saturn S-IVB stage separation.

Since the dawn of Sputnik in 1957, space-faring nations have been filling Earth's orbital highways with satellites: GPS, weather forecasting, telecommunications.

Decades later, orbital debris is a growing problem.

Orbital debris, commonly known as "space junk," exists at all levels of orbit, but is especially concentrated in low Earth orbit. Space junk has the potential to damage working satellites and crewed spacecraft, including the International Space Station.

And, the population of space junk is projected to grow, as the commercial space economy continues to expand and more satellites are scheduled to launch.

Picture a band of debris, circling the earth. "[It's] everything from upper-stage rocket bodies, completely intact dead satellites, shards of stuff...flecks of paint, bolts, nuts," says Moriba Jah, Associate Professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

The U.S. adopted Orbital Debris Mitigation Standards in 2001, but there has not been a concerted effort to fund clean-up operations. This worries those concerned about the sustainable use of space.

"This is a tragedy of the commons in near earth space because of a lack of holistic management of this finite resource," Jah tells NPR's Short Wave podcast.

How much space junk exists in Earth's orbit is unknown, but government agencies around the world have crafted estimates.

The U.S. Department of Defense is tracking on over 20,000 artificial satellites payloads, rocket bodies, and debris. Approximately 90 percent of these satellites are non-operational.

Moreover, their public catalog, Space-Track.org, only tracks objects that are 10 centimeters in diameter at minimum objects basically larger than a softball.

NASA estimates the population of debris between one and 10 centimeters is about 500,000 objects. The latest models from the European Space Agency estimates that figure is closer to 900,00 objects in space.

How is space junk created?

Satellites generate debris in a variety of ways.

After launch, spent rocket bodies are shed and pieces become unglued. They can cross flight paths and collide with one another. Satellites have been known to explode when unspent fuel is on board.

"Whenever a satellite sheds pieces, they tend to not shed one, but many, many pieces, hundreds of thousands of pieces depending on the type of collision," says Jah.

The movement of these debris clouds is difficult to predict.

At times, these collisions have destroyed satellites outright. In 2009, Iridium 33, an American communications satellite, collided with Cosmos 2251, a dead Russian communications satellite. Both shattered.

In 2007, the Chinese military intentionally destroyed one of their own weather satellites, Fengyun-1C, while testing anti-satellite technology.

Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation remembers tracking that explosion for the U.S. Air Force. "In the end, we ended up cataloging more than 3,000 objects. That one satellite turned into three thousand things," Weeden says.

Why is space junk such a problem?

Space junk has the daily potential to alter satellites' operations and movement. This translates into real-world costs, as satellite operators field alerts about potential collisions.

Satellites in low Earth orbit, such as those used for imaging and weather data collection, are especially vulnerable.

"That could mean our climate models are less accurate, or we don't have a good way to track emitters. That could have negative impacts down the road," Weeden says.

Space junk is also problematic for astronauts. The International Space Station is equipped with a tracker to monitor for collision risk. In the past, crews have performed avoidance maneuvers and hid in the Soyuz capsules when the risk for collision was too great.

That scenario provided the staging drama for the 2013 Alfonso Cuarn film, Gravity. The opening scene depicts earth's orbit rapidly filling with debris after a missile strike. That depiction does not capture reality. Space junk is a problem that unravels slowly.

"In the movie Gravity, orbital debris was portrayed as sort of a nuclear chain reaction. The reality is the opposite, where it's like climate change. It's this long, relatively slow accumulation of stuff over decades or longer that results in a really big negative impact down the road," says Weeden.

Mitigating the risk of space junk, Weeden says, involves convincing governments and companies launching satellites that they should change their behavior now, mindful of the future.

Some space junk naturally falls back to earth - one tracked object a day, on average - and either burns up or falls in the ocean. Space junk is very unlikely to fall on your head.

What's being done to reduce and clean-up space junk?

Globally, there are no international regulations for how satellites should operate in space. Each nation implements its own policies, which creates a lack of coordination and accountability in space traffic management.

In 2007, the Inter-Agency Space Debris Coordination Committee (IADC) revised their recommendations for mitigating the risk of debris. Space agencies and governments follow these guidelines voluntary.

As for cleaning up the junk? Remediation technologies have not yet been tested in space. There's been demonstrations with magnets in Japan and deployable nets in England, which took place on Earth.

In December, the European Space Agency (ESA) commissioned the very first orbital debris clean-up mission, called ClearSpace-1.

Their plan is to launch a multi-armed robot in 2025 to scoop up a chunk of old European rocket, a mission estimated to cost $130 million. The debris and the clean-up robot would self destruct upon re-entry into Earth's atmosphere.

Meanwhile, each individual nation is managing the risk that space junk poses to hardware and to human life.

"This is absolutely something that NASA is keeping tabs on the Chinese space station, all the private space stations that are going up they're all going to have to deal with this. A fixture of human spaceflight is going to be avoiding debris that could collide with your space station," says Weeden.

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Space Junk Is Cluttering Up The Final Frontier - NPR

Made In Space, which makes technology that allows satellite construction in space, will expand and set up its corporate headquarters in Jacksonville.

Jacksonville takes a giant leap into orbit as Made In Space announced the relocation of its corporate headquarters to its existing operation at 8226 Philips Highway.

Gov. Ron DeSantis made the announcement Friday at the companys 19,000-square-foot office just south of Baymeadows Road, saying the current 75-plus member workforce who design and create orbiting satellite manufacturing systems and other space technology will expand.

The company works with NASA on manufacturing and assembly systems that build satellites in orbit. It was recently awarded a contract to develop whats called Archinaut to build a small satellite power system in orbit.

Now its joins the many companies in Florida that work with a reinvigorated NASA on the future in space.

"The amount of private sector involvement is just incredible. Made In Space is a great example of that," DeSantis said. "They have already flown eight different missions to the International Space Station, and last November they launched their latest space station facility using hardware developed and tested right here in Jacksonville."

Made In Space has room for about 150 employees in its newly designated Jacksonville headquarters and should have close to that within a year or two, CEO Andrew Rush said. It is also "keeping our options open" for possible expansion, possibly into the Jacksonville Aviation Authoritys Cecil Spaceport at the former Westside Navy base, he said.

"We do have ambitions of one day building a larger satellite facility and Cecil is definitely on the short list of places where we might do that," Rush said. "The facilities there and the infrastructure, especially with the runways, are really attractive from a hardware delivery perspective."

Made In Space was founded in 2010 in Californias Silicon Valley to enable space manufacturing and expanded to Jacksonville in 2015. It has flown eight different missions to the International Space Station and has several more slated to launch to there in 2020.

NASA awarded the company a $73.7 million contract to develop Archinaut One, an automated factory that will make components for a satellite in orbit. It will then use its robotic arms to arrange the data-transmitting nodes and struts it makes into a space-optimized "ULISSES" satellite structure," as video animation at bit.ly/30xvMJO shows.

This will be the worlds first self-assembling satellite, helping NASA with long-term goals for missions from the Moon to Mars as it builds huge lattice-type structures in space without the limitations of gravity, the company said.

The Philips Highway headquarters will include the capability to locally make, test and control spacecraft and 3D printing technology to build that in orbit. The expansion is part of a multi-year program that generated more than 50 new jobs in Jacksonville since early 2019, the company said.

The Jacksonville headquarters will also consolidate the administrative, engineering, operations and production teams for the companys major technology programs, including Archinaut One.

In conjunction with Cecil Spaceport, Made In Spaces relocation will make Jacksonville a leader in the new field of space manufacturing, said Frank DiBello, head of Space Florida, the principal state agency for aerospace-related economic development.

"With that relocation comes the addition of a number of high-paying jobs, but more importantly new and extremely innovative technology segment to Jacksonvilles already vibrant economy," he said. "... It helps turn Duval County into a space industry hub for the state."

DeSantis said the move will also give Made In Space easy access to the "No. 1 place in the world" for space exploration: the Kennedy Space Center and the countrys new Space Command.

"They are investing more than $3 million, and their footprint is increased from a 2-room facility to this 19,000-square-foot facility," the governor said. "... This thing is just going to blossom."

Dan Scanlan: (904) 359-4549

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Florida governor announces expansion of space manufacturing company in Jacksonville - The Florida Times-Union

Michael D. Shaw is a biochemist and freelance writer. A graduate of the University of California, Los Angeles, and a protg of the late Willard Libby, winner of the 1960 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Shaw also did postgraduate work at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Based in Virginia, he covers technology, health care and entrepreneurship, among other topics.

Astronauts sometimes face the gravest threats after they return to Earth. Facing depression, alcoholism and substance abuse in general, astronauts are not immune from addiction.

As Buzz Aldrin has explained in his memoirs and interviews, addiction among NASA astronauts is real, prevalent and serious. In an interview with The Telegraph, Aldrin talked about his "lost decade" in the 1970s, when he went through two marriages and worked as a car salesman at a Cadillac dealership in the years following his historic Apollo 11 moon landing. He said he was marginalized and shunned by NASA and the Air Force when he revealed his struggles with alcoholism and depression.

It was not until 2007, when NASA reviewed allegations (since disproved) of "heavy use of alcohol" by two shuttle astronauts within 12 hours of flying, that things began to change. And yet, despite a 1991 law directing NASA to create a policy for alcohol and drug testing of its employees, no such policy was in place in 2007.

Related: 10 ways that astronauts are helping you stay healthy

NASA now has a Drug Free Workplace Program Employee & Supervisor Guide that consolidates several of our previous publications into a single booklet for both supervisors and employees, and is suitable for training. The guide has sections involving testing and privacy, employee rights, mental health services, and more.

More recently, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine ordered a workplace safety review at SpaceX and Boeing, two companies contracted to launch NASA astronauts to the International Space Station, after SpaceX founder Elon Musk smoked marijuana and drank whiskey publicly. Musk's activities happened on "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast in September 2018.

"I will tell you, that was not helpful and that did not inspire confidence, and the leaders of these organizations need to take that as an example of what to do when you lead an organization that's going to launch American astronauts," Bridenstine told reporters during a news conference in Washington two months later, referring to Musk's actions. Bridenstine added that the workplace culture assessment would "ensure the companies are meeting NASA's requirements for workplace safety, including the adherence to a drug-free environment."

If NASA wants to be more proactive about workplace safety, the agency should also consider how astronauts deal with depression in space, not only how its workforce could be using drugs or alcohol on Earth. In a live broadcast from the International Space Station on Feb. 7, 2019, Canadian Space Agency astronaut David Saint-Jacques said, "The problem you develop here is that everything is a little bit the same every day. It can be depressing sometimes if you're not careful."

Further increasing the risk of substance abuse disorders among astronauts, the medical treatment astronauts may receive for injuries sustained during spaceflight can also be addictive. For example, because back pain is common among astronauts, it is not uncommon for doctors to write an opioid prescription to treat this ailment.

Now, consider that more Americans die from opioid overdoses than car crashes. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that 47,600 overdose deaths, or 67.8% of all overdose deaths in 2017, were due to opioids.

How we treat opioid addiction or polysubstance abuse, then, is crucial. Take, for instance, the use of ibogaine: a naturally occurring, plant-based psychoactive substance, which, along with medical treatment in general, can help reduce opioid addiction. While not available in the U.S., which is a separate matter involving law and politics, ibogaine is, in my opinion, a credible way to lessen or eliminate opioid dependency.

"While ibogaine treatment is an extremely effective solution for interrupting polysubstance abuse disorders, the full continuum of care is required to maintain lasting abstinence," said Dr. Alberto Sol, an emergency medicine physician and medical director of Clear Sky Recovery in Cancn, Mexico.

As a biochemist, I agree with Sola's statement. I also think NASA needs to focus more on astronauts' vulnerability to injury and opioid dependency, as the physical demands of training for a mission may cause or worsen back pain.

Between acknowledging the existence of a problem and treating it, between screening for alcohol and drug abuse and having a plan to help people who recover from addiction, NASA has a lot to do. Society has a lot to do, too.

Rather than firing or ostracizing workers who have chemical dependencies, all of us can take a giant leap to improve humankind. We can be more candid about addiction, without letting fear of rejection or reprisals hold us back. We can save lives, and offer hope, to those who need it, now more than ever.

Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and onFacebook.

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Astronauts and addiction: Ending the stigma (op-ed) - Space.com

Planned for 2022, The Indian Space Research Organisation is on its way to launch the country's first human spaceflight mission, Gaganyaan.

According to The Economic Times , ISRO Chairman Dr K Sivan said that once the Gaganyaan mission has been successfully launched, the space agency plans to carry out more manned missions in the future and a space station has also been planned.

In an interview, Dr K Sivan said,

To carry a three-member crew to space, ISRO has designed an autonomous 3.7 tonnes of spacecraft, however, it is likely to have only one astronaut in its maiden human space flight.

Dr Sivan said that for this high-profile mission, four IAF pilots will head to Russia later this month to begin an intensive programme to train as astronauts. For this mission, Russia will train Indian astronauts and build the life support systems in the crew capsule.

Before sending astronauts into space, later this year, ISRO will send a humanoid into space using its most powerful rocket, Geosynchronous Launch Vehicle GSLV-MkIII. To make it suitable for a human, the rocket will be fine-tuned to be safe enough with zero to minimum errors to carry a human on board. This will be the first of the two unmanned missions.

For the human space flight mission, which has been in the works for nearly two decades, India has earmarked over10,000 crores.

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ISRO Is About To Make India Proud Again With India's First Orbital Space Station By 2022 - ScoopWhoop

Books on space evoke a sense of adventure: delving into the lives of astronauts spending months in space or running experiments aboard a space station that might help solve issues on Earth. And when it comes to India, you expect to read more about a space-faring nation that is aiming to launch its first manned mission this year, having narrowly missed the chance to soft-land on the Moons surface.

But away from all this excitement lies a serious, more decisive, area of focus: space security. Having covered land, water and air in their quest for military superiority, superpowers are now busy covering every inch of space around the planet to expand their influence. When India tested its anti-satellite weapon as part of Mission Shakti in March last year, Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed we were now a space power. But where does India stand in terms of space security and militarization? How can India defend and expand its space assets? What options does it have to make it big in an area dominated by the US, Russia and China? Bharath Gopalaswamys Final Frontier: India And Space Security seeks to answer not only these questions but also pertinent ones on space governance and laws.

Final Frontier begins with a look at the genesis and early days of the Indian space programme in the 1950s, thanks to the efforts of atomic research scientists Vikram Sarabhai and Homi J. Bhabha. There are bits that cannot be overlooked for obvious reasons. These include the development and launch of our first sounding rockets at the Thumba Equatorial Rocket Launching Station, now known as the Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, in 1963. Or the way the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro) took forward the work started by Incospar (Indian National Committee for Space Research) without losing the essence of using space as a tool for scientific and economic progress".

The early parts of the book also provide an answer to a crucial question: At what juncture did the Indian space programme add military objectives to its charter? After all, an exciting couple of decades had seen India develop a reputation of focusing its space assets on the civilian aspect: Aryabhata, the first satellite, in 1975 and the Indian National Satellite System (Insat) in the 1980s, which introduced the country to TV broadcasting, communications and meteorological observations, were prime examples. As Gopalaswamy writes, it was in the 1990s that India reformulated the major framework of the space programme, which included two experimental launches of the Agni intermediate-range ballistic missile, or IRBM. There was a setback in the late 1990s in the form of the Kargil war. Indias lack of space-based surveillance competence, the author writes, was severely highlighted during this incident" when the India-Pakistan border was breached by intruders. The loss of life and property during the war with Pakistan nudged India to the path of developing space-based military assets".

There is also a chapter on space situational awareness, or SSA, the ability to track, understand and predict" natural and man-made objects in space, including debris. According to the latest data, US space agency Nasa tracked a total of 19,524 artificial objects in space last year. Data from SSA networks can be useful in protecting space assets through monitoring, collision avoidance manoeuvres and timely alerts. But what exactly are Indias SSA capabilities? As of now, India tracks its own satellites through a series of ground-based radars" but it has not established a mechanism for monitoring space debris based on publicly available data, or for sharing this information on a real-time basis with other agencies", according to the book.

The authors analysis of the global arms race in space also takes a look at the different kinds of space weapons: everything from lasers (yes, those sci-fi stories of lasers being used to disable satellites are true) to kinetic energy weapons, or KEWs. The anti-satellite missile tested by India on one of its own active satellites in March last year was an example of a KEW. But as Gopalaswamy explains, these have certain drawbacks. They cause an increase in space debris (Isro claimed the debris generated by Mission Shakti would decay and fall back on to the Earth within weeks), which may lead to considerable collateral damage in crowded orbits, with the possibility of the created debris damaging the countrys own space assets". These weapons are also easy to analyse for forensic evidence and identify the weapons country of origin".

The latter parts of the book explain the global outlook and the international laws that govern space. The Outer Space Treaty, for instance, forms the foundation of international space laws, including the ones on space weaponization. India has supported various treaties on de-weaponizing space" but it remains to be seen what its stance will be after the recent anti-satellite test, notes Gopalaswamy.

A key takeaway from Final Frontier is that space is all about setbacks and recovering from them. All major space-faring countries, be it the US, Russia, China or India, for that matter, have faced plenty of them. In the 1980s, three of Indias Insat satellites failed to reach their designated orbits. Today, India is not only aiming to reach the Moon again with Chandrayaan-3 but also prepping for its first manned space mission.

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Space security is more than just rocket science - Livemint

File photo of the liftoff of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5-551 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Credit: United Launch Alliance

The sixth and final satellite in the U.S. militarys network of ultra-secure, nuclear-hardened AEHF communications relay stations has arrived in Florida for final preparations for liftoff in March on a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket, the first of nearly 20 U.S. Space Force missions planned for launch in the first year of operations for the new military service.

A military C-5 transport plane flew the AEHF 6 satellite Saturday from Moffett Field, California near the crafts Lockheed Martin factory in Sunnyvale to the Shuttle Landing Facility at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ground crews moved the satellite safely stored inside a climate-controlled shipping container to the nearby Astrotech payload processing facility for final pre-launch testing, inspections and fueling.

The launch of the sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite is scheduled for mid-March from pad 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard the most powerful version of ULAs Atlas 5 rocket, known as the 551 configuration, with five strap-on solid rocket boosters and a 5.4-meter (17.7-foot-diameter) payload fairing.

The March launch of the AEHF 6 satellite is next in line for ULA after the scheduled Feb. 5 liftoff of an Atlas 5 rocket with the Solar Orbiter spacecraft, a joint U.S.- European science probe to study the physics of the sun.

The AEHF 6 satellite will be the first major U.S. Space Force payload to launch after the creation of the new military branch in December. It joins five previous AEHF satellites launched on Atlas 5 rockets since 2010, continuing and expanding secure communications services for U.S. military commanders and the president provided by the militarys earlier generation of Milstar spacecraft.

The Space Force is comprised of military units that previously operated under the umbrella of the now-defunct U.S. Air Force Space Command, including space wings that manage launch ranges at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The new Space Force military branch remains part of the Department of the Air Force, and also includes the Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles Air Force Base, which oversees launch and spacecraft procurement and development programs, such as AEHF, GPS and SBIRS satellites for communications, navigation and early warning missions.

Its an exciting time to be part of SMCs launch enterprise, a Space and Missile Systems Center spokesperson said. We expect eight to 10 National Security Space Launch missions and nine small launch missions in 2020.

The National Security Space Launch missions include flights with operational military and intelligence-gathering satellites on ULAs Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets, and SpaceXs Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launcher family. The small launch missions planned for liftoff this year will primarily loft experimental, scientific and technology demonstration payloads on light-class launch vehicles.

Heres a list of the publicly-disclosed Space Force missions scheduled for launch in 2020:

The first of the Space Forces small launch missions scheduled for flight this year will take off on a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 rocket from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. The Minotaur 4, derived from the militarys decommissioned Peacekeeper ballistic missile, will fire into orbit with a top secret payload for the National Reconnaissance Office, which owns the U.S. governments spy satellites.

The NROL-129 mission on the Minotaur 4 rocket is scheduled for launch from Virginia in March, according to a Space Force spokesperson.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket will launch up to three GPS navigation satellites for the Space Force this year, all from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The first of the three GPS satellites is scheduled for liftoff in April, followed by another GPS mission in the August timeframe. If those two launches occur as scheduled, the Space Force says another GPS satellite could be ready for liftoff in late 2020.

Manufactured by Lockheed Martin, the newest generation of GPS satellites broadcast positioning and timing signals to U.S. military troops, airplanes and naval ships. The GPS network is also used worldwide by civilians for road navigation, commercial air travel, search-and-rescue, and banking transactions.

The first two GPS 3-series satellites launched in December 2018 and August 2019 aboard SpaceX Falcon 9 and ULA Delta 4 rockets.

The sixth flight of the Space Forces X-37B space plane is scheduled for launch in May on an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral. The reusable Boeing-built space plane resembles a miniature space shuttle, taking off off on top of a conventional rocket and returning to a runway landing at the end of each mission.

The May launch of the next X-37B mission is officially designated as the AFSPC-7 mission. An Atlas 5-501 rocket with a five-meter payload shroud and no solid rocket boosters will deliver one of the two X-37B space planes in the Space Forces inventory to an orbit several hundred miles above Earth for a top secret mission expected to last months or years.

The largest rocket in ULAs fleet the Delta 4-Heavy is scheduled for launch in June from pad 37 at Cape Canaveral with a classified NRO spy satellite. The purpose of the spacecraft planned for liftoff on the Delta 4-Heavys NROL-44 mission has not been disclosed, but previous large NRO spy satellites launched on Delta 4-Heavys from Cape Canaveral have been designed to intercept radio and electronic signals for U.S. government intelligence analysts.

The Air Force last year announced new contracts procured through the militarys Rapid Agile Launch Initiative, or RALI, program aimed at securing relatively low-cost launch services with new commercial small satellite launchers.

At least two of the RALI missions are scheduled for launch in 2020.

The STP-27RM mission will carry the Air Force Research Laboratorys Monolith technology demonstration microsatellite into orbit on top of a Rocket Lab Electron booster. The mission is planned for liftoff in the spring timeframe, and will mark the first Rocket Lab launch from the companys new launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Virginias Eastern Shore.

A rideshare launch with multiple small satellites is planned for the summer on Virgin Orbits LauncherOne booster, which is scheduled for an inaugural test flight in the coming months. The air-launched rocket will fire into orbit from a modified Boeing 747 jumbo jet after taking off from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam.

Two additional orbital RALI missions are also scheduled this year, but their launch vehicles and launch schedules have not been announced. A rideshare launch with multiple experimental small satellites for the militarys Space Test Program is also planned for liftoff this year on an unidentified rocket.

The Space Forces small launch program also plans to perform a Minotaur 1 rocket launch in late 2020 from Wallops Island, Virginia. The Minotaur 1 mission for the National Reconnaissance is designated NROL-111, and no information has been disclosed about its payload.

There are two suborbital missions on the Space Forces small launch manifest this year.

Several more Space Force missions are being readied for launches in the second half of 2020.

ULA will launch an Atlas 5 rocket in the September timeframe with a classified payload for the NRO. The launch from Cape Canaveral, codenamed NROL-101, is scheduled after the departure of NASAs Mars 2020 rover mission on an Atlas 5 flight in July.

Another Space Force mission is also on ULAs Atlas 5 manifest in late 2020, according to a military spokesperson. The AFSPC-8 mission from Cape Canaveral will carry the fifth and sixth satellites for the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP, which is designed to help the military track and observe objects in geosynchronous orbit more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above Earth.

The Space Forces launches on Atlas 5 rockets this year will be scheduled among several other critical Atlas 5 missions on ULAs 2020 manifest. Besides the Solar Orbiter and Mars 2020 launches for NASA, ULA is on contract with Boeing to launch the first piloted flight of the companys CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule with three astronauts heading for the International Space Station.

A launch date for the Starliners first crewed mission has not been announced.

Just one Space Force launch is planned this year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, the usual launch site for military surveillance satellites heading into polar orbit.

ULA is planning to launch a Delta 4-Heavy rocket some time between October and the end of the year from Space Launch Complex 6 at Vandenberg with the National Reconnaissance Offices NROL-82 mission.

The fourth flight of SpaceXs Falcon Heavy rocket the most powerful launcher in the world currently in operation is also scheduled before the end of 2020 with the Space Forces AFSPC-44 mission. Little is known about the purpose of the payloads on the AFSPC-44 launch, but officials have indicated the mission will loft at least two satellites into a high-altitude geosynchronous orbit.

The Falcon Heavy will lift off from pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida, the only SpaceX launch site configured to launch the heavy-lifter.

SpaceX is building three new boosters for the triple-body Falcon Heavy rockets AFSPC-44 mission.

Email the author.

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.

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AEHF satellite arrives in Florida for first of nearly 20 Space Force launches this year - Spaceflight Now

Most of us see birds every day. Go look outside your nearest window and chances are youre not going to have to wait long before you spot a feathered friend cruising by. Despite that, scientists have long struggled with replicating the flight mechanics that birds are naturally blessed with.

Building a bird robot that flies with fixed wings is easy enough, but creating something that bends and flaps its wings like a real animal is surprisingly difficult. Now, a team of researchers has taken a huge step toward achieving that lofty goal with a new artificial avian aptly named PigeonBot.

So, how do you go about replicating the wings of a pigeon? You use real pigeon wings, of course! The researchers, who describe their work in a new paper published in Science Robotics, took an if it aint broke, dont fix it approach to constructing the PigeonBot.

They built wings that bend in two places, closely resembling the wings of actual birds, carefully noting the angles at which real bird wings move during flight. Then, rather than trying to beat nature at its own game, they used real, actual pigeon feathers (taken from deceased birds, of course) to fill in the wings.

The aim of the project wasnt to just create lifelike bird bots that scientists could send into the skies for fun, but rather to give researchers an easier way to study how the wings of a pigeon work to keep it aloft. That plan has apparently worked splendidly, as a second study using the robotic wings revealed one of the secrets of how pigeon wings move during flight.

The researchers in that study, published in Science, explain that the feathers themselves have hooks that latch on to neighboring feathers as the bird flaps its wings. These hooks are so small that you cant see them with the naked eye, but they were revealed using microscope technology.

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Scientists built a robot pigeon that flaps just like the real thing, and its mesmerizing - BGR

SpaceX has reportedly been tapped by a company called Front Range Biosciences to smuggle some drugs from Earth to the International Space Station in a mission set to launch in March.

Just when I think Elon Musk cannot possibly be more irresponsible and idiotic, he goes and pulls a stunt like this and totally redeems himself.

Okay, maybe not totally. Abusing the court systems to make calling someone a pedo guy okay isnt exactly a good use of anyones time. And I still maintain that naming Teslas driver-assistance feature Autopilot is criminally misleading. But, all that being said, studying how space affects cannabis and coffee is something that could benefit all humankind. Well call it a step in the right direction.

According to a press release from Front Range Biosciences:

The experiment, being targeted for transportation to the space station aboard the SpaceX CRS-20 cargo flight scheduled for March 2020, will look at how plant cells undergo gene expression changes or genetic mutations while in space. Front Range Biosciences is providing the plant cultures, while SpaceCells will provide expertise, management and funding for the project.

If youre imagining a bunch of astronauts getting high in zero gravity, Im sorry to have to burst your bubble but the cannabis plants and seeds thatll make their way into space next year are hemp strains. Hemps great for a lot of things, but getting high isnt one of them.

Still, were on the cusp of a great new space age thatll involve sending humans deeper into space than weve ever gone and for longer periods of time. Well need to figure out how to grow plants in space and on alien soil, especially if the climate crisis changes the rules for plant life on Earth.

Musk, the CEO and founder of SpaceX, probably isnt involved at an intimate level. And, to be clear, Front Range Biosciences and its partners SpaceCells USA Inc. and the University of Colorado are the bodies responsible for the mission.

But, for all his faults, its hard to imagine NASA using a government-owned craft to mule Schedule 1 narcotics across all the borders. Musks boyhood vision of building his own rockets is paying off for the scientific community at large and, to a small degree, the pro-cannabis one as well.

Associating hemp and coffee with science in the same breath is a means of normalizing marijuana. Either that, or demonizing coffee. I prefer to see the dime bag as half full.

For more information about Front Range Biosciences research, check out its website.

Read next: Instagram influencers can no longer promote vaping, guns, or cigarettes

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Elon Musk becomes the International Space Station's weed guy in March - The Next Web

Astronaut Christina Koch unloads new hardware for the Cold Atom Lab aboard the International Space Station the week of December 9, 2020. Credit: NASA

Astronaut Christina Koch recently gave a warm welcome to a very cool arrival to the International Space Station: a new piece of hardware for the Cold Atom Lab, an experimental physics facility that chills atoms to almost absolute zero, or minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 273 degrees Celsius). Thats colder than any known place in the universe.

The Cold Atom Lab has been up and running in the space stations science module since July 2018 and is operated remotely from NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. Five groups of scientists on Earth are using the Cold Atom Lab to conduct a variety of experiments to help answer questions about how our world works at the smallest scales.

The new hardware includes an instrument called an atom interferometer that will allow scientists to make subtle measurements of gravity and probe fundamental theories of gravity. Further development of this technology in space could lead to improved inertial-force sensors, which could be used to design tools for enhanced spacecraft navigation, to probe the composition and topology of planets and other celestial bodies, and to study Earths climate.

The Cold Atom Laboratory (CAL) consists of two standardized containers that will be installed on the International Space Station. The larger container is called a quad locker, and the smaller container is called a single locker. The quad locker contains CALs physics package, or the compartment where CAL will produce clouds of ultra-cold atoms. Credits: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Tyler Winn

Chilling atoms to such low temperatures slows them down significantly, enabling scientists to study them more easily. (Room-temperature atoms move faster than the speed of sound, while ultracold atoms move slower than a garden snail.) Ultracold atom physics has led to breakthroughs such as the discovery of superfluidity and superconductivity, as well as the production of a fifth state of matter, called a Bose-Einstein Condensate (BEC). First predicted in the 1920s, BECs allow scientists to observe quantum behaviors of atoms on a macroscopic scale.

Physicists have been using ultracold atom facilities in Earth-bound labs for more than 20 years. But CAL is the first such facility in Earth orbit, where the microgravity environment provides scientists longer observing times for individual bunches of atoms and may allow for colder temperatures than what can be achieved on the ground.

Ultracold atoms also provide a window into quantum mechanics, where particles can behave in strange ways, such as spontaneously passing through physical barriers or communicating instantaneously over long distances. The study of quantum mechanics has led to the development of such ubiquitous technologies as lasers, semiconductors and transistors. By making the leap into Earth orbit, the Cold Atom Lab may open the door for the development of quantum technologies in space.

About the size of a mini refrigerator, the Cold Atom Lab will be equipped with the newly arrived hardware in 2020. Designed and built at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the Cold Atom Lab was is sponsored by the International Space Station Program at NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, and the Space Life and Physical Sciences Research and Applications (SLPSRA) Division of NASAs Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington.

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Cool New Hardware Welcomed Aboard Space Station Heres What They Got - SciTechDaily

San Francisco: Elon Musk smoking weed live on air is still fresh in mind and now, an agri-tech company named Front Range Biosciences is planning to send marijuana to the International Space Station (ISS) onboard a SpaceX cargo flight in March next year to understand the impact of gravity on weed.

The plant cell cultures of hemp (a form of cannabis) and coffee will be shipped off in the SpaceX "CRS-20" cargo flight set for launch in March, reports Digitaltrends.

To send the tissue cultures to space, Front Range Biosciences has partnered with tech startup Space Cells and BioServe, a research institute in the University of Colorado, Boulder.

"This is one of the first times anyone is researching the effects of microgravity and spaceflight on hemp and coffee cell cultures. This is an opportunity to see whether those mutations hold up once brought back to earth and if there are new commercial applications," Dr Jonathan Vaught, Co-Founder and CEO of Front Range Biosciences, was quoted as saying.

The cultures will remain in an ISS incubator for 30 days while BioServe Space Technologies monitors those remotely from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

After 30 days, the cells will be sent back to Earth so that the researchers can see how the DNA has been affected by fluctuating gravity levels and cosmic radiation.

The aim is to check how microgravity affects plants and if the exposure of space radiation can affect their genes.

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine last year said that SpaceX founder Musk will not be smoking weed in public again.

Speaking on Musk's infamous marijuana consumption during "The Joe Rogan Experience" podcast, the NASA chief said "that was not appropriate behaviour" and people will not be seeing that again.

Bridenstine said he spoke with Musk that he does not want NASA contractors engaging in questionable behaviour.

This story has been published from a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the headline has been changed.

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Elon Musk's SpaceX to send marijuana to International Space Station next year - Livemint

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) is in the process of developing Dream Chaser, a reusable spacecraft designed to ferry cargo to the International Space Station, and bring it back to Earth, landing on a runway like the Space Shuttle. Today, the company revealed more about the Dream Chaser at a press event at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

It literally showed off a new cargo component of the Dream Chaser, with a full-scale model on site the Shooting Star is an ejectable, disposable secondary cargo vehicle that can itself dock with the ISS while in orbit, take on waste cargo from the station, and then do a controlled de-orbit to burn up in the atmosphere, leaving nothing behind. This expendable component adds a lot of versatility to the Dream Chasers design, and extends the vehicles mission capabilities with safe disposal of materials that otherwise wouldnt be suitable for loading aboard the Dream Chaser for its return journey to Earth.

So its got a nested cargo craft that can itself autonomously dock with the ISS and take out the trash, but thats not the only trick up the Dream Chasers sleeve: The spacecraft will also be able to reach and resupply the Lunar Gateway, a Moon-orbiting space station that NASA plans to deploy to act as a staging point for its lunar surface missions. The Dream Chaser will have to have its satellite bus attached to make that trip, but it means itll be able to participate much more in NASAs Artemis program. Probably not coincidentally, SNC was named as one of the new approved vendors that can bid on NASAs Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contracts (basically deliveries to the Moons surface).

Dream Chaser can also actually become an orbital satellite itself its design allows for an inflatable module to be attached that can essentially convert it into an orbital platform with a very high payload and power capacity. Multipurpose is the name of the game when it comes to making multi-planetary space-based operations a viable, recurring long-term thing that we can actually accomplish, so Dream Chaser is looking like quite the high-value package if all of this comes together.

Already, Dream Chaser has been tapped by NASA to run commercial resupply services (via the CRS-2 contract youve probably heard the CRS term because both SpaceX and Orbital Sciences (now part of Northrop) won the first batch and have been providing those over the course of the last several years. The Dream Chaser spacecraft is currently under construction, and is aiming for 2021 for its first mission on behalf of NASA.

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SNCs Dream Chaser spacecraft can supply NASAs lunar space station and become its own orbital platform - TechCrunch

Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station Friday for the first of four spacewalks to repair a $2 billion cosmic ray detector, breezing through difficult work to prep the device for invasive surgery to splice in new coolant pumps and extend the instrument's life probing the composition of the universe.

"We're going to perform what could be considered open heart surgery on this amazing experiment," said Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano, the current space station commander.

The 7.5-ton patient in this case is the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, or AMS, the most expensive science instrument aboard the space station and one that was not designed to be serviced in orbit. As such, the "operation" is considered one of the most challenging since work to repair and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope.

"It's definitely towards the top of the list, if not on the top," said Tara Jochim, the AMS repair manager at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Floating in the station's Quest airlock, Parmitano and NASA astronaut Drew Morgan switched their spacesuits to battery power at 6:39 a.m. EST to officially kick off the year's ninth spacewalk.

The last time Parmitano walked in space in July 2013 his suit malfunctioned, flooding his helmet with water and forcing an emergency return to the station's airlock. NASA developed procedures to prevent a recurrence and no similar problems have occurred since then.

The major objectives of Friday's spacewalk were to prep the AMS for its planned surgery, setting out tools and equipment before removing a protective debris shield, giving them access to the instrument's thermal control system.

After carefully tossing the debris shield overboard, the spacewalkers attached two handrails to help them move about the device and, reaching into the AMS, snipped a half dozen zip ties and cut a cord to fold back insulation blankets.

The work went much faster than expected and the astronauts were able to work through several items originally planned for their second spacewalk next Friday. That's when the actual repair work will begin. The third and fourth spacewalks will be officially scheduled after managers assess the results of the first two outings.

Parmitano and Morgan returned to the airlock, closed the hatch and began repressurizing at 1:18 p.m. to wrap up a six-hour 39-minute spacewalk, the 222nd since the station assembly began in 1998, the ninth so far this year, the third for Parmitano and the fourth for Morgan.

"I've got to tell you, you made the ground team awfully happy and proud of you guys today, just some excellent, excellent work," Canadian astronaut Jeremy Hansen radioed from mission control. "We are very, very pleased with where we stand moving forward, getting the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer back up and running. So congratulations to all of you."

It took engineers and astronauts four years to come up with a workable repair plan, developing some two-dozen custom tools and testing procedures during multiple underwater training runs. Parmitano and Morgan completed seven full-duration training exercises before launching to the station in July.

"We had to go off and figure out how to create a work site, we had to build new handrails to install on existing hardware, we had to deal with existing sharp edges and in a lot of cases, we're creating new sharp edges using tools that have sharp edges on them," said Jochim.

"We did as much as we could to minimize that risk to the crew member and then, of course, to the (repair) of the payload itself," she said. "But they are certainly very challenging and technically difficult EVAs."

Launched in 2011 on the next-to-last space shuttle mission, the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, is one of the most expensive science instruments ever launched into space.

It is built around a powerful electromagnet that bends the trajectories of electrically charged cosmic ray particles created in supernova explosions and other extreme-energy events, allowing researchers studying the trajectories to characterize their velocities and energies.

The goal is to learn what happened to the antimatter thought to have been created in the big bang birth of the cosmos, to learn more about the unseen dark matter that permeates space and, possibly, gain insights into the nature of dark energy, the mysterious repulsive force that is speeding up the expansion of the universe.

Designed to operate for just three years, the AMS proved longer lived than expected, detecting more than 145 billion cosmic rays during eight-and-a-half years of operation. But the instrument has been hobbled in recent months by the staggered failures of four small pumps needed to circulate carbon dioxide coolant through its sensitive detectors.

To repair the AMS, Parmitano and Morgan will have to cut through eight small coolant lines and splice in, or "swage," new lines leading to a custom-built replacement pump module launched to the station earlier this month. The pump module will be installed during the third spacewalk.

"We're going to cut tubes, and then fuse them with other tubes (launched) from Earth and install a completely new pump to help the refrigeration work, keeping the magnet cold so the the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer can work," Parmitano said. "This is really the first time any of these actions have been attempted."

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Spacewalk today: Astronauts at International Space Station take on one of the most complex spacewalks ever - CBS News

A new space shuttle is being readied for liftoff from the Space Coast in about two years.Steve Lindsey flew the space shuttle five times back in the day.He's back at the Kennedy Space Center helping to develop a privately-owned mini shuttle called Dream Chaser."It's an exciting time for us," Lindsey said.Dream Chaser's job, at first, will be to fly without astronauts, towing a big cargo pod called the Shooting Star.A test version of the Shooting Star is newly arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.The Dream Chaser is about one-third the size of the original NASA shuttle and will fit inside a rocket's nose cone with the shooting star cargo carrier attached to the back.After delivering 12,000 pounds of supplies to the space station, the Shooting Star will burn up spectacularly in the atmosphere.The Dream Chaser min shuttle will return home for another flight.It looks similar to the Air Force's crewless min shuttle called the X-37."We're going to have a large presence down here for years to come," Lindsey said.The Dream Chaser was originally conceived to carry astronauts, and Lindsey, who now works for the mini shuttle's builder, Sierra Nevada, said eventually astronauts could be launching on shuttles again - mini shuttles - from the Space Coast.The first crewless cargo mission is planned for 2021.

A new space shuttle is being readied for liftoff from the Space Coast in about two years.

Steve Lindsey flew the space shuttle five times back in the day.He's back at the Kennedy Space Center helping to develop a privately-owned mini shuttle called Dream Chaser.

"It's an exciting time for us," Lindsey said.

Dream Chaser's job, at first, will be to fly without astronauts, towing a big cargo pod called the Shooting Star.A test version of the Shooting Star is newly arrived at the Kennedy Space Center.

The Dream Chaser is about one-third the size of the original NASA shuttle and will fit inside a rocket's nose cone with the shooting star cargo carrier attached to the back.

After delivering 12,000 pounds of supplies to the space station, the Shooting Star will burn up spectacularly in the atmosphere.The Dream Chaser min shuttle will return home for another flight.

It looks similar to the Air Force's crewless min shuttle called the X-37.

"We're going to have a large presence down here for years to come," Lindsey said.

The Dream Chaser was originally conceived to carry astronauts, and Lindsey, who now works for the mini shuttle's builder, Sierra Nevada, said eventually astronauts could be launching on shuttles again - mini shuttles - from the Space Coast.

The first crewless cargo mission is planned for 2021.

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Crewless mini shuttle to carry 12,000 pounds of supplies to space station - WESH 2 Orlando

The report blames commercial crew delays from Boeing and SpaceX, neither of whom are likely to be certified for regular flights to the ISS by the summer.SpaceX will have a certification review in January while Boeing will have to wait until the following month. The report concludes final vehicle certification for both contractors will likely be delayed at least until summer 2020 based on the number of ISS and CCP [commercial crew programme] certification requirements that remain to be verified and validated.

Space News report launch abort systems and parachutes are the biggest issues for both companies.

Only in April, a parachute test failure by SpaceX contributed to at least a 3-month delay in SpaceXs crewed test flight.

Boeing saw one of their three parachutes fail to open in a test earlier this month.

In the spring, the ISS crew will half from six to three with just one, Chris Cassidy from NASA.

NASA and non-Russian parters will be less able to work on the US On-Orbit Segment (USOS).

The report explains: Any reduction in the number of crew aboard the USOS would limit astronaut tasks primarily to operations and maintenance, leaving little time for scientific research.

NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine has made a formal request for seats on a Roscosmos spacecraft.

The Russian agency is yet to respond.

READ MORE:'God of Chaos Apophis asteroid may set world back to prehistoric times

The station has two sections, the Russian Orbital Segment operated by Russia and USOS.

The station is expected to operate until at least 2030.

236 people have been on board from 18 countries.

Major Tim Peake is the only Briton to have done so.

Currently on board are Italian commander Luca Parmiitano, Russian flight engineers Aleksandr Skvortsov and Oleg Skripockhka as well as American flight engineers Andrew Morgan, Christina Koch and Jessica Meir.

All the Americans on board are on their first spaceflight.

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NASA terrified it could be shut out from the International Space Station next year - Express.co.uk

The mission

AMS-02 came to the ISS in 2011 on the space shuttle Endeavour. After it was attached to the outside of the ISS, operators planned was to run the experiment for only three years. But eight years later, the instrument is still operational but is in dire need of repairs.

AMS-02 is designed to search for antimatter and dark matter, allowing physicists to learn more about these mysterious substances. Since its installation, the instrument has challenged current thinking about physics as scientists analyze the cosmic particles it processes.

The instruments cooling pumps, which are essential for AMS-02 to continue running, have been failing for a few years now. When the pumps started to malfunction, engineers at NASA knew they needed to come up with a plan to fix them.

After four years, the repair plan is finally ready.

Were all very excited to stop talking about it and start executing, said Kenny Todd, the manager of International Space Station Operations Integration, at the press briefing on November 12.

Currently, the team is planning on four spacewalks to repair the pumps and upgrade AMS-02, but because of the complex nature of the tast, the last two have not been scheduled yet and a fifth excursion could be added.

During the first walk on Friday, Parmitano and Drew will be doing prep work for the upcoming excusrions, including adding handles on the outside of the ISS for stability when performing the walks and removing the debris shield thats currently protecting the instrument.

The next walk will be on November 22, but the real work on repairing AMS-02 wont begin until the third or fourth spacewalk.

One of the biggest challenges of repairing AMS-02 is that it wasnt designed to be repaired. Because of the expected three-year life span of the instrument, the initial design wasnt created with consideration for fitting spacesuit gloves into the instrument. Other devices, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, have been designed with the intention of astronauts fixing it from inside space suits.

To overcome a lot of these challenges, teams of engineers have been working to create tools and ways for the astronauts to work around the sharp corners of the instrument. They reached out to college programs as well, encouraging student engineers to design a tool that will help the astronauts cut zip ties inside AMS-02 and retrieve them safely in zero gravity.

Both Parmitano and Drew have been performing test repairs with the tools and NASA officials stated in the press briefing that they feel confident in the astronauts abilities to complete the task at hand.

The schedule for the spacewalks also brings challenges. Boeing will be performing orbital tests of their uncrewed capsule, Starliner, at the beginning of December. This could hit pause on the spacewalks as the crew turns their attention to the Starliner tests. Plus, on December 7, a SpaceX Cargo Dragon will be making a resupply run to the ISS, taking even more time away from the walks.

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Watch live: Spacewalks to fix important Space Station instrument - Astronomy Magazine

Six of the astronauts experienced stagnant or reverse blood flow, one had a blood clot and another was found to have a potential partial blood clot.

This is the first time researchers have observed these conditions in astronauts and the implications of their discovery could impact future long-term spaceflight, such as a mission to Mars.

After more than 50 years of human spaceflight, researchers know some of the risks posed to the human body by being in zero gravity. Space motion sickness happens in the first 48 hours, creating a loss of appetite, dizziness and vomiting.

Over time, astronauts staying for six months on the station can experience the weakening and loss of bone and atrophying muscles. Astronauts also experience blood volume loss, weakened immune systems and cardiovascular deconditioning, since floating takes little effort and the heart doesn't have to work as hard to pump blood. Scott Kelly and other astronauts in their late 40s and 50s have also complained about their vision being slightly altered. Some of them have required glasses in flight.

And the Twins Study, comparing changes in astronaut Scott Kelly during his yearlong spaceflight mission while his twin, Mark, was on Earth revealed numerous other changes affecting gene expression and the microbiome.

The weightless environment of zero gravity causes a fluid shift in the body toward the head, the opposite of what we experience standing on Earth. On Earth, humans spend about two-thirds of the day in an upright position and about a third laying down at night. This causes a daily fluid shift that varies based on our position.

But for astronauts, the fluid shift is sustained for long periods of time. It causes puffiness in the face, "bird leg" syndrome where the legs lose volume, and decreases plasma volume while increasing stroke volume -- the volume of blood pumped per beat.

"A recently identified medical issue with long duration spaceflight on the International Space Station is a constellation of neuro-ocular issues that we've coined SANS -- Spaceflight Associated Neuro-ocular Syndrome," said Michael Stenger, study author and director of NASA's Johnson Space Center Cardiovascular and Vision Laboratory.

"Approximately 10 years ago, we noticed that astronauts were developing optic disc edema, globe flattening, choroidal folds and permanent refractive error changes. The purpose of our experiment was to quantify the headward fluid shift in all astronauts by examining arterial and venous structure and flow characteristics in the head and neck (as well as several other parameters) and determining the relationship between these parameters and ocular structural and functional changes."

The researchers wanted to assess how this fluid shift affected the left jugular vein. This vein carries deoxygenated blood from the head and neck to the vena cava, the largest vein in the upper body.

The researchers disclosed that one limitation of the study is that they did not image the right jugular vein, but it has been analyzed in previous spaceflight studies and there was no sign of stagnation or clotting.

The astronauts provided blood flow measurements before and after spaceflight while seated, laying down and angled at a 15-degree downward head-tilt. Measurements during the flight were taken on days 50 and 150 of the mission.

The astronaut who developed a blood clot was treated with anticoagulants for the rest of the spaceflight and did not participate in the study past day 50.

The observation that blood was clotting in otherwise healthy astronauts, both male and female, due to weightlessness was a surprise to researchers, who are concerned due to the other issues blood clots can cause.

"Blood clots that are newly formed and small are easily filtered out of the circulation in the lungs," Stenger said. "If one were to grow excessively large and solidify, then one would be at risk of a pulmonary embolism. This formation of clots is the primary concern related to flow stasis."

The idea of reverse blood flow requires more scrutiny.

"Reverse flow is really interesting, and we're uncertain if it harmful," Stenger said. "Reverse flow in the jugular vein could be completely harmless as the blood is simply leaving the head via one of the other venous pathways. However, reverse flow implies altered venous pressure dynamics, which could impact the ability of the brain to drain cerebral spinal fluid and possibly increase pressure in the brain. This is something we're continuing to investigate."

A possible way to reverse the head-ward fluid shift is to apply lower body negative pressure.

The Russian side of the space station includes a Chibis suit that was used to test this method. The suit basically acts as vacuum-sealed pants, according to the study authors.

"It encompasses the lower limbs in a hard enclosure that is sealed at the waist and connected to a vacuum pump to decrease the pressure in the chamber around the lower limbs to subatmospheric pressure," the authors wrote. "Lower body negative pressure sequesters fluid volume, mainly venous blood, in the lower extremities and is used by cosmonauts on the ISS as a countermeasure for postflight orthostatic intolerance."

Other possible ways to shift fluid from the upper body could include thigh cuffs, resistance breathing devices and acceleration via cetrifugation, Stenger said.

Stenger pointed out that research should be fast-tracked to better understand the issue, as well as considering the limits on medical and research capabilities on vehicles used in future exploration missions.

"As potentially scary as this may sound, this novel and interesting finding isn't terribly concerning," Stenger said. "The reality is that this has probably been happening since we started flying in space, we just never looked before. This gives us the opportunity to now conduct further research to determine what is causing this before speculating too much on potential consequences.'

Of the 17 sessions with the Chibis suit during flight, 10 were associated with improved blood flow, two actually showed worsened flow and five did not cause any changes, according to the study. During sessions when blood flow improved, three astronauts actually went from stagnant or reverse blood flow to regular.

"This study underscores the need to monitor vascular changes in astronauts," said Christopher Mason, one of the Twins Study authors and an associate professor of physiology and biophysics at Weill Cornell Medicine. Mason was not affiliated with this study. "Stagnant and retrograde blood flow can lead to complications, such as thrombosis [blood clotting], but fortunately can be tracked and treated. Also, just like taking a long flight, the risk of this would almost certainly resolve upon landing back on Earth."

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Astronauts experienced reverse blood flow and blood clots on the space station, study says - CNN

SpaceX is going to launch a payload for client Nanoracks aboard one of its new rideshare missions, currently targeting late 2020, that will demonstrate a very ambitious piece of tech from the commercial space station company. Nanoracks is sending up a payload platform that will show off how it can use a robot to cut material very similar to the upper stages used in orbital spacecraft something Nanoracks wants to eventually due to help convert these spent and discarded stages (sometimes called space tugs because they generally move payloads from one area of orbit to another) into orbital research stations, habitats and more.

The demonstration mission is part of Nanoracks Space Outpost Program, which aims to address the future need for in-space orbital commercial platforms by also simultaneously making use of existing vehicles and materials designed specifically for space. Through use of the upper stages of spacecraft left behind in orbit, the company hopes to show how it one day might be able to greatly reduce the costs of setting up in-space stations and habitats, broadening the potential access of these kinds of facilities for commercial space companies.

This will be the first-ever demonstration of structural metal cutting in space, provided the demo goes as planned, and it could be a key technology not just for establishing more permanent research families in Earths orbit, but also for setting up infrastructure to help us get to, and stay at, other interstellar destinations like the Moon and Mars.

Nanoracks has a track record of delivering when it comes to space station technology: Its the first company to own and operate its own hardware on the International Space Station, and it has accomplished a lot since its founding in 2009. This demo mission is also funded via a contract in place with NASA.

Also going up on the same mission is a payload of eight Spire LEMUR-2 CubeSats, which Nanoracks ordered on behalf of the global satellite operator. That late 2020 date is subject to change, as are most of the long-tail SpaceX missions, but whenever it takes place, itll be a key moment in commercial space history to watch.

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Nanoracks just booked a SpaceX launch to demo tech that turns used spacecraft into orbital habitats - TechCrunch

Right now, there are six astronauts aboard the International Space Station, floating 408km above our heads. But soon things could be about to get a lot lonelier up there. Delays in building new spacecraft to get astronauts into space mean that the next trio of astronauts set to join the ISS in April 2020 are facing the possibility of being the space stations lone occupants for six months.

It'll be the first time the ISS has had only three semi-permanent occupants since 2009, when it was expanded so it could comfortably fit six occupants at any one time. But for the last 10 years a crew of six has kept up with the ISS endless list of maintenance tasks and research projects. What will happen when this floating workforce is cut in half?

The next three astronauts to be sent up American Chris Cassidy, and Russians Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin will travel in a Soyuz capsule. Since the retirement of the US Space Shuttle in 2011, all journeys to the ISS have taken place in these Russian-made spacecraft, which bring three people at a time. One Soyuz capsule is attached to the ISS, like a lifeboat, at all times, and the crew members who have been there the longest will take this capsule home. Three new astronauts arrive a couple of weeks later so apart from the short periods while crews are changed over, there are usually six astronauts and cosmonauts on the ISS at any one time.

This system has worked worked for nearly a decade, but for 2020, Nasa decided that instead of buying seats on Soyuz, it would rely on contracts with commercial companies SpaceX and Boeing for extra crew launches. But development of the commercial capsules has been delayed, with Boeing having trouble with their parachutes and SpaceXs Crew Dragon capsule exploding during tests.

In 2010 when Nasa prepared to shut down their Space Shuttle program, they gave commercial companies a combined $50m (38m) to design their own transport spacecraft. Its uncertain exactly when the commercial capsules will be ready as they need to pass rigorous safety tests first, so rather than paying for an extra Soyuz, Nasa has decided to prepare the next group of astronauts for what might happen if theyre left alone.

Over the years, ISS expedition experiments have made discoveries which will be vital if humanity wants to explore space further. Previous missions have revealed the effect of microgravity on the human body and the source of cosmic rays. But if the crew need to do general maintenance on the station, with fewer people on board there will be less time for other activities.

A large amount of experiments can be done with commanding from the ground so we're trying to to give preference to those, says Ruediger Seine, space training team leader at ESA's European Astronaut Centre. Space agencies managing experiments will have to pick which of their projects theyd like the astronauts to devote their limited time towards, and press pause on experiments that require more human intervention.

But some experiments might fare between without humans getting in the way. Some experiments actually might benefit from less people because of vibration, says Laura Forzcyk, founder of the consulting firm Astralytical who used to work for the ISS US National Laboratory. Even with three there are still a lot of vibrations. Some experiments just want to be left alone.

The limited crew will also mean more sharing of resources. The ISS itself is split into two sides Russian and American. The Russians usually operate on their side, while astronauts from the United States, Europe, Japan, and Canada operate on the other. However with such a small number of people on board, they need to work more cohesively. With only one American, the two Russians have been trained on how to use the US equipment. For example, each side has its own space suit both with different ways of operating but the astronauts and cosmonauts need to be trained in how to use both. Its a case of being prepared for all situations.

It's not easy to get from the Russian airlock to the American segment of the International Space Station. The additional training for the remaining crew members is to make sure that we're covering all contingencies, says Seine.

And while the experiments may appreciate being alone, the people may not. Experiments only take up part of astronaut's time on board the ISS. Like a typical working week on Earth, they have time off, in the evenings and on the weekends. Chris Cassidy, Nikolai Tikhonov and Andrei Babkin may not see another person from spring 2020, to when their mission finishes at the end of the year.

And 2020 could be the last point the ISS gets this quiet for a while. In 2019, Nasa announced that it would let tourists fly to the ISS from 2020 if they were willing to pay the 27,500 for the privilege. This isnt the first time this has happened seven people who arent employed by a space agency have gone to the ISS before. And it wont mean they are dead weight; anyone who gets sent up, professional or not, will be given tasks and help out in any way they can.

But until then, the trio of astronauts will have to endure the mental stress that comes with isolation. Research has found that along with psychological effects caused by adjusting to the novel situation of being in space, astronauts also often struggle with anxiety and depression. ISS astronauts, despite being kept busy with experiments, will still have opportunities to socialise they try to have at least one shared meal a day, and receive plenty of contact from their friends and family.

Michael Lopez-Alegria, who has flown the longest US space station mission to date, went up to the International Space Station in 2006 when the crew was still small. He was there with only two other people at a time, but managed to not feel too lonely during the mission.

I like the small size crew, because we tend to bond more as a unit, he says. Sometimes there can be a divide by culture when there are more people. We had one Russian, me and then the third person was either a German or an American, and so we tended to be more cohesive and spend more time together.

Lopez-Alegria found that looking out at Earth helped him feel closer to home, and in 2010, an observatory module was added to the ISS to create an even bigger window to help with astronauts mental health. I wish I were going back myself, he says.

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Life on the Space Station is about to get really weird and lonely - Wired.co.uk

He makes no secret of his current views that the space agency is on the wrong track by continuing to put so much of its scarce resources into the Space Launch System rocket and the Orion capsule after so many years of delays and when new and cheaper commercial alternatives are so promising.

People have fallen in love with them but they got old and expensive, and I think they're more worried about keeping some of the aerospace companies in fit shape than the American taxpayer, he complains.

Gibson supports returning astronauts to the moon, but he's also among the vocal group of space insiders who contend that building a lunar Space Station first will just slow things down.

Nor is he convinced that extending NASAs primary role in running the International Space Station makes sense, given all the other competing goals.

Gibson sat down with POLITICO last weekend on the sidelines of Space Vision 2019, hosted by Students for the Exploration and Development of Space at Arizona State University.

This transcript has been edited for length and clarity.

You were among the first astronauts who were scientists and not military pilots.

The test pilots thought they were going to rule the world forever. Congress said, 'Youve got to get some science in the program, and the way to do that is get some who have science backgrounds to go flying in space.'

So, begrudgingly NASA did that, and I think the test pilots in the program said, 'All right, bring them in here. They'll quit, flunk out, or kill themselves. And we won't have to deal with them again.' But when we came in there, they found out we could walk and chew gum at the same time.

Once we got working with each other, we gained respect for each other and it started to come together.

Do you think returning to the moon should be NASAs main exploration goal?

I know we are very limited in our budget, and I want to see things happen quickly. I think the best place is a facility right there on the moon itself.

So, go directly to the surface and not build the lunar Gateway? I just don't see the advantage of it. I listened, and I've studied, and I've tried to see the advantage of that Space Station. But to me it never registers as superior, or even better than doing it the simple way.

Get back to the moon and forget the orbiting Space Station. If that is needed in the future, show that it really is needed.

You've got the ability to produce oxidizer and fuel from the resources on the moon. So, why don't we go there, create those things at some point on the surface either the North or South Pole?

The South Pole, I think, is a little bit better. And if you want to go up to the pole and study the ice and other resources from there, it's a small hop ... to get to any other spot in that hemisphere. And that can be happen very easily.

You've spent a lot of time in space. Are we prepared for the physical rigors of such long duration missions to deep space?

I think there's a real issue. You don't want to living in lunar orbit or Mars orbit for a long period of time. That's why I think it's great to just go to the surface to shield yourself [from the radiation].

Then, if you want to go somewhere, you go out and, obviously, you've got to suffer whatever radiation there is, and youve got to have your spacecraft or your spacesuit to give you some added protection.

You have also expressed concerns about the cost and capability of the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft.

SpaceX could be a lot cheaper than what we're going to do with the SLS and maybe even the Orion, as nice as those programs are.

People have fallen in love with them, but they got old and expensive. ... I think they're more worried about keeping some of the aerospace companies in fit shape than the American taxpayer.

Do you think NASA should extend operations on the ISS beyond 2024?

The question is, What are we getting for it, versus other things that we can do with that money? We can cut back a little bit, let the other nations pick up even more.

I have to ask what we're getting back from it and what else we want to do in space? I think as we get to where we're wanting to go back to the moon and onto Mars the Space Station is probably going to lose some of its support.

More:

'Get back to the moon and forget the orbiting space station' - Politico

China that last sent people to space back in 2016 hasn't been idle. Its manned space program's main designer Zhou Jianpingsaidthis weekend that by 2022 China will have a 100-tonne space station suitable for 3 astronauts to work and live, up and running. The station, he added, will be technically adjustable for further expansion

The space station designed to become the nation's chief space research platform will be well-suited for long scientific missions, ensuring protection of health, and personal safety, of the people aboard, while a space laboratory will provide them with the latest technological developments for successful work.

'The main goal of the construction of the space station is to enable Chinato become a country independently mastering the technology for long-term manned flight in near-Earth space,' Zhou explained as he talked of the project at the 4th China Summit Forum on Human Factors Engineering at theSun Yat-sen Universityin the Guangdong Province in the South of China on November 16 and 17.

The station will present excellent opportunities for long-duration near-Earth scientific work, along with the utilization of space resources, he added.

China has already extended an invitation to international colleagues to work at its space station together with Chinese astronauts, explicitly mentioning that its space station's initial capacity will eventually be enlarged.

Back in 2016, Zhou said that the expected operational lifespan of China's space station will be about ten years, which is short compared with Mir's fifteen years and the currently functioningISS launched in 1998, which, if, as planned, serves until 2024, will have been active for 26 years at the time.

2016 was the year that last saw Chinese astronauts in space, working aboard the Tiangong-2 orbital lab for 33 days. Its predecessor Tiangong-1 prototype station might have had bad luck, but all of the work done has constituted preparatory steps for putting the Chinese Space Station in orbit, to provide Chinese astronauts and scientists, as well as their international colleagues, with new space research opportunities.

Read more:

China's Own Space Station to Start Operation in Two years' Time - Asgardia Space News