Daily Archives: September 11, 2022

NASA's Mars rovers shouldn't expect to detect biomarkers on the surface of the Red Planet, according to a new study based on an experiment on board the International Space Station (ISS) that suggests ultraviolet radiation will break down such molecules after just a year or two.

Both Curiosity and Perseverance utilize Raman spectrometers to identify organic compounds and, potentially, biological molecules on Mars' surface. A Raman spectrometer uses a laser to excite molecules, and then the way these excited molecules scatter light tells scientists what kind of molecules they are. In particular, they are sensitive to organic compounds, which is why they are a key tool for both rovers.

However, new research at International Space Station led by Mickael Baqu of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) has placed doubts on how useful the instruments might be on Mars. Because of its thin atmosphere and lack of magnetic shielding, Mars is deluged by a torrent of ultraviolet light from the sun, which can be harmful to biological cells.

Related: 12 amazing photos from the Perseverance rover's 1st year on Mars

Baqu's team exposed a sample of seven different types of biomolecule to Mars-like conditions for 469 days in the Biology and Mars Experiment (BIOMEX), which is installed on the Expose-R2 platform on the outside of the ISS. Temperature, daily light cycles and levels of ionizing radiation were tailored to mimic Mars, and the sample was placed among simulated Mars regolith.

The biomolecules involved in the experiment were all ones commonly found in organisms: -carotene (which is an antioxidant and a pigment that responds to light), chlorophyllin (derived from the chlorophyll plants use to process sunlight), naringenin (a common antioxidant), quercetin (another common antioxidant), melanin (a pigment that provides protection from ultraviolet light), cellulose (a component of cell walls in plants) and chitin (found in bug skeletons).

Ordinarily, Raman spectroscopy can detect all seven of these biomolecules. However, by the end of the experiment, Baqu's team discovered that only three chlorophyllin, quercetin and melanin remained detectable, and even their signal had weakened by 30% to 50%. The ultraviolet light that the molecules had been exposed to had degraded them to the point that Raman spectroscopy could not recognize them.

Importantly, the technique could still detect the biomolecules from a control sample that was shielded from the radiation by deeper layers of regolith. Those detections imply that Perseverance or future rover missions could still identify biomarkers buried in the surface.

"Ultraviolet [radiation] only penetrates the first few micrometers to millimeters of the Martian surface, so organic compounds and potential biomolecules should be protected beyond these depths," Baqu told Space.com. (One micrometer is about 1% the width of a strand of hair; 1 millimeter is smaller than a grain of sand.) Dig a little deeper, and the Martian regolith should provide adequate shielding from the radiation.

Meanwhile, the European Space Agency's Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover will take robotic drill to Mars that will be able to dig 6.6 feet (2 meters) down into the surface. That rover's launch has been delayed because a Russian lander was to deposit it on the surface, and Europe will no longer cooperate with Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine. Even facing a launch no earlier than 2028, the Rosalind Franklin rover offers our best chance of finding life on Mars since the Viking missions, scientists say.

If the Rosalind Franklin rover does find evidence for microbial life, then those microbes will have evolved in a very harsh environment.

"The Martian surface appears very deleterious to organic compounds because of ultraviolet radiation, but also [because of] oxidative substances and finally but most importantly for long-term preservation across billions of years ionizing radiation," Baqu said.

Intriguingly, the results differ from those of similar BIOMEX experiments that exposed intact organisms, both living and dead, to similar conditions bathed in ultraviolet radiation. Those experiments found that biomolecules within the organism remain intact. Baqu said he puts this discrepancy down to life's ability to protect its own cells.

"Just as regolith can protect directly exposed molecules from photodegradation by ultraviolet radiation, other cellular components can play the same role in organisms," he said.

The results do mean, however, that Raman spectroscopy may play a lesser role in the search for Martian life, part or present, than scientists expected. Baqu's team conclude that any biomarkers on the surface would degrade within a few years at most, meaning that unless Mars is teeming with enough life to constantly replenish such biomarkers, the surface will appear dead which may or may not be the true picture.

The research was published Wednesday (Sept. 7) in Science Advances.

Follow Keith Cooper on Twitter @21stCenturySETI. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Space station experiment suggests Mars rovers will need to dig deep to find life - Space.com

At the height of the Cold War, large-scale investigations beyond our planet served as the dramatic stage for the post-nuclear era power struggle between the United States and the Soviet Union. This anxious tension fueled the early days of the space racecatapulting new technologies, forming space agencies, and laying the foundation for future advancements in nearly every mechanical aspect of our society.

Between the US and what is now Russia, the two nations have long been titans in the space industry, but todays space race has a new challenger. Later this year, China will put the finishing touches on the Tiangong space station, (which translates to Heavenly Palace) the countrys first space outpost. The Chinese National Space Administration launched the first phase of the multi-module station more than a decade ago, and now the stations construction will end with the addition of the laboratory cabin Mengtian, the third and final module needed to complete the compact T-shaped structure. Tiangong station will be Chinas most adventurous space endeavor, the agency states.

Unlike the International Space Station (ISS) which exists thanks to a conglomerate of many other countries and their space agencies, Tiangong will be the only independent space station once in operation, a feat that in all likelihood will heighten geopolitical tensions. The ability to create and support such a fixture in orbit is often a reflection of a nations total global power and influence. Yet, Chinas rsum of successful space enterprises, while certainly not robust, has been surprisingly packed in the decades leading up to Tiangongat the near-end of the 20th century, it had been the fifth country in the world to successfully launch a satellite in space. The newest fire fueling their fierce determination lies in how space science has become intertwined with development, including Chinas national security, economic progress, and their public science and education initiatives.

It hasnt always been unquestioned. It hasnt always been perfectly consistent, says Alanna Krolikowski, a political scientist at the Missouri University of Science and Technology who specializes in science and technology policy. But Chinas leaders have been eyeing space activities for a very long time.

Much of the nations initial push to invest time and resources into the space scene in part stemmed from both international foresight and isolation from many early cooperative space programs. Particularly, in the 80s and 90s, the country faced many domestic and economic challenges (such as the overturning of fiscal and cultural policies that had choked off growth and global commerce), but China quickly realized the space sector would become a very important domain in the years to come, says Krolikowski. Such avid commitment and self-sufficiency towards more advanced space exploration is one of the reasons why Chinas achievements (and at times, their failures) have so often been in the limelight.

In recent years, Chinas frenzied push to increase the scope of their space activities has resulted in a satellite navigation network (strong enough to rival the US-supported GPS system), an unmanned probe to Mars, and the first craft to explore the far side of the moon, Chang-e 4. The discoveries the robotic probes companion, the semi-autonomous Yutu-2 rover, made also could help pave the way for future robotic treks of the southern pole of Earths satellite.

[Related: Take a closer look at Tiangong 3]

Simultaneously, the nations commercial space industry is beginning to bloom, as many private ventures are beginning to launch new vehicles like cargo-carrying spacecraft and other satellites. A fully independent space station could act as a launchpad for future endeavors, catapulting scientific inquiry to new heights, including progressing Chinas long-held objective of getting taikonauts (the Chinese counterpart to NASA astronauts) to someday land on the moon. While the station will be a gateway for many planned ventures, Tiangong will be notably much smaller and have less crew capacity than the International Space Station. Despite these constraints, the vessel will still have more than enough room to conduct vitally important scientific experiments.

Along with the second module, Wentian, the newly-added Mengtian module is a nearly 60-foot-long pressurized laboratory where researchers will be able to conduct microgravity experiments as well as other physics and aerospace technology research for human exploration. Tiangong will also allow China to explore mutually beneficial partnerships with other countries. Once in action, the station will support over 1,000 experiments during its lifetime, many of which were submitted from researchers all over the world.

Jonathan McDowell, an astrophysicist at the Center for Astrophysics at Harvard and Smithsonian in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and an astronautics historian, is especially interested to see how well the station will support Xuntian, the Chinese Space Station Telescope (CSST). While Xuntian is reputedly said to be a counterpart to the Hubble Space Telescope, because its field of view will be 300 times greater than the 32-year-old observatory, McDowell says its actually more similar to NASAs upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope.

This new generation of telescopes looks at a much larger area of sky at once, perhaps in somewhat less detail [than Hubble or the James Webb Telescope], McDowell says. Its mapping out large areas of the sky, rather than looking at things you already know are there and sort of probing with precision.

[Related: With a new set of cracks, the ISS is really showing its age]

Itll be a while before either telescope is ready to gaze into the abyss, but what is obvious is that many of Chinas projects follow a deliberate pattern of replicating whats already been achieved, applying the lessons learned by their competitors to advance and improve their own designs. For example, from the outside, Tiangong station is a near identical copy of Russias Mir space station, which survived nearly 15 years in orbit before breaking up over the southern Pacific Ocean in 2001. One glaring difference in Chinas design is the addition of a nearly 20 foot-tall robotic arm that will be able to move different modules around as well as provide support for other spaceflight activities. As Earths atmosphere begins to get more crowded with human-made refuse, Chinas past issues with uncontrolled rocket debris will also have to be better addressed if the agency wants to support sustainable space exploration. While there are no public plans on how the country will handle these concerns going forward, the nation is still the first and only to test experimental space debris mitigation technologies.

At present, NASA is banned from collaborating with China or Chinese-owned ventures, including providing funding and any other operational partnerships. Future collaboration between Tiangong and the ISS is also highly unlikely, given that any international scientific effort would at least in part be headed by the US. Given the United States tendency to take charge in its international operations, China may be wary of joining a partnership that the US has so much pull over, says McDowell.

However, the station is very attractive to a lot of international partners that dont have such comprehensive space programs, says Krolikowski. Not just developing countries that want to participate in a smaller way or in a supporting role, but even major European countries, can find attractive areas of cooperation with China.

Still, while the nation may be behind in adopting the dos and donts of responsible space practices, many in the political and scientific community are optimistic that as Chinas presence in the cosmos grows, theyll begin to catch on.

As time goes on and as they mature as a space power, says McDowell, theyll also mature in the sense of being good space citizens.

See the original post:
How Tiangong station will make China a force in the space race - Popular Science

The Aspen Space Station continues its astonishing run of artistic expression around the Roaring Fork Valley with new programs being introduced in very late summer and into the fall. Self-deprecatingly described benign dictator of the endeavor artist Ajax Phillips recently invited a group to participate in the newest offering, a blend of culinary and performance art presented as The Wild Food Lab.

Attendees were picked up by artist and Aspenaut Axel Livingston at the base of the property. As we drove up through the forest on the backside of Aspen Mountain, we observed the flora and fauna alongside the winding, steep dirt road; those were the forest floor items that would eventually land on our laps for dinner.

The group of about 12 participants who registered in advance for a nominally priced ticket were greeted at a small cabin at the top of the hill. The cabin is one of several unique structures that dot the dozens of acres nestled beneath a variety of large-scale sculptures and the now-ubiquitous sign the property and art exhibition are known for, which reads, EARTH IS SEXIER THAN MARS.

Led by Phillips, a group of artists, activists and design thinkers, alongside other supporting organizations and donors, have formed a network called Kairos Futura. It operates within the framework of the existing Aspen Space Station project, hosting events, both educational and social in nature, as well as exhibitions and art-making exercises. Wild Food Lab pairs these creative concepts with a duo of local chefs, Brian Mallon and Jeff Porterfield of Stick & Bindle, who, on Aug. 22, led our group of dinner guests through the hunting, gathering and preparing of a foraged meal over open flame (and over enriching conversation about art, sustainability and planning for our collective future).

We imagine a food scene that is truly celebratory of the bounty right in our backyard, said Mallon about their partnership with the Aspen Space Station. The theme of this years Space Station is particularlyresonant for that very reason it is easy to imagine a future where climate or political disruptions mandate a return to local economies, and while that mandate can seem frightening and suggest scarcity, I have found in my time farming that the inverse is true. There is an abundance of food, art, music and communal joy when we slow down and work with our surroundings.

Phillips agrees.

How do we forge a local, sexy future? Food is a part of that, she said, while adding logs to the fire, which would eventually become the groups cooktop and continual source of heat on the rainy evening. We are building our own futurist movement.

Her curated and committed community helps create visions and solutions for the future, and how we eat is an essential piece of the puzzle, she said. Its all about adaptability.

Our crew of Almost Aspenauts ventured down one of the trails from the dinner prep station and went on a guided hike, led by Mallon and Porterfield, but not before the two chefs one a former farmer, the other previously a sous chef at Bosq gave the group a detailed rundown of many of the plants and flowers wed both discover, and eventually eat, throughout the adventure. Details included a brief lesson on what to look for when foraging for mushrooms (expert advice: dont go without an expert in tow), the fact that fireweed is as delicious as it is beautiful (the leaves are lemony) and how the weather, water, warmth and other factors affected both what was gathered that night and created considerations on how to build sustainable, adaptable eating practices in the future. After about 40 minutes of hiking, we were ready to return to the outdoor kitchen to enjoy a vegetarian feast of Asian-style noodles in vegetable broth and homemade chili oil, topped with foraged accoutrements.

Mallon and Porterfield brought pre-made pasta dough, mixed with vegetable ash, which turned the noodles (hand-pulled by the group) as black as squid ink. Boiled in water alongside cabbage, celery and scallions, they were tossed in bowls, topped with a combination of garlic paste, Sichuan chili flake and gochujang (a mild Korean chili flake), then topped with boiling oil to create an aromatic, spicy but not too spicy broth. The foraged ingredients were incorporated just before eating. In addition to the fireweed, the team added wild vetch (a cousin of the pea tendril), yellow coral mushrooms, lambs quarter, cow parsnip and dandelion all picked that day literally in Phillips backyard.

Everyone ate, then ate a second helping (or maybe that was just me), and discussed the overall mission of Kairos Futura and the Aspen Space Station, which plans on more Wild Food Labs in the coming weeks and months, as well as additional events, such as a party with edible art in late September and a Prophecy Future Ritual in mid-October.

We want to imagine a future that may look more like our ancestral past, when we are determined to work with and appreciate the Earth, said Mallon.

A delicious vision, indeed.

Read the original here:
Wild Art: The Aspen Space Station crew feasts for art's sake - The Aspen Times

Companies and engineers are ignoring facts because they do not fit with their thinking and interests, the former director general of the European Space Agency has said in a sombre speech.

Jean-Jacques Dordain, who led the agency between 2003 and 2015, said in a speech at the Starmus space conference that humans must change the world according to reality, not according to short-term wishes.

In a stark reflection on humanitys development, Mr Dordain told how the population of the planet has gone up by a factor of three since he was born, but that the consumption of electrical resources has increased by a factor of 20, and that there are limits to the finite world we are on despite people treating the Earth as if it was an infinite planet.

He added: Everything has changed, but unfortunately the human point of view has not changed.

Mr Dordain said that he was still an optimist, noting that the International Space Station has been a key signifier of the cooperation that humans can achieve.

This is a baby Earth, he said, we have six crew members living and working together. They have to trust each other and rely upon each other. And they are living with limited resources. They have to recycle those resources this is a most fantastic laboratory by which we can try and teach the humans on planet Earth.

However, his comments come shortly after Russia has said that it will leave the ISS in 2024 following tense a geopolitical situation caused by its invasion of Ukraine. Many western countries, including the US and UK, have been assisting Ukraine with funds and weapons to help the country defend itself.

Last month, Russia unveiled a model of a new space station known as the Russian Orbital Service Station or ROSS, which is expected to be finalised by 2035.

Nasa and Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, has said that astronauts can continue riding Russian rockets and Russian cosmonauts can still travel to the International Space Station until SpaceX begins transporting spacefarers this autumn.

Space can help, but we need to teach humans. And you can help. And you have no excuse, Mr Dordain concluded.

More:
International Space Station must be treated like a baby Earth says former European Space Agency chief - The Independent

A video of an astronaut climbing back into a spacecraft is drawing ridicule from Instagram users who believe Earth is flat.

In the clip, as a line from the Red Hot Chili Peppers "Californication" plays "Space may be the final frontier, but its made in a Hollywood basement" a spacesuited astronaut climbs back into an entrance and grabs at what looks like a soft, pliable material to cover a hole accessing space.

"Look at that airtight flap!" a description of the video recently shared on Instagram says. "Go NASA! Space is fake. Research flat earth."

The Instagram post was flagged as part of Facebooks efforts to combat false news and misinformation on its News Feed. (Read more about our partnership with Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram.)

The footage is authentic, a NASA spokesperson confirmed for PolitiFact in an emailed statement. It shows a spacewalk outside of the International Space Station. But the suggestion that it shows a large-scale game of pretend is wrong..

The flap visible in the video is a fabric flap that protects the space stations hatch from environmental hazards such as debris and solar radiation.

Unlike the fabric flap visible in the video, which opens outward and closes inward, the space stations hatch opens inward, so it can be opened only when the airlock, a resealable airtight compartment with two doors, is in a vacuum, the statement from NASA said.

"Otherwise, the air pressure inside would hold it closed," NASAs statement said of the hatch.

That hatch isnt visible in the video because its inside the airlock, according to the NASA statement.

The agency also rebutted claims that the earth is flat.

"Humans have known that the Earth is round for more than 2,000 years," NASA said in the statement. "The ancient Greeks measured shadows during summer solstice and also calculated Earths circumference. They used positions of stars and constellations to estimate distances on Earth. They could even see the planets round shadow on the moon during a lunar eclipse."

Today scientists use GPS and satellites to measure Earths size and shape.

We rate claims that this video proves space is fake Pants on Fire!

RELATED: NASA photos of the moon and Earth show that "space is fake."

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No, this video doesnt prove space is fake - PolitiFact

The International Space Station delights us with unique and high-quality images of the Earth. Here is a profile to enjoy them. 09/11/2022 16:00

The International Space Station (ISS) is, without a doubt, a highly relevant data collection center for the worlds main space agencies. For years, it has become a structure capable of carrying out important missions on climate change and other proposals for the investigation of the Universe. With the passage of time, in the same way, it has been possible to carry out a taking of images of all kinds and of all areas of the Planet.

Due to its high installation and maintenance cost, we are faced with a set of rooms that require control, mainly by NASA and the European Space Agency. Countries like China are creating their own spatial structures, which can cause great competition in the medium and long term, also, in the field of space research. Be that as it may, are we facing a key moment at the gates of the possible arrival on the Moon, for the second time, or on Mars?

There is a portal where you can see images with a great quality of detail about the globe in which we live. The International Space Station, thanks to its altitude, allows you to see the sphere perfectly, at the same time as an analysis of the situation of forests, seas and mountains is being carried out. It draws particular attention, in the night spaces, where the main social areas of the world are concentrated.

Thanks to the International Space Station it is possible to enjoy a set of incredible images on Earth. We are, without a doubt, before a space on the Internet that is responsible for collecting all the snapshots. In addition, they are available in all size quality, with an option to increase the zoom. Do you like to see what you can find when accessing this curious profile of the Flikr social network? Heres one of so many photographs that you can enjoy on our Planet.

The International Space Station is a constant hotbed for imaging the Earth. Image: Flickr

As can be seen, we are faced with excellent quality photographic material that stands out, above all, for its great level of detail. In these shots you can see information that is later used to check water levels or, simply, to know how people work. Activities such as those related to the timber industry in Brazil allow us to see, for example, how the uncontrolled felling of trees can affect the future of the Earth.

One of the most striking curiosities of this platform is that you can see, for example, the contrast between the various societies present in the world. A clear example is shown by South Korea and North Korea, whose policies clearly differ from each other. The communist part has a very poor level of technology, something that can be clearly seen at night. On the contrary, an advanced society in its neighbor to the south allows you to enjoy a much more illuminated space.

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Here you can see the best shots of the Earth from the International Space Station - Gearrice

The date of September 11 this year marked the 21st anniversary of the dastardly attacks that were carried out by Al-Qaeda terrorists on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York. In remembrance of the horrific event, NASA has shared a picture of the demolition of the buildings that were visible even from space.

These pictures were taken by NASA astronaut Frank Culbertson, who was commander of Expedition 3 aboard the International Space Station (ISS) and was the only American in the crew. When the planes were rammed into the Twin Towers, the space station was crossing New York City, which gave Culbertson the opportunity to document the event right after it occurred.

"The world changed today. What I say or do is very minor compared to the significance of what happened to our country today when it was attacked, the astronaut wrote in a public letter released the next day.

It's horrible to see smoke pouring from wounds in your own country from such a fantastic vantage point. The dichotomy of being on a spacecraft dedicated to improving life on the earth and watching life being destroyed by such willful, terrible acts is jolting to the psyche, no matter who you are."

To carry out the attacks on the Twin Towers, the Al-Quaeda terrorists hijacked four commercial aircraft. Out of the four, two crashed into floors 93 and 99 of the North and the South tower at 6:16 pm IST (8:46 am EST) and 6:33 pm IST (9:03 am EST) respectively. Estimates suggest that 2,977 people from 93 countries were killed in the attacks out of which 2,753 were in the towers. On the other hand, 184 lost their lives due to the plane that crashed into the Pentagon whereas 40 were killed in the fourth plane crash into a rural field in Pennsylvania.

To honour those who lost their lives, NASA flew nearly 6,000 4-by-6 inch flags on Endeavour's flight during the STS-108 mission which took off in December that year. The same flags were later handed over to the relatives of the victims.

Originally posted here:
NASA shares what 9/11 attacks on Twin Towers looked like from space; 'jolting to psyche' - Republic World

Enlarge / Artist's impression of low Earth-orbit satellites like those launched by SpaceX and OneWeb.

The Federal Communications Commission has a plan to minimize space junk by requiring low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites to be disposed no more than five years after being taken out of service.

A proposal released yesterday by FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel would adopt "a first-ever rule requiring non-geostationary satellite operators to deorbit their satellites after the end of their operations to minimize the risk of collisions that would create debris." It's scheduled for an FCC vote on September 29.

The five-year rule would be legally binding, unlike the current 25-year standard that's based on a NASA recommendation proposed in the 1990s.

"Currently, it is recommended that operators with objects in LEO ensure that their spacecraft are either removed from orbit immediately post-mission or left in an orbit that will decay and re-enter Earth's atmosphere within no more than 25 years to mitigate the creation of more orbital debris. However, we believe it is no longer sustainable to leave satellites in LEO to deorbit over decades," the FCC proposal said.

The new rule "would require space station operators planning disposal through uncontrolled re-entry into Earth's atmosphere to complete disposal as soon as practicable, and no more than five years following the end of mission," an FCC fact sheet on the draft order said. The plan includes "a grandfathering period of two years for the new requirement to reduce any potential burden on operators."

Satellites already in orbit will be exempt from the new requirement if it's approved as written. "For satellites already authorized by the Commission that have not yet been launched, we will provide a grandfathering period of two years, beginning on September 29, 2022, in order to allow operators to incorporate the five-year post-mission disposal requirement into their mission objectives," the FCC said.

The rule would apply to US-licensed satellites. It would also apply to operators of non-US licensed satellites if they seek US market access, for example, by providing broadband service to US residents.

It will be possible to get waivers from the five-year plan on a case-by-case basis, particularly for scientific research missions. The FCC proposal said NASA "expressed concern that a five-year limit would impact NASA Science Mission Directorate's (SMD's) CubeSat missions, which rely on natural decay of orbit to manage post-mission orbital lifetime and impose greater limits on acceptable launch opportunities." The five-year requirement "may be unduly burdensome" at certain altitudes, the FCC said.

SpaceX's Starlink broadband division, the biggest operator of LEO satellites, would apparently comply with the new rule without any changes to current operations. Lower altitudes help speed up disposal: When SpaceX sought permission to use altitudes of 540-570 km instead of the 1,110-1,325 km it originally obtained approval for, it told the FCC that deorbiting from this lower range can be done in months.

SpaceX said its deorbiting sequence from 540-570 km would consist of an "active" phase that takes a few weeks for each vehicle and a "passive" phase that lasts several weeks to months, "with the exact time depending on solar activity." In a worst-case scenario, the deorbiting would still take less than five years because of the lower altitude, SpaceX said:

While SpaceX expects its satellites to perform nominally and deorbit actively as described above, in the unlikely event a vehicle is unable to finish its planned disposal maneuver, the denser atmospheric conditions at the 540-570 km altitude provide fully passive redundancy to SpaceX's active disposal procedures. The natural orbital decay of a satellite at 1,110-1,325 km requires hundreds of years to enter the Earth's atmosphere, but the lower satellites will take less than five years to do so, even considering worst-case assumptions.

The FCC approved SpaceX's plan to cut altitudes in half partly because the lower altitudes would make it easier to prevent buildup of orbital debris. The new five-year rule would apply to satellites in Starlink's range and above, specifically to "space stations ending their missions in or passing through the low Earth-orbit region below 2,000 kilometers."

Describing the debris problem, the pending FCC proposal said:

Defunct satellites, discarded rocket cores, and other debris now fill the space environment creating challenges for future missions. Moreover, there are more than 4,800 satellites currently operating in orbit as of the end of last year, and the vast majority of those are commercial satellites operating at altitudes below 2,000 kmthe upper limit for LEO. Many of these were launched in the past two years alone, and projections for future growth suggest that there are many more to come.

Starlink has FCC permission to launch nearly 12,000 satellites. While currently orbiting Starlink satellites are in the 540-570 km range, about 7,500 of its approved satellites would orbit from 335 km to 346 km. SpaceX is also seeking permission for 30,000 more satellites in altitudes ranging from 340 km to 614 km.

OneWeb is operating LEO broadband satellites at an altitude of about 1,200 km, with deorbiting plans reportedly calling for disposal timelines of five years or less. Amazon plans to launch a few thousand satellites in altitudes of 590 km, 610 km, and 630 km.

View post:
FCC to fight space debris by requiring satellite disposal in 5 years or less - Ars Technica

A full moon rises over Beijing in May.Getty Images

China aims to launch three moon missions over the next decade as part of its Chang'e lunar program.

China's National Space Administration won approval for the missions after it found a new mineral.

The mineral, Changesite-(Y), could be a future source of energy and was found in lunar samples.

China is aiming to launch three unmanned missions to the moon after discovering a new lunar mineral that could be an energy source in the future.

The space race between China and the US is accelerating after Beijing's National Space Administration got the go-ahead to launch three orbiters to the moon over the next 10 years, it announced on Saturday. The news was first reported by Bloomberg.

It comes a day after China became the third country to discover a new lunar mineral, which it called Changesite-(Y), according to Chinese state-controlled newspaper the Global Times.

China's Chang'e-5 mission retrieved samples from the moon in 2020 and it has been described by Global Times as a "phosphate mineral in columnar crystal" found in lunar rock particles. The mineral contains helium-3, which could be a future source of energy.

The discovery may put more pressure on the US to ramp up its efforts after its Artemis I moon mission was postponed for a second time.

Moon mining could be the next source of tension between the countries as NASA is also probing the moon's south pole where China plans to build a research station in conjunction with Russia.

China has accelerated its efforts in space exploration of late by building a space station, launching a number of missions to collect moon samples and putting a rover called Zhurong on Mars earlier this year to rival NASA.

The US remains the only country to put astronauts on the moon, with the last landing almost 50 years ago in the Apollo 17 mission, according to NASA's website.

The US Apollo 11 mission was the first to bring samples from another planet back to Earth in July 1969, with about 49 pounds (22 kilograms) of material from the moon's surface.

China's National Space Administration was contacted for comment.

Read the original article on Business Insider

Read more here:
China plans three missions to the Moon after discovering a new lunar mineral that may be a future energy source - Yahoo! Voices

Norfolk has experienced a lot of growth in the past 35 years, including the number of police officers and the way the city is patrolled.

We have found ourselves literally bursting at the seams, said Norfolk police chief Don Miller, who spoke at length about the space issues that the Norfolk Police Divisions headquarters has experienced. Millers comments came at an August meeting of the Norfolk City Council.

He noted how the police division has expanded in terms of employees and services. He also described the hallways at the station, where boxes and copier machines continue to pile up.

Norfolks police station was built in 1986 and moved into in 1987.

In 1990, Miller was hired at the Norfolk Police Division and has seen the building throughout the years.

Its always been a little tight, Miller said. When it was first built, it was designed to be economically feasible. They didnt build it for what they needed. They built it for the money they had available.

In the 1990s, the police division saw a sudden growth in numbers in terms of police officers. From that point on, space at the station became a gradually increasing problem.

For the past 20 to 25 years, weve really been noticing our crunch for space, Miller said. Its been a general conversation for all those years.

When Miller became police chief in 2019, he made it one of his priorities to address some of the challenges both with technology and the building itself. The topic of a police station expansion gained traction when Miller took over.

Theres not enough space, and theres only one shower for males, Miller said. For context, males make up a large part of Norfolks Police Division.

The room doesnt have space to do what we need to do. Oftentimes, people will go in there and take breaks and package evidence, Miller said. Sometimes I tell people, youre literally eating at the same place youre packaging drugs at. Of course, we clean it up, but thats still not a smart idea.

We store a lot of our weapons and supplies in that room. Weve outgrown it since theres boxes in the halls because theres no room, Miller said.

Evidence is on the second floor. Thats not a good place to put it since you have to carry heavy boxes up the stairs. Its just best to keep that stuff on the main floor, Miller said. Evidence has taken up many other closets and rooms as well as other storage areas we made available because we need to secure our evidence."

That space has been turned into our new dispatch center, Miller said. We dont have a classroom. Sometimes, well go to the fire station, library or a church thats offered us space.

Theres stuff thats spread out into different rooms because we dont have a proper room for it, Miller said.

The officers workstation is in a hallway. They have a counter on the wall with a bunch of computers, Miller said.

When the building was built, police didnt have a lot of computers. Since it was the 1980s, much of what officers did was handwritten. All you needed was a counter, and by those standards, that was OK.

Currently, the department does not have a proper area for holding juveniles. They can't place them in an adult jail, since they are minors. "There was one juvenile from Omaha whose family took 12 hours to get to Norfolk. They ended up taking a mattress from the jail, placed it in the hallway, had the child sleep on it, and an officer watched over him," Miller said. The new building plan has a juvenile holding center.

Miller also expressed how the exercise and custodial rooms are too small.

Weve just outgrown everything, Miller said. Hallways are lined up with boxes and supplies because we have no space to put them.

Link:
From '90s onward, police station has struggled with space - Norfolk Daily News