Category Archives: Space Exploration

Are we alone? Humans have a lot of questions about alien life. But those beings, if they exist, likely have some questions of their own about humans, queries we may want to answer before we find any life beyond Earth.

That's because the answers we reach will shape how we respond to any such discovery in ways that have profound implications for us and that hypothetical life beyond Earth alike, according to Kathryn Denning, an anthropologist at York University in Canada who focuses on space exploration and extraterrestrial life. Some of those questions, the more anthropocentric ones, are already in the air, underlying conversations about the search for life.

But other questions would benefit from a shift in mindset that is uncommon in the field, Denning told Space.com. "We're still thinking [about a detection of extraterrestrial life] in terms of an intellectual problem about us and our place in the universe," she said. "[We] haven't thought through the consequences for that other life."

Related: The Most Fascinating Exoplanets of 2018

One key struggle may be the tendency to emphasize the question "Are we alone?" which Denning said speaks more to the recent history of science than to humanity in general. "A lot of people have already made that leap. They've already assumed that life is prevalent," she said.

It was only when science-minded people could get a very good look at neighbors like the moon and Mars that those assumptions began to change. "Thanks to astronomy, the universe kind of emptied out briefly in the mid-20th century," Denning said. "Up until that point, most people assumed it was full." And deciding for ourselves whether we are alone can't necessarily shape our response to a discovery beyond the degree of surprise with which we meet it.

Extending our interrogative and contemplative energy beyond that one question may turn out to be more helpful. Those questions could include how such a discovery will be announced. This has been discussed, but those conversations haven't kept up with the pace of change in society, Denning said. Chances are low that the sort of controlled, authority-laden announcement planned during previous decades would be pragmatic today.

"Any kind of scientific discovery now takes place in real time, in public view, and that involves all kinds of disagreements," Denning said. "You end up with different camps, and they're kind of fighting it out over Twitter or whatever. What is a nonspecialist audience supposed to think?"

Once we do have a new version of that conversation, it shouldn't stagnate again, since future decades will need to consider different circumstances once again, she added.

Denning said she also wants people to be more aware of how different communities may respond to the same new information and why. Because of different lived experiences, vulnerabilities and ways of seeing the world, a discovery that is exciting for some people may upset others. That variety of perspectives could be even more instructive in conversations about how humanity responds to the discovery of aliens: Approaches that some people see as maximizing humanity's opportunities could feel risky or threatening to other people, Denning said.

Figuring out how to respond to a discovery of life in a way that truly reflects all of humanity means finding a way to pull all those threads together into the same discussion. "We have to have, I think, better conversations about how do we talk about a discovery," Denning said. In particular, she said, those conversations need to include a much broader swath of humanity than they currently do.

And those discussions also need to recognize that societal confidence and credence are changing over time as well. Announcements or advice that may once have gone unquestioned because they came from an authority that no longer has such preeminence, Denning said. "All of this takes place against a backdrop where there is a crisis of scientific authority, particularly in America," she said. "There are just big problems with trust in expertise overall."

The conversations we have right now about potentially finding life lack another component that Denning said is vitally important: how we treat that life. "What we do with life on Earth? A lot of it is really awful," she said, pointing to millennia of consumption and captivity and disruption. "We control and contain and rework it culturally in absolutely every way that we can."

While the topic of planetary protection includes conversations about how to protect life both on Earth and beyond it, those discussions tend to view any extraterrestrial life as a scientific opportunity not as an ethical obligation, Denning said. That isn't good enough for her, she said, especially given what she called "the expansion of post-planetary capitalism."

There's reason to worry about the exploitation of alien life, given the precedent we have on Earth for what extraterrestrial life could look like: tiny so-called extremophilic organisms that can live in bitter cold, extreme heat, high saltiness and other difficult conditions. Those organisms, their genetic material and the compounds they can produce are highly sought after by companies looking to commercialize medicines and other valuable compounds. Denning said the same factors would affect any extraterrestrial extremophile life as well.

"When you see considerable private interest now in looking for life in the solar system, is that purely a scientific intellectual question with no hope of actual return?" Denning said. "Or is there something that either is at work now or would inevitably be at work at some point in terms of recruiting that life into some form of financial gain?"

Denning's concerns about these issues are strongly rooted in her background as an anthropologist, she said. She pointed to the likelihood of primates, "the creatures that are most like us," being made extinct in the wild within decades because of human activities.

"Those are the realities that anthropologists live with every day. That this is the truth of who we are and what we do," Denning said. "It's not all that we are, and it's not all that we could do, but left to our own devices, when we don't engage our higher reasoning and engage in protective actions, then some people have to protect life-forms from other people."

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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(Image credit: All About Space)

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Before We Find Aliens, Humans Need to Figure Ourselves Out - Space.com

Want to see the sun in a whole new way?

Now you can do just that by looking through a host of science data newly made available to the public. That information was gathered by NASA's Parker Solar Probe during its first two close passes of the sun. The flybys brought the spacecraft closer to the sun than any previous vehicle had gone, offering scientists an incredible opportunity to learn more about our star.

"Parker Solar Probe is crossing new frontiers of space exploration, giving us so much new information about the sun," Nour E. Raouafi, Parker Solar Probe project scientist at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, said in a statement. "Releasing this data to the public will allow them not only to contribute to the success of the mission along with the scientific community, but also to raise the opportunity for new discoveries to the next level."

Related: NASA's Parker Solar Probe Mission to the Sun in Pictures

Parker Solar Probe launched in August 2018 for a seven-year mission that is targeting the constant stream of highly charged plasma leaving the sun, called the solar wind, and the star's outer atmosphere, called the corona. Studying these phenomena requires getting incredibly close to the sun; the spacecraft primarily gathers data while within about 23 million miles (37 million kilometers) of our star.

Onboard are four science experiments: Fields Experiment, which studies electric and magnetic fields; Integrated Science Investigation of the Sun, which measures high-energy charged particles in the solar wind and corona; Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe, which images the solar wind and other structures; and Solar Wind Electrons Alphas and Protons Investigation, which measures different types of particles in the solar wind.

Data gathered by a Parker Solar Probe instrument, the Wide-Field Imager for Solar Probe, in November 2018, during the spacecraft's first solar flyby.

(Image credit: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe)

And now, you too can pore through data gathered by those instruments during the first two flybys: Oct. 31-Nov. 12, 2018, and March 30-April 19, 2019. During the second flyby, mission engineers were able to increase the amount of data the spacecraft sent home, thanks to better data-return rates than expected. There is no central hub for the data, but NASA has provided a list of websites to explore.

According to the same NASA statement, the first full-fledged science results from the mission should be published later this year.

Parker Solar Probe has also already made its third flyby of the sun; the spacecraft's next closest approach is on Jan. 29, 2020.

Email Meghan Bartels at mbartels@space.com or follow her @meghanbartels. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

Need more space? Subscribe to our sister title "All About Space" Magazine for the latest amazing news from the final frontier!

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The 1st Sun Details from NASA's Parker Solar Probe Are Out. And They're Hot! - Space.com

FRAMINGHAM A major symposium titled Sustainable Space, Sustainable Earth: From Ideas to Action, will be held at Framingham State University on Friday, Dec. 6, and feature an interdisciplinary group of scholars from Harvard University, MIT, Boston College, the U.S. Naval War College, Framingham State University and more.

The symposium is the concluding event for the 18-month Moon Landing in Context series organized by FSUs Christa McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning to celebrate the 50th Anniversary of the Moon Landing.

Whether you are concerned about Earths sustainability or you are galvanized by the prospective technological and economic advancements from space exploration, you should care about space sustainability, said Dr. Irene Porro, director of the Moon Landing in Context project. We define space sustainability as the secure, sustainable, and peaceful use of space for the benefit of planet earth and all its people. During this symposium, some of the top experts in their fields will consider how we can maximize the effectiveness of using space for addressing global challenges.

The keynote speaker is Dr. Danielle Wood, from MITs Media Lab and the Space Enabled Research Group. She will give a presentation titled The Role of Space Technology to Support Sustainable Development.

Other presentations include a talk by Dr. Alissa Haddaji from Harvard University on How to Protect the Earth from an Asteroid Impact, an Introduction to Planetary Defense, and a talk from Dr. David Burbach from the U.S. Navy War College on seeking a sustainable space politics.

At the end of the Moon Landing in Contexts 18-month exploration of the historical, social, cultural, political, and policy contexts of the Apollo era, this one-day symposium brings together a multidisciplinary group of renowned scholars to illustrate the urgency to focus on space sustainability, said. Porro.

The symposium will run from 8:30 to 4 p.m. and include breakfast and lunch. Registration is required and there is a $25 fee for those who are not members of the FSU community.

Registration is open at: https://space_sustainability.eventbrite.com.

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Symposium at Framingham State To Explore the Intersection Between Space Exploration and Earth Sustainability - framinghamsource.com

November 14, 2019

Contacts:Todd Cannon, Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AlabamaMichael Tullier, APR, Tuskegee University Office of Communications, Public Relations and Marketing

For the first time in its history, Tuskegee University is the recipient of the Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award from NASAs Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The award was presented for exemplary research support the university has provided NASA in partnership with the Huntsville-based Jacobs Space Exploration Group.

I was my pleasure to nominate Tuskegee University for the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center Subcontractor of the Year Award, said Randy Lycans, Jacobs vice president and program manager. Tuskegee has performed extremely well in support of Jacobs on our Engineering Services and Science Capability Augmentation contract. During the course of our partnership, several students have spent the spring and summer terms with us under our intern program providing valuable technical contributions to the Space Launch System program.

The Jacobs-Tuskegee relationship began in 2009 when Jacobs established a Mentor Protg Agreement with the university to provide Jacobs with professional engineering subcontracting support. The Engineering Services and Science Capability Augmentation contract, awarded by NASA in August 2017, has included design, analysis, development and testing services and skills across a broad spectrum of engineering and science disciplines. These have supported the Marshall Engineering Directorate as well as other current and future programs and projects across the center. The partnership has also benefited NASA activities and other projects for which Marshall has responsibility, including support to the Department of Defense, and other government, commercial or educational activities.

According to Dr. Heshmat Aglan, dean of the College of Engineering, Tuskegees team comprises nine full-time employees including one Tuskegee graduate who formerly interned for Jacobs. Students periodically rotate through the research team as part of their semester-long internships.

Tuskegees College of Engineering provides key support to the Jacobs Space Exploration Group and NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Aglan explained. Our teams strengths and contributions lie in the areas of software development and testing support, propulsion design and fluid dynamics, contamination control, polymers and composites, and systems engineering for the proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway space station.

In addition, these partnerships have included hosting NASA-related outreach events such as hosting the agencys Historically Black College and University/Minority-Serving Institution Technology Infusion Road Tour in April 2019, and participating in the Manufacturing and Fabrication Joint Counseling Initiative Meeting in June 2019.

The award was among those presented by the center during its Industry and Advocate Awards for fiscal year 2019 part of the Marshall Small Business Alliance meeting Sept. 19 at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center. Tuskegees selection places it in contention for the Agency Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award, which will be announced at a later date by NASAs Office of Small Business Programs.

The Small Business Subcontractor of the Year Award is the second award stemming from Tuskegees ongoing research relationship with Jacobs. In March 2019, Jacobs awarded Tuskegee one of its 2018 Supplier Excellence Awards, which it presents to its partners for outstanding support and dedication to excellence in service.

These award winners represent the best of our supplier team, and we could not perform our mission of providing superior engineering and science support to MSFC without them, Lycans said at the time of the awards presentation.

2019, Tuskegee University

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Tuskegee among recent NASA Marshall Space Flight Center research award winners - Tuskegee University

WASHINGTON NASAs inspector general warned in a new report that, because of commercial crew delays, utilization of the International Space Station will drop sharply in 2020 and that NASA runs the risk of losing access entirely by next fall.

The Nov. 14 report by the Office of Inspector General (OIG) concluded that, because of continuing delays by both Boeing and SpaceX, neither company is likely to be certified by NASA for regular flights to the station before the summer of 2020.

Official commercial crew program (CCP) schedules reviewed by the OIG state that SpaceX will have its final certification review for its Crew Dragon spacecraft in January 2020, while that review for Boeings CST-100 Starliner is scheduled for February. Those reviews, though, would take place only after the successfully completion of both companies crewed test flights, which are unlikely to take place before then.

The reviews also require the closure of hundreds of specific items on each spacecraft, leading the report to conclude that final vehicle certification for both contractors will likely be delayed at least until summer 2020 based on the number of ISS and CCP certification requirements that remain to be verified and validated.

The top issues for both companies vehicles, the report stated, involved launch abort systems and parachutes. Boeing has completed qualification of its parachutes but still has to complete three of six reliability tests for the system. SpaceX has started qualification of the new Mark 3 parachutes for Crew Dragon, including 13 successful tests in a row after two initial failures.

Both companies have experienced problems with parachutes as well. An April 2019 parachute test failure by SpaceX contributed to at least a 3-month delay in SpaceXs crewed test flight, the report stated, while failures of two main parachutes on a cargo Dragon spacecraft in August 2018 required additional work to improve load balancing on the planned crewed parachute system. One of three parachutes on Boeings Starliner failed to open during the Nov. 4 pad abort test, although the company said days later it identified the cause of the anomaly and inspected other parachutes.

Boeing and SpaceX suffered delays because of problems with launch abort systems on their spacecraft. The Starliner issue, discovered during ground testing in June 2018, led to a one-year delay in the pad abort test. SpaceX performed Nov. 13 a static-fire test of its launch escape thrusters, nearly seven months after a similar test resulted in an explosion that destroyed another Crew Dragon spacecraft.

Those delays will adversely affect NASAs use of the ISS starting next spring, when the stations crew drops from six to three, including just one NASA astronaut, Chris Cassidy. That would sharply reduce the ability of NASA and its non-Russian partners to carry out work on whats formally known as the U.S. On-Orbit Segment, or USOS, part of the station.

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, the OIG report concluded. With three USOS astronauts, the report stated, each can carry out an average of 11.67 hours of research per week per person. A single astronaut, though, would have time for only 5.5 hours of research a week. Such a reduction may hinder NASAs ability to address astronaut health risks and develop capabilities needed for deep space exploration missions.

Moreover, NASA has yet to secure any Soyuz seats after the end of Cassidys mission in October 2020. Ken Bowersox, NASAs acting associate administrator for human exploration and operations, confirmed in a response to the report included in the final document that NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine formally requested two additional seats, one on a Soyuz in the fall of 2020 and the second on a Soyuz in the spring of 2021, in an Oct. 24 letter to the Russian state space corporation Roscosmos, which has yet to act on the request.

Other steps to mitigate commercial crew delays include plans to extend Boeings crewed flight test to a long-duration ISS mission. Bowersox confirmed in the letter that the agency is also considering extending SpaceXs crewed test flight, Demo-2.

The OIG report highlighted another issue for buying any additional Soyuz seats: that NASAs waiver to sanctions against Russia under the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act, or INKSNA, expires at the end of 2020. The report recommended that waiver be extended and that NASA consider prepaying Soyuz seats in full prior to the waivers current expiration at the end of 2020.

Bowersox responded that NASA was seeking an INKSNA waiver extension, but that prepayment of Soyuz seats was determined not to be in the best interest of the U.S. Government. The Senate version of a NASA authorization bill, approved by the Senate Commerce Committee Nov. 13, would extend NASAs INKSNA waiver through the end of 2030.

Bowersox also used the response to criticize what he considered to be an overly negative assessment of the state of the commercial crew program and the ISS. The OIG, he wrote, has described a worst-case scenario that does not reflect NASAs consistent efforts during the life of the program to mitigate those risks. The scenario presented in the report assumes that CCP systems will be significantly delayed and that NASA will not take any future action to mitigate the impacts on the ISS of that delay.

He cited as examples of that previous steps the agency took on five separate occasions to deal with commercial crew delays, steps that won the approval of the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel at a meeting earlier this year. That includes, he said, ongoing discussions with Roscosmos about acquiring additional Soyuz seats. While these discussions have not concluded yet, NASA believes that the Agency will be able to support continuous U.S. crew on the ISS and that most if not all of the impacts cited in the OIG report will either be avoided altogether or will only be temporary.

Vice President Mike Pence, speaking Nov. 14 at NASAs Ames Research Center, offered his own optimistic assessment of the commercial crew program. Before spring arrives next year, were going to send American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, back into space, he said. Were going to have our own platforms to take us back, and we dont need to hitch a ride with the Russians any more.

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Inspector general report says NASA risks losing access to the ISS in 2020 - SpaceNews

Missouri S&Ts Mars Rover Design Team will host a week filled with guest speakers, observatory viewings and a movie screening this November.

Space Week 2019 is a week of programs designed to educate the public and Missouri S&T campus about the wonders of space exploration. A series of events will be held Monday, Nov. 18 through Saturday, Nov. 23. All events are free and open to the public.

Space Week events include:

Dr. Marco Cavagli, Missouri S&T professor of physics, will review his research into gravitational waves and their importance at 5 p.m. Monday, Nov. 18, in Room 103 Engineering Management Building at S&T.

Dr. Philip Knocke, former NASA Jet Propulsion Lab scientist, will reflect on his time at NASA as an approach, entry and descent engineer at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19, in Room 103 Engineering Management Building.

Dr. John Story, Missouri S&T associate professor of physics, will discuss stellar clusters deep in the galactic neighborhood at 5 p.m. Wednesday, Nov. 20, in Room 125 Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Building at S&T.

A screening of Interstellar (2014) will take place by the Student Union Board at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in St. Pats Ballroom of the Havener Center at S&T.

The S&T Observatory will host a viewing of the Pegasus Cluster at 8 p.m. Friday, Nov. 22, at the observatory, located at 1550 N. Bishop Ave. (Highway 63), adjacent to the universitys Stonehenge replica.

A Tour of the Planets will be held with hands-on, space-related activities like crafts, science projects and more for elementary school-aged students from 1 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 23, in Room 101 Butler-Carlton Civil Engineering Hall.

For more information about Space Week, visit the Mars Rover Design Teams Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/MissouriMRDT/.

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Missouri S&T to host Space Week events Nov. 18-23 - Missouri S&T News and Research

On Dec. 18, Peanuts' Snoopy will follow in the pawprints of the Russian cosmonaut Laika and venture into space - but go where no beagle has gone before: Mars.

In the original graphic novel (OGN) "Snoopy: A Beagle of Mars," Charles M. Schulz' loveable canine goes on what BOOM! Studios calls "his grandest adventure yet!"

This graphic novel touches on a long association Peanuts - and Snoopy in particular - has had with outer space. The lunar module and command module of the historic 1969 Apollo 10 mission were named after Snoopy and Charlie Brown. That same year, NASA started an annual Silver Snoopy Award given out to employees for "outstanding achievements related to human flight safety or mission success."

Related: In Photos: Snoopy Visits NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory

In 2018, Peanuts Worldwide and NASA re-doubled their partnership with the Space Act Agreement, an effort to inspire space exploration and STEM education among students.

"In 'Snoopy: A Beagle of Mars,' Snoopy, the world-famous astronaut, heads to the stars in his most out-of-this-world adventure yet!" reads BOOM!'s description of the OGN. "What mysteries does the red planet hold? Will he find water? Will he find life?Will he find the time to get in a quick nine holes? Snoopy grabs his golf clubs and blasts off for Mars in this original graphic novel from the world of Charles M. Schulz and Peanuts!"

"Snoopy: A Beagle of Mars" is written by Jason Cooper, with art from Robert Pope and Hannah White. Scroll down for a preview of the upcoming graphic novel.

Snoopy takes the ultimate giant leap for beagle kind: on Mars.

(Image credit: Robert W. Pope/Boom! Studios)

Sometimes that first step can be a doozy.

(Image credit: Robert W. Pope and Hannah White/Boom! Studios)

Snoopy, space travel and NASA have a long history together.

(Image credit: Robert W. Pope and Hannah White/Boom! Studios)

But this is Snoopy's first original graphic novel on Mars!

(Image credit: Robert W. Pope and Hannah White/Boom! Studios)

In reality, NASA has not sent a beagle to Mars.

(Image credit: Robert W. Pope and Hannah White/Boom! Studios)

It looks like Snoopy will have the Red Planet to himself in "Snoopy: A Beagle on Mars" from Boom! Studios.

(Image credit: Robert W. Pope and Hannah White/Boom! Studios)

Originally published onNewsarama.

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Snoopy Boldly Goes to Red Planet in 'A Beagle of Mars' - Space.com

The first manned lunar landing mission, Apollo 11, launched from the Kennedy Space Center on July 16, 1969. A new research collaborative led by Arts & Sciences researchers from Washington University in St. Louis seeks to identify the source of water stored as ice at the lunar poles, and also to help future space explorers to harvest the water for beneficial use. (Photo: NASA)

When humans go back to the Moon and NASA plans to return by 2024 theyre going to need water. For now, the astronauts expect to bring their own. But future space explorers aim to take advantage of water recently discovered in little-explored regions of the Moon.

The water is stored as ice in shadowy parts at the Moons poles. A consortium led by researchers at Washington University in St. Louis will investigate the life cycle of this water and other volatiles on the surface of the Moon. The team is one of NASAs eight new Solar System Exploration Research Virtual Institutes; the five-year cooperative agreement is valued at more than $7 million.

One of the big questions we are looking to shed light on is what are the origins and evolution of water on the Moon, said Jeffrey Gillis-Davis, research associate professor of physics in Arts & Sciences and the principal investigator of the Interdisciplinary Consortium for Evaluating Volatile Origins (ICE Five-O) team.

Studying the interaction between lunar volatiles and the space environment gives our team the opportunity to test hypotheses regarding the delivery and retention of water and other volatiles on bodies in the inner solar system, he said.

Researchers on the ICE Five-O team will investigate fundamental questions at the intersection of space science and human space exploration.

For example, NASA is eyeing the water at the Moons poles with more than just basic science in mind. If humans are able to successfully mine lunar ice, it could be split into its elemental components hydrogen and oxygen and used in fuel for high-energy rockets. Future refueling stations on the Moon could propel explorers to sites all over the inner solar system.

This project represents a great integration of our analytical and experimental laboratories both in the Earth and Planetary Sciences and Physics departments, as well as our experience in lunar science and other planetary research, said Brad Jolliff, the Scott Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences in Arts & Sciences and a co-investigator on the project.

Other Washington University co-investigators include Ryan Ogliore, assistant professor of physics, and Alian Wang, research professor of earth and planetary sciences.

In addition to Washington University, the new consortium includes researchers from the University of Hawaii; California State University San Marcos; San Francisco State University; NASAs Johnson Space Center; the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory; the Lunar & Planetary Institute; University of Winnipeg; York University; and the University of Toronto.

In 2017, NASAs Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter found new evidence of surface water ice in polar regions of the Moon. Scientists suggest three main hypotheses for the origins and evolution of water and other ices now known to be contained in permanently shadowed regions of the Moon.

The water may have been expelled from volcanoes on the Moon billions of years ago. Or the water and other volatiles may have been delivered to the surface of the Moon by comets and water-rich asteroids. Another theory suggests that the water was formed when oxygen-rich minerals on the lunar surface were buffeted by hydrogen ions streaming from the sun.

We want to place some constraints on how the isotopic signatures of volatile sources might be modified as molecules traverse across the lunar surface and find their way into permanently shadowed regions, Gillis-Davis said. We want to be sure that future measurements can conclusively determine the source or sources of volatiles, when ice chemistry is measured on the lunar surface.

To do that, the researchers will also study how the harsh space environment alters the surfaces of airless bodies like the Moon, a process called space weathering.

The ICE Five-O grant includes funding for a new state-of the-art space weathering laboratory. Ions streaming from the sun and high-velocity dust-sized particles release huge amounts of energy that transform minerals into glass and can destroy ices, or lead to a variety of chemical processes for example, transforming molecules of water (H2O) ice and carbon dioxide (CO2) ice to methane ice (CH3). The new space weathering facilities will expand the range of surface conditions that researchers can simulate. These simulations will allow researchers to create conditions like those found at the lunar poles and on other planetary bodies to see how water, ice and rock are altered when they encounter these conditions.

Collaborators are also developing the protocols and techniques for collecting new space samples that are more likely to contain volatile substances. These protocols are not only important for when humans return to the Moon, but also for other space missions such as those to the surfaces of asteroids. The ICE Five-O team includes NASA sample curation specialists, who are developing new techniques to safely transport, preserve and handle these volatile-rich samples.

Revealing the source of the Moons water can in turn inform us about how the Earth got its water, Gillis-Davis said. If we see that the water wasnt sourced entirely from lunar volcanoes that it was delivered later then it would be a strong indicator that Earths oceans formed at least in part by water delivered after Earths formation, rather than during its accretion in the early solar system.

The research led by the ICE Five-O team will help guide critical parts of the planning for future manned missions to the Moon.

ICE Five-O results aim at not only determining the source of lunar water but also enabling an era of sustained exploration, where people live and work on the Moon for extended periods of time, Gillis-Davis said.

Related video: Washington University scientists on how Apollo 11 launched 50 years of lunar science.

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Investigating water ice, space weathering on the Moon - Washington University in St. Louis Newsroom

Once super secretive, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin has been steadily emerging from stealth.

Founded in 2000, the space company has been simultaneously working on various initiatives that together speak to its broader vision: human space flight capabilities that will help establish the infrastructure for humanity to colonize space.

Blue Origin, which has been almost completely funded by Bezos, has been gearing its suborbital New Shepard space tourism service, which will compete against newly public Virgin Galactic as soon as next year.

It's developing its orbital New Glenn rocket, targeting a first flight in 2021, that it hopes will win national security launch contracts, including the Air Force's already-contested Launch Service Procurement.

The company also recently submitted its bid for NASA's lunar lander competition, partnering with well-established space heavyweights Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper, and spearheading the effort as the team's prime contractor.

Blue Origin is also busy developing its rocket engines, which will power not only New Glenn but United Launch Alliance's next-generation Vulcan Centaur.

That engine business represents one of the first revenue streams for the company, and a key reason it's been investing $200 million to build its 200,000-square-foot engine factory in Huntsville, Alabama, and strike a deal with NASA's nearby Marshall Space Flight Center to refurbish a historic test stand.

CNBC's Morgan Brennan recently sat down with Bob Smith, chief executive of Blue Origin, to discuss everything the space upstart has underway. The following Q&A is a lightly edited version of the interview, which occurred in front of Blue Origin's lunar lander prototype Blue Moon, as it was on display at the International Astronautical Congress in Washington, D.C.

Morgan Brennan: I think the first place we need to start is what we're sitting in front of, and why it's so crucial to the future of Blue Origin.

Bob Smith: Well, this is Blue Moon, our cargo lander that we've been working on for several years that we developed for the purposes of sustained lunar exploration and resource exploitation. We're excited about the fact that now we have NASA saying we're going back to the moon with their Artemis program. And we're able to actually offer a variant of this as part of a national team ... where we're going to partner up with Lockheed Martin, with Northrop Grumman and Draper to actually produce an integrated landing system that allows us to go back to the moon this time to stay.

Brennan: This national team that was just unveiled is certainly getting a lot of attention. How long has that been in the works? And what is that going to enable Blue Origin to do in terms of Artemis?

Smith: We're working against really good aggressive schedules, and we're trying to do something that we haven't done in almost 50 years. And so we wanted to reach out to Lockheed Martin, who just landed on Mars multiple times, amazing accomplishments there. We have Northrop Grumman, who's been able to regularly deliver supplies to space station as well as was the first lunar lander provider in the Apollo program, and Draper, who's known internationally as a leader in guidance, navigation and control. This is an incredibly powerful team that allows us to go fast and allows us to actually produce.

Brennan: I think sometimes there's this perception around so-called new space companies versus "old space" companies. To see Blue Origin partnering up with some of these long-established space stalwarts, do you think that's the wrong way to frame the conversation?

Smith: I've always hated that dichotomy, because I think it's putting the wrong kind of dynamics into the discussion. What you have are incredibly accomplished organizations like Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, and you go through the series of things that they've actually done it's absolutely stunning. And they've done it for decades. Everybody should be proud of their accomplishments in this space humanity. You also have companies that, like Blue Origin, have a longer strategic horizon simply because we're privately funded. We actually can stay on a different horizon, a different pace than necessarily those that are publicly traded and have some of those pressures that we don't have. So we can marry the capabilities together and actually do much better together.

Brennan: One of the reasons we're sitting down to have this discussion is because of Huntsville. The BE-7 engine [employed in Blue Moon] is being tested in Huntsville, also the lunar lander program in general is expected to take place out of Marshall. Why has it made sense for Blue Origin to make investments there?

Smith: Huntsville is known as the Rocket City, and it's deserving. That's where much of the U.S. rocket capability actually came from. You go back to the '50s and '60s, that's where it all started. It has this great receptacle of talent there that you can tap into, and it's been decades in building. We wanted to go to where the talent is. And you get great support from the government everyone from Gov. Ivey to Sen. Shelby all the way down to Mayor Battle have been great supporters of actually developing the space economy there. We're going to produce a world-class factory there 40 engines a year, which is a remarkable number of engines for spacecraft, as well as then testing on a historic site there. They have a large test and on 4670 that tested the Saturn V, as well as the shuttle engines. We're going to make that engine stand roar to life again.

Brennan: When do you get to 40 engines a year?

Smith: We're going to be there when we are at-rate and flying, so in '22 and '23. We are opening the factory there this coming first quarter.

Brennan: Have you been able to easily tap into the labor pool? What is it about the area that makes it so special?

Smith: Well, the people down there are absolutely well-schooled in this entire area. You don't have to do a lot of training from the standpoint of what is a rocket engine ... so there's a certain intuitive sense that's there in the employment base itself.

Brennan: Blue Moon, if it wins this NASA contract will it be built there as well?

Smith: BE-7 engine [the engine for Blue Moon] is one that we're figuring out where we will get that production. We're certainly doing the testing there today.

Brennan: In terms of the BE-4 engines: you're building them for your own orbital rocket, New Glenn, but also building them for ULA. How do you think about that breakdown in terms of production? And how big of a revenue opportunity is it to supply another company?

Smith: Customers always make you better so we're really excited that United Launch Alliance selected us. I mean, they are the premier national security launch provider today. We're going to learn a lot from them, and so it's a great opportunity not only to get really good at building the engines that we need for New Glenn, but also be a great supplier for them. And it actually does make us a much more self-sustaining business, which is where we're heading at Blue Origin. So that's one of our first big contracts, as well as the other satellite operator contracts that we started to sign as well as the United Air Force Launch Services Agreement contract that we have as well for New Glenn. So we're starting to get some progress.

Brennan: I am going to ask you the same question that I asked the CEO of ULA and that is, this relationship between Blue Origin and ULA: frenemies?

Smith: I think that the aerospace industry has always been about who do you compete with on one day, who do you partner with on another day. It's always had this environment in which and one day you can be competing hard against them and in other spaces you're not. Boeing and Lockheed are great customers of us potentially for launching. We're always going to have that dynamic and our relationship is really good, and they continue to challenge us to be a better supplier to them, which we welcome.

Brennan: Over the next couple of years, where do you see the biggest opportunities in terms of customers for New Glenn

Smith: We're already seeing some good take up from the market. Three of the top 6 satellite operators have already signed on New Glenn. United States Air Force obviously gave us one of the three large awards. We hope to extend our relationship with the Air Force in the coming years. I think those two areas are often very, very baseload for us. But we can also think about the intelligence community as well some of the larger payloads are very well suited for our larger vehicle, as well as some of these large constellations that are being proposed and going to be launched. ... So those could be very, very big opportunities for us as well.

Brennan: You've come out in recent weeks and suggested that the Air Force could think outside of the box a little more in terms of launch service procurement, and how they're going about facilitating future rockets.

Smith: This is a dialogue that I'm encouraging us to have, which is we've lost the sight of what is the simple problem. There's only one hard problem and that's getting to orbit. Once you get to orbit, we can do a lot of things. If you go back in the '60s and '70s, we had a lot of rockets, we had a lot of capability. But we've now narrowed that down, and now we think that the market continues to ask for more. If you look at what the market is today, about 25% is really around NASA and security launches. Seventy-five percent of it is commercial. That's the addressable market for U.S. providers. Our view is, that if you're going to select for national security capabilities, you want to get something that is commercially viable, because you want to take that large fixed cost and spread it off as many customers as you can. You shouldn't go buy a bespoke system unless you absolutely need one. And what the data shows is that there's a commercial market there that's viable, support a lot of different providers and that way you can get the competitiveness, the pricing and other things that you want from a good supplier.

Brennan: Is the U.S. doing enough to secure space?

Smith: I think that space control, space exploration, space commercialization is all been something that we started to talk about more today. I think we're getting a much better understanding of how important space is every day, whether it's GPS that's guiding your Uber, or what you're doing from a credit card processing from trades on the stock market that are actually timed using space assets. All of those are integral to our economy. And so if we're not conscious about what that commercialization of space means to our economy every day to everybody in the United States is around the world as well as what we need to go to protect those assets, and now what is it been tested environment now that we have near peers that actually threatening those space assets this becomes even more important that we have a robust set of launch vehicles.

Brennan: There are quite a number of satellite constellations, thousands of satellites, being proposed by different companies for broadband service, communications. Do they all become viable business models? And if so what does that mean in terms of launch possibilities?

Smith: The launch possibilities are large. How many of those their business plans actually convert? I don't have enough details as to whether they're going to convert. And I think they, as we talked to more of them, they all have different timing and different approaches of how they're going to go to market. But I think the fundamentals here are very sound and the fundamentals behind their premise is that the need for data worldwide continues to just escalate. I don't know how much of that will be carried on terrestrial networks and how much will be done in space. What I do know is that data demand is high. The fastest way of getting data around the world is going through free space is actually going to space and in low earth orbit, and where you don't have much lag in terms of the amount of time that it takes.

Brennan: Blue's sister company, Amazon, has actually proposed Project Kuiper as well a satellite constellation. Got some more details on that via FCC filings recently. Will Blue Origin rockets take those satellites to orbit?

Smith: We hope to. Amazon's a publicly traded company, we continue to go and engage them along with all the other Leo constellation providers and anybody else. We're a merchant launch service provider and we hope to win their business.

Brennan: Is there a lot of talk between, or work or collaboration between the two companies?

Smith: It's a publicly traded company. If we got into that kind of situation, it would not be good. We collaborate in the same way that we collaborate with any satellite operator.

Brennan: And just in terms of Amazon, publicly traded. Would there ever be a scenario in which or a timeline in which Blue Origin would become public as well?

Smith: The only reason why you ever become public is that you actually need to go get funding. I don't think that's a problem for us, honestly. So I mean, you kind of trade some control for getting funding. Our path is really to become self-sustaining business by ourselves so that we don't have to rely on private funding.

Brennan: So would Blue Origin ever open itself up to investors or VC round, for example?

Smith: We might, I don't know how long we can see out there. But unless we can't become a self-sustaining business, or we need some other infusion of cash, I don't know why we would.

Brennan: I want to get an update on New Shepherd. Certainly, it's being watched very closely. First crewed flights expected next year?

Smith: We were planning on this year; unfortunately, it's very unlikely we're going to get in this year. We need a few more flights to make sure that we're all comfortable with the verification. We hold ourselves to very, very high standards here, we're never going to fly until we're absolutely ready. I think we have a very, very good amount of confidence around the system itself, I think it is working very, very well. But we have to go look at all the analysis, and then convince ourselves that we're ready to go. ... So it probably will be next year.

Brennan: Tickets in the hundreds of thousands of dollars is that the right range, at least initially?

Smith: Any technology that starts off starts off at a high price point so we're going to start at a high price point and go down from there, but it will be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the initial tickets.

Brennan: Lastly, long-term vision for Blue Origin five years, 10 years, 20 years, where do you expect the company to be

Smith: Well, I think the things that first ground everybody on is what we're doing today, which is pretty ambitious and terrific. I mean, we're going to be flying people in space on the suborbital tourism vehicle on New Shepherd. We're going to be building a very, very large New Glenn vehicle that is going to really shake up I think the market in terms of its overall capabilities. We have our own engine production and what we were just talking about in Huntsville, this large, modern facility there. And we're going to the moon, that's going to keep us busy. I mean, that's going to keep us busy quite a bit. And as we actually go develop all these capabilities, we will become a more self-sustaining business, which is also part of where we need to be so. So yes, so that's where I think we're going to be.

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Blue Origin CEO on rocketry, space tourism and the relationship with Amazon - CNBC

Venus is colloquially referred to as Earths Twin, owing to the similarities it has with our planet. Not surprisingly though, there is a great deal that scientists dont know about Venus. Between the hot and hellish landscape, extremely thick atmosphere, and clouds of sulfuric rain, it is virtually impossible to explore the planets atmosphere and surface. Whats more, Venus slow rotation makes the study of its dark side all the more difficult.

However, these challenges have spawned a number of innovative concepts for exploration. One of these comes from the University of Buffalos Crashworthiness for Aerospace Structures and Hybrids (CRASH) Laboratory, where researchers are designing a unique concept known as the Bio-inspired Ray for Extreme Environments and Zonal Explorations (BREEZE).

The BREEZE is basically a morphing spacecraft that flaps its wings, similar to how a stingray flaps its pectoral fins, in order to maintain lift in Venus atmosphere. The concept is one of 12 revolutionary concepts selected by NASA as part of its Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program which funds innovative projects that are in early-phase development.

In much the same way that a stingray uses its large fins to swim with ease, the BREEZEs design would make efficient use of the high winds in Venus upper atmosphere. The craft would circumnavigate the planet every four to six days and would rely on solar panels to recharge its instruments. This would happen every two to three days while the craft is exploring the side of Venus that is illuminated by the Sun.

The BREEZE would take atmospheric samples, track weather patterns, monitor volcanic activity, and gather other data on Venus environment. Its design would make it especially well-suited for exploring the mysterious dark side of Venus. As Javid Bayandor, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering and the projects lead investigator, explained it:

By taking our cues from nature, specifically sea rays, were looking to maximize flight efficiency. The design will allow for a so-far unattained degree of control for such a spacecraft that would be subject to severe zonal and meridional winds on the planet.

Venus dark side remains something of a mystery to scientists because of the way it experiences such long periods of darkness. This is because Venus rotational period is longer than its orbital period i.e. it takes slightly more than 243 days to rotate once on its axis and 225 days to complete a single orbit of the Sun. As a result, the time it takes for the Sun to return to the same place in the sky (a solar day) works out to 116.75Earthdays.

The key is the unique design of BREEZEs morphing wings, which will use an internal tensioning system to generate thrust, ensure control and stability, and provide additional lift and mechanical compression. All of this allows for buoyancy control, allowing the BREEZE to navigate through Venus atmosphere the same way a stingray navigates through water.

This is especially important since it is only above Venus dense clouds, about 50 km ( mi) above the surface, that temperatures and air pressure are stable enough for an exploration craft to survive. In fact, some scientists have even speculated that it is at these altitudes that life could be found, most likely in the form of extremophile organisms that are capable of living in a hot and acidic environment (aka. thermoacidophilic).

This technology could also enable missions to underwater environments here on Earth and other bodies in the Solar System with dense atmospheres. This is especially true of Titan, Saturns largest moon and the only other body in the Solar System that has a dense nitrogen-rich atmosphere (roughly 1.45 times as thick as Earths). Here too, space agencies are looking for long-term missions to explore the exotic environment.

It is also one of many inspired ideas that have been proposed in recent years for exploring Venus atmosphere. Other concepts like the flying drones being developed by the Boulder-based company Black Swift Technologies (in conjunction with NASA) and the Venus Aerial Mobil Platform (VAMP) that is currently being researched by Northrop Grumman.

The next two decades will be an exciting time for space exploration. Whether its stingray-inspired gliders in the atmosphere of Venus, dragonfly-inspired drones in the skies of Titan, or snake-inspired robots beneath the surface of Mars, there are several proposed missions to explore exotic and mysterious environments. Much of the credit for this will go to designers and engineers who are bringing their outside-the-box thinking to the table.

Further Reading: University of Buffalo

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Stingray Glider to Explore the Cloudtops of Venus - Universe Today