Category Archives: Space Exploration

PETALUMA, Calif. (KRON) NASA launched the SpaceX Crew-5 mission Wednesday sending four astronauts into space destined for the International Space Station.

The missions commander aboard the Dragon Endurance spacecraft is a Petaluma native, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann.

Mann was born in Petaluma, graduated from Rancho Cotate High School in Rohnert Park in 1995, and is the first indigenous woman from NASA to go to space.

NASA wrote Wednesday morning, The Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon Endurance spacecraft roared off of Launch Pad 39A at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida! Nicole Aunapu Mann, Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata, and Anna Kikina have successfully begun their approximate 29-hour journey to theInternational Space Stationon NASAs SpaceX Crew-5 mission.

As commander, Mann is responsible for all phases of flight, from launch to re-entry. With Cassada as its pilot, Crew-5 will dock at the space station on Thursday at approximately 1:57 p.m. PST.

Mann is also a Colonel in the U.S. Marine Corps and served as a test pilot in the F/A-18 Hornet and Super Hornet. She deployed twice aboard aircraft carriers in support of combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Mann earned a Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering with a specialty in Fluid Mechanics from Stanford University in 2001.

After all of her incredible accomplishments and life adventures, Wednesday was Manns first chance to fly into space.

Missions like Crew-5 are proof we are living through agolden era of commercialspace exploration. Its a new era powered by the spirit of partnership, fueled by scientific ingenuity, and inspired by the quest for new discoveries, said NASA Administrator Bill Nelson. During their stay aboard the International Space Station, Crew-5 will conduct more than 200 science experiments and technology demonstrations, including studies on printing human organs in space and better understanding heart disease. While oureyes are focused upward on the heavens, let us never forget these missions will also better life here on Earth.

During Dragons flight, SpaceX will monitor a series of automatic spacecraft maneuvers from its mission control center in Hawthorne, Calif.

Crew-5 will spend several months aboard the space station conducting newscientific researchin areas, such as cardiovascular health, bioprinting, and fluid behavior in microgravity to prepare for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit andto benefit life on Earth.

The International Space Station continues to serve a critical role in helping NASA and our partners understand and maximize the unique attributes of the microgravity environment, said Kathryn Lueders, associate administrator for NASAs Space Operations Mission Directorate.

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Petaluma native and NASA astronaut launches into space - KRON4

One taste of space was not enough for Winter Park couple Sharon and Marc Hagle, so they are headed back on a future launch of Blue Origins New Shepard rocket. This time, though, theyre handing out tickets to come see the spectacle.

Its a great opportunity to have a second chance, a second peek at space, Sharon Hagel said.

But, she added, she is just as enthusiastic to work with the local nonprofit she founded in 2015 SpaceKids Global to arrange for eight children to come out to watch the launch up close and personal.

Because Blue Origin allows each space traveler to bring along eight guests to watch their tourist rocket launches from its West Texas launch complex, and both Sharon and Marc are flying, that means eight kids and eight adults can come out to whats called Astronaut Village for the event.

The Hagles and guests will stay at the 165,000-acre site in Airstream trailers for what she likened to a space-age ranch.

Its Texas, so you wear your cowboy boots, she said, but also highlighted things like the flight simulator on site that could show those not flying what the roughly 11-minute rides to space are like.

When that ride will happen, though, is up in the air.

New Shepard is currently grounded while the Federal Aviation Administration completes an investigation after the last launch of the rocket on Sept. 12 ended up triggering the capsules emergency abort sequence that ended up destroying the booster. The capsule, which didnt have people in it, landed safely in the desert near the launch site.

That booster and capsule, though, are not the one Blue Origin has used for any of its six human flights, the first of which took place in summer 2021 taking Bezos up to about 62 miles high. That is past the Karman line, the internationally recognized altitude for someone having gone into space. Passengers get to see the curvature of the Earth and the blackness of space while also experiencing a few minutes of weightlessness.

It changes you, Sharon said. Youve got me tearing up again just thinking about it.

Its unclear when the FAA will complete its investigation paving the way for Blue Origin to restart its tourist flights. It previously grounded competitor Virgin Galactic for about a month during an investigation into its last flight with human passengers.

The Winter Park couple became the first married couple on a commercial space flight and even shared a kiss in space during what was Blue Origins fourth crewed flight on March 31. Marc is president and CEO of Winter Park-based commercial property company Tricor International Corp.

To date, the capsule has taken up 31 people, including one repeat customer already, and before the recent grounding had plans to get up to six tourism launches a year. Prices for a ride on the New Shepard flights have not been revealed by the company.

Sharon said she is excited to get back up into space, and this time shell be more prepared to take in what she called a hectic, albeit life-changing, experience.

I hope to get more perspective, she said, but really wants to share the excitement with the younger generation, the driving purpose behind SpaceKids Global.

She spent time with a group of younger potential future space travelers at an event Wednesday at the Winter Park Library.

Kids react as Sharon Hagle, Blue Origin astronaut, speaks to children at the Winter Park Library on Wednesday, October 5, 2022. Hagle was speaking to the kids about SpaceKids Global program that will give kids the opportunity to get a front row seat to Sharons next adventure to space. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

The nonprofit has already run an essay contest with winners getting to fly on the Zero-G airplane flights that allow passengers to experience weightlessness during extreme parabolic maneuvers, something Sharon and Marc have done several times to prepare for their space travels.

The new contest is geared toward children in elementary and middle school, the target of SpaceKids Global to get young people excited about whats know as STEAM+ careers, as in science, technology, engineering, art, mathematics and environment.

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Sharon said that among the astronauts shes talked to, many have said they got their first interest in space from their first-grade teacher.

Its important to get kids excited especially about space exploration and technology because theyre the next generation of space travelers and more than likely they will be living on the moon and Mars, she said.

Sharon Hagle, Blue Origin astronaut, speaks to children at the Winter Park Library on Wednesday, October 5, 2022. She is holding her "spacedog" named Saba. Hagle was speaking to the kids about SpaceKids Global program that will give kids the opportunity to get a front row seat to Sharons next adventure to space. (Stephen M. Dowell/Orlando Sentinel)

While SpaceKids Global is based in Florida, the eight winners will pull from across North America including one position going to someone from a military family and another through the First Responders Foundation. A link at the website http://www.spacekids.global prompts those interested to email the nonprofit for more information.

While she and her husband have the wherewithal to afford to among the first space travelers amid the likes of Blue Origin, she hopes that more people will get a chance to experience what shes seen.

Its a first step, she said, noting the Blue Origins capsule she rode it is also named the RSS First Step. Itll be interesting to see what the future brings.

Follow Orlando Sentinel space coverage at Facebook.com/goforlaunchsentinel.

Editors note: An earlier version misstated the number of people Blue Origin has flown to space.

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Winter Park's Hagles are headed back to space, this time inviting kids to watch - Orlando Sentinel

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras and US Consulate will host a three-day international conclave titled 'Space Technology' from October 15-18, officials said.

The conclave, to be organised on IIT-Madras campus, will attract participation from national and international space agencies, government bodies and the private sector with a focus on Indo-Pacific countries, they said. ''This conclave will bring together major stakeholders in the space technology sector to explore ways to optimise business opportunities and collaboration across the Indo-Pacific region,'' said Satyanarayanan Chakravarthy, coordinator of IIT-Madras' National Centre for Combustion Research and Development.

''Eminent expert participants will also analyse challenges, risks, and opportunities for entrepreneurs investing in these sectors.'' As an outcome of the conclave, the organisers aim to establish 'Association of Space Entrepreneurs in the Indo-Pacific', a networking and lobbying platform focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in the space sector. Stakeholders will recommend a future roadmap to promote international aerospace business and scientific space collaborations.

''The United States and India cooperate on a wide range of diplomatic and security issues and space is an important element of our relationship that draws linkages between our two nations in the field of scientific exploration, emerging technologies and commercial partnerships,'' said Judith Ravin, the US Consul General in Chennai. ''Going one step further, this conclave demonstrates the potential for expanding these ties across a network of Indo-Pacific countries poised for increased multilateral collaboration in the field of space exploration.'' More than 80 experts invited from 15 Indo-Pacific countries, including India, United States, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Korea, Germany, Malaysia, Philippines, and Indonesia, among others, are expected to take part in the conclave.

Government space agencies participating include the Indian Space Research Organisation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, and the Australian Space Agency.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

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IIT Madras, US consulate in Chennai to organise three-day international space technology conclave - Devdiscourse

People have been exploring the surface of Mars for over 50 years. According to the United Nations Office for Outer Space Affairs, nations have sent 18 human-made objects to Mars over 14 separate missions. Many of these missions are still ongoing, but over the decades of Martian exploration, humankind has left behind many pieces of debris on the planets surface.

I am a postdoctoral research fellow who studies ways to track Mars and Moon rovers. In mid-August 2022, NASA confirmed that the Mars rover Perseverance had spotted a piece of trash jettisoned during its landing, this time a tangled mess of netting. This is not the first time scientists have found trash on Mars.

Debris on Mars comes from three main sources: discarded hardware, inactive spacecraft, and crashed spacecraft.

Every mission to the Martian surface requires a module that protects the spacecraft. This module includes a heat shield for when the craft passes through the planets atmosphere and a parachute and landing hardware so that it can land softly.

The craft discards pieces of the module as it descends, and these pieces can land in different locations on the planets surface there may be a lower heat shield in one place and a parachute in another. When this debris crashes to the ground, it can break into smaller pieces, as happened during the Perseverance rover landing in 2021. These small pieces can then get blown around because of Martian winds.

A lot of small, windblown trash has been found over the years like the netting material found recently. Earlier in the year, on June 13, Perseverance rover spotted a large, shiny thermal blanket wedged in some rocks 1.25 miles from where the rover landed. Both Curiosity in 2012 and Opportunity in 2005 also came across debris from their landing vehicles.

READ MORE: NASA says its plan to bring Mars samples back to Earth is safe, but some people are worried

The nine inactive spacecraft on the surface of Mars make up the next type of debris. These craft are the Mars 3 lander, Mars 6 lander, Viking 1 lander, Viking 2 lander, the Sojourner rover, the formerly lost Beagle 2 lander, the Phoenix lander, the Spirit rover, and the most recently deceased spacecraft, the Opportunity rover. Mostly intact, these might be better considered historical relics than trash.

Wear and tear take their toll on everything on the Martian surface. Some parts of Curiositys aluminum wheels have broken off and are presumably scattered along the rovers track. Some of the litter is purposeful, with Perseverance having dropped a drill bit onto the surface in July 2021, allowing it to swap in a new, pristine bit so that it could keep collecting samples.

Crashed spacecraft and their pieces are another significant source of trash. At least two spacecraft have crashed, and an additional four have lost contact before or just after landing. Safely descending to the planets surface is the hardest part of any Mars landing mission and it doesnt always end well.

When you add up the mass of all spacecraft that have ever been sent to Mars, you get about 22,000 pounds. Subtract the weight of the currently operational craft on the surface 6,306 pounds (2,860 kilograms) and you are left with 15,694 pounds of human debris on Mars.

Today, the main concern scientists have about trash on Mars is the risk it poses to current and future missions. The Perseverance teams are documenting all debris they find and checking to see if any of it could contaminate the samples the rover is collecting. NASA engineers have also considered whether Perseverance could get tangled in debris from the landing but have concluded the risk is low.

The real reason debris on Mars is important is because of its place in history. The spacecraft and their pieces are the early milestones for human planetary exploration.

This article is republished from The Conversation.

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Mars is littered with 15,694 pounds of human trash from 50 years of robotic exploration - The Philadelphia Inquirer

DateMission successCountry/organizationMission nameRef(s)12 April 1981First Reusable crewed orbital spacecraft. USA (NASA)STS-11 March 1982First Venus soil samples and sound recording of another world. USSRVenera 1319 August 1982First mixed gender crew aboard space station, and first woman, Svetlana Savitskaya, on space station. USSRSalyut 725 January 1983First Infrared orbital observatory. USA (NASA) UK (SERC) Netherlands (NIVR)IRAS13 June 1983First spacecraft beyond the orbit of Neptune (first spacecraft to pass beyond all Solar System planets). USA (NASA)Pioneer 107 February 1984First untethered spacewalk, Bruce McCandless II. USA (NASA)STS-41-B25 July 1984First spacewalk by woman, Svetlana Savitskaya. USSRSalyut 711 June 1985First balloon deployed on another planet (Venus). USSRVega 124 January 1986First Uranus flyby (closest approach 81,500 kilometers (44,000nmi)). USA (NASA)Voyager 228 January 1986First major American space loss, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster, an explosion soon after liftoff which killed, among others, Christa McAuliffe, a high school teacher. USA (NASA)STS-51-L19 February 1986First consistently inhabited long-term research space station. USSRMir4 March 1986First flyby of a comet (Halley's Comet, 8,889 kilometers). USSRVega 1 & Vega 213 March 1986First close up observations of a comet (Halley's Comet, 596 kilometers). ESAGiottoJuly 1988First suspected detection of an exoplanet Gamma Cephei Ab, although the discovery was retracted in 1994, and not confirmed until 2002.

Team of astronomers, led by Bruce Campbell, Gordon Walker, and Stephenson Yang; existence announced by Anthony Lawton & P. Wright in 1989

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Timeline of space exploration - Wikipedia

Humans have always looked up into the night sky and dreamed about space.

In the latter half of the 20th century, rockets were developed that were powerful enough to overcome the force of gravity to reach orbital velocities, paving the way for space exploration to become a reality.

In the 1930s and 1940s, Nazi Germany saw the possibilities of using long-distance rockets as weapons. Late in World War II, London was attacked by 200-mile-range V-2 missiles, which arched 60 miles high over the English Channel at more than 3,500 miles per hour. After World War II, the United States and the Soviet Union created their own missile programs.

On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviets launched the first artificial satellite, Sputnik 1, into space. Four years later on April 12, 1961, Russian Lt. Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth in Vostok 1. His flight lasted 108 minutes, and Gagarin reached an altitude of 327 kilometers (about 202 miles).

The first U.S. satellite, Explorer 1, went into orbit on Jan. 31, 1958. In 1961, Alan Shepard became the first American to fly into space. On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenns historic flight made him the first American to orbit Earth.

Landing on the moon: Apollo 12 launches for second moon landing Nov. 14, 1969.

Landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to Earth within a decade was a national goal set by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. On July 20, 1969, astronaut Neil Armstrong took one giant leap for mankind as he stepped onto the moon. Six Apollo missions were made to explore the moon between 1969 and 1972.

During the 1960s, unmanned spacecraft photographed and probed the moon before astronauts ever landed. By the early 1970s, orbiting communications and navigation satellites were in everyday use, and the Mariner spacecraft was orbiting and mapping the surface of Mars. By the end of the decade, the Voyager spacecraft had sent back detailed images of Jupiter and Saturn, their rings, and their moons.

Skylab, Americas first space station, was a human-spaceflight highlight of the 1970s, as was the Apollo Soyuz Test Project, the worlds first internationally crewed (American and Russian) space mission.

In the 1980s, satellite communications expanded to carry television programs, and people were able to pick up the satellite signals on their home dish antennas. Satellites discovered an ozone hole over Antarctica, pinpointed forest fires, and gave us photographs of the nuclear power plant disaster at Chernobyl in 1986. Astronomical satellites found new stars and gave us a new view of the center of our galaxy.

In April 1981, the launch of the space shuttle Columbia ushered in a period of reliance on the reusable shuttle for most civilian and military space missions. Twenty-four successful shuttle launches fulfilled many scientific and military requirements until Jan. 28,1986, when just 73 seconds after liftoff, the space shuttle Challenger exploded. The crew of seven was killed, including Christa McAuliffe, a teacher from New Hampshire who would have been the first civilian in space.

The Space Shuttle was the first reusable spacecraft to carry people into orbit; launch, recover, and repair satellites; conduct cutting-edge research; and help build the International Space Station.

The Columbia disaster was the second shuttle tragedy. On Feb. 1, 2003, the shuttle broke apart while reentering the Earths atmosphere, killing all seven crew members. The disaster occurred over Texas, and only minutes before it was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center. An investigation determined the catastrophe was caused by a piece of foam insulation that broke off the shuttles propellant tank and damaged the edge of the shuttles left wing. It was the second loss of a shuttle in 113 shuttle flights. After each of the disasters, space shuttle flight operations were suspended for more than two years.

Discovery was the first of the three active space shuttles to be retired, completing its final mission on March 9, 2011; Endeavour did so on June 1. The final shuttle mission was completed with the landing of Atlantis on July 21, 2011, closing the 30-year space shuttle program.

The Gulf War proved the value of satellites in modern conflicts. During this war, allied forces were able to use their control of the high ground of space to achieve a decisive advantage. Satellites were used to provide information on enemy troop formations and movements, early warning of enemy missile attacks, and precise navigation in the featureless desert terrain. The advantages of satellites allowed the coalition forces to quickly bring the war to a conclusion, saving many lives.

Space systems continue to become more and more integral to homeland defense, weather surveillance, communication, navigation, imaging, and remote sensing for chemicals, fires, and other disasters.

The International Space Station is a research laboratory in low Earth orbit. With many different partners contributing to its design and construction, this high-flying laboratory has become a symbol of cooperation in space exploration, with former competitors now working together.

The station has been continuously occupied since the arrival of Expedition 1 in November of 2000. The station is serviced by a variety of visiting spacecraft: the Russian Soyuz and Progress; the American Dragon and Cygnus; the Japanese H-II Transfer Vehicle; and formerly the Space Shuttle and the European Automated Transfer Vehicle. It has been visited by astronauts, cosmonauts, and space tourists from 17 different nations.

Space launch systems have been designed to reduce costs and improve dependability, safety, and reliability. Most U.S. military and scientific satellites are launched into orbit by a family of expendable launch vehicles designed for a variety of missions. Other nations have their own launch systems, and there is strong competition in the commercial launch market to develop the next generation of launch systems.

Modern space exploration is reaching areas once only dreamed about. Mars is focal point of modern space exploration, and manned Mars exploration is a long-term goal of the

United States. NASA is on a journey to Mars, with a goal of sending humans to the Red Planet in the 2030s.

NASA and its partners have sent orbiters, landers, and rovers, increasing our knowledge about the planet. The Curiosity Rover has gathered radiation data to protect astronauts, and the MARS 2020 Rover will study the availability of oxygen and other Martian resources.

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A Brief History of Space Exploration | The Aerospace Corporation

SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket carrying Crew Dragon spacecraft Endurance launches the Crew-5 mission for NASA from Florida on Oct. 5, 2022.

Joel Kowsky | NASA

CNBC's Investing in Space newsletter offers aview into the business of space exploration and privatization, delivered straight to your inbox. CNBC's Michael Sheetz reports and curates the latest news, investor updates and exclusive interviews on the most important companies reaching new heights.Sign up to receive future editions.

In an increasingly tight labor market, the space sector is hiring. (Don't get too excited, the jobs are still Earth-bound.)

There are nearly 8,400 openings at "infrastructure" space companies, the likes of which build and operate rockets and spacecraft, according to venture firm Space Capital and its Space Talent database.

A lot of the new hires, according to Justus Kilian, partner at Space Capital, come from the tech sector, which has seen hiring freezes and job cuts as companies brace for economic downturn.

"You actually see talent floating around, because their skills are so transferable. They're going to each of these different industries, job after job, and just following each other working on the biggest, most exciting, most complicated problems," Kilian said.

Last week, Astra announced the appointment of new CFO Axel Martinez, with the company's current finance chief Kelyn Brannon transitioning out of the role later this year. Both Martinez and Brannon come from tech backgrounds.

But Kilian says the space sector often falls short in the competitive talent pool on vision and compensation. Space companies are often led by technical people "fixated on the technical problem" and lacking the ability to inspire, he said. And salary levels at big tech, robotics, autonomous vehicles, motorsports and telecommunications are hard to match.

"You're not competing with Google on salary you just can't," Kilian said. "You've got to be inspiring people around the thing they're building and why it matters."

There are regulatory hurdles in the U.S. space sector, too. International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, essentially mean only American citizens, or foreigners with a green card, can access items on the U.S. Munitions List. That list mostly includes defense-related equipment and software, but widely covers rocket and spacecraft technologies, too.

While difficult to measure precisely how many jobs are ITAR-restricted, Kilian used SpaceX as a proxy and found that, of 977 roles listed by the company, 348 mentioned ITAR in the description or about 36%.

"Our best talent is foreign talent. Tech eats that up; aerospace loses because it can't recruit," Kilian said.

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Investing in Space: Houston, we have job openings - CNBC

The Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum reopens Friday, Oct. 14, with eight new and renovated galleries in the west wing of its building in Washington, D.C. The planetarium and museum store will also reopen, along with the new Mars Caf. The east wing of the museum will remain closed while it is renovated. Free timed-entry passes are required to visit the west wing and can be reserved on the museums website.

We are thrilled to finally unveil the first part of the newly renovated museum, said Chris Browne, the John and Adrienne Mars Director of the museum. Visitors will have a more modern and engaging experience, visiting favorite icons as well as many new artifacts never before seen at the museum in D.C. We hope each visitor will see themselves in these exhibitions and that young people will be inspired by all that is possible in aviation and space exploration.

Exhibitions Opening Oct. 14:

The exhibitions will use creative and dynamic techniques to engage visitors while they are at the museum and after they leave. Instead of simply presenting information to visitors, the exhibitions will provide ways of engaging people through nearly 100 interactive and digital experiences. Some highlights include a tour of the solar system to learn what it would be like to walk on another world through an immersive, interactive experience in the Kenneth C. Griffin Exploring the Planets Gallery, and in One World Connected, visitors can look through a mockup of the cupola from the International Space Station (ISS) to experience the kind of view astronauts on the ISS have of the Earth. A variety of techniques and tools have also been implemented in the new galleries to make the interactives accessible to visitors with vision, hearing and mobility disabilities.

The renovated museum will feature hundreds of new artifacts to the building such as the WR-3 air racer built by Neal Loving, the first African American certified to race airplanes; a T-38 flown by Jackie Cochran, the first woman to break the sound barrier; and Sean Tuckers custom-built aerobatic biplane, the Aviation Specialties Unlimited Challenger III. Also displayed for the first time is the full-sized X-Wing Starfighter that appeared in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, on loan from Lucasfilm, and a pair of prosthetic ear tips made for Leonard Nimoy to portray Mr. Spock in the original Star Trek series.

Visitors will see favorite artifacts presented in new settings. In the same gallery as the Apollo 11 command module, Alan Shepards Mercury spacesuit and the capsule he flew, Mercury Freedom 7, will be on display in Washington for the first time since 2015. The original 1903 Wright Flyer will be in a dynamic new environment that better tells the story of the invention of flying and its implication on world history.

The planetarium will offer significant upgrades to its technological capabilities and include new screencast abilities that will allow connection with planetariums around the country and vastly expand the museums reach.

The Mars Caf, a new offering to the museum, will have coffee and a full espresso bar, as well as seasonally inspired sandwiches, salads and pastries. The caf will be located on the lower level of the museum and open daily from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The museum has been undergoing a seven-year renovation that began in 2018 and includes redesigning all 23 exhibitions and presentation spaces, complete refacing of the exterior cladding, replacement of outdated mechanical systems and other repairs and improvements. The entire project is expected to be complete in 2025. Visit the museums website for more information on the renovation.

The National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C., is located at Sixth Street and Independence Avenue S.W. and will be open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. The museums Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center is located in Chantilly, Virginia, near Washington Dulles International Airport. The Udvar-Hazy Center is open daily from 10 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). Admission is free, but there is a $15 fee for parking at the Udvar-Hazy Center.

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SI-303-2022

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National Air and Space Museum Reopens With Eight New Galleries Oct. 14 - Smithsonian Institution

Two Brunswick aerospace companies announced Wednesday they have agreed on a contract that will send five Maine-made rockets carrying human and pet ashes into suborbital space to be distributed among the northern lights.

Memorial services, priced at $750, will be the first of multiple offerings Northern Lights Space Exploration LP will provide its customers through its partnership with rocket company bluShift Aerospace, according to a press release. Through Driftspace, a software produced by the Portland-based Yarn Corporation, customers will be able to attend the memorial services in virtual reality.

The contract is worth up to a total of $7 million for five suborbital flights, each of which will carry up to 10 kilograms (22 pounds) of cremated human or animal remains.

Northern Lights Space Exploration is a subsidiary of Shackleton Research Trust, an agency that works to improve equity in science in traditionally marginalized areas like the Caribbean, Africa and Southeast Asia, according to managing partner Charlton Shackleton. He said bluShifts eco-friendly rockets, which can be easily shipped anywhere in the world, are a perfect fit for developing nations and islands without existing space infrastructure.

Before, (the space industry) didnt care about the environment we needed to get that thing up there, so that was the focus, Shackleton said. We care about both. Thats what really sold me on a bluShift product versus other launch companies that are trying to do the same thing.

BluShift, which will power its 50- and 78-foot-tall rockets with a bio-derived, nontoxic solid fuel, has long planned to partner with companies that rely on satellites in a polar orbit, meaning a path that runs north to south over the poles, according to founder and CEO Sascha Deri. He told the Forecaster in March that the market to launch those satellites, which are often used in broadband communications and global imaging, is worth $20 billion.

Though he didnt initially expect his company would be involved in space memorial services, Deri said Northern Lights Space Explorations model provided an exciting opportunity for both bluShift and Maines budding aerospace industry.

Its really neat to see that theres something completely unexpected a whole different way to commercialize space launch that isnt just around R&D and technology development that we can take advantage of as a space launch company, Deri said. I think it really shows how much how much nascent entrepreneurialism and curiosity in general, interest in space, we have in Maine.

Terry Shehata, director of the Maine Space Grant Consortium, agreed the partnership between the two Brunswick companies represents a step forward for Maines space industry, which he said has garnered attention nationwide since the establishment of the Maine Space Corp this spring.

Youre seeing the initial steps of whats happening to create this new space economy in Maine, Shehata said. What youve witnessed today with this arrangement agreement between bluShift and Northern Lights is just a sign that a lot more things are coming down the pike.

He said the upcoming formation of the Maine Space Complex, as well as the success of startups like bluShift, could contribute to a domino effect that will bring the state a wide array of jobs in fields like engineering, electrical work and data analytics, as well as opportunities for entrepreneurs with novel ideas like Shackleton.

While bluShift announced in June plans to build its launch site in Steuben, Northern Lights is still finalizing its own launch location, Shackleton said. The companies hope to launch their first cargo by the end of 2023.

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Brunswick aerospace companies team up to launch cremated human remains into space - Kennebec Journal and Morning Sentinel

Danny Olivas

John Daniel Danny Olivas, former NASA astronaut and current member of the NASA Advisory Council, has joined the staff of the Visual Intelligence and Multimedia Analytics Laboratory (VIMAL) of USCs Information Sciences Institute (ISI) as Co-Director for AI Initiatives in Space.

Olivas brings considerable experience to VIMAL, ISI and USC. A veteran of space shuttle missions in 2007 and 2009, he is the recipient of two NASA Space Flight Medals and the NASA Exceptional Service and Exceptional Achievement Medals. Olivas completed five space walks totaling over 34 hours outside of the International Space Station. His expertise in space is rivaled only by his passion for it, and he brings both to his new role.

Olivas said, I am excited about the opportunity to help expand USCs footprint in space, for researchers and students alike.

VIMAL which is led by Wael AbdAlmageed, research director at ISI and research associate professor of electrical and computer engineering has a noble and straight-forward mission: to empower students to use artificial intelligence to make the world a better place, one day at a time. With Olivas on the team, VIMAL is now able to look beyond Earth to do this.

Olivas and AbdAlmageed met in July 2022, when they were both invited to Renaissance Weekend, a prestigious, non-partisan, invite-only retreat for innovative thinkers across disciplines held this year in Banff,Canada. They quickly realized they had a lot in common. AbdAlmageed said, Danny [Olivas] and I come from very similar mindsets and backgrounds. We believe in working hard on hard problems, without giving up, for a long period of time. We believe that is enough to make things happen.

Interested in each others area of expertise, the two discussed how to harness their collective grit and work together. A month later, Olivas visited ISI for the day to learn about VIMAL and ISI, and present his thoughts on opportunities for AI in space.

Olivas astronaut background and exposure to space provides a valuable new perspective on new areas for data analysis. Since the beginning of the [NASA] program, NASA has produced more data than has been analyzed, he noted. He added that this data is ripe for analysis through artificial intelligence and machine learning.

One application is climate, which AbdAlmageed called an area of growth for VIMAL.

NASA has instruments that can see things like water vapor in the upper atmosphere, Olivas said. All these kinds of things can not only be analyzed in their individual silos of monitoring, but you can now start to integrate data across the different instruments to build a much more robust picture of how climate changes are affecting a certain region.

Ozone and CO2 in the atmosphere, temperature trends across the planet, drought prediction, sea level detection, deforestation, planet population changes these are just some of the areas where NASA has useful historical data, according to Olivas.

This data has been available by NASA for many, many years, he added, and (they) provide an opportunity to take pieces of this information and start to integrate them together and allow computational technologies to take over where human beings have had to digest this information in the past, to try to make sense of it.

As NASA prepares for a future in which humans will travel to Mars, new and exciting AI applications will emerge. There are some specific robotic applications that are very unique to NASAs space program, Olivas said. For example, a robot that can check the mood of an astronaut based on their facial expressions or voice intonations something that will be increasingly important for mental health as missions extend from months to years with Mars exploration.

Exploration rovers are another area where Olivas sees room for more AI, again, with Mars as the example: It takes about twenty minutes to be able to send a command from Earth to Mars. By the time you get the photograph that your rover is marching over a cliff, its probably the wrong time to send the command to stop moving. So you want to have more intelligence being built on the platform to allow the rover to make decisions for itself.

Climate data, robots and rovers these are areas Olivas might take VIMAL in the future. However, the first problem Olivas and AbdAlmageed plan on tackling is trash, specifically orbital debris.

NASA defines orbital debris as any non-functional human-made object in orbit around the Earth. Think: spacecraft, satellites, rockets or what youd get if any of those collided or exploded. Debris ranges in size from sub-microns all the way to several meters from a paint chip to a school bus with hundreds of thousands of estimated pieces orbiting Earth.

The trouble comes from the fact that this debris travels at orbital velocities that are dangerous to NASAs missions picture that paint chip or school bus traveling at 16,000 mph! Olivas said, its that hyper-velocity impact that causes all sorts of problems, not only with the space station or human spacecraft, but also with satellite technology. It is a serious threat to astronauts, spacecraft and space exploration in general.

The VIMAL team will be looking at ways to use their sensing, computer vision and AI expertise to identify pieces of debris and track them for long periods of time as they orbit Earth.

Olivas extends a strong legacy of innovation in space exploration at USC. He joins fellow former NASA astronauts Paul Ronney and Garrett Reisman, who also serve as faculty at USC Viterbi, which is one of a core group of top schools with a distinct astronautical program. This wont be the first time Olivas and Reisman have worked together, they were classmates in the NASA astronaut program.

To date, school researchers have created innovations in spacecraft propulsion, space science, space environment, space communications, satellites and materials. Astronaut Neil Armstrong was a USC Viterbi alumnus, and the school has a dedicated Space Engineering Research Center at ISI.

USC Viterbi maintains strong connections with pioneering space organizations and alumni who design and build rockets and space launchers, communications and direct broadcasting satellites, navigational systems, crewed space vehicles and planetary probes.

At the end of the day, space is a human endeavor, said Olivas, who pointed out that part of being an astronaut involves looking out for one another. He seemed impressed by this aspect of the work done by VIMAL.

One thing that Ive come to appreciate at VIMAL is the inclusive nature of the collaborations; it is really inspirational, he said.

AbdAlmageed has very intentionally fostered the collaborative environment of VIMAL. Im proud that weve created a culture in the lab where everybody feels a sense of ownership and partnership. He continued, I couldnt have done something like hire Danny [Olivas] without the significant contributions of everyone in VIMAL who do the work day in and day out. This was a team effort. I am also very grateful to Dr. Craig Knoblock, ISI Executive Director, for supporting our ambitious initiatives and pursuits.

Olivas certainly seems excited to join the team, I look forward to sharing, learning and seeing where those opportunities might be with VIMAL, concluded the astronaut.

Published on October 3rd, 2022

Last updated on October 3rd, 2022

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