Category Archives: Space Exploration

ASTANA The Kazakh capital hosted the opening of an exhibition titled Space Exploration. Metamorphosis of Time, unveiling bright artworks made by Polish artist Wojciech Fangor and Kazakh artist Mazhit Baitenov, on Sept. 15 in the Kulanshi Art Space gallery. The exhibition will last until Oct. 20.

Guests of the exhibition. Photo credit: Kulanshi Art Space gallerys press service

Fangor, who passed away in October 2015, was a Polish graphic artist, sculptor and a co-creator of the Polish School of Posters. His works were included in shows at the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Stedelijk Museum in Amsterdam, and the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

Baitenov is member of Kazakh Union of Artists, whose paintings are kept in Almaty-based Kasteev State Art Museum, Museum of Karagandy and Pavlodar cities as well as in private collections of Kazakhstan, the United States, Israel, Russia and Germany.

Artworks made by Baitenov. Photo credit: Kulanshi Art Space gallerys press service

In an interview with The Astana Times, Kulanshi Art Gallery curator Leila Makhat told how they came up with the idea to launch this project and what binds two artists.

A few months ago employees of the Polish Embassy in Kazakhstan contacted us Kulanshi Art Center, and we discussed the organization of an exhibition of the famous Polish artist Wojciek Fangor, whose anniversary is celebrated this year. This year is also significant for both countries as they celebrate the 30th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, so we decided to reflect this occasion in our project through art, noted Makhat.

Kulanshi Art Gallery curator Leila Makhat with Chair of the ForteBank Bekzhan Pirmatov. Photo credit: Kulanshi Art Space gallerys press service

According to her, Fangor and Baitenov are artists from different worlds, but, in fact, they talk about the same thing in their art about human and the space around him. It is not so much about physical, but more about philosophical meaning. Their reflections on connection and the inner world of the personality are very similar, Makhat explained.

Baitenovs grandson, Anuarbek Akylbekov, who attended the event with his grandfather and acts as his manager, said in an interview that his grandfather exhibited paintings from different collections some of them have national style and belong to Uly Dala Kupiyasy (Mystery of the Great Steppe) collection, while other art works are made in avant-garde style.

Artworks made by Fangor. Photo credit: Kulanshi Art Space gallerys press service

In Uly Dala Kupiyasy collection, my grandfather used the techniques of Western artists, but added a folk style, because he wanted to show the Kazakh identity. In turn, the abstract works are also made in accordance with the rules of Western style, but some of them have national elements, said Akylbekov.

According to Baitenov, some paintings represent the past of the Kazakh nation and others abstract future, serving as bridges between past and future.

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New Exhibition Unveils Polish and Kazakh Artists Views on Space and Time in Kazakh Capital - Astana Times

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One Year Into their Collaboration, The Teams Plan to Expand Search to Include Greater Volume and Complexity of Life-Indicating Molecules

BOSTON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Zapata Computing, the leading enterprise quantum software company, today announced that it has made significant headway in its mission to get the University of Hull quantum-ready for future space exploration. One year into the collaboration both teams have seen enough progress to extend their plans for expanding the search for indicators of life in deep space.

Together, Zapata and the University of Hull developed new techniques to extrapolate meaningful data from noisy quantum devices and used it to calculate the ro-vibrational spectrum of hydrogen to obtain results that are comparable with the state-of-the-art classical simulations, as well as the experimental results. The results obtained with these new quantum techniques can already be used to detect molecular hydrogen in space.

A big part of the progress is due to the University of Hulls successful migration of Big Compute capabilities from classical to quantum computers. Big Compute is Zapatas term for the market category for heterogeneous and distributed compute resources needed to address enterprise and other technologically advanced organizations most computationally complex problems. It builds on previous technical revolutions like Big Data and AI and leverages a wide spectrum of classical (e.g., GPU, TPU, CPU), high-performance (HPC) and quantum compute resources (e.g., quantum-inspired computers, NISQ devices, fault-tolerant quantum computers).

In practical terms, this means that when more powerful and fault-tolerant quantum computers are available, the team of scientists at the University of Hull will be able to greatly increase the range of their exploration, the complexity and number of molecules that they can search for, and the speed with which they analyze their findings as they search for life beyond planet Earth.

The scale of what we are trying to accomplish today is daunting, said Dr. David Benoit, senior lecturer in Molecular Physics and Astrochemistry at the University of Hull. There are over 16,000 different life-indicating molecules that were searching for in space, but we could increase our search significantly with quantum computers as they become more powerful in the future. And were going to need that power. Were not looking for a needle in a haystack here. That would be easy. This effort is more like looking for a speck of dust in a warehouse through a straw.

Throughout the project, the teams have achieved several new discoveries and scientific breakthroughs. These discoveries led them to expect that the quantum algorithm will scale better than the classical one in the future, making it possible to study larger molecules that would not be possible with a classical computer. Zapata Computing and the University of Hull also documented this research and recently published a paper regarding the findings titled, A pathway to accurate potential energy curves on NISQ devices. The teams will also share the overview of the project and the results of the first year of work at Quantum.Tech London in their presentation on September 20 titled, Using quantum computers to look for alien life in deep space.

The sheer scale of what the University of Hull is trying to accomplish technically is a clear indication that the need for Big Compute capabilities today are critical to prepare for the quantum future ahead, said Christopher Savoie, CEO and co-founder of Zapata Computing. Theres no question that the discovery of life in deep space is difficult, but its a challenge that is perfect for a quantum computer and there are steps that the University of Hull is taking, similar to those many enterprises are taking, to make iterative progress and prep for these more powerful machines as they come online.

For more information about the presentation at Quantum.Tech and Zapata Computing and its work with the University of Hull, please visit http://www.zapatacomputing.com or stop by the Zapata Computing Booth (A3) at Quantum.Tech London.

About Zapata Computing

Zapata Computing, Inc. is the leading enterprise quantum software company. The Companys Orquestra platform supports the research, development, and deployment of quantum-ready applications for enterprises most computationally complex problems. Zapata has pioneered new methods in ML, optimization, and simulation to maximize value from near-term quantum devices, and partners closely with ecosystem hardware providers such as Amazon, D-Wave, Google, Quantinuum, IBM, IonQ and Rigetti. Zapata was founded in 2017 and is headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. For more information, visit http://www.zapatacomputing.com.

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20220920005423/en/

Dan BrennanICR[emailprotected]

Source: Zapata Computing

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Zapata Computing and The University of Hull Get Quantum-Ready For Ongoing Search for Life in Space - StreetInsider.com

Sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy delivered an address at Rice University to inspire Americans to support NASA's mission to the moon. In what became known as his "We Choose the Moon" speech, Kennedy promised to put an American astronaut on the moon before the end of the 1960s. Anonymous/AP hide caption

Sixty years ago, President John F. Kennedy delivered an address at Rice University to inspire Americans to support NASA's mission to the moon. In what became known as his "We Choose the Moon" speech, Kennedy promised to put an American astronaut on the moon before the end of the 1960s.

It's been 60 years since President John F. Kennedy spoke to a crowd of more than 30,000 about America's race to the moon. His "We Choose the Moon" speech became a pivotal moment in the space program, rallying the nation behind a mission that was far from certain.

"We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard," Kennedy told the crowd at Rice University in Houston. The president promised to put a man on the moon before the end of the decade, and seven years later, he delivered, with the Apollo 11 moon landing in 1969.

Space exploration has come a long way since Kennedy kicked America's space program into overdrive.

A NASA rover traversing the surface of Mars. NASA hide caption

A NASA rover traversing the surface of Mars.

One of NASA's most incredible achievements may very well be when it landed a rover on Mars, which took place less than 30 years after a man first touched down on the moon.

Scientists have gone back to Mars more than a handful of times since that first Mars rover landing in 1997, using sophisticated robots to explore the red planet and its potential for supporting life.

NASA astronaut Robert Hines climbed into a Tesla before boarding a SpaceX launch in April 2021. Aubrey Gemignani/AP hide caption

NASA astronaut Robert Hines climbed into a Tesla before boarding a SpaceX launch in April 2021.

When Kennedy announced that the United States was going to put a man on the moon, the then-Soviet Union and the U.S. were the main players in the space race. But now, there are multiple companies focused on space exploration, including Elon Musk's SpaceX.

Musk aims to send a crewed mission to Mars in 2029, 60 years after the moon landing.

He's not the only billionaire looking to leave the planet. Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has Blue Origin, and British business mogul Richard Branson has Virgin Galactic. Earlier this year, Branson's company opened up ticket sales for commercial passenger flights that it says will start in 2022, at a price of $450,000 per reservation.

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured images of some of the oldest galaxies in the universe this summer. NASA, ESA, CSA, and STScI hide caption

NASA's James Webb Space Telescope captured images of some of the oldest galaxies in the universe this summer.

The James Webb Space Telescope relayed images of some of the oldest galaxies in the universe earlier this summer. The $10 billion observatory launched last December on a mission to find the first galaxies that formed after the Big Bang.

But Webb does more than just taking stellar photos. Scientists are using the telescope to study the atmospheres of other planets and to better understand the fundamentals of dark matter.

An illustration of what a base camp on the moon's surface could look like. Astronauts could find themselves living on the moon for up to two months, according to NASA. NASA hide caption

An illustration of what a base camp on the moon's surface could look like. Astronauts could find themselves living on the moon for up to two months, according to NASA.

Fifty years after the last moon landing, NASA announced it's going back. Astronauts will once again touch down on the lunar surface to study rock and ice samples.

The moon missions could serve as a stepping stone to the grand plan of putting a man on Mars by establishing a permanent human presence on the lunar surface through NASA's Artemis program.

The goal is to establish an Artemis Base Camp on the lunar surface, including a rover and lunar cabin, where astronauts may live for as long as two months at a time, according to NASA.

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JFK 'We Choose the Moon' 60th anniversary and U.S. space program advances - NPR

The Moonshot Museum is scheduled to open in Pittsburghs Northside on Saturday 15 October 2022. Focusing exclusively on space exploration, this new museum will afford visitors unprecedented access to real spacecraft and space industry professionals.

Built on a unique partnership with space robotics company Astrobotic, Moonshot Museum is co-located at Astrobotic Technologys headquarters. Here, it will offer a window into the construction of real lunar spacecraft. A groundbreaking living lab focused on space career readiness, Moonshot Museum has a mission centred on inspiring young people to find their place in the future of space exploration.

Sam Moore, the museums founding executive director, spoke to blooloop.

Moore has held programmatic and operational leadership roles at a number of respected museums and cultural nonprofits. This includes the National Aviary, the Senator John Heinz History Center, the Missouri Historical Society, and St. Louiss Campbell House Museum. He is also a past member of the graduate faculty in museum studies at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

Moore serves on the leadership team for the Public Relations & Marketing Professional Network of the American Alliance of Museums (AAM) and is a past member of the Creativity & Experimentation Task Force for the American Association for State and Local History (AASLH) and AAMs National Program Committee.

We are doing something pretty unusual and unique here. Its been a lot of fun to work on, he says: Its been a wild ride and an exciting journey.

Moore has always been fascinated by museums:

They have been the place I have always wanted to go to on vacation since I was eight years old. Im in my thirties, and its still the case. I love storytelling; I love listening to great storytellers. And I love an opportunity to learn about things that I dont encounter in my everyday life or to learn more about the things I do encounter. I feel museums do a terrific job of that.

He has worked in the sector for just over a decade. He says:

I started at a historic house museum in St. Louis, Missouri, where Im from. My background is in history museums, mostly. Although, I worked at the National Aviary most recently, which is a bird zoo rather than a history museum, which was interesting.

Space, science and technology are not in my background. However, one of the exciting things we talk about at Moonshot is the fact there really is a place for everyone in the space industry and in space exploration.

That includes folks like me. People who have a background in the arts and humanities, and who you definitely dont want building a spacecraft or doing the math thats involved, but who can talk about the work. People who can design for the future of space, and write for the future of space. You need people and policymakers in space.

These are some of the stories the Moonshot project will tell, he explains:

My journey has been an interesting mirror of what our mission is at Moonshot Museum, which is to make connections for kids and for our community, regardless of what their interests are and regardless of what their backgrounds are.

Outlining the projects beginnings, he adds:

The museum grew out of a company here in Pittsburgh called Astrobotic. This is a company which builds lunar landers and lunar rovers. It is going to return America to the surface of the Moon for the first time in 50 years this year, when the Peregrine Lander lands.

Over the course of the past three years, Astrobotic has grown from a small company with around 20 employees, to a larger concern with almost 200 employees. In addition, it has secured more than $400 million in NASA and commercial contracts.

With that growth, they needed a bigger building. In deciding where they were going to put that building, they decided on the north side of Pittsburgh, in the Manchester neighbourhood specifically. They also decided to leave about 3000 square feet at the front of the building free for Moonshot Museum.

What Moonshot Museum was, exactly, beyond an opportunity for the community to come in and experience the real-time work of the 21st-century space industry, remained to be seen. And that is where I came into the picture.

Moonshot Museum grew from the notion of giving the local community a front-row seat.

They spun out a non-profit, he explains. I dont actually work for Astrobotic; I work for a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organisation here in Pittsburgh that just happens to be tightly partnered with a space company so tightly that were in the same building. Ive got a wall of windows that look into the space where theyre doing their work.

One question Moore often gets in the context of space and the opportunity that space holds is about the ethics of looking beyond this planet when we have big problems to face here on Earth.

Between climate change, global hunger, resource and habitat preservation, weve got a lot of big issues to solve here. The reality is that space can hold a lot of the answers to those topics. There is no harsher environment that we know of than the surface of the moon. Theres no atmosphere, its covered in razor-sharp dust, theres really intense radiation.

By exploring the moon and by spending more time in zero-G, he contends, we can learn how to grow food in harsh environments:

We can track climate change in a way that is much more effective. The research can provide us with some solutions and next steps on how we can make a change here on Earth. We can also look at space when it comes to the environment and sustainability. The reality is that we have one blue planet to live on. The Moon holds a lot of potential. Mars and the other planets in our solar system hold a lot of potential. But none of them is a replacement for Earth.

We are not going to start society anew on another planet. Weve got this one, and we need to start thinking really seriously about how were treating it.

As an example, he says:

When we look at strip mining the Earth versus strip mining a barren rock that is orbiting the sun and has more metal in it than humanity has ever mined, looking outward, so that we can sustain what remains here on Earth, at this point, is going to be really important for us.

These are the conversations the Moonshot Museum team is having with middle and high school students:

Are we littering on the Moon by sending up a Lander and leaving the Lander there? No; were pushing science forward so that we can have Landers 15, 20, 25 years from now that have the capabilities to go back and forth. Do we want to mar the surface of the Moon? Lets assess what preservation looks like on another planetary body, and weigh that against what preservation on the one planet we have here looks like.

Those have been the types of fun, dense questions that 12 and 13-year-olds have a lot to say about. There isnt a clear answer either way.

Moore is keen to foster such conversations, addressing societal, policy and big-picture issues alongside the engineering and technology conversations.

Touching on the factors that differentiate Moonshot from conventional space museums, he says:

On the one hand, when you visit us, you are also visiting the headquarters of a commercial space company. Were in the same building. We share a lobby and are located in what is, today, the largest commercial lunar logistics campus in the world. That sets us apart, right off the bat.

The other big difference is that a wall of windows within our museum space looks into the clean room assembly area where Astrobotic is building spacecraft. On one side is an active construction zone where Im building a museum. On the other side, it is a highly controlled, clean room environment with people in bunny suits, assembling the Paragon spacecraft. Thats going to be the backdrop for the work we do all the time.

The third that makes us different is that were going to be a lot less artefact-based than Im used to in my background in history museums. In history museums, you see incredible things, you read incredible stories about those things, and you move on to the next case.

At Moonshot Museum, there will be relatively few artefacts on display. Because the museum is predominantly concerned with the present and the future, there arent many items to display, Moore points out, beyond the real-time work happening in the clean room next door:

Our space is going to be very experiential. It will take you on a simulated lunar mission where you encounter real challenges that space industry professionals face every day. You will also encounter career opportunities that exist across the STEAM spectrum of opportunity.

The museum is a comparatively diminutive 3000 square feet in size. He comments:

We are not the largest museum in the world by any means. What we have focused on in designing our space is creating an impactful, meaningful experience. One that leaves you with knowledge you didnt possess before. Whatever your age, it will also offer some tangible next steps you can take to get plugged into whats happening in space exploration here in Pittsburgh, and in the country.

In terms of interactive elements, he explains:

We have a few different stations throughout the museum zones. You will make your way through a lab environment designed to look a lot like the clean room on the other side of the glass. Here, you will assemble a lunar rover and watch them operate, digitally, on the surface of the Moon.

We worked with the engineering team at Astrobotic as well as with some university partners to think through what a good challenge would be. We dont hand a 12-year-old the challenge of building a lunar rover. But we do hand them a challenge that takes them through the critical thinking process and the trade-offs that engineers have to make when they decide how a rover is powered, what tools it has on board, and how it makes its way across the surface of the Moon.

There is also a station where visitors can explore the Moons surface:

When you go on a mission experience inside the museum, youll choose a site for your futuristic settlement. You will have to take all the elements that make the Moon a challenging place to explore into consideration:exposure to radiation, huge temperature swings; the danger of lunar dust; communications issues, if youre on the far side of the moon; access to water; ice: all of these different factors.

Then there is a zone that looks at art and humanities.

You will be challenged to design a mission patch for your mission. We will present you with some examples of really terrific mission patches throughout history, from Apollo to Astrobotics mission patch, to some Artemis mission patches from contemporary space, and say, Look at the symbolism that is packed into this.

Once youve designed your mission patch, there is a projector system that captures that image from your page. It then projects it onto a large wall at the back of the museum.

He adds:

One of my favourite spots is where we fast-forward 50, 60, 70 years into the future, and take you into a futuristic lunar habitat. We invite you to sit on what is essentially a cosmic city council, to answer big questions about the ownership of the Moon. For instance, are we all sharing it? Are we projecting colonialism onto the surface of the Moon? How is this going to work? Middle schoolers have a lot to say about that.

Then there are questions about who makes the rules of the road; and whether we set up democratic systems on the moon for settlements, or if we follow the military model that we have traditionally followed for space exploration, where a commander is appointed. All these questions are largely hypothetical right now. Yet, they will become entirely practical during the lifetimes of the kids who are visiting us at Moonshot Museum. These kids might well become space lawyers or policymakers.

We are going to need policymakers who are familiar with the 21st-century space industry economy. People who can make smart decisions about what comes next.

In this zone, visitors will vote on issues. This will create a lunar charter that consists of the decisions their group has made.

Then, if youre visiting the museum on a weekend, the station works a little bit differently, he says. We will show your votes in the context of the votes of other visitors. So, you can see how the community visiting Moonshot Museum lands, when it comes to these different conversations.

Every visitor to Moonshot Museum has the opportunityto send a little piece of themselves up to the surface of the Moon. This is through an initiative called Hope Moonshot, devised in partnership with Penn State University, Moore explains:

We are going to have a station where you write a message, and draw a picture. We capture a digital image of that message and picture and load it onto an SD card. Then, that SD card hitches a ride on one of the Astrobotic landers up to the surface of the Moon. That data that you have given us is going to live on the surface for a really long time.

The message we are trying to share is, if you can send a little bit of yourself up to the Moon from the north side of Pittsburgh, what cant you do?

About the exhibition design and programming, he says:

What is really exciting about this project for me, as a museum person, is they are one and the same. We have designed an immersive experiential exhibition, primarily fuelled by media and programming, that layers onto the built environment.

The team have been working with partners both in Chicago and Boston to bring the space to life. This includes Luci Creative in Chicago, afull-service experiential design studio. Solomon Group, an award-winningleader inexhibit fabrication, AV systems integration and live event production,provided the AV system design, procurement and integration for the museum. Meanwhile, Richard Lewis Media Group in Boston worked on the media design and Ravenswood Studio was the exhibit fabricator.

The Luci Creative team prototyped and play-tested the experience with over sixty Pittsburgh-area middle school students, building on the insights that came out of this to make the experience more impactful

When it comes to exhibition design, the challenge of a 3000 square foot space is how to create something where people want to come back and see us again and again. Of course, there will be a different spacecraft or a different stage of assembly on a spacecraft each time they visit, which is a changing feature. But what we didnt want to do is build and invest in a space that people come to once a year, and thats enough.

Accordingly, what they have done is to maximise the potential of technology and interactives:

We have built a space thats chock full of nimble and flexible technology. There are interactive pieces that can completely change based on the mission that youre going on, he explains:

If you are a group of middle schoolers coming to us on a field trip, when we first open, youll go on a mission called Lunar Settlers. Your mission objective is to set up the first permanent human settlement on the surface of the Moon. Each challenge you face in those zones I described moves you towards that objective.

However, the vision for this space is for us to build out a catalogue of these mission experiences. So, that when you come next year, you can go on a mission that does not focus on lunar settlement, but on space industry entrepreneurship. Perhaps youre going through the same physical environment, but instead of building a rover, maybe youre building a business model.

Instead of designing a mission patch, maybe youre designing a marketing campaign. Instead of finding a space to settle, maybe youre looking for the landing spot for your companys first lunar lander. Its a whole different lens on lunar exploration and the space industry, in the same physical space. We will be using the screens in the interactive pieces in a fundamentally different way.

This means visitors and teachers will be able to choose from a catalogue of experiences that align with what is being taught in the classroom, and with the next-generation science standards in Pennsylvania, participating in a different experience each time.

I love that I have no idea how were going to be using this space in the future. I know how were using it when we open, and weve got a vision for what comes next. But theres also some creative thinking to be done. We have the flexibility, because of what weve built in this space, and because of the technology weve chosen, to do something wholly different from what were building initially, a few years from now.

The museum will also extend into the digital space:

If theres one thing that weve learned during the pandemic, its that there could very well be an event that happens in the next year, or two, three years, that forces us to pivot our model of public engagement, Moore says.

The reality, too, is that after the pandemic, school districts are not in the same place that they were. So, they dont necessarily have the same funding or access to resources to get out on field trips. When we think about the programming we do at Moonshot Museum, of course, we want people to be in our space. But the reality of what were building is that a lot of it is media based.

Over time, this is something that will be built into digital experiences:

Were already doing a lot of digital outreach programming with schools in our local area. Plus we have also done a lot of summer programme outreach this summer. The vision is to take this model and open it up beyond Pittsburgh. We would love for people to be able to dial in from the UK and jump into an experience here. How exactly we do that remains to be seen.

In terms of how the museum space will evolve over the next years, he adds:

We have built the space to be relevant 5, 6, 7 years from now. Certainly, building our virtual programme portfolio and our digital outreach portfolio goes hand in hand with that.

Moonshot Museum will open to the public on Saturday 15 October. From then, he adds:

From there on, well be open Wednesday through Sundays, five days a week. We also have a relatively low admission price point: $10 for adults and $5 for kids up to age 17. Our hope is that there are not only cool things to see, but there is no financial barrier to visitation for us as well.

Were in the final stretch of installation, and, as with any exhibition project, its all very dusty. Its an exciting point to be in.

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Exploring the future of space exploration at Moonshot Museum - blooloop

WASHINGTON, D.C.(Maria Cantwell PR) Yesterday, U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.), chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, joined U.S. Sens. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.), Cynthia Lummis (R-Wyo.) and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Roger Wicker (R-Miss.) to introduce theOrbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Act, a bipartisan bill to establish a first-of-its-kind demonstration program to reduce the amount of space junk in orbit.

Space junk, or orbital debris, currently poses a threat to human space exploration, scientific research missions, and emerging commercial space services. In March 2021, a large piece of space junk crashed into a farmers property in Grant County, Wash.

There are more than 900,000 pieces of space junk passing over our heads every day, including abandoned Government satellites,said Sen. Cantwell.This bill will jumpstart the technology development needed to remove the most dangerous junk before it knocks out a satellite, crashes into a NASA mission, or falls to the ground and hurts someone. We must continue to explore space, and we have to do it safely.

Our society is reliant on satellites in orbit, yet space junk is a constant, growing threat, said Sen. Hickenlooper, chair of the Commerce Subcommittee on Space and Science.Space debris endangers everything from global communications to advanced weather forecasting to human space exploration.

Space junk is not only dangerous to humans exploring space, it is also a major risk to satellites that people in Wyoming and around the country rely on for basic communication. Im proud to join my colleagues in introducing the ORBITS Act to kickstart the process of removing debris from orbit,said Sen. Lummis, ranking member of the Commerce Subcommittee on Space and Science.

The ORBITS Act would address an important aspect of the complex space debris problem, empowering NASA to partner with the U.S. space industry on active debris removal technology to tackle space junk threats. The United States is the worlds premier spacefaring nation, and I am pleased to join my colleagues in that effort,said Sen. Wicker.

The program will focus on research, development, and demonstration of technologies capable of safely carrying out successful Active Debris Remediation (ADR) missions and jumpstarting a new market for these services. Washington state companies, including Seattle-based satellite servicer Starfish Space,have advocated for the acceleration of space debris removal efforts. Other Washington companies like SpaceX, Amazons Kuiper Systems, and Stoke Space Technologies are also looking for new ways to reduce debris from accumulating in space in the first place or have been threatened by debris. More than 1,300 Washington companies are involved in the aerospace industry.

There are approximately 8,000 metric tons of debris currently in orbit, including at least 900,000 individual pieces of debris that are potentially lethal to satellites. Because of the magnitude of the current debris, simply preventing more debris in the future is not enough.

Full text of the ORBITS Act is availableHERE.

TheOrbital Sustainability (ORBITS) Actcontains the following provisions:

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Cantwell, Hickenlooper, Lummis, Wicker, Introduce Bill to Thin Out the 900000 Pieces of Orbiting Junk That Endanger the Future of Space Exploration ...

NASAs Artemis 1 mission, scheduled to launch on September 27 after two failed launch attempts, will carry Arabidopsis thaliana (Thale cress) seeds into space to help scientists understand the impact of spaceflight beyond the Van Allen radiation belt on amino acids. Space crops grown from such seeds could potentially help supply a proportion of the crews dietary requirements during future long-term crewed missions.

NASA will send seeds with elevated branched-chain amino acids (BCAAs) levels on the Orion spacecraft. These BCAAs are essential nutrients for plants and animals and the experiment will help scientists gain knowledge about how to remedy the negative impact that the space environment on seeds. Human cells can synthesise some amino acids but essential amino acids, like BCAAs, can only be obtained through our diet. BCAAs contribute directly to both plant growth and human nutrition.

NASAs experiment, called Life Beyond Earth: Effect of Space Flight on Seeds with Improved Nutritional Value, will provide knowledge that can help improve practices for plant selection and seed transportation during future deep-space exploration missions.

As seeds sprout, they use their stored nutrient reserves to grow and develop till the seedling can reach sunlight and start producing its own nutrients. Going to space can potentially drain these nutrient reserves. Scientists propose that the seeds with increased BCAA levels will better endure the stress and produce healthy seedlings, making them more appropriate for usage in spaceflight to grow space crops. Arabidopsis thalianaseeds are convenient for this purpose because their small size allows for many specimens to be carried in one container.

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NASA's Artemis 1 will take seeds into space to test, identify 'space crops' - The Indian Express

British director Michael Lachmann (second from right) at the recent launch ceremony of the documentary in Beijing.[Photo provided to China Daily]

From deep sea to deep space, China is at the vanguard of human exploration. From reinventing food production to tackling the infirmities of old age, China is leading the way. Last year, a five-episode documentary, Future Fantastic: China's Science Revolution, highlighting innovative achievements by dozens of top Chinese scientists, was released.

Yet, the storytelling has not finished, as the launch ceremony of Space Time Capsule, the second season of the documentary series, was held on Friday in Beijing.

The three-episode show is helmed by British director Michael Lachmann who specializes in science and history. His 2019 feature documentary Einstein and Hawking: Unlocking the Universe was nominated for an Emmy.

"In the past decade, China has become one of the major contributors to scientific technological progress in the world," Lachmann says, adding that he aims to use the documentary to record the stories of Chinese scientists in their exploration of the unknown.

Lachmann says that he is impressed by their courageous exploration, selfless dedication and hard work in pursuing their dreams, noting that their research into physics, space exploration, new energy and artificial intelligence will profoundly change human society and play an important role in the sustainable development of mankind.

In the second series, the audience will get, for the first time, to peek behind the curtain and get unprecedented and fascinating insights into the world of these scientists and their interstellar ambitions.

According to Lachmann, the second season will collect stories which provide an "incredible" overview of the blueprints of humanity through the exploration of some of the latest scientific and technological advancements in China.

Top Chinese scientists and international experts will present to the audience unique perspectives and a deeper understanding of what these scientific revelations mean for the world.

Lu Cairong, vice-president of China International Communications Group, says that the documentary will present a feast of footage which demonstrates China's scientific and technological innovation and development.

The first season was directed by British science writer and filmmaker Christopher Riley, and was broadcast on international channels including Discovery Channel, Nature and distributed by Films Media Group, reaching over 40 countries and regions worldwide.

According to Wang Xiuquan, deputy director at the Bureau of Science Communication, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the first season interviewed many top Chinese scientists. These included Ouyang Ziyuan, chief scientist for China's lunar exploration project, and Chinese Academy of Sciences academicians Pan Jianwei and Wang Yifang. It gained renown both domestically and internationally.

"I hope more international directors can come to China to record the stories of Chinese scientists, with their unique perspectives and technical methods," Wang Xiuquan says.

The second season of the documentary is set to be broadcast by mainstream media and new media platforms both at home and abroad in 2023.

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Documentary reveals the stories behind the science - Chinadaily.com.cn - China Daily

Since the show has gone on to become one of the most legendary series in theStar Trekfranchise, it's hard to imagine thatDeep Space Ninewas ever considered risky. BeforeDS9,Star Trekhad relied on space exploration as the backdrop for most of its adventures. With the premise ofDeep Space Ninerevolving around a stationary space station, several studio executives and fans thought the series was bound to be a flop. Like its sister series inStar Trek: The Next Generation, it tookDeep Space Ninea couple of years to truly find its footing, but when one flashes forward to the present, legions of Trekkies will proudly proclaimDS9as the finest example ofStar Trekever produced.

In the video linked above, IGN's YouTube channel holds a mini roundtable reunion for threeDeep Space Ninecast members (Nana Visitor, Colm Meaney, and Terry Farrell). The actual roundtable begins around 29 minutes into the video and lasts a little over an hour. Even so, an hour with Nana Visitor at any is enough to send my Bajoran-loving heart into overdrive.

Link:

IGN just released a Deep Space Nine reunion, and it's awesome - Boing Boing

15Sep2022

Recently acquired by II-VI and rebranded, firm also launches micro-pump lasers for broadband optical access networks.

Coherents DARPA contract is for the development of coherent optical transceiver technology for the agencys Space-Based Adaptive Communications Node (Space-BACN) program. The terms and value of the contract were not disclosed.

The aim of Space-BACN is to develop low-cost, high-speed, reconfigurable, laser-based data links that will enable communications between various government and private-sector low-Earth-orbit (LEO) satellite constellations.

Various incompatible and often proprietary optical intersatellite links (OISLs) prevent LEO satellite arrays from readily sharing information, keeping proliferated space from reaching its full potential, says DARPA.

Coherent is specifically tasked with designing and fabricating coherent optical transceivers for a reconfigurable modem compatible with most existing single-wavelength communications protocols and able to readily adapt to work with new waveforms as they are introduced. The goal is to support multiple optical waveforms at total data rates of up to 100 Gbps on a single wavelength, while simultaneously meeting stringent size, weight, power, and cost (SWaP-C) constraints.

Chris Koeppen, Coherents Chief Technology Officer, commented, Advances in digital technology, together with falling launch costs, have made it possible for many groups to launch constellations of compact satellites possessing a multitude of capabilities, enabled by high-speed laser communications. Beyond just defense applications, these satellite arrays offer tremendous potential for low-cost global communications, sensing, imaging, space exploration, and more, he said.

Coherent has also launched its I-Temp micro-pump lasers, which are specified for extended ambient temperature operation in broadband optical access networks.

The company this week stated, growing demand for broadband services is bringing fiber-optic networks closer to subscribers, with environmentally hardened equipment deployed in uncontrolled ambient environments where space is constrained and the availability of power is strictly limited.

The I-Temp micro-pump lasers operate over the extended temperature range of -40 to 85 degrees Celsius, enabling optical amplifiers deployed at the network edge to withstand extreme weather conditions.

Dr. Richard Smart, Senior VP of Coherents ROADM Business Unit, said, The combination of small size, wide operating temperature, and low power consumption makes the I-Temp micro-pump a perfect solution for environmentally hardened optical amplifiers installed, for example, on utility poles. The I-Temp micro-pump leverages differentiated technology at every level of its vertically integrated design, including our GaAs semiconductor laser technology platform.

The I-Temp micro-pumps maintain a steady output power of 400 mW with less than 2 W of power consumption and remain optimally wavelength-locked with a fiber Bragg grating, without the need for an internal cooler. They are available with 80 m PM980 polarization-maintaining fibers and 125 m HI 1060 bend-insensitive single-mode fibers. The firm will be exhibiting the new lasers at ECOC 2022, in Basel, Switzerland, between September 19-21, on booth #1.

Read more:

Newly-merged Coherent wins transceiver deal for DARPA's Space-BACN program - Optics.org

Around the time of Queen Elizabeth's death on Thursday, a rainbow appeared over Buckingham Palace. The Queen was 96 years old.

As the world morns the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, the space community has let their appreciation for the Royal Familys interest in exploration be known.

Space agencies, astronauts and other pioneers around the world remembered and reflected upon the legacy of the 96-year-old monarch upon hearing the news of her passing Thursday.

Buckingham Palace said the queen and the duke of Edinburgh were longstanding supporters of science, technology, engineering and endeavor but their actions during seven decades on the throne put an extra spotlight on the conquests in space.

Queen Elizabeth IIs reign spanned all of human spaceflight, which kicked off in the 1960s and continues to the present day, where entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk and Sir Richard Branson have occasionally dominated the scene.

HOW THE PHRASE THE QUEENS WEATHER CAME TO MEAN FAIR WEATHER

The queen and the duke of Edinburgh first became interconnected with the space race in 1961 while hosting a celebration for the first human ever to achieve spaceflight.

Cameras produced black and white imagery, and photos captured the joy Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin had while visiting Buckingham Palace and touring London.

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Yuri Gagarin, Soviet Cosmonaut, the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth (12th April 1961), visits Britain, Tuesday 11th July 1961. Our picture shows Yuri Gagarin is greeted by large welcoming crowds of people lining the streets of London, waving, cheering and clapping as his motorcade makes the 14 mile route to the Russian Embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens. (Photo by Daily Herald/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

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Major Yuri Gagarin, the Russian cosmonaut, waves to the large crowd outside the Soviet Embassy in Kensington Palace Gardens, London, when leaving to have lunch with the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. It was an informal lunch. (PA Images via Getty Images)

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Yuri Gagarin, Soviet Cosmonaut, the first human to journey into outer space when his Vostok spacecraft completed an orbit of the Earth (12th April 1961), visits Britain, Friday 14th July 1961. Our picture shows Yuri Gagarin waves as he leaves Buckingham Palace after lunch with Queen and Prince Philip. (Photo by Daily Herald/Mirrorpix/Getty Images)

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GAGARIN 1961: A smiling Major Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space, waves a goodbye to the cheering thousands seeing him off as he boards a Russian airliner at London airport to fly home to the Soviet Union after his visit to Great Britain. (PA Images via Getty Images)

It was several years later before the first U.S. astronauts visited the Royal Family, but as Americans tend to do, the event was bigger and bolder than anything the world had seen before.

The entire crew of the Apollo 11 moon mission visited Buckingham Palace, where it was made strikingly clear that there was a new leader in the space race.

Upon hearing news of her passing, the now 92-year-old Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin tweeted a photo of the occasion that took place more than 50 years ago.

"God bless Queen Elizabeth, a gracious leader, lady, and our host on return from the moon. On behalf of the Apollo 11 crew, Godspeed and God bless the Royal Family. Sincere condolences," the post read.

PHOTOS: QUEEN ELIZABETH 11 MOURNERS SPOT RAINBOWS OVER GREAT BRITAIN

Aside from meeting astronauts from afar, the queen made a couple of visits to major NASA facilities in the United States to give leaders her wishes and connect with the crew aboard the International Space Station.

Queen Elizabeth, right, talks to the International Space Station crew along with NASA Astronaut Michael Foale, center, and NASA Administrator Michael Griffin

(NASA)

One of those occasions happened in 2007 when the royal couple toured NASAs Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland and met with leaders of the ISS.

After her historic passing, NASA summed up its relationship with the queen in a statement that read in part, "As we join the planet in marking her passing, we are moved by the curiosity Her Royal Highness showed our explorers over the years."

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Queen Elizabeth II: A staunch supporter of space exploration - Fox Weather