Category Archives: Space Exploration

SpaceX, Elon Musk's space exploration company, and Mike Sievert, the CEO of T-Mobile Us Inc TMUS, have plans to improve communication, SpaceX said earlier today.

A live broadcast will take place on Thursday at 7 p.m. CST. While we don't know much about the announcement, the Tesla Inc TSLA CEO is hyping it on Twitter Inc. TWTR

One major advantage SpaceX's satellite internet constellation, Starlink, has over T-Mobile is that it is not reliant on any ground-based infrastructure. This makes it possible for Starlink to offer internet connectivity in disaster-affected areas.

Read more:Ukraine Says Elon Musk's Starlink Providing 'Crucial Support,' Serving 150,000 Users Per Day

Musk demonstrated this in March by deploying thousands of Starlink units in Ukraine soon after the Russian incursion to reestablish internet connectivity in the conflict's hardest-hit areas. The SpaceX and T-Mobile agreement may improve service in underserved rural areas of the U.S.

If the deal does involve some kind of space-based internet offering, it wouldnt be the first. AST SpaceMobile Inc ASTS is a space-based cellular broadband network accessible by standard smartphones. SpaceMobile provides connectivity at 4G/5G speeds everywhere on the planet.

The live stream link to the broadcastcan be found here.

Photo:Supamotionvia Shutterstock

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Space Cell Phones? Elon Musk's SpaceX Is Teaming With A Wireless Carrier On Earth - Benzinga

The agreement marks the first step in the companies mission to expand robotics capabilities beyond Earth

Hyundai and its sister company Kia have partnered to develop mobility solutions for lunar exploration; building on Koreas national space program and seeking to progress the nations space exploration industry.

The agreement has been heralded as a seminal moment in the automotive companies mission to expand their reach beyond Earth.

We have taken the first step towards transforming our vision for robotics and the concept of Metamobility into reality, said Yong Wha Kim, executive vice president of Hyundai Motor and Kia. We will expand the scope of human movement experience beyond traditional means of transport and beyond the bounds of Earth to further contribute to the progress of humankind and help create a better future.

The news also follows Koreas successful launch in June of a domestically designed and produced rocket, developed to launch a satellite and indicating the nations growing aerospace ambitions.

For the space mobility initiative, the automotive companies formed a consortium with six Korean research institutes to research and develop not only the mobility system itself but also technologies to send the vehicle to the moon and remotely operate it once its in place.

While these participating bodies will contribute their engineering and space expertise, Kia and Hyundai will provide their smart mobility technologies; combined to create not only space mobility solutions but also exploration equipment, remote communication tools and software for mobility operation.

Hyundai Motor announced its robotics vision of Metamobilty in January, envisioned to help fulfill unlimited mobility by expanding robotics and AI solutions to space and using robotics as a medium between real and virtual worlds. Hyundai is also set to introduce a new Mobility of Things (MoT) concept, whereby robotics will grant typically inanimate object mobility using plug-and-play platforms.

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Hyundai and Kia Take on Space Exploration IoT World Today - IoT World Today

Excitement is building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida as NASA prepares to launch an unmanned spacecraft called Orion on a 42-day mission that will take the United States a step closer to once more landing on the moon.

A series of launches under the banner Artemis are planned, beginning with Artemis I, scheduled for Aug. 29 at 8:33 a.m. ET. Based on hotel and airline reservations, observation ticket sales and other factors, the prediction is that well over 100,000 people will watch in person nearby from specially designated parking lots to areas designed for the purpose in and atop area hotels, among other locations.

If the launch is delayed by weather or for technical reasons, the next possible launch would be Sept. 2 or Sept. 5. Beyond that, there are several opportunities before the end of the year.

Artemis II will duplicate Artemis Is journey, but with astronauts. The actual moon landing by two astronauts is expected with Artemis III in late 2025, NASA officials said in a press briefing Wednesday that was carried on NASAs Twitter page. They said that the launch of the unmanned spacecraft is a test flight that will stress Orion more than could be done with a crew on board, since the spacecraft has not been flown before.

They described a lean-forward strategy that will allow risks they would not be willing to take with a manned flight, including with the go/no-go decision on the actual launch. We are trying to buy down risk. Were willing to take more risks than we would on later test flights, an official said.

The mission is slated to last six weeks to allow for all kinds of maneuvers as the rocket orbits the moon to perform tests.

According to the Kennedy Space Center, Artemis I is the first test of NASAs deep space exploration systems, with theOrion spacecraftlaunching atop the massiveSpace Launch Systemrocket. This mission is the first in a series of missions to demonstrate NASAs ability to extend human existence to the Moon and beyond.

The spacecraft, Orion, takes its name from the largest constellation in the night sky, according to NASA.

Rollout of the 32-story-tall Space Launch System rocket and its Orion crew capsule marks a key milestone in U.S. plans for renewed lunar exploration after years of setbacks, and the publics first glimpse of a space vehicle more than a decade in development, Reuters reported of launch pad tests in March.

The SLS-Orion, which cost some $37 billion to develop including ground systems, constitutes the backbone of the NASAs Artemis program, aimed at returning astronauts to the moon and establishing a long-term lunar colony as a precursor to eventual human exploration of Mars, the article said.

According to USA Today, NASAs moon-focused Space Launch System rocketstands 322 feet tall and promises to be the biggest, most powerful rocket to launch from Floridas Space Coast in years bringing with ita level of excitement to match.

Recent SpaceX Crew Dragon launches that take astronauts to the International Space Station from the space center have drawn as many as a quarter-million visitors, PeterCranis,executive director of theSpace Coast Office of Tourism, told USA Today.

I think the crewed launchesand these Artemis launchesare going to be of equal interest to people, Cranis said. I would expect certainly over 100,000, if not more, coming for that.

We are expecting capacity crowds at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for the upcoming Artemis launch, saidTherrin Protze, the visitor complexs chief operating officer, according to Florida Today. (The visitor complex)will offer special Artemis launch viewing packages that will include some of the closest public viewing opportunities with distinctive experiences like live commentary from space experts and access to select exhibits and attractions.

The article said area hotels are offering spaced-themed deals and some are sold out while others are selling out fast.

Meanwhile, the space center is selling viewing packages online that provide access to special locations in designated parking lots 8 miles from the launch pad. The tickets are $99 a person. You will see the launch as soon as the rocket clears the tree line, according to the ticket page.

Theyre reportedly selling fast.

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NASA: When does Artemis I launch? Will Artemis I go to the moon? - Deseret News

The stars have not been aligned for Europe's first Martian rover ExoMars, but scientists still think the aging vehicle can play a big role in answering one of the biggest questions in Mars exploration: has there ever been life on the Red Planet?

The European Space Agency's (ESA) ExoMars Rosalind Franklin Rover is probably the most high-profile space industry casualty of Russia's war in Ukraine. Originally expected to launch in 2018, the rover was finally declared ready to go (after several delays) for a launch in September this year atop Russia's Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. But Russia's invasion of Ukraine put a stop to these plans.

ESA officially terminated cooperation on the ExoMars mission with Russia in July, leaving the rover, conceived in 2004, once again in limbo, and more importantly, without a landing platform to place it on the surface of Mars. (That landing platform was built by Russia, who joined the ExoMars program in 2012 following the withdrawal of the original partner, NASA, in 2012.)

ESA has yet to decide on the mission's fate. Having spent $1.3 billion on the program already, it will have to choose between scrapping the rover altogether or forking out another substantial sum to replace the Russian bits.

Related: A brief history of Mars missions

In the case of the latter option, the most optimistic estimates see the ExoMars rover leaving Earth in 2028. For many European scientists, scrapping the mission should not be an option at all, and not just because of the investment. Even though NASA's Perseverance has been smashing its sample collection targets, and plans for a mission that would bring those samples to Earth are already underway, there is a lot the aging ExoMars rover can contribute to our understanding of Mars, they say. And some of those questions, in fact, cannot be answered by the stellar Perseverance.

"[The rover's instruments] are going to get a bit old," John Bridges, a professor of planetary science at Leicester University in the U.K., told Space.com. "But as long as the maintenance can be done, it doesn't actually bother me too much that we're not using the most cutting-edge technology. Even if we're going by bicycle rather than by the newest car, it doesn't really matter, as long as we get there."

The biggest strength, and scientific promise, of the Rosalind Franklin ExoMars rover is its 6.6-foot (2 meters) drill, which, according to some astrobiologists, may have a higher chance of finding traces of past or present Martian life on Mars than the agile Perseverance.

"The rock pieces that Perseverance collects are from the immediate surface [of Mars]," Susanne Schwenzer, an astrobiologist at Open University in the U.K., who is also an interdisciplinary scientist on the ExoMars mission and a member of the science teams of NASA's Curiosity and the Mars Sample Return missions, told Space.com. "And this immediate surface is bombarded by galactic cosmic rays, and the UV rays [from the sun], which destroy organic materials."

Unlike Earth, Mars has no protective magnetic field and a very thin atmosphere, so there is nothing to filter this sterilizing radiation, some of which can penetrate several meters deep into the Martian rocks.

"[The effects of the radiation] diminish exponentially, so the first centimeters [inches] are the worst hit," Schwenzer said.

That doesn't mean that Perseverance cannot find traces of life, just that detecting the organic molecules in the burnt surface layers might require a more challenging scientific analysis, Schwenzer added.

"The advantage of the return samples is that we will have them in our labs over here," Schwenzer said. "If we find something that we can't answer with the instruments that we have, we can wait for the right technology to be developed. It took until the late 1990s to find water in the Apollo samples because they didn't have the right instrumentation at that time."

The deep excavations that the ExoMars rover was built for can, in fact, help scientists understand Perseverance's rocks and the alteration they underwent due to the bombardment by radiation.

"[The ExoMars rover] will help us understand how the organics degrade with depth or do not degrade and are preserved at deeper layers," Schwenzer said.

Bridges agrees with Schwenzer. But there are other reasons why continuing with ExoMars should be the only option on the table, he thinks. A generation of European scientists has tied their careers with the mission, which may have always been a bit of a moonshot for Europe, ever since its inception in 2004.

"When we started ExoMars in 2004, it was way off the capabilities [of ESA and the European space industry] to do it," Bridges said. "So we got the Americans in to land it and when the Americans pulled out, ESA just looked around, and the Russians put up their hand, and it was done."

Bridges describes the partnership with Russia, hastily put together by ESA leadership under General Director Jean-Jacques Dordain in 2012, as "a strategic mistake."

"I think we should have hit the pause button back then and have a harder discussion across the European communities about what we were going to do," he said.

At that time, the onset of the conflict in Ukraine was still two years away, but Russia was already guilty of stirring a bloody war in Georgia (opens in new tab); its actions in the Caucasian country were overwhelmingly overlooked by the international community at that time.

"There's frustration and disappointment, because so much work has gone into ExoMars," Bridges said. "The instruments, the science teams. But we should probably still stick with it and try and recoup all that scientific investment, not just throw up our hands in disappointment and walk away from it."

Schwenzer adds that to provide the ultimate answer to the big question, whether there has ever been life on Mars, scientists would want to review as much data as possible.

"Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence," Schwenzer said, quoting famous astrobiologist Carl Sagan. "We can't just find one molecule that is usually produced by life on Earth and claim that we have found life on Mars. We can't make that claim unless we can absolutely exclude that anything else could have made that molecule. And in order to do that, we would need all the information that we can get, not just that from one mission."

ExoMars' projected landing site in Oxia Planum, an ancient clay-rich basin near Mars' northern tropic, was carefully selected by a pan-European scientific consortium as it offers the best conditions to harbor traces of life.

Formed about 4 billion years ago, the basin, covered with fine-grained sediments, has a catchment area of thousands of miles, Bridges said, where water in the past used to accumulate.

"It's a very different area to Jezero Crater [where Perseverance roams]," Bridges said. "But because we have seen one, that doesn't mean that it is not worth going to see the other. We have still only explored a tiny fraction of the Martian surface and we shouldn't fall into the trap of assuming that we've seen that, done that."

The ExoMars conundrum, Bridges suggests, highlights weaknesses in ESA's strategy, and undermines the agency's aspiration to be the world-class player it desires to be.

ESA, a partnership of 22 European member states, was beaten to the surface of Mars by China, which only revealed its plans for the Zhurong rover in 2014. Chinese landers, including the famous Yutu rover, have dominated moon exploration in the past decade. Japan's space agency JAXA, in the meantime, has built a legacy of returning samples from asteroids.

"ESA has this problem that they can be left flapping in the breeze a bit," Bridges said. "If external factors change, they don't seem to quite have the size or strength to withstand being buffeted about. Part of that is because they haven't really decided what their strategy is, what they really want to be doing, compared to JAXA or China's National Space Administration, who know exactly what they want to do and they just get on and do it."

ESA is currently evaluating options for the ExoMars rover, which it will present to its member states later this year. Among the possibilities is a return to the original partner NASA, who could land the rover using its proven technologies, Bridges said, but with a substantial financial contribution from ESA.

NASA's recent decision to scrap the European Mars sample return fetch rover and replace it with NASA-built helicopters, may provide an impetus to stick with the troubled ExoMars.

Follow Tereza Pultarova on Twitter @TerezaPultarova. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook.

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Europe's troubled Mars rover still vital in the search for life on the Red Planet - Space.com

South Korea's first mission to the moon, the Korea Pathfinder Lunar Orbiter (KPLO), is set to blast off Thursday on a mission to explore magnetic anomalies, search for future landing sites and sniff out rare elements on the moon.

The spacecraft, which is also known as 'Danuri' a portmanteau of Korean words meaning 'moon' and 'enjoy' is currently scheduled to launch on Aug. 4 at 7:08 p.m. EDT (2308 GMT) atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Upon arrival at the moon, Danuri will enter lunar polar orbit and cruise above the surface at an altitude of 60 miles (100 kilometers).

Not only is Danuri a trailblazer for Korean space exploration, with further missions set to follow, but Danuri will also use six different instruments to conduct important science during its year in operation around the moon. Among other topics, it will focus on the moon's puzzling magnetism, search for water ice in permanently shadowed craters and test a new experiment designed to improve communication dropouts.

Related: Every mission to the moon

Among Danuri's instruments is a magnetic-field detector called KMAG, which will measure the strength of magnetic fields in the lunar crust. Scientists hope to learn more about the origin of these fields, and perhaps to discover further clues as to the circumstances surrounding the moon's formation 4.5 billion years ago.

Scientists know that Earth's magnetic field is produced by the dynamo effect, wherein layers of electrically-conducting molten iron in the spinning core generate an electric field that induces a resulting magnetic field. But today, the moon's core is solid.

"We expect that there was such an environment within the central region of the moon at the time of its formation," Eunhyeuk Kim, who is project scientist for Danuri at KARI, the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, told Space.com in an email interview. "However, the motion of liquid metal ceased at some point."

In most areas of the moon, all that now remains is some residual trace of magnetism, but there are certain patches where very strong magnetism is present, compared to the rest of the moon. These locations are called lunar magnetic anomalies, and scientists aren't sure how they formed.

Some of the magnetic anomalies occur at bright 'lunar swirls,' which are unusual surface features with, for want of a better word, a 'squiggly' shape. Scientists think the swirls might somehow be related to the magnetism, perhaps because the magnetic anomalies mark ancient impacts of metal-rich asteroids that left their magnetic material buried beneath the lunar surface.

"We believe that the KMAG instrument on board Danuri will collect valuable data for the scientific study of these magnetic anomalies," Kim said.

In addition to KMAG, Danuri will carry a gamma-ray spectrometer called KGRS that will probe for atoms and molecules such as aluminum, silicon, uranium, water and helium-3. The last of these is created by the solar wind, a constant stream of charged particles flowing off the sun, interacting with the lunar surface; scientists think it could be used in nuclear fusion experiments.

The spacecraft is also armed with a polarized camera (PolCam) that will study the bulk properties of the lunar surface material, and a NASA instrument called ShadowCam that is led by Mark Robinson, a planetary scientist at Arizona State University.

ShadowCam will peer into permanently shadowed craters at the lunar poles in search of large quantities of ice that radar observations suggest is present. In order to see into the dark shadows and spot hidden ice, ShadowCam has been designed to be 200 times more sensitive than any previous camera to have gone to the moon.

A fifth payload is a technology demonstrator, the Disruption Tolerant Network Experiment Payload (DTNPL). There's not always a smooth connection when downloading data from a spacecraft, and often disruptions occur, like experiencing an Internet drop-out while downloading files on your home computer.

"If disruption is expected quite often, then you need a way around it, such as not re-starting downloads from the spacecraft from the beginning, but from the point at which the disruption happened," Kim said. DTNPL will test a system that is able to do just that. The technology has already been implemented successfully at the International Space Station, 250 miles (400 km) from Earth's surface. Now Danuri will seek to verify for the first time that the technology also can work successfully at much greater distances beyond Earth orbit.

Danuri is described as a pathfinder because it is paving the way for South Korea to expand its space exploration program. And the inclusion of Danuri's final science instrument, called the Lunar Terrain Imager (LUTI), hints at the nation's ambitions of a landed mission.

"LUTI will take images of potential landing sites, specifically for a lunar landing mission targeted for the early 2030s," Kim said. KARI has canvased the opinions of members of the Korean lunar-science community to generate a list of dozens of potential landing sites to image.

So far, only the U.S., the Soviet Union and China have successfully landed on the moon, so for South Korea to follow in their footsteps would be a very big step. "We expect that it is necessary to build up new space technologies, in addition to accumulated technologies from the orbiter mission, for a safe lunar landing mission," Kim said.

And South Korea's ambitions are not limited to a jaunt or two to the moon. "Our overall plan is to head to the asteroids and Mars after that," Kim said. The nation is even developing plans for ambitious sample-return missions, and although Danuri is launching with SpaceX, the nation has also developed its own rocket.

After its launch, Danuri will spend four and a half months traveling to lunar polar orbit and will begin its one-year mission proper in January 2023, starting with a month-long commissioning phase.

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

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South Korea's moonshot will explore lunar magnetic mysteries and more - Space.com

A Soyuz spacecraft docked to the International Space Station in April 2014.

In 1975, a handshake in space heralded an era of cooperation between unlikely partners.

The Apollo-Soyuz mission was the first joint space mission between the U.S. and Soviet space agencies. Spacecraft from each country docked in orbit, and the world watched as Soviet cosmonauts and American astronauts embraced more than 100 miles from Earth. The mission was a powerful symbol of de-escalation after years of Cold War geopolitical tensions.

Decades later, the U.S. and Russia jointly built the International Space Station, an enduring symbol of global scientific collaboration in space. But that long partnership may be coming to an end.

Russia announced last week that it is planning to quit the program after 2024.

Retired Air Force colonel and NASA astronaut Terry Virts commanded the ISS in 2014 and 2015, shortly after Russia annexed Ukraine's Crimean peninsula.

He says that without the ISS, there isn't a single good thing left in U.S.-Russia relations and after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, he sees little reason for the countries to continue working together in space.

He joined All Things Considered to share what it was like working with Russian cosmonauts and the implications of their exit.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

On working with Russian cosmonauts

It was one of the highlights of my time in space. I tried to really have us be one crew I didn't want the American segment and the Russian segment not to see each other. So at night, I would take my dinner, put it in a Ziploc bag and float down to the Russian segment. And we had a great time. We listened to the radio. They told jokes. They taught me a lot of Russian words that I didn't learn in class they called it the Cultural Program. I've maintained a friendship with them.

It was probably my proudest accomplishment at NASA, keeping that crew together during 2015 when we were in space during Crimea, the civil war, and the sanctions.

Crewmembers of the ISS Expedition 43, commanded by Terry Virts (center left), affix their mission patch to the vehicle. Terry Virts/NASA hide caption

Crewmembers of the ISS Expedition 43, commanded by Terry Virts (center left), affix their mission patch to the vehicle.

On Russia's annexation of Crimea, and how conflict on Earth affected his relationship with his Russian crewmates

You know, we would acknowledge [the conflict].

Russians would have a toasting session after the training was finished, and we would say: "Look, politics is politics. We're going to just focus on our mission."

There was a lot of angst and conflict between America and Russia and yet ... you could count on one finger the number of good [aspects of] international relations between the West and Russia and that was the space station.

On how Russia's exit will impact the operation of the ISS

The one requirement of the space station is to have the Russian rockets. We decided 20 years ago to cancel our own propulsion module, and so the only real significant rockets [are on the Russian side].

I think we could build [our own rockets] pretty quickly, but right now we're dependent on the Russian rockets to maintain the station's orbit.

On Russia's next move in space

A Russian official "recently announced" [the plan to leave the ISS] and I think that's the key to this whole discussion, because Russian officials announce things all the time. And most of the time, they're lying. Most of the time they change their mind.

So I don't know what's going to happen. I do know that you can't trust anything that comes from Russian officials. They said they weren't going to invade Ukraine. They said they wouldn't kill civilians in Ukraine. And yet they've done these things.

If they leave ISIS, either they build their own space station but that I don't think that's going to happen, they just won't get that done or they partner with the Chinese. And a Russian-Chinese partnership is going to be a much, much different dynamic. The Chinese are going to be the boss in that partnership. We've had a great partnership with Russia. We've treated them with respect; it's been an equal marriage. And that's not going to be the case with China. Their eyes are going to be opened when they have to deal with the Chinese. So they're in a corner.

On the geopolitics of collaboration in space

I would love to continue cooperating with the Russians. I have a lot of great friends in the Russian space program, but I think for that to happen they need to leave Ukraine and pay for the damage they've done in Ukraine.

What we're doing right now, by actively engaging with the Russians in space exploration, it's the equivalent of [going on] an expedition to the Arctic in 1941 with Germany. And I don't think that's good.

We don't allow the Chinese on the space station because of their egregious human rights record, and I don't know why we're promoting and growing our cooperation with Putin when he's starting war in Europe.

This story was adapted for the web by Kai McNamee.

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To this retired commander, the ISS was the last good bond between the U.S. and Russia - NPR

Debris believed to have fallen from a Chinese space rocket landed near villages in Malaysia and Indonesia on Saturday, only days after a large object that reportedly came from an Elon Musk-owned spacecraft was found in Australia.

Incidents of space debris falling to Earth are "getting more frequent," and that should be a matter of some concern, Dr. John Crassidis told Newsweek.

Crassidis is a professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at the University at Buffalo. He has been studying space junk for 15 years and works with NASA and the U.S. Air Force to help the agencies monitor space debris.

Along with real-life incidents involving these types of debris hitting Earth, space junk has also been on people's minds due to popular entertainment. Jordan Peele's recent hit sci-fi horror film Nope contains an element of falling objects from space, while past blockbusters like Wall-E and Gravity also depicted space debris.

Discussing space junk in the real world, Crassidis said that "the odds of you being hurt by a piece of space junk are extremely small." But with an increase of private space tourism, as well as countries like Russia and China announcing larger commitments to space exploration, he feels those odds could soon increase.

In the incident from last week, a farmer in Australia discovered an approximately 10-foot piece of space junk on his property after his daughters heard a large crash. An Australian National University space expert was called to the scene, and he identified the object as having come from a SpaceX Crew-1 craft.

This is not the first time Elon Musk has been blamed for space junk hitting Earth. Part of what authorities said was a SpaceX rocket was discovered in Washington state last year. The 5-foot-tall vessel didn't cause any damage aside from 4- to 5-inch impact mark in the ground.

Crassidis said SpaceX likely tried to maneuver its debris to fall into a "highly unpopulated" part of the Pacific Ocean that's often used as a target for objects returning from space.

"It's not an exact science. So I'm not exactly sure what happened here, and I'm certainly not blaming SpaceX," Crassidis said of the debris found in Australia. "I think they did the best they could to ensure that it would go into the Pacific Ocean."

Crassidis also pointed out that since most of the Earth is covered by ocean, most debris hits water. However, an uptick in space junk hitting land will likely coincide with the recent increase in space tourism offered by companies owned by Musk, Richard Branson (Virgin Galactic) and Jeff Bezos (Blue Origin).

"It's starting to get to the point where places should start worrying about this stuff," Crassidis said. "There have been some studies that say if this keeps up, there's going to be a 1-in-10 chance in the next 10 years that somebody will be hurt."

Different suggestions have been discussed in how to prevent space junk from hitting Earth. These include large space nets and harpoons, as well as lasers to blast the debris into smaller pieces before it enters the Earth's atmosphere.

"A laser blowing it out of the sky is probably one of the last things you want. When you start blowing up stuff in space, you cause more space debris. That'd probably be better for when it comes back down. But the last thing you want to do is cause space debris in space that can possibly collide with other objects," Crassidis said.

He added that a "marble-sized piece of debris can wipe out a satellite," which brings him to his more pressing concern.

"Honestly, to me, I think the astronauts in space have a bigger chance of being hurt than us here on the ground," he said.

Right now, Crassidis said the technology is just not there to stop space junk from entering Earth's atmosphere and hitting somewhere on the planet's surface.

"I'm trying to do what's more feasible, and that is better track this stuff," he said. By understanding how debris is moving through space, Crassidis said scientists can better predict where it's going to go.

"I don't really focus on stuff coming back in because there's nothing really we can do about that," he said. "I'm just trying to better track the stuff that's out there right now."

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Expect More Space Junk From Elon Musk and Other Space Travelers: Expert - Newsweek

Story at a glance

Although space tourism seems like a futuristic chapter for humans, the current lack of regulation around commercial rocket flights and space traffic which has also increased as more countries bolster military capabilities is a major concern for society now, experts say.

For these reasons, and because an additional 25,000 satellites are projected to launch into space by 2030, the Atlantic Council is calling on the United States government to increase its management of space traffic.

In their report issued this month, experts at the think tank urge the U.S. to lead a global coordinated effort to track space debris and spacecraft, regulate operators positioning of craft and oversee mitigation strategies for debris.

If space development remains on its current trajectory, and the global community fails to advance an effective [] framework, humankind will jeopardize its use of outer space, modern ways of living, and all the corresponding benefits on Earth,authors Mir Sadat and Julia Siegel wrote.

The report comes as the U.S. Air Force announced plans in March to expand its abilities to monitor the space between the Earth and moon.

Currently, more than 4,800 satellites representing more than 40 nations satellite the Earth, according to the report.

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As humanity expands its frontiers deeper into the galaxy, the threats to US and allied space capabilities will continue to increase,Sadat and Siegel said.

Yet, despite the proliferation of space activity, the ability of international and national bodies to track and regulate space objectsoften referred to as space traffic management (STM)reflects a past era wherein few actors conducted limited operations in space.

Under current policies, STM may be better defined as space situational awareness (SSA), or just knowing objects are in orbit, they said. Currently, this knowledge mainly serves to prevent potential collisions and is carried out in a decentralized manner via operators.

As more debris and activity flood already congested areas of space, the risks of collision increase and could jeopardize national security, Sadat and Seigel wrote.

It is no longer sufficient to know the location of spacecraft and space debris; instead, it is imperative to have a common understanding of and management over maneuver in a congested environment.

Among the actions necessary to achieve this goal, researchers call for increased international coordination to develop global standards among those already pursuing space projects and those expected to join soon. Through this effort, the U.S. could help develop ways of holding irresponsible actors accountable, researchers suggested.

The Space Data Association could serve as a model for international regulation going forward, but the programs opt-in nature limits its efficacy, authors wrote.

The report also highlights the benefits of public-private coordination which could be achieved through a notice of public rulemaking or participation in the National Space Council Users Advisory Group.

Private corporations can play their part in ensuring active debris removal solutions are integrated into space exploration plans.

STM deliberations should also prioritize elements such as defining relevant terms for universal usage; establishing minimum standards of conduct; assigning liability; distinguishing between orbits; and allocating responsibilities and authorities.

The standards could draw inspiration from regulatory bodies governing both air and maritime travel and exploration. Certain technical capabilities will also have to be developed and employed to better track space objects and communicate between operators.

While the US government is investing in capabilities for tracking and, when necessary, removing space objects from orbit, the United States still lacks a viable technical capability for STM, authors wrote.

Currently, there are no integrated systems that can provide comprehensive domain awareness on par with the air or maritime domains for the space domain, which is more complex than the other two domains.

Overall, authors call on the U.S. to lead by example to ensure security, economic and societal objectives relating to outer space are met.

Now is the time to act and protect a future of security and prosperity in space, they concluded.

Published on Aug. 03, 2022

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Should the US government oversee space traffic? Some experts think its time - The Hill

July M&A Activity

July 5 AST SpaceMobile, Inc. announced that it entered into an agreement to sell its majority ownership interest in smallsat manufacturer NanoAvionics Corp. (NanoAvionics) to Kongsberg Defence & Aerospace (Kongsberg), the space and maritime surveillance business unit of Norway's Kongsberg Gruppen. The contemplated transaction values NanoAvionics at approximately $68m, with Kongsberg acquiring a 77% ownership interest in the company, while company management will retain a 23% stake. The transaction is expected to close in Q3 2022, subject to regulatory approvals.

July 8 Safran Electronics & Defense SAS acquired Orolia SAS, a manufacturer of atomic clocks, from private equity investor Eurazeo SE for 189m with the aim of consolidating its leading position in the market for resilient positioning, navigation and timing systems.

July 18 The Raytheon Intelligence & Space business unit of Raytheon Technologies Corp. announced that it will acquire, under terms not yet disclosed, Northern Space and Security Ltd. (NORSS), a UK-based start-up focused on space domain awareness, orbital analysis, space surveillance and tracking.

July 25 Eutelsat Communications S.A. (Eutelsat) and OneWeb Communications Ltd. (OneWeb) announced a memorandum of understanding setting forth their agreement to merge their companies in an all-share transaction that values OneWeb at $3.4b. Eutelsat, which currently holds a 23% stake in OneWeb, will acquire the company from existing shareholders in exchange for newly issued shares in Eutelsat, although the UK government will retain a share in OneWeb with priority voting rights. The combined company will transform into a leading multi-orbit satellite operator providing integrated geostationary and low-Earth orbit satellite-based connectivity services through the joining of Eutelsat's geostationary orbit satellite fleet and OneWeb's low-Earth orbit broadband constellation.

Satellite Vu Procures Second Satellite from SSTL

On July 21, Global Satellite Vu Ltd. (Satellite Vu), a UK-based start-up with plans to deploy a seven-satellite thermal imaging constellation, announced that it selected Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. (SSTL) to manufacture a second satellite for the company. Scheduled for launch in early 2024, the new satellite will be a clone of Satellite Vu's first satellite, which the company ordered from SSTL in 2021.

July Investment Activity

July 5 Virginia Venture Partners, the equity investment program of the Virginia Innovation Partnership Corporation, announced that it made an investment of undisclosed amount in Virginia-based Lynk Global Inc., a start-up working to provide global satellite-based broadband connectivity services directly to standard mobile phones.

July 6 L3Harris Technologies, Inc. (L3Harris) and Mynaric AG (Mynaric) announced an agreement whereby L3Harris will invest 11.2m in Mynaric to acquire a 7.2% ownership stake in the company through the issuance of 409,294 new shares, reflecting a per-share price of approximately 27.37. As part of the transaction, Mynaric will become L3Harris' preferred provider of laser communications systems, and the companies will collaborate on laser communications technologies.

July Launch Services Performed

July 7, 10, 17, 22, 24 Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) successfully performed five launch missions for its Starlink low-Earth orbit broadband constellation, launching batches of 53, 46, 53, 46 and 53 satellites, each time using a Falcon 9 launch vehicle and then recovering the vehicle's first stage. The second of the five missions was the first dedicated Starlink launch to polar orbit, with satellites dedicated to a new polar-orbiting layer in the Starlink system. There are now more than 2,500 Starlink spacecraft currently operating on orbit.

July 13 Arianespace S.A. successfully conducted the inaugural launch of the new Vega-C medium-lift launch vehicle for the European Space Agency, orbiting Italy's LARES-2 physics satellite together with six scientific cubesats from Italy, France and Slovenia. The first Vega-C commercial mission is scheduled for November of this year.

New Investment Funds Target Space

July 7 New venture capital firm Stellar Ventures announced the formation of SV Andromeda Fund LP with more than $23m in capital commitments to invest in space technology.

July 17 The United Arab Emirates announced the establishment of the National Space Fund, with more than $800m in government funding to support the country's space sector, including a new SAR satellite system called Sirb.

July 20 Boeing announced that it agreed to provide $50m in capital to AEI HorizonX, a new venture fund managed by AE Industrial Partners, LP and focused on aerospace technology.

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Space Business Review: A monthly round-up of space industry developments for the information of our clients and friends - July 2022 - Lexology

SYDNEY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Australia was at the forefront of the first space race and played a vital role in Apollo 11s iconic Moon landing in 1969. Half a century later, Australians are more likely to see space as a threat than a frontier full of positive possibilities, and just one in ten say they would like to work in the space industry.

According to a new global report from Inmarsat What on Earth is the value of space?, based on a survey of 20,000 people in 11 countries 49% of Australians are concerned about space junk and collisions and 44% are worried about polluting space, while just over one third (36%) say they feel hopeful about the possibilities of space, one fifth (21%) say they dont understand much about space and 10% say they dont care about space at all.

With the space sector attracting record levels of investment and expanding faster than ever before, it is essential than Australians learn more about an industry that will increasingly impact their lives, according to Inmarsat.

According to the report, Australians are twice as likely to associate space with aliens (21%) than with communications and connectivity (10%). Most concerning for the future is that younger generations appear to have a view of space built on movie depictions rather than reality. 31% of Australians aged 18-24 associate space with aliens, compared with just 11% of people aged 65+. In comparison, only 8% of this younger age group associate space with communications the sector that is leading global growth in the industry half that of the over-65s (16%).

Meanwhile, 70% of Australians said they had never heard of or had no idea about space-based Internet, and 36% said the same for weather and climate monitoring despite the first weather satellite having been launched in 1960 and 31% had never heard or knew nothing about GPS and Satnav.

I have a positive view that we can help people fall in love with space again. Ive worked in the industry for decades and see the truly amazing stories that are just waiting to be told, said Todd McDonell, President of Inmarsat Global Government, based in Sydney. Its understandable that with space-based technology so embedded in our everyday lives, it has become largely invisible, especially to a generation brought up with smartphones and tablets.

Space can enable a better way of living for us all, but public support will make or break this vital contribution to a better future.

What was really interesting is that, like their counterparts in other countries and despite a generally low level of awareness, Australians identified genuine causes of concern related to the space industry. As the sector goes through a period of major expansion with forecasts that the number of satellites in orbit will rise from 7,000 to over 100,000 by the end of this decade players in the industry have a vital duty to manage this growth responsibly.

Having come so far, we cannot afford to destroy the gift of space through poor stewardship, fear, ignorance or inaction. Sustainability on Earth cannot exist without sustainability in space. Responsible space exploration and stricter regulation is a must.

I see first-hand how space is playing a vital role in putting food on our tables, how it keeps us safe when we fly, how it enables us to buy goods from home and have these shipped to us from the other side of the world. Whenever a natural disaster strikes and damages Earth-based telecommunications, satellites are there immediately to support search & rescue and rebuilding efforts. Perhaps most importantly for the future, space technology lies at the heart of efforts to combat climate change.

Im sure that if the industry can tell these stories, especially to the younger generation, then interest in space will grow and we will see a new generation emerge one, much like back in the 1960s, who regard space as an amazing opportunity both as a career and as a force for positive change.

ENDS

ABOUT INMARSAT

Inmarsat delivers world leading, innovative, advanced and exceptionally reliable global, mobile communications across the world in the air, at sea and on land - that are enabling a new generation of commercial, government and mission-critical services. Inmarsat is powering the digitalisation of the maritime industry, making operations more efficient and safer than ever before. It is driving a new era of inflight passenger services for aviation, while ensuring that aircraft can fly with maximum efficiency and safety. Furthermore, Inmarsat is enabling the rapid expansion of the Internet of Things (IoT) and enabling the next wave of world-changing technologies that will underpin the connected society and help build a sustainable future. And now Inmarsat is developing the first-of-its-kind, multi-dimensional communications network of the future, ORCHESTRA.

In November 2021, Inmarsat and Viasat announced the planned combination of the two companies, to create a new leader in global communications. The deal is scheduled to close in the second half of 2022.

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Australians See Space More as a Danger Than a Benefit, According to New Global Research - Business Wire