Category Archives: Space Station

The Ariane rocket family has a storied history that dates back to the 1970s. Commissioned by the European and French space agencies (ESA and CNES, respectively), the family's fifth-generation launch vehicle, the Ariane 5, was developed and manufactured by Arianespace and began flying in 1996. Ariane 5 has stood as Europe's workhorse rocket for decades now, longer than any of its Ariane predecessors, and has more than 100 missions under its belt.

But that impressive run is about to end. There's just one Ariane 5 mission left a flight called VA261 that's scheduled to launch from Europe's Spaceport in French Guiana on Tuesday (July 4) after a delay. VA261 will loft an experimental communications satellite called Heinrich Hertz for the German space agency and Syracuse 4b, a French communications satellite. (Ariane 5's replacement, the Ariane 6, is not yet ready to fly, by the way. It was originally expected to debut in 2020, but a series of setbacks have pushed that target to late 2023 at the earliest.)

While a couple of communication satellites may not make front-page news, the Ariane 5 has had some extremely notable launches during its run. So, as we prepare to bid the final Ariane 5 adieu, here is a look at the rocket's top 10 missions.

Related: Facts about the Ariane 5, Europe's workhorse rocket

The Galileo constellation is the backbone of Europe's satellite-navigation capabilities. Its utility to European citizens and governments is intertwined with numerous aspects of everyday life and is crucial to the continent's defense and infrastructure.

Twelve of the 24 currently operable Galileo satellites were launched on Ariane 5 rockets, which are able to loft four of the hefty spacecraft to orbit at a time a significant increase over the constellation's previous cadence of two-per-launch aboard Russian-built Soyuz rockets. Ariane 5's three Galileo missions launched in November 2016, December 2017 and July 2018.

ESA's first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), the Jules Verne, launched atop an Ariane 5 on March 8, 2008. The ATV was designed for cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS) and was capable of carrying over 7 tons of supplies and experiments for the station and its crew.

At the time, the collective 20-ton mass of the ATV Jules Verne was more than double the maximum weight ever launched by an Ariane 5 rocket. To accommodate this heavy load, the launch vehicle and its infrastructure underwent a set of upgrades, including the addition of structural supports to the Ariane 5's Vehicle Equipment Bay.

Five ATV spacecraft visited the ISS between 2008 and 2015, when the cargo-ship program came to an end. All five launched aboard the Ariane 5.

ESA's X-ray Multi-Mirror Mission (XMM-Newton) launched on an Ariane 5 on Dec. 10, 1999 and is still going strong. Instead of one X-ray telescope, XXM-Newton is actually three. The satellite contains a trio of advanced X-ray imaging devices, each made with 58 tiny, cylindrical mirrors all housed within one another and used to increase the telescope's field of view. These work alongside a spectrometer and other cameras that allow mission team members to study distant galaxy clusters, pulsars, black holes and other enigmatic space phenomena.

An Ariane 5 launched the BepiColombo mission for ESA and the Japanese space agency (JAXA) on Oct. 20, 2018. BepiColombo is headed where few spacecraft have gone before the planet Mercury. The double-orbiter probe consists of the European Mercury Planetary Orbiter and the Japanese Mercury Magnetospheric Orbiter. The two are on a journey to reach orbit around Mercury, which has only been accomplished by one other spacecraft, NASA's MESSENGER probe.

To get there, BepiColombo is taking the scenic route. As space missions go, getting into orbit around Mercury is harder than reaching Pluto. The increasing gravity from the sun as you fly deeper into the inner solar system makes capture by a small, fast-orbiting planet like Mercury extremely difficult.

To overcome this obstacle, BepiColombo is using the gravity of multiple planets to slow the spacecraft's velocity. In the five years since its launch, BepiColombo has performed two Venus flyby maneuvers and a flyby of Earth, which occurred in April 2020. And it will take a total of six passes of Mercury before the spacecraft can be captured by the planet's weak gravitational pull. BepiColombo completed its third flyby of Mercury on June 12 and is expected to finally reach orbit around the planet in 2025.

The Herschel Space Observatory and Planck probe were a powerhouse duo that launched on an Ariane 5 on May 14, 2009. Parked at the Earth-Sun Lagrange Point 2 (L2), a gravitationally stable spot about 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth, Herschel and Planck remained in operation from 2009 until June 2013 and October 2013, respectively. Both spacecraft more than lived up to their mission expectations.

Both were built and operated by ESA. At the time, Herschel was the largest infrared telescope to ever launch, and was only recently dethroned by another well-known space telescope that also launched on an Ariane 5 (which you can read about a bit further down this list). Herschel was outfitted with the largest mirror ever sent to space at the time, and its mission propelled research into the early universe, star formation, and the atmospheres of planets and moons in our own solar system.

Planck was designed to study the cosmic microwave background (CMB), radiation associated with the Big Bang and early universe. Planck's highly sensitive instruments allowed the probe to take unprecedented CMB measurements, which scientists used to help determine the age of the universe and produce the first CMB map of the entire sky.

Related: Planck probe sees Big Bang relics (gallery)

ESA's Rosetta mission was an enormous undertaking that resulted in some major firsts for space exploration. Launched on an Ariane 5 on March 2, 2004, Rosetta and its lander Philae spent 10 years catching up to Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko (also known as 67P). On Aug. 6, 2014, Rosetta became the first spacecraft ever to orbit a comet, beaming back extraordinary views of the icy body in unparalleled detail.

On Nov. 12 of that year, the Philae lander detached from Rosetta to attempt the first-ever landing on a comet's surface. Not all parts of Philae's landing went as planned: Anchoring harpoons designed to latch onto the comet during touchdown failed to fire, causing the spacecraft to bounce twice before settling on the surface. When Philae did come down for good, a cliff kept the lander in almost permanent shadow, obscuring the probe's solar panels from the sun.

Rosetta lost contact with Philae three days later, preventing the lander from meeting the majority of its mission objectives. But Rosetta remained in orbit around 67P for two more years, conducting studies of the comet's nucleus and changes caused by its varying proximity to the sun. In July 2015, 67P was positioned just right for some sunlight to reach Philae, and the lander momentarily woke up. Philae made contact with the Rosetta orbiter a few times during that short span before shutting off for a final time.

On Sept. 30, 2016, with its pioneering mission at an end, Rosetta aimed itself toward 67P and performed a kamikaze dive into the comet's frigid surface.

Related: Europe's Rosetta comet mission in photos

The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is another ESA mission that is going to make some serious waves. JUICE was Ariane 5's penultimate mission, launching on April 14 of this year, and is now on a 7.5-year journey to the Jovian system. To get there, the spacecraft will perform three gravity-assist flybys of Earth and one of Venus, before finally arriving at Jupiter in December 2031. When it gets there, JUICE will orbit the planet for three years, making close flybys of three of Jupiter's icy ocean moons and studying them for signs of habitable conditions.

JUICE will perform two passes of Europa, one of the solar system's best bets for alien life, several passes of Callisto, Jupiter's second-largest moon and one of the solar system's most ancient planetary bodies, and finally Ganymede, the largest moon in our solar system and JUICE's primary target. The probe will pass Ganymede a dozen times before nestling into orbit around the moon in 2034. When it does that, JUICE will become the first spacecraft to orbit a planetary moon other than that of Earth.

Ganymede is larger than the planet Mercury and is the only moon in the solar system that produces its own magnetic field. Using nearly a dozen scientific instruments, JUICE will study Ganymede's complex inner core, analyze the moon's surface and collect data on the potential for its icy environment to sustain life.

Are you surprised? Granted, this list is entirely subjective, but who isn't putting this famous scope in the top spot? NASA's James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is the largest and most powerful off-Earth observatory ever launched. This miraculous feat of science and engineering li on an Ariane 5 rocket on Dec. 25, 2021.

A massive, multi-layered sunshield, measuring nearly 70 feet by 50 feet (22 by 15 meters), protects the telescope's 18-segment primary mirror, which is approximately 21 feet (6.5 m) across. Like its infrared telescope predecessor Herschel (mentioned above), JWST is parked at L2, in the darkness of space a million miles from Earth.

Part of JWST's mission involves peering back into deep time, to see the universe's first light. The telescope has detected hundreds of early galaxies, helped characterize exoplanets, revealed marvelous hidden features of star clusters and nebulae thousands of light-years away and provided some of the most detailed views to date of planets in our own solar system, like this image of Uranus, released earlier this year. JWST is only in the beginning of its research, and it's expected to keep studying the cosmos for over a decade.

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The top 10 Ariane 5 rocket launches of all time - Space.com

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. A SpaceX rocket launched a new space telescope into orbit Saturday (July 1) on a mission to map the "dark universe" like never before.

The European Space Agency observatory, called Euclid, soared to space today aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket at 11:11 a.m. EDT (1511 GMT) from Space Launch Complex 40 here at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

Spectators here at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex cheered and applauded as the Falcon 9 booster carried Euclid aloft, with the first stage handily touching down just eight minutes later on a drone ship stationed nearby in the Atlantic Ocean.

"We have a mission," ESA Director-General Josef Aschbacher said during a live webcast just after liftoff. "I'm so excited for this mission now, knowing its on its way to Lagrange point 2 ... amazing, I'm very happy and very thrilled."

The Euclid space observatory, which is designed to seek out invisible dark matter and dark energy, separated from its rocket about 41 minutes after liftoff and is now making the journey to the sun-Earth Lagrange point 2, which is roughly 1 million miles (1.5 million km) away from our planet on the opposite side of the sun. Lagrange points are relatively stable orbits where satellites use a minimum of fuel, and Euclid's destination is a popular location: NASA's James Webb Space Telescope also orbits at L2, for example.

Related: We've never seen dark matter and dark energy. Does it really exist?

Dark matter and dark energy are believed to make up most of the universe, but we can't see these phenomena in wavelengths of light. Rather, we can track the dark universe through its effects on other objects. (Gravitational lensing is one example, when a massive object bends the light of a distant object behind through the force of gravity, bringing otherwise faraway stars or galaxies into sharp focus.)

Cosmologists scientists studying the history of space seek to understand how the dark universe behaves to chart the effects of time on our cosmos. The mergers of galaxies, the expansion of the universe and the movements of individual stars are all subject to the forces of dark energy and dark matter.

Euclid will aim its telescope eye to regions outside of the Milky Way, our own galaxy, to map over a third of the "extragalactic" sky. In its six-year mission, the deep space explorer will map billions of targets like galaxies and stars. Euclid's two instruments, focusing respectively on visible and infrared (heat-seeking) light wavelengths, will record the information for scientists.

The long survey mission will uncover the movements of these distant objects, along with their chemical makeup. From space, Euclid's sharp eyes will allow for images at least four times more clear than what telescopes achieve from the ground, given the spacecraft will be far away from Earth's interfering atmosphere and stray light.

Carole Mundell, ESA's director of science, said the Euclid mission is one 15 years in the making, but still she was holding her breath waiting for signal acquisition after a prefect launch and spacecraft separation.

"In the next six years of this mission, we will unravel the mysteries of the dark universe," Mundell said. "So, a huge honor to be here. I think there'll be some partying tonight."

Related: The Euclid spacecraft will transform how we view the 'dark universe'

The 1.4 billion Euro ($1.5 billion USD) Euclid has been in the works for nearly two decades. It was forged from two mission concepts proposed in 2007: Dune (Dark Universe Explorer) and Space (Spectroscopic All Sky Cosmic Explorer), which used different but complementing ways of looking at dark energy. Given how well the two missions worked with each other, they were combined into one powerful observatory: Euclid.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) science program committee selected Euclid for space in 2011 and formally adopted the program in 2012. The larger Euclid consortium today includes more than 2,000 scientists from Europe, the U.S. (including NASA), Canada and Japan contributing both instruments and analysis. Thales Alenia Space was the satellite's prime contractor, while Airbus Defence and Space contributed the payload module and 4-foot (1.2-meter) telescope.

Euclid's work follows on from several ground-based and space-based surveys of the universe. Among them is the Chilean Victor M. Blanco telescope's Dark Energy Survey that mapped 100 million galaxies; a 2022 study of that team's work will serve as a pathfinder both for Euclid and for NASA's Roman Space Telescope.

ESA's still-active Gaia satellite (also at Lagrange Point 2) is another recent example, having mapped the movements of nearly 2 billion bright stars since 2015. Gaia, however, focuses on the Milky Way and that will make it a complementary mission to Euclid's deep space focus.

Incidentally, Euclid was not supposed to launch aboard SpaceX at all. As late as February 2022, the mission was manifested upon an Arianespace Soyuz (provided by Russia) for a March 2023 launch in French Guiana. Russia's unsanctioned invasion of Ukraine forced a stop to most such space collaborations aside from the International Space Station, pushing Euclid's team to look for another ride to space.

Arianespace has been ESA's launch partner for decades and as a French vendor, it is the preferred route for European space access. Yet there was no room left on the retiring Ariane 5 rocket line, and the new Ariane 6 was still in a late stage of development, reported SpaceNews, which was at the meeting.

Even U.S. options were few, as United Launch Alliance's trusty Atlas V and Delta IV Heavy rockets also had full manifests ahead of their retirement. ULA's new Vulcan Centaur will not fly until this year at least, leaving SpaceX as the only viable short-term option, according to ESA comments last year.

To get to its new site, Euclid made its way from Italy to its Floridian launch site under sail. It took roughly two weeks to voyage across the Atlantic by boat, yet just minutes to cross that same ocean again in the air by rocket.

The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket that launched Euclid made its second flight to space with this launch. The mission marked SpaceX's 44th mission of 2023 and 243rd mission to date. It was the also the 204th successful landing of an orbital class rocket by SpaceX.

Euclid will take about 30 days to commute to its deep-space site. Investigators have not yet released the date for the first science image, but say it will be in a few months.

Elizabeth Howell's Florida coverage was co-sponsored by Canadian Geographic magazine and Canada's University of Waterloo, where Euclid's primary science coordinator (Will Percival) is based. Space.com has independent control of news coverage.

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SpaceX rocket launches Euclid space telescope to map the 'dark ... - Space.com

NASA is developing a ChatGPT-style interface for future spacecraft, giving astronauts the ability to talk to the systems using natural language and have the systems talk right back.

Space talk: In June 2018, a massive dust storm on Mars engulfed NASAs Opportunity rover, cutting off communication with Earth. Eight months later, NASA announced an end to the rovers 15-year Mars mission.

The last message [NASA] received was basically, My battery is low and its getting dark, tweeted science reporter Jacob Margolis after talking to NASA about the rover.

The internet went crazy over Opportunitys poignant last words, but the rover didnt really say them its last message to Earth was written in coded data that NASA engineers had to interpret, just like every transmission before it.

The idea is to get to a point where we have conversational interactions with space vehicles.

The idea: If rovers and other spacecraft could communicate with NASA using the same natural language people use to talk to each other, it could ease interpretation and thanks to advances in AI, were getting closer to that reality.

Its really not like science fiction any more, said Larissa Suzuki, a visiting researcher at NASA, at a virtual meeting of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) on June 20.

Whats new? During her keynote speech at the IEEEs Cognitive Communications for Aerospace Applications Workshop, Suzuki explained how NASA is developing an interface similar to OpenAIs popular ChatGPT for future spacecraft and rovers.

This would let NASA scientists and astronauts communicate with the machines using natural language instead of having to sift through technical manuals to find information on how to tell a rover to perform a certain maneuver, for example, they could just tell it.

The idea is to get to a point where we have conversational interactions with space vehicles and they [are] also talking back to us on alerts, interesting findings they see in the solar system, and beyond, said Suzuki.

NASA is developing an interface similar to OpenAIs popular ChatGPT for future spacecraft and rovers.

Looking ahead: NASA engineers wont have to wait too long to begin chatting it up with their spacecraft according to Suzuki, an early version of the AI will be integrated into Lunar Gateway, a moon-orbiting space station set to launch as soon as November 2024.

Once online, its not hard to imagine NASA using the space stations ability to talk to increase public awareness and engagement in the mission, too they could just give the Gateway AI its own Twitter account and wait for it to drop gems like the one attributed to Opportunity.

Wed love to hear from you! If you have a comment about this article or if you have a tip for a future Freethink story, please email us at [emailprotected].

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NASAs ChatGPT-like AI will let spaceships talk to astronauts - Freethink

July 2, 2023 at 7:00 a.m. EDT

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. The uniforms resemble costumes from the television series Battlestar Galactica, and the logo is right out of Star Trek. Even the name given its members, guardians, seems born of science fiction. But three years after it was established as the sixth branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, the U.S. Space Force is very much a reality.

It has a motto, Sempra Supra or Always Above, fitting for an agency whose future is outside Earths atmosphere. It has an official song, a short, melodic anthem about guardians boldly reaching into space thats not as catchy as The Army Goes Rolling Along. It has a budget ($26 billion last year, similar to NASA), bases across the country and a mission to transform the militarys relationship to the cosmos at a time when space has moved from being a peaceful commons to a crucial front in military conflict.

We are very much clearly in the next chapter of the Space Force, Gen. David Thompson, the vice chief of space operations, said during a recent event hosted by the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies. The mission of the Space Force now is to become an enterprise that really makes sure that were ready to deliver warfighting capabilities.

What that means in practice is still unclear: The Space Force remains one of the least understood arms of the federal government. Its culture and identity are still being molded, as its leaders push to set the department apart from the Air Force, Navy and Army by arguing that as a new, smaller service it is free to do things differently. While the Air Force has more than 300,000 service members, there are only 13,000 guardians.

Internally, Space Force officials are still debating its priorities, analysts say: Is it to support warfighters on the ground? Or should it focus primarily on protecting assets in space? Or both? And despite all the talk of starting fresh and moving nimbly, the Space Force still exists within the rigid walls of the Pentagon, the worlds largest bureaucracy, which is often faulted for resisting change.

When Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations, introduced tenets to guide the force, he labeled them A theory of success, rather than a doctrine because he wants them to continue to evolve.

Im proposing this theory so that people will debate with me, he said during an event earlier this year at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. So well get better at figuring out what are the nuances that matter, what are the details that we to continue to refine.

A glimpse of what the Space Force has become, and aspires to, can be seen on the Florida Space Coast, where the Space Age was born in the United States and where a new space era, driven largely by growth in the private space industry, is taking hold.

Propelled largely by Elon Musks SpaceX, the number of launches here has not only increased, but the topography of the place has changed. Landing pads for SpaceXs reusable rockets and historic launch sites like pad 39A that launched the Apollo astronauts to the moon are now in private hands.

New companies, such as Jeff Bezos Blue Origin, are taking over launchpads that had sat vacant for decades, trying to get their rockets into orbit as well. (Bezos owns The Washington Post.) Even the official name has changed: It is now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station.

The growth is remarkable. In 2021, 31 rockets blasted off from the facilities run by NASA and the Space Force. Last year, the number jumped to 57, and this year its expected to exceed 90.

With some thinking that number will eventually exceed 200, 300 or even more, a top Space Force general decided he needed help managing the traffic. So last spring, Maj. Gen. Stephen Purdy, the commander of the 45th Space Wing, which oversees the base, arranged a meeting for a couple dozen of his staff at a place where many loathe to go but that is used to sending large numbers of vehicles into the sky at a regular cadence: Orlando International Airport.

During the visit to the Orlando airport, our folks got a lot of good ideas, he said in an interview in his office at Patrick Space Force Base. Because these are people they dont normally talk to. So they do things in a different way. They think a different way.

What Purdy and the Space Force as a whole is trying to do is far more than just create airline-like operations. They are focused on redefining how the military uses space, and attempting to transform it into a domain where the U.S. can exert the kind of tactical dominance it now displays on land, air and sea.

That is easier said than done. Much of the militarys infrastructure in space was developed at a time when space was considered a peaceful place. Satellites, for example, were built to be big and robust and last for years, even decades, without interference. But then China and Russia showed such fat targets were sitting ducks. China blasted a dead satellite with a missile strike in 2007, and Russia did it in 2021 shows of force that shook the U.S. military leadership and polluted Earth orbit with dangerous debris for decades to come.

So the Space Force is pivoting, relying on constellations of small satellites that can be easily replaced and, to an increasing degree, maneuver.

Thats just one example of how the Space Force intends to ensure the U.S. maintains space superiority, as its leaders often say, to protect the satellites the Defense Department relies on for warnings of incoming missiles, steering precision-guided munitions and surveilling both friendly and hostile forces. It also could deter conflict in space why strike a satellite if there are backups that would easily carry on the mission?

In the interview, Purdy gave a tour of some of the roles the Space Force could play, offering a glimpse into its future.

Soldiers and Marines already pre-position supplies and equipment on the ground, he said. Could the Space Force start storing supplies in space and then fly them to hot spots on Earth as well?

In theory, we could have huge racks of stuff in orbit and then somebody can call those in, saying. I need X, Y, Z delivered to me now on this random island. And then, boom, they shoot out and they parachute in and they land with GPS assistance, he said. Its a fascinating thought exercise for emergency response you know if a type of tidal wave or tsunami comes in and wipes out a whole area.

The military is also working to harness solar energy in space, and then beam it to ground stations. Could the Space Force use that technology to beam power to remote areas to support soldiers on the ground?

Another idea: If the cadence of launches really does double or triple and the costs continue to come down, could the Space Force start using rockets to deliver cargo across the globe at a moments notice?

Soon there could be commercial space stations floating around in orbit. Can we lease a room? Purdy said. Can we lease a module?

The idea is to use space as if it were any other theater of war, with supply lines, logistical oversight and tactical awareness of whats happening day in and day out. But all of that is more difficult in a weightless vacuum that extends well beyond the largest oceans.

In no other military domain would you take a tank, or an aircraft or a jeep or a ship and gas it up and then say Okay you will never refuel it again, Purdy had said earlier this year in an interview with the Aerospace Corporation. The military also has the ability to repair tanks and jets. But the vehicles the Space Force depends on satellites are different. Refueling and servicing them are difficult and so every movement has to be considered carefully. Am I going to need this fuel 10 years from now? he said in the Aerospace Corporation interview.

Some of these concepts may become real. Some may not. But Purdy at least feels free to pursue new ideas because were not bound by years of tradition within the Space Force or the previous Air Force command, he said. It didnt exist. And so we can define our own concepts of how operations will work.

Two years ago we werent thinking of any of this stuff, none of it, he added. The on-orbit space storage of logistics, we werent thinking of six months ago. And so weve been able to think rapidly, get with industry and rapidly move the ball forward on all those pieces.

The fact that the idea of the Space Force is still somewhat in flux is to be expected, said Douglas Loverro, the former deputy assistant secretary of defense for space policy.

After it was founded in 1947, it took the Air Force 25 years to figure out their mission, he said. We shouldnt expect that the Space Force is going to be able to figure it out the day after we stand them up. Its going to take a little while, and thats okay.

When it was established by President Donald Trump at the end of 2019, the Space Force was widely mocked derided as a political ploy for a politician desperately trying to project strength and the butt of alien jokes for late-night comedians.

But as it has taken form, the culture of the Space Force is building, and I think thats good, retired Air Force general John Hyten, the former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, said in an interview. We just have to change the process along with the culture because you can have a new culture and the old process, and you still run into a brick wall.

In Congress, Rep. Mike D. Rogers (R-Ala.) and former congressman Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) advocated for the establishment of a Space Corps as part of the Air Force, the way the Marine Corps exists under the Navy. The effort was driven by a desire to make space a priority for the Pentagon at a time when other nations, particularly China, were catching up.

We have lost a dramatic lead in space that we should have never let get away from us. So thats what gave us the sense of urgency to get after this, Rogers said in 2019.

Since then, the threat has only grown.

In its annual Space Threat Assessment report, the Center for Strategic and International Studies recently reported that China continues to make progress toward its goal of becoming the world leader in space. Over the past year, China has continued to grow its space and counterspace assets, maintaining its status as the second-most-capable space nation after the United States.

In April, The Post reported that space would likely be a key part of a Chinese invasion of Taiwan. China would seek to jam communications and intelligence satellites as well as destroy ballistic missile early warning satellites, as part of a military strike on Taiwan, according to documents allegedly leaked to a Discord chatroom by Jack Teixeira, a member of the Massachusetts Air National Guard. China is now able to hold key U.S. and Allied space assets at risk, according to the documents, which were obtained by The Post.

In March, Saltzman gave a speech titled Guardians in the Fight in which he unveiled a plan he called competitive endurance that is designed to compete over the long-term with China and other actors. The goal is initially to deter any conflict from reaching space, but if necessary to achieve space superiority.

As part of the plan, the Space Force would work to ensure that the United States avoids operational surprise, by keeping track of other countries satellites and movements in space while also being able to identify behaviors that become irresponsible or even hostile.

But he acknowledged the difficulties of operating in an area hundreds of miles off the surface of the Earth. On the ground, battle lines can be drawn, delineating zones of conflict. Our domain is a little different, he said. In space, you cannot leave the war zone. There is also no way, he added, to physically separate civil, commercial, military satellites from one another because the laws that govern orbits are immutable. And low Earth orbit also is polluted with debris, traveling at 5 miles per second, so fast that even a small piece, a bolt or even a fleck of paint, can cause enormous damage.

While the Navy patrols vast oceans, the Space Forces area of responsibility is defined as 100 kilometers above sea level extending outward, indefinitely, Lt. Gen. John Shaw, the deputy commander of the U.S. Space Command, said during a recent talk with the Secure World Foundation. So, a huge AOR. Do the math.

Another problem, Hyten said, is that so much of what the Space Force does remains classified. And because its overclassified, its very difficult to talk about specifics, Hyten said. And when you cant talk about specifics that makes it one of the most misunderstood elements of our government. We fundamentally need to normalize the classification, so we can have a conversation with the public, with the American people.

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Space Force is redefining outer space as a theater of war - The Washington Post

The vibration table in Harwell can replicate the launch profile of specific rockets (Credit: Satellite Applications Catapult)

Sellafield power station in Cumbria is one of the UKs most hazardous environments, full of nuclear waste and irradiated buildings not the most promising place for high-tech R&D. But that is where an off-the-shelf industrial robot found itself during historical tests, swapping materials handling duties in a factory for a stay in a highly reactive area.

The tests might have indicated that parts could be useful in space, manipulating satellites or assembling structures in orbit. Instead, the severe radiation caused components to fail within six months, showing they were insufficiently hardened for the harsh environment. Rather than shooting for the stars, the robot found itself unceremoniously abandoned in one of the power plants cooling pools.

Today, robotics and satellite testing are more sophisticated and much more important, as the number of satellites being launched rises dramatically and they play an increasingly central role in communications, climate-change studies, logistics and more. According to the United Nations, humanity launched 2,163 objects into space in 2022, up from 134 in 2012. That rise, driven largely by SpaceX Starlink satellites, is also increasing the risk of space debris, which will require some advanced solutions.

The Satellite Applications Catapult is putting satellites to the test to ensure that they can tackle the problems of the future. To do so, it is creating some of the least hospitable conditions on Earth.

Most electronic devices would not survive in orbit without protection from the atmosphere, satellites face extreme radiation and temperatures from roughly -150C to 200C. Materials act differently, while specks of debris and micrometeorites can cause catastrophic damage. Even before they reach their destination, devices must survive the traumatic shaking of a rocket launch.

Pre-flight testing and validation, carried out at the Catapults Disruptive Innovation Space Capability (Disc)facility in Harwell, Oxfordshire, needs to consider all of those risks. The 1,150m2 centre provides lab space and engineering expertise to developers, mainly organisations launching one or two satellites a year but without their own testing facilities.

Hidden beneath a face mask, hairnet and gloves to prevent any potential contamination, Disc operations manager Shane OLeary sits in front of a thermal vacuum chamber (TVAC) in one of the centres clean rooms. Inside the 1.8m-long metal cylinder, cubesats are put through intense temperature differences and vacuum air pressure of about one-ten-billionth of the normal atmosphere.

Combined, the two factors can have a great effect on a satellite in space. You want to replicate everything that it is going to experience as much as you can, says OLeary. The last thing you want to do is make a mistake and have a million-pound satellite up there that doesnt work.

A Catapult worker in the clean room (Credit: Satellite Applications Catapult)

The TVAC uses electrical heating to replicate the highest temperatures that critical components might be exposed to, while the centres environmental chamber can get down to -80C. On a satellite, those temperatures can be managed by adding shade or heating elements.

Vacuum conditions lower materials boiling points, which can cause organic materials to outgas. This could change the properties of a system, by making it lighter, for example. Heat dissipation can also lead to higher temperatures in unexpected areas, so the TVAC chamber lets teams monitor this before launch.

Another key piece of equipment at Disc is the vibration table, which tends to be the last test before cubesats head to launch. Theyre scary, says OLeary. You are shaking something to try to destroy what you really dont want to be destroyed. And then they have to do functional tests, to make sure that nothing has dislodged.

Tests last for about two minutes shortish and sharpish from my point of view, says OLeary. From the point of view of the people who have made it, Im sure they must think it goes on forever.

The table shakes at frequencies of 20-2,000Hz, and the noise is equivalent to standing on a runway while a jet takes off. It only vibrates on one axis, so it has to be rotated and turned vertically for multiple tests.

As well as a sweep test, which goes through all frequencies at a low energy level to reveal resonances in the satellite, the equipment can also replicate the vibration profiles produced by specific rockets, giving satellite developers peace of mind that their kit will survive launch.

Thats where it can get very active, says OLeary. When youve got a satellite in there, no matter how well its built, its going to resonate, because you cant put the same kind of strengthening structures in a satellite because it needs to be kept light as you could if youre building something on Earth.

Something breaking during the test is the worst-case scenario, but OLeary says it has only happened to him once. The other pass criterion is whether there is a large shift in the resonances between the sweep tests carried out before and after the random profile test, which could indicate that something has changed significantly within the structure it might not be broken, but there is a risk of something breaking the next time it goes through the same forces.

An hours drive from Harwell, the Catapult has a simulated mission control in Westcott, Buckinghamshire. Instead of cubesats, which are roughly shoebox sized, the Westcott facility is focused on testing larger satellites and robots for In-Orbit Servicing and Manufacturing (IOSM), a relatively new field that could become much more significant in future as ageing satellites are fixed or refuelled to prevent them from becoming space debris. Other applications might include assembling the giant arrays needed for space-based solar power (SBSP) installations.

The devices being tested range from proof-of-concept technology that will never go near a real spacecraft up to devices that could feasibly be launched. Systems might include robot arms, control systems, and the sensors they need to operate. They also often include simulated power sources, guidance and navigation systems, manipulators, and some degree of communications equipment.

Robotics development lead Jeremy Hadall sits in mission control, which replicates the kind of facility that might be used during flight. What we do here is replicate the mission level, he says. We assume that the hardware, at some stage, will be tested for this environment. It might be before it gets to us, it might be after it gets to us it doesnt really matter. The point is, were not concerned about how this hardware is going to survive in the space environment. What were concerned about is how the hardware is going to react when we put it through a mission set of parameters.

That means we can run the flight dynamics, we can run whatever it is thats going to run these robots or run these systems, and we can run them within the hardware, mimic the movements and learn and understand how these space systems are going to actually work.

He adds: What we try to do here is get to a point where the robot systems can operate without any human intervention I cant see the robot labs from here, unless I use the camera systems.

A device undergoes testing on a robotic arm in the IOSM yard (Credit: Satellite Applications Catapult)

Servicing defunct satellites has some significant challenges. If a satellite was last seen on the launch pad, we dont know what its going to look like, we dont know whats hit it, we dont know where the bits have come off it, says Hadall. Its a fairly unknown state. Weve got to get close to it. Thats quite a tricky operation.

That means an IOSM spacecraft would need to match its trajectory easy enough if it is under control, but very difficult if not. The Westcott facility simulates the effects of microgravity by suspending the IOSM devices with robotic arms or other additional supports, replicating how they would move in space.

The craft then needs to grab the satellite, which, being in space, will move in the opposite direction to anything that touches it. After that comes the servicing, refuelling or other mission task.

That itself is a whole can of worms to open up because, even now, little is designed for serviceability in orbit, says Hadall. We launch them, and the most we think about in terms of getting them back or reusing them or recycling them is something called demisability orbits, where we bring it back into the atmosphere and it burns up.

The tests provide IOSM projects with invaluable data for future operations. If a company is teaching an autonomous system, for example, it gets a training data set that can be implemented. Other projects are focused on validation tests, creating mission scenarios and making sure the system can do the same steps over and over again.

The changing economics of space launch, with many more launches and lower costs, means we might see less physical testing and increasing reliance on simulation in years to come but, for now, it makes sense to test what you are going to launch.

There are still processes in the build, such as soldering the circuits, where, if youve done that wrong and your wire breaks free, you then have got a brick flying around the world, rather than a satellite. At this stage, its worth their while, says OLeary, referring to cubesat manufacturers. He predicts that his facility could eventually test 100 each year as the UK satellite industry ramps up.

In future, Hadall suggests, IOSM devices could be tested and developed in space itself, and the Catapult is investigating the idea of a living lab in orbit. It would be nice to say that there is a space in space, if you excuse the pun, where we can go and test these things.

High demand for room on the International Space Station means that this is unlikely to happen in the near future, however. Launch costs and safety requirements also make it less likely.

Until then, the next best thing will be replicating space on Earth we do what we can to get close to it, says Hadall.

READ MORE:How Open Cosmos uses satellite testing to ensure its devices benefit society

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FEATURE: How the Satellite Applications Catapult replicates space ... - Professional Engineering

Canada's Artemis 2 astronaut says his country is just getting started in lunar realms with his round-the-moon mission.

Jeremy Hansen was named Canada's representative on Artemis 2 on April 3, and within days the experienced test pilot found himself exploring new worlds as a result: speaking with Stephen Colbert, walking the red carpet at Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, participating in an Indigenous vision quest, visiting policy-makers in Canada and the U.S., and carrying the flag at the coronation of Charles III.

After this work to connect with numerous communities touched by space, the Artemis 2 crew officially began training on May 15, studying the control systems and computers of the Orion spacecraft and other technical matters.

In a few months, however the training timeline "gets a little fuzzy" as this will be the first moon crew in a half-century. The crew is awaiting direction, as well as development of simulators and procedures, from senior management. "For developmental missions, that's to be expected," Hansen told Space.com in an exclusive interview.

Related: Jeremy Hansen: Artemis 2 Canadian astronaut will fly around the moon

But there are a few things Hansen is sure about for himself and his three crewmates, all NASA astronauts: commander Reid Wiseman, mission specialist Christina Koch, and pilot Victor Glover.

There will be geology training to prepare for looking at moon craters, potentially with Canadian crater expert Gordon Osinski with whom Hansen recently discovered a rare Earth crater on a previous expedition. There also will be continued conversations with Canadian and American policy-makers to chart out the path after Artemis 2, Hansen emphasized.

"Eventually, you'll see us doing amazing science and deep space," Hansen said. "You'll see a Canadian walk on the moon someday, and eventually go to Mars, because we have that ability to to do it in a way that brings benefits to Canadians."

The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) has suggested that Canada will have seats on Artemis 4 and 6, which are both planned moon-landing missions slated to run around the end of the decade.

CSA's director of space exploration development, Martin Bergeron, disclosed those early stage discussions at the Canadian Lunar Workshop in late May, according to SpaceQ. (The first landing mission, Artemis 3, may be in 2025 or 2026.)

Related: Artemis 2's Canadian astronaut got moon mission seat with 'potato salad'

Hansen has been with the CSA since 2009 and has not yet been granted a seat, as Canada's International Space Station (ISS) contribution of 2.3 percent generally allows for a mission only every half decade or so. (Canada's Chris Hadfield flew in 2012-13 on a mission assigned before Hansen was qualified for space, and then fellow 2009 astronaut class member David Saint-Jacques flew in 2018-19.)

But Hansen is known in the space community for helming high-profile projects, such as managing the training schedules of the entire 2017 astronaut class, and playing a lead role in the creation four tricky spacewalks to repair the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer aboard the ISS.

Many in Canada therefore pegged Hansen as the logical choice to launch on Artemis 2, but he said that was not a sure thing until he received a phone call from CSA president Lisa Campbell about two weeks before the April 3 announcement.

"I've known for a while that was sort of the intent, where we thought things would end up, so I wasn't completely surprised," Hansen said of the assignment. "But on the other hand, you just never know. It depends on when a mission actually is going to end up going, and there's always that uncertainty. We don't decide any further in advance than when we have to, because it just takes away options."

Related: Canada's Artemis 2 astronaut was named after a 14-year-wait for space

Canada received its seat due to its contribution of Canadarm3, a next generation robotic arm that will service NASA's planned Gateway space station at the moon. Canada has paid for its seats through the Canadarm series since the dawn of the space shuttle program, and recently allocated even more space money for a mini-moon rover, a lunar utility vehicle and further moon research development.

The country, which has about 40 million people spread across one of the biggest land spaces in the world, uses its small space budget to make strategic bets meant to pay off big. Robotics is one area, with space medicine, space food and artificial intelligence also seen as key investments for Canadian government.

Hansen emphasized this coalition work with NASA is important, not only for space opportunities but for the applications for remote environments on Earth.

"I'm really proud of this enormous team. I get to be the face of it for this mission, but it really reflects back on a huge team of people that made this possible," Hansen said. "It's Canada on the world stage. American leadership makes space for a country like Canada to shine, and bring our genius."

Indeed, Canadians collaborated with NASA on moon exploration long before CSA was formed in March 1989. For example: A few dozen engineers of the cancelled Avro Arrow, a supersonic plane project, joined NASA in key roles as the agency was preparing human moon missions in the 1960s. Also, Canadian "legs" from company Devtek (today's Hroux-Devtek) were used on the Apollo lunar lander during all human missions.

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Artemis 2 astronaut Jeremy Hansen says a Canadian will walk on ... - Space.com

In February 2009, a Russian military satellite travelling at more than 42,000km per hour smashed into a US communications satellite.

Both satellites were instantly destroyed, shattering into tens of thousands of fragments. It was the first-ever in-orbit collision between two satellites. However, it is an event that could become increasingly common as humanity exponentially increases our activities in space.

In 2009, there were less than 1,000 active satellites in orbit. By 2030, there could be 100,000. This is due to the launch of mega-constellations of satellites by companies such as SpaceX and Amazon. Low-Earth orbits are becoming dangerously congested with larger and larger objects and increasing lethal debris. Both the European Space Agency and NASA have raised the alarm.

The collision in 2009, created thousands of pieces of debris of more than 10cm in diameter and many times that number of smaller debris travelling at speeds of up to 7km per second that cannot be tracked or avoided and can be can just as deadly when it collides with a satellite.

At these speeds, even a fleck of paint can cause critical damage to space infrastructure. In November 2021, astronauts aboard the International Space Station were forced to take evasive measures to avoid debris created by the intentional destruction of a satellite by a Russian missile.

For years researchers have been sounding the alarm about the dangers of increasing space debris. In 1978, NASA scientist Donald Kessler outlined what could happen if a collision occurred in an over congested orbit.

Debris from the initial collision could produce many orbiting fragments, each one increasing the possibility of further collisions, ultimately this could spark a chain reaction that makies entire orbits unusable for generations.

Not only would this pose a huge risk to spacecraft and astronauts but vital services such as weather forecasting, climate monitoring, and internet connectivity could be lost.

If there is one lesson to draw from recent years, it is that seemingly unimaginable events can quickly become a reality, with devastating consequences. Growing congestion in low-earth orbit is not just increasing the risk of collisions, researchers and space agencies also are increasingly concerned about adverse effects on astronomy, the night sky, the atmosphere, and even earth defences against asteroid impacts. This damage is being driven by a handful of companies attempting to monopolize what should be a great shared resource.

We urgently need to act to curtail unduly risky behaviour and monopolisation of our orbital resources. Current space laws are no-longer fit for purpose, being designed for a period when companies were launching only a handful of satellites.

Ideally new rules would be developed at the global level under the auspices of the United Nations or the International Telecommunication Union. However, building any kind of global consensus in the near term seems impossible.

Just as Europe has led on environmental matters on earth, we must do the same in space. The European Union and its member states have the tools in place to prevent space from developing as a Wild West or the dominion of just a few.

The initial priority must be to understand what level of activity our orbital respources can sustainably handle. We took this approach for civilian air traffic; we should do the same for low-earth orbits. The European Space Agency and Europe's many leading universities are well-placed to do this, in close collaboration with private companies.

European and national regulators should then use the power of Europe's single market to force all companies to act responsibly. Regulators should set clear conditions when granting market access to lower the risk of collisions and the creation of debris, as well as ensuring shared access to limited orbital resources.

This would push companies and other jurisdictions such as the U.S. to also modify their response. The upcoming European Space Law is a great opportunity for Europe to take the lead. Standards set in Europe could then become the model worldwide. Getting this right matters because space is increasingly vital to all aspects of our lives.

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From increased connectivity to tackling global challenges such as climate change, the new space age offers a wealth of opportunities. However, these will only be realised if activities in our orbits are sustainable. Humanity has a bad track record in correcting damaging behaviour. Too often we only react after disaster occurs or the consequences of our actions are irreversible.

On earth we are playing catch-up, trying to mitigate the damage of climate change and clean up islands of plastic in our oceans. In space, the issues are playing out at an even more accelerated pace. We could go from very little material risk to the saturation of orbits closest to earth within this decade.

Right now, we still have a window of opportunity to act but it is quickly closing. We must urgently set clear rules to prevent destructive behaviour, so we don't squander yet another of earth's great resources. If we fail to do so we risk cutting off the vast possibilities of space for generations to come.

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EU should take lead on cleaning up environment in space - EUobserver

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Blue Origin looks to expand beyond US with international launch site - Financial Times

At the Paris Air Show EDR On-Line met the organisers of the World Defense Show to get the la test information on the 2024 edition of this exhibition that since its first edition in March 2022 the Riyadh exhibition became a reference in the Middle East.

The World Defense Show (WDS) 2024 will feature many news, the first being the date. The 2024 edition has been moved to the left and will now take place February 4-8 instead of mid March, when the weather proved to be critical, especially for what was linked to flight demonstrations. Another key factor is the fact that the exhibition time has been increased, the Saudi event being now a five-day exhibition.

Another key fact is the increased exhibiting surface; a new hall, Hall 3, will be added, which will increase floor space by 25%, to cope with the increased demand by exhibiting companies. According to WDS organisers, in mid-June 2023 90% of the space was already sold, the remaining 10% being mostly committed and just awaiting confirmation. In the end organisers are looking at some 750 exhibitors.

A number of successful schemes launched in 2022 will be proposed again to exhibitors. One of them is the Meet the KSA Government that allows companies to get in touch with Saudi officials and learn how to improve their contacts with Saudi Arabia. The other is the B2B Connect, which allows companies to arrange meetings ahead of the show, there was a huge demand two years ago, and organisers are doing all what they can to further improve that scheme.

As said the WDS will now be a five-day event; however Day 1 will be a preview day, and will be reserved to VIPs and delegations, normal visitors being accepted from Day 2 on. Day 1 will see the Future of Defense Forum with the participation of around 200 high-level representatives, and in the afternoon a welcome reception will be organised.

When on Day 2 visitors will access the WDS premises a number of new sections will be available. While in 2022 the main focus was Command and Control, 2024 will focus on Space. Recently two Saudi astronauts spent some time on board the International Space Station, and the Saudi Space Agency is pretty active, therefore 2,000 m2 in Hall 3 will be dedicated to the Space Theatre. Technology will also have a special place, while the Future of Defense Hub will host all those SMEs that think out of the bow and bring in innovations, which will be of interest for visitors but also for major companies.

Further improvements will be made in order to increase the effectiveness of visiting schemes for delegations, which number will considerably increase compared to 2022, while many logistic aspects, from food and beverage to transportation will also be refined, EDR On-Line understood.

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World Defense Show adds space and time - EDR Magazine

A new type of flame produced on the International Space Station (ISS) doesnt just look cool with its spherical blue glowitiscool.

Cool flames, which burn at temperatures much lower than traditional hot flames, could be the key to improving internal combustion engine efficiency and reducing the emission of harmful pollutants. Currently, internal combustion engines in most cars burn gasoline at only 35% efficiency; however, incorporating cool flame chemistry into engines could theoretically increase the efficiency to as high as 60%. To gain a better understanding of cool flame chemistry, researchers are turning to the ISS National Laboratory.

On Earth, cool flames are difficult to study because gravity-driven buoyancy quickly snuffs them out. This makes the space stations microgravity environment an ideal platform to study these unique flames. A team of scientists, led byUniversity of MarylandresearcherPeter Sunderland, used microgravity conditions on the space station to produce cool diffusion flames from liquid fuel for the first time, providing new insight into cool flame chemistry.

The latest issue ofUpward, official magazine of the ISS National Lab, delves into findings from this exciting research.Upwardis dedicated to communicating the results of space station experiments that demonstrate the value of space-based research and development.

Read the article Going Cool toGo Green to see how studying cool flames in space could lead to cleaner, more efficient internal combustion engines on Earth.

The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the space station are available to support non-NASA science, technology and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), Inc. manages the ISS National Lab, under Cooperative Agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space.

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Cool Flames in Space Could Lead to More Efficient Engines on Earth - West Orlando News