NASA ODPO’s Large Constellation Study

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J.-C. LIOU, M. MATNEY, A. VAVRIN, A. MANIS, AND D. GATES

In recent years, several commercial companies have proposed telecommunications constellations consisting of hundreds to thousands of 100-to-300-kg class spacecraft in low Earth orbit (LEO, the region below 2000-km altitude). If deployed, such large constellations (LCs) will dramatically change the landscape of satellite operations in LEO. Fig. 1 shows the current mass distribution in LEO. The top blue histogram shows the total and the three curves below show a breakdown by object type (spacecraft, rocket bodies, or other). The mass distribution is dominated by spacecraft and upper stages (i.e., rocket bodies). The yellow bars from 1100 km to 1300 km altitudes show the notional mass distribution from 8000 150 kg LC spacecraft or, equivalently, 4000 300 kg LC spacecraft. From the large amount of mass involved, it is clear that the deployment, operations, and frequent de-orbit and replenishment of the proposed LCs could significantly contribute to the existing orbital debris problem.

Figure 1. Mass distribution in the current LEO environment. The blue histogram is the total and the population breakdown is shown in red (rocket bodies), green (spacecraft), and black (others). The yellow bars between 1100 km and 1300 km shows the notional mass distribution from 8000 150 kg spacecraft or, equivalently, 4000 300 kg spacecraft.

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ESA Choosing CubeSats for Hera Asteroid Mission

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Hera CubeSats deployed. (Credit: ESA)

PARIS (ESA PR) — As the world marvels at the hopping mini-rovers deployed on asteroid Ryugu by Japan’s Hayabusa2, ESA is due to decide on the CubeSats planned for delivery to a binary asteroid system by its proposed Hera mission.

CubeSats are nanosatellites based on standardised 10 cm-sized units. This week an ESA evaluation board decides which two ‘6-unit’ CubeSat missions will ride with the next-decade Hera mission to the Didymos asteroid system. The CubeSats will be deployed around the smaller of the two bodies for eventual landing.

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GHGSat Raises US$10 Million in Finance Led by OGCI Climate Investments

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New round accelerates growth as company prepares to launch new satellite and aircraft sensors in 2019

MONTREAL, SEPTEMBER 24, 2018 (GHGSat PR) – GHGSat, a company providing global emissions monitoring services, today announced a US$10M Series A2 financing led by OGCI Climate Investments.

Building on GHGSat’s pioneering achievements in detecting and quantifying greenhouse gas emissions from industrial facilities around the world, the company will use the new capital to accelerate commercialization efforts, expand its custom analytics services for its growing customer base, as well as fund the launch of an additional GHGSat satellite.

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Dust Storms on Titan Spotted for the First Time

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Artist’s concept of a dust storm on Titan. (Credits: IPGP/Labex UnivEarthS/ University Paris Diderot – C. Epitalon & S. Rodriguez)
PARIS (NASA PR) — Data from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has revealed what appear to be giant dust storms in equatorial regions of Saturn’s moon Titan. The discovery, described in a paper published on Sept. 24 in Nature Geoscience, makes Titan the third Solar System body, in addition to Earth and Mars, where dust storms have been observed.

The observation is helping scientists to better understand the fascinating and dynamic environment of Saturn’s largest moon.

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Partnership, Teamwork Enable Landmark Science Glovebox Launch to Space Station

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NASA’s new Life Sciences Glovebox undergoes testing at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, prior to its Sept. 22 flight to the International Space Station. The research facility is 26 inches high, 35 inches wide and 24 inches deep, with a 15-cubic-foot workspace. It will enable researchers to conduct new experiments studying the effects of microgravity on the human body — aiding deep space exploration missions into the solar system. (Credits: NASA/Steve Moon)

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (NASA PR) — As the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency‘s H-IIB rocket carries NASA’s Life Sciences Glovebox toward its berth on the International Space Station, hardware specialists at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and their partners around the world are eager to initiate new, high-value biological research in Earth orbit.

The JAXA H-IIB rocket, hauling the state-of-the-art microgravity research facility and other cargo via the H-II Transport Vehicle-7 (HTV-7), successfully lifted off at 1:52 p.m. EDT on Sept. 22 from Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan.

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FAA Bill Would Boost Commercial Space Spending

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The budget of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA AST) would more than triple over the next five years according to a re-authorization bill hammered out by House and Senate negotiators.

FAA AST’s current budget of $22.6 million would increase as follows:

  • FY 2019: $33,038,000
  • FY 2020: $43,500,000
  • FY 2021: $54,970,000
  • FY 2022: $64,449,000
  • FY 2023: $75,938,000.

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Midland City Councilman Wants to Shutdown Spaceport

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Following the bankruptcies of XCOR and Orbital outfitters, Midland City Councilman Spencer Robnett says it’s time to end the city’s efforts to establish a viable spaceport.

In an opinion piece published by the Midland Reporter Telegram, Robnett wrote:

At this Tuesday’s City Council meeting, we will consider a resolution extending a contract with SilverWing Enterprises for contractual services to renew our spaceport license for 5 years. I will vote against extending the spaceport license and any future spaceport agenda items and would encourage my fellow councilmen and councilwoman to do the same.

What was initially touted as a chance to diversify Midland’s economy and bring space tourism, space research and space travel to West Texas has cost the taxpayers of Midland over $20 million to date with nothing to show for it. Since this community began pursuit of a spaceport designation, Midland’s population has grown at unprecedented rates and Permian Basin oil production has tripled. Based on some reports, Basin production could again double by 2023 with $300 billion in upstream investment forecast during that time period. We need to spend our tax dollars supporting infrastructure that helps drive what makes Midland unique and prosperous, not chase speculative diversification efforts at the taxpayers’ expense.

This Week on The Space Show

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This week on The Space Show with Dr. David Livingston:

1. Monday, Sept. 24, 2018; 2-3:30 PM PDT (4-5:30 PM CDT, 5-6:30 PM EDT): We welcomed DR. SUSAN JEWELL, CEO, The Mars Academy USA.

2. Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2018: 7-8:30 PM PDT; 9-10:30 PM CDT; 10-11:30 PM EDT: Welcome to OPEN LINES. Talk about the topics you want to discuss. First time callers welcome. All science, space, STEM, and STEAM subject welcome. Give us a call.

3. Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2018: Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, Sept. 28 2018; 9:30 AM-11 AM PDT, (12:30 -2 PM EDT; 11:30 AM-1 PM CDT): We welcome back ELIZABETH KENNICK (LIZ) for important news and updates with Teachers In Space.

5. The Sunday, Sept. 30, 2018 program from 12-1:30 PM PDT, (3-4:30 PM EDT, 2-3:30 PM CDT): We welcome back DAN ADAMO to discuss his ideas around Exploring The Solar System Through Low-Latency Telepresence (LLT). Please review his PDF by this title before the live program. You can find it on our blog for this show.

Small Satellite Demonstrates Possible Solution for ‘Space Junk’

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Remove Debris satellite. (Credit: NASA)

HOUSTON (NASA PR) — The International Space Station serves as humanity’s orbital research platform, conducting a variety of experiments and research projects while in orbit around the planet.

On June 20, 2018, the space station deployed the NanoRacks-Remove Debris satellite into space from outside the Japanese Kibo laboratory module. This technology demonstration was designed to explore using a 3D camera to map the location and speed of orbital debris or “space junk.”

The NanoRacks-Remove Debris satellite successfully deployed a net to capture a nanosatellite that simulates debris. Collisions in space could have have serious consequences to the space station and satellites, but research has shown that removing the largest debris significantly reduces the chance of collisions.

Rogozin: Russia Won’t Play Second Fiddle on Lunar Gateway

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Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: A. Savin)

Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin does not appear to be a fan of the planned Lunar Gateway.

During his meeting with young people, Rogozin said that a lunar program was the peak of the world space powers’ scientific efforts.

“The United States is developing their program called Deep Space Gateway. They have been suggesting our participation in that program, but believe it is theirs,” Rogozin said. “It is such a great American national program but everybody must take part in it.”

Rogozin said he did not like the idea “very much”, since “Russia simply cannot afford to take a back seat in foreign projects” and added that Russia was developing “its own transport system.”

The remarks caused some consternation that Russia was going to pull out of the NASA-led international venture. Roscosmos Spokesman Vladimir Ustimenko denied the report, saying talks remain underway on Russia’s participation in the project.

NASA’s MAVEN Selfie Marks Four Years in Orbit at Mars

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This image is a composite selfie taken by MAVEN’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph (IUVS) instrument that normally looks at ultraviolet emissions from the Martian upper atmosphere. Lines are sketched in to show approximately where components of the spacecraft are that were not able to be imaged due to the limited motion of the instrument around its support boom. Thrusters can be seen at the lower left and right, the Electra communications antenna at the bottom toward the left, the magnetometer and sun sensor at the end of the solar-panels at the upper left, the tip of the communications antenna at the top middle. In addition, the shadow of the IUVS and of its support boom can be seen down the middle of the spacecraft body. (Credits: University of Colorado/NASA)

BOULDER, Colo. (NASA PR) — Today, NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft celebrates four years in orbit studying the upper atmosphere of the Red Planet and how it interacts with the Sun and the solar wind. To mark the occasion, the team has released a selfie image of the spacecraft at Mars.

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Three NASA Missions Return 1st-Light Data

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These are the first images from WISPR, short for the Wide-field Imager for Parker Solar Probe. Researchers studied the images to determine the instrument was pointed as expected, using celestial landmarks as their guide. The left image shows the Milky Way, looking at the galactic center. In the right image, there is a distinctive cluster of four stars near the right edge that is in the constellation Scorpius. The planet Jupiter is also visible in the right image as the bright object slightly right of center. The Sun, not visible in the image, is far off to the right of the image’s right edge. (Credits: NASA/Naval Research Laboratory/Parker Solar Probe)

GREENBELT, Md. (NASA PR) — NASA’s continued quest to explore our solar system and beyond received a boost of new information this week with three key missions proving not only that they are up and running, but that their science potential is exceptional. On Sept. 17, 2018, TESS — the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite — shared its first science observations. Later in the week, the latest two missions to join NASA’s heliophysics fleet returned first light data: Parker Solar Probe, humanity’s first mission to “touch” the Sun, and GOLD, a mission that studies the dynamic boundary between Earth and space.

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JAXA Launches HTV-7 Supply Ship to International Space Station

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JAXA’s HTV attached to ISS. (Credit: NASA)

TANEGASHIMA SPACE CENTER, Japan (JAXA PR) — At 2:52:27 a.m., September 23, 2018, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the H-IIB Launch Vehicle No. 7 (H-IIB F7) which carries aboard the H-II Transfer Vehicle “KOUNOTORI7” (HTV7), the cargo transporter to the International Space Station (ISS), from the JAXA Tanegashima Space Center.

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