Space News and Discussions

[Time_Traveller]

British spaceflight to become reality as government provides launchpad for spaceports

May 25, 2021

Satellites and rockets could launch from UK soil in 2022, with spaceports planned for Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.

Another barrier to space exploration from UK soil has been lifted, with spaceports expected to be in operation from next summer.

Developed with the UK Space Agency and the Civil Aviation Authority, new regulations being laid in Parliament will mean satellites and rockets can launch from UK soil for the first time - with spaceports planned for Cornwall, Wales and Scotland.

Future satellite launches will improve our access to data and communications, and revolutionise services such as satellite navigation and earth observation - enhancing the way we live, work, travel and interact with our planet.

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Brit ... s_999.html

[Time_Traveller]

Merida Aerospace plans to begin rocket test launches in 2021

May 25, 2021

All eyes in the space launch and logistics industry are now set on Merida Aerospace following the latest announcement of starting rocket test launches in late 2021. With unique expertise, talent, and resources for spacecraft manufacturing, satellite design, satellite data collection, data distribution, and now, spacecraft launch, the company has stepped into the big game and is ready to go all out. Currently, no other organization offers all these services in one place, which gives Merida Aerospace a unique advantage in the industry.

Over the past years, the team at Merida Aerospace has showcased exemplary projects, including the development of patented satellite communication systems and specialized satellite and rocket communication antennas. The team has also successfully managed satellite earth station projects, from design and development to installation.

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Meri ... 1_999.html

[Time_Traveller]

Astroscale UK to develop space debris removal technology innovations with OneWeb

May 25, 2021

Astroscale UK announces funding award from partners OneWeb, the global satellite communications network, to mature their technology and capability towards a commercial service offering by 2024.

This latest 2.5 million pound award forms part of a larger beam-hopping satellite programme, totalling over 32 million pounds, granted from the UK Space Agency, via the European Space Agency's Sunrise Programme to partners including OneWeb, SatixFy, Celestia UK and Astroscale UK.

OneWeb is leading the way in providing satellite services with space sustainability at the heart of their mission goals. John Auburn, Managing Director of Astroscale UK and Group Chief Commercial Officer says, "This ambitious project with OneWeb is the next step towards maturing our technologies and refining our UK capabilities to develop a full-service Active Debris Removal offering by 2024."

https://www.spacedaily.com/reports/Astr ... b_999.html

[weatheriscool]

Europa's interior may be hot enough to fuel seafloor volcanoes
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-europa-in ... floor.html
by Gretchen McCartney, Karen Fox, Alana Johnson, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

This illustration, updated as of December 2020, depicts NASA’s Europa Clipper spacecraft. The mission, targeting a 2024 launch, will investigate whether Jupiter’s moon Europa and its internal ocean have conditions suitable for life. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Jupiter's moon Europa has an icy crust covering a vast, global ocean. The rocky layer underneath may be hot enough to melt, leading to undersea volcanoes.

New research and computer modeling show that volcanic activity may have occurred on the seafloor of Jupiter's moon Europa in the recent past—and may still be happening. NASA's upcoming Europa Clipper mission, targeting a 2024 launch, will swoop close to the icy moon and collect measurements that may shed light on the recent findings.

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX Super Heavy Booster Will Have Hot Gas Thrusters
May 26, 2021 by Brian Wang

SpaceX Super Heavy booster will have hot gas thrusters instead of nitrogen thrusters for maneuvering in space before reentry. This will be the case before the first orbital flight.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2021/05/s ... sters.html

[weatheriscool]

SpaceX Starbase City Will Build a Hundred Starships Each Year
May 26, 2021 by Brian Wang

SpaceX is building Starbase City which will build a hundred Starships each year. This will be eight Starship per month. They will launch each Starship three times per day.

SpaceX is converting two oil rigs as sea launch and landing platforms.

https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2021/05/s ... -year.html

[weatheriscool]

NASA's Roman mission to probe cosmic secrets using exploding stars

by Ashley Balzer, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

NASA's upcoming Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope will see thousands of exploding stars called supernovae across vast stretches of time and space. Using these observations, astronomers aim to shine a light on several cosmic mysteries, providing a window onto the universe's distant past and hazy present.

Roman's supernova survey will help clear up clashing measurements of how fast the universe is currently expanding, and even provide a new way to probe the distribution of dark matter, which is detectable only through its gravitational effects. One of the mission's primary science goals involves using supernovae to help pin down the nature of dark energy—the unexplained cosmic pressure that's speeding up the expansion of the universe.

Space's biggest mystery

"Dark energy makes up the majority of the cosmos, but we don't actually know what it is," said Jason Rhodes, a senior research scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California. "By narrowing down possible explanations, Roman could revolutionize our understanding of the universe—and dark energy is just one of the many topics the mission will explore!"

https://phys.org/news/2021-05-nasa-roma ... osmic.html

[Time_Traveller]

Glow-in-the-dark baby squid and tardigrades to be blasted into space

about 2 hours ago

NASA is preparing to rocket around 5,000 tardigrades — those adorably pudgy "water bears —" and 128 glow-in-the-dark baby squid into space.

The animals are heading to the International Space Station (ISS) next week as part of SpaceX's 22nd cargo resupply mission.

SpaceX is set to launch the microscopic critters onboard a Falcon 9 rocket on June 3 1:29 p.m. EDT from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Tardigrades are tiny, just 0.04 inches (1 millimeter) long, and get their popular nickname from their tubby, bear-like appearance when viewed through a microscope. And these little guys are no pushovers — capable of surviving extreme radiation; pressures six times those found in the deepest parts of the ocean; and the total vacuum of space, making the microscopic animals much tougher than their ursine namesakes. In fact, the Israeli spacecraft Beresheet was carrying thousands of dehydrated tardigrades onboard when it crashed into the moon during a failed landing attempt on April 11, 2019. If any life-form could survive the crash, perhaps these creatures would, especially since they were in their dehydrated "tun" state from which they could be resuscitated.

https://www.livescience.com/baby-squid- ... nched.html

[weatheriscool]

Black hole simulations provide blueprint for future observations
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-black-hol ... uture.html

Astronomers continue to develop computer simulations to help future observatories better home in on black holes, the most elusive inhabitants of the universe.

Though black holes likely exist abundantly in the universe, they are notoriously hard to see. Scientists did not capture the first radio image of a black hole until 2019, and only about four dozen black hole mergers have been detected through their signature gravitational ripples since the first detection in 2015.

That is not a lot of data to work with. So scientists look to black hole simulations to gain crucial insight that will help find more mergers with future missions. Some of these simulations, created by scientists like astrophysicist Scott Noble, track supermassive black hole binary systems. That is where two monster black holes like those found in the centers of galaxies orbit closely around each other until they eventually merge.

[weatheriscool]

Experiments validate the possibility of helium rain inside Jupiter and Saturn
https://phys.org/news/2021-05-validate- ... aturn.html
by Breanna Bishop, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory

An international research team, including scientists from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, have validated a nearly 40-year-old prediction and experimentally shown that helium rain is possible inside planets such as Jupiter and Saturn (pictured). Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute.

Nearly 40 years ago, scientists first predicted the existence of helium rain inside planets composed primarily of hydrogen and helium, such as Jupiter and Saturn. However, achieving the experimental conditions necessary to validate this hypothesis hasn't been possible—until now.

In a paper published today by Nature, scientists reveal experimental evidence to support this long-standing prediction, showing that helium rain is possible over a range of pressure and temperature conditions that mirror those expected to occur inside these planets.

"We discovered that helium rain is real, and can occur both in Jupiter and Saturn," said Marius Millot, a physicist at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and co-author on the publication. "This is important to help planetary scientists decipher how these planets formed and evolved, which is critical to understanding how the solar system formed."