Tag: Space

Posted on

Blue Origin unveils its lunar lander, Blue Moon

Today at an intimate event in Washington D.C., Jeff Bezos took the wraps off some grand space plans. But that future, which includes trips to the lunar surface, isn’t much without the gear to get it there.

Among the more impressive unveils was Blue Moon, a new lunar lander. Bezos unveiled the vehicle, which was hidden behind a curtain for much of the event. “This is an incredible vehicle,” he told the crowd, “and it’s going to the moon.” Powered by liquid hydrogen, the lander has an on-board system capable of navigating in space. It also utilizes gigabit internet to communicate back to Earth using a laser. 

Micro-satellites can also be strapped to the top of the rover and deployed in lunar orbit.

Blue Moon features an on-board LIDAR system capable of mapping lunar terrain, in order to choose the right landing site. According to Bezos, the system using existing maps of the moons surface to determine where to navigate relative to known landmarks. The vehicle features landing gear that’s stowed in an upward configuration and capable of landing on inclines up to 15 degrees. It’s capable of transporting 3.6-6.5 metric tons of payload.

The company also unveiled a lunar rover that will accompany the lander. Bezos wasn’t much for specifics at the event, instead using the opportunity to layout long range plans for helping future generations deal with resource scarcities on Earth brought on by a rapidly increasing human population.

Posted on

Jeff Bezos reportedly set to unveil moon plans today

Blue Origin is hosting a media later today in Washington, D.C. TechCrunch will be on the ground, reporting live, though details around precisely what will be announced are still pretty minimal. According to new reporting from Reuters, however, boss man Jeff Bezos is set to unveil his plans to help the U.S. government establish a lunar outpost over the next five years.

That word arrives via “people familiar with the matter.” Blue Origin hasn’t responded yet — though we’ve only got to wait until around 4PM ET time to find out what the company will reveal via its “update on our progress and share our vision of going to space to benefit Earth.”

The subject is nothing new for Bezos and Blue Origin, of course. This time last year, the world’s richest man discussed his hopes for space travel. “In the not-too-distant future — I’m talking decades, maybe 100 years,” he told a crowd at the Space Development Conference in L.A., “it’ll start to be easier to do a lot of the things that we currently do on Earth in space, because we’ll have so much energy. We will have to leave this planet. We’re going to leave it, and it’s going to make this planet better.”

As Reuters notes, VP Mike Pence recently discussed the White House’s own hopes for an astronaut lunar outpost being established by 2024. He singled out NASA, but even with an on-going war of words between Trump and Bezos, it seems likely what the cabinet would be open to working with private space organizations like Blue Origin.

Posted on

Watch SpaceX launch an ISS resupply mission and make a drone ship landing tonight

It’s time for another SpaceX launch, and though tonight’s (technically early tomorrow morning’s) isn’t as historic as the Falcon Heavy, it’s always impressive to see a Falcon 9 lift off with supplies for the International Space Station. But inclement weather threatens to delay delivery.

CRS-17 will be taking two tons of supplies and other items to the ISS, including the new Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3, an experiment to generate algae for human consumption on board (they won’t be trying it this time round), and a cool new multi-experiment microgravity platform called Hermes.

Trifecta! SpaceX launches first mission on Falcon Heavy and lands all three boosters

The full scientific payload is described in this NASA blog post from a few weeks back. Naturally the Dragon capsule (this one flew in August 2017 as well, it’s worth noting) also carries food and other supplies as well. The first stage will return to the surface and attempt to land on the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You, which will be cruising the Atlantic waiting for its passenger.

The launch is less than 24 hours after SpaceX issued a statement regarding the explosion of a Crew Dragon capsule during testing. The cause of the “anomaly” is yet to be determined, but it’s important to note that this is a completely different platform than the now proven and reliable Falcon 9/Cargo Dragon combo that has flown dozens of commercial missions.

SpaceX confirms its Dragon crew capsule exploded in testing

Takeoff is set for 3:11 AM Eastern time in Cape Canaveral, with streams starting about 45 minutes beforehand — but there’s a good chance tonight’s launch will be scrubbed because of bad weather.

“We’ve been monitoring an area of disturbed weather over the Bahamas for the past few days, and that area of disturbed weather is encroaching upon the Space Coast,” said Air Force launch weather officer Will Ulrich in a NASA update. Right now there’s about a 40 percent chance of a successful launch.

This would be the second delay for CRS-17, which was put off from May 1st to the 3rd late in April. Don’t worry, though — the crew in the ISS has more than enough to get by for quite some time. The next launch opportunity would be within 24 hours, too. We’ll update this post if there’s a definite hold put on the launch.

If it’s a go, you’ll be able to watch the launch below:

Posted on

SpaceX confirms its Dragon crew capsule exploded in testing

For the first time after a video of an exploding Dragon capsule leaked in late April, SpaceX confirmed the spacecraft’s destruction during testing. In statements made today, SpaceX’s vice president of mission assurance Hans Koenigsmann provided a little insight on the mysterious ground test gone wrong.

As CNBC reports, Koenigsmann said during a press event that it is “too early” to determine the cause but noted that the capsule exploded as its SuperDraco thruster system was being fired up:

“At the test stand we powered up Dragon and it powered up as expected. We completed tests with the Draco thrusters – the Draco thrusters are the smaller thrusters that are also on Dragon 1, the Cargo Dragon. We fired them in two sets, each for five seconds, and that went very well. And just prior before we wanted to fire the SuperDraco there was an anomaly and the vehicle was destroyed.”

The capsule shown in a grainy video from April 21 turns out to be the same test spacecraft that visited the International Space Station in early March and returned to the Earth via a splashdown in the Atlantic six days later. Unlike the company’s cargo capsules, that capsule, known as SpaceX Demo-1, is designed to carry crew members in the future.

Even during testing, the loss of any spacecraft — particularly one designed to carry a human crew — is a big deal. The event is likely to push SpaceX’s target launch for a crewed Dragon flight this year into 2020. NASA is currently working with the company to investigate the incident.

“I hope this is a relatively swift investigation at the end of the day,” Koenigsmann said.  “I don’t want to completely preclude the current schedule, but certainly this is not good news for the schedule.”

Posted on

Blue Origin lofts NASA and student experiments in New Shepard tomorrow morning

The 11th mission for Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital launch vehicle is slated for takeoff Tuesday morning. The craft will be carrying 38 (!) experimental payloads from NASA, students, and research organizations around the world. You’ll be able to watch the launch live tomorrow at about 6 AM Pacific time.

New Shepard, though a very different beast from the Falcon 9 and Heavy launch vehicles created by its rival SpaceX, is arguably a better platform for short-duration experiments that need to be exposed to launch stresses and microgravity. Launching satellites — that’s a job for Falcons and Deltas, or perhaps Blue Origin’s impending New Glenn, and they’re welcome to it. But researchers around the country are clamoring for spots on suborbital flights and Blue Origin is happy to provide them.

Tomorrow’s launch will be carrying several dozen, some of which will have been waiting years for their chance to board a rocket. Here are a few examples of what will be tested during the short flight:

  • Evolved Medical Microgravity Suction Device: As more people go into space, we have to be prepared for more and graver injuries. Lots of standard medical tools won’t work properly in microgravity, so it’s necessary to redesign and test them under those conditions. This one is about providing suction, as you might guess, which can be used for lung injuries, drawing blood, and other situations that call for negative air pressure.

This little guy will be doing microgravity test prints using metal.

  • 3D printing with metal in microgravity: Simply everyone knows we can 3D print stuff in space. But just as on Earth, you can’t always make your spare parts out of thermoplastic. Down here we use metal-based 3D printers, and this experiment aims to find out if a modified design will allow for metal printing in space as well.
  • Suborbital centrifuge: It sounds like something the Enterprise would deploy in Star Trek, but it’s just a test bed for a new type of centrifuge that could help simulate other gravities, such as that of the Moon or Mars, for purposes of experiments. They do this on the ISS already but this would make it more compact and easier to automate, saving time and space aboard any craft it flies on.

The suborbital centrifuge, looking as cool as it sounds.

  • BioChip SubOrbitalLab: The largest ever study of space-based health and the effects of microgravity on the human body was just concluded, but there’s much, much more to know. Part of that requires monitoring cells in real time — which like most things is easier to do on the surface. This lab-on-a-chip will test out a new technique for containing individual cells or masses and tracking changes to them in a microgravity environment.

It’s all made possible through NASA’s Flight Opportunities program, which is specifically all about putting small experiments aboard commercial spacecraft. The rest of the many gadgets and experiments awaiting launch are listed here.

The launch itself should be very similar to previous New Shepards, just like one commercial jet takeoff is like another. The booster fires up and ascends to just short of the Karman line at 100 kilometers, which (somewhat arbitrarily) marks the start of “space.”

At that point the capsule will detach and fly upwards with its own momentum, exposing the payloads within to several minutes of microgravity; after it tops out, it will descend and deploy its parachutes, after which it will drift leisurely to the ground. Meanwhile the rocket will have descended as well and made a soft landing on its deployable struts.

The launch is scheduled for 6:30 AM Pacific time — 8:30 AM Central in Texas, at Blue Origin’s launch site. You’ll be able to watch it live at the company’s site.

Posted on

Momentus seeks up to $25 million as it inks deals to transport cargo beyond low Earth orbit

Just nine months after launching from Y Combinator with a new propulsion technology, Momentus has inked its first customers for its transportation technology that can take cargo beyond geostationary orbit — and ultimately to a lunar orbit.

With those customers in tow, the company is also out fundraising, looking for up to $25 million in fresh financing, according to chief executive Mikhail Kokorich.

“It’s the first low-cost transportation way to deliver a low payload from low Earth orbit to geo orbit and to the Moon,” says Kokorich of the company’s technology. 

Both Exolaunch and Deimos Space will use Momentus spacecraft to take their satellites beyond the drop positions they’d occupy by hitching a ride on a SpaceX, Soyuz, Long March or Ariane rocket.

The service can deliver 300 kilograms or 400 kilograms within low Earth orbit and up to 100 kilograms to a lunar orbit, according to Kokorich — for a cost of around $3.4 million.

That’s radically cheaper than solutions that are currently on offer. Momentus uses rockets from any of the big private vendors to get its vessels into space and from there its own propulsion technologies and spacecrafts will haul a small cargo (roughly the size of a kitchen table) anywhere else it needs to go, Kokorich says.

Propelling deep space flight with a new fuel source, Momentus prepares for liftoff

Momentus solves one of the major problems for the new space industry, Kokorich says. Big rockets under development from SpaceX, Ariane, Soyuz and Blue Origin are great for getting payloads to low Earth orbit, but aren’t great for depositing cargo at different points in space. “You don’t need all this payload in the same orbit, so you need the second leg in multi-modal logistics,” says Kokorich. That’s where Momentus comes in, he says.

Last year when SpaceX launched its smallsat express mission, the mission was considered a success because SpaceX was able to unleash its historic payload into space, but, according to Kokorich, the outcome was less than desirable for the companies whose payload SpaceX delivered.

“The satellites that ended up in the same orbit are in a mess,” says Kokorich.

Posted on

David Copperfield’s secret magic techniques crash-landed on the Moon

The loss of Israel’s Beresheet lander during its descent to the lunar surface was unfortunate, but the mission was still largely a success — and has certainly created an interesting cultural artifact on the moon where it impacted. Perhaps more interesting than we could have known: It turns out David Copperfield stashed the secrets to his illusions onboard, and they may have survived the crash.

The data was kept on one of the Arch Mission Foundation’s tiny, high-capacity, high-endurance archival devices, meant to act as libraries or time capsules in a variety of sci-fi-sounding scenarios like extraterrestrial visits or the near-extinction of humans. They’re “nearly indestructible,” and one was on Beresheet.

In a plot twist no one could have seen coming, among the data encoded on the DVD-sized (but much more sophisticated) storage medium are the famous magician’s “secret technological innovations.” Yes, David Copperfield shot his tricks to the moon, and no, it doesn’t sound like it’s just some old ones or previously published information (I asked).

Why?

“When I was introduced to the Arch Mission Foundation, I was immediately enamored with the mission to preserve our civilization, and the possibilities of what we might do together,” Copperfield said in a press release. “One of my heroes is George Méliès, one of the fathers of modern cinema and also a great magician. His most famous movie was ‘A Trip to the Moon,’ which in 1902 visualized people landing on the Moon. It inspired a generation of scientists to actually achieve it, and 70 years later we actually landed on the Moon. Now 50 years later, we’re landing magic on the Moon. We’re bringing it full circle and I find that kind of poetic.”

There you have it. Quite absurd, but why not?

As for the device, AMF has put together a small team (including Stephen Wolfram) to look into what may have happened to it on impact.

“We have either installed the first library on the moon, or we have installed the first archaeological ruins of early human attempts to build a library on the moon,” read a preliminary document by the team containing various figures relating the crash and potential survival of the device.

Although AMF co-founder Nova Spivack said in the press release that “every indication thus far suggests that the Lunar Library is intact on the Moon,” the truth is there aren’t that many positive indications just yet.

Mission control lost contact with Beresheet when it was only 150 meters from the surface; it would have impacted about a second later with about 956 m/s of horizontal velocity, which translates to over 2,000 miles per hour. So this thing was going faster than a bullet and was considerably less durable. The wreckage is likely strewn over kilometers of the lunar surface.

“We think it is highly unlikely that the Lunar Library was atomized in the impact,” writes the team. “Without knowing the impact energy directed at the library, it’s hard to know how the stack fared.  But taking the construction of the Lunar Library into account, we believe it has a high chance of being intact.”

It isn’t just an archival-quality disc or something. It’s a special 25-layer sandwich of nickel and epoxy, the bottom 21 layers of which are filled with digital data. This is the information most at risk, since, like snapping a DVD in half, you can’t just put the pieces back together and hope the 0’s and 1’s align again.

But the top 4 layers are essentially a form of high-durability microfiche, etched with tiny letters that could be read with a basic microscope. These you really could just piece back together. The 60,000 pages of analog data include ” the Arch Mission Primer, selections from Wikipedia, The Wearable Rosetta, The Israeli Time Capsule, a selection of books — and potentially all or some of the not-yet-announced secret Vaults of content.”

Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft is lost during historic lunar landing attempt

Among those “not-yet-announced secret Vaults” in the analog layers is in fact the collection of Copperfield’s illusions. Lucky, that!

Unfortunately, even if the device does theoretically survive, it may never be found: at those speeds the debris from the landing would have spread over a large area and perhaps buried itself in dust and regolith. So even if it were completely intact, it might be invisible even to the high-resolution cameras on the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which AMF has requested to take a few images of the crash site (it was probably already going to given the interest in the Beresheet mission).

“We think it is highly unlikely that the Lunar Library was atomized in the impact, given what we currently know. Therefore either the Lunar library remains entirely intact or it remains in a partially intact state — somewhere within a few kilometers of the landing zone,” writes the team. However, “This may not be verifiable without investigating the scene firsthand, on the ground at the crash site.”

So a trip to the moon, Méliès-style, might be necessary after all.

The idea of a treasure hunt for a famous magician’s secrets in a moon landing gone wrong really sounds more like science fiction than everyday news, but the two things have been growing closer and closer to one another for a while now, so I guess none of us should be surprised.

Posted on

Trifecta! SpaceX launches first mission on Falcon Heavy and lands all three boosters

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy launch vehicle undertook its first commercial mission today, taking a communications satellite to orbit and proving the viability of its heavy-lift rocket platform. And as a piece de resistance, all three rocket cores autonomously landed themselves back on Earth and will soon be ready to fly again.

The mission is still underway, but the most dangerous moments are over with, and the system passed with flying colors. It’ll be some time before the next second stage burn and separation from the payload, at which point the mission will be considered a success.

The launch is a powerful endorsement of Falcon Heavy, which provides far more payload capacity, at far lower cost, than any competitor. New launch vehicles are being tested by SpaceX’s numerous competitors, but Falcon Heavy has the advantage of already existing and working as designed.

Falcon Heavy’s first real launch is the dawn of a new heavy-lift era in space

All planned launch events went as planned, though high winds delayed takeoff yesterday. After takeoff at about 6:35 local time in Cape Canaveral, the two first stages detached and made a picture-perfect landing at LZ-1 and LZ-2; the center core landed on the the drone ship Of Course I Still Love You. The latter was a bit of a nailbiter, as the video cut out just as the center core booster’s retro began to light the pad. But good signal a handful of seconds later revealed the final third of the trifecta.

It must be said that the crowd was going absolutely wild basically from T-0 to T+10 minutes, when the center core landed. Landing all three has never been done, and drone ship landings have led to some of SpaceX’s most public (not to say embarrassing) failures.

Currently the LV is in a cruise state before a second burn takes it to the desired orbit, after which Arabsat-6A will continue under its own power. It is also possible that SpaceX will catch the fairings, though that isn’t as sure a thing for several reasons.

We’ll keep this post updated with the latest.

Posted on

Twin astronaut study suggests interplanetary travel may not be a health risk

The human body “remains robust and resilient” after almost a year in space, according to a long-term, multi-institutional study of twins, one of whom lived aboard the International Space Station for 340 days while the other remained on Earth. These heartening results remove a potential barrier to crewed interplanetary missions — and just in time for us to start planning them.

The study, conducted by NASA and its partners on the American astronauts Scott and Mark Kelly, minutely monitored the twins vitals to see what if any changes occurred to the twin in orbit (Scott) that didn’t to the twin below (Mark). And changes there were, but nothing worrying enough that souls brave enough to go to space will second-guess their profession.

“We have only scratched the surface of knowledge about the body in space,” explained Jennifer Fogarty, chief scientist of NASA’s Human Research Program. “The Twins Study gave us the first integrated molecular view into genetic changes, and demonstrated how a human body adapts and remains robust and resilient even after spending nearly a year aboard the International Space Station. The data captured from integrated investigations like the NASA Twins Study will be explored for years to come.”

There have been previous studies that showed how microgravity and other factors lead to, for example, lower bone density, and consequently the need to address those specific trends with changes to diet or habits. But this is by far the longest anyone has had their health monitored in space, and having a twin on the ground to use as a control body makes for incredibly powerful — yet still limited — results. (Here it seems only fair to note that Mark Kelly is also an accomplished veteran astronaut, not just a “control body.”)

Some expected occurrences included weight loss, lower blood pressure, and eyesight problems due to the lack of gravity. But the length and nature of the study also allowed for several interesting new phenomena in the immunological and molecular domains to be considered. There’s good news and bad news.

Telomeres are parts of our chromosomes that help with, among other things, maintaining our genes. They were immediately affected by presence in space and genetic variation six times that of the control was observed. They lengthened considerably, then upon return to Earth were much shorter than normal. What causes this and what effects it could have are unknown.

That genetic variation also returned to normal when returning to the surface — for the most part. But about 7 percent, many relating to immune response and DNA repair, didn’t. Is there a reason for those genes being affected? It’s impossible to say with a sample size of one. It’s also important to note that these genes weren’t necessarily “damaged” or anything, but that their expression levels had changed. The DNA itself remained intact.

Fortunately, the immune system itself functioned perfectly during and after Scott’s time in space. That’s hugely important, as a weakened immune system could be hugely troublesome on a long, isolated trip to another planet where no additional medical aid can be provided.

The genetic damage may be slightly worrying, but honestly if that’s the biggest issue emerging out of someone spending a year in a can floating through space, it’s seriously good news. The brain (the most critical part of an astronaut) worked great — the circulatory system adapted well — muscles and bones stayed in great shape. Potential telomeric damage and genetic variation aren’t fun, but they aren’t showstoppers either and may very well be preventable.

Considering expeditions to the planned lunar base would almost certainly be longer in duration than those to the ISS, this is great news for the blooming extra-orbital space community. And missions to Mars, as difficult as they may be otherwise, will not have to contend with immune systems shutting down or brain damage from blood pressure changes. That kind of confidence goes a long way.

This study is only the first of many, to be sure, and in fact the teams warn that, because they only had the one person in space as an experimental group, “it is impossible to attribute causality to spaceflight versus a coincidental event. Therefore, our study should be considered as hypothesis-generating and framework-defining and must be complemented in the future by studies of additional astronauts.”

Expect more studies both of this data and whatever gets gathered from future missions to test and verify the results published today. You can read the full paper in the journal Science, and hear much more about the setup and the twins themselves at NASA’s Twins Study page.

Posted on

Israel’s Beresheet spacecraft is lost during historic lunar landing attempt

Israel’s SpaceIL almost made history today as its Beresheet spacecraft came within an ace of landing on the surface of the Moon, but suffered a last minute failure during descent. Israel missed out on the chance to be the fourth country to make a controlled lunar landing, but getting 99 percent of the way there is still an extraordinary achievement for private spaceflight.

Beresheet (“Genesis”) launched in February as secondary payload aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, and after a month and a half spiraling outward, entered lunar orbit a week ago. Today’s final maneuver was an engine burn meant to bring down its relative velocity to the Moon, then brake to a soft landing in the Mare Serenitatis, or Sea of Serenity.

Everything was working fine up until the final moments, as is often the case in space. The craft, having made it perfectly to its intended point of descent, determined that all systems were ready and the landing process would go ahead as planned.

They lost telemetry for a bit, and had to reset the craft to get the main engine back online… and then communication dropped while only a handful of kilometers from the surface. The “selfie” image above was taken from 22 km above the surface, just a few minutes that. The spacecraft was announced as lost shortly afterwards.

Clearly disappointed but also exhilarated, the team quickly recovered its composure, saying “the achievement of getting to where we got is tremendous and we can be proud,” and of course, “if at first you don’t succeed… try, try again.”

The project began as an attempt to claim the Google Lunar Xprize, announced more than a decade ago, but which proved too difficult for teams to attempt in the timeframe specified. Although the challenge and its prize money lapsed, Israel’s SpaceIL team continued its work, bolstered by the support of Israel Aerospace Industries, the state-owned aviation concern there.

It’s worth noting that Beresheet did enjoy considerable government support in this way, it’s a far cry from any other large-scale government-run mission, and can safely be considered “private” for all intents and purposes. The ~50-person team and $200 million budget are laughably small compared to practically any serious mission, let alone a lunar landing.

I spoke with Xprize’s Founder and CEO, Peter Diamandis and Anousheh Ansari respectively, just before the landing attempt. Both were extremely excited and made it clear that the mission was already considered a huge success.

Historic first private mission to the Moon launches Thursday night

“What I’m seeing here is an incredible who’s who from science, education, and government who have gathered to watch this miracle take place,” Diamandis said. “We launched this competition now 11 years ago to inspire and educate engineers, and despite the fact that it ran out of time it has achieved 100 percent of its goal. Even if it doesn’t make it onto the ground fully intact it has ignited a level of electricity and excitement that reminds me of the Ansari Xprize 15 years ago.”

He’s not the only one. Ansari, who funded the famous spaceflight Xprize that bore her name, and who has herself visited space as one of the first tourist-astronauts above the International Space Station, felt a similar vibe.

“It’s an amazing moment, bringing so many great memories up,” she told me. “It reminds me of when we were all out in the Mojave waiting for the launch of Spaceship One.”

Ansari emphasized the feeling the landing evoked of moving forward as a people.

“Imagine, over the last 50 years only 500 people out of seven billion have been to space — that number will be thousands soon,” she said. “We believe there’s so much more that can be done in this area of technology, a lot of real business opportunities that benefit civilization but also humanity.”

Congratulations to the SpaceIL team for their achievement, and here’s hoping the next attempt makes it all the way down.