All In Good (Lunar) Time
NASA is tasked with establishing standard lunar time, three U.S. companies get to work on moon-worthy vehicles, and the rise of Bill-ie Nye-lish in the face of 2024’s total solar eclipse.
Hello Celestial Citizens and Continuum readers,
We are T-minus 3 days from experiencing a total (solar) eclipse of (our celestial) the heart(s)!
No matter where you plan to soak in this celestial event, make sure you do it with the proper, protective eyewear. Lest we all forgot this cautionary tale…
Wishing you a safe and awe-inspiring eclipse day! And now, the space beat you came here for…
Top Headlines
The Eclipse is Nye – As reminded by America’s national treasure, Bill Nye – or, as his new alter ego since his fresh-as-hell Time Out cover, Bill-ie Nye-lish – North America will experience a total solar eclipse on Monday, April 8th. From Mexico’s Pacific coast up through the United States and vacating the continent in Newfoundland, Canada, approximately 48.3 million people reside in the path of totality. However, the amount of actual observers could very well exceed that number as tourists flood cities along the path this weekend, potentially rivaling Taylor Swift-level crowds. In addition to the spiritual or social experience of such a rare celestial phenomenon, the scientific community stands to gain during an eclipse as well. For example, photography of the eclipse can provide valuable data on the sun’s thin plasma corona in detail not otherwise possible in visible light. NASA plans to study the Earth’s ionosphere during the eclipse to better understand how a sudden moon shadow affects radio communications. A team led by Harvard astronomer Allyson Bieryla will continue to refine their LightSound device, which allows visually impaired or blind individuals to experience the eclipse through sonification, or musical tones. So, if you’re feeling any eclipse science FOMO right about now, you’re in luck: NASA is crowdsourcing citizen data, from recordings of wildlife soundscapes to sun shape measurements. Just remember the safety guidelines for observing, and get out there and enjoy.
Lunar Time – Ah, space and time – the continuums of which we love to pine for more. But what about space-time? Now, as per a White House directive, NASA will develop a universal time for the moon by the end of 2026, to be known as Coordinated Lunar Time (CLT). The memo released on April 2nd might just be another effort by the U.S. to set international space standards and firm up a leading position in the space race, but the need for accurate celestial time goes beyond competition. Thanks to the effects of relativity, the “clock that we have on Earth would move at a different rate on the moon,” according to NASA’s chief of communications and navigation. Earth has around 400 atomic clocks to keep Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) in check, so a possible next step towards CLT might be assembling a number of atomic clocks for the lunar surface. It wouldn’t be NASA’s first time sending an atomic clock into space, as the agency launched the Deep Space Atomic Clock back in 2019 as a resilience test for a future network. Whether or not the U.S. creates the standard, reliable space time is essential for “all spacefaring nations,” says the memo – from calculating distances to synchronizing communications. Imagine the rifts between lunar astronauts trying to meet up for an interstellar coffee date on differing time tables. No one likes getting stood up, especially in microgravity.
Baby, You Can Drive My LTV – NASA wants a ticket to anywhere. Specifically, the U.S. space agency has bought a ticket to see Lunar Terrain Vehicle (LTV) designs from Texas-based Intuitive Machines, Colorado robotics firm Lunar Outpost and California mobility specialist Venturi Astrolab. The contracts, which the agency defines as “indefinite-delivery,” “indefinite-quantity” and “milestone-based,” will support the three companies through development of a rover that can withstand the harsh environment of the lunar South Pole, incorporating the necessary power management, autonomous driving, navigation and communication technologies. Ultimately, the agency is looking for a vehicle that will extend their astronauts’ ability to navigate the celestial body in ways they could not on foot. It’s likely that only one of the three firms will be awarded a demonstration contract, which will include testing the vehicle on the Moon’s surface ahead of Artemis V, the mission with which the agency hopes to use the LTV for the first time.
Delta IV Heavy – The eclipse won’t be the only historic sight next week. As SpaceX’s flagship heavy-lifting rocket thrusts its way into existence, another prepares to retire. ULA’s Delta IV Heavy was set to complete its 16th and final launch on March 28th, but had to stop short due to an issue with a pressure component. With a new target of Tuesday, April 9th, the heavy lifter promises to make its final flight in flaming fashion (please don’t @ us for our alliteration affinity). Whether the ULA rocket’s design – which harnesses ultracold liquid nitrogen to cool its engines, creating the very “metal” visual of a rocket engulfed in flames – is more for functionality or for “dramatic effect,” in the actual words of CEO Tory Bruno, we may never know.
A Single Grain of Ice – If the science community is not buzzing about the eclipse – or lunar rovers – it’s only because they’re taking a break to gush about SUDA, or the Surface Dust Analyzer. The instrument will fly with NASA’s Europa Clipper through the frozen water plumes above the Jovian moon for which the spacecraft is named. According to recently published research, even a grain of ice that comes in contact with the instrument’s detector could tell a comprehensive chemical story of the icy moon – and its potential for life – thanks to a process called impact ionization mass spectrometry. To express their excitement around otherworldly water, NASA is also affixing a metal plate to Clipper, on which they’ve etched the waveforms of “water” in 103 different languages.
Honorable Mentions
Our final notable nuggets.
Commercial SPACE Leadership Act – Two Senate bills introduced at the end of March – including the Commercial Standards Paramount to Accelerating Cosmic Exploration (SPACE) Leadership Act – address common regulatory bridles to the industry, such as the learning period and slow licensing turnaround. For one thing, the bill would put a stop to the modest learning period punts and officially extend the regulation hold by five years, at which time there would be a solid plan in place for the industry and government to collaborate on human spaceflight safety law.
Power Trip – Any campers out there who have woken up with a cold, dead phone know that low overnight temperatures are no friend to battery life. As evidenced by Odysseus’ short life on the moon, the plausibility of human exploration on the Moon hinges on a power source that can stand up to long lunar nights. Looking ahead to Artemis and beyond, NASA sees nuclear power as the most promising system.
Penta-gone – A major player in U.S. commercial-government integration is waving goodbye to the Pentagon. Confirmed on March 29th, the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Space Policy John Plumb will step down in “early May.”
Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs Space Junk – Challenging the familiar space agency term, “harmless reentries,” a mysterious piece of space debris that crashed through a Florida home in early March has now been identified an an old battery pallet ejected back in 2021 from the International Space Station. Potentially belonging to both NASA and JAXA, analysis is still underway to determine who is on the hook for the damages.
Pluto Apologists – Arizona has just named Pluto as its “state planet.” And to that we say, Arizona, stop trying to make state planets happen, it’s never going to happen. Also, not Arizona trying to stir up drama in the planetary science community by calling a dwarf planet a planet.
Moon Kit – Gearheads, unite! NASA has revealed the first gadgets selected to support Artemis 3 astronauts during their lunar probe.
Starliner – The Boeing CST-100 Starliner spacecraft set to deliver NASA astronauts Suni Williams and Butch Wilmore to the ISS has slid to a May 6th launch, due to crowded operations at the station. The mission will be a test run of sorts, assessing Starliner’s ability to jump into a more regular rotation.
The JWST Download
Published on March 26th, the JWST serves us a mesmerizing image of an irregular dwarf galaxy within the constellation of Ursa Major, containing two “lobes” of star formation factories.
Webb has joined a study of protoplanetary disks – the early stages of planet formation – to scope out a faint disk akin to “trying to detect a little light bulb next to a lighthouse.”
A recently presented campaign harnessed the powers of the JWST to study a major merger, known as the NGC 3256 galaxy. Specifically, the telescope’s Near-InfraRed Spectrograph and Mid-InfraRed Instrument will help the team of international astronomers analyze the hydrogen gas outflows from the galaxy’s two nuclei.
We may be the only planet in our solar system with living things to cherish alluring polar auroras, but we’re not the only planet to have nature’s finest light shows. JWST will help scientists study the auroras of Saturn and Uranus, in an effort to understand the magnetic fields of the gas and ice giant, respectively.
And speaking of magnetic fields, Webb competitor the Event Horizon Telescope (EHT) recently used polarized light to capture an organized magnetic spiral radiating from the Milky Way’s central black hole. The structure draws striking similarities to that of the M87’s more massive black hole, which could imply a standard amongst black holes of all sizes.
A Global Space
India – ISRO landed another test spaceplane last week. On March 22nd, the organization dropped a reusable launch vehicle (RLV) from a helicopter, simulating a high-speed approach from orbit. During the test, the RLV, more recently dubbed Pushpak – after a chariot from Hindu legend – was able to both course correct from the angle at which it was dropped and slow its speed in order to complete a controlled runway landing. Should the agency perform a hat trick and complete a third successful test, Pushpak could be ready for the big leagues – that is, to land from orbit via a GSLV rocket.
Russia – A Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked with the International Space Station on Monday, March 25th, delivering American astronaut Tracy Dyson, Russian cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky, and Belarusian astronaut Marina Vasilevskaya. The Soyuz launched on Saturday the 23rd, two days after an initial attempt was aborted seconds before takeoff. While Novitsky and Vasilevskaya are scheduled to return home tomorrow – with NASA astronaut and ISS incumbent Loral O’Hara – Dyson is to stay onboard the station for six months. And while we’re on the note of Soyuz missions, Russia continued its launch streak with a successful satellite deployment on March 31st, courtesy of a Soyuz-2.1b carrier vehicle. The Resurs-P Earth No. 4 spacecraft is part of a remote sensing series from Roscosmos, with features that include “ultra-high spatial resolution” and “stereoscopic shooting capabilities for creating 3D models,” according to the nation’s news agency. The vehicle took off from Russia’s Kazakh outpost, Baikonur Spaceport.
China – Like Russia, China is making efforts to increase its space domain awareness – in addition to fortifying their counter space capabilities. According to a recent report released by the Secure World Foundation, both Russia and China have electronic warfare technology in their arsenals – such as jamming systems and directed energy weapons – which put them in competition with the United States. While the report echoed recent concerns over Russia’s offensive nuclear program, it was less clear about China’s motivations with their stockpile. Their hand, so to speak, may be most valuable as a deterrent, to match and hence nullify the U.S. military’s assets. That being said, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) did launch a Yaogan-42 satellite this past Tuesday, the first in a new series of military reconnaissance satellites. While Chinese media has been open in the past regarding previous Yaogan satellites and their objectives – which have ranged from crop surveying to weather forecasting – they’re pretty mum about this classified spacecraft.
Canada – Canada’s ready to move at the speed of light, with the nation increasing its investment plan by 50% for Telesat’s LEO Lightspeed constellation, providing nearly half the project’s total $3.5 billion budget. The windfall comes with a bit of a catch, which includes a higher interest rate, and a timeframe of 15 years for Telesat to pay off the loan, compared to 20 years from the original investment plan set forth in 2021. The Canadian government’s investment will also hinge on the financing sources for MDA, the constellation’s key satellite manufacturer, also based in Canada. That being said, the additional funding – as well as savings Telesat nabbed when switching manufacturers from Thales Alenia Space to MDA back in August – will negate the need for export credit agencies (ECAs). Plus, this gives Canada an opportunity to invest in a sovereign effort, from operator to manufacturer.
Japan – It’s a lunar rover. No, it’s a toy! Yes, it’s Optimus Prime! Japan allows the public to share in celebration over the nation’s pressurized Lunar Cruiser – in development by JAXA and Toyota – by releasing a scale model of the vehicle available for purchase. Produced by Takara Tomy, the company behind Transformers, the figure takes on the form of Optimus Prime as an added bonus. Hopefully, the agency won’t feel the pressure of empty promises when the actual Lunar Cruiser doesn’t turn into Optimus Prime on its future lunar missions – but we digress. This is the second JAXA/Takara Tomy collaboration we’ve covered in the last few months, the first being the Sora-Q, the spherical rover deployed on the lunar surface by SLIM in January. Speaking of SLIM, the Japanese lander continues to live on, despite multiple lengthy lunar nights endured since its faceplant arrival.
ESA – As previously covered, things have been a bit dicey for ESA’s dark matter-seeker, known as Euclid. We’re happy to report today that the European Space Agency’s recent efforts – supported by industry partners Thales Alenia Space and Airbus Space – were successful in de-icing the spacecraft’s mirrors, welcoming back the light of the universe. The team will continue to monitor Euclid’s mirrors and will likely incorporate some kind of regular heating regimen to maintain its full capabilities throughout its mission.
And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! Keep an eye out for a new Saturday Space Reads in your inbox tomorrow as well as this coming Monday for Moonshot, our paid subscriber newsletter covering the commercial space sector. A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and for keeping up with the cosmos! We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week and will share it with your friends. And if you really, really like us, then consider making it official and becoming a paid subscriber or spreading the space gospel and gifting a subscription.
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum