All of a Saturn, Everybody is Talking about Titan
JWST delivers dazzling images of Titan, 'Good Night Oppy' provides the rover love letter we didn't know we needed, and Orion prepares for its return to Earth
Hello Continuum readers and Celestial Citizens,
Welcome to the last month of 2022 and the beginning of the Space Telescope Advent Calendar courtesy of The Atlantic!
A lot has happened over the last two weeks for the space community, but perhaps one of my personal highlights was watching Good Night Oppy, the latest Amazon Original Documentary directed by Ryan White. This film was surprisingly poignant and elegantly explained the sentimentality and attachment that many (especially those working closest to the Mars rovers) feel to these roaming robots of the red planet. More than that, it shined a light on the spectacular feat accomplished by Spirit and Opportunity to be able to extend missions far, far beyond their originally intended 90 Martian sol timeline.
And yet somehow, what struck me the most was not only the raw emotion involved in these missions or the celebrations around finding further evidence of past water on Mars – but instead, the generational continuity and commitment to this twin rover mission. The fact that this mission from launch to loss of contact spanned 15 years and required the coordinated efforts of so many people along the way to surpass all expectations, is perhaps the most powerful reminder of why it is important to continue to inspire younger generations and pass the torch.
In other words, yes, I cried watching this. I hope you do too. It was a beautiful film and very much worth the watch.
The other big highlight for me was, of course, the stunning images of Saturn’s moon Titan that were captured by JWST this week. I mean…we might have just found evidence of moving clouds on another celestial body in our solar system that looks shockingly Earth-like! We can see surface features including a methane lake that could possibly harbor life (and of course it’s called Kraken Mare), gigantic sand dunes, and even a mysterious glow in the moon’s atmosphere that we can’t quite explain yet. We’ve learned a lot about Titan thanks to NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, but many unresolved questions remain.
And even before we attempt to answer whether Kraken Mare potentially harbors life (albeit it would look very different from life on Earth thanks to the unique chemistry of Titan), we still aren’t even sure of the methane lake’s depth. When radar attempted to gather these measurements, it was unsuccessful – likely meaning the lake was either too deep or too absorptive for radar to reach the bottom. All of these Titan conundrums sound like the plot of a great movie in my opinion, so keep an eye out for Titan Dispatch – the unintended and perhaps unwanted sequel to Europa Report.
Are we casually living in the golden era of planetary science? That’s like asking if “space Karen” has an irresistibly catchy ring to it…almost certainly.
And now the space beat you came here for…
Top Headlines
Orion – We’ll never get tired of seeing all the great views Orion has been snapping on its way to the Moon, as well as all the highlight videos from the Artemis launch from NASA. So far the mission has been hugely successful, achieving distant retrograde orbit around the Moon. There have been a few blips along the way: NASA did lose contact with Orion for just 47 minutes last week and a JAXA cubesat that caught a ride on Artemis 1 will not make its lunar landing as planned. But this won’t diminish the success we’ve seen so far! Orion successfully left lunar orbit yesterday, and has started its final lap around the Moon and trek back to Earth. With its return currently expected on December 11, we couldn’t ask for a better early Christmas present than a successful splashdown from the capsule!
JWST – NASA will not be renaming the James Webb Space Telescope. Facing criticism due to Webb’s tenure in the State Department during “The Lavender Scare,” NASA initiated a review of Webb’s leadership as NASA administrator in 2021. It seems that the review has been concluded, with the agency releasing a report on November 18, and stating that after their chief historian led a review of over 50,000 documents and they have found that, to date, “no available evidence directly links Webb to any actions or follow-up related to the firing of individuals for their sexual orientation.” You can see the final 89 page report in full here.
ESA’s New Class – Last week, ESA announced its first astronaut class in 13 years. From a pool of over 22,500 applicants, 17 were chosen – including five career astronauts, 11 members of a reserve pool of astronauts and one astronaut with a physical disability, the first Parastronaut. John McFall, who’s right leg was amputated when he was 19, will be participating in ESA’s Parastronaut Feasibility Project “to develop options for the inclusion of astronauts with physical disabilities in human spaceflight and possible future missions.” We’re excited to see what this new class of astronauts go on to do as we enter a new age of space exploration!
Astronomy Publishing – A new study from cosmologists Vanessa Böhm (UC Berkeley) and Jia Liu (Kavali IMPU, Japan) found that the COVID-19 shutdown in 2020 widened the already existent gender gap in the astronomy field. Böhm and Liu looked at publication rates from prior to the pandemic until February 2022, and found that “out of the 25 countries studied, 14 showed women publishing a smaller fraction of astronomy papers and fewer female researchers entering the field.”
Water – Water water everywhere, and especially in space? New research papers about Perseverance’s findings offer detailed attempts at tracing the history of water on Mars – including its salty past, run-ins with lava, and timeline of appearances. Meanwhile, a meteorite that crashed in the UK last year, dubbed the Winchcombe meteorite for the town it landed in, is said to have had water make up 11% of its weight. With its hydrogen atoms matching Earth’s closely, this discovery provides further support to the theory that space rocks brought water and other chemical components to Earth. Only time will tell as scientists continue to analyze this interesting case study and if you’re interested in the first paper on it, you can find that here.
The JWST Download
Titan gets a glow-up!
Peering at some of the oldest and furthest galaxies ever seen
It seems like we can’t get enough of studying WASP-39b!
Calling dibs on the “beware the ides of micrometeroids” joke that’s bound to happen.
As usual, Hubble won’t be outdone. Check out its photo of an “intergalactic bridge.”
A Global Space
China – It would seem that China’s near-completion of their space station has many folks a bit rattled. As rhetoric around the new space race, “responsive launches,” and war in space heats up, Space Force has set up their first U.S Indo-Pacific Command unit. Based in Hawaii, this is the Defense Department’s largest combatant command, overseeing the entire Pacific fleet. At present however, it seems that China is still just getting started: The arrival of a new crew of three to the space station marks the first crew rotation and start of operations. And while it seems they’re hoping to test experiments like space based solar power, China continues to set its sights forward, outlining their plans for future lunar exploration.
Japan – China’s increased presence in space is particularly alarming to Japan, but in a more specific way: they want to be at the forefront of space debris clean up. You can read the full write-up from The Washington Post here, but it seems that Japan has increased its in-space cooperation with the U.S in order to reach this goal. On November 17, Japan agreed to a set of commitments to support the future space station Gateway, as well as confirming the country’s intention to remain with the ISS until 2030 – hoping to boost its usage past 2024.
South Korea – This week, President Yoon Suk-yeol announced that the country intends to land a robotic spacecraft on the Moon in 2032 and on Mars in 2045. And because big space ambitions usually come with a big price tag…Yoon committed to doubling the budget for South Korea’s space development program in the next five years. For reference, the country’s 2022 space budget is currently 734 billion won ($553 million).
ISS – Currently, the ISS seems as busy as ever! Last Saturday, a SpaceX Dragon spacecraft docked on the ISS, bringing with it a variety of exciting experiments. From growing dwarf tomatoes in space, to in-space construction, you can check out the full list of experiments here. Also aboard the Dragon craft were two roll-out solar arrays. This is the second of three solar panel packages, and once installed they will complete half of the upgrade of the ISS’s power channels.
France – Has France picked their candidate for a crewed Artemis mission? At a meeting between French President Emmanuel Macron and Vice President Kamala Harris at NASA Headquarters, Macron seemingly tapped French astronaut Thomas Pesquet as their lead candidate. With Artemis 3, the first crewed mission back to the lunar surface, targeting a launch in 2025 at the earliest, the astronaut seats are still up for grabs. Another big outcome of this meeting was that the French government committed to joining the United States and several other countries in a pledge not to conduct anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons tests in an effort to encourage a safer and cleaner orbital environment.
Australia – Gilmour Space, an Australian-based space technology company, has almost finished building the country’s first rocket. Dubbed Eris, the rocket will be “fitted with a lightweight satellite and aim to enter low Earth orbit.” The company is currently eyeing April 2023 for a first launch.
ESA – After a two-day ministerial conference, ESA Director General Josef Aschbacher announced that ESA members have contributed a total of €16.9 billion Euros in funding for the next three years. This marks a significant increase in funding since 2019, but is also below the €18.9 billion Euros that ESA leadership was initially looking to receive.
MOONSHOT
If we’re going to get to space, we’re going to need a lot of help. In our Moonshot section, we’ll share highlights from some of the commercial companies that are taking us there:
SpaceX has delayed the launch of Japan’s Hakuto-R moon lander for a second time. The initial delay was to allow “for additional pre-flight checkouts.” Currently, there is no new date set for the launch. However if this launch occurs and is successful, Japan will make history, becoming only the fourth country to make a soft landing on the lunar surface. Aboard the Hakuto-R is the United Arab Emirates Rashid rover, which will study the Moon for two Earth weeks if all goes to plan.
Blue Origin is cleared for government contracts! Space Force announced that it signed an agreement with the company for its New Glenn rocket to compete for “national security launch contracts”... after it completes required flight certification of course.
Going to space might have gotten a whole lot cheaper – Space Perspective announced its plans to build the MS Voyager, the first of its marine spaceports that will provide the company with a mobile launching platform. Currently, you can buy a ticket to go up in Space Perspective’s high altitude balloons for $125,000. Going up 100,000 feet, you’ll get “edge of space” views for two hours. Reportedly over 1,000 tickets have been sold so far.
The TROPICS satellites have a new launch provider. Rocket Lab, infamous for catching rockets on hooks, has been selected to carry the remaining weather monitoring cubesats into orbit. Original provider Astra has had their contract revised so that they will return to launch “comparable scientific payloads” on their new Rocket 4.
NASA has awarded ICON, a Texas-based technology and robotic 3D-printing company, $57.2 million for continued funding for their Project Olympus program. The company has been working on this program for two years, aiming to develop lunar-based construction systems using what is locally available.
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are some pieces of space-adjacent news we’ve been reading:
Check out J Oliver Conroy’s piece for The Guardian on longtermism - and how that philosophy is shared between Sam Bankman-Fried of the recent FTX crypto scandal and Elon Musk of recent Twitter takeover fame.
How Ukraine is teaching us about space’s importance in warfare.
Want more Good Night Oppy content? Ars Technica interviewed director Ryan White about his inspiration behind the film, the process, and all the emotions around our metal friend on the red planet.
How will the space economy change the world? McKinsey has some thoughts…
Well, here we are at the end of another newsletter and hopefully feeling a bit wiser! Do yourself a favor and enjoy your weekend like Bill Gates enjoys a ‘95 Windows launch event.
A big thank you to Evan Yee for writing this edition with me and helping to comb through all of the latest on the space industry. We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week and will share it with your friends. And if you really, really like us, then consider becoming a paid subscriber or gifting a subscription to someone who is the Spirit to your Opportunity this holiday season. Until next time…
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum
If Mechagodzilla could shoot rockets from it's fingers did it have missletoes?