Don’t Worry Pee Happy
NASA achieves new heights in transforming urine into water, new findings put Einstein to the test, and all the hopes (fears?) for Euclid’s search of the universe’s dark side
Hello Celestial Citizens and Continuum readers,
This week was a HOT one…
Humans experienced what was quite literally (and terrifyingly) the hottest day ever recorded…and then experienced it again (and again).
Airports in the U.S. were a hot mess during one of the busiest travel weeks of the year (and the FAA has a pretty good idea why).
Things at the White House got white (hot?) like it was 1988....okay, bad joke.
And Threads hot launched with an explosion of 55 million user sign ups within 48 hours. And if you want to find us on another platform, Celestial Citizen is already out there space threading and petitioning for Space Twitter to become the Space Sewing Club on Threads. Let’s get jackets, people!
Needless to say, with every new social app launch comes sleepless nights scrolling and trying to figure out which lunch table to sit at like it’s the first week of school. So, I’ve been living on Copper Moon Coffee - and if you need that extra jolt too - you can use code Celestial20 to get 20% off your order.
And now onto the space beat you came here for…
Top Headlines
Ripples — If you haven’t heard, a new discovery is making serious waves in the astronomy and physics communities — gravitational waves, that is. While the pulsing timing arrays (PTAs) used in this most recent study are not the first to detect gravitational waves in general, it has presented an idea of a gravitational wave spectrum, just as there is for light. Specifically, the study — which involves 15 years of data — has examined waves resulting from supermassive black holes and galaxy mergers. What they’re looking at is how their distortion relates to their originating event, aligning with Euler’s formula and potentially calling into question Einstein's theory of general relativity. Sure, it takes a lot of you-know-whats to stand up against Einstein, but the stakes are fairly high here. If we can get to a point where we can not only detect gravitational waves but identify their source as a merger, we will have a much clearer picture of the dramatic action of the universe. This is still conjecture at this stage, but the potential of these findings is, well, super-massive.
The Dark Side – Something that may bring clarity to this new gravitational wave theory is ESA’s Euclid mission, which launched on July 1st on a Falcon 9 to explore the ever-elusive dark energy and dark matter of the universe. This darkness is no small piece, either — in fact it makes up 95% of our universe, with only 5% being the atoms and particles we understand today. To astronomers, this black hole in their knowledge is an “embarrassing situation” in cosmology. Well, good news science community: Euclid has entered the chat. While its road hasn’t been a smooth one — the lead company Thales Alenia Space having to delay and adjust its design after its initial ride (a Russian Soyuz rocket) fell through — Euclid will ideally be able to give us the “largest and most accurate 3-D map of the universe to date.”
All The Spit & Sweat – Water has been a challenge for space missions for...forever. It’s heavy stuff, and it's non-negotiable when it comes to human survival. So with long-term stays in orbit, such as on the ISS, space agencies like NASA have had to get pretty crafty with sourcing the life-sustaining fluid. This month, NASA achieved a 98% restoration rate of their initial water source by essentially recycling astronauts’ pee and sweat — even breath, via an advanced dehumidifier. Of course, the agency has been processing bodily fluids to produce drinkable water for some time (if you didn’t know, now you do), but a recovery rate of 98% is the highest so far, and truly opens up the flood gates of long-term space travel potential. And if you’re worried about the astronauts, well, don’t — they’ve already forgotten what it feels like to feel normal.
Virgin Galactic — Virgin Galactic successfully launched their Galactic 01 mission last week, making it a much better week for commercial explorers than the previous. Primarily a research flight, a VSS Unity spacecraft carried four members of the Italian Air Force into LEO and back to Earth smoothly. From a liftoff at 10:30 AM Eastern to a landing at 11:43 AM, there wasn’t much time for the team’s thirteen planned experiments, but speedsters made it work. Despite the successful mission, Virgin Galactic shares dropped shortly after. Maybe a bit of a bad omen, but the company still raised $300 million last week via a stock offering — funding it needs and will continue to need until it can operate its commercial flights at a more swift cadence.
We’re In The Tranches Now — The Space Development Agency (SDA), a subdivision of the U.S. Space Force put up a casting call last week. The role? A very chatty, or communicative satellite for a military constellation. The SDA will need 100 satellites for this piece of the constellation, known as the Transport Layer Tranche 2. While the transport layers of the constellation — of which there is one already launched and one set to launch in 2024, Tranche 0 and Tranche 1, respectively — focus on communicating classified information like missile warnings, the tracking layers are made up of sensors, which detect the missiles. The 100 satellites that will eventually comprise Tranche 2 not only make the largest procurement by the SDA but will also create a constellation capable of global coverage for the U.S. military.
NASA Comings & Goings — One of the three commissioning scientists for the James Webb Space Telescope, Dr. Jane Rigby will take over as its new senior project scientist, where her mission is to “maximize the science return from the most powerful telescope humanity has ever built.” Hefty words, but who better to achieve them than someone with years of experience studying not only the JWST, but the Keck and Magellan Observatories as well as the Hubble Space Telescope. Among her many accolades, Rigby recently won the 2022 LGBTQ+ Scientist of the Year by Out to Innovate. As the agency welcomes Dr. Rigby to her new role, they also said goodbye to acclaimed astronaut Mike Hopkins this past week, who retired after an impressive history including 334 days in space, five spacewalks and commanding the 2020 SpaceX Crew-1 mission to the ISS. Hopkins leaves a legacy of positivity, one that shows “there is no limit to what humans can achieve when we all work together,” according to his colleagues.
Finding Ingenuity — Last Friday, NASA announced an exciting reunion between Mars chopper Ingenuity and its sidekick, the Perseverance rover, who reestablished connection after two months of silence. The Ingenuity team, based at JPL, believes the mountainous terrain is to blame for possible connectivity dead zones. Anyone who’s ever driven through the Hollywood Hills can certainly understand this. The team can rest easy now that they know Ingenuity is alive and well, ready to continue its search for life on the red planet.
The JWST Download
Those rings, see how they shine — in the JWST’s newest image of Saturn, completing its collection of our solar system’s four “giant worlds.”
The JWST’s recent depiction of a red spiral suggests a violent cosmic past.
We may have been captivated by phosphorus in our last newsletter, but today we’re hyped on carbon. Another life-forming molecule, CH3+ was spotted in a young star system, only 1,350 light-years away.
Another week, another black hole that the JWST has found and gifted to astronomers to study. This one — the most distant black hole that’s active — is also relatively smaller in mass. Mini-massive, some might say.
A Global Space
Algeria & Russia - The “use of outer space for peaceful purposes” was the theme of a new agreement between the Algerian Space Agency (ASAL) and Russia’s Roscosmos in June, announced only recently. ASAL also participated in the 26th International Economic Forum in Saint Petersburg in mid-June, at which there was discussion of space cooperation among the BRICS countries. ASAL’s Director General has expressed that the nation is happy to work with countries advanced in the field of space like Russia, China and India to further Algeria’s space sector.
China & Egypt — On June 25th, the Egyptian Space Agency celebrated progress in their collaboration with China, under which the two nations will launch a set of satellites, the MisrSat II. China delivered the (incomplete) satellites and flight model to Egypt back in March, where the agency has and will continue to finalize and test them until later this year. From Egypt’s point of view, this project offers experience and future access to assembling and testing satellites. For China — who is funding the project — the collaboration presents an indirect advantage, growing the nation’s pool of potential partners in future initiatives like their International Lunar Research Station. Also swimming in that potential partner pool is Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC), with which China hopes to set up a Space Cooperation Forum. The forum would allow the nations to collaborate on satellite technology and remote sensing.
Canada & UK — Space gets the Royal treatment this week, as Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield plans to solve the questions around lunar resource law with an “Astra Carta.” As the name suggests, the plan pays some homage to the Magna Carta, and fittingly Hadfield worked with King Charles III on the proposal. Just what we need: royalty on the moon.
ESA — Europe is working tirelessly to maintain independent launch access, but their rockets have not been the most cooperative lately. The Ariane 5 finally made its final flight after many delays this month, and the Vega C hit a roadblock last week when the engine — adorned in new carbon-carbon material — malfunctioned during a static-fire test. This comes as part of an effort to return the rocket to flight after its engine experienced a loss of thrust in a December launch attempt. Italian company Avio is behind the Vega C and will continue to troubleshoot, but ESA has already made new arrangements for its EarthCARE spacecraft, swapping its ride from the Vega C to a Falcon 9 for a 2024 launch. The Sentinel-1C radar imaging satellite intended to fly with Vega C later this year is still up in the air (or, not).
Australia — It’s been a rough couple weeks for the Australian space sector, as the Australian Labor Party — better known as Labor — pulled the plug on a progressive Earth observation program, which would shed light on natural disasters, agriculture and marine life down under. While the former Science and Technology Minister Melissa Price classified these observational satellites as foundational to the Australian space sector, the new Minister Ed Husic has dropped the program due to “budget repair,” and believes Australia can continue to rely on their international partners for observational data. Without government support, Australia’s young space industry could be in danger, but we hope they pull through.
India — India’s space industry is thriving, particularly through its 140 startups, specializing in satellite, launch and data retrieval technology on the cheap. Though SpaceX still has India beat in terms of low cost per kilogram, the tech coming out of India’s startups is still an attractive alternative to SpaceX, particularly from an American point of view — when the other closest price point is a Chinese company, for instance. In fact, the Times of India just reported a potential client for India’s GSLV-Mk3 and LVM-3 spacecraft: Blue Origin is accordingly in talks with the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre to assess whether these vehicles may be contenders to service a future LEO space station for the company.
North Korea — In an effort to arm itself against the U.S. and South Korea, North Korea sent up a reconnaissance satellite in late May, which drew anxiety and criticism from around the world but ultimately ended up in the ocean shortly after launch. This past Wednesday, South Korea completed a recovery mission of the spacecraft’s sunken parts, sharing that according to their findings, the vehicle did not in fact have reconnaissance capabilities, after all. Whether the satellite was a bluff or not, it’s likely that North Korea will make a second attempt soon.
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are some longer format space morsels we’ve been enjoying:
Everything you want to know about Themis — the goddess of justice and also the name of a reusable rocket program for future European launchers — in the latest publication from
.In this photo collection recalling the stellar month of June, you may see some shock diamonds — and no, we’re not talking about surprise engagements, we’re talking about the cousins to shockwaves.
Neutrinos, which are low-mass subatomic particles without an electric charge, have long been collected by a giant sensor in Antarctica known as the IceCube. But until only recently, these far-too-numerous and ambiguous readings were largely ignored. Learn why physicists no longer have to use “air quotes when using the phrase neutrino astronomy.”
A new study has breathed new life into the ol’ Zhurong rover’s first kilometer on Mars back in 2021. Read about what the red planet’s magnetic fields have to say about what is likely a catastrophic past.
This is an exciting read about an astrophysist’s journey through government red tape and an ocean voyage to uncover the truth about a “kitchen sink-sized piece of interstellar material.”
In this article, astronomer — and Season 4 Celestial Citizen podcast guest —
gives the inside scoop on the Baby Bear Zone, aka the habitable zone around distant stars that have the potential to harbor life.It should go without saying that debris in space is difficult to control (hello, gravity?), but will it stop our world from waging war with terrestrial weapons?
And that’s a wrap on this week in space news! Keep an eye out 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 becoming a paid subscriber or gifting a subscription to someone that stayed up all night with you to see which space accounts would make the leap from Twitter to Threads.
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum
This edition of the newsletter was brought to you by:
Multiverse Media (Gold Sponsor)
Colorado School of Mines Space Resources Program (Silver Sponsor)
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There is an ever larger population of photons in all varieties of frequencies and energies thence masses fleeing the observable universe which should drive an appreciable portion of the energy dragging the universe to expand granting that these photons are usually not intercepted on their trip away from the sources that generated them. Deflected often but rarely converted from a wave to a particle. Calculate how much mass might be lost in this way, no longer holding the universe together.