Dust, Dust Baby
SpaceX’s dust storm, a lost lunar lander, and all the Symposium promises we hope won’t break
Hello Celestial Citizens and Continuum readers,
It’s been an unfortunate string of events for the space community lately. From a confusing launch of Starship, to the debris and environmental concerns related to the blast, and then the rightful FAA review of SpaceX’s carnage-producing test - I guess it’s true what they say…hindsight is 4/20. Or maybe I have that wrong.
And while the urban planner in me has been cringing for a while at what’s been going on in Starbase, it certainly has now reached a new extreme level of disregard for the local environment, wildlife, and community. I’ve said it before, but space urban planning starts right here on Earth. If we don’t figure out how to do a better job of reducing negative impacts and preventing harm to communities that have either intentionally or unintentionally become space hubs, the space industry will find itself further alienated from the general public and for just cause. A wise person once told me you have to “go slow to go fast” - seems like we’ve got more than a few things to figure out.
And to top all of that off, we also had the heartbreaking loss of the ispace lunar lander - and a team that could not have looked more devastated by the outcome. But despite the Moon proving once again to be “a harsh mistress,” there is no shortage of resilient people and companies ready to continue to push the boundaries of lunar exploration. So here we are, picking up the pieces (quite literally) for some and offering a show of support to others, remembering that as a community we are responsible for our best and worst actions and will need to answer for them to the broader public.
And now, onto the space beat you came here for…
Top Headlines
Dust in the Eye of the Beholder – The southern tip of Texas shakes off a layer of dust and debris after SpaceX’s famed Starship rocket exploded last Thursday. With 6,000 metric tons of force, the Super Heavy booster and Starship rocket annihilated its launch pad upon lift-off, reaching an approximate height of 24 miles before several engine failures caused the rocket to spin out and self-destruct over the Gulf of Mexico. While the Starship isn’t the first SpaceX rocket to crash during a test launch – and is currently being celebrated by CEO Elon Musk and team as the “most powerful rocket ever flown” – this one stirred up more than dust. Between the contamination to the nearby wildlife refuge, the grime layer accrued onto the community of Port Isabel, and a sacrificed minivan, the public’s left wondering how the company was able to achieve FAA launch approval in the first place. Beyond the environmental impact, though, SpaceX’s fast-and-loose approach may bite them in the you-know-what in terms of their Starship momentum. Omitting key safety features at the launch site – specifically, flame diverters or cooling water – really nipped the project in the bud, the resulting damage reaping an FAA anchor (better late than never) until the agency completes a thorough investigation. And while you wait for that report, you could always check out our reaction to the Starship’s “loop-de-loops” here.
Lost at Sea – After tracking Japan’s Hakuto-R M1 lunar lander for months, we’re saddened to report that the attempted landing this past Tuesday was not successful. An eerie silence fell over the livestream as the team lost contact with the spacecraft at the moment of “touchdown” around the moon’s Sea of Cold. Unfortunately, what’s now assumed to be a crash landing, not only prevents Tokyo-based ispace from achieving the title of first private company to land on the moon, but it also represents the loss of the United Arab Emirates’ Rashid Rover, which was being transported by Hakuto-R. While the M2 is already in development, it’s not likely to beat Astrobotics’ Peregrine Lunar Lander and Intuitive Machine’s NOVA-C which are scheduled to launch later this year.
The Discord Leaks – At this point, it won’t surprise most to hear that space has a place in modern warfare. Between Space Force Gen. Chance Saltzman’s Senate testimony and Symposium speeches, we’ve known the U.S. government is eager to bolster their military defenses in space – in order to deal with new threats like satellite jammers, cyberattacks or even spacecraft-tracking “nesting dolls” – but recently leaked documents paint a much clearer picture of where the U.S. defense priorities lie. While Russia slides further down the “threat” list, at the top is China, a nation that has doubled their satellites in LEO since the Space Force began, developed their own space station and landed a spacecraft on the moon and Mars.
Cloudy with a Chance of Fireballs – Hungarian astronomer Krisztián Sárneczky may have made this face when he stumbled across an asteroid hurtling towards Earth on April 16th. Fortunately, the asteroid (officially titled 2023 CX1) was only 3 feet, meaning it was not a “threat to humanity.” Sure enough, the space rock burned up as it entered Earth’s atmosphere, dazzling viewers to a lightshow before any remaining fragments likely nestled into the ocean off the coast of France. Only days later and not so far away, Kyiv witnessed a similar asteroid “flash,” creating anxiety about a possible air attack. While anxiety inducing, the fact that we are spotting asteroids in advance – even if just hours before impact – shows growth in detection technology and hence our planetary defense capabilities.
One Moon’s Dirt is Another’s Treasure – When exploring the possibility of human survival on the moon and beyond, we must consider oxygen – both as an energy source for transportation and, well, breathing. In anticipation of future Artemis missions, NASA’s Carbothermal Reduction Demonstration (CaRD) team just completed an exciting test which establishes, according to the agency, “oxygen can be extracted from existing lunar material to provide humans with resources critical for survival and transportation on extraterrestrial worlds.”
Rhessi Come Home – Asteroids weren’t the only things crashing to Earth last week. A decommissioned NASA satellite known as Rhessi – launched back in 2002 to better understand solar flares – reentered the Earth’s atmosphere and burned up over the African Sahara last Wednesday night. Contrary to initial belief, this was not the bright light Ukraine witnessed on the same evening. The old satellite goes out with a legacy of having recorded over 100,000 “X-ray events,” capturing a range of “nanoflares” to “superflares,” providing the agency with more predictive insight into the phenomena.
Pit Stops in Space – Any race car driver would tell you that driving off track to find an auto body shop is wildly inefficient; why should the space race be any different? Utilizing modern technology such as 3-D printing, NASA’s newly announced ISAM – or “in-space servicing, assembly, and manufacturing” – consortium which hopes to create an extended lifespan of spacecraft going forward.
Symposium Buzz – The theme of public-private collaboration was ever present at this year’s Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. For one, NASA released a detailed report, or “blueprint” refining their Moon-To-Mars exploration strategy, in an effort to illuminate public-private and global partnership opportunities. Additionally, the U.S. Office of Space Commerce drilled down on satellite operators, proposing a space traffic management initiative not unlike air traffic management for airline travel. That said, director of the Office, Richard DalBello notes that while the “government wants to provide a free safety service,” it doesn’t want to put companies already providing space situational awareness services out of business. We’ll be following this to see if a middle ground can be reached for the sake of satellite traffic control.
A Hybrid…Eclipse – Starship cheerleaders and cannabis enthusiasts weren’t the only ones gazing at the heavens on 4/20: a rare hybrid eclipse captivated skywatchers in the South Pacific for the first time since 2013. Performing a dance across the Earth’s surface, the moon’s shadow produced a total solar eclipse before transitioning into an annular, ring-shaped eclipse. Photos from Indonesia and western Australia flooded social media, commemorating the occasion until the next hybrid eclipse in 2031.
The JWST Download
Look out Webb, the SuperBIT is in the building, and it’s looking at a Tarantula Nebula.
The JWST team thinks fast to compensate for a glitch in one of its sensors.
JWST breaks out the old “planetary building blocks” to learn how dusty disks that form around stars eventually create planets.
Seeing double? That’s just the JWST light-bending with gravitational lensing.
A Global Space
Russia – When they’re not spacewalking around the ISS, Russia is, apparently, shooting their next film. Premiering last Friday, Russian film “The Challenge” became the first feature to have shot scenes from the International Space Station. The film raked in approximately 445 rubles ($5.5 million USD) over opening weekend – a win for the nation after months of blows in the space sector.
China – Commemorating the launch of their first satellite in 1970, China celebrated their very own Space Day on April 24th. The nation has a lot to celebrate, including recent experiments around converting heat to energy on Tiangong station, an upcoming test to examine the possibility of 3-D printing using lunar soil, and their impending Tianwen-3 mission to Mars. With all these positive updates, I guess there’s no need to worry about waking up the old Zhurong rover, which the nation has finally admitted is idle due to sun-blocking dust.
India – The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) successfully launched a PSLV rocket from Satish Dhawan Space Centre last Saturday, carrying a TeLEOS-2 radar-imaging satellite and Lumelite-4 CubeSat – both for Singapore. The launch is the third of 2023 for India, a nation that's decided to strengthen its position in space through commercialization.
Sweden – Scandinavia has entered the (ISS) chat! An agreement signed last week between the Swedish National Space Agency, ESA and Axiom Space puts a Swedish astronaut on a future private mission to the International Space Station.
United Arab Emirates – The UAE may have lost their Rashid Rover this week, but their skies aren’t all gray. For one, astronaut and ISS-dweller Sultan Al Neyadi has his (and the nation’s) first spacewalk scheduled for this evening to replace a communications antenna. Additionally, the UAE’s “Hope” space probe just captured the closest look at the elusive Deimos, Mars’ tiniest moon. This new data holds significant international value as agencies like NASA consider the moons as potential bases for future Mars-bound astronauts.
Ivory Coast, Africa – the Côte d'Ivoire hosted the NewSpace Africa Conference this past week, where high-level stakeholders of the African space industry came together to discuss policy and development across the continent. One exciting announcement came from the Egyptian Space Agency, which will add a satellite AIT (assembly, integration and testing) center to the Egypt Space City in June of this year, and will open the facility to other African nations.
South Korea – After signing a mutual agreement of cooperation regarding space communications and navigation, South Korean President Yoon Suk Yeol and U.S. president Joe Biden met at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland this past Tuesday. The allies discussed efforts they’re working towards between their respective agencies – NASA and the Korea Aerospace Research Institute – such as locating frost and ice deposits in shadowed lunar regions.
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are some pieces of space-adjacent news we’ve been reading:
After soliciting Damien Chazelle, Steve Aoki and over 27,000 women to come to space with him, one billionaire has amassed a crew of artists to travel to the moon – this year? While the “mission” timeline and objective seems to fluctuate often, we’ll be staying tuned to see who gets the final rose.
SpaceX may love to tout the reduce, reuse, recycle nature of their rockets, but there’s nothing green about that kerosene fuel.
While these whirlpools of light that have been photobombing auras for the last year may look like wild, natural phenomena – they’re nothing more than “SpaceX spirals,” or jet fuel pollution, frozen in the atmosphere.
While the CHAPEA
hostagesvolunteers will test the mental limits of Mars living, there’s still no escaping the physiological risks to a human future on Mars.Did you witness the taxi driver heard round the world? Read about how an Argentinean man accidentally interrupted a NASA broadcast of an ISS spacewalk.
In a not-so-distant future of space tourism and beyond, people are bound to get freaky in microgravity, and it may be time to have “the chat.”
Oh, how far we’ve come since the Hilton cameo in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Today’s space hotel race is really heating up for the orbital effect-chasing billionaires out there.
Did you know the longest-running NASA mission – the Voyager probes – is powered by a nuclear battery? Our dreams of extraterrestrial settlements may very well rely on nuclear technologies.
Well people of the cosmos, that brings our space coverage to an end until Monday, when we’ll be sending out MOONSHOT, our newsletter covering the commercial space sector. A big thank you to Tess Ryan for writing this edition with me and analyzing a thousand articles about Starship! 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 Phobos to your Deimos. Until next time…
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum
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