Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger🎵
How India’s measured approach to the moon beat out Russia’s need for speed, NASA sends a sloth to orbit, and all the ways that the space world focused on TEMPO these past couple weeks
Hello Celestial Citizens and Continuum readers,
Still smiling over India’s successful soft landing? Yeah, me too. In an industry with many ups and downs, it’s good to be reminded of the triumphs we feel as a community when things go right. A huge congratulations to ISRO on this historic accomplishment!
Other congratulations are also in order for Adam Rippon, winner of Stars on Mars, the Martian-themed space reality show we never knew how much we needed. Adam proved that no one has more grit than a competitive figure skater — if that needed to be proven.
Lastly, I want to say a big thank you to the nearly 200(!) subscribers that joined us since our last newsletter. Welcome to our chaotic, quirky, and hopefully informative space news publication.
Oh yeah and you didn’t ask…but here is the song that internally plays in my head when a space mission goes as planned — looking at you Chandrayaan-3.
And now, here is the space beat you came here for…
Top Headlines
Bharat Mata Ki Jai – This week, the talk of the town – and by town, we mean the world – was the successful soft landing of Chandrayaan-3, India’s lunar lander. A victory in and of itself, the landing also made India the fourth nation to soft land on our natural satellite. And wait, there’s more: the Chandrayaan-3 is now the closest landing to the moon’s South Pole – ever. A region notorious for its difficult landing terrain, the lunar South Pole has enticed many with its crater-dwelling frozen water deposits and their potential as a future space exploration resource. Russia just attempted their own robotic landing after an almost 50-year hiatus, in a (failed) effort to beat India to the punch. Of course, NASA’s Artemis program is also steered towards the region, and will likely rely on India – one of the more recent countries to sign the US-led Artemis Accords – for early insight. In any case, the Chandrayaan-3’s success story is not only the cause of an aerospace stock market surge and “rare” happiness for Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but it also means that India holds the cards – and the world’s attention.
Crew-7 – After a single day delay, Crew-7 launched to the International Space Station last Saturday on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. On board were four astronauts – Jasmin Moghbeli from NASA, Andreas Mogensen from the ESA, Satoshi Furukawa from JAXA and Konstantin Borisov from Roscosmos – and Sasha, a stuffed sloth from Amazon. This mission not only marks the first sloth in space (though the sloth that crashed the JUICE launch will have you know it’s not for lack of trying) but also the first crewed flight to include representation from four different global agencies. In fact, Mogensen is the first non-NASA astronaut to pilot a Crew Dragon mission to the ISS. As this crew celebrates these “firsts,” Crew-6 spends the last days of their six-month stint on the space station, preparing for their journey home.
You Got a Fast Satellite, Space Force Wants a Ticket – From Netflix dating shows to sold out stadiums, there’s one thing we know about the United States: the country loves a good competition. Recently, the Space Force announced that from August 30th to September 28th, the defense agency will be accepting proposals for rapidly deployable satellites. Organized by the Space Force’s technology division, SpaceWerx, the “Tactically Responsive Space Challenge” calls for hopeful providers to produce satellites that can launch with only a 24-hour notice or less. Fast-acting satellites would be valuable in an emergency, such as a sudden need to replace a damaged satellite during conflict, or to get a quick visual on a potentially dangerous spacecraft. Selected projects could receive up to $1.7 million to continue development. A related DIU-funded mission called Victus Haze is also seeking bids by September 7th, similarly focused on rapid deployment capabilities.
Leaving on a Supersonic Jet Plane – Speaking of speed, NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program – which focuses on supersonic passenger air travel – is currently moving into its next phase. For those unfamiliar, a “supersonic” flight will beat the speed of sound, which is 761 miles per hour at sea level. While today’s common airlines travel around 600 miles per hour, a supersonic plane could theoretically double – or even quadruple – the speed of sound, also known as Mach 2 or Mach 4, respectively. Of course, this technology is still theoretical at this stage; in their new phase, NASA’s funding two research teams – one led by Boeing and one led by Northrop Grumman – to develop roadmaps on making supersonic passenger flights a reality.
Ala-bitter – Alabama is not taking the loss of the Space Command well. Representative Mike Rogers (R-AL) has now requested an investigation into the decision to keep the USSPACECOM facility in Colorado – instead of moving it to Alabama – to be conducted by the Government Accountability Office. No word yet on any “untoward political interference” buried within the Biden administration’s emails, but we’ll keep you posted.
Blue Moon 🎵 – August has been a big moon month, not just for space agencies like ISRO. This past week’s super blue moon was super special, as it was not only the second full moon in the month of August – making it a blue moon – but it was also the second time in the month that the full moon occurred within 90% of the moon’s perigee, or closest orbit to Earth – making it a supermoon. The next time we’ll see two supermoons in the same month? 2037.
The Colors of Traffic – We’re seeing the first results of TEMPO, a pollution-focused Earth monitoring satellite NASA launched back in April. Last Thursday, the US space agency posted a timelapse map of pollutants like nitrogen dioxide over cities in North America, which demonstrated how times of day (read: rush hour) affected said pollutants in the atmosphere. Since late July, the research satellite has also been aided on a “street level,” i.e. scientists traipsing around underneath TEMPO’s flightpath with fishing pole-like air quality sensors. Amidst heightened climate change anxiety, TEMPO offers a sliver of hope, with its ability to provide quicker or more accurate access to air quality measurements on a day-to-day, and even hour-by-hour level.
The JWST Download
Always the overachiever, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) gave the JWST a catalog of 4,000 planets to study; here’s how they narrowed the roster to 14.
Like toxic relationships, black holes may be stopping new stars from growing.
JWST experienced an anomaly back in April, which NASA has now officially confirmed to be no risk to the observatory. If JWST had a Facebook, it would be marked “safe.”
A Global Space
Russia – Though obviously more nuanced, the world experienced the classic story of the tortoise and the hare last week when a Russian lunar lander tried to race past that of India’s, only to crash land on the rocky body over the weekend. Though launched weeks after the Chandrayaan-3, Russia’s Luna 25 intended to land near the moon’s South Pole on Monday, August 21st - two days ahead of the Indian spacecraft. A success would have granted Russia the badge of landing closest to the oh-so-desirable South Pole first, a crown that India now dons. A landing also would have marked a momentous return to the lunar surface for Russia, who hasn’t landed a spacecraft on the moon since Luna 24 in the ‘70s - back when the nation was part of the Soviet Union. Unfortunately, an engine anomaly cut the moment short, meaning that Russia will have to try again with Luna 26 or 27. In better news, a Russian Progress cargo ship docked successfully at the ISS last week carrying important resupply.
JAXA – Japan’s high energy observing X-ray satellite known as XRISM can’t seem to get off the ground this week. A collaboration with NASA, the XRISM will observe wavelengths only visible above the Earth's atmosphere, having the potential to reveal some serious cosmic chemistry around black holes and exploding stars. Initially, JAXA’s launch of the HII-A rocket (XRISM’s ride) was rescheduled from the 25th to the 28th. Then, the launch was scrubbed again due to high winds above the launch site. Currently, the rocket - which is also carrying a moon-bound lander known as SLIM - is awaiting a new departure date, though we do know it will likely be before September 15th, the end of its launch window according to rocket operator Mitsubishi.
EU – In an effort to cut down on space debris, member states of the European Union have agreed to ban direct-ascent anti-satellite (ASAT) missile tests. The move follows that of the United States, who came out against the tests last year after a Russian ASAT blasted an old satellite into 1,800 pieces (that we know of). There is still an expectation for governments around the globe to cement their own bans, continuing “the drumbeat of nations making commitments to this emerging international norm,” as said by US space policy authority Audrey Schaffer at June’s Summit for Space Sustainability.
South Africa & China — Chinese president Xi Jinping signed two agreements during a visit to South Africa last week, one regarding human space flight and the other around a planned Worldwide Lunar Analysis Station. This newly cemented partnership is exciting particularly to China, as the nation seeks a powerful position when it comes to the new lunar frontier.
Space Reads!
It’s easy to fantasize about a peaceful space settlement on the moon or Mars, a future that treaties like the Artemis Accords seek to prepare for on paper. What’s harder – but ultimately necessary – is to address the issues facing humanity today, here on Earth. Otherwise, who will we be, up there? Ben Kellie writes a much needed and powerful piece for
encouraging all of us to transform the way we work, treat other humans, and think about how we get to the future we want (wherever we are in space).If lava crickets can survive in Hawaii, could life have survived on Mars despite its formidable volcano?
The man, the myth, the extra-terrestrial legend: get to know the alien-hunting astrophysicist Avi Loeb before his eventual Netflix doc comes out.
Channel your inner James Bond with the newly released addition to the CIA’s World Factbook, a detailed catalog of global space agencies — only the unclassified details, of course.
Read about why the moon’s South Pole is hotter to space agencies than The Bear star Jeremy Allen White is to TikTokers. To be clear, the heat in this case is entirely figurative.
The Stars on Mars finale aired this past week, and despite its roots in notoriously untrustworthy reality television, this contained simulation may have actually unearthed some truths.
Finally, in celebration of India’s lunar feat last week, the New York Times put together an interactive “experience” of the Chandrayaan-3 landing, with videos from the various stages of touchdown.
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 the coolest space cat in your life.
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum
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Interesting. What about the " blue " Supermoon ? I never really understood why they're called such. They're a bit brighter, they seem SLIGHTLY larger by comparison, but they don't really seem all that unusual.
Also " space tourism " - isn't it time to begin steps toward COLONIZATION ?