I Spy with my 38 Eyes...
An array of 38 telescopes will scan the visible sky, carbon dioxide is detected on WASP-39b, and anticipation for Artemis 1's launch builds.
Hello Continuum readers and Celestial Citizens,
I hope everyone is as excited for the launch of Artemis 1 on Monday morning as our team! Although SLS has been surrounded by a lot of criticism and question marks, I think it is fair to say that everyone in the space community hopes for a successful outcome especially after all the time and financial resources poured into this vehicle. We do love a good Moon moment after all.
And not to mention, the Orion spacecraft will go farther into space than any other human-rated space vehicle, carry the names of millions of space fans, and feature three mannequins for radiation testing - to name a few highlights!
And while a bevy of Artemis watch parties are sprouting up in anticipation of the momentous occasion, what I really want to know is whether Ronnie Chieng will be providing the coverage we need but don’t deserve…the people want answers.
Alright everyone, let’s dive into this week’s space beat.
The Problem of Photobombing in Space
An accidental photobomb can completely ruin an otherwise great picture. No matter how perfectly posed and nicely positioned in frame you are, someone crossing between you and your background or stepping into the corner of your shot without noticing can take an amazing image and make it unusable. Or, at the very least, necessitate dusting off your Photoshop skills.
The same is true for astronomy. When looking at faint, far-away objects, there’s always a chance something else is going to get in the shot and ruin — or at least pollute — the data. And for exoplanet scientists, this contamination can take a treasure trove of information and rob it of its ability to confirm the presence of a whole new world.
Top Headlines
Nicole Aunapu Mann - Next month, NASA astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann will serve as the Mission Commander for SpaceX Crew-5’s mission to the ISS. She will be the first Native American Woman in space and will spend six months aboard the ISS conducting a myriad of scientific experiments, including “3D printing human cells” in the biofabrication facility. Read the full interview with Nicole from Indian Country Today.
Eyes Aplenty - A team from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill is readying their Argus Array Pathfinder for use. An “array of 38 small telescopes… [it] will begin monitoring a slice of visible sky 1,700 times the size of the full Moon.” Capturing changes in the stars second by second, “essentially making a nightlong celestial movie,” the team hopes to expand their project by 2025, creating an Argus Array with 900 telescopes to monitor the entire night sky. To learn more about the Argus project, read the full story by Daniel Cleary for Science.org here.
Spacewalk, Interrupted - Last week, after performing maintenance and camera installation on the European Robotic Arm, Russian Cosmonaut Oleg Artemyev’s space walk was cut short after he reported a voltage fluctuation in his space suit. Per Space.com, although he was not in any immediate danger, if power had gone out completely, Artemyev would not have been able to communicate with Denis Matveev, the space walker out with him, and ground controllers. Upon reporting the issue, Russian flight director Vladimir Soovyov ordered Artemyev to “Drop everything and start going back right away!” We’re glad that everyone made it back into the ISS alright.
♫ Black Hole Sound ♫ - We wrote about sonification a few months ago, but just like with any new telescope photo, be it from Hubble or JWST, new developments in sonification of the marvels of our universe continue to astound us. In this case, NASA has sonified the “sound of a black hole,” capturing the sound of the gas around the Perseus galaxy cluster. One can only imagine the Soundgarden cover band getting ready to throw this sound on to close out their next performance of “Black Hole Sun.”
The Satellites Aren’t Alright - How can we prepare our satellites for success? Last week, Intelsat reported that it had lost control of its Galaxy 15 broadcast satellite, likely due to a geomagnetic storm after some “unusually violent solar activity”. Earlier this month at the Small Satellite Conference, NOAA Scientist Tzu-Wei Fang said that solar activity may be stronger than forecasted in the middle of this decade. (You can read more about what we’ve learned from solar storms from Space.com’s write up) With SpaceNews writing that “commercial satellites will be targets in war,” it’ll be interesting to see how we can take further steps to protect our satellites in a time of increased space activity.
ICYMJWSTN (In Case You Missed James Webb Space Telescope News)
The largest image JWST has taken… so far!
The photos of Jupiter no one expected to be this good… and some photobombers.
Summer might be coming to a close, but there still might be time for JWST to sneak in a trip to a water park, or water world, 100 light years away.
And oh, just some casual carbon dioxide found at WASP-39B - the first ever detection of carbon dioxide outside of our solar system!
A Global Space
Moving Out - Russia’s decision to leave the ISS feels more real every day as last week they released pictures of a model for their future space station. While still very much in the early days, the Russian media has nicknamed the station “Ross” and would be launched in two phases. If China decides to make their own station, maybe we can persuade them to name it Rachel?
Solar - Europe is “seriously considering developing space-based solar power” according to Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA. He will present his Solaris Program to the ESA council this November, and if approved, will start development in 2025. Read more about the plans, and the drawbacks over at Ars Technica.
Moon Race - As Artemis ramps up, so is China. They announced this week that China’s new generation crewed rocket will be able to send taikonauts to the Moon by 2030. The rocket is still under development, but is promising big things, including bringing up to 50 tons worth of payload into orbit.
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:
Orion Space has been awarded a $44.5 million contract by Space Force to develop three satellites for it’s Tetra-5 mission, which is “a project intended to help the Space Force figure out how to take advantage of commercial technologies to inspect objects in space, and to service geostationary satellites 22,000 miles above Earth that perform critical missions and are expensive to replace.”
Orbital Reef passed a system definition review with NASA, allowing it to continue into its next phase of design.
NASA has contracted Astrobotic to develop a lunar lander specifically for the Moon’s frigid nighttime environment.
SpaceX and T-Mobile made a special announcement yesterday, that the two companies would partner to provide “satellite-to-cellular service” coverage for T-Mobile customers using Starlink satellites.
And because we couldn’t have a newsletter without mentioning orbital debris at least once, Scout Space has won two contracts from Space Force to support the debris clean up project Orbital Prime.
Space Tweet of the Week
Space Reads!
Feeling conflicted about your hatred of JavaScript but your love of cool space photos? Check out this piece from The Verge to learn how the polarizing programming language is supporting JWST’s lookbook.
Not to get heavy, but this piece about how the Voyager spacecraft provides lessons on immortality is like Chicken Soup for the Space Enthusiast Soul.
Looking for UFO coverage that isn’t written by Vice? Check out this Scientific American piece about the implications of unidentified aerial phenomena on atmospheric science.
Check out this Op-ed from Grant Anderson, President & CEO of Paragon Space Development Corporation, on the ripple effect that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine is having on the availability of rare Earth minerals - prompting asteroid mining hopefuls everywhere to ask the space community… “hello, is it me you are looking for.”
Things Found on the Internet…
Well that’s all for this week and that was quite a lot! A big thank you to Evan Yee for writing this edition with me and also to Continuum writer, Jackie Appel, for her piece on astronomical photobombers.
Follow @continuum_hq on Twitter for a live tweeting of the Artemis 1 launch on Monday morning - super early for us West Coasters unless you're my children and then a 5:30am PT launch merely coincides with “first breakfast.” Until then…
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum