Pressure, like a drip, drip, drip that'll never stop | Continuum
Russia’s ISS situation worsens, the space race gets defensive, but at least we found some cool exoplanets?
Hello Continuum readers and Celestial Citizens,
It’s been a chaotic, if not anxiety-producing, couple of weeks since the last newsletter, and lately life has felt like it was ripped out of a Hollywood blockbuster. There have been whirlpools in the night sky, spy balloons and the US government shooting down other unidentified objects. Not to mention a catastrophic earthquake (please consider donating to provide emergency aid using this link), a major oil spill, a train derailment that while eerily mimicking the plot of White Noise is incredibly real enough to potentially go down as one of the worst environmental disasters in history, and to top it all off, a routine solar prominence that (thanks to some miscommunication) gave rise to a lot of panic that the Sun was breaking apart.
And there is a lot more that happened than I could possibly fit into the restrictive Substack email size limit. I don’t necessarily have anything of consequence or reassurance to say, other than as the human experience becomes increasingly defined by ‘unprecedented’ times, the thing that brings me the most solace is community. Thanks for being here, and thanks for sharing in our mission to become better stewards of Earth and the cosmos.
Top Headlines
The ISS – Another chapter in the ongoing saga of the leaky Soyuz and the “stranded” cosmonauts. After an uncrewed freighter craft successfully docked on the ISS, a different cargo ship, Russia’s Progress 82, sprung a leak. It had been docked to the ISS since last October. Then their Progress MS-21 ship, also attached to the ISS, lost pressure. Currently filled with trash and ready to burn up in orbit, its undocking has been postponed. With everything going on, Russia has delayed the launch of the uncrewed Soyuz that would be the “lifeboat” for the cosmonauts. Here’s hoping they can get to the bottom of all the issues and everyone can get home safely.
Oil Spill – There was an oil spill at the Maui Space Surveillance Complex last week. A reported 700 gallons of oil were spilled when a diesel fuel pump for an onsite backup generator failed to shut off. Brig. Gen. Anthony Mastalir said in a news release, “We understand the importance of being good stewards of the environment and will work with necessary state and federal officials as we begin clean-up efforts.”
Exoplanets – Two notable exoplanets have been discovered in the last two weeks. Wolf 1069 b is especially interesting for a few reasons. Not only is it only 31 light years away from Earth, but it’s also a rocky exoplanet. In over 5,200 exoplanets discovered so far, less than 200 are rocky. The exoplanet is also in the habitable zone of its red dwarf star, which means it could theoretically contain liquid water. K2-415b is only 72 light years away, and is about the size of Earth.
CAPSTONE – CAPSTONE continues its eventful journey – for 11 days, the cube satellite would not respond to communications. However all seems fine now, with NASA confirming that they have re-established communications last Monday. For an in-depth overview of all the hurdles CAPSTONE has had to jump, check out the full read at Space.com.
Balloon – You couldn’t escape the news (or memes) about the US shooting the Chinese spy balloon down. But in the last two weeks, the US has shot down three more unidentified objects - without revealing many details. The White House and other intelligence officials have echoed that it’s not aliens… but what if it were??? To learn more on what we do know about the objects that were shot down check out Time’s full profile.
Space Strategy – One thing that won’t be as secretive soon is the US’s strategy about protecting and defending satellites. The Defense Department’s space policy office will be drafting a congressionally mandated report for public consumption. Not only will it explain the threats to satellites to the public, but it will likely help make the case for increased funding as well.
AI in Space – There’s been a lot of news about AI programs recently, and the space industry is no exception. Companies are developing, programming, and planning satellite operations with the aid of AI tech - and space wargaming via AI has begun as well. To learn more about the variety of applications AI has been used in the space industry, read the full article from SpaceNews here.
Asteroid – Did you catch the asteroid that hit Europe on Sunday or were you also watching the Super Bowl? Discovered only six and a half hours before impact, the three foot rock was too small to do real damage, but gave us some spectacular views. However, as the NY Times writes, “This visitor is a reminder that Earth lacks a fully functional planetary defense apparatus, and that we have (so far) been very fortunate.”
The JWST Download
New to the newsletter, or new to space? Catch up on JWST’s highlights here!
Looking at Pandora’s Cluster!
Not only can JWST see exoplanets, it can detect their atmospheres.
Analyzing the Sparkler galaxy, and what makes it like a young Milky Way.
Hubble takes a look at galaxies near the Big Dipper.
Measuring the mass of a white dwarf star with Hubble for the first time.
Google’s AI tool Bard overstates JWST’s achievements to date and loses $100 billion in market value.
A Global Space
NATO – “Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space” (APSS) is the largest space project in NATO’s history. 16 allies, along with Finland and Sweden will establish a virtual constellation called Aquila. Utilizing both national and commercial satellites, this will “help streamline data collection, sharing and analysis among NATO Allies and with the NATO command structure, while generating cost savings.”
Poland – Łukasiewicz – Institute of Aviation has been “a R&D hot spot in space propulsion” for the last 10 years. Pushing the boundaries of green propulsion, one of their more successful projects utilizes High Test Peroxide at 98% concentration. The Amber rocket became the first vehicle to utilize 98% HTP as oxidizer after its successful launch in 2017. To learn more about the innovations happening in green propulsion, check out the full article from Space News.
Ukraine – SpaceX has restricted Ukraine’s use of Starlink satellites. Gwynne Shotwell, president of SpaceX, said that Starlink was “never meant to be weaponized” – and Ukraine has been using it to control drones. Musk also tweeted “Starlink is the communication backbone of Ukraine, especially at the front lines, where almost all other internet connectivity has been destroyed. But we will not enable escalation of conflict that may lead to WW3.”
India – On January 31, the US and India announced that they would expand civil space cooperation, inviting an Indian astronaut to train at Johnson Space Center and flying payload on commercial lunar landers. And what timing - just last week, India saw the first successful flight of its SSLV rocket, delivering three satellites into orbit. They had attempted a launch last year and failed, and have just now concluded the reason - a “salvage mode” was triggered by “an unexpectedly strong shock during separation of the second stage.”
Russia – Seems like Russia’s problems in space have extended past the ISS as a satellite known Kosmos 2499 broke up in orbit. This “mysterious” satellite, dubbed that because of its hidden launch and unknown purpose, created “at least 85 pieces of trackable debris” per the 18th Space Defense Squadron on Twitter. Orbiting 726 miles above Earth — it might take a century or more for the atmosphere to bring it down.
Saudi Arabia – Two Saudi Arabian astronauts have been announced to fly on Axiom’s AX-2 mission in May, Rayyanah Barnawi and Ali Alqarni. They will be the second and third Saudi citizens to go to space. They will launch with former NASA astronaut Peggy Whitson, and customer John Shoffner to the ISS, where they will stay for 10 days.
China – Last newsletter, we wrote about ESA’s announcement that they would not be sending astronauts to China's Tiangong space station. While Ars Technica has done a more in-depth profile on the story, China’s Global Times has published an aggressive op-ed titled, “Europe's decision of not sending astronauts to China Space Station 'short-sighted, kidnapped by US pressure amid Ukraine crisis.’”
ESA – Looking ahead, check out ESA’s profile on the EUCLID mission, the space telescope “designed to explore the composition and evolution of the dark Universe.” It will launch this July and is fully an ESA mission.
EU – Europe’s first multi-orbital satellite constellation has been announced. The Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity, and Security by Satellite, or IRIS, will “provide a secure communications infrastructure for EU government bodies and agencies, emergency services and European delegations around the world.”
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:
NASA announced that it has selected Blue Origin for a task order to develop and launch a Mars mission, Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers (ESCAPADE). The mission and twin spacecraft are slated for a late 2024 launch aboard New Glenn and will study the magnetosphere of Mars.
We have a better idea of what NASA’s plans are on commercial space stations. On February 13, the agency posted two papers divulging their plans. The first largely focused on research needs, while the second is more about operations and “what it expects from such stations in terms of capabilities, resources… as well as what oversight the agency anticipates having.” Space News dives deeper here.
If you listened hard enough on February 9 you might have been able to hear the sound of SpaceX fans chanting “Starship! Starship!” being carried by the wind. 31 of Starship’s 33 engines fired on during a static fire test last week. The crew had stopped one engine, while another one shut off on its own - but a historic victory nonetheless. The first test flight of Starship could take place as early as next month!
Is the small satellite bubble going to burst soon? While some experts may think we’re at “the beginning of the bloodletting of aspirational launch companies,” defense companies have made it clear that they “are hungry for space companies.”
CNBC recently profiled Relativity Space, touring their “Wormhole” factory where they continue to build out their 3D printing capabilities of rocket structures and parts for their reusable Terran R rocket line.
Virgin Orbit is closing in on what caused their highly anticipated UK launch to fail. Their main theory: an inexpensive filter was dislodged, causing the second stage engine to fail. To add insult to injury, Dan Hart, Virgin Orbit’s President and CEO, said the filter was “like a $100.”
Space startup Plasmos unveiled their “Space Truck,” a craft designed to “enable in-space manufacturing, last-mile delivery, point-to-point transportation, on-orbit servicing and active debris removal.” They are looking to conduct their first test flight in January 2024.
SpaceRyde, a Canadian startup, has filed for bankruptcy after noise complaints prevented further tests of their rocket engines.
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are some pieces of space-adjacent news we’ve been reading:
Curious about black holes? Some physicists suggest that black holes “may play a role in producing dark energy.”
Satellites prepare for space war.
Beam it down, Scotty! The space-based solar power that is…check out this article from Nature that outlines the key questions surrounding this possible source of clean energy.
What’s the fairest way to share astronomical observations?
How NASA’s class of ‘78 “changed the face of space travel.”
A big thank you to Evan Yee for writing this edition with me, Hunter Williams for co-hosting Continuum podcast, and Victor Figueroa for his podcast editing expertise! We hope you enjoyed reading & listening to 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 you’d share a Martian habitat with for a year. Until next time…
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum
This edition of Continuum Newsletter was brought to you by Gold Sponsor, Multiverse Media, and Silver Sponsor, the Colorado School of Mines Space Resources Program.
