Slow Space News Week, huh?
Rounding out our galaxy expansion series and some of our favorite reactions to the JWST photos
Greetings Celestial Citizens and Continuum readers! What a week it has been. If you are like us, then you probably experienced a range of emotions from the images released recently from the telescope-that-must-not-be-named or as Dr. Jessie Christiansen has lobbied the “Jelly Welly Space Telly.” Beginning with the feeling of “wow, we can’t possibly be alone” to “uh oh, we can’t possibly be alone.” Either way, we are here to help you digest this exciting space news and offer you some levity in a time of renewed cosmic insignificance.
After all, as Carl Sagan put it, and a good friend reminded me, “For small creatures such as we, the vastness is bearable only through love.”
Enjoying Continuum? Tag us on twitter (@continuum_hq) and let us know how we’re doing! And without further ado, here’s the space beat for the week…
Understanding Expansion – Bridging the Gap
For a study of the entire universe, results and conclusions in astronomy tend to only get better in small increments. Over the last century, our calculation of the Hubble constant has certainly improved, but the values have only been fine-tuned in very narrow margins.
And even this progress hasn’t been linear. As more and more methods for calculating this number have been developed, each measurement has grown more precise, but they have begun to vary from one another.
This begs the all-important question: why? Why would measuring the same thing multiple ways yield different answers? Something must be wrong, but where is the kink in the works? And how do we find it?
Top Headlines
JWST has entered the chat! The eagerly anticipated photos from the James Webb Space Telescope were released this week in an… interesting roll out. The first photo was presented by President Biden and Vice President Harris and Bill Nelson. And according to CNET (and probably your Twitter feeds) people had a LOT to say. Shout out to the science communication community for knowing how to keep things interesting! NASA got its second shot at the presentation of the images, and they did not miss. If you haven’t seen the images floating around, there’s a good chance you also got this newsletter by accident (and if so, why don’t you subscribe!) Plans for the JWST began all the way back in 1996 so to see these images with incredible depth and clarity is a historic achievement. What else will we see as we peer back in time? One thing’s for sure, we finally will be able to see past a lot of that dust.
Every person who hops on a vehicle to space, be it for a mission or for a joyride, knows the danger they’re putting themselves into. But how dangerous is space travel for the rest of us? A new study from researchers from UCL (University College of London), University of Cambridge, and MIT have found that “black carbon (soot) particles emitted by rockets are almost 500 times more efficient at holding heat in the atmosphere than all other sources of soot combined … resulting in an enhanced climate effect.” By using a 3D model to examine the effect rocket launches and re-entry from 2019 have had, including projected space tourism trips based on existing examples, the researchers are urging further regulation around the space launch industry to curb environmental impacts.
Although some people might think the return of the Large Hadron Collider means transporting us to a parallel universe, others hope that it might be able to help us out with something else: finding dark matter. With experiments involving the search for “dark photons” - scientists hope the LHC can shed some light on that invisible darkness that holds our universe together. Space.com has the story, in more detail than we can sum up here!
Fireworks weren't the only thing lighting up the skies July 4th weekend in the U.S.. Last weekend saw the launch of CAPSTONE, NASA and Advanced Space’s cube satellite on a mission to collect data for the lunar station Gateway’s future home orbit. But just like many a Fourth of July, the day after is the hardest. In CAPSTONE’s case it wasn’t the excess drinking, or empty celebrations to a country that continues to restrict freedom to its own, it was a communications issue. After successful operations - the cube sat fell out of contact. Although NASA said it could continue plans for Gateway without CAPSTONE, the cubesat would have provided important data to inform models currently projected for the orbit. However, it seems like things are still a go as Advanced Space and NASA were able to reconnect with the cubesat a little over a day after losing communications. Most recently CAPSTONE completed its second engine maneuver, continuing to put itself on course towards the moon.
First there was ethanol. And now… bacteria fuel? In another step towards sustainability, scientists have developed a new biofuel from antifungal molecules made by Streptomyces bacteria. When used, the fuel may also “reduce the amount of added greenhouse gas relative to any fuel generated from petroleum” said Project Leader and CEO of the Department of Energy’s Joint BioEnergy Institute. However it might be some time before rockets are flying into space on this bacterial burn. The Streptomyces are hard to work with in the lab, thus making it difficult to create enough of the molecules needed to convert to fuel. Team member Pablo Cruz Morales said that the bacteria are “talented, but divas.” Let’s hope they don’t pull an Edward Norton and hijack the whole thing and turn it into some sort of bacteria vanity project!
And to round up the headlines, two stories about making the world of all that junk floating up in space a little smaller. First up, Nanoracks Bishop Airlock system successfully dumped 172 pound of trash from the ISS. Now, taking out the trash usually isn’t something most people call “exciting.” But in this case it is - the Bishop Airlock system uses a specialized container to keep the trash together when burning up in low earth orbit. And once the bag is deployed, the airlock can be reused! As more and more people get up into space it’s becoming vitally more important to figure out sustainable processes for what to do with the things we’re done with.
Congrats to @Nanoracks for successfully leveraging the #BishopAirlock to dispose of 172 pounds of waste from the #ISS! This is a momentous occasion for the company as they have developed a new way to sustainably handle disposal in #space. bit.ly/3nOzHOsChina’s attempt at reducing space debris comes in the form of a sail. The Shanghai Academy of Spacecraft Technology has developed and successfully deployed a gigantic, ultra-thin drag sail attached to a part of its Long March 2D rocket. This sail will help “accelerate orbital decay” allowing for it to burn up sooner, instead of crashing onto Earth. Per the article, China has had its fair share of space debris come crashing back down, and hopefully this sail helps eliminate these instances.
A Global Space
This week’s news from across our pale blue dot!
This week, ESA announced that it was formally terminating its partnership with Roscosmos on the ExoMars, or Rosalind Franklin, rover, which would have been Europe’s first planetary rover. The rover’s launch has experienced a classic series of delays, but not for classic reasons. Originally scheduled to launch in July of 2020, COVID and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have been the contributors to these pushing back the launch of the rover... ESA will announce more details on July 20.
Speaking of Russia, three Cosmonauts took to Telegram to post a picture of them holding tri-color flags of the Luhansk People's Republic and the Donetsk People's Republic on July 3 to congratulate Russia on controlling 100% of the Luhansk Region after the withdrawal of Ukraine’s troops. NASA took to Twitter days later to rebuke the action of Russia and the Cosmonauts, stating that the propaganda pictures were “fundamentally inconsistent” with the station’s goals to “advance science and develop technologies for peaceful purposes.” You can read more about the pictures and response, as well as the relationship between NASA and Roscosmos at Arstechnica.
Last weekend, the US and China traded words in the press. NASA Administrator Bill Nelson told German newspaper Bild that “We must be very concerned that China is landing on the moon and saying: ‘It’s ours now and you stay out,’.” He also stated that China’s program is a military one. China fired back, stating that this “is not the the first time” Nelson had “ignored the facts and spoken irresponsibly about China.” Speaking for the Chinese foreign ministry, Zhao Lijian stated that China has always “promoted the building of a shared future for humanity in outer space and opposed its weaponization and any arms race in space.”
NASA tweeted yesterday that they will be launching TUMnanoSAT - Moldova’s first satellite with the next ISS resupply. According to their website, the cube sat was developed at the Technical University of Moldova. Students will have hands-on experience working with the satellite, aiming to test its sensors and communications when in space. It will also have a small camera, a small step in Moldova creating its first Earth observing satellite.
Saudi Arabia becomes the 21st country to join the Artemis Accords per Bill Nelson.
Moonshot
If we’re going to get to space, we’re going to need a lot of help. In our Moonshots section, we’ll share highlights from some of the commercial companies that are taking us there:
Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 Cosmic Girl helped bring seven satellites into low earth orbit with its Launcher One rocket deploying from the plane 35,000 feet above ground. The mission dubbed, Straight Up for a Paula Abdul song, was a straight up success!
The FCC is currently debating whether or not companies like Dish can use the band of radio frequencies known as 12GHz for their 5G offerings. SpaceX sent the FCC a study, stating that allowing companies to do so would harm their Starlink service. Dish, as part of the “5G for 12 GHz” coalition, is claiming that SpaceX fabricated the results of the study. Satellite internet provider OneWeb has stepped up to support SpaceX’s claims. To learn more about this debate, check out The Verge and SpaceNews.
Stellar Ventures has launched the $23 million SV Andromeda Fund LP to invest in startups in early growth stages. Stating that it is “uniquely positioned to identify leading terrestrial and orbital space technology companies in early growth stages” due to its engineering partner Stellar Solutions, Inc.
Space Tweet of the Week
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are the pieces of space-adjacent news we’ve been reading:
A helpful explainer on the history of the Space Race and anniversary of the international handshake in space
This Op-Ed from Terry Virts on the future of Russia’s relationship with the ISS
A New York Times profile on picking JWST images
Getting hit by space debris? - This piece from the Verge makes for an interesting read (or check out this podcast episode of ELT)
Favorite Reactions to JWST Images
Well that’s a wrap on a big week for the space community! Thanks for taking the time to read our publication. And no matter whether you believe we are now in a parallel universe (or not), we’re glad to have your attention in this one.
I mean imagine what the Drake Equation would look like for all the possible newsletters out there…
A special thank you to Evan Yee for writing this week’s edition with me!
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum