The Pursuit of D(ART) in Space
A big win for planetary defense, Crew 5 successfully docks with ISS, and Hubble gets the Polaris treatment
Hello Continuum readers and Celestial Citizens,
Happy World Space Week to all those who celebrate - not making any assumptions here about how this newsletter ended up in your inbox - and welcome to another roundup of everything that had us contemplating our place in the universe over the last two weeks.
We’ve had a lot to be excited about: DART was a huge success and gave us conflicted, anthropomorphized feelings about a space rock, SLS survived Hurricane Ian, Crew 5 launched on the all too tidy date of October 5th, and in what I can only assume is a personal gift from the universe, the Space Force song saga continues with a live reaction from Neil Degrasse Tyson. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t make him feel “launchy.”
But say what you will about the song, I stan any military branch that’s “livin' just to find emotion.” It really is true what they say — life imitates art.
Now onto the space beat you came for plus an exclusive sit-down with LICIACube…
The Pursuit of (D)ART: an interview with LICIACube
Last Monday, humankind made history in its first act of planetary defense with the Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission. To observe the effects that a spacecraft impact would have on an asteroid, NASA launched DART into space, and successfully crashed the space probe into Dimorphos, a moon of the asteroid Didymos. This highly anticipated performance was riveting to watch and even brought together former rivals and astronomical heavyweights, JWST and Hubble, in a moment of awe and mutual admiration for a fellow scientific instrument. But perhaps no one was physically closer to the action, than the LICIACube, a cube satellite, or cubesat, which flew with DART until 15 days before impact, where it was released into space to capture the before and after effects of the moment from afar. We caught up with the cubesat after it sent back its first images of the impact to Earth.
What was it like to be present for this historic event?
You know, the best part about the asteroid redirection mission is that it actually redirected the asteroid. Well, the moon of an asteroid anyway. And you know, it feels like a real ‘go to space’ kind of mission.
Would you like to elaborate on what was running through your head at the moment of impact?
‘Crash into Me’ by the Dave Matthews Band…did I just ruin it for you too? Hard to unhear it once it crosses your mind.
But in all seriousness, the mission was ground-breaking and I’m sure I’ll never witness anything like it again. A once-in-a-lifetime experience for a cubesat like me.
How did you feel when you were chosen to go on the DART mission?
I was nervous at first! Here I am a total amateur being thrown into the creative deep-end of the cosmos and expected to capture and preserve this historic moment for the humans. But I knew I was sent there for a reason, not only because I’m a cubesat, but also because at my core, I’m an artist. And you can’t spell DART without art – that impact, it was… perfection.
Were you annoyed when you were told that your mission was to take pictures before and after the crash? Not the moment of impact?
Initially yes, no one likes to be micromanaged in their artistic craft. But as I prepared for the mission, and got more familiar with the medium of photography, I came across this great quote from a photographer, he said “If I like a moment… I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just want to stay in it.” And boy, was that a moment.
That’s a beautiful quote. Who said that?
Sean Penn in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. Although, perhaps Sean Penn’s desire to just “stay in it” explains why it took an entire season of ‘The First’ to leave the planet. Either way, great quote.
Can you tell us about your pictures?
Of course! I took them with my LUKE and LEIA cameras, which really brought a lot of balance to the force of my work. If you look at the images, you can see the amazing rock and dust plume created following the impact. It might be the nature of collisions to be aggressive, but I wanted to emphasize the fragility of these asteroids as well.
Fragility of asteroids? Do you think they deserve more compassion?
I do. I mean it’s not like asteroids have a lot of agency and I’ve often been interested in them as subject matter because they seem misunderstood. And while I understand the humans’ desire to protect their planet, I’ll never fully understand the resentment they harbor toward these rocky objects because of what happened to the dinosaurs. I mean does Bob in Kansas really feel robbed of the opportunity to dodge pteranodons on his way to work?
How do you feel like your pictures compare to the ones taken by Hubble and JWST?
It’s a slippery slope to compare your work to others. We all approach this medium in our own ways, and space is a big place. I’m just honored to be in the same category as them, if even just for this moment.
What’s next for you?
Well I’ll be honing my craft out here in the Didymos system. I might fly by a few more times, snap a few more shots. And I don’t want to jump the gun here, but don’t be surprised if a certain Museum of Modern Art is hosting “The Art of DART” exhibit soon.
[We hope you enjoyed this fictitious interview with LICIACube. Let us know if you’d like to see more things like this in the newsletter!]
Top Headlines
Crew-5 Launch – Wednesday’s Crew-5 launch was a success! Onboard the Dragon capsule were NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and John Cassada, JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata and cosmonaut Anna Kikina. And this launch was a series of firsts – Mann is the first Native American woman to fly to space, Kikina is the first cosmonaut to ride aboard a SpaceX spacecraft, and lastly, this was the first flight for this particular Falcon 9 booster which landed safely on Just Read the Instructions. Crew-5 successfully docked to the ISS on Thursday and looks forward to a 5-month stay.
DART – Last Monday, the mission to crash a spacecraft into an asteroid was a success! And even though this happened all the way by Jupiter, this mission is well documented! You can watch the moment of impact from DART’s perspective, and compare pictures from LICIACube to the pictures from JWST and Hubble. And now you can even see the asteroid’s “new tail.” This event also spurred a lot of writing around what if the asteroid DID hit Earth? And how do we even know what asteroids are a danger to us at all?
Artemis – We have a new launch window! NASA made the decision to roll Artemis back into the Vehicle Assembly Building prior to Hurricane Ian touching down, scrubbing its October launch date. After confirming that the rocket had not sustained any damage from the hurricane, NASA has stated the new launch window will be from November 12 to November 27. If Artemis takes off without a hitch, there will be lots of people at NASA that will have something to be thankful for this November!
Hubba Hubba! – Last week, NASA and SpaceX announced that they were looking into a Hubble reboost and potential service mission. This mission, which could fall under the Polaris program, a series of human spaceflight missions intended to demonstrate new technologies and operational capabilities, would see a Crew Dragon spacecraft boosting Hubble back to its original orbit of 600 kilometers. Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA associate administrator for science, stated at the briefing that doing this could add 15 to 20 years of orbit life. He also complimented commercial partnerships, stating that they, “have opened the door to new and exciting opportunities for NASA.”
Space Force – Everyone’s favorite space military branch gets a new department, and a new leader. The Space Development Agency (SDA) has been transferred from the Department of Defense to Space Force under the 2021 National Defense Authorization Act, “due to concerns that there are too many organizations running space programs” per SpaceNews. And Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman has become the second chief of the Space Force, succeeding Gen. John “Jay” Raymond.
Starliner – Starliner has its first crew! Although it still needs to complete its flight tests, Starliner’s first mission to the ISS will see astronaut Scott Tingle as the mission commander and astronaut Mike Fincke as its pilot.
See Ya Sofia – Airborne telescope SOFIA had its final flight last week. Taking off 8 years ago, the telescope could see past the water vapor in Earth’s atmosphere, a huge advantage over our land based telescopes. But the disadvantages were its exorbitant costs, costing NASA $85 million a year. Casey Drier from the Planetary Society told Wired, “You’re talking about almost a Hubble cost for operations, but with a fraction of the scientific productivity.”
JWST Download
JWST’s search for FFPs - free floating planets.
Don’t worry, JWST saw the DART crash too, as did Hubble!
Even JWST can’t resist shiny things.
A Global Space
China – Lots of news from China the last two weeks. Not only have they opened applications for a new crew of astronauts, they have also completed the latest phase of construction of their Tiangong Space Station. At IAC, China announced it was looking for international partnerships for future space missions, and with Tiangong nearing completion, it’s possible they’ll have some interested parties lining up. And lastly, the Center for Strategic and International Studies published a report detailing China’s satellite tracking ground stations in South America. This graphic-packed piece is incredibly detailed and well worth the read, especially as we continue to consider international politics in space.
Axiom – While Axiom isn’t a country, it’s sure making partnerships with a lot of them. Axiom has partnered with Canada, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey on various agreements. Notably, Axiom will fly two Saudi Arabian astronauts into space, one of them being a woman, and they will fly Turkey’s first ever astronaut into space.
Iran – Iran is testing a “space tug,” a spacecraft that will be able to move satellites into different orbits. This test tug was launched this week, and Iran hopes to “use and test the main tug in [the] near future.”
Tasmania - Another player is entering the space race! Tasmania announced that it has invested $500,000 into the Tasmanian Space Technology Seed Fund, “which aims to grow [their] space sector, drive innovation, strengthen industry collaboration, and increase investment.” Three local companies are already set to receive this first round of funding in order to pursue their spacefaring goals.
ASAT Ban – Add two more countries to the list of those pledging not to conduct ASAT missile testing! Both The United Kingdom and South Korea have announced that they would ban ASAT tests, bringing the number of countries up to seven in this “U.S-driven initiative.”
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:
Looks like we’re destroying more things in space (kinda) Nanoracks announced that its “metal cutting in space” mission was a success. The technique they utilize is called friction milling, and it could be used against space debris in the future.
Firefly Aerospace didn’t let a flight abort get them down – last week, the company successfully launched their Alpha rocket. Their “Alpha Flight 2: To The Black” mission saw the rocket carry three payloads into space! Firefly was also chosen, along with Millennium Space Systems to “conduct a demonstration of a rapid-response space mission to low Earth orbit in 2023.” Which is just a technical way of saying, getting things into space, faster.
SpaceX was recently denied nearly $900 million in funding from the FCC. They will appeal this decision. Simultaneously, SpaceX competitor Lynk received FCC approval Sept. 16 for its satellite-to-phone connection network, now only lacking a mobile phone service partner to bring the service.
Have you considered getting into space-based radio frequency data? The National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) has awarded contracts to six data providing companies – Aurora Insight, HawkEye 360, Kleos Space, PredaSAR, Spire Global and Umbra Lab.
Last week, Ark Invest bought 729,000 shares in Rocket Lab across its two funds ARKQ and ARKX.
Space Force’s Orbital Prime program awarded Kayhan Space, Astroscale US, and the University of Texas at Austin a Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Phase 1 award. Worth $250,000, this contract from Space Force will go toward developing software for in-orbit servicing.
Space Tweet of the Week
Space Reads!
Can’t get enough stellar content? Here are some pieces of space-adjacent news we’ve been reading:
Can’t get enough of all the DART drama? Check out this Scientific American piece on what comes next in the planetary defense arena.
What’s it like to be among the first Guardians?
Wondering why you keep hearing about Jared Isaacman? Give this Washington Post profile of the billionaire astronaut and space enthusiast a read to learn more.
And if you want to explore the implications of an increasing number of billionaire-funded space missions, then check out this thought-provoking piece from Marina Koren at The Atlantic.
ANNOUNCING THE H2M 2023 CONFERENCE
How will humanity make it to Mars by the mid-2030s? How can the innovations that enable our Moon and Mars missions benefit all of humanity? And if we find life on Mars…what’s next?
This summer, Celestial Citizen was thrilled to have the chance to watch experts and students from around the world discuss these issues and more when we documented the Explore Mars Humans to Mars Summit 2022 in Washington, D.C.!
Watch and listen along in our highlight video and special bonus episode of the Celestial Citizen podcast, available now on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts and Stitcher! And if you’re already dreaming of next year’s conference, get your tickets for Humans to Mars 2023 on the Explore Mars website.
And that’s a wrap on this edition of Continuum! Did we enjoy everything the space community brought to the table over the last week? That’s like asking if Jim Bridenstine enjoys a Diet Mountain Dew on launch days - almost certainly.
A big thank you to Evan Yee for writing this edition with me and capturing the magic of the DART mission in an exclusive interview with LICIACube. We hope you enjoyed reading Continuum this week and will share it with your friends.
Until next time…
Keep it celestial people,
Britt
CEO of Celestial Citizen & Creator of Continuum