¶BurstCube. One interesting mission we learned about at SmallSat was NASA’s BurstCube, which deployed from the ISS in April. The mission is a 6U CubeSat that detects gamma rays from short (<2 second) gamma-ray bursts, likely caused by neutron star collisions. Once detected, the satellite informs ground observatories via TDRSS so that they can observe it in other wavelengths. TDRSS is NASA’s communications satellite network initially built for use with the Shuttle (it currently supports data rates of 6-800 Mbps), and an unusual communication pathway for a CubeSat. Burst detection occurs when gamma rays encounter a cesium iodide scintillator inside BurstSat, creating visible light, which is seen by an array of 116 silicon photomultipliers that convert the glow of the cesium iodide into a detectable electron signal. BurstSat, unfortunately, lost one of its magnetorquers during commissioning, along with one solar panel that did not fully deploy, but the team has been able to continue the satellite’s mission by compensating for the malfunctioning equipment through the use of a Sun-pointing configuration—due to these failures, the mission will likely reenter sooner than expected, around the end of 2024. |
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 | BurstCube with its lid off; its detection instrument, consisting of cesium iodide scintillators and photomultipliers, is on the right. Credit: NASA |
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¶Papers- A recent paper, based on cutting-edge simulations of the Sun’s protective heliosphere, suggests that if the solar system passes through a cold, dense hydrogen cloud, the heliosphere could compress to a region smaller in diameter than the Earth’s orbit, exposing the Earth and Moon to the interstellar medium (ISM). Based on an increase in supernovae-derived isotopes of iron and plutonium found in Earth’s geological strata (and presumably deposited from the ISM) from 2-3 million years ago, the researchers hypothesize that we may have experienced such a heliosphere contraction event fairly recently.
- In an unexpected, but well-timed, sales pitch for Mars sample return, Perseverance discovered irregularly shaped, millimeter-sized, off-white “leopard spots” on a red rock in Mars’ Jezero Crater that, on Earth, are associated with life. “On Earth, these types of [spot] features in rocks are often associated with the fossilized record of microbes living in the subsurface.” This association is likely because the spots are formed through reactions that release iron and phosphate, useful energy sources for Earthly microbes. Both elements were also detected by Perseverance, as were calcium sulfate veins which suggest a watery origin. Finally, the rover also detected organic molecules, although SHERLOC’s detection of these organic compounds cannot determine biotic vs abiotic origin.
- Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter data suggest just 2-60 tons of surface water exists in lunar permanently shadowed regions (PSRs). That’s not much. Water from Starship lunar activity (launch and landing plumes) could contribute as much as 10 tons of water to lunar PSRs, contaminating the small amount of non-anthropogenic water that’s there (paper). If we need more, we may have to extract it from lunar minerals.
- Mars, meanwhile, has been a desert for about 3 billion years, but before that we know from plentiful geologic formations that it was once a wet(ish) world (here’s a recently studied massive lake larger than any on Earth). Where that water went has been a mystery—into space as the atmosphere was lost, into minerals, into the crust, etc. Now, analysis of seismic wave timing data from Mars InSight’s recordings of 1,000+ Marsquakes suggests the third option, detecting significant reservoirs of water at depths of 10-20 km in the Martian crust. The researchers found that a “mid-crust composed of fractured igneous rocks saturated with liquid water best explains the existing [seismic] data.” Unfortunately, this water, in quantities potentially larger than even Mars’s hypothesized ancient oceans, is far too deep for astronauts to access (and is on the very edge of terrestrial drilling ability—Kola Superdeep Borehole is 12.2 km deep, although horizontal wells are significantly longer, this one is 15.2 km).
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 | InSight on Mars, with a column of subsurface pictured extending below it to surprisingly watery, fractured rock 11.5-20 km down. Credit: James Tuttle Keane and Aaron Rodriquez, Scripps Institute of Oceanography |
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¶IM-VIPER? Intuitive Machines has made initial moves toward rescuing NASA’s VIPER mission. Until recently, the Moon rover was going to launch in a few months, but NASA was forced to cancel (or at least pause while seeking a solution) the mission due to cost overrun caps first enacted by Congress in 2005 (cf. Issue № 279). The agency released a ‘request for interest’ on August 9th with the hope that a commercial partner will take over the mission, and Intuitive Machines is the first company to publicly announce such intentions. NASA’s RFI requires that the organization taking over the mission be US-based, plan to deliver the rover by 2027, and not disassemble it, since that’s what the agency will be forced to do anyway if it doesn’t receive a compelling proposal. IM would plan to switch VIPER’s delivery vehicle out for their own in-development Nova-D platform, capable of delivering the 500 kg rover to the Moon’s south polar region. IM would also plan to sell the lander’s 1,000 kg of extra payload capacity to other customers (or additional NASA missions) to offset the cost of running VIPER. The company doesn’t think the government’s estimate of $84M to complete the mission is a “commercial cost”, suggesting industry can do better. However, Nova-D, the proposed delivery lander is still in development and would be unlikely to have availability before late 2027, although by that time Nova-C is scheduled to have attempted at least 3 or 4 landings, increasing confidence in the company’s mission operation capabilities. Astrobotic’s Griffin lander was supposed to be VIPER’s delivery vehicle, so IM stealing a competitor’s payloads is a bit of a shot across the bow and an embarrassment, as delays to Griffin were one of the main precipitators of VIPER’s passing the 30% overrun cap. All proposals (including this one) are due by September 2nd, so we’re waiting to see if others come forward. |
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 | | An early render of IM’s three planned lunar lander variants, capable of delivering 100kg (Nova-C), 500 kg (Nova-D), and a whopping 5,000 kg (Nova-M). (However, these are all dwarfed by a potential HLS Starship configuration that might be able to land as much as 100,000 kg on the surface.) |
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| ¶News in brief. After dropping their original plans a few months ago, Lockheed Martin finally acquired smallsat manufacturer Terran Orbital for $450M ● NASA sent their final command to the NEOWISE spacecraft, which will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere soon, ending a 10-year-long planetary defense mission ● Russia launched a Progress resupply mission to the ISS, marking their ninth orbital launch this year (Russia’s launch pace for this year is potentially at its lowest since 1961) ● Chinese commercial rocket firm Deep Blue Aerospace secured an undisclosed amount of funding and plans to conduct a 100-km vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) test with the first stage of their reusable Nebula-1 rocket ● The US Senate proposed the creation of a center to study how astronomical observations are impacted by satellite light and RF interference ● Redwire plans to acquire Hera Systems, a San Jose-based spacecraft provider focusing on national security missions ● Northrop Grumman reduced their California-based space workforce ● India successfully launched their Small Satellite Launch Vehicle for the third time, placing an experimental EO satellite into a precise LEO orbit ● Perseverance is climbing out of Jezero crater after 3.5 years to start a new science campaign while traversing the crater’s rim ● China launched ten “remote sensing” satellites aboard a Long March 4B ● NASA continues to delay decision-making on Starliner’s return ● China could develop a dual relay satellite system for Earth-Moon communications to reduce the country’s dependence on ground stations outside its borders ● The first stage of a Rocket Factory Augsburg rocket (that was intended for RFA’s inaugural flight) exploded for as-yet-unknown reasons during a static test fire at SaxaVord Spaceport, luckily there were no injuries and the launch pad was saved and secured. |
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 | RFA’s launch pad explosion during a static fire test of the nine engine first stage of their ONE rocket at Saxaford Spaceport |
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¶Etc.- Tim Dodd got a tour of Blue Origin’s New Glenn factory with Jeff Bezos.
- All about interferometry.
- Payload recently shared nice visuals of the development costs of different modern rockets. Unsurprisingly, SLS stood out at $24B. Further unsurprisingly, NASA’s Inspector General recently released a report finding that the Exploration Upper Stage, a more powerful second stage under development for the SLS, is seven years behind schedule, significantly over budget, and is being manufactured at Boeing by an unqualified workforce.
- ‘The superstorms from space that could end modern life’ is a popular media take on Miyake Events, solar storms an order of magnitude larger than the infamous 1859 Carrington Event, which we’ve covered before.
- Our friend Jatan recently wrote in Moon Monday about China’s ambition to build a 30+ satellite lunar constellation to support future lunar missions. This constellation would provide positioning, communications, and timekeeping support, and could also allow accurate long baseline ranging to spacecraft anywhere in the solar system, a capability being tested by the LOVEX payload on Queqiao 2. Meanwhile, ESA’s Moonlight initiative, Japanese startup ArkEdge Space, US startups Aquarian Space & Plus Ultra, and Lockheed Martin subsidiary Crescent Space are all developing or exploring lunar navcom missions.
- Saturn V Quarterly Reports, a fascinating glimpse into technical development during the Apollo era.
- Building lego machines to destroy tall lego towers. 🤩
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Quasar RX J1131-1231, six billion light-years away, as seen by Chandra (in X-ray) and Hubble (in visible light), gravitationally lensed by a closer elliptical galaxy. The X-ray emissions come from an accretion disk around a black hole that is thought to be spinning at half the speed of light. JWST recently also observed this distant quasar, showing four copies looking like jewels on a ring. |  |
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