All posts by TopSpacer

Space policy roundup – Aug.19.2019

August 19, 2019 TopSpacer

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Update: Space law:
- Scientists should chill out, water bears aren’t contaminating the moon – Glenn Reynolds/USA Today
Schedule:
- What’s Happening in Space Policy August 18-31, 2019 – SpacePolicyOnline.com
NASA lunar program:
US states space:
- Florida’s Space Coast is booming with commercial activity | WFTV
Earth and space:
- Space Research Can Save the Planet – Greg Autry/American Energy Society
Space traffic management:
- #SpaceWatchGL Op’ed: Space Law Games at the 4th Global Space Traffic Management Workshop – SpaceWatch.Global
Space resources:
- Should we be protecting the ‘space wilderness’ from mining? – Mining Technology
International space

Webcasts:

** Reflections of Humanity in a Spacesuit for Moonwalkers | The Planetary Society

Host Mat Kaplan in a long and fascinating conversation with Nicholas de Monchaux, author of Spacesuit: Fashioning Apollo. This great book is about much more than creation of the suits that allowed humans to walk and work on the Moon. Jason Davis shares pointers on looking for LightSail 2 overhead, while Bruce Betts provides a solar sail update in this week’s What’s Up. And you might win a Planetary Radio t-shirt!

** Episode T+130: SmallSat Launch Roundup – Main Engine Cut Off

SmallSat was last week which meant a flurry of announcements. This year was launch heavy, so I break down some announcements from SpaceX, Arianespace, and Rocket Lab.

** The Space Show/Hotel Mars – Wed, 08/14/2019 – John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston interview Dr. Jeffrey Foust of Space News about “SLS, delays, NASA, congressional support, NASA leadership changes, Artemis 1 launch to the Moon, lunar gateway”.

** The Space Show – Fri, 08/16/2019 – Dr. Garrett Erin Reisman discussed “his astronaut experiences, human spaceflight from both the engineering and medical perspective. We talked about student interest in HSF and classes, private human spaceflight and SpaceX life support work.”

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA,
and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

Activism, Space Policy

The Space Show this week – Aug.19.2019

August 19, 2019 TopSpacer

The guests and topics of discussion on The Space Show this week:

1. Monday, August 19, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): No show on Monday which is now reserved for special programming.

2. Tuesday, August 20, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT, 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back Rand Simberg to talk about Planetary Protection and tiny tardigrades having crash-landed on the Moon.

3. Wednesday, August 21, 2019; Hotel Mars. See Upcoming Show Menu and the website newsletter for details. Hotel Mars is pre-recorded by John Batchelor. It is archived on The Space Show site after John posts it on his website.

4. Friday, August 23, 2019; 9:30-11 am PDT (11:30 am -1 pm CDT, 12:30-2 pm EDT): We welcome back Jeff Greason to the show to give an update on developments in advanced propulsion and on Jeff’s new business activities and projects.

5. Sunday, August 25, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): Welcome back to John Bucknell to talk more about space nuclear propulsion.

Some recent shows:

** Fri, 08/16/2019 – Dr. Garrett Erin Reisman discussed “his astronaut experiences, human spaceflight from both the engineering and medical perspective. We talked about student interest in HSF and classes, private human spaceflight and SpaceX life support work.”

** Thu, 08/15/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed lunar industrialization and more.

** Hotel Mars – Wed, 08/14/2019 – John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston interview Dr. Jeffrey Foust of Space News about “SLS, delays, NASA, congressional support, NASA leadership changes, Artemis 1 launch to the Moon, lunar gateway”.

** Tue, 08/13/2019 – Thomas A. Olson talked about “Vector Launch, Skyrora, NewSpace Business Plan Competition, space settlement, small dedicated launchers, lunar landers & returning to the Moon plus much more”.

** Sun, 08/11/2019 – Dr. Craig Hardgrove discussed “NASA planetary missions using CubeSats, lunar water ice at the poles, the LunaH-Map mission, and more”.

See also:
* The Space Show on Vimeo – webinar videos
* The Space Show’s Blog – summaries of interviews.
* The Space Show Classroom Blog – tutorial programs

The Space Show is a project of the One Giant Leap Foundation.

The Space Show - David Livingston — *The Space Show – David Livingston*

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Safe Is Not an Option

Amateur/Student Satellite, Space Systems

Student and amateur CubeSat news roundup – Aug.18.2019

August 18, 2019 TopSpacer

A sampling of recent articles, press releases, etc. related to student and amateur #CubeSat / #SmallSat projects and programs:

** Northwest Nazarene University’s student-built RFTSat was launched into orbit from a Northrop-Grumman Cygnus spacecraft using the SlingShot deployer, developed by the SEOPS division of Hypergiant.

RFTSat was deployed into orbit on August 7, 2019!
…
The NNU RFTSat (Radio Frequency Tag Satellite) CubeSat team is designing and building a 3U CubeSat to demonstrate the application of radio frequency (RF) energy harvesting and backscatter communication to the problem of distributed sensing in space. A small RF tag will be mounted on the side of the satellite and contain a temperature sensor. The tag will not contain a battery, but will be powered by energy emitted from an RF reader inside the satellite. The tag’s sensor data will be wirelessly sent back to the reader via backscatter communication, and then to the Earth via a Globalstar satellite constellation link. RF tags equipped with sensors could be added to a spacecraft, like the ISS, without additional wires or power supplies and provide a means to monitor structural integrity, space weather, or make sensitive electric/magnetic field measurements.

Space policy roundup – Aug.16.2019

August 16, 2019 TopSpacer

A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest:

Webcasts:

** The Space Show – Tue, 08/13/2019 – Thomas A. Olson talked about “Vector Launch, Skyrora, NewSpace Business Plan Competition, space settlement, small dedicated launchers, lunar landers & returning to the Moon plus much more”.

** The Space Show – Thu, 08/15/2019 – Dennis Wingo discussed lunar industrialization and more.

** August 9, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** August 14, 2019 Zimmerman/Batchelor podcast | Behind The Black

** Lunar Heritage and Lost Meteorites | Naked Astronomy, from the Naked Scientists on acast

Space Boffins Richard Hollingham and Sue Nelson with a TinTin style headline for this month’s podcast: lunar heritage and the lost meteorites of Antarctica. Recorded at the recent Bluedot festival, Space archaeologist and co-deputy chair of Australia’s Space Industry Association, Dr Alice Gorman, explains why we need to think about preserving the Apollo sites before we return to the Moon and Dr Katherine Joy discusses her latest meteorite mission. Bjorn from Sweden provides a jingle, the joys of Lego and the Royal Astronomical Society’s Dr Robert Massey joins the fun to add to a long list of very interesting, we repeat interesting, questions… It will all become clear on the podcast.

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Space 2.0: How Private Spaceflight, a Resurgent NASA,
and International Partners are Creating a New Space Age

In Space Infrastructure, Living in Space, Space Systems

Videos: “Space to Ground” ISS report – Aug.16.2019

August 16, 2019 TopSpacer

The latest episode of NASA’s Space to Ground weekly reports on activities related to the International Space Station:

** Testing biomining techniques on the ISS for extracting resources from space based sources such as asteroids and the Moon:

** Expedition 60 ESA PAO Stockholm Culture Festival August 13, 2019

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency discussed life and research on the orbital laboratory Aug. 13 with an audience gathered at the Stockholm Culture Festival in Stockholm, Sweden. Parmitano is in the early weeks of a long-duration mission on the complex that will run through February 2020.

** Expedition 60 In Flight Bustle Digital Group – August 14, 2019

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Christina Koch of NASA discussed life and research as an astronaut aboard the orbital outpost Aug. 14 during an in-flight question-and-answer session for the Bustle Digital Group’s “Be My Guest” feature. Koch is nearing the halfway mark of a long-duration mission on the station that will exceed 300 days in orbit.