Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:
** Science Launching on the Next SpaceX Cargo Resupply Mission to the Space Station – NASA
The 25th SpaceX cargo resupply services mission (SpaceX CRS-25) carrying scientific research and technology demonstrations to the International Space Station is scheduled for launch July 14from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Experiments aboard the Dragon capsule include studies of the immune system, Earth’s oceans, soil communities, and cell-free biomarkers, along with mapping the composition of Earth’s dust and testing an alternative to concrete. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3PENKTO
A student researcher intends to launch a genetic experiment to the International Space Station through the Genes in Space education program. This investigation seeks to evaluate water pathogens in space and validate “biobits”, a technology created by miniPCR (co-founders of the Genes in Space program with Boeing) for future inquiries. Learn more about this investigation and educational program here!
** Expedition 67 Astronaut Bob Hines Talks with WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania – July 13, 2022 – NASA Video
Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Bob Hines and Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA (European Space Agency) discussed life and work aboard the orbital outpost during an in-flight event July 13 with WHP-TV in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. Hines and Cristoforetti are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory. The goal of their mission is to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
** SpaceX CRS-25 Cargo Dragon docks with space station – VideoFromSpace
See the approach and soft capture callout for the SpaceX CRS-25 cargo mission to the International Space Station. The capsule arrived at the orbital outpost on July 16, 2022. See the launch: https://www.space.com/spacex-crs-25-c…
** Shenzhou-14 Astronauts Preparing for Arrival of Wentian Lab Module – CCTV Video News Agency
Three Chinese astronauts Chen Dong, Liu Yang and Cai Xuzhe stationed in space are preparing for the arrival of Wentian laboratory module, which is set to be launched at the end of July.
Currently, live views from the ISS are streaming from an external camera mounted on the ISS module called Node 2. Node 2 is located on the forward part of the ISS. The camera is looking forward at an angle so that the International Docking Adapter 2 (IDA2) is visible. If the Node 2 camera is not available due to operational considerations for a longer period of time, a continuous loop of recorded HDEV imagery will be displayed. The loop will have “Previously Recorded” on the image to distinguish it from the live stream from the Node 2 camera. After HDEV stopped sending any data on July 18, 2019, it was declared, on August 22, 2019, to have reached its end of life. Thank You to all who shared in experiencing and using the HDEV views of Earth from the ISS to make HDEV so much more than a Technology Demonstration Payload!
1. Tuesday, July. 12, 2022; 7 pm PST (9 pm CST, 10 pm EST): We welcome Gary Calnan of Cislunar Industries to talk about the company, debris removal and more.
2. Hotel Mars – Wednesday, July. 13, 2022; 1:00 pm PST (3:00 pm CST, 4:00 pm EST): Laura Montgomery, a space law expert, will talk with John Batchelor and Dr. David Livingston about Artemis and space law.
3. Friday, July.15, 2022; 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am-1 pm CST, 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome back Scott Stride from NASA JPL. Scott will discuss SETI, instrumentation for gathering data on possible interstellar robotic probes, UAP and lots more. Don’t miss it.
4. Sunday, July.17, 2022; 12-1:30 pm PST (2-3:30 pm CST, 3-4:30 pm EST): We welcomeMichelle Rouchto talk about her space art, educational outreach and much more.
our guest for a comprehensive discussion about space settlement. Check out his website for his recent ISDC presentation and more at www.macroinvent.com.
back to the show to discuss the SAM project in the old Biosphere 2 project as part of the [University of Arizona], Tucson. Kai explained the project, the teams, how to participate, answered lots of questions from listeners plus if go to the links and websites he mentioned you will see lots of photos. There is also a three minute YouTube video to see.
** Tuesday, July.5.2022 – Robert Zimmerman talked about “Multiple space policy, legal, engineering, company, commercial and international space topics and outcomes. AI, Bob’s exploration wish list and more.”
Here is the latest episode in NASA’s Space to Ground weekly report on activities related to the International Space Station:
** Nanoracks Bishop Airlock – International Space Station Trash Deployment – View #1 – Nanoracks – YouTube
On July 2, 2022, Nanoracks, powered by Voyager Space, opened the Bishop Airlock to deploy waste from the International Space Station. This was the first time that the Bishop Airlock was opened and closed for a full cycle. Nanoracks deployed approx. 350 lbs of trash.
** Nanoracks Bishop Airlock – International Space Station Trash Deployment – View #2 – Nanoracks – YouTube
** Expedition 67 – Space Station Astronauts Answer Florida Student Questions -July 6, 2022 – NASA Video
Aboard the International Space Station, NASA Expedition 67 Flight Engineers Bob Hines and Jessica Watkins of NASA answered pre-recorded questions about life and work on the orbital laboratory during an in-flight event July 6 with students at the Gifford Youth Achievement Center in Vero Beach, Florida. Hines and Watkins are in the midst of a science mission living and working aboard the microgravity laboratory to advance scientific knowledge and demonstrate new technologies for future human and robotic exploration missions as part of NASA’s Moon and Mars exploration approach, including lunar missions through NASA’s Artemis program.
** Fourth of July in space! Astronauts beam down message – VideoFromSpace
NASA astronauts Kjell Lindgren and Robert Hines share a Fourth of July message from the International Space Station. — The Fourth of July night sky: Here’s what you can see on Independence Day: https://www.space.com/fourth-july-202…
FedCon is one of Europe’s largest science fiction conventions, its 2022 edition held earlier this month in Bonn in Germany. Actors from the many incarnations of Star Trek, as well as Star Wars, Doctor Who, and other science fiction shows met with thousands of fans. ESA has been taking part in FedCon since 2015, with talks, panels, and a stand covering our space science, earth observation, and human exploration missions. At this year’s event, scientists and engineers from ESTEC, ESOC, and the EAC gave talks about JWST, Rosetta, mission operations, and careers with ESA.
In addition, to help celebrate FedCon’s 30th anniversary, ESA astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti sent a special message from her current Minerva mission on the ISS. She was dressed in an outfit worn by flight crew in the re-imagined Battlestar Galactica series (2004–2009) and wearing the dog tags of famed Viper pilot, Kara “Starbuck” Thrace. Samantha previously appeared as a speaker at FedCon in 2018 and also took part in a 2020 episode of the Space Rocks Uplink vodcast with Katee Sackhoff, who played Starbuck in the series. While we may not yet have invented a faster-than-light drive as used in Battlestar Galactica, ESA turns science fiction into science fact every day, exploring and studying the near-Earth environment, the Solar System, and the Universe beyond, to innovate, inform, and inspire. And we’re always happy to share that excitement with our friends around the world, through events like FedCon and much more.
** China’s Shenzhou-14 Crew Completes Several Missions in Orbit – CCTV Video News Agency
China’s Shenzhou-14 crew has stayed in orbit for over a month, completing several missions on board the space station core module Tianhe. On June 5, the Shenzhou-14 manned spacecraft was launched at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center. The trio became the third batch of astronauts to work in the Chinese space station and are expected to work there for six months. This time around, astronauts need to build the manned space environment after they enter Tianhe, setting the mode of the core module into a manned state and switching on equipment and facilities used for ventilation, purification, regeneration and water treatment. In addition, astronauts have conducted tests on water, air and microorganisms inside Tianhe.
This comes as some microorganisms may lead to health problems of the astronauts and can even be corrosive toward various of facilities. As such, astronauts have also installed and tested the facility used for carbon dioxide reduction in a bid to generate more oxygen in Tianhe. Furthermore, a material management system has been officially set up to assist astronauts in locating specific material in Tianhe for more efficiency. Right now, astronauts are carrying out experiments, covering maglev, non-package materials and aerospace medicine. For a safer travel outside the space station complex, astronauts have checked and tested the function and performance of Feitian spacesuits, which will protect astronauts when they conduct extravehicular activities from Wentian lab module.
While in Tianhe, astronauts also need to go through regular body checkups to monitor their health condition. Apart from body checkups, astronauts also train themselves with medical aid skills even in space to enable themselves to approach any potential emergencies. Working six days per week, the trio enjoys doing exercises with safety belts on, which are totally different from that on Earth, to keep fit and stay healthy. Later on, the Shenzhou-14 crew will deliver a livestream science lecture at China’s space station lab module Wentian, which is scheduled to be launched this month. It will be the first time for the crew to broadcast a live lecture from a space lab module. Previous space classes by the Shenzhou-13 crew were given from the station’s core module Tianhe. The trio will cooperate with the ground team to complete the construction of the country’s space station, developing it from a single-module structure into a national space laboratory with three modules — the core module Tianhe and two lab modules Wentian and Mengtian.
Currently, live views from the ISS are streaming from an external camera mounted on the ISS module called Node 2. Node 2 is located on the forward part of the ISS. The camera is looking forward at an angle so that the International Docking Adapter 2 (IDA2) is visible. If the Node 2 camera is not available due to operational considerations for a longer period of time, a continuous loop of recorded HDEV imagery will be displayed. The loop will have “Previously Recorded” on the image to distinguish it from the live stream from the Node 2 camera. After HDEV stopped sending any data on July 18, 2019, it was declared, on August 22, 2019, to have reached its end of life. Thank You to all who shared in experiencing and using the HDEV views of Earth from the ISS to make HDEV so much more than a Technology Demonstration Payload!
Here is a collection of news, announcements, videos, and other resources that touch on the mingling of art and space:
=== Art in space
Sacha Jafri artwork,”We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon“. To withstand the temperature extremes on the lunar surface, the design was etched onto a gold sheet mounted on an aluminum plate. Credits: Selenian
The artwork will be placed on the surface of the moon later this year by Spacebit, a company developing technology for space exploration, and Astrobotic Technology Inc., a company providing end-to-end delivery services for payloads to the moon. The humanitarian aspect of the mission has been put together by Selenian, a pioneering UAE company that specializes in the curation of art in space. This mission is also the first-ever commercial lunar mission under the NASA CLPS, and the landing site of Jafri’s artwork will be marked as a world heritage landmark.
The Astrobotic mission will launch on ULA’s first Vulcan rocket, which should lift off by the end of 2022 or the first quarter of 2023. The Peregrine Lander will carry a couple of dozen scientific and commercial payloads to the Lacus Mortis crater on northeast area of near side of the Moon.
The first official Artwork entitled ‘We Rise Together – with the Light of the Moon’, created by contemporary British Artist Sacha Jafri, will be placed on the Moon with the help of Selenian, a pioneering company that specialises in the curation of art in space, and Astrobotic, a commercial space company, in association with NASA under the Commercial Lunar Payload Services initiative known as NASA CLPS. The landing site will then become a world heritage landmark preserved forever.
The Artwork will be revealed to the world in a press conference next week. Jafri has used an aerospace grade aluminium gold plate as his canvas in order for the Artwork to be fully resilient to the lunar conditions and to last eternally on the Moon.
Jafri’s original work will be placed on the surface of the Moon triggering the release of a five-series NFT Charitable Collection. The original work will rest in the solitude of the Moon, emanating energy back to Earth. Five NFTs will launch to commemorate each stage of the mission – from the rocket launch entering the stratosphere, the Earth circumnavigation, the Moon sling-shot, the Moon landing and the legacy of the eternal artwork on the Moon.
In addition, 88 unique Hearts that fly to the Moon as part of the painting, will be released to the world as the Jafri ‘Moonheart NFTs’.
The art work shown above was revealed in February 2022:
Koons is best known for his popular sculptures of balloon animals created out of stainless steel. Now, some of his new sculptures will join the payloads on the outside of Nova-C. Specifically, the Koons sculptures will be encased in a transparent, thermally-coated cube that measures 6 inches on all sides, according to Intuitive Machines. The tiny sculptures will supposedly be the first “authorized” works of art to reach the lunar surface, according to Pace Gallery, which represents Koons — though that title will only work if Intuitive Machines can get to the Moon relatively soon.
Former NASA Astronaut and current Intuitive Machines Vice President, Jack Fischer says, “the Intuitive Machines team is passionate about this historic project. Koons’s sculptures, documented by the NFTs and housed in a transparent, thermally coated, sustainably built enclosed art cube, will be the first authorized artworks to be placed on the surface of the Moon, where they will remain in perpetuity.”
** Astrobotic’s Perigrine lander will also carry thousands of digitized artworks in The Peregrine Collection, a time capsule with contributions from over 1200 artists. The collection is included in the DHL MoonBox, one of a couple of dozen payloads in Astrobotic’s Moon Manifest. DHL is sponsoring the Moonbox to promote the company’s Lunar Logistics services, which assist any organization wanting to send a payload to the Moon.
The Peregrine collection is a part of the Lunar Codex project founded by Samuel Peralta. Two additional collections will travel to the Moon on subsequent missions as well. In total, over 20,000 artworks will be included on the three lunar missions.
Intuitive Machines will take the Nova Collection on the company’s IM-1 mission and the Polaris Collection will ride on Astrobotic’s second lunar lander.
** Artist Tristan Eaton in 2020 sent a selection of his work to space aboard the first SpaceX Dragon to carry a crew to the International Space Station.
When SpaceX asked me to create art to join these astronauts in space, I wanted to make something inspirational. Looking down from space to see all of Human Kind together on this tiny planet might remind you how much history and potential we have. Yet we have so much further to go.
With this in mind, I created a series of indestructible, 2 sided paintings made from gold, brass and aluminum to represent the duality of Human Kind, our past and our future.
With kindness, hope and science, Human Kind has changed the world many times over. For a better future, we can do it again.
On July 28, the companies Nanoracks LLC and Artemis Music Entertainment beamed two pieces of art to the International Space Station: a recording of Claude Debussy’s piano classic “Clair de Lune” and “Why Not Me,” a visual work by [Micah] Johnson featuring his character Aku, a Black boy who dreams of becoming an astronaut.
Both digital files circled Earth once, came back down and were minted as non-fungible tokens — the first-ever space-flown music and visual-art NFTs, respectively.
Micah Johnson is a former professional baseball player who has become a well-known figurative artist. Aku has become one of his most famous creations:
Aku is a character created by former MLB player turned artist, Micah Johnson, after hearing a young boy ask, “Can astronauts be black?”
This special rendition of Debussy’s Clair de Lune (‘Moonlight’), commissioned by Artemis Music LLC and performed by internationally renowned pianist Wing-Chong Kam, was beamed into space and orbited the Earth aboard the International Space Station on July 28th, 2021, in commemoration of the timeless beauty of Claude Debussy’s masterpiece and in celebration of the unity of music for all humankind.
The cosmic perspective of space inspires a cognitive shift in humans. Debussy’s Clair de Lune perhaps comes as close as possible to stirring the emotions of awe and wonder experienced by space travelers. The universe is full of music, and we humans are learning how to use music to not only understand the science of the universe, but to grasp our place in it.
“Music is what happens in the space between the notes.” – Claude Debussy
Artemis intends to use NFTs in support of the space arts. They plan to
enable partnerships with artists, producers, creators, and curators to connect musical and artistic works to the inspiration, perspective and opportunity of outer space. Combined with blockchain technology that preserves the uniqueness and provenance of underlying rights and intellectual property, the Artemis Space Network will allow the creation and transmission of space-flown creative works that directly connects creators, fans, and collectors anywhere in the world.
But the marquee payloads actually rode on the exterior of the capsule: In cooperation with Utah-based Uplift Aerospace, Blue Origin flew three portraits that Ghanaian artist Amoako Boafo painted on the capsule’s main chute covers.
“Suborbital Triptych” depicts Boafo’s mother; the mother of fellow artist Otis Kwame Kye Quaicoe, a childhood friend of Boafo’s; and Boafo himself.
Associate Professor of Integrated Media Julia Christensen is currently working with NASA scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California. She is working on a project envisioning artwork where no artwork has gone before: aboard an interstellar space mission en route to Proxima b, an exoplanet outside our Sun’s solar system.
The art that she would send would come from a project titled TREE OF LIFE
The Tree of Life is the primary project of a collaborative effort between Julia Christensen and scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to design spacecraft and interplanetary communication technology that can operate for 200 years or more. The project began out of a series of studies Christensen took part in at JPL about a future mission to Proxima B, in which a major conclusion was that we must transcend current frames of obsolescence in order to build a spacecraft that can complete a mission to Proxima B. The CubeSat is to be deployed in low-Earth orbit, and transmits data about its health/operations to a terrestrial tree, which is augmented to act as an Earthly antenna. At the site of the tree, simultaneously, a 200-year dataset is measured to describe the tree’s health and environmental conditions. That data will be translated into audible sonic frequencies that can be transmitted via radio between the tree and CubeSat, so that effectively, the tree and spacecraft can sing together in a 200-year duet.
There are few artists in the aerospace industry whose career was as varied or accomplished as Ted Brown. Ted began as a graphic designer with Douglas in 1962, and over the next four decades carved out an enviable career: he illustrated everything from the Buck Rogers imaginings of Philip Bono, Gemini and Apollo to the Shuttle Program. His art permeates the story of space exploration. It is in industry periodicals, newspapers and books and has been since the early sixties. You know his work. He is as ubiquitous as he is anonymous and that’s something I love about him, because I imagine that is exactly how he wanted it. So, this is the story of Ted Brown.
Ted Brown stands in front of one of his murals at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in 1980. Credits: NASA
Keats embedded into the hillside above Fontecchio a meteorite — an ordinary chondrite, whose parent body hails from the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The space rock’s alien essence has therefore leached into the village’s groundwater and now courses through its pipes.
Those who drink from the fountain are thus infused with the essence of a space traveling alien rock
** Artist Depiction is a set of documentaries on space artists created by Clindar. The first two series of films profiled six space artists – Don Davis, Charles Lindsay, Rick Guidice, Pamela Lee, William K. Hartmann, and Pat Rawlings, The short films were originally available on Amazon Prime but can now be watched for free via the Clindar Youtube channel. See two of these below. A third series of Artist Depiction will be completed in 2023. (The profile of Steve R. Dodd is now on YouTube.)
** The on MARS project turns collections of images from the Perseverance rover into compelling montages.
This rover is equipped with 17 cameras that it used to film its descent on the red planet as well as its first steps on the Martian soil. Every day, it takes new pictures that are sent to Earth. Whether the photo is “successful” (instrument, rock; landscape) or not (black, gray, yellow or white square), the photos are published in the order in which they are received.
onMARS art prints are the result of the assembly of temporal series of photos taken by the rover, and respect the order in which these photos were captured, sent, received, processed and published here on Earth.
recent and past photos and videos from the world’s space agencies, artwork, diagrams, and amateur-processed space images. Bruce Murray, Planetary Society co-founder and emeritus director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, insisted that planetary missions take photos for the public as well as for scientists. Bruce literally helped change our view of the solar system.
“This oil painting from Planetary Society member Jackie Kingon is titled ‘Sunshield'”. Credits: The Planetary Society.
“Candice Lee, an 11th-grade student from Granada Hills Charter High School in Los Angeles, California, was named the grand-prize winner of NASA Langley Research Center’s Annual Student Art Contest.” Credits: NASA’s Langley Research Center
“A display featuring the winning submissions from the Commercial Crew Program’s 2022 Children’s International Artwork Contest hangs in the common area of NASA’s Astronaut Crew Quarters at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.” Credits: NASA, Click for larger image.
** The European Space Agency (ESA) frequently sponsors art contests in the Space for Kids program. Check out winning entrants in three recent contests:
NASA and Crayola Education are collaborating to infuse art and creativity with the unique teachings of space. As part of its mission to inspire the world through discovery, the agency is leveraging its compelling science, technology, engineering, and math content with Crayola’s work to bring creativity into classrooms and other learning environments. The two signed a Space Act Agreement April 28 to formalize the relationship.
=== Space Art Advocacy
** Space Renaissance International (SRI) is a “non-profit organization based in Europe, with members and supporters all around the globe“. SRI is
dedicated to getting humanity off-world, not just astronauts engaged in pioneering exploration, but humanity, en masse … because it is a natural progression in our development as a species. Humanity can’t continue to live in an unsustainable manner, within a closed-system. This is what has led to many of our current cultural and socio-economic problems.
The mission of SRI is to facilitate the development of mankind as an interplanetary society, with aspirations to see humanity grow to become an interstellar civilisation.
Here is a recent SRI video about the “important role” that “Art and Illustration play […] in the world of aerospace engineering“. The special guest is Aldo Spadoni, “an aerospace engineer and futurist”, who is
a veteran of numerous advanced development programs for NASA, the United States Air Force and Navy. He is a recipient of NASA’s Turning Goals Into Reality award for Reusable Launch Vehicle Development. Aldo created an award-winning simulation team at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. He is President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (IAAA). He is an accomplished self-taught artist and concept designer with four US patents to his credit.
Aldo’s consulting company, Aerospace Imagineering, specializes in the conceptual design, visualization and prototyping of advanced technology concepts and products. As a Hollywood technical consultant and concept designer, he supported the production of APOLLO 13, SUPERNOVA, STEALTH, IRON MAN 1 & 2, and other movie projects. He is currently the spacecraft technical advisor on the upcoming interstellar adventure film, PERSEPHONE. Aldo’s personal goals are to promote STEAM education and create compelling positive visions of humanity’s spacefaring future.
Can an artist inspire people to embrace space? This is what illustrator Peter Thorpe has been doing since the mid-1980s. Peter has typically worked as a book cover illustrator, but he has also done logos, magazine covers and posters.
The Mohammed Bin Rashid Space Centre (MBRSC) has launched the Emirates Space Art Programme (ESAP), which will document, capture, and share the emotions of the UAE’s historical advances into space through the culture and creative industries.
** The Art Imaginarium at the SETI Insitute aims to build a community that welcomes those who want to explore the intersection of art and science.
Science and art are more closely connected than people might expect, with each offering the other new perspectives and insights. We’re building an artistic community where everyone feels safe in expressing themselves and exploring the limits of their imaginations. We hope that this will be a space where people respect both the art and the science.
What is art? We do not want to constrain your creativity. Want to write a song? Draw in pencil? Create digital art? Bake a cake? Use pasta and beans? Go for it.
We invited our Art Imaginarium members to give us their take on the dot in our SETI Institute logo. They gave us versions by the dozens. From radio telescopes (including our own Allen Telescope Array) to aliens, and from geometry to math and physics, the SETI dots explored science and even philosophy.
On May 28, [2020], Frank Drake, celebrated scientist and Emeritus Trustee at the SETI Institute, turned ninety years old. To honor his birthday month, our Art Imaginarium group was challenged with Frank’s most well-known contribution to SETI, the Drake Equation. This equation seeks to put mathematical constraints on the existence of intelligent life in our own galaxy, the Milky Way.
Art Imaginarium Challenge: Johannes Kepler’s ‘Somnium’:
This month, we are asking the members of our Art Imaginarium and any interested artists to create artwork inspired by what many consider the first science fiction story, Johannes Kepler’s ‘Somnium’. The challenge is presented by the Director of our SETI Artist-in-Residence program, Bettina Forget. Kepler wrote the novel in 1608, and his son published it in 1634. The novel started as a way to defend Copernicus’ view of the solar system, with characters on the Moon viewing Earth. Read a translation of the novel, done by the Somnium Project, here: https://somniumproject.wordpress.com/… The Art Imaginarium is a Facebook group dedicated to the space where art meets science. Why art? Science and art are more closely connected than people might expect, with each offering new perspectives and insights. We’re building a global artistic community where everyone feels safe in expressing themselves and exploring the limits of their imaginations. We hope that this will be a space where people respect both the art and the science. What is art? We do not want to constrain creativity. Want to write a song? Draw in pencil? Create digital art? Bake a cake? Use pasta and beans? Go for it. Each month, we provide members with a challenge theme. How they interpret that theme is entirely up to them. Join the challenge here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/TheAr...
Art Imaginarium Challenge: First Contact. Institute co-founder Jill Tarter issued this challenge to Imaginarium members in September 2020:
During this week’s SpaceCafé, SpaceWatch.Global publisher Torsten Kriening spoke with self-confessed “spaceist”, astronautics and space engineering expert from the International Space University, Professor Chris Welch. Now the Head of the Space Payloads Laboratory at the ISU, Professor Welch’s career in space engineering has spanned several decades across multiple universities and institutions. He was previously the Director of Kingston University’s Aerospace Research Centre, and began his academic career at Cranfield University and the University of Kent. He is also President-elected of the British Interplanetary Society and fellow at the Royal Astronomical Society. His research and teaching interests span space propulsion systems, orbit mechanics and space exploration and his contributions to the sector are award-winning. In 2009 he received the Sir Arthur Clarke Award in recognition of his work in space education and outreach.
There’s no doubt that Professor Welch is one of the most decorated space academics alive, but you may be surprised to learn that his interests go well beyond engineering: he is also a self-described ambassador and interlocutor for the arts and space. In this week’s episode, he and Torsten discuss space art’s history, its development and future.
Seems like the announcement shown below from Redwire Space of a commercial sale of optical crystal made in microgravity should be getting more attention. It will definitely provide some encouragement to the many companies building crewed and uncrewed orbital platforms for which space manufacturing is a key target market. Only a two gram sampling was bought but if sold in quantity at the same price, such crystal would bring in $2 million per kilogram, which is 100 to 1000 times the cost of sending a kilogram into space and bringing it back.
[I’ll note, though, that this is not in fact the first product made in space and sold on earth. Micrometer-sized, nearly perfectly round, latex spheres were made on Space Shuttle flights in the early 1980s . The were sold by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as reference standards for calibrating optical instruments and for size comparisons for particles used in medicines, paints, cosmetics, etc. The market was not enormous, however, and the number of space-made spheres soon satisfied the demand. For more details, see Monodisperse Latex Reactor (MLR): A materials processing space shuttle mid-deck payload and Certification of 10μm Diameter Polystyrene Spheres (“Space Beads”) – Tom Lettieri, NIST (pdf).]
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (June 23, 2022) – Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW), a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, announced the first sale of its space-manufactured optical crystal to researchers at the Center for Electron Microscopy and Analysis (CEMAS), a leading electron microscopy facility, at The Ohio State University. The transaction recorded two grams of space-manufactured crystal were sold to Ohio State. Based on the sample size sold, the space-manufactured crystals have an approximate value of $2 million per kilogram.
The space-enabled optical crystal was manufactured in Redwire’s Industrial Crystallization Facility (ICF) onboard the International Space Station (ISS). This transaction marks the first time that a space-enabled materials product has been sold on Earth—a significant milestone for space commercialization and a demand signal for Redwire’s space-based manufacturing.
Redwire crystallization modules used on the ISS to make optical crystals. Credits: Redwire
Space-manufactured optical crystals could provide significant improvements to high-power, large laser systems used on Earth. The high-energy laser market is seeing strong growth with an increasing number of terrestrial applications from advanced manufacturing and machining to weapons systems. These laser systems are enabled by high efficiency laser lenses that are produced using optical crystals.
Currently, optical crystals manufactured on Earth have lower damage thresholds due to gravity-induced inclusions and defects which limits the output of high-power laser systems since the lenses are subjected to laser-induced damage. Space-manufactured optical crystals could improve system performance because they have a higher laser damage threshold due to fewer inclusions and defects because of the space manufacturing process.
“This is an exciting milestone that validates our commercialization plan for manufacturing space-enabled products in low-Earth orbit and further stimulates demand for in-space production,”
said Andrew Rush, Redwire’s President and COO.
“This is a watershed moment for space commercialization. While we are continuing to refine production techniques for a variety of products, we are now expanding our focus beyond pathfinder demonstrations to increasing production of space-enabled products sustainably, profitably, and at scale.”
[ Dr. John Horack, Professor and Neil Armstrong Chair in Aerospace at Ohio State, said,]
“The ability for Ohio State to work with space-grown crystals improves our ability to grow CEMAS as a signature materials characterization and research facility unlike any other, for space-based and terrestrial materials, addressing complex challenges in domains ranging from cancer to planetary science,”
CEMAS researchers will study the space-grown crystal and compare it to Earth-grown potassium dihydrogen phosphate (KDP) crystals using aberration-corrected electron microscopy to observe atomic-scale differences in impurities and defects between the two materials, something that has not yet been achieved. The space-manufactured crystal presents an opportunity for CEMAS to build the group’s capabilities for analyzing materials manufactured in space and those that could be returned from asteroids, the Moon and Mars in the future. The insights from this research could also inform the development process of space-manufactured optical crystals to optimize future products.
Launched in early 2021, ICF is a commercial in-space manufacturing facility designed to demonstrate microgravity-enhanced techniques for growing inorganic KDP crystals that are commonly used in high-energy laser systems on Earth. The facility is just one of several Redwire ISS payloads developed with the purpose of catalyzing and scaling demand for commercial capabilities in LEO by producing high-value products for terrestrial use.
About Redwire: Redwire Corporation (NYSE: RDW) is a leader in space infrastructure for the next generation space economy, with valuable IP for solar power generation and in-space 3D printing and manufacturing. With decades of flight heritage combined with the agile and innovative culture of a commercial space platform, Redwire is uniquely positioned to assist its customers in solving the complex challenges of future space missions. For more information, please visit www.redwirespace.com.
