1. Monday, Jan. 7, 2019: 2-3:30 pm PST (4-5:30 pm CST, 5-6:30 pm EST): Dr. George Sowers returns to discuss the Commercial Lunar Propellant Study and China on the Moon.
2. Tuesday, Jan. 8, 2019: 7-8:30 pm PST (9-10:30 pm CST; 10-11:30 pm EST): Fun with Dr. Doug Plata as he discusses his “15 space advocate heresies”.
3. Wednesday, Jan. 9, 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, Jan. 11, 2019; 9:30-11 am PST (11:30 am -1 pm CST; 12:30-2 pm EST): We welcome back Dr. Ken Davidian of the FAA to the show.
5. Sunday, Jan. 13 2019: 12-1:30 pm PST (3-4:30 pm EST, 2-3:30 pm CST): We welcome Gurbir Singh, author of the book on the Indian space program.
** The Space Show, 12/30/2018 – Thomas A. Olson ” presented a comprehensive launch, commercial, science, government and private sector overview of 2018 space activities”.
The ZACube-2 weighs 4 kg and is South Africa’s second nanosatellite to be launched into space. It is three times the size of its predecessor, TshepisoSat. It is a precursor to the MDASat, a constellation of nine nanosatellites that will be developed to provide very high frequency data exchange communication systems to the maritime industry.
The Department of Science and Technology (DST) has invested ZAR 16.5 million in the Cape Peninsula University of Technology (CPUT) for the project in support of Operation Phakisa. The project is managed by the DST’s South African National Space Agency (SANSA), in cooperation with the University of Montpellier, the French Embassy and the Paris Chamber of Commerce.
Dubai: UAE students who built MySat-1, a ‘CubeSat’ launched last year to the International Space Station (ISS), are now more informed and capable to contribute to the developing space sector of the country.
The 10-centimetre cube satellite MySat-1 was developed by students of the UAE-based Khalifa University of Science and Technology and was successfully launched to space on board the Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft.
MySat-1’s launch came on the heels of launch of KhalifaSat, the UAE’s first 100 per cent Emirati-made satellite launched on October 29.
Twenty teams from kindergarten through 12th grade will be invited to design, build and launch payloads – objects, experiments and instruments – that will eventually take flight on an intern-built, 35-foot-tall Future Heavy Super Sport rocket. Next summer is the target launch window.
Teams can also compete for a chance at $5,000 for their school or organization. That competition is based on how close their payload gets to a target on the ground.
According to Rabindra Prasad Dhakal, chief of technical department, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, the two have been provided Rs 20 million to launch the satellites named ‘Birds 3’. The amount was released to develop three satellites simultaneously and preparations are under way for the launch by mid-May.
The satellites will take photos of various parts of the country on a daily basis and also disseminate information about possible disasters. NAST scientists and the Minister of Science and Technology are scheduled to leave for Japan before the launch of the satellites.
PW-Sat2, the second Polish student satellite, also launched on the SpaceX Falcon 9 SSO-A flight with AMSAT Fox-1Cliff, is a student project with the goal to test a new deorbit sail.
The sail was deployed on December 29, 2018. On-Board camera footage of the event can be viewed at
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:
** Episode T+106: Q&A – Main Engine Cut Off – “This month I tackle questions on future space architectures, companies working in space right now, and finish with a 2018 Top 10 ranking.”
** The Space Show, 12/30/2018 – Thomas A. Olson ” presented a comprehensive launch, commercial, science, government and private sector overview of 2018 space activities”.
Now, the spacecraft will circle Bennu about a mile (1.75 kilometers) from its center, closer than any other spacecraft has come to its celestial object of study. (Previously the closest orbit of a planetary body was in May 2016, when the Rosetta spacecraft orbited about four miles (seven kilometers) from the center of the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko.) The comfortable distance is necessary to keep the spacecraft locked to Bennu, which has a gravity force only 5-millionths as strong as Earth’s. The spacecraft is scheduled to orbit Bennu through mid-February at a leisurely 62 hours per orbit.
Now that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is closer to Bennu, physical details about the asteroid will leap into sharper focus, and the spacecraft’s tour of this rubble pile of primordial debris will become increasingly detailed and focused.
In 2020, OSIRIS-REx will come down onto the surface of Bennu and grab a sample of regolith. The sample will be returned to Earth in 2023.
China has successfully placed its Chang’e-4 spacecraft onto the surface of the far side of the Moon. It appears that the rover has also been released. This is the first time that any spacecraft has landed on the lunar far side.
The first image taken by the Chang’e-4 spacecraft of its landing spot on the lunar far side.
Chang’e-4 was launched on 8 December 2018 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan province. The landing site is in the Von Kármán crater in the South Pole-Aitken Basin. The basin was likely formed by a giant asteroid impact that might have brought material from the moon’s upper mantle to the surface; studying samples taken there might offer scientists the chance to learn more about the composition of the body’s interior. The moon’s far side has a much thicker, older crust and is pockmarked by more and deeper craters than the near side, where large dark plains called maria, formed by ancient lava flows, have erased much of the cratering. Chang’e-4’s observations could give clues to the processes behind the differences.
And there are also instruments to carry out astronomical, solar, and biological research:
The lander carries cameras for observations of the terrain and a low-frequency spectrometer to study solar bursts. The rover has a panoramic camera, a spectrometer for identifying surface materials, and a ground-penetrating radar to probe subsurface structures. Sweden, Germany, the Netherlands, and Saudi Arabia contributed payloads that will measure radiation and use low-frequency radio astronomy to listen for faint signals lingering in the cosmos since the formation of the universe’s first stars, among other things. The lander also carries a minuscule biosphere developed by Chinese universities that will study the low-gravity interaction of a number of plants and silkworms.
This video shows various aspects of the Chang’e’4 mission with a mix of animations and real imagery:
The lander has a radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) that will provide power for a mission that aims to last at least three months. A RTG is needed to keep the lander alive and active during the 2-week long cold nights when no solar power is available.
