2020 Potpourri Edition
Spitzer Space Telescope’s View of star-forming nebula W51 (Courtesy of NASA)
“To Know the Universe is to Know Yourself”
I am sure all of us are ready for 2020 to be over—it has been quite a year with circumstances that many did not see coming. But amidst the craziness, there have been remarkable growth in the Outer Space industry. So, without further ado, here is my curated list of this year’s significant developments on topics we have previously discussed. Until we meet again in the next post, here’s to a much better year in 2021 and stay safe!
Commercial Crew is a Go
Earlier this summer, I live-blogged and wrote about SpaceX’s iconic first manned mission to the International Space Station. Since that historic launch, NASA has officially certified SpaceX’s crew Dragon—a harbinger of the rise of the NASA’s commercial crew program. On November 15, 2020 at 7:27 pm local time, the first official mission of NASA’s commercial crew program (Crew-1) successfully took off from the Kennedy Space Center. With this mission, United States has officially regained its domestic manned launch capabilities.
While SpaceX will focus on improving its Dragon capsule and renewing its contracts with NASA, the other competitor in the Commercial Crew Program, Boeing’s Starliner, is running into new delays. With the Starliner failed to reach the International Space Station on its first test, its newly required second unmanned test flight, Orbital Test Flight 2, is now unfortunately delayed to March 29, 2021. Projecting out this schedule, the first manned test flight of Starliner likely won’t occur until the end of 2021 at the earliest, pushing its first operational mission well into 2022. This means that SpaceX might fly four operational missions before Boeing will be ready to launch its first one.
Moon’s Second Coming
Recently, there have been a lot of developments around our only natural satellite. Just last year, China became the first nation to land on the dark side of the moon via Chang’e-4 (Chang’e is the Chinese goddess of the Moon). This year, with its subsequent lunar mission, Chang’e-5, China became just the third nation—after the United States and the Soviet Union—to successfully bring lunar samples back to Earth. This also marks the end of a 44-year gap since the last moon rocks were delivered to Earth via Soviet Union’s Luna 24. A 23-day mission, Chang’e-5 returned to Earth with 1.73 kilograms (3.8 pounds) worth of lunar samples. As this is an extremely complicated mission involving many moving pieces, it is a huge accomplishment for the Chinese space program.
On the other side of the globe, last year I wrote about how a crewed return to the Moon is a moral imperative. This year, it looks like NASA is heeding this call. With China likely planning its inaugural crewed moon landing as well, NASA is leading a coalition of nations for a Moon return via the Artemis Program. Just a few weeks ago, NASA announced the 18 astronauts that will be eligible for its Moon missions. Included in this list are eight remarkable women, one of whom will become the first female to land on the Moon. While NASA is still pushing for a 2024 lunar grand return, with its preferred transportation rocket, Space Launch System, falling hopelessly behind schedule, the date will likely slip; furthermore, the presidential transition might also affect this timeline. But, for now, it looks like the program is full steam ahead.
Coalition Formation for Artemis Accords
Speaking of the Artemis Program, the Artemis Accords—the agreement underlying the directive—is continuing to build its roster of partners. On November 12, 2020, Ukraine became the ninth nation to sign on to these guidelines. Channeling various United Nations’ Outer Space treaties, these accords will likely onboard several more nations as our Moon dreams become more of a reality.
Upgrading Rocket Technology
Earlier this year, I wrote an extensive piece focusing on how we can defy the tyranny of the rocket equation. Well, ongoing research in this field has led to some new developments this year. Highlights, include:
A new startup, HyImpulse, is looking to advance the field of hybrid engines by using paraffin-based solid fuel and liquid oxygen. As discussed in my piece, hybrid rockets have the advantage of being safer than liquid rockets while retaining throttling ability when compared to solid rockets. However, hybrid rockets tend to cost more than pure solid rockets and are harder to refuel when compared to liquid rockets.
United States’ Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has provided $14 million in funding to Gryphon Technologies as part of its mission to develop a nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) engine. NTP engines have the advantages of achieving high specific impulse. However, these engines do require working with highly radioactive materials and, in current form, can’t generate enough thrust to escape Earth’s gravity.
Meanwhile, the Defense and Security Accelerator, a part of United Kingdom’s Ministry of Defense, has committed $116,080 to further development of autophage engines. By burning up its own structure during launch, an autophage, or self-eating, rocket is able to significantly lower its own mass, such as fuel tanks, as it attempts to escape gravity. This enables the rocket to have more capacity devoted to the payload and carry less fuel. While autophage solid rockets have already been tested, this funding will be used by the University of Glasglow to build and test a hybrid rocket.
The Future of Outer Space Mining
One of my first posts on this blog focused on how Outer Space mining is a key to future exploration missions. While the scientific community has had a few successful asteroid sample return missions this year (e.g., Hayabusa2 and OSIRIS-REx), we are still a long ways away from regular space mining operations. However, more experiments are underway. Over the next few months, astronauts onboard the International Space Station will be conducting an Outer Space-mining related experiment sponsored by the European Space Agency. Named BioAsteroid, this experiment will seek to understand whether microbes can be used to break down the surface of an asteroid and extract useful materials. These microbes will essentially act as drills and pickaxes, chipping away at the crust to unveil elements that can be collected and converted into rocket fuel or construction materials. If successful, we will be one step closer to launching the Outer Space mining industry.
Space Tourism Becoming a Reality
While I still think space tourists can’t call themselves astronauts, it looks like space tourism will officially kick off in 2021! Of the three space tourism companies discussed earlier this year, two are making significant progress. SpaceX, in partnership with Axiom Space, is finalizing the contract for the first all-private mission to the International Space Station. Named SpaceX Axiom Space-1, this mission is scheduled to launch in October 2021 and will have four participants including Tom Cruise; he and Doug Liman (the director of Edge of Tomorrow) will board the ISS as part of filming for a new movie—likely about Outer Space.
Meanwhile, Virgin Galactic has attempted its first manned spaceflight*—asterisk since that 80 km altitude is still a bit tricky—from its home port, Spaceport America, in New Mexico. While the effort wasn’t successful and was aborted at the last second when the onboard engine monitoring system lost connection, the fail-safe system worked flawlessly and the crew touched down safely. Once the company figures out the problem and have another successful test flight, we will be one step closer to Virgin Group’s founder, Richard Branson, flying on its first official operational flight. *Full disclosure: I am long SPCE*
Spaceports on the Rise
Speaking of Spaceport America, spaceports around the world are also on the rise. Since my four-part series on Spaceports, there have been a lot of developments in this sector around the world. Highlights include:
In the United States, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has officially opened up a new office to focus solely on the regulatory management of spaceports across America. The Office of Spaceports, mandated by Congress via the 2018 FAA Authorization Act, will be the FAA’s primary department responsible for policies related to spaceports and their development and improvements. The office will also promote and ensure the competitiveness of American spaceports across the globe.
Meanwhile across the pond, the United Kingdom is ready start construction on a new spaceport in Cornwall. Six years in the making, the spaceport is expected to cost $28 million (22 million pounds). Once built, Virgin Orbit is expected to be the anchor tenant with up to 8 launches a year. While the Cornwall spaceport is expected to be operational by 2022, COVID and Virgin Orbit’s failed test earlier this year might delay things.
And over in Asia, a team of Japanese architects is leading an effort to build a floating spaceport in Tokyo Bay. The group, named Spaceport Japan group, have provided artist renderings of what Spaceport Japan would look like. While it’s a stunning visual, there will be a lot of work to be done before it becomes a reality.
Not to be outdone by Japan, China is actually building a floating spaceport. Named Eastern Aerospace Port, the spaceport will be located off the coast of Haiyang city in Shandong province. Lead by China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation, the management team believes that construction and planning is going swimmingly—pun intended—well.
Satellite Internet Continuing its Growth
Last year I wrote about the emerging competition in the Satellite internet space and 2020 brought with it many updates. While SpaceX is still doing its thing and launching more starlinks (and annoying a lot of stargazers), it has also started to beta-test its satellite internet (which will set you back for an upfront $499 investment and a $99 monthly fee). Meanwhile, British OneWeb has performed a phoenix act by rising from the ashes of bankruptcy through a sale to its new owners, the UK government and Bharti Global Limited, for one billion dollars. The enterprise is now fully operational and just added 36 more satellites on a December 18 Soyuz launch to its 74 satellites already in Outer Space. Not wanting to be left behind, Amazon also received FCC’s approval to launch its 3,236 satellites over the next nine years in March. But, it is still getting left in the dust as Mr. Bezos’ company has none in the air so far.
SpaceX’s Poker’s Push on Space Debris
While one division of SpaceX is likely contributing to the space debris problem with its massive constellations, another division might be trying to solve this space junk issue—which is getting serious as scientists cannot even tell them apart from asteroids. Apart from successfully launching its commercial crew program, SpaceX is also charging forward with its Starship program (briefly mentioned in my post dedicated to Falcon Heavy’s demonstration flight).
Tests on its Starship have been progressing well; in fact, earlier in December, Starship “Serial Number 8” completed a near-perfect high-altitude flight test that saw it perform a gravity-defying belly flop—though it ultimately exploded upon landing. As its Starship gets ready for its eventual Outer Space launch, SpaceX is already pitching the vehicle as a space junk cleaner. Because its booster rocket, the Super Heavy, and the Starship itself are both fully reusable, the rocket can be launched into LEO and capture some defunct objects and return them safely back to Earth. While it will take a lot more engineering to get there, I will be very excited to see the first Outer Space garbage truck at work!
Space Force’s Logo Unveiled
As I noted before, U.S. Space Force was established much quicker than I expected. And it looks like this branch is making some significant progress this year as well. Apart from receiving its first set of academy graduates as commissioned officers, it has also graduated its first direct batch of enlisted recruits. Before celebrating its first birthday this year, the Space Force also revealed its logo and motto too. Its motto, “Semper Supra,” is Latin for Always Above. Meanwhile, its logo is full of symbolisms as well and is mainly made up of a shiny sleek silver delta and the star Polaris. While some have criticized that Space Force’s seal looks too much like an imitation of that of Star Trek’s Starfleet, this is likely a case of art imitating life.
