Space Daily 31 10 2018

October 31, 2018

Russia plans first manned launch to ISS Dec 3 after accident  Moscow (AFP) Oct 31, 2018 - Russia hopes to launch three crew for the International Space Station on December 3, the first manned blast-off since an accident this month, the Roscosmos space agency said Wednesday. Russia, the only country able to ferry astronauts to the orbiting science lab, suspended all launches after a rocket failed on October 11 just minutes after blast-off -- the first such incident in the history of post-Soviet space travel. ... more

OSIRIS-REx captures 'super-resolution' view of Bennu  Tucson AZ (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - This "super-resolution" view of asteroid Bennu was created using eight images obtained by NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft on Oct. 29, 2018, from a distance of about 205 miles (330 km). The spacecraft was moving as it captured the images with the PolyCam camera, and Bennu rotated 1.2 degrees during the nearly one minute that elapsed between the first and the last snapshot. The team used ... more

Fleet Space Technologies joins Rocket Lab manifest for It's Business Time mission  Los Angeles CA (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - US orbital launch provider Rocket Lab has signed a contract with fast-growing Internet of Things (IoT) start-up Fleet Space Technologies to launch two satellites that will form the foundation of a global IoT communications constellation. The two Proxima satellites are the first of a fleet of small, low-cost satellites that will provide internet connectivity for millions of sensor devices based i ... more

NASA looking to tiny technology for big payoffs  Hampton VA (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - NASA is advancing technology that could use large amounts of nanoscale materials to launch lighter rockets and spacecraft than ever before. The Super-lightweight Aerospace Composites (SAC) project seeks to scale up the manufacturing and use of high-strength carbon nanotube composite materials. Carbon nanotubes consist of carbon atoms chemically bound in the shape of cylinders that are less ... more

NASA researchers teach machines to "see"  Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - Your credit card company contacts you asking if you've purchased something from a retailer you don't normally patronize or spent more than usual. A human didn't identify the atypical transaction. A computer - equipped with advanced algorithms - tagged the potentially fraudulent purchase and triggered the inquiry. Researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, thi ... more

Russian experts to disassemble Soyuz-FG rocket for inspection prior to launch  Moscow (Sputnik) Oct 31, 2018 - Experts at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan will dismantle the four strap-on boosters of the Soyuz-FG carrier rocket, which is scheduled for next launch in November, and re-inspect them in order to avoid launch failures similar to October 11 incident, a Baikonur source told Sputnik. The rocket is expected to orbit the Progress MS-10 space freighter with supplies for the Internationa ... more

NASA launches a new podcast to Mars  Pasadena CA (JPL) Oct 31, 2018 - NASA has a new mission to Mars, and it's taking podcast listeners along for the ride. Launching this week, the eight-episode series "On a Mission" follows the InSight lander as it travels hundreds of millions of miles and attempts to land on Mars on Nov. 26. "On a Mission" will be the first JPL podcast to track a mission during flight, through interviews with the InSight team at NASA's Jet ... more

Maxar Technologies' MDA to design lunar rover concept for Canadian Space Agency  Brampton, Canada (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - MDA has been selected by the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) to provide a conceptual design of a lunar rover for science exploration and to prepare for human missions on the lunar surface. As part of MDA's concept, the rover would be engineered to travel up to 600 km over its lifetime in the harsh lunar environment via tele-robotic control and advanced autonomous mode, relying on artificial in ... more

NASA will keep trying to contact stalled Mars rover Opportunity  Washington (AFP) Oct 30, 2018 - NASA has changed its mind about how long it will continue to seek contact with an aging robotic vehicle that was blanketed in a dust storm on Mars back in June and has been stalled ever since. Now, the space agency plans to keep trying, rather than abandon efforts some time this month, as officials had said in late August. "After a review of the progress of the listening campaign, NASA ... more  NASA's mission to Jupiter's trojans given the green light for development  Greenbelt MD (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - NASA's mission to perform the first reconnaissance of the Trojans, a population of primitive asteroids orbiting in tandem with Jupiter, has passed a critical milestone. NASA has given approval for the implementation and 2021 launch of the Lucy spacecraft. The confirmation review, formally known as "Key Decision Point C," authorized continuation of the project into the development phase and ... more  Neil Armstrong's huge souvenir collection to be auctioned  New York (AFP) Oct 31, 2018 - Talk about a pack rat: thousands of things that Neil Armstrong saved over the course of a career that saw him become the first man to walk on the moon will be auctioned off this week. Nobody really knew the extent of the stuff Armstrong amassed during his 82 years on earth, not even the children of the man who made history with his feat on July 20, 1969. Some of the mementos are from his spa ... more  NASA retires Kepler Space Telescope, passes planet-hunting torch  Moffett Field CA (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - After nine years in deep space collecting data that indicate our sky to be filled with billions of hidden planets - more planets even than stars - NASA's Kepler space telescope has run out of fuel needed for further science operations. NASA has decided to retire the spacecraft within its current, safe orbit, away from Earth. Kepler leaves a legacy of more than 2,600 planet discoveries from outsi ... more  Synchronized telescope dance puts limits on mysterious flashes in the sky  Perth, Australia (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - Two outback radio telescopes synchronised to observe the same point of sky have discovered more about one of the universe's most mysterious events in new research published this week. The Curtin University-led Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) and CSIRO's Australian SKA Pathfinder (ASKAP) telescopes were searching the sky for fast radio bursts, which are exceptionally bright flashes of energ ... more  First results from lucky spectroscopy, an equivalent technique to lucky imaging  Madrid, Spain (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - The Galactic O-Star Spectroscopic Survey (GOSSS) is acquiring blue-violet spectroscopy of all optically accessible O stars in the Galaxy at resolution ~2500 and signal-to-noise ratio S/N > 200. To date, data from a total of 590 O stars has been published. O stars love company and few (if any) of them are born completely isolated. As a result, their multiplicity fraction, both visual and sp ... more  Aerojet Rocketdyne propulsion critical to successful intercept test for SM-3 Block IIA Missile  Sacramento CA (SPX) Oct 30, 2018 - Aerojet Rocketdyne announced reports that its propulsion systems supported a key intercept test of Raytheon's Standard Missile-3 Block IIA guided missile. During the FTM-45 flight test, conducted by the U.S. Navy and Missile Defense Agency, the SM-3 Block IIA interceptor was launched from USS JOHN FINN (DDG-113). The intercept test was designed to further prove the effectiveness of the lar ... more  Japan, India agree new defence and economic projects  Tokyo (AFP) Oct 29, 2018 - Japan and India agreed Monday to upgrade diplomatic and military ties, with Tokyo also offering low-interest loans as the two countries seek closer ties to balance China's weight in the region. The plans were announced as India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi rounded out a three-day trip to Tokyo for talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe, senior ministers, and local business leaders. ... more  US imposes restrictions on Chinese tech firm  Washington (AFP) Oct 29, 2018 - The US Commerce Department on Monday targeted a Chinese tech company with restrictions to cut off access to US technology, saying the firm could harm US security. President Donald Trump has painted China as an economic threat to the United States and American companies and based his aggressive tariff strategy on the goal of preventing the country from becoming dominant in key technology sect ...more  Kymeta demonstrates hybrid data backhaul on cellular and satellite networks  Redmond WA (SPX) Oct 31, 2018 - In September 2018, Kymeta-the communications company making good on the promise of global, mobile connectivity-conducted a series of field trials with United States federal agents to successfully demonstrate the benefits and feasibility of reliable, seamless communications along the southern border of New Mexico. Along with partner CopaSAT, and trial partners Cradlepoint, Inc. and TrellisWare Te ... more