March Upd ate. A free newsletter of the Oklahoma Space Alliance. Beresheet Looks Back to Earth

Transcription

1 March Upd ate A free newsletter of the Oklahoma Space Alliance Oklahoma Space Alliance A Chapter of The National Space Society Beresheet Looks Back to Earth March OSA Meeting Saturday, March 9, :00 PM Tom Koszoru s House 514 F enwick Ct, Norman, OK Program Space News and Events Website: Quote of the Month "People make their own fates, and if enough of us make our fate to be space explorers, perhaps we can actually get some space exploration done. Robert Zubrin Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 1 of 13 March 2019

2 Table of Contents Beresheet Looks Back to Earth... 1 January 2019 OSA Meeting... 1 Quote of the Month... 1 Table of Contents... 2 SpaceX s First Test of Raptor Engine... Error! Bookmark not defined. SpaceX Has Many Milestones Expected in Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo Pilots Awarded FAA Astronaut Wings... 5 Buzz Aldrin Honored in State of the Union Address....5 New Shepard Test Flight Carries NASA Experiments... 6 LRO Photographed Chang'e 4 on Far Side of the Moon... 7 Space Station Module Has Hundreds of Dents from Debris... 8 Missile Defense Review Emphasizes Space-Based Missile Defense Systems... 9 NASA Battled Cybersecurity Threats During Government Shutdown 10 Kendra Horn to Chair House Science Space Subcommittee...11 Virgin Galactic Partners with Under Armor Feature-length video: Debate on NASA S Lunar Gateway That s All Folks Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 2 of 13 March 2019

3 Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Editor Asst Editor March 9, (C) Cliff McMurray Claire McMurray The Oklahoma Space Alliance Update is a bi-monthly newsletter of the Oklahoma Space Alliance a chapter of the National Space Society, a non-profit organization headquartered in Washington, D.C. The address of OSA is 102 W. Linn, #1, Norman, OK Unless otherwise noted, all contents of articles herein do not necessarily reflect the opinion of anyone but the writer. Reprint rights are granted to recognized chapters of NSS, provided credit is given. Articles may be submitted by U.S. mail or electronically. Articles may be sent to the Editor at 121 South Creekdale Drive, Norman, OK or to david.sheely51@gmail.com. Each submission should include the author s name and either address or phone number (for verification only). A text or Microsoft Word file is preferred. Please contact the Editor by phone, or texting before mailing your information. OSA Officers for 2019 President & Cliff McMurray Update Editor cliffmcmurray@hotmail.com (C) Vice President David Sheely david.sheely51@gmail.com (C) Secretary & Syd Henderson Outreach Editor sydh@ou.edu (H) (C) Treasurer Tim Scott ctsscott@mac.com (H) NSS Headquarters th Street NW, Suite 500 Washington DC Exec Director nsshq@nss.org Kirby Ikin SpaceX s First Crew Dragon Launched t SpaceX successfully launched its unmanned test of the Crew Dragon capsule in the early hours of March 2; it docked with the International Space Station the next day, paving the way for a manned test flight sometime later this summer. Video: The Rock Band OK Go Teams with Blue Origin to Launch Student Art Projects Into Space Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 3 of 13 March 2019

4 The Grammy award-winning band OK Go filmed their music video for their 2014 song "Upside Down & Inside Out" over the course of several hundred brief periods of weightlessness during 21 flights aboard a Russian I-76 MDK plane. Now they re hosting an "Art in Space" contest in partnership with the Playful Learning Lab at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota and with the sponsorship of Cognizant Technology Solutions, a digital technology and consulting service company. Two winners will see their art projects launched on a New Shepard flight. Story and video: Video: Virgin Galactic Flies Test Passenger for the First Time Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 4 of 13 March 2019

5 In its first flight with a test passenger on board, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo VSS Unity flew again on February 22, reaching an altitude of miles (89.9 kilometers) just two months after its first flight to space (depending on your definition). Story and video: Japanese Asteroid Probe Grabs Sample Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 5 of 13 March 2019

6 Japan s Hayabusa2 grabbed its first sample of the asteroid Ryugu on February 21. It will make two more sampling sorties in the next few months. The first will be much like last Thursday's operation fire a bullet, collect some blasted-out material. But the second will slam a large kinetic impactor into Ryugu, creating a crater that Hayabusa2 will then sample for pristine, previously subsurface material. If all goes according to plan, these three samples will be returned to Earth in a return capsule in December Story and video: Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 6 of 13 March 2019

7 Satellite Fires a Harpoon in Space in Debris-Catching Test A harpoon designed to capture orbital junk was successfully tested in space for the first time on February 8 as part of the active debris-removal demonstration mission called RemoveDebris. The pen-size titanium harpoon developed by Airbus engineers in the U.K. successfully snagged the target out of orbit and reeled it back to the main spacecraft. Story and video: Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 7 of 13 March 2019

8 A Brilliant Daytime Meteor Exploded Over Cuba Last Month On February 1, a relatively small metor exploded in an airburst at an altitude of 13.7 miles (22 km) over Cuba. The rock was estimated to be a few meters wide and to weigh about 360 tons (330 metric tons) and was traveling roughly 40,300 mph (64,800 km/h). Scientists are studying a new method, called gravitational ray tracing (GRT), which uses computer algorithms to track mock impactors back to their origins in space. The computer model did a good job of "predicting" the Chelyabinsk and Cuba meteors, researchers said. This latest event, although not nearly as energetic as the Chelyabinsk airburst, reminds us that development of planetary defense is a real need. Article: Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 8 of 13 March 2019

9 Trump Signs Directive to Create a Military Space Force President Donald Trump signed Space Policy Directive-4 (SPD-4) on Feb. 19, ordering the Pentagon to establish the Space Force as the sixth branch of the United States military. But Congress must approve the creation of any new military branch, which has yet to happen in this case. Story: Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 9 of 13 March 2019

10 Israel's Lunar Lander Beresheet is On Its Way to the Moon Israel s first lunar mission was launched February 2 on a Falcon 9 booster. It s on a slow trajectory to the moon: it won t arrive for eight weeks. Beresheet cannot take a direct path to the moon because the lander shared a rocket ride with two other payloads. Also aboard the Falcon 9 were an Indonesian communications satellite and an experimental U.S. Air Force craft, both of which are only going as far as Earth orbit. Beresheet will end up traveling about 4 million miles (6.5 million kilometers) before touchdown, more than any other moon-landing mission to date. Story and video: Additional amplification video: NASA Selects Experiments for Possible Lunar Flights in 2019 Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 10 of 13 March 2019

11 NASA has selected 12 science and technology demonstration payloads to fly to the Moon as early as the end of this year, dependent upon the availability of commercial landers. NASA Press Release: Feature-length video: Gerard K. O'Neill: The Vision Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 11 of 13 March 2019

12 Gerard O Neill shares his vision for humanity s future in space in this video for the Space Studies Institute. Video: Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 12 of 13 March 2019

13 That s All Folks Oklahoma Space Alliance Update Page 13 of 13 March 2019