Today we’ll talk about the ramifications of the huge increase in launch rates across the world. We’ll also discuss an announcement from NASA about their Martial sample return system, and SpaceX’s changing role in the Artemis mission. Let’s get started.
Hello and welcome to the “Undiscovered Country”. I am your host Bryant A.M. Baker. Today, I will present the top 5 most important things happening in the world of space.
1.
[WHAT HAPPENED] World has exceeded total launches that it accomplished for last year
[HOW IT HAPPENED] The three successful orbital launch attempts raised the number to 147. There have been 141 successes, five failures and a partial failure. In 2021, there were 146 launch attempts with 135 successes, 10 failures and one partial failure. US: 68 successes, 2 partial failures, 1 total failure, for 48.3 percent of world total; China: 46 successes and 1 partial failure, for 32 percent of world total; Russia: 19 successes for 12.9 percent of world total.
[WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES ARE] The global launch rate and reliance on space is more than ever before. Orbital environment! Earth environment effects? Growing reliance and likely contention in space?
[WHY IT MATTERS] Time will tell what will happen to answer these questions, but this year continues in a long string of years that is showing that space activity will continue to play a major role in the future.
2.
[WHAT HAPPENED] NASA has restored plans to include a lunar landing on its Artemis 4 mission to the moon later this decade, months after saying that the mission would instead be devoted to assembly of the lunar Gateway. Mark Kirasich, deputy associate administrator for Artemis Campaign Development at NASA, confirmed that NASA had decided to include a landing on Artemis 4 again. The mission would likely use the “Option B” version of SpaceX’s Starship lander.
[HOW IT HAPPENED] NASA announced in March it would exercise that Option B in its Human Landing System (HLS) contract with SpaceX, which originally covered an Option A lander that SpaceX will demonstrate on the Artemis 3 mission. Option B would fund changes to the Starship lander to support more ambitious missions in the later “sustainable” phase of Artemis, and include a second demonstration mission. NASA projected Artemis 4 launching in 2027, but without a lunar landing. That same schedule expects Artemis 3 to launch no earlier than 2025, with Artemis 5 to follow in 2028 as part of an annual cadence of missions
[WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES ARE] NASA is currently soliciting proposals for the Sustaining Lunar Development (SLD) program, formally known as Appendix P of its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP, effort. NASA issued the call for proposals Sept. 16 with an original deadline of Nov. 15. NASA pushed back the deadline Oct. 21 to Dec. 6 to provide more time for the agency to review requests by companies for use of government facilities.
[WHY IT MATTERS] As schedules become more available, we will begin to see answers about the likelihood of this program really moving forward. I hope that contracting issues and competitions come in addition to, rather than replace actual movement forward in the Artemis program
https://spacenews.com/lunar-landing-restored-for-artemis-4-mission/
3.
[WHAT HAPPENED] Mr. Mark R. Whittington, an author and blogger recently opined on The Hill that “It’s time for the United States to use the power of Starlink to deliver space-based information to anywhere on Earth to extend its reach to Russia.”
[HOW IT HAPPENED] What he is referring to is using Starlink to get information about Putin and the actions of Putin’s repressive regime into the the Russian people in order to strengthen dissidents and pierce the not-so-iron curtain that currently exists.
[WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES ARE] Is this a modern-day invasion? Is this the new form of warfare? It has been done before by Reagan via sort-wave radio. Would an invasion of technology be interpreted as an actual invasion? (is the pen mightier than the sword?)
[WHY IT MATTERS] “Many people thought that the end of the Cold War meant that tyranny and oppression, at least on the part of great powers, had also ended. However, the United States and its allies find themselves involved in another long, twilight struggle with new tyrants who grind down their people for their own gain. Information warfare, bringing the raw, unvarnished truth to people who live under the boot of tyranny, is one way of waging that struggle. Thanks to Musk, the world has access to Starlink, which could prove a potent weapon in a new Cold War.”
4.
[WHAT HAPPENED] The first chief of the U.S. Space Force Gen. John “Jay” Raymond on Nov. 2 will relinquish command to Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, and will retire after 38 years of military service.
[HOW IT HAPPENED] Was the Commander of US space Command when re-established in 2019. First member of the Space Force, first Chief of Space Force. As the first official member of the new service, Raymond had to start building it from the ground up, transferring people and funding from the Air Force’s space units. Amidst all this, he had to navigate a charged political landscape as the Space Force in its early days was viewed as a vanity project of former President Trump and was parodied on a Netflix show. While many predicted President Joe Biden would reverse course on the Space Force, the administration gave full support and over the past two years boosted the service’s budget amid concerns that U.S. satellites have become military targets and need to be better defended.
[WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES ARE] Gen Raymond, talking about the size of the Space Force stated “over the last handful of years, the Department has prioritized space,” said Raymond. “And there has been an increase in our budgets.” Going forward, “we just need to be able to articulate what it is that we need, and have the analytical rigor that says: here’s why.”
[WHY IT MATTERS] This turnover maks the end of the first administration of the space force. Gen Raymond’s successor, Gen. B. Chance Saltzman, will have the unenviable task of deciding what happens next.
https://spacenews.com/for-u-s-space-force-raymonds-retirement-marks-the-end-of-an-era/
5.
[WHAT HAPPENED] NASA and ESA have come to an agreement about where samples of Martian surface will be picked up for return to earth!
[HOW IT HAPPENED] NASA and ESA signed an agreement on 19 October which agreed that the depot, or cache, will be at a place called “three Forks” an area located near the base of an ancient river delta in Jezero Crater.
[WHAT THE CONSEQUENCES ARE] Scientists believe the cored samples from the delta's fine-grained sedimentary rocks - deposited in a lake billions of years ago - are the mostly likely to contain indicators of whether microbial life existed when Mars' climate was much different than what it is today.
"Never before has a scientifically curated collection of samples from another planet been collected and placed for return to Earth," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "NASA and ESA have reviewed the proposed site and the Mars samples that will be deployed for this cache as soon as next month. When that first tube is positioned on the surface, it will be a historic moment in space exploration."
However, after the sample tubes are dropped, more samples will be taken in other areas.
[WHY IT MATTERS] This is a huge step forward! But it is not the end of the story. Still have to get those samples back!!
Big meaning for the human exploration of the planet as well
Thank you for joining me. Links to all the stories are in the description. The world of Space law, policy and business is changing every day. If you missed what happened yesterday, be sure to check out the video I did covering it. I would love to hear your thoughts on everything I talked about here today? I’ll see you again next time.
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