My money is on MITRR-type radio interference.
Microwave In The Recreation Room
Jeff Bezos wants to build a business park in space
Pretty ambitious – none of this Blue-Origin-led consortium can put humans in orbit yet
Blue Origin is leading a consortium hoping to put the first commercial space station into orbit. The craft is set to combine research and tourism facilities, and provide an office address in space for businesses.
Dubbed Orbital Reef, the two initial partners are Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin, which will get the platform into orbit atop the as-yet unflown New Glenn reusable rocket, and Sierra Space, developers of a mini-shuttle spacecraft and the inflatable habitats the space station will need.
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NASA sets a date to begin lunar tuning
First Artemis mission is stacked on a rocket – now for five punishing sets of tests before liftoff
NASA has set a date for the test of the technologies it hopes will see it return to the Moon and explore Mars: February 2022.
The agency on Saturday announced that its Orion spacecraft has been stacked atop the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, and if all tests go well is expected to make an uncrewed test flight around the Moon.
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Thanks, I hate it.
31-year-old piece of hardware not working very well: Hubble telescope back in safe mode over ‘synchronization issues’
James Webb Space Telescope in line for a December flight
https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/26/hubble_safe_mode_again/
The veteran Hubble Space Telescope (HST) tripped back into safe mode yesterday, leaving science operations suspended while the latest technical woe is investigated.
The problem this time is “synchronization issues with internal spacecraft communications,” according to the observatory’s social media orifice, normally awash with stunning imagery snapped by the telescope.
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50 years have gone by since the UK’s one – and only – homegrown foray into orbit
Hopefully not another half century before the next… although launchpads are pricey
Today marks the 50th anniversary of the UK joining an elite club of one: nations that gained the ability to launch satellites into orbit and then discarded the skill. The one – and only – successful orbital launch of the Black Arrow took place in 1971.
The place? The Woomera Prohibited Area (WPA) in Australia (about 450km from Adelaide.) It seems the UK was scattering rocket parts over Australia long before the US’s first space station smacked into the country years later. The first of the UK’s forays took place in 1969 and the fourth, and final, launch occurred on 28 October in '71, sending the Prospero satellite into Earth orbit.
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Pack your bags – we may have found the first planet outside of our galaxy
Alas, we will have to wait 70 years to confirm the sighting
https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/28/first_extragalactic_exoplanet_possibly/
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Researchers led by the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics have stumbled across tantalizing evidence of what could be the first-ever extragalactic planet.
They found, according to the aforementioned paper, a strange pattern in the radiation emitted from an X-ray binary system in the Messier 51 galaxy located 28 million light-years away. These types of systems are made up of a neutron star or black hole gobbling gas from a neighboring star. The team detected a temporary decrease in the strength of X-ray emission, a pattern similar to what astronomers see when an exoplanet orbits stars closer to Earth.
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Trick or treat? Massive solar storm could light up American skies this Halloween
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a warning of a geomagnetic storm
https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/solar_storm_aurora/
An aurora may light up the dark skies over the US Northeast, upper Midwest, and could even stretch as far as the state of Washington, potentially giving skywatchers a rare treat this Halloween weekend.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration issued a strong warning of an incoming geomagnetic storm on Friday.
“A G3 (Strong) geomagnetic storm watch is in effect for 30 – 31 October, 2021, following a significant solar flare and coronal mass ejection (CME) from the sun that occurred around 11:35 EDT on Oct. 28,” it said. “Analysis indicated the CME departed the Sun at a speed of 973 km/s and is forecast to arrive at Earth on 30 October, with effects likely continuing into 31 October.”
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Juno what? Jupiter’s Great Red Spot is much deeper than originally thought
Boffins release treasure trove of findings from NASA probe, including weird cyclones around the poles
https://www.theregister.com/2021/10/29/jupiter_juno_data/
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The studies published in Science and the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets cover discoveries about the cloud layer’s belts and zones, polar cyclones, and the legendary Great Red Spot.
When it comes to Jupiter’s famous beauty mark, general assumptions over at least two centuries have been that it was a shallow storm. However, data analyzing microwave and gravity measurements from 12 of the encounters, including two direct overflights of the vortex, now suggest the mysterious storm reaches down over 200 miles (321km+) below the atmosphere’s cloud tops.
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NASA picks spot at Moon’s South Pole to perform first ice-drilling experiment
Featuring two sidekicks: A rover using Nokia’s 4G and a hopping recon bot
https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/04/moon_mining_location/
NASA has selected a ridge close to Shackleton, a deep impact crater on the Moon’s South Pole, to conduct its first-ever ice-water-mining expedition, which is expected to blast off late next year.
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So it is possible for Jeff Bezos to lose: Court dismisses Blue Origin complaint about Moon contract award to Elon Musk
NASA and SpaceX to resume working on the next lunar lander
https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/05/blue_origin_nasa_spacex_court/
The US Court of Federal Claims has dismissed Blue Origin’s complaints that NASA unfairly awarded its $2.89bn next-generation lunar lander system contract to SpaceX.
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Starry starry night? No, it’s just more low Earth orbit satellites as BT and OneWeb ink deal
Brit telco to test out broadband tech in UK labs before customer trials next year
https://www.theregister.com/2021/11/05/starry_starry_night_no_its/
Government-owned satellite broadband slinger OneWeb says it is planning to loft 648 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites in the next eight months, after signing terms with BT for a new Distribution Partner Agreement.
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