NASA Selects SpaceX for Lunar Gateway Cargo Missions

Link: https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/308417-nasa-selects-spacex-for-lunar-gateway-cargo-missions

NASA’s eventual goal to send crewed missions to Mars will be easier to accomplish if we can return to the moon, but it won’t just be to visit this time. NASA intends to construct a space station in orbit of the moon called the Lunar Gateway, and SpaceX has the contract to supply that station.

The Gateway station is still in the very early planning stages, but its position in orbit of the moon rules out many of the launch platforms currently in use. So, it’s not terribly surprising that SpaceX would get the nod as it’s the only spaceflight operator with a flight-tested rocket capable of sending large payloads to the moon.

SpaceX says it will use the Falcon Heavy for Lunar gateway supply runs. This rocket is essentially three Falcon 9 rockets strapped together with some extra structural reinforcement on the center module. Most companies don’t need the super-heavy lift capabilities of the Falcon Heavy, so SpaceX has only launched a few commercial missions after the initial test flight that sent the first-ever car into outer space.

Missions to resupply the eventual Lunar Gateway station will make use of a modified Dragon capsule. This spacecraft will have more than five metric tons of cargo capacity, an upgrade over the current Dragon capsules.

Astronomers may have one less (satellite) constellation to worry about.

Link: https://www.thespacereview.com/article/3911/1

Late Friday, OneWeb announced it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a New York court. In a statement, the company said it had been in “advanced negotiations” since the beginning of the year to raise a new round of funding needed to complete its broadband satellite constellation. The company said it was close to completing that deal, but “the financial impact and market turbulence related to the spread of COVID-19” kept it from closing the deal.

Astronomers had started discussions with OneWeb about studying and potentially mitigating the effect those satellites would have on astronomical research. “We’ve had one telecon with OneWeb, and we hope to follow up with a second one shortly,” said Pat Seitzer, professor emeritus of astronomy at the University of Michigan and member of an American Astronomical Society (AAS) working group studying the effects of megaconstellations on astronomy, at a March 11 panel discussion on Capitol Hill on the issue. “They represent a different challenge.”

The primary concern of the American Astronomical Society working group, and many other astronomers, has been not OneWeb but instead SpaceX’s Starlink constellation. Since SpaceX launched the first batch of 60 Starlink satellites last May, many astronomers have been alarmed by the brightness of the satellites, which after launch are visible to the naked eye. The idea of a large constellation of such satellites—1,200 by the end of the year, growing to up to 12,000 and with proposals for 30,000 more satellites—led some astronomers to postulate doomsday scenarios for the field.

That session took place just a couple days after SpaceX launched its third set of 60 Starlink satellites. One of those 60, dubbed “DarkSat,” featured what Cooper called “various darkening treatments” to reduce its reflectivity. “The goal,” she said, “is to work with the astronomy community to observe and measure the effectiveness of these coatings.”

That couldn’t be done immediately after launch since DarkSat and the other Starlink satellites were deployed into a lower parking orbit and had to maneuver to their planned orbit of 550 kilometers, a process that takes weeks using their electric thrusters. By late February, DarkSat had reached its operational orbit, allowing for true comparisons with the other Starlink satellites.

SpaceX claimed earlier this month that the effort was at least partially successful. “Preliminary results show a notable...