Short Takes – 5-20-24 – Space Geek Edition

Omnispace reports interference from Starlink direct-to-device payloads. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “Those opportunities, panelists said, range from helping mobile network operators fill dead zones to enabling new applications, like vehicle telematics. Many of those applications will involve working with mobile network operators. “Nobody knows those markets better than the carriers,” said Francis O’Flaherty, chief operating officer and managing director of Rivada Space Networks. “Being able to offer them a service that can expand their markets and offer them new revenue opportunities is phenomenal.””

Comet Fragment Explodes in Dark Skies Over Spain and Portugal. NYTimes.com article (free). Pull quote: “The worry is that an object just a little larger than Saturday’s missile could again escape detection and explode with lethal effect over an unaware, unwarned city. The meager, 55-foot meteor that exploded above the Russian city of Chelyabinsk in 2013, for example, wasn’t identified before its arrival, either — and its airborne blast, equivalent to nearly 500,000 tons of TNT, caused widespread damage, which injured at least 1,200 people.”

First crewed flight of Boeing Starliner postponed again. Phys.org article. Pull quote: “The launch in Florida was scheduled for Tuesday but NASA said it is now planned for [3:09 pm EDT] May 25 to allow teams to further assess a helium leak linked to the service module, which sits on top of the rocket.”

The Strongest Solar Storm in 20 Years Did Little Damage, but Worse Space Weather Is Coming. ScientificAmerican.com article. Pull quote: “Atmospheric swelling caused by the solar storm proved especially notable on the Hubble Space Telescope, which despite orbiting hundreds of kilometers above our planet still descends slowly earthward because of drag. The storm doubled Hubble’s rate of orbital decay to “about 80 meters a day instead of 40 meters a day,” McDowell says. Claire Andreoli, a spokesperson at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, told Scientific American that Hubble is currently estimated to burn up in Earth’s atmosphere “in the mid-2030s.” Without boosts from other spacecraft, however, further bouts of solar activity could make Hubble’s swan song come years earlier, lessening the amount of time that astronomers have with one of the most advanced telescopes ever built. “It’s kind of unfortunate to be at the whims of the sun,” says JJ Hermes, an astronomer at Boston University.”

A Brand-New Spacecraft Will Visit the International Space Station Soon. ScientificAmerican.com article. Pull quote: “Each Dream Chaser is designed to fly 15 times before needing to be retired, so between the model that’s complete—named Tenacity—and another on the production floor, 30 future missions are possible. The company is also committed to building a crewed version of the space plane and eventually taking astronauts up, says Angie Wise, Sierra Space’s chief safety officer and senior vice president of mission and quality assurance. That goal meshes with another wing of the company’s business, she adds, which is working with Blue Origin on a commercial space station called Orbital Reef. The reef dwellers will have to get there somehow.”