Short Takes – 3-10-25

Smartwatches Could Flatten The Curve Of The Next Pandemic. Hackaday.com article. Pull quote: “Researchers at Aalto University, Stanford University, and Texas A&M have found that the illness detection features common to modern smartwatches are advanced enough to help people make the call to stay home or mask up and avoid getting others sick. They note we’re already at 88% accuracy for early detection of COVID-19 and 90% for the flu. Combining data from a number of other studies on smartwatch accuracy, epidemiology, behavior, and biology, the researchers were able to model the possible outcomes of this early detection on the spread of future diseases.”

Cygnus issue causes changes in ISS cargo missions. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The potential for additional delays in NG-22 led NASA to revise the cargo manifest for the next Dragon cargo spacecraft to the ISS, SpX-32 and scheduled for late April. NASA said it will remove some of the science experiments that were to go on the mission and instead fly food and other consumables.”

Trump says Mars missions are of interest but not a top priority. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “However, a human Mars landing during Trump’s second and final term in office is effectively impossible. The next window for sending missions to Mars opens in the fall of 2026, and even SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, a close adviser to the president and major advocate for human Mars missions, said that his company would be ready, at best, to send only uncrewed Starships to Mars in that window. The following window, in late 2028, would allow a landing in 2029, after Trump leaves office.”

LeoLabs wins contract to deploy space-monitoring radar in Indo-Pacific region. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The new site will be integrated into LeoLabs’ global sensor network, which provides broad coverage across the Northern and Southern Hemispheres as well as equatorial regions. The radar will operate as a dual-use system, supporting both government and commercial customers, Frazier said. “The award is a strong endorsement of how this capability can fill a gap in the space domain awareness architecture for the U.S. government.””

Hazardous Materials: Information Collection Activities. Federal Register PHMSA 60-day ICR notice. Summary: “In accordance with the Paperwork Reduction Act of 1995, PHMSA invites comments on three Office of Management and Budget (OMB) control numbers pertaining to hazardous materials transportation. PHMSA intends to request renewal and extension for these three control numbers from OMB.” No change in burden estimate. Comment due date: May 9^th, 2025.

EO 14229 - Honoring Jocelyn Nungaray. Federal Register.