Short Takes – 5-22-25

Venus Aerospace debuts potentially revolutionary rocket engine with landmark 1st flight. Space.com article. Pull quote: “Normally, rocket engines burn fuel in a combustion chamber in a steady, controlled process. RDREs [rotating detonation rocket engine] use a continuous detonation wave that travels in a circle within a ring-shaped chamber, which produces higher pressure and efficiency and results in increased thrust with less fuel.”

Space mining: corporate autocracy or global solidarity? TheSpaceReview.com article. Interesting discussion but ignores the increasing presence of China in space. Pull quote: “A firm commitment to benefit-sharing in this debate is therefore not merely about redistributing profits to the developing world. It is also about establishing global cooperative oversight over space mining and maintaining the discussion on future political power in outer space within the United Nations framework. Effective oversight and an agreed benefit-sharing mechanism would help prevent the emergence of tax havens at the national level by introducing a system of global taxation at the source. Ultimately, democratic systems were created to empower people, not corporations. Benefit-sharing would ensure a fair distribution of power and prevent the rise of new communities in space governed by corporate interests.”

An asteroid’s threatened impact may still impact planetary defense. TheSpaceReview.com article. Pull quote: “The biggest concern, it seemed at the hearing, was how astronomers would handle all of the data NEO Surveyor would return. Matthew Payne, director of the Minor Planet Center at the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory, said at the hearing that NEO Surveyor, along with the Vera Rubin Observatory in Chile, will soon provide the center with ten times the data on NEO than all other current sources combined.”

3D printing deep in the body using ultrasound could deliver drugs, heal wounds. ChemistryWorld.com article. Pull quote: “‘I think it’s an excellent advance in the field of in situ bio-printing,’ says Skylar-Scott, who was not involved in the work. He suggests that, in future, it could be possible to create multi-material tissue scaffolds inside the body by injecting different bio-inks at different times. He does note that the axial resolution at present is only around 2mm, but suspects this will probably be improved in future. ‘I think it opens up a lot of different avenues to explore.’”

FAA provides final approval for next Starship launch. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “The FAA announced May 22 that it approved the return to flight for Starship. The FAA updated the launch license for Starship May 15 that included changes such as an increased launch rate from its Starbase facility in South Texas, but said then it would withhold approval for the next launch until it either closed the mishap investigation into the previous launch in March or made a “return to flight” determination.”

Dawn Aerospace begins sales of Aurora suborbital spaceplane. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “On a typical suborbital flight, Aurora will take off from a runway and immediately head straight up. The vehicle will reach top speeds of Mach 3.5 on a flight and offer about three minutes of microgravity during the peak of its trajectory. The overall flight, from takeoff to landing, will last about half an hour, Powell estimated, with most of that time spent gliding back to a runway landing after reentry.”