Chemical Facility Security News: Short Takes – 12-15-25

Monday, December 15, 2025

Short Takes – 12-15-25 – Space Geek Edition

Starfish Space and Impulse Space demonstrate autonomous spacecraft proximity operations. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: “What distinguished the demonstration from previous rendezvous and proximity operations, or RPO, tests was that the approaching Mira relied on only a single camera to close in on the other spacecraft. The camera fed images into a computer running Starfish’s CETACEAN and CEPHALOPOD software, which generated navigation data and maneuver commands for the LEO Express 2 vehicle.”

New Earth Mini-Moon Asteroid 2025 PN7 Discovered. Astronex.net article. Pull quote: “The asteroid 2025 PN7 belongs to the Arjuna class of near-Earth objects, known for their Earth-like orbits with low eccentricity and inclination. This classification means it maintains a stable relationship with Earth without being bound by our gravity like the Moon. Researchers have confirmed its status through detailed orbital calculations, showing it has been in this configuration for about 60 years and will continue for another roughly 60 years. This makes 2025 PN7 the newest addition to a small group of known quasi-satellites, providing valuable insights into orbital mechanics and the distribution of asteroids near Earth.”

MetaSeismic material mitigates vibration and shock in NASA Marshall testing. SpaceNews.com article. Pull quote: ““The technology is interesting because it offers a damping solution for vibrations that comes in a smaller form factor than other solutions that we may typically use,” Aaron Miller, NASA Marshall lead structural integration engineer, told SpaceNews. “It’s custom tunable for the specific vibration environment that the hardware, whether it be avionics, a battery or something else, may experience.””

Einstein was right: Time ticks faster on Mars, posing new challenges for future missions. LiveScience.com article. Pull quote: “The analysis showed that Martian clocks tick faster, when measured from Earth, than Earth-based ones by an average of 477 microseconds per Earth day. Strikingly, though, this value varies daily by 226 microseconds (about half the offset's value itself) over a Martian year. The variation stems from the egg-like shape of Mars’ orbit and changes in the gravitational tugs of its celestial neighbors as they approach and twirl away from Mars.”

Voyager 1 will reach one light-day from Earth in 2026. Here’s what that means. MSN.com article. Pull quote: ““If I send a command and say, ‘good morning, Voyager 1,’ at 8 a.m. on a Monday morning, I’m going to get Voyager 1’s response back to me on Wednesday morning at approximately 8 a.m.,” Dodd said.”

NASA Unveils a Space Station Mockup Designed for Commercial Spaceflight | NewsRadio 740 KTRH. UFOFeed.com article: pull quote: “NASA is working with Space Lab to create a first design to be used for future space stations. The plan is to kick off the commercial spaceflight program allowing private companies to open the program to customers who would like to explore space, with less government funding as private entities take over. “They’re selling research time to Nasa but they’re also hoping to go out and find business customers who want to do research in zero gravity.” He said.”

Overview Energy Emerges From Stealth. UFOFeed.com article. Pull quote: ““Our airborne milestone proved that the core transmission system works in motion—the same foundation that will operate in orbit,” Marc Berte, Overview’s founder and CEO, said in a statement. “Space solar energy will only matter when it powers real demand on Earth, and we’re designing for that scale from Day 1.””

How one controversial startup hopes to cool the planet. TechnologyReview.com article. Pull quote: “But numerous researchers focused on solar geoengineering are deeply skeptical that Stardust will line up the government customers it would need to carry out a global deployment as early as 2035, the plan described in its earlier investor materials—and aghast at the suggestion that it ever expected to move that fast. They’re also highly critical of the idea that a company would take on the high-stakes task of setting the global temperature, rather than leaving it to publicly funded research programs.”