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NASA has ended the mission of the Ingenuity Mars helicopter after it was damaged on its latest flight. NASA announced Thursday that Ingenuity suffered damage to at least one of its rotor blades when hit the ground on the Jan. 18 flight. The helicopter is otherwise in good condition, but the damaged blade means it can no longer fly. Engineers are still studying what happened, but speculate that the relatively featureless terrain it was flying over may have confused its navigation system. Ingenuity racked up 72 flights spanning 17 kilometers as it accompanied the Perseverance rover. The helicopter, weighing less than two kilograms, was included as a technology demonstration with the original intent of making no more than five flights. [SpaceNews]
Boeing and Lockheed Martin have won contracts to design new narrowband communications satellites for the U.S. Space Force. Each company received a $66 million contract Thursday to carry out the design work for a program that calls for building two satellites that will expand the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS), a network of satellites used by the U.S. military to transmit voice and data communications. Over the next 15 months, the companies will create prototype satellites showing how they would meet the Space Force's requirements for the MUOS satellites. [SpaceNews]
Northrop Grumman has taken another charge against earnings for its contract to build a lunar Gateway module. The company disclosed Thursday in its fourth quarter earnings report that it took a $42 million charge on its contract to build the Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) module. Northrop took a $36 million charge on HALO in the second quarter and said the overall loss on the contract totaled $100 million in 2023. The company blamed "evolving" requirements for the module and overall Gateway as well as broader economic issues for the loss. Northrop received a $935 million fixed-price contract from NASA in 2021 to build HALO. [SpaceNews]
The National Reconnaissance Office has added Firefly Aerospace to a launch contract. The NRO announced Thursday that Firefly will be allowed to bid for task orders to launch NRO small satellites on its Alpha rocket through the NRO's Streamlined Launch Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity Contract, or SLIC, to procure commercial launch services for its more risk-tolerant missions. The SLIC program is projected to award about $700 million in task orders over 10 years. [SpaceNews]
Three European organizations are joining forces to help space companies raise money. The European Commission, European Space Agency and European Investment Bank (EIB) announced an agreement this week to help more space companies get financing, including from a largely untapped multi-billion-dollar fund for strategic investments. That fund, the Strategic European Security Initiative, has awarded about a quarter of its eight billion euros to date, but only a fifth of that has gone to the space industry. The EIB says it will also proactively identify promising European space projects and offer them financial advice. [SpaceNews]
Zeno Power Systems will work with the Department of Energy to recycle decades-old radioactive material for space applications. Under the agreement, Zeno will have access to a large supply of strontium-90, a radioisotope created as a byproduct in nuclear fission reactors. The company will use the material to build radioisotope power sources for space and other applications. The company has several contracts to develop radioisotope-powered satellites for national security and space exploration missions, and expects to deliver its first satellite to the U.S. Air Force by 2026. [SpaceNews]
| | Other News
Virgin Galactic is preparing to conduct a suborbital spaceflight today. The Galactic 06 mission is scheduled to take off from Spaceport America in New Mexico at noon Eastern. The company's VSS Unity suborbital spaceplane will carry four customers for the first time, after previous flights carried three private astronauts and one company employee in the cabin. Virgin has not announced plans to webcast the flight. [Space.com]
The growth of private human spaceflight is prompting calls for new health research programs. One effort, discussed at a workshop this week in Oklahoma, seeks to organize medical data collection and research to better understand the health risks posed to private astronauts. Scientists note that the population of private astronauts is more diverse than professional astronauts, with various medical issues not seen in professionals. The effort, they emphasized, is focused on research and not seeking to regulate who can go to space. [SpaceNews]
Satellites scheduled to launch this year will help fill gaps in tracking of atmospheric methane. A combination of government and commercial spacecraft will help scientists monitor emissions of methane, a potent greenhouse gas. Several of those spacecraft will launch this year, but scientists cautioned that the new satellites alone will not be sufficient to fill data gaps and better understand the sources and strengths of methane emissions. [SpaceNews]
ESA has given formal approval to two science missions. ESA announced Thursday it agreed to proceed with development of the Laser Interferometer Space Antenna (LISA) mission. LISA will fly three spacecraft able to detect gravitational waves. The mission, scheduled for launch in 2035, will cost $1.9 billion and include contributions from NASA. ESA also approved a Venus orbiter mission, EnVision, slated for launch in 2031. [BBC]
Astronomers have detected water vapor in the atmosphere of a small exoplanet. Hubble Space Telescope spectroscopic observations of GJ 9827d, an exoplanet about twice the diameter of Earth, detected water vapor in the planet's atmosphere. It's unclear if the water vapor is a small part of a much larger atmosphere made primarily of hydrogen or makes up most of the planet's atmosphere. The planet has a temperature about the same as Venus, making it inhospitable. [NASA]
Major League Baseball's Cleveland Guardians are facing a cosmic scheduling conflict. The team's first home game of the 2024 season is scheduled for April 8, the same day as a total solar eclipse whose path of totality passes through Cleveland. The team usually starts its home openers at 4:10 p.m., which would be shortly after totality ends. The Guardians are considering changing the start time of the game to avoid any conflict with the eclipse, as well as heavy traffic expected in the city from people coming to see the eclipse. [The Athletic]
| | Martian Mechanics
"Honestly, if you were to ask me who I would send to Mars, I would send two mechanics, one software IT guy and a doctor. That's who I'd send. There's not even any room for science because you're just trying to keep the damn thing working."
– Erik Antonsen of the Baylor College of Medicine, discussing planning for Mars missons during a commercial human spaceflight health workshop this week in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
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