SpaceFlight A British Interplanetary Society publication

Volume 61 No.12 December 2019 £5.25 Return to sender NASA's lunar super scooper

Comsat tech Lunar impacts UK space business 12> 634089 770038 9

CONTENTS Features 12 Encoded Comsats Contributors Gerard van de Haar and Luc van den Abeelen describe the broadening aspects of the US-led international satellite communication systems that are recruiting an increasing 2 number of partners.

Letter from the Editor 20 Grabbing a piece of the Cataclysm Dwayne A. Day presents an in-depth study of This year we are saddened by the loss of several pioneers in human the various proposals, past and present, for space flight, as we went to press returning lunar samples to Earth from a the most recent being Alexei particularly violent impact experienced by the Leonov – the first man to leave his Moon during the early days of its formation. spacecraft and float freely connected only by an umbilical. 30 Hanging in the Balance We will publish an obituary in the David Todd reports from the recent biennial UK next issue with thoughts from 4 some of those who knew him well, Space Conference, which brought together the including Helen Sharman whose great and the good of the domestic space own flight pivoted on his approval industry in Newport, South Wales, to carve out a that she had the “right stuff”. Of roadmap for future development. course, she did. For the present there is much ado surrounding lunar exploration – getting experiments to the surface and, not least, putting the next humans on the Moon within the next few years. But there is also an effort underway to retrieve 12 samples from special places such as the South Pole-Aitken Basin and I am pleased to bring you a Regulars detailed account of that activity and why it is so important. Apart from that – don’t forget to 2 Behind the news renew your subscription and do Starship Enterprise – Orion: added value sign up to the new Space Chronicle, also out next month, 4 Opinion which will bring you detailed space history from far and wide, 6 ISS Report 20 written by experts for a better 12 September - 8 October 2019 understanding of our past. 36 Obituary . Sigmund Jahn (1937-2019)

38 Multi-media The latest space-related books, games, videos David Baker [email protected] 42 Satellite Digest 563 – September 2019 44 Society news / Diary 30 COVER: THE MOONRISE SAMPLE RETRIEVER LIFTS OFF FROM THE LUNAR SURFACE / JPL THE LUNAR SURFACE LIFTS OFF FROM RETRIEVER SAMPLE THE MOONRISE COVER: What’s happened/ What’s coming up

OUR MISSION STATEMENT Editor David Baker, PhD, BSc, FBIS, FRHS Sub Editor Ann Page Creative Consultant Andrée Wilson Design & Production MP3 Media Promotion Gillian Norman Advertising Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Email: [email protected] The British Interplanetary Society Distribution Warners Group Distribution, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, England Tel: +44 (0)1778 promotes the exploration and 391 000 Fax: +44 (0)1778 393 668 SpaceFlight, Arthur C. Clarke House, 27-29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ, use of space for the benefit England Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Email: [email protected] www.bis-space.com Published monthly by the British Interplanetary Society, SpaceFlight is a publication that promotes the mission of the British of humanity, connecting people Interplanetary Society. Opinions in signed articles are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of to create, educate and inspire, the Editor or the Council of the British Interplanetary Society. Registered Company No: 402498. Registered charity No: and advance knowledge in 250556. The British Interplanetary Society is a company limited by guarantee. Printed in England by Latimer Trend & Co. © 2019 British Interplanetary Society 2017 ISSN 0038-6340. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced all aspects of astronautics. or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission for the Publishers. Photocopying permitted by license only.

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 1 SLUGBEHIND THE NEWS

A full-scale test version of the Super Heavy's Starship upper stage, which will have a liftoff thrust more than twice that of the Saturn V. STARSHIP ENTERPRISE Elon Musk is investing billions in a private rocket bigger than anything flown or planned by anyone before – governments included!

THIS EXCITING INITIATIVE moved a little closer to weeks” according to Musk. reality on 28 September when the CEO of SpaceX With a length of 50 m, Starship will be carried into hosted an informal unveiling of his Starship upper orbit by a Super Heavy booster creating a stack 118 stage space vehicle at the company’s south Texas m tall, which in developed form is now to carry 37 facility near Brownsville. With six Raptor engines, Raptor motors for a total thrust of 72,000 kN, more Starship will need the Super Heavy booster to get than twice that of a Saturn V and considerably more into orbit, or to go to the Moon and Mars, but for than NASA’s Space Launch System. Initial Super now the test vehicle, displayed to an awe-struck Heavy test and development launches may have 20 crowd of employees and media personnel, looks Raptor engines. Manufacture of the first two Super impressive enough. Equipped for the present with Heavy boosters (SH-1 in Texas and SH-2 in Florida) three methane-burning Raptor rocket motors it will will only begin after the first four Starship upper conduct a test flight to 19,800 m before descending stages have been built, two in Texas at Boca Chica to a controlled touchdown, base first, “within a few and two at Cape Canaveral. Eventually launches will

2 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight BEHIND THE NEWS IMAGES: SPACEX IMAGES:

ABOVE & RIGHT Boosted to the Moon by the Super Heavy launcher, Starship will land and take off from the lunar surface base-first, mirroring the technology of earlier SpaceX reusable rockets. Early versions will be powered by three Raptor engines (above right).

BELOW & RIGHT In a configuration reminiscent of Korolev's failed N1 Moon rocket, the Super Heavy launcher itself will be powered by a cluster of no less than 37 Raptor engines arranged in roughly concentric circles.

take place at LC-39A, where the first Moon landings which powers both booster and upper stage, the began. For now, the first Starship test vehicle is in a latter using three of its six engines optimised for more advanced state of completion than the second Apart from vacuum operation. in Florida. One limiting factor could be production of the Recently, subtle changes have been made both to the sheer size Raptors, which at present is taking place at the rate Super Heavy and to Starship, in that the base of the of little more than three a month but when testing booster will have six fins and landing legs together of this increases early next year, Musk hopes to up that to STARSHIP ENTERPRISE with four steel grid fins for directional stability during 30 a month. Equally optimistic is Musk’s insistence combination, descent. These make the assembly more flexible that the first Starship test flight could occur before and adaptable to a variety of roles. Musk is keen to the the end of this year, with the Super Heavy pushing a project the real purpose of this system – for that is Starship to orbit by late spring 2020 and further what it is – as a people-carrier to the Moon and outstanding flights with people later in the year. Mars but with the added advantage of lifting heavy Clearly, where bold space goals are concerned, cargo in an alternative upper stage which can feature is enterprise pays. But local residents in the Boca replace the crewed Starship vessel. Chica village area challenge the presence of large Apart from the sheer size of this combination, the 100% test rockets near their homes. Musk has offered to outstanding feature is 100% reusability, the Super buy them out for three times the estimated property Heavy boost stage returning to a controlled descent reusability value to clear the area but there is resistance from on land or to an ocean platform while the Starship occupants who have no inclination to move. continues on its mission. The enormous 150 tonne Meanwhile, NASA’s Administrator Jim Bridenstine carrying capacity of this system allows a wide range has expressed concern that SpaceX is developing of mission options, including the use of refuelling these advanced concepts while still behind schedule tankers as an integral evolution of the Starship either on Crew Dragon designed, to a significant level by in low Earth orbit or on the surface of the Moon or government money, for replacing Soyuz seats with Mars. Key to it all, however, is the Raptor engine rides to the ISS from US soil. SF

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 3 BEHIND THE NEWS Briefing FAST FORWARD Orion: added value Blue Origin is contesting a plan by the US Air Force to select only two launch providers for NASA HAS JUST AWARDED 2030 or 2031. However, as NASA the National Security Space Launch Phase 2 Lockheed Martin a production has said that it will launch the first services procurement plan, citing a contract for six Orion spacecraft three SLS at two years intervals, burgeoning growth in launches projected for with an option on a further six to with SLS-1 now understood to be the next 10 years. In filing a protest that it support the Artemis lunar landing flying no earlier than the first half may get left behind in the selection unless programme which aims to put the of 2021, that puts in serious the competition expands to three providers, first woman and the next man on question not only the schedule the company cites a manifest model that the lunar surface in 2024. further down the road but also the anticipates annual launches increasing from Spacecraft for Artemis mission 1-2 ability of the agency to put the an average of 38 over the past eight years to are already under assembly, next crewed flight in the Moon in between 46 and 82 launches each year in the together with the European 2024. period 2020-2030. This manifest projection Service Module. The new contract The pacing item here is clearly assumes 59% of all launches will be for covers Artemis missions 3-5 for a the SLS, as work on the spacecraft commercial satellite operators but does spacecraft procurement price of for Artemis-2, the first built to include two contestable mega-constellations $2.7 billion which it says it will carry a crew for circumlunar flight, of more than 1,500 satellites. follow in two years’ time with a is well under way at the Kennedy contract for spacecraft supporting Space Center. Originally scheduled Artemis 6-8 at a price of $1.9 for 2022, that date is severely billion. Under the terms of the compromised by the surprise agreement, NASA has indicated reassignment of William H. BLUE ORIGIN that it would like to order a further Gerstenmaier who, for 14 years six Orion spacecraft by the end of until his departure on 10 July this September 2030 (the end of the year was Associate Administrator 2030 fiscal year). for Human Exploration and In related news, during hearings Operations. Standing in is his in Congress recently NASA deputy, former astronaut Ken testified that it plans to fly the first Bowersox, but the assignment of Blue Origin: seeking military orders? three Space Launch System a permanent replacement is not rockets at two year intervals, expected before the end of this followed by annual flights from year. SLS-4. The introduction of the That vacuum in position is being ITALY FIRST more powerful Block 1B SLS is used by NASA as a reason for not The Italian Air Force has booked research estimated for Artemis 9 or 10, providing Congress with a flights aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShip which would put that for launch in timetable for the Artemis Two allowing Italian scientists to ride on a suborbital space flight to conduct experiments. This is the first time a Opinion government organisation anywhere in the world has contracted for human-tended flights aboard a commercial vehicle and ACTIONS, NOT JUST WORDS is further evidence of the growing demand for such opportunities. Deals like DURING THE LATE 1970s when environmental concerns reached a high point this that could see Virgin Galactic attract in the United States, and when the commercial space industry began to take off, a wider market share of opportunities dedicated satellites were increasingly the tool of choice for monitoring which bridge the gap between sounding deforestation and land and marine pollution, and for mapping ecological zones rockets and low-cost parasitic orbital and water run-off areas. This enabled the tracking of illegal logging and forest- payloads, extending to humans what has stripping for agricultural purposes – activities that, amidst a burgeoning human been available for untended science population, became more visible than ever, prompting the establishment of packages for decades. international standards to protect the Earth’s indigenous resources. Almost immediately, those same satellite images were employed by less scrupulous individuals to plan their own incursions into the virgin forest, carving out arterial routes for cutting machines and logging operations. These clearings fanned out like fingers unfolding from a clenched hand, forming a web of commercial opportunity where quick financial (but illegal) gains could be made. VIRGIN GALACTIC VIRGIN Realisation that this was so prompted calls at the United Nations for stronger policing, harsher penalties and better controls. Fast forward 40 years and, around the world, little has changed. Forest fires are increasing at an unprecedented rate – a rise exacerbated by previously cleared areas, where stubble and tree stumps only serve to fuel the conflagration. (Rainforests don’t burn – they are far too wet for fires to break out spontaneously.) SpaceShip2: attracting Italian interest. And in South America, the proliferation of slash-and-burn profiteering has been

4 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight BEHIND THE NEWS Briefing MOONBOUND Houston-based Intuitive Machines has booked its Nova-C lunar lander aboard a Falcon 9 launcher for a flight in 2021. Recipient of a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) contract, the company has designed a small Moon lander capable of placing 100 kg on the lunar surface using a methane engine for controlled touchdown. It will carry five payloads and transmit data for 13.5 days. Honouring a space policy directive for returning humans to the Moon, nine US companies are working with CLPS contracts to support commercial delivery of scientific payloads to the Moon over a 10-year period, with a total cumulative value of $2.6 billion. INTUITIVE MACHINES INTUITIVE

The Orion crew capsule for the first Artemis lunar mission was completed in June 2019. Nova-C: 100 kg payloads to the Moon. programme or the costs involved in position, a highly respected getting people on the Moon again engineer and manager who has ROKOT RETIRES by 2024, or the cost of individual been with NASA since 1977 flights of the SLS, citing those prompted suspicion that there is Developed from the Soviet-era SS-19 decisions as the responsibility of dissatisfaction in government or ICBM, the Rokot satellite launcher first Gerstenmaier’s replacement. The the White House at the lack of flown in November 1990 is to make its final flight when it is launched from the abrupt shift in Gerstenmaier’s pace in the Artemis programme. SF Plesetsk facility before the end of this year. With the Briz-KM upper stage it will carry three Gonets satellites into orbit, completing 34 flights with a launcher We should shout that out, and promote career developed from one of the USSR’s most recruitment in what will surely be one of the more feared nuclear delivery systems. A ban on exports to Russia prevents further flights fulfilling of future human pursuits due to the embargo on delivery of the Rokot’s Ukrainian-built flight control further promoted by government policies aimed at increasing higher per capita system. Russia has expressed interest in income – laudable in the short term, perhaps, but completely out of sync with the developing a Rokot-2 carrier without the longer term interests of the living world. Ukrainian elements, with flight operations What has this got to do with space programmes? A lot. Europe is positioned at resuming in 2021. the forefront of environmental monitoring and satellite manufacturing, supporting what is arguably the world’s largest constellation of diagnostic equipment linking space observation to ground-based applications. The UK has long been at the heart of this activity, providing hardware, software and human-ware through its emphasis on joined-up services. Even so, there needs to be more robust support to BAKER VIA DAVID extend these international connections to other countries around the globe. It’s hard to turn anywhere today without encountering environmental movements that are vociferous in their calls for tighter controls on the profligate use of limited resources. The fact that people care is positive. But practical answers will only come through the ethical pursuit of Earth-wide scientific and engineering solutions – and the Earth observation and monitoring programmes of the space-faring nations stand at the forefront of that capability. We should shout that out, and promote career recruitment in what will surely be one of the more fulfilling of Russia's Rokot: on the way out. future human pursuits. What better way to correct the balance of nature? SF DB

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 5 ISS REPORT ISS Report 12 September - 8 October 2019

Expedition 61 is under way, commanded by Italian Luca Parmitano and his crew of five flight engineers – Americans Christina Koch, Drew Morgan and Jessica Meir, and Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka. But during this period, two came and three went. Report by George Spiteri

n 12 September, the six residents of RIGHT Expedition 60 had a relatively light- The nine ISS residents pose for a portrait inside duty day but took time out to work Zvezda. Bottom row from with NASA’s Human Research Facility left: Alexey Ovchinin, Luca (HSF). The United States Orbital Parmitano and Nick Hague, O visiting astronaut Hazzaa Segment (USOS) crew of Hague, Koch, Morgan and Parmitano performed further investigations Ali Almansoori of the UAE, Jessica Meir and Oleg into the effects of space flight courtesy of NASA’s Skripochka. At top: Christina Rodent Research-17 (RR-17) experiment on Koch, Andrew Morgan and 13 September. Koch also conducted protein Alexander Skvortsov. crystal growth research inside Kibo, whilst Ovchinin joined his US colleagues for routine eye ultrasounds. Hague and Morgan took time out to answer questions from students in Kentucky as part of the National STEM Scholar Program during which Hague explained that during his stay aboard the ISS, the crew were performing “Approximately “approximately three hundred different experiments that take place at any given time… three hundred whether it’s physical sciences or trying to discover told Hague he “can’t wait to brag” to his children new materials”. different that he’d spoken to an astronaut in space. Koch During the crew’s light-duty weekend, the assisted Parmitano with a bioelectrical sensor station’s altitude was raised by 1.05 km following experiments… take which measures changes in body composition to a 39.5 sec firing of Zvezda’s engines at 18:31 UTC determine the effects of space nutrition. Ovchinin place at any given NASA ALL IMAGES: on 14 September, to place the complex in a 412.1 and Skvortsov conducted cardiology research x 437.9 km orbit, necessitated by the imminent time” and later inspected the hardware inside the arrival and departure of the next Soyuz vehicles. Electromagnetic Levitator which enables the safe The crew devoted most of 14/15 September study of materials exposed to high temperatures. talking to family and friends, doing their daily two Koch and Hague began 17 September by hour exercise regimen and conducting regular drawing blood samples which were later stowed housekeeping chores. aboard a science freezer for future analysis to The highlight of 16 September was US movie help scientists understand how astronauts adapt star Brad Pitt’s link up with the ISS. The Hollywood to microgravity. Koch also joined Morgan and actor talked about his latest film “Ad Astra” and Parmitano to continue several more days of work

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with the RR-17 investigation and Ovchinin and RIGHT Hague began packing gear into their Soyuz MS-12 Nick Hague conducts science operations inside vehicle and preparing it for its return to Earth. the Columbus module The following day Skvortsov inspected Zarya for the BioFabrication for microbes. He also photographed and swabbed Facility, investigating the several spots of the station’s Russian segment effectiveness of using 3D biological printers to and stowed the samples for analysis. Koch and produce usable human Parmitano conducted further biomedical research, organs in microgravity. whilst their crewmates focused on JAXA’s Probiotics experiment which examines the human immune system in weightlessness. On 19 September, Ovchinin continued loading items into Soyuz, whilst Koch and Morgan worked with the Life Sciences Glovebox (LSG) inside Kibo. Hague set up fluid research in Destiny to support

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 7 ISS REPORT

the Ring Sheared Drop experiment which NASA that they were “looking forward to the best explained “may lead to a deeper understanding birthday candle today”. of diseases such as Alzheimer’s and improved Almansoori told JAXA launched the unmanned H-II production of advanced materials”. Transfer Vehicle-8 (HTV-8) called Kounotori-8 reporters he was (White Stork-8) atop an H-IIB rocket from its KOUNOTORI RISING Tanegashima launch site in south east Japan at Koch and Morgan processed protein crystal “really proud to 16:05 UTC on 24 September (01:05 25 September samples on 20 September and loaded them into local time). This was the second launch attempt an incubator for the Microgravity Crystals (MGC) represent the following the abort on 10 September caused study. Skvortsov monitored Ovchinin who donned whole Arab region” by a fire on the mobile launch pad (SpaceFlight the Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) suit Vol 61 No. 11 p13). Officials from Mitsubishi while testing his ability to counteract the tendency aboard the ISS and Heavy Industries (MHI), who built the H-II for fluids to shift toward the head as a result of booster believe the fire started near an “exit hole” weightlessness. Parmitano ended the working would be taking on the mobile launch platform. The company week by recording himself on a 360 degree video issued a statement on 20 September which said camera as he demonstrated rotational dynamics “traditional Arabic investigators believe “the fire spread due to the with a football for the Adidas OS Rotation-Induced static electricity generated by the oxygen dripping Characteristics of a Sphere (Adidas OS SPIN) dishes” during his from the engine exhaust port during the propellant experiment. space flight filling operation, which continued to blow on The crew monitored the RR-17 experiment the heat-resistant material in the exit hole” on during their light-duty weekend 21/22 September the mobile launch platform. MHI added that and Parmitano took time out to perform again “corrective measures” had been taken for the as a space DJ for the Jova Beach Party in Italy second launch attempt to proceed successfully. (SpaceFlight Vol 61 No.11 p 8). The crew conducted various science On 23 September, Koch conducted a test run of investigations on 24 September, including JAXA’s the Synchronised Position Hold, Engage, Reorient, Electrostatic Levitation Furnace (ELF) and the Experimental Satellites-ReSwarm (SPHERES- Time Perception in Microgravity study which ReSwarm) experiment. She spent most of the NASA described has been “fundamental to motion day inside Kibo observing the small free-flying perception, sound localisation, speech and fine satellites programmed with algorithms for them to motor coordination”. manoeuvre in formation in the Japanese module. Morgan and Hague conducted eye exams as part of THREE TO GO the ongoing Fluid Shifts investigation. Parmitano Soyuz MS-15/61S was launched from Baikonur’s replaced fuel bottles in the Combustion Integrated Site 1 atop a Soyuz-FG rocket at 13:57 UTC on 25 Rack (CIR) before processing samples for the September (18:57 local time). Aboard Soyuz was Ring Sheared Drop study and Ovchinin resumed spacecraft commander Oleg Skripochka (49) a packing crew provisions into Soyuz and checking mechanical engineer on his third spaceflight and their Sokol launch and re-entry suits ahead of his rookies Dr. Jessica Meir (42) a Marine Biologist crew’s return to Earth. BELOW and Hazzaa Ali Almansoori (35) a military pilot. From left: Luca Parmitano, All the ground controls around the world Christina Koch, Hazzaa This was the final flight of a Soyuz-FG booster for wished Hague a happy 44th birthday on 24 Ali Almansoori, Andrew a crewed Soyuz launch and the last flight from the September. With reference to the rescheduled Morgan and Nick Hague historic Gagarin launch pad for the foreseeable launch of HTV-8, Koch replied on Hague’s behalf gather for a meal together. future while it undergoes refurbishment. Before launch, Almansoori told reporters he was “really proud to represent the whole Arab region” aboard the ISS and would be taking “traditional Arabic dishes” during his space flight. One of the UAE experiments conducted aboard the station was the Palm Tree Growth study, which observed and documented root development of the date palm while in space. This could help astronauts growing plants for consumption on future long duration missions. Soyuz docked to Zvezda after four orbits and nearly six hours later at 19:42 UTC as the complex flew 424.8 km above the southern Pacific Ocean. Within minutes Roscosmos Director General Dmitry Rogozin radioed his congratulations to Skripochka’s crew on the beginning of what he described as their “wonderful mission”. Two and a half hours later at 22:12 UTC the hatches were opened and for the first time since September 2015 the ISS was host to nine crewmembers (SpaceFlight Vol 57 No. 12 p 451). This was followed by the traditional welcoming ceremony inside Zvezda during which Meir told family and friends still at

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Baikonur that “it’s a little bit hard to believe we’re ABOVE to JAXA’s Cell Biology Experiment Facility- all here…pretty surreal”. NASA reported that as of JAXA’s HTV-8 in the grip of Left (CBEF-L), a small-sized satellite optical the Canadarm2 robotic arm 25 September 2019 “239 people from 19 countries before it was attached to communication system called the Small Optical have now visited the International Space Station”. the Harmony module 417 km Link for International Space Station (SOLISS) and The following day the new arrivals were above the Cameroons. the Hourglass payload that will test the relationship briefed on safety procedures and on 27 September between gravity and the behaviour of powder and Almansoori spoke to the Vice President and granular materials such as regolith. Prime Minister of the UAE, Sheikh Mohammed Kounotori-8 also delivered 1,900 kg of bin Rashid Al Maktoum and told him “all of the unpressurised cargo including six new lithium- astronauts were waiting for the moment to pass ion batteries on an Exposed Pallet (EP) which above the UAE to see ‘The Palm’ in Dubai”. will replace the twelve ageing ten year old nickel- The ISS crew celebrated two consecutive hydrogen batteries for two of the station’s power birthdays on 27 and 28 September respectively. The “All of the channels during a series of five upcoming USOS first belonged to Parmitano who turned 43 and this spacewalks. was followed by Ovchinin who was 48 the next day. astronauts were JAXA reported that the hatch to Kounotori Mission Control Houston radioed their best wishes was opened at 19:10 UTC on 28 September and and told Ovchinin to have “a great day”. waiting for the Parmitano and Koch began unloading Kounotori in earnest on 29/30 September whilst Skripochka OLD AND NEW moment to pass and Meir continued to familiarise themselves Kounotori-8 was grappled by Canadarm2 at 11:12 above the UAE to with their new orbital home. Morgan worked with UTC on 28 September as the station flew 421.6 ESA’s GRIP experiment on 30 September which km above the southern border of Angola. Koch, see ‘The Palm’ explores how astronauts grip and manipulate who was inside the Cupola at the controls of the objects in microgravity and Skvortsov conducted robotic arm radioed “we’re honoured to have in Dubai” biochemistry research, studying how the weightless Kounotori on-board”. Nearly three hours later at environment impacts enzymes in the human body, 14:09 UTC Kounotori-8 was berthed to the Earth courtesy of the Russian Konstanta (Constant) facing port of Harmony. The spacecraft delivered study. Almansoori took part in various zero up to 4,100 kg of pressurised cargo of crew supplies gravity demonstrations inside Kibo and answered and science experiments including an upgrade questions from Emirati students, whilst Meir

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 9 SATELLITES

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local time) on 3 October completing a flight of 202 days 15 hr 44 min for Ovchinin and Hague and 7 days 21 hr 01 min for Almansoori. The crew were quickly extracted from the spacecraft, Ovchinin and Almansoori were flown to Moscow, Hague returned to Ellington Field, Houston and with reference to his October 2018 aborted launch (SpaceFlight Vol 60 No. 12 p 2 and SpaceFlight Vol 61 No. 1 p 6) tweeted “It’s been a long year…two safe landings, two emotional homecomings, one wild ride!”. Morgan tweeted a picture of himself with the mizuna mustard greens, which are part of the Veg-04B experiment, on 4 October. He and his crewmates ended the working week studying crystal growth and conducting further research with the Functional Immune study. Koch and Morgan made final preparations the following day for Expedition 61’s first spacewalk which began at 11:39 UTC on 6 October. The astronauts initially removed two nickel-hydrogen batteries from the Integrated Equipment Assembly (IEA) on the P6 truss and replaced them with a lithium-ion battery. Koch and Morgan were approximately 45 min ahead of their timeline and ground controllers allowed an additional nickel-hydrogen battery to be replaced by another lithium-ion battery, told National Public Radio (NPR) the moment ABOVE which was originally scheduled for the crew’s next she floated through the hatch to meet her “astro Christina Koch (right) spacewalk. The EVA lasted 7 hr 1 min and was the was making her second brothers and sisters” was very special. EVA, whilst Jessica Meir 219th dedicated to ISS assembly and maintenance The 1 October was Ovchinin, Hague and Koch’s assisted. totalling 57 days 6 hr 27 min. 200th day aboard the ISS. Koch and Morgan The following day, Parmitano assisted Koch devoted the day to preparing for the first of the LEFT and Morgan through a series of routine health spacewalks to upgrade the station’s power systems. Christina Koch and Andrew checks after their EVA. The USOS crew reviewed She joined Parmitano and Meir for a conference Morgan stow biological the results of the spacewalk with ground specialists with ground specialists to review procedures. research samples into a and began preparing for the next excursion outside Morgan worked for a second day with the GRIP science freezer located the station. Skvortsov conducted further research inside the Destiny module. investigation and the remainder of the crew with the Konstanta investigation and Skripochka focused on the biomedical Functional Immune and researched how ultraviolet waves affect Earth’s

Probiotics studies. atmosphere. Ovchinin handed over command of the station On 8 October, Koch and Morgan continued to to Parmitano during the traditional Change of prepare for their next spacewalk by reviewing Command ceremony on 2 October. Ovchinin procedures and checking their Extravehicular praised Expedition 60 as “a long and exciting “It’s been a long Mobility Unit (EMU) suits. Parmitano practised flight” and admitted he didn’t want to leave. robotic manoeuvres for the EVA, whilst Meir Parmitano became the third ESA ISS commander year…two safe conducted Kounotori cargo transfers. All six and the first from Italy and thanked Ovchinin for crewmembers went over their emergency roles and his leadership. landings, two responsibilities by familiarising themselves with emotional safety gear, communication protocols and SOYUZ DOWN evacuation procedures. SF The hatches between Soyuz MS-12/58S and homecomings, one Rassvet were closed at 04:20 UTC with spacecraft commander Ovchinin, Hague and Almansoori wild ride!” aboard Soyuz. They undocked over three hours later at 07:37 UTC as the complex flew 418.4 km above south eastern Mongolia to signal the official start of Expedition 61. Soyuz performed a 4 min 42 sec de-orbit burn at 10:06 UTC on 3 October and 28 min later the Descent Module with the crew aboard, separated successfully from the spacecraft’s Orbital and Service Modules to re-enter the atmosphere at 10:37 UTC. RIGHT Soyuz made what NASA TV described as Nick Hague, shortly after “a bullseye touchdown” 148 km south east of landing back on Earth Dzhezkazgan, Kazakhstan at 10:59 UTC (16:59 closing out Expedition 60.

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 11 SATELLITE SYSTEMS

ENCODED COMSATS The US military relies on highly successful satellite communication systems called AEHF and WGS. Some countries, such as the Netherlands and Canada, decided at an early stage to join both these programmes as partners. Others, such as the UK, joined just one programme. by Gerard van de Haar FBIS and Luc van den Abeelen

ommunication satellites are the life-blood RIGHT UFO, which obviously had to involve considerably of integrated national and coalition forces The US military improved satellites. For the Navy the new system was AEHF satellite throughout the world and the geosynchronous system is highly required to operate in both SHF (20GHz) and EHF (44 or geostationary satellite is the pumping house secure, but most GHz) bands, but even more important was the strict for that exchange – of voice, data, messaging military comms requirement to resist jamming. For the Air Force and C traffic is handled and videolinks. Without these interconnecting nodes, Army the new MilSatCom satellites would need to the world would be a much darker and more dangerous by WGS and operate in both the X and Ka bands. commercial place. Be it for conflict containment, combat operations satellite systems As Boeing had supplied the DSCS and UFO or the much more widely used application of disaster that are vulnerable satellites in the past (also through merged companies relief, the military communications satellite is as to jamming. like General Electric), it came as no surprise that it essential as the sources they connect. BELOW won the WGS-contract; and as is a normal deal in

In the 1990s the US Department of Defense (DoD) Built by Lockheed space business, Lockheed – who had built the Milstar LOCKHEED MARTIN AND RIGHT: LEFT BELOW was looking for successors to the earlier military Martin, an AEHF series – won the AEHF-contract later the same year. satcom programmes such as Milstar, DSCS and satellite in orbit. Demonstrating the advancement in microelectronics, one AEHF satellite was to have more capacity than the combined capacity of all five Milstar satellites, and similarly one WGS satellite would have more capacity than the entire DSCS network of ten satellites! The planned lifetime of each AEHF/WGS satellite is fifteen years.

WIDEBAND GLOBAL SATCOM In early 2001 the DoD awarded Boeing with the initial contract for five Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites for around $2 billion; about five years later, even before WGS-1 was launched, a further five WGS satellites were ordered, at a cost of $1.8 billion. At an early stage the Air Force decided to upgrade the requirements: WGS satellites 1-3 are called Block 1, but WGS 4-7 (Block 2) received a radio frequency bypass capability designed to support airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms requiring ultra-high bandwidth and data rates demanded by unmanned aerial vehicles; WGS 8-10 (Block 2 F/O) received upgraded digital channelizers in 2010, which boosted capacity on the satellites by 30 percent.

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Also during development, smaller enhancements were added like an X-band anti-jam upgrade (PATS). Finally, in the spring of 2019 Boeing received a further contract (worth $600 million) for WGSs 11 and 12; it was not announced whether they have the same specifications as Block 2 F/O. WGS-1 and 2 arrived at Astrotech, Titusville (Florida) in June 2007 and January 2009 respectively for final servicing with both a year behind schedule. The WGS-1 launch from Canaveral was in October 2007 followed by WGS-2 in April 2009, with WGS-1 and 2 being lifted by Atlas-5 but all the following WGSs were taken up by Delta-4 with WGS-11 and 12 flying on Vulcan. The WGS system reached initial operational capability in 2009 and full operational capability after WGS-6 was launched in 2013, initiating the replacement of the old DSCS network. WGS operations are mainly conducted from Peterson AFB in Colorado Springs but partner countries can also contact WGS satellites directly. The Ka-band in particular is used for communications with mobile devices on the ground and in the air. BELOW LEFT AND LEFT: BOEING AND LEFT: LEFT BELOW AEHF In November 2001 Lockheed won the initial contract ABOVE of the AEHF programme was secured. With its main for three Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) WGS Block I engine double checked, AEHF-2 had in the meanwhile (left) and Block satellites at $2.7 billion; in 2009, a year before AEHF- 2 – similar in arrived at Astrotech a month earlier and followed 1 was launched, the DoD announced it would buy a configuration AEHF-1 on its heels in May 2012. Soon after the further three AEHF satellites at $3 billion. AEHF is but different in launch of AEHF-3 the AEHF network reached “initial designed to withstand effects from nuclear radiation capability. operational capability” in July 2015, achieving global (EMP, HANE), bad weather (both from solar wind and coverage with three operational satellites. thunderstorms on Earth) and most stringent forms Though chiefly a satellite for Navy use, main of jamming; data traffic is also heavily encrypted so operations are handled at Schriever AFB, also in the system is guaranteed to work in the harshest of Colorado Springs. As with WGS, partner countries can operational conditions. This makes AEHF the most communicate with AEHF satellites directly. useful, reliable and shielded satellite communication system worldwide. INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS AEHF-1 arrived at Astrotech, Titusville in May Early on in the programme, the US opened up AEHF, 2010 for final servicing, three years behind schedule; and later also WGS, services to international allies. The launch on Atlas-5 occurred in August 2010 after a few first was Canada, which joined the AEHF programme days delay. However, problems for the inaugural AEHF in 1999 and WGS in 2012, followed by others satellite were far from over as the spacecraft’s main including Australia (WGS in 2007, AEHF in 2019), the engine did not fire as expected so its geostationary BELOW Netherlands (AEHF in 2002, WGS in 2011), Denmark orbital position could not be reached in the planned 100 WGS-8 at the and Luxemburg (WGS in 2012) and the UK, joining Boeing factory days; instead it took 14 months for the smaller on-board prior to delivery. AEHF in 2003 but not WGS because of its national thrusters to finish the job, with the craft becoming Note the partner Skynet project (see Box, page 18). operational only in March 2012. But at least the start flags on the wall. Instrumental in the choice to participate in US projects for several European countries was the failure around 2000 to establish a European EuMilSatCom programme, mainly because bigger countries like France, Italy and Spain wanted to hold on to their national satcoms for defence use (Siracuse, Sicral, Hispasat). Also NATO’s lack of launching more satcoms after the NATO-4B satellite in 1993 contributed to this. As one result of their cooperation the fairings of the AEHF 1-5 launchers prominently displayed the four partner flags of the US, Canada, the Netherlands and UK; for AEHF-6 the Australian flag is expected to be added. Partner representatives were on site for the AEHF-1 launch (as was one of the authors). Depending on the orbital positions partner countries make use of one particular AEHF satellite more than others; for instance, the Netherlands and UK initially used AEHF-2 mostly because of its position over the Middle East; in June 2013 the Netherlands Navy frigate

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SPECIFICATIONS OF AEHF- & WGS-SATELLITES AEHF WGS Contractor Lockheed-Martin Boeing Size 6.1 x 5.6 x 3.9 m 5.8 m × 3.6 m × 3.1 m Energy 2 solar arrays, each ca. 10 x 6 m; 15 KW 2 solar arrays, each 18 m; 11 KW Propulsion IHI BT-4, 4 × XR-5 Hall Current Thrusters R-4D-15 HiPAT, 4 × XIPS-25 Ion engines Antennas 2 SHF Downlink Phased Arrays, 2 Crosslinks, Cross-band (X-band, Global Broadcast, 2-way 2 Uplink/Downlink Nulling Antennas, Ka-band) 1 Uplink EHF Phased Array Capacity 20/21+44 GHz, 75-2400 bit/s 4875 GHz, 2.1-3.6 Gbit/s + 4.8 kbit/s-1544 Mbit/s + 8192 Mbit/s Mass 6168 kg 5987 kg (incl. fuel)

million in the period 1998-2015 on MilSatCom (€119 million for AEHF and €26 million for WGS), while Canada’s estimated total is $1-3 billion over the past 20 years. Australia spends $150-200 million yearly on MilSatCom. Reportedly, Norway and Czech Republic joined the WGS partnership in 2017.

WORK OPERATIONS The telecom system includes satellites, ground stations (including anchor stations) and terminals (fixed or mobile). Basically, a ground station sends signals and/or messages to a satellite above the equator which relays it directly to a specific terminal somewhere on the Earth (on land, in the air or at sea). If the intended terminal cannot be reached, an anchor station picks it up and tries to send it again (via a second satellite) to the targeted terminal, a route via indirect communication. Given scale by the author, AEHF-1 prior to launch atop an Atlas-5. The difference between AEHF and WGS is that

RIGHT: USAF / BELOW RIGHT: A. VAN DIJK VAN A. RIGHT: / BELOW USAF RIGHT: WGS uses a ground station to relay a satellite message to another ground station while AEHF is able to relay “Zr. Ms. Zeven Provinciën” established first contact with BELOW encrypted signals between satellites before sending it to AEHF-2. AEHF-4 (left) and the ground. In practice both AEHF and WGS are used UK Service members first contacted the AEHF-2 5 go through a by all armed forces, depending on requirements at each satellite at Colerne Airfield, Wiltshire, with the shore 39-day Thermal specific moment. Vacuum Chamber variant of the Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT). In test in a simulation Each partner country is allotted an amount of satellite separate tests, UK users connected via the NMT ship of a standard capacity; for the Netherlands this is currently 6 MHz for variant from Telemetry & Command Station Oakhanger, mission cycle. AEHF and 83 MHz for WGS, this number growing Hampshire. “AEHF not only supplies higher-bandwidth communications for the U.K., it makes communications with allies faster and easier”, Mark Calassa, vice president of Protected Communication Systems at Lockheed Martin said at the time: “AEHF is showing it can handle the demands of protected coalition communications at high speeds, connecting nations with their own users and allied users across the globe”. Later on, the Dutch and UK communications chiefly shifted to AEHF-1 when it was moved over Africa, with AEHF-2 now positioned over the Pacific. WGS partnerships include Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, The Netherlands and New Zealand, with their respective flags hanging prominently next to the US flag in the Boeing factory in St.Louis. Upon joining, Australia even bought the WGS- 6 satellite ($400 million), now operating over the Pacific, as part of its $700 million overall WGS contribution. In 2012 Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands contributed $620 million, mainly for WGS-9. Some more figures indicating the overall spending involved include: The Netherlands spent €145

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 15 SATELLITE SYSTEMS LEFT: MINISTRY OF DEFENCE / RIGHT: LOCKHEED MARTIN OF DEFENCE / RIGHT: MINISTRY LEFT:

The Oakhangar/Defford Ministry of Defence satellite station in the UK.

OUT TO LAUNCH: THE AEHF-5 One of the authors was fortunate enough to attend the AEHF-5 launch on 8 August 2019, after witnessing AEHF-1, AEHF-2 and WGS-7 launches earlier. From the balcony of his Titusville apartment the 80th Atlas-5 rocket could be seen being moved to the launch tower two days before launch. A day later the media viewed the rocket and the payload fairing up close during the remote camera set up. The launch itself was delayed some 30 minutes because of minor technical issues but lift-off was really worth the wait, especially when the rising early morning sun illuminated the engine plumes beautifully. “This fifth satellite adds an additional when more satellites are operational. Each country has layer of flexibility for critical strategic and tactical protected communications at least one ground or anchor station. In the Netherlands serving the warfighter”, said Mike Cacheiro, vice president for protected the main anchor station is located in the Lauwersmeer communications at Lockheed Martin, adding “This added resilience to the existing constellation will help ensure warfighters can connect globally to communicate and in the north of the country, with another on the island transmit data at all times”. of Curacao in the Caribbean. Other ground stations are Thanks to a mission profile change, the AEHF-5 satellite separated in an orbit for instance in Kojarena, Australia, Halifax, Canada, with a perigee several thousand kilometres higher than was achieved on the AEHF- Oakhanger/Defford, UK, and Nuuk, Greenland. 4 launch last October. This means that AEHF-5 will need to consume less of its In the beginning, the AEHF system included some on-board propellant capacity to circularize its orbit, resulting in a longer operational lifetime for the mission. “We’re launching with the Centaur geosynchronous 4,000 local networks and 6,000 terminals. Key use of the orbit (GSO) kit”, said Col. Shane Clark, AEHF-5 mission director from the Launch communication system for either AEHF or WGS is with Enterprise Systems Directorate at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems mobile terminals: for instance on a truck, boat, aircraft Center. “The GSO kit enables an orbital insertion much closer to the final orbit or in a backpack/attaché case. than a traditional geosynchronous transfer orbit, maximizing on-orbit capability of the AEHF-5 space vehicle.” AEHF-5 was expected to reach its operational The Netherlands has special surface terminals (1-2 geostationary position after some 70 days, instead of the 100 days needed before. m), called SMART-T which is short for Secure Mobile By early October the satellite had drifted to approximately 100°W, probably close to AntiJam Reliable Tactical-Terminal, transported on its initial operational position. small trucks. Somewhat bigger devices called CCT200 (2-4 m) are carried by trailers or boats, while planes and soldiers carry smaller mobile terminals. Besides SMART-Ts, the UK also uses Single Channel Anti-Jam

R VAN R VAN BEEST Man Portable (SCAMP), Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) and Navy Multiband Terminals (NMT). Canada, who joined WGS in 2012, first gained access to the WGS network in May 2013 and it uses its full allotted bandwidth from the WGS constellation through anchor stations in Shirleys Bay, Ontario, Great Village, Nova Scotia and Esquimalt (British Columbia) — all of which are home to the antennas and associated ground infrastructure.

SUCCESSORS With the scheduled lifetime of fifteen years both initial AEHF and WGS satellites are expected to function until The AEHF-2 logo. at least 2025, when newer satellites will take over most functions from the older platforms; but technology

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LIST OF AEHF SATELLITES AEHF satellite Launch date Geostat.position AEHF-1 14 Aug.2010 68°W, later 4°E AEHF-2 4 May 2012 19°E, later 68°W AEHF-3 18 Sept.2013 87°W, later 152°E AEHF-4 17 Oct.2018 114°W, later 147°W AEHF-5 8 Aug. 2019 Not yet known AEHF-6 Planned 2020 Not yet known

LIST OF WGS SATELLITES WGS satellite Launch date Geostat.position WGS-1 11 Oct.2007 177°W WGS-2 4 Apr.2009 60°E WGS-3 6 Dec.2009 12°W WGS-4 20 Jan.2012 88°E WGS-5 25 May 2013 52°W WGS-6 8 Aug.2013 135°W WGS-7 24 July 2015 175°E WGS-8 7 Dec.2016 118°W WGS-9 18 March 2017 104°W WGS-10 16 March 2019 122°W WGS-11 Planned 2023 Not yet known WGS-12 Planned 2024 Not yet known evolves (quantum cryptography for example) and ABOVE new threats emerge. For now, attention is focused on AEHF-4 during instance, has deployed several types of mobile jammers encapsulation smoother cooperation between partner countries and at Astrotech, targeting specific satellite user terminals within tactical making ground terminals even smaller, lighter and more Titusville. ranges, and the Secure World Foundation reported reliable, thereby minimizing the need to use commercial that Russia also has deployed technology to jam services (a 2014 Pentagon report claimed commercial BELOW communications satellite uplinks over a wide area from lease is nearly four times more expensive than WGS). A SMART-T mobile fixed ground stations. But China is considered the top However, cyber threats keep growing with communications cyber threat, using a combination of sophisticated attack adversaries developing ever more sophisticated station for utilising tools, according to recent US intelligence reports. the global network electronic jammers and other cyber weapons that supported by Due to growing cyber security concerns, the AEHF can render all commercial and most defence satellite AEHF and WGS system is in high demand across the allied military.

US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE US DEPARTMENT communications inoperable. The Russian military, for satellites. Still the Pentagon reserves AEHF capacity for the

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DOD SKYNET: FOR BRITISH EARS ONLY Besides participating in the US-led AEHF programme, the UK operates an independent national programme for military communications called Skynet. The series got off to a rocky start. The first satellites in this series, Skynet 1A, failed a year after its November 1969 launch with its successor 1B unable to leave its geostationary transfer orbit in August 1970. The first of the second series, Skynet 2A, launched in January 1974 got stuck in a low and unstable orbit and was de- orbited after just five days in space. Skynet 2B made up for all these misfortunes: launched in November 1974, it remained functional for 20 years. With the UK’s withdrawal from the Middle East a national military communications system was deemed less of a priority. As a result, the planned Skynet 3 was cancelled and it was decided to rely on services provided by the US instead. During the Falklands War this dependence on an American system was considered undesirable leading to plans for Skynet 4. The cylindrical, spin-stabilised design of the previous satellites was replaced by a concept featuring a box-like body featuring deployable solar panels and gyroscopic stabilisation. Skynet 4B entered orbit in December 1988, 4A in January 1990 and 4C in August of the same year. The second generation spacecraft, Skynet 4D, 4E and 4F were launched in January and February 1998 and February 2001 respectively. Skynet-4A and 4B were originally to be launched by the Space Shuttle, each with a UK payload specialist on board, but after the Challenger explosion expendable rockets were used instead. The fifth generation of Skynet satellites started deployment with 5A in March 2007; 5B followed that November and 5C in June 2008. The more advanced satellite design featured 24 communication channels compared with only two on earlier spacecraft. It was also equipped with technology protecting against electronic jamming. Skynet satellites operate in the SHF-, UHF- and X-bands. A Skynet-4 satellite costs $122 million and each Skynet-5 some $280 million. Operational responsibility shifted from the Royal Air Force to Paradigm Secure Communications with this new series. In 2012, Paradigm was re-branded Astrium Services. The UK is aiming to continue the Skynet series after August 2022 when the US Army personnel with a SMART-T satellite receiving station. current contract with Astrium runs out. However, for some time now it has been going through a drawn-out and convoluted process aimed at deciding on suppliers together with managerial and operational aspects of the projected Skynet 6 system. most sensitive strategic communications — such as A first launch is planned for 2025. nuclear command and control or planning air strikes — and wants to move tactical users to less expensive alternatives; the US Defense Department has asked the Air Force to provide another option for tactical users that need jam-resistant satellite communications and USAF is now looking to use EM&C (Enterprise Management & Control).

A few years ago, the US DoD started a study on the SYSTEMS SPACE MARCONI need for future communication systems, preparing for the big question: Do we need a new satellite system by 2025 or can we only expand the current ones? The US Congress gave a first indication early 2019 by adding WGS-11 and 12 to the present fleet. While Canada is also looking at national alternatives, eyeing an Arctic satcom constellation mainly for military purposes, European countries are also working on a more regional option, called GovSatCom. Cooperation agreements between the earlier partners like UK and the Netherlands run until around 2030, when a decision on a possible extension is needed. For those European countries which are EU members another upcoming option is the GovSatCom project initiated by the European Commission (EC) in 2016. So far it is unsure if this plan would even materialize (or fail like EuMilSatCom did 20 years ago) but recently Italy took the initiative to contract a first pan-European GovSatCom satellite from Thales-Alenia Space in Italy, with a projected launch in 2025. Both ESA and the European Defence Agency (EDA) are cooperating with the EC on GovSatCom but actual plans for satellites (code name Pacis) have not been made public yet. As nothing is sure yet, Nordic countries like Denmark, Norway and the UK too, are also considering joining the possible Canadian Arctic network. Only Britain’s Skynet 2 satellite being unpacked at Cape Canaveral prior to launch by Delta 2000 in 1974. time will tell how things turn out. SF

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LUNAR EXPLORATION LUNAR EXPLORATION Grabbing a piece of the CATACLYSM Space-faring powers are again looking at the Moon for advanced exploration, their plans are stimulated by violent events in the early days of the solar system. by Dwayne A. Day

his has been a significant year for lunar ABOVE Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission by late 2019, exploration. Only three days into 2019 China The South Pole- it now appears to be on indeterminate hold. China’s Aitken Basin was landed Chang’e-4 on the lunar far side, formed by the ambitious robotic lunar plans are actually emulating something no other country has accomplished. impact of a giant some long-standing American lunar science goals, Both Israel and India failed in their efforts body early in the including not only landing a spacecraft on the lunar far T Moon's history. to land small spacecraft, although India did place a side in a location named the South Pole-Aitken Basin,

LEFT: JPL / BELOW: NASA JPL / BELOW: LEFT: spacecraft in orbit around the Moon. In the spring, the BELOW but bringing back samples. American plans to do this United States again announced plans to send humans to Echoes of the have not received permission to proceed, but scientists the lunar surface, this time by 2024. More substantively, past: Apollo 16 and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory and by summer NASA selected three companies to build astronauts in the elsewhere have conducted extensive efforts to try to Descartes region. small lunar landers, although one of the companies But the far side achieve what China now seems to be doing, because quickly withdrew from the contract. remains largely that part of the Moon holds the keys to unlocking Although China had planned to launch the unexplored. several key scientific mysteries.

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Some four billion years ago, 500 million years after the planets accreted from the solar nebula, the inner solar system may have been smashed and bombarded and knocked around by asteroids and comets during a period that today is known as the Late Heavy Bombardment. This was a key period of time during which life on Earth was beginning to develop. Some of the best indications of this heavy impact bombardment lie in plain view as the large circular basins on the Earth-facing side of the Moon. Many of the Apollo samples, collected from locations near several of those basins, seem to have been melted or shattered during what scientists have labelled the Lunar Cataclysm. But although evidence of the cataclysm comes from samples of the Moon, scientists have limited information on when and over what time span this bombardment happened. Age determinations on the samples suggest an event at 3.9-4.0 billion years ago, but the question remains as to whether this narrow range of ages might be an artifact of a sampling bias, because Apollo and Luna samples all came from a small area on the Moon’s nearside.

Understanding the Cataclysm is an important factor JAXA / LEFT: TASS LEFT: BELOW in answering questions about how the early Earth evolved for life to begin developing, and a big step is to ABOVE of lunar material, it all comes from only a few small send a spacecraft to a scientifically important part of the An image based sites that cover only a relatively small area of the Moon, on Kaguya data Moon and bring back a Rosetta Stone—or stones—that showing the old completely missing the poles and the half of the Moon can unlock the answers. approximated that faces away from Earth. On the far side of the Moon, which never faces circle of the South In addition to the Apollo samples, there are also the Earth, in a region that stretches from the lunar Pole-Aitkin (SPA) enough meteorites that scientists have identified as South Pole almost to its equator, is a huge impact Basin (black ring) coming from the Moon that they represent a statistically and the outer rings basin designated the South Pole-Aitken Basin. determined from significant sample of the entire Moon, even the far Scientists believe that this region could be the key to more recent data, side. However, none are clearly identified as samples understanding the Lunar Cataclysm for three reasons. with the South either from the basin or the poles. All these reasons One of its attractive attributes is that the basin punched Pole indicated. collectively mean that rocks from the SPA basin tell a deep into the lunar surface, mixing materials from the different story than the ones NASA already has. If that Moon’s crust and maybe its mantle. This gives the basin BELOW story also reveals a cataclysm like the Apollo samples, The first picture rocks a unique geochemical signature, making rocks taken of the lunar then we’ll be more confident it really happened. from the area easy to identify. far side, giving The second reason is that this is the oldest large trace indications DIGGING DEEP basin identifiable on the Moon, so that its surface of the SPA Basin. The South Pole-Aitken Basin is truly expansive, with a records all the craters that came after it as well. The It was returned by diameter of 2,500 km and a depth of 13 km. Its existence Luna 3 in October third reason is that it is on the far side, far away from 1959 as it circled was first hinted at by Luna 3 and Zond 3, and confirmed the region where the Apollo samples were collected, back to Earth on by Lunar Orbiter photography in the mid-1960s. The although the astronauts brought back a huge amount its elliptical path. basin derives its name from the fact that it stretches from the lunar South Pole to the Aitken crater. Remote sensing from orbiters shows that its composition is different to the Apollo landing sites on the near side of the Moon. This is because the impact mixed material from the lunar surface and that from deep in the Moon’s interior, which could potentially provide the first sample of this material to researchers interested in the interior composition of the Moon. When the Earth and the Moon were forming, they were being pelted with material as the remaining detritus of the solar system from its formation settled down. Then, some 500 million years later, things started up again. The Lunar Cataclysm, or Late Heavy Bombardment, has been hypothesized to have been a relatively brief period of impact bombardment or a spike in the impact flux well after solar system formation, so it has been difficult to reconcile with models of solar system evolution. Things should have quietened down by then. In the middle of the last decade, scientists published a series of articles regarding possible causes of the

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bombardment. In 2001 and again in 2011 the National mission provide much valuable new data about the Research Council produced a decadal survey for diversity of materials and the geophysical context of planetary science, establishing the goals for the United Many of the this important basin, they have not been able to give an States’ planetary science programme. Both decadal absolute age to this oldest of lunar basins, or to confirm surveys ranked a South Pole-Aitken Basin Sample Apollo or refute whether samples here were similarly melted Return mission one of seven high-priority medium- and affected by a cataclysmic bombardment. New sized missions. The 2011 decadal survey stated that the samples seem landers like China’s Chang’e-4 are insufficient to answer goals of such a mission were: to have been this question. • D etermine the chronology of basin-forming Current instrumentation technology is not adequate impacts and constrain the period of late heavy melted or for obtaining the required precision and accuracy on bombardment in the inner solar system and thus the isotopic, geochemical, and mineralogical analyses address fundamental questions of inner solar system shattered on the Moon, the instruments are either too big, too impact processes and chronology; heavy, or too power-hungry, often all of the above. • E lucidate the nature of the Moon’s lower crust and In addition, there is also the human factor, including mantle by direct measurements of its composition picking the right materials to analyze from under and of sample ages; a microscope to doing pre-analysis chemistry, to • C haracterize a large lunar impact basin through performing very sophisticated analytical measurements. “ground truth” validation of global, regional, and Add to that the possibility of different researchers using local remotely sensed data of the sampled site; different techniques to approach the science from • E lucidate the sources of thorium and other heat- different directions. producing elements in order to understand lunar Only terrestrial laboratories can provide precision differentiation and thermal evolution; and of age measurements to better than ±20 million years • D etermine ages and compositions of far side basalts BELOW and accuracy of trace elemental compositions to the A colour coded to determine how mantle source regions on the far map of iron and parts-per-billion level. And many replicated analyses by side of the Moon differ from regions sampled by titanium mapped multiple laboratories may be required for the scientific Apollo and Luna. at the SPA Basin community to believe the results. Big controversies together with require multiple confirming measurements; for DEEPER VIEWING reflective (albedo) example, many labs participated in analysis of the “life and topographic Although remote sensing missions such as the maps of the same on Mars” meteorite, which in the mid-1990s some continuing Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the 2012 area on the lunar scientists alleged contained evidence of prehistoric life Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) far side. on the red planet. LPRI

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The last time an American robotic spacecraft worked on a programme known as Autonomous landed on the Moon, without deliberately crashing, Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology (ALHAT) that is, was Surveyor 7 in January 1968. All American The last time to develop precision landing technology so that landings so far have been on the near side of the Moon, spacecraft do not simply have to fly to flat, featureless within communications line-of-sight with Earth. There an American areas, but can assess even rough terrain autonomously have been few proposals for robotic lunar landers ever and avoid the dangers. Unfortunately, because of its since the late 1960s. But in the past decade there has robotic location out of line-of-sight with Earth, any lander on been a renaissance in American lunar exploration, spacecraft the far side would require a communications relay in with a number of NASA and other spacecraft orbiting lunar orbit. Ever since a pair of failed Mars missions the Moon, and several proposals to NASA for lunar landed on the in the late 1990s, NASA has had a requirement that landers to do things such as sensing seismic signatures, its spacecraft must have communications with Earth aka “Moonquakes”, or roving into craters perpetually Moon… was during critical events. In May 2018, China launched the shrouded in darkness in search of water ice. None of Queqiao spacecraft toward the Moon, which relayed these have progressed beyond a very preliminary study Surveyor 7 in data from Chang’e-4. NASA would need something stage, although NASA has made investments in lander similar for a lunar far side landing. technology for lunar missions. January 1968 Landing on the Moon, collecting pebble-sized MOONRISE samples, and returning them to Earth requires a In 2005 NASA held its first New Frontiers mission relatively sophisticated spacecraft in the New Frontiers- competition. One of the teams competing was led class, essentially a class of medium-size missions with a by scientist Michael Duke of the Colorado School of price tag approximately $1 billion (not including launch Mines, who proposed a South Pole-Aitken Basin sample costs). The decadal survey placed very high priority on return mission named Moonrise. But NASA selected the return of at least 1 kg of rock fragments from the the Juno Jupiter magnetosphere mission instead. That South Pole-Aitken Basin region, selected to maximize New Frontiers spacecraft is currently orbiting Jupiter. BELOW the likelihood of achieving the science objectives. This China has In 2009, Bradley Jolliff, Moonrise’s deputy principal doesn’t mean the sampling has to go very far from the ambitious investigator, became the principal investigator for landing site. The Moon’s natural process of impacts plans for lunar MoonRise, an improved second proposal with a redistributing and mixing materials on a large scale over exploration, slight name change (a capital “R”). Jolliff is the Scott billions of years makes any patch of lunar real estate including the Rudolph Professor of Earth and Planetary Sciences upcoming contain a surprising diversity of rock fragments, with Chang'e-5 sample at Washington University in St. Louis. Jolliff noted a well-mixed regional deposit of materials both from return mission as that their mission design benefitted greatly from the deep underground as well as from other locations. The displayed here Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter spacecraft launched lander just has to scoop down, and shake out the dust, as a graphic at a in June 2009, which provided high-resolution images recent aviation to pack a canister full of “rocklets” big enough for the exhibition in and topography data. Compared to their earlier effort, scientists to work on in their labs. Moscow. If it is “that meant that we could take a different approach Although a far side landing would be more successful, China to landing site safety”, Jolliff explained. The new LRO challenging than one on the near side, the Lunar may follow it with data removed some of the burden from the MoonRise Reconnaissance Orbiter has produced high-resolution the Chang'e-7 mission because they no longer had to collect imaging mission to bring surface images allowing a reduction in the risk back samples from and decide where to land during the mission. “With associated with appropriate site selection and hazard the South Pole- the new data and images, we could select the desired avoidance. In addition, JPL and other NASA centres Aitken Basin. landing site well ahead of the mission and thereby GO

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their own lunar orbiters. This increased interest made it possible for Jolliff to find potential international partners interested in participating, and thereby mitigating some of the costs to NASA. But in 2011 NASA selected an asteroid-sampling mission named OSIRIS-REx instead of MoonRise as the next New Frontiers mission. In 2016, NASA issued another New Frontiers announcement, giving MoonRise another chance. During early New Frontiers competitions the Jet Propulsion Laboratory substantially studied the technology requirements and developed some test hardware. The hardware included a

RIGHT AND BELOW RIGHT: JPL RIGHT: AND BELOW RIGHT high-fidelity mockup of a lander complete with a high- fidelity working sample arm and sampling system. The reduce cost and risk enormously.” ABOVE arm was fitted with a camera and could swing out and The LRO data also helped improve their approach Mockup of access the ground, scoop up material, and then sieve it. the MoonRise to collecting high-quality samples, enabling selection of lander built at landing sites that would maximize chances of finding JPL. Although DIGGING all the materials needed for the mission. “Our scientific the lander was There are a lot of challenges to a South Pole-Aitken approach to sampling is in part to let the impact low fidelity, the Basin sample return mission. Many of these are sampler system process do the work of generating a very diverse and at the end of associated with getting the vehicle on and off the representative suite of samples, by way of the small the arm was an surface. But the sampling mechanism itself is also more rock fragments that are found in any lunar soil”, Jolliff engineering model complex than one might suspect. In order to answer explained. designed to prove their questions, scientists do not simply want a random “We know from experience with the Apollo that the samples scoop of lunar dirt from the landing site, because it could be collected samples and landing sites that the regolith contains from the lunar would contain many more dust-sized particles than a wonderful diversity and represents well the large surface. small rocks. They want pebbles, from 3 to 20 mm in rocks and bedrock in a given region. For these reasons, diameter, so that each rocklet contains a representative scientifically, we could land in many different places amount of minerals. Based upon knowledge of the within (the) SPA basin and, with the collected samples, Apollo samples, pebbles in this size range are abundant achieve our science objectives.” throughout the lunar soil. Jolliff also explained that the overall advancement Jolliff explained: “Our requirement in New Frontiers of scientific understanding of the solar system has was 1 kg. We argued that by sieving regolith to increase improved scientists’ understanding of the age of the the proportion of rock fragments in the collected basin. “A series of papers published relatively recently material, we greatly increase the science yield of articulated models for early solar system evolution the samples. A kilogramme is literally thousands of involving migration of the giant planets and disruption small rock fragments. We made a strong case that the RIGHT of primordial asteroid belts that could have produced a The MoonRise required 1 kg would be sufficient to provide enough cataclysmic early bombardment of the Moon and inner lander set up for solar system.” Jolliff added that “these models provided a demonstration a nice set of important hypotheses that could be tested test. The box by determining the age of the SPA basin formation and in front of the lander was filled the ‘chronology’ represented by its rocks”. with a lunar Put another way, the science team now had a regolith simulant framework for interpreting the data they would collect to demonstrate on the samples, which includes not only the age of the the operation of the sampling SPA basin formation, but also the distribution of ages mechanism. produced by large impacts in that part of the Moon. “This kind of new knowledge is fundamental to our BELOW understanding of the early solar system and that’s what MoonRise lander makes a good New Frontiers mission”, Jolliff added. tests of the sample acquisition and Something else had changed in the intervening years: transfer system the rest of the world became much more interested in a workspace in the Moon, with a number of countries launching visualization test. DWAYNE DAY DWAYNE

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 25 LUNAR EXPLORATION LEFT: DWAYNE DAY / BELOW RIGHT: LOCKHEED MARTIN RIGHT: / BELOW DAY DWAYNE LEFT:

material for the team to address the science objectives, ABOVE a depth of half a metre. They also tested the end effector with margin.” Demonstrations in a chamber at low temperatures and vacuum, just like of the acquisition Leon Alkalai is a JPL engineer who worked on and transfer on the Moon. The end effector has a high technology the New Frontiers proposals as well as a follow-on system simulating readiness level (TRL in NASA parlance) of 6, with TRL Orion-MoonRise concept. Alkalai was the “Capture the activity of the 9 being a flight-tested instrument. Alkalai noted that Lead” for MoonRise, meaning that he was the single MoonRise Lander when they were evaluated in the 2009 competition this point of contact at JPL responsible for winning the with the transfer work was rated as a “Major Strength”, although they of samples to the MoonRise New Frontiers proposal. He was therefore return canister. lost in the final round. “I believe that the technology is responsible for engineering, business development, mature for a robotic sample return mission from the strategy, science, and other related issues. For the New South Pole-Aitken Basin”, Alkalai said. Frontiers proposal Alkalai partnered with the principal The next hurdle to overcome was sifting the collected investigator – Jolliff – and a strong science team and material, particularly in one-sixth gravity. Alkalai said group of international partners to try and win the that JPL also demonstrated that its system will work mission opportunity. Jolliff added that the people reliably, separating out objects of the right size and participating did much more than simply lend their discarding material that is too large or too small. Their names to a proposal: “Many of our team members were models indicate that they would have to sort through involved in planning, designing, analyzing, writing, approximately 50 kg of material in order to get the reviewing, and presentation”, he stressed. “I believe required one kilogramme of samples. Fortunately, while According to Alkalai, for the 2011 competition, working in a vacuum, the sifter does not create a dust JPL needed to demonstrate that their sampling system that the cloud around the spacecraft, affecting its operations. would work and could produce the material that was The MoonRise lander vehicle would be significantly most likely to satisfy the science goals. So JPL built a technology is larger than NASA’s Surveyor landers, with a mass of high-fidelity testbed and a surface operations testbed. 2.5 metric tons compared to one ton for Surveyor, Alkalai said that they put a lot of thought into the mature for a and more sophisticated than the Russian Luna 16, lighting conditions on the lunar surface. They used 20 and 24 missions. Luna 24 returned 170 grams of special lights and dark curtains around the vehicle to robotic material from the lunar surface in 1976. The MoonRise simulate actual lunar landing lighting conditions for the spacecraft height is approximately two metres with the entire lunar day, including shadows. sample return ascent vehicle and the mast-mounted camera system The first step in retrieving a sample would be mission from (“mastcam”) at approximately the same height. The scooping up material from the lunar surface with spacecraft could have a deployable mast, but deployment the arm. But imagine a spacecraft landing on Earth. the South mechanisms add cost and risk, and the designers Scooping up material in the desert would be relatively believed that a fixed mastcam was a better option. The easy, but what if you landed on rock? Although a Pole-Aitken mastcam would have a stereo camera and a multispectral few scientists in the 1960s speculated that the lunar imager. Whether the vehicle carried any other surface would be very powdery, the Apollo astronauts Basin” instruments would depend upon available funding. discovered that it was well compacted by billions of There could be other science opportunities, such as years of micrometeoroid impacts. A robotic sampler deploying a seismic sensor, although this would require that tried to dig straight down might have great a long-lived power source and communications relay. difficulty in getting enough material from the surface. When teams prepare to compete for New Frontiers So JPL designed a scoop that sheared down and they frequently spend significant amounts of money, scooped backward, like a backhoe. They tested the many hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars, scoop on a high-fidelity lunar regolith simulant and putting together their proposals and advancing the demonstrated that it could dig down into the surface to technology to demonstrate that they can accomplish

26 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight LUNAR EXPLORATION the mission. Once a competition ends, hopefully that human/robotic sample return mission from the lunar work is not lost but is preserved for future efforts. After South Pole-Aitken Basin, then such a mission has the 2009 New Frontiers effort, the JPL team looked “Planetary a much broader benefit to NASA beyond science”, for other ways to take advantage of their work. They Alkalai added, “and gives a very exciting mission for the came up with the concept of Orion-MoonRise. This materials humans to accomplish in the EM-L2 as a feed-forward approach would use some of the same landing hardware to future exploration of Mars”. envisioned for the robotic mission, but replace the analysis has sample return vehicle and the communications satellite come a long SOFT LANDING with a piloted Orion spacecraft instead. This could The MoonRise lander includes the lunar braking substantially increase the amount of material returned way and we module, lunar surface module with its robotic arm from the Moon. and sample acquisition and transfer system, and also The concept would involve launching a rocket can now do includes the lunar ascent vehicle with its sample return from Cape Canaveral with the lunar lander. It would capsule. The ascent vehicle would use a STAR 30 C/BP travel to a holding point and loiter, awaiting the fantastic ascent motor. arrival of the Orion spacecraft with its crew of at least JPL engineers evaluated the trade space for the three astronauts to a location known as Earth-Moon things with mission, trying to determine if the robotic lander Lagrange point L2, or EM-L2. That location is where the tiny rock should be launched aboard the Space Launch System Earth and Moon gravity cancel each other out. It’s a sort (SLS) underneath the Orion spacecraft or on a separate of neutral space where a spacecraft can essentially rest, samples… rocket. The engineers considered both options, but have hovering high over the Moon without expending any determined that a dual-launch mode is probably the fuel. After Orion is in place, the MoonRise lander would think better solution. begin its descent to the lunar surface. Another question was where Orion would orbit. That According to its proponents, the Orion-MoonRise Stardust” decision affected the total change in velocity required option could return substantially more sample mass for the lunar ascent vehicle. If Orion operated in lunar to Earth than the robotic mission alone. The 2009 orbit the MoonRise ascent vehicle would require less MoonRise proposal was limited to one kilogramme, propellant to reach it, but this would reduce the ability although the actual limitation was volume-constrained, of the Orion’s crew to communicate with the landing the size of the sample collected, rather than mass- site. Alternatively, placing the Orion at the L2 point constrained. In contrast, the Orion-MoonRise could would essentially allow it to “hover” in line-of-sight nominally return up to ten kilogrammes of material, with the landing spot, but would increase the propellant and perhaps as much as 30 kg depending on the requirement for the lander’s ascent vehicle compared to assumptions for the design of the sample canister. other options. BELOW Getting more sample material could be beneficial, The Orion- The mission could be conducted in several ways. If but it is not necessary to achieve the existing New MoonRise mission a goal is to extend astronaut time at EM-L2, a human Frontier science goals. Whereas Apollo brought back was proposed in habitat module could be launched on the SLS to the hundreds of kilogrammes of lunar material, scientists 2014 as a means of location and be ready for rendezvous with Orion. The retrieving up to 30 are now able to determine a lot based upon very small kg of material from MoonRise vehicle would launch atop a rocket into amounts. “Planetary materials analysis has come a the lunar surface. low Earth orbit. After a short coast, the upper stage long way and we can now do fantastic things with tiny Orion would be of the launch vehicle reignites and performs trans- rock samples”, Jolliff said. “Think Stardust”, he said. equipped with lunar injection, placing the spacecraft on a low-energy “And MoonRise samples would be boulders compared the Orion Sample trajectory. This would be a slow transit to the Moon, Capture and to such samples. Therefore, the primary advantage to Return (OSCAR) arriving at EM-L2 after three months, then transferring more mass with the Orion concept is to increase the module at the front to EM-L1 and a low-energy libration orbit. It stays amount of material (number of rock fragments, and of the spacecraft. there until the crew launches aboard Orion and heads a larger mass of bulk or unsorted material) that could for EM-L2. be allocated to the planetary science sample analysis community worldwide”, Jolliff added. “We already had plans to do such allocation with MoonRise, but with the enhanced mass, we could really provide substantial samples and retain a significant mass in curation for allocation to a future generation of investigators that might have new and improved analytical techniques and even ask new questions.” Indeed, scientists advocating a Mars sample return use the same argument that the best analytical instruments are the ones that will be invented decades from now. “We are still investigating Apollo samples, 40 plus years after they were collected”, Jolliff noted. One of the benefits of the Orion-MoonRise mission is that it would demonstrate capturing a sample canister at EM-L2, which would provide data and experience for future Mars sample return missions. The astronauts would provide relay coverage for the robotic landing, as well as ascent, possible tele-operations of the robotic system on the surface of the Moon, and demonstration of sample capture. “If the agency wants to direct a

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 27 LUNAR EXPLORATION

After Orion reaches EM-L2 and the crew is ready, RIGHT the robotic lander descends directly to the lunar surface. The “Orion Sample Capture Although the landing will be autonomous, Orion And Return” serves as a communications relay with Earth. Once (OSCAR) system the spacecraft reaches a point 14 km above the lunar was an ambitious surface on a shallow flight path angle, it fires its solid plan devised by rocket motor, removing most of the vehicle’s horizontal Lockheed Martin to utilise the Orion velocity. After burnout, the descent stage is jettisoned crew vehicle and the landing is performed with hydrazine propulsion, to return lunar the same fuel used by the Surveyor landers in the 1960s. samples to Earth. The spacecraft optics would be covered – probably by Shown here is the independently see-through covers – to protect them from dust during pressurised landing, although the Moon poses fewer problems for and detachable optics than Mars, where the atmosphere can produce “pantry” capsule. dust vortices; on the Moon, any dust kicked up by the OSCAR could thrusters would blow radially away from the lander. The still be an option for future NASA lander could operate on the surface for up to ten Earth missions. days, with Orion’s crew tele-operating the spacecraft and serving as communications relay back to Earth.

OSCAR Lockheed Martin is building the Orion spacecraft and has looked at options for using it to retrieve a sample LOCKHEED MARTIN RIGHT: AND BELOW LEFT container. Orion doesn’t have an airlock, and NASA and company engineers are not comfortable with the opens and closes during deposit. The total mass for the idea of depressurizing the entire spacecraft in order sample vault is 50 kg. to open up a hatch and bring a container inside. This When the In addition, the mission could be augmented with wastes resources, affects operations, and increases risk, a rover that could collect samples and bring them for instance, if the cabin fails to properly re-pressurize. MoonRise back to the lander. One such possibility is known as Instead, Lockheed Martin engineers think they have a the AXEL tethered two-wheel rover, which would better solution, one that seems like it is straight out of a sample weigh approximately 20-50 kg and could operate ten poor man’s James Bond movie. canister rises to a hundred metres from the lander on steep terrain. According to Orion engineer Josh Hopkins, Honeybee Robotics has demonstrated a small sampling Lockheed Martin designated their effort OSCAR, up from the mechanism mounted in a wheel of AXEL that could for “Orion Sample Capture And Return”. One of the even take shallow core samples. Although AXEL was options that the company previously evaluated was Moon, the not part of the MoonRise New Frontiers proposal, the sending Orion to the International Space Station, and spacecraft design for Orion-MoonRise assumed a 50 kg for such a mission they considered ways of increasing astronauts rover package. the cargo capacity of the vehicle. One of their options After each of the sample canisters was filled, it was a “pantry” canister that could be fitted atop the could open would be deposited inside a larger sphere known as the Orion, underneath the launch abort system. That pantry the outer sample vault, on the Lunar Ascent Vehicle. That sphere container is little more than a pressurized cylinder with would be sealed up and launched into space. The centre hatches on either end. hatch on the of mass may be offset from the centre of the sphere, Hopkins said that for Orion-MoonRise, the Orion possibly causing it to tumble or spin by a few RPM. spacecraft could carry such a pantry with supplies for a pantry, fly up The sample vault would be equipped with 10-14 optical longer-duration Orion mission. The astronauts would retroreflectors for passive detection by the Orion laser consume the supplies inside the pantry. They would to the detecting radar, or lidar. The reflectors would be flush- load it up with their trash, depressurize it, and then mounted in the vault. open the outer hatch and eject the trash, leaving the canister, and After a 3-6 day journey up from the lunar surface, pantry empty. When the MoonRise sample canister rises the Lunar Ascent Vehicle would be placed within a few up from the Moon, the astronauts could open the outer then gently kilometres of Orion at EM-L2. Once Orion confirmed hatch on the pantry, fly up to the canister, and then swallow it the LAV was operating properly, the vault would gently swallow it inside the pantry, closing the outer be released and the LAV depart. Orion would then door. They would then repressurize the pantry, open inside the approach. This method keeps LAV hazards away from the inner hatch, and retrieve the sample. After doing so, Orion. they would jettison the pantry and head home. pantry, Lockheed Martin has tested sensors and software For a mission to collect more than one kilogramme, in its Denver Space Operations Simulation Center. the lunar lander’s sampler would have two bilaterally closing the The testing was intended to demonstrate the feasibility symmetrical compartments with grates for selecting of some Orion relative navigation functions, such as different sample grades. The sample canister would be outer door proving that Orion can detect, differentiate, and track attached in such a way that multiple canisters can be the sample container at an initial range of 1-2 km. It filled and retrieved. The canisters would be deposited in would then conduct more precise tracking closer in. a sample vault that opens like a clamshell. Each canister Initial tests detected retroreflectors at ranges of 1,032 and is approximately 20.3 by 14.5 cm in diameter. The vault 2,030 metres. The corner cubes proved highly visible. is approximately 60 cm in diameter. The canisters are Astronauts would be able to move the vault in order protected by a sliding circular sealing mechanism that to stow it, but not open it. But it is possible that at least

28 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight LUNAR EXPLORATION some lunar dust might have ended up on the exterior with lunar samples”. Jolliff also said that “the Gateway of the sample vault, and the astronauts might smell a would be wonderful for this mission”. But if NASA is to faint trace of the Moon on the recovered vehicle. The gather samples on the lunar surface, it will not be soon. Apollo astronauts reported that the Moon smelled like NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services gunpowder. contract is funding two small-sized lunar landers According to Hopkins, this work has applicability that are incapable of performing a sample return beyond the Orion-MoonRise concept. It could also mission. Bringing back samples from the lunar far be applied to robotic Mars sample return missions. side is difficult and requires a bigger lander and a In addition, remote operation of surface activities relay satellite. Right now, the only way that NASA will could feed directly into concepts for early human conduct this mission is if a team submits it to a future Mars missions. Astronauts have already performed New Frontiers competition and wins – the next New teleoperation from ISS, and this experience could be Frontiers selection is expected by 2023. extended to Orion-MoonRise or eventually to Mars In the meantime, the Chinese have indicated they missions. have long-term plans for a series of large lunar landers for science missions, including possibly bringing back FINDING MONEY samples from the South Pole-Aitken Basin. Landing Since the extensive JPL work on MoonRise at the Chang’e-4 on the lunar far side was a major enabling beginning of the decade there have been a number of step towards this goal. That mission will be followed in new developments, including NASA's plans to build 2020 by Chang’e-5, a sample retrieval mission aimed at a Lunar Gateway mini-space station in lunar orbit. In the Moon’s near side. The Chinese have also discussed 2016, the MoonRise team again submitted a proposal the possibility of flying Chang’e-7 around 2023 as to the New Frontiers competition, and once again their a South Pole-Aitken Basin sample return mission, proposal was not selected. Brad Jolliff has indicated using backup Chang’e-5 hardware, to be followed by that he does not intend to submit the proposal again, BELOW Chang’e-6 as a lunar South Pole mission about a year A step-by-step although perhaps somebody else will choose to do so. demonstration or so later. At a lunar science event outside Washington, DC in of the OSCAR If they do successfully return samples from this key November 2018, Jolliff provided a few more details system, using location on the Moon and answer the questions about about the MoonRise mission. The relay orbiter would the detachable the Lunar Cataclysm, China will have achieved one of cost $50-70 million, he said. When asked why the “pantry” capsule the coveted goals of the American planetary science to collect free- mission proposal had not been selected, he said that it floating MoonRise community. Perhaps they will even share some of their was on the basis of technical issues and “because some sample vaults samples with the rest of the world. Or maybe they will people don’t understand everything that you can do (yellow spheres). simply keep them for themselves. SF

1 Homing in on sample vault. 2 Sample vault enters pantry. 3 Outer pantry hatch closed.

4 Pantry repressurized. 5 Sample vault retrieved. 6 Pantry capsule jettisoned.

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 29 UK SPACE INDUSTRY

Hanging in the BALANCE

While General Election “purdah” curbed policy announcements and political appearances at the 2017 biennial UK Space Conference in Manchester, hopes were high that this year’s, in Newport, South Wales, would be better.

by David Todd, Head of Space Content, Seradata Ltd TODD SERADATA/DAVID

nd it was, but only in terms of the impact of natural phenomena, such as space attendance of government ministers. Like weather, UK defence minister Anne-Marie London buses they came along in threes – Trevelyan warned against the potential activities all hoping to benefit from the sexy subject in space of hostile states and non-state actors, Aof space. However, apart from some good including interceptor missile attacks and cyber speeches and panel discussions, in truth, little of warfare. The Ministry of Defence is awarding major consequence was announced. £1.5 million to companies to come up with ways Heading up the ministerial contingent was to defend its on-orbit assets including, bizarrely, the Rt Hon Chris Skidmore, who has returned Like London buses via the use of origami. The UK is part of a space to the role of space minister – or rather Minister defence alliance with the USA called Olympic for Science and Universities (strangely there is no they came along in Defender. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) is mention of space in his title despite its importance). building a military data relay satellite constellation Skidmore reaffirmed the UK’s commitment to and threes – all hoping for the RAF called Team Artemis, working with the support for the European Space Agency (ESA). “If to benefit from the American company, Raytheon. ESA did not exist, somebody would have to invent During the opening plenary, Andy Green, it”, he said, adding that the UK would increase its sexy subject outgoing head of the industry body UK Space, contribution to ESA. possibly to the chagrin of the pro-Brexit Probably the most significant announcement of space government ministers present, lamented that the was that of UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson, UK’s market share in the world space industry had which was off-site at the UN General Assembly. fallen since the leave vote in the 2016 referendum. This was about the government’s £20 million Graham Turnock, CEO of the UK Space Agency, investment in research to improve systems at the a government department, said that even after Met Office Space Weather Operations Centre that Brexit, the UK could take part in some European help predict severe space weather events. Skidmore Union (EU) space programmes if it was in its highlighted the political importance of space as a interest to do so. “cross government critical national infrastructure”. An agreement was signed at the conference Apart from protecting the nation from the between the UK Space Agency and the Australian

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been a good decision as it provided a “door” to other nations’ governments and space industries. She emphasised that cooperation between agencies would continue even if her dream of there being a world space agency was a long way off. Money, of course, was a key subject. Turnock explained that the agency had to pick and choose what to fund but there was a conundrum to be solved in trying to pick winners. “Do we pick the best projects or the best sub-sectors?” He reaffirmed the agency’s commitment to encouraging new launch capabilities – if not to invest directly in a launch vehicle. This would include capping launch liabilities as well as, probably, providing some spacecraft to be launched as payloads to stimulate demand.

DTI Later in the conference it was revealed that should a launch failure occur it would be the Air Space Agency to set up a “Space Bridge” between TOP Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) that would them to unlock investment and share best practice The giant inflated Moon at investigate. the UK Space Conference in across a common framework. Megan Clark, head of Newport. Wu Yanhua, vice-administrator of the Chinese the Australian agency, was part of the “mini-IAC” National Space Agency (CNSA), paid tribute to the heads of agencies plenary, which also included ABOVE achievements of the Chang’e 4 mission, which had Turnock and ESA Director General Jan Woerner. The UK Department for survived 10 nights on the lunar far side. He also International Trade’s (DIT) Clark reported that Australia had formally joined Minister for Investment, said that all commercial space flights were insured NASA’s Project Artemis to return humans to the Graham Stuart, checks out by local Chinese insurance companies, sometimes Moon. Setting up a space agency in Australia had the ExoMars rover. with international insurance backing. Clark

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warned however that insurance can sometimes awarded funding from the UK’s Centre for Earth stifle risk and entrepreneurial spirit. Observation Instrumentation to develop a new On the subject of how space technology could MWIR imager for small spacecraft. be more environmentally friendly, ESA Director The space industry remains male dominated, General Jan Woerner suggested that in addition hence the UK Space Agency’s decision to join the to offering the shortest or the fastest route, SatNav Women in Aerospace Europe (WIA-E) body as systems could also offer car drivers the “greenest a corporate member to encourage a greater role route”. Best quote of the plenary also came from Jan for women in the industry. The WIA-E is led by Woerner, who noted the pressure he came under Liz Seward, an accomplished space engineer and to choose certain special projects to fund: “I am executive at Airbus Defence and Space. While the director general, not director special.” He described UK space industry normally baulks at positive how certain operations, such as communications, gender discrimination policies, it is happy to are increasingly being taken over by commercial encourage career opportunities for women which it firms but that space agencies would still have to hopes will lead to more women in space leadership cover others such as planetary exploration and positions. There has been some success already planetary defence, for example. He made it clear – half of the UK Space Agency’s executive board that some competition was essential if low-cost members are women, as well as 46% of all staff. space flight was to be achieved. In education, in which the agency has had a key role, girls are now flocking to the so-called PORTS AND HUBS STEM subjects (science, technology, engineering It was also revealed that £1.3 million would and mathematics). These smart kids realise that be divided between three consortia preparing STEM subjects will give them a better chance of horizontal operations at Space Ports. The three an interesting and rewarding future career. On selected were Space Port Cornwall at Newquay, that educational note, UK ESA astronaut Tim Snowdonia Aerospace at Llanbedr, Gwynedd, Peake is doing his bit with a new initiative to reach and the Campbeltown airbase at Machrihanish in one million children with engagement activities Argyle and Bute. This former RAF aerodrome has in the coming year. The UK agency is seeking a the longest runway in the UK and is supported by candidate for the latest ESA astronaut recruitment a consortium including Reaction Engines Limited. programme. Those with an education up to a While a relatively small sum (compared with the Master’s degree level, ideally in a STEM subject, amount going to the Sutherland vertical space will have an advantage, as will those with a sub- port), the news is significant as horizontal 1.88 m stature and sub-37 age. launching via carrier aircraft is likely to start ahead of any UK vertical satellite launch operation. Virgin Orbit’s LauncherOne is likely to be a major user and is nearly ready to begin its initial launch operations in the US, even if it will need to cut its costs to survive in the longer term against cheaper vertically launched rockets. GOING TECHNICAL Graham Stuart, minister Among the talks about general space policy and for investment at the how to export more, there were a few jewels. It Department for International was especially interesting to hear that, with £1 Trade, spoke of a new “Space billion funding, the UK is now third in terms of Park” industrial hub in Leicester, due to open in investment in Quantum applications after the 2020 which has already attracted the Airbus Earth USA and China. Quantum technology can be Observation team. It is hoped that the Space Park used for computing and optics/interferometry will encourage manufacturers of low-cost satellite techniques. Mamah Maheshwarappa, of the hardware to relocate there. Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, described the The UK Government and the UK Space Agency new QKD 8U Cubesat-sized spacecraft which will want the UK to take 10 per cent of the World’s test out quantum encryption techniques in 2022. space market by 2035, and in some parts of the One session was devoted to industry trends industry it is already there. Via firms like SSTL and TOP including how satellite services revenues are AAC Clyde, it already produces 40 per cent of the Would-be launch provider falling and how very low Earth orbits have great Skyrora was much in world’s small satellites. Likewise, the UK remains evidence at the conference. benefits, not least in having an assured de-orbit very strong in building planetary science payloads capability. As well as the known advantages, such with several on ESA’s Exomars rover. CENTRE as better communications and higher resolution The UK’s “Minister for Industry announcements included SSTL, Space”, Chris Skidmore, for optical systems, other benefits include a lower the University of Oxford and the Surrey Space delivers a welcome radiation environment, better pointing accuracy Centre being awarded National Space Technology address. and low space debris, as well as being better Programme funding to develop a novel self- for spectrum reuse due to the low horizon. The ABOVE aligning deployable space telescope, designed for The low drag design of trick, however, is to stay in these orbits given the sub-1 m ground sample imaging in a small launch Skimsat is apparent on this atmospheric drag. Continuous use of an electric volume spacecraft. SSTL and Leonardo have been display model. thrust engine is normally required (e.g. the GOCE

32 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight UK SPACE INDUSTRY OPPOSITE PAGE AND RIGHT: SERADATA/DAVID TODD SERADATA/DAVID AND RIGHT: PAGE OPPOSITE

mission’s T5 which burned for 36,000 hours). ABOVE with practical engine testing experience and called Andrew Bacon, of Thales Alenia Space, said Megan Clarke. Head of the for more to be done on this. The panel also agreed Australian Space Agency, that Skimsat bus design studies showed that 200- makes her point at the UK with this writer’s suggestion that Alan Bond, 260 km is the optimal altitude in terms of cost/ Space Conference 2019. founder of REL (of which this writer is a very benefit. Bacon admitted that should the engine small shareholder) and inventor of the Synergetic fail, even temporarily, the engineers would only Air Breathing Rocket Engine (SABRE) should be have 14 days or so to fix it before the spacecraft hit given a knighthood for his services to aerospace. the “altitude of no return”. Another panel considered new in-orbit GETTING TOGTHER propulsion designs, and the subject of what The increasing size of the space industry, and with defines a “green thruster”. Propellants such more players wanting to get involved, has meant as hydrazine are known to be poisonous and that the UK Space Conference now struggles to carcinogenic, and thus require careful handling. BELOW find a suitably sized venue. At over 2,000 delegates, However, Adam Watts, of the engine maker Dr Alice Bunn, International attendance was more than twice the previous event. Nammo, suggested that other industries used Director at the UK Space This could easily be done in London, but the UK far more hydrazine than the space industry, Agency announces the Space Agency wants to be inclusive and give each organisation joining the which accounts for only 2% of world hydrazine Women in Aerospace home nation a chance to host the show. This year supplies. Research continues to find a replacement Europe (WIA-E) as a the International Convention Centre Wales got the propellant. corporate member. gig and, for the most part, did a very good job. Similarly, there is an urgent need to find new sources of Xenon gas for electric thrusters. While they have become de rigueur for modern satellites, ESA propulsion expert Mark Ford did not think that electric thrusters would usurp chemical propulsion. Both would have a role. All the panellists accepted Ford’s suggestion that electrolysed water was showing potential as the ultimate “green” propellant. While Reaction Engines Limited (REL) is mainly involved in air-breathing rockets, its long-term goal is to achieve low Earth orbit with a reusable launch vehicle. Once there it will need a transfer stage. REL’s Helen Webber said that she thought that LOX/Liquid Hydrogen might one day be stored in depots in orbit – albeit given that the boil-off problem would have to be solved to do it. The panel discussing engine technologies

bemoaned the fact that there were few engineers UKSA

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 33 UK SPACE INDUSTRY

The venue itself was good. Lecture rooms were close to each other, avoiding long travel times. The food supplied was good and free, and wisely was put in the main exhibition. A plan to use the online Slido audience reaction system to get participants to post questions to panels was scuppered by a totally inadequate Wifi system at the event. The centre was well served by nearby hotels with a good round robin bus service. The large exhibition hall was full, with smaller companies sent to the top floor. There was a lack of the really large exhibits that one tends to get at international events. Probably the most impressive exhibit was on the main reception/registration floor – a giant inflated Moon.

SONG AND DANCE The Conference Gala dinner was quite pricey, but the Welsh lamb was good, as was the Welsh male voice choir, laid on for entertainment. With nearly 600 guests such an event provides an opportunity to meet those who you might never otherwise connect with. But it did lack a proper UK space TOP meant that it was safer to give any small talk industry prize giving, having lost the Sir Arthur A giant red dragon compliments to the beauty of the local Welsh fabricated from 22 tons of Clarke awards to the RISpace conference – not steel plate by local company scenery. Likewise, given the fractious UK political an ideal replacement as some made-up prizes are Prosteel Engineering, now situation, many found that it was wiser to talk related to the conference itself. adorns the International about the weather (it mainly rained that week) At least the event gave guests a chance to “glam Conference Centre. rather than Brexit politics. up” from their usual work attire. While business Overall it was a very successful conference, suits were still on display, black tie was encouraged albeit with a lack of major announcements. and about a third of the men took the chance to Perhaps that will happen next time. One final give their dinner jacket/tuxedo a run out. Mind thing: it would be wise to do a deal with the you, your correspondent soon realised that he British Interplanetary Society to alternate their was no 007 as he struggled to fit his dinner jacket RISpace conference which, to some extent, around his corpulent torso (no room for a Walther BELOW competes with this event. As it is, the UK Space A Welsh male voice choir PPK or its shoulder holster in that get up!). entertained at the UK Space Conference needs more technical content itself. The women wore some very glamorous gowns, Conference 2019 Gala Just talking about space policy and how to export although the minefield of modern day sensibilities Dinner event. more can get a bit wearing. SF

34 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight SLUG

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 35 OBITUARY

REMEMBERING Sigmund Jähn (1937-2019)

The East German Air Force officer who, as a participant in the Soviet Bloc's Interkosmos programme, lived aboard the Salyut 6 space station and in doing so became the first German in space. by Ken MacTaggart FBIS

igmund Jähn, who died aged 82 on 21 September 2019, became the first German in space when he flew to the Russian Salyut 6 space station aboard Soyuz 31 in 1978. His historic S flight was part of the Interkosmos programme of the USSR which took cosmonauts from its socialist

bloc allies into orbit aboard Soviet spacecraft and broke VIA KEN MACTAGGART the monopoly of Russian and American space fliers which had prevailed until that year. ABOVE In 1976, he was one of four East German candidates Jähn’s launch on 26 August 1978 had been preceded A great friend selected for a secret assignment and sent to the of the European by Vladimir Remek of Czechoslovakia in March the Space Agency, Cosmonaut Training Centre at Star City outside same year, and by Mirosław Hermaszewski of Poland Sigmund Jähn in Moscow. Along with his back-up pilot, Eberhard in June. Hence Jähn was the third international his later years. Köllner, he progressed to detailed mission training. cosmonaut of the programme, and his nation became On 26 August 1978, Jähn was launched on the Soyuz the fifth to have one of its citizens attain orbit. 31 spacecraft as co-pilot to veteran Russian cosmonaut, In the Cold War atmosphere of the time, his Valery Bykovsky, who was making his third and last citizenship of East Germany (the German Democratic “Dear TV space flight. The duo docked with the Salyut 6 space Republic, or GDR), rather than its more technologically station the following day, bringing fresh apples, lemons, advanced neighbour West Germany (formally known viewers … I onions and garlic for the jaded palates of the resident as the Federal Republic of Germany), was a propaganda crew of Kovalyonok and Ivanchenkov, already two victory for the Soviet bloc. Another five years would am very months into what would become a record 139-day stay pass before Ulf Merbold became the first West German in space. The station was already equipped with an in space, when he flew with the Americans on Shuttle happy to advanced East German camera built by Carl Zeiss at STS-9 in 1983. their renowned Jena optical works. Sigmund Werner Paul Jähn was born in have the Jähn’s position in military forces of the German Morgenröthe-Rautenkranz, in the Vogtland region of Democratic Republic (GDR) caused a degree of Saxony, Germany on 13 February 1937. He attended opportunity embarrassment in West Germany. The East German school there until 1951, then trained as a printer in to be the press tended to ignore the existence of their ideological Klingenthal until 1954. After a spell working as a opponent on its western border, and due to its pioneer youth leader at a school in Hammerbrücke, first German embarrassing Nazi past generally shied away from any Jähn joined the Air Forces of the National People's sense of overt German nationalism. However, on this Army (Luftstreitkräfte der Nationalen Volksarmee) in to take part rare occasion a headline in the party newspaper Neues 1955. Deutschland proudly proclaimed: “The first German in After training as a pilot, in 1954 he joined a fighter in manned Space – a Citizen of the GDR.” squadron, and by the early 1960s had become deputy In a television broadcast from orbit, Jähn reinforced commander for political work, then head of air tactics space flight” the message: “Dear TV viewers in the German and aerial combat. He underwent a period of study at Democratic Republic! I am very happy to have the the Yuri Gagarin Air Force Academy at Monino near opportunity to be the first German to take part in Moscow, later returning to the GDR air force with manned space flight." responsibility for pilot education and flight safety. The view from orbit made a deep impression on

36 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight OBITUARY

Jähn. He would later recall: “What I saw then was total happiness. Our Earth, shining bright blue, just like a dream. Looking at the Earth, the Northern Lights, the fragile-looking atmosphere, the sunrises that followed quickly one after another – these images are etched into my memory forever. From space, one thing is clear: this planet isn't so big that humans couldn't destroy it with their greed for profit.” On board Salyut 6, Jähn conducted 25 experiments in the fields of remote sensing, medicine, biology, materials science and geophysics. After almost eight days and 124 orbits of the Earth, the pair swapped spacecraft so as to leave their freshly launched capsule for the later return of the long duration crew, then descended to Earth aboard Soyuz 29 on 3 September.

AN ENDURING INFLUENCE After his space flight, Jähn became head of the air force Space Training Centre at Eggersdorf near Strausberg, holding this position until the reunification of Germany. In October 1990 the East German air force was dissolved and Jähn was discharged with the rank of major general at the age of 53. He next worked at Star City, the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Centre near Moscow as a freelance consultant for the German Aerospace Center (DLR), and from 1993 also for the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne. Here, he helped supervise German and European astronauts during their preparations for future missions to the Russian Mir space station. Belgian astronaut Frank De Winne, now Head of the European Astronaut Centre in Cologne, Germany, said upon hearing of Jähn’s death: “I personally had the pleasure to have the support of Sigmund in Star City for my first mission. I will always remember him as a humble, warm person. The astronaut community has lost a great friend.” After retirement in 2002, Jähn remained an advocate for space, giving lectures and attending conferences. He helped establish the Association of Space Explorers, the exclusive club of people of all nationalities who have orbited the Earth. Jähn lived latterly in Strausberg in Brandenburg, where he pursued his hobbies of reading and hunting. He was married to Erika Hänsel and they ABOVE had two daughters, Marina and Grit. Jähn (top) and ESA Director General Jan Wörner paid a special Valery Bykovsky before their flight tribute: “The news of Sigmund Jähn's passing has aboard Soyuz 31 in touched me deeply. Whenever we met, it was very August 1978, and personal and we formed a friendship that extended the official mission beyond space travel and his unwavering support of badge (below). European astronauts. I am deeply grateful to have met him and I will not forget him. Thank you, Sigmund.” Jähn was the recipient of many awards including Hero of the Soviet Union, Order Lenin, and Hero of the German Democratic Republic. Asteroid 17737 was named Sigmundjähn in his honour in 2001. Jähn’s character was portrayed in the humorous 2003 German film Good Bye, Lenin!, where the cosmonaut is the boyhood hero of the film’s star, Alex Kerner. When Alex’s mother awakes from a coma, they try to prevent her learning the shocking news that the Berlin LEFT Wall has come down and that East Germany no longer Jähn's formal exists. Jähn’s look-alike, actually a taxi driver, tries to crew portrait reassure her. following his selection as an Sigmund Jähn’s Soviet mission commander Valery Interkosmos Bykovsky also died this year, five months before Jähn

RIGHT AND FAR RIGHT: TASS / ABOVE RIGHT: DEUTSCHE BUNDESARCHIV BUNDESARCHIV DEUTSCHE RIGHT: ABOVE / TASS RIGHT: AND FAR RIGHT cosmonaut in 1976. (see Obituary, SpaceFlight Vol 61, No 6, p 36). SF

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 37 REVIEWS MULTI-MEDIA

The latest books, films, TV, models and games for space enthusiasts of all ages

SPACE MODELS Heavenly Palaces iven it was the country that invented RIGHT gunpowder, it is perhaps surprising that Keith McNeill’s composite image, using highly modified China failed to get into space before the GWH kits as a starting Russians or the Americans. But it eventually point – see here what could made up for it, albeit progressing almost be done, particularly with G the solar arrays. This was independently from the rest of the world. the image circulated as the Tiangong-1 (generally translated into English ‘official' Chinese depiction as “Heavenly Palace”) was launched in September of the docking of Shenzhou 2011 on a Long March rocket. Shenzhou-8 (Magic 11 with Tiangong 1. the country of origin. or “Divine Vessel”) was launched at the end of the The parts are well moulded in a mid-grey plastic following month and docked with Tiangong-1 on and of a quality one now expects of a Chinese model 3 November 3. It then undocked and redocked ten company, something that perhaps could not be said days later. The Shenzhou craft was uncrewed for this of the earliest model kits out of China. There are not mission, it was there purely to practice rendezvous however that many parts. The bulk of the Tiangong techniques. kit is the main section of the space station, purely two The first flight with a crew was Shenzhou-9 in June halves. Then add the end bulkheads and a number 2012, the mission that also included Liu Yang, the first Chinese female taikonaut, (the term sometimes used for a Chinese astronaut). The third and final scheduled mission to Tiangong-1, Shenzhou 10, was in 2013. The Chinese engineers lost contact with the craft in 2016 and it eventually re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere in April 2108. Given Tiangong is a Chinese spacecraft, appropriately it’s a Chinese company that has made the first kits. There are actually two kits, one just of the space station, and a second complete with a visiting BELOW Shenzhou ship, both to 1/48 scale. The production Box art for the kit containing company goes under the name of GWH, which stands just the Tiangong 1 for Great Wall Hobby, in case you had any doubt as to space-station.

38 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight REVIEWS

GAMER'S CORNER with Henry Philp Starship Surfer This is the third and last of my series of articles on SpaceX’s Starship. For this, I will be explaining the extremely unique entry dynamics of the Starship spacecraft using Kerbal Space Program. Let’s get started! While at first glance Starship could be mistaken for a spaceplane, the way it re-enters and lands could not be more different from, say, the Space Shuttle. While the Shuttle uses its wings for aerodynamic lift, the Starship never leaves a stall. As it descends, the four large fins actuate to control the craft through control of drag, just as a skydiver uses their hands and feet. To control pitch, the rear fins move in the opposite direction to the forward fins. This causes more drag at the front (or back) of the craft, inducing pitch. Roll is controlled in a similar way, except that in this case the fins opposite one another are moved in different directions. Meanwhile, yaw is controlled by actuating fins at of smaller parts to provide details. Then add the opposite corners of the vehicle. For the final three solar panels, here slightly over-thick for the scale, but kilometres of descent, as the spacecraft is falling that is a penalty you have to live with when trying straight down it is belly-first (as shown by one of the accompanying images). to represent a structure that full-size is only a few This uncommon form of aerodynamic control continues until at a scarce 250 millimetres thick. Decals are provided for the few metres off the ground at a velocity of 70 m/sec, where the spacecraft flips exterior markings, primarily the Chinese flag. There is around to an engines-first orientation and propulsively lands. also a metalized plaque (in Chinese) for the base. This method will be used on Mars as well as Earth, and is essentially The plans are simple but adequate, with colour SpaceX’s solution to the old problem – how to land large spacecraft on Mars. images front and back that show the craft in orbit However, this has some obvious dangers. For one thing, if a fin actuator fails and a plan view to indicate the colour scheme. Paint during re-entry Starship will most likely enter an unrecoverable spin – I numbers are given for Gunze Sangyo and Tamiya experienced this several times when testing my KSP version. Another colours, but either range can be duplicated using the possibility is the craft failing to perform its flip and hitting the ground too fast, modelling world’s other main model paint companies with obvious consequences. – Testors, Humbrol or Revell-Germany. Uncommon problems need uncommon solutions, as SpaceX has shown The actual colours of the craft are still a slight many times. You need to be inventive if you’re building a part of the future.

BELOW & BELOW LEFT: MAT IRVINE / ABOVE: KEITH MCNEILL KEITH ABOVE: / IRVINE MAT LEFT: & BELOW BELOW mystery (much as Soviet spacecraft were in earlier .

Starship: in KSP (above) and real (inset). years). Most of the body is almost certainly white, and grey – the grey being thermal coverings. The docking area is black, with silver docking collar, and black for LEFT “official shots from the Chinese news agency”,were the engine bulkhead. The solar panels are likely light The completed model on generally used – but they weren’t official. In reality they its stand (two Chinese flags tan on the non-active side, which is common with are supplied as decals, had been “borrowed” from model shots created using most solar arrays, while the solar cells themselves are though it is debatable the GWH kits by colleague Keith McNeill – an expert the usual iridescent blue. whether they were to at combining model shots with photographic There’s an interesting aside with these images of be found on the actual backgrounds. Keith, however, didn’t know whether to craft) and an alternative Tiangong. When it was first in the news, broadcasters view (below) showing the be flattered as everyone thought they were official, or were frantically looking for images – as they were inactive sides of the annoyed as he wasn’t getting the credit. He decided on when the first Soviet craft were launched. Some solar panels. the former! SF Mat Irvine

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 39 REVIEWS

SPACE MOVIES Ad Astra a scientific critique

rad Pitt’s new sci-fi movie, Ad Astra is finally out and about, packing in the cinema going audience all around the planet and – presumably – doing no harm at all to the B great man’s bank balance. But for a movie deemed to be the most realistic space adventure yet, how credible is this particular take on the future and where has the inspiration really come from? Although the start of the movie is a bit heavy on exposition, Brad’s opening fall from the international Space Antenna is remarkably

reminiscent of the recent Austrian stunt pilot’s ENTERPRISES/BONA FILM GROUP FOX/REGENCY CENTURY 10TH free fall from space. Mankind’s attempt to place a communications antenna in space almost makes ABOVE & BELOW calm in a confined space but that doesn’t mean sense, but it’s not obvious what advantage would be Astronaut Brad Pitt at work, that he has to lose all intellectual curiosity or the rest and play on Mars some gained from using such a tall tower, especially when time in the “near” future. capacity for critical and independent thought. an orbiting transmitter would be at least as easy to It takes time to obtain an opinion from mission construct. control and there are many occasions when the Director James Gray seems to have muddled the crew have to take decisions on their own initiative. Austrian sky dive concept with the more traditional In co-pilot selection, psychologists look for a sci-fi concept of the “elevator to orbit” but as significant degree of impertinence in a candidate. an opening action gambit in a space adventure Someone who will challenge his superior if he sequence, I guess it makes sense and the special believes his superior is guilty of an oversight. At the effects at this stage are reasonably convincing. Harder to stomach is the perceived mental state of the lead character. Whilst the classical space adventurer is meant to be controlled, the lead in Ad Astra is simply too subservient to his masters, even for a military officer. In order to command a deep space mission, his character needs to be a reasonably senior figure with substantial life and aerospace experience. An astronaut needs to be able to receive and obey orders but he needs to be able to question them too. He has to be able to stay

40 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight REVIEWS same time, the captain of an aircraft doesn’t want to sit there facing continuous interruption from his subordinate. For a long duration mission, an astronaut must be self-motivated and driven from within. Brad’s humble complacency in the face of his digital analyst is well out of step with both the above and his American origins. If anything, it reminds me of a unfortunate incident when the Chinese astronaut was on screen speaking to the Chinese Premier, listing all the things he was going to do right on his mission. If the Space Com were able to send a laser signal from Mars they could have accepted a radio transmission from Earth, downloaded it and passed it on as a laser signal ABOVE are a tad optimistic, but I suppose we can accept from the Red Planet. Donald Sutherland and Brad that for a movie set in the near future where some Pitt await their turn. There was no real need for Brad Pitt’s character kind of new and fantastic propulsion system has to visit Mars in this story. What advantage a laser been developed that might dramatically shorten signal would carry over a conventional radio signal interplanetary travel. Having gate crashed the trip is harder to understand. Within the context of a to Neptune, it’s unreasonable to suggest that he science fiction movie I suppose it’s possible to argue wouldn’t have been fully briefed on its implication. that his father’s spacecraft had somehow blocked He must have been aware that Neptune had a out radio communication but was amenable for a At times, the whole ring system and that if his father’s spaceship was laser signal although to what extent a laser beam immediately south of that ring system and he chose could retain coherency over a distance of nearly two thing feels like an to park his pen vessel immediately north then the billion miles is harder to judge, even with the help subsequent journey through the rings might well be of some new and advanced technology. episode from a perilous one. One which would – unless this was a What advantage would a conscious and suicide mission – have to be performed twice. Why otherwise healthy astronaut get from injecting food Blake’s Seven he didn’t park at the same side of the ring system directly into his stomach from a percutaneous tube isn’t particularly obvious. network? None at all as far as I can tell but I suppose The relatively low budget – cited at $60 million it might work for the audience as a whole. It would (although some claim $100 million on the final be much easier and much safer to swallow the stuff budget) – is a lot easier to explain. Rather than as everybody else has done so far in outer space. build sets, the film makers have selected existing The transit times to first Mars and then Neptune terrestrial locations and pretended they are the future. At times, the whole thing feels like an episode from Blake’s Seven. The decision not to replicate either lunar or Martian gravity may have helped to control costs but that missed an opportunity to conjure up the truly alien nature of any future life styles on these worlds. In summary, Ad Astra is a reasonably convincing sci-fi movie with a few strong action sequences that tests our knowledge of the near future to the limit. SF

Reviewer STEVE CUTTS is a doctor and science writer. His sci fi novel The Village On Mars is currently available on Amazon.

AD ASTRA FACTFILE Ad Astra had its world premiere at the Venice Film Festival on 29 August and was on general release from 20 September. By 6 October it had grossed $111.4 million worldwide and has generally received high critical acclaim, being awarded an approval rating of 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and with an opening compared favourably to First Man, a movie about the life of Neil Armstrong. Directed by James Gray and produced by, among others, Brad Pitt and Dede Gardner, the script was written by James Gray and Ethan Gross. It runs for 124 minutes and is a 10th Century Fox/Regency Enterprises/Bona Film Group production. With music by Max Richter, in addition to Brad Pitt it stars Tommy Lee Jones, Ruth Negga, Liv Tyler and Donald Sutherland.

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 41 SATELLITE DIGEST Satellite Digest 563 Satellite Digest is SpaceFlight’s regular listing of world space launches using orbital data from the United States Strategic Command space-track.org website. Compiled by Geoff Richards

Spacecraft International Date Launch Launch vehicle Mass Orbital Inclin. Period Perigee Apogee Notes designation site (kg) epoch (deg) (min) (km) (km) Ziyuan 1-02D 2019-059A Sep 12.14 Taiyuan Chang Zheng 4B 1,840 Sep 15.68 98.58 100.29 773 774 [1] Jingshi 1 2019-059B 16 Sep 12.63 98.58 99.61 733 751 [2] Jinniuzuo 1 2019-059C 10 Sep 12.74 98.59 99.60 732 751 [3] Zuhai 1 OVS 3A 2019-060A Sep 19.28 Jiuquan Chang Zheng 11 90 Sep 21.78 97.40 94.84 503 522 [4] Zuhai 1 OHS 3C 2019-060C 67 Oct 2.05 97.41 94.84 506 520 [4] Zuhai 1 OHS 3D 2019-060D 67 Oct 9.57 97.40 94.84 506 519 [4] Zuhai 1 OHS 3B 2019-060E 67 Oct 9.88 97.39 94.84 506 519 [4] Zuhai 1 OHS 3A 2019-060F 67 Sep 19.88 97.40 94.62 492 511 [4] Beidou DW47 2019-061A Sep 22.88 Xichang Chang Zheng 3B/YZ-1 1,014 Sep 23.73 55.02 787.21 21,536 22,193 [5] Beidou DW48 2019-061B 1,014 Oct 3.86 55.01 773.19 21,507 21,549 [5] Kounotori 8 2019-062A Sep 24.67 Tanegashima H-IIB 304 16,500 Sep 28.53 51.64 92.80 411 422 [6] Yunhai 1-02 2019-063A Sep 25.04 Jiuquan Chang Zheng 2D 1,000? Sep 29.20 98.59 100.48 781 784 [7] Soyuz MS-15 2019-064A Sep 25.58 Baykonur Soyuz-FG 7,220? Sep 25.71 51.64 92.80 411 422 [8] Kosmos 2541 2019-065A Sep 26.32 Plesetsk Soyuz-2.1b-Fregat-M 2,000? Oct 7.75 63.83 717.34 1,643 38,702 [9]

NOTES

1. Ziyuan is an Earth observation satellite built using a CAST Phoenix has yet to reach its operational orbit. It is not clear which payload Eye 2 bus for the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR). Payload corresponds to which object. includes a high-resolution visual/infra-red multi-spectral camera 5. Pair of third-generation Beidou navigation satellites, also known as and a hyperspectral scanner for Earth imaging. . Compass 3M-23 and 3M-24, built by CAST for SASTIND. Launched 2. Jingshi 1 (Beijing Normal University) is an Earth survey satellite into plane C of system. Beidou DW48 has manoeuvred to its built by Shenzhen DFH and BNU for the Ministry of Science and operational orbit. Technology with a high-resolution panchromatic camera and a 6. HTV 8 unmanned freighter mission to the International Space medium resolution visual/infra-red camera to map polar ice, an AIS Station launched by JAXA with 5,300 kg of cargo including a receiver to track shipping and a deployable panel to hasten decay cell biology rack (CBEF-L), an optical communications system at end of mission. Satellite will also be used to monitor the Tibet (SOLISS), a granular materials processing investigation (Hourglass) plateau (Third Polar Region) and study climate change. Pathfinder and a J-SSOD Cubesat deployer. Spacecraft captured by the ISS for the Weijing 1 (Micro-view) constellation. arm September 28.47 and docked at the ISS/Harmony nadir port 3. Jinniuzuo 1 (Taurus) is technology development 3U Cubesat built September 28.59. Exposed Pallet, with six large replacement by Shanghai Aerospace System Engineering Research Institute batteries to be mounted on the ISS truss, removed using ISS arm (AES Space) with a deployable drag sail to accelerate decay and a September 29 and replaced with Kounotori 7 EP September 30. transponder for amateur communications. Cubesats are AQT-D (Aqua Thruster-Demonstrator), a technological development 4 kg 3U Cubesat built by Space BD Inc. and the 4. Zhuhai 1 Group 03 are a set of Earth survey satellites built by Zhuhai University of Tokyo with an Aquarius-1U water resistojet Orbital Control Engineering Ltd each with an instrument for Earth propulsion system for performance test and a UHF transponder imaging, with Orbita Video Satellite (OVS) carrying a high-resolution for communications in mountainous regions; RWASat 1 (Rwanda video camera and the Orbita Hyperspectral Satellites (OHS) each Satellite), a technological development 3U Cubesat built by Rwanda carrying a hyperspectral scanner. Satellites are part of the planned Utilities Regulatory Authority (RURA) with two cameras to monitor multi-satellite Orbita system. It is not yet clear which payload agriculture and a receiver for data collection from remote sensors, corresponds to which object. OVS 3A is also known as Chunlei and NARSScube 1, a technology development 1 kg 1U CubeSat built Jihua Zhixing (Spring Bud Project Star) and OHS 3A to 3D are also by NARSS with a CMOS camera for Earth observation and systems known as Xihaian 1 (West Coast), Feitian Maotai (Flying Maotai), for performance test. Gaomi 1 and Guoyuan V9, names chosen by sponsors China Children and Teenagers Foundation, Qingdao West Coast New Area, Guizhou 7. Multipurpose satellite built by SAST for GAD measuring Maotai Distillery, Gaomi City and Jiansu Jinshiyuan Wine. 2019-060F atmospheric, marine and space environment and for disaster

42 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight SATELLITE DIGEST

prevention and mitigation and scientific experiments. Payload flight participant, MBRSC astronaut). Spacecraft docked with ISS/ apparently includes a scanning radiometer and receivers to measure Zvezda port September 25.82. Crew are to be part of ISS Expeditions cloud data from GPS occultation and sea state from GPS reflection. 61 and 62, with al-Mansouri conducting a programme for the UAE. 8. Spacecraft with two-man, one-woman crew launched to the 9. EKS or Tundra early warning satellite built by RKK Energia for International Space Station, mission ISS-61S. Crew comprises Oleg MORF, third of new type to replace the former Oko system, with Skripochka (Soyuz Commander, ISS flight engineer, ISS Expedition an Irtysh-E infra-red camera system to detect missile launches, a 62 Commander), Jessica Meir (Soyuz/ISS flight engineer, NASA Balka photo-sensor system for observing nuclear explosions and a astronaut) and Hazza al-Mansouri (Soyuz flight engineer, ISS space communications payload.

ADDITIONS AND UPDATES DESIGNATION COMMENTS DESIGNATION COMMENTS 1997-026A Galaxy 25 was relocated at 32.9°E September 9. 2019-014A WGS 10 (USA 291) was manoeuvred off its test station at 122°W September 20 and is drifting to the west. 2001-052A DirecTV 4S was manoeuvred off station at 101°W September 26 and is drifting to the east. 2019-022K Seeker deployed from SlingShot deployer on Roger Chaffee Cygnus freighter September 16 and completed 2002-062A Nimiq 2 was manoeuvred off station at 91.5°E its mission to inspect the Cygnus. Add object and orbit: September 5 and was relocated at 146°E September 28. Seeker 2019-022K 2007-007A Insat 4B westward drift was slowed considerably Sep 17.34 51.64° 94.01 min 467 km 484 km September 25. It is near 84°E. 2019-036 TEPCE is object 2019-036H and FalconSat 7 is 036J. 2007-065C Kosmos 2436 (Uragan-M 723), a reserve satellite, 2019-038 CarboNIX is now identified as object 2019-038U and began drifting away from slot 12 September 28. Lemur 2 Yndrd as 038AD. However, amateur trackers 2010-065A HYLAS 1 was manoeuvred off station at 18.3°W report that 038U is Sokrat. September 22 and is drifting to the west. 2019-042 Vikram lander separated from Chandrayaan 2 2014-076A Hayabusa 2 began slow descent September 12 from its September 2.32 and manoeuvred to Lunar orbit from 20 km station, reaching 1 km September 16. It released 35 to 101 km, inclination 89.1°, period 115 min. Began two target markers September 16.68 in rehearsal for descent burn September 6.84, but lost attitude control Minerva 2-2 release. It returned to 20 km September at 2.1 km altitude and crashed between Manzinus C 17. Target markers were expected to reach surface and Simpelius N craters. of Ryugu September 23. Began another slow descent 2019-049B Intelsat 39 was manoeuvred off its test station at September 28 for Minerva 2-2 release. 55.3°E September 26 and is drifting to the east. 2015-026A DirecTV 15 was manoeuvred off its station at 100.8°W 2019-055A Soyuz MS-14 without crew, but with Skybot F-850 September 17 and relocated back at 102.8°W, co- robot, undocked from the ISS/Zvezda port September located with DirecTV 10 and DirecTV 12, September 6.76 and landed near Zhezkazgan in Kazakhstan 26. September 6.90. 2017-082B T subame manoeuvred to a 180 km orbit by September 2019-057A Kosmos 2540 has reached its operational orbit. Add 13 for its sixth period of using thrusters to counter orbit: drag, completed September 21, then to 165 km for its seventh and final period from September 25 to 30. Sep 15.54 99.27° 103.87 min 943 km 943 km 2018-112C,D Y unhai 2-03 and 2-04 have manoeuvred to their 2019-058 Xiaoxiang 1-07 is object 2019-058A. Wei Zhongli JSW, operational orbits. The six Yunhai 2 satellites are now now named Taiji 1 (the Yin-Yang symbol), is 058B and in equally-spaced orbital planes. Add orbits: is being used to develop technology for detection of gravitational waves. Sep 14.81 50.02° 100.77 min 799 km 800 km Sep 13.52 50.02° 100.76 min 788 km 811 km

INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ACTIVITY RECENTLY DETAILED ORBITAL DECAYS International Object name Decay There was the following orbital manoeuvre of ISS during September, Designation boosted by Zvezda. 1998-067NB Tanyusha YuZGU 2 Sep 8 Pre-manoeuvre orbit: Sep 14.64 51.64° 92.78 min 410 km 421 km 2017-037D Kosmos 2521 Sep 12 Post-manoeuvre orbit: Sep 15.01 51.64° 92.80 min 411 km 422 km 2018-010A Dove Pioneer Sep 22 End-of-August orbital data: 2019-042 Vikram Sep 6.85 (on Moon) Sep 30.93 51.64° 92.80 min 411 km 422 km 2019-055A Soyuz MS-14 Sep 6.90

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 43 SLUGSOCIETY NEWS

Al Worden sees eye to eye with the next generation. NEW SCIENTISTS… The BIS rounds off World Space Week with a major presence at the New Scientist Live event.

NEW SCIENTIST LIVE, 10-13 October 2019 began The British Interplanetary Society again exhibited just as World Space Week was finishing, and what a this year, for the fourth year running and with the way to end the UK’s events! In its fourth year, New help of BIS volunteers, which raised awareness of Scientist Live was better than ever with the Cosmos the Society and provided the chance to dock with the Zone celebrating the 50th Anniversary of the Moon ISS on our wonderful Soyuz Simulator. landings. In the centre of the zone was the amazing The Soyuz Simulator was created by our “Museum of the Moon” exhibit by Luke Jerram, colleagues in BIS Italia and was first demonstrated at along with “Smell the Moon” activities and many New Scientist Live in 2017. This activity has been a other Moon-related talks on the Cosmos Stage and huge draw for visitors to New Scientist Live for the on the Main Stage. Included was an announcement past three shows and has been flown by astronaut from the new space company Spacebit about their celebrities such as Tim Peake, Al Worden, Anatoly “UK Mission to the Moon”, which aims to land a Artsebartsky and Helen Sharman. small Lunar Rover on the Moon, on board the The British Interplanetary Society was very proud Astrobotics Peregrine Lunar Lander in 2021. to be hosting their Honorary Fellow and NASA Apollo

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Vix Southgate helps Al Worden set up for his book signing on the BIS stand.

Al Worden with his ground crew! Developed by BIS-Italia, the Soyuz simulator proved as popular an attraction as ever. PHOTOGRAPHS BY GEIR ENGENE BY PHOTOGRAPHS

15 Command Module Pilot, Col Al Worden for the full Thanks to all those that assisted on the stand over run of the show, which was made possible by his the four days, who also helped with set up and break Manager, BIS Fellow & World Space Week down and general activities by the BIS at this event. coordination manager, and founder of Vixen But a special thank you to Charles Simpson, Chris International Events, Vix Southgate. Petty and Steve Salmon who managed the stand Al announced the “Al Worden Endeavour every day and evening that the show was open to Scholarship” and signed a UK partnership agreement the public. with the RAF Cadet Commandant on the BIS stand. The British Interplanetary Society relies very The Endeavour Scholarship has been founded with heavily on the time and support of volunteers, and Kallman Worldwide and will provide a global would welcome anyone that wishes to attend events education programme that aims to foster greater like this. For more information on the Museum of the international understanding and inspire the next Moon, the UK Moon Mission and The Al Worden generation of innovators, explorers and leaders in the Endeavour Scholarship, please go to our WSWUK aerospace community. website:www.bis-space.com/wsw/ SF Alistair Scott

SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 45 SOCIETY NEWS

A PRE-EMINENT FIGURE in the British space sector for over 30 years, Roy Gibson has been awarded a prestigious Honorary Fellowship of the British Interplanetary Society. BIS President Gerry Webb presented Roy with the award in a private ceremony at the Society’s London headquarters on 15 October. Roy was a pioneering British administrator in the European and UK space sectors, who ran Europe’s and Britain’s main space bodies for two decades. He was Director General of ESRO (European Space Research Organisation), the first Director General of the European Space Agency, and later became the first Director General of the British National Space Centre. Roy was born in Manchester on 4 July 1924, the son of a Yorkshire tram driver and an accountant. He was educated at Chorlton High School and at the University of Oxford and London School of Economics. During World War 2, he volunteered for the Army at 18, and after receiving officer training and a commission in the Royal Signals, he served with Mountbatten's headquarters in India and Ceylon during the Burma Campaign. He was posted to Rangoon following the Japanese evacuation, then served in the British Colonial Administrative Service in Malaya from 1948 to 1958. Roy returned to London to join the UK Atomic Energy Authority, where he worked on health and safety after the Windscale fire that released radioactivity over Europe. He also dealt with the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna, and wrote his first book on the transport of radioactive materials. In 1967, he attained the post of Deputy Director at the ESRO Technical Centre (ESTEC) in the Netherlands, after being interviewed in English, French and BIS President Gerry Webb (left) presents Roy with his certificate. German. Four years later he became Director of Administration for …and an Honorary Fellowship for distinguished former ESA boss Roy Gibson

ESRO based in Paris, and from 1974 he was Acting Director General. As head of ESRO, Roy oversaw its amalgamation with the European Launcher Developer Organisation (ELDO) to form the European Space Agency. In 1975 he became ESA’s first Director General, inheriting a number of important projects including Ariane and Spacelab, and setting the argument as to whether a German or a French national should take the top post. He remained there until 1980, and oversaw the first Ariane launch from Kourou, French Guiana in December 1979. He went on to become the first Director General of the British National Space Centre from 1985 to 1987. Since then he has served as an aerospace consultant to the EU Commission and has worked on the setting up of the European Environmental Agency. In 2015 he attended the opening of ESA's European Centre for Space Applications and Telecommunications (ECSAT) at Harwell, Oxfordshire, where the new ECSAT building is named after him. Roy Gibson was previously a recipient of the British Interplanetary Society’s Bronze Space Achievement Medal in 1992 for Contributions to Space in Europe. On 31 May 2019 he was also presented with the Sir Arthur Clarke International Space Achievement Award at the UK Space Conference in Manchester. In addition, Roy has won many other career plaudits, including an award from the International Astronautical Federation for his two-year presidency, and a Silver Medal with Star (Ehrenzeichen Silbernes mit Stern) for his work leading to Austria’s accession to the European Space Agency. Germany conferred on Roy the prestigious Sänger Award in recognition of his contribution to the Spacelab ESA colleagues: during the early days: Roy with Alan Bond.

COLIN PHILP programme. SF Ken MacTaggart

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Back in the hot seat EUGENE ENGENE

AFTER BEING PREVENTED by straightforward method, the “direct illness from giving his lecture on ascent”, using a giant rocket named Apollo 11 in the summer, we were “Nova”, would have taken too long, delighted to welcome back Jerry and so Dr John Houbolt proposed Stone on 2 October. Jerry, in good Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, eventually spirits as ever, joked that he was used despite opposition. The design most flattered that three speakers of the Lunar Module drew inspiration had been required to cover for him! from the concepts of the BIS, a fact See SpaceFlight Vol 61, No 10, p44. acknowledged by NASA. Jerry began by showing us the Jerry told us how Aldrin lobbied Apollo 11 mission patch, telling us for himself to be first out on the that the image of the Eagle above Moon, precluded by the placement the Moonscape, clutching an olive of the hatch, and of Dr Margaret branch in its talons, was not the Hamilton, who wrote the on-board original version that Michael Collins software for Apollo, pictured with a had designed; this earlier version print-out stack as tall as she herself! had shown the Eagle carrying the Jerry pointed out the irony that, branch in its beak, but it was felt that on a plaque on the lunar surface the extended talons seemed hostile, that will endure for millennia, is the and the image was changed to show signature of the only US President Back on form: Jerry Stone gives his long-awaited Apollo 11 talk. the branch in the talons. to resign in disgrace. Nevertheless, Jerry then told us of the times: the landing was a unique event, and Sputnik and Gagarin were shocks Jerry recalls, as a boy, sneaking students entering higher education, to the Americans, and in May 1961, downstairs after his family had gone is still a factor. The “spin-offs”, in shortly after Alan Shepherd’s sub- to bed, to switch on the television, technology and the attitude towards orbital flight, John F. Kennedy made without sound, and watch events a the environment of seeing the Earth his speech in which he called for quarter of a million miles away, an as a fragile bubble in space, affect America to, “before this decade is experience which he considers to our culture to this day. out”, land “a man on the Moon and have been a privilege. As always, Jerry Stone’s talk will and (return) him safely to the Earth”. Apollo 11 is an event whose be available on the members’ portal At the time, the details of the way effects resonate through the years. at the BIS website (www.bis-space. to the Moon were not known; the The “Apollo effect”, in terms of com). SF Griffith J Ingram

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BIS LECTURES & MEETINGS MEMBERSHIP NEWS

BIS WEST MIDLANDS TALKS 9 November 1.45 to 4.30pm VENUE: The Gardeners Arms, Vines Lane, Droitwich, Worcestershire, WR9 8LU Stuart Eves on Satellite Anatomy and Don Fossey on Composite Rocket Propellants. REINVENTING SPACE CONFERENCE 12-14 November VENUE: The ICC, 2 Lanyon Place, Belfast, BT1 3WH Organised by the BIS, RISpace brings together industry, agency, government, financiers, academia and end-users. Visit rispace.org. Significant discounts are available for BIS members. APOLLO 12 – A PINPOINT LANDING 20 November 7.00pm VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ Following the triumph of the first manned landing on the Moon, the next mission had a more specific goal – to Dr. Stuart Eves presents his WSW lecture in Bath. recover parts of the unmanned Surveyor 3 which WRIGHT KEITH landed on the Moon in April 1967. ASTRONAUTS IN IMPOSSIBLE LOCATIONS 27 November 9.30am to 5.30pm (TBD) A meeting of minds VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ This one-day symposium is designed to explore the On 4 October the British Interplanetary Society and the William limits of where human exploration can go in the solar Herschel Society held a joint event at the Royal Bath Literary and system and how to overcome the challenges involved. Scientific Institute as part of World Space Week. Dr. Stuart Eves of the BIS gave a very interesting and thought-provoking talk entitled “William CHRISTMAS GET-TOGETHER Herschel and the Rings of Uranus” to an audience of nearly 40 people. 4 December 6.30pm to 9.30pm The talk examined the historical evidence for the possible sightings VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ of the rings of Uranus by William Herschel in 1787, 1789 and 1792. Join us for our usual evening of drinks, nibbles, chat Stuart, as he prefers to be called, first came up with the idea when he and the inevitable Christmas raffle! This event is saw a picture of an orrery on a page from an encyclopaedia published ticketed at £20 per member, to raise funds for the in 1815 which he had been given for his birthday. The orrery, which was Society. Buffet food and drinks included. made by the craftsman William Pearson and based on observations by WORLD OF THE FUTURE William Herschel, who discovered Uranus in 1781, showed Uranus with six moons. According to his text books, the sixth moon of Uranus was 12 December 2019 7.00pm not discovered until 1986 by Voyager 2. VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ This led Stuart to wonder what had led Pearson to include six moons Yesterday’s tomorrows, as envisaged by Ken Gatland for Uranus. He then described how he tracked down Herschel’s notes and David Jefferis. Education author David Jefferis of his observations of Uranus in the Royal Society Journal in 1797. gives an illustrated talk on the World of the Future, These notes included the following passage: “February 22, 1789: A three books he created with BIS President, the late ring was suspected.” There was also a small drawing which showed Kenneth W. Gatland 40 years ago. what looked like a ring around the planet. This was accompanied by a note which said “a little inclined to the red”. This has since been confirmed by the Keck telescope in Hawaii. Stuart went on to discuss other aspects of Hershel’s notes and drawings, the observational conditions at the time of the Maunder Minimum and the current knowledge of the behaviour of planetary rings, which added credence to the idea that Herschel did indeed glimpse a ring around Uranus. As expected, the talk stimulated considerable interest and questions from the members of the William Herschel Society and all who attended the meeting. SF Keith Wright

NEW MEMBERS 25 new members last month: 14 from the UK, 4 from the USA, 2 from Italy, and 1 apiece from Norway, Germany and Canada. Welcome all!

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