SpaceFlight A British Interplanetary Society publication

Volume 62 No.1 January 2020 £5.25 K2-18B Home from home?

IAC 2019 report 01> Life-bearing comets

634089 UK military space plans

770038 Voyager 2 goes interstellar 9

CONTENTS Features 12 Rock Follies NASA is opening lunar samples sealed for more than 40 years in preparation for a new tranche of material from the Moon in the 2020s. 12 14 Twin Sisters The RAF is getting serious about small satellites Letter from the Editor launched from Cosmic Girl, out of Newquay. I am pleased this month to bring a mix of features which span the 16 Congressional Hearing spectrum, from Professor Chandra David Todd roamed the halls of the 70th IAC in Wickramasinghe discussing the Washington DC and lived to tell us the tales. origin of life on planets (including our own!), to messages from the edge of the solar system and from 22 Bringers of Life news about NASA opening lunar Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe muses over rock boxes for the first time to a the way life may have been brought to Earth. 14 report on the International Astronautical Congress in 28 Heading for the Outer Limits Washington DC. Calla Cofield of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory There is news too about interest in keeping the ISS going until 2030 brings news from the heliopause about distant and the desire for 10 more Voyager 2. yearlong expeditions and on the RAF selectee to train as part of the airborne launch crew for delivering small satellites to low Earth orbit; surely this is just the start for a range of services from 16 UK Spaceports. Regulars For those expecting to see the first of the new Space Chronicle this month, patience please as we 2 Behind the news take a little more time to get the Playing for Time – New man on Moon duty – A new editorial team on board and Partner for Pluto take up suggestions from you – readers and contributors – about 4 Opinion how it should look and what it should comprise. You won’t be 6 ISS Report disappointed. Meanwhile, Happy 9 October – 8 November 2019 Christmas and a peaceful New 22 Year to all. . 34 Obituary Alexei Leonov (1934-2019) . 38 Multi-media The latest space-related books, games, videos

David Baker 42 Satellite Digest [email protected] 564 – October 2019

44 Society news / Diary 28 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. © 2020 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 62 January 2020 1 SLUG BEHIND THE NEWS

Long-haul flight: astronaut Christina Koch, who is due to spend 11 months in space. NASA needs more like her before contemplating Mars. PLAYING FOR TIME NASA wants to keep astronauts in space for longer – but can it afford to?

THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION (ISS) is and add 10 more subjects to that US database”, said increasingly viewed as a crucial asset in preparing Julie Robinson, NASA’s chief scientist for the ISS. astronauts for Mars. NASA wants at least 10 more The big issue is not surviving weightlessness, but year-long missions to better understand the effects having astronauts in a sufficiently robust condition to on humans of extended weightlessness. While the leave their spacecraft after a nine or ten month Artemis programme will test hardware, procedures journey and immediately commence work. To date, and techniques relevant to Mars flights during Moon those returning to Earth suffer from temporarily missions beginning in the mid-2020s, the ISS can depleted fine-motor skills and restricted mobility – build an unprecedented base of physiological and unacceptable for a Mars mission. Another issue is psychological data upon which to plan deep-space the freedom available in the ISS compared to an missions lasting several years. average 25 m³/person in a habitation module for the Most ISS expeditions last around six months. So flight out to Mars and back. far only one year-long mission has been flown – Underpinning all this is the cost of maintaining the when Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko remained in ISS on top of the Artemis programme – a crewed space for 12 months, ending March 2016. In a landing in 2024 on the Moon and the establishment mission beginning in November 2016 Peggy Whitson of a sustained presence from 2028. And that stayed in space for almost 10 months and Christina depends on how willing ISS partners will be to fund Koch will have completed 11 months in orbit when sustained operations beyond the agreed termination she returns in February 2020. But the datasets from date of 2024. Either way, NASA sees the ISS as an these crewmembers are not enough. "What we're enabling key in obtaining sufficient data on humans saying now is we want to really bump that up a notch to plan crewed Mars expeditions. SF

2 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight BEHIND THE NEWS New man on Moon duty SEVERAL MONTHS AFTER He steps into giant shoes, a William Gerstenmaier stood category of senior management down as associate administrator which has for many decades of NASA’s Human Exploration and charted a course for NASA’s Operations Mission Directorate human space flight activity, (HEOMD) in July 2019, his arguably the most memorable replacement has been being George Mueller who joined announced. The man now NASA in 1963 and articulated a responsible for all of the US very different course to that of space agency’s human flight his predecessor for getting men activity is Douglas Loverro, on the Moon by the end of the effective 16 October 2019. decade. Retiring at the end of Occupying a pivotal position in 1969, Mueller had recruited a the agency, his most challenging team of managers and task is to organise and develop a administrators who transformed detailed timeline for placing the the very core of NASA and put first woman and the next man on the first astronauts on the lunar the lunar surface by the end of surface before the end of the 2024, while ensuring sustained decade. Now Douglas Loverro New recruit: Douglas Loverro. support for the International has the same urgent mandate to Space Station, the first flights of carry NASA’s human space flight the Space Launch Systems and programme forward from within the agency, has been with first crewed flights of the Orion low-Earth orbit to interplanetary NASA since 1977 and then spacecraft. exploration, using the Moon as a moved progressively to head the Loverro retired from the US Air learning base for Mars missions. agency’s human space flight Force in February 2006 and William “Bill” Gerstenmaier, activities when he became served in the Department of affectionately known as “Gerst” responsible for the Space Defense and at the National Operations Directorate in 2005, Reconnaissance Office for three overseeing the last 21 Shuttle years developing, managing and flights, transitioning NASA to the Long-haul flight: astronaut Christina Koch, who is due to spend 11 months in space. NASA needs more like her before contemplating Mars.

IMAGES: NASA IMAGES: setting out national space policy The shift in positions SLS/Orion programme and on space activities related to integrating the commercial cargo matters of national security. For reflects the concern at the and crew programmes. Greatly four years he served as the White House that NASA has admired and universally Deputy Assistant Secretary of respected, Gerstenmaier carried Defense for Space Policy and led been too conservative and the agency’s human space flight PLAYING FOR TIME activities in international space programme through some of its activities, on the impact and that it needs a fast-track most difficult times, not least integration of commercial space the cancellation of the activities and on plans to meet timeline to get humans Constellation programme by future challenges in space-based President Obama, which sought security measures. back on the Moon to put humans on the Moon, and its metamorphosis into the present SLS/Orion programme under the edict of the US Congress. Gerstenmaier has been reassigned as special assistant to NASA Deputy Administrator Jim Morhard. The shift in positions reflects the concern at the White House that NASA has been too conservative and that it needs a fast-track timeline to get humans back on the Moon. That approach brought some opposition and Administrator Jim Bridenstine was tasked with making all the necessary changes required to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine flies the Vertical Motion Simulator configured for Artemis Moon landings accelerate the Moon landings after appointing Loverro to mastermind the plan. programme, Artemis. SF

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 3 BEHIND THE NEWS Briefing COOL ROCKET A partner for Pluto? Under contract from the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency NASA has funded Southwest 10 different mission studies that (DARPA), Reaction Engines has achieved a Research Institute to study the NASA is sponsoring to prepare for precooler run at Mach 5 temperatures and important attributes, feasibility and the next Planetary Science demonstrated the validity of its lightweight cost of a possible future Pluto Decadal Survey. The results of heat exchanger. Critical to the successful orbiter mission. This study will these studies will be delivered to operation of its SABRE hypersonic propulsion develop the spacecraft and the National Academy Planetary system, the precooler has 16,800 thin-wall payload design requirements and Decadal Study that will begin in tubes through which helium is pumped to make preliminary cost and risk 2020. remove heat. The test at the Colorado Space assessments for new The SwRI-led New Horizons Port is a significant step on the way to technologies. The study is one of mission flew past Pluto and its demonstrating a SABRE core in 2021 and a precooler evaluation for the Eurojet EJ200 turbofan under a £10 million RAF contract. NASA REL

FAST FORWARD Readers who may recall the support we gave to saving the Dundee Satellite Receiving Station (SpaceFlight Vol 61, No 6, p 2) will be relieved to learn that the stoic personnel have snatched victory from the jaws of defeat. The new Dundee Satellite Station Ltd has acquired the assets from Dundee University and is setting up unique premises at the former RAF base of Errol to offer a range of services to UK and international Pluto from New Horizons. Could it soon get a sixth moon – an artificial one from Earth? customers from January 2020. Research collaboration with other universities is under discussion. Visit https://www.dundeesat. Opinion co.uk/ Crowdfunding efforts continue with £26,000 raised so far toward a goal of £65,000. A commemorative patch has been issued of which 150 are available for a donation of £75 FORTUNE FAVOURS THE BOLD or more. Visit https://www.gofundme.com/f/ dundee-satellite-receiving-station WE STAND ON THE CUSP OF A RENAISSANCE in space exploration. With thoughts turning to helicopters for the outer planets, orbiter missions to Pluto and returning to Earth samples collected from the surface of Mars, why – one may well ask – do we want to spend vastly greater amounts of money on DSS LTD human missions to the Moon and Mars? Can we not get it all by using uncrewed, autonomous spacecraft? Is it not possible to delegate, saving money and reducing risk? The development of advanced lunar science missions across the spectrum of Apollo Moon flights 50 years ago expanded the capacity for travelling farther and faster than was possible on the first landing in July 1969. Within two years, humans were driving around the lunar surface in a rover visiting more scientific sites of interest on one EVA than had been possible on the three landings that went before it. And all of that with the same basic hardware built to put humans on the Moon for one day and one Moonwalk. Human exploration leads to smarter ways to use machines for doing the extended operations and time-consuming tasks that are better left to pre- programmed robots. In the next five years, with its international partners NASA The badge for the new DSS tracker. hopes to resume the human exploration of deep space, to build a bridge between

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Sixty SpaceX Starlink satellites ready for the first clustered launch, which was in May 2019. SPACEX

system of moons and then Kuiper “In an SwRI-funded study that Belt Object (KBO) 2014 MU69, the preceded this new NASA-funded Briefing farthest, most primordial object study, we developed a Pluto visited to date. It has returned data system orbital tour, showing the IT'S FULL OF STARS! that has made a compelling case mission was possible with planned SpaceX plans to expand its Starlink for a follow-up mission. Despite all capability launch vehicles and constellation from 12,000 to 42,000 that New Horizons revealed about existing electric propulsion satellites occupying three distinct orbit the Pluto system and Kuiper Belt systems”, said SwRI’s Dr. Alan paths. The first 1,600 are scheduled for a Objects, it could only begin to Stern, principal investigator of the global shell at an altitude of 550 km, the explore complex Pluto and its five New Horizons mission as well as next 2,800 would go to a 1,150 km shell moons. Additionally, the New the SwRI-funded study. “We also with the last 7,500 to a 340 km orbit. The Horizons spacecraft carried only a showed it is possible to use gravity additional 30,000 would raise the total to limited payload and many aspects assists from Pluto’s largest moon, a volume 28 times the current population of KBO and dwarf planet science Charon, to escape Pluto orbit and of Earth-orbiting satellites and almost five require different kinds of to go back into the Kuiper Belt for times the total number of satellites and instrumentation and the kind of the exploration of more KBOs like spacecraft launched since Sputnik 1 in global and temporal coverage that MU69 and at least one more dwarf 1957. The UN Office for Outer Space only an orbiter can provide. planet for comparison to Pluto”. SF Affairs has expressed concern over the potential quantity of orbital debris.

The future belongs to the bold, to those who can balance on the STATION INDIA shoulders of giants and beach their ‘craft on new shores more After its announcement to fly a domestically built crewed spacecraft distant than those previously visited by humans within the next two years, India plans to follow that with a space station by the the Earth and Moon and to establish a presence on the lunar surface where mid-2020s. Success depends on the 3,700 scientists can explore, set down instruments, collect samples and visit places kg Gaganyaan three-person spacecraft unreachable 50 years ago. to be launched by a GSLV Mk III rocket. From this capability, and a parallel study of the human body in space providing The station will have an orbital module, data from many more yearlong expeditions to the International Space Station, docking facilities and a port for receiving will come the first multi-crewed excursions to Mars. If we are ever to realise the refuelling tankers. India eyes a fully potential delivered through almost 58 years of human space flight – and the more independent approach and is not than 500 people who have experienced it – the future belongs to the bold, to interested in joining the ISS programme. those who can balance on the shoulders of giants and beach their ‘craft on new

shores more distant than those previously visited by humans. ISRO To repeat the question: Is it not possible to delegate, saving money and reducing risk? Yes, but we are less than we could be if we rely exclusively on machines to represent us. We must inspire through direct participation in the exploration of space. In sending humans we do indeed take a “giant leap for humankind”. We humans are the explorers, the risk-takers and the pioneers. Why would we choose to ignore that? SF David Baker

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 5 ISS REPORT ALL IMAGES: NASA ALL IMAGES: ISS Report 9 October - 8 November 2019 Expedition 61 is into its second month crewed by Italian commander Luca Parmitano and flight engineers Christina Koch, Drew Morgan and Jessica Meir from the US, plus Russians Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Skripochka. Report by George Spiteri

n 9 October, the United States Orbital ABOVE second EVA at 11:38 UTC on 11 October. They Segment Crew (USOS) of Koch, Morgan, The Cygnus space continued the work begun on the first spacewalk freighter approaches Meir and Parmitano had a light-duty day the ISS carrying science (SpaceFlight Vol 61 No. 12 p 11). The astronauts ahead of the next EVA. Their Russian experiments, crew supplies removed the remaining three old nickel-hydrogen O colleagues examined how leg veins adapt and station hardware. batteries that fed power channel 2B and installed to weightlessness and worked with the Algometriya one of the new lithium-ion batteries, along with experiment which studies pain sensitivity in space. adapter plates on the Integrated Equipment Morgan and Koch made final preparations Assembly (IEA) on the station’s P6 truss. They on 10 October for their spacewalk. Morgan also also completed some “Get Ahead” tasks for the observed and photographed protein crystals to next EVA and once inside the Quest airlock paid support cancer research for NASA’s Microgravity tribute to Alexei Leonov, who conducted the Crystals experiment and Koch explored sequencing world’s first spacewalk in 1965 and died on 11 the DNA of microbes living on the station as part October aged 85, calling him “a pathfinder and of NASA’s Biomolecule Extraction and Sequencing pioneer of human spaceflight”. The spacewalk Technology (BEST) investigation. Meir worked ended at 18:23 UTC and lasted 6 hr 45 min. with JAXA’s Human Cerebral Autoregulation On 12 October, Morgan and Koch reviewed the during Long-Duration Spaceflight experiment, results of the spacewalk with ground specialists, which studies how blood flow to the brain adjusts in whilst Morgan and Meir began preparations for the microgravity, whilst Skvortsov and Skripochka used next EVA by checking their Extravehicular Mobility the Lower Body Negative Pressure (LBNP) suit to RIGHT Unit (EMU) suits and gathering their tools and examine the flow of blood in crewmembers' bodies. Jessica Meir works equipment for the spacewalk. on components of the Combustion Integrated During the crew’s light-duty weekend, Morgan NEW BATTERIES Rack aboard the US Destiny tweeted on 13 October that he joined fellow US Morgan and Koch began Expedition 61’s laboratory module. Army soldiers on Earth by running on the

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SpaceFlight Vol 61 December 2019 7 ISS REPORT

8 Vol 61 December 2019 SpaceFlight ISS REPORT

station’s treadmill as part of the Army Ten Miler run. He said that in the 78 min it took him to complete the run “the ISS travelled almost 23,000 miles (37,000 km)!” Parmitano recorded his food intake as part of ESA’s Nutrition Monitoring for the International Space Station (NutrISS) experiment on 14 October. The commander also worked with the Multi-use Variable-g Platform (MVP-Cell-02) investigation, which examines bacteria in orbit and measures their growth on different media. The crew also conducted a regular Ham radio pass as part of the Amateur Radio on the International Space Station (ARISS) project. The following day NASA mission managers decided to postpone the three next previously planned spacewalks set to install new batteries in order to conduct an EVA to replace a faulty Battery Charge-Discharge Unit (BCDU) power unit on the P6 truss. The BCDU prevented a new lithium-ion ABOVE launch in 2020. battery installed on the previous spacewalk on 11 The Expedition 61 crew During the spacewalk US President Donald pauses for a photo before October from providing additional station power. Jessica Meir and Christina Trump spoke to Koch and Meir and congratulated The BCDUs regulate the amount of charge put into Koch prepare to exit the them “on this historic event”. The President praised the batteries that collect energy from the station’s space station on 18 October the duo, adding they were “both very brave brilliant solar arrays to power station systems during 2019. women”. In response Meir told the President: “For orbital night-time passes by the ISS. NASA said us it’s just coming out here and doing our job today.” that two other BCDUs on the affected 2B power LEFT This was the first time since President Nixon spoke channel activated as planned. The space agency also Jessica Meir (left) and to Armstrong and Aldrin on the Moon in 1969 that Christina Koch (right) put on announced on 15 October that the next spacewalk their spacesuits as they get a President spoke to astronauts during an EVA. The would not be conducted by Morgan and Meir but ready for the historical first spacewalk lasted 7 hr 17 min ending at 18:55 UTC. by Koch and Meir, making this the first all-female all-female spacewalk. Meir became the 228th person and 15th female to EVA in history. conduct an EVA and it was the 221st spacewalk On 16 October, Koch and Meir continued dedicated to ISS assembly and maintenance with their spacewalk preparations which included totalling 57 days 20 hr 29 min. reviewing procedures, gathering tools and a It was reported that during the spacewalk one conference with mission controllers in Houston. of Koch’s EVA gloves was contaminated by some The remainder of the USOS crew worked with grease from Canadarm2. The glove was being NASA’s Veg-04B plant facility and the Astrobee free- analysed inside the ISS and was just a little stained. flying robots, whilst the two cosmonauts focused on Koch later said she “just brushed up against” some the Russian Cosmocard biomedical investigation. grease when she was installing a foot restraint at the Koch and Meir went through final preparations end of the robotic arm during the spacewalk. on 17 October for their EVA, whilst Morgan The EVA crew conducted a debriefing session conducted further work with the Microgravity with ground specialists on 19 October during Crystals experiment. Parmitano prepared hardware their light-duty weekend and the remainder of the for ESA’s ANALOG-1 study which will enable This was the first crew monitored the Veg-04B facility and JAXA’s an astronaut on the ISS to control a robot on the Probiotics microbiology experiment the next day. Earth’s surface; such technology could be used in time since On 21 October, Koch and Meir answered the future to help explore the Moon and Mars. questions from the news media about their historic ANALOG-1 was delivered by the latest unmanned President Nixon spacewalk. Meir told journalists that following the Cygnus cargo craft in early November. Skvortsov spoke to spacewalk her “dream would be to go to the Moon”. and Skripochka resumed work with the Cosmocard She also recorded her impressions about her first experiment and studied cardiac output changes Armstrong and EVA as part of NASA’s ISS Experience 3-D virtual with the Russian Biocard investigation and worked reality film which documents living and working with the Konstanta-2 experiment which looks at the Aldrin on the Moon on the station. Meir joined Parmitano and Morgan effects of space on enzymes. for eye examinations. The trio took turns using in 1969 that a the Optical Coherence Tomography hardware WOMEN WALKING which enables doctors on the ground to check Koch and Meir began their spacewalk at 11:38 UTC President spoke to their retinas. Morgan and Koch continued loading on 18 October. During the EVA they removed and JAXA’s H-II Transfer Vehicle-8 (HTV-8) Kounotori replaced the failed BCDU with a new component. astronauts during (White Stork) vehicle with unwanted cargo, whilst Mission control activated the newly installed an EVA Skvortstov and Skripochka had a light-duty day BCDU and reported it was operating normally. following several days of research and maintenance The faulty BCDU will be returned aboard the next in the Russian segment. SpaceX Dragon for analysis by technicians. Koch Koch and Parmitano resumed packing and Meir also installed a stanchion on Columbus to Kounotori with used items on 22 October. Morgan, support ESA’s Bartolomeo payload platform due for Koch and Parmitano continued with further eye

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 9 ISS REPORT

tests and ultrasound scans, whilst Morgan took Tranquility and deactivated science hardware which his turn filming the ISS Experience and installed was tracking ocean-going vessels. Skvortsov and new life science hardware inside Kibo’s Saibo Skripochka devoted most of the day to charging biology research rack. Skvortsov and Skripochka set batteries inside their respective Soyuz spacecraft up acoustic gear to test the detection and location and cleaned the filters and fans in the air condition of micrometeoroid impacts for the Russian Proboy system in their portion of the station. experiment. The cosmonauts also checked the The astronauts again monitored the Veg-04B docking equipment on Zvezda and Pirs. facility during another light-duty weekend 26/27 Koch spent another day on 23 October loading October. Morgan tweeted that the “experiment Kounotori with obsolete gear and later assisted focuses on the effects of light quality and fertilizer Parmitano by installing new stowage racks inside on the leafy Mizuna mustard green crop, the Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM). microbial food safety, nutritional value and the Morgan conducted further work with the Saibo taste acceptability by NASA astronauts”. The crew hardware and later answered questions from also worked with NASA’s Standard Measures students at his alma mater in Bethesda, Maryland. Behavioural Health and Performance (BHP) Skvortsov and Skripochka devoted a second day of experiment. work with the Proboy investigation and researched On 28 October, Meir and Morgan resumed ways of improving geographical accuracy when packing Kounotori with unwanted cargo, Parmitano photographing Earth using a Nikon digital camera and Koch checked samples for the Ring Sheared for the ongoing Russian Vizir experiment. Drop human health and advanced materials Skvortsov and Skripocha continued with the investigation and later partnered Morgan reviewing Vizir investigation the following day and conducted EVA procedures. Skvortsov and Skripochka air conditioning and plumbing maintenance inside ABOVE inspected the Russian segment for moisture and the Russian segment. Koch and Meir performed a Jessica Meir, attached to corrosion and tested spacecraft simulation software foot restraints inside the variety of scientific research including work with Kibo laboratory module after they’d checked their Orlan EVA suits. the Rodent Research-17 (RR-17) hardware which participates in interviews Parmitano and Morgan checked out their NASA reported is “seeking therapies for age-related with journalists from Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) EVA suits conditions” and serviced microbial DNA samples Bangor, Maine and Boston, (Nos. 3004 and 3008) on 29 October. The station’s for the BEST experiment. Parmitano and Morgan Massachusetts. commander also tested the Space Linear Mass reviewed tools and techniques for at least four Measurement Device (SLAMMD) which measures upcoming spacewalks to repair what NASA calls a crewmember’s mass, whilst Koch and Meir “the station’s single largest scientific instrument”, the BELOW worked with NASA’s BioFabrication Facility (BFF). Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer-02 (AMS-02). Expedition 61 astronauts NASA explained the scientific objectives of the On 25 October, Meir returned to the Human (clockwise from top left) BFF are “to print organ-like tissues in microgravity, Cerebral Autoregulation during Long-Duration Christina Koch, Luca acting as a stepping stone in a long-term plan to Parmitano, Andrew Morgan spaceflight experiment, whilst Koch and Morgan and Jessica Meir pose for a manufacture whole human organs in space” using collaborated on NASA’s Myotones muscle study. portrait in their Halloween 3D printing techniques. Parmitano replaced hydraulic components inside costumes. Meir and Morgan tended to the Veg-04B

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NASA and NG, amongst others. This was also the first time NG had two Cygnus spacecraft in orbit: Cygnus NG-11 SS Roger Chaffee was still in orbit on an extended secondary mission after leaving the ISS in August (SpaceFlight Vol 61 No.10 p 13). Following its two day chase of the ISS, Meir used Canadarm2 to grapple Cygnus at 09:10 UTC on 4 November as the station flew 416.8 km above Madagascar. Over two hours later at 11:21 UTC robotics officers in Houston berthed Cygnus to the Earth facing port of Unity. Named in honour of Apollo12 and Skylab veteran Alan Bean, Cygnus delivered 3,729 kg of supplies and scientific experiments, a record for a Cygnus spacecraft, of which 116 kg was unpressurised cargo. This included specialised tools for the upcoming AMS-02 related spacewalks, the AstroRad Vest which aims to reduce the risk to crewmembers of radiation and the Zero-G Oven experiment that will examine the ability to bake food in space which NASA says “may provide psychological and physiological benefits for astronauts on lunar and experiment on 30 October. This involved cutting ABOVE deep space missions”. the Mizuna leaves for a taste test and stowing the Jessica Meir cuts leaves The crew opened the hatches to Cygnus later and dines on fresh Mizuna leftovers in a science freezer for analysis. Meir mustard greens she on 4 November and continued to unpack its cargo told WABI TV a few days later “it was delicious… harvested earlier that day, the following day. Amongst the items transferred we each made our own little salads in bags, it was conducting a taste test on from Cygnus were mice which will help scientists a real treat”. Morgan and Parmitano took turns space-grown food. understand how microgravity impacts metabolic wearing goggles and clicking a trackball for a time rates as part of the rodent study and a new perception study whilst Parmitano later conducted experiment on how microbes affect space hardware another test run of the Astrobee free-flying robots and astronauts. Parmitano and Morgan resumed inside Kibo. Their Russian colleagues conducted their EVA preparations and in the Russian segment, an experiment which explores how blood pressure Skvortsov and Skripochka logged their meal and responds to a lack of gravity and checked the medicine intakes and worked on the Korrektsiya communications and life support systems in their experiment which helps researchers understand segment of the ISS. how space impacts bone tissue. The crew brushed up on their emergency On 6 November, Meir attached electrodes to response skills on 31 October by practising her legs and scanned her veins with an ultrasound evacuation procedures. They also continued to device, whilst Koch returned to work with the BEST prepare for the departure of Kounotori and the experiment. Parmitano and Morgan transferred imminent arrival of the next Cygnus spacecraft. the EVA tools from Cygnus for their spacewalks and Parmitano took time out to speak to the CHANGEOVER DAYS President of Italy, Sergio Mattarella. Skvortsov and Kounotori was released by Canadarm2 at 17:21 Skripochka devoted a second day to the Korrektsiya UTC on 1 November as the complex flew 420 investigation and the Vzaimodeistviye-2 km above the Pacific Ocean, just off the coast experiment which examines group dynamics of California. This was after the cargo craft was between crewmembers on long-duration missions. unberthed “around” 12:30 UTC earlier the same Parmitano and Morgan devoted two further day from the Earth facing port of Harmony, days to EVA preparations on 7/8 November, whilst according to analyst Jonathan McDowell, to Koch replaced various components in the station’s complete its 34 day mission at the ISS. JAXA Meir told WABI TV a Waste and Hygiene Compartment (WHC). Meir reported that Kounotori successfully conducted a worked with the BFF experiment and Skvortsov planned destructive re-entry into “the atmosphere few days later “it and Skripochka packed Progress 73 with unwanted after a third de-orbit burn” at 01:41 UTC on 3 items and obsolete gear prior to its undocking November and estimated the time of its splashdown was delicious…we scheduled for late-November. approximately one hour later in the south Pacific The ISS received a re-boost courtesy of Zvezda’s Ocean between 02:20 and 02:52 UTC. each made our own engines which were fired for 6.7 min at 22:40 UTC Northrop Grumman (NG) launched their little salads in on 7 November to raise the Station’s altitude by 800 Cygnus vehicle atop an Antares 230+ rocket from metres and place the complex in an orbit of 416.2 Pad OA at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport bags, it was a real x 430.3 km. This was necessitated by the imminent (MARS) at Wallops, Virginia on the Commercial departure and arrival of the next Progress craft. Resupply Services-12 (CRS-12) NG-12 mission treat” On 8 November, Skripochka performed various at 13:59 UTC on 2 November (09:59 local time). plumbing tasks inside the Russian segment whilst This was the first launch of the upgraded Antares the remainder of the crew did further work with the 230+ and the first mission under the Commercial BFF the BHP experiments and conducted more Resupply Services-2 (CRS-2) contract between checks on the Veg-04B facility. SF

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 11 SLUG

ROCK FOLLIES NASA scientists lift yet another lid on the Moon's past by David Baker

n 5 November, NASA scientists opened an ABOVE scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “The untouched rock and soil sample container Apollo sample analysis of these samples will maximize the science processors (l-r) from the lunar surface which had been Andrea Mosie, return from Apollo, as well as enable a new generation brought to Earth by Apollo 17. This is Charis Krysher of scientists and curators to refine their techniques the first time in more than 40 years that a and Juliane Gross and help prepare future explorers for lunar missions O open lunar sample BLAIR NASA/JAMES pristine sample of rock and regolith from the Apollo anticipated in the 2020s and beyond.” era has been opened. It sets the stage for scientists to 73002 at JSC in Since the Apollo era, all samples that were returned Houston. practice techniques to study future samples collected to Earth have been carefully stored in the laboratory on upcoming Artemis missions, which anticipate the to preserve them for future generations. Most samples next human landing in 2024 and a sustainable presence have been well studied, and many are the subject of from 2028.. The first time continuing research. However, NASA also made the The sample, preserved in the Lunar Curation decision to keep some samples completely untouched Laboratory at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in in more than as an investment in the future, allowing them to be Houston, was collected on the Moon by Apollo 17 40 years a analysed with more advanced technologies as they are astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt, who drove a developed. These include samples that remained sealed 4 cm wide tube into the surface of the Moon to collect sample from in their original containers, as well as some stored it and another sample, which is scheduled to be opened under special conditions, all intended to be opened and in January 2020. The sample was opened as part of the Apollo era analysed with more advanced analytical technologies NASA’s Apollo Next-Generation Sample Analysis than were available during Apollo. (ANGSA) initiative, which is leveraging advanced has been The unopened Apollo samples were collected technologies to study Apollo material using new on Apollo 15, 16 and 17 missions. Two of those tools that were not available when the samples were opened samples, 73002 and 73001, both collected on Apollo originally returned to Earth. 17, will be studied as part of ANGSA. Advances in “We are able to make measurements today that techniques such as non-destructive 3D imaging, mass were just not possible during the years of the Apollo spectrometry and ultra-high resolution microtomy will programme”, said Dr. Sarah Noble, ANGSA program allow for a coordinated study of these samples at an

12 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight SOLAR SYSTEM unprecedented scale. Samples 73002 and 73001 are part of a 60 cm long “drive tube” of regolith that were collected from a landslide deposit near Lara Crater at the Apollo 17 site. The samples preserve the vertical layering within the lunar soil, information about landslides on airless bodies like the Moon, and a record of the volatiles trapped within lunar regolith, perhaps even those escaping from the Moon along the Lee-Lincoln Scarp, a fault at the Apollo 17 site. Sample 73002, which has remained unopened but not sealed under vacuum since being brought to Earth, was the first sample to be extruded from its container. Sample processors at Johnson will spend the next several months processing the sample and distributing parts of it to the ANGSA science teams for analysis. To aid in opening the sample, researchers have used X-ray Computer Tomography (XCT) done at the University of Texas Austin to record a high-resolution 3D image of the regolith within the tube. The imaging aids the processors as they develop strategies to remove the sample for dissection and distribution to research teams, as well as helping scientists understand the sample’s structure before opening the container. It will also protect fragile soil components from damage during opening and processing, and provides detailed images of individual grains and smaller samples known as rocklets.

TWIN-TRACK TESTS After X-ray scanning, the samples are removed from their tube using specialized tools inside a glovebox filled with ultrapure dry Nitrogen, and are then subdivided into one-quarter inch segments to allow scientists to understand the variation observed along the length of the core. This is the first time NASA has processed a drive tube like this in over 25 years, and curation scientists have been hard at work over the past few months rehearsing the process. Two proposals from teams at NASA’s Goddard Space THIS PAGE help scientists better understand lunar chemistry. The Flight Center were selected to analyse the unopened Natalie Curran, work will be carried out in Goddard’s Astrobiology proposal samples. The first team, led by principal investigator science principal Analytical Laboratory. Jamie Elsila, will study the abundances of volatile investigator “This is a unique and exciting opportunity to use compounds that may be precursors to amino acids that (above) and Jamie state-of-the-art techniques on lunar samples that have been detected previously in lunar samples. The Elsila (below) in have been preserved for almost 50 years and to study the Astrobiology study will seek to understand if organic compounds Analytical Lab at questions that scientists at the time may have asked are better preserved in shadowed regions on the Moon, Goddard Space but didn’t have the ability to answer”, Elsila said. “It’s and if their abundances vary by depth, which can Flight Center. a privilege to have access to these special samples and we hope to contribute not only to increase our knowledge of lunar chemistry but also to improve our understanding of how to best preserve samples returned by future NASA missions.” Complementing Elsila’s work with organic molecules, a team led by Natalie Curran and Barbara Cohen will use noble gases to investigate the geologic history of the samples. Noble gas abundances reflect how long a sample has resided at the lunar surface, being exposed to the damaging effects of cosmic rays, which may affect the organic material. The team will also use noble gas ratios to investigate geologic events such as impacts and landslides that were important in shaping the surface from which the pristine samples were collected. This work will be conducted at Goddard’s Mid-Atlantic Noble Gas Research Lab LEFT: NASA GODDARD-TIM CHILDERS / ABOVE RIGHT: NASA RIGHT: ABOVE / CHILDERS GODDARD-TIM NASA LEFT: (MNGRL), the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History, and the Carnegie Institution. SF

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 13 MILITARY SPACE LEFT: MOD / RIGHT AND BELOW RIGHT: VIRGIN ORBIT VIRGIN RIGHT: AND BELOW MOD / RIGHT LEFT: Twin sisters NASA calls its crewed Moon programme Artemis. Now the UK has given its military space programme the same name! by David Baker

n early October 2019 the UK Ministry of Defence ABOVE RAF Officer training in May 2007. He commenced announced that the Royal Air Force (RAF) and Flight Lieutenant elementary flying training shortly after and was selected Mathew Stannard, Virgin Orbit have selected an RAF pilot to the selected by the for Fast Jet aircraft where he was allocated to the company’s small satellite launcher programme. The RAF to train for his Tornado GR4. He amassed over 1,000 hrs on Tornado partnership between the RAF and Virgin Orbit was role in launching during multiple combat tours, after which he undertook I small satellites via unveiled at the Air and Space Power conference in July. instructional duties. In 2015 he was selected to become Following a tough selection process, Air Vice-Marshal LauncherOne from an Experimental Test Pilot, training at the US Naval 2020. Simon “Rocky” Rochelle and Virgin Orbit CEO Dan Test Pilot School and later qualifying as a Typhoon test Hart have announced that Flight Lieutenant Mathew pilot. Subject to final approval by US and UK export “Stanny” Stannard had been selected. authorities, Flight Lt. Mathew Stannard is expected to Flt Lt. Stannard is currently a Typhoon pilot with begin his tenure with Virgin Orbit in the second quarter one of the RAF’s test and evaluation squadrons and is of 2020. expected to join the Virgin Orbit programme during The announcement was made in California aboard 2020, pending final US and UK regulatory approvals. the iconic RMS Queen Mary ship, a fitting venue The secondment is expected to last three years and will given the ship’s history as Winston Churchill’s floating see Flt Lt Stannard join the fleet of expert test pilots headquarters in World War 2 and a symbol of the US/ trialling Boeing 747-400 aircraft from which small UK special relationship. The Royal Air Force’s Red satellites will be launched. He will return to the RAF Arrows display team flew over the ship as part of with skills and expertise gained from the secondment the event, which was one of the last on their North which will improve the UK’s understanding of the American tour for 2019. military uses of small satellites. Air Vice-Marshal Rochelle, the RAF Air Capability Flight Lieutenant Mathew Stannard graduated from Chief of Staff, said: “It’s great news that the RAF can now

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separation of the rocket and aircraft during launch and the first operations from the UK will undoubtedly take place from Newquay airfield, Cornwall, where dedicated facilities at this location will provide a useful Spaceport for UK and European customers. Defence Minister Annie-Marie Trevelyan said: “The UK and the US already have an incredibly close defence relationship and now we’re working together to forge new frontiers in space. This exciting partnership will see Virgin Orbit benefit from the skills and expertise of our personnel while propelling the RAF’s space ambitions to new heights.” In fact this is merely the latest in a long and protracted history of RAF involvement in space programmes and projects going back to the late 1950s. Then, ambitious plans for direct participation in the rapidly evolving speciality of military space operations were restricted by limited funding. Nevertheless, the RAF has consistently worked with US and other NATO countries to extend the passive used of space for military purposes. Now that association has grown in relevance and applications. In July 2019, the MOD outlined an ambitious space programme, committing £30 million to fast-track the launch of a small satellite demonstrator within a year. Also known as Programme ARTEMIS, this is being delivered by a new transatlantic team of UK and US defence personnel and industry partners including Virgin Orbit. The MOD also announced the UK as the first formal partner in the US-led Operation Olympic confirm the secondment of Flight Lieutenant Stannard ABOVE Defender, a multinational military effort formed to to the Virgin Orbit team. This move comes through LauncherOne strengthen deterrence against hostile actors in space, is mounted to our close collaboration and formal partnership with the port inboard enhance resilience and preserve the safety of space flight Virgin Orbit within Team ARTEMIS. Having one of stressed wing for both civil and military applications. our Test Pilots working at the heart of such a cutting- location of a Programme ARTEMIS aims to understand the edge programme is a significant step in the RAF’s space Boeing 747-400 military relevance of small satellites and responsive journey. It also reinforces the close relationship we have “Cosmic Girl”. launch, consider how to get space-based information to with industry and with the US, we expect this to further the RAF in operationally relevant timelines and foster enable UK satellite launch capabilities.” further collaboration in space between the UK and its BELOW allies. This activity will provide information to support UPLIFTING LauncherOne’s the US-led international space coalition which the UK Virgin Orbit have recently commenced their first launch carrier, Cosmic was the first partner nation to join as part of Operation campaign, developing a new small satellite launch Girl was fabricated Olympic Defender. at Boeing’s Everett vehicle called LauncherOne which is to be released Factory in 2001 ARTEMIS aims to understand the benefits of small, from a modified Boeing 747-400 named Cosmic Girl. and operated by low-orbiting satellites that can be sent into space more Under development since 2007, LauncherOne has the Virgin Atlantic cost-effectively than their predecessors and can be capacity to place payloads weighing up to 500 kg in from October that replaced far more quickly when required. The Sun-synchronous orbit (SSO) from a range of launch year as G-VWOW, programme may eventually see live high-resolution serving until sites in the USA, Puerto Rico and the UK. Designed as a withdrawn for video, or other information beamed directly into the two-stage rocket, it employs a NewtonThree engine with modifications in cockpit of the RAF’s fighter jet fleet, providing pilots a thrust of 327 kN as the first stage and a NewtonFour October 2015. with unprecedented levels of battle awareness. SF with a thrust of 22 kN as the second stage. Both use a combination of RP-1/LOX as propellants. Several design changes were made before this definitive configuration was settled by Virgin in 2015 for a truly universal application anywhere in the world. Virgin claim that any airfield where a Boeing 747 can operate is a potential launch site. With launch costs around $12 million the flexibility extends to a wide range of potential customers, with the two-stage rocket carried under the port wing inboard of the inner turbofan engine. Virgin markets this capability on the basis that the air-launch concept avoids weather delays and upper wind restrictions common to ground-launch systems. Virgin Orbit has already completed a landmark drop- test of an unpowered rocket from 10,670 m to test the

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Congressional HEARING IAC 2019 remembers the past and looks to the future. Meanwhile NASA gives the nod and Trump gets choosy. by David Todd, Head of Space Content, Seradata Ltd

he 70th International Astronautical Congress (IAC 2019) was held in Washington DC, 21- 25 October. One advantage of the event being held in a "mainline" capital city – rather than T the much smaller city of Bremen last year and Adelaide the year before that – is that it has excellent transport connections encouraging many participants to come. The downside is that it is expensive.. Washington, of course, has its own attractions and for space aficionados this means the Air and Space Museum of the Smithsonian. In the central museum about half the main galleries were closed for refurbishment, but fortunately the main space exhibitions were open including a good one detailing the history of the Space Shuttle. The Walter E. Washington venue (the name being a coincidence) was very good with spacious lecture ABOVE RIGHT for his achievements in space flight, even though rooms and an excellent main ballroom to hold John Langford, Bezos has yet to orbit anything. A case of premature President of the the larger plenary and Global Networking Forum American Institute congratulation perhaps? (GNF) sessions. The big players – NASA, Boeing, of Aeronautics The ceremony was the usual mixture of Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, et al – were and Astronautics entertainment and a few speeches from the officials all in attendance both at the presentations and in the (AIAA), during of the International Astronautical Federation, AIAA exhibition hall. But one Elephant not in the room was the opening and main sponsors (Lockheed Martin). A video ceremony. SpaceX, which was surprisingly not exhibiting at all presentation of historical space achievements through and had few technical presenters. While Elon Musk ABOVE the decades was impressive, even though some has stolen the IAC show before, most notably when Vice President surprising “achievements” were noted, including the Mike Pence he laid out his Mars exploration plan at IAC 2015 robustly affirmed failed Conestoga launch vehicle – the first ever private Guadalajara, his absence this year might have been US intentions to launch. Another surprising inclusion was the failed because his competitor Jeff Bezos was being honoured revisit the Moon. German-African OTRAG project.

16 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight SLUG ALL IMAGES: NASA ALL IMAGES:

Among all the usual announcements and a ABOVE LEFT Aquarius in the astrological Calendar. "My mother had welcome from IAF President Jean-Yves Le Gall, a Sandra Cauffman, no idea", he said. By the way, on that foretelling theme, acting Director standing ovation was given to Apollo 11 Moonwalker of NASA's Earth Buzz's mother's maiden name was “Moon”. Our Buzz Buzz Aldrin and to relatives of his crew mates Neil Science Division, wished NASA's new lunar landing project Artemis Armstrong and Mike Collins in this 50th year after the during a session well, albeit pointedly noting that it could be improved lunar landing. entitled “Home and that he would try to help. Musical actors provided the entertainment, Planet 2030”. taking time out from Broadway. They sang various ABOVE RIGHT A QUESTION OF TONE Disney numbers and the hippy astrological hymn Jody Singer NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine, having paid "This is the age of Aquarius" from Hair. Old school, (left), Director of tribute to the first “unmanned” spacewalk – actually, Marshall Space but cool nonetheless. NASA astronaut Buzz Aldrin Flight Center an all-female EVA – introduced his boss, US Vice later mentioned this song in his thank-you speech moderates a STEM President Mike Pence. From the outset, Pence as he noted that his birthday was at the beginning of discussion. misread IAC's international audience as he assumed

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an overtly political and nationalistic tone. He Bridenstine was on safer ground when he noted mentioned US President Donald Trump several times, that he looked forward to the lunar operations and saying: “Under Donald Trump's leadership America Pence further explained that the Gateway (commonly known as the is leading in Space once again.” He underlined the Lunar Gateway) would have quite a long career of 15 reconstitution of the National Space Council and antagonised years. He emphasised that there would be astronauts said that the Administration now had a space policy from several nations walking on the Moon, albeit not directive number one: to return to the Moon to ensure the audience on the early flights. There is an underlying keenness that the next man and the first woman would both be by noting that among the major agencies to join the US-led Project American astronauts. He went on to describe plans Artemis because all want to get one or two of their to land on the Moon, travel to Mars and provide a the USA would own nations’ astronauts onto the Moon. Canada successor to the International Space Station (ISS), and and Japan have recently joined the programme how commercial firms would be key partners. only take with ESA expected to join shortly. With respect to Pence quoted President Trump again, saying: “It what law would apply on the Moon, he called for an is America's destiny to become leader among nations “Freedom international agreement on a legal framework for on our adventure into the great unknown.” He further lunar surface operations. antagonised the audience by noting that the USA Loving Whether China, Russia, or even India, are deemed would only take “Freedom Loving Nations” with it for Nations” with to be “Freedom loving” enough to have their respective the ride. While this notion might have some moral taikonauts, cosmonauts or gaganauts carried there merit – let's face it who would want to work with any it for the ride by the USA, remains to be seen. Either way, Russia modern-day equivalent of Nazi Germany on a space and China are planning to join their efforts together programme – from subsequent questions raised by on unmanned lunar missions with a cooperation the audience it became obvious that they had become deal already signed between the pair in September. quietly incensed that Pence had, in effect, announced Bridenstine, a supporter of commercial input into the yet another hurdle to international cooperation. NASA programme, again mentioned the potential As it was, the questions about what a “Freedom for this on the US space programme, covering up his Loving Nation” is, and who is entitled to make this irritation with Commercial Crew Programme delays judgement…remained unanswered. as he did so. Having been far too nationalistic for much of his speech, Pence did his best to make amends by INTERNATIONAL VOICES reassuring the audience that the USA and its new Jan Woerner, ESA Director General, looked forward US Space Force would help to uphold international to the ESA member states’ meeting in November law. Belatedly, he also noted US gratitude to its when he hopes to get his programmes' funding international space partners: “Thank you for working through. In balancing the private/public elements of with us”, he said. However, by then, the diplomatic his space programme, Woerner said that it was right damage had already been done. to “celebrate the past” but also wise to “prepare for the At the Heads of Space Agencies Plenary: Private vs BELOW LEFT future”. In some sectors private commercial companies Public and lunar aspirations meeting Jim Bridenstine A model of the now had the lead over agency or government opened the batting by trying to make amends for Vice Lunar Gateway programmes, but that some areas would still be led by which NASA President Pence's earlier speech by emphasising the plans to assemble national and international programmes, he added. role of NASA's international partners. In response to in parallel with Hiroshi Yamakawa, President of Japanese space an audience question about China's apparent absence its drive to put agency JAXA, mentioned recent Japanese space from the Congress, Bridenstine unconvincingly astronauts on the exploration successes, including Hayabusa 2, and noted Moon again by covered for the Administration by explaining that no 2024. plans including the asteroid mission MEMO, which senior representative of China's space programme was is being done in conjunction with ESA. Japan also on the panel because a “time conflict” had prevented BELOW RIGHT hopes to take part in the USA's Artemis programme, this. If so, what about all the other Chinese technical A model of a as did Silvain Laporte, President of the Canadian hypothetical session presenters who were also missing? In truth, lunar lander was Space Agency, who, in addition to its Quantum Key this was down to US visa restrictions and was part of on display at the Distribution research, mentioned the new robotic arm the reason for international disquiet. NASA stand. dubbed Canadarm 3 for the Gateway system.

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part of its space programme will help the country's poor. India defends its right to do this, although it views sending its own space-farers to the Moon as a very distant prospect.

ROCKET SCIENCE There are, of course, so many technical presentations that this column cannot note them all. Of those that this correspondent saw, the following were interesting or memorable. While lunar exploration dominated the technical sessions, some were still holding a flag in support of a Mars Direct mission. Robert Zubrin of the Planetary Society (IAC-19.D5.2.8) remains an admirer of Elon Musk's Starship/Superbooster combination, but only as a heavy lift launch vehicle. He suggested that it would be better in terms of time and number While Dmitry Rogozin, Head of the Russian ABOVE of launches to launch a much smaller transfer and Space Agency/conglomerate Roscosmos, is barred by STEM students landing craft – probably in the form of a one sixth size raise their hands international sanctions from travelling to the USA, to ask a question “mini-Starship” launched towards Mars from a TLI at least his deputies could still come. Filling in for during a STEM day (Trans Lunar Injection) orbit. Zubrin also dismissed him was former cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev, head session. the use of the full-sized Starship as a lunar lander as of Roscosmos' Human Spaceflight programme. He being totally oversized. emphasised current international cooperation, citing On a different subject, while many are concerned the use of Russian launch vehicles in French Guiana. that there are already too many small launch vehicles Krikalev mentioned Roscosmos’s hopes to take part for the market to sustain, that did not stop more in Project Artemis – it wants to build landing craft for prospective vehicle designs being described at IAC. use from the Lunar Gateway. Of these, the South Korean Blue Whale launch vehicle Woerner explained that space technology remained (IAC-19.D.2.7.5) is developing fast and looks likely to very important to the fight against climate change, achieve a planned launch of a 50 kg payload to a 500 providing the example that new navsat algorithms km Sun-synchronous low Earth orbit. By coincidence, could show up the “greenest” routes for cars and the launches are to take place from near Whaler's Way aircraft in addition to the fastest ones. He also in South Australia. The rocket uses a CFRP structure called for more data sharing to help combat climate with a flame-retardant resin. It was ruefully noted by change. While Bridenstine covered for the Trump presenter Dongyoon Shin, of Perigee Aerospace, that Administration over its antipathy to China, he still this latter requirement had been proven by empirically pointedly disagreed with its climate change scepticism explosive results. and specifically mentioned the new NASA GeoCarb BELOW LEFT Of course, early launches are prone to failure, as The interior of the mission to study carbon footprints on Earth. Orion spacecraft space insurers will surely tell you. As such, it was not S. Somanath, head of the propulsion effort at with crew seating a surprise that the Landspace ZQ-1 private launch ISRO, having paid tribute to the Chandrayaan 2 arrangement for vehicle (IAC-19.D.2.7.7) failed due to a thruster leak partially successful lunar mission, set out ISRO's plans six astronauts. on its second stage. including the MOM-2 mission to the Sun, as well as BELOW RIGHT Virgin Orbit (IAC-2019.D.7.3) has its eyes on higher the introduction of its new small launcher the SSLV. An impressive things as it plans a VIP (Virgin Interplanetary) third Echoing Woerner, he also noted that PSLV marketing model of the stage for its air-launched LauncherOne to be able to and operations might one day be transferred to private Space Launch carry small payloads to the Moon and on to Venus and System with companies but that this would be a step-by-step umbilical tower Mars including a 70 kg Venus probe for Poland in 2023. process. India is currently working on its own human and Mobile And they are not the only small launch vehicles

ALL IMAGES: NASA ALL IMAGES: carrying spacecraft, even if many wonder how this Launch Platform. heading to the Moon. Rocket Lab has a new Photon

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stage for its Electron launch vehicle which will allow payloads to be carried there. The firm is also working on a reusable first stage using ballute balloons and parachutes with a re-entry test planned for November. Meanwhile, a Mexican team led by Irving Enrique Gomez Fernandez presented a plan for a much smaller launch vehicle: Their XITXIT 1 two-stage nano- launcher concept (IAC-19.D.2.7.4) which they hope to launch from Baja, California. This is a micro launcher employing an aerospike configuration with three nozzles on its first stage. And while it can carry only 6 kg to orbit, it can do so below the “magic” cost number of US$10,000 per kilo. If this price is right, then this concept deserves support – if only to prove whether, or not, aerospike nozzle altitude compensation can really work on a practical launch vehicle. The Safran rocket engine supplier was keen to emphasise its space engine offerings, but you could tell that aviation was where its heart lay. The leaflets espousing the thruster designs had “aircraft engine” ABOVE LEFT When it comes to the design of interiors, an IAC titled at the top of them. Jim Bridenstine special session panel on space architecture, including displayed genuine Insurers were in evidence at the Congress. Nishant support for a architects and astronauts, came to the conclusion that Chokski, of Ares Advisers (IAC-2019.E6.4.4), noted fully international while white has long been a staple decor in science the poor recent results in the insurance market as did lunar landing fiction, and is volumetrically enhancing, colour was Chris Kundstadter, of XL Catlin (IAC-2019.E3.6.7), programme. essential for astronaut morale on long trips. Colour is who suggested that increasing the “power density” of BELOW also a good interior navigation tool on a large spacecraft. spacecraft – putting more power generating capability NASA's diplomatic The panel also noted that the only architecturally in the same sized spacecraft – has had an effect on Administrator designed part of the ISS was the viewing cupola which losses given that the majority of in-orbit claims were fields questions was also the most popular with the astronauts.The panel from the media, power related. including your agreed that growing plants in that life-versus-death It was not just science, engineering and business correspondent (in context would also be beneficial to wellbeing, as would issues in the technical sessions, there was a little real red striped shirt). a low-noise environment. In space they might not hear architecture as well with an “Age of Aquarius” new-age hippy theme thrown in. While there are considerable doubts about whether suborbital space tourism will ever pay for itself (Blue Origin and Virgin Galactic take note), the vibes about lunar space tourism are much more positive. Already, lunar hotel designs are taking shape, some envisaging making use of lava tubes on the Moon. Madhu Thangavelu, of the University of Southern California, rushed though some of the potential designs in his paper IAC.D3.1.7. He foresaw some of these lunar hotels having bath houses and contemplation zones with window views of the Earth. For while “skyclad” new-age types on Earth like to look up at the Moon as they contemplate life, the universe and everything, these same types (if they are rich enough to afford the trip) will probably want to look at the Earth from the Moon as well. TODD DAVID AND RIGHT: ABOVE / NASA ABOIVE LEFT: AND LFFT

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The UK Pavilion tried its best but looked a tad unimpressive compared with some. It really needed a much larger Union flag on top of it. The closing ceremony included six student prizes, with the BIS prize for best technical paper being presented by BIS President, Gerry Webb. IAF gold medal winner and winner of the UK prize as well was Eleonor Frost, of University College London, for her paper “Investigating the Feasibility and Design of a Microgravity Surgical Workstation” (IAC-19.E2.2.6). She also won a £1,000 prize given by the BIS and IET, as did Thomas Cheney of Northumbria University, who won the UK prize for best postgraduate paper: “In the Interests of All Countries – Ensuring Equitable Access to Space Resources” (IAC-19.E2.2.5). One final Brit student involvement to note was that of Edward Taylor of Birmingham University who was part of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign team that won the Hans Von Muldau student team award for their paper related to detecting and suppressing any dangerous sharp edges on ISS EVA handrails caused by micrometeoroid impacts (IAC-19.E2.3-GTS.4.6). Christian Feichtinger, Executive Director of the IAF, noted the very large attendance of 6,800 delegates and thanked all his helpers. Jean-Yves Le Gall handed over the Presidential reins of the IAF to the head of Germany's DLR, Pascale Ehrenfreund, before returning to run the French Space Agency CNES. While the next two years of IAC venues have been decided (IAF 2020 in Dubai, IAC 2021 in Paris), there was a competition for 2022. It may not always be profit making, but the Congress is such a venerated international event that many nations want it. Baku, Azerbajian, won the prize. Overall IAC-2019 was a good event but in many you scream outside...but they will inside if annoying ABOVE ways it has grown far too large. Moreover, the IAC noise disturbs the astronauts too much. Jeff Bezos brought proved yet again that while global international a mockup of his Blue Moon lunar cooperation in space is desirable, national politics can SHOW AND TELL lander. sometimes get in the way. While there remains a The exhibition was quite large with an impressive legitimate concern about Chinese espionage and collection of rocket engines, past and present, on Russian belligerence, using visa restrictions to curb display. Nevertheless, attendance at the exhibition these major space powers' access to this international seemed quite low mainly because the technical sessions space conference is still regarded by space and were on the other side of the convention centre. BELOW diplomatic circles as not the “done thing”. Even during Of the real-life engines shown, a Space Shuttle Main Opposing the depths of the Cold War most nations still had Engine (SSME) now has new life as the RS-25D/E directions or part access to international discussion forums such as the of a common main lifting engine of the SLS. An original Apollo solution? Profound UN and the IAC. That said, perhaps there should be lunar lander's ascent engine of the unmodified type questions posed limits to international cooperation, as doing this “at all flown on the unmanned Apollo 5 mission, was also by ESA. costs” is not always morally the right thing to do. SF there as a blast-from-the-past reminder that reliability is still key for lunar flights. There were also some newer designs on display including the Blue Origin BE-4 (albeit partially covered up) with which ULA hopes to launch its Vulcan rocket design, and a model of the Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-1. While the AR-1 did not get the Vulcan selection as its first stage engine, it might yet get into flight mode on later models of the Firefly rocket series following a cooperation deal between Firefly and Aerojet. It was not just engines on display. There were some spacecraft models as well including several on the Airbus stand. An educational bus/trailer dubbed SpaceBuzz dominated one end of the show as it allowed children to experience the virtual reality of space. Other stands supplied food and drink to up their attendance.

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Bringers of life It will come as no surprise to some to learn that we may not be of this Earth. by Professor Chandra Wickramasinghe, Buckingham Centre of Astrobiology, University of Buckingham, UK

ecently, news of our cosmic connection has ABOVE the form of microbes – bacteria and viruses – exist in been making the headlines. The pioneer A montage of our midst even now and continually rains down upon Kepler and a discoverers of planets (exoplanets) orbiting target star with our planet. Such microbes could sometimes cause distant stars – Didier Queloz and Michel Mayor accompanying devastating pandemics of disease; but more positively R – have been rewarded with a share of the 2019 planets. they have the potential to augment our microbiomes Nobel Prize for Physics. The discovery of water vapour and our genomes, and over long intervals of time BELOW in the atmosphere of one particular exoplanet, K2-18B NASA’s Kepler unravel an ever-changing panorama of cosmic life. In orbiting a star at a distance of some110 light years, has telescope in either case, whether as alien microbes in our vicinity raised the question whether life may have taken root Astrotech's or alien intelligence on distant planets, the acceptance there, and also in a multitude of other similar planets. Hazardous of the emerging facts of cosmic life will mark an Processing Evidence that the dinosaurs were seen off by a comet or Facility, Florida, important turning point in human history. asteroid impact 65 million years ago has also come to during preparation the fore, and with it the link between cosmic impacts for launch on 7 AN ETERNAL QUEST that may have facilitated the emergence of mammals March 2009. The much publicised scientific developments of recent and eventually humans. We have also been alerted to years such as new missions to search for life on Mars, our continuing vulnerability to cosmic impacts with the the conclusion of the successful Cassini Mission to discovery of an asteroid flying past Earth some 14 times Saturn, the Rosetta Mission to comet 67P/Churyumov- the distance to the Moon. Gerasimenko (Comet 67P/C-G), the New Horizons If it is established that we are not alone in Mission to planet Pluto, the ongoing Kepler Mission to the Universe the implications for humanity will search for habitable planets, and future probes to search indisputably be profound. It could be even more for biomarkers in exoplanet atmospheres, all spell out a important if we know with certainty that alien life in single cosmic truth: Homo Sapiens as a sentient species

22 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight ASTROBIOLOGY LEFT: NASA / OTHER IMAGES: NASA IMAGES: / OTHER NASA LEFT: appears to be hard-wired to seek out its cosmic origins, intuitively sensing, and perhaps knowing, that we are not alone. But how did life arise? Not just on the Earth, but anywhere in the Universe? Does life emerge spontaneously on every Earth-like planet by processes involving well-attested laws of physics and chemistry? Or did the first-ever origin of life involve an extraordinary and unrepeatable event involving stupendous volumes of the universe, perhaps buried in the most distant cosmological past? These age- old questions have recently acquired a new sense of urgency. A precondition for the emergence of creatures like ourselves would be for the existence of rocky planets with water and an atmosphere generally similar to Earth. The first exoplanet discovered by Queloz and Mayor in 1995 orbited a star in the constellation of Pegasus which is not unlike the Sun and is some 50 light years away; it is a giant planet with about half the mass of Jupiter but it is located too close to its parent star for any life to be possible. In 2009 NASA launched its orbiting Kepler telescope, which was specifically designed to discover ABOVE The search Most of these planets orbit red dwarf stars that are on planets that are the size of Earth. The detection process volume for Kepler average twice the age of our Sun. Extrapolating from involved tracking down minute blinks (dimming) in in the Milky Way the sample of present detections the estimated total the star’s light when a planet transited periodically galaxy and a number of habitable planets in our Milky Way galaxy in front of it during its orbit. As of now nearly 4,000 corresponding can be reckoned to be in excess of 100 billion. On many plot of the search definite detections of habitable planets – planets in the space in relation of these planets one might speculate that life may have so-called Goldilocks zone – have been made within to the galactic begun, evolved, and perhaps long since disappeared. only a very small sampling volume of our Milky Way. arms. Another related enterprise that has grabbed

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the news lately is the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) using arrays of radio telescopes “Omne vivum ex vivo” to scan the skies for evidence of intelligent signals. Over half a century ago Philip Morrison and Giuseppe Cocconi first drew attention to the possibility of (‘all life is from life’) searching the microwave spectrum of cosmic sources for intelligent signals and they suggested particular LOUIS PASTEUR frequencies as well as a set of potential targets. The SETI programme (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) began tentatively in 1960 and was initially supported by NASA, and later by a host of private or semi-private entrepreneurs. With the exception of a single brief and mysterious “Wow!” signal discovered in August 1977 there has been a deathly silence across all of the prospective sources that been scanned. There could be a case for saying that the lack of progress in this venture was the result of organisations like NASA backing off. This may have been the thinking behind Russian billionaire Yuri Milner’s $100 billion SETI initiative that was recently announced. Buying more telescope time, increasing the range of wavelengths, enhancing detector sensitivity and extending sky coverage have been argued as prerequisites if a breakthrough within a decade is to be achieved. But a positive result from SETI would be contingent on the emergence and widespread dispersal of primitive life capable of evolving into intelligent creatures. How often does this happen? The idea that microbial life springs up de novo on billions of Earth-like habitable planets is an unproven, and most likely erroneous proposition. Such a belief that is still widely championed is an extension of the canonical “primordial soup” theory for life’s beginnings on the Earth, which is a dogma with no hard evidence to support it. The dogma in turn can be traced back to the Greek Philosopher Aristotle (384-322 BC) who proposed that life arose spontaneously from inorganic, inanimate matter whenever favourable conditions prevailed – e.g. fireflies from a mixture of warm earth and morning dew! Unfortunately, because of his stature as a philosopher, Aristotle’s views prevailed and indeed still prevails. Laboratory experiments that decisively negate the validity of spontaneous generation have been repeatedly ignored. In particular the 19th century experiments of Louis Pasteur showing that life at a microbial level is always derived from pre-existing microbial life. Despite the most up-to-date biotech resources that have been deployed to attempt the creation of life from non-life, all such experiments have led to dismal failure. Louis Pasteur’s 1864 pronouncement Omne vivum ex vivo “all life (is) from life” remains an inviolable law of nature which we must accept.

SELF EVIDENT SOLUTIONS If we combine experimental failures for abiogenesis with calculations showing grotesquely low a priori probabilities for the transition from non-life to life only two options remain. The origin of life was an utterly improbable event that occurred on Earth (because we are here!) but will effectively never be reproduced elsewhere. In that case we would indeed be hopelessly alone in the cosmos. Or, a very much vaster cosmic system than was available on Earth, and a very much longer timescale was involved in an initial origination

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LEFT responsible for delivering the water that went to form Comets may bring life to worlds the Earth’s oceans. It is in rocks that condensed at this inherently barren. Hale Bopp captured by the Southern European time, some 4.2-4.3 billion years ago, that the oldest Observatory, 14 March 1997. evidence of microbial life on the Earth has recently been discovered. BELOW The impacts of comets and the ingress of Alien worlds may be the receptacles, rather than the places of origin, for cosmic microbiota did not cease at this time in the life in all its forms. An artist’s view of distant past but continued sporadically throughout the planet Proxima b , which orbits geological history at a much-diminished rate. It the red dwarf Proxima Centauri – the is precisely this process that provided the main closest star to the Sun. source of innovative genes and served as the driver of Darwinian/Lamarckian evolution as witnessed throughout the entire history of terrestrial life. Whilst most of the cometary microbiota that arrive at the Earth comes from within the solar system (the Oort cloud) occasionally comets from outside the solar system could also contribute. The recent discovery of two interstellar comets – Oumuamua (2017) and Comet C/2019 Q4 (Comet Borisov) – highlights this possibility, and suggests that the entire galaxy could be a single connected biosphere. Transport of microbial life (and viruses) from one cosmic habitat to another requires endurance to space conditions including cosmic rays for millions of years. The closest terrestrial analogue to this latter situation exists for microbes exposed to the natural radioactivity of the Earth. Quite remarkably, microbial survival under such conditions is now well documented.

LEFT: ESO/E. SLAWIK / BELOW: ESO/M. KORNMESSER / BELOW: ESO/E. SLAWIK LEFT: Dormant microorganisms in the guts of insects trapped in amber have been revived after 25-40 million years. And some species of bacteria have even been found to thrive in the interiors of working nuclear reactors. All this goes to show that arguments used in the past to discredit panspermia on the grounds of survivability during interstellar travel are seriously flawed and are essentially obsolete.

TENTACLES OF TRUTH If a single discovery is to serve as a watershed in the journey to accepting our cosmic origins it is a recent study of two related species: the squid and the octopus. The squid has an antiquity in the geological record event, after which life was transferred to Earth that goes back to the great metazoan explosion of and elsewhere by processes that the present writer multi-celled life 540 million years ago. The octopus and the late Sir Fred Hoyle first proposed in 1980: apparently branches out from the squid line about cometary panspermia. The essence of cometary 400 million years ago, presumed to evolve from an panspermia is that the entire galaxy – perhaps the ancestral squid. Recent DNA sequencing of the squid entire Universe – is one single connected biosphere. and octopus genomes has exploded a bombshell. The The mode of connection relies on comets which squid contains a very meagre compliment of genes act as repositories, replicators and distributors of adequate to serve its modest survival needs. The cosmic life throughout the universe. emergent octopus, on the other hand, has over 40,000 Comets were both feared and revered by many genes (the human has only 25,000 genes) and many of ancient cultures throughout the world. Modern these genes code for complex brain function. Others studies show that comets are likely to be the first code for a highly sophisticated camouflage capability solid objects to condense when new planetary including rapid switches of colour. The octopus is systems form out of interstellar dust clouds. Our incredibly more complex in structure and performance own solar system is surrounded by a gigantic shell than its squid predecessor. Where did the suite of genes of over 100 billion comets, the so-called Oort coding for complex brain function come from? They cloud which is at an average distance of about were not present in the ancestral squid or in any other half a light-year from the Sun. Comets from the living form that existed on the Earth at the time. The shell are periodically perturbed by passing comets clear implication is that they came from outside the into orbits that bring them into the inner parts Earth – external to terrestrial biology – part of the of the solar system – sometimes, albeit rarely, to cosmic milieu of life. even collide with Earth. Not long after the Earth’s Another lead in this story has come from the crust had formed comet collisions were frequent study of interstellar dust clouds which have been and indeed such collisions were most probably conducted over several decades. The list of organic

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molecules present in interstellar clouds has increased dramatically in number since their first discovery in the 1970s and so also has their degree of complexity. The first astronomical discovery showing interstellar (cosmic) dust to mimic closely the infrared absorption pattern (spectrum) of bacteria was made by Dayal Wickramasinghe and David Allen using the Anglo- Australian telescope. Decisive evidence for complex aromatic and aliphatic carbon-based molecules (ring molecules and long chain molecules) now exists everywhere in our galaxy, and even beyond in galaxies as far away as 8 billion light years. Whilst all such data still tends to be interpreted avoiding "biology" with the suggestion that we may be witnessing exceedingly improbable "primordial soup-type events" on a cosmic scale, cosmic biology remains by far the most attractive logical option. This is further evidence of panspermia in action – the organic molecules in interstellar space being degradation products of iterant bacteria and viruses. Comets in our solar system have been the target of several space missions since 1986 following ESA’s Giotto successful mission to Halley’s Comet. The Giotto mission showed clearly that the prevailing theory that comets are dirty snowballs had to be abandoned in favour of comets rich in organic molecules, and most likely also containing viable bacteria and viruses. More recent explorations of comets, culminating in the Rosetta Mission to Comet 67P/C-G, have yielded ESA a formidable body of evidence all showing consistency with the existence in comets of microbial material. ABOVE Even with this huge flux the newly arriving bacteria Many species of fermenting bacteria are known to Rosetta images will be overwhelmingly smothered by the much vaster the comet 67P/ be able to produce ethanol from sugars, so the recent Churyumov- numbers of indigenous bacteria that swirl around discovery that Comet Lovejoy emits ethyl alcohol Gerasimenko, near ground level. It is amply clear that the need to amounting to 500 bottles of wine per second would giving tantalising distinguish and separate these two populations are appear to be a clear indication that such a microbial glimpses into its becoming ever more important. process is operating. structure, the To neglect such an ongoing incidence, if it can material of which The reluctance of some scientists to endorse these it is formed and of be confirmed, is irresponsible in the extreme. It discoveries lies not in the quality of the data involved its complex shape. is obviously of the utmost importance that these but in a desire to maintain a conservative position experiments are repeated by independent bodies but in relation to life on Earth and its purely terrestrial this has not happened so far. More expensive and origins. It is only in this way that public funding sophisticated investigations need to be carried out of their research projects (and livelihoods!) can be Compared even on the samples collected so far, if we are to prove assured. Although the Earth was demoted from its beyond doubt that these microbes are unequivocally privileged position as the physical centrality in the with other alien. The sad truth is that funding for such vitally Universe over 500 years ago (and not without anguish) important experiments is well-nigh impossible to the trend to regard life as being centred on our home projects for secure. Compared with other projects for solar system planet has persisted almost to the present day. But exploration the budgets involved here are trivial and a paradigm shift with far-reaching consequences is solar system the scientific and societal pay-off could be huge. imminent now and public support seems also to be The goal of humanity at the close of 2019 must be to growing. exploration confirm beyond a shadow of doubt that life is a truly cosmic phenomenon. The evolution of life takes place INCOMING ALIENS the budgets not just within a closed biosphere on our minuscule During the past decade tantalising evidence of are trivial and planet Earth but extends over a vast and connected microorganisms currently entering Earth has volume of the cosmos. It is to be expected on this basis accumulated, but has thus far been largely ignored and the scientific that the emergence of intelligent life is a logical not pursued. The first such data was acquired from consequence of the same process and must therefore be relatively inexpensive projects that involve balloon and societal commonplace on a cosmic scale. The prospect of flights to the stratosphere and the recovery of in-falling making contact with such intelligence is one that cometary dust. The first in a series of experiments was pay-off could cannot be relegated to the realm of science fiction. SF conducted by the Indian Space Research Organisation be huge in 2001 and 2006 with staggering results, indicating an For further reading inflow of microorganisms at the rate of 0.3-3 tonnes 1. W ickramasinghe, Chandra. 2015. The Search for our per year over the entire Earth. From this data we can Cosmic Ancestry (World) calculate that 20-200 million bacterial cells fall on every 2. W ickramasinghe, Chandra et al., 2019. Our Cosmic square metre of the Earth’s surface every single day. Ancestry in the Stars (Inner Traditions, NY)

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SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 27 SATELLITES

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Heading for the OUTER LIMITS Just over a year ago, on 5 November 2018, NASA's Voyager 2 became only the second spacecraft in history to leave the heliosphere – the protective bubble of particles and magnetic fields created by the Sun. by by Calla Cofield, Jet Propulsion Laboratory

ust over one year ago, on 5 November 2018, LEFT probes exited the heliosphere at different locations NASA's Voyager 2 became only the second Voyager 2 under test in and also at different times in the constantly 1976, a year before the spacecraft in history to leave the heliosphere historic launch which would repeating, approximately 11-year solar cycle, over – the protective bubble of particles and see it visit Jupiter and the course of which the Sun goes through a period magnetic fields created by our Sun. At a Saturn before becoming the of high and low activity. Scientists expected that J only spacecraft to fly past distance of about 18 billion kilometres from Earth, the edge of the heliosphere, called the heliopause, well beyond the orbit of Pluto, Voyager 2 had Uranus and Neptune. can move as the Sun's activity changes, similar to a entered interstellar space, the region between stars. lung expanding and contracting with breath. This Now, five new research papers in the journal Nature was consistent with the fact that the two probes Astronomy describe what scientists observed during encountered the heliopause at different distances and since Voyager 2's historic crossing. BELOW from the Sun. The Sun's heliosphere is like a ship sailing Voyager 2’s transition to the The new papers now confirm that Voyager 2 through interstellar space. Both the heliosphere and interstellar medium and a is not yet in undisturbed interstellar space: Like log scale of distance from interstellar space are filled with plasma, a gas that the Sun resulting in its next its twin, Voyager 1, Voyager 2 appears to be in has had some of its atoms stripped of their electrons. close encounter, Ross 248 in a perturbed transitional region just beyond the The plasma inside the heliosphere is hot and sparse, 40,000 years. heliosphere. while the plasma in interstellar space is colder and denser. The space between stars also contains cosmic rays, or particles accelerated by exploding stars. Voyager 1 discovered that the heliosphere protects Earth and the other planets from more than 70% of that radiation. When Voyager 2 exited the heliosphere in 2018, scientists announced that its two energetic particle detectors noticed dramatic changes: The rate of heliospheric particles detected by the instruments plummeted, while the rate of cosmic rays (which typically have higher energies than the heliospheric particles) increased dramatically and remained high. The changes confirmed that the probe had entered a new region of space. Before Voyager 1 reached the edge of the heliosphere in 2012, scientists didn't know exactly how far this boundary was from the Sun. The two

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“The Voyager probes are showing us how our Sun interacts with the stuff that fills most of the space between stars in the Milky Way galaxy”, said Ed Stone, project scientist for Voyager and a professor of physics at Caltech. “Without this new data from Voyager 2, we wouldn't know if what we were seeing with Voyager 1 was characteristic of the entire heliosphere or specific just to the location and time when it crossed”.

PLASMA PUSH The two Voyager spacecraft have now confirmed that the plasma in local interstellar space is significantly denser than the plasma inside the heliosphere, as scientists expected. Voyager 2 has now also measured the temperature of the plasma in nearby interstellar space and confirmed it is colder than the plasma inside the heliosphere. In 2012, Voyager 1 observed a slightly higher than expected plasma density just outside the heliosphere, indicating that the plasma is being somewhat compressed. Voyager 2 observed that the plasma outside the heliosphere is slightly warmer than expected, which could also indicate it is being compressed. The plasma outside is still colder than the plasma inside. Voyager 2 also observed ABOVE instrument confirms a surprising result from a slight increase in plasma density just before it The four primary Voyager 1: The magnetic field in the region just instruments of Voyager exited the heliosphere, indicating that the plasma is (right), which has beyond the heliopause is parallel to the magnetic compressed around the inside edge of the bubble. constructed the first map field inside the heliosphere. With Voyager 1, But scientists don't yet fully understand what is of the heliosphere and scientists had only one sample of these magnetic causing the compression on either side. the heliopause – the line fields and couldn't say for sure whether the If the heliosphere is like a ship sailing through demarcating interplanetary apparent alignment was characteristic of the entire and interstellar space. Both interstellar space, it appears the hull is somewhat spacecraft carry gold disks exterior region or just a coincidence. Voyager 2's leaky. One of Voyager's particle instruments showed containing every imaginable magnetometer observations confirm the Voyager that a trickle of particles from inside the heliosphere sound of Earth that are 1 finding and indicate that the two fields align, NASA-JPL LEFT: AND BELOW ABOVE is slipping through the boundary and into destined to travel across according to Stone. the universe for millions of interstellar space. Voyager 1 exited close to the very light years. The Voyager probes launched in 1977, and both “front” of the heliosphere, relative to the bubble's flew by Jupiter and Saturn. Voyager 2 changed movement through space. Voyager 2, on the other course at Saturn in order to fly by Uranus and hand, is located closer to the flank, and this region Neptune, performing the only close flybys of those appears to be more porous than the region where planets in history. The Voyager probes completed Voyager 1 is located. their Grand Tour of the planets and began their An observation by Voyager 2's magnetic field Interstellar Mission to reach the heliopause in 1989.

STARMANSUPREME

Ed Stone was born in Knoxville, Iowa, on January 23, 1936. He graduated from Iowa's Burlington Junior College in 1956 and earned his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Chicago in 1964. Since the Voyager spacecraft launched in 1977, Stone has led and coordinated 11 instrument teams on the project. He also served as the director of JPL from 1991 to 2001, overseeing many space-based missions, including Cassini, and a programme of Mars exploration that included Mars Pathfinder and the Sojourner rover. Stone also played a key role in the development of the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. In the mid-1980s through the 1990s, he served as a vice chairman and chairman of the board of directors of the California Association for Research in Astronomy, which is responsible for building and operating Keck. He is also on the board of the W. M. Keck Foundation. He is currently playing a similar role in the development of the planned Thirty Meter Telescope, an international partnership that includes the US Canada, China, Japan and India. Stone joined Caltech in 1964 as a research fellow, joining the faculty as an assistant professor in 1967. He became the Morrisroe professor in 1994 and, in 2004, became the vice provost for special projects at Caltech. He has served as a principal investigator on nine missions and as a co-investigator on five additional missions. He has more than 1,000 publications in professional journals and conference proceedings, and has mentored a large number of students, postdocs, and research scientists. The Shaw Prize is awarded annually in three categories: Astronomy, Life Science and Medicine, and Mathematical Sciences. It is an international award managed and administered by The Shaw Prize Foundation based in Hong Kong. The 2019 Shaw laureates received their awards in Hong Kong at the ceremonial prize-giving on 25 September 2019. .

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"This is a tremendous honour", said Stone, "and a tribute to the teams who designed, developed, “A tribute to the launched and operated Voyager on an inspiring teams who journey of more than four decades". A VERY GRAND TOUR designed, Voyager 2 launched in August 1977, and Voyager 1 soon followed, launching in September 1977. Some developed, of the mission's many highlights include the first launched and high-resolution images of the four giant planets of our solar system (Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and operated Voyager Neptune); the discovery of volcanoes on Jupiter's moon Io; the first images of the rings of Jupiter, on an inspiring Uranus, and Neptune; and the discovery of gaps and other complex structures in Saturn's rings. journey of more In 2012, Voyager 1 became the first human-made object to cross into interstellar pace, beyond the than four decades” protective bubble, or heliosphere, that surrounds our solar system. Voyager 2 achieved this milestone more recently, in 2018. Both missions carry gold records of Earth sounds, music, images and messages. With careful planning and dashes of creativity, engineers have been able to keep NASA's Voyager 1 and 2 spacecraft flying for nearly 42 years, longer Voyager 1, the faster of the two probes, is currently than any other spacecraft in history. To ensure over 22 billion km from the Sun, while Voyager 2 that these vintage robots continue to return the is 18.2 billion km from the Sun. It takes light about best science data possible from the frontiers of 16.5 hours to travel from Voyager 2 to Earth. By space, mission engineers are implementing a new comparison, light travelling from the Sun takes plan to manage them. And that involves making about eight minutes to reach Earth. difficult choices, particularly about instruments and Former Jet Propulsion Laboratory Director thrusters. Edward Stone, currently the David Morrisroe One key issue is that both Voyagers, launched in Professor of Physics at Caltech and the project 1977, have less and less power available over time scientist for NASA's Voyager mission for the past 47 to run their science instruments and the heaters years, has been awarded the prestigious Shaw Prize that keep them warm in the coldness of deep in Astronomy "for his leadership in the Voyager BELOW space. Engineers have had to decide what parts get project, which has, over the past four decades, Velocity versus distance power and what parts have to be turned off on both transformed our understanding of the four giant (left) as Voyager 2 received spacecraft. But those decisions must be made sooner planets and the outer solar system, and has now a gravity kick from the four for Voyager 2 than Voyager 1 because Voyager 2 has giant outer planets and a begun to explore interstellar space", according to the plot (right) of the speed and one more science instrument collecting data – and award citation. The prize comes with a monetary distance from the Sun of the drawing power – than its sibling. award of $1.2 million. two Voyager spacecraft. After extensive discussions with the science

VOYAGER DASHBOARD CMGLEE PHOENIX 7777 PHOENIX

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team, mission managers have turned off a heater ABOVE internal efficiency decreases over time, each for the cosmic ray subsystem instrument (CRS) on Instruments verify the spacecraft is producing about four fewer watts departure of Voyager 2 Voyager 2 as part of the new power management from the heliosphere on 5 of electrical power each year. That means the plan. The cosmic ray instrument played a crucial November 2018. generators produce about 40% less than what they role in November 2018 in determining that did at launch more than 42 years ago, limiting the Voyager 2 had exited the heliosphere. Ever since, number of systems that can run on the spacecraft. the two Voyagers have been sending back details The mission's new power management plan of how our heliosphere interacts with the wind explores multiple options for dealing with the flowing in interstellar space, the space between diminishing power supply on both spacecraft, stars. including shutting off additional instrument Not only are Voyager mission findings providing heaters over the next few years. humanity with observations of truly uncharted Another challenge that engineers have faced is territory, but they help us understand the very managing the degradation of some of the spacecraft nature of energy and radiation in space, key thrusters, which fire in tiny pulses to subtly rotate information for protecting NASA's missions and the spacecraft. This became an issue in 2017, when astronauts even when closer to home. mission controllers noticed that a set of thrusters Mission team members can now preliminarily on Voyager 1 needed to give off more pulses to confirm that Voyager 2's cosmic ray instrument is keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth. still returning data, despite dropping to a chilly -59º The mission's new To make sure the spacecraft could continue to C. This is lower than the temperatures at which maintain proper orientation, the team fired up CRS was tested more than 42 years ago (down power management another set of thrusters on Voyager 1 that hadn't to -45º C). Engineers have to carefully control been used in 37 years. temperature on both spacecraft to keep them plan explores Voyager 2's current thrusters have started to operating. For instance, if fuel lines powering the degrade, too. Mission managers decided to make thrusters that keep the spacecraft oriented were to multiple options the same thruster switch on that probe during freeze, the Voyagers' antennae could stop pointing for dealing with the 2019. Voyager 2 last used these thrusters (known as at Earth. That would prevent engineers from trajectory correction manoeuvre thrusters) during sending commands to the spacecraft or receiving diminishing power its encounter with Neptune in 1989. scientific data. So the spacecraft were designed to Voyager 2 successfully fired up its trajectory heat themselves. supply on both correction manoeuvre thrusters on 8 July 2019, and But running heaters and instruments requires will be using them to control the pointing of the power, which is constantly diminishing on both spacecraft spacecraft for the foreseeable future. The Voyagers. spacecraft's ageing attitude control thrusters have Each of the probes is powered by three been experiencing degradation that required them radioisotope thermoelectric generators, or RTGs, to fire an increasing and untenable number of which produce heat via the natural decay of pulses to keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at plutonium-238 radioisotopes and convert that Earth. Voyager 1 switched to its trajectory heat into electrical power. Because the heat energy correction manoeuvre thrusters for the same of the plutonium in the RTGs declines and their reason in January 2018. SF

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SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 33 OBITUARY

REMEMBERING Alexei Leonov (1934-2019)

Selected as a member of the first Soviet cosmonaut team alongside Yuri Gagarin, he made the first ever spacewalk but his hopes of making a lunar landing were dashed when the US won the Moon Race.

by Ken MacTaggart FBIS IMAGES OF SPUTNIK COURTESTY IMAGES

osmonaut Alexei Leonov, who died in BELOW mission. Sergei Korolev, chief architect of the Soviet Moscow on 11 October 2019 at the age of 85, Space heroes of space programme, had planned for Leonov to exit the the Soviet Union was a giant of the Soviet space programme. (l-r): Vladimir. craft and “swim” in space, as he put it “much like a He performed the world’s first spacewalk, Komarov (Vosk. sailor should learn to swim in the sea”. The activity later trained to land on the Moon, commanded the 1), Alexei Leonov became known as spacewalking, but Korolov’s term C (Vosk. 2) Yuri. Soyuz 19 spacecraft on the first joint docking with the was surely more descriptive of motion in zero gravity. Gagarin (Vost. 1), Americans, and was later ‘Chief Cosmonaut’, in overall Gherman Titov Their Voskhod 2 craft was a heavier version of the charge of the Russian cosmonaut team.. (Vost. 2), Valentina Vostok capsule which had carried Gagarin into orbit, When Alexei was still a toddler, Arkhip, his father, Tereshkova but with the crucial addition of an airlock and a larger was arrested after accusations by vindictive neighbours, (Vost. 6), Valery retro rocket. The Russians had also developed a special who declared him an “enemy of the people”. A mob Bykovsky (Vost. spacesuit but it had not been inadequately tested, as 5), Andrian stripped their house of food and furniture. Arkhip was Nikolaev (Vost. events would prove. subsequently cleared of all charges and rejoined his 3), Konstantin family at Kemerovo on the Tom River, finding work at Feoktistov FIRST FOOTING the local nuclear power plant. Alexei recalled: "He was (Voskhod 1), Boris Voskhod 2 was launched on 18 March 1965, with the Yegorov (Vosk. 1), not alone: many were being arrested. It was part of a Pavel Popovich Russians fully aware of American plans for a spacewalk conscious drive by the authorities to eradicate anyone (Vost.4), Pavel on their second Gemini flight, expected several weeks who showed too much independence.” Belyayev (Vosk.2). later. Having been in space for only 90 minutes, Leonov From his early years, Alexei displayed an artistic talent, and would earn food for the family by drawing pictures for his neighbours. However, at age six he met a Soviet pilot, and a new ambition took over. The family moved to Kaliningrad in 1948, where Alexei finished his education, then enrolled at a flying school in Kremenchuk, Ukraine. Aged 19, he spent two years learning how to fly propeller planes, followed by two years on military jets at the Higher Military Pilots’ School in Chuhuiv. He graduated as a lieutenant, then was selected for the cosmonaut group in 1960. By now he had married Svetlana Pavlovna Dozenko, a teacher, with whom he would have two daughters. Initially, Leonov served as an assistant capsule communicator for Yuri Gagarin’s Vostok 1 mission. The pair became close friends, Gagarin coining a variety of nicknames for him – “Pencil”, “Artist” and “Blondie”. Leonov did not perform well in centrifuge tests and was assessed as too tall for the Vostok missions. However, his intense physical training paid off, and in summer 1964 he was working with cosmonaut Pavel Belyayev on secret preparations for a dramatic

34 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight OBITUARY crawled into the airlock chamber, now inflated into a 2.5 metre long tube extending from the side of the craft. Tethered by a 5-metre cable, Leonov emerged through the airlock as Voskhod 2 passed over North Africa, heading towards Russia where communications links were optimal. He stayed next to the hatch for several minutes before pushing himself off and floating free in space. The event was broadcast live on Soviet television, to the astonishment of family and friends watching at home, who had known nothing of the planned mission. As his ill-fitting suit ballooned in the vacuum, Leonov’s hands were no longer able to grip the inside of his gloves, and he lost control of his movements. Risking the “bends”, he was forced to bleed air from the suit to lower the pressure and flex the joints sufficiently to contort his body back into the airlock upside down, then right himself. Live broadcasts were curtailed as, with racing heart and sweating profusely, he and Belyayev struggled to close the hatch. He had spent just 12 minutes in open space, but had come close to death. Leonov had taken his crayons and sketch pad into orbit aboard Voskhod and, recovering from his ordeal, he created the first art in space by drawing colourful sunsets and other scenes. The perils of Voskhod 2 were not yet over. The automatic retro-rocket system failed, their manual ABOVE few hours of each other on 15 July 1975, and docked de-orbit firing was late, and the capsule landed in deep Leonov conducts in orbit two days later, approximately over Bognor his brief but snow about 400 km beyond the intended landing point perilous Regis in Sussex. Stafford and Leonov met in the tunnel after a flight of only 26 hours. The pair spent the night spacewalk where that connected their two craft, Stafford greeting him in their freezing capsule before a rescue crew arrived, ingenuity and in Russian as he took his hand: “Tovarisch!” This term then a second night in a log cabin, finally escaping on persistence saved “Comrade” with its communist political overtones was skis pursued by wolves. his life. both a joke and a real compliment, as these former From 1967 Leonov joined a training group for ABOVE LEFT Cold War enemies had become close friends. circumlunar and Moon landing expeditions using the Leonov at the Back on Earth, Leonov was appointed commander Zond L1 craft and the secret LK-3 lunar lander. But the time of the of the cosmonaut team until 1982, and went on to Apollo-Soyuz joint American Apollo programme was advancing rapidly, docking flight become the first deputy director of the Yuri Gagarin and Apollo 8’s Moon-orbiting fight in December 1968 in 1975. Cosmonaut Training Center at Star City. After the effectively ended the manned Soviet lunar programme. break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, he left the Air Next, Leonov became commander of the Soyuz Force and entered the private sector. For several years 11 mission to the Salyut 1 space station, but crews he worked with the Alfa-Capital Investment Fund, were switched just a week before the June 1971 launch. becoming Vice-President of Moscow’s Alfa-Bank. Leonov’s crewmate Valeri Kubasov had suspected Alexei Leonov’s joint autobiography, Two Sides of tuberculosis, and the prime crew was grounded and the Moon, which he co-wrote with US Moonwalker replaced by Dobrovolsky, Volkov and Patsayev. David Scott, was published in 2004. He retained a Leonov was furious at the decision, but it proved close friendship with both Scott and Stafford for the to be another narrow escape for him, when all three Leonov joked remainder of his life. crew members died as the capsule depressurised on its Leonov came to the UK many times, fascinating return to Earth. that he had schoolchildren in Scotland with his space stories and lecturing in Birmingham and London. Most UNIFICATION now memorably, at London’s Science Museum in 2015, he A decade after his first flight, Leonov finally entered drew diagrams with chalk on a blackboard to explain space again in 1975, on the celebrated joint flight with mastered his perilous spacewalk. the Americans, the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The three His funeral, held in Mytishchi outside Moscow American crew were Tom Stafford, Deke Slayton and on 15 October, was attended by Tom Stafford and Vance Brand, while the Soviets again teamed Leonov languages: Valentina Tereshkova, and presided over by an and Kubasov, the engineer whose illness had kept Orthodox priest. Leonov off the ill-fated Soyuz 11. Russian, His death had been preceded by that of his co-pilot Training in both nation’s space centres, the Russians Kubasov in 2014 and by US astronaut Slayton in 1993, learned to speak English fluently and formed genuine English and leaving Stafford and Brand as the two surviving crew friendships with the Americans. The press enjoyed members of the ASTP missions. Leonov was also the Leonov’s humour, as he teased the Oklahoman Stafford ‘Oklahomski’ last survivor of the five Voskhod cosmonauts. He is about his drawling Russian pronunciation. Leonov survived by his wife Svetlana, their daughter Oksana joked that he had now mastered three languages: and two grandchildren. His other daughter Viktoria Russian, English and “Oklahomski”. died in 1996. A crater on the far side of the Moon, near The American and Soviet crews launched within a to Mare Moscoviense, is named after him. SF

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 35 OBITUARY

…and a tribute to Alexei by Helen Sharman CMG, OBE

itting on a raised platform in a Moscow hospital meeting room, with a delegation of Soviet cosmonaut specialists commenting on the previous fortnight’s medical and psychological S examinations of four hopeful British candidates, Alexei Leonov was clearly more than “one of the team”. It was not just that he was leading the committee but when he appeared, energy in the room seemed to rise a few notches. We candidates listened nervously in this strange setting as results of various tests were announced but Alexei was very much at home, chatting quietly to

doctors, his face occasionally lighting up with a great BAKER VIA DAVID LEFT: PURKISS / BELOW ANNE-KATRIN LEFT: chuckle. Although small in stature, as many of the Soviet cosmonauts were, Alexei’s character was as big as ABOVE great Alexei Leonov could fix that!). his smile and he put this to good use wherever he was Helen Sharman Always larger than life in public, gregarious and CMG, OBE the first in the world (as well as in orbit) as a Soviet, and later British cosmonaut the centre of attention, Alexei would invite guests Russian, hero. and who, in 1991, from around the world to Star City, organising formal Alexei Arkhipovich, as he was known in Star City, became the first receptions and informal meetings when information was in charge of the non-Soviet cosmonauts from woman to visit Mir. was shared and friendships were maintained. On an selection right through to space flight while I was there on-going basis, he made sure there was contact with so he was my Soviet cosmonaut boss. On arrival with American astronauts to the end of the Cold War and Timothy Mace to begin our training, Alexei was there beyond, a legacy of Alexei’s part in the Apollo-Soyuz to meet us and he showed us to our flats. There were Mission and the Association of Space Explorers (ASE), two tower blocks where cosmonauts and their families which he jointly founded. BELOW lived, along with widows (like Valentina Gagarina) and At the Gagarin Alexei loved to use some of the English phrases other privileged families. Tim was given a flat in Dom Cosmonaut he had picked up from his American colleagues: (meaning “house”) 4 while I had an identical flat in Training Centre “big cheese”, “top banana” and “bottoms up” were his Dom 2, a few floors above Alexei’s flat. in Star City, favourites. When beloved guests visited the cosmonaut Russia, Expedition Alexei later told me that he had designed the 29/30 Soyuz team, our tea breaks would move to the tea bar that interior decorations for Tim and me, which were very Commander Anton Alexei had designed with its white leather seats, saved fashionable for the time in the USSR, with brown and Shkaplerov (left) for best occasions. The colour white was one that beige leaf-patterned wallpaper, dark brown storage shares a moment Alexei made his own and he was often seen wearing units, brown easy chairs, patterned red rugs on the with Alexei a white suit at celebratory evenings at the end of ASE Leonov during wooden floors and net curtains for privacy. (However the departure congresses, for instance. fashionably decorated, it did not stop the lights from ceremony 31 Despite Alexei’s enjoyment of large gatherings, there dimming whenever someone used the lift; not even the October 2011. was one occasion during my training when an informal party was planned by some of the younger cosmonaut trainees and it became clear that Alexei was concerned that Ryoko Kikuchi and I might come to some harm should we attend. (Ryoko became the back-up to Toyohiro Akiyama on the mission before mine.) Alexei asked Ryoko and me to go to his flat in Dom 2 on the evening of the party. We thought it would be for a few minutes’ discussion leading to asking us to meet with one of his future international guests to Star City and we decided to go straight on to the party afterwards. We arrived at Alexei’s at the designated time, when Alexei explained that his wife was out for the evening and he would like to show us how to make the famous Russian pilmeni (think of mini-Cornish pasties, boiled instead of baked). Alexei spent what seemed like hours explaining how to prepare the meat mixture, what to do with the dough and how best to hand-crimp to stop

36 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight OBITUARY RIGHT: VIA DAVID BAKER / BELOW RIGHT: VICTOR R. RUIZ VICTOR RIGHT: / BELOW BAKER VIA DAVID RIGHT: the meat from escaping. Then Alexei slowly spooned ABOVE Alexei’s life would never be his own after that first sour cream into his preferred dish and he brought a Leonov with ever spacewalk and he continued to make formal the artwork he pan of water to the boil. Once the pilmeni were cooked, created depicting appearances and speeches as a Russian hero well after Alexei served them onto plates for us to eat…and eat… his historic he had retired from his position at Star City. At 50th and eat…they kept on coming! spacewalk in anniversary celebrations of Yuri Gagarin’s space flight, The pilmeni were actually very good so it was no March 1965. Alexei and Valentina Tereshkova were brought to the hardship but we did want to go to the party. At about front of a packed Kremlin Hall and he came to London’s 11 pm, finally Alexei bid us farewell. Although the ruse Science Museum for public events on the day Tim to stop us going to the party failed, Ryoko and I were so Peake launched into space. A few months before that, full of pilmeni that we were incapable of doing anything amongst Russian celebrations of his spacewalk 50 years other than sitting in a corner and digesting our food! earlier, Alexei was also in the Science Museum giving a press conference and a lecture to a packed IMAX SARTORIAL SELECTION Theatre audience. Memorably, Alexei used a blackboard Alexei was central to the final Star City breakfast before and chalk to describe details of his spacewalk. I’m told Tim and I departed for the Baikonur Cosmodrome in that the Science Museum has protected Alexei’s chalk Kazakhstan and of course, he flew there with us. Once diagrams with a film to preserve them. in the Baikonur area, Alexei was in his element, visiting Alexei leaves many cherished memories for various people and even going on a fishing expedition BELOW everyone who knew him. I am writing this on my way with some of them, the products of which he brought Leonov, Stephen to the annual ASE Congress, where I know there will be Hawking and back to cook and share for dinner. Unbeknown to Brian May at the many tributes as we remember the ever-smiling face of me, Alexei had taken my measurements to a local Starmus Festival Soviet space prowess and international relations. dressmaker, hand-picked a design of a frilly shorts/ in 2016. Bottoms up, Alexei! SF blouse onesie and selected a pink, non-bulky material. On the launch day, Alexei handed me a small bag containing the garment, telling me it was the only secret I was allowed to have from my crew. He helped me to shove it inside my spacesuit before I fastened up and he instructed me to stow it behind my seat in the Soyuz spacecraft once we could remove our suits. Alexei knew the effect it would have when I wore it at dinner on Mir to celebrate our docking and union with the Soyuz 11 crew already there. The twinkle in his eye when he showed me the garment told me that Alexei knew just as much how it was not exactly my choice of space wear and embarrassingly, a film of me floating in pink frills through the space station exists to this day; most recently, when I visited the Museum of Cosmonautics in Moscow, it was part of a repeating loop on screens to keep people amused as they queued for entry!

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 37 REVIEWS MULTI-MEDIA

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

SPACE MODELS Nazi Wunderwaffen

he Natter was the brainchild of Erich RIGHT Bachem, an engineer who had specialised The second prototype in building wooden gliders. He was initially unmanned ‘"yellow" craft with stripes said to be working for Fieseler at the outbreak of the based on a pattern used Second World War, but in 1942 set up his on a 1937 Fieseler F2 Tiger T stunt plane, RLM 04 in own company, Bachem-Werk GmbH in the town of Waldsee in south-west Germany. It was here in 1944, German colour notation. he drew up initial plans for what became the Natter, a vertically-launched, rocket powered interceptor. Over the years, there have been a number of model kits of the Natter. Some are in conventional injection styrene, though many are from the specialist “garage” manufacturers, using materials such as resin, white metal and photo-etch. There’s even been one you can build out of card! the structure differed considerably and was far more The most comprehensive selection of Natter complex. Dragon produced a kit of this as well, models has come from Dragon, a Hong Kong BELOW together with parts for an operational Natter or one of company. It has made several versions of this The three kits issued by the unmanned prototypes in the garish yellow finish, intriguing craft to 1:48 scale, and has made the Dragon – (left) the prototype with stripes on the wings, as displayed at the Deutsche launch system as well. The launcher for the intended launch set up, which Museum in Munich. production craft consisted primarily of a telegraph includes details for the The launch tower is built primarily in standard “yellow’ version” (centre) pole standing about 15 m tall, with a small amount of the Natter with maintenance injection styrene, but because of the thinness of some supporting metalwork at the base. crew and (right) the of the rails, a photo-etch sheet in brass is also included. However the first time the Natter was launched production launch version. This does need some specialist knowledge to build, but is worth the effort to get the correct look. A base was built up from MDF (medium density fibreboard). This has a smooth finish, and cuts with no grain, allowing the edges to be easily finished. It doesn’t warp easily and with a coat of wood primer paint, will then take any additional surfacing. The prototype launch tower was built in a desolate flat area called the Ochsenkoft on the Heugerg of Baden Plateau, close to the River Danube. For the display, all that was required was bolstering the base with some thin layers of expanded polystyrene cut from electronic equipment packaging, covered in a thin coating of ceiling plaster. Unlike Plaster of Paris, this takes at least 24 hours to dry allowing shaping work to continue without the danger of it all suddenly setting solid! Dragon makes a separate kit of just the Natter, no tower, undergoing maintenance with extras such as a separate Walter HWK 109-509 A1 rocket motor, plus several shells for the Föhn rocket system. A support cradle and figures are included with this kit. This Natter was also finished in a far more speculative camouflage pattern – a base coat of Desert Sand colour, followed by a dazzle purple and mid green. Some vehicle and equipment were added to the scene, from Tamiya’s range of 1:48 scale vehicles. There

38 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight IMAGES THE IMAGES BY AUTHOR

is a VW Beetle and the Citröen 11CV Traction Avant, ABOVE photographs show the underside to be matt black or captured examples being very popular in Germany A composite model that possibly scarlet, while the upper surfaces were in a show both prototype (left) during the War. Tamiya also makes a Kubelwagen and production launchers, camouflage scheme. This was most likely a dark green and the Krupp 6x4 Kr Protze open-top truck. Plus with two other Natters in over a pale blue or grey base. the Kettenkraftrad tracked motorbike, with a power the foreground. On that disastrous flight of 1 March 1945, Sieber supply trailer and several pieces of equipment. had the distinction of being the first person to have Ironically the only manned launch that was ever been launched vertically on a craft powered purely by attempted killed Bachem-Werk’s test-pilot Lothar rocket engines. If you liken the Natter more to a Sieber, possible cause being an incorrectly fixed winged spacecraft the record was held for nearly 40 canopy. There are no known colour images of this years – until the first launch of an operational Shuttle, craft, numbered M23, though the black and white Columbia in April 1981. SF Mat Irvine FBIS

GAMER'S CORNER with Henry Philp Orion around the Mun! Recently in this column, I’ve been recreating real life rockets and spacecraft in Kerbal Space Program, so I decided to continue the trend by building an SLS, complete with Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage and Orion MPCV. This particular vehicle was easier to create than the SpaceX craft I have built previously, because KSP comes with parts styled after SLS out of the box. As I’m sure you know, NASA plans to fly an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the Moon in November 2020, on a mission called Exploration Mission-1 or Artemis-1. While it was originally Orion MPV approaches the Mun. planned for the spacecraft to simply fly past the Moon and return to Earth, this was later changed and it will now spend six days in a While politics may slow down NASA as they attempt to return distant retrograde orbit, somewhat similar to that of the Lunar to the Moon, there is nothing of the sort in KSP – you have no Gateway space station that NASA intends to construct. political or monetary boundaries. You can create spacecraft As I have mentioned, the planetary system in KSP is 1/10th the completely of your own design, or recreate real ones as I have scale of our Solar System, which means that delta-V requirements done here. and orbital altitudes vary significantly – Kerbal is not to be used as We are now seeing the birth of a new “space race”, but this an accurate engineering tool! However, it is enough to get a feel time it is not between two countries, but between governments for the overall mission plan, as well as the trajectory that the and private companies. It will not only be interesting to see how it spacecraft will take. pans out, but also to recreate it in KSP when it does happen!

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 39 REVIEWS NASA

PRINTED BOOKS California dreaming

n 1844 a vast swathe of land then under Spanish rule some 24 km east of the present city of Sacramento, California, was given over to William Leidesdorff by the Mexican A J-2 rocket motor frames an S-IVB stage at SACTO. . I government. For much of the next 200 years the place was known for its agriculture, for a vineyard and for gold mines – until rocket engineers from and space launch systems. Many books have been Douglas and the nascent Aerojet Engineering published telling the story of the Marshall Space Corporation moved in to test their inventions. Flight Center, the Michoud Assembly Facility Like the backwater of its history, the place is and the Mississippi Test Facility – all government little known today but its value to the early US assembly and test centres operated by NASA space programme is immeasurably great. From that in support of the Saturn launch vehicles and one location came the development of the rocket succeeding activities. Histories for those places are, stages that pioneered a new way of handling and quite rightly, funded by the NASA History Office testing hydrogen and oxygen propellants for the and by leading academic publishers. largest cryogenic engines then designed to provide This book comes as a personal labour of the energy required to send Apollo spacecraft first love and has been written and published by the into Earth orbit and then to the Moon. committed dedication of one professional rocket Before the cryogenic stage development began engineer who has made the story of the Saturn Sacramento’s Rocket the initial test stands were set up to support rockets and their facilities a quest for posterity. Men development of the Thor ballistic missile, separate As such it has no agenda other than to preserve from the manufacturing plants in Santa Monica By Alan Lawrie the record of ordinary, and themselves highly and then Huntington Beach. Static Thor firings Available from saturn. dedicated, engineers and technicians, a group with took place here from 1958 and then, from 1960 [email protected] which the writer and publisher finds particular when the requirement to fire these missiles before £50 ($70) affiliation, empathy and common ground, which is delivery was withdrawn, to utilise the facilities 600 pages, 1,033 colour more than can be said for a lot of “official” histories. for testing the Aerojet propulsion system for the and black & white photos Alan Lawrie has worked for 40 years in the second stage of the Titan ICBM. space industry as a satellite propulsion engineer, in When the Saturn S-IV stage came along in addition to which he has had four books published 1960 modifications were effected so as to test these on the Saturn rockets. One of these was devoted radically different rockets, with their cryogenic to the role of the Douglas engineers who worked hydrogen/oxygen propulsion systems. As work This book comes as on the third stage of the Saturn V in Sacramento. for the Titan programme ended the conversions He has visited the SACTO test site on several expanded to prepare the site for a new generation a personal labour occasions since 2006 and on one of those was part of rocket motors. From 1961 through to the early of the official team recording the condition of 1970s, the facility saw the evolution of the S-IV of love and has the remaining facilities. Alan is highly respected to the more powerful S-IVB, upper stage for both among the communities in which he conducts Saturn IB and Saturn V. been written and his research and is always an honoured guest at This book is a great tribute to the men and reunions and veterans’ gatherings. women of the Sacramento Test Operations published by the SpaceFlight readers may know of his seminal (SACTO) facility in that it preserves the identity committed works on the detailed stage-by-stage history of the of a large number of people, displayed in a Saturn I/IB and Saturn V launchers and the same comprehensive collection of photographs. These dedication of one degree of dedication to task can be found here in include a wide range of individuals, engineers and this book. Looking for one single, outstanding technicians as well as their wives and families and professional rocket value in his latest monograph, it is not difficult to the managers who carried the burden of organising focus on the visibility it gives to “ordinary” people and scheduling operational test activities at the engineer in this demanding industry. People here are seen facility. as they lived and worked, a transparency often One overriding value of this book is that it takes missing from lofty histories that only deal with the what was essentially a company-run test facility big picture. and presents a story linked both to ballistic missiles But it is also a compilation preserving the

40 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight REVIEWS

photographic creativity of site photographer Arthur under investigation and suspicion that he was at (Art) Newman, employed by Douglas from 1957 risk of passing secrets to Moscow but conclusive to 1975 to record activity and events around the evidence was never uncovered at the time. Now facility. As is not uncommon in such situations, that part of Malina’s life has been revisited in the after more than 40 years it was thought that most of author’s first book. the photos were lost, until the author worked with The life of Frank Malina was full of one retiree who had kept more than 400 in folders contradictions and elevated idealism which is in his garage! He scanned them for Alan and a so often the case with great minds and this book representative sample now populates this book, in explores the evidence from a fresh perspective, an addition to more of Art’s photos from more than a examination which avoids the seductive attractions dozen other retirees. of providing the reader with a definitive answer – a Sacramento's Rocket Men is beautifully laid smoking gun! Did Malina pose a dangerous threat out and presented in a strong binding with place to the security of the United States? The author ribbon and a full colour jacket. The quality of Escape from Earth keeps us guessing. In this age of polarised ideology printing is very high and the resilience of the the nuanced complexity of conscience blending by Fraser MacDonald manufactured product guaranteed to last. For the with pragmatism cries out for resurrection and in price it is exceptional value. Published by Profile choosing this path the author bucks the trend, for Books The author has divided the content into 24 which the reader should be grateful. dedicated chapters, each dealing with a specific ISBN 978-1-78125-970-2 This is not a book about rockets, or the space phase in the development of SACTO and in the £20 programme, but it helps us understand the mindset operation of various control centres and test 371 pages, 28 black and of a young man growing up in the 1930s, a world stands, each with a textual description of the white photos tipping toward fascism and Nazism in Italy, Spain particular focus from which flow pages of and Germany, and how passion driving photographs illustrating those places and the inventiveness can become conflated with extreme events so described. Not all tests were successful political direction, if only through an emotional and detailed coverage is given to those failures, connection with humanity. There are others in the presenting a full and comprehensive record of one history of rocketry and space exploration who of America’s most iconic – but frequently shared this dilemma and their stories are legion. SF overlooked – stepping stones to the Moon. On my shelf, the Book of the Year! SF The ones that Great got away escapes his fascinating book has a subtitle (The Lost and Canceled Space Missions) but is is not a name to trip off the tongue but that is regrettable because on seeing space aficionados would have heard of the title, as the reviewer can testify, Frank J. Malina, a pioneer in rocketry T thoughts immediately turn to all those during the 1930s and 1940s and whose space missions cancelled due to budget cuts or H life was shaped not only by his technical termination. This has little to do with those. Instead, ingenuity and inventiveness but by his political uniquely, it tells the sometimes heartrending stories views. Born in Texas in 1912, Malina became a of men and women who were unable to fulfil their mechanical engineer and joined the furtive group of dream due to difficult choices or circumstances out experimenters dabbling in rockets at the California of their control. It’s about people, not machines. Institute of Technology and became the second Colin Burgess is well known for his engaging director the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena. style and this is good territory for that storytelling In 1942 he founded the Aerojet Corporation. From Shattered Dreams narrative. Almost all the 14 chapters are given over there rocket tests moved to White Sands Missile by Colin Burgess to the stories of individual people who were either Range and development of the WAC Corporal Published by University frustrated in their efforts to reach space or who missile, also used for scientific research. of Nebraska Press were victims of circumstances impossible to But it was the emphasis in post-war America ISBN 978-1-4962-0675-6 predict. As with all writings from this author, a placed on missile development rather than the use £24.99 ($32.95) good book with insightful observations into of rockets for science that troubled him and chafed 288 pages, 25 black and individuals most of whom were known to the SF with his communist sympathies, a political leaning white photos author personally. outlawed by the government. This brought him David Baker

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 41 SATELLITE DIGEST Satellite Digest 564 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) Gaofen 10 2019-066A Oct 4.79 Taiyuan Chang Zheng 4C 2,000? Oct 13.13 97.78 97.23 628 628 [1] Eutelsat 5 West B 2019-067A Oct 9.43 Baykonur Proton-M-Briz-M 2,864 Oct 28.61 0.01 1,435.99 35,781 35,792 [2] MEV 1 2019-067B 2,326 Oct 11.16 13.35 1,572.90 11,982 64,871 [3] ICON 2019-068A Oct 11.08 ETR Pegasus XL 288 Oct 11.35 26.99 96.38 580 606 [4] Palisade 2019-069B Oct 17.06 Mahia Electron 20? Oct 17.85 87.90 109.74 1,208 1,224 [5] Tongxin Jishu SW4 2019-070A Oct 17.64 Xichang Chang Zheng 3B 5,000? Oct 29.64 0.09 1,436.06 35,775 35,800 [6]

NOTES

1. Gaofen is an earth resources satellite built by SAST for SASTIND's CHEOS programme with a high-resolution microwave scanner for all-weather Earth imaging. Replaces first Gaofen 10 which was lost in a launch failure.

2. Eutelsat is a communications satellite built using an NGIS GEOStar 2e bus and launched by ILS for Eutelsat to replace Eutelsat 5 West A. Carries GSA hosted payload, the GEO-3 EGNOS navigation transmitter to augment Galileo, GPS and GLONASS. Mass quoted above is at launch. The satellite is located at 1.5°E for test and will be located over 5°W for high-throughput communications service to Europe and North Africa. However, it is suffering from a problem with one solar array.

3. Mission Extension Vehicle is a servicing satellite built using an NGIS GEOStar 3 bus for SpaceLogistics, a Northrop Grumman company. Mass quoted above is at launch. The satellite is intended to support several geostationary communications satellites during its life, starting with Intelsat 901.

4. Ionospheric Connection Explorer geophysical science satellite built using an NGIS LEOStar 2 bus and launched by Northrop Grumman for NASA Explorers Program carrying an ultraviolet interferometer (MIGHTI) for neutral particle winds and temperatures from Doppler shift of oxygen emissions, an extreme ultraviolet imaging spectrograph (EUV) for ionospheric density and scale height, an ultraviolet camera, spectrographic imager and photometers (FUV) for atmospheric and ionospheric composition and an ion velocity meter (IVM) for electric fields.

5. Communications 16U Cubesat built by Astro Digital and launched by Rocket Lab carrying a transponder for communications and an orbit control system.

6. Tongxin Jishu Shiyan Weixing 4 (Communications Technology Test Satellite) built by CAST is for "technological demonstration of multi- band, high speed communication techniques". Satellite carries a large deployable antenna like Tongxin Jishu SW1 and possibly has Launched by a Pegasus XL on 11 October, the Ionospheric Connection a military mission. It is located over 83.5°E. Mass estimated is at Explorer (ICON) aims to observe the interactions between Earth weather and space weather and measure neutral and charged particles. launch.

42 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight SATELLITE DIGEST

ADDITIONS AND UPDATES DESIGNATION COMMENTS DESIGNATION COMMENTS 1994-084A DSP 17 (USA 107) drift halted over 96.6°W October 29. October 27.32. Mission duration of 779.74 days appears 1999-033A ASTRA 1H was manoeuvred off station at 67.1°W to be a record for a recovery from earth orbit. October 13 and is drifting to the west. It was switched 2017-068C Planet plan lowering orbits of their SkySat satellites off October 23. to improve resolution of ground imaging. SkySat 11 is 2000-043A Intelsat 9 was manoeuvred off station at 66°E October pathfinder for this, already some 50 km down. 1 and is drifting to the west. 2018-042A InSight HP3 mole resumed moving into the surface 2001-052A DirecTV 4S reached 55.5°W October 24 before after using robot arm to solve friction problem that manoeuvring from eastward to westward drift. halted movement. After travelling some 0.05 m, reversed motion October 25 and has backed out again. 2002-015B ASTRA 3A was manoeuvred off station at 47°W October 24 and is drifting to the west. 2018-063A Gaofen 11 has manoeuvred to a higher and near- circular orbit. Add orbit: 2003-033A EchoStar 12 was manoeuvred off station at 86.4°W October 23 and is drifting to the west. It has been Apr 14.83 97.41° 94.48 min 484 km 507 km retired. 2018-079A AEHF 4 (USA 288) was relocated at 150°W October 8. 2005-049A Insat 4A was manoeuvred off station at 83°E October 2019-013A Soyuz MS-12, crewed by Ovchinin, Hague and 18 and is drifting to the west. It appears to have been al-Mansouri, undocked from the ISS/Rassvet retired. port October 3.32 and landed near Zhezkazgan in 2007-007A Insat 4B was relocated at 83°E, co-located with Insat Kazakhstan October 3.46. 4A, GSAT 10, GSAT 12 and GSAT 31, October 10. 2019-014A WGS 10 (USA 291) was relocated at 179.8°E, co- 2007-065C Kosmos 2436 (Uragan-M 723) returned to operation located with DSCS 3B-8, October 17. October 8, nominally in slot 10 although it is still drifting 2019-029 Starlink 22 has manoeuvred to rejoin the operational from slot 12. constellation October 21, while Starlink 26 has 2008-003A Ekspress AM33 service has been intermittently manoeuvred down out of it October 27. Starlink 42 and interrupted by a computer problem since October 18. 58 appear to have ceased manoeuvring to maintain orbit. Starlink 34 and 41 also ceased manoeuvring for 2010-065A HYLAS 1 was relocated at 79°W October 25. a time, but have now resumed. Starlink 64 and 69 have 2012-046A V an Allen Probe A shut down October 18 following migrated to new slots in the constellation. exhaustion of its propellant for attitude control. 2019-034B Eutelsat 7C circularised its orbit over 1.7°E for test by 2012-050B Beidou DW15 has moved from slot 4 to a station October 24. Add orbit: intermediate between slots 3 and 4 in plane B. Oct 25.73 0.06° 1,436.09 min 35,779 km 35,797 km 2014-043A GSSAP 1 (USA 253) relocated over 78°W October 16. 2019-039 A number of fragments have been catalogued, 2014-058A Luch (Olimp-K) was manoeuvred off station at 66°E apparently originating from either Kosmos 2537 or October 16 and was relocated at 68.5°E October 22. Kosmos 2538 about October 1. The mission of Luch (Olimp-K) is clearly to monitor 2019-040A Spektr -RG manoeuvred into halo orbit about Sun-Earth traffic through commercial communications satellites, L2 Lagrange point October 21.67. the current targets being Intelsat 20 and Intelsat 36. 2019-048A Kosmos 2539 (Blagovest) was manoeuvred off its test 2014-076A Hayabusa 2 released Minerva 2-2 (Rover 2, Ulula) at station at 45°E October 11 and was relocated at 12°E 1 km altitude October 2. It raised altitude to 8 km to October 26. observe Minerva, then returned to 20 km October 10 to 15. Minerva 2-2 data system has failed, preventing 2019-049A Intelsat 39 was relocated at 62°E, co-located with science data collection, but rover was tracked to map Intelsat 902, October 6. Ryugu gravitational field and reached Ryugu surface 2019-052B Xingshidai 5 mass is 9 kg. October 3. Two target markers released in September 2019-060F Zunhai 1 OHS 3A has reached its operational orbit, are still in orbit about Ryugu and have been named with all five satellites now equally spaced around their Sputnik and Explorer. orbit. Add orbit: 2016-052A,B GSSAP 3 (USA 270) manoeuvred to a slower eastward Oct 16.25 97.41° 94.84 min 507 km 519 km drift about October 20, while GSSAP 4 (USA 271) 2019-061A Beidou DW47 manoeuvred to slot 5 in plane C by reversed direction at about the same time and is now October 24, with Beidou DW48 in slot 3. Add orbit: drifting to the west. Oct 27.48 55.00° 773.19 min 21,502 km 21,555 km 2017-052A OTV 5 X-37B (USA 277) performed an autonomous re-entry and runway landing at Kennedy Space Center 2019-065A Kosmos 2541 was declared operational October 18. INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION ACTIVITY RECENTLY DETAILED ORBITAL DECAYS International Object name Decay There were no orbital manoeuvres of ISS during October. Designation

End-of-October orbital data: 2012-064C Xinyan 1 Oct 5 Oct 31.83 51.65° 92.79 min 412 km 420 km 2013-064N SENSE 2 Oct 28 2014-076 Minerva 2-2 Oct 3.6 (on Ryugu) 1998-067MZ Tomsk TPU-120 Oct 20 1998-067ND TNS-0 2 Oct 15 2017-052A OTV 5 X-37B Oct 27.32 2017-082B Tsubame Oct 1.6 2019-013A Soyuz MS-12 Oct 3.46

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 43 SLUGSOCIETY NEWS

SPHERES OF THE MIND David Angus describes how he makes three-dimensional globes of known and imagined planets. Master model-maker David Angus brings his 3-D planetary creations to BIS HQ. PEOPLE HAVE BEEN MODELLING THINGS since thought, and a Martian sea would fill it all the way up, Neolithic times and the Space Age welcomed a making it the biggest fjord in the solar system. Now practitioner in one of those skills when David Angus there’s a thought for Martian cruise ships! gave a talk to the BIS on 30 October titled “A David has worked on models of three Jovian Planetary Tour”– in reality a representation of other moons, including Ganymede, Europa and Io. He has worlds in three-dimensional art. modelled the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan and has David is a model maker who creates globes and also created a number of imaginary, but scientifically relief maps of planets, both real and speculative. He accurate exo-planets, such as “Exo-Earth 1”, with began his talk with one of his accurate models of the massive volcanoes and crystal reefs, orbiting a gas most visually prominent object in our own solar giant, in a path similar to that of Ganymede or system – the Moon – made from a converted school Europa. The model of this world is made from a 61 globe. He then moved on to his globe of Mars, which cm diameter polystyrene globe. was 30 cm in diameter, and showed the Mariner “Exo-Earth 2” is a world which is geologically the Trench, the Tharsis Bulge, Astrius Mons, Pavonis opposite of Exo-Earth 1, with no mountain higher Mons, and the Southern Highlands. David revealed than Earth’s Mont Blanc, linear chains of islands that that he had also been contracted to build a model of are the tops of submerged mountains and extensive Mars as it might be after “terraforming”; the Mariner savannahs. His “Epona” is an imaginary world Trench is apparently deeper than had previously been circling the star 82 Eridani, with three-quarters the

44 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight S0CIETY NEWS West Midlands Space Day 2019 AS PART OF THE United on “Artists in Space: The early Nations International Space Years”. This was followed by Week the BIS West Midlands author Dave Shayler entitled Branch along with the Hive "At Home in Space" and later library at Worcester organized by Robin Brand who presented another successful Space Day “Britain’s First Space Rocket". on Saturday 5 October. This is the As always, Mark Perman ran largest free space event in the UK. rocket motor firings each hour A wide variety of events and assisted by young and eager exhibits included planetarium volunteers – a consistently a shows, talks, films, static rocket popular feature of these events. motor firings, competitions, and There was more floor space for the second year running available this year on the main careers tours were available and level and this not only allowed supported by STEM Ambassadors. for easier movement between Liz Perman eloquently announced the exhibits but also provided these on a PA system next to the better access and visibility for Society’s stand adding to the visitors to view some of the atmosphere. hands-on events. All the exhibits This year 40 exhibitors proved popular across the age turned up to present a variety spectrum and posed a very of attractive displays. Popular popular attraction with retired exhibits included the Rutherford professionals as well as the Appleton Laboratory, Daden’s public. virtual reality on Mars, and The 2019 programme included RAF Fylingdales showing how planetarium shows, talks, static space junk is tracked and how rocket motor firings, and an early warning systems work. expansion of careers tours that In addition, I4IS had magnetic were facilitated by STEM field toys that had to been seen Ambassadors. The feedback to be believed, and the Society’s received showed that everyone An excellent talk ended with congratulations for David on own large stand with the Soyuz thought the day a great success behalf of the audience from BIS President Gerry Webb (left). Simulator, ably manned by Ian and looked forward to next year’s PHOTOGRAPHY BY GEIR ENGENE BY PHOTOGRAPHY Norman. Many visitors tried out event. Thanks again go to Mark their IT skills at the CGI stand Perman (BIS Fellow) and Bob radius of Earth and with geology slowed but not by taking up the challenge of Stanton (BIS Member) of the West stopped. “MyWorld” is a planet composed of programming a robot. The results Midlands branch and to Caryl subtropical coastlines and soaring mountains, a 12º created a lot of fun and much Davies of The Hive library team axial tilt, with a worldwide subtropical climate and a discussion! who worked tirelessly to bring medieval civilisation in the north. The first of three talks included such a large and diverse event “Betazed” from “Star Trek: The Next Generation”, in the day’s events was by local together. SF home of the empathic Counsellor Deanna Troi, is a artist David Hardy who spoke small model, of a world with green soil – striking, but John Harlow FBIS & Bob Stanton scientifically plausible! David built, for Dougal Dixon, “Greenworld” – oddly enough, a planet where vegetation is red! Perhaps David’s most interesting creation is “Helliconia” built for the SF writer Brian Aldiss, based on the planet from his “Helliconia Trilogy”, a world similar to Earth, with red vegetation, circling Ophiuchus and having seasons several centuries long, dominated by humans during summer and the nonhuman “Phagors” during winter. David Angus’s talk was a fascinating glimpse into the creation of models of worlds from reality and speculation. As always, David Angus’s talk will be available on the members’ portal at the BIS website BIS Executive Secretary Gill Norman and husband Ian on the Soyuz simulator.

(www.bis-space.com). SF Griffith J. Ingram MICHAEL BRYCE

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 45 SOCIETY NEWS

Children of Apollo The Dorchester Corn Exchange plays host to a giant Moon. PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHEILA WRIGHT SHEILA BY PHOTOGRAPHY

IN THE AUTUMN OF 2018 it was decided by and also featured the exhibition of Luke Jerram’s Dorchester Arts that the town would celebrate the Museum of The Moon in the Dorchester Corn 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon landing with Exchange over the whole weekend. a weekend of musical and scientific events entitled On 19 July BBC South featured the Museum of “Moonbury Rings” from 19-22July 2019.BIS Apollo the Moon, some of the space-related artworks veteran and Fellow Keith Wright was there to created by the children, and school and community represent the Society in one of several such activities choirs singing extracts from the cantata. On 20 July supported by members and Fellows across the there was an outdoor cinema presentation of country. space-related films, also held in the Maumbury The main event was the performance on the Rings. The project was managed by Ellen Velazquez. evening of Sunday 22 July of the cantata “Apollo – From April 2019 onwards, the schools involved One Giant Leap”, written by composer Geoff Edge. were visited by a series of scientists and engineers This was performed by local school children who gave talks and delivered workshops to extend supported by local community choirs and a small the children’s knowledge of science and the Moon orchestra directed by Alasdair Malloy in Dorchester’s landings, and to inform their work in the music and Maumbury Rings – a Neolithic amphitheatre. The art workshops. Keith Wright of the BIS visited the event was organised by Mark Tattersall of Dorchester schools to talk to pupils and give them insights into Arts in partnership with Dorchester Town Council, his life working on the Apollo project and to promote

46 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight SOCIETY NEWS

SETTING THE RECORD STRAIGHT IN OUR COVERAGE OF THE APOLLO 11 MISSION during the 50th would have preferred to have published anniversary celebrations of this momentous event, in the July them in an issue of SpaceFlight but that issue of SpaceFlight (Vol 61, No 7), some of the description of the would have taken up a large part of the descent procedures, the software and the computer programmes magazine and their availability would involved were incorrect or misleading at best. Moreover, some only have been known to readers. By of the words and phrases used were inappropriately applied. To directing you, the reader, to them we insure correct those errors, and with utmost transparency, the BIS is their more universal availability. pleased to publish on the open pages of its website, a detailed The British Interplanetary Society is the world’s longest-running critique and cogent explanation of where those errors exist, why space advocacy organisation and SpaceFlight is the longest, they deliver wrong information and what should have been said, continuously-published, space magazine around. Over time we and was not, regarding the landing procedures. have established a reputation for accuracy, factual representation For this, the BIS, and the Editor specifically, is grateful to Don of space projects and programmes and received universal Eyles, whose knowledge of this stems from having worked on the acclaim for that record. Which is why we take this with the utmost Apollo programme from 1966 to 1972 as a computer scientist at seriousness and thank Don for his time and clarity in setting the MIT Instrumentation Laboratory and the Charles Stark Draper straight a record the facts of which we too are committed to set Laboratory, organisations directly responsible for guidance and down. navigation. Don was specifically responsible for writing code for In all circumstances, the Editor has responsibility for correct the Lunar Module computer and particularly the 2,000 lines that and factual information. After all, with copious primary materials were primarily for landing men on the Moon. There is arguably at hand, there can be no excuse whatsoever for sloppy and no other person alive today who has such a detailed and seminal incorrect text and misleading information. In this case there knowledge of the codes, instructions and procedures – because was an unacceptable level of both and this is why it is vital for he wrote them. readers to inform themselves with a more precise and detailed In that respect, his explanation and comments are of historical explanation. as well as timely importance and while Don has himself written In distilling a vast array of primary source material from a extensively about these matters, he took considerable time out to technical standard indecipherable to all but the most specialist prepare a bespoke explanation of the procedures involved, which readers into an informative and engaging text, deep errors can can be seen on our website. His explanations are first-hand and happen. Most of the time we get it right; on this occasion we got it as such an important source of reference for readers and the wrong and the only person responsible for that is me. SF general public alike, which is why we put them there. Ideally, I David Baker

LEFT Schoolchildren and local choirs perform Geoff Edge's “One Giant Leap” (far left) and budding rocket scientists do their stuff in the natural amphitheatre of Maumbury Rings.

the study of STEMS. stand organised by Keith Wright, FBIS. Jo Richardson FRAS visited the schools and gave In all, 3,800 children from 17 schools took part in popular and informative “Space Detective” talks. She more than 170 music, science and art workshops and was assisted by a sixth form student who gained assemblies. Some 9,500 people visited Luke Jerram’s valuable work experience by working on the project. Museum of The Moon at Dorchester Corn Exchange Astronomer Bob Mizon MBE gave highly engaging and 4,200 attended the related Outdoor Cinema and presentations and the children really enjoyed entering “Learn to be an Astronaut” days. More than 2,000 his inflatable planetarium to learn about people attended the performance of “Apollo – One constellations and astronomy. Giant Leap” in the Maumbury Rings The schools On Sunday 22 July, between 12 noon and 4.00 involved were: Dorchester Middle School, St Mary’s pm, more than 2,200 adults and children attended a Middle School, Puddletown, St Osmund’s Middle “Learn to be an Astronaut Day” in Maumbury School, The Thomas Hardye School, and Twelve First Rings, which featured more than 30 interactive Schools from across the Dorchester area. exhibits and a series of talks by scientists and This was a successful celebration of the Apollo 11 astronomers. The event was hosted by Dorchester 50th anniversary which had a very positive impact on Town Council and Thomas Hardye School in the children involved. The schools associated with association with the southwest branch of the these events are showing continued interest in space Institute of Physics. The BIS was represented by a as an inspiration to further study. SF Keith Wright FBIS

SpaceFlight Vol 62 January 2020 47 SOCIETY NEWS

BIS LECTURES & MEETINGS MEMBERSHIP NEWS TO THE SOUTH POLE WITH BUZZ ALDRIN 15 January 7.00pm VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ In 2016, Nigel was among a select group of 12 explorers who travelled to the South Pole with Buzz Aldrin. His talk reveals the challenges of living in Antarctica, in habitat modules that Buzz likened to a Mars colony, and where Buzz discussed his plans to travel to the Red Planet using his unique Mars Cycler concept. EXPLORING TITAN WITH CASSINI/HUYGENS AND DRAGONFLY 21 January 7.00pm VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ A former ESA engineer and now a planetary scientist Eleonor Frost and Thomas Cheney receive their awards from BIS President Gerry Webb. with the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Lab, Dr. Ralph NICK POTTS Lorentz shares findings from Cassini/Huygens and explains the NASA New Frontiers mission in which the Dragonfly rotorcraft lander will explore the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan in 2034. Worthy winners WORLD OF THE FUTURE BIS President Gerry Web was delighted to present the two winners of the UK IAC Student Paper competition with their cash prizes. 12 February 7.00pm Undergraduate Eleonor Frost and post-graduate Thomas Cheney won VENUE: BIS, 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ the UK heats in May of this year and travelled to the 70th International Yesterday’s tomorrows, as envisaged by Ken Gatland and Astronautical Congress held in Washington DC 21-25 October to David Jefferis. Education author David Jefferis gives an present their papers at the global contest. They both visited the UK illustrated talk on the World of the Future, three books he Pavilion to receive their prize money from Gerry. Thomas is at created with BIS President, the late Kenneth W. Gatland Northumbria University and won his prize for a paper on mechanisms to 40 years ago. ensure equitable and universal access to space assets and indigenous on-orbit resources and infrastructure for all countries around the world, BIS – WEST MIDLANDS BRANCH irrespective of their disposable budgets. Eleonor is studying at 14 March 1.45pm TO 4.30pm University College London and her winning paper was on a microgravity VENUE: The Gardeners Arms, Vines Lane, Droitwich, Worcs WR9 surgical workstation. As recorded elsewhere in this issue (p 21), Eleonor 8LU went on to win one of the six global prizes with this paper.

Please note: there is no wheelchair access to the venue Thanks and appreciation go to our good friends at the Institution of 2.10-3.10 Ian Cash: Constant Aperture, Solid-State, Engineering and Technology (IET) who contributed £500 to match the Integrated, Orbital Phased Array (CASSIOPeiA) £500 from the BIS, together with the assistance from the Space 3.10-3.30 Break (beer etc.) Universities Network (SUN) and UK Students for the Exploration and 3.30-4.30 Rochelle Velho – Mars Space Suits Development of Space (UKSEDS). The BIS is closely connected to the IET and BIS representation is strong across the platform of IET Call for papers conferences and seminars, with Fellows giving frequent lectures for this organisation at locations across the UK. The IET has 168,000 CURRENT TOPICS IN ROCKET PROPULSION – 2 members in 50 countries. SF 18 April 2020 To celebrate the increase in activity at Westcott and after the success of the first conference in 2018 it has been decided to run a second open source conference covering some current topics in near term rocket propulsion. The West Midlands Branch of the British Interplanetary Society is organising the daylong conference with the aim of showcasing current UK rocket research to BIS members, academia and interested members of the public.

If you/your organisation would like to present a paper at the conference please email biswestmidsec@bis-space. com for further info.

NEW MEMBERS A total of 41 new members last month: 29 from the UK, 1 from Ireland, 4 from the USA, 6 from Italy and 1 from Germany. A warm welcome to you all!

48 Vol 62 January 2020 SpaceFlight