Science
Mysterious Space Plane X-37B Was Just Launched Into Orbit on Its Sixth Mission – ScienceAlert
The US Air Force on Sunday successfully launched its high-tech drone X-37B, placing the reusable vehicle into orbit for its sixth secretive mission in space.
The drone, which resembles a smaller version of the manned space shuttles retired by the US space program in 2011, was launched from Cape Canaveral in Florida, the Air Force said.
It will spend months in orbit, remotely conducting a series of experiments.
“Congratulations on the 6th mission of the X-37B reusable spacecraft,” Defense Secretary Mark Esper tweeted shortly after the launch.
The huge Atlas V launch vehicle took off with an earth-shaking roar at 9:14 am (1314 GMT) to loft the drone, also known as an Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV), into space.
The drone in turn will deploy a small research satellite dubbed FalconSat-8, to carry out additional experiments, Secretary of the Air Force Barbara Barrett explained earlier this month, elaborating on what up to now has been a highly secretive project.
“This X-37B mission will host more experiments than any prior missions,” said Barrett, who also heads the recently created US Space Force.
Among the experiments: testing the effect of radiation on seeds and other materials, and transforming solar power into radio-frequency microwave energy that could be transmitted to the ground.
The X-37B is 29 feet long (nine meters), with a wing span of 15 feet (4.5 meters).
The Pentagon has published photos of the drone, but up to now had revealed few details about its missions and capabilities.
On each of its successive flights – the first took place in 2010 – the solar-powered craft has remained in orbit for longer periods.
Its last flight ended in October 2019, after 780 days in orbit. That brought the craft’s cumulative time in orbit to 2,865 days.
Science
Federal government announces creation of National Space Council – CBC News
Canada’s space sector received a boost from the federal government in its budget, both in terms of money and vision.
The 2024 budget included a proposal for $8.6 million in 2024-25 to the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the Lunar Exploration Accelerator Program (LEAP), which invests in technologies for humanity’s return to the moon and beyond.
In addition to the funding, the federal government also announced the creation of a National Space Council, which will be “a new whole-of-government approach to space exploration, technology development, and research.”
For Space Canada, an organization comprised of roughly 80 space sector companies including some of Canada’s largest, such as Magellan Aerospace, Maritime Launch and MDA, it was a welcome announcement.
“We’ve been advocating for it since the inception of our organization, and we were really very happy, and we applaud the federal government’s commitment announced in the budget,” said Brian Gallant, CEO of Space Canada.
Gallant said that investment in space is an investment in Canada.
“Two-thirds of space sector jobs are STEM jobs. These are good paying solid jobs for Canadians. And on top of that, we have approximately $2.8 billion that is injected into the Canadian economy because of the space sector,” he said.
The U.S. formed its National Space Council in 1989, but it was disbanded in 1992 and reestablished in 2017.
In the 2023 budget, the government announced proposed spending of $1.2 billion over 13 years, that was to begin in 2024-25, to the CSA’s contribution of a lunar utility vehicle that would assist astronauts on the moon. The as–yet–developed vehicle could help astronauts move cargo from landing sites to habitats, perform science investigations or support them during spacewalks on the surface of the moon.
It also proposed to invest $150 million over five years for the LEAP program.
MDA, the company behind Canadarm, was also pleased with the announcement.
“Canada has an enviable global competitive advantage in space and the creation of a National Space Council is critical to Canada maintaining that leadership position,” CEO Mike Greenley said in an email to CBC News.
“Space is now a rapidly growing, highly strategic and competitive domain, and there is a real and urgent need to recognize its importance to the lives of Canadians and to our economy and national security.”
The next project for MDA is Canadarm3, which will be part of Lunar Gateway, a international space station that will orbit the moon. It will serve as a sort of jumping-off point for astronauts heading to the moon and eventually beyond.
“The Lunar Gateway is a great opportunity for Canada and for MDA Space to not only provide the next generation of Canadarm robotics but to clearly plant our flag as a core national and industry participant in the Artemis era,” Greenley said.
Lunar Gateway is set to begin construction no earlier than 2025, according to NASA.
Science
Astronomers discover Milky Way's heaviest known black hole – Xinhua
JERUSALEM, April 16 (Xinhua) — Astronomers have found BH3 is by far the heaviest known stellar black hole in the Milky Way galaxy, 33 times the mass of the Sun.
An international research team found the black hole when looking into the latest data group recorded in the European Space Agency’s Gaia space telescope, Israel’s Tel Aviv University (TAU) said in a statement on Tuesday.
The black hole is located 1,500 light-years away from Earth, said TAU, whose researchers participated in the study of the newly discovered binary system.
In binary systems, a visible star can be found orbiting a massive but unseen companion, indicating the latter is a black hole.
Binaries have revealed around 50 suspected or confirmed stellar-mass black holes in the Milky Way, but scientists think there may be as many as 100 million in our galaxy alone, according to NASA.
Stellar-mass black holes are formed when a star runs out of its nuclear combustion fuel and collapses.
The massive black hole BH3 was detailed in the open-access journal Astronomy & Astrophysics for further study.
Science
'Almost hit my son' – Space junk crashes through Florida home – BBC.com
“It almost hit my son” – three years ago the International Space Station threw out refuse into space, expecting it to undergo “a natural re-entry”.
But a heavy piece of debris crashed through a home in Naples, Florida, narrowly missing the householder’s son.
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