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Rubin Observatory revs up its astronomical alert system

Illustration: Data alerts on night sky with Rubin Observatory in the mountains below
Each night, the Vera C. Rubin Observatory issues thousands of alerts about changes in the night sky. (NOIRLab / NSF / DOE-SC Illustration)

An astronomical alert system developed at the University of Washington started off with a bang this week, sending out 800,000 notifications about moving asteroids, exploding stars and other celestial changes detected by the Vera C. Rubin Observatory in Chile.

That Feb. 24 surge was just the first wave. Eventually, the Alert Production Pipeline is expected to produce up to 7 million alerts per night. Astronomers will use the system to sift through the torrent of data, zeroing in on events ranging from newly detected asteroids to supernovas, variable stars and active galactic nuclei.

“Rubin’s alert system was designed to allow anyone to identify interesting astronomical events with enough notice to rapidly obtain time-critical follow-up observations,” Eric Bellm, a UW astronomer who leads the Alert Production Pipeline Group for the Rubin Observatory, said today in a news release. “Rubin will survey the sky at an unprecedented scale and allow us to find the most rare and unusual objects in the universe. We can’t wait to see the exciting science that comes from these data.”

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Cosmic Space

Moon rocket goes back to the garage for troubleshooting

SLS rocket and Orion crew spacecraft inside VAB
NASA has returned its Space Launch System rocket and Orion crew capsule to the Vehicle Assembly Building. (NASA Photo / Cory Huston)

NASA rolled the giant rocket that’s slated to launch four astronauts on a round-the-moon trip back to its garage today to troubleshoot a problem with its helium pressurization system.

The Space Launch System rocket, topped by an Orion crew capsule, returned to the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center in Florida at about 8 p.m. ET (5 p.m. PT), NASA said. It took more than 10 hours for NASA’s crawler-transporter to make the 4-mile trip from Launch Complex 39B.

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GeekWire

Sophia Space raises $10M for orbital computing systems

Illustration: Sophia Space data-processing satellite in orbit
An artist’s conception shows the Sophia 40 TILE satellite, with each tile powered by its own solar panel. (Sophia Space Illustration)

Sophia Space says it has closed a $10 million seed financing round to accelerate the development of orbital computing systems that could serve as the foundation for space-based data processing.

The startup’s tabletop-sized satellite modules, known as tiles, take advantage of a proprietary system that combines solar power generation and radiative cooling. Multiple tiles can be connected into racks to provide scalable computing power in low Earth orbit. The concept is called Thermal-Integrated LEO Edge, or TILE.

“With this seed round, we’re not just building compute modules,” Sophia Space CEO Rob DeMillo said today in a news release. “We’re building the infrastructure for the next era of space-based AI and data processing.”

The investment round was led by Alpha Funds, KDDI Green Partners Fund and Unlock Venture Partners — and builds upon $3.5 million in pre-seed investment. The newly raised cash will support the continued hiring of engineering talent, the further maturation of Sophia’s TILE platform and the formation of strategic partnerships in the orbital computing ecosystem.

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GeekWire

Helium problem forces NASA to delay moon mission

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman and troubleshooting team at launch pad with SLS rocket in background
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, far left, accompanies a troubleshooting team at the Artemis 2 launch pad. (NASA Photo)

NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman says the giant rocket set to send four astronauts around the moon for the history-making Artemis 2 mission must be rolled back from its launch pad to troubleshoot a technical problem.

The 10-day mission, previously scheduled for as soon as March, is now postponed until April at the earliest. “I understand people are disappointed by this development,” Isaacman said in a posting to X. “That disappointment is felt most by the team at NASA, who have been working tirelessly to prepare for this great endeavor.”

The technical issue cropped up just days after a successful launch-pad rehearsal at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Data from the Space Launch System rocket’s upper stage registered an interruption in the flow of helium, which is used to pressurize the propellant tanks and purge the engines. “Last evening, the team was unable to get helium flow through the vehicle,” Isaacman wrote today. “This occurred during a routine operation to repressurize the system.”

Isaacman said the helium pressurization system worked correctly during this week’s wet dress rehearsal. For what it’s worth, a problem with a helium valve cropped up during preparations for the uncrewed Artemis 1 round-the-moon mission in 2022, leading NASA managers to take corrective actions.

The current problem could be due to a failure at any of several points in the helium system. “Regardless of the potential fault, accessing and remediating any of these issues can only be performed in the VAB,” said Isaacman, referring to the 52-story Vehicle Assembly Building where the SLS and its Orion crew capsule were stacked for launch.

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GeekWire

NASA completes rehearsal for Artemis moon launch

SLS rocket illuminated by lights at launch pad
NASA's Space Launch System rocket stands on its Florida launch pad. (NASA Photo / Aubrey Gemignani)

NASA counted down to T-minus 29 seconds during a smooth rehearsal for a historic launch that could send astronauts around the moon for the first time in more than half a century.

The run-through at Launch Complex 39B, at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, was known as a wet dress rehearsal because it involved filling up the propellant tanks on NASA’s Space Launch System, a 322-foot-tall rocket that made its debut with 2022’s uncrewed Artemis 1 mission.

The only major component that was missing at the launch pad was the crew. NASA astronaut Reid Wiseman, the commander for the Artemis 2 mission, said in a posting to X that he was watching the proceedings from Launch Control.

Once NASA reviews the results of the two-day rehearsal, mission managers will decide whether to give the final go-ahead for the Artemis 2 crew’s 10-day trip around the moon and back.

Lori Glaze, acting associate administrator for NASA’s Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate, said the space agency is targeting March 6 for liftoff. “Every night I look at the moon, and I see it, and I get real excited because I can really feel she’s calling us,” she told reporters today. “And we’re ready.”

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Universe Today

Report blames NASA and Boeing for Starliner screw-ups

Starliner in the dark desert
Boeing’s Starliner space capsule sits in the New Mexico desert after its uncrewed return to Earth in 2024. (Boeing Photo)

Nearly two years after Boeing’s botched Starliner mission to the International Space Station, NASA put the mishap in the same category as the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle disasters — and said the spacecraft wouldn’t carry another crew until dozens of corrective actions are taken.

Based on the findings from an independent panel’s 311-page report, NASA classified the crewed test mission in 2024 as a Type A mishap, primarily because five of the thrusters in the Starliner spacecraft’s propulsion system failed during the capsule’s approach to the ISS. The crew was able to regain control of four of those thrusters, but NASA decided not to send astronauts back to Earth on the Starliner due to safety concerns.

Instead, the craft was flown back for a landing without crew, three months after the docking. The two astronauts who rode Starliner to orbit were stuck aboard the station for more than nine months while they waited for a ride back home inside a SpaceX Dragon capsule.

Today’s report faults NASA’s leadership as well as Boeing’s team for the mission’s failings.

“Starliner has design and engineering deficiencies that must be corrected, but the most troubling failure revealed by this investigation is not hardware,” NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman, who took over as the space agency’s chief in December, wrote in a letter to NASA employees that was also posted to X. “It is decision-making and leadership that, if left unchecked, could create a culture incompatible with human spaceflight.”

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GeekWire

AWS offers cloud computing credits to federal agencies

Illustration: Overhead view of hands on keyboard with ships floating on a sea of Matrix-like numbers in foreground
Cloud computing and AI can come into play in advanced manufacturing and shipbuilding for the U.S. military. (NIWC Pacific Illustration)

Amazon Web Services has launched two credit programs worth up to $100 million to help federal agencies use cloud services and AI for applications ranging from battle management to quantum computing.

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Fiction Science Club

Occupy Mars? Or the moon? It’s time for a reality check

Illustrations: Moon Village and Mars habitat
Artist's concepts show a moon village at left and a Mars habitat at right. (Left image: ESA. Right image: Team SEArch+/Apis Cor via NASA)

It’s an age-old debate in space circles: Should humanity’s first city on another world be built on the moon, or on Mars?

As recently as last year, SpaceX founder Elon Musk saw missions to the moon as a “distraction.” In a post to his X social-media platform, he declared that “we’re going straight to Mars.”

But last week, Musk said he’s changed his mind: “For those unaware, SpaceX has already shifted focus to building a self-growing city on the Moon, as we can potentially achieve that in less than 10 years, whereas Mars would take 20+ years,” he wrote on X.

How realistic is either option, particularly on a 10- to 20-year time frame? In a new book titled “Becoming Martian,” Rice University evolutionary biologist Scott Solomon lays out the possibilities as well as the perils that could make Musk’s job more challenging than he thinks.

“The more research I did on this topic, and the more labs I visited, and papers I read, and experts I spoke with, what became clear to me is that we have some pretty big gaps in our knowledge, in our understanding of what the reality would be like,” Solomon says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast.

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GeekWire

Amazon wins OK to add 4,500 satellites to Leo network

Illustration: Web of satellites covering Earth
An artist’s conception shows how additional Amazon Leo satellites would provide coverage in Earth’s polar regions. (Amazon Illustration)

Amazon has won the Federal Communications Commission’s approval to go ahead with its plan to launch thousands of second-generation Amazon Leo satellites for its broadband internet network, even though the first-generation constellation is far from complete.

The approval would add more than 4,500 satellites to the previously authorized constellation of 3,232 Gen 1 spacecraft, expanding coverage to the entire globe, including the poles.

“Amazon Leo Gen 1 performance is impressive on its own, but lots to look forward to with Leo Gen 2: More capacity, more coverage (including polar) and additional throughput — good for customers everywhere, and especially important for big enterprise/gov customers who want max performance to move large amounts of data through our network,” Rajeev Badyal, vice president of technology for Amazon Leo, said today in a LinkedIn posting.

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GeekWire

Stoke Space raises $350M to get set for rocket debut

Propellant tank on Stoke Space's factory floor
A propellant tank takes shape at Stoke Space’s rocket factory in Kent, Wash. (Stoke Space Photo)

Kent, Wash.-based Stoke Space Technologies says it has added another $350 million to its previously announced Series D financing round, bringing the amount raised in the round to $860 million.

The fresh funding will go toward completing activation of the company’s Florida launch complex and expanding production capacity for its fully reusable Nova launch vehicle. Additional capital will be used to accelerate future elements on Stoke’s product road map.

Terms of the round were not disclosed. With the extension of the Series D round, Stoke has raised $1.34 billion to date.

The medium-lift Nova rocket is currently under development. First liftoff from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station is expected sometime this year.

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