Month: January 2024

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First Mode downsizes and revises its clean tech plans

First Mode hybrid diesel-electric truck during test drive
First Mode’s hybrid diesel-electric truck takes on its first tests in Centralia, Wash. (First Mode via LinkedIn)

First Mode says it’s cutting back on its workforce as it adjusts to the market demand for heavy trucks that rely less on fossil fuels.

The workforce in the U.S., which currently amounts to about 240 people, is being immediately reduced by about 20%, First Mode CEO Julian Soles said in an email sent to employees today. Most of those employees are in Washington state — for example, at First Mode’s Seattle HQ and at its proving grounds in Centralia, Wash.

About 125 additional employees work in non-U.S. offices. Soles said operations in Australia, Britain and South Africa “may also possibly experience redundancies,” while operations in Chile are “not currently impacted.”

Despite the cutbacks, First Mode is continuing with plans to retrofit mining trucks to reduce their carbon footprint and address the climate challenge. “This is the year that we deliver commercial products to our customer sites. It is also when we finalise our transformation from an engineering services firm to a global decarbonisation product company,” Soles wrote, using British spellings.

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PowerLight looks into beaming power on the moon

Illustration: Power-beaming system on the moon
An artist’s conception shows a beamed-power system operating on the moon. (Illustration via PowerLight)

Kent, Wash.-based PowerLight Technologies says it’s joined a team headed by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to design a power beaming system that might someday charge up robots on the moon.

The effort is being funded by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency as part of its LunA-10 program, which supports concepts for future lunar infrastructure projects. DARPA selected 14 industry teams, including Blue Origin’s team, to receive up to $1 million each for studies that are due this spring.

Blue Origin and PowerLight are focusing on a system that could generate power for lunar operations — perhaps using solar cells manufactured on the moon — and then transmit that power to remote locations via laser light.

The DARPA LunA-10 study takes its name from the goal of advancing a lunar architecture for infrastructure over a 10-year time frame. Hardware development isn’t the point of the study. Instead, DARPA is interested in developing ideas that could give rise to future commercial applications on the moon — and perhaps tech spin-offs here on Earth.

PowerLight, which was known as LaserMotive when it was founded in 2007, is developing laser-based power transmission systems for a variety of closer-to-home applications, including over-the-air power beaming systems as well as power over fiber-optic cable for telecom equipment, drones and hard-to-reach installations on land and underwater.

The company made an early splash in 2009 when it won a $900,000 prize in NASA’s Power Beaming Challenge, so its involvement in a space-related project marks something of a return to its roots.

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Fiction Science Club

Why scientists are mesmerized by the multiverse

Illustration: Visualization of our universe in the multiverse
An artist's conception shows our cosmos amid other universes in the multiverse. (NASA / JPL-Caltech / R. Hurt (IPAC)

The multiverse may be a cool (and convenient) concept for comic books and superhero movies, but why do scientists take it seriously?

In a new book titled “The Allure of the Multiverse,” physicist Paul Halpern traces why many theorists have come to believe that longstanding scientific puzzles can be solved only if they allow for the existence of other universes outside our own — even if they have no firm evidence for such realms.

It’s easy to confuse the hypotheses with the hype, but Halpern says there’s a huge difference between the multiverse that physicists propose and the mystical realm that’s portrayed in movies like “Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.”

“Some people accuse scientists of trying to delve into science fiction if they even mention the multiverse,” Halpern says in the latest episode of the Fiction Science podcast. “But the type of science that people are doing when they talk about the multiverse is real science. It’s far-reaching science, but it’s real science. Scientists are not saying, ‘Hey, maybe we can meet another Spider-Man and attack Kingpin that way.'”

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Cosmic Tech

Super-quiet supersonic jet rolls out for a preview

X-59 on flight apron at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works
NASA's X-59 supersonic research aircraft sits outside Lockheed Martin's Skunk Works facility in California. (Lockheed Martin Photo)

Today’s debut of NASA’s X-59 low-boom supersonic jet brought not even a whisper of a sonic boom — because it stayed on the ground at Lockheed Martin’s Skunk Works facility in Palmdale, Calif.

But later this year, the long, pointy plane is due to test out technologies aimed at reducing the noise that’s associated with supersonic aircraft — and removing obstacles to routine super-high-speed air travel.

At today’s rollout ceremony, NASA Deputy Administrator Pam Melroy said the X-59 is designed to produce a “gentle thump” rather than the thunderous boom created when an aircraft breaks the sound barrier.

“This breakthrough really redefines the feasibility of commercial supersonic travel over land,” she said. “It brings us closer to a future that we can all understand — cutting flight time from New York to Los Angeles in half.”

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Cosmic Space

NASA reschedules Artemis moon landing for 2026

Artemis 2 looking at Orion moon ship
Artemis 2 crew members check out their Orion spacecraft during testing at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (NASA Photo / Kim Shiflett)

NASA has added another year’s delay to its plan for landing astronauts on the moon: The Artemis 2 trip around the moon is now scheduled for 2025, setting the stage for an Artemis 3 mission in 2026 that would see humans step onto lunar surface for the first time in 54 years.

The reasons behind the postponement have to do with safety concerns that arose in the wake of the uncrewed Artemis 1 round-the-moon mission in 2022. That flight was seen as a shakedown cruise for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft.

When NASA and its industry partners analyzed the results of Artemis 1, they found several issues that required more time to resolve — including higher-than-expected levels of erosion in Orion’s heat shield, deficiencies in the battery and electrical system, and problems with some of the components used in Orion’s life support system.

“Safety is our top priority,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson said today in a teleconference. “And to give Artemis teams more time to work through the challenges with first-time developments, operations and integration, we’re going to give more time on Artemis 2 and 3.”

Artemis 2 is now due to send three Americans and a Canadian astronaut on a 10-day trip around the moon in an Orion capsule in September 2025 rather than late 2024.

The Artemis 3 mission, which would use Orion as well as a modified SpaceX Starship lander to put a yet-to-be-named crew of astronauts on the moon’s surface near the south pole, is now scheduled for September 2026 rather than late 2025.

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GeekWire

Astrobotic admits moon lander mission will fall short

Peregrine lander during preparations for launch
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander is shown during last month’s preparations for launch. (United Launch Alliance Photo)

Astrobotic says that it’s given up on its plan to put a commercial spacecraft safely on the moon’s surface, due to a propellant leak that will soon leave its Peregrine lander without fuel.

The Pittsburgh-based company said there was no indication that the leak occurred as the result of the lander’s launch by United Launch Alliance. ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket made its first liftoff over the weekend with the aid of BE-4 engines provided by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture.

The Astrobotic team’s working theory is that a valve between the propulsion system’s oxidizer and a store of helium that served to pressurize the oxidizer tank failed to reseal after it was actuated during spacecraft initialization.

“This led to a rush of high-pressure helium that spiked the pressure in the oxidizer tank beyond its operating limit and subsequently ruptured the tank,” Astrobotic said today in mission update.

Because of the resulting leak, mission controllers had a hard time keeping Peregrine’s solar arrays pointed toward the sun — but today Astrobotic said “the team was able to update the control algorithm and fix this issue.” The lander’s batteries are currently fully charged, and onboard cameras are sending pictures back down to Earth.

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Propulsion failure puts moon lander’s mission at risk

Illustration: Peregrine lander in space with Earth in background
An artist’s conception shows Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander with Earth in the background. (Astrobotic via YouTube)

Hours after the launch of its commercial moon lander, Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic reported a failure within the robotic spacecraft’s propulsion system that could rule out a soft landing.

“Unfortunately, it appears the failure within the propulsion system is causing a critical loss of propellant,” Astrobotic said today in a mission update.posted to X / Twitter. “The team is working to try and stabilize this loss, but given the situation, we have prioritized maximizing the science and data we can capture. We are currently assessing what alternative mission profiles may be feasible at this time.”

In an earlier update, Astrobotic said the propulsion problem could threaten the “ability to soft land on the moon.” NASA is paying Astrobotic $108 million to have its Peregrine spacecraft carry a suite of science instruments to the lunar surface, and more than a dozen other payloads are going along for the ride.

The setback followed a picture-perfect launch of the 8-foot-wide lander from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida overnight. It was the first liftoff for United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket — and the first launch for Blue Origin’s BE-4 rocket engines, which Jeff Bezos’ space venture provided for the first-stage booster.

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Moon lander gets a lift from Vulcan rocket and Blue Origin

Vulcan liftoff from launch pad
United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket lifts off from its Florida launch pad. (NASA via YouTube)

Update: Hours after launch, Astrobotic reported a failure in the Peregrine lander’s propulsion system that could rule out a soft landing on the moon.

United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket lifted off for the first time tonight, making use of booster engines built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture to launch what could be the first mission to put a commercially built lander safely on the moon.

At the end of a seemingly trouble-free countdown, the rocket rose from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. ET Jan. 8 (11:18 p.m. PT Jan. 7). It was the first-ever launch for the Vulcan rocket, and the first-ever use of Blue Origin’s BE-4 engines.

Two BE-4 engines, fueled by liquefied natural gas, powered the first-stage booster spaceward with an assist from two side boosters. “We’re seeing excellent performance out of the BE-4’s,” ULA flight commentator Rob Gannon said.

About five minutes after liftoff, Vulcan’s Centaur V upper stage separated from the first-stage booster and carried Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander into orbit. Spacecraft separation took place 50 minutes after launch, sending Peregrine on the next leg of its trek to the moon.

“Yee-haw! I am so thrilled,” ULA CEO Tory Bruno said after separation. Soon after Bruno’s joyful whoop, Astrobotic confirmed contact with the lander.

“Big kudos and congrats to the whole team!” Bezos said in an Instagram post.

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Moon lander mission will carry DNA to the final frontier

Astrobotic moon lander prepared for launch
Astrobotic’s Peregrine lander is prepared for placement within its launch vehicle’s fairing. (Astrobotic Photo)

A mission to send a commercial lander to the moon, set for launch in a couple of days, will bring the fruition of projects that have been in the works for years — including projects that aim to put DNA into cold storage on the final frontier.

Pittsburgh-based Astrobotic’s robotic Peregrine lander is scheduled to begin a circuitous 40-day trip to the moon with liftoff from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida at 2:18 a.m. ET Jan. 8 (11:18 p.m. PT Jan. 7). NASA TV will stream coverage of the countdown.

It’ll mark the first launch for United Launch Alliance’s next-generation Vulcan Centaur rocket, and the first use of the BE-4 engines built by Jeff Bezos’ Blue Origin space venture for Vulcan’s first-stage booster — coming nearly 10 years after the partnership between ULA and Blue Origin was announced.

A successful touchdown next month would go into the history books as the first soft landing of a commercially built spacecraft on the lunar surface — in fact, the first soft lunar landing of any U.S.-built spacecraft since Apollo 17 in 1972. Among the payloads placed aboard the lander is the Iris mini-rover, which would become the first U.S.-built vehicle to wheel around the moon since the Apollo era.

Several NASA-supported payloads will take measurements at the landing site, around a region known as the Gruithuisen Domes, during a science mission that’s projected to last a couple of weeks. Other payloads include micro-robots from Mexico, an art project called MoonArk, mementos and bits of cryptocurrency.

And then there’s the DNA. Samples of DNA — either contributed by donors or synthesized to contain coded information — will be riding on the Peregrine lander as well as the Vulcan’s Centaur V upper stage.

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NASA boosts far-out radio dishes and other wild ideas

Concept illustrations from NIAC Phase I projects
This collage highlights several concepts proposed by 2024 NIAC Phase I awardees. (NASA Illustration)

A proposal to build a far-flung set of radio antennas to measure the cosmos is one of 13 far-out concepts to receive seed funding from the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts program.

University of Washington astronomer Matthew McQuinn will receive a grant of $175,000 to flesh out his plan for a solar-system-scale interferometer capable of determining cosmological distances with precision that’s an order of magnitude beyond what’s possible today.

The plan would require building and launching a constellation of four radio dishes, each measuring at least several meters (yards) in diameter. The detectors would have to be widely separated, far out in deep space. How far out? “The science gets interesting when they are more than about 10 AU apart,” McQuinn told me in an email. That distance of 10 AU is just a bit less than the width of Jupiter’s orbit.

The detectors would be on the lookout for fast radio bursts that flash from beyond our Milky Way galaxy. By measuring the difference in arrival times at the different detectors, scientists could calculate the distance to the source of a burst with sub-percent precision. “It’s kind of like GPS localizations, but applied to fast radio bursts,” McQuinn explained.

In his proposal, McQuinn says such measurements could lead to new discoveries in fields ranging from gravitational-wave detection to the study of dark matter. McQuinn and a UW colleague, Kyle Boone, lay out the details in a research paper that was published last year in The Astrophysical Journal Letters.

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