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Science

Rocket Report: Iran debuts new booster, SpaceX to launch Lunar Gateway

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Enlarge / The Transporter-1 mission launches from Florida on January 24, 2021.

Welcome to Edition 3.33 of the Rocket Report! Plenty of news this week about NASA awarding contracts to launch companies and also some new details about a pair of German rocket startups seeking to develop orbital boosters.

As always, we welcome reader submissions, and if you don’t want to miss an issue, please subscribe using the box below (the form will not appear on AMP-enabled versions of the site). Each report will include information on small-, medium-, and heavy-lift rockets as well as a quick look ahead at the next three launches on the calendar.

Firefly wins lunar lander contract. NASA has awarded Texas-based Firefly $93.3 million to deliver a suite of 10 NASA-sponsored science and technology demonstration payloads to Mare Crisium in the Moon’s Crisium Basin. Firefly’s “Blue Ghost” lunar lander will deliver the payloads to the lunar surface in 2023 in fulfillment of the Commercial Lunar Payload Services task order, the company said.

How will it fly to the Moon? … “This award is further validation of Firefly, its team and its mission to become a versatile provider of a broad range of space-related services,” said Max Polyakov, founder of Noosphere Ventures, the largest investor in Firefly. What’s not clear is how the sizable lander will get to the Moon, as the mission is too large to launch on the company’s Alpha booster. A company spokesman said a launcher has yet to be determined. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

Iran tests new solid rocket named Zoljanah. Iran has test-launched a new rocket with its “most powerful” solid-fuel engine to date, Iranian state television reported, according to Israel Hayom. Ahmad Hosseini, spokesman for the Iranian Defense Ministry’s space division, said, “This three-stage carrier can compete with the world’s current carriers, and has two stages of solid propulsion and a single liquid one.” Hosseini added that the rocket had been launched for “research purposes.”

Launch from anywhere? … Hosseini said that the Zoljanah rocket was capable of putting a payload with a mass of up to 220kg into a 500km orbit. The Zoljanah can be launched from a mobile platform, Hosseini said. Last April, the Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps launched the country’s first military satellite, the Nour, into orbit after a similar launch had failed two months earlier. (submitted by arstechmfw)

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ABL chosen to launch from the United Kingdom. Lockheed Martin says it has selected California-based ABL Space Systems to launch the first orbital rocket from the United Kingdom—a mission that is expected to launch from Scotland in 2022. No rockets have ever launched into orbit from UK soil, Ars reports.

RS1 to debut this spring? … The launch is part of an agreement between the British government and Lockheed to foster a commercial small-satellite launch industry in the country. In choosing ABL Space, Lockheed has chosen a company that has not yet launched a rocket, although its RS1 vehicle is expected to make its debut during the second quarter of this year.

Rocket Factory Augsburg to seek 25 million euros. The German launch startup said in a news release that it will seek the new round of funding to boost its growth. “We want to build the best and cheapest rockets and microlaunchers,” said Hans Steininger, deputy chairman of the supervisory board and founding investor of Rocket Factory. “With freight costs of €3 million per launch, we will be able to offer by far the cheapest launch service in the world.”

Would be a great value … The company is one of the most promising new space ventures in Germany, and it nominally has plans to launch a rocket capable of lifting about 1 ton to low Earth orbit from the Norwegian island of Andøya in 2022. If it really can delivery that level of performance for less than $4 million, it would be a tremendous price. But first, the company has to do it.

Rocket Lab set to deploy 100th satellite. The company said its 19th Electron launch is now scheduled for mid-March, and this flight will bring the total number of satellites launched by Electron to 104. This “They Go Up So Fast” mission will carry seven satellites as part of its manifest.

Stepping stone to the Moon … Most intriguingly, the mission will launch Rocket Lab’s Photon Pathstone spacecraft, which was designed and built in-house. The vehicle will operate on orbit as a risk-reduction demonstration ahead of Rocket Lab’s mission to the Moon for NASA later this year. In space, Photon Pathstone will demonstrate power management, thermal control, and attitude control subsystems, among other features. (submitted by Ken the Bin and platykurtic)

HyImpulse will launch from Scotland. Germany-based HyImpulse Technologies plans to begin engine testing and launching sub-orbital sounding rockets in Shetland this year, with a view toward its first orbital flight in 2023, Parabolic Arc reports. The decision is a hopeful sign for efforts to develop a spaceport at the Shetland Space Centre on the British island of Unst.

From Germany to Scotland … HyImpulse Co-CEO Christian Schmierer said, “We have signed letters of intent with several potential customers to take their payloads into orbit. It was therefore very important for us to secure a launch pad and site ahead of time and to start with our mission planning. Shetland Space Centre allows us to offer frequent, reliable access to space with a great variety of efficient flight routes.” The company is developing a sounding rocket, SR75, and a SL1 orbital rocket. (submitted by platykurtic)

Are launch investors headed toward “venture fratricide?” In a roundup from the 2021 SmallSat Symposium this week, SpaceNews covers the varying opinions on the glut of launch companies seeking to develop rockets for small satellites. While some observers saw a surge of launch vehicle development efforts as a sign of an “overheated” market, others see those efforts as a sign of shifting demand.

Unsure of value of nimble launch services … Perhaps the most colorful comment came from Steve Jurvetson, a SpaceX board member skeptical that small launch vehicles can compete against the prices offered by Falcon 9 ride-share missions. Commenting on investors in those companies, he said, “That’s astounding: billions of dollars going to fundamentally the exact same market segment. I’ve never seen anything like it,” he said, calling all of the investment going into those companies “venture fratricide.” (submitted by platykurtic)

SpaceX sees strong demand for ride-share. During a separate panel discussion at the 2021 SmallSat Symposium this week, a SpaceX official said the company has two more dedicated ride-share missions scheduled this year after its Falcon 9 Transporter-1 launch in January, SpaceNews reports. “Customer demand has been extremely strong. Demand is growing, so we’re certainly going to have some very full rockets coming up,” said Jarrod McLachlan, senior manager of ride-share sales at SpaceX.

“Enabling people to be creative” … Notably, the company says it is seeing the satellite market react to a lower price point of $5,000 per kilogram and the size and mass of SpaceX’s offering. “We’re seeing some people who are optimizing their spacecraft and their constellation design around that volume, as well as some of the integrator/broker partners out there who are doing multiple spacecraft in a single port,” Jarrod McLachlan said. “Being so public with our pricing and our requirements is really enabling people to be creative. (submitted by Ken the Bin and platykurtic)

NASA selects Falcon 9 to launch SPHEREx mission. The space agency said it will use a Falcon 9 rocket to launch the Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization, and Ices Explorer, or SPHEREx mission, as early as June 2024. The total cost for NASA to launch SPHEREx is approximately $98.8 million, which includes the launch service and other mission related costs.

Answering cosmic questions … The mission will take place from Launch Complex-4E at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California. The astrophysics mission will survey the sky in the near-infrared light to answer cosmic questions involving the birth of the universe and the subsequent development of galaxies. It also will search for water and organic molecules. (submitted by Ken the Bin)

NASA selects Falcon Heavy to launch Lunar Gateway. On Tuesday, the space agency said it plans to launch the power and propulsion element combined with the habitat module on a Falcon Heavy. The mission is set for no earlier than May 2024, and once in its orbit around the Moon, the Gateway will serve as a waypoint for astronauts traveling down to the lunar surface.

Good money if you can get it … SpaceX will receive $331.8 million, including the launch service and other mission-related costs, for the flight. This is considerably more than the advertised price of a Falcon Heavy. However, by 2024 the only other rocket capable of launching the Gateway, NASA’s Space Launch System, would likely cost $1.5 billion to $2 billion for a comparable mission. And NASA is not expected to have a spare SLS rocket anyway, due to the long time needed to manufacture an SLS rocket core. (submitted by Tfargo04, platykurtic. and Ken the Bin)

SLS proponent won’t run for reelection. Sen. Richard Shelby (R-AL) has used his seniority in the US Senate to wield enormous power over NASA’s human spaceflight program for the better part of a decade. He championed funding for the Space Launch System rocket and sought to reduce funding for Commercial Crew. But now, he is in the minority after Democrats took control of the Senate. And this week, Shelby announced that he would not run for reelection in 2022.

So what happens now? … As Ars reports, it seems probable that Shelby’s departure would make it easier for the Biden White House to cancel the SLS rocket program should it continue to face technical difficulties, such as the incomplete hot-fire test of the core stage. It will also make the program’s end all the more inevitable should SpaceX succeed in launching Starship into orbit on its Super Heavy rocket. Without a potent backstop like Shelby, the reality of a heavy-lift rocket that costs significantly less than SLS, has a greater lift capacity, and is capable of multiple reuses should be impossible to ignore.

NASA confirms it won’t launch Clipper on SLS. It’s finally official. NASA is no longer considering launching the Europa Clipper mission on the Space Launch System, deciding instead to launch the spacecraft on a commercial rocket it will procure in the next year, SpaceNews reports. During a February 10 presentation at a meeting of NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group, leaders of the Europa Clipper project said the agency recently decided to consider only commercial launch vehicles.

End of a long battle … “We now have clarity on the launch vehicle path and launch date,” Robert Pappalardo, project scientist for Europa Clipper at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said. That clarity came in the form of a January 25 memo from NASA’s Planetary Missions Program Office to “immediately cease efforts to maintain SLS compatibility” and move forward with a commercial launch vehicle. Thus ends a long political battle fought by Sen. Richard Shelby (see item above) to keep Clipper on the SLS. (submitted by BH)

Next three launches

Feb. 12: Falcon 9 | Starlink-19 | Kennedy Space Center, Florida | 05:25 UTC

Feb. 15: Soyuz | Progress 77P | Baikonur Cosmodrome | 04:45 UTC

Feb. 20: Antares | Northrop Grumman-15 mission to ISS | Wallops Island, Va. | 17:36 UTC

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Science

NASA picks SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy to launch two key pieces of the Lunar Gateway

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NASA chose SpaceX’s heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket to launch the first two elements of the agency’s Lunar Gateway, a planned outpost orbiting the moon. The two Gateway pieces, a propulsion module and astronaut living quarters, were originally designed to launch separately, but NASA picked SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy as a one-trip solution for $332 million.

Falcon Heavy, SpaceX’s strongest operational rocket, will send both Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) and its Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) to space as one integrated payload “no earlier than May 2024,” NASA said in a statement Tuesday night. NASA originally planned to have the PPE, built by Maxar, and HALO, built by Northrop Grumman, mate in space after launching atop two separate rockets, but the agency decided last year to launch them together in a single mission to cut costs.

Instead, it “contributed to cost increases due to the redesign of several components” for both Maxar’s PPE and Northrop’s HALO, NASA’s inspector general wrote in a report released last year. It added that launching the two elements together could be risky, because the payload “may be too heavy for commercially available rockets or too long for the rocket’s fairing.” The rocket ultimately met NASA’s performance requirements, NASA spokeswoman Monica Witt told The Verge.

That report also found that combining the Gateway elements would result in “a longer duration flight to lunar orbit,” which could add extra costs to the mission. Among the costs included in the recently-announced $332 million price tag are “payload processing facilities, support contractors, range support, spacecraft propellants, communications, and telemetry,” Witt said. She declined to say whether the cost will support any changes to Falcon Heavy’s payload shell to accommodate the hefty size and weight of launching two Gateway elements that were originally designed for separate rockets. SpaceX didn’t return a request for comment.

$332 million was three times more than what the agency has previously awarded for another upcoming Falcon Heavy launch — NASA will pay SpaceX $117 million to launch its Psyche asteroid mission on the rocket in 2022. But SpaceX has commanded steep prices for Falcon Heavy launches before. In late 2020 SpaceX got $316 million from the Air Force for a single Falcon Heavy launch, but that hefty price tag “reflects mostly the infrastructure,” SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell clarified. That infrastructure includes a new mobile service tower meant to satisfy requirements for processing national security-related payloads, according to an FAA filing.

Beyond price, NASA’s decision to combine the two elements meant some complicated juggling from each of the companies involved. It forced Maxar to cancel a contract it had already signed with SpaceX to launch the PPE and other satellites. The company paid SpaceX $27.5 million, including $6 million that came from NASA. To resolve this predicament, Witt said the agency “negotiated contractual modifications with Maxar to remove the previous launch service.”

And for Northrop, launching the HALO habitat together with the PPE forced the company to shave off cargo it originally planned to send packaged inside, according to the inspector general report. Now, “HALO will not be able to deliver additional cargo as originally envisioned which will result in an earlier than planned resupply in orbit,” which means an additional rocket launch might be necessary.

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Science

SpaceX wins contract to launch first pieces of NASA’s Gateway lunar outpost – Spaceflight Now

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File photo of a SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch in April 2019. Credit: Walter Scriptunas II / Spaceflight Now

NASA announced Tuesday it has awarded SpaceX a $331 million contract to launch the first two pieces of the Gateway lunar outpost in 2024 using a modified version of the Falcon Heavy rocket to hurl the massive core of the deep space station toward the moon.

The Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element and Habitation and Logistics Outpost will launch in tandem no earlier than May 2024 aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

The $331.8 million launch services contract, awarded by NASA’s Launch Services Program at Kennedy, includes the Falcon Heavy launch and “other mission-related costs,” the agency said in a statement. The $331 million contract value is nearly three times the price NASA is paying for a Falcon Heavy launch in July 2022 with the Psyche asteroid probe.

The PPE and the HALO modules are the first two pieces of the Gateway mini-space station, which NASA envisions will serve as a waypoint for astronauts in transit to and from the moon’s surface in the space agency’s Artemis lunar exploration program. Contributions from international partners, such as a joint European-Japanese habitation module and a Canadian robotic arm, will eventually join the Gateway in orbit around the moon, forming an outpost about one-sixth the size of the International Space Station.

The Power and Propulsion Element, built by Maxar, will be powered by large solar array wings, and will use plasma rocket jets for deep space maneuvers. It will also provide communications and attitude control for the Gateway complex. The HALO, developed by Northrop Grumman in partnership with Thales Alenia Space in Italy, will provide the initial living quarters for astronauts on the Gateway, and will have docking ports arriving and departing cargo and crew ships.

SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket will haul the PPE and HALO into a high-altitude orbit around Earth. The PPE’s solar-electric thrusters will guide the stack toward the moon, where the Gateway will enter an elliptical lunar orbit to take position for the docking of Orion crew capsules with astronauts. NASA intends for human-rated lunar landers to also link up with the Gateway in orbit around the moon, and the landing craft could be refueled at the Gateway for multiple trips to and from the lunar surface.

The combined function of the HALO and Orion life support systems will sustain up to four astronauts for up to 30 days on the Gateway, according to NASA.

The Trump administration set a 2024 schedule goal for the first astronauts to return to the moon’s surface in NASA’s Artemis program. The Biden White House has said it supports the Artemis program, although the new administration has not said whether it will stick with the 2024 schedule, which was already facing stiff technical and funding headwinds before President Trump left office.

NASA decided year to launch the PPE and HALO elements on the same rocket. The decision reversed NASA’s previous Gateway acquisition strategy, which would have launched the two elements on separate rockets before they automatically docked in deep space.

Artist’s illustration of the Gateway’s PPE and HALO modules in lunar orbit. Credit: NASA

The tandem launch of the PPE and HALO sections requires a rocket with an extended payload shroud. The payload fairing currently flying on SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy is not long enough for the job, but SpaceX plans to introduce an extended fairing for future U.S. national security satellites, along with a new vertical integration hangar at pad 39A to enable the attachment of military payloads in a vertical orientation at the launch site.

The new fairing design and launch pad integration tower are part of a Pentagon launch services agreement SpaceX won last year. ULA won a similar Defense Department launch contract, and the two companies will share national security launch duties through 2027.

The fairing and integration building are required for SpaceX to be able to launch all of the military’s space missions, and the enlarged shroud is also an enabler for the Falcon Heavy to launch the Gateway.

SpaceX is on contract for other parts of NASA’s Artemis architecture.

The company’s Dragon XL cargo vehicle will deliver supplies to the Gateway space station. The Dragon XL missions will also launch on Falcon Heavy rockets.

A version of SpaceX’s next-generation Starship vehicle, which engineers are designing as a fully reusable rocket, could be used as a lunar lander to transport crews to and from the lunar surface. SpaceX is competing against teams led by Blue Origin and Dynetics for the full lunar lander development contract.

NASA plans to launch astronauts from Earth aboard Orion capsules flying on top of the government-owned Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket.

SpaceX has launched three Falcon Heavy rocket missions to date, all successfully, and the company has at least two more scheduled this year. With the Gateway launch contract, SpaceX has seven confirmed Falcon Heavy missions in its backlog, including two U.S. Space Force missions this year, launches of a Viasat broadband communications satellite and NASA’s Psyche asteroid explorer in 2022, and two Dragon XL cargo missions to the Gateway.

The Falcon Heavy is made up of three modified Falcon 9 first stage boosters connected together in a triple-core configuration. The rocket’s 27 Merlin main engines produce some 5.1 million pounds of thrust at liftoff, more than any other currently operational rocket.

NASA’s inspector general reported in November that the agency has spent more than $500 million on Gateway design work to date.

Despite the decision to combine the PPE and HALO onto a single launch, which NASA said would save money and simplify development, the launch of the Gateway’s power element has been delayed from December 2022 to May 2024.

“The development schedules for both the PPE and HALO have been negatively impacted by the agency’s still-evolving Gateway requirements, including NASA’s decision to co-manifest and launch the two elements on the same commercial rocket rather than separately as initially intended,” the inspector general said last year.”

The Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element and HALO habitation module will now launch together inside an extended payload fairing. Credit: NASA

The inspector general also cited the Trump administration’s 2024 schedule goal for returning astronauts to the moon, although NASA was not counting on using the Gateway for the first Artemis lunar landing mission, at least as proposed in the previous administration.

“Compounding these issues is the 2024 lunar mandate that drove the accelerated development schedule in the first place and resulted in a lack of schedule margin in the Gateway program,” the inspector general said.

NASA’s choice to co-manifest the PPE and HALO will add 10 months to the modules’ travel time to their operating post in a near-rectilinear halo orbit around the moon, the inspector general said.

“The decision to launch the PPE and HALO together, while avoiding the cost of a second commercial launch vehicle, has contributed to cost increases due to the redesign of several components, an elevated launch risk, and a longer duration flight to lunar orbit,” the inspector general said.

Under the original Gateway launch strategy, Maxar was responsible for booking the launch for the Power and Propulsion Element. Maxar had already contracted SpaceX for the solo launch of the PPE, an agreement that the inspector general said was terminated in favor of the combined launch of the PPE and the HALO, which came with additional requirements, such as the Falcon Heavy with the extended fairing.

Maxar had already paid SpaceX $27.5 million in payments for the PPE launch contract before terminating the agreement, the inspector general said.

“In our judgment, NASA’s acceleration of the acquisition for both the PPE and HALO before fully defining the Gateway’s requirements added significant costs to the projects’ development efforts and increases the risk of future schedule delays and additional cost increases,” the inspector general said.

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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.



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Science

Firefly will light up the moon with $93M lunar lander contract from NASA – TechCrunch

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NASA has awarded Firefly Aerospace a $93.3 million contract to take a lunar lander module loaded with experiments to the surface of the moon. While the company will not be performing the launch itself, it will be providing the spacecraft and “Blue Ghost” lander for the 2023 mission.

The space agency made the award as part of its ongoing Commercial Lunar Payload Services, under which several other non-prime space companies have been selected for similar work: Blue Origin, Astrobotic, Masten and so on.

This particular contract was first publicized to its CLPS partners back in September, which would have submitted bids for the project; Firefly clearly carried the day.

“We’re excited another CLPS provider has won its first task order award,” said NASA associate administrator for science Thomas Zurbuchen in a release announcing the contract. The last few years have seen many such firsts as NASA has increasingly embraced the commercial sector in providing everything from launch services to satellite and spacecraft manufacturing.

It’s not exactly Firefly’s first order from NASA, though: Its national security subsidiary Firefly Black (ominous) will be launching two cubesats for the Venture Class Launch Service Demo-2 mission. But this is larger and more complex by a huge margin (not to mention more expensive).

This will be the maiden lunar voyage for Firefly’s Blue Ghost lander, which it’s been working on for the last few years in anticipation of renewed interest in the moon. It will hold the 10 scientific payloads, which NASA describes here, including a new laser reflector array and an experimental radiation-tolerant computer. There’s a lot to be loaded up, but Blue Ghost should have 50kg of space left over for anyone else who wants a ride to the moon.

Everything is going to Mare Crisium, a basin on the “light” or near side of the moon, where hopefully they will contribute valuable observations and experiments to inform future visits to and habitation on the moon.

Firefly will also be providing the spacecraft that will take the lander into lunar space, and will be responsible for getting it off the Earth in the first place — the company told me they’re evaluating options for that. By the time 2023 rolls around there should be plenty of rides to choose from, and indeed Firefly’s own Alpha launch vehicle may be flying by then, though it’s not ready to commit to a lunar insertion orbit mission today. The company plans to have its first Alpha flight in March.

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Science

The Moon Could Be Getting Water Thanks to ‘Wind’ From Earth’s Magnetosphere

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Evidence of water in the shadows of craters or locked up in glassy beads like microscopic snow-globes has recently revealed the Moon’s surface is far less desiccated than we ever imagined.

 

Just where this veneer of ice water came from is a mystery astronomers are currently trying to solve. One surprising possibility emerging is an elemental rain from our own atmosphere, delivered by Earth’s magnetic field.

Water isn’t exactly a rare substance in space. Given suitable places to hide, it can be sloshing around inside asteroids, coating comets, and even clinging precariously to the darkness of Mercury’s craters.

It makes sense at least some of it will splash onto the Moon every now and then. But with the Sun’s scorching heat and lacking protection from the vacuum of space, it’s not expected to last very long.

To account for the surprising amount of moisture being found on the lunar surface, researchers have proposed a more dynamic form of production – a constant ‘rain’ of protons driven by the solar wind. These hydrogen ions smack into mineral oxides in the Moon’s dust and rocks, ripping apart chemical bonds and forming a loose, temporary alliance with the oxygen.

It’s a solid hypothesis, one that would be given a boost by observations of the more exposed (and more loosely bound) water molecules quickly succumbing to the vacuum of space whenever the Moon is sheltered from solar wind.

 

Our own planet happens to be pretty well protected from the constant breeze of ions blown from the Sun, thanks to a bubble of magnetism surrounding it. This force field not only surrounds us, it is blown into a tear-drop shape by the solar onslaught.

For a few days each month, the Moon passes through this magnetosphere, receiving a brief respite from the Sun’s proton downpour.

An international team of researchers recently used plasma and magnetic field instruments on the Japanese Kaguya orbiter to pinpoint this precise timing in the Moon’s orbit. Spectral data from Chandrayaan-1’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) were then used to map the distribution of water across the Moon’s surface at its highest latitudes.

The results weren’t quite what anybody expected.

In short, nothing happened. The time-series of the Moon’s watery signature revealed no appreciable difference in the three to five days spent hidden from the Sun’s wind.

These results could mean a few things. One is that the whole solar wind hypothesis is a bust, and other reservoirs are responsible for replenishing the Moon’s surface water.

 

But another intriguing possibility that doesn’t require us to ditch the solar wind idea is that Earth’s magnetic field simply picks up where the Sun leaves off.

Past research has suggested the sheet of plasma associated with our planet’s magnetosphere could deliver about the same amount of hydrogen ions as the solar wind, especially towards the lunar poles.

It’s not all delivered with quite the same amount of punch, admittedly, but the researchers hypothesise even the occasional heavy-hitting hydrogen ion could potentially create more than its fair share of water. And lower-energy protons might be more easily held in place, therefore less likely to fall apart in the moments after they’re formed.

There’s also every possibility that oxygen from the upper reaches of the atmosphere above our poles is carried across the vast stretch of emptiness to collide with the Moon, especially during periods of enhanced geomagnetic activity.

If this all sounds rather speculative, that’s because it is. Right now, we only have a rather surprising map of water that doesn’t quite align with favoured models.

But it points in some exciting new directions for the emerging field of Moon hydrodynamics. Since the researchers only mapped the water distribution at higher latitudes, it’ll be worth looking closer to the equator for the predicted losses in the future.

On a practical front, we might need to rely heavily on a replenishing supply of lunar frost for fuel and life support one day, should the Moon become a stepping stone for space exploration.

If nothing else, we’re slowly piecing together an understanding of a water cycle in space that helps us better understand the connections between our planet and its only natural satellite.

This research was published in the Astrophysical Journal Letters.

 

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Science

First evidence that water can be created on the lunar surface by Earth’s magnetosphere

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75% of its orbit in the solar wind (yellow), which is blocked by the magnetosphere the rest of the time. Credit: E. Masongsong, UCLA EPSS, NASA GSFC SVS.” width=”800″ height=”496″/>
Artist’s depiction of the Moon in the magnetosphere, with “Earth wind” made up of flowing oxygen ions (gray) and hydrogen ions (bright blue), which can react with the lunar surface to create water. The Moon spends >75% of its orbit in the solar wind (yellow), which is blocked by the magnetosphere the rest of the time. Credit: E. Masongsong, UCLA EPSS, NASA GSFC SVS.

Before the Apollo era, the moon was thought to be dry as a desert due to the extreme temperatures and harshness of the space environment. Many studies have since discovered lunar water: ice in shadowed polar craters, water bound in volcanic rocks, and unexpected rusty iron deposits in the lunar soil. Despite these findings, there is still no true confirmation of the extent or origin of lunar surface water.

The prevailing theory is that positively charged hydrogen ions propelled by the solar wind bombard the lunar surface and spontaneously react to make water (as hydroxyl (OH–) and molecular (H2O)). However, a new multinational study published in Astrophysical Journal Letters proposes that solar wind may not be the only source of water-forming ions. The researchers show that particles from Earth can seed the moon with water, as well, implying that other planets could also contribute water to their satellites.

Water is far more prevalent in space than astronomers first thought, from the surface of Mars to Jupiter’s moons and Saturn’s rings, comets, asteroids and Pluto; it has even been detected in clouds far beyond our solar system. It was previously assumed that water was incorporated into these objects during the formation of the solar system, but there is growing evidence that water in space is far more dynamic. Though the solar wind is a likely source for lunar surface water, computer models predict that up to half of it should evaporate and disappear at high-latitude regions during the approximately three days of the full moon when it passes within Earth’s magnetosphere.

Surprisingly, the latest analysis of surface hydroxyl/water surface maps by the Chandrayaan-1 satellite’s Moon Mineralogy Mapper (M3) showed that lunar surface water does not disappear during this magnetosphere shielding period. Earth’s magnetic field was thought to block the solar wind from reaching the moon so that water could not be regenerated faster than it was lost, but the researchers found this was not the case.

By comparing a time series of water surface maps before, during and after the magnetosphere transit, the researchers argue that lunar water could be replenished by flows of magnetospheric ions, also known as “Earth wind.” The presence of these Earth-derived ions near the moon was confirmed by the Kaguya satellite, while THEMIS-ARTEMIS satellite observations were used to profile the distinctive features of ions in the solar wind versus those within the magnetosphere Earth wind.

Previous Kaguya satellite observations during the full moon detected high concentrations of oxygen isotopes that leaked out of Earth’s ozone layer and embedded in lunar soil, along with an abundance of hydrogen ions in our planet’s vast extended atmosphere, known as the exosphere. These combined flows of magnetosphere particles are fundamentally different from those in the solar wind. Thus, the latest detection of surface water in this study refutes the shielding hypothesis and instead suggest that the magnetosphere itself creates a “water bridge” that can replenish the moon.

The study employed a multidisciplinary team of experts from cosmochemistry, space physics and planetary geology to contextualize the data. Prior interpretations of surface water did not consider the effects of Earth ions and did not examine how surface water changed over time. The only surface maps and particle data available during a full moon in the magnetosphere were in winter and summer 2009, and it took the past several years to analyze and interpret the results. The analysis was especially difficult due to the scarce observations, which were required to compare the same lunar surface conditions over time and to control for temperature and surface composition.

In light of these findings, future studies of the solar wind and planetary winds can reveal more about the evolution of water in our solar system and the potential effects of solar and magnetosphere activity on other moons and planetary bodies. Expanding this research will require new satellites equipped with comprehensive hydroxyl/water mapping spectrometers, and particle sensors in orbit and on the lunar surface to fully confirm this mechanism. These tools can help to predict the best regions for future exploration, mining and eventual settlement on the moon. Practically, this research can influence the design of upcoming space missions to better safeguard humans and satellites from particle radiation hazards, and also improve computer models and laboratory experiments of water formation in space.

Water on the Moon: Research unveils its type and abundance – boosting exploration plans

More information:
Earth wind as a possible source of lunar surface hydration. arxiv.org/abs/1903.04095
Provided by
UCLA Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences

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World

To Avoid an Outbreak, China Cancels Lunar New Year for Millions of Migrants

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Every winter, Pang Qingguo, a fruit seller in northern China, makes the 800-mile trip to his ancestral home to celebrate the Lunar New Year, the biggest holiday of the year in China, with his family.

The coronavirus ruined the festivities last year, stranding Mr. Pang in the northern city of Tangshan, as many Chinese cities imposed lockdowns. Now, as China confronts a resurgence of the virus, the pandemic is set to spoil the holiday again, with the authorities announcing onerous quarantine and testing rules to dissuade migrant workers like Mr. Pang from traveling for the new year, which begins this year on Feb. 12.

Mr. Pang, who describes his home in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang as the “happiest place,” is anguished by the rules. He has taken to social media in recent days to express frustration about his situation and post photos of his 7-year-old daughter, whom he has not seen in more than a year. “Society is so cruel,” he wrote in one post.

“I really miss my daughter,” Mr. Pang, 31, said in an interview. “But there’s nothing I can do.”

Many of China’s roughly 300 million migrant workers face a similar reality as the government tries to avoid a surge in cases during what is typically the busiest travel season of the year.

The authorities have demanded that people visiting rural areas during the holiday spend two weeks in quarantine and pay for their own coronavirus tests. Many migrants, who endure grueling jobs for meager wages in big cities, say those restrictions make it impossible to travel.

The rollout of the rules has drawn widespread criticism in China, with many people calling the approach unfair to migrant workers, who have long been treated as second-class citizens under China’s strict household registration system. Without that registration, migrant laborers can’t access social or medical services in the cities where they work. The workers have been among the hardest hit in China by the pandemic, as the authorities have carried out scattered lockdowns to fight the virus and employers have reduced hours and pay.

In a normal year, hundreds of millions of people travel by plane, train and car to be with their families for the Lunar New Year. The holiday, which typically includes big festive banquets and fireworks, is normally the only time many workers can return to their hometowns to see loved ones. This year, many are making plans to spend the holiday alone.

Zhu Xiaomei, who works at a fabric store in the eastern city of Hangzhou, typically makes the 30-hour journey by train to her hometown in the southwestern province of Sichuan to be with family. This year she will spend the holiday alone for the first time, inside her 130-square-foot dormitory, which lacks a kitchen.

“Of course it is a bit upsetting,” Ms. Zhu, 40, said. “I have never experienced this feeling.”

For many Chinese families the holiday will represent a second year that the pandemic has kept them apart. Just hours before the start of the Lunar New Year last year, the authorities imposed sweeping lockdowns and suspended trains and planes across the country. In a matter of hours, more than 35 million people in the city of Wuhan and the surrounding areas were ordered to stay at home.

Chinese officials are concerned that widespread travel could give rise to fresh outbreaks, especially in rural areas, where testing is less common and there has been some resistance to quarantines and other public health measures. While China’s outbreak is relatively under control compared to other countries and life is largely normal in many cities, clusters of new cases have emerged in recent weeks, prompting sporadic lockdowns and mass testing efforts. China reported 54 new cases on Wednesday, compared with more than 155,000 new cases in the United States on the same day. Chinese officials have vowed to vaccinate 50 million people before the Lunar New Year, but questions remain about the efficacy of some Chinese-made vaccines.

The authorities still expect hundreds of millions of people to travel during the Lunar New Year season, which lasts from January to March, despite the threat posed by the virus. Many of those travelers are going to large cities, not just rural areas. Several major cities in recent days have tightened restrictions on travel. Beijing is requiring visitors to test negative for the virus before being granted entry.

The Chinese government, in response to the migrants’ outrage over the new restrictions, has tried to offer sweeteners, including gift baskets, activities and shopping discounts, to encourage them to stay put.

In Shanghai, officials plan to pay the phone and medical bills of those who forgo their journeys home. In Beijing, the authorities have encouraged companies to pay employees overtime, while housemaids have been told they will receive about $60 if they work during the holiday. In Tianjin, a northern city, the government has promised subsidies to businesses for every worker that stays over the holiday.

Some cities and counties have gone further, promising a better shot at accessing social benefits like schooling and health care. Some officials are offering rural migrants who forgo holiday travel favorable treatment in applications for residency in cities.

“Through these heartwarming measures, let migrant workers stay in their place of employment and spend the Spring Festival without worries,” Chen Yongjia, a Chinese official, said last week at a news conference in Beijing hosted by the State Council, China’s cabinet. In China, the New Year holiday is typically referred to as the Spring Festival.

In the run-up to the holiday, the government has led a propaganda campaign aimed at persuading migrant workers to avoid traveling home. Large red banners invoking filial piety and model citizen behavior have started to appear on city streets.

“Mask or a ventilator? You pick one of the two,” reads one banner.

“If you come home with the disease, you are unfilial,” another exclaims.

“If you spread the disease to your mother and father, then you are utterly devoid of a conscience,” a third banner reads.

The Chinese government is trying to avoid a major outbreak that could undermine the country’s economic recovery. Last year’s lockdowns tipped China’s economy into its first contraction in nearly a half-century, but it later bounced back as officials ordered its state-run banks to lend and factories to open. Earlier this month, China reported that its economy grew 2.3 percent in 2020, most likely outpacing other large countries, including the United States.

Getting people to spend money has been less effective. Another widespread outbreak would cast a pall on any pent-up demand for shopping that usually accompanies the Lunar New Year holiday.

“What would be really damaging is if the virus spread enough to have to shut down more factories and construction sites,” said Arthur Kroeber, managing director of Gavekal Dragonomics, an independent economic research firm.

Mr. Kroeber said the authorities did not seem eager for a repeat of last year’s draconian response.

“They are trying to walk a tightrope,” Mr. Kroeber said. To impose harsh rules on gatherings for a second year “would be embarrassing,” he added.

The holiday restrictions have added to a difficult time for many migrant workers in China. Many did not work for months last year as the economy came to a standstill amid lockdowns and other restrictions. While wealthier workers in China largely kept their jobs during the pandemic, many migrants struggled to make a living amid cuts to their paychecks and hours.

Shi Baolian, 47, a worker at a chemical factory in the eastern city of Suzhou, said she had been looking forward to going home for the holiday to see her father and help him clean his house. But she canceled her plans after a cluster of cases emerged in her hometown in the northern province of Hebei.

Ms. Shi said she would celebrate the holiday instead with her husband in Suzhou. She said the city has “no new year atmosphere” and that she misses the fireworks and red-and-gold banners of her hometown.

“I can’t go home, so I will just work,” she said. “After the epidemic is over, then we will go back.”

Albee Zhang and Cao Li contributed research.

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