Spaceflight

Possibly a little far-fetched, but cool nevertheless!

A Texas state agency awarded $47.7 million in grants to five space companies to support projects like construction of facilities and development of spacecraft in the state.

The Texas Space Commission announced Feb. 10 that it awarded the grants to Blue Origin, Firefly Aerospace, Intuitive Machines, SpaceX and Starlab Space. The grants are part of the commission’s Space Exploration and Aeronautics Research Fund (SEARF) program.

The press release did not disclose what projects the grants would fund at each company, and a commission spokesperson did not respond to questions about the awards. Brief details about the proposals were discussed during a short meeting of the commission’s board that approved the grants unanimously and without debate:

• Blue Origin: $7 million for upgrades to its booster engine testing facility to enable higher thrust for those engines through densified propellants.
• Firefly Aerospace: $8.2 million for expanded capabilities at its spacecraft development center, as well expanded internship and student access programs.
• Intuitive Machines: $10 million for development of a commercial orbital return vehicle.
• SpaceX: $7.5 million for a new vertical integration facility at Starbase for the company’s Starship/Super Heavy vehicle.
• Starlab Space: $15 million for a systems integration lab that could be used by multiple entities in the commercial space station field.

For now, Rubin Observatory astronomers say, the problem is manageable.“It’s merely a nuisance and not catastrophic,” said Yusra AlSayyad, a Rubin astronomer, during a briefing at the 245th Meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) Jan. 16. She estimated that fewer than 1% of pixels on each image will be affected by satellites.

At the AAS meeting, the largest annual conference for astronomers, the organization announced it had adopted a new resolution opposing the development of what is known as “obtrusive space advertising,” or satellites in orbit displaying advertising images that can be seen from the ground. Just like satellite megaconstellations, astronomers worry such advertising could interfere with their observations.

While interference from space advertising remains hypothetical, other phenomena are happening now. One is so-called “ionospheric holes” created when exhaust from upper stages performing deorbiting burns interacts with the ionosphere, creating a bright red glow in the night sky that can linger for a half-hour.