Lab testing of the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT-C) that will be one of the largest ion thrusters ever flown when launched on the DART mission. Credit: NASA.

Welcome to The Space Resource monthly newsletter for March 2020. Prior to COVID-19 lockdowns, March saw significant progress in multiple missions and data releases. Some groups are bucking the trend through the pandemic, including ISS astronauts, SpaceX, and the Mars2020 team.

🚨🚨 Want to learn more about space resources? Checkout The Space Resource Report! We highlighted the major developments surrounding space resources in 2019, covering the science, technology, business, and policy developments that will invigorate humanity’s expansion into space.

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Asteroids

NASA’s OSIRIS-REx performs flyby in preparation for sample collection. The OSIRIS-REx spacecraft is currently orbiting the near-Earth asteroid Bennu, which it has been studying since arriving in December 2018. The spacecraft passed over the primary sample site, Nightingale, at an altitude of 250 meters, the closest approach yet. The Nightingale location was selected due to the minimal number of large boulders, a common but unexpected feature on Bennu’s surface. The first sample collection is expected to occur by mid 2020. Learn more about this fly over and OSIRIS-REx in general from this interview Scott Manley did with Dante Lauretta, the lead scientists of the mission.

Global mosaic of Bennu’s surface. The OSIRIS-REx science team composed the highest resolution map to date of the surface of asteroid Bennu. Collected from the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from March 7 through April 19, 2019, the 2,155 PolyCam images for a mosaic with a resolution of 5 cm per pixel. Besides being beautiful to look at, this mosaic aided the mission team during their sample return site scouting. Download the mosaic here.

DART’s large ion engine tested. The NASA Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) mission is scheduled to launch in mid-2021, where it will study the use of a kinetic impact to deflect an asteroid. Basically, DART will impact the asteroid Didymos, deflecting its orbit enough for Earth based telescopes to detect. DART’s ion engine, called NASA’s Evolutionary Xenon Thruster (NEXT-C), is continuing to undergo testing and final development. It can produce 6.9 kW thrust power and 236 mN thrust at an ISP of 4190 seconds. NEXT-C will be one of the largest ion engines ever flown. Link.

Cislunar

Machine learning model predicts radiation storms two days in advance. Developed by Los Alamos National Laboratory, this new model was developed to better predict the radiation environment in Earth orbit. With the 2019 deorbit of the Van Allen Probes, we have had no direct measurements of the Van Allen environment. Bypassing this restriction, this machine learning model was trained on prior Van Allen belt models and data, learning patterns of electron behavior. Being able to predict radiation storms in advance will provide satellite operators the ability to protect their spacecraft from damaging radiation, as well as providing notice to human space missions. Link.

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Mars

ExoMars mission was delayed for two years. Due to a combination of technical issues and the COVID-19 pandemic, the joint ESA and Roscosmos mission to Mars will postpone launching until the next launch window in 2022. The mission will deliver an unmanned rover, called Rosalind Franklin, to the surface of Mars where it will perform a search for signs of past life. ExoMars paves the way for a future Mars sample-return mission, demonstrating some of the key technology required for such a mission.

Moon

Chandrayaan 2 produces the highest resolution images of the Moon. Since arriving in lunar orbit in September 2019, the ISRO lunar orbiter Chandrayaan 2 has been using its Orbiter High-Resolution Camera (OHRC) to capture images with a resolution of 0.25 meters per pixel. While this is half of the NASA Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) image resolution of 0.5 meters per pixel, LRO has been circling the moon for a decade now. Chandrayaan 2 also houses an infrared spectrometer (the successor of the Moon Mineralogical Mapper (M3)) that will provide much higher resolution maps of water on the lunar surface. Link.

Terrestrial

NASA selected SpaceX to carry cargo to the lunar Gateway. While Gateway was recently removed from the critical path for the 2024 human return to the Moon, NASA has stated that they remain committed to utilizing it for a long term, sustainable approach in their cislunar architecture. SpaceX will utilize the Dragon XL to perform the transportation services to Gateway, which will be capable of carrying at least 3,400 kilograms of pressurized cargo and 1,000 kilograms of unpressurized cargo. Dragon XL will likely be launched on Falcon Heavy due to its mass requirements. SpaceX has been the only firm selected for the NASA Gateway Logistics Service so far. Link.

SpaceX released the Starship User’s Guide. As SpaceX continues to hustle manufacturing of the Starship in Boca Chica, Texas, they published the Starship User’s Guide. This guide contains some of the specifications mission planners can expect for the launch environment. Starship is billed as a cargo and crew transportation system capable of delivering payloads to Earth orbit as well as to lunar and Martian landing sites. Key statistics in the guide include payload characteristics, interfaces, adapters, and manifesting, along with environmental loads, acoustics, and shocks. No prices are listed, but that should change over the coming year. View the full guide here.

Adidas foam molding process tested on the ISS. The shoe company Adidas had astronauts test a particle foam molding process aboard the International Space Station (ISS). This process is normally performed on Earth to manufacture the midsoles in athletic shoes. Pellets are blown into a mold, where heat causes them to fuse together. Investigating this manufacturing process in micro-gravity will allow the study of how pellets move and fuse when free floating. While your next pair of shoes likely won’t be made in space, this type of research is a harbinger of future R&D and manufacturing operations in Earth orbit.

Foam itself will also be studied on the ISS. An ESA experiment inside the Fluid Science Laboratory on the ISS will study how foams develop and change over time while in microgravity. While mundane sounding, foams are involved in multiple applications, from the foam in your cappuccino to foams used for making chocolate to industrial material separation systems. The latter being very important for future asteroid resource processing systems, which will not be able to use many of the terrestrial technologies that rely on gravity.

SpaceX partnering to fly space tourists to the ISS. Using the Crew Dragon capsule, SpaceX will launch three tourists plus a commander to the ISS in late 2021. This will be the first time space tourists have visited the ISS since a 2009 trip aboard the Soyuz rocket. Each ticket would likely cost tens of million of dollars, but provides additional demand for Crew Dragon and similar human rated space capsules.

Multiple missions, systems, and organizations impacted by COVID-19 pandemic, market fluctuations, and weak business cases. OneWeb filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, despite having launched 34 satellites a week prior. Bigelow Aerospace laid off its entire workforce. Despite the challenges, however, a few missions are still on track for launch this year. The Mars 2020 mission, including the Perseverance Rover and Mars Helicopter, remain on schedule for a 2020 launch. Commercial Crew, including the SpaceX Crew Dragon, is also on track for its first human flight this year.

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