The Space Dream is Getting Closer

Several advancements this past week made headlines, and it looks like we are getting closer to the dream of becoming a multi-planetary species and discovering new technologies to help us get there.

NASA recently achieved a significant milestone by streaming its first-ever video from deep space via laser, featuring a cat named Taters. The 15-second test video shows Taters chasing a laser pointer.

This groundbreaking video was transmitted from an impressive distance of nearly 19 million miles away, which is about 80 times the distance between the Earth and the Moon. Abi Biswas, the project technologist for NASA's Deep Space Optical Communications (DSOC) experiment, explainedthat the project aims to enhance the streaming of data over long distances. This advancement is expected to support high-resolution science instruments and potentially aid human exploration of Mars.

The video signal, which took 101 seconds to reach Earth, was sent on December 11th as part of a demonstration involving NASA's Psyche spacecraft, launched on October 13. This demonstration, according to NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was designed to transmit data at rates 10 to 100 times greater than current deep-space radio frequency systems. Remarkably, despite the vast distance, the video was transmitted faster than most broadband internet connections.

An interesting aspect of this event is the choice of Taters for the video, drawing partial inspiration from Felix the Cat, a cartoon character used in 1928 for testing television transmissions.

This enhanced streaming will assist astronauts in the future, and just in time as well because on Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris announcedthat NASA's Artemis program will include the participation of an international astronaut who will land on the moon's surface.

This announcement marks a significant expansion of the United States' earlier promise to include international astronauts in future Artemis missions, which initially only involved flying them around the moon. The new development allows for an international astronaut to soon set foot on the lunar surface, joining the exclusive group of only 12 individuals who have achieved this feat to date.

“Today, in recognition of the essential role that our allies and partners play in the Artemis program, I’m proud to announce that, alongside American astronauts, we intend to land an international astronaut on the surface of the moon by the end of the decade,” Harris said during a meeting of the White House’s National Space Council in Washington, DC.

“The Artemis program is the most ambitious space exploration effort in generations. For the first time in more than half a century, the United States will return astronauts to the lunar surface. We will establish the first lunar base camp and the first station in lunar orbit — all of this in collaboration with our allies and partners,” shesaid.

The Artemis program aims to establish a permanent, sustainable human presence on the lunar surface by the end of the decade. The skills and knowledge gained via this effort will help our species make the leap to Mars in the 2030s or 2040s, NASA officials have said, according to Space.com, an online source of space exploration, innovation, and astronomy news, chronicling (and celebrating) humanity's ongoing expansion across the final frontier.

As part of its scientific endeavor, NASA’s Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) initiative allows NASA to send science investigations and technology demonstrations to the lunar surface. Under Artemis, NASA will study more of the Moon than ever before, and CLPS will demonstrate how NASA is working with commercial companies to achieve robotic lunar exploration.

Private landers from Astrobotic and Intuitive Machines are set to launch, heralding a new phase in lunar exploration. These two NASA-funded space ventures are scheduled for back-to-back moon landings in early 2024.

Slated to launch later next year, in November 2024, the Artemis II mission is set to be the first time humans will orbit the moon since the end of the Apollo program. The first mission to land on the moon — Artemis III — isn’t scheduled to launch until at least the end of 2025. However, that time frame has already been called into question as the space agency is keeping a close eye on the development of a SpaceX vehicle that will serve as the lander for Artemis III, ferrying astronauts down to the lunar surface.

For its part, SpaceX is making progress as well.

The company is gearing up for its third flight test of the massive Starship rocket just a month after its second launch. SpaceX is still awaiting regulatory approval from the Federal Aviation Administration for this third launch, following the FAA's classification of the second attempt as a "mishap" without injuries or public property damage.

The company successfully conducted a static fire test of the next Starship, where its six Raptor engines ignited briefly without damaging the rocket or ground support equipment. Additionally, SpaceX has moved Booster 10 to the launch site at its Starbase facility in South Texas and placed it on the orbital launch mount, with a static fire test expected soon.

After these tests, the Starship upper stage will likely be stacked on the booster, preparing the launch vehicle for "Integrated Flight Test 3." This third flight aims to further test Starship's capabilities.

Exciting.