🚀NDSS Newsletter
The New Delhi Space Society presents the latest happenings in everything space!
Hello, fellow space enthusiast! 👋
Welcome to the first November 2022 edition of this newsletter!
Before we begin, let us introduce ourselves! 📡
The New Delhi Space Society (NDSS) is a non-profit organisation and functions as a chapter of the National Space Society (NSS). It was founded in 2018, seeing the level of enthusiasm in New Delhi students about space exploration and the lack of resources for this enthusiasm. Consisting of avid outer-space aficionados, we aim to make space an accessible resource for everyone. 📰
In pursuit of the aforementioned goal, we came up with this newsletter - a new and unique way for us to share our passion with you. Offering interesting nuggets of space news goodness, the newsletter promises to broaden your knowledge about humanity and its experiences with(in) the cosmos, whilst also bringing new opportunities for readers, all one small step at a time. 👨🚀🌕
Now, dear reader, let’s dive right in!
What’s new❓
From a hurricane among other issues delaying Artemis 1 to a mission deliberately crashing into an asteroid🌠, the industry has been witnessing some very interesting events lately, each of them being very significant on their own!
Here, take a look at what’s been popping!
Highlights:💡
(More to know further below!)
The launch of Artemis 1 was postponed to later this month.
The Hubble Telescope’s orbit may potentially be boosted for a longer service lifespan. 🔭
OneWeb’s Satellite Constellation approaches completion, with ISRO’s recent input.
NASA’s DART mission recently succeeded in colliding with Dimorphos, an asteroid, and affected its trajectory.🎯
SpaceX’s 50th Launch in 2022 was recently successful, with a defence satellite being placed in a geostationary orbit as its mission.
- Editor’s Pick:📌
World Space Week 2022 concludes, successfully promoting its motto of “Space and Sustainability”. 🌍
More to know:🔍
Delays and Artemis 1:
Artemis 1 aims to mark the first mission to the Moon using NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft. The super-heavy-lift rocket system aims to deploy 10 CubeSats into the Lunar orbit, and subsequent missions under the Artemis program might potentially even mark humanity’s return to the Moon, and possibly even the Red Planet. 🔴
However, after multiple attempts to launch being called off due to various technical difficulties like a hydrogen leak, the program suffered a major setback when weather conditions worsened with the unpredicted onset of Hurricane Ian 🌀, forcing NASA to push back the scheduled date for the launch window back to mid-November, with the tentative date as of publishing being 14th November.
For now, the promising mission awaits.
Boosting the Hubble Telescope:
While the introduction of the James Webb Space Telescope has been groundbreaking amidst its success, the Hubble Space Telescope 🔭 is not one to be forgotten or overshadowed — of its numerous brilliant photographic contributions that are otherwise unimaginable, the one given below is arguably the most thought-provoking — each speck you see potentially represents an entire galaxy!
To increase the legendary 32-year-old telescope’s service lifespan, SpaceX is said to be looking into studying ways of improving the orbit altitude of the telescope. This may be the first time since 2011 after the discontinuation of the space shuttle program that Hubble receives servicing🔧, however, SpaceX’s intentions to repair the aged telescope remain tentative ⏱ as of now.
OneWeb with ISRO, and global connectivity:
The OneWeb company, based in the UK, is creating satellites in collaboration with Airbus that will allow it to create and launch a 648 global network of satellites, which aims to provide global broadband internet connectivity 🌐 across the globe by the end of 2023. With 428 of these satellites already launched, the launch program is planned to wrap up by the end of the year.
The launching of 36 of the remaining satellites was tasked to ISRO, who successfully did so using the GSLV Mark-III 🚀launch system on 23rd October.
The subsequent successful signal acquisition on these satellites promises to revolutionize global network connectivity, bringing people even closer.
NASA’s DART — Crashing Intentionally:
Crashing into an asteroid sounds like an accident or something out of science fiction, but NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) 🎯 has certainly proven otherwise.
Using the fundamental concept of transferring momentum, the project intended on seeing how much an asteroid could potentially be deflected after being rammed by a spacecraft.
While this may sound impractical, it might have some basis in reality in the possible scenario that a large asteroid is headed for the Earth, and “deflecting” it away may be the only possible option to prevent an extremely destructive impact.
The whole impact sequence with Dimorphos was filmed from the spacecraft’s perspective🎥, recording what can only be described as a scientific breakthrough in “planetary defence” as shown below.
The consequent change in the trajectory of Dimorphos was formally confirmed by NASA on 11th October and it is without a doubt that DART has set an unprecedented benchmark for future asteroid-deflection projects, sparking new hope in our attempts as a species to avoid rogue inter-planetary projectiles.🌠
SpaceX’s 50th Launch, the USSF-44:
On November 1st, SpaceX’s state-of-the-art Falcon Heavy lifted off from the Kennedy Space Center, with the U.S. Space Force’s USSF-44 satellites as payloads onboard.
The remarkable event marked the 50th launch by the organisation in 2022, showcasing how far the organisation has come since its genesis 20 years ago. It also was the first time SpaceX launched directly to a geostationary orbit, delivering the USSF’s Tetra-1 and six other small satellites attached, which are intended to be used for defence purposes. 🔍
The mission, which was confirmed to be a success by the Space Systems Command, certainly proves what modern rockets like the Falcon Heavy (which last flew in 2019) are capable of, moreover reaffirming the exciting possibilities that Space Exploration can offer. 📈
Editor’s Pick:📌
World Space Week 2022:📅
Celebrated annually from 4th to 10th October, World Space Week encourages scientific progress across everything space! 👩🚀
World Space Week aims to unite the scientific community with the general public, bringing together a greater appreciation for the true marvels of modern science and the benefits that exploring the cosmos might have in store for us.
Often, it is quite easy to forget that we are one united species capable of doing things that would be otherwise unimaginable. From children to senior citizens, everyone had an opportunity to learn more about space during this week, and about where we belong in the incomprehensibly vast expanse of the universe. 👨🚀
📢A relatively lesser-known fact about the start and end dates of this week is their historical significance, with the starting date of 4th October commemorating the 1957 launch of Sputnik-1, the first human-made object to go to outer space, and the end date of this special week was chosen to honour the Outer Space Treaty which was signed on 10th October 1967.
The theme for this year was “Space and Sustainability” 🔁, which aimed to promote a sustainable expanse into outer space for our species, contrary to our past endeavours which overlooked the sustainability aspect of space exploration.
To be sustainable is the need of the hour for us, and as we come to realise the sheer value of our resources and the unique Pale Blue Dot that we call Earth, we must understand that they aren’t replaceable.
So let us celebrate space not only during this week but throughout the year together, and with our collective efforts to appreciate the cosmos, we can truly live through the motto:
“Per ardua ad astra” ⭐
(“Through adversity to the stars.”)
Opportunities: ❗❗
Ah, so you’ve made it this far? Here are a few helpful opportunities for you to check out: 👇
Robotics, Aeronautics, Mechanics & Mechatronics Conference (New Delhi) (Offline)
International Conference on Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Science (ICAASS) (New Delhi) (Offline)
Written by Amartya Bagchi on behalf of the New Delhi Space Society.