mu Space to push Thai space industry, planning to build its first spaceship in 2021

2020 was the time when the space scene was lively again, with the Thai government pushing for space-activity-related legislation and creating mechanisms to promote and support both the government and the private sector to develop the space industry together, which is one of the target industries in the new S-curve that will increase Thailand's investment capacity and its role in developing the space industry and ultimately add values to the Thai economy. The private sector also plays an important role in developing the economy and stimulating investment in the space industry. This year, mu Space and Advanced Technology Public Company Limited (mu Space Corp.), a 3-year-old private satellite and space technologies firm, was able to attract investors from several industries and businesses to invest in the space industry, such as TOT Public Company Limited, executives from Dow Chemical Group, SCG, as well as the current investors, including Nice Apparel Group - a global leading athlete apparel maker - , B.Grimm Group, Majuven Fund, private business group, and a group of other minor investors i.e. executives from the UCLA Foundation. The value of 'mu Space' has increased to more than $100 million. through a Series B fundraising. 'mu Space' CEO, Varayuth Yenbamroong, on December 25th, 2020, stated during a soft opening event of the first spaceship factory in Thailand that "the fund recently raised will be used on quickly build a large-scale factory to produce and assemble the first spaceship of Thailand, along with satellite parts and commercial spaceships for domestic affairs, communications, national security such as creating a locally made GPS (Global Positioning System), robotic testing, autonomous system testing for unmanned vehicles to be used on the Moon mission. 

The factory will be equipped with the 5G communication system. It will also serve as a platform to develop "Space IDC" technologies, with a plan to test the "Space IDC"(Space Internet Data Center) simulation in the first quarter of 2021.

"Space IDC" or Space Internet Data Center services is a project jointly created by 'mu Space' Corp. and TOT Public Company Limited, that aims at providing a data center service with a server being located in outer space.

"mu Space' is planning to build 11 gateway stations initially in Bangkok to operate the upcoming Low Earth Orbit Satellite (LEO), while preparing to propose up to 8 projects from US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the beginning of 2021. 'mu Space' has collected a lot of experience and has grown significantly from submitting 7 space technology development projects with its Tipping Point Solicitation Project passing the first hearing. There is a good chance that 'mu Space' will be awarded with the project contract." said Varayuth

Despite the presence of COVID-19 pandemic, 'mu Space' is planning to hire about 100 positions, beginning with the first 50 positions beginning in Q1 2021 to create skilled laborers, in line with the national space technology and industry development plan. This is a good news for Thailand to have private space companies and the new generation who have the determination to develop technologies and innovations to tangibly push the local space industry to become Thailand's New Economy.

China to launch core module of space station in first half of 2021

China plans to launch the core module of its manned space station in the first half of 2021, a senior official said Friday. The core module will be sent by a Long March-5B Y2 rocket from the Wenchang Spacecraft Launch Site in Hainan Province, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China's manned space program, at a handover ceremony for the return capsule of the Shenzhou-10 manned spacecraft in Shaoshan, central China's Hunan Province. "Subsequent space missions include the launches of Tianzhou-2 cargo craft and Shenzhou-12 manned craft after the core module is sent into orbit," Zhou said. Tests on the core module have been completed, and astronaut training is underway. The astronauts will carry out a number of extravehicular activities. China is scheduled to complete the construction of the space station around 2022. The construction project will be implemented in two phases. Six flight missions, including the launch of the core module, have been scheduled in the phase of key technology validation.

SpaceX, Blue Origin, Dynetics await NASA lunar lander decision

Elon Musk's SpaceX, Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin and a lesser-known company, Huntsville, Ala.-based Dynetics, are preparing for a major decision by NASA early in 2021 about which company will build human-carrying landers for trips to the moon. The three space firms were selected in April to submit proposals early this month. Having done that, they now await NASA's decision, which is scheduled for February. The space agency has indicated it could pick one or two of the proposals. At stake is the future of lunar exploration for the United States and large, multimillion-dollar contracts as part of NASA's planned Artemis program. The agency had a goal of landing people on the moon again by 2024, although Congress hasn't funded NASA's budget requests to meet that schedule. A contract for a human lander may be awarded, but it's not clear if such landers will be built anytime soon, said Marco Caceres, space analyst for the Teal Group based in Fairfax, Va. "Artemis was proposed in another age in our history before the pandemic and the recent election, so I'm not convinced it will happen," Caceres said Tuesday. "From a technical standpoint, the Dynetics proposal has strengths, but NASA tends to pick a known quantity for such spaceflight missions." SpaceX already has multiple high-profile contracts with NASA, including the commercial crew contract to take astronauts to the International Space Station, while Blue Origin has flown NASA hardware on the company's New Shepard rocket. Blue Origin lined up legacy space companies Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin to help develop a lander, Caceres noted.

Blue Origin, of Kent, Wash., plans to develop a three-stage lander to be launched on its own New Glenn rocket and United Launch Alliance's Vulcan rocket. But neither of those rockets has launched; both are being developed.

SpaceX, based in Hawthorne, Calif., is developing the Starship, a fully integrated lander intended for launch on the Starship Super Heavy rocket. It also is being developed, having completed a prototype test flight to nearly 8 miles high Dec. 9.

Dynetics' lander will provide ascent and descent capabilities and also is planned to be launched on the Vulcan. Dynetics is a tech and engineering firm and a subsidiary of engineering firm Leidos.

All three proposed landers could be refueled at the moon, but Dynetics' lander is designed to be easily reusable for multiple hops around the moon, Robert Wright, Dynetics' program manager, said in an interview Thursday.

Dynetics is the only lander with a horizontal crew cabin, as opposed to an upright, vertical cabin, which would allow faster and easier access to the lunar surface, Wright said.

Both SpaceX and Blue Origin would require a crew to descend on long ladders from a cabin high atop a landing vehicle.

"We're in the unique position of being closer to the lunar surface than the other competitors have shown in their concepts," Wright said.

"Having the horizontal capsule, or chamber, means astronauts would have more room to put spacesuits on, and a dust barrier to prevent gritty moon dust from entering the quarters."

But putting the crew cabin higher over the ground is an advantage for Blue Origin's lander, Blue Moon, the company's chief scientist Steve Squyres said in a recent video news release.

"When you land on an unprepared surface, on no landing pad, there are bad things that can happen," such as rocket thrusters kicking up sharp rocks, Squyres said. "The other thing that can happen is you can crunch your engine on the ground when you land."

Therefore, he said, the Blue Moon lander would put the crew and ascent engines on top, "out of harm's way."

Dynetics' Wright said the company's lander still protects the engines with its design, which shows the bottom of a barrel-shaped capsule extending below the engines to protect them from the ground.

SpaceX declined a request for comment. NASA declined requests for interviews "to protect the integrity of the process" as the contract award announcement nears, a spokeswoman said.

The human lander contract will mark a milestone toward "sending the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024 and establishing sustainable exploration by the end of the decade," according to a NASA statement.

World's largest solar observatory releases first image of a sunspot

The Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope, DKIST, the world's largest solar observatory, has released its first portrait of a sunspot. The photograph's impressive details highlight the optical powers of the Hawaiian observatory. Researchers released the image in conjunction with a new paper -- published Friday in the journal Solar Physics -- describing the telescope's mechanical features, optical instruments and scientific objectives. Sunspots are dark spots found on the surface of the sun created by magnetic field flux, where the convergence of magnetic fields stunts convection and cools the sun's surface. In the new image, hot and cool gas can be seen spidering outward from the sunspot's edge. The radiating pattern is created when rising hot gas and sinking cool gas become stretched along the lines of the inclined magnetic field. Solar activity rises and falls over the course of an 11-year solar cycle. When solar activity is greatest, the surface of the sun is dotted with more sunspots. DKIST snapped the portrait in January of this year, shortly after the sun reached its solar minimum at the end of 2019. The sunspot imaged by the Inouye Solar Telescope was one of the first of the new solar cycle. It measured more than 10,000 miles wide. Scientists expect the sun to reach its solar maximum in the middle of 2025. "With this solar cycle just beginning, we also enter the era of the Inouye Solar Telescope," Matt Mountain, president of the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy, which manages the National Solar Observatory and the Inouye Solar Telescope, said in a news release.

"We can now point the world's most advanced solar telescope at the sun to capture and share incredibly detailed images and add to our scientific insights about the sun's activity," said Mountain.

Sunspots aren't just optical phenomenon. The majority of solar flares and coronal mass ejections originate from the hyper-magnetized regions surrounding sunspots.

Scientists expect DKIST to provide new insights into the mechanics of supports and their related phenomena -- insights that will help researchers more accurately predict the trajectory of solar storms, which can disrupt communications systems and power grids, as well as put astronauts at risk.

"While the start of telescope operations has been slightly delayed due to the impacts of the COVID-19 global pandemic, this image represents an early preview of the unprecedented capabilities that the facility will bring to bear on our understanding of the sun," said David Boboltz, program director for the Inouye Solar Telescope at the National Science Foundation.

DKIST is funded by NSF and managed by the National Solar Observatory through a cooperative agreement with the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy.