1 Sierra Space signs agreement with Turkish Space Agency

by Jeff Foust — June 29, 2022

The “memorandum of cooperation was signed on the 29th of June . The memorandum was vague, but seemed to indicate a wide range of cooperative efforts involving spaceflight and potential lunar missions.  For Sierra Space,  it also projects future “engagement with Turkish businesses and Universities on space-related projects.” This agreement follows a stark increase in space involvement by the Turkish government over the last few years.  The Turkish Space Agency was only recently formed in 2018 (and officially launched in 2021), but is already conducting work on several satellite programs and has even proposed mini satellite launch vehicle with a target launch in 2026. It may be that, for this nascent agency, involvement in the deal with Sierra space could lay the framework for future work by countries with less developed technological/space capability.

https://spacenews.com/sierra-space-signs-agreement-with-turkish-space-agency/

Neeraj Gupta (left), senior vice president and general manager of destinations at Sierra Space, meets with Serdar Hüseyin Yıldırım (center), president of the Turkish Space Agency, and Cem Ugur, director general for ESEN, along with a model of the company’s Dream Chaser vehicle. Credit: Sierra Space

2 First James Webb Full Color Images to be released 12 July 2022!

by NASA Press Release -June 1 2022

After a six month wait while the telescope calibrated and aligned its mirror array, the James Webb is set to release its first ever full-color images. From this point, the telescope will be continuing scientific work for the foreseeable future. Preceding this first year of operation, teams had to compete for experimental time with the telescope, whereby each experiment is carefully integrated with the others in order to make the most efficient use of the telescope’s time.

Credit: NASA

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2022/first-images-from-nasa-s-webb-space-telescope-coming-soon

3 China tests engine for new crewed moon rocket (photo)

by Andrew Jones – July 1st

A recent hot fire test of a new rocket engine designed by the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) was successfully conducted last week. The engine is slotted to be integrated into a “next generation rocket capable of launching astronauts to the moon.” This test falls in line with a space white paper released in early January 2022, which outlined goals through 2025 for the Chinese Space Program. Among these goals included an intent to send Chinese Astronauts to the moon in the coming decade.

https://www.space.com/china-tests-engine-new-moon-rocket

4 SpaceX’s Starship Super Heavy rocket prototype moves to launch pad for tests

by Elizabeth Howell , June 30

Though the aerospace giant’s newest project still requires a launch license, the massive 50 meter rocket booster seems to be on track for a test launch in July or August. The Starship program is planned to eventually serve as a launch vehicle for missions  going to the moon, mars and beyond in the coming decade. The last few months have shown the program in a kind of gridlock pending an environmental assessment by the FAA.

https://www.space.com/starship-super-heavy-rocket-launch-pad-move-june-2022-photos

5 US military’s mysterious X-37B space plane zooms toward orbital record

by Leonard David, June 30

The robotic space-plane, which was the first launched by the US Space Force in May 2020, is set to break its own mission duration record in the coming days. As of today ( updated July 5 2022), the system has been in orbit for 779 days.  This comes 1 day short of the previous 780 day mission conducted by the X37-B. It is unknown when the ongoing mission will end. The US Department of the Air Force has X37-B has publicly.

https://www.space.com/x-37b-military-space-plane-nears-mission-duration-record

Image Credits: L’usine Nouvelle (Boeing)

6 A success for the launch of the CAPSTONE satellite of the Artemis program towards the Moon

by Massimo Luciani, June 28

The cubesat-class system was launched recently with an intent to test, among other things, the orbital regime planned for NASA’s Lunar gateway. In testing this regime, CAPSTONE (Cislunar Autonomous Positioning System Technology Operations and Navigation Experiment) will hopefully be able to identify any unexpected issues that could arise for the unprecedented lunar space station. . This launch represents just a small part of the ambitious Artemis project. Establishing a permanent lunar space station would be a huge leap in space development, but it also involves a lack of precedence that precludes an overly high dependence on simulations for mission design. Thus, NASA has begun real world testing with CAPSTONE.

https://english.tachyonbeam.com/2022/06/28/a-success-for-the-launch-of-the-capstone-satellite-of-the-artemis-program-towards-the-moon/

7  U.K. government announces new space sustainability measures

by Jeff Foust, June 25

The “Plan for Space Sustainability,”  was recently announced by the U.K. Minister for Science, research and innovation. The initiative includes a policy package which outlines a system of incentives for commercial space enterprises considering operation in the United Kingdom. The plan is based upon four elements: the first is to “Lead in global regulatory standards for orbital activities.” The second is to work with international and supra-governmental partners like the United Nations on space sustainability. The third element is to develop so called “simple, accurate metrics” by which to evaluate the sustainability of the various activities involved in space operations. The fourth part involves “funding for an active debris removal program.” Rather than a crackdown, the effort seems to be an attempt at resolving environmental and spacefaring interests in order to allow space for both.

https://spacenews.com/u-k-government-announces-new-space-sustainability-measures/

Space Renaissance International and partners

8 SRI to hold a workshop at UN, in September, together with ACES Worldwide

The workshop will include two panels: 1) on Space Safety, chaired by Prof. Joe Pelton (ACES WW) 2) on Science, Civilian Space Development and Exploration, chaired by Prof. Bernard Foing (SRI, President)

9 The Space Renaissance Art & Science Festival will take place, at the Archenhold Observatory in Berlin, from 7 to 9 of July

Several keynote speakers will take part, bringing their view about kicking-off civilian space development before 2030. With others: Giuseppe Reibaldi (Moon Village), Bob Zubrin (Mars Society), Jan Woerner (former Director General of ESA), Michelle Hanlon (President of the National Space Society), Helga Zepp-LaRoche, Schiller Institute. Register for free to attend in presence or virtually: https://spacerenaissance.space/register-to-the-space-renaissance-festival-berlin-2022/

See the full programme of the Festival: https://spacerenaissance.space/space-renaissance-festival-berlin/

10 SRI representatives to chair relevant workshops for International Space University at Oeiras (Lisbon, Portugal)

Adriano Autino, SRI Founder and Ambassador, will chair a workshop on Civilian Space Development for ISU Space Studies Program (SSP22) students the July 12^nd at the Instituto Superior Técnico (IST) Taguspark Campus, Oeiras, Lisbona Portugal. The students will be required to simulate the drafting of Statements of Work for hypothetical Call For Tenders on several projects in the geo-lunar space. Prof. Bernard Foing, SRI President, will also chair relevant workshops in the frame of the SSP22 initiative, taking place at Oeiras from June 27 to August 27.

11  SRI to participate to the Celebration of the 800 years anniversary of the Padova University, from 7 to 9 of September

Prof. Bernard Foing and Adriano Autino will participate to the organization of the space day of the event — 800 Years of Space at the University of Padua — the 9 of September. Autino will chair the Session on Humanities and Art in Space, while Prof. Foing will talk about the Space Renaissance Art chapter, the ArtMoonMars program and the ITACCUS projects bridging Space and Arts.

12 The Space Renaissance TV moves its first steps

A permanent window directly connected to the Space Renaissance YouTube channel is now visible on the Space Renaissance website, this page: https://spacerenaissance.space/space-renaissance-tv/

Such page will broadcast any livestream going on live on the channel.

Possible evolution includes an index of all podcasts, sorted by categories, likely organized in a new dedicated website to come.

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“Art moves you before you understand why.”

-Donald Anderson.

As members or supporters of SRI, you will recall the history seeded in the name of our organization. This namesake, the original Renaissance, is often described as a period of explosive cultural growth that spread throughout Europe over the course of several centuries. Collaboration between artists, thinkers, builders, and generous benefactors during the Renaissance left humanity with gifts of indescribable value. And many of the most oft-cited of these gifts come in the form of art. Art defined the old Renaissance, so we imagine you may want to know: How exactly does art play a role in the Space Renaissance?

Our guest speaker this last Monday June 6, sought to provide help in answering this very question, by his beautiful lecture “Exploring the Boundaries of Art, Design, Aerospace Engineering & Popular Culture”. See it on the Space Renaissance Youtube channel.

Aldo Spadoni, an aerospace engineer and self-taught artist, honored the Space Renaissance community by giving a talk on the role of art in advancing space exploration. Spadoni has decades of professional experience working as both a NASA engineer and as an artistic/technical consultant for the entertainment industry. The list of cinema projects alone to which he has contributed as an advisor include Iron man I (and II), Apollo 13, Supernova, and Stealth.

Mr. Spadoni spoke about the origins and roles of the International Association of Astronomical Artists (the IAAA). The association, of which he is currently the President and Chairman of the Board of Trustees, was founded in 1982 by a small group of artists with experience and interest in both space-related STEM fields and art.  Now numbering nearly 200 members, the group seeks to provide a collaborative platform and incubator of sorts to the artists of today who render images of space and the human exploration of it. They organize workshops, exhibits and projects to promote space art because, as is written on their website, “the mind of the human artist can go where a camera cannot (yet!).”

How do these efforts drive the space exploration movement forward?

Space art, claims Spadoni, helps us to “envision the unseen.” By this he means two things: the first is that art can literally help us to envision the possibilities of space travel. The second is that it can be a useful way to communicate things that resist understanding (unseen..in a. When well crafted, art can lead its audience to develop a better handle on complex ideas that might otherwise be closed to them. Art can tell stories. Art can ask its own questions and provide its own answers. Art often gives a clear form to things which struggle to be understood without it. In this way, as Spadoni shows, the hugely complex engineering projects required by space exploration can find a communicative voice through men and women of artistic talent.

Scientific efforts can be notoriously difficult to explain to the layperson, but as Spadoni showed us, even something with a mission as abstract as the National Radio Astronomy Observatory (NRAO) can be artistically presented in a coherent, compelling way.  It seems that the role of art for advancing space exploration then, is in part to bridge the gaps between scientific experts and the layman in a field that can sometimes have trouble “selling itself.” Space Artists like Spadoni are, in this way, agents of synergy between engineers pioneering new technology and the rest of the world.

For those who seek to advocate for more widely pursued global space expansion, it may be helpful not just to see space exploration as a mission, but as a movement. When we make this analytical shift, the role of art becomes clearer. Human social movements do not happen without an inspirational and sustaining source, without some catalyst which sets the roots of the movement in the minds of those who interact with it.  Art has continually proven itself as a useful and maybe necessary element of this catalytic force. Thus for the space exploration movement, Spadoni shows us, humankind may need art just as much as it needs astronautics.

Thank you all for your time and investment in SRI!

See you next time,

Cole Armagost, SRI Editorial Staff

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