Elizabeth Howell, Author at Universe Today

November 18, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Wrist-Sized Bone Scanner Could Fly To The Space Station In 2016

A full-sized MRI on the International Space Station would take up a lot of size and mass, meaning the astronauts have to use different machines to learn about the body. Here, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka (left) does an ultrasound on NASA astronaut Mike Fincke during Expedition 9 in 2004. Credit: NASA

OTTAWA, CANADA – The University of Saskatchewan hopes to fly a wrist-sized MRI to the International Space Station by 2016 in a standard Progress cargo flight, according to Gordon Sarty, a university professor specializing in medical imaging. Why is this important? It will help doctors keep track of the astronauts’ bone strength on orbit, Sarty says of his team’s invention.

With NASA aiming to run its first one-year mission to the station in 2015, there is renewed emphasis on keeping track of all the nasty things microgravity does to astronauts’ bodies in space. Crew members spend two hours a day exercising, but still come back to Earth having trouble balancing, with weaker bones and muscles, and possible facing changes to organs such as the eyes.

Although NASA runs MRIs on crew members before and after flights, Sarty said the ability to get even a simple scan in orbit would be useful — and quite quick. It would take just five to 10 minutes to perform, and would be simple for anyone to do as the scan would commence at the touch of a button.

There are many ideas for investigating bone health in astronauts. Here, astronaut Doug Wheelock uses an Acoustic Vibration Bone Quality Measurement Device in 2004 during NEEMO 6, one of an underwater series of missions NASA ran to simulate space exploration. Credit: NASA

The Canadian Space Agency is allowed just 44 kilograms (97 pounds) to get the MRI to orbit under its utilization agreement on station (which is based on funding). A full-size MRI able to fit in a standard payload rack would have been about 800 kilograms (1,765 pounds), Sarty said.

Modifications are necessary. Rather than using superconducting magnets to do the work in orbit, Sarty’s design proposes manipulating radio frequency waves instead. (More technical details here.) Sarty’s team currently has a $240,000 grant from the CSA to develop the technology, which goes for about the next year.

Sarty said the International Space Station needs to be outfitted to a “Level 4” standard of medical care, meaning that it would include medical imaging on board to help monitor crew health. NASA’s Human Research Program Utilization Plan for the station (published in 2012) identifies the addition of ultrasound as a boon to ISS’ medical capabilities.

Russian Soyuz spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station. Credit: NASA. — Russian Soyuz spacecraft, docked to the International Space Station. Although Earth is close by for station missions, NASA’s standard of medical care for station has assumed a return to Earth could take days. Credit: NASA.

As for “Level 4”, the NASA Space Flight Human Human System Standard (latest version available expired in 2012) defines Level 4 as “A moderate to high level of potential risk exists that personnel may experience medical problems on orbit. Risk to the mission is greater for medical issues beyond routine ambulatory medicine.” It also assumes a return to Earth can take days. Level 4 applies to Earth, lunar or planetary missions greater than 30 days, but no more than 210 days.

The upside for Earth research? The portable MRI could be repurposed, in a sense, to bring into more remote regions. This is especially true of Canada, where tens of thousands of people live in scattered communities in the remote north.

Sarty delivered his comments Nov. 16 at the Canadian Space Society’s annual summit in Ottawa. To read more about his research, check out this 2012 paywalled paper, “Magnetic resonance imaging of astronauts on the international space station and into the solar system.”

November 18, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

‘Elephant Trunks’ Crowd Distant Star Cluster, Raising New Questions About Stellar Formation

NGC 3572 seen with a 2.2-meter telescope at the European Southern Observatory's La Silla Observatory in Chile. Credit: ESO/G. Beccari

Star winds are pushing the gas around NGC 3572 into “elephant trunks”, as you can see if you look carefully as this picture snapped by a La Silla Observatory telescope at the European Southern Observatory in Chile. It’s a demonstration of the power of the youngster blue-white stars embedded in the cloud, which are generating huge gusts blowing the gas and dust away from them.

It’s common for young stars to form in groups. After a few million years growing together, their respective gravities pushes everything further apart, and the stars then finish their lifetimes on their own. Looking at young star clusters such as this gives astronomers a better sense about how our own Sun began its life.

If we zoomed closer to those elephant trunks, they would look similar to the famous “Pillars of Creation” image captured in 1995 by the Hubble Space Telescope in the Eagle Nebula (M16). NASA also did a follow-up observation using infrared wavelengths in 2005 and 2011, which made the young stars a bit easier to see amid the gas and dust.

One of the Hubble Space Telescope's most famous images, the "Pillars of Creation" in the Eagle Nebula. Credit: NASA/ESA — One of the Hubble Space Telescope’s most famous images, the “Pillars of Creation” in the Eagle Nebula. Credit: NASA/ESA

As for the picture of NGC 3572, the high-resolution image from the Wide Field Imager on the MPG/ESO 2.2-metre telescope is also revealing new mysteries that will require further investigation, ESO stated.

“A strange feature captured in this image is the tiny ring-like nebula located slightly above the centre of the image,” ESO wrote. “Astronomers still are a little uncertain about the origin of this curious feature. It is probably a dense leftover from the molecular cloud that formed the cluster, perhaps a bubble created around a very bright hot star. But some authors have considered that it may be some kind of oddly shaped planetary nebula — the remnants of a dying star.”

Astronomers were also surprised by seeing stars older than 10 million years old within this image that were still picking up mass, which implies that planetary formation could take longer than previously believed.

Research was led by ESO astronomer Giacomo Beccari.

Source: European Southern Observatory

November 18, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

A Cosmic Intruder Grabbed Hot Gas From This Galaxy Group

NGC 5044 as seen by XMM-Newton. Astronomers say they are able to see hot gas moving in this galaxy because of an interaction with another galaxy millions of years ago. Credit: E. O’Sullivan & ESA

So galaxy group NGC 5044 was just sitting quietly by itself a few million years ago when galaxy NGC 5054 decided to pass right through it. That close encounter finished long ago, but the ricochet is still visible in telescopes as astronomers spotted hot gas rippling through the host galaxy.

“Galaxies are social beasts that are mostly found in groups or clusters – large assemblies of galaxies that are permeated by even larger amounts of diffuse gas. With temperatures of 10 million degrees or more, the gas in galaxy groups and clusters is hot enough to shine brightly in X-rays and be detected by ESA’s XMM-Newton X-ray observatory,” the European Space Agency stated.

“As galaxies speed through these gigantic cauldrons, they occasionally jumble the gas and forge it into lop-sided shapes. An example is revealed in this composite image of the galaxy group NGC 5044, the brightest group in X-rays in the entire sky.”

Fresh observations from XMM-Newton (in blue) are visible in this composite image with other pictures from the Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer, the Digitized Sky Survey (optical) and Galex (near-ultraviolet).

Publication of this research was accepted in MNRAS and is currently available on prepublishing site Arxiv. The lead author is Ewan O’Sullivan, a visiting scientist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics in Cambridge, Mass.

November 18, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

How NASA Kept MAVEN’s Launch Date During The Government Shutdown

NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft on Nov. 17, 2013, the day before its launch window opened. Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

As NASA Social attendees gather for NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile EvolutioN (MAVEN) spacecraft’s date with space today, NASA administrator Charles Bolden recalled that time in October when it looked like MAVEN may have had to lose its launch window for two years because of the government shutdown.

“It was a very complicated process that we were engaged in, back in Washington, where the term used was ‘accepted activity’,” Bolden said in an interview with Universe Today.

For launch preparations to proceed during that 16-day shutdown, Bolden and other officials engaged in the mission needed to make the case that MAVEN was vital. The mission’s science focus, examining the atmosphere of Mars and tracking down the planet’s lost water, is usually what is talked about when justifying its activities to the public.

It was a different argument, however, that got MAVEN’s launch preparations on track: “imminent risk to life or property,” Bolden said, specifically with regard to its role in sending huge data files from the Curiosity and Opportunity rovers on the surface (as well as the forthcoming Mars 2020 rover, if that gets off the ground.)

Opportunity rover’s 1st mountain climbing goal is dead ahead in this up close view of Solander Point along the eroded rim of Endeavour Crater. Opportunity will soon ascend the mountain in search of minerals signatures indicative of a past Martian habitable environment. This navcam panoramic mosaic was assembled from raw images taken on Sol 3385 (Aug 2, 2013). Credit: NASA/JPL/Cornell/Marco Di Lorenzo/Ken Kremer (kenkremer.com)

“If we had lost the opportunity to launch MAVEN, we had to slip another two-year period of time, and during that period of time it was likely that the current communications relays working on Mars would die because the ones that were there were over their current design lifetime,” Bolden said, referring to the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey.

Launch work was halted for a couple of days, and then more time had to be spent bringing the crew back in to prepare the spacecraft, but Bolden said the parties involved were able to “make it up without any major problem.” Other programs, however, took a hit. Bolden said there has been a loss in confidence in NASA workers getting the Orion human spacecraft and next-generation Space Launch System ready for a crewed mission late this decade. Bolden cites Orion as a stepping stone for NASA’s dream of sending astronauts away from Earth, including Mars missions.

“The biggest impact, to be quite honest, was not on the program but on the people,” he said. “Their attitude towards working in the government is they’re very proud of what they do, they know they do an exceptional job, and they felt the Congress — at the time — didn’t have respect for what we do. We’re spending a lot of time now trying to repair some … morale.”

Artist’s conception of NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. Amid tighter budgets, NASA is focusing on Mars and causing concern from some planetary scientists that new missions to the outer solar system are being neglected. Credit: NASA

Another one of Bolden’s tasks these days is to allay concerns in the planetary science community that the focus on Mars may be coming at a detriment to the outer planets. NASA’s planetary science budget took a big hit in fiscal 2013 and some critics say the agency’s focus now is on developing Mars missions over those to the other planets.

“My response has been, and continues to be, what we’re trying to do is we’re trying to figure out better ways” for the planetary science community to participate, Bolden said.

Characterizing the multi-billion dollar missions such as Cassini as “a thing of the past,” Bolden said the agency is now looking at creating missions that are smaller, but more technologically advanced than the behemoth missions NASA used to send when its budgets weren’t quite so tight. He added that he feels the smaller missions could still accomplish the objectives of the larger ones.

Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Assembled by Gordan Ugarkovic. — Saturn and its rings, as seen from above the planet by the Cassini spacecraft that is currently at the ringed planet. Credit: NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute. Assembled by Gordan Ugarkovic.

“I would hope that the scientific community … will help us define ways that we can design and build satellites that we can fly on a more frequent basis, that cost us a little less money, so you end up getting the same amount — if not more — of data,” Bolden said. He also cited more frequent missions as a boon to inspiring younger students for science, since the big missions might have a gap of 10 or more years between them.

Bolden, a former astronaut, commanded the STS-45 mission in in 1992 that did Earth atmospheric science of its own using the payload ATLAS-1. “I think I have bored the Mars atmospheric scientists to death relating it to what we’re hoping to do with MAVEN in the upper atmosphere,” he joked, but added the science is somewhat related.

NASA hopes MAVEN will help scientists better understand “what happened with the upper atmosphere of Mars that went it to go from green and fertile, to where it is today — a cold, icy planet,” he said. “In doing so, we hope we’ll learn about our own planet.”

MAVEN’s launch window opens at 1:38 p.m. EST (6:38 p.m. UTC) today (Nov. 18). The only major issue NASA was working at the time of the interview (roughly 6 a.m. EST, or 1 p.m. UTC) was weather, which was only 60% go, Bolden said.

November 15, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

Why Is Balancing So Hard After Spaceflights? Astronaut Posture Could Hold Clues

European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano minutes after landing in November 2013, after five months in space during Expedition 36/37. Here, he is being carried to a nearby medical tent to stand up for the first time. Credit: NASA/Carla Cioffi

OTTAWA, CANADA – Astronauts appear to hold their heads more rigidly in relation to their trunks after returning to Earth from multi-month spaceflights, which may affect how they balance themselves back on Earth, according to ongoing research.

A note of caution: the sample size is small (six astronauts so far) and the research is still being conducted by the University of Houston and NASA. So this isn’t finalized in any sense. The early studies, however, shows that people returning to Earth may be changing their “strategy”, said Ph.D. student Stefan Madansingh.

“The changing strategy might put you at higher risks of falls as you ambulate around your environment, and if you are on Mars and you fall and break your hip, that is the start of a very bad day,” he said in a speech.

ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli works with an experiment on board the International Space Station. Credit: NASA — ESA astronaut Paolo Nespoli works with an experiment on board the International Space Station. Astronauts find it harder to move around on Earth after several months working in the orbiting complex. Credit: NASA

Generally, NASA is interested in learning about changes in cardiovascular, balance and muscle function after six-month spaceflights or more, when they are “like spaghetti people,” Madansingh said. Over the years, astronauts have shown changes in inner eye pressure, bone density, muscles and their balance, among other things.

To obtain the information, NASA has had astronauts walking around a simple obstacle course, which they encourage astronauts to complete at a comfortable walking pace. They’ll weave around pylons, climb ladders and do other simple tasks.

Tests are performed at 180, 60 and 30 days before launch, then one, six and 30 days after landing. (In the shuttle era, astronauts would do these types of tests immediately after landing, but these days there’s a day-long flight from Kazakhstan before arriving in Houston.) Some tests are started from a lying position, and some from a sitting position.

Artist impression of an astronaut on Mars (NASA)

It takes more time for astronauts to complete the obstacle course after coming back from space, Madansingh said, and his ongoing research looks at the relation between the head and trunk as the astronauts are doing so.

As controls, NASA uses bed rest subjects, who are people voluntarily spending 70 days in a head-down position without getting up once, even to go to the bathroom. “I think it’s absolutely bonkers,” Madansingh joked, but added that the bed rest subjects don’t show that same head-trunk changes that returning astronauts do. More research will be needed to learn why, he said.

NASA is putting particular emphasis on these studies as astronauts spend longer times in space. The first one-year International Space Station stay is scheduled for 2015, although some cosmonauts have spent a year or more on the Russian space station Mir.

Madansingh delivered his comments Nov. 15 at the Canadian Space Society annual conference in Ottawa.

November 15, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

How Canadarm Sparked A Space Artist’s Love of The Universe

Chris Hadfield during an EVA in 2001. Also in the image is the Canadarm2 robotic arm on the ISS. Credit: NASA

OTTAWA, CANADA – A small Canadian community seems an unlikely spot for an artist now working with Mars One (those people plotting a one-way trip to Mars) and asteroid mining concept company Deep Space Industries. But that’s how Bryan Versteeg got his start in life and — despite his remoteness — found space inspiration from an iconic Canadian technology.

“In a small, isolated Canadian community, I wasn’t really exposed to space exploration at all. I had no one around me who was in the industry. The only thing I had that talked to me about Canadians in space … was the Canadarm,” said Versteeg in a speech Nov. 15.

“So growing up as a kid I’d see this Canadian flag prominently featured on one of the most incredible industrial pieces of machinery put into space,” he added, saying one of his goals now is to “stick the Canadian flag where I can.” Flashing a picture of a futuristic Mars base sporting a flag, he said, “Why not? If this place is going to be built by anyone, it’s built by Canadians.”

Artist's conception of Mars One. Credit: Mars One/Brian Versteeg — Artist’s conception of Mars One. Credit: Mars One/Brian Versteeg

Today, Versteeg does artistic work for Deep Space Industries as well as Mars One, work that initially first reached the space community because he put information out on his website and people who were interested in colonization came to him to share ideas, he said.

“I imagine concepts, and I work with people who are trying to develop concepts and show concepts. Although most of the work is self-directed, I worked on 40 projects in the past two years,” he said.

In a sense, he feels that Mars is even easier to communicate with than the far North a few decades ago. When he was living in Inuvik (in Canada’s Northwest Territories) in the 1980s, it would take 2.5 weeks to get a reply from a letter, he said.

Versteeg delivered his remarks at the Canadian Space Society’s annual summit, held this year (Nov. 14 to 15) in Ottawa, Canada.

November 15, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

The Mir Space Station: An Unlikely Place for a Beautiful Art Exhibit

Outside view of the Mir space station. Credit: NASA

The interior of Russian space station Mir was not known for its pizazz — US astronaut Jerry Linenger called it “as drab as a Moscow winter” — and it ended up being crowded and cluttered with all sorts of unused equipment and old experiments. So, Mir was an unlikely place for an art exhibit … and perhaps why it was called an “art intervention” by one of the artists.

In the video above you can see a green “creature” floating freely in the Mir space station, — all angles and corners — gently brushing against spacesuits stashed in a corner. The video then shows it pivoting in the air, flashing red and green with people occasionally batting at it.

“The Cosmic Dancer”, as this art exhibition was called, came out to play during a 1993 mission on the Mir space station. It was launched on a Progress supply ship on May 22, 1993. You can see a full gallery of the space-y exhibition on the website of the artist, Arthur Woods.

While the Russians were able to accept the angular sculpture, there were precautions to ensure that the paint would not produce toxic out-gasses or otherwise harm the astronauts, Woods added, saying the sculpture was even dunked in an alcohol solution prior to launch to remove any germs.

Then there was an entire art exhibition on station in 1995, called Ars Ad Astra. From 171 works submitted from all over the world, 20 were chosen for a ride into orbit with Thomas Reiter, a German astronaut. The crew then selected one to keep on display on the station, sending the rest of them back to Earth for exhibitions all over Europe.

The winner was “When Dreams Are Born”, an artwork from the United States’ Elisabeth Caroll Smith showing two children playing near a reflection of the moon in the water.

Information about the two art exhibits, which were co-ordinated by the Swiss O.U.R.S. Project, was displayed at the Canadian Space Society annual summit in Ottawa, Canada Nov. 14 to 15.

The International Space Station has also played host to several art projects, including this light show, a music video by Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield, and dinosaur crafting from NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, among others.

November 14, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

How Astronauts Can Explore The Martian Moon Phobos

Projected timeline of the MARS-X project. Credit: MARS-X

OTTAWA, CANADA – Humans would spend more than a year orbiting and bouncing on the Martian moon Phobos under a mission concept developed by students at the International Space University.

The very theoretical MARS-X mission — presented more as a concept than a firm plan — would see technology development taking place from 2018 to 2022, with communications satellites and rovers winging their way to the planet to be used by astronauts.

In 2023 to 2024, the spacecraft would be built in low-Earth orbit, requiring several launches to accomplish the massive task. Astronauts would then depart in 2024, spending eight months in transit before arriving at Phobos. There, the mission would last 495 days, and the astronauts would take five months to get home.

While NASA and Lockheed Martin helped sponsor the students who created the plan as part of their academic work, the concept itself is not yet funded beyond the students’ initial development.

But Piotr Murzionak, a member of the ISU team, said the proposal is one way that could help fuel interest in space exploration, if it was to be executed..

“It paves the way to Mars. It will be the initial step towards the landing mission on the Martian surface, but without the extra risk involved in order to land directly to Mars,” Murzionak said.

A graphic detailing the MARS-X spacecraft and technical performance. Click for larger version. Credit: MARS-X.

The Mars Exploration Vehicle (as the crew vehicle would be called) would use nuclear propulsion and liquid hydrogen to bring two habitats along with it. One of those would (along with several fuel tanks) be used on Phobos for up to 40 days of surface operations.

It would travel during solar maximum in 2024 to reduce the effects of cosmic radiation from outside the solar system, since the sun’s activity would blow the radiation further away. Further, the crew would be protected from solar flares with high-density polyethylene, as well as a temporary solar storm protection chamber lined with 50 centimeters of water.

The habitat would be spun at 4.4 revolutions per minute, with a habitat of 0.38 to 0.53 the force of gravity — about equivalent to what is on Mars. (This would take 2.5 metric tonnes of fuel to do.)

The students estimate this would cost about $20 billion, but it could go to at least double this due to factors such as “the volatility of political systems and the large amount of bureaucracy involved in any such endeavor,” they write in their final report, which is available here.

Murzionak presented the mission concept at the Canadian Space Society annual conference today (Nov. 14) in Ottawa, Canada.

More information: http://www.project-marsx.com/

November 14, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

From ‘Doggie-Doo’ To Derring-Do: New Canadian Space Head Stresses Innovation In First Public Outing

New Canadian Space Agency President Walter J. Natynczyk. Credit: CSA.

OTTAWA, CANADA – With a booming voice, Walt Natynczyk — in his first speech after becoming Canadian Space Agency president in September — told delegates that he was happy to give up the “dream of retirement” to take on a challenging position.

“Imagine this picture. February. Saturday morning. 7 in the morning. It’s -25 [Celsius, -13 Fahrenheit] and I’m out there, by my lonesome, walking three dogs. None of which are mine. But their owners, who are family members, who I love, are all headed down south,” Natynczyk said.

“As I’m stooping over to pick up another pile of doggie doo, a neighbor — that I love — sticks her head out the door and says, ‘Hello, how the almighty have fallen.’ ” He paused as the room roared with laughter. “Think about it. That’s when I thought it was time to do something different.”

Natynczyk is best known in Canada for leading a large restructuring of the country’s military. He also was (as an exchange officer) a deputy commanding general in the United States, among other positions, and served in Baghdad at the height of the Iraqi war in 2004. His appointment to the CSA had some worried about the militarization of the agency. Natynczyk, however, focused on how difficult the new vocabulary is to master.

Speaking of a recent conversation with quantum researchers — the field that his predecessor, Steve MacLean, went into after leaving the CSA this year — Natynczyk said to them, “The point at which you start losing me is like talking to my puppy; when I start doing this,” — he tilted his head to one side — “you’re losing me.”

Joking that nanosatellites and microsatellites are equivalent to “milk cartons” and “milk jugs”, Natynczyk said one of his main goals is to make space understandable to the typical Canadian standing in line at Tim Horton’s, a coffee chain that is prolific in the country.

His comments on space policy were few. Last year, the Canadian government asked an external group to do a space development strategy for the country, and little has been mentioned publicly since the strategy was released. Natynczyk said conversations are ongoing with other government departments to address the recommendations.

Throughout, he stressed the importance of Canada’s choice to pursue research and development through the universities (with government support) rather than through government directly.

“It’s what we do with CSA, with the universities and so on, looking for extraordinary concepts that are in a higher-risk category and investing in a modest way — perhaps with other government funding … that allow for exponential jumps.”

November 14, 2013December 23, 2015 by Elizabeth Howell

‘Force Field’ Could Protect New Weather Satellite, Future Human Missions

Typical meteorological applications for the Polar Communications and Weather (PCW) mission. Credit: CSA.

OTTAWA, CANADA — A new Canadian satellite — should it launch — might carry a sort of magnetized force field on board to keep charged particles away from vital electronics.

The Polar Communications and Weather Satellite (PCW), depending on its orbit, could skim through the radiation-filled Van Allen belts on its mission to deliver reliable weather reports and communications to northern communities.

Its polar orbit will likely take it through clouds of charged particles high above Earth. If the particles hit crucial components on the spacecraft, it can short out electronics and cause brownouts or complete failure. This has happened several times before, such as to the Japanese ADEOS-II satellite after a large solar storm in 2003.

A concept being explored by Winnipeg’s Magellan Aerospace, one of the companies working on the early phase studies, would make a plasma field around PCW, a sort of “mini magnetosphere” that would use large dipole magnets to deflect charged particles.

It may also be useful for human missions in the future, said Paul Harrison, a satellite control systems engineer at Magellan Aerospace, although he acknowledged the technology is still in an early stage and that they would like a demonstrator mission to fly first.

“It’s still very much in the development phase. We want to develop for satellites before we start sticking people in them,” Harrison said in a presentation at the Canadian Space Society annual summit in Ottawa, Canada, today (Nov. 14.)

He also said it is not clear if the technology would be useful for cosmic rays that originate from outside the solar system, as well as charged particles that flow from the sun and are present near the Earth.

PCW has not been assigned a launch date yet and is still in the early stages of development. Other issues being explored include how to keep track of it without constant access to near-equator-orbiting GPS satellites, and how to maintain temperature control as it plunges from day to night to day again during its journey.

Its orbit could be a 12-hour Molniya orbit or perhaps a 16-hour or 24-hour highly eccentric orbit, depending on what designers feel is best.

CORRECTION: This article has been changed to say “near-equator-orbiting” GPS satellites.