This month, we begin our newsletter with this powerful essay, “Ethics, Human Rights, and Space: A Palestinian Perspective” by Sabha El-Shawa, an analog astronaut, PhD researcher in sustainable development and climate change, and founder of the Jordan Space Initiative. El-Shawa deftly explores the deep entanglement of space exploration and the military-industrial complex, suffusing historical facts and policy precedents with her own experiences as a Palestinian in the space industry. If you read nothing else from our newsletter this month, we hope you will read her words. A short except:

As we continue to reach for the stars, let us also reach deep within ourselves and question where our true loyalties lie. Where is our humanity in the face of injustice? Why do we allow our industry to continue supporting human rights violations? How can we expect to create a better future in space when we can't even act ethically on Earth?

The answers to these questions are more important than any technology you could ever develop. Space exploration without ethics is simply an extension of colonialist ideologies on Earth.

In addition, Scientists for Palestine, an organization created “to promote science and support the integration of the occupied Palestinian territories in the international scientific community,” has written an open letter on the current events in Gaza.

Space Happenings

NASA’s Osiris-REx successfully delivers a sample of asteroid Bennu 

The OSIRIS-REx mission, which launched in 2016 and traveled ~200 million miles for its precious cargo, landed in the Utah desert without incident on September 24th. The sample return canister was recently opened (with much excitement), but the real return is still months away as the science team prepares the sample for study. OSIRIS-REx is anticipated to give us insight into the early solar system, specifically the role of small bodies like Bennu delivering water to Earth early in its history. While Bennu isn’t likely to have water today, the mission’s ~500 day survey of Bennu identified hydrated minerals in its make-up that may point the way to water in its past. You can read all about this exciting mission in this NY Times feature by JustSpace fave, Dr. Katrina Miller. 

A lunar success for India, and a lunar letdown for Russia

India’s Chandrayaan-3 lunar mission successfully made it to the moon on August 23rd. India is now the fourth country to have landed on the moon, and the first to successfully land on the lunar south pole with Chandrayaan-3’s lander (Vikram) and rover (Pragyan). The mission completed its two week goal before Vikram and Pragyan were powered down for the lunar night– while there was some hope amongst the team of reawakening them following hibernation for a mission bonus round, that has sadly turned out not to be impossible. Still, the mission has met its main goals, and been a huge success for ISRO.

The lunar south pole is a challenging place to land for the same reasons that make it scientifically interesting. While the moon is, in general, a dry and desolate place, it harbors reserves of water ice tucked into regions of the south pole that remain permanently shadowed. Even though missions aim to land during lunar daytime, the shadows across the moon’s rough terrain are long, and reconnaissance of the surface landing conditions is hard. Just a few days before Chandrayaan-3’s successful landing, the Russian mission Luna-25 made a “hard landing” on the lunar south pole, or as Roskosmos put it, “The apparatus moved into an unpredictable orbit and ceased to exist as a result of a collision with the surface of the Moon." Luna-25 was Russia’s first attempt at a lunar landing in 47 years.

Besides the region’s scientific lure, the lunar south pole is of particular interest for commercial space companies, who see the moon’s water reserves as exploitable resources. The contemporary rush to the moon has also seen a scramble to update norms of behavior around lunar exploration, e.g. the development of NASA’s Artemis Accords (which received a new signatory, Germany, last month). NASA also recently released a summary of the Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy’s workshop on Artemis, Ethics, and Society, which JustSpace co-founder Erika Nesvold attended, along with JustSpace Board member Natalie Treviño. 

Nostalgia for the Dark

The BlueWalker-3 satellite now has the dubious distinction of being one of the brightest objects in the night sky, according to a statement by the IAU, co-authored by JustSpace member Dr. Meredith Rawls. BlueWalker-3 is a prototype for a new satellite constellation by AST SpaceMobile.  

In related news, the FCC levied its first-ever penalty for space debris, charging Dish Network a $150,000 fine for improper disposal of the EchoStar-7 satellite. Dish admitted to having shirked its commitment to dispose of the satellite in its promised orbit. This penalty is a breakthrough precedent for regulation around the increasing threat of space debris that has accompanied the skyrocketing rate of satellite launches over the past several years. If you’re curious about the problem of space debris, scroll down– there’s a new learning series about satellite constellations later in this newsletter!

While the clutter of space debris receives increasing attention, the visible changes to the night sky remain a concern for not only astronomers, but anyone who wishes to appreciate our cosmos without a veil of manufactured light obscuring the view. Light pollution, the blanket term for all forms of artificial lighting that deprive human beings of dark night skies, encompasses not only bright satellites, but forms of lighting on Earth that blot out the stars. Light pollution has wide-ranging cultural implications, as well as practical ones (like wasting energy through imprecisely-directed light sources, and artificial light’s terrible impacts on migrating birds). Now, astronomers Aparna Venkatesan and John Barrentine have coined a term for the pain of losing access to the dark sky: noctalgia. 

To Listen/Watch

Learning Series on Satellite Constellations and Their Impacts

If you’re receiving this newsletter, you probably know a thing or two about satellite constellations (if only from hearing us rant about their impacts on the night sky, and their sometimes debatable benefits). But if you’d like a broad overview, or an amazing resource for helping others get up to speed on the rapidly evolving orbital landscape of satellites, the IA, NOIRLab, and the SKA Observatory have joined forces to create a curriculum called SatCons 101! In a series of 8 brief videos, SatCons 101 aims to help viewers

• Know the fundamentals of Earth-orbiting satellite operations

• Understand the design and intent of large satellite constellations

• Have a basic introduction to the International regulations on space use and the radio spectrum

• Be able to identify the main anticipated impacts of large satellite constellations on astronomy and the environment

• Be familiar with some basic mitigation techniques

• Be aware of basic information on specific constellations that have already been launched, as well as on constellations that have just started to launch or have been approved

We’re excited to see this resource as a starting point for greater engagement in the issues surrounding satellite constellations, and especially that it provides points of entry across different realms of expertise (e.g. law and policy, in addition to the engineering and space aspects). 

Interstellar Travel

JustSpace Board member AJ Link and JustSpace co-founder Erika Nesvold recently appeared on two (!) different panels together as part of the 8th Interstellar Symposium, organized by the Interstellar Research Group. You can see them tackle two big, exciting questions together, “Interstellar Travel: Are We Ready?” and “How Would You Select a Crew for the First Interstellar Mission?” along with diverse perspectives from their co-panelists on Youtube. 

To Read

Is Space A Commons?

Next month brings the annual Commons in Space meeting, which means that this month is a great time to ask: is space a commons? In Outer Space as a Global Commons: An Empirical Study of Space Arrangements, authors Pauline Pic, Philippe Evoy, and Jean-Frédéric Morin attempt to address this question by examining “how space actors use a global commons framework in their institutional arrangements”. 

As co-author Phillippe Evoy summarizes their findings in this thread on X,

“In general, our findings suggest that space actors have tended to cherry-pick specific measures in their arrangements, without trying to articulate them under an overarching legal doctrine like the “common heritage of humankind”.”

Elon’s “Shadow Rule”

Over at the New Yorker, Ronan Farrow writes about Elon Musk’s increasingly problematic foothold in international politics. Farrow unpacks how Musk’s contribution of Starlink to Ukraine’s defense against Russia (and subsequent fence-sitting and vacillation over choosing a side of the conflict) embroiled him in international relations at a scale unparalleled by any defense contractor in history. The article is well worth a read, especially given the dependency even public institutions like NASA have on SpaceX for transporting crews into space. This selection from the article highlights the scale of the problem: 

“In the past twenty years, against a backdrop of crumbling infrastructure and declining trust in institutions, Musk has sought out business opportunities in crucial areas where, after decades of privatization, the state has receded. The government is now reliant on him, but struggles to respond to his risk-taking, brinkmanship, and caprice. Current and former officials from nasa, the Department of Defense, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Aviation Administration, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration told me that Musk’s influence had become inescapable in their work, and several of them said that they now treat him like a sort of unelected official. One Pentagon spokesman said that he was keeping Musk apprised of my inquiries about his role in Ukraine and would grant an interview with an official about the matter only with Musk’s permission. “We’ll talk to you if Elon wants us to,” he told me.” 

Digging Stars

We can’t wait to dig into the novel Digging Stars by Novuyo Rosa Tshuma, a multithreaded tale that reviewers have called “cerebral yet passionate, a heady stew of science, family drama, and political intrigue”.

Take Action

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