Alaska, source of carbon-emitting fossil fuels, aims to raise money by storing carbon

December 16, 2022 by Lisa Phu, Alaska Beacon

Aerial view of the trees in the Tongass National Forest (Photo courtesy of Elizabeth Graham/National Forest Service)

Alaska’s state government raises hundreds of millions of dollars each year through the sale of oil that when burned contributes to climate change. Now the state is looking to also make money by preventing some of these gasses from entering the atmosphere.

Gov. Mike Dunleavy plans to introduce a bill this upcoming legislative session aimed at turning the state’s capacity to absorb and store carbon into a source of revenue. And he said it could  bring in several hundred million to a billion dollars in revenue a year.

“Alaska has a real opportunity to sequester carbon in many different ways in the state – through our forests, through our depleted oil and gas basins, as well as the potential for seaweed sequestration off our coasts,” Dunleavy said during a press briefing Thursday where he and his cabinet released the proposed budget for the fiscal year that starts in July 2023.

Carbon sequestration is the process of capturing and storing atmospheric carbon dioxide, which is the most commonly produced greenhouse gas. Sequestration is one method of reducing the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.

Dunleavy said Alaska’s depleted basins, like Cook Inlet, are perfect places to sequester carbon. He said Cook Inlet could store upwards of 50 gigatons of carbon.

“As a matter of fact, Alaska probably has more capacity to sequester carbon underground than anywhere on the West Coast,” he said.

Dunleavy also mentioned Alaska’s forests and coastlines as assets for carbon monetization. Tree and forests take in carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, and that absorption can become carbon credits that are sold to companies interested in offsetting environmental impacts. Alaska Native corporations, like Sealaska and Ahtna, developed forest carbon projects several years ago. And research has shown seaweed cultivation could be a carbon removal strategy.

Dunleavy said the bill he plans to introduce this coming session will be a starting point to figure out what carbon sequestration would look like in the state and explore things like how the state can contract with companies and other entities, what’s in the contract, and what lands, basins and coastlines could be involved.

Meredith Trainor, executive director for Southeast Alaska Conservation Council, said the organization is encouraged to hear the governor thinking about the opportunities presented by carbon sequestration in Alaska, “but, of course, the devil is in the details.”

“From our perspective at SEACC, the easiest way to increase carbon sequestration in Alaska is to protect the Tongass National Forest. That’s not necessarily up to Gov. Dunleavy, but seeing the governor think more broadly about ways to protect forested areas over which the state does have influence would be critical, although we think it’s equally as important that the governor not seek to remove land from federal holdings in the process of doing so,” Trainor said.

Dunleavy said he hopes to see action on a broad bill that will enable the state to start to entertain potential contracts with entities. No potential entities at this point have been identified, his office said later.

The multi-year revenue option “doesn’t gore any ox,” Dunleavy said.

“For years the conversation on revenue was: Whose ox are we going to gore? Are we going to do an income tax on the people of Alaska. Are we going to do corporate taxes? With the advent of the monetization of carbon, we have a real possibility of receiving revenue that doesn’t gore any ox,” Dunleavy said.

No revenue from carbon sequestration is included in the proposed budget, but a target for potential new revenue is included in Dunleavy’s 10-year plan. It imagines $300 million in fiscal year 2024, $500 million the next year, increasing to $750 million the year after, and leveling out at $900 million in subsequent years – revenue that would help balance out what is needed to keep the state functioning.

State Sen. Bert Stedman, R-Sitka, doesn’t think revenue from carbon sequestration will come in that quickly.

“That’s a big issue that’ll take quite a bit of analysis and discussion,” he said. “My guess is it’s a two-year process.”

Stedman said successful legislation could create an opportunity for “multigenerational contracts” between the state and investors, so lawmakers should be careful.

“If we make a mistake, it could be very expensive for the development opportunities,” he said.

James Brooks contributed reporting to this story.

ALASKA

Juneau teachers union declares impasse in contract negotiations with district

December 15, 2022 by Katie Anastas, KTOO

The Juneau School District office. (Photo by Bridget Dowd/ KTOO)

The Juneau teachers union has declared an impasse in its negotiations over a new contract with the school district. Discussions will continue in the coming months with the help of a federal mediator.

The district’s initial proposal included a pay increase similar to the union’s. But the district also proposed cutting its monthly contributions to health premiums by $434. That’s more than a 25% decrease compared to this year.

Juneau Education Association President Chris Heidemann said that’s a major concern, especially for young teachers who might not have other insurance options, like a spouse’s plan.

“That’s a huge, huge cost to our members, especially the early career teachers,” he said. “That could be devastating to them.”

The union and the district have been negotiating for 10 months. The previous contract expired in June.

Thunder Mountain High School history teacher Jamie Marks said he thinks the district is willing to agree on a reasonable contract. But after the pandemic made teaching even more challenging, he said, the wait for a new contract has been frustrating.

“I’m upset that over the last three years, we have given what we have given and the board has not seen the need to be quicker in its response so that we’re feeling respected,” he said.

Several teachers expressed similar feelings at Tuesday’s school board meeting. Juneau School District Superintendent Bridget Weiss said it’s hard to hear.

“It is stressful on everyone the longer these negotiations go,” she said. “When teachers or any staff begin to feel undervalued, it’s heartbreaking.”

Weiss said the district is facing higher costs with less funding. The base student allocation — the amount of money per student the district receives from the state — hasn’t substantially increased since 2017. 

She said she’s hopeful they’ll reach a resolution soon, and the proposed health contribution cuts were meant to start discussions about where teachers wanted district funds to be allocated.

“Did they want money tied up in those insurance contributions at the same level, or did they want money in people’s pockets?” she said.

Heidemann said he’s optimistic they’ll be able to reach an agreement without a strike.

“We had a really great showing at the school board meeting the last two months, and they’re going to be seeing and hearing a lot more from us over the next couple months,” he said. “I think the leverage that we’ll be able to apply will move the school district in the right direction.”

He said he expects federal mediation to begin in January. If the two sides can’t reach an agreement with the mediator’s help, a federal arbitrator will meet with the two sides separately and decide the best way to move forward.

 

Gov. Dunleavy’s proposed budget continues years-long trend of flat funding for Alaska schools

December 19, 2022 by Wesley Early, Alaska Public Media

Students play during recess at Dena’ina Elementary School in Wasilla in September. (Jeff Chen/Alaska Public Media)

Gov. Mike Dunleavy’s proposed budget for next fiscal year keeps education funding for K-12 public schools about the same as this year.

Alaska school districts have decried the continued flat funding, saying it’s leading to large budget deficits.

Dunleavy said at a news conference Thursday that his proposal is a jumping off point for legislators, and he expects the school funding amount could increase as they debate the issue.

“For me to put a number in the budget, some will say it’s too little, some will say it’s too much,” he said. “So what we’ve done is we put forth a budget here on Dec. 15, to begin that discussion.”

Alaska schools are funded through what’s called the base student allocation. It’s basically a dollar amount per student.

Dunleavy’s proposal puts it at $5,960, just $30 more than what it had been since 2016. It’s still far below the rate of inflation, and that flat funding essentially means that the money school districts have received has been worth less each year. That’s something Dunleavy said he anticipates coming up in the Legislature when its session begins in January.

“We do understand and we look forward to having discussions with the Legislature on what that education funding will look like going forward,” Dunleavy said. “We will certainly understand there’s inflationary issues that need to be addressed.”

While the current budget forward-funded schools for the next fiscal year, when oil prices were high, Dunleavy said the drop in prices, “practically zero that concept out.”

In a written statement Thursday evening, Anchorage School District Superintendent Jharrett Bryantt said he was disappointed by Dunleavy’s proposal but looked forward to working with the governor and Legislature to find a funding solution.

“While we are disappointed to learn there is no additional public education funding in the governor’s proposed budget, we are very encouraged to learn he recognizes the inflationary pressure on our District, our families, and our communities and wants to work with us on sensible school funding solutions,” Bryantt said.

For the Anchorage district, flat funding would mean a $48 million budget deficit next school year. The school board is set to vote on preliminary cuts on Monday, with proposals ranging from closing schools to cutting programs to increasing class sizes.

Senator-elect Cathy Giessel said she thinks the Legislature will definitely discuss school funding during the upcoming session, but said the funding formula is complicated. In an interview Thursday, she said she didn’t yet have an ideal funding amount.

“It’s so complex that it is going to take a lot of attention, and will take a lot of time for the Legislature to actually review it, understand it and make the appropriate revision,” she said. “But we need to do it.”

In total, Dunleavy’s education budget is slightly smaller than last year’s, likely due to declining enrollment across the state. The first day of the next legislative session is Jan. 17.

Alaska Public Media’s Kavitha George contributed to this report.

Alaska Public Media

Alaska Public Media is our partner station in Anchorage. KTOO collaborates with partners across the state to cover important news and to share stories with our audiences.

RIGHT TO WORK LAW APPLIED TO TEACHERS UNIONS
DeSantis' latest education plan targets teachers' unions by ending automatic dues in favor of monthly mailed-in checks


Kimberly Leonard
Mon, December 19, 2022 

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis, speaks to supporters Tuesday, August 23, 2022, in Hialeah, Florida.Gaston De Cardenas, File/AP Photo

DeSantis proposed changes that would make it harder for teachers to join and remain in unions.

He also proposed coupling that with higher teacher pay.

The proposal was part of his forthcoming "Freedom Blueprint" education plan.

Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida promised Monday to sign a bill into law that would increase teacher pay by a record amount — but he also wants to clamp down on teachers' unions.

The plan DeSantis outlined at a school board retreat in Orlando would have teachers send a check to their unions every month rather than automatically deduct the dues from their paychecks.

DeSantis' latest so-called "Freedom Blueprint" proposal appears similar to a measure the Florida legislature considered in 2021 and 2022 that the state's largest teachers' union, the Florida Education Association, called "anti-freedom" and "anti-educator."

"It puts big government between educators and their constitutionally guaranteed right to join in union to advocate for their students and profession," Florida Education Association President Andrew Spar said in 2021.

Teachers' unions have been one of the governor's top foes, particularly starting in the fall of 2020 after they resisted his push to reopen schools during the pandemic, and after DeSantis banned mask mandates in the classroom.

Even Charlie Crist, a former congressman and DeSantis' failed 2022 challenger, picked Miami-Dade's teachers' union boss, Karla Hernández-Mats, as his running mate.

DeSantis' plan would create a new hurdle for organized labor in Florida, whose "Right to Work" status is already enshrined in the state constitution. Under current law, Florida workers can opt out of joining a union, which in turn restricts unions from collecting dues from employees who benefit from negotiated worker protections.

The anti-union bills the legislature considered in previous years would have extended not just to teachers but other public employees. Aside from gutting automatic deductions, they would have obligated workers to reaffirm their union membership annually, and obligated unions with fewer than half of workers in their ranks to recertify with the state.

DeSantis is framing his plan on union dues as "paycheck protection" for teachers and said it would "be a more accurate reflection of who wants to be a part of this or not." In his remarks, he coupled the union changes with what he called "the biggest increase" in teacher pay the state has ever done.

"It's more of a guarantee that the money is actually going to go to teachers," he said at the retreat, "and not be frittered away by interest groups who get involved in the school system."

The Florida Education Association told Insider that coupling the two proposals together wouldn't be possible because the teacher pay would be in the state budget, whereas changes to unions would be a piece of legislation "though the governor may link them rhetorically."

The governor's budget will be due 30 days before the legislative session begins in April 2023.

The governor's press secretary, Bryan Griffin, said the office would share more details when they become available.

Florida comes in at No. 48 in the nation for average teacher salaries, according to the National Education Association. State lawmakers and the governor gave teachers bonuses this past year and increased pay — though largely among new teachers, according to the Florida Education Association.

DeSantis acknowledged during his speech that changes to union dues might emaciate the labor groups, but said if teachers aren't paying dues then they should be decertified.

"You shouldn't be able to continue as a zombie organization that doesn't have the support of the people you're supposedly negotiating for," he said.

The last two versions of the anti-union died in committee under opposition from Florida AFL-CIO and the Florida Education Association. GOP Sen. Kathleen Passidomo of Naples, who chaired the Rules Committee during the 2022 legislative session — and now holds even higher ranking as president of the Florida Senate — declined to take it up.

Passidomo's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment over whether she'd be receptive to the governor's proposal.

Florida voters reelected DeSantis by a historic 20-point margin in November, and also gave him a GOP supermajority in the state House and Senate. The Florida legislature was largely deferential to DeSantis' priorities during his first term, and that trend is expected to continue after he is inaugurated a second time in Tallahassee on January 3, 2023.

DeSantis is considered to be the most formidable challenger for the Republican nomination for president in 2024, should he choose to run.

During the November elections DeSantis made reshaping school boards one of his top priorities, and said Monday that he would continue that fight into the election cycles ahead. Roughly 250 people were in the audience on Monday, including school board members DeSantis endorsed, as well as parent groups, the DeSantis campaign said.

ETHIOPIAN WAR OF AGGRESSION

Ethiopia civil war: The boy named ‘Wealthy’ who weighs half what he should

Sofia Bettiza - BBC World Service
Mon, December 19, 2022 

Haftom struggles to stand and is clinging on to life

Little Haftom is nearly five years old.

His name means "wealthy" in the Tigriyna language but he weighs just half what he should.

As the doctor pulls up his jumper and tracksuit bottoms to show his spindly arms and legs, his mother looks on impassively.

She does not want to give her name.

This is the daily reality of hunger and malnutrition after two years of civil war in the northern Ethiopia region of Tigray. A peace deal has ended the fighting but the fallout from the conflict remains.

In August, the UN estimated that nearly one in three children under the age of five in Tigray were malnourished.

As federal government soldiers and Tigrayan forces fought, the Ethiopian authorities either limited or heavily restricted the aid getting into the northern region, leading to an effective blockade.

'Empty-handed'

Makda, who is the same age as the conflict itself, lies like a baby in the arms of her mother Hiwot.

She is listless and her stomach is heavily swollen.

This is Makda's second time in hospital suffering from malnutrition

"It's become so difficult to get food," says Hiwot. "It's very hard to eat even once a day."

But since she was admitted to hospital, Makda has been getting worse.

"My daughter is in this situation because we're told there is no medicine. We haven't been able to get anything," says Hiwot.

"Even when we were here last year with the same problem, I couldn't get anything and I went home empty-handed."

The families of Haftom and Makda have been seeking treatment in Mekelle, the capital of the Tigray region. The BBC filmed and interviewed them within the past month.

After August, as federal government forces took more territory, the Tigrayan authorities agreed to a ceasefire.

Under the terms of the peace deal signed at the beginning of last month, the authorities in the capital, Addis Ababa, said they would send in more aid.

'Used up in a day'

Dr Kibrom Gebreselassie has been a surgeon at Ayder Referral Hospital for 15 years.

It is the biggest public hospital in the region which is home to seven million people.

"To see young children and mothers suffer and cry every day, it's traumatising," says Dr Kibrom.

"A lot of children have died in our hospital because once a child has malnutrition, it's not only food you have to give them. They need medication, antibiotics, minerals... and we don't have this."

Dr Kibrom has struggled to keep his hospital going during two years of war

Some of what is needed seems to be arriving but not nearly enough.

Dr Kibrom says two trucks with medical supplies from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) were the first to reach Mekelle.

"The amount of medicine that we received was enough for half of our patients and only lasted for a single day," he sighs.

For each day that aid does not get to the hospital, more patients die.

"Take cancer patients, the situation is very grim. There has been no chemotherapy in the entire Tigray," says Dr Kibrom.

"Each day, each week, each month, the stage of their cancer worsens.

"If it was treatable before, now it's becoming inoperable. For those very sick individuals each day, each hour counts."

Aid effort

From mid-November to the first week of December, the Ethiopian government and aid agencies have managed to send more than 1,600 trucks through carrying food, shelter and medical supplies, the UN humanitarian office has said.

The ICRC, itself, says it has sent at least 38 trucks to Mekelle since the middle of November, and more is on its way.

"Efforts are being made by all humanitarian actors but it's not enough compared to the scale of the need," says Jude Fuhnwi, ICRC spokesperson in Ethiopia.

And those needs are immense.

The UN's World Food Programme (WFP) has a target of getting emergency food aid to 2.1 million people in Tigray over the next six months.

"A lot has improved since the peace deal," says Claude Jibidar, WFP representative and Ethiopia country director.

"After two years of conflict, we don't expect to go back to normal overnight."

Mekelle remains under the control of the Tigrayan government though federal forces control areas in the north around Shire.

In a different department of Ayder hospital, Fikadu Jember, a retired teacher, describes how he has not been able to get medicine to treat his diabetes for the past three months.

"When we come here for treatment, most of the equipment is not functional. We're trying everywhere, but there's nothing because of the blockade," he says.

"Many people are dying because of this. After the peace agreement was signed, we were hopeful we would get medicine but nothing has arrived yet."

Fikadu Jember is hoping the peace deal will improve his life

Doctors lack the most basic supplies.

"We don't have enough gloves to do surgery. We have to re-wash and re-use them up to three times," says Dr Kibrom.

"We can't do any transfusions because we don't have blood bags. So, if we know a patient is going to need a transfusion, we just don't do the surgery," he adds.
Electricity restored

A doctor at the same Ayder hospital who wishes to remain anonymous says they are receiving minimal medical supplies.

"The hospital is full of wounded soldiers and civilian patients," the doctor says. "Most are not being assisted."

They say the only positive thing the federal authorities have done is to restore electricity to Mekelle.

The hospital recently tweeted that HIV drugs and test kits had started to arrive.

But the most vulnerable have paid the highest price.

"I want a better future for her," says Makda's mother Hiwot. "It's all I can think about."

Map of Ethiopia

There's a growing chance your next electric car will be built by the same company as your iPhone

Tim Levin

Sun, December 18, 2022

Foxconn unveiled the Model B prototype in October.SAM YEH / Contributor / Getty Images

• Foxconn, the biggest contract electronics manufacturer in the world, wants to make your next car.

• The Taiwanese giant assembles iPhones, iPads, and all sorts of other devices.

• It's making deals to build cars for electric-vehicle startups — and someday wants to build cars for Tesla.

There's a solid chance your next electric car — perhaps your first electric car — will be made by the same company as the iPhone in your hand right now.

And no, we're not talking about Apple's long-rumored autonomous vehicle, which Bloomberg reports has been delayed to 2026. Nor is Google cooking up a Tesla rival of its own.

Foxconn, the Taiwanese electronics giant that assembles all manner of popular devices including the iPhone, iPad, Kindle, and Nintendo Switch, is diving head-first into the world of electric vehicles. But rather than sell EVs under its own brand, it wants to design and manufacture cars for established automakers and the new crop of EV startups.

In other words, what Foxconn currently does for Apple, it hopes to do for Tesla. In October, Foxconn's chairman said the company aims to someday make 40-45% of the world's EVs, matching the success it's achieved in electronics.

Foxconn unveiled an electric pickup truck prototype in October.ASSOCIATED PRESS

Foxconn unveiled its first EV prototypes last year and has wasted little time lining up a roster of automotive clients. Earlier this year, the iPhone-maker bought a former General Motors plant in Lordstown, Ohio from struggling automotive startup Lordstown Motors. Lordstown Motors just recently started shipping out Foxconn-made electric pickup trucks to customers.

Fisker, another EV upstart, has tapped Foxconn to manufacture its second vehicle, the Pear, in Ohio starting in 2024. Foxconn will also build prototypes for yet another startup, Indi EV. And it's inked a partnership with Taiwan's Yulon Motor.

Volkswagen is considering hiring Foxconn to build its new Scout-branded electric SUV and pickup truck destined for US buyers, Germany's Automobilwoche reported in November.

Foxconn's foray into EVs is a savvy move, Bill Russo, founder and CEO of Automobility, a Shanghai-based auto-industry consulting firm, told Insider. The company has found great success shouldering the capital-intensive parts of manufacturing electronics, in part because it's able to buy components in such large volumes. And, he said, it's well-positioned to do the same for EV makers, who are eager to reduce the enormous investments required to develop and bring a car to market.

Plus, vehicles are becoming increasingly internet-connected and computerized, requiring more and more of the electronic components that Foxconn is familiar with.

"That sounds a lot like the devices that Foxconn builds today. A lot of screens, a lot of chips, a lot of stuff that they know how to buy in significant enough volume" to drive down costs, Russo said.

Tu Le, managing director of automotive consultancy Sino Auto Insights, says Foxconn's entry will be a boon for the EV startups that don't have the cash to build their own factories. US upstarts Rivian and Lucid have spent huge sums setting up plants of their own, but not all fresh-faced EV companies have that sort of access to capital.

"There's going to be a lot of asset-light EV startups that are going to come out in the next 24-30 months in the United States, and they're going to need a factory with capacity that can sell them a finished good at a wholesale price," he said.

And Le could see existing automakers without strong union ties — like Tesla — outsourcing production to Foxconn someday. But first, the company will have to prove it can churn out electric SUVs and pickup trucks to the same the same standard as its iPads and iPhones.

"It's a ton of opportunity in front of them if they can prove that the first vehicles that roll off the line in Ohio are at the highest quality, highest reliability, highest safety standards that Americans expect," Le said.

P3

France's Vinci to invest $820 million in Mexico airport, governor says


The logo of Vinci is pictured on the A62 motorway in Saint-Jory

Mon, December 19, 2022 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - French airport operator Vinci will invest $820 million in renovating an airport in the Mexican business hub of Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, the state's governor said on Monday.

The investment follows Vinci's purchase earlier this month of a near-30% stake in Mexican airport administrator OMA that owns the Monterrey International Airport.

Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia on his Instagram account shared clips from his meeting with Vinci representatives.

A Vinci spokesperson did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment.

A presentation shared on Garcia's Instagram said that Vinci viewed the Monterrey airport as "the best alternative to Mexico City airport" and that it had "great potential."

It also said that Vinci Airports was planning to "engage in strong partnerships" with Mexican airlines Aeromexico and Viva Aerobus to build up their customer bases.

Vinci earlier this month said it would start direct flights between Monterrey, whose international airport alone it said represents about half of OMA's passenger traffic, and Los Angeles, Houston, Detroit and Austin.

The French firm became OMA's biggest shareholder when it finalised its $1.17 billion stake purchase earlier this month, it said.

(Reporting by Kylie Madry and Sarah Morland; Editing by Mark Porter)

MAY IS NOT WILL

Tesla may announce $800 million to $1 billion in Mexico plant in coming days - report


 A Tesla electric vehicle at the Auto Shanghai show in Shanghai, China

Mon, December 19, 2022 

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -Electric carmaker Tesla could announce the construction of a "Gigafactory" in the northern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon as soon as Friday, with an initial investment of between $800 million and $1 billion, local newspaper Reforma reported Monday.

The total investment, taking into account future expansions, could eventually reach $10 billion, sources told the newspaper.

The announcement would follow Chief Executive Elon Musk's visit to the state, which borders Texas, in October. A source told Reuters then that Musk had met with Nuevo Leon Governor Samuel Garcia and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar.

The Mexican Gigafactory, planned on the outskirts of the city Monterrey, would start by building components for current Tesla models, a source told Reforma, later possibly building a new model at a lower cost than other factories.

A federal official told Reuters Tesla would announce news of its planned investment when it was ready to do so, but that it would not necessarily be before Christmas.

If the announcement does not take place on Friday, it could come in January, according to Reforma.

Mexican Foreign Minister Marcelo Ebrard said earlier this month that Musk had toured three states in Mexico scouting locations for the factory.

Tesla did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

(Reporting by Kylie Madry and Dave GrahamEditing by Bernadette Baum)

Russia says leak on Soyuz spacecraft caused by 0.8-millimetre hole


 A stream of particles, which NASA says appears to be liquid and possibly coolant, sprays out of the Soyuz spacecraft on the International Space Station


Mon, December 19, 2022 

MOSCOW (Reuters) - A hole less than one millimetre in diameter is to blame for a coolant leak from a Russian Soyuz spacecraft docked at the International Space Station (ISS), the head of Russia's Roscosmos space agency said on Monday.

A routine spacewalk by two Russian cosmonauts was cancelled last week after NASA noticed a stream of fluid spewing from the vessel. Temperatures on board the capsule have since risen and Roscosmos has scrambled to investigate the cause and decide how to resolve the issue.

"A preliminary check has shown that there is a small hole, around 0.8 millimetres, which caused the depressurisation," Yuri Borisov, the head of Roscosmos, told Russian state TV on Monday.

The crew were not in danger, Borisov said, and were currently based inside the ISS.

Roscosmos had planned to inspect the capsule with a 17-metre long robotic arm, named the Canadarm2, which performs maintenance, moves supplies and grapples vehicles to the ISS.

Temperatures aboard the Soyuz MS-22 capsule had now stabilised below 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) and the capsule was in working condition, Borisov said. However, he called the situation "clearly not very good" and said that a commission would decide before the end of the month what steps should be taken next.

Roscosmos has advanced plans to potentially deploy a reserve spacecraft to ferry the cosmonauts back to Earth should the docked Soyuz MS-22 prove out of action. Borisov said the reserve spacecraft would be ready to launch by Feb. 19.

Russia has announced plans to walk away from the ISS - one of the few areas of large-scale cooperation between the United States and Russia - and launch its own space station. Borisov, who took over as the head of Roscosmos in July, has said the ISS has outlived its purpose and is "dangerous".

(Reporting by Reuters; Writing by Jake Cordell; Editing by Nick Macfie)

Russia may expedite launch of next space capsule after leak



This undated handout photo released by Roscosmos State Space Corporation shows the International Space Station (ISS) during its fly. Russia's space corporation Roscosmos said Monday Dec. 19, 2022 that a coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station doesn't require evacuation of its crew, but held the door open for launching a replacement capsule if needed. 

Roscosmos State Space Corporation via AP, File

Mon, December 19, 2022 

MOSCOW (AP) — Russia's space corporation Roscosmos said Monday that a coolant leak from a Russian space capsule attached to the International Space Station doesn't require evacuation of its crew, but the agency kept open the possibility of launching a replacement capsule, if needed.

Roscosmos said a panel of experts would determine later this month whether the Soyuz MS-22 capsule could be safely used by the crew for its planned return to Earth or if it should be discarded and replaced.

It said the next scheduled launch of a Soyuz was in March but could be expedited, if necessary.

The leak from the Soyuz MS-22 was spotted last week as a pair of Russian cosmonauts were about to venture outside the station on a planned spacewalk. Russian Mission Control aborted the spacewalk when ground specialists saw a stream of fluid and particles emanating from the Soyuz on a live video feed from space.

Roscosmos and NASA both have said the incident hasn’t posed any danger to the station’s crew.

Roscosmos said the leak might have been caused by a micrometeorite or a piece of space junk striking one of the capsule's external radiators.

The corporation said Monday that the leak caused the temperature in the crew section of the capsule to rise to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit). The temperature in the equipment section initially soared to 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) but dropped to 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit) after ground experts switched some of the capsule's systems, Roscosmos said.

Roscosmos said the crew used ventilators in the Russian segment to blow cold air into the capsule to reduce temperature in the cockpit to comfortable levels.

“The increase in temperature on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is admissible and isn't critical for the functioning of the equipment or health of the crew in case they need to be in the spacecraft,” Roscosmos said, adding that tests of the ship's control system determined it wasn't affected by the incident.

The space corporation said an inspection of the capsule's surface with a camera on a Canadian-built robotic arm helped spot the location of the coolant leak.

Prokopyev, Petelin and NASA astronaut Frank Rubio used the Soyuz MS-22 to arrive at the International Space Station in September, and it has served as a lifeboat for the crew. The capsule was scheduled to carry some of the space station’s crew back to Earth in March as part of regular rotations.

Along with Prokopyev, Petelin and Rubio, four other crew members are currently on the space outpost: NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada; the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Koichi Wakata; and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos.

Leak Inspection Finds Hole in Russian Spacecraft Docked to ISS

George Dvorsky
Mon, December 19, 2022 

The Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft docked to the Russian Rassvet

 ISS module, in a photo taken on October 8, 2022.

An inspection has revealed an 0.8-millimeter-wide hole in the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft that sprung a coolant leak outside the International Space Station last week. Russian space agency Roscosmos will make a decision on the flight-worthiness of the spacecraft later this month, at which time Russia may choose to expedite the launch of a replacement capsule.

The hole is located on the ship’s instrumentation compartment on the Soyuz service module, according to Roscosmos chief Yury Borisov and as reported by state-run TASS news agency. “The primary guidance, navigation, control and computer systems of the Soyuz are in the instrumentation compartment, which is a sealed container filled with circulating nitrogen gas to cool the avionics equipment,” NASA says.

The Soyuz MS-22 sprung a leak on December 15, sending streams of coolant into space and canceling a Russian spacewalk. NASA and Roscosmos have both stated that the incident poses no risk to the crew or the orbiting space station. A preliminary inspection with a robotic arm confirmed the leak shortly after it began on Thursday, with a follow-up inspection, performed earlier today, now confirming the hole, which may have been caused by a micrometeorite or a tiny piece of space junk.

Today’s inspection “revealed that there is a tiny hole” in the instrumentation compartment “measuring about 0.8mm, which caused the leak,” Borisov said Monday, describing the ongoing situation as “not very pleasant.” The Russian space agency has set a deadline of December 27 to determine the status and fate of the damaged Soyuz spacecraft. Two working groups will decide whether the spacecraft can host passengers and return to the surface or if it needs to be junked.

The MS-22 capsule is slated to return NASA astronaut Frank Rubio and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Prokopyev and Dmitri Petelin to Earth in early spring, but the trio may have lost their ride. A SpaceX Crew Dragon is also parked outside the ISS, but that’s reserved for NASA astronauts Nicole Mann and Josh Cassada, Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), and Anna Kikina of Roscosmos. The Crew Dragon cannot accommodate seven people, but the option exists for the Russian space agency to expedite its next Soyuz launch to the ISS, the MS-23 mission.

“Of course, we have backup options,” Borisov told the state-run Izvestia media outlet. “We will prepare the spaceship faster. Instead of the scheduled March descent, we will prepare it somewhere by February 19. It is already installed at the Baikonur spaceport and undergoing all the tests,” he said. To which he added: “In this situation, we will simply undock the Soyuz MS-22, it will descend to Earth and we will send a second [uncrewed] spaceship to bring back the crew.”



It’s not yet clear if the MS-22 is toast, but there is some cause for concern. As the Associated Press reports, the temperature inside the capsule’s crew section rose to 86 degrees Fahrenheit (30 degrees Celsius) as a result of the leak, while the temperature in the equipment section temporarily rose to 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius) prior to ground teams shutting down some of the spacecraft’s systems.

The crew used fans to blow cooler air into the Soyuz capsule in an attempt to lower the cabin’s temperature, Roscosmos said, adding that the “increase in temperature on the Soyuz MS-22 spacecraft is admissible and isn’t critical for the functioning of the equipment or health of the crew in case they need to be in the spacecraft.” Borisov rejected speculation that the Soyuz cabin temperature rose to 122 degrees Fahrenheit (50 degrees Celscius), according to TASS.

According to NASA, Roscosmos flight controllers performed a successful test of the Soyuz MS-22's thrusters on Friday, so there’s at least some positive news. In addition, NASA is moving ahead with a planned spacewalk to continue installation of the International Space Station Roll-Out Solar Array (iROSA), which was supposed to happen today but will instead take place on Wednesday, December 21.

NASA Robot Sends One Of The Saddest Tweets I Have Ever Seen


Luke Plunkett
Mon, December 19, 2022 

Image: NASA

InSight—or, less elegantly, the Interior Exploration using Seismic Investigations, Geodesy and Heat Transport mission—is a robot that NASA’s JPL (with help from the European Space Agency) sent to Mars back in 2018.

It’s job was fairly simple. Or as simple as “a highly complex robot built on Earth then fired from a rocket into deep space then landed on another planet” can be, anyway. InSight put a seismometer on Mars and has sat around for the last four years reading and interpreting the data received from it, killing its time providing “accurate 3D models of the planet’s interior” and measuring “internal heat transfer using a heat probe called HP3 to study Mars’ early geological evolution”.


A selfie taken by InSight back in 2018

Aside from its main role, InSight has also been useful because it has a camera attached, allowing it to take some very nice photos of the surface of Mars. Its coolest achievement, however, at least for anyone not in the field of hardcore space science, is the fact that the robot was able—via vibrations detected on its solar panels—to record the sound of wind on Mars, which is the first time anyone had ever heard wind from another planet.


Sounds of Mars: NASA’s InSight Senses Martian Wind

So yeah, nice robot! But like any robot sent into space, InSight is running on a battery, and while solar panels and judicious use of its systems have helped prologue its life, the time is fast approaching where it runs out of juice for good and is forced to power down.

This should be a routine matter. This is a machine, it’s going to stop working, we will all get on with our lives. But somebody at NASA had the bright/terrible idea to anthropomorphize InSight’s final days, and so instead of a press report saying “machine stopped working, it did neat stuff”, we have to read this:



Excuse me. I just have some...Martian dust in my eye.

I hope, one day soon, we ourselves are able to travel to Mars. And when we get there, I hope one of the first things we do is find InSight, and give it a hug.

NASA's Mars lander InSight transmits potential final image of the Red Planet as its power dwindles


NASA's Mars lander InSight transmits potential final image of the Red Planet as its power dwindles

Paul Best
Mon, December 19, 2022 

NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which touched down on the Red Planet over four years ago, transmitted what may be its final image on Monday.

"My power’s really low, so this may be the last image I can send. Don’t worry about me though: my time here has been both productive and serene. If I can keep talking to my mission team, I will – but I’ll be signing off here soon," Insight's 25-30 person team posted to the lander's Twitter on Monday afternoon. "Thanks for staying with me."

The potential final image NASA’s InSight Mars lander, which is expected to run out of power later this month.

NASA will officially end the mission when the lander misses two communication attempts in a row with a spacecraft orbiting the planet.

InSight's operations team started preparing for the lander's end earlier this year, shutting down devices that require the most power and ensuring that data it has collected over the past four years is preserved.

Selfie taken by the Insight lander's Instrument Deployment Camera

 on the lander’s robotic arm on April 11, 2019.

Since it landed in November 2018, the lander has provided insight on Mars' liquid core and the composition of its other interior layers. It has detected more than 1,300 quakes on the planet, including a magnitude 5 in May.

"Finally, we can see Mars as a planet with layers, with different thicknesses, compositions," Bruce Banerdt of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Southern California said in a statement last month. "We’re starting to really tease out the details. Now it’s not just this enigma; it’s actually a living, breathing planet."

Thick layer of dust on one of the lander's solar panels.

The lander's core mission was accomplished in its first two years. A pair of 7-foot wide solar panels initially produced about 5,000 watt-hours each sol, or Martian day, but were only producing about 500 watt-hours per sol last month as dust has accumulated.