‘Rehana’ Review: Bangladesh’s Oscar Submission Tells the Gripping Tale of a Female Doctor Involved in a Sexual Assault Case

Abdullah Mohammad Saad’s second feature brings moral and ethical complexity to a portrait of a woman seeking justice at any cost.

By Richard Kuipers

Courtesy of Films Boutique

Female rage is powerfully distilled and expertly distributed in “Rehana Maryam Noor,” a riveting social drama about a female doctor who demands justice in a case of sexual assault at a Dhaka medical school. The second feature by Abdullah Mohammad Saad (“Live From Dhaka”) features a superb lead performance by Azmeri Haque Badhon as the medico whose relentless determination drives her toward reckless obsession. Still going strong in local cinemas four weeks after its Nov. 12 release, this provocative portrait of a complex and increasingly unstable woman is Bangladesh’s Oscar submission, with an early 2022 U.S. theatrical release planned under the abbreviated title of “Rehana.”

The first Bangladeshi feature selected for Un Certain Regard at Cannes, “Rehana” has since notched significant festival mileage and picked up Best Actress and Grand Jury prizes at the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. Playing more and more like a thriller as events unfold, “Rehana” packs a seething “enough is enough” message into every twist of a snowballing tale that asks viewers to consider whether some of the heroine’s choices can justify her goal of bringing a sexual predator to account. Neither condemning nor approving the actions of Dr. Rehana Maryam Noor (Badhon), Saad’s finely tuned screenplay does an exemplary job in allowing viewers to understand how her decisions are shaped and influenced by the enormous and destabilizing pressure she faces as a daughter, sister, widowed mother and professional woman in a patriarchal society.

It’s clear from the outset that Rehana is not someone who can turn a blind eye to wrongdoing. An assistant professor at a medical school attached to a busy hospital, Rehana expels student Mimi (Zopari Lue) for cheating in an exam and threatens to also disqualify Annie (Afia Tabassum Borno) when she pleads for Mimi to be shown leniency. That’s mild compared to what happens when Rehana later witnesses Annie being sexually assaulted by a senior teacher, Prof. Arefin (Kazi Sami Hassan), an otherwise friendly and apparently nice guy who’s liked by his students for not applying the same strict disciplinary and ethical standards as Rehana.

Though clearly shattered by what’s just happened, Annie wants Rehana to forget what she’s seen. “They will blame me, I am a girl,” she says, knowing that any investigation will likely destroy her medical career before it’s begun. Overwhelmed by the fear that is so common in such circumstances, Annie threatens to “jump from the college roof” if Rehana breathes a word to anyone. But this only strengthens Rehana’s resolve. When Annie refuses to lodge a complaint with the school’s female principal (Saberi Alam), Rehana crosses moral and ethical lines by claiming she was in fact raped by Arefin.

It would have been easy for this story to stick with the comfortable option of portraying Rehana as a shining feminist crusader engaged in a clear-cut battle for the rights of vulnerable young women. But from this point onward his screenplay steers unflinchingly into much more difficult and murky territory, all the while putting up a strong case for viewers to remain engaged and invested in Rehana’s story and the wider issues it raises.

Much of what we understand about Rehana and her quest for justice is channelled through her relationships with her infirm parents, unemployed and financially dependent brother Rony (Yasir Al Haq), and daughter Emu (Afia Jahin Jaima). Wonderfully played by this amazingly talented child performer, Emu is a lively first-grader who’s inherited her mother’s feisty streak and is in trouble for biting a boy at school. When the matter comes before administrators and the boy’s (heard but not seen) parents it is of no importance or concern that Emu’s actions were in retaliation for being constantly and painfully pinched by her classmate. “You don’t give a damn about your daughter” and “women should not have such a big ego” are comments directed at Rehana as expulsion is threatened.

Audiences can easily draw a connection between how this boy has been able to hurt a girl without being punished and why predators like Arefin think they can get away with sexually abusing women. As with the best films exploring gender relations “Rehana” sees things through the lenses of power, control and entrenched systems that make life far too easy for badly behaved males.

Rehana’s emotional and financial strain is emphasized by the film’s setting and visual strategy. The action never leaves the corridors, classrooms and offices of the hospital, which seems more like a prison than a workplace as events spiral out of control. The oppressive atmosphere is heightened by the use of a color-flattening blue filter and narrow depth-of-field photography that isolates Rehana in sharp focus while background detail often melts away into a blurry mass. The decision to film almost everything hand-held is generally successful but on some occasions it is overdone and brings attention to itself.

No music is used or needed to complement the tale of Dr. Rehana Maryam Noor. Whether withstanding comments like “only women like you get raped” from Arefin, or refusing to be bought off and silenced by the Principal who is more concerned about the reputation of the school than the welfare of its female students, Badhon’s immensely powerful performance strikes emotional notes that are all the stronger and more memorable for being surrounded by silence.

Read More About:
Abdullah Mohammad Saad,
Azmeri Haque Badhon,
Best International Feature Film,
Rehana Maryam Noor

‘Rehana’ Review: Bangladesh’s Oscar Submission Tells the Gripping Tale of a Female Doctor Involved in a Sexual Assault Case

Reviewed online, Dec. 8, 2021. Running time: 107 MIN. (Original title: “Rehana Maryam Noor”)

Production: (Bangladesh-Singapore) A Grasshopper Film, Gratitude Films release of a Potocol presentation of a Metro Video production, in association with Sensemakers, Films Boutique, supported by Busan International Film Festival Asian Cinema Fund, Busan Int'l Film Festival Asian Content Market, Doha Film Institute. (World sales: Films Boutique, Berlin.) 

Producer: Jeremy Chua. 

Executive producers: Ehsanul Haque Babu. Co-producers: Adnan Habib, Rajib Mohajan, Sydul Haque Khandaker.

Crew: Director, writer: Abdullah Mohammad Saad. Camera: Tuhin Tamijul. Editor: Abdullah Mohammad Saad.

With: Azmeri Haque Badhon, Afia Jahin Jaima, Kazi Sami Hassan, Afia Tabassum Borno, Zopari Lue, Yasir Al Haq, Saberi Alam, Farjana Bithi, Zahed Chowdury Mithu, Khushiara Khushbu Oni, Avroadit Chowdhury (Bengali dialogue)

The true story behind Algeria Oscar entry ‘Heliopolis’: “The reality was much more violent”

SPONSORED BY JOSHUA JASON PUBLIC RELATIONS

9 DECEMBER 2021

In an interview with Screen for our FYC Screening Series, Djaâfar Gacem, the Algerian director of Helipolis, talks how he negotiated the leap from making TV soap operas to directing a coruscating account of France’s involvement in ethnic cleansing in Algeria at the end of World War 2. 

Heliopolis is now the country’s entry to the best international film Oscar.

Watch the interview , which was hosted by Stuart Kemp.

Gacem acknowledges that making a film that deals with French-led genocide of Muslims in the years following the end of WW2 – actions that would fuel Algeria’s push for independence from its colonial mistress – is a big change from his burgeoning career as an established director and producer of popular drama series in Algeria.

But it was a story Gacem was determined to tell. Heliopolis is set in the Algerian village of the same name and centres around a family living between Muslim and Western values, colonial rule and the dream of seeing them play an important part in the “French Algeria”. When WW2 breaks out, this delicate balance gives way to a new vision of a more complicated Algeria.



SOURCE: HEWES PICTURES

‘HELIOPOLIS’

“For me Heliopolis was like being in school,” the filmmaker explains. “I learned a lot while making it. The plan was to make sure each scene in the film tells a story.”

He faced a series of challenges and obstacles during the production process. The budget of was tight and stretching it was a constant challenge. “There aren’t many sets in Algeria. We had to build reconstructions of colonial architecture. When it came to finding the military aspects of the film, I had access to two jeeps and planes but they were from the 60s so I needed to cheat a little,” he smiles.

Gacem initially thought casting the French characters would be hard. “I was afraid French actors would not want to be part of the film knowing what it is about,” Gacem says. “But when I was doing the casting there were many who wanted to participate and were enthusiastic. It’s a part of history that they didn’t know about and once they did they were sensitive to the topic and willing to play a part.”

The title Heliopolis comes from the name of a small village where thousands of Algerians were massacred then incinerated in lime kilns. “During the film I wanted to be neutral, I didn’t want the film to be a judgement. The reality was much more violent than the fiction I showed in this film. I wanted the western audiences to know this and accept it without twisting the knife.”

Gacem’s feature has been selected for a second time to represent Algeria, after it was submitted but then withdrawn by the Algerian Oscar committee last year, due to the Covid-19 pandemic preventing it from screening.

The title was part of Screen’s 2021-22 FYC Awards Screening programme.

Great Panther fined $9m by Brazilian environmental agency for cyanide pollution

Valentina Ruiz Leotaud | December 30, 2021 

Tucano Mine. (Image courtesy of Great Panther Mining).

Vancouver-based Great Panther Mining’s (TSX: GPR) (NYSE-A: GPL) Brazilian subsidiary, Mina Tucano, has received three notices of infraction from the Amapá State Environmental Agency (SEMA), which alleges the miner polluted two freshwater streams in the northern Pedra Branca do Amaparí municipality causing a massive fish mortality event.


According to the agency, which also issued a $9 million fine to the company, a cyanide-rich effluent leaked from the Mina Tucano’s tailings dam in late November and caused environmental damage.

Government agents made two visits to the affected areas to collect water samples and analyze the state of aquatic fauna and flora. They then used georeferenced maps and satellite images to support their findings.

Water sample collection. (Image courtesy of the Amapá State Environmental Agency).

“Following ​​a water sample collection and subsequent analyses, it was found that the waters of the Silvestre and Areia streams suffered interventions that had negative impacts on their physical, biotic and socioeconomic environments, as indicated by the significant loss of aquatic fauna and deep physical-chemical changes,” Josiane Ferreira, head of the SEMA, said in a media statement.

Local media reported that the communities that live around the stream have been left without both freshwater and their main source of animal protein, while some residents have been reporting health issues such as migraine headaches.

In response to the notices and the fine, which were issued on December 21, 2021, Great Panther published a statement on December 30, 2021, saying it intends to file a defence.

“Mina Tucano is actively investigating whether there could be any connection between the fish mortality event and the Tucano mine site,” the brief reads. “Based on its initial investigation, including independent reports on fish toxicology and water quality received by Mina Tucano on December 28, 2021, the company has prepared a formal defence against the position taken by the Agency. The notices impose aggregate fines of 50,000,000 Brazilian reals, payable by January 30, 2022. The company intends to appeal the amount of the fines and timing of any payment in its defence statements.”

The 197,283-hectare Tucano mine site is located in a remote, jungle area in the northeastern Amapá state, approximately 200 kilometres from Macapá, the state capital.

It comprises eight open pits, the Urucum North underground project, a processing plant and a tailings dam. Mine production to date has been sourced from all deposits except Urucum East.

In 2020, Great Panther mined over 1.8 million tonnes of gold ore for a total production of 125,417 ounces of the yellow metal.

Copper think tank signals how Chile’s new Constitution can boost the mining sector
Valentina Ruiz Leotaud | December 31, 2021 |

Codelco’s El Teniente operation. (Reference image by Codelco, Flickr).

Chile’s Centre for Copper and Mining Studies (Cesco) presented a document titled More and better mining for Chile before the constituents working on the country’s new Political Constitution, which should be subjected to a referendum by mid-2022.


Led by the Centre’s director Leopoldo Reyes, the presentation emphasized that even though Chile would be between 20% and 25% poorer if it didn’t exploit its mineral resources, the mining sector needs a new purpose that goes beyond increasing production because grades continue to lower and because the local industry has not been able to build a strong value chain that promotes sustainable development.

Considering that due to the climate change-driven energy transition, the world will need the equivalent of an additional 25% of Chile’s current copper production, Reyes said that the country has an opportunity to match its metal and mineral exports with the provision of knowledge, technology and services to international partners.

In his view and that of the nonprofit he leads, in order for Chile’s mining sector to step up its game, a model shift is needed. Thus, the new Constitution should emphasize that the Chilean state is the owner of the country’s mineral bounty and has the obligation to generate the greatest sustainable value by undertaking mining exploration and exploitation projects led by state-owned companies.

Such projects, however, could be run under a mixed model in which state-owned and private companies join forces to maximize results.

Concessions and royalties

When it comes to concessions, the Centre for Copper and Mining Studies proposes new legal measures that promote and guarantee that concessions are used as they were intended to. “In this sense, we propose modifications to the Qualified Quorum Law so that the obligations of concessionaires are laid out in a clearer manner,” the document states.

Cesco also poses the idea of creating more efficient mechanisms to collect rent and royalties from private companies, both local and foreign, keeping in mind that mining activities are capital-intensive, cyclical and long-term and that it is important to keep attracting investors.

For the organization, the existing Specific Tax on Mining needs to be raised so that the state can continue to invest in the sector, grow the country’s production capabilities and boost technological developments.

“The State should also invest or incentivize investments in activities that complement the exploitation of mineral resources, namely, science, technology and innovation, thus strengthening the value chain and the competitiveness of the metallurgical sector,” the document reads.

The final recommendations of the Centre for Copper and Mining Studies focus on working towards a greener future. It suggests that the government makes an effort to move away from fossil fuels and starts dealing with historical environmental liabilities. This means identifying and characterizing such liabilities, compensating those who have suffered due to the destruction of the natural environment and making efforts to restore the country’s natural assets.

 New Brunswick

'Our shining star': Candy Palmater to be honoured with sacred fire in Ugpi'ganjig

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'We're really proud of her,' says Mi'kmaw Chief Sacha LaBillois

Nicola Seguin · CBC News · Posted: Dec 28, 2021 

Candy Palmater's partner Denise Tompkins said she died peacefully at home in Toronto. She was 53. (The Candy Show)

Ugpi'ganjig will be lighting a sacred fire this week to honour community member Candy Palmater, a comedian and TV and radio personality who died Saturday.

Palmater grew up in Ugpi'ganjig, a Mi'kmaw First Nation in northern New Brunswick formerly called Eel River Bar. She later spent three decades living in Halifax and then Toronto. 

"We're really proud of her," said Ugpi'ganjig Chief Sacha LaBillois. "We can say she's our shining star, and we're proud to say that she is from Ugpi'ganjig." 

Palmater, a former lawyer, created and hosted the award-winning The Candy Show on APTN, was a regular co-host on CTV's afternoon talk show The Social and acted in various shows, including Trailer Park Boys. She also hosted The Candy Palmater Show on CBC Radio One, narrating the CBC-TV series True North Calling.

Palmater at times described herself as 'a gay, native, recovered-lawyer-turned-feminist-comic who was raised by bikers in the wilds of northern New Brunswick.'

"She's like our own rez-famous celebrity," said LaBillois. "We're very saddened by her loss." 

LaBillois said the sacred fire will be lit Wednesday and will be maintained 24 hours a day for four days, for Palmater's friends and family to offer prayers and pay their respects. 

"It's typical when someone passes in our community, the family really takes the lead on requesting a sacred fire," LaBillois said. "But we have elders and knowledge keepers in our community and it's a collaborative effort … because you need people to volunteer to be at the fire."

Palmater was proudly Indigenous, proudly feminist, and proudly LGBT. LaBillois said she was a person many can continue to look up to. 

"She's a really great role model to all women and to the LBGTQ2S community," she said. "I think any young Indigenous youth and women would look up to her and see that she's proof that anything's possible."

Chief Sacha LaBillois said Palmater inspired her to become a leader in her community. (Serge Bouchard/Radio Canada)

Much of Palmater's family lives in Ugpi'ganjig, and LaBillois said they will be at the forefront of planning how she will be commemorated.

"Honouring her and her family would be key to how we would carry this out … to leave that legacy for her family and for the youth of the community," LaBillois said.

She said she feels grateful she developed a friendship with Palmater as adults, and she thinks many people will be inspired by her memory. 

"They'll remember her for her happy spirit and her presence she had around crowds. She was the type of person who could bring out a smile … she wanted to make people laugh."

WHY CLEANERS SHOULD BE INHOUSE
Naples Zoo president discusses shooting death of tiger

Undated photo of Eko, the Malaysian tiger at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Garden that was shot and killed on Wednesday. 

Photo courtesy of Naples Zoo of Caribbean Gardens Facebook

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- In some of their first comments since a Florida sheriff deputy shot a killed Eko, a rare Malaysian tiger at the Naples Zoo at Caribbean Gardens, officials said the officer had no other choice in an effort to save the life of a cleaning crew member.

Naples Zoo said in a statement that River Rosenquist, 26, who works for a third-party cleaning crew, jumped into an unauthorized area in front of the Malaysian tiger habitat where he tried to pet or feed the tiger, when the animal latched on to his arm.

The tiger managed to pull Rosenquist partially into the enclosure when a Collier County Sheriff deputy arrived on the scene.

 STAFF SHOULD HAVE A TRANQUILIZDER GUN NES PAS 

"After the deputy initially tried to get the tiger to release the arm, he was left with no option but to shoot the animal to save the young man's life," the zoo said. "The tiger was confirmed dead by Naples Zoo's veterinarian.

RELATED Rare Malayan tiger shot dead at Florida zoo after grabbing man's arm

The zoo said while Rosenquist was in an unauthorized area, he never attempted to enter the tiger's habitat.

"Our deputy did everything he could do in that situation, and he ultimately made the only possible decision he could in order to save this man's life," Collier County Sheriff Kevin Rambosk said in a statement.

"This was a tragic encounter at our world-class zoo facility. We value our community partnership with the Naples Zoo and their focus on conservation and education."

Jack Mulvena, president and CEO of the Naples Zoo, called Rosenquist's decision to enter the unauthorized area, "a bad mistake, and unfortunate."

"At the end of the day, things happen that are, to a degree, beyond your control, even though you try to control them," he added.

Eko had been a fixture at the Naples Zoo, about 100 miles west of Miami, since 2020 after coming from Seattle's Woodland Park Zoo.

SO WAS THE SAVINGS MADE CONTRACTING OUT CLEANERS WORTH THE COST OF THE TIGER'S DEATH

LGBTQ OLYMPICS TOKYO 2021

Tom Daley hopes his OBE will help him to promote inclusion and ‘create change’

PA Sport Staff
Sat., January 1, 2022

Tom Daley is determined to use his OBE to promote inclusion after being recognised in the New Year Honours List.

Daley is being honoured for services to diving, LGBT+ rights and charity after ending his long wait for an elusive Olympic gold medal in Tokyo in July.

Amid stiff competition from the Chinese pair of Cao Yuan and Chen Aisen, Daley and diving partner Matty Lee held their nerve to land first place in the men’s synchronised 10 metres platform, prevailing by just 1.23 points.

Tom Daley, right, and Matty Lee prevailed in the men’s synchronised 10m platform in Tokyo (Adam Davy/PA)

Daley told the BBC: “I’m extremely proud to be honoured with an OBE and it feels like a responsibility to make the whole Commonwealth a better place for LGBT people, for women, for people of colour.

“In accepting this OBE, it’s now my responsibility to try and help create change, and help create this environment where anyone can be who they want, no matter where they came from.”

Daley’s win alongside Lee, who has been awarded an MBE, was all the more remarkable given Daley revealed just weeks earlier he had to undergo surgery on a torn meniscus.

But the 27-year-old from Plymouth struck a particular chord in the afterglow of victory when discussing his own journey and acceptance of himself, having come out in 2013.

Daley, who is married to screenwriter Dustin Lance Black, with whom he has a son, Robbie, added: “Accepting an OBE is one thing but accepting it and doing something with it [is another].

“I feel it’s really important to lift up all the people who feel like they’re outsiders and don’t fit in and feel like they have been ‘less than’ for so many years – to support them in being what they want to be.”

Tom Daley knits in the stands during the women’s 3m springboard final at the Tokyo Olympics (Joe Giddens/PA Images).

Daley, who has not ruled out competing at Paris 2024 and could be enticed by the prospect of mixed or team events being put into the schedule, was among a record number of LGBT+ athletes in Japan.

Some of the competitors came in for offensive commentary from Russian state television and, while Daley feels accepted in Britain, he feels much more can be done to achieve acceptance worldwide.

“It’s come a long way,” Daley said after collecting bronze in the men’s 10m platform. “There’s still a lot further to go. There are 10 countries that are competing at these Olympic Games where being LGBT is punishable by death.

Tom Daley, left, finished second in the voting at the 2021 BBC Sports Personality of the Year awards (David Davies/PA)

“I feel extremely lucky to be representing Team GB, to be able to stand on the diving board as myself with a husband and a son and not worry about any ramifications.

“But I know that I’m very fortunate to have that and that there are lots of people who grow up around the world with less fortunate situations.”

CAPITALI$M IN SPACE IS STILL CAPITALI$M

Astra Space faces critics, skeptics as it plans Florida launch

By Paul Brinkmann

Astra Space's Rocket 3.3 is readied for a launch from Alaska in August. 

Photo courtesy of Astra Space

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- Astra Space, one of few new rocket companies to reach orbit, is facing stiff criticism from skeptics about its business model as it plans its first launch from Florida..

The California-based company announced Dec. 6 that it planned to launch NASA satellites in January from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. Since then, the company has released no further details about a launch date and has not responded to requests for an interview or more information.

Astra holds a contract to launch tiny NASA satellites within the next six months under the space agency's Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program, but neither Astra nor NASA has confirmed the payload for the upcoming launch.

On Wednesday, Astra became the target of a harsh critique by New York-based financial firm Kerrisdale Capital, which said the rocket company has "no revenue, no track record of reliability, and no established market for its undersized vehicle."

RELATED Astra launch reaches orbit, cheers investors

Kerrisdale announced that it has taken a short position on Astra's stock, which means it could make money if the space company's stock drops in value. After the report, the stock plummeted 10%. It recovered some of that value Thursday, closing up 2.1% at $6.75.

At least two law firms have announced they are investigating Astra for possible "violations of the securities laws" following the Kerrisdale report.

Astra successfully launched an orbital test mission from Alaska in November for the U.S. Department of Defense, which prompted its stock to rise 30% the next day to about $11.17 per share.

At the time, CEO Chris Kemp said the successful launch would allow the company to "focus on delivering for our customers and scaling up rocket production and launch cadence."

Astra Space readies the Rocket 3.3 for a launch from Alaska in August. 

Photo courtesy of Astra Space

But others have criticized the business model Astra has laid out as its plan for success, saying it relies too heavily on a dizzying pace of planned launches -- up to one launch per week by the end of 2021, Pierre Lionnet, research director at Paris-based space industry associate ASD Eurospace, said in an interview with UPI on Thursday.

"The business proposal doesn't make sense," Lionnet said. "Astra wants you to believe that it can sell cheap rockets for launches tailored to individual customers. But not everyone can afford a [custom] suit. There is no indication that the number of customers they need are actually out there."

Astra's Rocket 3.3 is relatively small, at just over 38 feet, compared to SpaceX's Falcon 9, which is more than 229 feet high. Small launch competitor Rocket Lab's Electron is 56 feet high.

Rocket Lab has had 20 successful Electron launches, but it announced in September that it would build a much bigger, partly reusable rocket -- Neutron -- to take advantage of lower costs per pound to get satellites into orbit.

Even SpaceX, the industry leader, had just 31 launches in 2021, breaking a record for a private launcher. There is no evidence that demand exists for weekly launches for such a tiny rocket, Lionnet said, especially when SpaceX already has carried up to 143 small satellites into orbit on a single flight.

"There's some frothy investor sentiment about space today," he said. "Everyone seems to be so excited about investing in space, they are willing to hold on for years with little evidence of success."

The Department of Defense has provided some support to Astra, along with other small launch companies, to develop more launch capability, Dale Ketcham, vice president of development for Space Florida, said in an interview.

"The Space Force and others are very eager to push the concept of multi-user launch pads, particularly for the smaller vehicles to get more bang for the buck for each launch location," Ketcham said.

He said Astra was able to get speedy approval, in just a few months, to launch from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station's Complex 16 partly because it was able to demonstrate that it could bring in a rocket and support equipment with little modification to the existing infrastructure.

An Astra rocket lifts off from Alaska in November 2021, carrying a Department of Defense test item. Photo courtesy of Astra Space

Space Florida helped arrange the launch as the space development agency for the state, but Ketcham credited the Space Force with making the launch possible quickly.

"Astra is one of many new companies to be launching here who are going to get us from the 30 or so launches we have now to over 100 per year," Ketcham said.

Another strategy Astra is using is to buy some components "off the shelf" from commercial suppliers, rather than have them designed for their rocket, Chris Quilty, space analyst and founder of Florida-based Quilty Analytics, said in an interview.

When asked about the reliability of such a strategy, Kemp said in an investor conference that reliability wasn't the key selling point for the company, Quilty noted.

"When I heard that, my jaw just dropped," he said. "Reliability is a key to any launch provider's success."

"It all depends on Astra executing a business model that has never been identified or completed in this industry -- which is very high-volume manufacturing," Quilty said.

From Puerto Rico to space: 1st satellite made by Puerto Rican students set for launch
By GINAYRA ALVARADO VILLEGAS and JENNIFER A. MARCIAL OCASIO
ORLANDO SENTINEL |
AUG 27,2021

Dr. Amilcar Rincón Charris (center) works at PR-CuNaR2 together with students Lucas Soto Balseiro and Xavier Álvarez. (Cortesa)

After several years of hard work, a group of Puerto Rico students aim to see the launch of the first Puerto Rican-made satellite into space.

The group from the School of Engineering of the Inter American University of Puerto Rico, Bayamón campus, have provided their CubeSat NanoRocks-2 project, known as PR-CuNaR2, to NASA to fly on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket when it looks to launch from Kennedy Space Center early Saturday morning.

The launch from KSC’s Launch Complex-39A is slated for 3:37 a.m. with a backup window of Sunday at 3:14 a.m.

This satellite is part of a scientific investigation by the university that began in 2013 with the design and construction prototype.


PR-CuNaR satellite of the Faculty of Engineering of the Bayamón Campus of the Inter-American University of Puerto Rico. (Gabriel Lpez Albarrn / Cortesa)

“There have been about 65 students and professors who have collaborated, along with other institutions such as the Florida Space Institute and the Physics Department of the University of Central Florida, until reaching the current student team, which is made up of Natalie Cruz, Jesús Marrero, Wilhem Sánchez, Xavier Álvarez, Edwardivan Labarca, Carlos Vergara, Héctor González, Ian Huertas, Carlos Figueroa and Lucas Soto“, according to the project website.

Once the satellite is launched, people interested in following its trajectory can do so by visiting prcunar2.org.

The PR-CuNaR2, which will orbit at an altitude of about 400 km in a high-tilt orbit, is a 5.6-pound satellite built, among other materials, of photovoltaic cells, aluminum and batteries. It is four inches wide by four long and 12 inches high.


The team of Puerto Rican students that worked on the PR-Cunar Nano Rocks-2 project. (Suministrada)

Amílcar Rincón Charris, professor in charge of the project, told El Sentinel Orlando this “is an experimental scientific satellite because as such we are used to seeing that most of the satellites, what they do is transmit communication information and those things. In our case it is an experiment.”

Rincón Charris, explained that “inside the satellite, we can say that it is as if it were a floating laboratory. Inside the satellite there are particles and there is a camera that is recording those particles moving inside the satellite. These particles are made of different materials and what we are more or less studying is how they behave when they are in microgravity, that is, when they are floating in space. We record them, we study their behavior and how they are formed, agglomerated and how they develop“.

Later, the team of students, alongside with their professor, will download the information from the satellite, process it, analyze it before publishing it. They will continue this effort together with NASA.

Although the satellite is now considered a historic achievement as it is the first to be developed and completed in Puerto Rico, Rincón Charris confessed that at one point he doubted they could complete the project.

However, all doubts disappeared proving their hard work and both Rincón Charris and the students said they were very excited.

“The emotion that we have at this moment, I cannot describe it to you because really, it is the fruit of many years of work. There was a pandemic, earthquakes, [Hurricane] María and after all the efforts that we have made and the work, well to see it finished and that we take it to the final phase and put it in space that is wonderful and unique,” said Rincón Charris.

Héctor González Rivera, a fifth-year mechanical engineering student who worked with the PR-CuNaR2 since 2018, when the development of the project began, said that he never imagined the possibility “to work on a project like this.”

González Rivera heard about the opportunity and that the professor was looking for students and “I said yes quickly because I knew that this was going to be a very great opportunity for us since it will help us in the labor field as well.”

His experience with the satellite leads him to encourage other students to get involved in projects and not to give up.


More than 60 students worked on the development and production of the PR-CuNaR satellite. In the photo, former students Lucas Soto Balseiro and Edwardivan Labarca. (Gabriel Lpez Albarrn / Cortesa)

Edwarivan Labarca, another of the students participating in the project, said he was very excited about the opportunity to put his knowledge into practice.

“I recently graduated and I am overjoyed to see this launch,” he said. “I have worked with Professor Amilcar on his aerospace projects since I started my mechanical engineering caree.

Noting the work has been overwhelming, he said, “it took a long time, but we are already at the final goal.”

For Labarca, being part of this team is “not only something historic, but an experience that one will never forget.”

“The entire team that we have at this moment, we began our careers at the Inter American University together. It is my pleasure to see my team grow because I remember my first day when we started classes, we talked about what projects we wanted to do and look, five years later we are here. It is an honor to see the completion of this project so significant for us,“ he said.

NASA published that the satellite made in Puerto Rico will travel with two others, one made by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the other by the University of Massachusetts at Lowell. They are part of NASA’s 37th Educational Nanosatellite

 Launch mission.

Last month, when it was confirmed that the Puerto Rican satellite had passed the last round of tests, the president of Inter, Manuel J. Fernós, stated that “Puerto Rico is climbing a notch in its performance and academic contribution. This achievement is more significant when recognizing the persistence of the entire team, in continuing with the work facing moments of great difficulties and challenges such as those experienced during the pandemic. Its determination is today the rejoicing and celebration of an entire people.”

Rincón Charris is already working on his next assignment. He developed a new proposal “to continue making satellites like this, projects with NASA that are more or less similar to this one” to take advantage of the momentum they have at the moment.

“A common factor that large and small projects, all kinds of projects have, is patience. I always say that you should never lose your patience. The most challenging jobs are those that take a long time to solve. You have to do your job with passion, with an understanding and that is, in my opinion, the key to having the solution to complete the projects as such“ said Labarca.

Charris added that this project was possible thanks to the support received from the NASA Puerto Rico Space Grant Consortium, the University of Central Florida, the University of Michigan, the Florida Space Institute, Aerospace Corp., the local companies Engiworks. and Prescision Experts and for the advice and assistance provided by Puerto Ricans living in Florida who work in the aeronautical industry, including alumni of various engineering programs of the Interamericana University.

*You may contact El Sentinel Orlando’s team at noticias@orlandosentinel.com.


Jennifer A. Marcial Ocasio
CONTACT
Jennifer is the Sr. Content Editor of El Sentinel Orlando. She manages the team covering Central Florida's Hispanic community. Born and raised in Puerto Rico, Jennifer has a Bachelor’s degree in Journalism and Political Science from the University of Puerto Rico and a Master’s degree in Communications from Florida International University.

SPACE NEWS USA

James Webb Space Telescope successfully unfurls crucial sunshield


An illustration depicts the James Webb Space Telescope floating in space after launch and deployment of sun shield and reflective dish. Image courtesy of NASA

Jan. 1 (UPI) -- A massive sunshield aboard the $10 billion James Webb Space Telescope has been successfully unfurled in a crucial step for its operations, NASA says.

The telescope's second, or starboard, sunshield mid-boom was extended late Friday as the observatory "passed another critical deployment milestone," the space agency announced.

The deployment capped a two-day operation in which all 107 the telescope's crucial membrane release devices were successfully released, thus allowing the sunshield to fully unfurl into its kite-shaped form in space.



Driven by their motors, the mid-booms slowly extended horizontally from the spacecraft, pulling the folded membranes of the sunshield along to their full 47-foot width. The mid-boom arms are now locked in their final position.

"The mid-booms are the sunshield's workhorse and do the heavy lifting to unfold and pull the membranes into that now-iconic shape," Webb observatory manager Keith Parrish said in a statement.

But, he cautioned, "we still have a long way to go with this whole deployment process," as engineers in the coming days will separate and then individually tighten each of the five sunshield layers to reach their final, taut shape.

Webb is just nine days into a 29-day deployment process in which the telescope will unfold and unfurl at a glacial pace to ensure success.

It's all part of the sophisticated technology that will make Webb the largest and most powerful telescope in history. It will use super-cooled infrared instruments to observe exoplanets, black holes, and galaxies that formed 13.5 billion years ago, the earliest ever seen.

But those instruments must be so cold -- minus-370 degrees F -- that sunlight or even Webb's own thrusters could cause interference. So the sun shield will wall off the instruments from those heat sources.

The membrane layers are designed with space in between them to allow heat to radiate out, with the largest and flattest layer being closest to the sun.

An illustration depicts James Webb Space Telescope after the main dish, still folded, is extended from the spacecraft base below. Image courtesy of NASA

Biden administration extends ISS operations through 2030

This mosaic depicts the International Space Station pictured from the SpaceX Crew Dragon Endeavour during a fly-around of the orbiting lab that took place following its undocking from the Harmony module's space-facing port on Nov. 8. Photo courtesy NASA | License Photo

Dec. 31 (UPI) -- The Biden administration has extended operations on theInternational Space Station through 2030 to "enable a seamless transition" to commercial space stations, NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Friday.

Nelson said in a statement that NASA will continue working with the European Space Agency, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Canadian Space Agency, and Russia's StateSpace Corporation Roscosmos "to enable continuation of the groundbreaking research being conducted."

2 / 3Spacewalkers Shane Kimbrough of NASA (left) and Thomas Pesquet of the European Space Agency installed new roll-out solar arrays on the International Space Station's P-6 truss structure in June. Photo courtesy NASA | License Photo

"The United States' continued participation on the ISS will enhance innovation and competitiveness, as well as advance the research and technology necessary to send the first woman and first person of color to the Moon under NASA's Artemis program and pave the way for sending the first humans to Mars," Nelson said.

Earlier this month, NASA awarded $415 million to three companies -- Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin, aerospace company Nanoracks, and aerospace and defense company Northrop Grumman -- for the development of commercial destinations in space.

Nelson said in a statement at the time that the awards would stimulate the development of independent space stations for use by government and private-sector customers.

3 / 3The SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply ship is pictured on June 5 approaching the International Space Station. Photo courtesy NASA | License Photo

"With commercial companies now providing transportation to low-Earth orbit in place, we are partnering with U.S. companies to develop the space destinations where people can visit, live, and work, enabling NASA to continue forging a path in space for the benefit of humanity," Nelson said at the time.

In April, NASA awarded $2.89 billion to SpaceX to continue the development of the first commercial human lander, called HLS Starship, which will take astronauts to the Moon before some day taking humans to Mars.

Earlier this month, a billionaire Japanese space tourist and two other people returned to Earth after spending nearly two weeks at the International Space Station.

Yusaku Maezawa returned to Earth in Kazakhstan after becoming the first paying tourist to visit the International Space Station since 2009.