It’s possible that I shall make an ass of myself. But in that case one can always get out of it with a little dialectic. I have, of course, so worded my proposition as to be right either way (K.Marx, Letter to F.Engels on the Indian Mutiny)
Sunday, November 20, 2022
ID.me's claim on scope of unemployment fraud baseless, U.S. Congress says
People line up outside a Kentucky Career Center hoping to find assistance with their unemployment claim in Frankfort
Thu, November 17, 2022 By Paresh Dave
OAKLAND, Calif. (Reuters) -Government contractor ID.me, which checks the identity of benefits applicants, had no basis for its claim that almost half of unemployment aid during the pandemic was lost to fraud, U.S. congressional investigators said on Thursday.
A pair of House of Representatives panels investigating ID.me said the startup had failed to provide backup for Chief Executive Blake Hall's headline-grabbing assertion last year that fraudsters had secured more than $400 billion in unemployment insurance, a figure three to 10 times higher than government estimates.
Representative Carolyn Maloney, chairwoman of the Oversight and Reform Committee, said she was "deeply concerned about ID.me providing inaccurate information" as it was bidding for government contracts.
ID.me responded that calling its fraud estimate baseless or too high was premature because government auditing was ongoing.
Congress began investigating ID.me after former ID.me employees, government watchdog groups and lawmakers complained the company had been unprepared to handle an onslaught of unemployment insurance applications early in the pandemic.
It uses facial recognition technology to match applicants' selfies to photo identity documents. But 10 to 15% of benefit applicants struggled to get verified through the automated system and were directed to video chats with ID.me, the wait times for which reached an average of more than four hours in 14 states, investigators found.
While Reuters and other media last year reported on the waits, investigators said their analysis definitively showed that issues had been widespread.
"We must continue to work to ensure that, in the future, companies hired to implement critical programs are up to the job," said Representative Jim Clyburn, chairman of the Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis.
ID.me said it regretted the long waits but described them as "short-lived and temporary and caused by historic fraud."
The Democrat-led committees are continuing to investigate other concerns about ID.me, including the accuracy of its facial recognition system and the adequacy of its support for non-English speakers. But priorities could shift when Republicans take control of the House in January.
(Reporting by Paresh Dave; Editing by Bradley Perrett, Lisa Shumaker and Bernadette Baum)
Mitch McConnell Votes Against Protections for Interracial Marriages, Despite Being in One
Kylie Cheung Thu, November 17, 2022 Photo: Pool (Getty Images)
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) is a man who contains multitudes, apparently. McConnell voted to block the Respect for Marriage Act on Wednesday—a bill that protects some rights for same-sex and interracial married couples—despite being in an interracial marriage, himself. McConnell is married to former President Trump’s Secretary of Transportation, Elaine Chao, the first Asian American woman ever to serve in a presidential cabinet.
Nonetheless, the Senate voted to end debate on and advance the Respect for Marriage Act by a filibuster-proof 62-37 margin, which included 12 Republicans. The legislation stops short of enshrining a federal right to same-sex marriage; instead, it requires states to respect same-sex and interracial marriages that are currently legal, in the event that the Supreme Court overturns Obergefell v. Hodges or Loving v. Virginia, which established federal rights to same-sex and interracial marriages respectively. In Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ opinion concurring with the court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in June, Thomas (himself in an interracial marriage) appeared to eye marriage rights next.
McConnell’s vote against the Respect for Marriage Act is especially baffling given his own stakes in the issue—though, let’s be real, he’s hardly the first Republican to vote against his own self-interest out of spite. Chao is the first Asian-American woman to have served as secretary of transportation. She was born in Taiwan and immigrated to the U.S. as a child. She is also, notably, McConnell’s wife.
In addition to protecting presently legal same-sex and interracial marriages, the Respect for Marriage Act grants significant leeway to faith-based groups to discriminate against same-sex couples to their hearts’ content, prompting even the literal Mormon Church to back the bill. If protecting the legal status of his own marriage weren’t enough for McConnell to vote yes on the bill, I figured at the very least, the sweet, sweet right to discriminate against LGBTQ people might convince him to back the bill. It didn’t!
There are a lot of reasons McConnell might have benefited from voting yes purely out of self-interest, but it turns out the bill’s symbolic support for same-sex couples was just too much for the Kentucky Senator. Maybe Ben Shapiro’s recent sermon about how aliens in outer-space surely oppose same-sex marriage really got to him?
You almost have to wonder if far-out, extremist stances like still being against same-sex and interracial marriage are part of the reason McConnell retained his title as Minority Leader this election cycle!
The Truth About The Energy Crisis That No One Wants To Acknowledge
Editor OilPrice.com
Wed, November 16, 2022
As the 27th United Nations Climate Change Conference continues its second week of meetings, talks, and events in Sharm el Sheikh, Egypt, big energy deals are being made and futuristic decarbonization plans are being laid. Despite the fanfare, however, some of the simplest and most immediate solutions are those that require the least wheeling and dealing. As unsexy and un-marketable as it is, energy efficiency remains one of the most important and most under-attended pieces in the climate crisis puzzle. As the World Economic Forum wrote last week in a report from the sidelines of COP27, “the greenest energy is the energy we don’t use.”
The renewable revolution is well underway, costs of solar and wind technologies are now competitive with fossil fuels, and around the world we are breaking record after record for clean energy capacity installation. But even all that progress can’t keep up with growing energy demand around the world. For as much decarbonized energy as we are able to add year over year, this is doing very little to actually displace energy created from fossil fuels – as of now, 80% of the United States energy mix still comes from fossil fuels. As energy use continues to grow overall, we are still a long way from being able to wean ourselves off of fossil fuels entirely.
Scaling up solar and wind takes time. There is a lot of logistical hurdles, inertia, and plain resistance built into the current energy system. But using less energy to do the same tasks is attainable right now, and could make an enormous difference in the global carbon footprint. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), accelerated and intensified action on energy efficiency and energy avoidance could cut a whopping 95 exajoules of final energy demand in 2030. For reference, that is about the same as the final energy consumption of China – the largest energy consumer in the world. And a great deal of this energy saving starts with you and your thermostat. The financial and energy cost of heating and cooling has been getting more media attention this year as the European energy crisis has put the squeeze on local homes and businesses trying to keep their homes and buildings at a relatively liveable temperature without breaking the bank. But it isn’t just Europeans who need to be paying more attention to their thermostat. The temperature of your home is now cause for global concern.
So what is the right temperature to keep your family healthy while keeping your energy bill small? Lucky for us, there is a direct answer to this question. According to the United States Department of Energy, your house should be 68 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter and 78 degrees in the summer during the daytime. During those cold winter nights, you can actually turn the heat down even further. When we sleep, our body temperature naturally drops. Ideal sleeping temperatures are, therefore, between 60 and 67 degrees. Furthermore, for maximum efficiency, you should designate 8 hours a day (such as when you leave to go to work) to turn your thermostat down by 7 to 10 degrees. According to the Energy Information Administration (EIA), doing so will cut your yearly energy expenditures by up to 10%.
While a long, cold winter is currently looming large in the global imagination, cooling will be much more of a global energy concern as average temperatures grow higher, particularly in the global south. According to the World Economic Forum, “space cooling accounted for nearly 16% of the total electricity used in buildings, or about 2,000 terawatt hour (TWh) of final electricity consumption in 2021.” And going forward, those figures are only going to increase. IEA projections forsee that energy demand for space cooling in buildings around the world could more than triple by 2050.
While highly efficient cooling systems are already available on the market, these are severely underutilized. Indeed, most models in use have two-to-three times lower efficiencies than the best available technologies. The World Economic Forum points to energy efficiency standards as a critical policy tool to help address this gap. Such standard setting is an outcome that many experts hope to see from COP27 this week.
By Haley Zaremba for Oilprice.com
Fossil Fuel Interests Paid for Pro-Hydrogen Study, Boston Globe Reports
Molly Taft Wed, November 16, 2022 Fueling a car with hydrogen fuel.
A powerful coalition of industry interests paid for a peer-reviewed study on the benefits of hydrogen as an energy source, the Boston Globe reported in an article published Wednesday. The study neglected to mention the significant involvement of fossil fuel players in drafting the text. According to documents obtained by the Globe, these industry interests were so involved in the research that they were “allowed to review and suggest changes before the study was released,” including drafting large portions of the study’s recommendations to policymakers.
The Globe’s report deals with a paper published in Frontiers in Energy Research in September by a team of researchers at University of Massachusetts, Lowell. In the study, the authors review research on different types of hydrogen and make recommendations for Massachusetts to best incorporate hydrogen into its energy future.
“A hydrogen economy has the potential to provide economic benefits, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, and sector coupling to provide a resilient energy grid,” the authors write in the paper’s introduction.
The research was funded by the Associated Industries of Massachusetts (AIM), a business coalition representing a variety of industries; their association was disclosed in the paper. However, emails obtained through a public records request by the Globe show that some of the association’s fossil fuel and natural gas members, including natural gas giant National Grid, that would benefit from a positive study on hydrogen’s benefits had been directly asked to fund the research and review the final paper—and the study’s authors were aware of this outreach. This was not mentioned in the final paper.
Over the past few years, the popularity of hydrogen fuel as an alternative energy source has skyrocketed in the conversation around the energy transition. The oil and gas industry is particularly enthusiastic about hydrogen; in addition to types of hydrogen that can be made with natural gas and other fossil fuels, the idea that hydrogen made from renewable energy—known as green hydrogen—could simply replace fossil fuels in existing pipelines and infrastructure is alluring to an industry anxious about a coming energy transition. The study, however, neglects to mention many of the issues with this concept, including hydrogen’s questionable application for home heating. Several non-industry-funded studies have found that hydrogen would not be an economic or sensible carbon-free choice for heating homes.
The Globe reports that one of the study’s coauthors, Mary Usovicz, a former director of business development at UMass Lowell, “had spent decades working in the gas industry.” A lobbyist for AIM, Robert Rio, was friendly with Usovicz, and met with her weekly and was allowed access to the study before it was published. In one email obtained by the Globe, Rio was provided a Microsoft Word document of the study; track changes show that Rio had a hand in drafting portions of the introduction as well as recommendations at the end of the study geared toward policymakers.
“It is our conclusion that the use of hydrogen in some applications which currently use fossil fuels will reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions and help contribute to meeting the Commonwealth’s 2050 net-zero carbon goals and if widely adopted, help reduce CO2 emissions globally,” a section almost entirely drafted by Rio read. “We believe that the challenges related to the use of hydrogen – cost, and safety primarily can be overcome with proper and appropriate regulations.”
Representatives from National Grid, meanwhile, were also allowed to provide comments on a draft. National Grid was among a group of AIM members and fossil fuel interests that substantially funded the study—which the paper’s lead author, Christopher Niezrecki, a professor in the department of mechanical engineering, was aware of. In January 2021, records obtained by the Globe show, Usovicz emailed Niezrecki to inform him that a group of energy and pipeline companies, including National Grid, Eversource, and Enbridge, had kicked in more than $50,000 to fund the study.
“While UMass Lowell has no opinion on the use of green hydrogen in Massachusetts, it has extensive faculty expertise on the topics of advanced energy and sustainability and a long history of partnership with industry,” UMass Lowell spokesperson Jonathan Strunk told Earther in an email. “The university’s green hydrogen report evaluated the challenges and opportunities posed by green hydrogen for further civic and scientific discussion through the lens of multiple disciplines ranging from engineering to economics. The research has gone through the peer review process, is in accordance with university academic and research policies and UMass Lowell stands by its research.” Representatives from AIM did not return our request for comment.
“We were eager to support a study that would allow us to learn more about hydrogen’s potential as a decarbonization solution,” National Grid told the Globe.
As we reported last week, the fossil fuel industry is already finding ways to fund its interests at academic centers and up its standing in the eyes of policymakers. However, the circumstances around this study show how industry interests and talking points can weasel their way into peer-reviewed research. And getting research like this out into the public can be a win for the industry in terms of policy moves: Usovicz met with a state representative, who later introduced two hydrogen bills into the House, as the research was getting off the ground last year.
“My personal take is this should not have been published in a peer reviewed journal as it is, because I think the presentation is biased, slanted, and misleading in a way that’s hard to defend academically,” said Robert Howarth, a professor of ecology at Cornell University who has published research on hydrogen, told the Boston Globe.
Florida photographer snaps image of heron flying off with baby alligator: 'Right place at right time'
Cortney Moore Thu, November 17, 2022
A retired wildlife photographer in Florida is speaking out after capturing an image of a heron carrying a baby alligator away from its guardian.
Ted Roberts, who is now a volunteer tour guide at the Orlando Wetlands Park in Christmas, Florida, told Fox News Digital that he saw the young reptile get snatched by a Great Blue Heron after he heard "commotion" happening in between tours.
The heron jumped out onto the road with the baby alligator in its mouth while an adult alligator gave chase, Roberts wrote in a Facebook post he shared with the Orlando Wetlands Park group, on Sunday, Nov. 13.
The post has received 850 Facebook reactions and more than 920 shares.
"I am thrilled, stunned and humbled that the photo is garnering so much attention," Roberts told Fox News Digital.
"It was an instance of being in the right place at the right time and being trained to be ready – which sums up what so much of wildlife photography is about," he continued.
Roberts said his volunteer work at the Orlando Wetlands Park provides him with many photo opportunities because "the biodiversity level is very high."
"I am very blessed to be part of a community of photographers and volunteers at Orlando Wetlands Park," Roberts said. "We support and appreciate each other’s photography, so the recognition that this particular photo is receiving feels like an extension of that community." Mother alligators are known to care for their young.
Roberts suspects that the adult alligator who chased after the baby alligator was the animal’s mother.
Female alligators have been found to "aggressively defend their young" during the first few years of their lives, according to the Smithsonian National Zoo & Conservation Biology Institute, a Washington, D.C.-based animal care and research center.
Male alligators, on the other hand, are said to be "solitary" and "territorial," according to Defenders of Wildlife, a national nonprofit conservation organization.
In some instances, male alligators have been found to prey on hatchlings [juvenile alligators], according to Fauna Facts, an animal and pet resource website. Alligators are reptilian predators that hunt in water and land.
Other predators that are a threat to young alligators and unhatched eggs are raccoons, otters, fish and wading birds, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.
Adult alligators aren't safe either and can fall victim to cannibalism or predation, the wildlife agency notes.
Researchers recently found a whole five-foot alligator inside a Burmese python, according to FOX 35 Orlando.
FORDISM IS GLOBALIZATION
VinFast celebrates Canadian launch with opening of first store at Yorkdale Shopping Center
TORONTO, CANADA – Media OutReach - 16 November 2022 – VinFast officially opened its first Canadian store at Yorkdale Shopping Centre in Toronto, Ontario. The flagship location is part of the company's rollout in Canada, with seven more stores set to open before year end, including two locations at CF Carrefour Laval in Quebec, and Park Royal Shopping Centre in Vancouver, British Columbia.
The VinFast Store network in Canada is part of VinFast’s go-to-market strategy, in which eight retail and service centers opening in 2022 will be the first in a network of locations to build personalized relationships with Canadian customers, ensuring reliability, convenience and peace of mind throughout the process of purchasing and owning their VinFast vehicles.
Designed to convey the "Future of Mobility'' theme, VinFast Yorkdale is created with futuristic and minimalist design languages, advanced technology, interactive consumer experience. The spacious in-store ambience blends modern finishes sourced from local Canadian producers with design elements inspired by the beauty of Vietnam's natural wonders to provide customers with a seamless experience.
With a prime location, customers can access VinFast Yorkdale with ease to explore the interior and exterior details of VinFast’s electric SUVs – the VF 8 and VF 9, while experiencing the advanced technologies and engaging one-on-one with VinFast product experts. At VinFast Yorkdale, visitors will also be able to test drive the VF 8 and viewvehicle features on a large LED screen – an exclusive for VinFast, globally.
Mr. Huynh Du An, CEO of VinFast Canadashared: “The opening of the first store in Canada marks the next milestone in VinFast's global expansion journey. Our network of stores will be key in interacting with our customers, ensuring quality service, and strong relationships in Canada on our journey towards a sustainable future.”
Customers can visit VinFast Yorkdale at 3401 Dufferin St, Toronto, ON M6A 2T9 and reserve the VF 8 and VF 9 on VinFastAuto.ca, as well as stay up to date on future VinFast events and the upcoming store openings:
VinFast Park Royal: Park Royal Shopping Centre, 2002 Park Royal S, West Vancouver, BC V7T 2W4
About VinFast
VinFast – a member of Vingroup – envisioned to drive the movement of global smart electric vehicle revolution. Established in 2017, VinFast owns a state-of-the-art automotive manufacturing complex with globally leading scalability that boasts up to 90% automation in Hai Phong, Vietnam. Strongly committed to the mission for a sustainable future for everyone, VinFast constantly innovates to bring high-quality products, advanced smart services, seamless customer experiences, and pricing strategy for all to inspire global customers to jointly create a future of smart mobility and a sustainable planet. Learn more at: VinFastAuto.com.
About Vingroup
Established in 1993, Vingroup is one of the leading private conglomerates in Asia, with a total capitalization of approximately $35 billion USD from three publicly traded companies. Vingroup currently focuses on three main areas: Technology and Industry, Services, and Social Enterprise. Find out more at: Vingroup.net/en.
GM aims to lower EV battery cost, locks up supply deal with Vale
By Ernest Scheyder and Paul Lienert
(Reuters) - General Motors Co aims to slash the cost of electric vehicle battery cells and has added Vale to its growing roster of battery material suppliers as the automaker girds for increasing EV competition beyond 2025, GM said on Thursday.
Brazilian mining giant Vale SA will supply GM with battery-grade nickel for future electric vehicles, starting in 2026, GM executive Doug Parks said on Thursday.
The automaker also expects to cut the cost of its Ultium battery cells to less than $70 per kilowatt-hour "in mid to late decade," according to Parks, who heads GM's global product development, purchasing and supply chain.
The average industry cost for cells with nickel-based cathodes has risen as high as $140 per kWh over the past year, as raw material prices have soared.
Parks said GM is exploring the use of less expensive lithium iron phosphate (LFP) cells to help reduce costs. The company also is testing lithium metal and pure silicon anodes to increase energy storage capacity, as well as solid electrolytes, Parks said.
Under a long-term supply agreement, Vale Canada will provide GM with battery-grade nickel sulfate, a key ingredient in battery cathodes, from a proposed plant in Becancour, Quebec.
The agreement with Vale is the latest in a series of GM deals aimed at locking down the supply of critical battery minerals as the automaker ramps up electric vehicle production in 2025 and beyond.
GM has said it will have the capacity to build 1 million EVs in North America by 2025, and that it has signed agreements with at least 20 battery materials companies, including Livent and Glencore, to supply those vehicles.
The Vale deal, which kicks in the second half of 2026, will supply GM with enough refined nickel for up to 350,000 EVs a year.
More importantly, the Canadian nickel sourced from Vale “will help support EV eligibility for consumer incentives under the new clean energy tax credits in the U.S.,” said Parks.
Vale has existing agreements to supply nickel to Tesla and Ford Motor Co, as well as Swedish battery startup Northvolt.
(Reporting by Ernest Scheyder in Houston and Paul Lienert in Detroit; Editing by Bernadette Baum, Kirsten Donovan)
Big Pharma may have to reveal government deals in WHO's draft pandemic rules
Thu, November 17, 2022 By Jennifer Rigby and Emma Farge
LONDON/GENEVA, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Pharmaceutical companies could be made to disclose prices and deals agreed for any products they make to fight future global health emergencies, under new rules that would govern a World Health Organization-backed pandemic accord reviewed by Reuters.
A draft version of the WHO accord, which is being negotiated by the U.N. health agency's 194 member countries, calls for it to be compulsory for companies to reveal the terms of any public procurement contracts.
It says that public funding for the development of vaccines and treatments should be more transparent, and include provisions to ensure that any resulting products are distributed evenly around the world.
The aim of the pact, commonly known as the pandemic treaty, is to prevent the next global health crisis from being as devastating as COVID-19 and improving the global response that left many of the world's poorest countries behind.
During the pandemic, many deals governments made with pharmaceutical companies have been kept confidential, giving them little scope to hold drugmakers accountable.
A spokesperson for the WHO said it was member states that were driving the current process toward a new agreement.
"The process is open, transparent, and with the input from other stakeholders, including any interested stakeholders and public, able to submit comments at public consultations."
The agreement is at an early stage and likely to change in the course of negotiations with member states and other stakeholders. The draft will be presented to them in full in a meeting on Friday, after being circulated earlier in the week.
The document is vague about what would happen if countries that sign up do not stick to its rules and if companies do not comply. The U.N. agency cannot force companies to follow its rules.
The proposal may face resistance from the drug industry after its meteoric race to develop vaccines and treatments that proved to be critical tools in controlling the virus which has killed more than 6.5 million people worldwide.
Pfizer and its partner BioNTech, Moderna and AstraZeneca tested, developed and launched vaccines less than a year after the virus first emerged in China in late 2019.
Thomas Cueni, director general for the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations (IFPMA), said the draft was an "important milestone", but added that it was important not to undermine how pharmaceutical companies innovate and to protect their intellectual property (IP).
The draft recognises the importance of IP but says there needs to be better mechanisms for sharing expertise so more companies can produce vaccines and drugs during a crisis.
"If the draft were implemented as written today it would most likely undermine rather than facilitate our collective ability to rapidly develop and scale up counter measures and ensure its equitable access," Cueni added.
The draft document also proposes a peer-review mechanism to assess countries' pandemic preparedness, as well as better universal health coverage, more domestic funding on preventing and tackling pandemics, and better access for WHO to investigate outbreak origins.
'FAR REACHING AND BOLD'
Lawrence Gostin, a professor at Georgetown Law in Washington D.C. who follows the WHO, said the accord could be a game changer and redress the "unconscionable" hoarding of vaccines seen during COVID-19.
"The draft is actually far reaching and bold. The obstacles though are political opposition and industry blowback," he said.
Mohga Kammal Yanni, policy co-lead for the People's Vaccine Alliance, said the pact could either break with the "greed and inequality" of COVID-19 and other diseases "or it could tie future generations to the same disastrous outcomes".
The treaty has been described as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to strengthen global health rules by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.
The U.N. agency's constitution invests it with considerable powers to strike international agreements, but in its 74-year history it has only done so once in the form of the 2005 tobacco treaty.
Negotiations began on the pact in February and made an important step in July, when countries agreed to make the new agreement legally-binding despite earlier reservations from Washington. The next formal meeting of the board is in December, but there is a long road ahead. The agreement is not expected to be adopted before 2024 at the earliest.
"Some of the discussions ahead are going to get uncomfortable," said a Western diplomat, referring to issues around intellectual property and price transparency.
But they said there was a genuine interest in getting agreement by some major powers. "There's appetite to explore the issues, including the difficult ones."
(Writing by Jennifer Rigby; Editing by Josephine Mason and Elaine Hardcastle and Bill Berkrot)
SpaceX Awarded $1.15 Billion Contract to Build NASA's Second Lunar Lander
Passant Rabie Thu, November 17, 2022 Artist’s rendering of SpaceX Starship human lander design.
NASA recently added a new Moon landing to its Artemis plans and it needs a specialized human landing system to carry it out. To virtually no one’s surprise, NASA chose SpaceX to develop this second lunar lander.
NASA awarded SpaceX a contract modification known as Option B, which calls for tweaks to the company’s initial Starship lunar lander, the space agency announced this week. The Option B contract is worth around $1.15 billion.
“With multiple planned landers, from SpaceX and future partners, NASA will be better positioned to accomplish the missions of tomorrow: conducting more science on the surface of the Moon than ever before and preparing for crewed missions to Mars,” NASA administrator Bill Nelson said in a statement.
NASA intends to land two astronauts on the lunar surface in 2025, but more realistically in 2026, during the Artemis 3 mission. Last month, NASA announced its plans to land a second crew on the Moon during the following Artemis 4 mission as well. The space agency had scrapped its original plans for a second lunar landing during Artemis 4, which also involves delivering two space station components to lunar orbit, but the agency had a recent change of heart.
The new addition to the original contract now looks beyond that initial lunar touchdown and towards the establishment of a sustainable human presence on the Moon—a key facet of the Artemis program. To that end, Option B will include a modified Starship lander capable of docking with NASA’s lunar Gateway (a future orbiting outpost around the Moon), accommodate four crew members, and deliver more cargo to the lunar surface, according to NASA.
“Continuing our collaborative efforts with SpaceX through Option B furthers our resilient plans for regular crewed transportation to the lunar surface and establishing a long-term human presence under Artemis,” Lisa Watson-Morgan, manager for the Human Landing System program at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, said in a statement.
SpaceX may be developing a modified Starship lander, but NASA is still looking to expand its options as it looks beyond Artemis 4. The space agency has called on other U.S. companies to come up with designs for additional Moon landers for future missions. SpaceX previously beat out Blue Origin for the first lunar landing system, but Jeff Bezos’ company may very well be ready with a new proposal for this upcoming contract.
A Satellite That Launched Aboard SLS Is Already in Trouble
Passant Rabie Thu, November 17, 2022 NASA's Space Launch System rocket taking off from the Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday morning.
The launch of NASA’s Artemis 1 mission sent the Orion capsule on a journey to the Moon, in addition to 10 cubesats included as secondary payloads. The Space Launch System’s upper stage successfully deployed the tiny satellites yesterday, but one of them appears to be malfunctioning.
The jumbo Moon rocket took off on Wednesday at at 1:47 a.m. ET from Kennedy Space Center in Florida, officially kickstarting NASA’s Artemis Moon program. The rocket skillfully placed the Orion capsule in space for its 25.5 day journey to the Moon and back, in a mission that will prepare NASA for future crewed missions to the lunar surface.
But Orion wasn’t alone when it left Earth for this historic trip. A total of 10 low-cost cubesats were tucked inside the SLS upper stage, each designed for different missions to study the Moon, Sun, Earth, and a nearby asteorid. After Orion separated from SLS to begin its journey towards the Moon, an upper stage adapter sequentially deployed each cubesat using a timer, according to NASA. The cubesats were developed by various organizations, including the European Space Agency (ESA), the Italian space agency (ASI), and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA).
Four of the CubeSats are dedicated to studies of the Moon: Lunar IceCube, LunaH-Map, OMOTENASHI, and LunIR. Southwest Research Institute’s CuSP will track the Sun’s particles and magnetic fields, while JAXA’s EQUULEUS will image Earth’s plasmasphere. NEA Scout, a product of Marshall Space Flight Center, will head to a near-Earth asteroid with the assistance of a solar sail. BioSentinel is designed to study the effects of deep-space radiation on living organisms, while the Team Miles mission will demo a propulsion scheme using plasma thrusters. ESA’s ArgoMoon has already done its part, as it observed the cryogenic propulsion stage that set Orion on its course towards the Moon.
Each cubesat has a different timeframe for communicating with its designated ground controllers. So far, six cubesats have sent a signal to mission operators: EQUULEUS, LunIR, CuSP, LunaH-Map, ArgoMoon, and BioSentinel, NASASpaceflight first reported.
Unfortunately, JAXA’s OMOTENASHI seems to be experiencing an issue. The space agency put out a short statement earlier today saying EQUULEUS is a-okay, but that OMOTENASHI “has not completed sun acquisition,” meaning the tiny probe hasn’t referenced its position relative to the Sun, which is needed for stabilization. What’s more, “communication is not stable,” JAXA added. The space agency is “continuing operations to stablise attitude, secure power and establish communication,” the space agency wrote. OMOTENASHI is designed to land on the Moon and explore its surface as the world’s smallest lunar lander—a distinction that will have to wait.
It’s not clear how or if the Artemis 1 launch delays affected the cubesats’ electrical charges. The cubesats were packed into SLS a long time ago and the rocket endured many delays over the past few months. During a pre-launch press conference on November 14, NASA officials said ground crews were able to recharge 4 out of 10 cubesats while SLS took shelter inside the Vehicle Assembly Building on account of Hurricane Ian. The officials did admit that one unnamed cubesat had a low state of charge that would impact its ability to achieve its mission, and that the other cubesats were sufficiently charged.
We’ll be following the cubesats on their various journeys. Hopefully OMOTENASHI will spring to life and that each cubesat will eventually sign in with their respective bosses.
NASA’s Space Launch System makes inaugural journey in historic launch
Aria Alamalhodaei and Devin Coldewey Wed, November 16, 2022
After years of preparation and two false starts, NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System has finally taken off and entered orbit. It's a big win for the space agency — even as it assigns to SpaceX tasks once meant for the SLS.
Some pre-launch jitters threatened to scrub the launch, but a "red crew" went out to the hot pad to tighten something, and a bad Ethernet switch of all things later also needed to be replaced. But everything came together about 40 minutes after the original T-0, and the rocket had a clean (and impressive-looking) ascent with no hiccups to speak of. It reached orbit and as of 13 minutes after launch the various stages, separations and cut-offs were green across the board.
The SLS is a key part of NASA's Artemis program, intended to bring humanity back to the moon "to stay," as they often emphasize. That means bringing a lot of gear up there, stuff that might take years of ferrying with smaller launch vehicles like the SpaceX Falcon 9 and Rocket Lab Electron.
The SLS was built with this kind of heavy-duty mission in mind, but setbacks and delays have dogged the program, and now there is considerable speculation that commercial heavy-lift vehicles may soon offer more bang for the buck. But it is also clearly important to the U.S. government to have an option they own top to bottom.
Now that the enormous "Mega Moon Rocket" has shown it can get to space, NASA can at least plan on putting the model to work, though that will mean building a fresh one every time — unlike some launch vehicles, this one isn't reusable.
You can watch the final countdown and takeoff here:
The mission ahead
The main goal of the Artemis I mission is to test the Orion spacecraft and its critical components, like the heat shield upon reentry into Earth’s atmosphere and the communications systems, before the capsule eventually carries humans later this decade. The capsule will spend around 10 weeks going from orbit to the moon and back before splashing back down to Earth in the Pacific Ocean, where it will be recovered by a U.S. Navy ship.
This was NASA's third attempt to launch the Space Launch System rocket. The first, which took place in August, was called off due to a hydrogen bleed line issue with one of the rocket’s four core stage engines; the second attempt a few days later was scrubbed for the same reason. It seems the third time was the charm after all.
This mission will have many more crucial and historic moments, so stay tuned for more as the Orion capsule makes its way moonward.
NASA's Artemis I moon rocket is flying through space for the first time. Meet the mannequins, Snoopy, and 'Shaun the Sheep' dolls along for the ride.
Paola Rosa-Aquino
Shaun with a model of the Artemis I mission's Orion spacecraft and its European Service Module.ESA/Aardman
The Artemis I mission launched on its maiden lunar voyage in the early hours of Wednesday, November 16.
Mannequins and mementos are hitching a ride aboard NASA's Orion capsule — without people.
Artemis I is the first mission in NASA's program to land astronauts on the moon and eventually Mars.
NASA's powerful Space Launch System, with the Orion capsule designed to host astronauts perched atop the rocket, is finally on its way to the moon.
While no human is traveling aboard the Artemis I mission, it's not going empty. Mannequins, zero gravity indicators, artifacts, mementos, and more are now embarking on a 25-day journey around the moon and back — farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever gone.
It's a long-awaited first step in the space agency's efforts to get humans back to the surface of the moon for the first time since 1972. If everything goes according to plan, the Space Launch System mega rocket plans to fly the crew capsule all the way around the moon before heading back for a splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. That splashdown is scheduled for December 11, according to NASA.
Here are some of the cool and colorful cargo making the historic roundtrip to our nearest cosmic neighbor — the moon.
A trio of mannequins
Commander Moonikin Campos will measure the deep space environment around the moon during Artemis I.NASA
Strapped in the commander's seat at the head of the Orion capsule is a human-sized test dummy called Commander Moonikin Campos. The name is a nod to Arturo Campos, an electrical engineer who played a key role in Apollo 13's safe return to Earth.
Clad in the new Orion Crew Survival System spacesuit, Commander Moonikin will provide NASA scientists with vital data on what humans experience during a trip to the moon. Two sensors placed behind the commander's seat and under the headrest will record the acceleration and vibration generated throughout the mission, and the mannequin itself is equipped with two sensors to measure radiation exposure.
"It's critical for us to get data from the Artemis I manikin to ensure all of the newly designed systems, coupled with an energy dampening system that the seats are mounted on, integrate together and provide the protection crew members will need in preparation for our first crewed mission on Artemis II," Jason Hutt, NASA lead for Orion Crew Systems Integration, said in a statement last year.
Fitted with more than 5600 sensors, Zohar and Helga will measure the amount of radiation astronauts could be exposed to in future missions.Lockheed Martin
Two other mannequins named Helga and Zohar are riding in Orion's passenger seats.
They have torsos made of materials that mimic a woman's soft tissue, organs, and bones, along with 5,600 sensors and 34 radiation detectors to measure how much radiation exposure occurs during the mission. The only difference between the two mannequins is that Zohar is wearing a radiation protection vest, while Helga is not.
"When it comes to biological effects, different organs have different susceptibility to space radiation. Understanding the impact is very important for successful and sustainable human space exploration efforts," Ramona Gaza, science team lead at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said at a news briefing on August 17.
She added that the team is studying how women experience the space environment "as women in general have a higher risk of developing cancer since they have more radiation-sensitive organs such as breast tissue and ovaries."
The space agencies hope studying what these mannequins experience will prepare astronauts planning to fly around the moon on the Artemis II mission in 2024, and the Artemis III astronauts who eventually land on the moon. Insights from Zohar and Helga will be particularly useful, as the Artemis program aims to send the first woman to the moon.
A few cute, zero-gravity indicators
Shaun the Sheep experiencing microgravity on a parabolic flight.ESA/Aardman
Zero-gravity indicators are small items aboard a spacecraft that serve as a visual indicator that it has entered zero gravity. Artemis I has a couple of cute indicators.
Shaun, of British TV show "Shaun the Sheep" fame, is flying aboard the Artemis I mission in plush doll form.
"This is an exciting time for Shaun and for us at ESA," David Parker, the European Space Agency's director for human and robotic exploration, said in a statement. "We're woolly very happy that he's been selected for the mission and we understand that, although it might be a small step for a human, it's a giant leap for lambkind."
To "train" for the journey, Shaun went on a parabolic flight aboard a special Airbus "Zero G" A310 that creates the weightless condition similar to microgravity.
A familiar fuzzy figure is also flying as a zero gravity indicator in the capsule.
Snoopy will ride in the Orion capsule and serve as a zero gravity indicator.2021 Peanuts Worldwide LLC
Snoopy, the beloved Peanuts character, has long been associated with NASA missions since the Apollo program. In fact, the Apollo 10 lunar module got the nickname "Snoopy" because its job was to snoop around and scout the Apollo 11 landing site on the moon, according to NASA.
A plush version of the beagle — wearing a space suit designed according to NASA's strict specifications — alerted the team once the capsule reached a microgravity environment.
Lego figurines
Four Lego Minifigures are taking a ride around the moon on the Artemis I mission.
The figurines also star in Lego's "Build to Launch" series, which was designed in collaboration with NASA, to offer students lessons on different concepts and careers inspired by the Artemis missions.
"Each minifigure represents a real-life counterpart, such as a command pilot Kate and mission specialist Kyle, to help students better understand the diverse roles, backgrounds, and skillsets within the Artemis I team," Lego Education said in a statement in November 2021.
Four LEGO minifigures will ride along on the Artemis I mission.Radislav Sinyak/NASA
Earthly plants
NASA aims to set up permanent bases in the moon's orbit and on its surface, paving the way to eventually send astronauts to Mars.
Reliably cultivating crops in space will be necessary for would-be space travelers to survive longer missions. To that end, the space agency wants to understand how to grow plants in space for food and oxygen on the moon or during space missions.
A variety of tree and plant seeds are on board Artemis I as part of experiments to study the effects of space radiation on them. According to a statement by Sharmila Bhattacharya, NASA program scientist for space biology, they'll "help us understand a unique aspect of how biological systems can adapt and thrive in deep space."
"Gathering information like this and analyzing it after flight will eventually help us paint the full picture of how we can help humans thrive in deep space," Bhattacharya added.
Space exploration artifacts
The bolt from one of Apollo 11’s F-1 engines that is included in the Artemis I Official Flight Kit.Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum
As part of Artemis I's Official Flight Kit, which contains about 120 pounds of mementos, several artifacts from previous space missions are in the Orion spacecraft.
A small piece of moon rock from the Apollo 11 mission, an Apollo 11 mission patch, and a bolt from one of Apollo 11's F-1 engines are along for the ride.
Objects of cultural significance are also on the roundtrip journey, including a 3D-printed replica of the Greek goddess Artemis, and a pebble from the lowest dry land surface on Earth, the shore of the Dead Sea — venturing further than any human has gone before.
This story has been updated with new information. It was originally published on August 18, 2022.
