Space-based Activities Research Articles

Improving motivation and science process skills through a mobile laboratory-based learning model

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected all sectors of life, including the education sector. Physics learning activities, especially practicum activities, which so far have been very dependent on laboratory space-based activities, are very disturbed. This study aims to develop students' motivation and science process skills (SPS) during the pandemic. The sample of this study was 3 groups consisting of 90 students from 2 universities in the province of Lampung, Indonesia. The data obtained were analysed using the multivariate analysis of variance technique. The results showed that mobile laboratory-based learning proved effective in developing students' motivation and SPS. Therefore, experimental/mobile laboratory activities based on analytical videos obtained from surrounding physical phenomena can be an alternative for physics learning activities, especially in the current era of distance learning. 
 
 Keywords: Mobile laboratory, motivation, science process skills.

Creation of a comprehensive global Space Risk Scale (SRS)

There would be value in developing, on a global and systematic basis, what might be called a Space Risk Scale (SRS). Such a scale might be broken down into the six major categories of: (i) Public Launch and Re-entry Safety; (ii) Crew on Board Safety; (iii) Environmental Protection; (iv) Ground Personnel Safety; (v) Space Traffic Management (including the Protozone); and (vi) Cosmic Threats and Planetary Defense. Through liaison and risk updating this could be internationally agreed and applied on an on-going basis. Such as global Space Risk Scale (SRS) could aid scientists, engineers and policy makers in understanding and calibrating the many safety risks that are associated with space-based activities that could also include quite diverse public hazards such as cosmic threats, orbital debris, environmental pollution, or in-orbit or sub-orbital collisions. This is not the same as the European proposal to develop a systematic way to establish a so-called “zero space risk impact for space missions.” It is, however, a similar concept of having countries and commercial organizations agree to a process for objective risk assessments [1]. Going forward, organizations such as the IAASS might be asked to develop risk assessments for all types of space projects. The prime values of the SRS would be to allow: (i) legislative bodies as well as political and business leaders to assess the likely success of varying types of space projects; (ii) help insurance companies to assess coverage of space projects; (iii) create a means for objective risk assessment; and (iv) help various types of space projects to be engineered or re-designed to be safer.

NewSpace—delivering on the dream

After more than half a century of spaceflight, our activities in space are still limited to a relatively small set of markets whose growth is driven mainly by government funding. Worse still, human access to space is restricted to a few people flying very infrequently to a single destination in low Earth orbit (LEO). Contrasting today's reality with the high expectations of the 1960s – as epitomised in Stanley Kubrick's film “2001: A Space Odyssey” – begs two questions: what went wrong and can we fix it? The objective of this paper is to address these questions and, in doing so, indicate how the nascent NewSpace industry may help us realise past dreams by enabling a paradigm shift in our space-based activities.

Qualification Tests of Micro-camera Modules for Space Applications

Visual capability is very important for space-based activities, for which small, low-cost space cameras are desired. Although cameras for terrestrial applications are continually being improved, little progress has been made on cameras used in space, which must be extremely robust to withstand harsh environments. This study focuses on commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) CMOS digital cameras because they are very small and are based on an established mass-market technology. Radiation and ultrahigh-vacuum tests were conducted on a small COTS camera that weighs less than 100 mg (including optics). This paper presents the results of the qualification tests for COTS cameras and for a small, low-cost COTS-based space camera.

A Phantom Menace? Patents and The Communal Status of Space

This paper provides an analysis of the interaction between the most important intellectual property right for the space industry, patents, and the international status of space as a "common area". It suggests that the conventional thesis upon which the application of domestic patent laws to space-based activities rests is an incomplete analysis of the legal interaction. A fundamental conflict between patent rights over inventions that make use of the intrinsic properties of the spaceenvironment is identified, and the implications of this conflict discussed. While the application of domestic patent law to space-based activities is nonetheless almost certainly legitimate as a matter of international law, this paper argues that the combined effect of States' patent grants over spacebased inventions is to undermine the status of space as a "common area".

An economic assessment of space solar power as a source of electricity for space-based activities

Those in the space community interested in deploying space solar power (SSP) need to know whether it would make economic sense. This article aims to develop a conceptual model of the economic value of SSP as a source of power to in-space activities, such as spacecraft and space stations. We offer several estimates of the value based on interviews and published data, discuss technological innovations that may compete with or be complementary to SSP, and consider alternative institutional arrangements for government and the private sector to provide SSP.

International coordination in the era of faster, better, cheaper

Space agencies around the world are seeking innovative approaches to reduce the time and expense of space-based activities, including observation of the Earth and acquisition of environmental data for Earth science research. As government budgets are squeezed, agencies search for innovative approaches to streamline program management, introduce new technology, and share costs with external partners. International cooperation has been a mainstay of Earth observation activity from the beginning of space exploration. It continues to be true that global problems require global solutions, and governments recognize the need to share the investment in understanding and monitoring the planet. Agencies need to carefully consider how changes in their program development and management practices might impact cooperative ventures. Improved communication, enhanced strategic planning, and coordinated rather than comprehensive missions are all tools agencies can use to maintain or improve partnerships.

A New Solar Receiver Thermal Store for Space-Based Activities Using Multiple Composite Phase-Change Materials

A new solar receiver latent thermal energy storage module for space-based activities is proposed. It is different from a conventional module (which uses a single phase-change material (PCM)); this module uses a composite configuration of multiple PCMs. A finite element model is presented which simulates the transient cyclic thermal process involved. Computations have been carried out to investigate the potential advantages of a composite multi-PCM store over a single PCM store. Numerical results indicate that variation of the fluid outlet temperature can be significantly reduced by appropriate selection of multiple composite PCMs.

Arms control and disarmament in space: the rough road to Vienna 1984

This article continues a detailed examination of the international legal and diplomatic questions relating to arms control and disarmament, focusing on space-based activities. These are importantly concerned with the development of anti-satellite (ASAT) systems and ballistic missile defence (BMD). This part of the article considers the US Presidential-Congressional dialogue - particularly the ASAT testing issue - and Presidential initiatives vis-à-vis the USSR. An epilogue to the original paper considers the diplomatic moves and policy shifts which contributed to the January 1985 US-Soviet meeting and the agreement to begin bilateral negotiations to consider space and nuclear arms.

Arms control and disarmament in space: the rough road to Vienna 1984

This article examines the international legal and diplomatic questions relating to arms control and disarmament, focusing on space-based activities. These relate importantly to the development of anti-satellite satellites (ASATs) and ballistic missile defence systems (BMDs). Part I of the article examines the goal of ‘peaceful uses’ of outer space as elaborated in national policies and in international fora, the debate that has has taken place at the international level over the meaning and definition of peaceful purposes, legal manoeuvres, particularly in the UN, and US responses, and recent Soviet initiatives relating to space militarization. Part II will appear in the next issue, and will consider the US Presidential-Congressional dialogue on these questions and recent Presidential initiatives.