Stage Zero Studio with Wil Waldon

Seven months ago, the Defense Department made a controversial call. In a trio of contracts announced on its daily digest of contract awards, the Pentagon announced it was awarding these rocket development contracts: A $967 million deal to United Launch Services, a subsidiary of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) joint venture formed between Boeing (NYSE: BA) and Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT). A $791.6 million contract to Orbital Sciences, part of Northrop Grumman (NYSE: NOC). And one worth $500 million to Blue Origin, the space launch venture created by Amazon.com (NASDAQ: AMZN) CEO Jeff Bezos -- and financed by $1 billion worth of sales of his own Amazon stock annually. ========  MagellanTV - a brand-new streaming service that features the very best collection of science and technology documentaries available anywhere. The service includes over 1500 documentary movies, series, and exclusive playlists across major genres. Check out their exclusive science playlists, designed with you in mind. Claim first your two-month free trial, only available at https://magellantv.com/spacenewspod  

 The first U.S. astronauts chosen to fly aboard a SpaceX capsule built for NASA shrugged off a spate of design and test mishaps, saying such setbacks were “part of the process” and the new technology was far more advanced than the space shuttle program that ended eight years ago.  MagellanTV - a brand-new streaming service that features the very best collection of science and technology documentaries available anywhere. The service includes over 1500 documentary movies, series, and exclusive playlists across major genres. Check out their exclusive science playlists, designed with you in mind. Claim first your two-month free trial, only available at https://magellantv.com/spacenewspod   

President Donald Trump tweeted that the Moon is part of the Mars mission and A MARS HELICOPTER!

NASA also is enabling private astronaut missions of up to 30 days on the International Space Station to perform duties that fall into the approved commercial and marketing activities outlined in the directive released Friday, with the first mission as early as 2020. A new NASA Research Announcement focus area issued today outlines the path for those future private astronaut missions. If supported by the market, the agency can accommodate up to two short-duration private astronaut missions per year to the International Space Station. These missions will be privately funded, dedicated commercial spaceflights. Private astronaut missions will use a U.S. spacecraft developed under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The commercial entity developing the mission will determine crew composition for each mission and ensure private astronauts meet NASA’s medical standards and the training and certification procedures for International Space Station crew members. Market studies identified private astronaut missions to low-Earth orbit as a key element to demonstrate demand and reduce risk for future commercial destinations in low-Earth orbit.

Engineers craft new plan to unstick NASA's Mars InSight lander.  By using InSight's lander arm to lift the support structure of the lander's burrowing mole, engineers aim to get a better look at the blockage. 

Amazon has already exploited the power of AI to dominate e-commerce, push forward the potential of cloud computing and bring an ever-present personal assistant into your home. At its re:Mars conference in Las Vegas this week, Jeff Bezos's corporation intends to shed some light on where it expects artificial intelligence to take us in the future.   The re:Mars conference is effectively the public version of Bezos's exclusive MARS conference, an annual, invitation-only gathering that brings together experts in academia and industry to discuss the future of Machine Learning, Automation, Robotics and Space (MARS). While MARS is intended to stimulate optimism and creative thinking, re:Mars has some more down-to-Earth goals: teaching its attendees how to apply AI and machine learning to their own businesses. https://spacenewspodcast.com

SpaceX Starship tests on hold in Boca Chica and Starlink makes Astronomers Upset because they may interfere with viewing and radio transmissions. https://spacenewspodcast.com https://twitter.com/spacenewspod https://trumans.com/ use code "spacenewspod" 

In 2020 three rovers, one from the US, one from Europe and one from China will depart for Mars with a single goal; to look for past or present life on The Red Planet. The rovers will also provide a critical step in the efforts to return samples of Martian regolith to the Earth. This would give scientists the opportunity to learn a great many more details about Mars and its habitability, since laboratories on Earth have much more sophisticated instruments than the ones riding on the rovers on Mars. Fed up with the clutter of cleaning, Truman’s partnered with an industry-leading manufacturer to create 4 non-toxic cleaners: The Glass Is Always Cleaner,    https://www.trumans.com/  and use the code "spacenewspod" to get 30% off!  https://spacenewspodcast.com https://twitter.com/spacenewspod

 The first 60 v0.9 satellites comprising the Starlink constellation launched into low Earth orbit (LEO) on May 24 have powered up and contacted ground stations. SpaceX said all 60 of its Starlink satellites have deployed their lone solar arrays. Most of these small satellites (smallsats), which weigh some 227 kg each, are in the process of climbing from their current 440 kilometer altitude drop-off point to their 550 km target orbit. ==== Check out Trumans, a great cleaning product.  Fed up with the clutter of cleaning, Truman’s partnered with an industry-leading manufacturer to create 4 non-toxic cleaners: The Glass Is Always Cleaner, Everything and the Kitchen Sink, More Shower to You and Floors Truly. Truman’s patented refill cartridges ship right to your doorstep, skipping the markup of retail and eliminating the single-use plastic cleaning bottles.   https://www.trumans.com  use code "spacenewspod" to get 30% off!  https://spacenewspod.com https://spacenewspodcast.com https://spaceindustrynews.com

Over the last two months, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine has repeatedly said the agency's ambitious new Artemis plan for sending humans to the Moon in 2024 will not require raiding other areas of its budget, such as its broad array of science programs, technology research, or aeronautics work. The reason, he said, is simple. The surest way to torpedo support for a program inside the agency is to take funding from someone else to pay for the new plan, and the surest way to lose support in Congress is to take work away from various field centers around the country. "We can't cannibalize one part of the agency to feed another part of the agency," Bridenstine told Ars in April, which reflects comments he has made many times. "We can't cut the Science Mission Directorate to feed human exploration. We can't cannibalize the International Space Station to feed the Moon mission. So if we go in those directions, which have all been tried in the past, it never works politically. We can't do the same thing again and be upset that it didn't work."

NASA has selected three commercial Moon landing service providers that will deliver science and technology payloads under Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) as part of the Artemis program. Each commercial lander will carry NASA-provided payloads that will conduct science investigations and demonstrate advanced technologies on the lunar surface, paving the way for NASA astronauts to land on the lunar surface by 2024. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast https://twitter.com/spacenewspod https://facebook.com/spacenespod

Why are there so many ads?! You folks make me happy :)

Elon Musk’s second-most famous business may soon top his first. The value of SpaceX has risen to $33.3 billion, people familiar with the company’s recent fundraising. In an amendment of its April fundraising effort, a filing last week from SpaceX showed the company’s latest round brought in $536 million at a price of $204 a share. SpaceX has raised just over $1 billion this year, as the company accelerates fundraising to develop its plan to beam high-speed internet to anywhere on Earth. Additionally, Musk’s space company is now more valuable than his electric vehicle company. Tesla shares closed down on Friday giving the company a market value of $32.8 billion – just below SpaceX’s valuation. SpaceX’s valuation has risen steadily as the company has raised funding for rockets, spacecraft and more over the past decade. Most recently, SpaceX was reportedly valued at $30.5 billion.The company has been able to draw investment from private markets with ease, as a person familiar with SpaceX’s fundraising this year said both its equity raises were oversubscribed. In the most recent round, investor demand meant SpaceX could have raised between $300 million to $400 million more than it did, the person said. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

As human ancestors went from swinging through trees to walking on two legs, they may have received a boost from an unlikely source: ancient supernovas. These powerful stellar explosions may have showered Earth with enough energy to shift the planet's climate, bathing Earth in electrons and sparking powerful, lightning-filled storms, according to a new hypothesis. Lightning then could have kindled raging wildfires that scorched African landscapes. As savanna replaced the forest habitat, early humans that lived there may have been pushed to walk on two legs, the new study suggests. However, don't go jumping to conclusions just yet. Many factors likely contributed to the evolution of bipedalism, a process that began many millions of years before these stellar explosions took place, one expert told Live Science.

Gwynne Shotwell said in a meeting at MIT on the 29th of May that SpaceX will be sending cargo to Mars in 4 Years. Also, 'Fettuccine' may be most obvious sign of life on Mars, researchers report https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

The governments of the United States and Japan have agreed to further cooperation in space which could include flying Japanese astronauts to the moon. At a joint press conference in Tokyo May 27 with Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, President Donald Trump mentioned cooperation in space exploration as one outcome of their meetings during the president’s visit to the country. "I am pleased to confirm that Prime Minister Abe and I have agreed to dramatically expand our nations’ cooperation in human space exploration," Trump said. "Japan will join our mission to send U.S. astronauts to space. We'll be going to the moon. We'll be going to Mars very soon. It's very exciting." https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast https://spacenewspodcast.com https://twitter.com/spacenewspod

I dig in to a few reasons why we should colonize the Moon. https://spacenewspodcast.com

How to see Starlink Satellite Constellation in the night sky. #starlink #spacex My new podcast:  https://anchor.fm/wayfarepodcast  Go to CalSky.com. Start by setting your location here. (You can view Starlink without making an account, but I would recommend it so you can save a location for later use) Click on ‘Satellites‘ then ‘Sat Library‘ Select your duration at the top of the page for the amount of time you would like to see future fly-by’s. (I usually select ‘1 Week’) Type “starlink” in the or find a satellite by name or number box. Click on “Sighting Opportunities” (bookmark this page) Check the following boxes: (you can utilize others like transits/close encounters later on, but for the sole purpose of viewing use these) Show satellite passes Satellite must be illuminated Scroll back up to the top and click “GO” again to refresh. Scrolling down, you’ll see a list of the upcoming passes of the Starlink constellation. If you are confused by the 24h time format “21:36:42” that means 9:36:42pm. (12 + 9 = 21) There is an option to switch to the 12h format (9:36 pm) located on the page where you set your location. (#2 on that page) To know where to look, use the little map on the right side of each pass This image shows the satellites will be starting from the southwest direction, peaking in the southeast part of the sky ~45deg up or so (halfway to straight up), then going towards the northeast. Here’s another example: this one shows the satellites coming from northwest, going straight overhead, and towards the southeast. Starlink satellites will always be coming from the west and going east. (NW->SE & SW->NE, never from the east) If you’re not familiar with which way is North/South/East/West, grab a compass app on your phone’s app store to assist. Using the “another example” #2 map above as one: Appears = where the blue line starts (NW), Culmination = where the point of the blue arrow is (straight over your head), Disappears = where the blue line ends (SE) They are not always directly overhead, some may reach their peak height closer to the horizon, in one area of the sky (like #10, peaking in the SSE sky ~45° up) Directions are from :  https://www.tmahlmann.com/2019/05/how-to-watch-or-photograph-starlink/ 

 A top NASA executive hired in April to guide strategy for returning astronauts to the moon by 2024 has resigned, the space agency said on Thursday, the culmination of internal strife and dwindling congressional support for the lunar initiative. Mark Sirangelo, named six weeks ago as special assistant to NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, left the agency as NASA abandoned a reorganization plan due to a chilly reception on Capitol Hill, Bridenstine said in a statement.

Moon: An Illustrated History: From Ancient Myths to the Colonies of Tomorrow (Sterling Illustrated Histories) From the moon’s formation, to its potential for future exploration, this richly illustrated volume presents 100 milestones in lunar history. With dazzling images on every spread, and illuminating text by astrobiologist Dr. David Warmflash,Moon: An Illustrated History chronologically presents 100 milestones in the Moon’s development and exploration. Starting 4.5 billion years ago when the Moon formed, this stunning volume moves from the hypotheses of the Moon’s formation (4.5 billion years ago) to sixth-century BCE predictions of solar eclipses, from the twentieth-century Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union to private space companies and possible future lunar colonies. Find out about lunar calendar systems and cults in the Bible; how lunar brightness was used to estimate stellar distances; how advancing telescopes in the seventeenth century allowed us to eye the Moon more closely; how author Jules Verne inspired the Father of Astronautics; the originals of the Saturn V Moon Rocket; the Apollo missions, and so much more.  https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Illustrated-Colonies-Tomorrow-Histories/dp/1454931981 

NASA Administrator Speaks at Florida Institute of Technology Event.  NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine delivered remarks and spoke to media Thursday, May 23, at Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne. 

 From the moon’s formation, to its potential for future exploration, this richly illustrated volume presents 100 milestones in lunar history. With dazzling images on every spread, and illuminating text by astrobiologist Dr. David Warmflash,Moon: An Illustrated History chronologically presents 100 milestones in the Moon’s development and exploration. Starting 4.5 billion years ago when the Moon formed, this stunning volume moves from the hypotheses of the Moon’s formation (4.5 billion years ago) to sixth-century BCE predictions of solar eclipses, from the twentieth-century Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union to private space companies and possible future lunar colonies. Find out about lunar calendar systems and cults in the Bible; how lunar brightness was used to estimate stellar distances; how advancing telescopes in the seventeenth century allowed us to eye the Moon more closely; how author Jules Verne inspired the Father of Astronautics; the originals of the Saturn V Moon Rocket; the Apollo missions, and so much more.   https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Illustrated-Colonies-Tomorrow-Histories/dp/1454931981 

From the moon’s formation, to its potential for future exploration, this richly illustrated volume presents 100 milestones in lunar history. With dazzling images on every spread, and illuminating text by astrobiologist Dr. David Warmflash,Moon: An Illustrated History chronologically presents 100 milestones in the Moon’s development and exploration. Starting 4.5 billion years ago when the Moon formed, this stunning volume moves from the hypotheses of the Moon’s formation (4.5 billion years ago) to sixth-century BCE predictions of solar eclipses, from the twentieth-century Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union to private space companies and possible future lunar colonies. Find out about lunar calendar systems and cults in the Bible; how lunar brightness was used to estimate stellar distances; how advancing telescopes in the seventeenth century allowed us to eye the Moon more closely; how author Jules Verne inspired the Father of Astronautics; the originals of the Saturn V Moon Rocket; the Apollo missions, and so much more.   https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Illustrated-Colonies-Tomorrow-Histories/dp/1454931981 

With dazzling images on every spread, and illuminating text by astrobiologist Dr. David Warmflash,Moon: An Illustrated History chronologically presents 100 milestones in the Moon’s development and exploration. Starting 4.5 billion years ago when the Moon formed, this stunning volume moves from the hypotheses of the Moon’s formation (4.5 billion years ago) to sixth-century BCE predictions of solar eclipses, from the twentieth-century Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union to private space companies and possible future lunar colonies. Find out about lunar calendar systems and cults in the Bible; how lunar brightness was used to estimate stellar distances; how advancing telescopes in the seventeenth century allowed us to eye the Moon more closely; how author Jules Verne inspired the Father of Astronautics; the originals of the Saturn V Moon Rocket; the Apollo missions, and so much more.   https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Illustrated-Colonies-Tomorrow-Histories/dp/1454931981 https://anchor.fm/wayfarepodcast

With dazzling images on every spread, and illuminating text by astrobiologist Dr. David Warmflash,Moon: An Illustrated History chronologically presents 100 milestones in the Moon’s development and exploration. Starting 4.5 billion years ago when the Moon formed, this stunning volume moves from the hypotheses of the Moon’s formation (4.5 billion years ago) to sixth-century BCE predictions of solar eclipses, from the twentieth-century Space Race between the US and the Soviet Union to private space companies and possible future lunar colonies. Find out about lunar calendar systems and cults in the Bible; how lunar brightness was used to estimate stellar distances; how advancing telescopes in the seventeenth century allowed us to eye the Moon more closely; how author Jules Verne inspired the Father of Astronautics; the originals of the Saturn V Moon Rocket; the Apollo missions, and so much more.   https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Illustrated-Colonies-Tomorrow-Histories/dp/1454931981 

Dr. David Warmflash is an astrobiologist, physician and author of the new book,   Moon: An Illustrated History: From Ancient Myths to the Colonies of Tomorrow.  Check out Moon: An Illustrated History: From Ancient Myths to the Colonies of Tomorrow -  https://www.amazon.com/Moon-Illustrated-Colonies-Tomorrow-Histories/dp/1454931981  Wayfare Podcast - https://anchor.fm/wayfarepodcast https://twitter.com/spacenewspod https://facebook.com/spacenewspod

Updates to Mars 2020 and MRO. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast https://spacenewspodcast.com

SpaceX postponed their launch until tonight at 10:30PM EST. https://spacenewspodcast.com http://spacenewspod.com https://spaceindustrynews.com https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

SpaceX's Starlink satellite internet will bring back net neutrality to millions of Americans. https://spacenewspodcast.com https://spaceindustrynews.com http://spacenewspod.com https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

 Elon Musk's SpaceX is doing simultaneous competing builds of Starship in Boca Chica Texas & Cape Canaveral Florida. https://spacenewspodcast.com https://spaceindustrynews.com https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast http://spacenewspod.com

Managing pilotless aircraft and solar panels that could help humans live on the Moon and Mars are among the technologies NASA is looking to develop with small business awards totaling $106 million. In all, NASA has selected 142 proposals from 129 U.S. small businesses from 28 states and the District of Columbia to receive Phase II contracts as part the agency's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.  https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast https://spaceindustrynews.com https://spacenewspod.com https://spacenewspodcast.com

The Great Red Spot in Jupiter's atmosphere has long since been a mystery. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast http://spacenewspod.com

As you fall toward the black hole, you move faster and faster, accelerated by its gravity. Your feet feel a stronger gravitational pull than your head, because they are closer to the black hole. As a result, your body is stretched apart. For small black holes, this stretching is so strong that your body is completely torn apart before you reach the event horizon. If you fall into a supermassive black hole, your body remains intact, even as you cross the event horizon. But soon thereafter you reach the central singularity, where you are squashed into a single point of infinite density. You have become one with the black hole. Unfortunately, you are unable to write home about the experience. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast http://spacenewspod.com

A senior NASA official said Tuesday that the Space Launch System, a huge heavy-lift rocket years behind schedule, could launch astronauts on a moon landing mission in 2024 on just its third flight to meet a goal announced last month by Vice President Mike Pence, while commercial companies will be entrusted with more responsibility to develop a lunar lander and a modest mini-space station, or Gateway, in lunar orbit. 

Blue Moon is Blue Origins secret project that will send humans back to the moon by 2024. They also spoke about new glen, their heavy lift rocket. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast http://spacenewspod.com

 Jeff Bezos Amazon Billionaire Planning Moon Mission with Blue Origin to mine for water ice and establish settlement. http://spacenewspod.com https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

A SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrived at the International Space Station (ISS) today (May 6) to deliver nearly 3 tons of NASA supplies to the orbiting laboratory.  Astronauts on the station captured the uncrewed Dragon cargo ship with a robotic arm at 7:01 a.m. EDT (1101 GMT) as both spacecraft sailed 254 miles (408 kilometers) above the north Atlantic Ocean. The spacecraft is carrying about 5,500 lbs. ( 2,495 kilograms) of experiments and other supplies for the station's six-person Expedition 59 crew. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast https://youtube.com/spacenewspod #NASA #SpaceX #technology

NASA recently looked into an asteroid impact scenario where a large body collides with New York City. http://spacenewspod.com https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

Tesla is showing signs of slowing down in the first quarter of 2019. They will need to ramp up production to make money in the summer and fall of this year. http://spacenewspod.com https://youtube.com/spacenewspod https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

Regarding the risks of space colonization, harm to our biology is first on the list of concerns, followed by risks to our individual psyches and our ability to work cooperatively as a team. Space is a risky place, given the far-from-optimal conditions of long flights in compact spacecraft. There are plenty of challenges that prospective astronauts should cautiously consider before signing up for a trip to deep space. http://spacenewspod.com https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

 The Hercules–Corona Borealis Great Wall is the largest known super-structure in the universe. It is a huge group of galaxies forming a giant sheet-like pattern. It is about 10 billion light-years long, 7.2 billion light-years wide, and almost 1 billion light-years thick. It is about 10 billion light-years away in the constellations of Hercules and Corona Borealis, hence its name.

SpaceX has been given the thumbs-up from the Federal Communications Commission to start building global internet service via thousands of satellites that could offer internet to anyone on the planet.

An asteroid named 16 Psyche, was found to be made almost entirely of iron and nickel. That means, in current US markets, 16 Psyche is worth somewhere around $10,000 quadrillion.

NASA and SpaceX investigating Crew Dragon Explosion before launching humans to ISS.

While headlines routinely report on "close shaves" and "near-misses" when near-Earth objects (NEOs) such as asteroids or comets pass relatively close to Earth, the real work of preparing for the possibility of a NEO impact with Earth goes on mostly out of the public eye. For more than 20 years, NASA and its international partners have been scanning the skies for NEOs, which are asteroids and comets that orbit the Sun and come within 30 million miles (50 million kilometers) of Earth's orbit. International groups, such as NASA's Planetary Defense Coordination Office (PDCO), the European Space Agency's Space Situational Awareness-NEO Segment and the International Asteroid Warning Network (IAWN) have made better communication of the hazards posed by NEOs a top priority.

NASA’s InSight lander set down the French SEIS seismometer on the surface of Mars. On 6 April, on the 128th Martian day or ‘sol’ of the mission, a quiet but distinct seismic signal was detected similar to quakes detected on the surface of the Moon by the Apollo missions. 

NASA's next Mars mission is slowly coming together in a "clean room" in California. Technicians at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory assembled the capsule that will keep the Mars 2020 rover secure for its wild ride to the Red Planet's surface. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

 China unveiled a colossal Mars survival simulation base camp on Wednesday in the Gobi desert of Jinchang, Northwest China's Gansu Province. According to a project employee, the simulation camp will become an astronaut training facility in the future.  

The helium hydride ion (HeH+) the scientists detected wasn't the original one created just after the Big Bang, but it has the same molecular structure — helium combined with hydrogen — they theorized formed at the time. https://patreon.com/spacenewspodcast

NASA is working right now to send American astronauts to the surface of the Moon in five years, and the agency has its sights set on a place no humans have ever gone before: the lunar South Pole.