Hera en route to Didymos.

It is still World Space Week, as we celebrate how far humanity has come since the first launch of Sputnik back in October 1957. And the theme for this year's event is space and climate change. And Mother Nature has decided that the two should collide just to reinforce this message. Nice effort, I guess. Despite launches on Friday and today, the rest of this week is going to be quiet in the United States at least, thanks to Hurricane Milton. So batten down the hatches KSC, and stay safe everybody. Today is October 7th, 2024. I'm Maria Varmasus, and this is T-minus. SpaceX launches Europe's Hera mission. Hurricane Milton impacts Europa Clipper and crew 8 schedules. Rocket Lab to explore Mars sample return program. And our guest today is Megan Christian, European Space Agency astronaut reserve and commercial exploration lead at the UK Space Agency. Megan shared her incredible journey into the astronaut reserve with me, and has some exciting news about the training that she's going to be starting early next year. So stick around for that, Jen. Happy Monday everybody, and we start off with the successful launch of Hera today. The Hera mission is the next step in studying asteroid deflection, as Hera will perform a detailed post-impact survey of the asteroid Dimorphos, which NASA's "Revenge of the Dinosaur's" dart mission directly impacted back in 2022. We know that dart changed Dimorphos' movement by monitoring at all from a distance, but by getting close to it, ESA says that Hera will turn the experiment into a well-understood and repeatable planetary defense technique. But wait, isn't Falcon 9 grounded after the anomaly with the crew and I launch, I hear you ask? Yes, but the Federal Aviation Administration released a statement on Sunday, saying that the SpaceX Falcon 9 vehicle is authorized to return to flight only for the planned Hera mission scheduled to launch on October 7 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. The FAA has determined that the absence of a second stage re-entry for this mission adequately mitigates the primary risk to the public in the event of a recurrence of the mishap that was experienced with the crew 9 mission. Agency will drive the timeline for the FAA to complete its review of SpaceX's crew 9 mishap investigation report and when the agency will authorize Falcon 9 to return to regular operations. And given that the investigation is ongoing, it's probably in SpaceX's favor that NASA and SpaceX are standing down from the Thursday, October 10 launch attempt of the agency's Europa Clipper mission due to anticipated hurricane conditions in the area, notably Hurricane Milton. Launch teams have secured NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft in SpaceX's hangar at Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center in Florida ahead of the severe weather, and the center began hurricane preparations on Sunday. Gotta say, poor Florida doesn't seem to be able to catch a break right now. And it's not just the Clipper mission that's been impacted by the weather in Florida. NASA and SpaceX now are targeting no earlier than the early hours of Thursday, October 10 for the undocking of the crew 8 mission from the International Space Station. Mission managers continue to monitor conditions on the ground, though, with the next weather briefing planned for Tuesday, that would be tomorrow, October 8. Rocket Lab has been selected by NASA to complete a study for retrieving rock samples from the Martian surface and bringing them back to Earth for the first time. Mars sample return not dead yet. NASA's rapid mission design studies for Mars sample return solicits industry proposals to carry out rapid studies of mission designs and mission elements that are capable of delivering samples collected by the Mars Perseverance rover from the surface of Mars to Earth. The results of this study will inform a potential, update potential, to NASA's Mars sample return program and may result in future procurements with industry. Rocket Lab study will explore a simplified end-to-end mission concept that would be delivered for a fraction of the current projected program cost and completed several years earlier than the current expected sample return date in 2040. Impulse space is on a roll. After raising $150 million in Series B funding last week, the InSpace Transportation Services Company has been awarded a $34.5 million Sibir Phase III contract by the United States Space Forces Space Systems Command Space Safari Office in partnership with the Defense Innovation Unit. The contract is in support of the Victus Sergo and Victus Sallow TACRS missions. These two missions are the next in a series of TACRS demonstrations and will focus on how prepositioned capabilities can improve responsiveness to on-orbit situations, enabling the dynamic aspect of space domain awareness. For Victus Sergo, impulse will provide a mirror vehicle to operate in geosynchronous transfer orbit and will transport the mirror to GTO from low-earth orbit on a Helios kick stage. Additionally, impulse will deliver a Helios rideshare payload to Geo for DIU as a demonstration of novel responsive space delivery. Helios and its payloads will launch on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. And for Victus Sallow, impulse will provide a mirror vehicle to operate in Leo, launched on a future SpaceX rideshare mission. Blue Origin scrubbed the launch of an uncrewed New Shepard mission from Van Horn, Texas this morning. At the time of the recording, the reason was unclear why the NS-27 mission was aborted, but we will bring you an update when we have it. Illyria has been awarded a contract by NASA to conduct a comprehensive network orchestration and management system study and demonstration. And under this contract, Illyria will deploy an instance of its space-time platform to demonstrate how it can dynamically orchestrate NASA's space communications and navigation network, also known as SCAN, supporting the near-space network and enabling critical interconnections with commercial providers in an operational emulation. The contract, awarded under NASA's Next Step 2 program, will involve system integration and requirements analysis to motivate any new space-time feature and API requirements. This study also aims to explore how space-time can optimize the orchestration of NASA's space networks as they seek to incorporate increasing levels of commercial service while ensuring that mission needs are still met. New Frontier Aerospace has closed a seed funding round with Pacific Base Capital, which is a Tokyo-based investment fund. New Frontier Aerospace is developing propulsion systems to power multiple products, including net carbon negative hypersonic aircraft for civil, commercial, and defense customers. The company is aiming to enable fast, routine, and cost-effective access to any point on Earth and to any destination in CIS lunar space. And that rounds up our briefing for today. Head to the selected reading section of our show notes for more information on all the stories we've mentioned. We've also added an announcement on the US Air Force selecting LIDOS for their advanced battle management system. AT-MINUS crew, if you would like daily updates from us directly in your LinkedIn feed, be sure to follow the official N2K/T-MINUS page over on LinkedIn. And if you're more interested in the, I don't know, lighter side of what we do here, we are @tminusdaily on Instagram. That is where we post videos and pictures from events, excursions, and even some behind-the-scenes treats. Links are in the show notes for you. Hope you'll join us on social media. [Music] Our guest today is Megann Christian, European Space Agency astronaut reserve and commercial exploration lead at the UK Space Agency. And I started by asking Megann how she got into her role at ESA. When the announcement came out that there were going to have another round of selections, there was no thinking about it. I was absolutely going to apply. But all the thinking, I guess, came a long time before that. I was definitely fascinated by space when I was a kid, when I was about 10 or 11 years old and starting to learn about the planets and stars and black holes and things like that. But I grew up in Australia and there was no space agency at the time. So I didn't actually think of it as being a possible career for me. It was just kind of there in the back of my mind, along with all these amazing experiences I'd had at museums, going to space museums and things like that. So it remained as kind of a passion, but not something that I followed up on. So I actually ended up doing a Bachelor of Engineering in Industrial Chemistry. And after that, I stayed on and did a PhD. I was working on nanomaterials for hydrogen storage, fuel cell vehicles. After that, I was looking for a postdoc and I wanted some international experience. So I actually found a postdoc at the National Research Council of Italy in Bologna. Uprooted my life and my husband as well came with me for what was supposed to be a one to two year postdoc in Bologna in Italy. But we actually ended up staying there for nine years. There I was working on a material called graphene for a lot of different applications and still kind of keeping my alternative energy thread. But also I had some space related applications, which is where these things start to come back. And so the particular project I was working on was using graphene for cooling devices and satellites. And so of course that needs to be able to work in conditions of weightlessness, which is where I got to experience my first couple of parabolic flights. So I actually got to experience what it's like to work in weightlessness. And this was actually before I even knew that the European Space Agency was going to be having another round of applications for astronauts. So this was, it was completely separate, but it's starting to bring these things together. But what really convinced me was when I then went and spent a year in Antarctica doing climate change research at Concordia Station, which is a really isolated base. And it was while I was there that I decided that I wanted to do something similar to what I was doing in those extreme conditions, but in some conditions that are even more extreme. Okay, a year in Antarctica, please tell me, as if one can summarize such an experience, but I'm going to ask you to do that. Had an incredible experience on so many different levels, psychologically, scientifically, please tell me about what that was like. Yeah, it is. It was a life-changing experience and it is really hard to summarize. But it was a hugely special moment for me in my life. Antarctica is another one of those things that I've kind of been fascinated by when I was a kid. I was at the International Antarctic Centre in Christchurch in New Zealand when I was about 12 or something like that. And I thought, you know, maybe one day I'll get there, I'll earn a lot of money and get to go on a cruise to Antarctica or something like that. But again, I didn't really think that I would actually get to work there. But the National Research Council where I was working, they have permanent observatories at Concordia Station, which is this really isolated base in the middle of nowhere on the eastern Antarctic plateau. And so they send around an email to all staff once per year asking if anybody is interested in going to spend the year and do a winter over there. And so the first time I saw that email, I thought back to when I was at that museum at 12 years old, and I thought, oh, that would be amazing. But there's no way that they would accept someone like me because I had a background in material science, you know, applied sciences. And they were looking for somebody to look after the observatories for atmospheric physics and meteorology. And I didn't even really know what atmospheric physics was. So I just actually let it slide. I thought, OK, well, just that would be amazing, but it's not for me. But a year later, this email came around again, and I said, you know what, I'm just going to write back to them, see if they'll accept an application from someone like me. And they wrote back and said, yeah, yeah, come and have a chat. It turned out that chat was an interview. And next thing I know, I'm training to go and spend a year in Antarctica. So it was incredible. I mean, we got down to a temperature of minus 104 degrees Celsius wind chill. And we had 100 days where the sun didn't come above the horizon. I was working outside every day. So it was tough, both physically and mentally. I'm admiring you so much, as if I couldn't already. My levels went even higher. But it is fascinating and just I can imagine thinking after that experience, a stint in space. It must be. I got this. Oh, my goodness. Yeah, I mean, it kind of was something along those lines because the work that you're doing there, yes, you're in extreme conditions, but you're you are doing a kind of technicians role of being a custodian of other people's experiments. People have put their lives work into designing these experiments, but they can't be there to be the hands that looked after them. And that's what astronauts do on the International Space Station as well. So they're actually really quite similar roles. And given that I loved it, and also I learned a lot about myself. I think before I went there, there were a few things that I thought maybe I won't be able to do this technical skills that I didn't necessarily think that I would be able to develop. But I had to learn a whole lot in a really short amount of time in those two weeks that I had a crossover with the person before me. And I loved that. I really loved that steep learning curve. So that kind of gave me the confidence to go, yes, well, I can learn. I can do this. And I want to try and do it in space as well. To me, it does parallel, as you said, so beautifully the astronaut in space experience that you have to know how to work in those extremely difficult conditions with others and you compliment each other. Well, it does feel like a natural step. It's quite amazing when you tell the story back, that makes a lot of sense. And you're also being motivated by this incredible natural environment that you have around you. In the case of Antarctica, that's this desert of ice. But also in those 100 days of darkness, the stars are absolutely incredible. There was one task I had to do, which was go out to a tower with a bunch of meteorological instruments on it once per week and go and clean all those instruments. And this tower is about 45 meters high. It's about a kilometer away from the base. We're at high altitude, so it's quite hard work, just walking and climbing and so on. So it was the toughest part of the week, but it was also the best part of the week because my colleague and I, we did it together. We would, as we walked out there, take our headlamps off and just let our eyes adjust to the darkness and look up at the stars, which was just, it was like being completely blanketed by them. And if it was a moonless day, we could actually see our shadow in the light of the Milky Way. That's how bright the stars were. Oh my gosh, what a beautiful, beautiful image. Megan, I'm thrilled just to be speaking with you. Thank you for telling me such about your experiences. We haven't even gotten to what's happening. Tell me about when you got the news that you were sort of being called up out of the reserves. That must have been an exciting moment. Well, this training is for all of the reserves. So I'm not being singled out in any way just to specify. But finally, after the basic training of the career astronauts is complete, that means that there is now the opportunity for the reserves to have our training, which is, it's a kind of condensed version of the basic training that the career astronauts have just been through. It's going to be a total of about six months with two month intensive stints three times over the next couple of years. It's really exciting because there were no guarantees that we were actually going to have this training. As I mentioned at the beginning, this reserve concept is completely new. But there are more and more sort of commercial opportunities becoming available for flights. And in fact, the first person from our class to fly was one of the reserves that was Marcus Hunt from Sweden. He went on what's called a private astronaut mission that was it was institutional in any case to the International Space Station back in January. And so this training is really preparing us for any opportunities like that that may come up in the future. That's exciting. And you start in January. Is that right? Yeah, that's right. So there are too many of us to do it in one block. So we're having two rounds. There's one class that we'll be doing theirs in between October and December. And then the other class, including myself, will be doing it January, February, heading over to Cologne in Germany to the European Astronaut Center. And I imagine you will be thrilled with any kind of assignment. But if you are able to put in a request, I know it doesn't work that way, a dream assignment, what would you like to be able to do? If there's no restrictions at all, I would love to go to the moon. I just have this vision of standing on the moon and looking back on Earth the way that we look at the moon from Earth and having that reciprocal perspective. I think that would just be incredible. Oh my gosh, can you imagine? What an amazing experience. Megan, one of the many things I really love about your story is that you mentioned at the very beginning where you grew up at the time. Now there is an Australian space agency, but there are many places in the world where there are children, like when you were a child, where maybe space isn't seen as a viable career one day or even a dream worth pursuing. What would you tell kids who are in the situation you are in as a kid, where maybe you're going, "Well, there's no path for me. It's not, there's no point in me dreaming of this." What would you tell those kids? Yeah, I mean, you only have to look at the examples of, I mean, my example, but also people like Tim Pink. The UK did not invest at all in human spaceflight before Tim was selected as an astronaut. Then he got to have his six-month mission on the International Space Station. You never know what's going to come. So it's worth keeping that dream in your mind. It doesn't mean that you have to be completely focused on it. I don't think that would necessarily make a lot of sense. You can't decide that you want to be an astronaut and make that the only thing in your life, because unfortunately, you still have to be a little bit lucky to be selected. There will be more opportunities in the future, but for now, it's really only a small amount of people that are lucky enough to get to do it. So the key is to kind of chase down something that you really enjoy doing anyway. So find yourself in a career of things that you enjoy doing, and then you'll be at the top of your game. So you're more likely to be selected as an astronaut if you do apply. And hey, if you're not selected, then you're already feeling fulfilled and doing something that you love. If you're not selected, it's just a bonus. We'll be right back. Welcome back. And today for our final story, we thought we'd give a little roundup from the world of student aerospace competitions, as there were actually a few news items of interest today. First up, NASA has announced the 71 teams from across the United States that will be participating in the 25th annual student launch challenge, which is a nine-month-long challenge to design, build, and fly a high-powered amateur rocket and scientific payload. The challenge culminates with on-site events on April 30, 2025, in and around Huntsville, Alabama. I was personally happy to see my alma mater, UMass Amherst, and nearby campus, UMass Lowell, both on that list. Go UMass! The second NASA student challenge is also taking place in Huntsville, Alabama, this time specifically at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center. And the challenge is the HIRC, or the Human Explorer Rover Challenge. This competition is international, 75 student teams from all across the world, middle school, high school, and university categories. This one's a personal favorite because you can see fantastic human-powered designs taking on a lot of tricky terrain. It's both an engineering challenge and a workout. And the third student competition bit of news is more of an update, a serious one in this case, direct from the Experimental Sounding Rocket Association, or ESRA. I will read their announcement directly for you. ESRA regrets to announce that the 2025 Spaceport America Cup student team application submissions have been postponed. ESRA leadership continues to work with Spaceport America leadership to reach an acceptable launch operations agreement for the 2025 Cup. ESRA will not open the application submission period until this agreement can be finalized. We apologize for last minute announcement. Please follow HeroX and ESRA on social media for update announcements. Long-term T-minus listeners know that the Spaceport America Cup is very near and dear to our hearts here, so we will be absolutely sure to share updates on the 2025 Cup as soon as we have them. And that is it for T-minus for October 7th, 2024, brought to you by N2K Cyberwire. For additional resources from today's report, check out our show notes at space.n2k.com. And we'd love to know what you think of this podcast. Your feedback ensures we deliver the insights that keep you a step ahead in the rapidly changing space industry. If you like the show, please share a rating and short review on your favorite podcast app. Also please fill out the survey in the show notes or even send an email to space@n2k.com. We're privileged that N2K Cyberwire is part of the daily routine of the most influential leaders and operators in the public and private sector, from the Fortune 500 to many of the world's preeminent intelligence and law enforcement agencies. N2K makes it easy for companies to optimize your biggest investment, your people. We make you smarter about your teams while making your teams smarter. Learn how at N2K.com. This episode was produced by Alice Carruth. Our associate producer is Liz Stokes. We are mixed by Elliot Peltzman and Trey Hester with original music by Elliot Peltzman. Our executive producer is Jennifer Ivan. Our executive editor is Brandon Karp. Simone Petrella is our president. Peter, Kilpie is our publisher. And I am your host, Maria Varmaus. Thanks for listening. We'll see you tomorrow. [Music] Team, minus. [Music] [Music] [BLANK_AUDIO]