RSID: <<2025-12-057T00:31Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>
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Welcome to program 428 of Shortwave Radiogram.

I'm Kim Andrew Elliott in Arlington, Virginia USA.

Here is the lineup for today's program, in MFSK modes as noted:

  1:40 MFSK32: Program preview (now)
  2:51 MFSK32: Solar arrays will be manufactured in space by 2027
  8:56 MFSK64: Trips to Mars need protection from cosmic rays
13:56 MFSK64: This week's images
27:52 MFSK32: Closing announcements


Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

And visit http://swradiogram.net

We're on Bluesky now: SWRadiogram.bsky.social

And X/Twitter: @SWRadiogram





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From New Atlas:

Solar arrays will be manufactured in space by 2027

By David Szondy
December 2, 2025

Commercial spaceflight is booming and looks to go into full-on
kaboom stage in the near future, sparking the need for an
ever-increasing supply of solar panels. To fill this need, Dcubed
is developing its ARAQYS system to directly manufacture arrays in
orbit.

Aside from a few nuclear power systems in military and research
satellites, solar panels are the overwhelming choice for powering
spacecraft in Earth orbit. Given all that sunlight unimpeded by
atmosphere, weather, or the aggravatingly regular occurrence of
night, the Sun makes perfect sense as a power source.

However, there is a problem: solar panels and their support
structures tend to be a bit on the heavy side and they have to be
packed away during transportation and launching. This results in
two major drawbacks. First, the panels need a mechanism to unfold
them in orbit, which adds weight and volume. Second, this
mechanism must be capable of withstanding the acceleration
forces, vibrations, and acoustic stresses of a rocket launch.

All of that ups the costs while detracting from the available
payload volume and mass.

Dcubed hopes to skirt these problems this with its new ARAQYS
system, which doesn't deploy solar panels. It manufactures them
in space with what the company claims is a significant reduction
in cost per kilowatt.

The system is based on a highly compact and flexible ultrathin
soft solar blanket that acts as the collection panel and can
unroll once the satellite reaches orbit. As it does so, a 3D
printer system prints a rigid back structure to the blanket array
membrane. As it does so, the hard UV radiation of space rapidly
cures the resin, making it hard. This means a reduction of costs
that a company spokesman estimates to be in orders of magnitude.

The current plan is to launch a series of demonstration missions
into orbit, with the first one aimed at constructing a 60-cm
(2-ft) boom later this year. This will be followed by a more
ambitious 1-m (3-ft) version and an operational 2-kW demo in
2027. From there, commercial products are expected to go on sale.

Once the technology has matured, it will have a wide variety of
satellite applications, including power-beaming arrays, space
tugs, and data processing constellations.

"Dcubed is fully committed to leading the next frontier: power
generation in orbit," said Dr. Thomas Sinn, CEO of Dcubed. "My
involvement in a NASA NIAC study on space-based solar power more
than 15 years ago set this journey in motion. Since then, we've
been steadily developing the technologies required to make
in-space energy a practical reality. With ARAQYS, we're now
combining those years of innovation into affordable large-scale
power solutions designed to meet the demands of the rapidly
growing space economy."

https://newatlas.com/space/dcubed-solar-array-manufacture-orbit/
 

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Shortwave Radiogram now changes to MFSK64 ...


RSID: <<2025-12-057T00:38Z MFSK-64 @ 9265000+1500>>.
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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

From The Conversation:

Before trips to Mars, we need better protection from cosmic rays

Zahida Sultanova, University of East Anglia
December 2, 2025

The first step on the Moon was one of humanity's most exciting
accomplishments. Now scientists are planning return trips – and
dreaming of Mars beyond.

Next year, Nasa's Artemis II mission will send four astronauts to
fly around the Moon to test the spacecraft before future
landings. The following year, two astronauts are expected to
explore the surface of the Moon for a week as part of Nasa's
Artemis III mission.

And finally, the trip to Mars is planned for the 2030s. But
there's an invisible threat standing in the way: cosmic rays.

When we look at the night sky, we see stars and nearby planets.
If we're lucky enough to live somewhere without light pollution,
we might catch meteors sliding across the sky. But cosmic rays –
consisting of protons, helium nuclei, heavy ions and electrons –
remain hidden. They stream in from exploding stars (galactic
cosmic rays) and our very own sun (solar particle events).

They don't discriminate. These particles carry so much energy and
move so fast that they can knock electrons off atoms and disrupt
molecular structures of any material. That way, they can damage
everything in their path, machines and humans alike.

The Earth's magnetic field and atmosphere shield us from most of
this danger. But outside Earth's protection, space travellers
will be routinely exposed. In deep space, cosmic rays can break
DNA strands, disrupt proteins and damage other cellular
components, increasing the risk of serious diseases such as
cancer.

The research challenge is straightforward: measure how cosmic
rays affect living organisms, then design strategies to reduce
their damage.

Ideally, scientists would study these effects by sending tissues,
organoids (artificially made organ-like structures) or lab
animals (such as mice) directly into space. That does happen, but
it's expensive and difficult. A more practical approach is to
simulate cosmic radiation on Earth using particle accelerators.

Cosmic ray simulators in the US and Germany expose tissues,
plants and animals to different components of cosmic rays in
sequence. A new international accelerator facility being built in
Germany will reach even higher energies, matching levels found in
space that have never been tested on living organisms.

But these simulations aren't fully realistic. Many experiments
deliver the entire mission dose in a single treatment. This is
like using a tsunami to study the effects of rain.

In real space, cosmic rays arrive as a mixture of high-energy
particles hitting simultaneously, not one type at a time. My
colleagues and I have suggested building a multi-branch
accelerator that could fire several tuneable particle beams at
once, recreating the mixed radiation of deep space under
controlled laboratory conditions. For now, though, this kind of
facility exists only as a proposal.

Beyond better testing, we need better protection. Physical
shields seem like the obvious first defence. Hydrogen-rich
materials such as polyethylene and water-absorbing hydrogels can
slow charged particles. Although they are used, or planned to be
used, as spacecraft materials, their benefits are limited.

Particularly galactic cosmic rays, the ones that arrive from far
exploding stars, are so energetic that they can penetrate through
physical shielding. They can even generate secondary radiation
that increases exposure. So, effective protection by using solely
physical shields remains a major challenge.

Nature's armour

That's why scientists are exploring biological strategies. One
approach is to use antioxidants. These molecules can protect DNA
from harmful chemicals that are produced when cosmic rays hit
living cells.

Supplementing with CDDO-EA, a synthetic antioxidant, reduces
cognitive damage caused by simulated cosmic radiation in female
mice. In the study, mice exposed to simulated cosmic radiation
learned a simple task more slowly compared to unexposed mice.
However, mice that received the synthetic antioxidant performed
normally despite being exposed to simulated cosmic radiation.

Another approach involves learning from organisms with
extraordinary abilities. Hibernating organisms become more
resistant to radiation during hibernation. The mechanisms on how
hibernation protects from radiation are not fully understood yet.
Still, inducing hibernation-like conditions in non-hibernating
animals is possible and can make them more radioresistant.

Tardigrades – microscopic creatures also known as water bears –
are also extremely radioresistant, especially when dehydrated.
Although we can't hibernate or dehydrate astronauts, the
strategies these organisms use to protect cellular components
might help us preserve other organisms during long space
journeys.

Microbes, seeds, simple food sources and even animals that could
later become our companions might be kept in a protected state
for a while. Under calmer conditions, they could then be brought
back to full activity. Therefore, understanding and harnessing
these protective mechanisms could prove crucial for future space
journeys.

A third strategy focuses on supporting organisms' own stress
responses. Stressors on Earth, such as starvation or heat, have
driven organisms to evolve cellular defences that protect DNA and
other cellular components. In a recent preprint (a paper that is
yet to be peer reviewed), my colleague and I suggest that
activating these mechanisms through specific diets or drugs may
offer additional protection in space.

Physical shields alone won't be enough. But with biological
strategies, more experiments in space and on Earth, and the
construction of new dedicated accelerator complexes, humanity is
getting closer to making routine space travel a reality. With
current speed, we are probably decades away from fully solving
cosmic-ray protection. Greater investment in space radiation
research could shorten that timeline.

The ultimate goal is to journey beyond Earth's protective bubble
without the constant threat of invisible, high-energy particles
damaging our bodies and our spacecraft.

https://theconversation.com/before-trips-to-mars-we-need-better-protection-from-cosmic-rays-268934
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This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK64

Please send your reception report to radiogram@verizon.net
 

This week's images ...
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Sunset as seen from Dundee, Scotland. tinyurl.com/2btqc3tl ...

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The Cold Moon rising in the Washington DC area, December 3.
tinyurl.com/2b3xjkht ...

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A waxing moon with "halo" above Washington DC, November 29.
tinyurl.com/25b4qyf5 ...

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Red cypresses shedding leaves at the Arboretum Kórnickie in
Poland, December 1. tinyurl.com/28ygyrlp ...

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Last of the fall colors at Humboldt Redwoods State Park in
northern California. tinyurl.com/28rwddas ...

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The holiday light show in fresh snow at the Morton Arboretum,
near Chicago, November 30. tinyurl.com/25uholoa ...

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Sunrise at Monte Sano State Park in northern Alabama, November
24. tinyurl.com/27uqd3e6 ...

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Our painting of the week is "Dishes" (1964) by James Rosenquist
(American, 1933-2017). tinyurl.com/2d89gswp ...

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Shortwave Radiogram returns to MFSK32 ...

 

RSID: <<2025-12-05T00:57Z MFSK-32 @ 9265000+1500>>


This is Shortwave Radiogram in MFSK32 ...


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Please send reception reports to radiogram@verizon.net

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I'm Kim Elliott. Please join us for the next Shortwave
Radiogram.
 

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