In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A new White House U.S. National Space Strategy is to underpin U.S. leadership in space operations and exploration. The new 2018 omnibus appropriations measure boosts work on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and planetary science. Scheduled to launch soon, NASA’s TESS mission will seek new extra solar planets like Earth. NASA’s Curiosity rover passes the 2,000th Martian day mark.
Human Space Exploration
Space Launch System (SLS), planetary exploration get big boosts in NASA budget
Spaceflightnow.com (3/23): President Trump on Friday signed a $1.3 trillion federal, 2018 Omnibus appropriations bill, hours after the measure passed the U.S. Senate and a day after passage by the House. The spending measure includes $20.7 billion for NASA, or $1.6 billion more than the original White House request for 2018. Major beneficiaries include the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule, both cornerstones of U.S. efforts to resume human deep space exploration. Also, in addition to funding for the Europa Clipper flyby mission, the spending measure continues work on a Europa lander, an initiative cancelled by the former 2018 White House budget request. Europa is an ice and ocean covered moon of Jupiter with signs of geological activity.
Space Station crew returns to full strength with trio’s arrival on Russian Soyuz craft
GeekWire.com (3/24): Two days after liftoff, Russia’s Soyuz MS-08 docked with the International Space Station on Friday afternoon, delivering NASA’s Drew Feustel and Ricky Arnold as well as Russia’s Oleg Artemyev. The docking restored Space Station operations to six astronauts for the first time since late February.
New National Space Strategy emphasizes “America first” policies
Space News (3/24): On Friday, the White House released a statement previewing a new U.S. National Space Strategy. A more in depth fact sheet is to follow. “The strategy features four ‘essential pillars’ that constitute ‘a whole-of-government approach to United States leadership in space, in close partnership with the private sector and our allies’,” according to the statement.
Space Science
Meet TESS, seeker of alien worlds
New York Times (3/26): NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) was developed to survey stars in the Milky Way for signs of extra solar planets with Earth-like qualities, some perhaps as close as 10 to 15 light years. An April 6 launch is planned. TESS will carry on the work of the Kepler Space Telescope, launched in 2009 and credited with about 4,000 planet finds. Kepler, however, has overcome problems with its pointing mechanism but is running low on fuel.
Chennai: Chandrayaan-2 launch deferred
Deccan Chronicle of India (3/24): Chandrayaan-2, India’s second lunar mission, has been delayed from an April to an October launch for more testing. The mission is to place a rover at the moon’s south pole as companion to a lander and a lunar orbiter.
NASA’s Curiosity rover just spent its 2,000th day on Mars!
Space.com (3/24): NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars marked its 2,000 day on the Red Planet as it continued its climb up Mount Sharp within its Gale Crater landing site. Curiosity is expanding its search for past habitable environments on the Red Planet.
Other News
Tiangong-1 to fall to Earth over Easter weekend
SpaceflightInsider.com (3/25): The Space Debris Office of the European Space Agency has narrowed the window for the uncontrolled re-entry of China’s 8 1/2 ton, human tended Tiangong-1 space laboratory to between March 30 and April 3. In the U.S., the Aerospace Corp., targets the fall to Earth between March 29 and April 4, but most likely on April 1. Launched in 2011, the orbital station was inhabited by two crews of Chinese astronauts in 2012 and 2013.
Astronomer portrayed by Jodie Foster in ‘Contact’: Man will discover alien life by 2100
Florida Today (3/24): Noted astronomer Jill Tarter predicts that humans will find evidence for life beyond Earth within the 21st century, perhaps in the form of bio markers, possibly artifacts in space. Tarter, a pioneering SETI scientist, spoke at the Florida Institute of Technology.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of March 26-30, 2018
Spacepolicyonline.com (3/25): The NASA Advisory Council hosts a pair of sessions in Washington this week, one on human exploration and operations and one on technology and innovation. The National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine hosts its annual Space Science Week and the Universities Space Research Association its Return to the Moon: A Partnership of Government, Academia and Industry, both also from Washington. NASA plans news briefings on its upcoming Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite and Mars InSight mission launches.