In Today’s Deep Space Extra… President Trump nominates U.S. Senate staffer James Morhard to become NASA’s deputy administrator. NASA’s Orion capsule stands up to rigorous Lockheed Martin ground testing.
Human Space Exploration
Trump will nominate Senate staffer to be deputy NASA administrator
Spacepolicyonline.com (7/12): President Trump’s nominee to be NASA’s deputy administrator is James Morhard, a U.S. Senate deputy sergeant at arms and staffer. The nomination was announced Thursday. Jim Bridenstine, the White House’s U.S. Senate confirmed choice for NASA administrator, had someone else in mind, Janet Kavandi, a former NASA astronaut and current director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Some are troubled by Morhard’s lack of aerospace experience.
Washington Post (7/12): White House nominee James Morhard to become NASA’s deputy administration may be just the candidate to cut through bureaucratic obstacles that have slowed the agency from forging a deep space trajectory.
White House nominates Morhard to be NASA deputy administrator
Space News (7/12): The White House nomination of James Morhard to serve as NASA’s deputy administration causes a stir. Despite his academic and legislative background, Morhard has little space policy experience.
How does NASA test for spacecraft safety? Brutalize a replica
Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin
Wired.com (7/12): In Denver, facilities operated by Lockheed Martin, NASA’s prime contractor for the Orion spacecraft that is to launch and return astronauts assigned to future deep space exploration missions, are host to a simulated version of the capsule as it undergoes ground tests to reveal possible threats from pressure and vibration.
The President’s mission to Mars is a real long shot
Roll Call (7/13): Reaching Mars with human explorers, perhaps by 2033, seems tough enough, even with significant bipartisan support in the White House and Congress. But there are concerns among supporters about cost and budget realities and risk. It’s been seven years since NASA retired the space shuttle, losing the nation’s capability to launch its own astronauts. Efforts to replace an aging Hubble Space Telescope with its James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) successor are also taking longer and proving more costly than expected. Transitioning the nation’s human exploration focus from low Earth orbit to deep space appears to depend on a significant contribution from the private sector to meet the challenge.
‘It’s part of the fabric of who I am’: Moon shot changed local landscape, lives
Florida Today (7/12): Monday will mark the 49th anniversary of the July 16, 1969 launch of Apollo 11, which delivered the first humans to the surface of another planetary body, as Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin touched down and walked on the Moon. Florida’s Space Coast is looking back at the glory and enthusiasm the Apollo era held for their community and the many who have journeyed to Cape Canaveral to watch rocket launches.
Space Science
NASA’s Fermi traces source of cosmic neutrino to monster black hole
NASA (7/12): For the first time the source of neutrinos from outside the Milky Way Galaxy have been identified by NASA’s Fermi Gamma Ray Space Telescope. The neutrino’s journey spanned 3.7 billion years. Their source is galaxy mergers and material falling into black holes. While discovered by a South Pole observatory, the source was tracked down by Fermi, which was launched in June 11, 2008.
Massive Mars dust storm won’t stop NASA’s next lander
Space.com (7/12): NASA’s latest Mars lander mission, InSight, launched in early May, ahead of a worrisome but not unprecedented global dust storm. InSight is to arrive in late November, and mission managers and scientists believe the storm should have subsided by then. But if it hasn’t, the landing strategy should be able to handle the touchdown, according to the mission’s chief scientist. InSight is to lower instruments below the Martian surface to study geophysical processes.
Martian ‘ghost dunes’ could preserve signs of ancient life
Space.com (7/12): A recent find, prolific crescent dunes on the Martian surface, may lead to detecting evidence of past or present life on Mars. The bottom of the depressions, found in images gathered by NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, likely formed long ago from lava or watery sediments that hardened over time. They are similar to features found on Earth.
Other News
AR-22 engine fired 10 times in as many days
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing
Spaceflightinsider.com (7/12): Aerojet Rocketdyne’s AR-22 rocket engine, with space shuttle heritage, completed 10 test firings in 10 days (June 6 to July 6), as part of a U.S. Defense Research Projects Agency project called Phantom Express, a rocket plane with a rapid turnaround performance. Each test firing lasted 100 seconds. Phantom Express, developed by Boeing, would loft smaller military satellites on national security missions.
Blue Origin to offer dual launch with New Glenn after fifth mission
Space News (7/12): After five launches with one satellite payload, Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket will be available to offer dual payloads launches as an option, Ted McFarland, the company’s Asia-Pacific business director told the APSAT conference in Jakarta, Indonesia, earlier this month. The New Glenn launch vehicle is to debut in late 2020. Dual launches on Europe’s Ariane 5 must be coordinated for payload mass, one large satellite and one smaller. That will not be necessary with New Glenn, said McFarland. Representatives from competitor companies on the same conference panel said they prefer to launch one satellite as the primary payload on each mission.