In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano offers a rugged, isolated setting for a human Mars mission simulation.
Human Deep Space Exploration
New York Times (5/31): Six volunteers are living in isolation on Hawaii’s Mauna Loa volcano as part of a NASA funded study to prepare for the future human exploration of Mars. Learn how the Hi-SEAS 5 mission came together, who is participating and how they overcome the challenges.
Space Science
NASA is finally sending a mission to touch the sun
Time (5/30): NASA’s Solar Probe Plus mission, which the space agency plans to discuss on Wednesday, is scheduled to launch next summer and fly through the sun’s corona, or upper atmosphere, as many as two dozen times through mid-2025.
NASA eyes a possible landing on Jupiter’s Europa
PBS (5/29): NASA is setting its sights on getting a much closer look at Jupiter’s moon, Europa, and the mysterious ocean hidden beneath its icy crust. With two orbital missions by NASA and the European Space Agency in the works, NASA is looking further into the future toward a possible mission to put a robot on the surface.
Schiaparelli did more things right than it did wrong
The Space Review (5/30): Searching for life on Mars has been a challenge. The European Space Agency’s joint mission with Russia, the Exo Mars Schiaparelli lander, was the latest attempt to advance the effort with an October 16, 2016 red planet landing that failed. Russian plant physiologist Svetoslav Alexandrov, however, asserts that the companion Trace Gas Orbiter and a long-planned follow-on surface rover will continue the effort. Schiaparelli achieved at least seven objectives, he writes.
Cassini survives closest brush with Saturn’s inner ring
Space News (5/30): The latest of the Saturn orbiting Cassini spacecraft’s orbital passes between the planet and its inner most ring unfolded Sunday with Cassini’s dish communications antenna acting as a shield against potentially treacherous ice and dust particle impacts. More of the close passes are planned before Cassini makes a destructive dive into Saturn’s atmosphere in September. NASA’s mission partners include the European and Italian space agencies. Cassini maneuvered into orbit around Saturn in 2004.
Rings and asteroids may explain ‘alien megastructure’ star
Space News (5/30): A large ringed planet and asteroids, rather than structures assembled by an alien intelligence, may best explain the periodic dimming of Tabby’s Star, according to findings from a recent set of observations. Some experts speculated a Dyson Sphere might be responsible for the changes.
ISS and Low Earth Orbit
NASA’s new ISS experiment will study mysterious pulsars
Popular Mechanics (5/29): Two NASA science projects, the Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) and the Station Explorer for X-ray Timing and Navigation Technology (SEXTANT), are headed for the International Space Station aboard the next NASA contracted SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station. NICER will study the mysteries of pulsars, a rapidly spinning form of neutron star. When paired with SEXTANT, NICER will pioneer a kind of deep space navigation system similar to that of the U.S. Global Positioning Satellite System. The cargo mission is set for launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Thursday evening.
Commercial crew vehicles may fall short of safety threshold
Space News (5/30): NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners, Boeing and SpaceX, will be challenged to meet NASA safety standards as they begin uncrewed and crewed test flights of the CST-100 Starliner and crewed Dragon capsules in the coming months, according to presentations at a recent meeting of the NASA Safety Advisory Panel at the Marshall Space Flight Center. However, William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, has cautioned that incorporating too many backup systems in the spacecraft could introduce unwanted risk inducing complexity.
Finally, liftoff for small launchers
The Space Review (5/30): Los Angeles based Rocket Lab demonstrated a dedicated launch vehicle capability for small satellites last week. Launched from New Zealand, the Electron rocket reached space but did not achieve orbit on its first mission. “For a test flight, it went a lot further than certainly we expected,” explained Rocket Lab CEO Peter Beck.
International Developments
ESA to assist China’s Chang’e-5 mission to the moon and back
GB Times, of Finland (5/30): The European Space Agency will provide ground station tracking and commanding links for China’s Chang’e-5 lunar sample return mission. Scheduled for launch in November, Chang’e-5 would become the first mission to gather samples of the moon for return to Earth in 40 years.
33 ambassadors from around the world visit Pittsburgh to “Experience America”
Coalition Member in the News
NextPittsburgh.com (5/26): Ambassadors from nearly three dozen countries departed Washington for Pittsburgh last week as part of Experience America, a campaign to acquaint top foreign diplomats with the U.S. outside of the capitol. In Pittsburg’s Strip District the visitors stopped at Astrobotic, a leader in developing robotics for lunar missions.
Companies, lawyers argue against changing Outer Space Treaty
Space News (5/26): Investors and legal experts suggest that changing the 50-year-old Outer Space Treaty will not encourage commercial interests to explore space for the identification and eventual mining of potentially valuable resources in testimony presented before the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee’s space subcommittee. Commercial goals may be better served with domestic legislation and regulation, according to testimony presented May 23, the second in a series of Congressional hearings on possible efforts to change the treaty.