Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. George Mueller, a pivotal NASA Apollo program manager, has died at 97. NASA appoints new managers to Orion and Space Launch System programs. Some researchers believe mining rocket fuels from the moon will hasten human explorations of Mars. Other experts believe new evidence of water on Mars makes it difficult for humans to explore without contaminating the red planet with terrestrial microbes. The first comprehensive New Horizons science assessment finds distant Pluto mysterious and complex. Strange star has Kepler fans wondering if they have found evidence of an alien intelligence. Scientists tally the impact of comet Siding Springs on Mars. NASA confronts the psychological challenges of launching astronauts to Mars. OneWeb executive explains the company’s plans to address orbital debris concerns.
Human Deep Space Exploration
George Mueller, NASA Apollo-era manager and ‘father of space shuttle,’ dies at 97
Collectspace.com (10/15): George Mueller, a key figure in NASA’s Apollo program, died Oct. 12 after a brief illness. Mueller, who helped to guide the space agency in Washington as the head of human spaceflight from 1963 to 1969, was 97. Mueller helped to accelerate the testing of the Saturn V rocket and Apollo systems making it possible to land Apollo astronauts on the moon in 1969.
NASA’s heavy-lift rocket and deep space capsule under new management
Spaceflightnow.com (10/14): In recent days, NASA has named new managers for its Orion capsule and Space Launch System exploration rocket. Both Orion and the SLS represent cornerstones in NASA’s plans to resume missions of human deep space exploration. At the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Mark Kirasich will manage Orion. At the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., John Honeycutt will manage Space Launch System development. It’s a critical time for the projects, which are to fly together for the first time in a test mission that will send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft around the moon in late 2018.
Can we get to Mars sooner if we refuel on the Moon?
Inverse (10/15): The moon and the production there of chemical rocket propellants found in resources in the lunar terrain are the key to reaching Mars with humans without the cost of launching propellants from the Earth, according to an MIT and University of Tokyo researcher.
Is it ethical to colonize Mars?
CNN (10/15): Recent findings from Martian studies suggest the red planet has seasonal water flows and billions of years ago hosted lakes, streams and deltas with sustained bodies of water. Those findings suggest Mars once had and may still have habitable environments. Those prospects have raised a new question: Can humans explore Mars without “infecting” the planet in ways that make it impossible to determine if there is a life source unrelated to Earth, writes Brian Patrick Green, an ethicist from Santa Clara University.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
The first New Horizons study reveals a fascinating, mysterious Pluto
Popular Mechanics (10/15): In their first science publication on the results of NASA’s New Horizons mission flyby of Pluto on July 14, principal investigator Alan Stern and his associates declare distant Pluto fascinating and mysterious.
First New Horizons study: Pluto is mountainous, flat, frozen, and complex
Christian Science Monitor (10/15): The first research paper detailing early results from NASA’s New Horizons July 14 flyby of distant Pluto reveals surface temperatures of minus 390 degrees F, a bedrock of water ice, glacial flows and recent geological activity linked to a possible internal heat source.
Are experts really searching for alien mega structures in space?
CBS News (10/15): A strange star, catalogued as KIC 8462852, exhibits large and irregular dips in brightness as NASA’s Kepler space telescope observes. Experts are puzzled. Some are wondering if the source is artificial — something devised by an extraterrestrial intelligence.
Comet’s close encounter with Mars dumped tons of dust on Red Planet
Space.com (10/15): In 2014, the comet Siding Springs swept close to the planet Mars. The comet left its mark with rock forming mineral deposits as well as carbon dioxide, nitrogen and carbon dioxide gases. Spacecraft in Martian orbit observed the encounter, providing details that made scientists wonder if similar encounters helped to shape other planets.
Low Earth Orbit
What NASA’s doing to help Mars astronauts fight stress
CNET (10/16): The stresses of isolation and confinement for future astronauts selected for Mars exploration missions include depression, fatigue, lack of motivation, irritability and loss of sleep. NASA scientists and astronauts assigned to the International Space Station are identifying and assessing the risks.
OneWeb pledges vigilance on orbital debris issue
Space News (10/15): OneWeb’s Mike Lindsay reports the British company plans to go beyond international convention in ensuring the company’s planned constellation of 720 small satellites do not add to orbital debris concerns. The satellite fleet will carry extra fuel and other features to help remove each from orbit within five years of becoming inactive. Launchings of the Internet satellites are planned to begin in 2017. Lindsay spoke at the 66th International Astronautical Congress in Jerusalem.