In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The latest in a series of isolation exercises simulating human journeys to Mars is underway in Utah.
Human Deep Space Exploration
80-Day Mock Mars Mission Begins Saturday in Utah
Space.com (9/23): A multinational team of nine volunteers began an 80-day Mars mission simulation at the Mars Desert Research Station in Utah on Saturday. The activities, sponsored by the Mars Society, are a forerunner to a longer Arctic simulation planned for the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station in northern Canada next summer.
Humanity’s Mars future envisioned in Boulder County author’s book, miniseries
Boulder (Colorado) Daily Camera (9/24): Author Leonard David’s “Mars — Our Future on the Red Planet,” looks to the future and humanity’s first journey to the red planet. The Oct. 25 book release will be followed by a six-part National Geographic Channel miniseries, “Mars,” “It will be arduous,” said David of the first mission along with a prediction that new propulsion technologies will shorten the long journey.
Is a moon village the next step for space exploration? ESA’s chief thinks so
The Guardian, of London (9/23): European Space Agency director general Jan Woerner believes an internationally supported lunar village offers the best post-International Space Station endeavor for human explorers to test technologies for missions deeper into the solar system. Jeff Hoffman, a former NASA astronaut, believes lunar missions could be a benefit if the infrastructures don’t become so costly they “suck up” the resources needed to reach Mars.
Lawmakers propose memorial for Apollo 1 astronauts at Arlington Cemetery
Collectspace.com (9/23): Legislation introduced by Dallas congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson would establish the Apollo 1 Memorial, a tribute to NASA astronauts Gus Grissom, Roger Chaffee and Ed White, at the Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. The three men perished in their command module during a training session at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on Jan. 27, 1967.
Jack Garman, Whose Judgment Call Saved Moon Landing, Dies at 72
New York Times (9/24): Nestled in NASA’s Mission Control, Garman quickly recognized the significance of the alarms flashing before Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin on July 20, 1969 as their Apollo 11 lunar lander Eagle descended toward the moon’s surface for humanity’s first landing. Then a 24-year-old back room software engineer, Garman sized up the message and informed his lead, Steve Bales, that the landing could proceed. Garman died last week near Houston, after a long career at NASA. He was 72.
Space Science
Evidence Mounts for Ocean on Jupiter’s Moon Europa
Seeker (9/26): NASA on Monday plans to announce a new discovery regarding Jupiter’s moon Europa made with the Hubble Space Telescope. Previous observations by NASA’s Voyager flyby missions and Galileo, a Jupiter orbiter, as well as Hubble suggest Europa has an icy surface with a subsurface ocean, potentially a habitable environment.
China’s giant telescope may lead to “discoveries beyond wildest imagination:” U.S. expert
Xinhuanet, of China (9/25): China’s new radio telescope, the largest in the world and nicknamed Eye of Heaven, came online Sunday. China plans to make it available to researchers from around the world. In addition to seeking signals from distant intelligent life, the new observatory could detect the deep space distribution of the complex organic molecules that form the building blocks of life.
MOM completes two years of Mars orbit
Deccan Chronicle, of India (9/24): India’s Mars Orbiter Mission marked its second year at the red planet on Saturday. Now flying beyond its design life, MOM is studing the composition of the Martian surface and atmosphere. India is the first nation to successfully stage a Mars mission on its first attempt.
How deep does Pluto’s ocean go? Would you believe nine times deeper than Earth’s?
Geek Wire (9/23): Pluto’s subsurface ocean extends to depths of a surprising 60 miles, according to a study based on computer modeling and published this month in Geophysical Research Letters.
Low Earth Orbit
Are cubesats a nuisance to space situational awareness efforts?
Space News (9/23): So far 417 CubeSats have been launched this year. Their missions should be considered of value and not an untrackable source of manmade debris that could collide with other spacecraft, according to an expert from the Institute of Defense Analyses’ Science and Technology Policy Institute. Bhavya Lal spoke at the Advanced Maui Optical and Space Surveillance Technologies Conference in Hawaii.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
SpaceX explosion: ‘Large breach’ took place in helium system in second stage of rocket
Los Angeles Times (9/23): SpaceX disclosed Friday that the investigation it leads into a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion of a Falcon 9 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., was triggered by a breach of the helium pressurization system for the second stage oxygen propellant tank. The second stage of a Falcon 9 was also the source of an in-flight explosive failure of a NASA contracted cargo mission to the International Space Station in June 2015. The latest blast occurred during preparations for a pre-launch test firing of the Falcon 9’s first stage main engines.
India declares success on PSLV’s most complex mission
Spaceflightnow.com (9/26): Eight satellites, including a tropical cyclone tracker, reached orbit atop India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle early Monday, local time. The lift-off from the Satish Dhawan Space Center occurred Sunday at 11:42 p.m., EDT.
Suborbital
A 21st Century Renaissance in high altitude ballooning
Space News (9/25): High altitude balloons could provide a common platform for scientists, the private sector and those pursing markets for advanced technologies as well as tourists.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of September 26-30, 2016
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/25): In Washington, the U.S. House and Senate face an end-of-the-week deadline for passage of a budget continuing resolution to transition from the 2016 to 2017 fiscal year on Saturday, Oct. 1 without a government shutdown. None of a dozen federal appropriations bills have been passed into law. Meanwhile, Guadalajara, Mexico is hosting the International Astronautical Congress all this week. On Tuesday, the House Space Subcommittee will host a hearing on China’s space initiatives.