In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Scottish engineers consult with NASA on possible Mars bound humanoid.

Human Deep Space Exploration

Mars-bound humanoid robot built by Edinburgh scientists and NASA
Scotsman (5/4): Valkyrie, a NASA humanoid, has reached the University of Edinburgh in Scotland, where engineering researchers and students are working on upgrades. NASA is hopeful the towering robot’s successors will help pave the way for the human exploration of Mars. Valkyrie was designed to work safely alongside humans.

Students create Lunar Rover replica
Spaceflight Insider (5/4): Students from Ohio Northern University will deliver a drivable replica of the Lunar Roving Vehicle that was part of NASA’s final Apollo missions to the Armstrong Air & Space Museum, of Wapakoneta, Ohio, on Thursday. The rovers enabled the Apollo astronauts to extend their surface activities during their brief stays on the moon. NASA plans an enclosed version of the LRV for astronauts assigned to future Mars missions.

Space Science

Unexplained plume over Mars could be caused by solar outburst
New Scientist (5/4): New research by Swedish physicists suggests a towering plume rising from the Martian surface and noted in March 2012 by amateur astronomers is linked to occasional powerful solar eruptions called coronal mass ejections. NASA’s Maven orbiter measured the impact of a CME as it reached the red planet last year.

The origins of strange swirls on the Moon are coming to light 
Space.com (5/4): A weak lunar magnetic field is strong enough to offer the moon some protection from material steaming from the sun and believed responsible for the swirl like features observed on the surface. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter unveiled the evidence.

Where did Planet Nine come from?
Space.com (5/4): The possible origins of the suspected but yet to be observed Planet 9 are multiple. Among the possibilities: Nine was snagged by the sun, though not an original member of the solar system.

Pluto surprises again with reaction to solar wind
Cosmos (5/4): Distant Pluto’s interactions with the solar wind mimic those of a larger planet, according to scientists associated with NASA’s New Horizons mission. The New Horizons spacecraft, which carried out the first close encounter with the dwarf planet on July 14, continues to transmit data back to Earth as its journey continues.

Einstein’s equivalence principle put to test
Discovery.com (5/4): The French experiment “microscope” will test another of Einstein’s theories. Launched April 27 aboard the inaugural rocket mission from Russia’s Vostochny Cosmodrome, “microscope” will determine whether two objects of differing masses will fall at the same rate in a vacuum.

Low Earth Orbit 

The U.S. needs to stop pouring rocket money into Putin’s pockets
Defense One (5/3): It’s time for the U.S. to establish a strategy ending its dependence on imports of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine for the launching of national security payloads, according to the report. “With the Russian economy in a tailspin, President Vladimir Putin has been reorganizing his government’s structures to funnel more income to his confidantes and allies.”

Commercial to Low Earth Orbit

Specialists keep trying to establish contact with Russian nanosat launched from Vostochny
TASS, of Russia (5/4): Flight controllers have been unsuccessful in efforts to contact SamSat-218, launched April 28 as part of the inaugural rocket flight from Russia’s new Vostochny Cosmodrome.