In Today’s Deep Space Extra... SpaceX founder unveils a visionary plan to colonize Mars before an audience of international professionals, some enthusiastic, some skeptical.

Human Deep Space Exploration

Musk Shares Technical Details of His Dream for Mars Colonization

Spacepolicyonline.com (9/27): SpaceX founder Elon Musk presented a Mars settlement strategy on Tuesday before the International Astronautical Congress meeting in Guadalajara, one intended to make the human race a multi-planet species through the development of large, reusable spacecraft that can be refueled. “It was a visionary speech that appealed to many in the crowd, but despite Musk’s evident passion, many question the realism of his plans. Even Musk said that his immediate goal is to create the dream of Mars in people’s mind, to “make it seem possible in our lifetimes,” according to the report.

Elon Musk’s Plan: Get Humans to Mars, and Beyond

New York Times (9/27): A historically large rocket is a cornerstone of SpaceX founder Elon Musk’s long-term strategy to settle Mars with humans. Musk, who outlined his plans Tuesday before the International Astronautical Congress on Tuesday, estimated the development effort at $10 billion over the next several years.

Space Science

NASA’s Curiosity rover just licked a mountain

Universe Today (9/27): NASA’s Curiosity rover, exploring Gale Crater on Mars since 2012, is drilling into landscape at Mount Sharp that could reveal ancient environmental conditions.

First Comet-Orbiting Spacecraft Set to Crash-Land Friday

Space.com (9/27): The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission, the first to orbit a comet, will draw to a close on Friday. The Rosetta spacecraft will crash-land onto the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, after two years of close scrutiny.

Thomas Zurbuchen Appointed As New Head of Science at NASA

Spacepolicyonline.com (9/27): Zurbuchen succeeds John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut and astrophysicist, who retired from NASA in April as NASA’s associate administrator for science. Zurbuchen is a professor of space science and aerospace engineering at the University of Michigan.

Commercial to Low Earth Orbit

Cause of Earlier SpaceX Rocket Explosion Still Murky

Wall Street Journal (9/27): The underlying cause of a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch pad explosion at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., remains unclear, company founder Elon Musk told a news briefing at the International Astronautical Congress in Guadalajara on Tuesday. The explosion during fueling of the Falcon 9 has been linked to a failure of the helium pressurization system for the Falcon 9 second stage. The absence of a deeper explanation challenges the company’s plans to resume launches of the reusable rocket in November.

ULA, Air Force agree on Vulcan rocket certification process

Space News: United Launch Alliance and the U.S. Air Force sign agreements intended to lead to certification of ULA’s new Vulcan rocket for the launching of U.S. national security payloads. The military will review ULA’s overall flight history, vehicle design, reliability, process maturity, safety systems, manufacturing and operations, systems engineering, risk management and launch facilities and monitor at least two Vulcan flights as part of the process.

Russian aviation company to acquire Sea Launch

Space News (9/27): The S7 Group, a Russian holding company, will purchase Sea Launch assets from RSC Energia, an exchange estimated at $150 million.