Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. If faced with a U.S. government shutdown at mid-week, NASA would continue operations of the International Space Station and ground tests of the James Webb Space Telescope. Lockheed Martin/NASA use December test flight data to upgrade the heat shield for the four person Orion capsule. In the soon to open film drama The Martian, science and engineering claim top billing. Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin calls for international cooperation in the quest to reach Mars with humans. Sunday’s rare supermoon lunar eclipse thrills. NASA to host Mars science announcement on Monday, while the agency’s 11-year old Opportunity rover prepares to seek clues about past Martian environments from Marathon Valley. India builds its space status with the launch of Astrosat, a Hubble like space observatory. California congressman Keven McCarthy, a commercial space backer, is considered a potential successor to U.S. House Speaker John Boehner, who plans to retire in late October. A recent SpaceX static fire marks a milestone in the company’s Falcon 9 recovery. Zero Gravity Corp. marks 10 years of commercial parabolic flights and 12,000 clients with a price cut for the remainder of 2015.

NASA’s 2016 Budget

NASA updates government shutdown plans
Space News (9/25): The U.S. federal government faces a shutdown at mid-week unless the House, Senate and White House can agree on a continuing budget resolution based on 2015 spending levels.  At NASA, an Oct. 1 shutdown would furlough most of the agency’s 17,324 full and part-time workers. Those exempt include personnel involved in the 24/7 support of the International Space Station and a ground test of the James Webb Space Telescope. The government’s 2016 fiscal year starts Thursday, Oct. 1.

Human Deep Space Exploration

NASA makes improvements to Orion heat shield with data gathered from EFT-1
AmericaSpace.com (9/26): NASA/Lockheed Martin’s Orion crew exploration capsule circled the Earth twice during its first space test flight on Dec. 5. Data from the heavily instrumented spacecraft is now being used to prepare the four person spacecraft for its second space test flight, an unpiloted late 2018 journey around the moon and back to Earth for a parachute assisted splashdown. A major focus is the heat shield, which is being assembled in blocks for the second flight. “The heat shield we put to the test during Orion’s flight test last December met every expectation we had and gave us a tremendous amount of data on its thermal and mechanical performance,” said Mark Kirasich, NASA’s Acting Orion Program Manager. “But the process of building the heat shield as a single piece for that flight also gave us insight into how we could improve the way we build this essential element of the spacecraft.”

Review: In `The Martian,’ science itself becomes an action hero
The Washington Post (9/25): Big name movie stars like Matt Damon give way to the draw of science and engineering in the new science fiction film drama The Martian, set to open in theaters Oct. 2. The film offers a fictional account of a NASA astronaut stranded on Mars, his ingenuity and efforts to rescue him.

Dream of humans on Mars persists despite challenges

The Houston Chronicle (9/25): The much anticipated Oct. 2 opening of The Martian, a space film drama focused on a future mission to Mars, is expected to gather new interest around NASA’s goal of reaching the red planet with humans. Hum Mandell, first as a NASA engineer then as a retiree, has been involved in preparations since 1962, watching expensive strategies come and go. Organizing the effort to include streamlined leadership, private sector efficiencies and resources provide by international partners is key to eventual success, according to Mandell.

Aldrin calls for international cooperation on space exploration
Spaceflight Insider (9/25): Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin calls for international cooperation in the future human exploration of space during a speaking engagement in Seoul, South Korea. China should be included in the partnership along with India and South Korea, said Aldrin, who advocates the human exploration of Mars.

Unmanned Deep Space Exploration

‘Supermoon’ total lunar eclipse thrills sky watchers around the world
Space.com (9/28): On Sunday night, the first “supermoon” total lunar eclipse in more than three decades intrigued sky watchers across the Western Hemisphere and parts of Europe, Africa and Asia — where skies were clear.  Presentation features a selection of color photographs.

NASA to announce “major science finding” about Mars
USA Today (9/28): Top NASA Mars scientists plan to unveil a major scientific finding about Mars and its environment on Monday. The findings may involve the presence of liquid water.

NASA rover prepares for busy Martian winter
Orlando Sentinel (9/26): Now into its 12th year on Mars, NASA’s Opportunity rover is preparing to survey a region called Marathon Valley for clay minerals that could help to explain past Martian environments.

Low Earth Orbit

India launches Astrosat, Asia’s unique eye in space
Asia Times (9/28): India launched its first space observatory, a Hubble-like space telescope, on Monday. Astrosat will study the life cycles of stars as well as blackholes, quasars and neutron stars in multiple wavelengths. The launch included a half dozen nanosatellites, including some from the U.S. and Canada.

Commercial to Low Earth Orbit

Commercial space supporter leading candidate to become next House Speaker
Space News (9/28): U.S. House Speaker John Boehner offered his surprise resignation on Friday, effective at the end of October. His possible successor, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, a California congressman, is a staunch supporter of commercial space activities.

First static fire completed on upgraded Falcon 9
Spaceflightnow.com (9/25): SpaceX conducted a static fire ground test of its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket at its Central Texas test facility on Sept. 21. SpaceX is recovering from a June 28 launch failure of the Falcon 9, with plans to resume launches as soon as mid-November with the upgraded version of the Falcon 9 and a European communications satellite as the primary payload. The June failure resulted in the loss of a supply mission bound for the International Space Station.

Suborbital

Zero Gravity Corporation celebrates 10 years of weightless flights
Space.com (9/25): Virginia based Zero Gravity Corp., has been providing paying customers with brief periods of weightlessness by flying parabolic arcs aboard a specially modified Boeing 727 aircraft for a decade. More than 12,000 clients  have flown for science and recreation. Zero G has announced a cost reduction for the remainder of 2015.

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

Major space related activities for the week of September 28-October 2, 2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/26): The U.S. House and Senate have just a few days to agree on a Continuing Resolution to keep the federal government operating beyond the end of the 2015 fiscal year, Sept. 30, or Wednesday. On Monday, NASA will host an announcement regarding a major Mars science discovery. On Tuesday, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee hosts a hearing on astrobiology. The science based film drama The Martian opens in theaters on Friday.