Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA and Lockheed Martin make changes to Orion capsule fairing separation system in response to December flight test. Star explosion solves a mystery over lithium production. NASA offers names for mountains and craters on the dwarf planet Ceres. Pluto and large moon Charon share red. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter moves to assist with the late 2016 InSight mission landing. Funding clash could sideline Puerto Rico’s Arecibo observatory from accelerated alien life search. NASA offers sounds of Earth from Voyager spacecraft. Russia formally informs International Space Station partners of plans to extend operations from 2020 to 2024. Russia makes plans for new national spaceflight center. Astronauts demonstrate powerful new camera aboard the International Space Station. Brown dwarf star proves rich source of aurora. NASA officials warn $1.2 billion in commercial crew funds for 2016 are crucial to 2017 launch plans. Russia cuts cost of International Space Station mission for guest Kazakh cosmonaut.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Lockheed Martin successfully tests design changes for Orion Spacecraft’s Fairing Separation System
Silicon Valley Business Journal (7/29): Lockheed Martin, NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule prime contractor, makes changes to the separation system for the capsule’s protective fairings. The changes came from data gathered during the capsule’s first unpiloted orbital test flight on Dec. 5. The modifications affect springs that eject the fairings, lower mass and pull away protective covers on guidance system star trackers. Orion is a cornerstone of U.S. planning to resume human deep space exploration.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Exploding star solves cosmic mystery
Science Magazine (7/29): A stellar explosion addresses the mystery over the source of lithium.
Dwarf planet Ceres’ mountains and craters get names in NASA maps
Space.com (7/29): NASA assigns names to the mountains and craters of the large asteroid Ceres. The agency’s Dawn spacecraft settled into orbit around Ceres in March and is moving to successfully lower orbits. The names are culled from agricultural spirits and gods.
Mystery solved? Why Pluto’s big moon Charon has a red pole
Space.com (7/29): The red stain on the polar region of Charon, Pluto’s largest moon, may be deposits from the atmosphere of Pluto, according to data gathered by NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft.
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is preparing for a new arrival
Discovery.com (7/29): NASA’s long running mission to Mars, the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, maneuvered on Wednesday to prepare for its duties as a communications relay during the landing of the agency’s Mars InSight spacecraft. InSight, which will study the Martian interior, is scheduled for a March 2016 lift off. Landing on Mars would follow later in the year.
Search for alien life ignites battle over giant telescope
Scientific American (7/29): A rift between the National Science Foundation and SETI may prevent Puerto Rico’s Arecibo Observatory from participating in a new push to find evidence of extraterrestrial life. Wealthy Russian businessman Yuri Milner was joined by physicist Stephen Hawking and others earlier this month to announce plans to a stepped up search.
Listen to the Earth sounds NASA recorded for aliens
Washington Post (7/29): NASA has released the sound track from recordings of the Earth dispatched into deep space aboard a pair of Voyager spacecraft in the mid-1970s — just in case the space probes encountered alien intelligence.
Low Earth Orbit
Russia formally commits to Space Station through 2024
Space News (7/29): Russia has formally committed its intent to extend International Space Station operations from 2020 to 2024 to the program’s major partners, NASA, the European Space Agency and the space agencies of Japan and Canada. President Obama proposed the extension in early 2014. Russia joins Canada, which agreed to the extension earlier this year. That leaves the European Space Agency and Japan as undecided.
Roscosmos to set up National Manned Spaceflight Center
Sputnik News (7/27): Veteran cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev will lead Russia’s future national center for manned flights to space, according to the report from Sputnik News. The new Russian facility will be modeled after NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The changes have not been officially announced in Russia
NASA tests new camera at Space Station
Reuters (7/29): International Space Station crews experiment with a new high resolution camera that could be used for science investigations as well as external operations like spacecraft dockings.
Monstrous aurora detected beyond our Solar System
Space.com (7/29): Just 18 light years from the Earth, the Brown dwarf star LSR J1835+3259 sports an aurora display 10,000 times more energetic that anything like it observed previously.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
NASA says Commercial Crew milestone changes don’t affect budget request
Space News (7/29): NASA’s Commercial Crew Program could be forced to issue stop work orders, even re-negotiate contracts with Boeing and SpaceX for the development of the CST-100 and crewed Dragon capsules, thus slowing plans to launch astronauts by late 2017, if Congress does not approve the agency’s $1.2 billion budget request for 2016, program officials tell the NASA Advisory Council on Wednesday. So far, the House has agreed to $1 billion, the Senate $900 million. Then, there is the prospect the Senate and House cannot agree on a 2016 budget as the fiscal year begins Oct. 1. A long budget continuing resolution would restrict CCP to $805 million, the 2015 level. Those outcomes would force NASA to extend agreements with the Russians to launch astronauts to the International Space Station, cautioned Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations. The council is meeting at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Kazakhstan gets Russian trip to Space Station 3 times cheaper than NASA
Moscow Times (7/29): Russia offers a deep discount to Kazakhstan for cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov’s September mission to the International Space Station compared to fees charged NASA.