Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA astronaut Scott Kelly is finding that his marathon mission aboard the International Space Station may be something like a mission to Mars. Earthlings may find benefits from NASA studies of astronaut vision changes. Scientists debate what should be off limits to Mars bound robotic and human spacecraft to avoid contamination of possible habitable areas. NASA Associate Administrator for Science John Grunsfeld discusses coming strides in robotic exploration. The Laser Interferometer-Gravitational Wave Observatory resumes the search for elusive gravitational waves. India’s Mars mission marks one year anniversary. The European Rosetta mission at Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko unravels an ice cycle. NASA astronaut Timothy Creamer, a veteran International Space Station resident, opts for a flight director post. Russia launches multiple military satellites. U.S. budget chaos looms as the unfunded Oct. 1 start of the 2016 fiscal year approaches. Orbital ATK joins Boeing in the loss of foreign satellite business due to a U.S. Export-Import Bank lapse. National security and commercial groups back policies that will permit the private sector to one day inherit NASA’s International Space Station duties.

Human Deep Space Exploration

How a NASA astronaut is paving the way to Mars
Space.com (9/23): Earlier this month, U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly passed the halfway point in his near yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station, just one of the activities NASA is engaged in to prepare for the future human exploration of Mars. Asked occasionally if he would like to make the long trip to the red planet, Kelly says yes — if he could return to Earth. As an astronaut on the station, or en route to Mars, Kelly must be a scientist, medical officer, farmer and at times a plumber.

Space flight affects astronauts’ vision
Florida Today (9/24): Ophthalmology, the medical discipline associated with human eyesight, could become a major space program beneficiary. Currently, NASA is involved in a major study of the vision changes in astronauts that accompanies long space missions like those contemplated to Mars in the future. A leading theory for the cause of a blurring of eyesight is a shift of bodily fluids from the lower to the upper torso in the absence of gravity. The shift appears to alter the shape of the eyeball. NASA’s research focus on causes and countermeasures may benefit diabetics and glaucoma patients, according to an op-ed by a Florida ophthalmologist.

Mars’ mysterious dark streaks spur exploration debate
Space.com (9/23): How close should robotic spacecraft, even human explorers, come to sites on Mars where moisture and thermal conditions might be sufficient to propagate microbes from Earth. Scientists from the U.S. and Europe discuss how close is too close to cloud the possibility of identifying home grown life on Mars.

Unmanned Deep Space Exploration

‘Hubble hugger’ at the helm
Space News (9/23): One time astronaut and current NASA associate administrator for science John Grunsfeld discusses the challenges of developing the James Webb Space Telescope, which he describes as “transformational,” and investing in space telescope instrumentation capable of studying the atmospheres of exo-planets.

Hunt for gravitational waves resumes
Science Insider (9/23): A more sensitive Laser Interferometer-Gravitational Wave Observatory resumes its search for gravitational waves, a manifestation of ripples in space and time. The instrument is a scientific collaboration among more than 900 scientists.

Isro to reveal Mar’s methane secret on Thursday
Times of India (9/23): Thursday will mark one year since India’s Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft maneuvered into orbit around Mars. India intends to mark the milestone with new information about methane in the Martian atmosphere, a gas that may have a biological source.

Sublime surprise: Rosetta’s comet cycles its ice
Space.com (9/23): The European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft has charted the appearance and dissipation of ice on the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Shifts from shadow to sunlight underpin the transition. The cycling may influence the already noted strange shape of the comet.

Low Earth Orbit

From flight crew to Flight: NASA names its first astronaut-turned-flight director
Collectspace.com (9/22): NASA astronaut Timothy “TJ” Creamer turns flight director. Creamer’s bio includes 161 days aboard the International Space Station in 2010.

Rokot carrier with military satellites launched from Plesetsk facility
Sputnik News, of Russia (9/24): A Russian Rokot launch vehicle successfully places multiple satellites in Earth orbit early Thursday.

Commercial to Low Earth Orbit

Fiscal irresponsibility, the sequel
Space News (9/23): The likely absence of a 2016 U.S. federal budget before the start of the new fiscal year on Oct. 1 casts the threat of budgetary chaos over key civil and military space activities. At NASA, the agency’s Commercial Crew Program, an initiative to re-establish a U.S. human space launch capability before the end of 2017, could mean additional time in the already delayed effort and ultimately more money for Russia to transport American astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Orbital blames lost satellite deal on Export-Import closure 
Space News (9/21): Orbital ATK joins Boeing in the loss of foreign satellite sales because the U.S. Export-Import Bank was not been re-authorized by the U.S. Congress. The current authorization lapsed July 1. Orbital’s pending sale was with the government of Azerbaijan. Boeing experienced a similar sales loss of a satellite to Hong Kong and was informed by a Singapore based enterprise not to compete for a sale unless U.S. Export-Import Bank financing was available.

Panel: Seamless transition to commercial LEO Space Station needed
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/23): The Secure World Foundation and Alliance for Space Development call for U.S. policies that ensure the private sector can inherit activities in low Earth orbit currently carried out aboard the International Space Station. NASA is urging an extension of space station operations from 2020 to 2024.