Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. A 2016 federal budget lapse could disrupt NASA, national security space priorities. U.S. moon, Mars human exploration initiatives need more leadership, less politics, say Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and former presidential contender Newt Gingrich. Idaho’s Craters offer lessons for Mars exploration. Large asteroid Ceres stars in Dawn mission imagery. NASA, Stanford and MIT explore small Hedgehog landers for low gravity planetary missions. Northern Lights glow in response to solar wind surge. Mike Suffredini, NASA’s retiring International Space Station program manager, sees long life for orbital lab and a market for a commercial successor. NASA’s Scott Kelly transitions to International Space Station commander. Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen tests orbital commanding of robots on planetary surfaces. Russia advances Soyuz mission avionics upgrades. Rising seas could be a problem for NASA launch sites. New publication unveils Earth at night from International Space Station. Boeing christens new CST-100 the Starliner during grand opening of new Kennedy Space Center processing facility. Space Florida backs Central Florida’s Shiloh for commercial launch site. A look at major space related activities planned for the week ahead.
2016 NASA Budget
When Congress puts NASA on hold, planets don’t wait
New York Times (9/8): Even subtle changes in spending or delays triggered by annual budget deliberations in Congress can adversely affect NASA’s planetary science and astronomy missions. As the start of the 2016 fiscal year on Oct. 1 draws close, the U.S. federal government is without a budget. Even a 2015 Continuing Resolution that would keep the government operating at current year spending levels could have an adverse impact, writes author David W. Brown in an op-ed.
Continuing Resolution would put brakes on Pentagon space initiatives, White House warns
Space News (9/4): Sept. 30 marks the end of the federal government’s 2015 fiscal year. As Congress returns to Washington this week there is no budget for 2016. The Pentagon has warned that two key security programs, the Joint Space Operations Center Mission System and the block 10 Space Based Space Surveillance system satellite, could be jeopardized if locked into 2015 spending levels by a budget Continuing Resolution.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Mission to Mars? Buzz Aldrin, Newt Gingrich discuss new era of space exploration
CBS News (9/8): Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin and Newt Gingrich, the former U.S. congressman and 2012 presidential contender, say human space exploration objectives they favor, colonies on Mars and the moon, have been thwarted by politics as much as by cost and public apathy during appearances Sunday on Face the Nation. New initiatives focused on the two goals have the best chance of achieving success at lower costs, according to the two men.
Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve
Twin Falls Times News, of Idaho (9/7): Idaho’s Craters of the Moon National Monument and Preserve serves as a backdrop for NASA sponsored studies supporting the future exploration of Mars and other planetary surfaces. NASA’s Ames Research Center is leading two initiatives.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
A deeper understanding: Dawn reaches third science orbit, shows closest view of Ceres yet
America Space (9/5): NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft at the large asteroid Ceres is delivering the highest resolution images and videos of the dwarf planet’s surface yet. Dawn is joining NASA’s New Horizons and Curiosity as well as the European Space Agency’s Rosetta spacecraft as 2015 space successes.
Robo-hedgehogs could hop across the solar system
Space.com (9/4): With their low gravity levels, asteroids and comets are not compatible with exploration by robotic landers and rovers. Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Stanford University and MIT have come up with Hedgehog, a small alternative that can hop and tumble its way over planetary terrains with low gravity levels.
Labor Day geomagnetic storm
Space Weather.com (9/7): A surge in solar wind activity over the Labor Day holiday turned up the Northern Lights.
Low Earth Orbit
One-on-one with NASA’s chief Space Station builder
Spaceflightnow.com (9/5): The 15 nation International Space Station is setting the stage for commercial successors, according to Mike Suffredini, the soon to retire NASA program manager. Suffredini will study that prospect for SGT, Inc., his post NASA employer. In the meantime, the man who saw the project through its final assembly phases and recent re-supply challenges believes the six person ISS can remain productively in orbit beyond 2028.
Scott Kelly takes over as Space Station commander
CBS News (9/5): In ceremonies Saturday, nine astronauts aboard the International Space Station marked a change in command, as Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka prepares to return to Earth on Sept. 11 with Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen and Kazakh cosmonaut Aidyn Aimbetov. NASA’s astronaut Scott Kelly takes on the command role from Padalka. Kelly and cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko are in the midst of an 11-12 month stay aboard the station.
Astronaut to test drive rover from International Space Station
Spaceflight Insider (9/5): Danish astronaut Andreas Mogensen is working this week with European Space Agency engineers in The Netherlands to perfect techniques for controlling robots on the surface of a planet like Mars from orbit around the planet. Mogensen is among three astronauts and cosmonauts who began a weeklong stay at the Space Station on Sept. 4.
New life for old buddy: Russia tests renewed Soyuz-MS spacecraft
Sputnik International (9/6): Modifications to Russia’s venerable three person Soyuz spacecraft are undergoing ground tests at the Rocket and Space Corporation Energia prior to a flight test on an unmanned Progress spacecraft in October. The first launch of the human version of the avionics upgrades is about 1 1/2 years away.
Rising seas threaten to flood launch sites, NASA says
CNN (9/6): Rising temperatures that contribute to sea water expansion could jeopardize a range of NASA launch sites and facilities on the U.S. East and West coasts in the coming years, climatologists warn.
ISS photos yield “cities at night” world map
Sky & Telescope (9/5): What’s visible on Earth from space at night? A new compilation of digital imagery gathered from the International Space Station reveals the answer in a format with scientific as well as public outreach value.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Boeing unveils “Starliner” spacecraft assembly plans
CBS News (9/6): In ceremonies Friday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Boeing revealed the name for the CST-100 crew capsule under development as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Boeing’s Starliner will transport men and women to and from International Space Station following assembly in a new KSC processing and test facility that once served as a space shuttle hangar. The program also supports development of SpaceX’s crewed Dragon. Both spacecraft plan crewed test flights in 2017.
Space Florida presses ahead with plans for Shiloh spaceport
MFE-FM Radio, of Orlando (9/7): Space Florida, the state chartered economic development group, will press ahead with efforts to develop a commercial spaceport in the Shiloh area of Central Florida despite comments last week from U.S. Bill Nelson, of Florida, that a launch facility in the environmentally sensitive region is not necessary.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of September 7-11, 2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/7): Congress returns to Washington after an August recess with the Iran nuclear deal and the 2016 spending high on their list of priorities. So far, not one of the 12 major appropriations measures for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1 has cleared either branch.