Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA Deputy Administrator Dava Newman is focused on human Mars exploration. NASA assembles Orion hardware at NASA’s Glenn Research Center for launch and space environment testing. The Martian feature film trailer debuts. NASA takes names for its 2016 InSight lander mission. Mysterious Saturn ring appears to be a product of moonlets collisions. NASA’s Curiosity rover snaps red planet panorama. NASA’s LADEE spacecraft detects lunar neon. Japan counts down to Wednesday launch of cargo to the International Space Station. Planet Labs weathers setbacks to launch Earth observing constellation. New golf driver integrates space technology.
Human Deep Space Exploration
How we’ll get people to Mars in one piece
Popular Science (8/18): As NASA’s newest deputy administrator, Dava Newman is focused on the health and safety challenges of reaching the red planet with human explorers in the 2030s. “If everyone is not talking about our journey to Mars at the dinner table, I want to change that,” says the former MIT professor of astronautics.
Orion spacecraft about to be put through its paces at Glenn
Spaceflightinsider.com (8/18): NASA is gathering a test version of the Orion spacecraft’s European Space Agency furnished service module and launch vehicle adapter for a series of tests at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. Testing inside the Space Power Facility will expose the hardware to anticipated Space Launch System vibrations as well as simulated space environments. Orion is under development to start future human explorers on deep space missions.
Trailer: ‘The Martian’
USA Today (8/18): A new feature film about the early human exploration of Mars and based on the best seller of the same name opens Oct. 2. Fictional astronaut Mark Watney, presumed dead by his crew mates, is alive and alone after a treacherous storm forces them to evacuate quickly.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA offers public trips to Mars, but only for names
Aviation Week & Space Technology (8/18): NASA issues a call for names to be included electronically on the agency’s next Mars lander. The Mars InSight is undergoing preparations for a March 2016 lift off. After landing later in the year, InSight will study Martian interior processes with subsurface probes and landing site weather. “By participating in this opportunity to send your name aboard InSight to the Red Planet, you’re showing that you’re part of that journey and the future of space exploration.” said Jim Green, NASA director of planetary exploration. The submission deadline is Sept. 8.
Saturn’s weirdest ring explained: Ancient collision caused it
Space.com (8/18): Saturn’s F-ring, discovered in 1979 by NASA’s Pioneer 11 spacecraft, is likely the result of a long ago collision between multiple moonlets, say astronomers. The latest findings were detailed in the journal Nature Geoscience.
3 years into its mission, Curiosity’s stunning Martian panorama
Scientific American (8/18): After three productive years on Mars in Gale Crater, NASA’s Curiosity rover has witnessed some alien vistas. Some of them have been photographed and transmitted back to Earth.
Radical! Neon found on the Moon
Space.com (8/18): Instruments aboard NASA’s LADEE mission spacecraft confirm the presence of neon in the thin atmosphere of the moon, confirming the suspicions of experts. The neon’s source appears to be lunar rocks.
Low Earth Orbit
Japanese rocket ready to launch supplies to Space Station
Spaceflightnow.com (8/18): After weather delays earlier in the week, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency prepared for the launching of its fifth resupply mission to the six person International Space Station. The HTV-5, filled with nearly five tons of supplies and science hardware, was scheduled to lift off from the Tanegashima Space Center at 7:50 a.m., EDT. The cargo capsule was expected to rendezvous with the Space Station early Monday.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Despite launch failures, ‘Dove’ sats will map the world
Discovery News (8/18): San Francisco based Planet Labs has weathered a pair of failed resupply mission launches to the International Space Station in its bid to loft 100 satellites using ejection hardware on the ISS to place them in orbit. So far, about three dozen of the company’s camera carrying “Doves” orbit the Earth. The company lost 34 of the satellites during June 28 and Oct. 28 launch mishaps involving SpaceX and Orbital ATK launch vehicles. A Japanese re-supply mission scheduled to lift off early Wednesday is delivering 14 more of the Doves to the Space Station.
ISS helps launch new golf driver
Florida Today (8/19): Cobra Puma Golf’s new King LTD driver was inspired by materials science research aboard the International Space Station. The company formally introduced the new club on Tuesday in Florida at the PGA National Resort and Spa. The space research influenced the club’s center of gravity and weight reduction.