In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Core stage rocket engines reach milestone in preparation for the first flight of NASA’s Space Launch System, Exploration Mission-1.


Human Space Exploration

First four Space Launch System flight engines ready to rumble

Coalition Member in the News (Aerojet Rocketdyne)

NASA (10/11): All four RS-25 engines assigned to the core stage of NASA’s first Space Launch System (SLS) test flight have been qualified for the mission, whose launch date is under review by the space agency. The SLS and Orion capsule are the cornerstones of NASA’s plans to resume human deep space exploration. The first flight, Exploration Mission-1, will send an uncrewed Orion capsule around the moon and back to Earth for recovery. The four engines have been upgraded by Aerojet Rocketdyne after powering 21 previous space shuttle missions. Their next stop is NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where they are to join the SLS core stage for further preparation.

Lockheed seeing payoff from investments in commercial space technology

Coalition Member in the News (Lockheed Martin)

Space News (10/11): Lockheed Martin is finding commercial companies capable of shrinking satellites and space sensors a worthy investment.

 

Space Science

Giant exoplanet hunters: Look for debris disks

NASA JPL (10/11): Where are the many giant exoplanets lurking across the Milky Way galaxy? They orbit within telltale dusty debris disks surrounding their stars, according to a new survey using the most advanced ground based observatories. The findings are published in the Astronomical Journal.

Beyond the orbit of Neptune, scientists find a dwarf planet with a ring

Los Angeles Times (10/11): Beyond distant Neptune, the dwarf egg-shaped planet Haumea orbits the sun, and it has a ring system. The finding, published in the journal Nature, suggests the well-known ring system around Saturn may not be so unusual.

Northern California wildfires rage in new photo from space

Space.com (10/10):  NASA’s Aqua satellite captured views of the smoke rising from the widespread wildfires.

 

Other News

Progress MS-07 to debut two orbit, 3.5hr rendezvous Station mission

NASAspaceflight.com (10/11): Russia planned a space operational first on Thursday, a three and a half hour, two-orbit launch to docking of a Progress cargo capsule with the International Space Station. The launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan was scheduled for Thursday at 5:32 a.m., EDT, however, the liftoff was delayed within the last minute of the countdown for reasons not yet announced. A second launch attempt is planned for Saturday, one that will start the Progress capsule on a two-day trip to the space station.

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket aces launch from KSC, nails drone ship landing

Florida Today (10/11): SpaceX launched a used rocket with a commercial communications satellite from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center late Wednesday. The first stage returned to Earth landing on a drone ship in the Atlantic Ocean, about 200 miles off the Florida coast. It was the second flight for the Falcon 9 first stage.