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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA and Lockheed Martin will team to launch Exploration Flight Test-1, an unpiloted Dec. 4 two-orbit mission to assess the Orion spacecraft’s heat shield and other flight systems. One day after landing on the distant Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, the European Space Agency’s Philae lander faces a possible power shortage as it transmits images and science data. NASA approves new mission to study the Earth’s ionosphere. Massachusetts Life Sciences Center calls for health and biotechnology research aboard the International Space Station with $500,000 incentive. United Launch Alliance president promises change, new missions for the U.S. launch services company. Scaled Composites test pilot Michael Alsbury, a casualty of the Oct. 31 SpaceShipTwo in-flight breakup, was honored Thursday. An adventurous Florida couple remain undaunted in their dream of launching into space as commercial astronauts.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA, Lockheed To Use “Blended Teams” For Orion Test Flight
Space News (11/13): NASA and Lockheed Martin will blend their respective expertise to carry out Exploration Flight Test-1, the inaugural orbital test flight of the four-person Orion capsule. Orion was developed in a partnership to start humans on future missions of deep space exploration. EFT-1 is scheduled to lift off on a two-orbit unpiloted test flight early Dec. 4.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Despite Difficult Landing, Europe’s Comet-Chasing Mission Is Historic
Aviation Week & Space Technology (11/14): Europe has scored its most spectacular space mission success yet with Rosetta. This week, the distant Rosetta mission spacecraft deployed the Philae lander to the surface of the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. On Earth, European Space Agency flight controllers wrestled with last minute difficulties with the craft’s landing systems.
Researchers race to collect comet data from Philae
Spaceflightnow.com (11/13): Philae bounced unexpectedly as it touched down on Wednesday. The lander’s resting place is a shaded stretch of the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, near a cliff that is blocking sunlight to the solar panels. Power is at a premium for Philae’s science mission.
Rosetta mission outlines Philae lander’s predicaments
Physics World (11/13): Philae’s initial touchdown produced a big bounce and landing about one kilometer off target, European Space Agency managers reported on Thursday. “The lander is relying on solar energy; we’re getting one and half hours of sunlight when we expected six or seven. This has an impact on our energy budget,” said Stephen Ulamec, ESA’s lander project manager.
Incredible New Photos Taken From the Surface of a Comet
Wired.com (11/13): The European Space Agency’s Philae Lander presents never before seen images of a comet.
NASA Gives the Green Light to $200 Million ICON Mission
Space News (11/13): NASA green lights development of ICON, the Ionospheric Connection Explorer mission. ICON will study interactions between the Earth’s ionosphere and the sun. Launch is planned for by October 2017.
Low Earth Orbit
Mass. offering life sciences firms offered a ticket to the International Space Station
Boston Globe (11/13): The Massachusetts Life Sciences Center pledges $500,000 to one or more grantees prepared to carry out research with pharmaceuticals and medical devices aboard the International Space Station. “Massachusetts-based companies will have a unique opportunity to access the International Space Station—a one-of-a kind platform for applied research projects that will help bring new therapies and cures to market,” said Susan Windham-Bannister, the head of the Life Sciences Center. Deadline for applications is April 3. The center has joined with the Center for Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, for the competition.
Commercial to Orbit
ULA’s Tory Bruno Vows To Transform Company
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/14): In remarks before the Atlantic Council, in Washington, the United Launch Alliance president and CEO says his company will thrive by carrying out new missions, including those with objectives no one has thought of before for government and private sector customers. ULA, a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, is the leading provider of U.S. national security launches. Changes under way include the phase-out of Russian rocket engine imports in favor of a domestic replacement developed by Blue Origin.
Suborbital
Godspeed: Memorial Honors SpaceShipTwo Pilot Mike Alsbury
NBCNews.com (11/13): Co-workers and friends of Michael Alsbury paid tribute Thursday to the co-pilot of the SpaceShipTwo commercial rocket ship. Alsbury, 39, died in an Oct. 31 test flight mishap. Alsbury, employed by Scaled Composites, was testing the ship for Virgin Galactic. Alsbury should be considered “a true American hero,” Scaled Composites president Kevin Mickey said during the eulogy. The NTSB is investigating the incident.
Central Florida couple still wants to fly Virgin Galactic
Florida Today (11/13): Sharon and Marc Hagle remain committed to the adventure of flying as astronauts aboard Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo. The real estate developers say they are undaunted by the Oct. 31 in flight mishap that claimed the life of one test pilot and injured the second. “We are not discouraged,” said Sharon Hagle.
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