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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. On Hawaii, a half dozen volunteers seclude themselves for eight months to define the challenges of Mars mission isolation. U.S., European and Indian spacecraft at Mars check in following Sunday’s close pass by comet Siding Spring — two send early imagery. Studies suggest a space propulsion source using material from the surfaces of near Earth asteroids. Orionid meteor shower peaking. Online view of Thursday’s partial solar eclipse. International Space Station crew facing busy week. Reagan era visions of an Orient Express still a dream. NASA chartered nonprofit initiates trio of new Space Station research projects. China launches reconnaissance satellites. Rough seas extend commercial re-supply mission to the International Space Station. Wait over NASA’s Commercial Crew Program selections persists.
Human Deep Space Exploration
In a dome in Hawaii, a mission to Mars
New York Times (10/20): High atop a Hawaiian volcano, six volunteers recently secluded themselves for eight months as part of a NASA funded study of the challenges of isolation for a human crew headed to Mars, a round trip estimated to require 860 days. Next year, a half dozen men and women will attempt to live and work in mountaintop isolation for a year. “Right now, the psychological risks are still not completely understood and not completely corrected for,” said Kimberly Binsted, a professor of information and computer sciences at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and the principal investigator for the project. “NASA is not going to go until we solve this.”
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Comet Siding Spring makes close pass by Mars
Science News (10/20): U.S., European and Indian space probes circling and on the surface of Mars emerge unscathed from Sunday’s close pass by Comet Siding Spring.
I’m safe and sound, tweets MOM after comet sighting
The Hindu (10/20): India’s Mars Orbiter Mission spacecraft survives Sunday’s encounter with Comet Siding Spring. “I’m in my orbit safe and sound,” signals MOM and its control team. As forecast, Siding Spring zipped within 90,000 miles of the red planet.
MRO spies tiny, bright nucleus during comet flyby
Universe Today (10/20): NASA’s Mar Reconnaissance Orbiter and Opportunity rover become the first of the spacecraft at Mars to transmit images of Comet Siding Spring as it passed close to the planet on Sunday. The early imagery reveals the fast moving comet’s small nucleus.
NASA: Stay tuned for images of comet Siding Spring from Mars
Los Angeles Times (10/20): More images gathered by NASA spacecraft at Mars as the comet Siding Spring dashed close to Mars on Sunday are expected to be transmitted within a few more days, according to NASA.
Powering cislunar spaceflight with NEO powder
The Space Review (10/20): The powdery surface of asteroids when combined with an electrostatic field could be combined as an efficient in space propulsion source, writes essayist Ronald P. Menich.
Orionid meteor shower is peaking now: How to see it
Space.com (10/20): The Orionid meteor shower is peaking this week. A diminishing moon makes the shower more visible in the early morning sky.
Where to watch the partial solar eclipse online
Sky and Telescope (10/20): A partial solar eclipse, coming Thursday, will be visible across much of North America — where skies are clear. However, at least two observatories will offer viewing online.
Low Earth Orbit
Busy week on Station: Cosmonauts prepare for spacewalk, Dragon set for departure.
Spaceflight Insider (10/20): Cosmonauts Max Suraev and Alexander Samokutyaev are to suit up for spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Wednesday. SpaceX’s latest Dragon resupply craft is set to depart the station on Saturday, following a month long stay. Research cargos returning to Earth from the station are to be recovered from the Pacific Ocean off the California coast.
25 years ago, NASA envisioned its own ‘Orient Express’
New York Times (10/20): Visions of a manned, winger hypersonic aircraft that could reach Tokyo from Washington, D.C. in two hours emerged from the U.S. in 1986. The project was cancelled in 1994, and 20 years later, experts say it remains technically out of reach.
CASIS awards $800,000 in grants to boost ISS science
Space News (10/20): The Center for the Advancement of Science In Space, the NASA created nonprofit established to manage research aboard the U.S. National Laboratory portion of the International Space Station, provides grants to further development efforts for a wearable space computer, a vibration isolation technology for station experiments and a new small satellite platform.
China puts government surveillance satellite in orbit
Spaceflightnow.com (10/20): China launches a reconnaissance satellite from the Taiyuan space center on Monday.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Heavy seas delay return of SpaceX Dragon capsule
Space.com (10/20): The anticipated re-entry and Pacific Ocean landing of the fourth SpaceX Dragon re-supply mission to the International Space Station has been delayed from Tuesday to Saturday by rough seas at the recovery area west of Baja, Calif. Dragon is being loaded with 3,300 pounds of science research gear and other equipment for return to Earth.
Commercial crew’s extended endgame
The Space Review (10/20): Supporters of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program expected September contract awards to move the U.S. closer to a renewed capability to launch its own astronauts. Awards to Boeing and SpaceX materialized, but the anticipation persists with a challenge from Sierra Nevada. Sierra maintains there were inconsistencies in the selection criteria that kept its winged Dream Chaser from prevailing. As the challenger looks to other options, including sales of launch services to foreign customers, a smaller air launched version of the crewed space plane and a cargo version, NASA commercial crew initiative is still without once anticipated fall momentum, writes TSR editor Jeff Foust.
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