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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA/United Launch Alliance/Lockheed Martin move Delta IV Heavy rocket, Orion capsule toward early December flight test. Boeing: NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket will open deep space for new human, robotic missions. New U.S. space epic, Interstellar, coming to theaters in November. New theory emerges for origins of Moon’s Ocean of Storms. Saturn’s moon Titan reveals presence of toxic cyanide. European led ExoMars mission needs funding commitment to meet 2016, 2018 launch dates. ExoMars team narrows landing site selections for rover equipped to search for life. How India reached Mars for $74 million. Sierra Nevada, Stratolaunch Systems team to establish new opportunities for Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser. Aerojet Rocketdyne confident in AR1 as domestic rocket engine alternative to Russia’s RD-180.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Rocket for Orion maiden flight hauled out to Cape Canaveral launch pad
Space News (10/2): A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket was transported and erected early Wednesday at Space Launch Complex 37, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., for the NASA/Lockheed Martin Exploration Flight Test-1. Set for a Dec. 4 lift off, the unpiloted EFT-1 will mark the first test flight of the Orion capsule that is under development to start U.S. astronauts on future missions of deep space exploration.
Road to EFT-1: Orion fueled for flight, ATK tests launch abort motor igniter
Spaceflightinsider.com (10/1): Fueling prepares Lockheed Martin’s Orion capsule for its first unpiloted test launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. in early December. Orion, under development by NASA and Lockheed Martin, is intended to start humans on future missions of deep space exploration. Meanwhile, ATK testing is validating the Launch Abort System that would separate the Orion capsule and its crew of astronauts from the launch vehicle in an emergency.
Gallery: 5 exotic places NASA’s next-generation rocket could help explore
Universe Today (10/1): NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket opens a door to new exploration prospects. They range from human missions to the moon and Mars to robotic mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa and the Trojan asteroids as well as Saturn’s moon Enceladus. Boeing, an SLS contractor, points the way in a presentation before the 2014 International Aeronautical Congress in Toronto.
This final ‘Interstellar’ trailer is epic and amazing (video)
Space.com (10/1): Interstellar, a new feature film about desperate efforts to re-locate humanity, opens in November.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
“Man in the moon” likely created by volcano, not asteroid: study
Xinhuanet, of China (10/2): Data gathered by NASA’s recent Grail lunar missions suggests the moon’s Ocean of Storms, a darkened near side feature, was created by volcanic activity rather than an asteroid strike.
Yikes! This cloud on Saturn’s moon Titan is made of icy poison
Los Angeles Times (10/1): NASA’s long running Cassini mission in orbit around Saturn spots the deadly chemical cyanide on the moon Titan.
ExoMars funding commitment needed in December, Thales Alenia says
Space News (10/1): New funding commitments from the European Space Agency are needed by December if work on the 2016-18 ExoMars program is to continue, according to prime contractor Thales Alenia Space. The two missions represent advanced efforts to study Mars from orbit and with a surface rover. Russia, ESA’s partner, is providing rocket launches and other hardware.
Four candidate landing sites considered for 2018 ExoMars mission
Spaceflightinsider.com (10/2): The second part of the 2016-18 European Space Agency/Russian mission includes a surface rover. Continuing evaluations of potential landing sites have been narrowed to four targets, each near the equator of Mars and with a geology that may hold clues as to the possibility the red planet once hosted some form of life.
Why did India’s Mars mission cost so little?
Roll Call (10/1): India’s successful Mars Orbiter Mission costs have been estimated at $74 million, low by the standards of other space agencies. The short term mission’s science objectives are modest, the orbit around Mars is not optimal, and the technology is dated, according to a summary of explanations for the low cost gathered by the website.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Sierra Nevada and Stratolaunch Systems studying human launch system
Space News (10/1): Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser, in a scaled back passenger version, may find new life as an air launched payload with Stratolaunch Systems, according to a presentation before the 2014 International Astronautical Congress meeting this week in Toronto. The strategy offers the possibility of commercial cargo and crew transportation to the International Space Station as well as other orbital destinations or point to point global transportation. Sierra Nevada is challenging NASA’s latest Commercial Crew Program contract awards to Boeing and SpaceX.
Aerojet Rocketdyne says AR1 engine is best fit for Atlas 5
Spaceflightnow.com and CBS News (10/1): Officials of Aerojet Rocketdyne say their AR1 liquid rocket engine is the best domestic alternative to the Russian RD-180 that now powers the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5.
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