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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. New NASA video features the production and test firing of the world’s largest solid rocket motor, a major component of the future Space Launch System. NASA’s sprawling Michoud Assembly Facility has been retooled to manufacture the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Europe’s Rosetta spacecraft swoops close to comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Remembering Chelyabinsk. The Earth as “Pale Blue Dot.” Japan earns a second chance to place Akatuki in orbit around Venus. Hit movie Interstellar contributes software to black hole studies. Europe’s ATV-5 departs the International Space Station, marking a transition in a key NASA space partnership. Falling U.S. federal procurements nick efforts to commercialize space. Colorado stirs bipartisan efforts to boost space industry. In Europe, space industry objects to European Union investment strategy. A look ahead to major space related activities scheduled for the week ahead.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA just released a video of the rocket that it says will take astronauts to Mars
Washington Post (2/13): The video documents the production and test firing of the ATK five segment solid rocket booster that is part of NASA’s planned Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. The SLS, due its first full scale test flight in 2018, will include two of what are the world’s largest solid rocket boosters. The future SLS mission includes starting human explorers on missions of deep space exploration.
Michoud builds the Space Launch System
New Orleans Times Picayune via the Miami Herald (2/15): NASA investments in the Michoud Assembly Facility established the Vertical Assembly Center and more to develop and manufacture the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. Once assigned to the production of the space shuttle’s external fuel tank, MAF is now home to a more technically skilled workforce than ever before, says Kelley Easley, who started work there in 1982.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Rosetta approaches comet 67P for a closer look
SpaceflightNow.com (2/14): The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission spacecraft swooped within four miles of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Saturday for close up photos and to sample rising vapors. Rosetta rendezvoused with 67P in August, dropped off the surface probe Philae in November and will remain in close proximity as the comet rounds the sun.
The day it rained fire over Chelyabinsk
Astronomy Now (2/15): The magazine sets the spectacular scene in Chelyabinsk early on Feb. 15, 2013, when a 20 meter wide meteor exploded over the Russian city. It was a startling reminder of the power of space and the Earth’s vulnerability.
Happy birthday, ‘Pale Blue Dot!’ Famous space photo turns 25
Space.com (2/13): The dot is Earth, which became the iconic “Pale Blue Dot” on Feb. 14, 1990 as NASA’s distant Voyager 1 spacecraft snapped a planetary family portrait that included Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Earth.
JAXA prepares another attempt to insert Akatsuki spacecraft into Venus orbit
Spaceflight Insider (2/15): The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency plans a second attempt to maneuver the spacecraft into orbit around Venus in December. Launched in May 2010 and known formally as the Venus Climate Orbiter and Planet-C, Akatsuki did not carry out its full orbital insertion maneuver as it reached Venus later in the year.
‘Interstellar’ visual effects team publishes black hole study
Space.com (2/13): Interstellar, a hit in the movie theaters, is making a hit in come scientific circles as well with the software techniques it pioneered to display the enormous black hole Gargantua.
Low Earth Orbit
With ATV-5, Europe ends an era
Aviation Week & Space Technology (2/14): Over the weekend, the European Space Agency’s fifth and final Automated Transfer Vehicle, a re-supply craft, departed the International Space Station and carried out a destructive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere.
Europe’s last ATV Space Station freighter makes fleet’s final re-entry
Space.com (2/15): After five missions, the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle will transition to a new role — service module for NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule. Orion and the European Service Module will be test flown together atop a Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. The last of the ATVs undocked from the International Space Station on Saturday and carried out a destructive re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere on Sunday. The ATV-5 delivered more than seven tons of supplies to the station in August.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Grounded: Left behind in the contracting race to restore Americans to space
Washington Post (2/13): Since 2010, the U.S. federal government has cut federal procurements by more than $100 billion. Sierra Nevada Corp may be one of the casualties. In September, the company learned it was not among the development finalists in NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Disappointed by the decision and the loss of an appeal, Sierra Nevada is nonetheless pressing ahead with the development of its unique winged Dream Chaser space plane.
Group of lawmakers set sights on state’s aerospace industry
Denver Post (2/15): A bi-partisan group of Colorado state legislators, the Colorado Aerospace and Defense Caucus, promotes the industry.
Europe’s latest space technology stimulus left contractors cold
Space News (2/13): In Europe, contractors and some governments are seeking changes in the way the European Commission oversees space research and technology. Too many promising projects are stuck at low technology readiness levels for lack of financial support, they claim.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of February 16-20, 2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/15): Washington lawmakers are in their home districts this week. A Russian resupply mission launches to the International Space Station. A series of NASA spacewalks to prepare the space station for future visits by U.S. commercial crew launch services companies is to start later in the week.
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