In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Robotic missions set the stage for first steps by human explorers on the moon, Mars.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Meet the first man who imaged the moon
Seeker (6/8): Now 89, Justin Rennilson has not lost his enthusiasm for space exploration. As a budding optical expert in the early 1960s, Rennilson joined NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where he helped to prepare some of the first cameras developed to take close-up photos of the moon aboard the Ranger 7 and Surveyor 1 spacecraft. With Surveyor, his team helped to demonstrate soft landings on the moon, which in turn helped the Apollo astronauts reach the lunar surface safely.
Space Science
NASA’s next Mars rover may have flying sidekick
Seeker (6/8): NASA is working on a follow on the Mars Curiosity rover for a launch in 2020. Planners say the Mars 2020 rover may be accompanied by a camera equipped mini helicopter that would act as an airborne scout. One of the rover’s missions will be to gather and cache samples of soil and rock from Mars for their eventual return to Earth, possibly by a future crew of astronauts.
NASA scientists try to stop space fires by setting them
PBS News Hour (6/8): NASA’s upcoming SAFFIRE I experiment promises to teach the agency a lot about how to fight a fire in space. Retired NASA astronaut Jerry Linnenger lived the threat during a 1997 visit to Russia’s former Mir space station. Scientists plan to take a close look at the ignition process in space as Orbital ATK’s most recent NASA contracted Cygnus re-supply mission capsule departs the International Space Station on June 14. Once a safe distance from the six person space station, scientists plan to ignite a fire aboard the uncrewed Cygnus for remote observations.
Air Force museum opens expanded space gallery in new hangar
Collectspace.com (6/8): In ceremonies this week, the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force at Wright Patterson AFB, Ohio, opened new facilities that will help tell the story of Air Force contributions to space exploration. “Our aim is to tell the whole Air Force space story from shortly after the second World War to the present, and with peeks into the future,” said Doug Lantry, the museum curator.
Spongy minerals could explain why Mars gives off methane burps
New Scientist (6/8): First discovered in 2003, traces of methane on Mars hinted at the possibility of life processes. A new study, however, suggests the source of methane may be spongy surface minerals, zeolites, that are laced with microscopic openings that allow for the international storage of aging forms of the waste gas.
Low Earth Orbit
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden at Bar-Ilan University: We are excited about what we can do together with Israel International Space Station
Yeshiva World News (6/8): In Israel, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden urges Israel to join the agency’s Journey to Mars, which is intended to reach the red planet with human explorers in the mid-2030s.
King meets NASA Administrator
Ammon News, or Jordan (6/8): NASA Administrator Charles Bolden visits Ammon Jordan. Greeted by King Abdullah II, the administrator received praise from the king for the agency’s efforts to cooperate on academic and scientific activities.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Russian Proton-M with U.S. Intelsat satellite launched from Baikonur
Sputnik International (6/9): A U.S. Intelsat communications satellite for service to Latin America was launched Thursday atop a Russian Proton rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.