In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission would play a significant part of efforts to reach the Martian environs with human explorers in the 2030s.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA Hopes to Catch an Asteroid
Voice of America (9/14): NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission, both its robotic and human phases, represents a step in efforts to reach Mars with humans in the 2030s. It would pioneer a Solar Electric Propulsion system, demonstrate a strategy for deflecting an asteroid on a collision course with Earth and potentially offer scientists with new insight into the formation of the planets. In 2026, NASA astronauts would visit a large boulder nabbed robotically from the asteroid 2008 EV 5 after it is maneuvered into orbit around the moon. The astronauts would launch in an Orion capsule atop a Space Launch System exploration rocket.
Space Science
Weird Red Spot on Pluto’s Moon Charon Caused by Traveling Atmosphere
Space.com (9/14): NASA’s New Horizons mission has furnished data that suggests distant Pluto and its moon Charon share a methane atmosphere. The result is a reddish smear at Charon’s north pole produced by radiation.
Spooky Eclipse of the Harvest Moon
Spaceweather.com (9/14): The moon will reach its monthly full phase on Friday, a Harvest moon as summer begins to give way to fall. The moon, however, will dim as it encounters shadowing as part of a penumbral lunar eclipse.
Low Earth Orbit
China to Launch Tiangong-2 Space Station on September 15
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/14): China is poised to launch its second space station, Tiangong 2, Thursday at 10:04 a.m, ET. Chinese astronauts will visit for the first time in late October, living and working aboard for 30 days.
Midwest Is ‘Space Storm Alley,’ Map Reveals
Seeker.com (9/14): A study suggests the upper U.S. Midwest is most susceptible to power grid outages attributed to solar activity. Experts compare the vulnerability to the hurricane threat to the Atlantic and Gulf coasts of the U.S., ice storms in New England and tornadoes in the Midwest.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Commercial crew companies emphasize safety over schedule
Space News (9/14): Representatives from Boeing, SpaceX and NASA’s Commercial Crew Program pledge safety over schedule in their efforts to develop U.S. commercial launch services for astronauts assigned to the International Space Station. SpaceX is recovering from a Sept. 1 launch pad explosion of its Falcon 9 rocket, a factor. Boeing has planned uncrewed and crewed test flights of its CST-100 Starliner for late 2017 and early 2018. It’s unclear whether regular missions could get underway before the end of 2018. Representatives discussed the state of the development effort at the AIAA conference underway in Long Beach, Calif., on Wednesday.
Bridenstine: Legislation Necessary to Regulate New Types of Commercial Space Activities
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/14): U.S. Rep. Jim Bridenstine urges compliance with the 1967 Outer Space Treaty as part of U.S. regulation of future commercial space activities, including asteroid mining activities. The Oklahoma lawmaker has proposed legislation that was the topic of discussion by the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee on Wednesday.