In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A bi-partisan U.S. Senate NASA Authorization measure would support development of the Space Launch System, Orion and other elements of NASA’s human deep space exploration plans through a transition in presidential administrations.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Senators introduce NASA authorization bill
Space News (9/17) Six U.S. senators from five states joined to introduce a bipartisan NASA authorization bill on Friday, one that would encourage the next U.S. president to keep NASA working toward the human exploration of Mars through development of the Space Launch System exploration rocket and Orion crew capsule. It would also require NASA to consider alternatives to its planned Asteroid Redirect Mission, a two-phase human, robotic initiative to collect a large boulder from the surface of a near-Earth asteroid. The boulder would be maneuvered into orbit around the moon, where it could be visited by astronauts launched aboard NASA’s SLS and Orion spacecraft. Other provisions support continued ISS operations through 2028 and plans for a commercial space station successor.
Moon-walker Aldrin hopes exhibit will inspire future on Mars
Florida Today (9/18): Destination Mars, a new exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Central Florida, opens to the public on Monday. Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin joined a preview this weekend to express his support for the exhibit developed with help from Microsoft and NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The exhibit includes Martian vistas obtained by NASA’s Curiosity rover.
Space Science
Water-Propelled CubeSat To Orbit Moon? Cornell Team Working On It | Video
Space.com (9/17): The small spacecraft would use electrolysis to convert liquid water into combustible hydrogen and oxygen gas propellants that could be expelled from the CubeSat in bursts to propel it to the moon and into orbit.
Astronomers round up the unusual suspects for ‘alien megastructure’ star
Geek Wire (9/16): Interstellar dust and gas, rather than a structure created by intelligent beings and called a Dyson Sphere, offers the best explanation for the curious dimming of a distant star, say researchers in a paper published in Astrophysical Journal Letters. The star lies 1,500 light years from Earth.
Low Earth Orbit
Russia Postpones Soyuz MS-02 Launch Due to Technical Reasons
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/17): Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, has postponed the planned Sept. 23 launching of three U.S. and Russian astronauts to the International Space Station for unspecified technical reasons. NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and cosmonauts Andrey Borisenko and Sergey Ryzhikov are to fly the second of the new MS version of the Soyuz spacecraft that features a range of upgrades to docking systems, solar arrays, communications and flight computers. The launch of the first in the MS series was delayed by Roscosmos as well from June 24 to July 7. A new launch date has not been set.
Tiangong-2 space lab may exceed 5 years service life: expert
Xinhuanet (9/16): Launched Sept. 15, China’s newest human-tended space lab, the two-person Tiangong-2, may function for five years, according to a Chinese space expert. It may be joined by China’s planned multi-module space station, whose assembly should be complete in 2020.
It’s An Amazing World Of Discovery Up Here: NASA Kate Rubins To MD Anderson Children
Houston Public Media (9/16): On Friday, NASA’s Kate Rubins, an astronaut aboard the International Space Station and a biologist, spoke with young patients at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center. Rubins wore a special space suit for the occasion, one painted in bright colors by several of the patients. Asked by one of the patients what it takes to become an astronaut, Rubins replied, “You need to be curious and motivated for discovery and for research. There’s so much to discover up here.”
Yuri Malenchenko leaves team of Russian cosmonauts
TASS, of Russia: Yuri Malenchenko is a cosmonaut no more. He departed Russia’s astronaut corps with 827 days in orbit, second only to world record holder and fellow cosmonaut Gennady Padalka’s 874 days. Malenchenko, 54, launched six times. In 2003, while serving aboard the International Space Station, he became the only astronaut to wed while in space.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Nearby wildfire prompts delay in Atlas V launch
Spaceflight Insider (9/18): A California wildfire delayed efforts on Sept. 18 to launch a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket with a WorldView-4 Earth-observing satellite. The postponement permitted firefighters the greatest access to the blaze. The liftoff has been delayed to no earlier than Sept. 26.
Major Space Related Events for the Week
Major space related events for the week of September 19-25, 2016
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/18): In Washington, the U.S. Senate plans action on a budget Continuing Resolution, since there is no 2017 spending plan in place for the new fiscal year that starts on Oct. 1. Without a spending agreement of some kind, the federal government is vulnerable to a shutdown. The Senate also plans action on the NASA Transition Authorization Act, bipartisan legislation that seeks in part to protect NASA’s human spaceflight program from change during the transition in presidential administrations.