In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled to re-open for business today, following last week’s encounter with Hurricane Matthew. Adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., re-opened Monday.
Human Deep Space Exploration
KSC, Cape resume normal operations Tuesday
Florida Today (10/10): Closed since the Oct. 5 approach of Hurricane Matthew, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled to re-open today for normal operations. The adjacent Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Central Florida re-opened on Monday. The launch complexes experienced wind damage, some water intrusion and a scattering of debris as Matthew passed close to Florida’s space coast over Atlantic waters early last Friday. A Kennedy Debris Assessment and Recovery Team worked through the aftermath to check the space center building by building before managers determined it was safe to re-open. Kennedy is the future launch site for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft for missions of human deep space exploration.
‘Space Brain’: Mars explorers may risk neural damage, study finds
NBCNews.com (10/10): Rodent studies suggest the exposure to galactic cosmic radiation that astronauts can expect to encounter on missions of deep space exploration could lead to long term brain deterioration.
Is there a business case for Mars?
The Space Review (10/10): Will the private sector play a significant role in the human exploration of Mars? Essayists Chris Carberry and Rick Zucker conclude the commercial sector will through the innovation and development of new technologies also relevant to Earth. Carberry is CEO of Explore Mars, Inc., and Zucker is the organization’s VP for policy.
Space Science
European spacecraft prepares to land on Mars next week
Space.com (10/10): Launched in mid-March, the joint European/Russian ExoMars mission spacecraft, an orbiter and the prototype for a future surface rover, are approaching their destination. The two spacecraft are set to separate on Sunday, with the Trace Gas Orbiter preparing for studies of the Martian atmosphere. Three days, later the ExoMars’ Schiaparelli lander will descend to the Martian surface.
Mars Rover opportunity to make daring descent into Gully
Space.com (10/10): NASA’s Opportunity Rover is prepared to explore a Martian gully on the rim of Endeavour Crater, which scientists believe was shaped by flowing water early in the planet’s history. The exploration could reveal more about Mars’ early environment and whether there was potential it was habitable.
Telescope to seek Earth-like planet in Alpha Centauri System
New York Times (10/11): A nonprofit research consortium has announced plans to develop a small space telescope mission to seek and study possible Earth-like planets orbiting Alpha Centauri, a three star system 4.37 light years from Earth. The project has an estimated $25 to $50 million price tag and would be ready by the end of this decade. The discovery of a possible Earth-like planet circling Proxima Centauri, one of the three stars, with a ground based observatory was announced in August.
Low Earth Orbit
Mega-constellations and mega-debris
The Space Review (10/10): Concerns over mounting levels of man-made orbital debris circling the Earth and a parallel enthusiasm for new constellations of small satellites in Low Earth Orbit seem to be on a collision course, writes TSR editor Jeff Foust.
Air Force’s X-37B Space Plane mystery mission wings by 500 days in orbit
Space.com (10/10): The latest secret mission of the winged reusable unmanned U.S. Air Force orbiting space plane has passed the 500 day mark. The orbital craft’s third mission stretched to 675 days. The military has not indicated when the current mission will end.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Launch of OA-5 Cygnus slips 24 hours
Spaceflight Insider (10/10): Plans by Orbital ATK to launch the company’s next NASA contracted re-supply mission to the International Space Station from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia slipped from Thursday to Friday at 8:51 p.m., EDT. The brief delay was attributed to a launch vehicle processing issue.
Space insurers warn that current low rates are not sustainable
Space News (10/10): According to insurers, Insurance rates are destined to rise due to the cost of the Sept. 1, Falcon 9 rocket explosion on a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. The blast occurred during preparations for a pre-launch test of the rocket. The loss included an Israeli communications satellite valued at $200 million, according to the report.
Shotwell says SpaceX “homing in” on cause of Falcon 9 pad explosion
Space News (10/10): SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell said the cause of the Sept. 1, Falcon 9 launch pad blast at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, was due more likely to a “business process issue” than a fundamental launch vehicle or engineering design issue. Shotwell spoke Oct. 9 before the National Academy of Engineering, saying her company intends to resume Falcon 9 launches by year’s end.