In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Space exploration advocates offer bipartisan recommendations to President-elect Trump and a new Congress on how to overcome the obstacles and advance the pursuit of human space exploration.
Human Deep Space Exploration
AIA, CSE call on Trump administration to support space exploration road map
Spaceflightinsider (11/28): With the broad support of the Aerospace Industries Association and the Citizens for Space Exploration, the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration is offering a bipartisan space road map with seven proposals for the new administration of President-elect Trump and Congress to advance human space exploration. Those include continued efforts to develop and flight test NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket and Orion crew capsule; launch the James Webb Telescope in late 2018; make the most of the International Space Station to advance space technologies and foster more commercial activity in low Earth orbit; as well as streamline NASA’s bureaucracy and procurement processes.
Commercial space in the next administration
The Space Review (11/28): Robert Bigelow, among the most visible advocates of U.S. commercial space activity, sounded confident that NASA will fare well under the administration of President-elect Trump in post-election remarks before the Space Commerce Conference and Exposition in Houston, November 15-17. Bigelow called on the new administration and Congress to double NASA’s budget, some of which would be used to nurture human lunar bases and new industry.
Humans may dream of traveling to Mars, but our bodies aren’t built for it
The Los Angeles Times (11/28): In an op-ed, science writer Charles Wohlforth and planetary scientist Amanda Hendrix warn the limitations of human biology pose obstacles to the human exploration of deep space. The hazards from exposures to Galactic Cosmic Radiation have long been known. But there have been surprises, like the effect prolonged weightlessness has on the optic nerve and vision of astronauts.
Could we create a livable atmosphere on the Moon?
Seeker.com (11/27): As space faring nations weigh destinations for future human exploration and basing, some wonder if the moon’s environment could be made more habitable. It seems unlikely.
Space Science
Why NASA’s first good look at Mars almost ended its exploration
National Geographic (11/28): The first close-up images of Mars, delivered by NASA’s Mariner 4 flyby mission, were hardly inspiring. Launched 52 years ago Monday, Mariner 4 approached the red planet amid predictions its cameras might reveal evidence of independent biological activity. Instead, the images revealed an almost airless, rugged, desert-like terrain similar to the Earth’s moon. Enthusiasm for Mars would return, however, when in 1996 NASA scientists announced a meteorite of Martian origins contained what appeared to be fossilized evidence of microbes.
What will we do when Hubble dies?
Seeker.com (11/28): Launched in 1990 and relieved of an undiscovered pre-launch optical flaw by spacewalking astronauts three years later, the Hubble Space Telescope has opened cosmic frontiers with its spectacular imagery. Its successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, an infrared prodigy, is undergoing tests for a late 2018 liftoff. Hubble is expected to succumb to age in the 2020s and with it will go the orbiting observatory’s special powers to observe the universe in the ultraviolet.
What is a supermassive black hole?
Universe Today (11/28): From theory to first evidence of reality just four decades ago, the notion of super massive black holes that are millions of times the mass of the sun has stunned astronomers. Now, there is evidence of a SMBH at the center of every galaxy. How they formed is not to clear. Are they the result of mergers of small black holes or the product of something more primordial?
Low Earth Orbit
Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft marks 50 years since first flight
Collectspace (11/28): Russia’s venerable Soyuz spacecraft marks a half century of space flight operations this week. It was a rough start for the Soyuz, which flew for the first time with a cosmonaut in 1967. Cosmonaut Vladimir Komarov perished when the parachute failed during descent. Human operations resumed successfully a year later, and currently NASA relies on the Russian Soyuz to transport its astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Russia’s super-heavy rocket project estimated at $23 billion
TASS, of Russia (11/29): Russia prepares for a long-term $23 billion investment in a new evolvable heavy lift rocket, starting with a medium lift version called Feniks with a 2025 readiness date. Feniks will aim for a 25 ton low Earth orbit payload capability.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Recommendations to the next administration regarding commercial space
The Space Review (11/28): Assembled by the National Space Society, the recommendations would re-establish the National Space Council, a White House cabinet-level space policy coordinating body. Another recommendation would have NASA lease space on future commercial space stations for a U.S. National Lab once operations of the International Space Station draw to a close. Another would establish a public/private lunar base focused on the extraction of space resources.