In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Ground tests of the European service module for NASA’s Orion capsule progress successfully. NASA prepares to honor Apollo 1 astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee, victims of a launch pad fire fifty years ago Friday.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Orion service module completes testing at NASA’s Plum Brook station
Spaceflight Insider (1/23): Testing of the European Space Agency furnished service module for the Orion spacecraft assigned to NASA’s Exploration Mission-1 has completed rounds of acoustic and mechanical vibration testing at the Plum Brook Station test facility in Ohio. The testing simulated launch forces.
Landmarks, on and off Earth, honor Apollo 1 astronauts 50 years after fire
Collectspace.com (1/23): NASA’s Apollo 1 astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee, will be honored Friday, the 50th anniversary of a Cape Canaveral, Florida, launch pad fire that claimed their lives during a launch rehearsal. The names of the three men adorn Houston playing fields, features on the moon and Mars, as well as distant stars.
The hell of Apollo 1: Pure oxygen, a single spark, and death in 17 seconds
Ars Technica (1/23): Apollo 7’s Walt Cunningham recalls January 27, 1967, the day NASA confronted its first spacecraft disaster, the Apollo 1 launch pad fire. The tragedy claimed the lives of three astronauts, Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chafee. 1968’s Apollo 7 mission marked Apollo’s return to flight and kept the U.S. on pace to successfully land astronauts on the moon by the end of the decade.
NASA to display space vehicle during Super Bowl LI festivities
Houston Chronicle.com (1/23): On February 5, Houston hosts the NFL’s Super Bowl 51. As part of the festivities, NASA has moved a Space Exploration Rover to Discovery Green, a downtown park, expected to draw large crowds during Super Bowl LIVE. The rover is designed to usher astronauts across the surfaces of planetary bodies, similar to the way the lunar rover did during NASA’s final Apollo moon missions.
The Space Review (1/23): Friday, January 27, also marks the 50th anniversary of the opening for signature of the Outer Space Treaty. Representatives from 62 nations quickly signed the document intended to promote peace and security among the countries prepared to explore beyond Earth, writes Christopher Johnson, a space law expert. The treaty has experienced resurgence in interest as the U.S. ponders what its guidelines mean for an emerging commercial space industry.
Space Science
Actually, that is a moon: NASA releases new image of Saturn’s ‘death star’
The Huffington Post (1/24): Saturn’s frightful-looking moon Tethys, with its prominent Odysseus crater, appears quite imposing in a recent image from the U.S. and European Cassini mission spacecraft.
The Space Review (1/23): Recently, NASA announced its highly anticipated choices for future Discovery class planetary science missions. The five candidates included three asteroid missions and two that would renew the exploration of cloud shrouded Venus. To the surprise of most, NASA chose two asteroid missions. Lucy will explore the Trojan objects that follow Jupiter as it orbits the sun. Psyche will launch for a 2030 encounter with a large metallic object in the asteroid belt that may be the core of a former planet.
XPRIZE lunar contest will attempt a robotic moon landing this year
Seeker.com (1/23): At least five global teams are competing for the $20 million first place winnings in the Google Lunar X-Prize competition, a contest to privately reach the moon with a spacecraft capable of carrying out limited surface activities. Contestants, who hail from the U.S., Japan and Israel, are aiming to launch their spacecraft before the end of 2017.
Low Earth Orbit
The first images from the new weather satellite just arrived, and they’re absolutely incredible
Washington Post (1/23): NOAA’s GOES-R weather satellite was launched on November 19. Initial high-definition images reveal the spacecraft has a sharp eye, a boon to future weather forecasting. The spacecraft, also designated GOES-16, will likely be declared operational in November 2017.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Japanese H-IIA rocket delivers DSN-2 military communications satellite to orbit
Spaceflight Insider (1/24): The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency launch early Tuesday from the Tanegashima Space Center started the DSN-2 military communications satellite on its way to geostationary orbit.