In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Nation’s astronauts a source of inspiration within their own profession as well as others.
Human Space Flight
Read the letter astronaut Scott Kelly sent to Tom Wolfe from space
Vanity Fair (September 2017): NASA astronaut Scott Kelly was nearing the end of his U.S. record 340 day spaceflight aboard the International Space Station in 2016, when he sent a letter of thanks to Tom Wolfe, author of The Right Stuff, the story of America’s test pilots and early astronauts published in 1979 and produced as a feature film released in 1983. The book would inspire Kelly’s future.
Spacewalking cosmonauts release 3-D printed satellite
Associated Press via New York Times (8/17): Cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Sergey Ryazanskiy claimed deployment of the first 3-D printed small satellite during a lengthy spacewalk outside the International Space Station on Thursday. Developed at the Tomsk Polytechnic University, of Siberia, the small sat is to spend about six months in orbit so that its high tech materials can undergo evaluation as they react to the space environment.
Space Science
What happens to solar power in an eclipse? We’ll find out Monday
New York Times (8/18): Monday’s rare total solar eclipse is expected to impact electrical power generation in California, where solar power constitutes a significant part of the state’s power grid. Operators believe the power dip can help them prepare for the day when the sun is an even larger source of electricity and they face significant drop offs.
The sun’s corona, a fiery halo, is still a mystery to scientists
Space.com (8/17): A prominent feature of Monday’s rate total solar eclipse — the sun’s outer atmosphere, or dim high temperature corona — remains a puzzle in many ways to physicists.
NASA plans to send cubesat to Venus to unlock atmospheric mystery
Universe Today (8/17): The NASA Goddard Space Flight Center’s Planetary Science Deep Space SmallSat Studies program has approved the development of a future small satellite destined for Venus for studies of the atmosphere at ultraviolet wavelengths.
Other News
Atlas V rocket launch Friday: NASA satellite ready for rendezvous with siblings
Orlando Sentinel (8/17): The last of three generations of NASA Tracking and Data Relay satellites is set for launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on Friday at 8:03 a.m., EDT. With a successful liftoff and insertion into geosynchronous transfer orbit, TDRS-M should enter service in three to four months, joining others in the constellation positioned over the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans.
Station managers push back next Cygnus cargo flight to November
Spaceflightnow.com (8/16): NASA and Orbital ATK set November 10 for the launch of the next commercial re-supply mission to the International Space Station originating from Wallops Island, Virginia, a one month delay to permit the preparation of additional cargo. The new date will also permit a series of three NASA spacewalks planned for late October and early November for maintenance of the end effector on the Station’s Canadian robot arm, which is used to grapple the Cygnus re-supply capsule during a rendezvous for berthing.
Options grow for smallsats seeking secondary payload opportunities
Space News (8/17): Startup Precious Payloads plans to become a reservation agent for the growing numbers of small satellite operators looking for ride share launch opportunities.
Proton-M carrier rocket with defense satellite launched from Baikonur space center
TASS of Russia (8/17): A Proton-M rocket successfully launched a Russian military communications satellite from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.