In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Competition for launch contracts increasing and American human spaceflight systems approach operational status. China seeks international participation in its soon to be launched space station. NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to discuss a robotic strategy for returning Mars soil samples to Earth.
Human Space Exploration
As human space flights get closer, the competition for launch contracts heats up
Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital ATK
Washington Post (4/25): Confidence in their ability to compete with incumbents like Boeing and Lockheed Martin for government launch services contracts is growing among startups and younger companies like SpaceX, Blue Origin and Orbital ATK. Some of that competition is surging into potential new markets, including the launching of passengers into space.
NASA will pay more for less ISS cargo under new commercial contracts
Coalition Member in the News – Orbital ATK
Space News (4/26): An audit from NASA’s inspector general on Thursday raised cost concerns for the contract agreements signed by NASA in 2016 for the commercial delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. The contracts were awarded to SpaceX, Orbital ATK and Sierra Nevada. Additional concerns ranged from reliance on unproven hardware to use of foreign hardware. SpaceX was cited in the audit for a 50 percent rise in per kilogram costs for cargo launches.
China Focus: Astronauts eye more cooperation on China’s space station
Xinhuanet, of China (4/26): China’s planned independent space station is to be assembled and operational by 2022. In Beijing this week, Chinese and visiting European and Russian astronauts expressed hope there can be international cooperation aboard China’s orbiting space lab.
Space Science
ESA and NASA to investigate bringing Martian soil to Earth
European Space Agency (ESA) (4/26): The Berlin Air Show was the site for a pledge signed Thursday between representatives of NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) to explore the possibilities for the robotic collection of Martian soil and rock samples for return to Earth. Already, NASA’s Mars 2020 rover and ESA’s ExoMars rover are to land on the red planet in 2020 and 2021 respectively to collect surface samples and drill into the subsurface. The agreement will seek strategies for a future lander mission to gather up the samples from both missions, then launch and return them to Earth.
Asteroids smack Jupiter more often than astronomers thought
Universe Today (4/26): Observations, gathered primarily by amateur astronomers, suggest giant Jupiter is struck by asteroids more than previously thought. The assaults are logged as atmospheric flashes.
A giant asteroid impact probably created Mars’ moons
Seeker.com (4/25): Scientists are closing in on three potential sites on Mars where an ancient impact with an asteroid might have imparted enough destructive force to create a pair of moons, Phobos and Deimos. The findings published in Science Advances have researchers eager for a Japanese mission that is to retrieve a sample of the moon Phobos for further analysis.
Other News
Former NASA Administrator weighs in on new space agency head
Earth & Space Science News (4/26): Charles Bolden, who led NASA during the Obama administration, says that the new director can do a good job if he focuses on the agency’s mission, listens to the staff, and remains apolitical.
China to launch advanced space cargo transport aircraft in 2019
Xinhuanet (4/26): A Chinese aerospace company executive says his firm intends to merge inflatable, flexible heat shielding and composite material and other technologies into a space cargo vehicle.
Chinese Long March 11 launches 5 Earth observation satellites
Spaceflightinsider.com (4/26): Five Earth observing satellites were launched with a Long March 11 rocket early Thursday. The launch was delayed by a month for undisclosed reasons.