In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA on Thursday announced plans to partner with industry to develop the first element of a human tended Lunar Orbiting Platform-Gateway (LOPG). The space agency also received instructions from the White House Office of Management and Budget to consider transitioning more of its field centers to federally funded research and development labs as part of NASA’s deep space exploration focus.
Human Space Exploration
NASA will seek partnership with U.S. industry to develop first Gateway element
NASA (6/21): NASA issued a draft Broad Agency Announcement Thursday seeking industry proposals to partner with the agency in the development of the first element of a human tended Lunar Orbiting Platform-Gateway (LOPG). The gateway is to serve as a way point for human and robotic operations and communications relay in deep space, including future surface activities on the Moon. The first element is to be a Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) with solar electric propulsion for electricity generation and maneuvering in orbit around the Moon. The PPE is to be assembled and tested in space for up to a year, with an option that NASA could then acquire it. NASA has said previously it plans to begin assembly of the Gateway in 2022. The agency plans a July 10 industry day at the Glenn Research Center prior to issuing the BAA in final form.
NASA to study converting centers into FFRDCs
Space News (6/21): A White House Office of Management and Budget report released Thursday directs NASA to study whether one or more of its current lineup of field centers should be operated as a federally funded research and development laboratory. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, managed by the California Institute of Technology under contract to NASA, already is. A similar proposal was made during the George W. Bush administration 14 years ago but came and went. The latest assessment, part of a White House policy directive that NASA turn its human exploration focus to deep space, is to be completed by late August. NASA would retain ownership of the field centers but gain more flexibility in operations, according to the OMB.
Space Science
Mars dust storm 2018: How it grew & what it means for the Opportunity rover
Space.com (6/21): Mars is undergoing a major global dust storm, not a first, but something future missions must be prepared for. The Opportunity rover’s science mission has been put on hold. Other NASA missions, especially the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, have been helpful it tracking the developments.
NASA will monitor plants’ water usage through new instrument on ISS
Spaceflightinsider.com (6/20): ECOstress, or the ECOsystem Spaceborne Thermal Radiometer Experiment on Space Station, is a NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory project slated to launch to the International Space Station on June 29 aboard a NASA contracted resupply mission. Once installed outside the station, ECOstress is to assess the health of plants worldwide and predict droughts so that preventative measures can be taken.
Einstein was right! Scientists confirm general relativity works with distant galaxy
Space.com (6/21): Observations with the Hubble Space Telescope and the Very Large Telescope in Chile suggest that Einstein’s theory of general relativity holds up in a distant galaxy as well as has our own. A team of astronomers led by a University of Portsmouth researcher in the U.K. observed gravitational behavior in a star system 500 light years away, ESO 325-G004, and an observation tool known as gravitational lensing to arrive at the finding. The study was published in the journal Science.
Other News
Blue Origin plans to start selling suborbital spaceflight tickets next year
Space News (6/21): Blue Origin plans to begin selling spaceflights on its New Shepard suborbital rocket next year, a company executive announced in Washington this week at the Amazon Web Services Public Sector Summit. Flights are anticipated to begin “soon,” said a company official.
SpaceX wins $130 million Air Force launch contract, marking a first for Falcon Heavy
Geekwire.com (6/21): The U.S. Air Force has awarded SpaceX contract for the first launch of a Falcon heavy rocket with a national security payload. The mission is to liftoff in 2020 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.