In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The U.S. House and Senate will hold hearings this week on NASA’s budget and on the nomination of Pam Melroy as the agency’s deputy administrator. China lands rover on Mars.
Human Space Exploration
China rolls out rocket for Tianzhou-2 space station supply mission
SpaceNews.com (5/17): China is set to launch the Tianzhou-2 space station cargo mission this week after rollout of a Long March 7 rocket at Wenchang spaceport. Pre-launch preparations will take place ahead of an instantaneous launch window expected around May 20. The 13-metric-ton Tianzhou-2 cargo spacecraft will fly to low Earth orbit to dock with China’s Tianhe space station core module, which launched in April. Tianzhou-2 will transfer propellant to Tianhe and deliver supplies to support future crewed missions.
Space Science
China’s Zhurong Mars rover lands safely in Utopia Planitia
SpaceNews.com (5/14): China’s solar powered, 528-pound Zhurong rover touched down at Mars’ Utopia Planitia in the northern hemisphere shortly after 7:00 p.m. EDT. China’s Tianwen-1 mission that included an orbiter as well as a lander/rover launched last July and achieved orbit around Mars on February 10.
Other News
NASA announces $105M investment in tech development efforts of small businesses
ExecutiveBiz.com (5/14): NASA has made new awards to 127 U.S. small businesses to help them develop, demonstrate, and deliver technologies under the second phase of the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. The $105 million investment will provide awardees with up to $750,000 funding each to advance the technologies they presented to NASA as part of the SBIR Phase I contracts and prepare them for potential commercialization.
A new era of spaceflight? Promising advances in rocket propulsion
Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin
The Conversation (5/10): The push to explore space now counts at least four efforts to advance space propulsion technologies, including nuclear. Recently, The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) commissioned three private companies to develop nuclear fission thermal rockets for use in lunar orbit. However, other options could also be useful for helping advance exploration, including electric propulsion and solar sails.
Rocket Lab’s 20th Electron launch ends in failure with the loss of its payload
Techcrunch.com (5/15): Rocket Lab’s latest attempt to launch small satellites failed after second stage ignition. The rocket’s first stage descended into the Pacific off the coast of New Zealand for recovery as planned. The flight, called “Running Out of Toes,” was Rocket Lab’s third this year, and a dedicated launch for customer BlackSky.
ESA partners with startup to launch first debris removal mission in 2025
Space.com (5/16): The European Space Agency (ESA) is looking to help with the renewed concerns about the perils of space debris with the recent fall to Earth of a massive Chinese rocket. The ESA announced plans to launch a space debris removal mission in 2025 with the help of a Swiss start-up called ClearSpace. The mission, dubbed ClearSpace-1, will use an experimental, four-armed robot to capture a Vega Secondary Payload Adapter (Vespa) left behind by ESA’s Vega launcher in 2013.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of May 16-22, 2021Spacepolicyonline.com (5/16): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson will appear before the U.S. House Appropriations’ Commerce, Justice, and Science Subcommittee on Wednesday at 2:00 p.m. EDT for a hearing on NASA’s proposed fiscal year 2022 budget of 24.7 billion, a 6.3 percent, or $1.5 billion, increase over 2021. The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee will host a hearing on former NASA astronaut Pam Melroy’s nomination to be NASA’s deputy administrator on Thursday at 10:15 a.m. EDT. The U.N. is scheduled to host a virtual dialogue on responsible behavior in outer space on Friday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. EDT.