In Today’s Deep Space Extra… United Launch Alliance’s new Vulcan rocket rolls out for fueling tests. Newly appointed Executive Secretary of the National Space Council says Vice President Kamala Harris is engaged in space issues.
Human Space Exploration
Space agencies support ISS extension as NASA warns of space race with China
SpaceNews.com (8/25): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson spoke confidently that Russia will remain a partner in the International Space Station (ISS) through 2030. Nelson was among seven panelists representing global space agencies who participated in a discussion Wednesday as part of the 36th annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. While Nelson was optimistic about continued cooperation with Russia, he doubted that cooperation could be extended to China. Regarding the Moon, Josef Aschbacher, director general of ESA, said he received an invitation from China and Russia to cooperate on their international lunar research station project announced earlier this year. “The offer is on the table,” he said.
Space Science
Alien life could thrive on big ‘Hycean’ exoplanets
Space.com (8/25): Haceans are planets found across the Milky Way that are larger than the Earth and home to oceans and hydrogen-rich atmospheres, conditions that could make them host to microbial life, according to a new study led by researchers from the University of Cambridge in England and published in the Astrophysics Journal. “Hycean planets open a whole new avenue in our search for life elsewhere,” says lead author Nikku Madhusudhan.
Other News
United Launch Alliance rolls out Vulcan pathfinder for fueling tests
Coalition Member in the News – United Launch Alliance
NASAspaceflight.com (8/25): United Launch Alliance’s ((ULA) new Vulcan rocket was moved to a launch pad at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Wednesday to begin fueling tests. Vulcan will succeed the company’s Atlas 5, with missions scheduled to begin next year. Like the Atlas V, Vulcan will use a Centaur upper stage and is referred to as Vulcan Centaur. ULA says it has “upwards of 30 orders” for launches already, some of which are for the U.S. Space Force.
Parikh: VP Harris energized, engaged in space issues
SpacePolicyOnline.com (8/25): Chirag Parikh, the newly appointed Executive Secretary of the White House National Space Council, said at Space Symposium that he and Vice President Kamala Harris have had several meetings about the issues the Space Council must tackle. By law, the Vice President chairs the council. According to Parikh, Harris’s space priorities include not only traditional areas like national security, ensuring a competitive space sector, leading space exploration, advancing norms of behavior, and international cooperation, but “space-enabled” sectors like the value of space in combating climate change, STEM education, and economic development. Parikh said they are reviewing the charter and membership of the UAG to ensure it matches the Vice President’s priorities and a formal nomination process for membership will be announced soon.
Russia expects groundbreaking results from testing nuclear space tug elements in orbit
TASS of Russia (8/26): Russia’s space agency plans to test a radiant cooler aboard the International Space Station (ISS) for a future nuclear powered space tug developed to transport large research stations or habitable orbital modules to other planets and beyond the solar system. The testing is planned for 2024-25. (Editor’s note: TASS is a Russian government-owned news source).
Astroscale complete first test of satellite capture technology
SpaceNews.com (8/25): Astroscale has completed the first major test of technology to capture and remove objects in orbit by releasing and then recapturing a small satellite. The ELSA-d demonstration comes amid growing awareness, and concern, about the proliferation of orbital debris and the threat that debris poses to operational spacecraft. During sessions of the Space Symposium this week, both government and industry officials have emphasized the growing importance of space sustainability. “Space traffic management is an absolute need, and we need to act urgently,” Josef Aschbacher, director general of the European Space Agency (ESA), said during a heads-of-agencies panel discussion at the Space Symposium.