In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The EscaPADE mission passes review allowing it to move into full development. Spacewalk to externally integrate the Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module is planned for this week.
Human Space Exploration
Blue Origin’s lawsuit against the U.S. government is being delayed for a week, partly because the DOJ had trouble converting documents into PDFs
Business Insider (8/28): The pause on NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS) contract with SpaceX as part of the Artemis initiative could last longer than November 1, as the U.S. Court of Federal Claims works to find a suitable format for the data involved in a suit brought by Blue Origin against the lander award. In its request for more time, the government said it was having difficulty with the data and documents for a few reasons. Part of the difficulty was that the U.S. Court of Federal Claims, like other courts, limited the size of files that can be uploaded to its online system to 50 MB.
Space Science
NASA Mars smallsat mission passes review
SpaceNews.com (8/28): EscaPADE is a NASA planned small satellite mission to orbit Mars with the objective of studying interactions between the planet’s magnetosphere and the solar wind. Once scheduled to launch in 2022 as part of a NASA mission to the asteroid Psyche, EscaPADE is now being prepared for a Rocket Lab launch as soon as January 2024.
BepiColombo, Solar Orbiter collect data on Venus during historic double flyby
NASASpaceflight.com (8/29): Earlier this month, the joint ESA/NASA Solar Orbiter spacecraft performed a flyby of Venus, coming within 7,995 km of the Venusian surface. Just 33 hours later, on August 10, the joint ESA/JAXA BepiColombo spacecraft flew by the planet, coming within 552 km of the surface. The historic double flyby was a result of both spacecraft attempting to reduce their orbital energy while enroute to their respective destinations. BepiColombo is traveling to Mercury, while Solar Orbiter is finishing its last flybys before entering the correct orbital inclination to observe the Sun.
Other News
Astra’s third orbital launch attempt ends with LV0006 mishap
NASAspaceflight.com (8/28): Astra’s flight test of the orbital Rocket 3.3 vehicle for the U.S. Space Force’s Space Test Program on Saturday failed less than one second after liftoff from the Pacific Spaceport Complex in Kodiak, Alaska, the company’s third orbital test flight loss. This was Astra’s first launch with a payload onboard, albeit only a mass simulator.
Russia to create reusable space freighter to replace Progress resupply ships
TASS of Russia (8/30): Russia plans to develop a reusable spacecraft for cargo deliveries to the International Space Station (ISS). The design will be based on the new Oryol spacecraft that Russia is developing to launch cosmonauts to the Moon. Oryol’s first launch is planned without crew in late 2023 with the ISS as its destination. Russia’s current Progress cargo craft destructively re-enters the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean after missions to the ISS. (Editor’s note: TASS is a Russian government-owned news source).
China researching challenges of kilometer-scale ultra-large spacecraft
SpaceNews.com (8/27): China’s super heavy Long March 9 rocket could become the backbone of an effort to assemble very large space structures, including orbital platforms for collecting and microwaving solar power to Earth-based receivers for power grid distribution.
Virgin Orbit clears environmental review to launch satellites from Guam
SpaceNews.com (8/29): Virgin Orbit is making progress with the FAA in winning approval for a third site for satellite air launches. Last week, the company received a favorable environmental assessment from the FAA for plans to launch from Andersen Air Force Base in Guam, a U.S. territory in the western Pacific. Virgin Orbit must still meet licensing requirements for Guam. The launch site would join the Mojave Air and Spaceport in California and England’s Spaceport Cornwall for the Virgin Orbit launch of small satellites.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of August 29 to September 4, 2021
Spacepolicyonline.com (8/29): The latest NASA/SpaceX cargo mission to the ISS, launched early Sunday from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), will dock on Monday at approximately 10:30 a.m. EDT. NASA will broadcast the activities beginning at 9:00 a.m. on NASA TV and www.nasa.gov/nasalive. The first two planned Russian spacewalks to externally integrate the new Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module are planned for this Friday at 10:35 a.m., which will also be televised by NASA. The agency’s Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG) and Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG) will convene virtually starting Monday and Tuesday, respectively.