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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Orbital ATK and NASA carry out a successful ground test firing of a Space Launch System solid rocket booster in Utah on Wednesday. Saturn’s moon Enceladus hosts hydrothermal vents as part of an undersea environment potentially favorable for biological activity. The European Space Agency will attempt contact with the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander on Thursday. The U.S. plutonium 238 stockpile includes enough of the nuclear power source for NASA’s Mars 2020 rover. NASA announces a landing site selection for its next Mars lander, InSight. A nearby exo-planet is surprisingly Earth sized, say scientists. The sun unleashed a major flare at mid-week. Three International Space Station crew members descended safely to Earth late Wednesday. NASA’s Barry Wilmore and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova are doing well after wintry landing in Kazakhstan. NASA readies the Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission for a late Thursday lift off.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Powerful solid rocket motor fired in Utah
Spaceflightnow.com (3/11): The powerful solid rocket booster for NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket completed a successful two minute ground test firing on Wednesday in Utah. Engineers with contractor Orbital ATK and NASA will study the performance of the world’s most powerful solid rocket motor. NASA is developing the SLS to start human explorers on future deep space missions.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Something’s cooking on Enceladus
Science News (3/11): Scientists describe a deep ice covered ocean on Enceladus, the moon of Saturn, in a report published in the journal Nature on Wednesday. The findings based on observations by the NASA, European Space Agency spacecraft Cassini suggest Enceladus may host conditions favorable for biological activity.
First active hydrothermal system found beyond Earth
Scientific American (3/11): Active hydrothermal vents rushing up through a deep ocean from the interior of Saturn’s moon Enceladus increase the odds that alien life could await discovery in the watery depths of that icy world, according to scientists associated with the NASA/European Space Agency Cassini mission.
Philae comet lander may get wake-up nudge: researchers
NBC News (3/11): European researchers will attempt to awaken the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander on Thursday. The small spacecraft touched down on the surface of the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerashimenko in November. Engineers believe Philae was soon silenced because it landed in the shadow of a cliff, denying the spacecraft the sunlight it needed to re-charge batteries.
U.S. plutonium stockpile good for two more nuclear batteries after Mars 2020
Space News (3/11): The U.S. Department of Energy has three radioactive plutonium-238 fueled batteries for NASA deep space missions. One is reserved for NASA’s 2020 Mars rover. Energy Department officials provided a status report on Feb. 20. Energy officials intend to resume production of more nuclear fuel by 2021.
NASA eyeing landing site for 2016 Mars mission
Space.com (3/11): NASA’s Mars InSight lander will study the red planet’s interior with a drill and sub-surface instruments. Launch is set for 2016. The favored landing site is just north of the equator in a region called Elysium Planitia.
Closest exo-planet is remarkably Earth-sized
Science Magazine (3/11): Discovered in 2012, an exo-planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, the closest star to the sun, was not easy to size quickly. After further study, it turns out this planet is just 1 to 3 times as massive as the Earth. Temperatures, however, on the planet’s day side are hot enough to melt led.
Sun unleashes 1st monster solar flare of 2015 (photos, video)
Space.com (3/11): The first major solar eruption of 2015 was observed on Wednesday. The flare is headed for Earth, say experts. A geomagnetic storm warning has been issued for later this week, a caution linked to lesser flares that erupted on Monday.
Low Earth Orbit
Soyuz lands in Kazakhstan, returning international crew home
CBS News via Spaceflightnow.com (3/12): Russia’s Soyuz TMA-14M spacecraft descended under parachute to a safe landing in wintry Kazakhstan late Wednesday, delivering NASA’s Barry “Butch” Wilmore and cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova back to Earth after 167 days in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Command of the station transition from Wilmore to NASA’s Terry Virts as the Soyuz undocked at 6:44 p.m., EDT. The capsule landed shortly after 10 p.m., EDT, and was quickly greeted by Russian recovery personnel.
Soyuz TMA-14M crew feeling well after returning from ISS Russian deputy PM
TASS (3/12): Just landed Soyuz spacecraft crew members Barry Wilmore, of NASA, and Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova, both of Russia, are feeling well, reports Russia’s deputy prime minister Dmitry Rogozin.
What’s the last thing an astronaut says to his kids before flying into space?
Houston Chronicle (3/11): The newspaper offers a close up look at what it’s like for a NASA astronaut to say goodbye to his family before lifting off for a five to six month stay aboard the International Space Station. Barry Wilmore, whom the report follows, returned to Earth late Wednesday from the space station, where he served as commander and participated in four spacewalks.
NASA mission to measure Earth’s magnetic collisions
New York Times (3/12): NASA’s Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission spacecraft are set for launching from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Thursday at 10:44 p.m., EDT. The Atlas 5 launch vehicle is loaded with four spacecraft that were developed to study little understood interactions in the Earth’s magnetic field, activities that can disrupt satellite and power grid operations.
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