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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. A key Space Launch System solid rocket booster ground test firing is set for 11:30 a.m., EDT. Senator Mikulski’s 2016 retirement a minus for NASA. Boeing tackles problem with Space Launch System welding equipment. NASA Europa mission closing in on a mid-2015 program start, 2022 lift off. Nearby dwarf galaxy and gamma ray source may address dark matter mystery. Milky Way may be larger than prevailing estimates. NASA’s Dawn mission prepared to share lessons from Ceres. Leaving the International Space Station produces mixed sentiments. British soprano Sarah Brightman trains for September space station visit. Boeing, SpaceX seek orbital passengers beyond the International Space Station. NanoRacks readies small satellite air lock for Space Station.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Stationary rocket to be test-fired in Utah for NASA
Spaceflightnow.com (3/10): Orbital ATK is counting down to QM-1, a Utah ground test firing of the world’s largest solid rocket booster. The descendant of the space shuttle’s solid rocket boosters will help to power NASA’s Space Launch System, the heavy lift rocket designed to start U.S. astronauts on future missions of deep space exploration. The two minute firing is scheduled for 11:30 a.m., EDT.
Editorial | Mikulski retirement looms large
Space News (3/10): Earlier this month U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski surprised supporters and colleagues with her decision not to seek re-election in 2016. NASA and the space community will miss her significant support on policy and budget matters, according to an editorial. “There is no way to calculate the loss NASA will feel when U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) retires at the end of her term next year,” according to the publication. “But there can be no doubt that it will be substantial and far reaching.”
Rep. Donna Edwards launches campaign to succeed Barbara Mikulski
Spacepolicyonline.com (3/10): U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, of Maryland, announced Tuesday she will seek Mikulski’s Senate seat. Edwards is the ranking Democrat on the House Science space subcommittee. Edwards has opposed the proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission and questioned the safety of NASA’s commercial crew and cargo initiatives, according to the report.
Boeing still tinkering with giant welder for SLS stages
Space News (3/10): Boeing deals with a welding challenge at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The equipment is involved in the production of NASA’s Space Launch System first stage. An upgrade is anticipated by mid-summer. First launching of the SLS is still planned for 2018. The SLS is a cornerstone of NASA’s plans to resume human deep space exploration.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Europa Clipper concept team aims for launch in 2022
Spaceflightnow.com (3/10): NASA’s plans for a mission to Europa, the ice and ocean covered moon of Jupiter, are on track to be approved by mid-2015. The solar powered spacecraft could be ready for a 2022 launch to a destination with a possible habitable environment. The Europa Clipper will orbit Jupiter in order to make multiple flybys of the moon. NASA has not given up on the idea of including a small lander or surface penetrator.
Gamma rays may be clue on dark matter
New York Times (3/10): A gamma ray source in the form of a dwarf galaxy close to the Milky Way may offer confirmation of dark matter, say scientists. Their data is coming from NASA’s orbiting Fermi Large Area Telescope.
The Milky Way may be 50 percent bigger than thought
Discovery.com (3/10): The Milky Way may be much larger than characterized previously thanks to a ring like filament of stars.
Studying dwarf planet Ceres: Q&A with Dawn scientist Chris Russell
Space.com (3/10): NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft entered orbit around the large asteroid Ceres last Friday. Russell previews what scientists expect to learn in the coming months, as Dawn moves closer to the surface of Ceres.
Low Earth Orbit
Astronauts reveal what it’s like to come home from space
ABCNews.com (3/10): NASA’s Barry “Butch” Wilmore is ending 167 days in orbit aboard the International Space Station late Wednesday when he returns to Earth in Kazakhstan. Wilmore, the station’s most recent commander, will be seated in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft next to cosmonauts Alexander Samokutyaev and Elena Serova.
Next Space Station crew preps for a year-long stay in space
Spaceflight Insider.com (3/10): The trio includes the International Space Station’s first year long tenants, America’s Scott Kelly and Russia’s Mikhail Kornienko. They will launch late Mar. 27 with Soyuz commander Gennady Padalka. Kelly and Kornienko will participate in experiments designed to address the physical and psychological challenges of future human deep space missions.
Soprano Brightman to hit new high note with space station trip
Reuters.com (3/10): British soprano Sarah Brightman is training for a September visit to the International Space Station. She will become the eighth space tourist. “I am incredibly excited and as I have said, sometimes overwhelmed, but I am finding all sorts of things about myself,” said Brightman at a news media event. She plans to sing from the space station.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Boeing, SpaceX look beyond NASA for space customers
USA Today (3/10): Representatives of the two prospective U.S. commercial human launch services providers are looking at markets beyond NASA’s need to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. NASA’s commitment to the station ends in 2024, as does Russia’s. Boeing and SpaceX are developing human orbital launch capabilities under NASA’s commercial crew program.
Private company eyes commercial Space Station airlock
Aviation Week & Space Technology (3/11): NanoRacks LLC will develop a second International Space Station airlock for the launching of small satellites from the U.S. segment. The current NanoRacks launcher relies on a crowded airlock in the Japanese Kibo module.
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