In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A key feature of NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket, the Orbital ATK solid rocket motor, is scheduled for a key ground test firing in the Utah desert on Tuesday.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA to test world’s largest crew-rated solid rocket booster
Spaceflight Insider (6/26): The second qualification motor ground test of the Orbital ATK solid rocket motor design for NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket is set to undergo a two-minute ground test firing on Tuesday in Promontory, Utah. The SLS motor is designed around a five-segment version of the four-segment solid rocket motors that helped launch each of NASA’s 135 space shuttle missions. The SLS is a cornerstone of NASA plans to explore Mars with humans.
Food grown in fake Mars soil probably won’t kill you
Washington Post (6/24): Researchers in the Netherlands conclude that four crops — radishes, peas, rye and tomatoes — grown in simulated Martian soil would be edible. Actual Martian soil has higher levels of toxic heavy metals. In all, 10 crops were harvested from a simulated Martian soil, four were assessed for edibility.
Space Science
NASA cancels all travel to COSPAR meeting in Istanbul
SpacepolicyOnline.com (6/24): NASA is denying travel for civil servants and contractors who would otherwise attend the July 30 to Aug. 7 Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) conference to be held in Istanbul, Turkey, in response to terrorism concerns. Lennard Fisk, the COSPAR president, has expressed concern the withdrawal is a concession that will diminish U.S. influence on future global space initiatives.
Russia to spend $60M in 2016-2018 to fund space voyages to Moon, Mars
Sputnik International (6/24): Russia plans to invest $60 million between 2016-18 on a nuclear power source using a Xenon fuel for a spacecraft transport capable of reaching the moon and planets with research payloads.
Low Earth Orbit
NASA considers turning Curiosity rover into a scout for water on Mars mountain
Geek Wire (6/26): NASA’s Curiosity rover has been exploring the immense Gale Crater on Mars since August 2012. A future assignment may include the exploration of Recurring Slope Linae, seasonal salty subsurface water flows, with possible implications for habitable environments. Curiosity is slowly driving up Mount Sharp, a three-mile-high rise.
Britain’s quitting the EU, but will it be forced out of EU space programs?
Space News (6/24): The consequences of the UK’s vote on June 23 to leave the European Union may take years to execute, time enough to amend or establish new agreements for cooperation in space, according to the report. Meanwhile, Britain remains a member of the European Space Agency, which is not the European Union.
China’s new Long March 7 rocket successful on first flight
Spaceflightnow.com (6/25): China’s new Long March 7 launch vehicle debuted successfully on Saturday, as it lifted off from Hainan Island in the South China Sea with the unpiloted prototype for a crew transport vehicle. The Long March 7, China’s most powerful rocket, will support China’s planned space station as well as military space objectives.
Reentry module aboard Long March 7 retrieved
Xinhuanet (6/25): The space engineering version of a new manned space module launched aboard China’s new Long March 7 launch vehicle on Saturday landed successfully in the Badain Jaran Desert in the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, after spending about 20 hours in orbit.
Upgraded “space shuttle bus” aboard new carrier rocket
Xinhuanet, of China (6/25): China’s new Long March 7 rocket carried among its payloads the upgraded Yuanzheng-1A upper stage, which was developed to independently deploy a range of space payloads to different orbits.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Atlas 5 returns to flight with launch of Navy’s MUOS-5
Space News (6/24): United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 resumed launch operations from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on June 24 by placing the last in a series of U.S. Navy communications satellites in orbit. The previous Atlas 5 launch on Mar. 22 overcame a fuel valve issue associated with the Russian RD-180 first stage engine. ULA suspended launches, while the RD-180 supplier, NPO Energomash, modified the valve.
Virginia looks at new opportunities for Wallops spaceport
Roanoke Times, of Virginia (6/25): Virginia’s Eastern Shore including NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility may be ideal for a new U.S. Homeland Security Department testing facility for unpiloted vehicle systems for aerial and underwater operations as well as the U.S. Navy’s new Triton drone fleet.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of June 27-July 1, 2016
Spacepolicyonline.com (6/25): U.S. Senate appropriators will focus early in the week on a 2017 spending bill that includes budgets for NASA and NOAA. Orbital ATK will stage its second test firing of the solid rocket booster for NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket on Tuesday. Thursday is Asteroid Day, which coincides with the anniversary of the 1908 explosion over Tunguska attributed to a large meteorite. Cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station will test the automated docking system for Russia’s upgraded Progress cargo and Soyuz crew transportation vehicles early Friday.