In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA divides human spaceflight directorate into two. Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop the Orion Main Engine for future Artemis missions.
Human Space Exploration
NASA splits human spaceflight directorate into two new branches
Space.com (9/21): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson announced Tuesday at a virtual employee town hall that the agency’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) will separate into two mission directorates. They are the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) and the Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD). They will focus respectively on developing the systems for future human exploration such as those associated with returning humans to the Moon and preparing for Mars, and operating ongoing human spaceflight operations, including activities on the International Space Station (ISS) and the commercialization of low Earth orbit. Kathy Lueders, who led HEOMD, will lead SOMD. Jim Free, a previous director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center, will lead ESDMD.
Aerojet Rocketdyne wins NASA contract for Orion Spacecraft Main Engine
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin
Seekingalpha.com (9/22): NASA has awarded a contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne for the development of the Orion Main Engine (OME), which will be used on the spacecraft as part of the agency’s Artemis program. The contract includes certification of the OME design, production, and special studies and tasks. The OME will be integrated into Orion’s European Service Module and will replace the Orbital Maneuvering System Engine repurposed from the Space Shuttle Program for the service module on Artemis missions VII through XIV. The contract also allows for the procurement of additional engines for other NASA exploration programs.
U.S. must prepare now to replace International Space Station, experts urge
UPI.com (9/22): During a House Science Committee Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee hearing yesterday, questions came up for NASA and commercial sector witnesses about the International Space Station’s (ISS) ability to support an extension, whether commercial development is enough to enable transition to private platforms, and concern about the U.S. having uncertainty or a gap in its low Earth orbit leadership which the Chinese would fill with their new space station.
Space Science
Why do the planets in the solar system orbit on the same plane?
Space.com (9/21): In the solar system’s earliest epoch it was a large cloud of spinning dust and gas that collapsed and flattened over time as the sun grew larger. Eventually, the dust particles elongated to become pebbles that stuck together. Some of the material grew large enough for gravity to shape them into planets, explains University of Hawaii astronomer Nader Haghighipour.
Other News
Landsat 9 lifted atop launcher to extend unbroken environmental data record
Coalition Member in the News – United Launch Alliance
Spaceflightnow.com (9/21): The next Landsat observatory has been mounted on top of a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket for liftoff September 27, continuing an unbroken record of Earth observations to track urban sprawl, water usage, tropical deforestation, retreating glaciers, and more over the last half-century.
NASA chief looking forward to Moscow trip, will visit as soon as possible
TASS of Russia (9/21): NASA Administrator Bill Nelson plans a visit to Moscow to meet with Dmitry Rogozin, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos, as soon as possible, Nelson told a phone briefing with reporters in Russia’s capital. Dealing with the limitations imposed in response to the coronavirus is a factor in the scheduling. Nelson has said he hopes the two countries will continue their partnership in the human exploration of space. Editor’s note: TASS is a Russian government-owned news source.
Space Force talent strategy is a departure from the norm
SpaceNews.com (9/21): In an explanatory document, the newest U.S. military branch is calling for a different approach to recruiting and retaining skilled personnel, arguing that service members and civilian workers should have more flexibility to make career choices than under the traditional military personnel system. According to the documentation, the Space Force must be technologically advanced and able to innovate quickly to confront its adversaries. General John “Jay” Raymond unveiled the plan at the Air Force Association’s Air, Space & Cyber conference on Tuesday.
How Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic woman in space, dealt with ‘people who didn’t think I should be there’
CNBC.com (9/22): In 1993, Ellen Ochoa became the first Hispanic woman to reach space as a NASA shuttle astronaut and a doctor in electrical engineering from Stanford University. Ochoa would go on to log four shuttle missions and become the second woman to serve as director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC) between 2012 and 2018. CNBC’s Behind the Desk series explains how Ochoa, now retired, made it happen.