In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The first National Space Council meeting in the Biden Administration to take place today. Senators urge the White House and the Department of Commerce on space debris. Robert Lightfoot to lead Lockheed Martin’s space unit.
Human Space Exploration
NASA inspector general warns of Space Station gap
SpaceNews.com (12/1): NASA’s inspector general (IG) has raised concerns about efforts by NASA to extend the life of International Space Station (ISS) operations beyond the 2024 deadline authorized by Congress. A concern is the air leaks in an aging element of the Russian segment called the Zvezda module transfer tunnel. In a report released on Tuesday, the IG warned the structural lapses responsible for the loss of air pressure in the ISS’s habitable volume could be a threat to reliably extending the life of the ISS until 2030. NASA is seeking the extension to support efforts to establish at least one and potentially multiple commercially operated space stations to support human research and technology development. Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for space operations, responded to the IG in the report, saying NASA will continue to support an extension. NASA and Russia are pursuing a root cause for the leaks and a mitigation strategy, said Lueders, and the transfer tunnel could be sealed off from the rest of the ISS, she noted.
2022 Artemis mission debuts America’s powerful new launch capability
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
SpaceNews.com (11/30): A Boeing furnished assessment explains what the upcoming Artemis I test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion crew capsule on an uncrewed journey around the Moon and back to Earth means, as it helps to set the stage for a similar test flight with astronauts on board and then a landing at the lunar south pole with astronauts. “The SLS rocket will allow America to retain its leadership position in space, even as the U.S. invests in next-generation alternative rocket technologies” according to John Shannon, Boeing vice president and Space Launch System program manager. He added that it would be a risk for the United States to hand over its role in deep space exploration in the hope that a private company’s concepts will be human-tested and ready for flight in the near term, ahead of international competitors.
Space Science
Hubble telescope restores 3rd instrument in slow return to operations
Space.com (11/30): NASA experts on the ground have now recovered the third of four instruments aboard the Hubble Space Telescope that lapsed into safe mode on October 25. The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS) has now returned to science operations, joining the recovered Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) and Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) in resuming observations. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) continues to await recovery. The difficulty has been attributed to a loss of messaging capability among the internal clocks of the instruments. Hubble marked its 31st anniversary in orbit in April.
Did Earth get its water from the Sun?
Cosmosmagazine.com (11/30): Samples returned to Earth from Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample return mission last December may help to explain the source of the Earth’s vast oceans. Astronomers have attributed the presence of water on the Earth to impacts from comets and asteroids during the planet forming era. However, mission scientists are suggesting that the solar wind may have reacted with minerals in space dust to provide another source of the water. The research effort has been published in the journal Nature Astronomy.
Other news
In leaked email, Elon Musk says SpaceX is facing bankruptcy
Futurism.com (11/30): A summary of leaked internal emails from SpaceX founder Elon Musk indicates that the company’s Raptor rocket engine development for the company’s Superheavy/Starship rocket combination is in trouble. Reports from Space Explored and confirmed by CNBC suggest that Musk has characterized Raptor development as in a disaster status with possible bankruptcy consequences for the company, including its Starlink broadband communications satellite constellation. The situation could have implications for NASA as well, which in April contracted with SpaceX to develop a commercial lunar Human Landing System (HLS) as part of a strategy to return human explorers to the Moon.
Senators urge Biden administration action on space debris
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/30): The call for action comes from the leadership of the U.S. Senate Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee in correspondence to Vice President Kamala Harris, chair of the National Space Council, and Secretary of Commerce Gina Raimondo. U.S. Senators Maria Cantwell (D-WA), the committee’s chair, and Roger Wicker (R-MS), its ranking member, were prompted by Russia’s mid-November anti-satellite test, which increased the number of trackable debris in low Earth orbit by an estimated 1,500 new fragments that pose a threat to the International Space Station (ISS) and other satellites. The lawmakers emphasized a need to improve communications within the global space community and to establish capabilities to better monitor the debris threat and warn satellite operators of collision threats. Harris is scheduled to chair the first session of the space council under the Biden Administration today.
Missile test and space ventures increase worries over debris
Coalition president and CEO Frank Slazer in the News
Law360.com (11/24): As concerns rise globally over the creation of space debris in low Earth orbit in the aftermath of a mid-November Russian anti-satellite test, space policy experts are discussing ways to establish and enforce norms of behavior to diminish the debris threat to operational satellites and space station astronauts. “There’s just so much economic potential there for all nations to tap into, and you’ve got human lives at stake, as well. The future development of this next stage of our economic growth and development is at risk if these types of activities continue,” said Frank Slazer, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration. (Requires paywall access.)
Lightfoot to lead Lockheed Martin space unit
Coalition Member in the News – Lockheed Martin
SpaceNews.com (11/30): Robert Lightfoot, who served as NASA’s acting administrator from 2017 until April of 2018, was named Tuesday by Lockheed Martin to serve as executive vice president of the company’s business unit. He will replace Rick Ambrose, who is retiring from the company March 1. Lightfoot is a previous NASA associate administrator and served as director of the Marshall Space Flight Center during his 29-year tenure with NASA. He joined Lockheed Martin in 2019.
China launches surge of space missions
Spaceflightnow.com (11/30): Using an assortment of launch vehicles and launch sites, China managed to launch four space missions between November 20 and 26. The payloads included military communications, radar surveillance, optical imaging and satellites. China has attempted 47 launches so far in 2021, including two failures.