In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The first black woman NASA astronaut assigned a long duration mission in space is nearing an April launch to the International Space Station. China follows NASA’s lead in turning to the private sector to advance in space. When it comes to stars, the sun is pretty well behaved.
Human Space Exploration
Jessica Watkins is getting ready to be the first black woman to spend months in space
NPR (1/31): Selected by NASA for astronaut training in 2017, geologist Jessica Watkins is preparing to become the first black woman to fly a long duration space mission on the International Space Station (ISS). She will arrive onboard a SpaceX capsule and spend six months on the ISS as part of NASA’s Artemis program. “We are building on the foundation that was laid by the Black women astronauts who have come before me,” Watkins told NPR’s Morning Edition. “I’m definitely honored to be a small part of that legacy, but ultimately be an equal member of the crew.”
Space Science
It turns out, we have a very well-behaved star
Universetoday.com (1/31): The sun has been active with solar flare emissions early this week. But in comparison to other stars and their planets investigated by NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), the sun is “downright quiescent,” according to an assessment of data from the satellite assessed by University of Colorado researchers that is headed for publication in the Astrophysical Journal. Launched in April 2018 to search for extrasolar planets, TESS is also focused on studies of the nearest red dwarf stars. Red dwarfs are plentiful in the Milky Way galaxy and long lived, but complicated. They emit powerful flares, much larger than those ejected from the sun and which can pose a threat to life should it exist.
The James Webb Space Telescope will map the atmosphere of exoplanets
Space.com (1/31): Louis-Philippe Coulombe, an astrophysics Ph.D. student at the University of Montreal, explains how the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), a collaboration between NASA and the Canadian and European space agencies, will help scientists better evaluate the atmospheres of planets orbiting stars beyond the sun. Studying the wavelength of the light from the objects can reveal the presence of water molecules and clouds as well as atmospheric temperature. With a primary mirror nearly three times the diameter of the Hubble Space Telescope, the JWST will provide more precise observations over a wide range of wavelengths to help solve the mystery over how many planets beyond the sun could be habitable.
Other News
Lawmakers ask House appropriators to add $50 million for DoD ‘tactically responsive launch’
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
SpaceNews.com (1/31): A bipartisan group of lawmakers in a letter asked House defense appropriators to add $50 million to the Pentagon’s 2022 budget for tactically responsive space launch, a term used to describe launch services that can be performed on short notice. “The U.S. is currently not prepared to replace or augment space launch capabilities on tactical timelines if capabilities are lost,” says the letter sent to Rep. Betty McCollum (D-Minn.) and Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chair and ranking member, respectively, of the House Appropriations Committee’s defense subcommittee. The letter was signed by Rep. Steven Horsford (D-Nev.) and Rep. Michael Waltz (R-Fla.) and co-signed by 10 other members from both parties.
Building a commercial space sustainability ecosystem
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
The Space Review (1/31): The issues of mounting numbers of satellites and debris in low Earth orbit are of a growing concern for the operators of national security, civil Earth observation as well as commercial satellites. In mid-2018, the White House National Space Council looked to the Commerce Department to shoulder civil space traffic management, relieving the military of some of the overall responsibility for providing warnings to satellite operators to prompt action to avoid collisions with the mounting traffic. Little has come of the call, according to a number of experts in the field. Increasingly, it looks like the private sector, not only in the U.S. but across the globe, is moving out to not only monitor space traffic and provide updates, but also undertake missions to refuel, repair, relocate and even remove nonfunctional satellites once government regulators can settle on a course of action.
China’s Deep Blue Aerospace targets big national, commercial launch opportunities
SpaceNews.com (1/31): Deep Blue Aerospace is among a second wave of emerging commercial space companies in China and one striving to achieve orbit with its Nebula-1 rocket in 2023. During an October 2021 test flight, the rocket climbed to just over 100 meters before descending with the liquid kerosene and oxygen engine still burning. It achieved an upright, wobbly landing. “Our goal is to develop new kinds of launch vehicles to reach space. So, we are developing reusable rockets and so these must be liquid rockets,” according to Huo Liang, the company’s CEO.