In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA increases Artemis I prelaunch checkouts, moving the liftoff to April or May. NASA’s Curiosity rover finds intriguing carbon signatures, possibly linked to biological activity, on Mars.
Human Space Exploration
Artemis I preparations proceeding one step at a time
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/2): The planned launch of Artemis I, the first integrated test flight of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule from the Kennedy Space Center (KSC), has moved from March to April or May, Tom Whitmeyer, NASA’s deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, told a Wednesday news briefing. The delay will provide additional time for pre-mission checkouts of all hardware. In March, NASA plans to roll the Artemis I rocket and Orion capsule to the launch pad for a Wet Dress Rehearsal, in which the rocket is fueled, and a countdown conducted without a liftoff. Once the rehearsal is complete, the rocket and capsule will roll back to KSC’s Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Then, NASA expects to set a launch date.
NASA wants to land Americans back on the Moon. These women are making it happen
TODAY Show (2/2): In the United States’ effort to return to the Moon, women key to the operation hope to make history in the “final frontier.” Women behind the Artemis program– Sharon cobb, who leads the team that designed and built the powerful SLS; Laura Poliah, who helped build Orion; Stephanie Wilson, an astronaut who could fly on one of the missions; and Charlie Blackwell Thompson, the first female launch director– sat down with NBC News in an interview on TODAY to discuss the revolutionary Artemis missions.
Axiom Space astronauts approved for first private mission to the International Space Station
Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
WTSP (2/2): The International Space Station (ISS) partners have approved the Axiom Space commercial mission with four crew members that is scheduled to launch on March 30 and set a standard for commercially sponsored missions to the station’s U.S. segment. Mike Lopez-Alegria, a retired NASA astronaut, will command the flight. Crew members include paying passengers Larry Connor, who will serve as pilot, and Mark Pathy and Eytan Stibbe.
Space Science
Curiosity detects potentially biologically produced carbon signature on Mars
NASAspaceflight.com (2/1): The ongoing exploration of Gale Crater by NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover since its arrival in 2012 has produced intriguing signatures of carbon compounds associated with biological processes on the Earth. However, it’s too soon to draw a conclusion that there has ever been life on the Red Planet. “We’re finding things on Mars that are tantalizingly interesting, but we would really need more evidence to say we’ve identified life,” said Paul Mahaffy, former principal investigator for Curiosity’s Sample Analysis on Mars instrument. “So we’re looking at what else could have caused the carbon signature we’re seeing if not life.” Meanwhile, NASA’s Perseverance rover at Jezero Crater is carefully gathering rock samples that are to be returned to Earth, where they can be analyzed with the latest laboratory technologies for possible evidence of past biological activity.
Other News
El Paso County, city of Colorado Springs spending on federal lobbyists to keep Space Command
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
Colorado Springs Gazette (2/2): Colorado, especially those living in the Colorado Springs area, have not given up on efforts to retain the headquarters for the U.S. Space Command rather than see it move to Huntsville, Alabama, by 2026. The decision to make the move, announced during the closeout of the Trump administration, is currently under investigation by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) and Pentagon’s inspector general (IG).
NASA and SpaceX investigating delayed Dragon parachute opening
Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
SpaceNews.com (2/2): As the 24th NASA contracted SpaceX Cargo Dragon capsule returned to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) for a January 24 splashdown in the Gulf of Mexico waters off the upper Florida coast, one of the four parachutes deployed to slow contact with the water, was delayed in its opening. The same happened as the Crew 2 Dragon mission returned to Earth from the space station on November 8 with four astronauts on board. On Wednesday, a NASA spokesman said NASA and SpaceX are assessing the issue ahead of upcoming planned crew Dragon launches and returns slated for late March and mid-April.