In Today’s Deep Space Extra… As NASA’s Artemis I test flight nears, work continues on the assembly of the Space Launch System rocket’s core stage assigned to the Artemis II mission. NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flies again on Mars.
Human Space Exploration
NASA puts its back into next Artemis Moon mission as rocket assembly continues
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Northrop Grumman
Orlando Sentinel (2/8): As the launch of NASA’s Artemis I test flight of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule around the Moon approaches, the agency is moving ahead with the assembly of the core stage for Artemis II, a follow-up that will include astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft. The SLS core stage assembly is underway at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. The largest part of the core stage, a 130-foot-tall liquid hydrogen tank, was moved into the vertical assembly area at Michoud on January 30, preparing to be mated to the 66-foot-long forward assembly, which combines the forward skirt, intertank, and liquid oxygen tank, and arrived earlier in January to the facility.
Space Science
Mars helicopter Ingenuity aces 19th flight after historic Red Planet weather delay
Space.com (2/8): Ingenuity, the small helicopter companion to NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover, marked its 19th flight on Tuesday. It was its first since December 15, 2021. On its latest flight, Ingenuity flew 205 feet for 99 seconds over a ridge in the South Seitah region of Jezero Crater on Mars. Originally planned for January 5, Ingenuity’s most recent flight was postponed due to a Martian dust storm.
Rugged Mars has taken big bites out of the Curiosity rover’s wheels (photos)
Space.com (2/8): NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover landed at Gale Crater on Mars in August 2012 to begin steadily climbing and exploring the nearly three-and-a-half-mile high Mount Sharp. The climb has gradually taken a toll on the large rover’s six aluminum wheels. However, the wear and tear is not anticipated to keep Curiosity from completing its mission.
Other News
Stock market losses for space companies not affecting private investment
SpaceNews.com (1/8): Space ventures exposed to the stock market have gone through changes in recent months through mergers with special purpose acquisition corporations (SPACS). The challenge was a topic of the SmallSat Symposium on Tuesday. However, the future for space venture investment may not be so bleak. “There is still plenty of capital out there for the right investment, the right team, the right business proposition,” Nick Flitterman, the new chief financial officer of Mangata Networks, which raised a $33 million Series A round January 12 to start development of a multi-orbit communications satellite constellation, told Tuesday’s session of the symposium.
Astra targeting Thursday afternoon for 3rd attempt at rocket launch from Space Coast
WFTV (2/8): Twice on Monday, Astra was forced to call off a first attempt to launch its startup rocket from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, Florida. The launch is now planned for Thursday during a three-hour window that opens at 1 p.m. EST. The Educational Launch of Nanosatellites (ELaNa 41) mission will be Astra’s first for NASA. The payload includes four smallsats, of which three were designed and developed by universities, while the fourth was developed at NASA’s Johnson Space Center (JSC).
Space weather dooms Starlink cluster
SpacePolicyOnline.com (2/8): SpaceX revealed yesterday that almost all of the 49 Starlink satellites it launched last week were affected by a geomagnetic storm and will reenter or have already. Such space weather storms are created by the interaction of solar particles with the atmosphere.
Camden County residents to vote March 8 on spaceport property
Thecurrentga.org (2/8): Residents of Camden County, Georgia, are to vote March 8 on the fate of a proposed spaceport. The election is in response to a petition signed by residents last year to establish a spaceport for the launch of small rockets, perhaps a dozen times a year. The FAA granted a spaceport license in December that is conditional on Camden County purchasing a polluted industrial site from Union Carbide. The vote is meant to settle a dispute over the proposed spaceport between environmentalists in the region and those who see economic opportunity.