In Today’s Deep Space Extra… SpaceLink chooses Axiom Space as implementation partner for demo of its end-to-end relay service on the International Space Station. Northrop Grumman’s latest cargo mission to the station is set to launch Saturday.
Human Space Exploration
NASA eyes electric car tech for future Moon rovers
Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
Scientific American (2/17): With its sights set on resuming the human exploration of the Moon, NASA is at work on a new version of the lunar rover that was part of the Apollo 15, 16, and 17 missions. The plan is to equip the Artemis era lunar explorers with a rover that could house astronauts for one to two weeks as they roam the surface of the Moon. At least two partnerships are at work on the concept, one involving General Motors and Lockheed Martin and another partnering Northrop Grumman, AVL, Intuitive Machines, Lunar Outpost, and Michelin.
SpaceLink hires Axiom to support ISS communications demonstration
Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
SpaceNews.com (2/17): SpaceLink announced an agreement Thursday to work with Axiom Space to demonstrate a new optical space data relay service capable of transmitting at 10 gigabytes per second. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS), manager of the ISS National Laboratory, contracted with SpaceLink to undertake the demonstration. Once that contract was finalized, SpaceLink awarded Axiom a subcontract to support mission integration, launch, and operations. Axiom also will serve as SpaceLink’s liaison with NASA, ensuring SpaceLink hardware meets International Space Station safety requirements.
Fire-safety experiment among science gear launching to International Space Station this weekend
Coalition Members in the News – Axiom, Boeing, Northrop Grumman
Space.com (2/17): Northrop Grumman is set to launch its 17th NASA contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from the Wallops Island Flight Facility in Virginia on Saturday at 12:40 p.m. EST. A payload of about 8,000 pounds overall includes a wide range of science experiments and technology demonstrations. Among them is the Solid Fuel Ignition and Extinction, or SoFIE experiment, the latest in a series of investigations to study how fires start and spread aboard spacecraft in the absence of gravity.
Space Science
After a year on Mars, NASA’s Perseverance rover is on course for big discoveries
Space.com (1/18): Since landing on Mars last February 18, the Perseverance rover has had an eventful time on the Red Planet. After its companion, the Ingenuity Helicopter, demonstrated it could fly on Mars, the rover began its science campaign, collecting six rock cores to date. During that first science campaign, Perseverance has explored a large patch of the Jezero crater, cruising all the way to a rugged part of the crater floor called South Séítah. But that phase of the mission is now wrapping up, and the rover is heading back toward its landing site. Such backtracking was the plan all along. It’s the safest way to get to the crater’s delta, the target location for the mission’s second science campaign.
TESS finds almost 100 quadruple star systems
Universetoday.com (2/17): Launched in late 2018, NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has discovered more than 5000 possible exoplanets, of which 197 have been confirmed. The ongoing mission has also increased discoveries of quadruple star candidates to 97, almost doubling the previous total. Citizen scientists have contributed to the effort, which is the topic for a scientific paper that will be published in the Astrophysical Journal Supplement.
Other News
Senate clears a third stopgap FY2022 funding bill
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/17): The U.S. government has been functioning without a formal budget since the 2022 fiscal year began last October 1. The latest of the continuing resolutions (CR) that prevents a shutdown by extending 2021 spending levels expires today. On Thursday, the Senate passed a new CR by a 65 to 27 vote that keeps the federal government operating through March 11. The House passed the measure last week and as of late Thursday it was awaiting President Biden’s signature.
State fight: A coast-to-coast battle to bring home the space jobs
SpaceNews.com (2/17): California-based aerospace companies are looking out to other states for relocation and expansion of their operations. While the state’s Silicon Valley remains attractive as a site to start up, the companies that display success are finding offers from across the U.S. to move away. And they are doing so lured by plentiful engineering talent, proximity to government customers and a lower cost of living. Another factor is that states like Alabama, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Texas, and Virginia have state commissions focused on growing their space economies.