In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The Coalition for Deep Space Exploration welcomes Bechtel as a new member of our organization. Spacewalking NASA colleagues continued an ongoing upgrade of the International Space Station’s solar power generation system. NASA to release new James Webb Space Telescope images in update today.
Human Space Exploration
ISS astronauts complete spacewalk as busy period of Station operations begins
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
NASAspaceflight.com (3/15): NASA astronauts Kayla Barron and Raja Chari joined for a lengthy spacewalk outside the International Space Station (ISS) on Tuesday to continue a plan to upgrade six of the eight original station solar panels with the addition of Roll Out Solar Arrays (iROSA). Two of the ISS’s power channels received the addition of iROSAs during June of 2021. During Tuesday’s spacewalk, Barron and Chari added the “Mod Kit,” or hardware needed to secure a future iROSA to the starboard side of the ISS’s solar power truss. Adding six new, smaller arrays, built by Boeing, is necessary due to degradation in the power output level of the solar array wings, some of which have now been on-orbit for over 20 years.
NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei breaks record for longest U.S. spaceflight
Space.com (3/15): Living and working aboard the International Space Station (ISS), NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei on Tuesday broke the 340-day record for the longest spaceflight by an American that was set by retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly over 2015-16. Vande Hei is scheduled to return to Earth aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-19 spacecraft on March 30 with cosmonauts Pyotr Dubrov and Anton Shkaplerov, extending his record to 355 days. The capsule will land in Kazakhstan.
Space Science
NASA to release new James Webb Space Telescope images in update today. Here’s when to look
Space.com (3/16): NASA will show new images from the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and discuss the observatory’s careful mirror alignment progress today, March 16. The space agency will hold a virtual press conference at 12 p.m. EDT that will air live on NASA TV, the NASA app and the NASA website, and will start showing images starting at 11:30 a.m. EDT on these channels as well.
NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity to keep flying through September (at least)
Space.com (3/15): On Tuesday, NASA announced that the small Ingenuity helicopter that accompanied the Perseverance rover to Jezero Crater on Mars will keep flying until at least September. Ingenuity has logged 21 flights, far more than the five envisioned when it soared into the thin Martian atmosphere for the first time on April 19, 2021. Ingenuity will serve as an airborne reconnaissance asset in the selection of rocks for sampling as Perseverance moves from the floor of Jezero Crater, an ancient crater lake, to a large stream delta.
Other News
Russian Space Agency employees are now forbidden to travel outside Russia (because they might not come back)
Universetoday.com (3/15): As Russia’s military incursion into Ukraine continues, many Russians are departing their homeland as the economy suffers in response to global economic sanctions. Dmitry Rogozin, director general of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, however, has prohibited the agency’s workers from leaving because their technical skills are needed and there is a growing concern they may not return.
Former astronaut to back off Twitter war with head of Russian space agency
CNN.com (3/15): Veteran astronaut Scott Kelly told CNN he is backing off his high-profile Twitter war with the head of the Russian space agency, Dmitry Rogozin, following a warning from a NASA official that such attacks are “damaging” to the International Space Station (ISS) mission. The warning came in an email that was sent to all former U.S. astronauts last week from a current NASA official.
Ukrainian space industry players continue work, eye European projects amid war
Space.com (3/15): Industry representatives in Ukraine say that local companies have so far managed to adapt their activities to the realities of war, and that they are determined to advance joint projects with their European partners. Katie Miller of U.K.-Ukrainian launch vehicle developer Skyrora said that Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has not hampered the company’s work. In addition to the staff who work at the Ukrainian R&D facility in Dnipro, Skyrora’s core business operations are continuing at pace at the company’s U.K. facilities. Volodymyr Usov, the co-founder of Ukrainian space industry startup Kurs Orbital and the former head of Ukraine’s space agency, said Russia’s airstrikes and artillery fire have not targeted the key facilities of the country’s space sector.
DoD estimates $2.5 billion price tag for global constellation to track hypersonic missiles
Coalition Member in the News – L3HarrisSpaceNews.com (3/15): Congress has directed a $550 million increase in the DoD’s 2022 budget to procure low Earth orbit satellites equipped with sensors to detect and track Russian and Chinese hypersonic missiles. The budget increase represents a down payment on a proposed constellation of 28 infrared sensor satellites estimated to cost $2.5 billion to develop and launch, according to a Pentagon representative on Tuesday. The satellites are planned for launch in 2024. The DoD’s Space Development Agency is expected to release a solicitation within the next two weeks.
Astra’s Rocket 3.3 returns to flight with successful launch
SpaceNews.com (3/15): Astra’s 3.3 rocket placed multiple payloads for three providers into orbit on Tuesday, following a 12:22 p.m. EDT liftoff from the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Alaska’s Kodiak Island. The successful launch followed a failed February 10 liftoff of a similar rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida, with NASA payloads, that was traced to a wiring design issue in the payload fairing separation mechanism and a software problem with the second stage thrust vector control system.