In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Europe and the U.S. look for synergies as they pursue human deep space exploration strategies, including NASA’s Deep Space Gateway (DSG) proposal.
Human Space Exploration
Woerner: Cooperation should reign as spacefaring nations clean up Earth orbit and venture beyond ISS
Space News (10/24): European Space Agency Director General Jan Woerner urged cooperative efforts among the world’s spacefaring nations to clean up debris laden low Earth orbit while they forge ahead to establish an international presence on the moon’s surface and beyond. Woerner spoke Tuesday in Bremen, Germany at Space Tech Expo Europe.
Q&A | Airbus’ Oliver Juckenhöfel gung-ho on Deep Space Gateway (DSG)
Space News (10/24): The head of Airbus, the large European aerospace contractor, has offered enthusiastic support for NASA’s proposed Deep Space Gateway (DSG), a human lunar orbiting habitat, in remarks at Space Tech Expo Europe in Bremen, Germany. The DSG could provide a human and robotic nexus between lunar surface activities and the human exploration of Mars and other deep space destinations.
Underground towns on the moon and Mars: Future human habitats could be hidden in lava tubes
Spaceflightinsider.com (10/24): Mother Nature may be among those asked to partner in future human deep space exploration. Scientists believe past volcanic activity on the moon and Mars may have created potentially habitable caves, or lava tubes, possibly hundreds of feet wide and many miles long. The tubes could offer havens for future human explorers by offering protection from cosmic radiation, temperature extremes and meteorite impacts.
Prototype moon base may be built in Hawaii
Space.com Space Insider (10/24): Experts from government, academia and the private sector gathered October 1-5 in Hawaii for a Moon Base Summit, a gathering to collaborate on a terrestrial analogue for a base near one of the moon’s poles. The prototype would be assembled on Hawaii’s Big Island. A master plan is anticipated for the spring of 2018.
Crew Access Arm arrives as SLS Mobile Launcher takes shape
NASAspaceflight.com (10/24): A Crew Access Arm is soon to be installed on the Mobile Launcher for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) rocket at the Kennedy Space Center. The SLS is under development to start human explorers aboard Orion capsules on future deep space missions.
Space Science
Fireworks in space: NASA’s twins study explores gene expression
NASA Johnson Space Center (10/24): Twins Scott and Mark Kelly participated in a NASA “genetics” study as Scott spent nearly a year aboard the International Space Station in 2015-16. Both are now retired from NASA’s astronaut corps, but still serving as subjects in a study whose final results are expected in 2018. At this point, investigators can say that once in space, human genes experience an increase in methylation, a process of switching on and off.
NASA’s a step closer to having the Curiosity rover drill for organics on Mars
Seeker.com (10/24): Tests of a new drilling technique may help to restore a capability for NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover to sample rock cores on the Red Planet. Curiosity landed in Mars’ Gale Crater in 2012, using its science instrumentation to soon determine that the ancient impact crater once hosted habitable environments. The rover’s drill has not functioned since late 2016, through Curiosity’s mission has been extended.
NASA trims reserves and shifts schedules to find astrophysics cost savings
Space News (10/24): NASA juggles its 2017 budget to accommodate future space science missions, including the James Webb Space Telescope, the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, the Wide Field Infrared Survey Satellite and others.
Other News
Aerojet Rocketdyne bringing rockets to Rocket City, breaks ground on new facility
Coalition Member in the News: Aerojet Rocketdyne
Huntsville Times (10/24): Aerojet Rocketdyne broke ground Tuesday on a 136,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Huntsville Alabama. The facility is to be ready to begin production activities by the end of 2019. The company’s defense unit will be headquartered in Huntsville as well, actions bringing an estimated 800 new jobs.
Draper and Sierra Nevada Corporation announce new agreement for space missions
Draper New Release (10/24): Colorado based Sierra Nevada and Cambridge Massachusetts, based Draper have signed a memorandum of understanding to expand the capabilities of Sierra’s winged, reusable Dream Chaser. Currently, under development as a NASA contracted commercial resupply provider for the International Space Station, Dream Chaser was originally designed to launch astronauts to low Earth orbit.