In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A future human Mars mission could offer President-elect Trump one means of unifying the nation, according to a Washington pre-inaugural assessment.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Will Trump echo JFK’s moonshot and vow to send humans to Mars?
Washington Post (1/19): President-elect Trump, who becomes president of the U.S. at 12 p.m., EST, could address the future of NASA’s Journey to Mars initiative at some point in the future, according to the report. The agency’s timeline would place humans in the Martian environs in the 2030s. Trump could jump on the plan if it would help to unite the country — just not right away, according to the Post’s assessment.
Obama’s NASA made strides on commercial space, but stumbled on exploration
Verge (1/19): The Obama Administration ends officially today. In space, the outgoing president gave commercial space activities a boost and backed plans for the human exploration of Mars. Major planetary science missions reached the red planet, Jupiter and distant Pluto during his terms in office, and Earth sciences gained new priority. However, the U.S. lost its ability to launch its own astronauts with the shuttle’s 2011 retirement.
‘Mission Mars’ exhibit brings exploration of red planet to Space Center Houston
Collectspace.com (1/19): Space Center Houston (SCH), visitor center to NASA’s Johnson Space Center, and NASA have collaborated to offer a new interactive exhibit that opens Saturday. Look into NASA’s Orion crew capsule, touch a piece of Mars and walk on a simulated Marscape. “Visitors will experience what it takes to travel to Mars, the hardware that will take us to the fourth planet in our solar system, and how humans may live on the red planet in the next few decades,” says William Harris, president and chief executive of SCH, a Smithsonian Institution affiliate.
Space Science
Ceres is cloaked in dry asteroid debris
Cosmos (1/20): Ceres, the large main belt asteroid and current destination of NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft, has a surface coated in debris from past asteroid impacts that span tens of millions of years.
Solar storm blackout could cost the U.S. $42 billion per day
Seeker.com (1/18): The new cost estimate is attached to a possible major solar event that interrupts the power supply to two thirds of the U.S. population. Though believed to be rare, the economic and social impacts of unanticipated major solar activity have prompted increased efforts to monitor the sun more closely from space in order to issue warnings.
Extreme astronomy unlocks cosmic secrets from the South Pole
Seeker.com (1/19): Though it sports an extreme environment, including night time temperatures that fall to minus 100 degrees Fahrenheit, the Earth’s South Pole is well suited for astronomy, a draw for the National Science Foundation funded South Pole Telescope. Observations have contributed to the workings of dark energy, a little understood force that is causing the universe to expand.
Low Earth Orbit
Rash of Galileo clock failures cast doubt on timing of upcoming launches
Space News (1/19): The European Space Agency this week reported atomic clock failures aboard 10 of 18 Galileo global navigation system satellites launched so far as part of the European alternative to the U.S. Global Positioning Satellite system. The finding has thrown in doubt of plans to launch four more of the European spacecraft in August. In all, the system requires 26 satellites.
After scrub, Atlas V launch reset for Friday
Florida Today (1/19): United Launch Alliance will attempt the launch of a U.S. Air Force missile warning satellite on Friday night, following an attempt Thursday evening that was scrubbed in response to technical and launch range issues. Lift-off Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, is set for 7:42 p.m., EST.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Bigelow Aerospace seeking additional use of experimental ISS module
Space News (1/19): NASA and Bigelow Aerospace are in discussions over wider use of the Bigelow Expandable Aerospace Module (BEAM) launched to the International Space Station and deployed in April and May 2016. The module was expanded to kick-off a two year evaluation of its suitability for use by astronauts as an in space habitat and/or orbital module for a future space stations. Space Station astronauts enter only occasionally to gather BEAM data. According to the report, the NASA/Bigelow discussions are focused on “extended use” of the module.