In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA’s Apollo 1, Challenger and Columbia astronauts were honored Thursday during the agency’s annual Day of Remembrance memorial hosted by the Kennedy Space Center. Trump Administration space policy details could be weeks away from emerging, according to one expert.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA remembers three space tragedies
Spaceflight Insider (1/26): On Thursday, the Astronaut Memorial Foundation’s Center for Space Education, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, hosted the space agency’s annual Day of Remembrance, a tribute to the 17 astronauts who perished while advancing America’s space exploration ambitions. Those who have perished include the crews of NASA’s Columbia and Challenger shuttle orbiters, in 2003 and 1986, and the Apollo 1 spacecraft in 1967. Apollo 11 command module pilot Mike Collins served as keynote speaker for this year’s memorial.
Budget likely to be first indication of Trump’s space priorities
Space News (1/26): Veteran Tauri Group space policy analyst Carissa Christensen predicts details of President Trump’s vision for U.S. space policy could be weeks away and likely to emerge as part of the new administration’s first budget. The budget will likely come together for presentation in the spring, perhaps late March, according to the report. “That’s going to be significant,” said Christensen, who spoke before a Commercial Spaceflight Federation breakfast.
Trump White House adds a former NASA deputy to the mix
Space News (1/26): Shana Dale, who served as NASA’s Deputy Administrator during the presidency of George W. Bush, has returned to NASA as part of the Trump administration. Dale is on loan to the space agency from the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation.
Could this be what a home on the moon looks like?
Architectural Digest (1/26): A moontopia competition produces concepts for lunar surface habitats. One concept would rely on 3-D printing technologies to expand the living quarters.
Space Science
Astronaut twin study hints at stress of space travel
Nature News (1/26): Early results from gene studies of NASA astronaut Scott Kelly reveal changes. Kelly returned from 340 days aboard the International Space Station in March 2016, the longest spaceflight by an American. Scientists studied Kelly, now retired from NASA, and his twin brother, Mark Kelly, a former astronaut who remained on Earth, to compare their respective gene populations. How many of the changes can be attributed to the stresses of spaceflight is unclear.
Hubble’s spacetime warps confirm that the universe is expanding far faster than expected
Seeker.com (1/26): The expansion rate of the universe rests with a calculation known as the Hubble constant. The constant’s value has been under assessment for almost a century. A new value based on measurements derived from the brightness of distant quasars suggests the universe may be expanding more rapidly than previously estimated.
Meteorite studies reveal surprises about Earth’s formation
Space.com (1/26): New findings are helping scientists better understand the Earth’s source materials, the origins of terrestrial water and why the Earth and the moon appear to be so similar. Studies addressing those issues were published this week in the journal Nature.
Low Earth Orbit
Russian rocket builder may have replaced special alloys with cheap metals
Ars Technica (1/26): Russian rocket engines and their production processes have come under scrutiny in response to failures involving upper stages of the Proton and Soyuz rockets. The latter experienced a third-stage engine problem on December 1 that led to the loss of the Progress MS-04 re-supply mission to the International Space Station. The general director of a major engine production facility has resigned. Russian inquiries could impact the launch of the next U.S./Russian crew to the Space Station, which is planned for March.
Former NOAA administrator, astronaut Sullivan to write book on satellite servicing
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/26): Kathy Sullivan, most recently NOAA’s director but also a former NASA astronaut, plans to write a book about satellite servicing as the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum 2017 Charles A. Lindbergh Chair of Aerospace History. Sullivan was the first American woman to conduct a spacewalk as a space shuttle crew member.