In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA’s human deep space exploration plans primed to spur innovation, jobs.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA Space Launch System opens pathway to Mars — and thousands of jobs on Earth
Forbes.com (2/9): NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion crew capsule are a must if baby boomers and even many of those younger are to witness the human exploration of Mars, writes Loren Thompson, COO of the Lexington Institute, in an op-ed. The initiative will lead to innovation and jobs, Thompson writes. The program counts 1,700 suppliers in 49 states and employees over 10,000 workers — many in high tech, high paying jobs. “It will be an episode without parallel in the history of American civilization,” writes Thompson, who notes the effort will lead humans back to the lunar environs and an asteroid on the way to Mars.
House Committee to hold hearing on NASA’s past, present, and future
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/10): The U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee hearing is set for Feb. 16. Those expected to testify include Harrison Schmitt, one of the last NASA astronauts to walk on the moon as part of the 1972 Apollo 17 mission, and Tom Stafford. A Gemini astronaut, Stafford led the Apollo 10 mission in 1969 and the Apollo Soyuz Test Project mission with the former Soviet Union in 1975. Today, he chairs a NASA International Space Station advisory committee. Schmitt was the only scientist among the Apollo moon walkers. Ellen Stofan, NASA’s former chief scientist, and Tom Young, a former Lockheed Martin executive with significant experience advising past administrations on space policy, are also scheduled to testify.
Trump advisers’ space plan: To moon, Mars and beyond
Politico (2/9): Trump administration advisers are urging changes in space policy that focus on a human return to the lunar surface by 2020, possibly with private sector astronauts as well as a transition of NASA and other government activities in low Earth orbit, including the International Space Station, to the private sector. New policies would promote the economic development of the space frontier. NASA would focus on deep space, according to the report based on internal administration documents.
NASA center in New Orleans closed through Sunday after tornado hit
Space.com (2/9): NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, production site for NASA’s Space Launch System core stage and the Orion crew capsule, will remain closed through Sunday as site personnel recover from Tuesday’s tornado. Damage assessments and power restoration efforts continued Thursday.
Space Science
Look up Friday! Green comet and snow moon eclipse team up for skywatchers
Space.com (2/9): The lunar eclipse is penumbral and the comet may require binoculars or a small telescope to observe. Comet 45P/Honda-Mrkos-Pajdusakova will be visible in the predawn hours by sky watchers between Thursday and Sunday, in the constellation Hercules in the eastern sky. The astronomy broadcasting service Slooh plans programming of the eclipse Friday, starting at 5:30 p.m., EST.
Goals for NASA’s proposed Europa lander begin to crystallize
Spaceflight Insider (2/9): The main objective of a robotic mission to the Jovian moon Europa — that NASA is contemplating in response to enthusiasm in Congress — is to look for evidence of life. The ice covered moon harbors an ocean and organics, the chemical building blocks of life, according to evidence gathered by studies so far. Tentatively planned to follow the Europa Clipper mission, an orbiter dispatched from Earth in the 2020s, the Europa lander would be launched atop NASA’s new Space Launch System to hasten the journey.
Hubble has found the ancient galaxies that gave the universe its first light
Seeker (2/9): Observations engineered by a University of Texas astronomer used the Hubble Space Telescope to find the galaxies that first lit up the universe. Less than two years from launch, the James Webb Space Telescope is expected to advance the search for the earliest star systems.
Low Earth Orbit
U.S. News and World Report (2/8): When the U.S. joint chiefs met with newly sworn in U.S. President Trump in late January, their talk turned frequently to the space domain around the Earth, a region full of U.S. military, commercial and civil spacecraft like the International Space Station and NOAA weather satellites. How far should U.S. national security interests go in protecting those assets without provoking possible rivals in China, Russia and possibly other emerging world powers?
Tianzhou-1: China to launch its first space station resupply craft in April
GB Times of Finland (2/8): Beijing is looking to April for the launch of its first cargo mission to the currently unstaffed Tiangong-2 orbiting space lab. The mission will demonstrate an automated re-supply strategy intended to support the permanently occupied China space station that is to be assembled between 2018 and 2022.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
FAA commercial space office faces budget squeeze
Space News (2/9): The FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Flight is facing growing responsibilities for the licensing of commercial space launches. Yet lost in the White House transition, is the absence of a 2017 federal budget. The commercial space flight office was looking to an increase of $2 million in 2017, or a total of $19.8 million to help meet growing responsibilities. “We’re really scrambling now to make ends meet,” says George Nield, the FAA associate administrator in charge. Federal spending has been held to 2016 levels in the absence of a budget.
Orbital ATK wins $78 million contract for next Space Test Program satellite
Space News (2/9): The U.S. Department of Defense has selected Orbital ATK for a $78 million contract leading to the development of the Space Test Program Satellite-6. The spacecraft is designed to collect data on nuclear explosions and space weather. A June 2019 launch is planned for the eight -year mission.
To infinity and beyond: UK invests £10 million to grow spaceflight market
CNBC (2/9): The British government commits the equivalent of $12.5 million to stir ideas for spaceport and spacecraft technologies. The investment is part of a bid by the UK to capture a part of the commercial spaceflight market.