In Today’s Deep Space Extra… European experts look at turning lunar soil into Moon bricks. Europe’s Aeolus satellite will pioneer the global monitoring of low altitude winds from Earth orbit. Anticipate more debate over the creation of a U.S. Space Force.
Human Space Exploration
Building bricks on the Moon from lunar dust
Universe Today (8/22): The European Space Agency (ESA) has a maturing plan to establish an International Lunar Village at the Moon’s south pole. ESA’s experts are experimenting with how they might use the plentiful lunar soil to craft bricks to build structures for human operations.
Space Science
Engineers’ still hopeful Mars rover will wake up after dust storm
CBS via Spaceflightnow.com (8/22): NASA’s Opportunity rover on Mars, silenced by a global dust storm since June 10, may be close to calling home, if its solar charged batteries have the power. It’s been a long wait. But John Callas, NASA Opportunity project manager, has not given up. A detailed analysis of rover systems suggest Opportunity could have survived. “I think everyone is staying closer to their email and their cell phones right now because we think now’s about when we’ll start to hear something,” said Callas.
Europe launches ‘Aeolus’ satellite on mission to map Earth’s winds
Space.com (8/22): The launch of a Vega rocket from French Guiana on Wednesday at 6:20 p.m., EDT, placed Aeolus, a satellite demonstrator mission with a complex laser altimeter in a semi polar orbit. The spacecraft sensor is the first of its kind placed in space for the study of low altitude winds across the Earth. The three year mission is intended to improve weather forecasting and provide new data for climate change studies. Previously, such data has been gathered with ground lasers and radar, aircraft and high altitude balloons.
Other News
NASA to study use of commercial partnerships for space communications services
SpaceNews.com (8/22): NASA is planning to move its public/private partnership strategy into its space communications needs, including those as demanding as the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite network in low Earth orbit, which services the International Space Station and other major satellites. The agency plans to issue a request for proposals early next month to pursue the plan.
Senate emerges as obstacle to Trump’s ‘Space Force’
The Hill (8/21): In the U.S. Senate a bi-partisan skepticism is emerging to a White House proposal to create a sixth branch of the U.S. military, the Space Force. Some see the change as an unnecessary expense. Congress must approve the plan, which President Trump intends to include as part of the 2020 budget proposal submitted to lawmakers early next year.
Growing U.S. satellite vulnerability: The silent ‘apocalypse next’
SpaceNews.com (8/22): China and Russia are developing satellite threats to the satellites of the U.S. and its allies, Brian Chow, an independent policy analyst, and Henry Sokolsky, executive director of the Nonproliferation Policy Education Center, contend in an op-ed that calls for the development of a defensive satellite response. The threat could be exercised with little warning, contend Chow and Sokolsky.