In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The new year opens with speculation on who will lead NASA in President-elect Trump’s administration and whether Mars will remain the horizon goal for human deep space exploration.
Human Deep Space Exploration
GOP Rep. Jim Bridenstine seen as top choice for NASA Chief
Wall Street Journal (12/31): Oklahoma congressman Jim Bridenstine, an advocate for traditional human space exploration and space commerce, may lead the field to become NASA’s administrator, according to the report. Bridenstine, a former naval aviator, has championed U.S. space leadership as a member of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.
American Thinker (12/27): Mars Society founder and author Robert Zubrin explains why humans can overcome obstacles like radiation and prolonged weightlessness to explore Mars. “The effort to get there won’t be free of either risk or cost. But from a technical point of view, we are much closer today to being able to send humans to the Red Planet than we were to being able to send men to the Moon in 1961, and we were there eight years later,” states Zubrin.
NASA’s next stop Mars or the Moon?
Ars Technica (12/22): A decision from President-elect Trump’s administration looms. John Grunsfeld, astrophysicist, astronaut and NASA’s former associate administrator for science, states the case for Mars. Planetary scientist Paul Spudis, an expert on the moon, makes the case for a moon base and factories to produce rocket fuels from lunar ice.
The people and policy shaping NASA’s future under Trump
Space News (12/29): The NASA transition team, with many of its members seasoned in space policy, grew larger than its predecessors as 2016 drew to a close. The members bring expertise in propulsion, space commerce and aeronautics, as well as exploration. Their duties end with President-elect Trump’s inauguration later this month.
Will a President Trump change NASA’s Mars goals? Sen. Bill Nelson says no
Miami Herald (12/29): U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson of Florida, a NASA space shuttle astronaut in 1986, believes President-elect Trump will not turn away from the space agency’s human Mars exploration ambitions. “It is my interest to see that NASA doesn’t miss a beat,” Nelson, the highest ranking Democrat on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee with jurisdiction over NASA, told a Tallahassee audience.
Playing the Space Trump card: Relaunching a National Space Council
Space.com (12/29): The new administration has suggested it will re-establish a White House cabinet-level National Space Council to coordinate U.S. space policy. Experts, however, disagree on the on-again/off-again council’s effectiveness. One suggested the coordination might be better handled by the National Security Council. Another believes a revival of the space council, last dismantled in 1993, is destined to face disruption from the Office of Management and Budget. According to tradition, Vice President-elect Mike Pence would chair the council.
Space Science
NASA is about to have a huge year in 2017
Inverse (12/30): Activities in 2017 include ground testing and preparations for the first Space Launch System test flight in late 2018; the final months of Cassini’s mission to Saturn; the launch of TESS, a new NASA exo-planet search observatory; improved tropical weather forecasts from a new constellation of NOAA/NASA weather satellites; and a total eclipse of the sun viewable from much of North America.
NASA closing in on root cause of JWST vibration test anomaly
Spacepolicyonline.com (12/23): Engineers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center report progress in dealing with a vibration issue during ground testing of the James Webb Space Telescope. Agency managers believe a resolution is possible so that testing can resume this month. The launch of the designated successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is planned for October 2018.
NASA’s Europa Lander may drill to find pristine samples on icy moon
Space.com (12/26): Congressional enthusiasts want a NASA mission to Europa, the geologically active moon of Jupiter, to include a lander — one that can assess the environment for evidence of biological activity. How do you do that without introducing a contaminant? Land gently and drill below the surface, according to proponents.
Internal debris may be causing problem with Mars rover’s drill
Spaceflightnow.com (12/29): Engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory suspect that internal debris may be stalling the drill that bores into Martian rock aboard the Curiosity rover. The problem surfaced on December 1. Curiosity landed in Mars Gale Crater in August 2012 and soon discovered evidence of a past habitable environment. The source of the debris is unclear.
China plans to land probes on far side of Moon, Mars by 2020
Associated Press via ABC News (12/27): A Chinese space policy document includes plans for the Asian nation to become the first space power to land a robotic spacecraft on the moon’s far side. The milestone, which could gather new information on how the moon formed, could happen in 2018.
Check out NASA’s asteroid catching robot arms (Photo)
Space.com (12/22): At NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, engineers are evaluating an asteroid boulder capture mechanism as part of the agency’s Asteroid Redirect Mission. Planned for launch in 2021, a solar electric powered robotic spacecraft would rendezvous with a near Earth asteroid, extract a large boulder and direct it into lunar orbit. The rendezvous would provide an opportunity to test a technique for changing the trajectory of a large asteroid on course to collide with the Earth. Astronauts could visit the asteroid boulder after it reaches lunar orbit.
Proxima Centauri’s origins could mean its exoplanet really is habitable
Seeker (12/23): New observations suggest that Proxima b, a rocky planet orbiting a star in a nearby triple-star system, could be habitable. A European observatory in Chile is helping to resolve questions about how the red dwarf star Proxima is related to the stars Alpha Centauri A and B.
How Vera Rubin changed science
The Washington Post (12/27): U.S. astronomer Vera Rubins, who was instrumental in the discovery of dark matter, passed away on December 25 in New Jersey. She was 88.
Low Earth Orbit
Piers J. Sellers, climate scientist and space station astronaut, dies at 61
New York Times (12/24): British born NASA climate scientist and former astronaut Piers Sellers died of pancreatic cancer in Houston, Texas, on December 23. Sellers was 61. Shortly after his diagnosis, Sellers vowed to continue with his Earth science research at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center where he was the deputy director of sciences and exploration. Selected by NASA for astronaut training in 1996, Sellers launched three times and carried out six spacewalks, all for the assembly and re-supply of the International Space Station.
NASA cooperating with Russia on Progress MS-04 investigation
Sputnik International (12/29): NASA has joined with Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, to investigate the December 1 post launch loss of Russia’s Progress MS-04 re-supply mission to the International Space Station. The investigation may lead to a postponement of the next Progress cargo launch, currently planned for February 2 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
Chinese satellites raising orbits after launch anomaly
Space News (12/30): A pair of Chinese SuperView Earth observation satellites was placed in the wrong orbit, following the December 27 launch from a Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center atop a Long March 2D rocket. Chinese ground controllers were attempting to raise the altitude of the satellites to rescue their mission.
SAIC recommends civil agency for orbital traffic management, but not which one
Spacepolicyonline.com (12/22): SAIC, the engineering consultants, finds the U.S. government’s civil arm adequate to supervise the tracking of Earth orbital satellites and manmade debris, a responsibility historically belonging to the U.S. Air Force. SAIC’s assessment was prepared under terms of the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act.
Come again? KSC space lettuce on ISS menu
Florida Today (12/23): Just a year ago, U.S. astronauts where experimenting with a small green house aboard the International Space Station called Veggie for growing red lettuce. This year, they are nibbling leaves of the fresh leafy vegetable and experimenting with techniques to hasten its growth.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
SpaceX plans Jan. 8 return to flight after completing failure investigation
Space News (1/2): SpaceX, one of two companies partnered with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to develop private sector astronaut transportation to and from the International Space Station, announced the cause of a September 1, Falcon 9 explosion at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The pre-launch fire and blast, which originated in the second stage, was traced to a helium pressurization container. SpaceX plans to return to flight with the Falcon 9 on January 8 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California with a payload of small Iridium communications satellites.
State financing of ‘space-bound’ equipment is a first
Florida Today (12/25): Space Florida, a state space development agency, extends a $1 million line of credit to Made In Space, of California, to demonstrate the manufacture of optical fiber aboard the International Space Station. The agreement is intended to promote new commercial activity in low Earth orbit.
Suborbital
Virgin Galactic ends 2016 with second SpaceShipTwo glide flight
Space News (12/23): VSS Unity, Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo, carried out its second drop test glide flight on December 22 over California’s Mojave Desert. “Well done to the pilots and the whole crew. Great way to end the year!” tweeted George Whitesides, chief executive of Virgin Galactic, a few hours after the flight. Powered test flights are possible in 2017 as the company continues efforts to recover from the fatal end of a 2014 test flight that has slowed efforts to begin suborbital passenger missions.
The Week Ahead
What’s Happening in Space Policy January 1-6, 2017
Spacepolicy Online (1/1): In Washington, Congress assembles for transition activities. The American Astronomical Society convenes in the Dallas-area suburb of Grapevine for its winter meeting. NASA astronauts Shane Kimbrough and Peggy Witson venture outside the International Space Station on Friday for the first of two spacewalks to begin replacing external power storage batteries delivered in December aboard Japan’s most recent re-supply mission.