In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A new Space Launch System first stage engine controller is ground qualified for Exploration Mission-1, a late 2018 test flight. Students join a project to develop a space suit for human Mars exploration.
Human Deep Space Exploration
New SLS engine controller tested in hold-down firing
Spaceflightnow.com (3/23): Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi completed a 500-second test firing Thursday of an RS-25 engine, one of the four that will power the first stage of the Space Launch System (SLS), an essential part of U.S. human deep space exploration plans. The test included a new Honeywell/Aerojet Rocketdyne engine controller that will be assigned to the first SLS test launch, Exploration Mission-1, currently planned for late 2018 on a mission that will send an Orion capsule around the moon and back to Earth.
Mars spacesuits: Designing a blue-collar suit for the Red Planet
Space.com (3/23): The University of California at Berkeley is energizing a Mars Suit Project, a clean-sheet approach with student participation to develop a new space suit for the human exploration of Mars. The garment will address the need for mobility and frequent use, according to professor Lawrence Kuznetz.
Space Science
NASA hails planetary science funding while scientists worry about other cuts
Space News (3/23): Jim Green, NASA’s director of planetary sciences, hosted a “town hall” session earlier this week with scientists attending the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in The Woodlands, Texas. Green praised the $1.9 billion for planetary science included in President Trump’s proposed 2018 NASA budget top line. The total for planetary science reflects an increase of 16 percent over the current spending level. Some of those present, however, expressed concerns over plans to close NASA’s Office of Education and cut Earth science.
Low Earth Orbit
‘LIFE’ on the Space Station: Stars, director talk about recreating ISS in sci-fi thriller
Collectspace.com (3/23): Opening in theaters on Friday, LIFE is a science-fiction thriller set aboard the International Space Station with a crew who receives a Mars sample return spacecraft. The directors and actors strove for realism in the film set version of the Space Station and life on board.
Launches from Kourou temporarily suspended by social unrest
Spaceflightnow.com (3/23): A worker strike and social protests over the economy in French Guinea have stalled efforts to launch an Ariane 5 rocket with Brazilian and Korean communications satellites from the country’s European Space Port. It was unclear when the protests can be resolved.
NASA engineers evaluate ECLSS for Commercial Crew missions
Spaceflight Insider (3/23): Ground tests are an essential part of the life support systems that are to fly aboard SpaceX’s crewed Dragon and Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, the two spacecraft in development under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to begin transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
Dime-size thrusters could propel satellites, spacecraft
Space.com (3/23): Accion Systems debuts a new spacecraft ion thruster technology. The Tiled Ionic Liquid Electrospray, or TILE, is about the size of a quarter and is designed for small satellites as well as for maneuvers of large spacecraft.