In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A new chapter in the human exploration of deep space may be just around the corner. The Orion crew vehicle continues testing at Plum Brook Station. NASA’s Mars 2020 cover has a new name thanks to an inspired Virginia seventh grader.
Human Space Exploration
Interference testing at Plum Brook
European Space Agency (3/5): In addition to critical thermal vacuum testing, NASA’s Orion capsule and its European Space Agency (ESA) provided service module have been undergoing testing for electromagnetic interference at Plum Brook Station, a test facility managed by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio. The testing is in preparation for Orion’s test flight to deep space in 2021 as part of the Artemis-1 mission.
The race to deep space are we there yet?
WMFE 90.7 public radio, Orlando, Florida: Are We There Yet? Podcast (3/3): Coalition for Deep Space Exploration (CDSE) President and CEO Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar discusses efforts by the U.S. to resume the human exploration of deep space “I think we are in a really exciting place, I think people have been waiting for a while it to get to this place. So, it’s wonderful to see it all beginning to come together,” notes Dittmar to open a 28 minutes discussion on the NASA and commercial hardware and technology efforts underway to achieve the goal.
Axiom Space pitches its first 10-day, all-inclusive trip to the ISS for just $55 million
Coalition Member in the News – Axiom Space
Tech Crunch (3/5): Axiom Space is looking to make history by sending three passengers on a round-trip journey to the International Space Station (ISS) for the low, low price of $55 million. The Houston-based, venture-backed company has signed a contract with SpaceX for a Crew Dragon flight which will transport a commander trained by Axiom along with three private astronauts to and from the ISS. The mission is set to launch in the second half of 2021 and will allow the three-person crew to live on board the ISS for and “experience at least eight days of microgravity and views of the Earth that can only be appreciated in the large, venerable station,” according to a statement from the company.
Bartolomeo heading for space to join Columbus
European Space Agency (3/5): Slated for launch late Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, SpaceX’s 20th NASA contracted re-supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) will include Europe’s Bartolomeo among its cargo. Bartolomeo is an external payload platform that will be attached to the outside of the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Columbus module on the orbiting science lab. The platform, developed by Airbus, represents Europe’s first commercial Space Station platform.
NASA TV coverage set for SpaceX’s next Space Station resupply mission
NASA (2/28): Launch of SpaceX’s 20th NASA contracted resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, is set for Friday at 11:50 p.m., EST. In addition to supplies for what is now a three person crew, the Dragon freighter’s 5,600 pound cargo includes support for more about 250 science experiments and technology demonstrations underway on the orbiting science lab. With details for watching a pre-launch briefing at 4 p.m., EST, and launch coverage beginning at 11:30 p.m., EST. The capsule is to reach the Space Station early Monday.
Space Science
Meet ‘Perseverance’: NASA’s Mars 2020 rover has a new name
Space.com (3/5): “Perseverance” was the winning entry in a NASA organized contest for U.S., K through 12th grade students for the naming of the Mars 2020 rover, which is to launch for Mars’s Jezero Crater in July. Perseverance was proposed by Alexander Mather, a 7th grader from the Lake Braddock Secondary School, of Burke, Virginia. NASA received more than 28,000 essay supported suggestions once the contest got under way last August. The essays composed by all 155 semifinalists have been stenciled on a chip that will accompany the rover to a landing on Mars planned for February 2021. Perseverance will search for evidence of past microbial activity at Jezero and cache samples of rock and soil for return to Earth.
NASA Mars rover snaps glorious 1.8 billion pixel panorama
Futurism.com (3/5): NASA’s Curiosity rover, which landed on Mars in August 2012, recently compiled a high resolution, 360 degree panorama of the Martian landscape at Glen Torridon on the side of Mount Sharp. Sharp rises high from the floor of the large Gale Crater. The images for the new composite where taken last Thanksgiving Day.
What is this Colombian’s exoplanet work? It’s out of this world!
Forbes (3/4): All it took was an episode of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos and Columbia native Andrea Guzman Mesa was convinced she wanted to become an astrophysicist. Years later, she’s now at the University of Bern earning a doctorate in astrophysics and studying the chemistry of extra solar planets in search of biosignatures.
Other News
Charles Berry, an early NASA flight surgeon, dies at 96
Houston Chronicle (3/5): Dr. Charles “Chuck” A. Berry, an early NASA flight surgeon who participated in the selection of NASA’s Mercury 7 astronauts and went on to help watch over the health of 42 astronauts assigned to 30 missions including those who first walked on the Moon during Apollo, has died. Berry, who passed away in his Houston home over the past weekend, was 96.
Inside Elon Musk’s plan to build one Starship a week and settle Mars
Ars Technica (3/5): A behind the scenes look at SpaceX’s gritty attempt in south Texas to mass produce the reusable Starship, a rocket upper stage intended to enable the possible human colonization of Mars.