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In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA selects three prime contractors – Blue Origin, Dynetics, and SpaceX – to pursue development of human lunar lander options. Space agencies work on a unified message regarding economic stimulus. Mars helicopter will make history.
EDITOR’S NOTE: Coalition for Deep Space Exploration congratulates the many CDSE Member companies involved in the Human Landing System (HLS) award: All Points LLC, Astrobotic Technology, Dynetics (a Leidos company), L3Harris Technologies, Lockheed Martin, Maxar Technologies, Northrop Grumman, Paragon Space Development Company, United Launch Alliance
Human Space Exploration
Three winning bids for NASA’s Human Landing System (HLS)
Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance
Spacepolicyonline.com (4/30): Each of the Blue Origin, Dynetics and SpaceX human lunar landing system options selected by NASA on Thursday for further development would rely on NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion crew capsule to launch astronauts from the Earth to lunar orbit. The commercial landing system options would take over at that juncture for descending to the lunar surface with the explorers and then returning them to their Orion spacecraft for return to Earth. As NASA’s lunar orbiting, human tended Gateway is assembled it will become part of a longer term strategy to establish a sustained human lunar presence to prepare for the human exploration of Mars. During a news briefing to announce the lander selections, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine spoke optimistically about the human Moon initiative and winning bipartisan support from Congress to proceed despite economic and coronavirus pandemic issues confronting the nation.
NASA picks SpaceX, Dynetics and Blue Origin-led team to develop Artemis Moon landers
Coalition Members in the News – Boeing, Dynetics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
Space.com (4/30): NASA announced contract with three companies on Thursday for the next phase of human lunar lander development. Teams of contractors led by Blue Origin and Dynetics as well as SpaceX are approaching the challenge differently, offering multiple and single stage approaches. The first landing, NASA’s Artemis 3 mission, is to return to the lunar surface with human explorers in 2024, with or without NASA’s lunar orbiting, human tended Gateway. The Gateway remains a part of the long term effort to establish a sustained human presence. The 10 month contracts total a combined $967 million.
Space Science
NASA’s Webb Telescope to unravel riddles of a stellar nursery
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center (4/30): The Trapezium Cluster, a stellar nursery in the nearby Orion Nebula, will be a focus of study using the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is undergoing pre-launch preparations at Northrop Grumman in California for a 2021 liftoff. The JWST is the designated successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Here’s what NASA’s Mars helicopter will look like when it makes history with the “first”…
TechCrunch (4/30): The “first” is a drone like helicopter flight on Mars. Given the name Ingenuity earlier this week, the small flying machine is a technology payload set to launch aboard NASA’s Perseverance Mars 2020 rover between July 17 and August 5. Once the rover is on Mars in February 2021, the helicopter will be flight tested in the thin Martian atmosphere.
Mars needs money: White House budget could prompt retreat from Red Planet
Scientific American (4/30): Long term NASA missions at Mars are in jeopardy under NASA’s 2021 budget proposal and in response to coronavirus pandemic concerns and economic factors. Missions that could be impacted include the Mars Odyssey orbiter, which has been circling the planet since 2001, imaging the surface and serving as a communication relay satellite for rover missions. The Curiosity rover descended to the floor of Gale Crater in 2012. The high resolution Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter which reached the red planet in 2006 faces a 20 percent budget cut and assessments of the Martian atmosphere by the Mars Maven mission, which maneuvered into orbit in September 2014, would be reduced. Concerns over the future operations of the missions arose at a virtual meeting of the Mars Exploration Program Analysis Group in late April.
There might be dust devils on Titan too
Universe Today (4/29): A moon of Saturn, Titan hosts a significant atmosphere, unlike other moons in the solar system and one dense in nitrogen. A new study suggests Titan has dust devils as well. NASA is preparing Dragonfly, a mission to Titan to search for evidence of prebiotic chemistry. Launch is planned around April 2026.
Other News
Northrop Grumman “bullish but cautious” about satellite servicing
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
SpaceNews.com (4/29): During Wednesday’s first quarter earnings call, Northrop Grumman’s Kathy Warden, chair, president and CEO offered a cautiously optimistic assessment of a future satellite servicing market. That followed the first successful Intelsat satellite encounter with the company’s Mission Extension Vehicle-1 (MEV-1) and Northrop Grumman’s selection by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) as a commercial partner in the Robotic Servicing of Geosynchronous Satellites program.
Space agencies working on a ‘unified message’ on industry stimulus
SpaceNews.com (4/29): The Space Acquisition Council, comprised of representatives from the Pentagon and National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), are committed to assisting space industry suppliers survive the economic uncertainties of the coronavirus pandemic. Their strategy is still in formulation as policy makers decide how to address economic concerns.
FDA approves NASA ventilator for use on COVID patients
Futurism (4/30): As April was coming to a close, NASA leadership and the agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) unveiled VITAL, or the Ventilator Intervention Technology Accessible Locally, a ventilator developed in just 37 days to treat coronavirus patients. The device won FDA approval on Thursday for production and distribution to treatment facilities.
Don’t panic about Russia’s recent anti-satellite test, experts say
Space.com (4/30): The April 15 test of a Russian mobile rocket interceptor made no contact or perform an activity that increased an already rising level of orbital debris. The range of the Nudol interceptor is much lower than U.S. reconnaissance and communications satellites, say experts.