In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Today marks 20 years of continuous human presence in space aboard the International Space Station (ISS). In a new op-ed, the Coalition’s President and CEO Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar explains why our national programs in exploration and science, which are vitally important to our planet, must continue to have bipartisan support.
Human Space Exploration
Humans have been living on the Space Station for 20 years
CNN (11/2): On this day in 2000, the International Space Station’s (ISS) Expedition 1 crew members arrived at the orbiting laboratory. The ISS has since hosted over 240 individuals from 19 countries and has supported research that benefits life on Earth and advances human deep space exploration.
SLS program hit by Hurricane Zeta while working through Green Run issues
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
NASAspaceflight.com (10/30): Last week, Zeta became the latest hurricane to disrupt NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) Green Run activities at the Michoud Assembly Facility and Stennis Space Center in Louisiana and Mississippi. Two in a series of eight Green Run tests of the first SLS core stage remain, a Wet Dress Rehearsal and a full duration hot fire of the four core stage main engines. Boeing and NASA are sorting out the storm impacts and test results from the first six phases of the Green Run before proceeding.
SLS Mobile Launcher returns to Vehicle Assembly Building
Spaceflightnow.com (10/30): At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the agency’s Mobile Launch Platform (MLP), a critical part of the infrastructure for supporting missions to the Moon under the Artemis program, completed a series of checkouts last week. The checkouts involved rolling the MLP from the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) to Launch Pad 39B and back to the VAB.
Russian cosmonauts to go on 6-hour spacewalk on November 18
TASS of Russia (10/30): Russia’s space agency is planning a six-hour spacewalk for International Space Station (ISS) cosmonauts Sergei Ryzhikov and Sergei Kud-Sverchkov on November 18. Their activities will include a number of external maintenance tasks. (Editor’s Note: TASS is an official news outlet of the Russian government.)
Space Science
Asteroid’s scars tell stories of its past
University of Arizona (10/30): Studies of the craters and boulders of Bennu, the asteroid from which NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully gathered a sample last week, point to a planetary object that once orbited the sun in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. The assessment, published in the journal Nature, concludes that a series of impact events nudged Bennu into an orbit around the sun that brought it close to Earth only 1.75 million years ago.
Opinion
Space exploration is a bipartisan imperative that benefits all
Coalition President and CEO Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar in the News
The Hill (11/1): Ongoing, bipartisan support for U.S. space initiatives promises to pay dividends across fronts spanning national security, economic growth, Earth science, education, health care, agriculture, and other benefits. “To ensure that the United States continues to prosper and lead in outer space, Congress and the White House must find a way to stay the course and fully fund the nation’s space exploration enterprise in balance with other competing policy priorities,” writes Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, the Coalition’s president and CEO, in an op-ed.
Other News
Space industry seeks continued progress on regulatory reform
Coalition President and CEO Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar and Member Northrop Grumman in the News
SpaceNews.com (10/30): No matter the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential and Congressional elections, the space industry remains hopeful of continued reforms. During the past year, there have been two advances, revised commercial remote sensing regulations in May and streamlined launch and licensing rules from mid-October. Among current issues is a need for greater clarity over which federal agencies are responsible for emerging space activities.
After 20 years of service, the Space Station flies into an uncertain future
Coalition Members in the News – Axiom Space, Boeing, Made in Space, Nanoracks, Northrop Grumman
Ars Technica (11/1): Today marks the 20th anniversary for the start of a continuous human presence in low Earth orbit (LEO) aboard the NASA-led International Space Station (ISS). Congress has authorized support for the Station through 2024, and NASA has been directed to transition its human spaceflight focus to the Moon, then Mars. The Space Station is an important part of the research needed to make human deep space exploration possible, so NASA would like the commercial space sector to take over activities in low Earth orbit after support for the orbiting laboratory ends, with NASA and others as customers. Assessing the commercial potential and placing the private sector on a sustainable course in LEO will likely present policy makers with a challenge.
Pentagon creates new top civilian job for overseeing space policies and planning
Stars and Stripes (10/30): As last week came to a close, the Pentagon established a new high level civilian post for oversight of the Defense Department’s space-related planning. The assistant director’s position was called for in the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2020.
China outlines architecture for future crewed Moon landings
SpaceNews.com (10/30): The 2020 China Space Conference in September featured a potential architecture for crewed lunar missions, with elements that include a launch vehicle, a future generation spacecraft, lunar lander, surface crew rover, and a lunar orbiter module. The plan calls for the crew vehicle to launch and meet up with the lunar lander to lunar orbit to set up a descent to the surface of the Moon.
Russia completes concept design of rocket for flights to Mars
TASS of Russia (10/31): Leader, a super heavy rocket design from Russia’s Makeyev State Rocket Center, would support missions to Mars as well as the Moon with a family of launch vehicles and the Orel crewed vehicle. The lunar version would be able to place 106 metric tons of payload in low Earth orbit, while the Mars version would place 160 metric tons in low Earth orbit. (Editor’s Note: TASS is an official news outlet of the Russian government.)
Snoopy celebrates 20 years of humans on ISS on new NASA posters
Collectspace.com (10/30): The first astronauts and cosmonauts assigned to live and work aboard the International Space Station (ISS), docked their Soyuz spacecraft and opened the hatch of the Zvezda module 20 years ago today. As part of its recognition of the milestone, NASA has issued a new series of commemorative posters featuring the Snoopy comic strip Beagle as a symbol for crew safety and mission success.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of November 1-7, 2020
Coalition Member in the News – Maxar
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/1): Monday marks the 20th anniversary of continuous human activity in low Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS). NASA will be streaming commemorative programing at www.nasa.gov/nasalive beginning at 1 p.m. ET, starting with the 1984 State of the Union address by President Reagan that called on NASA to lead the development of a space station. Other activities this week include space events hosted by the National Academies Space Studies Board, the American Society for Gravitational and Space Research and the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which will go over recent updates to spacecraft launch and re-entry regulations.