In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) enters a critical ground test phase. Japan’s Hayabusa 2 asteroid sample container descended into Australia over the weekend, ending a six-year journey to asteroid Ryugu.
Human Space Exploration
SLS Core Stage tanking test is first Green Run moment of truth for NASA
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing
NASASpaceflight.com (12/6): The next Green Run test, wet dress rehearsal (WDR), for NASA’s Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) rocket core stage is set to be completed this week. If successful, a full duration eight-minute test firing of the core stage’s four rocket engines, the last test in the Green Run series, is planned by month’s end.
How to build a home on the Moon
Coalition Member in the News – Purdue University
Wall Street Journal (12/4): Working under a NASA grant with Purdue University students, the Resilient Extra-Terrestrial Habitats Institute is pursuing a study of lunar habitat architectures, ones that could deal with not only thermal and radiation extremes but micrometeorite impacts, and even quakes. (Paywalled story after third free article)
Blue Origin continues work on BE-7 lunar lander engine
Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
SpaceNews.com (12/4): Blue Origin started a fourth series of hot-fire tests of the thrust chamber for the BE-7 engine that will power the human landing system (HLS) the company seeks to provide for NASA’s Artemis program. The lander is part of the Blue Origin-led “National Team” that also includes Draper, Lockheed Martin, and Northrop Grumman. It won one of the three NASA HLS awards in April to begin work on landers for Artemis.
Space Science
Japanese capsule carrying asteroid rocks lands in Australia after six-year mission
Spaceflightnow.com (12/5): The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) Hayabusa 2 spacecraft descended into Australia this past weekend after a six-year round trip to asteroid Ryugu. The material collected at Ryugu will be flown to Japan for further examination. Scientists hope further studies will help to explain the role that primitive asteroids played in planet formation and the delivery of water and organics, the building blocks of life.
China’s Chang’e 5 aces lunar orbit docking needed to bring Moon samples home
Space.com (12/6): China’s Chang’e 5 lunar sample return mission executed a successful docking of the lander and its payload of Moon soil and rock with its companion lunar orbiter. They docked Saturday afternoon, U.S. time.
Opinion
A 4G network on the Moon is bad news for radio astronomy
The Space Review (11/30): Nokia of America won a NASA Tipping Point award for the development of a 4G network in space that will aim to facilitate long term lunar habitability by providing communications for key aspects such as lunar rovers and navigation. However, the network could mean interference for the potential development of a large radio telescope on the Moon’s far side, located there to avoid sources of Earthly interference, writes Emma Alexander, a rising astrophysicist.
Other News
NASA considering commercial Mars data relay satellites
SpaceNews.com (12/5): NASA is considering a key role in the future exploration of Mars for the private sector – placing communication relay satellites in orbit around the Red Planet. The deal could be an essential part of NASA’s planned Mars Ice Mapper, a mission that will seek out the location of subsurface ice deposits.
Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of December 6-12, 2020
Coalition Member in the News – Nanoracks
Spacepolicyonline.com (12/6): The National Space Council will meet at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) on Wednesday. The council’s eighth session will be broadcast on NASA TV and live streamed at www.nasa.gov/nasalive. NASA is hosting a media teleconference at 1 p.m. EST Monday, December 7, to discuss the agency’s science priorities for the Artemis III mission, which will also be livestreamed at www.nasa.gov/nasalive. Meanwhile, the current federal budget continuing resolution for the fiscal year that began October 1 expires on Friday at midnight. If the federal agencies are to avoid a shutdown, the House and Senate must come together for an extension.