In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Data from the New Horizons mission shows there are fewer galaxies than previously thought. The National Space Council on Friday released a new Space Policy Directive.
Human Space Exploration
NASA studying cause of early end to NASA Moon rocket test-firing
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing
Spaceflightnow.com (1/16): NASA conducted a hot fire Saturday of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket’s core stage that will launch the first mission in the Artemis program. The Green Run test plan called for the stage’s RS-25 engines to fire for around eight minutes, but the engines shut down a little more than one minute into the hot fire. NASA is assessing the data from the test to determine the cause of the early shutdown and determine next steps.
National Team blazes new trail from Apollo to Human Landing System (HLS)
Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
AmericaSpace.com (1/15): The National Team, one of the bidders competing to provide NASA with a Human Landing System (HLS), offered a virtual look inside the development of its proposed hardware, one that has strived to combine the experience and vision of the nation’s newest and most mature aerospace companies.
Space Science
New Horizons spacecraft data shows there are far fewer galaxies in the universe than previously thought
SciTechDaily.com (1/12): Well into the outer solar system after flybys of Pluto and the Kuiper Belt object MU69, NASA’s New Horizons mission spacecraft has provided observations of the cosmic background glow that has enabled scientists to greatly reduce estimates of the number of distant galaxies.
Opinion
America’s future in space ensures fairness for all in an unjust world
The Hill (1/17): Advanced technologies like those that have emerged from space exploration can serve to help the world as a whole grow its economy and confront new challenges, according to an op-ed from Bruce Cajan, lawyer, Stanford University lecturer, and co-founder of Urban Logic, Inc., and Mir Sadat, a member of the National Security Council.
Other News
Space Council issues GPS Space Policy Directive, final report
SpacePolicyOnline.com (1/15): The White House National Space Council on Friday released Space Policy Directive 7, which establishes implementation actions and guidance for U.S. space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) programs for national and homeland security, civil, commercial, and scientific purposes. The best known PNT system in the world is probably the U.S. Department of Defense’s Global Positioning System (GPS).
Virgin Orbit launches 10 satellites to orbit in landmark test flight
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
Space.com (1/17): Virgin Orbit’s Boeing 747 “Cosmic Girl” took flight Sunday from the Mojave Air and Space Port in California to release the two-stage Launcher One rocket, which successfully ignited to propel 10 small satellites sponsored by NASA’s Educational Launch of Nanosatellites program to orbit.
Astronaut William Thornton, who invented shuttle treadmill, dies at 91
Collectspace.com (1/14): Former NASA shuttle astronaut Bill Thornton, a medical doctor, passed away at his home in Boerne, Texas, NASA reported as last week came to a close. During his 27 years with NASA, Thornton worked to develop countermeasures to the physical challenges of spaceflight, including a compact space treadmill.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of January 17-23, 2021
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/17): Wednesday marks the swearing in of President-elect Joe Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris. Space policy events planned this week include a second week of the AIAA’s SciTech Forum, a Lunar Surface Science Workshop on space biology, a NewSpace New Mexico webinar on Positioning U.S. Companies to compete economically in space, and a steering committee session of the National Academies’ Decadal Survey on Planetary Science and Astrobiology.