In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Mars, here we come. Two missions launched by the UAE and China are due to arrive at Mars Tuesday and Wednesday. Not far behind, NASA’s Perseverance Mars 2020 rover is prepared to address the mystery of whether life once existed on Mars.
Human Space Exploration
NASA, Boeing adjusting SLS Core Stage parameter limits for second Green Run firing
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing
NASASpaceflight.com (2/5): Along with vehicle and test stand preparations for a second Green Run Hot Fire planned for the week of February 21, Space Launch System (SLS) engineers are recalibrating models and predictions with data from the first test to adjust parameters. The Hot Fire test is the last in the Green Run series, a design verification campaign conducted at NASA’s Stennis Space Center. A first Hot Fire test of the SLS core stage was performed on January 16 but ended before all objectives could be completed due to overly conservative parameters.
Space Science
Three countries are due to reach Mars in the next two weeks
The Verge (2/5): Each launched during a summer alignment between the Earth and Mars, spacecraft from three countries arrive at the Red Planet this month. Hope, an orbital Mars mission launched by the United Arab Emirates (UAE), is set to maneuver into orbit Tuesday. China’s Tianwen-1 combination orbiter, lander, and rover, maneuvers into orbit around Mars on Wednesday. It will survey the Martian surface to prepare for a descent of the lander/rover in May. On February 18, NASA’s Perseverance rover lands to gather samples from Jezero Crater for a future return to Earth to assess whether the planet once hosted biological activity.
Why some scientists believe life may have started on Mars
Salon.com (2/8): Environmental conditions suitable for microbial life on a younger Mars may have originated sooner than on Earth during the solar system’s early era. Impacts from space debris, prevalent in the early solar system, may have caused material from Mars to reach Earth in the form of large meteorites, delivering material hosting biological activity, according to scientists who support a theory known as panspermia. Samples of Mars gathered by NASA’s Perseverance rover and one day returned to Earth could help confirm or deny current theories.
Scientific community on report of a strange chemical at Venus: Probably not
Arstechnica.com (2/6): Last September, scientists caused a stir when they reported the presence of phosphine, an unstable gas in the high altitude of Venus and a potential biosignature. The find was made using two telescopes. Follow-up studies raise the possibility the phosphine signature actually came from sulfur dioxide, which is plentiful at Venus, or that the signature was not as strong as initially reported.
Other News
White House to realign responsibilities for space policy oversight
SpaceNews.com (2/5): In a February 4 memorandum, the White House said the National Security Council (NSC) from now on will issue national security memorandums to replace the former administration’s space policy directives as instruments for communicating presidential decisions about national security policies of the U.S. Under the previous administration, the National Space Council coordinated policies across commercial, civil, and military space and issued space policy directives. Though the White House memo released on February 4 does not mention the National Space Council, the document sparked speculation that the entity will be discontinued.
Millie Hughes-Fulford, astronaut and UCSF scientist, dies at 75
San Francisco Chronicle (2/5): Millie Hughes-Fulford, an early researcher focused on the human health effects of spaceflight and a 1991 space shuttle flight participant as a payload specialist, has passed away. Part of the San Francisco VA Health Care System for much of her career, Hughes-Fulford was 75 when she died on February 2 from lymphoma.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of February 7-13, 2021
Coalition Member in the News – Airbus
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/7): The annual Smallsat Symposium meets virtually Monday through Thursday with an impressive lineup of speakers. The Space Foundation hosts webinars on Tuesday entitled “State of Space 2021” and on Wednesday to premiere a series about women in space. NASA’s Outer Planets Assessment Group meets virtually Tuesday through Thursday. NASA and AIAA will hold a webinar this Wednesday to talk about the Perseverance rover’s technological advancements.