New Episode of The Deep Space Podcast Available Now

This week, we’ve released a special edition of the Deep Space Podcast, A Roadmap for Space Exploration. In this new episode, the former CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, Dr. Mary Lynne Dittmar, joins Coalition team members Christen Kapavik and Jamil Castillo for a discussion about NASA’s Moon-to-Mars initiative, national programs and public-private partnerships for space, thoughts on a strategy for a permanent human presence in low Earth orbit in the future, and the ways in which space science and exploration help our home planet. Click here to listen to the episode now. These topics are also discussed in our recently released policy paper, “A Space Exploration Roadmap for the New Administration”, which you can find here.

In Today’s Deep Space Extra… A new mission is set to reach Mars today. Despite a global pandemic, space investment is on the rise.

 

Human Space Exploration

This new map of ice on Mars could guide future astronauts
Space.com (2/9): Water is the most crucial resource for future astronaut missions to Mars. NASA and its partners now have a better idea of where the most accessible pockets of water ice are, and therefore where to set up a future habitat on Mars, thanks to projects such as the Subsurface Water Ice Mapping (SWIM). The ice picture could clear up significantly in the coming years, especially if the Mars Ice Mapper mission concept, so far a partnership between NASA and the space agencies of Japan, Canada, and Italy, materializes.

 

Space Science

UAE’s Hope mission is about to reach Mars and the stakes are high
Space.com (2/8): The stakes are high as three missions launched in mid-2020 approach their high science value destination, Mars. The first of them arrives today. The United Arab Emirates’ (UAE) Hope mission is set to maneuver into orbit around the Red Planet starting at about 10:30a.m. EST. In addition to a lengthy study of the Martian atmosphere and climate, UAE scientists are hopeful the results will inspire their nation to begin to look beyond oil as the world sharpens its focus on climate change concerns.

Jupiter’s Trojan asteroids offer surprises even before NASA’s Lucy mission has a chance to visit them
Universetoday.com (2/8): New Earth-based observations of a collection of asteroids known as Trojans that share the planet Jupiter’s orbit around the Sun, found differences between the Trojans that lead ahead of Jupiter in its path and those that trail behind, which may indicate that each of the two asteroid clouds evolved differently. NASA is set to launch Lucy, a mission to study Jupiter’s Trojans up close, later this year.

A giant black hole suddenly went dark, and no one knows why
Space.com (2/6): Since mid-2018, one of the brightest  X-ray sources, the second most massive black hole in the Milky Way galaxy and 36,000 light years from the Earth, began to dim. The trend, most likely due to another stellar object blocking the light, has mysteriously continued.

 

Other News

Space industry investment continues to grow
SpaceNews.com (2/8): Just a year ago, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic raised concerns within the space industry of a slowdown among investors. Instead, the investment overall, including small satellites and small satellite launch services, enjoyed gains, according to participants in Monday’s SmallSat Symposium. One expert predicted the 2020 investment level will likely match or exceed the record of $5.7 billion for 2019 and keep on growing. 

How can you improve the Outer Space Treaty?
The Space Review (2/8): Last week, the nonprofit Space Court Foundation hosted a discussion among veteran diplomats on the future of the Outer Space Treaty. Signed by dozens of countries in 1967, the treaty was formulated to prevent the U.S. and former Soviet Union from placing weapons of mass destruction in space as they competed to explore space with astronauts and cosmonauts. With growing international and commercial activity in space there is an interest in further promoting peaceful exploration and enabling economic growth.  

Richard Shelby, senator with major influence over NASA, to retire
SpaceNews.com (2/9): Long a source of support for NASA programs, especially those based at the Marshall Space Flight Center, including the Space Launch System (SLS), U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby, an Alabama Republican, announced on Monday that he will not seek re-election in 2022. A member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, Shelby is 86 and serving his sixth term.