Today’s Deep Space Extra… New mission arrivals at Mars this week add to a rich history of Red Planet exploration. NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars in a week.
Human Space Exploration
Biden backs Artemis moon program; watchdog says it’ll cost $86 billion
Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman
Spaceflightnow.com (2/10): NASA’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) has provided a cost estimate for the Artemis initiative, which aims to return astronauts to the Moon to live there and prepare for expeditions to Mars. The investment since 2012 is about $35 billion. Around $50 billion would be required over the next few years under the current plan. For comparison, NASA spent around $288 billion on the Apollo program and related efforts between 1960 and 1973, according to an inflation-adjusted estimate by The Planetary Society.
Space Science
As new probes reach Mars, here’s what we know so far from trips to the Red Planet
The Conversation (2/9): As China’s Tianwen-1 orbiter/lander/rover and the UAE’s Hope orbiter reached Mars this week, they joined six U.S, European, Russian, and Indian missions circling the Red Planet and two U.S. rovers and a lander on the surface. All now await a third 2021 arrival, NASA’s Perseverance rover, which is set to land on February 18. The neighboring planet has a rich history of flybys, orbiters, and landers all assessing how Mars came to be, evolved from warm and wet to cold and desert-like, and whether it may have once hosted and possibly still hosts biological activity.
Potentially habitable exoplanet candidate spotted around Alpha Centauri A in Earth’s backyard
Space.com (2/11): According to a new study, a three-star system close to Earth, Alpha Centauri, may actually host two habitable zone planets. A 2016 discovery revealed an Earth-sized planet, Proxima b, circling one of the stars, Proxima Centauri. Proxima b circles the red dwarf star in its habitable zone, a region where water on the planet’s surface would be stable as a liquid. A new discovery revealed another planet orbiting in the habitable zone of another of the stars, Alpha Centauri A.
Other News
Erdogan says Turkey will reach the Moon by 2023
Axios (2/9): Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s president, has committed his country to launch astronauts, build a spaceport, and create satellite technologies through international agreements. Turkey’s space agency executives have been in discussions with Russia and in the U.S. with SpaceX over their intentions. A 10-year Turkish space program goal includes missions to the Moon.
Maxar executive: Smallsat industry deserves credit for pushing innovation
Coalition Members in the News – Airbus, Maxar
SpaceNews.com (2/10): Maxar Technologies’ Jim McClelland, the company’s vice president for mission architectures, praised small satellite innovators for their contributions to spacecraft technology as well as for inspiring more innovation in spacecraft design. McClelland spoke Wednesday during this year’s SmallSat Symposium.
NASA will use Fitbits to help prevent spread of COVID-19 to astronauts and employees
TechCrunch.com (2/10): NASA intends to include 150 astronauts among 1,000 workers equipped with Fitbit, a wrist sensor programmed to recognize coronavirus symptoms, and supplementing existing prevention measures. The initiative is part of a pilot program to keep an assortment of mission critical personnel healthy ahead of significant space mission events.
Diversion
Get ready! NASA’s Perseverance rover lands on Mars in a week. Watch the live landing broadcast starting at 2:15pm ET on February 18. You can also take part in the countdown to Mars celebration. Here’s how.