In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA spacewalkers begin an International Space Station solar power upgrade. On-orbit satellite servicing keeps gaining support.

 

Human Space Exploration

More good vibes for NASA from Biden & Harris
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/27): In remarks in Texas last week, President Joe Biden mentioned the Perseverance rover’s successful Mars landing as a sign that “America can do anything.” Also last week, Vice President Kamala Harris called the International Space Station (ISS) to speak to astronaut Victor Glover in celebration of Black History Month. Glover is the first African American astronaut to fly a long-term mission aboard the ISS. Harris also praised the renaming of NASA’s Headquarters after Mary Jackson, the agency’s first African American female engineer. Meanwhile, the space community awaits the roll-out of the first Biden budget request for space matters.

Astronauts complete spacewalk to prep for Station power system upgrades
Coalition Member in the News – Boeing
CBS News via Spaceflightnow.com (2/28): NASA spacewalkers Kate Rubins and Victor Glover initiated a year-long plan to upgrade the solar power generation potential of the International Space Station (ISS) with a seven-hour spacewalk on Sunday. Six of eight ISS solar power channels are set to be upgraded over the next year.

Dynetics completes preliminary design review, as NASA approaches HLS down-select
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, United Launch Alliance
Americaspace.com (2/26): As last week was coming to a close, Dynetics confirmed its proposal for a lunar Human Landing System (HLS) had completed a preliminary design review. The Huntsville, Alabama-based firm is one of three companies under contract to NASA since April 2020 to provide a human lunar lander for the Artemis program. NASA is expected to announce up to two companies that will move on to the next phase of development in the coming weeks.

Drinking-water upgrade from Tucson’s Paragon put to test on Space Station
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman, Paragon Space Development Corp.
Tucson.com (2/26): The Paragon Space Development Corp’s new Brine Processor System was delivered to the International Space Station (ISS) on February 22 aboard Northrop Grumman’s latest resupply mission. Over the next year, the processor will work to step up the recovery of consumable water from the waste and humidity in the habitable volume of the ISS. The technology is considered critical for the human exploration of deep space, where it will be difficult to resupply astronauts.

 

Space Science

Planetary defense experts use infamous asteroid Apophis to practice spotting dangerous space rocks
Space.com (3/1): Scientists are using this month’s flyby of the infamous asteroid Apophis to test their responses to potentially hazardous space rocks to improve planetary defense strategies. Planetary defense focuses on identifying asteroids and comets that hang out around Earth, mapping their precise paths and seeing how their orbits compare with Earth’s.

 

Other News

Lockheed Martin to upgrade GPS satellites for in-orbit servicing
Coalition Member in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Lockheed Martin
SpaceNews.com (2/26): The satellite bus of the Lockheed Martin-manufactured Global Positioning Satellites (GPS) used for civilian as well as military navigation needs is being upgraded to permit on-orbit servicing. The upgrade will start with the GPSF3 line of global positioning and navigation satellites, according to Eric Brown, Lockheed Martin’s senior director of military space mission strategy.

 

Major Space Related Activities for the Week

Major space related activities for the week of February 28 to March 6, 2021
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/28): NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and JAXA astronaut Soichi Noguchi will join for a spacewalk outside the International Space Station early Friday to carry on with preparations to upgrade the orbiting science lab with new solar arrays as the year unfolds. Rubins and NASA astronaut Victor Glover started the effort with a spacewalk outside the ISS early Sunday. On Monday, NASA hosts a series of briefings on the upcoming SpaceX Crew Dragon 2 mission to the ISS planned for an April 20 liftoff with NASA’s Shane Kimbrough and Megan McArthrur, JAXA’s Akihiko Hoshide and ESA’s Thomas Pasquet. The briefings begin at 12:30 p.m. EST and will be aired on NASA TV and streamed on www.nasa.gov/nasalive. On Wednesday, Kathy Lueders, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, is the guest of the Beyond Earth Institute for a virtual discussion at 2 p.m. EST.