In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Hubble returns to operations after being in safe mode for more than four days. NASA’s Perseverance Mars mission honors Navajo language.

 

Human Space Exploration

NASA will map every living thing on the International Space Station
Scientific American (3/11): Each person going to space is accompanied by trillions of bacteria and viruses, but we are still in the dark about how these microorganisms react in orbit. New studies designed to know the full spectrum of species living aboard the International Space Station (ISS) aim to understand, prevent, and mitigate dangerous outbreaks and can help us prepare for human missions to Mars. For the studies, astronauts on the ISS swabbed 1,000 different locations throughout the orbiting lab. The samples will be returned to Earth for analysis.

 

Space Science

Aging Hubble returns to operations after software glitch
SpaceNews.com (3/12): After being sent to safe mode for four and a half days following a system error, the Hubble Space Telescope resumed operations yesterday. The software error was a result of an enhancement recently uploaded to the telescope that was intended to compensate for fluctuations from one of its gyroscopes.

Navajo Nation helping NASA to name Mars features
KRQE (3/11): The first scientific focus of NASA’s Perseverance rover is a rock named “Máaz” – the Navajo word for “Mars.” The rover’s team, in collaboration with the Navajo Nation Office of the President and Vice President, has been naming features of scientific interest with words in the Navajo language.

A big asteroid will zoom safely past Earth on March 21, NASA says
Space.com (3/11): Estimated at 1,300 to 2,230 feet long, asteroid 2001 FO32 will come no closer than 1.25 million miles as it soars past the Earth on March 21. NASA’s Center for Near Earth Object Studies noted Thursday there is no chance of an impact threat. The relatively close approach will permit astronomers to take a closer look at the object.

 

Other News

ISRO, JAXA review cooperation on joint lunar polar exploration satellite mission
Deccan Herald of India (3/11): The space agencies of India and Japan are pursuing a cooperative lander/rover mission to the south pole of the Moon for launch in 2024. The agencies on Thursday reviewed their ongoing cooperation to launch their joint lunar polar exploration (LUPEX) mission.

Moon Registry’ catalogs human heritage left behind on lunar surface
Collectspace.com (3/11): For All Moonkind has established the Moon Registry, a catalogue of sites and hardware associated with all past human and robotic exploration of the Moon. “The history of humans on the Moon belongs to everyone on Earth,” Michelle Hanlon, co-founder of For All Moonkind, a non-profit organization dedicated to protecting human heritage in space, said in a statement.

China launches Chang Zheng 7A rocket on its return to flight mission
NASAspaceflight.com (3/11): China stepped up its launch capability on Thursday with the liftoff of the new generation Long March 7A rocket carrying a classified experimental satellite. Work on the medium 7A version of the Long March for future human space exploration and other missions began in 2010. A first launch attempt in March 2020 failed due to a possible loss of pressure in the second stage. The rocket’s engines are powered by liquid kerosene and oxygen, replacing rockets using hypergolic propellants since the start of China’s space program.