In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The Space Launch System is set for today’s Green Run hot fire. NASA’s Perseverance Rover marks a successful first month on the Red Planet. The James Webb Space Telescope is on track for an October launch.
Human Space Exploration
NASA’s Moon rocket set for second test-firing Thursday
Coalition Members in the News – Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Northrop Grumman
Spaceflightnow.com (3/17): NASA and its industry partners are primed for a second attempt at a full-duration hot fire test of the Space Launch System’s (SLS) core stage from the Stennis Space Center on Thursday during a two-hour window that opens at 3 p.m. EDT. The test will be broadcast on NASA TV and streamed live at www.nasa.gov/nasalive or www.spaceflightnow.com starting about 30 minutes prior to the test.
Astronauts on Mars missions could suffer cognitive and emotional problems
The Conversation (3/17): New research suggests humans in first journeys to Mars must be prepared to deal with psychological as well as physical challenges linked to absence of gravity, radiation exposure, isolation, and other factors. Long missions aboard the International Space Station (ISS) have lasted up to a year for a few astronauts. Missions to Mars will last much longer. The findings were published in Frontiers of Physiology.
Space Science
The Perseverance rover’s 1st month on Mars has been super smooth, scientists say
Space.com (3/17): As NASA’s Perseverance rover approaches the end of its first month on the Martian surface today, the agency reports that all has so far gone smoothly. During two years of planned exploration, Perseverance is set to gather 10 samples of soil and rock from its Jezero Crater landing site and another 28 samples beyond the crater’s rim. All are to be cached and returned to Earth for detailed analysis.
JWST moving towards October launch
SpaceNews.com (3/18): In a presentation this week, James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) program scientist Eric Smith said engineers had either completed or were in the process of finalizing work on some technical issues that didn’t pose a risk to the mission’s schedule. The observatory is also going through a final series of deployment tests, including of its primary mirror. The spacecraft will then be prepared for shipment this summer to French Guiana for final launch arrangements.
Opinion
NASA’s last rocket
New York Times (3/17): The Space Launch System (SLS), the large rocket assigned to fly humans back to the Moon and later to Mars, may represent the end of the line as far as NASA taking the lead on such an effort, writes David W. Brown, a space journalist, in an op-ed. While the United States is unlikely to build anything like the SLS ever again, “it’s still good that NASA did,” writes Brown, adding that “right now, if NASA wants to return astronauts to the Moon, the SLS is the only game in town” as potential commercial alternatives are years away from being safe to fly humans to deep space.
Other News
Inside Japan’s daring 10-year mission to visit ancient asteroid Ryugu
CNET (3/17): An inside look at Japan’s long running Hayabusa 2 sample return mission to the asteroid Ryugu. Samples collected over 2019 made their way back to Earth for a drop off in remote Australia in December 2020. The mission launched on December 3, 2014. After the drop off, Hayabusa embarked on an extended mission to visit two more asteroids, the primitive material that formed the planets, by 2032.
Lawmaker warns remote sensing industry could be challenged by security and privacy issues
SpaceNews.com (3/17): Last year, the Commerce Department issued new regulations that streamlined the licensing process for private operators and were intended to help companies compete in the global market for space-based data. But as the industry introduces increasingly sophisticated products, it may be time to consider additional rules to ensure technologies do not infringe on privacy or compromise national security, said Rep. Don Beyer (D-Va.), chairman of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee on March 17 at a POLITICO event.
Costa Rica will host the most advanced space radar on the planet
The Costa Rica News (3/17): LeoLabs Inc. in April will debut radar facilities in Costa Rica for tracking satellites and debris in Earth orbit. The new facilities will join LeoLabs radars in Alaska, Texas and New Zealand that track the objects, a pursuit important to the safety and success of future low Earth orbit activities.