In Today’s Deep Space Extra…NASA’s 2017 spending plan clears the Senate Appropriations Committee with increases for the agency’s Space Launch System exploration rocket and Orion crew vehicle development activities.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Senate Appropriators Approve $19.3 Billion for NASA for FY2017
Spacepolicyonline.com (4/21): The U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approved a NASA budget of $19.3 billion for 2017, a small increase over the 2016 level, according to the report. The measure supports work on the Space Launch System exploration rocket as well as an Enhanced Upper Stage, the Orion crew exploration vehicle and the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The White House spending plan includes funding from mandatory as well as discretionary funding sources that make comparisons with prior spending difficult. The agency’s budget is also working its way through the U.S. House, which is expected to push investments in a planetary mission to the Jovian moon Europa.
Space Science
Hubble Space Telescope celebrates birthday week with bubbles
Christian Science Monitor (4/21): This week marked the 26th anniversary of the 1990 launching of the Hubble Space Telescope. To mark the milestone, the orbiting space observatory snapped an image of a star “blowing a bubble.”
New Horizons mission extension submitted to NASA; images of Pluto’s hazes show new detail
Spaceflight Insider (4/21): NASA’s New Horizons team has submitted a mission extension request to agency managers. New Horizons carried out the first flyby of distant Pluto in mid-July 2015. The team is seeking an extension to flyby another Kuiper Belt Object beyond Pluto and have the time to relay the findings back to Earth.
SWRi’s Alan Stern Named to the Time 100 List of the most influential people in the world
Business Wire (4/21): Stern is principal investigator for NASA’s New Horizons mission, which carried out the first flyby of distant Pluto in July 2015.
NASA Honors Prince by Tweeting Photo of Purple Nebula
Space.com (4/21): NASA circulated a composite bright purple image of the Crab Nebula in remembrance of the music performer Prince, whose death was announced on Thursday. Prince, 57, counted the music album Purple Rain among his most popular works. The imagery was taken by the Hubble and Herschel space telescopes.
Russia and China successfully cooperate in space exploration Chinese deputy minister
TASS, of Russia (4/22): Igor Komarov, CEO of Roscosmos, the Russian space agency and corporation, will mark China’s upcoming National Space Day in the host country. The two nations are cooperating in “several dozen” areas of space exploration, according to a high ranking official from China’s industry and information technology ministry.
Mice in Space Get Liver Damage After Two Weeks
AFP via Discovery.com (4/21): Researchers have detected the early signs of liver damage in mice that spent two weeks in space. The findings from a 2011 space shuttle experiment raise some concerns that humans may face the same issue. The symptoms included increased fat storage and loss of retinol, a form of Vitamin A.
Some Meteorites Are Million-Dollar Finds, Others Are `Meteorwrongs’
New York Times (4/20): New York auctioneers say meteorites with a lunar or Martian heritage sell for more than others placed up for auction. Overall, size, landing site and scientific significance are the most crucial factors in determining the value of a meteorite up for sale.
NASA spots free-floating brown dwarf in deep space
USA Today (4/21): Astronomers using NASA’s Wide-field Infrared Survey Explorer (WISE) and the Two Micron All Sky Survey (2MASS) have discovered a planetary mass within a young star family that appears to be a planet without a host star or a brown dwarf — a proto star that failed to acquire the mass to ignite. WISEA 1147 is estimated at 10 million years old.
Low Earth Orbit
British Astronaut to Queen Elizabeth II: Happy Birthday from Space
Space.com (4/21): British astronaut Tim Peake, of the European Space Agency, joined the celebration for the 90th birthday of Queen Elizabeth II.
NASA Astronaut Sends Message to Russian Boy Bullied by Classmates
Moscow Times (4/21): NASA astronaut Dan Burbank lends his support to an 11-year-old Russian school child who faced some tough criticism from classmates for his interest in dinosaurs.
Commercial to Orbit
Orbital ATK Picked to use NASA’s Vehicle Assembly Building at Kennedy Space Center
Florida Politics (4/21): NASA announced on Thursday it will negotiate with Orbital ATK for use of space in the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building in Florida. Use of the VAB is part of a development plan with the Air Force for a new large to medium class launch vehicle.
China testing own reusable rocket technologies
Xinhuanet (4/21): China will join a global race to develop reusable rockets, the Chinese news agency Xinhuanet reports.
Iranian, Russian space agencies discuss joint projects
Tass, or Russia (4/21): The two space agencies discuss an upgrade to a satellite ground station of value to both countries.
Suborbital
WhiteKnightTwo returns to New Mexico skies
Albuquerque Journal (4/21): After a two year hiatus, Virgin Galactic resumed test flights of the WhiteKnightTwo carrier jet from Spaceport America this week. After development activities, the carrier jet is to carry SpaceShipTwo and its passengers to altitude for release and rocket engine ignition to begin the climb to suborbital altitudes. Flight testing of SpaceShipTwo could begin this summer. The company is recovering from an October 2014 test flight accident involving the rocket plane. The incident claimed the life of a test pilot.