In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The Orion capsule assigned to the first Space Launch System test flight achieves a key milestone.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA’s Orion spacecraft doesn’t crack under pressure
Popular Science (5/12): The pressure vessel for the Orion capsule assigned to a late 2018 test flight, the first involving both NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket and an Orion crew capsule, has passed a critical ground test at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center to determine how well it holds up to internal pressure. The test flight sending the unpiloted capsule on a three-week trip around the moon is planned for late 2018.
In South El Monte, a small machine shop is a big part of Space Launch System
Los Angeles Times (5/13): AMRO Fabricating Corp., a small Los Angeles metal fabricating business, is assembling the walls for NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket, as well as the Orion crew exploration capsule. SLS and Orion represent the cornerstones of NASA’s plans to resume missions of human deep space exploration. The SLS and Orion are to carry out an unpiloted test flight around the moon in late 2018. “We’re building history,” said Aquilina Hutton, the president of the company.
Space Science
Dwarfy McPlanetface? The icy world known as 2007 OR10 cries out for a name
Geek Wire (5/13): New measurements using NASA’s Kepler space telescope suggest 2007 OR10, a Kuiper belt object discovered nine years ago, is large enough to quality as a dwarf planet and receive a name that conforms to International Astronomical Union guidelines.
An update from the astronomers who proposed the alien megastructures
The Atlantic (5/12): Ongoing observations of the star KIC 8462852 continue to raise a question: Is an alien culture responsible for an artificial structure that blurs the light observed by the Kepler space telescope and other observatories.
New satellites get to the bottom of space weather
Science (5/12): The multiple spacecraft involved in NASA’s Earth orbiting Magnetospheric Multiscale (MMS) mission are unraveling the mysteries of the Earth’s magnetic field and its energetic interactions with solar wind.
Low Earth Orbit
Shuttle skipper, mountaineering spacewalker going into Hall of Fame
Spaceflightnow.com (5/12): On Saturday, NASA astronauts Scott Parazynski and Brian Duffy will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The two men launched aboard NASA’s space shuttle nine times on missions that included the assembly of the International Space Station and satellite captures.
Sara’s circle: Launching success with NASA’s Janet Kavandi
WYKC-TV, of Ohio (5/12): Onetime NASA astronaut Janet Kavandi now pursues her professional dream as the deputy director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center. While NASA Glenn’s work is making airplanes safer, examining algae blooms in Lake Erie, and dozens of other projects, it is space that still gets to Kavandi.
A bit of debris chipped the International Space Station. That’s just one piece of a much bigger problem
Washington Post (5/12): NASA and the International Space Station astronauts the agency watches over are ever vigilant for the possibility of a collision with even a small piece of manmade orbital debris. In April, a small piece of debris smashed into the window of the Cupola, the station’s multi-window observation deck, leaving a small knick as a reminder of the hazard.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Boeing’s Starliner test article comes together as first crewed flight slips to 2018
NASAspaceflight.com (5/12): In a conference call with investors, a Boeing executive estimated the first crewed flight of the company’s CST-100 Starliner will occur in 2018 rather than 2017, as company engineers address technical challenges. Boeing is one of two U.S. companies under contract to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to develop commercial spacecraft that can transport astronauts to and from the six-person International Space Station.
Upgraded Antares rolls out to launch pad for tests
Spaceflightnow.com (5/11): A test version of Orbital ATK’s upgraded Antares rocket reached a launch pad at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island Thursday, where it will undergo several weeks of ground testing. The Antares has not launched since an October 2014 launch mishap at MARS. When the testing is complete, the test hardware will be replaced with a fully assembled version of the rocket. Orbital expects to launch a new re-supply mission to the six-person Space Station as soon as July.
SASC sticks to its guns on RD-180 rocket engines
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/12): The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee limits to nine the number of Russian RD-180 rocket engines that could be imported by United Launch Alliance as part of its version of the 2017 National Defense Authorization Act. The same panel in the House supports a higher limit, 18 as favored by the U.S. Air Force, in its version of the legislation. The RD-180 powers the first stage of the Atlas 5 rocket used to place national security payloads in orbit. Efforts are underway to develop a domestic replacement while imports continue.