In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Maryland congresswoman backs NASA’s space exploration mission as well as its work with the U.S. commercial sector and international partners.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Why the next President must invest in NASA
Time (10/13): NASA has a legacy of introducing new technologies and inspiring the nation’s and the world’s youth, writes U.S. Rep. Donna Edwards, Maryland congresswoman and ranking member of the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology’s Space Subcommittee. “We can’t forget that space is hard, and achieving ambitious goals takes talent and money,” writes Edwards. “Funding NASA and leveraging the resources of commercial interests and our international partners is an investment that has and will continue to generate long-lasting dividends.”
Space Science
The universe has 10 times more galaxies than scientists thought
Space.com (10/13): A U.K. led astrophysics team has used Hubble Space Telescope imagery to increase estimates for the numbers of galaxies in the known universe to two trillion. The new estimate represents a tenfold increase in the estimate.
Spaceweather.com (10/14): This week the Earth is shaking off an encounter with energetic material from a solar outburst. The impact has the Northern Lights aglow over the Arctic.
Distant ringed object could be ‘Saturn on steroids’
New York Times (10/13): Giant planet or failed star, J1407b, has astronomers puzzled. The ringed object, 200 times larger than its smaller counterpart Saturn, looms 400 light years away.
New instrument on ISS to study ultra-cold quantum gases
Spaceflight Insider (10/13): Scientists intend to investigate intriguing quantum physics phenomena using the the Cold Atom Laboratory, a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory developed instrument headed to the International Space Station in late 2017. For the studies the lab will drop temperatures to just above absolute zero in microgravity.
Researchers push argument that comet caused ancient climate change
Ars Technica (10/13): Contemporary concerns over the atmospheric warming effects of carbon build-up in the Earth’s atmosphere may have a precedent. It was a comet strike just over an estimated 55 million years ago.
Ancient meteorite impact rained debris on U.S. east coast
Space.com (10/13): A large meteorite impact near the U.S. east coast about 56 million years may also have rained debris. The size of the meteorite remains a mystery.
Low Earth Orbit
NASA has no plans to buy more Soyuz seats, and it may be too late anyway
Spaceflightnow.com (10/13): NASA is holding off on the purchase of additional Russian transportation to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz spacecraft in 2019. Agency executives believe Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner and the SpaceX crewed Dragon will be ready to launch NASA astronauts by late 2018 despite technical and budget challenges. Both companies are developing their spacecraft under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. The U.S. has been unable to launch its own astronauts since the shuttle was retired in mid-2011. “NASA last year signed a $490 million agreement with the Russian government for six round-trip seats on Soyuz missions, with launches in 2018 and landings extending into early 2019,” according to the report. “The space agency is sending nearly $82 million to Russia for each ticket.” The assembly of a single Soyuz spacecraft takes two years.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Companies pitch plans for commercial space station modules
Space News (10/13): Two U.S. companies, Axiom Space and Bigelow Aerospace, will develop modules that could be launched and berthed to the International Space Station for commercial activities as soon as 2020. The designated U.S. segment berthing port on the ISS was occupied earlier this year with the BEAM, the Bigelow Expandable Activities Module, a prototype for a habitable module that could be used on future commercial space stations or as a habitat for astronauts on future deep space missions. Representatives of the companies spoke before the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, N.M., this week.
Satellite builders say customers paralyzed by technology, financial stresses
Space News (10/13): Manufacturers of commercial satellites say prospective customers are uncertain how to invest in capabilities. Much of the uncertainty is focused on whether current capabilities could become obsolete before the life of the spacecraft has expired. The uncertainty over the pace of new technologies was expressed at the APSCC conference, an Asia/Pacific telecommunications gathering, earlier this month in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.