In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Exploration Mission-1 Orion spacecraft ready for Super Guppy flight to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA’s EM-1 Orion spacecraft ready to ship to Florida
Spaceflight Insider (1/30): After months of assembly in New Orleans, the NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion crew capsule assigned to the first unpiloted test flight of the Space Launch System exploration rocket is scheduled to be flown to the Kennedy Space Center early this week for further assembly. The SLS launch, scheduled for late 2018, will send the capsule round the moon and back to Earth for re-entry and an ocean splashdown and recovery.
How moon dust languished in a Downing Street cupboard
New York Times (2/1): A succession of British prime ministers wrestled with where to keep and display tiny pieces of the moon collected by Apollo 11 astronauts gifted by former President Nixon.
Space Science
Mirror on the cosmos: NASA’s next big telescope takes shape
Scientific American (1/30): The James Webb Space Telescope, successor to NASA’s aging Hubble Space Telescope, is coming together at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland as engineers supervise the assembly of the 18 segment, 6 1/2 meter primary mirror. Fashioned from low weight, gold-coated beryllium, the mirror must thrive in the cold temperatures of its final destination, L-2, a sun-Earth Lagrange point about one million miles from the Earth. Slated for launching in late 2018, the JWST is a collaboration between NASA and the European and Canadian space agencies.
Previewing Juno: NASA’s epic mission to Jupiter
Discovery.com (1/29): The NASA spacecraft is on a course to maneuver into orbit around Jupiter on July 4. Over its mission, Juno will probe the atmosphere for water, study the intense magnetic field and search for a core. No solar powered spacecraft has traveled so far.
Super bright Mars arrives this Spring
Space.com (1/29): In May, the Earth and Mars will be in favorable orientations for great viewing of the red planet. Mars could appear twice as bright by the end of the month. Mars will appear brighter and larger than it has in 13 years.
Ceres animation: See what it’s like to orbit a distant world
Christian Science Monitor (1/29): Imagery from NASA’s Dawn spacecraft provides the basis for a new animation of the large asteroid Ceres and its distinctive craters and other surface features. Dawn maneuvered into orbit last March, moving closer to Ceres in stages.
Gigantic gas cloud on collision course with our galaxy
Discovery.com (1/29): Smith Cloud, which stretches 11,000 light years in length and is estimated to include one million stars, is making its way back to the Milky Way after ejection long ago.
Curiosity’s study of Martian sands halted due to anomaly
Spaceflight Insider (1/29): Working in a sandy region of Mars, Bagnold Dunes, NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover has encountered difficulties with the Collection and Handling for In-Situ Martian Rock Analysis device, a sample processing tool positioned on the rover’s robot arm for soil analysis. Troubleshooting is underway.
Data from New Horizons reveals more water ice on Pluto than previously thought
America Space (1/29): Pluto hosts a surprising amount of water ice, according to spectral scans made with NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft. The spacecraft became the first to fly close to Pluto in mid-July. Data and imagery from New Horizons continues to stream to Earth.
Fungi survive Mars-like conditions on Space Station
Space.com (1/29): Two species of microscopic fungi gathered from the Antarctic survived for 18 months under Mars like environmental conditions outside the International Space Station. The samples were housed inside a European Space Agency experiment called Expose-E, which was positioned during a spacewalk. Normally, the two fungi thrive in the cracks of terrestrial rocks. The findings were published in the journal Astrobiology.
Low Earth Orbit
NASA’s new Planetary Defense Office gets to work protecting Earth
Space.com (1/29): A new NASA organization, the Planetary Defense Coordination Office, will host an open forum in Vienna during a session of the U.N.’s Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. The office was established to coordinate the identification of asteroids that pose a collision threat to the Earth and the options to prevent possible devastation.
North Korea activity points to possible space launch: U.S. officials
Reuters (1/29): U.S. officials say activities around the North Korea’s Sohae launch site suggest a rocket launch is imminent, adding to growing concerns with Pyongyang following a Jan. 6 nuclear test.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
NanoRacks project could be a giant leap for commercial space
Houston Chronicle (1/29): Houston based NanoRacks plans to provide an additional airlock for the International Space Station in mid-2018. As part of the station’s National Laboratory, the airlock would help to handle the surge in small satellites heading to the six person orbital lab for deployments and now using a science airlock in Japan’s Kibo science module.
European communications relay satellite launched by Proton rocket
Spaceflightnow.com (1/30): EutelsatB, a European communications satellite, reached orbit on Friday aboard a Russian Proton rocket launched from Kazakhstan. The versatile spacecraft will provide a television link from the U.K. to the Middle East. A laser terminal on the spacecraft will introduce a faster means of communications with satellites in low Earth orbit, a technology that can replace costly ground stations.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of February 1-5, 2016
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/31): In Washington this week, the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space hosts its annual conference. A U.S. House Science, Space and Technology panel will hear from outside experts on U.S. space ambitions. Russian cosmonauts spacewalk outside the International Space Station.