In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Assembly of NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket is no small effort.
Human Deep Space Exploration
For rockets going farther than ever, you need the best and biggest tools
Ars Technica (3/20): Tooling at NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility, near New Orleans, reveals the scope of U.S. efforts to reach Mars with human explorers. The welding tool for the first stage of the Space Launch System exploration rocket towers 170 feet. “[The tools here] are terrifically accurate, we’re talking down to thousandths of an inch in accuracy,” says Pat Whipps, the resident program manager at Michoud. “It’s interesting. The tools are sometimes many stories tall, yet the manufacturing tolerance is down in thousandths of an inch.”
Space Science
Minor lunar eclipse: Earth’s shadow to darken moon Wednesday
Space News (3/19): The Earth’s shadow will sweep across parts of the moon early Wednesday. The event will be most noticeable at 7:47 a.m., EDT. Observers in the western and central parts of North America are well-positioned to view.
China exclusive: China’s aim to explore Mars
Xinhuanet, of China (3/21): China will prepare an ambitious mission to Mars, with arrival of an orbiter, lander and rover planned for 2021. Zheng Yongchun, an associate researcher with the National Astronomical Observatory, says that combining orbiting exploration and a roving probe in one mission is a rational choice for starting Mars exploration at a high level. “The best and most direct method to look for evidence of life on Mars is to explore the surface. Mars will be a key focus of China’s deep space exploration in the future,” said Zheng.
Jason 3 satellite begins surveying world’s oceans
Spaceflightnow.com (3/19): Jason-3, the latest in a series of U.S. and European Earth observing satellites equipped with a radar altimeter to measure sea level elevations, has delivered its first global map. Jason-3 was launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., on Jan. 17. Sea level measurements from orbit began in 1992 with the Topex Posiedon mission.
New lenses to help in the hunt for dark energy
Universe Today (3/18): New telescope lenses developed by the U.S. Department of Energy’s Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory may enable astronomers to track the influences of dark energy, the forces responsible for the expansion of the universe. Dark energy is estimated to comprise 68.3 percent of the mass energy of the universe.
Low Earth Orbit
First American to live on ISS for 3 long missions arrives after Soyuz night launch and docking
Universe Today (3/19): U.S. astronaut Jeff William joined Russian cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka for a Soyuz launch to the International Space Station late Friday. Their docking restored the space station to six person operations. Williams, the first from NASA to staff the Space Station for a third long mission, and his colleagues replace NASA’s Scott Kelly, Mikhail Kornienko and Sergey Volkov, who returned to Earth Mar. 1, ending a 340 day flight for Kelly and Kornienko.
Photos: Crew departs on half-year Space Station expedition
Spaceflightnow.com (3/19): NASA’s Jeff Williams and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Oleg Skripochka began their six month journey to the International Space Station Friday with a lift off at 5:26 p.m., EDT, from Kazakhstan.
U.S. Air Force will defend civilian space assets, official says
Air Force Times (3/17): The U.S. Air Force is prepared to defend the space assets of civilian agencies as well as those operated by commercial enterprises from attack, Winston Beauchamp, the Deputy Under Secretary of the Air Force for Space, and the director of the Principal Defense Department Space Advisor Staff, told an Air Force Association breakfast last week.
NASA brought in to advise on reducing offshore drilling risk
Houston Chronicle (3/17): NASA’s Johnson Space Center agrees to advise the U.S. Bureau of Safety and Environmental Enforcement, the federal government’s offshore drilling inspector, on risk reduction strategies.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Forecast excellent for Tuesday night Atlas V launch
Florida Today (3/19); Favorable weather is forecast for the scheduled launching of Orbital ATK’s next Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station on Tuesday at 11:05 p.m., EDT, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Silicon Valley’s zero-gravity space start up boom
San Jose Mercury News (3/20): Entrepreneurs are turning to commercial space in California’s Silicon Valley. Surges in interest in CubeSat capabilities and new launch vehicles are drawing investors as well.
Italian space agency to Airbus Safran: Hands off Vega
Space News (3/18): Italian space agency President Roberto Battiston is battling to retain an independent access to space for his country. The French enterprise Airbus Safran proposes to take over Italy’s Avio, which is prime contractor for the Italian-led Vega small-satellite launcher.
Suborbital
How this retired astronaut will bring a ‘transformative experience’ to space tourism
New York Observer (3/18): As World View’s chief pilot, former NASA astronaut Ron Garan intends to share the “orbital perspective” with passengers. “It really hit me and gave me deep feelings of not only interconnectedness but of kinship with all of our fellow crew mates on spaceship Earth,” says Garan of his own experience at looking back at the Earth from orbit. World View plans to offer that perspective to paying passengers aboard its high altitude balloon flights from Tucson, Ariz., which will rise to 100,000 feet.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of March 21-25, 2016
Spacepolicyonline.com (3/19): Events this week include the launch of Orbital ATK’s latest Cygnus cargo mission to the six person International Space Station late Tuesday and the weeklong Lunar and Planetary Science Conference near Houston. The U.S. House is in session for several days, then will join the Senate on spring break.