In Today’s Deep Space Extra… With bold leadership, humans will return to deep space, predicts Gene Cernan, the NASA astronaut who commanded NASA’s final Apollo mission and focus of a new documentary.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Last man on the moon laments lack of U.S. interest in space exploration
Seattle Times (2/24): NASA astronaut Gene Cernan commanded the final Apollo mission to the moon in 1972. A documentary on the achievement and Cernan’s role, The Last Man on the Moon, opens in theaters on Friday. Now 81, Cernan predicted that with the right leadership more will follow in the footsteps of the Apollo crews to explore even more distant destinations. “There is no bigger challenge than outer space,” he said in an interview.
Scott Kelly from space: ‘I feel like I’ve lived my whole life up here’
CNN (2/24): Kelly and Russia’s Mikhail Kornienko are preparing to return to Earth late on Mar. 1, after 340 days in orbit, the longest spaceflight ever for a NASA astronaut. Speaking with major U.S. television networks on Wednesday, Kelly said it sometimes feels like he’s spent a life time in space. However, Kelly also says he will miss the significance of his work, serving as a subject in medical experiments intended to pave the way to Mars for future astronauts.
NASA ‘twins study’ to yield trove of data about how space impacts the human body
ABC News (2/24): An unusual study examining the effects of long term spaceflight on International Space Station commander Scott Kelly could reveal new information right down to the genetic level on how a daring mission to Mars might affect human space explorers. Scott Kelly is due back on Earth late Mar. 1, after 340 days in orbit, a new U.S. record. Scott’s twin brother, the retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly, has served as a control in NASA sponsored research while going about his Earthly routine.
Space Science
Astronomers pinpoint mysterious radio burst
Sky and Telescope (2/24): Working with multiple observatories, astronomers believe they have pinpointed the source of a Fast Radio Burst for the first time. The burst appears to come from an aging star system six billion light years away, possibly as a pair of neutron stars merged.
Alien megastructures and dark matter: How imagination fuels science
Space.com (2/23): Imagination is often a critical part of scientific discovery, writes Michelle Thaller, NASA’s deputy director of science communication. Thaller explains the thinking that led one scientist to suggest a Dyson sphere, a theorized alien structure, might explain an unusual observation made with NASA’s exo-planet hunting Kepler space telescope.
Sunita’s visit to deepen space cooperation
The Hindu (2/25): Veteran astronaut Sunita Williams is among a small NASA delegation in India for a third round of discussions on space cooperation sponsored by the ISRO-NASA Mars Working Group. The work includes collaboration on Mars observations by India’s Mars Orbiter Mission and NASA’s MAVEN spacecraft.
Stunning survey reveals our mesmerizing Milky Way
Space.com (2/24): Chile’s Atacama Pathfinder EXperiment telescope (APEX) captures a stunning image of the Milky Way galaxy from an edge on perspective.
Will tiny satellites launch a new space frontier?
Christian Science Monitor (2/24): Upcoming launches should determine whether CubeSats and a wave of related small satellites are suited for deep space missions. Already a boon to low Earth orbit communications, CubeSats will soon get a chance to display their capabilities at asteroids, the moon and perhaps Mars.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
“Preliminary” opinion: RD-180 engine doesn’t violate U.S. sanctions
Space News (2/24): U.S. sanctions against Russia were not intended to prevent the import of Russian RD-180 rocket engines used in the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle to place national security payloads into orbit, according to Frank Kendall, the Pentagon’s acquisition chief, who referenced a preliminary U.S. Treasury Department ruling. A formal ruling is expected soon.
SpaceX wins 5 new Space Station cargo missions in NASA contract estimated at $700 million
Space News (2/24): NASA assigned new U.S. commercial cargo missions to the International Space Station to SpaceX in December. Five additional flights, which include the return of cargo to Earth as well as orbital deliveries, will be launched under the terms of a late 2008 contract award.