In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA stands ready to receive President-elect Trump’s transition team but it may be awhile due to changes in the transition team’s leadership.
Human Deep Space Exploration
No transition team for NASA “at this time”
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/16): President-elect Donald Trump’s transition team has yet to dispatch representatives to NASA. A post-election change in leadership of Trump’s transition team from New Jersey Gov. Chris Christy to Vice President Mike Pence may explain the measured pace. Robert Walker, the former Congressman who advised the Trump campaign and outlined some pre-election space priorities for the new administration ahead of balloting, may also lose some influence because of his Washington lobbyist career after serving in Congress. Robert Lightfoot, NASA’s associate administrator, has informed agency employees the organization will not be receiving a review team “at this time,” but stands ready to provide support “at a later date.”
Russia, U.S. discuss plans for two international stations on moon’s orbit
TASS of Russia (11/17): The U.S. and Russia have discussed the possibility of establishing two lunar-orbiting habitats for astronauts and cosmonauts, according to Sergey Krikalev, the executive director of Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency. Both four-person habitats would orbit in elliptical orbits, with one of the trajectories favorable for sending explorers to the lunar surface and the other for sending them further into deep space. International cooperation is crucial to the endeavor, according to Krikalev.
Hanks, Springsteen among Obama’s last Medal of Freedom recipients
New York Times (11/16): NASA moon landing computer scientist Margaret H. Hamilton is among a lineup of better-known celebrity entertainers and sports figures who are to receive the 2016 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, from President Obama on November 22. The 21 recipients include NBA stars Michael Jordan and Kareem Abdul Jabar and actors Tom Hanks and Robert Redford.
SpaceCom participants serious about journey to Mars
Houston Chronicle (11/16): The three day Space Commerce Conference and Exposition concludes in Houston on Thursday. The conference has displayed growing enthusiasm for efforts made by NASA to achieve the first human mission to Mars in the mid-2030s, but also for the possibility of a journey to the nearest star system by the end of this century.
Stephen Hawking: Humanity will be wiped out in 1,000 years
Seeker (11/16): British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking cautioned humanity that it must expand beyond the Earth if it is to survive. Hawking, a recognized advocate of interstellar travel, spoke earlier this week at Oxford University. “Although the chance of a disaster to planet Earth in a given year may be quite low, it adds up over time, and becomes a near certainty in the next thousand or ten thousand years,” Hawking said during a January speech.
Space Science
Pluto’s heart holds key to ocean beneath icy surface
USA Today (11/16): Revealed as never before by NASA’s ground breaking New Horizons mission, distant Pluto sports a heart shaped feature on its terrain that in part hints at the presence of an ancient and significant impact forceful enough to cause the dwarf planet to roll over. Scientists believe the behavior indicates Pluto hosts an ocean, perhaps 60 miles deep. The impact region sports the name Sputnik Planitia.
Space scientists rally support for 2020 asteroid-deflection mission
Space.com (11/15): Scientists in Europe this week urged support for the Asteroid Impact and Deflection Assessment mission, a joint NASA/European Space Agency mission that would launch in 2020 and demonstrate a robotic strategy to slam an asteroid as though it were being deflected to avoid an impact with the Earth. The letter of support emerged prior to a meeting of representatives from ESA’s member states, who must decide whether to pursue the experiment.
Universe Today (11/16): To many the idea of humans mining the moon for water and other natural resources may seem new. It may be recent for an emerging commercial space industry, but visionaries, the U.S. military and civil space experts have discussed the idea for years.
What does outer space sound like? Hear NASA’s satellite symphony at the Huntington
Los Angeles Times (11/16): In Los Angeles, NASA’s Orbit Pavilion offers an opportunity to personally connect with the International Space Station and the satellites that orbit the Earth through signature sounds. Those sounds include thunder and the croaking of a frog. “We wanted to give the satellites a voice, so that when they pass overhead, basically, they could reach out and say hi to us,” said David Delgado, one of the developers.
Low Earth Orbit
Soyuz prepped to carry three to Space Station
CBS News (11/16): Russia’s Soyuz MS-03 is scheduled to lift-off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Friday at 3:20 p.m. EST, with a three-person U.S., European and Russian crew bound for the International Space Station. The two day flight marks the crucial third test flight for Russia’s much upgraded MS Soyuz spacecraft series. The previous flights went well. A docking on Saturday will restore the Space Station to six-person operations for the first time since late October.
Astronaut to become oldest woman to travel in space
Washington Post (11/16): Russia’s Soyuz MS-03 is poised for a lift-off from Kazakhstan on Friday at 3:20 p.m. EST, with NASA’s Peggy Whitson, European astronaut Thomas Pesquet and cosmonaut Oleg Novitsky. They are to reach the International Space Station on Saturday joining three U.S. and Russian crew members. With her departure, Whitson, a NASA veteran, becomes the oldest female space traveler at 56.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
SpaceX details plans for a constellation of broadband satellites
Los Angeles Times (11/16): SpaceX is seeking FAA approval to place more than 4,000 satellites in orbit to eventually establish a new global network for broadband communications. The spacecraft, developed in Seattle, will be launched into a range of altitudes and orbital planes. Initial broadband coverage will extend across the U.S. and its protectorates. The time span for the launches was not announced.