Today’s Deep Space Extra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. A series of deep space missions that include an orbital visit to Mars ahead of a landing may hold technical and financial merit, write two U.S. space policy vets. Aerojet Rocketdyne advances Orion crew exploration capsule safety systems. NASA managers review the status of ground systems for the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket and Orion. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden talks budget, commercial crew and deep space hardware development priorities. China has a place in future global deep space exploration plans, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden tells the International Aeronautical Congress in Jerusalem. Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin urges the human exploration of Mars during IAC appearance. NASA’s John Honeycutt moves to Space Launch System program manager. The Google Lunar X-Prize receives a 2017 reprieve. Message the extraterrestrials, advises noted U.S. astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center embraces the growing popularity of CubeSats and other small satellite missions. Russian Yuri Gagarin faced recently detailed risks to become the first human in space on April 12, 1961, writes space historian. United Launch Alliance identifies launch pads for future Vulcan launch vehicle.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Humans orbiting Mars
Space News (10/12): A NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory strategy that would take human explorers to Mars orbit in 2033 and a return to the moon in 2035 ahead of a Mars landing in 2039 could be the best means of addressing the technical, human and cost issues of extending human exploration into deep space, write Scott Hubbard, Stanford University aeronautics professor, and John Logsdon, founder of the George Washington University Space Policy Institute, in an op-ed.
Astronauts practice Orion crew recovery as Aerojet completes major subsystems review for EM-1 spacecraft
America Space.com (10/12): Aerojet Rocketdyne reaches a key Critical Design Review milestone in the development of the Launch Abort System and Reaction Control System for NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle. Both systems are important Orion crew safety features. At the same time, NASA’s astronauts are evaluating procedures for leaving the capsule after an ocean splashdown.
NASA’s ground systems program begins Critical Design Review for SLS/Orion launch
Colorado Space News (10/12): At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, managers and experts from across the space agency gathered last week to begin the important Critical Design Review for the ground systems involved in the launches of the Space Launch System exploration rocket. The SLS is designed to start the Orion crew capsule on future missions of human deep space exploration. “Seeing the Space Launch System and Orion roll out from the Vehicle Assembly Building is going to be quite a sight, and I’m really looking forward to it,” said Mike Bolger, NASA’s Ground Systems Development and Operations program manager. The SLS and Orion are working towards their first joint space test flight in late 2018.
Q&A with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden
Space News (10/12): Bolden addresses critical funding needs for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program in the just started 2016 fiscal year. Sufficient budget resources are crucial if the agency is to meet its objective of initiating crewed Boeing and SpaceX missions to the International Space Station by 2017. In the same interview, Bolden says his agency is working to add detail to its human journey to Mars planning, details that should surface in 2017 budget presentations early next year. “We will have a pretty coherent, thorough story to be told,” he tells interviewer Jeff Foust.
NASA chief says ban on Chinese partnerships is temporary
Reuters (10/12): NASA Administrator Charles Bolden predicts that eventually China will be among those who partner with the United States as it pursues new missions of human deep space exploration. U.S. and Chinese cooperation in space is currently banned by U.S. law. Working with China will become necessary, Bolden tells the International Aeronautical Congress as the IAC opens a four day session in Jerusalem.
Second man on the moon visits Jerusalem
Jerusalem Post (10/12): Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin spoke before the International Aeronautical Congress in Jerusalem on Monday to discuss his time in space and vision for the future. Now, 85, Aldrin joked about the first human lunar landing 46 years ago. Mars should be humanity’s destination in the future, said Aldrin.
NASA names John Honeycutt new SLS Program Manager
Spaceflight Insider (10/12): NASA’s John Honeycutt will replace Todd May as manager of the agency’s Space Launch System exploration rocket development. “NASA has benefited from John’s management and leadership skills in a number of programs at Marshall over the years,” said Patrick Scheuermann, director of NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center, where the SLS program is headquartered.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Still chasing the Moon
The Space Review (10/12): The $20 million Google X-Prize received a welcome revival last week as Space IL, of Israel, signed a launch services contract to launch a private mission to the lunar surface in the second six months of 2017. The signing verified Google X-Prize hopes of stirring lunar commercial development. When the prize was first unveiled in 2007, the sponsors envisioned a winner by 2014, possibly sooner. The winner, if there is one, must land a rover that can travel for 500 meters on the moon’s surface and be capable of transmitting video and other data back to Earth.
Should we be trying to contact aliens?
CBS News (10/12): Humanity should attempt to communicate with possible extraterrestrial civilizations, according to astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium at the American Museum of Natural History.
Low Earth Orbit
KSC helps launch small satellites
Florida Today (10/12): NASA’s Kennedy Space Center responds to growing interest in a new class of small satellites. With their popularity growing among academic institutions as well as scientists and engineers, these low mass, low volume spacecraft hitch rides on rockets launching larger satellites and will soon launch in clusters on rockets of their own.
Declassified documents offer a new perspective on Yuri Gagarin’s flight
The Space Review (10/12): Newly released documents examined by Asif Siddiqi, California Institute of Technology professor and space historian, shed a new light on the risks faced by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin as he launched on the first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. “The many problems that Gagarin faced on his mission were not necessarily due to poor design or bad engineering, I would argue, but instead a combination of haste and poor workmanship on the factory floor,” he writes.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
ULA selects launch pads for new Vulcan rocket
Spaceflightnow.com (10/12): United Launch Alliance’s current Atlas 5 launch pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., will transition for use by ULA’s planned Vulcan launch vehicle replacement. Moderate modifications will be necessary. The initial Vulcan launch is planned for 2019.