In Today’s Deep Space Extra… The U.S. led International Space Station, staffed continuously since late 2000, might thrive as a commercial endeavor while serving as a financial resource for human deep space exploration, according to an op-ed.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Sell the space station, explore Mars: Column
USA Today (9/13): Policymakers should consider the sale or leasing of the International Space Station as its current 2024 end of operations date draws near, according to an op-ed from writer and computer analyst Mark Whittington. The funds from private sector operators could help NASA transition its human space flight efforts to deep space exploration, he writes. The obstacles include a steep price tag and limited remaining operational life and possible interference with commercial space station planning already underway.
Space Science
Visions of Life on Mars in Earth’s Depths
New York Times (9/12): A South African gold mine is joining excavations in South Dakota and the ocean bottom in furnishing biologists with hints at what the search for life might be like on Mars. Their findings are merging with discoveries from robotic probes on Mars that suggest the red planet once hosted environments suitable for microbial life.
Stunning New Images of Mars from the Curiosity Rover
Universe Today (9/12): NASA’s Curiosity rover, on Mars exploring Gale Crater since August 2012, has transmitted images of the layered rock formation at Murray Buttes. The formation seems to resemble those of the U.S. Southwest. Some of the lower rock layers may have been deposited as sediments more than three billions years ago, when Mars was warmer and wetter. Curiosity is now moving on from Murray Buttes.
The moon may have formed after a vaporizing crash involving Earth 4.5 billion years ago
Mashable (9/13): Comparisons of potassium isotopes found in moon rocks gathered by the Apollo astronauts and from the Earth’s mantle suggest the moon was formed from an intense vaporizing collision between the Earth and a second planetary object. The findings were published Monday in the journal Nature and relied on new analysis techniques.
Rosetta’s grand finale probing Comet 67P’s pits
Cosmos (9/12): The European Space Agency’s Rosetta mission spacecraft rendezvoused with the comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko in August 2014 and deployed a lander, Philae, the following November. At the end of this month, the Rosetta spacecraft is to descend to the comet’s surface as well to end a ground breaking mission.
An interview with Jean-Yves Le Gall, president of CNES
The Space Review (9/12): Comfort with change and a focus on space science are keys to succeeding in modern day aeronautics, whether its developing the next launch vehicle or assessing the European Space Agency’s proposed Moon Village, according to Jean-Yves Le Gall, head of the French Space Agency, CNES, and the soon-to-be president of the International Astronautical Federation, in an interview with Théo Pirard, director of Belgium’s Space Information Center.
Low Earth Orbit
Astronaut Scott Kelly’s year in space to be developed as movie
Collectspace.com (9/13): Sony Pictures announced Monday that it has secured the film rights for retired NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s memoir, “Endurance: My Year in Space and Our Journey to Mars,” chronicling his 340 day mission to the International Space Station, the U.S. record for a single spaceflight. Kelly returned on Mar. 1. The book version, published by Knopf, is due out in November 2017.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Jeff Bezos unveils details of new Blue Origin rocket
CBS News (9/21): Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket, named in tribute to the first American to orbit the Earth, Mercury astronaut John Glenn, will feature two and three stage versions powered by natural gas and liquid oxygen fueled rocket engines, the BE-4. Both version are intended to boost humans as well as payloads on orbital missions. Both feature a reusable first stage. A three stage version, with a liquid hydrogen/oxygen upper stage, could take astronauts and payloads beyond Earth orbit. New Glenn is a “very important step” on the road to enabling “millions of people living and working in space,” said Bezos in an explanatory e-mail sent to followers on Monday.
Why Bezos’ rocket is unprecedented and worth taking seriously
Ars Technica (9/12): Blue Origin’s proposed New Glenn rocket for orbital missions could be launching in three to four years. The self funded initiative is fueled in part by the company’s pioneering work with the reusable first stage of the New Shepard, an emerging suborbital launch vehicle for paying passengers as well as payloads. New Glenn, in turn, could pave the way for a New Armstrong launch vehicle for missions beyond Earth orbit, according to the report. New Glenn is a tribute to NASA Mercury astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, New Shepard for Mercury astronaut Al Shepard, the first American in space; and New Armstrong, for NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong, the first human to step to the lunar surface.
The Space Review (9/12): The successful launch last week of NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission could not help but illustrate the great effort and drama that underpin the nation’s commercial launch services industry, writes TSR editor Jeff Foust. As United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 lifted off successfully from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Launch Complex 41 with its NASA payload on a $1 billion, seven year mission, the heavily damaged LC 40 loomed in the background. Just seven days earlier, SpaceX’s latest Falcon 9 rocket erupted as it was prepared for a pre-launch static fire test. The cause remains under investigation.