In Today’s Deep Space Extra… NASA on track for uncrewed and first piloted Space Launch System/Orion test flights in 2018 and 2021.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA managers: SLS/Orion on track for Fall 2018 launch
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/10): Managers for three key projects involved in NASA’s Journey to Mars say the agency is on track to launch Exploration Mission-1 in November 2018. EM-1 is the initial three week test flight of Orion and the Space Launch System exploration rocket, which will send an uncrewed capsule around the moon and back to Earth for an ocean splashdown and recovery. EM-2, the first test flight of the SLS and Orion with a crew of astronauts, would follow the same course in 2021. NASA managers for the SLS, Orion and ground systems development at the Kennedy Space Center provided an update Tuesday on Capitol Hill.
Orbital ATK completes QM-2 installation ahead of critical test
Spaceflight Insider (5/11): Orbital ATK and NASA have completed the installation of qualification motor-2, a five segment solid rocket motor in a Promontory, Utah test stand. Part of NASA’s Space Launch System exploration rocket, QM-2 is scheduled to undergo a low temperature static ground test firing on June 28. A similar rocket motor was test fired under higher temperature conditions for the first time last spring.
NASA Chief: STEM interest needed to reach Mars
U.S. News & World Report (5/9): NASA’s ambitions of exploring Mars with humans depend on elementary level students embracing the STEM subjects, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden informed an audience hosted by the Brookings Institution in Washington.
Space Science
NASA spots 1,284 new planets, including 9 that are ‘potentially habitable’
National Public Radio (5/10): Turning to early observations with NASA’s Kepler Space Telescope, scientists said Tuesday they have discovered 1,284 new extra solar planets. The bounty includes nine more Earth-like worlds that orbit within the habitable zones of their host stars.
ESA chief says funding for delayed ExoMars rover mission remains uncertain
Space News (5/10): The European and Russian space agencies recently announced a two year delay, from 2018 to 2020, in the launch of the second phase of Exo Mars, a multi-year initiative to place a life seeking rover on the surface of the red planet. Equipment delays in the multi-year project are to blame. European Space Agency Director-General Johann-Dietrich Woerner said this week that he would not sign a “blank check” to keep the ambitious mission alive.
Atomic oxygen detected on Mars
Discovery.com (5/9): NASA’s SOFIA flying space observatory has detected atomic oxygen in the Martian upper atmosphere. The single atom version of oxygen could have a significant impact on atmospheric processes.
Hillary Clinton gives UFO buffs hope she will open the X-files
New York Times (5/10): The U.S. presidential candidate promises to erase the mystery surrounding decades of UFO speculation. If elected, Clinton promises to disclose information as long as U.S. national security is not jeopardized.
Low Earth Orbit
Mystery mission: Air Force’s X-37B space plane nears 1 year in orbit
Space.com (5/10): The USAF’s fourth secretive X-37B uncrewed, winged reusable spacecraft mission is nearing one year in orbit. Launched on May 20, 2015, the shuttle like craft’s payloads are classified.
Suborbital
Jeff Bezos-backed Blue Origin rocket comes in for a landing in new POV video
Yahoo.com (5/10): Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos offers new video of the company’s New Shepard launch vehicle as it descends to Earth in West Texas for a vertical landing after reaching suborbital altitudes.
MDC explores possibility of vertical-launch rocket facility
Midland Reporter-Telegram, of Texas (5/10): Working with an experienced aerospace consultant, The Midland Development Corp. plans to add vertical launch facilities to the West Texas community’s space port offerings. Midland is home to XCOR, which is currently developing a reusable suborbital space plane.