Microbes – bacteria and fungi – live everywhere, even the International Space Station. Scientists at NASA’s Johnson Space Center constantly monitor the station’s microbial community and now are testing using DNA sequencing to identify its tiny residents without returning samples to Earth – an important step to keep crews, and the places they visit, safe on future deep-space missions. Read more about space station microbiology: https://go.nasa.gov/2IbtgAL Learn more about the research being conducted on station: https://www.nasa.gov/iss-science
** T-60 Seconds with Jessica Meir
You’ve got to know a lot to earn a master’s degree in space science and a doctorate in marine biology, and that’s before you consider all you need to learn to become a NASA astronaut. As it turns out, little of that knowledge applied as astronaut Jessica Meir sat for a barrage of questions just before her launch to the International Space Station—take a look.
** SpaceCast Weekly Sept 20 2019
SpaceCast Weekly is a NASA Television broadcast from the Johnson Space Center in Houston featuring stories about NASA’s work in human spaceflight, including the International Space Station and its crews and scientific research activities, and the development of Orion and the Space Launch System, the next generation American spacecraft being built to take humans farther into space than they’ve ever gone before.
A sampling of links to recent space policy, politics, and government (US and international) related space news and resource items that I found of interest (find previous space policy roundups here):
** Want to do something big for space? Come to our Day of Action in D.C. – Planetary Society
** SETI Institute: Planetary Protection and the Origins of Life – “A discussion with Senior Astronomer Seth Shostak and Senior Researcher David Summers.”
** The Space Show – Mon, 09/16/2019 – Dr. Patricia Hynes “discussed the upcoming ISPCS Conference to be held in Las Cruces, NM from Oct. 9-10, 2019 with implications for commercial and exploratory space”.
The last flight of the New Shepard took place on May 2nd. Jeff Bezos and other Blue management have been indicating that the first flights with people on board would take place this year after a few more uncrewed test flights. So it would seem that they must soon begin flying again and at a much higher rate.
Virgin Galactic announced today that it has mated the fuselage and cabin of its next spaceship to the completed wing assembly. In addition, the two tail booms have been mated to the spaceship’s rear feather flap assembly. The completion of these two milestones brings assembly of the next SpaceShipTwo, planned to enter service after VSS Unity, a major step forward.
The next spaceship (right) being manufactured next to the VSS Unity on the left.
** A Chinese Long March 4B rocket launched last week with two remote sensing satellites and a CubeSat that will test a drag-sail for accelerated de-orbiting:
Perhaps the biggest hurdle to mankind’s expansion throughout the Solar System is the prohibitive cost of escaping Earth’s gravitational pull. In its many forms, the space-elevator provides a way to circumvent this cost, allowing payloads to traverse along a cable extending from Earth to orbit. However, modern materials are not strong enough to build a cable capable of supporting its own weight. In this work we present an alternative to the classic space elevator, within reach of modern technology: The Spaceline. By extending a line, anchored on the moon, to deep within Earth’s gravity well, we can construct a stable, traversable cable allowing free movement from the vicinity of Earth to the Moon’s surface. With current materials, it is feasible to build a cable extending to close to the height of geostationary orbit, allowing easy traversal and construction between the Earth and the Moon.
** Firefly begins firing tests of dual Reaver engines. The Alpha rocket will use 4 Reavers on the first stage.
You have to beware when walking around Texas at night – you might run into fire breathing Reavers! Big milestone for the whole Firefly team yesterday with the first Dual Reaver engine test. This slow motion video shows the two engine startup sequence. Getting the engines to start simultaneously is critical. Quad Reaver coming soon!
Images of the engines on the test stand:
The calm before the storm. We are stepping into the first multi-engine Reaver tests this week. Each Reaver engine generates over 41,000 lbf of thrust. We’re starting with two engines and the integration team already has the next two ready to fill out the Reaver Quad! pic.twitter.com/g2saL27mjc
Ahead of our in-flight abort test for @Commercial_Crew—which will demonstrate Crew Dragon’s ability to safely carry astronauts away from the rocket in the unlikely event of an emergency—our team has completed over 700 tests of the spacecraft’s SuperDraco engines pic.twitter.com/nswMPCK3F9
Speaking at 2019’s World Satellite Business Week, Raúl Kulichevsky – a director at the Comisión Nacional de Actividades Espaciales (CONAE), Argentina’s national space agency – confirmed that the country’s SAOCOM-1B Earth observation satellite making great progress towards that launch target.
*** Progress on the Starship orbital demonstrators appears to be accelerating at the Boca Chica Beach, Texas and Cocoa Beach, Florida facilities. Elon Musk is expected to give a presentation on the Starship program on Sept. 28th at Boca Chica. He has said in tweets that the first suborbital test flight could happen as early as October for the Texas vehicle. Here are some items highlighting activities at the two sites.
Texas – Starship Mk.1:
— Views of the Starship construction and launch site activities:
It takes a small village to raise a Mars rocket — or at least it does in South Texas, where SpaceX has built an experimental spaceport around a community of residents.
Now, according to interviews with residents and a proprietary offer letter obtained by Business Insider, SpaceX is trying to buy as much of Boca Chica Village as it can and move people out. But many of those who live in the hamlet, also known as Kopernik Shores, say they may not accept the company’s offer.
According to documents filed with local city and transportation authorities in recent months and cataloged by a few local news outlets and spaceflight fans, SpaceX is preparing to transport its East Coast Starship prototype – known as “Mk2” – as early as later this month.
Throughout August 2019, local resident, spaceflight fan, photographer, and cookie-baker Julia Bergeron did a significant amount of groundwork to flesh out an estimated route for Starship Mk2. Delivering the massive rocket prototype from Cocoa, Florida to SpaceX’s Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39A facilities would involve a 30+ mile trip by road, cost-prohibitive due to the amount of work required. Confirmed by documents unearthed by local ClickOrlando journalists, SpaceX will instead transport the rocket a few miles by road before loading it onto a barge and shipping the vehicle the rest of the way to KSC.
As of September 14th, SpaceX has officially broken ground on what will likely be the first orbital-class Starship and Super Heavy launch facilities, coming in the form of an addition to the company’s NASA-leased LC-39A pad at Kennedy Space Center.
Based on environmental assessment documents published in August 2019, the modifications SpaceX plans to make to Pad 39A are surprisingly minor and could arguably take just a handful of months from start to finish. Once complete, SpaceX will possess dedicated Starship launch facilities in both Florida and Texas, although there is a strong chance that Pad 39A will be ready to support orbital launch attempts well before SpaceX’s Boca Chica launch site is certified.
— A look at recent work on the propulsion section via www.USLaunchReport.com. Also includes views of the path along which the Starship will be moved.
— Aerial view below. Note the rings on the ground that will be used to build either another Starship or a Super Heavy Booster:
Located to the west of Nili Fossae at 24.5°N, 72.5°E, this image shows both layering and dunes within the old highlands of Mars. The site is not too far away from the landing site for the Mars 2020 rover, at Jezero Crater, and so may show some of the same characteristics that the rover could encounter. Credits: Lunar and Planetary Institute. Via Carnival of Space #628-629
2. Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2019; 7-8:30 pm PDT (9-10:30 pm CDT; 10-11:30 pm EDT): We welcome back both Kim Holder and John Jossy to discuss the recently held SSI Space Settlement Conference. Lots happened at this conference and Kim and John will tell us about it.
3. Wednesday, Sept. 18, 2019: Pre-recorded Hotel Mars Program with John Batchelor. See Upcoming Show on The Space Show website for details.
5. Sunday, Sept. 15, 2019; 12-1:30 pm PDT (3-4:30 pm EDT, 2-3:30 pm CDT): We welcome back Wayne White, noted space attorney regarding property rights and other commercial space legal issues.
, plus much more.