October 7, 2017

The Mission to Mars is One Stupid Leap for Mankind (Source: Washington Post)
Juvenal, that biting pundit of the Roman Empire, complained of weak leaders distracting the people with “panem et circenses” — bread and circuses. In our day, it’s moon bases and missions to Mars. Europe is splintering. North Korea has gone full “Dr. Strangelove.” Disaster in Puerto Rico. Massacre in Las Vegas. Crickets chirping on Capitol Hill, where Republican promises go to die.

Though Pence’s commission is unlikely to tell you, there are very good reasons Americans, and other humans, abruptly stopped going deep into space. It’s deadly. It’s unnecessary. And to borrow from Gertrude Stein, there’s no there there.

Doubtless, Americans could return to the moon, and even stay there for a while. It would cost vast sums, but we have good credit and high tolerance for debt. The question is why. The moon is still the same dead, dusty desert we left in 1972. Ice-covered Antarctica and the Sarahan sands are both far more hospitable to human life than the moon. (10/7)

Trump's NASA Pivot - Moon Now a Destination, Not Just a Pit Stop on the Way to Mars (Source: The Atlantic)
Rumors that the Trump administration was more interested in the moon than Mars began circulating days after the inauguration. Leaked memos published in February revealed the president’s advisers wanted NASA to send astronauts there by 2020, one part in a bigger plan to focus on activities near Earth rather than missions deeper in the solar system. Vice President Mike Pence spoke vaguely of a return to the moon in a speech in July.

In September, the administration nominated a NASA chief who extolled the construction of lunar outposts. All signs pointed to a significant shift in the country’s Mars-focused space agenda of the last seven years. This week, the Trump administration made it official. “We will return NASA astronauts to the moon—not only to leave behind footprints and flags, but to build the foundation we need to send Americans to Mars and beyond,” Pence said. (10/6)

Florida Scientists Urge Senate to Oppose Donald Trump’s NASA Pick (Source: Florida Politics)
Marco Rubio and Bill Nelson have already lobbed objections to Jim Bridenstine, President Donald Trump‘s pick to head NASA. Now, more than 30 Florida scientists signed a letter to the state’s U.S. senators, urging them to outright reject Bridenstine when he comes up for confirmation. Among the criticisms that scientists around the nation have voiced about Bridenstine is that he has said that he doesn’t believe humans are causing climate change. (10/6)

New Mexicans Consider Including Spaceport in Plan to Lure Amazon Headquarters (Source:  KOB-TV)
While the state grapples with the question of whether to throw more money at the Spaceport, ordinary citizens in southern New Mexico believe they have an out-of-this-world idea that could revive the struggling space travel hub.  And it involves luring another, already-booming company to the Land of Enchantment.

“We recently had this light bulb go off saying let’s work with Amazon and Mr. [Jeff] Bezos, who runs Amazon, and talk about the Spaceport as an enticement to bring him here to take over the Spaceport payments. Because it’s very costly for the taxpayers of New Mexico,” said Sophia Peron of Truth or Consequences. (10/7)

World View Balloon Flight From Tucson Successful After Five Days (Source: Arizona Daily Star)
Tucson-based World View Enterprises says its first stratospheric balloon mission from Tucson ended successfully Friday, with a controlled landing near the Grand Canyon. The five-day flight was the longest yet and met all customer requirements and technical objectives after launching Oct. 1 from Spaceport Tucson, south of Tucson International Airport, the company said.

Among other things, the company’s remotely controlled, unmanned “Stratollite” carried a communications payload for the U.S. Southern Command, a multi-branch military agency that is exploring the use of the balloon vehicle to help combat human and drug trafficking and maritime piracy, World View said. (10/6)

Vanguard-1, the First US Scientific Satellite, is Still in Orbit (Source: BBC)
Object 1958-002B, also known as Vanguard 1, was l launched in March 1958. This grapefruit-sized shiny metal sphere was boosted into a high elliptical orbit and it’s still there, passing between 650 and 3,800km (406 to 2,375 miles) from the Earth. “The earlier satellites, such as Sputnik, have all re-entered the atmosphere,” says Tim Flohrer. “But I estimate that Vanguard 1 will remain in orbit for several hundred, if not a thousand years.” (10/6)

SecAF Wilson Touts ‘Offensive’ Space Weapons; McMaster Details ‘Framework’ (Source: Breaking Defense)
Yesterday was what we’ll call Space Day for the Trump Administration, with perhaps the most national attention ever paid to military and intelligence space in public by the senior officials of a White House and the military. Here’s a summary of the news from the meeting of the reborn Space Council and a later speech by Air Force Secretary Heather Wilson. (10/6)

Air Force Seeks Next-Gen Launch Vehicles for Space Missions (Source: DOD Buzz)
The Air Force has released a request for proposal for its next iteration of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, known as EELV, to be used on space lift such as the Atlas V, Delta IV, and Falcon 9 rocket systems. The service said Thursday it plans to award “at least three agreements” for prototype development as part of its Launch Services Agreement strategy.

The news comes amid the Air Force’s attempt to move away from its use of Russian-made RD-180 engines. Through public-private partnership with industry, the “goal of the EELV acquisition strategy is to leverage commercial launch solutions in order to have at least two domestic, commercial launch service providers that also meet [National Security Space] requirements,” the RFP states. The awards will be announced no later than 2020 in time for launches in 2022, the RFP added. (10/6)

Technical Issue Causes Third Scrub of ULA Atlas NROL-52 Mission (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Just when it looked like the angry gods of weather had acquiesced, an issue with a telemetry transmitter on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V 421 rocket caused a third delay. The rocket and its payload, a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office, will be rolled back to the Vertical Integration Facility at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41.  (10/7)

Scott Kelly on the Devastating Effects of a Year in Space (Source: The Age)
NASA astronaut Scott Kelly spent a year in space. His recollections of this unprecedented test of human endurance, and the physical toll it took, raise questions about the likelihood of future travel to Mars. "Every part of my body hurts. All my joints and all of my muscles are protesting the crushing pressure of gravity. I'm also nauseated, though I haven't thrown up..." Click here. (10/7)

Roscosmos Envisions Russian Rockets Launching International Missions to Moon, Mars (Source: SpaceFlight Insider)
Russia has high expectations for its future super-heavy-lift launch vehicle. Roscosmos chief Igor Komarov has recently laid out his hopes for the new rocket, underlining that he is longing to see interplanetary missions being launched by this heavy booster. “I would like to see the liftoff of a future international space mission to the Moon or Mars from Vostochny on a Russian super heavy-duty launch vehicle,” Komarov said.

Komarov’s vision could come true around 2030 as the super-heavy-lift rocket named Energiya-5 is still in its preliminary development phase. Roscosmos estimates that development of the rocket and construction of the necessary infrastructure will consume about 1.5 trillion rubles ($25 billion). This level of funding should secure the launch date of Energiya-5’s maiden flight that is currently set for 2028. (10/7)

New NASA Study Shows Moon Once Had an Atmosphere (Source: USRA)
A new study shows that an atmosphere was produced around the ancient Moon, 3 to 4 billion years ago when intense volcanic eruptions spewed gases above the surface faster than they could escape to space. “The total amount of H2O released during the emplacement of the mare basalts is nearly twice the volume of water in Lake Tahoe. Although much of this vapor would have been lost to space, a significant fraction may have made its way to the lunar poles. This means some of the lunar polar volatiles we see at the lunar poles may have originated inside the Moon.” (10/5)

Understanding the Threat Posed by Hypersonic Weapons (Source: The Diplomat)
A new RAND study has detailed the threat posed by the development and diffusion of hypersonic weapons, and has proposed a solution: multilateral arms control. The report, authored by Richard Speier, George Nacouzi, Carrie A. Lee, and Richard M. Moore, sets out the technical challenges and implications provided by hypersonics, and from these develops strategic implications regarding the most appropriate international response.

Hypersonics pose a threat to states that rely upon a robust, integrated defense against ballistic missiles. Against states without these defenses, they pose a threat no more significant than that of conventional cruise or ballistic missiles. Given that with the current capabilities of fielded missile defense systems, no state enjoys a robust, integrated defense against ballistic missiles, the threat posed by hypersonics is necessarily future oriented. Essentially, hypersonics restore the threat that anti-ballistic missile systems were intended to alleviate. (10/6)