May 3, 2021

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter to Begin New Demonstration Phase (Source: NASA)
NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter has a new mission. Having proven that powered, controlled flight is possible on the Red Planet, the Ingenuity experiment will soon embark on a new operations demonstration phase, exploring how aerial scouting and other functions could benefit future exploration of Mars and other worlds. This new phase will begin after the helicopter completes its next two flights.

The decision to add an operations demonstration is a result of the Perseverance rover being ahead of schedule with the thorough checkout of all vehicle systems since its Feb 18 landing, and its science team choosing a nearby patch of crater bed for its first detailed explorations. With the Mars Helicopter’s energy, telecommunications, and in-flight navigation systems performing beyond expectation, an opportunity arose to allow the helicopter to continue exploring its capabilities with an operations demonstration, without significantly impacting rover scheduling.

The cadence of flights during Ingenuity’s operations demonstration phase will slow from once every few days to about once every two or three weeks, and the forays will be scheduled to avoid interfering with Perseverance’s science operations. The team will assess flight operations after 30 sols and will complete flight operations no later than the end of August. That timing will allow the rover team time to wrap up its planned science activities and prepare for solar conjunction. (4/30)

NASA Gauges Industry Interest for Long-Term Moon Landing Services (Source: NASA)
NASA is taking steps to establish a regular cadence of crewed missions to the surface of the Moon as part of the Artemis program. The agency recently made a selection for a crewed demonstration to land the next American astronauts on the lunar surface, and is now looking to industry again, this time for long-term lunar landing services for crews beginning in the late 2020s.

In a Request for Information issued April 28, NASA asked U.S. companies to indicate their interest in providing Artemis astronaut transit services from lunar orbit to the surface of the Moon. In particular, the agency is seeking input on factors that would motivate them to bid on a future Lunar Exploration Transportation Services (LETS) contract. NASA will use LETS to buy routine astronaut transportation services throughout the Artemis program. (4/29)

NASA Asks University Teams for Moon, Mars Mission Design Ideas (Source: NASA)
NASA, in collaboration with the National Space Grant Foundation, is seeking university teams to develop innovative design ideas that could assist in the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration objectives.

The 2022 Moon to Mars eXploration Systems and Habitation (M2M X-Hab) Academic Innovation Challenge is an opportunity for NASA to build strategic partnerships and tap into the ingenuity of rising Artemis Generation space explorers. This challenge provides university students interested in aerospace careers hands-on design, research, and development experience, while strengthening NASA’s efforts to develop technologies and capabilities for enable future human missions to the Moon, Mars, and beyond.

NASA’s Advanced Exploration Systems division is offering multiple competitively selected awards, ranging from $15,000 to $50,000, for the development of studies, functional products, and solutions related the NASA’s Moon to Mars space exploration missions. Proposals are due May 23, 2021. Click here. (5/2)

China’s Space Station Launch Might Cost Lives on the Ground (Source: BGR)
China has no way of controlling its rocket stage that is now orbiting Earth and slowly falling back toward the surface. The core stage of the Long March 5B that sent the “Heavenly Harmony” space station module into orbit is now tumbling around our planet. The uncontrolled rocket component is absolutely huge and it won’t be long before the pull of gravity becomes too much and it falls through the atmosphere back toward us. Where will the pieces land? Nobody has any idea. (5/1)