In Today’s Deep Space Extra… Challenges in the development of a new generation of spacesuits will delay plans to return humans to the Moon by 2024, according to an audit from NASA’s Inspector General. Northrop Grumman’s latest cargo mission is on its way to the International Space Station with crew supplies and new research.
Human Space Exploration
Lunar spacesuits won’t be ready in time for 2024 landing
SpaceNews.com (8/10): The spacesuits that NASA astronauts will need for walking on the lunar surface, the Exploration Extravehicular Mobility Unit (xEMU), will not be ready until 2025, according to a NASA Office of Inspector General (OIG) report released yesterday. The report indicated several factors for the delay, such as technical issues, funding shortfalls and impacts of the pandemic. The OIG report also raised concerns about the procurement strategy for the suit. NASA previously planned a “hybrid contract approach” where it would have a single prime contractor for integration of the suit and multiple contracts for development and sustainment. However, it announced earlier this year it would follow a commercial services approach, paying to use suits developed by companies that will be encouraged but not required to use technologies developed for the xEMU.
Space Science
Perseid meteor shower 2021 webcasts: How to watch the ‘shooting stars’ at their peak live tonight
Space.com (8/11): The Perseids happen each year in August and are expected to reach their peak this year between the 11 and the 13 (Wednesday to Friday), with the best viewing hours between midnight and dawn on Thursday (August 12), according to NASA. That means the peak is overnight tonight.
Other News
Antares rocket launches heaviest Cygnus cargo ship ever to Space Station for NASA
Coalition Member in the News – Northrop Grumman
Space.com (8/10): Northrop Grumman’s 16th resupply mission to the International Space Station (ISS) launched from NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility on Tuesday at 6:01 p.m. EDT. The freighter and its 8,200-pound cargo of crew supplies, science experiments and technology demonstrations are scheduled to rendezvous with the orbiting lab early Thursday, when it is to be grappled at 6:10 a.m. EDT, for berthing using the ISS’s Canadian robotic arm. Live coverage begins at 4:45 a.m. EDT and will be streamed at www.nasa.gov/nasalive.
Pizza, cheese smorgasbord in latest shipment to Space Station
The Hill (8/10): A pizza kit and a cheese smorgasbord were among the supplies included in the Cygnus spacecraft’s 8,200-pound shipment launched Tuesday to be delivered to the International Space Station (ISS). The shipment also includes a mounting bracket for solar wings that are scheduled to launch to the orbiting lab next year, as well as material simulating Moon dust and dirt that the astronauts will use to create objects from the ISS’s 3-D printer.
Lockheed Martin takes aim at satellite servicing market
Coalition Members in the News – Lockheed Martin, VACCO Industries
SpaceNews.com (8/10): Late this year, Lockheed Martin plans to launch two cubesats to demonstrate how properly equipped small satellites might be able to extend the lives of larger satellites in geosynchronous orbit, including refueling them. Plans for the launch of the Lockheed Martin In-space Upgrade Satellite System, or LINUSS, as early as this fall, were announced on Tuesday. Other companies participating in the demonstration include Innoflight for satellite avionics and VACCO Industries for propulsion.
JPL director to step down
SpaceNews.com (8/10): NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) announced this week that Michael Watkins was resigning as director. He is taking a position as professor of aerospace and geophysics at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), the university that operates JPL for NASA. Watkins didn’t give a reason for leaving other than to take the Caltech professorship. Larry James, a retired Air Force three-star general who has been deputy director of JPL since 2013, will serve as acting director.
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