In Today’s Deep Space Extra… In a new piece, the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration’s CEO Frank Slazer shares his thoughts on how human space exploration can help advance many of the administration’s goals, ahead of the National Space Council meeting this week. International Space Station spacewalk delayed due to orbital debris concerns.
Human Space Exploration
NASA calls off spacewalk due to possible risk from space debris
CBS News (11/30): NASA has delayed plans for the start of a planned six to seven hour spacewalk early Tuesday due to an orbital debris notification received prior to the start. “Due to the lack of opportunity to properly assess the risk it could pose to the astronauts, teams have decided to delay the November 30 spacewalk until more information is available,” NASA advised in an International Space Station (ISS) blog post. Astronauts Tom Marshburn and Kayla Barron were prepared to replace an external S-band communications antenna that failed a check out in mid-September. The ISS is equipped with a second S-band antenna and Ku-communications systems. “The ISS schedule and operations are able to easily accommodate the delay of the spacewalk,” NASA stated.
Space Science
This bizarre hell planet might be the most brutal ever discovered
Futurism.com (11/29): NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has provided astronomers with the opportunity to discover TOI-2109b, a planet that is an ultra-hot Jupiter. The planet is so close to its star that it orbits every 16 hours. And the environment is so hot that molecules rip apart in the heat, then recombine in the brief periods of darkness. Scientists from MIT led an assessment of the discovery which was published in The Astrophysical Journal.
Opinion
How America wins the future
Coalition president and CEO Frank Slazer in the News
The Space Review (11/29): On Wednesday, Vice President Kamala Harris will convene the first meeting of the National Space Council under the jurisdiction of the Biden administration. “By championing a more robust space exploration effort before the National Space Council, Vice President Harris can help unify our country and signal to the rest of the world that the U.S. will continue to be first among equals in the years to come,” writes Frank Slazer, president and CEO of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration, in an op-ed. Slazer says that exploration, especially through programs such as NASA’s Artemis initiative, can help advance many of this administration’s objectives here on Earth.
Other News
DARPA to launch DoD’s first in-space manufacturing research program
SpaceNews.com (11/29): B-SURE is a new initiative led by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, that will assess opportunities to biomanufacture in the very low gravitational environment of space. Biomanufacturing is an emerging sector of the biotechnology industry focused on making products using living systems such as microorganisms, animal cells or plant cells. DARPA is seeking project proposals by January 25.
Space Force official: Satellites in orbit have become pawns in geopolitical chess games
SpaceNews.com (11/29): China’s recent demonstration of an orbital hypersonic weapon and Russia blowing up a satellite in orbit are expected countermoves after having watched the U.S. display its military power for decades, much of it enabled by satellites in space, said Space Force deputy chief of operations Lt. Gen. B. Chance Saltzman. What is happening in space is a “natural consequence” of how military powers historically behave as they try to gain a leg up on adversaries, Saltzman said November 29 during a Mitchell Institute online event.
Chinese space firms present big ambitions at commercial space forum
SpaceNews.com (11/26): Players in China’s emerging commercial space sector recently outlined big plans for the coming years at a space forum hosted in Wuhan, central China. The seventh China Commercial Aerospace Forum (CCAF), held on November 25-26, saw state-owned defense and space giant China Aerospace Science and Industry Corp., (CASIC), and a variety of private and state-owned companies present updates and plans for the future.
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