Space Budgets, Policy, Missions, Benefits, International Updates

Lunar Space Station:  This is NASA’s plan for humanity’s return to the moon, and beyond  A lunar-orbiting space station, positioned in the 2020s, figures prominently in NASA’s strategy to reach the Martian environs with human explorers in the 2030s.

Asteroid Mission:  Smith, Babin question NASA assertion that scientists now support ARM  Chairs of the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee and its Space Subcommittee have asked NASA for documentation to back-up recent claims of new science community support for the agency’s proposed two-phase Asteroid Redirect Mission. Previously unpopular among some quarters of the space community and House appropriators, the nearly $2 billion initial phase would robotically gather a boulder from an asteroid and move the boulder into lunar orbit, where it could be visited by NASA astronauts launched aboard a Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule.

Space Mining:  Extraterrestrial gold rush: What’s next for the space mining industry?  Space resources, water and perhaps precious metals locked in the soil of the moon and near Earth asteroids could provide the financial lure that draws the Earth’s commercial sector into space. Experts in terrestrial mining believe there may be important analogs to mining oil and gas, and other energy and metal resources from the Earth, among them establishing vital supply chains.

Chinese Astronauts:  China to select new astronauts in 2017  China is ready to begin a third round of astronaut selection, an announcement that comes on the heels of the country’s first mission to the recently launched Tiangong-2 space lab. China will select its candidates from the military and aerospace communities.

Blue Origin Rocket Factory in FL:  Jeff Bezos shows how Blue Origin’s orbital rocket factory is taking shape in Florida  Blue Origin founder Jeff Bezos reports early progress in the construction of the company’s new rocket factory near NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The facility is set to open at the end of next year for production of Blue’s New Glenn orbital rocket.

RD-180 Engines:  Russia to supply RD-180 rocket engines to US in 2017  Russia’s Energomash expects to export 19 RD-180 and RD-181 rocket engines to the U.S. next year for use by United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V and Orbital ATK’s Antares launch vehicles. The U.S. Congress lifted a ban on imports of the rocket engines after 2019, once it became clear efforts to develop domestic replacements would take longer.