Space Budgets, Policy, Missions, Benefits, International Updates

Human Space Exploration Update (June 26 – July 7, 2017)

Deep Space Gateway:  ASAP on board with NASA’s DSG as stepping stone to Mars  NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel has expressed support for the agency’s Deep Space Gateway,  a lunar orbiting, human tended space station planned for the 2020s.  The gateway would help to prepare astronauts for the next steps, the human exploration of Mars in the 2030s. The gateway would look to commercial and international partners to advance technologies for missions further from Earth.

Space Telemedicine for Astronaut Care:  How NASA uses telemedicine to care for astronauts in space  Telemedicine has become a staple of health care for the astronauts assigned to five to seven month missions aboard the International Space Station. In the absence of gravity, the body’s bones and muscles weaken. Fluids redistribute differently and the immune system degrades. The astronauts correspond with health care specialists on Earth using long distance diagnostics and prestaged medications and interventions.  (See also:  Sleeping in space)

Japan and Moon Exploration:  Japan plans to land astronauts on moon around 2030  The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) revealed its ambitious plan for a Japanese astronaut to set foot on the moon around 2030. According to the outline presented June 28 at an education ministry committee meeting, JAXA wants to investigate the possible presence of deposits of water or ice around the moon’s south pole.  (See also:  MHI says H3 rocket development on track for 2020)

Solar Electric Propulsion:  The future of deep space propulsion may soon be radically altered  Solar electric propulsion is emerging as a key technology for the future human exploration of deep space. Experts from NASA and the agency’s commercial partners in the development endeavor discussed their efforts before the U.S. House Space Subcommittee last week.

Lunar Exploration: Whittington: Lunar exploration is a path to ‘something wonderful’  Op-ed notes NASA’s selection of a dozen men and women for astronaut training on June 7 and urges policy makers to use their skills for human exploration of the moon, an inspiring goal that can fall within their career spans while achievable to the nation financially and technically.

Mars:  Why no one under 20 has experienced a day without NASA at Mars  In the 20 years since Pathfinder’s touchdown, eight other NASA landers and orbiters have arrived successfully, and not a day has passed without the United States having at least one active robot on Mars or in orbit around Mars.