Space Budgets, Policy, Missions, Benefits, International Updates

Space Council:  Executive Order creating National Space Council expected soon The White House is close to re-establishing the National Space Council, a cabinet level group led by the vice president to help shape U.S. space policy, according to Bob Walker, an advisor to the Trump Administration and former chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee.

Interview with NASA JSC’s Ellen Ochoa:  NASA’s Ellen Ochoa: We are going deeper into space than ever  Ellen Ochoa, the first Hispanic female astronaut, leads NASA’s Johnson Space Center. A Stanford educated electrical engineer, Ochoa launched five times as a shuttle astronaut. This month she will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Johnson leads the development of NASA’s Orion capsule, the spacecraft that is to launch and land astronauts selected for future missions of deep space exploration.

Mars Exploration:  If we successfully land on Mars, could we live there?  After a month’s long journey from Earth, human explorers face the challenges of reaching the surface of Mars safely, then sustaining themselves and moving about in the thin, dry atmosphere, cold temperatures and low gravity. NASA is working with the U.S. private sector and its international partners to address these challenges.

Lunar Exploration:  The moon is the gateway to NASA’s exploration future  While awaiting exploratory direction from the Trump White House, NASA is planning how human operations in the lunar environs of the Earth can support the future exploration of Mars.

Space Mining:  Space-mining may be only a decade away. Really.  Middle Eastern states are expressing interest in space mining, possibly the extraction of water and minerals from the moon and other planetary bodies, to fortify their economies. Shrinking launch costs appear an important part of making the enterprise possible.