NASA has received a $21.5 billion budget for fiscal year 2019, which is $736.86 million above FY 2018 and $1.6 billion above the total requested by the Trump Administration.
The funding, which came more than four months into the fiscal year, was included in an appropriations bill signed by President Donald Trump on Friday. NASA’s budget has been on an upward trajectory over the last few years. In FY 2018, the space agency received an $1.64 billion increase over the previous year.
Last week, NASA had an industry day for its recently released Human Landing System Broad Agency Announcement (BAA). The space agency is seeking private participation in the development of a landing system capable of delivering astronauts to the surface of the moon by 2028.
The following are excerpts from the PowerPoint presentation give by NASA officials last week that outlined the agency’s plans. The complete slides are here. (more…)
Blue Origin’s New Shepard rocket lifted off in July 2018 carrying five NASA-supported technologies to flight test in space. (Credit: Blue Origin)
A fledgling industry of rocket and balloon companies is taking science and technology experiments into space-like environments.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — At the edge of space, in the upper reaches of the stratosphere, extremely cold, near-vacuum conditions can be an ideal proving ground for space-related science and technology experiments.
“Earth’s atmosphere can interfere with the ability to do certain types of research, and at this height, you’re above a large majority of it,” says Andrew Antonio, director of marketing at World View, a Tucson, Arizona–based company that sends research and other high-altitude balloons into the space-like stratosphere, which he says offers an affordable environment for some space-related research.
Technologist Mahmooda Sultana holds an early iteration of an autonomous multifunctional sensor platform, which could benefit all of NASA’s major scientific disciplines and efforts to send humans to the Moon and Mars. (Credits: NASA/W. Hrybyk)
By Lori Keesey NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
A NASA technologist is taking miniaturization to the extreme.
Mahmooda Sultana won funding to advance a potentially revolutionary, nanomaterial-based detector platform. The technology is capable of sensing everything from minute concentrations of gases and vapor, atmospheric pressure and temperature, and then transmitting that data via a wireless antenna — all from the same self-contained platform that measures just two-by-three-inches in size.
In partnership with SSL, Spaceflight will send its first rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla., Feb. 11, 2019 (Spaceflight PR) – Spaceflight, the leading satellite rideshare and mission management provider, today announced it will launch two payloads on its first rideshare mission to Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO). The mission is scheduled for no earlier than mid-February 2019 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 launching from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida.
Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft on Pad 39B. (Credit: NASA)
by Douglas Messier Managing Editor
NASA’s plan to send astronauts back to the moon continues to make steady progress but faces significant challenges in manufacturing, flight control, software and other key areas as a crucial test of an abort system looms this spring, according to a new report released on Friday.
A section of the NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel’s (ASAP) Annual Report examined progress with the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket, Orion crew vehicle and Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) programs. An uncrewed flight of SLS and Orion known as Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1) is scheduled for next year.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — As the next major step to return astronauts to the Moon under Space Policy Directive-1, NASA announced plans on Dec. 13 to work with American companies to design and develop new reusable systems for astronauts to land on the lunar surface. The agency is planning to test new human-class landers on the Moon beginning in 2024, with the goal of sending crew to the surface in 2028.
The space station formerly known as the Deep Space Gateway (Credit: NASA)
WASHINGTON (National Academies PR) – Renewed interest in exploration of the moon has the potential to benefit lunar science greatly and could evolve into a program facilitated by partnerships between commercial companies and NASA’s Science Mission Directorate (SMD), say companion reports by the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
Review of the Planetary Science Aspects of NASA SMD’s Lunar Science and Exploration Initiativeand Review of the Commercial Aspects of NASA SMD’s Lunar Science and Exploration Initiative laud the rapid and effective steps the agency’s science directorate has taken in responding to a 2017 presidential directive to lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners, beginning with a near-term focus on the moon.
Buzz Aldrin salutes during the 2019 State of the Union address. (Credit: U.S. Senate Photo Studio/John Shinkle)
With Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin in attendance, President Donald Trump gave a shout out to NASA during the annual State of the Union address.
“In 2019, we also celebrate 50 years since brave young pilots flew a quarter of a million miles through space to plant the American flag on the face of the moon. Half a century later, we are joined by one of the Apollo 11 astronauts who planted that flag: Buzz Aldrin. This year, American astronauts will go back to space on American rockets,” he said.
NASA’s commercial crew program is set to begin transporting astronauts to the International Space Station later this year. Today, NASA released the following schedule for flight tests of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon and Boeing’s Starliner spacecraft.
Test Flight Planning Dates:
SpaceX Demo-1 (uncrewed): March 2, 2019 Boeing Orbital Flight Test (uncrewed): NET April 2019 Boeing Pad Abort Test: NET May 2019 SpaceX In-Flight Abort Test: June 2019 SpaceX Demo-2 (crewed): July 2019 Boeing Crew Flight Test (crewed): NET August 2019
At the meeting with General Director of the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities Dmitry Rogozin. (Credit: Russian President’s Office)
MOSCOW (President Putin PR) — Vladimir Putin had a meeting with General Director of the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities Dmitry Rogozin to discuss the performance and development plans for the space industry.
President of Russia Vladimir Putin: Mr Rogozin, let us discuss the space industry’s performance last year and development plans.
General Director of the Roscosmos State Corporation for Space Activities Dmitry Rogozin: Mr President,
We were working to improve our performance in three fields. The first had to do with the choice of our development priorities. The second concerned the reduction of non-manufacturing expenses by at least 15 percent and increasing the corporation’s revenue by adopting new competences and entering new markets, about which I would like to speak later. We also needed to dramatically improve production discipline at the corporation and all the subordinate agencies. I have introduced a system of the officials’ personal responsibility for budget execution and have taken measures to reduce the corporation’s budget.
PITTSBURGH (Astrobotic PR) – Astrobotic, a lunar logistics company that is making space accessible to the world, announces the selection of Jeffrey Apeldoorn as its Vice President of Future Missions and Technology. In this role, Apeldoorn will lead the Future Missions and Technology department and join the Leadership Team of the company. This selection comes after Astrobotic was competitively chosen by NASA as one of the providers for its $2.6 billion Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program. Through CLPS, Astrobotic will be a 10-year provider of lunar delivery services for NASA payloads.
Previously, Apeldoorn served as the Vice President of Corporate Affairs at OHB SE in Bremen, Germany. His work included support of the OHB Group’s 2019+ strategy, strengthening of the Group’s capabilities and competitiveness, and investigating expansion possibilities of the Group.
Long March 5 on the launch pad. (Credit: China National Space Administration)
After a record 39 launches in 2018, China is planning to launch over 50 satellites aboard more than 30 launch vehicles this year, the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) has announced.
The manifest includes the return to flight of China’s largest launch vehicle, Long March 5, after a two-year stand down. The booster, which can lift 14 metric tons to low Earth orbit (LEO), failed during its second flight on July 2, 2017 after a successful maiden flight eight months earlier.
“I think the thing that impressed me the most was the lunar sunrises and sunsets,” said Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders as he described his impressions of the Moon from about 60 miles. “These in particular bring out the stark nature of the terrain, and the long shadows really bring out the relief.” This oblique photograph looks northwest into the Sea of Tranquility, the site where Apollo 11 would land seven months later. (Credits: NASA)
HOUSTON, Jan. 31, 2019 (NASA PR) — New NASA research combining experimental studies with analyses of samples collected nearly 50 years ago during Apollo provides compelling evidence that the Moon formed from the same materials as Earth in the aftermath of a giant impact between the young Earth and a Mars-sized impactor.
In the generally accepted model for the formation of the Moon, the proto-Earth is hit by a Mars-sized impacting body. In the aftermath of the impact, material from the impacting body ejected into a disk in Earth orbit and is thought to have formed the Moon.
The time capsule will include Israeli national, cultural and traditional symbols, such as Israel’s Declaration of Independence, Hebrew songs, the Wayfarer’s Prayer, and paintings by Israeli children.
TEL AVIV (IAI PR) — Israeli nonprofit SpaceIL and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI) presented today at IAI’s Space Division a time capsule that will travel to the moon – and remain there indefinitely – with the first Israeli spacecraft, which will launch from Cape Canaveral, Florida, in February, 2019.
Collaboration to be managed by OHB System AG, a leading German satellite manufacturer
IAI to deliver a lunar lander based on the engineering knowhow accumulated in the development of SpaceIL lunar lander
TEL AVIV (IAI PR) — OHB System AG, a leading German manufacturer of satellites and Israel Aerospace Industries (IAI), signed a teaming agreement today (Tuesday, 29.1.2019) at the Ilan Ramon Space Conference. Under the agreement, the companies will offer a commercial Lunar Surface Access Service (LSAS) for payloads up to 150 kg to the European Space Agency (ESA).
