1 of 13

Space News Update — February 28, 2017 —

Contents

In the News

Story 1:

NASA Kicks off Study to Add Crew to First Flight of Orion, SLS as Progress Continues to Send Humans to Deep Space

Story 2:

NASA’s New Horizons, IAU Set Pluto Naming Themes

Story 3:

First Solar Images from NOAA's GOES-16 Satellite

Departments

The Night Sky

ISS Sighting Opportunities

NASA-TV Highlights

Space Calendar

Food for Thought

Space Image of the Week

2 of 13

1. NASA Kicks off Study to Add Crew to First Flight of Orion, SLS as Progress Continues to Send Humans to Deep Space

Artist's concept of the Space Launch System and Orion capsule. Credits: NASA/MSFC

NASA is assessing the feasibility of adding a crew to the first integrated flight of the agency’s Space Launch

System (SLS) rocket and Orion spacecraft, Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1). NASA is building new deep space

capabilities to take humans farther into the solar system than we have ever traveled, and ultimately to Mars.

Acting Administrator Robert Lightfoot announced Feb. 15 that he had asked William Gerstenmaier, associate

administrator for NASA’s Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate in Washington, to conduct the

study, and it is now underway. NASA expects it to be completed in early spring.

The assessment will review the technical feasibility, risks, benefits, additional work required, resources needed

and any associated schedule impacts to add crew to the first mission.

“Our priority is to ensure the safe and effective execution of all our planned exploration missions with the

Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System rocket,” said Gerstenmaier. “This is an assessment and not a

decision as the primary mission for EM-1 (currently scheduled for late 2018) remains an uncrewed flight test.”

The assessment is evaluating the advantages and disadvantages of this concept with regards to short- and

long-term goals of achieving deep space exploration capabilities for the nation. It will assume launching two

crew members in mid-2019, and consider adjustments to the current EM-1 mission profile.

During the first mission of SLS and Orion, NASA plans to send the spacecraft into a distant lunar retrograde

orbit, which will require additional propulsion moves, a flyby of the moon and return trajectory burns. The

mission is planned as a challenging trajectory to test maneuvers and the environment of space expected on

future missions to deep space. If the agency decides to put crew on the first flight, the mission profile for

Exploration Mission-2 would likely replace it, which is an approximately eight-day mission with a multi-

translunar injection with a free return trajectory. EM-2 is currently planned for late 2021.

3 of 13

NASA is investigating hardware changes associated with the system that will be needed if crew are to be

added to EM-1, including a life support system, a waste management system, operational cockpit displays and

an operational abort system. Also as a starting condition, NASA would maintain the Interim Cryogenic

Propulsion stage for the first flight.

Regardless of the outcome for the study, the feasibility assessment does not conflict with NASA’s ongoing work

schedules for the first two missions. Hardware for the first flight has already started arriving at NASA’s

Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where the missions will launch from the agency’s historic Pad 39B.

NASA recently completed the installation of the final topmost level in the Vehicle Assembly Building at

Kennedy, completing the 10 levels of work platforms, 20 platform halves altogether, that will surround the

rocket and the Orion spacecraft and allow access during processing for missions. In the last month, major

construction was completed on the largest new SLS structural test stand, and engineers are now installing

equipment needed to test the rocket’s biggest fuel tank. The stand is critical for ensuring SLS’s liquid hydrogen

tank can withstand the extreme forces of launch and ascent on its first flight. In a lab at NASA’s Johnson

Space Center in Houston, engineers simulated conditions that astronauts in spacesuits would experience when

the Orion spacecraft is vibrating during launch on its way to deep space destinations to assess how well the

crew can interact with the displays and controls they will use to monitor Orion’s systems and operate the

spacecraft when necessary.

(Note: On Monday, February 27th, SpaceX subsequently announced plans to send a manned Dragon capsule

with two private citizens around the moon in late 2018. (See Food for Thought))

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA Return to Contents

4 of 13

2. NASA’s New Horizons, IAU Set Pluto Naming Themes

This composite of enhanced color images of Pluto (lower right) and Charon (upper left), taken by NASA's New Horizons

spacecraft on July 14, 2015, highlights the wide range of surface features on the small worlds. Working with the New

Horizons mission team, the International Astronomical Union (IAU) has approved the themes to be used for naming the

surface features on Pluto and its moons. Credits: NASA/JHUAPL/SwRI

The International Astronomical Union (IAU) – the internationally recognized authority for naming celestial

bodies and their surface features – has approved themes submitted by NASA’s New Horizons team for naming

surface features on Pluto and its moons.

5 of 13

In 2015, NASA’s New Horizons spacecraft delivered the first close-up views of Pluto and its five moons –

amazing images of distant and surprisingly complex worlds, showing a vast nitrogen glacier as well as ice

mountains, canyons, cliffs, craters and more. The IAU’s action clears the way for the mission team to propose

formal names for dozens of individual surface features.

“Imagine the thrill of seeing your name suggestion on a future map of Pluto and its moons,” said Jim Green,

director of NASA’s Planetary Science Division in Washington. “Months after the Pluto flyby, the New Horizons

mission continues to engage and inspire.”

Working with the New Horizons team, the IAU has agreed to naming themes (listed below) for Pluto, its

largest moon, Charon, and its four smaller moons—Styx, Nix, Kerberos, and Hydra. Some of these themes

build on the connection between the Roman god Pluto and the mythology of the underworld. Other themes

celebrate the human spirit of exploration.

Pluto

● Gods, goddesses and other beings associated with the underworld from mythology, folklore and literature

● Names for the underworld and for underworld locales from mythology, folklore and literature

● Heroes and other explorers of the underworld

● Scientists and engineers associated with Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

● Pioneering space missions and spacecraft

● Historic pioneers who crossed new horizons in the exploration of the Earth, sea and sky

Charon

● Destinations and milestones of fictional space and other exploration

● Fictional and mythological vessels of space and other exploration

● Fictional and mythological voyagers, travelers and explorers

● Authors and artists associated with space exploration, especially Pluto and the Kuiper Belt

Themes for Pluto’s smaller moons are:

• Styx: River gods

• Nix: Deities of the night

• Kerberos: Dogs from literature, mythology and history

• Hydra: Legendary serpents and dragons

As a precursor to the naming process now underway between the IAU and New Horizons, in early 2015 the

IAU endorsed the NASA-New Horizons led “Our Pluto” naming campaign, which allowed the public to

participate in the exploration of Pluto by proposing names for surface features that were still awaiting

discovery. That campaign was a partnership between the mission, NASA and the SETI Institute, of Mountain

View, California.

“I’m very happy with both the process and partnership that New Horizons and the IAU undertook that led to

wonderful, inspiring, and engaging naming themes for surface features on Pluto and its moons,” said Alan

Stern, New Horizons principal investigator from Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colorado. “We look

forward to the next step—submitting actual feature names for approval.”

Source: NASA Return to Contents

6 of 13

3. First Solar Images from NOAA's GOES-16 Satellite

These images of the sun were captured at the same time on January 29, 2017 by the six channels on the SUVI

instrument on board GOES-16 and show a large coronal hole in the sun’s southern hemisphere. Each channel observes

the sun at a different wavelength, allowing scientists to detect a wide range of solar phenomena important for space

weather forecasting. Credits: NOAA

The first images from the Solar Ultraviolet Imager or SUVI instrument aboard NOAA’s GOES-16 satellite have

been successful, capturing a large coronal hole on Jan. 29, 2017.

The sun’s 11-year activity cycle is currently approaching solar minimum, and during this time powerful solar

flares become scarce and coronal holes become the primary space weather phenomena – this one in particular

initiated aurora throughout the polar regions. Coronal holes are areas where the sun's corona appears darker

because the plasma has high-speed streams open to interplanetary space, resulting in a cooler and lower-

density area as compared to its surroundings.

SUVI is a telescope that monitors the sun in the extreme ultraviolet wavelength range. SUVI will capture full-

disk solar images around-the-clock and will be able to see more of the environment around the sun than

earlier NOAA geostationary satellites.

The sun’s upper atmosphere, or solar corona, consists of extremely hot plasma, an ionized gas. This plasma

interacts with the sun’s powerful magnetic field, generating bright loops of material that can be heated to

millions of degrees. Outside hot coronal loops, there are cool, dark regions called filaments, which can erupt

and become a key source of space weather when the sun is active. Other dark regions are called coronal

holes, which occur where the sun’s magnetic field allows plasma to stream away from the sun at high speed.

7 of 13

The effects linked to coronal holes are generally milder than those of coronal mass ejections, but when the

outflow of solar particles is intense – can pose risks to satellites in Earth orbit.

The solar corona is so hot that it is best observed with X-ray and extreme-ultraviolet (EUV) cameras. Various

elements emit light at specific EUV and X-ray wavelengths depending on their temperature, so by observing in

several different wavelengths, a picture of the complete temperature structure of the corona can be made.

The GOES-16 SUVI observes the sun in six EUV channels.

Data from SUVI will provide an estimation of coronal plasma temperatures and emission measurements which

are important to space weather forecasting. SUVI is essential to understanding active areas on the sun, solar

flares and eruptions that may lead to coronal mass ejections which may impact Earth. Depending on the

magnitude of a particular eruption, a geomagnetic storm can result that is powerful enough to disturb Earth’s

magnetic field. Such an event may impact power grids by tripping circuit breakers, disrupt communication and

satellite data collection by causing short-wave radio interference and damage orbiting satellites and their

electronics. SUVI will allow the NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center to provide early space weather

warnings to electric power companies, telecommunication providers and satellite operators.

SUVI replaces the GOES Solar X-ray Imager (SXI) instrument in previous GOES satellites and represents a

change in both spectral coverage and spatial resolution over SXI.

NASA successfully launched GOES-R at 6:42 p.m. EST on Nov. 19, 2016, from Cape Canaveral Air Force

Station in Florida and it was renamed GOES-16 when it achieved orbit. GOES-16 is now observing the planet

from an equatorial view approximately 22,300 miles above the surface of Earth.

NOAA’s satellites are the backbone of its life-saving weather forecasts. GOES-16 will build upon and extend the

more than 40-year legacy of satellite observations from NOAA that the American public has come to rely upon.

For more information about GOES-16, visit: www.goes-r.gov/ or www.nasa.gov/goes

Source: NASA Return to Contents

8 of 13

The Night Sky

Source: Sky and Telescope Return to Contents

Friday, March 3

The Moon hangs below Aldebaran, the Hyades, and the Pleiades in the west this evening. But get ready for

tomorrow night, when. . . .

Saturday, March 4

The dark limb of the first-quarter Moon occults (crosses over) orange Aldebaran for viewers in most of the

contiguous United States, Mexico, and Central America. We're calling this the best lunar occultation of

2017. See the March Sky & Telescope, page 48. Several fainter Hyades stars will also be occulted.

The waxing crescent Moon passes left of Venus and Mars. (The Moon is always shown here three times its actual apparent size. The blue 10° scale is about the

size of your fist held at arm's length).

Tuesday, February 28

Now the thickening Moon in twilight forms a

roughly fist-sized triangle with bright Venus and

fainter Mars, as shown here.

Wednesday, March 1

The Moon again hangs in the west at dusk, with

Venus now about 15° to its lower right. As

twilight deepens, look for Mars appearing about

5° to the Moon's right. After dark, can you still

identify 6th-magnitude Uranus, now 2.1° below

Mars? Uranus appears distinctly nonstellar at

medium power in a telescope.

Algol is at minimum brightness, magnitude 3.4

instead of its usual 2.1, for a couple hours

centered on 6:28 p.m. EST. It takes several

more hours to rebrighten. Comparison-star

chart, with star magnitudes given to the nearest

tenth.

Thursday, March 2

This is the time of year when Orion stands

straight upright due south as the stars come

out. Later in the evening, and later in the

month, he begins his long tilt down toward the

west.

Certain deep-sky objects contain secret surprises

within or near them. Get out your telescope and

sky atlas for a go at Bob King's eight Hidden

Gems in Common Deep-Sky Objects now in

evening view.

9 of 13

ISS Sighting Opportunities (from Denver)

Date Visible Max Height Appears Disappears

Wed Mar 1, 5:37 AM 3 min 29° 11° above SSW 28° above ESE

Thu Mar 2, 4:45 AM 2 min 15° 11° above SSE 14° above ESE

Fri Mar 3, 5:29 AM 5 min 78° 16° above SW 19° above NE

Sat Mar 4, 4:39 AM 2 min 37° 37° above SSE 24° above E

Sighting information for other cities can be found at NASA’s Satellite Sighting Information

NASA-TV Highlights (all times Eastern Time Zone)

Thursday, March 2

11 a.m. - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Event with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s Annual Aviation

Summit Conference in Washington, D.C. and Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy

Whitson of NASA (starts at 11:10 a.m.) (all channels)

Friday, March 3

10 a.m. - ISS Expedition 50 In-Flight Educational Event with the Hartsfield Elementary School and 4-H

Clubs of Houston and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson (all channels)

Watch NASA TV online by going to the NASA website. Return to Contents

10 of 13

Space Calendar

Feb 28 - Cassini, Distant Flyby of Janus & Pandora

Feb 28 - Comet 73P-BQ/Schwassmann-Wachmann Perihelion (0.974 AU)

Feb 28 - Comet 73P-BC/Schwassmann-Wachmann At Opposition (1.111 AU)

Feb 28 - Comet 73P-H/Schwassmann-Wachmann Closest Approach To Earth (1.338 AU)

Feb 28 - Comet P/2010 H2 (Vales) Closest Approach To Earth (2.267 AU)

Feb 28 - Comet 147P/Kushida-Muramatsu At Opposition (2.330 AU)

Feb 28 - Comet 306P/LINEAR At Opposition (3.969 AU)

Feb 28 - Comet C/2014 R3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (6.831 AU)

Feb 28 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 DJ16 Near-Earth Flyby (0.010 AU)

Feb 28 - Asteroid 7672 Hawking Closest Approach To Earth (1.314 AU)

Feb 28 - Asteroid 17942 Whiterabbit Closest Approach To Earth (1.350 AU)

Feb 28 - Asteroid 17656 Hayabusa Closest Approach To Earth (2.016 AU)

Mar 01 - NROL-79 Atlas 5 Launch

Mar 01 - Comet 93P/Lovas Perihelion (1.700 AU)

Mar 01 - Comet 234P/LINEAR Closest Approach To Earth (1.903 AU)

Mar 01 - Comet C/2015 V4 (PANSTARRS) Closest Approach To Earth (4.743 AU)

Mar 01 - Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) At Opposition (5.091 AU)

Mar 01 - Asteroid 10189 Normanrockwell Closest Approach To Earth (1.876 AU)

Mar 01 - Metal Asteroid 16 Psyche Closest Approach To Earth (2.237 AU)

Mar 01 - Asteroid 39415 Janeausten Closest Approach To Earth (3.385 AU)

Mar 02 - Moon Occults Dwarf Planet Ceres

Mar 02 - Comet P/2017 A2 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (1.701 AU)

Mar 02 - Comet 330P/Catalina At Opposition (2.283 AU)

Mar 02 - Comet P/2010 TO20 (LINEAR-Grauer) Closest Approach To Earth (5.091 AU)

Mar 02 - Aten Asteroid 2012 DR32 Near-Earth Flyby (0.007 AU)

Mar 02 - Apollo Asteroid 2011 OJ45 Near-Earth Flyby (0.079 AU)

Mar 02 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 BU6 Near-Earth Flyby (0.087 AU)

Mar 02 - Apollo Asteroid 2017 CQ1 Near-Earth Flyby (0.093 AU)

Mar 02 - Asteroid 243 Ida Closest Approach To Earth (1.859 AU)

Mar 02 - Kuiper Belt Object 2013 FZ27 At Opposition (47.573 AU)

Mar 03 - Comet 43P/Wolf-Harrington Closest Approach To Earth (1.540 AU)

Mar 03 - Comet C/2016 A3 (PANSTARRS) At Opposition (3.804 AU)

Mar 03 - Comet 312P/NEAT At Opposition (3.921 AU)

Mar 03 - Asteroid 29 Amphitrite At Opposition (8.9 Magnitude)

Mar 03 - Apollo Asteroid 2016 RZ17 Near-Earth Flyby (0.078 AU)

Mar 03 - Asteroid 2362 Mark Twain Closest Approach To Earth (1.605 AU)

Mar 03 - Asteroid 2197 Shanghai Closest Approach To Earth (1.831 AU)

Source: JPL Space Calendar Return to Contents

11 of 13

Food for Thought

SpaceX Unveils Space Tourist Moon Flight, NASA Reacts

An artist's illustration of a crewed Dragon spacecraft in space. Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX CEO Elon Musk unveiled an ambitious plan yesterday (February 27th) to fly two private space tourists

around the moon in 2018. The move drew a commendation from NASA along with a clear reminder that the agency

expects SpaceX to meet its other obligations while pursuing the moon.

In a teleconference with reporters, Musk said SpaceX will launch two paying passengers around the moon using the

company's Dragon crew capsule and massive Falcon Heavy rocket. Both vehicles are scheduled for unpiloted test

flights later this year.

"NASA commends its industry partners for reaching higher," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "We will work

closely with SpaceX to ensure it safely meets the contractual obligations to return the launch of astronauts to U.S.

soil and continue to successfully deliver supplies to the International Space Station."

"NASA commends its industry partners for reaching higher," NASA officials wrote in a statement. "We will work

closely with SpaceX to ensure it safely meets the contractual obligations to return the launch of astronauts to U.S.

soil and continue to successfully deliver supplies to the International Space Station."

Under the SpaceX plan, passengers would take a trip on Dragon and loop around the moon, "skimming" above the

lunar surface at the closest point and flying out up to 400,000 miles (650,000 kilometers) from Earth at the farthest

point. The entire trip should last five days, Musk said.

The flight could launch near the end of 2018, and potentially coincide with the 50th anniversary of NASA's historic

flight of Apollo 8, which launched the first Apollo astronauts around the moon in December 1968.

SpaceX has a $2.6 billion contract with NASA to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station using its

Dragon crew capsules and Falcon 9 rockets, which are smaller than the Falcon Heavy. Those flights are funded

through NASA's Commercial Crew Program and were expected to begin in 2018, though a recent report from the

12 of 13

U.S. Government Accountability Office said that the first crewed flights by SpaceX's Dragon and Boeing's CST-100

Starliner (NASA's other astronaut taxi choice) will likely slip to 2019.

SpaceX has been flying unpiloted Dragon cargo ships to the International Space Station since 2012 under a

separate contract with NASA. Another company, Orbital ATK, has been doing the same with its robotic Cygnus

supply ships since 2014. A third company, Sierra Nevada Space Systems, is developing a robotic Dream Chaser

space plane to deliver NASA cargo as well.

"For more than a decade, NASA has invested in private industry to develop capabilities for the American people and

seed commercial innovation to advance humanity's future in space," NASA officials wrote in the statement on

SpaceX's moon plan. "NASA is changing the way it does business through its commercial partnerships to help build

a strong American space economy and free the agency to focus on developing the next-generation rocket,

spacecraft and systems to go beyond the moon and sustain deep space exploration."

Musk told reporters that NASA would have first pick on the 2018 moon flight, and SpaceX would bump the two

space tourists (who have already placed a "significant deposit" for the trip) to a later flight if the space agency

wanted the seats. Musk did not reveal who had purchased the moon flight seats on Dragon, or how much the trip

cost per person.

"NASA always has first priority," Musk said yesterday. "So if NASA decides to have the first mission of this nature be

a NASA mission, then of course NASA would take priority."

SpaceX representatives said the first unpiloted Crew Dragon (or Dragon 2) test flight will launch by the end of 2017.

"This first demonstration mission will be in automatic mode, without people on board," SpaceX representatives

wrote in a separate statement Monday. "A subsequent mission with crew is expected to fly in the second quarter of

2018. SpaceX is currently contracted to perform an average of four Dragon 2 missions to the ISS per year, three

carrying cargo and one carrying crew. By also flying privately crewed missions, which NASA has encouraged, long-

term costs to the government decline and more flight reliability history is gained, benefiting both government and

private missions."

The moon flight and commercial Dragon flights for NASA will serve as steppingstones for SpaceX's ultimate goal,

building a sustainable colony on Mars, Musk said.

"This should be incredibly exciting," Musk said. "Next year is going to be the big year for carrying people to the

space station and hopefully beyond."

Falcon 9 Heavy Rocket Credit: SpaceX

Source: Space.com Return to Contents

13 of 13

Space Image of the Week

Layers and Dark Dunes

Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Univ. of Arizona

Explanation: Much of Mars' surface is covered by fine-grained materials that hide the bedrock, but

elsewhere, such as in this scene, the bedrock is well exposed (except where covered by sand dunes). Colors

in this Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter’s HiRISE Camera photo are enhanced in the cutout of a pit exposing

reddish layers.

The map is projected here at a scale of 25 centimeters (9.8 inches) per pixel. [The original image scale is 26.7

centimeters (10.5 inches) per pixel (with 1 x 1 binning); objects on the order of 80 centimeters (31.5 inches)

across are resolved.] North is up.

The University of Arizona, Tucson, operates HiRISE, which was built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.,

Boulder, Colo. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, California, manages the

Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter Project for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington.

Source: NASA Return to Contents