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NASA picks science missions for first SLS launch

James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY

While Kennedy Space Center welcomed an Orion capsule slated to launch atop NASA’s first Space Launch System rocket in 2018, NASA last week also unveiled a group of tiny science missions that will piggyback on that unmanned test flight.

Thirteen roughly shoe box-sized CubeSats will hitch deep space rides near the moon on the most powerful rocket ever, which will blast off with 8 million pounds of thrust from Kennedy Space Center’s pad 39B to send Orion beyond the moon.

The science missions include: BioSentinel, which will use yeast to measure deep space radiation on living organisms; Lunar Flashlight, which will look for ice deposits on the moon; and CuSP, described as a “space weather station” measuring particles and magnetic fields.

A few slots will be reserved for winners of a competition called Cube Quest Challenge.

Bill Hill, deputy associate administrator of Exploration Systems Development at NASA Headquarters in Washington, said NASA considered ideas from various NASA programs and international partners, and offered opportunities to the intelligence community.

“Because of our trajectory toward the moon, they declined that offer,” he said.

Shotwell on SpaceX

SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell last week addressed a commercial space conference sponsored by the Federal Aviation Administration in Washington, D.C. Some highlights from her talk:

  • SpaceX plans to make unspecified changes to its Falcon 9 rocket based on results from a recent test-firing of the booster that landed Dec. 21 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. 
  • The company still plans to debut its heavy-lift Falcon Heavy rocket at Kennedy Space Center sometime this year, and to fly a test of its Dragon crew abort system for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Shotwell said the company will launch astronauts in 2017.
  • SpaceX has two years of “dirt work” ahead as it develops a private launch complex near Brownsville, Texas. Because of the unstable dirt, SpaceX will build a “concrete mountain” like the stand at KSC’s pad 39A, increasing the project's cost. Still, Shotwell said it would be a “relief” when the site is available, citing congestion at federal ranges including Cape Canaveral, where “you have to maneuver around other folks that want to launch.”
  • A SpaceX priority this year is ramping up factory production of Falcon 9 rocket cores and Merlin engines. SpaceX hasn’t launched more than six times in a calendar year, but hopes to begin flying every few weeks.
  • Shotwell offered no details on when SpaceX would launch next, or why its launch of the SES-9 communications satellite has slipped from mid-January. After the talk, she told Space News the launch was possible in the next couple of weeks.

State of NASA, KSC

The Obama Administration on Tuesday will roll out its proposed budget for the 2017 fiscal year that starts in October.

It will include the latest look at how much money NASA thinks it needs to keep its human spaceflight programs on track for launches from the Space Coast within two or three years.

Those include Boeing and SpaceX vehicles targeting 2017 launches of astronauts to the International Space Station, and NASA’s big Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule, which the space agency hopes to fly on an unmanned test flight in 2018.

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana and several program managers are expected to offer an update on progress at KSC.

Vote for space

U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, a Democratic candidate for Marco Rubio’s U.S. Senate seat, met Friday in Melbourne with local officials and business leaders to discuss aerospace policy.

"Today's aerospace roundtable deepened my commitment to reasserting American leadership in space," Murphy said in a statement. "The new future in commercial space has incredible opportunities for the people and businesses of Florida.”

The Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast hosted the roundtable meeting, which it said was the “one of many” expected with congressional and presidential candidates this election season.

“We provide national candidates an audience with industry leaders communicating a unified message on the importance of the aerospace industry to our economy both locally and nationally,” said Lynda Weatherman, EDC president and CEO.

Ford bids farewell

Veteran astronaut Kevin Ford has left NASA, the space agency reported.

A retired Air Force colonel and Indiana native, Ford, 55, piloted Discovery on a 2009 mission delivering supplies to the International Space Station. He returned to the ISS in 2012 aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft to start a five-month expedition. NASA did not cite a reason for his departure in late January, after 33 years of government service.

The Astronaut Office now counts 47 active astronauts in the flight rotation, not counting others in management positions. NASA is in the process of recruiting its next astronaut class.

Choose the moon, or an Audi

Excited to see the commercials during Super Bowl 50?

Look for an Audi car ad featuring Apollo program images, including Saturn V rockets launching from Kennedy Space Center, paired with the late David Bowie’s song “Starman,” according to CollectSpace.com.

“Choosing the moon brings out the best in us,” reads the ad’s tag line in a version posted on YouTube.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com.And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.