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What Trump's budget would mean for NASA and climate change
President Donald Trump's proposed 2018 budget beefs up the Defense Department while removing funds from the Environmental Protection Agency, Department of Energy, NASA and many other government agencies. Congress still has to pass the budget, but if it's approved it will shut down a handful of programs designed to research and combat climate change. Despite overwhelming consensus in the scientific community, multiple members of the Trump administration have argued that climate change is not a man-made occurrence, including new EPA head Scott Pruitt. So, it's not surprising that Trump's proposed budget slashes climate change research programs and funding -- but it is concerning.
New NASA budget focuses almost exclusively on space
Congress has finally passed a bill authorizing NASA's new budget that gives the agency annual funding of$19.5 billion. The paperwork remains mostly unchanged from when it was passed in the Senate last December, with only minor alterations being made. The NASA Transition Authorization Act of 2017 was passed without opposition and focuses almost exclusively on space travel and science. Details about the agency's more contentious Earth-based research, however, will have to wait another day.
NASA wants some assistance catching an asteroid
If you haven't heard yet, NASA aims to capture an asteroid, drag it to the orbit between the Earth and the moon and ultimately send people to scour it for samples. While that sounds like a crazy plot from an astronaut movie, it's very much real. In fact, the agency has just announced that it plans to ask for help from aerospace companies to make it happen. Under the new Asteroid Redirect Mission Umbrella for Partnerships (ARM-UP) Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) project, NASA will accept proposals for different aspects of the mission.
NASA pours $67 million into solar electric spacecraft engines
NASA is big on solar electric propulsion (the Dawn spacecraft uses it, for instance) for a good reason: while the engines aren't powerful, they supply thrust for a very long time before giving up the ghost. And it now looks like the agency is ready to double down on that super-efficient tech. It just awarded a $67 million, 3-year contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne in hopes of developing an advanced solar electric propulsion system. The new technology could deliver twice as much thrust, and would be up to 10 times more efficient than chemical engines -- both big deals for deep space missions.
NASA's asteroid capture mission is a testbed for trips to Mars
NASA is finally done assessing its two options for the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). Its final choice? Option B: it plans to grab a chunk of its target asteroid and take the boulder-sized piece to the moon's orbit. While Option A sounded more exciting -- it entailed capturing an entire asteroid -- NASA has decided to go with this one, because it will allow the agency to test new technologies for future manned trips to Mars. One of those technologies is called Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP), which uses sunlight instead of traditional fuel. More specifically, it uses solar arrays to convert sunlight into power, which propels charged atoms that move the spacecraft -- it's not as fast as rocket propulsion, but it could save manned missions a lot of money.
NASA delays 'capture the asteroid' plan until next year
Now that the ESA has landed on a comet, NASA wants to do them one better: capture an entire asteroid (or a piece of one) and put it in orbit around the moon in 2019. But the space agency has now said that it's delaying a decision on exactly how the Asteroid Redirect Mission will do that until 2015. Option A involves bagging and capturing an entire meteorite about 30 feet across, while option B would see them landing on larger target, Philae-style, and digging out a boulder-sized chunk (see the video below). In both cases, it will be towed back to the moon and placed in orbit there. Astronauts launching from the upcoming Space Launch System (SLS) in an Orion capsule will then intercept the orbiting meteorite in 2020, retrieve samples and return to Earth.
NASA wants to launch its asteroid capture mission in 2019
NASA's plans to snag an asteroid just got a little more concrete. The space agency has narrowed down the launch of its Asteroid Redirect Mission to 2019, with the choice of rock coming a year before that. At the moment, the administration is torn between two potential destinations. One proposed mission plan has the vehicle bringing back a tiny asteroid less than 32 feet across; another would scoop out a "boulder-sized" chunk from a larger target. Officials expect to make a decision late this year, though, and five years is trivial in light of NASA's more ambitious projects. And don't worry if that's still too long to wait -- the folks behind Kerbal Space Program are more than happy to sate your appetite for asteroid retrieval.
NASA's game collaboration lets you steer asteroids without leaving home
Kerbal Space Program is the closest you'll get to running a space agency. The game lets you build and launch everything from orbital stations to interplanetary explorers, all in the name of collecting scientific data. It's only fitting, then, that the studio behind the title has teamed up with NASA to release its Asteroid Redirect Mission add-on. The patch gives you both equipment based on the Space Launch System as well as enough giant rocks to let you either mimic potential real-world missions or live out your Armageddon dreams. The KSP upgrade isn't a completely faithful simulation by any means, but it's realistic enough that it could help you appreciate the challenges of steering asteroids. If you'd like to see the software in action, you can check out the second video at about the 57-minute mark.
