SpaceFlight A British Interplanetary Society publication Volume 61 No.10 October 2019 £5.25 Coming to a Mars planet near you ( but not rocks! until 2029) Britons in space Project Artemis 10> Hayabusa 2 The man who made 634089 Mission Control 770038 9 CONTENTS Features 14 Reality Check Nick Spall FBIS reports on UK astronaut Tim Peake’s next move and looks at the prospects for Britain in space in a post-Brexit world. 6 18 Sister Act The Editor reviews current plans for NASA's Letter from the Editor Artemis programme to get astronauts back on the Moon by 2024 and asks whether this is the Ever wanted to keep a secret and found it hard? Now you know how right way to go. I feel! Readers are asked to watch for news in the November issue, 24 The man who made Mission Control which could be just what you With the death of Christopher Columbus Kraft, wanted to hear. Right now I can’t we review his greatest legacy in devising the tell you more. NASA concept for space flight operations. Meanwhile, in this issue we cover the latest amazing mission 14 to an asteroid, check in on the 33 Hayabusa hits the spot latest news and analysis regarding As asteroid missions go, Japan’s Hayabusa 2 is the bid to get humans back on the cleaning up big, with samples from surface and Moon, reflect on the origins of subsurface locations ready for dispatch to Earth. Mission Control and review options for UK space projects after the dreaded “B” cliff. An eclectic mix. But lurking in the general news is optimism about Cornwall’s plan to mount satellite flights from Newquay and a little more insight on the capabilities of 18 the super-secret Air Force spaceplane. But then, as I said, secrets abound right now! For those who only see Regulars SpaceFlight occasionally, stay with us because next month we 4 Behind the news celebrate the second landing on Cache and carry – MSFC gets the gig the Moon, a pin-point landing near the Surveyor spacecraft from 6 Opinion which bits and pieces were retrieved. And we also look at the 8 ISS Report 24 next exciting missions to Titan and 9 July – 8 August 2019 Europa – plus all the latest in-depth news and views on 36 Multi-media everything to do with space. The latest space-related books, games, videos 38 Obituary Owen Garriott (1930-2019) 40 Satellite Digest David Baker 561 – July 2019 [email protected] 44 Society news / Diary 33 COVER: MARS MAY HAVE TO WAIT AWHILE AS HUMANS PREPARE TO VISIT THE MOON FIRST (SEE PAGE 16) / NASA 16) (SEE PAGE FIRST THE MOON VISIT TO HUMANS PREPARE AS AWHILE WAIT TO HAVE MAY MARS COVER: What’s happened/ What’s coming up OUR MISSION STATEMENT Editor David Baker, PhD, BSc, FBIS, FRHS Sub Editor Ann Page Creative Consultant Andrée Wilson Design & Production MP3 Media Promotion Gillian Norman Advertising Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Email: [email protected] The British Interplanetary Society Distribution Warners Group Distribution, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, England Tel: +44 (0)1778 promotes the exploration and 391 000 Fax: +44 (0)1778 393 668 SpaceFlight, Arthur C. Clarke House, 27-29 South Lambeth Road, London SW8 1SZ, use of space for the benefit England Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Email: [email protected] www.bis-space.com Published monthly by the British Interplanetary Society, SpaceFlight is a publication that promotes the mission of the British of humanity, connecting people Interplanetary Society. Opinions in signed articles are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the views of to create, educate and inspire, the Editor or the Council of the British Interplanetary Society. Registered Company No: 402498. Registered charity No: and advance knowledge in 250556. The British Interplanetary Society is a company limited by guarantee. Printed in England by Latimer Trend & Co. © 2019 British Interplanetary Society 2017 ISSN 0038-6340. All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced all aspects of astronautics. or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system without written permission for the Publishers. Photocopying permitted by license only. SpaceFlight Vol 61 October 2019 3 BEHIND THE NEWS Engineers at JPL lift the Mars 2020 rover's bit carousel out of its storage container in the Spacecraft Assembly Facility's High Bay 1. CACHE AND CARRY! NASA has a plan to bring Mars samples back to Earth – but it won't be happening any time soon. ACTIVITY IS WELL ADVANCED for the last US Looking somewhat like an extraterrestrial version funded mission to Mars, an investment in of a 1960s slide projector, Mars 2020's bit-carousel committing Mars 2020 to caching samples for some contains nine drill bits that facilitate sample time in the future when a return mission does get acquisition and surface analysis: two for abrading, launched. Caching samples for return to Earth is the one for regolith (rock and soil) and six for coring. The primary objective of NASA’s Mars 2020 mission and coring and regolith bits are used to place Martian that comes with a requirement for very special samples in a clean sample collection tube, while the equipment, including a bit-carousel which has just abrader bit is used to scrape the top layers of rocks been installed on the Curiosity lookalike rover at to expose unweathered surfaces for study. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory. When the rover team is ready to drill, the "The bit-carousel is at the heart of the sampling carousel is powered up. If, for instance, the goal is and caching subsystem", said Keith Rosette, Mars to abrade, the carousel manoeuvres the appropriate 2020 sample handling delivery manager at JPL. "It bit into position so that the drill at the end of the contains all of the tools the coring drill uses to rover's robotic arm can extract it. Once the drilling's sample the Martian surface and is the gateway for done, the bit goes back into the carousel. the samples to move into the rover for assessment For core sampling, a sample tube is inserted and processing." inside the appropriate bit before the carousel moves 4 Vol 61 October 2019 SpaceFlight BEHIND THE NEWS the combination into position for the drill. Once the sample tube has been filled, the robotic arm returns the drill bit and tube to the carousel, where they wend their way to processing stations and storage inside the rover. "The bit-carousel was the last piece of the Mars LEFT: NASA / RIGHT: ESA / RIGHT: NASA LEFT: 2020 rover's Sample Caching System to be installed", said JPL's John McNamee, project manager of Mars 2020. "And while the rover interior is essentially complete – a battery and a camera used during landing are planned in coming weeks – the assembly and test team will not be resting on their laurels. Months of evaluation and fine tuning lie ahead to make absolutely certain this rover is on the launch pad and ready to go on July 17, 2020." Mars 2020 will land on Jezero Crater on 18 February 2021 but it could be a long time before any samples are retrieved. In fact, it is doubtful that the mission to get those samples to Earth will be a wholly NASA-funded operation. Increasingly, the US ESA’s concept for retrieving samples cached by Mars 2020. space agency is looking to international cooperation both to fund programmes and to share hardware development and mission operations. Such was the capable of producing 40 kW of power. Mars orbit KEY DATES message coming out recently from a debate insertion would utilise a chemical rocket motor to regarding how the next phase of Mars exploration achieve a highly elliptical path, whereupon the might happen. chemical motor would be jettisoned to reduce 2020 weight and the ion propulsion system used to (17 July ) Mars 2020 launched COOPERATION circularise the orbit over a period of about a year, aboard an Atlas V In July, the Lunar and Planetary Institute hosted its completing this migration by about July 2028. booster ninth international conference on the exploration of In spring 2029 the SRL would be back in orbit Mars, a periodic gathering of scientists, engineers with its retrieved samples and the ERO would and planners summarising the present state of Mars rendezvous with it to retrieve the Earth entry exploration and planning for the future. For the first module and its contents. After jettisoning the 2021 time, a detailed presentation was made of proposed capture mechanism the ERO will spend a further (18 February ) The Mars 2020 rover hardware development from NASA and the year slowly raising its orbit out of Mars capture lands on the Red European Space Agency (ESA) leading toward a using the ion system until reaching escape velocity, Planet collection of samples and their delivery to Earth departing for Earth at the 2031 window. NASA has within the next 15 years. These proposals were also yet to designate a recovery spot, on this timeline endorsed at the 37th Mars Exploration Program scheduled for spring 2032, but it favours the Utah 2026 Analysis Group (MEPAG) meeting on 26 July. Test Range where the Genesis and Stardust ESA's Earth It is proposed that NASA and ESA work together containers landed. Return Orbiter and to produce hardware for the launch of an Earth Planning for a sample return mission started with NASA's launched Return Orbiter (ERO) and a Sample Retrieval Lander detailed negotiations between NASA and ESA in towards Mars CACHE AND CARRY! (SRL), the SRL also accommodating a small rover, 2016 and previous concepts were analysed, preferred both launched in 2026 in different months.