NASA SLS Deep-space rocket to launch in 2018

Artist concept of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) 70-metric-ton configuration launching to space. Credit: NASA

The US space agency's powerful deep-space rocket, known as the Space Launch System (SLS), aims to blast off for the first time in 2018, NASA said Wednesday.

The SLS has been in development for three years already, and when finished it should propel spacecraft beyond Earth's orbit and eventually launch crew vehicles to Mars by the 2030s.

NASA has now completed a thorough review of the project, signifying formal space agency commitment to the 70 metric ton version of the SLS at a cost of $7.021 billion from 2014 to 2018.

"The program is making real, significant progress," said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the Human Explorations and Operations Mission Directorate at NASA.

"We will keep the teams working toward a more ambitious readiness date, but will be ready no later than November 2018."

The Government Accountability Office (GAO), however issued a report last month that called into question the space's agency's current funding plan for SLS, saying it "may be $400 million short of what the program needs."

The GAO also raised concerns about the development schedule and how engineers will integrate hardware that was designed to fly on a cancelled NASA program known as Constellation that would have returned humans to the Moon.

Gerstenmaier said NASA was taking those concerns into account and is seeking to address the GAO's recommendations.

The SLS is NASA's first heavy-lift launch vehicle in over 40 years, and the space agency has estimated total costs in developing the first of three SLS variants at $12 billion.

NASA OSIRIS-REx: Spacecraft that will visit asteroid in 2018

This is an artist's concept of NASA's OSIRIS-REx spacecraft preparing to take a sample from asteroid Bennu. 

Credit: NASA/Goddard

NASA has given the OSIRIS-REx mission, led by the University of Arizona, the go-ahead to begin building the spacecraft, flight instruments, ground system and launch support facilities.

OSIRIS-REx is the first U.S. mission slated to send a spacecraft to a near-Earth asteroid and collect samples.

The mission will focus on finding answers to basic questions about the composition of the very early solar system and the source of organic materials and water that made life possible on Earth.

It will also aid NASA's asteroid initiative and support the agency's efforts to understand the population of potentially hazardous near-Earth objects and characterize those suitable for future asteroid exploration missions.

The UA got the thumbs up on April 9 after a successful Mission Critical Design Review (CDR) for NASA's Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification Security Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx).

The review was held at the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company in Littleton, Colo., April 1-9. An independent review board, comprised of experts from NASA and several external organizations, met to review the system design.

"Successfully passing mission CDR is a major accomplishment, but the hard part is still in front of us—building, integrating and testing the flight system to meet our tight launch window," said Mike Donnelly, OSIRIS-REx project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.

"It marks a major shift in our mission," said Ed Beshore, a scientist at the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory and the Department of Astronomy and Steward Observatory, who is the mission's deputy principal investigator.

"For all of us involved with OSIRIS-REx, it is a transition from designing the mission to implementing it. It means we are now cutting metal, building a spacecraft and writing software."

OSIRIS-REx is scheduled to launch in the fall of 2016, rendezvous with the asteroid Bennu in 2018 and spend a year studying the asteroid before collecting a sample of at least 2 ounces (60 grams) of surface material and returning it to Earth for scientists to study in 2023.

NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center will provide overall mission management, systems engineering and safety and mission oversight for OSIRIS-REx. The UA will lead the effort, provide the camera system and science processing and operations center.

Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Denver will build the spacecraft. OSIRIS-REx is the third mission in NASA's New Frontiers Program, which is managed by the Marshall Spaceflight Center.

Mars One Mission: Private Enterprise cite 2018 as launch date

Plans for a permanent human colony on Mars will be preceded by a robotic mission that will take off in 2018, it's been confirmed. 

The initial phase of the private Mars One project – whose (now closed) public appeal for volunteer colonists attracted a stunning 202,586 applicants – has been put back to 2018, though the final goal remains the same: to send four astronauts on a one-way mission to Mars every two years.

The proof-of-concept robotic mission will require a communications satellite to orbit the Sun and a rover to land on the surface of Mars to identify a landing position for later missions. 

The robotic lander, which will also install a communications system ahead of the first manned mission planned for the 2020s, will be built by Mars specialists at Lockheed Martin, with the communications satellite constructed by the UK space company Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL).

Inspiration Mars - Dennis Tito

A unique window of opportunity for humankind will open in January 2018, and the Inspiration Mars Foundation intends to seize it, announcing plans to pursue a challenging manned mission to Mars and back. 

This historic 501-day journey around the Red Planet is made possible by a rare planetary alignment that occurs five years from now.

Two professional crew members - one man, one woman - flying as private citizens will embark on what is known as a "fast, free-return" mission, passing within 100 miles of Mars before swinging back and safely returning to Earth. Target launch date is Jan. 5, 2018.

Last week, officials with the Inspiration Mars Foundation, a new nonprofit organization founded by private space traveler Dennis Tito, announced their plans to pursue the audacious to provide a platform for unprecedented science, engineering and education opportunities, while reaching out to American youth to expand their visions of their own futures in space exploration.

"When nations boldly follow opportunities, rooted in curiosity and guided by technological innovation, they grow, prosper, learn and lead. And this is what makes a nation great," said Tito, chairman of the Inspiration Mars Foundation.

"Human exploration of space is a critical catalyst for our future growth and prosperity," he added.

"This is 'A Mission for America' that will generate knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It will encourage and embolden all Americans to believe, again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, and inspire the next generation of explorers to pursue their destiny through STEM education."

The mission will be built around proven, existing space transportation systems and technologies derived from industry, NASA and the International Space Station that can be available in time to support the launch date.

"Investments in human space exploration technologies and operations by NASA and the space industry are converging at the right time to make this mission achievable," said Taber MacCallum, chief technology officer for Inspiration Mars. MacCallum is also CEO/CTO of Paragon Space Development Corporation, and was a member of the Biosphere 2 Design, Development, Test and Operations team, and a crew member in the first two-year mission.

The mission system will consist of a modified capsule launched out of Earth orbit using a single propulsive maneuver to achieve the Mars trajectory. An inflatable habitat module will be deployed after launch and detached prior to re-entry. Closed-loop life support and operational components will be located inside the vehicle, designed for simplicity and "hands-on" maintenance and repair.

Foundation officials are in talks with several U.S. commercial aerospace companies about prospective launch and crew vehicles and systems.