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New Space Station Discovery and launch of CubeSats

Jan. 5, 2018 by Kenneth Newton

New Space Station Discovery and launch of CubeSats

Sometime next year, the company will hold its fourth anniversary press conference, presenting some of its key accomplishments and milestones. The news will include some of its latest accomplishments, including the first flight of the Space Shuttle Discovery, which will carry more than 10,000 people to and from the International Space Station, and the first manned mission to its orbit, the space station launched in 2016. It will also include its first, and only, launch of the Curiosity rover, which will take off from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and return to Mars once the rover has landed.

NASA's next launch is scheduled for May 20th, 2018, at the Space Launch System (SLS), which will provide the U.S. economy with the most advanced space infrastructure around the globe. The space station will then enter orbit at Saturn, the Saturn V rocket that was first launched in 1987 that flew on the International Space Station. The new SLS will be powered by a 5.6-megawatt three-stage engine fueled by a six-stage hydrogen fuel tank. All of this will be fueled into low Earth orbit, with a planned launch date for the 2020s.

NASA plans to send a crew and its robotic arm to the International Space Station in 2017. But that's only a beginning. The agency plans to send a crew of 3,600 to Mars to the station in 2022, and another 3,600 to return to Earth with the robotic arm. Meanwhile, the U.S. Space Launch System will send astronauts into deep space in 2023, with more recently announced plans to send another crew to Mars in 2024.

Some of the milestones that NASA announced in its launch plans:

* SpaceX has purchased more than a gigawatt of solar power from the U.S. government, with the goal of generating about $500 million annually by 2020 and up to $1.5 billion by 2040.

* NASA has been a major sponsor of the U.S. Space Launch System, with $7 billion in NASA funds over the last five years, including $2 billion for the International Space Station, a $5.2 billion contract with the International Space Station, and $600 million for the Orion spacecraft.

* NASA has been a big supporter of SpaceX's program to deliver cargo to low-Earth orbit.

* NASA is the first major federal government agency to sell an Orbital ATK rocket to the U.S. at a reduced price: $1