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Saturday’s CSExtra features the latest reporting and commentary on developments in space science. In new studies, experts suggest NASA’s near 35-year-old Viking missions found evidence of organic compounds on Mars after all, strengthening the case for some form of past or present life on the Red Planet. Famed cosmologist Stephen Hawking and a co-writer address the state of the universe and the notion of grand design in what seems likely to be a controversial new book. A new strategy to rid a California nuclear research facility of contaminated soil. Plans at NASA to add a June 2011 shuttle mission remain in limbo.
1. From the New York Times: Scientists have re-assessed findings from NASA’s Viking I and II missions of 35 years ago and determined they may well have found evidence of organic compounds in the Martian soil, after all. The new interpretation comes from findings of perchlorate by NASA’s 2008 Phoenix Lander mission to the Martian north pole and a new analysis of Mars-like soil from Chile’s Atacama Desert. Some experts disagree with the latest interpretations. But there is hope that NASA’s super over, Curiosity, can solve the mystery. Curiosity and its on board chemistry lab is scheduled for launching to Mars next year. Organics are considered the building blocks for life.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/09/04/science/space/04mars.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
A. From the Washington Post: While the new findings regarding the Viking missions do not confirm that Mars hosts, or once hosted, some form of life, they do make the prospect more likely.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/09/03/AR2010090306186.html
2. From the Wall Street Journal: Cosmologist Stephen Hawking and Leonard Mlodinow present a summary of their new book, The Grand Design, in which they address what modern science has to say about the formation of the universe and intelligent design. They argue that the laws of gravity and quantum theory can account for the universe before us. We are likely part of a multi-verse, they write.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704206804575467921609024244.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEADNewsCollection
3. From the Los Angeles Times: The Department of Energy and NASA join on a strategy to clean toxic wastes from a former nuclear research facility at Santa Susana, Calif. Contaminated soil from the site overlooking the San Fernando Valley will be trucked to disposal sites in Utah. The cleanup should be complete by 2017. Santa Susana, now owned by NASA and the Boeing Co., was the site of a reactor leak on July 14, 1959.
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-0904-cleanup-20100904,0,658613.story
4. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: A study team from Johns Hopkins University, led by Marshall Kaplan, outlines a strategy to address the growing issue of orbital debris at the AIAA 2010 Conference in Anaheim, Calif. Current technologies will permit the removal of only the largest debris threats, Kaplan advises. Nonetheless, something needs to be done in the next 10 to 20 years, he tells the conference.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/clutter-in-the-cosmos-%e2%80%93-tough-challenges-ahead-in-removing-space-junk
5. From Spaceflightnow.com: Efforts to add another shuttle missions, STS-135 aboard Atlantis, in June/July 2011 remain in limbo as deliberations over the space agency’s 2011 budget continue in Congress. Meanwhile, NASA is continuing with efforts to turn a rescue flight for the STS-134 mission, set for launching aboard Endeavour on Feb. 26, into the final shuttle flight. That mission would launch on June 28 with supplies for the International Space Station. However, funding must be forthcoming by January, and it looks like NASA will begin the 2011 fiscal year on Oct. 1 with a continuing resolution, rather than a new budget.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/100903limbo/
A. From Spaceflightnow.com: The crew of the shuttle Discovery will carry out a spacewalk to clean up the work site around a failed coolant pump on the International Space Station. The pump module was replaced with a recent series of unscheduled spacewalks. Discovery’s flight, STS-133, is targeted for a Nov. 1 lift off. Among the unfinished tasks — moving the old pump module to an external stowage platform for possible return to Earth on a late June 2011 shuttle flight and attaching a power cable for a new pressurized stowage module.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/100903eva/
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