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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe, plus a roundup of writings from the weekend. NASA’s powerful Space Launch System rocket for future human exploration makes strides despite challenges. NASA launches moon mission from Virginia’s Eastern Shore to study lunar environment. NASA addresses technical concerns with James Webb Space Telescope. Olympic Torch headed for Nov. 9 spacewalk. Star birth waning. Curiosity captures Martian eclipse. Checking in on comet ISON. Blue Origin protests possible deal for exclusive use of Launch Pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Video, audio of SpaceShipTwo Test Flight. SpaceX founder Elon Musk anxious as first launch of upgraded Falcon 9 approaches. Space related activities planned for the coming week.
1. From Florida Today, Sept. 5: NASA’s challenging Space Launch System initiative is making impressive progress in a difficult development environment, writes Doug Cooke, guest columnist. Cooke, a former NASA Associate Administrator for exploration, writes that NASA’s new exploration rocket is making progress and in some cases moving ahead of schedule despite the lack of stable funding. NASA plans to pair the SLS with the new Orion spacecraft to start future astronauts on missions of deep space exploration.
A. From the Orlando Sentinel, Sept. 6: Former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver warns of possible delays in Space Launch System development. Expect delays of a year or two, said Garver, who spoke at a reception in her honor. Garver served as NASA’s deputy administrator for four years.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-nasa-sls-garver-20130906,0,5536178.story
2. From NASA, Sept. 6: NASA Publishes SLS Progress Report and Highlights.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/sls_highlights.html
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/index.html
A. From NASA: SLS engine testing underway.
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/j2x/j2x-last-gimbal-test.html#.Ui2YOdIwkQM
3. From CBS News, Sept. 7: NASA’s Lunar Atmosphere & Dust Environment Explorer mission lifts off late Friday from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Airport, of Virginia. After a 30 day journey to the moon, LADEE will study the tenuous lunar atmosphere and the properties of the pervasive electrically charged dust.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-57601829/nasa-launches-innovative-moon-probe/
A. From Spaceflightnow.com, Sept. 7: LADEE mission controllers overcome post launch difficulties with spacecraft reaction wheels on Saturday.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/minotaur/ladee/130907launch/#.Uiv7N9IwkQM
B. From the Washington Post, Sept. 7: NASA’s latest moon mission explained. LADEE will pioneer space laser communications, study lunar environment for atmospheric transport, electrically charged dust interactions.
4. From the Washington Post, Sept. 8: Scientists discuss prospects for cooling down the Earth. Dust thrown into the atmosphere from the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines, for instance, temporarily cooled the planet by a degree.
5. From Space News, Sept. 6: NASA managers, engineers address James Webb Space Telescope technical issues raised by the U. S. General Accountability Office in late 2012.
6. From Ria Novosti, of Russia, Sept.9: Olympic torch to be part of Nov. 9 Russian spacewalk from the International Space Station. The torch will launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft two days earlier and return to Earth in time for the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia.
http://en.rian.ru/sports/20130906/183207251/Date-Set-for-Olympic-Torch-Spacewalk.html
7. From the Christian Science Monitor, Sept. 5: Astronomers find star birth in a long decline. Changes reshaping spiral galaxies into elliptical galaxies.
http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2013/0905/Death-spiral-why-the-universe-is-producing-fewer-stars
8. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover tackles new photo taking process as it rolls towards Mount Sharpe in Gail Crater.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/focus-on-mars
A. From Space.com: Sept. 6: NASA’s Mars Curiosity rover captures images of the moon Phobos as it passes in front of the sun in August.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/22685-mars-solar-eclipse-curiosity-rover-videos.html
9. From NBC News: Checking in on Comet ISON with the Hubble Space Telescope. Possibly not the “comet of the century” as some predicted, ISON is nonetheless intact on its journey toward the sun. And, yes, it’s not an alien space ship.
http://www.nbcnews.com/science/comet-ison-ufo-hubbles-scientists-do-reality-check-8C11098818
10. From Florida Today, Sept. 8: Blue Origin files objection with U. S. Government Accountability Office over possible NASA decision to award exclusive use of Launch Pad 39 A at the Kennedy Space Center to SpaceX. Blue Origin has submitted a multi user proposal of its own. Some U. S. senators oppose exclusive use as well.
11. From Wired News, Sept. 6: Ride with Scaled Composites test pilots Mark Stucky and Clint Nichols as they flew SpaceShipTwo supersonic last week over Mojave, Calif. The video comes from Virgin Galactic.
http://www.wired.com/autopia/2013/09/video-virgin-galactic-test-pilots/
12. From Space News, Sept. 6: SpaceX founder Elon Musk says his company is “anxious” as first launch of the upgraded Falcon 9 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., approaches. A Canadian satellite, Cassiope, is riding along.
13. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Sept. 8: A look at space policy activities scheduled for the week ahead.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/space-policy-events-for-the-week-of-september-9-13-2013
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