To subscribe to CSExtra via RSS feed click here.
If you would prefer to receive CSExtra in e-mail format, e-mail us at Info@space.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Thursday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA narrows down asteroid retrieval mission proposals. A breakdown of NASA’s 2013 budget operating plan reveals a near $850 million annual decline for the soon to end fiscal year. Japan’s fourth re-supply mission spacecraft departs the International Space Station. Houston unveils commercial spaceport plans. Scheduled for a lift off Friday, NASA’s LADEE moon probe will feature an Internet like laser communications system; Chinese lunar lander to carry telescope. Scientists like four possible landing sites for NASA’s next Mars lander. Revising the Drake equation. China launches military satellites. Experts in Germany study a possible asteroid defense. Scientists unravel a mighty Saturn storm.
1. From Space.com: NASA selects 96 top prospects from more than 400 responses to a June request for proposals to help shape a new U. S. asteroid retrieval mission. As part of its 2014 budget, NASA would initiate a plan to identify, rendezvous with and steer a small asteroid into lunar orbit. U. S. astronauts launched aboard NASA’s new Orion spacecraft would attempt a rendezvous during a 2021 test flight. NASA plans a deeper assessment of the proposals during a workshop, Sept. 30 to Oct. 2.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/22643-nasa-asteroid-capture-mission-ideas.html
2. From Spacepolitics.com: The website offers a breakdown of NASA spending for the 2013 fiscal year. The plan was approved last week, with barely a month left in the fiscal year. Bottom line, NASA receives $16.86 billion for 2013 vs. a $17.71 billion White House request.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2013/09/04/final-fy13-operating-plan-tweaks-nasas-budget/
3. From NASAspaceflight.com: Japan’s HTV-4 resupply mission spacecraft departed the International Space Station on Wednesday. The un-piloted freighter un-berthed with help from astronauts following a month long stay.
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2013/09/htv-4-departs-successful-iss-resupply-mission/
4. From The Galveston County Daily News, of Texas: Houston unveils plans for a spaceport before the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an industry group.
http://www.galvestondailynews.com/space/article_dc08c72e-15a8-11e3-b7f4-001a4bcf6878.html
5. From The Washington Post: Scheduled for a Friday launch from Virginia’s eastern shore, NASA’s LADEE moon mission promises to probe the thin lunar atmosphere. It will also feature a prototype laser based “Internet” communications system, explains Pete Worden, director of NASA’s Ames Research Center.
A. From Xinhuanet, of China: China’s Chang’e-3 lunar landing probe, will carry a near ultraviolet telescope and radar to look into deep space and probe the lunar interior, an advisor to the country’s lunar program tells an international forum on lunar and deep space exploration. Launch of the mission, planned for late this year, marks China’s first attempt to soft land a spacecraft on another planetary body.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-09/04/c_132692120.htm
6. From Space.com: NASA identifies four landing sites attractive for its Mars InSight mission, scheduled for a 2016 touchdown. The static lander will study the Martian interior. InSight would represent the first landed mission since the August 2012 touchdown of Curiosity.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/22645-nasa-mars-insight-landing-site-options.html
7. From Space.com: MIT’s Sara Seager revamps the equation formulated by astronomer Frank Drake in 1961 to estimate how many alien civilization communicate by radio waves. Seager tailors the equation for future space observatories equipped to detect indications of biological processes in the atmospheres of alien planets.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/22648-drake-equation-alien-life-seager.html
8. From Spaceflightnow.com: China launches three military satellites. The secret mission payloads were launched on Sunday.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1309/02longmarch/#.Uif-vdIwkQN
9. From The Coalition for Space Exploration: Scientists in Germany study techniques to fend off an asteroid that poses a collision threat to the Earth. Experts from the Fraunhofer Institute are assessing what might be possible with a spacecraft that smashes into an asteroid.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/asteroid-impact-avoidance-system?doing_wp_cron
10. From Space.com: Scientists unravel the effects of a spectacular storm detected on Saturn.
http://news.discovery.com/space/saturn-storm-deep-ice-130904.htm
Brought to you by the Coalition for Space Exploration, CSExtra is a daily compilation of space industry news selected from hundreds of online media resources. The Coalition is not the author or reporter of any of the stories appearing in CSExtra and does not control and is not responsible for the content of any of these stories. The content available through CSExtra contains links to other websites and domains which are wholly independent of the Coalition, and the Coalition makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site or domain and does not pre-screen or approve any content. The Coalition does not endorse or receive any type of compensation from the included media outlets and is not responsible or liable in any way for any content of CSExtra or for any loss, damage or injury incurred as a result of any content appearing in CSExtra. For information on the Coalition, visit www.space.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@space.com.
