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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket for human deep space missions reaches key transition phase. Wake up call for the astronomical community. In space, fusion propulsion, launched aboard NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket, could be a means of reaching Mars with human explorers on an accelerated schedule. Is the U.S. losing its heading in space with the proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission? NASA’s Juno mission spacecraft to swing past Earth on Wednesday to hasten journey to Jupiter. Martian super volcanoes may have influenced habitable conditions on red planet. Russia braces for a long anticipated shakeup in space leadership. Destructive power of meteors like the rock that exploded over remote Russia earlier this year may be under estimated. Check stars carefully when studying alien planets for life, Chinese astronomers suggest. Latest impacts from the U.S. Government shutdown. October to feature penumbral lunar eclipse and Orionid meteor shower.
1. From AmericaSpace.com: NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket is poised to move from the preliminary design phase to the key decision point in its development. The transition, which may be paced by the U.S. government shutdown, is equivalent to moving from formulation to implementation. “Moving from formulation to implementation is a huge milestone,” said James Whalen, a systems engineering consultant who teaches systems engineering classes at NASA field centers.
http://www.americaspace.com/?p=43342
2. From the Space Review: In “The astronomical community must wake up: the need for synergies between science and exploration,” essayist Matt Greenhouse, a NASA astrophysicist, urges fellow professionals to forge closer ties to future U.S. human space exploration planning, including assets like the Space Launch System. The relationship achieved a high point with the Hubble Space Telescope, which was serviced by shuttle astronauts. As the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope nears, those ties are strained as astronomers converge on a non-human course.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2380/1
3. From Space.com: Don’t give up on fusion as a propulsion source for human expeditions to Mars, Anthony Pancotti, who leads the space propulsion company MSNW, urges NASA’s In Space Propulsion working group. Nuclear fusion is extremely efficient and powerful. A fusion propulsion system could be launched in a single NASA’s Space Launch System mega-rocket, according to Pancotti’s assessment.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/23084-mars-exploration-nuclear-fusion-rocket.html
4. From Space News: America is losing its heading in space with the Asteroid Retrieval Mission, writes Mark Sykes, CEO and director of the Space Science Institute. He proposes more efforts to determine potential asteroid resources and experiments on the International Space Station to demonstrate resource recovery as an alternative.
http://www.spacenews.com/article/opinion/37597american-human-spaceflight-floundering
5. From Space.com: NASA’s Juno mission spacecraft is on course to skim 350 miles over the Earth on Wednesday, receiving a gravitational boost. Launched on a six year mission on Aug. 5, 2011, Juno is to maneuver into orbit around Jupiter in August 2016 to seek new clues to the formation of the giant planet and whether it has a solid core.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/23100-juno-spacecraft-earth-flyby-wednesday.html
6. From Reuters via the Washington Post: Eruptions of super volcanoes on Mars may have triggered climate changes that influenced the planet’s habitability. NASA’s Curiosity rover should be able to test the theory as it climbs Mount Sharpe.
7. From Itar-Tass: Russia braces for a change in leadership among the nation’s space enterprises.
http://www.itar-tass.com/c142/903371.html?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=ITAR-TASS
A. From Spacepolicyonline.com: Russian space program shakeup imminent, according to a Russian news media reports.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/russian-space-program-shakeup-imminent
8. From Wired.com: New studies of the meteor that exploded over remote Russia on Feb. 15 suggest the risk of damage from similar air bursts is greater than previously assumed. Mark Boslough, a physicist from the U. S. Sandia National Laboratories, who studies asteroid impacts, presented his findings about the Chelyabinsk event before the American Astronomical Society’s 2013 Division for Planetary Science meeting in Denver on Monday
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2013/10/chelyabinsk-frequent-impact/
A. From Space News: Cosmic and solar radiation, more than Near Earth Asteroids, pose a threat to life on Earth, writes Joseph Pelton, author and a former dean of the International Space University.
http://www.spacenews.com/article/opinion/37598should-nasa-be-taking-cosmic-radiation-more-seriously
9. From Sky and Telescope: Finding signs of biological activity on alien planets may require closer scrutiny of their host stars, according to a Chinese research team that presented finding before the 45th annual meeting of the American Astronomical Society’s Division for Planetary Sciences in Denver on Monday.
http://www.skyandtelescope.com/news/Is-Oxygen-a-False-Positive-for-Alien-Life-226812491.html
10. From the Space Review: In “Return of the X-vehicle,” TSR editor Jeff Foust tracks the emergence of a new X vehicle, the XS-1. Sponsored by DARPA, the new X vehicle would lead the development of unpiloted reusable first stage launch vehicle for satellite launchings as well as hypersonic research.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2379/1
11. From Space Politics.com: As the U.S. Government shutdown moves into its second week, the website looks at the impacts beyond the large number of professionals furloughed by NASA. Major astronomical and astronautical conferences meet this week with reduced attendance. The FAA cancels a Washington Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Commission meeting in Washington.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2013/10/07/shutdown-effects-percolate-through-the-space-community/
12. From Space.com: The annual Orionid meteor shower set to peak Oct. 21-22. A penumbral lunar eclipse falls on Oct. 18.
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