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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Spending on space worldwide makes a rare decline in 2013, according to European study. Antarctica provides ideal setting for simulates Mars mission. NASA needs stricter security against exposure of sensitive information to foreigners. New reports suggest China’s lunar lander is functional. The U.N. marks first anniversary of Chelyabinsk, Russia asteroid impact with planning for global warning network and defenses. Japanese space technology controlling domestic energy use. National Museum of the U.S. Air Force pays tribute to space shuttle. Orbital Sciences Corp reports strong 2013 earnings. Boeing reaches milestones in development of a commercial crew space transportation system.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Global spending on space decreases for first time in 20 years
Euroconsult (2/13): Government spending on space dropped in 2013 for the first time in nearly two decades, the website reports. Totals for 2013 equaled $72.1 billion, down from $72.9 billion the previous year. It was the first annual slip since 1995. A reversal, however, is anticipated. “We anticipate government space spending to recover in the second part of the decade in many countries currently experiencing intense budget pressure,” said Steve Bochinger, COO at Euroconsult and Editor of the report.
Winter in the Antarctic shows what it will take to live on Mars
Scientific American (2/13): Thirteen people this week will begin a Mars mission simulation in Antarctica at Concordian station. The European research site may be the best place on Earth to recreate life on Mars. It’s cold and dark until May. Food must be packed away and recycling of water is a must. “You have limited space for a bunch of people, no contact with the outside world in a normal way, no sunlight or normal circadian triggers,” says Peter Gräf, life sciences program manager at the German Aerospace Center, who has worked on numerous Mars analogue missions. “You have a bunch of people you have to get along with, and you have no alternatives and no escapes.”
Report: NASA needs agency-wide rules for foreign access to centers
Space News (2/13): NASA’s field centers are vulnerable to foreign security breaches, according to a report prepared for Congress by the National Academy for Public Administration. The report, prompted by recent incidents at the Ames Research Center and Langley Research Center, points to a patchwork policy for admitting foreign nationals to space agency installations.
Thornburgh report notes “tension” between international cooperation and security at NASA
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/13): A NASA security study finds “tension’ between directives to safeguard sensitive and proprietary information while fostering international cooperation.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Return of the Jade Rabbit: China’s moon rover back in action
Los Angeles Times (2/13): Experts in China grow more optimistic over the fate of the rover that accompanied the Chang’e-3 lander to the moon’s surface in December. Reports over the past two weeks have suggested the “Yutu” or “Jade Rabbit” rover encountered mechanical failures.
China Moon rover survives lunar night, ‘stands a chance’ of recovery
Space.com (2/13): China’s Jade Rabbit lunar rover stands a chance of recovery, according to China’s Xinhua news agency.
China’s stricken Jade Rabbit hops back to life
Wall Street Journal (2/13): China’s Yutu lunar rover has “come back to life,” according to a spokesman for China’s space agency.
United Nations takes aim at asteroid threat to Earth
Space.com (2/13): Saturday marks an unwelcome first anniversary, the surprise impact of a meteor over Chelyabinsk in Russia. In the aftermath, U.N. efforts are under way to establish a warning network and a strategy to deflect an impactor.
JAXA develops energy controller for homes using Hayabusa technology
Mainichi Daily News of Japan (2/14): Technologies developed for Japan’s Hayabusa asteroid mission to control power usage in homes and offices.
Spaceweather.com (2/14): An upswing in solar activity this weeks could bring weekend auroral displays.
Low Earth Orbit
Air Force museum in Ohio set to open life-size space shuttle exhibit built around simulator
Associated Press via Minneapolis Star Tribune (2/13): The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force prepares to open a space shuttle exhibit featuring a cockpit simulator used by NASA astronauts to prepare for flight.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Orbital’s success in space reflected in the balance sheets
NASAspaceflight.com (2/13): Orbital Sciences Corp., one of two companies contracted to NASA to provide supplies for the International Space Station, reports an earnings success in 2013 and billions of dollars in future orders.
Boeing commercial crew program passes NASA hardware, software reviews
Boeing (2/13): Boeing achieves formal milestones in its partnership with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to develop a spacecraft capable to transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
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