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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion capsule to get first taste of space in 4 1/2 hour unpiloted Exploration Flight Test-1 mission set for lift off Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m., EST. Artistry, film offer visionary introduction to space exploration. Lunar resources await. Artificial Gravity: A space health solution? Japan looks to late Tuesday for delayed launch of ambitious asteroid mission. NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope moving through pre-launch checks. Search for Philae lander ongoing. Ground controllers to awaken Pluto bound New Horizons spacecraft. French like robots for exploration of Martian cliffs. Russia eyes higher wages, greater productivity for new generation of space workers. U.S. push for personal spaceflight likely to prevail. A look at major space activities schedule for the week ahead.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA’s Orion capsule set for critical test flight
USA Today (11/28): The new NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion spacecraft is set to make its space debut Dec. 4 with a two orbit unpiloted journey for tests of critical systems, including the four person capsule’s heat shield. Lift off is set for 7:05 a.m., EST, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., U.S. Navy and NASA recovery teams will be waiting for its return in the Pacific Ocean west of California’s Baja Peninsula.
Dec. 4 Orion space capsule flight test is critical to NASA’s human spaceflight program
Huntsville Times (11/28): Much rides on the $380 million NASA/Lockheed Martin Exploration Flight Test-1. EFT-1 will mark the first space test of key Orion spacecraft systems needed to carry astronauts to destinations such as the moon, the asteroids and Mars and return them safely to Earth.
Orion gives NASA and Houston a means to fly, a cause for hope
Houston Chronicle (11/30): Orion has been a roller coaster for NASA’s Johnson Space Center, which leads the development of the deep space capsule. The program’s roots lead back to the 2003 shuttle Columbia tragedy. Orion survived cancellation of NASA’s Constellation back to the moon initiative to become a critical component of possible future missions to an asteroid and Mars. A success Thursday could strengthen the prospects.
More on the cover story: NASA’s Orion is the job of a lifetime for these Lockheed engineers (video)
Denver Business Journal (11/28): Developing the next U.S. human spacecraft quickly became the job of a lifetime for Lockheed Martin’s Denver area workforce. Lockheed Martin is NASA’s prime contractor for the project.
Milestone Orion flight one step in larger test program
Space News (11/26): “EFT-1 is basically a compilation of the riskiest events we’re going to see when we fly people,” Mark Geyer, NASA Orion program manager, told a Nov. 6 briefing focused on the first space flight of the new Orion capsule. “Some of these events are difficult or impossible to test on the ground.” The 4 1/2 mission will be unmanned. “EFT-1 is absolutely the biggest thing that this agency is going to do this year,” said William Hill, NASA deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development.
KSC’s countdown clock: A new look — for a new era
Spaceflight Insider (11/28): NASA goes large flat screen for its new countdown clock at the Kennedy Space Center. The new timer replaces an iconic digital display for the launchings of late Apollo through shuttle era missions. The big flat screen was installed just ahead of Exploration Flight Test-1, the Dec. 4 launching of the NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion capsule. The unpiloted 4 1/2 hour flight is set for lift off at 7:05 a.m., EST.
The visionary astral paintings that inspired space exploration
Forbes.com (11/28): The canvasses of artist Chesley Bonestell, the Father of Modern Space Art, offered inspiring visions of space exploration.
Why Interstellar should be taken seriously — very seriously
The Huffington Post (11/26): “Many people just aren’t interested in space,” writes Michigan University physics student Paul Stefanski, in an op-ed. “Too many.” Stefanski suggest the new feature film is more than a science fiction drama, a warning to humanity.
The Conversation (11/28): Space resources for life support, propellant and construction materials await on the moon. “In this way, gradually increasing access to lunar resources may help ‘bootstrap’ a self-sustaining space-based economy from which the global economy will ultimately benefit,” writes Ian Crawford, English professor of planetary science and astrobiology.
Opinion: NASA needs to add some “weight” to space flight
SpaceflightInsider.com (11/30): NASA may be overlooking the value of artificial gravity as a means of sustaining the health of astronauts launched on deep space missions, according to an op-ed.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Japan readies Hayabusa-2 asteroid sample return mission for launch – RESCHEDULED
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/30): Weather issues prompt postponements in the launching of Japan’s second asteroid encounter mission. Hayabusa-2 is currently set for lift off on Tuesday at 11:22 p.m., EST. The probe’s destination is asteroid 1999JU3, in mid-2018. The spacecraft would make its return to Earth at the end of 2020.
NASA Webb Telescope’s mammoth mirror tripod gets tested in action
America Space (11/28): Essential structure of the James Webb Space Telescope undergoes pre-launch testing at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. The successor to the Hubble Space Telescope is undergoing ground preparations for an October 2018 lift off and a place in space one million miles from the Earth for studies of the earliest star systems.
The search for Philae continues
Spaceflight Insider (11/27): The European Space Agency’s Philae lander hopped to a dramatic touchdown on the Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko on Nov. 12. However, the lander’s battery power drained away before it could be re-charged by the sun. The search for Philae’s shadowy landing site continues.
Ground team ready to rouse Pluto probe for historic flyby
Spaceflightnow.com (11/30): Late this week, ground control teams plan to awaken NASA’s New Horizons mission spacecraft as it enters the final months of a first ever encounter with distant Pluto. Launched in early 2006, New Horizons is to fly within 6,200 miles of Pluto on July 14, 2015.
Robotic rock climbers could aid hunt for Mars life
Space.com (11/29): French Cliffbot could one day offer astronauts robotic assistance in the search for evidence of past life on Mars.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Russia plans massive productivity and wage hike for space industry workforce
Moscow Times (11/28): After peaking in 1989, Russia’s space program has lapsed into an industrial decay. Now seeking fresh talent and challenging new projects, Russia envisions a doubling of wages and incentives to improve efficiency.
Suborbital
Despite setbacks, space tourism will take flight
Albuquerque Journal (11/30): The enthusiasm for personal spaceflight will overcome the late October loss of Virgin Galactic’s pioneering SpaceShipTwo, writes University of New Mexico commercial spaceflight watcher Dirk C. Gibson.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities scheduled for the week ahead
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/30): In Washington, Congress is back in session. Major events this week include the Lockheed Martin/NASA Exploration Flight Test-1, the first chance for an Orion capsule to experience spaceflight. The unpiloted launch is set for Thursday at 7:05 a.m., EST. Weather has prompted several delays of Japan’s Hayabusa -2 asteroid mission, currently set for lift off on Tuesday at 11:22 p.m., EST. The European Space Agency is also hosting a ministerial meeting.
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