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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Volunteers emerge from Hawaii based Mars analog eager for the sights, sounds and scent of the Earth. Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin visits recovery ship, points to Mars for human settlement. Northrop Grumman oversees crucial James Webb Space Telescope test. Lunar resources stir property rights debate. The case for Mars water. Comet Sidings Spring heads toward close encounter with Mars. Radio astronomers chase mysterious signal. Putting a major 2012 solar outburst in perspective. NASA grants Spitzer space telescope mission a two year extension. China provokes with missile test. Russia re-establishes contact with satellite carrying gecko and plant samples. NASA’s Sustainability Base features advances in energy, recycling from aerospace technology. U.S. federal court directs SpaceX, U.S. Air Force to mediate suit over contract award to United Launch Alliance. Some experts question expectations for commercial space business. A look at space related activities planned for the week ahead.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Volunteers emerge from mock Mars base in Hawaii
Space.com (7/26): A four month Mars mission analog in a habitat atop a volcano in Hawaii ends for six volunteers. “I haven’t seen a tree, smelled the rain, heard a bird, or felt wind on my skin in four months,” said mission commander Casey Stedman as the second Hawaii Space Exploration Analog & Simulation mission, or HI-SEAS 2 exercise, was drawing to a close.
Alameda: Buzz Aldrin marks 45th anniversary of first moon landing
San Jose Mercury News (7/26): Apollo 11’s Aldrin visits the USS Hornet to mark the 45th anniversary of the splashdown and ocean recovery of the historic first human lunar landing. It’s time, says Aldrin, to make a commitment to the human exploration and settlement of Mars. “Our purpose is not just to go there and look around,” said Aldrin, 84. “Our purpose should be to establish an ongoing presence of human beings from the planet Earth.”
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
James Webb Space Telescope’s giant sunshield test unit unfurled first time
Universe Today (7/26): Northrop Grumman demonstrates the unfurling of a tennis court sized sunshade for the James Webb Space Telescope. Components of the JWST are coming together across the U.S. for a launch scheduled for October 2018. The JWST is the designated successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Mining the Moon? Space property rights still unclear, experts say
Space.com (7/25): Growing interest in the moon’s resources among increasingly space capable nations and new space investors is raising new questions over lunar property rights. Bigelow Aerospace and the U.S. Commerce Department are among those attempting to address the issue.
Martian soil salts may make water ice all wet
Scientific American (7/25): The presence of perchlorate salts in the Martian soil identified by NASA’s Curiosity and Phoenix missions could mean the planet harbors liquid water underground.
AmericaSpace.com (7/27): NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory makes plans to protect its Mars orbiting spacecraft from debris coming from Comet Siding Spring, as the comet sweeps close to the red planet on Oct. 19. New orbital probes are arriving from the U.S. and India to join those already circling Mars from NASA and the European Space Agency.
Close encounters of the radio kind? Mystery bursts baffle astronomers
National Public Radio (7/26): Puzzling energetic bursts have now been recognized by scientists at two widely separated radio telescopes, one in Australia, the other in Puerto Rico. The origin and source of the intriguing signals is a mystery.
No, Earth wasn’t nearly destroyed by a 2012 solar storm
Scientific American (7/25): The publication revisits a July 2012 major solar eruption and the threat it posed and didn’t pose to the Earth. The second anniversary of the storm and the results of follow up research last week sparked headlines.
Extension granted for NASA’s Spitzer infrared telescope
Spaceflightnow.com (7/25): NASA’s Spitzer Space Telescope receives a two year mission extension. Launched in 2003, Spitzer studies the universe at infrared wavelengths as one of NASA’s four Great Observatories.
Low Earth Orbit
U.S. accuses China of conducting another ASAT test
Spacepolicyonline.com (7/25): A U.S. State Department official claims China carried out a de-stabilizing anti-satellite test last Wednesday. China says it tested a missile intercept weapon.
Ground teams restore contact with orbiting geckos
Spaceflightnow.com (7/26): Russia re-establishes ground contact with the Foton M4 satellite. The capsule is carrying geckos and plant samples as part of an unpiloted space biology mission. Foton M4 launched July 18.
Innovation Earth: Bringing NASA technology back to Earth
Huffington Post (7/25): NASA’s Ames Research Center establishes Sustainability Base, a functioning testament to the agency’s aerospace technology. SB, a building, produces more energy than is consumes — in part with technology from the Curiosity Mars rover. It recycles resources as well — thanks in part to technologies aboard the International Space Station.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Court presses SpaceX and Air Force to resolve case in mediation
Spacepolitics.com (7/26): U.S. federal judge directs the U.S. Air Force and SpaceX to mediate their dispute over a commercial rocket award to United Launch Alliance. ULA was the sole source recipient of an USAF order for 36 rocket cores.
Expert says launch business overblown
Orlando Sentinel (7/28): Some experts warn that states competing for commercial space business opportunities may be overly optimistic in their expectations. “There is a sort of war between the states for the next big thing in the space business,” according to one expert. “They are all jockeying for position. But nobody really knows how big this thing is going to be…”
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of July 28-August 1, 2014
Spacepolicyonline.com: The U.S. House and Senate are in session this week, with non-space related activities on their agendas. An August recess ends Sept. 8.
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