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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. U.S. government can still play critical role in innovation. In Houston, Johnson Space Center inspires, spurs innovation. Langley, Va., students shape radiation protection for human deep space missions. Morpheus testing advancing. Bus-sized asteroid sails past Earth on Saturday. Jovian moon Ganymede joins Europa as candidate for possible space habitat. Part Time Scientists offer formula for innovation. Meteor show peaks. NASA astronauts Shannon Lucid, Jerry Ross inducted in U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. Is the U.S. too reliant upon Russian space tech? New high definition video of the Earth streams from the International Space Station. U.S. and France extend long running ocean study mission. Orbital Sciences looks to June for next commercial re-supply mission to the space station. Orbital Sciences poised for growth through merger. National Space Society to convene annual conference May 14. U.S. sanctions against Russia over Ukraine sow confusion. A look at major space policy events scheduled for the week ahead.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Government nurtures innovation
New York Times (5/2): Praise for the U.S. government in guiding American innovation flows from Joe Nocera, one of the innovators of cloud computing, in an op ed. He suggests a pair of space related examples, NASA leading an international mission to Mars, the Department of Energy lowering the cost of solar energy below the price of coal.
Ochoa: Johnson Space Center continues to inspire youth and innovation
Houston Chronicle (5/3): From operations of the International Space Station to development of the Orion crew exploration capsule, NASA’s Johnson Space Center offers youthful inspiration and new opportunities for the economy, writes JSC Director Ellen Ochoa in an op-ed.
Team ARES wins NASA’s Exploration Design Challenge for Orion’s first flight
Spaceflight Insider (5/3): Team ARES, from Hampton, Va., prevails in NASA Exploration Design Challenge for high school students by shaping a radiation protection strategy for NASA’s Orion deep space capsule.
NASA’s Morpheus lander prototype touches down on mock moonscape (video)
Space.com (5/2): NASA engineers began tests of the prototype planetary lander with the Automated Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology package at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. During a test flight April 30, ALHAT evaluated a landing site within a simulated moon scape but did not engage in guidance. The guidance goal, however, is coming in a final series of test flights this month. Morpheus is helping NASA develop autonomous landing technologies for human as well as cargo missions to a range of planetary surfaces.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Bus-size asteroid buzzes Earth, comes closer than the Moon
Space.com (5/3): An asteroid equaling the size of a city bus glided by the Earth on Saturday within the orbit of the moon. Newly discovered asteroid 2014 HL129 came within 186,000 miles (299,338 kilometers) of Earth early in the day.
Could Jupiter’s moon Ganymede host life? Layer-cake model advances the idea.
Christian Science Monitor (5/2): The icy moon may have as many as four layers of ocean compressed between layers of ice, according to new modeling of the moon. Ganymede appears to join other moons of Jupiter and Saturn as hosting environments possibly suitable for life.
Following the decadal survey: NASA focus on Europa mission
NASAspaceflight.com (5/2): NASA issues a worldwide request for information seeking ideas for a future unmanned orbital mission to Europa, the ice and ocean covered moon of Jupiter. The RFI follows closely the National Research Council decadal survey, Visions and Voyages for Planetary Science, from 2011.
‘Part-time scientists’ look to fast-track space exploration (op-ed)
Space.com (5/3): The organization, concerned about a falloff in public spaceflight investment, embraced principles of rapid prototyping, off the shelf technologies, and smaller safety margins than NASA in its approach to the Google Lunar X-Prize, explains Part-Time Scientists co-founder Robert Bohme.
Spaceweather.com (5/5): The Aquanid meteor shower is expected to peak Monday night and Tuesday morning. The source of the debris is Halley’s Comet. Up to 60 meteors per hour are forecast for the southern hemisphere, half that in the northern hemisphere.
Low Earth Orbit
2014 class inducted into Astronaut Hall of Fame
Spaceflightnow.com (5/3): Retired NASA astronauts Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross were inducted Saturday into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. They flew a dozen missions total. Lucid once held the single spaceflight duration record for women, 188 days. Ross is tied for the most launches, seven.
Spaceflight Insider (5/3): Ross flew seven times into orbit as a NASA shuttle astronaut. Ross is writing a book for children, Becoming a Spacewalker: My journey to the Stars. He joined with Shannon Lucid in Central Florida on Saturday for induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.
Matt Reed: So reliant on Russia, it’s scary
Florida Today (5/3): Tensions between the U.S. and Russia over Ukraine revealing excessive American reliance on Russian space hardware, so much so that it has become a national security risk, if not an embarrassment, writes Reed in an op-ed.
Viewing Earth in high definition
Coalition for Space Exploration (5/3): New video cameras installed outside the International Space Station switch on last week. The HDEF experiment is an evaluation of off the shelf video instruments modified for spaceflight. High school students were involved in the preparations. Ustream offers a look.
Agreement formalizes French, U.S. roles on ocean-mapping satellite mission
Space News (5/2): The two space agencies agreed to cooperate in the development of the Surface Water and Ocean Topography (SWOT) altimetry satellite to be launched in 2020.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
NASA applies for shuttle strip permit
Florida Today (5/4): Permit from U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would allow extension of Kennedy Space Center landing strip for use by commercial space companies.
Antares gets a new launch date from Wallops
Hampton Roads Daily Press (5/2): Orbital Sciences will look to June 10 for its second commercially contracted cargo delivery to the International Space Station. The launching from the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport of Virginia was originally set for May 6, but postponed to accommodate changes in the current SpaceX Dragon mission underway at the space station.
The evolution of Orbital Sciences
Washington Post (5/4): Orbital Sciences Corp., which announced merger plans with ATK last week, began in 1982 as the vision of three Harvard Business School friends. After 800 satellites launches, Orbital is poised to become larger and more capable, while sustaining its reputation as a highly innovative, agile and competitive force in the space and defense systems arena, according to chief executive David Thompson.
National Space Society (4/29): NSS sets May 14 for opening of the five day International Annual Space Development Conference in Los Angeles.
U.S. sanctions against Russia sowing confusion, caution among space firms
Space News (5/2): Confusion grows over April 28 U.S. State Department sanctions on the export of U.S. satellites and their components to Russia for commercial launch services.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of May 5-9, 2014
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/4): Activities include Congressional markups and hearings, organizational gatherings.
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