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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Delta 4 Heavy rocket assembled for unpiloted flight test of NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle. The International Astronautical Congress convenes in Toronto this week. Flat space budgets: helping, hindering global cooperation? First woman in space reflects on her 1963 flight, aspirations for Mars. Europe sets date for Rosetta mission comet landing. India’s Mars mission motivations. NASA prepares successor to the exo-planet hunting Kepler space telescope. Russia plots super rocket decision. Lunar eclipse coming for many on Oct. 8. Space walkers to examine balky Soyuz solar array. U.S., Russia to pursue more space station research cooperation. Russia, China launch new satellites. Former NASA astronaut leads missing children awareness campaign. NASA seeks bids for a second round of commercial cargo deliveries to the International Space Station. ATK proposes solid rocket alternative to imports of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine. Sierra Nevada announces appeal of losing bid in NASA’s latest Commercial Crew Program competition. Op-ed suggests NASA chose wisely in Commercial Crew Program competition, envisions possible benefits for future deep space exploration. Chinese entrepreneur plans high altitude balloon passenger flights. A look at major upcoming space activities.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Assembly completed on powerful Delta IV rocket boosting maiden Orion capsule test flight
Universe Today (9/28): United Launch Alliance assembles the Delta 4 Heavy rocket that will launch NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule on its first unmanned test flight. The two orbit Exploration Flight Test-1 mission is planned for early December from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
Toronto hosting international convention which brings world of space to Canada
Canadian Press (9/27): The International Astronautical Congress meets in Toronto this week. Three thousand people from 70 countries are expected to attend, representing industry, government and academia. Alliances, the extension of the International Space Station and future exploration plans are topics.
Flat space budgets make cooperation tricky
Aviation Week & Space Technology (9/29): Europe is struggling to lead the dual 2016-18 Exo-Mars exploration missions after NASA withdrew over budget concerns, a role Russia is attempting to fill. A reign of limited spending on space globally is raising new questions about the wisdom of a U.S. ban on cooperation with China.
First woman in space: ‘I very much wanted to go to Mars’
Russia Beyond the Headlines (9/26): Now a part of Russia’s governance, Valentina Tereshkova, the first woman in space, recalls the preparations for her 1963 launch and dreams of traveling to Mars. Last week, Russia launched a female cosmonaut to the International Space Station, the country’s first.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Rosetta: Date fixed for historic comet landing attempt
BBC (8/26): The European Space Agency looks to Nov. 12 for the Rosetta mission’s landing on the comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko. The landing site for Rosetta’s Philae lander was selected earlier this month. Rosetta rendezvoused with the comet in August for a journey around the sun together. The challenges of the landing are immense, ESA cautions.
The New Yorker (9/26): Last week, India’s first Mars mission spacecraft maneuvered into orbit around the red planet. The spacecraft’s goals are modest studies of the Martian surface and atmosphere. More importantly, the mission is a demonstration of Indian technology, K. Radhakrishnan, the chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization, told the Indian Express.
NASA exo-planet mission to hunt down Earth-sized worlds
Space.com (9/28): NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite is headed toward a 2017 launch and continuation of a mission started by the Kepler Space Telescope to search for planets circling distant stars. At least two million stars will be surveyed.
Roscosmos boss talks new super-heavy booster rocket, Votochny Cosmodrome, cooperation with U.S.
Spaceflightinsider.com (9/27): Russia to select from among proposals from three designers for a new heavy lift rocket.
Wake up to a total lunar eclipse on October 8, 2014
Sky and Telescope (9/26): Just before dawn on Oct. 8, Earthlings in the Americas will have an opportunity to witness a lunar eclipse.
The stars of Autumn’s night sky: What to look for
Space.com (9/26): A look at what’s changing in the night skies during the fall season.
Low Earth Orbit
Group set up to investigate solar array glitch
Itar Tass, or Russia (9/26): A Russian spacewalk planned for October from the International Space Station will examine a solar array on the Soyuz crew transport that docked late last Thursday with three U.S. and Russian astronauts. The array failed to deploy after liftoff six hours earlier. Once the Soyuz was docked, the solar panel mysteriously deployed.
U.S. suggested broadening space cooperation with Russia space agency
Itar-Tass, of Russia (9/26): Invitations from the U.S. suggest closer cooperation in research underway aboard the International Space Station, according to Oleg Ostapenko, head of Roscosmos, the Russia’s federal space agency.
Russian proton delivers in 1st launch since May failure
Space News (9/28): Russia’s Proton launcher bounces back from a spring failure with Sunday’s launching of a military satellite.
China launches another secretive Shijian-11 mission
NASA Spaceflight.com (9/28): China launched a secretive experimental satellite early Sunday atop a Long March 2C rocket.
Astronaut drives effort to find missing child
Florida Today (9/27): Former NASA astronaut Jon McBride joins effort to raise awareness of missing children.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
NASA requests proposals for follow-on ISS cargo contract
Space News (9/26): On Friday, NASA requested bids from U.S. aerospace companies for a second round of commercial re-supply missions to the International Space Station. Orbital Sciences and SpaceX are the contracted suppliers for the first round, which could continue into 2018. The second round competition would cover deliveries and cargo returns through 2024.
Sierra Nevada protests NASA Commercial Crew loss
Aviation Week & Space Technology (9/26): The U.S. General Accountability Office will assess the protest over NASA’s latest Commercial Crew Program contract awards to Boeing and SpaceX. Sierra Nevada is developing a winged lifting body to provide commercial human transportation to and from low Earth orbit.
ATK offers solid alternative to replace ULA’s controversial Atlas-V liquid RD-180 engine
AmericaSpace.com (9/27): ATK proposes a U.S. solid rocket alternative to Russia’s RD-180, the imported rocket engine that powers the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.
NASA pact is a hopeful sign for space flight
Houston Chronicle (9/27): NASA has chosen wisely in its decision to contract with Boeing and SpaceX to develop human commercial space transportation systems to low Earth orbit destinations, writes Texas A&M University professor Johnathan Coopersmith in an op-ed. The effort is likely to change NASA’s role and possibly help to bring down the costs of future human deep space exploration, he writes.
Suborbital
Beijing start-up plans to offer ‘low-cost’ space travel in ultra-high balloon
South China Morning Post (9/29): Chinese entrepreneur plans high altitude balloon flights for passengers.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of September 29 – October 10, 2014
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/28): A look at major space related activities scheduled for the two weeks ahead. Congress is adjourned through the November elections. The International Astronautical Congress meets in Toronto this week.
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