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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA’s budget for 2015 would rise to $18 billion under an agreement reached by the U.S. House and Senate late Tuesday. President Obama praises the success of Friday’s Orion Exploration Flight Test-1, and Lockheed Martin’s Orion chief engineer Julie Kramer White. Europe, Russia will pursue joint robotic missions to the moon’s South Pole. Curiosity rover finds Martian past potentially habitable. Collaborators develop new technique to measure black hole distances. Hubble Space Telescope spots distant snow globe. Gamma ray burst possibly responsible for an Earth extinction. Saturn’s moon Titan sports sand-like dunes. China looks to 2020 to complete independent global satellite navigation network. Orbital Sciences outlines strategy to honor NASA International Space Station re-supply agreement with United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launch services.
NASA’s 2015 Budget
NASA gets big increase in FY2015 Omnibus, NOAA satellites do OK
Spacepolicyonline.com (12/9): The U.S. House and Senate reached agreement late Tuesday on 2015 fiscal year spending. Under the budget proposal, NASA is in line for $18.01 billion, $549 million more than the White House request. The measure awaiting the president’s signature would fund the Orion crew exploration capsule at $1.194 billion instead of $1.053 billion; the Space Launch System at $1.7 billion, instead of $1.380 billion; and Planetary Science at $1.438 billion rather than $1.280 billion. However, some NASA divisions fall below the White House request, including commercial crew, $805 million instead of $848 million; and International Space Station operations, $3.828 billion instead of $3.905 billion.
First look: New U.S. spending deal a mixed bag for science
Science Insider (12/9): NASA and the National Science Foundation emerge well in a 2015 U.S. budget agreement reached by the U.S. House and Senate late Tuesday. Research spending at the Department of Energy and the National Institutes of Health remain at current levels under the proposal.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Obama “proud” of Orion EFT-1, praises chief engineer Julie Kramer White
Spacepolicyonline.com (12/9): President Obama praised Lockheed Martin Orion chief engineer Julie Kramer White in Washington remarks Tuesday. The chief executive also praised the success of the NASA/Lockheed Martin Exploration Flight Test-1 mission of the unpiloted Orion capsule on Friday.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Europe proposes joint Moon trips with Russia
Nature News (12/9): The European and Russian space agencies pursue plans for a joint robotic exploration of the moon. European approval for the Russian-led initiative emerged from a ministerial meeting of member states earlier this month. The plan will launch a lander and rover to the moon’s South Pole, beginning in 2019.
Rivers, lakes and deltas, oh my! Mars rover probes crater’s watery past
Los Angeles Times (12/9): Studies by NASA’s Curiosity rover lend new evidence to prospects that a now cold, dry Mars was once warmer with lakes, an atmosphere and an environment conducive to the emergence of microbial life, say scientists.
New technique nails distance to super massive black hole
Physics World (12/10): Scientists from Denmark, the United Kingdom and Japan converge on a new technique for establishing the distance to the massive black hole at the center of the Milky Way galaxy. The new technique involves measurements of ultraviolet and infrared light coming from the black hole region.
Hubble stares deep into glittering stellar ‘snow globe’
Discovery.com (12/9): New Hubble Space Telescope imagery of globular stellar cluster bears an end-of-the-year holiday glow. Messier 92 lies 25,000 light years from Earth.
Did deadly gamma-ray burst cause a mass extinction on Earth?
Space.com (12/8): Researchers raise possibility that a powerful gamma ray burst was responsible for a mass extinction on the Earth within the past one billion years. Findings backing the premise appeared in the latest Physical Review Letters.
Titan’s 300-foot-high sand dunes were formed by westerly wind
Los Angeles Times (12/9): Massive sand dunes stretch across Saturn’s moon, Titan, say scientists. It’s a feature that Titan shares with Venus, Earth and Mars. Titan’s dunes are believed to be comprised of water crystals and hydrocarbons.
Low Earth Orbit
Sputnik International, of Russia (12/9): Reports suggest China’s Beidou satellite navigation system will be operational by 2020. China plans to boost the number of satellites in the network from 20 to 35.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
After failure, Orbital orders Atlas 5 to bridge gap between old and new Antares
Space News (12/9): Orbital Sciences agrees to acquire launches from United Launch Alliance to fulfill its contractual agreement with NASA for the delivery of cargo to the International Space Station. Orbital’s Antares rocket was grounded temporarily in late October with a post-launch breakup. ULA’s Atlas V will launch the Orbital Cygnus space station resupply craft from Cape Canaveral, Fla., until Orbital recovers. The first of the Atlas V launches is anticipated by early 2016.
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