To subscribe to CSExtra via RSS feed click here.
If you would prefer to receive CSExtra in e-mail format, e-mail us at Info@space.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. It’s time to push for the human exploration of Mars, says one advocate who is mobilizing support for the effort. The 2014 U.S. budget, enacted just last week, could pave the way for new missions of human deep space exploration, according to one prominent U.S. Senator. NASA test flight of prototype planetary lander a success. Reflections on Clementine, a low cost U.S. mission that unveiled evidence of water ice at the lunar poles. Supporters suggest those who fostered the International Space Station merit the Nobel Peace Prize. NASA prepares Tracking and Data Relay Satellite for launch to support space station communications. Israel looks for a launch opportunity for a second native. Independent NASA advisory panel expresses concerns for low Commercial Crew Program funding. Sierra Nevada Corp, one of three companies partnered with NASA to develop human space taxis, readies announcement on Florida expansion.
Human Deep Space Exploration
It’s time we commit to send humans to Mars
Huffington Post (1/21): Reaching the red planet with humans requires a sense of urgency, explains Chris Carberry, executive director of Explore Mars, a private initiative determined to do just that. Without a firm goal, humans will never land on Mars, he writes in an op-ed.
Nelson: New federal spending bill could save the world
Orlando Sentinel (1/21): U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson hails the recently enacted 2014 Omnibus appropriations bill that lifts NASA from the budget sequester and includes support for the U.S. to resume human missions of deep space exploration. “Buried in the big spending bill is the green light for us to go to find an asteroid, nudge it into a stable orbit around the moon and send a human crew in 2021 to rendezvous with it, land on it, conduct experiments on it, in preparation for our journey to Mars in the decade of the 2030s,” Nelson said during a wide-ranging press availability in his Orlando office Tuesday, the newspaper reports.
Morpheus lander completes another successful test at KSC
Florida Today (1/21): NASA’s prototype for an autonomous planetary lander for human as well as robotic missions carries out a successful flight test on Tuesday.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Clementine — the legacy, twenty years on
Air & Space and The Once and Future Moon (1/21): Planetary scientist Paul Spudis reflects on the successes of Clementine, a low cost post Apollo mission to study the moon and its resources. “Along with Clementine’s success came a growing interest in lunar resources and a new appreciation for the complexity of the Moon,” writes Spudis of the 1994 mission developed by the Department of Defense and NASA. Discoveries included evidence of ice in craters at the South Pole.
Low Earth Orbit
Space Station creators get support for Nobel nomination
Ria Novosti (1/21) Scientists in Russia support a notion traced to former U.S. Vice President Al Gore that the originators of the International Space Station share the Nobel Peace Prize. The station’s first components were launched in 1998. Since late 2000, the orbital outpost has been continuously staffed by representatives of the U.S., Russian, European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies.
Nobel Committee unlikely to back idea to nominate ISS for Nobel Peace Prize -opinion
Itar Tass, of Russia (1/22): A prominent Russian scientist casts doubt on Nobel Peace Prize prominence for the International Space Station.
NASA poised to launch modernized relay satellite
Spaceflightnow.com (1/21): NASA and its contractors ready TDRS-L a key communications satellite asset for the International Space Station for launching from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Thursday at 9:05 p.m., EST. The launch vehicle is an Atlas 5 rocket from United Launch Alliance. The spacecraft is the 12th in a series that supports a range of missions.
Israel explores possibility of sending another astronaut to space
Jerusalem Post (1/21): The first, Ilan Ramon, perished aboard the shuttle Columbia 11 years ago in February. Israel has looked to the U.S. again as well as Europe, Russia and China for the opportunity to send an Israeli astronaut to the International Space Station for a few weeks.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
ASAP warns on commercial crew funding (again), gets philosophical about risk
Space News (1/21): NASA’s independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel offers a cautionary assessment of U.S. funding plans for the space agency’s Commercial Crew Program initiative. The initiative is intended to establish competing commercial human transportation services to low Earth orbit by 2017, yet it has faced annual funding shortfalls from Congress. “This shortfall is seriously impacting acquisition strategy, and there is risk that force-fitting the CCP into a fixed-price contract with only the funds available has the potential to adversely impact safety,” according to the ASAP. Recently signed into law, the 2014 Omnibus appropriations legislation provides $696 million, a record annual amount but still less than the $820 million the White House believes is necessary.
Sierra Nevada Corporation announces Dream Chaser expansion along Florida’s Space Coast
NASA (1/21): Sierra Nevada Corp., of Nevada, is to announce expansion plans for its crew transportation services initiative in Florida during a news briefing on Thursday.
Brought to you by the Coalition for Space Exploration, CSExtra is a daily compilation of space industry news selected from hundreds of online media resources. The Coalition is not the author or reporter of any of the stories appearing in CSExtra and does not control and is not responsible for the content of any of these stories. The content available through CSExtra contains links to other websites and domains which are wholly independent of the Coalition, and the Coalition makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site or domain and does not pre-screen or approve any content. The Coalition does not endorse or receive any type of compensation from the included media outlets and is not responsible or liable in any way for any content of CSExtra or for any loss, damage or injury incurred as a result of any content appearing in CSExtra. For information on the Coalition, visit www.space.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@space.com.
