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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Apollo 8’s Bill Anders recalls famous image of Earth from the moon. Youthful op-ed calls for new discovery. Japan outlines early plans for robotic moon lander. Europe’s Philae comet lander: time to wake up! Pluto to get its first spacecraft visitor. Cassini explains Saturn’s mysterious storms. Russia’s space station decision will influence Europe’s space future. Japanese scientists say International Space Station could be part of an orbital debris removal strategy. United Launch Alliance plans to transition Boeing’s future commercial crew capsule from the Atlas 5 to new Vulcan launcher. Germany’s space agency extends agreement with Sierra Nevada on Dream Chaser. NASA grant spurs plastics recycling for space 3-D printing. Events this week include 25th birthday celebration for Hubble Space Telescope.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Astronaut Bill Anders recalls famous ‘Earthrise’ photo he took from Moon
Forbes.com (4/17): Apollo 8 astronaut Bill Anders recalls the famous photograph taken of the Earth during the December 1968 mission that marked the first time humans departed Earth for deep space. “Earthrise” isn’t that good of a picture if you really look at it; it’s not quite in focus,” recalled Anders, who shared the flight with Apollo 8 commander Jim Lovell and Frank Borman. “Photographers are probably jealous it was picked as one of the top pictures of the Twentieth Century, but right place, right time!”
Op-ed: Americans need to start reaching for the stars again
Salt Lake Tribune (4/18): “Our society has lost its view of the stars,” writes Charles Anderson, student at the Academy for Math, Engineering & Science. “We must take control, and be pioneers of the future, and if we cannot achieve what we strive to at this time, we must lay the road for future dreamers, creators, innovators, explorers, or we will never learn more than what is in front of us.”
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Japan planning moon mission: Space agency
AFP (4/20): Japan begins early planning for a robotic spacecraft designed to land on the Earth’s moon. The mission, a precursor to a future Mars mission, according to the report, would make Japan the fourth nation to reach the lunar surface with a spacecraft. The others include China, Russia and the United States. The mission launching is targeted for 2018.
Philae comet lander set for reboot
Physics.org (4/17): The European Space Agency is optimistic it can re-establish contact soon with Philae, the lander that separated from the Rosetta mission spacecraft that rendezvoused with Comet 67P in August. Philae bounced as it touched down on the surface of the comet in November, with the lander and its power generating solar arrays ending up in a shaded area. Engineers believe Philae will re-awaken as the comet nears the sun and more sunlight falls on the arrays.
‘Scientific wonderland’ expected as spacecraft approaches Pluto (video)
Christian Science Monitor (4/18): On July 14, NASA’s New Horizons’ probe will fly by Pluto and its moons, a milestone in a 50-year quest by the U.S. to reach every major planetary body beyond Mars with a U.S. spacecraft. New Horizons’ cameras will cruise within 6,000 miles of the dwarf planet Pluto, three billion miles away, to open a new solar system frontier, the Kuiper Belt.
Wired.com (4/18): NASA’s New Horizons mission sheds new light on the lure of distant Pluto. The New Horizons spacecraft is on course to carry out the first ever flyby of Pluto and its moons on July 14.
A reporter’s view: NASA’s OSIRIS-REx asteroid mission taking shape
Space.com (4/19): Lockheed Martin provides a look inside the clean room where the OSIRIS REx spacecraft is being assembled for a September 2016 launching to the asteroid Bennu. The robotic spacecraft is designed to land, obtain a sample of Bennu and return the material to Earth.
Cassini cracks the code of Saturn’s massive storms
Spaceflight Insider (4/17): An impressively large 30 year storm cycle on Saturn is caused by a convection battle in the giant planet’s atmosphere, according to data from NASA’s Cassini mission.
NASA probe sees North Pole of dwarf planet Ceres (video)
Space.com (4/17): NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft provides new images of giant asteroid Ceres’ North Pole.
Low Earth Orbit
Russian decision to build national Space Station to have impact on space exploration
TASS, or Russia (4/17): Europe faces tough choices as the U.S. ends International Space Station operations in 2024, while Russia and China pursue new, independent orbiting outposts, according to Roberto Battiston, president of the Italian Space Agency.
How lasers could be the future of space cleanup
Christian Science Monitor (4/19): Japanese researchers propose the use of a telescope and laser, both mounted aboard the Japanese elements of the International Space Station, to destroy orbital debris by directing them into the Earth’s atmosphere with a pulse of energy.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
ULA sees clean handover of Boeing crew launches to Vulcan rocket
Spaceflightnow.com (4/18): United Launch Alliance envisions a smooth transition from the Atlas 5 to the new Vulcan rocket for Boeing’s CST-100, one of two commercial transport services for NASA astronauts headed to and from the International Space Station. Crew launches are to begin by late 2017 under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program development schedule.
DLR renews cooperation with SNC on Dream Chaser
Space News (4/17): The German space agency and Sierra Nevada Corp. renew an agreement to develop the U.S. company’s Dream Chaser for possible crewed and unpiloted orbital missions. The two year renewal was announced at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.
Tethers Unlimited wins NASA contract to create 3D printer filament from plastic waste on ISS
3DRS.org (4/17): Bothell, Wash., based Tethers Unlimited has received a NASA small business grant for a plastics recycling product that could be used as a feedstock for a space-based 3-D printer.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of April 20-25, 2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (4/19): Events this week will mark the 25th anniversary of the launching of the Hubble Space Telescope, on April 24, 1990. The U.S. House and Senate are in session.
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