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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. U.S. House authorization measure would shift proposed 2016 NASA funding from Earth science to exploration. Mars is on the U.S. space exploration horizon, says U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, key member of a Senate oversight panel. NASA’s Messenger mission spacecraft is days away from Mercury impact. NASA enlarges the circle of experts offering advice on the search for alien life. The Hubble Space Telescope’s powers enable estimate on number of galaxies. Dawn spacecraft science activities at large asteroid Ceres encounter brief delay. U.S. Space Command finds American satellites increasingly vulnerable to Chinese, Russian anti-satellite capabilities. U.S. Air Force looks to late May for next X-37B launch. Russian Progress cargo capsule departs the International Space Station. Retired NASA astronaut Mark Kelly heads for Celebrity Jeopardy! television show. Florida revives Space Congress. Ariane 5 places two European satellites in orbit. Texas draws space billionaires. A look at major space related activities planned for the week ahead.
Human Deep Space Exploration
House to introduce 2-year NASA authorization bill
Space News (4/24): The U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee plans to mark up a two year NASA authorization measure on Thursday that supports funding NASA at the White House requested level of $18.5 billion for 2016. But it shifts funds for Earth science and space technology to exploration and planetary science pursuits.
House budget authorization mark-up slashes $500 million from NASA’s Earth science programs
Houston Chronicle (4/24): Proposed U.S. House NASA budget guidance would shift funds for fiscal year 2016 from Earth science to exploration activities linked to future human deep space travel. The legislation would meet the White House request for Commercial Crew Development as well, activities focused on establishing private sector transportation services for astronauts to and from Earth orbit by late 2017.
At University of Virginia, Sen. Bill Nelson talks politics, space program
Charlottesville Daily Press, of Virginia (4/26): U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, of Florida, ranking member on the Senate’s Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, predicts the launching of U.S. human missions to Mars in the 2030s. The Space Launch System, NASA’s new heavy lift rocket, will be a critical part of the effort, he tells an audience at the University of Virginia.
Touching down on Mars could still be a far-off prospect
New Scientist (4/25): Estimates of dates for the earliest human missions to Mars range from the 2030s to the 2050s, according to a report that includes opinions from U.S. and European government officials. Though commercial space companies will be an essential part of the initiative, the private sector cannot shoulder the mission on its own, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told a House oversight panel this month.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Spacecraft in last days before crashing into Mercury
Orlando Sentinel (4/25): NASA’s Messenger mission spacecraft, now out of fuel, is expected to plummet to the surface of Mercury on Thursday. The long running mission maneuvered into orbit around the planet closest to the sun in 2011. Messenger helped to confirm the presence of ice in the shadowed recesses of craters at Mercury’s north and south poles.
NASA gathers scientists to help find life beyond Earth
Los Angeles Times (4/24): NASA’s new Nexus for Exoplanet System Science (NExSS) will enlarge the circle of experts involved in the search for life beyond the Earth. NExSS seeks to combine the talents of planetary scientists with astro and solar physicists.
Wall Street Journal (4/26): MIT’s Sara Seager peers into the future where she envisions powerful telescopes in space and on the moon’s far side assessing the atmospheres and radio transmissions of and from planets well beyond the solar system for signs of life.
How we know how many galaxies are in the universe, thanks to Hubble
Forbes.com (4/24): Twice astronomers arranged for Hubble to make a prolonged stare at regions of deep space that seemed “empty.” The results suggest there are at least 170 billion galaxies in the known universe, perhaps five to six times more.
How will the Hubble Space Telescope die?
Space.com (4/24): Friday marked the 25th anniversary of the famous telescope’s launching. Last serviced by NASA shuttle astronauts in 2009, the orbiting telescope remains in good shape and very likely to achieve a goal of observing beyond the planned 2018 launching of the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble’s designated successor.
Start of dwarf planet mission delayed after small mix-up
Associated Press via New York Times (4/24): A communications issue caused a brief delay in the planned start of science operations for NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft, which was captured into orbit around the large asteroid Vesta in early March.
Low Earth Orbit
CBS News/60 Minutes (4/26): USAF Gen. John Hyten, the head of Air Force Space Command, cautions that China — and Russia, too — are gaining capabilities to threaten U.S. satellites at all orbital altitudes. These satellites support critical U.S. military and national security operations as well as a range of civilian and commercial services ranging from GPS navigation and communications to financial transactions. “If we’re threatened in space…we have the right of self-defense… and we’ll make sure we can execute that right,” said Hyten. China is committed to the peaceful uses of outer space,” its U.S. embassy told CBS, though it was responsible for a 2007 anti-satellite test that littered Earth orbit with thousands of debris fragments.
Fourth X-37B flight a month away from launching
Spaceflightnow.com (4/24): The U.S. Air Force looks to May 20 for the fourth launching of the X-37B reusable space plane. The flight will mark a transition from checking out the winged space plane to conducting technology demonstrations. The mission’s payload includes an experimental propulsion system and an advanced materials investigation.
Russian cargo craft undocks from International Space Station
TASS, of Russia (4/25): Russia’s Progress 57 cargo capsule departed the six person International Space Station early Saturday, clearing a docking port for a new Russian resupply mission scheduled to launch and berth early Tuesday.
Astronaut in ‘Jeopardy!’: Mark Kelly to join celebrities on game show
Collectspace (4/27): Mark Kelly, retired NASA astronaut and twin brother of Scott Kelly, who began a 11 to 12 month mission to the International Space Station in late March, will compete on the Celebrity Jeopardy! television game show. The broadcast is planned for May.
Low Earth Orbit
Space Congress returns to Cape Canaveral
Florida Today (4/26): Local organizers plan the three day 43rd Space Congress this week, the first such gathering in Cape Canaveral since 2012. The events will bring aviation, technology, manufacturing and space interests together. Hosts, including the Economic Development Commission of Florida’s Space Coast, decided to revive the annual gathering as the 50th anniversary of the 1969 Apollo 11 mission nears.
Ariane 5 sends Thor 7 and Sicral 2 satellites into orbit
Spaceflightnow (4/26): Sunday’s launching of an Ariane 5 rocket from Kourou, French Guiana, sent two communications satellites toward geo-synchronous orbit for a Norwegian company as well as the Italian and French military.
Internet billionaires face off in renewed Texas space race
Associated Press via Yahoo.com (4/27): The Lone Star state hosts two very different Internet entrepreneurs with a similar vision, commercial launches of satellites and people into space.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of April 26-May 2, 2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (4/26): The U.S. House and Senate are in session this week, with civil and military space hearings planned, including debate and a possible vote on a new NASA deputy administrator.
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