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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Changes to the legislation that established NASA in 1958 could make human space settlement a strategic goal. A proposed NASA authorization measure for 2016-17 would ask primary and secondary students to name components of NASA’s human exploration program, including the Space Launch System. Space could spur the future economy. New research on mice raises concerns for brain damage in deep space from cosmic ray exposure. MIT’s Dava Newman could be sworn in as NASA’s new deputy administrator in mid-May. Japan’s lunar pursuits could be an incentive for private sector space. The upcoming Astronaut Scholarship Foundation auction includes Orion capsule tour. Russia plans new mission to Martian moon Phobos. Russia expresses interest in search for extraterrestrial life as budget forecasts decline. Venus grows bright at dusk. Russia’s unsuccessful Progress 59 re-supply spacecraft could descend this week. International Space Station astronauts brew first space espresso. Russia struggles to finish new Vostochny launch complex. DARPA works with three U.S. companies on frequent flying reusable rocket. Virgin Galactic looks at a possible fuel switch. Washington space conferences among major space related activities on tap for the week ahead.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Proposed legislation would make space settlement a national goal
Space News (5/2): Envisioned legislation would amend the law that established NASA in 1958 to make the human settlement of space a national goal. If passed and signed into law, NASA would be required to issue periodic reports on its progress. The Alliance for Space Development initiated the most recent push for the change.
New name for Space Launch System gets backing of lawmakers
Spaceflightnow.com (5/3): NASA would turn to a competition among primary and secondary school children to name the elements of its deep space exploration program under the provisions of the NASA Authorization Act of 2016-17 passed by the U.S. House Science, Space and Technology Committee last week. The legislation, now headed for approval by the full House, would shift some funding from the Earth sciences to exploration and planetary science missions. Those up for new names include the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket and the Orion crew capsule.
Build the economy here on Earth by exploring space: Tyson
CNBC (5/3): Space exploration and in particular the harvest of resources from asteroids could be key to future economic growth, astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, host of the National Geographic Channel’s StarTalk, tells CNBC’s On the Money.
A trip to Mars could give you brain damage
Smithsonian (5/1): Astronauts on lengthy missions in deep space face exposures to cosmic radiation that could cause brain damage, according to Now Charles Limoli, a professor of radiation oncology at the University of California, Irvine School of Medicine. Even relatively low doses of cosmic rays will induce a specific series of abnormalities that could manifest themselves during a round-trip mission to Mars, according to studies using mice as subjects. NASA, aware of the risks, is researching shielding options.
Newman to be sworn in as NASA deputy administrator in mid-May
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/1): Dava Newman, confirmed by the U.S. Senate as NASA’s next deputy administrator early last week, could be sworn in by mid-May. The MIT professor replaces Lori Garver, who departed in September 2013.
Why it matters that Japan is going to the moon
Washington Post (4/30): Japan’s interest in lunar exploration, including plans for a human landing in 2025, could spur new interest in the moon’s commercial potential, according to the report.
Astronaut Scholarship Foundation auction offers rare look at Orion space capsule
Collectspace.com (5/1): An auction benefitting college students will offer Kennedy Space Center tours of facilities housing the Orion capsule featured in a successful unpiloted two orbit flight test in early December. Orion is under development by NASA and Lockheed Martin to start astronauts on future missions of deep space exploration.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Russian space agency to organize new $198 million Mars probe in 2024 after faulty mission
TASS, of Russia (5/4): Russia plans a new robotic soil sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos in 2024 under a new 2016 to 2025 space budget blue print. A similar Phobos mission spacecraft in 2011 failed to leave Earth orbit.
Russia’s new space program: Search for extraterrestrial life amid budget cuts
Spaceflight Insider (5/2): Faced with significant budget cuts, Russia’s space program embraces the search for extraterrestrial life. New documents suggest that Russian space spending will decline by 35 percent. “Lost in the budget cuts will probably be the heaviest version of the Angara launch vehicle, long-term participation in the International Space Station, and Russian plans to orbit its own space station from 2023,” according to the report.
Skywatch: Venus is a standout in May’s western evening sky
Washington Post (5/2): Venus gains prominence in the May sky, shining brightly as the sun sets.
Low Earth Orbit
Progress failure puts burden on upcoming resupply missions
Space News (5/1): The failure of Russia’s Progress 59 cargo mission to reach the International Space Station adds another challenge to the operations of the six person orbiting science lab. The station’s major partners are striving to deal with the temporary loss of U.S. commercial resupply provider Orbital ATK and the end of the European Space Agency’s Autotomated Transfer Vehicle launches in 2014.
Doomed Russian spaceship may re-enter next week
Discovery.com (5/1): Russia’s troubled Progress 59 re-supply spacecraft could make an uncontrolled re-entry into the Earth’s atmosphere as early as this week, according to the report.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
A taste of Italian culture makes it to the final frontier
Spaceflightnow.com (5/3): European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti led the way Sunday as the residents of the International Space Station sampled the brew from an Italian espresso machine that arrived aboard an April re-supply mission. Developed for the Italian Space Agency by Argotec and Lavazza, the coffee maker is called ISSpresso.
Vostochny report part 3: Hunger games
Spaceflight Insider (5/3): Much of Russia’s space future rides on the new Vostochny spaceport, where troubles abound. The launch complex promises to liberate Russia from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan.
XS-1: DARPA’s experimental space plane
Space.com (5/1): The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, DARPA, is pursuing a rocket frequent flier, the XS-1 that could fly 10 times in as many days and at less than $5 million per flight. DARPA’s commercial lead partners include Boeing, Masten Space Systems and Northrop Grumman.
Suborbital
Virgin Galactic considering changing SpaceShipTwo fuels again
Space News (5/1): The suborbital passenger launch services company is looking at a change in its SpaceShipTwo rocket fuel, according to the report.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of May 4-8, 2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/2): Washington hosts a pair of space policy conferences this week, Aerospace 2015: Soar to New Heights and the Human 2 Mars Summit. The U.S. Senate is in session, the House in recess.
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