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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. On Monday, a high ranking U.S. Senate appropriator called for a larger NASA budget. An op-ed suggests that Mars as a destination with near term precursor missions is the key to successful future U.S. human space exploration. The U.S. Senate confirmed Dava Newman as NASA deputy administrator. After Hubble: More capable space telescopes are on the way. NASA’s out of fuel Messenger mission spacecraft is expected to crash into Mercury on Thursday. Russia’s Progress 59 resupply mission to the six person International Space Station encountered major difficulties soon after lifting off early Tuesday. International Space Station astronauts offer messages of support to earthquake torn Nepal. The U.S. House Armed Services Committee chair calls for more money to develop a domestic alternative to imports of Russia’s RD 180 rocket engine. Russia eyes another $430 million to complete the troubled Vostochny rocket launch complex.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Mikulski vows to increase NASA’s 2016 budget
Space News (4/27): U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski called Monday for an increase in NASA’s proposed $18.5 billion 2016 budget. “It’s too spartan, and it’s too skimpy” she said in remarks before the Maryland Space Business Roundtable. Mikulski, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Appropriations Committee, did not suggest a specific amount.
Humans to Mars: Further delay undermines support
The Space Review (4/27): With Mars the seeming consensus goal for future human exploration, the question is how and when, writes Joe Webster, policy director for Explore Mars, Inc., the nonprofit exploration advocate. Webster suggests the key to adequate public and financial support is a well-defined architecture with near term precursor missions and a landing on the red planet within two decades.
The Hill (4/27): On Monday, the U.S. Senate confirmed Dava Newman as NASA’s deputy administrator, with no opposition. Nominated for the post last October, Newman succeeds Lori Garver, who departed the space agency in September 2013. Newman comes to NASA from MIT, where she was a professor of astronautics and engineering systems.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
On Hubble’s 25th, looking at the next 25 years
The Space Review (4/27): The Hubble Space Telescopes may be a tough act to follow, as the acclaim surrounding the observatory’s silver anniversary last week demonstrates. The telescope remains in good shape and most experts expect observations to continue through at least 2020. Meanwhile, NASA and contractor Northrop Grumman are confident the James Webb Space Telescope can launch in October 2018. The Wide-Field Infrared Survey Telescope (WFIRST), fashioned from a surplus unlaunched U.S. reconnaissance satellite, could follow in 2024 as an important space observatory. NASA will prepare “three or four options” for the next steps beyond WFIRST.
NASA’s Messenger mission is set to crash into Mercury
New York Times (4/27): NASA’s Messenger mission has provided some big surprises over four years in orbit around tiny Mercury. The mission is scheduled to come to an end Thursday, when the out of fuel spacecraft crashes into the planet’s far side.
Low Earth Orbit
Russian cargo ship suffers glitch after launching toward Space Station
Space.com (4/27): The fate of Russia’s Progress 59 resupply mission to the six person International Space Station was in doubt early Tuesday following a lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:09 a.m., EDT. Russian ground controllers were unable to confirm the deployments of navigation antennas and pressurization of the propulsion system. Plans for a speedy docking were deferred to early April 30 at the soonest.
Astronauts in space mourn Nepal earthquake victims
Space.com (4/27): Astronauts aboard the International Space Station offer messages of support for residents of Earthquake ravaged Nepal.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Thornberry pushes to accelerate U.S. engine development
Space News (4/27): U.S. House Armed Services Committee Chairman Mac Thornberry urges an increase in 2016 funding for the development of a domestic alternative to imports of Russia’s RD-180 rocket engine. His proposal would increase the development total by $100 million to $185 million. The Russian engine powers the first stage of the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5, the launch vehicle for critical U.S. national security payloads.
Over $400 million more needed for Russia’s new spaceport space agency
TASS, of Russia (4/27): A top Russian federal space agency official places the cost of unfinished construction at the troubled Vostochny cosmodrome at $430 million. Started in 2010, new launch facilities for Soyuz rocket launches were to be completed in November. Vostochny will provide an alternative to the Baikonur Cosmodrome, which is in Kazakhstan.
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