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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Texas conservative Ted Cruz is poised to chair the U.S. Senate’s Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness in the new Congress. Return on investment is key to future private space exploration, not amending long-standing space treaties, according to op-ed. Europe monitors fading Venus Express mission. Presumed lost, U.K.’s Beagle 2 may have been spotted on Martian surface. Astrophysicist Neil de Grasse Tyson to host new late night talk show. Popular Theory of Everything captures two Golden Globes. Russia looks to May for a decision on whether to extend International Space Station operations from 2020 to 2024. International Space Station astronauts welcome latest U.S. commercial resupply mission. Sierra Nevada Corporation pressing ahead with Dream Chaser development.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Cruz critics wary of his gavel on NASA and climate change panel
Houston Chronicle (1/12): Conservative U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, of Texas, is poised to assume chairmanship of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Space, Science and Competitiveness. Cruz, a potential candidate for U.S. president in 2016, has vowed to focus NASA on its core mission of exploration rather than Earth science research focused on climate change.
The Space Review (1/12): The private sector is ready to forge deeper into the exploration of space as long as it can find a reasonable profit inventive, writes Jonathan Babcock, a senior at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs. The challenge is to work within current guidelines embodied in the Outer Space Treaty and the Moon Agreement, he writes in the second part of his examination of the issue.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Europe Monitors Venus Express Probe’s Fading ‘Ghost’
Discovery.com (1/12): The European Space Agency recently lost contact with the Venus Express orbiter as the spacecraft exhausted its fuel. However, an X-band carrier signal continues to emerge, allowing ESA to track the probe’s final demise.
Beagle 2 Might Really Have Been Found
The Huffington Post (1/12): U.K.’s Beagle 2 Mars lander, presumed lost after attempting to land in December 2003, may have been found after all. The UK Space Agency plans an announcement later this week. But the Huffington Post is reporting the small lander developed to look for signs of biological activity on the red planet has been located by an orbiting NASA spacecraft.
Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to Host Talk Show on NatGeo Channel
Space.com (1/12): Astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson is set to host a new late night talk show on the National Geographic Channel. Star Talk will debut in April. The concept is focused on science news, comedy and pop culture.
Stephen Hawking Biopic ‘Theory of Everything’ Wins 2 Golden Globes
Space.com (1/12): The prizes were presented to Eddie Redmayne, who portrays Hawking, for best actor in a dramatic series. Jóhann Jóhannsson won for best musical score.
Low Earth Orbit
Russia to decide on future participation in ISS in May, after space program approval
Russia Beyond the Headlines (1/13): Russia is looking to May for a decision on whether it will extend operations aboard the six person International Space Station from 2020 to 2024. The U.S. asked its partners for the extension in early 2014. Russia’s response awaits approval of the country’s 2016-2025 space budget strategy, which is to include a major increase in spending. Russia has discussed a new independent space station as well.
Commercial to Orbit
CRS-5 Dragon Arrives at International Space Station
Spaceflight Insider (1/12): Astronauts aboard the International Space Station grappled the latest U.S. commercial resupply mission launched to the six-person orbiting science laboratory early Monday. The freighter delivered just over 5,100 pounds of supplies, scientific research and other hardware.
Sierra Nevada Corporation Vows To Continue Dream Chaser Development
Aviation Week & Space Technology (1/12): Colorado-based Sierra Nevada Corporation plans to continue the development of its Dream Chaser crewed lifting-body spacecraft as a commercial means of transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program selected Boeing and SpaceX over Sierra Nevada Corporation in September to continue work on crewed capsules that could be ready to launch by late 2017.
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