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Thursday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting on space related activities from around the world. Astronomers present the case for an Earth with two moons. NASA readies the $1.1 billion Jupiter-bound Juno mission for launch on Friday, while keeping a weather eye on Tropical Storm Emily. A week of intense solar activity has at least two coronal mass ejections hurtling towards the Earth. Spacewalking cosmonauts deploy an educational satellite commemorating the 50th anniversary of human space flight. Congress adjourns for August, while many spending bills await action. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center looks to reinvention in uncertain economic times. Japan’s space program produces a handy radiation monitor. Scientists to reveal new Mars findings today. The Chilean miners rescued from underground a year ago with NASA help visit a U. S. museum with a display on their miraculous escape. At NASA — a new era, a new logo?
1. From National Public Radio: The Earth once hosted two moons, one smaller than our current planetary companion. The two objects collided, creating the mountain peaks on the moon’s far side, say scientists.
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/03/138954932/early-earth-may-have-been-orbited-by-two-moons
A. From Scientific American: The two moon theory could explain the major differences between the moon’s near and far sides, say scientists.
http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=two-moons-smaller
B. From Space.com: The Earth’s second moon was small, perhaps just 750 miles wide.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/12529-earth-2-moons-collision-moon-formation.html
2. From The Coalition for Space Exploration: Technical experts declare NASA’s $1.1 billion Jupiter-bound Juno mission ready for launching on Friday at 11:34 a.m., EDT, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. Juno will require five years to reach Jupiter for a one year orbital mission.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/uncategorized/juno-ready-for-jump-to-jupiter
A. From Florida Today: The weather outlook for the Juno launch is 70 percent favorable. However, forecasters will closely watch the progression of Tropical Storm Emily, which could pull along side Florida’s east coast late Friday.
http://space.flatoday.net/2011/08/launch-forecast-70-percent-go-on-friday.html
B. From the San Antonio News-Express: Three Lego figures will accompany Juno on its mission to Jupiter. They commemorate Galileo, who invented the telescope four centuries ago and turned it toward the solar system’s largest planet.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/Lego-people-hitch-a-ride-to-Jupiter-1716323.php
C. From Florida Today: Fred Wyman provides security for the United Launch Alliance Atlas V that will launch Juno.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110804/NEWS02/108040311/Cocoa-Beach-man-s-mission-safeguard-Cape-s-spacecraft
3. From Spaceweather.com: Solar eruptions on Aug. 2-3 are sending at least two Coronal Mass Ejections toward the Earth. Collisions with the Earth’s magnetic field will charge the aurora and possibly lead to wider electrical disturbances. See the website for updates.
http://www.spaceweather.com/
4. From Space.com: Two cosmonauts walk outside the International Space Station on Wednesday to deploy a prototype educational satellite commemorating the 50th anniversary of Russian Yuri Gagarin’s first human spaceflight on April 12, 1961. Troubles with the satellite, however, force the cosmonauts to postpone the transfer of an external cargo crane. The transfer is part of a longer term plan to replace an older space station module with a new Russian lab.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/12533-space-station-spacewalk-cosmonauts-satellite-toss-success.html
5. From Spacepolitics.com: The House and Senate are on August break and will not reassemble until after Labor Day. Many appropriations measures remain unresolved, including NASA’s.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/08/03/summer-limbo/
A. From the Huntsville Times: “It’s obvious we will not be able to do business the same way,” Marshall Space Flight Center director Robert Lightfoot tells a local aerospace audience. The installation has gone from three major programs, shuttle and the Constellation Program’s Ares 1 and Ares V rockets, to the Space Launch System, a Congressionally inspired propulsion initiative the White House has yet to fully embrace.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/08/nasas_marshall_center_reinvent.html
B. From the Salt Lake Tribune: ATK, the solid rocket motor producer, announces its sixth layoff in two years. One hundred workers will depart in the aftermath of the shuttle program’s retirement, the company announces Wednesday. The workers are located in Utah, Alabama and Florida.
http://www.sltrib.com/sltrib/money/52318944-79/atk-aerospace-systems-employees.html.csp
6. From the Wall Street Journal: JAXA, Japan’s civil space agency, develops an easy to use radiation monitoring device.
The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster has raised consumer interest in such hand held equipment developed from space sensor technology.
http://blogs.wsj.com/japanrealtime/2011/08/03/a-home-radiation-counter-goes-on-sale/?KEYWORDS=NASA
7. From Spacepolicyonline.com: NASA has scheduled an announcement for today based on findings using agency’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1763:nasa-to-announce-new-mars-finding&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
8. From USA Today: It’s been a year since a group of Chilean miners were rescued from nearly a half mile beneath the surface. NASA was among the federal agencies who came to their aid. This week some of the miners visited the American Museum of Natural History to preview a special display dedicated to their ordeal.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2011-08-03-Chile-Mine-Rescue_n.htm
9. From the New York Times Magazine: Is NASA in need of a new logo as the agency enters the post shuttle era? A look back at the transition from the NASA “meatball” to the “worm” and journey back. Change is not easy.
http://6thfloor.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/08/03/who-made-those-nasa-logos/?scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
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