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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from around the world. As planned, NASA’s twin Grail A and B spacecraft swung into orbit around the moon on Sunday and Saturday. Space age collectibles ring up big profits. NASA faces three key obstacles during an era of lean budgets, suggests on one columnist. China establishes an aerospace technology research institute. The Marshall Space Flight Center’s little known science focus. NASA’s aging Voyager 1 spacecraft sails to the borders of the solar system. A look at major space policy activities planned for the week ahead.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com, Jan. 1: NASA’s twin Grail A and B mission probes successfully maneuvered into lunar orbit on Sunday and Saturday to initiate a fast paced gravity mapping mission. The near $500 million project is intended to reveal more about the moon’s subsurface composition. http://bit.ly/vvomWE
A. From the New York Times, Dec. 31: More than 100 missions have been launched to the Earth’s moon, yet many questions remain. NASA’s Grail A and B mission will attempt to address several: What is the subsurface composition? Why is the gravitational field uneven? Does the moon retain a molten core? Why is the moon’s far side more mountainous than the side facing the Earth? http://nyti.ms/s98FdL
B. From The Coalition of Space Exploration, Jan. 1: NASA’s Grail mission may help to explain how solar system’s inner planets formed. http://bit.ly/uAb7XF
C. From the Los Angeles Times, Dec. 31: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory leads the Grail mission. Launched on Sept. 20, 2011, the twin Grail probes will spend three months mapping the moon’s gravitational field, much of it skimming just over 30 miles above the lunar surface. http://lat.ms/vssd2Z
D. From the Washington Post, Dec. 31: In the distant past, the Earth’s moon may have had a twin. The two may have collided, according to a theory the Grail mission will investigate. http://wapo.st/vC9HbX
2. From the Orlando Sentinel: Space age collectibles can bring big dollars, and shuttle era artifacts may be the next big thing. http://thesent.nl/tiDIPo
3. From Florida Today, Jan. 1: NASA faces three obstacles in the year ahead, writes Florida Today columnist John Kelly. All involve fortifying the nation’s civil space program so that it can improve life on Earth and protect U. S. national security. The challenges include finding a clear mission, reducing waste and embracing innovation outside NASA. http://on.flatoday.com/sPKYWe
A. From Florida Today, Jan. 1: A look at the changes to NASA’s commercial crew development strategy in late 2011 and what they mean for the initiative headquartered at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the year ahead. The agency intends to nurture efforts by at least two companies to provide commercial space transportation services though funding was reduced. http://on.flatoday.com/tW0QhB
4. From Xinhuanet of China, Dec. 31: China establishes a research institute to improve aerospace technology, founded by the Chinese Academy of Engineering and Chinese Aerospace Science and Technology Corp. http://bit.ly/v1bOSM
5. From the Huntsville Times, Jan. 1: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center quietly excels at Earth and space science missions. http://bit.ly/vDb18q
6. From Voice of America, Dec. 30. NASA’s Voyage 1 spacecraft, launched in 1977, reaches the solar system’s outer limits. http://bit.ly/st2QRt
7. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Dec. 30: Space policy related events scheduled for the week of Jan. 2. http://bit.ly/vYkVGy
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