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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Work with NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket to be showcased at supercomputing symposium. NASA, Industry team up. Space, the next commercial frontier. NASA struggles with space center network and tight budgets; emphasizes need for innovation. NASA has broad political support. Orion deep space vehicle sees flawless fairing separation in second test, on track for September 2014 test. Asteroids: nature’s space ship for deep space travel? NASA readies next Mars mission, MAVEN, for Monday lift off; MAVEN will study the planet’s changing environment. Comet ISON growing visible to the naked eye. Independent expert warns of U.S. weather satellite gap. High school students in Alexandria, Va., await satellite launch. NASA’s Commercial Crew Program goals jeopardized by tight budgets, auditor warns. United Launch Alliance looks to restructure workforce. Great Britain reveals plans for a launch complex in Wales.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA experts showcase science, technology at supercomputing conference.
Physics.org (11/14): NASA’s work with the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket will be featured at Denver meeting on supercomputing. The SLS is a pillar in NASA’s plans to enable human deep space exploration with missions to the asteroids, the moon and Mars.
NASA’s Space Launch System opens up missions to outer planets, back to the moon
Examiner.com (11/14): The outer planets missions would have the virtue of being direct flights, without the time consuming gravity assist maneuvers that have proven necessary for such probes as Galileo, Cassini, and New Horizons. The heavy lift capabilities afforded by the SLS are all but crucial for orbiting and especially landing on a moon of Jupiter or Saturn.
NASA, industry likely to team up on big space missions
Florida Today (11/13): CEO says partnerships will be the only way to make big missions fly. Despite the uncertain budget situation, the head of NASA’s human exploration program said “tremendous progress” is being made on the Orion capsule designed to carry astronauts to Mars by the 2030s, and on the heavy-lift SLS rocket that will propel them there.
Defense firms see space as the next commercial frontier
Politico (11/13): For defense contractors looking for growth markets as Pentagon spending slows, the “final frontier” is looking more and more attractive. “People really don’t understand how big a business space is. I mean, the commercial satellite market is enormous. It far dwarfs anything that’s going on in exploration,” said James Crocker, vice president of civil space at Lockheed Martin Space Systems. “There’s a lot of money to be made.”
How NASA can be innovative on reduced budgets
Universe Today (11/14): In Canada for the annual Space Society Summit, NASA’s Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Space Operations, urges innovation from the rank and file in overcoming changes associated with budget constraints.
NASA has broad political support, and therein lies one of its biggest problems
Houston Chronicle (11/14): NASA, with its network of 10 installations, is too vast to meet the day’s budget constraints and forge ahead with an agenda of exploration, according to a Chronicle blog.
NASA’s Orion sees flawless fairing separation in second test
Hispanic Business (11/20): The three massive panels protecting a test version of NASA’s Orion multipurpose crew vehicle successfully fell away from the spacecraft Wednesday in a test of a system that will protect Orion during its first trip to space next year.
NASA says ‘Orion’ deep space vehicle on track for 2014 test
The Raw Story (11/12): NASA has described Orion as “a flexible system that can to launch crew and cargo missions, extend human presence beyond low-Earth orbit, and enable new missions of exploration throughout our solar system.” The first test mission of a new deep space capsule that could one day take humans to Mars is on track for September 2014.
New head of Canadian Space Agency working on 10-year space plan
Brandon Sun, of Canada (11/14): Walt Natynczyk, recently appointed chief of the Canadian Space Agency, says he’s working with other government partners on a 10-year space plan. Natynczyk said his role is to work for the success of the Canadian space community and build relationships with government departments.
Asteroids could be used as transport to deep space: Russian scientist
Xinhuanet, of China (11/14): Asteroids may provide nature’s means of transporting astronauts to the deepest regions of the solar system. Bases for humans in the asteroid underground could become the refuge to long distance travel.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
MAVEN’s quest: where did Mars water go?
Universe Today (11/14): NASA’s next Mars mission, the MAVEN orbiter, will study changes at Mars, including the loss of an atmosphere and surface water. MAVEN is set for launching from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., atop an Atlas 5 rocket on Monday at 1:28 p.m., EST.
Spaceflightnow.com (11/14): Rain possible during MAVEN’s two hour launch period on Monday. Forecasters estimate a 40 percent chance of unfavorable weather.
LeVar Burton shares MAVEN’s story in a new NASA PSA
NASA (11/14): LaVar Burton, who co-starred in television’s Star Trek: The Next Generation, previews NASA’s next mission to Mars, MAVEN, an orbital spacecraft. MAVEN is set for lift off on Monday from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., with a mission to explore environmental change on the red planet.
Potentially dazzling comet ISON now visible to naked eye after outburst
Space.com (11/14): Many global observers report that comet ISON is now visible in the skies of Earth with the naked eye. ISON is nearing an encounter with the sun on Nov. 28. After looping around the sun, ISON could be clearly visible in the night skies of the Earth.
Low Earth Orbit
Tom Young IRT report to NOAA: urgent need for JPSS gap-filler
Spacepolicyonline.com (11/14): An independent review team chaired by U.S. aerospace industry veteran Tom Young warns of shortfalls in plans to develop and launch an undated constellation of weather satellites.
Orbital to launch satellite built by Alexandria high school students
Washington Business Journal (11/14): Students at the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., await the launch of their small experimental communications satellite from Wallops Island, Va., atop an Orbital Sciences Corp. Minotaur rocket. The 2 pound satellite is among two dozen secondary payloads.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Another call for a warning about commercial crew funding
Spacepolitics.com (11/14): NASA’s inspector general warns that U.S. efforts to regain an astronaut launch capability by 2017 faces further delay unless policy makers agree to more funding. The milestone start of commercial crew transportation operations could slip to 2020.
Like paying Russia for rides to space? Tight money in Washington may make America keep doing it
Huntsville Times (11/14): NASA faces delays in regaining a capability to launch U.S. astronauts from their homeland, according to a report from the agency’s Inspector General Paul K. Martin. Washington budget constraints could force a delay from 2017 to 2020, cautions Martin.
United Launch Alliance under pressure to find more savings
Aviation Week & Space Technology (11/14): ULA looks to options for restructuring the joint venture’s workforce. ULA is nearing the close of negotiations for a first time multi-year deal for the sale of Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle cores to the U.S. Air Force.
Daily Mail, of London (11/14): Great Britain plans a spaceport within five years for the launch of space tourists and satellites, according to science minister David Willett.
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