To subscribe to CSExtra via RSS feed click here.
If you would prefer to receive CSExtra in e-mail format, e-mail us at Info@space.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Mars One, the Dutch nonprofit, rolls in the enthusiasm of those eager to colonize Mars. China’s Chang’e-3 moon lander awakens after a long lunar night but the fate of the Yutu lunar rover, also known as Jade Rabbit, is unclear. On Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover excels in course change with a sand dune traverse. Solar system’s largest moon mapped. Venus in daylight. Heavy snow in Kazakhstan to prompt day early return to Earth for three U.S., Russian astronauts. New generations of robots show promise as housekeepers, health care assistants, and guard dogs. Saturday Olympic gold medals spiced with meteorite fragments. Sochi, Russia, site of the Winter Games as seen from the International Space Station. A Soviet spy satellite, launched in 1980 and now defunct, is forecast to fall to Earth on Sunday. Some vocal in opposition to proposed Florida commercial launch complex.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Who wants a one-way trip to Mars? Meet three people applying for Mars One
Universe Today (2/12): Meet three from the U.S. and Canada ready to embrace the Mars One goal of launching human settlers to Mars. The trio are among the current finalists in a competition to earn a chance to make the voyage.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
China’s lunar rover “wakes up”
Xinhuanet, of China (2/13): China’s Yutu lunar rover, also known as Jade Rabbit, awakens after a long silence during the lunar night, Chinese officials report. However, the source of a mechanical control problem remains unclear.
Sleeping or dead? Fate of China’s Yutu moon rover uncertain (UPDATE)
NBC News (2/12): China holds out hope for Yutu, or Jade Rabbit, the small lunar rover that reached the moon’s surface in December. The rover exhibited a possible problem as it hibernated for the lunar night beginning Jan. 24 and seemingly failed to revive earlier this week.
China’s Jade Rabbit moon rover showing signs of life
New Scientist (2/12): Despite earlier suggestions that China’s lunar rover, Yutu or Jade Rabbit, had been officially declared dead, Chinese state media now say that the rabbit has phoned home. It remains unclear, though, whether the rover is healthy enough to continue its mission, the website reports.
Has China’s ailing moon rover survived 2nd lunar night?
Space.com (2/12): China’s Chang’e-3 lunar lander survives its first long lunar night, according to reports. But whether the lander’s sidekick, the Yutu moon rover, also survived the lunar cold is not immediately clear.
Curiosity navigates the crossroads
Sky and Telescope (2/12): On Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover clears a sand dune, the first step in a change in course to Mount Sharp. The trail was altered so that the rover could avoid a rock field. Mount Sharp, which Curiosity will scale, may hold clues to environmental changes on the red planet.
Ganymede, solar system’s largest moon, gets ‘on the map’
Discovery.com (2/12): Scientists develop a map for distant Ganymede, the largest moon in the solar system. Ganymede circles giant Jupiter. Imagery from NASA’s Voyager and Galileo probes and contributed imagery to the effort.
Rare sight: See Venus during the day (photo)
Space.com (2/12): This week, planet Venus is visible in daylight where early morning skies are clear.
Low Earth Orbit
Landing of Russian and U.S. astronauts moved forward to March 11
Itar Tass (2/12): International Space Station astronauts Oleg Kotov, Sergei Ryazanski and Mike Hopkins will return to Earth a day earlier than previously planned. The change will bring the three men to a parachute descent at a southern rather than a northern landing zone. Heavy snow in the north prompted a change in the recovery operations. Their missions began Sept. 26.
The quest to build a robot that is both your doting maid and ferocious guard dog
Washington Post (2/11): Robots lurk in and outside the International Space Station. Soon, they could be all the rage on Earth, cleaning homes and work sites, cooking and providing health care, even taking on guard dog duties.
Sochi Olympic gold medalists to get bonus meteorite medal
Collectspace.com (2/12): Win a gold medal in Olympic Game competition on Saturday and the medallion will include a bit of meteorite.
What Sochi looks like from space
USA Today (2/11): Sochi, Russia, site of the 2014 Winter Games, as seen and photographed from the International Space Station
Defunct Soviet Reconnaissance Satellite May Hit Earth
Ria Novosti (2/12): A decommissioned Soviet military satellite, launched in 1980, will burn up in the atmosphere Sunday in an uncontrolled descent and surviving fragments may hit Earth, according to an aerospace defense official.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
‘No’ to Shiloh launch site, speakers urge
Florida Today (2/13): Public opposition emerges Wednesday during the latest in a series of public hearings on a proposed Florida commercial space launch complex in the Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge. The commercial site could endanger wildlife, lead to frequent road closures, opponents caution.
Brought to you by the Coalition for Space Exploration, CSExtra is a daily compilation of space industry news selected from hundreds of online media resources. The Coalition is not the author or reporter of any of the stories appearing in CSExtra and does not control and is not responsible for the content of any of these stories. The content available through CSExtra contains links to other websites and domains which are wholly independent of the Coalition, and the Coalition makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site or domain and does not pre-screen or approve any content. The Coalition does not endorse or receive any type of compensation from the included media outlets and is not responsible or liable in any way for any content of CSExtra or for any loss, damage or injury incurred as a result of any content appearing in CSExtra. For information on the Coalition, visit www.space.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@space.com.
