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 is the appropriate long range destination for human space exploration, the National Research Council concludes in a much anticipated 286 page report commissioned by the U.S. Congress in 2010, Pathways to Exploration: Rationales and Approaches for a U.S. Program of Human Space Exploration. The report urges sufficient funding, international partnerships that include China and the focused pursuit of required technologies on realistic timescales to achieve the goal. In Hawaii, NASA looks to Saturday for next opportunity to test Low Density Supersonic Decelerator, a technology for landing on Mars. New NASA aerial vehicle designed to land heavy loads on the surface of Mars.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA should maintain long-term focus on Mars as “horizon goal” for human space exploration; A sustained national commitment will be needed, report says
National Research Council (6/4): “The United States has been a leader in human space exploration for more than five decades, and our efforts in low Earth orbit with our partners are approaching maturity with the completion of the International Space Station” writes Johnathan Lunine, the Cornell University scientists who chaired the NRC report. “We as a nation must decide now how to embark on human space exploration beyond low Earth orbit in a sustainable fashion.” The NRC formula includes funding beyond inflationary increases and international cooperation. With link to full report.
NASA statement on National Research Council report on human spaceflight
NASA (6/4): NASA endorses NRC human space flight findings. “NASA has made significant progress on many key elements that will be needed to reach Mars, and we continue on this path in collaboration with industry and other nations,” the agency says in a statement.
Key Congressional space leaders applaud NRC human spaceflight report
Spacepolicyonline.com (6/5): First responses from Capitol Hill to National Research Council’s report on human spaceflight range from support for Mars as a destination with a call for adequate funding to another round of criticism for NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Mission now in development. Further action on NASA’s 2015 budget is expected Thursday in the U.S. Senate.
NASA and Congress like the NRC report, for very different reasons
Spacepolitics.com (6/4): NASA’s current strategy to reach Mars in the mid-2030s with humans is lacking, according to a National Research Council report requested by the U.S. Congress in 2010. NASA’s current strategy, the Asteroid Retrieval Mission, is not consistent with the Mars goal, according to the NRC, which favors a return to the moon as well as more funding.
Report says Mars landing is only justification for human spaceflight beyond low Earth orbit
Space News (6/4): Mars landing justifies U.S. human space program, according to National Research Council. “NASA should hone its skills by testing the necessary technology at steppingstone destinations such as the Moon and near-Earth asteroids in their native orbits,” writes Space News.
America’s long-term space goal: Let’s put humans on Mars
NBC News (6/5): The ultimate goal of reaching Mars with humans can justify the cost and risks of human space exploration with interim efforts to reach an asteroid, as NASA now plans, and the moon, as some in Congress now favor. “Why go to Mars? The report’s authors said Martian exploration would address ‘the enduring questions for human spaceflight’: How far from Earth can humans go? And what can humans do and achieve when they get there?”
NRC human spaceflight report says NASA strategy can’t get humans to Mars
Washington Post (6/4): A sweeping review of NASA’s human spaceflight program has concluded that the agency has an unsustainable and unsafe strategy that will prevent the United States from achieving a human landing on Mars in the foreseeable future.
Expert report casts doubt on NASA’s pathway to Mars
Spaceflightnow.com and CBS News (6/4): U.S. should target Mars as a human spaceflight goal and increase the nation’s investment in the goal, according to a National Research Council report. Reaching Mars will require an international effort with carefully monitored investments in challenging new technologies, according to the long running study ordered by Congress in 2010.
U.S. needs to reexamine NASA’s China exclusion policy: Report
Xinhuanet, of China (6/4): U.S. should invite China into the international lineup that justifies the human exploration of Mars, according to a National Research Council report released on Wednesday.
Report: Mars mission is unaffordable now, but necessary
USA Today (6/4): Sending astronauts on Mars is unaffordable given today’s budget realities, but the U.S. can’t afford to give up on such a mission, according to the National Research Council.
To send astronauts to Mars, NASA needs new strategy: Report
Space.com (6/4): A Mars landing should underpin the U.S. human space exploration program, but NASA needs to change its strategy, according to a new National Research Council report. A moon landing and increased budgets are part of a success formula.
U.S. panel sets sights on Mars
Nature News (6/4): “Mars is the wisest U.S. play in human deep space exploration, according to the British science journal. Reaching the red planet would require a decades-long commitment to funding NASA’s human space-flight program at a level that outpaces the rate of inflation, ending 30 years of flat budgets for manned missions,” writes Nature.
Mars or bust, says new report on NASA human space exploration
Los Angeles Times (6/4): National Research Council urges U.S. to step up or take a seat when it comes to the human exploration of Mars. Reaching Mars with humans is a worthy investment, according to a 290 page report in the making since 2010.
New report: NASA Mars goal is not viable
Houston Chronicle (6/4): NASA on a course to nowhere, according to National Research Council report. “What we really want to make clear is that, if the nation decides that it wants to embark upon a sustainable program of human exploration, it will need to do it in a way that is different than the way it is being done now,” said Cornell University astronomer Jonathan Lunine, who co-chaired the report with former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA Low Density Supersonic Decelerator status update
NASA (6/5): Slated for the skies above the Hawaiian Islands, NASA’s LDSD flight test seeks to demonstrate an inflatable parachute technology for reaching the Martian surface with payloads that support human missions. Latest weather outlook favors a flight test on Saturday.
NASA testing ‘flying saucer’ with future plans for Mars
Fox News (6/4): Aerial vehicle designed to land heavy loads on the surface of Mars. (video)
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.
