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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Key Alabama U.S. senator credited with pending increase in funding for NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. Sizing up current House and Senate versions of NASA’s 2015 budget. NASA embraces critical National Research Council report on human spaceflight. Lofty Space Launch System ambitions ride on shoulders of Apollo program, questions of cost. Thoughts on a Mars Base? New documentary explores life of Gene Cernan, commander of final U.S. Apollo mission to the moon. Neil deGrasse Tyson brings success to new Cosmos series. NASA’s Curiosity rover captures image of Mount Sharp. NASA funds a dozen technology projects. Astronomers confirm existence of strange hybrid star. NASA engineers demonstrate the power of laser communications from the International Space Station. News Space offers promise for U.S. commercial space. Senate Appropriations Committee provision may prove troubling for NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners. FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation receives boost from Senate. SpaceShipTwo ticket holders look to Zero G Flights for taste of suborbital flight. A look at major space policy events scheduled for the week ahead.
NASA 2015 Budget
Shelby gets Space Launch System $100 million more in Senate Appropriations Committee
Huntsville Times (6/6): U.S. Sen. Richard Shelby’s efforts win possible $100 million increase in NASA’s Space Launch System budget, according to the newspaper. The 2015 budget figure for the heavy lift rocket intended to start U.S. astronauts on future missions of deep space exploration would be $1.7 billion.
Examining the Senate’s NASA funding bill
Spacepolitics.com (6/6): The website presents an activity by activity NASA budget box score for 2015: the White House request, full U.S. House figure, and U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee numbers. The spending bill making its way through the two house reflects a top line increase.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA unfazed by report saying current path won’t reach Mars
Space News (6/6): NASA embraces National Research Council report from last week that doubts the agency is making headway in its pursuit of future missions to Mars. “We are pleased to find the NRC’s assessment and identification of compelling themes for human exploration are consistent with the bipartisan plan agreed to by Congress and the Administration in the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and that we have been implementing ever since,” NASA said in the statement. Not everyone agrees, according to the Space News report.
NASA’s new rocket drives ambition, fuels doubt
Houston Chronicle (6/8): The Space Launch System represents NASA largest heavy lift rocket project in four decades and the centerpiece of plans to reach Mars with human explorers. As NASA make strides in the development, however, questions of cost and launch rates are never far behind.
The Economist (6/7): NASA traditionalists wrestle with commercial reformers over where they line up on the future of humans in space. “For now, though, that compromise has allowed both efforts to co-exist,” the Economist notes.
Want to design a Mars base for NASA? Now’s your chance
Wired.com (6/6): Makerbot joins with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory to sponsor a contest for a human Mars base. The winning prize is a 3-D printer.
Last Man on the Moon recalls U.S. era of courage to do the impossible
The Guardian (6/6): New documentary, Last Man on the Moon, explores the life of NASA astronaut Eugene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17, the final U.S. human moon landing. “The press have labelled me The Last Man to Walk on the Moon. I’d like to think of it as the last man of Apollo to walk on the moon. We’re going to go back again.”
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
The Daily Beast (6/8): A look at the man behind the rebirth of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. “Cosmos is not only about exploring what science is and why it matters, it’s also an exploration of how we came to know what we know,” explains the ever curious deGrasse Tyson.
Curiosity captures stunning new Mount Sharp panorama ‘on the go’
Universe Today (6/7): New imagery from NASA’s Curiosity rover captures Mount Sharp in panorama. With its second anniversary on Mars approaching, Curiosity is on its way to the base of Sharp and a climb to seek further evidence of past habitable environments.
NASA funds 12 futuristic space tech concepts
Space.com (6/6): NASA invests in a dozen space exploration technologies under the Innovative Advanced Concepts program, including a small submarine suitable for exploring Saturn’s moon Titan and a tethering system to de-spin an unruly asteroid.
Space oddity: Bizarre hybrid star found after 40-year search
Space.com (6/6): Astronomers discovery an odd sort of star whose existence was predicted in the mid-1970s, a hybrid between a red super giant and a neutron star.
Low Earth Orbit
‘Hello, world!’ NASA beams video from Space Station via laser
NASA (6/6): NASA succeeds in first test of the OPALS laser communications experiment involving the International Space Station and a receiver near the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California. The first burst, “hello world.” Laser communications promises a 10 to 1,000 times improvement over traditional radio communications. Forthcoming evaluations promise to prepare NASA for even deeper space explorations.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
When it comes to space travel, things are looking up
Huffington Post (6/6): NewSpace, an enthusiasm for commercial space activities, is helping to revive U.S. entrepreneurship, according to Penn State blogger Michael Paul.
NASA budget may contain a nasty surprise for commercial crew providers
Houston Chronicle (6/6) The U.S. Senate version of NASA’s 2015 budget request seeks detailed cost and financial information from agency’s Commercial Crew Program partners — Boeing, Sierra Nevada and SpaceX. NASA expects to award at least one contract for the transportation of astronauts to and from the International Space Station.
FAA space office fares better in Senate Appropriations Bill for FY2015
Spacepolicyonline.com (6/6): U.S. Senate Appropriations Committee approves administration’s $16.6 million 2015 budget request for the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation, regulators of the U.S. commercial launch industry. The total is up from the $16.01 for 2014. The U.S. House approved a small cut, agreeing to $16 million.
Suborbital
Virgin Galactic space tourists shed pounds (and fears) on Zero-G flight
NBC News (6/1): Eager SpaceShipTwo passengers turn to Zero-G airplane flights for a taste of what is to come.
Major Space Related Activities for the Week
Major space related activities for the week of June 9-13, 2014
Spacepolicyonline.com (6/8): The U.S. House is scheduled to take up NASA’s 2014 Authorization bill, legislation authored by the House Science, Space and Technology Committee with bipartisan support in April.
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