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. The NASA Advisory Council urges NASA to seek independent cost and technical assessments for the Asteroid Redirect Mission, while expressing concerns U.S. human spaceflight aspirations are underfunded. The U.S. and Russia agree on deep space radiation safety measures. NASA announces science instrument selections for 2020 Mars rover mission. The Hubble Space Telescope spots massive distant galaxy with light bending powers. Gamma rays detected in white dwarf star explosions. NASA marks 50th anniversary of first close up moon photos. Russia considers drastic cut in Baikonur launch budget for 2016. Commercial Spaceflight Federation announces new president. Engineers envision gas stations in orbit to extend life of geosynchronous satellites. U.S. GPS satellite poised for launching late Friday. Houston company to launch pet ashes as a memorial.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NAC wants independent cost and technical estimate of ARM before down select
Spacepolicyonline.com (7/31): NASA should seek independent assessments of the cost and technical challenge of the Asteroid Retrieval Mission, the NASA Advisory Council concluded after a two day session. Established as an outside advisory panel to the agency’s administrator, the NAC said NASA should obtain the results before it chooses between a strategy that would robotically capture a small asteroid and steer it into orbit around the moon or grab a boulder from a larger asteroid. Astronauts would launch for a visit to achieve President Obama’s goal of sending humans to an asteroid by 2025. Mars should remain a long term goal for human exploration, according to the NAC, though it expressed strong concerns the initiative will overwhelm NASA’s future budgets.
NASA experts, Russia sign radiation safety protocol despite sanctions
Ria Novosti, of Russia (7/31): Representatives of the U.S. and Russia agree to radiation safety measures for missions to the moon and Mars. The agreements come despite new sanctions levied by the U.S. and Europe against Russia over interventions in Ukraine.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA selects 7 instruments for Mars 2020 rover
Space News (7/31): On Thursday, NASA announced its selection of seven instruments for the Mars 2020 rover mission that will use basic mechanical systems from Curiosity’s still unfolding successful voyage. The suite includes 3-D cameras, drills and coring instruments, equipment to extract oxygen from the thin carbon dioxide atmosphere as well as the systems to store samples of soil and rock until they can be returned to Earth.
NASA’s Mars 2020 rover gets tools to search for signs of past life
Los Angeles Times (7/31): Curiosity’s successor will be equipped with instruments to check the Martian soil and rocks for bio markers, or signs of microbial life.
How NASA’s Mars 2020 rover will work (infographic)
USA Today (7/31): An instrument by instrument explanation of what NASA and its partners intend to send to Mars aboard the 2020 rover mission.
The Hubble found a galaxy so huge, it acts like a magnifying glass
The Washington Post (7/31): A large elliptical galaxy 9.6 billion light years away has enough mass to bend or “magnify” the image of an even more distant star system. The magnification has made this smaller star system and a wave of star formation visible to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Hubble Space Telescope in good shape 5 years after final servicing
CBS New (7/31): With the exception of a single failing gyro, a stabilizing device, the Hubble Space Telescope and its instrumentation are working fine — five years after NASA shuttle astronauts upgraded the observatory. NASA and its partners are hopeful Hubble can continue with operations until its designated successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is launched in late 2018.
Novae surprise with gamma rays
Sky and Telescope (7/31): Exploding white dwarf stars unleash surprisingly energetic gamma radiation, according to observations with NASA’s Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope.
First photos of moon’s surface released 50 years ago
USA Today (7/31): NASA released the first close up photos of the moon 50 years ago Thursday. NASA’s Ranger 7 took and transmitted the images before it crashed into the moon.
Low Earth Orbit
Baikonur Cosmodrome could stop receiving financing in 2016 – reports
Ria Novosti, of Russia (8/1): Russia’s Ministry of Finance zeroes out funds for salaries and maintenance of the Russian operated launch complex in Kazakhstan. Baikonur is the current launch site for astronauts headed for the International Space Station as well as a range of other Russian space activities.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Stallmer taking over as President of Commercial Spaceflight Federation
Space News (7/31): CSF announces Eric Stallmer as its new President. Stallmer, the former Analytical Graphics, Inc., vice president for government affairs, replaces Michael Lopez-Alegria, who departs in September.
NASA eyes robotic space gas stations for satellites
Space.com (7/31): Engineers from NASA’s Goddard and Kennedy space centers team to develop future satellite re-fueling technologies. One focus is geo-synchronous orbit, where satellites in communications roles could operate longer to lower the accumulation of orbital debris.
Atlas 5 rocket to fly Friday night with GPS satellite
Spaceflightnow.com (7/30): U.S. Global Positioning System satellite is ready for a late Friday lift off from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
Fly Fido to the moon in space send off for deceased pets
Reuters (7/31): The Houston space burial company, Celestis, offers memorial services for pets. The first launch is set for October.
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.
