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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA’s planned Asteroid Retrieval Mission is bound to open doors to deep space, writes party to the debate. Work on European components may slow plans for an unpiloted December 2017 test launch of NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket with Orion capsule. U.S. and China unlikely to race to the moon, Mars, says policy analyst. U.S. missions to Mars ground breaking. NASA experts sort through the targets for an Asteroid Retrieval Mission. Final European space freighter heads for early Tuesday docking with the six person International Space Station. Bright moon possible spoiler for annual Perseid meteor shower. Tensions between the West and Russia over Ukraine stalling decision on International Space Station extension. Long distance European space station rover exercise could enrich future planetary exploration.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Space Review (8/11): NASA’s Asteroid Retrieval Mission looks like a credible strategy to prepare the space agency for the human exploration of Mars, notes essayist Martin Elvis, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics. Elvis weighs the positives against negatives raised by colleagues at a recent Small Bodies Assessment Group session that featured opposition.
News from AIAA Space 2014 | NASA officials: Orion ‘challenged’ to make 2017 launch date
Space News (8/12): Plans for an unpiloted December 2017 test flight of NASA’s Space Launch System and an Orion capsule equipped with a European Space Agency service module could be jeopardized by the pace of service module work, according to Mark Geyer, NASA’s Orion program manager, at a meeting of the AIAA in San Diego. The module is based on ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle. Geyer’s remarks came Aug. 5.
No case for a U.S.-China space race
Space News (8/11): There’s little evidence China is preparing to embark on a crash course of human missions to the moon or Mars, according to an op-ed from a budding Washington policy analyst.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
For the future of Mars exploration, the past is prologue
Space Review (8/11): And the past is encouraging as results from NASA’s Curiosity and long running Opportunity missions seem to point to a Martian past where water was present for thousands, if not millions, of years. A flurry of missions ahead appear focused on addressing whether the neighboring planet hosted some form of life, and why the environment changed so dramatically, writes Duane Hyland, a STEM communications specialist.
ARM candidates include two that already will have been sampled
Space News (8/11): At NASA, astronomers assess the prospective targets for the proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission. Some of the most favorable targets have already come under close scrutiny.
Perseid meteor shower peaks soon, but bright Moon interferes
Space.com (8/11): The intense annual meteor shower peaks early Wednesday. However, the remnants of this month’s “super Moon” may make observations difficult.
Brighter Perseids should shine through the Moonlight
Astronomy Now (8/11): With Perseids aplenty, the viewing of this year’s meteor shower, set to peak early Wednesday, should prove satisfying no matter the bright moon, according to the publication. “…remember to have fun and let’s hope for clear skies,”
Low Earth Orbit
Final ATV on track to arrive at space station Tuesday
Spaceflightnow.com (8/11): The European Space Agency’s 20 ton Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Georges Lemaitre, was on course to dock with the six person International Space Station early Tuesday. The linkup with the station’s Russian segment was scheduled for 9:30 a.m., EDT. On board the fifth and final in the series of European freighters are just over 14,000 pounds of supplies.
Editorial | Playing hard to get on ISS extension
Space News (8/11): Tensions between Moscow and the West over Russian interference in Ukraine has soured U.S. efforts to win support for an extension of International Space Station operations beyond 2020, writes Space News.
Astronaut in space takes car-sized rover for a joyride on Earth
NBC News (8/11): Aboard the International Space Station, European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst controls a rover on Earth. The exercise may help future astronauts conduct rover activities on the moon and Mars.
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