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. NASA looks for new missions to boost projected Space Launch System flight rate. Small robot swarm might comb planetary surfaces for resources. NASA’s Curiosity rover weathered by Martian rocks and dust. Experts debate significance of Arctic deep water microbes in the search for alien life. Theoretical work suggests universe imploded before it exploded in the theorized big bang. Russia mulls International Space Station extension. Maryland engineer remembered for early efforts to prepare astronauts for spacewalk challenge. CNBC sees surge in spending on human spaceflight systems. Russia delivers rocket engines to United Launch Alliance despite tensions with West. Boeing prepared to lease Kennedy Space Center facilities if selected by NASA’s Commercial Crew Program. Northrop Grumman led aerospace team unveils space plane strategy.
Human Deep Space Exploration
SLS searching for missions to solve flight rate dilemma
NASAspaceflight.com (8/21): NASA looks for new Space Launch System flight opportunities as the heavy lift rocket design effort transitions to hardware development. New science missions could supplement launching of Orion crews on deep space exploration missions.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA wants robot swarms to mine the moon and Mars
Boston Globe (8/20): Tiny robot “swarmies” could one day swarm the surfaces of the moon, an asteroid or Mars in search of valuable resources. Trials have been conducted on the parking lots of the Kennedy Space Center.
Look at what two years on Mars did to the Curiosity Rover
The Verge (8/20): NASA’s Curiosity rover, also known as the Mars Science Laboratory, reached the surface of the red planet two years ago this month. A series of photos show how the six wheeled robot has fared in the Martian environment.
JPL’s Erickson details Curiosity wheel issues and solutions
Spaceflight Insider (8/20): Rocks embedded in the Martian terrain and not seen by previous rover missions to the red planet have taken a toll on Curiosity’s aluminum wheels. A special team of engineers is examining the issue and course changes to sustain the rover on its extended mission.
Microbes found beneath Antarctic ice: What it means for alien life hunt
Space.com (8/20): Researchers, but not all, say finding of microbes adapted to fresh waters 2,600 feet below the Arctic ice is an encouraging prospect for the existence of alien life.
What came before the Big Bang?
Scientific American (8/20): An emerging understanding of the universe on the smallest scales raises a question. Did an implosion trigger the bang?
Russia wants the ability to kill asteroids
Moscow Times (8/20): Russia ponders an asteroid defense in response to the destructive meteor explosion over Chelyabinsk in early 2013. Russia’s concept for intercepting the threat posed by an asteroid on a collision course with the Earth includes efforts to remove manmade debris from low Earth orbit.
Low Earth Orbit
Roscosmos plans to beef up Russia’s segment of the International Space Station
The Moscow Times (8/20): Russia’s long delayed Multipurpose Laboratory Module could be among the improvements and additions the Russian Federal Space Agency makes to the International Space Station’s Russian segment in 2017, say officials. Tensions between Moscow and Washington over the Ukraine have slowed deliberations over a U.S. desire to extend station activities from 2020 to 2024.
Where NASA learned to spacewalk
Air & Space Museum (8/20): A little known Maryland engineer pioneered neutral buoyancy, achieved in a water tank, as a training medium for U.S. spacewalks. NASA’s six million gallon Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory in Houston now fills that purpose.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
The final frontier: Universal space travel
CNBC (8/19): Investments in new human spaceflight systems are on an incline not seen since the Cold War space race, the financial news network reports. CNBC cites NASA’s investments in the Commercial Crew Program and plans for an unmanned flight test of the new Orion crew capsule as well as private spending on new suborbital and orbital human flight systems as evidence.
ULA takes delivery of two RD-180 rocket engines from Russia
Space News (8/20): United Launch Alliance takes delivery of two Russian RD-180 rocket engines for use by the company’s Atlas V — despite threats earlier this year from Moscow that it would halt exports in response to U.S. sanctions imposed over Russia’s interference in Ukraine. ULA’s RD-180 inventory reaches 15, with more of the rocket engines expected to arrive before the end of the year, according to ULA.
Boeing would pay $1 million a year for KSC facilities
Florida Today (8/20): Boeing is one of three companies competing for funding under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program to develop a spacecraft to launch humans to the International Space Station. If selected, Boeing would lease Kennedy Space Center facilities to prepare and refurbish the company’s CST-100 capsule.
Suborbital
Northrop Grumman unveils XS-1 space plane design for Darpa
Aviation Week & Space Technology (8/20): Northrop Grumman unveils plans for an unmanned vertical launch, horizontal landing reusable space plane in response to U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) contract. Partners for the two stage launcher include Northrop’s Scaled Composite division and Virgin Galactic. Boeing and Masten Space Systems teams are competing for future development opportunities as well.
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.