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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA’s Mark Geyer tackles the challenges of an international partnership as NASA prepares a new spacecraft for future human deep space exploration. NASA efforts to find and track asteroid and comet impact threats needs overhaul, say auditors. European Space Agency selects Rosetta comet mission landing site. Scientists ponder strange Martian dune formations. Obstacles to solar power from space persist. Rumors suggest NASA’s Commercial Crew Program selections are coming soon, possibly Tuesday. Russia plans continued rocket engine exports regardless of new sanctions from the West over Ukraine. Sources suggest Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin are prepared to develop a new U.S. rocket engine. Sizing up low Earth orbit for commercial growth. Terrestrial changes could bolster Florida’s commercial space prospects. The Commercial Space Federation appoints a new chairman.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Profile | Mark Geyer, NASA Orion Program Manager
Space News (9/15): Geyer’s challenges include overseeing the development of NASA’s first spacecraft intended for human deep space exploration in a half century and working with a European Space Agency partner. The top near term challenge is preparing the four person Orion capsule for an unpiloted test flight with the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket by the end of 2018.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Audit Finds NASA Asteroid Search Program Needs More Structure
Space News (9/15): NASA’s inspector general finds lapses in the agency’s Near Earth Object program, an organization that searches for and tracks asteroids and comets that could impact the Earth. The initiative is falling behind a Congressional goal for the discovery of the hazards, though its budget is on the rise.
NASA’s hunt for dangerous asteroids falls short, report shows
Reuters(9/16): NASA’s Near Earth Object program will be unable to meet a congressional goal of identifying and tracking 90 percent of nearby and potentially dangerous asteroids larger than 460 feet (140 meters) in diameter, auditors with the agency’s inspector general reported Monday. So far, the NEO program has identified an estimated 10 percent of NEOs that circle the sun on trajectories that cross the Earth’s orbit. NASA’s science directorate agrees to make recommended changes.
Rosetta reveals its target landing site
Physics World (9/15): Experts from the European Space Agency target a landing spot on the comet 67P/ChuryumovGerasimenko for the Rosetta mission’s Philae lander. Touchdown is tentatively set for Nov. 11.
The Weird Wind-Rippled Surface of Mars
Discovery.com (9/15): NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveals dune-like ripples on the planet’s surface. Their orientation, perpendicular to prevailing winds, has scientists puzzled.
Low Earth Orbit
Space Solar Power: The Missing Link
Space News (9/15): Space solar power as a terrestrial energy source shows promise, through long standing familiar challenges remain, writes Jerry Grey, former Princeton University professor of aerospace engineering and an AIAA honorary fellow. Those challenges include low cost access to Earth orbit and wealthy investors.
Commercial to Orbit
Rumors Swirl About Imminent CCtCap Announcement
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/15): Rumors swirl that Tuesday may be the day NASA announces its closely-followed Commercial Crew Program selections. Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation and SpaceX are vying for contracts to complete the development of spacecraft that would restore a U.S. human launch capability.
Russia Says No Plans to Stop Selling Rocket Engines to U.S.
Moscow Times (9/15): A high-ranking official with Russia’s Military Industrial Commission says Moscow has no plans to end exports of its RD-180 and NK-33 rocket engines to the U.S. despite new sanctions imposed by the West over Ukraine. The RD-180 powers the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5.
Boeing-Lockheed venture said teaming with Bezos on rocket engine
Reuters (9/16): Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Blue Origin are prepared to partner for the development of a new U.S. rocket engine, according to a Reuters’ source. A formal announcement may come at mid-week. The domestic engine would replace imports of the Russian RD-180 that powers the United Launch Alliance Atlas V.
Getting the rules right: LEO as an economic development region
The Space Review (9/15): The Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program, initiated by NASA in 2006, has helped to open Low Earth Orbit to the private sector. But there is more to come, if the major players can establish an inclusive environment. Essayist Mary Lynne Ditmar explores the challenges of establishing an economic development region just off the planet.
Space News (9/15): Florida needs changes to its federal space launch complexes if it wants to pick up the pace of launches, writes Michael W. Maier, an executive with a support services contractor. Needed upgrades include a paperless, universal documentation system, an overhaul of scheduling and a second shift for the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range, he writes.
CSF Elects Frank DiBello as Group’s New Chairman
Space News (9/15): DiBello, long involved in Florida commercial space development, is named chair of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation.
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