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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. U.S. Senate joins the House in adopting a budget continuing resolution that will keep the federal government operating through Dec. 11, though there is no budget for the 2015 fiscal year that begins Oct. 1. U.S. Navy teams with NASA to rehearse Pacific recover of the Orion crew exploration vehicle. Public/private partnerships likely to flourish in space. Engineers consider a slimmer space suit. International Space Station’s Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer offers evidence for dark matter. NASA’s Maven headed for Mars rendezvous late Sunday. NASA IG reports the International Space Station may face cost, power issues if operations are extended beyond 2020. Next commercial re-supply mission to the space station will deliver 3-D printer, mice, plants, fruit flies — and a golf club experiment. Space travel not just for the physically fit.
NASA’s 2015 Budget
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/18): On Thursday, the U.S. Senate joined the House in agreement on a budget continuing resolution that funds federal agencies at 2014 levels through Dec. 11. The 2015 federal fiscal year begins Oct. 1. NASA, like other federal agencies, will start without a new budget, but a government shutdown has been avoided if President Obama signs the measure, as expected. The CR includes a small rescission.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Orion a step closer to deep space; NASA practices pulling it from sea
Los Angeles Times (9/18): Earlier this week, the U.S. Navy’s USS Anchorage rehearsed the Pacific Ocean recovery of a NASA Orion capsule. The Navy is expected to carry out the recovery for real in December at the conclusion of Exploration Flight Test-1, an unpiloted two orbit test of the capsule. NASA is developing Orion to take explorers on missions of deep space exploration.
Insider exclusive: ULA’s Tony Taliancich talks NASA’s EFT-1 and the Delta IV heavy
Spaceflightinsider.com (9/18): A United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy will loft NASA’s Orion crew exploration vehicle on its first flight test, Exploration Flight Test -1, scheduled for December. A launching from Cape Canaveral, Fla., will start the capsule on a two orbit flight to demonstrate the capsule’s heat shield and other systems.
Spaceflight powered by partnership (op-ed)
Space.com (9/18): Successful public/private partnering is likely to play a significant role in challenging future endeavors like human deep space exploration, writes Wyle’s Vernon McDonald. Constrained federal spending will drive the trend that now counts efforts to develop commercial human as well as cargo missions to support the International Space Station.
MIT’s futuristic spacesuit works like shrink wrap
Washington Post (9/18): Engineers at MIT look at a new approach to spacesuits — one in which bulk gives way to a flexible form fit.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Mystery signal could be dark matter hint in ISS detector
Discovery.com (9/18): Perched outside the International Space Station, the multi-nation Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer could be on the trail of elusive dark matter. The evidence lies in the ratio of positrons to electrons it has characterized so far. Positrons are the anti-matter counterpart to electrons. So far, scientists have waded through 41 billion AMS cosmic ray strikes.
NASA’s ‘MAVEN’ space probe to reach Mars this weekend
Huffington Post (9/18): NASA’s Maven spacecraft is on course to maneuver into orbit around Mars on Sunday night, after a 10 month journey from Earth. Maven was developed to study long term changes in the Martian atmosphere and environment.
Low Earth Orbit
NASA IG: ISS cost U.S. $75 billion so far, estimates of future costs overly optimistic
Spacepolicyonline.com (9/18): The agency’s inspector general finds NASA’s International Space Program facing a range of challenges, from cost to technical, as it campaigns to extend operations from 2020 to 2024. Annual U.S. operating costs are likely to exceed $4 billion, and possibly more, if Europe, Japan, Canada and Russia do not agree to extend as well, according to the auditors. IG Paul K. Martin also foresees problems with replacing degrading solar arrays and radiator panels. Even with an extension, NASA is unlikely to meet all of its research challenges to support human deep space exploration, he concludes.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
SpaceX Dragon to launch space mice, 3D printer and more for NASA
Space.com (9/18): Set for lift off early Saturday, SpaceX’s fourth commercial cargo mission to the International Space Station is set to deliver more than 5,000 pounds of equipment, including the first 3-D printer in space, 20 mice, fruit flies and plants. The animals will participate in experiments intended to probe how living organisms respond to lengthy periods of weightlessness.
A better golf club? Space may play a role in that.
Florida Today (9/18): Next cargo mission to the International Space Station will feature a materials bonding experiment that could lead to better golf clubs as well as other metal, composite hardware. Cobra Puma Golf will use U.S. National Laboratory access to the space station to assess aluminum coatings that could make future clubs less susceptible to corrosion and wear.
Suborbital
Space travel: Not just for the fit
Houston Chronicle: A study conducted by the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston suggests that humans with heart disease, diabetes, back and neck injuries could withstand the rigors of a space launch and atmospheric re-entry. Findings could have implications for space passenger travel.
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