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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Editorial urges NASA to dispose of expensive, aging assets to free funds for new pursuits. Mars Society president Robert Zubrin challenges the reasoning of lunar advocates who believe that Mars is too big a leap. Mars, fascinating to scientists, could be a challenge for human explorers, according to a NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory historian. Major League Baseball adopts a NASA “exit velocity” focus. Astronomers discuss a “super” Hubble Space Telescope for the 2030s. Estimates of the Milky Way’s boundary grows. Scientists explain strange Milky Way X-ray glow. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station display their Star Wars passions. The U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee voices frustration with the pace of new U.S. rocket engine development. NASA seeks more private sector involvement at the Kennedy Space Center. International Space Station astronauts celebrate new espresso maker. Investigators close to finishing investigations into October 28 Antares/Cygnus launch and Oct. 31 Virgin Galactic in flight mishaps.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Unused Plum Brook facilities are part of a larger problem
Space News (5/4): NASA is burdened with a backlog of unused or little used infrastructure that is growing more expensive to sustain, or refurbish, according to an editorial. Many of the facilities were established to enable NASA’s Apollo lunar explorations.
Space News (5/4): In his op-ed, outspoken Mars Society president Robert Zubrin challenges the assertions from those in the space community who believe Mars to too challenging and too expensive a goal for human explorers.
Review: Engineering and exploration: The jet propulsion laboratory and the quest for Mars
The Space Review (5/4): Written by JPL historian Erik Conway, the book examines U.S. efforts to explore Mars with robotic orbiters, landers and rovers in the post Viking era of the mid-1970s. The still unfolding “follow the water” theme was driven scientifically by a yet to be addressed desire to obtain samples of the Martian surface and return them to Earth. Failure of the Mars Observer more than 20 years ago was accompanied by debates over new vs. old technology to achieve success, while managing costs. There was an interest in mission “novelty” as well to ensure public engagement, writes reviewer Jeff Foust. He also notes that Conway’s research led the historian to harbor skepticism that the challenges of human exploration of Mars will be overcome soon.
Baseball’s latest craze? It’s like rocket science
New York Times (5/4): As in rocketry at NASA, the “money ball” craze in Major League Baseball is all about exit velocity: How fast does the ball leave the bat? “It’s really just physics,” said John Ricco, the New York Mets’ assistant general manager.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Astronomers seek super-size Hubble successor to search for alien life
Scientific American (5/4): Already astronomers are discussing a successor to the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) and WFIRST space observatory. The High Definition Space Telescope (HDST) would qualify as a super Hubble Space Telescope that could be launched in the 2030s. Like the 25-year-old Hubble, the HDST would observe in the visible, ultraviolet and the near infrared wavelengths. However, it would be equipped to achieve direct observations of alien planets. The JWST, nearing a late 2018 lift off, will observe in the infrared to study the first stars and galaxies. WFIRST, a converted spy satellite, will observe in the infrared as well to study dark energy — following a launch in the 2020s.
Size of the Milky Way upgraded, solving galaxy puzzle
Space.com (5/4): The Milky Way galaxy is perhaps 60 percent larger than previously believed, thanks to a pair of outer ring like features.
Mysterious glow detected at center of Milky Way galaxy
Huffington Post (5/4): NASA’s NuStar space telescope suggests the glow could be x-rays emitted by dead stars as they interact gravitationally with nearby stars.
Low Earth Orbit
May the 4th be with you: Star Wars in space reality
Discovery.com (5/4): Tuesday was special for fans of the Star Wars feature film series. Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are watching their favorite installments as well.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
SASC unhappy with slow Air Force progress on RD-180 replacement
Spacepolicyonline.com (5/4): During a U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee hearing on Monday, lawmakers expressed concerns over a slower than expected pace of development for a new domestic rocket engine to replace imports of Russia’s RD-180. The RD-180 is used in the first stage of the Atlas 5 to launch national security payloads. The committee’s goal was 2019. Air Force officials say the work is paced in part by changes in the U.S. space launch industry prompted by NASA public-private partnerships.
NASA to seek private rocket companies for future KSC launch sites
Orlando Sentinel (5/4): NASA seeks proposals from companies prepared to establish launch sites at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Kennedy has transitioned to a multi-user launch complex since the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle program in 2011.
To boldly brew: Astronaut uses ISSpresso to make 1st cup of coffee in space
Collectspace.com via Space.com (5/4): Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti demonstrates ISSpresso, the first coffee maker aboard the International Space Station.
Suborbital
Antares and SpaceShipTwo, six months later
The Space Review (5/4): Multiple investigations into the Oct. 28 launch loss of the Orbital ATK Antares/Cygnus resupply mission to the International Space Station and the NTSB inquiry into the Oct. 31 fatal in flight breakup of the piloted SpaceShipTwo suborbital passenger rocket are drawing to conclusions, reports TSR editor Jeff Foust. Orbital ATK is leading the investigation into the first with FAA oversight; the NTSB is investigating the second. A rocket engine turbo pump has been the focus of the Antares/Cygnus loss. The co-pilot’s re-positioning of a feathering mechanism has been the focus of the SpaceShipTwo breakup. Orbital ATK’s Antares could be launching again with new rocket engines by Mar. 30, 2016.
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