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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. December’s Orion test flight continues to produce high marks. U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, new chair of the Senate’s Subcommittee on Science, Space and Competitiveness, voices support for NASA’s Orion and Space Launch System development and human exploration. NASA’s Curiosity rover shatters Mars rock, exposing possible science “gold mine”. Gemini Planet Imager ready to search alien planets from Chili. Scientists mark 10th anniversary of Huygens landing on Saturn’s moon Titan. Large asteroid to fly near Earth on Jan. 26. Astronomy turning to crowd sourcing. False alarm over possible ammonia coolant leak sends U.S., European astronauts to the International Space Station’s Russian segment for refuge. Space debris a global concern, warns expert. NASA offers space gold for sale.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Orion test flight “tremendously successful” but schedule challenges remain
Space News (1/14): The NASA/Lockheed Martin Orion crew exploration capsule that took flight for the first time on Dec. 5, exceeded expectations in its performance, according to early engineering data that showed the spacecraft achieving 85 of 87 objectives. The next challenge for the development effort is achieving the milestones for a second unpiloted test flight in 2018. Those include a timely decision on an upper stage for the new Space Launch System heavy lift rocket and adequate annual funding.
Cruz: U.S. must go deeper into space
The Hill (1/14): U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, new chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Science, Space and Competitiveness, urges greater NASA focus on human space exploration and domestic space launch capabilities. “We must refocus our investment on the hard sciences, on getting men and women into space, on exploring low-Earth orbit and beyond,” the Texas lawmaker said. “Russia’s status as the current gatekeeper of the International Space Station could threaten our capability to explore and learn, stunting our capacity to reach new heights and share innovations with free people everywhere,” Cruz replaces Florida’s Bill Nelson as the panel chair in the new Congress.
Cruz says NASA should refocus on ‘core’ mission, end dependence on Russians
Houston Chronicle (1/14): Conservative Texan Ted Cruz, new chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Science, Space and Competitiveness offers support for NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule and Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. Cruz said he would like the panel he chairs to focus on and shape NASA’s core mission.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Curiosity’s shattered Mars rock could be science goldmine
Discovery.com (1/14): Scientists prepare to make the best of it after NASA’s Curiosity rover shatters a rock sample during a drill. Curiosity has rolled to the base of Mount Sharp. The incident provides fresh rock surfaces for analysis and may hold clues about the planet when it was a much wetter realm.
America Space (1/14): Situated in Chile as part of the large Gemini South Telescope, the Gemini Planet Imager has completed a commissioning phase and is ready to expand the search for planets orbiting other stars.
10 years since we landed on Titan
Spaceflightnow.com (1/14): A decade ago this month, NASA’s long running Cassini mission reached Saturn and dropped off the Huygens probe for a descent to the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan. Frequently, Titan is referred to as a primordial Earth, a frigid world with liquid hydrocarbons.
Huge asteroid to fly by Earth on January 26: NASA
Sputnik News, of Russia (1/14): Asteroid 2004 BL86 will pass within 750,000 miles of the Earth late this month.
Can crowd funded astronomy work? (op-ed)
Space.com (1/13): Astronomers and physicists may find a receptive public when it comes to seeking investors for breakthroughs in their fields, writes Mark Jackson, founder of Fiat Physica, in an op-ed.
Low Earth Orbit
U.S. part of space station evacuated
CBS News (1/14): Astronauts aboard the International Space Station returned to U.S. modules late Wednesday after an alarm early in their day sounded over a possible ammonia coolant leak, sending them to the Russian segment of the six person orbital outpost for temporary refuge. It appears a faulty computer component that monitors the station’s cooling system may have malfunctioned.
False alarm sends USOS ISS crewmembers to Russian segment
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/14): NASA points to a faulty signal relay from a multiplexer/de-multiplexer, or computer, in the U.S. segment of the International Space Station as the likely trigger of a false alarm Thursday that toxic ammonia was leaking.
Space debris expert warns about dangers of orbital junk
Spaceflight Insider (1/14): Orbiting manmade space junk has become an increasing hazard to orbital activities, warns William Schonberg, professor of aerospace engineering at the Missouri University of Science and Technology and part of a National Academy of Sciences group assembled to assess the threat. No one country can remove the hazard on its own, he writes in an op-ed.
Digging for space history in surplus sale of NASA-flown gold
Collectspace.com (1/14): NASA auctions off surplus gold. The curious source may be a satellite that was launched and recovered aboard space shuttle missions in 1984 and 1990. Six gold plates exceeding just over six grams in weight have so far brought offers of more than $150,000. The U.S. General Services Administration auction sponsoring the sale ends Jan. 22.
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