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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden urges young Americans on to Mars and other difficult goals in remarks to University of Michigan graduates. NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel calls for more transparency in the agency’s Commercial Crew Program and a more goal oriented approach to its human deep space aspirations. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center honored 17 fallen astronauts on Wednesday as part of NASA’s annual Day of Remembrance. More ceremonies are planned Thursday. In the Utah desert, volunteers plan to revive their Mars mission simulation facilities after a destructive fire. Mercury: a place for humans? Russia’s Rocket and Space Corp. works on a human lunar orbiting spacecraft. NASA’s Dawn mission hints at new intrigue as asteroid Ceres encounter looms. NASA’s Mars Opportunity Rover rests before new evidence of water in the red planet’s past. Life aboard the International Space Station is demanding but with time for fun, says U.S. commander Butch Wilmore. New NASA Earth science mission awaits launch from California early Thursday. U.S. Air Force chief of staff warns of new damage if sequestration returns. Great Britain pursues a hypersonic spacecraft.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Charlie Bolden has a message for the space generation: Op-ed
Space News (1/28): Bolden’s message to University of Michigan graduates last month was: “Whatever field you will be entering, my advice for you is quite simple: Dream big dreams; do what you want to do; don’t listen to anyone who tells you can’t do something or you don’t belong; do your job and do it very well; and don’t let the opportunity to make a difference in your world pass you by.” NASA’s administrator urged the graduates to reach for Mars and address terrestrial climate concerns.
NASA Safety Advisory Panel criticizes Commercial Crew Program for lack of openness
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/28): In its annual report for 2014, NASA’s independent Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel urges more transparency in the agency’s Commercial Crew Program. The report also warns of a lack of a well-defined mission for the agency’s human deep space ambitions and a mismatch between its budget and what NASA is expected to accomplish. NASA’s deep space planning depends on a capabilities based approach that is driving the maturity of the Orion capsule and Space Launch System. Both elements of NASA’s human deep space plans depend too much on budget driven schedules rather than a purposeful, schedule-driven, goal-oriented approach, the panel notes.
Apollo, Challenger, Columbia: NASA remembers fallen astronauts
Florida Today (1/28): Wednesday marked the 29th anniversary of the loss of the shuttle Challenger and its seven member crew moments after liftoff from the Kennedy Space Center. From Washington to Los Angeles, space agency workers honored Challenger’s astronauts and those who perished aboard the shuttle Columbia and in the Apollo 1 fire as part of what NASA calls an annual Day of Remembrance. The Kennedy Space Center’s ceremonies were hosted at the Space Mirror Memorial.
NASA remembering 17 astronauts killed on missions
Associated Press via Houston Chronicle (1/28): A candlelight ceremony is planned Thursday at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center to honor the 17 astronauts that perished in the Apollo 1 launch pad fire of Jan. 27, 1967 and two space shuttle tragedies, Challenger on Jan. 28, 1986 and Columbia on Feb. 1, 2003.
Fire ends mock Mars mission in Utah desert
Space.com (1/28): A flash fire at a Utah desert test site brings an early end to a simulated Mars mission for four volunteers. The Mars Society intends to have replacement structures ready in time for the 2015-16 field season, which begins this fall.
What would it be like to live on Mercury?
Space.com (1/28): The small planet is unbelievably hot. Yet, what if it was possible to survive the extreme heat to live on the planet closest to the sun?
RSC Energia works on manned spacecraft for flights to Moon
Interfax, of Russia (1/28): Russia’s Rocket and Space Corporation is at work on a spacecraft that could launch astronauts to lunar orbit, a company official says in remarks before an academic audience.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Closing in on mysterious Ceres
Air & Space Museum Magazine (1/28): NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft is now within 148,000 miles of its second and final solar system destination, the dwarf planet Ceres, also the largest of the solar system’s main belt asteroids. Prior to its scheduled maneuver into orbit on March 6, Dawn has already spotted craters. Scientists believe Ceres may also harbor liquid water under an icy crust.
Mars science treasure dead ahead as Opportunity celebrates 11th year alive roving Martian mountain
America Space (1/28): NASA’s Mars Opportunity rover parks before a cache of water altered minerals on the rim of Endeavour crater on Mars. This week, the golf cart sized rover marked its 11th year of exploration on the red planet. It was designed to operate for just 90 days.
Low Earth Orbit
Astronauts in space: Working, but having fun too
Houston Chronicle (1/28): Life for the six astronauts aboard the International Space Station is demanding, but there is still time for a little fun, three of the orbiting lab’s astronauts say in an interview.
SMAP is set to launch atop ULA Delta II Rocket
Spaceflight Insider (1/28): Early Thursday, NASA readied the Soil Moisture Active Passive observatory for lift off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. The Earth observing mission is designed to provide new insight into the moisture locked in the soil on a global scale and the influences of changes on weather and climate. The launching atop a United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket is set for 9:20 a.m., EST.
Welsh: Sequestration bill is due for USAF space launch infrastructure
Spacepolicyonline.com (1/28): The U.S Air Force has suffered from budget sequestration on a range of fronts, Air Force chief of staff General Mark Welsh III told the U.S. Senate Armed Services Committee on Wednesday. Welsh urges lawmakers to take measures to avoid a return of the budget control act in 2016.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
U.K. spacecraft project completes major review
Flightglobal.com (1/28): In Great Britain, engineers work on Skylon, a single stage spacecraft with a hybrid rocket engine that will attempt to achieve orbit with a runway take off.
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