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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. In the U.S., President Obama presented his 2016 fiscal year budget proposal to Congress on Monday, including $18.5 billion for NASA, a 2.7 percent increase. Many reported and commented on a spending plan that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said will keep his agency on a steady course to reach Mars with human explorers in the 2030s. NASA plans crucial Orion ground tests at Ohio’s Plumb Brook Station. Astronauts cope with declining immune systems in space. NASA’s long running Mars Opportunity Rover and Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter could face funding losses. The Hubble Space Telescope could continue with observations beyond 2020. Young students propose 3-D printing projects aboard the International Space Station. Who’s positioned to shape future European space policy, the European Space Agency of the European Union?
NASA’s 2016 Budget
NASA outlines FY 2016 budget request
CBS News (2/2): President Obama’s proposed 2016 budget for NASA will keep the space agency on a course to lead the human exploration of Mars, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Monday. It also supports the development of new U.S. commercial launch services to transport astronauts to the International Space Station by late 2017, prepare the James Webb Space Telescope for a late 2018 launching and support new robotic investigations of Mars and Jupiter’s ice and ocean covered moon Europa.
Bolden: State of NASA is strong
Spaceflight Insider (2/2): From its work on the Orion crew exploration capsule to commercially operated spacecraft that can take astronauts to and from the International Space Station to climate research, NASA’s is among the federal government’s top performers, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said Monday. “I want every single American to feel the pride we feel when we talk about what we do at NASA,” Bolden said in remarks delivered from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
President requests $18.5 billion for NASA, how will Congress react?
Spacepolicyonline.com (2/2): Congressional concerns over NASA’s 2016 budget request are likely to arise over proposed reductions for Orion and the Space Launch System as well as the relevance of the proposed Asteroid Retrieval Mission to the future human exploration of Mars. Other likely debate points are proposed increases in spending for the Commercial Crew Program and Earth Science. Reduced spending for a robotic mission to Jupiter’s moon Europa may disappoint advocates, the web site predicts.
Coalition for Space Exploration comments on the Administration’s FY2016 NASA budget
Coalition for Space Exploration (2/2): NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket and Orion crew exploration capsule, cornerstones of U.S. ambitions to explore Mars with humans, should not receive less funding for development in 2016 than appropriated in 2015, according to an assessment of the 2016 White House budget plan by the Coalition. SLS and Orion spending would fall $344 million and $98 million respectively next year. Estimates of future year expenditures drop as well. “These programs are making outstanding progress and proving their value to America,” according to the Coalition. “We urge the Administration and Congress to work together to ensure NASA has the resources it needs to support these critical programs.”
White House seeks $18.5 billion NASA budget, with deep space in mind
Space.com (2/2): President Obama’s 2016 budget proposal for NASA keeps the agency on a course to Mars, according to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. The proposed $18.5 billion in funding includes support for the proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission, a milestone towards a human Mars mission in the 2030s. There’s also support for a robotic mission to Jupiter’s ice and ocean covered moon Europa in the mid-2020s. Europa is a possible host for extraterrestrial life.
White House proposes $18.5 billion budget for NASA
Space News (2/2): Increased spending in 2016, if agreed to by Congress, would benefit most NASA programs. Aeronautics and education, however, would experience decreases.
White House budget proposal would keep NASA in Alabama stable in 2016
Huntsville Times (2/2): If passed by Congress, NASA’s proposed budget for 2016 will put the Marshall Space Flight Center on solid footing, according to director Patrick Scheuermann. Marshall leads the development of NASA’s Space Launch System heavy lift rocket.
Obama’s NASA budget provides healthy increase, funds new rocket and spacecraft
Houston Chronicle (2/3): The White House 2016 budget proposal for NASA is a vote of confidence that allows the space agency to keep doing what it has been doing, says Ellen Ochoa, director of the Johnson Space Center. Johnson is leading the development of the Orion crew exploration vehicle.
NASA seeks Commercial Crew budget boost
Florida Today (2/2): NASA’s proposed 2016 budget includes $1.2 billion for the Kennedy Space Center managed Commercial Crew Program, a 50 percent increase over 2015 spending. The sharp rise is needed to help Boeing and SpaceX meet their development milestones to begin transporting astronauts to and from the International Space Station by a late 2017 goal, said agency officials.
NASA’s Europa mission to hunt down life’s niches
Discovery.com (2/2): NASA’s proposed 2016 budget includes $30 million in preliminary planning for a robotic mission to Europa, the ice and ocean covered moon of Jupiter, in the mid-2020s. NASA received $100 million in 2015 for studies supporting the Europa Clipper, a spacecraft that would orbit Jupiter for reconnaissance of the intriguing moon with a series of flybys. Supporters believe Europa may be suitable for life.
White House budget: All systems go at NASA
Washington Post (2/2): NASA’s proposed budget for 2016 is intended to advance development of the Orion crew exploration capsule, Space Launch System heavy lift rocket, James Webb Space Telescope, new commercial launch services for astronauts assigned to the International Space Station and the Asteroid Redirect Mission.
NASA does about-face on SOFIA, requests full funding
Space News (2/2): SOFIA, an airborne observatory joint venture between the U.S. and Germany receives full funding support from the White House in its 2016 budget proposal. Efforts on the U.S. side to trim the program if SOFIA’s partners did not pick up more of the expense were unsuccessful.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Orion test schedule at NASA Plum Brook revealed
Sandusky Register, of Ohio (2/2): Ohio’s Plum Brook Station is being readied for ground testing of NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule. Early tests will submit the capsule to acoustic and mechanical forces. Orion is under development to start U.S. explorers on future missions of deep space exploration.
Does spaceflight accelerate immune system aging?
PBS (2/2): Research conducted aboard the International Space Station suggests the human immune system grows weaker during space flight.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA may ax long-lived Mars rover Opportunity mission next year
Space.com (2/2): Opportunity has been roving on Mars since 2004 in search of mineralogy that suggests the red planet had past environmental conditions suitable for microbial life. The long lived mission, however, could be suspended next year for budgetary reasons. NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter may face the same fate as NASA’s proposed 2016 reaches Congress.
Low Earth Orbit
Hubble Space Telescope could survive through 2020, scientists say
Space.com (2/2): The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990 and regularly upgraded by shuttle astronauts, is in good shape and could continue to make important discoveries in astronomy through 2020 and perhaps longer, say experts from the Space Telescope Science Institute. Hubble’s longevity would keep it functioning until the late 2018 launching of the James Webb Space Telescope.
Student designs selected to be printed on Space Station in 3-D printing contest
Spaceflight Insider (2/2): The K-12 competition produces winners who suggested the use of the Made in Space prototype 3-D printer aboard the International Space Station to manufacture a multi-tool and a planter to grow planets.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Increased competition will challenge ESA’s space authority
The Space Review (2/2): Who will guide European space policy in the future, the incumbent European Space Agency or the European Union? The answer may turn on the future of GeoReturn, a policy of spreading government investments in new space technologies across ESA’s member states. Policies that encourage competition to generate the lowest cost are gaining traction, writes essayist Clemens Rumpf, a British planetary defense researcher.
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