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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA chooses the boulder option for a future Asteroid Redirect Mission; ARM venture to set stage for human Mars mission. Key U.S. House appropriator likes NASA’s Solar Electric Propulsion plans for asteroid mission. White House nomination of Dava Newman as NASA deputy administrator advances in U.S. Senate. NASA supporter joins U.S. House panel responsible for space spending. James Webb Space Telescope development advancing toward late 2018 launching. Though a large asteroid, Ceres looks a lot like a planet, says Dawn mission official. A year in space for NASA’s Scott Kelly and Russia’s Mikhail Kornienko could mean missions to Mars for future astronauts. Delta 4 rocket places U.S. GPS satellite in orbit. Japan launches a reconnaissance satellite. Russian Dnepr rocket places Korean research satellite in orbit.
Human Deep Space Exploration
NASA opts to grab a boulder, not the whole asteroid
CBS News (3/25): The space agency selects the next steps in a decision over destinations for future U. S. human deep space explorers — a boulder robotically extracted from the surface of a large asteroid and maneuvered into orbit around the moon. In lunar orbit, the boulder would become a destination for NASA astronauts launched aboard an Orion crew exploration capsule atop a Space Launch System heavy lift rocket. The encounter could unfold as soon as 2025.
NASA selects boulder option for asteroid redirect mission
Space News (3/25): The space agency chose the asteroid boulder capture strategy over an alternative that would have launched a robotic mission to capture an entire small asteroid and maneuver it into orbit around the moon. The boulder option offered more “extensibility” to NASA’s long term plans to explore Mars with humans in the mid-2030s, according to the report.
NASA to pick boulder off an asteroid |conceptual animation
Space.com (3/25): The website presents a NASA video illustration of the Asteroid Redirect Mission’s Option B boulder capture plan.
U.S. lawmaker wants NASA working on interstellar propulsion
Space News (3/25): NASA’s proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission makes sense if it fosters the development of an interstellar propulsion system, according to U.S. Rep. John Culberson, who chairs a House appropriations panel responsible for NASA annual budget. Culberson’s thoughts followed a visit to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
Senate committee advances NASA Deputy Administrator nomination
Space News (3/26): The White House nomination of Dava Newman, an MIT professor of aeronautics and astronautics, to become NASA’s deputy administrator clears the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Submitted in late October, the nomination now moves to the full Senate for a vote. The post has been vacant since September 2013, when Lori Garver departed to become general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association.
Palazzo wins seat on key appropriations panel
Spacepolicyonline.com (3/25): U.S. Rep. Steve Palazzo, of Mississippi, has been assigned to the House appropriations panel responsible for funding NASA and NOAA. His district includes NASA’s Stennis Space Center, and in previous assignments Palazzo has proven a strong supporter of NASA’s Orion crew exploration capsule and Space Launch System heavy lift rocket development, the website reports.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
Hubble Space Telescope successor on track for 2018 launch, NASA tells Congress
Space.com (3/25): NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, moving to the test and integration phase, is on track for a 2018 launching, agency officials tell a U.S. House oversight panel on Tuesday. The $8.8 billion observatory represents the designated successor to the 25-year-old Hubble Space Telescope. Representatives from the U.S. General Accountability Office, however, testify NASA must remain vigilant on cost and schedule requirements, though the observatory has a 10 months of schedule reserve.
Dwarf planet Ceres might have right stuff for life
New Scientist (3/25): NASA’s Dawn mission reached the large asteroid Ceres on Mar. 6 for orbital observations. Ceres is in reality as much as planet as the Earth, Venus or Mars, a leading Dawn mission official told a recent planetary science gathering.
Saturn’s day is shorter than once thought, scientists say
Los Angeles Times (3/25): The latest measurements cut the length of Saturn’s day by mere minutes.
Low Earth Orbit
Astronaut set to make history for longest stay in space
USA Today (3/25): U.S. astronaut Scott Kelly savors his last hours on Earth before lifting off with Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko for a year in orbit aboard the International Space Station. Lift off from the Baikonur Cosmodrome is set for Friday at 3:42 p.m., EDT. “It’s not going to be easy to spend a year in that kind of isolated environment,” Kelly said during mission training. “But I think I’m up for that challenge.”
A year in space: The science behind the epic Space Station voyage
Space.com (3/25): The science behind NASA astronaut Scott Kelly’s yearlong mission to the International Space Station is intended to lay the medical groundwork for future human deep space exploration. Kelly and his Russian cosmonaut colleague Mikhail Kornienko will help to reveal whether there are differences in the physical and psychological well-being of astronauts once they cross the six month point.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
Recap story: New bird flies for GPS navigation network
Spaceflightnow.com (3/25): A United Launch Alliance Delta 4 rocket places a new U.S. Global Positioning Satellite in Earth orbit on Wednesday following a lift off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. The Boeing built satellite is a replacement and will supply navigation information to civilian as well as military users.
H-2A rocket achieves fourth launch in six months
Spaceflightnow.com (3/26): Japan launched a reconnaissance satellite to monitor military activities in North Korea and elsewhere. The launching from the Tanegashima Space Center occurred on Thursday local time, or Wednesday at 9:21 p.m., EDT.
Russia’s Dnepr rocket launches Kompsat-3A mission
NASAspaceflight.com (3/25): A Russian Dnepr rocket lofts a Korean research satellite into orbit on Wednesday.
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