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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reports on space related activities and commentary on space policy from around the world. NASA’s Desert RATS nears the end of a successful two-week field test of rovers, robots and habitats in Arizona. Scarce funding however, may pace how quickly the latest in exploration technology will be employed on actual missions. NASA may be tasked with a new responsibility, countering a collision with an asteroid or comet. The space station receives a checkup that could mean a longer life. In Chile, miners trapped underground since early August receive their request for cigarettes, against NASA’s advice.
1. From MSNBC: A look at NASA’s annual Desert RATS, an expedition by engineers, scientists and astronauts to the alien landscapes of Northern Arizona for two weeks of field testing rovers, robots, habitats and the other equipment that will be needed for future expeditions to the moon, asteroids and Mars. The exercise concludes this week.
http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/_news/2010/09/13/5102576-nasa-does-a-dry-run-for-deep-space
A. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: Scientists at the University of Arizona study the prospects for growing terrestrial plants without soil on the moon, or Mars.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/greenhouse-for-the-moon-mars-demonstrated
2. From The Space Review: “In Debating the Future of Human Space Flight,” editor Jeff Foust assesses the political landscape as Congress re-convenes this week to address unfinished budget matters, including those of NASA. No matter how the House and Senate resolve their differences over NASA’s future, the space agency faces an uphill battle in its quest for adequate financing in a political environment primed to cut deficit spending, Foust concludes.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1695/1
3. From Foreign Policy: Under a law passed by Congress in 2008, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy must come up with a strategy to detect and protect the Earth against asteroids that pose a collision threat. By mid-October, the OSTP is to select an agency to carry out the task, and it looks like it will be NASA. The Planetary Protection Coordination Office established by OSTP is expected to receive between $250 million and $300 million annually to carry out the responsibility. Will other nations join the effort and commit resources?
http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/09/13/why_is_it_americas_job_to_save_the_world_from_asteroids
A. From the Albany Democrat Herald of Oregon: An editorial with a reminder of astronaut peril. Two small ones passed close to the Earth last week.
http://www.democratherald.com/news/opinion/editorial/article_26459bda-bf64-11df-8d3d-001cc4c03286.html
4. From Spaceflightnow.com: Engineers from NASA and the agency’s International Space Station partners work to certify the life of the outpost for another two decades. Congress seems sure to endorse a White House proposal to extend operations from 2016, until at least 2020. However, engineers have set their sites on 2028 as a certification goal based on assessments of structural fatigue. Russia’s Functional Cargo Block, the first component, was designed to a 15 year life span, but new studies are suggesting it will endure 30 years as well. The first component was launched in 1998.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/13certification/
5. From the Los Angeles Times: An update on the 33 Chilean miners, who have been trapped under ground since early August. Rescuers decide to meet a persistent request from the men, a ration of cigarettes. A NASA delegation, whose experts were called upon by Chilean authorities to offer advice on a rescue strategy, advised against tobacco because of the health hazards. Rescuers hold off on a request for alcohol.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laplaza/2010/09/miners-chile-cigarettes.html
6. From National Geographic.com: A study, sponsored by MIT, has found that astronauts with wide hands are loosing their finger nails and injuring their finger tips during long spacewalks. The soreness occurs at the tips of the fingers as they make frequent contact with hard surfaces inside the space suit gloves. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/09/100913-science-space-astronauts-gloves-fingernails-injury/
7. Spaceflightnow.com: Arianespace looks to early 2011, rather than December, for the first launch of a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Guiana Space Center.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/13soyuzvega/
8. From Space.com: An update on efforts by Danish engineers to test Tulaunch, a homemade suborbital rocket that could one day carry an astronaut. An electrical problem with a valve heater in the propulsion system of the Tycho Brahe rocket has delayed future efforts to conduct the first launch until mid-2011.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/businesstechnology/private-danish-suborbital-rocket-launch-delayed-100913.html
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