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Tuesday’s CSExtra features the latest commentary and reporting on the future of human and robotic exploration. Debate over the 2010 NASA Authorization bill that cleared Congress last week continues. NASA’s WISE telescope runs low on coolant for its telescope, as expected, but embraces new duties. The moon may hold strategic mineral resources. Alien civilization may be too bored to look for life elsewhere in the universe.
1. From the Orlando Sentinel: NASA chief technologist Robert Braun explains that space agency engineers, not Congress, are best qualified to determine the design of a future Heavy Lift Rocket, the newspaper reports. Braun responds to the 2010 NASA Authorization bill, shaped in the Senate, which requires NASA to use components based on the space shuttle for a big new launcher. The measure, which calls for a heavy lift rocket and spacecraft for human deep space missions by late 2016, awaits the signature of President Obama. Some say the shuttle component requirement fails to open a heavy lifter to the use of new technologies.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/os-nasa-technology-trumps-congress-20101004,0,5270655.story
2. Two from The Space Review:
A. In “Milestones and Transitions,” Space Review editor Jeff Foust notes that Monday marked the 53rd anniversary of the Soviet Union’s Oct. 4, 1957 Sputnik launch. More than a half century later, the future of human space exploration remains uncertain, in his view. There’s still discord between House and Senate oversight panels, though a 2010 NASA authorization measure cleared Congress last week. Then, there is the poor economy, which may restrict funding to carry out a White House/Congressional blue print.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1706/1
B. In “The Relevance of Mars,” Frank Stratford, Australian writer and founder of MarsDrive, offers a complex formula for sustained support of human exploration of the Red Planet. Much rests on humanity’s passion for exploration and curiosity about whether life flourished elsewhere in the universe. Then, there is justifying the price tag.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1705/1
3. From Aviation Week & Space Technology: Prolonged U.S. uncertainty over the future of space exploration has rippled across the globe, say those who attended the 61st International Astronautical Conference in Prague last week.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2010/10/04/AW_10_04_2010_p36-258462.xml&headline=NASA%20Confusion%20Reverberates%20Throughout%20Globe&channel=space
4. From the Associated Press via the Orlando Sentinel, Washington Post and others: NASA’s WISE mission has exhausted the coolant for its heat sensitive Infrared telescope, bringing a predicted end to its deep sky survey of prospective targets for the James Webb Space Telescope. However, two surviving WISE instruments will continue to identify near Earth asteroids and comets. The James Webb will succeed the Hubble Space Telescope.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/sns-ap-us-sci-sky-mapping-spacecraft,0,1745808.story
A. From MSNBC.com: The WISE mission resume is impressive, the discovery of 33,500 new asteroids, 19 comets and numerous brown dwarfs.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39507113/ns/technology_and_science-space/
5. From Space.com: The moon may well be more than a destination of choice for human exploration. New studies of the lunar mineralogy suggests its rich in raw materials that could be crucial to national security, breakthroughs in clean energy technologies and other vital needs.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/moon-mining-rare-elements-security-101004.html
6. From Florida Today: The 2010 NASA Authorization bill that cleared Congress last week includes language that would give NASA communities with a historical connection to the shuttle orbiters an edge when it comes to housing one of the historic spacecraft for future public display.
http://watchdog.flatoday.net/2010/10/nasa-bill-protects-kscs-advantage-in.html
7. From the Orlando Sentinel: A pair of state grants head to Central Florida to address a economic problems linked to the retirement of NASA’s shuttle program. The total includes $600,000 in grants for infrastructure improvements at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and $85,000 to address NASA shuttle program job losses.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-brevard-defense-grants-20101004,0,374886.story
8. From the New York Times: An influential circle of experts questions the use of the acronym “STEM” to reach audiences about the lapses in science and technology education.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/05/science/05angier.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
9. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: An update on China’s Chang’e 2 lunar orbiter, as the spacecraft, launched Oct. 1, nears the moon. The low altitude probe will map the moon for prospective landing sites for a future robotic lander.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/china-probe-nears-lunar-orbit
A. From the Daily Mail of London: After China’s moon probe launch, rocket debris reigned down on a remote village.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1317641/Villagers-stunned-pieces-Chinese-rocket-rain-sky.html?ito=feeds-newsxml
10. From Space.com and Space News: More than 20 percent of the time allotted aboard the International Space Station to scientific research is actually consumed by repairs, adjustments to the research gear, according to European and Japanese researchers.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/space-station-repairs-astronauts-science-101004.html
11. From Discovery.com: If alien civilizations are plentiful, as last week’s announcement of an Earth-like planet around another star suggests, they may wither away from boredom and self absorption before developing the technologies to reach out to other civilizations, Russian theorists suggest.
http://news.discovery.com/space/will-we-die-of-cosmic-loneliness.html
12. From Universe Today: The latest findings from a small array of European and Japanese spacecraft suggest asteroids are anything but boring. Asteroids may be the next destination for human explorers.
http://www.universetoday.com/74917/rosetta-uncovers-a-thick-dusty-blanket-on-lutetia/#more-74917
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