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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related events from around the world, including a roundup of activities from the Memorial Day weekend. In orbit, shuttle Endeavour’s final mission is nearing an end. The nation’s debt could lower enthusiasm for future human exploration. NASA’s decision to continue with the development of the Orion capsule offers some clarity about the future of human exploration but raises questions about time lines, destinations and costs. NASA will prepare an asteroid sample return mission for launching in 2016. An update on Arsenic, Phosphorus, DNA and their implications for extra-terrestrial life. Mars’ stunted growth. How to watch the final space shuttle launch. Key space events for the week ahead.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com, May 31: Shuttle Endeavour’s crew prepared early Monday to land at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in the predawn on Wednesday, ending a 16-day mission. Earlier concerns over runway cross winds give way to a favorable weather outlook for landing opportunities at 2:35 a.m. and 3:11 a.m., EDT. Endeavour could remain in orbit for three additional days, if necessary.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110531fd16/
A. From Spaceflightnow.com, May 30: Endeavour’s astronauts carried out the first flight test of new rendezvous and docking system sensors as they departed the International Space Station late Sunday and early Monday. The STORRM test exercised a new flash LIDAR sensor for accurately determining range and relative velocity between two objects in space and a High Definition camera to characterize lighting conditions and provide situational awareness. The hardware is part of NASA’s Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, a continuation of the Orion program. The sensors could be used on future robotic as well as crewed spacecraft on missions to planetary as well as orbital destinations.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110530storrm/
B. From the Los Angeles Times, May 30: A retrospective on Endeavour, NASA’s youngest shuttle orbiter. Assembled in the aftermath of the 1986 shuttle Challenger tragedy, Endeavour came together from spare parts at Rockwell International’s Palmdale, Calif., plant. The first of her 25 flights lifted off in 1992.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-endeavour-20110530,0,5340730.story
C. From the Washington Post, May 30: Brushing up on anti-matter. The $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer installed on the International Space Station by the Endeavour astronauts will search for the elusive material. What is antimatter? And why should we care about its existence?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/science/nasa-looks-for-antimatter-its-not-just-some-sci-fi-idea/2011/05/23/AGYAeyEH_story.html
D. From Florida Today, May 28: The International Space Station rivals the Panama Canal, the Great Wall of China and the Pyramids of Giza, as the top engineering achievements of all time, Florida Today reports.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110529/NEWS02/105290321/International-Space-Station-still-inspires-awe?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Space%20News
E. From Spaceflightnow.com, May 28: A collection of images of the International Space Station taken during the Endeavour mission’s final spacewalk on Friday. The station’s scope is displayed from many different angles, with orbiter Endeavour docked.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110528eva4gallery/index.html
F. From Space.com, May 28: Shuttle Endeavour’s crew left two guests at the International Space Station, spiders that are part of a student experiment to follow web spinning in the absence of gravity. They are Gladys and Esmeralda.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11818-space-spiders-weightless-webs-station-shuttle.html
G. From Space.com, May 27: Endeavour astronaut Mike Fincke becomes the American with the most time in space late Friday, as he passed the 377 day mark. Most of his time was accumulated as a previous space station commander and flight engineer.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11817-nasa-astronaut-american-spaceflight-record-mike-fincke.html
2. From the Washington Times, May 30: An op-ed on future U. S. human space exploration. The nation’s debt problems will stall efforts to move ahead with human missions to deep space, according to Matt Patterson, a conservative contributor.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/30/requiem-for-a-space-program/
A. From Florida Today: In an editorial, NASA receives a pat on the back for its recent decision to pursue development of the Orion capsule as the shuttle’s exploration successor, but with a new name, the Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle. However, the newspaper writes that NASA must move quickly to establish time lines and destinations for future missions and cost estimates.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110531/OPINION/110527021/Our-views-Orion-returns-May-31-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|p
3. From Space.com, May 27: NASA selects an asteroid for a new sample return mission, a destination that could one day pose a collision threat to the Earth.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11802-nasa-asteroid-mission-dangerous-1999-rq36.html
4. From the Washington Post, May 27: In December, NASA funded researchers made a startling claim — the discovery of a microbe that had substituted arsenic for phosphorous in its DNA. The scientists claimed the find will have startling implications for the prospects of extraterrestrial life. The claim created a fire storm among biochemists. The principal investigator addresses her critics in Science magazine.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/debate-over-arsenic-based-life-enters-a-new-chapter/2011/05/26/AGhk7fCH_story.html
5. From USA Today, May 28: The early solar system was a “shooting gallery” of material that collided and eventually formed the planets and their moons. For some reason, though, Mars did not grow massive enough to have a magnetic field that would have shielded the surface and atmosphere from the solar wind.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2011-05-27-mars-moon_N.htm
6. From the Wall Street Journal, May 28: NASA is preparing shuttle Atlantis for a July 8 lift off on the final shuttle mission. The WSJ offers a first hand guide of what to look for “You’re not ready for it. After seeing it on screens large and small. After waiting outside for hours. Even after a countdown warning your liftoff is near, you’re still caught off guard,” the WSJ reports.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304066504576343263419578834.html?KEYWORDS=NASA
7. From Spacepolicyonline.com, May 29: Space policy events scheduled in Washington and elsewhere this week.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1602:events-of-interest-week-of-may-30-june-3-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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