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Friday’s CSExtra features the latest reporting on space-related developments. At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, NASA moves the shuttle Endeavour to Launch Pad A overnight. There, preparations for an April 19th lift off of Endeavour with a crew of six astronauts will continue. The NASA-led International Space Station partnership turns its attention to research. Scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory find polar ice sheets melting more rapidly than assumed. The eagle-eyed Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter turned five-years-old on Thursday. A powerful solar flare may intensify the Northern Lights. Alien invaders would likely be robots, say experts.
1. From Florida Today: NASA moves shuttle Endeavour from the Kennedy Space Center’s Vehicle Assembly Building to Launch Pad 39 A. Endeavour’s final mission will deliver the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, an external astronomical observatory, to the International Space Station. An April 19 lift off is planned.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110311/NEWS02/103110316/Workers-watch-shuttle-Endeavor-s-final-trip-launch-pad?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Home|s
A. From The Hill: Endeavour commander Mark Kelly expects to have a special guest at his April 19 launching, his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords, the victim of a Jan. 8 shooting at a Tucson political rally, is making a steady recovery at a Houston hospital and rehabilitation facility. If she continues to improve, Giffords intends to travel to the Kennedy Space Center for Kelly’s lift off, according to her Congressional staff.
http://thehill.com/blogs/transportation-report/aviation/148851-giffords-plans-to-attend-endeavor-launch
2. From Aviation Week and Space Technology: With the assembly of the International Space Station essentially complete, NASA turns its attention to using the orbital outpost as a science lab. Much of the outcome will depend on the emergence of commercial space transportation services that can take on the re-supply role shouldered by NASA’s shuttle fleet.
http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/awst/2011/03/07/AW_03_07_2011_p26-293630.xml&headline=NASA%20Prepares%20To%20Focus%20On%20ISS%20Research&channel=space
3. From the Washington Post: The ice sheets of Antarctica and Greenland are melting faster than previously assumed, scientists from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory conclude. Sea levels could rise by six inches by 2050 if the loss goes unchecked, they predict.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/blog-post/2011/03/greenland_and_antarctica_melti.html
4. From Wired.com: NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter turned five-years-old on Thursday. Wired offers a collection of the orbiting probe’s best photos of the Martian surface.
http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2011/03/happy-birthday-mro/
5. From Space.com: The sun unleashed a major solar flare on Wednesday. The disturbance is likely to illuminate the Northern Lights as the energetic release reaches Earth.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11088-northern-lights-major-solar-flare.html
6. From Space.com: The heavily promoted film Battle: Los Angeles, an alien invasion feature, opens this weekend. If aliens invaded the Earth, they would likely be robots, say experts.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11096-battle-los-angeles-film-aliens.html
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