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Monday’s CSExtra features the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from the weekend and the start of the new work week. In Washington, the weekend brought House passage of H. R. 1, an appropriations measure for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year. The measure would cut spending across the federal government, including NASA. The Senate seeks a compromise. In Florida, NASA readies shuttle Discovery for her long-delayed final flight. Discovery’s countdown begins Monday afternoon. Lift off is planned for Thursday at 4:50 p.m., EST. Thanks to NASA’s Kepler mission, astronomers estimate the Milky Way is home to billions of planets. Increasing solar activity could present problems for terrestrial satellite and power grids. NASA’s MESSENGER mission to Mercury turns a camera toward its sister plants in the solar system. China readies a Mars mission.
1. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Feb. 19: The House passes H. R. 1, the controversial bill that appropriates funding for the remainder of the 2011 fiscal year, starting March 4. Seeking more than $61 billion in cuts, the measure provides NASA with $18.12 billion for 2011, or $877 million less than the $19 billion that President Obama requested for NASA this year. The reductions include an amendment to transfer $298 million in NASA cross agency support to a Department of Justice community policing program.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1438:house-passes-cr-with-further-nasa-cut&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From the Washington Post, Feb. 21: H. R. 1 now heads to the Democratically-controlled U. S. Senate, where opponents warn there could be a March 4 government shutdown unless there are compromises.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/20/AR2011022003198.html?sid=ST2011022003385
B. From SpaceNews, Feb. 18: Commercial space flight development is the clear winner in President Obama’s 2012 budget request for NASA. He seeks $350 million more for commercial space services than Congress sought in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/nasa-budget-draws-early-fire.html
C. From Spacepolitics.com, Feb. 19: White House Science Policy Adviser John Holdren summarizes NASA’s course under the Obama Administration for the American Association for the Advancement of Science meeting in Washington.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/02/19/holdren-summarizes-the-space-policy-debate/
D. From the Huntsville Times, Feb. 20: NASA’s budget difficulties appear to pit those who favor the development of commercial space companies against those who support the development of a large NASA rocket to further human exploration.
http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/02/nasa_enters_budget_fight_with.html
E. From SpaceNews, Feb. 18: NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope, the designated successor to the 21-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, is unlikely to launch before 2016. The funding issues that surfaced last year suggested the project needs another $500 million over the next two years to keep from slipping from June 2014 to September. 2015. The new budget brings no relief.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/budget-request-jwst.html
F. From Florida Today, Feb. 19: Columnist John Kelly reviews an editorial board meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Kelly’s high points are Bolden’s estimate that commercial companies can carry astronauts to the Space Station about 2015. The station, says Bolden, is NASA’s anchor to future exploration. Bolden says NASA needs to focus on near-term projects it can afford. As it looks to the future, the agency needs to embrace daring projects that involve the risks others cannot take, he says.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110220/COLUMNISTS0405/102200338/1007/NEWS02/NASA-vision-Proceed-boldly
2. From Spaceflightnow.com, Feb. 18: NASA’s Flight Readiness Review clears shuttle Discovery for a Feb. 24 lift-off at 4:50 p.m., EST. The lift-off will follow by six hours the docking of the European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle, the Johannes Kepler, with the station. Discovery’s 11-day space station assembly mission was idled on Nov. 5 by a hydrogen leak and later by fuel tank cracks. The cracks have been repaired and modifications made to the fuel tank to prevent further damage.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/110218frr/
A. From Florida Today, Feb. 20: Discovery’s six astronaut fly from Houston to the Kennedy Space Center to participate in the mission countdown. Discovery’s countdown begins on Monday at 3 p.m., EST.
http://space.flatoday.net/?nav=0
B. From Spaceflightnow.com, Feb.20: Each of Discovery’s astronauts is a veteran, with experience helpful to the 11-day flight.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/110220crew/
3. From the Associated Press via the Orlando Sentinel, Feb. 19: Astronomers estimate the Milky Way galaxy is home to 50 billion planets, with 500 million of them situated in the “habitable zone” of their stars. The estimates, presented to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, are based on the earliest findings of NASA’s Kepler space telescope.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/sns-ap-us-sci-cosmic-census,0,5620402.story
4. From Space.com, Feb. 19: Experts warn that last week’s mega solar flare would be dwarfed by more powerful flares as the sun moves into a period of maximum activity. As the flares crash into the Earth’s magnetic field they can disrupt communications satellites and terrestrial power stations as well as endanger astronauts.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10893-major-solar-storm-earth-risks.html
5. From the People’s Daily of China, Feb. 21: China’s first Mars probe, Yinghuo-1, will be ready for launching on a Russian rocket in November. The spacecraft will study water in the planet’s atmosphere. Previous unmanned Chinese spacecraft have explored the moon.
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90001/90776/90881/7294605.html
A. From the Houston Chronicle, Feb. 18: A human expedition to Mars must overcome the risks of radiation to the astronauts who are assigned. Is the risk so great that it should stop the journey?
http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2011/02/early_explorers_took_great_risks_should_we_not_do.html
6. From Space.com, Feb. 18: NASA’s Mercury bound MESSENGER spacecraft captures six planets in a photograph looking out on the solar system.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/10901-solar-system-planets-photo-messenger.html
A. From The Coalition for Space Exploration, Feb. 18: MESSENGER will maneuver into orbit around Mercury on March 17, The spacecraft has made a number of close passes, though, since its launching in August 2004.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/nasa-orbiter-ready-for-mercury-duty
7. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Feb. 20: Major events this week of interest to the space community.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1439:events-of-interest-week-of-february-21-25-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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