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Monday’s CSExtra offers a roundup of activities making headlines over the holiday weekend and as the New Year gets under way: In Washington, concern mounts over how the new Congress will address the deficit and spending on a range of programs including NASA. Lawmakers from Texas, Alabama and Florida, states which host NASA installations, express concerns the new Congress will have difficulties clarifying NASA’s new course under last year’s spending restrictions. As 2010 came to a close, NASA found more cracks in the shuttle Discovery’s fuel tank. Discovery’s final flight has been stalled since Nov. 5. NASA’s Mars Exploration Rovers mark an anniversary in January. Future NASA weather satellites will detect volcanic ash in the atmosphere. In India, farmers complain that global warming has weakened the taste of breakfast tea blends. A new meteor shower this week. Antarctica hosts a bounty of meteorites.
1. From spacepolicyonline.com, Dec. 31: 2011, United we Stand, Divided we Fall. A brief look back and ahead at the future of space exploration as the New Year gets under way.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1306:happy-new-year-and-heres-to-a-united-front-in-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A From the Washington Post, Jan. 3: Washington did well economically compared to the rest of the nation in 2010. But 2011 has economic leaders concerned as a new Congress arrives ready to cut the nation’s deficit. Some recall 1995, when 32,000 federal jobs were eliminated at NASA, Agriculture, Transportation and other agencies.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/12/30/AR2010123003296.html
B. From Spacepolitics.com, Jan. 2: NASA’s funding dilemma — that the space agency is legally required to spend on Constellation projects when they have been cancelled — could make the agency vulnerable to lawmakers who want to cut spending.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/01/02/that-cant-be-too-hard-to-undo/
C. From the Huntsville Times, Jan. 2: In an editorial, the Huntsville paper calls on the Administration and Congress to set NASA on a certain course, including support for a NASA program office at the Marshall Space Flight Center to guide the development of a new heavy lift rocket.
http://blog.al.com/times-views/2011/01/editorial_its_time_to_end_nasa.html
D. From the Houston Chronicle, Jan. 2: A new Congress, with a Republican majority in the House, has many in the Houston region of Texas concerned about the future of medical research as well as NASA and immigration.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/metro/7362772.html
E. From the Orlando Sentinel, Jan. 1: The paper’s editorial board, with advice from readers, selects the top news stories of 2010. At the top, the Gulf Oil Spill. At number 10, NASA abandons plans for moon landings.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-top-10-national-international-120101230,0,6153436.story
F. From National Public Radio, Jan. 2. NASA faces change this year as the shuttle retires. http://www.npr.org/2011/01/02/132583035/Our-Place-In-Space-After-The-Shuttle-Program-Wraps
G. From Space.com, Dec. 30: What went wrong in space in 2010 in a big way? Space.com offers a ranking. Biggest loss? A Japanese probe that missed its rendezvous with Venus. Shuttle Discovery’s delayed final mission is on the list as is the cooling system problems that confronted the International Space Station in August.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/news/8-biggest-space-misfires-in-2010-101230.html
H. From Popular Mechanics magazine, Dec. 30: 2010 was a big year for commercial space. Popular Mechanics examines some of the milestones, including the dedication of a Spaceport in New Mexico and the SpaceX Falcon 9/Dragon mission.
http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/space/news/the-year-in-spaceflight-2010#fbIndex1
I. From Reuters, Jan. 2: Prospects for U.S./China cooperation in space are fading despite overtures from each, Reuters reports. The story cites economic, diplomatic and security concerns as the obstacles.
http://in.reuters.com/article/idINIndia-53879720110102
2. From Spaceflightnow.com, Dec. 30: NASA finds new cracks on the shuttle Discovery’s external fuel tank. Managers ordered repairs and were to meet again on Jan. 3 to decide in the next course of action. Discovery’s final flight has been stalled since a Nov. 5 launch scrub because of the cracks on the tank’s stringer section. Managers are considering a quick modification to the tank that would shore up two thrust panels, which shoulder the bulk of the launch stresses. The next launch window extends from Feb. 3 to 10, though managers have not designated a new launch date.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts133/101230cracks/
3. From Space.com, Jan. 1: January will mark the seventh year since the Mars Exploration Rovers Spirit and Opportunity landed on Mars for what were to be 90 day missions. John Callas, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, explains what it has been like to care for the rovers as they study the history of water on Mars. The Red Planet had a warmer, wetter past, their findings suggest.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/scienceastronomy/mars-rovers-callas-qanda-101101.html
A. From the Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 2: NASA will mark the seventh anniversary of Spirit’s landing on Tuesday. The first of the two rovers to land, Spirit, has been stuck in the Martial soil since April 2009, and not communicated since March 2010. Operators hope the rover’s batteries will recharge and it will resume communications.
http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-us-sci-mars-rovers,0,2585136.story
4. From the Washington Post, Jan. 1: Almost unnoticed Congress re-authorized the America Competes Act at the end of 2010. The act takes a lesson from the Ansari X-Prize, which provided the $10 million won by the SpaceShipOne team in 2004. Prizes can stimulate much needed U.S. innovation and research and development, the Post reports.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/01/01/AR2011010102092.html
A. From Florida Today, Jan. 2: NASA should use the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services model when it comes to developing a new heavy lift rocket, writes columnist John Kelly. Invest in the development of competing companies, offer large mission contracts to those who are successful.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110102/COLUMNISTS0405/101020325/1086/John+Kelly++NASA++why+make+a+rocket?
5. From Space News, Dec. 31: Denver-based United Launch Alliance intends to improve the global competitiveness of its Atlas and Delta rockets with a 19 percent workforce reduction. Company officials discussed the plan during a Nov. 18 Air Force Association symposium. A transcript was released later.
http://www.spacenews.com/launch/101231ula-says-workforce-reductions-will-help-cut-costs.html
6. From the Los Angeles Times, Jan. 2: NASA is at work on a new series of weather satellite, the GOES-R. When it launches in 2015, GOES-R will offer new advantages to commercial aviation and passengers. Once operational, the spacecraft will help to steer aircraft through clouds of volcanic ash, air turbulence and lightning.
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/news/la-et-0102-story-20110102,0,6110921.story
7. From the Associated Press via the Los Angeles Times, Washington Post and others, Dec. 31: In India, tea farmers claim rising global temperatures are to blame for an unwelcome change in the taste of their exported breakfast tea blends.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/wire/sns-ap-as-india-taste-of-tea,0,5068463.story
8. From Space.com: Early Tuesday brings the Quadrantid meteor shower and for people in Europe, parts of Africa and western Asia a partial eclipse of the sun. With a link to sky map for the meteor shower.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/spacewatch/solar-eclipse-quadrantid-meteor-shower-observing-tips-110102.html
9. From Space.com, Dec. 31: The Antarctic is giving up a bounty of meteorites as search teams organized by Antarctic Search for Meteorites program scour the La Paz ice sheet.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/scienceastronomy/antarctica-search-team-hunts-meteorites-101231.html
10. From Collectspace.com, Dec. 30: Commercial artist Paul Calle, who was commissioned by NASA to create a 10 cent stamp commemorating the Apollo 11 moon landing, has died. Calle was 82.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum38/HTML/001268.html
11. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Jan. 1: A look at major policy events planned for the week of Jan. 3.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1307:events-of-interest-week-of-january-3-7-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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