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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from around the world. The Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency may be close to a choice to lead its 100-Year Star Ship Project. Apollo 11 moon walker Buzz Aldrin urges a U.S. Martian response to China’s new five-year space road map. A trade publication report questions the future of United Space Alliance. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory nears a critical mission maneuver. Astronomers gather in Austin, Tex., this week to discuss the latest on alien planets, black holes and other major discoveries. Russian scientists would like a second attempt to carry out a failed bid to retrieve samples of the Martian moon Phobos. Orbital Sciences Corp., NASA’s second commercial re-supplier for the International Space Station, looks to mission launches by mid-2012. A look at space related events scheduled for the week ahead.
1. From MSNBC’s Cosmic Log, Jan. 7: The Pentagon’s 100-year Starship Project may be headed by a team that includes Dr. Mae Jemison, the former NASA shuttle astronaut, MSNBC reports. The project is intended to examine the requirements for a human mission to another star system, launched a century from now.
http://on.msnbc.com/wYmF8Y
2. From the Huffington Post, Jan. 5: In an op-ed, Apollo 11’s Buzz Aldrin takes note of China’s pre-New Year’s white paper and five year space exploration agenda. Aldrin proposes a concerted U. S. effort to explore Mars with humans to prevent China from securing the lead in U. S. human space exploration.
http://huff.to/z4hTo0
3. From Space News, Jan. 6: United Space Alliance, the joint venture created by Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the mid-1990s to serve as prime contractor for NASA’s space shuttle program, has been barred by its corporate parents from seeking further business, according to Space News reports. A spokeswoman for USA said the parent companies are discussing USA’s future, but declined to elaborate further. NASA retired the shuttle in July 2011.
http://bit.ly/ygSuGr
A. From Florida Today, Jan. 9: USA still counts 3,000 workers, half of them in Central Florida. NASA and USA tailored a bonus program to keep critically skilled workers on the job through the end of the shuttle program. Workers are still preparing orbiters Atlantis, Endeavour and Discovery for public display.
http://on.flatoday.com/y2kA4l
4. From Spaceflightnow.com, 7: NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, launched Nov. 25 on an 8 1/2 month journey to the Red Planet, is scheduled for a critical thruster firing on Wednesday. The burn will place the probe on course to Mars. The MSL rover, also known as Curiosity, will attempt to determine whether conditions at Mars’ Gale Crater are habitable.
http://bit.ly/xUVuSb
5. From Space.com, Jan. 6: The American Astronomical Society hosts the organization’s 219th annual meeting in Austin, Tex., this week. Thousands of scientists will discuss discoveries of new alien planets and other “hot topics” on the cosmic front.
http://bit.ly/z57BtD
6. From USAToday, Jan. 8: Russian scientists would like an opportunity to repeat the failed Phobos Grunt mission. The spacecraft, expected fall to re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere in mid-January, has been locked in Earth orbit since a Nov. 8 launching. The cause of the failure is unclear, but Mars missions have proven difficult for the U. S. and Europe as well as the Russians. One U. S. expert believes Russia’s latest attempt was underfunded at $163 million.
http://usat.ly/yFiFcy
A. From Russia Today, Jan. 7: A French amateur photographer captures imagery of Russia’s Phobos Grunt spacecraft.
http://bit.ly/AefP48
7. From Florida Today, Jan. 6: Orbital Sciences Corp. is preparing to launch a pair of flights, possibly by mid-2012, under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program. Orbital’s Cygnus/Antares represents NASA’s second commercial re-supply provider for the International Space Station and will utilize a Wallops Island, Va., launch site. The first provider, SpaceX, is preparing for a February station cargo delivery.
http://bit.ly/yWxxJu
8. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Jan. 8: A look at major space related events scheduled for the week ahead.
http://bit.ly/yaXUMT
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