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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related activities from the weekend and the start of the new work week. In Washington, the week begins with a new budget Continuing Resolution in effect until April 8, again restricting spending to 2010 levels, and Congress in recess. President Obama signs an agreement outlining cooperation in space with Brazil. Views of Saturday’s Super Moon. Houston’s bid for a retired shuttle orbiter faces political challenge. In Florida, Kennedy Space Center workers pay tribute to the shuttle fleet. A meteorite heads for the Smithsonian Institution. NASA’s New Horizon’s spacecraft is well on its way to Pluto. A roster of upcoming space policy events.
1. From Spacepolicyonline.com, March 18: President Obama signs another budget Continuing Resolution to fund federal operations through April 8. The House and Senate are in recess this week.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1491:president-signs-cr-congress-in-recess-for-a-week&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From Spacepolicyonline.com, March 17: Details of the latest Continuing Resolution as they affect NASA: the elimination of Congressional earmarks. http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1490:government-funding-extended-three-more-weeks&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
B. From Space News, March 18: NASA’s plans for future robotic planetary missions face tough financial restrictions, according to Jim Green, who leads the agency’s planetary science division. Fundamental change will be required in the ways the agency develops and forms international partnerships to carry out missions like the Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Catcher, a top priority of the National Academy of Sciences.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/20110318-money-woes-batter-planetary-budget.html
2. From spacepolitics.com, March 20: During a visit to Brazil, President Obama signs an agreement outlining future cooperation in space between the two countries, including the arena of Earth observations.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/03/20/the-united-states-brazil-and-space-cooperation/
3. From Space.com, March 20: Where skies were clear, Saturday produced spectacular views of the “Super Moon.” The moon hit its full phase at a close in point in its orbit around the Earth.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11179-supermoon-photos-full-moon-2011-skywatchers.html
A. From the Orlando Sentinel, March 19: The “Super Moon” from Florida’s Atlantic Coast.
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/space/fl-super-moon-20110316,0,567869.story
4. From the Houston Chronicle, March 18: Houston’s bid to receive one of NASA’s retired shuttle orbiters appears to be slipping because of politics, the Chronicle reports. NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, where the space shuttle launch and land, appears to be the only lock, according to the Chronicle’s assessment.
http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2011/03/houstons_shuttle_bid_now_a_longshot_rating_the_top.html
5. From Space.com, March 19: Hundreds of shuttle workers at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center assemble for a photo tribute to the winged spacecraft.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11177-nasa-photo-space-shuttle-tribute.html
A. From Collectspace.com: A look at how the shuttle photo tribute was choreographed.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum30/HTML/000992.html
6. From the Associated Press via Yahoo.com: The Smithsonian Institution acquires a meteorite that made a well publicized fall into the offices of Virginia doctors last year. The $10,000 acquisition price, in turn, goes to a charity.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110320/ap_on_sc/us_space_rock_dispute
7. From Discovery.com, March 18: NASA’s Pluto-bound New Horizon’s spacecraft has reached the orbit of Uranus. Launched in January 2006, the spacecraft is 1.8 billion miles from Earth. Just 1.2 billion miles to go on its course to a 2015 encounter with Pluto.
http://news.discovery.com/space/pluto-bound-probe-sprints-across-uranus-orbit.html
8. From Spacepolicyonline.com: A look at major space policy events planned for the week ahead. Congress is in recess. However, Women in Aerospace is hosting a session Wednesday on the 2010 NASA Authorization Act.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1492:events-of-interest-week-of-march-21-25-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
A. From the Coalition for Space Exploration. ExploreMars plans a Washington Conference, April 6-7, on the role of the International Space Station in preparing for the future exploration of Mars.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/nasa/the-international-space-station-as-the-bridge-to-mars
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