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Monday’s CSExtra features a roundup of reporting and commentary on recent space-related activities in the United States and abroad. In Washington, uncertainties over the 2011 federal budget add new threats to goals outlined in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, including prospects for the Space Launch System, a new heavy lift rocket for human deep space missions. Though the prospects for legislative agreement on a 2011 budget are dimming, some suggest NASA could get needed funding from the Commerce and Justice departments. At the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, preparations for Endeavour’s final mission compete with news media interest in mission commander Mark Kelly and his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Giffords is recovering from a January gun shot wound. NASA’s Mars bound Curiousity rover looses a Hollywood 3-D camera. The Office of Management and Budget takes new measures to help displaced shuttle workers find employment.
1. From Spacepolitics.com, March 26: Budget uncertainties are clouding efforts to develop the Space Launch System, the heavy lift rocket that lawmakers included in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act for future human deep space exploration, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden tells a Space Transportation Association luncheon. The agency has yet to settle on a propulsion strategy — oxygen/ hydrogen, oxygen/kerosene, solid rockets — Bolden says. The legislation calls for a launcher that could initially left 70 to 100 tons to orbit by the end of 2016 and eventually 130 tons. Tight budgets will constrain the effort, and it’s unlikely NASA will need a 130 ton class heavy lift for at least a decade, says Bolden. The launcher would likely be of use to the national intelligence community as well, he tells the STA.
http://www.spacepolitics.com/2011/03/26/bolden-and-evolvable-heavy-lift-launch-vehicles/
A. From spacepolicyonline.com, March 25: Bolden tells the STA he favors an evolvable heavy lift rocket but not the system that was seemingly specified in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act. The authorization measure has not and likely will not be matched with the appropriations also specified in the legislation, adding complexity to the issue.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1502:bolden-wants-to-build-evolvable-hllv-not-the-one-congress-wants&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
B. From Spaceref.com, March 25: NASA and Congress appear to be at a stalemate over the future heavy lift rocket issue.
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1513
2. From the Washington Post, March 26: The prospects for Congressional agreement on a 2011 budget are dimming. The latest budget Continuing Resolution expires April 8.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/as-budget-impasse-drags-on-government-agencies-operate-in-limbo/2011/03/22/AFvb6ScB_story.html
A. From Space News, March 25: The Departments of Commerce or Justice would be a source of funding for the heavy lift rocket and multi-purpose crew capsule outlined in the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, Space News reports.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110325-justice-commerce-funding-nasa.html
3. From Itar-Tass, March 27: Israel and Russia sign a framework for cooperation in space. Israel has similar agreements with the United States, European Union and others.
http://www.itar-tass.com/eng/level2.html?NewsID=16092220&PageNum=0
4. From Spaceflightnow.com, Mar 27: At NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, ground teams complete the installation of the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer in the payload bay of the shuttle Endeavour. Endeavour is nearing an April 19 lift off on the spacecraft’s 25th and final flight.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts134/110326payloads/
A. From Florida Today, March 26: Columnist John Kelly examines the sustained media interest in Endeavour commander Mark Kelly and his wife, Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Is the interest helping or hurting NASA with its message as the shuttle program retires and the long assembly of the International Space Station draws to a close? Giffords is recovering from a gunshot wound inflicted at a Tucson political rally in early January. Kelly is commanding the next to last shuttle mission, which is scheduled for an April 19 lift off. In an effort to keep the focus on the mission, Kelly withdrew from a round of news media interviews last week. Columnist Kelly, no relation, suggests that holding the focus will prove difficult as the start of Endeavour’s 14-day mission nears.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110327/COLUMNISTS0405/103270314/John-Kelly-Spotlight-shuttle-missions-intensifying?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
5. From Florida Today, March 25: NASA briefs Central Florida authorities on the risk of a plutonium release during the launching of NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, with the Curiosity rover. The risk is placed at 0.2 percent, Florida Today reports. The launching period extends from Nov. 25 to Dec. 8. MSL is due at Mars in August 2012. http://space.flatoday.net/2011/03/nasa-briefs-county-on-risks-connected.html
A. From ABCNews.com, March 25: NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, with the Curiosity rover, will launch for Mars late this year without a 3-D camera proposed by film director James Cameron. There won’t be enough time to test the imager, NASA concludes. Cameron believes the camera will fly on a future mission.
http://abcnews.go.com/Entertainment/wireStory?id=13224530
6. From Federal Computer Week, March 25: The Office and Personnel Management steps up efforts to assist NASA shuttle workers with new employment. The shuttle program is nearing retirement. OMP Director John Berry asks the human resources personnel in other federal agencies to extend their recruitment efforts to NASA.
http://fcw.com/articles/2011/03/25/opm-teams-with-nasa-recruitment-effort.aspx
7. From Spacepolicyonline.com: Space policy events scheduled for the week ahead, as the House and Senate reconvene in Washington.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1503:events-of-interest-week-of-march-28-april-1-2011&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
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