Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest in reporting and commentary on NASA, U.S. space policy and space activities around the globe. The U.S. GPS system to get an upgrade, asteroids become the new focus of human exploration, This Week in Space with Miles O’Brien speaks with SpaceX founder Elon Musk, NASA’s Atlantis shuttle missions heads into a successful home stretch, with a landing set for Wednesday at 8:48 a.m., EDT. Updates on Atlantis, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts132/status.html
1. From the Los Angeles Times: The GPS system is receiving an $8 billion upgrade that will make it more reliable, more widespread and more accurate. GPS is the military navigation system that long ago went commercial. Whether it is using an ATM, walking a mountain trail or looking for a Starbucks from you car, GPS is probably involved. The network includes 24 active satellites.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-gps-20100523,0,3054578.story
A. From Florida Today: The launching of the first in the new series of U.S. GPS satellites on a Delta 4 rocket, scrubbed Friday and Sunday nights, is now planned for Monday at 11:13 p.m., EDT. For updates, http://flametrench.flatoday.net/ or, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d349/status.html
B. From Xinhuanet, the Chinese news service: China to join the U.S. and Russia as a developer of a GPS navigation system, Beidou.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/video/2010-05/23/c_13310567.htm
2. From USA Today: President Obama veers away from the moon and toward an asteroid as the space program’s next destination in space. USA Today examines the choice and some of the places it may take explorers.
http://www.usatoday.com/tech/science/columnist/vergano/2010-05-23-asteroids_N.htm
3. From This Week in Space with Miles O’Brien: The latest edition features an interview with Elon Musk, of SpaceX, which is preparing for a May 28 inaugural launching of the Falcon 9. “The rocket is ready to fly right now,” says Musk. It could happen at the end of this week, depending on reviews by the FAA and the USAF range safety. The launching could be pushed to mid-June. “If we can reach orbit that would be awesome,” said Musk, who explains the first mission.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/twis
4. From Florida Today: NASA’s Constellation Program moves forward with plans for a September test firing of an Ares 1 rocket, according to Columnist John Kelly. So far, Congress has stemmed efforts by the White House to cancel the back to the moon program, whose genesis was the Bush Administration.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20100523/COLUMNISTS0405/5230339/1007/NEWS02/Work+continues+on+Constellation
5. From Spacepolicyonline.com: A list of space policy events this week around the country. They include a House hearing on space policy with testimony from Neil Armstrong, Gene Cernan and NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.
http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/pages/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=906:events-of-interest-week-of-may-24-28-2010&catid=67:news&Itemid=27
6. From National Public Radio: NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter is gathering images of the moon in unprecedented detail. Astronomers have asked the public to help examine the imagery.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=127072804
7. From Discovery.com: A new technique is improving the accuracy of distance estimates for distant galaxies. It relies on masers, which emit high energy microwaves.
http://news.discovery.com/space/megamasers-distant-water-and-precision-cosmology.html
8. From Spaceflightnow.com: Scientists are choosing potential landing sites for NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, also known as the Curiosity lander. Curiosity will look for habitable conditions on Mars. Launch set for Nov. 25 to Dec. 18, 2011. Landing targeted for Aug. 6 to 20, 2012. http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1005/24mslsites/
9. From the Houston Chronicle: The Shuttle Atlantis departs the International Space Station on Sunday. An update on the landing which is scheduled for Wednesday at 8:48 a.m., EDT, at the Kennedy Space Center.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/space/7018911.html
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