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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space activities from around the world, including a roundup from weekend activities. The launching of NASA’s ambitious Mars Science Laboratory mission moves from Friday to Saturday. Monday marks Russia’s last day to boost its stranded Mars probe out of Earth orbit. President Obama signs a minibus spending measure that includes NASA’s reduced 2012 budget. China’s Shenzhou-8 mission carried human analogs and other experiments. SpaceX looks to new locales for the launching of its commercial missions. China launches a pair of satellites. NASA prepares a shuttle trainer for display in a Seattle museum. A look ahead at major space related activities scheduled for the week ahead.
1. From Florida Today, Nov. 19: NASA pushes the scheduled launch of the Mars Science Laboratory from this Friday to Saturday (Nov. 26) to provide more time for the change out of a rocket battery. The $2.5 billion mission is designed to deliver a large rover, Curiosity, to the Martian surface to determine whether the environment is suitable for microbial life.
http://on.flatoday.com/tGXxVu
A. From Space.com, Nov. 18: A look at 10 Martian mysteries, including the prospects for life, past or present.
http://bit.ly/uBlidt
B. From the Washington Post, Nov. 18: NASA’s MSL mission is high stakes, coming at a crucial time for the agency. Two years late and over budget, a failure could fuel critics who believe the nation cannot afford NASA.
http://wapo.st/u5L0fU
C. From Florida Today, Nov. 20: NASA’s MSL/Curiosity Rover is nuclear powered. Plutoniun-238, rather than solar energy, will furnish the electricity. However, supplies of the radioactive substance are diminishing, which poses an obstacle for future missions to distance reaches of the solar system. NASA’s Cassini, New Horizons, Galileo and Voyager missions were all made possible with the power source.
http://on.flatoday.com/vaMWOP
2. From Ria Novosti of Russia, Nov. 21: Monday marks the final day Russia will be able to propel its stranded mission to the Martian moon Phobos out of Earth orbit, according to Russian authorities. The spacecraft, loaded with 25,000 pounds of toxic fuel, has been circling the Earth since its launching on Nov. 9. So far, all attempts to re-establish contact have failed. Re-entry could be weeks away.
http://bit.ly/vInMZU
3. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Nov. 18: President Obama signed the minibus funding measure on Friday, a compromise spending bill that includes NASA’s 2012 budget. The new law specifies $17.8 billion for NASA, or $924 million less than the President requested in February. Spending on commercial space transportation systems falls. The Space Launch System and Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Launch Vehicle development move forward.
http://bit.ly/txRr8l
A. From Space News, Nov. 18: A look at NASA’s 2012 budget: funding to commercial programs drops, the James Webb Space Telescope survives.
http://bit.ly/sdZlsp
B. From the Orlando Sentinel, Nov. 20: In an editorial, the Sentinel finds NASA’s recently enacted 2012 budget lacking in its support for the development of commercial space transportation services. The White House sought $850 million. The spending measure includes less than half that amount.
http://thesent.nl/t4xv1A
C. From Florida Today, Nov. 20: In an op-ed, columnist John Kelly finds NASA’s just enacted 2012 budget filled with inconsistencies — too little money for commercial space transportation services and too much for the James Webb Space Telescope.
http://on.flatoday.com/rqeNJ4
4. From Spaceflightnow.com, Nov. 19: China’s Shenhouz 8 participated in a pair of un-piloted orbital docking demonstrations with the Tiangong-1 space lab. The capsule carried a pair of astronaut dummies and other instrumentation to gauge the effects of space radiation and microgravity on future Chinese astronauts.
http://bit.ly/skunHq
5. From Spaceflightnow.com, Nov. 18: SpaceX looks to Puerto Rico, Texas, Hawaii and Florida as prospective launch sites for its family of Falcon rockets. SpaceX would continue to use the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., for its government clients.
http://bit.ly/tMFxjb
6. From Xinhua.net of China, Nov. 20: China launches a pair of data relay and technology experiments.
http://bit.ly/spHroy
7. From Collectspace.com: At NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, the shuttle full fuselage trainer is prepared for transport to the Museum of Flight in Seattle, Wash., where it will be part of a permanent public display.
http://bit.ly/uQSSJ8
8. From Spacepolicyonline.com, Nov. 19: Space related activities planned to the week ahead.
http://bit.ly/sQkTgi
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