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Thursday’s CSExtra offers a collection of the latest reporting on space related activities from around the world. Are Asian nations engaged in an unacknowledged space race? One of NASA’s commercial space transportation partners says its time for the agency to pare down the competition. U. S. funding issues jeopardize a key joint weather satellite program with the Europeans. Russia hints at a female cosmonaut for a 2013 International Space Station mission. Russia makes new attempts to reach the Phobos-Grunt Mars mission probe that has been locked in Earth orbit since early November. The Phobos mission loss could signal problems for NASA’s use of the space station, some experts worry. Sprites may have links to climate change. NASA’s Mars rover Opportunity looks for shelter against the winter amid new findings that water once flowed through volcanic rocks on the planet. The Hubble Space Telescope reaches a science milestone.
1. From Nature via Space.com: Asian nations may be locked in an unspoken space race that could contribute to a militarization of space, according to James Clay Moltz, a national security expert. The rivalries heated up as China launched its first astronaut into orbit in 2003, he writes. Other rivals include Japan, India and a host of smaller nations in the region now expanding their space capabilities.
http://bit.ly/t0wac3
2. From Spacepolitics.com: Michael Gass, president of United Space Alliance, urges NASA to accelerate a down select of partners involved in the agency’s initiative to foster commercial crew transportation services to the International Space Station. Three of four NASA partners have chosen ULA’s Atlas V as their booster, or initial booster. Meanwhile, Congress cut in half the funding available to continue the initiative.
http://bit.ly/ujUbH9
3. From Space News: Faced with funding difficulties, the U. S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration notifies European partners it will not be able to partner on a future polar orbiting weather satellite program. The move will likely force Europe to prepare a less ambitious mission.
http://bit.ly/sgbGh2
4. From Ria Novosti of Russia: Russia may launch a female cosmonaut to the International Space Station in 2013, space agency officials disclose. Yelena Serova could fly for 170 days.
http://bit.ly/vFzXr7
A. Collectspace.com: A slip up in the realm of space memorabilia reveals a lineup of Chinese astronauts not previously disclosed.
http://bit.ly/rwB7sk
5. From Spacepolicyonline.com: Russia keeps the faith when it comes to establishing contact with the Phobos-Grunt mission that has been stranded in Earth orbit since it was launched on Nov. 8.
http://bit.ly/vnoZ5w
A. From Popular Mechanics: Russia’s Mars mission troubles bid ill for NASA, according to Popular Mechanics. NASA is depending on Russia to carry astronauts to and from the International Space Station for at least the next few years.
http://bit.ly/rBK22J
6. From Discovery.com: Scientists are still mystified by sprites, brief but bright flashes of light in the Earth’s upper atmosphere. The lightning like phenomena was not really acknowledged until the 1990s. Now, say scientists, the flashes could be linked to solar activity and perhaps ozone levels and climate.
http://bit.ly/tB57Ms
7. From the Associated Press via the Houston Chronicle: NASA’s Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity looks for shelter at Endeavour crater for its fifth Martian winter. Opportunity and the now inactive Spirit rover reached the Martian surface in early 2004. Scientists presented new findings this week of a mineral discovery by Opportunity that suggests water once flowed from volcanic rocks on Mars.
http://bit.ly/vJpUeq
A. From Space.com: For the last several years, images of gullies on Mars have fed speculation of flowing water rising from below the surface. New studies suggest the gullies were formed by carbon dioxide instead.
http://bit.ly/sL1mDC
8. From Space.com: Launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope and its many observations have served as a basis for 10,000 scientific articles. Scientists from more than 35 nations have contributed.
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