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Today’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. In hearings before U.S. House and Senate panels on Thursday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden faced questions over the agency’s $18.5 billion 2016 budget request, including the merits of the planned Asteroid Redirect Mission, Space Launch System development, as well as future Russian involvement in the International Space Station. Russia’s space road map is endangered by funding reductions in response to a plummeting economy, according to a Russian report. NASA’s Dawn mission finding the large planetary body Ceres prime for close-up photos. NASA’s long-running Messenger mission at Mercury to come to an April 30 conclusion. U.S. State Department officials emphasize need for multinational space security agreements. U.S. and France announce agreement to exchange classified space situational awareness information. U.S. commercial cargo spacecraft arrives at the International Space Station early Friday. New station supplies include an Italian espresso machine. Probes into the Oct. 28 loss of an Orbital ATK Antares rocket during lift off on an International Space Station resupply mission focuses on engine turbo pump bearing, possibility of foreign object debris.
Human Deep Space Exploration
Bolden defends ARM, earth science, American preeminence at House hearing
Spacepolicyonline.com (4/17): NASA Administrator Charles Bolden defended his agency’s $18.5-billion budget request for 2016 before the U.S. House Space Subcommittee on Thursday. Bolden fended off criticism from overseers that the agency is spending too much on Earth sciences and not enough on exploration. He faced questions from lawmakers over the absence of an exploration road map that explains how the planned Asteroid Retrieval Mission fits into the agency’s overall human exploration strategy.
Senate appropriators unhappy with NASA FY2016 budget request
Spacepolicyonline.com (4/17): NASA Administrator Charles Bolden faced questions from a U.S. Senate appropriations panel Thursday over proposed 2016 funding for development and testing of the Space Launch System heavy lift rocket, a centerpiece of the agency’s future human deep space exploration plans. Bolden faced similar questions before the House Space Subcommittee earlier in the day. Other questions from Senate appropriators were focused on NASA’s Commercial Crew Program and Russia’s future involvement in the International Space Station. Bolden also urged the Senate to act on the White House nomination of Dava Newman to become NASA’s deputy administrator.
Economic crisis guts Russia’s space budget
Moscow Times (4/15): Faced with a tough national economy, Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, reduces its long-term funding request by 40 percent. “It should be noted that the designated volume of federal funds is the absolute minimum for guaranteeing that we achieve [our] established objectives,” said Yuri Koptev, chairman of Roscosmos’s internal planning body. Falling oil prices and sanctions may impact Russia’s plans to reach the moon with cosmonauts by 2030, according to the report.
Unmanned Deep Space Exploration
NASA probe welcomes a new Dawn at Ceres
Discovery.com (4/16): NASA’s Dawn mission spacecraft delivers the highest resolution images yet of the large planetary body Ceres.
Mercury probe’s dramatic death plunge set for April 30
Space.com (4/16): NASA’s Messenger mission became the first spacecraft to orbit tiny Mercury in 2011. With fuel running out, mission managers believe the spacecraft will plummet to the surface of Mercury on April 30. Messenger will leave a legacy of detail about how the solar system’s rocky planets formed and how they came to harbor water, ice and the organic compounds necessary for life.
Low Earth Orbit
U.S. is interested in space security cooperation with Russia
TASS of Russia (4/17): Frank Rose, U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Arms Control, Verification and Compliance, says the United States is interested in reaching space security agreements with Russia and China. The move is sought to protect the space assets of all countries from conflict. “If diplomacy fails, and the use of force does extend to space, the United States must be prepared to protect our space capabilities and prevail in conflict,” said Rose in remarks at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs.
U.S., France expand space data-sharing agreement
Space News (4/16): The two countries outline an agreement permitting an exchange of classified space situational awareness data at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. A previous arrangement, agreed to in January 2014, permitted an exchange of unclassified information on satellite activities in Earth orbit.
Commercial to Low Earth Orbit
SpaceX Dragon capsule arrives at ISS
Florida Today (4/17): A SpaceX Dragon capsule loaded with 4,300 pounds of research equipment and other supplies reached the International Space Station early Friday. European Space Agency astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti grappled the capsule with Canada’s robot arm at 6:55 a.m., EDT.
Coffee in space: A bold cup of innovation
Slate.com (4/15): An espresso coffee machine developed for use in space by Argotec and Lavazzag, an Italian aerospace company and coffee supplier, made its way to the International Space Station aboard the latest resupply mission. The ISSpresso uses an encapsulated grind to produce its caffeinated brew in weightlessness. The Dragon resupply capsule rendezvoused with the six-person space station early Friday.
Questions remain in Antares explosion investigation
Aerospace Daily & Defense Report (4/16): Independent investigations into the Oct. 28, 2014 Orbital ATK Antares rocket loss point to the excessive wear on the bearings of a rocket engine turbo pump, according to a company executive who spoke at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs. However, the engine’s supplier, Aerojet Rocketdyne, says the wear may have come from debris associated with the rocket’s liquid oxygen propellant tank. The rocket exploded over its Wallops Island, Va., launch pad as it began a resupply mission to the International Space Station.
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