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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from around the world. NASA’s Dawn probe, which reached the large asteroid Vesta last month for a year of orbital scrutiny, offers new imagery of the intriguing, Earth-like planetary body. NASA faces opposition as it looks to changes in the agency’s strategy for developing commercial human space transportation services. Past evidence of dysfunction in the making of the U.S. space policy. Endeavour’s crew visits the White House today. NASA readies the June probe for launching to Jupiter on Friday. The sun unleashed a strong solar flare. A NASA post in El Paso, Texas holds on to its aircraft maintenance role in the post shuttle era.
1. From spaceflightnow.com: NASA’s Dawn probe unveils the large asteroid Vesta. New images of the distant planetary body reveal a heavily cratered northern hemisphere, including a major impact. http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1108/01dawn/
A. From Space.com: Dawn, which swung into orbit around Vesta last month, began its year-long science mission on Monday. The latest images of the asteroid were snapped by a framing camera from a distance of 3,200 miles. Future images will have new clarity and assist scientists in their goal of explaining the origin and evolution of the little planetary body. http://www.exploredeepspace.com/12493-giant-asteroid-vesta-nasa-dawn-spacecraft-photos.html
B. From USA Today: Earth-like Vesta never emerged from the asteroid belt. Scientists hope to learn more about the asteroid’s mantle through a deep 200 mile wide crater in the southern hemisphere. Vesta was slammed so hard the impactor left compression grooves. On Aug. 11, Dawn will descend to a lower orbit with an altitude of 1,700 miles.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/sciencefair/index
2. From The Space Review: New essays on NASA’s unfolding efforts to nurture commercial human space transportation systems and a look back at U. S. space policy making processes nearly two decades ago.
A. In “Could commercial crew become less commercial?” TSR editor Jeff Foust explores a recent uproar among commercial companies involved in the NASA-funded Commercial Crew Development 2, the initiative to develop commercial crew transportation services to the International Space Station. In two previous rounds, NASA has turned to Space Act Agreements to provide payments to companies that meet development milestones. But the agency revealed recently it is considering more conventional contract agreements for the final rounds of development, a change to impose safety standards. However, commercial participants believe the new regulations will unnecessarily drive up the overhead and the cost of their work. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1898/1
B. In “Another Look: Falling Back to Earth,” frequent TSR contributor Louis Friedman offers his perspective on the recent insider’s account of White House space policy making during the fall of the former Soviet Union. Mark Albrecht’s book, Falling Back to Earth, examines the efforts of George H. W. Bush to give NASA focus during the era. Ironically, purpose came an administration later, and under a president — Bill Clinton — who arrived with no enthusiasm for the space program. Friedman worries that today’s policy making is equally dysfunctional. Albrecht was the executive secretary of the National Space Council under president George H. W. Bush. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1895/1
3. From NASAwatch.com: Endeavour’s six astronauts, commanded by Mark Kelly, visit the White House on Tuesday. Endeavour’s May mission equipped the International Space Station with the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/08/astronauts-visi.html
A. From the San Antonion News Express: The Texas city’s Southwest Research Institute will play a prominent role in the NASA mission to Jupiter. Scientists hope to learn whether Jupiter has a rocky core and water.
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/local_news/article/SA-led-mission-to-Jupiter-launches-Friday-1686564.php
5. From Space.com: The sun unleashed an powerful solar flare over the weekend. Bright auroral displays in the Earth’s southern hemisphere are possible. http://www.exploredeepspace.com/12507-powerful-solar-flare-sun-storm-auroras.html
6. From El Paso Inc: NASA sees a future for the agency’s El Paso Forward Operating Location, a place for maintenance of NASA’s fleet of T-38 astronaut training jets and the Super Guppy transport. The aircraft, based in Houston, have long been a fixture in the training of astronauts and the airlift of space station components. http://elpasoinc.com/readArticle.aspx?issueid=349&xrec=6678
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