To subscribe to CSExtra via RSS feed click here.
If you would prefer to receive CSExtra in e-mail format, e-mail us at Info@space.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.
Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA gathers funds for a pivotal 2014 flight test of the Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle under development for a range of future human deep space missions. Prominent advocates urge a human exploration focus on the moon and robotic activity on Mars. Federal support for astronomy research to decline. Russia’s top space official offers some surprising views on current and future activities. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden mediates a dispute with Apollo era astronauts over the ownership and sale rights of mission memorabilia. Essays examine NASA’s post Kepler plans to find Earth-like exo-planets and assess the news coverage of the observatory’s recent discoveries. Preserving the moon’s Apollo history. China launches a civilian remote sensing spacecraft.
1. From Space News: NASA will add $375 million to Lockheed Martin Space Systems development work on the Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle for a Delta IV rocket to support a 2014 flight test of the capsule. During the proposed orbital test flight, engineers will assess the spacecraft’s heat shielding and parachute descent system.
http://bit.ly/AjMFTt
2. From NASA Watch.com: Harrison “Jack” Schmitt, the Apollo 17 astronaut, former U. S. Senator and geologist, challenges the value of the asteroids over the moon as the next destination for human explorers. In a Heartland Institute essay, Schmitt argues his case on more than a dozen fronts, from rocket propulsion, national security and commercial benefit to science and the enrichment of education. President Obama’s 2010 directive to NASA outlines a mission to an asteroid in 2025, then voyages to Mars.
http://bit.ly/xxOW6y
3. From the Huffington Post: In an op-ed, astronomer Jim Bell, president of the Planetary Society, urges policy makers to continue their financial support for NASA — especially in an era of constrained spending. The space agency has made hard fought gains in the robotic exploration of Mars, which could be in jeopardy as it attempts to forge new partnerships with European and Russian partners to deal with funding constraints faced by future missions, Bell notes. NASA’s activities create high tech jobs and serve as an inspiration to the young, he writes.
http://huff.to/w3vqzw
4. From Space.com: Astronomers can expect cuts in funding for their projects in 2012, a National Science Foundation official tells the 219th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Tex. In 2011, the agency funded 20 percent of proposed projects, a level that will fall to 16-18 percent in 2012.
http://bit.ly/zut60N
5. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The Washington website offers a translated summary of a wide ranging interview with Vladimir Popovkin, director of Roscosmos, Russia’s federal space agency. The director suggests singular purpose, temporarily staffed space stations may be preferable to the permanently staffed International Space Station, that the venerable Soyuz crew transport could have a six person successor in the 2018-20 time frame and that the Phobos-Grunt mission’s failure may be sabotage.
http://bit.ly/w7t0hy
A. From Spaceflightnow.com: The website offers its detailed summary of China’s five-year plan for space exploration. The Chinese white paper, which was made public just before New Year’s Day, looks to 2013 for the launching of a robotic lunar lander. China will also emphasize work on a powerful new rocket and wider international cooperation in its space pursuits.
http://bit.ly/xhK4as
6. From The Orlando Sentinel: NASA Administrator Charles Bolden strikes a conciliatory note on the issue of who owns Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Skylab memorabilia now in the possession of America’s early astronauts and others involved in the historic missions. The latest dispute on that front arose in November, when Apollo 13 commander James Lovell attempted to auction off a check list in his possession since the 1970 mission. The sale was halted while NASA checked into the ownership and right to sell issues.
http://thesent.nl/xzwLfr
A. From Collectspace.com: Lovell is supported by fellow Apollo-era astronauts Gene Cernan, Charles Duke and Rusty Schweickart.
7. Two essays from Monday’s The Space Review are focused on NASA’s Kepler mission, a space telescope launched nearly two years ago to search for Earth-like planets circling other stars.
A. In “Exo-planet Explorers,” TSR editor Jeff Foust examines what NASA and the science community are looking to as possible successors to Kepler. TESS, short for Transiting Exo-planet Survey Satellite, would identify rocky planets circling stars within 200 light years. FINESSE, short for Fast Infrared Exo-planet Spectroscopic Survey Explorer, would attempt to characterize the atmospheres of planets identified by Kepler for signs of water, methane, carbon dioxide and carbon monoxide — substances expected if there was biological activity. Kepler, too, may soon get a mission extension.
http://bit.ly/yMvk59
B. In “Reporting Kepler 20e and 20f,” political scientist John Hickman scores the news media’s reporting on recent Kepler exo-planet discoveries of alien worlds rivaling the Earth in size. On Dec. 20-21, the science journal Nature broke the news of the two planets, which circle a sun like star about 950 light years from the Earth. Both circle their host star too closely for water to exist as a liquid on their torrid surfaces. Newspapers outscored the broadcast media in this widely reported story, but not by much, Hickman writes.
http://bit.ly/xZrOu2
8. From The New York Times: Archaeologists work with NASA to protect the Apollo landing sites on the moon from future commercial activity.
http://nyti.ms/ztChrb
9. From Xinhuanet of China: China successfully launches a civilian remote sensing satellite.
http://bit.ly/wLfLSW
Brought to you by the Coalition for Space Exploration, CSExtra is a daily compilation of space industry news selected from hundreds of online media resources. The Coalition is not the author or reporter of any of the stories appearing in CSExtra and does not control and is not responsible for the content of any of these stories. The content available through CSExtra contains links to other websites and domains which are wholly independent of the Coalition, and the Coalition makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy, completeness or authenticity of the information contained in any such site or domain and does not pre-screen or approve any content. The Coalition does not endorse or receive any type of compensation from the included media outlets and is not responsible or liable in any way for any content of CSExtra or for any loss, damage or injury incurred as a result of any content appearing in CSExtra. For information on the Coalition, visit www.space.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@space.com.