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Tuesday’s news scan offers a roundup of the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from around the world: SpaceX makes a pitch to accelerate a commercial human space transportation system. More analysis of a Congressional report from NASA last week in which the space agency says it cannot meet a Dec. 31, 2016 deadline for an operational heavy lift rocket. Will tight budgets force NASA to play “small ball” in its pursuit of new human exploration endeavors?. A look at how the James Webb Space Telescope and a long running Energy Department project are faring in tough economic times. Could Europe and China reach parity with the U. S. in ground breaking research? In Germany, a business executive is dismissed over comments uncovered by WikiLeaks on the value of Europe’s version of the U. S. Global Positioning Satellite System.
1. From the Houston Chronicle: SpaceX makes a pitch to policymakers for help in bringing the company’s Dragon spacecraft up to human space transportation standards at a cost lower than the government can manage. The pitch comes on the heels of a NASA report informing Congress the agency cannot meet a Dec. 31, 2016 schedule for the delivery of a new heavy lift rocket and crew capsule. SpaceX managed its recent orbital test flight under NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program for about $800 million. Though Dragon’s test flight was a success, the spacecraft lacked a crew escape system.
http://blogs.chron.com/sciguy/archives/2011/01/spacex_sends_a_message_to_budgetcutting_lawmakers_1.html
2. Three from The Space Review:
A. In “Can NASA Develop a heavy-lift rocket,” TSR editor Jeff Foust examines the controversy that erupted last week over NASA’s report to Congress on plans to develop a Space Launch Vehicle, or a heavy lift rocket to boost a new multi-purpose crew capsule. Congress wants results by Dec. 31, 2016, but has so far not committed the funding. Congress was not pleased that NASA said it could not meet the schedule with the estimated funding. Lawmakers urged the agency to try again and include management reforms. Several knowledgeable outsiders believe the agency could achieve the deadline using a “side mount” concept that relies on shuttle technology.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1760/1
B. In “Small ball or home runs: the changing ethos of U. S. human spaceflight policy,” University of Central Florida political scientist Roger Handberg foresees a new political and economic reality for the nation’s human space exploration endeavors. He uses a Major League Baseball analogy in which down market teams pursue a strategy of timely hitting, aggressive base running and defense to compete against the few wealthy teams that can afford the home run hitters. Handberg suggests NASA must make do with advances offered by the International Space Station for the foreseeable future. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1759/1
C. In “Funding the search for life in the solar system,” TSR contributor Louis Friedman examines the cost and obstacles for missions to search for life not only on Mars but the moons of Jupiter and Saturn — Europa, Titan and Enceladus — in the current political and economic climate. The price tag for these compelling missions could reach $1 billion annually, he estimates. Friedman suggests that religious intellectuals who share a basic inquisitiveness about the nature of life could be a valuable ally in a strategy to keep the pursuit alive.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1758/1\
3. From Spaceflightnow.com: A look at the James Webb Space Telescope, a joint effort by NASA and the European Space Agency to replace the Hubble Space Telescope. Hardware for the project will come together this year, though the JWST is more than a year and behind schedule and $1.5 billion over budget. The JWST, which will search for earliest star systems, faces an uncertain future as NASA looks for the additional funding amid tight budgets.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1101/17jwst/
4. From the New York Times: The U. S. Department of Energy will shut down the Tevatron, a particle accelerator at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Illinois, in September, after 28 years of research — some focused on efforts to recreate conditions surrounding the big bang. Combined with the uncertain future of the James Webb Space Telescope, the U. S. is slipping in the quest to understand “dark energy,” the force that is causing an acceleration in the expansion of the universe, says a key physicist in the field. Europe and China are gaining ground.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/18/science/18collider.html?_r=1&scp=2&sq=NASA&st=cse
5. From the Coalition for Space Exploration: SOFIA, a joint U. S. and German airborne observatory, scores a breakthrough in studies of star formation. http://www.exploredeepspace.com/blog/on-the-wing-nasa%e2%80%99s-high-flying-observatory-studies-star-formation
6. From the Associated Press via Bloomberg: A German company dismisses its chief executive over derogatory comments disclosed by WikiLeaks about the European rival to the U. S. Global Positioning Satellite System. According to accounts based on WikiLeaks diplomatic intercepts, the European system was “a stupid idea” that will primarily benefit French business interests.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-01-18/german-firm-s-ceo-removed-over-wikileaks-cable.html
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