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Tuesday’s space news scan offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related events from around the globe. In Florida, the four astronauts assigned to NASA’s final shuttle mission receive safety training and rehearse their countdown. European and Russian supply capsules depart and launch for the International Space Station. A group of U. S. Senators raise funding concerns over a new generation of U. S. weather satellites. Florida Today editorially endorses a plan to streamline Eastern and Western Range operations. The sun acts up. The joint DARPA/NASA 100 Year Starship Project could yield near term advances. China launches a communications satellite. The world’s fastest supercomputers. New currency commemorates Canadian space robot arms.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: Atlantis astronauts Chris Ferguson, Doug Hurley, Sandra Magnus and Rex Walheim shift their training from Houston to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida this week. Over the next three days they will participate in launch pad safety instruction and a full countdown dress rehearsal. Atlantis is tentatively scheduled for a July 8 lift off on NASA’s final shuttle flight, a 12-day supply mission to the International Space Station.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts135/110620tcdt/
A. From Florida Today: The European Space Agency’s Automated Transfer Vehicle-2 departed the International Space Station on Monday after a four month stay. The unmanned cargo carrier recently boosted the space station to a record high altitude. The ATV-2’s undocking cleared a berthing port on the station for Russia’s Progress 43.
http://space.flatoday.net/2011/06/europes-kepler-departs-space-station.html
B. From Itar-Tass of Russia: Russia’s Progress 43 is ready for launching today. The unmanned cargo craft will carry nearly three tons of fuel, water, oxygen, food, clothing and spare parts to the International Space Station. The automated capsule should reach the space station on Thursday. http://www.itar-tass.com/en/c154/169349.html
2. From Space News: Fourteen U. S. senators warn the Senate Appropriations Committee leadership of funding concerns for the Joint Polar Satellite System. The new generation of spacecraft will monitor the U. S. for severe weather. The project received $382 million out of a requested $1 billion for 2011.
http://www.spacenews.com/policy/110620-fourteen-senators-call-jpss-funding.html
3. From Florida Today: In an editorial, the newspaper endorses a plan from the Air Force to streamline the Eastern and Western ranges, the military organizations that oversee rocket launches from sites on the Atlantic and Pacific Coast. A new proposal would merge range oversight and turn their safety responsibilities over to a contractor. That could spur new commercial activity, according to Florida Today. http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110621/OPINION/110620014/Our-views-Speeding-up-launches-June-21-?odyssey=mod|newswell|text|Opinion|p
A. From the Huffington Post: NASA must look to private enterprise if the agency wishes to achieve more in the current budget environment, commercial space advocate Rick Tumlinson writes in an op-ed that calls for stream-lined contractor services. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rick-tumlinson/more-bang-for-buck-rogers_b_880012.html
4. From the Washington Post: Watching the sun with satellites is serious business, as recent solar activity that could disrupt the distribution of electrical power, rises.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/science/as-the-sun-awakens-the-power-grid-stands-vulnerable/2011/06/09/AGwc8DdH_story.html
A. From spaceweather.com: The sun unleashes a Coronal Mass Ejection directly towards the Earth as the Northern Hemisphere transitions from spring to summer. Though not especially large, this CME could cause geomagnetic storms, including auroral displays as it reaches the Earth on Thursday. http://www.spaceweather.com/
5. From The Space Review: In “It’s not (just) about the starship,” TSR editor Jeff Foust delves into an unfolding joint effort between the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and NASA called “The 100-year Starship Project,” a study initiative to identify the technologies required for human interstellar travel. The sponsors are seeking an organization to administer the project through a grant. Both NASA and the military are likely to reap near as well as long term benefits from the enterprise, Foust writes. http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1869/1
A. From the Washington Post: SETI Institute astronomer Seth Shostak explains his long professional passion for identifying extraterrestrial intelligence in a question and answer post http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/science/q-and-a-with-alien-hunter-seth-shostak/2011/05/31/AGfsGOdH_story.html
6. From Xinhuanet of China: China successfully launches a communications satellite. The spacecraft will furnish Asian communications services. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/21/c_13940293.htm
7. From Space.com: The U. S. claims No. 3 and 7 on the list of the world’s 10 fastest supercomputers. No. 7 belongs to NASA. Pleiades, NASA’s fastest processor, is used for spacecraft mission simulations. http://www.exploredeepspace.com/12015-japan-worlds-fastest-computer-nasa-rikken-petaflop.html
8. From Collectspace.com: Canada issues a new series of bank notes. The $5 bill commemorates the Canadian Space Agency’s robot arm contributions to the International Space Station.
http://www.collectspace.com/ubb/Forum12/HTML/000244.html
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