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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related activities. Shuttle Endeavour’s astronauts head for Cape Canaveral to rehearse their planned April 19 lift off. NASA’s inspector general warns of the agency’s vulnerability to cyber attack. Two views of NASA’s legislative and financial obstacles. Scientists produce a graphic representation Kepler’s search for exo-planets. Sally Ride, America’s first woman astronaut, discusses education. Larry the Cable Guy visits NASA. Orbital Sciences looks to September for a test of the rocket it will use to deliver supplies to the space station. A small California company markets solar sails.
1. From Florida Today: Shuttle Endeavour’s astronauts travel to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center today for a Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, a training session that includes a round of safety drills and countdown dress rehearsal. Endeavour’s final mission, a two week flight to the International Space Station, is set for an April 19 lift off.
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20110329/NEWS02/103290317/Endeavour-crew-arrives-today?odyssey=tab|topnews|text|Home
A. From Spaceflightnow.com: Japan’s unmanned HTV-2 cargo capsule departed the International Space Station on Monday, after a two month mission.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/h2b/htv2/110328depart/
2. From Space.com: NASA’s inspector general warns that agency computer networks are vulnerable to a cyber attack. NASA operations could be crippled, IG Paul Martin writes in a report, characterized as a second warning to the agency.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/11244-nasa-computer-security-cyberattack.html
3. Two from Monday’s The Space Review:
A. In “We’ve got to move on,” TSR editor Jeff Foust examines the impact that uncertainty over NASA’s budget is having on the agency’s future. Much of the impact is focused on the future of the Space Launch System, a proposed heavy lift rocket that would be coupled with a Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle (very similar to the Orion capsule) for future human deep space exploration. In the 2010 NASA Authorization Act, Congress blue prints a strategy to have both in operation by the end of 2016. However, that seems unlikely as NASA and other federal agencies have been forced to operate under a series of budget Continuing Resolutions, rather than a 2011 budget. The CRs limit spending to 2010 levels. Additionally, the proposed 2012 budget for NASA does not track the 2010 Authorization act when it comes to spending on the SLS, or the crew vehicle.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1810/1
B. In “Picking sides in cislunar space,” University of Texas astronomer Dan Lester examines the lure of the L1 and L2 Lagrange points as destinations for human explorers. They offer the resource of solar power as gateways to either the moon’s near (L1) or far (L2) side. They take explorers nearly all the way to the lunar surface and help planners define a future architecture and investment strategy in an era of constrained finances.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1808/1.
4. From Discovery.com: Scientists involved in NASA’s Kepler exo-planet hunting mission produce a scaled graphic of their findings so far. The visualization reveals a great diversity among the planets that circle other stars.
http://news.discovery.com/space/big-pic-kepler-mission-exoplanets-family-110329.html
5. From the Huffington Post: America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride, discusses education, space flight and space tourism in a Q and A format.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-m-clash/as-astronaut-sally-ride-t_b_841455.html
6. From the Orlando Sentinel: Actor Dan Whitney, aka “Larry The Cable Guy,” visits NASA’s Johnson Space Center for the History Channel. His look at space technology, including the space station’s water recycling apparatus, airs tonight.
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2011/03/larry-the-cable-guy-spotlights-nasa-in-history-series.html
7. From Space News: Stellar Exploration, a small California company, pursues a future for Solar Sails, an innovative technology for traveling the solar system.
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110328-smooth-sailing.html
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