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Tuesday CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space-related happenings from around the world. U. S., Russian and Japanese astronauts descend safely into Kazakhstan following 167 days aboard the International Space Station. In Washington, a congressional super committee charged with navigating a difficult course through budget reductions throws in the towel with uncertain repercussions. In Florida, NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity Rover nears a Saturday lift off on an ambitious mission to the Red Planet. In Russia, hopes of salvaging a stranded Mars mission fade. NASA may look to a former astronomer/astronaut as chief scientist. NASA’s Pluto bound New Horizons mission may have a distant ocean to discover. In a pair of essays on NASA’s future, one expert sees certain budget uncertainty and another sees opportunity for China to emerge as the world leader in space exploration.
1. From Spaceflightnow.com: Three U. S., Russian and Japanese astronauts departed the International Space Station late Monday and descended safely to Earth. Their touchdown in Kazakhstan ended a 167-day station mission for Mike Fossum, Sergey Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa.
http://bit.ly/tLPGhc
2. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The Congressional “super committee” charged with the responsibility of identifying $1.2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade surrendered Monday. The failure will impose new spending cuts that are very much unclear.
http://bit.ly/sjJDqK
A. From the Washington Post: NASA and the National Science Foundation emerge from the 2012 budget process in “relatively unscathed,” according to the American Association for the Advancement of Science.
3. From Florida Today: NASA and the United Launch Alliance change a safety system battery on the Atlas V rocket that is scheduled to start the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory on its way to the Red Planet on Saturday. Saturday’s launch period extends from10:02 a.m. to 11:45 a.m., EST. The MSL/Curiosity launch period extends until Dec. 18. The ambitious mission is due at Mars on Aug. 6.
4. From Russia Today: In Russia, hopes of sending a stranded Mars probe on its way fade. The spacecraft, developed to retrieve and return samples from the Martian moon Phobos, has been locked in Earth orbit since it was launched on Nov. 9. The probe and its load of toxic fuel is expected to plummet back to Earth in the coming weeks.
http://bit.ly/rF8KWi
A. From Space.com: Reaching Mars with spacecraft has proven difficult for everyone that makes the attempt, from the former Soviet Union and the United States to Europe and Japan.
http://bit.ly/tFCC8c
B. From Spaceflightnow.com: Japan struggles to recover the Venus bound Akatsuki mission. Efforts to maneuver the probe into orbit a year ago failed. Two engine firings in November have revived the ambitious planetary mission.
http://bit.ly/tVTHlt
5. From Nature News: John Grunsfeld, the former NASA astronaut and chief scientist, could be the agency’s next associate administrator for science, according to the science publication.
http://bit.ly/tKQMFX
6. From Space.com: NASA’s New Horizon mission will look for an ice covered ocean on Pluto as it cruises past the distant dwarf planet in 2015. New research since the mission launch in 2006 is pointing towards such a discovery.
http://bit.ly/vj1Pix
7. Two from The Space Review of Monday:
A. In “The ongoing certainty of budget uncertainty,” TSR editor Jeff Foust sizes up the 2012 NASA budget that was approved by Congress and signed into law by the president last Friday. NASA nurtured commercial crew transportation services, a key feature of the president’s agenda, emerges with less than half the funds sought by the White House. The James Webb Space Telescope survives, though the House favored cancellation. A compromise agreement to fund the Space Launch System and Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle survives as well. The future of each of these projects, however, is uncertain, writes Foust.
http://bit.ly/scdhHK
B. In “American human space flight and future options, short and long term,” Roger Handberg, a political scientist, finds China emerging as an international space force as other nations wrestle with declining budgets in the face of global economic difficulties.
http://bit.ly/suq4A2
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