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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers a collection of the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from around the world. Saturday’s successful launching was just the start of a drama-filled mission for NASA’s $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission. In Russia, reports of changes in the aerospace industry mount in response to the all but certain loss the soil recovery mission to the Martian moon Phobos. At a U. N. climate conference, alarmed experts say 2011 will emerge as one of warmest years on record. New essays on Russia’s response to the Phobos mission loss and the promise of space based solar energy. Russia launches navigation and communications satellites. A new effort to pair Hubble Space Telescope imagery with music.
1. From Spacefightnow.com: NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory is barreling toward Mars after a successful weekend lift off. But there is still much for the mission’s software engineers to writing and test to guide the Curiosity rover to a successful August landing. The MSL mission will assess the habitability of the Martian environment.
http://bit.ly/scXX1c
A. From Discovery.com: The Mars Science Laboratory mission drama will increase again in mid-summer, as the rover nears an Aug. 6 landing — without the airbags that spelled success for NASA’s smaller Spirit and Opportunity rovers.
http://bit.ly/sxqSnj
2. From Spacepolicyonline.com: The latest on Russia’s top level response to the almost certain loss of the Mars Phobos soil sample return mission, which has been stranded in Earth orbit since its Nov. 8 launching. The repercussions include personnel changes under way at Roscosmos, the Russian federal space agency, at the direction of Russian President Dmitry Medvedev.
http://bit.ly/v3klED
3. From the Associated Press via the Washington Post: The year 2011 is on track to end in a tie as the 10th warmest since record keeping began in 1850, according to an official with the United Nation’s International Meteorological Organization in Durban, South Africa. Arctic sea ice has shrunk to record low volumes as well. The organization’s deputy director speaks about climate trends on the sidelines of a U. N. sponsored climate conference in South Africa.
http://wapo.st/u8EQMe
4. Two from Monday’s The Space Review:
A. “Red Planet Blues” takes a critical look at Russia’s stranded soil return mission to the Martian moon Phobos. The project was too ambitious, writes Dwayne Day, a frequent TSR contributor and space policy expert. Day offers a prescription for recovery, which does not include the punishment for mission sponsors suggested by Russian president Dmitry Medvedev.
http://bit.ly/uBDbhx
B. “Making the case, again, for space-based solar power,” examines a mid-November call for the development of a prototype production plant with new costs estimates and technology assessments from the International Academy of Astronautics. Though the concept of space based solar power remains popular, cost and technology remain key obstacles, especially in the current budget environment, writes Space Review editor Jeff Foust.
5. From Ria Novosti of Russia: Russia successfully launches another satellite component of the Glonass navigation network. The launch site was Plesetsk.
http://bit.ly/vP9j1A
A. From Space News: An International Launch Services Proton rocket launches a U. S. manufactured telecommunications satellite from Kazakhstan.
http://bit.ly/v5Hve4
6. From the Washington Post: Selected imagery from the Hubble Space Telescope is paired with a musical score, with help from the Space Telescope Science Institute.
http://wapo.st/vupsEu
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.