Wednesday’s space news scan: A top Russian officials proposes closer cooperation with the United States for deep space exploration. More comment on U. S. space policy and NASA’s future. The Atlantis astronauts embark on the second spacewalk of their mission on Wednesday, this time to replace three large power storage batteries on the International Space Station’s oldest solar module. For shuttle updates, http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts132/status.html
1. From the Wall Street Journal — Russia proposes future cooperation with the United States in the exploration of deep space. Russian Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov raises the idea in a meeting with NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and in a speech at the Nixon Center.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704912004575252842393481092.html?mod=fox_australian
A. From RiaNovosti, Russia and the U. S. could be near an agreement on developing a nuclear rocket for deep space exploration,
http://en.rian.ru/russia/20100518/159059401.html
B. The Atlantis astronauts attach the Russian module “Rassvet,” or Dawn to the International Space Station on Tuesday.
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts132/100518fd5/index2.html
2. From the Orange County Register (of California) In an op-ed, Peter Navarro, a University of California at Irvine business professor, suggests that the best space policy would continue NASA’s Constellation Program for national security reasons, while sponsoring a commercial space transportation initiative.
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/space-249162-program-obama.html
A. Space Politics.com comments,
http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/space-249162-program-obama.html
3. From the AP via the Los Angles Times — Scientists look to a collaboration between NASA and the European Space Agency to retrieve rock and soil samples from Mars to examine the materials for evidence of life. The $10 billion price tag would include three missions, two rovers in 2018, one to gather rocks where water may have flowed and another to drill below the surface. The samples they gather would be returned to Earth in the 2020s. Critics say it would make more sense to conduct biochemical experiments at Mars rather than invest so much in a sample return mission.http://www.latimes.com/news/science/wire/sns-ap-us-sci-mars-search-for-life,0,645434.story
4. From the Washington Post, A blog report that 2010 is on track to be the warming year on record, according to NASA projections and studies by NOAA.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/capitalweathergang/2010/05/climate_outlook_raises_concern.html
5. From Space.com, Oleg Kotov, commander of the International Space Station, describes the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico as “very scary.”
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/missionlaunches/gulf-oil-slick-scary-from-space-100518.html
6. From Space.com, Japan will make a second attempt to launch a probe to Venus on Thursday. Monday’s attempt was delayed by bad weather.
http://www.exploredeepspace.com/missionlaunches/japan-venus-probe-launch-thursday-100518.html
7. From the New York Times, with just two shuttle launches remaining, the NYTs offers tips on where to watch, where to stay and the warning, “be flexible” in your planning,
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/16/travel/16journeys.html?pagewanted=1&ref=travel
8. From Discovery.com, Are Iron Man and Elon Musk, founder of SpaceX, one and the same. Musk was an inspiration for the fictional Tony Stark.t
http://news.discovery.com/space/is-elon-musk-the-spacex-rocket-man-or-iron-man.html
9. From CultureMap Houston, With little fanfare, comedian Stephen Colbert visits NASA’s Johnson Space Center, mingles with employes, talks and trains with astronauts.
http://culturemap.com/newsdetail/05-18-10-stephen-colbert-sneaks-in-and-out-of-houston-shows-astronauts-hes-got-the-right-stuff/
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