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Wednesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Russia’s lost mission to the Martian moon Phobos is spotlighting problems for a once proud space faring nation. One Russian newspaper calls for a bold international mission of exploration. NASA Administrator Charles Bolden lists agency budget priorities. NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory packs a laser, but it’s not for self defense. The U. S. Air Force X-37B space plane achieves a little noticed milestone. Florida clears a venue for the display of orbiter Atlantis. Physicists weigh in on dark matter. Humans to Venus?
1. From the Los Angeles Times: Russia’s space program, faced with the almost certain loss of an ambitious soil sample return mission to the Martian moon Phobos, is confronted by outdated hardware, an aging workforce and a lack of interest from its youngest citizens, according to a Moscow-based report from the newspaper.
http://lat.ms/taNF6x
A. From the Moscow Times: In an editorial, the Times calls for a bold mission of human exploration undertaken by an international partnership. Think of it as an old fashioned American “road trip,” the editorial suggests on a more-the-merrier note.
http://bit.ly/sKyX5F
2. From Federal News Radio: Improved communications with Congress was a key to NASA’s obtaining legislative support for its top near term priorities in the 2012 budget, explains NASA Administrator Charles Bolden. Those include the Space Launch System, a heavy lift rocket for future human exploration; an extension of International Space Station operations and funding for the over budget James Webb Space Telescope.
http://bit.ly/rBBhr7
A. From the Wall Street Journal: In a letter response to a recent op-ed from author Homer Hickam, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden defends the agency’s agenda of nurturing commercial transportation services for trips to Earth orbit and preparing for future human missions to Mars.
3. From the Christian Science Monitor: NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory, launched Saturday on an eight month journey to Mars, carries a laser that can zap rocks from a distance of 23 feet for chemical analysis.
4. From Space.com: Launched on March 5, the secretive U. S. Air Force reusable X-37 B space plane reaches for a space flight milestone.
5. From Collectspace.com: In Florida, workers clear the way for facilities to house the shuttle orbiter Atlantis for public display at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
6. From Space.com: Physicists edge closer to a theoretical limit for the mass of dark matter, the stuff that makes up most of the universe.
7. From Scientific American Magazine: When it comes to choosing destinations for future missions of human exploration, Venus seems to be overlooked. A human flyby seems in order, according to the popular science magazine.
http://bit.ly/rWzK32
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