Plans to robotically capture and corral a small asteroid into a stable lunar orbit so it can be explored byU. S.astronauts as early as 2021 got a chilly reception as the strategy was outlined Tuesday before the House Space Subcommittee, a NASA oversight panel.

The lawmakers and a panel of experts that included a retired NASA exploration expert found more value in lunar activities as a precursor to an eventual Mars mission.

America's last human deep space mission, Apollo 17, splashes down safely in December 1972. Photo Credit/NASA Photo

The asteroid retrieval strategy is a major feature of President Obama’s proposed $17.7 billion NASA budget for 2014.

The spending plan seeks a $105 million down payment on the strategy designed to launch U. S. astronauts beyond low earth orbit for the first time since the final Apollo mission of 1972. At a yet-to-be determined price tag, NASA would dispatch as many as four astronauts on a test mission of the new Space Launch System super rocket and Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle to explore the corralled  7 to 10 meter space rock.

Yet the subcommittee’s most vocal members as well as a majority of the experts called to testify before the Next Steps in Human Exploration of Mars and Beyond hearing seemed skeptical. Efforts to reach Mars with human explorers might be better served with missions to the moon’s surface of lunar orbit as interim steps, a realm sometimes referred to as cislunar space, they suggested.

NASA mission proposal would robotically retrieve a small asteroid. Image credit/NASA

“I’m not convinced this mission is the right way to go,” said Steven Palazzo, R-Miss, the subcommittee chairman. “I still have many questions about the budget profile, technical plan, schedule and long term strategy.”

NASA expects to begin addressing the selection of suitable asteroid targets, international partnerships and long terms costs later this year.

U. S. Rep. Donna Edwards, of Maryland, the panel’s ranking Democrat, made clear her enthusiasm for the human exploration of Mars, but questioned whether the still fresh proposal to identify, capture and usher an asteroid close to the moon was the most effective interim step.

In this Lockheed Martin illustration, a NASA Orion crew approaches a deep space asteroid. Lockhheed Martin is NASA's prime contractor for Orion.

“Before we look at interim steps, we need first to understand what it takes to get to Mars,” said Edwards, who raised concerns for the health hazards posed by cosmic radiation.

The president’s strategy was a recent twist to a directive he handed NASA in 2010 to prepare for a mission to a distant asteroid by 2025 as a stepping stone to human expeditions to Mars in the decade that follows.

NASA officials were not included in Tuesday’s hearing, but have testified previously before Congress.

Faced with mounting budget pressures, NASA believes it would be more affordable to bring a distant asteroid close to Earth  with a robotic mission than send astronauts to an asteroid many millions of miles from Earth to achieve the president’s 2025 goal, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has explained in several recent forums.

Nonetheless, three of the four experts called to testify suggested that human interactions with the moon offer an even better alternative. Early in his first term, Obama cancelled the previous administration’s Constellation back to the moon initiative after an independent assessment declared the lunar initiative under funded and falling dramatically behind the planned 2020 landing.

Doug Cooke, NASA’s former Associate Administrator for Exploration, was among the hearing’s asteroid skeptics.

“It’s a clever concept and such a mission would undoubtedly demonstrate technologies and capabilities,” testified Cooke, who retired in late 2011 after nearly four decades at the space agency. “However, there is not a recognizable connection to a long term strategy. It does not appear to be based on consultations with stake holders, nor are their visible opportunities for international participation. It appears to be a very complex mission with the potential to grow more complex and more costly.”

Cooke, now an aerospace consultant, suggested robotic missions would prove a more cost effective means of studying asteroids.

A composite self portrait from NASA's Curiosity mission shows the one ton rover in Gale Crater on Mars. Photo Credit/NASA

The moon, he reasoned, offers a challenging but not too distant proving ground for astronauts to learn how to live and work on an alien landscape and learn to exploit resources.

Paul Spudis, a senior scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute, of Houston, agreed.

The moon, said Spudis, offers an opportunity to change the human exploration paradigm. The lunar poles harbor water ice that can be extracted and converted to hydrogen and oxygen rocket propellants with solar energy as well as the water and oxygen to meet life support requirements, he said.

Lunar resource recovery offers a commercial opportunity as well that would eventually replace the traditional and costly practice of launching all supplies for space missions from the Earth, said Spudis.

“This effort is not been there, done that,” he stressed. “We went to the moon in the 1960s to prove it could be done. We return 50 years later to prove we can use its materials and energy resources to create new capabilities and commerce.  A cislunar economic system with lunar resources can extend our reach into deep space.”

Louis Friedman, the retired executive director of the Planetary Society, endorsed the asteroid retrieval strategy as an affordable next step in human space exploration that could eventually pave the way to Mars. Friedman was the co-lead for a study by the Keck Institute for Space Studies at the California Institute of Technology that proposed the asteroid retrieval mission before it was embraced by the White House.

“It creates a first step beyond the moon, the only one that we are now capable of performing and the only one which we can afford within the current space program budget,” said Friedman.

The Keck Institute estimated a price tag of $2.6 billion.  Though yet to provide an independent estimate, NASA believes the cost would be lower because of the investments already made on the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft.

Still funding is a significant factor.

At best, NASA can look forward to $17.7 billion annually, according to current budget projections.

That total fell to $16.8 billion in 2013 due to the budget sequester and would fall to an estimated $16.1 annually — if sequestration is not rolled back this year by the White House and Congress.

Steve Squyres, a Cornell University Mars researcher and chairman of the space agency’s independent NASA Advisory Council, urged the panel to look no further than lunar orbit as the next step for aU.S.led international Mars initiative –  given that current plans include no money for a lunar lander.

“Sending human explorers to Mars to learn whether life ever emerged there is a goal that is worthy of a great national space agency,” said Squyres. “Cislunar space is the only significant destination beyond low Earth orbit that can be reached for the foreseeable future. It’s the sensible next step simply by process of elimination.”

However, even a cislunar objective will require a concerted effort by NASA to develop the Space Launch System and  Orion crew vehicle on a timely schedule, he testified.

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Wednesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Chinese space capabilities grow, according to the U. S. Department of Defense. The U. S. commercial space industry joins with exploration advocates to overcome budget obstacles. NASA: an essential part of human deep space exploration, writes a commercial space pioneer. Solar storms pose a disaster threat. U. S. weather satellites capture imagery of Oklahoma tornadoes.  NASA signs up for research on a Star Trek style food replicator. Apollo 11′s Buzz Aldrin address the Mars colonization strategy he outlines in his latest book. Mercury, Venus and Jupiter align in the night sky.

1. From The Galveston Daily News, of Texas: U. S. industry, aligned with NASA, is striving to overcome federal budget obstacles to keep America forging head in space exploration, writes Jeff Carr, senior vice president of aerospace communications at the Griffin Communications Group, in an op-ed..

http://www.galvestondailynews.com/space/article_b8118f98-c19a-11e2-867a-001a4bcf6878.html

2. From Space.com: China’s space prowess continues to grow, according to the latest annual U.S. Department of Defense assessment delivered to Congress.

http://www.space.com/21251-china-space-capabilities-pentagon-report.html

3. From The Orlando Sentinel: NASA is an essential part of opening Mars to human exploration, writes Charles D. Walker, the first U.S. space shuttle industrial payload specialist, in an op-ed.  NASA’s brings an essential long term drive and ability to deal with risk to exploration, writes Walker, who joined three early NASA shuttle crews as a McDonnell Douglas engineer.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/opinion/os-ed-nasa-mars-mission-052213-20130521,0,2294753.story

4. From Space.com: Tornadoes? Hurricanes? Flooding? These are familiar weather events that can deliver disaster. But solar eruptions millions of miles from Earth could cause extreme power outages if they collide with the Earth in just the right way. Experts outline the threat at the Electric Infrastructure Security Summit this week.

http://www.space.com/21237-extreme-solar-storms-electrical-grids.html

5. From The Los Angeles Times: NASA and NOAA provide satellite imagery of the regions in Oklahoma devastated by tornadoes earlier this week.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/sciencenow/la-oklahoma-tornado-images-20130521,0,6474300.story

6. From The Washington Post: NASA experiments with a food replicator, a space borne 3-D printer that could fold essential nutrients into food consumed by human explorers headed for Mars.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/nasa-asks-could-3-d-printed-food-fuel-a-mission-to-mars/2013/05/21/76fc3668-c224-11e2-914f-a7aba60512a7_story.html

7. From The Smithsonian Magazine: Apollo 11′s Buzz Aldrin outlines his strategy for a Mars colony. Since Apollo, the U. S. has struggled to set a course forward, notes Aldrin. Efforts to colonize Mars can right the course, according to Aldrin.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/Buzz-Aldrin-on-Why-We-Should-Go-to-Mars-208127601.html

8. From The Business Insider via The Houston Chronicle: The planets Jupiter, Venus and Mercury share a rare alignment in the night sky. Check the evening sky at dusk on May 26-27 for the best view.

http://www.chron.com/default/article/Jupiter-Venus-And-Mercury-Will-Align-In-A-4535053.php

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.spacecoalition.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@spacecoalition.com.

Key components of the stethoscope prototype. Credit: Will Kirk/homewoodphoto.jhu.edu

Even in outer space…the beat goes on!

The heart beat that is. But how best to monitor its condition on lengthy space treks, say to Mars?

An engineering team of students has designed a new stethoscope for NASA to deliver accurate heart- and body-sounds to medics who are trying to appraise astronauts’ health on long missions in the less-than-quiet environment of a spacecraft.

Consider the number of whirring fans, humming computers and buzzing instruments within a spacecraft. That ambient noise contaminates the stethoscope signal.

The new device uses both electronic and mechanical strategies to help the stethoscope’s internal microphone pick up sounds that are clear and discernible – not only within a noisy spacecraft but even when the device is not centered correctly on an astronaut’s body.

Microphone technology

A team of students at The Johns Hopkins University’s Whiting School of Engineering — under the guidance of James West, a Johns Hopkins research professor in electrical and computer engineering – came up with the new approach.

West is co-inventor of the “electrets” microphone technology developed for telephones and used today in almost 90 percent of the more than 2 billion microphones produced each year.

The stethoscope project was developed during a two-semester mechanical engineering senior design course offered by the university’s Whiting School of Engineering.

They were given a small budget to design and build a prototype requested by a sponsoring business or organization.

Performance-enhancing improvements

The device also includes many other performance-enhancing improvements, including low power consumption, rechargeable batteries, mechanical exclusion of ambient noise and a suction cup – so that it sticks firmly onto the patient’s chest.

The team that came up with the new device: Elyse Edwards, a senior from Issaquah, Wash. Along with fellow seniors, Noah Dennis of New York City, and Shin Shin Cheng of Sibu, Sarawak, Malaysia.

According to Dennis: “Considering that during long space missions, there is a pretty good chance an actual doctor won’t be on board, we thought it was important that the stethoscope did its job well…even when an amateur was the one using it.”

Earthly uses

While the stethoscope was developed for NASA’s use, this improved medical gear could also be put to use here on Earth.

Scenarios for its use could be in combat situations, where ambient noise is abundant, and also in developing countries where medical care conditions are less than ideal.

Professor West also plans to use the device to record infants’ heart and lung sounds in developing countries as part of a project that will attempt to develop a stethoscope that knows how to identify the typical wheezing and crackling breath sounds associated with common diseases. This would allow on-site medics to help make preliminary automated diagnoses.

By Leonard David via Phil Sneiderman/The Johns Hopkins University

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Tuesday’s CSExtra offers the latest reporting and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. Sally Ride, America’s first female astronaut, will be recognized posthumously later this year with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in a White House ceremony. A comprehensive report on the promise of the U.S. commercial space sector.  An op-ed challenge to the rationale behind NASA’s proposed mission to corral an asteroid.  On Mars, NASA’s Curiosity rover bores into a second rock in search of clues to the planet’s environmental past. Essays assess the Kepler mission’s future and offer a possible look at the future of U. S. sponsored human space exploration. Reaction wheels: can’t live with them, can’t live without them. Great Britain gets an astronaut.  Is Washington ducking NASA? More space prizes brewing. The Kansas Cosmosphere places cleanup of salvaged Saturn V  F-1 rocket engines on public display. United Paradyne Corp., a California satellite fueling company, joins a growing commercial lineup at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.

1. From Spacepolicyonline.com: President Obama will posthumously recognize Sally Ride, America’s first female astronaut, with the Presidential Medal of Freedom later this year. On Monday night, Ride was honored for her contributions to science and science education at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington. Ride died of cancer last year. She was 61.

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/white-house-nasa-honor-sally-ride

2. From New York Magazine: Across the U. S., pioneering companies are winding up for a new commercial space age. The magazine provides a who’s who of those racing to get America back into the human launch and space travel business following the retirement of NASA’s space shuttle program.

http://nymag.com/news/features/space-travel-2013-5/index2.html

3. From Space News: In an op-ed, Mars Society president Robert Zubrin takes issue with NASA’s proposed asteroid retrieval mission, a feature of President Obama’s proposed 2014 budget. Claims the mission offers a stepping stone to Mars as well as potential technologies for diverting an asteroid bearing down on the Earth deserve Congressional scrutiny, writes Zubrin.

http://www.spacenews.com/article/opinion/35405nasa%E2%80%99s-asteroid-absurdity#.UZrXBaLQq6o

4. From Space.com: NASA’s Curiosity rover bores into a Martian rock for a second time. The drilling, scientists anticipate, may offer further clues of the planet’s past environmental conditions. Curiosity touched down in August for a two year primary mission.

http://www.space.com/21223-mars-rover-curiosity-drills-second-rock.html

5. Two essays from The Space Review assess news of Kepler space telescope troubles and the future of U. S. human space exploration.

A. In “Kepler’s uncertain future,” TSR editor Jeff Foust examines the response to news that one of NASA’s most popular activities,  the 4-year-old Kepler mission in search of Earth-like planets in the Milky Way galaxy, has encountered a major technical problem. Mission managers urge supporters not to give up hope for a recovery over time. The mission has logged more than 2,700 ex-planet candidates and 132 confirmations.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2298/1

B. In “Futures Imperfect,” frequent contributor Dwayne Day looks to popular cinema as a crystal ball for possible outcomes to the current debate over the future of U. S. human space exploration. Look to Gravity, the story of two people stranded on a space station; Elysian, the tale of an Earth that becomes a refuge for the poorest while space becomes the destination of the wealthiest and smartest; and Europa Report, the story of a human mission beneath the icy shell of an ocean covered Jovian moon.

http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2297/1

6. From New York Times: The rapidly turning small “reaction wheels” that aim and steady the Kepler Space Telescope are a test of technology. Two reaction wheel failures on the Kepler space telescope leave the observatory one wheel short of the ability to scan distant stars for planets.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/21/science/space/small-wheels-play-big-role-on-kepler-spacecraft.html

A. From Discovery.com: Potential Kepler mission options if at least one of two inoperable reaction wheels cannot be re-started.

http://news.discovery.com/space/alien-life-exoplanets/kepler-space-telescope-data-exoplanets-130520.htm

7. From Astronomy Now: European Space Agency astronaut Timothy Peake, of England, earns an assignment to a six month mission aboard the International Station in 2015. In his homeland, sponsors hope Peake’s flight will spur a resurgence of interest in science and technology.

http://astronomynow.com/news/n1305/20peake/#.UZrNiKLQq6o

8. From The Houston Chronicle: Washington’s poor track record for handing NASA challenging assignments but failing to fund them adequately continues.

http://blog.chron.com/sciguy/2013/05/washington-is-stinting-nasa-as-usual/

9. From Space.com: A tip from the  X-Prize Foundation: more prizes for advances in space exploration are in the offering. The foundation sponsored the $10 million X-prize won in 2004 by the SpaceShipOne development team and a second prize to spur robotic exploration of the moon.

http://www.space.com/21222-spaceflight-innovation-xprize-contests.html

10. From Collectspace.com: A look behind the scenes at the Kansas Cosmosphere as experts clean the F-1 rocket engines recovered from the first stage of a NASA Saturn V moon rocket.  Amazon’s Jeff Bezos funded the efforts to salvage the engines from the Atlantic Ocean. They clean up efforts go on public display this week at the Cosmosphere.

http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-052113a.html

11. From Florida Today. At the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, United Paradyne Corp. begins a 15-year lease of facilities once used to service space shuttle thrusters.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130521/SPACE/305210013/Company-hopes-fuel-growth-KSC-building

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.spacecoalition.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@spacecoalition.com.

Dr. Sally Ride, American’s first female astronaut, will be honored posthumously with the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House later this year, President Obama announced Monday.

Astronaut Sally Ride aboard shuttle Challenger in 1983. Photo Credit/NASA photo

The announcement coincided with a tribute to Ride on Monday night at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington.

Ride, who launched aboard the shuttle Challenger in 1983, died last year of cancer. She was 61. Her passion for science and science education after departing NASA led to the creation of Sally Ride Science, an enterprise that marshaled the resources of academia, government and the private sector to advance science instruction in the nation’s classrooms.

“We remember Sally Ride not just as a national hero, but as a role model to generations of young women,” said President Obama. “Sally inspired us to reach for the stars, and she advocated for a greater focus on the science, technology, engineering and math that would help us get there. Sally showed us that there are no limits to what we can achieve, and I look forward to welcoming her family to the White House as we celebrate her life and legacy.”

Ride’s educational initiatives included EarthKAM, an Earth observing imager positioned on the International Space Station to encourage a greater understanding of the planet and the environment. The observatory is being renamed in her honor, the Sally Ride EarthKAM.

During ceremonies Monday night, NASA paid additional tribute to Ride with the creation of a new space agency internship program in her name.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden made the announcement at the tribute, “Sally Ride: A Lifetime of Accomplishment, A Champion of Science Literacy.”

“Sally’s impact on our nation and future generations of explorers is immeasurable,” said Bolden, who served along side Ride in NASA’s astronaut corps.

Up 10 of the new internships will be available each fall and spring semester to assist students from underserved backgrounds pursue a research interest at one of NASA’s field centers. The internships include opportunities for hands on experience and the chance to work along side NASA professionals.

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Monday’s CSExtra offers the latest news and commentary on space related activities, plus a look back at weekend happenings. NASA’s widely watched but troubled Kepler mission to find Earth-like exo-planets draws suggestions for remedies from engineers and scientists. An impasse over NASA’s Commercial Crew Program? Star Trek Into The Darkness opens atop the U. S. box office. Calculating the appeal of the Dutch Mars One mission. Russia’s critter filled Bion-1 mission descends. Why the high cost of spaceflight? The answer is long standing. Georgia’s place in commercial space. Lessons drawn from Canadian Chris Hadfield’s space station flight. China invests in the satellite navigation business. Still due Congress, NASA’s 2013 operating plan harbors a deep cut to the planetary science line in spite of Congressional opposition. Buzz Aldrin recalls the Apollo 11 moon landing. Telescopes spot powerful meteor blast on the moon. Searching for bipartisanship in the Texas congressional delegation. A look at major space policy events scheduled for the week ahead.

1. From NBC News and CosmicLog.com, May 18: Engineers and scientists rush forward with advice to recover NASA’s popular exo-planet hunting Kepler Space Telescope. Operations were suspended earlier this month when a second of the spacecraft’s four reaction wheels stopped spinning. NASA plans to attempt a recovery.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/18/18328881-scientists-respond-to-planet-hunters-plight-with-pointers-and-poetry?lite

A. From Space.com, May 18: With 2,700 exo-planet candidates to its credit, Kepler has locked a place in the annals of space exploration regardless of the mission’s future.

http://www.space.com/21210-nasa-kepler-exoplanet-telescope-legacy.html

2. From SpacePolitics.com, May 19: Differences between NASA and Congress emerged last week during a Washington meeting of the FAA’s Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC). NASA Administrator Charles Bolden urged support for the agency’s Commercial Crew Program request for $821 million in 2014 spending to avoid further contracts with the Russians to launch astronauts to the International Space Station. A recently renewed agreement with the Russians ends in 2017.  A Congressional staffer suggests the space agency must “find a way” to work with the money available to achieve a 2017 crew launch capability.

http://www.spacepolitics.com/2013/05/19/differing-perspectives-on-commercial-crew/

3. From The Los Angeles Times, May 19: Star Trek Into the Darkness tops the U.S. box office during the opening weekend.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-ct-box-office-weekend-star-trek-20130518,0,1911444.story

4. From Space.com, May 19: If space tourism affords more humans a view of the Earth from space, it may save the environment, NASA’s John Grunsfeld, a former astronaut and currently the space agency’s associate administrator for space science, tells a California audience.

http://www.space.com/21215-space-tourism-could-save-earth.html

5. From NBC News and CosmicLog.com, May 19: The Dutch sponsored Mars One mission to send Earthlings on a one way colonization mission draws nearly  80,000 applicants in the early going. What’s the appeal? a novelist, student and aging psychiatrist offer their opinions.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/19/18305415-why-sign-up-for-a-one-way-mars-trip-three-applicants-explain-the-appeal?lite

6. From Ria Novosti, of Russia, May 19: Russia recovers its Bion 1-M unpiloted satellite with a host of biological specimens aboard, including mice, geckos and snails.

http://en.rian.ru/science/20130519/181232414/Space-Capsule-Returns-Cosmic-Rodents-to-Earth-after-Month-Long.html

A. From AFP via Discovery.com, May 19: Russia’s Bion 1-M mission takes casualties. Scientists flew the animals to gather data for a future human trip to Mars.

http://news.discovery.com/space/mice-gerbils-animals-space-experiment-130519.htm

7. From Florida Today, May 18, Why the high cost of spaceflight? It’s the expense of reaching Earth orbit, an obstacle that public-private partnerships are organizing to solve, writes columnist John Kelly. Kelly tracks the testimony of Wayne Hale, the retired former NASA shuttle program manager, who appeared before a Senate panel last week.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130519/COLUMNISTS0405/305190046/John-Kelly-Hale-tells-senators-public-private-union-way

A. From The Orlando Sentinel, May 17: In Florida, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center announces plans to make Pad 39A available to commercial launch vehicles. Pad 39A was one of two former space shuttle pads.

http://www.orlandosentinel.com/mobile/os-nasa-to-lease-old-ksc-shuttle-pad-for-commercial-launches-20130517,0,5725207.post

B. From Florida Today, May 17: NASA is seeking commercial operators for Pad 39A and prepared to sign a five year lease. Money at NASA to maintain the pad with an Apollo heritage is evaporating.

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20130517/SPACE/130517013/NASA-shops-historic-launch-pad-39A-commercial-use?nclick_check=1

8. From the Columbus Ledger Enquirer, of Georgia, May 18: Georgia is well suited to join the competition for a state supported commercial space port, writes Shawn Cruzen, Columbus State University professor of space and Earth sciences.

http://www.ledger-enquirer.com/2013/05/18/2507383/spaceport-georgia.html

9. From Time Magazine, May 19: Canadian Chris Hadfield, just back from nearly five months aboard the International Space Station introduces new audiences to the “cool” of space flight with song and use of social media, according to a critical assessment of NASA’s recent missions. Many Americans have no idea NASA operates an International Space Station let alone who is aboard, according to the Time op-ed.

http://science.time.com/2013/05/19/lessons-from-the-singing-spaceman-what-governments-can-learn-from-chris-hadfield/?iid=tsmodule

10. From Xinjuanet, of China, May 18:  Beijing is prepared to invest $1.1 billion in satellite navigation based industries.

http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/china/2013-05/18/c_132391419.htm

11. From Space Politics.com, May 17: NASA’s operating plan for 2013, a reflection of the sequester and rescission, will seemingly not spare the agency’s planetary science line a significant cut, according a Planetary Exploration Newsletter report that examined a draft of the operating plan that was due Congress May 10.

http://www.spacepolitics.com/2013/05/17/nasa-operating-plan-may-reverse-congressional-increase-in-planetary-science/

12. From The Wall Street Journal, May 16:  NASA Astronaut Buzz Aldrin reminisces on the Apollo 11 moon landing of July 20, 1969.  “When I see the moon up there, I don’t say to myself, Hey, I walked on your face, or Thanks for disrupting my life,” writes Aldrin.  ”I just feel grateful it let us land safely in 1969 and let us take off.”

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324030704578426963477307022.html?KEYWORDS=Aldrin

13. From Space.com, May 17: Earth-based telescopes spot a bright March 17 blast on the moon. The impactor may have part of a larger event that included a meteor shower on the Earth.

http://www.space.com/21197-moon-crash-meteor-impact-explosion.html

A. From Space.com and NASA: The video version of the March 17 bright lunar impact.

http://www.space.com/21195-56-000-mph-space-rock-hits-moon-explosion-seen-video.html

14. From The Texas Tribune and  and The New York Times, May 16: In Washington, two Texas lawmakers, one a Democrat and the other a Republican, invite their fellow state lawmakers to a bipartisan breakfast to assure support for topics of interest to both parties. NASA is one,

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/17/us/2-representatives-try-to-unite-texas-congressional-delegation.html?_r=0

15. From Spacepolicyonline.com,  May 19, a look at the major space policy events scheduled for the week ahead.

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/space-policy-events-for-the-week-of-may-20-24-2013

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.spacecoalition.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@spacecoalition.com.

NASA's lunar monitoring program has detected hundreds of meteoroid impacts. The brightest, detected on March 17, 2013, in Mare Imbrium, is marked by the red square. Credit: Science@NASA

NASA researchers have reported the biggest explosion on the lunar surface in the 8 year history of a Moon-monitoring program.

The object was about the size of a small boulder and struck in the Moon’s Mare Imbrium, creating a flash nearly 10 times as bright as anything specialists had recorded before.

The impact took place on March 17 with the meteoroid slamming into the Moon at 56,000 mph. The resulting explosion packed as much punch as 5 tons of TNT.

According to Bill Cooke of NASA’s Meteoroid Environment Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center, anyone looking at the Moon at the moment of impact could have seen the explosion…no telescope required.

Indeed, for about one second, the impact site was glowing like a 4th magnitude star. The flash of light comes not from combustion but rather from the thermal glow of molten rock and hot vapors at the impact site.

Controllers of NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter have been notified of the strike. The crater could be as wide as 20 meters, which would make it an easy target for LRO the next time that Moon orbiting spacecraft passes over the impact site.

“Opportunities will appear later in the summer,” Mark Robinson at Arizona State University told this Coalition reporter. He runs the sharp-eyed camera system on LRO. ”Hope we find it!”

Lunar meteors

Ron Suggs, an analyst at the Marshall Space Flight Center, was the first to notice the impact in a digital video recorded by one of the monitoring program’s 14-inch telescopes. “It jumped right out at me, it was so bright,” he recalls.

Cooke believes the lunar impact might have been part of a much larger event that night, as NASA and University of Western Ontario all-sky cameras picked up an unusual number of deep-penetrating meteors right here on Earth.

“These fireballs were traveling along nearly identical orbits between Earth and the asteroid belt,” Cooke says. This means Earth and the Moon were pelted by meteoroids at about the same time.

“Lunar meteors” crash into the ground with fair frequency. Since the monitoring program began in 2005, NASA’s lunar impact team has detected more than 300 strikes, most of them orders of magnitude fainter than the March 17th event.

For a special video report on this event, go to:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IYloGuUZCFM

By Leonard David via Tony Phillips/Science@NASA

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Friday’s CSExtra offers the latest news and commentary on space related activities from across the globe.   A tribute to Sally Ride, America’s first woman in space and an advocate for science education.  On Mars, NASA’s Opportunity rover out runs its lunar predecessors. Launching Inspiration Mars. NASA and Google join forces to explore quantum computing.  On the International Space Station, astronauts preview the latest Star Trek feature, Star Trek Into the Darkness. Russia embraces a space warning role. After Chris Hadfield’s starring role in space, who is next for Canada? Who to follow in space over social media. Unraveling changes in Texas politics over support for U. S. space expansion.

1. From USA Today: America’s first woman in space, Sally Ride, who championed science and science education, will be honored Monday at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. Ride flew for the first time in 1983. She died last year of pancreatic cancer.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2013/05/16/astronaut-sally-rides-educational-legacy-lives-on/2164575/

2. From Space.com: NASA’s Opportunity Mars rover breaks an Apollo moon rover record for distance traveled..

http://www.space.com/21193-mars-rover-opportunity-driving-record.html

A. From Discovery.com: Dust devils create art on the Martian terrain. NASA’s Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter tracks the planet’s artistic flare.

http://news.discovery.com/space/dust-devils-mars-nili-fossae-hirise-130516.htm

3. From Space.com: Inspiration Mars, the privately organized mission to send two astronauts on a 501 day mission around Mars, weighs the launch vehicle options. They include SpaceX’s Falcon 9 Heavy, United Launch Alliance’s Atlas 5 and Delta 4 and possibly NASA’s Space Launch System. A 2018 departure is planned.

http://www.space.com/21158-inspiration-mars-mission-rockets.html

4. From The New York Times: NASA joins with Google to establish a lab for studies of quantum computing. The project may lead to computing thousands of times faster than even current super computers.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/google-buys-a-quantum-computer/

5. From Space.com: The crew of the International Space Station and cast of Star Trek Into the Darkness connect on Thursday. The event coincided with the Star Trek feature film’s opening.

http://www.space.com/21184-astronauts-star-trek-into-darkness.html

6. From Ria Novosti: Russia initiates measures to warn its citizens of space disasters.

http://en.rian.ru/russia/20130516/181191507/Russia-Boosts-Emergencies-Space-Monitoring.html

7. From CBSNews: Canada, celebrating the popularity of native Chris Hadfield’s first space command, confronts the fiscal realities as it looks to launching more of its countrymen into space. Those on deck include Jeremy Hansen, like Hadfield a former Canadian Air Force officer, and David St. Jacques, an astrophysicist-physician.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/story/2013/05/15/f-next-canadians-in-space.html

8. From National Geographic: Who in space to follow on social media, now that Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield is back on Earth. National Geographic suggests Karen Nyberg, who will be launching in late May, and Mike Massimino, a NASA astronaut who serves as an adviser to a network sitcom and an adjunct professor at Rice University in Houston.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/05/130516-space-science-social-media-twitter-nasa-astronaut-hadfield/

9. From The Orlando Sentinel: In Texas, U. S. Senator Ted Cruz brings a changing perspective to space launch. His soft spoken predecessor, Kay Bailey Hutchison, championed a federal mission beyond low Earth orbit. Cruz favors a more commercial approach.

www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/os-nasa-commercial-space-20130516,0,4063332.story

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.spacecoalition.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@spacecoalition.com.

To subscribe to CSExtra via RSS feed click here.

If you would prefer to receive CSExtra in e-mail format, e-mail us at Info@spacecoalition.com with the word SUBSCRIBE in the subject line.

Thursday’s CSExtra offers the latest news and commentary on space related activities from across the globe. NASA’s Kepler space telescope, the centerpiece of an extended search for Earth-like planets around other stars, encounters a major technical problem. United Launch Alliance places another U. S. global positioning satellite in orbit.  Apollo 13 commander James Lovell signs with Golden Spike, the U. S. commercial human lunar exploration company. U. S. astronaut Gordon Cooper flew NASA’s final Mercury mission a half century ago. Star Trek Into Darkness premiers on the International Space Station.

1. From the New York Times: The second of four reaction control wheels aboard NASA’s planet hunting Kepler space telescope mission malfunctioned.  Launched in March 2009, Kepler is credited at this point with spotting 2,700 planet candidates orbiting other stars.  The count suggests most stars in the Milky Way host at least one alien world.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/16/science/space/equipment-failure-may-cut-kepler-mission-short.html?ref=science&_r=1&

A. From The Los Angeles Times: While NASA plans to develop a recovery strategy, astronomers are jolted by news of Kepler’s breakdown. “I really think this telescope was a gift to our civilization,” noted one leading astrophysicist involved in the search for exo-planets.

http://www.latimes.com/news/science/la-sci-nasa-kepler-20130516,0,2624898.story

B. From Spacepolicyonline.com: NASA’s Kepler team vows to develop and attempt a recovery strategy in the coming weeks. The observatory lost one of four reaction wheels used to aim and steady the telescope in July 2012. On Tuesday, mission controllers learned the telescope was in “safe mode” and had lost the use of a second reaction wheel. Three of the devices are needed to continue the distant planet search.

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/kepler-down-but-not-out

C. From Spaceflightnow.com: Forty millions miles from the Earth, Kepler is too far for repairs by astronauts.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1305/15kepler/#.UZSlMaLQq6o

D. From The Washington Post: Kepler’s planet hunting days may be over.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/health-science/nasas-kepler-space-telescope-malfunction-may-end-hunt-for-planets/2013/05/15/3c79e664-bd9e-11e2-97d4-a479289a31f9_story.html

E. From USA Today: At least temporarily unable to point the Kepler space telescope, NASA begins a recovery strategy and looks to a possible secondary mission.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/sciencefair/2013/05/15/kepler-safety-mode-stability/2162889/

F. From Space.com: Kepler’ s alien planet count reaches 2,700 candidates.

http://www.space.com/21167-alien-planets-kepler-spacecraft-crippled.html

G.  From CBS News: NASA’s Kepler planet hunter sidelined  – at least for now.

http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/home/spacenews/files/d8dcc926ab5e2a998afb587392de9c54-581.html

H. From MSNBC and Cosmic Log: NASA’s Kepler space telescope planet hunter encounters a serious difficulty.

http://cosmiclog.nbcnews.com/_news/2013/05/15/18280269-wheel-fails-on-nasas-kepler-probe-halting-its-search-for-alien-planets?lite

2. From Spaceflightnow.com: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket places a U. S. Air Force Global Positioning satellite into orbit from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/atlas/av039/#.UZRKmaLQq6o

3. From Space.com: Apollo astronaut Jim Lovell, commander of the ill fated Apollo 13 mission, signs on with Golden Spike, the commercial space start up that plans to launch humans to the moon.

http://www.space.com/21156-private-moon-travel-jim-lovell.html

4. From Americaspace.com: Wednesday and Thursday mark the 50th anniversary of the Mercury program’s final mission. NASA astronaut Gordon Cooper circled the Earth 22 times in 34 hours aboard Faith 7, signaling the U. S. was on a course to catch the former Soviet Union in space.

http://www.americaspace.com/?p=19291

5. From Space.com: NASA beams an advance showing of Star Trek Into Darkness to the crew of the International Space Station. 

http://www.space.com/21139-star-trek-into-darkness-astronauts.html

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.spacecoalition.com or contact us via e-mail at Info@spacecoalition.com.

NASA’s four year Kepler mission to search thousands of stars in the Milky Way galaxy for sun-like stars with planets that resemble the Earth has encountered a serious technical problem.

Artist's illustration of the Kepler planet hunter. Image Credit/NASA

A second of the four rapidly spinning internal “reaction wheels” that aim and steady the observatory has stopped turning, NASA announced late Wednesday.

At least three “reaction wheels” are required to continue operations.

“Kepler is just one of those wonderful stories,” John Grunsfeld, the associate administrator of NASA’s science directorate, told a news teleconference. So far, the $600 million mission has produced evidence of 2,700 alien worlds circling stars in the galaxy. Of those, 132 discoveries have been confirmed as alien worlds so far, suggesting that exo planets are common and come in sizes ranging from the Earth’s moon to worlds larger than Jupiter, said William Borucki, Kepler’s chief mission scientist.

Some planets orbit multiple stars.  Most significantly, some of these alien worlds circle their stars in the “habitable zone” — a region not too close and not too far. Like on the Earth — water, if present — would exist as a liquid.

Though Kepler has already fulfilled the mission it was launched March 2009 to carry out, engineers at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California are attempting to develop a recovery strategy, said Paul Hertz, director of NASA’s astrophysics division.

“I would not count Kepler down and out just yet,” said Hertz.

The small observatory is positioned 40 million miles from Earth. Unlike NASA’s Earth orbiting Hubble Space Telescope, Kepler is too distant to be repaired by NASA astronauts.

Kepler sustained its first reaction wheel failure in July 2012.

The second was discovered Tuesday, two days after Kepler slipped into “safe mode,” possibly triggered by the malfunction.  In protective “safe mode,” spacecraft direct their solar arrays toward the sun to ensure they generate electricity and configure themselves to communicate with flight controllers on the Earth.

Kepler has thrusters and fuel, but not the quantities of propellant needed to continuously aim and steady the observatory for planet detection.

Charles Sobeck, Kepler’s deputy project manager at the Ames Research Center, said engineers will attempt to recover both of the stricken reaction wheels as well as devise possible pointing strategies that would permit some observations.

Astronomers are still making a first pass through the data generated by Kepler so far and could be for up to two more years, said Borucki. Astronomers around the world will likely find Kepler’s recorded observations useful for at least a decade, he predicted.

“We are not ready to call the mission over yet,” Grunsfeld insisted.

Last month, NASA selected a successor to Kepler, which makes its discoveries by detecting a slight dimming of the light from a star as a planet crosses or transits in front.

The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite, or TESS, which will confine its planet search to the stars closest to Earth, should be ready to launch in 2017.

Meanwhile, the James Webb Space Telescope, the designated successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, is undergoing preparations for a late 2018 launch.

The powerful JWST is equipped to study alien planets as well. JWST will likely be trained towards planets detected by TESS.