06 December 2012
Report: NASA is broken and it's up to us to fix it
In 2011, NASA commissioned the National Research Council to put together a report to serve as a "comprehensive independent assessment of NASA's strategic direction and agency management." That report, released yesterday, reads as a damning litany of what's wrong with one of the United States government's crown jewels. NASA, for all its accomplishments over the past fifty years, is a sinking ship. Altogether, the report lists four primary areas that should be NASA's focus: manned spaceflight, Earth and space science, aeronautics, and technology development. The lack of focus in the manned space program is obvious to even casual observers, but the report also highlights serious issues in both funding and direction across the board at NASA, affecting the other focus areas as well.
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see the report released on 05 December 2012 here:
National Disagreement Over NASA's Goals and Objectives Detrimental to Agency Planning, Budgeting Efforts

06 December 2012
To the moon and back for less than 2 billion dollars
Two former top NASA officials unveiled plans Thursday to sell manned flights to the moon by the end of the decade, in an announcement 40 years after the last human set foot there.
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The website of the company:

04 December 2012
NASA to send new rover to Mars in 2020
NASA plans to send a new rover to Mars in 2020 as it prepares for a manned mission to the Red Planet, the US space agency said Tuesday. The announcement came a day after NASA released the results of the first soil tested by the Curiosity rover, which found traces of some of the compounds like water and oxygen that are necessary for life.
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related:
NASA Announces Multi-Year Mars Program With New Rover In 2020
The Obama administration is committed to a robust Mars exploration program," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "With this next mission, we're ensuring America remains the world leader in the exploration of the Red Planet, while taking another significant step toward sending humans there in the 2030s."
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04 December 2012
NASA Voyager 1 Encounters New Region in Deep Space
NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft has entered a new region at the far reaches of our solar system that scientists feel is the final area the spacecraft has to cross before reaching interstellar space. Scientists refer to this new region as a magnetic highway for charged particles because our sun's magnetic field lines are connected to interstellar magnetic field lines.
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04 December 2012
Novespace goes commercial
Until now restricted to trainee space explorers and scientists, Europe's "Zero-G" aircraft is to start making commercial flights for paying customers from March 15, its operators said on Tuesday. And the cost? 5,980 euros ($7,770) a head.
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04 December 2012
Space Foundation Recommends NASA Adopt Pioneering Purpose
In a report released today, the Space Foundation made a number of recommendations for strengthening the focus, oversight and funding of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and strengthening the U.S. civil space program.
Among the major changes recommended in PIONEERING: Sustaining U.S. Leadership in Space, which was unveiled today in Washington, D.C., are:
- Returning NASA to its roots by establishing pioneering as its singular, compelling purpose and transitioning non-pioneering activities to other government and private sector organizations.
- Realigning the national civil space enterprise so NASA is no longer perceived as being responsible for "all things space" and instead concentrates on its primary purpose.
- Stabilizing NASA leadership by dissociating appointment of the NASA administrator from the presidential election cycle.
- Stabilizing NASA planning by requiring both an objectives-based 10-year plan and a broad 30-year strategic plan.
- Expanding options available to Congress for funding NASA.
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03 December 2012
China is testing a controlled ecological life support system for long duration space missions
China completed a 30-day self-sufficient space habitat testing programme at the Astronaut Center of China. The experiment, the first of its kind in China, is extremely important for the long-term development of China's manned space programme, Deng Yibing, Deputy Director of the Beijing-based Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center, said to media. The cabin, a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) built in 2011, is a model of China's third generation of astronauts' life support systems, which is expected to be used in extraterrestrial bases on the Moon or Mars. The two participants in the trial lived in a 36 square meter space-simulator for 30 days. The oxygen they breathed was produced by the plants grown within the simulator. The participants' urine was processed to irrigate the plants, so as to create a balanced ecosystem within the simulator. By implementing a comprehensive waste-water disposal system, the simulation is able to achieve 100 percent self-sufficiency of air. Experts at the Astronaut Center of China say by reducing supplies from the outside, this self-sufficient technology is essential to solving long-term manned space travel. Scientists from Germany also participated in the experiments.
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and here...

30 November 2012
Robot buddy to keep Japan astronaut company
The miniature robot will arrive at the International Space Station next summer, a few months ahead of astronaut Koichi Wakata, Japan's Kibo (Hope) Robot Project office said Thursday.  34 centimetres (13.4 inches) tall and weighing about one kilogram (2.2 pounds), the little android is programmed to recognise Wakata's face and to communicate in Japanese, the project office said, adding that it will also take photos during the trip.
The project's website can be found at: http://kibo-robo.jp/
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30 November 2012
Asteroid dust from space
To the naked eye there is nothing to see, and yet the small transparent container holds something never observed before. For the first time, scientists are studying asteroid dust collected by a spacecraft and returned to Earth. Ute Bottger, from the Institute of Planetary Research at the German Aerospace Center, belongs to one of 11 teams across the world that are carrying out scientific work on the asteroid particles from the Japanese Hayabusa mission.
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28 November 2012
Who will challenge Dragon? Dragon spaceship postponed until March
The head of the Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) Elon Musk has foretold a grim future for the European Ariane 5 rocket launcher, but SpaceX's own project, the Dragon spaceship, bound for the International Space Station, has now been postponed until March, 2013.
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28 November 2012
NASA, Roscosmos Assign Veteran Crew to Yearlong Space Station Mission
NASA, the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), and their international partners have selected two veteran spacefarers for a one-year mission aboard the International Space Station in 2015. This mission will include collecting scientific data important to future human exploration of our solar system. NASA has selected Scott Kelly and Roscosmos has chosen Mikhail Kornienko.
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27 November 2012
Researchers test novel power system for space travel
A team of researchers, including engineers from Los Alamos National Laboratory, has demonstrated a new concept for a reliable nuclear reactor that could be used on space flights. The research team recently demonstrated the first use of a heat pipe to cool a small nuclear reactor and power a Stirling engine at the Nevada National Security Site's Device Assembly Facility near Las Vegas. The Demonstration Using Flattop Fissions (DUFF) experiment produced 24 watts of electricity.
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26 November 2012
Shakeup of Russian space industry ordered
Russia's far-flung space industry will reorganized into five or six large holdings, the head of the country's space agency says. Vladimir Popovkin of the Roscosmos Federal Space Agency said Monday the reform would make the troubled industry more manageable.
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27 November 2012
Who's Killing the Space Program?
The answer seems to be: everyone involved. Program managers and contractors underestimate program costs. Politicians don't have a mandate to spend large amounts of money on space exploration in the current budget environment. NASA is not creating enough public excitement and interest in these programs to demand that congress fund them. The space community is not innovating new, low-cost missions of importance. There seems to be a general malaise among the space "movers and shakers." The simple truth seems to be that space exploration has matured to the point where public interest levels have fallen while costs have risen to extreme heights.
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26 November 2012
Russia selects woman cosmonaut prospect
A cosmonaut recruitment drive in Russian has produced eight prospects, including the country's second female one, officials said. Anna Kikina, 28, is now the second active spacewoman trainee in Russia after Yelena Serova, who is set to fly to the International Space Station in 2014, RIA Novosti reported Monday.
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25 November 2012
Life on Mars: NASA says 'hold on a minute!'
When a NASA official said last week data from an instrument on the Mars Curiosity rover suggested something "for the history books," many people thought an announcement was imminent of the possible discovery of life on the Red Planet - until the space agency began to seriously backpedal on the story. The current excitement began when Curiosity mission lead scientist John Grotzninger started receiving data on his computer from the rover's on-board chemistry lab while in the presence of a reporter from National Public Radio.
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25 November 2012
Failure Of India's Big Rocket Project Is Symbolic Of Deep Structural Problems
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25 November 2012
Fly me to the universe
In the eye of Ouyang Ziyuan, Chinese will not only explore the moon and Mars, but the sun, Venus and Jupiter, as well. "I wish we could travel further away," said Ouyang, chief scientist of China's lunar orbiter project, in an interview with Xinhua on Friday. "I hope Chinese people can set their 'footprints' all over the solar system," the 78-year-old scientist said.
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22 November 2012
Germany consolidates its position in European space
After two days of thorough discussions, the Council Meeting at Ministerial Level was successfully completed and the German positions on the future of the European Ariane launcher and utilisation of the International Space Station until 2020 were adopted. The basis for this agreement was joint Franco-German discussions. The delegations agreed the financing and contents of European space programmes for the coming years.
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22 November 2012
UK Secures Billion Pound Package For Space Investment
The UK Space Agency is set to invest 1.2 pounds in some of Europe's biggest and most lucrative space projects, providing the UK with increased leadership in a rapidly growing global sector and building on the British space industry's 9.1 pounds contribution to the economy.
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19 November 2012
Europe, U.S. talk space program link
European plans to join the United States in building a manned spaceship could see a British astronaut in space before the end of the decade, officials said. "Europeans will have the power to put men and women into space," Jean-Jacques Dordain, director general of the European Space Agency, told Britain's The Observer newspaper in an interview. "That would be a fantastic development for us. Britain has already indicated support," he said.
One candidate astronaut is Britain's Tim Peake, selected three years ago for European astronaut training.
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17 November 2012
Mars radiation levels not lethal to humans
The Mars rover Curiosity found radiation levels on Mars are not lethal to humans, U.S. researchers say. Absolutely, astronauts can live in this environment," said Don Hassler, principal investigator for the rover's Radiation Assessment Detector, at a news conference.
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FOR FURTHER READING
03 December 2012
Egolauncher
A year after rolling out its plans to develop a massive air launch system, Stratolaunch Systems confirmed recently it parted ways with one of its original partners, SpaceX. Dwayne Day describes how this is evidence that Stratolaunch is less a viable commercial or military system than it is an ego-driven project.
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03 December 2012
A prize competition fails to launch
Last week NASA quietly canceled a planned prize competition to develop a low-cost dedicated launch vehicle for nanosatellites. Jeff Foust reports on the reasons behind the decision and the reaction from both potential competitors and the organization that planned to run the competition.
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03 December 2012
Inserting the “s” word: a modest proposal
The direction and goals of national space policy remain an ongoing subject for debate. Derek Webber argues that including settlement as even a long-term goal of any future national space policy will provide new clarity and purpose to overall space efforts.
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03 December 2012
The Overview Effect at 25
Twenty-five years ago, a book argued that those who flew in space experienced a radically altered perception of the Earth. Jeff Foust talks with Frank White, who wrote about the Overview Effect in 1987 and continues to study it today.
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26 November 2012
What is the future of the RLV?
For decades, NASA and the US military have supported several efforts to develop a reusable launch vehicle, of which only the Space Shuttle flew, and it fell short of its cost and flight rate goals. Jeff Foust examines how the US government has quietly exited the RLV development business, leaving the future of such vehicles in the hands of the private sector.
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26 November 2012
When the steel hand wavered and an opportunity was lost
When the “Mercury 13” group of prospective women astronauts sought recognition from NASA a half-century ago, one would have imagined that a pioneering female pilot, Jacqueline Cochran, would have supported them. Billie Holladay Skelley looks at why Cochran instead failed to back their efforts.
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26 November 2012
Review: Near-Earth Objects
The occasional close flyby of the Earth by a small asteroid provides regular reminders of threats - and benefits - such objects pose to us. Jeff Foust reviews a book by a leading expert on near-Earth objects about the peril and promise of these bodies.
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19 November 2012
Planetary science turns to history to help guide its future
NASA’s planetary science program is facing a significant budget cut that has alarmed scientists and other advocates of the program. Jeff Foust reports reports on a recent historical symposium that provided some guidance based on the lessons of previous “survival crises” the program has experienced.
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19 November 2012
Back to the future: Space and escaping the gravitational pull of economic crisis
Many space advocates have argued that large-scale space projects can help open up new markets that stimulate the economy back on Earth. Vidvuds Beldavs and Jeffrey Sommers make the case that not only are such efforts necessary. but also that Russia is the country best positioned to lead them.
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19 November 2012
Review: Gravity’s Engines
Black holes are fascinating objects, but are they anything more than astronomical curiosities and fodder for science fiction tales? Jeff Foust reviews a book that makes the case that black holes play an essential role in shaping the universe and its potential for life.
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