The latest report from NASA on ISS activities the past week: Space to Ground: Return to Earth: 05/16/2014 – YouTube
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A description of the RapidScat instrument that will be installed on the ISS later this year to measure wind speeds on the oceans:
Videos: Trailers for for “Interstellar” and “Jupiter Ascending”
Here’s the latest trailer to director Christopher Nolan‘s new movie Interstellar:
And here is one for Jupiter Ascending:
Space policy roundup – May.15.14
Space policy/politics links:
- ULA vs SpaceX:
- Defense launch:
- Russia space:
- Elon Musk was right: What Russia’s anti-NASA plan means for C. Fla. – Orlando Business Journal
- House members press NASA for information on Russia crisis effects on ISS – Space Politics
- Amid its political kerfuffle with the U.S., Russia has significantly increased the government budget of its space industry – Behind The Black
- State Department Issues Shipping Licenses for Two Russia-bound Satellites – SpaceNews.com
- Committee Questions Stability of U.S.-Russia Space Partnership – Committee on Science/U.S. House of Representatives
- SLS/Orion:
- NASA:
Webcasts:
* Special Planetary Radio Advocacy Report From Casey Dreier: A Good Week in Washington – The Planetary Society – Extended discussion of the proposed House budget for NASA
* The John Batchelor Show Hotel Mars, Wednesday, 5-14-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog – Bill Harwood of CBS News talks about US-Russia space relations:
* Senator Bill Nelson Comments on U.S.-Russian Space Relations, U.S. Senate, May 14, 2014 – YouTube
ISSE-3 Reboot Project raises $125k + SpaceIL crowd-funding campaign
I wrote a post back in April about the private effort to reconnect with the 36 year old International Sun-Earth Explorers (ISSE) spacecraft and direct it back to its original solar science mission. The crowd-funding campaign to raise $125,000 to get the project underway has been a success:
- ISEE-3 Reboot Project crowdfunding campaign RocketHub
- ISEE-3 Reboot Project Passes Funding Goal – Space College
Here’s an update from Dennis Wingo: ISEE-3 Reboot Project Status and Schedule for First Contact – Space College.
And here is a video report on the project:
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The Israeli based SpaceIL team in the GLXP has opened a crowdfunding campaign as well: Join SpaceIL’s Mission to Land the First Israeli Spacecraft on the Moon! – Indiegogo.
After just 2 days they have raised $41k towards their $240k goal.
In April the Las Vegas billionaire Sheldon Adelson gave the project $16.4M: Israel space project gets $16 million boost from casino mogul Adelson | Reuters
However, they still need to raise a considerable amount of money to cover the launch and the mission operations.
Here is a new video about the project:
The Russell Space Team shuttle simulations for grade school astronauts
The Russell Space Team at Russell Elementary School in Smyrna, GA is an award winning program in which 4th & 5th graders carry out elaborate Space Shuttle mission simulations. They use their shuttle Intrepid Simulator and a Mission Control. They have been carrying out the day long simulations since the 1990s.
Their Russell Space Team YouTube channel shows reports from their missions, including a 27 hour sim from this month.
Chris Laster is the force behind the Russell Space Team and he was on the Space Show this week to describe the program and how it came about: Chris Laster, Tuesday, 5-13-14 – Thespaceshow’s Blog
A couple of Russell Space Team videos: