Neil deGrasse Tyson decries the lack of action in dealing with the threat of asteroids and comets despite the overwhelming evidence, even before the Chelyabinsk event, of the devastation the impacts of such objects can have to life on earth:
Neil deGrasse Tyson decries the lack of action in dealing with the threat of asteroids and comets despite the overwhelming evidence, even before the Chelyabinsk event, of the devastation the impacts of such objects can have to life on earth:
NASA has opened an education project in which students “research and design ways to protect astronauts from space radiation”:
The program is framed around the Orion crew spacecraft that Lockheed-Martin is building for NASA.
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As a long time opponent of the $10B+ Orion project, as well as the $20B+ SLS rocket that will launch it, I can’t help but point out that their huge costs preclude funding of improved radiation protection technologies (e.g. magnetic shielding) as well as of in-space transportation systems of a scope to allow for substantial material shielding.
The Inspiration Mars project, which will use a crew capsule (most likely a SpaceX Dragon) attached to a habitat module, expects to provide fairly good shielding by surrounding the crew area with water, food-stuffs, waste and other materials. This privately funded first attempt at a truly deep space mission shows what can be done to protect crews from radiation with current technology and at relatively low cost.
The latest on the NASA budget:
Some commentary from Bob Zimmerman: The budget battle at NASA – Behind The Black.
Upcoming space policy happenings: Space Policy Events for the Week of March 11-15, 2013 – spacepolicyonline.com
And maybe NASA and the rest of the government will get a hint of their budgets for 2014 soon: Waitin’ on the Budget – spacepolicyonline.com
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Res Communis post the latest collection of space and aviation law, regulation and policy links: Library: A Round-up of Reading
John Kelly believes NASA will have to start shutting down some of its many scattered and only partially used facilities if it is to become a more cost-effective agency: To move ahead, NASA needs to slim down – Florida Today.