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ARCHIVE
Month: March 2014
Would You Spend 7 Cents To Send Something to Mars?

Mars mission cost citizen less than BEST bus fare, Times of India “How much did the Rs 450-crore India’s Mars Orbiter Mission (MOM) cost an individual? Believe it or not it is less than the minimum BEST bus fare. While the minimum fare is Rs 6, each Indian on the other hand has spent just Rs four for the Mars mission. This unbelievable fact that the mission cost each citizen […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 31, 2014
NASA Solicits New Collaborative Partnerships

NASA Solicits New Collaborative Partnerships with Commercial Space Industry “Building on the success of NASA’s commercial spaceflight initiatives, agency officials announced Monday plans to solicit proposals from U.S. private enterprises for unfunded partnerships to collaboratively develop new commercial space capabilities. An Announcement for Proposals will be released on March 31 for the competitive selection of one or more SAAs. NASA plans a pre-proposal teleconference on April 3 to discuss the […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 31, 2014
Can Tee Vee Pundits Understand Space Policy?

Surrendering in Space, Paul Spudis “The program was divided into four segments, one for each area of national concern. A five-minute news overview preceded each segment, followed by a four-member panel discussion of each report’s content. Space advocates should take sober notice that the panelists – all well-read, highly regarded Beltway pundits (from both ends of the political spectrum) – appear to be fairly uninformed about many of the space […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 31, 2014
Joseph Barksdale

Joseph D. Barksdale, 79, went from cotton fields to NASA, Baltimore Sun “Joseph D. Barksdale, 79, died March 15 at his home in Laurel. Joseph Decatur Barksdale, who went from the cotton fields of Mississippi where his family was sharecropping to NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, where he oversaw the information technology department, died March 15 at his home in Laurel from complications from a fall. He was 79.”

  • NASA Watch
  • March 31, 2014
SpaceX Takes Another Step Towards Reusability

SpaceX Conducts Falcon 9R Static Fire Test [Watch], SpaceRef Business “SpaceX successfully test fired the first stage of F9R–an advanced prototype for the world’s first reusable rocket–in preparation for its first test flight in the coming weeks. Unlike airplanes, a rocket’s thrust increases with altitude; F9R generates just over a million pounds of thrust at sea level but gets up to 1.5 million pounds of thrust in the vacuum of […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 28, 2014
Bowden Ward

Mr. Bowden Wilson Ward, Jr., 79, of Seabrook, MD, died Tuesday, March 25, 2014. Retired in 1996 as an Aerospace Engineer from NASA. Mr. Ward’s career with Goddard Space Flight Center spanned 33 years and included many projects including OSO, GRO and GOES. Survived by wife of 48 years, Mary Felts Ward; son, Bowden Wilson Ward, III (Joselyn King); daughter, Elizabeth Ward Klamert; five grandchildren, Nathan and Ryan Ward, and […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 28, 2014
Reaction to Space and Planetary Science in FY 2015 Budget

American Astronomical Society Statement on Proposed FY 2015 Budget “At a time when space science is one of nation’s brightest lights, delivering outstanding scientific discoveries and substantial public support, the President’s proposed 3.5-percent cut for NASA’s SMD is extremely worrying. We are particularly concerned by the 9 percent cut to the Astrophysics Division and the unanticipated decision to mothball a major mission outside the well-established senior review process. The AAS […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 28, 2014
Hearing on NASA's FY 2015 Budget Request

Hearing Charter ” … A year after the introduction of this [Asteroid Retrieval] mission, the Administration still has not provided a detailed mission profile or budget proposal. The Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2014 required NASA to provide additional details about the mission concept before Congress would commit long-term resources to the effort.” Smith and Palazzo: NASA’s Priority Should Be Space Exploration “The President’s budget again seeks to fund an Asteroid […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 27, 2014
Air Force Eastern Range Radar Issue Delays Cape Launches

U.S. Air Force Radar Problem Delays NROL-67 and SpaceX CRS-3 Launches, SpaceRef Business “A problem with the U.S. Air Force AN/MPS-39 Multiple Object Tracking Radar (MOTR) at the Eastern Range, reportedly a fire, has delayed the launch of the National Reconnaissance Office’s NROL-67 launch and now unofficially SpaceX’s launch of the CRS-3 resupply mission to the International Space Station.”

  • NASA Watch
  • March 27, 2014
Hearing on President's FY 15 Budget Request for Science

Hearing Charter Statement by OSTP Director John Holdren: Hearing on FY2015 Science Budget “Within the context of the Budget Control Act’s spending caps, NASA’s 2015 budget is $17.5 billion, a slight decrease from the 2014 enacted level.” Chairman Smith Statement on President’s Science Budget “And The White House’s proposed asteroid retrieval mission is a mission without a budget, without a destination, and without a launch date. Rather than diminish NASA’s […]

  • NASA Watch
  • March 26, 2014