Fwd: This Week in The Space Review - 2014 April 14

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From: jeff@thespacereview.com (Jeff Foust)
Date: April 14, 2014 1:07:28 PM CDT
Subject: This Week in The Space Review - 2014 April 14
Reply-To: jeff@thespacereview.com

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Welcome to this week's issue of The Space Review:



Commercial crew, Crimea, and Congress
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The increase in tensions between the US and Russia would appear to provide NASA with a strong case for funding the agency's commercial crew program and thus reducing reliance on Russia for accessing the International Space Station. Jeff Foust reports that while NASA has been making that case, some in Congress are not necessarily receptive to it.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2492/1

Special Operations takes the fight to the high ground
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While interest in small satellites is growing, the utility of such small spacecraft remains open to debate. Ethan W. Mattox discusses an effort by one element of the US military to test the feasibility of smallsats to provide communications support for special operations forces.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2491/1

Robust and reusable?
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If reusable launch vehicles can dramatically lower launch prices, as some have argued about SpaceX's efforts to develop a reusable Falcon 9, what markets does such a vehicle enable? Ajay P. Kothari examines the economics of RLVs regarding one well-known potential market, space tourism.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2490/1

Creating "believable" aliens: an interview with James L. Cambias
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As interest in astrobiology increases along with the prospects of alien life, science fiction often remains rooted in conventional descriptions of what intelligent alien life would be like. John Hickman interviews an author of a new novel that offers a different, and perhaps more credible, view of what they could be like.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2489/1

Review: Orbit of Discovery
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Can a relatively ordinary shuttle mission, one without major achievements or problems, make for a compelling book? Jeff Foust reviews a book that profiles one such mission as seen from the vantage point of one of its crewmembers.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2488/1



If you missed it, here's what we published in our previous issue:


What's in a code? Putting space development first
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While a code of conduct for outer space activities has the backing of governments in the Europe and the US, there's less support of the proposed code among Asian governments. Peter Garretson examines what issues are impeding the code in Asia and how a greater emphasis on space development could garner greater support for it there.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2487/1

Symbolism and substance in US-Russian space relations
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NASA made headlines last week when it announced it was suspending cooperation with Russia, with the notable and very large exception of International Space Station operations. Jeff Foust examines how much of an effect that ban will really have versus its symbolic effect in an era of tense US-Russian relations.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2486/1

Competing forums: an asteroid or the Moon?
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While some people believe that the next destination for humans beyond Earth orbit should be a return to the Moon, NASA is working instead on a human mission to a captured near Earth asteroid. Tom Chinick discusses how advancing capabilities in the commercial sector could allow human exploration and development of both.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2485/1

Dennis Tito's "Spaceship to Everywhere" may be a dead-end for NASA
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Dennis Tito, the former space tourist now backing a proposal for a human Mars flyby mission, recently spoke out in favor of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion to carry out that and other missions. Rick Boozer argues that flaws with SLS/Orion could doom its use for Inspiration Mars and more.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2484/1

Europa on the cheap
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NASA's 2015 budget proposal included, for the first time, a small amount of funding to support studies of a proposed mission to Jupiter's icy moon Europa. Jeff Foust reports that while NASA leadership may finally be warming to a mission that already has support among many in the scientific community as well as in Congress, it's also seeking ways to do that mission less expensively.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2483/1


We appreciate any feedback you may have about these articles as well as
any other questions, comments, or suggestions about The Space Review.
We're also actively soliciting articles to publish in future issues, so
if you have an article or article idea that you think would be of
interest, please email me.

Until next week,

Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
jeff@thespacereview.com
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