Fwd: This Week in The Space Review - 2014 April 21

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From: jeff@thespacereview.com (Jeff Foust)
Date: April 21, 2014 12:00:15 PM CDT
Subject: This Week in The Space Review - 2014 April 21
Reply-To: jeff@thespacereview.com

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


The uncertain road to Mars
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There's growing acceptance that NASA's space exploration program should have the long-term goal of landing humans on Mars, perhaps in the mid-2030s. However, Jeff Foust reports there's less information on exactly how NASA should go about achieving that goal, and whether any NASA strategy is affordable in the long run.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2497/1

Humans and robots to the Moon and Mars: a unified and integrated space program strategy
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Too often debates about space exploration have focused on destinations, or whether robots or humans should be in the lead. John Strickland offers an integrated approach that maximizes the capabilities of both humans and robots to explore destinations throughout the solar system.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2496/1

The growth of public-private partnerships in commercial space ventures
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While the capabilities of commercial space ventures continue to grow, those efforts are increasingly being done in cooperation with governments. Anthony Young examines the rise of these public-private partnerships through several recent examples.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2495/1

Everest, the camps, and the Sherpas
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NASA first reached the Moon thanks to tremendous resources at its disposal during the Apollo era. Derek Webber argues that for NASA to explore in more fiscally constrained times, it must borrow a page from mountaineering and establish an infrastructure of "base camps" leading into the solar system.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2494/1

Review: Lucky Planet
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The discovery of the first Earth-sized exoplanet in its star's habitable zone has raised hopes that true Earth-like worlds may be common. Jeff Foust reviews a book where one scientist argues that Earth, in fact, may be a exceptionally rare planet.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2493/1


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


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


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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