SHIFTING SEATS: Sen. Jim DeMint (S.C.), who was preparing to lead Republicans on the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, now plans to leave the Senate in January. That leaves the committee in need of a ranking member. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), is next in line. “There is a process for these assignments that will play out, and I look forward to discussing this development with my colleagues on the Commerce Committee,” Thune says in a statement. Thune leads the aviation subcommittee. DeMint was in line to replace Sen.

Powerful solar storms are an imperfectly understood threat to the world’s power grids, but one with the potential for economic damage so catastrophic that the estimated $100-$200 million it would cost annually to deploy an operational space-weather warning system could be trivial by comparison.

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HOUSTON — Though committed to launching a U.S. astronaut to the International Space Station for a 12-month flight, the longest space voyage yet by an American, NASA is far from prepared to commit to a succession of 12-month voyages to the orbiting science lab, according to the agency’s ISS program manager and others who expect to gather new insight into the health effects.

'The major discovery we’ve made so far is an ancient river bed'

Lockheed Martin, Orbital Sciences and SpaceX are eligible

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NASA’s top science mission planner, Associate Administrator John Grunsfeld, says NASA has the spare parts, plans and knowledge to create another Mars rover for launch in 2020. The mission, with a cost estimated by the Aerospace Corp. of $2.5 billion, needs congressional approval in what Grunsfeld acknowledges are “very tough fiscal times.” But he told members of the American Geophysical Union here Dec. 4 that the proposed mission “really reflects a strong commitment by NASA and the White House to Mars exploration.”