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Wednesday, June 13, 2012
6/13/12 news
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. Want to Know What is Going on Around the Space Industry?
2. Your Child Could Walk on Mars - Take Part in 'Summer of Curiosity'
3. Additional Information Regarding Bring Our Children to Work Day
4. Women in the Workplace: Being an Influence Leader (Panel Discussion)
5. African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) Juneteenth Fish Fry
6. June LGBT Month Event
7. Blood Drive June 19 (EFD) and June 20 to 21 (JSC)
8. What does Human Systems Integration Mean to You - Learn More June 20
9. NASA Night at the Houston Dynamo
10. Out & Allied @ JSC ERG Meeting
11. ISS Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) User Forum
12. Register Now for Parent's Night Out
13. For Parents of High School Students
14. Summer Water-Bot Camps
15. Personal Protective & Life Saving Equipment ViTS: June 22 - 8 to 11 a.m.
16. Signs, Signals & Barricades ViTS: June 22 - Noon to 2 p.m.
17. Health Related Fitness Course (June 25 to Sept. 12)
18. Ultimate Frisbee & Kickball - Starport Summer Leagues!
19. Pre-Retirement for Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS)
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ I am learning all the time. The tombstone will be my diploma. ”
-- Eartha Kitt
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1. Want to Know What is Going on Around the Space Industry?
Each day you can keep up with all the news affecting NASA by reading the NASA News Summary. It is available on the Web at: http://www.bulletinnews.com/nasa/
It contains full-text links so that clicking the hypertext links in the write-ups will take you to the newspapers' original full-text articles. It also contains an interactive table of contents, so by clicking a page number on the table of contents page will take you directly to that story. In addition to reading today's NASA news, you can also find older stories through the searchable archive of past editions. The website will also let you subscribe to receive a daily emails of all the day's space news.
Brought to you by External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
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2. Your Child Could Walk on Mars - Take Part in 'Summer of Curiosity'
The first person to set foot on Mars might be in middle school right now! Could the first astronaut to explore the Red Planet be your child, niece/nephew or grandchild? In celebration of the Mars Science Laboratory's arrival to the Red Planet later this summer, the External Relations Office will share a variety of activities and online resources with JSC employees. For 10 weeks in June, July and August, JSC families are encouraged to complete the weekly activities that illustrate what's needed for a six month journey to Mars, a one year stay there and a six month return trip to Earth.
All JSC families will be invited to the Voyage Back to School event at Space Center Houston on Aug. 16 to celebrate their summer STEM experiences and Mars challenge results.
The first step in planning a two year crewed mission to Mars is to ask the simple question, "What is Mars like?" A great to way to do that is to compare Mars to the planet we know best, Earth.
Below is a Web link to an activity that asks students to compare Mars to Earth. Students will step into the role of a NASA scientist by observing satellite imagery that will show the similarities and difference of the two planets.
Activity Link - http://www.missiongeography.org/II-2-3.pdf
Additional Resources:
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mro/
Mars Global Surveyor http://mars.jpl.nasa.gov/mgs/
Google Mars - http://www.google.com/mars/
How to get the conversation started …
Start the conversation with the kids in your family by asking:
What do you already know about Mars? (The first step in planning a mission to Mars is to investigate the planet.)
How do we know what we know now? Where did most of our information come from?
(Robots! Much of what we know was discovered by, orbital satellites, landers and rovers.)
JSC External Relations, Office of Education x40331
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3. Additional Information Regarding Bring Our Children to Work Day
The event itinerary is posted on the Starport website, http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/ Please review the entire document so you have an idea of what to expect, including, activities, security policies, Starport specials and more. It's also in PDF form so you are able to print out your own copy.
A few things to note:
--Parents must stay with their children all day.
--Due to the nature of some of the activities, it is preferred that your child wears closed-toed shoes.
--Children that are not registered can still participate in some activities as long as there is room.
--For those who are interested in participating in the DLN event to talk live with the NEEMO crew that begins at 9:50 a.m. in the Teague Auditorium, please have your child write down a couple of questions they may want to ask during question-and-answer prior to the event.
JSC Outreach
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4. Women in the Workplace: Being an Influence Leader (Panel Discussion)
As part of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Subject Matter Expert (SME) class series, leaders at JSC will share their personal keys to success as well as recommendations for becoming an influence leader at NASA. Areas of discussion will include lessons learned, effective communication techniques, professional dress and helpful tips for men interacting with women in the workplace. Attendees will benefit from the leaders' personal insights gained on their trek to success. Both men and women will benefit from this panel discussion scheduled for Thursday, June 21, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium. Guest panelists will be LA/Dot Swanson, AH/Natalie Saiz, EC/Trish Petete, YA/Vanessa Wyche, and LS/Mark Holden. Please register in SATERN by searching the catalog for the course title.
Donna Blackshear-Reynolds x32814
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5. African American Employee Resource Group (AAERG) Juneteenth Fish Fry
The JSC Prairie View A&M University Chapter is sponsoring the 2012 Juneteenth Celebration in conjunction with the AAERG, Boeing's Black Employee Association and the National Society of Black Engineers on Tuesday, June 19, from 3:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Gilruth Center Live Oak Pavilion. The program will start at 4 p.m. with the history of Juneteenth and a Buffalo Soldiers storytelling. Cost is $10 per person, and all tickets must be purchased in advanced; no walk-ups allowed. Come enjoy great food, networking and mentoring opportunities with civil servant and contractor employees.
Carla Burnett x41044
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6. June LGBT Month Event
June is National LGBT Pride Month!
In 2009 President Barack Obama designated June as National Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT) Pride Month. The JSC Office of Equal Opportunity & Diversity (OEOD) and Out and Allied, JSC's LGBT Employee Resource Group (ERG), would like to jointly recognize LGBT Pride Month.
Today at 9 a.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium, Out and Allied Co-Chair, Bryan Snook, will present and host an interactive discussion with topics ranging from LGBT diversity and applicability in the workplace, being out in the workplace, LGBT demographics, information on the Out and Allied ERG and how to become involved, regardless of one's sexual orientation. This presentation and discussion is open to everyone at JSC.
For a complete list of the national special observances, please visit OEOD's website at: http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oeod/special_programs/proclamations.html
For more information on Out and Allied @ JSC, please visit: http://collaboration.jsc.nasa.gov/iierg/LGBTA/SitePages/Home.aspx
OEOD & Out & Allied @JSC x30607
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7. Blood Drive June 19 (EFD) and June 20 to 21 (JSC)
Summertime typically brings a decrease in blood donations as donors become busy with activities and vacations. But the need for blood can increase due to these summer activities and the three major holidays -- Memorial Day, 4th of July and Labor Day. Your blood donation can help up to three people. Please take an hour of your time to donate at our next blood drive.
You can donate at Ellington Field on June 19. A donor coach will be located between Hangars 276 and 135 for donations from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. (Note time change).
You can donate at JSC on June 20 to 21 at the Teague Auditorium Lobby or at the donor coach located next to the Building 11 Starport Café from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. or at the Gilruth Center at donor coach located in the parking lot on June 21 from 7:30 a.m. to noon. (Note time change).
Teresa Gomez x39588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm
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8. What does Human Systems Integration Mean to You - Learn More June 20
Human Systems Integration (HSI) is the process by which human considerations are incorporated into the full design, development and operations life cycle. Studies have shown that this reduces design rework and significantly reduces maintenance and operations cost.
Enjoy an interactive brown bag discussion with a panel of HSI practitioners who will share their experiences applying HSI to NASA projects and programs of varying scope and size.
The event takes place June 20 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 1, Room 360.
This free professional development opportunity is brought to you by the JSC National Management Association Chapter and JSC HSI Employee Resource Group.
For additional information and for on-site badging assistance, please contact Carolyn Fritz at carolyn.g.fritz@nasa.gov or 281-483-2017.
Carolyn Fritz x32017
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9. NASA Night at the Houston Dynamo
Calling all soccer fans - invite family and friends to the Houston Dynamo vs. FC Dallas on Saturday, June 16 at 4 p.m. at the new BBVA Compass Stadium. Make plans to come early to the SoccerFest Fan Zone and visit NASA's exhibit.
To purchase discounted tickets, go to http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/ Click the link for the Houston Dynamo vs. FC Dallas game and follow the remaining instructions to purchase tickets with the pass code: nasa.
JSC team members, family and friends are encouraged to wear NASA shirts to the game.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/
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10. Out & Allied @ JSC ERG Meeting
The Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group will be holding the next monthly meeting TODAY! The Out & Allied @ JSC team consists of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender employees and their allies. This month, we'll be finalizing our support for June Pride activities and discuss logistics for our upcoming 'It Gets Better' video! Please join us to help! Those interested in participating can confidentially contact the ERG Chair via the link below to be provided with the meeting location and time.
Out & Allied @ JSC ERG x37019 http://collaboration.jsc.nasa.gov/iierg/LGBTA/SitePages/Home.aspx
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11. ISS Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) User Forum
The ISS EDMS team will hold the monthly EDMS General User Forum this Friday, June 15, at 9:30 a.m. in Building 4S, Conference Room 5315.
If you use EDMS to locate station documents, join us to learn about basic navigation and searching. Bring your questions, concerns, suggestions and meet the station EDMS Application Support Center team. The agenda can be found at:
http://iss-www.jsc.nasa.gov/cgi-bin/act/showAgenda.cfm?AGEN_id=43344&RequestT...
LaNell Cobarruvias 713-933-6854 http://iss-www.jsc.nasa.gov/nwo/apps/edms/web/UserForums.shtml
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12. Register Now for Parent's Night Out
Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport! We will entertain your children at the Gilruth Center with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, movie and dessert.
When: June 29 (and the last Friday of every month through September)
Where: Gilruth Center
Ages: 5 to 12
Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling, if registered by June 27. If registered after the 27, the fee is $25/first child and $15/additional sibling.
Register at the Gilruth Center front desk. Visit http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Youth/PNO.cfm for more information.
Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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13. For Parents of High School Students
Come gain the knowledge to not only keep your students safe but also to teach them the safety measures that will reduce their risk of involvement in violence. The Employee Assistance Program is happy to present Heather Kerbow, Violence Prevention Coordinator of the Bay Area Turning Point. She will present "Safety Information for Parents of High School Students" on Wednesday, June 13, at noon in the Building 30 Auditorium.
JSC Employee Assistance Program x36130
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14. Summer Water-Bot Camps
Come join San Jacinto College Aerospace Academy at our Summer Water-Bot Camps, July 16 to 20 and July 23 to 27. Students 14 to 18 and 12 to 13. Students will work in teams and learn how to build an underwater robot. They will have a hands-on experience and will also enjoy fields trips to JSC and the NBL. Staff will be available for early drop and late pick-up times. Cost $250.00.
Angie Hughes x37252 http://cpd.sanjac.edu/node/1023
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15. Personal Protective & Life Saving Equipment ViTS: June 22 - 8 to 11 a.m.
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0067: This three-hour course is based on OSHA CFR 1926.95 through 1926.107 of the construction industry regulations, Subpart E, Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment. During the course, the student will become familiar with the 1926.95 through 1926.107 regulations criteria for personal protective requirements in construction and will receive an overview of those topics needed to apply the proper personal protection equipment.
Use this direct link to register. https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
Shirley Robinson x41284
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16. Signs, Signals & Barricades ViTS: June 22 - Noon to 2 p.m.
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0061: This two-hour course is based on OSHA CFR 1926.200, requirements for working with signs, signals and barricades in the construction industry. In this course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely in circumstances where signs, signals and/or barricades are required. Topics covered include: 1926.200 OSHA standards, terminology and proper usage.
Use this link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
Shirley Robinson x41284
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17. Health Related Fitness Course (June 25 to Sept. 12)
Enroll now in the free 12-week Health Related Fitness Course. The goal is to develop long-term habitual exercise by combining individualized exercise prescriptions with an education component. The exercise prescriptions are based on fitness assessments of aerobic power, body composition, muscle strength and flexibility. Classes meet for an hour at 4:15 p.m. on Mondays and Wednesdays in the Gilruth Center. Each meeting includes a 15 to 20-minute lecture on various health/fitness topics (training principles, environmental considerations, disease risks, etc.), followed by an exercise session in the Starport exercise room in accordance with your personalized aerobic and strength training program. The program has been in constant operation since 1983 and is led by exercise scientists who are certified by the American College of Sports Medicine. Contact Larry Wier or Greta Ayers (x30301/30302) to schedule your fitness assessments (~30 minutes). You may enroll online with this url: http://www.explorationwellness.com/WellnessCSS/CourseCatalogSelection/
Larry Wier x30301
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18. Ultimate Frisbee & Kickball - Starport Summer Leagues!
Only two days left to register your team for Starport's fastest growing leagues! Sign up at the Gilruth Center today!
2012 Summer Leagues:
- Kickball registration closes on Thursday, June 14 (League begins June 18)
- Ultimate Frisbee registration closes on Thursday, June 14 (League begins June 18)
Free Agent Registration: (OPEN NOW) http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/FreeAgents.cfm
Starport's League Sports are open to all NASA employees, contractors, friends, family and surrounding community members!
For days, times, divisions and prices, please visit: http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/
Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/Sports/
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19. Pre-Retirement for Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS)
Are you prepared to retire?
This Pre-Retirement for FERS Seminar is designed to help you effectively manage today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities.
Retirement is often looked upon as a financially based decision. Although the financial aspects are important, many other concerns need to be addressed. This seminar is designed to help effectively deal with today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities.
Topics covered include lifestyle planning, health maintenance, financial planning, legal affairs planning and more.
Who Should Attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the Federal Employee Retirement System with 5 to 10 years or fewer until retirement eligibility.
Course Length: 16 hours
Pre-Retirement for Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS)
Date: June 25 to 26
Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Location: Teague Auditorium
Registration via SATERN: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=REGISTRATI...
Nicole Kem x37894
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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.
Human Spaceflight News
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
HEADLINES AND LEADS
NASA chief to see history-making SpaceX capsule
Associated Press
NASA's administrator is to visit the history-making Dragon spacecraft at a Texas rocket factory. Last month the world's first commercial supply ship delivered 1,400 pounds of old equipment to the International Space Station.
Aerospace leader says things looking up for industry
James Dean - Florida Today
Nearly a year after the final shuttle mission, the head of Florida’s aerospace agency sees industry employment stabilizing and starting to rebound. “With the retirement of the shuttle, we did experience a disproportionate hit to our workforce, and we’re still absorbing some of that,” Space Florida President Frank DiBello said Tuesday. “But I am optimistic now that we’re at a point right now where we are replacing jobs faster than we’re going to be losing them.”
All systems in Place
Xin Dingding - China Daily
A four-hour rehearsal for the country's first manned space-docking mission ended successfully on Tuesday, meaning the launch of Shenzhou IX, scheduled for "sometime around mid-June", can go ahead as planned. The rehearsal, held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu province, involved all systems of the mission, such as spacecraft, carrier rocket and launch site. The astronauts selected for the mission also participated in the rehearsal and "worked in harmony", a statement from the space program said.
First crew to head for China's heavenly space palace
Paul Marks - New Scientist
China's space station is to be a ghost town no longer. A crewed space capsule is scheduled to dock with the nation's orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab for the first time next week. Though the feat won't break new technological ground, it will be a major achievement for the superpower that came late to the space race. "The fact that China is going it alone here is significant," says Roger Launius, a historian at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. "It gains critical experience for China in long-duration missions, rendezvous and docking– something it must do to close the gap between it and the other spacefaring nations."
Welcome Aboard Tiangong
Morris Jones - Space Daily
Soon, three Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will dock with China's first space laboratory, Tiangong 1. This will mark the first docking of a crewed Chinese spacecraft with another vehicle. It will also produce the longest Chinese crewed space mission to date. Tiangong 1 has been in orbit since September 2011, and received a docking from the uncrewed Shenzhou 8 spacecraft in November of that year. This will be the first time that Chinese astronauts have inhabited anything more than the Shenzhou spacecraft used on previous missions.
Retiring senator says NASA in a “good position” for the future
SpacePolitics.com
After a couple of years of tumult and turmoil, one of the few members of the US Senate who is active on space issues says she’ll leave the institution this year “excited” about the future of NASA. “I am just very excited that we are now going forward, I think, with NASA in a good position,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) at a Women in Aerospace breakfast at the US Capitol Tuesday morning. Hutchison, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee and the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is retiring when her term ends this year. “I feel like I will now be able to leave Congress at the end of this year knowing that we are going to have a commercial operation that is sound, with competition.”
NASA Habitat Competition Looks For Bioregenerative Space Greenhouses
Rebecca Boyle - Popular Science
Future astronauts en route to Mars or deep-space destinations will need specially designed living quarters and renewable sources of food — so this year’s X-Hab Challenge includes a remotely operated, robotically controlled space garden. Students at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University are developing a workable prototype “bioregenerative food system,” which they’ll deliver to NASA next summer. NASA’s yearly X-Hab competition invites university teams to design deep space habitats and concepts that could someday be used by real astronauts.
Researchers pursue multiple routes to reusable rockets
David Todd - FlightInternational.com
For half a century, the most economical way of launching into orbit was to use an expendable multi-stage launch vehicle. Single-stage rockets simply did not have the performance or low enough structural weight to carry a significant payload to orbital velocity. However, designers knew that expendable rocket engines and stages do not come cheap, even with a production line, and that a having a reusable rocket would be ideal.
Do deep space quests start with this rover prototype?
Experts: Test machine will pave way to true solar system treks
Todd Halvorson - Florida Today
The U.S. and Canada are setting the stage for a lunar prospecting mission aimed at demonstrating technologies that could open the solar system to human exploration. In a sandy yard at Kennedy Space Center, engineers and scientists are developing a prototype of a rover designed to extract oxygen from hydrogen-rich lunar soil and produce water. The four-wheeled prototype will face critical field tests in Hawaii in July. A fully tested, flight-ready rover still needs to be developed, and a launch vehicle still must be procured. But project managers are confident that their technology development project eventually will be elevated to a fully funded mission — one that would be cost-capped at $250 million.
In a new space race, the Dragon, and Musk, have landed
Dan Turner - Los Angeles Times (Opinion)
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has been compared to Tony Stark, Marvel Comics' billionaire inventor who dons a high-tech suit of armor to become Iron Man (Musk actually had a cameo in "Iron Man 2," and the SpaceX factory was used as a set for the film). But there's a far less super-powered and slightly less sane figure from real life that he resembles more: Howard Hughes.
Flight of the Dragon
Larry M. Elkin - Wall Street Pit
For more than half a century, space has been the exclusive preserve of governments, a United Nations in the heavens. Now, capitalism has crossed the atmospheric frontier. The Dragon space capsule landed safely in the Pacific Ocean after a nine-day mission, carrying with it 1,455 pounds of cargo from the International Space Station and hope for a new era of space travel and exploration. Built and flown by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, Dragon is the first privately developed and operated spacecraft to travel to the space station.
An Astronaut’s Thoughts on SpaceX Dragon Success
Tom Jones - Popular Mechanics (Commentary)
(Jones is a former astronaut and author of Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir)
Late last month, while I was in a hotel ballroom packed with more astronauts, engineers, scientists, and space policy experts than you’d find in Houston’s Mission Control, all eyes were on the Dragon, the SpaceX cargo capsule that launched early on May 22 to the International Space Station (ISS). Timed as if to kick-start the AIAA Global Space Exploration Conference in Washington, D.C., Dragon rocketed to orbit, wowing the conferees and returning on May 31 from a demonstration cargo run to the ISS. The success marked the first such visit by a privately designed and built spacecraft. More important, it marked a vital NASA milestone in reopening the U.S. supply line to the space station, and brought closer the space agency’s goal of sending its astronauts aloft on American rockets.
The cultural legacy of the last space shuttle
Mick O'Hare - New Scientist
The chance to see the Air France Concorde, the second world war Hawker Hurricane and the undeniably evil-looking airframe of the SR-71 Blackbird is not to be sniffed at. But the newest exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum at the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington DC’s Dulles Airport, puts these feats of aeronautical engineering to shame. At the back of the museum’s hangers you get to come nose to nose with NASA’s just-retired space shuttle, Discovery. There has, of course, been a space shuttle at the Udvar-Hazy for many years but not one so scarred, pitted and, frankly, dirty as this one. “Discovery’s spot was once occupied by Enterprise,” says Valerie Neal, Discovery’s curator. “but Enterprise was pristine. It had never flown in space and parts of it were unfinished or just dummies. Discovery is so much more exciting - the real thing.”
There’s One More Shuttle That Needs a Home
Heather Goss - Air & Space Smithsonian Magazine
Inside a warehouse in Downey, California, a one-winged space shuttle sits underneath a blanket of Tyvek sheeting. It’s not a real space shuttle. Well, it sort of is? Let’s just say it played a real role in shuttle history. While space museums around the country were competing fiercely to be the next home for Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, and Enterprise, and even a couple months ago, when Houston was finally rewarded with the mock-up Explorer shuttle that used to greet space fans at Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center, this unnamed shuttle in Southern California went largely unknown and un-fought for.
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COMPLETE STORIES
NASA chief to see history-making SpaceX capsule
Associated Press
NASA's administrator is to visit the history-making Dragon spacecraft at a Texas rocket factory.
Last month the world's first commercial supply ship delivered 1,400 pounds of old equipment to the International Space Station.
The California-based SpaceX is the first private business to send a cargo ship to the space station.
On Wednesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk will see the spacecraft at the company's rocket factory in McGregor, about 150 miles southwest of Dallas.
The unmanned cargo ship splashed down May 31 into the Pacific Ocean, capping off a nine-day test flight.
It was the first time since the space shuttles stopped flying last summer that NASA got back a big load from the space station. SpaceX hopes to launch another capsule in September.
Aerospace leader says things looking up for industry
James Dean - Florida Today
Nearly a year after the final shuttle mission, the head of Florida’s aerospace agency sees industry employment stabilizing and starting to rebound.
“With the retirement of the shuttle, we did experience a disproportionate hit to our workforce, and we’re still absorbing some of that,” Space Florida President Frank DiBello said Tuesday. “But I am optimistic now that we’re at a point right now where we are replacing jobs faster than we’re going to be losing them.”
Kennedy Space Center employment dipped to under 8,500 at the end of March, including about 5,200 contractors, according to NASA statistics. That was down 44 percent from the more than 15,000 center employees three years ago, including over 11,000 contractors.
DiBello emphasized the state’s effort to diversify the post-shuttle industry during a speech delivered to more than 300 attendees at the National Space Club Florida Committee’s monthly luncheon at the Radisson Resort at the Port.
The strategy expands a traditional focus on the large rocket launches familiar to Space Coast residents to include partnerships with jet designers, operators of suborbital space vehicles and unmanned aircraft, microgravity researchers and manufacturers of small satellites.
Overall, Space Florida maintains an ambitious goal of tripling the state’s total aerospace employment by 2020, to roughly 223,000 people. NASA expects KSC employment to build back up to 10,000 in the coming years.
NASA programs developing commercial cargo and crew vehicles and a heavy-lift rocket and capsule for exploration remain major drivers of local space activity but face tight budgets and political uncertainty in Washington, D.C.
“On the national scene, I wish could say that there was dramatic improvement, but I think we’re still dealing with a very divisive environment,” DiBello said. “I would not look for a definitive budget until well after the election.”
The post-shuttle transition is creating opportunities for companies to consider Florida as their base for next-generation programs, DiBello said, taking advantage of its skilled workforce, business friendly environment and Space Florida’s ability to finance new infrastructure.
He pointed to recent state “wins,” including Brazilian jetmaker Embraer locating a new engineering and technology center in Melbourne, Boeing planning to assemble a commercial crew capsule in a refurbished shuttle hangar and NASA selecting a local nonprofit to manage the International Space Station’s national lab.
“As a community, we’ve come through a tough period, one marked by a transition from the old to a new era,” DiBello said.
All systems in Place
Xin Dingding - China Daily
A four-hour rehearsal for the country's first manned space-docking mission ended successfully on Tuesday, meaning the launch of Shenzhou IX, scheduled for "sometime around mid-June", can go ahead as planned.
The rehearsal, held at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in Northwest China's Gansu province, involved all systems of the mission, such as spacecraft, carrier rocket and launch site.
The astronauts selected for the mission also participated in the rehearsal and "worked in harmony", a statement from the space program said.
Though their names have yet to be announced, Guangzhou-based Nanfang Daily published pictures on Tuesday showing six astronauts arriving at the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center, including two female reserve astronauts.
Dressed in blue uniforms and black boots, they participated in a flag-raising ceremony and planted trees at their residence inside the launch center on Sunday.
Earlier reports said one of the two female reserve astronauts is likely to board the Shenzhou IX spacecraft and become the country's first female astronaut.
First crew to head for China's heavenly space palace
Paul Marks - New Scientist
China's space station is to be a ghost town no longer. A crewed space capsule is scheduled to dock with the nation's orbiting Tiangong-1 space lab for the first time next week. Though the feat won't break new technological ground, it will be a major achievement for the superpower that came late to the space race.
"The fact that China is going it alone here is significant," says Roger Launius, a historian at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington DC. "It gains critical experience for China in long-duration missions, rendezvous and docking– something it must do to close the gap between it and the other spacefaring nations."
China is preparing to launch its Shenzhou-9 mission on 16 June. A Soyuz-derived crew capsule carrying three taikonauts will launch atop a Long March-2F rocket (pictured) from the Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center in north-west China. Two days later, the aim is to dock with Tiangong-1 ("Heavenly Palace") – a 10-metre long, 3-metre diameter space lab launched in September last year. The crew is expected to include China's first female taikonaut.
The ability to flit crews between Earth and an orbital station will be a "significant step" for China, chief designer Zhou Jianping told China's official news agency, Xinhua. Launius says it's no new technical feat though: "Space stations in orbit go back to the 1970s." Russia orbited the first Salyut in 1971, NASA lofted Skylab in 1973 and Russia launched Mir in 1986 – all before construction of the International Space Station began in 1998.
Welcome Aboard Tiangong
Morris Jones - Space Daily
Soon, three Chinese astronauts on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft will dock with China's first space laboratory, Tiangong 1. This will mark the first docking of a crewed Chinese spacecraft with another vehicle. It will also produce the longest Chinese crewed space mission to date.
Tiangong 1 has been in orbit since September 2011, and received a docking from the uncrewed Shenzhou 8 spacecraft in November of that year. This will be the first time that Chinese astronauts have inhabited anything more than the Shenzhou spacecraft used on previous missions.
Tiangong 1 has already been flying for roughly nine months, far longer than any previous vehicle designed for Chinese astronauts, and it's expected to remain functional for a long time. Will the spacecraft be ready for the next stage in its operations?
China is being deliberately cautious in the planning of this first crewed expedition. One of the three astronauts who will fly on the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft to Tiangong will not live on board the laboratory. Instead, this astronaut will remain on board Shenhou 9, which will always be docked to Tiangong, ready to evacuate the crew quickly in the event of an emergency.
China has not confirmed the entry procedures for Tiangong, but we can expect that the crew will be cautious. After docking, there will be numerous tests to confirm that the two vehicles are docked correctly, and that the appropriate electrical connections have been made.
The tunnel between the vehicles will be pressurized with breathable air, which will then be checked by the astronauts. Ground controllers will again verify this via telemetry, and will also monitor the performance of Tiangong immediately after the rigours of docking.
When the hatches are finally opened between the spacecraft, one astronaut will carefully enter Tiangong wearing a face mask and goggles. Such precautions are normal on most spacecraft dockings, even on the International Space Station. They will protect the astronaut from dust and debris which could be floating inside the cabin.
A quick inspection of the interior of the vehicle will be made, and the astronaut will move to a control panel on the wall of Tiangong. Checks will be made of the internal functions of Tiangong, and commands will be entered to fully activate the module. Soon afterwards, it will be safe for the second resident of Tiangong to enter the laboratory module.
This is how events will unfold if everything is normal. If there's a problem, the mission can be modified or aborted. The astronauts could perform docking tests with the module even if they feel it is unsafe to enter. Or the astronauts could conduct a brief entry to the module, recover some items, then return to the safety of their spacecraft.
Problems can occur, but are they likely? This analyst expects that the upcoming mission to Tiangong 1 will be "nominal", with only a few minor problems.
Tiangong 1 has already jumped over most of the major engineering hurdles that could defeat its mission. It went through a long and convoluted sequence of delays before it was launched from Earth.
This was largely due to engineering problems that had been uncovered. The delays were frustrating, but it is far better to tackle problems on the ground than face those problems in space. It would seem that Tiangong was fastidiously debugged, and its subsequent performance in space lends support to that suggestion.
Tiangong suffered no damage during launch or the deployment of its solar panels. These are issues that have plagued other launches. It also successfully demonstrated the performance of its rendezvous and docking systems twice, during the test mission of Shenzhou 8.
Tiangong 1 has been remotely monitored during its flight. Controllers can be sure of the performance of its internal systems. They have also been able to inspect the interior of the spacecraft, which looks as good as it did before launch. Other cameras on Tiangong, and the Shenzhou 8 spacecraft that docked with it, reveal no obvious problems on the exterior.
China has also previously stated that the cabin atmosphere has been remotely monitored, and has been shown to be suitable for astronauts. This clears any worries about the potential release of toxic gases from materials inside the cabin. These usually only appear at small levels, but they can give astronauts headaches.
There's another broader observation. Tiangong has worked properly for an extended period. This has given plenty of time for any major manufacturing or design problems to manifest. It would seem that these technical gremlins were removed before launch and were unable to sneak back on board.
So we can expect that China's next crew of astronauts will feel welcome aboard Tiangong 1. This should be a safe and productive mission. Good luck to the men and woman on board Shenzhou 9.
Retiring senator says NASA in a “good position” for the future
SpacePolitics.com
After a couple of years of tumult and turmoil, one of the few members of the US Senate who is active on space issues says she’ll leave the institution this year “excited” about the future of NASA.
“I am just very excited that we are now going forward, I think, with NASA in a good position,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-TX) at a Women in Aerospace breakfast at the US Capitol Tuesday morning. Hutchison, who serves as the ranking member of the Senate Commerce Committee and the Commerce, Justice, Science and Related Agencies subcommittee of the Senate Appropriations Committee, is retiring when her term ends this year. “I feel like I will now be able to leave Congress at the end of this year knowing that we are going to have a commercial operation that is sound, with competition.”
That’s a reference to NASA’s commercial crew effort, which will make at least two full awards, and perhaps a partial or “half” award to a third company, later this summer. “What Congress is trying to shape is that we have at least two competitors, not no more than two and a half, because we want to have full funding of competition while at the same time we are not neglecting the next generation of space exploration that is going to propel us to places we haven’t been,” she said, referring to NASA’s work on the Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket and Orion spacecraft. “That is the essence of American superiority, that we will always be looking to that next future.”
Later, in response to a question about international cooperation, Hutchison cited the need for NASA to be both a leader and a reliable partner. “We have to show that we are leading the world in the vision for space exploration and the benefits the world economic situation will gain. But, number two, we have to keep our word,” she said. “We can’t do this alone. We have to have an international consortium.” NASA, she said, wavered on its commitment to the ISS for a time. “We’ve got this investment [in the ISS] and yet we let the shuttle lapse, instead of building up the capability to have a follow-on shuttle immediately.”
While she was optimistic about what she termed NASA’s two key areas, commercial spaceflight to support the ISS and the development of next-generation exploration vehicles, she expressed some uncertainty when asked about export control reform for the space industry, something that has been a hot topic of late after the House included reform language in its version of the defense authorization bill last month. “We certainly need to work with the industry to determine where they are being constrained,” she said.
There have been, in fact, several studies that have examined the effect that ITAR is having on the US space industrial base, as well as the recent “Section 1248” report by administration that concluded that many satellites and related components could be moved to the less-restrictive Commerce Control List. “Yes, we’re not going to sell national security secrets, but we certainly want our commercial capabilities to be competitive, and if there is a problem, I know Congress will work with the industry. The industry needs to bring the problems to Congress so we can do that.”
As she leaves Congress, she said she hopes to see some progress, and compromise, on policy issues in general after the November election, as the current highly partisan atmosphere subsides. “We have to see how the elections turn out,” she said. “I would hope that we can move forward, I hope in the direction that I think is right, even if it’s less than I want it to be.”
NASA Habitat Competition Looks For Bioregenerative Space Greenhouses
Rebecca Boyle - Popular Science
Future astronauts en route to Mars or deep-space destinations will need specially designed living quarters and renewable sources of food — so this year’s X-Hab Challenge includes a remotely operated, robotically controlled space garden. Students at the University of Colorado and Colorado State University are developing a workable prototype “bioregenerative food system,” which they’ll deliver to NASA next summer.
NASA’s yearly X-Hab competition invites university teams to design deep space habitats and concepts that could someday be used by real astronauts. The designs often focus on space-worthy structural scaffolds, detailing vertical or horizontal building layouts that could survive the harsh environment on Mars or the moon. This year’s contest includes a robotic garden, too.
The completed project will be able to grow, harvest and compost a variety of plants which astronauts can cultivate for food. The plants would also purify water and provide oxygen. It will give isolated, lonely space travelers something to do, as well as something to take care of — the responsibility can be a psychological boost, according to the CU students. Choosing which tasks to automate and which to do manually, like picking the fruit, are part of the project, according to aerospace engineering sciences graduate student Christine Fanchiang, who is co-leading the Colorado team’s effort.
The team already has a working aeroponic prototype, which they plan to build upon with their $40,000 X-Hab grant during the next year. The system will eventually be able to plant seeds, monitor plant growth, harvest the plants and even process crop waste, recycling nutrients back into the system.
This year’s five teams, announced in late May, also include California State Polytechnic University and Oklahoma State University, whose teams will work on vertical and horizontal habitat layout designs; Texas A&M University, which will work on a wireless “Smart Plug” for DC power supply; and the University of Alabama-Huntsville, whose team is designing a microgravity storage system.
Researchers pursue multiple routes to reusable rockets
David Todd - FlightInternational.com
For half a century, the most economical way of launching into orbit was to use an expendable multi-stage launch vehicle. Single-stage rockets simply did not have the performance or low enough structural weight to carry a significant payload to orbital velocity.
However, designers knew that expendable rocket engines and stages do not come cheap, even with a production line, and that a having a reusable rocket would be ideal.
Enter the Space Shuttle. While a fully reusable concept was initially defined for it, in 1972 this was downgraded to a more affordable "mainly reusable" concept. It was this very reusability that, combined with the man-rated requirement, caused a major increase in operational costs. The requirement to strip down the rocket engines and do extensive checking of the tiled thermal-protection system after every mission increased the launch cost and reduced turnaround times. These factors also conspired to give the Space Shuttle such a low flight rate that the partially reusable system nearly became the most expensive launch vehicle ever to fly. Only the Saturn V and the Titan IV expendable rockets were more costly on a per-launch basis.
As expendable rocket systems reach maturity, rocket designers are examining what should come next. Despite past failures, the dream of having airline style operations with launch vehicles achieving high utilisation continues to intrigue engineers.
Advances in materials and engine technologies led some designers to consider that single-stage-to-orbit reusable operations could be possible. After flirting with a jet-scramjet-rocket design called the National Aerospace Plane (NASP) and its scramjet-powered X-30 prototype, NASA came up with the X-33 VentureStar precursor - a vertically launched/horizontal-landing test vehicle using novel aerospike rocket and composite tank technologies - and supported the further development of a lightweight aeroshell vertical-launch/vertical-landing test design called Delta Clipper (DC-X) by McDonnell Douglas. Of this latter pair, the suborbital DC-X flew, showing that vertical rocket-powered landings could be achieved. However, technology failures, combined with payload limitations, meant derivative single-stage-to-orbit reusable systems were unlikely to become a reality, and both programmes were cancelled. Nevertheless, the dream of economic reusable launch vehicles persists.
The main way of achieving this is to use air-breathing propulsion for horizontal take-offs and landings with wings. This is a way of increasing the specific impulse of an engine in the early part of the flight, reducing the need to carry heavy oxygen into orbit, making possible a high flight rate. Any air-breathing vehicle needs a shallow trajectory - which means using wings, which add extra weight. However, wings allow for benign lift-off, landing, and abort procedures.
Jet engines are very efficient during the air-breathing phase, though they can only really be used up to about Mach 3. Ramjets are light and work well, but only have limited Mach range (Mach 1-5) and have to be boosted initially to work. Scramjets (supersonic combustion ramjets) also need to be boosted. As efficient as air-breathing concepts are, once atmospheric oxygen runs out a rocket system is needed for orbital injection.
A designer named Alan Bond, then working for Rolls-Royce, teamed with British Aerospace to design HOTOL (horizontal take-off and landing). This concept used an air-breathing cycle with a rocket engine at its core. The idea was to use a "pre-cooler" heat exchanger to cool intake air to where it could be compressed and injected directly into the engine's rocket thrust chamber for the early part of the flight. Later in the flight, the engines would convert to rocket power only. Having got to Mach 5 using air breathing, the vehicle would need much less onboard oxygen to achieve orbital velocity on rocket power. This, in conjunction with lightweight aeroshell thermal-projection systems, promised a practical single-stage reusable vehicle.
Overweight
Nevertheless, The HOTOL spaceplane design had some fundamental faults: the intake was large and heavy, and placing the rocket engines at the rear of the vehicle meant that large trimming devices were needed for centre-of-lift/centre-of-gravity mismatches. All this extra weight meant that HOTOL could not actually carry a positive payload.
Having broken away from Rolls-Royce, Bond and fellow designer Richard Varvill set up Reaction Engines to improve the concept. The firm came up with the Skylon design, which addressed the design problems of HOTOL, moving the location of the engines.
Reaction Engines is now testing the "pre-cooler" heat exchanger. If tests are successful, the next phase includes building a small-scale flight vehicle to test the aerodynamics and intake design.
While the ESA has backed research in the mainly privately-funded project, politics may yet end this support. France, via its Arianespace interests, has long dominated ESA's launch programme and is likely to prefer to building a modular expendable rocket called Ariane 6 as the next European launch vehicle.
Nevertheless, other space agencies and organisations are interested in Skylon's air-breathing technologies - including NASA, which sent rocket experts to Skylon's technical review in 2010. Meanwhile, Japan's space agency JAXA continues to work on similar heat-exchange systems via its ATREX air-turbo ramjet programme.
SpaceX and Blue Origin prefer vertically launched reusable two-stage launch vehicles. Two-stage, vertically launched winged rocket systems (such as the Space Shuttle's original design) and horizontally launched two-stage types have been studied in the past, but most two-stage systems now being considered employ two wingless, vertically launched stages using conventional rocket propulsion. This effort is now being led mainly by private companies as they examine systems to carry manned capsules and unmanned spacecraft to orbit.
The first effort at using a two-stage reusable was by Kistler (later Rocketplane Kistler). Its K-1 rocket design used Russian liquid-oxygen/kerosene NK-33 engines to power a two-stage launch vehicle - both stages were designed to return to Earth and land using a combination of parachutes and air bags. Rocketplane Kistler was awarded a major NASA contract in 2006, but collapsed before the system could be built.
Amazon billionaire Jeff Bezos formed Blue Origin to build systems to compete to launch humans and materials into orbit. Blue Origin plans to have a first stage landing vertically on a seaborne landing pad/aircraft carrier. Only the first stage is set to be reusable, with the upper one being expendable. The reusable launch vehicle will eventually be used for a bi-conic manned-capsule design, but only after the capsule has been launched on an expendable Atlas V.
Meantime, Blue Origin has been working on a suborbital reusable stage dubbed New Shepard by which to mature techniques and hardware. Its test regime had to be temporarily halted after a failure destroyed the craft in August 2011.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), under the leadership of Elon Musk, has been examining how to perform reusable launches. It plans to have two vertically launched, vertically landing main reusable stages. Any manned/unmanned capsule carried might also be reusable.
SpaceX's concept uses a first-stage derivative of the Falcon 9, which would be launched on a suborbital trajectory with the second stage and capsule/service module attached above it. After the second stage separates to fly into orbit, the first stage will be aimed back towards the launch site and make an engine firing to return from its position down range. After a ballistic approach, the stage will stabilise to an engine-down position and land vertically.
Meantime, the reusable Falcon 9 second stage would deliver its payload into orbit, and on the next close pass it would re-enter and also land vertically back at the base. While this would not be as difficult to achieve as it would for a single-stage rocket-powered vehicle, doubts remain about the extra weight needed for the stages' thermal-protection systems and about the mass of fuel required for their rocket-based landings.
Drop everything
A third route to reusability would be to go partially reusable, using winged rocket boosters. The US Air Force's plan to replace the evolved expendable launch vehicles Atlas V and Delta IV rockets with a successor that will be at least partially reusable is gaining traction. While commercial space launch firms are apparently plumping for rocket-powered vertical touchdowns, the concept of horizontal landings for vertically launched rockets - at least for the initial boosters - remains attractive to military and government operators.
There is also the option of dropping a partially reusable rocket from a reusable "Stage 0" aircraft. Since 1990 Orbital Sciences' Pegasus expendable four-stage solid-rocket winged vehicle has been dropped from a B-52 bomber or a modified Lockheed L-1011 Tristar passenger jet. The idea is that being released at high altitude and with a 500kt velocity increment from the aircraft reduces the amount of energy needed to make a climb to orbit.
Other firms have examined air-dropping for rocket launches. Most recently, the Stratolaunch system was announced. This will use a six-engined carrier aircraft developed by Scaled Composites that will drop-launch a scaled-down, probably reusable version of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. Whether such a vehicle is practical remains to be seen, but the Stratolaunch firm enjoys access to serious capital and appears to be proceeding at a rapid pace.
In a separate development, Boeing is now also examining an air-dropped concept for a multi-stage air-breathing small-satellite reusable launcher. This launch vehicle would employ two air-breathing delta-winged/waverider stages using jet and scramjet propulsion respectively, followed by a conventionally powered rocket third stage (which itself might also be reusable) to finally achieve orbit.
Whichever route is chosen, launch operators will be careful not to let manned operations skew the operating economics of their reusable launch vehicles. There are signs that NASA is sympathetic to this as it concentrates on its requirements for manned launch-escape systems rather than trying for the unattainable mirage of the total reliability and systems redundancy for the launch vehicles that will carry its astronauts.
Do deep space quests start with this rover prototype?
Experts: Test machine will pave way to true solar system treks
Todd Halvorson - Florida Today
The U.S. and Canada are setting the stage for a lunar prospecting mission aimed at demonstrating technologies that could open the solar system to human exploration.
In a sandy yard at Kennedy Space Center, engineers and scientists are developing a prototype of a rover designed to extract oxygen from hydrogen-rich lunar soil and produce water.
The four-wheeled prototype will face critical field tests in Hawaii in July. A fully tested, flight-ready rover still needs to be developed, and a launch vehicle still must be procured.
But project managers are confident that their technology development project eventually will be elevated to a fully funded mission — one that would be cost-capped at $250 million.
“It is the next logical step” in lunar exploration, said William Larson, whose title is In Situ Utilization Project Manager at KSC.
“And I fully believe that this is eventually going to happen. We’re going to get there,” he said. “And it’s really going to be a game-changer for how we explore and how we utilize the resources of space.”
Manufacturing water on the moon would yield oxygen for astronauts to breathe, as well as provide water for drinking, cooling systems, radiation shielding, growing plants and even for rocket propellant.
Deep-space mission costs would drop dramatically because spacecraft would be able to refuel at propellant depots — eliminating the need to carry up all fuel from Earth’s surface.
The prototype being developed at KSC — dubbed Artemis Jr. — is equipped with a U-shaped Canadian rover, Canadian excavating tools, and U.S. science instruments.
It would use a scientific divining rod — a neutron spectrometer — to locate hydrogen-rich soils, likely at a site near the moon’s south poles. Lunar soils contain abundant oxygen.
Rotary, percussion and corkscrewing drills and augers would extract regolith from the lunar surface to a depth of one meter.
Then samples would be heated up in an oven that could convert oxygen and hydrogen to water vapor and ultimately, water drops.
A second oven would analyze samples for hydrogen, helium, carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, methane, nitrogen, ammonia and other chemical constituents.
Methane is another useful rocket propellant. Hydrogen and carbon monoxide can be combined to make it.
The next big step for the technology development project is to travel to Hilo, on the island of Hawaii, for field tests near Mauna Kea, a towering volcano that last erupted 4,600 years ago.
Larson said the Mauna Kea region provides the most lunar-like soil on Earth, and the goal is to simulate a full nine-day mission for the solar-powered rover, one in which more than two dozen soil samples are extracted and processed.
The rover will travel about three kilometers, or 1.8 miles, and Ewan Reid, an operations engineer with the Canadian Neptec Design Group, will be one of the people driving the prototype.
“It’s pretty rewarding to be able to participate in a project like this. It’s something that’s unique,” said Reid, 34, who worked nine of the last 12 space shuttle flights as a robotics officer in the Mission Control Center in Houston.
“This is something that's new, that’s never been done, and while we’re not on the moon yet, getting to practice in Hawaii will be the first step along the way. And so it means a lot to me. It’s not just your average job. So I do the best I can all the time.”
In a new space race, the Dragon, and Musk, have landed
Dan Turner - Los Angeles Times (Opinion)
Elon Musk, the billionaire founder of Hawthorne-based Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has been compared to Tony Stark, Marvel Comics' billionaire inventor who dons a high-tech suit of armor to become Iron Man (Musk actually had a cameo in "Iron Man 2," and the SpaceX factory was used as a set for the film). But there's a far less super-powered and slightly less sane figure from real life that he resembles more: Howard Hughes.
Hughes, a visionary who helped build Southern California's aerospace industry from scratch, was a pioneer in an era when entrepreneurs were figuring out how to make air travel, heretofore the province of military air forces, hobbyists and Lindbergh-like daredevils, commercially viable. Musk's SpaceX is doing very much the same thing, only in space. And its remarkable success this week propels SpaceX's place in the public imagination from the company that failed to shoot James "Scotty" Doohan's ashes beyond Earth's orbit into a prime player in the commercial space race, a maker of history and, one can hope, a catalyst for the rebirth of Southern California's once-thriving aerospace industry.
When SpaceX's Dragon capsule splashed down Thursday morning in the Pacific Ocean, it marked the completion of the first privately operated mission to deliver supplies to the International Space Station, a job previously handled by NASA's fleet of now-retired space shuttles. This was more than just a technological feat; it was a political coup for advocates of reducing NASA's role in near-Earth missions so it can concentrate on exploring deeper into space, a proposal resisted not only by members of Congress -- who fear this shift will cost jobs at NASA facilities in their districts -- but by astronauts and other space experts who don't think the private sector is up to the task. SpaceX has just proved them resoundingly wrong.
Pause for a minute to consider how remarkable this accomplishment was. After 17 months of planning, SpaceX launched an unmanned rocket to send the Dragon into space, where it approached the space station -- cruising at 17,500 miles per hour as it orbits the planet -- and, without a pilot, maneuvered close enough to be grabbed by the station's robotic arm. From there, it was up to astronauts on the station to dock the craft and unload its 1,000-pound payload of food, clothing and other supplies. The Dragon deployed its parachutes as it reentered the atmosphere and appears to have made a perfect touchdown.
And all this cost taxpayers a fraction of what it would for NASA to do the job. According to the Wall Street Journal, each shuttle mission cost the agency roughly $1 billion. SpaceX, meanwhile, has a contract with NASA to perform 12 cargo flights (this first one was a test run and doesn't count) to the space station for $1.6 billion -- a savings of $10.4 billion (that's not counting the $400 million or so in seed money that NASA has invested into SpaceX's cargo operations, so we'll make it an even $10 billion).
SpaceX isn't the only player in this game. Boeing Co. is getting into the commercial space business, and Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos aims to out-Stark Musk by founding his own space start-up, Blue Origin. SpaceX's most serious competitor, meanwhile, is a company in Dulles, Va., calledOrbital Sciences Corp., which also has a big cargo contract with NASA and is testing its own rocket later this year. None of them are as far advanced as SpaceX, though, because their founders didn't start as early as Musk, who was among the first to see the potential of private space operations.
SpaceX, which employs 1,800 people, is located in a Hawthorne factory where Boeing once made fuselages for 747s, signaling a rebirth for an industry devastated by consolidation in the 1990s. The aerospace house that Hughes built is never likely to fully recover, but it's encouraging that California can still attract and nurture visionaries with the means to make their outrageous sci-fi fantasies real.
Flight of the Dragon
Larry M. Elkin - Wall Street Pit
For more than half a century, space has been the exclusive preserve of governments, a United Nations in the heavens. Now, capitalism has crossed the atmospheric frontier.
The Dragon space capsule landed safely in the Pacific Ocean after a nine-day mission, carrying with it 1,455 pounds of cargo from the International Space Station and hope for a new era of space travel and exploration. Built and flown by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, Dragon is the first privately developed and operated spacecraft to travel to the space station.
The test mission began May 22 when the Falcon 9 rocket, also built by SpaceX, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla., carrying the unmanned Dragon capsule. The capsule then had to catch up to the space station as it circled the earth at about 17,000 miles per hour. Once it did, the Dragon was pulled in by a robotic arm operated by the space station crew. On the capsule’s way back to Earth, three giant parachutes, each 116 feet in diameter, eased its descent.
The successful test flight will likely allow SpaceX to begin flying other cargo missions to the space station as part of its 12-flight, $1.6 billion contract with NASA. Another private company, Orbital Sciences Corp, has a contract with NASA similar to SpaceX’s and is expected to unveil its own cargo spacecraft later this year. Blue Origin, Boeing and Sierra Nevada have also received NASA funding to develop means of carrying cargo and astronauts to and from the space station.
The Dragon’s flight came nearly one year after NASA stopped operating the space shuttle Atlantis, which completed 33 missions between 1985 and 2011. By supporting a George W. Bush-era directive nixing the space shuttle program, President Obama brought those missions to an end. In the short term, Russian and European shuttles stepped in. At the time, however, Obama said he hoped to shift responsibility for carrying space-station-bound crews and cargo from the public sector to the private sector. The last flight of the Atlantis marked the end of one era. After a short gap, the flight of the Dragon marked the start of the next.
Just the day before the Dragon’s return, the Federal Aviation Administration paved the way for another milestone in private space travel, granting permission for Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo to begin rocket-powered test flights. The SpaceShipTwo, which holds six passengers and two pilots, is operated by Virgin Galactic and is intended to offer the first chance for private citizens to travel to sub-orbital space. Around 500 people have already booked rides at a cost of $200,000 a person. While the test flights will not include passengers, the FAA’s approval is a sign that those space tourists’ departure dates are getting closer.
Meanwhile, another company, Planetary Resources Inc., has said that it is looking into the possibility of mining rare metals from asteroids. While the venture’s first step – developing telescopes to examine asteroids more closely – is less glamorous than the efforts of SpaceX or Virgin Galactic, the project has already won the backing of an all-star roster of high-tech investors, including Google’s chief executive, Larry Page.
When the Atlantis made its final touchdown last year, I worried that the landing might signal an end to U.S. dominance in the aerospace industry. As I noted at the time, China has ambitious plans for its own space program, and those plans appear to be progressing rapidly. China did not send a human into orbit until 2003 – 41 years after John Glenn accomplished the same feat – but it now intends to have a manned space station assembled by approximately 2020, around the time that the International Space Station is expected to be retired. With funding to NASA decreasing, China’s government-sponsored space program may soon rival our own.
The private space industry, however, is still largely, if not uniquely, an American enterprise. Through hard work, creativity and sheer passion for discovery (as well as for potential profit), private companies such as SpaceX are opening new frontiers.
Meanwhile, released from the burden of conducting regular supply missions for the space station, NASA plans to focus on other projects, such as sending humans to Mars. The agency has set a goal of reaching the red planet by 2033. It may have competition, however, if it wants to be the first to get there: Elon Musk, chief executive of SpaceX, has said he hopes to get humans to Mars in just 10 years and is relatively confident of achieving the goal in no more than 20 years.
Whether done by public entities or private ones, space travel is not easy. A first attempt to launch the Dragon on May 19 ended when the engines of the Falcon 9 shut off almost immediately after firing. But reaching for the stars is worth doing. It offers us both the opportunity to build scientific knowledge that can help us on our own planet and a chance to see beyond our world.
The Dragon’s accomplishment brings us one step closer to the day when going into space will be pretty much like traveling anywhere else: crowded, uncomfortable, prone to abrupt delays and cancellations, but still something that many of us will want, and will be able, to do.
An Astronaut’s Thoughts on SpaceX Dragon Success
Tom Jones - Popular Mechanics (Commentary)
(Jones is a former astronaut and author of Sky Walking: An Astronaut’s Memoir)
Late last month, while I was in a hotel ballroom packed with more astronauts, engineers, scientists, and space policy experts than you’d find in Houston’s Mission Control, all eyes were on the Dragon, the SpaceX cargo capsule that launched early on May 22 to the International Space Station (ISS). Timed as if to kick-start the AIAA Global Space Exploration Conference in Washington, D.C., Dragon rocketed to orbit, wowing the conferees and returning on May 31 from a demonstration cargo run to the ISS. The success marked the first such visit by a privately designed and built spacecraft. More important, it marked a vital NASA milestone in reopening the U.S. supply line to the space station, and brought closer the space agency’s goal of sending its astronauts aloft on American rockets.
When Dragon sliced into the Pacific swells off Baja, Mexico, last Thursday, it completed a list of accomplishments. It was the third successful launch of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and the second success for the Dragon spacecraft; despite some launch delays, both components are batting 1.000. Dragon on this flight maneuvered with rocket thrusters and completed an autonomous rendezvous with ISS, a first for a private spacecraft. Dragon’s sensors and software "parked" Dragon safely just 30 feet from ISS, where astronauts grabbed it with the ISS robot arm. The capsule spent nearly a week at ISS, delivering 1100 pounds of cargo. These were nonessential items, but SpaceX plans the first of a dozen paying cargo runs this fall. And the company’s success buoys the hope that NASA can supply the station for research without depending on foreign launchers.
For an astronaut, the import of Dragon’s test flight was twofold. First, it means that NASA can start to fill the 40-ton cargo shortfall it faces at ISS, supplying the six-person outpost with the research and habitation supplies needed for full productivity. Unlike the Russian, European, and Japanese robot cargo ships currently flying, SpaceX’s Dragon can make a round trip. On this first ISS run, it returned about 1400 pounds of cargo safely to Earth. Most was used or obsolete equipment, along with a few pounds of science samples. This return capability, lost with the shuttle’s retirement, is an important plus for Dragon and key to getting the most from space station research.
Second, it means chances are better that my colleagues might soon be riding to and from the station on a safe, economical spaceship. The SpaceX success brightens the prospects of NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, hiring commercial firms to fly US astronauts to ISS. The reusable Dragon is aimed at meeting that need; NASA hopes to have a private astronaut transport ready by 2017. There are many design milestones and test flights still to come, but Dragon shows that NASA may be on the right path to end the necessity of paying $60 million per astronaut to fly to orbit on the Russian Soyuz.
ISS astronauts were impressed with Dragon as a potential transport ship, finding its roomy interior clean and inviting. The mission’s success may build support in Congress for NASA’s dual approach to human spaceflight: fly cargo and crew to low Earth orbit on commercial rockets, built and operated privately, and with those savings focus on deep-space travel with the government’s Orion spacecraft, intended to reach the Moon, lunar orbit outposts, and nearby asteroids. Orion’s first unmanned test flight is planned for 2014.
SpaceX’s success might help out NASA on Capitol Hill too. An influential House member, Congressman Frank Wolf (R-Va.), last week expressed measured support for NASA’s private astronaut transport competition, a switch from his earlier skepticism. The shift may free up to $800 million in 2013 NASA funding for SpaceX and other industry competitors seeking the astronaut transport contract. Wolf and other congressional critics were pressuring NASA to pick a single transport company now, the idea being to save time and money. NASA wanted to continue to seed up to four competing companies. Dragon’s success may win NASA more leeway to manage several competing space transport companies and get them the funding needed to mature their designs. More competition may mean a better long-term solution for taxpayers and a safer ship for NASA crews.
Dragon took one giant leap last week in restoring an American path to space. We must follow up by accelerating the commercial effort, getting astronauts aloft well before 2017. We shouldn’t have to wait five more years for the NASA–commercial partnership to get off the ground.
The cultural legacy of the last space shuttle
Mick O'Hare - New Scientist
The chance to see the Air France Concorde, the second world war Hawker Hurricane and the undeniably evil-looking airframe of the SR-71 Blackbird is not to be sniffed at. But the newest exhibit at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum at the Steven Udvar-Hazy Center near Washington DC’s Dulles Airport, puts these feats of aeronautical engineering to shame. At the back of the museum’s hangers you get to come nose to nose with NASA’s just-retired space shuttle, Discovery.
There has, of course, been a space shuttle at the Udvar-Hazy for many years but not one so scarred, pitted and, frankly, dirty as this one. “Discovery’s spot was once occupied by Enterprise,” says Valerie Neal, Discovery’s curator. “but Enterprise was pristine. It had never flown in space and parts of it were unfinished or just dummies. Discovery is so much more exciting - the real thing.” That’s a thought tens of thousands shared when they turned out on roadsides and rooftops to see Discovery’s arrival into Washington DC in April. Crowds ran through the museum doors the day it first went on display.
And Neal is right, it was obviously a working vehicle. The protective heat-shield tiles are burnt where the atmosphere has scored them - some are damaged. The blankets on the orbiter’s upper surfaces no longer gleam white - they have become tanned with age. It really does look like it has flown in space 39 times. “Look how the burn marks on the tiles are almost vertical to the orbiter’s body,” Neal remarks. “That’s because of the angle at which the shuttle descends through the atmosphere, 17 times steeper than an airliner descends.”
During deceleration, from 28,000 to 350 kilometres per hour in a mere 45 minutes, the tiles on the underside and the front edge of the stubby wings had to withstand temperatures of up to 1650 °C. To withstand that kind of heat the tiles are made of 10 per cent high purity silica, with the remaining 90 per cent just empty space to aid cooling. Each tile has been individually shaped for its exact position on the orbiter, and while roughly 100 were replaced after each mission, because of heat damage or a collision with specks of space debris, 16,000 still remain from Discovery’s first flight in 1984.
The fuselage is pitted with ports. These holes were used for manoeuvring, cooling and vents for the shuttle’s waste products. Combined with the texture of the craft’s tiles, it gives the whole thing a surprisingly porous appearance - far different from the shiny, sealed shuttle I had always imagined.
Despite having a new prize exhibit outside her office, Neal is disappointed that the shuttles no longer fly. “The budget isn’t there any more,” she laments, “and using commercial vehicles, like the new Dragon capsule, saves money. The orbiters were never fully reusable. They couldn’t return to Earth and launch again without heavy servicing between missions.”
But Discovery achieved a huge amount, spending a total of 365 days in space over its 39 missions. Used to launch the Hubble telescope, it also broke an altitude record for orbiters. “It was the champion of the entire shuttle fleet,” says Neal. “It carried Eileen Collins, the first female pilot of a shuttle in 1995 and had already carried Frederick Gregory, the first African American commander of a shuttle mission in 1989. Senator John Glenn (the third American in space) returned to space in Discovery aged 77 and it carried the first Russian launched in an American spacecraft, Sergei Krikalev.”
This is the key to Discovery’s most important legacy, says Neal. The very first astronauts were white male air force officers. Since then Discovery has carried people into space from all walks of life - regardless of sex, race and nationality. “The pool of people capable of going into space has increased so much and Discovery reflects this,” she explains. “Space travel has changed hand-in-hand with society. This is what Discovery represents.”
There’s One More Shuttle That Needs a Home
Heather Goss - Air & Space Smithsonian Magazine
Inside a warehouse in Downey, California, a one-winged space shuttle sits underneath a blanket of Tyvek sheeting. It’s not a real space shuttle. Well, it sort of is? Let’s just say it played a real role in shuttle history.
While space museums around the country were competing fiercely to be the next home for Discovery, Atlantis, Endeavour, and Enterprise, and even a couple months ago, when Houston was finally rewarded with the mock-up Explorer shuttle that used to greet space fans at Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Center, this unnamed shuttle in Southern California went largely unknown and un-fought for.
It’s a full-scale mock-up that was built in 1972 by Rockwell International (now Boeing) as part of the original space shuttle Request for Proposals process. When NASA awarded Rockwell the contract, the mock-up was kept on site and became the hands-on model for much of the shuttle’s design. Each time a new instrument was built, it was placed into the mostly plastic and wood panels to make sure it would fit properly with the existing structure. Model payloads were fitted in the cargo bay; it even has an aluminum (and non-functioning) Canadarm. The mock-up only has one wing because, of course, two would be redundant for a bird that wasn’t flying anywhere. Over the decades, this artifact lived the history of the space shuttle’s evolution.
The building where the shuttle sits now has an even longer aerospace history. The original hangars in Downey, just outside of Los Angeles, were where North American Aviation developed the P-51 Mustang and the XB-70, the first supersonic bomber. Later, when the company became North American Rockwell, they built the Apollo lunar lander there. Boeing took over the facility during the shuttle years, and held the aerospace factory until 1999, when the Downey plant was closed. The next year, the city purchased the shuttle mock-up from NASA, and eventually sold the buildings and airfields to the Industrial Realty Group, which leased it to a film studio (which then built a six million-gallon fake lake on the property). IRG agreed to keep housing the shuttle, but it would have to be moved out of the way of the cameras.
The city of Downey enlisted a conservation company to undertake the relocation project. The mock-up was carefully disassembled, during which time it was discovered that it wasn’t just used for instrumentation upgrades during the shuttle fleet’s lifetime, but was also used to work out changes in the original design. From a report by Griswold Conservation Associates:
Evidence of previous configurations of the mock-up was revealed upon separation of the wing from the fuselage. Black and white paint configurations and other markings made with adhered striping tape suggested an earlier configuration, seen in an early photograph. Further research showed that the meeting point of the OMS system housings flanking the vertical stabilizer with the back end of the cargo bay door reflected an earlier version, later changed by NASA.
Fast forward another decade, and the property is changing hands yet again. The studio has closed, and because IRG plans to build commercial developments on the property, they’re insisting that the city finally take possession of the shuttle. The Downey City Council will meet tonight to finalize those plans, (according to a local paper, The Downey Beat), which includes relocating the shuttle to a storage facility at a nearby parking lot — also owned by IRG, which will lease the space for $1. Between $100,000 from IRG and a federal community development grant, the city wouldn’t have to cough up much to house the shuttle, at least in the first year. The Beat reports that IRG will lease the new site to the city for two years, and then the piece of aerospace history is going to need yet another home.
Where will it go then? The city of Downey could build a permanent structure for the shuttle and, since the mock-up isn’t a precious white-glove-only artifact like the three space-traveling orbiters, it could allow visitors to crawl around inside — which might make it worth visiting over its soon-to-be-neighbor Endeavour. Or they could probably make a bundle by offering it up to cities like Dayton, which desperately wanted an orbiter, but lost out in the competition.
What say you, Downey? What’s to become of this piece of American space history?
END
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