6/20/ news

 
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
 
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            'Summer of Curiosity' Week Two - Choose Your Martian Destination and Crew
2.            Project Management Institute Clear Lake Galveston Chapter Presentation
3.            Women in the Workplace: Being an Influence Leader (Panel Discussion)
4.            Recent JSC Announcement
5.            'Human Exploration of Mars Performed With Robots From a Base on Phobos'
6.            Human Systems Integration Brown Bag Today
7.            Get to Know the Orion Team
8.            Monthly HSI ERG Meeting Featuring Astronaut Stephen Robinson Next Tuesday
9.            Let Your Voice Be Heard! 2012 Employee Viewpoint Survey
10.          June INCOSE Model-Based Systems Engineering Event at Space Center Houston
11.          Registration Deadline - APPEL - Project Planning, Analysis and Control
12.          Fall Protection Authorized User: July 25 - Building 226N, Room 174
13.          Do You Know What's Going on Around the Space Industry?
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ We must use time as a tool, not as a crutch. ”
 
-- John F. Kennedy
________________________________________
1.            'Summer of Curiosity' Week Two - Choose Your Martian Destination and Crew
Welcome to the second week of the "Summer of Curiosity" Mission to Mars Challenge. This week, your first objective is to continue to learn about the surface of Mars by watching a series of videos, and then use your newfound knowledge to choose the landing site that will be inhabited by a crew of astronauts. Once you have chosen your landing site, illustrate the location with a model, map or image. Your second objective is to choose the number of astronauts needed for the mission and determine the areas of expertise needed to complete a six-month journey to Mars, a one-year stay and a six-month return trip to Earth.
 
Please visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/johnson/student-activities/summ... for more information.
 
Brought to you by the JSC External Relations Office, Office of Education, x40331.
 
Patricia Moore x36686 http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/johnson/student-activities...
 
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2.            Project Management Institute Clear Lake Galveston Chapter Presentation
The Project Management Institute Clear Lake Galveston Chapter presents "The Doolittle Tokyo Raid - A Project Management Success Story," on June 28 from 6 to 8 p.m. The presenter, Walter Viali, will analyze the events of the Doolittle Tokyo Raid using the knowledge areas of the PMBOK® Guide. The meeting will be held at Mario's Flying Pizza Restaurant (618 W. NASA Road 1). Please make your reservation by noon on Tuesday, June 26.
 
Register online at http://www.pmiclg.org (preferred method). The cost of the meeting is $20. Dinner is included.
 
Email: VP-Programs@PMICLG.ORG
 
Registration/social - 6 p.m.; Dinner - 6:30 to 7 p.m.; Program - 7 to 8 p.m.
 
One professional development unit hour credit is achieved by attending this presentation.
 
Cheyenne McKeegan x31016
 
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3.            Women in the Workplace: Being an Influence Leader (Panel Discussion)
As part of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer Subject Matter Expert 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 tomorrow, 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 via the link below or by searching the catalog for the course title.
 
Donna Blackshear-Reynolds x32814 https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHED...
 
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4.            Recent JSC Announcement
Please visit the JSC Announcements Web page to view the newly posted announcement:
 
JSCA 12-015: Key Personnel Assignment - Delene Sedillo
 
Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx
 
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5.            'Human Exploration of Mars Performed With Robots From a Base on Phobos'
The JSC Chapter of the NASA Alumni League is sponsoring a special lecture by Dr. S. Fred Singer on the topic, "The Robotic Exploration of Mars From a Human Base on Phobos (Or Diemos)."
 
Singer is a distinguished space scientist who has held many important positions within the U.S government, as well as senior academic positions at the University of Miami and the University of Virginia. He is a Fellow of the AAAS, AIAA and the American Geophysical Union.
 
Singer's lecture will be held tomorrow evening, June 21, in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom from 7:15 to 9 p.m. All are welcome. There is no RSVP requirement and no charge to attend. Coffee will be provided. More information is available from Norman Chaffee at 713-944-2461.
 
Norman Chaffee 713-944-2461
 
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6.            Human Systems Integration Brown Bag Today
Human Systems Integration (HSI) is the process by which human considerations are incorporated into the full design, development and operations lifecycle. 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 is today 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 onsite badging assistance, please contact Carolyn Fritz at carolyn.g.fritz@nasa.gov or 281-483-2017.
 
Carolyn Fritz x32017
 
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7.            Get to Know the Orion Team
With the first Orion spacecraft soon to be moved to the launch site in preparation for Orion's first space flight test, Exploration Flight Test-1 planned for 2014, it is time to learn more about the JSC team behind Orion. Get to know Orion Avionics, Power and Wiring Manager Matthew Lemke at http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/lemke_profile.html
 
The profile is the first in a series to introduce the people behind the development of the spacecraft.
 
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
 
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8.            Monthly HSI ERG Meeting Featuring Astronaut Stephen Robinson Next Tuesday
The Human Systems Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) will hold its monthly meeting Tuesday, June 26, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 1, Room 220. Astronaut Stephen Robinson will present information on a new university-based research center in the field of HSI. The Human/Vehicle Integration and Performance Laboratory at the University of California, Davis, will target machine-enhanced human performance in hazardous environments (atmospheric aviation, human spaceflight and surgical robotics). It is anticipated that the research center will integrate the disciplines of engineering, psychology and neuroscience in a uniquely multi-disciplinary approach to HSI research. Please bring your lunch and join us! If you can't join us in person, contact Deb Neubek for telecom and WebEx information.
 
Deb Neubek 281-222-3687 http://collaboration.jsc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx
 
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9.            Let Your Voice Be Heard! 2012 Employee Viewpoint Survey
If you're a civil servant and haven't done so already, please complete the 2012 Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey. You should have already received an email from "Federal Employee Viewpoint Survey" with a link to the survey. This assessment gauges employees' attitudes and perceptions for topic areas such as leadership and knowledge management, performance culture and job satisfaction. The ultimate goal of the survey is to provide agencies with a true perspective of current strengths and challenge areas. We encourage your voluntary participation in this survey and hope you view this as an opportunity to influence positive change in our agency. Prior to taking the survey, we encourage you to visit the newly created Employee Viewpoint Resources Web page posted on the JSC Human Resources portal. This site provides information regarding 2011 survey results, utilization of the results and quick reference links to other employee resources.
 
Paul Cruz x31158 https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/jsc_human_capital/294/emp...
 
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10.          June INCOSE Model-Based Systems Engineering Event at Space Center Houston
Lenny Delligatti will present a session on Model-Based Systems Engineering (MBSE) with the Systems Modeling Language (SysML). MBSE is the formalized application of modeling to support systems engineering activities throughout the system lifecycle. Delligatti will give an overview of the MBSE approach, an overview of SysML and provide evidence of the return on investment that MBSE offers over traditional document-based approaches.
 
Delligatti is a Lockheed Martin systems engineer currently serving on the Facilities Development and Operations Contract in support of JSC's Mission Control Center System. He holds the OCSMP advanced certification, the highest level of certification offered in SysML and MBSE.
 
The event is tomorrow, June 21, at Space Center Houston in the Saturn Room (up elevator next to the gift shop). Social and networking is 5:30 p.m., and the speaker starts at 6:15 p.m.
 
Larry Spratlin 281-461-5218
 
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11.          Registration Deadline - APPEL - Project Planning, Analysis and Control
This five-day course offers a foundation in program planning, analysis and control, and provides intensive instruction in project management fundamentals across the entire project lifecycle. Course content covers the areas of technical integration of project elements, design and discipline functions and their associated interactions to balance performance, cost, schedule, reliability and operability. Proven strategies and practical tools for planning, executing and controlling a variety of projects are presented.
 
This course is now available for self-registration in SATERN until Friday, June 22, and is open to civil servants and contractors on a space-available basis.
 
Dates: Monday through Friday, July 9 to 13
Location: Gilruth Center Lone Star Room
 
Zeeaa Quadri x39723 https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHED...
 
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12.          Fall Protection Authorized User: July 25 - Building 226N, Room 174
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0311-AU
This class is geared to training Authorized User persons, who are the end-users of the fall-protection equipment, and teaches the proper methods for utilizing fall-protection equipment at heights. Upon completion of this course, the student should: Understand all stages of the fall protection hierarchy; Know the four parts of a fall-arrest system; Understand the fall-protection training requirements; Be able to demonstrate the proper donning of the harness and proper usage of the equipment; Be able to identify when and where the equipment is needed; Be able to inspect fall-protection equipment; Know how to properly care for and maintain fall-protection equipment; And be familiar with the effects of harness tension and pressures of the harness on the body.
 
There will be a final exam associated with this course. Use this direct link to register in SATERN: https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
 
Shirley Robinson x41284
 
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13.          Do You Know What's 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 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 email of all the day's space news.
 
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
 
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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.
 
 
 
 
WEBCAST: 9 am Central (10 EDT) – Senate Subcommittee on Science & Space hearing:
       “Risks, Opportunities & Oversight of Commercial Space”
http://commerce.senate.gov/public/
 
Witness Panel
·         Bill Gerstenmaier - AA, Human Exploration and Operations (NASA)
·         Pam Melroy USAF (ret.) - Sr Tech. Adv., Office of Commercial Space Transportation (FAA)
·         Gerald Dillingham - Director of Civil Aviation Issues (GAO)
·         Michael Gold - Director, DC Operations & Business Growth (Bigelow Aerospace, LLC)
·         Michael Lopez-Alegria USN (ret.) - President, Commercial Spaceflight Federation
 
NASA TV:
·         11 am Central (Noon EDT) - Video of Expedition 32/33 Qual Training Sim Runs at Star City
·         3:10 pm Central (4:10 EDT) – Administrator Charlie Bolden calls the NEEMO 16 Crew
 
Human Spaceflight News
Wednesday, June 20, 2012
 
HEADLINES AND LEADS
 
Bolden: Commercial Crew Awards Expected in Mid-July
 
Doug Messier - Parabolic Arc
 
During a press conference Monday morning about a NASA-FAA agreement on commercial crew oversight, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was asked about the agency’s plans for awarding the next phase of the program. Bolden said the agency fully expects to announce the winners of the Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) round in mid-July. The awards, which will cover all aspects of commercial vehicle development, will last for 21 months.
 
Russian Cosmonauts Have 'Alien Instructions'
 
RIA Novosti
 
The UN has developed detailed instructions in case of a first contact with aliens, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka said answering a question on Chinese TV. “The UN and representatives of China have developed detailed instructions in case of the first contact,” Padalka said.
 
China Plans First Manual Space Docking June 24
 
Bradley Perrett - Aerospace Daily
 
Chinese astronauts plan to execute their country’s first manual space docking maneuver on June 24, six days after the automatic docking of their Shenzhou 9 spacecraft allowed them to move into the Tiangong orbital laboratory. The June 18 transfer was the first time that astronauts had floated from one Chinese spacecraft to another.
 
You've Got Mail! Chinese Astronauts Get Email in Space
 
Space.com
 
Three Chinese astronauts made history Monday when their spaceship successfully docked to a prototype space lab in orbit for the first time, but the spaceflyers hit another milestone today (June 19): They received their first email in space, according to state media reports. The astronauts living aboard China's Tiangong 1 space module received an email from ground controllers that contained photos, text and videos, officials at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center confirmed to the state-run Xinhua news agency. The message was sent through a dedicated communication channel between the prototype module in space and mission controllers on the ground.
 
From Trenton cadet to space station commander
 
Luke Hendry - Sun Media (Canada)
 
It’s a long way into space, but part of Chris Hadfield’s journey there had a stopover in Trenton. Hadfield, 52, will soon be the first Canadian to command a space station. He’s launching in December aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station. And in March, he’ll take command of the station, a milestone for the Canadian space program. But in an interview from Star City, Russia, Hadfield said he’s still using some of the skills he learned while an air cadet at CFB Trenton.
 
New York startup pitches commercial spacesuit on Kickstarter
 
Mark Brown - Wired
 

 
A New York costume designer and a Russian spacesuit engineer have turned to Kickstarter to help fund a budget astronaut outfit for the burgeoning commercial space industry. The suits are designed for Intra Vehicular Activity -- essentially a safety backup in case of an emergency loss of cabin pressure. The pair says that commercial space firms like SpaceX and Boeing will need these suits to ensure the basic safety of manned flights. "Current Nasa suits cost well into the millions, while our 3G is intended to retail for a small fraction of this," the team writes, on their Kickstarter pitch.
 
Startup's $10,000 Spacesuit Looks for Crowdfunding
 
Innovation News Daily
 
Space tourists may want more than oxygen masks if disaster leads to loss of air pressure inside a private spacecraft. A startup plans to offer $10,000 spacesuits as safety backups for the commercial space industry, but even ordinary citizens can now reserve their own spacesuit ahead of time. The dream of a commercial spacesuit grew out of a partnership between Ted Southern, a Brooklyn-based inventor and artist, and Nikolay Moiseev, a Russian space suit engineer. The latest goal for their startup, Final Frontier Design, is to raise $20,000 through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter — enough to complete the third generation of their spacesuit before 2013.
 
Brit firm offers trips to the Moon... for £100million
 
Miranda Prynne - The Sun (UK)
 
A British company has unveiled plans to take humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972. Isle of Man-based Excalibur Almaz will blast passengers into lunar orbit for a £100million “fare”. The first voyages — aboard Russian shuttles once used to spy on the West — could launch in 2015. Until now space tourists have travelled only to the International Space Station and back. Excalibur has bought and recycled four re-entry capsules and two space stations from Russian firm NPO Mashinostroyenia.
 
Fly to the moon for £100m
 
Nick Collins - London Daily Telegraph
 
Excalibur Almaz, a British space company based on the Isle of Man, has announced plans to make the first trip to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972. The company has acquired a fleet of former Soviet shuttles and space stations and is planning the mission in three years time. The flight, which would last four months and fly past the moon at a distance of 1000km, is open to anyone who can finance it including government-sponsored researchers, space agency scientists or even billionaires with money to burn.
 
Excalibur Almaz offers tourists tickets to the Moon for £100m
 
Michael Rundle - Huffington Post
 
A British company has offered tourists the chance to go the Moon - for the low, low price of £100m. Excalibur Almaz, an aerospace company based on the Isle of Man says it is ready to blast travellers off to our planet's satellite for the very premium price aboard a fleet of second-hand Russian space equipment. The plan - enthusiastically reported on by the press, but criticised by some experts - would be the first of its kind.
 
Is It Time to Go Back to the Moon?
 
Jennifer Ouellette - Discovery News
 
With so many exciting celestial bodies in our solar system and beyond, it's easy to take the moon for granted. Sure, NASA crashed a probe into the lunar surface for science recently, but no human being has set foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972. Now Ian Crawford of Birkbeck College in London and his colleagues have co-authored a paper making the case for a return manned mission to the moon, to augment the many remote-sensing spacecraft sent into lunar orbit over the last ten years.
__________
 
COMPLETE STORIES
 
Bolden: Commercial Crew Awards Expected in Mid-July
 
Doug Messier - Parabolic Arc
 
During a press conference Monday morning about a NASA-FAA agreement on commercial crew oversight, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden was asked about the agency’s plans for awarding the next phase of the program.
 
Bolden said the agency fully expects to announce the winners of the Commercial Crew integrated Capability (CCiCap) round in mid-July. The awards, which will cover all aspects of commercial vehicle development, will last for 21 months.
 
Two companies will receive full awards to develop their systems while a third will receive half of an award. This approach was worked out between Bolden and Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), who wanted NASA to immediately down-select to one provider.
 
At the end of the 21-month period, NASA will put out a request for proposals open to all bidders to provide commercial crew services under Federal Acquisition Regulations (FAR), Bolden said. FAR includes much more rigorous government oversight than the Space Act Agreements that NASA is now using for the commercial crew program.
 
Bolden said that NASA would prefer that Congress fully fund the President’s request for commercial crew at $830 million for Fiscal Year 2013. NASA will ask for significantly more funding in future years to keep to a 2017 schedule for commercial crew flights.
 
Russian Cosmonauts Have 'Alien Instructions'
 
RIA Novosti
 
The UN has developed detailed instructions in case of a first contact with aliens, Russian cosmonaut Gennady Padalka said answering a question on Chinese TV.
 
“The UN and representatives of China have developed detailed instructions in case of the first contact,” Padalka said.
 
The cosmonaut shared his opinion saying that human beings are not alone in the universe. “Sooner or later we will meet our like-minded brothers,” Padalka added.
 
A teleconference between Mission Control and the International Space Station marked the launch of China’s Shenzhou-9 spacecraft with three crew members on board, including China’s first female astronaut, 33-year-old Liu Yang, Jing Haipeng and Liu Wang.
 
China Plans First Manual Space Docking June 24
 
Bradley Perrett - Aerospace Daily
 
Chinese astronauts plan to execute their country’s first manual space docking maneuver on June 24, six days after the automatic docking of their Shenzhou 9 spacecraft allowed them to move into the Tiangong orbital laboratory.
 
The June 18 transfer was the first time that astronauts had floated from one Chinese spacecraft to another.
 
While state media are trumpeting the success of the automatic docking maneuver, which was not China’s first, the chief engineer of the manned spaceflight program stresses that the planned manual docking, not previously attempted by Chinese astronauts, is the key challenge.
 
“The real test will be the manual docking attempt six days later,” chief engineer Zhou Jianping tells Xinhua news agency. “A manual docking, if successful, will demonstrate the country’s grasp of essential space rendezvous and docking know-how. It will mean China is fully capable of transferring humans and cargo to an orbiter in space.”
 
A Long March 2F rocket launched Shenzhou 9 on June 16. The Beijing Aerospace Control Center says it needed only four orbital corrections, instead of the planned five, to align the capsule with the 8.5-metric-ton Tiangong 1, which was launched last year.
 
Shenzhou 8 executed China’s first space docking maneuver without astronauts aboard last year.
 
With the two spacecraft flying at 7.8 km per second relative to the Earth, ground controllers maneuvered Shenzhou 9 into four positions, each successively closer to Tiangong 1, after which automatic systems took over and brought them together. Microwave and laser radars supplied positioning data for the maneuver, but the astronauts, including China’s first female spacefarer, were ready to take manual control.
 
You've Got Mail! Chinese Astronauts Get Email in Space
 
Space.com
 
Three Chinese astronauts made history Monday when their spaceship successfully docked to a prototype space lab in orbit for the first time, but the spaceflyers hit another milestone today (June 19): They received their first email in space, according to state media reports.
 
The astronauts living aboard China's Tiangong 1 space module received an email from ground controllers that contained photos, text and videos, officials at the Beijing Aerospace Control Center confirmed to the state-run Xinhua news agency.
 
The message was sent through a dedicated communication channel between the prototype module in space and mission controllers on the ground.
 
The crew, which includes China's first female astronaut, launched into orbit aboard the Shenzhou 9 spacecraft on Saturday (June 16). Two days later, the spacecraft automatically linked up with the Chinese Tiangong 1 test module, marking the nation's first manned space docking. The successful maneuver made China only the third nation, after the United States and Russia, to accomplish such a feat.
 
The achievement is a critical step toward China's ambitious goal of building a space station in orbit by the year 2020. The Shenzhou 9 mission also includes another first for China, the flight of its first female astronaut Liu Yang.
 
The Shenzhou 9 crew is expected to remain in orbit for about 13 days, and later this week, the astronauts will undock their spacecraft from Tiangong 1 to attempt the procedure again in manual mode, Chinese space officials have said.
 
Since their arrival at the prototype space lab, Liu Yang, mission commander Jing Haipeng and crewmember Liu Wang have been inspecting onboard facilities and carrying out experiments, Deng Yibing, chief engineer of the Chinese astronaut training center told Xinhua.
 
And although the astronauts are treated to 16 sunrises and sunsets in orbit, the crew has been sticking to a schedule that more closely resembles their fellow citizens back home.
 
"They got up at 6 a.m. Beijing Time today and will go to bed in the evening," Deng told Xinhua.
 
China's astronauts aren't the only residents in Earth orbit to be able to get emails from home. The six-man crew on the International Space Station, a 15-country project that does not include China, regularly uses the Internet to receive emails, and even post Twitter updates, blogs and spectacular pictures of Earth from space.
 
The Tiangong 1 test module launched into orbit in September 2011. An unmanned vehicle, Shenzhou 8, lifted off in November of that year and completed China's first automated space docking. The crewed Shenzhou 9 docking represents a significant technical milestone for China's space program.
 
The country intends to build a space station in orbit by the year 2020 and one day land its astronauts on the moon. Last December, Chinese space program officials unveiled a white paper listing the country's space exploration goals, which include the large 60-ton manned space station as well as a mission to return samples of the moon to Earth by 2016 using a robotic spacecraft.
 
From Trenton cadet to space station commander
 
Luke Hendry - Sun Media (Canada)
 
It’s a long way into space, but part of Chris Hadfield’s journey there had a stopover in Trenton.
 
Hadfield, 52, will soon be the first Canadian to command a space station. He’s launching in December aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft bound for the International Space Station.
 
And in March, he’ll take command of the station, a milestone for the Canadian space program.
 
But in an interview from Star City, Russia, Hadfield said he’s still using some of the skills he learned while an air cadet at CFB Trenton.
 
“As the commander of the world’s space station … I kind of need to have two main requisite skills,” Hadfield said.
 
“One is a good sense of operations: how to make complex systems continue to function … The other is leadership. I am in charge not only of the six of us, but I’m in charge of what’s happening on the station.”
 
Hadfield said he learned both traits in the summer of 1974 during a junior leadership course at the air base. The following year he won a scholarship into glider pilot school at Canadian Forces Station Mountain View in neighbouring Prince Edward County, where he earned his glider pilot wings.
 
“The way of dealing with things and the methods with which you prepare yourself — they all definitely came from my experience with the air cadets.”
 
Hadfield was the first Canadian to operate the Canadarm. He’ll now use Canadarm2 to capture at least one commercial cargo capsules launched from the United States and guide it to the station.
 
He’ll also perform one or two spacewalks to affix equipment to the station. Indoors, his duties include working on Canadian science experiments.
 
Hadfield will play a Canadian-made Larrivee guitar in space and record songs he wrote with his brother, Dave. Hadfield and Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson cowrote the song from Music Monday 2013. Students across Canada will sing it at exactly the same time.
 
Though he’ll be aboard the station for six months, Hadfield said it’s not exactly a case of being cooped up, as some might think.
 
“The view we have outside the window is the most magnificent, brain-numbing onslaught of what the universe can offer — everything from a continuous stream of the northern lights, to entire hurricanes, to Mt. Everest to the Nile River and the Amazon delta pouring by all the time, with the universe on the other side — so it’s not that confining.”
 
Astronaut training — with lots of international travel and long hours — also prepares a person for the trip away from home, he said, and a person can be lonely even while living in a large city.
 
“I’ve been astronaut for 20 years; I’ve been in space for 20 days.
 
“The spaceflight is the icing or the glitter on top of all of the enormous amount of work that has gone into a flight. All of the things that you’ve done to get you there are what dictate the success of the failure of the flight but also I think what it means to you.
 
“People just see us when we fly in space, but it’s only a tiny fragment of … the life of an astronaut.”
 
That said, he added, “the spaceflight experience itself is beyond marvelous. It’s overwhelming at all different levels – psychologically, spiritually, emotionally, technically.
 
“Being outside on a spacewalk is right out on the edge of overwhelming all the time, but it lasts seven hours. It’s so visually overpowering.”
 
He said Canada is well-poised to capitalize on future development in space.
 
“It’s a $2.5-billion business in Canada,” he said.
 
Canada was the third nation into space, following Russia and the United States in launching its own satellite in the early 1960s. Hadfield said Canada has led the way with telecommunications, robotics, and radar satellites, not to mention its astronauts.
 
With Russia, Japan and China all bolstering their programs and discussing moon colonies, he said, “we just need to continue to be patient and competent and enduring and look for good opportunities.”
 
New York startup pitches commercial spacesuit on Kickstarter
 
Mark Brown - Wired
 

 
A New York costume designer and a Russian spacesuit engineer have turned to Kickstarter to help fund a budget astronaut outfit for the burgeoning commercial space industry.
 
The suits are designed for Intra Vehicular Activity -- essentially a safety backup in case of an emergency loss of cabin pressure. The pair says that commercial space firms like SpaceX and Boeing will need these suits to ensure the basic safety of manned flights.
 
"Current Nasa suits cost well into the millions, while our 3G is intended to retail for a small fraction of this," the team writes, on their Kickstarter pitch.
 
The FFD Third Generation (3G) Suit will be built to conform to the standards of Nasa's flight certification ("to the best of our ability", the team says), and feature a carbon fiber waist ring, a retractable helmet and improved gloves and glove disconnects.
 
The duo plans to get the suit built before the end of 2012. They've asked for $20,000 (£12,000) to help "pay for the materials, equipment and tooling required to make high technology safety garments."
 
Creators Ted Southern and Nikolay Moiseev first teamed up for Nasa's Astronaut Glove Challenge (AGC), where engineers were tasked with inventing flexible space gloves. The pair came second, netted a $100,000 prize and won a contract to further the glove design.
 
Since then, the pair has founded a firm called Final Frontier Design and has set about making spacesuits for the next generation of astronauts. This is actually their third suit, having built prototype outfits in 2010 and 2011.
 
As for Kickstarter rewards -- yes, you can get a spacesuit. Pledge $10,000 (£6,000) and you'll net yourself a complete, interstellar space suit. Be warned, though -- the Department of Defense will need you to comply with the rules of the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which is either going to require US citizenship, or lots of paperwork.
 
So how about a FFD patch, instead. Or a t-shirt, or an icky nose-plugging Valsalva device. At the $750 level, you can score some very fetching zero gravity leggings, "comfortable for long plane flights and leg heavy workouts like skiing."
 
Startup's $10,000 Spacesuit Looks for Crowdfunding
 
Innovation News Daily
 
Space tourists may want more than oxygen masks if disaster leads to loss of air pressure inside a private spacecraft. A startup plans to offer $10,000 spacesuits as safety backups for the commercial space industry, but even ordinary citizens can now reserve their own spacesuit ahead of time.
 
The dream of a commercial spacesuit grew out of a partnership between Ted Southern, a Brooklyn-based inventor and artist, and Nikolay Moiseev, a Russian space suit engineer. The latest goal for their startup, Final Frontier Design, is to raise $20,000 through the crowd-funding website Kickstarter — enough to complete the third generation of their spacesuit before 2013.
 
"The future commercial space industry (SpaceX, Boeing, Sierra Nevada, Virgin, Armadillo, XCOR, etc.) will need these suits for the basic safety of manned flights," Southern wrote on the Kickstarter project page. "Current NASA suits cost well into the millions, while our 3G is intended to retail for a small fraction of this."
 
Anyone who donates $10,000 to the Kickstarter project gets their own complete custom-built spacesuit, with smaller donations still earning a variety of spacesuit parts as pledge prizes. But donors who qualify for "real spacesuit hardware" as prizes must get their paperwork in order, according to the International Traffic in Arms Regulations.
 
Southern and Moiseev first teamed up to win a $100,000 second-place prize in NASA's 2009 astronaut glove challenge before they went on to found Final Frontier Design. Their goal is to create a spacesuit to be worn inside spacecraft during launch and re-entry — just in case of emergencies involving the depressurization of a spacecraft.
 
Final Frontier Design is building its third-generation spacesuit, according to the NASA flight certification standards. Its improvements over the second-generation spacesuit include the ability to withstand greater operating pressure, a carbon fiber waist ring, a retractable helmet, and improved gloves and glove disconnects.
 
"We need your help to make this new suit!" Southern wrote. "While our costs are comparatively modest, space suits are expensive.  Every little bit helps us to pay for the materials, equipment and tooling required to make high technology safety garments."
 
Brit firm offers trips to the Moon... for £100million
 
Miranda Prynne - The Sun (UK)
 
A British company has unveiled plans to take humans to the Moon for the first time since 1972.
 
Isle of Man-based Excalibur Almaz will blast passengers into lunar orbit for a £100million “fare”.
 
The first voyages — aboard Russian shuttles once used to spy on the West — could launch in 2015.
 
Until now space tourists have travelled only to the International Space Station and back.
 
Excalibur has bought and recycled four re-entry capsules and two space stations from Russian firm NPO Mashinostroyenia.
 
Customers will first dock with one of the space stations in low-Earth orbit. From there they will be blasted into the Moon’s orbit, taking them 234,000 miles from home. The flights, which could last eight months, will then continue into space, taking them further from Earth than achieved before. Chief executive Art Dula said yesterday: “The EA fleet has flown to space several times and will undertake many more missions. It contains vessels of a design that’s spent thousands of hours in space.
 
“This, my fellow adventurers, is scientific fact, not fiction.”
 
Art claims the company, whose spacecraft each carry three people, needs only 29 passengers to succeed financially.
 
The firm — whose Isle of Man home is rated the world’s fifth most-likely place to man the next mission to the Moon — yesterday drew crowds by displaying one of its vessels in Westminster, London.
 
Art said his voyages were very different to trips offered by space flight rivals, whose craft will provide a few minutes’ weightlessness at just 60 miles up.
 
He added: “Our passengers will not be tourists but private expedition members on expeditions that will go further than any man has ever gone in the past.”
 
Fly to the moon for £100m
 
Nick Collins - London Daily Telegraph
 
Excalibur Almaz, a British space company based on the Isle of Man, has announced plans to make the first trip to the moon since the Apollo 17 mission of 1972.
 
The company has acquired a fleet of former Soviet shuttles and space stations and is planning the mission in three years time.
 
The flight, which would last four months and fly past the moon at a distance of 1000km, is open to anyone who can finance it including government-sponsored researchers, space agency scientists or even billionaires with money to burn.
 
But any space enthusiast wishing to make the trip would have to be willing to fly the craft themself because no trained astronauts would accompany them on their odyssey, the company said.
 
Art Dula, who founded the company in 2005, announced a plan to carry out the first test flight in 2014 and the first civilian voyage a year later in a speech at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London yesterday.
 
He later told the Daily Telegraph: "This is not space tourism, it is real scientific expedition – they would go further than anybody has gone before in space.
 
"We want to have the same kind of tradition that Britain had in the 16th and 17th centuries when its explorers went to the ends of the earth seeking knowledge and information and bringing back wealth.
 
"I don't know how much wealth they will bring back, but the first person to fly it will earn a place in the history books."
 
Crew members, numbering up to three per shuttle, would spend a year in training before launching the shuttle from a base in Kazakhstan and docking with a space station, which would then use thrusters to ferry passengers through space.
 
The slow speed of the thrusters, compared with more expensive rockets, would mean a mission to the moon and back would take four months to complete, with the craft spiralling through space "like an etch-a-sketch", Mr Dula explained.
 
He said: "The engines are very low-thrust, they are very dependable but they run on electricity. This kind of technology has been used before but never for a big habitation module like ours.
 
"We are probably not going to have a professional astronaut because frankly, this type of space flight is so different to anything that has been before that there is no advantage in having someone what has a steely eye and can make a decision in half a second. With the kind of equipment we have you could make a decision overnight and sleep on it."
 
From the space station the crew would be able to carry out any scientific experiments they wished, using equipment ferried with them on the shuttle, and later missions could potentially even orbit the moon, he added.
 
Excalibur Almaz acquired its fleet from NPO Mashinostroyenia, the Russian company which designed the Almaz space programme, and refitted the six craft with "off the shelf" modern systems.
 
On its website the company says: "Each EA space station boasts 90 cubic metres of pressurised volume, which is plenty for a crew to survive in relative comfort for months at a time. The fleet is at a very high level of space readiness and, crucially, has a proven emergency-escape system."
 
Mr Dula admitted his plan sounded "somewhat unbelievable" but insisted he would have no shortage of takers.
 
He said: "A sovereign government could certainly afford it, it is not anywhere near what an Apollo mission would cost because we have well over £1 billion of costs that the Soviets have sunk into it. But this have to be a government body.
 
"There have always been very wealthy individuals who have sponsored scientific missions ... we simply do not know who is going to do it, who since childhood has desperately wanted to go into space, but I expect we will have a lot of interested people."
 
Dr Dave Parker of the UK Space Agency said the move was part of a "whole new world" of private space travel but added that he was "pretty sceptical" that a civilian could be trained to fly a spacecraft in the space of a year.
 
He said: "What they are doing is trying to put together some pieces of existing technology from Russia with a few bits of new technology so that they can re-use it and they have been trying to develop this idea for a good few years now.
 
"Obviously the reality is they do not have the investment to do any of this at the moment. But good luck to them, people have got to try things like this."
 
Excalibur Almaz offers tourists tickets to the Moon for £100m
 
Michael Rundle - Huffington Post
 
A British company has offered tourists the chance to go the Moon - for the low, low price of £100m.
 
Excalibur Almaz, an aerospace company based on the Isle of Man says it is ready to blast travellers off to our planet's satellite for the very premium price aboard a fleet of second-hand Russian space equipment.
 
The plan - enthusiastically reported on by the press, but criticised by some experts - would be the first of its kind.
 
The company had previously said it would begin orbital flights in 2013, but is now focused on the new plan to go one better and head to the Moon.
 
The 500,000 mile trip to the Moon and back could theoretically take place as soon as 2015, according to the company's founder.
 
And despite critics claiming that the figures don't add up, Art Dula, CEO of the company, said he is "ready to sell the tickets".
 
He describes the trips as less 'space tourism' and more 'private expedition'.
 
"It's exactly in the same vein as the historic exploration that was done by Europe and the British Isles over the last several centuries that resulted in so much growth," he said at a meeting in London, where he announced the plan.
 
"The EA fleet has previously flown to space several times and will undertake many more missions. It contains vessels of a design that has spent thousands of hours in space successfully. This is scientific fact, not fiction."
 
Intrepid travellers would have to board a converted Soviet space station for the trip.
 
The 30-tonne space station would be launched by a Proton rocket from Kazakhstan, and once in orbit will be joined by three crew at a time, arriving via Reusable Re-entry Vehicle pods on separate flights.
 
The Almaz stations will be converted for long-distance travel by the addition of thrusters, the company said - and will then head to the Moon.
 
The company will not be attempting to land people on the moon, but instead will allow them to orbit its surface and then return to earth via a capsule attached to a parachute.
 
The company is based on the Isle of Man partly for tax reasons - it offers zero tax on space companies and an income tax rate of just 10%. More than half of the world's top international space companies are based on the island.
 
It may sound far-fetched, but several other private companies have announced plans to make money from space travel - from a group of billionaires who want to mine asteroids for precious materials to the long-mooted Virgin Galactic plan to send tourists into space.
 
Is It Time to Go Back to the Moon?
 
Jennifer Ouellette - Discovery News
 
With so many exciting celestial bodies in our solar system and beyond, it's easy to take the moon for granted. Sure, NASA crashed a probe into the lunar surface for science recently, but no human being has set foot on the moon since Apollo 17 in December 1972.
 
Now Ian Crawford of Birkbeck College in London and his colleagues have co-authored a paper making the case for a return manned mission to the moon, to augment the many remote-sensing spacecraft sent into lunar orbit over the last ten years.
 
So, what did they come up with? Well, for starters, the moon could be an excellent source of Earth rocks, dating back to its early history when it was being constantly bombarded by assorted asteroids and comets. Some of the material ejected into space from those impacts wound up on the lunar surface, making the moon a potential gold mine in terms of studying the chemical composition of early Earth -- and possibly even the prebiotic origins of life on our planet.
 
Furthermore, this could shed light on the process of terrestrial planet formation from the earliest days of our solar system in general. As Crawford et al point out in their paper (PDF):
 
"The lunar surface provides a platform for geophysical instruments (eg seismometers and heat flow probes) to probe the structure and composition of the deep interior... [T]he moon's outer layers also preserve a record of the environment in the inner solar system ... throughout solar system history much of which is relevant to understanding the past habitability of our planet."
 
Then there are the potential natural resources on our humble satellite. The moon's lunar soil is chock-full of helium reserves, thanks to the solar wind. We just need to figure out how to harvest this critical element with an economically viable process.
 
In 2009, NASA bombed the moon -- part of its Lunar CRater Observation and Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) mission -- and observed grains of water ice in the remnants of the resulting plume, as well as light metals such as sodium and mercury, and volatile compounds like methane, ammonia, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrogen. Where you have water ice, you have a potential mother lode for lunar prospecting of hydrogen.
 
Our moon could also be a source for rare earth elements, such as europium and tantalum, which are in high demand on Earth for electronics and green energy applications (solar panels, hybrid cars), as well as being used in the space and defense industries.
Scientists know that there are pockets of rare earth deposits on the moon, but as yet they don't have detailed maps of those areas. Potassium, phosphorus and thorium are other elements that lunar rocks have to offer a potential mining venture.
 
Crawford et al also argue that the lunar surface is ideal for certain astronomical observations, namely, exploring the universe via the regime of ultra-low-frequency radio waves. Earth-based instruments can't probe that regime, because those radio waves are absorbed by the ionosphere.
 
But the far side of the moon is pretty much radio-silent, so setting up an array of antennas to build a lunar radio telescope would enable astronomers to view the cosmos in this as-yet-unmapped regime. It's significant because ultra-low-frequency radio waves could shed light on the universe's "Dark Age" -- that period when it was just a few million years old, before the first stars and galaxies formed.
 
And if we're going to have radio telescopes, mining operations, and geological studies taking place, it just makes sense to send a few humans to oversee all those projects, right? Crawford et al think this provides an excellent opportunity study more long-term effects of microgravity of the human body, as well as inspiring advances in cutting-edge lunar life support systems.
 
Or maybe, 40 years from now, we'll have the technology to station clones on the lunar surface to man all that infrastructure, so human beings can stay home -- or head further afield to Mars. Suddenly the premise of the 2009 sci-fi film, Moon, doesn't seem nearly so far-fetched.
 
END
 
 


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