Thursday, August 9, 2012
8/9/12 news
Thursday, August 9, 2012
JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1. Tech&Tell Today in Building 3 Collaboration Center
2. A Kaleidoscope of Colors and Other Awesomeness
3. Follow Your Curiosity at Voyage Back to School
4. 'Summer of Curiosity' Mission to Mars Family Showcase
5. Mental Health Education, Support and Local Mental Health Resources
6. The Scoop on Fiber, Whole Grains, Metabolic Syndrome and More
7. Discount Entertainment Books at the Starport Gift Shops
8. JSC Radio Control Club (RCC) Meeting
9. Blood Drive: Aug. 15 and 16
10. Hypergol Systems - Design, Buildup and Operation: Aug. 23-24, Building 226N, Room 174
11. Stairways and Ladders ViTS: Sept. 21, 8 a.m.
12. OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety and Health: Sept. 24-28, Building 226N, Room 174
________________________________________ QUOTE OF THE DAY
“ Progress always involves risks. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. ”
-- Frederick B. Wilcox
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1. Tech&Tell Today in Building 3 Collaboration Center
The JSC Technology Working Group is sponsoring the first Tech&Tell -- Internal Research and Development (IR&D) poster sessions from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. today in the Building 3 Collaboration Center. Today's session will feature the fall and spring Innovation Charge Account projects from JSC/White Sands Test Facility.
Come out and see what your colleagues have done with the funding they were awarded as part of the IR&D calls for proposals -- and maybe get a few ideas of your own. The intent of the poster sessions is to provide a forum for exchange between innovators and members of the JSC community. The informal, open-concept layout is designed to promote communication and encourage collaborative work on new technologies that could benefit space exploration and JSC or NASA missions.
Brandi Dean x41403 http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/technologyatjsc/home/index.html
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2. A Kaleidoscope of Colors and Other Awesomeness
They say a picture's worth a thousand words ... and boy, do we have some pictures for you.
From high above the Earth, the International Space Station provides a unique vantage point to view our home planet. Accompanied with compelling instrumental music, stunning time-lapse photography of cities, aurora, lightning and other sights are seen from orbit in this video at:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=150077871
Famed astronomer Galileo imagined these views from space, and now through the technological marvel of the space station, we can see them for ourselves.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
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3. Follow Your Curiosity at Voyage Back to School
Voyage Back to School, the closing event for Summer of Innovation, will take place at Space Center Houston on Thursday, Aug. 16, from 5 to 7:30 p.m. All JSC families and the JSC community are invited to the free activity that will focus on Curiosity's mission on Mars! Your kids, grandchildren, nieces and nephews (and yes, you too) will get a chance to celebrate the end of summer and the start of the school year with hands-on activities, interactive shows and guest speakers. Activities include building an Orion parachute, exploring satellite images of Mars and Earth, robot races, investigating Mars and lunar simulants, along with Earth dirt, the magical theory of relativity and other activities.
Jonathan Neubauer x45016
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4. 'Summer of Curiosity' Mission to Mars Family Showcase
Did your family participate in the "Summer of Curiosity" Mission to Mars Challenge? If so, the JSC Education Office invites you to share your mission designs and creations at the Voyage Back to School event on Aug. 16 at Space Center Houston!
Not only are all JSC families invited to this free celebration, but any family that participated in the Summer of Curiosity activities may submit pictures of the process and bring completed projects for display. If your friends or family outside of JSC took part, please let them know they are welcome and encouraged to join in the fun!
If you would like to bring items for display or submit photos, please contact Patricia Moore at x36686 or: patricia.l.moore@nasa.gov
Please visit http://www.nasa.gov/offices/education/centers/johnson/student-activities/summ... for more information.
Patricia Moore x36686
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5. Mental Health Education, Support and Local Mental Health Resources
Finding help for the individuals with friends or loved ones with mental health problems and limited resources is becoming increasingly challenging. The JSC Employee Assistance Program is pleased to present Jeanette Taylor, executive director with the National Alliance on Mental Illness Gulf Coast, today, Aug. 9, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium for a presentation on the available local mental health resources and support, as well as mental health education for families affected by mental illness.
Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130
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6. The Scoop on Fiber, Whole Grains, Metabolic Syndrome and More
What is the big deal about fiber? Is all fiber whole grain? And, have you ever heard of Metabolic Syndrome? If not, how would you prevent it? Make Exploration Wellness a part of your journey to total health with next week's lunchtime wellness classes.
Metabolic Syndrome and the Role of Physical Fitness
Learn about Metabolic Syndrome, its associated risk factors, diseases, disorders and prevalence. Discover the positive impact that physical activity and fitness have on prevention and treatment.
The Scoop on Fiber and Whole Grains
Learn about the importance of fiber and whole grains, their many vital roles in the body and how much you should incorporate into your diet. Discover how to find fiber-rich foods and learn the difference between fiber and whole grains.
Building Your Financial Foundation
Topics include investing, retirement, taxes and estate planning.
See link for details!
Jessica Vos x41383 http://www.explorationwellness.com/rd/AE108.aspx?Aug_Signup.pdf
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7. Discount Entertainment Books at the Starport Gift Shops
Entertainment books have arrived and are available at Starport Gift Shops for $26 each. The books offer terrific savings on a variety of businesses/services, and the books make great gifts!
Lorie Shewell x30308 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/
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8. JSC Radio Control Club (RCC) Meeting
The JSC RCC will have its monthly meeting at the Clear Lake Park building (5001 NASA Parkway, lake side) today, Aug. 9, at 7 p.m. The JSC RCC is a radio control model aviation club that flies behind Building 14. Come and enjoy some fellowship with like-minded aviation buffs.
Mike Laible 281-226-4192 http://www.jscrcc.com/
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9. Blood Drive: Aug. 15 and 16
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 JSC from Aug. 15 to 16 in 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. You can also donate at the Gilruth Center donor coach located in the parking lot on Aug. 16 from 7:30 a.m. to noon (note time change).
The criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website: http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm
Teresa Gomez x39588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm
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10. Hypergol Systems - Design, Buildup and Operation: Aug. 23-24, Building 226N, Room 174
This course will be 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily in the JSC Safety Learning Center. This course discusses the use of hypergols (hydrazine fuels and nitrogen tetroxide) in NASA applications. During the course, we will identify the hazards associated with the use of hypergols, including: toxicity, reactivity, fire and explosion. Management of hypergol safety risk is discussed in terms of the primary engineering controls - design, buildup and operation; and secondary controls - personal protective equipment and detectors/monitors. The emphasis is on the buildup of compatible systems and the safe operation of these systems by technicians. SATERN Registration Required. Contractors: Update your SATERN profile with a current supervisor, phone, email and NASA organization code your contract supports before registering. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Polly Caison x41279
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11. Stairways and Ladders ViTS: Sept. 21, 8 a.m.
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0065: This course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) CFR 1926.1050 through 1926.1059 Subpart X - Stairways and Ladders. During the class, the student will become familiar with the general requirements for working on stairways and ladders (OSHA CFR 1926.1051), OSHA CFR 1926.1052 (stairways), OSHA CFR 1926.1053 (Ladders) and OSHA CFR 1926.1060 (training requirements in the construction industry). The student will be shown the working guidelines, training requirements and inspection requirements for ladders. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. Registration in SATERN is required.
Shirley Robinson x41284
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12. OSHA 30-hour Construction Safety and Health: Sept. 24-28, Building 226N, Room 174
This four-and-a-half day course assists the student in effectively conducting construction inspections and oversight. Participants are provided with basic information about construction standards, construction hazards and control, health hazards, trenching and excavation operations, cranes, electrical hazards in construction, steel erection, ladders, scaffolds, concrete and heavy construction equipment. This course is based on the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Training Institute Construction Safety course and is approved for award of the OSHA course completion card. Course may include a field exercise at a construction site, if feasible. A 30-hour construction OSHA card will be issued. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit.
Registration in SATERN is required.
Shirley Robinson x41284
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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.
NASA TV:
· 8 am Central (9 EDT) – Exp. 32’s Aki Hoshide with “Young Astronauts Club” in Tokyo
· 1 pm Central (2 EDT) – MSL/”Curiosity” post-landing briefing - Sol 4 Update
Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – August 9, 2012
One of two first full-resolution images of the Martian surface from Curiosity nav cameras, which are located on the rover's "head" or mast. The rim of Gale Crater can be seen in the distance beyond the pebbly ground. www.nasa.gov/mars
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Astronauts Watch Summer Olympics From Space
Space.com
The six astronauts living aboard the International Space Station are making time in their busy schedules to watch the 2012 Summer Olympics from space. In a new letter to Earth, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, an avid sports fan, describes being able to catch some of the exciting events while in orbit. "Even with all the work we had to do, we found time to get together and watch the Olympics," Acaba wrote in a post to his blog "The Great Outer Space" Tuesday. "Of course everyone knows there is something special about the Olympics and that feeling is not lost in space."
NASA's Ed Mango to speak at space lunch
Florida Today
NASA’s Ed Mango will be guest speaker at Tuesday’s Aug. 14 luncheon meeting of the National Space Club at the Radisson Resort at the Port, Cape Canaveral. The program manager of the Commercial Crew Program at Kennedy Space Center will speak on “Innovation and the Next Step in U.S. Space Transportation.” Mango joined NASA in 1986 after serving in the U.S. Air Force, and was most recently KSC deputy director of the launch processing directorate. He was responsible for processing and launching the shuttle fleet, as well as serving as the launch director for the first Constellation test mission, Ares I-X. He earned a bachelor’s of science in aerospace engineering in 1981 from Parks College of Saint Louis University and a master of science in engineering from the University of Central Florida. (NO FURTHER TEXT)
Space shuttle Endeavour to make 12-mile trek on L.A. streets
Kate Mather - Los Angeles Times
In its 25 missions spanning nearly two decades, the space shuttle Endeavour circled the Earth more than 4,600 times, spending a total of 299 days in space. It carried the crews that assembled the first U.S. component of the International Space Station, and would go on to dock at the station a dozen times. By the time Endeavour completed its last mission a year ago, the shuttle had logged nearly 123 million miles beyond Earth. But the shuttle's final journey — a measly 12 miles — might just be its most memorable.
Shuttle Endeavour's final flight will land at California Science Center
Art Marroquin - Los Angeles Daily News
The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to begin its final odyssey next month, when it travels from Florida's Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles International Airport and on to its new home at the California Science Center, museum officials announced Wednesday. NASA's youngest orbiter will be cleaned up and prepared at LAX until Oct. 12, when it will launch a painfully slow 2 mph, two-day journey through the streets of Los Angeles and Inglewood to the Exposition Park museum. Public tours are expected to begin at the shuttle's temporary hangar on Oct. 30. "Building the Endeavour was a marvel of ingenuity and engineering, and moving the Endeavour will also be a marvel of ingenuity and engineering," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said during a news conference at the California Science Center.
Shuttle Endeavour to Embark on Two-Day Road Trip
Robert Jablon - Associated Press
Space shuttle Endeavour once zoomed through the cosmos at 17,500 mph. But its final journey will be a crawl through the streets of Los Angeles at 2 mph. The giant spaceship will creep to its new home at the California Science Center in October, officials said Wednesday. Hundreds of trees, power lines and street lights will be pulled down to make way. "You're never going to see a space shuttle going down the street again," said science center President Jeffrey N. Rudolph.
Celebrations will welcome Endeavour to Los Angeles
Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com
The space shuttle Endeavour, retired from service after 25 missions that spanned 123 million miles, will star in a remarkable 12-mile parade through the streets of Los Angeles on October 12-13, traveling from the city's international airport to the California Science Center for display at the children's learning complex. Officials announced that dates for the glacially-slow trek in a briefing presented today by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and CSC President Jeffrey Rudolph. "In six weeks, Endeavour is coming home to California. This will mark the first, last and only time that a space shuttle will travel through 12 miles of urban streets. Not only one of the biggest objects ever transported down city streets, it's an irreplaceable national treasure," Rudolph said.
Space Shuttle Road Trip: California Science Center Reveals Route
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
Space shuttle Endeavour's final flight plan — and road trip map — were revealed on Wednesday, previewing the cross-country, and cross-county, routes the retired NASA orbiter will follow before landing at the California Science Center for display. Endeavour, the youngest of NASA's shuttles, having been built after the 1986 space shuttle Challenger tragedy, flew 25 space missions between 1992 and 2011. Next month, it will embark on "Mission 26," which will (tentatively) span 26 days, to travel from Florida to the Los Angeles museum. "We are calling it 'The Big Endeavour,'" Jeffrey Rudolph, the president of the California Science Center (CSC), told collectSPACE.com. "It is pretty exciting and yet a challenging task. We've a lot of things to do to make sure everything works, but we're ready to go."
KSC looks for runway partner
Plan emphasizes space takeoffs and landings
James Dean - Florida Today
With no more space shuttles to land, Kennedy Space Center is seeking an outside partner to take over operation of its 15,000-foot runway known as the Shuttle Landing Facility. A commercial or government operator could start managing the facility as soon as October 2013, working to broaden its use to include takeoffs and landings of suborbital space vehicles carrying tourists or satellites. "The direction we’re moving is away from merely a landing facility to a launch and landing facility," said Mario Busacca, chief of KSC’s Spaceport Planning Office.
What will NASA do with the Shuttle Landing Facility?
Keith Stein - Examiner.com
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida is seeking input from industry on how to repurpose the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) from a shuttle landing facility to a multi-purpose launch and landing facility supporting a broad spectrum of space and aerospace customers. On Wednesday, NASA released a “Request for Information (RFI)” announcement on the Federal Business Opportunities website asking responders to describe their overall business strategy with a concept of operations for how they intend to operate and maintain the SLF.
First moonwalker Neil Armstrong 'doing great' after heart surgery
Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log
The first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, is "doing great" after undergoing cardiac bypass surgery, his wife reported. Carol Armstrong's characterization of her husband's condition was relayed by another moonwalker, Apollo 17's Gene Cernan.
Armstrong, 1st to walk on moon, has heart surgery
Associated Press
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was recovering Wednesday from heart surgery, days after his 82nd birthday. It wasn't clear where the surgery occurred or where Armstrong was recuperating. A NASA spokesman who talked to Armstrong's wife, Carol, said only that the former astronaut was recovering Wednesday. His birthday was Sunday.
Neil Armstrong, 1st Moonwalker, Undergoes Heart Surgery
Tariq Malik - Space.com
American icon Neil Armstrong, the first man ever to walk on the moon, was recovering from heart surgery Wednesday (Aug. 8), with well-wishes pouring in from NASA. Armstrong, who celebrated his 82nd birthday Sunday, underwent cardiac bypass surgery on Tuesday after a health checkup, according to NBCNews.com, which stated that the celebrated astronaut is doing well.
On to Mars
Orlando Sentinel (Editorial)
It's been a while since we've seen a nail-biter like this one. Not only did Curiosity have to travel some 350 million miles from Earth to Mars, the spacecraft then had to make a super-heated descent through the Martian atmosphere, deploy a parachute, dump the chute, then fire some rockets on a kind of hovercraft while a "sky-crane" gently lowered a car-sized rover to the surface. Are you kidding? It's the kind of mission that should remind us — and Congress — why the American space program is worth preserving and protecting. Americans are a curious people, and exploring the heavens appeals to our better nature. If the public can get so excited about an unmanned rover on Mars, imagine the reaction to human footprints on the Red Planet.
NASA’s ‘Mohawk Guy’ Gets Galaxy of Marriage Proposals
Katie Kindelan - ABCNews.com
Gone are the days when a NASA control room would be filled with guys with buzz cuts and pocket protectors.
In 2012, it’s all about the Mohawk or, specifically, the Mohawk of one now very popular NASA employee, flight director Bobak Ferdowski.
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MEANWHILE, ON MARS…
Curiosity's camera mast erected; checkout continues
William Harwood - CBS News
The Curiosity Mars rover, stepping through a complex post-landing checklist in near flawless fashion, successfully raised its main camera mast and beamed down razor-sharp navigation camera views of its surroundings in Gale Crater that provide a hint of the spectacular vistas to come when the craft's high-resolution cameras swing into operation, engineers said Wednesday. Mission manager Jennifer Trosper said the only anomaly of any significance since landing overnight Sunday -- trouble with a meteorological instrument -- turned out to be a procedural glitch and not a real problem at all.
Curiosity's photos of Mars look like Earth
Alicia Chang - Associated Press
The ancient Martian crater where the Curiosity rover landed looks strikingly similar to California's Mojave Desert with its looming mountains and hanging haze, scientists said Wednesday. "The first impression that you get is how Earth-like this seems looking at that landscape," said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology. Overnight, the car-size rover poked its head out for the first time since settling in Gale Crater, peered around and returned a flood of black-and-white pictures that will be stitched into a panorama.
Rover sends new photos of Mars surface
Marc Kaufman - Washington Post
All basic systems on the Mars rover Curiosity are in good working order, and cameras have begun to send back photos showing a somewhat Earth-like environment, NASA officials said Wednesday. Jennifer Trosper, project systems manager with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the rover has deployed its seven-foot mast, which holds cameras and science and communications instruments. She said the rover has established full communications with Earth and has more power output than expected.
Curiosity's view of Mars reminds some of Mojave
Craft's cameras have look around
Todd Halvorson – Florida Today
The Curiosity rover took a first gander around its neighborhood and found it looks a lot like home, officials said Wednesday. “You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you, and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture,” said project scientist John Grotzinger. “The first impression you get is how Earthlike this seems looking at that landscape.”
New Mars Rover Photos Reveal 'Earthlike' Landscape
Mike Wall - Space.com
Mars looks remarkably like the California desert in a new photo beamed home by NASA's Curiosity rover, researchers said today Wednesday. In the new black-and-white image, Curiosity's Gale Crater landing site bears a striking resemblance to the desert landscape a hundred miles or so east of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built, scientists said. "To a certain extent, the first impression that you get is how Earthlike this seems, looking at that landscape," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told reporters.
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COMPLETE STORIES
Astronauts Watch Summer Olympics From Space
Space.com
The six astronauts living aboard the International Space Station are making time in their busy schedules to watch the 2012 Summer Olympics from space.
In a new letter to Earth, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba, an avid sports fan, describes being able to catch some of the exciting events while in orbit.
"Even with all the work we had to do, we found time to get together and watch the Olympics," Acaba wrote in a post to his blog "The Great Outer Space" Tuesday. "Of course everyone knows there is something special about the Olympics and that feeling is not lost in space."
Acaba and his crewmates were even able to tune in for some of the history-making moments from the 2012 Summer Olympics, which are being held in London.
"We were able to see Michael Phelps become the most decorated Olympian and Gabby Douglas' nerves of steel as she won the individual Gymnastics gold medal," he said.
Space station's Olympic spirit
Acaba added that his unique surroundings drove home the significance of the Olympics.
"To have two weeks to watch the best athletes of the world compete is a dream come true for any sports enthusiast," Acaba wrote. "To watch them while orbiting above the Earth makes them even more special for us (even though we often miss the end of a competition because we lose satellite coverage)."
Acaba drew parallels between the spirit of the Olympic games, and what the astronauts are trying to accomplish on the International Space Station.
"I have noticed two things while watching these games," Acaba said. "One is that no matter what the sport or which country is winning, we all appreciate the efforts of the athletes and acknowledge their abilities. We truly have an international crew on the space station: three Russian cosmonauts, one Japanese astronaut and two American astronauts (one of Indian descent and one of Puerto Rican descent)."
While the individual astronauts represent their home space agencies, it is essential for the crewmembers to respect and work well with one another to keep the space station running. There are currently six astronauts living aboard the space station: NASA spaceflyers Acaba and Sunita Williams, Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Yuri Malenchenko and Sergei Revin, and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide.
"While we work together as one team we still maintain our national pride," Acaba explained. "Just like watching a basketball game with your buddy that is from a different city, we give each other a hard time but congratulate with sincerity the winning team or individual. It is easy to see why we do this when you look out the window from the ISS. We all come from the same place, Planet Earth."
Astronauts relate to Olympians
The Olympics also shed light on the personal stories of the athletes, and many individuals have had to overcome challenges and setbacks to represent their country on the global stage. This is also true for astronauts, Acaba said.
"Even though we come from different places, we can all relate to many of the obstacles the athletes have faced and overcome," he wrote. "A common theme heard from all the athletes is their pride in representing their country and the hard work they have put in. I understand as I am proud to represent the United States and the Puerto Rican community as an Astronaut."
Still, these characteristics apply to all humans, in any profession and any circumstance.
"As a school teacher, I was proud of the work I did to help develop our future leaders," Acaba said. "I think watching the Olympics reminds us that we share one planet and that we can respect one another no matter what our differences, yet at the same time we can be proud of who we are and what we represent. I look forward to another great week of great competition and sportsmanship and of course work."
Space shuttle Endeavour to make 12-mile trek on L.A. streets
After logging nearly 123 million miles in space, the shuttle Endeavour faces a commute — top speed 2 mph — from LAX to the California Science Center
Kate Mather - Los Angeles Times
In its 25 missions spanning nearly two decades, the space shuttle Endeavour circled the Earth more than 4,600 times, spending a total of 299 days in space.
It carried the crews that assembled the first U.S. component of the International Space Station, and would go on to dock at the station a dozen times. By the time Endeavour completed its last mission a year ago, the shuttle had logged nearly 123 million miles beyond Earth.
But the shuttle's final journey — a measly 12 miles — might just be its most memorable.
Officials Wednesday unveiled some of the details surrounding the 170,000-pound shuttle's carefully coordinated move from Florida's Kennedy Space Center to its permanent home at the California Science Center in Exposition Park. After arriving at LAX on the back of a Boeing 747, the shuttle will make a two-day trek through the streets of Los Angeles, the first time a space shuttle has been moved through the heart of a city.
"In six weeks, Endeavour is coming back home to California," California Science Center president Jeffrey Rudolph said at a news conference Wednesday. "This will mark the first, last and only time a space shuttle will travel through 12 miles of urban public streets. It's not only one of the biggest objects transported down city streets, it's an irreplaceable national treasure."
Weather permitting, Endeavour will arrive at LAX Sept. 20, Rudolph said. There, a team of NASA engineers will lift the shuttle off the plane using cranes and a giant sling, and move it to a United Airlines hangar, where final preparations will be made for its ground transport.
The big move will continue Oct. 12 when the shuttle — nestled on the back of computer-controlled modular transporters — will begin its crawl along a route that includes Manchester Avenue and Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr.boulevards. The next day, the shuttle will stop at Inglewood City Hall and again at the intersection of Crenshaw and MLK, where a performance produced by actress and choreographer Debbie Allen will take place.
But moving the shuttle — which measures 57 feet tall at the tip of the tail and has a wingspan of 78 feet — will be no easy task, Rudolph said. Trees will be pruned back or taken out. Power lines will be raised. Traffic signals will be removed.
At its top speed, the transporters carrying the shuttle will travel about 2 mph along the city streets. At some points along the route, Endeavour will have less than a foot of clearance on either side and will creep even slower, Rudolph said.
For Angelenos, the move recalls the 105-mile journey a 340-ton granite boulder made from a remote Riverside quarry to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in March. The 11-day move drew hundreds of onlookers and international media attention.
Endeavour's move, Rudolph said, will be a far greater spectacle.
"That was a rock," he said.
"This is an amazing thing with an amazing history — and it's a lot bigger."
NASA awarded Endeavour to the California Science Center last year after a fierce competition between museums nationwide. It was one of three retired orbiters that will go on permanent display; the others — Atlantis in Florida and Discovery at the Smithsonian outsideWashington, D.C. — have already reached their final destinations. A shuttle prototype, the Enterprise, is on display in New York.
The state-run California Science Center will house the shuttle in a temporary exhibit — open to the public Oct. 30 — until construction of a new air and space addition is complete.
Costs for the move and construction of the temporary and new exhibits will total about $200 million, Rudolph said. The money will come entirely from donations.
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who also spoke at Wednesday's news conference, said he anticipates people coming from across California and the U.S. to witness the shuttle's move.
"Building the Endeavour was a marvel of ingenuity and engineering," he said. "And moving the Endeavour will also be a marvel of ingenuity and engineering."
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts Jr. said Endeavour's arrival in Los Angeles would mark a "great historic event for our children."
"Space exploration represents that space between the confines of earth and God in his heaven," he said. "It represents the opportunity to gain answers and insight beyond this pale existence we have.... I really am thankful, and our city is thankful, to be part of this piece of history."
Shuttle Endeavour's final flight will land at California Science Center
Art Marroquin - Los Angeles Daily News
The space shuttle Endeavour is scheduled to begin its final odyssey next month, when it travels from Florida's Kennedy Space Center to Los Angeles International Airport and on to its new home at the California Science Center, museum officials announced Wednesday.
NASA's youngest orbiter will be cleaned up and prepared at LAX until Oct. 12, when it will launch a painfully slow 2 mph, two-day journey through the streets of Los Angeles and Inglewood to the Exposition Park museum. Public tours are expected to begin at the shuttle's temporary hangar on Oct. 30.
"Building the Endeavour was a marvel of ingenuity and engineering, and moving the Endeavour will also be a marvel of ingenuity and engineering," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said during a news conference at the California Science Center.
The shuttle flew 25 missions during a career that spanned from 1992 to 2011, but museum officials have dubbed its move through Los Angeles as "Mission 26, the Big Endeavour."
The Endeavour will ride piggyback on NASA's Boeing 747 shuttle carrier aircraft, landing on LAX's southernmost runway midday on Sept. 20 - barring any rain on the transcontinental journey from Florida.
Even though the shuttle resembles an airplane, precipitation and moisture along the route could damage its fragile surface and black tiles, said Stephanie Stilson of NASA's Shuttle Transition and Retirement Directorate.
"As we go through this huge effort of bringing Endeavour here, there's a lot of things we have to do to be careful to protect it along the way," Stilson said. "It's been a big endeavor just to coordinate and get to the point where we're ready to set up our equipment."
One day after arriving at LAX, engineers must ensure that wind conditions remain below 10 mph as they use a pair of cranes and a giant sling to lift the 170,000-pound orbiter off of the jetliner. NASA's 747 plane will be backed out while an overland transporter rolls under the shuttle.
From there, the Endeavour will be moved to a hangar provided by United Airlines, where crews will prepare the shuttle for a final - yet arduous - haul through Los Angeles and Inglewood.
During the early morning of Oct. 12, the shuttle is scheduled to emerge from the United hangar and move through LAX's north airfield, leading to a temporary halt in aircraft operations.
Crews will need to remove 212 traffic signals and lights and move overhead utility lines so that the massive shuttle can slowly maneuver through the streets of Westchester, Inglewood and Hyde Park before it finally arrives at the museum.
Additionally, every tree removed along the route will eventually be replaced with two trees in an attempt to minimize impacts on surrounding communities, officials said.
Endeavor will be housed in a temporary hangar until a new Air and Space Center is completed in 2017. About $200 million is being spent to move the shuttle and erect the exhibition spaces.
"Space exploration events are like the Olympics - it's always a time to feel good," Inglewood Mayor James Butts said.
"I think that's because space exploration represents that space between the confines of Earth and God in heaven," Butts said. "It represents the opportunity to gain answers and insight beyond this pale existence we have as we pay our mortgages and go to work and hate our bosses."
The effort and planning to transport the decommissioned space shuttle was compared to the monumental move of the Levitated Mass exhibit. The 340-ton boulder sat atop a massive truck that crept 105 miles from Riverside County to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art during a 12-day journey.
While no parades are scheduled, at least two celebrations are planned along Endeavour's 12-mile journey from LAX to the California Science Center.
"When the boulder from Levitated Mass moved through the streets of L.A. County, it became an impromptu urban celebration," Villaraigosa said. "We also expect that the transportation of Endeavour will be celebrated as truly unique event in our city's history."
ENDEAVOUR BY THE NUMBERS
Dates
· Sept 20: Endeavour travels from Kennedy Space Center to LA International Airport
· Oct 12 -13: Endeavour journeys through LA & Inglewood to the California Science Center
· Oct. 30: Public tours of the Endeavour begin
Endeavour facts
· Weight: 170,000 pounds
· Wingspan: 78 feet
· Height: 58 feet
· Missions: 25 (from May 1992 to May 2011)
· Years it took to build in Palmdale: 4
Route facts
· Number of traffic signals and lights that must be removed: 212
· Number of trees that must be removed: Unspecified
· Number of miles Endeavour will travel on city streets: 12
· 19,000 mph: maximum speed of Endeavour.
· 2 mph: speed Endeavour will travel through the streets of Los Angeles.
Shuttle Endeavour to Embark on Two-Day Road Trip
Robert Jablon - Associated Press
Space shuttle Endeavour once zoomed through the cosmos at 17,500 mph. But its final journey will be a crawl through the streets of Los Angeles at 2 mph.
The giant spaceship will creep to its new home at the California Science Center in October, officials said Wednesday. Hundreds of trees, power lines and street lights will be pulled down to make way.
"You're never going to see a space shuttle going down the street again," said science center President Jeffrey N. Rudolph.
The earthbound trip will take the 170,000-pound orbiter 12 miles from the LAX airport through Inglewood and into the city of Los Angeles where the museum just south of downtown will place it on display.
The shuttle is as fragile as it is gigantic. Its tail is 58 feet tall. And it has a 78-foot wingspan. But its heat-resistant nose tiles can be cracked by a fingernail, according to NASA officials.
It will cost about $25 million to prepare and move the shuttle without damaging it, Rudolph said.
The two-day road trip will start Oct. 12. Four self-propelled, wheeled vehicles linked by computer will roll it through the streets as a controller walks along guiding them with a joystick.
Endeavour's return to California will mark a homecoming. It was assembled in Palmdale, northeast of Los Angeles. And its first mission ended at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert.
Endeavour completed its 25th mission last year. It was delivered to NASA in 1991 and was the final shuttle built, replacing Challenger, which was destroyed on launch in 1986.
The ship will be placed atop a Boeing 747 at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a piggyback ride to Los Angeles, arriving on Sept. 20 if weather permits, officials said.
The jetliner is expected to ceremoniously fly around Southern California landmarks, but the route is still under discussion and details were not confirmed, Rudolph said.
Before it lands, authorities will have to remove and reposition high-voltage transmission lines, along with signs, traffic signals, more than 200 streetlights and about 300 trees in order to accommodate the shuttle's land transportation.
Two trees will be replanted for each tree taken down, officials said.
Endeavour will stop at Inglewood City Hall early Oct. 13 for an official launch ceremony and celebration.
Inglewood Mayor James T. Butts said space exploration "represents the opportunity to gain answers and insight beyond this pale existence we have as we pay our mortgages and go to work and hate our bosses."
The science center estimated the cost at about $200 million to build a special climate-controlled exhibition gallery for the shuttle, which will go on display Oct. 30.
Most of the money and work was donated.
"It will be a testament to what humanity can achieve with science and technology," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa.
Celebrations will welcome Endeavour to Los Angeles
Justin Ray - SpaceflightNow.com
The space shuttle Endeavour, retired from service after 25 missions that spanned 123 million miles, will star in a remarkable 12-mile parade through the streets of Los Angeles on October 12-13, traveling from the city's international airport to the California Science Center for display at the children's learning complex.
Officials announced that dates for the glacially-slow trek in a briefing presented today by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa and CSC President Jeffrey Rudolph.
"In six weeks, Endeavour is coming home to California. This will mark the first, last and only time that a space shuttle will travel through 12 miles of urban streets. Not only one of the biggest objects ever transported down city streets, it's an irreplaceable national treasure," Rudolph said.
"For the last year, engineers, transportation planners, utility experts and urban foresters from both the private sector and the cities of Los Angeles and Inglewood have been hard at work planning the route and logistics of the shuttle's final journey," said Villaraigosa.
Moving power lines, city lights and traffic signals are obvious tasks before the shuttle can traverse down the road, and trees will be trimmed or transplanted to make room for the 78-foot wingspan and vertical tail over 6 stories tall. Other trees that have to be taken down will be replaced on a two-to-one basis, the mayor said.
"We expect the transportation of Endeavour will be celebrated as a truly unique event in our city's history. There will be official celebrations in both Inglewood and LA to mark the shuttle's arrival. We expect visitors from across the state and the country will come to witness this once-in-a-lifetime event," Villaraigosa added.
Endeavour will depart her homeport of the past two decades, the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Sept. 17 mounted atop the modified Boeing 747 carrier jet for the cross-country ferryflight. After making stops along the way, at sites not yet unveiled, the shuttle will arrive at Los Angeles International Airport around mid-day on Sept. 20, weather permitting, Rudolph said.
Crews will spend the next couple of days getting the winged spaceship offloaded from the aircraft using a mobile crane contraption and setting the shuttle aboard an overland transporter with self-propelled wheel dollies that offer the precise maneuvering required to guide Endeavour through the urban jungle. The subsequent weeks will make final preparations for the trip and await the exact timing agreed upon to make the move.
The science center has constructed a building -- the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion, named in honor of the late philanthropist -- that will house Endeavour for display. It opens to the public at the end of October.
"When the space shuttle Endeavour goes on display on Oct. 30, it will be a testament to what humanity can achieve with science and technology. It will also be an impressive testament to the history and heritage of space exploration and aerospace innovation here in the region," Villaraigosa said.
But the pavilion is meant to be only a temporary facility for the shuttle, as museum leaders envision grander plans to exhibit the orbiter attached to an external fuel tank and twin solid rocket boosters as if she was poised to launch again. Fundraising is underway to finance that concept.
Located in Exposition Park next to the LA Memorial Coliseum, where the University of Southern California plays football and site of the 1984 Summer Olympics, the CSC is between the Natural History Museum and the California African American Museum.
CSC already houses three space capsules -- Mercury 2 that launched the chimpanzee named Ham in 1961, Gemini 11 flown by Pete Conrad and Dick Gordon in 1966 and the U.S. command module from the 1975 Apollo-Soyuz Test Project that featured the first handshakes in space between Americans and the Soviets.
On April 12, 2011, CSC was selected in the hotly-contested race to get an orbiter, joining the Smithsonian, Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex and New York's Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum as the winners of Discovery, Atlantis and prototype Enterprise.
The California institution is known for its hands-on educational experience for schoolchildren. Lines of school buses parked outside are a familiar sight, as classes visit the learning center for field trips. Endeavour will serve as an inspirational tool for kids to study science, technology, engineering and math.
With Enterprise in America's largest city, Discovery now preserved in the national archive and Atlantis staying put at KSC, a short drive from the tourist mecca of Orlando, Endeavour finds herself with a future in motivating youngsters at CSC and adding to the museum's educational credentials.
Since Discovery and Enterprise have been delivered to their respective final homes in Northern Virginia and New York City, Endeavour will mark the final space shuttle ferryflight. Since 1977, the flying duos of spaceplanes atop jumbo jets have been an aviation marvel to behold.
NASA completes the disposition of orbiters in November when Atlantis takes a short trip down the road to the massive new building under construction at Kennedy Space Center's privately-run museum for display there, her payload bay doors open to mimic orbiting in space.
Endeavour returned from her final spaceflight on June 1, 2011, touching down at the Florida spaceport after delivering a particle physics experiment to the International Space Station. Over her 19-year flying career, the last of the shuttles to be built, the ship orbited the Earth 4,677 times and accumulated 299 days in space.
The past year has been spent decommissioning the vehicle, removing pyrotechnics, toxics and hazardous materials along with contaminated hardware that could be harmful to the public. Other key components were removed by NASA to save for possible future use.
Endeavour is just days away from completing her stay in the KSC hangar. The ferryflight tailcone was installed earlier this week to cover the replica main engines and provide a smoother airflow during the ride aboard the 747. She will move into storage in the northwest corner of the Vehicle Assembly Building on Aug. 16, sitting there to await final departure from Florida.
The ferryflight operations commence Sept. 14 when the shuttle is towed to the apron next to the space center's runway and gets hoisted atop the carrier aircraft.
Specific sites will be targeted for ceremonial flyovers during the west-bound flight of the ferry, as well as refueling stops and places for overnight stays. Details, however, continue to be worked out and officials have not yet unveiled those plans.
CSC is paying the costs of the ferryflight. NASA will oversee activities through removal of Endeavour from the 747, but the museum takes over full responsibility for getting the orbiter to the science center.
"In early September, my team will come in from Kennedy Space Center and start the process of setting up our equipment and preparing for the offload. We've been in cooperation with LAX for the past six months now, discussing what we are going to do and getting help from United (Airlines) in the area where we will be working, as well as all the operational and engineering and security folks at LAX," said Stephanie Stilson, NASA's manager of the orbiters' retirement activities.
The open workspace for the shuttle offload is 400 by 400 feet in the corner of the airport property. Multiple truckloads of equipment will be brought in to erect a complex wind-restraint system to keep orbiter stable without lateral motion during the dual-crane hoisting operations.
On the arrival day, technicians will get the team organized and go to work loosing the bolts that structurally mated the orbiter to the carrier jet. On the second day, Stilson said, the actual offloading is scheduled to be conducted, as Endeavour is raised off the aircraft, the 747 is backed out and the shuttle placed on the overland transporter.
With very strict weather criteria in place for demating from the 747, dictating winds stay under 10 mph, Stilson said meteorological trends say the overnight or very early morning hours may offer the best conditions to perform that operation.
The transporter was used in the early days of the shuttle program to haul brand new orbiters from their birthplace in Palmdale to Edwards Air Force Base for ferry to Florida, she said. Industrial wheel dollies will be added to the overland carrier for the Endeavour procession from LAX.
Endeavour then rolls over to the nearby United Airlines hangar that has been donated for the shuttle's use. In the subsequent days, the aerodynamic tailcone will be detached, the engine nozzles repositioned and other final hands-on touches by shuttle program workers will be completed before the formal handover of the spaceship to CSC.
Endeavour departs LAX the morning of Oct. 12 with the self-propelled transporter under the control of one person using a remote joystick while walking alongside the vehicle. Additional spotters will be positioned to monitor the shuttle's nose, tail and wingtips.
"There will be a series of moves and stops occur," Rudolph said, as the shuttle navigates past obstacles and utility lines, eventually arriving outside Inglewood City Hall the morning of Oct. 13 for an official welcoming ceremony.
And there will be a celebration at the intersection of Crenshaw Boulevard and Martin Luther King Boulevard produced by renowned actress and choreographer Debbie Allen. Endeavour arrives at CSC the evening of Oct. 13.
"We look forward to all of you and everyone in the city joining us," Rudolph said. "We'll let you know closer to the arrival date the specific areas along the route that we will suggest as best places to view the shuttle, as well as the best places to view the arrival at LAX."
The ship's maiden voyage in May 1992 was a dramatic adventure to rescue the wayward Intelsat 603 telecommunications satellite that required the astronauts to improvise with the first-ever three-man spacewalk to manually grab the spacecraft after attempts using a specially-designed capture bar failed to work.
The ship also conducted the first Hubble Space Telescope servicing in 1993, one of the stellar achievements for the space program that installed corrective optics to fix the observatory's flawed vision.
Other trips in the 1990s deployed and retrieved satellites, mapped the Earth with radar and scanned the cosmos with payloads carried in the orbiter's cargo bay. She also visited the Russian space station Mir once.
Then Endeavour opened the International Space Station era by launching the first American piece of the outpost -- the Unity connecting node -- to begin orbital construction in December 1998. Subsequent flights by Endeavour would take up the station's initial solar array power tower, all three sections of Canada's robotics including the arm, mobile transporter and Dextre hands, the Japanese science facility's "attic" and "back porch" for research, and the Tranquility utility room with the Cupola. Her 12th and final mission to the station finished the U.S. construction efforts by adding the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and a spare parts deck.
Construction of Endeavour started in September 1987 as a replacement vehicle for Challenger. The spaceplane was rolled out of the Palmdale factory in April 1991. She became NASA's fifth and final operational space shuttle with her inaugural launch a year later.
Space Shuttle Road Trip: California Science Center Reveals Route
Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com
Space shuttle Endeavour's final flight plan — and road trip map — were revealed on Wednesday, previewing the cross-country, and cross-county, routes the retired NASA orbiter will follow before landing at the California Science Center for display.
Endeavour, the youngest of NASA's shuttles, having been built after the 1986 space shuttle Challenger tragedy, flew 25 space missions between 1992 and 2011. Next month, it will embark on "Mission 26," which will (tentatively) span 26 days, to travel from Florida to the Los Angeles museum.
"We are calling it 'The Big Endeavour,'" Jeffrey Rudolph, the president of the California Science Center (CSC), told collectSPACE.com. "It is pretty exciting and yet a challenging task. We've a lot of things to do to make sure everything works, but we're ready to go."
Departing its launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida for a final time, Endeavour will be ferried on top of NASA's modified Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft to Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), touching down mid-day on Sept. 20. The target date is flexible, pending weather conditions, but NASA has tentatively set Sept. 17 for the shuttle's farewell from Florida. [Photos: Shuttle Endeavour's Final Voyage]
Endeavour will spend two weeks at the Los Angeles airport, housed in a hangar on loan from United Airlines. On Oct. 12, it will leave on a 2-day, 12-mile road trip atop a NASA wheeled transporter. Described by the mayor of Los Angeles as the "mother of all parades," the slow but steady procession through the streets of L.A. and Inglewood will feature a 'half time' show produced by famed actress Debbie Allen.
"Los Angeles is a world class city that deserves an out of this world attraction like the Endeavour," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa in a statement. "We welcome the shuttle with open arms."
"We look forward to everyone joining in the celebration," said Rudolph. "This will mark the first, last and only time a shuttle will travel through 12 miles of urban, public streets. It is not only one of the biggest objects ever transported down city streets; it's an irreplaceable national treasure. Most importantly, this marks the beginning of Endeavour's ultimate mission of inspiring current and future innovators and explorers at the California Science Center."
Rolling up in the early evening hours of Saturday, Oct. 13, the five-story tall, 78-foot wide (24 meters), 170,000-pound (77,111 kilogram) winged spacecraft will enter the CSC's newly-erected Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion. The building, which was named after the late philanthropist whose foundation made a significant gift to exhibit Endeavour, will open to the public on Oct. 30.
From Florida to the freeway
Endeavour's ferry flight atop NASA's jumbo jet will proceed similarly to the earlier deliveries of space shuttle Discovery to the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and the prototype orbiter Enterprise that was flown to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York City. In both earlier cases, the shuttle made spectacular flyovers of the cities' metropolitan areas and landmarks before touching down.
"The final decision and determination on flyovers is very close to the actual date," said Rudolph. "Because of FAA and NASA requirements, they won't determine anything until later. But we are obviously in discussions with them about flyovers and the precedent that was set in New York and D.C. helps make it likely."
Once on the ground at LAX, the shuttle-747 combo will taxi from the runway to a United Airlines hangar located on the west side of the airport. There, NASA will have already staged large cranes to hoist Endeavour off of the aircraft's back and onto the wheeled overland transporter.
"It is a week to ten days of work to prepare the orbiter, getting it de-mated, taking off the tail cone, and doing the miscellaneous other work we need for transport," Rudolph told collectSPACE.com. "And then we'll hopefully have a little extra [time] there, as we have built in a cushion. So if any weather issues delay the ferry flight in Florida or anywhere across the country on the way, our contingency for that is extra time at LAX."
"We don't have flexibility with respect to the days that we move from the airport to the science center. That has to go on the day it's planned," he added.
The move from LAX to the CSC will begin in the late night hours of Friday, Oct. 12 to avoid impacting active aircraft operations and to facilitate navigating around power lines.
"There are some transmission lines that have to be shut down to be moved out of the way and can't be done during regular daylight hours," Rudolph said. "They have to do it overnight because of the grid demands. So, overnight will be a series of moves through, I think it's four transmission lines that are particularly challenging."
Beyond those lines, the late night to early morning move will take space shuttle Endeavour across the 405 Freeway to arrive at Inglewood City Hall for a launch ceremony on the morning of Saturday, Oct. 13.
A full day
"The procession of the Endeavour to its new home at the California Science Center will allow our children to bear witness to history, up close and personally," said James T. Butts, the mayor of Inglewood, in a statement. "We are proud that the City of Inglewood will be involved in this great event."
Moving the shuttle from the city hall to the CSC, which is located south of downtown L.A. in historic Exposition Park, will take the entire day.
"We are going to start in the morning at about 8, 8:30 by Inglewood City Hall and plan about dusk to arrive at the science center," Rudolph said. "It will be a full day."
Though the trek is only 12 miles, the city streets were not designed to accommodate a space shuttle. The move will be made slow and steady, with certain phases slower and steadier than others.
"There are two or three areas [along the route] that are a little of a challenge," Rudolph explained. "Basically, what it comes down to [is], there are areas where we have more street lights and trees where we're trying not to move them but move around them and then there are areas with wider streets without as many obstructions."
Of most concern are a couple of points along the way with older, larger trees. They could be cut back or removed, but the science center is working hard to save them.
"That is requiring some really careful maneuvering. It is a matter of inches, not feet, from the side of the shuttle. We will be spotting it and going really slowly to make sure we get through," said Rudolph.
The pace of the parade will give people ample opportunity to see Endeavour as it rolls by. But if the sight of a shuttle isn't enough, the spectators will also be treated to a public performance inspired by the themes of flight and space.
At the intersection of Martin Luther King and Crenshaw Boulevards, a celebration of "Mission 26" will be produced by renowned actress and choreographer Debbie Allen.
"We have got Debbie Allen, a producer, working with us to produce a 20 to 30 minute show that will be really beautiful and that will include some marching bands and elements of dance, aerial performances and the like," Rudolph said.
The procession will end when Endeavour pulls up to the science center's Samuel Oschin Display Pavilion. But the public won't have to wait long to get another close-up look at the shuttle.
"We are looking at opening day on the 30th of October," Rudolph said. "We are really working hard to have it open as soon as possible because we know there is going to be a lot of demand."
Only the beginning
When the doors open to visitors, the Oschin Pavilion will display Endeavour atop of the overland transporter used to deliver the shuttle to the science center. Surrounding the orbiter will be artifacts and exhibits chosen to help share the shuttle's story.
"We will have a preview exhibit focusing on the California story — a little on the history of Endeavour, how it came to be, its naming, and it being built here [in California]," Rudolph shared. "Rocketdyne is giving us the ROSC, the control center and launch control they have that monitored the main engines during the launch of the space shuttles."
The pavilion will also house a number of components that were previously inside Endeavour's crew compartment. As visitors won't be able to enter the space shuttle, some of its fixtures, including the food galley and waste collection system (toilet), will be displayed alongside the orbiter.
"We expect to have a main engine in the pavilion and the Spacehab [logistics module]," added Rudolph. "So we've got a number of wonderful things to go with the shuttle and they'll add to its story as well."
The exhibit, and in fact, the whole pavilion, is intended as only a temporary display, though.
The CSC has begun design of the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, Endeavour's permanent home, tentatively scheduled to open in 2017. With the space shuttle raised vertically and mounted to twin solid rocket boosters and a replica external fuel tank, the new facility will — as the center describes it — be a "launch pad for creativity and innovation by integrating hands-on exhibits with a unique collection of aircraft and spacecraft to encourage active learning and critical thinking."
KSC looks for runway partner
Plan emphasizes space takeoffs and landings
James Dean - Florida Today
With no more space shuttles to land, Kennedy Space Center is seeking an outside partner to take over operation of its 15,000-foot runway known as the Shuttle Landing Facility.
A commercial or government operator could start managing the facility as soon as October 2013, working to broaden its use to include takeoffs and landings of suborbital space vehicles carrying tourists or satellites.
"The direction we’re moving is away from merely a landing facility to a launch and landing facility," said Mario Busacca, chief of KSC’s Spaceport Planning Office.
Release of the facility to an outside manager could be the first step toward a new model for how the entire center is run.
Master planners have envisioned a future in which the spaceport is managed more like an airport, with NASA one of many customers sharing the costs.
"This will be a good test case for us to understand how that (concept) would work in the long term," said Tom Engler, deputy manager of KSC’s Center Planning and Development Office.
On Wednesday, KSC asked interested parties to submit proposals for how they would operate and maintain the runway and surrounding facilities.
Located two-and-a-half miles northwest of the Vehicle Assembly Building, the Shuttle Landing Facility, or SLF, opened in 1976. It supported the landings of 78 shuttle missions between 1984 and 2011.
Various NASA and Defense Department aircraft also use the runway. NASA is now testing a prototype lunar lander in a field at its northwest end.
Kennedy is completing an assessment of the potential environmental impact resulting from greater use of the runway.
A recent study funded by Space Florida and the Federal Aviation Administration estimated the suborbital market could be worth up to $1.6 billion within a decade.
According to a draft environmental assessment released in May, multiple suborbital operators could each perform hundreds of takeoffs and landings a year there by 2015.
Virgin Galactic, XCOR Aerospace and Stratolaunch Systems are among companies that have expressed tentative interest . No agreements are in place yet.
Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser mini-shuttle, one of the vehicles competing to fly NASA crews to orbit, also plans to land on the runway after launching from Cape Canaveral.
KSC is also considering three sites for use by suborbital spacecraft that launch and land vertically: launch pad 39A, an undeveloped site south of it and a fire training area north of the center’s Industrial Area.
Those sites would not be overseen by the new manager of the facility.
"We are looking for a new way of doing business here," Engler said. "The intent is to see if there are innovative ways out there of running that facility in a way that doesn’t cost NASA any money other than when we need to use that facility."
The orbiter Endeavour is expected to take off from the runway atop a 747 carrier aircraft next month, marking its last use by a shuttle. Endeavour is bound for public display in California.
What will NASA do with the Shuttle Landing Facility?
Keith Stein - Examiner.com
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida is seeking input from industry on how to repurpose the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) from a shuttle landing facility to a multi-purpose launch and landing facility supporting a broad spectrum of space and aerospace customers.
On Wednesday, NASA released a “Request for Information (RFI)” announcement on the Federal Business Opportunities website asking responders to describe their overall business strategy with a concept of operations for how they intend to operate and maintain the SLF.
“NASA KSC seeks to identify industry interest to operate and maintain the SLF through a long term agreement that will also allow NASA continued access to the facility for its government and industry aerospace customers.” the agency said in the RFI announcement. “The purpose of this RFI is to identify potential partners who are interested in operating and maintaining the SLF, beginning on or about Oct. 1, 2013.
“NASA KSC intends to grant the industry partner sufficient rights to occupy, operate, modify and maintain the SLF, as necessary to support the partners proposed business approach,” the agency said. In addition, “NASA expects the potential partner to be fully responsible for the operations and maintenance of the facility to include equipment, at their own expense, for the term of any agreement.”
Shuttle Landing Facility
The SLF first opened for flights in 1976 and was specially designed for returning space shuttle orbiters to KSC. The SLF is located about two miles northwest of the Vehicle Assembly Building toward the north end of the space center.
The paved concrete runway is 15,000 feet long, 300 feet wide with 50 foot asphalt shoulders on each side and has a 1,000 foot overrun at each end. In addition, it is 16 inches thick at the centerline and 15 inches thick on the sides with a curved slope of 24 inches from the centerline to the edge to facilitate drainage. Although a single landing strip, it is considered two runways, depending on the approach; from either the northwest on Runway 15 or from the southeast on Runway 33.
Additional infrastructure includes a 480 by 550 foot aircraft parking ramp, a landing aids control building, a 90 foot wide shuttle tow way that extends from the south end of the runway to Kennedy Parkway (SR 3), a mid-field air traffic control tower, and a 23,000 square foot Convoy Vehicle Enclosure. Current Air Traffic Control Tower operating hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The SLF is capable of handling all types and sizes of aircraft, and is especially suited for very large and very heavy transport craft. It currently supports heavy transport aircraft such as the Boeing 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft, military C-17s, C-5s, as well as T-38s, Gulfstream G-2s, F-104s and helicopter operations.
Adjacent to the SLF is KSC Fire Station #2, with trained and certified Aircraft Rescue Fire Fighting capability to handle emergency responses. Fire Station #2 serves the northern portion of KSC and is not included in the scope of the RFI.
Companies interested should respond to the RFI by Sept. 24. An SLF site visit is scheduled for all interested parties on Aug. 30.
First moonwalker Neil Armstrong 'doing great' after heart surgery
Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log
The first human to walk on the moon, Neil Armstrong, is "doing great" after undergoing cardiac bypass surgery, his wife reported.
Carol Armstrong's characterization of her husband's condition was relayed by another moonwalker, Apollo 17's Gene Cernan.
Neil Armstrong, who lives in the Cincinnati area and just celebrated his 82nd birthday, went to the hospital on Monday for a stress test. He flunked, and on Tuesday, surgeons bypassed four blockages in his coronary arteries. His wife reports that his spirits are high, and the doctors expect no problems with his recovery, Cernan told NBC News' Jay Barbree.
Armstrong became world-famous in 1969 when he and fellow Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon. As the mission commander, it was Armstrong's role to step out of the lander first, descend a ladder and take the first-ever footstep on the lunar surface. "That's one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind," he declared.
After Apollo 11, Armstrong worked briefly at the Pentagon's Office of Advanced Research and Technology, then became an engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati in his native state of Ohio. He also served as a director on the boards of several companies, and retired as chairman of the board of EDO Corp. in 2002.
Armstrong traditionally has taken a low profile in public life: His most recent turns in the spotlight came when he testified at congressional hearings on the future of NASA human spaceflight, and when he was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal last November.
In a statement, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said the space agency "wishes Neil Armstrong the very best for a quick recovery from surgery."
"Neil's pioneering spirit will surely serve him well in this challenging time, and the entire NASA family is holding the Armstrong family in our thoughts and prayers. I know countless well-wishers around the world join us in sending get-well wishes to this true American hero," Bolden said.
Armstrong's crewmate, Buzz Aldrin, is among the well-wishers: "Just heard about Neil & heart surgery today — Sending my best wishes for a speedy recovery — We agreed to make it [to] the 50th Apollo anniv[ersary] in 2019," Aldrin writes in a Twitter update.
Armstrong, 1st to walk on moon, has heart surgery
Associated Press
Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was recovering Wednesday from heart surgery, days after his 82nd birthday.
It wasn't clear where the surgery occurred or where Armstrong was recuperating. A NASA spokesman who talked to Armstrong's wife, Carol, said only that the former astronaut was recovering Wednesday. His birthday was Sunday.
A Facebook statement from NASA Administrator Charles Bolden wished Armstrong a quick recovery from cardiac bypass surgery.
"Neil's pioneering spirit will surely serve him well in this challenging time and the entire NASA Family is holding the Armstrong family in our thoughts and prayers," the statement said.
Armstrong commanded the Apollo 11 spacecraft that landed on the moon on July 20, 1969, and he radioed back to Earth the historic news of "one giant leap for mankind." He spent nearly three hours walking on the moon with fellow astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin.
A message Wednesday on Aldrin's Twitter account also wished Armstrong well.
Armstrong and his wife married in 1999 and made their home in the Cincinnati suburb of Indian Hill, but he has largely stayed out of public view in recent years.
He spoke at Ohio State University during a February event honoring fellow astronaut John Glenn and the 50th anniversary of Glenn becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. In May, Armstrong joined Gene Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon, at Pensacola Naval Air Station in Florida to support the opening of The National Flight Academy, which aims to teach math and science to kids through an aviation-oriented camp.
Neil Armstrong, 1st Moonwalker, Undergoes Heart Surgery
Tariq Malik - Space.com
American icon Neil Armstrong, the first man ever to walk on the moon, was recovering from heart surgery Wednesday (Aug. 8), with well-wishes pouring in from NASA.
Armstrong, who celebrated his 82nd birthday Sunday, underwent cardiac bypass surgery on Tuesday after a health checkup, according to NBCNews.com, which stated that the celebrated astronaut is doing well.
"NASA wishes Neil Armstrong the very best for a quick recovery from surgery," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "Neil's pioneering spirit will surely serve him well in this challenging time and the entire NASA Family is holding the Armstrong family in our thoughts and prayers. I know countless well-wishers around the world join us in sending get well wishes to this true American hero."
Armstrong launched onto the world stage in July 1969, when he commanded NASA's Apollo 11 mission to make the first manned moon landing. Armstrong and Apollo 11 lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed their Eagle module on the moon's Sea of Tranquility on July 20, 1969, while crewmate Michael Collins orbited above in their command module Columbia.
"Just heard about Neil & heart surgery today," Aldrin, also 82, wrote in a Twitter post today. "Sending my best wishes for a speedy recovery. We agreed to make it the 50th Apollo Anniv. in 2019."
Armstrong and Aldrin spent 21 hours and 36 minutes on the moon and performed the first moonwalk during their historic mission. Five more Apollo moon landings would follow before the program ended in 1972.
NBCNews.com learned of Armstrong's surgery from retired astronaut Gene Cernan, commander of Apollo 17 (the last moon landing mission), who was relaying a message from Armstrong's wife Carol.
Cernan told NBCNews.com that Armstrong is doing well after surgery and expected to make a good recovery.
While Armstrong's Apollo 11 moon landing mission may be his most well-known spaceflight, the astronaut also served as the command pilot for NASA's Gemini 8 mission in 1966, during which he performed the first successful docking of two vehicles in space, according to NASA records. A Navy aviator by training, Armstrong joined NASA's astronaut ranks in 1962 after years as a test pilot, during which time he flew the X-15 experimental rocket plane among other aircraft.
After the Apollo 11 mission, Armstrong taught aerospace engineering at the University of Cincinnati and later served as chairman of Computing Technologies for Aviation, Inc., Charlottesville, Va., according to NASA. He and his wife live in the Cincinnati area.
In the years since his historic moon landing, Armstrong has rarely returned to the public spotlight, though recently he has spoken at several congressional hearings on the future of NASA's human spaceflight program.
In November 2011, Armstrong and his Apollo 11 crewmates Aldrin and Collins were awarded the Congressional Gold Medal, the highest award of Congress. Former astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, also received the award during the ceremony.
On to Mars
Orlando Sentinel (Editorial)
It's been a while since we've seen a nail-biter like this one.
Not only did Curiosity have to travel some 350 million miles from Earth to Mars, the spacecraft then had to make a super-heated descent through the Martian atmosphere, deploy a parachute, dump the chute, then fire some rockets on a kind of hovercraft while a "sky-crane" gently lowered a car-sized rover to the surface.
Are you kidding?
And yet, NASA pulled it off early Monday, demonstrating some of the old derring-do that once endeared the agency to the American public.
It was an energizing change of pace from the exhausting tar pits of American politics and the random massacres that seem to take place with alarming regularity.
Curiosity will spend several years on the surface of Mars, slowly and methodically analyzing its geology for signs of earlier life, and even occasionally zapping rock formations with an onboard laser. Pretty cool.
It's the kind of mission that should remind us — and Congress — why the American space program is worth preserving and protecting. Americans are a curious people, and exploring the heavens appeals to our better nature.
It should also serve as a reminder that the nation's space agency is at its best when its goals are audacious.
If the public can get so excited about an unmanned rover on Mars, imagine the reaction to human footprints on the Red Planet.
NASA’s ‘Mohawk Guy’ Gets Galaxy of Marriage Proposals
Katie Kindelan - ABCNews.com
Gone are the days when a NASA control room would be filled with guys with buzz cuts and pocket protectors.
In 2012, it’s all about the Mohawk or, specifically, the Mohawk of one now very popular NASA employee, flight director Bobak Ferdowski.
When Ferdowski and his NASA colleagues watched the $2.5 billion Mars Curiosity rover land safely on the surface of the red planet early Monday morning after an eight month, 352-million-mile journey, cheers and applause broke out in the control room.
Ferdowski has changed his haircut for each mission he’s worked. But a glimpse of a young, Mohawk-wearing guy who knows his aeronautical and astronomical facts enough to land a spacecraft on Mars was enough to make Ferdowski, a University of Washington and MIT graduate, go viral.
First came the online meme, the Tumblr and then the thousands of new followers to his @tweetsoutloud Twitter account, where he describes himself as “Flight director on the Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission. Exercise fiend. Mediocre shortstop.”
Some of Ferdowski’s thousands of new fans on Twitter are asking, not just to follow him, but to marry him.
“@tweetsoutloud I know you’ve been busy, but will you marry me? land something on mars if the answer is yes,” wrote @amaeryllis, in a post that is now common on the Twitter feed of the nine-year NASA veteran.
“@tweetsoutloud Besides, you’re an overnight sensation, and all the ladies love you!! Including this one ;) <3 <3 Marry Me??? :D,” reads another.
So far Ferdowski is downplaying his newfound fame. He tweeted, “Not rdy for the attention, but happy to show it takes all types to make @MarsCuriosity ! If only my coworkers wld stop making fun of me ;)”
But with the Mars Rover set to explore the red planet for the next 22 months and continue to deliver never-before-seen photos of outer space, there’s no telling to what galaxy Ferdowski’s fame could go.
MEANWHILE, ON MARS…
Curiosity's camera mast erected; checkout continues
William Harwood - CBS News
The Curiosity Mars rover, stepping through a complex post-landing checklist in near flawless fashion, successfully raised its main camera mast and beamed down razor-sharp navigation camera views of its surroundings in Gale Crater that provide a hint of the spectacular vistas to come when the craft's high-resolution cameras swing into operation, engineers said Wednesday.
Mission manager Jennifer Trosper said the only anomaly of any significance since landing overnight Sunday -- trouble with a meteorological instrument -- turned out to be a procedural glitch and not a real problem at all.
Along with erecting the remote sensing mast, Curiosity's high-gain antenna, which follows Earth across the Martian sky to provide a direct communications link, was deployed and checked out after minor alignment issues were resolved. The high-gain antenna can be used to receive critical commands when two NASA satellites, the Mars Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, are below the horizon,.
"We accomplished the main things of getting our high gain antenna session to work and we have now confirmed that all of our antennas and all of our links on the rover work perfectly," Trosper said. "We feel very confident that we have lots of data capacity now with all of these links. That was one of the major objectives of this first part of the mission, so that's fantastic."
She said Curiosity's nuclear-power pack, which converts the heat produced by the decay of radioactive plutonium-238 dioxide into electricity, is producing more power than engineers expected, about 10 watts more than the 105-watt pre-flight predictions. The additional power, coupled with slightly higher-than-expected temperatures, will benefit rover operations when its science mission begins.
The radioisotope thermoelectric generator, or RTG, is used to recharge the rover's batteries during overnight "sleep" periods. Excess heat from the RTG keeps critical systems warm.
"We have more power than we expected, and that's going to be fantastic for being able to keep the rover awake longer," Trosper said. "We also have some thermal data indicating it's a little bit warmer than what our predicts say. We're still looking at why that is. ... The huge advantage of that is that in warming up actuators to do things like drive and move the (robotic) arm we'll (use) less energy."
With Curiosity in good health, engineers unveiled new pictures of the rover's immediate surroundings and shots from the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter that included intriguing views of the landing site.
On Tuesday, engineers released MRO photos showing Curiosity, it's heat shield, parachute and rocket-powered "sky crane" where they came to rest on the floor of Gale Crater.
On Wednesday, they unveiled before-and-after views showing where six 25-pound weights slammed into the ground about seven-and-a-half-miles downrange from Curiosity. The weights were ejected during atmospheric entry to shift the spacecraft's center-of-mass and spotting their impact sites from orbit eloquently illustrated the value of the orbiter's cameras and the satellite's eagle-eyed operators.
But the view from Curiosity's navigation cameras gave the science team the biggest thrill of the day. The normal resolution view showed the vista to the north of the rover stretching to the rim of Gale Crater. In the foreground, a few yards from the rover, were two areas where pebbles and topsoil had been blown away by two of the sky crane descent vehicle's eight rocket engines.
"That's the part of the rim that's lowest in elevation, facing the northern lowlands of Mars," said Project Scientist John Grotzinger, describing the view. "The thing that really struck the science team about this image, you would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture.
"The thing that's amazing about this is to a certain extent the first impression you get is how earth-like this seems, looking at that landscape."
Views from orbit indicate Curiosity landed on an alluvial fan, a region made up or rock and soil transported into the crater by water in the distant past.
"So all the sedimentary materials ... all those materials are derived from erosion of those mountains there, that's the source region for this material," Grotzinger said. "It's really kind of fantastic."
As for the rocket plume impingement, he said the landing engines provided "free trenching" and "what you see beneath the soil is bedrock." When science operations get underway, the rover will train its instruments on the site to assess the nature of the exposed underlying rock.
"We're looking at a place that feels really comfortable," Grotzinger said. "What's going to be interesting is going to be to find out all the ways that it's different."
Now that Curiosity's remote sensing mast is up, the rover will begin snapping a 360-degree full-color panorama overnight Wednesday and Thursday, showing the crater floor, the distant rim and a three-mile-high mound of layered terrain in the heart of Gale Crater just a few miles away.
At the same time, the rover will be gearing up for a critical computer software transition, loading the programming needed for the next phase of the mission.
"There have been a couple of folks who have been working for over a year on how we transition from the R-9 flight software to the R-10 flight software," Trosper said. "They've generated hundreds of files with thousands of commands that we have to execute over the four sols (Martian days) of flight software transition and we're going to uplink those on the high gain antenna on the morning of sol 3 so they're all on board and ready to go for the sol-5-to-9 flight software transition."
Curiosity's photos of Mars look like Earth
Alicia Chang - Associated Press
The ancient Martian crater where the Curiosity rover landed looks strikingly similar to California's Mojave Desert with its looming mountains and hanging haze, scientists said Wednesday.
"The first impression that you get is how Earth-like this seems looking at that landscape," said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology.
Overnight, the car-size rover poked its head out for the first time since settling in Gale Crater, peered around and returned a flood of black-and-white pictures that will be stitched into a panorama.
It provided the best view so far of its destination since touching down early Monday after nailing an intricate choreography.
In the latest photos, Curiosity looked out toward the northern horizon. Nearby were scour marks in the surface blasted by thrusters, which kicked up a swirl of dust. There were concerns that Curiosity got dusty, but scientists said that was not the case.
"We do see a thin coating of dust, but nothing too bad," said Justin Maki, imaging scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which manages the $2.5-billion mission.
Scientists were giddy about the trenches because it meant Curiosity could drive up to them and start collecting samples once the science phase of the mission gets under way.
Since landing, Curiosity has zipped home a stream of low-resolution pictures. It also sent back a low-quality video glimpsing the last 2 1/2 minutes of its descent.
Curiosity has raised its mast packed with high-resolution and navigation cameras. With the mast up, it can begin its shutterbug days in force, including taking a 360-degree color view of its surroundings as early as today.
Grotzinger said he was struck by the Martian landscape, which appeared diverse. There seemed to be harder bedrock underneath the gravelly surface, he said.
"It kind of makes you feel at home," he said. "We're looking at a place that feels really comfortable."
Mars, of course, is very different from Earth. It's a frigid desert constantly bombarded by radiation. There are geological signs that it was a warmer and wetter place once upon a time. One of the mission's goals is to figure out how Mars transformed.
Rover sends new photos of Mars surface
Marc Kaufman - Washington Post
All basic systems on the Mars rover Curiosity are in good working order, and cameras have begun to send back photos showing a somewhat Earth-like environment, NASA officials said Wednesday.
Jennifer Trosper, project systems manager with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the rover has deployed its seven-foot mast, which holds cameras and science and communications instruments. She said the rover has established full communications with Earth and has more power output than expected.
“The rover works perfectly,” she said.
At a JPL press conference, Curiosity project scientist John Grotzinger compared one of the new images sent from Mars to the Mojave Desert.
“It’s quite an experience to be looking at a place that feels really comfortable” and familiar, he said. “What’s going to be interesting is finding out all the ways that it’s different.”
Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, which offers opportunities for research that hasn’t been possible on Mars. Scientists know that the crater was covered with water in the past, and the rover itself may well be sitting on the edge of what was once a river delta. Three-mile high Mount Sharp also sits in the midst of the 100 miles in diameter crater, and will be a major focus of the mission.
High-resolution close-up images released Wednesday also show what appear to be pebbles and gravel over a layer of what scientist believe is bedrock. One set of images also shows a small nearby indentation with exposed rock.
“You can see a harder, rocky surface under gravel and pebbles,” Grotzinger said, indicating that the site could become the rover’s first destination.
The Curiosity team expects to spend one to two weeks checking out the basic systems of the rover - the most complex ever sent to another planet - seeing if the 10 science instruments on board are in working order, and switching to a different software system.
Curiosity landed in Gale Crater, which offers opportunities for research that haven’t been available on Mars before.
The ability of the rover to move may be tested during this time, Grotzinger said, but no firm decisions have been made as the vehicle and its environment are checked out.
While some of the new Mars images are striking, the lead of the Curiosity film and photography team, Michael Malin, said that far more precise and dramatic images will come when the more powerful cameras are deployed.
Curiosity's view of Mars reminds some of Mojave
Craft's cameras have look around
Todd Halvorson – Florida Today
The Curiosity rover took a first gander around its neighborhood and found it looks a lot like home, officials said Wednesday.
“You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you, and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture,” said project scientist John Grotzinger.
“The first impression you get is how Earthlike this seems looking at that landscape.”
Launched in November from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the car-sized rover landed Monday inside 96-mile wide Gale Crater, just south of the equator.
Four navigation cameras at the top of Curiosity’s raised mast took a 360-degree look around, imaging the rover’s deck as well as its surroundings.
The cameras captured a view of Aeolis Palus, a pebble-strewn plain between the northern wall of the crater and Aeolis Mons, an 18,000-foot-tall mountain taller than any in the contiguous United States.
Right next to the rover are small depressions dug out by retrorockets on the descent stage that lowered Curiosity to the ground.
“What’s cool about this is that we got some free trenching,” Grotzinger said. “Here we get a freebie right off the bat.”
Right below the soil is bedrock.
Off in the distance is the northern wall of Gale Crater. In between is an alluvial fan, a watershed area.
“So all those (sedimentary) materials are derived from erosion of those mountains there. That’s the source region for this material,” Grotzinger said.
“So it’s really kind of fantastic to look out across there and see something that has really attracted people to particular parts of Mars for years wondering what would it look like if you landed on a landscape where there is an alluvial fan that was created by water.”
Curiosity is in what engineers call its commissioning phase, a time where all of its systems and instruments are checked out.
The real scientific work – determining whether Mars was habitable – begins in a few weeks, and the $2.5 billion mission is expected to continue for at least two years.
A full color, high-resolution 360-degree view from Curiosity’s more powerful Mastcams – two megapixel cameras that serve as the rover’s left and right eyes — is expected by week’s end.
The panorama will show a region “that actually looks very Mars-like, but it also looks Earthlike with those mountains in the background there, these deeply dissected pyramidal mountain ranges, and it just looks a lot like what you see out in the Mojave Desert,” Grotzinger said.
“It’s really cool. And so it kind of makes you feel at home,” he said.
New Mars Rover Photos Reveal 'Earthlike' Landscape
Mike Wall - Space.com
Mars looks remarkably like the California desert in a new photo beamed home by NASA's Curiosity rover, researchers said today Wednesday.
In the new black-and-white image, Curiosity's Gale Crater landing site bears a striking resemblance to the desert landscape a hundred miles or so east of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where the rover was built, scientists said.
"To a certain extent, the first impression that you get is how Earthlike this seems, looking at that landscape," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told reporters.
"You would really be forgiven for thinking that NASA was trying to pull a fast one on you and we actually put a rover out in the Mojave Desert and took a picture," Grotzinger added. "A little L.A. smog coming in there."
The high-resolution photo looks to the north, toward the rim of the 96-mile-wide (154 kilometers) crater. An area of disturbed ground is visible in the foreground, perhaps 6 feet (2 meters) from Curiosity, researchers said.
During Curiosity's landing, the thrusters on the rover's rocket-powered sky crane blasted away enough dirt in this spot to expose some bedrock, which excites the mission team.
"Here we've already got an exploration hole drilled for us," Grotzinger said. "We got a freebie right off the bat."
The photo is a composite of two images taken by Curiosity's navigation cameras, which are now fully checked out. The mission team has stitched many navcam thumbnail photos into a panorama, and they're expecting to do the same with the high-res versions of the images once enough of them have come down to Earth.
Researchers also released several other Curiosity images today, including a high-resolution navcam shot showing the rover's 7-foot-long (2.1 m) robotic arm, which remains stowed, and the shadow of Curiosity's head-like mast, which was deployed to its vertical position yesterday (Aug. 7).
Another stunning shot was taken by the rover's Mars Descent Imager camera, or MARDI, about 2.5 minutes before Curiosity touched down. It captured the rover's heat shield a few seconds after it was jettisoned and began to fall away from Curiosity's spacecraft.
A thumbnail version of this image was already available, but the full-frame shot is a vast improvement.
"This is the good stuff," said MARDI principal investigator Mike Malin, of Malin Space Science Systems in San Diego. "It's quite spectacular."
Curiosity touched down inside Gale Crater Sunday night. The rover is set to spend the next two years or more cruising around Gale, investigating whether or not the area can, or ever could, support microbial life.
While some of the rover's early photos may remind Curiosity's handlers of home, they're eager to get a feel for the otherworldliness of Gale.
"We're looking at a place that feels really comfortable," Grotzinger said. "What's going to be interesting is going to be to find out all the ways that it's different."
END
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