9/28/12 news

Sorry for the late news everyone.   Have a great weekend.     Friday, September 28, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Energy Savings: New Building A/C Hours 2.            Ballunar Liftoff Festival and JSC Open House is Back Starting Today 3.            2012 Hispanic Heritage Month Event 4.            Starport Gift Shop Closures 5.            JSC Early Morning Shuttle Van Service To Be Discontinued 6.            Coming Soon -- Your First Quarterly Roundup Edition 7.            Jim McBarron -- Personal Background Interview by Rebecca Wright 8.            Beginners Ballroom Dance -- Great Discount 9.            The Thriller Dance Performance and Spooky Spin Are Back 10.          C02 Washout Testing of NASA Spacesuits 11.          Recent JSC Announcement 12.          Shuttle Knowledge Console v2.0 13.          Fall Protection Authorized User: Oct. 11 - Building 226N, Room 174 14.          Confined Space Entry - 8:30 a.m.; Lockout/Tagout - 1 p.m. -- Oct. 23, Building 226N, Room 174 15.          Ohio State University Alumni Gathering Sept. 29 ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Nothing is impossible, the word itself says 'I'm possible!'”   -- Audrey Hepburn ________________________________________ 1.            Energy Savings: New Building A/C Hours These past few months, the JSC Cost Savings Team has been soliciting suggestions from JSC, Ellington Field and Sonny Carter Training Facility employees on how to reduce costs and energy at the center. One of the suggestions that has been approved by JSC senior management is to change current building operating hours from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday. A trial period of the new operating hours will begin Oct. 1 and extend through April 1, 2013. Air-conditioning systems will be turned on at 7 a.m. each day and turned off at 5 p.m. each day.   Building lights will remain on the existing 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. schedule. If a user needs air conditioning after 5 p.m., they should call the Operations Control Center at x33061. Critical-operating air-conditioning systems that operate 24/7 will continue to operate as normal. This change will affect JSC, Ellington and Sonny Carter Training Facility.   Charles Noel x33219   [top] 2.            Ballunar Liftoff Festival and JSC Open House is Back Starting Today Starting today and going until Sept. 30, the 19th Annual Ballunar Liftoff Festival will transform JSC. This unique weekend of fun takes place along Second Street between Buildings 14 and 44. Visit this exciting and educational family-oriented event and enjoy hot air balloon competitions, evening balloon glows, skydiving exhibitions, commercial exhibits, concession booths, food from local restaurants, arts and crafts exhibits, entertainment and various aviation displays. Astronauts will be signing autographs on Saturday in the Experience NASA exhibit at the festival site during the JSC Open House from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Included in the festival and Open House will be a Salute to Law Enforcement display at the front entry with fire, police and emergency equipment exhibited and demonstrations throughout the day.   Entry into the festival will be via Gate 1 (the main gate off Saturn). The festival entry fee is $20 per vehicle at the gate and $10 in advance if purchased online at: http://www.ballunarfestival.com   Employees working that weekend should enter through Gates 3 or 4.   Ballunar hours are:   - Today, Sept. 28, from 6 to 10 p.m. - Saturday, Sept. 29, from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. - Sunday, Sept. 30, from 7 a.m. to noon   In conjunction with Ballunar, JSC will host an Open House on Saturday ONLY from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. You can visit Buildings 7, 9N, 11, 14, 16 (SAIL), 30S, 32, 220, 222 and the Saturn V complex. See the space station full-scale mockups, robotic exhibits, spacesuits, tools, Building 30 Shuttle Mission Control Center (MCC) and the historic Apollo MCC. In addition, see the lunar rover lots of cool exhibits, demonstrations and much more.   For more information and festival maps, see: http://www.ballunarfestival.com   Lisa Gurgos x48133   [top] 3.            2012 Hispanic Heritage Month Event Save the date: The JSC Hispanic Employee Resource Group (HERG) will be hosting the 2012 Hispanic Heritage Month event on Thursday, Oct. 4, in the Teague Auditorium. Entertainment (music and Latin dance performances) begins at 11 a.m. At the conclusion of music, a live Latin dance choreography/performance hosted by Rodolfo Gonzalez and Stephanie Tapia will be presented.   The invited speakers will begin at noon. We are proud to present Dr. Richard Tapia, Rice University professor, who will be speaking on the "Crisis in Higher Education." A second Keynote speaker, Dr. James Salazar, professor at Galveston College, will present "A Piece of My American Dream." The program will conclude at 1 p.m. with door prizes and free "Helados" to all in attendance. For more information, please contact Libby Moreno at 281-483-8608 or: elizabeth.moreno-1@nasa.gov   To add this meeting to your calendar, open the following link and click "Open," then "Save and close:" http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/hisp/Shared%20Documents/Hispanic%20He...   Mike Ruiz x38169 http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/hisp/default.aspx   [top] 4.            Starport Gift Shop Closures The Starport Gift Shops in Buildings 3 and 11 will be closed Oct. 1 to 4 for inventory.   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 5.            JSC Early Morning Shuttle Van Service To Be Discontinued Effective Oct. 1, the Center Operations Directorate will discontinue the early morning shuttle van service route. This route runs between JSC and the Houston Metro pickup/drop-off point located at 1150 Gemini. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause, but the limited usage does not justify the cost of continuing this service.   Marty Cassens, JB7/Transportation and Support Services Branch x36503   [top] 6.            Coming Soon -- Your First Quarterly Roundup Edition JSC's popular magazine Roundup begins quarterly distribution this October, both online and printed. For more than 50 years the magazine has been a staple for employee communications tools, and we'll continue to share important JSC information and stories in lots of different ways. By going quarterly, the JSC External Relations Office is taking advantage of some of the new -- and "greener" -- media techniques. That's right -- we've got all the news that's fit to click!   Just so you know, we already share the JSC story on the JSC home site on NASA.gov; through JSC Today updates that link you to videos, articles and images; more news and articles on the Inside JSC internal home page; up-to-the minute updates through the NASA_Johnson Twitter account and on NASA's Johnson Space Center Facebook site; and interesting news about people and teams on our long-popular JSC Features website. Be sure to scroll on over to find out what's new and what JSC's team is doing. You can find us on the World Wide Web!   Here are some links to bookmark: JSC home page: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/johnson/home/index.html InsideJSC: http://internal.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/NASAJSC Twitter: http://twitter.com/NASA_Johnson and http://twitter.com/NASA_Astronauts YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/reelnasa JSC Features: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/jscfeatures/ JSC Roundup Archive: http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/roundup/online/ JSC Today: http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives/day.cfm   See you on the Internet!   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 7.            Jim McBarron -- Personal Background Interview by Rebecca Wright Jim McBarron exhibits a wealth of knowledge gathered from more than 40 years of experience with NASA, Extravehicular Activity (EVA) and spacesuits. His biography, progression of work at NASA, impact on EVA and career accomplishments are of interest to many. Rebecca Wright from the JSC History Office will conduct a personal interview with McBarron. This interview will highlight the influences and decision-making methods that impacted his technical and management contributions to NASA. Attendees will gain insight on the external and internal NASA influences on career progression and the type of accomplishments and technical advances that committed individuals can make.   When: Today, Sept. 28, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Location: Building 5S, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor)   Registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/catalog/createSearchResults.do Or search for "spacesuit" to bring up all Spacesuit Knowledge Capture offerings.   For more information, contact any Spacesuit Knowledge Capture point of contact: Cinda Chullen (x38384), Juniper Jairala (281-461-5794), Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795) or Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681)   Juniper Jairala 281-461-5794   [top] 8.            Beginners Ballroom Dance -- Great Discount Do you feel like you have two left feet? Well, Starport has the perfect fall program for you: Beginners Ballroom Dance!   This eight-week class introduces you to the various types of ballroom dance. Students will learn the secrets of a good lead and following, as well as the ability to identify the beat of the music. This class is easy, and participants have fun as they learn.   JSC friends and family are welcome.   Discounted registration: - $90 per couple (ends Oct. 3) Regular registration: - $110 per couple (Oct. 4 to 8)   Two class sessions available: - Tuesdays, 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. -- starting Oct. 9 - Thursdays, 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. -- starting Oct. 11   All classes are taught in the Gilruth Center's dance studio.   To register, or for additional information, please contact the Gilruth Center's information desk: 281-483-0304   Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/RecreationClasses/RecreationProgram...   [top] 9.            The Thriller Dance Performance and Spooky Spin Are Back Join in on the Halloween fun at the Gilruth Center on Oct. 26 with a Thriller dance performance and Spooky Spin ride! You'll have a blast learning the Thriller dance routine, and then performing it in your best zombie attire. Learn the dance on Oct. 19 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. The big performance is Oct. 26 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. It's $20 if registered by Oct. 12, or $25 after.   Or, take a Spooky Spin ride in our specialty spin class with a Halloween theme! Come dressed in costume for this fun and frightful workout. It's Oct. 26 from 6 to 7 p.m. and only $10 if registered by Oct. 20, or $15 if registered after. Register for both classes at the Gilruth Center front desk.   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 10.          C02 Washout Testing of NASA Spacesuits Jason Norcross will discuss the results of recent CO2 washout testing of several NASA spacesuits. During ground testing with spacesuits, adequate CO2 washout is needed for the subject. Symptoms of acute CO2 exposure depend on the partial pressure of CO2 (ppCO2) available to enter the lungs during respiration. Tests were done to characterize inspired ppCO2 for a range of workloads and flow rates. During this presentation, Norcross will provide descriptions of the spacesuits, test hardware, methodology and results, as well as implications for future ground testing and verification of flight requirements.   When: Tuesday, Oct. 2, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Location: 5S, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor)   Registration: In SATERN, search for "spacesuit" to bring up all Spacesuit Knowledge Capture offerings, and then select the offering for this date.   For questions, contact a Spacesuit Knowledge Capture point of contact: Cinda Chullen (x38384), Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795) or Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681).   Juniper Jairala 281-461-5794   [top] 11.          Recent JSC Announcement Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement:   JSCA 12-028: Communications With Industry Procurement Solicitation for the Engineering Product Integration Contract   Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page.   Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx   [top] 12.          Shuttle Knowledge Console v2.0 As part of JSC's ongoing space shuttle knowledge capture process, the JSC Chief Knowledge Officer (CKO) and the JSC Engineering Directorate are pleased to announce the second release of the Shuttle Knowledge Console: https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov   New content added is Orbital Maneuvering System/Reaction Control System added to the Subsystem Manager page; Integrated Hazard Analysis added to the Shuttle Information System Archive page; and Additional Shuttle Records content added to the Shuttle Records page. Also added were export control warnings on all pages. Questions about the new website can be directed to Howard Wagner in the JSC Engineering Directorate or Brent Fontenot in the CKO office. We would love your feedback on this new site. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation and give us your comments.   Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx   [top] 13.          Fall Protection Authorized User: Oct. 11 - Building 226N, Room 174 SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0311-AU: This class is geared to training the Authorized User persons who are the end-users of fall-protection equipment, and teaches the proper methods for utilizing fall-protection equipment at heights. Upon completion of this course, the student should: Understand all stages of the fall protection hierarchy; Know the four parts of a fall-arrest system; Understand the fall-protection training requirements; Be able to demonstrate the proper donning of the harness and proper usage of the equipment; Be able to identify when and where the equipment is needed; Be able to inspect fall-protection equipment; Know how to properly care for and maintain fall-protection equipment; And be familiar with the effects of harness tension and pressures of the harness on the body. There will be a final exam associated with this course.   Registration in SATERN is required.   Shirley Robinson x41284   [top] 14.          Confined Space Entry - 8:30 a.m.; Lockout/Tagout - 1 p.m. -- Oct. 23, Building 226N, Room 174 SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0806: Confined Space Entry The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for safe entry to and operations in confined spaces. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) standard 29 CFR 1910.146, "Confined Space," is the basis for this course. The course covers the hazards of working in or around a confined space and the precautions one should take to control these hazards. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class.   SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0814: Lockout/Tagout The purpose of this course is to provide employees with the standards, procedures and requirements necessary for the control of hazardous energy through lockout and tagout of energy-isolating devices. OSHA standard 29 CFR 1910.147, "The Control of Hazardous Energy (Lockout/Tagout)," is the basis for this course. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class.   Registration in SATERN is required.   Shirley Robinson x41284   [top] 15.          Ohio State University Alumni Gathering Sept. 29 Join Ohio State alumni at Buffalo Wild Wings on Bay Area Boulevard at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sept. 29. Meet other alumni in the area while cheering on the team at 2:30 p.m. For any questions, contact Tamra George at 281-253-4082. O-H ...   Tamra George x32923   [top]   ________________________________________ 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: ·         4:30 pm Central (5:30 EDT) – Coverage of ATV3 undocking ·         4:46 pm Central (5:46 EDT) – Undocking of ATV3 from ISS Zvezda module aft   Human Spaceflight News Friday – September 28, 2012   Curiosity has found evidence of an ancient, flowing stream on Mars at several sites including the outcropping of rock pictured in this image mosaic   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Battery Issue Prompts Orbital To Postpone Antares Rollout   Dan Leone – Space News   Orbital Sciences Corp. on Thursday (Sept. 27) scrubbed a planned rollout of the first stage of its Antares rocket, which was headed to the launch pad for a long-awaited hold-down test, because of problems with the horizontal transporter used to move the rocket to its launch site. The rollout, which was scheduled to begin around 8:00 a.m. Thursday, was rescheduled for Saturday morning (Sept. 29) because of a “battery issue” with the transporter vehicle used to haul Antares from its hangar to Pad 0-A at NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility, Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said in an email that reached Space News at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.   NASA biggest problems start with its own 'can-do' attitude   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   NASA's inspector general says one of the space agency's biggest challenges in meeting its goals is its own "can-do spirit." That attitude leads managers to "overestimate their ability" to finish their projects with the budget and time available. Inspector General Paul Martin's analysis, released today, also contains three other major challenges - underestimating technical complexity, funding instability and limited manager opportunities - that face NASA as it tries to develop a new launch system for deep-space flight. They are the same challenges, Martin says, that has faced the agency throughout its 50-year history despite its continued ability to "be at the forefront of science and space exploration."   Russian Space Industry Needs ‘Extreme Measures’ - Chief   RIA Novosti   Russia’s space sector needs to carry out sweeping reform in order to remain competitive, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday evening. “Unless we undertake extreme measures, the sector will be uncompetitive within three-four years,” Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said during a lecture to science and technology students. A recent spate of failed launches is “only the litmus test,” he said. “The root causes are much deeper and more important.”   'Avengers' in space: NASA astronaut recounts movie nights and life in orbit   Clara Moskowitz   Now that he's returned to Earth from a five-month stay on the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba is still getting used to life on the ground. Acaba landed in Kazakhstan Sept. 16 after riding a Russian Soyuz spaceship back to Earth with two cosmonauts, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin. The three spaceflyers had just finished stints as crewmembers on the Expedition 32 mission of the International Space Station, which orbits Earth 240 miles (386 km) overhead.   Hadfield ponders mundane and serious challenges of six months in space   Colin Perkel – The Tyee (British Columbia)   Astronaut Chris Hadfield's next space mission will be bringing with it some thoroughly mundane challenges, such as what to pack, as well as more critical issues around staying healthy. In an interview Thursday, Hadfield said being in space for six months will be far different from his two previous excursions, which were much shorter. "It's the difference between a quick visit somewhere — a drive past — and moving somewhere," Hadfield said. "You have to think about how many tooth brushes to bring, how you're going to set up life, how you're going to celebrate all the anniversaries."   Mini-shuttle talk stirs optimism in North Brevard Air Force eyes putting X-37B operations in Brevard alone   Todd Halvorson – Florida Today   The military’s mysterious mini-shuttle operations might be consolidated on Florida’s Space Coast, and the upcoming third flight of the Air Force vehicle might land at Kennedy Space Center’s three-mile shuttle runway. In what could be an economic boon for an area still reeling from the 2011 retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet, the Air Force said Thursday it was considering moving X-37B operations to KSC or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.   Law says Apollo astronauts can keep, sell artifacts   Mark Matthews   President Barack Obama ended a months-long fight over NASA relics this week when he signed into law a bill that confers full ownership of early NASA artifacts to the astronauts that took them as souvenirs. The legislation follows a public -- and sometimes bitter -- battle between NASA and its astronaut corps over the sale of keepsakes from the agency's earliest days, most notably the nearly $390,000 auction of a systems checklist from the infamous Apollo 13 mission.   Astronauts Can Keep (or Sell) Their Space Artifacts, New Law Says   Robert Pearlman – collectSPACE.com   America's early space pioneers and moon voyagers have now been confirmed as the legal owners of the equipment and spacecraft parts they saved as souvenirs from their missions. President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a bill into law granting NASA's Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo crew members "full ownership rights" to the artifacts they received and retained more than 40 years ago.   MEANWHILE, ON MARS…   Curiosity finds clear evidence of ancient water flow in Gale Crater   William Harwood - CBS News   NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, slowly nearing its initial science destination where multiple types of terrain come together, has found outcrops of conglomerate rocks made up of eroded gravels that scientists believe were transported across the floor of Gale Crater by a "vigorous" flow of ankle-to-hip-deep water in the distant past. It's the first observation of its kind on Mars, showing that an alluvial fan photographed from orbit was, as suspected, formed due to the action of flowing water that entered the crater through a 100-foot-deep, 2,000-foot-wide channel dubbed Peace Vallis that cuts through the crater rim and then fans out across a gentle 1-degree slope toward Curiosity's landing site.   Curiosity’s landing site once covered with fast-moving water, NASA says   Marc Kaufman – Washington Post   The landing site of the Mars rover Curiosity was once covered with fast-moving and possibly waist-high water that could have possibly supported life, NASA scientists announced Thursday. Although planetary scientists have often speculated that the now-desiccated surface of Mars was once wet, Curiosity’s cameras provided the first proof that flowing water was present on a least one part of Mars for “thousands or millions of years.” The early finding led John Grotzinger, the top mission scientist at the Mars Science Laboratory, to conclude that Curiosity had found a potentially “habitable” site — a central goal of the mission — well before heading to its primary destination.   Mars reveals a river ran through it Curiosity finds evidence of Martian riverbed   Todd Halvorson – Florida Today   NASA’s Curiosity rover is rolling through what appears to be an ancient riverbed where a gushing stream once ran vigorously before the area turned as desertlike as Death Valley, officials said Thursday. The evidence that water once flowed on Mars came from Curiosity’s mast cameras, and it provides scientists with an unprecedented look at ancient streambed gravels.   Mars rover Curiosity finds signs of ancient stream   Alicia Chang – Associated Press   The NASA rover Curiosity has beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream, possibly waist-deep, once flowed on Mars - a find that the mission's chief scientist called exciting. There have been previous signs that water existed on the red planet long ago, but the images released Thursday showing pebbles rounded off, likely by water, offered the most convincing evidence so far of an ancient streambed. There was "a vigorous flow on the surface of Mars," said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology. "We're really excited about this."   Mars rover finds first evidence of water: a river of it   Irene Klotz – Reuters   NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, dispatched to learn if the most Earth-like planet in the solar system was suitable for microbial life, has found clear evidence its landing site was once awash in water, a key ingredient for life, scientists said Thursday. Curiosity, a roving chemistry laboratory the size of a small car, touched down on August 6 inside a giant impact basin near the planet's equator. The primary target for the two-year mission is a three-mile (five-km) -high mound of layered rock rising from the floor of Gale Crater. Scientists suspect the mound, known as Mount Sharp, is the remains of sediment that once completely filled the crater. Analysis of a slab of rock located between the crater's north rim and the base of Mount Sharp indicate a fast-moving stream of water once flowed there.   Curiosity finds evidence of flowing water on Mars   Frank Morring, Jr. – Aviation Week   Scientists examining data from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover have concluded that imagery from three sites on the floor of Gale Crater represents rocks deposited there by water flowing down from the crater wall, probably billions of years ago. The conglomerate rock first turned up in an outcropping near Curiosity’s landing site, exposed by the downwash from the retro-rockets on its landing “sky crane.” A second site produced more of the same, and closer examination of a third rock called Hottah with the 34mm and 100mm lenses on the rover’s mast camera allowed the science team to reach a consensus.   Sample return remains focus of NASA's Mars program   Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com   Confined by budget pressures which forced NASA to pull out of Europe's ambitious ExoMars program, officials will decide by February how and when to kick off a multi-mission project to return Martian soil samples to Earth. The sample return program could begin with a first launch as soon as 2018, but without more money in NASA's Mars budget, the scope of the mission will be limited to surveying the red planet from orbit. NASA could elect to wait until a 2020 launch opportunity, when more money would be available to pay for a rover mission.   U.S., Europe Won’t Go It Alone in Mars Exploration   Peter de Selding – Space News   NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Sept. 26 urged NASA’s international partners not to read too much into an advisory panel’s report on the U.S. agency’s near-term Mars exploration options, saying “NASA does not plan to do anything alone” when it comes to Mars exploration. Addressing a press briefing here, where he and his European Space Agency (ESA) counterpart, Jean-Jacques Dordain, were receiving awards from the University of Liege, Bolden said the report should be seen only as offering hope that, despite its budget constraints, NASA will be able to send an astronaut to Mars by around 2030 as President Barack Obama has requested. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Battery Issue Prompts Orbital To Postpone Antares Rollout   Dan Leone – Space News   Orbital Sciences Corp. on Thursday (Sept. 27) scrubbed a planned rollout of the first stage of its Antares rocket, which was headed to the launch pad for a long-awaited hold-down test, because of problems with the horizontal transporter used to move the rocket to its launch site.   The rollout, which was scheduled to begin around 8:00 a.m. Thursday, was rescheduled for Saturday morning (Sept. 29) because of a “battery issue” with the transporter vehicle used to haul Antares from its hangar to Pad 0-A at NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility, Orbital spokesman Barron Beneski said in an email that reached Space News at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday.   Orbital was preparing to bring the Antares first stage to Pad 0-A for a hold-down test that, Beneski said, will take place several weeks after the rocket stage is set up at the pad.   “We were authorized to begin our on-pad operations,” Beneski said Sept. 27 from Orbital’s Dulles, Va., headquarters. “Once the rocket is hooked up, it will be four to six weeks before we do the hot-fire test.”   The battery issue with the transporter showed itself early in the rollout process, according to an internal Orbital email.   “We experienced a problem with the transporters,” Mike Whalen, Orbital’s field site manager, wrote just before 11 a.m. in the email, which was obtained by Space News. “They checked out ok last night and early this morning, but one died when we attempted to roll.   “Team is trouble shooting and we know for sure that we have a power problem. We are getting new batteries delivered Pocomoke now. After installing them we will perform transporter checkout. If no fault code exist[s], we will probably roll out around 12:30 if all goes well,” Whalen wrote.   Beneski had no immediate comment on the status of the transporter checkout. Whalen could not be reached for comment.   The planned Antares first-stage hold down is a critical milestone for Orbital. The test, if successful, will clear the way for the first flight of the full Antares launch vehicle by the end of this year, Beneski said.   NASA spokesman Jeremy Eggers did not immediately reply to a request for comment. Because Pad 0-A is located on a NASA range, the U.S. space agency has responsibility for certifying that it is fit for launch.   Delays in obtaining that certification, which Orbital blamed on the Virginia Commercial Spaceflight Authority that operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport on Wallops Island, have prevented Orbital from completing the remaining milestones in its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA.   Under the COTS agreement, Orbital has to perform two flight demonstrations of its Antares rocket, including one where the vehicle boosts the company’s unmanned Cygnus cargo capsule to the space station. Orbital plans to use these vehicles to fulfill its $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. The 2008 agreement calls for Orbital to make eight cargo delivery runs to the international space station.   NASA biggest problems start with its own 'can-do' attitude   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   NASA's inspector general says one of the space agency's biggest challenges in meeting its goals is its own "can-do spirit." That attitude leads managers to "overestimate their ability" to finish their projects with the budget and time available.   Inspector General Paul Martin's analysis, released today, also contains three other major challenges - underestimating technical complexity, funding instability and limited manager opportunities - that face NASA as it tries to develop a new launch system for deep-space flight. They are the same challenges, Martin says, that has faced the agency throughout its 50-year history despite its continued ability to "be at the forefront of science and space exploration."   Martin released the analysis - based on interviews with 85 "individuals involved in all levels of project development from both inside and outside the agency - to help NASA "meet cost, schedule, and performance goals on its space programs."   The four challenges in brief are:   1. Optimistic agency culture. "Can-do" spirit is essential, Martin said, but it can lead managers to overestimate their teams' abilities. "To underscore this point," the IG wrote, "when asked whether their projects had been successful, every project manager we interviewed answered in the affirmative, regardless of the project's fidelity to cost and schedule goals.   2. Underestimating technical complexity. It's not easy building hardware for space, where repairs are difficult or impossible and items are often "one of a kind instruments." Managers routinely "lack historical data, cost models, lessons learned" and other key information, Martin wrote.   3. Funding instability. More than 75 percent of those interviewed told the IG's office this factor "was among the most significant." Much of it is out of NASA's control - being a function of congressional and White House decisions - but some is not. NASA does make internal funding decisions.   4. Limited project manager opportunities. Experience and on-the-job training are key to success, managers agree, but "NASA does not have enough small missions to provide a training ground." Further reliance on contractors has also led NASA engineers to "spend most of their time overseeing contractor efforts rather than building spaceflight components."   NASA has made "positive strides" to meet these challenges, Martin writes, but it needs "unity of effort" and a realistic approach by top managers. Martin said his office will continue to study these challenges and offer recommendations.   Russian Space Industry Needs ‘Extreme Measures’ - Chief   RIA Novosti   Russia’s space sector needs to carry out sweeping reform in order to remain competitive, the head of Russian space agency Roscosmos said on Thursday evening.   “Unless we undertake extreme measures, the sector will be uncompetitive within three-four years,” Roscosmos head Vladimir Popovkin said during a lecture to science and technology students.   A recent spate of failed launches is “only the litmus test,” he said. “The root causes are much deeper and more important.”   Russian satellites could end up priced out of the market because per-capita productivity in the aerospace sectors of competing countries is two to four times higher, he warned. “If nothing changes, we won’t be able to sell [Russian space technology] in 2015, because Western equipment will be priced 33 to 50 percent lower,” Popovkin said.   In order to raise productivity, Roscosmos ought to be converted into a space industry holding company that is not under direct state control. The new structure would be able to optimize headcounts at enterprises in the sector and better compete to hire the best people, he said.   Popovkin suggested that the "lower stages" in the production chain should pass into private hands, and called for a fundamental shift in the state's focus from producing a final product to providing conditions conducive to success.   Russia experienced a number of unsuccessful space launches in the past 12 months, losing several commercial satellites and the Phobos-Grunt Mars mission ended in failure. This past August, a Proton-M rocket carrier with a Briz-M booster failed to bring two satellites into the target orbit.   'Avengers' in space: NASA astronaut recounts movie nights and life in orbit   Clara Moskowitz   Now that he's returned to Earth from a five-month stay on the International Space Station, NASA astronaut Joe Acaba is still getting used to life on the ground.   Acaba landed in Kazakhstan Sept. 16 after riding a Russian Soyuz spaceship back to Earth with two cosmonauts, Gennady Padalka and Sergei Revin. The three spaceflyers had just finished stints as crewmembers on the Expedition 32 mission of the International Space Station, which orbits Earth 240 miles (386 km) overhead.   "I'm feeling much better, getting used to it, and better and better every day," Acaba told SPACE.com during an interview Wednesday (Sept. 25). "You forget how strong gravity is when you've been gone for a while."   During his tenure in space, Acaba had a hectic schedule of science experiments, space station upkeeping duties, and hosting the occasional robotic cargo-delivery spacecraft. In fact, Acaba was present for the very first visit of a privately-built vehicle, the Dragon capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) of Hawthorne, Calif., which docked at the space station May 25.   Dragon delivered a load of food, clothes and supplies as a trial run for a series of 12 delivery hauls the company is contracted for by NASA.   "I was pretty fortunate — I arrived and then four days later, Dragon showed up, and so it was a real busy time for my first part of the increment," Acaba said. "It was very nice to be part of that first docking of a commercial vehicle, and we really enjoyed it, and it was a great milestone."   But it wasn't all work and no play in space. Acaba was the mastermind behind the plan to screen the movie "The Avengers" on the space station while he was there. A self-professed comics fan, the astronaut worked with NASA, Marvel Comics and Disney to uplink the film to the orbiting outpost in June.   "It's really nice to have a movie night," Acaba said. "As a crew, we're very integrated. Just like here on Earth, whenever you can get together with family and friends to watch a movie or whatever it may be, it's pretty special, so we enjoyed the movie and we just enjoyed spending time together."   The astronaut gave the movie high grades.   "I thought it was great, but I'm a little biased because I enjoy all the superhero movies, growing up with comics and things like that," he said. "I enjoyed it, and I was very thankful that we were able to get it up there."   Acaba joined NASA in May 2004, and flew to space for the first time on the STS-119 mission of the shuttle Discovery in March 2009. Before becoming an astronaut, Acaba earned a master's degree in geology, and taught in high school and middle school.   "I was a math and science teacher out in Florida, and I think the teaching profession really gets you pretty well qualified to become an astronaut," Acaba said. "It may not seem that way, but schoolteachers every day, they're in a stressful environment, every day is different, and you need to cope with a wide range of people and different experiences."   Hadfield ponders mundane and serious challenges of six months in space   Colin Perkel – The Tyee (British Columbia)   Astronaut Chris Hadfield's next space mission will be bringing with it some thoroughly mundane challenges, such as what to pack, as well as more critical issues around staying healthy.   In an interview Thursday, Hadfield said being in space for six months will be far different from his two previous excursions, which were much shorter.   "It's the difference between a quick visit somewhere — a drive past — and moving somewhere," Hadfield said.   "You have to think about how many tooth brushes to bring, how you're going to set up life, how you're going to celebrate all the anniversaries."   Hadfield, 53, is due to blast off Dec. 19 aboard a Russian spacecraft with an American and Russian to become the first Canadian to take command of the International Space Station.   With only a few others — Canada's Bob Thirsk among them — having spent so long in space in one stretch, Hadfield said he has concerns about staying physically and mentally healthy.   There is also still much to be learned about the experience of spending extended periods in confined, weightless conditions, he said.   "It's not just new for me, it's still new in the human experience," Hadfield said.   "The stuff we're figuring out in our six months on space station ... is writing the book on how people are going to leave Earth."   In his first mission in 1995, the first Canadian to walk in space spent just over a week helping build the Russian station "Mir." In his second in 2001, he spent almost two weeks helping build the International Space Station.   Hadfield called weightlessness "really fun and easy" but noted the deleterious effects it has. Those effects include muscle atrophy, loss of bone density, and having the balance system shut down.   "All of those things that build you a strong body get lazy," he said. "You don't even have to hold up your head."   As a result, astronauts need to use resistance machines to exercise so they have the strength to work in a space suit during spacewalks or manage when they return to gravity.   As commander of the International Space Station, Hadfield said he will be responsible for everything — from the smallest experiment to "getting hit by a meteorite" to flying the vehicle.   His comments came during the public introduction of "Next-Generation Canadarm" prototypes, sophisticated robotic devices being built for the Canadian Space Agency at the MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates plant.   The robotic arms could be used to refuel satellites or service different spacecraft and telescopes.   The new arms will have comprehensive and specialized tools and possibly visual systems that will give them huge versatility and a degree of autonomy in the projects they can tackle.   "Robots aren't as good as people," said Cameron Ower, research and development director at MDA whose "Dexter" is currently aboard the space station.   "But it's starting to get to the level where the robot has to start to do the things that a human would do."   Hadfield, who used the original "Canadarm" during earlier missions, called it amazing how astronauts can use robots to lift massive structures in space, or surgeons can use them to remove cancer from someone's brain.   "When a machine is built well, it's like an extension of your body," he said. "You don't even think that you're operating a machine."   Mini-shuttle talk stirs optimism in North Brevard Air Force eyes putting X-37B operations in Brevard alone   Todd Halvorson – Florida Today   The military’s mysterious mini-shuttle operations might be consolidated on Florida’s Space Coast, and the upcoming third flight of the Air Force vehicle might land at Kennedy Space Center’s three-mile shuttle runway.   In what could be an economic boon for an area still reeling from the 2011 retirement of the U.S. shuttle fleet, the Air Force said Thursday it was considering moving X-37B operations to KSC or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.   Moreover, the upcoming third flight of the unmanned X-37B — a hush-hush vehicle also known as the Orbital Test Vehicle, or OTV — could be capped with a return to NASA’s Shuttle Landing Facility.   Maj. Tracy Bunko, a spokesperson for the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, said the service is “looking at space shuttle infrastructure for possible cost-saving measures, including the potential for consolidating landing, refurbishment and launch operations at Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.”   “Those investigations are in an early state, and any specifics will not be known for some time,” Bunko said. “But we are evaluating the feasibility of landing the X-37B OTV at Kennedy Space Center possibly as early as for the landing of OTV-3.”   It was not immediately clear how many jobs might be brought to the Space Coast if the Air Force consolidates X-37B operations here. But such a move would almost certainly add dozens, if not hundreds, of civil service and contractor jobs that would help fuel a next-generation economic engine on Florida's Space Coast.   The region remains economically punch-drunk after thousands of layoffs triggered by the July 2011 retirement of the shuttle orbiters Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour.   But NASA has been actively attempting to convert its Apollo and shuttle launch site into a 21st-century spaceport, one where both the U.S. government and American commercial companies can carry out manufacturing and launch operations.   The Boeing Co. signed a deal in October 2011 to manufacture and assemble its CST-100 commercial space taxis in one of three excess shuttle orbiter hangars in the Launch Complex 39 area at KSC.   The Apollo-style capsules are one of three contenders for future NASA contracts to ferry U.S. and partner nation astronauts to and from the International Space Station.   The work at the converted shuttle hangar is expected to create 550 jobs by 2015.   NASA also has been exploring interest in the other two shuttle hangars, as well as the Vehicle Assembly Building, and launch pads 39A and 39B.   Built by the Boeing Co., the X-37B resembles a small space shuttle. It is 29 feet long, 15 feet wide and has two delta-shaped wings and two angled tail fins.   The solar-powered spacecraft also has a payload bay that could haul satellites and experiments into low Earth orbit and then return them to Earth.   Its missions are classified top-secret. But Air Force officials say the spacecraft is being used to test advanced guidance, navigation and control systems as well as advanced thermal protection systems, high-temperature structures and seals, and lightweight electromechanical flight systems.   The vehicles also are a rapid-turnaround technology demonstrator.   Two of the military mini-shuttles were built for the Air Force, and each has flown in space once. The vehicles are launched on United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets.   The first two flights ended with ground-breaking autonomous atmospheric re-entries and landings at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.   The third flight of an X-37B is scheduled to launch in late October aboard an Atlas V rocket at Space Launch Complex 41 at the Cape.   The mission will mark the first X-37B re-flight. The spacecraft launched on the inaugural X-37B mission in April 2010. It flew in space for about 225 days.   The second X-37B spacecraft launched in March 2011 and spent 469 days in space — well beyond its 270-day orbital warranty.   Bunko said the duration of the upcoming third mission is still to be determined.   Law says Apollo astronauts can keep, sell artifacts   Mark Matthews   President Barack Obama ended a months-long fight over NASA relics this week when he signed into law a bill that confers full ownership of early NASA artifacts to the astronauts that took them as souvenirs.   The legislation follows a public -- and sometimes bitter -- battle between NASA and its astronaut corps over the sale of keepsakes from the agency's earliest days, most notably the nearly $390,000 auction of a systems checklist from the infamous Apollo 13 mission.   NASA lawyers challenged the sale on the grounds that mission commander Jim Lovell didn't have clear ownership of the 70-page checklist, which was crucial in helping the Apollo 13 crew survive an in-space explosion.   That challenge prompted widespread condemnation from NASA's earliest astronauts, who argued that agency rules from that era allowed them to keep souvenirs, unlike NASA fliers in the modern era.   To settle the fight, lawmakers introduced a bill making clear that astronauts from the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo missions could keep mementos such as checklists, flight manuals and training gear -- with the exception that "lunar rocks and other lunar material" belonged to NASA.   The bill sailed through Congress, and Obama signed it on Tuesday.   "I am pleased we were able to work in a bipartisan, bicameral way to clear up any ambiguity regarding small mementos kept by our nation's early space pioneers," said U.S. Rep. Ralph Hall, R- Texas, chair of the House science committee, in a statement.   The legislation also clears the way for NASA's first astronauts to sell their artifacts -- though the status of the Apollo 13 checklist remains uncertain.   Heritage Auctions of Dallas, which oversaw the checklist sale, subsequently voided the transaction and returned the checklist to Lovell, who could not be reached for comment.   Astronauts Can Keep (or Sell) Their Space Artifacts, New Law Says   Robert Pearlman – collectSPACE.com   America's early space pioneers and moon voyagers have now been confirmed as the legal owners of the equipment and spacecraft parts they saved as souvenirs from their missions.   President Barack Obama on Tuesday signed a bill into law granting NASA's Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo crew members "full ownership rights" to the artifacts they received and retained more than 40 years ago.   The legislation (H.R. 4158) was authored in response to recent challenges raised by NASA's General Counsel and Office of Inspector General (OIG) over the attempted sale by several astronauts of their mementos. The issue came to a head in January after an inquiry by the space agency put a hold on the almost $400,000 auction of a checklist used by Apollo 13 commander James Lovell.   The bill clarifies what NASA Administrator Charles Bolden described as "fundamental misunderstandings and unclear policies."   "NASA is pleased ownership of flight mementos and other artifacts of the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo astronauts is no longer in question," NASA spokesman Robert Jacobs said in a statement issued on Wednesday (Sept. 26). "We appreciate the expeditious consideration by Congress to clarify ownership of these mementos and the patience of the astronauts, museums, learning institutions, and others who have these artifacts [from] the astronauts in personal and private collections."   Ambiguity over astronauts' artifacts   "This bill seeks to eliminate any further ambiguity about Apollo-era artifacts that were received by the astronauts. It simply says that astronauts who flew through the end of the Apollo program will be granted full right of ownership of any artifacts received from their missions," Congressman Ralph Hall (R-TX), chair of the House of Representatives' Science, Space and Technology Committee, said.   Hall, joined by ranking committee member Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), introduced the bill in March. It was passed by the House Sept. 19. The Senate approved the bill three days later during the pre-dawn hours of Sept. 22, prior to leaving on recess.   The question behind the legislation, if astronauts hold the rights to expendable space equipment — including their checklists, personal hygiene kits, and items that, had they been left aboard the Apollo lunar module would have been crashed into the moon — had gone largely uncontested by NASA until last year.   Then, in a series of challenges, including a lawsuit brought against Edgar Mitchell, who was the sixth man to walk on the moon, NASA counsel began to insist that if paperwork couldn't be produced documenting that the equipment had been released to the astronaut, then it was not legally his to own, donate or sell.   In Mitchell's case, the government sought the return of the data acquisition camera (DAC) that he saved from being destroyed on the moon. Ultimately, Mitchell settled out of court, agreeing to turn the camera over to the Smithsonian for its display.   NASA's General Counsel then raised questions about the title to artifacts sold in January by a Dallas auction house on behalf of James Lovell and Apollo 9 spacewalker Rusty Schweickart. One item in particular, a checklist that had been used to reconfigure the lunar module into a lifeboat on the periled Apollo 13 mission, made headlines after it sold for a record-setting $388,375.   Heritage Auction Galleries put the sale on hold after NASA challenged the astronauts' ownership. In response, Lovell, Schweickart and other Apollo astronauts met with Bolden at NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C. to defend their "good faith" actions.   The astronauts maintainedthat their managers had given them permission to keep the equipment at the time of their flights, but as the focus was on flying the missions, there was little, if any documentation produced in support of the equipment being transferred to their property.   In the years since they flew, the astronauts donated many of the artifacts to museums and organizations, as well as sold items to collectors, which were at potential jeopardy if the legislation had not been passed.   Certain astronauts, certain artifacts   The bill, which in its final form is about a third the length of this article, succinctly defines what type of items are to be considered artifacts and which astronauts are now granted ownership rights.   The legislation establishes the applicable artifacts as any equipment that was "not expressly required to be returned" to NASA at the completion of the mission, whether it was meant to be disposable, like a toothbruth, or was intended to be discarded on the moon, such as Mitchell's camera.   The bill doesn't apply to the mementos astronauts brought from Earth to fly as souvenirs in their personal preference kits, and it explicitly excludes "lunar rocks and other lunar material."   Nor are artifacts or astronauts from later space programs, like the shuttle or International Space Station, eligible. The bill limits its protections to the crew members of missions that launched between the first U.S. manned spaceflight, Mercury-Redstone 3, and the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.   Separate NASA policies, established in 1999, govern the use of equipment as mementos on the space shuttle and space station. It remains unclear what status now applies to astronauts and artifacts from the shuttle missions flown between 1981 and 1998.   MEANWHILE, ON MARS…   Curiosity finds clear evidence of ancient water flow in Gale Crater   William Harwood - CBS News   NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, slowly nearing its initial science destination where multiple types of terrain come together, has found outcrops of conglomerate rocks made up of eroded gravels that scientists believe were transported across the floor of Gale Crater by a "vigorous" flow of ankle-to-hip-deep water in the distant past.   It's the first observation of its kind on Mars, showing that an alluvial fan photographed from orbit was, as suspected, formed due to the action of flowing water that entered the crater through a 100-foot-deep, 2,000-foot-wide channel dubbed Peace Vallis that cuts through the crater rim and then fans out across a gentle 1-degree slope toward Curiosity's landing site.   "This rock is made up of rounded gravels in a matrix that's very sand rich," Rebecca Williams of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, AZ, told reporters. "And these attributes are consistent with a common sedimentary rock type called a conglomerate. ... Over time, erosion is working on that rock face and liberating some of the gravels and they're falling down and accumulating in a pile at the base of that outcrop."   Geologists are interested in such gravels, she said, because "they tell you that those particles had been subjected to a sediment transport process, either by water or wind."   "And so typically, you start off with a very angular rock fragment and as it's transported, it's bouncing along, interacting with other grains and the surface, and that wears away the edges until you have a very smooth surface. The key components of these gravels are the rounded shape and also the size. These are too large to be transported by wind. The consensus of the science team is these are water transported gravels in a vigorous stream."   Bill Dietrich, a co-investigator at the University of California at Berkeley, said the gravel size and the distance the rocks were were transported indicates the flow "might have been from ankle-to-hip deep and maybe moving a few feet a second."   In a news release summarizing the findings, Dietrich said "plenty of papers have been written about channels on Mars with many different hypotheses about the flows in them. This is the first time we're actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars. This is a transition from speculation about the size of streambed material to direct observation of it."     Project scientist John Grotzinger told reporters scientists already were virtually certain that water flowed into Gale Crater in the distant past based on orbital photographs showing what appeared to be an alluvial fan spreading out from the crater rim. Curiosity landed on the floor of the broad crater Aug. 6   But seeing such a structure from orbit is one thing. Seeing the actual rocks made up of debris that was once swept along shallow channels making up the fan is gratifying to the science team because it provides "ground truth" for the observations made from orbit and shows Curiosity landed in a scientifically rich site.   The Curiosity rover was built look for signs of past or present habitability, at least as it is known on Earth, which requires water, a source of energy and organic compounds. The rover is equipped with sophisticated instruments to look for carbon compounds, but no such observations have yet been attempted.   But the discovery of conglomerate rocks in the outflow of the ancient channel that fed the alluvial fan indicates the science team is on the right track and that water played a significant role in the crater's history.   Curiosity currently is on the way to an area known as Glenelg, where three different types of terrain come together.   "We've driven quite a long way," Grotzinger said. "Yesterday, we had our longest drive of quite a bit over 50 meters and we are most of the way now to Glenelg. The science team is busy trying to choose a target to collect material, probably wind-blown sand, that we will put into (the rover's) chemical laboratories for the first time on this mission."   That work will take two to three weeks, he said, and scientists are taking their time picking out an appropriate sample acquisition site.   In the meantime, "as we were driving along on the way to Glenelg, we encountered some really interesting outcrops that were surprising to the team," Grotzinger said of the conglomerate outcrop. "To us, it just looked like somebody came along the surface of Mars with a jackhammer and lifted up a sidewalk that you might see in downtown LA, sort of like in a construction site.   "What represents the consensus opinion of the science team is that this is a rock that was formed in the presence of water. And we can characterize that water as being a vigorous flow, on the surface of Mars. We're really excited about this because this is one of the reasons that we were interested in coming to this landing site, because it presented from orbit quite a strong case that we would find evidence of water on the ground."   As it turned out, he said, "we landed on this (alluvial fan) and it makes a great starting point for us to do more sophisticated studies using the rover payload."   Curiosity’s landing site once covered with fast-moving water, NASA says   Marc Kaufman – Washington Post   The landing site of the Mars rover Curiosity was once covered with fast-moving and possibly waist-high water that could have possibly supported life, NASA scientists announced Thursday.   Although planetary scientists have often speculated that the now-desiccated surface of Mars was once wet, Curiosity’s cameras provided the first proof that flowing water was present on a least one part of Mars for “thousands or millions of years.”   The early finding led John Grotzinger, the top mission scientist at the Mars Science Laboratory, to conclude that Curiosity had found a potentially “habitable” site — a central goal of the mission — well before heading to its primary destination.   The area may not have other attributes needed for life, he said, but the team now has a “hall pass” on the question of flowing water, and the Gale Crater landing site seemed even more appealing.   “A long-flowing stream can be a habitable environment,” he said. “We’re still going to Mount Sharp [a three-mile-high mound at the center of the crater], but this is insurance that we have already found our first potentially habitable environment.”   Curiosity team scientists determined that flowing water was once present near the Gale Crater landing site based on the telltale size, shape and scattering of pebbles and gravel nearby, especially those found in conglomerate rocks at three sites.   The roundedness of the pebbles is especially significant, they said, and strongly suggests that the rocks were carried down a roughly 20- to 25-mile stream or river and were smoothed along the way.   William Dietrich, professor of geomorphology and member of the Curiosity imaging science team, presented some rounded earthly pebbles, which he said are similar to those found in the images.   “Plenty of papers have been written about channels on Mars with many different hypotheses about the flows in them,” Dietrich said. “This is the first time we’re actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars. This is a transition from speculation about the size of streambed material to direct observation of it.”   Curiosity made its dramatic landing in early August and has spent much of its time since testing systems and instruments and preparing for its two-year drive.   But the rover’s cameras began sending back images of the conglomerate rock with small pebbles soon after landing, and they provided sufficiently detailed pictures to convince scientists that the pebbles and gravel had a watery past.   Gale Crater was selected as a landing site in part because satellite imaging had earlier found what appeared to be a sizable cut in the crater wall that looked like a dried river or streambed. The bed continued into the crater and then spread out in the shape of a delta. Similar features have been found in many other Martian locations.   The Curiosity team thought the rover had not landed exactly on that dried delta — or “alluvial fan,” as geologists describe it — but the finding of the water-borne rocks is forcing them to rethink the size of the fan.   The confirmation of water flows came in the early days of a mission that had very consciously discarded the long-standing NASA directive to “follow the water” in Mars exploration. Although finding and studying the signatures of past water flows are important for Curiosity’s goal of identifying habitats that could have supported life, the mission motto is now “follow the carbon.” That element is present in all organic compounds, which are the building blocks of life on Earth and are expected to have been similarly essential to any possible Martian life.   Curiosity has two miniature chemistry labs that will test for those organic compounds and other telltale elements.   The rover’s ultimate destination is the three-mile-high mound in the center of the crater, but it will first detour to a nearby and unusual geological meeting of three rock types. Scientists think one of the rock types may have been formed from fine clays, the lightest material carried by the water and so the last to drop out.   Announcement of the long-ago presence of Martian surface water is an early coup for the mission but is consistent with the rover’s unusually good fortunes.   Since the rover made its near-perfect landing, its major systems and instruments have checked out successfully. There have been a few glitches — a set of wind sensors for the weather station was damaged at landing, and unwanted Florida air was discovered in some instruments — but NASA officials say they foresee no lasting obstacles.   “Our biggest anomaly has been that we have no real anomalies,” said Michael Meyer, lead scientist for NASA’s Mars Exploration Program, at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “Definitely surprising, given the complexity of what we’re doing.”   Mars reveals a river ran through it Curiosity finds evidence of Martian riverbed   Todd Halvorson – Florida Today   NASA’s Curiosity rover is rolling through what appears to be an ancient riverbed where a gushing stream once ran vigorously before the area turned as desertlike as Death Valley, officials said Thursday.   The evidence that water once flowed on Mars came from Curiosity’s mast cameras, and it provides scientists with an unprecedented look at ancient streambed gravels.   “We’re really excited about this, because this is one of the reasons we were interested in coming to this landing site,” said Mars Science Laboratory Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology.   NASA’s reconnaissance spacecraft in Martian orbit have returned ample data indicating that Curiosity’s landing site in eastern equatorial Gale Crater once was awash in water.   Curiosity, which landed on the red planet Aug. 6, in recent days captured images of stones cemented into a layer of conglomerate rock. The size and shapes of the stones show they were transported by water, not wind, and they also offer evidence of how swift and deep the stream once was.   Three feet per second is a strong flow, and Grotzinger said the stream likely had a depth “somewhere between ankle and hip deep.”   A plethora of scientific papers have been written over the years, offering hypotheses about ancient Martian stream flows.   “This is the first time we’re actually seeing water-transported gravel on Mars. This is a transition from speculation about the size of streambed material to direct observation of it,” Grotzinger said.   Curiosity ambled upon telltale rocks during an ongoing journey from the north rim of Gale Crater to the base of Mount Sharp, an 18,000-foot mountain taller than any in the contiguous U.S.   Its first waypoint is an area called Glenelg, where three different types of terrain come together. Curiosity on Wednesday made its longest single-day jaunt toward it: 160 feet.   Grotzinger said the rover is about three-quarters of the way to Glenelg, named for a geologically important outcrop in Canada. The name also was selected because the word is a palindrome — a word that reads the same forward and backward — and plans called for Curiosity to retrace its roll when it turns back and heads toward the base of Mount Sharp.   Curiosity, in the coming days and weeks, will make a stop to scoop Martian soil for analysis within onboard laboratories. Its ultimate goal is to determine whether the Gale Crater region conditions ever were conductive to the formation of microbial life.   The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission was launched in November aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Its Curiosity rover, which is about the size of a small compact car, is expected to operate on the surface of the red planet for at least two years.   Mars rover Curiosity finds signs of ancient stream   Alicia Chang – Associated Press   The NASA rover Curiosity has beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream, possibly waist-deep, once flowed on Mars - a find that the mission's chief scientist called exciting.   There have been previous signs that water existed on the red planet long ago, but the images released Thursday showing pebbles rounded off, likely by water, offered the most convincing evidence so far of an ancient streambed.   There was "a vigorous flow on the surface of Mars," said chief scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology. "We're really excited about this."   The discovery did not come as a complete surprise. NASA decided to plunk Curiosity down inside Gale Crater near the Martian equator because photos from space hinted that the spot possessed a watery past. The six-wheeled rover safely landed Aug. 5 after a nail-biting plunge through the Martian atmosphere. It's on a two-year, $2.5 billion mission to study whether the Martian environment could have been favorable for microbial life.   Present day Mars is a frozen desert with no hint of water on its radiation-scarred surface, but geological studies of rocks by previous missions suggest the planet was warmer and wetter once upon a time.   The latest evidence came from photos that Curiosity took revealing rounded pebbles and gravel - a sign that the rocks were transported long distances by water and smoothed out.   The size of the rocks - ranging from a sand grain to a golf ball - indicates that they could not have been carried by wind, said mission scientist Rebecca Williams of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Ariz.   Though Curiosity did not use its high-tech instruments to drill into the rocks or analyze their chemical makeup, Grotzinger said scientists were sure that water played a role based on just studying the pictures.   It's unclear how long the water persisted on the surface, but it easily could have lasted "thousands to millions of years," said mission scientist Bill Dietrich of the University of California, Berkeley.   Curiosity chanced upon the dried-up streambed while driving to Glenelg, an intriguing spot where three types of terrain meet. Its ultimate destination is Mount Sharp, a mountain rising from the center of crater floor, but it was not expected to travel there until the end of the year.   Finding past water is a first step toward learning whether the environment could have supported microbes. Scientists generally agree that besides water and an energy source such as the sun, organic carbon is a necessary prerequisite for life.   While an ancient streambed holds promise as a potentially habitable environment, scientists don't think it's a good place to preserve the carbon building blocks of life. That's why the rover will continue its trek to the foothills of Mount Sharp where there's a better chance of finding organics.   Mars rover finds first evidence of water: a river of it   Irene Klotz – Reuters   NASA's Mars rover, Curiosity, dispatched to learn if the most Earth-like planet in the solar system was suitable for microbial life, has found clear evidence its landing site was once awash in water, a key ingredient for life, scientists said Thursday.   Curiosity, a roving chemistry laboratory the size of a small car, touched down on August 6 inside a giant impact basin near the planet's equator. The primary target for the two-year mission is a three-mile (five-km) -high mound of layered rock rising from the floor of Gale Crater.   Scientists suspect the mound, known as Mount Sharp, is the remains of sediment that once completely filled the crater. Analysis of a slab of rock located between the crater's north rim and the base of Mount Sharp indicate a fast-moving stream of water once flowed there.   Images taken by Curiosity and released on Thursday show rounded stones cemented into the rock, which rises like a piece of jack-hammered sidewalk from the planet's surface.   The stones inside the rock are too big to have been moved by wind, Curiosity scientist Rebecca Williams, with the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson, Arizona, told reporters on a conference call.   "The consensus of the science team is that these are water-transported gravel in a vigorous stream," she said.   The rock is believed to be from the floor of an ancient stream which was once between ankle- and knee-deep.   The analysis is based on telephoto images taken by the rover, which is en route to a patch of land named Glenelg where three different types of rock intersect.   Scientists have not yet decided if the slab of rock warrants a chemical analysis, or if there are better targets for Curiosity to look for the building blocks of life and the minerals to preserve it.   "The question about habitability goes beyond the simple observation of water on Mars," said lead scientist John Grotzinger at the California Institute of Technology.   "Certainly flowing water is a place where microorganisms could have lived. This particular kind of rock may or may not be a good place to preserve those components that we associate with a habitable environment," he said.   The $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity mission is NASA's first astrobiology mission since the 1970s-era Viking probes.   Curiosity finds evidence of flowing water on Mars   Frank Morring, Jr. – Aviation Week   Scientists examining data from NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover have concluded that imagery from three sites on the floor of Gale Crater represents rocks deposited there by water flowing down from the crater wall, probably billions of years ago.   The conglomerate rock first turned up in an outcropping near Curiosity’s landing site, exposed by the downwash from the retro-rockets on its landing “sky crane.” A second site produced more of the same, and closer examination of a third rock called Hottah with the 34mm and 100mm lenses on the rover’s mast camera allowed the science team to reach a consensus.   “It was really when we got to Hottah where we saw this again most clearly that it was [a] very easy-to-reach consensus,” said John Grotzinger, the Curiosity chief scientist, in releasing the findings Sept. 27.   In all three cases the rover’s cameras imaged conglomerate rocks formed of rounded pebbles too large to have been transported by the Martian wind, but very similar to rock found in alluvial fans on Earth. The consensus, after more than 50 Martian days of study, is that the conglomerates were formed of pebbles rounded in a “vigorous stream” of water flowing down through a long valley now formally designated Peace Vallis.   Once the stream reached the crater floor, it deposited the pebbles in the familiar fan-like feature, where they were later buried and “cemented” into the conglomerate layer. Scientists speculate that parts of the conglomerate layer were returned to the surface by the action of a “small” meteor impact that fractured and displaced it.   William Dietrich of the University of California, Berkeley, a Curiosity co-investigator, estimated the stream could have been hip-deep, moving at about 3 ft. per sec. Until its chemical composition can be studied with some of Curiosity’s other instruments, it is not possible to estimate how long, or how long ago, the water flowed, he says, although the best guess is that the stream was “ancient” and probably ran for “thousands of years,” at least intermittently.   The nuclear-powered rover is most of the way to the feature known as Glenelg, where three different types of surface material come together. But before it reaches that scientifically interesting area, it will park for two or three weeks to give scientists time to check out the chemistry laboratories inside the rover’s body by pouring loose sand or other material into them for analysis. Science team members are looking for a good sample target for that work, Grotzinger says.   Ultimately the team hopes to use data from Curiosity’s instruments to make judgments about the past habitability of the Martian environment. Finding evidence of running water is an important first step, Grotzinger says, but closer chemical analysis will allow the scientists to learn more about whether the energy levels and possible carbon concentrations when the water was present could have supported microbial life.   The discovery also validates the broader exploration strategy that has been practiced over the past two decades, with rovers providing ground truth to orbital data.   Sample return remains focus of NASA's Mars program   Stephen Clark – SpaceflightNow.com   Confined by budget pressures which forced NASA to pull out of Europe's ambitious ExoMars program, officials will decide by February how and when to kick off a multi-mission project to return Martian soil samples to Earth.   The sample return program could begin with a first launch as soon as 2018, but without more money in NASA's Mars budget, the scope of the mission will be limited to surveying the red planet from orbit.   NASA could elect to wait until a 2020 launch opportunity, when more money would be available to pay for a rover mission.   "There are much fewer options in 2018 than we would have in later years if we were to spread out the program," said John Grunsfeld, head of NASA's science mission directorate.   Launch opportunities from Earth to Mars come about every 26 months when the planets are in the right positions.   Grunsfeld said Tuesday top NASA officials and the Obama administration would plot a new Mars strategy and roll out the plan during the White House's annual budget request in February.   "The highest priority just because of the clock is to pick what are the first few steps, [and] what should we be trying to achieve if we take advantage of the 2018 launch opportunity," Grunsfeld told reporters.   According to Grunsfeld, NASA has about $800 million in its projected budget to pay for a Mars mission to launch in 2018.   NASA was a partner in Europe's ExoMars program, a two-part mission including a methane-sniffing orbiter launching in 2016 and a large astrobiology-focused rover in 2018.   NASA formally retreated from the program in February, when the agency's science budget was realigned to focus on the James Webb Space Telescope, the $8.8 billion successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.   The European Space Agency is now finalizing an agreement with Russia to replace NASA's contributions.   Chaired by Orlando Figueroa, an aerospace industry consultant and a former NASA manager, the Mars Program Planning Group convened this spring to evaluate a path forward for Mars exploration and formulate plans tying together NASA's disparate science, human spaceflight, and technology development communities.   "Capturing samples is how you start a more interdependent collaboration between human exploration and science," Figueroa told a National Research Council committee Tuesday.   A Mars sample return mission was identified in 2011 as the science community's next objective for planetary exploration.   The Mars planning board agreed the sample return mission is a top priority.   Steve Squyres, a geologist at Cornell University and lead researcher for NASA's Opportunity and Spirit rover missions, chaired the decadal survey which ranked the sample return mission as the holy grail of solar system science.   Squyres said Thursday the Mars planning group "clearly came to the same conclusion that the decadal survey did, [that] a sample return is the next logical step in the Mars program."   "Sample return represents the best opportunity to find synergies technologically between the [science and human] programs," Grunsfeld said. "That kind of makes sense. Sending a mission to go to Mars and return samples looks a lot like sending a crew to Mars and bringing them back safely."   The decadal survey estimated a sample-gathering rover dubbed MAX-C would cost NASA about $2.5 billion, plus some significant international contributions.   Figueroa said his team figured a less expensive rover based on NASA's Spirit and Opportunity robots could be developed for between $1.1 billion and $1.4 billion, and still retain the ability to select soil samples for pickup by a later mission.   Depending on the ultimate strategy picked by NASA, the agency could develop multiple rovers launched through the 2020s to methodically choose the best samples to return to Earth. Another option is launching a single rover to a site suspected to harbor attractive samples and immediately cache the soil for return to Earth.   None of the rovers are affordable given NASA's $800 million budget ceiling for the 2018 launch opportunity, but NASA has more options for orbiters.   Spacecraft on the Martian surface relay data back to Earth via probes orbiting the red planet, and although ESA plans to launch a new orbiter in 2016, NASA's existing satellites there are aging and may not be available after 2020.   Any rover launched as part of the sample return mission will need an orbiter to efficiently send back science data and imagery.   An orbiter will also likely be required to rendezvous with a rocket carrying soil up from the Martian surface and bring the precious samples back to Earth.   Human missions to Mars orbit or other deep space destinations could play a role in manually retrieving samples from a robotic carrier spacecraft.   "When we can afford to do it, whether its a Mars sample return campaign or a lesser series of missions...that's the forward work we have ahead of us as a community, as a government, and as a NASA team," Grunsfeld said.   Regarding Mars sample return, Squyres said: "I think the clear answer is that we should get on with it as soon as the level of funding supports it."   U.S., Europe Won’t Go It Alone in Mars Exploration   Peter de Selding – Space News   NASA Administrator Charles Bolden on Sept. 26 urged NASA’s international partners not to read too much into an advisory panel’s report on the U.S. agency’s near-term Mars exploration options, saying “NASA does not plan to do anything alone” when it comes to Mars exploration.   Addressing a press briefing here, where he and his European Space Agency (ESA) counterpart, Jean-Jacques Dordain, were receiving awards from the University of Liege, Bolden said the report should be seen only as offering hope that, despite its budget constraints, NASA will be able to send an astronaut to Mars by around 2030 as President Barack Obama has requested.   The Mars Program Planning Group report, released Sept. 25, plots multiple avenues toward a manned Mars mission, including one whose interim goal is to collect samples from Mars and return them to Earth.   The report says a fresh round of Mars missions could begin as early as 2018, the year the 20-nation ESA is tentatively scheduled to launch the second of two payloads as part of its ExoMars program.   ExoMars at this point is being assembled mainly as a cooperative effort with Russia after NASA told ESA that the U.S. contribution would not include launches by Atlas vehicles, as had been planned, because of NASA’s budget uncertainty.   The first ExoMars launch, in 2016, is slated to carry a telecommunications orbiter that will include the NASA-provided Electra telecommunications relay and navigation instrument to assure communications between probes and rovers on the surface of Mars and controllers on Earth.   “Let me say this clearly, because we hear all the time that NASA has ‘abandoned’ ExoMars,” Bolden said. “We have not abandoned ExoMars, and the Electra payload is an example of our continuing high interest in the mission.”   Bolden noted that Mars missions, including NASA’s current Curiosity rover on the planet’s surface, require massive amounts of telecommunications capacity that are not yet available.   Next-generation optical communications links and other emerging technologies could be harnessed to widen the information pipe between Mars and Earth to take advantage of what the rovers and landers are finding, he said.   “There is more data sitting in Curiosity than we can get back to Earth in a century,” Bolden said by way of stressing how important NASA views Mars telecommunications relays.   Bolden said the Mars Program Planning Group examined only one piece of the Mars exploration puzzle, which was the program development sequence that could result in fulfilling Obama’s goal.   The group did not address budget constraints and other interests that continue to push NASA and most of the world’s other space agencies into collaborative efforts.   ESA’s Dordain, at the same press briefing, said ESA had participated in the Mars Program Planning Group and was kept apprised of its activities.   Dordain has more than enough on his hands to win his governments’ approval of ExoMars without getting overly concerned with the NASA report. He said he still hopes that the Russian space agency, Roscosmos, will agree in November to provide two Proton rockets for the ExoMars missions, as well as a third Proton to launch ESA’s Juice mission to Jupiter later in the decade.   Part of the savings coming from the Proton launch of Juice will be used to fill ExoMars’ continued budget shortfall.   Dordain, whose agency has no exploration program for beyond low Earth orbit that does not involve partners, said “We have no choice but to cooperate with partners.”   Bolden said that when NASA knows for certain what its 2013 budget is, it will be able to consider new missions and possibly a contribution to the 2018 ExoMars element, which includes a European-built rover as well as a mainly Russian entry, descent and landing payload.   Bolden said one of the main questions that needs to be answered for future Mars exploration is whether a sample-return mission must precede the launch of astronauts to the red planet.   He said that during the Apollo lunar exploration program, some voices at NASA wanted to hold off on sending astronauts to the Moon because they were uncertain of the composition of the lunar surface.   Probabilistic risk assessment analysis, he said, was not applied to Apollo to the extent that some wanted, and the decision was made to send Apollo 11 to the lunar surface without benefit of a sample-return precursor.   Bolden admitted that returning to Earth a sample from Mars “remains the Holy Grail. But the international community is going to have to figure out how to get to the Holy Grail. What is the timing? Do we need to have a sample before we send humans? I honestly don’t know.”   END   \