10/19/12 news

Happy Friday everyone.  Have a great weekend.     Friday, October 19, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Give a Little. Help A LOT. 2.            NASA Safety Culture Survey -- This is YOUR Chance 3.            Veggies and Exoskeletons ... All in a Day's Work 4.            Human System Integration ERG Meeting Next Week 5.            MCC Audio Will Be Shut Down on Friday, Nov. 16 6.            Starport Fall Break Camp 7.            JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar 8.            Recent JSC Announcements 9.            Red Ribbon Week -- Tools for Combating Substance Abuse and Addiction 10.          Promote a Drug-Free Workplace During Red Ribbon Week 11.          Society of Reliability Engineers (SRE) Luncheon Meeting ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ All great changes are preceded by chaos.”   -- Deepak Chopra ________________________________________ 1.            Give a Little. Help A LOT. The 2012 Combined Federal Campaign has already kicked off at JSC! Through the CFC, you can choose to give thousands of deserving organizations at the local, national and global levels. They include organizations to educate, shelter, feed, protect, volunteer, or any other number of charities and programs. This year our center's monetary goal is $675,000. It's easy to donate. 1. Simply find the charity or charities you want to give to (online or in this book) 2. Federal employees can donate via payroll deductions at EmployeeExpress (EEx). (Instructions on How to Donate via EEx) 3. All JSC team members can make cash/check donations by using the paper pledge form. (Paper pledge forms may be dropped off with the organization coordinator.) Donations of any amount are welcome, starting from $1 per pay period. Remember: Give a little. Help A LOT. Mirella Barron Lanmon x49796   [top] 2.            NASA Safety Culture Survey -- This is YOUR Chance The NASA Safety Culture Survey will be available online through Oct. 26, giving all JSC employees an opportunity to share their thoughts on our safety culture. Just click here to take the survey. The survey is anonymous and can be taken from any computer or phone with Internet access at home or work. The results will be submitted to the JSC director and the survey point of contact. No results will be shown of any demographic with five or fewer people. Comments are welcome, and we will keep them word-for-word (except for inappropriate language, which may be modified or removed). All employees are asked to participate. Let's work together! Stacey Menard x45660   [top] 3.            Veggies and Exoskeletons ... All in a Day's Work Maybe you aren't a fan of veggies, but when you're in space, fresh food is a hot commodity. Next year, station residents may be able to start growing their own tasty vegetables with the Vegetable Production System, called VEGGIE for short. VEGGIE is set to launch aboard SpaceX's Dragon capsule on NASA's third Commercial Resupply Services mission next year. Read more about this amazing investigation here. And, do you harbor the assumption that exoskeletons are just for bugs? Not so. NASA's X1 robotic exoskeleton can't do what you see in the movies, but this latest robotic, space-technology spinoff derived from Robonaut2 may someday help astronauts stay healthier in space. An added bonus? It could also benefit in assisting paraplegics in walking here on Earth. So if someone tells you to bug off, just tell them there's a NASA spinoff for that. JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 4.            Human System Integration ERG Meeting Next Week Do you work to develop or manage a system that interfaces to a human? Are you interested in learning more about including human considerations into the lifecycle of a design and networking with other like-minded employees at JSC? Then come to the JSC Human System Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) meeting. We will meet Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Building 1, Room 220. Bring your lunch and hear about the HSI ERG's latest recruiting and professional-development activities, including progress on developing an HSI certificate program. Deb Neubek 281-222-3687 http://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/HSI/SitePages/Home.aspx   [top] 5.            MCC Audio Will Be Shut Down on Friday, Nov. 16 The Mission Control Center (MCC) audio office tool functionality relies upon the legacy MCC DVIS headset communications system, which is slated for retirement in mid-November. Current users of the MCC audio system should migrate to the DICES tool prior to Nov. 16. DICES installation instructions and information are available here. (If prompted, use NDC credentials to access this website.) Eric Gallagher x30170   [top] 6.            Starport Fall Break Camp Starport Fall Break Camp is just around the corner! If you're looking for a fun, convenient and familiar place for your children to go for the school break, look no further. NASA Starport Camps at the Gilruth Center are the perfect place. We plan to keep your children active and entertained with games, crafts, sports and all types of fun activities. The camp runs from Nov. 19 to 21 from 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. for ages 6 to 12. The cost is $90 for all three days, or $40 per day. Registration is now open at the Gilruth Center. Visit our website for more information. Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Youth/   [top] 7.            JSC Annual Holiday Bazaar Come out to the Gilruth Center on Nov. 3 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. for some holiday shopping! We'll have the gymnasium and ballroom packed with local craftspeople and vendors selling crafts, jewelry, bath and beauty products, home and holiday décor, candles, baked goods and more! This event is free and open to the public, so invite your family and friends to come browse through the more than 60 vendors who are ready to spread some holiday cheer. For more information and a list of vendors, click here. Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 8.            Recent JSC Announcements Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcements: JSCA 12-032: JSC's Strategic Opportunities and Partnership Development Office and External Relations Office Announces NASA Loaned Executives JSCA 12-033: Communications with Industry Procurement Solicitation for the Safety and Mission Assurance Engineering Contract Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx   [top] 9.            Red Ribbon Week -- Tools for Combating Substance Abuse and Addiction Red Ribbon Week is an ideal way for people and communities to unite and take a visible stand against substance abuse. Learn about addiction intervention and show your personal commitment to a drug-free lifestyle through the symbol of the red ribbon from Oct. 20 to 28. The JSC Employee Assistance Program will be in Building 11 café on Tuesday, Oct. 23, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Please stop by and show your support. Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130   [top] 10.          Promote a Drug-Free Workplace During Red Ribbon Week Did you know that according to the National Institute of Health, an estimated 10 percent of Americans uses illegal drugs or abuses prescribed drugs? Or that drug abuse is growing among people in their 50s, and that 15 percent of the population report becoming intoxicated at least once a week? Chances are that someone you know is struggling with substance abuse or addiction. Stop by our table and learn what you can do to intervene. The JSC Employee Assistance Program will be in Building 3 café on Thursday, Oct. 25, from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. Please stop by and show your support. Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130   [top] 11.          Society of Reliability Engineers (SRE) Luncheon Meeting The Greater Houston Chapter of SRE will hold a general membership meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 24, from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Anyone is welcome to come and hear a presentation by David Bradt on how to keep your professional certification current. Also, bring a thumb drive or an email address and receive, FREE, a reliability analysis software program based in Excel and designed by Dr. Bob Loomis, which performs 10 reliability analysis functions and calculations. Bob Graber will demonstrate various features of the software. The meeting will be held at Perry's Steakhouse and Grille (487 Bay Area Blvd., Houston). Each attendee is responsible for his or her own meal. For more information, contact one of the officers below: President - Bob Graber, 281-335-2305 Vice President - Lorenzo Calloway, 832-527-0086 Treasurer - Hung Nguyen, 281-483-3233 Secretary - Troy Schwartz, 281-871-7512 Robert Graber 281-335-2305   [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: 9:40 am Central (10:40 EDT) – E33 CDR Suni Williams interview with collectSPACE.com 12:30 pm Central (1:30 EDT) – Video B-Roll of Expedition 33 Spacewalk Tasks 11 am Central SATURDAY (Noon EDT) – FILE: E33/34 crew act. & Soyuz rocket mating 11 am Central SUNDAY (Noon EDT) – FILE: Soyuz rocket rollout to Site 31 (launch pad)   Human Spaceflight News Friday – October 19, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Garver: Fomenting Commercial Spaceflight Industry is a Top NASA Priority   Dan Leone - Space News   NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said jumpstarting a domestic human spaceflight industry is among the agency’s highest priorities, and cited current programs for delivering crews and cargo to the international space station as tangible progress toward that goal. Speaking Oct. 17 here at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, Garver counted the commercial crew and cargo programs among NASA’s most important accomplishments since she and her boss, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, arrived in July 2009. Spurring a private U.S. commercial spaceflight industry “is one of our absolute goals,” she said.   Private Spaceflight Industry at Big Turning Point, Experts Say   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   The burgeoning field of commercial spaceflight is at a major turning point, industry experts say.   "It's not an exaggeration to say that 2012 has really been an inflection point," former astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria said Wednesday here at the eighth annual International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight. Lopez-Alegria, who serves as president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said there is "a sea change going on" both in terms of achievements within the industry and the perception of this industry to the outside world. He highlighted major milestones from the past year, including the first launch of a private spacecraft to the International Space Station (the SpaceX Dragon mission in May, as well as its follow-up flight this month), and the continued development work on private spacecraft by companies such as Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and Blue Origin.   Private space taxi builders on track to launch astronauts soon   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   Representatives from the three different companies chosen by NASA to develop private space taxis to carry astronauts to orbit say their vehicles are making substantial progress toward launching people into orbit within the next few years. The companies — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), The Boeing Company, and Sierra Nevada Corp. — are competing to fill the gap left by NASA's retired space shuttles for the launching of cargo and crews to the International Space Station. Each private space taxi firm has received funding from NASA under the Commercial Crew integrated Capability program (CCiCap) to complete a series of development milestones with the goal of taking over transportation to low-Earth orbit from the Russians.   Orbital making progress in Antares launch preparations   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   Orbital Sciences Corp. is in a "final push" to launch its first Antares rocket by the end of this year, assuming a successful completion of a series of fueling and engine tests due to begin next week, the company's chief executive said Thursday. Engineers moved an Antares first stage to the launch pad at Wallops Island, Va., on Oct. 1 to begin several weeks of testing ahead of a 30-second hotfire of the rocket's two AJ26 engines, which is now expected in early November. "We really are in that final push leading up to the flight test," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and CEO, in a conference call with investors Thursday.   Orbital’s Cygnus Debut Pushed to March or April   Peter de Selding - Space News   Orbital Sciences Corp. on Oct. 18 said its new Antares rocket will not launch its Cygnus cargo freighter on a demonstration flight to the international space station until around March or April, assuming that two preceding rocket tests occur without a hitch. In a conference call with investors, Orbital officials did not attribute the fresh delay of the NASA-funded program, of three or four months compared to its last quarterly update, to any particular event. In recent months the company has restructured its relationship with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Va., becoming a supplier to the spaceport rather than a partner in the new facility’s development. Antares will launch from that facility.   Space drug could help alleviate nausea on Earth   Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle   Upon reaching space, astronauts on the space shuttle instantly transitioned to weightlessness, and for a majority of them that dizziness led to a sick stomach. Trouble is, the best remedies for motion sickness also cause drowsiness, not the best prescription for astronauts who must begin work as soon as they reach space. Johnson Space Center's chief pharmacologist, Lakshmi Putcha, has sought a better alternative for a quarter of a century. And now, in the form of a nasal spray, Putcha believes she's found a fast-acting, effective treatment for motion sickness.   Germs in space: Preventing infection on long flights   Phys.org   On a long spaceflight unique conditions including microgravity could give microbes the upper hand, but not if astronauts and their spacecrafts are properly prepared. In a new paper, infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel brings together a broad base of research to come up with specific recommendations for keeping astronauts safe in deep space. The cabin of a spacecraft halfway to Mars would be the least convenient place—one cannot say "on earth"—for a Salmonella or Pneumococcus outbreak, but a wide-ranging new paper suggests that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs. What's a space agency to do? Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel offers several ideas. And no, they are not to add more Vitamin C to the Tang, or to give each crew member a bottle of Purell. It's a lot more complicated than that.   NASA Astronaut Encourages Women to Shoot for the Stars   Sarah Harmon - Wheeling Intelligencer / News-Register   More than 100 women from all sectors of the technology field gathered at Oglebay Resort and Conference center Thursday afternoon to be inspired by a woman who has followed her dreams all the way to space. Astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger spoke at Tech Connect West Virginia's first "Women In Technology" Conference about her journey with NASA, her 15-day trip to space to the International Space Station in 2010, and the role of NASA technology in our everyday world. The audience also heard from West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie E. Tennant, who highlighted the technological advancements her office has utilized. During her speech, Metcalf-Lindenburger discussed how far women have come in terms of careers.   Wayne Hale underscores need for Spaceport America liability law   Las Cruces Sun-News (Editorial)   Wayne Hale understands as well as anyone both the potential for commercial space flight, and the obstacles to success. Hale is a former program manager for the space shuttle program. He was shuttle flight director for 40 shuttle missions, and was deputy associate administrator of strategic partnerships in NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate when he retired in 2010. He is now a consultant for a private aerospace services company in Colorado. During his keynote speech Tuesday at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, Hale stressed the importance of legislation to provide limited liability protection to parts suppliers at Spaceport America if we are to successfully compete with other states in the still-developing industry of commercial space flight.   At home 250 miles above Earth A former astronaut on six-month stint on the space station: limited space but great view   Leroy Chiao - Wall Street Journal (Commentary)   (Chiao, who has spent more than 229 days in space, now serves as an adviser for human spaceflight for the Space Foundation)   On the market: shared living space with six-month lease. No rent, but must work for room and board; no pets; weekends off (kind of); transportation provided; astronomical view. What a deal! Where do I sign? Oh, did I mention there is an almost-four-year training program? Still, it would be my chance to live aboard the international space station. In 2000, I was a NASA astronaut preparing for my third space-shuttle mission when the chief called me into his office: "How would you like to spend half a year aboard the international space station?"   MEANWHILE ON MARS…   Rover begins Martian soil analysis; scientists ponder bright fragment   William Harwood – CBS News   After using two soil samples to scour away any earthly contaminants from inside the Curiosity rover's sample acquisition system, a third scoop of fine-grained Martian soil was dumped into an on-board laboratory instrument Wednesday for the mission's first detailed "hands-on" mineralogical analysis, the project scientist said Thursday. The process took a bit longer than expected because of work to make sure an unusual shiny fragment seen in the darker soil near the scoop site was not "foreign object debris" from the rover that could affect the analyses or operation of the rover's two laboratory instruments, the Chemistry and Mineralogy, or CheMin, experiment and the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, experiment.   Something odd, bright and white in Martian dirt   Seth Borenstein - Associated Press   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has dug up a mini-mystery for scientists: an odd white fleck that sticks out like a beacon in the reddish soil. It looks out of place, but scientists said Thursday that it's probably just a different hued bit of Martian soil.   Rover Curiosity eats first Martian dirt   Irene Klotz - Reuters   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity tasted Martian dirt for the first time on Thursday, testing equipment needed to assess if the planet most like Earth in the solar system has or ever had the ingredients for microbial life. The sampling of about a baby aspirin's worth of Martian sand was slightly delayed while scientists puzzled over unusual brightly colored flecks in the hole carved out by Curiosity's scoop. Initially, the team believed the bright flecks were shed by the rover, similar to bits of plastic debris discovered last week.   Mars Curiosity rover eats first spoon of dirt in 'promised land'   Amina Khan - Los Angeles Times   Scooping up intriguing Martian soil and casting away suspect batches, NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has finally shoved a tiny spoonful into its robot belly to analyze, scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Thursday. The Mars Science Laboratory rover has arrived at Glenelg Intrigue – conceptually an area where three different types of terrain meet, said project scientist and Caltech geologist John Grotzinger. The information scientists glean about the rocks here will help them decide where to finally break out Curiosity’s drill, he explained. “We consider ourselves now to be in sort of the promised land,” Grotzinger added.   Shiny bit catches eye of Curiosity scientists First scoop of Mars brought in for testing   Todd Halvorson - Florida Today   NASA’s Curiosity rover ingested its first soil sample and will investigate a puzzling speck of bright material that appears to be Martian, rather than a stowaway from Earth, officials said Thursday. After a decade of development, $2.5 billion and an eight-month planetary journey, Curiosity sifted soil into an onboard lab on Wednesday. The mission’s chief scientist said the scoop is a huge deal. Planetary geologists will be able to identify minerals in windblown soil, likely distributed globally.   Yum! Curiosity Rover Swallows 1st Mars Sample, Finds Odd Bright Stuff   Mike Wall - Space.com   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has swallowed its first tiny bite of Martian soil, after standing down for a spell while scientists checked out some strange bright bits in the dirt. The $2.5 billion Curiosity rover ingested the minuscule sample — which contains about as much material as a baby aspirin — on Wednesday (Oct. 17). The soil has been successfully delivered to the rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, or CheMin, mission scientists announced Thursday. "We are crossing a significant threshold for this mission by using CheMin on its first sample," Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement.   For Mars rover Curiosity, at last, it's dinnertime. On the menu: dirt.   Pete Spotts - Christian Science Monitor   After 70 days on Mars, NASA's rover Curiosity finally is doing what it's paid the big bucks to do: Eat dirt. In a mission where progress so far is being measured in an excruciating series of baby steps, the rover has for the first time moved a soil sample from the Martian surface to CheMin – one of two mini laboratories inside Curiosity's chassis that are expected to reveal the minerals that comprise the red planet's ubiquitous dust. Such a seemingly simple feat has been a long time coming, notes John Grotzinger, a planetary geologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the Mars Science Laboratory's project scientist. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Garver: Fomenting Commercial Spaceflight Industry is a Top NASA Priority   Dan Leone - Space News   NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said jumpstarting a domestic human spaceflight industry is among the agency’s highest priorities, and cited current programs for delivering crews and cargo to the international space station as tangible progress toward that goal.   Speaking Oct. 17 here at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight, Garver counted the commercial crew and cargo programs among NASA’s most important accomplishments since she and her boss, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, arrived in July 2009. Spurring a private U.S. commercial spaceflight industry “is one of our absolute goals,” she said.   Garver’s remarks, delivered with just a couple of weeks ahead of the U.S. general elections, would appear to contradict the sentiments of one prominent lawmaker whose support for the commercialization program is based solely on its potential to restore independent U.S. crew access to the space station.   As Garver spoke, Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), the Hawthorne, Calif., space startup founded by Elon Musk, had its Dragon cargo capsule berthed with the station in the first paid logistics run under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services program. That contract, valued at $1.6 billion, calls for a dozen logistics runs to the orbital outpost.      SpaceX has ambitions to launch astronauts as well. The company garnered a $440 million share of the $1.2 billion NASA awarded in August to mature competing designs for privately operated crew transportation systems. Boeing Space Exploration of Houston and Sierra Nevada Space Systems of Louisville, Colo., also got a share of that award.   Some members of Congress, notable among them Rep. Frank Wolf (R-Va.), have expressed skepticism about NASA’s commercial crew and cargo programs. Wolf chairs the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee that sets NASA’s annual funding levels.   Earlier this year Wolf’s subcommittee threatened to block NASA’s plan to divide $1.2 billion among multiple competing crew transportation development efforts over a 21-month period. The so-called Commercial Crew Integrated Capability program is aimed at getting at least one privately operated astronaut taxi flying by 2017.   Wolf argued that NASA should dispense with the additional round of funding for competing development concepts and immediately select a single design for full-scale development.   In June, Wolf announced in a press release that he had dropped his opposition to multiple awardees after securing an affirmation from NASA administrator Charles Bolden that "the primary objective of the commercial crew program is achieving the fastest, safest and most cost-effective means of domestic access to the [space station], not the creation of a commercial crew industry."   Jill Shatzen, a spokeswoman for Wolf, did not immediately reply to a request for comment about Garver’s remarks here.   One industry advocate here openly embraced NASA‘s plan to seed private U.S. space companies.   “The [National Aeronautics and Space] Act of 1958, and every policy statement since then from the White House has said that it’s part of NASA’s mission, and part of the entire government’s space mission, to foster commercial space," said Robert Dickman, outgoing executive director of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. “So those who say that NASA shouldn’t be doing that just have it wrong."   Dickman, a retired U.S. Air Force Major General, is leaving the Reston, Va.-based professional association after seven years in the top spot. He will be replaced by former NASA astronaut Sandra Magnus.   Private Spaceflight Industry at Big Turning Point, Experts Say   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   The burgeoning field of commercial spaceflight is at a major turning point, industry experts say.   "It's not an exaggeration to say that 2012 has really been an inflection point," former astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria said Wednesday here at the eighth annual International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.   Lopez-Alegria, who serves as president of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, said there is "a sea change going on" both in terms of achievements within the industry and the perception of this industry to the outside world. He highlighted major milestones from the past year, including the first launch of a private spacecraft to the International Space Station (the SpaceX Dragon mission in May, as well as its follow-up flight this month), and the continued development work on private spacecraft by companies such as Boeing, Sierra Nevada, and Blue Origin.   Likewise, in the realm of suborbital spaceflight — flights that don't make a complete circle around Earth but reach space for a few minutes — a handful of companies such as Virgin Galactic, XCOR, Masten Aerospace and Armadillo Aerospace continue to test their vehicles in preparation for offering space tourist flights in the coming years.   "I can't help thinking we're in the midst of something big," Lori Garver, deputy chief of NASA, said of the growing commercial space industry. "These are incredibly exciting times and I am so, so pleased and proud that NASA can play a small role."   NASA has sponsored competitions for commercial vehicles to carry both cargo and crew to the International Space Station, which currently relies on Russian spacecraft for transportation in the wake of the space shuttle's retirement. The SpaceX cargo launch earlier this month was the first of 12 scheduled delivery missions for the firm, and other companies like Orbital Sciences plan to begin cargo flights soon.   These competitions haven't been instituted without resistance by some in Congress, who question the safety and reliability of commercial spacecraft, and have pushed for less funding for private spaceflight.   "Amid the mistrust and subpoenas, it's hard to remember sometimes how much progress we've made," Garver said.   Many commercial space companies still face an uphill climb, both in developing complex technology and in growing a market beyond NASA for their services.   "This industry loves hard stuff," Roger Krone, president of Network and Space Systems at the Boeing Company, said Thursday. "We just thrive on challenge. If we wanted to do something easy or simple we wouldn't be in this business. We all want to be part of something that's new and exciting."   Private space taxi builders on track to launch astronauts soon   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   Representatives from the three different companies chosen by NASA to develop private space taxis to carry astronauts to orbit say their vehicles are making substantial progress toward launching people into orbit within the next few years.   The companies — Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), The Boeing Company, and Sierra Nevada Corp. — are competing to fill the gap left by NASA's retired space shuttles for the launching of cargo and crews to the International Space Station. Each private space taxi firm has received funding from NASA under the Commercial Crew integrated Capability program (CCiCap) to complete a series of development milestones with the goal of taking over transportation to low-Earth orbit from the Russians.   "We're going great guns, we're working very hard, and we hope to have people flying very soon inside the Dragon," SpaceX's commercial crew project manager Garrett Reisman said Wednesday here at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight.   21st century space capsules   SpaceX's Dragon space capsule has already made two unmanned flights to the International Space Station this year under NASA's cargo delivery program. Work now is focused on outfitting the capsule to carry up to seven people by adding a launch abort capability and life support system, as well as designing spacesuits and the crew cabin layout.   The vehicle, which launches on SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket, could make its first crewed test flights in mid-2015, Reisman said.   Meanwhile, aerospace veteran Boeing is working on its CST-100 vehicle, a capsule intended to fly atop United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, which has a proven track record launching unmanned satellites. The CST-100 is designed to carry up to seven people, and return to touch down on land via parachutes and airbags.   "The real focus here is getting the final design and implementing a system that is safe, reliable and affordable," John Mulholland, vice president of commercial programs in Boeing's Space Exploration department, said today (Oct. 18).   The company just recently completed a preliminary design milestone called integrated systems review, and plans to set the vehicle's final design plans with a critical design review in April 2014. That should pave the way for the first people to fly on CST-100 in 2016, Mulholland said.   Have space plane, will travel   Sierra Nevada's entry into this new space race is called the Dream Chaser, and differs form the Dragon and CST-100 cone-shaped capsules in its winged space plane design.   Dream Chaser, too, will carry a crew of seven and launch on the Atlas 5, and is targeting a first manned launch in 2016 or 2017. Its goals for the near future are furthering the vehicle's design and performing preliminary test flights.   "When I first started looking at building a vehicle for this marketplace, people basically laughed," said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of Sierra Nevada's Space Systems. "People kept constantly saying, 'It can't be done, it can't be done.' We believe it not only can be done, it is being done. We really are on the verge of moving this whole industry form theory to practice."   While all three companies are initially developing their spacecraft to serve NASA, they intend eventually to carry a wide range of passengers, including space tourists, scientists and astronauts from countries without their own launch vehicles.   "Once we have this thing up and running for NASA we are free to use it for other purposes," Reisman said. "It does bring up a bunch of interesting possibilities. But this is all after we accomplish our primary job, which is getting Americans back into space on American vehicles."   Orbital making progress in Antares launch preparations   Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com   Orbital Sciences Corp. is in a "final push" to launch its first Antares rocket by the end of this year, assuming a successful completion of a series of fueling and engine tests due to begin next week, the company's chief executive said Thursday.   Engineers moved an Antares first stage to the launch pad at Wallops Island, Va., on Oct. 1 to begin several weeks of testing ahead of a 30-second hotfire of the rocket's two AJ26 engines, which is now expected in early November.   "We really are in that final push leading up to the flight test," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and CEO, in a conference call with investors Thursday.   Orbital Sciences is developing the Antares rocket and the Cygnus automated cargo freighter to resupply the International Space Station under a $1.9 billion contract with NASA.   NASA and Orbital are partners in funding development of the Antares and Cygnus programs. NASA is providing up to $288 million in government money to support the design and testing of the vehicles.   Several propellant loading, or cold flow, tests are planned before the hotfire to demonstrate the launch pad's fueling systems and rehearse countdown procedures.   The first fueling rehearsal is scheduled for next week, according to Thompson.   Launch pad 0A, a facility owned by the Commonwealth of Virginia, lies on the property of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Virginia's Eastern Shore.   The 30-second firing in early November will generate about 680,000 pounds of thrust, checking the integrity of the launch pad and first stage structure, which is designed by Yuzhnoye and built by Yuzhmash in Ukraine.   "Assuming these tests go smoothly we will replace the rocket that is now on the launch pad with the second Antares vehicle and conduct the test flight in December," Thompson said.   The first stage on the launch pad now will be recycled and used on a future flight.   The Antares test launch will orbit an instrumented mass simulator representing a Cygnus spacecraft.   If the demonstration launch is successful, Orbital will fly the first Cygnus spacecraft on the second flight of Antares, which Thompson said would occur near the end of the first quarter or start of the second quarter of 2013, at the earliest.   The schedule also depends on traffic to the International Space Station. The Cygnus test flight must be timed when no other vehicles are coming to the 450-ton complex.   Although NASA and Orbital consider it a test flight, the first Cygnus mission to the space station will deliver about 550 kilograms, or 1,212 pounds, or cargo the outpost.   Orbital expects to begin a series of eight operational commercial cargo deliveries later in 2013.   Orbital’s Cygnus Debut Pushed to March or April   Peter de Selding - Space News   Orbital Sciences Corp. on Oct. 18 said its new Antares rocket will not launch its Cygnus cargo freighter on a demonstration flight to the international space station until around March or April, assuming that two preceding rocket tests occur without a hitch.   In a conference call with investors, Orbital officials did not attribute the fresh delay of the NASA-funded program, of three or four months compared to its last quarterly update, to any particular event.   In recent months the company has restructured its relationship with the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Va., becoming a supplier to the spaceport rather than a partner in the new facility’s development. Antares will launch from that facility.   As part of that transaction, Orbital booked $25.6 million in cash from the sale of infrastructure at the Wallops facility. Orbital Chief Financial Officer Garrett E. Pierce said during the call that the transaction, which resulted in no losses for Orbital, was good for the spaceport and good for Orbital as well.   Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said propellant-loading tests of the Antares rocket’s first stage on the Wallops Island launch pad will start the week of Oct. 21. Assuming no hiccups in this procedure, the first stage will be test-fired for 30 seconds on the pad in early November.   A successful engine-firing test will lead to the preparation of a full Antares rocket for a test flight, without the Cygnus cargo vehicle, in December.   Thompson said the demonstration flight to the international space station, this time with Cygnus, would then occur late in the first quarter of 2013 or early in the second quarter, depending on the station’s traffic schedule and on Antares’ status.   Orbital added the Antares test flight to its manifest in 2011, with NASA's accession, as part of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contract with NASA to demonstrate the abilities of Antares/Cygnus. This contract is cost-shared with NASA, with Orbital booking zero profit.   Once the Antares/Cygnus configuration has demonstrated its ability to deliver cargo, Orbital will begin station deliveries under its Commercial Resupply Services contract with NASA. This contract is valued at $1.9 billion and calls for Orbital to make eight flights, delivering 20,000 kilograms of payload to the station.   Thompson said that while the delays in the program will not have any direct financial impact on the company, they are causing Orbital to make COTS-related research-and-development expenditures for a longer period than had been expected.   Despite the delays, the company’s launch vehicles division delivered the best performance among Orbital’s three divisions for the three months ending Sept. 30. Launch vehicle revenue, including NASA money for the future commercial cargo-transport flights and Orbital’s work on target vehicles for the U.S. Defense Department, jumped 21 percent compared to the same period a year ago, to about $141 million.   Thompson said Orbital expects to book just under $375 million in revenue from the NASA commercial resupply contract in 2012, and $400 million in 2013.   The launcher division’s operating profit margin was 6.6 percent, up from 4.5 percent a year ago, Orbital said.   Orbital has booked one order for a commercial telecommunications satellite in 2012 and expects at least one more before the end of the year, Thompson said. The company specializes in smaller spacecraft, and in early October placed into service its first all-Ka-band telecommunications satellite, the Hylas 2 spacecraft for British operator Avanti.   Thompson said he expects the global market for geostationary-orbiting telecommunications satellites to total 17 to 20 orders in 2012, with about the same volume in 2013. He said there is reason to hope that around 2014, the cyclical market will turn upward as the major fleet operators replace existing satellites.   Meanwhile, unlike many U.S. Defense Department contractors, Orbital does not look at the current impasse hanging over the U.S. government budget as necessarily a bad thing for its business.   Thompson said a budget agreement that freezes spending at 2012 levels — a scenario he said is more likely than wholesale budget cuts as part of a sequestration procedure — might be good news for Orbital.   Of biggest concern to Orbital is that 12-13 percent of its annual revenue comes from work on NASA science satellites. NASA’s science division looks to be among the hardest hit from the current budget situation.   Orbital’s total revenue for the three months ending Sept. 30 was $372.9 million, a record for the company and a 9 percent increase from the same period a year ago. Operating income, at $31.3 million, was up 27 percent from last year.   Space drug could help alleviate nausea on Earth   Eric Berger - Houston Chronicle   Upon reaching space, astronauts on the space shuttle instantly transitioned to weightlessness, and for a majority of them that dizziness led to a sick stomach.   Trouble is, the best remedies for motion sickness also cause drowsiness, not the best prescription for astronauts who must begin work as soon as they reach space.   Johnson Space Center's chief pharmacologist, Lakshmi Putcha, has sought a better alternative for a quarter of a century. And now, in the form of a nasal spray, Putcha believes she's found a fast-acting, effective treatment for motion sickness.   "We're pretty excited about this," Putcha said.   Better still, the drug could benefit more than just astronauts - it might find applications for use by space tourists, sailors, cruise-goers and potentially cancer patients who encounter nausea.   This week NASA announced a deal with Epiomed Therapeutics Inc. of Irvine, Calif., to develop and commercialize the treatment.   When Putcha arrived at NASA some 25 years ago, astronauts flying into space carried patches or pills based on the drug scopolamine. It was effective, but the technology to deliver the drug was flawed: if an astronaut rubbed his or her eyes after touching a patch they could get blurred vision, the drug didn't take effect right away and it made some astronauts drowsy.   These complications caused serious issues for NASA in those days, when most shuttle missions lasted only a few days and there were fewer crew members.   "If a single crew member was sick it could lead to the loss of mission success," Putcha said.   Leroy Chiao, a three-time space shuttle flyer, said the transition from pulling three G's - three times the force of gravity - to weightlessness is abrupt.   "At main engine cutoff you're instantly weightless," said Chiao, who consults for the National Space Biomedical Research Institute. "It feels like you're doing a forward tumble on a gymnast's mat, and all kinds of wrong information is flowing in your brain. After the initial tumble you feel dizzy. It's just not natural."   Chiao was one of the lucky 30 percent of first-time fliers who didn't get nauseous. But for the majority of shuttle fliers there were only drugs that caused drowsiness.   Putcha kept searching for a better way. Eventually she returned to scopolamine, and realized that if it could be delivered in smaller doses via a nasal spray it might act more quickly with few if any side effects.   Working with the U.S. Navy, she and other researchers conducted tests using Navy cadets in which the nasal spray worked well.   At half of a dose of previous applications, the scopolamine spray effectively treated nausea.   But conducting a third, and larger clinical test - necessary to use the drug in patients - was beyond the scope of NASA's mandate.   So Putcha helped establish a first-of-its-kind partnership between NASA, the U.S. Navy and Epiomed, which will conduct the clinical trials needed to bring the nasal spray to the marketplace.   Putcha believes the drug can bring near-instant relief for motion sickness in travelers, and it might also help control drug-induced sickness in cancer patients receiving chemotherapy.   Germs in space: Preventing infection on long flights   Phys.org   On a long spaceflight unique conditions including microgravity could give microbes the upper hand, but not if astronauts and their spacecrafts are properly prepared. In a new paper, infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel brings together a broad base of research to come up with specific recommendations for keeping astronauts safe in deep space.   The cabin of a spacecraft halfway to Mars would be the least convenient place—one cannot say "on earth"—for a Salmonella or Pneumococcus outbreak, but a wide-ranging new paper suggests that microgravity and prolonged space flight could give unique advantages to germs. What's a space agency to do? Brown University and Rhode Island Hospital infectious disease expert Dr. Leonard Mermel offers several ideas.   And no, they are not to add more Vitamin C to the Tang, or to give each crew member a bottle of Purell. It's a lot more complicated than that.   "I've been involved for two decades with trying to prevent infections in the intensive care unit and general hospital settings and I've been involved with national and international guidelines, but there are a lot of constraints in space I had never thought of before," said Mermel, who began investigating the infectious disease implications of space flight when he was invited to speak at a NASA-Johnson Space Center symposium in April 2011.   In all, he said, he's read hundreds of papers and he cited 91 of them in the peer-reviewed article published online Oct. 9 in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases. He also has consulted widely with experts including Duane Pierson, Chief Microbiologist, Space Life Sciences at the Johnson center.   What Mermel has distilled from the literature is that microgravity weakens the immune system in some ways while it also increases the virulence and antimicrobial resistance of some microorganisms. Meanwhile, without gravity, germs launched by coughs and sneezes no longer fall to the ground within an earthly 3-6 feet, but continue to float around, increasing the distance and time for astronauts to inhale them, or for them to settle on a wider variety of surfaces.   "So you suppress the human immune response, and you enhance the ability of microbes to cause infection, and you put those together in a confined space where airborne particles can remain in the air for a protracted period of time," Mermel said.   What's more, in a spacecraft, power limitations prevent extensive air filtration and the air is recirculated. That means astronauts can't use some hospital disinfectants and hand hygiene products because they could emit hazardous vapors. And like a college dorm room or bathroom, many surfaces in the closed quarters of a spaceship can become contaminated, serving as reservoirs for germs that can spread in this unique environment, Mermel said.   To some extent there is hard data on the risk of infectious disease on space missions. Mermel found NASA statistics showing that there have been 29 reported infectious disease incidents among 742 crew members on 106 space shuttle flights. Although the number is limited, human space flight to Mars would be unprecedented because of the prolonged nature of the mission. Mermel argues that it is unclear if this will introduce a risk of infection beyond what one might extrapolate from shorter missions.   "It's going to be radically different in terms of the ability to communicate with someone on Earth," he said. "And what if there was something that happened that put someone at risk? Could they, or would they, turn around before they accomplished their mission?"   Prescriptions for prevention   In the context of prolonged space flight, Mermel said, the best strategy could be to enhance the considerable prevention methods NASA already has in place. Many of Mermel's ideas therefore focus on preparing and equipping astronauts and their crafts to either keep microbes from getting on board, or failing that, to keep them in their place.   Among NASA's current measures are vaccinating astronauts for several diseases, including the flu, and screening for others, such as tuberculosis, Mermel said. Food is selectively irradiated and astronauts have disinfecting wipes, surgical masks and respirators. They take off with multiple antibiotics on board.   Vaccinations, he says, could be expanded to include germs like Meningococcus and Pneumoccocus. And because no new germs are going to join the astronauts on board once they take off (assuming none are brought back from Mars), expanded pre-flight screening may help, too. Astronauts could be screened – in multiple body sites – for all strains of Staphyloccocus aureus, including some antibiotic-resistant forms, he said, and stool could be screened and re-screened for Salmonella.   Mermel said astronauts could also receive formal infection control education regarding hand hygiene, environmental cleaning, and other healthy practices.   Finding a way to somehow work HEPA air filtration into the energy budget would be a worthwhile goal if possible, he said. Perhaps with the opportunity afforded by NASA's transition from the space shuttle to a new craft, engineers could also perform human factors engineering studies on the most health-promoting places to put water outlets and waterless hand hygiene product dispensers. Potable water outlets and toilets, he said, could be designed to operate with foot pedals.   And a new bit of cargo, he added, which NASA is working on, is easy to use, low-energy diagnostic testing kits for germs causing common infections.   Other than the astronauts and research animals, another source of germs could be the astronauts' food. One of the toughest calls NASA will need to make, he said, is whether to irradiate more food for a longer trip. It's a good idea to kill harmful pathogens wherever they may be but it's unnatural for people to eat completely sterilized food for two straight years since some of the bacteria we typically eat end up in our guts where they have beneficial effects.   "We've evolved to have those microbes go into our gastrointestinal tracts, our immune system interacts with them and is stimulated by them and it's part of our homeostatic mechanism," Mermel said.   Still to explore   That conundrum of cuisine is one of six unanswered questions Mermel poses in the paper. The others concern whether infectious disease risk really is higher in microgravity (research suggests this, but it hasn't been directly measured); what the best antimicrobial coating is, if any, for spaceship surfaces; the best hand sanitizer for use in space; which diagnostic tests to bring on board; and elucidating why, exactly, immune response drops and microbial virulence goes up in space.   But if NASA announced tomorrow that in the next few years astronauts would be headed off to Mars, Mermel said he'd be confident that NASA planning would allow them to make the journey without a viral, fungal or bacterial tragedy.   "It would remain a risk, but I'd feel comfortable with it," he said. "They have a lot of bright people invested in doing the right thing."   NASA Astronaut Encourages Women to Shoot for the Stars   Sarah Harmon - Wheeling Intelligencer / News-Register   More than 100 women from all sectors of the technology field gathered at Oglebay Resort and Conference center Thursday afternoon to be inspired by a woman who has followed her dreams all the way to space.   Astronaut Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger spoke at Tech Connect West Virginia's first "Women In Technology" Conference about her journey with NASA, her 15-day trip to space to the International Space Station in 2010, and the role of NASA technology in our everyday world. The audience also heard from West Virginia Secretary of State Natalie E. Tennant, who highlighted the technological advancements her office has utilized.   During her speech, Metcalf-Lindenburger discussed how far women have come in terms of careers.   "My mom, when she was studying math, was the only woman in her department and was definitely discouraged from doing some things and applying for some jobs. Watching my mom and how she dealt with that but still stayed very optimistic encouraged me to keep going with the math and science field," Metcalf-Lindenburger said. "When I was in my geology department there were no female professors, but professors were really great at bringing in other mentors and talking with us and there are other professors I look to. I think as a female, taking things from my male professors and then also asking questions from other female professors in other departments inspired me to go out and advocate for myself and see what I wanted to be and make that happen."   Metcalf-Lindenburger said she was hired into NASA in 2004 after a five-year career as a high school earth science teacher. She described how technology has evolved in her eight years at NASA and related her experiences in the 2010 shuttle mission to resupply the International Space Station with 6 tons of equipment. She also mentioned that her 2010 crew set a record for the most women in space at one time with four women on the mission.   She said many forms of technology used on the International Space Station, such as robotic work stations, highly advanced cameras and water filtration systems, can be applied to the population's needs on Earth.   Metcalf-Lindenburger also drew on her own experience as a former high school teacher to emphasize the importance of incorporating technology into education and ensuring that youth are introduced to the growing field.   "We have a lot more capabilities to provide our youngsters information about what we're doing (in technology) and engaging them," Metcalf-Lindenburger said. "My mother was a math teacher and my father taught science. ... I think it's important for us as mentors to provide cutting-edge technology in our education process."   Anne Barth, executive director TechConnect WV, called the keynote speaker and "American hero."   "She is a hero to girls and young women across this nation, especially those who gaze at the stars and dream of one day exploring new frontiers in space," Barth said. "She's a hero to women and men of any age in any country on this planet who value education for girls and women."   Tennant also spoke during the conference about ways technology has been incorporated in her office. She said technology gives business owners the ability to file important paperwork online and use online chat if a business has a question to have it answered instantly.   "We have used technology to advance the office better and faster than anyone else when it comes to streamlining, especially businesses that are using our online sources," Tennant said. "I think that we are leading the way across the country and it just shows what you can do with technology, and to have women be the focus with technology pushes us forward even more. It's conferences like this and it's women like this that are going to move West Virginia forward."   The two-day Women in Technology Conference was designed to encourage and support women involved in all aspects of technology, including science and engineering education and research, the private sector, business development, governmental agencies and entrepreneurship.   Wayne Hale underscores need for Spaceport America liability law   Las Cruces Sun-News (Editorial)   Wayne Hale understands as well as anyone both the potential for commercial space flight, and the obstacles to success. Hale is a former program manager for the space shuttle program. He was shuttle flight director for 40 shuttle missions, and was deputy associate administrator of strategic partnerships in NASA's Space Operations Mission Directorate when he retired in 2010. He is now a consultant for a private aerospace services company in Colorado.   During his keynote speech Tuesday at the International Symposium for Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in Las Cruces, Hale stressed the importance of legislation to provide limited liability protection to parts suppliers at Spaceport America if we are to successfully compete with other states in the still-developing industry of commercial space flight.   "The most important thing we can do is remind (legislators) the state has made this huge investment," Hale said. "If you're not careful, you can lose that business to states that have friendlier laws."   The Legislature has passed an informed consent law providing liability protection for Virgin Galactic, which will be the anchor tenant at Spaceport America. But, without similar protections for parts suppliers, it is feared the spaceport will not be able to attract other space-related businesses needed for it to reach its full potential.   It is disappointing that a liability protection bill was killed last year in House and Senate committees that did not have a single member from Doña Ana or Sierra counties. Sen. Mary Kay Papen, sponsor of the bill, said she has legislation already prepared for the upcoming session in January. And Gov. Susana Martinez has been a strong supporter of the bill.   It is our hope that lawmakers have taken the time since last year's session to better educate themselves on this bill, and its importance in protecting the state's investment in the spaceport.   As Hale pointed out, other states have already passed liability protection, and are using that advantage in the fierce competition to attract space-related firms. We are not suggesting that there be blanket immunity that would protect companies even in cases of gross negligence. We appreciate that in such cases people should have the right to seek damages in a court of law. But in a fledgling industry where some degree of risk will always be involved, there needs to be a balance.   Instead of merely killing the bill, we would urge lawmakers - especially those with law degrees - to work with Papen on a compromise that will allow individual legal protection while not putting the state at a competitive disadvantage.   At home 250 miles above Earth A former astronaut on six-month stint on the space station: limited space but great view   Leroy Chiao - Wall Street Journal (Commentary)   (Chiao, who has spent more than 229 days in space, now serves as an adviser for human spaceflight for the Space Foundation)   On the market: shared living space with six-month lease. No rent, but must work for room and board; no pets; weekends off (kind of); transportation provided; astronomical view.   What a deal! Where do I sign? Oh, did I mention there is an almost-four-year training program? Still, it would be my chance to live aboard the international space station.   In 2000, I was a NASA astronaut preparing for my third space-shuttle mission when the chief called me into his office: "How would you like to spend half a year aboard the international space station?"   Hmmm. I would have to learn Russian and spend half of my life training in Star City (outside of Moscow) a month at a time over the next several years. But eventually I would have the run of the station and a perch to observe the Earth like no other. After two days of contemplation, I accepted.   I left Earth on Oct. 9, 2004, for my new home in space. There are several rooms (modules), two airlocks (one American, one Russian), one toilet, a separate washroom, plus a powder room in the Soyuz spacecraft. There is not so much a kitchen, but more of a dining room with what could be considered a kitchenette.   The place comes equipped with a gym, complete with a treadmill—and harnesses and rubber bungees to hold one down on the track. Don't like running? There is also a stationary bicycle, and a resistance-exercise device to keep up muscle tone and bone density in zero gravity.   The station is quite roomy, actually, even though my own quarters were about the size of a phone booth. When I was there, the place felt like a good-size three-bedroom apartment. There was plenty of room for a crew of two, plus three visitors during crew exchanges. In space, there is no up or down, so there is no floor or ceiling. Thus, there is twice the amount of wall space available, and the lack of gravity makes the volume much more usable.   Most of the work is housekeeping and repairs, just like at home on Earth. Something always is in need of maintenance. However, the main purpose of the space station is to be the worlds' premier microgravity research platform, and the most rewarding work is conducting scientific investigations.   Location, location, location! That's what all real-estate people tell me. And, low Earth orbit is no exception. The view is unparalleled. From 250 miles up, one can see everything from cities, mountains, lakes, rivers and various landmarks, to rain forests, bridges, volcanoes and other natural wonders. Of course, it is difficult to go for a stroll around the block. Several days of planning and preparation are required for even a short excursion.   And, what about taking the spacecraft for a drive? That also takes preparation and a full day—even just to move from one parking spot to another. Thus, the vehicle is usually used only for arriving to, and departing from, the domicile (once for each).   This is the age of well-sealed green homes, and the space station is no exception. The air is purified using filters, micro-impurity reactors and carbon-dioxide scrubbers. The water is similarly run through resin-exchange bed purifiers. When I was there, perspiration and other condensation were collected and purified for drinking. Other wastewater is also recycled (you know what I mean). And all power aboard the station comes from solar panels.   Don't want to rent? Do you prefer to buy? The construction cost of ISS is around $2.5 billion. You'll have to ask your real-estate agent for comps. I don't know if the market in low Earth orbit has gone up or down. There are others who are offering new construction, but they are not experienced builders. I recommend going with the guys who have done it.   For less, one can visit for a week or so at a time. Several individuals have, and all have loved the experience. The ISS is the ultimate destination. Like all desirable real estate, it's not cheap. It is, however, an experience you would never forget.   MEANWHILE ON MARS…   Rover begins Martian soil analysis; scientists ponder bright fragment   William Harwood – CBS News   After using two soil samples to scour away any earthly contaminants from inside the Curiosity rover's sample acquisition system, a third scoop of fine-grained Martian soil was dumped into an on-board laboratory instrument Wednesday for the mission's first detailed "hands-on" mineralogical analysis, the project scientist said Thursday.   The process took a bit longer than expected because of work to make sure an unusual shiny fragment seen in the darker soil near the scoop site was not "foreign object debris" from the rover that could affect the analyses or operation of the rover's two laboratory instruments, the Chemistry and Mineralogy, or CheMin, experiment and the Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM, experiment.   The CheMin instrument uses X-ray diffraction to identify minerals in soil samples while SAM uses a suite of spectrometers to study the chemistry of both soil and air samples.   Curiosity currently is parked near sand dunes in an area dubbed Glenelg, using a scoop on the end of its robot arm to collect the initial soil samples for detailed analysis. Two scoops were collected, dropped into the sample handling system and then vibrated to "clean" the walls of the system and remove any lingering traces of earthly contaminants.   It was during the second scoop acquisition that scientists noticed an unusually bright fragment in the soil near the rover. John Grotzinger, the Curiosity project scientist, told reporters the 1-millimeter-wide fragment "is something that's unusual."   "You see a spectrum of these things," he said. "The question is, how to know that you're actually sampling it? That was our original fear, was that if something like this turned up and it was manmade and we put it into the funnel that goes down into either the CheMIn or the SAM instrument, what would be the consequences of doing that?"   But after a detailed analysis, Grotzinger said the science team was in general agreement that the fragment was a natural component of the martian soil.   "There are two preferred hypotheses," he said. "There are certain classes of minerals that have what we call cleavage and if somehow during the scooping process you broke one of these minerals along its cleavage plane, then you would get a nice flat surface that might reflect the sunlight and it would be free of dust, and that would make it bright.   "A second option is that maybe there's a process that's occurring in the soil that results in the generation of minerals that are basically a part of the soil-forming process. In either case, we very much would like to study this."   To help confirm the true nature of the fragment, Curiosity will be repositioned so another instrument can hit the fragment with a laser beam. The Chemistry and Camera instrument, known as ChemCam, will vaporize a small segment of the fragment, producing debris that will be analyzed by a telescopic spectrometer.   "Whatever it is seems to be very uncommon," Grotzinger said. "We don't want to make any mistakes, but on the other hand we do have a plan to execute. ... I would say it's a strong consensus that this is something natural and probably represents a scientific opportunity rather than an engineering threat."   About two weeks ago, photos from Curiosity showed what appeared to be a small piece of debris that did, in fact, come from the lander. At the time, engineers speculated it may have been a bit of plastic from a cable tie or some similar bit of material. Project Manager Richard Cook said Thursday about a half-dozen such bits of debris have now been seen, ranging in size from 10 to 20 millimeters long.   While engineers don't yet know what the material might be, the rover is operating flawlessly and they speculate it may have come off during Curiosity's rocket-powered sky crane landing Aug. 6.   "We don't know whether or not they're plastic or they're something else, nor do we understand the source of them," Cook said. "It is worth pointing out that as the vehicle is landing and the various things separate off the vehicle, there's lots of debris generated and it falls wherever it falls. On (earlier landers), for example, we certainly saw evidence of that kind of debris at various spots and there's no reason to believe we wouldn't see that this time as well."   Grotzinger said Curiosity remains roughly on schedule with a full slate of science activity planned for Glenelg. If all goes well, the rover's power drill will be tested next month and by the end of the year, Curiosity should be on its way to the foothills of Mount Sharp, a towering three-mile-high mound of layered rock at the center of Gale Crater.   "We feel very good about how everything is going," Grotzinger said. "It's really remarkable that we've had no serious issues at all and what's around us, we're very excited about it. We look at the images and we see things that promise a lot of excitement in terms of understanding the environmental history of Mars and maybe giving us further clues" as to whether Mars ever hosted a habitable environment.   Something odd, bright and white in Martian dirt   Seth Borenstein - Associated Press   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has dug up a mini-mystery for scientists: an odd white fleck that sticks out like a beacon in the reddish soil.   It looks out of place, but scientists said Thursday that it's probably just a different hued bit of Martian soil.   It's only 1 millimeter in size and was spotted after the rover used its mechanical scoop to dig up some dust.   Project scientist John Grotzinger (GRAWT'-sihn-ger) said researchers first thought it was earthly contamination from Curiosity. But it's likely natural Martian soil that looks different because of the way it's angled in the light or how the soil broke apart. Or it could be made of different minerals.   Curiosity will use its camera and instruments to try to learn more about what it is.   Rover Curiosity eats first Martian dirt   Irene Klotz - Reuters   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity tasted Martian dirt for the first time on Thursday, testing equipment needed to assess if the planet most like Earth in the solar system has or ever had the ingredients for microbial life.   The sampling of about a baby aspirin's worth of Martian sand was slightly delayed while scientists puzzled over unusual brightly colored flecks in the hole carved out by Curiosity's scoop.   Initially, the team believed the bright flecks were shed by the rover, similar to bits of plastic debris discovered last week.   "The science team started to classify these sort of differently, calling them 'schmutz,'" Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, with the California Institute of Technology, told reporters in a conference call.   "We had a lot of fun with that, labeling them and comparing, but in the end it turns out we really feel this is a different sort of particle," he said.   While not completely ruling out the chance that the flecks are rover debris, most of the team now believes they are naturally occurring, perhaps a mineral that was fractured by the rover scoop.   To be on the safe side, scientists commanded Curiosity to dump that sample and collect sand from another site for processing in the onboard laboratory. The aim is to get an ingredient list of minerals in the Martian soil.   "We got to believing there were things around us and began to look at everything through that lens," said mission manager Richard Cook, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.   "We definitely are more aware of what's out there now and are more careful about everything we look at," Cook said.   In August, Curiosity landed inside a 96-mile-wide (154-km-wide) impact crater near the Martian equator on a $2.5 billion, two-year mission to determine if Mars had the chemistry to support and preserve microbial life.   The mission is NASA's first astrobiology initiative since the 1970s-era Viking probes.   Mars Curiosity rover eats first spoon of dirt in 'promised land'   Amina Khan - Los Angeles Times   Scooping up intriguing Martian soil and casting away suspect batches, NASA's Mars Curiosity rover has finally shoved a tiny spoonful into its robot belly to analyze, scientists at Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Thursday.   The Mars Science Laboratory rover has arrived at Glenelg Intrigue – conceptually an area where three different types of terrain meet, said project scientist and Caltech geologist John Grotzinger. The information scientists glean about the rocks here will help them decide where to finally break out Curiosity’s drill, he explained.   “We consider ourselves now to be in sort of the promised land,” Grotzinger added.   Now in its 72nd Martian day, or “sol,” roaming the Red Planet since its Aug. 5 landing in Gale Crater, the rover has spent more than a week scooping Martian soil from dunes at a spot called Rocknest. The rover would first use scoopfuls of Martian sand to clean out its sample system, removing any contaminants by sandblasting the interior.   But scientists were stumped when they saw a pale object glinting in the soil in a hole made by the scoop on Oct. 12 – one that didn’t seem to belong. They dumped the sample, fearing that the strange thing might actually be Earth material that would contaminate the sample.   This wasn’t the first time the team had come across a suspected foreign object.  On Oct. 7, the team came across a strange, half-inch-long fragment that was determined to be debris from the spacecraft.   But after examining the grain, most of the team believes that the pale stuff they’re now seeing is indigenous to Mars, Grotzinger said.   Now with a fresh, problem-free sample delivered to the rover’s chemistry and mineralogy instrument, or CheMin, the Mars Science Laboratory rover will hit the soil sample with X-rays to determine its mineral structure. The sample just dumped into CheMin represents the fine-grained “dust” that’s thought to cover the Red Planet’s surface, scientists said.   “They are going to be able to analyze, finally, once and for all the mineral composition of … the stuff that swirls around the planet, and that’s why this is going to be such a cool measurement,” Grotzinger said.   They’ll also have a new target – the strange pale grains, originally a source of alarm – to analyze.  The Chemistry and Camera instrument, which can shoot a laser at rock, will be able to zap the tiny grains and analyze the vaporized minerals.   The rover’s ultimate goal is Mt. Sharp, a 3-mile-high mound in the middle of Gale Crater whose layers could reveal whether Mars was ever hospitable to life.   Shiny bit catches eye of Curiosity scientists First scoop of Mars brought in for testing   Todd Halvorson - Florida Today   NASA’s Curiosity rover ingested its first soil sample and will investigate a puzzling speck of bright material that appears to be Martian, rather than a stowaway from Earth, officials said Thursday.   After a decade of development, $2.5 billion and an eight-month planetary journey, Curiosity sifted soil into an onboard lab on Wednesday.   The mission’s chief scientist said the scoop is a huge deal. Planetary geologists will be able to identify minerals in windblown soil, likely distributed globally.   “I can’t underscore how important this is,” said Curiosity Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology.   Sensor-laden spacecraft orbiting Mars have returned data that suggests the soil composition in different regions.   Robotic landers and rovers have beamed back intriguing data. But Curiosity is equipped with the most sophisticated lab facilities ever sent to another planet.   “Now, once and for all, we really hope to address what’s in the soil of Mars, mineralogically,” Grotzinger said.   Curiosity landed on its six wheels Aug. 6 inside 100-mile-wide Gale Crater, home to an 18,000-foot mountain that is Curiosity’s prime target.   But the rover first is making a stop at an area where three types of terrain converge. Also within it: an alluvial fan — an area where a fast-flowing stream once might have spread out, depositing soil and rocks of regional if not global origin.   Curiosity, meanwhile, stumbled across an interesting clump of material during warm-ups for its first laboratory scoop.   Twice it shoveled soil in a pre-planned sequence to clean its sample handing system of any Earthly contaminants. Left in the divot dug on the second try was a bright fleck of material about a half-inch wide.   Scientists initially thought the material might be plastic or another material dropped off the lander. They’ve already found rover debris on the ground.   But subsequent analyses led scientists to believe the bright material is of Martian origin.   Puzzled, they plan to take close-up images and then zap it with Curiosity’s laser instrument to gauge its chemical composition.   Scientists hope to have some answers in a week.   Curiosity is 73 days into a two-year mission on the Martian surface. It was launched Nov. 26 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.   Yum! Curiosity Rover Swallows 1st Mars Sample, Finds Odd Bright Stuff   Mike Wall - Space.com   NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has swallowed its first tiny bite of Martian soil, after standing down for a spell while scientists checked out some strange bright bits in the dirt.   The $2.5 billion Curiosity rover ingested the minuscule sample — which contains about as much material as a baby aspirin — on Wednesday (Oct. 17). The soil has been successfully delivered to the rover's Chemistry and Mineralogy instrument, or CheMin, mission scientists announced Thursday.   "We are crossing a significant threshold for this mission by using CheMin on its first sample," Curiosity lead scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said in a statement.   "This instrument gives us a more definitive mineral-identifying method than ever before used on Mars: X-ray diffraction," Grotzinger added. "Confidently identifying minerals is important because minerals record the environmental conditions under which they form."   Bright stuff on Mars   The sample that found its way into CheMin came from the third scoop of soil Curiosity dug up at a site dubbed "Rocknest." The first scoop was discarded after being used to scrub out the rover's sampling system, to help ensure that no Earth-originating residues remained.   Work at Rocknest slowed after Curiosity dug its second scoop on Oct. 12, when researchers noticed oddly bright flecks at the bottom of the hole. The team dumped the scoop out, worried that it might contain debris that had flaked off Curiosity.   They already knew that some tiny rover pieces are littering the Martian ground, after spotting a bright shred of what appears to be plastic on Oct. 7. Team members have since identified five or six other such bits, which may have fallen off Curiosity's sky-crane descent stage during landing on Aug. 5.   "We went super-paranoid," Grotzinger told reporters today. The team determined that "if this stuff is man-made, we better make sure that we're not taking any of it in."   So Curiosity moved to a slightly different location, and then took lots of pictures to make sure that the surface was pristine before making scoop number three. If any bright flecks are indeed present in the sample, they're naturally occurring, the mission team reasons, since any rover pieces would be restricted to the surface.   All that being said, Curiosity scientists now believe the bright soil flecks are indeed indigenous to Mars. They could be minerals that are part of the soil-forming process, Grotzinger said, or reflective surfaces created by the cleaving of ordinary dirt.   The team aims to fire its mineral-identifying laser, which is part of Curiosity's ChemCam instrument, at some of the pieces in the next few days to get a better idea of what they actually are.   Mars under the microscope   Curiosity carries 10 instruments to help it determine whether its Gale Crater landing site has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. But CheMin and another instrument on the 1-ton rover's body, known as Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM), are the rover's core scientific gear.   SAM is a chemistry laboratory that can identify organic compounds — the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it. The instrument has been sniffing the Martian air already, but it has yet to analyze its first soil sample. That should change in a week or so, Grotzinger said, after further cleaning of the rover's sampling system.   Curiosity continues to be in good health, researchers said. After the six-wheeled robot finishes testing out its scooping and sampling systems at Rocknest, mission scientists will begin searching for a spot to break out the rover's rock-boring drill. The first drill activity will be a complicated affair that could take month or so all up, Grotzinger said.   Curiosity is currently checking out deposits near a site called "Glenelg," where three interesting types of Martian terrain come together. But its ultimate destination is the base of Mount Sharp, the 3.4-mile-high (5.5 kilometers) mountain rising from Gale Crater's center.   Mount Sharp's foothills show signs of long-ago exposure to liquid water. Curiosity could be ready to start rolling toward the mountain's interesting deposits — which lie about 6 miles (10 km) away — in a couple of months.   "I would hope we'd be on our way by the end of the year," Grotzinger said.   For Mars rover Curiosity, at last, it's dinnertime. On the menu: dirt.   Pete Spotts - Christian Science Monitor   After 70 days on Mars, NASA's rover Curiosity finally is doing what it's paid the big bucks to do: Eat dirt.   In a mission where progress so far is being measured in an excruciating series of baby steps, the rover has for the first time moved a soil sample from the Martian surface to CheMin – one of two mini laboratories inside Curiosity's chassis that are expected to reveal the minerals that comprise the red planet's ubiquitous dust.   Such a seemingly simple feat has been a long time coming, notes John Grotzinger, a planetary geologist at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and the Mars Science Laboratory's project scientist.   Researchers have measured soil properties beginning with the Viking landers in the mid 1970s and with each lander since – each in different locations. This has yielded the observation that "there's something about the soil so far that's been very generic to Mars," he says.   "What's really exciting about this sample that just got dumped into CheMin" and later will be scrutinized by a second lab package on the rover "is that they are going to be able to analyze once and for all the mineral composition" of this material "that swirls around the planet," he says.   It's the first test of CheMin's ability to uncover the elements in the soil grains and identify minerals in them following the rover's 352-million-mile, nearly nine-month journey to Mars. The mission's goal is to determine if Gale Crater and its towering, central Mt. Sharp could have hosted microbial life early in the planet's history.   Central to that task is the ability to deliver samples to CheMin and the second internal lab package, SAM. SAM analyzes gases from the atmosphere and from heated samples of soil and rock to hunt for organics that would signal a hospitable ancient habitat.   To that end, engineers have spent the last two weeks gathering two scoops full of soil to scrub out the inside of the sample delivery system, removing any remaining contaminants from Earth.   The first scrubbing session went well. But engineers aborted the delivery system's second silty "bath" when images of the depression the scoop left in the soil revealed a small, shiny fleck that reminded the team of what it previously dubbed "shmutz" – loose bits of plastic that came from the rover itself.   The sample-delivery system, known as CHIMRA, might not take kindly to ingesting a bit of rover detritus as part of the cleaning process. So, wary that the soil in the scoop itself might hide another piece of shmutz, the team dumped the soil and took a closer look at the shiny fleck in the depression.   After some scientific chin-scratching, a strong consensus emerged among the science team that the fleck actually originated on Mars, Grotzinger says. In a stroke, the fleck shifted from an object of concern to an object of scientific interest.   Sometime in the next few days, the science team will reposition the rover so it can use ChemCam, atop the rover's mast, to zap the fleck with its laser and figure out what it's made of, Dr. Grotzinger says.   The fleck is only about 1 millimeter across. Reseachers speculate that it could be a tiny chip of mineral cleaved by the wind-driven movement of pebbles at the site. Or it could represent a mineral that formed naturally in the space between larger grains of sand and soil.   "It probably represents a science opportunity rather than an engineering threat," Grotzinger said at a briefing Thursday.   Once the team put the fleck on its scientific agenda, it finished up the housekeeping chores with a third scoopful of soil that is now working its way through CheMin. SAM could see its first sample next week.   "The most important thing about our mobile laboratory is that it eats dirt; that's what we live on," Grotzinger says.   And with confirmation that the latest sample has been safely delivered to CheMin, Curiosity's engineers and scientist can now bid the rover bon appetit.   END