10/3/12 news

      Hope you can join us tomorrow at our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30.   Wednesday, October 3, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Free Flu Shots TODAY! 2.            HAVE YOUR SAY---ABOUT SAFETY AND HEALTH 3.            BLOOD DRIVE - Oct. 16 - Elllington & Oct. 17 & 18 - JSC 4.            Fright Fest at the Gilruth Center on Oct. 26 5.            See Astronaut Mike Massimino Tomorrow on 'The Big Bang Theory' 6.            NASA@work Challenges- Submit your Solution Today! 7.            NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH OBSERVANCE 8.            Latin Music in the Bldg 3 Cafeteria 9.            Tomorrow the Human Systems Academy Presents "Medications in Space" 10.          Recent JSC Announcement 11.          Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Oct. 9 ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Every job is a self-portrait of the person who does it. Autograph your work with excellence. ”   -- Author Unknown ________________________________________ 1.            Free Flu Shots TODAY! The Occupational Health Branch is offering FREE flu shots to JSC Civil Servants and contractors who are housed onsite.   TODAY: Oct. 3: Building 2 (Teague Lobby)from 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 3:30 p.m. UPCOMING DATES: Oct. 11: Building 2 (Teague Lobby) 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 3:00 p.m. Oct. 18: Building 30 lobby, 8:30 to 11:30 a.m. and 12:30 to 3:00 p.m.   PLEASE visit the Web site below, read the Influenza Vaccine Information Statement (VIS) and complete the consent form prior to arrival to expedite the process. On the day of the flu shot, wear clothing that makes it easy to access your upper arm (short sleeve or sleeveless).   Bob Martel x38581 http://sd.jsc.nasa.gov/omoh/scripts/OccupationalMedicine/Fluprogram.aspx   [top] 2.            HAVE YOUR SAY---ABOUT SAFETY AND HEALTH Safety is everybody's business, and it can be only as effective as the support it receives. That's why your opinion, as a JSC employee, is so important.   During Safety & Health Day, Thrusday, Oct. 11, you will have the opportunity to take part in the JSC Safety Culture Survey.   For your convenience, laptop computers with survey software will be available near the Building 4 pond area. Answering a few questions takes only minutes, so plan to have your say--for a safer, more healthful workplace.   Participation is confidential.   Art Knell, Co-Chair, Safety & Health Day Committee 281-244-1280   [top] 3.            BLOOD DRIVE - Oct. 16 - Elllington & Oct. 17 & 18 - JSC Will there be blood available when you or your family needs it? A regular number of voluntary donations are needed every day to meet the needs for blood. Your blood donation can help up to 3 people. Please take an hour of your time to donate at our next blood drive.   You can donate at Ellington on Oct. 16. A donor coach will be located between Hangars 276 and 135 for donations from 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.   You can donate at JSC on Oct. 17-18 at the Bldg. 2 Teague Lobby or at the donor coach located next to the Bldg. 11 Starport Café, from 7:30 a.m.- 4 p.m.   You can donate at the Gilruth Center in the Coronado Room, Oct. 18 from 7:30 a.m.- Noon.     Teresa Gomez 281-483-9588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm   [top] 4.            Fright Fest at the Gilruth Center on Oct. 26 Join in on the frightful family fun at the Gilruth Center! Learn & perform the Thriller Dance in your best zombie attire! Learn the dance on Oct. 19, the big performance is on Oct. 26. $20 if registered by Oct. 12, $25 after or $15 for one night. Take a Spooky Spin ride with our specialty spin class…spinning with a Halloween theme! 6-7 p.m. $10 if registered by Oct. 19, $15 after. Register at the Gilruth Center.   For the kids…. our Fright Fest Bash is where it's at with a bounce house, games, candy, prizes, face painting, costume contests, photo ops, & more! 5-7:30 p.m. Gilruth gymnasium. $5/child if purchased by Oct. 19, $7/child after. Adults do not need a ticket. Purchase tickets at the Gilruth Center and B3 & B11 gift shops.   Visit out Haunted House…if you dare! 5-8 p.m. Gilruth Center 2nd floor. $5/person or $3 if child has a ticket to the Fright Fest Bash.     Shelly Haralson 39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 5.            See Astronaut Mike Massimino Tomorrow on 'The Big Bang Theory' Be sure to tune in to CBS and watch the acting chops of astronaut Mike Massimino. He will appear on TV on "The Big Bang Theory," episodes 2 and 4.   Episode 2 airs tomorrow, Oct. 4, while episode 4 airs Oct. 18.   "The Big Bang Theory" airs Thursdays nights (7 p.m. CDT) on CBS: http://www.cbs.com/shows/big_bang_theory/   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 6.            NASA@work Challenges- Submit your Solution Today! A new Challenge has just launched on the NASA@work platform: A Durable/ Permanent Anti-Fog for the EMU Helmet. Jump on the NASA@work site at http://nasa.innocentive.com to view the challenge problem, submit your solution, and/or to check out other active challenges on the platform (Challenge #1291: Solution Needed for Data Exchange to support the Conference Room Availability/Booking Tool). New to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agency-wide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Anyone can participate! Check it out and submit your solution today.   Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com/   [top] 7.            NATIONAL HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH OBSERVANCE Americans observe National Hispanic Heritage Month from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, by celebrating the histories, cultures and contributions of American citizens whose ancestors came from Spain, Mexico, the Caribbean and Central and South America. Sept. 15 is the anniversary of independence for five Latin American countries: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras and Nicaragua. In addition, Mexico declared its independence on Sept. 16 and Chile on Sept. 18.   The observation started in 1968 as Hispanic Heritage Week under President Johnson. In 1988, President Reagan expanded/enacted into law on Aug. 17 to cover a 30-day period from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15.   The term Hispanic or Latino refers to Puerto Rican, South or Central American, or other Spanish culture or origin. According to the 2010 Census, 50.5 million people or 16% of the population are of Hispanic or Latino origin.   Point of contact: Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (x30607).     T.Q. Bui 281-244-0266 http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oeod/   [top] 8.            Latin Music in the Bldg 3 Cafeteria In honor of Hispanic Heritage Month, the Starport Cafes will be serving Hispanic themed cuisine the following Wednesdays: Oct. 3, 10, and 17. To compliment the cafes effort to celebrate Hispanic Heritage Month, the JSC Hispanic Employee Resource Group will be playing Latin music at Café 3 during the themed lunches (11:00 AM - 1:00 PM).   Stephanie Tapia x40162   [top] 9.            Tomorrow the Human Systems Academy Presents "Medications in Space" The SA Human Systems Academy presents a lecture on Pharmacology and the JSC Pharmacy on Thursday, Oct.4 at 3 p.m. in the B37 Conference Rooms 1 & 2.   This lecture will introduce attendees to both operations and research involved in supplying medications for spaceflight missions. The leads of both the JSC Clinical Pharmacy and the Pharmacology Discipline will each discuss what their groups do to ensure a safe and effective supply of medications. Topics will include medications in spaceflight missions past, present and future, including special issues surrounding medications in spaceflight.   Register in SATERN to attend https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...   Kevin Rosenquist 281-204-1688 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/hsa   [top] 10.          Recent JSC Announcement Please visit the JSC Announcements Web Page to view the newly posted announcement:   JSCA 12-029: Key Personnel Assignment - J. Stephen Stich   Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web Page.   Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx   [top] 11.          Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Oct. 9 "Listen and Learn" is the slogan Al-Anon members adapt to navigate the New Normal of Continual Change. Our 12-step meeting is for coworkers, families, and friends of those who live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet Tuesday, Oct. 9 in Building 32, Room 142, from 11 to 11:50 a.m. Visitors are welcome.   Employee Assistance x36130 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/EAP/Pages/default.aspx   [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: 10:05 am Central (11:05 EDT) – Exp 33 with CNN’s Sanjay Gupta & New York Times   Human Spaceflight News Wednesday – October 3, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   Russia says first year-long ISS mission planned for 2015   Nastassia Astrasheuskaya - Reuters   The first year-long mission to the International Space Station may begin in March 2015, following an agreement between ISS partners who have previously sent crews for six months, the Russian space agency director said on Tuesday. Alexei Krasnov, in charge of manned flights at Roscosmos, said the decision was made by participants at the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy, this week. The two-person expedition - with crew members from Roscosmos and NASA - will be a first test, the result of which will determine whether all flights are extended to a year, he said.   Space station to move to avoid debris   Associated Press   The Russian space program's Mission Control Center says it will move the International Space Station into a different orbit to avoid possible collision with a fragment of debris. Mission Control Center spokeswoman Nadyezhda Zavyalova said the Russian Zvevda module will fire booster rockets to carry out the operation Thursday at 7:22 a.m. Moscow time (0322 GMT). The space station performs evasive maneuvers when the likelihood of a collision exceeds one in 10,000. NASA estimates that more than 21,000 fragments of orbital debris larger than 3.9 inches are stuck in earth's orbit, and experts worry that orbiting junk is becoming a growing problem for the space industry. There are six astronauts -- three Russians, two Americans and one from Japan -- onboard the orbiting laboratory. (NO FURTHER TEXT)   New Roles Eyed For Europe’s Versatile Cargo Tug   Amy Svitak - Aviation Week   After four years of flawless performance shuttling cargo and fuel to the International Space Station (ISS), Europe's most sophisticated spacecraft appears destined to serve as a subsystem aboard NASA's next deep-space exploration demonstrator. In late September the third of five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) was set to complete its six-month mission at the ISS, with an undocking from the orbiting outpost before burning up in Earth's atmosphere during a controlled, destructive reentry. Although two additional ATVs are slated to launch in 2013 and 2014, respectively, production of the vehicle—arguably one of Europe's most forward-looking and successful technological feats—has already ceased, with no clearly defined follow-on in the works. Rather than evolve the Astrium-built spacecraft to conduct even more technologically challenging missions, for now the European Space Agency (ESA) is proposing to use ATV-derived technology in a propulsion module that will power NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew Exploration Vehicle (MPCV), an in-kind contribution valued at roughly €450 million ($580 million) that would cover Europe's share of ISS common operating costs through 2020.   NASA Mulls Deep-Space Station on Moon's Far Side   Leonard David - Space.com   There appears to be support within NASA to position astronauts at an Earth-moon libration point to bolster the space agency’s plans of pushing beyond low-Earth orbit with its Orion spacecraft design. Anchoring hardware and a crew at the Earth-moon L2 "gateway" would offer many benefits, advocates say. One of them is building on multinational cooperation honed at the International Space Station (ISS). Under review is use of Russian-supplied hardware at the L2 point, according to insiders contacted by SPACE.com. Surplus space shuttle gear and ISS-flight-ready spares are also in the mix.   Beyond-the-moon base stirs up buzz   Alan Boyle - NBC News' Cosmic Log   A concept that calls for building a deep-space outpost beyond the moon's orbit has stirred up some positive buzz from space pioneers — including Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin. Over the weekend, the Orlando Sentinel reported that top NASA officials have chosen the construction of a space exploration platform at a gravitational balance point known as EML-2, or Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, as the agency's next major mission. The outpost would be held in an orbit 277,000 miles away from Earth, and 38,000 miles beyond the moon. The concept has been under study for months, and the Sentinel reported that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden briefed the White House on the preferred plan's details this month. There's been no information from NASA or the White House on the time frame for deciding whether to move ahead with the concept.   Deep-space station on far side of Moon could be NASA’s next big project   National Post   As part of NASA’s plan to send missions past low-Earth orbit, the U.S. agency is considering plans which would see a long-term manned space station on the far side of the moon. The station would be stationed at the “L2 gateway” or Lagrangian point 2 on the Moon’s dark side. The news came out of a report from Space.com, when the website contacted “insiders” from NASA. “Anchoring hardware and a crew at the Earth-moon L2 ‘gateway’ would offer many benefits, advocates say. One of them is building on multinational cooperation honed at the International Space Station (ISS),” columnist Leonard David wrote. “A recent Orlando Sentinel newspaper story kick-started the perception that NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agency’s next major mission: creation of a ‘gateway spacecraft’ parked at the Earth-Moon libration point 2, also known as EML-2.”   Eight questions with new Marshall Center Director Patrick Scheuermann   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   Patrick Scheuermann became Marshall Space Flight Center's 12th director Sept. 26 when NASA promoted him from his former post as director of the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Scheuermann (pronounced Sherman) met with the Huntsville news media on his first day on the job, and here's how it went. Scheuermann opened by offering some personal background. He's a native of New Orleans, an engineer by training, worked at Marshall earlier on the space shuttle engine program and ran NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility outside New Orleans for two years before Stennis. He took over at Michoud the day before Hurricane Katrina hit "and the next two years were a blur."   Even as ATK streamlines, more layoffs loom in 2013 Aerospace contractor says losses not tied to efficiencies it’s finding with NASA’s help   Vince Horiuchi – Salt Lake Tribune   Utah aeronautical contractor Alliant Techsystems says it has streamlined its process of making booster rockets, while also acknowledging Tuesday that it will have to lay off more workers early next year. The company will be reducing the number of its employees by an untold number in February in response to its anticipated workload, said Charlie Precourt, ATK’s vice president and general manager for the Space Launch System (SLS).   NASA gives ATK a thank you, big check, possible mission to Mars   John Hollenhorst - Deseret News   NASA is giving a big pat on the back — and a big chunk of money — to the rocket builders at ATK. It involves work the company is doing to achieve the next giant leap into space, much farther than humans have ever gone before. And it may start with a steppingstone beyond the far side of the moon. "Well, it's all about getting to Mars," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator, who traveled from Washington to personally thank ATK employees for their cost-cutting efforts.   Space shuttle Endeavour poised for slow roll through LA   Robert Holguin - KABC TV (Los Angeles)   Southern Californians witnessed a momentous occasion when the space shuttle Endeavour made its way down the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport last month. The celebrated arrival went off without a hitch. Now city officials prepare for the shuttle's swan song, a two-day road trip from LAX to the California Science Center on Oct. 12. Sgt. Rudy Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said the move has been planned for weeks. Still, moving a space shuttle down city streets will require some flexibility.   Endeavour: LAPD warns of crowds, traffic jams during shuttle move   Los Angeles Times   Ten days before space shuttle Endeavour begins its 12-mile trek through the streets of Los Angeles, authorities warned of "extremely large crowds" anticipated to descend upon the area, along with street and sidewalk closures they said could jam traffic. The space shuttle has been housed in a United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport since Sept. 21, when it arrived in L.A. on the back of a modified Boeing 747. On Oct. 12, it will begin the two-day journey through Los Angeles and Inglewood to its permanent home at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.   Journey with Atlantis: Public Invited to Last Space Shuttle Delivery   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   A month from now, NASA will make its final delivery of a space shuttle to become a museum display, and the public is invited to celebrate the journey. On Nov. 2, space shuttle Atlantis will be transported from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. to the nearby visitor center. The 10-mile (16 kilometer) road trip will take about 11 hours, including a three-hour stop to give the public a chance to walk around the spacecraft. When it opens in July 2013, the Atlantis exhibit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will showcase the shuttle and its 30-year history. Guests will see Atlantis as it looked during its 33 spaceflights, its payload bay doors open and (replica) robotic arm extended. Surrounding the shuttle will be more than 60 exhibits spanning two floors, including a full-size replica of the Hubble Space Telescope.   Canada Unveils Next-Generation Robotic Arms for Spaceships   Elizabeth Howell - Space.com   The Canadian-built robotic arms built for NASA's space shuttle fleet and the International Space Station are about to get two new siblings. Last week, the Canadian Space Agency showed off the Next-Generation Canadarm (NGC) prototypes, which were unveiled after three years of development at Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates. The mechanical limbs are the successors to the shuttle fleet's Canadarm and station's Canadarm2, which played pivotal rolls in the station's construction for more than a decade. The CSA and MDA plan to use this technology to position Canada for newer space business opportunities in areas such as in-orbit refuelling of satellites, said Gilles Leclerc, the agency's director-general of space exploration. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   Russia says first year-long ISS mission planned for 2015   Nastassia Astrasheuskaya - Reuters   The first year-long mission to the International Space Station may begin in March 2015, following an agreement between ISS partners who have previously sent crews for six months, the Russian space agency director said on Tuesday.   Alexei Krasnov, in charge of manned flights at Roscosmos, said the decision was made by participants at the International Astronautical Congress in Naples, Italy, this week.   The two-person expedition - with crew members from Roscosmos and NASA - will be a first test, the result of which will determine whether all flights are extended to a year, he said.   "The fundamental decision has been made, only the formalities remain to be negotiated. So far, we are talking about a single mission," Krasnov told RIA news agency.   "If it proves effective, we will be able to discuss with partner countries a permanent transition from half-year flights to year-long flights."   Veteran Russian cosmonaut Yuri Malenchenko, NASA astronaut Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide are currently in orbit aboard the International Space Station.   They are to be joined by another trio - Kevin Ford, Oleg Novitsky and Yevgeny Tarelkin - due to blast off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at the end of the month, their flight delayed by a week due to a technical equipment glitch.   Russia's space programme has suffered a series of humiliating set-backs in recent months that industry veterans blame on a decade of crimped budgets and a brain drain.   While none of the mishaps have threatened crews, they have raised questions over Russia's reliability, cost billions in losses and dashed Moscow's dreams of ending a more than two-decade absence from deep space exploration.   Since the retirement of the U.S. space shuttles last year, the United States is dependent on Russia to fly astronauts at a cost of $60 million per person   New Roles Eyed For Europe’s Versatile Cargo Tug   Amy Svitak - Aviation Week   After four years of flawless performance shuttling cargo and fuel to the International Space Station (ISS), Europe's most sophisticated spacecraft appears destined to serve as a subsystem aboard NASA's next deep-space exploration demonstrator.   In late September the third of five Automated Transfer Vehicles (ATVs) was set to complete its six-month mission at the ISS, with an undocking from the orbiting outpost before burning up in Earth's atmosphere during a controlled, destructive reentry. Although two additional ATVs are slated to launch in 2013 and 2014, respectively, production of the vehicle—arguably one of Europe's most forward-looking and successful technological feats—has already ceased, with no clearly defined follow-on in the works.   Rather than evolve the Astrium-built spacecraft to conduct even more technologically challenging missions, for now the European Space Agency (ESA) is proposing to use ATV-derived technology in a propulsion module that will power NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew Exploration Vehicle (MPCV), an in-kind contribution valued at roughly €450 million ($580 million) that would cover Europe's share of ISS common operating costs through 2020.   The argument for bartering ATV technology in exchange for keeping the lights on in Europe's Columbus research module is, not surprisingly, cost: “The barter element was cheaper than the cost of ATV-6,” ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain said during the Berlin air show last month, nine weeks ahead of a key meeting of ESA ministers who, in November, will set the agency's budget for the next several years.   “It is also a way to do development activities and maintain some industrial capability,” Dordain says of the Orion propulsion-module proposal.   Germany, as Europe's largest financial contributor to the ISS, appears content with the plan, so long as groundwork is laid for a future ATV-derived capability in November.   “In space we don't have to invent everything new every day, but we should use our heritage to make some progress in some special areas,” says Johann Dietrich Woerner, head of the German Aerospace Center (DLR). “To use the ATV as a basis for the development of a service module, which at the same time can be used for different goals, is a very good step forward.”   France—which has threatened to end participation in ISS beyond 2015 in order to pay for other priorities, including development of a next-generation launch vehicle—favors a more ambitious barter-element proposal. Dubbed the Versatile Autonomous Concept (VAC), the ATV-derived spacecraft could be capable of orbital debris collection and in-space servicing missions.   VAC cost estimates, however, range from €700 million to in excess of €1 billion, making the VAC unlikely to survive next month's budget talks.   “We have to please the participating states. And we have to please NASA,” Dordain says, though he stresses the barter element must do more than simply hand over existing technology to ESA's most valued partner. “It must be good for the future also, because it could not just be a dead end or a one-off which will have no future.”   Conceived and designed more than 15 years ago, ATV has features that make it unique compared with other resupply vehicles: The versatile cargo tug docks autonomously with the ISS and also provides extra crew quarters and engine power for the space station.   Woerner says despite the high cost of maturing ATV technology into something like the VAC, Germany would like to see it evolve into something more than a service module. Last month, DLR awarded Astrium a €15 million contract to conduct preparatory work for the center's Deutsche Orbitale Servicing (DEOS) project, a robotic spacecraft concept that would develop an operational in-orbit servicing system.   In addition to servicing missions, DEOS could be used to deorbit old satellites.   In the meantime, if ESA adopts the service-module proposal next month, its development could afford European industry an opportunity to keep skills sharp until a more advanced technology effort is funded, says Volker Schmid, head of ISS utilization at DLR.   “The integration and work with the U.S. in that respect is certainly a new thing, with all the testing which might be done through a cooperative approach,” he says. “From the technology standpoint, it is not quite a development like ATV was in the past—from the very beginning to a fully new vehicle—but it's a kind of adaptation, which has challenges and difficulties.”   NASA Mulls Deep-Space Station on Moon's Far Side   Leonard David - Space.com   There appears to be support within NASA to position astronauts at an Earth-moon libration point to bolster the space agency’s plans of pushing beyond low-Earth orbit with its Orion spacecraft design.   Anchoring hardware and a crew at the Earth-moon L2 "gateway" would offer many benefits, advocates say. One of them is building on multinational cooperation honed at the International Space Station (ISS).   Under review is use of Russian-supplied hardware at the L2 point, according to insiders contacted by SPACE.com. Surplus space shuttle gear and ISS-flight-ready spares are also in the mix.   Regarding the use of Russian space hardware, both the Multipurpose Laboratory Module and the Scientific-Power Module are new modules being developed in Russia. Both will add new capabilities to the ISS. A proposal on the table seeks to use a similar Russian-provided Scientific-Power Module in cislunar space as a base of operations for exploration missions.   NASA space planners have been sketching out an exploration strategy that would make use of the Lagrange points. For one, by exploring and working beyond the Earth’s radiation belts, more can be learned about space radiation protection. Additionally, the Lagrange points provide unique perspectives of the moon, sun and Earth. Sojourns to the Earth-moon L2 would take humans farther than they have ever been from Earth.   Done deal?   A recent Orlando Sentinel newspaper story kick-started the perception that NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agency’s next major mission: creation of a "gateway spacecraft" parked at the Earth-moon libration point 2, also known as EML-2.   Indeed, NASA has spotlighted the fact that, as crewed missions extend farther from Earth and for longer periods of time, they will require new capabilities to enable safe and sustainable habitation and exploration.   As reported by SPACE.com earlier this year, a Feb. 3 memo from William Gerstenmaier, NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations, noted that a team would be formed to develop a cohesive plan for exploring the EML-2 spot in space.   Libration points, also known as Lagrangian points, are places in space where the combined gravitational pull of two large masses roughly balance each other out, allowing spacecraft to essentially "park" there.   But whether a true decision has been made, or NASA is floating a trial balloon, is unclear. Space agency balloons have been burst before.   Many options…many routes   According to a statement issued Sept. 24 by NASA’s Office of Communications, the official agency response to the news story regarding the prospect of a deep-space station is:   "NASA is executing President Obama’s ambitious space exploration plan that includes missions around the moon, to asteroids, and ultimately putting humans on Mars," the statement explains. "There are many options — and many routes — being discussed on our way to the Red Planet. In addition to the moon and an asteroid, other options may be considered as we look for ways to buy down risk — and make it easier — to get to Mars."   The NASA statement explains that the space agency has "regular meetings" with the Office of Management and Budget, the White House science office, Congress and other stakeholders "to keep them apprised of our progress on our deep space exploration destinations."   NASA sources contacted by SPACE.com do sense, however that the new NASA objective could go public not long after the Nov. 6 presidential election.   Pleasant surprise   "In the advancement of human spaceflight, missions to the Earth-moon Lagrange points are a great idea," said Dan Lester, in the department of astronomy at the University of Texas in Austin.   "It would be a pleasant surprise if the plan was for not just a visit, but for a habitat there. The easiest option would be just to send people to those locations on multiple Orion flights…visit and come back. Committing to a habitat there is a bigger deal."   Lester told SPACE.com that there are big policy advantages to a deep-space habitat.   "Such a habitat builds clearly on the legacy of ISS — both the habitation technology and the potential for international partnerships. Doing something that clearly links back to our   Attractive destination   Early missions to Earth-moon L2 can support robotic operations on the far side of the moon, to explore unique geological features like the enormous and ancient South Pole-Aitken Basin, or to deploy radio telescopes in the quiet zone, said Josh Hopkins, a space exploration architect for Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. in Denver.   Lockheed Martin is builder of NASA’s Orion spacecraft.   "There have been no landings on the far side of the moon by either Apollo astronauts or robotic spacecraft," Hopkins told SPACE.com.   Hopkins said that the Earth-moon L2 region is an attractive destination for international collaboration in part because it is one of the easiest locations to reach beyond low-Earth orbit — easier than geosynchronous orbit, L1, or lunar orbit.   "That means that the U.S. can collaborate with countries which might not be able to afford to participate in a more difficult objective during this time of austerity," Hopkins said.   Game changer   Uplifted by the chatter about an L2 deep-space station is Jack Burns, director of the Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research (LUNAR) Center at the University of Colorado, Boulder. LUNAR is funded by the NASA Lunar Science Institute.   Burns has been leading a look, along with a team that includes Lockheed Martin space planners, at a lunar L2-far side exploration and science mission concept using Orion and a teleoperated lander/rover.   "This first step back into interplanetary space…it’s the lowest risk because you’re talking about mission durations of one to two months and only a few days to get back to Earth," Burns told SPACE.com.   "There’s no reason why we can’t do this mission later in the decade," Burns said, calling the Earth-moon L2 gateway idea a "game changer."   Such an endeavor, Burns said, would serve as a first step beyond low-Earth orbit and prove out operational spaceflight capabilities such as life support, communication, high speed re-entry and radiation protection before more difficult human exploration missions.   Telerobotics training   Added to a shakeout of Orion and other hardware emplaced in deep space, there’s exciting science to be done via teleoperation of robots on the moon, Burns said. The astronaut crew would control landers and rovers on the unexplored lunar far side, he said, which would obtain samples from that geologically appealing spot and position a low-radio-frequency telescope there.   Burns said that such telerobotic oversight would also demonstrate capability for human and robotic cooperation on future — and more complex — deep-space missions, such as exploring Mars.   Supported by the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist, Burns is working with the space agency's Ames Research Center to use a rover to simulate deployment of polyimide film antennas as they would be deployed on the lunar surface.   This test would also make use of astronauts onboard the International Space Station to teleoperate that rover to unroll antennas via control from space.   At the moon, Burns said — and done by astronauts at the Earth-moon L2 locale — the polyimide film would be unrolled to deploy the antennas. The antennas deployed on the far side would then be electronically phased to produce a sensitive radio interferometer for tracking down the "Cosmic Dawn."   "That’s the game changer. We’ve got this really exciting science component," Burns said. "It’s affordable…we can do this all within NASA’s current budget, and this step one allows us to begin a new epoch of human-robotic exploration."   Beyond-the-moon base stirs up buzz   Alan Boyle - NBC News' Cosmic Log   A concept that calls for building a deep-space outpost beyond the moon's orbit has stirred up some positive buzz from space pioneers — including Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin.   Over the weekend, the Orlando Sentinel reported that top NASA officials have chosen the construction of a space exploration platform at a gravitational balance point known as EML-2, or Earth-moon Lagrange point 2, as the agency's next major mission. The outpost would be held in an orbit 277,000 miles away from Earth, and 38,000 miles beyond the moon.   The concept has been under study for months, and the Sentinel reported that NASA Administrator Charles Bolden briefed the White House on the preferred plan's details this month. There's been no information from NASA or the White House on the time frame for deciding whether to move ahead with the concept.   Right now, NASA has been focusing on development of the Orion deep-space capsule and the heavy-lift Space Launch System, or SLS. NASA sees Orion and SLS as critical elements for the deep-space construction project. The first unmanned test of the Orion-SLS combination is currently set for 2017. A later test flight, now scheduled for 2021, would send astronauts on a path looping around the moon and returning to Earth without stopping. Getting the EML-2 station ready for human habitation would presumably take longer.   For now, NASA and its partners have committed themselves to supporting operations on the International Space Station through at least 2020. President Barack Obama has set a longer-range goal of sending astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid in the mid-2020s, and to Mars and its moons in the mid-2030s.   The outpost at EML-2 has been cast as an "exploration gateway platform" — a potential stopping point on the way to those farther-out destinations, as well as a potential staging area for lunar missions.   Aldrin has long urged NASA to set up a similar "floating launching pad" at a different balance point between Earth and the moon, called EML-1 or L1, and this weekend he said that platforms at L1 or L2, plus fueling depots for spaceships, would serve as appropriate "intermediate steps" for voyages to Mars and other worlds.   "It's part of my unified space vision," he told me during an international gathering of spacefliers and mission managers at Seattle's Museum of Flight.   Aldrin's vision calls for NASA to lead in the construction of the infrastructure needed for space transport beyond Earth orbit, while leaving the development of facilities on the moon's surface to commercial ventures. A human-tended station at EML-1 or EML-2 could help direct the robotic construction of habitats and factories on the moon, to be occupied at a later time by humans.   "Those are steppingstones in confidence and training for interplanetary spacecraft," Aldrin said.   The eventual goal would be to have a human-tended station on the Martian moon Phobos, directing robots to build facilities for permanent residents on the Red Planet. And then? "We make a commitment to permanence," Aldrin explained. "It's like the Pilgrims on the Mayflower."   Is it doable?   Aldrin noted that he and Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong made the first moon landing in 1969, which was 66 years after the Wright brothers' first heavier-than-air flight in 1903. He thought it was technologically doable to plan for a Mars landing 66 years after the moon landing, which would be in 2035. But is it politically doable?   "There's one thing that doesn't exist: leadership. ... We need a presidential decision," Aldrin said. His suggestion? Lay the groundwork for exploration beyond Earth orbit, and get ready for a future president to make a JFK-style "We Choose to Go to Mars" announcement on July 20, 2019 — the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.   "Humanity is destined to explore, settle and expand into the universe," Aldrin said during a panel discussion on Sunday, "but doing so urgently requires a rekindling of America's space program."   Other astronauts issued similar calls for step-by-step exploration: Skylab astronaut Owen Garriott, for example, said "there is a lot of work that needs to be within the orbits of the earth and the moon" before astronauts can be sent to near-Earth asteroids or farther-out destinations. Later, he told me that "I agree with Buzz" on the idea of creating outer-space steppingstones to Mars.   Jim Lovell, who went around the moon during the Apollo 8 and Apollo 13 missions, recalled that he and Apollo 11's Armstrong were in training for their spaceflights when President John F. Kennedy was killed in 1963, ending a White House era that came to be known as Camelot.   Armstrong's death last month could be seen as a similar ending of an era, Lovell said. "The passing of Neil Armstrong closed the book on the Camelot of manned spaceflight," he told the Seattle audience. "Now we have to write a new chapter."   Is it affordable?   In this age of tighter budgets, how much will the spaceflight saga's new authors be able to write? The scenario for the beyond-the-moon outpost calls for using spare parts that were built for the International Space Station, as well as hardware provided by Russia and Italy. But even with those money-saving measures, the plan would still call for "modest increases" in NASA's budget — which runs counter to the current expectation that NASA will have to cope with lower funding levels going forward.   There are also technical questions to resolve: For example, how will astronauts cope with the higher radiation levels in deep space? NASA has been studying various schemes for radiation shielding, but none of those concepts is currently ready for prime time.   Then there's the continuing debate over whether the Orion-SLS system will turn out to be affordable in the long run. Current estimates put the cost of development at roughly $18 billion through 2017, and as much as $35 billion by the time the test program is complete. Charles Lurio, an independent space policy consultant who has long been critical of the SLS program, said it would make more sense to build the deep-space outpost using commercial launch vehicles.   "NASA is trying to find uses for a rocket that Congress forced the agency and the White House to accept," he told me. "You can do this mission much more cheaply using rockets such as Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9, Atlas and fuel depots. Mega rockets like the SLS are for showing off, not for serious space exploration.”   Deep-space station on far side of Moon could be NASA’s next big project   National Post   As part of NASA’s plan to send missions past low-Earth orbit, the U.S. agency is considering plans which would see a long-term manned space station on the far side of the moon. The station would be stationed at the “L2 gateway” or Lagrangian point 2 on the Moon’s dark side. The news came out of a report from Space.com, when the website contacted “insiders” from NASA.   “Anchoring hardware and a crew at the Earth-moon L2 ‘gateway’ would offer many benefits, advocates say. One of them is building on multinational cooperation honed at the International Space Station (ISS),” columnist Leonard David wrote. “A recent Orlando Sentinel newspaper story kick-started the perception that NASA officials have picked a leading candidate for the agency’s next major mission: creation of a ‘gateway spacecraft’ parked at the Earth-Moon libration point 2, also known as EML-2.”   Lagrange points, of which there are five in various places around the Earth and the Moon, are points where the gravitational effects of the planet and its satellite balance out so that another low-mass object, such as a space station, can be placed and maintain its position relative to the other two bodies. Basically, at any one of the five “L” points, a space station would stay still and not float off into space: It’s as if they have dropped an anchor down.   “This first step back into interplanetary space…it’s the lowest risk because you’re talking about mission durations of one to two months and only a few days to get back to Earth,” Jack Burns, director of the Lunar University Network for Astrophysics Research said to Space.com.   Of the five L-points, L2 is the most remote from Earth, both because it is blocked by the Moon and because it is physically the farthest from the planet. However, there are several advantages of the position.   Firstly, the spot could allow remote operation of robots on the Moon’s far-side surface — something very difficult because of the distance to the Earth and because that area of the surface is blocked by rest of the Moon.   Secondly, it would be a gateway to getting astronauts farther out into the solar system, and would be an important first step in getting them to Mars, which is still a stated goal of NASA, reiterated under both the Obama and Bush White Houses.   Of course, the most important factor may be that this is affordable. As Burns points out to Space, this can all be done on NASA’s current budget.   Eight questions with new Marshall Center Director Patrick Scheuermann   Lee Roop - Huntsville Times   Patrick Scheuermann became Marshall Space Flight Center's 12th director Sept. 26 when NASA promoted him from his former post as director of the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Scheuermann (pronounced Sherman) met with the Huntsville news media on his first day on the job, and here's how it went. This Q & A has been edited.   Scheuermann opened by offering some personal background. He's a native of New Orleans, an engineer by training, worked at Marshall earlier on the space shuttle engine program and ran NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility outside New Orleans for two years before Stennis. He took over at Michoud the day before Hurricane Katrina hit "and the next two years were a blur."   Q: What will you do in your first month to get started? How will you learn everything you need to learn? Scheuermann: Hectic is one word for it. I want to re-emphasize how thrilled I am to be here. It's a great space center and a great assignment for me and my family. (Scheuermann and his wife have two children, a son who is a junior in college and daughter who is a freshman in high school. His wife and daughter will move here later this fall.) Between now and then, I'll be back and forth, here mostly, but also at the Michoud Assembly Facility getting my feet under me.   Q: Marshall has been without a director for six months. Where are you finding this center today? Scheuermann: Of course you want to have leaders, but from a stability perspective, the stability is really in the workforce, in the leadership team. Yes, the center director is certainly the leader of the base, but the real stability is in the workforce that comes to work here every day and have been doing due diligence every day and making great progress, not only on (the Space Launch System) but on the scientific discovery fronts.... I'm going to come up to speed as quickly as I possibly can, but really the stability -- and the reliance I'm going to have, obviously -- is on the great engineering capability that exists already Marshall Space Flight Center. There's nothing broken at Marshall Space Flight Center.   Q:  You've been working on the bottom of rockets for a long time. What's it going to be like working on the top? Scheuermann: That's the part of me that's really excited.... Just when I think it can't get any better at NASA, another door opens. To be able to have a chance to help this nation build the next rocket that will get us further into space is just an unbelievable honor.   Q: Let's talk about the future of space exploration. How can we get people excited again? Scheuermann: I appreciate the question. I also believe that while there may be times when it seems like the public is more excited than they have been before (mentions the Mars Curiosity rover landing), that's just the natural ebb and flow of how people respond to what we do. While we have retired the space shuttle, we continue to fly what has been the most phenomenal engineering feat known to mankind, which is the International Space Station. All you have to do is look up and you'll see, depending on where you are, the brightest star in the sky go overhead and know that this is what Marshall Space Flight Center has contributed to not only in the past but also the present.   Q: What is the most important emphasis in terms of protecting the jobs and mission at Marshall? Scheuermann: No. 1, it's making sure that the nation and the international folks understand what the capabilities and assets are at Marshall Space Flight Center. No. 1 of those is the people. When people are looking for places to locate and do business, what they're looking for is, obviously, an ability to get their mission done, whether it's in the government or it's in private industry. We need to make sure folks understand that, not only do we have that core capability and assets, but this is also a great place to live. It offers a great quality of life and a great educational foundation for kids.   Q: NASA is entering a new fiscal year. Talk about that and the threat of (budget) sequestration. Scheuermann: Since it's been four hours since I started, I'll beg for some leniency. But from my NASA experience, I can tell you this. We have a great group at headquarters -- the NASA administrator, Charlie Bolden, Deputy Administrator Lori Garver and now Robert Lightfoot as the associate administrator. This incredible group of folks is leading us through times that will always be turbulent when it comes to budgets. The fact is you're always going to have to make choices about where resources are going to be invested. Having a CR (continuing budget resolution) is standard for us these days. Sequestration? We rely on the leadership we have at headquarters, and they'll engage us when it's time to have those discussions.   Q: It will certainly help having (former Marshall director) Robert Lightfoot in Washington, I imagine. Scheuermann: I have his cellphone number.   Q: Anything at Stennis that stood out that you want to bring here? Scheuermann: The Stennis model, which is the federal city model, is sort of the same as Marshall Space Flight Center and Redstone Arsenal. Great partnerships. From a leader perspective, that is what our job is - to look for the collaborative opportunities, because the taxpayers expect no less.... Any time we can help the warfighter who goes to other places in the world on our behalf with different technologies or anything else they may (need), we're going to look for those opportunities every time, and we're going to do that every time. That's what I loved to do at Stennis Center. We're going to look for the same opportunities here, whether that's realism in training or technology we can turn over to the Department of Defense. And vice versa.   Even as ATK streamlines, more layoffs loom in 2013 Aerospace contractor says losses not tied to efficiencies it’s finding with NASA’s help   Vince Horiuchi – Salt Lake Tribune   Utah aeronautical contractor Alliant Techsystems says it has streamlined its process of making booster rockets, while also acknowledging Tuesday that it will have to lay off more workers early next year.   The company will be reducing the number of its employees by an untold number in February in response to its anticipated workload, said Charlie Precourt, ATK’s vice president and general manager for the Space Launch System (SLS).   "We don’t know the exact number," he said. "We’re striving every day to not make it be any, but we’re anticipating a small number."   Precourt said the layoffs would be companywide in the rocket propulsion teams at Utah’s three ATK plants — in Promontory near Brigham City, and in Magna and Clearfield. ATK not only makes rocket boosters for NASA, but has a weapons division for the U.S. military and a sporting division that produces ammunition and shooting accessories for sports shooting and law enforcement. The operations for the latter are largely based outside Utah. The company employs about 2,500 workers in Utah, and about 600 work on the NASA SLS, which is powered by ATK’s solid rocket boosters.   Although Precourt would not say how many job losses there will be, he insisted they are not part of the stream of layoffs that occurred in the past 3?½ years, which were largely related to the end of the space shuttle program and resulted in more than 2,000 employees being cut. He added that ATK employees already know about the pending layoffs.   Precourt also said the upcoming reduction was not a part of the company’s recent effort to streamline its manufacturing of rocket boosters, a process it calls "value stream mapping."   With the help of NASA, ATK was able to identify areas where there were redundancies and made upgrades to its manufacturing and testing to improve the time and cost of making its boosters for its space launch system. NASA’s SLS will launch future rockets into space for human exploration. It can be used to launch rockets for both crew and cargo missions.   With the approximately 400 changes made to the process, which took a year to implement, the company can save as much as 46 percent of the assembly time, as well as millions of dollars in projected costs.   Although the process is reducing costs and eliminating unnecessary steps in producing the boosters, Precourt said that does not mean the company is taking shortcuts. He said the steps have not affected the safety of the rockets or increased their risks.   "We have a lot of opportunity to test and validate [their safety]," he said.   Although NASA would not say whether the changes would make ATK more competitive for future contracts, "what it does do is show ATK’s dedication to human space flight and exploration, and to take on the hard challenge to live within the tough budget constraints," said Dan Dumbacher, a deputy associate administrator for the space agency.   In August, ATK lost out on a multimillion-dollar contract to use its Liberty rocket system to shuttle cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Instead, contracts went to Boeing Co., Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Sierra Nevada Corp. ATK officials are evaluating how the company can use its Liberty system for future space travel.   NASA gives ATK a thank you, big check, possible mission to Mars   John Hollenhorst - Deseret News   NASA is giving a big pat on the back — and a big chunk of money — to the rocket builders at ATK.   It involves work the company is doing to achieve the next giant leap into space, much farther than humans have ever gone before. And it may start with a steppingstone beyond the far side of the moon.   "Well, it's all about getting to Mars," said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator, who traveled from Washington to personally thank ATK employees for their cost-cutting efforts.   "A big thank you to the ATK team," Dumbacher said to a crowd of employees gathered Tuesday in one of the massive production buildings on ATK's sprawling facility. "You guys are a big part of us getting back into space and beyond low Earth orbit."   ATK had a big setback a few weeks ago when it lost out to some other companies competing for NASA money. In that showdown, the goal was development of systems for getting astronauts into low-Earth orbits used by the International Space Station.   But ATK is still very much in the running for much more ambitious space adventures thousands of times farther from Earth. Possible destinations include asteroids, the moon and, of course, the red planet.   "(The) ultimate destination is Mars," Dumbacher said. "We're going to Mars. Where we go in between here and Mars is still being sorted out."   About 600 workers at ATK are focused on the project.   "It absolutely gets my juices going," said Charlie Precourt, a veteran astronaut and now a vice president of ATK. "The excitement, the intensity, the pulling together of all the resources that we can to do something we've never done before is always the thing that gets people going."   ATK is adapting the company's old space-shuttle boosters to lift long-range vehicles into space. NASA has already kicked in more than $200 million for ATK's work on the so-called "Space Launch System."   ATK is contracted to perform two static ground tests and two test flights in the next decade. This week, NASA kicked in an additional $51 million, which ATK will use to develop a more advanced version of the booster and to conduct one additional test flight.   With competition raging among various space companies, ATK launched a major effort over the past year to reduce costs of internal operations. The effort known as "value stream mapping" was designed to find ways of processing various booster parts more rapidly while still maintaining a high degree of quality control.   Space shuttle Endeavour poised for slow roll through LA   Robert Holguin - KABC TV (Los Angeles)   Southern Californians witnessed a momentous occasion when the space shuttle Endeavour made its way down the tarmac at Los Angeles International Airport last month.   The celebrated arrival went off without a hitch. Now city officials prepare for the shuttle's swan song, a two-day road trip from LAX to the California Science Center on Oct. 12.   Sgt. Rudy Lopez of the Los Angeles Police Department said the move has been planned for weeks. Still, moving a space shuttle down city streets will require some flexibility.   "This is probably the first time in history something this size has been traveling through the city of L.A.," Lopez said. "It's been a major undertaking. It's required a lot of coordination between city and state governmental entities, and the private sector, too."   The 170,000 pound Endeavour will ride atop a special trailer. In the early morning hours of Oct. 12, it will first travel from LAX to Inglewood. It will spend the night in Inglewood, then begin the final leg of the trip at 11 a.m. the following morning. The trek will involve three major streets: Manchester, Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards.   More than 400 trees have been removed to accommodate its 78-foot wingspan, and power lines have been raised in order to clear the tail section.   Lopez said he understands that the curious will be tempted to go out and see the shuttle as it makes its way down city streets, but the best vantage point will be at the shuttle's final destination at the science center.   "After Oct. 30, it's going to be open to the public, free of charge, where you can have a personal experience with the Endeavour itself," he said.   Moving the shuttle will surely create some traffic headaches on some already congested streets. Police simply ask the public for patience.   Endeavour: LAPD warns of crowds, traffic jams during shuttle move   Los Angeles Times   Ten days before space shuttle Endeavour begins its 12-mile trek through the streets of Los Angeles, authorities warned of "extremely large crowds" anticipated to descend upon the area, along with street and sidewalk closures they said could jam traffic.   The space shuttle has been housed in a United Airlines hangar at Los Angeles International Airport since Sept. 21, when it arrived in L.A. on the back of a modified Boeing 747. On Oct. 12, it will begin the two-day journey through Los Angeles and Inglewood to its permanent home at the California Science Center in Exposition Park.   Moving the five-story-tall, 170,000-pound shuttle will be no easy feat, officials have warned. It marks the first time a shuttle will move through the heart of an urban center and is "one of the largest objects ever to be transported over city streets in Los Angeles history," according to a release Tuesday from the Los Angeles Police Department.   "It is anticipated that extremely large crowds will come from all over Southern California in an attempt to see the shuttle in its final miles through the streets of West and South Los Angeles," the release said. "Visiting public must be aware that much of the shuttle route will contain closed streets and sidewalks, and limited parking due to public safety reasons."   Sources said rolling street and sidewalk closures would be in place a mile ahead of the shuttle, which will zigzag down streets on the back of specialized transporters at a top speed of 2 mph.   The Friday, Oct. 12 closures include:   ·         Lincoln Boulevard between Sepulveda Boulevard and Manchester Avenue ·         Westchester Parkway between Sepulveda and Airport boulevards ·         La Tijera Boulevard between Sepulveda and Manchester ·         Manchester between La Tijera and Crenshaw Drive   On Saturday, Oct. 13 closures include:   ·         Manchester between the Inglewood Forum and Crenshaw Drive ·         Crenshaw Drive between Manchester and Crenshaw boulevards ·         Crenshaw Boulevard between Manchester and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards ·         MLK between Crenshaw Boulevard and Figueroa Avenue   Public viewing opportunities have been planned for Oct. 13 at the Forum in Inglewood and the intersection of Crenshaw and Martin Luther King Jr. boulevards, but the LAPD said more details would be released later.   Modifications were required along the route to ensure the shuttle could pass through, including the trimming and removal of some 400 trees and removal of traffic signs and street lights. The LAPD said the street lights would be temporarily removed in the coming days, although "there will not be any long stretches without lights." The lights will be replaced with new LED lighting after the shuttle is moved.   Once Endeavour arrives at the California Science Center, it will be housed in the Samuel Oschin display pavilion, a temporary exhibit that will open to the public Oct. 30.   Journey with Atlantis: Public Invited to Last Space Shuttle Delivery   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   A month from now, NASA will make its final delivery of a space shuttle to become a museum display, and the public is invited to celebrate the journey.   On Nov. 2, space shuttle Atlantis will be transported from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla. to the nearby visitor center. The 10-mile (16 kilometer) road trip will take about 11 hours, including a three-hour stop to give the public a chance to walk around the spacecraft.   When it opens in July 2013, the Atlantis exhibit at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex will showcase the shuttle and its 30-year history. Guests will see Atlantis as it looked during its 33 spaceflights, its payload bay doors open and (replica) robotic arm extended. Surrounding the shuttle will be more than 60 exhibits spanning two floors, including a full-size replica of the Hubble Space Telescope.   Next month's move will mark the last stop for Atlantis, and NASA's final time overseeing the transport of a shuttle. In April, the space agency ferried Discovery by jumbo jet to the Smithsonian in Virginia, and the prototype orbiter Enterprise to New York for the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. The final airborne delivery was last month, flying Endeavour to Los Angeles for the California Space Center.   Roundabout rollover   Since August, Atlantis has been in Kennedy's last active Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF), one of the three large hangars previously used to service and prepare the shuttle and its sister ships for their next launches. Now it is where Atlantis is undergoing the final steps in its transformation from a space-worthy vehicle to a museum display.   Early last month, a mockup of the space shuttle's external airlock was mounted inside Atlantis' payload bay. Then on Sept. 20, the 60-foot-long (18 meter) doors to the cargo hold were closed in preparation for the upcoming transfer.   On Oct. 17, Atlantis is scheduled to depart the processing hangar for the last time and be rolled the short distance to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), where, while it was still flying, the shuttle was mounted to its rocket boosters and external fuel tank before leaving for the launch pad. Here, it will sit temporarily parked and visited daily by busloads of tourists, as it waits for its Nov. 2 trip to the visitor complex.   Atlantis will make that move on top of NASA's 76-wheeled Orbiter Transport System (OTS), a flatbed vehicle that for decades moved shuttles between the processing facilities.   Were the orbiter the size of a car or even a small truck, its trip to the visitor center would be rather straightforward. But as Atlantis has a 78-foot (24 meter) wingspan and a 58-foot-tall (18 meter) tail, its route needed to avoid roadway overpasses and large structures, such as guard shacks.   As such, instead of just heading down State Road (SR) 3 and hanging a right at the ramp to SR 405, also known as the NASA Causeway, Atlantis will take the more "scenic route" to the visitor complex.   Exiting the VAB at about 7 a.m. EDT (1100 GMT), the shuttle, atop the OTS, will still proceed south on SR 3 but rather than turning toward the complex at the Causeway, it will head east to pass Kennedy's Headquarters building before looping back to the site of NASA's new Exploration Park along Space Commerce Way. There, Atlantis will be parked for three hours, as visitor center guests are bused in to view and photograph the shuttle.   By 3 p.m. EDT (1900 GMT), Atlantis will be on the road again, continuing down Space Commerce Way to SR 405 and then heading north to the visitor complex. Rolling up to the center at around 6 p.m. (2200 GMT), Atlantis will move into its new six-story exhibit building through the still-partially-open back wall that will be completed soon after the orbiter is inside.   Celebrate the Journey   The Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex is offering the public the chance to be there for Atlantis' delivery.   The "Celebrate the Journey" packages range from $50 per adult and $40 for children to see Atlantis as it rolls up to the complex, to premium tickets upwards of $90 per adult and $80 per child to also view and photograph the shuttle in 360 degrees at Exploration Park.   Other ticket packages offer a bus tour of Atlantis' previous launch pad and mobile launch platform.   By coincidence, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation will be holding its Astronaut Autograph and Memorabilia Show at the visitor complex on Nov. 2. The event includes the participation of more than 30 former astronauts who span NASA's history from the original Mercury program through the International Space Station (ISS). Several of Atlantis' former crew members will be there, including John Blaha, Eileen Collins and Norm Thagard.   Canada Unveils Next-Generation Robotic Arms for Spaceships   Elizabeth Howell - Space.com   The Canadian-built robotic arms built for NASA's space shuttle fleet and the International Space Station are about to get two new siblings.   Last week, the Canadian Space Agency showed off the Next-Generation Canadarm (NGC) prototypes, which were unveiled after three years of development at Canadian company MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates. The mechanical limbs are the successors to the shuttle fleet's Canadarm and station's Canadarm2, which played pivotal rolls in the station's construction for more than a decade.   The CSA and MDA plan to use this technology to position Canada for newer space business opportunities in areas such as in-orbit refuelling of satellites, said Gilles Leclerc, the agency's director-general of space exploration.   "We prepared all these new systems so that we will be well-positioned for the next thing in space," Leclerc said.   However, the Canadian government's $53.1 million contribution to the arm project (as well as supporting testbeds and simulators) has only brought them to the prototype stage so far. The arms will require more money for launch configurations and a ride to orbit.   Fuelling competition   One of the prototype arms spans 49 feet (15 meters), the same length as the space station's Canadarm2. But the new arm is lighter and has two sections that telescope into each other. This makes it more suitable to fold up inside the smaller spacecraft of the future.   The other NGC prototype arm is a miniature, at 8.5 feet long (2.58 meters). Like the station's Dextre robot, which it is modelled after, it will be able to refuel satellites, grapple tools and manipulate items such as blankets that cover satellites.   Manufacturer MDA has spent several years touting the benefits of satellite refuelling, which the company says would save money since satellites could be kept aloft longer if they can receive more after launch.   In March 2011, MDA signed a $280 million agreement with Intelsat SA to advance this concept, but the deal was scuppered in January 2012 after receiving lukewarm interest from potential customers.   NASA is also considering robotic refuelling. There is debate among Canadian space circles as to whether MDA could contribute to NASA's project, since it is a Canadian company.   Future government funding?   The CSA's contribution to NGC came from one-time stimulus funding it received in the federal budget between 2009 and 2011. Now, the agency is trying to figure out its priorities in the next few years amid large budget cuts, and with future government funds to NGC in flux.   The Canadian government recently began cutbacks to address its deficit, and CSA was among the affected departments. CSA faces a 25 percent budget drop to $315.3 million (CDN$309.7 million) in 2013-14. The year after, money will fall even further to $294.3 million (CDN$289.1 million.)   The agency is doing an internal review to determine its priorities with the lesser budget, said Leclerc. Work on the International Space Station will come first, since the Canadian government agreed to take part in the station until 2020, he said.   CSA's approach will be to "maintain signature technology to develop" while placing resources where it can, he said.   The agency's priorities will also be determined by an external review of the Canadian aerospace sector that should be submitted to the government in the coming months.   Canadarm's legacy   Canadarm has a cherished spot in Canadian space history because its success eventually led to the astronaut program.   The first Canadarm flew in space in 1981 on STS-2, the second space shuttle mission. NASA was so impressed by the robotics that it invited the Canadians to fly payload specialists on future shuttle missions.   The first Canadian, Marc Garneau, flew in 1984. He has since called it a "pay-to-play" arrangement.   Subsequently, Canada provided four more Canadarms to NASA between 1981 and 1993 (one was lost on Challenger), as well as the next-generation Canadarm2 that was installed on the space station in 2001.   Over the years, the arms have grappled satellites, hoisted astronauts and assisted on construction and repairs to the International Space Station.   One of the original Canadarms was converted into an orbiter boom sensor system, a 50-foot extension for shuttle arms built to inspection orbiter heat shields as part of safety procedures implemented after the loss of Columbia in 2003. The boom remains on the space station today, in the wake of the shuttle's retirement.   Three first-generation Canadarms remain. NASA kept one for engineering analysis and "potential future use," according to NASA spokesman Michael Curie.   A second arm is being refurbished at MDA before being shipped for display at the Canadian Space Agency headquarters near Montreal.   The third is on display at the National Air and Space Museum's airport annex, the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center, near space shuttle Discovery. The arm and spacecraft arrived at the museum at the same time arrived at the same time in April 2012.   END