10/9/12 news

    Tuesday, October 9, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            Watch NASA TV's Coverage of SpaceX Dragon Approaching Station and More 2.            Memorial Tree-Planting Ceremony for Susie Mauzy -- Oct. 12, 4 p.m. 3.            This Week at Starport 4.            Exclusive James Avery Astronaut Charm Presale on ShopNASA 5.            Exhibition of Lund University Student Work -- Today, Oct. 9 6.            Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Today 7.            Parking Lot to Be Partially Barricaded 8.            Just Released -- Read the JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy 9.            Environmental Brown Bag: Sustainability -- What's All the Fuss About Anyway? 10.          Job Opportunities 11.          Picture This 12.          Salsa/Latin Dance Classes Return to Starport 13.          Volunteers Needed to Mentor Reduced Gravity Flight Teams 14.          Nutrition Class Today at 5 p.m. 15.          NMA and TGCC 2012 Annual Joint Chapter Meeting 16.          International Space Station Library and EDMS Training Tomorrow 17.          Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club Meeting 18.          An Introduction Engineers Without Borders - JSC 19.          Pre-Travel to Russia Workshop ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ Your time is limited, so don't waste it living someone else's life. Don't be trapped by dogma - which is living with the results of other people's thinking. Don't let the noise of others' opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most importantly, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”   -- Steve Jobs ________________________________________ 1.            Watch NASA TV's Coverage of SpaceX Dragon Approaching Station and More NASA TV will broadcast the SpaceX Dragon vehicle as it approaches the International Space Station. Coverage on NASA TV will begin at 3 a.m. CDT on Wednesday, Oct. 10. This is part of SpaceX's first launch for NASA's Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract to support the space station.   The cargo craft approach the station to a distance of about 32 feet, enabling Expedition 33 Flight Engineer Aki Hoshide of JAXA, with the help of NASA's Expedition 33 Commander Suni Williams, to extend the station's Canadarm2 robotic arm for a grapple of the vehicle and its berthing to a docking port on the Earth-facing side of the Harmony module. Grapple is scheduled for around 6:22 a.m. Berthing will occur a little over two hours later.   JSC employees with wired computer network connections can view NASA TV using onsite IPTV on channels 404 (standard definition) or 4541 (HD) at: http://iptv.jsc.nasa.gov/eztv/   If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.   For more information, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/station   JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111   [top] 2.            Memorial Tree-Planting Ceremony for Susie Mauzy -- Oct. 12, 4 p.m. You are invited to join Susie's friends and family for the one-year remembrance Memorial Tree Dedication on Friday, Oct. 12, at 4 p.m. at the memorial grove along 5th Street.   A toast at Tokyo Bowl, on what would have been Susie's 49th birthday, will follow the dedication.   For questions, please contact OD/William Schaefer (x42672), EV/Monty Goforth (x41117), HA/Dennis Davidson (x35877), OD/Mindy Cohen (x44671) or NA/Cheryl Andrews (x35979).   Cheryl Andrews x35979   [top] 3.            This Week at Starport Register by Friday for the discounted price to learn and perform the Thriller dance routine. Or, register for Spooky Spin, our fun, Halloween-themed specialty spin class. Both take place on Oct. 26 as part of our big Fright Fest! http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/   Today is the First Tuesday sale due to last week's store closures. Starport Partners: Get 10 percent off your merchandise purchase in the Starport Gift Shops and 10 percent off your beverage purchase at the coffee cart.   Get your presale tickets for "Disney on Ice, Treasure Trove" for $26 each beginning today in the Buildings 3 and 11 gift shops. The gate price is $30. The last day to buy tickets is Thursday, Oct. 18.   Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 4.            Exclusive James Avery Astronaut Charm Presale on ShopNASA Starport's ShopNASA is now accepting PRESALE orders through Oct. 25 for the (EXCLUSIVE to NASA) James Avery astronaut charm for just $90. Expected delivery is mid-December. Order today to get yours in time for the holidays. Don't miss this opportunity for a unique and quality gift for your special someone. Visit the Starport Gift Shops or ShopNASA for all of your holiday needs.   http://shopnasa.com/store/producthttp://shopnasa.com/store/product/7782/J-Ave...   Cyndi Kibby x35352 http://ShopNASA.com   [top] 5.            Exhibition of Lund University Student Work -- Today, Oct. 9 Please join us for student presentations that will be on display between the hours of 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today, Oct. 9, in the atrium between Buildings 4N and 4S. The exhibition presents work by fourth- and fifth-year students of architecture at Lund University in Lund, Sweden, and suggests some novel approaches to subject areas related to the exploration of Mars. The students will be present to discuss and receive comments on their work before returning to Sweden.   We hope you are able to find time between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. today to come by, view their work and interact with them for a few minutes during your workday. They value your perspectives and comments. Information on the program can be found at: https://aadlund.wordpress.com/   We welcome your participation!   Larry Toups x47974   [top] 6.            Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Today "Listen and Learn" is the slogan Al-Anon members adapt to navigate the new normal of continual change. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet today, 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] 7.            Parking Lot to Be Partially Barricaded If you normally park in the lot south of the Teague Auditorium, you should know that beginning Wednesday afternoon, portions of the lot will be barricaded to accommodate the Safety and Health Day side-by-side burn demo on Thursday, Oct. 11, provided by the Pearland Fire Marshal's Office.   This may be a minor inconvenience, but it is for a spectacular demo, so be sure to be on hand for it at 12:30 p.m. on Thursday. See what happens when an unprotected, furniture-filled room is ignited, and then when its mirror image is set ablaze with the protection of a sprinkler system. You'll be amazed!   Art Knell, Co-Chair, Safety & Health Day Committee x41280   [top] 8.            Just Released -- Read the JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy What does "sustainability" mean? What can you do to be more sustainable at work and at home? Is sustainability a requirement? What can I do to make a difference right now? These questions (and more) are answered in the JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy.   Even if the U.S. government, NASA and JSC had enough money to buy all sustainability-related technology, we still wouldn't ultimately be a sustainable center without behavior change. We're asking you to become aware, begin practicing some (or more of) the individual sustainability ideas and/or join a JSC Sustainability Team! Download your copy of the JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy at: http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm   Laurie Peterson x39845   [top] 9.            Environmental Brown Bag: Sustainability -- What's All the Fuss About Anyway? Sustainability is defined as "meeting the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs." Are we compromising future generations today with our current practices? Is our current economy and civilization sustainable? What lessons have we learned from more than 50 years of observing our planet from space? Mike Lutomski will address some of the challenges of making our lifestyles sustainable and what you can do to help. Join us today from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 45, Room 751, for an engaging and entertaining conversation with Lutomski.   Michelle Fraser-Page x34237   [top] 10.          Job Opportunities Where do I find job opportunities? Both internal Competitive Placement Plans (CPPs) and external JSC job announcements are posted on both the Human Resources (HR) portal and USAJOBS -- http://www.usajobs.gov -- website. Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open at: https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...   To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select "JSC HR." The "Jobs link" will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your HR representative.   Lisa Pesak x30476   [top] 11.          Picture This Your JSC Safety Action Team will once again host the "Why I Work Safely" photo-laminating booth at the upcoming JSC 2012 Safety and Health Day on Thursday, Oct. 11. Start rounding up your favorite photos now so you will have them ready to laminate for display on your lanyard. Show everyone your reason(s) for working safely!   Note: Please trim photos to 2 inches wide by 2.5 inches in length. Scanned photos work well also.   Reese Squires x37776   [top] 12.          Salsa/Latin Dance Classes Return to Starport Latin Dance Introduction: This class is an introduction to Salsa, but it also touches on other popular Latin dances found at social settings: Merengue, Bachata and maybe even a little bit of Cha-Cha-Cha. Emphasis is on Salsa and then Bachata.   Latin Dance Introduction (begins Nov. 2) - Fridays from 8 to 9 p.m. (Studio 1)   Salsa Intermediate: This class continues teaching salsa beyond that taught in the introduction class. You should be comfortable and confident with the material from the introduction class before moving on to the intermediate class. This is a multi-level class where students may be broken up into groups based upon class experience.   Salsa Intermediate (begins Nov. 2) - Fridays from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. (Studio 1)   Registration: - Early: Oct. 9 to 19 ($40 per person) - Regular: Oct. 20 to Nov. 1 ($50 per person)   Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/RecreationClasses/RecreationProgram...   [top] 13.          Volunteers Needed to Mentor Reduced Gravity Flight Teams The Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program is looking for JSC scientists and engineers of all levels who would like to advise and mentor a flight team. Teams can be composed of college undergraduate students or K-12 teachers. Preference will be given to individuals who are currently working as scientists and engineers and are familiar with the type of experiments appropriate for reduced-gravity flight. Interested in learning more? We will offer two optional information sessions to interested mentors on Wednesday, Oct. 17, from 10 to 11 a.m. (Building 20, Room 205/206), and Thursday, Oct. 18, from 3 to 4 p.m. (Building 20, Room 205/206). Please feel free to attend.   Already know you want to participate? Please visit http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/security/mentors/app/ for more details and to apply. The deadline is Oct. 26.   James Semple 281-792-7872 http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 14.          Nutrition Class Today at 5 p.m. Avoiding Kitchen Nightmares! Is your kitchen in trouble? Do you find yourself dining out frequently because you find that you are missing ingredients for your recipe? Research shows that people with better organized and well-stocked kitchens tend to cook at home more. This class will focus on some kitchen basics, like improving efficiency in the meal-preparation flow, how to organize the kitchen to streamline meal planning and preparation and basic items to keep in stock. This class might not make you a great chef, but it will improve your efficiency in the kitchen. The class will be held from 5 to 6 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Discovery room. Email Glenda Blaskey to sign up for this class today.   Glenda Blaskey x41503   [top] 15.          NMA and TGCC 2012 Annual Joint Chapter Meeting The JSC National Management Association (NMA) and the Texas Gulf Coast Council (TGCC) invite you to the 2012 Annual Joint Chapter Meeting.   Date: Oct. 24 Time: 6 to 8 p.m. Location: Gilruth Center Lone Star Ballroom Guest Speaker: Dr. William Tarver, JSC Medical Director   The menu includes: Barbecue beef brisket, barbecue baked beans, creamy dill potato salad, relish tray, cornbread or Texas toast, fruit cobbler and iced tea.   This event is free to NMA members and $25 for non-members.   Please RSVP to Jamie Downs at jdowns@wylehou.com no later than noon on Wednesday, Oct. 17.   For more information, visit: http://www.jscnma.com/Events/   Cassandra Miranda x38618   [top] 16.          International Space Station Library and EDMS Training Tomorrow Don't forget to sign up for the WebEx class tomorrow from 9 to 10:30 a.m.! Users will be introduced to the International Space Station Program Library resources and services. The Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) Training Team will instruct users on the EDMS, which is the official repository for space station documents. This training is open to JSC/White Sands Test Facility contractors and civil servants. To register, click the "Classroom/WebEx" schedule on the following website: http://library.jsc.nasa.gov/training/default.aspx   The International Space Station Library is provided by the Information Resources Directorate: http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov   Ebony Fondren x32490 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 17.          Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club Meeting The next meeting of the Lunarfins JSC SCUBA Club will be held tomorrow, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m. at the Clear Lake Park building (5001 NASA Parkway). The Clear Lake Park building entrance is at the park traffic light on the lake-side. Our guest speaker for this month is Dr. Brian Kot from the Texas A&M Galveston Marine Biology Department, presenting "Underwater Marine Life and Scientific Experiments in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, Canada." Kot will talk about his recent research involving baleen whales and fish, including aspects of his new research technology (e.g., underwater video systems, data loggers attached to whales). All are welcome to attend - guests and visitors.   Mike Manering x32618 http://www.lunarfins.com   [top] 18.          An Introduction Engineers Without Borders - JSC Ever wonder what the volunteer group Engineers Without Borders (EWB) is and what they do? Then come by Building 4N, Room 2025, tomorrow, Oct. 10, from noon to 1 p.m. to find out. EWB-JSC will provide a background of the organization and what projects EWB-JSC has worked on in Rwanda and Mexico. The presentation will also include information about the results of the chapter's recent trip to Rwanda and how you can get involved. No RSVP required.   Angela Cason x40903 http://ewb-jsc.org/index.html   [top] 19.          Pre-Travel to Russia Workshop Will you be traveling to Russia on a NASA-sponsored trip soon? Do you know what information you will need to provide to obtain a Russian visa? What other types of clearances are required, and how one gets them? Need to familiarize yourself with the procedures for Russian passport and immigration control, obtaining transportation from the airport to your accommodations, as well as to and from your meetings? Would some tips on Russian etiquette and social or business customs be useful?   For answers to these and other questions, join us at the JSC Language Education Center for the Pre-Travel to Russia Workshop on Friday, Oct. 26. This two-hour class runs from 1 to 3 p.m. in Building 12, Room 158Q. Please register through SATERN. The deadline for registration is Oct. 24.   Juliya Schuck 281-335-8575   [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: ·         11 am Central (Noon EDT) – Expedition 33/34 crew departure from Star City for Baikonur ·         Noon Central (1 EDT) – Science Sys Engineering for JWST: Why are we building it like this? ·         3 am Central WEDNESDAY (4 EDT) – Dragon grapple coverage ·         6:22 am Central WEDNESDAY (7:22 EDT) – Grapple of Dragon ·         8:15 am Central WEDNESDAY (9:15 EDT) – Dragon berthing coverage (begins at 8:40 CDT)   Human Spaceflight News Tuesday – October 9, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   SpaceX studies Falcon 9 engine failure   William Harwood – CBS News   SpaceX engineers are reviewing telemetry to figure out what caused a dramatic first stage engine failure Sunday night during launch of a commercially developed cargo ship on the company's first operational flight to the International Space Station, officials said Monday. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's flight computer fired the remaining eight first stage engines longer than planned to compensate for the failure of engine No. 1 and the Dragon cargo capsule was successfully boosted into the required orbit, setting up a rendezvous with the space station Wednesday morning as planned.   SpaceX loses one engine: Heck, company says, it could have lost 2   Amy Hubbard - Los Angeles Times   The much-watched launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket had one little setback that was overlooked by many in the excitement of the moment. It lost an engine during ascent. Engine 1, one of nine engines on the rocket that was carrying the Dragon spacecraft into space, "lost pressure," SpaceX said.  So it was shut down. Rumor had it that the engine exploded -- news outlets pointed to video, saying it showed an explosion and debris. SpaceX said that "panels designed to relieve pressure within the engine bay" were what was jettisoned.   SpaceX Rocket Overcame Problem   Andy Pasztor - Wall Street Journal   Space Exploration Technologies Corp. on Monday said one of nine main engines on its Falcon 9 rocket malfunctioned during the previous night's launch but the booster was still able to put the private cargo capsule it was carrying into proper orbit. Backup systems, as intended, immediately adjusted operation of the remaining main engines to compensate for the problem and placed the Dragon cargo vehicle on the right trajectory to rendezvous with the international space station. The malfunction marks the second time in three launches that SpaceX, as the company is known, has experienced a performance issue with a kerosene-fueled, first-stage engine on a Falcon 9.   SpaceX Falcon 9 engine fails during flight Dragon capsule OK; satellite in lower orbit   James Dean – Florida Today   A Falcon 9 rocket engine suddenly lost pressure and shut down early in Sunday night’s launch, causing a protective fairing to rupture and spew debris from the bottom of the rocket, SpaceX confirmed Monday. The company said the failure did not affect eight remaining first-stage engines that performed as designed to deploy a Dragon cargo craft headed for a Wednesday morning rendezvous with the International Space Station.   Falcon 9 Drops Orbcomm Satellite in Wrong Orbit   Amy Svitak – Aviation Week   It looks like SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket failed to deliver a secondary payload to its intended orbit during an otherwise successful Oct. 7 mission. The payload - Orbcomm's prototype OG2 communications satellite - was launched aboard NASA's first Cargo Re-Supply Services (CRS-1) mission, which sent the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule on its way to service the International Space Station (ISS). The launch, which took place Sunday evening at 8:35 pm EST from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marks the fourth flight of Falcon 9.   SpaceX launch good for NASA, not private firm   Seth Borenstein - Associated Press   A private rocket successfully sent a capsule full of cargo zipping toward the International Space Station in a first of its kind delivery for NASA, but couldn't deliver on job No. 2: putting a commercial satellite into the correct orbit. One of nine engines on Space X company's Falcon 9 rocket failed Sunday 79 seconds after launch because of a pressure loss. The engine didn't explode, but it did start a series of events that meant another company's private satellite is not in the place it is needed.   Obama campaign lauds SpaceX launch (and Obama)   Orlando Sentinel   The Obama campaign is touting a historic launch from Florida on Sunday night as proof that the incumbent has a better space policy than challenger Mitt Romney. The launch, by SpaceX of California, is the company’s first “official” mission to the International Space Station. Previously, SpaceX has done successful test flights for NASA. The launch Sunday is the first time that a SpaceX vehicle will deliver cargo to the station as part of a a $1.6 billion re-supply contract.   In the race for the Space Coast’s House seat, few details about space   SpacePolitics.com   Thanks to redistricting, Florida’s Space Coast region will be within a single House district in the next Congress, currently represented by Republican Rep. Bill Posey (for the last decade it had been split into two districts, with Posey representing the southern half and, most recently, Sandy Adams (R-FL) representing the northern part.) So it’s not surprising that Florida Today asked Posey and his Democratic challenger, Shannon Roberts, as well as independent candidate Richard Gillmor, what specifically they would do to “help the stability and strength of the U.S. Space program.”   Perception vs. reality in NASA’s commercial crew and cargo program   Christopher Stone - The Space Review (Opinion)   (Stone is a commercial space policy integration analyst in Washington D.C. The positions and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Falcon Research, Inc. or the Department of Defense.)   With the recent rollout of space policy positions of the Romney and Obama campaigns on space, as well as the platform statements of both political parties, many comments and editorials have argued that the Republicans are for “big government” space programs while Democrats, in particular the President, “will go down in history as the man who opened space to the people by letting the private sector take over basic jobs like transport to orbit (and thus helping create a NewSpace commercial industry that opens the frontier),” in the words of one columnist. Is this true or are the perceptions of some space advocacy groups and the Obama campaign white paper’s claims of credit misplaced? This essay will provide some historical context with regards to the development of the policies behind what became known as the commercial crew and cargo program supporting low Earth orbit (LEO) operations and the commercialization of the International Space Station.   Charting space shuttle history on the Southland map   Mike Anton & W.J. Hennigan - Los Angeles Times   Look hard and the ghosts of the nation's 40-year-old space shuttle program can be found hidden in plain sight across Southern California. They inhabit a sprawling, virtually lifeless building in Canoga Park, where an army of Rocketdyne aerospace engineers once forged shuttle engines amid a haze of cigarette smoke and the clatter of mechanical calculators. They can be found in the Mojave Desert, at a secured Air Force base in Palmdale, where the shuttles were assembled in a hangar now being used by Boeing Co. to temporarily store office furniture.   QA: Astronaut Mark Kelly on writing a kids book, missing space, and wife Gabrielle Giffords' continued recovery   Nicki Gostin - FoxNews.com   ‘Mousetronaut,’ a charming picture book about Meteor, a plucky rodent who goes into space, is the first children’s book by astronaut Mark Kelly, perhaps best known as the steadfast husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who survived an assassination attempt at a campaign event last year that killed six others. Kelly, a veteran of four space flights to the International Space Station, is one tough guy. He also flew thirty-nine combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. He spoke to FOX411 about how the book came about, missing space flight, and his wife's continued recovery.   A Toyota to tow space shuttle   Detroit Free Press   The space shuttle Endeavour. Brought to you by Toyota? This week, when NASA's recently retired shuttle makes the last leg of its long journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the California Science Center in Los Angeles' Exposition Park, it will be hauled part of the way over a freeway by a Toyota Tundra truck. It's a scene that seems made for a Toyota commercial. And it may well end up in one. The carmaker plans to film the truck as it tows the massive shuttle. That a Japanese automaker is hauling the American space shuttle naturally makes it a political issue this election season.   Space Shuttle Endeavour to Leave on L.A. Road Trip This Week   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   As it turns out, transporting a space shuttle through city streets is a "Big Endeavour." Space shuttle Endeavour, the youngest of NASA's retired orbiters, will depart later this week on a road trip from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to its new exhibition at the California Science Center (CSC). The two-day, 12-mile (19 kilometer) journey follows Endeavour's delivery to L.A. atop a jumbo jet last month. The move, which will begin hours before dawn on Friday morning and end after nightfall the next day has been dubbed "Mission 26: The Big Endeavour." While it was in service to NASA, Endeavour flew 25 missions to space between 1992 and 2011.   NASA Headquarters: Facts and Information   Mike Webb - Space.com   NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., houses the higher-ups responsible for charting the space agency's course and implementing its vision. For the record, that vision is: "To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind."   MEANWHILE ON MARS...   Mars rover Curiosity scoops, detects bright object   Associated Press   NASA officials say the Curiosity rover has made its first scoop of the surface of planet Mars and has detected a bright object on the ground. Officials said in a news release Monday that they suspect the object might be a part of the six-wheeled rover, but they won't sample or scoop anymore until they figure out what it is. The Curiosity has already beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream once flowed on the planet.   Mars Curiosity rover holds up on its scoops to check out weird object   Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log   NASA's Curiosity rover dug up its first scoopful of sandy soil on Sunday and swished it around like a connoisseur tasting wine. But the long-anticipated sampling session had to be put on hold when Curiosity's handlers spotted a bright and tiny object nearby. What the heck is it? A loose screw? A cigarette butt? A piece of Martian macaroni? The mystery lit up a few Twitter feeds this afternoon, but for now, the best hypothesis seems to be that it's a bit of plastic that fell off the rover. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   SpaceX studies Falcon 9 engine failure   William Harwood – CBS News   SpaceX engineers are reviewing telemetry to figure out what caused a dramatic first stage engine failure Sunday night during launch of a commercially developed cargo ship on the company's first operational flight to the International Space Station, officials said Monday.   The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket's flight computer fired the remaining eight first stage engines longer than planned to compensate for the failure of engine No. 1 and the Dragon cargo capsule was successfully boosted into the required orbit, setting up a rendezvous with the space station Wednesday morning as planned.   The SpaceX launch generated widespread interest because it was the first flight under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA to provide space station cargo delivery and return services as a commercial endeavor, restoring NASA's ability to resupply the lab complex with U.S. spacecraft.   The engine shutdown triggered widespread speculation among space enthusiasts, bloggers and reporters because it was apparent something unusual had happened during the Falcon 9's ascent. Long-range tracking cameras showed a sudden brightening of the exhaust plume and what appeared to be debris falling away in the rocket's wake.   Any problem serious enough to generate debris typically results in a loss of mission. But the Falcon 9 continued its ascent and while it was apparent the remaining engines burned longer than expected, the Dragon spacecraft ended up in the proper orbit.   The company issued a press release shortly after launch saying "the Falcon 9 rocket, powered by nine Merlin engines, performed nominally today during every phase of its approach to orbit." But SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk acknowledged the premature engine shutdown in an email to a reporter, saying the Falcon 9, like NASA's Saturn 5 moon rocket, was designed to withstand an engine-out during ascent.   In an update Monday, the company provided additional information, saying the rocket "detected an anomaly" with engine No. 1 one minute and 19 seconds after liftoff.   "Initial data suggests that one of the rocket's nine Merlin engines, engine 1, lost pressure suddenly and an engine shutdown command was issued immediately," the update said. "We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it.   "Our review indicates that the fairing that protects the engine from aerodynamic loads ruptured due to the engine pressure release, and that none of Falcon 9's other eight engines were impacted by this event."   The rocket's flight computer then recalculated the trajectory and fired the remaining eight engines longer than originally planned to compensate for the loss of engine No. 1. As a result, the update said, "there was no effect on Dragon or the cargo resupply mission."   "Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do," the company said. "Like the Saturn 5, which experienced engine loss on two flights, Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission."   The company said engineers will review flight data "to understand the cause of the anomaly, and will devote the resources necessary to identify the problem and apply those lessons to future flights. We will provide additional information as it becomes available."   The Dragon capsule is expected to reach the International Space Station early Wednesday, pulling up to the lab complex and standing by while station commander Sunita Williams and Japanese astronaut Akihiko Hoshide lock on with the station's robot arm. The astronauts then will maneuver the cargo ship to a berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.   While the Dragon spacecraft appears to be on course, the fate of a prototype next-generation Orbcomm messaging satellite was not immediately known. The OG2 satellite was attached to the Falcon 9 second stage as a secondary payload under a separate contract between SpaceX and Orbcomm.   After the Dragon capsule was released, the second stage was to have fired again to put the OG2 satellite into a 217-by-466 mile high orbit. Whether the second stage had enough propellant left to achieve that objective after the first stage engine anomaly was not clear.   SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell said after launch the Orbcomm payload was deployed, but she said she did not have any details about its orbit. No one was available Monday, a federal holiday, at Orbcomm headquarters.   SpaceX loses one engine: Heck, company says, it could have lost 2   Amy Hubbard - Los Angeles Times   The much-watched launch of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket had one little setback that was overlooked by many in the excitement of the moment. It lost an engine during ascent.   Engine 1, one of nine engines on the rocket that was carrying the Dragon spacecraft into space, "lost pressure," SpaceX said.  So it was shut down.   Rumor had it that the engine exploded -- news outlets pointed to video, saying it showed an explosion and debris. SpaceX said that "panels designed to relieve pressure within the engine bay" were what was jettisoned.   SpaceX, which notably is a private company that has contracted with NASA to carry cargo to the International Space Station, had its spin on the situation.   "Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do ... handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission. No other rocket currently flying has this ability."   In addition, the Hawthorne-based company said in a statement, the Falcon 9 shuts down two of its engines to limit acceleration to 5 Gs.   "The rocket could therefore have lost another engine and still completed its mission."   Its mission is to deliver 882 pounds of food, experiments and supplies to the space station. Docking is expected Wednesday morning.   As for NASA, agency spokesman Josh Byerly expressed confidence in its private partner.   "SpaceX will lead efforts to analyze the anomaly on its Falcon 9 rocket that launched last night," Byerly told the Los Angeles Times by email Monday afternoon. "NASA will provide any technical expertise or advice that we can, but we are confident that SpaceX will conduct a robust examination."   SpaceX Rocket Overcame Problem   Andy Pasztor - Wall Street Journal   Space Exploration Technologies Corp. on Monday said one of nine main engines on its Falcon 9 rocket malfunctioned during the previous night's launch but the booster was still able to put the private cargo capsule it was carrying into proper orbit.   Backup systems, as intended, immediately adjusted operation of the remaining main engines to compensate for the problem and placed the Dragon cargo vehicle on the right trajectory to rendezvous with the international space station.   The malfunction marks the second time in three launches that SpaceX, as the company is known, has experienced a performance issue with a kerosene-fueled, first-stage engine on a Falcon 9.   A secondary part of the mission appeared to be affected by the problem. A small industrial communications satellite owned by Orbcomm Inc., which was stacked on top of the rocket as an ancillary part of the mission, ended up in an incorrect orbit apparently as a result of the engine trouble.   Orbcomm, a satellite-services company based in Fort Lee, N.J., disclosed on Monday that its prototype satellite—the first of 18 satellites it has contracted to launch on Falcon 9 rockets—was "deployed into an orbit that was lower than intended." In a statement, Orbcomm said experts are trying to determine if the stranded satellite's onboard propulsion system can move it into a useful orbit.   In any event, the satellite's operating life almost certainly will be curtailed because its fuel reserves will be reduced.   The disclosure takes some of the glitter off SpaceX's latest launch, which has been heralded by federal officials and many space aficionados as a milestone for privatizing cargo shipments to the orbiting international space station. The first-stage engine suffered a pressure drop and was automatically shut down about 79 seconds after liftoff from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Sunday night, just after the rocket was supposed to experience the strongest aerodynamic stresses during ascent.   But the event may end up as little more than a hiccup if future Falcon 9 flights avoid a repeat of the problem. Engineers at SpaceX, a closely held Southern California company, are developing a more powerful version of their rocket.   Orbcomm's statement suggested safety considerations prevented the rocket's second-stage engine—after an initial burst of power to get Dragon properly positioned—from kicking in for a second time as planned.   Spokeswomen for SpaceX and Orbcomm didn't return calls seeking comment.   In a statement, SpaceX said "Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do" after the first-stage engine shut down. Onboard computers swiftly determined a new trajectory to ensure Dragon would be able to link up with the station, orbiting some 220 miles above the earth.   SpaceX said its Dragon capsule was operating as expected on its way toward the station.   Dragon is carrying nearly 1,000 pounds of food and gear for crews manning the station, plus some student-designed experiments. Dragon is expected to reach the space station on Wednesday.   SpaceX Falcon 9 engine fails during flight Dragon capsule OK; satellite in lower orbit   James Dean – Florida Today   A Falcon 9 rocket engine suddenly lost pressure and shut down early in Sunday night’s launch, causing a protective fairing to rupture and spew debris from the bottom of the rocket, SpaceX confirmed Monday.   The company said the failure did not affect eight remaining first-stage engines that performed as designed to deploy a Dragon cargo craft headed for a Wednesday morning rendezvous with the International Space Station.   “Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do,” SpaceX said in a statement Monday. “Like the Saturn V, which experienced engine loss on two flights, Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission.”   The Hawthorne-Calif., company, however, did fall short on one objective: a prototype commercial communications satellite that hitched a ride as a secondary payload was deposited in a lower-than-intended orbit.   The satellite’s owner, New Jersey-based Orbcomm, said they were working to determine if the orbit could be raised using the satellite’s on-board propulsion system.   The Falcon 9 blasted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 8:35 p.m. Sunday, beginning the first of 12 station resupply missions planned under a $1.6 billion contract.   Seventy-nine seconds into the flight, one of nine Merlin 1C engines suddenly lost pressure and computers commanded it to shut down, SpaceX said.   Slow-motion video replays showing chunks of debris blowing away from the rocket fueled speculation that the engine had exploded.   SpaceX said that was not the case because it continued to receive data from Engine No. 1, which occupies the bottom-right slot in a group arranged like a tic-tac-toe box.   Rather, the company said its initial reviews suggested that the engine’s release of trapped pressure shattered a fairing designed to protect it from aerodynamic stress.   SpaceX said it would continue to investigate the failure’s cause and apply lessons learned to future flights. The next Falcon 9 launch is tentatively planned in January.   NASA will support the review led by SpaceX, said agency spokesman Josh Byerly.   “NASA will provide any technical expertise or advice that we can, but we are confident that SpaceX will conduct a robust examination,” he said.   The Falcon 9 anomaly came three days after a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket experienced an unexpected loss of pressure in its upper stage RL-10 engine. The Delta IV successfully lifted a Global Positioning System satellite to orbit for the Air Force.   ULA is studying the issue to see if it could impact the planned Oct. 25 launch of an Atlas V rocket that flies with a similar engine.   The launches were the fourth for the Falcon 9 since 2010, and the 21st for the Delta IV since 2002.   Bob Sieck, a retired space shuttle launch director and member of the NASA Advisory Council, said history shows such problems are not uncommon early in a rocket’s career.   “We shouldn’t be surprised when this sort of thing happens, particularly with a newly developed vehicle,” said Sieck, a Viera resident, of the Falcon 9 issue. “This system is still in the process of maturing, still growing up.”   Most important, he said, is that the Dragon still has a chance to complete its space station mission, hauling up 1,000 pounds of cargo and returning twice as much.   “When you end up meeting the mission objectives, you can’t call it a setback,” he said. “On the other hand, it’s a reminder that it’s still rocket science.”   Falcon 9 Drops Orbcomm Satellite in Wrong Orbit   Amy Svitak – Aviation Week   It looks like SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket failed to deliver a secondary payload to its intended orbit during an otherwise successful Oct. 7 mission. The payload - Orbcomm's prototype OG2 communications satellite - was launched aboard NASA's first Cargo Re-Supply Services (CRS-1) mission, which sent the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule on its way to service the International Space Station (ISS).   The launch, which took place Sunday evening at 8:35 pm EST from Cape Canaveral, Fla., marks the fourth flight of Falcon 9.   Although SpaceX deemed the CRS-1 launch a success, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company says an engine anomaly occurred approximately one minute and 19 seconds into the mission. Initial data suggests that one of the rocket's nine Merlin engines, Engine 1, lost pressure suddenly and an engine shutdown command was issued.   Orbcomm says its OG2 satellite separated from the Falcon 9 launch vehicle at approximately 9:00 pm EST, but due to the engine anomaly, the rocket was prevented from performing a second burn for safety reasons associated with its primary mission.   "For this reason, the OG2 prototype satellite was deployed into an orbit that was lower than intended," Orbcomm said in an Oct. 8 statement. Orbcomm says the company and OG2 prime contractor Sierra Nevada Corp. are in contact with the spacecraft, and are assessing whether OG2's orbit can be raised using its on-board propulsion system.   In the meantime, Orbcomm says it still plans to launch 17 more OG2 satellites aboard two Falcon 9 missions in mid-2013 and 2014. The OG2 satellites "will be the primary payload on both of these two planned launches to directly insert the OG2 satellites into the operational orbit."   SpaceX, which addressed the engine anomaly in an Oct. 8 mission update, has so far said nothing about Orbcomm.   “We know the engine did not explode, because we continued to receive data from it. Panels designed to relieve pressure within the engine bay were ejected to protect the stage and other engines,” SpaceX said in the statement. “Our review of flight data indicates that neither the rocket stage nor any of the other eight engines were negatively affected by this event.”   SpaceX says the onboard flight computer did exactly what it was designed to do, which is recompute a new ascent profile in real time to ensure Dragon's entry into orbit.   “This was achieved, and there was no effect on Dragon or the cargo resupply mission,” the statement reads. “Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission. No other rocket currently flying has this ability.”   Great news, though not necessarily for Orbcomm.   According to Jonathan's Space Report, a website that reports on space launches, OG2 was ejected at 0137 UTC into a 203x323 km orbit, instead of its planned 350x750 km insertion orbit.   “Orbcomm will not be able to get to its operational 750x750 km orbit but there's a chance they'll get a few month's of system tests out of it,” the report says, adding “a further small debris object has been cataloged in low orbit.”   It is worth noting that this is not the first time Falcon 9 has experienced an engine anomaly. During a Dec. 8, 2010 launch that orbited a Dragon qualification unit for NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, one of the rocket's engines experienced an "oxygen-rich shutdown," according to Ken Bowersox, a retired NASA astronaut and former SpaceX vice president for astronaut safety and mission assurance. Bowersox revealed the anomaly in a September 2011 interview with Space News shortly before leaving the company.   Falcon 9 also suffered an anomaly during its inaugural flight June 4, 2010, though flight data from the mission was never made public. The rocket appears to have experienced a slight roll at liftoff, visible in a video of the launch. And in a post-launch interview I did for Space News, SpaceX founder, CEO and CTO Elon Musk said he was surprised by a pronounced roll that occurred following the rocket's upper stage firing.   “We didn't expect the roll," Musk said, adding that it did not affect the payload's insertion vector and had no adverse impact on the mission.   It is also worth noting that next year SpaceX plans to fly an upgrade to the Falcon 9 rocket that will effectively replace the existing launch vehicle. They've cleverly dubbed it Falcon 9 v1.1, a name that suggests only minor modifications to the current version. But the upgrade will feature a new engine - the Merlin 1D - to be arranged in an octagonal, rather than the current tic-tac-toe configuration. The rocket will also be longer, to accommodate stretched fuel tanks, and incorporate a wider payload fairing, meaning v1.1 will bear little resemblance to the Falcon 9 of today.   SpaceX launch good for NASA, not private firm   Seth Borenstein - Associated Press   A private rocket successfully sent a capsule full of cargo zipping toward the International Space Station in a first of its kind delivery for NASA, but couldn't deliver on job No. 2: putting a commercial satellite into the correct orbit.   One of nine engines on Space X company's Falcon 9 rocket failed Sunday 79 seconds after launch because of a pressure loss. The engine didn't explode, but it did start a series of events that meant another company's private satellite is not in the place it is needed.   The main mission for the Falcon launch - delivering half a ton of science and food supplies toward the space station - is still on track with a docking of the cargo-laden Dragon capsule scheduled for Wednesday. SpaceX on Monday said the ship's flight computer calculated a new path to the station for the capsule. It is the first of a dozen supply runs under a mega-contract with NASA.   "Falcon 9 did exactly what it was designed to do," the California based SpaceX said. "Like the Saturn V, which experienced engine loss on two flights, Falcon 9 is designed to handle an engine out situation and still complete its mission."   But not all of its mission.   The original plan was for Falcon to fire its second stage engines after Dragon left and then deploy an industrial communications satellite into orbit for Orbcomm of Dulles, Va.   Because this is a new resupply ship for the space station, NASA and its international partners had set detailed safety rules in advance for Falcon, even though the engine failure was far from the station. And those rules prevent SpaceX from firing its second stage engines, Orbcomm said in a statement.   The satellite is in a lower orbit and engineers are trying to figure out how to boost it, Orbcomm said.   This was the first of 18 satellites that Orbcomm had hired SpaceX to deliver. The satellites help in two-way communications for companies to track their heavy equipment across the world. The company wouldn't respond to questions about the cost of the satellite or launch services.   Harvard University astronomer Jonathan McDowell, who tracks launches worldwide, noticed the problem for hours before either company acknowledged that the satellite was in the wrong orbit. Even though SpaceX was congratulating itself after the launch, McDowell said: "We can't say that it was a perfect launch."   Obama campaign lauds SpaceX launch (and Obama)   Orlando Sentinel   The Obama campaign is touting a historic launch from Florida on Sunday night as proof that the incumbent has a better space policy than challenger Mitt Romney.   The launch, by SpaceX of California, is the company’s first “official” mission to the International Space Station. Previously, SpaceX has done successful test flights for NASA. The launch Sunday is the first time that a SpaceX vehicle will deliver cargo to the station as part of a a $1.6 billion re-supply contract.   “Now, because of President Obama’s efforts, the International Space Station has an extended life, there is growth in the country’s commercial space industry, and a promise to continue a commitment of human exploration, science, and other aeronautic programs,” wrote officials with the Obama campaign.   Obama can take much — but not all — the credit for a NASA policy that increasingly has emphasized the role of commercial rocket companies. Under President George W. Bush, NASA began grooming new rocket companies for the chance to deliver cargo, and potentially crew, to the station.   But Obama has pressed the issue significantly during his term, feuding bitterly with Congress at times over funding for commercial launches. So there’s little surprise that the Obama campaign jumped at the chance to tout the success, as well as contrast it to Romney’s largely unspecific space platform.   The campaign also trotted out academics and space-policy gurus — including former astronauts Rusty Schweickart and Kathy Thornton, as well as Scott Hubbard of Stanford, who served on a blue-ribbon committee named by Obama to study the future of NASA’s manned space efforts in 2009 — to endorse the administration’s policies.   In the race for the Space Coast’s House seat, few details about space   SpacePolitics.com   Thanks to redistricting, Florida’s Space Coast region will be within a single House district in the next Congress, currently represented by Republican Rep. Bill Posey (for the last decade it had been split into two districts, with Posey representing the southern half and, most recently, Sandy Adams (R-FL) representing the northern part.) So it’s not surprising that Florida Today asked Posey and his Democratic challenger, Shannon Roberts, as well as independent candidate Richard Gillmor, what specifically they would do to “help the stability and strength of the U.S. Space program.”   However, none of the three offer much in the way of detail about achieving “stability and strength” for NASA, and for KSC in particular. Posey notes he would continue the work he has already done at NASA, citing legislation he has co-sponsored with Democratic members. However, one example, a bill he and Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-FL) introduced to allow for a “seamless” transition from the Space Shuttle to Orion, (the “American Space Access Act”), did not advance out of the House Science Committee after its April 2009 introduction. Similarly, another bill he mentions he co-sponsored with Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX) to direct NASA to return humans to the Moon by 2022 (the “REAL Space Act”), went nowhere after its introduction in May 2011. The “RACE for Space” act he mentions, though, was incorporated into the defense authorization bill earlier this year.   Roberts, beyond correcting a claim by Posey that the administration cancelled the Orion spacecraft (the administration’s original plans in February 2010 did call for ending Orion, a decision reversed two months later), doesn’t offer much of a contrast. “We’ve got a major role here: the lead for deep-space exploration, commercialization of space and also research, development and testing,” she said of KSC. “I would be a strong advocate on behalf of that.” Gillmor indicates he would see KSC taking a leading role in something very different: alternative energy. “With implementation of my national energy policy, part of Kennedy Space Center would become home to the National Energy Resources Development Center,” he said, something that would reemploy “thousands” of engineers in the area.   On his campaign website, Posey does include a few paragraphs about space among other issues, saying he’s working to “restore American leadership” in space and that he supports commercial cargo and crew programs. Roberts says much less about space on her site, with a single bullet point (“Keep our Space Program #1 in the World”) on her issues page. Gillmor, the independent, devotes a paragraph to space, specifically calling for Cape Canaveral to be “overhauled into a bustling Spaceport that serves both commercial as well as national defense needs.”   Perception vs. reality in NASA’s commercial crew and cargo program   Christopher Stone - The Space Review (Opinion)   (Stone is a commercial space policy integration analyst in Washington D.C. The positions and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not of Falcon Research, Inc. or the Department of Defense.)   With the recent rollout of space policy positions of the Romney and Obama campaigns on space, as well as the platform statements of both political parties, many comments and editorials have argued that the Republicans are for “big government” space programs while Democrats, in particular the President, “will go down in history as the man who opened space to the people by letting the private sector take over basic jobs like transport to orbit (and thus helping create a NewSpace commercial industry that opens the frontier),” in the words of one columnist.   Is this true or are the perceptions of some space advocacy groups and the Obama campaign white paper’s claims of credit misplaced?   This essay will provide some historical context with regards to the development of the policies behind what became known as the commercial crew and cargo program supporting low Earth orbit (LEO) operations and the commercialization of the International Space Station.   The beginnings   Commercial Space Launch Act (1984-Present)   When this act was passed, the White House was occupied by President Ronald Reagan, a Republican, and control of Congress was split: the Democrats were in the majority in the House and the Republicans in the Senate. As part of the Reagan Administration space policy, this act was a key step toward their goals of the eventual commercialization of space. As President Reagan stated during the signing ceremony:   “One of the important objectives of my administration has been, and will continue to be, the encouragement of the private sector in commercial space endeavors. Fragmentation and shared authority had unnecessarily complicated the process of approving activities in space. Enactment of this legislation is a milestone in our efforts to address the need of private companies interested in launching payloads to have ready access to space.”   The sponsor of the bill was House Representative Daniel Akaka (D-HI) with support from members of both political parties. In this bill (as amended several times with amendments from Republicans such as Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Democrats through 2011) it states:   “…private applications of space technology have achieved a significant level of commercial and economic activity and offer the potential for growth in the future, particularly in the United States…to promote economic growth and entrepreneurial activity through use of the space environment for peaceful purposes…to encourage the United States private sector to provide launch vehicles, reentry vehicles, and associated services by – (A) simplifying and expediting the issuance and transfer of commercial licenses; (B) facilitating and encouraging the use of Government-developed space technology; and (C) promoting the continuous improvement of the safety of launch vehicles designed to carry humans, including through the issuance of regulations, to the extent permitted by this [bill]” [Emphasis added]   Through this law, the government began the process of opening up the possibility for not only commercial sector investment in space “endeavors” but also for the promotion of “economic growth… through the use of the space environment”: in other words, the US public law supports space utilization and development, as did the President and Congress.   Commercial Space Act of 1998   In 1998, before the first components of the International Space Station were launched, the Republican-led Congress passed the Commercial Space Act of 1998. President Bill Clinton (a Democrat) signed this bill into law. The purpose of this act was “to encourage the development of a commercial space industry in the United States.” Some of the key areas proposed in this bill to move forward were:   ·         Commercialization of the space station (see below) ·         Commercial space launch ·         Launch voucher demonstration programs ·         Administration of commercial space centers (“spaceports”)   The bill included direction for the government to look at commercial space options for those programs led and operated by government agencies. It declared:   “The Congress further declares that free and competitive markets create the most efficient conditions for promoting economic development, and should therefore govern the economic development of Earth orbital space”   Contrary to what many believe, this bill, sponsored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI), shows that before the ISS was assembled, not only the health and vitality of the US commercial space sector, but the economic development of near-Earth space was important enough for the Republican Congress to support into passage. Moreover, President Clinton agreed enough to sign it into law, despite the belief that, as John Logsdon put it, “Space was not a high priority during the eight years of the Clinton administration.”   During this time, the GOP-led Congress directed assessments on how to make “commercial goods and services for the operations, servicing and augmentation of the International Space Station, and in the commercial use of the International Space Station” a reality. This was the genesis of the COTS/CCDev program, way back in 1998.   Commercial Space Transportation Competitiveness Act of 2000   This bill was sponsored by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA) during a time when the Republicans held both the House and Senate and also a Presidential election year. This bill stated that its goal was:   “To promote the development of the commercial space transportation industry, to authorize appropriations for the Office of the Associate Administrator for Commercial Space Transportation, to authorize appropriations for the Office of Space Commercialization, and for other purposes….   (1) A robust United States space transportation industry is vital to the Nation's economic well-being and national security;   (2) Enactment of a 5-year extension of the excess third party claims payment provision of chapter 701 of title 49, United States Code (Commercial Space Launch Activities), will have a beneficial impact on the international competitiveness of the United States space transportation industry;   (3) space transportation may evolve into airplane-style operations…” [Emphasis added]   During this time, the ISS was about to receive its first crew and a transition in administrations was approaching. Space transportation as an industry was a major goal of this bill and, as such, paved the way for additional steps needed to allow for national policy and political will to be generated enough for the program office to be supported by NASA, Congress and the White House in the future.   COTS and Commercial Crew Program stands up   HR 2684. Section 434: Space Station Commercial Development Demonstration Program   Also in the year 2000, this section of an appropriations bill sponsored by Rep. James Walsh (R-NY) included a precursor of COTS. This provision states:   “The purpose of this section is to establish a demonstration regarding the commercial feasibility and economic viability of private sector business operations involving the International Space Station and its related infrastructure. The goal will be furthered by the early use of the International Space Station by United States commercial entities committing private capital to commercial enterprises on the International Space Station. In conjunction with this demonstration program, the National Aeronautics and Space demonstration (NASA) shall establish and publish a price policy designed to eliminate price uncertainty for those planning to utilize the International Space Station and its related facilities for United States commercial use.” [Emphasis added]   This section of the bill took up where the others left off and stated that demonstration missions were needed in order to show the economic viability of private sector business operations at the ISS. This bill was also signed into law by President Clinton in 2000.   Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004   At the end of the first term of President George W. Bush (a Republican), the Congress (also under Republican leadership) passed the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004. With this law, the government of the United States declared the goal of:   “…safely opening space to the American people and their private commercial, scientific, and cultural enterprises should guide Federal space investments, policies, and regulations… private industry has begun to develop commercial launch vehicles capable of carrying human beings into space and greater private investment in these efforts will stimulate the Nation’s commercial space transportation industry as a whole…”   While the Obama/Biden campaign white paper and some space advocacy groups credit President Obama for “opening up space” for the commercial sector and the citizenry of America, this bipartisan law is where this foundation was laid. Also, in conjunction to this effort, the previous Clinton and Bush National Space Policy documents called for and encouraged the government to increase commercialization of government-run space efforts and the strengthening of the space industrial base and commercial sector. President Obama has continued this through his 2010 National Space Policy and with proposed budget increases to commercial crew and cargo missions. Once this foundation was laid in the 1980s, 1990s, and early 2000s, it was time to begin the formal program offices to execute what the Congress and previous policy had directed up through 2005.   Start of the formal programs at NASA: 2005–06   After taking office in the spring of 2005, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin stated his view and his direction to begin an official program office for commercial cargo and crew:   “I believe that with the advent of the ISS, there will exist for the first time a strong, identifiable market for "routine" transportation service to and from LEO, and that this will be only the first step in what will be a huge opportunity for truly commercial space enterprise, inherent to the Vision for Space Exploration. I believe that the ISS provides a tremendous opportunity to promote commercial space ventures that will help us meet our exploration objectives and at the same time create new jobs and new industry.   The clearly identifiable market provided by the ISS is that for regular cargo delivery and return, and crew rotation especially after we retire the shuttle in 2010, but earlier should the capability become available. We want to be able to buy these services from American industry to the fullest extent possible. We believe that when we engage the engine of competition, these services will be provided in a more cost-effective fashion than when the government has to do it. To that end, we have established a commercial crew/cargo project office, and assigned to it the task of stimulating commercial enterprise in space by asking American entrepreneurs to provide innovative, cost effective commercial cargo and crew transportation services to the space station.   NASA does not have a preferred solution. Our requirements will be couched, to the maximum extent possible, in terms of performance objectives, not process. Process requirements which remain will reflect matters of fundamental safety of life and property, or other basic matters. It will not be government "business as usual". If those of you in industry find it to be otherwise, I expect to hear from you on the matter” [Emphasis added]   This and other statements by NASA leadership at the time, with the support of Congress and the National Space Policy, created their Human Space Flight Transition Plan in 2006. In this report it articulates clearly when the formal program for commercial crew and cargo began:   “COTS is a NASA project to stimulate commercial enterprises in space, open new markets, and challenge private industry to provide commercial delivery of crew and cargo to the ISS. The precursor studies for this project were initiated in February 2004 with the project formally commencing in October of 2005”.   While the path to commercial crew and cargo and the development of commercial development of ISS and LEO has been essentially bipartisan, the majority of the legislation have been sponsored by Republican members of Congress and signed and enacted under administrations of both parties. It’s important to note the historical development of the policies and legislative history of commercial crew and cargo as we go into the election. The space policy of the United States government in both the legislative and executive branches have supported commercialization and economic development of near-Earth space; it’s not something new that was created under the vision and leadership of one President or Congress in the last three years. It has taken years of work between the legislative and executive branches, teaming with the entrepreneurial spirit of the American space industry, to get to where we are today and where we hope to go in the future.   Charting space shuttle history on the Southland map As Endeavour nears its last trip, places that played key roles in the history the shuttle program can be found throughout Southern California   Mike Anton & W.J. Hennigan - Los Angeles Times   Look hard and the ghosts of the nation's 40-year-old space shuttle program can be found hidden in plain sight across Southern California.   They inhabit a sprawling, virtually lifeless building in Canoga Park, where an army of Rocketdyne aerospace engineers once forged shuttle engines amid a haze of cigarette smoke and the clatter of mechanical calculators.   They can be found in the Mojave Desert, at a secured Air Force base in Palmdale, where the shuttles were assembled in a hangar now being used by Boeing Co. to temporarily store office furniture.   And — for the moment at least — they can be found in Downey, where long-armed excavators tear through the 120-acre Boeing facility where many of the shuttle's parts were manufactured. A complex that once employed 12,000 people is now a mountain of rubble, its history unknown to passersby.   As the space shuttle Endeavour is readied for its final, 12-mile voyage through Inglewood and Los Angeles to the California Science Center this week, it is a bittersweet reminder of the economic, technological and social impact the program had on Southern California.   The space shuttle helped carry the region's aerospace industry for four decades, providing jobs to engineers from Ivy League universities, blue-collar technicians fresh out of high school and scores of mom-and-pop shops that supplied thousands of parts.   "The space shuttle program is what made aerospace the economic underpinning for the middle class in Southern California for most of the post-World War II period," said Peter Westwick, author of "Blue Sky Metropolis: The Aerospace Century in Southern California. "At its peak, the shuttle program employed some 20,000 people across the Southland. Entire careers were spent building and maintaining the fleet.   For many, it was more than just a good-paying job. Unique engineering challenges required true invention. There was a sense of purpose in helping to send astronauts into space and a profound feeling of responsibility for their lives.   "When I arrived here 35 years ago, we were still using slide rules.... It was just a bustle of activity here," said Jim Paulsen, 65, vice president and program manager for space launch systems at Rocketdyne in Canoga Park. "Every time it flew, it was an extremely emotional experience for me."   When Columbia blasted off on its maiden journey 31 years ago, a worker at a small subcontractor in Hawthorne summed up the feeling of thousands: "It couldn't have flown without me."   "People throw around words like passion and pride," said Al Hoffman, a top manager for Boeing who oversaw the assembly and maintenance of the orbiters in Palmdale. "But if you really wanted to see it, you needed to come to work on the shuttle program," which he said was the premier job in the aerospace industry.   "It's a space ship, and it does a lot of great things," he said. "A B-2 bomber does only one thing — when it's allowed to. The shuttle was used as everything from a science lab to a UPS truck," ferrying supplies to the space station and deploying satellites.   Like many shuttle engineers, Hoffman believes the fleet was retired before its time, the victim of tight budgets and shifting public attitudes.   "After a while (a shuttle launch) became routine to the public," he said. "It just wasn't as sexy as the newest technology, things like the latest video games and telephones."   While Endeavour's retirement to Los Angeles marks the end of NASA's shuttle program, its footprint in California began to shrink even before that last orbiter was completed in May 1991.   After North American Rockwell in Downey won the shuttle contract in 1972, workers packed the bar at the Tahitian Village motel across the street to drink and celebrate. The tiki-themed "renowned luxury motor court" embodied the ring-a-ding-ding boom times powered by billions of dollars of space work. Astronauts and celebrities were drawn to its lush tropical grounds and entertained by fire dancers.   By the 1990s the Tahitian Village was rundown and uninviting — a symbol of the region's retrenching aerospace industry.   One recent day Paulsen walked through the quiet corridors of the 500,000-square-foot Rocketdyne plant where the space shuttle engines were built. "To see it idle like this is very emotional," he said.   The plant eventually will be torn down. But until then, the place is a museum of ancient technology.   QA: Astronaut Mark Kelly on writing a kids book, missing space, and wife Gabrielle Giffords' continued recovery   Nicki Gostin - FoxNews.com   ‘Mousetronaut,’ a charming picture book about Meteor, a plucky rodent who goes into space, is the first children’s book by astronaut Mark Kelly, perhaps best known as the steadfast husband of Rep. Gabrielle Giffords who survived an assassination attempt at a campaign event last year that killed six others.   Kelly, a veteran of four space flights to the International Space Station, is one tough guy. He also flew thirty-nine combat missions in Operation Desert Storm. He spoke to FOX411 about how the book came about, missing space flight, and his wife's continued recovery.   FOX411: Why does a tough guy like you write a children's book?   Mark Kelly: On my first space flight I carried up some mice and I got the idea from one of then. I didn’t do anything about it for a very long time because I was busy flying the space shuttle and all that. And why a children’s book, because education is the most important thing I think we do in this country. It touches everything, and to have good books that will interest kids at a young age that they’ll read is really important, and kids tend to be interested in space and in animals.   FOX411: Was it hard to write?   MK: It’s much easier to write a children’s book than a memoir. Once you have the story, and this story kind of got a little bit dropped in my lap.   FOX411: Do you miss going up?   MK: Do I miss it? Yeah! Course! It’s a lot of fun, it’s a great job.   FOX411: The first time you went up were you incredibly scared or incredibly excited?   MK: It’s a lot of excitement, a little nervousness, more nervousness of messing it up because it’s unexpected, like what is it going to be like? The scared part, at least for me, was not much of a factor.   FOX411: What’s the one material thing you miss most when you’re in space?   MK: A shower.   FOX411: And a toilet?   MK: We have a toilet? It would be nice to have gravity just for that function.   FOX411: Hey yeah how does that work?   MK: It’s air that flows through there to make some suction. It’s weird every time.   FOX411: You must have been sad about Neil Armstrong passing.   MK: Yeah I’d seen him a couple of times this year. In February and in April at Pensacola. He told me he was having some medical stuff done and then we find out he’s in the hospital and then a couple of days later he passes away.   FOX411: How is Gabby doing?   MK: Great, she’s still working hard, still improving. We just moved back to Tucson, so that’s been great for her, very excited about that.   FOX411: Now that you’re no longer an astronaut, how do you spend your days?   MK: I do some public speaking and some consulting. My primary role is to make sure Gabby has everything she needs. Rehab and all that stuff is in order. Occasional doctors appointments. Just making sure she’s all taken care of, that’s my number one job.   FOX411: The marriage vow is in sickness and in health, but you can’t imagine something like that happening.   MK: Yeah, you don’t plan on the assassination attempt.   A Toyota to tow space shuttle   Detroit Free Press   The space shuttle Endeavour. Brought to you by Toyota?   This week, when NASA's recently retired shuttle makes the last leg of its long journey from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the California Science Center in Los Angeles' Exposition Park, it will be hauled part of the way over a freeway by a Toyota Tundra truck.   It's a scene that seems made for a Toyota commercial. And it may well end up in one. The carmaker plans to film the truck as it tows the massive shuttle.   That a Japanese automaker is hauling the American space shuttle naturally makes it a political issue this election season.   "Barack Obama acts as if he singlehandedly built the U.S. domestic auto industry. Meanwhile, a symbol of American greatness will be towed to its final resting place by a foreign competitor, forever cementing the image of a Toyota truck towing a retired space shuttle," Matt Frendewey, director of communications for the Michigan Republican Party, said in September.   It should be pointed out that Toyota's U.S. headquarters are in Torrance near Los Angeles, and the automaker has a long history of philanthropy at the Science Center.   Space Shuttle Endeavour to Leave on L.A. Road Trip This Week   Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com   As it turns out, transporting a space shuttle through city streets is a "Big Endeavour."   Space shuttle Endeavour, the youngest of NASA's retired orbiters, will depart later this week on a road trip from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) to its new exhibition at the California Science Center (CSC). The two-day, 12-mile (19 kilometer) journey follows Endeavour's delivery to L.A. atop a jumbo jet last month.   The move, which will begin hours before dawn on Friday morning and end after nightfall the next day has been dubbed "Mission 26: The Big Endeavour." While it was in service to NASA, Endeavour flew 25 missions to space between 1992 and 2011.   Mission 26 will take Endeavour through Inglewood and Los Angeles, including passing over the freeway, and pausing for celebrations outside the former indoor arena of the Los Angeles Lakers and at a street intersection where "Fame" actress Debbie Allen has choreographed a tribute.   Endeavour will make the journey atop a modified NASA overland transporter, driven most of the time by four self-powered, computer-controlled vehicles. For a brief stretch though, the shuttle will be towed by a stock Toyota Tundra pickup truck.   Despite being initially promoted by Los Angeles' mayor as the "mother of all parades," the logistics of transporting a spacecraft with a 78-foot (24 meter) wingspan and a 58-foot-tall (18 meter) tail required the police to shut down streets and sidewalks, limiting public viewing to only a few designated areas along the route. Still, tens of thousands of residents and visitors are expected turn out to witness Endeavour's slow trek to its new home.   Turn left at Exposition Park   Endeavour is scheduled to depart LAX airport property at around 2 a.m. PDT (5 a.m. EDT; 0900 GMT) Friday. The first day of the move will be punctuated by short drives and long stops as crews work to raise power lines between the airport and the overpass that the shuttle will cross over the freeway.   Endeavour will take Westchester Boulevard to Sepulveda, where it will make its first extended stop for about nine hours in a parking lot as the first set of transformer lines are de-energized and raised. That afternoon, Endeavour will continue down Manchester Boulevard, crossing into Inglewood and stopping for another six hours as its path is cleared.   Out of safety concerns involving the power line work, Los Angeles and Inglewood police departments have said that public viewing will be limited on Friday until Endeavour's overnight crossing of the 405 is completed.   Originally, the plan was for Toyota to lend one of its stock Tundra trucks to tow the shuttle on its last quarter-mile (400 meters) to the science center. Instead, the pickup will be used to move Endeavour over the freeway due to its computer-driven transporters not being cleared for use on the overpass.   By Saturday morning at around 8 a.m. PDT (11 a.m. EDT; 1500 GMT), Endeavour should be passing by Inglewood City Hall, where it was initially expected to stop. The city hall grounds should still offer plenty of opportunities for the public to see the shuttle on the move, but it will continue on its way to The Forum for a ceremony that will 'launch' Endeavour's final journey.   The Inglewood Police Department said it is expecting between 10,000 and 14,000 people to attend the event at the arena.   Leaving The Forum celebration, Endeavour will head back into Los Angeles and pause again at Crenshaw Boulevard and Martin Luther King, Jr. Boulevard for the Debbie Allen production at around 2 p.m. (5 p.m. EDT; 2100 GMT). The intersection will be able to accommodate only about 1,500 spectators, according to the LAPD.   Endeavour will then roll along King to Bill Robertson Lane and then turn left into Exposition Park on the final stretch to the California Science Center's Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Display Pavilion.   The arrival at the CSC, which is expected around 9 p.m. PDT (midnight EDT; 0400 GMT Oct. 14), may provide the best opportunity for the public to see the Endeavour during its road trip. The center plans to debut Endeavour to the public on Oct. 30.   Trees, transporters and traffic   According to city officials, Endeavour will be one of the largest objects ever to be transported over city streets in Los Angeles history. Moving the 155,000-pound (70,300 kilogram) orbiter presented the science center and local police departments with significant logistical challenges.   "Building [the space shuttle] Endeavour was a marvel of ingenuity and engineering," Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said in a statement. "Moving Endeavour will also be a marvel of ingenuity and engineering. Every step of the way, we have worked to mitigate the concerns of the community. Thanks to this hard work, we expect that the transportation of Endeavour will be celebrated as a truly unique event in our city's history."   "We urge all those who are interested in viewing this once in a lifetime event to visit the space shuttle at one of the designated viewing locations or at its new home at the California Science Center," Villaraigosa said.   To make way for the space shuttle, the CSC worked with the cities of L.A. and Inglewood to facilitate the temporary removal and re-installation of power lines, traffic signals and street lights as Endeavour traverses through these communities. In evaluating the best route, it also became necessary to remove several hundred trees.   For every tree that was removed, up to four trees of higher quality will be planted in its place with other improvements to beautify these areas. Two years of tree maintenance will also be provided by the CSC Foundation.   According to the LAPD, extremely large crowds from all over Southern California are anticipated to show up in an attempt to see the shuttle in its final miles through the streets. Due to the road closures and limited parking, the police have cautioned that this influx will likely result in significant traffic congestion and long delays in and out of the area.   NASA Headquarters: Facts and Information   Mike Webb - Space.com   NASA Headquarters in Washington, D.C., houses the higher-ups responsible for charting the space agency's course and implementing its vision. For the record, that vision is: "To reach for new heights and reveal the unknown so that what we do and learn will benefit all humankind."   Former space shuttle commander Charlie Bolden has headed NASA since 2009, when he became the first African-American to lead the agency on a permanent basis. NASA's deputy administrator is Lori Garver, who served as the chief civil space policy adviser for President Barack Obama's 2008 presidential campaign.   NASA HQ is located at Two Independence Square, a building in a complex at 300 E Street SW in the nation's capital. It oversees activities conducted at the agency's 10 field centers and a variety of installations scattered around the country.   Headquarters is divided into three main organizations, which the agency calls mission directorates. These directorates are Aeronautics, Human Exploration and Operations, and Science.   Aeronautics   NASA isn't just about spaceflight and space science, as its full name — the National Aeronautics and Space Administration — makes clear.   The Aeronautics Mission Directorate works to make air travel smoother and safer. The directorate has three main goals, according to its website: 1) Improve gate-to-gate mobility in the nation's commercial air transportation system; 2) Reduce aircraft noise, emissions and fuel use, as well as the overall environmental impact on communities surrounding airports; and 3) Maintain or improve aircraft safety.   Aeronautics research takes place at four of NASA's 10 centers: Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif.; Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base in California; Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio; and Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.   Jaiwon Shin leads the Aeronautics Mission Directorate, which received $551 million in the White House's budget request for fiscal year 2013 (out of a total NASA allocation of $17.7 billion).   Human Exploration and Operations   This directorate manages NASA's human spaceflight operations in low-Earth orbit and beyond. Much of the work is connected with the $100 billion International Space Station, which has hosted astronauts continuously since 2000.   But NASA is also working to get people to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to Mars by the mid-2030s — tasks laid out by President Obama in 2010. To make this happen, the agency is building a huge rocket called the Space Launch System and a capsule known as Orion.   Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) also manages the space agency's efforts to nurture the emerging American private spaceflight industry, which NASA wants to fill the crew- and cargo-carrying shoes of the retired space shuttle fleet.   NASA hopes at least two American commercial spaceships are ready to ferry astronauts to and from the space station by 2017. The agency has also inked deals with two companies — California-based SpaceX and Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. — to make supply runs to the orbiting lab with unmanned craft.   The HEO directorate is relatively new, having been created in August 2011. It combines two previous directorates, which were known as Space Operations and Exploration Systems.   Bill Gerstenmaier leads HEO, which received $7.9 billion in the White House's 2013 federal budget request — about 45 percent of NASA's total allocation.   NASA field centers that are key to the goals and activities of this directorate include Kennedy Space Center in Florida, Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, Houston's Johnson Space Center and Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.   Science   The Science Mission Directorate manages NASA's many scientific and unmanned exploration activities, which the space agency breaks into four main areas: Earth science, planetary science, heliophysics and astrophysics.   The directorate's cosmic reach is thus vast, spanning missions that study Earth from space to unmanned efforts that explore other worlds such as Mars and Jupiter to space telescopes that peer to the very edge of the observable universe.   For example, Science oversees the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission, which dropped the 1-ton Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet's surface on Aug. 5, 2012. And it's responsible for the $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope that's slated for a 2018 launch.   The Science Mission Directorate is led by former astronaut John Grunsfeld. The directorate received $4.9 billion in the White House's 2013 federal budget request. (The allocations to NASA's three directorates don't add up to the agency's total budget of $17.7 billion because some money goes to construction, field center management and education efforts, among other things.)   The 2013 budget request gives NASA's planetary science efforts $1.2 billion, a 20 percent cut from 2012, with much of the money coming out of the agency's Mars program. The reduction forced NASA to scale back and fundamentally restructure its Mars exploration plans.   NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. has managed many of the space agency's robotic exploration missions over the years. Several other NASA field centers play a large role in the Science Mission Directorate's activities, including Ames and Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md.   MEANWHILE ON MARS...   Mars rover Curiosity scoops, detects bright object   Associated Press   NASA officials say the Curiosity rover has made its first scoop of the surface of planet Mars and has detected a bright object on the ground.   Officials said in a news release Monday that they suspect the object might be a part of the six-wheeled rover, but they won't sample or scoop anymore until they figure out what it is.   The Curiosity has already beamed back pictures of bedrock that suggest a fast-moving stream once flowed on the planet.   The rover landed Aug. 5 and is on a two-year, $2.5 billion mission to study whether microbial life could have existed on Mars in the past.   Today's Mars is a frozen desert, but previous geological studies suggest it was once warmer and wetter.   Mars Curiosity rover holds up on its scoops to check out weird object   Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log   NASA's Curiosity rover dug up its first scoopful of sandy soil on Sunday and swished it around like a connoisseur tasting wine. But the long-anticipated sampling session had to be put on hold when Curiosity's handlers spotted a bright and tiny object nearby.   What the heck is it? A loose screw? A cigarette butt? A piece of Martian macaroni? The mystery lit up a few Twitter feeds this afternoon, but for now, the best hypothesis seems to be that it's a bit of plastic that fell off the rover.   Such droppings aren't unusual. "All the cool landers drop stuff on Mars," joked Sarah Milkovich, a member of the Curiosity team as well as the science team for the High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. Her Twitter tweet included a link to a picture of hardware dropped onto the Martian surface by Phoenix Mars Lander back in 2008.   The Curiosity rover's Twitter account got into the act: "Team spotted bright object on ground near me — possibly a piece of rover hardware? Gathering more data," she tweeted. Even Sarcastic Rover chimed in: "Did anyone lose an earring on Mars? Because I may have found it. Or else I'm falling apart. But let's hope earring."   Seriously, though ... The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla turned up a picture from Curiosity's ChemCam imager that seemed to show a tiny shred of plastic wrap — perhaps a bit of the insulating tape that's used all over the rover.   Stopping the scooping   The object was spotted just as Curiosity was using its scoop to pick up Martian soil from a sandy site known as "Rocknest." The plan was to shovel and shake the light soil to clear out the sample collection system mounted on the end of Curiosity's 7-foot-long (2.1-meter-long) robotic arm, known as CHIMRA (Collection and Handling for In-situ Martian Rock Analysis). But today, NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory reported that Curiosity's team refrained from using the robotic arm in order to check out the weird object.   "Curiosity is acquiring additional imaging of the object to aid the team in identifying the object and assessing possible impact, if any, to sampling activities," JPL said in its mission status report.   As Milkovich noted, Mars surface probes will occasionally spot anomalous bits of stuff such as the "bunny ears" and the "Martian macaroni" seen by the Opportunity rover. These cases have generally been explained as bits of fabric or metal left behind by the rover, and it seems likely that the same will be said of Curiosity's "cigarette butt."   Such debris is harmless — but if even a bit of it happened to get into the rover's sensitive chemistry labs, that could ruin the scientific readings. Even before the rover was launched, scientists worried that the plastic tape would throw off the rover's chemistry experiments. That's why Curiosity's team is being so careful about what to do next.   Clearing Curiosity's throat   Eventually, the sand scooping will continue, either at Rocknest or another site. The first few samples won't undergo any chemical analysis. Instead, the material will be shaken around and sent through Curiosity's sorting and sampling chambers to clear out any schmutz that's left over from the rover's journey to Mars.   Daniel Limonadi, an engineer at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told reporters last week that the palate-cleansing was required even though the hardware is "super-squeaky-clean when it's delivered and assembled" at JPL. "By virtue of its just being on Earth, you get a kind of residual oily film that is impossible to avoid," he said.   Once the soil has been shaken and stirred through the chambers, it'll be ejected from the mechanism and plopped back onto the Martian surface. "We effectively use it to rinse out our mouth three times and then kind of spit out," Limonadi said.   When the palate-cleansing is complete, in about a week or so, CHIMRA will start delivering samples to Curiosity's two onboard chemical labs, known as Sample Analysis at Mars, or SAM; and the Chemical and Mineralogy experiment, or CheMin. Today's mission status report from NASA notes that those two instruments "will play crucial roles in evaluating whether the study area has ever had a favorable environment for microbial life."   Determining whether Mars was potentially habitable in ancient times is the prime goal for Curiosity's $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission. The nuclear-powered rover landed in Mars' Gale Crater on Aug. 5 and is on its way to a geologically interesting spot called Glenelg, where it's expected to use its percussive rock drill for the first time. After spending several weeks at Glenelg, Curiosity is due to turn around and head for a 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain that is thought to preserve billions of years' worth of geological history.   END