11/6/12 news

  Tuesday, November 6, 2012   JSC TODAY HEADLINES 1.            November is National Native American Heritage Month 2.            Electronic Recycling Event This Weekend 3.            Why Be Sustainable? It's All About Our Future 4.            CFC Still Going Strong -- Contribute Now 5.            Call for Proposals -- Science Innovation Fund (SIF) 6.            This Week at Starport 7.            FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, Nov. 7 8.            Applications Now Being Accepted for NASA SELDP 9.            POWER of One Award 10.          Fire Warden Refresher Course (Two Hours) ________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY “ A man wrapped up in himself makes a very small bundle. ”   -- Benjamin Franklin ________________________________________ 1.            November is National Native American Heritage Month Native American Heritage Month is observed every November in the United States. What started at the turn of the century as an effort to gain a day of recognition for the significant contributions the first Americans made to the establishment and growth of the United States has resulted in a whole month being designated for that purpose. In 1990, President George H. W. Bush approved a joint resolution designating November "National Native American Heritage Month." November was chosen because it is traditionally a time when many Native Americans gather for harvest festivals and tribal ceremonies. Per the 2010 Census, the nation's population of American Indians and Alaska Natives was 5.2 million (1.7 percent): 2.9 million were American Indian and Alaska Native only, and 2.3 million were in combination with one or more other races. To read the presidential proclamation, please visit this website.   To view or print 2012 poster, click here. JSC Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity x30607 http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oeod/   [top] 2.            Electronic Recycling Event This Weekend In honor of Texas and America Recycles Day, the JSC Contractor Environmental Partnership is hosting another electronic-recycling and document-shredding event this weekend at Space Center Houston on Nov. 10. Join us in the parking lot from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m. with all your personal computer and entertainment electronics and documents. (No NASA property, appliances or household hazardous waste will be accepted.) Just in time to clean out closets and make room for all those Black Friday deals, this event will be free and open to the public. It's a perfect way to get rid of all those unwanted electronics in an environmentally friendly manner. See you there! JSC Contractor Environmental Partnership x40878 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/apps/news/newsfiles/3198.pdf   [top] 3.            Why Be Sustainable? It's All About Our Future At JSC we are pleased to announce we have released our JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy. Please take some time to read about it and our upcoming events here and let us know if you would like a sustainability presentation in a staff meeting. Nov. 15 is America Recycles Day, so during November and December we will focus on awareness, education and waste resources. We will have brown bags on our cafeteria recycling efforts, and we will take one of the government alternative vehicles on a jaunt down the HOV lanes -- we will be sustainable! -- to the Westchase Recycling Plant for an informative tour. Please stay tuned to JSC Today for details. Remember: It makes a difference! JSC Sustainaibility x39845 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/index.cfm   [top] 4.            CFC Still Going Strong -- Contribute Now The 2012 Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) has already begun at JSC! The CFC is the only federal workplace giving program for federal employees -- and as such, you can choose to give thousands of deserving organizations at the local, national and global levels. They include organizations to educate, shelter, feed, protect, volunteer, or any other number of charities and programs. This year our center's monetary goal is $675,000. With your help, we can reach it. 1. Simply find the charity or charities you want to give to (online or in this book). 2. Federal employees can donate via payroll deductions at EmployeeExpress (EEx). (Instructions on How to Donate via EEx) 3. All JSC team members can make cash/check donations by using the paper pledge form. (Paper pledge forms may be dropped off with the organization coordinator.) Donations of any amount are welcome, starting from $1 per pay period. Give a little. Help A LOT. Mirella Barron Lanmon x49796   [top] 5.            Call for Proposals -- Science Innovation Fund (SIF) The NASA Chief Scientist has established a small investment to provide centers with seed funding for early-stage scientific research activities. NASA currently has analogous seed programs for technology (Center Innovation Fund) and aeronautics (ARMD Seedling Fund). This solicitation seeks short (two-page) proposals from civil servants at JSC. The SIF will be limited to scientific research with only one proposal as PI per scientist. Since SMD funded the program this year, we expect all funds to be used for SMD-relevant projects. Proposals should target concepts of limited duration (typically less than a year; do not expect multi-year activities) and limited funding -- specifically, no more than $75,000, including CS labor per proposal. (Note that funding is primarily CS labor with limited procurement.) Proposals are due on Nov. 26 by 5 p.m. CST. The full solicitation information and templates are available at the Science Innovation SharePoint site. Eileen K. Stansbery x35540 http://ka.jsc.nasa.gov/aresmanage/solicit1/SitePages/Home.aspx   [top] 6.            This Week at Starport Starport's Thanksgiving lunch is tomorrow! Stop by the Starport Cafés for traditional Thanksgiving favorites with all the trimmings. Registration has started for our Fall Break Camp for youth ages 6 to 12. Register now at the Gilruth Center. Short-term child care will resume this Saturday at the Gilruth Center. Let the Starport staff watch your children while you work out! Save the date for Breakfast with Santa! On Dec. 8, Santa Claus will be coming to the Gilruth Center to have breakfast with your family and be available for gift wishes and pictures. Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/   [top] 7.            FedTraveler Live Lab Tomorrow, Nov. 7 Do you need some hands-on, personal help with FedTraveler.com? Join the Business Systems, Innovation and Process Improvement Office for a FedTraveler Live Lab tomorrow, Nov. 7, any time between 9 a.m. and noon in Building 12, Room 142. Our help desk representatives will be available to help you work through travel processes and learn more about using FedTraveler during this informal workshop. Bring your current travel documents or specific questions that you have about the system and join us for some hands-on, in-person help with the FedTraveler. If you'd like to sign up for this FedTraveler Live Lab, please log into SATERN and register. For additional information, please contact Judy Seier at x32771. Gina Clenney x39851   [top] 8.            Applications Now Being Accepted for NASA SELDP The Human Resources Office is currently accepting applications for NASA's Systems Engineering Leadership Development Program (SELDP) from Nov. 5 to Dec. 7. This is the agencywide program that provides GS-13 to GS-15s leadership development and technical training in systems engineering through developmental assignments at other centers, workshops and mentoring. If you are interested in applying, talk to your supervisor. You must be able to be fully released from your current work assignment and be able to move away from your geographic area to another center for six to 12 months. Applications should be worked through your management and submitted to your directorate training coordinator by your organization's internal deadline. Applications are due to J. Greg Grant in Building 12, Room 269, at noon on Dec. 7. For full SELDP program details, click here. Application prep sessions will be offered on Nov. 9 and 13 at 1 p.m. in Building 17, Room 2037. J. Greg Grant x32601 http://www.nasa.gov/offices/oce/appel/seldp/call/index.html   [top] 9.            POWER of One Award The POWER of One Award has been a great success, but we still need your nominations. We're looking for standouts with specific examples of exceptional or superior performance. Our award criteria below will help guide you in writing the short write-up needed for submittal. •         Single Achievement: Explain how the person truly went above and beyond on a single project or initiative •         Affect and Impact: What was the significant impact? How many were impacted? Who was impacted? •         Standout: What stands out? What extra effort? Did the effort exceed and accomplish the goal? •         Category: Which category should nominee be in? •         Gold - agency impact award level •         Silver - center impact award level •         Bronze - organization impact award level If chosen, the recipient can choose from a list of JSC experiences and have their name and recognition shared on InsideJSC. Click here for complete information on the JSC Awards Program. Jessica Ocampo 281-792-7804 https://powerofone.jsc.nasa.gov   [top] 10.          Fire Warden Refresher Course (Two Hours) This two-hour course is intended for previously trained Fire Wardens from JSC, Sonny Carter Training Facility and Ellington Field. It is required to satisfy the JSC three-year refresher training requirement for building Fire Wardens who have previously completed the initial four-hour Fire Warden Orientation Training. This course emphasizes a review of the duties and responsibilities of a Fire Warden during an emergency evacuation of their assigned building and conduct of the required monthly walk-around inspection of the Fire Warden's assigned area. Newly assigned Fire Wardens must attend the four-hour Initial Fire Warden Orientation course available in SATERN for registration. Date/Time: Nov. 28 from 1 to 3 p.m. Where: Safety Learning Center, Building 226N, Room 174 Registration via SATERN required: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Aundrail Hill x36369   [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: 7 am Central (8 EST) - E33's Aki Hoshide with Yomiuri Shimbun & Keio University                                                    (Interpreted replay at 10 Central; 8 EST)   Human Spaceflight News Tuesday – November 6, 2012   HEADLINES AND LEADS   SpaceX Moves into Phase Three   Amy Teitel - AmericaSpace.org   With another successful mission under its belt, SpaceX looks to be unstoppable on its quest to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Last month, a Falcon 9 successfully sent a cargo-laden Dragon capsule to the ISS. The Dragon’s splashdown last week on October 28 marked the company’s move into the third phase of its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative with NASA. SpaceX, like NASA did in its early life, has followed a progressive approach to spaceflight to this point.   NASA Offers JSC Testing Facilities to Outside Users   Space News   NASA is looking to make structural testing facilities at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston available to users outside of the agency and has given interested parties an additional month to respond to a request for information the agency released about the opportunity. Structural testing capabilities at Johnson include test labs and tools, and the expertise of NASA scientists and engineers who can analyze data and operations test equipment, according to an Oct. 30 NASA press release. Core areas include material properties, advanced manufacturing techniques research, and rapid prototyping or fabrication of aircraft, spaceflight vehicle systems and industrial structures, the press release said.   SpaceX Test Fires Grasshopper Again   Dan Leone - Space News   Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) flew its experimental Grasshopper vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing rocket for the second time, according to footage of the test posted by company founder Elon Musk Nov. 3. The Nov. 1 Grasshopper flight was the “[f]irst flight of 10 story tall Grasshopper rocket using closed loop thrust vector & throttle control,” Musk said in a Nov. 3 Twitter message. The note contained a link to a video of the flight, which took place at the company’s McGregor, Texas, rocket test facility.   SpaceX Tests Precision Landing Rocket   Jason Paur - Wired.com   It’s been a busy week at SpaceX, with the company passing milestones for its manned space program, completing a test flight of its precision landing system and welcoming its latest Dragon back home from orbit. The California company is finished with the first three performance milestones set out by NASA for the agency’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability program. The CCiCap initiative is similar to the commercial cargo development program SpaceX finished earlier this year, but instead the program is designed for carrying crew to low Earth orbit.   A diverse cast for a human spaceflight study   Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com   On Friday, the National Research Council released the list of committee members for a new review of the US human spaceflight program. This review was mandated by Congress back in the 2010 NASA authorization act, which called on NASA to contract with the National Academies in 2012 for “a review of the goals, core capabilities, and direction of human space flight” based the goals set in various legislation dating back to the 1958 Space Act.   Boom! NASA to Demolish Spacecraft in the Name of Science   Leonard David - Space.com   Work is underway to create a spacecraft that won't be rocketed into outer space but will be purposely destroyed on the ground. DebriSat is a 110-pound (50 kilograms) satellite that's a double for a modern low-Earth orbit spacecraft in terms of its components, materials used, and fabrication procedures. But once fabricated and tested, DebriSat is doomed. The spacecraft will be the target of a future hypervelocity impact experiment to examine the physical characteristics of debris created when two satellites collide. NASA and the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center are co-sponsors of DebriSat. The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston is leading the effort.   Former Astronaut's Congressional Bid to Be Decided Tuesday   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   Residents of California's 10th District will decide whether or not to elect former astronaut Jose Hernandez to Congress on Tuesday. Hernandez, who served NASA as an astronaut between 2004 and 2011, is hoping to make his next mark as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.   It's a bird, it's a plane, no ... it's the space station   Deborah Netburn - Los Angeles Times   You get sales alerts, Twitter alerts, sports alerts and Facebook alerts. Now you can also get an alert when the International Space Station is visible overhead thanks to NASA's new Web app Spot the Station. The International Space Station's orbit 200 miles above Earth makes it visible to more than 90% of the Earth's population, NASA said. The trick is knowing when to look for it. __________   COMPLETE STORIES   SpaceX Moves into Phase Three   Amy Teitel - AmericaSpace.org   With another successful mission under its belt, SpaceX looks to be unstoppable on its quest to send astronauts to the International Space Station. Last month, a Falcon 9 successfully sent a cargo-laden Dragon capsule to the ISS. The Dragon’s splashdown last week on October 28 marked the company’s move into the third phase of its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative with NASA.   SpaceX, like NASA did in its early life, has followed a progressive approach to spaceflight to this point.   Its first major milestone was a technical and baseline review. It demonstrated that both the Falcon 9 and Dragon capsule are able to fulfill low Earth orbital missions. At that point, the possibility of manned missions was discussed as an eventual capability on a longer term. SpaceX’s second major milestone included a breakdown for NASA of its plan to knock CCiCap milestones off its list under the $440 million Space Act Agreement.   “These initial milestones are just the beginning of a very exciting endeavor with SpaceX,” said NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager Ed Mango.   The third milestone, on which SpaceX is now embarking, has the company providing NASA with some pertinent information for future unmanned and manned flights. First, it will deliver an integrated systems requirements review outlining the techniques behind designing, building, and testing its Dragon and Falcon 9 vehicles. Second, SpaceX will demonstrate to NASA just how it intends to manage ground operations from launch to ascent, in-orbit operations, re-entry, and landing once it starts launching manned missions.   Of course, this isn’t the only thing SpaceX has been up to lately. This last mission to the ISS was the second of 12 planned cargo resupply missions. SpaceX has also completed its Space Act Agreement with NASA for the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiative that preceded CCiCap. Under this program, SpaceX designed, developed and tested components of a launch abort system for the Dragon capsule. With NASA’s help in calculating loads and trajectories, SpaceX settled on large hypergolic engines called SuperDraco that propel the Dragon away from a rocket in the event of a launch abort to spare the crew.   This ongoing cooperation between NASA and SpaceX has been a fruitful partnership. “Our NASA team brought years of experience to the table and shared with SpaceX what components, systems, techniques and processes have worked for the agency’s human space transportation systems in the past and why they’ve worked,” said Jon Cowart, NASA’s SpaceX partner manager during CCDev2. “This sharing of experience benefitted both NASA and the company, and is creating a more dependable system at an accelerated pace.”   All these steps are putting manned launches closer on the horizon. “The Dragon spacecraft has successfully delivered cargo to the space station twice this year, and SpaceX is well under way toward upgrading Dragon to transport astronauts as well,” said SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell.   As these development and certification initiatives progress, NASA will eventually have another way to get its astronauts up to the International Space Station. It’s a goal many Earthbound Americans would like to see happen sooner rather than later.   NASA Offers JSC Testing Facilities to Outside Users   Space News   NASA is looking to make structural testing facilities at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston available to users outside of the agency and has given interested parties an additional month to respond to a request for information the agency released about the opportunity.   Structural testing capabilities at Johnson include test labs and tools, and the expertise of NASA scientists and engineers who can analyze data and operations test equipment, according to an Oct. 30 NASA press release. Core areas include material properties, advanced manufacturing techniques research, and rapid prototyping or fabrication of aircraft, spaceflight vehicle systems and industrial structures, the press release said.   Those interested in using the facilities have until Dec. 5 to respond to NASA’s request. The deadline was extended from its original Nov. 5 date on Oct. 24, according to the request for information NASA posted online last month.   NASA said it expects to be reimbursed for the use of the Johnson testing facilities and the time its employees spend on any projects run there by outside users. Proposed tests must be consistent with the agency’s mission, NASA said in its press release. Facilities are available to other government agencies, academics and private users.   SpaceX Test Fires Grasshopper Again   Dan Leone - Space News   Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) flew its experimental Grasshopper vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing rocket for the second time, according to footage of the test posted by company founder Elon Musk Nov. 3.   The Nov. 1 Grasshopper flight was the “[f]irst flight of 10 story tall Grasshopper rocket using closed loop thrust vector & throttle control,” Musk said in a Nov. 3 Twitter message. The note contained a link to a video of the flight, which took place at the company’s McGregor, Texas, rocket test facility.   Grasshopper burned its single Merlin 1-D engine for eight seconds in the Nov. 1 flight, boosting the craft about 5.4 meters above the ground, according to a note posted on SpaceX’s YouTube channel Nov. 5.   SpaceX spokeswoman Katherine Nelson did not immediately reply to a Nov. 4 request for comment about other details of the flight. The latest Grasshopper hop appeared to be an interim step toward the vehicle’s next major milestone: a hover test at 30.5 meters. SpaceX publicly announced plans for the hover test in a press release after Grasshopper’s first flight in September.   One of the largest vertical-takeoff, vertical-landing rockets ever built, the 40-meter-tall Grasshopper is a testbed for technology SpaceX is developing to make the first stage of its Falcon 9 rocket reusable. The company eventually wants Falcon 9 stages to be able to return to the pad under their own power after launch. The rocket has flown to orbit four times to date, each time in an expendable configuration.   Grasshopper is essentially a Falcon 9 first stage with landing legs that is powered by a Merlin 1-D engine. Merlin 1-D, an upgraded version of the kerosene-fueled rocket engine that currently powers SpaceX’s cargo delivery missions for NASA, has yet to fly in space.   Grasshopper first flew Sept. 21. In that test, the rig reached an altitude of about 1.8 meters. SpaceX was testing the systems that allow remote operation of the rocket, and the ability of the craft’s landing gear to withstand the impact of a hard touchdown on the pad. SpaceX declared the test a success.   In a 2011 FAA document, published as part of that agency’s due diligence for licensing Grasshopper flights, SpaceX said the Grasshopper test program could last up to three years. Grasshopper might make as many as 70 suborbital flights a year, SpaceX said at the time.   SpaceX is performing Grasshopper tests even as the company moves into the operational phase of its space cargo hauling contract with NASA.   On Nov. 1, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule arrived at McGregor for post-flight processing after a successful cargo delivery mission to the international space station. Dragon returned to Earth Oct. 28 with 720 kilograms of return cargo, marking a successful end to SpaceX’s first contracted cargo run to the orbiting outpost. SpaceX has 11 more delivery flights remaining under its $1.6 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract, which it got from NASA in 2008. The next SpaceX resupply flight is slated for liftoff in mid-January from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.   In addition to delivering space station cargo, SpaceX is one of three companies that in August got an infusion of NASA money under the agency’s $1.2 billion Commercial Crew Integrated Capability program. NASA is funding designs for competing, privately operated crew transportation systems in the hope that at least one of them will be ready to transport astronauts by 2017.   SpaceX Tests Precision Landing Rocket   Jason Paur - Wired.com   It’s been a busy week at SpaceX, with the company passing milestones for its manned space program, completing a test flight of its precision landing system and welcoming its latest Dragon back home from orbit.   The California company is finished with the first three performance milestones set out by NASA for the agency’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability program. The CCiCap initiative is similar to the commercial cargo development program SpaceX finished earlier this year, but instead the program is designed for carrying crew to low Earth orbit.   Right now the only way for NASA to send astronauts to the ISS is via the Russian Soyuz. From the beginning, SpaceX has designed both the Falcon 9 booster rocket and the Dragon spacecraft to be capable of manned space flight. And last week the company presented NASA with its plans for an integrated systems requirements review, the third milestone for the CCiCap program.   “These initial milestones are just the beginning of a very exciting endeavor with SpaceX,” said Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager. “We expect to see significant progress from our three CCiCap partners in a fairly short amount of time.”   The two other companies working with NASA on the CCiCap are Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corporation.   Eventually SpaceX wants to employ a fully reusable space launch system. Currently, the Falcon 9 booster rocket isn’t put back into service after splashing down in the Atlantic at the end of the first stage. The company has pointed out in the past that airlines don’t throw away the airplane after every flight, and it believes one of most important achievements to greatly reducing the cost of orbital flight is to be able to reuse as much of the vehicle as possible after a launch.   In the future SpaceX plans to use rocket engines to allow the Falcon 9 to return to Earth in a controlled flight, with a precision landing at a specified landing site. On Saturday SpaceX founder Elon Musk sent out a video showing the latest (short) flight testing the company’s precision landing rocket.   “First flight of 10 story tall Grasshopper rocket using closed loop thrust vector & throttle control,” Musk tweeted.   Similar to the previous Grasshopper flight, the rocket lifts off the pad for a short flight and returns safely to the ground. While the flight might not look like much, a controlled landing from even a low height as seen in the video is no easy task. The closed loop thrust vector and throttle are part of the automated controls for the Grasshopper. The Falcon 9 and Dragon both use automated controls for all phases of flight (with manual override capabilities) including the final docking with the ISS.   The Grasshopper is a suborbital test vehicle with a wider, landing gear structure at its base to allow for vertical take off and landing capability. Eventually the landing gear is expected to fold up flush with the first stage during flight and be extended again for landing.   Future tests of the Grasshopper will include supersonic flights to altitudes over 10,000 feet before returning to the launch pad.   After its longest orbital flight to date, the Dragon spacecraft will soon be processed at SpaceX’s facility in McGregor, Texas. The capsule was first delivered to ship to a dock in Los Angeles where the time-sensitive cargo was unpacked. The rest of the cargo as well as a complete post-flight inspection will take place inside the Dragon building in Texas where the first ISS-bound Dragon was processed earlier this year.   A diverse cast for a human spaceflight study   Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com   On Friday, the National Research Council released the list of committee members for a new review of the US human spaceflight program. This review was mandated by Congress back in the 2010 NASA authorization act, which called on NASA to contract with the National Academies in 2012 for “a review of the goals, core capabilities, and direction of human space flight” based the goals set in various legislation dating back to the 1958 Space Act.   The provision in the 2010 act called for a “broad spectrum of participation with representatives of a range of disciplines, backgrounds, and generations, including civil, commercial, international, scientific, and national security interests.”   The committee list does appear to meet that “broad spectrum” criterion. The co-chairs are Jonathan Lunine, a planetary scientist at Cornell University; and William Perry, the former secretary of defense in the Clinton Administration. Other members include former vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, James Cartwright; Andrew Kohut, president of the Pew Research Center; and Ariel Waldman, founder of Spacehack.org who has also been, among other things, “a sci-fi movie gadget columnist for Engadget.” A diverse group, indeed.   The composition of the committee has raised a few eyebrows—and questions—from observers. There’s a strong emphasis in the committee in the area of surveys, with several other members besides Kohut with expertise in that area. There’s a mix of people from the physical and social sciences as well. Notably absent, though, are any representatives from the aerospace industry itself (one member, Franklin Martin, is a consultant who provides “independent review services for NASA spaceflight projects”), either from the major aerospace companies or the smaller entrepreneurial firms.   There’s also only one person on the committee who has flown in space: former astronaut Bryan O’Connor, now an independent consultant. The absence of such people can be seen as a weakness, or a willingness to take a different approach to such a study. (There is a public comment period on the committee’s membership that is open until Thanksgiving.)   There’s also the question of how useful the committee will be. The study, according to the committee’s website, will provide “findings, rationale, prioritized recommendations, and decision rules that could enable and guide future planning for U.S. human space exploration.”   Similar language in the 2010 authorization act gave the perception that this is a “decadal” study for human spaceflight analogous to the ones done in the sciences. The usefulness of such a study has been debated in the past, with mixed opinions about how well it could guide future programs. The committee’s final report is due out in May 2014.   Boom! NASA to Demolish Spacecraft in the Name of Science   Leonard David - Space.com   Work is underway to create a spacecraft that won't be rocketed into outer space but will be purposely destroyed on the ground.   DebriSat is a 110-pound (50 kilograms) satellite that's a double for a modern low-Earth orbit spacecraft in terms of its components, materials used, and fabrication procedures. But once fabricated and tested, DebriSat is doomed.   The spacecraft will be the target of a future hypervelocity impact experiment to examine the physical characteristics of debris created when two satellites collide.   NASA and the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center are co-sponsors of DebriSat. The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston is leading the effort.   Impact risk assessments   Data gleaned from demolishing DebriSat will be valuable in the short- and long-term, said J. C. Liou of NASA's Orbital Debris Program Office.   "Collision fragments are expected to dominate the future orbital debris environment," Liou told SPACE.com. Therefore, he said, a high fidelity breakup model describing the outcome of a satellite collision — in terms of the fragment size, mass, area-to-mass ratio, shape, and composition distributions — is needed for reliable short- and long-term impact risk assessments.   Those appraisals deal with debris as small as 1 millimeter for critical space assets and for good orbital debris environment definition, Liou said. Some of the distributions for "large" fragments can be obtained from the U.S. Space Surveillance Network (SSN) observations. But the SSN data are limited to 10-centimeter (4 inches) and larger objects. "Laboratory-based experiments are necessary to collect data for smaller debris," he said.   As a modern satellite target, obliterating DebriSat is expected to improve the NASA standard satellite breakup model.   Laboratory-based impact tests   Liou pointed out that the Department of Defense (DoD) and NASA have conducted quite a few laboratory-based impact tests in the past. One of the key experiments supporting the development of the NASA and DoD satellite breakup models was called SOCIT, short for Satellite Orbital debris Characterization Impact Test series.   In one SOCIT ground experiment in 1992, the target was a flight-ready U.S. Navy Transit satellite built in the 1960s. But that was then, and this is now. Present day satellites incorporate many different technologies and materials than spacecraft designed over 40 years ago.   "As new materials and new construction techniques are developed for modern satellites, there is a need to conduct additional laboratory-based tests and use the new data to further enhance the breakup models," Liou said.   Integrity of the destructive outcome   A University of Florida team is designing and fabricating DebriSat for its eventual demise.   To put DebriSat together, a wide-ranging study was done of past low-Earth orbit satellite designs and missions within the last 15 years for spacecraft ranging from one kilogram to 5,000 kilograms (2.2 pounds to 11,023 pounds).   This study identified modern trends in hardware, material, and construction practices utilized in recent LEO missions. While DebriSat is an engineering model, specific attention is being placed on the quality, type, and quantity of the materials used in its fabrication to ensure the integrity of the destructive outcome.   With the exception of software, all other aspects of the satellite's design, fabrication, and assembly integration and testing will be as rigorous as that of an actual flight vehicle, according to officials involved in the DebriSat effort.   DebriSat is now slated to undergo a hypervelocity impact test in early 2014, said Norman Fitz-Coy, associate professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and director of the Space Systems Group at the University of Florida, which is in Gainesville. He is leading the university's DebriSat team.   Labor intensive exercise   A hypervelocity impact test is one in which the amount of energy experienced during a typical impact between two orbiting satellites is replicated, Fitz-Coy told SPACE.com. The test will be performed at the Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center in Tennessee.   Once busted up, how much work is involved in piecing together just how the satellite reacted to the impact?   "We are not actually gluing the satellite back together," Fitz-Coy said. "Rather we are characterizing — size, shape, etc. — of the fragments resulting from the impact. This is a labor intensive exercise."   NASA's Liou said that after the hypervelocity test, the University of Florida experts will collect fragments down to roughly 0.08 inches (2 millimeters) in size. That's about as long as a nickel is thick.   The dimensions of the resulting fragments will then be measured individually. That data will be delivered to NASA and the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.   The NASA Orbital Debris Program Office will lead the effort to analyze the data and use the information to enhance the satellite breakup model, Liou said.   Former Astronaut's Congressional Bid to Be Decided Tuesday   Clara Moskowitz - Space.com   Residents of California's 10th District will decide whether or not to elect former astronaut Jose Hernandez to Congress on Tuesday.   Hernandez, who served NASA as an astronaut between 2004 and 2011, is hoping to make his next mark as a Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives.   The spaceflyer was born in French Camp, Calif., and spent much of his childhood doing migrant farm work with his parents, Mexican immigrants. He didn't learn English until he was 12, but soon excelled at school after his family settled in Stockton, Calif.   Hernandez latched onto the dream of flying in space at a young age after watching the last manned moon landing mission, Apollo 17, on television in 1972. He kept at his goal, receiving bachelor's and master's degrees in electrical engineering and working as an engineer at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston before being selected as an astronaut.   Hernandez finally realized his dream when he rode the space shuttle Discovery to orbit in August 2009. On that mission, called STS-128, he and six other astronauts delivered a new module filled with science equipment and supplies to the International Space Station.   Hernandez retired from the space agency in 2011 and came back to find that his hometown area in California's Central Valley had been hit hard by the economic recession. Many houses had been foreclosed and the region's unemployment rate was twice the national average, he said.   "And yet our folks in Congress were not doing a single thing to provide relief to our community," Hernandez told Space.com during a September interview, adding that when people started suggesting he run for office, he decided to "throw my hat in the ring."   At first, there was some controversy about how Hernandez could describe his occupation in voting materials. California Republicans had argued that Hernandez should not be allowed to list his job as "astronaut/scientist/engineer" on the ballot, but in March, California Judge Lloyd Connelly ruled that "astronaut" was Hernandez' rightful designation.   If he is elected, his first priority will be improving the lot of his fellow Californians, Hernandez said. But he would also aim to advocate for NASA and space exploration.   "As far as the space program, you can't get a bigger cheerleader in Congress than a former NASA astronaut who's flown on the shuttle," he said. "You can bet your mortgage that I'm going to be fighting for NASA, fighting for investment in science and technology, and fighting for investment in education, because those are the things that are going to move our country ahead in the future."   Hernandez has detailed his life so far, as well as his hopes for the future, in a memoir titled "Reaching for the Stars: The Inspiring Story of a Migrant Farmworker Turned Astronaut."   It's a bird, it's a plane, no ... it's the space station   Deborah Netburn - Los Angeles Times   You get sales alerts, Twitter alerts, sports alerts and Facebook alerts. Now you can also get an alert when the International Space Station is visible overhead thanks to NASA's new Web app Spot the Station.   The International Space Station's orbit 200 miles above Earth makes it visible to more than 90% of the Earth's population, NASA said. The trick is knowing when to look for it.   NASA's Johnson Space Center already calculates the sighting information several times a week for more than 4,600 locations worldwide. With its new Web app, it is just sharing that information with the space-obsessed public.   As long as you know where to look, the International Space Station is pretty easy to see, NASA said. It is the third-brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon, and it looks like a fast moving point of light about the size and brightness of the planet Venus.   If you sign up for the newly released Web app, you'll get an alert via email or on your mobile device a few hours before the International Space Station will be visible from your neighborhood. NASA said it will only alert users of the app when conditions are ripe for good International Space Station viewing -- like when the ISS is more than 40 degrees high in the sky and when the viewing will last long enough that you'll be sure to catch it.   The Space Station is typically visible at dawn and dusk, and you can tell the alert system to tell you just about morning viewings or evening viewings. Or both.   The International Space Station just celebrated 12 years of manned orbit 200 miles above the Earth.   END