Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - November 29, 2012 and JSC Today

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: November 29, 2012 6:53:15 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - November 29, 2012 and JSC Today

 

 

 

 

Thursday, November 29, 2012

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll

2.            Curious About JSC Recycling?

3.            Last Chance to Escape Your Silo in 2012 With HSA

4.            Spacesuit Development and Qualification for Project Gemini

5.            Tips and Tricks for Searching the IEEE Xplore Database

6.            Book Fair at Starport

7.            Aging Gracefully

8.            White Sands Test Facility: See the Space Station

9.            Cleanroom Protocol and Contamination Control ViTS: Jan. 11

10.          System Safety Fundamentals Class: Jan. 14 to 18

11.          Electrical Safety Refresher ViTS: Feb. 8

________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY

" Volunteers do not necessarily have the time; they just have the heart. "

 

-- Elizabeth Andrew

________________________________________

1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll

The vast majority of respondents tried their best to stay close to home this Thanksgiving. I spent the better part of four days in a pickup truck with three teenagers. You win. You also like "Goldfinger" as your best 007 flick. I just saw the new one and it is pretty good, too.

This week we learned that Capt. Scott Kelly has agreed to a one year International Space Station mission starting in 2015. Would you do a year on space station? Six months? One month? It's almost time to select the best college football player this year. Who do you really think will win the Heisman? Klein? Te'o? Johnny Football?

Pig your skin on over to get this week's poll.

Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

[top]

2.            Curious About JSC Recycling?

Do you want to know more about JSC's recycling programs? Stop by the recycling information booth in Building 11 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. today to ask your questions, find out what you can do to help and see what sustainability efforts are happening at JSC. Every effort makes a difference!

Laurie Peterson x39845 http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/ja/ja13/recycling.cfm

 

[top]

3.            Last Chance to Escape Your Silo in 2012 With HSA

Join us on Dec. 3 for a tour of the Human Research Program's Payload Development Facility in Building 9. We will offer tours at 2 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Space is limited, so register today in SATERN via the following link: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

[top]

4.            Spacesuit Development and Qualification for Project Gemini

The EC5/Spacesuit and Crew Survival Systems Branch, U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture, will host Jim McBarron's discussion of Mercury's full-pressure suit development and qualification program on Dec. 4 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Seats are available on a first come, first served basis. SATERN registration is available - ID#65966 (search "spacesuit").

With the information McBarron has collected as a result of his 40 years of experience with the United States Air Force pressure suit and NASA spacesuit development and operations, he will share his knowledge about the Advanced Spacesuit Technology Development program that provided early prototype Gemini spacesuits for NASA evaluation and testing.

Location: Building 5S, Room 3102 (near the guard shack at the entrance of Building 4/Building 4S/Building 5S parking lot is a ramp leading to a door at the corner of B-5S). An elevator is located past two sets of doors.

Direct questions to Cinda Chullen (x38384), Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681) or Rose Bitterly.

Rose Bitterly 281-461-5795

 

[top]

5.            Tips and Tricks for Searching the IEEE Xplore Database

On Tuesday, Dec. 4, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m., engineers, researchers and other Institute of Electrical and Electrical Engineers (IEEE) Xplore users, are invited to attend a training session on IEEE. Learn timesaving search techniques for finding technology content using the IEEE Xplore Digital Library. This live webinar, presented by IEEE Client Services Manager Jalyn Kelley, will cover how to get improved research results, what's new with IEEE and upcoming enhancements to the database. Please join your colleagues for this training session that will include ample time for questions and recommendations on search strategies. The JSC Library has a subscription to IEEE, which can be accessed here.

To register, click on the "Classroom/WebEx" schedule.

Provided by the Information Resources Directorate.

Ebony Fondren x32490 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov

 

[top]

6.            Book Fair at Starport

Come and enjoy the Books Are Fun book fair held in the Building 3 café this Friday from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Search through more than 250 great titles in children's books, cookbooks, general-interest books, New York Times best sellers, stationary and scrapbooking, music collections and more, all at unbelievable prices. Click here for more information.

Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

[top]

7.            Aging Gracefully

Are you ready to retire or do you have a family member that recently retired? Please join the JSC Employee Assistance Program as we proudly host Angela Sarafin, M.A., LMFT, LPC, and Stacey Dunn, M.A., LPC, who will present "Aging Gracefully" on Thursday, Dec. 6, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium. They will discuss the challenges that people face when adjusting to retirement, including family dynamics and family lifecycle issues. They will also explore various ways to deal with anxiety and depression and provide some tools and tips for finding new purpose.

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130

 

[top]

8.            White Sands Test Facility: See the Space Station

Viewers in the White Sands Test Facility area will be able to see the International Space Station this week.

Friday, Nov. 30, 5:54 a.m. (Duration: 4 minutes)

Path: 13 degrees above NNW to 33 degrees above E

Maximum elevation: 42 degrees

Sunday, Dec. 2, 5:51 a.m. (Duration: 5 minutes)

Path: 22 degrees above WNW to 11 degrees above SSE

Maximum elevation: 55 degrees

Monday, Dec. 3, 5:03 a.m. (Duration: 2 minutes)

Path: 56 degrees above E to 20 degrees above ESE

Maximum elevation: 56 degrees

The International Space Station Trajectory Operations Group provides updates via JSC Today for visible station passes at least two minutes in duration and 25 degrees in elevation. Other opportunities, including those with shorter durations and lower elevations or from other ground locations, are available at the website below.

Joe Pascucci x31695 http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=U...

 

[top]

9.            Cleanroom Protocol and Contamination Control ViTS: Jan. 11

This course addresses the operation and uses of cleanrooms and the associated cleanroom protocols to minimize contamination. The student will learn how to prevent contamination from spreading to the product or test article in and upon removal from the clean environment. The class will include a discussion of contamination control and cleanroom requirements documents, including SN-C-0005 and ISO 14644. The course discusses the nature and sources of contaminants, monitoring particle and film contamination, cleanroom protocols to prevent the spread of contamination and contamination removal methods. Also included are: NASA requirements for cleanliness levels; Identification and monitoring of contamination; Description and classifications of cleanrooms; Personnel and garment protocols in cleanrooms and clean work areas; Other do's and don'ts in cleanrooms and clean work areas; and Removal methods. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class.

Registration in SATERN required.

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

[top]

10.          System Safety Fundamentals Class: Jan. 14 to 18

This course instructs students in the fundamentals of system safety management and the hazard analysis of hardware, software and operations. Basic concepts and principles of the analytical process are stressed. Student are introduced to NASA publications that require and guide safety analysis, as well as general reference texts on subject areas covered. Types and techniques of hazard analysis are addressed in enough detail to give the student a working knowledge of their uses and how they're accomplished. Skills in analytical techniques are developed through the use of practical exercises worked by students in class. This course establishes a foundation for the student to pursue more advanced studies of system safety and hazard analysis techniques while allowing students to effectively apply their skills to straightforward analytical assignments. This is a combination of System Safety Workshop and System Safety Special Subjects. Students who've taken those classes shouldn't take this class. SATERN Registration Required. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Polly Caison x41279

 

[top]

11.          Electrical Safety Refresher ViTS: Feb. 8

This course is designed to provide the student with a review of Occupational Safety and Health Administration  electrical standards and the hazards associated with electrical installations and equipment. Topics may include single- and three-phase systems, cord- and plug-connected and fixed equipment, grounding, ground-fault circuit interrupters, hazardous locations and safety-related work practices. Emphasis is placed on discussion of those areas most pertinent to the class makeup and needs. This course is designed for those who have either taken the three-day course SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0309, Electrical Safety Standards, or those who have a lot of experience working with electrical systems. It may also be used for those with a need for only electrical safety awareness, who do not work with electrical systems on a regular basis. This course does not cover spacecraft or flight electrical systems.

Registration in SATERN required.

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

[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:

·         1 pm Central (2 EST) – NASA MESSENGER News Conference

·         2 pm Central (3 EST) – File of E34/35 Crew News Conference at Star City & Red Square visit

·         6 am Central FRIDAY (7 EST) – Live Interviews with E33 Commander Sunita Williams

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

June Lockhart, William Shatner & Wil Wheaton are the latest entertainers featured in public service announcements highlighting how some of NASA's accomplishments in space are used to improve life on Earth. View these & others here: http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/PSA/index.html

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – November 29, 2012

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Bolden's future as NASA chief uncertain

 

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

 

The NASA community is used to asking big questions, but none has loomed larger in recent weeks than this: What will happen to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden? His future — like that of other agency heads — depends on whether President Barack Obama wants him back for a second term. But the question is especially pertinent in Bolden's case, as his time at NASA has been marked by several missteps, including an offhand criticism of Obama just before Election Day. Sources inside Congress and the administration said it's wholly possible Bolden, 66, stays at NASA into 2013 and beyond. They caution, however, that his return is an open question, as the White House remains concerned whether the former astronaut and Marine Corps major general is committed to Obama's vision for the space agency.

 

San Antonio's Lamar Smith to chair House panel that oversees space

 

Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac

 

San Antonio Rep. Lamar Smith was elected chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Wednesday by his Republican peers, a position that will have oversight over NASA and other Texas research institutions. "I will be an advocate for America's innovators by promoting legislation that encourages scientific discoveries, space exploration, and the application of new technologies to expand our economy and create jobs for American workers," Smith, the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

 

Roskosmos commission approves main and backup crews of ISS

 

Itar-Tass

 

The main and backup crews of the next long-term expedition to the International Space Station ISS – MKS-34/35 – have passed the qualifying examination and are ready to fly. The interdepartmental commission made this decision on Thursday, the Cosmonaut Training Centre (CTC) told Itar-Tass. "The main crew is approved as follows: Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn," CTC spokeswoman Irina Rogova specified.

 

NASA's Bolden tours Decatur ULA plant for first time

 

Liz Hurley - WAFF TV (Huntsville)

 

http://www.waff.com/story/20210677/in-midst-of-sequestration-nasas-bolden-declines-to-buy-lotto-ticket?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8009966

 

There are just 35 days left before automatic cuts take place across the federal government, and the results of that all boil down to jobs. The Aerospace industry is expected to take a big hit if the White House and Congress don't act. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, in the Rocket City for a three-day symposium at Marshall Space Flight Center, took a detour to Decatur for his first-ever tour of the United Launch Alliance rocket assembly plant. "I'm impressed," he said.

 

Europe has right stuff to take NASA back to moon

 

Paul Marks - New Scientist

 

An uncrewed NASA spacecraft will fly to the moon in 2017 and a crewed mission will go into lunar orbit in 2019, according to NASA's new partner in human space flight, the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA announced on 21 November that it is developing a service module for NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, which is designed for deep space missions. ESA will base the service module on its Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a drone that carries supplies to the International Space Station.

 

Humans head for moon's orbit – and beyond

 

Lisa Grossman - New Scientist

 

"I just have to say pretty bluntly here: we've been there before." So said President Obama in 2010 as he ruled out a return to the moon. But there are signs on the NASA grapevine and from the world of commercial space flight that humans are once more headed that way. A NASA crewed mission to lunar orbit could focus on exploring the moon's dark side and testing technologies to speed up exploration of Mars and other planets. Unfettered by the demands of state funding, a private mission may attempt something even more novel.

 

Tricia Sloma interviews NASA astronaut Kevin Ford from space

 

WNDU TV (South Bend)

 

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Tricia-Sloma-interviews-NASA-astronaut-Kevin-Ford-from-space-181181041.html

 

A Notre Dame graduate is the commander of the International Space Station. Last month on 16 Morning News we interviewed NASA astronaut Kevin Ford live from the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Then just weeks later, we brought you his launch to space live on the air. On Tuesday, we got the chance speak with the 52-year-old from aboard the space station about life 240 miles above earth. Ford is one of three crew members on board right now, the other two are from Russia. Ford says there are scientists all over the world who are the real brains behind the research they're doing.

 

Graduate leads in outer space

 

Allan Joseph - The Observer (Notre Dame)

 

Commander Kevin Ford, who recently took command of the International Space Station (ISS), chose one simple phrase for his sound check Tuesday morning: "Play Like A Champion Today." Ford, a 1982 alumnus of the University, spoke with The Observer from the orbiting space station Tuesday during his five-month-long mission to the ISS. The 52-year-old Indiana native launched from Kazakhstan in late October and took command of the station when Expedition 34 began Nov. 18. Though Ford has been to space previously on a two-week space shuttle mission, he said there were still some surprises in the zero-gravity environment.

 

Canadian astronaut joins race to lead Liberals

 

Agence France Presse

 

Former astronaut Marc Garneau announced his candidacy for the leadership of Canada's once-mighty Liberal Party on Wednesday, vowing to take on the ruling Tories on the economy. The first Canadian in space, who flew three times aboard the space shuttle and later went on to head the Canadian Space Agency before entering politics, promised to focus the party on the economy. "If the Liberal Party is to become the choice for Canadians again, it will be because we are strong on their single most important issue of concern: the economy," he told a press conference in Montreal.

 

KSC to kids during Space Week: Aim high

Space center hopes to inspire sixth-graders

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

Veteran shuttle astronaut J.R. Reilly not only talks the talk, he walked the walks. Five of them to be exact — five spacewalks during 14 years in NASA's Astronaut Corps — and Reilly had an auditorium of sixth-graders enrapt Tuesday as he recounted his high-flying adventures. Ed Short, Brevard County Schools science resource teacher and coordinator of Brevard Space Week, cannot help but nod at the boys and girls. "Look at how attentive the kids are," he whispers. Indeed. All eyes are trained on the International Space Station assembly worker. This week and next, all 5,300 sixth-graders in Brevard County will be bused to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on a mission aimed at stoking interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

 

IN OTHER AGENCY NEWS…

 

Losing in court, and to laptop thieves, in a battle with NASA over private data

 

Natasha Singer - New York Times

 

In 2007, Robert M. Nelson, an astronomer, and 27 other scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sued NASA arguing that the space agency's background checks of employees of government contractors were unnecessarily invasive and violated their privacy rights. Privacy advocates chimed in as well, contending that the space agency would not be able to protect the confidential details it was collecting. The scientists took their case all the way to the Supreme Court only to lose last year. This month, Dr. Nelson opened a letter from NASA telling him of a significant data breach that could potentially expose him to identity theft.

 

MEANWHILE, ON MARS…

 

Mars rover preps for drill tests

NASA downplays rumors of major discovery

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has sparked the curiosity of the media and the blogosphere, with widespread speculation as to whether one of its laboratory instruments has made a major discovery in the quest to find out if the red planet ever hosted a habitable environment. NASA officials, however, are downplaying the speculation, saying the results, expected to be presented Monday at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco, are scientifically interesting, but not in and of themselves "earthshaking."

 

No proof of life on Mars yet, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. said in North Alabama today that he's had no reports of the Curiosity rover finding proof of life on Mars. "We've not made any earth-shattering discoveries yet, to my knowledge," Bolden said in a meeting with reporters after touring the giant ULA rocket assembly plant on the Tennessee River here. "I think the science team is very happy with what they have been finding," Bolden said, "the verification of water and its quantity." Bolden said scientists are excited about the possibility of finding large quantities of methane, one of the simplest of organic compounds, but said, "My understanding is that has not happened yet."

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Bolden's future as NASA chief uncertain

 

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

 

The NASA community is used to asking big questions, but none has loomed larger in recent weeks than this: What will happen to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden?

 

His future — like that of other agency heads — depends on whether President Barack Obama wants him back for a second term. But the question is especially pertinent in Bolden's case, as his time at NASA has been marked by several missteps, including an offhand criticism of Obama just before Election Day.

 

Sources inside Congress and the administration said it's wholly possible Bolden, 66, stays at NASA into 2013 and beyond. They caution, however, that his return is an open question, as the White House remains concerned whether the former astronaut and Marine Corps major general is committed to Obama's vision for the space agency.

 

"The senior White House staff is aware of the [NASA] administrator's inability to advance their agenda and will have to decide whether they make an adjustment in a second term," said a senior administration official not authorized to speak on the record.

 

Bolden's fate could be significant for Kennedy Space Center, which is charting a new future — as, among other things, a launch base for commercial spacecraft — in the wake of the space shuttle's 2011 retirement.

 

Bolden has never fully embraced Obama's plan to remake NASA through heavy investment in technology, nor the idea of increased reliance on commercial rockets to ferry crew and cargo to the space station. Instead, he has been more closely aligned with the development of a big, new government-built rocket capable of taking astronauts to the moon or Mars, a rocket that Congress — with the administration's reluctant approval — ordered be built by 2017.

 

Speculation about Bolden's tenure has spiked since he appeared to undercut Obama's goals for NASA during an Oct. 30 meeting with top-level NASA employees.

 

"If the president had gotten his way, the No. 1 priority for the agency probably would have been something like technology development," Bolden said. "That is something about which he is passionate, and if you notice, it is not one of [NASA's] three major priorities" — which are the space station, launching the new James Webb telescope and building the agency's new rocket and capsule.

 

As jarring as Bolden's seeming defiance of the White House was the timing: a week before Election Day and amid a campaign in which Obama had been accused of killing NASA.

 

Bolden declined an interview request but issued a statement that praised NASA's current course.

 

"I'm focused on carrying out the ambitious, bipartisan space program agreed to by the President and Congress, which ensures America will continue to lead the world in exploration for years to come," he said.

 

The unsteady relationship between Bolden and the White House began even before his July 2009 appointment, as he wasn't the administration's first pick.

 

But Bolden had a powerful champion in U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla. Bolden piloted the 1986 space-shuttle mission that Nelson flew while serving in Congress, and Nelson remains an ardent supporter.

 

"When a president begins a second term in office, there's always gossip about who's leaving and who's staying. Senator Nelson doesn't speculate on that. But he fully expects Charlie Bolden to continue as administrator," said Dan McLaughlin, a Nelson spokesman.

 

Still, Bolden had a rough start as NASA chief.

 

In spring 2010, he appeared to undermine Obama's plan to cancel the troubled Constellation moon program when he backed additional test flights of its Ares rocket system. That summer, he got the administration in hot water for telling the Arabic news network Al-Jazeera that a top priority given to him by Obama was to "find a way to reach out to the Muslim world."

 

Then in September 2010, Bolden was reprimanded by the White House for violating its ethics code when, during a discussion about a NASA biofuels program, he sought the opinion of Marathon Oil Corp. — where he once served on the board and held shares worth up to $1 million.

 

But Bolden survived the rough patch — in part because replacing him would be difficult.

 

That's also the reason he could continue into a second term. Administration officials have said getting rid of Bolden requires replacing a "legend with a legend." Finding someone who fits the bill — and who also wants the job — is a difficult proposition.

 

Another calculation is whether Obama wants to pick a fight with Congress, where Bolden remains popular in some circles. Even so, administration officials said they see an advantage in getting someone new atop NASA.

 

"The administrator is a true American hero and was just the kind of leader NASA needed during this critical period of transition and retirement of the space shuttle," said a second official, also not authorized to speak on the record.

 

"No one can deny, though, there has been an accumulation of distractions, and in order to maximize NASA's opportunities, the U.S. civil space program would benefit from a leader fully committed to implementing the bold policy put forth by the president and his administration," the official added.

 

How soon Bolden's status is resolved is another open question, although some movement on that front is expected in the next month.

 

San Antonio's Lamar Smith to chair House panel that oversees space

 

Houston Chronicle's Texas on the Potomac

 

San Antonio Rep. Lamar Smith was elected chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology on Wednesday by his Republican peers, a position that will have oversight over NASA and other Texas research institutions.

 

"I will be an advocate for America's innovators by promoting legislation that encourages scientific discoveries, space exploration, and the application of new technologies to expand our economy and create jobs for American workers," Smith, the outgoing chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said in a statement.

 

Smith's election keeps him in a leadership position, along with three other Texans elected to head important panels.

 

House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, stressed the importance of GOP leadership in light of a divided Congress and a second term with President Barack Obama, and he touted the connection of the newly elected Republican chairmen.

 

"The House of Representatives is an outpost in Democratic-controlled Washington for the priorities of the American people," Boehner said.

 

Smith served as chairman of the Judiciary Committee for the full six years of the GOP-imposed term limits. Boehner said his fellow Republican has been a "strong leader" and "dedicated to promoting economic growth."

 

Smith replaces Republican Rep. Ralph Hall of Rockwall. Hall, the oldest member of the House of Representatives, expressed his support for the new chairman.

 

"I have worked with Congressman Smith for many years on the Committee, and he has been a consistent and unwavering advocate for American space leadership and promoting technological advancements through research," he said in a statement.

 

The committee is important to Texas, with oversight of NASA and research programs conducted in San Antonio at Southwest Research Institute, Texas Biomedical Research Institute, and the University of Texas Health Science Center.

 

Maintaining funding for research, like the work being done in Texas, and pushing legislation to create jobs in science and technology fields are among Smith's goals for the position, the congressman said.

 

"Over 80 percent of the committee's $39 billion budget touches on research and development," Smith said. "We can't have innovation without research and development, and the purpose of the Science Committee is to encourage the (research and development) that leads to new innovations."

 

He joins three other Texas representatives appointed to chairmanships for the 113th Congress. Rep. Jeb Hensarling, R-Dallas, was appointed chairman of the Committee on Financial Services. Reps. Pete Sessions, R-Dallas, and Michael McCaul, R-Austin, will lead the committees on rules and homeland security, respectively.

 

Roskosmos commission approves main and backup crews of ISS

 

Itar-Tass

 

The main and backup crews of the next long-term expedition to the International Space Station ISS – MKS-34/35 – have passed the qualifying examination and are ready to fly. The interdepartmental commission made this decision on Thursday, the Cosmonaut Training Centre (CTC) told Itar-Tass.

 

"The main crew is approved as follows: Russian cosmonaut Roman Romanenko, Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield and NASA astronaut Thomas Marshburn," CTC spokeswoman Irina Rogova specified.

 

On Tuesday and Wednesday Romanenko, Hadfield and Marshburn, as well as their backups demonstrated their skills in the CTC on the mock-ups of the Russian segment of the ISS, and the Soyuz TMA-M manned spacecraft.

 

During the comprehensive training the astronauts of the main crew not only had to overcome several contingencies on the Soyuz spaceship, but also to fix the oxygen supply system, to solve the problem of overfilling of the onboard toilet facility and eliminate depressurisation of the Russian segment of the ISS.

 

The commission also confirmed the readiness for flight of the backup crew – Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin, European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano and NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg.

 

The launch of the Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur cosmodrome is scheduled for December 19, it's docking with the ISS for December 21. The orbital mission of the main crew of ISS Expedition 34/35 will last for about five months.

 

NASA's Bolden tours Decatur ULA plant for first time

 

Liz Hurley - WAFF TV (Huntsville)

 

http://www.waff.com/story/20210677/in-midst-of-sequestration-nasas-bolden-declines-to-buy-lotto-ticket?autoStart=true&topVideoCatNo=default&clipId=8009966

 

There are just 35 days left before automatic cuts take place across the federal government, and the results of that all boil down to jobs.

 

The Aerospace industry is expected to take a big hit if the White House and Congress don't act.

 

NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, in the Rocket City for a three-day symposium at Marshall Space Flight Center, took a detour to Decatur for his first-ever tour of the United Launch Alliance rocket assembly plant.

 

"I'm impressed," he said.

 

The Delta IV and Atlas V manufactured at the plant play key roles in national defense and NASA's mission. But to keep flying these commercial rockets – and the government's space launch system under development - takes bodies, big bucks and buy-in from the American people. And time is running out before sequestration hits.

 

"You would be foolish not to be nervous right now," Bolden said.

 

Jobs are on the line, but a very emotional Bolden remains hopeful.

 

"I have to believe that Congress and the president will continue to find a way to come together to get things solved."

 

And with money at the root of his troubles these days, I asked him a very personal question that could solve his agency's woes: "Did you buy a lotto ticket?"

 

"I did not buy. My wife was supposed to buy one," Bolden replied.

 

Bolden said he doesn't know yet if he'll be tapped for another term. But, he'll be in town for the three-day NASA advisory council meeting at the space flight center in Huntsville.

 

Europe has right stuff to take NASA back to moon

 

Paul Marks - New Scientist

 

An uncrewed NASA spacecraft will fly to the moon in 2017 and a crewed mission will go into lunar orbit in 2019, according to NASA's new partner in human space flight, the European Space Agency (ESA).

 

ESA announced on 21 November that it is developing a service module for NASA's Orion Multipurpose Crew Vehicle, which is designed for deep space missions. ESA will base the service module on its Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), a drone that carries supplies to the International Space Station.

 

The new service module will be a stumpy, cylindrical unit that will sit behind Orion's pointy crew capsule. Its job is to provide the fuel, breathable air, solar electricity and the manoeuvring systems Orion will need for an extended space flight.

 

"Orion's first mission in 2017 will be an unmanned moon flyby mission. The second crewed mission, yet to be confirmed by NASA, will go into lunar orbit," says Nico Dettman, head of the ATV programme at ESA's research centre in Noordwijk, the Netherlands. Both missions will test Orion's ability to escape Earth's orbit, position itself near the moon and head home on a safe trajectory for re-entry into Earth's atmosphere, adds Dettman.

 

Recycle and reuse

 

European industry sees ESA's involvement in NASA's human space programme as a major boost. "This is the first time NASA has asked a non-US country to develop a critical technology for a manned space flight program," says Matthias Spude of EADS Astrium, the firm that builds the ATV in Bremen, Germany. Until now, ESA's crewed space flight contribution was limited to the Columbus lab on the space station.

 

NASA and a contractor, Lockheed Martin, had started development of an Orion service module, but that programme was halted when it became apparent that ESA's highly reliable ATV technology could be repurposed for the job, says Dettman.

 

ESA says it is already working with Lockheed and NASA, and a major design review is slated for July 2013. There are lots of changes to work out before then, says Dettman. "For instance, the service module will not carry cargo like ATV, nor will it have its automated docking intelligence that will be in the Orion capsule," he says.

 

As part of the partnership, the new service module will replace the ATV's four main engines with a single 27-kilonewton engine originally designed for manoeuvring NASA's retired space shuttle. Such component reuse is a big aim for NASA, not least because tax dollars were spent on development. The module will keep the ATV's clutch of 24 vectoring thrusters, which have allowed the unpiloted craft to achieve reliable, fine-grained control during docking with the space station.

 

'Orion will lift off on the Space Launch System, a rocket now in development at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, says spokesperson Brandi Dean at the Johnson Space flight Center in Houston, Texas. Using the SLS rocket, the spacecraft could ultimately "go to a number of destinations further afield, including asteroids, Mars or Mars's moons'", says Dean.

 

Humans head for moon's orbit – and beyond

 

Lisa Grossman - New Scientist

 

"I just have to say pretty bluntly here: we've been there before." So said President Obama in 2010 as he ruled out a return to the moon. But there are signs on the NASA grapevine and from the world of commercial space flight that humans are once more headed that way.

 

A NASA crewed mission to lunar orbit could focus on exploring the moon's dark side and testing technologies to speed up exploration of Mars and other planets. Unfettered by the demands of state funding, a private mission may attempt something even more novel.

 

Since Obama's speech, there have been hints that NASA might be changing its tune. Rumour has it that the agency plans to build a hovering moon base about 60,000 kilometres above the moon's far side at a Lagrange point, where the pull of Earth's gravity cancels out the moon's. From this point – called L2 – astronauts would steer rovers round the surface in close to real time, much cheaper than actually landing on the moon.

 

NASA hasn't commented on the rumour, but the European Space Agency says it is collaborating with NASA on two lunar missions, one crewed and scheduled for 2019.

 

Unexplored world

 

What's more, Jack Burns of the University of Colorado, Boulder, and colleagues, two of whom work for NASA, have written a paper, to appear in Advances in Space Research, that suggests what a mission to the far side might achieve.

 

An unexplored wilderness, the far side hosts one of the solar system's oldest and largest impact basins, the 8 kilometre deep South Pole-Aitkin basin, flagged as a research priority by the US National Research Council in 2011. It could help fill in a timeline for early solar system evolution and discover if impactors brought organics to the infant Earth. "The far side is effectively a whole new unexplored world in our own backyard," says Burns.

 

It may also be the only place near to Earth where it is possible to observe when and how the first stars and galaxies formed from the neutral hydrogen atoms that filled space in these cosmic "dark ages". The light from those ancient hydrogen atoms is still reaching Earth now, but gets drowned out by the ionosphere and signals from human technology.

 

Brains in orbit

 

Why control robots from L2, not Earth? It's a dry run for Mars, Burns says. The ability to hover above the Red Planet and operate robots on its surface would be a huge advantage. Currently, there is a 20-minute time lag each way when Earth talks to the Mars rover Curiosity, so each night the team sends up all the instructions for the next day. That makes things slow – if something goes wrong you won't even know about it until the next day, let alone be able to fix it. Burns believes that space exploration in future will involve wheels, not (moon) boots, on the ground, and human brains in orbit.

 

Mars isn't the limit, adds Dan Lester of the University of Texas at Austin: "We could send human beings into orbit around Titan. They could do virtual scuba diving in the methane lakes." Burns's team is presenting the idea to NASA this week.

 

But wouldn't it be disappointing to merely orbit the moon or Mars, without planting any flags? Enter private companies. In recent weeks, space-minded media have been abuzz with a rumour that a new private outfit, allegedly staffed by former NASA astronauts and engineers, would soon announce its intention to put humans on the moon.

 

Even if it doesn't pan out, commercial outfits may be the ones to raise the funds for a crewed mission. Options include mining, tourism or even carrying out the stunt for the sake of publicity. A commercial mission may yet boldly go where governments fear to tread.

 

Tricia Sloma interviews NASA astronaut Kevin Ford from space

 

WNDU TV (South Bend)

 

http://www.wndu.com/home/headlines/Tricia-Sloma-interviews-NASA-astronaut-Kevin-Ford-from-space-181181041.html

 

A Notre Dame graduate is the commander of the International Space Station.

 

Last month on 16 Morning News we interviewed NASA astronaut Kevin Ford live from the Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. Then just weeks later, we brought you his launch to space live on the air.

 

On Tuesday, we got the chance speak with the 52-year-old from aboard the space station about life 240 miles above earth. Ford is one of three crew members on board right now, the other two are from Russia. Ford says there are scientists all over the world who are the real brains behind the research they're doing.

 

"We do a lot of medical research," Ford said. "Osteoporosis is one of the things that affects us the way it affects say elderly people and right now in the Japanese segment there's an interesting experiment going on with fish that generate and lose bone in the same way that mammals do and since we're mammals what happens to them completely applies to us so it will be very useful, maybe someday we can completely eliminate Osteoporosis based on what they're studying."

 

Ford was born in Portland, Indiana. His current hometown is Montpelier, Indiana where he lives with his wife and 2 children. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in aerospace engineering back in 1982 from the University of Notre Dame. He has been following the Irish closely as they ended their season undefeated and secured a spot in the BCS national championship game. He even wore a Notre Dame "Play Like a Champion" shirt for our interview, a motto he says he lives by every day as well up in space.

 

"This modern day technology that we have at NASA nowadays they sometimes can pipe up through the satellite feed the games live, especially on the weekends when we're not doing a lot of business and there's a little extra data available," Ford said. "So the USC game I stayed up until 4 a.m. my time to catch the end of that and got to see almost all the game. It was really great to see of course and I've been following the season pretty closely."

 

Life as an astronaut in space is a very interesting one. There are things we all take for granted here on earth, like gravity, that can make things a bit challenging.

 

"One of the fun things about getting here is the zero gravity and floating around," Ford said. "But it also makes things very difficult. This morning I had to take some books apart and put new pages in them in the books and when you open them up, the pages just fly away so I went near a vent and it kind of held them in place because sometimes gravity is really your friend."

 

"Of course it's a metallic, plastic environment up here so you miss the sights and the smells of home of course so many faces," Ford said. "We get to see each other and my crew mates are like brothers to me but to see a lot of people is a rare thing. So you kind of miss social interaction and you miss the environment of earth which, you know, we were really built for."

 

Ford says he did get to enjoy a Thanksgiving meal with his Russian crew members, complete with smoked turkey, cranberries, dressing, corn, candied yams.

 

"We have a food heater to warm things up," Ford said. "We don't have a lot of refrigeration but occasionally we can refrigerate some drinks or something to have them cold. Usually room temperature or hot is the way we go."

 

Since the first expedition in October of 2000 the International Space Station has been visited by 204 people.

 

The complex now has more livable room than a conventional five-bedroom house, and has two bathrooms, a gymnasium and a 360-degree bay window. The entire space station's length and width is the size of a football field. It weighs 861,804 pounds, not including visiting vehicles.

 

We have links to more information about Kevin Ford and the International Space Station on the Big Red Bar.

 

Graduate leads in outer space

 

Allan Joseph - The Observer (Notre Dame)

 

Commander Kevin Ford, who recently took command of the International Space Station (ISS), chose one simple phrase for his sound check Tuesday morning:

 

"Play Like A Champion Today."

 

Ford, a 1982 alumnus of the University, spoke with The Observer from the orbiting space station Tuesday during his five-month-long mission to the ISS. The 52-year-old Indiana native launched from Kazakhstan in late October and took command of the station when Expedition 34 began Nov. 18. Though Ford has been to space previously on a two-week space shuttle mission, he said there were still some surprises in the zero-gravity environment.

 

"Things float away from you very quietly. You learn as you get here, after you've been here for a few weeks, you kind of forget about where the floor is and where the walls are and where the ceiling is, and you can just operate in any kind of orientation and be happy there. So it kind of surprised me how your mind adapts to that," he said. "The other thing that surprises you is just how bright blue the beautiful Earth is out there. Every time you see it, it just glows just like it's neon. It's a surprising view with your own eyes."

 

Ford graduated from Notre Dame with a degree in aerospace engineering and has taken his love for the University to the ISS.

 

"I actually had the aerospace and mechanical engineering department supply me with a little token," he said. "I brought up a little 'God, Country, Notre Dame' coin along and a class ring for me and my daughter. I have a son and daughter who are also Notre Dame grads. I've got a small wardrobe of Notre Dame shirts and memorabilia."

 

He said his liberal arts education at Notre Dame has continued to be useful to this day — especially on board the space station.

 

"A funny thing that happened to me senior year was that I found out late that I needed one more social science because I was an engineering graduate," Ford said. "The one that fit just happened to be Intro to Russian and I took Intro to Russian and I speak Russian now on a daily basis up here with my Russian colleagues."

 

Ford has also continued his lifelong love of Irish football while on the space station. He said he was able to use a high-speed data system intended for scientific use but not used on the weekends to watch Notre Dame's 22-13 win over USC last weekend to cap off a perfect regular season.

 

"It's a lot of fun, it makes the season great. I love college football season anyway, but it's really special this year — especially watching the games from space," he said. "I would say my recreation time in a day so far has been pretty limited, maybe to an hour a day … but I did stay up until 4 on Saturday night my time to watch that West Coast game: Notre Dame against USC up here live. I watched it to the very end and it was fantastic."

 

After graduating from Notre Dame, Ford earned two more master's degrees and a Ph.D, according to his NASA biography. He joined the Air Force as a test pilot and began applying to the shuttle program shortly thereafter, but wasn't accepted until shortly after he turned 40.

 

"There are a lot of jobs out there you think are cool when you see people doing them, and you know, an astronaut was always one of them that seemed special to me," Ford said. "I was an Air Force pilot and became an Air Force test pilot and from there it was kind of the next step because the space shuttle is really kind of the top-of-the-line really cool flying machine. That's why I ended up applying to the space shuttle program and being an astronaut.

 

"I know it's a very unique job. One of the things that makes me sad is that more people can't come off the planet and see what it looks like and what a space station's like and live out here. I never expected to be able to be here. I applied for the astronaut program many times and was rejected and finally when I was 40 years old I just happened to fall into a slot and get selected."

 

Now that he's on board the ISS, Ford said he keeps busy with his various duties, especially scientific experiments in zero gravity.

 

"Day to day I do maintenance, I take care of the space station as the ... managers and flight directors direct me to do," he said. "So I'm really just the hands-on for all the people around the world who put these experiments together and decide what we want to do in space."

 

Despite being miles above the Earth, Ford said Notre Dame continues to have a special place in his heart.

 

"I love keeping up with what's going on on campus. Not just the sports, but all the other things you guys are experiencing too. It is like home for me," he said. "We just flew over South Bend about one orbit ago, by the way, made an almost direct pass overhead. It was still dark out on the ground for you, so nothing was visible, but I'll keep my eye out and try to get a shot of the Dome some time."

 

Canadian astronaut joins race to lead Liberals

 

Agence France Presse

 

Former astronaut Marc Garneau announced his candidacy for the leadership of Canada's once-mighty Liberal Party on Wednesday, vowing to take on the ruling Tories on the economy.

 

The first Canadian in space, who flew three times aboard the space shuttle and later went on to head the Canadian Space Agency before entering politics, promised to focus the party on the economy.

 

"If the Liberal Party is to become the choice for Canadians again, it will be because we are strong on their single most important issue of concern: the economy," he told a press conference in Montreal.

 

Analysts warn that shifting the centrist Liberals to the right to fight on ground claimed by the Conservatives risks leaving a large bloc of leftist voters with few options but to side with the opposition New Democrats.

 

First elected to parliament in 2008, Garneau, has served as Liberal House Leader and the party's lead campaigner on natural resources, industry, science and technology.

 

At 63, he must beat frontrunner Justin Trudeau, son of Canada's most famous prime minister, Pierre Trudeau, to win the Liberal leadership.

 

After ruling for most of the last century, the Liberal Party was trounced in last year's election, relegated to the political margins as a third-ranked grouping with just 35 out of 308 seats in parliament.

 

Liberal supporters hope a new leader can revitalize and re-launch the party in time to challenge the Conservatives in the next election, likely in 2015.

 

The Liberals will announce their pick in April. Former leader Michael Ignatieff resigned in the wake of the party's drubbing at the polls.

 

KSC to kids during Space Week: Aim high

Space center hopes to inspire sixth-graders

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

Veteran shuttle astronaut J.R. Reilly not only talks the talk, he walked the walks.

 

Five of them to be exact — five spacewalks during 14 years in NASA's Astronaut Corps — and Reilly had an auditorium of sixth-graders enrapt Tuesday as he recounted his high-flying adventures.

 

"Out on the end of (shuttle's robot) arm, nothing below me for 250 miles but the Earth. Now that's an incredible view," Reilly said. "You look out there and you can see the Earth's horizon, curving off in both directions, and the black sky above the lit ground. It is really, really neat."

 

Ed Short, Brevard County Schools science resource teacher and coordinator of Brevard Space Week, cannot help but nod at the boys and girls.

 

"Look at how attentive the kids are," he whispers.

 

Indeed. All eyes are trained on the International Space Station assembly worker.

 

This week and next, all 5,300 sixth-graders in Brevard County will be bused to Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on a mission aimed at stoking interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers.

 

Reilly, who flew shuttle missions in 1998, 2001 and 2007, is providing an "Astronaut Encounter."

 

Herb Yamada, an engaging engineer from Lockheed Martin, is the central figure in a sidesplitting introduction to the principles of aeronautics and astronautics.

 

And there is the Shuttle Launch Experience — the attraction that allows kids to sense an earth-shaking nine-minute flight into orbit.

 

"I want to see how it is to go up into space like the other astronauts," said Bibiana Dolcin, 11, of MILA Elementary on Merritt Island.

 

Working side-by-side with other classmates, Dolcin put together a prototype of an International Space Station truss. The kids used plastic K'Nex toys to build their small-scale girders, and then tested them on stands with weighted loads.

 

"This is putting our 'E' in STEM education," Short said.

 

Previous programs focused on science, technology and mathematics, but the K'Nex truss work involved engineering. Students are steeped in both academic and hands-on experience with the engineering process.

 

"The kids really love it," MILA teacher Sherri Wallauer said. "It's just really important because we connected what we do with the trusses here (at Space Week) with the trusses on the International Space Station."

 

More than 60 schools will send sixth-graders to the 10th annual Brevard Space Week.

 

"We're touching every sixth-grader in the county," said Kerri Lubeski, a senior educator and Brevard Space Week coordinator with Delaware North Park Services, the company that operates the visitor complex for NASA.

 

"It takes months of planning," she said. "But it always comes together."

 

IN OTHER AGENCY NEWS…

 

Losing in court, and to laptop thieves, in a battle with NASA over private data

 

Natasha Singer - New York Times

 

In 2007, Robert M. Nelson, an astronomer, and 27 other scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory sued NASA arguing that the space agency's background checks of employees of government contractors were unnecessarily invasive and violated their privacy rights.

 

Privacy advocates chimed in as well, contending that the space agency would not be able to protect the confidential details it was collecting.

 

The scientists took their case all the way to the Supreme Court only to lose last year.

 

This month, Dr. Nelson opened a letter from NASA telling him of a significant data breach that could potentially expose him to identity theft.

 

The very thing he and advocates warned about had occurred. A laptop used by an employee at NASA's headquarters in Washington had been stolen from a car parked on the street on Halloween, the space agency said.

 

Although the laptop itself was password protected, unencrypted files on the laptop contained personal information on about 10,000 NASA employees — including details like their names, birth dates, Social Security numbers and in some cases, details related to background checks into employees' personal lives.

 

Millions of Americans have received similar data breach notices from employers, government agencies, medical centers, banks and retailers. NASA in particular has been subject to "numerous cyberattacks" and computer thefts in recent years, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office, an agency that conducts research for Congress.

 

Even so, Dr. Nelson, who recently retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a research facility operated by the California Institute of Technology under a contract with NASA, stands out as a glaring example of security lapses involving personal data, privacy advocates say.

 

"To the extent that Robert Nelson looks like millions of other people working for firms employed by the federal government, this would seem to be a real problem," said Marc Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, an advocacy group which filed a friend-of-the-court brief for Dr. Nelson in the Supreme Court case.

 

In a 2009 report titled "NASA Needs to Remedy Vulnerabilities in Key Networks," the Government Accountability Office noted that the agency had reported 1,120 security incidents in fiscal 2007 and 2008 alone.

 

It also singled out an incident in 2009 in which a NASA center reported the theft of a laptop containing about 3,000 unencrypted files about arms traffic regulations and wind tunnel tests for a supersonic jet.

 

"NASA had not installed full-disk encryption on its laptops at all three centers," the report said. "As a result, sensitive data transmitted through the unclassified network or stored on laptop computers were at an increased risk of being compromised." Other federal agencies have had similar problems. In 2006, for example, the Department of Veteran's Affairs reported the theft of an employee laptop and hard drive that contained personal details on about 26.5 million veterans. Last year, the G.A.O. cited the Internal Revenue Service for weaknesses in data control that could "jeopardize the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of financial and sensitive taxpayer information."

 

Also last year, the Securities and Exchange Commission warned its employees that their confidential financial information, like brokerage transactions, might have been compromised because an agency contractor had granted data access to a subcontractor without the S.E.C.'s authorization.

 

On Wednesday, Dr. Nelson, the astronomer, and several other scientists in the NASA case held a news conference in which they asked members of Congress to investigate NASA's data collection practices and the recent data breach.

 

Robert Jacobs, a NASA spokesman, said the agency's data security policy already adequately protected employees and contractors because it required computers to be encrypted before employees took them off agency premises. "We are talking about a computer that should not have left the building in the first place," Mr. Jacobs said. "The data would have been secure had the employee followed policy."

 

The government argued in the case Dr. Nelson filed that a law called the Privacy Act, which governs data collection by federal agencies, provided the scientists with sufficient protection. The case reached the Supreme Court, which upheld government background checks for employees of contractors. The roots of Dr. Nelson's case against NASA date to 2004 when the Department of Homeland Security, under a directive signed by President George W. Bush, required federal agencies to adopt uniform identification credentials for all civil servants and contract employees. As part of the ID card standardization process, the department recommended agencies institute background checks.

 

Several years later, when NASA announced it intended to start doing background checks at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Dr. Nelson and other scientists there objected.

 

Those security checks could have included inquiries into medical treatment, counseling for drug use, or any "adverse" information about employees such as sexual activity or participation in protests, said Dan Stormer, a lawyer representing Dr. Nelson.

 

But Dr. Nelson and other long-term employees of the lab challenged the legality of those checks, arguing that they violated their privacy rights. NASA, they said, had not established a legitimate need for such extensive investigations about low-risk employees like themselves who did not have security clearances or handle confidential information. Dr. Nelson, for example, specializes in solar system science — concerning, for example, Io, a moon of Jupiter, and Titan, a moon of Saturn — and publishes his work in scientific journals

 

"It was an invitation to an open-ended fishing expedition," Dr. Nelson said of the background checks.

 

In friend of the court briefs for Dr. Nelson, privacy groups cited many data security problems at federal agencies, arguing that there was a risk that NASA was not equipped to protect the confidential details it was collecting about employees and contractors.

 

In 2008, the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco temporarily halted the background checks, saying that the case had raised important questions about privacy rights. But last year, the Supreme Court upheld the background investigations of employees of government contractors.

 

Dr. Nelson said he retired from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory last June rather than submit to a background check. He now works as a senior scientist at the Planetary Science Institute of Tucson.

 

NASA has contracted with ID Experts, a data breach company, to help protect employees whose data was contained on the stolen laptop against identity theft. Mr. Jacobs, the NASA spokesman, said the agency has encrypted almost 80 percent of its laptops and plans to encrypt the rest by Dec. 21. He added that he too received a letter from NASA warning that his personal information might have been compromised by the laptop theft.

 

MEANWHILE, ON MARS…

 

Mars rover preps for drill tests

NASA downplays rumors of major discovery

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

NASA's Curiosity Mars rover has sparked the curiosity of the media and the blogosphere, with widespread speculation as to whether one of its laboratory instruments has made a major discovery in the quest to find out if the red planet ever hosted a habitable environment.

 

NASA officials, however, are downplaying the speculation, saying the results, expected to be presented Monday at the American Geophysical Union's fall meeting in San Francisco, are scientifically interesting, but not in and of themselves "earthshaking."

 

"The rumors about what the results are from the SAM instrument on Curiosity are quite overblown," Guy Webster, a spokesman for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., told CBS News Wednesday. "There's nothing earthshaking. The news conference next week will be one in a series trying to keep people up to date about the rover's progress and findings."

 

For his part, John Grotzinger, the Mars Science Laboratory's project scientist, won't talk about whatever the rover has discovered, telling reporters the science team wants to make sure the data are fully understood and that no mistakes are made interpreting the results.

 

That's not unusual, researchers say, and reflects sound scientific practice. But when it comes to speculation about life on Mars, rumors can be hard to avoid, especially when the data are from an instrument designed to look for the carbon compounds essential to life as it is known on Earth.

 

The instrument package in question is known as SAM, which stands for Surface Analysis at Mars. The compact laboratory, about the size of a microwave oven, uses a mass spectrometer, a tunable laser spectrometer and a gas chromatograph to look for organic compounds in samples of the red planet's soil and atmosphere. Two small ovens are used to heat samples to some 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

The mass spectrometer can detect nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, oxygen, hydrogen and carbon and other elements. The tunable laser spectrometer measures concentrations of methane, carbon dioxide and water vapor, along with various isotopes. The gas chromatograph identifies organic compounds using a different technique.

 

SAM's first soil sample, collected from a sand dune in an area near Curiosity's landing site known as Glenelg, was processed about two weeks ago. At that time, deputy project scientist Ashwin Vasavada said the SAM team decided to repeat the sample run based on a quick-look assessment.

 

"Based on a very brief look at that data, the team decided to run a couple of more SAM experiments, which are customized to this particular soil and we're currently in the midst of getting those results back," Vasavada said.

 

Reporters assumed the team found the initial data suspect for some reason. But no one asked any follow-up questions about the additional sample analysis.

 

Curiosity landed in Gale Crater on Aug. 6 to kick off a planned two-year mission. The initial months of the mission have been devoted to checking out and calibrating its scientific instruments before the rover makes its way to its ultimate target, the base of a central 3-mile-high mound of layered terrain known as Mount Sharp.

 

For the past several weeks, Curiosity has been working at the Glenelg site where orbital photographs show three types of rock and soil coming together. Most recently, the rover's robot arm has been put through its paces scooping up sandy soil samples from low dunes and depositing them into a pair of on-board mini laboratories, SAM and another known as CheMin, for Chemistry and Mineralogy.

 

The rover recently moved to a new area, known as Point Lake, while the team looks for suitable rocks to serve as test subjects for a powerful drill mounted on Curiosity's robot arm. The drill, intended to provide pristine samples from the interior of targeted rocks, is the final major component of the science package to be tested.

 

The nuclear-powered rover was not designed to look for signs of past or present life. Rather, its instruments were built to look for the chemical traces of past or present habitability.

 

SAM plays a central role in that quest as it looks for organic compounds that are essential to life as it is known on Earth. As such, rumors about a significant discovery in the SAM data triggered widespread interest, prompted in part by a National Public Radio story last week that raised the possibility of an "earthshaking" result.

 

Since then, project officials at JPL have been bombarded with media queries. Webster says the results Monday will be "interesting" and "not insignificant." But he warns they likely will not live up to uninformed speculation.

 

Curiosity chimed in last week, saying on its JPL-authored Twitter feed (@MarsCuriosity): "What did I discover on Mars? That rumors spread fast online. My team considers this whole mission 'one for the history books.'"

 

No proof of life on Mars yet, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden says

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. said in North Alabama today that he's had no reports of the Curiosity rover finding proof of life on Mars. "We've not made any earth-shattering discoveries yet, to my knowledge," Bolden said in a meeting with reporters after touring the giant ULA rocket assembly plant on the Tennessee River here.

 

"I think the science team is very happy with what they have been finding," Bolden said, "the verification of water and its quantity." Bolden said scientists are excited about the possibility of finding large quantities of methane, one of the simplest of organic compounds, but said, "My understanding is that has not happened yet."

 

Bolden said Curiosity's real discoveries will come when it begins its trek up Mount Sharp. That's when it will see evidence of long periods of history on Mars. "Was there life on Mars?" a reporter asked again. "Not yet," Bolden replied. "We haven't found it yet."

 

Bolden added jokingly, however, that President Obama made the Mars team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory promise to call him first with any news of life. "I'm not sure why he wants to be the first to know," Bolden said, "but they probably took him at his word and they'll call him before they call me."

 

Reports about potential major discoveries by the rover spiked after a recent radio interview with a leading scientist on the project. That interview suggested significant announcements as soon as scientists can verify their findings, possibly coming as early as next week at a scientific conference.

 

END