Fwd: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - July 10, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 10, 2013 6:03:34 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - July 10, 2013 and JSC Today

Hope you can join us tomorrow at our NASA Retirees monthly luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, July 10, 2013

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Recovered Materials -  Recent JSC Announcements -  Latest International Space Station Research Organizations/Social -  Kinematic and Dynamic Motion Analysis Community -  Youth Sports Camps - Baseball Camp Next Week Jobs and Training -  Learn About the Role of Physical Fitness in Health -  Occupational Health & Environmental Controls -  Particle Count Training ViTS - Aug. 16 -  Try Something New: Participate on NASA@work Community -  V-CORPs is Coming Soon!

Storm Clouds Over the Atlantic Ocean Near Brazil

 

Headlines Recovered Materials The newly published NASA SP, "An Analysis and a Historical Review of the Apollo Program Lunar Module Touchdown Dynamics" by George Zupp, details engineering design and execution. According to Zupp, "This report was developed from personal and formal notes on the analysis of all six of the Apollo LM lunar landings." The data collected and solutions worked for LM dynamics are important to recognize, and are available from JSC Knowledge Online (JKO). Current and former employees such as Zupp have contributed videos, org charts, still images and documents of historical interest. Many of the materials are appropriate to publish in whole, while others lead to improved data architecture as they are processed and represented in the JSC Taxonomy. Share your center or agency experiences with JSC community! Contact the office of the Chief Knowledge Officer today. Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://knowledge.jsc.nasa.gov/index.cfm?event=historicalrecords&CFID=74... [top] Recent JSC Announcements Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcements: 13-020: JSC Honor Awards Ceremony 13-021: Policy Against Discrimination and Harassment Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx [top] Latest International Space Station Research This week, Karen Nyberg set up and activated the Sally Ride Earth Knowledge Acquired by Middle School Students (EarthKAM) camera in Node 2 for a week-long imaging session. Sally Ride EarthKAM is an education payload that enables thousands of students to photograph and examine Earth from a space crew's perspective. Using the Internet, the students control a special digital camera mounted aboard the International Space Station. This enables them to photograph the Earth's coastlines, mountain ranges and other geographic items of interest from the unique vantage point of space. The team at Sally Ride EarthKAM then posts these photographs on the Internet for the public and participating classrooms around the world to view. Read more. Liz Warren x35548 [top]    Organizations/Social Kinematic and Dynamic Motion Analysis Community Better, faster, cheaper; the goal for every NASA mission. The most important factor for making a mission better, to make it complete faster and to have it cost less is knowledge sharing. Through the NASA Engineering Safety Center's (NESC) Mechanical System Division, a community dedicated to the analysis of kinematic and dynamic motion has been created: The Kinematic and Dynamic Motion Analysis (KADMA) group. This group's purpose is to provide a platform for knowledge sharing and networking across all NASA centers for the field of motion study. Motion study can be overwhelming at times without the proper support, and this community provides that support. This community connects users of various motion study software packages across all NASA centers. These software packages analyze problems of multi-body dynamics by simultaneously solving equations of kinematics, statics, quasi-statics and dynamics. Cory Powell 301-286-1012 https://nen.nasa.gov/web/ka [top] Youth Sports Camps - Baseball Camp Next Week There are still spots in Baseball Camp for next week -- register now before it's too late. Plus, check out our other Summer Sports Camps, which are a great way to provide added instruction for all levels of players and prepare participants for competitive play. Let our knowledgeable and experienced coaches give your child the confidence they need to learn and excel in their chosen sport. Baseball Camp: Focuses on the development of hitting, catching, base running, throwing, pitching and drills. Dates: July 15 to 19 Times: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Ages: 6 to 12 Price: $200/per session Basketball Camp: Focuses on the development of shooting, passing, dribbling, guarding and drills. Dates: Aug. 5 to 9 Times: 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. Ages: 9 to 14 Price: $200 Before/after care is available. Register your child at the Gilruth Center. Visit our website for information. Shericka Phillips x35563 [top]    Jobs and Training Learn About the Role of Physical Fitness in Health You are invited to JSC's SAIC/Safety and Mission Assurance Speaker Forum featuring Dr. Larry Wier, exercise scientist and former director of Health-Related Fitness at JSC. This presentation is geared to address and gain insights into the most important system of all systems: the human system. Subject: Learn About the Role of Physical Fitness in Health Date/Time: Wednesday, July 10, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Location: Building 1, Room 966 Wier will engage us and lead the following discussion: Is your job killing you? How are fitness, health and mortality linked? What is physical fitness anyway? How much exercise should you do? What are the exercise hazards? So, what can exercise do for you? Event Date: Wednesday, July 10, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Building 1 room 966 Add to Calendar Della Cardona/Juan Traslavina 281-335-2074/281-335-2272 [top] Occupational Health & Environmental Controls This three-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration CFR 1926.50, requirements for medical services and first aid, sanitation (1926.51), occupational noise (1926.52), ionizing radiation (1926.53), non-ionizing radiation (1926.54), hazard communication (1926.59), lead (1926.62), and process safety management of highly hazardous chemicals (1926.64). During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics as needed to work safely in construction operations. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. Use this direct link for registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Event Date: Friday, August 9, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Bldg 17/Room 2016 Add to Calendar Shirley Robinson x41284 [top] Particle Count Training ViTS - Aug. 16 This course will provide the technician/engineer with the basic skills and knowledge for performing a particle count for determination of particle cleanliness level. A written/practical examination will also be offered. Course content includes: Review of approved method for manually counting particles using an optical microscope  Microscope operation and calibration  Non-microscopic visual identification of particles by shape, size, color and other physical characteristics  Sampling techniques for particles in gases and liquids  Filtering techniques for fluid using Millipore apparatus  Compatibility of filter membrane and their specific uses  Handling filter membranes, Millipore assembly, performing background determinations, pre-reading of filters prior to sampling  Use of high-pressure filter assemblies Particle counting and data recording  Statistical analysis  Use of automatic particle counting techniques and their limitations. A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Event Date: Friday, August 16, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM Event Location: Bldg. 17/Room 2026 Add to Calendar Shirley Robinson x41284 [top] Try Something New: Participate on NASA@work Check out our active challenges: Packing Foam Alternatives Challenge (deadline: July 31); and Seeking Solutions on the Use of Thorium Instead of Uranium (deadline: Aug. 9). The challenge owners are actively participating in the discussion, so make sure you check out the discussion and submit your solution today. And, if you are interested in learning more about NASA@work and how you can participate on this internal, collaborative platform, join us for our next NASA@work Training 101 on Tuesday, July 23, from 3 to 3:30 p.m. CDT. Sign up today, as space is limited! Are you new to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agencywide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Challenge owners post problems, and members of the NASA@work community participate by responding with their solutions to posted problems. Anyone can participate! Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com [top]    Community V-CORPs is Coming Soon! Volunteers for Community OutReach Programs (V-CORPs) will unite you with opportunities that let you make a difference. JSC employees have been sharing NASA's messages with the community for years, and V-CORPs will help make outreach accessible and easy. Next Tuesday, July 16, the V-CORPs website will go live and allow you to: Register as a volunteer Search the calendar for outreach opportunities Sign up to support an opportunity Find volunteer checklists and resources There's something for everyone to do! The V-CORPs team will be available in the Building 3 café on Tuesday, July 16, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for registration and to answer any questions. Event Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 3 cafe Add to Calendar JSC External Relations Office, Community Relations [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. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

NASA TV:

·         Noon Central (1 pm EDT) – Google+ Hangout on new findings from Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) mission

 

Human Spaceflight News

Wednesday – July 10, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

House CJS Bill Includes $16.6 Billion for NASA

 

Space News

 

NASA would get $16.6 billion for 2014 under a spending bill the House Appropriations commerce, justice, science committee is scheduled to markup July 10. Here's the summary the House Appropriations Committee posted the night before markup:

·         NASA is funded at $16.6 billion in the bill, a decrease of $928 million below the fiscal year 2013 enacted level and $1.1 billion below the President's request. This funding includes:

·         $3.6 billion for Exploration – $202 million below the fiscal year 2013 enacted level. This includes funding to keep NASA on schedule for upcoming Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle and Space Launch System flight program milestones.

·         $4.8 billion for NASA Science programs – $266 million below the fiscal year 2013 enacted level. This includes funding above the President's request for planetary science to ensure the continuation of critical research and development programs.

(NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Astronauts tackle chore backlog on spacewalk

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

Two spacewalking astronauts tackled a backlog of outdoor work at the International Space Station on Tuesday. It was the first spacewalk for Italy - a major contributor to the orbiting lab - as Luca Parmitano handled a variety of maintenance chores. He was accompanied by American Christopher Cassidy, a veteran spacewalker.

 

Spacewalkers leave space station for outside chores

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

Two astronauts left the International Space Station on Tuesday for a day of maintenance tasks, including installing a power cable needed for a new Russian laboratory due to arrive later this year. Veteran NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy and rookie partner Luca Parmitano, the first Italian to make a spacewalk, left the station's Quest airlock shortly after 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) as the orbital outpost sailed about 260 miles (418 km) over the Arabian Sea. "Have fun out there," crewmate Karen Nyberg radioed from inside the station, a $100 billion research complex owned by the United States, Russia, Japan and 11 European nations, including Italy.

 

Spacewalkers get the job done, and then some

 

Todd Halvorson – Florida Today

 

Two astronauts ambled through myriad maintenance tasks outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, setting the stage for some finish-it-up work next week. European astronaut Luca Parmitano and U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy rigged up power lines, retrieved research experiments, swapped out broken parts and staged equipment that would be used to remove failed radiators, if need be.

 

Space Station Astronaut Becomes Italy's 1st Spacewalker

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

Italy, you have a spacewalker. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano became the first Italian ever to walk in space Tuesday outside of the International Space Station. Parmitano, a 36-year old Italian astronaut, spent just over six hours working outside the space station alongside crewmate Chris Cassidy of NASA, and offered his thanks for an exhilarating first spacewalk. "Thank you," Parmitano said, adding another round of thanks in his native Italian language before signing off. Among other tasks, Parmitano and his fellow space station crewmember NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy retrieved a pair of materials science experiments, installed radiator grapple bars and successfully replaced a space-to-ground communications controller unit that failed in December 2012. Because Parmitano and Cassidy ran ahead of schedule, the speedy spacewalkers were able to start in on tasks originally scheduled for their second spacewalk next Tuesday (July 16). "Life is good," Cassidy said near the end of the spacewalk.

 

ISS orbit corrected for docking of Progress M-20M cargo ship

 

Itar-Tass

 

Russia's Mission Control Centre has corrected the orbit of the International Space Station to create a working orbit for the docking of a Progress M-20M cargo ship that is expected to be launched from the Baikonur cosmodrome later this month. "The orbit was corrected in compliance with ballistic navigation support of the ISS mission," a source at the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos told Itar-Tass on Wednesday. Engines of Europe's robotic ATV-4 known as Albert Einstein were used to raise the orbit. They were switched on at 09:35 Moscow time for 593 seconds to give the ISS an additional boost of 1.45 meters per second. For this time the orbit was raised by approximately 2.5 kilometers and the orbit's average altitude will reach 417.3 kilometers. Earth gravity and other factors reduce an orbital altitude by 150-200 meters per day, which makes it necessary to correct the orbit. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Private Venture's HD Cameras Bound for ISS on Nov. 21 Soyuz Launch

 

Debra Werner - Space News

 

UrtheCast Corp., the Canadian firm preparing to offer high-definition video imagery from the international space station, announced July 9 that its two cameras are scheduled to launch Nov. 21 on a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The cameras are scheduled to travel to the space station on the same Soyuz cargo flight as the Olympic torch, which is being sent into space for the first time on its journey to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The schedule for launching the Progress cargo tug carrying the Earth-monitoring cameras is not likely to be affected by the July 2 launch failure of a Russian Proton rocket because the Soyuz mission departs from a separate launch pad, UrtheCast officials said.

 

CASIS To Fund Proposal From Veterans Affairs

 

Space News

 

A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs researcher stands to receive roughly $300,000 from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to use the international space station to evaluate anti-cancer drug therapies, according to a June 25 announcement from CASIS, the Florida nonprofit manages research on board the U.S. portion of the ISS. CASIS said the unsolicited proposal from Timothy Hammond of the Department of Veterans Affairs seeks to investigate a yeast-based assay, or procedure for measuring the biochemical activity of a sample, used in developing drug therapies on the ground.

 

NASA alters 1st Orion/SLS flight – bold Upgrade to deep space asteroid harbinger planned

 

Ken Kremer - Universe Today

 

NASA managers have announced a bold new plan to significantly alter and upgrade the goals and complexity of the 1st mission of the integrated Orion/Space Launch System (SLS) human exploration architecture – planned for blastoff in late 2017. The ambitious first flight, called Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), would be targeted to send an unpiloted Orion spacecraft to a point more than 40,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) beyond the Moon as a forerunner supporting NASA's new Asteroid Redirect Initiative – recently approved by the Obama Administration. The EM-1 flight will now serve as an elaborate harbinger to NASA's likewise enhanced EM-2 mission, which would dispatch a crew of astronauts for up close investigation of a small Near Earth Asteroid relocated to the Moon's vicinity.

 

Composite Tank Tests Draw Industry Interest

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

 

A tricky weight-saving technology for space launch vehicles suddenly seems within reach after a small composite fuel tank was able to contain 2,091 gal. of liquid hydrogen while engineers fiddled with its internal pressure and cycled its temperature from ambient down to -423F in a June 25 test at Marshall Space Flight Center. The work is being done under the NASA technology-development organization's effort to generate "game-changing" technologies. The agency already plans to use composite fuel tanks in the cryogenic upper stage it needs to develop to help increase the capability of the heavy-lift Space Launch System to 130 metric tons from 70. While work on that stage is just beginning, Vickers says the composite tanks can be retrofitted into existing launch vehicles, passing the weight savings along directly to increase payload capacity. That is attracting attention in the launch-vehicle industry as new players like SpaceX and Blue Origin crank up the competition.

 

Shuttle Enterprise Exhibit to Reopen in New Temporary Home

 

Patrick McGeehan - New York Times

 

 

Eight months after Hurricane Sandy left the space shuttle Enterprise damaged and unprotected, officials of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum are ready to unveil its new temporary home on Wednesday. But where the Enterprise will end up in the long run remains an open question. Officials of the museum — a World War II-era aircraft carrier docked at Midtown Manhattan — want to construct an annex on land to house the shuttle, across the West Side Highway. The desired property belongs to the State Transportation Department, though, and its initial asking price of about $2.4 million in annual rent may be too steep for the museum. Museum officials challenged that price, saying the property is not in a "good" area because its neighbors include two strip clubs, two carwashes and a closed bagel bakery.

 

Lawmakers propose Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act to open national park on the moon

 

Joseph Straw – New York Daily News

 

Houston, we have a gift shop. A pair of lawmakers are pushing a plan to establish a new national park that would be quite literally out of this world — a full 250,000 miles away from this world. Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) want the country to open its next national park on the surface of the moon. The Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act establishing the galactic getaway "would ensure that the scientific data and cultural significance of the Apollo artifacts remain unharmed by future lunar landings," Edwards said in a statement Tuesday.

 

Congresswomen want national park on moon

 

CNN

 

Yosemite. Yellowstone. Grand Canyon. The moon? Two members of Congress are pitching an out-of-this world idea to put a national park there. Representatives Donna Edwards of Maryland and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas have proposed legislation to make the sites of moon landings as a national historic park. Both women say their concern is protecting artifacts left by astronauts from future commercial development. The national park designation would only apply to the American flags, Lunar Rover and other objects.

 

Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson proposes national park designation to protect moon artifacts

 

Emily Wilkins - Dallas Morning News

 

It might not get as many visitors as Yellowstone National Park, but Dallas Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson wants to create a national historic park on the moon. The legislation offered by Johnson and a fellow Democratic this week would protect artifacts left on the moon from Apollo missions 11 through 17. No ground on the moon would be included, although the bill requires that the government seek U.N. designation of Neil Armstrong's first footprints on the moon as a World Heritage Site, which offers protection to threatened areas.

 

Glass ceiling? What glass ceiling?

 

Natalia Hawk - MamaMia.com.au (Australia)

 

You probably don't give a shit about astronauts. And to be honest – I can't really blame you. You're probably too busy with your everyday life to worry about NASA and things like missions to Mars and what the International Space Station is planning. Because when you have three children/uni assignments/work deadlines/sick parents/a grumpy partner to contend with, outer space understandably might take a backburner on the list of Things To Care About. But you need to care about astronauts. More specifically – you need to care about what NASA just did, because it's pretty amazing. You see, last month, NASA announced their 2013 astronaut candidate class. This class is made up of eight people who will join the 49 NASA astronauts that already exist and are working on rather impressive things like missions to asteroids and planets. Four of those people are women.

 

MARS 2020 ROVER

 

NASA Releases Mars 2020 Science Definition Team Report

 

Brian Berger - Space News

 

NASA on July 9 released a 154-page report that recommends sending a near-clone of the $2.5 billion Curiosity rover to Mars at the end of the decade to look for signs of past life, collect samples for eventual return to Earth and demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration of the red planet. NASA chartered the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team in January to scope out instruments for the proposed rover mission that will meet the project's budget, deadline and goals. NASA officials have said they expect to leverage Curiosity's design to build a differently outfitted clone for about $1 billion less than the original.

 

2020 Mars rover to look for signs of past life on red planet

 

William Harwood – CBS News

 

A team of scientists studying possible mission scenarios for a planned 2020 Mars mission modeled on NASA's Curiosity rover has recommended a spacecraft equipped with instruments designed to look for traces of past life in the red planet's frigid crust, agency managers said Tuesday. The as-yet-unnamed Mars 2020 rover, expected to cost nearly $2 billion when launch costs are included, also would test technologies for collecting and caching core samples that could be returned by a future robotic mission for detailed analysis on Earth.

 

NASA releases proposed goals for 2020 Mars rover mission

 

Emi Kolawole - Washington Post

 

NASA's next Mars rover mission is scheduled for 2020. That mission should search for signs of past life on the Red Planet as well as collect and store core samples that could potentially be returned to Earth on a future mission. The 2020 mission should also demonstrate technology that could be incorporated into manned missions to Mars down the road. That's all according to the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, which completed and submitted its final report to NASA, recommending scientific goals for the 2020 rover mission to Mars. Along with the release, NASA published a video outlining the core recommendations.

 

Panel: Next Mars rover should gather rocks, soil

 

Alicia Chang - Associated Press

 

Explore an intriguing spot on Mars. Hunt for ancient signs of Martian life. Bag a bunch of rocks and leave them on the surface for a future mission to possibly return. That's what the next rover to Mars should strive for, a NASA-appointed team said Tuesday. The scientists released a 154-page report outlining ambitious science goals for a red planet mission that NASA wants to launch in 2020. While the plan marked the first concrete step toward returning a piece of Mars to Earth, NASA said it's unclear how - or when - the cache would be retrieved.

 

NASA's next Mars mission would sniff out 'biosignatures'

 

Dan Vergano - USA Today

 

NASA's next Mars rover should recover rock samples for eventual return to Earth, a space agency report recommends, part of an effort to find signs of ancient life on the Red Planet. The Mars 2020 Science Definition Team report released Tuesday sets out the goals for NASA's next planned rover, set to arrive in the next decade on Mars. "Had life ever been there and did it leave a mark?" said report chairman Jack Mustard of Brown University in Providence, R.I. "We are looking where life could have once been on Mars."

 

NASA says Mars 2020 rover should search for signs of life

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

NASA's Mars 2020 rover should search for signs of life and develop technology for human exploration of the red planet, a new report released Tuesday said. The cost of the spacecraft should be kept within $1.5 billion, and the rover should cache samples for a return to Earth at a date still to be determined, a science advisory committee said. When would that be? "The 2020s is probably very ambitious. But we're very ambitious here," said former astronaut John Grunsfeld, who now is chief of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

 

Objective of 2020 mission to Mars: Signs of life, NASA says

 

Chelsea Carter - CNN

 

Life on Mars?

 

That's the question facing the NASA team responsible for putting together the objectives for 2020 rover mission to Mars. "We're still on the quest to answer the grand question: Is there life somewhere else in the universe?" John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science, told reporters Tuesday in a teleconference. Previous missions to Mars have found definitive signs that water once flowed in a crater and rock samples that show signs of clay minerals.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Astronauts tackle chore backlog on spacewalk

 

Marcia Dunn - Associated Press

 

Two spacewalking astronauts tackled a backlog of outdoor work at the International Space Station on Tuesday.

 

It was the first spacewalk for Italy - a major contributor to the orbiting lab - as Luca Parmitano handled a variety of maintenance chores. He was accompanied by American Christopher Cassidy, a veteran spacewalker.

 

Cassidy encountered a stubborn bolt, eating up precious minutes, as he got started on the first of two planned spacewalks just a week apart. A slim gap of just one-eighth of an inch stalled the installation of a new space-to-ground radio transmitter. The old one failed in December.

 

"Nothing jumps out at me," Cassidy reported to Mission Control. "I can see a little wear on the bolt."

 

Finally, the former Navy SEAL managed to attach the transmitter. Mission Control said it appeared to be a tight fit.

 

It was smoother going for Parmitano as he collected science experiments for return to Earth later this year aboard a commercial SpaceX capsule.

 

"Any curve balls over there, Luca?" Cassidy asked. "Nope," came the reply.

 

The spacewalkers made up for lost time as they went through the hodgepodge of chores, removing a bad camera and relocating radiator grapple bars. Some of the work was done to make it easier to swap out bad parts if there's ever a breakdown.

 

They hustled through cable work in preparation for a new Russian lab due to arrive in December, and took pictures of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a $2 billion cosmic ray detector launched on NASA's next-to-last shuttle mission in 2011. Scientists noticed unusual discoloration on its radiators and requested photos of the instrument, which is anchored to the station.

 

Parmitano found it awkward to secure a protective cover over a docking port used by NASA's space shuttles until their retirement two years ago. The cover is meant to shield against micrometeorite strikes.

 

"It's kind of like when you're trying to make your bed by yourself. One side is a little bit shorter than the other," Parmitano said.

 

Before ending their six-hour excursion, the astronauts got a jump on work intended for a second spacewalk next Tuesday.

 

"A really great day," Mission Control radioed up.

 

NASA said the tasks had been piling up over the past couple of years. Managers wanted to wait until the to-do list was long before committing to the time-consuming spacewalks.

 

Parmitano, 36, a major in the Italian Air Force, arrived at the space station at the end of May for a six-month stay.

 

Cassidy, 43, will wrap up his half-year mission in September.

 

The rest of the space station crew - one American and three Russians - assisted the spacewalkers from inside.

 

This was the fourth spacewalk this year with five more planned, mostly by Russians. In all, 170 spacewalks have been performed over the past 15 years at the space station, totaling nearly 1,074 hours or 45 days.

 

Spacewalkers leave space station for outside chores

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

Two astronauts left the International Space Station on Tuesday for a day of maintenance tasks, including installing a power cable needed for a new Russian laboratory due to arrive later this year.

 

Veteran NASA astronaut Christopher Cassidy and rookie partner Luca Parmitano, the first Italian to make a spacewalk, left the station's Quest airlock shortly after 8 a.m. EDT (1200 GMT) as the orbital outpost sailed about 260 miles (418 km) over the Arabian Sea.

 

"Have fun out there," crewmate Karen Nyberg radioed from inside the station, a $100 billion research complex owned by the United States, Russia, Japan and 11 European nations, including Italy.

 

Cassidy's first task was to replace a failed backup component of the station's Ku-band communications system, restoring redundancy.

 

Parmitano, meanwhile, maneuvered himself to the right side of the station's solar power truss to pick up a pair of science experiments that will be returned to Earth aboard a future Space Exploration Technologies' cargo ship.

 

The privately owned California-based company, also known as SpaceX, is one of two U.S. firms hired by NASA to fly cargo to the station following the retirement of the space shuttles in 2011.

 

SpaceX's Dragon cargo capsules, which also are being developed to fly astronauts, are the only ones that return to Earth. Other cargo ships, including those flown by Russia, Europe and Japan, incinerate in the atmosphere after they leave the station.

 

The spacewalkers' to-do list also included repositioning some equipment delivered aboard a Dragon capsule in March. The gear - two grapple bars - may be needed by future spacewalkers tasked to remove station radiator panels.

 

Cassidy, who was making his fifth spacewalk, installed a power and data cable from the station's Unity connecting node to the Russian part of the International Space Station, completing one of the main goals of the outing.

 

The cable is part of a system that will be needed for a new Russian multi-purpose laboratory called Nauka that is due to launch later this year.

 

The new module will replace Russia's Pirs airlock, as well as serve as a research laboratory and berthing port. Russian cosmonauts will install the rest of the cable during a future spacewalk.

 

Cassidy and Parmitano have a follow-up spacewalk themselves next week to re-route cables that control the station's electrical system.

 

Spacewalkers get the job done, and then some

 

Todd Halvorson – Florida Today

 

Two astronauts ambled through myriad maintenance tasks outside the International Space Station on Tuesday, setting the stage for some finish-it-up work next week.

 

European astronaut Luca Parmitano and U.S. astronaut Chris Cassidy rigged up power lines, retrieved research experiments, swapped out broken parts and staged equipment that would be used to remove failed radiators, if need be.

 

NASA Mission Commentator Rob Navias said the two worked "with maximum efficiency" as they waltzed through their scheduled work as well as four chores that had been planned for a spacewalk next Tuesday.

 

"Life is good," Cassidy said as the two headed into the home stretch of a six-hour, seven-minute outing.

 

"Couldn't be better," Parmitano said.

 

In Mission Control, NASA astronaut Shane Kimbrough said: "Concur."

 

Parmitano became the first Italian to walk in space during the excursion. Cassidy tallied his fifth foray.

 

Both wore protective spacesuits and were equipped with emergency jet backpacks. The jet backpacks would give astronauts a way to fly back to the outpost if braided steel safety tethers broke and they floated into the void.

 

The spacewalk was the 170th conducted in the assembly and maintenance of the station.

 

Cassidy and Parmitano are slated to set out on another planned 6.5-hour excursion at 8:10 a.m. EDT next Tuesday.

 

Space Station Astronaut Becomes Italy's 1st Spacewalker

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

Italy, you have a spacewalker. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano became the first Italian ever to walk in space Tuesday outside of the International Space Station.

 

Parmitano, a 36-year old Italian astronaut, spent just over six hours working outside the space station alongside crewmate Chris Cassidy of NASA, and offered his thanks for an exhilarating first spacewalk.

 

"Thank you," Parmitano said, adding another round of thanks in his native Italian language before signing off.

 

Among other tasks, Parmitano and his fellow space station crewmember NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy retrieved a pair of materials science experiments, installed radiator grapple bars and successfully replaced a space-to-ground communications controller unit that failed in December 2012.

 

Because Parmitano and Cassidy ran ahead of schedule, the speedy spacewalkers were able to start in on tasks originally scheduled for their second spacewalk next Tuesday (July 16).

 

"Life is good," Cassidy said near the end of the spacewalk.

 

Cassidy and Parmitano also readied the station for the launch of a new Russian module later this year. They installed cables that will be used to power the new Multipurpose Laboratory Module upon its arrival at the station.

 

Parmitano also installed a cover that will protect a docking port where

 

space shuttles attached to the station, according to NASA officials.

 

The two astronauts took some time to appreciate their unique view of Earth as the station orbited about 260 miles (418 kilometers) above the surface of the planet.

 

"It's amazing," Parmitano said when looking down at the Earth at the beginning of the spacewalk.

 

Now five-time veteran spacewalker Cassidy checked in on Parmitano periodically to see if his tasks were going smoothly.

 

Parmitano was perched on the tip of the Canadian Space Agency built robotic arm for much of the spacewalk. NASA's Karen Nyberg controlled the space station's 57.7 foot (17.6 meter) robotic arm from inside the International Space Station.

 

"It was fun working with you," Nyberg said as work with the robotic arm came to a close. "It was just like we trained."

 

Parmitano replied: "Even better."

 

Cassidy and Parmitano will take to the outside of the space station again on July 16 to continue  preparations for the arrival of the new Russian laboratory as well as other jobs. The module is expected to be a staging ground for Russian spacewalks, function as a research facility and docking port, NASA officials have said.

 

The $100 billion International Space Station is the joint collaboration of five different space agencies that represent 15 countries. Construction of the largest structure ever built in space began in 1998 and has been staffed continuously by a rotating crew of astronauts since 2000. Cassidy and Parmitano's spacewalk is the 170th in support of space station maintenance in 15 years bringing total spacewalking time up to more than 1,000 hours.

 

Private Venture's HD Cameras Bound for ISS on Nov. 21 Soyuz Launch

 

Debra Werner - Space News

 

UrtheCast Corp., the Canadian firm preparing to offer high-definition video imagery from the international space station, announced July 9 that its two cameras are scheduled to launch Nov. 21 on a Russian Soyuz rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. 

 

The cameras are scheduled to travel to the space station on the same Soyuz cargo flight as the Olympic torch, which is being sent into space for the first time on its journey to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. The schedule for launching the Progress cargo tug carrying the Earth-monitoring cameras is not likely to be affected by the July 2 launch failure of a Russian Proton rocket because the Soyuz mission departs from a separate launch pad, UrtheCast officials said.

 

Soon after the Earth observation cameras reach the space station, Russian cosmonauts plan a spacewalk to install the instruments on a platform attached to the space station's Zvezda service module, said Scott Larsen, president and chief executive of Vancouver, British Columbia-based UrtheCast. Cosmonauts recently practiced installing the cameras in the Hydrolab at the Star City Cosmonaut Training Center near Moscow, Larsen told SpaceNews.

 

RAL Space, part of the United Kingdom Science and Technology Facilities Council's Rutherford Appleton Laboratory, has nearly completed construction of UrtheCast's five-meter-resolution still camera and 5.5-meter-resolution video camera, Larsen said. Another UrtheCast partner, Canada's MDA Corp., is assembling electronic systems designed to transfer data and imagery from the cameras to ground stations.

 

Once the two cameras are installed on the space station platform, UrtheCast plans to conduct several weeks of onboard testing before making imagery captured by the cameras publicly available through its web platform in early 2014.

 

CASIS To Fund Proposal From Veterans Affairs

 

Space News

 

A U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs researcher stands to receive roughly $300,000 from the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) to use the international space station to evaluate anti-cancer drug therapies, according to a June 25 announcement from CASIS, the Florida nonprofit manages research on board the U.S. portion of the ISS.

 

CASIS said the unsolicited proposal from Timothy Hammond of the Department of Veterans Affairs seeks to investigate a yeast-based assay, or procedure for measuring the biochemical activity of a sample, used in developing drug therapies on the ground.

 

Previous investigations performed on the space shuttle showed changes in this assay in space, according to CASIS. "Hammond seeks to demonstrate that these changes can be used for discovery and evaluation of drugs such as cancer therapeutics," CASIS said in a press release. "Initial experiments studying existing drugs may reveal new uses for these drugs — while optimizing the experimental methodology and paving the way for future experiments."

 

CASIS said the grant "marks the first official research proposal agreement between CASIS and a government agency." NASA selected CASIS in July 2011 to manage research conducted aboard the international space station's U.S. side, which Congress designated a national laboratory in 2005.

 

"Today's announcement demonstrates the National Laboratory is available for all to utilize, ranging from government agencies and academic institutions to commercial entities," CASIS interim executive director Jim Royston said. "We look forward to continuing to expand our list of qualified researchers to maximize this unparalleled technical platform."

 

NASA alters 1st Orion/SLS flight – bold Upgrade to deep space asteroid harbinger planned

 

Ken Kremer - Universe Today

 

NASA managers have announced a bold new plan to significantly alter and upgrade the goals and complexity of the 1st mission of the integrated Orion/Space Launch System (SLS) human exploration architecture – planned for blastoff in late 2017.

 

The ambitious first flight, called Exploration Mission 1 (EM-1), would be targeted to send an unpiloted Orion spacecraft to a point more than 40,000 miles (70,000 kilometers) beyond the Moon as a forerunner supporting NASA's new Asteroid Redirect Initiative – recently approved by the Obama Administration.

 

The EM-1 flight will now serve as an elaborate harbinger to NASA's likewise enhanced EM-2 mission, which would dispatch a crew of astronauts for up close investigation of a small Near Earth Asteroid relocated to the Moon's vicinity.

 

Until recently NASA's plan had been to launch the first crewed Orion atop the 2nd SLS rocket in 2021 to a high orbit around the moon on the EM-2 mission, said NASA Associate Administrator Lori Garver in an prior interview with me at the Kennedy Space Center.

 

The enhanced EM-1 flight would involve launching an unmanned Orion, fully integrated with the Block 1 SLS to a deep retrograde orbit near the moon, a stable orbit in the Earth-moon system where an asteroid could be moved to as early as 2021.

 

Orion's mission duration would be nearly tripled to 25 days from the original 10 days.

 

The proposed much more technologically difficult EM-1 mission would allow for an exceptionally more vigorous work out and evaluation of the design of all flight systems for both Orion and SLS before risking a flight with humans aboard.

 

A slew of additional thruster firings would exercise the engines to change orbital parameters outbound, around the moon and inbound for reentry. Orion would be outfitted with sensors to collect a wide variety of measurements to evaluate its operation in the harsh space environment.

 

Orion is NASA's next generation manned space vehicle following the retirement of NASA's trio of Space Shuttles in 2011.

 

The SLS launcher will be the most powerful and capable rocket ever built by humans – exceeding the liftoff thrust of the Apollo era Moon landing booster, the mighty Saturn V.

 

"We sent Apollo around the moon before we landed on it and tested the space shuttle's landing performance before it ever returned from space." said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development, in a statement.

 

"We've always planned for EM-1 to serve as the first test of SLS and Orion together and as a critical step in preparing for crewed flights. This change still gives us that opportunity and also gives us a chance to test operations planning ahead of our mission to a relocated asteroid."

 

Both Orion and SLS are under active and accelerating development by NASA and its industrial partners.

 

The 1st Orion capsule is slated to blast off on the unpiloted EFT-1 test flight in September 2014 atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket on a two orbit test flight to an altitude of 3,600 miles above Earth's surface.

 

It will then reenter Earth's atmosphere at speeds of about 20,000 MPH (11 km/sec) and endure temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit in a critical test designed to evaluate the performance of Orion's heatshield and numerous spacecraft systems.

 

Orion EFT-1 is already under construction at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) by prime contractor Lockheed Martin – read my earlier story here.

 

Integration and stacking tests with Orion's emergency Launch Abort System are also in progress at KSC – details here.

 

NASA says the SLS is also in the midst of a extensive review process called the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) to ensure that all launch vehicle components and systems will achieve the specified performance targets and be completed in time to meet the 2017 launch date. The PDR will be completed later this summer.

 

NASA's goal with Orion/SLS is to send humans to the Moon and other Deep Space destinations like Asteroids and Mars for the first time in over forty years since the final manned lunar landing by Apollo 17 back in 1972.

 

NASA Headquarters will make a final decision on upgrading the EM-1 mission after extensive technical reviews this summer.

 

Composite Tank Tests Draw Industry Interest

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

 

A tricky weight-saving technology for space launch vehicles suddenly seems within reach after a small composite fuel tank was able to contain 2,091 gal. of liquid hydrogen while engineers fiddled with its internal pressure and cycled its temperature from ambient down to -423F in a June 25 test at Marshall Space Flight Center. The success came a short walk from the test structure where NASA's X-33 single-stage-to-orbit testbed came to an ignominious—and expensive—end in November 1999 when its composite hydrogen tank delaminated after it was filled. The agency pulled the plug on that project, cutting its loss at almost $1 billion and leaving prime contractor Lockheed Martin to box up and warehouse the almost-complete suborbital prototype.

 

Now the agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate is sponsoring another composite cryotank, using the latest technology to build the tanks, and setting a goal of at least a 25% reduction in cost and 30% in weight over the aluminum-lithium tanks now in use. So far, it looks like the effort is on target.

 

"All the data indicate that the tank performed just as expected, so it performed nominally, and nominally is a very good thing for us," says John Vickers, project manager on the composite cryogenic tank technology demonstration project at Marshall.

 

During the day-long test, the Boeing-built subscale tank went through 20 pressure cycles from zero to 135 psi, without leaking and with strain measurements meeting expectations. Next up for testing will be a 5.5-meter-dia. tank already in fabrication at the Boeing Advanced Development Center in Tukwila, Wash. (see photo). Now that the smaller tank has validated the technology, the way is clear for Boeing to deliver the full-scale tank to Marshall this fall, with testing to begin next spring.

 

Both test tanks are built up with thin-ply composites that do not require a pressurized autoclave for curing. The out-of-autoclave fabrication helps hold the cost down, says Dan Rivera, Boeing's project manager on the tanks, while the thin-ply approach, already in use on satellite structures and other Boeing products, prevents microcracking that causes leaks.

 

"The thin-ply concept, as designed for our tank, is a real breakthrough," says Vickers. "It's been known theoretically that thin plies could reduce permeability of the hydrogen through the laminate, but the work we've done recently has been quite comprehensive and has shown that not only can it reduce permeability through the laminate, but it can eliminate it completely."

 

Boeing halved the 5.5-mil plies used previously, adopting plies weighing 70 grams per sq. meter instead of 135, Rivera says. In the 5.5-meter (18-ft.) tank, the design also will tackle the honeycomb substructure that is believed to have contributed to the X-33 tank failure.

 

"We have developed what we call a fluted core structure," says Rivera. "It varies significantly from honeycomb in that the core of that structure is essentially a hollow tube. So if gases escape, they are very easily vented or purged through that hollow structure."

 

In addition to the temperature and pressure cycling, the larger tank will receive mechanical loads testing at Marshall designed to simulate the shear and moment acting on fuel tanks in flight. "It would be multiple pressurization and cryogenic thermal cycles as well as multiple mechanical loads, all those in combinations," Vickers says. "Our objective is to prove that the tank can both contain hydrogen without leakage or permeation and that it can sustain the mechanical loads of launch."

 

The work is being done under the NASA technology-development organization's effort to generate "game-changing" technologies. The agency already plans to use composite fuel tanks in the cryogenic upper stage it needs to develop to help increase the capability of the heavy-lift Space Launch System to 130 metric tons from 70.

 

While work on that stage is just beginning, Vickers says the composite tanks can be retrofitted into existing launch vehicles, passing the weight savings along directly to increase payload capacity. That is attracting attention in the launch-vehicle industry as new players like SpaceX and Blue Origin crank up the competition.

 

"There is a lot of excitement about this technology," he says. "We are being approached by other organizations—government and industry—to transition this technology to their products."

 

Within Boeing, too, interest is growing, says Rivera. "We're getting very similar interest from our unmanned systems, space systems and advanced space systems units," he says. "We're working closely with them to provide the information they need so they can include composite cryotanks in their trade studies."

 

Shuttle Enterprise Exhibit to Reopen in New Temporary Home

 

Patrick McGeehan - New York Times

 

 

Eight months after Hurricane Sandy left the space shuttle Enterprise damaged and unprotected, officials of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum are ready to unveil its new temporary home on Wednesday. But where the Enterprise will end up in the long run remains an open question.

 

Officials of the museum — a World War II-era aircraft carrier docked at Midtown Manhattan — want to construct an annex on land to house the shuttle, across the West Side Highway. The desired property belongs to the State Transportation Department, though, and its initial asking price of about $2.4 million in annual rent may be too steep for the museum.

 

Museum officials challenged that price, saying the property is not in a "good" area because its neighbors include two strip clubs, two carwashes and a closed bagel bakery.

 

According to documents gathered through a Freedom of Information Law request, they have asked for a discount because they are seeking the site not for a commercial purpose, but for a nonprofit museum. The Intrepid museum currently uses the land for parking.

 

Susan Marenoff-Zausner, the museum's president, said the only alternative being considered was to build a permanent structure for the 75-ton shuttle on Pier 86, beside the Intrepid. But the hurricane temporarily left the pier submerged under several feet of water, revealing how vulnerable it could be in future storms.

 

Ms. Marenoff-Zausner said a structure for the Enterprise, which was the prototype for the shuttles that carried astronauts into orbit, would raise it one story above street level to protect it from flooding. With the shuttle's 122-foot length, displaying the Enterprise upright would require that structure to be as tall as a 13-story building.

 

"When Sandy hit, everything just got put on hold," Ms. Marenoff-Zausner said in an interview. She said the long-term plan for the Enterprise had not changed: "We're looking to build a museum around the shuttle."

 

The path to that goal has been rocky. The Enterprise has been damaged twice since it arrived in New York City in April 2012 on the back of a 747 jet.

 

One of its wings was chipped while it was being moved by barge from Kennedy International Airport to the Intrepid. Then, just three months after the Enterprise was put on display in an inflatable pavilion on the Intrepid's flight deck, Hurricane Sandy swamped the power source that kept that bubble inflated. The storm's winds shredded the material protecting the shuttle and left its vertical stabilizer damaged.

 

That will not happen again, Ms. Marenoff-Zausner said, because the inflatable pavilion's replacement, which is made of metal, is "solid." It can withstand "a higher level of hurricane than what we had," she said.

 

In addition to the museum's regular admission price of as much as $24, adults will be charged $7 to enter the pavilion. When the first pavilion opened last summer, the premium was $6.

 

The foundation that operates the museum has not started to raise money to build a permanent home for the Enterprise. The Enterprise is likely to remain in its new pavilion for at least a few years, but Ms. Marenoff-Zausner said that leaving it there permanently was "not really on the table."

 

Nor, it seems, is buying the lot across the highway. Two appraisals set its value at about $40 million, which the Transportation Department considers fair, a spokesman, Beau Duffy, said. At that value, the rent should be about $2.4 million a year, according to documents the department provided.

 

Lawyers for the Intrepid argue that the state transportation commissioner has the discretion to lower the price for a less-commercial use of the land, like for a museum. But the department had not agreed to do that before discussions were suspended after the hurricane struck.

 

Mr. Duffy said that the department had not decided whether it would lease the lot to the Intrepid and that it was "still in the fact-finding stage of the process."

 

Lawmakers propose Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act to open national park on the moon

 

Joseph Straw – New York Daily News

 

Houston, we have a gift shop.

 

A pair of lawmakers are pushing a plan to establish a new national park that would be quite literally out of this world — a full 250,000 miles away from this world.

 

Rep. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas) want the country to open its next national park on the surface of the moon.

 

The Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act establishing the galactic getaway "would ensure that the scientific data and cultural significance of the Apollo artifacts remain unharmed by future lunar landings," Edwards said in a statement Tuesday.

 

The pair hope that a lunar national park would protect historical artifacts like gear left on the moon by seven lunar missions – six of which landed a dozen Americans on the moon between 1969 and 1972 — from an onslaught of foreign and private visitors in the years and decades to come.

 

Experts, however, say the bill may both duplicate and conflict with elements of the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which the U.S. and Soviet Union signed off on at the height of the space race.

 

The treaty – joined by the Russian Federation and 100 other counties – establishes that all space objects remain property of the nation that launched them.

 

The treaty also bars any claim of national sovereignty on lunar territory – for park space or otherwise.

 

In a nod to the treaty, Edwards' bill limits the park's components to the NASA equipment itself, but also defines the landing sites as "all areas of the Moon where astronauts and instruments connected to the Apollo program between 1969 and 1972 touched the lunar surface."

 

That invokes astronauts' precious lunar footprints, which may be tough to protect under the treaty.

 

James Dunstan, a veteran space lawyer and a fellow with the think tank TechFreedom noted that the last three Apollo missions deployed lunar rovers that covered "significant amounts of real estate."

 

Joanne Gabrynowicz a Brooklyn native and director of the National Center for Remote Sensing, Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi, said that under the treaty, "the fact that a lunar rover or other object has traversed lunar territory does not constitute a claim."

 

Edwards' bill would also require that the U.S, apply to the United Nations for designation of the Apollo 11 landing site – where Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin first set foot on the moon July 20, 1969 – be designated a world heritage site.

 

Dunstan said that legislation simply asserting U.S. ownership of its equipment, and requiring the UN application "would receive a much warmer international reception."

 

Congresswomen want national park on moon

 

CNN

 

Yosemite. Yellowstone. Grand Canyon. The moon?

 

Two members of Congress are pitching an out-of-this world idea to put a national park there.

 

Representatives Donna Edwards of Maryland and Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas have proposed legislation to make the sites of moon landings as a national historic park.

 

Both women say their concern is protecting artifacts left by astronauts from future commercial development.

 

The national park designation would only apply to the American flags, Lunar Rover and other objects.

 

That's because the moon's surface doesn't belong to the U.S. or any other nation under an international treaty.

 

The Moon Park Bill would also allow for corporate donations and foreign contributions to maintain the proposed park.

 

Dallas Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson proposes national park designation to protect moon artifacts

 

Emily Wilkins - Dallas Morning News

 

It might not get as many visitors as Yellowstone National Park, but Dallas Democratic Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson wants to create a national historic park on the moon.

 

The legislation offered by Johnson and a fellow Democratic this week would protect artifacts left on the moon from Apollo missions 11 through 17. No ground on the moon would be included, although the bill requires that the government seek U.N. designation of Neil Armstrong's first footprints on the moon as a World Heritage Site, which offers protection to threatened areas.

 

"In light of other nations and private entities developing the ability to go to the moon, the United States must be proactive in protecting artifacts left by the seven Apollo lunar landings," Johnson said in a written statement.

 

The bill, which was introduced in the House on Monday, is sponsored by Johnson, the ranking Democrat of the House science committee, and fellow panel member Rep. Donna Edwards, D-Md.

 

A spokeswoman for the Democrats on the committee said those who take or damage artifacts on the moon would be subject to punishment under the same laws as those who take or damage property in national parks.

 

Obviously, that would be hard to enforce and hard to protect. Johnson acknowledged the oddity of a national historical park on the moon, but she said legal protection for the objects there is important.

 

"I don't think that there is anything far-fetched about protecting and preserving such irreplaceable items and such a hallowed place," she said in a statement.

 

The committee spokeswoman also said the head of the Russian space agency, Vladimir Popovkin, has called for protection of relics from the first manned missions to the moon.

 

The bill has been referred to the House science committee and the House Natural Resources Committee.

 

Glass ceiling? What glass ceiling?

 

Natalia Hawk - MamaMia.com (Australia)

 

You probably don't give a shit about astronauts. And to be honest – I can't really blame you.

 

You're probably too busy with your everyday life to worry about NASA and things like missions to Mars and what the International Space Station is planning.

 

Because when you have three children/uni assignments/work deadlines/sick parents/a grumpy partner to contend with, outer space understandably might take a backburner on the list of Things To Care About.

 

But you need to care about astronauts.

 

More specifically – you need to care about what NASA just did, because it's pretty amazing.

 

You see, last month, NASA announced their 2013 astronaut candidate class. This class is made up of eight people who will join the 49 NASA astronauts that already exist and are working on rather impressive things like missions to asteroids and planets.

 

Four of those people are women.

 

Their names are Christina Hammock, Nicole Mann, Anne McClain and Jessica Meir.

 

NASA didn't select these women because they had some kind of gender quota to fill. They simply did it because they were the best people for the job. And out of all astronaut candidate classes, that's the highest percentage of women ever selected in a NASA group.

 

That might not sound so significant until you consider that…

 

1)     534 people have travelled to space so far – and only 57 of them have been women.

2)     These four women won out over 6300 other applicants. 6300.

 

And the application process was intense, as you might expect it to be. Just looking at the NASA website, ONE aspect of their training program requires that you be able to swim 3 lengths of a 25m pool in a flight suit and tennis shoes. And that isn't even taking into account the other mental/physical requirements.

 

Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. She was 32 when she rode into space in 1983.

 

But let's forget about all that for a second. Let's look at the achievements of the four women.

 

Christina has engineering and physics degrees and a masters in electrical engineering, and has spent winters in places such as Antarctica doing research.

 

Nicole has a mechanical engineering degree and is a qualified pilot in the US Marine Corps, as well as a brilliant soccer player.

 

Anne is a pilot/command intelligence officer/rugby player/scuba diver that also has degrees in public health and international studies.

 

Jessica has degrees in biology, space studies and marine biology, is a pilot/scuba diver/ice diver, and is an assistant professor at Harvard medical school

 

These four women have nine degrees between them. Three are qualified pilots. Two are qualified scuba divers. Christina and Anne are also the youngest candidates ever selected for the program.

 

There is no denying that these four women are amazing. But we can't just leave it at that. We can't just read this post, nod our head in agreement and then just walk away.

 

We need to spread the word about them. We need to brag about their achievements to other women. We need to promote how well they have done.

 

Because in our society, we don't spend nearly enough time celebrating or appreciating smart women. And I'm as guilty of this as everyone else.

 

Off the top of my head, I can name at least 100 female celebrities and intimate details about their personal lives. I can explain the entire Kardashian family tree, if you want. I can tell you about at least five of Brody Jenner's ex-girlfriends.

 

But I can barely name any women who are significantly changing the world in the field of science, or medicine, or charity. I am barely aware of those who are doing ground-breaking research into the future of our world.

 

And that has a trickle-down effect to everyday life. It's why I wasn't particularly proud to be part of the "smart group" at school (read: the group that actually bothered turning up to school most days and bringing their books). It's why I didn't say anything when my friends – from that "smart group" – dumbed themselves down when speaking to boys, in some kind of attempt to appear more attractive.

 

It's why my heroes were always pop stars like Britney Spears, instead of people like my own mother, who has a medical degree from one of the best universities in Europe and defied all odds to escape a communist country and come to Australia.

 

She now spends her days saving people's lives. To contrast: Britney sang songs with lyrics like "hit me baby one more time", went crazy, shaved her head and got married for 55 hours.

 

It's why I love to tell people stories about how bad I am at maths and how I can't ever calculate 24 hour time and about how I have crashed/scraped my car about five times.

 

It's why I keep telling people that "it's not that hard!" to get into a law degree. Even though it is hard. And I worked my arse off to do it.

 

And I know that other women do the same, because I sit there and I hear them do it all the time.

 

So send this post to other women that you know. Other women that don't care about astronauts, but should. Get them to send it to their daughters. Get their daughters to send it to their friends.

 

Because when we are presented with four brilliant women, such as these new NASA astronauts – we need to start learning their names and their stories, just as we know the stories of so many who are doing much less important work.

 

And then maybe one day, our daughters might learn to look up to us instead of whatever pop stars is in the top 10 iTunes charts of the moment. That would be all kinds of amazing.

 

MARS 2020 ROVER

 

NASA Releases Mars 2020 Science Definition Team Report

 

Brian Berger - Space News

 

NASA on July 9 released a 154-page report that recommends sending a near-clone of the $2.5 billion Curiosity rover to Mars at the end of the decade to look for signs of past life, collect samples for eventual return to Earth and demonstrate technology for future robotic and human exploration of the red planet.

 

NASA chartered the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team in January to scope out instruments for the proposed rover mission that will meet the project's budget, deadline and goals. NASA officials have said they expect to leverage Curiosity's design to build a differently outfitted clone for about $1 billion less than the original.

 

"The [Science Definition Team's] evaluation of the 2020 opportunity for Mars finds that pioneering Mars science can be accomplished within the available resources and that the mission concept of a science caching rover, if implemented, would address the highest priority, community-vetted goals and objectives for Mars exploration," the report states. "It would achieve high-quality science through the proposed suite of nested, coordinated measurements and would result in NASA's first Mars mission configured to cache samples for possible return to Earth at a later date."

 

In a statement, John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science, said that mission objectives determined by NASA with input from the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team "will become the basis later this year for soliciting proposals to provide instruments to be part of the science payload on this exciting step in Mars exploration."

 

The Mars 2020 Science Definition Team was led by Brown University professor Jack Mustard and was composed of 19 scientists and engineers from universities and research organizations. 

 

2020 Mars rover to look for signs of past life on red planet

 

William Harwood – CBS News

 

A team of scientists studying possible mission scenarios for a planned 2020 Mars mission modeled on NASA's Curiosity rover has recommended a spacecraft equipped with instruments designed to look for traces of past life in the red planet's frigid crust, agency managers said Tuesday.

 

The as-yet-unnamed Mars 2020 rover, expected to cost nearly $2 billion when launch costs are included, also would test technologies for collecting and caching core samples that could be returned by a future robotic mission for detailed analysis on Earth.

 

NASA unveiled initial plans for the Mars 2020 rover in December 2012 and the following January, a Science Definition Team made up of leading planetary scientists and engineers began studying possible mission designs based on four basic requirements.

 

"The first objective was to explore an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars to decipher the geologic processes and history, including its past habitability," said Jack Mustard, chairman of the committee and professor of geological sciences at Brown University.

 

"The second key objective was to assess the biosignature preservation potential within the selected geologic environment and search for potential biosignatures," or traces of past life.

 

The third objective "was to demonstrate significant technical progress towards the future return of scientifically selected, well-documented samples to Earth," Mustard said. The fourth goal was to provide a testbed for human spaceflight technologies.

 

"We are recommending a mission concept for a science-focused, highly-mobile rover to explore and investigate in detail a site on Mars that likely was once habitable," Mustard said. "Our preferred mission concept employs new, in situ science instrumentation in order to seek these signs of past life had it been there.

 

"We're not looking for the life that must have been there, because we don't know the answer to that question. But we're saying given as many signs as we've had, including what Curiosity is finding, that there is promise that had life been there, it had left a mark in the geologic record."

 

The new rover will be based on Curiosity's general design and the "sky crane" landing technology that successfully lowered the heavy rover to the surface from a rocket-powered backpack.

 

But one key difference involves the new rover's drilling system. Curiosity is equipped with an impact drill designed to bore into rocks to collect powdered samples for detailed chemical analysis. The new rover likely will be equipped with a drill system that will collect core samples that could be placed in a cache for possible return to Earth.

 

No such sample return mission is currently on the books and it's not clear when such a mission might be launched. But perfecting the technology is considered a key step toward one day getting samples back to Earth for detailed laboratory analysis.

 

In recent Mars missions, NASA has studiously avoided talking about direct searches for past or present life. Instead, the agency has focused on a "follow the water" strategy aimed at determining whether Mars ever hosted environments habitable to life as it is known on Earth.

 

That answer to that question now seems clear, scientists say. Habitable environments did, in fact, exist on Mars, but it's not yet clear when they were present or whether they lasted long enough for life to evolve.

 

The Mars 2020 rover will be equipped with state-of-the-art instruments to look for signs of past life in a yet-to-be-selected location where scientists see clear evidence of past habitability. But the rover will not be looking for signs of existing life.

 

"To go and look for simple organisms or not-so-simple organisms that are living within that toxic, harsh environment, we just think it's a foolish investment of the technology at this time," Mustard said.

 

But given past habitable environments, any life that did exist may have left detectable remains, or traces, across vast stretches of time that would be easier to find.

 

"To the best evidence that a good segment of the planetary science community understands, that period of time on Mars was in its ancient past when habitable environments were common and have left a number of records we can see from orbit," Mustard said. "We would like to sample those to see if it left biosignatures.

 

"If that biosignature happens to be a dinosaur-type bone, we probably wouldn't need to return that sample, we would recognize that with our current capabilities," he joked. "But our understanding is that it's likely to be microbial, and that's a darn hard measurement to make, and a darn hard measurement to convince the skeptical science community that that is indeed the case."

 

The Science Definition Team included members who pushed for instruments to look for currently existing life, "but the feeling was, on the basis of the scientific evidence we have to date, the most logical steps were to look for the ancient signs of life that would be preserved in the rock record," Mustard said.

 

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, director of the Carnegie Institution's Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, said it was a matter of maximizing the potential science return.

 

"If we were only looking for what microbes could be found on the surface in this place right now, that's like a tiny snapshot of the history of Mars and the possibility of life," she said. "But if we look back through the rock record, we're basically integrating over time and maximizing our chances of finding results."

 

NASA managers now will evaluate the Science Definition Team's report before asking the science community to submit proposals for scientific instruments.

 

"Here's the bottom line," said Elkins-Tanton. "Questions drive science. When it comes to NASA and the community together planning a flagship mission, the time, the commitment and the support needed, we should only be seeking to answer the very biggest questions.

 

"And one of the very biggest questions for all of humankind is are we alone? And that is the question we're hoping to make really big advances with this Mars 2020 mission."

 

NASA releases proposed goals for 2020 Mars rover mission

 

Emi Kolawole - Washington Post

 

NASA's next Mars rover mission is scheduled for 2020. That mission should search for signs of past life on the Red Planet as well as collect and store core samples that could potentially be returned to Earth on a future mission. The 2020 mission should also demonstrate technology that could be incorporated into manned missions to Mars down the road. That's all according to the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, which completed and submitted its final report to NASA, recommending scientific goals for the 2020 rover mission to Mars. The space agency released the 154-page report to the public Tuesday.

 

The Science Definition Team, composed of 19 engineers and scientists from universities and research organizations, started work in January to propose goals for the 2020 Mars mission. The proposed mission goals, which suggest the agency borrow heavily from the Curiosity rover designs, could prove to be, to borrow a phrase, "one giant leap" toward meeting President Obama's goal of sending humans to Mars roughly a decade after the 2020 mission.

 

"The proposed Mars 2020 rover mission is the best, most scientifically impactful next step in exploring the closest world at which humanity might answer the question: Has there been life elsewhere in the solar system," the report reads. But the search for signs of past life during the 2020 mission should not be considered a search for little green men, or their skeletons. Instead, this would be a search for evidence of microbial life.

 

"The sort of evidence we're looking for," said Science Definition Team Member and Jet Propulsion Laboratory Astrobiologist Abigail Allwood in a video produced by JPL, "would be signatures of microbial life. So, not realistically looking for dinosaur bones and that kind of thing. If life ever existed on Mars, we expect it to have been microbial – microorganisms."

 

The report's conclusions for how the mission should proceed are merely a part of the process in establishing the final mission goals.

 

"Crafting the science and exploration goals is a crucial milestone in preparing for our next major Mars mission," said John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science in Washington via a release Tuesday. "The objectives determined by NASA with the input from this team will become the basis later this year for soliciting proposals to provide instruments to be part of the science payload on this exciting step in Mars exploration."

 

Along with the release, NASA published a video outlining the core recommendations.

 

Panel: Next Mars rover should gather rocks, soil

 

Alicia Chang - Associated Press

 

Explore an intriguing spot on Mars. Hunt for ancient signs of Martian life. Bag a bunch of rocks and leave them on the surface for a future mission to possibly return.

 

That's what the next rover to Mars should strive for, a NASA-appointed team said Tuesday.

 

The scientists released a 154-page report outlining ambitious science goals for a red planet mission that NASA wants to launch in 2020.

 

While the plan marked the first concrete step toward returning a piece of Mars to Earth, NASA said it's unclear how - or when - the cache would be retrieved.

 

"We're not signing up to a timetable or a commitment for a follow-on mission," said NASA sciences chief John Grunsfeld, adding that it's up to future planners to decide the next steps.

 

NASA has the ultimate say on what the future rover will accomplish within its $1.5 billion budget, excluding the cost of the launch vehicle.

 

One thing is for certain: The rover will be modeled after Curiosity, which captivated the world last summer with its daring landing in Gale Crater near the Martian equator.

 

Despite the successful touchdown, the $2.5 billion mission ran over budget and faced technical problems during development.

 

To save money, engineers will dust off Curiosity's blueprints and reuse spare parts where possible. There are also plans to recycle the landing technology that delivered the car-size rover to the surface.

 

The future rover would build on discoveries of past Mars missions. Spirit and Opportunity, launched in 2004, uncovered plenty of geologic evidence of past water. Curiosity found a habitable environment where microbes could thrive and recently began a long road trip toward a mountain.

 

Scientists want Curiosity's successor to carry high-tech instruments that can peer at rocks on a microscopic level in search of chemical clues that might have been left behind by microbes, if they existed.

 

Since the Martian surface is a harsh environment with no signs of water, the panel said it didn't make sense to look for current life.

 

That would be a "foolish investment," said Brown University planetary geologist John Mustard, who headed the NASA-appointed team.

 

The only time NASA tackled the life question head-on was during the Viking missions of 1976. The twin spacecraft's rudimentary experiments failed to turn up signs of life. Many Mars researchers believe that question can be best answered by examining Martian rocks and dirt under a microscope on Earth.

 

NASA's next Mars mission would sniff out 'biosignatures'

 

Dan Vergano - USA Today

 

NASA's next Mars rover should recover rock samples for eventual return to Earth, a space agency report recommends, part of an effort to find signs of ancient life on the Red Planet.

 

The Mars 2020 Science Definition Team report released Tuesday sets out the goals for NASA's next planned rover, set to arrive in the next decade on Mars.

 

"Had life ever been there and did it leave a mark?" said report chairman Jack Mustard of Brown University in Providence, R.I. "We are looking where life could have once been on Mars."

 

NASA now operates two rovers on Mars, the nuclear-battery-powered Curiosity rover, a $2.5 billion mobile chemistry lab launched in 2011, and the Opportunity rover, one of two $800 million geology explorers launched in 2003. The Mars 2020 rover would copy the Curiosity rover but carry different instruments, ones aimed at detecting "biosignatures" of past life on Mars, rather than chemistry tools. Instead of the heavy drill used by Curiosity, the new rover would rely on lighter coring-samplers to collect 31 samples for return to Earth.

 

A still-to-be designed rocket would return the rover's cache of samples to Earth after the 2020 arrival planned for the future rover, according to NASA's John Grunsfeld.

 

Mars samples analyzed on Earth would be the only feasible way to determine whether rocks truly contained signs of past life on Mars, Mustard said.

 

NASA's Opportunity rover recently reported evidence of less-sulfurous water during early epochs on Mars billions of years ago, preserved in rock sediments. Curiosity is exploring Gale Crater on Mars, a 96-mile-wide dimple where a mountain is thought to preserve clay layers left from a now-dried crater lake dating to more than 2.5 billion years ago. It also collected signs of flowing water there that was then perhaps drinkable, according to Curiosity mission chief scientist John Grotzinger of Caltech.

 

The Mars 2020 rover would help NASA take "the next step," in answering the question about whether life existed on Mars, Grunsfeld said.

 

NASA says Mars 2020 rover should search for signs of life

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

NASA's Mars 2020 rover should search for signs of life and develop technology for human exploration of the red planet, a new report released Tuesday said.

 

The cost of the spacecraft should be kept within $1.5 billion, and the rover should cache samples for a return to Earth at a date still to be determined, a science advisory committee said.

 

When would that be?

 

"The 2020s is probably very ambitious. But we're very ambitious here," said former astronaut John Grunsfeld, who now is chief of NASA's Science Mission Directorate.

 

However, given the fiscal and technical challenges involved, Grunsfeld acknowledged that returning samples to Earth might take much longer.

 

"This is John Grunsfeld, the astronaut, speaking. But I wouldn't rule out that perhaps human explorers will go and retrieve the cache in, you know, 20-plus years from now, as explorers set foot on Mars" he added.

 

Faced with budget shortfalls that forced NASA to largely bail out of European Mars missions in 2016 and 2018, NASA restructured its own Mars program in 2011 and 2012.

 

NASA's Mars 2020 rover mission is the result of the restructuring. The agency earlier this year enlisted a Science Definition Team to outline goals for the mission.

 

Among chief goals:

 

·         Explore an ancient Mars environment that almost certainly is, or once was, habitable – a place that might harbor past or present life.

·         Analyze the selected landing site for its potential to preserve scientific evidence of past or present life, and search for those "biosignatures."

·         Assemble a cache of "scientifically selected, well-documented samples packaged in a way that the cache could be returned to Earth."

·         Help pave the way to a human expedition to Mars.

 

Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary sciences division, said the group's work would lead to an announcement of opportunity this fall. Scientists will propose instruments for the mission. NASA will evaluate the proposals and make selections.

 

The outline of science objectives comes at a time when NASA's Mars Program budget is in a freefall.

 

The $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope development project is eating up funds. Those costs, in part, led to a 40 percent decline in the Mars Program budget for the fiscal year that ends Sept. 30.

 

This November, NASA will be launching a previously scheduled Martian orbiter to study the planet's disappearing atmosphere. NASA last year also added a low-cost stationary lander for launch in 2016.

 

Budget cuts prompted NASA to cost-cap the Mars 2020 mission at $1.5 billion, excluding launch costs. The car-sized rover will be built with a chassis designed for the Curiosity rover. The spacecraft will use the "Sky Crane" landing scheme debuted on the $2.5 billion Curiosity mission.

 

Grunsfeld and Green said the Mars 2020 rover represents a key next step in the exploration of the red planet.

 

Lindy Elkins-Tanton, director of the Carnegie Institutions Department of Terrestrial Magnetism, said the mission could lead to important discoveries.

 

"Here's the bottom line: Questions drive science," she said. "And one of the very biggest questions for all of humankind is, 'Are we alone?' And that is the question we're hoping to make really big advances on with this Mars 2020 mission."

 

Objective of 2020 mission to Mars: Signs of life, NASA says

 

Chelsea Carter - CNN

 

Life on Mars?

 

That's the question facing the NASA team responsible for putting together the objectives for 2020 rover mission to Mars.

 

"We're still on the quest to answer the grand question: Is there life somewhere else in the universe?" John Grunsfeld, NASA's associate administrator for science, told reporters Tuesday in a teleconference.

 

Previous missions to Mars have found definitive signs that water once flowed in a crater and rock samples that show signs of clay minerals.

 

"We really needed to go back to the surface, and go to the next stage. ... Did Mars ever have life?" Grunsfeld said as he previewed a 160-page report prepared by the Mars 2020 Science Definition Team, a group assembled by NASA to outline the objectives of the mission.

 

Man's next space frontier: Mars

 

Mars applicants apply here The 2020 rover mission to Mars is considered essential to meeting President Barack Obama's challenge to send a manned mission to the planet in the 2030s.

 

Among the objectives of the 2020 rover mission will be the search for signs of life, the collection of samples to possibly be returned to Earth and testing technology that may allow for a manned mission to Mars.

 

"We want to be able to seek signs of life: Had life been there, did it leave a mark?" said Jack Mustard, a member of the development team and a chair and professor of geological sciences at Brown University.

 

As part of the preparation for the mission, NASA plans to conduct an open competition. It is planned by NASA for the space technology and scientific instruments that will be carried by the rover and used in the mission, according to the report.

 

In addition to the 2020 mission, NASA is scheduled to launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution mission in November 2013. That mission is set to explore the compounds of the Martian atmosphere, which scientists say will offer a glimpse into the planet's climate and habitability.

 

In 2016, a collaboration between the European Space Agency and Russian Federal Space Agency is expected to launch an ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter -- a mission to map methane and other gases on Mars.

 

The European and Russian space agencies plan to launch the ExoMars rover in 2018.

 

"What we have over the next 10 years is a very comprehensive series of international missions to Mars," said Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division in Washington.

 

END

 

More detailed space news can be found at:

 

http://spacetoday.net/

http://www.bulletinnews.com/nasa/

 

-KjH

Kyle Herring

NASA Public Affairs

"You might need somethin' to hold on to

When all the answers, they don't amount to much"