Friday, July 12, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - July 12, 2013 and JSC Today



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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 12, 2013 6:11:49 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - July 12, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend.   

 

it was great to see so many of you that could join us yesterday for our delayed monthly NASA retirees luncheon—especially great to see Mary Ann Luther, Rob Kelso in from Hawaii, John Jurgensen, Joe Mechelay back in town from his two month RV road trip, and many others of our great colleagues and friends.   Hope you can join us next month if you had conflicts this time!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Headlines

  1. 2013 JSC Honor Awards Ceremony - Next Week Tuesday

The JSC community is invited to attend the 2013 JSC Honor Awards Ceremony. Awards will be presented in a ceremony at the Teague Auditorium next week on July 16. This year the JSC Honor Awards Ceremony will be held in two sessions.

The first session begins at 2 p.m. and will be a presentation of the JSC Director's Commendation Awards. The Director's Commendation Award recognizes JSC employees who have provided significant contributions to the center throughout the year.

The second session will begin at 3:30 p.m. and will include a presentation of the Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) Awards, the JSC Director's Innovation individual and team awards, Power of One Awards, Secretarial Excellence and Patent Awards.

A full list of this year's honorees can be found on the JSC Announcements page.

Event Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2013   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:4:30 PM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Jacinda Green x31507

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  1. JSC: See the Space Station

Viewers in the JSC area will be able to see the International Space Station this week.

Sunday, July 14, 5:38 a.m. (Duration: 4 minutes)

Path: 13 degrees above SW to 35 degrees above ENE

Maximum elevation: 71 degrees

Monday, July 15, 4:53 a.m. (Duration: 2 minutes)

Path: 29 degrees above SSE to 19 degrees above ENE

Maximum elevation: 32 degrees

Tuesday, July 16, 5:39 a.m. (Duration: 5 minutes)

Path: 13 degrees above W to 12 degrees above NNE

Maximum elevation: 29 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...

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  1. WSTF: See the Space Station

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

Monday, July 15, 5:25 a.m. (Duration: 4 minutes)

Path: 10 degrees above SW to 39 degrees above NE

Maximum elevation: 84 degrees

Tuesday, July 16, 4:39 a.m. (Duration: 3 minutes)

Path: 30 degrees above S to 26 degrees above ENE

Maximum elevation: 45 degrees

Wednesday, July 17, 5:26 a.m. (Duration: 5 minutes)

Path: 11 degrees above W to 13 degrees above NNE

Maximum elevation: 25 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...

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  1. Correction: 'Day of Music' With Chris Hadfield

Don't forget -- the Houston Symphony's Day of Music, featuring dozens of free performances in honor of the 100th anniversary of the symphony, is this Saturday, July 13. There will be a special performance at 10 a.m. starring third- and fourth-grade choir students from Pearl Hall Elementary, performing "Big Smoke" with the symphony and a prerecorded video of retired Canadian astronaut and Expedition 35 Commander Chris Hadfield. The students will also perform NASA Johnson Style outside of Jones Hall at the Jones Plaza around 11:30 a.m.  

For more info, click here.

JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

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   Organizations/Social

  1. JSC Planning/Scheduling Community of Practice

Please join the JSC Planning/Scheduling Community of Practice in person or virtually for an introduction to "Planning and Scheduling in Agile Development," presented by MOD/Pat Carreon today, July 12, in Building 1, Room 220, or via WebEx.

Conference Dial-in: 866-807-4650

Participant Code: 9713424

WebEx: Click here

Meeting Number: 998 779 787

Meeting Password: COMMPRAC712#

The JSC Planning/Scheduling Community of Practice meets approximately every six weeks to share techniques and best practices used in projects and programs across the center, to discuss approaches and then action plans for addressing common planning/scheduling problems and to keep up with the current policies, tools and training for creating and maintaining quality schedules.

Presentations, minutes, announcements and reference information can always be found on the Community of Practice Sharepoint Site.

Check it out!

Event Date: Friday, July 12, 2013   Event Start Time:2:00 PM   Event End Time:3:30 PM
Event Location: Building 1, Room 220 and via Webex

Add to Calendar

Nancy Fleming x47205 https://pmi.jsc.nasa.gov/schedules/SitePages/Home.aspx

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  1. Kinect CoLab Meeting

Are you currently working on or interested in starting a project involving Kinect, Leapmotion or other motion-tracking hardware?

If so, you are invited to the Kinect CoLAB. CoLABs provide a casual forum to share lessons learned and generate innovative new ideas and uses of technologies. We will be answering questions and providing demos of the technology. Come make cross-directorate contacts and learn more about what others are doing with these exciting technologies.

The Kinect CoLAB will be held next Wednesday from 11:45 a.m. to 1 p.m. in Building 30A, Room 2085A (Armstrong Room). Feel free to bring your lunch and your co-workers. Also, check out our SharePoint site for more information and to sign up as a member.

Shelby Thompson x48701 https://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/CoLab/kinect/SitePages/Home.aspx

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  1. Relaxation Techniques

Do you find it hard to relax? Does your mind have its own plan when you try to sleep? Being able to relax is essential for sleep and healing promotion. Relaxation works best when involving the mind and body due to the significance of that connection. We will be learning and applying mindfulness as stress relief. Workshop participants will have a chance to experience multiple relaxation exercises as well. Come and discover which relaxation technique works best with your type of stress response. Please join Anika Isaac, MS, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, CEAP, NCC, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program on July 24 at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium as she presents "Relaxation Techniques."

Event Date: Wednesday, July 24, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130

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  1. Men's Mental Health

When it comes to healthcare, many men are uncomfortable discussing mental health. Yet statistics show that men are affected by mental health problems at rates equal to women. What puts men more at risk of serious consequences is that they often put off seeking help until their symptoms reach a crisis level. The result is needless suffering and a delay in potentially lifesaving care. Education is key to reducing stigma and encouraging men to seek help sooner. Learn what contributes to reluctance and what you can do to make a positive difference. Join Takis Bogdanos, MA, LPC-S, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program, on July 18 at 12:30 p.m. for a presentation on "Men's Mental Health." This is a ViTS (#97666) in Building 17, Room 2026, and also via WebEx/telephone:

1-888-370-7263, pass code 8811760#

Meeting Number: 393 701 340

Password: Menshealth7-18

For WebEx, click here.

Enter your name, email address and password: Menshealth7-18

Click: "Join Now"

Event Date: Thursday, July 18, 2013   Event Start Time:12:30 PM   Event End Time:1:30 PM
Event Location: Building 17, Room 2026

Add to Calendar

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130

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  1. JSC vs. Energy Vampires 2013: Who Will Win?

In 2011, a heated battle waged between JSC employees and energy vampires (electronics that still drain energy even when turned off). Ultimately, the employees were triumphant, but the war against wasteful electricity use continues! On Aug. 1, the JSC Green Team will call JSC team members to take action once again in this year's energy competition. Occupants of more than 50 buildings at JSC, Ellington Field and Sonny Carter Training Facility will compete to achieve the greatest percent decrease in overall energy consumption over 10 weeks. Visit the JSC Green Team website to equip yourself with knowledge on how to slay energy vampires and how to win this year's competition. Does your building have what it takes to triumph over the energy vampires? For even more information, contact us.

JSC Green Team x40878 http://greenjsc.jsc.nasa.gov/

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   Jobs and Training

  1. Space Medicine Operations Lecture

Please join us for a lecture on Space Medicine Operations presented by the Human Systems Academy on July 16 from 9 to 11 a.m.

Please register today! https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Cynthia Rando x41815 https://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/hsa/default.aspx

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   Community

  1. WISH Closing Ceremony - Friday, July 12

Women in Stem High School Aerospace Scholars (WISH) offers a one-of-a-kind experience to female high school students to start their future and explore the possibilities of a science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)-related major or career. Female high school juniors from across the country join in this great adventure, which starts with an online community and culminates with a summer experience at JSC. You are cordially invited to watch the closing ceremony through JSC's Digital Learning Network office. The program will start at 10:30 a.m. CDT and end at 11:30 a.m. on Friday, July 12.

Event Date: Friday, July 12, 2013   Event Start Time:10:20 AM   Event End Time:11:30 AM
Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

Add to Calendar

Maria Chambers x40973 http://wish.aerospacescholars.org/

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  1. Rocket Day at the George Observatory Tomorrow

Join us for a Rocket Day from 10 a.m. to noon on July 13! The cost is $20 per person. We will learn about and build a rocket. After the testing of the rocket, we will go on a simulated spaceflight to the moon. To get tickets, click here.

Note: Park entrance fees apply at $7 per person for everyone over 12 years old.

Megan Hashier 281-226-4179 http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=450&Ite...

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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: 7:15 am Central (8:15 EDT) – E36's Luca Parmitano with Italian news media

 

Human Spaceflight News

Friday – July 12, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Manned Mars Missions: How Will Astronauts Get Along?

 

Charles Choi - Astrobiology Magazine

 

Scientists aim to equip manned crews to Mars with innovative devices that keep track of social interactions and provide instant feedback when conflict and other troubles regarding teamwork emerge. NASA plans to send the first humans to Mars sometime in the next quarter-century. Such a mission will push the boundaries of teamwork for the handful of astronauts selected, as they will have to spend as long as three years isolated together in a tiny capsule traveling through the harsh dangers of space toward the Red Planet and back. Any problems in teamwork could jeopardize the mission.

 

Yui to join 2015 ISS mission: NASA

 

Kyodo News Service

 

Japanese astronaut Kimiya Yui will be leaving Earth in 2015 as part of an International Space Station crew, NASA said Wednesday. NASA said American Kjell Lindgren, Yui and Oleg Kononenko of Russia will blast off on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in June 2015 that will take it to the ISS for a six-month stay. Yui, a 43-year-old former Air Self-Defense Force pilot, has undergone training in the United States and Russia since being certified as an astronaut in 2011. He will conduct research inside Japan's Kibo laboratory module. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Green Fuel Thruster Passes Key Preflight Test

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

A NASA-backed project to demonstrate a safer and more efficient propellant for in-space propulsion is on track for launch in 2015 following a key ground test proving a small rocket thruster could burn the green fuel for about as long as what would be needed for an operational mission.

 

5 Popular Misconceptions About NASA

 

Lauren Lyons - Huffington Post

 

Me: "Didn't you hear? NASA's planning to visit an Asteroid."

Steve: "Wait, didn't NASA get shut down after the Space Shuttle?"

Me: (Uh oh, not this conversation again...)

 

While Steve's facts may be fuzzy, one thing is clear: despite NASA's award-winning social media and web outreach efforts, there are still massive gaps between the public's perception of the agency, and the reality. And unless you are a big space geek like me with daily space Google alerts, it's not unreasonable to be a bit confused. So why does this matter? For one, 16.8 billion of our tax dollars are funding the agency. Second, NASA is currently up for reauthorization in Congress, and a recent draft bill includes a proposal to cut the agency's funding by $1 billion and redistribute what's left towards some pretty controversial projects -- like sending humans to an asteroid.

 

Teen earns NASA internship

 

Gregory Wilcox - Los Angeles Daily News

 

Like a lot of teenagers, Alexandra Eicher is fascinated by stars. But not the Hollywood variety, even though her father, John, is an executive at Paramount Pictures. Eicher's attention and time are focused on the heavens. And the 17-year-old has a singular goal. "Right now it's to be an astronaut," she said. "Getting humans out into space and really expanding our presence in the solar system." Looks like she's on the right track. Eicher is finishing up a one-week internship at the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. She's in select company, too. Eicher is one of 90 high school juniors from across the country who qualified for the highly competitive Women in STEM High School Aerospace Scholars program. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

 

A Shuttle Veteran Celebrates Her Spacecraft

Marsha Ivins, who bet her life on the shuttle Atlantis, pays the retired ship a visit

 

Marsha Ivins - Time (Opinion)

 

(Ivins is a former astronaut and veteran of five shuttle missions, with a total of 1,318 hours-or 55 days-in space)

 

I'd been off the planet for 13 days-12 days, 20 hours, 20 minutes and 4 seconds to be precise-when the space shuttle Atlantis touched down on runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California on February 20, 2001. It was the 102nd mission in the Space Shuttle program, and the 23rd for Atlantis. It was my fifth and final space flight and I knew going into it that it would be my last. I'd had a good run, as they say: 5 flights in 11 years, with a little bit of everything-satellite deployment and retrieval, a visit to Russia's Mir space station and now an assembly flight to the International Space Station, joining the first station crew on board. Actually, it was more than a good run, it was a pretty incredible run, and three of my five flights had been aboard this same ship that had once again brought me safely home.

 

What Treaty? Politicians Want Apollo National Parks

 

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

 

What do you get when you have a group of well-meaning House Democrats (with a little too much time on their hands) who want to protect the historic Apollo landing sites? A National Park on the moon! Sadly, this "National Park" could neither be "National" or a "Park," at least in the traditional sense. In fact, even in a non-traditional sense, this "Park" cannot be fully ratified, at least in the near future.

 

Sci-Fi Film 'Europa Report' Uses Science to Show Space Travel Perils

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

The new science fiction movie "Europa Report" is billed by some admirers as one of the most accurate depictions of human spaceflight ever put on film, and that realism is no accident. Screenwriters, expert consultants, actors and others worked to bring a sense of reality to "Europa Report," paying meticulous attention to the world they were creating in the spaceship and depicting on the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa. The movie follows the journey of a crew of astronauts sent on the first manned mission to Europa. It is shot documentary-style and features interviews with various people involved in the harrowing undertaking to seek out alien life in the solar system. You can watch the "Europa Report" trailer here.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Manned Mars Missions: How Will Astronauts Get Along?

 

Charles Choi - Astrobiology Magazine

 

Scientists aim to equip manned crews to Mars with innovative devices that keep track of social interactions and provide instant feedback when conflict and other troubles regarding teamwork emerge.

 

NASA plans to send the first humans to Mars sometime in the next quarter-century. Such a mission will push the boundaries of teamwork for the handful of astronauts selected, as they will have to spend as long as three years isolated together in a tiny capsule traveling through the harsh dangers of space toward the Red Planet and back. Any problems in teamwork could jeopardize the mission.

 

To help maintain teamwork during a mission to Mars, scientists are developing devices aimed at monitoring astronauts in real time to learn how and why cooperation fluctuates over the course of a mission

 

"The intended purpose of the technology and analytics we are developing is to help the team be more aware and attuned so team members can effectively regulate their teamwork," said Steve Kozlowski, lead investigator on the project and an organizational psychologist at Michigan State University in East Lansing. "Good teamwork will be essential to the success of long-duration space missions. We are developing tools so the team can manage their interactions well, identify potential problems, and resolve them before they become problematic."

 

Kozlowski and his colleagues have for years investigated how scientific teams get along when serving for long periods in isolated, confined and extreme conditions similar to what astronauts encounter. For example, in Antarctica, they ask team members to write diaries for five to 10 minutes every day for anywhere from six weeks to nine months, documenting events that spur teamwork or conflict.

 

"For example, in one study, negative spikes in team cohesion were associated with a couple of team members not wanting to share the workload; positive spikes were associated with celebration," Kozlowski said. "It's not rocket science, but it shows how small, even trivial things can influence the ability of a team to be effective. Mere rudeness can inhibit performance."

 

Ideally, however, Kozlowski and his collaborators would like automated ways to see how teams are doing in real-time.

 

"One of the key limitations of social science is its heavy reliance on self-reported questionnaires where people retrospect and report on what they perceived or felt about a target person or event," Kozlowski said. This method is obtrusive, relies on memory, which can be fallible, and is vulnerable to what questions are asked and how those questions are asked, he explained.

 

The researchers are now developing badgelike devices for astronauts that researchers aim to shrink down to the size of a smartphone. The badges would unobtrusively measure a number of factors about the astronauts, such as heart rate, body motion, what they say and how they say it, their proximity to other crew members and the amount of face time between crew members.

 

"These new technologies will revolutionize the very nature of social science, how it is conducted, and what insights it can offer with respect to human interaction," Kozlowski said.

 

For instance, the devices could tell if a team member gets loud or turns away from a conversation suddenly, activity that, when done repeatedly, could signal a problem. Once the badges help identify a concern, they would then wirelessly relay that data to, for example, the crew member, the crew leader, or the entire team.

 

"The intent is to make the technology part of good teamwork, not to create a 'Big Brother' that is watching from the outside," Kozlowski said.

 

Scientists have worked on developing these devices for three years now. NASA recently awarded the project $1.2 million for another three years. This brings total funding from the space agency for the project to $2.5 million.

 

A rudimentary version of these badges can now run for a few hours and has proved effective at accurately and consistently collecting data in a lab setting. The researchers now want to make sure its packaging and power system are robust enough for use in simulations of space missions.

 

"One such analog, HERA, is housed at the Johnson Space Center — it is a habitat that simulates a capsule for flight or remote work on Mars. One- to two-week simulations are planned, and we intend to evaluate the badges in that setting," Kozlowski said. "Another habitat is called HI-SEAS that runs simulated Mars exploration missions. We intend to evaluate in that setting as well. Ultimately, we may be able to do some evaluation in the Antarctic, but that is further off."

 

These badges could help advance science outside of space research.

 

"Organizations may be interested in how knowledge is shared, how innovation emerges; the badges could help illuminate that process," Kozlowski said. "They could also be used for more mundane but no less important tasks like monitoring the elderly at home — how's grandma doing?"

 

Green Fuel Thruster Passes Key Preflight Test

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

A NASA-backed project to demonstrate a safer and more efficient propellant for in-space propulsion is on track for launch in 2015 following a key ground test proving a small rocket thruster could burn the green fuel for about as long as what would be needed for an operational mission.

 

"We got the data we needed. We're continuing to do a little more testing now, but we're ready for our flight design," said Roger Myers, executive director for advanced propulsion at Aerojet Rocketdyne, which is developing the technology for Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., NASA's prime contractor for the Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM).

 

GPIM is intended to demonstrate an alternative to highly toxic hydrazine that is safer to handle, less expensive and more efficient for use on satellites. Green propellants like AF-M315E have been around for decades but their higher operating temperatures complicate engine operations.

 

About two years ago, Aerojet developed a new catalyst that resolved the problem, leading NASA to commit about $42 million for the GPIM flight demonstration.

 

"Up until that time we were talking about 10 seconds of firing timing before the engine would decay," GPIM lead scientist Christopher McLean, with Ball Aerospace, told reporters July 9.

 

The team recently completed a thruster pulsing test culminating in 11 hours of continuous firing, paving the way for a critical design review before the end of the year.

 

The flight demonstration will showcase two thrusters — a 1 Newton and a 22 Newton type — that have the largest share of the market. They will be integrated into a Ball Aerospace satellite and launched as a secondary payload aboard a Space Exploration Technologies' Falcon Heavy rocket flying the U.S. Air Force's Space Test Program-2 mission. The Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center's Space Development and Test Directorate told SpaceNews in June that the launch is scheduled for September 2015.

 

During GPIM's planned 81-day flight, the thrusters will be fired to simulate a spacecraft's typical modes of operation in orbit and during re-entry into the atmosphere.

 

While NASA and the Air Force are interested in the green fuel technology for their own missions, the real target for GPIM is the commercial market.

 

"In today's world you cannot — and do not — want to load a spacecraft with hydrazine and ship it. The dangers are just too great. You can do that now with this propellant. That really changes the game of how we do spacecraft processing and get it to the launch site," said Michael Gazarik, NASA's associate administrator for space technology.

 

"If you get this stuff on your hands, you wash it off. It's not going to kill you," McLean added. "I wouldn't want to drink it, however, the lethal dose on this is pretty good especially compared to the fuels we've been using."

 

Tests show the green fuel AF-M315E boost performance by 50 percent over hydrazine and is less expensive, though much of the cost savings would stem from simpler ground processing, storage and handling.

 

AF-M315E was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory, which is a partner in the project.

 

5 Popular Misconceptions About NASA

 

Lauren Lyons - Huffington Post

 

Me: "Didn't you hear? NASA's planning to visit an Asteroid."

Steve: "Wait, didn't NASA get shut down after the Space Shuttle?"

Me: (Uh oh, not this conversation again...)

 

While Steve's facts may be fuzzy, one thing is clear: despite NASA's award-winning social media and web outreach efforts, there are still massive gaps between the public's perception of the agency, and the reality. And unless you are a big space geek like me with daily space Google alerts, it's not unreasonable to be a bit confused.

 

So why does this matter? For one, 16.8 billion of our tax dollars are funding the agency. Second, NASA is currently up for reauthorization in Congress, and a recent draft bill includes a proposal to cut the agency's funding by $1 billion and redistribute what's left towards some pretty controversial projects -- like sending humans to an asteroid.

 

But how can we as a nation have an honest dialogue about the future of our space agency and its public value when the conversation has to begin with proving that NASA does still indeed exist?

 

Here are five popular misconceptions about the space agency that are creating noise in NASA's PR signal:

 

#1. "Wasn't NASA shut down after the Space Shuttle?"

 

Since the 2011 retirement of the Space Shuttle program, the big white birds have been immortalized in museums across America. Last year, many of us marveled at the decommissioned Shuttle Endeavour piggy backing a Boeing 747 soaring over the Golden Gate Bridge, but the piece of information that slipped through the cracks is that while the Shuttle program may be over, the human spaceflight program still very much exists.

 

The combination of a costly $450 million per mission, ageing vehicles, and limited capabilities (the Shuttle could only get astronauts to low earth orbit), necessitated retiring the Space Shuttle in order to free up funds towards developing new transport vehicles.

 

The two programs paving the way for the future are the Commercial Crew Program designed to shuttle astronauts and cargo to the International Space Station, and the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, which when combined with newly designed heavy lift rockets, will be able to take astronauts farther from Earth than ever before - including Mars.

 

Until these new spacecraft are ready, our astronauts are catching lifts to the International Space Station via the Russian Soyuz vehicle, at $70 million a seat. At that cost, the Space Shuttle replacement can't come soon enough.

 

It's also worth mentioning that human spaceflight constitutes only 45-50 percent of NASA's budget, meaning that half of the agency is working on unmanned projects ranging from landing rovers on Mars to launching telescopes that are detecting potentially life-friendly Earth-like planets outside of our solar system.

 

The Word: NASA is still very much alive and kicking!

 

#2. "NASA is too expensive. How can we justify that kind of spending right now?"

 

Few will contend with the idea that NASA is a source for inspiration to children and adults alike, and a testament to the technological capabilities of American scientists and engineers. But the reality is, this stuff does cost money. And with the sequester wreaking havoc on all federal programs, these questions are more than pertinent.

 

Yet before determining if the spending is worth it (as many of us have very strong opinions on), it's essential to first know how money we're actually talking about here.

 

Public opinion polls show that Americans believe that NASA takes up about 20% of the national budget. However, the overall annual NASA budget is only about 0.5% of U.S. Government spending. That's half a penny of every tax dollar. By comparison, in 2012, the government spent the same amount of money on Farm Subsidies (0.4%) and Agricultural Research (0.1%) as it did on NASA. And these numbers pale in comparison to the real big ticket items -- Defense (24.8%) Social Security (22%), and Healthcare (22.7%).

 

This is not to downplay the significance and priority of these other programs, nor is it to imply that NASA is cheap. Rather it provides perspective: even if we were to delete the space program altogether, it would hardly make a dent in our budgetary problems. And if history is any judge, we can probably assume those funds wouldn't be redirected to international aid and public education anyway.

 

The Word: NASA is not free, but it certainly isn't the cause of our financial woes.

 

#3. "Why are we spending all that money on Space when we could be spending it down here on Earth?"

 

There are currently no banks or shops in space, so it turns out every dollar NASA spends is spent right here down on Earth. The design, R&D, and manufacture of satellites, rockets, and other space-related technologies--and employing tens of thousands of people to do it--pump billions of dollars into the U.S. economy. Studies estimate a $7-$14 return on investment for every $1 of NASA expenditure, with all of it going directly back into the U.S. Treasury.

 

Much of NASA's work is conducted at 10 NASA field centers across the country that employ around 57,500 workers. Before the Space Shuttle retirement, the Kennedy Space Center accounted for $4.1 billion of financial activity in the state, and in 2009 Johnson Space Center in Houston generated $2.96 billion in business volume in the state of Texas.

 

And of course, there are the technologies that NASA R&D and missions have enabled. Tang and Velcro may be the most popularly mentioned ones (though they were not actually invented by NASA), but more impactful ones include water filters, MRI machines, mammography technology, and due to the miniaturization of electronics during the Apollo era, the catalysis of the microelectronics industry. Many people have pulled together lists of technological pull-through from the space program, and NASA publishes an annual publicly available Spinoff magazine that details each year's commercialized technology transfers.

 

The Word: Every dollar NASA spends is spent here on Earth, and the technological advances from the work often benefit our everyday lives.

 

#4. "Private space companies are taking over, so why do we need a government space program?"

 

Perhaps a byproduct of adversarial debates in Congress about the role of government vs. private enterprise, a rather inaccurate narrative of NASA vs. private spaceflight has emerged. There certainly are activities that private companies are capable of doing faster, better, and cheaper than a bureaucracy plagued NASA. With the success of SpaceX's Dragon docking with the International Space Station, April's Orbital Sciences's Antares launch, and Virgin Galactic's triumphant Space Ship Two test flight, there is no doubt that something very special is happening with private spaceflight this time around.

 

But how private is private, really? Let's take SpaceX as an example (Virgin Galactic is focused primarily on sub-orbital flight for tourism--which is not NASA's ball game). The single biggest customer in the market for these spacecraft is NASA. And in addition to standing on the shoulders of NASA giants, SpaceX is heavily dependent on the US government, having received $440 million in federal subsidies in 2012, and to date, an estimated $911 Million in NASA contracts.

 

The commercial space industry is not going to replace NASA any time soon. However, if these partnerships work out as all intend, these companies can take over the commercially viable aspects of space exploration like launching and deploying satellites, and other activities in low-earth orbit.

 

And NASA would be quite happy to give this up to focus on what it does best: the big missions where the main return on investment is not shareholder value, but rather pushing the limits of science, engineering, and discovery. Going to the Sun. Searching for exoplanets. Visiting Saturn's Rings. These missions demand great patience, are full of uncertainty, and require long and difficult project lifetimes that extend beyond the Wall Street fiscal cycles, Congressional elections, and Presidential terms in office.

 

Will Elon Musk and SpaceX really send humans to Mars? Perhaps--depends on whom you ask. But until these companies scale and the technologies evolve, theirs and NASA's fates will remain interdependent.

 

The Word: It's not NASA vs. private companies, but rather, NASA in partnership with private companies.

 

#5. "Isn't NASA a part of the Department of Defense?"

 

Back during the Cold War, sending NASA astronauts to the moon was primarily a powerplay to show the Soviet Union that we were not to be messed with. But the war is over, and the world has changed. While NASA still does the occasional DARPA funded projects and works closely with contractors who also contract with the Department of Defense (e.g., Lockheed Martin and Boeing make the rockets that launched the Curiosity Rover to Mars), NASA is not a defense organization.

 

It is a civilian agency, focused on the peaceful exploration and utilization of space.

 

No other national agency can claim the international cooperation that NASA can: from the latest Mars rovers in which several countries contributed to their design, to the post-war cooperative relationship with the Russians in the tight quarters of the International Space Station, NASA has proven capable of collaborating with nations that our own State Department would be hard pressed to sit comfortably at the table with. NASA understands that the complexities, costs, and geopolitical nature of space exploration require a truly international effort, and that no country is capable of accomplishing these great feats alone.

 

The Word: NASA is a civilian agency devoted to the peaceful and cooperative exploration of space.

 

Obviously any number of these topics can be expanded into a more nuanced debate about the purpose of scientific exploration, how government spending and public-private partnerships should work, and what budget allocations ought to be. And the more we, the members of the public, have an understanding of the baseline assumptions, the more prepared we are as a nation to have these conversations.

 

During the markup of the NASA Reauthorization bill over the next few weeks, lawmakers will determine what NASA will do over the next few years -- and consequently, over the next few decades -- with the money it has been appropriated. And unless the public is informed with a basic starting point in order to provide perspectives that the decision makers will take seriously, Congress, the President, interest groups, and NASA will continue their internal fight over billions of dollars, while the Public's opinion remains quietly off the table.

 

Teen earns NASA internship

 

Gregory Wilcox - Los Angeles Daily News

 

Like a lot of teenagers, Alexandra Eicher is fascinated by stars.

 

But not the Hollywood variety, even though her father, John, is an executive at Paramount Pictures..

 

Eicher's attention and time are focused on the heavens. And the 17-year-old has a singular goal.

 

"Right now it's to be an astronaut," she said. "Getting humans out into space and really expanding our presence in the solar system."

 

Looks like she's on the right track. Eicher is finishing up a one-week internship at the NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. She's in select company, too.

 

Eicher is one of 90 high school juniors from across the country who qualified for the highly competitive Women in STEM High School Aerospace Scholars program. STEM stands for science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

 

"I've always been really interested in math and science and these past few years I've really gotten into rocketry and aeronautics and astronautics clubs," she said.

 

That helped her prepare for her week at NASA. "I'm geared up for it. I'm really excited," she said shortly before leaving for Texas.

 

Participants in the three-year-old NASA program are chosen during a months long process that includes online classes, projects and tests.

 

"It's definitely college level work," said NASA spokeswoman Ciandra T. Jackson.

 

Eicher's assignments included designing a Mars crew transport, analyzing NASA's impact on spinoff technologies, researching the effects of micrometeoroids in space and creating a lunar colony.

 

This week Eicher and the other girls formed teams and applied what they learned during the year designing a radiation shield and Mars rovers.

 

They also competed in a rover race Thursday evening, Jackson said.

 

During the week, they also toured Johnson facilities and received briefings by noted NASA employees.

 

But the program is not necessarily an agency recruitment tool.

 

"It's not about getting them to be the next class of astronauts, it's about getting them interested in science," Jackson said.

 

This year Eicher will be a senior at the Buckley School in Sherman Oaks and plans to study aeronautics, astronautics, geological and planetary sciences and computer science in college.

 

"It would be great studying at a college where my academic interests could be pursued. I've visited a lot of schools and really like Stanford and Caltech. I was fortunate to have visited Stanford when they had the "Women in Space" conference. Three astronauts came and talked about their experience in space," Eicher said.

 

She also wants to visit Harvard and Brown this summer and is also interested in USC and UCLA.

 

Naturally, her parents are proud.

 

"She's really self-directed and determined and she is a voracious learner. All of her teachers have commented on how she loves learning," said her mother, Bubbs. "She's kind of a trailblazer.

 

When Eicher was a freshman at Buckley she organized a rocket club for girls and is captain of the Buckley Rockettes launch team. She also developed the Web site www.rocketgirls.us. The club competes in competitions and Eicher has had 50 successful launches.

 

Kathy Griffis, has taught Eicher so she's not surprised about the NASA internship.

 

"She is every teachers dream come true. She is someone who has a clear passion and appreciation for what she is leaning in school. She is self-motivated to learn math and science and then go out to use it to launch rockets," Griffis said.

 

While at the space center this week Eicher got to meet former NASA flight director Gene Kranz, considered an agency legend, who said "failure is not an option," during the aborted moon mission on the Apollo flight.

 

During their meeting Kranz told Eicher to "aim high," her mom said.

 

No doubt she is "A -OK" with that advice.

 

A Shuttle Veteran Celebrates Her Spacecraft

Marsha Ivins, who bet her life on the shuttle Atlantis, pays the retired ship a visit

 

Marsha Ivins - Time (Opinion)

 

(Ivins is a former astronaut and veteran of five shuttle missions, with a total of 1,318 hours-or 55 days-in space)

 

I'd been off the planet for 13 days-12 days, 20 hours, 20 minutes and 4 seconds to be precise-when the space shuttle Atlantis touched down on runway 22 at Edwards Air Force Base in California on February 20, 2001. It was the 102nd mission in the Space Shuttle program, and the 23rd for Atlantis. It was my fifth and final space flight and I knew going into it that it would be my last. I'd had a good run, as they say: 5 flights in 11 years, with a little bit of everything-satellite deployment and retrieval, a visit to Russia's Mir space station and now an assembly flight to the International Space Station, joining the first station crew on board.

 

Actually, it was more than a good run, it was a pretty incredible run, and three of my five flights had been aboard this same ship that had once again brought me safely home. Walking off the orbiter I was proud to have been part of this mission, this program and this agency. As I stepped through the hatch, I turned and kissed Atlantis, to the surprise of the ground support folks. After all you are not supposed to touch the tiles, much less put your lips on them. But I didn't know any other way to say thank you to the spacecraft and, well, to everything and everyone around it.

 

At that moment I could never have imagined the mournful days to come: the horror of the Columbia accident still two years away; the indefensible cancellation of the Constellation program-which would have returned humans to the moon and produced a new generation of heavy-lift booster; and the ambling, unfocused human spaceflight program that would replace it, a program so poorly defined that it amounts to no real program at all. Had I known all that back then, I would have put my arms around Atlantis if I could have figured out a way.

 

Here we are a decade later, and this never-imagined future has become a heartbreaking reality. We bear painful witness to the erosion of the capability and the spirit that let us put the first human footprint on the moon and defiantly welcomed the challenge of space exploration. Today NASA's "year in review" in human spaceflight shows the ferry flights of the remaining Orbiters to their homes in museums around the country. And that's it. So it was with great trepidation that I accepted the invitation, as a former Atlantis crew member, to participate in the opening ceremonies for the "Space Shuttle Atlantis Celebration" June 28-29 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor's complex, when Atlantis would be unveiled in its new $100 facility.

 

After a total of 33 missions and 126 million miles flown between 1985 and 2011, including the one that marked the end of the 30- year Space Shuttle program, Atlantis certainly deserved the tribute. So I expected great hoopla and fanfare. I expected too to feel melancholy for the end of a 30 year program in human spaceflight and angry at no foreseeable future. I expected a memorial. What I did not expect was for it to be…right.

 

The multiscreen surround sound movie show that is the entrance to the exhibit ends with the screen fading to transparent, though an image of an Orbiter-its payload bay doors open, its robotic arm extended, flying towards you as you could only ever see it from space-is still visible. And then the screen rises to reveal Atlantis herself.

 

The gut punch of emotion I experienced is impossible to convey using mere words. The orbiter, suspended from the ceiling, seemed to be flying free-graceful and elegant in its impossibility, and its reality.

 

Looking at the spacecraft, I felt a visceral wave of memory-of people loved, of people lost, of days spent inside the vehicle off the planet, of years spent in and around the program, helping to support other shuttle flights, of a career devoted to human spaceflight. I felt the presence of all the people whose labors of love now hung motionless before me.

 

There was no more hardworking, dedicated, fiercely proud team than the one at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The men and women who processed the shuttles did their work with a devotion and a passion that is probably unheard of anywhere else. We the crew may have been the face of the missions, but these people were the heart. And this display is a testament and an homage to that workforce.

 

The building that is now home to Atlantis is full of stories, history, hardware and lots of hands-on interactive stations. The pictures are of the people who worked on the shuttles. The stories are their stories and the interactive stations are all narrated by NASA engineers, not actors, not artificial voices. Real people explaining the science and engineering of real spaceflight in the kind of how-cool-is-that! way that only people who love their work can share. Unlike most museum displays that are about what they have done, this one is about what we as a team and a nation have done.

 

And at the center of it all is a real spaceship-an exhibit that doesn't just honor the life of the vehicle, but that salutes the hearts and souls of the people who made it work. May we live up to your memory. All hail Atlantis.

 

What Treaty? Politicians Want Apollo National Parks

 

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

 

What do you get when you have a group of well-meaning House Democrats (with a little too much time on their hands) who want to protect the historic Apollo landing sites? A National Park on the moon!

 

Sadly, this "National Park" could neither be "National" or a "Park," at least in the traditional sense. In fact, even in a non-traditional sense, this "Park" cannot be fully ratified, at least in the near future.

 

At first glance, setting up some kind of protection around the Apollo landing sites seems like a good idea. We're seeing an increase in commercial interests in space, so it seems only logical to assume that we'll eventually see tourists doing the "Armstrong Tour," reliving the events of that fateful day in 1969 that saw Neil and Buzz take humanity's first steps on another world.

 

The last thing we'd want to see are sightseers kicking up the dust of Armstrong's first bootprint and some rich pilferer making off with the UV-bleached American flags planted by six Apollo landings, only to sell them on eBay. And we definitely don't need to see dozens of broken radiation-dried eggs stuck to the wheel arches of Apollo 17's moon buggy.

 

No, we wouldn't want that. And neither would the House Democrats, Reps. Donna Edwards (D-Md.) and Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas). They've proposed a nifty bill called the "Apollo Lunar Landing Legacy Act" (H.R. 2617), creating the "Apollo Lunar Landing Sites National Historical Park" that would set up an electrified perimeter fence, attack dogs and in-space National Park Rangers riding Segways enforcing U.S. law over the new lunar parks. OK, I made the last part up, but the mind boggles as to how this bill would be enforced.

 

The bill reads:

 

"Under the legislation, the park would be established no later than one year after the bill passes and would be run jointly by the Department of the Interior and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The measure would allow the government to accept donations from companies and foreign governments to help manage the landing sites and 'provide visitor services and administrative facilities within reasonable proximity to the Historical Park. After one year, Interior and NASA would have to reach an agreement on how to manage the site, including how to monitor it, managing access to the sites and cataloguing the items in the park. The government would also have to submit the Apollo 11 lunar landing site to the United Nations for designation as a World Heritage site."

 

(Phew — I'm glad they included NASA in the bill, we all know how much loose change that over-funded agency carries around for policing national parks on the moon.)

 

In a "perfect" universe, where NASA had a blank check and had the international authority to extend American law into outer space, this bill would make a lot of sense. Sadly, as quickly pointed out by veteran space journalist Mark Whittington, this bill flies in the face of a pretty huge treaty that the U.S. is bound to obey.

 

"Since the United States has foresworn any sovereign claims on the moon, thanks to having signed and ratified the Outer Space Treaty, there does not seem to be any legal basis to declare any part of the lunar surface a national park, not to mention attempting to enforce such a declaration," writes Whittington.

 

Treaties are for wimps, it seems, according to this new bill. Unfortunately, the Outer Space Treaty, which was drawn up in 1967 and signed by the United States, will need to be smashed to pieces to make the Apollo National Park a reality. In fact, pretty much all the articles of the Outer Space Treaty would need to be modified. But of particular note:

 

Article II: Outer space, including the moon and other celestial bodies, is not subject to national appropriation by claim of sovereignty, by means of use or occupation, or by any other means.

 

Setting up a "National Historic Park" is more than slightly "sovereign," I think.

 

Sadly, it seems this bill cannot be enforced, certainly not through U.S. law. The United Nations, however, could at least oversee guidelines for preserving the Apollo landing sites and in all likelihood, when commercial space activities become commonplace and more nations push out into the solar system, there will be systems put in place that will protect humanity's heritage sites.

 

But, having said all that, if creating some kind of "visitor center" or some historic lunar site monitoring station resulted in a boost in budget for NASA, I'd be more than happy to see the bill pass into law. Sadly, as it's currently worded (regardless of foreign government involvement), I doubt that will be the case.

 

Sci-Fi Film 'Europa Report' Uses Science to Show Space Travel Perils

 

Miriam Kramer - Space.com

 

The new science fiction movie "Europa Report" is billed by some admirers as one of the most accurate depictions of human spaceflight ever put on film, and that realism is no accident.

 

Screenwriters, expert consultants, actors and others worked to bring a sense of reality to "Europa Report," paying meticulous attention to the world they were creating in the spaceship and depicting on the surface of Jupiter's icy moon Europa.

 

"One of the first things that drew me to the script was the fact that, as I was reading it, everything in there seemed to be at least inspired by what we know both about space travel and the possibility of what could be found on Europa while at the same time keeping a great equilibrium with making a movie that was also thrilling and interesting that kept me gripped until I finished the last page of the script," Sebastián Cordero, the director of "Europa Report," said.

 

The movie follows the journey of a crew of astronauts sent on the first manned mission to Europa. It is shot documentary-style and features interviews with various people involved in the harrowing undertaking to seek out alien life in the solar system. You can watch the "Europa Report" trailer here.

 

Scientists working with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., consulted with Cordero and other members of the team during the film's production. Steven Vance — the lead for the habitability team of JPL's Icy Worlds Astrobiology group — and Kevin Hand — the deputy chief scientist for solar systems exploration at JPL — both helped to create the realistic world of "Europa Report."

 

"We would go back and forth on the different issues that they would find … and different things we could incorporate that we could run by them," Cordero said of Hand and Vance's work on the movie. "During the shooting itself, we had a very short shooting schedule and basically once we had settled on the things that the screenplay called for, and once we basically had some sort of blessing from our scientists, we felt that we could go ahead and shoot this. However, during postproduction, there was also a lot of back and forth."

 

Scientists helped Cordero and the rest of the production team craft a realistic-looking computer- generated surface of Europa when they were putting the final touches on the film.

 

The filmmakers also conferred with other scientists during the movie's production. In order to understand the backgrounds of some of the astronauts written into the script, Cordero and his team worked with other researchers to more fully understand the motivations the characters could have for embarking on such a dangerous journey.

 

In the original script, the screenwriters had written generic scientists into the movie, but after consulting with an oceanographer, the filmmakers decided to be more specific, including an oceanographer, engineers and other scientists onboard the ship bound for Europa, Cordero said.

 

The filmmakers also added a few hidden gems for fans of space travel. The rocket launch shown at the beginning of the film was footage from the 2011 launch of NASA's Juno spacecraft, expected to arrive at Jupiter in 2016.

 

"Europa Report" is currently available in the iTunes store and is set for release in theaters on Aug. 2.

 

END

 

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