Happy flex Friday eve.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
- ISS Research: Get Up to Speed and in the Know
- Lane Closure Starts Today
- POWER of One Winners Announced
- Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System
- Children's Calendar Contest Winners Announced - Organizations/Social
- Starport Cafés Closed Dec. 20 to Jan. 5
- Discount Tickets Available at Starport
- Starport's Holiday Countdown Sale
- Starport Winter Break Camp Starts Next Week - Jobs and Training
- Date Correction: ISS EDMS User Forum
- Thrift Savings Plan Training
- Pre-Retirement for CSRS
- Pre-Retirement for FERS
- RLLS Portal WebEx Training for December |  |
| Headlines - Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
It seems the holidays cause a little stress for you, but nothing that can't be managed. That's great news. You'd also like to solve the Bermuda Triangle mystery along with the building heating problem. I'd like to solve the heat issue myself. This week is this year's last poll, so we are looking back at 2013 and judging what kind of year it was for JSC. Would you give it an "A" or an "F" in question one? Question two is a real thought provoker. You can only get one for-sure gift this Christmas. You might keep what you already have or might not. What is your most wanted gift for yourself? Money? Health? Love? Jingle your Bells on over to get this week's poll. - ISS Research: Get Up to Speed and in the Know
As NASA team members, we are all program ambassadors, per se, and need to know and understand what is taking place research-wise aboard our International Space Station (ISS). Here are some ways you can raise your awareness level and feel more confident in talking to folks inside and outside the agency about your ISS, its ongoing utilization, and the opportunities availed to all kinds of researchers. Share your knowledge during the holidays and beyond!
1. Subscribe to the ISS Program Science listserve to receive twice weekly emails with compelling stories about ISS Research conducted each day. Open to everyone (external to NASA, too)!7. Tap into the 'ISS Toolkit,' a wealth of ISS Research multimedia resources for your communication and outreach opportunities. - Lane Closure Starts Today
The outside lane of the westbound side of Avenue B, between 5th and 2nd Street, will be closed from 7 a.m. today, Dec. 19, to 5 p.m. tomorrow, Dec. 20. The inside lane will remain open for traffic. - POWER of One Winners Announced
Congratulations to JSC's newest POWER of One winners: GOLD: Michael Ruiz - EG2 GOLD: Katherine Toon - EC3 SILVER: Sharla Fults - ES BRONZE: Robert Adams - DO541 BRONZE: Steve Schade - AH The POWER of One award was established to award and recognize JSC employees for their exemplary performance and direct contributions to either their organization, JSC or NASA at the agency level. Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work! If you would like to nominate someone for POWER of One award, click here. - Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System
On Thursday, Jan. 2, the Emergency Dispatch Center and Office of Emergency Management will conduct the monthly, first Thursday test of the JSC Emergency Warning System (EWS) today at noon. The EWS test will consist of a verbal "This is a test" message, followed by a short tone and a second verbal "This is a test" message. The warning tone will be the "wavering" tone, which is associated with an "attack warning" message. Please visit the JSC Emergency Awareness website for EWS tones and definitions. During an actual emergency situation, the particular tone and verbal message will provide you with protective information. - Children's Calendar Contest Winners Announced
The judging has taken place, and this year's entries were so unique and creative that it was twice as hard to choose! But after much deliberation, we have the 36 winners for the 2014 calendar. Keep an eye out for copies to be available in the cafés in mid to late January. The winners are here. Organizations/Social - Starport Cafés Closed Dec. 20 to Jan. 5
The Buildings 3 and 11 cafes and Building 3 Starbucks coffee cart will be closed from Dec. 20 through Jan. 5, and will be reopening on Jan. 6 with normal operating hours. The cafe staff wishes you a safe and happy holiday! - Discount Tickets Available at Starport
Spend some quality family time at Space Center Houston, Kemah Boardwalk or Sea World during the holidays. The Starport Gift Shops offer savings on all of your holiday entertainment tickets. Did you know that we dropped the price for Space Center Houston tickets to just $13.75 (ages 4 and up), for a savings of $9.25 per adult ticket? And, AMC movie tickets make great stocking stuffers or gifts for your family and friends. Get out and have some fun while you save at Starport! - Starport's Holiday Countdown Sale
Starport is counting down to Christmas with all the savings of December wrapped into one big sale on Monday, Dec. 23: Toddler hoodies - $20; Sport-Tek polos - $40; 15 percent off toys, select T-shirts, hats, Guildan NASA golf shirts, infant wear and accessories, men's ties, suspenders and money clips; 10 percent off models, ornaments, NASA padfolios, leather journals and revolving globes; 25 percent off all other globes; 20 percent off colored NASA glassware; and many more specially priced items. Starport wishes you and your family a very Happy Holidays! - Starport Winter Break Camp Starts Next Week
Starport Winter Break Camp is almost here! If you're looking for a fun, convenient and familiar place for your children to go for the school break, look no further. NASA Starport camps at the Gilruth Center are the perfect place. We plan to keep your children active and entertained with games, crafts, sports and all types of fun activities. Dates: Dec. 23, 26, 27, 30 | Jan. 2, 3, 6 Time: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Ages: 6 to 12 Discounted cost: $195 all days| $90 per week (three days)| $40 per day Registration is now open at the Gilruth Center. Jobs and Training - Date Correction: ISS EDMS User Forum
The International Space Station Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) team will hold the monthly General User Training Forum today, Dec. 19, at 9:30 a.m. in Building 4S, Conference Room 5315. WebEx and telecom provided. If you use EDMS to locate station documents, join us to learn about basic navigation and searching. Bring your questions, concerns and suggestions, and meet the station EDMS Customer Support team. The agenda can be found here. - Thrift Savings Plan Training
Thrift Savings Plan (TSP) is a retirement savings plan for civilians who are employed by the U.S. government and members of the uniformed services. The TSP is one of three components of the Federal Employees Retirement System and is designed to closely resemble the dynamics of private sector 401(k) plans. What You'll Learn: This is an overview of the Federal Investment Program and covers the nuts and bolts of the TSP. Topics Covered: The basics of the TSP; defined contribution plan; tax-savings features; investment options; loan program; withdrawal options; open seasons; and inter-fund transfers. Who Should Attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the TSP. It is also open to employees covered under the older Civil Service Retirement System. Date/time: Session 1: Jan.10, 9:30 a.m. to noon Session 2: Jan. 10, 1 to 4 p.m. Where: Building 30 Auditorium Register via SATERN: - Pre-Retirement for CSRS
Are you prepared to retire? This Pre-Retirement Seminar is designed to help you effectively manage today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Retirement is often looked upon as a financially based decision. Although the financial aspects are important, many other concerns need to be addressed. This seminar is designed to help effectively deal with today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Topics covered include lifestyle planning, health maintenance, financial planning, legal affairs planning and more. Who Should Attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the Civil Service Retirement System (CSRS) with five to 10 years or fewer until retirement eligibility. Course Length: 16 hours Pre-Retirement for CSRS Date: Jan. 6 to 7 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST Location: Teague Auditorium - Pre-Retirement for FERS
Are you prepared to retire? This Pre-Retirement for Federal Employee Retirement System (FERS) Seminar is designed to help you effectively manage today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Retirement is often looked upon as a financially based decision. Although the financial aspects are important, many other concerns need to be addressed. This seminar is designed to help effectively deal with today's realities as you begin to explore retirement possibilities. Topics covered include lifestyle planning, health maintenance, financial planning, legal affairs planning and more. Who Should Attend: Federal employees interested in learning more about the FERS with five to 10 years or fewer until retirement eligibility. Course Length: 16 hours Pre-Retirement for FERS Date: Jan. 8 to 9 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST Location: Teague Auditorium - RLLS Portal WebEx Training for December
The December Monthly RLLS Portal Education Series: - Dec. 26 at 2 p.m. CST, Interpretation Support Module Training
- Dec. 27 at 2 p.m. CST, International Space Station Russia Travel Module Training
These 30-minute training sessions are computer-based WebEx sessions, offering individuals the convenience to join from their own workstation. Training will cover the following: - System login
- Locating support modules
- Locating downloadable instructions
- Creating support requests
- Submittal requirements
- Submitting on behalf of another
- Adding attachments
- Selecting special requirements
- Submitting a request
- Status of a request
Ending each session will be opportunities for questions and answers. Please remember that TTI will no longer accept requests for U.S.-performed services unless they are submitted through the RLLS Portal. Email or call 281-335-8565 to sign up. | |
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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 and Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – December 19, 2013
International Space Station:
ISS astronauts Rick Mastracchio (@AstroRM) and Mike Hopkins (@AstroIllini) are tweeting from space. Follow them and check out this picture of Houston's lights from Mastracchio:
http://go.nasa.gov/19TyMxnHEADLINES AND LEADS
NASA confident spacesuits safe for cooling repair spacewalks
William Harwood – CBS News
Engineers have not yet figured out the root cause of a leak in a spacesuit that flooded an astronaut's helmet during a spacewalk last summer. But NASA managers said Wednesday they are confident the suit in question, and another that will be used for urgent space station coolant repair work starting Saturday, will operate safely without any dangerous leakage.
NASA preps for spacewalk to repair ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
Equipped with the latest in spacesuit technology — sponges and snorkels — a pair of NASA astronauts are set to perform a series of spacewalks to repair a critical International Space Station cooling system.
Astronauts prepare for first spacewalk since helmet leak problem
Irene Klotts - Reuters
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station prepared for an unexpected series of spacewalks by fabricating spacesuit snorkels they can use for breathing in case of another helmet water leak, NASA officials said on Wednesday.
Christmas Day spacewalk? Astronauts will go outside to fix space station
Pete Spotts – The Christian Science Monitor
Three spacewalks over five days, with a final outing Christmas Day that ties the bow on a badly needed space-station repair job?
Hey, Tom Coburn: Why 'Wasteful' Science Is Important
Stephanie Pappas – LiveScience
A new report calling out "wasteful" government spending misrepresents the science projects it labels as unworthy of funding, associated scientists say.
NASA pushing hard to get back into space game
Cheryl K. Chumley – The Washington Times
NASA is fighting hard to get back in the space game, launching a massive drive to develop new technology that will remind politicians America should take the lead in galaxy exploration — not China and not Iran.
In Memoriam: The Spacecraft We Loved and Lost in 2013
This year, space agencies around the world launched exciting new robotic missions that are shining light on the far reaches of the universe. But what about the spacecraft that we lost?
__________
COMPLETE STORIES
NASA confident spacesuits safe for cooling repair spacewalks
William Harwood – CBS News
Engineers have not yet figured out the root cause of a leak in a spacesuit that flooded an astronaut's helmet during a spacewalk last summer. But NASA managers said Wednesday they are confident the suit in question, and another that will be used for urgent space station coolant repair work starting Saturday, will operate safely without any dangerous leakage.
Just in case, Rick Mastracchio and Mike Hopkins, scheduled to begin the first of up to three spacewalks Saturday morning, will have water-absorbing pads positioned in their helmets just behind their heads and homemade snorkel-like tubes that would allow them to breathe on the way back to the station's airlock if any flooding occurs.
"We think that's an extremely clean suit and it's ready to go," space station Flight Director Dina Contella said of the suit that leaked in July. "We have high confidence that it's essentially just like a unit that was refurbished on the ground."
She said she asked flight controllers Wednesday if anyone had any concerns about pressing ahead and "there was not much to be said. I think we're ready to go out the door Saturday and our team has no lingering, outstanding, show-stopping issues that we're working right now."
Mastracchio, call sign EV-1, will be wearing a spacesuit with red stripes while Hopkins, EV-2, will be wearing an unmarked suit. They plan to switch their suits to battery power at 7:10 a.m. EST (GMT-5) Saturday to officially kick off a planned 6.5-hour spacewalk.
A second spacewalk is planned for Monday with a third on tap, if necessary, Christmas day.
This will be the seventh spacewalk for Mastracchio, a shuttle veteran, and the first for Hopkins, who is making his first space flight. He will be wearing spacesuit No. 3011, the same suit worn by European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano during a frightening excursion in July.
During that outing, the suit's internal plumbing developed a leak, flooding Parmitano's helmet with a steadily growing, floating blob of water that wrapped around his head, blocking his ears, obscuring his vision and threatening to cover his nose and mouth.
Parmitano safely made it back to the station's airlock, but the leak prompted a major engineering investigation to find -- and fix -- whatever had gone wrong.
After extensive troubleshooting, engineers concluded the leak most likely was caused by contamination that blocked a filter and allowed water to back up in the system, moving into a line that feeds air to the helmet.
The source of the contamination is not yet known, but critical components in Parmitano's suit -- the one Hopkins will wear during the upcoming spacewalks -- were replaced and Contella said engineers are confident the suit's system's are pristine.
Mastracchio's suit also was inspected and engineers believe its internal filters are not saturated with contaminants that could cause similar leakage.
Even so, lead spacewalk officer Allison Bolinger said both men would use a helmet absorption pad, or HAP, and the homemade snorkel. Just in case.
"It's a modified absorbent pad that's designed to be installed in back of the crew member's helmet," she said of the HAP. "This is our first line of defense, that if water were to enter the helmet again ... this is designed to hold anywhere from between 600 and 800 milliliters of water."
The crew will periodically tilt their heads back to determine whether the pads are "squishy."
"That's the technical term we're using to define whether we think water has entered the helmet," Bolinger said. Based on testing on the ground, astronauts can first detect "squishiness" around the 200-milliliter mark.
"As soon as the crew member experiences squishiness in his HAP, that's the sign there is a problem in the (spacesuit) and it's time to come inside," she said.
The snorkel was fashioned from plastic lines that were cut to fit and wrapped in Velcro. The lines will extend from the front of the helmet, within easy reach of the astronaut's mouth, down into the chest area.
If water floods the helmet and exceeds the capacity of the absorbent pad, the astronaut as a last resort could breathe fresh air from lower in the suit while making his way back to the airlock.
The goal of the spacewalks is to replace a refrigerator-size ammonia pump module on the right side of the station's power truss. Last week, a valve inside the 780-pound module malfunctioned, preventing the station's computer from properly regulating the coolant's temperature.
The partial loss of coolant loop A forced flight controllers to power down a variety of non-essential systems and left the station one failure away from a much more serious problem if some other malfunction disabled coolant loop B.
As it turns out, this is the second problem with a coolant loop A pump module in the past three years. But space station Program Manager Mike Suffredini said different components in the module malfunctioned and "this is not an ISS-aging-vehicle issue."
"It's an unfortunate anomaly ... with a relatively young pump," he said. "But when you do mean time between failures, it's all about the averages, and so these are the kinds of things that can happen. We're prepared to deal with it."
The space station relies on a complex cooling system to dissipate the heat generated by the lab's myriad electronic systems. Components inside the station's habitable modules are cooled by water circulating through "cold plates" to absorb the heat produced by components bolted to them.
That warmed water then flows through interface heat exchangers where the "thermal load" is transferred to ammonia coolant from the station's external thermal control system. Toxic ammonia is not allowed inside the habitable modules and the coolant flowing through the heat exchangers is physically isolated from the internal water loops.
The station is equipped with two independent external ammonia coolant circuits. Both of them pick up heat from the station's water-cooled interior components and both directly cool major electrical components mounted in the station's solar power truss, including circuit breakers, voltage converters and other equipment associated with the lab's solar power grid.
The two external coolant loops include separate ammonia pump modules that push the coolant through complex plumbing and out to huge radiators where the heat is radiated away into space. The cooled ammonia then flows back through the heat exchangers and other equipment to begin a new cooling cycle.
The station can operate with just one coolant loop, but only essential life support equipment, communications gear, computers and other critical systems can remain powered. Non-essential systems must be powered down to reduce the thermal "load" on the system.
In August 2010, coolant loop A went into a sudden shutdown when its ammonia pump shorted out, triggering an emergency power down. In that case, the coolant loop no longer worked at all, and flight controllers had to shut down a variety of critical systems, including a communications channel, two of four stabilizing gyroscopes, a GPS navigation sensor and several computer control boxes and heaters.
The pump module was replaced during three spacewalks, using one of four spares that were on board at the time. The failed unit was shipped back to Earth on the final shuttle mission in 2011 for refurbishment and eventual relaunch.
In this case, the loop A pump is still operational and continues to provide cooling to components mounted in the station's solar power truss. While non-essential systems have been shut down, many more systems remain up and running thanks to the partial cooling provided to the truss components.
Even so, research gear and other components in the station's three forward modules -- NASA's Harmony, or Node 2, module, the European Space Agency's Columbus laboratory and Japan's Kibo research module -- have been shut down, interrupting scientific experiments.
Flight controllers initially hoped to correct the problem in coolant loop A by implementing a software patch that would enable another valve in the system to control the ammonia's temperature. While the patch appeared to work during preliminary tests, mission managers decided they could not afford to rely on it and ordered the spacewalks instead.
The loop A pump module is mounted on the forward face of the station's main power truss, just above and to the right of the Destiny laboratory module, in the starboard 1, or S1, truss segment. Its loop B counterpart is mounted to the left of Destiny in the port 1 truss segment.
The Boeing-built pump modules are roughly the size of refrigerators, measuring 5-and-a-half feet long, 4 feet wide and 3 feet high.
During the first spacewalk Saturday, Mastracchio and Hopkins plan to set up tools, disconnect four fluid lines and hook up two others to a "jumper" box that will prevent the loop A coolant system from over pressurizing during temperature swings in orbit.
During the second spacewalk Monday, the astronauts plan to remove the faulty pump module and temporarily mount it on a storage fixture. The replacement pump then can be installed and electrical connections restored. During the third spacewalk on Christmas day, the fluid lines will be connected to the replacement pump module and the old unit will be moved to a more secure storage platform.
Bolinger said the astronauts possibly could complete the pump module swap out in two spacewalks if everything goes as planned and no major problems develop. But that is far from certain.
During the 2010 pump replacement, two spacewalkers ran into problems disconnecting one of the ammonia lines during their first spacewalk and were unable to remove the failed pump module before time ran out. They successfully replaced the unit during a second spacewalk, but a third excursion had to be added to make up for the lost time.
NASA managers are hopeful lessons learned will help Mastracchio and Hopkins complete the S1 pump module replacement this time around in two spacewalks. If not, the astronauts are prepared for a third spacewalk on Christmas day.
NASA has conducted six previous spacewalks during the Christmas holiday season and if a third spacewalk is required for Mastracchio and Hopkins, it will come on the 40th anniversary of a Christmas Day outing during the Skylab space station program in 1973.
NASA preps for spacewalk to repair ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
Equipped with the latest in spacesuit technology — sponges and snorkels — a pair of NASA astronauts are set to perform a series of spacewalks to repair a critical International Space Station cooling system.
But at the first sign of "squishiness" in their helmets, Mike Hopkins and Rick Mastracchio will cut short any of the three planned excursions, which are scheduled to start Saturday and wrap up Christmas Day.
The new equipment and procedures are a response to a frightening incident last summer when Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano's helmet began to fill with water, resulting in a safe abort of the most recent U.S.-led spacewalk.
Although NASA managers haven't conclusively determined the cause of that suit malfunction, they don't expect it to reoccur and are confident the spacewalkers can return to an airlock if necessary, as Parmitano did.
"We're ready to go out the door on Saturday," said Dina Contella, an ISS flight director.
Mastracchio and Hopkins will attempt to remove and replace a pump module that suffered a valve failure last week, leaving it unable to regulate temperatures in one of the two coolant loops running outside the station.
That put a stop to most science research as non-critical systems inside the U.S. segment were shut down to prevent overheating.
It also left the station and its six-person crew vulnerable to a total cooling system shutdown if the second loop failed — what managers called the potential "next worst failure."
"We've always known that was a big concern, and so we try not to leave ourselves in that posture very long," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager.
It's possible only two spacewalks will be necessary to remove the pump module and replace it with one of three spares, but spacewalkers needed three in 2010 to install the module now experiencing trouble.
They struggled to remove the 780-pound module, which is the size of a large kitchen appliance, when coolant hoses wouldn't disconnect easily and leaked highly toxic ammonia.
Mastracchio is a veteran of six previous spacewalks totaling more than 38 hours.
Hopkins, on his first spacewalk, will wear the same suit as Parmitano but with many of its internal components replaced.
Both astronauts installed pads in the back of their helmets that can absorb up to 27 ounces of water. The pads represent the "first line of defense" against any Parmitano-like leaks, said Allison Bolinger, NASA's lead officer for the upcoming spacewalks.
When the spacewalkers routinely examine their spacesuit gloves for nicks and scrapes, they now will also check whether the helmet pads feel "squishy." If they do, it's back to the airlock.
The spacewalkers also fashioned "snorkels" from tubes already used to vent water inside their suits. Faced with spreading water, they could nod their heads down and suck oxygen from the snorkel to breathe.
"This is your last resort if water is encroaching your face," said Bolinger.
Astronauts prepare for first spacewalk since helmet leak problem
Irene Klotts - Reuters
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station prepared for an unexpected series of spacewalks by fabricating spacesuit snorkels they can use for breathing in case of another helmet water leak, NASA officials said on Wednesday.
The spacewalks, the first of which is slated to begin at 7:10 a.m. EST (1210 GMT) on Saturday, are needed to replace one of two cooling pumps outside the $100 billion complex, which flies about 250 miles above Earth.
U.S. spacewalks have been suspended since July after a spacesuit helmet worn by Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano filled with water, causing him to nearly drown.
The underlying cause of the leak remains under investigation but engineers have learned enough to make modifications so the problem will not happen again, NASA managers told reporters during a conference call.
"I would be surprised if we have a problem with the suits," said space station program manager Mike Suffredini.
As a contingency, the spacewalkers' helmets will be outfitted with absorbent pads and home-made snorkels to funnel air from the body of the water-cooled suits into an astronaut's mouth, if needed.
The snorkels, which were fabricated by the crew on Sunday, are made from plastic water line vent tubes used in the spacesuits.
"This is your last resort," said Allison Bolinger, lead spacewalk officer. "If water is encroaching your face, similar to what happened to Luca, the crewmember can lean down and use this (the snorkel) to breathe."
First-time spacewalker Michael Hopkins will wear Parmitano's spacesuit, but it has been outfitted with a new fan pump separator, a device that circulates water and air and removes moisture from air.
The fan pump separator from Parmitano's suit was flown back to Earth for analysis and engineers found tiny holes in the water-separator portion of the device were clogged.
That allowed water to back up into the fan portion, get into a vent loop and enter the helmet, said space station flight director Dina Contella.
Still unknown is how the water was contaminated.
"Unfortunately, it's a pretty complicated water chemistry problem," Contella said.
Suffredini said: "We believe the lines we're using today are clean. We've put in new filters and we think the filter system works."
A new fan pump separator is among the cargo aboard Orbital Sciences Corp's first supply ship to the station which had been slated to launch this week. But it is being delayed until mid-January so NASA can tackle the higher-priority work of getting the station's cooling system back in operation.
One of two ammonia cooling systems shut down on December 11, forcing astronauts to turn off unnecessary equipment and suspend some science experiments.
The U.S. side of the station has a second cooling system, but it cannot accommodate all the gear.
Hopkins will be joined by six-time spacewalker Rick Mastracchio for three spacewalks to replace the faulty cooling system with a spare that is in storage outside the station.
In addition to Saturday's 6.5-hour outing, spacewalks are planned for Monday and Wednesday.
Christmas Day spacewalk? Astronauts will go outside to fix space station
Pete Spotts – The Christian Science Monitor
Three spacewalks over five days, with a final outing Christmas Day that ties the bow on a badly needed space-station repair job?
This might not have been the way NASA astronauts Rick Mastracchio and Air Force Col. Mike Hopkins originally planned to spend Christmas. But that's the schedule they face now that the agency has decided to replace a malfunctioning coolant pump on the station's exterior.
Mission managers made the call on Tuesday afternoon, determining that it was more prudent to replace the pump with one of three spare units the station carries than continue pursuing a work-around engineers had devised for bringing the pump back into full service.
The pump sends ammonia through one of two external cooling loops designed to remove heat from the station's interior as well as from equipment on the station's exterior.
On Dec. 11, ground controllers noticed that the fluid was too cool. Temperatures were sufficient to continue cooling equipment outside the station's modules. But the ammonia also circulates through a heat exchanger inside the station, accepting the excess heat from a water-based loop that keeps hardware, labs, and living spaces in the station cool.
Engineers isolated the problem to a flow-control valve used to regulate the ammonia's temperature and devised a way to use a different valve to do the job.
"The engineering teams did just an amazing job of sorting through all kinds of options to try to recover the valve and look at other ways to manage the flow," said Michael Suffredini, the International Space Station program manager.
But by late Tuesday, it still wasn't clear that that the fix would allow controllers to manage the coolant flow reliably – especially if the second exterior cooling system failed. Meanwhile, the station is heading into a period each year where its orbit exposes it to sunlight for virtually its entire path around Earth, raising the stakes if both external cooling systems don't work properly.
If the ISS team was to have enough time to prepare for the spacewalks and swap out pumps before the station entered this period, NASA officials had to make the call Tuesday.
"The better part of valor was to go ahead and pick a path," Mr. Suffredini said, and mission managers opted to replace the pump.
The two NASA astronauts are primed for the task, say mission managers.
Colonel Hopkins "is a rookie spacewalker, but very excited to go out the door," said Allison Bolinger, the station's lead spacewalk officer, during a briefing Wednesday. Mr. Mastracchio has six previous spacewalks to his credit and will serve as the spacewalk lead for the first two excursions.
Each spacewalk is expected to last about 6-1/2 hours. The first, on Dec. 21, involves disconnecting the balky pump, replacing it with jumpers that keep the cooling circuit closed, and preparing the spare pump for installation. On Day 2, Dec. 23, the duo will remove the old pump and stow it temporarily on a nearby platform, then move the new pump from its storage location, bolt it to its new location along the station's truss, and connect it to the station's electric grid. During the final spacewalk, Dec. 25, the two astronauts will reconnect the coolant lines, move the old unit to its permanent storage location, clean up the work site, and call it a Christmas.
Depending on how well the first two spacewalks go, it might be possible to squeeze all of the activities into two outings.
Mission planners have scheduled this job mindful of a mishap in July that allowed water to collect inside the helmet of Italian astronaut and Air Force Maj. Luca Parmitano two hours into a spacewalk. Water droplets leaked from the suit's cooling system and were delivered by cooling fan into the helmet.
Initially it pooled near the back of his head. But as he worked his way back to the airlock, the water broke up into droplets that spread throughout the helmet to clog his ears, prevent him from seeing clearly, and gather in his nose.
An investigation team is still trying to figure out what caused water to leak from the suit's cooling system into Major Parmitano's helmet. In the meantime, engineers have devised ways to warn an astronaut if water is collecting in the back of a helmet, said Ms. Bolinger.
As a first line of defense, she said, astronauts insert an absorbent pad on the back of the helmet. Just as spacewalking astronauts conduct leak checks on their gloves, they now will conduct "squishiness tests" on the pads, she said. The pads can absorb from 20 to 27 ounces of water. Tests on the ground show that astronauts can sense "squishiness" in the pad when it has only about 7 ounces of water in it. If a pad feels squishy, it's time to head back to the airlock.
In addition, engineers found a way to modify tubing used in a space suit's cooling system to serve as a snorkel. It runs down the front of the suit, allowing an astronaut to breath oxygen from near his or her midsection if water gathers in the helmet.
In the meantime, astronauts on the station have swapped out a fan and pump system in the suit Parmitano used and that appears to have provided the pathway for water to enter the helmet.
With that replacement, "we think that's an extremely clean suit and it's ready to go," said ISS flight director Dina Contella. Hopkins will be wearing the suit.
Hey, Tom Coburn: Why 'Wasteful' Science Is Important
Stephanie Pappas – LiveScience
A new report calling out "wasteful" government spending misrepresents the science projects it labels as unworthy of funding, associated scientists say.
Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) released his annual "Wastebook" on Tuesday (Dec. 17), listing 100 government-funded projects he sees as wasteful. Some of the listed expenditures are political in nature, such as a criticism of the money spent to develop the Obamacare website (Coburn is one of the most ardent opponents of the Affordable Care Act). Others target military spending or federal boosts to individual industries, such as winemakers or fruit-growers.
Nearly a quarter of the projects on the list, however, are science-related. Coburn has criticized science research before, most notably in a May 2011 report that targeted National Science Foundation-funded projects. Unfortunately, Coburn and his staff frequently oversimplify the reserach in their zeal to criticize spending. For example, the 2011 report decried one project as researching whether girls like dolls and boys like trucks. In fact, the study examined the effects of hormonal disruptions on development, including disorders such as autism. A similar pattern appears in the 2013 Wastebook.
"They twisted it," said Chuck Rice, a soil microbiologist at Kansas State University and a researcher on a project cited in Coburn's new report.
Lazy research?
NASA comes under particular scrutiny in the 2013 Wastebook. The space agency has a budget of about $17 billion a year, and represented 0.48 percent of the federal budget in 2012. In the 1960s, when the space race was at its peak, NASA funding represented as much as 4.4 percent of federal spending.
One project criticized by Coburn is NASA's Countermeasure and Functional Testing Study, a project the senator describes as paying people to "lie in bed all day."
Well, sort of. In fact, the Countermeasure and Functional Testing study is part of NASA's long-term bed-rest research that seeks to mimic the antigravity environment of space on Earth — by positioning participants in bed, head tilted slightly downward, day in and day out. This particular project is a 70-day study to test whether exercise can help stave off the loss of muscle and bone that occurs in microgravity. The findings are important both for the health of astronauts doing long stints aboard the International Space Station and for future spaceflight missions.
Participants in the study not only engage in intense exercise daily; they also have to undergo a battery of tests and typically participate in other medical studies at the same time, all while lying in bed, NASA researchers told the Houston Chronicle in September. After 70 days in bed, patients need two weeks of rehab in order to walk safely again. Coburn's report cites the Houston Chronicle article, but leaves out any information regarding the rigors of the experiment or the potential benefits to medicine on Earth.
Another NASA project under fire is a $125,000 grant for "intergalactic planetary pizza tasting." The goal of this project is to develop shelf-stable, palatable, 3D-printed foods for a mission to Mars, but the researcher behind the project, Anjan Contractor, hopes that 3D-printing technology will eventually help supply food to a rapidly growing population on Earth, he said in May.
Coburn criticizes both projects, as well as several other NASA efforts, for being focused on a mission to Mars, arguing the agency is nowhere near launching such a journey. But NASA has to take the long view, said Michael Halpern, the program manager of the Center for Science and Democracy at the science advocacy group Union of Concerned Scientists.
"It takes a lot of basic scientific research to prepare for complex scientific ventures," Halpern told LiveScience.
The ick factor
In some cases, Coburn and his staff seem to single out studies less for their supposed uselessness and more because they just sound weird. A minuscule $15,000 grant to the Rich Earth Institute funds a study on using sanitized urine as fertilizer. Coburn's report goes as far as to list a series of studies on turning waste into something worthwhile before dismissing the line of research because of "the 'ick' factor," he said.
Another U.S. Department of Agriculture effort to turn manure from a dairy farm into a powerhouse for the farm's electricity gets a similarly shallow treatment that ignores the influence of methane from manure as a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming.
Cattle are at the center of another USDA grant that comes under Coburn's scrutiny. The total grant is worth $19.5 million, but Coburn's report focuses on a $9.6 million portion going to six institutions as part of a study "combating climate-induced bovine weight loss," according to the report.
Not so much, said Kansas State's Rice, one of the study researchers. The Coburn report conflates the USDA grant with a separate study on the effects of climate change on cattle and bison. The actual project actually deals with drought and extreme weather, which cause hardship for cattle farmers every year. The goal of the large USDA study is to develop more weather-resilient grazing systems for beef cattle in the southern plains, Rice told LiveScience.
"The last couple of years with all the drought and heat, people were shipping their cattle up north," Rice said. "If you develop a system that's more resilient, then they wouldn't have to sell their cattle prematurely or ship them to a region that is less affected by the drought."
That might not be so frivolous, considering that beef is a $44 billion-a-year business in the United States, according to the National Cattlemen's Beef Association. Coburn's report calls out the project for including a sociologist as one of the main researchers, but ironically, the sociology component is what ensures the findings from the project reach the ranchers who need the information most, Rice said.
"Really what we need is sociological understanding to actually make more effective, more relevant decisions to ranchers so we're using the taxpayers' money more efficiently," he said.
Watching wildlife
Cows aren't the only animals that get a short shrift in Coburn's report. A $150,000 National Park Service study tracking mountain goats gets the "tee-hee" treatment, because goats are attracted to urine from hikers. The study is arguably less funny considering that goat-human encounters are up, and that an aggressive ram chased down and gored an experienced hiker in Olympic National Park, Wash., in 2010, standing over the man as he bled to death.
Coburn also criticizes NASA funding for a study on how climate change affects the migration of red crabs on Christmas Island in the Indian Ocean.
"This knowledge about red crabs will likely be useful in very few places in the universe. The crabs certainly will not be found in Mars, or even any other earthly location," Coburn writes.
Perhaps not, but the crabs are a test case for how global warming will alter the migration of tropical species, according to a Princeton University news release on the study — and Earth science is under the umbrella of NASA's mission.
"The grants this year seem to be a little less dramatic," compared with previous years, said the Union of Concerned Scientists' Halpern. "Maybe scientists are becoming better at describing their work, because it looks like they really had to dig deep to find grants that sounded rather unusual."
Competing for change
No researchers contacted by LiveScience were aware that Coburn's office had targeted their studies.
"I'm sure that many scientists would be eager to explain to the senator the importance of their work," Halpern said.
While the role of government spending is up for political debate, money for science has only tightened in recent years. Rice's multiuniversity study on cattle grazing, for example, won funding only after an extremely rigorous application process that involved review by outside scientists and a five-hour presentation to a USDA panel, Rice said.
"Overall, scientific grants are really more competitive now than they've ever been before," Halpern said. "Those that are funded go through a rigorous review process and tend to be the cream of the crop."
The situation is similar at the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH), which Coburn called out for funding a project "subsidizing the promotion" of the romance novel industry. That's not the goal of the Popular Romance Project, said project director Laurie Kahn.
"This project looks at popular romance stories in all media from the perspective of literature studies, cultural history, anthropology, sociology, business history, new media studies, popular culture studies," Kahn told LiveScience.
In line with the NEH goal of promoting scholarship in the humanities, the project includes a website, a film and a conference, Kahn said. Romance is often considered trivial, because romance novels are written "by women, for women," she said; but tales of romance and courtship show up across history in every culture.
Coburn's staff defended the Wastebook by saying that the senator supports science, and is not calling into question the "validity or value of the science," simply whether it should recieve federal funding.
"If a study that received funds would be seen by the average person as questionable or lower-priority it is considered for inclusion in Wastebook," said Coburn spokesman John Hart, adding, "if you don't want your research to be questioned, don't ask for federal funds."
Kahn sees it slightly differently.
"These reports are always about flipping through the titles and finding things to smirk at," she said.
NASA pushing hard to get back into space game
Cheryl K. Chumley – The Washington Times
NASA is fighting hard to get back in the space game, launching a massive drive to develop new technology that will remind politicians America should take the lead in galaxy exploration — not China and not Iran.
The agency is showcasing its Robonaut program, a technological advance that is aimed at helping scientists on the space station, Design News reported. And NASA officials are trying to develop a 3D printer that's capable of constructing items and facilities on the moon and on other planets, the media outlet reported.
In a recent tour for select members of the media, actual NASA program leaders — rather than public relations spokesmen — showcased new equipment that could launch the agency back into the human space travel game within three years, Design News reported. And that space travel could include trips to Mars, the program leaders claimed.
Among the other new developments: A dune-buggy vehicle that holds potential to be "the perfect car for a new city" in space, Design News reported. And numerous notable technological devices — less clumsy, less bulky than past items — that were aimed at improving and supporting maneuverability on the moon and other planets.
Chief among the messages that NASA officials wanted to send: All these technological wonders could be ready for take-off within three years of receiving the thumbs-up from politicians and Capitol Hill funders, Design News said.
The agency suggested it was making the push because of new advancements made by China and Iran. The Chinese just landed a rover on the moon, while the Iranians claimed to have sent a monkey — for the second time — into space.
In Memoriam: The Spacecraft We Loved and Lost in 2013
This year, space agencies around the world launched exciting new robotic missions that are shining light on the far reaches of the universe. But what about the spacecraft that we lost?
In 2013, some probes never made it into orbit, while others completed their full missions before quietly turning off. Still more had their time working in space cut short. No matter the cause of death, we at SPACE.com wish to honor the spacecraft that met their end this year. From NASA-funded missions to a China-Brazil collaboration, here is our list of some of the spacecraft we loved and lost in 2013.
Kepler spacecraft
NASA's planet-hunting Kepler spacecraft suffered a major failure this year when the second of its four reaction wheels — devices that keep the craft properly positioned in space — malfunctioned. With two reaction wheels down, it's not possible to point the $600 million observatory with the precision necessary to conduct its original mission.
All hope is not lost for Kepler, however. Engineers with the mission and Ball Aerospace have come up with a scheme to allow Kepler to hunt for planets once again by minimizing the spacecraft's drift in its orbit around the sun. NASA is currently vetting this proposed new mission, which is called K2, and a decision is expected in the middle of next year.
The spacecraft launched in 2009 on a 3.5-year primary mission to determine how common Earth-like planets are across the galaxy. Since that time, Kepler has spotted more than 3,500 planet candidates, the vast majority of which will eventually be confirmed by follow-up observations.
Planck space observatory
After more than four years in space, the European Space Agency's Planck observatory ended its mission this year. ESA officials sent the prolific spacecraft its last command in October, bringing its relatively long life in space to a close as planned.
The telescope — called a "cosmic time machine" by ESA officials — scanned the universe for cosmic microwave background radiation, the oldest light in the universe.
Launched in 2009, the 700 million euro (approximately $962 million) Planck mission is responsible for delivering the most comprehensive map of background radiation ever put together.
Planck's observations also helped cosmologists refine their estimate of the age of the universe, pushing it back 100 million years, to 13.82 billion years old.
Herschel space observatory
Another European telescope shut its eye on the universe this year after a long life. Also launched in 2009, the Herschel space observatory depleted its supply of cryogenic helium (used to keep its science instruments cool) in April, with its mission coming to an end in June.
"It's like saying goodbye to a friend," Micha Schmidt, ESA's operations manager for Herschel, said in June. The mission was scheduled to run for 3.5 years, but it continued for four years.
The $1.4 billion Herschel telescope is credited with discovering huge supplies of water vapor in the disks of dust and gas around infant stars. Scientists think that vapor could be responsible for seeding oceans on planets like Earth.
Three navigation satellites lost during launch
An unmanned Russian Proton rocket crashed shortly after its launch in July, destroying three navigation satellites worth almost $200 million. The three satellites were going to be part of the GLONASS navigation network — the Russian counterpart to the United States' GPS system.
This isn't the first time GLONASS satellites were lost due to a Proton rocket mishap. Three other satellites were destroyed in 2010 when another Proton rocket failed during liftoff.
The Proton-rocket crash is the fifth major launch failure for this kind of rocket since December 2010. In 2012, the vehicle boosted a telecommunications satellite into the wrong orbit.
GOCE Satellite
Europe's 1-ton GOCE (Gravity field and steady-state Ocean Circulation Explorer) satellite fell through Earth's atmosphere in early November when, as expected, it ran out of fuel after its four-year mission.
Before GOCE's fiery demise, the $467.8 million satellite mapped Earth's gravitational field and the planet's oceans in unprecedented detail.
GOCE's death plunge through the atmosphere brought it over the western Pacific Ocean, Siberia, the eastern Indian Ocean and Antarctica, and no damage was reported in any of the areas. Pieces of the satellite disintegrated as they came through the atmosphere, according to ESA officials.
CBERS 3
The CBERS 3 spacecraft was lost when a Chinese rocket failed to insert the Earth-observing satellite into its proper orbit in December. The $250 million satellite, paid for by Brazil and China, was lost when the Long March 4B rocket malfunctioned during its flight.
Four China-Brazil Earth Resources Satellites have been launched since 1999. CBERS 3's three predecessors are not functioning, so the newest satellite was expected to help Brazilian officials monitor deforestation and wildfires in the Amazon.
China and Brazil are planning to launch the next satellite, CBERS 4, in 2015.
Deep Impact
Launched in 2005, NASA's Deep Impact probe led a wild life in space. The spacecraft purposefully crashed an impactor into a comet and flew by another during its adventures through the solar system.
The space agency officially declared Deep Impact dead on Sept. 20, six weeks after ground controllers received the last communication from the spacecraft.
"Despite this unexpected final curtain call, Deep Impact already achieved much more than ever was envisioned," said Lindley Johnson, the Discovery Program executive at NASA headquarters and the longtime program executive for the spacecraft's mission. "Deep Impact has completely overturned what we thought we knew about comets and also provided a treasure trove of additional planetary science that will be the source data of research for years to come."
Before its death, Deep Impact also managed to snap some photos of the now-deceased Comet ISON, an icy wanderer that didn't survive its close brush with the sun in late November.
END
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