Hope you can join us tomorrow at Hibachi Grill on Bay Area Blvd. at 11:30 for our last Monthly Retiree luncheon of the year.
I will be there at 11 and hope to catch many of you before I have to eat and run to a meeting I have at noon.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Innovation at Its Finest
- IT Labs FY14 Project Call Last Q&A Session - Dec 9
- NASA Knowledge Policy for Programs and Projects
- Latest International Space Station Research - Organizations/Social
- Jewelry Fair Cancelled
- JSC SE Forum
- Speaking and Leadership Skills Improve With Humor
- Starport Winter Break Camp - Discount Ends Dec. 14 - Jobs and Training
- Russian Language Training: Winter Quarter 2014
- Thrift Savings Plan Training - Enroll Today
- Pre-Retirement for CSRS
- Pre-Retirement for FERS - Community
- 'Tis the Season ... |  |
| Headlines - Innovation at Its Finest
What do a heart surgeon, an oil field geologist and a NASA engineer have in common? Come find out! The annual Pumps & Pipes meeting is Monday, Dec. 9, from 8 a.m. to 5:15 p.m. Although registration for the event is closed, it will be streamed live over the Internet. Join other JSC team members in the conference room in Building 1, Room 360A, which has been reserved so JSC personnel can "attend" some or all of the conference proceedings. Pumps & Pipes began seven years ago when Houston Methodist Cardiac surgeons bumped into ExxonMobil oil pipeline engineers and realized both industries were dealing with similar issues (assuring fluid flow through pumps and pipes). While the two industries approach challenges from entirely different perspectives, they recognized that solutions to their challenges can reside in someone else's toolbox. Pumps & Pipes provides a forum to look in each other's toolboxes. The aerospace industry joined Pumps & Pipes last December, and Ellen Ochoa is a co-director. She will be speaking at the event, as will other JSC employees. For the agenda and live streaming from your desk, surf here. - IT Labs FY14 Project Call Last Q&A Session - Dec 9
NASA IT Labs Fiscal Year 2014 (FY14) Project Call ends Dec 12. Q&A sessions were scheduled to provide information about the project call and application process. The last Q&A session is scheduled from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. CST Monday, Dec. 9. JSC may attend the session at the local satellite location in Building 30, Room 2085B (The Watson Room), or via WebEx. Meeting Number: 992 377 848 Meeting Password: ITLabs2014! To join the online meeting: Go to meeting Audio conference: (866) 756-6093 Passcode: 2652872 For assistance: Go to NASA WebEx system diagnosis to confirm you have the appropriate players installed for Universal Communications Format rich media files. IMPORTANT NOTICE: Inform all meeting attendees prior to recording if you intend to record the meeting. Please note that any such recordings may be subject to discovery in the event of litigation. - NASA Knowledge Policy for Programs and Projects
The NASA Knowledge Policy for Programs and Projects (NPD 7120.6) is official. It was signed and made effective on Nov. 26, 2013. It formalizes NASA policy to "effectively manage the agency's knowledge to cultivate, identify, retain and share knowledge" consistent with NASA strategy. The knowledge system is governed on a federated basis so that each center and mission directorate determines the best approach for its people while we share, integrate and work together on our common goals. The link to the policy is here. - Latest International Space Station Research
Have you heard of 4K cameras? They have twice the horizontal and vertical resolution of the 1080p HDTV format, with four times as many pixels overall. Did you know that there is a 4K camera onboard the International Space Station? The JAXA Cosmo Shoot investigation uses a 4K Ultra HDV System to image Earth and celestial events such as comet ISON. I can't wait to see that imagery! Organizations/Social - Jewelry Fair Cancelled
The Jewelry is Fun Fair scheduled for Dec. 4 and 5 in the Building 3 café has been cancelled. We apologize for the inconvenience. - JSC SE Forum
Title: NASA Systems Engineering Handbook Updates for Human Systems Integration The next JSC Systems Engineering (SE) Forum meeting will host a presentation from the Human Systems Integration (HSI) Splinter on their proposed updates to the NASA Systems Engineering Handbook. Planned updates address inclusion of human stakeholders (users, maintainers, etc.) in design and lifecycle planning of hardware and software projects. The meeting will be tomorrow, Dec. 5, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in Building 1, Room 360. Synopsis: The agencywide NASA SE handbook is currently in an update cycle, with participants from every NASA center contributing. One of the prime contributions from JSC will be updates for HSI focused on ensuring that the lifecycle contributions of human interactions in systems' success is consciously included during program/project planning. Event Date: Thursday, December 5, 2013 Event Start Time:11:30 AM Event End Time:12:45 PM
Event Location: Building 1 Room 360
Add to Calendar
Rob Bayt x40055
[top] - Speaking and Leadership Skills Improve With Humor
Looking to communicate more clearly at work? Well-placed humor always adds to personal effectiveness. Practice your humor to improve your leadership skills and speaking by attending and participating in Space Explorers Toastmasters (SETM). Toastmasters is a world leader in communications and leadership development. The SETM club meets every Friday in Building 30A, Room 1010, at 11:45 a.m. - Starport Winter Break Camp - Discount Ends Dec. 14
Starport Winter Break Camp is three weeks away! 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: $160 all days| $75 per week (three days)| $35 per day Discount ends Dec. 14, so HURRY! Registration is now open at the Gilruth Center. Jobs and Training - Russian Language Training: Winter Quarter 2014
The JSC Language Education Center announces Phase One and Phase Two Russian language courses in the 2014 winter quarter (Jan. 6 to March 28). The following classes will be offered during the winter quarter 2014: Russian Phase One (Russian 1), Russian 2A, Russian 2B, Russian 2C and Russian 2J. Students should register only using NASA's SATERN system. All language training takes place at the JSC Language Center located in Building 12, Suite 158. If you have any questions, please contact Natalia Rostova at 281-851-3745 or via email. - Thrift Savings Plan Training - Enroll Today
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 2 Teague 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 Dates: 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 Dates: Jan. 8 to 9 Time: 9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. CST Location: Teague Auditorium Community - 'Tis the Season ...
... for science fair judges and Toys for Kids! There is an urgent need for volunteers to serve as science fair judges at McWhirter Elementary School in Webster TOMORROW, Dec. 5. Can you spare a couple of hours from about 8 until 11 a.m. to encourage these young scientists and engineers? Volunteer directly from the V-CORPs calendar or by emailing the V-CORPs admin. Volunteers are needed to staff an exhibit for the 2013 U.S. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee Toys for Kids event at the George R. Brown Convention (GRB) Center Saturday, Dec. 14, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. This is a terrific (and FUN) event where hundreds of disadvantaged kids in Houston get to learn about NASA, get autographs from astronauts - and, oh, by the way - visit with Santa and get a toy or two. We even provide transportation to/from GRB! To sign up, check out the event page on the V-CORPs website, or email V-CORPs at V-CORPs admin. There are plenty of other opportunities to reach out into the community. Just go to the V-CORPs website and click on the "current volunteer opportunities" tile to see a list of upcoming events. You can sign up right from that list if you're signed in. Not yet a V-CORPs volunteer? It's easy to sign up -- just click on the COUNT ME IN button on the V-CORPs website. Be sure to check back frequently -- new events are added almost every day! | |
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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
Wednesday – December 4, 2013
HEADLINES AND LEADS
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches first commercial comsat
William Harwood – CBS News
Running more than a week late because of technical snags, including a dramatic Thanksgiving Day pad abort, SpaceX sucessfully launched an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket carrying a communications satellite Tuesday, the opening salvo in a closely watched bid to win a share of the commercial launch market with low-cost assembly-line boosters.
SpaceX makes its point with Falcon 9 launch from Cape
Commercial launch blazes firm's new trail
James Dean – Florida Today
SpaceX had already proven it could launch cargo to the International Space Station. On Tuesday, the company achieved another milestone when its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket deployed its first commercial communications satellite into an orbit high above Earth, 33 minutes after a beautiful twilight liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
Rep. Mo Brooks sponsors bill to shift $500 million to SLS, other NASA programs
Paul Gattis – Huntsville Times
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks is seeking to release more than $500 million to help fund NASA programs that, in part, are being developed in Huntsville.
NASA's IceSat-2 Busts Budget, Report Headed to Congress
Dan Leone – Space News
With the project likely to bust its $559 million development budget, NASA is preparing a mandatory report for Congress about delays to the Earth-observing Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (IceSat)-2, agency officials said here.
Colorado astronaut, Steve Swanson of Steamboat Springs, going to International Space Station
Deb Stanley – KMGH-TV Denver
An astronaut from Colorado has been given a six-month assignment in space. Steve Swanson, of Steamboat Springs, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station in March 2014.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Secretive Blue Origin Test-Fires Rocket Engine
The secretive private spaceflight company Blue Origin founded by billionaire Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos has successfully test-fired a new engine for commercial rockets that may one day help launch astronauts and cargo into orbit, NASA officials said today (Dec. 3). Johnson Space Center wants to know more about underwater wheelchair
Carol Christian – Houston Chronicle
A British artist winning acclaim for her performance on the world's first underwater wheelchair will talk about the unusual technology at Johnson Space Center.
A House hearing on astrobiology seems alien to some
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Later this morning, the full House Science Committee will hold a hearing on "Astrobiology: Search for Biosignatures in our Solar System and Beyond." The hearing is primarily an exploratory and informational one, designed to collect information on the state of astrobiology research. The closest the hearing may come to policy issues is a statement in the hearing charter about assessing "existing and planned astrobiology research strategies and roadmaps."
COMPLETE STORIES
SpaceX Falcon 9 launches first commercial comsat
William Harwood – CBS News
Running more than a week late because of technical snags, including a dramatic Thanksgiving Day pad abort, SpaceX successfully launched an upgraded Falcon 9 rocket carrying a communications satellite Tuesday, the opening salvo in a closely watched bid to win a share of the commercial launch market with low-cost assembly-line boosters.
Under a clear twilight sky, the 224-foot-tall rocket's nine Merlin 1D first stage engines roared to life with a rush of flame at 5:41 p.m. EST (GMT-5), throttled up to nearly a million pounds of thrust and quickly pushed the booster skyward trailing a brilliant jet of fiery exhaust.
It was only the second flight of an upgraded Falcon 9, featuring stretched propellant tanks, a new flight computer and more efficient engines, and the company's first flight with a non-government commercial satellite on board.
Smoothly accelerating as it consumed its load of liquid oxygen and kerosene fuel, the slender rocket arced away to the east as it climbed out of the dense lower atmosphere, leaving a crackling roar in its wake and putting on a spectacular evening sky show visible for miles around.
Mounted inside a protective nose cone fairing was a 24-transponder GEOStar 2 relay station built by Orbital Sciences Corp. and owned by SES World Skies, a Luxembourg-based company that operates a fleet of more than 50 communications stations.
Martin Halliwell, the chief technology officer of SES, said the company decided to risk a satellite on the first launch of an upgraded Falcon 9 because of a growing need for an alternative, less expensive rocket to offset higher satellite costs and lower revenue streams in emerging markets.
As such, the flight represented a major milestone for both SpaceX and SES, an attempt to shake up the status quo with low-cost rockets built in-house at SpaceX's Hawthorne, Calif., factory with state-of-the-art technology and non-traditional management.
"I think it's going to have a pretty significant impact on the world launch market and on the launch industry because our prices are the most competitive of any in the world," SpaceX founder and chief designer Elon Musk told reporters before launch.
Thierry Guillemin, chief technical officer of Intelsat, a leading satellite operator, told Spaceflight Now that SpaceX "has already infused a lot of positive energy and they are poised to be a game-changer."
"I think they ... are starting to have an impact already on the rest of the industry," he said. "I think it will push innovation across the board."
Launch originally was scheduled for Nov. 25, but the flight was delayed to Thanksgiving because of unexpected pressure fluctuations in the first stage liquid oxygen propellent system. The three-day slip was required because the Federal Aviation Administration would not impose airspace restrictions for launch tries Nov. 26 and 27, two of the heaviest travel days of the year.
Last Thursday, the countdown reached zero and the engines briefly ignited but the launching was aborted on computer command after the thrust did not ramp up as rapidly as expected. Company officials later said the problem was caused by oxygen in the engine igniter fluid supplied by a ground system.
Engineers worked over the weekend to inspect and clean the nine first stage engines, replacing a gas generator on the center engine. Musk tweeted the engines appeared to be in good shape, raising the possibility of a launch try Monday. But Musk tweeted later that engineers needed more time to complete a thorough data review.
The Falcon 9's first stage appeared to perform flawlessly and about three minutes after liftoff, the engines shut down as planned. A few seconds later, the spent stage fell away, the single Merlin 1D engine powering the second stage fired up and the push to space continued.
As the rocket climbed out of the discernible atmosphere, the exhaust trail expanded dramatically, giving the plume an ephemeral tadpole shape in the darkening sky with a brilliant point of light at its heart.
About eight-and-a-half minutes after launch, the second stage engine shut down as planned, putting the Falcon and its 3.2-ton satellite payload into a preliminary orbit.
So far, the ascent resembled earlier flights by SpaceX Falcon 9 rockets carrying NASA-sponsored cargo capsules bound for the International Space Station.
But the SES-8 communications satellite required a second upper stage engine firing to boost it into a highly elliptical "transfer" orbit, with a low point of around 183 miles and a high point around 53,748 miles.
The satellite was equipped with on-board thrusters to circularize the orbit at 22,300 miles above the equator where spacecraft take 24 hours to complete one orbit and thus appear stationary in the sky as viewed by ground antennas.
Tuesday's launch was SpaceX's first attempt to boost a commercial comsat into the required transfer orbit. Tension was high because during a test flight in late September, an attempt to restart the second stage as a test ended in failure when fluid feed lines to the engine's igniter froze in the cold of space.
The lines were insulated to prevent a repeat of the problem and 27 minutes after liftoff, the second stage fired up as planned and burned for about a minute and 11 seconds to complete the push to the desired geostationary transfer orbit.
"Restart was good," Musk said in a Twitter posting. "Apogee raised to 80k km (50k miles). Yes!"
The satellite's liquid apogee motor is expected to fire five times over the next two weeks or so to circularize the orbit and to maneuver to a parking slot 22,300 miles above the equator at 95 degrees east longitude. If all goes well, the satellite will join another SES relay station already in orbit to provide direct-to-home television, broadband internet and other services to India and southeast Asia.
The SES-8 satellite is valued at around $100 million. The exact cost of the upgraded Falcon 9 rocket is not known, but the company website advertises prices between $56.5 million and $77.1 million.
For comparison, a Russian-built Proton rocket, marketed by International Launch Services, a U.S. subsidiary of Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center, is believed to sell for around $100 million. A heavy-lift Ariane 5, marketed by the European consortium Arianespace and typically used to launch two satellites at a time, is believed to run around $200 million to $225 million per rocket.
Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets built and sold by United Launch Alliance, a partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, are used primarily for U.S. government payloads and are not currently major players in the civilian commercial launch market.
But SpaceX hopes to eventually compete with ULA as well after meeting Pentagon requirements for demonstrating the Falcon 9's reliability.
"Let me put this very clearly. The entry of SpaceX into the commercial market is a game changer," Halliwell said. "It's going to really shake the industry to its roots."
But Stephane Israel, director of Arianespace, downplayed SpaceX's impact in an interview published last week in the French newspaper Les Echos.
"No, it's not an upheaval," he said. "SpaceX's ambitious objectives have been known for the last decade. ... If today's launch is successful, that will just confirm that we have another competitor."
Even so, he said SpaceX has a long way to go before it can challenge Arianespace, with its years of expertise and a long track record of successful launchings.
"I've always said that we shouldn't underestimate them, but we shouldn't overestimate them either!" he said of SpaceX. "Arianespace is the market leader. We have a success rate that SpaceX will take years to equal. Our Ariane 5 launcher is the most reliable on the market. And it's also more available, because our Ariane 5 manifest is not saturated with government launches, as is the manifest for the SpaceX Falcon. So it's just another day in the life of Arianespace."
But he said Arianespace already was looking at its own costs and "if we have to adapt because of competition, then we will do so."
"So I'm ready to work with our partners to see if savings are possible," he said. "In fact, SpaceX interests me in the sense that it could foster a move to a more entrepreneurial environment, with more private initiatives supported by a real European commitment."
SpaceX makes its point with Falcon 9 launch from Cape
Commercial launch blazes firm's new trail
James Dean – Florida Today
SpaceX had already proven it could launch cargo to the International Space Station.
On Tuesday, the company achieved another milestone when its upgraded Falcon 9 rocket deployed its first commercial communications satellite into an orbit high above Earth, 33 minutes after a beautiful twilight liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
It was the third attempt in nine days to launch the broadcasting satellite for Luxembourg-based SES, one of the world's largest satellite operators, but ultimately it signaled SpaceX's readiness to take on a $2.4 billion market dominated by international competitors.
"The successful insertion of the SES-8 satellite confirms the upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle delivers to the industry's highest performance standards," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said in a statement.
Earlier Tuesday, Musk had thanked SES for taking a chance on the Falcon 9, which had launched six times before but only once in its new configuration with more powerful engines and a 43-foot payload fairing.
About two-thirds of SpaceX's 50 contracted launches are for commercial customers, but the Falcon 9 had not yet placed a large communications satellite more than 22,000 miles over the equator where many of them operate.
Martin Halliwell, the chief technology officer for SES, had said a successful mission would "shake the industry to its roots," with other satellite operators and launch providers watching closely to see if SpaceX could deliver on its promise.
It did.
The 224-foot Falcon 9 rumbled off its Launch Complex 40 pad with 1.3 million pounds of thrust on time at 5:41 p.m.
Technical problems had stalled two attempts last week, after which SpaceX cleaned and replaced some parts of the rocket's nine first-stage Merlin 1D engines.
As the rocket climbed into clear skies, fading sunlight illuminated its twisting exhaust plume in orange and white, and the rocket appeared to leave a wake high above the Atlantic.
Observers could see the booster and payload fairing fall away.
Rep. Mo Brooks sponsors bill to shift $500 million to SLS, other NASA programs
Paul Gattis – Huntsville Times
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks is seeking to release more than $500 million to help fund NASA programs that, in part, are being developed in Huntsville.
Brooks, R-Huntsville, announced today he is sponsoring a House bill that would provide money for the Space Launch System - NASA's new heavy-lift rocket - as well as the Orion crew capsule and the International Space Station. The SLS is under development at Marshall Space Flight Center.
The money in Brooks' bill has been appropriated for those programs, the Congressman said, but it is being withheld to cover potential termination costs if those programs are canceled.
"Withholding scarce funds for termination liability slows development and hence increases the total cost of a project," Brooks said in today's announcement. "This in turn makes it even more likely that a program could be terminated.
"According to NASA reports to Congress, as of October 2013, $192 million from SLS, $226 million from Orion, and $89 million from the Space Station are being held to cover termination liability costs that would otherwise be used to timely complete these scientific efforts."
Brooks said the termination funds are being withheld in wake of the 2010 cancellation of the Constellation moon program by President Obama.
"The issue of limiting funding to account for potential termination liability costs contributed to the Obama administration's decision to cancel the Constellation program," Brooks said. "Regardless of whether Constellation should, or should not, have been canceled, I believe it unwise to subject America's Space Launch System, Orion Crew Capsule, and International Space Station to similar risks."
NASA's IceSat-2 Busts Budget, Report Headed to Congress
Dan Leone – Space News
With the project likely to bust its $559 million development budget, NASA is preparing a mandatory report for Congress about delays to the Earth-observing Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (IceSat)-2, agency officials said here.
"It looks like we cannot keep that cost commitment," Craig Tupper, director of NASA's Resources Management Division, said Dec. 3 during a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's Science Committee at the agency's headquarters here. "There's a notification right now churning its way through the system, and that will be going to the Hill."
By U.S. law, NASA must inform Congress when a project appears likely to exceed its established baseline cost by more than 15 percent. The notification requirement, modeled after the Nunn-McCurdy law requiring the Pentagon to notify Congress when programs breach certain thresholds, was put in place by the 2005 NASA Authorization Act.
IceSat-2, which is more than three years from being ready to launch, has so far spent about $556 million of the $559 million NASA thought it would take to build the satellite when it established a baseline in 2012. That makes a breach imminent, Tupper told the committee.
"IceSat-2 is having ... significant technical and program-management difficulties," Mike Freilich, head of NASA's Earth Science Division told the committee. Some of these problems have already been addressed, Freilich said, but "we still need to have a future baseline review in order to reset an appropriate launch date for that mission."
Freilich said he did not know when that review might take place, or when Congress might receive the breach report NASA is now legally obliged to deliver. Freilich told SpaceNews that work on IceSat-2 will continue while Congress is briefed on the project's overruns.
In October, Freilich said technical problems with IceSat-2's only instrument, a laser altimeter, were to blame for the potentially costly delay the project now faces. Launch, he said at that time, would likely slip from December 2016 to some time between February and June of 2017. When the first IceSat's seven-year mission ended in 2010, NASA thought it could build and launch IceSat-2 as soon as 2015.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., has been working with Herndon, Va.-based Fibertek Inc. to build IceSat-2's Advanced Topographic Laser Altimeter System, which will be integrated with a spacecraft bus supplied by Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va. Fibertek was awarded a five-year, $35 million indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract in 2009 to help design and build the instrument's lasers and ground system hardware. In 2011, NASA gave Fibertek a $26 million cost-plus contract to provide four spaceflight lasers and one test laser. That contract runs through the launch of IceSat-2 plus 38 months of postlaunch support.
IceSat-2's three-year primary mission is designed to measure changes in the elevation of global ice sheets, sea-ice freeboard and the height of vegetation canopies from a 495-kilometer polar orbit.
Colorado astronaut, Steve Swanson of Steamboat Springs, going to International Space Station
Deb Stanley – KMGH-TV Denver
An astronaut from Colorado has been given a six-month assignment in space.
Steve Swanson, of Steamboat Springs, is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station in March 2014.
Swanson will fly there on a Russian Soyuz rocket with two cosmonauts.
Swanson will start as a flight engineer on the trip, but after three months, he'll become the commander of the space station for his last three months on board.
It's Swanson's first long duration trip. He's been to the ISS on two previous Space Shuttle trips (STS-117 and STS-119), but on those missions he spent 13-14 days in space.
NASA said Swanson has spent several months traveling between the U.S. and Russia for training.
Swanson graduated from Steamboat Springs High School and earned his bachelor of science degree in engineering physics from the University of Colorado.
He went on to complete a master of applied science in computer systems from Florida Atlantic University and a doctorate in computer science from Texas A&M University.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' Secretive Blue Origin Test-Fires Rocket Engine
The secretive private spaceflight company Blue Origin founded by billionaire Amazon.com CEO Jeff Bezos has successfully test-fired a new engine for commercial rockets that may one day help launch astronauts and cargo into orbit, NASA officials said today (Dec. 3). A video of the recent rocket firing provides a rare peek at the company's work in progress. Little is publicly known about the space vehicles being developed by Blue Origin, which is based in Kent, Wash., and was founded by Jeff Bezos in 2000.
The Nov. 20 rocket engine test at Blue Origin's facility in Van Horn, Texas, was aimed at simulating a mission on the company's suborbital New Shepard vehicle, NASA officials said. The spaceship — which is named in honor of Alan Shepard, the first American in space — consists of two reusable modules, one for the crew and one for the propulsion systems.
During the test, Blue Origin's so-called BE-3 engine was fired at full power for two and a half minutes to mimic a launch, producing 110,000 pounds of thrust. After the initial burn, the hydrogen- and oxygen-fueled engine stopped for about four minutes to simulate a coast through space before a short final burn. This last firing tested the systems intended to bring the booster back for a controlled vertical landing. Guiding the rocket back to the ground safely would allow it to be refurbished and used again for another mission.
The BE-3 engine will also be incorporated into Blue Origin's planned Orbital Launch Vehicle, a rocket that will loft the company's cone-shaped Space Vehicle into orbit. That spacecraft could eventually carry astronauts to the International Space Station, NASA officials said.
Blue Origin is a partner in NASA's Commercial Crew Program, along with other private companies like SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. The program aims to help the aerospace industry develop systems to ferry astronauts to the space station. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the United States currently relies on Russian Soyuz vehicles to bring astronauts to the orbiting outpost.
"Working with NASA accelerated our BE-3 development by over a year in preparation for flight testing on our New Shepard suborbital system and ultimately on vehicles carrying humans to low-Earth orbit," Rob Meyerson, president and program manager of Blue Origin, said in a statement. "The BE-3 is a versatile, low-cost hydrogen engine applicable to NASA and commercial missions."
Phil McAlister, NASA's director of commercial spaceflight development, added that Blue Origin has made steady progress since the start of its partnership with the space agency.
"We're thrilled to see another successful BE-3 engine test fire," McAlister said in a statement.
According to NASA, the BE-3 is the first new liquid-hydrogen rocket engine to be built for production since Aerojet Rocketdyne's RS-68 was developed for the Delta IV rocket family more than 10 years ago.
Johnson Space Center wants to know more about underwater wheelchair
Carol Christian – Houston Chronicle
A British artist winning acclaim for her performance on the world's first underwater wheelchair will talk about the unusual technology at Johnson Space Center.
Sue Austin is scheduled to speak 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Dec. 4 at the center's Safety & Mission Assurance Technical Speaker Forum.
Although the gathering is not open to the public, the talk will be broadcast online by NASA and can be viewed by anyone who signs up.
Austin was invited to the forum in her role as a speaker on the importance of diversity, said Johnson Space Center spokesman Daniel Huot.
An artist who has used a wheelchair since developing a neurological disease in 1996, Austin is the founder of a organization in England known as Freewheeling.
The group uses "surreal juxtapositions and quirky representations of disability equipment to facilitate new ways of seeing, being and knowing," Austin states on her website, www.susanaustin.co.uk. Her latest endeavor is called Creating the Spectacle, a series of live art and video events that show her zooming and twirling in the deep end of a swimming pool in her underwater wheelchair.
Two motors propel the chair through the water and, with her hair flowing all around her, she steers the chair by pressing on built-in control levers with her knees.
In preparation for the project, she earned underwater diving certificates in 2005 from the Professional Association of Diving Instructors.
Austin first staged the performances in August 2012 before the Paralympics in London.
On her website, she lists five goals for Creating the Spectacle, including: "To create powerful and empowering narratives that transcend cultural stereotypes around the wheelchair, presenting it as an object of power that enables people to move beyond the expected and limited views of life."
A House hearing on astrobiology seems alien to some
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Later this morning, the full House Science Committee will hold a hearing on "Astrobiology: Search for Biosignatures in our Solar System and Beyond." The hearing is primarily an exploratory and informational one, designed to collect information on the state of astrobiology research. The closest the hearing may come to policy issues is a statement in the hearing charter about assessing "existing and planned astrobiology research strategies and roadmaps."
Such hearings are not that unusual: the committee's space subcommittee held a hearing on exoplanets earlier this year, for example, and the hearing may allow some discussion on whether NASA is devoting the proper funding to astrobiology research. But the idea of holding a hearing on the potential for extraterrestrial life seems, to some, to be a case of misplaced priorities. "With only seven workdays left between now and the end of the first session of the 113th Congress, a full House committee has found time to hold a hearing on extraterrestrial life," complained The Huffington Post in an article yesterday.
One of the members of the committee, Rep. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), defended the committee's decision to discuss astrobiology. "If members of Congress were occupying floor time with discussions of extraterrestrial life, that would be a problem," she told The Oregonian. Some might argue that such discussions could actually be an improvement on the current level of debate on Capitol Hill.
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