Happy Monday.,,,,
I hope everyone's Easter was a Happy one spent with family and friends!
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- JSC to Celebrate 'Earth Right Now' April 22
- See 'NASA: Through Our Eyes' With YOUR Eyes
- JF 384 - ECR Website/Web App Review
- NASA Software Catalog Offers No-Cost Code
- POWER of One: Nominate Your Peer Today
- Electronic Document System (EDS) 2.0 Release - Organizations/Social
- Pond Conservation Tours and Wellness Walks
- April Showers of Savings - Week 4
- Mother's Day Massage Special at Starport
- Human Systems Integration ERG Monthly Meeting
- JSC Toastmasters - Wednesday Nights - Jobs and Training
- NASA Formal Methods Symposium
- NCMA National Education Seminar: Risk Management
- Job Opportunities - Community
- Urgent Need for One Day Only 'Mentors'
- Special Olympics Needs Space Center Volunteers |  |
| Headlines - JSC to Celebrate 'Earth Right Now' April 22
Tomorrow, JSC will mark Earth Day with a host of activities. View Amazing Astronaut Images of Earth Enjoy watching a compilation of time-lapse videos of Earth. Show time is from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. in the Teague Auditorium. Take an Earth Day Selfie Five NASA missions designed to gather data about Earth are launching to space this year. NASA is marking this big year for Earth science with a campaign called Earth Right Now. On Earth Day, step outside and take a picture of yourself wherever you are on Earth. Then post it to social media using the hashtag #GlobalSelfie. You can find out more info here. Wear a NASA Earth Shirt and Save at Starport The Starport Gift Shops are offering 10 percent off recycled products and an additional 10 percent of your entire purchase if you're wearing a NASA Earth shirt. JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - See 'NASA: Through Our Eyes' With YOUR Eyes
The "NASA: Through Our Eyes" photography exhibit that was previously showcased at Space Center Houston and highlighted in this spring's Roundup edition is now on-site for your eyes to feast upon! Even if you read the Roundup article about the photographers, astronauts and creative team responsible for bringing JSC up close and personal, there were only a few great images from the exhibit that could fit in the issue. See the more than 30 breathtaking photos that really tell NASA's story, as well as what happens behind the scenes, while "NASA: Through Our Eyes" makes a stop in the cafés and Teague Auditorium lobby. - JF 384 - ECR Website/Web App Review
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently completed an agencywide Export Control and Foreign National (FN) Information Technology audit. JSC and GAO determined it was necessary to implement additional Export Control (EC) reviews within the area of "Information Technology." The JSC Form (JF) 384 requirement is now part of the System for Tracking and Registering Applications and Websites (STRAW) notification process. In addition, the FN NAMS requests for "websites" and "apps" containing EC data or without an approved JF 384 will require the Export Services Team approval before access will be granted. The JF 384 requirement is also identified in the JWI 2190 (9.3.3.1) and Information Resources Directorate (IRD) Application and Data Systems Control Board. - NASA Software Catalog Offers No-Cost Code
When NASA develops software, the agency is mindful that the code may have uses beyond the original mission. In fact, it's another one of NASA's missions to ensure that the technologies it creates for aeronautics and space missions—including software—are turned into new products and processes that benefit the lives of Americans and our economy. Through this process of technology transfer, NASA maximizes the benefit of the nation's investment in cutting-edge research and development. The catalog offers an extensive portfolio of products for a wide variety of technical applications. Code is available at no cost and has been evaluated for access requirements and restrictions, including: General Public Release; Open Source Release; U.S. Release Only; U.S. and Foreign Release; U.S. Government Purpose Release; Project Release; Interagency Release; and NASA Release. - POWER of One: Nominate Your Peer Today
The POWER of One award has been a great success, but we still need your nominations. We're looking for standout achievements with specific examples of exceptional and superior performance. Make sure to check out our award criteria to help guide you in writing the short write-up needed for submittal. If chosen, the recipient can choose from a list of JSC experiences and have their name and recognition shared in JSC Today. Click here for complete information on the JSC Awards Program. - Electronic Document System (EDS) 2.0 Release
On March 10, the EDS 2.0 document type Task Performance Sheet (TPS) replacement of the paper JSC Form 1225 was started. The plan is to implement according to record centers (RCs). On March 10, this went into effect from RC15 and 44. The other RC schedules are as follows: RC Implementation Dates: - RC Building 7 - April 2
- RC Building 32 - May 1
- RC Building 36 - June 1
- RC Building 10 - June 1
- RC Building 350 - June 1
Any new paper TPS (JF 1225) in the signature cycle will only be accepted for two weeks after the designated implementation date. Any exception will need to be coordinated with respective division management and provided to Quality and Flight Equipment Division management. Class schedules are available in SATERN. Organizations/Social - Pond Conservation Tours and Wellness Walks
JSC's ponds in the mall area were designed in the 1960s, and up until two years ago had a continuous water flow adding up to 12,088,800 gallons per year. Join us on Earth Day, April 22, to learn about the new recirculation system, interesting facts about JSC's ponds and this exciting conservation project. The pond tours will be joining the JSC Wellness walking group, with tours starting at both 11 a.m. and noon outside the Building 3 Starport Café. - April Showers of Savings – Week 4
Starport's Shower of Savings Sale continues through the end of the month with 10 percent off aprons, oven mitts and T-shirts and 20 percent off large globes. And, rain or shine, get NASA umbrellas for just $9 (regularly $12). Watch for more great deals from Starport coming soon. - Mother's Day Massage Special at Starport
It's time to let mom sit back, relax and get spoiled with a massage. For a limited time, Starport is offering a special massage rate for that one-of-a-kind mother, grandmother, aunt or significant woman in your life. Enjoy a 60-minute massage for only $55 during this promotion. Massages must be scheduled Monday through Thursday between April 21 and May 29. Please visit the Starport website to schedule your Mother's Day massage. - Human Systems Integration ERG Monthly Meeting
Topics for discussion: - Update on the Human Systems Integration (HSI)-into-SE handbook task and the development of the HSI Practitioners Guide
- Highlight of recent outreach efforts
- Overview of upcoming Department of Defense HFE TAG meeting
All interested personnel are invited to attend or check the website for telecom information. - JSC Toastmasters - Wednesday Nights
Looking to develop speaking and leadership skills? Ignite your career? Want to increase your self-confidence, become a better speaker or leader and communicate more effectively? Then JSC Toastmasters is for you! Members attend meetings each Wednesday from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. in the Gilruth Center Longhorn Room. JSC Toastmasters weekly meetings are learn-by-doing workshops in which participants hone their speaking and leadership skills in a pressure-free atmosphere. Membership is open to anyone. Jobs and Training - NASA Formal Methods Symposium
The Sixth NASA Formal Methods Symposium will be coming to the Gilruth Center from April 29 to May 1. This free symposium will feature talks from formal methods researchers from around the world. Topics will include theorem proving, model checking, specifications and more. The NASA Formal Methods Symposium is a forum for theoreticians and practitioners from academia, industry and government with the goals of identifying challenges and providing solutions to achieving assurance in mission- and safety-critical systems. Registration is free but required for participation and can be found, along with further information about the symposium, here. Registration closes Tuesday, April 22, so register today! - NCMA National Education Seminar: Risk Management
The National Contract Management Association (NCMA) National Education Seminar topic is "Risk Management for Complex U.S. Government Contracts and Projects." This seminar provides a unique and comprehensive view of what it takes to successfully manage large, complex, high-technology U.S. government contracts and projects. This one-of-a-kind seminar is loaded with process diagrams tools, techniques and best practices to help acquisition professionals in both the U.S. government and industry to improve business results. Presenters: Mark Lumer, NCMA fellow, and Shené Commodore, CPCM Early-Bird Registration Price: Member: $200 Non-member: $220 Registration Price After Wednesday, April 30: Member: $220 Non-member: $240 For NASA EMPLOYEE registration, click here. Please register and submit an External Training Request in SATERN by **close of business Friday, April 25**. For CONTRACTOR and NON-NASA EMPLOYEE registration, click here. The CONTRACTOR and NON-NASA EMPLOYEE registration deadline is close of business Friday, May 9. Contact Patty Hutto via email or at 281-212-1236 if you have any questions. - Job Opportunities
Where do I find job opportunities? To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select JSC HR. The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. Lateral reassignment and rotation opportunities are posted in the Workforce Transition Tool. To access: HR Portal > Employees > Workforce Transition > Workforce Transition Tool. These opportunities do not possess known promotion potential; therefore, employees can only see positions at or below their current grade level. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies or reassignment opportunities, please call your HR representative. Community - Urgent Need for One Day Only 'Mentors'
We have several high school students who would LOVE to shadow YOU for a day – this week! Four budding young engineers from a local high school would like to spend "a day in the life of an engineer" on Friday, April 25. A fifth student is interested in computers/software engineering and would like to shadow someone in this area of expertise on the same day (4/25). Could you host one or two of these students for the day? It could make a HUGE impact in their career choices – and they just might be your future co-worker!! If you could host one or more of these students, sign up on the V-CORPs website. - Special Olympics Needs Space Center Volunteers
The local Special Olympics Spring Games are approaching, and we are in need of volunteers. Space Center Volunteers is the largest group that supports the spring games so let's not disappoint. The Spring Games is the largest track and field day for the areas special needs athletes so come out and volunteer with your coworkers, friends, and family. The games will take place throughout the day on Saturday May 3 at Clear Creek HS track and field. Volunteer shifts are throughout the day on May 3 and even 10-15 volunteers are needed Friday May 2 to help with setup of the games. Please note that the Friday shift does occur during regular business hours and no charge number will be provided. To sign up to volunteer go to http://spacecentervolunteers.weebly.com/2014-specialolympics-spring22-scv-reg... | |
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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
Monday – April 21, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Easter Morning Delivery for Space Station
Marcia Dunn - AP
Space station astronauts got a special Easter treat: a cargo ship full of supplies.
SpaceX Dragon Makes Easter Delivery at International Space Station
It's not exactly the Easter bunny, but a commercial Dragon cargo ship built by SpaceX made an Easter delivery to the International Space Station Sunday (April 20) to deliver tons supplies, and possibly even some treats, for the astronauts on board.
Int'l Space Station gets Easter delivery of food, supplies
Irene Klotz – Reuters
A Space Exploration Technologies' cargo ship made an Easter Sunday delivery of food, science experiments and supplies to the crew living aboard the International Space Station.
NASA chief Charles Bolden tours CU-Boulder for the first time
Alex Burness – Boulder (CO) Daily Camera
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden spoke Friday before a packed house at the University of Colorado, lauding the school's aerospace program and delivering an animated primer on what he hopes space travel will look like in the near future.
Russia to Keep Working With Astronauts From US, Europe, Japan
RIA Novosti (RUS)
Russian cosmonauts will continue to work with their colleagues from the US, Europe and Japan, despite a number of recent NASA statements about curtailing space cooperation, the head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center said.
Orbital Evaluating Three Bids for Antares Engine; Says Amazonas 4A Glitch Is Permanent
Peter B. de Selding – Space News
Satellite and rocket builder Orbital Sciences Corp. on April 17 said the electrical failure on the Orbital-built Amazonas 4A satellite launched in March appears likely to result in a permanent reduction in the satellite's capacity but that there is no risk of similar failures on other satellites in orbit or in production.
Canadian Space Agency boss insists his appointment does not spell militarization
Peter Rakobowchuk – The Canadian Press
The head of the Canadian Space Agency, a former top general, insists his appointment as president last August does not signal the militarization of the federal department.
Astronaut alumnus visits CSU before mission
Coloradoan Staff - The Fort Collins (CO) Coloradoan
Dr. Kjell Lindgren is headed to the International Space Station next spring. This April, he took a slightly shorter journey to drop by Colorado State University on Thursday to visit his alma mater.
Sky is no limit for Salina brothers who pursued careers in astronomy
Roy Wenzl – The Wichita Eagle
In 1961, after NASA shot Alan Shepard into space, a 9-year-old boy named Steve Hawley asked his mother to buy him a dime-store telescope.
COMPLETE STORIES
Easter Morning Delivery for Space Station
Marcia Dunn - AP
Space station astronauts got a special Easter treat: a cargo ship full of supplies.
The shipment arrived Sunday morning via a Dragon, versus a bunny.
"Gentlemen, the Easter Dragon is knocking at the door," NASA's Mission Control said as the capsule was bolted into place.
The SpaceX company's cargo ship, Dragon, spent two days chasing the International Space Station following its launch from Cape Canaveral. Astronauts used a robot arm to capture the capsule 260 miles above Egypt.
More than 2 tons of food, spacewalking gear and experiments fill the Dragon, including mating fruit flies, a little veggie hothouse and legs for the resident robot. NASA also packed family care packages for the six spacemen.
On Wednesday, the stakes will be even higher when the two Americans on board conduct a spacewalk to replace a dead computer. NASA wants a reliable backup in place as soon as possible, even though the primary computer is working fine. The backup failed April 11.
The SpaceX delivery wasn't exactly express. The launch was delayed more than a month. A minor communication problem cropped up during Sunday's rendezvous, but the capture still took place on time and with success.
SpaceX flight controllers, at company headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., exchanged high-fives, shook hands, applauded and embraced once Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata snared the Dragon with the station's hefty robot arm.
"Great work catching the Dragon," NASA's Mission Control radioed from Houston. "Thanks for getting her on board."
The capsule was solid and stable for grabbing, Wakata reported, making the job easy. He congratulated the SpaceX team and added, "We're excited."
A few hours later, the Dragon was secured to the space station. The capsule will remain attached until mid-May. It will be filled with science samples - including the flies - for return to Earth.
NASA is paying SpaceX as well as Virginia's Orbital Sciences Corp. to regularly stock the orbiting lab. These commercial shipments stemmed from the 2011 retirement of the space shuttles. This was the fourth station delivery for SpaceX.
Russia, Japan and Europe also make occasional deliveries.
SpaceX Dragon Makes Easter Delivery at International Space Station
It's not exactly the Easter bunny, but a commercial Dragon cargo ship built by SpaceX made an Easter delivery to the International Space Station Sunday (April 20) to deliver tons supplies, and possibly even some treats, for the astronauts on board.
The robotic Dragon spacecraft arrived at space station Sunday morning, floating within reach of the orbiting laboratory's robotic arm. Station astronauts used the arm to capture the Dragon spacecraft as both spacecraft sailed 260 miles (418 kilometers) above Egypt and the Nile River.
"Great work catching the Dragon," NASA astronaut Jack Fischer radioed the station crew Mission Control in Houston. The station crew then carefully attached the Dragon cargo ship to a docking port on the station, completing the job in just under three hours.
The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX launched the Dragon cargo ship toward the space station on Friday (April 18) using its own Falcon 9 rocket that lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The mission is SpaceX's fourth Dragon flight to the space station and third of 12 cargo delivery missions under a $1.6 billion deal with NASA.
The Dragon spacecraft is carrying 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kilograms) of food, supplies and gear for 150 different experiments. A miniature lettuce farm, space robot legs and laser communications system are among the delivery's highlights.
Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said Friday that he wasn't sure if those supplies included any chocolate eggs, jelly beans or other Easter goodies for the station crew.
"It'll be a surprise for all of us when they open the hatch," Gerstenmaier said. That hatch opening is slated to occur on Monday.
SpaceX's latest Dragon cargo ship was captured by space station commander Koichi Wakata, of Japan, and NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio, who watched over the spacecraft's approach to the station from the orbiting lab's Cupola observation deck. The spacecraft will return to Earth in May to return science experiments and other gear to NASA scientists.
"Congratulations to the entire team for the successful rendezvous and capture," Wakata said. "The vehicle and spacecraft was very solid and very stable."
The arrival of SpaceX's Dragon occurred nearly a month late. SpaceX initially aimed to launch the cargo ship in mid-March but delayed the flight first to allow final checks, then due to a damaged Air Force ground radar used to support Cape Canaveral rocket launches.
SpaceX is one of two companies with NASA contracts for robotic cargo missions to the space station. The other firm is Orbital Sciences Corp. in Dulles, Va., which has a $1.9 billion deal for eight delivery flights using its own Cygnus spacecraft and Antares rockets. The first official Cygnus delivery to the station launched in January.
Dragon's Easter Sunday arrival sets the stage for a spacewalk later this week on Wednesday (April 23) to replace a broken backup computer on the station's exterior. The computer, called a Multiplexer-Demultiplexer or MDM, serves as a backup for routing commands to several key systems on the station's exterior.
The backup MDM device stopped responding to commands on April 11, although the system's primary computer is still working fine. But to preserve redundancy, NASA will send Mastracchio and fellow NASA astronaut Steve Swanson outside the station on Wednesday to replace the faulty backup computer with a spare.
Int'l Space Station gets Easter delivery of food, supplies
Irene Klotz – Reuters
A Space Exploration Technologies' cargo ship made an Easter Sunday delivery of food, science experiments and supplies to the crew living aboard the International Space Station.
Station commander Koichi Wakata used the outpost's 58-foot (18-meter) robotic crane to snare the Dragon capsule from orbit at 7:14 a.m. EDT/1114 GMT, ending its 36-hour journey. At the time, the station, a $100 billion project of 15 nations, was sailing 260 miles (418 km) over the Nile River.
"Good work catching the Dragon," astronaut Jack Fischer, from NASA's Mission Control Center in Houston, radioed to the crew.
"It's been a long road. Good job to everybody and thanks for getting her onboard," he said during a live broadcast on NASA Television.
The freighter held a new spacesuit for spacewalks, legs for the station's prototype humanoid helper robot, an experimental laser communications system, high-definition video cameras, a prototype greenhouse and more than two tons of other gear.
Dragon will be reloaded with science samples and equipment no longer needed on the station and returned to Earth in about a month.
SpaceX, as the company is known, is one of two firms which were hired by NASA to fly cargo to the space station after the space shuttles were retired in 2011.
It had planned to launch its Dragon cargo ship in March, but the launch was delayed by technical problems, including a two-week wait to replace a damaged U.S. Air Force radar tracking system.
REUSABLE ROCKET
The Falcon 9 rocket carrying Dragon finally lifted off at 3:25 p.m. EDT/1925 GMT on Friday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.
The launch provided privately owned SpaceX an opportunity to carry out another test in its quest to develop a reusable rocket.
After the Falcon 9's first-stage section separated from the upper-stage motor and Dragon capsule, the discarded rocket relit some of its engines to slow its fall back through the atmosphere and position itself to touch down vertically on the ocean before gravity toppled it horizontal.
Data transmitted from an airplane tracking the booster's descent indicated it splashed down intact in the Atlantic Ocean - a first for the company.
"Data upload from tracking plane shows landing in Atlantic was good! Several boats enroute through heavy seas," SpaceX chief executive Elon Musk posted on Twitter late Friday.
SpaceX hopes to return a Falcon 9 booster to land before the end of the year. Eventually, it would like to recover and reuse its rockets to minimize launch costs.
"There are just a few more steps that need to be there to have it all work," Musk told reporters after Friday's launch. "I think we've got a decent chance of bringing a stage back this year, which would be wonderful."
So far, SpaceX has made one test flight and three cargo runs to the station under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA. The company is also competing to develop a space taxi for astronauts.
NASA chief Charles Bolden tours CU-Boulder for the first time
Alex Burness – Boulder (CO) Daily Camera
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden spoke Friday before a packed house at the University of Colorado, lauding the school's aerospace program and delivering an animated primer on what he hopes space travel will look like in the near future.
"From a human standpoint, it's in our DNA. We have to explore," he told the audience of more than 400 at Folsom Field's Stadium Club. "You live out here in Colorado today because there were people that lived on the East Coast of the United States, and they got restless."
Bolden, who became NASA's 12th administrator in 2009, has presided over the agency's transition from three decades of shuttle missions to a new era focused more on technology and the development of the international space station, which he called the "springboard to the exploration of deep space."
As of March 25, Boulder alum Steve Swanson is stationed on the space station, and he'll become its commander in September. Bolden suggested that, once Swanson assumes the role, CU hold a celebration in his honor.
"Getting something off this planet is really hard, and to know that you have students at CU who really dedicated themselves to doing this is great," he said.
Bolden said he hopes NASA will resume launching astronauts from U.S. soil by 2017, with the added goal of sending a crew to Mars by the 2030s.
The Curiosity rover now used for research on Mars, he said, is only helpful to a certain extent.
"History has told us that if you really want to know details about things, it's really good to have a human go," Bolden said. "We can program a robot to go pick up rocks. What we can't do is what we did in the Apollo era."
He also spoke to the possibility of humans actually exploring residence outside of Earth.
"I'm a firm believer that any species that wants to exist for long periods of time has to be a multi-planet species," Bolden said.
Throughout his talk, Bolden heaped praise on CU's rich history with NASA, calling the university a "pipeline for talent."
Including Swanson, the school has sent 20 people into space and receives more NASA funding than any other public university in the country, with nearly $500 million in sponsored research awards from the agency since 2004.
Additionally, CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics is closely involved with several NASA missions, including spacecraft now en route to Mars, Jupiter and Pluto, plus a $32 million instrument package designed to help scientists better understand weather in space.
On Friday morning, Bolden visited the lab for the first time.
"I was impressed at LASP just by the amount and quality of facilities to which undergraduate students have access," he said. "I haven't been to a lot of college campuses where students have access to that kind of equipment."
Bolden also spent time browsing the CU aerospace engineering department's student project symposium.
"This is really exciting to us because we can explain our whole project and have him ask questions," said CU senior Lea Harris, whose team built a rover designed to climb vertical, rocky walls. "He can talk to us about how to make it better, and how to use it in application."
Former astronaut Joe Tanner, now a senior instructor of aerospace engineering at CU, called Bolden's visit a "great honor" for the seniors and graduate students presenting at Friday's symposium.
"The head guy at NASA cares enough to come and see what they've done," he said. "That's pretty cool."
Bolden said he wasn't surprised by the quality of the projects he saw Friday.
"With the faculty and all these industry leaders like Ball Aerospace, the students here can't help but be drawn into the space field by their location," he said. "They're pretty focused and intense, and that's always exciting."
Russia to Keep Working With Astronauts From US, Europe, Japan
RIA Novosti (RUS)
Russian cosmonauts will continue to work with their colleagues from the US, Europe and Japan, despite a number of recent NASA statements about curtailing space cooperation, the head of the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center said.
"I have been flying with these guys, with the Americans and the Europeans, my friends have been flying as well," Yuri Lonchakov, a former cosmonaut, said in an interview with the Russia-24 TV channel.
"I can say for sure that we have always worked together for the good of Earth and will keep on working in the future. So these recent statements are wrong. Our colleagues in the US, Europe, Canada and Japan have also confirmed their readiness to continue joint projects," he said.
Lonchakov was appointed head of the cosmonaut training center earlier this month.
He earlier told RIA Novosti that he had accepted the offer by Roscosmos to focus on creating a new organization for the strategic development of Russian manned spaceflight, which would be established on the basis of the Central Research Institute of Machine Building, Roscosmos' leading spacecraft scientific center.
Orbital Evaluating Three Bids for Antares Engine; Says Amazonas 4A Glitch Is Permanent
Peter B. de Selding – Space News
Satellite and rocket builder Orbital Sciences Corp. on April 17 said the electrical failure on the Orbital-built Amazonas 4A satellite launched in March appears likely to result in a permanent reduction in the satellite's capacity but that there is no risk of similar failures on other satellites in orbit or in production.
The company also said it is evaluating three bids — two Russian, one U.S. — to produce main-stage engines for Orbital's Antares rocket. The engines being offered include the Russian-built, U.S.-modified engine currently used for Antares.
In a conference call with investors, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said his company has a sufficient supply of the current Russian-built engines for three more years of Antares operations. Orbital has three Antares first-stage structures, built by a Ukrainian manufacturer, at an Orbital facility, with two more to be shipped soon.
Dulles, Va.-based Orbital has been hunting for an alternative engine supplier in part because the current Russian manufacturer, NK Engines,would need to restart long-ceased production activities to maintain a supply for Antares beyond the next few years. The engines are imported to the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne of Sacramento, Calif., refurbished and sold to Orbital as the AJ26.
Thompson said it would take another two or three months to decide on a winning bidder, but that both the alternatives to the current supplier "may be preferable to continuing with our current engines."
Once the decision is made, he said, Orbital will conclude a block purchase of engines to cover Antares launches between 2017 and 2020. Thompson said he has made clear to all three bidders that they will have to absorb any nonrecurring engineering costs associated with filling the order and then recover those costs over time through engine orders.
Orbital's own costs associated with a switch in suppliers likely would not exceed $30 million, he said.
One factor weighing on the decision is whether either of the two alternatives to the current supplier would require a demonstration flight before proceeding with Orbital's contract with NASA to resupply the international space station.
Thompson said Orbital expects that its current Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA will be expanded as NASA increases the amount of cargo it wants sent to the orbiting complex in the next three to four years. He said this new cargo requirement could add between two and four more Antares flights to Orbital's flight manifest, for a total of 10-12 Antares CRS missions.
A CRS 2 contract, which is also expected given the U.S. decision to extend the station's life by four years, to 2024, is not anticipated before 2015, Thompson said.
The Amazonas 4A satellite, meanwhile, was launched in March aboard a European Ariane 5 ECA rocket and is owned by commercial fleet operator Hispasat of Spain. Thompson said in early April the satellite suffered a failure in a power subsystem.
Hispasat and Orbital continue to evaluate the issue but both companies have made statements suggesting that the anomaly is permanent and will reduce the broadcasting capacity of the satellite's Ku-band payload.
Thompson said the investigation is focusing on two possible causes of the problem. In both cases, he said, the issue is isolated to Amazonas 4A and will not affect any other Orbital-built satellites in orbit or in production.
One of the failure scenarios "had to do with something that was specific to the Amazonas 4A, that is not done on any prior satellite or any satellite in production," Thompson said.
"The other failure mode is focused on a component that we have used many times in the past — at least 50 of these have been used by us over the last 10-12 years." Thompson said. "It probably comes down to a combination of unit-to-unit variability compounded by certain peculiar aspects of this particular satellite."
For reasons unrelated to Amazonas 4A, Orbital is no longer using this component design.
Orbital Chief Financial Officer Garrett E. Pierce said during the conference call that the company's revenue for the three months ending March 31 was down $13 million from forecasts because of the Amazonas 4A issue. Operating income was down $6.4 million in the period because of Amazonas 4A and the likely loss of future orbital incentive payments from Hispasat.
Satellite owners commonly withhold about 10 percent of what they agreed to pay for a satellite pending successful operations in orbit. These payments are made annually, with interest, throughout the satellite's scheduled 15-year operating life.
Pierce said Orbital had taken out insurance against the potential loss of its incentive payments, and that a claim for full recovery of the $6.4 million, and "possibly more," should be received by June.
Thompson said he remains optimistic that an option for another satellite order from Hispasat would be exercised despite the Amazonas 4A issue.
"The likely cause of this problem is such that it should not put a cloud over their decision on moving forward with that option," Thompson said.
Canadian Space Agency boss insists his appointment does not spell militarization
Peter Rakobowchuk – The Canadian Press
The head of the Canadian Space Agency, a former top general, insists his appointment as president last August does not signal the militarization of the federal department.
"I have to support the mandate that the Government of Canada has given the space agency and that is the peaceful use of space and it doesn't change whatsoever," Walt Natynczyk said in an interview with The Canadian Press.
"We're very much in accordance with the Canadian Space Act, which is that the space agency is created for the peaceful uses of space."
Natynczyk said he is working with "a great team of civilians" but that he's also pleased "a number of the space agency folks were former military."
The ex-chief of defence staff added there's "a natural relationship" between the Canadian military and space because of project management and the requirement for strategic planning.
Worth noting is that Canada now has Sapphire, a military satellite in orbit and its mission is to support Canadian and international military operations as well as bilateral commitments such as NORAD.
He said space agency workers are really comfortable with him now after eight months — "at least that's what they're telling me."
The space agency has close to 700 employees, with 90 per cent of them employed at its headquarters in Longueuil, just south of Montreal.
Natynczyk took over as president on Aug. 6, 2013. He replaced former astronaut Steve MacLean who had quit six months earlier.
In a wide-ranging interview, Natynczyk also indicated he is not jumping at the possibility of Canada taking part in a U.S. plan to send astronauts to visit an asteroid.
In 2010, U.S. President Barack Obama challenged NASA to send astronauts to an asteroid. But reaction in the American Congress has been lukewarm and the proposal has not generated much enthusiasm.
NASA has described the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) as "a key part of the agency's stepping-stone path to send humans to Mars."
"At this point in time we have not indicated any interest to participate in that program," Natynczyk said.
Marcia Smith, a veteran U.S. space policy analyst, says there's very little enthusiasm for the asteroid mission outside of the White House.
"Whether or not the United States ever actually tries to do this I think, is very much up in the air," she said from Arlington, Va.
NASA says the mission would identify a small near-Earth asteroid, send a robotic mission to capture it in 2019 and then park the space rock in orbit around the moon.
Astronauts would then be sent to rendezvous with the asteroid in 2021, conduct space walks to collect samples and return them to Earth for analysis.
The mission is also designed to test technologies to deflect any space boulders that may be on a collision course with Earth.
But right now, Natynczyk said one of his key areas of interest is to get another Canadian astronaut to visit the International Space Station.
"We're working with the international community . . the partnership with the International Space Station to see when is the next opportunity that we can get one or both of our astronauts into space," he said.
CSA officials have said in the past that the next Canadian will travel to the orbiting space laboratory somewhere between 2016 and 2019.
Meantime, Canada's two astronauts, David Saint-Jacques and Jeremy Hansen, are continuing to work on their training.
Natynczyk also said once the timing of the next space trip by a Canadian is clearer, the agency will resume the process of recruiting more astronauts.
The astronaut corps was at its peak during the summer of 1992 when there were 10 active Canadian astronauts.
The CSA boss does not appear to be in any hurry to extend Canada's commitment to the space station beyond 2020 — even though the United States has announced its continued support until at least 2024.
Natynczyk pointed out he still has six years to decide. "At some point in the future, we'll have to consider what we're going to do beyond 2020," he said.
Ron Holdway, a space consultant, says he's impressed with Natynczyk's performance eight months into the job.
"He seems to be making great progress in moving the space agency in a new direction to make it something that the government is comfortable with," Holdway said in an interview.
"I think it's going in the right direction in redefining and rebuilding (in) to something that's more closely tied to government priorities."
He said Natynczyk brings "an enormous skill to the space agency as a leader, in a sense of being able to motivate the team."
"Everything I see going on in Ottawa suggests the government has confidence in him so far," said Holdway, a former vice-president of COM DEV International, a space hardware company based in Cambridge, Ont.
Astronaut alumnus visits CSU before mission
Coloradoan Staff - The Fort Collins (CO) Coloradoan
Dr. Kjell Lindgren is headed to the International Space Station next spring. This April, he took a slightly shorter journey to drop by Colorado State University on Thursday to visit his alma mater.
Lindgren, a NASA astronaut and 1996 CSU graduate, visited university leaders and picked up CSU mementos and fan gear he'll take to space.
"Just pulling into the parking lot and walking into (the Physiology Building) brought back memories of intense thesis writing," Lindgren said in a CSU release. "... I have very fond memories of my time here."
The medical doctor is stationed at NASA's Johnson Space Center in preparation for his six-month mission to space. During his mission, he'll work on a study involving CSU associate professor Susan Bailey, who will study the effects of space on the body of astronaut Scott Kelly, using as a control his identical twin brother, Mark, who will stay on Earth.
Sky is no limit for Salina brothers who pursued careers in astronomy
Roy Wenzl – The Wichita Eagle
In 1961, after NASA shot Alan Shepard into space, a 9-year-old boy named Steve Hawley asked his mother to buy him a dime-store telescope.
Several years and several telescopes later, he asked his mother and father to help pay for college. To study astronomy.
Some parents might ask how staring at stars would get him a job. But Bernie and Jeanne Hawley said yes.
The story of us
Steve Hawley became the astronomer and astronaut who used the robot arm of the space shuttle Discovery in 1990 to lift the Hubble Space Telescope out of the cargo bay while flying in orbit at 17,398 mph.
Hubble weighed 11 tons. At 43 feet it was the length of a large school bus. And Steve Hawley, from Salina, parked it expertly in space, 360 miles above Earth.
The Hubble has made what scientists say are the most astonishing discoveries in human history. It's still up there making more.
Hawley has a unique relationship with the Hubble. He deployed it, repaired it years later in space. Now he is one of the long list of scientists who get to tap on an office keyboard and tell Hubble what to look for.
John Hawley, a theoretical astrophysicist at the University of Virginia, can list many other historic Hubble discoveries off the top of his head:
• The age of the universe: 13.7 billion years.
• Vivid, compelling evidence that everything in creation started with a Big Bang.
• Compelling evidence that the universe is expanding, and rapidly.
• Evidence that there is "dark energy," a force driving that accelerated expansion, just as Einstein briefly theorized.
It's the story of us, he said – our home, our universe, how it all started, how vast and beautiful it all is.
"How small we are," John Hawley said. "How vulnerable we are."
And one day, John Hawley said, the Hubble showed one other astounding thing: Scientists pointed it at a section of what looked like black, empty space, and let the camera exposure stay open for a long time.
The photograph this produced, the "Hubble Deep Field," shows thousands of galaxies, glowing faintly in spirals and wisps, tinged with faint white and yellow colors. The universe, scientists extrapolated from that photo, has more than a trillion galaxies, each with trillions of stars.
The size of creation is almost beyond comprehension.
"All these things were theories before," John Hawley said. "Now we know."
John Hawley, a theoretical astrophysicist based at the University of Virginia, is Steve Hawley's younger brother. When they were kids in Salina, Steve would buy a newer and bigger telescope "and pass the hand-me-down telescope to me," John said
One day John Hawley went to Jeanne and Bernie and told them he wanted to study astronomy and physics, and not at the affordable University of Kansas, where Steve went. John wanted to attend Haverford, a private college outside Philadelphia.
The family still didn't have much money. Bernie was a minister; Jeanne taught piano lessons at home.
"I'm sure they had real reservations," he said. "But they didn't bat an eye."
John watched, with his heart in his throat, his brother's first attempted launch in 1984, when Discovery's engine stalled on the launchpad and someone on the radio said "fire." He knew, before the Challenger blew up two years later, how dangerous all this was.
And then six years later he kept tabs from Earth while his brother parked the greatest science experiment in history into orbit.
"I talked with him after," John said. "He said he had the worst headache he'd ever had in his life."
You could argue, John said, that the smartest Hawleys were Bernie and Jeanne, for saying yes to childhood dreams. But John, last year, along with a collaborator, won the Shaw Prize, which Steve says is the Asian version of the Nobel Prize. John split a $1 million prize with his collaborator.
"People used to ask him if he was related to me," Steve wrote in an e-mail. "Now they ask me if I am related to him!"
The textbook that John wrote about the universe uses color photos shot by the satellite his brother put into space.
Two tribes
In 1997, astronaut Joe Tanner rode Discovery into space and watched fellow astronaut Steve Hawley grab the Hubble with the robot arm.
Hawley brought it into the cargo bay so they could upgrade components. After that, Hawley redeployed it, and used the robot arm – with Tanner riding it – to do more work on the Hubble during a space walk.
Hawley by that time was the most respected astronaut at NASA, Tanner said.
"His nickname was GPC Number 6 because the other five GPCs were the five general purpose computers on the shuttles," Tanner said. "He was that brilliant."
"I looked it up – NASA picked him for the astronaut program when he was only 26," Tanner said. "How does anybody do that? And how does anybody get a Ph.D. by age 26? He'd done that, too."
The biggest reason NASA sent Hawley into space five times was that he was adept at keeping the peace between two astronaut tribes who didn't always get along, Tanner said.
NASA sent two kinds of astronauts up on shuttles, Tanner said: the pilot-engineers, "accustomed to working in teams to run the the operations of flight," and the scientists, who had spent years working alone on Ph.D. dissertations on astronomy or medicine or other disciplines.
"Dr. Stevie was both," Tanner said. "He bridged that barrier like no other."
Hawley said he worked hard at that.
"When I went off to a meeting with the operations people, the science people knew that I cared about the science as much as they did," Hawley said.
Practicality vs. daring
Why pay for your son or daughter to go to college to study astronomy? What kind of job can they get with that?
What good is it to spend all that money shooting rockets into space? Why study physics, or black holes, or the theory of relativity? Why not spend money to go to school for practical training that will produce real jobs?
for that matter, why spend money or time donig what Hawley does now? For example, earlier this year, when he tapped Hubble on the shoulder again, he asked it to take yet another look at Tololo 26, a weird planetary nebula way out there somewhere, and try to figure out what it is. Tololo 26 was one of his research projects years when he was an astronomy student at KU, long before he shot into space.
Why study Tololo 26, or any form of astronomy?
Hawley says he's heard all those arguments. They were sometimes directed at him.
"Not my parents, but others told me that there was not much chance of finding a job in astronomy, but I didn't care," he wrote in an e-mail. "Because it was what I wanted to study. I figured if that plan didn't work out I'd be able to come up with something else.
"That's also the reason I applied to be an astronaut. I didn't really think I'd get the job, but I didn't want to go through my life wondering if I could have done it if I had only tried.
"I have talked with students at KU who are taking a course of study they don't seem to enjoy because a parent or an uncle told them that they needed to get a degree in that discipline that would get them a job. No doubt employment is an important goal, but it's also important to enjoy what you're doing. If you don't, you probably won't be very good at it.
"That's advice I give to young people when I get a chance: Find something you're passionate about."
'I was scared'
Jeanne Hawley never regretted paying for Steve to study the seemingly impractical field of astronomy.
"It never occurred to us to stop him from pursing his childhood dream," she said.
But she paid for her support with days of sheer terror. Steve Hawley rode rockets into space five times, including three times after the Challenger blew up in 1986.
"I'd been naive before the Challenger," Jeanne said. "I assumed it was all safer than it was."
Steve decided to quit space flight after his fourth trip. But NASA drafted him for one more flight in 1999.
Tanner said the rest of that crew did not have as much experience as they wanted, "and I suspect they wanted Dr. Stevie up there to make sure everything went well."
"I didn't have the courage to tell my mother I was going," Hawley said. "I was a coward. I made my wife tell her."
Jeanne was horrified. When Columbia launched, Jeanne refused to watch, as she had done before. She holed up in a little place in Cocoa Beach, Fla., babysitting the children while the rest of her family watched lift-off.
The launch went fine.
But when the television told her the rocket launched, she ran out to the backyard and looked up at Columbia – and got upset.
"I thought from the angle I was looking at, that the shuttle was flying horizontally instead of up," she said. "So I thought something had gone wrong. And I was scared."
'Space Cowboys'
Steve Hawley lives quietly now, in a country that has no manned space program, teaching astronomy in classrooms where some students don't finish class projects on time. And then they e-mail him, asking how to head off a bad grade.
"I warn them," he said. "I tell them that when you know an asteroid is going to impact the Earth, and you have a chance to deflect it, it is best to get on this project early rather than late. But they sometimes do not listen."
He rode rockets to space five times, floated weightless for 32 total days. He and his first wife, Sally Ride, his friend Tanner and the other shuttle astronauts took all those risks and lost 14 friends to space accidents. They followed the daring moon landings of the 1960s and 1970s by making the greatest discoveries in history.
He thinks we've lost some of our daring, including at the moment we decided to pay Vladimir Putin's Russians to take us to space.
Would he go back? He grinned.
"I've had this thought. About 'Space Cowboys.'"
In the 2000 movie by that name, Clint Eastwood and Tommie Lee Jones play cranky old astronauts, called back to fix a malfunctioning space satellite. Hawley is 62 now.
"If they ever needed the old Hubble astronauts to go back up there and bring it home … I'd go, like 'Space Cowboys,'" he said.
"But the training for those missions … no way. I never ever want to go through that training again."
Trillions of galaxies
"I never looked out the window much in space," Hawley said. "On those missions you are so booked, there's no time.
"In the sleep periods, there was time to look out the window, but I didn't do it much because I felt guilty. I didn't want anybody thinking I went up there to look out the window.
"But when I did look, I looked at the stars. I am an astronomer. Everybody else looked at the Earth.
"People asked me, 'What did the Earth look like?' I don't know."
He points to a photograph. It hangs on the wall to his left, in his small office at KU.
It's that famous photo that his brother John mentioned: Hubble Deep Field.
All those wisps of galaxies. Trillions of suns, trillions of worlds.
We had little idea those galaxies were out there, Steve Hawley said – "until we went looking."
END
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