Happy Earth Day!
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- JSC Earth Day Activites: Music on the Mall & More
- New Science Arrives on SpaceX-3
- Weekly Safety Message
- Intern Poster Board Session - Organizations/Social
- Learn About Autism at JSC's DAG Meeting April 24
- Starport Café Online Survey
- Emerge Monthly
- JSC Annual Picnic at SplashTown This Sunday - Jobs and Training
- Performance Closeout Sessions/Labs-CS Supervisors - Community
- When Will We Find E.T. … ?
- Co-op Housing Committee Seeks New Rental Property
- Let the Shadowing Begin April 25
- Employees Needed for Simulated Mission to Mars |  |
| Headlines - JSC Earth Day Activites: Music on the Mall & More
Music on the Mall is back! Take your normal lunch break today, go outside and enjoy JSC Earth Day activities near one of the three ponds. Bring your own blanket (or lawn chair). For our musically inclined JSC team members, please consider bringing your instruments and playing a tribute to complement the natural beauty our Earth provides. Join a group already playing their chords or start your own. Bring your own cup for some green tea from the JSC Green Team at Sputnik. Take a wellness/conservation walk-n-talk at 11 a.m. or noon (meet in front of Building 3). Go on a natural resources scavenger hunt. Check out the Sustainability Partnership Team's solar-powered cupola prototype (between Buildings 3 and 4). See a beautiful time-lapse video of Earth from the International Space Station in the Teague Auditorium, and preview posters of the awesome work from our spring 2014 interns in the Teague lobby (12:30 to 3 p.m.). Rain Date: April 29. - New Science Arrives on SpaceX-3
Are you aware of the cool new science experiments that have just arrived on the International Space Station? A space garden, laser for data communications, a National Institutes of Health-funded human T-cell immune investigation, legs for Robonaut, smartphone satellite, plus several Center for the Advancement of Science in Space-sponsored investigations on protein crystal growth and "crowd-sourced" microbes. - Weekly Safety Message
View the weekly Safety Message here. This week's topic: Extreme Heat and JSC's Solar Safe Program. The cool temperatures that we have experienced this winter will quickly transform into normal Houston heat in a few weeks. Take a couple of minutes to review some tips on how to prepare yourself for the summer heat and sun. - Intern Poster Board Session
Come and join us as our spring 2014 interns showcase their accomplishments during their time at JSC. We have students across many organizations helping NASA advance in human space exploration. Don't miss out on this opportunity to see the work of very talented students at JSC. Have you been interested in having an intern in your organization? This is your chance to learn more about providing meaningful experiences to high school, college and post-graduate students while getting the help your program needs. Event Date: Tuesday, April 22, 2014 Event Start Time:1:00 PM Event End Time:3:00 PM
Event Location: Building 2, Teague Lobby
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[top] Organizations/Social - Learn About Autism at JSC's DAG Meeting April 24
Learn about autism at JSC's Differently-abled Advisory Group (DAG) meeting this Thursday. The DAG will host its next meeting Thursday, April 24. This month there will be a special presentation by the University of Houston regarding autism. Autism is known as a complex developmental disability. DAG meetings are held on the fourth Thursday of February, April, June, August, October and December for one-and-a-half hours in Building 1, Room 106G. Everyone is welcome, so please join us and bring a friend. We'll meet from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m., so feel free to bring your lunch! DAG is sponsored by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity. Accommodations for a specific disability are available upon request by contacting Janelle Holt at 281-483-7504 or via email no later than 5 p.m. Tuesday, April 22. - Starport Café Online Survey
Please take a minute and let us know how we are doing. The survey is open through April 30. - Emerge Monthly
Did you know there are hundreds of free books, classes and resources available to help you improve your work performance and reach your career goals? Join the Emerge Employee Resource Group for their monthly general body meeting on Thursday, April 24, to get a taste of professional-development opportunities around the center and share your favorite resources with your peers. Soda and cookies to be provided; feel free to bring your lunch! - JSC Annual Picnic at SplashTown This Sunday
The NASA JSC Family Picnic takes place at SplashTown water park every year the weekend before the park opens to the public. Don't miss out on this fun family event taking place this Sunday, April 27! Tickets are on sale now in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops and Gilruth Center. Tickets are $37 each for ages 3 and up (ages 2 and under do not need a ticket). Tickets may not be purchased the day of the event at SplashTown. A ticket includes: admission to SplashTown from noon to 6 p.m. for plenty of thrills and admission to the NASA JSC exclusive pavilion (with wristband) for a barbecue lunch, beverages, snow cones, kids' games, Bingo with prizes, face painting, moon bounce, balloon artist, DJ, horseshoes, volleyball and basketball. Jobs and Training - Performance Closeout Sessions/Labs-CS Supervisors
Performance closeout season is here! To help guide supervisors through the closeout process in SPACE, we've scheduled several info sessions and live labs. During info sessions, supervisors will receive an overview of the performance management system and discuss performance-closeout tips and best practices. During the live labs, supervisors will be able to work on employee appraisals, and Human Resources support will be available to answer any system-related questions. No registration is required. The session dates/times below. Supervisor Info Sessions: April 23 - 3 to 4:30 p.m. (Building 12, Room 136) April 30 - 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (Building 12, Room 134) Supervisor Live Labs (all in Building 12, Room 144): May 7 - 11 a.m. to noon May 15 - 9 to 10 a.m. May 22 - Noon to 1 p.m. May 28 - Noon to 1 p.m. June 5 - 9 to 10 a.m. Community - When Will We Find E.T. … ?
The Lunar and Planetary Institute (LPI) invites all inquisitive adults to attend When Will We Find E.T. and What Happens if We Do?, a presentation by Dr. Seth Shostak of the SETI Institute, on Thursday, April 24, at 7:30 p.m. This free presentation is the fourth and final in the Lunar and Planetary Institute's 2013-2104 Cosmic Exploration Speaker Series: "The Universe is Out to Get Us and What We Can (or Can't) Do About It." LPI's Cosmic Explorations presentation begins at 7:30 p.m. and will be followed by a light reception. No reservation is necessary. LPI is located in the USRA building at 3600 Bay Area Boulevard in Clear Lake; the entrance is located on Middlebrook Drive. LPI is part of the Universities Space Research Association. For more information on this lecture, click here. - Co-op Housing Committee Seeks New Rental Property
Do you have a rental property or an extra room in your house that you would be willing to rent to a co-op or intern? Need a roommate? Need a house sitter for an extended period of time? Co-ops and interns at JSC rely on the housing committee to provide quality, affordable housing during their work tours at JSC. If you would like to submit your property for the housing board, please e-mail with the location, rent and your phone number. Please note that property eligibility will be determined by the housing committee. - Let the Shadowing Begin April 25
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 (April 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. - Employees Needed for Simulated Mission to Mars
Mentor a student team while they design a simulated mission to Mars during High School Aerospace Scholars. Share your NASA experience and advice while connecting our workforce with the brightest Texas high school students. Choose any week(s) to volunteer only 20 hours and enjoy our fun activities. Summer Schedule: - Week 1: June 15 to 20
- Week 2: June 22 to 27
- Week 3: July 6 to 11
- Week 4: July 13 to 18
- Week 5: July 20 to 25
- Week 6: July 27 to Aug. 1
If interested, please: 1. Complete the mentor application here. 3. Review mentor responsibilities. 4. Apply before May 2. | |
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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
Tuesday – April 22, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Profile | Chris Carberry, Executive Director and Co-founder, Explore Mars Inc.
Debra Werner – Space News
When Chris Carberry began visiting congressional offices in the late 1990s to discuss space exploration and the merits of sending astronauts to Mars, few people took him seriously.
The uncertain road to Mars
Jeff Foust – The Space Review
If you don't know where you're heading, the saying goes, any road will take you there. That's been the criticism sometimes levied at NASA's human spaceflight program by those who believe it to be wandering aimlessly with a lack of focus.
'Easter Dragon' Pays a Visit to the Space Station
Irene Klotz – Discovery News
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Monday opened the hatch on the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship that arrived Sunday and began unpacking more than two tons of food, science experiments and supplies tucked inside.
US Leading the Path to Mars: NASA Chief Charles Bolden (Op-Ed)
Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator – Space.com
Last week, the solar system put on quite a show. An alignment of Earth, moon and sun produced a rare and spectacular blood-moon lunar eclipse . In addition, Mars made its closest approach to Earth since 2007. And just as Mars drew tantalizingly near to Earth, NASA is drawing closer to its goal of a human mission to the Red Planet.
Everest, the camps, and the Sherpas
Derek Webber – The Space Review
Just over 60 years ago, Edmund Hillary and his fellow climber Tensing Norgay stood on the summit of Mount Everest, more than five miles high; they were the first climbers to succeed and return safely back to their base. While they were the first to succeed, they were not by far the first to try. They gave credit for their success to the planning involved in getting what was known as the "assault team", with their supplies, to the high altitude camp just below the summit. John Hunt was the planner and manager who organized the 1953 Everest Expedition, and who made sure, by his careful logistical endeavors, that Hillary and Tensing would have the best possible chance of success. Once the series of camps was established, it became possible in later decades for a steady stream of mountaineers, even including tourists, to follow the trail blazed by Hillary and Tensing to the highest point on Earth. Almost incidentally, eight years later Yuri Gagarin was in orbit 100 miles above Everest, and eight years after that Armstrong and Aldrin were on the Moon. Those were heady times.
Stennis Space Center cuts ribbon on SpaceX Raptor rocket testing facility
Warren Kulo – The Pascagoula Mississippi Press
The engines which propelled Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon on Apollo XI were tested at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.
Launch unlocks manifest for Orbcomm, AsiaSat
Stephen Clark – Spaceflight Now
Friday's liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket cleared a bottleneck in SpaceX's Florida launch schedule that forced two commercial customers, Orbcomm and AsiaSat, to keep their completed satellites at their factories to wait out launch delays.
The growth of public-private partnerships in commercial space ventures
Anthony Young – The Space Review
On March 25, NASA announced its Collaboration for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC) initiative. In making this announcement, William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations said, "The growing US commercial spaceflight industry is opening low Earth orbit in ways that will improve lives on Earth, drive economic growth, and power 21st Century innovations. As NASA again pioneers a path into deep space, we look forward to sharing our 50 years of spaceflight experience and fostering partnerships in ways that benefit our nation's ambitious spaceflight goals."
NASA names new Commercial Crew Program chief, replaces Mango
James Dean – Florida Today
Official NASA portrait of Kathryn Lueders. NASA has named Kathy Lueders manager of its Commercial Crew Program, which is led from Kennedy Space Center.
NASA wants you to take a #globalselfie for Earth Day
Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles Times
This Earth Day NASA is asking citizens of the Earth to step outside and photograph themselves wherever on the planet they happen to be.
COMPLETE STORIES
Profile | Chris Carberry, Executive Director and Co-founder, Explore Mars Inc.
Debra Werner – Space News
When Chris Carberry began visiting congressional offices in the late 1990s to discuss space exploration and the merits of sending astronauts to Mars, few people took him seriously.
"I'd walk into a congressional office and see it," Carberry said. "Whether they rolled their eyes or not, I could see what was going on in their heads. There was definitely a giggle factor."
One meeting in the Boston office of Joe Moakley, the late U.S. representative from Massachusetts, was interrupted by what Carberry suspects was a staged call from a veteran. According to Carberry, the congressman said into the phone, "I feel your pain" and "I'll see what I can do," before turning back to Carberry to ask, "How can I tell the veterans we're going to Mars when I can't pay for their medical care?"
At that time, NASA funding was determined by a House Appropriations subcommittee that also oversaw budgets for the Department of Housing and Urban Development and the Department of Veterans Affairs. Space agency funding jurisdiction has since been shifted to a different subcommittee.
In recent years, members of Congress and their staffs have been far more receptive to Carberry's message, he said. "Frankly, I've never seen as much interest in Congress in Mars exploration as I do now," Carberry said. "There has been a dramatic change, at least rhetorically. Whether we are actually closer to going to Mars is another matter."
A history and political science major in college with a similar focus in his early career, Carberry began volunteering for space-related groups in the mid-1990s. In 2008, he became executive director of the Mars Society, a group dedicated to exploration and settlement of the red planet, before co-founding Explore Mars in 2010. Explore Mars is a nonprofit organization focused on policy, education and projects, including a national opinion poll and the 2013 Humans2Mars and Affording Mars conferences.
Carberry, who has been active in Republican national politics and contributed position statements to the Republican National Committee's 2000 platform, spoke recently with SpaceNews correspondent Debra Werner.
Why should astronauts travel to Mars?
If we're going to send people into space and have them explore, Mars has far more to offer than any other location we can reach. The Moon is great because it's close but it has no atmosphere; it's desolate. There is water there, but it would take an awful lot of effort to extract the water. Mars is far more scientifically and geologically interesting. Because it has an atmosphere and because it has water we can access now, it's a far better target for sending humans. Mars should be the overarching goal of human spaceflight for the next two to three decades plus.
What role would robotic missions play?
Continuing to send robots to Mars — orbiters and landers — is essential as we gear up to send humans there. I don't see robotic exploration of Mars ending when we send humans there. There will be times when it will just be easier to send robots to various locations. We will have telerobotics from the surface and telerobotics from orbit. Robots are good for certain things. Humans are good for other things. But the amount of science and exploring that a human crew could do vastly outpaces that of any robots we've ever sent.
Can Mars exploration truly capture the public's imagination?
Yes. Mars excites the public. When the Curiosity rover landed, there was an amazing outpouring of enthusiasm. In February 2013, we commissioned a poll with Boeing and Phillips & Co. to gauge public feelings about space exploration in general and Mars exploration specifically. We were nervous we would get very bad results because this was right in the middle of sequestration battles so everyone in the country who was paying attention at all knew we had some serious budget problems.
What were the results?
They were extraordinary. Over 70 percent of the public seemed to support Mars exploration. One of the reasons for this was obviously that Mars was in the news. But another key aspect was that we gave them budgetary context. The first question was, "What do you think is NASA's percentage of the overall federal budget?" To answer, we gave them a sliding scale from zero to 6 percent. The average answer was 2.5 percent, five times NASA's share. Then we told them the actual percentage and proceeded with the poll. Over 70 percent believed we would land people on Mars by 2033. A huge percentage thought it was for the sake of science, not national prestige. There's growing support within the space community and Congress as well.
Why?
I don't know all the reasons why the community seems to be coming together. It's a very good development because the more we can get everybody behind that overarching goal, the easier it will be to put together a clear, coherent plan. Technically, it has been the policy of the [Obama] administration that Mars is the ultimate destination for human spaceflight. The problem is when you use the word "ultimate," you can put it off indefinitely.
What was the goal of the Affording Mars workshop your group held in December?
We wanted to see if people agreed on Mars as the overarching goal without focusing on exactly which hardware or which destination to go to beforehand. We also wanted to see if people thought it was feasible to go there by the 2030s, which they did, and more importantly, if it was affordable. We knew that was the most complicated question. We didn't go deep into numbers, but there was general consensus amongst the folks there that we could do this in an affordable manner.
One of your survey questions asked about doubling NASA's share of the federal budget. Is that what it would take to get humans to Mars by the 2030s?
No. The consensus at Affording Mars was that we could do it for roughly the current budget. We need to get out of sequestration. With the presequestration budget and increases for inflation, it probably could be done. There was not 100 percent agreement on that, but everyone agreed it would not take a major increase to NASA's budget to do it.
What's the main challenge?
Consistency. If we can't predict from year to year what the budget is going to be or if the policy keeps changing, obviously we can't get anything done. It's hard to run a program when you have these huge budgetary fluctuations and of course when we change presidents who keep changing the policy.
How do you address that?
We're trying to build enough support in the space community, governmental circles and the public to affect the policy. I don't have a magical solution for long-term stability. But if we can build bipartisan support strong enough to adapt to changes of administrations, I think that's the only way of doing it.
Would a Mars mission be conducted by a public-private partnership?
I don't know. There are numerous private entities that want to do it themselves. I think the first time we go to Mars will be in a government-led mission. But there was general consensus at Affording Mars that we're going to need to rethink how we do things and include nontraditional players. Commercial players may help us find ways to reduce costs.
What about international partners?
That is perhaps the most important aspect. We have sustained a long-term human spaceflight program with the international space station. If it were not an international program, it probably would have been canceled long ago. It could very well be the case that the greatest legacy of ISS is international missions beyond low Earth orbit. We would have to show international partners that we are serious and that we will follow through on a policy.
What do you think of Inspiration Mars, the group led by Dennis Tito seeking to enlist NASA's help to carry out a Mars flyby mission?
It's shifted its focus quite a bit lately. They wanted to do their mission in 2018. They pretty much dropped that date. Now the 2021 date for a Mars flyby mission seems to have a lot of support within the community. Whether it would be Inspiration Mars itself or adapting the idea to a NASA program, the timing is right. It's still challenging, but those extra years make a lot of difference. If we could do it, it would be inspiring, as the name would imply, and it would prove out a lot of enabling technologies.
What types of technologies?
Robust life-support systems. Without those, you can't do the mission. If you're able to develop them, you've proven one of the most important technologies we need for sending humans to Mars. It would also challenge us to overcome some of the human physiology issues, such as loss of bone mass and radiation issues. We would prove out all these theories and countermeasures on that mission.
What do you think of Mars One, the Dutch nonprofit that plans to send people on a one-way trip to Mars?
They are still saying they are going to start colonizing Mars in 2025. I'm supportive of settlement of Mars in the long run, but I am skeptical of the timeline, of their ability to raise the money and build the infrastructure needed to keep people alive.
Has the success to date of Space Exploration Technologies Corp. and Orbital Sciences Corp. in commercializing space station resupply helped your cause?
I think so. There is nothing wrong with having more players, more competition, more options for getting into space. We still can't send anybody up into space. So having many companies vying to be able to get our astronauts into space is a very good thing. Of course SpaceX hasn't been shy about discussion of their ambitions to go to Mars. Whether they will be able to do that or not, I think it's great. They focus more attention on this goal. Nobody knows who will be the primary players in another 10 to 20 years. We just have to start planning, start putting the path together and start moving forward.
Is the Humans2Mars (H2M) summit becoming an annual event?
It will to the extent that we need it to be. We never intended to create another annual event. We don't want to do H2M No. 25. If we are doing that and we are just as far away from going to Mars as we are now, then we will have failed anyway. We are definitely doing one next year and we might consider doing them every other year and holding smaller, focused programs in between years. If 10 years down the line we are planning another one, I'm not sure if that would be a sign of success for us unless there was real evidence they were serving a purpose. If we had done a flyby, for example.
The uncertain road to Mars
Jeff Foust – The Space Review
If you don't know where you're heading, the saying goes, any road will take you there. That's been the criticism sometimes levied at NASA's human spaceflight program by those who believe it to be wandering aimlessly with a lack of focus.
In fact, the situation is somewhat different. There is a broad and growing consensus that NASA's human spaceflight program has, and should have, the goal of sending humans to Mars, and to do so by the mid 2030s. That was the goal laid out four years ago this month by President Obama in a speech at the Kennedy Space Center, and one that even Congressional critics of the administration's space policy seem willing to support.
What's less certain is not the long-term destination, but the path to get there. NASA has argued that its Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) is the next step on a path that is gradually beginning to take shape, a case that NASA officials, including administrator Charles Bolden, will likely make at this week's Humans to Mars Summit in Washington. That approach, though, faces criticism from some who disagree on the plan's lack of emphasis on the Moon, while others wonder if NASA will have sufficient funding to carry it out on schedule.
The first step in NASA's path to Mars is the ARM, a concept that, a year after its introduction, is still struggling to win support. That mission, agency officials argue, will develop a number of key technologies, like solar electric propulsion, needed for later missions to Mars.
"The FY [fiscal year] '15 budget request keeps NASA on a steady path we've been following, a stepping-stone approach to meet the President's challenge of sending humans to Mars in the 2030s," Bolden said Wednesday in a meeting of the NASA Advisory Council (NAC) at NASA Headquarters. He suggested that some people had forgotten the goals laid out in the President's 2010 speech, which also called for a human mission to a near Earth asteroid by 2025.
"Some of you may say the same thing that some of the committee members ask me when I go to the Hill: 'When did you guys decide you were going to do all this new stuff?' We've been on this path since 2010," Bolden said, recounting the goals laid out in Obama's speech. "For a variety of reasons, it just kind of went over people's heads. But it didn't go over our heads."
The president's speech originally suggested that humans would travel out beyond the Earth-Moon system to visit an asteroid. However, John Holdren, director of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP), told the NAC last week the ARM was still consistent with that 2010 goal.
"I think the current version of the NASA plan is consistent with the President's vision," Holdren said. "The President's vision was laid out with very broad brushstrokes." The ARM, he said, fulfills several objectives in preparing for future exploration as well as science and commercialization. "I think it is an incredibly valuable mission in terms of the number of purposes it serves, largely using technologies and components that are being developed with current budgets."
What happens after the ARM—which may not be wrapped up until 2025, depending on when a suitable asteroid can be moved into cislunar space to be visited by astronauts—remains uncertain. The Global Exploration Roadmap (GER), developed by a dozen space agencies, including NASA, lays out a basic path to Mars that starts with continued utilization of the ISS and includes human missions to near Earth asteroids, the lunar surface, and locations in cislunar space. However, the GER doesn't endorse a specific set of missions, or even a single path, that would lead to humans on the surface of Mars.
In recent weeks, NASA has been pushing a three-phase concept for the future of human space exploration. The initial step, "Earth Reliant", involves utilization of the International Space Station (ISS), "mastering the fundamentals" of long-duration human spaceflight while still able to return home in hours. The "Proving Ground" features missions in cislunar space, like the ARM, lasting from a month to a year, while the "Earth Independent" phase involves human missions to "Mars, its moons, and other deep space destinations," according to one NASA graphic. That plan, though, doesn't define exactly what those missions would be, beyond the ARM and human missions to the Martian surface itself.
NASA has also been experimenting with the language it uses for its human exploration program. "I don't even like the term 'exploration' any more. We're 'pioneering,'" Bolden said at an April 3 meeting of the Space Studies Board and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board. "Exploration implies that you're going out, but you're coming back home. When we go to Mars, the intent is not to go back home. Crews will come back home, but the infrastructure there will get larger and larger."
Despite those high-minded concepts, the lack of definition of specific missions has been frustrating to some in Congress. On April 9, the House Science Committee's space subcommittee approved a new NASA authorization bill that addresses that issue among others. The bill would require NASA to develop an "Exploration Roadmap" that would specify "the sets and sequences of missions required" to develop the technologies and capabilities needed to send humans to the surface of Mars. That report would be due to Congress 180 days after the bill's enactment, with updates every two years thereafter.
"The agreement before us today makes absolutely clear that NASA's goal for the human spaceflight program should be to send humans to Mars," said Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), chairman of the space subcommittee, referring to a bipartisan deal on an amended version of the bill. "Proposals that cannot be proven essential to a Mars mission should be removed from this portfolio."
"The roadmap will allow NASA's technical experts to analyze the merits of potential interim destinations towards achieving the goal of sending humans to Mars," said Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), the subcommittee's ranking member. "I know that different members have their own personal favorite destinations and interim missions, but this amendment puts the job of deciding the pathway forward where it squarely belongs, by requiring NASA to develop an informed and realistic roadmap to get this nation to Mars."
Even without that Congressional impetus, NASA has started to define what at least next step beyond ARM would be. At last week's NAC meeting, Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said NASA was examining concepts for a crew-tended habitat in cislunar space that would make use of technologies developed and tested on ISS and the ARM, including solar electric propulsion to move the habitat through cislunar space.
"This habitation module would potentially be the same habitation module we would take to Mars with us," he said. That module, he said, could be developed commercially, or by an international partner, based on interest the agency has received from both sectors. "We're exploring all of those opportunities."
The Moon and the critical path
Absent from even those vague plans, though, is any mention of NASA crewed missions to the surface of the Moon. While NASA has interest in operations in cislunar space, including lunar orbit, the agency and the administration aren't planning on setting aside funding to develop the landers and other technologies needed for landing humans on the Moon.
At an international workshop about the GER held April 10–11 at the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, the role of the Moon in future exploration became a topic of debate. Early in the meeting, NASA's Roland Martinez, chair of the International Architecture Working Group of the International Space Exploration Coordination Group, which developed the GER, noted that NASA was not planning any human missions to the lunar surface. "It's not part of NASA's critical path to Mars."
Others at the meeting, though, reacted strongly to that comment. "I'm kind of surprised you reached that conclusion, because you guys are wrong," argued Mark Robinson, a professor in the School of Earth and Space Exploration at Arizona State University and principal investigator of the main camera on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter. "If you want to get to Mars with human beings, you've got to go to the Moon first so you can learn how to live and work on another planet."
Human lunar missions may be important for attracting international partners who, unlike NASA, have not yet landed people on the Moon but are interested in doing so. "You will not be able to build an international partnership if you don't include the Moon in your roadmap," said Bernhard Hufenbach of ESA's European Space Research and Technology Centre.
Lunar missions, he added, may also be important for maintaining public interest in a program that will take two decades or more before humans set foot on Mars. "I don't think you can do missions to deep space, the lunar vicinity, or asteroids for a period of 20 years without sending humans to a planetary body like the lunar surface," he said. "It will not be inspiring enough. You will not keep the public engaged."
The administration, though, is unswayed by those who calling for the inclusion of human lunar landings in NASA's exploration roadmap. "Those folks may never be persuaded that spending $60 to 80 billion to do that is not the best use of $60 to 80 billion in the environment that we now find ourselves," Holdren said at last week's NAC meeting. "People are just not realistic about the costs of these things."
However, at a meeting of a NAC human exploration and operations committee earlier last week, Gersetenmaier said that NASA would be open to cooperating with on human lunar landings if other nations or even commercial entities decided to pursue such a mission on their own. "If the partners or commercial industries push that [lunar] surface activity, we would go evaluate and see if that makes sense for us," he said. "The Asteroid Redirect Mission isn't committing us to no lunar activity. It's not either-or."
Does NASA have an exploration strategy?
At last week's NAC meeting, council members took in presentations by Bolden, Holdren, Gesternmaier, and others that touched upon NASA's exploration plans. A major topic of discussion was whether those plans truly constituted a detailed strategy for exploration that NASA could carry out.
"You communicate that the United States has a human exploration strategy, but I think that many of your outside fan clubs and cheerleading sections are not convinced," said new NAC member Tom Young, a retired aerospace industry executive. "I think the perception is that it's more of a passion and a dream than a strategy." He added that for NASA's plan to be considered a strategy, "it has to be resourced in a manner that assures that it can be executed."
Bolden acknowledged that the plan wasn't as detailed as what some would like. "I think we have a rough plan in place that we're trying to put some meat on because everyone's asking" what the lifecycle costs of programs like the Space Launch System (SLS) will be, he said. "No, we don't have what would really be a valid strategy that the common man would accept, but we're working on a plan that at least identifies the milestones that are needed to get there."
Bolden added that this situation isn't necessarily new. "There has never been a time in this nation when a strategy has been appropriately resourced," he said.
The question of resources—specifically, funding—appeared to be the NAC's major concern about NASA's exploration plans, be they considered a roadmap or a strategy. In his presentation, NASA's Gerstenmaier said the agency's exploration plans required "modest" increases in the agency's exploration budget over the long term, although he didn't define how much that would be.
"It's the best thing I've seen yet," said Charles Kennel, chairman of the Space Studies Board, of NASA's plans. "The only weakness I could spot at the present time is the credibility of the funding."
Young, in the NAC's discussion last week, remained skeptical that NASA truly had a strategy because of the funding issues. "I think the disconnect between the dream and reality is so stark that—I'm trying to find a better word than alarming, but that's what I end up with," he said.
Many members appeared to think it inevitable that NASA's plans to send humans to Mars in the mid-2030s would be delayed. "The free parameter is schedule," said NAC chairman Steve Squyres, meaning that if budgets don't increase sufficiently, programs will be delayed. "The question I would pose is, at what point does the strategy fall apart? At what point does the stretching become so great that things break, that thinks simply don't work?"
Squyres suggested that point might come if timelines for Mars missions stretch out beyond the careers of anyone working on it. "If it's so far out to the right that it's not going to happen in the foreseeable future, you have to ask if it's the best thing for us to do to spend money on things that are aimed at getting us to Mars, or should we change the goal completely."
However, later in the meeting, Squyres concluded that issue wasn't as big a risk as other concerns, like flying missions so infrequently that safety becomes jeopardized. "Humans to Mars is so utterly compelling as a goal that, push it out 50 years, I don't care, it's still what NASA ought to be striving for," he said. "I don't care how far out it gets pushed, that doesn't break the program."
That leaves NASA at risk if being trapped in a conundrum: pursuing a program of sending humans to Mars that is compelling enough for the agency to pursue no matter its budget situation, but not compelling enough, perhaps, to win adequate funding to carry it out in a reasonable manner and timeframe. A compelling plan (or roadmap, or strategy) of human exploration leading to Mars may be a necessary—but perhaps alone not sufficient—condition to winning that funding.
'Easter Dragon' Pays a Visit to the Space Station
Irene Klotz – Discovery News
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station on Monday opened the hatch on the SpaceX Dragon cargo ship that arrived Sunday and began unpacking more than two tons of food, science experiments and supplies tucked inside.
The first item out was the T-Cell Activation in Aging experiment, which was quickly set up in the station's European science module, Columbus, said NASA spokesman Kyle Herring.
"It's a unique experiment," Herring said during the daily Space Station Live update on NASA Television.
The experiment is designed to study how the weakened immune systems of older people compare with the changes observed in astronauts on long-duration spaceflights.
The Dragon cargo ship, built and operated by Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, reached the station Sunday morning after a 36-hour orbital chase.
"The Easter Dragon is knocking at the door," astronaut Randy Bresnik radioed to the crew from mission control in Houston as they used the station's robot arm to anchor the capsule to a docking port on the Harmony module.
Dragon is one of two privately owned U.S. freighters making supply runs to the station, a permanently staffed research complex that flies about 260 miles above Earth.
SpaceX so far has flown to the station four times — three times as part of its $1.6 billion contract with NASA and once under a separate NASA agreement that partly covered Dragon development and testing.
The capsule arriving Sunday also includes a pair of legs for the station's experimental humanoid robot, Robonaut, a prototype high-speed laser communications system, high-definition video cameras and a new spacesuit for future spacewalks.
US Leading the Path to Mars: NASA Chief Charles Bolden (Op-Ed)
Charles Bolden, NASA Administrator – Space.com
Last week, the solar system put on quite a show. An alignment of Earth, moon and sun produced a rare and spectacular blood-moon lunar eclipse . In addition, Mars made its closest approach to Earth since 2007. And just as Mars drew tantalizingly near to Earth, NASA is drawing closer to its goal of a human mission to the Red Planet.
This week, April 22-24, NASA joins with the nonprofit group Explore Mars and more than 1,500 leaders from government, academia and business at the Humans to Mars (H2M) Summit 2014 at George Washington University. There, participants will discuss the value, challenges and status of America's path to Mars.
While NASA began its march to Mars decades ago with the earlier Mars rovers and orbiters, President Obama made a critical national policy statement in support of NASA's strategy on April 15, 2010. During a visit to Kennedy Space Center, the president challenged the nation to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s.
Since then, NASA has been developing the capabilities to meet those goals through a bipartisan space exploration plan agreed to by the administration and the U.S. Congress, and embraced by the international space community. While Mars has fascinated humans have been fascinated with Mars since people first looked to the skies, there are a number of very tangible reasons why humanity needs to learn more about its closest planetary neighbor.
For one thing, Mars' formation and evolution are comparable to Earth's, and scientists know that at one time Mars had conditions suitable for life. What NASA learns about the Red Planet may tell humanity more about its own home planet's history and future, helping to answer a fundamental human question — does life exist beyond Earth?
While robotic explorers have studied Mars for more than 40 years, NASA's path for the human exploration of Mars begins in low-Earth orbit aboard the International Space Station (ISS), the springboard to the exploration of deep space. Astronauts aboard the ISS are helping NASA learn how to safely execute extended missions deeper into space.
The Administration's commitment to extend the ISS until at least 2024 guarantees access to this unique orbiting outpost for at least another decade. That means an expanded market for private space companies; more groundbreaking-research and science discovery in micro-gravity; and opportunities to live, work and learn in space over longer periods of time.
The next step is deep space, where NASA will send the first mission to capture and redirect an asteroid to orbit the moon. Astronauts aboard the Orion spacecraft will explore the asteroid in the 2020s, returning to Earth with samples. This experience in human spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit will help NASA test new systems and capabilities, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, — what the agency will need to support a human mission to Mars. Beginning in 2017, NASA's powerful Space Launch System (SLS) rocket will enable these "proving ground" missions to test new capabilities. Human missions to Mars will rely on Orion and an evolved version of SLS that will be the most powerful launch vehicle ever flown.
NASA has already sent a fleet of robotic spacecraft and rovers on and around Mars, dramatically increasing knowledge of the Red Planet and paving the way for future human explorers. The Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover measured radiation on the way to Mars and is sending back radiation data from the surface. This information will help the agency plan how to protect the astronauts who will one day explore Mars. Future missions, like the Mars 2020 rover seeking the signs of past life, will also demonstrate new technologies that could help astronauts survive on Mars.
Engineers and scientists around the country are working hard to develop the technologies astronauts will use to one day live and work on the Red Planet, and safely return home. Meanwhile, the Humans to Mars Summit this week brings together the best minds to share ideas about the path ahead. NASA will be leading the charge.
It is important to remember that NASA sent humans to the moon by setting a goal that seemed beyond reach. In that same spirit, the agency has made a human mission to Mars the centerpiece of its next big leap into the unknown.
The challenge is huge, but NASA is making real progress today as a radiation monitor on the Curiosity rover records the Martian radiation environment that future crews will experience. Meanwhile, advanced entry, descent and landing technologies needed for landing on Mars are ready for entry-speed testing high above the waters of the Pacific Ocean in June. Orion is finishing preparation for a heat shield test in December, and in New Orleans we're beginning to manufacture flight hardware for the heavy lift rocket necessary for Mars missions.
The future of space exploration is bright, and NASA is counting on the support of Congress, the scientific community and the American people to help realize those goals.
Everest, the camps, and the Sherpas
Derek Webber – The Space Review
Just over 60 years ago, Edmund Hillary and his fellow climber Tensing Norgay stood on the summit of Mount Everest, more than five miles high; they were the first climbers to succeed and return safely back to their base. While they were the first to succeed, they were not by far the first to try. They gave credit for their success to the planning involved in getting what was known as the "assault team", with their supplies, to the high altitude camp just below the summit. John Hunt was the planner and manager who organized the 1953 Everest Expedition, and who made sure, by his careful logistical endeavors, that Hillary and Tensing would have the best possible chance of success. Once the series of camps was established, it became possible in later decades for a steady stream of mountaineers, even including tourists, to follow the trail blazed by Hillary and Tensing to the highest point on Earth. Almost incidentally, eight years later Yuri Gagarin was in orbit 100 miles above Everest, and eight years after that Armstrong and Aldrin were on the Moon. Those were heady times.
The Moon story is well known. It was technically achieved by a succession of ever more capable spacecraft—Mercury, Gemini, Apollo—the crews who took the risks of flying them, and the 400,000 people who built the infrastructure. Of course, there was also the little matter of money, and the Apollo program cost the US taxpayer up to 5% of the federal budget throughout the sixties. Since we can no longer entertain the idea of spending 5% of the federal budget for NASA (current NASA budgets are about 0.5%), maybe there are lessons from the Everest example that can help us see the way forward.
Tensing Norgay was a Sherpa. Sherpas were contracted by mountaineering expeditions both as mountain guides and for hauling the food, water, oxygen, and other supplies up the mountains of Tibet. First, a base camp was established. Sherpas made sure it was kept fully stocked by making repetitive trips from the local villages. Then a succession of ever higher camps was established, and the Sherpas continued their role of ferrying supplies ever higher up the mountain. As they got higher into the thinning atmosphere, the work got more and more exhausting, and the hardest step of all was the setting up and provisioning of the camp just below the summit. But once that had been done, the assault team had its chance—and if they were unsuccessful a backup team could always try from this same setting-off point.
This, of course, I am proposing as a metaphor for how we can regularly climb out of Earth's gravity well and proceed onwards with exploring interplanetary space. Reaching the geopotential plateau is our new Everest. We have already done it in the sixties, of course, but that was the 5% solution. I am looking for the 0.5% solution. I believe what we need for success is the equivalent of the Camps and the Sherpas.
We already have the Base Camp, and boy, what a base camp it is. Our Base Camp is in LEO, where we have been refining our capabilities for over 50 years, and is now represented by all the comforts and facilities at the International Space Station. But what is missing is the perhaps less salubrious high altitude camp just below the summit, i.e., just at the edge of Earth's gravity well. If we had a camp there, and it were kept supplied with the right assortment of items needed to make the "final assault" possible, interplanetary travel could become a matter of routine. And following our analog, what are the "Sherpas"? We need a fleet of tugs regularly traveling between "base camp" and the "high altitude camp", that is, between LEO/ISS and the high altitude station (call it "Gateway Earth").
With this perspective, it does not matter where or when we reach the "ultimate objective", because with the Gateway Earth and the supporting tug infrastructure in place, we shall thereafter have ready access to the entire geopotential plateau, and all destinations from that point onwards would consequently require relatively little energy—whether it be for the Moon, Mars, asteroids, Moons of Jupiter, etc. We would have put in place the equivalent of the series of camps up Everest, or the Interstate Highway System, to provide the next generation with what it needs to press onwards.
There are, of course, always limitations to analogs, and this Everest one is no exception. For the space equivalent we do not need the series of camps at higher altitudes, just the base camp and the one at the edge of Earth's gravity well. But we do need to make sure that we have our Sherpas ready to do the job of ferrying supplies and people between the base camp and Gateway Earth. We need the tugs—reusable and refuelable—to sustain the outpost at Gateway Earth. I suspect that space tourists would be interested in that journey, and therefore Gateway Earth and the tugs can probably be partially funded commercially.
We have now been at Base Camp for over 50 years, and there is no denying that it is an excellent base camp, especially as now represented by the ISS. No doubt many would be content to stay at Base Camp forever, but that is not what base camps are for. We are supposed to use them to move on upwards. Let's build our Gateway Earth camp, and engage our Sherpa tugs, to provide the highway into interplanetary space for succeeding generations.
Stennis Space Center cuts ribbon on SpaceX Raptor rocket testing facility
Warren Kulo – The Pascagoula Mississippi Press
The engines which propelled Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins to the moon on Apollo XI were tested at Stennis Space Center in Hancock County.
One day, Stennis may also test the engines which take man to Mars.
At least that's the hope of Stennis, SpaceX and other officials who gathered to cut the ribbon Monday afternoon on the SpaceX rocket testing program at the NASA facility.
SpaceX will conduct initial testing of its Raptor methane rocket at Stennis.
Calling space an "unforgiving business," Stennis Director Rick Gilbrech said SpaceX was a welcome addition to NASA's growing commercial spaceflight contracts.
"We've been in the commercial market for a decade now and we're pleased to welcome SpaceX here," Gilbrech said.
Gilbrech was joined for the ceremony by SpaceX President/COO Gywnne Shotwell, U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran, Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant and U.S. Rep. Steven Palazzo.
The SpaceX Raptor engine program represents the latest in propulsion technology and will produce the largest methane/LOX engines in U.S. history. Raptor engine components will be tested at the E-2 test stand at Stennis, which SpaceX upgraded with methane capability under an agreement with NASA.
The stand is now one of the most sophisticated high-pressure testing facilities in the world and capable of supporting testing by a wide variety of users. It will remain the property of Stennis.
Shotwell said her company has been "aggressive" in its approach to manned space flight and eventual manned flights to Mars. She said she hopes to see major strides in that direction over the "next 13-15 years."
She also said some 15-20 people will work on the Raptor testing at Stennis, but hopes to grow that number as testing expands.
Palazzo noted the U.S. is currently paying Russia some $70 million per flight to take an American to the International Space Station.
"If we are serious about once again launching American astronauts on American rockets from American soil, we need to focus on NASA's budget," Palazzo said.
Cochran called Stennis a "unique national asset" because of its partnerships between the public and private sector and praised SpaceX for its work.
"It's exciting to see an American company help lead the way in space exploration," Cochran said.
Last Friday, as a SpaceX rocket was launched to bring cargo to the ISS, another Falcon 9 rocket was launched, hovered and landed safely as part of SpaceX testing of "reusable" rockets.
Bryant said he watched the launch on television and thought "This is the future."
Man may one day travel to Mars, Bryant said, "but they're going to have to pass through Hancock County to get there."
Launch unlocks manifest for Orbcomm, AsiaSat
Stephen Clark – Spaceflight Now
Friday's liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket cleared a bottleneck in SpaceX's Florida launch schedule that forced two commercial customers, Orbcomm and AsiaSat, to keep their completed satellites at their factories to wait out launch delays.
SpaceX founder and CEO Elon Musk said Friday the Hawthorne, Calif.-based company still expected to launch 10 Falcon 9 rockets this year despite the delays.
With the Jan. 6 liftoff of the Thaicom 6 telecom satellite and Friday's launch of a Falcon 9 rocket with SpaceX's Dragon cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station, eight more missions are on the Falcon 9 manifest this year.
Four of the launches are booked by New Jersey-based Orbcomm and AsiaSat of Hong Kong.
Not all of the delays leading up to Friday's launch were the fault of SpaceX, which found itself at the mercy of the U.S. Air Force's Eastern Range and the often-tricky scheduling of operations involving the International Space Station.
SpaceX did push back the space station resupply launch twice itself in recent weeks because of concerns over contamination in the Dragon supply ship's cargo-carrying trunk and a faulty helium valve that scrubbed an April 14 launch attempt.
The six Orbcomm satellites scheduled to launch on SpaceX's next mission completed testing and were ready to be transported to Cape Canaveral several weeks ago but had to be held at their Sierra Nevada Corp. factory until SpaceX was ready to receive them, officials said.
Orbcomm says it now expects the launch to be between May 17 and May 25.
Next in line on SpaceX's launch manifest are AsiaSat 8 and AsiaSat 6. Both satellites passed were declared ready for shipment to Cape Canaveral in early March at Space Systems/Loral, the spacecraft's manufacturer based in Palo Alto, Calif.
AsiaSat 8 and AsiaSat 6 each passed a "pre-ship review" in early March, a milestone marking the completion of manufacturing and testing of a satellite before shipment to the launch site, according to Roger Tong, AsiaSat's vice president of engineering and operations.
But AsiaSat 8 will have to wait until a launch opportunity in late June, at the earliest, followed a month later by AsiaSat 6, assuming no difficulties preparing any of the upcoming missions for launch.
AsiaSat 8 carries Ku-band and Ka-band transponders to support direct-to-home television broadcasts, private networks and broadband services over the Middle East, Europe and Asia. AsiaSat 6's C-band communications payload will beam video programming and broadband connectivity to customers in Asia, Australia and the Pacific islands.
Both AsiaSat satellites will be injected by the Falcon 9 rocket into geostationary transfer orbit, a high-altitude, egg-shaped parking orbit for spacecraft heading to operating positions 22,300 miles over the equator. Orbcomm's OG2 satellite constellation will be placed in low Earth orbit.
Orbcomm was the first commercial satellite operator to sign up for launches with SpaceX. The company, which specializes in machine-to-machine communications and tracking services, initially booked the launch of its second-generation, or OG2, satellite constellation on SpaceX's small Falcon 1 rocket.
But the lightweight launcher was phased out by SpaceX, and Orbcomm's satellites switched to flights of clusters of satellites on the larger Falcon 9 booster under a $42.6 million contract for two Falcon 9 missions.
The second-generation OG2 satellites will improve Orbcomm's messaging service with faster transmission speeds and increased throughput. The satellites will operate in orbit at an altitude of about 750 kilometers, or 466 miles.
The first four OG2 satellites arrived at SpaceX's Cape Canaveral launch site Monday, according to Orbcomm CEO Marc Eisenburg. Two more satellites are due to arrive in Florida later this week after shipment via truck from Sierra Nevada's manufacturing plant in Louisville, Colo.
Each spacecraft weighs 380 pounds fueled for liftoff and measures about the size of a mini-refrigerator. Once in orbit, the satellites will extend its power-generating solar panel and antenna to a span of 42 feet tip-to-tip.
Emily Shanklin, a SpaceX spokesperson, said the first and second stages of the Falcon 9 rocket assigned to the Orbcomm mission are at the Cape Canaveral launch site to begin final preparations.
The rocket will be assembled and the satellite filled with propellant inside SpaceX's hangar, which sits on the southern edge of Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad.
Friday's launch of the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft cleared room to move the Orbcomm launcher and satellites into the facility.
SpaceX officials have said a steady cadence of launches this year will be critical to proving the company can launch customers' satellites on schedule. That poses production and processing challenges at SpaceX's headquarters and factory in California, the rocket test facility in Central Texas, and the launch site in Florida.
"We think we can probably still do 10 [launches], but it's a bit too early to tell if all 10 will occur this year," Musk said Friday. "The main constraint is actually on vehicle production, and it all boils down to this one particular part, which is an injector casting, and we think we've resolved that particular issue, which should unlock quite a high rate of booster production."
SpaceX needs to achieve about one Falcon 9 launch per month to pull off 10 flights this year, replicating a one-month turnaround SpaceX demonstrated between two Falcon 9 missions in early December and early January with the SES 8 and Thaicom 6 television broadcasting satellites.
"I think we've demonstrated that we can do 30-day turnarounds," said Barry Matsumori, SpaceX's vice president of commercial sales, in March. "It is going to be our challenge this year to execute on that manifest, and reliably fly that manifest ... What it comes down to is pad turnaround and getting the vehicles processed. That's where we have to show and demonstrate that we can do it."
The growth of public-private partnerships in commercial space ventures
Anthony Young – The Space Review
On March 25, NASA announced its Collaboration for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC) initiative. In making this announcement, William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations said, "The growing US commercial spaceflight industry is opening low Earth orbit in ways that will improve lives on Earth, drive economic growth, and power 21st Century innovations. As NASA again pioneers a path into deep space, we look forward to sharing our 50 years of spaceflight experience and fostering partnerships in ways that benefit our nation's ambitious spaceflight goals."
Gerstenmaier is putting the best face is a less than ideal situation. The debate in Congress to restore Administration-requested funding levels to NASA's Commercial Crew program is indicative of the fiscal problems the agency is facing now and will continue to face in the years ahead. NASA is looking for practical ways in partnering with private commercial businesses in a concerted effort to achieve its desired goals.
This public-private commercial push by NASA has been underway since the establishment of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program in 2006. This program, and its subsequent initiatives, has now led to commercial resupply of essential cargo, research experiments, and other payloads delivered to the ISS by SpaceX and Orbital Sciences. Commercial Crew grew out of that initiative as well, and this will eventually lead to the United States finally returning to human spaceflight in getting astronauts to the orbiting space station from American soil.
However, unlike COTS and the subsequent initiatives, CCSC will not provide financial awards to participating commercial partners. This initiative will make use of unfunded Space Act Agreements (SAAs), where there is no monetary incentive to those firms choosing to participate. NASA's Lunar CATALYST, which I briefly described here two months ago (see "Why not return to the Moon? (part 2)", The Space Review, February 10, 2014) is another such unfunded initiative: the goal is to have private firms partner with NASA and, specifically, its various centers to design and develop landers for commercial lunar ventures.
On March 31, NASA issued its formal announcement of Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (No. NASA-CCSC-01). The stated objective of the CCSC initiative is a surprising model of government agency clarity:
"The objective of the Collaborations for Commercial Space Capabilities (CCSC) Agreements is to advance private sector development of integrated space capabilities so that the emerging products or services are commercially available to government and non-government customers within approximately the next five years."
To put it in pragmatic terms, NASA wants to make available its facilities, its personnel's technical expertise (as time permits), the experience achieved from over half a century of spaceflight, and offer a vast storehouse of "lessons learned" to private firms in exchange for the entrepreneurial creativity and money to develop new ways of accessing and profiting from space that can also help NASA achieve its human spaceflight missions beyond low-Earth orbit.
Private firms choosing to participate in CCSC must deliver their Proposal Executive Summaries by today. NASA will evaluate these brief documents and select the ones it chooses to receive a full proposal. The winning proposals will result in a signed SAA between NASA and the winning firms.
Two examples of the NASA-commercial partner hybrid
These initiatives are just a part of the increased effort by NASA to lure commercial partners in the post-shuttle era. The agency is also looking to make available facilities at its various centers around the United States, particularly at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).
NASA has been reconfiguring the launch complex in preparation of the Space Launch System era, but the anticipated frequency—or infrequency—of launches will leave much of the launch complex inactive for many months at a time. It is for this and other reasons NASA has chosen to provide space within the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) and other facilities for potential future commercial customers, their launch vehicles and their spacecraft.
KSC's Ground Systems Development and Operations (GDSO) program is, according to a NASA document, "…preparing infrastructure to support several different kinds of spacecraft and rockets that are in development. Products and systems devised at Kennedy could be used at other launch sites as well." For example, the Air Force's X-37B will now use KSC as a base of operations.
The three primary operational aspects at KSC will focus on horizontal launch and landing capabilities, vertical launch capabilities, and spacecraft processing capabilities. The horizontal launch and landing capabilities are specifically directed primarily to commercial possibilities. Significantly, the GSDO monthly newsletter cover depicts proposed Stratolaunch Systems spacecraft and facilities near the former shuttle landing strip.
However, the current focus of Stratolauch Systems, headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, is actually in Mojave, California, where the company has an 8,200-square-meter fabrication facility and a massive hangar of more than 9,560 square meters to assemble and test the carrier aircraft. The use of KSC makes sense to the company, though, for the processing of the Orbital Sciences multi-stage booster and its payload prior to mating to the carrier aircraft and later takeoff from the shuttle landing strip.
The most active privately-held commercial company operating to low Earth orbit—read the International Space Station—is SpaceX. May will mark the second anniversary of the first docking of the Dragon capsule with the ISS. On Friday, April 18, a SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 sucecssfully launched the third in a series of twelve Dragon cargo missions to the station, carrying a payload of nearly 2,100 kilograms of supplies and materials to support more than 150 science investigations; that Dragon berthed with the station on Sunday. SpaceX is still in the operational development phase of its reusable version 1.1 booster as part of its plan to further reduce the cost of commercial access to space.
SpaceX has impressive capabilities for its forthcoming Falcon Heavy launch vehicle. On April 14, SpaceX signed a 20-year lease with NASA for the operation and maintenance of Launch Complex 39A, or LC-39A, at KSC. LC-39A will be reconfigured to launch the Falcon Heavy. At a press announcement at the famed launch complex, Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX, said, "With nearly 50 missions on manifest, SpaceX will maximize the use of pad 39A to the benefit of both the commercial launch industry as well as the American taxpayer."
"Kennedy Space Center is excited to welcome SpaceX to our growing list of partners," Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana said. "As we continue to reconfigure and repurpose these tremendous facilities, it is gratifying to see our plan for a multi-user spaceport shared by government and commercial partners coming to fruition."
Private commercial space ventures expand
On March 14, Space Florida signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Swiss Space Systems (S3). For many reading the news announcement here in Florida, it was the first time they had heard of the company. S3, headquartered in Payerne, Switzerland, southwest of Berne, is pursuing ambitious and multifaceted commercial space goals.
At the same time of the signing, S3 established a new subsidiary, S3 USA Operations, Inc. In October of last year, the company signed a similar MOU with Spaceport Colorado. The company plans us use the facilities at KSC and Spaceport Colorado as two primary locations for its commercial suborbital business in the United States.
S3 is pursuing a multi-pronged approach to its commercial space vision. Best known is the company's plans to design and develop a shuttle-like vehicle launched from the back of an Airbus A300 at an altitude of 10,000 meters. The powered spacecraft is being derived from the former European Hermes spacecraft program and X-38.
Once launched, the spacecraft will fire its engine to take it to an altitude of 80 kilometers. The cargo bay will open, the payload launcher will be elevated, and a conventional upper stage will ignite to take the payload to orbit. The Airbus and spacecraft will then return to their landing site.
Beyond launching small satellites, the company would also like to configure the shuttle to carry passengers in an effort to compete with Virgin Galactic in the space tourism market. S3 has a dozen partners including Dassault, ThalesAlenia Space, and ESA. It should surprise no one that Breitling watches is a principal sponsor.
In February, Richard Branson spoke at the United Arab Emirates Government Summit on his plans and progress for Virgin Galactic. The company plans eventually to build a spaceport in the UAE, where there will be no shortage of eager and wealthy passengers to ride aboard the company's SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle and have bragging rights to say they are now astronauts.
Things are taking longer than expected for Virgin Galactic here in the United States. CEO George Whitesides told Aviation Week & Space Technology last August, "It's sort of like we've been working on this for so long in the space community that it always seems like it's in the future. But we're really almost there, where people will be able to buy a ticket and go down to Spaceport America, get their week of training, and… have your 'Right Stuff' moment." Each passenger will pay $250,000 to experience that "moment."
At the UAE summit, Branson expressed his optimism and concern for the timing of the first launch of SpaceShipTwo with its first group of passengers. He said: "If myself and my family are not in space by the end of the year, I would be very, very worried."
Branson also has other plans for the carrier craft, WhiteKnightTwo. The company is entering the small commercial satellite payload market by developing the LauncherOne rocket. WhiteKnightTwo will carry LauncherOne to 15,000 meters and then release it. Using rocket engines developed in-house at Virgin Galactic, LauncherOne will be capable of placing satellite payloads of up to 225 kilograms into orbit. Branson argues that small satellites today are much more powerful and capable, and the lower cost of this launch service will make it appealing to not only small companies, but even universities and other organizations. The first commercial satellite launches using LauncherOne are scheduled to begin in 2016.
The mandatory public partner in commercial space
Overseeing all commercial launch activity in the United States is the Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation, or FAA/AST. It licenses and regulates all United States commercial space launch and reentry activity. However, the agency has not yet drafted safety regulations with respect to commercial human spaceflight. It is the proverbial "chicken or the egg" situation where FAA/AST must see how this nascent business of going to operate as well as how the aircraft and spacecraft are certified for flight.
The Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC), an industry group that provides advice to the FAA, does not want to stunt the early years of corporate operation in this new and exciting arena. It wants an operational learning period in order to establish regulations based on real-world flight experience. There are many unanswered questions at this stage.
The annual commercial launch forecast published by FAA/AST predicts eight payload launches per year (nine in 2019) for Commercial Cargo and Crew Transportation to the ISS from 2015 through 2022. Commercial telecommunications launches will peak next year at 17 launches and decline somewhat through 2022 to ten launches. There are also commercial remote sensing and other commercially launched satellites projected over the next eight years totaling over 150 launches in the United States.
The emergence of air-launched human spaceflight and commercial satellite payloads represent new segments of the commercial market. New traditional vertically-launched vehicles are now and will soon come on the scene to join the reliable standbys Delta and Atlas. Our vocabulary of mythical and astrological names will expand to include Antares, Minotaur, Pegasus, Taurus, and other names as the commercial markets expand and adapt in a new era of spaceflight.
NASA names new Commercial Crew Program chief, replaces Mango
James Dean – Florida Today
Official NASA portrait of Kathryn Lueders.NASA has named Kathy Lueders manager of its Commercial Crew Program, which is led from Kennedy Space Center.
Lueders had been serving as the acting program manager since Ed Mango stepped down in October.
The program is within months of awarding contracts to companies to fly astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017.
"This is a particularly critical time for NASA's human spaceflight endeavors as the Commercial Crew Program enters into contract implementation," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human spaceflight programs, in a press release.
Lueders will be assigned to KSC. She previously worked for the ISS program at Johnson Space Center, including helping commercial cargo vehicles begin service to the station. She joined NASA in 1992 working on the shuttle program.
NASA wants you to take a #globalselfie for Earth Day
Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles Times
 A sign created by NASA's social media team to be used for #globalselfie this Earth Day. (NASA) |
This Earth Day NASA is asking citizens of the Earth to step outside and photograph themselves wherever on the planet they happen to be.
The space agency's celebration of the Earth and the people who live on it is called, appropriately, #globalselfie.
To participate all you need is a digital camera and a sign indicating which spot on our planet you happen to be standing on.
(Not feeling creative? NASA has a sign you can print out on its website. It reads, "Hi NASA! I'm on Earth Right Now @_______). Then, share your photo on your preferred social media site. If you use Twitter, Instagram or Google+, use the hashtag #GlobalSelfie.
Eventually, the agency plans to stitch all the individual self-made portraits together into a new mosaic image of our planet. The selfie-made image, and a video using the images, is to be released to the public in May.
"While NASA satellites constantly look at Earth from space, on Earth Day we're asking you to step outside and take a picture of yourself wherever you are on Earth," the agency wrote on its website. So, find a pretty spot on our planet, get out those cameras and say cheese!
END
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