We have a JSC length of service award ceremony today and Royce Forman from our Engineering Directorate Structural Engineering Division will be receiving a 55 year LOS award. Congratulations to him for his long service to the Agency and the Center.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Ask Your Burning Questions - April 10 All Hands
- NASA TV to Air Upcoming ISS Cargo Ship Activities
- Space Station Research Explorer
- Weekly Senior Staff Safety Message
- Think Before You Throw - Organizations/Social
- Out & Allied @ JSC ERG Meeting
- Environmental Brown Bag - Residential Solar Energy
- Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Today
- Starport's Spring Fest: Fun, Shopping, Crawfish - Jobs and Training
- RLLS Portal Training for April - Via WebEx - Community
- Blood Drive: April 16 and 17
- Urgent Need for Volunteers
- Special Olympics Needs Space Center Volunteers
- Co-ops and Interns Needed for Summer Mentorships |  |
| Headlines - Ask Your Burning Questions - April 10 All Hands
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden and JSC Director Ellen Ochoa will hold an all-hands event for JSC team members on Thursday, April 10, currently set for 10 to 11 a.m. in the Building 2S Teague Auditorium. Now is your chance! If there's a burning question you've been dying to ask, submit it for consideration in advance or during the All Hands to: JSC-Ask-The-Director@mail.nasa.gov Those unable to attend in person can watch the All Hands on RF Channel 2 or Omni 3 (45). JSC team members with wired computer network connections can view the All Hands using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 402. Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer 32bit on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: - For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website
- For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP)
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367, or visit the FAQ site. The event will also be recorded for playback the following Thursday, April 17, and Tuesday, April 21, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Event Date: Thursday, April 10, 2014 Event Start Time:10:00 AM Event End Time:11:00 AM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium
Add to Calendar
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - NASA TV to Air Upcoming ISS Cargo Ship Activities
NASA TV will air live the launch and docking of another to resupply the International Space Station (ISS) Wednesday, April 9. Tomorrow, April 9, the ISS Progress 55 cargo craft will launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 10:26 a.m. CDT (9:26 p.m. in Baikonur) on an expedited six-hour journey to the orbital outpost. NASA TV coverage of the launch will begin at 10:15 a.m. Later that day, the incoming cargo craft, loaded with almost 3 tons of food, fuel and supplies for the space station crew, will dock to Pirs at 4:20 p.m. NASA TV coverage of docking will begin at 3:45 p.m. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: - For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website
- For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP)
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367 or visit the FAQ site. Event Date: Wednesday, April 9, 2014 Event Start Time:10:15 AM Event End Time:4:30 PM
Event Location: JSC EZTV IP Network TV
Add to Calendar
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 http://www.nasa.gov/station
[top] - Space Station Research Explorer
Want to beta test the NEW International Space Station (ISS) Research Explorer iPad app? The ISS Research Explorer app was developed by the ISS Program Science Office and the Integrated Graphics Operations and Analysis Lab. This app allows users to discover the research being done on ISS, explore the research modules, learn about the effects of microgravity and enjoy an interactive animation about salmonella research. Your kids will like the target game in the Columbus module! This unique app is currently in the beta testing phase, and feedback is needed before it goes live to the public. - Weekly Senior Staff Safety Message
This week's topic: Spring Peak of Lost Workday Cases - Think Before You Throw
Did you know that one of the agency's goals is to divert 50 percent of waste from landfills? Recycling bottles, cans, paper and cardboard is one of the best ways to help us reach this goal. Disposing of these items properly not only helps to save money and protect the surrounding environment, but it also helps reduce energy consumption. Purchasing goods made from recycled materials, finding ways to reuse old items and placing trash in the correct recycling containers are all great ways you can make a difference. Organizations/Social - Out & Allied @ JSC ERG Meeting
All JSC team members (government, contractor, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender [LGBT] and non-LGBT allies) are invited to the Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group (ERG) monthly meeting tomorrow, April 9, from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 1, Room 320. The Out & Allied @ JSC team consists of LGBT employees and their allies (supporters). This month, we'll be planning for June Pride month activities. Please join us to help, meet others and network! For more information about our group, including how to become involved, contact any listed Out & Allied member on our SharePoint site. - Environmental Brown Bag – Residential Solar Energy
Solar PV installation is increasing at an exponential rate, with more than 75 percent of total solar installed in the United States having been added in the past 18 months. One third of new electric capacity in the country in 2013 was solar, and homeowners are now looking into solar for its financial benefits more so than its environmental benefits. What's changing? Join us today, April 8, to learn about past and expected trends in solar technology and the resulting effects on solar economics. The presentation will include a case study for recent solar installation on a home in Austin, Texas, and review the design factors that affect cost, aesthetics, safety, quality and energy production. We meet in Building 45, Room 751, from noon to 1 p.m. - Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Today
"Easy does it" reminds Al-Anon members to spring into action gradually, with ease. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who work or live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet today, April 8, in Building 32, Room 135 *room change*, from noon to 12:45 p.m. Visitors are welcome. - Starport's Spring Fest: Fun, Shopping, Crawfish
On April 19, Starport will have one big spring event at the Gilruth Center. Bring the kiddos out for our Children's Spring Fling, complete with a bounce house, face painting, petting zoo, Easter-egg hunt and hot dog lunch! Tickets for kids ages 18 months to 12 years are on sale in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops, Gilruth Center and online. Tickets are $8 each through April 11, or $10 the day of. Be sure to do some shopping at our outdoor flea market for some hidden treasures and great finds! Then visit our indoor craft fair for homemade crafts and goodies. And, enjoy some tasty mudbugs at our crawfish boil. The cost is $7 per pound with corn and potatoes. Hot dogs, chips and drinks will also be available. A nine-hole disc-golf course will also be set up and available for play for free. More information can be found here. Jobs and Training - RLLS Portal Training for April - Via WebEx
The April Monthly RLLS Portal Education Series - via WebEx sessions: - April 9 at 2 p.m. CDT, Interpretation Support Module Training
- April 10 at 2 p.m. CDT, International Space Station Russia Travel Module Training
- April 23 at 2 p.m. CDT, Flight Arrival Departure Training
- April 24 at 2 p.m. CDT, Telecon Support Training
These 30-minute training sessions are computer-based WebEx sessions, offering individuals the convenience to join from their own workstation. The training will cover the following: - System login
- Locating support modules
- Locating downloadable instructions
- Creating support requests
- Submittal requirements
- Submitting on behalf of another
- Adding attachments
- Selecting special requirements
- Submitting a request
- Status of a request
Ending each session are opportunities for Q&A. Please remember that TTI will no longer accept requests for U.S.-performed services unless they are submitted through the RLLS Portal. Email or call 281-335-8565 to sign up. Community - Blood Drive: April 16 and 17
There is no substitute for blood. It has to come from one person in order to give it to another. Will there be blood available when you or your family needs it? A regular number of voluntary donations are needed every day to meet the needs for blood. Make the "Commitment to Life" by taking one hour of your time to donate blood. Your blood donation can help as many as three patients. You can donate at one of the following locations: - Teague Auditorium lobby - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Building 11 Starport Café donor coach - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Gilruth Center donor coach - Noon to 4 p.m. (Thursday only)
The criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website. T-shirts, snacks and drinks are available for all donors. - Urgent Need for Volunteers
Could you spare a few hours tomorrow, April 9, to volunteer as a science fair judge? St. Mary's Elementary School has 80 projects that really deserve some consideration. The projects were developed by young scientists from Kindergarten to 5th grade. Judging will be from 8 to 11 a.m., but any amount of time you can spend would be very helpful. Sign up for this event on the V-CORPs calendar. While you're on the calendar, check out the following events in V-CORPs: Archdiocese-Wide Elementary School Science Fair Judges Date: April 24 Time: 8 a.m. to noon Where: St Mary's Elementary School What: This is the district-wide level of the science fair, which will engage elementary students from multiple schools. About 120 projects are expected, so have your co-workers sign up, too! Texas Space Grant Consortium Engineering Design Challenge Project Judging Date: April 28 Time: 7:30 a.m. to noon Where: South Shore Harbor Resort and Conference Center What: Seeking people with a very strong technical background to judge poster displays, models and/or oral presentations by senior-level college students. These projects are part of the state-wide engineering design challenge. Bring your expertise in engineering, operations, space life sciences and more. Out of This World Summer Reading Program Date: June 25 Time: 6:30 to 8 p.m. Where: Kingwood - George and Cynthia Woods Mitchell Library What: Although this event isn't until June, the library would love to know they have someone from NASA coming. Inspire kids and their family members attending this year's science-themed literacy program by talking to them about NASA, space, The Right Stuff ... This is just a sample of opportunities available, so page through the V-CORPs calendar. - 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 are the largest track-and-field day for the area's special needs athletes, so come out and volunteer with your co-workers, friends and family. The games will take place Saturday, May 3, at Clear Creek High School track and field. Volunteer shifts are throughout the day on May 3, and 10 to 15 volunteers are needed Friday, May 2, to help with the 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 V-CORPs and then the Space Center Volunteers website. - Co-ops and Interns Needed for Summer Mentorships
Co-ops and interns can gain valuable leadership experience while sharing their NASA advice with the brightest high school students in Texas. Come celebrate the 15th anniversary of High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) as a student mentor. Lead your team in completing engineering design challenges during a simulated mission to Mars. Please volunteer for any week(s) (20 hours per week): 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. Submit a mentor application. 3. Review mentor responsibilities. 4. Please apply before April 11. | |
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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 8, 2014
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION: The first Instagram image is uploaded from space 21 hours ago! Featuring NASA's own Steve Swanson floating in the cupola of the ISS. Follow him at http://instagram.com/iss.
HEADLINES AND LEADS
When Boris Yeltsin went grocery shopping in Clear Lake
A few days ago on Houston's Reddit outpost, mention of late Russian president Boris Yeltsin's wide-eyed trip to a Clear Lake grocery store led to a trip to the Houston Chronicle archives, where a batch of photos of the leader were found.
Mikulski: NASA's 2015 Budget Will Be No Worse than Flat
Dan Leone – Space News
Although the White House has proposed cutting NASA's 2015 budget by $185 million, the U.S. space agency won't lose a single dollar next year if the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee gets her way.
For Space Projects, Zero Gravity
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
Opportunity, NASA's resilient rover, just keeps rolling across Mars even though it landed a decade ago. It has survived mechanical malfunctions, computer glitches, tricky sand traps, ferocious dust storms and long, frigid Martian winters.
NASA Suspends Most of its Non-ISS Cooperation with Russia
Jeff Foust – Space News
NASA announced April 2 that it is suspending "the majority" of its cooperative activities with Russia, excluding the international space station. But what exactly the ban covers, and how it originated, was still not clear by press time April 4.
Ripples From Crimea In Space: U.S. Seeks To End Reliance On Russian Engines For Satellite Launches
Loren Thompson - Forbes
In the four decades since Americans last walked on the Moon, U.S. leadership in space has been gradually ebbing away. The Space Shuttle program begun in 1972 (the same year as the last Apollo mission) proved the feasibility of reusable, man-rated launch vehicles, but it sucked all the money out of research on alternatives and proved too costly for routine launch of satellites. After the Challenger disaster in 1986 the Reagan Administration decided to operate a mixed fleet that included both the shuttle and expendable (single-use) launch vehicles, but later administrations did little to advance the state of the art in launch technology.
NASA Mulls Ethics of Sending Astronauts on Long Space Voyages
NASA should set up a clear set of ethical rules regarding the health of astronauts on long-duration spaceflights — such as a trip to Mars — in the near future, according to a panel of health and ethics experts.
Bay Area (TX) Citizen
A community converged on bare land at 2145 W. NASA Blvd. to officially break ground where a stadium complex will stand tall by fall 2015.
Why there are no fish on Saturn's moon Enceladus
Joel Achenbach – The Washington Post
The solar system is full of desert worlds, ice worlds, gaseous worlds and forbidding hunks of rock, but lately it's been looking a bit wetter and potentially more congenial to life beyond our own water world. The Cassini spacecraft, which has been exploring the Saturn system for a decade, has provided data suggesting that there's a Lake Superior-size sea below the icy crust of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
ESA unlike NASA to continue space cooperation with Russia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) has no intentions at all of reviewing its space cooperation with Russia, despite the latter's merger with Crimea and NASA's recent announcement of pulling out from joint projects with Moscow, SpaceNews.com weekly reported referring to ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain. Russian Astronaut Misurkin Dreams of Going to the Moon, Mars
RIA Novosti
A Russian astronaut Alexander Misurkin thinks humankind should not stop at the exploration of near-Earth space but rather go further in the universe, the explorer told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
COMPLETE STORIES
When Boris Yeltsin went grocery shopping in Clear Lake
A few days ago on Houston's Reddit outpost, mention of late Russian president Boris Yeltsin's wide-eyed trip to a Clear Lake grocery store led to a trip to the Houston Chronicle archives, where a batch of photos of the leader were found.
It was September 1989 and Yeltsin, then newly elected to the new Soviet parliament and the Supreme Soviet, had just visited Johnson Space Center.
At JSC, Yeltsin visited mission control and a mock-up of a space station. According to Houston Chronicle reporter Stefanie Asin, it wasn't all the screens, dials, and wonder at NASA that blew up his skirt, it was the unscheduled trip inside a nearby Randall's location.
Yeltsin, then 58, "roamed the aisles of Randall's nodding his head in amazement," wrote Asin. He told his fellow Russians in his entourage that if their people, who often must wait in line for most goods, saw the conditions of U.S. supermarkets, "there would be a revolution."
Shoppers and employees stopped him to shake his hand and say hello. In 1989, not everyone was carrying a phone and camera in their pocket so Yeltsin "selfies" weren't a thing yet.
Yeltsin asked customers about what they were buying and how much it cost, later asking the store manager if one needed a special education to manage a store. In the Chronicle photos, you can see him marveling at the produce section, the fresh fish market, and the checkout counter. He looked especially excited about frozen pudding pops.
"Even the Politburo doesn't have this choice. Not even Mr. Gorbachev," he said.
The fact that stores like these were on nearly every street corner in America amazed him. They even offered free cheese samples. According to Asin, Yeltsin didn't leave empty-handed, as he was given a small bag of goodies to enjoy on his trip.
About a year after the Russian leader left office, a Yeltsin biographer later wrote that on the plane ride to Yeltsin's next destination, Miami, he was despondent. He couldn't stop thinking about the plentiful food at the grocery store and what his countrymen had to subsist on in Russia.
In Yeltsin's own autobiography, he wrote about the experience at Randall's, which shattered his view of communism, according to pundits. Two years later, he left the Communist Party and began making reforms to turn the economic tide in Russia. You can blame those frozen Jell-O Pudding pops.
"When I saw those shelves crammed with hundreds, thousands of cans, cartons and goods of every possible sort, for the first time I felt quite frankly sick with despair for the Soviet people," Yeltsin wrote. "That such a potentially super-rich country as ours has been brought to a state of such poverty! It is terrible to think of it."
Yeltsin died in 2007 at the age of 76. The Randall's he visited, just off El Dorado Boulevard and Highway 3, is now a Food Town location.
Mikulski: NASA's 2015 Budget Will Be No Worse than Flat
Dan Leone – Space News
Although the White House has proposed cutting NASA's 2015 budget by $185 million, the U.S. space agency won't lose a single dollar next year if the head of the Senate Appropriations Committee gets her way.
"My goal for NASA is to make sure we're at least at the 2014 level," Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) told the Maryland Space Business Roundtable during an April 7 luncheon here. "And if we can find more money I will take you above that. We're not going to go backward."
The search for extra NASA funding is "a work in progress," Mikulski told SpaceNews after the speech. She acknowledged that there might be no additional money found for NASA.
The public may get an update on the search May 1 when NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is scheduled to testify about the agency's 2015 budget request before the Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, science committee, which Mikulski also chairs.
House appropriators will get first crack at Bolden. The House Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee is holding a hearing April 8 to review NASA's 2015 budget proposal.
The White House is seeking $17.5 billion for NASA in 2015, roughly $185 million less than what the agency is getting this year under an omnibus spending bill signed in January. About 40 percent of the proposed reduction would come from canceling the Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA), a telescope-equipped 747SP jetliner the White House wants NASA to mothball after this year.
Mikulski said the White House 2015 request was "well intentioned, but I regard it as advisory." Asked whether she would follow the administration's advice to cancel SOFIA, Mikulski was noncommittal.
"We're doing our diligence," Mikulski told SpaceNews.
Mikulski, a fierce advocate for the Goddard Space Flight Center, also made what is for her a routine pitch about protecting the Greenbelt, Md.-based center's signature programs, notably the James Webb Space Telescope. The $8 billion observatory, which is slated to launch in 2018 aboard Europe's Ariane 5 rocket, is in its peak development year. NASA is spending $658.2 million on the telescope in 2014 and has requested $645.4 million for 2015. These are the spending levels the White House and Congress agreed to in 2012, when NASA completed a new plan for the overbudget project.
Meanwhile, Mikulski said she was pleased with the $5.5 billion budget the White House requested for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, nearly half of which would go toward the agency's weather satellite programs.
"We are going to make sure we get behind the president's NOAA budget," Mikulski said. "He was more generous with NOAA than NASA, but I believe in balance, as you know."
The White House's 2015 request for NOAA is about $175 million above the 2014 appropriation.
For Space Projects, Zero Gravity
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
Opportunity, NASA's resilient rover, just keeps rolling across Mars even though it landed a decade ago. It has survived mechanical malfunctions, computer glitches, tricky sand traps, ferocious dust storms and long, frigid Martian winters.
But maybe not the budget ax.
The Obama administration's baseline budget proposal for the fiscal year 2015 has an ominously low number for Opportunity: $0. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, now circling the moon, also crashes to zero in the budget proposal.
This spring, they and five other long-lived robotic missions are up for what the space agency calls a "senior review" to ensure that they are still producing enough science to justify the cost of continued operations. Proposals are due on Friday, with decisions coming in June.
But planetary scientists are asking whether the budget numbers suggest that NASA has already written off the two spacecraft. The other five missions are the Mars Curiosity rover, two Mars orbiters, NASA's contribution to the European Space Agency's Mars Express mission, and Cassini, which is orbiting Saturn.
"To see Opportunity zeroed was a bit shocking and surprising," said Steven W. Ruff, a research professor at Arizona State University and a member of the rover's science team, "and it contradicted my understanding of what this senior review process was supposed to be about."
NASA officials have been insisting to scientists that they have not come to any conclusions, saying that they had to fill in tentative budget numbers before the senior review.
"If Opportunity is on top or L.R.O. is on top, they will be funded," James L. Green, director of NASA's planetary science division, said at the Lunar and Planetary Science Conference outside Houston last month. "We'll reprogram as necessary to be able to cover these missions."
The White House also put forth a $52 billion supplemental spending proposal that included $35 million for NASA's planetary missions, enough to sustain Opportunity and the moon orbiter. But the money would come in large part from eliminating some tax breaks for the wealthy, and House Republicans have been cool to the idea.
At the Houston conference, Dr. Ruff asked why Opportunity had been shunted to the supplementary proposal.
"What mission would you like me to put there?" Dr. Green replied.
"Something other," Dr. Ruff said, to laughter.
Dr. Green urged the scientists to put aside their budget worries. "I would love for the community not to worry about where the money is, and how they're going to get it, because they need to write a proposal to get it," he said.
But financial constraints raise the uncomfortable possibility that one or two missions will fall short even if all seven teams make compelling cases. "I would be surprised if any of the missions were ranked very low in science," said Casey Dreier, director of advocacy for the Planetary Society, a nonprofit organization that promotes space exploration.
Last year Opportunity cost $13.2 million to operate and the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter $8.1 million.
For each of the past three years, the administration has proposed deep cuts in planetary science and Congress has restored some of the money. For the 2015 fiscal year, which starts Nov. 1, the Obama administration is proposing $1.3 billion, more than in the last couple of years, but less than the $1.5 billion that this part of NASA received a few years ago.
"It's very discouraging that we have to go through this fight year after year," said Representative Adam B. Schiff, a California Democrat whose district includes NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which operates most of the robotic missions. Mr. Schiff wants a planetary science budget closer to $1.5 billion so NASA can also afford future robotic missions.
The tea leaves in the budget proposals can be misleading. Last year's proposal from the administration suggested that spending for the Cassini mission would end in 2015. This year, the money reappeared in the administration's budget, which describes Mars Curiosity and Cassini as "high-priority extended missions."
"I will bet that Opportunity finds a way to keep going," said Mr. Dreier of the Planetary Society.
NASA Suspends Most of its Non-ISS Cooperation with Russia
Jeff Foust – Space News
NASA announced April 2 that it is suspending "the majority" of its cooperative activities with Russia, excluding the international space station. But what exactly the ban covers, and how it originated, was still not clear by press time April 4.
"What's the status with station? It's the same as it was when I testified before Congress," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said April 3 at a joint meeting of the Space Studies Board and Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (SSB/ASEB) here. "The relationship between NASA and Roscosmos is good, it is healthy."
Bolden added that he had spoken to his counterpart, Roscosmos Director Oleg Ostapenko, just an hour earlier. "Right now, Mr. Ostapenko is just as concerned as I am that the politicians don't take things and spin them out of control," Bolden said. "There are as many people over in Moscow as we have here in Washington, D.C., who would see nothing better than to bring the [ISS] into the discussion on what's going on in Ukraine, and it should not be."
NASA's suspension of non-ISS Russian cooperation, which includes NASA travel to Russia, raised the question of whether NASA would be able to participate in the annual meeting of the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR) this August in Moscow. "I don't know" if COSPAR will be affected by the new policy, Bolden said, but he suggested that because it is an international meeting, it might be possible for NASA to still participate. "My advice is, if you're planning to go to COSPAR, plan to go to COSPAR," he said. "My instructions to my team is, unless I tell you otherwise, don't stop doing anything that you're doing."
Later at the SSB/ASEB, board members asked Richard DalBello of the Office of Science and Technology Policy about the ban and its implications. DalBello deferred to the official administration answer that was given by White House Press Secretary Jay Carney that afternoon, but offered his own "draft" insights.
"Agencies have been asked to look, on a case-by-case basis, at their interactions with Russia," he said, emphasizing that the ISS was exempted from the suspension in NASA-Russia space cooperation. "This is very much an evolving situation, and we're trying to be prudent about that." He added that press reports that NASA had "severed all ties with Russia" are "simply not correct."
Carney did not provide much additional detail. "In the case of NASA, there are some actions being taken, but obviously with the space station, in particular, that program and the engagement with Russia on that program continues."
The U.S. State Department said it did not direct NASA to stop cooperation with Russia. "I know there were some erroneous reports yesterday that the State Department had told them to do so," deputy spokeswoman Marie Harf said April 3. "As much as I would love to give direction to NASA, we don't do that."
Ripples From Crimea In Space: U.S. Seeks To End Reliance On Russian Engines For Satellite Launches
Loren Thompson - Forbes
In the four decades since Americans last walked on the Moon, U.S. leadership in space has been gradually ebbing away. The Space Shuttle program begun in 1972 (the same year as the last Apollo mission) proved the feasibility of reusable, man-rated launch vehicles, but it sucked all the money out of research on alternatives and proved too costly for routine launch of satellites. After the Challenger disaster in 1986 the Reagan Administration decided to operate a mixed fleet that included both the shuttle and expendable (single-use) launch vehicles, but later administrations did little to advance the state of the art in launch technology.
The stagnation of U.S. launch capabilities became clear when the Space Shuttle fleet retired in 2011 and America became dependent on Russian vehicles to lift its astronauts to the International Space Station. Even before that powerful signal of America's declining space prowess was broadcast to the world, though, the U.S. had begun relying on Russian rocket engines to boost its national-security satellites into orbit. Last year, a majority of U.S. medium and heavy launches reached orbit using Russian first-stage boosters.
This trend was already a national embarrassment before Russia annexed Crimea, but now it looks like a potential threat to national security. If Moscow were to stop exporting engines as it has occasionally hinted it might, the U.S. space program could be hobbled. America still builds the most intricate, capable military and civil satellites in the world, but without assured access to space that expertise isn't worth much. So how did the U.S. get into this position?
It basically comes down to three policy choices. First, during the 1990s U.S. policymakers approved the use of Russian engines in U.S. launch vehicles in the hope that by becoming a major customer, Washington could discourage Moscow from exporting booster technology to places like Iran and North Korea. Second, during the following decade the government competed the purchase of launch services in a manner that drove offerors to use low-cost, off-the-shelf technology — including Russian engines. Third, while all of this was going on, Washington did little to stimulate domestic development of new launch technologies; as a result, indigenous boosters today rely on gas-generator technology developed during the 1950s and 1960s, while Russia has mastered more efficient "oxygen-rich staged combustion" technology. Washington might have gone on subsidizing the Russian space industry indefinitely if Vladimir Putin had not decided to absorb Crimea. But now that faith in Moscow's good intentions has been obliterated, Congress is debating how to escape from dependence on Russian launch technology. The simple answer is to develop a modern U.S. rocket engine that can be used as the first stage in various launch vehicles. Many experts believe that could be accomplished in four years at a cost of about a billion dollars, since the principles of oxygen-rich staged combustion technology are well understood. The question is how to go about executing such a project, and what to do in the meantime to assure U.S. access to space. With regard to execution, spending a billion dollars over four years should not be a big challenge; even if the price-tag were to double (as space projects sometimes do), it would still only cost about five hours worth of federal spending at current rates. That's pretty cheap compared with the consequences if Russia stopped selling engines to the U.S. The engine type would undoubtedly be oxygen-kerosene — the same mix used by the Russians — since that facilitates construction of smaller, more reliable boosters that do not require cryogenic cooling (like hydrogen does). And of course the award would have to be competed. Most of this is a no-brainer.
The AR1 family of engines proposed by Aerojet Rocketdyne is a good example of the kind of engine tenchnology required. It is a clean-sheet oxygen-rich staged combustion design that is scalable for application to an array of launch vehicles such as the Lockheed Martin Atlas V, Orbital Sciences Antares, and SpaceX Falcon. Price and performance would match or surpass that of Russian alternatives while eliminating dependence on foreign providers. Aerojet says it could design and fabricate the first engine in 30 months, and then would need an additional 18 months to validate the engine's performance and assure its readiness for flight.
The issue of what to do while awaiting something like the AR1 is a more contentious issue. For nearly a decade the federal government has relied on a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture called United Launch Alliance (ULA) to get its satellites into orbit. The Atlas V launch vehicle ULA uses for many of its missions includes a Russian engine now at the center of the controversy over dependence on foreign providers. Whatever the drawbacks of such dependency, ULA has a flawless track record of 68 successful launches in 68 tries, and currently has a two-year supply of the Russian engines on hand with more deliveries planned this year. Simply abandoning use of the engines already delivered or in the pipeline because of the Crimea crisis makes little sense; it would hurt America more than Russia.
The available supply could be stretched by putting more national-security missions on ULA's Delta vehicles, which do not use a Russian first-stage engine. The Air Force is already planning a slowdown in launches due to budget constraints and the longevity of satellites currently in orbit, so even if Moscow were to cease exporting its engines, that would not create an immediate crisis for the space program. SpaceX, the most vigorous new entrant to the launch market, is arguing for early abandonment of the Russian engine and maximum competition in future government launches, but its interests are not necessarily coterminous with those of the military or the intelligence community.
As with past congressional debates of space policy, the controversy surrounding how the U.S. can reduce its reliance on Russian engine technology is likely to be driven by home-state politics. Past experience indicates it is naive to expect legislators can rise above such concerns, even when national security is at stake. However, it should not be hard in the aftermath of the Crimea crisis to build consensus around the need for a new rocket engine to power U.S. launch vehicles. After a dozen bold initiatives over four decades that yielded scant progress, the sorry state of U.S. launch capabilities is now too obvious for anyone in Washington to ignore. If America is to have a future in space, it has to begin with a domestic technology base for getting there.
NASA Mulls Ethics of Sending Astronauts on Long Space Voyages
NASA should set up a clear set of ethical rules regarding the health of astronauts on long-duration spaceflights — such as a trip to Mars — in the near future, according to a panel of health and ethics experts.
As it stands now, astronauts on a roundtrip mission to Mars would experience a level of radiation exposure that violate at least one of NASA's existing health limits, according to previous Mars mission studies. Such a trip to the Red Planet would expose astronauts to enough radiation to increase their lifetime risk of developing fatal cancer by more than 3 percent, a health limitation imposed by NASA.
While NASA should not relax its current health standards for long-duration space travel, the agency should consider developing ethics guidelines on when exceptions to those standards should be made for deep-space voyages, a report from the National Academy of Science's Institute of Medicine committee released on April 2.
Those exceptions could be vital for missions that send humans to Mars, an ultimate goal for NASA, or to send astronauts on ultra-long missions to the International Space Station. Currently, astronauts spend about six months on the space station. A NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut are due to fly a one-year trip to the station in 2015.
"From its inception, space exploration has pushed the boundaries [of human endurance] and risked the lives and health of astronauts," Jeffrey Kahn, chair of the IOM committee, said in a statement. "Determining where those boundaries lie and when to push the limits is complex. NASA will continue to face decisions as technologies improve, and longer and farther spaceflights become feasible. Our report builds upon NASA's work and compiles the ethics principles and decision-making framework that should be an integral part of discussions and decisions regarding health standards for long-duration and exploration spaceflight."
Some of the risks astronauts face during long-term spaceflights include vision impairment, heightened cancer risk due to radiation exposure and bone loss from the microgravity environment, the report said. There may also be risks that are "unforeseeable" before the mission begins, the report added.
The first step in this ethical framework should be deciding if a long-term space mission's value is worth the potential risk to the astronauts performing it. If a mission is considered "ethically acceptable," then NASA officials should develop a system for granting the exception. The IOM report does not comment on the value of specific missions.
According to results from NASA's Mars rover Curiosity, a 180-day flight to the Red Planet followed by a 600-day stay on Mars and a 180-day flight back to Earth would expose astronauts to about 1.01 sieverts (radiation units). Some researchers consider that level of radiation manageable, however, it would violate NASA's current standard that caps the excess cancer risk for a given astronaut at 3 percent.
These ethical principles should help guide mission decisions, according to a statement from the IOM. The principles from the IOM were detailed as follows in a statement:
- Avoid harm by preventing harm, exercising caution, and removing or mitigating harms that occur;
- Provide benefits to society;
- Seek a favorable and acceptable balance of risk of harm and potential for benefit;
- Respect autonomy by allowing individual astronauts to make voluntary decisions regarding participation in proposed missions;
- Ensure fair processes and provide equality of opportunity for mission participation and crew selection;
- Recognize fidelity and the individual sacrifices made for the benefit of society, as well as honor societal obligations in return, by offering health care and protection for astronauts during missions and over the course of their lifetimes.
"Astronauts put their lives and health at great risk for their country and humankind," Kahn said. "Our report builds on NASA's work and confirms the ethical imperative to protect astronauts' health, while fulfilling the agency's mission of exploration."
NASA should also inform astronauts of the known risks of a long-duration mission every step of the way — before launch, during the mission and after the astronauts return to Earth, IOM officials said in the report.
NASA funded the IOM report. You can obtain a copy of the full report, "Health Standards for Long-Duration and Exploration Spaceflight: Ethics Principles, Responsibilities and Decision Framework," here: http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=18576
Clear Creek ISD breaks ground for Challenger Columbia Stadium
Bay Area (TX) Citizen
A community converged on bare land at 2145 W. NASA Blvd. to officially break ground where a stadium complex will stand tall by fall 2015.
Members of the public, city mayors, NASA Johnson Space Center leadership, and CCISD students and staff gathered to 'turn the dirt' at the site of the future athletic and fine arts complex.
The District's second stadium is funded by the Bond 2013 program, which was approved by voters back in May 2013 to help accommodate for the continued fast growth of the Bay Area region and support the many athletics and fine arts activities of CCISD's five comprehensive high schools.
Adding to the significance of the day, several family members of the Challenger and Columbia crews, who perished on those fateful space shuttle missions, were also in attendance to break ground and see their loved ones' legacies honored. Family members present were Lorna Onizuka, whose husband, Ellison Onizuka, was a mission specialist on the Challenger mission; Cheryl McNair, whose husband, Ron McNair was also a mission specialist on Challenger; Evelyn Husband Thompson, whose husband Rick Husband was the Commander of Columbia; and
Sandy Anderson, whose husband Michael Anderson was the Payload Commander on Columbia.
"I hope it pleases you to know that this community has not only not forgotten your loved ones, but has chosen to meaningfully honor their memories in this way," said Dr. Greg Smith, CCISD Superintendent of Schools directly addressing the crew families who were seated before him. "In fact, it was this Bay Area community that overwhelmingly decided to name this complex in honor of your family members' courage, sacrifice and remarkable spirit. Our students of today and tomorrow will know their story and continued to be inspired by their legacy." Members of CCISD's Board of Trustees presented the families with a special commemorative shovel to mark the event.
The Clear Creek ISD Challenger Columbia Stadium features a collection of facilities that provide a venue for events, including athletic games and tournaments, graduation ceremonies, track and field competitions, fine arts exhibitions and more. The stadium will have a nearly 10,000 seat capacity, centralized field house including locker rooms, athletic offices, and a community area, as well as a multi-level press box with film deck and a state-of-the-art student-operated media and control room.
Why there are no fish on Saturn's moon Enceladus
Joel Achenbach – The Washington Post
The solar system is full of desert worlds, ice worlds, gaseous worlds and forbidding hunks of rock, but lately it's been looking a bit wetter and potentially more congenial to life beyond our own water world. The Cassini spacecraft, which has been exploring the Saturn system for a decade, has provided data suggesting that there's a Lake Superior-size sea below the icy crust of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
Cassini had already seen plumes of water vapor coming from the south pole of the moon. New data suggest that there's a reservoir of liquid water underneath roughly 20 miles or so of ice and on top of a rocky core.
Which raises obvious questions: Is there life in that cold, dark sea? Maybe even something as frisky as a fish?
You wouldn't want to bet the ranch, or even your aquarium, that there's any complex life-form there. Microbes are conceivable, though. Scientists offer a range of opinions about that possibility, while acknowledging that no one really knows anything about life beyond Earth. There are no known examples — "no data," in the words of the late scientist Stephen Jay Gould.
A quick roundup of reactions to the life-on-Enceladus question:
Luciano Iess, a professor of aerospace engineering at the University of Sapienza in Rome and the lead author of the new paper in Science that described the Enceladus sea, is not boosterish.
"Certainly to go from liquid water in contact with rock to life is a huge step," he said. "I really think there is no life on Enceladus." But he added, "It's impossible to exclude it. Even if it's very unlikely."
Mary Voytek, NASA's senior scientist for astrobiology, said she doesn't know if there's life there, "but I certainly hope so." She added, taking the broader view, "My personal opinion is there's water and organics pretty much everywhere. The possibility for habitable environments to have arisen is strong throughout the universe."
Carol Cleland, a University of Colorado professor of philosophy, said, "I think life formed so quickly on Earth that it's just not something that's rare. What's interesting and what's probably rare is multi-cellular organisms."
Jack Szostak, a professor of chemistry and chemical biology at Harvard (and a Nobel laureate), said of the Enceladus sea, "I'm sure there could be some interesting chemistry, but I think making the kind of high-energy carbon-nitrogen compounds that are probably needed, that seems difficult to me. . . . I think you need more energy."
Chris McKay, a NASA astrobiologist, believes that Enceladus has the key elements needed for life: water, energy, carbon and nitrogen. He said we shouldn't focus on the origin-of-life issue, and paraphrased the philosopher Wittgenstein. "That of which we know nothing we should pass over in silence. The origin of life we know nothing about. . . . I tend to focus on what's required for life to survive and grow. I don't know what's required for life to start."
Andrew Knoll, a professor of natural history at Harvard: "I would be very surprised if there were fish in Enceladus." He said you need water, energy, carbon, nitrogen, phosphorous, sulfur, iron, etc., for life as we know it.
But couldn't life on Enceladus be weird life — totally alien and bizarre?
He answered, "Games without rules have many possible outcomes."
We don't know how long the Enceladus sea has existed, but we do know that time is essential for the evolution of complex life. Life began very early on Earth, which has remained a habitable, and inhabited, planet for upward of 3.5 billion years. But the Cambrian explosion, when multi-cellular life appeared, was about 540 million years ago.
This leads one to assume, as Cleland does, that life is common but fish are rare. If you want to build a trilobite, or even a sea anemone or a jellyfish, much less an octopus or a dolphin or a blue whale, you need a lot of time.
Sure, the rules could be different out there in space. But remember what Gould said.
ESA unlike NASA to continue space cooperation with Russia
ITAR-TASS News Agency
The European Space Agency (ESA) has no intentions at all of reviewing its space cooperation with Russia, despite the latter's merger with Crimea and NASA's recent announcement of pulling out from joint projects with Moscow, SpaceNews.com weekly reported referring to ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain. Last week, the US space agency posted on its Twitter and Facebook accounts a statement announcing the suspension of cooperation with Russia in an apparent move of siding with Washington administration's sanctions in regard to Moscow over the situation in Ukraine.
NASA's statement on Facebook read in particular: "Given Russia's ongoing violation of Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity, NASA is suspending the majority of its ongoing engagements with the Russian Federation."
"Jean-Jacques Dordain, director-general of the 20-nation European Space Agency, said none of his governments - almost all members of NATO - nor anyone from the 28-nation European Union has suggested that Europe shut down any of its multiple space-policy arrangements with Russia," SpaceNews.com reported. "Unlike NASA, Europe has multiple programs with Russia." The weekly also added that a number of ESA "officials said the diplomatic tensions over Russia's moves in the Ukraine are like a choppy sea surface. Down below, where business is done, they said, things are continuing as usual." The American space agency announced, however, that it intended to continue cooperation with Russia on the maintenance of the International Space Station (ISS).
The Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol, a city with a special status on the Crimean Peninsula, where most residents are Russians, signed agreements with Russia to become its constituent members on March 18 after a referendum two days earlier in which most Crimeans voted to secede from Ukraine and join Russia. Crimea's merger with Russia drew an angry response from the West. The European Union jointly with the United States declared a set of sanctions against Russia.
NASA's decision to suspend the majority of space cooperation projects with Russia was accepted not only with bewilderment among Russian space experts, but also drew criticism inside the US space agency as well. American astronaut Ronald Garan, who was a member of an international crew aboard the ISS in 2011, wrote in particular in his Twitter account that during the crisis, the worst thing to do is to stop talking with each other. A number of Russian space experts remarked that the suspension of cooperation would be to the detriment of NASA itself.
Russian Astronaut Misurkin Dreams of Going to the Moon, Mars
RIA Novosti
A Russian astronaut Alexander Misurkin thinks humankind should not stop at the exploration of near-Earth space but rather go further in the universe, the explorer told RIA Novosti Tuesday.
"I think, we shouldn't limit ourselves to exploring the Earth's orbit. I, personally, would be interested in going to the outer space, exploring the asteroids, the Moon, and Mars. It's a natural development for me, we have no right to stop at the orbit of our planet," Misurkin said.
Misurkin was part of the international space station crew coming back to Earth in September 2013. The astronauts carried out 45 scientific research tasks in the 166 days they spent on board of the station. Misurkin and Fyodor Yurchikhin went into open space working there for 7,5 hours hitting record time for a Russian-made spacesuit.
"Coming back to the orbit is a logical development, because astronaut training is extremely expensive for just one flight," he said expressing his willingness to participate in another space expedition.
Misurkin thinks that US sanctions on Russia can deal a heavy blow to space cooperation.
"I am more than sure that great achievements in space require collaborative work, there is no alternative here. I really hope this doesn't happen and we continue cooperation all the while involving more and more countries in it," the astronaut said.
NASA's decision to suspend the majority of space cooperation projects with Russia in light of the geopolitical tensions around Ukraine was accepted not only with bewilderment among Russian space experts but also drew criticism inside the US space agency as well.
END
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