Happy Friday everyone – have a wonderful and safe weekend.
William 'Bill" Der Bing's daughter Diana has a special request for any of her father's NASA extended family planning to attend her father's service tomorrow at 11:30 in Webster:
"Larry, please advise others that for any NASA retiree attending, please look for anyone near the registry table with name badges that say Family Representative with red, white & blue star. Kindly ask them to tell the representative that they are a NASA retiree. Our family reps will have a list of our special groups and will escort special guests, such as NASA retirees, to our reserved seating on the family side of chapel. We expect a lot of guests, so it may get hectic. There may be no need to gather as retirees will be escorted to a reserved pew and they will see each other. Hope this works for the NASA group and your family members.
As you are aware, NASA years were the most memorable professional years of my father's life. Thank you for forwarding this message to those interested in attending from NASA.
Diana "
My big brother Bill Moon and Ed Jung will be there early to assist with seating as well. Please continue to keep Bill's family in your thoughts and prayers at this sad time of loss.
William Der Bing's more complete obit is pasted below for reference:
WILLIAM DER BING, SR
15MAY
William Der Bing, Sr passed away on May 8, 2014 at Clear Lake Hospital, Webster, Harris County, Texas, while holding the hand of his beloved wife of 67 years. He is also survived by his 3 children, an expectant daughter-in-law, 4 grandsons, his sister and brother.
He was born on Sept 29, 1922 in Norfolk, VA. His father owned a Chinese restaurant and married a tall, picture bride from the Big Island of Hawaii. They raised a family of 4 during the Great Depression. During WWII, Bill, Sr enlisted in the Navy and earned his Navy pilot wings. To further his education under the GI bill, he attended Sacramento College and then met and married his beloved wife, Eleanor. They raised 3 children. He returned to Virginia working for the U.S. Army as a civilian, while Eleanor worked for the Naval Supply Center.
In 1961, both Bill, Sr and Eleanor were recruited for positions at Lyndon B Johnson's new Space Task Group in Houston, TX. Bill, Sr served as a Public Affairs Officer with NASA for 25 years. He traveled the U.S. as a NASA spokesman and later was assigned to recovery ships on splashdowns in the Pacific Ocean. Notably, he was assigned as Deputy Chief of Special Events for Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 Presidential goodwill world tours. He flew on Air Force One with mission astronauts and their wives and paid respects in 34 countries to heads of state, including Queen Elizabeth, the Pope and the Shah of Iran. He continued in Public Affairs at the Johnson Space Center until his retirement in 1986.
His life long community affairs included organizing new toastmaster clubs, member of the Chinese Baptist Church for over 50 years, member of the American Legion Post 596 for 45 years, and past president of Chinese American regional and national organizations, serving Asian interests. He was a simple, honest man with a tremendous sense of wit and humor up to the day he died. Everyone who met him was sincerely touched by his life.
Memorial service for William Der Bing, Sr will be held on Saturday, May 17, 2014 at 11:30a.m., at the Crowder Funeral Home Chapel 111 E. Medical Center Blvd, Webster, Texas 77598, 281-280-9000.
In lieu of flowers, the Family requests a donation be made In Memory of William Der Bing, Sr, to the Chinese Baptist Church, 900 Brogden Rd, Houston, TX 77024.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- SpaceX Dragon Set for Return to Earth
- NASA MOVES - Agencywide Fitness Challenge - Organizations/Social
- Open House - Employee Assistance Program
- JSC HSI ERG Presentation and Monthly Meeting
- JSC Weight Watchers at Work Open House
- Improve Your Speaking Skills Today During Lunch - Jobs and Training
- JSC Imagery Online Training - May 22 - Community
- Final Reminder: Sign Up for Houston Pride Parade |  |
| Headlines - SpaceX Dragon Set for Return to Earth
NASA TV will provide live coverage of the departure of the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft from the International Space Station beginning at 8 a.m. CDT on Sunday, May 18. After leaving the space station, the capsule will splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, carrying more than 3,500 pounds of NASA science samples and cargo. Dragon is set to be detached from the Earth-facing side of the station's Harmony module and unberthed through commands sent by robotic ground controllers at mission control in Houston operating the Canadarm 2 robotic arm. Dragon then will be maneuvered into place for its release scheduled for approximately 8:26 a.m. Dragon will execute three thruster firings to move away from the station to a safe distance for its deorbit burn at 1:08 p.m. Dragon will splash down around 2:02 p.m. in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California. Neither the deorbit burn nor the splashdown will be broadcast on NASA TV. 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. Dragon is the only space station resupply spacecraft designed to return to Earth intact. Among the 3,563 pounds of return cargo are science samples from human research, biology and biotechnology studies, physical science investigations and education activities. The spacecraft also will return crew supplies, vehicle hardware and spacewalk equipment. Dragon was launched on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on April 18 on the company's third contracted commercial resupply mission to the station. Dragon arrived to the space station on April 20 with approximately 5,000 pounds of supplies aboard. - NASA MOVES - Agencywide Fitness Challenge
The NASA Office of the Chief Health and Medical Officer at NASA Headquarters is sponsoring a two-week, agencywide fitness competition called NASA MOVES! - Registration is NOW OPEN
- Challenge Starts: Sunday, May 18
- Ends: Saturday, May 31
All NASA employees (civil service, contract, temporary and part-time) are encouraged to join the JSC team. Registration Details - Access Code: JOHNSON
- CLICK HERE to register
- Select your "Membership" (JSC), access code (JOHNSON), and enter your name, gender, email and password
- Click "Create an Account"
This initiative is designed to get people moving, but it is also a competition between centers, and we want to win! The winning center will be calculated by taking their recorded steps divided by workforce population. That means we need everyone to sign up. Only at JSC: You will be entered to win one of 10 FitBits when you sign up! Organizations/Social - Open House - Employee Assistance Program
In observance of Mental Health Awareness Month, the JSC Employee Assistance Program is holding an Open House at our new location in Building 45, Suite 110J, today, May 16, from 1 to 4 p.m. Please come meet the staff, see our new offices, pick up information on a variety of mental health and wellness topics and enjoy light refreshments. - JSC HSI ERG Presentation and Monthly Meeting
The Human Systems Integration (HSI) Employee Resource Group (ERG) is proud to host Dr. Barrett Caldwell for a presentation and discussion on May 20 at 11:30 a.m. Caldwell is a professor of industrial engineering at Purdue University, where he directs the GROUPER Lab—a research lab focused on group information flow, knowledge-sharing and task coordination for applications on Earth and in space. Caldwell also leads the Indiana Space Grant Consortium, which funds student opportunities in science, technology, engineering and math, including scholarships, fellowships and internships. His talk and discussion will include these topics, as well as his recent work in human-automation interaction and systems engineering. We hope you can join us for a stimulating discussion! Caldwell will be visiting JSC from May 19 to 20. If you are interested in meeting with him to discuss his work or potential collaboration opportunities, please contact Beto Sanchez. - JSC Weight Watchers at Work Open House
Would you like to lose weight, learn to live a healthier lifestyle and possibly make some new friends doing it? JSC Weight Watchers at Work will be hosting an open house on Monday, May 19, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. This open house will provide information and registration for the next 17-week session, which begins later this month and runs through September. Meetings will be Mondays during lunchtime. We have our meetings in Building 12, a more central location that is also close to the cafés. We need at least 15 active participants to continue having at-work meetings here on-site, so if you've been thinking about joining, now is a great time! Event Date: Monday, May 19, 2014 Event Start Time:11:30 AM Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 12, Rooms 148 & 150
Add to Calendar
Jason Morrow x42234
[top] - Improve Your Speaking Skills Today During Lunch
Toastmasters is a world leader in communications and leadership development. Our theme today is "Memories and Memorials." The Space Explorers Toastmasters Club meets today, May 16, in Building 30A, Room 1010, at 11:45 a.m. for one hour. Event Date: Friday, May 16, 2014 Event Start Time:11:45 AM Event End Time:12:45 PM
Event Location: B. 30A, Room 1010
Add to Calendar
Carolyn Jarrett x37594
[top] Jobs and Training - JSC Imagery Online Training - May 22
Need to find NASA pictures or mission videos? Learn how during a webinar on Thursday, May 22, from 2:30 to 3:45 p.m. Mary Wilkerson, Still Imagery lead, will show users how to find NASA mission images in Imagery Online (IO) and the Digital Imagery Management System (DIMS). Leslie Richards, Video Imagery lead, will show employees the video functionality in IO. This training is open to any JSC/White Sands Test Facility team member. To register, go to this link. For more information, go to: IO or DIMS Community - Final Reminder: Sign Up for Houston Pride Parade
The 35th annual Pride Festival and Parade is June 28 in the Montrose area of Houston. The Out & Allied @ JSC Employee Resource Group (ERG) will walk behind a banner that identifies us as protected federal employees of NASA. We invite all supporters to come out and walk. Last year, more than 400,000 people attended the festival/parade, providing an incredible opportunity to reach the public by showcasing NASA as an inclusive and supportive place to work. To volunteer for the Festival NASA Booth between noon and 7 p.m., please sign up in V-CORPs under "Houston Pride Festival," or at this link if you can't access V-CORPs. Sign up to walk in the parade (line up by 7 p.m.) and order mandatory glow sticks and optional parade items via this link by May 22. See you there! | |
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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
Friday – May 16, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
U.S.-Russia tensions on space station concern lawmakers
Ledyard King – USA Today
Russia's threats to withdraw from the International Space Station in 2020 and stop selling rocket engines used to launch U.S. military satellites might be mere bluster. But key lawmakers take them seriously.
Rep. Mo Brooks joins leaders asking NASA for answers to Russian rocket engine ban
Lee Roop – Huntsville (AL) Times
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and two other leaders of NASA oversight committees in the House of Representatives are condemning Russia's announced ban on exporting rocket engines used America's defense and civilian space programs. They also want NASA and the Obama Administration to tell Congress where America's space program goes next.
Lamar Smith probes NASA over Russian threat on Space Station
Kevin Diaz – Houston Chronicle
Texas Republican Lamar Smith is seeking a congressional briefing from NASA on a Russian threat to answer Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis by cutting off U.S. access to the International Space Station.
Congress Asks NASA About Rifts in US-Russia Spaceflight Partnership
Congress is concerned that a serious rift may be developing in the longstanding spaceflight partnership between Russia and the United States.
House members press NASA for information on Russia crisis effects on ISS
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
Even after Wakata's triumph, ISS buffeted by international politics
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Astronaut Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station, returned to Earth aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday.
ISS commander Wakata among the best of Japan's astronauts
Maan Pamintuan-Lamorena - Japan Daily Press
A trio of astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) returned to earth on Wednesday after staying there for more than three months. Koichi Wakata, who was the first Japanese ever to command a space mission at the ISS, was among the three who returned, amidst issues regarding the US and Russia-led space program, but he could definitely hold his head high.
Elon Musk, Buzz Aldrin Top List for LA Conference on Space Travel's Future
Spaceflight industry experts and supporters have descended upon the City of Angels to discuss the future of human spaceflight this week during a conference featuring such luminaries as Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and the billionaire founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk.
How Robots Are Blazing a Trail for Manned Mars Missions
Whenever humans finally touch down on Mars, they'll be following in the footsteps of many brave robotic pioneers.
In-Situ Resources A Key To Deep Space Exploration
NASA sharpens focus on using the materials at hand to live and get back to Earth at the end of a mission
Frank Morring Jr. – Aviation Week
A version of this article appears in the May 12 edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology.
After years of flailing its way into the post-space shuttle era, NASA is beginning to get its arms around just what it will take to explore deep space with human beings. This includes tapping all of its resources to develop a realistic engineering approach to deal with the hazardous environments beyond the Van Allen Belts—and up the street on Capitol Hill—where it operates.
FishHawk Creek students launch SpaceStation project
Eric Vician – Tampa Bay (FL) Times
Isabelle Utsler, 11, and Miranda Corbo and Srinidhi Raghavan, both 10, scrambled for the three seats in front of a laptop that was connected to a projector.
Boeing Foresees Additional WGS Satellite Orders
Mike Gruss – Space News
The U.S. Air Force is discussing the possibility of building at least two more Wideband Global Satcom communications satellites with funding from potential international partners, Boeing Network and Space Systems President Roger Krone said May 13.
Rocket Carrying Advanced Russian Satellite Malfunctions Shortly After Launch
The Moscow Times
An unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket carrying an advanced telecommunication satellite malfunctioned minutes after launching on Friday morning, Russian media reports say.
US-Russian Tensions Roiling Outer Space Cooperation
David Kerans - Voice of Russia
The future of the $100 billion complex that is the International Space Station (the ISS) is uncertain now, after the US chose to transfer tensions from the crisis in Ukraine to the space sector. NASA announced in early April that it would cease almost all cooperation with Russian counterpart Roscosmos (Russia's NASA) in protest against Russia's posture regarding Crimea and Ukraine. At that time, NASA said it would continue cooperation regarding the ISS, which is pursuing a wide variety of experimental and exploratory programs.
Ask Anything: What Would People Eat In A Permanent Space Colony?
Daniel Engber – Popular Science
Once settled on another planet, colonists would likely start with hydroponic farming, using small-stature or dwarf cultivars that can be tightly packed together. It would make the most sense to plant fast-cycle salad crops first, says Jean Hunter, a professor at Cornell who studies food-processing and waste-management systems for long-term living away from Earth. That means lettuce, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other veggies. Later on, the colonists would move to carbohydrate-heavy crops like sweet potatoes, rice, and wheat, and after that they might plant protein and oil-rich crops, such as soybeans and peanuts.
COMPLETE STORIES
U.S.-Russia tensions on space station concern lawmakers
Ledyard King – USA Today
Russia's threats to withdraw from the International Space Station in 2020 and stop selling rocket engines used to launch U.S. military satellites might be mere bluster. But key lawmakers take them seriously.
GOP leaders on the House Science, Space and Technology Committee asked NASA on Thursday for information on international negotiations related to the proposed extension of the space station beyond 2020 as well as a list of all Russian equipment and services needed to operate the orbiting lab beyond then.
The United States has announced plans to keep the lab up and running through at least 2024.
Wednesday, Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., raised concerns on the Senate floor about potential fallout if Russia bans export of its RD-180 engines to the USA. The engines power the Atlas V rockets used for heavy launches.
"This is a very complex issue," Nelson said. "It affects not only our military access to space, it affects our civilian access to space."
Reaction on Capitol Hill suggests the threats from Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin — which NASA has downplayed — have struck a nerve. Rogozin, who oversees Russia's space program, made his comments after a White House decision this year to impose economic sanctions on Russia and several top officials, including Rogozin, over tensions in Ukraine.
NASA officials have repeatedly assured members of Congress in recent weeks not to panic, noting the Russian government has yet to issue a formal directive based on Rogozin's threats.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told a Senate panel this month he does not expect tensions between Russia and the United States to hinder the cooperative agreement regarding space station operations. He described NASA's relationship with Roscosmos, the Russian space agency, as "steady ... and firm."
Independent analysts generally agree with Bolden, saying Russia's withdrawal would cause relatively minimal disruption because so much of the orbiting lab's operation and upkeep falls on an international consortium led by the United States.
A pullout would be much worse for Russia, which views the space program as a national source of pride, said Howard McCurdy, a space policy expert at American University. He said Russia depends on its program to employ numerous engineers and desperately needs the roughly $70 million it gets each time a Soyuz rocket ferries an American astronaut to the space station.
"It's to their benefit that they cooperate," he said. "So if they want to take their ball and go home, they're the ones that are inflicting harm upon themselves. Are they bluffing? Yeah they're bluffing. They may withdraw, but it wouldn't be to their advantage."
Russia does have one point of leverage. It could decide not to transport astronauts to the station, leaving NASA with no immediate options. The United States has relied on Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the space station since the last shuttle flight, by Atlantis, in 2011.
NASA expects at least one private aerospace firm in the USA will be able to carry astronauts to the station by 2017 — assuming Congress provides enough money for the program, called Commercial Crew, to help firms reach that target. NASA has requested $848 million for the program in fiscal 2015 and has paid the Russians for transport to the space station through 2017.
Even a Russian ban on exports of the rocket engines wouldn't present an immediate problem. United Launch Alliance, the joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin, has a two-year supply of the engines on hand to power the Atlas V rockets that carry its military satellites.
Nelson worries an embargo could spill over to civilian missions. The same RD-180 engines are slated for use in spacecraft that two aerospace companies — Boeing and Sierra Nevada — propose to use to send astronauts to the space station.
"If they are not going to sell these engines for military purposes, can we bank on it that they would sell these engines for NASA civilian purposes?" Nelson said on the Senate floor. "That is a big question mark."
Scott Pace, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, agrees with McCurdy that Russia has little to gain from carrying out its threats and probably won't. But he said it marks an unsettling chapter in U.S.-Russia relations.
"The bad news is that space is being used as a political pawn in ways that it really hasn't before," Pace said. "Space cooperation since the end of the Cold War has actually been quite good, one of the few positive aspects of the U.S.-Russia relationship. If the Russians are now threatening that, then that doesn't bode well."
Rep. Mo Brooks joins leaders asking NASA for answers to Russian rocket engine ban
Lee Roop – Huntsville (AL) Times
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) and two other leaders of NASA oversight committees in the House of Representatives are condemning Russia's announced ban on exporting rocket engines used America's defense and civilian space programs. They also want NASA and the Obama Administration to tell Congress where America's space program goes next.
Responding to American sanctions arising from the crisis in Ukraine, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said this week Russia will no longer sell American its RD-180 engines if the liquid-fuel engines' use will benefit the Pentagon. United Launch Alliance, the rocket builder located in Brooks' district, uses RD-180 engines to power the Atlas V rockets that lift American military satellites into orbit and also NASA space probes.
A Boeing spokesman told Aviation Week May 13 that it has 16 RD-180 engines in the U.S., enough to launch the military satellites in its current deal with the Pentagon.
Two of the three companies competing to supply NASA with shuttles to the International Space Station - Boeing and Sierra Nevada - also plan to launch their spacecraft about Atlas V rockets at the present time.
In a statement released today, Brooks repeated his often-stated charge that America would not be without human spaceflight capability if the Obama administration had not cancelled the Constellation rocket program shortly after taking office in 2010. That decision, plus an earlier decision by the George W. Bush administration to retire the space shuttle and replace it with Constellation, has left America buying rides to the station from Russia while three companies race to provide American-owned access to space.
On the engine issue, Brooks said he got House Armed Services Committee authorization for $220 million to research and begin development of a new American liquid rocket engine. "Russia's increasingly belligerent stance reinforces America's need to end reliance on Russia for America's access to space by producing an equivalent or better American-made rocket engine," Brooks said. " Congress must consider whether current funding levels are adequate to expedite production of an American-made rocket engine and, if not, Congress and the White House must work together to ensure sufficient funding is found."
"Today's letter to (NASA) Administrator (Charles) Bolden requests information needed to properly plan America's human spaceflight strategy in light of the increasing risk that Russia will unexpectedly and more quickly terminate America's access to the Space Station which, over extended time, would render the Space Station unusable and unrecoverable," Brooks said in today's statement. " We also request an assessment of the impact of restrictions on the delivery of Russian RD-180 engines on NASA and how those restrictions might impact the price America pays for launch vehicles."
Signing the letter with Brooks were Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), chair of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee, and Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss), chairman of the committee's space subcommittee. Brooks is vice chair of the subcommittee. Read the full letter below.
Lamar Smith probes NASA over Russian threat on Space Station
Kevin Diaz – Houston Chronicle
Texas Republican Lamar Smith is seeking a congressional briefing from NASA on a Russian threat to answer Western sanctions over the Ukraine crisis by cutting off U.S. access to the International Space Station.
In a letter Thursday to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, Smith said the threat by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, Dmitry Rogozin, raises questions about the future of international cooperation in space. "Our international space partnerships, including our partnership with Russia, have historically endured political division," wrote Smith, chairman of the House Science, Space, and Technology Committee. "But Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin's statements raise serious concerns about the strength of those partnerships."
Smith was joined in the letter by fellow Republicans Steven Palazzo of Mississippi and Mo Brooks of Alabama. The congressmen cited Rogozin's recent comments suggesting that Russia intends to reject a U.S. request to prolong the use of the International Space Station beyond 2020. Rogozin also suggested that Russia could use the space station without the United States.
The congressmen noted that with the retirement of the Space Shuttle and the cancellation of the Constellation program, the United States currently has no domestic capability to transport astronauts to and from the space station.
"As we move forward, it is important that we fully understand our nation's independent capabilities with regard to (space station) operations," the letter states. "While this new development is not related to access to the (space station) for our astronauts in the next few years, it certainly pertains to the strength of our partnership with Russia. If Mr. Rogozin's statement proves to be accurate, we will have to take a step back and evaluate the costs and benefits of maintaining (the space station) beyond 2020 without our Russian partners."
The letter requests a briefing from NASA on the current state of international negotiations related to the proposed extension of the space station beyond 2020. The congressmen also requested a list of all critical components, services, or capabilities that Russia provides that are necessary for the continued operation of the space station beyond 2020.
Congress Asks NASA About Rifts in US-Russia Spaceflight Partnership
Congress is concerned that a serious rift may be developing in the longstanding spaceflight partnership between Russia and the United States.
Today (May 15), three high-ranking members of the House of Representatives' Science, Space and Technology Committee sent a letter to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden asking him to explain the current state of the partnership — specifically, whether recent comments made by Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin could endanger efforts to keep the International Space Station operating beyond 2020.
Earlier this week, Rogozin, who heads Russia's space sector, announced that he would ban exports of the nation's RD-180 rocket engine to the United States, unless guarantees could be given that the engines would be used for nonmilitary purposes. (The RD-180 powers the first stage of United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, which lofts many satellites for the U.S. military.)
Rogozin also said Russia does not plan to keep cooperating with the U.S. on the International Space Station (ISS) project beyond 2020, adding that Russia could continue to use the orbiting lab without American help.
"Our international space partnerships, including our partnership with Russia, have historically endured political division. But Deputy Prime Minister Rogozin's statements raise serious concerns about the strength of those partnerships," Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) and Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.) wrote in the letter.
Smith chairs the Science, Space and Technology Committee, while Palazzo and Brooks serve as chairman and vice chairman, respectively, of its space subcommittee.
"If Mr. Rogozin's statement proves to be accurate, we will have to take a step back and evaluate the costs and benefits of maintaining ISS beyond 2020 without our Russian partners," they added.
The letter asks Bolden to give the committee information about the current state of the U.S.-Russian spaceflight partnership; an accounting of all the services and capabilities that Russia and its space agency provide to keep the station running; an assessment of how a Russian withdrawal would affect ISS operations beyond 2020; and an assessment of how a restriction on the export of Russian rocket engines might affect NASA.
Bolden should provide this status briefing by May 28, the congressmen wrote. You can read the entire letter here. NASA officials have already issued a statement in the wake of Rogozin's comments, stressing that ISS operations remain unaffected.
"Space cooperation has been a hallmark of U.S.-Russia relations, including during the height of the Cold War, and most notably, in the past 13 consecutive years of continuous human presence on board the International Space Station," the statement reads. "We have not received any official notification from the Government of Russia on any changes in our space cooperation at this point."
NASA officials announced in January that they intend to keep operating the space station through at least 2024 — a four-year life extension for the $100 billion orbiting lab, which is a joint effort involving 15 different nations. Construction on the huge spacecraft began in 1998, and it has been occupied continuously since November 2000.
Since the retirement of the space shuttle in 2011, the U.S. has been dependent on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to ferry its astronauts to and from the space station. But NASA is trying to change that situation, encouraging the development of private American astronaut taxis via its Commercial Crew Program.
The space agency hopes at least one private manned spaceship is up and running by 2017.
House members press NASA for information on Russia crisis effects on ISS
Jeff Foust – Space Politics
In their letter, House Science Committee chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX), space subcommittee chairman Steven Palazzo (R-MS), and space subcommittee vice-chairman Mo Brooks (R-AL) referred to Rogozin's comments on Tuesday about Russia not agreeing to continued operation of the ISS beyond 2020. "If Mr. Rogozin's statement proves to be accurate, we will have to take a step back and evaluate the costs and benefits of maintaining the ISS beyond 2020 without our Russian partners," they wrote.
The three members asked Bolden several questions, including the status of efforts to get ISS partners to commit to operating ISS beyond 2020, the critical roles Russia plays in supporting the ISS today, and what would happen if Russia withdrew as Rogozin suggests. The members also ask Bolden about another topic Rogozin mentioned Tuesday: banning the use of RD-180 and NK-33 engines for launching military payloads. They note that while the restriction would still allow NASA to use the engines for its missions, "this may impact the price NASA pays for launch vehicles that utilize these engines, as decreases in supply may impact availability." The members asked Bolden to provide responses by May 28.
Even after Wakata's triumph, ISS buffeted by international politics
The Yomiuri Shimbun
Astronaut Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station, returned to Earth aboard the Russian Soyuz spacecraft on Wednesday.
Let us praise him for completing his mission successfully.
During his six-month mission, he conducted various scientific experiments, including one to develop a new medicine, and released an ultra-compact satellite into space. He has also successfully carried out the extremely difficult task of having a U.S. supply ship dock with the ISS by maneuvering a robotic arm.
It can be said that Wakata's accomplishments have demonstrated the advanced state of Japanese space technologies.
Yet, with the United States and Russia each taking a critical role and 13 other participants involved including Japan, the ISS faces a critical situation.
Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin made clear recently that Russia's cooperation with the United States on operating the ISS would not extend past the year 2020, implying it would act in retaliation to the U.S. sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine.
Currently, the Russian Soyuz spacecraft is the only vehicle available to transport astronauts between the ISS and Earth. Last month, Rogozin took to social media, saying "U.S. astronauts should use trampolines" rather than Russian rockets to get to the ISS. He also hinted at the possibility of Russia's operating the ISS single-handedly, saying that the ISS is structured so that Russia can operate it independently.
The ISS was launched with a U.S. call for preventing Russia's space technologies from spreading to countries in conflict, following the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Recent developments have once again brought to the fore the current situation in which the ISS is being tossed about by international politics.
The United States is considering the possibility of tightening sanctions on Russia. If so, Russia may further solidify its stance.
Ripples from earthly tension
The aggravated conflict between the United States and Russia will exert a great impact on space development within the international community. There is also a likelihood that Russia's export of its rocket engines to the United States and bilateral cooperation aimed at improving the accuracy of the global positioning system will both be reviewed.
China is moving ahead with its own manned space development for military purposes.
Rogozin has also made reference to Russia's reinforcement of its cooperative ties with China. With the collapse of the U.S.-Russia partnership, which has held China in check, the overall structure of the world's space development may greatly change.
Should such a development occur, Japan's space strategy will be shaken to its very foundations.
Japan contributes ¥36 billion annually to the ISS project. While sending astronauts regularly, it has built and managed a space experiment module.
Although the financial burden involved is heavy, it is important that Japan has proven itself able to build a livable human habitat in space, an ability that had belonged exclusively to the United States, Russia and China.
The presence of Japan, which assumes a pivotal role in ferrying supplies to the ISS from Earth, has become indispensable. Japan's contribution has also proved useful for boosting its ties with the United States, which wants to keep the ISS operational.
Japan plans to send two astronauts to the ISS in 2015 and 2016. But dark clouds loom over the plan's realization. There is also the prospect of immense damage to Japan's space industry, which has promoted robotics and other technological developments on the assumption of the continued operation of the ISS.
The government needs to expedite its efforts to gather relevant information and develop strategies for the days ahead.
ISS commander Wakata among the best of Japan's astronauts
Maan Pamintuan-Lamorena - Japan Daily Press
A trio of astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) returned to earth on Wednesday after staying there for more than three months. Koichi Wakata, who was the first Japanese ever to command a space mission at the ISS, was among the three who returned, amidst issues regarding the US and Russia-led space program, but he could definitely hold his head high.
The 50-year old Wakata was the first Japanese to man the multi-billion 15-nation project to space. As the commander, he was in-charge of handling his crew's health and managing the supplies for their stay, given that supplies such as food is not easy to acquire outside the earth of course. Apart from this, his most important responsibility and the heaviest at that, is probably to ensure the safety of the ISS. Any emergency they encounter there, whether it calls for evacuation or not, fell on the shoulder of Wakata. Just ask any person who has seen the Hollywood film Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks, and one would know how important and formidable his role is.
According to Wakata, there were many times when the station's fire alarm sounded off and he was awaken by it. He had to muster the nerve and go right where the problem may be located at the risk of his own life. Thankfully those turned out to be false alarms, much to his relief and the ground control too, whom, he would often report to in situations as that. Even though "they were good training", such alarms were still nerve-wracking for him. With the relative lack of news about his command of the ISS, an official from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Space Development and Utilization Division noted it as "evidence of just how well Wakata managed the ISS." Even Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ISS program manager Masazumi Miyake commended the astronaut for his role. "Unlike in his past mission as one of the astronauts, I think Wakata understood how difficult overall management of the station is. His experience should do a lot to raise the level of space development in Japan," he added.
Elon Musk, Buzz Aldrin Top List for LA Conference on Space Travel's Future
Spaceflight industry experts and supporters have descended upon the City of Angels to discuss the future of human spaceflight this week during a conference featuring such luminaries as Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and the billionaire founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk.
Nearly 1,200 space industry leaders, engineers and fans are expected to attend the five-day International Space Development Conference here to discuss where they think spaceflight is heading in the future. About 300 of those attendees are students from around the world, organizers said.
"I really do think we are in the moment of a space renaissance," computer game developer and entrepreneur Richard Garriott, who paid $30 million for a private trip to the International Space Station in 2008, told attendees Wednesday (May 14), on the conference's first day. "I think we are at this time where the future of space is looking very bright."
That space renaissance, which is the conference's theme, is powered by the rise of commercial spacecraft like SpaceX's Dragon capsule, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, Boeing's CST-100 capsule, and the Lynx and Dream Chaser space planes under development by XCOR Aerospace and Sierra Nevada Space Systems, respectively, Garriott said. The multimillionaire is so sure of the industry's success, he's invested in several of the major players, he added.
SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada are building new manned spacecraft with the goal of restoring U.S. human spaceflight capability by 2017. NASA expects to select at least one of the companies to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the agency currently depends on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for manned missions.
Recent tensions with U.S.-Russian cooperation in space spawned by the Ukrainian crisis have cast new attention on the future of the American space program, with one top Russian official — Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin — calling for his country to pull out of the International Space Station project by 2020.
"This is a perfect example of why we need our own spaceflight capability," Garriott said.
The ISDC meeting this week will honor some of the pioneers working to develop that new U.S. spaceflight capability. The conference, now in its 33rd year, is hosted by the nonprofit National Space Society and will recognize SpaceX's Elon Musk on Friday with the Robert A. Heinlen Memorial Award. Buzz Aldrin will speak on Sunday (May 18) during a luncheon talk.
"I've participated in the ISDC since the very first one in 1982, and it remains the preeminent meeting of its kind anywhere in the country," Aldrin said in a statement before the conference began. The Apollo 11 astronaut also attended Wednesday night's opening festivities.
The ISDC conference, which runs from Wednesday through Sunday, aims to cover a wide range of space exploration topics, including how media can affect the public's perception of space exploration, as well as life in space, space-based solar power, Mars missions and more.
How Robots Are Blazing a Trail for Manned Mars Missions
Whenever humans finally touch down on Mars, they'll be following in the footsteps of many brave robotic pioneers.
Right now there are two NASA robots exploring the Martian surface — the Curiosity rover and its older cousin, Opportunity — while a fleet of orbiters from NASA and the European Space Agency circle above. More probes are on the way, too.
With each landing on the Red Planet over the past three decades, the understanding of how to get safely to the surface has improved. Bigger probes require new technologies, such as the rocket-powered "sky crane" that lowered the 1-ton Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet on cables in August 2012.
A human landing on the surface, however, would require a much heavier spacecraft. One key to designing it is to better understand winds high in the Martian atmosphere. NASA's Mars InSight lander, which is slated to blast off in 2016, and the agency's Mars 2020 rover will both examine gusts in that region, said Victoria Friedensen, NASA's robotic precursor mission lead.
"We have nearly all the information we need to really design the system we can put [humans] in," she told Space.com. A safety margin in landing heavier missions on the Red Planet is one of the chief concerns that NASA has right now, she added.
Science and human exploration goals
Getting people to Mars is the chief long-term goal of NASA's human spaceflight program. After all, President Obama directed the space agency to send astronauts to the vicinity of the Red Planet by the mid-2030s.
NASA is developing a crew capsule called Orion and the Space Launch System mega-rocket to get the job done. The pair, which is slated to fly together for the first time in 2021, will be able to get astronauts to a variety of deep-space destinations, agency officials say.
Sending robotic probes to Mars is a relatively cheap and low-risk way to show the way for humans, Friedensen pointed out. For example, NASA's unmanned Lunar Ranger series in the 1960s helped mission planners of the day learn about the nature of the moon's dusty surface.
At the time, a few scientists were worried that a spaceship would sink deep into the lunar dust. The robotic spacecraft showed that wouldn't happen, helping pave the way for the manned Apollo moon missions.
The Curiosity's rover main goal is to characterize the habitability of Mars' surface in general, but that also includes some information that could be relevant for human missions.
Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector instrument, for example, could inform designs of radiation shielding for a potential Mars colony. And analyzing the water concentration in the regolith or soil of Mars could help planners design extraction systems for thirsty human colonists.
Landing sites must also be considered carefully. The science goals of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter include studying water's history on the Red Planet and examining small features on the surface. Its high-resolution images, however, also will help mission planners scout out suitable locations for a human landing, Friedensen said.
'Critical mass' of Mars mission support
While science missions have persisted for decades, space policy tends to change quickly — which could account for what some see as the slow and inconsistent progress toward human exploration of Mars, said Chris Carberry, executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Explore Mars.
A recent example was the Vision For Space Exploration, a George W. Bush-backed initiative that would have seen astronauts heading back to the moon and on to Mars. It was cancelled after President Barack Obama took office in 2009 in favor of a "flexible destination" approach to space.
Lately, Carberry added, he has seen more "unity" in Congress, the space community and the general public toward a mission to Mars.
"I think many of the key policy elements are in place to move forward if we choose to move forward," he said. The key, he added, will be showing a "critical mass" of support during the next presidential election in 2016 so that Mars is not framed as an expensive and negative policy decision.
Friedensen and Carberry both gave talks at the Humans to Mars Summit April 22-24 in Washington, D.C.
In-Situ Resources A Key To Deep Space Exploration
NASA sharpens focus on using the materials at hand to live and get back to Earth at the end of a mission
Frank Morring Jr. – Aviation Week
A version of this article appears in the May 12 edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology.
After years of flailing its way into the post-space shuttle era, NASA is beginning to get its arms around just what it will take to explore deep space with human beings. This includes tapping all of its resources to develop a realistic engineering approach to deal with the hazardous environments beyond the Van Allen Belts—and up the street on Capitol Hill—where it operates.
Having accepted that it won't receive a blank check to plant the flag on Mars—the only destination that makes sense for human exploration right now—NASA has adopted a space-based crawl-walk-run approach that could get humans to the red planet in 20 years, with a lot of help from international and commercial partners, and only a "modest" increase in U.S. funding (AW&ST April 28, p. 20).
"Earth-reliant" work is well underway on the International Space Station, in the form of life sciences research and flight-test engineering for more-distant human missions. A two-man U.S.-Russian team is training to conduct exploration experiments on themselves and their hardware during a year-long Mars analog mission set to launch to the station next year.
If anything goes wrong while in orbit, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko will be able to jump in their Soyuz lifeboat and be back on Earth in a few hours. That will change in the coming decade, when NASA wants to conduct longer and more distant "proving-ground" missions in the vicinity of the Moon. From there, it would take days instead of hours to get back to Earth. Beyond that, Mars will grow larger and larger in the windows of the Orion capsule as it takes "Mars-ready" crews to the planet's moons and, ultimately, its surface. Whether they land on Mars or not, those crews must be ready to survive in nominal and off-nominal conditions for months before they can reach home.
One way to do that is with in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), an old concept that in deep space means using the materials at hand to live and to get back to Earth at the end of a mission. NASA has studied it in terrestrial laboratories for decades, producing concepts like the robotic rover for processing water from lunar resources (see illustration). Now, as managers find some room to start moving humans beyond low Earth orbit, NASA is beginning to look for ways to study ISRU in space.
While the U.S. has no plans to build a lander to put humans back on the Moon, ISRU is one of the drivers in a competition in which three U.S. companies have been selected to negotiate non-funded Space Act agreements for use of NASA's expertise as they develop robotic lunar landers for commercial applications. One application is prospecting for resources on the Moon that could support the push deeper into the Solar System.
"Robotic missions to the Moon have revealed the existence of local resources, including oxygen and water, which may be highly valuable for exploration of the Solar System," says Jason Crusan, director of the agency's Advanced Exploration Systems Div. "The potential to use the lunar surface in partnership with our international and commercial partners may allow these resources to be characterized and used to enable future exploration and pioneering."
Crusan's organization set up the "Lunar Catalyst" effort, which it hopes will lead to privately funded robotic lunar landers. Astrobotic Technology Inc. of Pittsburgh, Masten Space System Inc. of Mojave, Calif., and Moon Express Inc., based at Moffett Field, Calif., will be able to use NASA experts, software and hardware, and test facilities as they develop their prototypes. All three have participated in the Google Lunar X-Prize competition, which offers a total of $30 million to teams that can soft-land on the Moon and send back video. Beyond that prize money, robotic lunar landers could provide a way to pinpoint and eventually exploit the water and other resources with commercial potential.
Longer term, NASA is likely to include an ISRU experiment on the nuclear-powered robotic rover it plans to send to the red planet in 2020. Crusan says the instruments selected for the next rover—essentially a reprise of the Curiosity rover now exploring Gale Crater at the planet's equator—will include hardware funded by NASA's human exploration organization that will evaluate the feasibility of extracting oxygen from the carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere.
"A good mass fraction of your vehicle to take back off the surface is your oxidizer, so we're looking at the oxygen, specifically, and separating that from the atmosphere of Mars," Crusan says.
The work could have a profound effect on the design of human missions to Mars, according to Crusan's boss. "We're looking at ISRU very early in this sequence, because it [can have] a dramatic change in the way we do business . . . whether we can generate propellant on Mars for the return flight; what can we use from the Moon; how easy is it to do that," says William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "Once we know the answers, they can dramatically affect the architecture and affect the mission scenarios we put together in the future."
FishHawk Creek students launch SpaceStation project
Eric Vician – Tampa Bay (FL) Times
Isabelle Utsler, 11, and Miranda Corbo and Srinidhi Raghavan, both 10, scrambled for the three seats in front of a laptop that was connected to a projector.
"She's calling! She's calling!"
More than 100 fifth-graders at FishHawk Creek Elementary screamed with excitement Tuesday morning in the school's multi-purpose room.
Who was calling? Kennedy Space Center scientist Gioia Massa via Skype, looking to discuss the intricacies of growing romaine lettuce in space.
Utsler, Corbo and Raghavan crafted a project to determine how many seeds germinate in microgravity versus on Earth. It's one of 15 student experiments from across the nation, and the only one from Florida, that will blast off into space and be tested at the International Space Station.
"It was awesome," said FishHawk Creek science teacher Mary Vaughn, who has been working with the girls since September on the project. "The fact that we hooked up with (Massa) is very powerful."
Massa helped launch the Veg-01 experiment, nicknamed "Veggie," at the space station a month ago to see how well plants grow in orbit. She answered questions from the girls about the various ways to germinate the triangular-shaped seeds and prepare them for liftoff, which has been postponed twice and is now scheduled for June 10 at 2 a.m. from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.
The test is expected to run for approximately six to 14 weeks, during which time the fifth-graders will run a similar experiment on Earth and then travel to the Smithsonian Institution this summer to present their data to scientists.
Utsler recently moved from Virginia and said her friends up North are going to record the launch for her.
"I want to be a fashion designer or an astronaut," she said. "Maybe I can design astronaut suits."
The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program has been taking trials to space since 2010.
Through a $19,500 grant from the Suncoast Credit Union Foundation to the Hillsborough County School District, 11 local schools were able to participate in this National Center for Earth and Space Science Education NanoRacks program. FishHawk Creek emerged as the area winner, beating out finalists from Reddick Elementary School in Wimauma and Kingswood Elementary School in Brandon.
"It's beyond cool," said FishHawk Creek principal Pam Bush. "It gives you goosebumps."
Boeing Foresees Additional WGS Satellite Orders
Mike Gruss – Space News
The U.S. Air Force is discussing the possibility of building at least two more Wideband Global Satcom communications satellites with funding from potential international partners, Boeing Network and Space Systems President Roger Krone said May 13.
Krone said in a briefing with reporters he believes there is enough international appetite for additional satellites.
"We have line of sight on at least two more," Krone said. "Those may not be bought by the Air Force. Just like WGS-6 was bought by the Australians. Lots of discussion we're party to, but it's more government to government."
Capt. Matthew Stines, a spokesman for the Secretary of the Air Force, had no immediate comment on the likelihood of additional WGS orders.
Australia invested approximately $700 million in WGS-6, the last of the second three-satellite block in the series. In exchange, Australia's military will have access to the full 10-satellite constellation at a level proportional to its investment.
The Air Force has invested an estimated $4 billion in its own constellation of X- and Ka-band Wideband Global Satcom satellites, which are being built by El Segundo, California-based Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. Six of the 10 planned WGS satellites are now in orbit.
The constellation's seventh satellite, WGS-7, is expected to launch in mid-2015, according to Air Force budget documents. Among the remaining WGS satellites under development, WGS-9 is being built thanks to an investment by a five-country consortium of Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said in January the Air Force is conducting a study on the future of wideband communication systems. That study is expected to be finished in late summer or fall. But in public speeches this year, he has repeatedly questioned whether the WGS service could be turned over to commercial providers.
"Do we want to continue with the military dedicated constellation?" Shelton said in January. "Can we turn either a portion or all of this over to a commercial provider and contract for a service?"
For their part, commercial operators, frustrated with the service's dependence on the constellation, say they can offer many of the same technical capabilities as WGS but at less cost to the Air Force.
"The U.S. government and foreign governments do need additional satellite resources as demand continues to grow," said Philip Harlow, president and chief operating officer of Xtar LLC of Herndon, Virginia, which operates X-band satellites and markets the capacity to government customers. "Is paying a huge premium for 10-year old technology that will only be available close to 2020 the best use of precious government budgets, when commercial high-throughput satellites with greater capabilities than this outdated platform are increasingly available?"
Krone said some of the reforms Shelton has talked about require a different acquisition model for WGS.
"That could be a commercial satellite hosted payload or it could be buying [milsatcom] as a service," Krone said. "All of which Boeing would be interested in playing. This is our bread and butter. "
He said WGS is "as commercial a program as I have with the Air Force."
International partnerships are playing an increasing role in the Air Force's move to boost its resiliency. Already, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have contributed more than $270 million to the Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, which are used in part for nuclear command and control.
Additionally, Lockheed Martin, in concert with the Pentagon, is looking to drum up interest among U.S. allies in the next-generation satellite communications system it is building for the U.S. Navy as means of sustaining the existing production line until the service is ready to procure more.
Rocket Carrying Advanced Russian Satellite Malfunctions Shortly After Launch
The Moscow Times
An unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket carrying an advanced telecommunication satellite malfunctioned minutes after launching on Friday morning, Russian media reports say.
Ground controllers lost contact with the rocket nine minutes after it took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Itar-Tass reported.
The Russian Federal Space Agency, also known as Roscosmos, acknowledged the accident on their website Friday morning and said that all fuel and component parts had burned up in the atmosphere.
Agency head Oleg Ostapenko told journalists that the accident occurred at a height of 160 kilometers above Chinese territory and that a possible reason for the accident was a malfunction in one of the steering engines.
There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages on the ground.
The rocket was carrying an Express-AM4R communications satellite, designed to replace the Express-AM that Russia had put into orbit in August, 2011 but which malfunctioned almost immediately and was brought down into the Pacific Ocean the next year.
Ostapenko told Itar-Tass that the satellite had not been successfully launched into orbit and Ilya Solomatin, vice-president of the insurance company Ingostrakha, said that the rocket and satellite had been insured for 7.8 billion rubles ($224.7 million).
The Express-AM4R satellite is the most advanced telecommunications satellite used by Russia and is intended to provide affordable Internet access to those living in remote parts of the country.
The cost of the new satellite was more than 200 million euros ($274 million), an unidentified space official told Interfax.
The previous crash of a Proton-M occurred last July, when the rocket diverged from its course shortly after takeoff and collapsed with an explosion near the launch site.
It had been carrying more than 600 tons of heptyl and other fuel components, and the Kazakh government estimated the environmental damage from the crash at about $70 million, Interfax reported.
US-Russian Tensions Roiling Outer Space Cooperation
David Kerans - Voice of Russia
The future of the $100 billion complex that is the International Space Station (the ISS) is uncertain now, after the US chose to transfer tensions from the crisis in Ukraine to the space sector. NASA announced in early April that it would cease almost all cooperation with Russian counterpart Roscosmos (Russia's NASA) in protest against Russia's posture regarding Crimea and Ukraine. At that time, NASA said it would continue cooperation regarding the ISS, which is pursuing a wide variety of experimental and exploratory programs.
But Russia has now reacted to the American snub by raising the prospect of pulling out of the ISS as of 2020, when its currently contracted participation expires. Because Russia and the US are the core component providers and controllers of the ISS, Russian withdrawal would pose daunting challenges to the US if it wished to continue with the project.
There was never any guarantee that Russia was going to participate beyond 2020, so the US and other nations involved in the ISS (15 have sent astronauts since the ISS went into orbit in 2000) have programs in place to provide much of the equipment and services now coming from Russia. Given appropriate funding, NASA could coordinate an effort to proceed without Russia after 2020. But the willingness of Congress to provide such support cannot be guaranteed.
For discussion of the ISS and the possible routes forward for space research, Radio VR's David Kerans spoke with John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs at George Washington University, and founder of the Elliott School's Space Policy Institute.
Logsdon expressed his confidence that the US could produce or procure substitutes for all of Russia's contributions to the ISS, given the necessary will from Washington. And he is confident that space exploration will proceed at a healthy pace, thanks to the determination China has shown to be a world leader in this sector since about 1992.
Ask Anything: What Would People Eat In A Permanent Space Colony?
Daniel Engber – Popular Science
Once settled on another planet, colonists would likely start with hydroponic farming, using small-stature or dwarf cultivars that can be tightly packed together. It would make the most sense to plant fast-cycle salad crops first, says Jean Hunter, a professor at Cornell who studies food-processing and waste-management systems for long-term living away from Earth. That means lettuce, radishes, carrots, tomatoes, cucumbers, and other veggies. Later on, the colonists would move to carbohydrate-heavy crops like sweet potatoes, rice, and wheat, and after that they might plant protein and oil-rich crops, such as soybeans and peanuts.
Consequently, the settlers would end up on a vegan diet, more or less. They could try to cultivate insects, guinea pigs, or other small animals, but caring for these would add to their already enormous workload. "Small-scale agriculture is notoriously inefficient," Hunter warns. "I worry about the colonists underestimating the amount of human capital needed to grow and process their own food, to the point where everybody becomes a subsistence farmer and they're toiling all day just to get enough to eat—kind of like our ancestors in America."
Even if the colonists could figure out a way to grow food for themselves without spending every last minute doing it, and even if they managed to stave off crop disease (which can spread very rapidly in a hydroponic culture), they would still need backup food from home. "For the first four to six months, their crops wouldn't be ready," says Hunter. So early arrivals would have to bring a large supply of shelf-stable or prepackaged foods.
That's where the development of advanced food technology comes in. Space scientists would need to figure out how to make foods that can last for four or five years inside sealed pouches. Right now, such products rate for less than half that time at most, but new technologies—such as microwave sterilization and high-pressure processing—could extend shelf-life considerably.
What sorts of foods, then, should colonists take with them? At the NASA-funded Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, which ended last August, Hunter and her colleagues provided the crew with both prepackaged entrées and basic ingredients with which to prepare their own meals to determine their preference. She found that participants were much less bored by their food when they had a hand in making it, and that turns out to be important: "You can have something that's very tasty but then you get tired of it really quickly," says Hunter. "In these situations, that's actually not as useful as a food that's just okay but that you will enjoy at its initial level for a long time."
This article originally appeared in the May 2014 issue of Popular Science.
END
A trio of astronauts from the International Space Station (ISS) returned to earth on Wednesday after staying there for more than three months. Koichi Wakata, who was the first Japanese ever to command a space mission at the ISS, was among the three who returned, amidst issues regarding the US and Russia-led space program, but he could definitely hold his head high.The 50-year old Wakata was the first Japanese to man the multi-billion 15-nation project to space. As the commander, he was in-charge of handling his crew's health and managing the supplies for their stay, given that supplies such as food is not easy to acquire outside the earth of course. Apart from this, his most important responsibility and the heaviest at that, is probably to ensure the safety of the ISS. Any emergency they encounter there, whether it calls for evacuation or not, fell on the shoulder of Wakata. Just ask any person who has seen the Hollywood film Apollo 13 starring Tom Hanks, and one would know how important and formidable his role is.According to Wakata, there were many times when the station's fire alarm sounded off and he was awaken by it. He had to muster the nerve and go right where the problem may be located at the risk of his own life. Thankfully those turned out to be false alarms, much to his relief and the ground control too, whom, he would often report to in situations as that. Even though "they were good training", such alarms were still nerve-wracking for him. With the relative lack of news about his command of the ISS, an official from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology's Space Development and Utilization Division noted it as "evidence of just how well Wakata managed the ISS." Even Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) ISS program manager Masazumi Miyake commended the astronaut for his role. "Unlike in his past mission as one of the astronauts, I think Wakata understood how difficult overall management of the station is. His experience should do a lot to raise the level of space development in Japan," he added.Elon Musk, Buzz Aldrin Top List for LA Conference on Space Travel's FutureTariq Malik – SPACE.comSpaceflight industry experts and supporters have descended upon the City of Angels to discuss the future of human spaceflight this week during a conference featuring such luminaries as Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin and the billionaire founder of SpaceX, Elon Musk.Nearly 1,200 space industry leaders, engineers and fans are expected to attend the five-day International Space Development Conference here to discuss where they think spaceflight is heading in the future. About 300 of those attendees are students from around the world, organizers said."I really do think we are in the moment of a space renaissance," computer game developer and entrepreneur Richard Garriott, who paid $30 million for a private trip to the International Space Station in 2008, told attendees Wednesday (May 14), on the conference's first day. "I think we are at this time where the future of space is looking very bright."That space renaissance, which is the conference's theme, is powered by the rise of commercial spacecraft like SpaceX's Dragon capsule, Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo, Boeing's CST-100 capsule, and the Lynx and Dream Chaser space planes under development by XCOR Aerospace and Sierra Nevada Space Systems, respectively, Garriott said. The multimillionaire is so sure of the industry's success, he's invested in several of the major players, he added.SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada are building new manned spacecraft with the goal of restoring U.S. human spaceflight capability by 2017. NASA expects to select at least one of the companies to fly American astronauts to the International Space Station. With the retirement of NASA's space shuttle fleet in 2011, the agency currently depends on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for manned missions.Recent tensions with U.S.-Russian cooperation in space spawned by the Ukrainian crisis have cast new attention on the future of the American space program, with one top Russian official — Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin — calling for his country to pull out of the International Space Station project by 2020."This is a perfect example of why we need our own spaceflight capability," Garriott said.The ISDC meeting this week will honor some of the pioneers working to develop that new U.S. spaceflight capability. The conference, now in its 33rd year, is hosted by the nonprofit National Space Society and will recognize SpaceX's Elon Musk on Friday with the Robert A. Heinlen Memorial Award. Buzz Aldrin will speak on Sunday (May 18) during a luncheon talk."I've participated in the ISDC since the very first one in 1982, and it remains the preeminent meeting of its kind anywhere in the country," Aldrin said in a statement before the conference began. The Apollo 11 astronaut also attended Wednesday night's opening festivities.The ISDC conference, which runs from Wednesday through Sunday, aims to cover a wide range of space exploration topics, including how media can affect the public's perception of space exploration, as well as life in space, space-based solar power, Mars missions and more.How Robots Are Blazing a Trail for Manned Mars MissionsElizabeth Howell - SPACE.comWhenever humans finally touch down on Mars, they'll be following in the footsteps of many brave robotic pioneers.Right now there are two NASA robots exploring the Martian surface — the Curiosity rover and its older cousin, Opportunity — while a fleet of orbiters from NASA and the European Space Agency circle above. More probes are on the way, too.With each landing on the Red Planet over the past three decades, the understanding of how to get safely to the surface has improved. Bigger probes require new technologies, such as the rocket-powered "sky crane" that lowered the 1-ton Curiosity rover onto the Red Planet on cables in August 2012.A human landing on the surface, however, would require a much heavier spacecraft. One key to designing it is to better understand winds high in the Martian atmosphere. NASA's Mars InSight lander, which is slated to blast off in 2016, and the agency's Mars 2020 rover will both examine gusts in that region, said Victoria Friedensen, NASA's robotic precursor mission lead."We have nearly all the information we need to really design the system we can put [humans] in," she told Space.com. A safety margin in landing heavier missions on the Red Planet is one of the chief concerns that NASA has right now, she added.Science and human exploration goalsGetting people to Mars is the chief long-term goal of NASA's human spaceflight program. After all, President Obama directed the space agency to send astronauts to the vicinity of the Red Planet by the mid-2030s.NASA is developing a crew capsule called Orion and the Space Launch System mega-rocket to get the job done. The pair, which is slated to fly together for the first time in 2021, will be able to get astronauts to a variety of deep-space destinations, agency officials say.Sending robotic probes to Mars is a relatively cheap and low-risk way to show the way for humans, Friedensen pointed out. For example, NASA's unmanned Lunar Ranger series in the 1960s helped mission planners of the day learn about the nature of the moon's dusty surface.At the time, a few scientists were worried that a spaceship would sink deep into the lunar dust. The robotic spacecraft showed that wouldn't happen, helping pave the way for the manned Apollo moon missions.The Curiosity's rover main goal is to characterize the habitability of Mars' surface in general, but that also includes some information that could be relevant for human missions.Curiosity's Radiation Assessment Detector instrument, for example, could inform designs of radiation shielding for a potential Mars colony. And analyzing the water concentration in the regolith or soil of Mars could help planners design extraction systems for thirsty human colonists.Landing sites must also be considered carefully. The science goals of NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter include studying water's history on the Red Planet and examining small features on the surface. Its high-resolution images, however, also will help mission planners scout out suitable locations for a human landing, Friedensen said.'Critical mass' of Mars mission supportWhile science missions have persisted for decades, space policy tends to change quickly — which could account for what some see as the slow and inconsistent progress toward human exploration of Mars, said Chris Carberry, executive director and co-founder of the nonprofit organization Explore Mars.A recent example was the Vision For Space Exploration, a George W. Bush-backed initiative that would have seen astronauts heading back to the moon and on to Mars. It was cancelled after President Barack Obama took office in 2009 in favor of a "flexible destination" approach to space.Lately, Carberry added, he has seen more "unity" in Congress, the space community and the general public toward a mission to Mars."I think many of the key policy elements are in place to move forward if we choose to move forward," he said. The key, he added, will be showing a "critical mass" of support during the next presidential election in 2016 so that Mars is not framed as an expensive and negative policy decision.Friedensen and Carberry both gave talks at the Humans to Mars Summit April 22-24 in Washington, D.C.In-Situ Resources A Key To Deep Space ExplorationNASA sharpens focus on using the materials at hand to live and get back to Earth at the end of a missionFrank Morring Jr. – Aviation WeekA version of this article appears in the May 12 edition of Aviation Week & Space Technology.After years of flailing its way into the post-space shuttle era, NASA is beginning to get its arms around just what it will take to explore deep space with human beings. This includes tapping all of its resources to develop a realistic engineering approach to deal with the hazardous environments beyond the Van Allen Belts—and up the street on Capitol Hill—where it operates.Having accepted that it won't receive a blank check to plant the flag on Mars—the only destination that makes sense for human exploration right now—NASA has adopted a space-based crawl-walk-run approach that could get humans to the red planet in 20 years, with a lot of help from international and commercial partners, and only a "modest" increase in U.S. funding (AW&ST April 28, p. 20)."Earth-reliant" work is well underway on the International Space Station, in the form of life sciences research and flight-test engineering for more-distant human missions. A two-man U.S.-Russian team is training to conduct exploration experiments on themselves and their hardware during a year-long Mars analog mission set to launch to the station next year.If anything goes wrong while in orbit, Scott Kelly and Mikhail Kornienko will be able to jump in their Soyuz lifeboat and be back on Earth in a few hours. That will change in the coming decade, when NASA wants to conduct longer and more distant "proving-ground" missions in the vicinity of the Moon. From there, it would take days instead of hours to get back to Earth. Beyond that, Mars will grow larger and larger in the windows of the Orion capsule as it takes "Mars-ready" crews to the planet's moons and, ultimately, its surface. Whether they land on Mars or not, those crews must be ready to survive in nominal and off-nominal conditions for months before they can reach home.One way to do that is with in-situ resource utilization (ISRU), an old concept that in deep space means using the materials at hand to live and to get back to Earth at the end of a mission. NASA has studied it in terrestrial laboratories for decades, producing concepts like the robotic rover for processing water from lunar resources (see illustration). Now, as managers find some room to start moving humans beyond low Earth orbit, NASA is beginning to look for ways to study ISRU in space.While the U.S. has no plans to build a lander to put humans back on the Moon, ISRU is one of the drivers in a competition in which three U.S. companies have been selected to negotiate non-funded Space Act agreements for use of NASA's expertise as they develop robotic lunar landers for commercial applications. One application is prospecting for resources on the Moon that could support the push deeper into the Solar System."Robotic missions to the Moon have revealed the existence of local resources, including oxygen and water, which may be highly valuable for exploration of the Solar System," says Jason Crusan, director of the agency's Advanced Exploration Systems Div. "The potential to use the lunar surface in partnership with our international and commercial partners may allow these resources to be characterized and used to enable future exploration and pioneering."Crusan's organization set up the "Lunar Catalyst" effort, which it hopes will lead to privately funded robotic lunar landers. Astrobotic Technology Inc. of Pittsburgh, Masten Space System Inc. of Mojave, Calif., and Moon Express Inc., based at Moffett Field, Calif., will be able to use NASA experts, software and hardware, and test facilities as they develop their prototypes. All three have participated in the Google Lunar X-Prize competition, which offers a total of $30 million to teams that can soft-land on the Moon and send back video. Beyond that prize money, robotic lunar landers could provide a way to pinpoint and eventually exploit the water and other resources with commercial potential.Longer term, NASA is likely to include an ISRU experiment on the nuclear-powered robotic rover it plans to send to the red planet in 2020. Crusan says the instruments selected for the next rover—essentially a reprise of the Curiosity rover now exploring Gale Crater at the planet's equator—will include hardware funded by NASA's human exploration organization that will evaluate the feasibility of extracting oxygen from the carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere."A good mass fraction of your vehicle to take back off the surface is your oxidizer, so we're looking at the oxygen, specifically, and separating that from the atmosphere of Mars," Crusan says.The work could have a profound effect on the design of human missions to Mars, according to Crusan's boss. "We're looking at ISRU very early in this sequence, because it [can have] a dramatic change in the way we do business . . . whether we can generate propellant on Mars for the return flight; what can we use from the Moon; how easy is it to do that," says William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "Once we know the answers, they can dramatically affect the architecture and affect the mission scenarios we put together in the future."FishHawk Creek students launch SpaceStation projectEric Vician – Tampa Bay (FL) TimesIsabelle Utsler, 11, and Miranda Corbo and Srinidhi Raghavan, both 10, scrambled for the three seats in front of a laptop that was connected to a projector."She's calling! She's calling!"More than 100 fifth-graders at FishHawk Creek Elementary screamed with excitement Tuesday morning in the school's multi-purpose room.Who was calling? Kennedy Space Center scientist Gioia Massa via Skype, looking to discuss the intricacies of growing romaine lettuce in space.Utsler, Corbo and Raghavan crafted a project to determine how many seeds germinate in microgravity versus on Earth. It's one of 15 student experiments from across the nation, and the only one from Florida, that will blast off into space and be tested at the International Space Station."It was awesome," said FishHawk Creek science teacher Mary Vaughn, who has been working with the girls since September on the project. "The fact that we hooked up with (Massa) is very powerful."Massa helped launch the Veg-01 experiment, nicknamed "Veggie," at the space station a month ago to see how well plants grow in orbit. She answered questions from the girls about the various ways to germinate the triangular-shaped seeds and prepare them for liftoff, which has been postponed twice and is now scheduled for June 10 at 2 a.m. from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia.The test is expected to run for approximately six to 14 weeks, during which time the fifth-graders will run a similar experiment on Earth and then travel to the Smithsonian Institution this summer to present their data to scientists.Utsler recently moved from Virginia and said her friends up North are going to record the launch for her."I want to be a fashion designer or an astronaut," she said. "Maybe I can design astronaut suits."The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program has been taking trials to space since 2010.Through a $19,500 grant from the Suncoast Credit Union Foundation to the Hillsborough County School District, 11 local schools were able to participate in this National Center for Earth and Space Science Education NanoRacks program. FishHawk Creek emerged as the area winner, beating out finalists from Reddick Elementary School in Wimauma and Kingswood Elementary School in Brandon."It's beyond cool," said FishHawk Creek principal Pam Bush. "It gives you goosebumps."Boeing Foresees Additional WGS Satellite OrdersMike Gruss – Space NewsThe U.S. Air Force is discussing the possibility of building at least two more Wideband Global Satcom communications satellites with funding from potential international partners, Boeing Network and Space Systems President Roger Krone said May 13.Krone said in a briefing with reporters he believes there is enough international appetite for additional satellites."We have line of sight on at least two more," Krone said. "Those may not be bought by the Air Force. Just like WGS-6 was bought by the Australians. Lots of discussion we're party to, but it's more government to government."Capt. Matthew Stines, a spokesman for the Secretary of the Air Force, had no immediate comment on the likelihood of additional WGS orders.Australia invested approximately $700 million in WGS-6, the last of the second three-satellite block in the series. In exchange, Australia's military will have access to the full 10-satellite constellation at a level proportional to its investment.The Air Force has invested an estimated $4 billion in its own constellation of X- and Ka-band Wideband Global Satcom satellites, which are being built by El Segundo, California-based Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. Six of the 10 planned WGS satellites are now in orbit.The constellation's seventh satellite, WGS-7, is expected to launch in mid-2015, according to Air Force budget documents. Among the remaining WGS satellites under development, WGS-9 is being built thanks to an investment by a five-country consortium of Denmark, Canada, New Zealand, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, said in January the Air Force is conducting a study on the future of wideband communication systems. That study is expected to be finished in late summer or fall. But in public speeches this year, he has repeatedly questioned whether the WGS service could be turned over to commercial providers."Do we want to continue with the military dedicated constellation?" Shelton said in January. "Can we turn either a portion or all of this over to a commercial provider and contract for a service?"For their part, commercial operators, frustrated with the service's dependence on the constellation, say they can offer many of the same technical capabilities as WGS but at less cost to the Air Force."The U.S. government and foreign governments do need additional satellite resources as demand continues to grow," said Philip Harlow, president and chief operating officer of Xtar LLC of Herndon, Virginia, which operates X-band satellites and markets the capacity to government customers. "Is paying a huge premium for 10-year old technology that will only be available close to 2020 the best use of precious government budgets, when commercial high-throughput satellites with greater capabilities than this outdated platform are increasingly available?"Krone said some of the reforms Shelton has talked about require a different acquisition model for WGS."That could be a commercial satellite hosted payload or it could be buying [milsatcom] as a service," Krone said. "All of which Boeing would be interested in playing. This is our bread and butter. "He said WGS is "as commercial a program as I have with the Air Force."International partnerships are playing an increasing role in the Air Force's move to boost its resiliency. Already, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom have contributed more than $270 million to the Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, which are used in part for nuclear command and control.Additionally, Lockheed Martin, in concert with the Pentagon, is looking to drum up interest among U.S. allies in the next-generation satellite communications system it is building for the U.S. Navy as means of sustaining the existing production line until the service is ready to procure more.Rocket Carrying Advanced Russian Satellite Malfunctions Shortly After LaunchThe Moscow TimesAn unmanned Russian Proton-M rocket carrying an advanced telecommunication satellite malfunctioned minutes after launching on Friday morning, Russian media reports say.Ground controllers lost contact with the rocket nine minutes after it took off from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, Itar-Tass reported.The Russian Federal Space Agency, also known as Roscosmos, acknowledged the accident on their website Friday morning and said that all fuel and component parts had burned up in the atmosphere.Agency head Oleg Ostapenko told journalists that the accident occurred at a height of 160 kilometers above Chinese territory and that a possible reason for the accident was a malfunction in one of the steering engines.There were no immediate reports of injuries or damages on the ground.The rocket was carrying an Express-AM4R communications satellite, designed to replace the Express-AM that Russia had put into orbit in August, 2011 but which malfunctioned almost immediately and was brought down into the Pacific Ocean the next year.Ostapenko told Itar-Tass that the satellite had not been successfully launched into orbit and Ilya Solomatin, vice-president of the insurance company Ingostrakha, said that the rocket and satellite had been insured for 7.8 billion rubles ($224.7 million).The Express-AM4R satellite is the most advanced telecommunications satellite used by Russia and is intended to provide affordable Internet access to those living in remote parts of the country.The cost of the new satellite was more than 200 million euros ($274 million), an unidentified space official told Interfax.The previous crash of a Proton-M occurred last July, when the rocket diverged from its course shortly after takeoff and collapsed with an explosion near the launch site.It had been carrying more than 600 tons of heptyl and other fuel components, and the Kazakh government estimated the environmental damage from the crash at about $70 million, Interfax reported.US-Russian Tensions Roiling Outer Space Cooperation
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