Fwd: NASA and Human Spaceflight News - Wednesday – August 6, 2014 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: August 6, 2014 11:04:07 AM CDT
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA and Human Spaceflight News - Wednesday – August 6, 2014  and JSC Today

Hope you can join us at our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon tomorrow at Hibachi Grill – 11:30 on Bay Area Blvd in Webster.

 

 

 

 

Wednesday, August 6, 2014

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Save the Date for Safety and Health Day - Oct. 9 -  Safe, Not Sorry (SNS) - It's The Little Things Organizations/Social -  JSC Feeds Families Silent Auction -  Order a Hispanic ERG Polo Shirt -  The Importance of Optimism -  Could Black Holes Propel Spacecraft? -  Starport Adult Sports Leagues -  Beginners Ballroom Dance: Aug. 19 & 21 -  Parent's Night Out at Starport - Aug. 15 Jobs and Training -  Employee Work Passion/Optimal Motivation -  Welding and Cutting ViTS: Sept. 2 Community -  Help JSC Reach its Goal of 60,000 Pounds of Food -  New Ways to Reach Out -  Observe the Perseid Meteor Shower - Aug. 12

Two Years Ago, Curiosity Rover Lands on Mars, Captures Image of Mount Sharp

 

Headlines Save the Date for Safety and Health Day - Oct. 9 Dare to be aware! The 2014 Safety and Health Day is right around the corner, so mark your calendar. Event Date: Thursday, October 9, 2014   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Teague Auditorium, JSC Mall Area Add to Calendar Suprecia Franklin/Angel Plaza x37817/x37305 http://sthday.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Safe, Not Sorry (SNS) - It's The Little Things Boeing is proactive in trying to keep anyone from being hit by someone opening a door too fast. There are arcs painted on the stairwell floors, signs posted to remind folks to be careful exiting doors and windows on the doors to see an approaching employee. Even so, close calls are still reported where employees were nearly hit. For that reason, when Bill Bowers noticed that Clint Lively took the time to look through the narrow stairwell exit door window to make sure the way was clear before opening the door and possibly hurting the oncoming Bowers, he was quickly nominated for an SNS pin. Hats off to Lively for being Safe, Not Sorry! Rindy Carmichael x45078 [top]    Organizations/Social JSC Feeds Families Silent Auction SILENT AUCTION—Champions Rise to the Occasion—is open to all of JSC and brought to you by the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity in collaboration with the Strategic Opportunities and Partnership Development Office. Come to Building 1, Room 620, on Aug. 14 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for lots of fun and surprise items that you never knew your needed. All proceeds will benefit the Galveston County Food Bank and JSC's goal for JSC Feeds Families. Contact Jeanette Smith if you have questions. Event Date: Thursday, August 14, 2014   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 1, Room 620 Add to Calendar Jennette Smith x37087 [top] Order a Hispanic ERG Polo Shirt The JSC's Hispanic Employee Resource Group (ERG) is selling polo shirts for $25. If interested, please follow these easy steps: 1. Visit this page 2. Scroll to the bottom of the page and click on the link that says: "Add new item" 3. Complete the form 4. Wait for an email from us so you can pay online via credit card. HERG Officers x34589 https://collaboration.ndc.nasa.gov/iierg/hispanic/default.aspx [top] The Importance of Optimism "A pessimist is one who makes difficulties of his opportunities, and an optimist is one who makes opportunities of his difficulties." - Harry S. Truman Optimism is defined as the hopefulness and confidence about the future or successful outcome of something. Come and be a part of the presentation that illustrates examples of positive mental attitudes. We will highlight the positive thinking that is essential for one to present with a more optimistic frame of reference. Concepts that distinguish optimism from pessimism will also be identified. Please join JSC Employee Assistance Program presenter Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, CEAP, NCC, as she presents "The Importance of Optimism." Event Date: Tuesday, August 12, 2014   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130 [top] Could Black Holes Propel Spacecraft? Can we harness the universe to explore? Find out at JSC's SAIC/Safety and Mission Assurance speaker forum featuring Jeff Lee, researcher and project lead for the X-Physics Propulsion and Power Group at Icarus Interstellar and faculty member of the Crescent School. Topic: Using Laser-Generated Quantum Black Holes as Power and Propulsion Sources for Future Spacecraft Date/Time: Wednesday, Aug. 13, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. Location: Teague Auditorium Are you interested in traveling beyond low-Earth orbit and the future of space travel? If you enjoyed Dr. Cleaver's previous presentation on "Icarus Interstellar and NASA's 100-Year Starship Project Goal," you don't want to miss this presentation by Lee. He will discuss the applications and implications of Schwarzschild Kugelblitz (SKs) and the potential speeds and displacements of SK-powered future spacecraft. Laser-generated quantum black holes (SKs) have been proposed as power and propulsion sources for spacecraft. Event Date: Wednesday, August 13, 2014   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Teague Auditorium Add to Calendar Della Cardona/Juan Traslavina 281-335-2074/281-335-2272 [top] Starport Adult Sports Leagues Come join the Starport Athletics adult sports leagues. We offer a plethora of leagues that range from men's and co-ed softball to even dodgeball. Come check us out! Right now our fall season registration is starting to open for most sports. Hurry and take advantage of the great leagues we offer here at Starport! Robert K.Vaughn II x38049 http://www.imleagues.com/School/Intramural/Home.aspx?SchId=b77f7df9172d4... [top] Beginners Ballroom Dance: Aug. 19 & 21 Do you feel like you have two left feet? Well, Starport has the perfect program for you: Beginners Ballroom Dance! This eight-week class introduces you to the various types of ballroom dance. Students will learn the secrets of a good lead and following, as well as the ability to identify the beat of the music. This class is easy, and we have fun as we learn. JSC friends and family are welcome. Discounted registration: $90 per couple (ends Aug. 8) Regular registration: $110 per couple (Aug. 9 to 19) Two class sessions available: Tuesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. - starting Aug. 19 Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. - starting Aug. 21 All classes are taught in the Gilruth Center's dance studio (Group Ex studio). Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/recreation-programs/ballroom-d... [top] Parent's Night Out at Starport – Aug. 15 Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport. We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, a movie, dessert and loads of fun! When: Friday, Aug. 15, from 6 to 10 p.m. Where: Gilruth Center Ages: 5 to 12 Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/first child and $15/additional sibling. Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/familyyouth-programs/parents-n... [top]    Jobs and Training Employee Work Passion/Optimal Motivation The Employee Work Passion Model helps participants learn and understand how their moment-to-moment and ongoing analysis of individual, job and organizational factors influence their sense of well-being. The sense of well-being an employee feels significantly influences how committed—how passionate—they are toward their work and the overall organization. Day one is intended to help individuals come to realize what aspects of their own passion—their own motivation—are within their control, even within an organization that has experienced significant and sometimes unpleasant recent changes. Day two is intended to help participants learn how to manage their own motivation and how to help others—peers, direct reports and even their upper managers—manage their motivation in an ongoing manner. The program is interactive, intriguing and pragmatic for people who want to take more control of their work experience and upgrade it for the better. Audience: Supervisors/managers Date: Sept. 2-3 SATERN enrollment: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=REGISTRATI... J. Greg Grant x32601 [top] Welding and Cutting ViTS: Sept. 2 This three-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration CFR 1926.350 - Requirements for Working with Gas Welding and Cutting; 1926.351 - Arc Welding and Cutting; 1926.352 - Fire Prevention, Ventilation and Protection in Welding Cutting and Heating; and 1926.354 - Welding Cutting and Heating in Way of Preservation Coating in the Construction Industry. During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely in welding and cutting operations. Registration in SATERN is required. Use this link to register. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Shirley Robinson x41284 [top]    Community Help JSC Reach its Goal of 60,000 Pounds of Food Summer is in full swing. For most children that means days spent playing outside with friends, summer camp and vacation. Yet for some, it may mean going without the fuel they need to enjoy these summer days. When school is out, some children lose access to regular meals. Monthly, the Galveston County Food Bank serves 5,913 children in need. YOU can make difference to so many in our community through the JSC Feeds Families event. Our effort continues with the collection canned and dry goods this week. Drop your food items into the bins conveniently located across JSC, or purchase a food voucher or pre-packaged bag of food in the Starport Gift Shops. With YOUR help we will reach our goal to raise 60,000 pounds of food! Donations will be shared between the Clear Lake Food Pantry and Galveston County Food Bank. Help us Knock Out Hunger! Mike Lonchambon/Joyce Abbey x45151/281-335-2041 [top] New Ways to Reach Out There are many exciting opportunities where you can help inform children—or adults—about the many things we do at NASA. Aug. 8 – Bright Futures Fair The ASIA Employee Resource Group will host a booth at this incredible end-of-summer event at NRG Arena, but they could use your help staffing the exhibit. This event focuses on showing children the possibilities for a BRIGHT FUTURE through education and healthy life choices, and where NASA can fit into that equation! Several shift times available in the V-CORPs calendar. Aug. 14 – Bring Our Children to Work Day (BOCTWD) We still need people to help with BOCTWD—several different tasks are available. Can you spend just one hour? Maybe two? Be an usher, help with registration, apply temporary tattoos, help children decorate flat astronauts ... and more. Multiple times are available to fit your schedule! Check out the possibilities in V-CORPs. Sept. 16 OR Sept. 23 – International Society of Automation (ISA) Prefer speaking to adults? Know something about automation? The ISA is looking for someone to speak to their group about how we do automation at NASA—particularly automating our space vehicles. They are flexible, and either date will work for them. Both dates are shown on the V-CORPs calendar, but just volunteer for the date that works best for you. More opportunities will be popping up in the V-CORPs calendar, so check back early and often. Questions? Contact the V-CORPs administrator. V-CORPs 281-792-5859 [top] Observe the Perseid Meteor Shower - Aug. 12 The George Observatory will be open on Aug. 12 from 5 p.m. to 2 a.m. for the Perseid Meteor Shower. Come out and watch the show! Please remember that stargazing is weather dependent. For more information about the George Observatory, click here. Note: Park entrance fees apply at $7 per person for everyone over 12 years old. Megan Hashier 281-226-4179 http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=673&Ite... [top]

 

JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

NASA and Human Spaceflight News

Wednesday – August 6, 2014

 

www.nasa.gov/ntv

NASA TV:  ISS astronaut Reid Wiseman will discuss his mission with Maryland Public Radio WYPR and Maryland Public Television today in a pair of in-flight interviews to be broadcast on NASA TV at 12:45pm Central time.

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Comet chaser reaches target after 10-year chase

 

Frank Jordans – Associated Press

 

DARMSTADT, Germany -- After a journey of 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles), Europe's unmanned Rosetta probe reached its destination Wednesday, a milestone in mankind's first attempt to land a spacecraft on a comet. The decade-long trip was successfully completed with a seven-minute thrust that allowed Rosetta to swing alongside comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

 

Rosetta Spacecraft Set for Unprecedented Close Study of a Comet

 

Kenneth Chang – The New York Times

 

After 10 years and four billion miles, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will arrive at its destination on Wednesday for the first extended, close examination of a comet. The last in a series of 10 thruster firings over the past few months will slow Rosetta to the pace of a person walking, about two miles per hour relative to the speed of its target, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, at a distance of about 60 miles.

 

After a 4-Billion-Mile Journey, the Rosetta Probe is Less than a Day Away from Historic Rendezvous With a Comet

 

Tom Yulsman – Discover Magazine

 

The Rosetta spacecraft is poised to make history. If all continues to go well, it will complete its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 8 GMT tomorrow, Aug. 6 (4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time), and settle into orbit. This would be a first: No spacecraft has ever orbited a comet before. Rosetta is now closer to the comet than the International Space Station is to the surface of Earth — and the image above shows that the view is already quite spectacular. The spacecraft's NAVCAM camera acquired the image yesterday.

 

Going to Mars Could Define Humankind in Decades Ahead, Author Says

 

Simon Worrall – National Geographic

 

Are we all Martians? Will we one day be taking our vacations there? Is extraterrestrial life not just the stuff of science fiction? These are some of the questions award-winning science writer Marc Kaufman explores in his new book, Mars Up Close, about Mars and NASA's Curiosity mission, which showed us the red planet as we'd never seen it before. Here he talks about how PayPal and Mars are connected, why it's important for humanity to send manned space flights there, and how a seemingly barren planet normally associated with war might turn out to be the mother of us all.

 

2nd anniversary of Mars rover landing celebrated

 

Associated Press

 

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA has held a party for a 2-year-old that can't walk — but it sure can crawl. On Tuesday, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena celebrated the second anniversary of the day that the Curiosity rover landed on Mars. The rover was only expected to work until June 24 but like the Eveready bunny, it just keeps going.

 

Two Years on Mars: Here's What's Next for NASA's Curiosity Rover

 

Alan Boyle – NBC News

 

It's been two years since NASA's Curiosity rover made its nail-biting touchdown on Mars, and the six-wheeled, SUV-sized robot has found the hoped-for evidence that the Red Planet was once habitable for life as we know it. So ... mission accomplished? "For the entire Curiosity team, the big moment is yet to come," said science writer Marc Kaufman, the author of "Mars Up Close," a book about the $2.5 billion mission. That big moment has everything to do with the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain that Curiosity is just now nearing — known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. The mountain's layers of rock appear to record billions of years' worth of the planet's geological history, and could reveal the presence of organic carbons.

 

William Shatner checking in with space agencies on Twitter

 

Ryan Parker – Los Angeles Times

 

Old habits die hard, especially for the classic captain of the USS Enterprise. William Shatner, a.k.a. Capt. James T. Kirk from "Star Trek," has begun tweeting at space organizations to check on operations. So far, he has not been left hanging. Shatner tweeted at NASA on Saturday and got a reply, so he decided to check in with the European Space Agency on Tuesday afternoon.

 

Despite SpaceX plans, Nelson pushes for Brevard launches

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Tuesday downplayed the news that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk selected Texas for the site of a private launch complex. Nelson, an Orlando Democrat, told FLORIDA TODAY many of SpaceX's launches would remain here and that the Cape is taking steps to welcome more commercial launches. "I think you're going to see a lot of commercial activity that is going to be there and on the Kennedy Space Center," Nelson said in an interview at his Orlando office. "So I think we have a robust future."

 

Rocketing forward

 

Houston Chronicle

 

Boca Chica Beach, generally the haunt of a few fishermen and birders, along with a handful of winter Texans who relish the peace and quiet at the mouth of the Rio Grande, moved one step closer this week toward becoming the very opposite of peace and quiet. Gov. Rick Perry announced on Monday that the private company SpaceX will build the world's first commercial rocket launchpad on a 56.5-acre site east of Brownsville. The state of Texas and the Rio Grande Valley have been vying for the spaceport for the past three years.

 

Lockheed wins $340M extension to NASA operations assistance work

 

Mark Hoover – Washington Technology

 

Lockheed Martin has won a $340 million contract extension to continue providing NASA with facilities development and operations support of human spaceflight missions at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. The extension brings the total contract value to over $1 billion.

 

Astronauts Test Google Glass, Heart Monitor in Undersea Base

 

Elizabeth Howell – Space.com

 

A team of undersea astronauts took to the ocean floor last week to test out innovative new technologies that may one day make life in space easier. The space tech sea trials came amid spectacular simulated underwater "spacewalks" during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission (NEEMO), in which the underwater astronauts tested out a drill for a potential asteroid mission. The tests included using Google Glass to help astronauts keep track of what procedures to do next in space, and a Bluetooth heart rate monitor that would improve upon what the International Space Station uses right now.

 

SpaceX launches Falcon rocket with commercial satellite after hitch

 

Irene Klotz – Reuters

 

Fla. Aug 5 (Reuters) - A Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket thundered off its coastal launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday to put a commercial communications satellite into orbit. On its second launch attempt of the day, the 224-foot (68-meter) rocket lifted off at 4 a.m. EDT/0800 GMT, blazing through partly cloudy, pre-dawn skies as it headed into space.

 

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Comet chaser reaches target after 10-year chase

 

Frank Jordans – Associated Press

 

DARMSTADT, Germany -- After a journey of 6.4 billion kilometers (4 billion miles), Europe's unmanned Rosetta probe reached its destination Wednesday, a milestone in mankind's first attempt to land a spacecraft on a comet.

The decade-long trip was successfully completed with a seven-minute thrust that allowed Rosetta to swing alongside comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko somewhere between the orbits of Mars and Jupiter.

"This is your only chance to have a rendezvous with a comet," Jean-Jacques Dordain, director-general of the European Space Agency, told scientists and spectators at the mission control center in Darmstadt, Germany.

The goal of the mission is to orbit 67P at a distance of 100 kilometers (60 miles) and observe the comet as it hurtles toward the sun. If all goes according to plan, Rosetta will attempt the unprecedented feat of dropping a lander onto a comet in November.

Scientists hope that the information they collect will help them learn more about the origins of comets, stars and planets, said David Southwood, who oversaw the scientific part of the mission until his recent retirement.

"Comets are the stuff of which the solar system was originally made," he said. Some scientists have suggested that water, an essential element for the development of life, arrived on Earth from comets.

Plans to bring material extracted from the comet back to Earth were canceled when NASA pulled out of a joint mission at an early stage, but the U.S. space agency contributed three of the 21 instruments aboard Rosetta and its Philae lander.

Scientists have already made a number of exciting observations as Rosetta hurtled through space at about 55,000 kph (34,000 mph) — a speed that required three loops around Earth and one around Mars to gain pace.

Recently released pictures taken by Rosetta show that 67P has an uneven shape that some have likened to a giant, four-kilometer (2.5-mile) long duck. This could mean that the comet is made up of two formerly distinct objects, or that it was heavily eroded.

The images, which have a resolution of 2.5 meters (eight feet) per pixel, also show steep 150-meter (490-feet) cliffs as well as smooth plains and house-sized boulders.

Scientists will spend the coming months analyzing the pictures Rosetta sends home to determine the best place to drop Philae. The lander will glide down to the comet before shooting a harpoon into its porous surface to avoid drifting off again.

Apart from the unprecedented landing, the orbiter section will also be the first to accompany a comet on its journey toward the sun, when 67P will begin to fizz and release the cloud of dust and ice that most people associate with comets. Measurements show that the comet is already losing the equivalent of two small glasses of water each second, an amount that will increase thousand-fold over the coming months.

"We're going to have a ringside seat to see, for the first time, a comet turn into a comet, to develop its tail and explain what for centuries mankind has been puzzled by," Southwood said.

While comets have long been associated with superstition, there is a real, albeit slim chance that such an object could one day hit Earth, causing a global catastrophe. Learning more about the nature of comets might help prevent that, Southwood said.

The spacecraft and its lander won't survive much beyond the end of next year, but the data they collect are expected to keep scientists busy for at least a decade. Rosetta, which has so far cost €1.3 billion ($1.74 billion), is one of the most high-profile missions for ESA, which is lobbying governments for its next four-year budget in December.

The European mission is different from NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, which fired a projectile into a comet in 2005 to study the resulting plume of matter. NASA also landed a probe on an asteroid in 2001, but comets are much more volatile places because they constantly release dust and gas that can harm a spacecraft.

 

Rosetta Spacecraft Set for Unprecedented Close Study of a Comet

 

Kenneth Chang – The New York Times

 

After 10 years and four billion miles, the European Space Agency's Rosetta spacecraft will arrive at its destination on Wednesday for the first extended, close examination of a comet.

 

The last in a series of 10 thruster firings over the past few months will slow Rosetta to the pace of a person walking, about two miles per hour relative to the speed of its target, Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, at a distance of about 60 miles.

 

Photographs have already revealed a surprisingly irregular shape for the 2.5-mile-wide comet, possibly an amalgamation of two icy bodies or a result of uneven weathering during previous flybys. From a distance, the blurry blob initially looked somewhat like a rubber duck. As the details came into the focus, it now more resembles a knob of ginger flying through space.

 

Continuing a trend of anthropomorphizing, the Rosetta mission managers tweeted a photograph of the comet on Monday with the comment "Do you think I got #67P's good side yesterday?"

 

Over the coming months, Rosetta and its comet, called C-G for short, will plunge together toward the sun.

 

"The key thing is we're rendezvousing and escorting right in alongside the comet for an extended period, for over a year," said Matthew Taylor, the mission's project scientist.

 

They are 334 million miles from the sun (more than three times as far out as Earth), traveling at 34,400 miles per hour.

 

Comets, made of ice, dust and rock, are frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system. Rosetta is named after the Rosetta Stone, the engraved block that was crucial in deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphics, and scientists hope that the spacecraft's observations will offer important clues to how the solar system came together 4.5 billion years ago.

 

In June, the spacecraft measured the flow of water vapor streaming off the comet at a rate of about two cups a second, which would fill an Olympic-size swimming pool in about 100 days. As the comet accelerates toward the sun, its surface will warm, and the trickle will grow to a torrent of hundreds of pounds a second, forming the long tail characteristic of comets.

 

Measurements in July put the surface temperature at minus 94 degrees Fahrenheit, or minus 70 Celsius. That was warm enough to indicate that the surface was not exclusively ice and that some parts were dusty and darker, absorbing more heat from the sun.

 

Rosetta is carrying a small 220-pound lander, named Philae after the island in the Nile where the Rosetta Stone was found. In November, Philae is to leave the spacecraft, set down on the comet and harpoon itself to the surface. That will be the first time a spacecraft has gently landed on a comet. "It's really going to get down and scratch the surface to get the most pristine material that we can from the surface of the comet," Dr. Taylor said.

 

Designed to operate through 2015, Rosetta and Philae will make observations as the comet makes its nearest approach to the sun a little more than a year from now, at 115 million miles, still outside of the orbit of Earth. The comet will remain too dim to be seen by the naked eye.

Continue reading the main story Continue reading the main story

 

Other missions to comets have made brief flybys, beginning with the International Sun-Earth Explorer-3 in September 1985. NASA's Deep Impact slammed into a comet in 2005, and another mission, Stardust, collected particles of dust and returned them to Earth for study.

 

(ISEE-3 is back in the news, because the spacecraft, still largely working, will zip past Earth again next week.)

 

The Rosetta mission, costing 1.3 billion euros, or $1.7 billion, will provide a much longer, much closer look at one comet. Instead of taking a brief snapshot, Rosetta will observe the comet going from quiescent to active, and then will make before-and-after comparisons.

 

"We'll observe how this occurs, how this activity is onset, how it fluctuates, really how a comet works over a long time period," Dr. Taylor said. "That's really the difference between this and anything that's been done before."

 

Launched in March 2004, it followed a circuitous route through the solar system, using flybys of the Earth and Mars to fling itself into the same orbital path as Comet C-G. In January, it successfully emerged from a long hibernation and began its final approach.

 

After a 4-Billion-Mile Journey, the Rosetta Probe is Less than a Day Away from Historic Rendezvous With a Comet

 

Tom Yulsman – Discover Magazine

 

The Rosetta spacecraft is poised to make history.

 

If all continues to go well, it will complete its rendezvous with comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko at 8 GMT tomorrow, Aug. 6 (4 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time), and settle into orbit.

 

This would be a first: No spacecraft has ever orbited a comet before.

 

Rosetta is now closer to the comet than the International Space Station is to the surface of Earth — and the image above shows that the view is already quite spectacular. The spacecraft's NAVCAM camera acquired the image yesterday.

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fNBUep7mPdI

 

As the video above shows, after a 10-year journey across billions of miles of space, it has taken a balletic series of maneuvers, choreographed by controllers at the European Space Agency, to bring Rosetta to this point. Now, all that remains is one last thruster burn intended to slow the spacecraft and settle it into orbit around the comet. (For details, check out this post from the official Rosetta mission blog. Also, for an online, interactive, 3-D model of the Rosetta mission, check out my earlier post here.)

 

Why go to all this trouble?

 

Comets formed far from the sun about 4.6 billion years ago, before planets had coalesced. They consist of material that's believed to be relatively pristine. Thus, by studying comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, scientists hope to gain valuable insights into the origin and evolution of the solar system, including our own planet.

 

The plan is for Rosetta to examine the comet's surface from orbit for two months. Then, in early November, Rosetta is scheduled to release a lander named Philae, which is designed to touch down on the comet's surface to carry out detailed scientific analyses.

 

I'm looking forward to more of Rosetta's images. I'll post them here, so please check back.

 

Going to Mars Could Define Humankind in Decades Ahead, Author Says

 

Simon Worrall – National Geographic

 

Are we all Martians? Will we one day be taking our vacations there? Is extraterrestrial life not just the stuff of science fiction?

 

These are some of the questions award-winning science writer Marc Kaufman explores in his new book, Mars Up Close, about Mars and NASA's Curiosity mission, which showed us the red planet as we'd never seen it before.

 

Here he talks about how PayPal and Mars are connected, why it's important for humanity to send manned space flights there, and how a seemingly barren planet normally associated with war might turn out to be the mother of us all.

 

Your book opens with a jaw-dropping quote from Elon Musk: "In the next few decades I plan to travel to Mars and make it my home." Is that really feasible?

 

Let's just say that a lot of things would have to go right in order for that to happen. There are some big challenges. But the architecture for sending humans to Mars is entirely understood. The issue is: Is there money? And is there public support? Though he has the advantage of potentially doing some of that on his own.

 

Tell us a bit about Elon Musk.

 

He made his initial money with PayPal. Then, as he explained to me, he thought, "I have all these millions of dollars, how can I be a useful person in this world?" He was still quite young. And there were three things he thought most important. One was an electric car—thus Tesla, often described as the best car ever created. Second was SpaceX, which was a way for the private space industry to really blossom.

 

Now, against all odds again, he has contracts with NASA to bring cargo up to the International Space Station. He's also building a heavy-lift rocket that could indeed take someone to Mars. He's also the CEO of something called Solar City, a solar panel company, which he felt was needed in terms of new ways of dealing with the energy situation. He's in the process of selecting a site to build a giga-factory, to be the largest battery factory on Earth.

 

By chance, we're talking a week after NASA announced they've successfully tested an "impossible engine." Could that be significant for humans' flight to Mars?

 

One of the major issues is that, using current technology, it takes about nine months to get to Mars, and we know that the radiation exposure for that time is probably in the hazardous range. It may not kill you, but it would make you a fairly sick puppy. And so they need to get there quicker. The other obstacle is the life support for human beings when there.

 

And then, getting away again. It turns out that leaving Mars is very difficult. Even though the atmosphere is quite thin, it still is an atmosphere. So it's not like being on the moon, where they were able to just shoot up, back in the Apollo days. They'd need a fairly sophisticated and powerful rocket to get them out. They don't know how to do that right now.

 

They also don't know how to land something as big as a space capsule. Curiosity famously landed with a sky crane, which was a huge step forward. They dropped a 1,000-pound vehicle onto the surface of Mars, which was much larger than anything before. But to send humans to Mars, you're talking about 20 to 30 tons.

 

Tell us about the Curiosity mission.

 

The main goals were to determine whether or not Mars at one point was habitable, and to locate, if possible, organic material, which are the carbon-based compounds that are the building blocks of life as we know it, and we would assume would be the building blocks of life on Mars, if there was ever life there.

 

Remarkably, after landing, instead of going to what was planned as their primary destination, Mount Sharp, this three-mile-high mountain in the middle of the crater, they had seen something from orbiting satellites that appeared very interesting. It was the lowest point in Gale Crater.

 

And there were all kinds of geological signs that said, Look at me, look at me! So they made a pretty dramatic and risky decision to go in the opposite direction soon after landing. They went to what came to be called Yellowknife Bay, and what they found was truly astounding. It was basically ancient mudflats. And that meant there was once a lot of running water there, because they also found a river coming down into it.

 

The pH of the water that once had been there was neutral. It also had other chemicals in there that bacteria could use as energy sources. So they concluded there had been a lake there at one point—we're talking about three and a half to four billion years ago—and that this region, and probably other places on Mars, had indeed been habitable. Doesn't mean they were inhabited. But they were habitable.

 

Tell us about some of the "mission makers," the people that made the Curiosity exploration possible. Adam Steltzner is not your typical NASA geek, is he?

 

No, he's an incredible character, in the best sense. He had a kind of Elvis pompadour at the time, and he wore ear studs. He had played in a rock band for a long time but had been a bit of a lost soul until he had a kind of epiphany driving home one night. He saw something in the sky he didn't understand and wanted to know about. And that led him into astronomy and then into engineering.

 

Another amazing person was Jennifer Trosper. She's an engineer, and the whole time this thing was landing, she was also looking after two children, working 24 hours a day, with a family at home.

 

The moon's association in mythology is overwhelmingly female. Mars has always been associated with masculinity and war: the Greek god, Mars attacks, Martians, etc. Has this warped our understanding of the planet?

 

Mars has that reddish hue, which seems to connote anger or blood. But what Curiosity has revealed, to some extent, is that at around the same time life was beginning on Earth, Mars was equally hospitable. Indeed, the conditions were probably more conducive to life on Mars at that time than they were here. So some have theorized that life actually began on Mars: that some rock with life in it, like an asteroid, hit the planet, went off into space and then potentially landed on Earth and—boom!—life begins. [Laughs]

 

In other words, we're maybe all Martians. To me, that's the take-home message of Curiosity—that rather than being this male, violent, harsh place, Mars is potentially our mother. Or at least our cousin. Or sister.

 

To put humans on Mars would cost hundreds of billions of dollars. Why should any government want to spend that money?

 

[Laughs] Utterly appropriate question. Though that would actually be hundreds of billions over decades, doing a variety of different missions, not just one mission. The logic for it, as many see it in the space world, and I came to see it also, is that it's a challenge that will define us. And by us I mean both the United States and other nations. It's clear that the U.S. itself can't do this alone. It needs—and is increasingly cooperating with other countries—the EU in particular but also Japan and India. Russia has also been a very good partner in the past, but that may have fallen apart because of Ukraine. But putting that aside, this magnificent challenge, like going to the moon in previous generations, could define humankind.

 

How did work on this book change your perspective on life?

 

I'd written a book about astrobiology, which is the hunt for life beyond Earth, and that was what led me to this to some extent. One of the things brought home is how we need to think in astronomical time, where a billion years is nothing.

 

And the amazing thing about Mars is that it has changed much less than the Earth has, where human life has changed everything. Conditions are similar to what they were four billion years ago. So it's quite possible that one day scientists will be able to say: "We've detected remnants that tell us there was once biology here." It's very hard. It requires both the instruments and a leap of the imagination.

 

So if things continue, if more missions go and more nations get involved, I think it's quite possible they'll discover that there once was life on Mars. And that would be one of those moments, like when Copernicus said the Earth isn't the center of the universe. It changes everything. Because if there was a genesis of life on Earth, and also a separate genesis of life on Mars, it means that it's almost impossible that there aren't a lot of other planets where there's life. We might not be able to see it at any given moment, because astronomical time is so vast. But it would suggest very, very strongly that there's life out there.

 

2nd anniversary of Mars rover landing celebrated

 

Associated Press

 

PASADENA, Calif. -- NASA has held a party for a 2-year-old that can't walk — but it sure can crawl.

 

On Tuesday, scientists at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena celebrated the second anniversary of the day that the Curiosity rover landed on Mars.

 

The rover was only expected to work until June 24 but like the Eveready bunny, it just keeps going.

 

Among its successes, the rover uncovered signs of an ancient freshwater lake on Mars that could have been capable of supporting primitive life.

 

NASA's also looking forward to the next rover mission. Launching in 2020, it will include an experiment to distill oxygen from Martian carbon dioxide — which would be useful for a future manned mission.

 

Two Years on Mars: Here's What's Next for NASA's Curiosity Rover

 

Alan Boyle – NBC News

 

It's been two years since NASA's Curiosity rover made its nail-biting touchdown on Mars, and the six-wheeled, SUV-sized robot has found the hoped-for evidence that the Red Planet was once habitable for life as we know it. So ... mission accomplished?

 

"For the entire Curiosity team, the big moment is yet to come," said science writer Marc Kaufman, the author of "Mars Up Close," a book about the $2.5 billion mission.

 

That big moment has everything to do with the 3-mile-high (5-kilometer-high) mountain that Curiosity is just now nearing — known as Aeolis Mons or Mount Sharp. The mountain's layers of rock appear to record billions of years' worth of the planet's geological history, and could reveal the presence of organic carbons.

 

Would that prove life existed on ancient Mars, or perhaps exists even today? No. But it would mark a major advance in the centuries-old debate about life's chances beyond Earth.

 

Space.com contributor Rod Pyle, who tells the tale of the rover mission and the team behind it in a book titled "Curiosity," admits that NASA's latest Red Planet quest seems a bit schizophrenic at the two-year mark.

 

"NASA keeps saying this is not a mission to look for life on Mars, but this is an astrobiology mission," he told NBC News. "The big tipping point for this one is that it's actually looking for habitable environments."

 

Incredible Pictures from Mars

Nightly News

 

Both Pyle and Kaufman trace the thrills and spills behind Curiosity's search for signs of habitability:

 

·         Those memorable "seven minutes of terror" on Aug. 5, 2012, ending with a line-dropping landing in Gale Crater that even the mission team acknowledged to be a crazy idea.

·         The "brain transplant" that was required to switch the rover over into surface operations.

·         The high-stakes gamble that sent Curiosity in the direction opposite from Mount Sharp — and that paid off handsomely when gray powder from within a red Martian rock was found to hold the chemical signature of life-friendly conditions in ancient times.

·         The memory glitch that forced the mission team to switch from its A-side computer to the B-side backup, and suspended science operations for weeks.

 

Kaufman, who was visiting NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory when that glitch cropped up in late February 2013, said the mission team downplayed the seriousness of the anomaly at the time. The behind-the-scenes sentiment was much scarier. "It was, 'We're sweating buckets, and we may be doomed,'" Kaufman recalled.

 

Fortunately, Curiosity's handlers averted doom and went on to achieve marvels. That's the overarching theme of Kaufman's "Mars Up Close" as well as Pyle's "Curiosity" — and it's the message of the mission's motto as well: "Dare Mighty Things."

 

In the weeks and months ahead, more mighty things are likely to be on tap, including evidence of organic carbon-based chemicals on Mars and unprecedented observations of Comet Siding Spring's close approach to Mars (in concert with orbiters such as NASA's Maven spacecraft).

 

The Planetary Society's Emily Lakdawalla, who is working on her own book about Curiosity's mission, said she'll be on the watch for those times when Curiosity interrupts its trek to study sites of scientific interest along the way to Mount Sharp, especially if the robot fires up the drill that's mounted on its robotic arm. "Drilling always tells you that they think it's worthwhile to invest the time it takes to drill," she told NBC News.

 

Once Curiosity gets to Mount Sharp, geologists hope to use the rover's instruments to trace the changes recorded in the rocks, ranging from an age when it was warmer, wetter and more Earthlike, more than 3 billion years ago ... through a volcanically active transition period ... to the cold, dry environment we see today. That kind of wide-ranging geological record just isn't available on Earth, because Mother Nature erased it long ago.

 

    "When we go study Mars, we're trying to understand ourselves."

 

"In a way, when we go study Mars, we're trying to understand ourselves," Lakdawalla said. "We're trying to understand how our own planet worked when it was young."

 

Because the rover is powered by plutonium, it could theoretically keep going for more than a decade — that is, if its wheels don't give out. Those wheel treads have gotten pretty chewed up in the past few months, but Kaufman said mission team members have told him the going should get easier as Curiosity approaches Mount Sharp.

 

"If they take the precautionary steps they have in place, they say the wheels will not be what ends the mission," he said.

 

Beyond Curiosity

 

With luck, Curiosity will still be in business when NASA's next Mars rover arrives. That robot, scheduled for launch in 2020, will be built with Curiosity's basic design. But its array of instruments — and its purpose — will be significantly different.

 

"We're going from a 'looking for habitable environments' mission to something that does take us a step closer to looking for biology," Pyle said. The 2020 rover will also conduct experiments looking ahead to even farther-out efforts — such as storing Martian rock samples for eventual delivery to Earth and converting the carbon dioxide in Mars' atmosphere into oxygen.

 

Image: "Mars Up Close" and "Curiosity" National Geographic / Prometheus Books

"Mars Up Close: Inside the Curiosity Mission" is written by Marc Kaufman. "Curiosity: An Inside Look at the Mars Rover Mission and the People Who Made It Happen" is by Rod Pyle. Both books were published just in time for the second anniversary of the Curiosity rover's landing on Mars.

 

Then what? NASA says it wants to send astronauts to Mars and its moons by the 2030s, and private ventures such as Mars One and Inspiration Mars say they want to do it sooner. It's fitting that the foreword for Kaufman's book is written by SpaceX's founder, Elon Musk, who has repeatedly said he wants to die on Mars. ("Just not on impact," the 43-year-old billionaire adds.)

 

"I am talking about people settling on Mars and making life multiplanetary. ... When I think of going to Mars, I think of building greenhouses packed with rehydratable nutrients," Musk writes. "I think of an iron-ore refinery. I think of a pizza joint."

 

Others think about answering one of the biggest questions surrounding our existence: Are we alone? Or did life get its start elsewhere in the universe? Is it even possible that Earth's life came from Mars? "I personally think that would be the greatest scientific discovery of all time," Kaufman said. "That's the prize. Who knows what the greatest discovery of all time is worth?"

 

At its heart, the decades-long effort to explore Mars touches something deep in the human spirit, something that's hard to put a price tag on.

 

"We do it in part just because we're curious," Lakdawalla said, "and so 'Curiosity' is a good name."

 

William Shatner checking in with space agencies on Twitter

 

Ryan Parker – Los Angeles Times

 

Old habits die hard, especially for the classic captain of the USS Enterprise.

 

William Shatner, a.k.a. Capt. James T. Kirk from "Star Trek," has begun tweeting at space organizations to check on operations.

 

So far, he has not been left hanging.

 

Shatner tweeted at NASA on Saturday and got a reply, so he decided to check in with the European Space Agency on Tuesday afternoon.

 

As with NASA, the agency made the captain aware of its space affairs.

 

More - http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/gossip/la-et-mg-william-shatner-space-twitter-20140805-htmlstory.html

 

Despite SpaceX plans, Nelson pushes for Brevard launches

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson on Tuesday downplayed the news that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk selected Texas for the site of a private launch complex.

 

Nelson, an Orlando Democrat, told FLORIDA TODAY many of SpaceX's launches would remain here and that the Cape is taking steps to welcome more commercial launches.

 

"I think you're going to see a lot of commercial activity that is going to be there and on the Kennedy Space Center," Nelson said in an interview at his Orlando office. "So I think we have a robust future."

 

SpaceX teams up with Texas for launch complex

 

Musk's announcement Monday comes three years after he said he was looking for a "commercial Cape Canaveral," one he apparently found in Texas. With the help of $15 million from Texas, SpaceX agreed to build a private launch complex near Brownsville for commercial satellite launches, adding to its two East Coast pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station and Kennedy Space Center.

 

Florida officials have rued the loss of those commercial launches — up to 12 a year — as evidence that the Space Coast is failing to adapt to a changing launch industry.

 

Nelson said SpaceX's Texas site has some limitations.

The media covers a Space X falcon 9 rocket carrying the AsiaSat 8 Satellite turn night into day during a 4am liftoff early Tuesday morning from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station .

 

For example, he said, it is suitable only for missions to equatorial orbits that must "thread the needle" between the Florida Keys and north coast of Cuba.

 

"How many launches will be financially viable for them to do that from there?" he said. "I think that's a story still to be told."

 

Of the four commercial satellite missions SpaceX has launched from the Cape since December, three fit such a flight profile, including the AsiaSat communications satellite launched early Tuesday.

 

But missions angling to the northeast would start from Florida to avoid flying over populated areas.

 

Nelson said Brownsville, where the Federal Aviation Administration would license missions, also lacks a range to oversee flight safety.

 

"So something's got to be developed down there," he said. "I'm sure they have their plans, but that is a story yet to be told as well."

 

He noted that SpaceX would continue to launch government missions — potentially including astronauts — from the Space Coast, plus some commercial missions.

 

Still, the deal announced Monday followed through on a goal SpaceX set in 2011 as it anticipated growth in its commercial launch contracts.

 

A SpaceX Falcon 9 lifts off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station after a more than two and a half hour hold. Posted Aug. 5, 2014

 

"I envision this site functioning like a commercial Cape Canaveral," Musk said in a news release then.

 

He wanted a site independent from NASA or Air Force jurisdiction, and determined that none of the options offered by Florida, Puerto Rico or elsewhere in Texas "sufficiently met SpaceX's criteria," according to an FAA environmental study.

 

Space Florida proposed a new alternative called Shiloh, near the northern end of KSC and the Merritt Island Wildlife Refuge, that it believes would meet SpaceX's and other companies' criteria.

 

But as an environmental study is performed there, Nelson has been meeting with Air Force, NASA and FAA about how to open up existing or former launch sites for commercial use.

 

He said technological improvements such as GPS tracking of launches and rockets that could destroy themselves if they fly off course will gradually reduce the Air Force's historical and sometimes costly role in commercial missions.

 

"A lot of the constraints that the Air Force had to put upon commercial users in the past are not going to be there in the future," he said.

 

Nelson met Monday at Patrick Air Force Base with Air Force representatives from the Air Force's 45th Space Wing, Space Command and the Space and Missile Systems Center.

 

He remains optimistic that a roughly six-mile stretch of abandoned pads south of Launch Complex 37 can be put to good use, whether by SpaceX or other emerging commercial launchers.

 

"There's a great future there," he said.

 

Rocketing forward

 

Houston Chronicle

 

Boca Chica Beach, generally the haunt of a few fishermen and birders, along with a handful of winter Texans who relish the peace and quiet at the mouth of the Rio Grande, moved one step closer this week toward becoming the very opposite of peace and quiet. Gov. Rick Perry announced on Monday that the private company SpaceX will build the world's first commercial rocket launchpad on a 56.5-acre site east of Brownsville. The state of Texas and the Rio Grande Valley have been vying for the spaceport for the past three years.

 

As much we hate to lose the tranquility of the rugged landscape where the Rio Grande empties into the Gulf - an area that's historically significant, as well - the potential for a spaceport is just too great to pass up.

 

In addition to being on the cutting edge of space commerce, SpaceX, whose chief operating officer Elon Musk also founded PayPal and Tesla Motors, is expected to create at least a hundred short-term construction jobs, 500 permanent technology jobs and several hundred more ancillary jobs in supply and manufacturing.

 

Perry predicted that the commercial spaceport will pump $85 million worth of investment into the South Texas economy. Those are big numbers for Brownsville, the poorest metropolitan area in the nation.

 

The spaceport, which expects to launch up to 12 unmanned rockets a year beginning in 2015 or 2016, also might spur tourism dollars. About 40,000 people gather near Kennedy Space Center for unmanned-rocket launches, and, as the Chronicle's Eric Berger points out, even a fraction of that would fill South Texas hotel rooms several times over ("It's official: Texas to get private spaceport," Page A1 Tuesday).

 

"For a community our size, this means so much," Gilberto Salinas, executive vice president of the Brownsville Economic Development Council, told the Chronicle. "We've got our chance. We can be the next Cape Canaveral if we really want to."

 

Salinas also said he looked forward to SpaceX serving as a magnet for young, innovative and smart people, particularly young people who have felt they had to leave the Rio Grande Valley for greater opportunities elsewhere.

 

Brownsville was in competition with Puerto Rico and Florida to lure SpaceX. The state offered $2.3 million from the Texas Enterprise Fund, the incentive program that's been under scrutiny for alleged cronyism. With competition to attract commercial space companies getting hotter all the time, we have to agree that it was money well spent. The Texas Legislature also provided $13 million to Cameron County to develop the infrastructure needed for establishing a spaceport.

 

Texans have taken pride over the years in their state's leading role in space exploration and development, but recent cuts to NASA and the end of the shuttle program in 2011 have diminished that role (as Houstonians well know). Now SpaceX, which has an office in Houston, and other private-sector companies are re-energizing space efforts in the state.

 

Musk has said that he dreams of someday taking people to Mars. Brownsville's dream is more mundane but no less meaningful to residents hoping to benefit from the economic boon that SpaceX could launch. Space City at Boca Chica could be just over the horizon, and that's a good thing for the Rio Grande Valley.

 

Lockheed wins $340M extension to NASA operations assistance work

 

Mark Hoover – Washington Technology

 

Lockheed Martin has won a $340 million contract extension to continue providing NASA with facilities development and operations support of human spaceflight missions at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas.

 

The extension brings the total contract value to over $1 billion.

 

The company will continue to provide engineering and operations assistance for the hardware, software, data and display systems used to train for and execute all human spaceflight missions supported by the Mission Operations Directorate at the center, Lockheed said in a release.

 

In addition to this work, the company is also modernizing the mission control center, training facilities and software applications for the next generation of space flight.

 

Astronauts Test Google Glass, Heart Monitor in Undersea Base

 

Elizabeth Howell – Space.com

 

A team of undersea astronauts took to the ocean floor last week to test out innovative new technologies that may one day make life in space easier.

 

The space tech sea trials came amid spectacular simulated underwater "spacewalks" during the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission (NEEMO), in which the underwater astronauts tested out a drill for a potential asteroid mission. The tests included using Google Glass to help astronauts keep track of what procedures to do next in space, and a Bluetooth heart rate monitor that would improve upon what the International Space Station uses right now.

 

"There's a lot of equipment on board the station that can cause interference with other devices," NASA astronaut Jeanette Epps told Space.com on July 28 from the Aquarius lab, 62 feet (19 meters) under water off the coast of Key Largo, Florida.

 

The astronauts tried out the heart rate monitor while using a hair dryer to see if that would produce interference, and early indications show that the monitor still works well, she added.

 

10-minute delay

 

The NEEMO mission, NASA's 18th, aims to test out technologies and procedures that would be useful for future space missions. Those included a drill astronauts manipulated during excursions in wetsuits and helmets, checking if it was possible to use the tool in a neutrally buoyant environment without unduly stressing either the drill or the astronaut.

 

The astronauts also ran procedures that could work with a five- or 10-minute delay in communications. In these tests, astronauts had four different places that they visited in a sort of circle. They would sequentially explain what they saw in each location, move on to the next, and aim to return to the first spot around the same time ground control received the information from the first spot and was able to respond. The astronauts would try to accomplish the same thing for the other three spots.

 

"With a 10-minute delay in each direction, like we experienced today, you can't hold a rock up to a camera and say this is what you what you want," said NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei. "So what we did is we had a circuit of four different places. We went to the first place, we showed a variety of things, and a survey of the general area."

 

With nine days to accomplish their tasks, the four astronauts found the days packed to the minute. Even during the "pre-sleep" period, Vande Hei said, the astronauts would spend time reviewing pictures and getting ready for the next day.

 

"I haven't been in space, but my understanding — I've worked in the Mission Control team and watched the crew members in space try to keep up with the timelines there — and I always wondered what it would be like being on the other side," he said.

 

Three of the underwater astronauts have yet to fly to space.

 

"This definitely gave me a good sense of it," Vande Hei added. "The good days are when you're always keeping just a little ahead of the timeline, and the bad days are the ones where you can't find what you need, and something causes you to have to abort a task or have it postponed, or maybe the ground control team has to schedule for a different day."

 

The school-bus-sized habitat hosted six people (including two support personnel), giving some crewmembers their first experience in crowded environments. Epps, however, said that simply bonded the crew.

 

"It's just normal uncertainty, but it has turned out to be a lot of fun," she said.

 

SpaceX launches Falcon rocket with commercial satellite after hitch

 

Irene Klotz – Reuters

 

Fla. Aug 5 (Reuters) - A Space Exploration Technologies Falcon 9 rocket thundered off its coastal launch pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Tuesday to put a commercial communications satellite into orbit.

 

On its second launch attempt of the day, the 224-foot (68-meter) rocket lifted off at 4 a.m. EDT/0800 GMT, blazing through partly cloudy, pre-dawn skies as it headed into space.

 

The first try, 2-1/2 hours earlier, ended less than a minute before liftoff when a computer found a potential problem with the rocket's first-stage engine, SpaceX officials said in a live webcast. The issue was resolved, clearing the rocket for flight.

 

Perched on top of the Falcon 9 was a communications satellite owned by Hong Kong-based Asia Satellite Telecommunications Holdings Ltd, or AsiaSat.

 

The spacecraft, known as AsiaSat 8 and built by Space Systems/Loral, a Palo Alto, Calif.-based subsidiary of Canada's MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates Ltd, will become the fifth member of an orbital network that provides telecommunication services to the Asia-Pacific region.

 

AsiaSat hired privately owned SpaceX for two satellite launches, the second of which is due to launch later this month.

 

Previously, AsiaSat bought rides on Russian Proton rockets but decided to hire SpaceX after the California-based start-up won a NASA contract to fly cargo to the International Space Station, AsiaSat chief executive William Wade said in a pre-launch interview.

 

"We gained confidence in seeing how they were developing technically," Wade said.

 

AsiaSat had not used a U.S. launcher since 2003.SpaceX's cut-rate launch price – rides on Falcon 9 were selling for about $54 million at the time – also was a factor, he said.

 

SpaceX's website shows the price of a Falcon 9 is now $61.2 million. The company, owned and operated by technology entrepreneur Elon Musk, has a backlog of nearly 40 missions.

 

Tuesday's launch was the SpaceX's second in three weeks. The company's last launch was delayed by a series of technical issues, which then bumped AsiaSat's launch.

 

"We're a few months later than we would liked to have been launched. That's not totally unexpected with a new launch provider. There are some growing pains and some teething that goes on with a new supplier," Wade said.

 

Once in orbit about 22,300 miles (35,888 km) over Asia, the new satellite, which is equipped with 24 Ku-band transponders and a Ka-band beam, will relay digital television, broadband and other telecommunications services for customers in India, China, Southeast Asia and the Middle East.

 

Including satellite construction, launch and insurance, the mission is costing AsiaSat between $180 million and $200 million, Wade said.

 

The satellite is designed to last for 15 years.

 

 

END

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