| RETIREMENT | JSC | JS711 | FTP | HULSEY, SUSAN | 09/30/14 |
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Watch Exp. 41/42 Launch in Teague on Sept. 25
- Dare to Be Aware ... and Wear it
- Missed the Orion All Hands? Catch the Replays
- Flight Controllers AND Flight Instructors Wanted - Organizations/Social
- EA Reunion 2014
- JSC Holiday Bazaar -Taking Vendor Applications
- Sept. 24 Webinar: My Edge; A Boost of Vitality
- Why Do You Work Safely?
- Starport Youth Karate Classes - Free Class Oct. 4
- Beginners Ballroom Dance: Oct. 21 & 23 - Jobs and Training
- Job Opportunities
- Fall Protection Authorized User: Sept. 29, B20 - Community
- Hispanic Americans in STEM: Luis Walter Alvarez |  |
| Headlines - Watch Exp. 41/42 Launch in Teague on Sept. 25
NASA astronaut Barry "Butch" Wilmore and Russian Federal Space Agency cosmonauts Elena Serova and Alexander Samokutyaev will launch to the International Space Station Thursday, Sept. 25, in a Soyuz spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 3:25 p.m. CDT. JSC team members will be welcomed to the Teague Auditorium at 2:30 p.m. for the crowd-pleasing launch event, which coincides with NASA TV coverage beginning at 2:30 p.m. on the big screen featuring prelaunch activities leading up to and including the crew members boarding their spacecraft. Astronaut Mike Hopkins will meet and greet with employees in the Teague lobby at 2:45 p.m., leading up to his launch overview presentation in the Teague Auditorium at 3 p.m. Other interactive displays and handouts will also be available in the Teague lobby when doors open at 2:30 p.m., so be sure to come early, enjoy the festivities and grab a great seat for the viewing. After the launch-viewing event, be sure to catch the rest of the crew's activities later that evening on NASA TV at the following times (all CDT): - Docking to the Poisk module: Coverage begins at 8:45 p.m. for a 9:16 p.m. docking
- Hatch opening: Coverage begins at 10:30 p.m. for hatch opening at 10:55 p.m.
JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility employees who cannot make it to the Teague Auditorium but have hard-wired computer network connections can view the events using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 404 (standard definition) or channel 4541 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC or Safari on a Mac. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi, VPN or connections from other centers are currently not supported by EZTV. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: - For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website
- For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP)
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367, or visit the FAQ site. Event Date: Thursday, September 25, 2014 Event Start Time:2:30 PM Event End Time:3:30 PM
Event Location: Teague, NASA TV
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JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - Dare to Be Aware ... and Wear it
Order your 2014 Safety and Health Day T-shirt! The website is now live to purchase shirts. Shirt orders will be taken until Wednesday, Oct 1. Place your order here. Don't forget—JSC's Safety and Health Day begins at 9 a.m. on Oct. 9 with JSC Director Dr. Ellen Ochoa and guest speaker Dr. Aaron Chapa. Other highlights include: - Flu shots in the Building 30 lobby until 12:30 p.m.
- Exhibits, displays, simulations and demonstrations in the pond area, Teague lobby and Building 4S breezeway from 10 a.m. until 12:30 p.m.
- Fun Run/Walk at 4 p.m. at the Gilruth
- BONUS: Your participation could mean your directorate wins the George Award!
- Missed the Orion All Hands? Catch the Replays
If you missed the Orion All Hands on Sept. 17 featuring Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer, Lockheed Martin Orion Program Manager Mike Hawes, United Launch Alliance Director of Human Launch Services Ellen Plese, as well as Ground Systems Development and Operations Program Manager Mike Bolger and his deputy Jennifer Kunz, you still have an opportunity to watch the replay tomorrow, Sept. 23 and Thursday, Sept. 25, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on JSC RF channels 2 (SD) and 52-2 (HD), as well as IPTV channels 402 (SD) and 4522 (HD). Employees with hard-wired computer network connections can view this event using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 402 (standard definition) or channel 4522 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC or Safari on a Mac. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi, VPN or connections from other centers are currently not supported by EZTV. 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. - Flight Controllers AND Flight Instructors Wanted
Test Subject Screening (TSS) is seeking flight controllers AND flight instructors to evaluate a self-guided, multimedia stress management and resilience training computer program called SMART-OP, which will be compared to an attention control group who will watch videos and read information on stress management. Volunteers will be randomly assigned to one of the two groups and: - Attend one information session
- Complete two pre- and post-test assessments (60 to 90 minutes) involving questionnaires, neuropsychological tasks, physiological data and biomarker assays
- Attend six weekly stress management training sessions (30 to 60 minutes)
- Attend a three-month follow-up, equaling a total of 10 session contacts
Volunteers must be healthy non-smokers taking no medications. Individuals must pass or have a current Category I physical. Volunteers will be compensated. (Restriction apply to NASA civil servants and some contractors. Individuals should contact their Human Resources department.) Please contact Linda Byrd, RN, x37284, and Rori Yager, RN, x37240. Organizations/Social - EA Reunion 2014
Former employees of the Engineering Directorate, long known as the Engineering and Development Directorate, are holding a reunion at the Gilruth Center on Saturday, Oct. 18, from 12:30 to 5 p.m. They would like to extend an invitation to current employees, colleagues and family members to join them and reunite with veterans of the Engineering Directorate. Speakers will be former directors of Engineering. Heavy hors d-oeuvres will be served. Tickets are $16 and may be purchased online. Registration ends Oct. 6. Additionally, many organizations are having division- or office-level gatherings Friday or Saturday evening. Check the website above for additional information. Event Date: Saturday, October 18, 2014 Event Start Time:12:30 PM Event End Time:5:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Center
Add to Calendar
Dianne Milner x31206
[top] - JSC Holiday Bazaar -Taking Vendor Applications
The Starport JSC Holiday Bazaar at the Gilruth Center will be Nov. 15. We are still taking applications for vendors. If you have special arts and crafts, jewelry, candles, holiday décor, baked goods and more that would be a great addition to our event, submit your application by Oct. 3 for consideration. For more information, please visit our website. - Sept. 24 Webinar: My Edge; A Boost of Vitality
We all know that eating healthy foods is good for us, yet many health assessments show that nutrition is typically the highest health risk. This data shows that more than 80 percent of individuals are at risk by not consuming enough fruits and vegetables and/or by eating foods high in fat. Heavy workloads and competing priorities make it difficult to manage our list of tasks and stay on top of preparing healthful foods. Healthy diets need to balance energy density (calories) and nutrient density to pack as much satisfying power into our busy lifestyles. This webinar will discuss the health benefits of food, how food can provide some of the energy we need during the day and how food can combat various diseases and health conditions in the United States. - Why Do You Work Safely?
The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) is hosting the "Why I Work Safely" photo-laminating booth on Thursday, Oct. 9, for JSC Safety and Health Day. Don't forget to bring a photo of the reason you work safely (family, pets, sports car, boat, motorcycle, etc.), and we will laminate it for display on your lanyard. Do you always forget to bring a picture with you? You can email your photo ahead of time and then stop by the JSAT booth on Safety Day and Health Day to complete the emergency contact information and pick up your "Why I Work Safely" badge. Show everyone your reason(s) for working safely! Note: Please trim photos to 2 inches wide by 2.5 inches in length. Scanned photos work well also. - Starport Youth Karate Classes - Free Class Oct. 4
Let Starport introduce your child to the exciting art of Youth Karate. Youth Karate will teach your child the skills of self-defense, self-discipline and self-confidence. The class will also focus on leadership, healthy competition and sportsmanship. TRY A FREE CLASS ON OCT. 4! Please call the Gilruth Center front desk to sign your child up for the free class (only 25 available spots). Five-week session: Oct. 11 to Nov. 8 Saturdays: 10:15 to 11 a.m. Ages: 6 to 12 Cost: $75 | or $20 drop-in rate Register online or at the Gilruth Center. - Beginners Ballroom Dance: Oct. 21 & 23
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 Oct. 10)
Regular registration: - $110 per couple (Oct. 11 to Oct. 23)
Two class sessions are available: - Tuesdays from 7:30 to 8:30 p.m. - starting Oct. 21
- Thursdays from 8:30 to 9:30 p.m. - starting Oct. 23
All classes are taught in the Gilruth Center's dance studio (Group Ex studio). Jobs and Training - Job Opportunities
Where do I find job opportunities? To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select "JSC HR." The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. Lateral reassignment and rotation opportunities are posted in the Workforce Transition Tool. To access, click: HR Portal > Employees > Workforce Transition > Workforce Transition Tool. These opportunities do not possess known promotion potential; therefore, employees can only see positions at or below their current grade level. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies or reassignment opportunities, please call your HR representative. - Fall Protection Authorized User: Sept. 29, B20
SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0311-AU: This class is geared toward training "Authorized Users," the end-users of fall-protection equipment, and teaches the proper methods for using fall-protection equipment at heights. Upon completion of this course, the student should: understand all stages of the fall-protection hierarchy; know the four parts of a fall-arrest system; understand fall-protection training requirements; be able to demonstrate the proper donning of the harness and proper usage of the equipment; be able to identify when and where the equipment is needed; be able to inspect fall-protection equipment; know how to properly care for and maintain fall-protection equipment; and be familiar with the effects of harness tension and pressures of the harness on the body. There will be a final exam associated with this course. Community - Hispanic Americans in STEM: Luis Walter Alvarez
Luis Walter Alvarez (June 13, 1911 to Sept. 1, 1988) was an American experimental physicist, inventor and professor who was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1968 for his discovery of a large number of residence states (subatomic particles that have very short lifetimes and that occur only in high-energy nuclear collisions). He also played an important part in the Manhattan Project, where he suggested the technique for detonating the implosion type of atomic bomb. In his autobiography, Alvarez said, "I think of myself as having had two separate careers—one in science and one in aviation. I've found the two almost equally rewarding." He helped develop the ground-control approach system for aircraft in the 1940s and, later in life, served on multiple high-level advisory committees related to civilian and military aviation, including a Federal Aviation Administration task group on future air navigation and air traffic control systems. | |
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| JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Monday – September 22, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
SpaceX launches station cargo ship
William Harwood - CBS News
A SpaceX cargo ship packed with more than 5,100 pounds of equipment and supplies -- including 20 mice, a 3D printer, an environmental sensor to measure ocean winds and even an experiment that could lead to better golf clubs -- blasted off early Sunday on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.
SpaceX Dragon capsule targets Tuesday meetup with ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
Days after winning a contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, SpaceX early Sunday launched an uncrewed Dragon capsule on its way to the orbiting laboratory with 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments.
NASA mission enters Mars orbit to study where planet's atmosphere – and water – went
Scott Dance – The Baltimore Sun
A satellite that has been hurtling toward Mars for the past 10 months slammed on the brakes Sunday night, gliding into the red planet's gravity field to spend a year studying its atmosphere — and hopefully collect evidence that Mars might once have supported life.
NASA's Maven Craft Beats India's Mangalyaan in Space Race to Mars
Joanna Sugden – Wall Street Journal
Update: On Monday afternoon, space scientists successfully test-fired the engine on India's Mars satellite, a crucial maneuver as the country attempts to become the first Asian nation to place a spacecraft into Martian orbit. Read more here.
Two days before India hopes to become the first Asian nation to reach Mars, a U.S. spacecraft that set off almost two weeks later than the Indian mission entered the orbit of the red planet.
NASA Craft in Mars's Orbit, to Study Its Air
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
NASA's latest Mars spacecraft, Maven, arrived Sunday evening to study the mystery of what happened to the planet's air.
The Lure of Mars: Why We Keep Going Back
The robotic invasion of Mars continues.
Journey to the Red Planet: MAVEN Approaches Martian Orbit
Mia Tramz - Time
On Sept. 21, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft will arrive in orbit around Mars and embark on a one-Earth-year long mission to collect data from the planet's upper atmosphere. MAVEN launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Nov. 18, 2013 and, over the last 10 months, covered a journey of 442 million miles to get where it's going. The spacecraft is the very first to be dedicated to the study and measurement of Mars' upper atmosphere.
After Ten-Month Journey, NASA's MAVEN Set for Crucial Mars Orbit Insertion Burn on Sept. 21 on Astrobiology Mission
After a trouble free and fantastic 10-month interplanetary voyage of 442 million miles to the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is just two days out from its crucial braking burn scheduled for Sept. 21 and insertion into Martian orbit.
Soviet-era cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, commanded Salyut space station, dies
Soviet-era cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, who led the first expedition on board Russia's final Salyut space station, died Saturday (Sept. 20). He was 72.
Space industry responds to NASA's Commercial Crew decision
America may be one 'giant leap' closer to getting back to being a spacefaring player. NASA's decision on Tuesday, Sept. 16 announcing the winners of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts, gave the nation much anticipated proof that the time when the U.S. will regain the ability to send crews to space from U.S. soil is only a matter of time. An array of space-related organizations weighed in on NASA's decision to have Boeing and SpaceX provide access to orbit by spacecraft produced by the two companies.
Space Coast slowly regaining lost jobs
Richard Burnett - Orlando Sentinel
The Space Coast's post-shuttle economy appears to be on its way to recovery, buoyed most recently by NASA's big "space taxi" contract award last week.
Adrift 4
NASA views "new space" with hope, support -- and wariness
Eric Berger – Houston Chronicle
The old airplane hangar doors creaked, and then began to slowly roll open as Jeremy Voigt leaned into them. Stepping outside he emerged into blazing sunshine.
COMPLETE STORIES
SpaceX launches station cargo ship
William Harwood - CBS News
A SpaceX cargo ship packed with more than 5,100 pounds of equipment and supplies -- including 20 mice, a 3D printer, an environmental sensor to measure ocean winds and even an experiment that could lead to better golf clubs -- blasted off early Sunday on a two-day flight to the International Space Station.
Running a day late because of stormy weather Saturday, the 208-foot-tall Falcon 9 rocket roared to life at 1:52 a.m. EDT (GMT-4) and quickly climbed away from launch complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, arcing away to the northeast directly into the plane of the space station's orbit.
The Falcon's nine Merlin 1D first stage engines appeared to perform smoothly, generating 1.3 million pounds of thrust to boost the rocket and its payload out of the dense lower atmosphere.
The first stage fell away just under three minutes after liftoff and the rocket's second stage, powered by a single Merlin engine, ignited to complete the trip to orbit.
The Dragon cargo ship was released into an initially elliptical orbit with a high point, or apogee, of about 224 miles and a low point, or perigee, of around 124 miles. A few moments later, the capsule's two solar arrays unfolded and locked in place.
"Nothing like a good launch," said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president of mission assurance. "It's just fantastic. We worked very hard yesterday, and the weather wasn't quite playing along. Today it was beautiful, the weather cleared up in time, the rain dissipated and from what I can tell at first glance, everything was really perfect."
He said the Dragon capsule's thrusters were working normally and "from the SpaceX team, everybody's really happy, everybody's delighted. There's going to be a party!"
If all goes well, the Dragon's flight computer will carry out a carefully timed sequence of rocket firings over the next two days to catch up with the station in its roughly circular 260-mile-high orbit, pulling up to a point about 30 feet from the lab complex early Tuesday.
At that point, the capsule will go into stationkeeping mode and the lab's robot arm, operated by European Space Agency astronaut Alexander Gerst, will lock onto a grapple fixture to complete the rendezvous. The arm then will pull the Dragon in for berthing at the Earth-facing port of the forward Harmony module.
The spacecraft is expected to remain attached to the station until around Oct. 18, returning to a Pacific Ocean splashdown packed with some 3,800 pounds of experiment samples, station components and other no longer needed gear.
This is SpaceX's fourth operational Dragon flight under a $1.6 billion contract with NASA that calls for at least 12 missions to deliver some 44,000 pounds of cargo to the space station. Orbital Sciences holds a $1.9 billion contract for eight flights to launch about 40,000 pounds of cargo. Both contracts were awarded in a bid to make up for the lost cargo capability of the space shuttle following its retirement in 2011.
The SpaceX CRS-4 flight comes just 14 days after the company successfully launched a commercial communications satellite for AsiaSa and just five days after winning a $2.6 billion contract from NASA to develop a piloted space taxi to ferry astronauts to and from the station.
Boeing is designing its own crew capsule under a separate $4.2 billion contract and NASA hopes both companies will be ready for flights to the station by 2017, ending reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
As it turns out, the next Soyuz to carry an American astronaut is scheduled for launch next Thursday from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. Barry "Butch" Wilmore, Soyuz commander Alexander Samokutyaev and flight engineer Elena Serova plan to dock with the station six hours after launch. Standing by to welome them aboard will be Gerst, station commander Maxim Suraev and NASA flight engineer Reid Wiseman.
The Expedition 41 crew will face a busy month in October, unloading, re-packing and unberthing the Dragon capsule, capturing an Orbital Sciences Cygnus cargo ship and carrying out three spacewalks, two staged by NASA and one by the Russians. Another Dragon supply ship is scheduled for launch in early December.
The cargo for the current CRS-4 mission includes about a month's supply of food, clothing, spare parts and a wide variety of experiment hardware and equipment. The gear includes IMAX camera equipment, exercise equipment, a small satellite that will be used for tests of micro thrusters, a nitrogen/oxygen recharge system for the station's airlock and a sensor that will be mounted on the Columbus module to monitor ocean winds.
Also on board: two batteries that are needed for the station's NASA spacesuits. Two more batteries will be launched aboard the Soyuz.
The 20 mice, the first live animals launched by SpaceX, are part of two investigations. One is intended to simply test the animal life support equipment and the other will study how muscle atrophies in weightlessness and the role of a specific protein that may reduce that degradation. The results could help astronauts on long-duration missions as well as elderly or bed-ridden patients on Earth.
One payload that has generated widespread interest is an experimental 3D printer provided by Made In Space, a California company working with NASA. Agency project manager Niki Werkheiser said 3D printers could play crucial roles in future missions by allowing crews to print replacement parts and other components.
"We'll be able to uplink the files from the ground directly to the printer," she said. "Made in Space has a laptop they can command from in their offices in California (and) we can command from the control center in Huntsville, Alabama, directly to the printer.
"So you can imagine how cool it will be to uplink or email a part to space instead of launching it," she said. "It's really a game changer."
3D printers work by building up three-dimensional objects layer by layer, following computer commands based on precise 3D modeling of the desired object.
"I think it's a certainty that NASA will reach the point of manufacturing replacement parts, manufacturing tools as needed and relying on those instead of, not in addition to, things that are brought from Earth," said Jeff Sheehy, senior technologist with NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.
"If we're really going to set up shop on Mars, we really can't afford to bring everything we need for an indefinite amount of time. We may do that for the first mission, but we need to get to the point where we can make things that we need as we go."
SpaceX Dragon capsule targets Tuesday meetup with ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
Days after winning a contract to fly astronauts to the International Space Station, SpaceX early Sunday launched an uncrewed Dragon capsule on its way to the orbiting laboratory with 5,000 pounds of supplies and experiments.
"Nothing like a good launch," said Hans Koenigsmann, SpaceX vice president for mission assurance, shortly after the 1:52 a.m. liftoff. "From what I can tell at first glance, everything was really perfect."
Members of the three-person station crew plan to snare the Dragon with a 58-foot robotic arm just after 7 a.m. Tuesday and attach it to a port.
Then they'll begin unpacking an eclectic mix of cargo and experiments including a home for 20 mice, a 3-D printer, an X-ray machine, fruit flies and a materials science experiment run by a golf club manufacturer.
A radar instrument carried up in the Dragon's unpressurized "trunk" will measure ocean surface winds, readings that are expected to improve hurricane forecasts.
The flight "is really showing the depth and breadth of the ISS as a research platform," said Ellen Stofan, NASA's chief scientist.
After weather scrubbed a first attempt Saturday, SpaceX pulled off its second launch in two weeks from the same pad at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, its fastest turnaround time yet.
"I'm actually amazed myself," said Koenigsmann. "That obviously allows us to do a lot of missions if you keep that pace up."
For crewed launches planned by 2017 under a $2.6 billion contract NASA announced last week (along with a deal for Boeing), SpaceX is upgrading the Dragon with life support systems, launch abort engines and seats and other crew equipment.
But other than those changes and starting from a different pad at Kennedy Space Center, the crew launches will look similar to Sunday's by a Falcon 9 rocket that arced northeast over the Atlantic Ocean, appearing to fly into the Orion constellation.
"I think this is pretty much what you will see," said Koenigsmann.
The Dragon separated from the rocket's upper stage less than 10 minutes into the flight and then deployed its power-generating solar arrays to start SpaceX's fourth of 12 resupply missions under a $1.6 billion NASA contract.
Koeingsmann said the rocket's first stage completed engine firings intended to drop it softly in a targeted area of the ocean for potential recovery, though it was not expected to survive the fall intact.
SpaceX eventually hopes to be able to fly boosters back to land so they can be reused, lowering launch costs.
Sunday's launch was the 13th by a Falcon 9, and the eighth in a 12-month period. Through the end of this year, SpaceX plans one more launch of ISS cargo in December, possibly a commercial satellite launch, and a test of the crew Dragon's launch abort system.
The flight also kicked off a busy period for the space station. Another three-person crew is set to blast off Thursday from Kazakhstan, to be followed by more U.S. and international cargo flights and several spacewalks planned next month.
SpaceX's launch followed NASA's announcement last Tuesday at KSC of the Commercial Crew Program contracts worth up to $6.8 billion, and came early on the same day the agency's $671 million Maven mission was scheduled to enter orbit around Mars.
"This is kind of a crazy, busy week for us here at NASA," said Stofan.
NASA mission enters Mars orbit to study where planet's atmosphere – and water – went
Scott Dance – The Baltimore Sun
A satellite that has been hurtling toward Mars for the past 10 months slammed on the brakes Sunday night, gliding into the red planet's gravity field to spend a year studying its atmosphere — and hopefully collect evidence that Mars might once have supported life.
On a mission managed from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, the MAVEN spacecraft neared completion Sunday night of a 442 million-mile journey by firing six thrusters in reverse and being pulled into Mars' gravity field.
The $671 million mission will study whether Mars' wisp of an atmosphere has always been that way or is constantly thinned by a barrage of solar winds, as scientists suspect. It will also closely monitor how the atmosphere interacts with a comet that, coincidentally, will make a historically close pass by Mars next month.
"We're trying to understand the context in which life might have existed" on Mars, said Bruce Jakosky, the mission's principal investigator, in a news conference Wednesday. "By understanding the processes by which the atmosphere changed, we're understanding the history of the habitability of Mars."
MAVEN — an acronym for Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution — joins a cadre of robots and satellites collaborating to build on past discoveries that indicate rivers once flowed across Mars' iron-laced crust.
Scientists spent 11 years planning and designing MAVEN and have monitored its progress on a trip around the sun since it launched in November.
Along its journey, teams at NASA Goddard and at the University of Colorado Boulder twice performed maneuvers to slightly adjust MAVEN's trajectory, and have otherwise minded it for regular updates to make sure the spacecraft is still in one piece.
Its arrival at the edge of Mars' gravitational field marks the beginning of a new phase. As early as Tuesday, MAVEN will begin collecting bits of data before the science portion of its mission begins in earnest in early November.
The spacecraft, shaped like an old-fashioned tube television with two wing-like solar panel arrays extending from its sides, is carrying six scientific instruments that will study the charged particles that bombard the planet from the sun and encircle it in its ionosphere.
Scientists theorize that the atmosphere, about 100 times thinner than Earth's and almost entirely composed of carbon dioxide, was once thicker.
"The main science goal is to try to understand how the Martian climate might have changed over time and how it might have lost its atmosphere to space," said Jared Espley, a planetary scientist at NASA Goddard on the MAVEN team. "The Martian atmosphere could have been blown away one molecule at a time into interplanetary space."
A magnetometer built at Goddard will explore that hypothesis, observing Mars' magnetic field to measure how many particles are streaming away from the planet and determine whether they are being lost to space or flowing around the world, Espley said. Other instruments will look at the theory in different ways.
NASA has sent more than two dozen missions to Mars since the 1960s. Mariner 9 first discovered what looked like river beds and canyons on the Martian surface in the 1970s, suggesting the presence of water. And in 2003, Mars Odyssey found large amounts of water frozen just beneath the crust, confirmed by the Phoenix lander in 2008.
Other ongoing NASA missions include rovers Curiosity and Opportunity and satellites Odyssey and the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter.
Questions still remain about what happened to all of the water. MAVEN aims to help answer whether water that might have once flowed on Mars remains underground, or was lost via the atmosphere into space.
"This is another piece of the puzzle," said David Mitchell, MAVEN's project manager at Goddard.
MAVEN will start orbiting Mars in a 35-hour loop, but over the next month will adjust into a 4.5-hour orbit, Mitchell said. The elliptical orbit will be about 90 miles from the Mars surface, and at several points during the mission will drop as low as 77 miles above the surface. While specialists in Greenbelt manage the mission, the Colorado team led by Jakosky is conducting the science mission.
Meanwhile, another mission will join MAVEN this week — India's first mission to Mars is set to enter the planet's orbit Wednesday. At $74 million, the Mars Orbiter Mission, called Mangalyaan, costs a tenth of MAVEN and aims to study the planet's surface and mineral composition and scan its atmosphere for methane, a chemical strongly tied to life on Earth.
The scientists also will get some help from Mother Nature, when Comet C/2013 A1, better known as Comet Siding Spring, grazes the Martian atmosphere Oct. 19 at a distance of just 82,000 miles, far closer than any known comet has come to Earth.
Scientists originally feared the cloud of dust and gas emanating from the comet's nucleus might be a hazard for MAVEN, but now don't expect any damage and instead see a rare opportunity to study both the comet and its interactions with the planet's atmosphere.
The comet's close passage means its coma — the haze of gas, dust and debris surrounding its nucleus — will enshroud Mars. That could simulate the effects of solar winds on the atmosphere over a much longer period. MAVEN is set to observe the comet in ultraviolet light for three days as it approaches, and for two days as it speeds away. To be safe, the spacecraft will hibernate in a sort of safe mode for the three hours around the comet's closest approach.
The other active Mars missions also will watch the comet, with the two rovers capturing images of it from the ground and the reconnaissance orbiter from space.
"It's literally a once-in-a-lifetime event to have a comet basically envelop another planet," Espley said. "It's just like a perfect test case for the primary science we're trying to do, yet different than normal solar storms we're hoping to observe."
NASA's Maven Craft Beats India's Mangalyaan in Space Race to Mars
Joanna Sugden – Wall Street Journal
Update: On Monday afternoon, space scientists successfully test-fired the engine on India's Mars satellite, a crucial maneuver as the country attempts to become the first Asian nation to place a spacecraft into Martian orbit. Read more here.
Two days before India hopes to become the first Asian nation to reach Mars, a U.S. spacecraft that set off almost two weeks later than the Indian mission entered the orbit of the red planet.
The U.S.-based National Aeronautics and Space Administration said in a statement that its Maven orbiter successfully entered Martian orbit late Sunday.
"NASA has a long history of scientific discovery at Mars and the safe arrival of Maven opens another chapter," John Grunsfeld, astronaut and associate administrator of the NASA Science Mission Directorate said in a statement from the agency's headquarters in Washington D.C.
NASA launched the $671 million Maven mission on Nov. 18 from Cape Canaveral, the 10th U.S. mission sent to orbit Mars. Three earlier launches of U.S. spacecraft bound for Mars failed.
"Maven will complement NASA's other Martian robotic explorers–and those of our partners around the globe–to answer some fundamental questions about Mars and life beyond Earth," Mr. Grunsfeld added.
On Monday, scientists from the Indian Space Research Organisation congratulated their peers at NASA on Twitter.
India's mission to Mars took off on Nov. 5 and cost around $78 million — that's less than the budget for the film "Gravity" which cost about $105 million.
ISRO said its spacecraft entered the "Martian neighborhood" on Monday morning and is expected to reach Mars on Wednesday.
On Monday at 2.30 p.m., India's space scientists will test-fire the main liquid engine of their Mars orbiter. ISRO Chairman Koppillil Radhakrishnan told news channel NDTV that the test firing "will be for a duration of four seconds."
"In that process we are also doing a minor trajectory correction," Mr. Radhakrishnan added, before the 3,000 pound craft is inserted into martian orbit.
India's orbiter named Mangalyaan, Hindi for Mars craft, is scheduled to complete the 400-million-mile journey to Earth's neighbor on Wednesday.
If successful, India's Mars mission would represent a technological leap for the South Asian nation, pushing it ahead of space rivals China and Japan in the field of interplanetary exploration. Recent efforts by those countries to reach Mars have failed.
Both NASA and ISRO's missions are designed to study the surface of the red planet from orbit and neither will land there.
NASA Craft in Mars's Orbit, to Study Its Air
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
NASA's latest Mars spacecraft, Maven, arrived Sunday evening to study the mystery of what happened to the planet's air.
After a 33-minute engine firing, mission controllers received acknowledgment at about 10:25 p.m. Eastern time that Maven was in orbit around Mars.
After a six-week period to turn on and check systems on the spacecraft and to move it to its final orbit, Maven — the name is short for Martian Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution — is to take detailed measurements of the dynamics of Mars's upper atmosphere.
But first, it will have a sideshow, taking observations of a comet that, by rare happenstance, will make a close flyby of Mars on Oct. 19, passing within 82,000 miles. Mission managers have arranged to activate Maven's eight scientific sensors by then.
Bruce M. Jakosky, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado who is the mission's principal investigator, said the spacecraft would spend five days observing how the comet's dust, traveling at 125,000 miles per hour, might heat up and expand Mars's atmosphere, and how water ice from the comet might bump up the levels of hydrogen.
As a precaution, Maven will be on the other side of Mars when the shower of comet dust is heaviest. "Just in case there's any dust that might hit us, we'll be shielded by the planet," Dr. Jakosky said.
On Monday, he will turn his attention to the coming science measurements. Planetary scientists believe that about four billion years ago, the young Mars was blanketed with a thick layer of air — heat-trapping carbon dioxide, in particular — that kept it warmer and wetter than it is today.
Sometime since then, the air thinned, leaving the surface dry and cold. The air molecules could have escaped to space or been transformed by chemical reactions into rock. Maven's eight instruments will take stock of Mars's upper atmosphere and catalog the solar wind particles bombarding the planet.
That will allow the scientists to determine not only the rate at which the atmosphere is disappearing, but also how it is disappearing. The first science results are expected by the spring.
Maven is not the only new visitor to Mars. India's Mars Orbiter Mission, or MOM, is to swing into orbit on Tuesday night Eastern time.
Three other orbiters are currently around Mars — NASA's Mars Odyssey and Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, and the European Space Agency's Mars Express spacecraft. NASA also has two rovers, Opportunity and Curiosity, operating on the surface.
The Lure of Mars: Why We Keep Going Back
The robotic invasion of Mars continues.
Two spacecraft are scheduled to arrive in orbit around the Red Planet over the next week: NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution probe (MAVEN) will get there Sunday night (Sept. 21), and India's Mars Orbiter Mission should follow suit on Wednesday (Sept. 24).
The duo will join three operational spacecraft already circling the Red Planet, whose surface also hosts two active rovers — the golf-cart-size Opportunity and its 1-ton cousin, Curiosity. And more Mars missions are in the offing; NASA plans to launch a lander called InSight in 2016 and a sample-caching rover in 2020, while the European Space Agency will loft an orbiter and a rover in 2016 and 2018, respectively.
The solar system is full of interesting and exotic worlds. Saturn's moon Enceladus and the Jovian satellite Europa, for instance, both harbor potentially habitable oceans of liquid water beneath their icy shells. So why does Mars continue to get so much attention?
Mars 'canals' and the possibility of life
The fascination with Mars goes back at least a century, to observations made by astronomer Percival Lowell, said Richard Zurek, chief scientist for the Mars Program Office at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
Lowell spent a great deal of time studying Mars in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, and he became convinced that he saw "canals" on the planet's surface — vast systems of earthworks that he believed an intelligent civilization had built. Lowell popularized this hypothesis in several books, including "Mars and Its Canals" (1906) and "Mars as the Abode of Life" (1908).
"That idea of life elsewhere in the solar system is, I think, a huge claim on our attention," Zurek told Space.com.
Lowell's canals were an illusion, of course, but he wasn't off base in supposing that Mars could be capable of supporting life.
"From what we know about life, Mars is one of the best places in the solar system where life could have originated, and where it might even be today, although we haven't found any evidence for it at the surface," Zurek said.
Indeed, observations by Opportunity, Curiosity and other Mars craft have shown that the planet was much warmer and wetter billions of years ago, with lakes, rivers and, perhaps, oceans spread across the surface.
Mars is also interesting because it looks so different today than it did in its wetter past, Zurek said. MAVEN's chief task, for example, is to help researchers determine how and why Mars' climate has changed so dramatically over time. The probe will study the planet's upper atmosphere, seeking clues about where the water present on ancient Mars went — whether the substance retreated into the crust or was lost to space.
Boots on Mars
The many robotic Mars explorers are also scouts of sorts, because the planet is a destination for manned missions — the top long-term priority, in fact, for the international human spaceflight community. NASA is currently working to get astronauts to the vicinity of the Red Planet by the mid-2030s, as directed by President Barack Obama in 2010.
"Of all the planets, Mars is the place where you can actually visualize an astronaut standing on the surface, doing something," Zurek said. "You're not going to do that on Venus, where it's hot enough to melt your boots."
Other worlds in the solar system are generally too hot (Venus and Mercury) or too cold and distant (the moons of Saturn and Jupiter) to be viable human destinations in the near future, he added.
"If we're going to go to a planet away from the Earth anytime soon, it's going to be Mars," Zurek said.
Close to Earth
Mars' relative proximity to Earth is also a big inducement for robotic exploration, of course. MAVEN will arrive at the planet after just a 10-month trip, for example, while Europe's JUICE mission (short for Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer) won't reach the Jupiter system until 2030, after a planned 2022 launch.
And the success of robotic missions over the years has also built up a Martian momentum, as new discoveries stimulate new questions and spur further exploration, Zurek added.
All of these Martian attributes and characteristics — its location, its potential to host life, the mystery of the planet's changing climate and its status as a human destination — have combined to make Mars a compelling exploration target over the decades, Zurek said.
"Those themes still resonate today, even with all that we've learned about the planet," he said.
Journey to the Red Planet: MAVEN Approaches Martian Orbit
Mia Tramz - Time
On Sept. 21, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft will arrive in orbit around Mars and embark on a one-Earth-year long mission to collect data from the planet's upper atmosphere. MAVEN launched from Cape Canaveral, Fla. on Nov. 18, 2013 and, over the last 10 months, covered a journey of 442 million miles to get where it's going. The spacecraft is the very first to be dedicated to the study and measurement of Mars' upper atmosphere.
"The MAVEN science mission focuses on answering questions about where the water that was present on early Mars [went], about where did the carbon dioxide go," said Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN principal investigator from the University of Colorado, Boulder's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in a statement. "These are important questions for understanding the history of Mars, its climate, and its potential to support at least microbial life."
MAVEN, which is equipped with a telecommunications package that allows it to relay data from the Curiosity and Opportunity Rovers currently exploring the planet's surface, is one of several efforts NASA has undertaken to prepare for potential human exploration of Mars.
After Ten-Month Journey, NASA's MAVEN Set for Crucial Mars Orbit Insertion Burn on Sept. 21 on Astrobiology Mission
After a trouble free and fantastic 10-month interplanetary voyage of 442 million miles to the Red Planet, NASA's Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) spacecraft is just two days out from its crucial braking burn scheduled for Sept. 21 and insertion into Martian orbit.
MAVEN is NASA's newest Red Planet orbiter and will investigate Mars transition from its ancient, water-covered past, to the cold, dry, dusty world it has become today.
MAVEN is NASA's first orbiter specifically dedicated to investigate the Red Planet's thin upper atmosphere and begin solving the riddles of Mars' climate mysteries, atmospheric loss, and habitability.
"Where did the water go, and where did the carbon dioxide go from the early atmosphere? What were the mechanisms?" asks Bruce Jakosky, MAVEN's Principal Investigator from the University of Colorado at Boulder.
"MAVEN is an astrobiology mission," says Jakosky.
As of today, the MAVEN spacecraft has traveled a total of 705,160,507 kilometers (438,166,425 mi) and completed ~99 percent of its total journey from Earth to Mars.
The do-or-die Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI) engine firing starts at 9:30 p.m. EDT on Sunday, Sept. 21.
"So far, so good with the performance of the spacecraft and payloads on the cruise to Mars," said David Mitchell, MAVEN project manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., in a statement.
"The team, the flight system, and all ground assets are ready for Mars orbit insertion."
As of Sept. 18, MAVEN was 219,653,220 kilometers (136,486,183 miles) from Earth and only 867,120 km (538,803 mi) from Mars. It is 213,745,975 km (132,815,591 mi) from the Sun. At this distance, from the spacecraft, Mars appears to be nearly the size of the Earth's moon, or the size of a baseball held 32 feet away.
Currently the one-way light time from MAVEN to Earth is 12 minutes and 13 seconds.
The probe is traveling at an Earth-centered velocity of 29.85 km/s (18.55 mi/s or 66,780 mph) and a Sun-centered velocity of 22.50 km/s (13.98 mi/s or 50,324 mph) as it moves on its heliocentric arc around the Sun.
The orbit-insertion maneuver is a multistep process. First, the probe briefly fires its six small thruster engines to control the spacecraft attitude. Then, the engines will ignite and burn for 33 minutes to slow the craft, allowing it to be pulled into an elliptical orbit with an initial period of 35 hours, according to Mitchell.
Following orbit insertion, MAVEN begins a six-week commissioning phase.
"After we're in orbit, our focus will be on getting ready for science," Jakosky told AmericaSpace in an exclusive interview.
"Our commissioning phase, which we are calling 'transition phase' takes about six weeks. During that time, we'll get into our final mapping orbit, deploy our booms, test and calibrate the science instruments, and get ready for science mapping to begin."
"The MAVEN science mission focuses on answering questions about where did the water that was present on early Mars go, about where did the carbon dioxide go," says Jakosky.
"These are important questions for understanding the history of Mars, its climate, and its potential to support at least microbial life."
MAVEN is designed for a one-Earth-year primary mission to make measurements of the composition, structure, and escape of gases in Mars' upper atmosphere and its interaction with the Sun and solar wind.
It will observe all of Mars' latitudes at altitudes ranging from periapsis of 93 miles (150 km) to an apoapsis of more than 3,800 miles (6220 km).
MAVEN will execute five deep-dip maneuvers during the first year, descending to an altitude of 78 miles. This marks the lower boundary of the planet's upper atmosphere.
All of MAVEN's science instruments were successfully activated by February 2014. Instrument checkouts and calibrations continued along the way.
The 5,400-pound MAVEN probe carries nine sensors in three instrument suites to study why and exactly when did Mars undergo the radical climatic transformation.
"I'm really looking forward to getting to Mars and starting our science!" Jakosky said.
MAVEN soared to space on Nov. 18, 2013, following a flawless blastoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 41 atop a powerful Atlas V rocket and thus began a 10-month interplanetary voyage from Earth to the Red Planet.
It is streaking to Mars along with ISRO's MOM orbiter, which arrives a few days later, on Sept. 24, 2014.
Both probes remain on course to join Earth's invasion fleet at Mars, currently comprising three orbiters and two rovers from NASA and ESA.
Scientists from MAVEN, Curiosity, Opportunity, and all the orbiters will work in concert utilizing all the data to elucidate the history of Mars potential for supporting life—past and present.
"MAVEN is another NASA robotic scientific explorer that is paving the way for our journey to Mars," said Jim Green, director of the Planetary Science Division at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
"Together, robotics and humans will pioneer the Red Planet and the solar system to help answer some of humanity's fundamental questions about life beyond Earth."
Soviet-era cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, commanded Salyut space station, dies
Soviet-era cosmonaut Anatoly Berezovoy, who led the first expedition on board Russia's final Salyut space station, died Saturday (Sept. 20). He was 72.
"[Berezovoy] was a member of a legendary generation of cosmonauts, a man of great will and courage, [and] a top-class professional who did so much for the development of cosmonautics and major research projects," said Oleg Ostapenko, the chief of the Russian federal space agency Roscosmos. "His memory will live on forever in the hearts of those who knew and loved [him]."
Chosen to be a cosmonaut in April 1970, Berezovoy made his first and only spaceflight 12 years later as commander of the Soyuz T-5 mission to the Salyut 7 space station. Launched on May 13, 1982, Berezovoy and flight engineer Valentin Lebedev spent a then-record 211 days aboard the orbiting outpost, which was the last of its type before the launch of the Mir space station in 1986.
During his expedition, which was flown under the call sign "Elbrus," Berezovoy and Lebedev operated cameras and a telescope, materials processing furnace, and plant growth chamber. The two crewmates also deployed a small radio communications satellite, which the Soviet Union claimed as the world's first satellite to be deployed from a manned spacecraft (NASA's space shuttle Columbia would launch with two communication satellites on the STS-5 mission later that same year).
Berezovoy and Lebedev also made a two-hour, 33-minute spacewalk on July 30, 1982, to retrieve material exposure samples and replace equipment.
The two cosmonauts were visited by four robotic resupply ships and two crews. Among Berezovoy's and Lebedev's temporary crew members were the first French citizen to fly in space, Jean-Loup Chrétien, and the second woman in space, Soviet cosmonaut Svetlana Savitskaya, as well as Vladimir Dzhanibekov, Alexander Ivanchenkov, Leonid Popov and Alexander Serebrov.
Berezovoy and Lebedev returned to Earth from the Salyut 7 space station on Dec. 10, 1972 on board the Soyuz T-7 spacecraft. Touching down in heavy snow and on uneven land, which caused their capsule to roll down a slope, the two cosmonauts — already weak from being in space for so long — spent the night with recovery personnel, waiting for a helicopter to come the next day.
In total, Berezovoy logged 211 days, 9 hours, 4 minutes in space.
Although he served as a back-up commander for several other Soyuz flights, Berezovoy did not fly again. He retired from the cosmonaut corps in October 1992 after suffering injuries in an armed robbery.
Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy was born April 11, 1942, to a Ukrainian family in the Russian village of Enem. He attended the A.F. Masnikovin military flying school, where he graduated in 1965.
During his time on Salyut 7, Berezovoy penned a 92-page diary, in which he recorded his space experiences for his wife, Lidia Grigorievna, and their two children, Sergei and Tatiana (then 13 and 8 years old, respectively).
"For a long time I've been trying to write about everything that has moved me during these days passed in flight," Berezovoy wrote to begin the journal on June 22, 1982, a month into his 7-month stay, according to spacediary.info, which has offered the original hand-written diary for sale. "There is a lot of work to be done."
After leaving the cosmonaut corps, Berezovoy served as vice president of the Cosmonautics Federation of Russia from 1992 to 1999. In 1995, he campaigned for a seat in Russia's parliament representing the Republic of Adygea, but lost in the election.
Berezovoy was honored as a Hero of the Soviet Union and bestowed the Order of Lenin for his service to his country as a cosmonaut.
Space industry responds to NASA's Commercial Crew decision
America may be one 'giant leap' closer to getting back to being a spacefaring player. NASA's decision on Tuesday, Sept. 16 announcing the winners of the Commercial Crew Transportation Capability (CCtCap) contracts, gave the nation much anticipated proof that the time when the U.S. will regain the ability to send crews to space from U.S. soil is only a matter of time. An array of space-related organizations weighed in on NASA's decision to have Boeing and SpaceX provide access to orbit by spacecraft produced by the two companies.
"This is a good day for our nation's space program and for all Americans," said House Science, Space and Technology Committee chairman Lamar Smith. "I look forward to the time when we once again launch American astronauts on American rockets from American soil." Other Congress members also shared the enthusiasm: "I am encouraged by today's announcement as it will allow NASA, Boeing, and SpaceX to complete development, testing and certification of the needed capability," remarked Science, Space and Technology Committee member Eddie Bernice Johnson. "I offer my congratulations to Boeing and SpaceX and wish them success in carrying out this phase of the Commercial Crew Program (…) We must continue to dedicate ourselves to our Nation's space program. The next generation of Americans is counting on us," said Donna F. Edwards of the same Committee.
Congressman Steve Stockman applauded the efforts by both companies in building the next generation of spacecraft to transport astronauts to the International Space Station. "Boeing has been building spacecraft since the dawn of the space age, and I am excited to see their spacecraft selected in this competition. SpaceX has created an exciting space industry from scratch, which is bringing the satellite launch market home to the United States, and we will see more exciting commercial space ventures from them in coming years," he said.
NASA's decision is an important step according to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA). AIAA Executive Director Sandra H. Magnus said in a statement: "AIAA commends NASA's important next step as it continues on a stable path to commercial crew transportation. I am sure that the selection process was particularly difficult, given the three excellent proposals put forward from SpaceX, The Boeing Company, and Sierra Nevada. This commitment means that our nation will once again have the capability to put astronauts in orbit."
It's also a major step for the Commercial Spaceflight Federation (CSF). "With this award, we are one major step closer to restoring our nation's ability to launch U.S. astronauts to the ISS from American soil," stated CSF President Michael Lopez-Alegria. "NASA's Commercial Crew Program is developing safe, reliable transportation to low-Earth orbit through the use of innovative contracting mechanisms. NASA's selection of two companies demonstrates its prudent commitment to both competition and operational redundancy. With these commercial companies developing transportation for astronauts to and from Low Earth Orbit (LEO), NASA can focus more of its resources on deep space exploration."
"The Commercial Crew Program is the quickest and most cost-effective way to get our astronauts flying again in U.S. vehicles," stated CSF Chairman Frank DiBello. "However, the beauty of the commercial space industry is in its diversity. While these companies work to restore crewed LEO transportation capabilities, other companies are working to grow those and other markets in space. CSF congratulates NASA on the awards and we look forward to supporting the next steps in the new space era."
The Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) congratulated Boeing and SpaceX on their selection as the next U.S. human spaceflight providers, and declared victory in a 20-year-long battle to open the space station transportation market to commercial services. SFF also congratulated NASA for ensuring a competitive marketplace while setting an aggressive timetable for the return of U.S. human spaceflight capabilities.
The National Space Society (NSS) also praised the decision. NSS Executive Vice President Paul Werbos summed up the situation: "This is a great moment for Boeing, SpaceX, and NASA. The door to the American future in space is opening wider, and we need to ensure that Commercial Crew is fully funded to keep it that way."
But what about another side of the decision, a side that could loose a lot? NASA currently pays Moscow $70 million for every astronaut carried into space by Russian Soyuz capsules, according to the latest deal signed last year and in effect until 2017. Congressman Stockman warned of increasing tensions with Russia over Ukraine: "I urge both companies to find ways to launch a year earlier than planned, to counter any potential threats by Russia against launching our astronauts."
Russian chief analyst at GLONASS Union, Andrei Ionin is convinced that it will take a long time to complete the project to launch spacecraft with American astronauts into orbit from US soil. "It's important to understand that the implementation of the new American pilot project will be completed not by the end of 2017, as it has been announced, but in 2018-2020 at best. That's if everything goes according to plan, with no accidents," he said.
The expert noted that, despite the fact that the United States has developed the partially reusable Dragon cargo spacecraft, to create a crewed version will be much more difficult.
"In the USSR, the development took a reverse course: the Soyuz crewed spacecraft, legendary in its reliability, was created first, and then, based on that, the Progress expendable cargo spacecraft was developed," Ionin recalled.
Having the current reliance on Russia in mind, Chairman Lamar Smith emphasized that: "The days of paying Russians $70 million per astronaut for access to the International Space Station must come to an end as soon as possible. I look forward to working with these companies and NASA, to end our reliance on foreign carriers by ensuring safe, reliable, timely, and cost effective transportation to the International Space Station."
Space Coast slowly regaining lost jobs
Richard Burnett - Orlando Sentinel
The Space Coast's post-shuttle economy appears to be on its way to recovery, buoyed most recently by NASA's big "space taxi" contract award last week.
Winners of the multibillion-dollar deal to build the next-generation human spaceflight capsule — Boeing Co. and SpaceX — plan to add hundreds of jobs at Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral area. Other big expansions are already underway in Brevard County by Northrop Grumman Corp., Brazilian jet-maker Embraer and other tech companies.
But even if you tally up all the new jobs expected when those expansions are complete, Brevard County will be far short of its peak employment before the Great Recession of six years ago and the shuttle program loss in 2011, a veteran Space Coast economist says.
The latest figures indicate Brevard still has 20,000 fewer jobs than it had in 2006, said Michael Slotkin, an economist at the Florida Institute of Technology in Melbourne.
That's despite the county's recent gains: In July, for example, Brevard gained 1,200 jobs over the previous year as unemployment fell to 6.6 percent from 8 percent in July 2013. Housing prices also increased in July by nearly 5 percent, Slotkin noted.
Clearly, Boeing's expansion at the Cape (550 to 600 new jobs planned) and, to a lesser extent, SpaceX (its job plans haven't been disclosed) will help sustain the recovery, he said. The same goes for Northrop and Embraer, which could add up to 2,800 jobs and 1,200 jobs, respectively, over the next five years.
But it will take a long time for the Space Coast to fill the crater left by the loss of the shuttle program and the Great Recession, Slotkin said. The end of the shuttle alone resulted in 7,000 to 10,000 lost jobs, according to economic-development estimates.
"Each of these individual victories will help us win the battle to recovery," he said. "But if anyone is looking for one big announcement by NASA or anyone else to take us soaring back to 2006, well, that's just not going to happen."
Blogging festival
Metro Orlando's annual blogging confab announced another "sellout" crowd. The fourth Florida Blogger & Social Media Conference at Full Sail University in Winter Park drew a record crowd of more than 350 over the weekend, organizers said.
Attendees ran the gamut — from mommy bloggers, sports nuts and business bloggers to foodies and nonprofits. They have an "estimated cumulative reach of 9 million readers," according to FLBlogCon founder Bess Auer, citing figures reported by the bloggers.
The speakers featured a number of locally connected bloggers, such as Ted Murphy, founder of Orlando-based social-media advertising firm IZEA; Lou Mongello, host of WDWRadio.com's Disney podcast commentaries; and Eddie Selover, co-founder of Pecha Kucha Orlando, an informal, fast-paced presentation event. Since 2010, Auer said, her event has grown to be "the largest one-day blogging conference in the country." Auer, a former Park Maitland middle school teacher, went full time with her blogging consulting business this year.
Adrift 4
NASA views "new space" with hope, support -- and wariness
Eric Berger – Houston Chronicle
The old airplane hangar doors creaked, and then began to slowly roll open as Jeremy Voigt leaned into them. Stepping outside he emerged into blazing sunshine.
Here, in California's Mojave desert, he's a long way from the home of the astronauts, Johnson Space Center. Yet Voigt, who has dreamed of reaching the stars his entire life, may be a lot closer to space than most NASA astronauts.
"Start it slow, and we'll work our way up," Voigt, 27, says.
He and a small team of engineers have braved the late summer heat to test a new pump that supplies fuel to a rocket engine built by XCOR, where Voigt works. The pump is critical: too much fuel and the spacecraft's engine could melt. Too little and it won't reach space. The big concern today is making sure it doesn't leak.
Voigt has chosen to forge his own path to space, an ethos embodied by "new space" companies like XCOR, which have tired of waiting for NASA to unlock the final frontier.
The new space movement burns hottest in the Mojave desert, where long ago Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier above its dry, desolate expanses and early NASA astronauts, including Neil Armstrong, flew the famed X-15 to the edge of space.
Modern new space companies have set a bold goal: to open space to the floodgates of humanity. To survive, they feel, humanity must become a multi-planet species. They want to colonize the moon, Mars and beyond. And they believe they can do this by slashing the cost of spaceflight with smaller, reusable spacecraft.
For decades new space has been science fiction, inspired by authors like Robert Heinlein, and as tangible as words on a page. But now that may finally be changing. There is innovation at places like XCOR and, increasingly, money.
A generation of tech moguls who made their fortunes during the dotcom boom -- like PayPal's Elon Musk, Amazon's Jeff Bezos and Microsoft's Paul Allen -- have come to new space. They're importing the culture of Silicon Valley and backing their ventures with deep pockets.
For half a century, of course, NASA has led America's forays into space. Its leaders view new space both warily, as a competitor, and hopefully, as a partner. Last week NASA chose two companies to bring its astronauts to the International Space Station. It gave Boeing, a long-time, traditional contractor, $4.2 billion. It gave considerably less, $2.6 billion, to SpaceX, the biggest of the new space kids on the block.
Regardless of NASA's support for new space, however, it's no longer the gatekeeper. In the minds of new space NASA had its chance in the 1970s, when building the space shuttle, to lower the cost of access to space.
"We're there again right now, where we were in the 70s," said Rick Tumlinson, an early acolyte of the new space movement who has founded a handful of companies, including the spacesuit maker, Orbital Outfitters.
The space shuttle, although it achieved much, proved far more expensive to fly than initial estimates.
"It was the Wizard of Oz," Tumlinson said. "There was nobody behind the curtain. But now it's moved outside the government. And frankly, it kind of saddens me, because no one is betting on the government to deliver the future any more."
New space traces its roots to the heady days of the late 1960s and early 1970s when Armstrong landed on the moon and Captain Kirk explored the universe for Star Fleet.
An avid reader of science fiction, Tumlinson was muddling through Stephen F. Austin University, in the Piney Woods of East Texas, when he happened to meet Gene Roddenberry, the creator of Star Trek. Stay with your dream, Roddenberry advised, and never give up.
Decades later, Tumlinson is something of a godfather of new space, both entrepreneur and evangelist, preaching the gospel of new space icons like Musk and Bezos -- whom he calls the dotcom cavalry.
"These guys grew up watching Apollo and Star Trek and Star Wars," Tumlinson said. "Think about that time. We'd been to the moon, so we could do anything."
The tech moguls absorbed all of this as kids, says Tumlinson. "They became the geeks and they founded the dotcoms, but inside of them there's still that little kid watching Star Trek that has that dream."
XCOR's Jeremy Voigt has that dream, too. But as a twentysomething, he grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation instead of the original series.
Two years ago he'd been just another college kid, following the "astronaut blueprint" by working toward a master's degree in aerospace engineering from Purdue University, where Armstrong studied. Voigt would get the requisite credentials: a doctorate, some patents and publications, and then apply to NASA to become an astronaut.
But on the advice of a professor he visited XCOR's cramped World War II-era hangar, with its vintage wooden rafters, in Mojave. He met the company's magnetic founder, Jeff Greason, and was offered an internship in 2012. A full time job followed.
"I walked into XCOR, and after my first week I didn't see a need to do all of that stuff," he explained. "This place has everything I've ever wanted in a job. I get to fire rocket engines. I get to do hands-on, critical stuff for the vehicle. And oh yeah, I get to go into space."
In mid-August his boss, Greason, traveled from the California desert to Midland, a West Texas oil town that's nearly as arid. The next morning Greason, tall, bespectacled and balding, picked up a ceremonial sledgehammer. He and a handful of other Midland officials knocked out a wall at a hangar at the city's airport -- purely cheeseball stuff, like groundbreakings with mayors and gold-plated shovels.
Although known for oil and being the boyhood home of George W. Bush, Midland decided during the last energy crunch to diversify its economy. It chose space and two years ago struck a $10 million deal to lure XCOR from Mojave. Next year, after this hangar is renovated, the company will moved into considerably larger digs in Texas. Greason likes the open air space above Midland for flight tests, and the state's less restrictive regulatory environment.
Less known than Musk or Bezos among the public at large, and certainly far less wealthy, within the new space community Greason is no less a celebrity.
A gifted engineer, he attended the California Institute of Technology and had the fortune to take a class taught by the legendary physicist Richard Feynman. While Greason was at Caltech when the space shuttle Challenger broke apart in 1986. Feynman served on the panel investigating the disaster. Feynman savaged NASA in his findings, saying the agency's "safety culture" allowed management to overlook glaring problems and fly the shuttle anyway.
For a young electrical engineer learning how to find and fix problems in complex systems, NASA's failure mystified Greason.
"It really took away for me the belief that NASA was a superhuman organization of God-like beings," Greason said. "That doesn't make them not a special place. But it's part of the philosophical evolution I made to thinking, maybe other people can do spaceflight."
Upon graduating Greason didn't think "other people" included him. He figured there would eventually be lots of electrical things to work on in space so he took a job with Intel, where he helped invent the Pentium processor.
But the space bug never left, and in the early 1990s he stumbled onto an Internet group discussing space. That led to attending his first Space Access Conference, a hotbed of new space enthusiasts, in 1994.
"I was totally blown away," Greason recalled. "I said that's it. That's what I want to do. I really care if we get off this planet, and I don't really care if Intel has 85 or 90 percent market share next year."
He ordered $2,000 worth of rocketry books and read spacecraft journals. At the same space conference in 1997 a businessman named Gary Hudson looking for technical managers pulled Greason aside. Would he be interested in managing propulsion for Rotary Rocket, a company building a reusable orbital spacecraft?
Would he ever. Greason moved his family to Mojave. But like a lot of start-ups Rotary Rocket soon ran out of money.
"We all got laid off together," Greason recalls of Rotary Rocket's end in 1999.
But the team didn't want to quit. They told Greason they'd continue working for free until the company's next technical milestone.
"I was very moved by that, and I went and told Gary, and he turned me down," Greason continued. "He told me he wasn't interested in developing rocket engines any more. So I was not very happy hear that, and I had to go back and tell the crew the news. I went back to my office and continued packing up. And after about an hour I got called in by a slightly smaller group."
At this point Greason stops speaking, and when he starts again his voice is soft, breaking up. Jeff Greason, one of the most brilliant rocket scientists in the world, is trying very hard not to cry.
"They said OK we're still not ready to quit, so what are you going to do, boss? I said I didn't know, but if they all felt that way about it I would see what we could do."
What he did was found XCOR and, for about a year, he and his small team used credit cards to buy parts. Eventually some small investors came on board.
Fifteen years later shades of those difficult early days remain. In the corner of the company's conference room the are four well worn seats pulled from some old aircraft. Back when furniture was at a premium for the struggling company, Greason explains, the chairs were plucked from the boneyard, a final resting place for more than 1,000 abandoned aircraft on the north side of the Mojave flight line.
Since the company's beginning XCOR has built a succession of rocket ships culminating with the Lynx, which will reach space five minutes after taking off from a runway, provide a few minutes of weightlessness, and then glide back to Earth.
Just outside XCOR's conference room is the body of the 30-foot, winged spacecraft. Engineers are working on it. Next to it, on the other side of the hangar, is the rocket, propelled by four main engines. More tinkering.
About 70 people now work for XCOR, up from two dozen a few years ago, as they get closer to the first flight in a year or two. Three-time NASA astronaut Rick Searfoss will be in the cockpit.
It may sound like a simple sub-orbital space plane, but the magic of the Lynx is that it would require almost no maintenance between flights, and could fly to space four times a day. Like a car, you put in gas and go. Its fuel cost is proprietary, but the liquid oxygen burned will probably cost a few thousand dollars per flight.
Larger companies with wealthier, more famous backers may get more publicity, but it is smaller companies like XCOR that embody the new space movement.
Greason envisions several versions of the Lynx, extending to orbital spaceflights and beyond. Most nights, at his home in the mountains above Mojave, he sits in his library until about midnight, thinking and planning, how to go cheaper, faster and further.
He may not succeed, of course. The landscape of new space is littered with failures.
When workers at XCOR, Scaled Composites, Stratolaunch, Virgin Galactic or any of the dozen new space companies at Mojave drive to their offices, it's impossible to miss the symbolism at the heart of the spaceport.
There a prototype of Rotary Rocket's spacecraft towers 62 feet above Legacy Park. Asked why he advises XCOR interns never to touch the spacecraft, Greason laughs heartily.
"That's a little bit of a local superstition," he said. "That everybody who has touched that thing has lost money."
It remains to be seen whether the dotcom cavalry, each with different approaches to cheaply reaching orbit, can succeed in space financially as they did in Silicon Valley.
Musk put much of the fortune he earned from the sale of PayPal into SpaceX, with the goal of sending humans to Mars in the 2020s. Bezos has spent half a billion dollars on Blue Origin, a secretive venture working on reusable launch vehicles and that tests its rockets in West Texas. "If you really want to make it so that anybody can go into space, you have to increase the safety and decrease the cost," Bezos told Wired three years ago. Microsoft's Allen backed SpaceShipOne, which made the first private flight to space a decade ago from Mojave, and has invested in Stratolaunch Systems, which is building a massive carrier aircraft to boost rockets into space.
When they were kids America seemed on the cusp of opening the high frontier with the space shuttle.
In 1969 George Mueller, NASA's chief of manned spaceflight, said the shuttle would slash the cost of flying stuff to orbit down to $25 a pound. Regular folks could buy tickets into space. But the shuttle didn't come close -- over the course of three decades and 135 flights, the shuttle cost closer to $25,000 a pound.
Bob Thompson, who managed the space shuttle program from its inception, in 1970, to its first flight, in 1981, knows why.
Long retired, but still passionate about the shuttle and sensitive to its critics, Thompson's home office in Clear Lake is filled with awards and shuttle models. NASA, he said, asked him to advance the U.S. human spaceflight capability. The versatile shuttle did that. He was never asked to build a low-cost launch vehicle.
"George Mueller was trying to get the Congress to give us money to build what we wanted to build," Thompson said. "He was trying to say the shuttle could do everything, answering criticism coming out of the Senate."
Of the new space companies seeking to do what NASA didn't four decades ago, none have been more successful or celebrated than SpaceX.
For good reason. There's Musk, the celebrity CEO. There's the company's stupendous rocket launches. And there are the achievements. In December, 2010, SpaceX flew the first privately developed spacecraft, Dragon, into orbit and safely home. Two years ago it became the first private company deliver supplies to the International Space Station. Before only government agencies, like NASA, had achieved this.
Beneath the company's glossy public image there's a steelier side.
"They're demanding," says Gilberto Salinas, a Brownsville economic developer who helped convince SpaceX to build a spaceport on Boca Chica beach, in South Texas. "The expectation is to be the best. We've learned that just keeping up with them is a task."
The ruthlessness of Musk and SpaceX bend toward a singular goal, to drive down the cost of access to space. And it's working.
NASA paid SpaceX a relative pittance, less than $400 million, for the Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft that's now supplying the space station. NASA estimated it would have cost the space agency four to 10 times as much to do the same thing. Musk is also building a massive rocket, the Falcon 9 Heavy, which could fly three years earlier than the heavy lift rocket NASA is building, the Space Launch System, and may deliver cargo to orbit at a tenth of the cost.
For Musk, however, these are just baby steps. He, too, wants to build reusable rockets.
"What SpaceX has done so far is evolutionary, but not revolutionary," Musk said earlier this year.
NASA has nurtured SpaceX to date, with contracts, but the relationship has grown increasingly complex as SpaceX, as well as new space, have emerged as competitors.
The space agency feels new space doesn't give it enough credit. Without seed funding from NASA, they say, SpaceX wouldn't exist. Without the space station, which NASA builds and maintains a great expense, there's no market for the companies that fly spacecraft there. New space misses deadlines too. And so, in years to come, NASA firmly believes it will remain the leader on the road to Mars.
"As we move farther out, we're going to need someone to fill in behind us," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said in an interview earlier this year. "It's like a supply line. If the military goes somewhere, they go out and fight, win land, and put in a fuel line. Then right behind there's somebody like a Brown & Root. And they put in commercial infrastructure."
But NASA hasn't flown beyond Earth's orbit in four decades, and the space agency has no clear direction. How much longer will the children of Apollo, Heinlein and Roddenberry wait for their colonies in space?
There's a joke that at NASA five people are doing one job, but at SpaceX one person does five jobs. Like their Silicon Valley antecedents, new space employees work long hours. SpaceX was sued in August after a few hundred layoffs as plaintiffs alleged the company violated California labor laws and forced them to work "off the clock" hours. Yet most new space employees revel in demanding workloads.
This spring at Kennedy Space Center in Florida NASA and SpaceX staged a ceremony as the company took control of the historic launch pad from which Apollo 11 rocketed to the moon. SpaceX plans to launch its Falcon 9 Heavy, which could compete with NASA's own big rocket, from here. Officials made nice during the ceremony, but behind the scene tensions bubbled up.
The new guys, according to NASA workers, acted like they owned the place. They were "rude, arrogant egotistical smart asses," one NASA old timer said. "I don't mind young people, which they all were. But they just acted like they had it all figured out, like they just have the world by the tail."
The kids in Mojave are still trying to figure it out.
Voigt and his young XCOR companions had toiled into the evening. They had wired the pump into the guts of the rocket, and for hours they had tested. Still the pump leaked.
While this is but a single pump, it's emblematic of the challenge facing new space. For a rocket to fly, thousands of little things must go just right. For space to be affordable, these little things must go right thousands of times between check-ups. New space can't afford the hundreds of engineers and technicians who spent months checking out the space shuttle between flights.
Finally, Voigt called a halt.
"I think we're just wasting time," he said, sighing.
As the sun fell behind the Tehachapi Mountains, the engineers and technicians packed up their gear and slowly rolled the rocket back into the hangar. Another long day. Another late night. But they would be back in the morning. There are always problems with new hardware. No test is a failure. You learn. You apply.
And if you're working for Jeff Greason, you don't give up.
"This is not optional for me," Greason said, gazing toward the corner of the conference room with the old airliner seats. "I believe humanity opening up a frontier in space is important. I think if we want to have a future, we have to do it. As soon as I see other people doing it in a way that I think will work, I can stop.
"So far, I don't. So I can't."
END
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