| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
- Self-Identification of Disability - Organizations/Social
- Fall Break Soccer Camp - Jobs and Training
- Webinar Today: Workplace & People w/ Disabilities
- Modern Mentoring Agency Webcast - Tomorrow - Community
- Seeing Stars, Be a Star - at the Quilt Festival
- Get More Out of V-CORPs - Volunteer Now
- Special Early Ticket Event: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
- Texas High School Juniors Needed |  |
| Headlines - National Cybersecurity Awareness Month
Cybersecurity Tip for Today: STOP, THINK, CONNECT Be aware that public computers and public wireless access are not secure. Cyber criminals can potentially access any information you provide, such as credit card numbers, confidential information or passwords. Don't conduct any sensitive transactions at local, free Wi-Fi sites. - Self-Identification of Disability
Please take a moment to update your disability status quickly and easily in Employee Express. NASA uses aggregate information about individuals with disabilities for reporting purposes and to determine how to provide assistive resources that can benefit the entire workforce. Ensuring accurate information takes a matter of minutes. Log into Employee Express, and from the main menu click on "Disability Update" to identify current disability status. Disability status is protected by the Privacy Act of 1974. Data entered into Employee Express is secure, and will be uploaded directly into NASA's Federal Personnel and Payroll System. It can be accessed only by NASA officials with a "need to know," such as Equal Employment Opportunity staff. Questions regarding data collection requirements can be directed to the Disability Program Manager, Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity, at 281-483-7504. Organizations/Social - Fall Break Soccer Camp
Sign up today for our fall break soccer camp! Starport has teamed up with Challenge Soccer Club to provide a fall break soccer camp for ages 8 to 12. Your child will enjoy a soccer learning experience like no other. The Challenge Soccer Club is a well-known soccer organization with excellent and educated coaches. Jobs and Training - Webinar Today: Workplace & People w/ Disabilities
Today's webinar will focus on employment and disability, which coincides with National Disability Employment Awareness Month. Academic, policy and advocacy experts will share historical perspectives, discuss current initiatives and the state of employment for people with disabilities today, as well as examine issues that need to be addressed to support full workplace inclusion of people with disabilities in the future. The webinar will be hosted by Cornell University's Susanne Bruyere, director of Industrial Labor Relation's Employment and Disability Institute, and Lisa Nishii, associate professor of human resource studies. Time: 11 a.m. to noon CDT Location: Building 1, Room 360 This webinar is brought to you by JSC's Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity (OEOD). Accommodations for a specific disability are available upon request. For more information, please contact the OEOD at 281-483-0607. - Modern Mentoring Agency Webcast – Tomorrow
In an effort to promote continuous mentoring opportunities around JSC, please join us by participating in the Modern Mentoring agency webcast. This webcast will provide valuable knowledge focusing on 21st century style mentoring; demonstrate best practices; and give tips on how to better connect across the agency, including the use of the NASA Connect tool. Date: Tomorrow, Oct. 30 Time: 2:30 to 4 p.m. Location: Tune in to the Adobe Connect session here, or attend a viewing party in Building 12, Room 146 Community - Seeing Stars, Be a Star - at the Quilt Festival
NASA is participating in the 2014 International Quilt Festival in a huge way! The giant, star-themed quilt that was inspired by astronaut Karen Nyberg will be on display during this event, and NASA will have a booth to share the cool things we do with more than 60,000 visitors to the event. Oct. 30 (2:30 to 7:30 p.m.) Oct.31 (2:30 to 7:30 p.m.) Nov. 1 (2:30 to 6:30 p.m.) And all day Nov. 2 (9:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.) Guess what? No sewing/quilting experience required—just your knowledge about NASA! - Get More Out of V-CORPs - Volunteer Now
We have a never-ending list of requests for the fantastic JSC team to reach out to members of the community. Please help us do that by volunteering for one (or more!) of the opportunities posted on the V-CORPs calendar. Check out these events coming up: Nov. 8 - Freeman Library 50th Anniversary. The library is celebrating JSC as a neighbor! Come share information about the Orion Program and our upcoming Exploration Flight Test-1 launch. We'd be happy to have you help out by sharing your knowledge of other programs as well. Nov. 15 - Where Leaders are Made STEM panel. Did you major in a STEM field? Share your wisdom with middle- and high-school students looking for information about possible college and career paths. Registration by Nov. 1 is a must for this one. Nov. 21 - Channelview High School Career Day. Any career, so that means YOU! Give a short presentation about your career to students (five sessions) to inspire them to graduate from high school and consider multiple career paths. - Special Early Ticket Event: Neil DeGrasse Tyson
The Society for the Performing Arts presents an evening with Neil DeGrasse Tyson, host of Cosmos and the director of the Hayden Planetarium, next summer on June 17, 2015. The performance will be at 8 p.m. at Jones Hall in Houston. Before tickets are available to the public on Nov. 17, JSC team members get to have FIRST dibs on great seats. Get your tickets before you have to compete with everyone else, and use the password: NASAVIP JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - Texas High School Juniors Needed
High School Aerospace Scholars (HAS) needs Texas high school juniors. The application is currently open. HAS is an interactive, online experience highlighted by a six-day residential summer experience at JSC. Students will explore science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) concepts, with an emphasis on space exploration, during the online experience. Students who are selected to come to JSC will continue their STEM studies with hands-on team activities while mentored by NASA engineers and scientists. HAS is a great STEM opportunity for Texas high school juniors. | |
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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
Wednesday – October 29, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
NASA, Orbital Sciences Begin Antares Loss Investigation
Guy Norris - Aviation Week
NASA has secured the area around the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as the investigation begins into why an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket blew up just seconds after liftoff on its way to deliver a Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares Rocket Crashes Moments After Liftoff - Updated
Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket crashed moments after liftoff at 6:22 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) today, October 28, 2014, from Wallops Island, VA. The rocket was carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with supplies, experiments and equipment for the International Space Station (ISS) on Orbital's third operational cargo mission to the ISS, Orb-3.
Antares Rocket, Bound for Space Station, Explodes
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
An unmanned cargo rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded seconds after liftoff Tuesday night.
NASA down to one commercial supplier to ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
NASA is down to one commercial provider of cargo to the International Space Station until an investigation determines what caused an unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket to blow up Tuesday evening shortly after lifting off from a Virginia pad.
Antares Rocket Explodes After Liftoff
Jeff Foust – Space News
An Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on a mission to the international space station exploded seconds after liftoff Oct. 28.
NASA rocket explodes shortly after launch
David McCabe – The Hill
An unmanned rocket operated by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contractor exploded moments after it launched from a facility in Virginia on Tuesday.
Russia Launches Unmanned Supply Ship Toward Space Station
An unmanned Russian supply ship launched toward the International Space Station early Wednesday (Oct. 29), beginning a six-hour cargo delivery that comes one day after a private U.S. rocket exploded while attempting a similar mission.
NASA Is Kicking Space Station Technology Up to the Next Level
Alan Boyle - NBC News
NASA has pioneered new technologies on the International Space Station for years, but the space agency's latest technological twists are venturing into science-fiction territory.
"Hello, ISS? This is Huntsville."
Melissa Riopka - WHNT-TV, of Huntsville
Making a phone call has never been easier. It's certainly not rocket science.
What does future hold for Atlas V rocket?
James Dean – Florida Today
Since first taking flight 12 years ago, Atlas V rockets have sent NASA spacecraft soaring throughout the solar system and lofted nearly 30 military missions supporting communications, weather forecasting, missile warnings, surveillance and research.
JAXA shows off second-generation asteroid explorer
Akemi Kanda - Asahi Shimbun, of Japan
Japan's space agency showed off a space probe to be launched next month that it hopes will answer questions about how life seeded Earth.
Massive flares erupt from largest sunspot in 25 years
Hal Hodson and Rowan Hooper - New Scientist
A massive solar eruption on 26 October was the sixth large flare since 19 October, all emanating from one gigantic sunspot called AR 12192. Measuring 129,000 kilometres across, it's the largest sunspot since 1990. For comparison, that's a spot 10 times the diameter of Earth. Does it pose dangers to us?
COMPLETE STORIES
NASA, Orbital Sciences Begin Antares Loss Investigation
Guy Norris - Aviation Week
NASA has secured the area around the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia as the investigation begins into why an Orbital Sciences Antares rocket blew up just seconds after liftoff on its way to deliver a Cygnus cargo spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).
The vehicle, the first stage of which is powered by two refurbished AJ-26 rocket engines, suffered a "catastrophic anomaly shortly after liftoff," the agency says. The mission was to have been the third Orbital resupply flight to the ISS, carrying 5,000 lb. of NASA cargo, and had been delayed from a previous attempt on Oct. 27 because of a boat straying into the range safety zone southwest of the launch pad.
"The ascent stopped. There was some disassembly of the first stage, it looked like, and then it fell to earth. We don't have any early indications of what exactly might have failed," Orbital Executive Vice President Frank Culbertson said at a press conference shortly after the mishap. Although investigators are keeping their options open, a prime suspect is expected to be a potential failure mechanism involving the AJ-26, a liquid oxygen/kerosene-powered engine originally developed for the Russian space program as the NK-33. An AJ-26 slated to power an Antares on a mission to the ISS in 2015 experienced a failure during a hot-fire test at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi on May 22.
"We didn't see any anomalies or anything that would indicate there were problems with the engine," Culbertson said. "We don't know whether the engine was involved at all or not. These were extensively tested, are very robust and rugged, and go through extensive testing at Stennis before they are installed on the rocket. These went through normal acceptance and pressure testing." Orbital announced earlier this month it had selected a new main engine for the Antares, but has not yet revealed the supplier or the engine itself.
The failure visibly occurred around 10 sec. after liftoff at 6:22 pm EDT, and range safety officials triggered the vehicle's flight termination system about 20 sec. after liftoff as the rocket was descending. The resulting explosions took place very close to, and partially above, the launch facility. Images of the site show burning debris littering the pad area and the adjacent beach on the Atlantic coast. NASA says the range confirms launch officials are continuing to secure the area, and adds that all personnel are accounted for and there have been no injuries.
Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares Rocket Crashes Moments After Liftoff - Updated
Orbital Sciences Corporation's Antares rocket crashed moments after liftoff at 6:22 pm Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) today, October 28, 2014, from Wallops Island, VA. The rocket was carrying a Cygnus spacecraft loaded with supplies, experiments and equipment for the International Space Station (ISS) on Orbital's third operational cargo mission to the ISS, Orb-3.
No one was injured and it appears that damage was confined to the southern portion of NASA's Wallops Flight Facility near the launch pad. Orbital launches Antares from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) at Wallops.
During a press conference following the explosion, Orbital Vice President (and former astronaut) Frank Culbertson and three NASA officials stressed that it is too early to know what went wrong or how much damage was sustained to the launch pad and surrounding facilities. Orbital will lead the investigation and analysis has begun already, but an inspection of the damaged areas and debris field must wait until daybreak. NASA Wallops Director Bill Wrobel stressed that people should not touch any debris that is found and instead should call 757-824-1295 to report it.
Videos of the accident are posted on YouTube from various vantage points, including this one that shows the failure as it happens.
Culbertson said that the failure began about 10-12 seconds after liftoff and range safety officials issued a destruct command about 20 seconds after liftoff. The exact timing and sequence of events is not yet known, however. Orbital will analyze telemetry and imagery as part of its investigation.
The message from Culbertson, NASA Human Exploration and Operations Associate Administrator Bill Gerstenmaier, and NASA ISS program manager Mike Suffredini is that the cause of the accident will be determined, the problem fixed, and Antares will fly again. Gerstenmaier also said that "no cargo that was absolutely critical was lost" and the ISS crew is not in any danger. Suffredini also stressed that the ISS crew has sufficient supplies to last through next March and, in any case, there are other cargo spacecraft capable of taking supplies to them including a Russian Progress spacecraft that will be launched tomorrow. So while everyone is disappointed about the failure and the loss of what was aboard, it will not have a significant impact on the crew's welfare or activities.
The first stage of the Antares, which was operating at the time of the accident, is powered by two AJ26 engines. The AJ26 is a refurbished Russian NK33 engine built over 40 years ago. The engines were imported to the United States and refurbished by Aerojet Rocketdyne. When asked why Orbital chose to use such an old design, Culbertson said that the engines were extensively tested and are "rugged and robust." These engines showed no signs of anomalies during that testing, he said, adding that is it not yet known if the engines were at fault.
Cygnus was carrying 5,050 pounds of experiments, spare parts, and other supplies to the 6-person ISS crew as well as a few commercial payloads. Suffredini said the crew was notified immediately about the accident, but they were watching it in any case. Culbertson said the cost of the rocket and spacecraft was about $200 million and that Orbital carried "some" insurance for the launch, but was not specific about the amount. Orbital conducts these launches under a Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. When asked if the company would have to pay to refly the mission under that contract, Suffredini answered only vaguely that the contract was set up for such contingencies and NASA would work with Orbital to get the hardware replaced.
Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL), who chairs the Science and Space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee, issued a statement that while there will be "setbacks," "our commercial space ventures will ultimately be successful."
Reps. Lamar Smith (R-TX) and Steve Palazzo (R-MS), chairmen of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee and its Space Subcommittee respectively, said they add their "disappointment to the thousands in the space community who worked tirelessly" in support of the launch, are relieved there were no reported fatalities, and "anticipate learning more ... in the near future."
Orbital is one of two U.S. companies that provide ISS cargo services for NASA. SpaceX is the other and one of its Dragon spacecraft just returned from the ISS on Saturday. The next SpaceX launch is scheduled for December 9. Suffredini said that NASA may make some small adjustments to the cargo manifest for the SpaceX launch to compensate for the loss of equipment on this flight. Orbital and SpaceX developed their "commercial cargo" space transportation systems as public-private partnerships with NASA where the government and the companies both put money into the project. Both companies' systems are now operational and the services are provided to NASA as a commercial service.
In addition to the two U.S. companies and Russia, Japan also sends cargo spacecraft to the ISS. Europe has in the past, but its final cargo spacecraft, ATV-5, is currently docked to the ISS. The United States, Russia, Japan, Europe and Canada are all partners in the ISS program.
Antares Rocket, Bound for Space Station, Explodes
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
An unmanned cargo rocket carrying supplies to the International Space Station exploded seconds after liftoff Tuesday night.
The Antares rocket, carrying 5,055 pounds of supplies, science experiments and equipment, lifted off on schedule at 6:22 p.m. from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in eastern Virginia.
But soon after it rose into the sky, there was a flash of an explosion. "The ascent stopped," Frank L. Culbertson Jr., the executive vice president of Orbital Sciences Corporation, the maker of the rocket, said during a news conference Tuesday. "There was some disassembly of the first stage, it looked like, and then it fell to earth."
No one was injured.
Orbital, based in Dulles, Va., first launched a 14-story-high Antares rocket on its maiden flight in April last year. It then conducted a demonstration flight to the space station to show NASA the capabilities of the rocket and the cargo spacecraft. Then came two more flights carrying cargo to the space station, part of a program in which NASA has hired private companies to ferry cargo to the space station. Tuesday's launch would have been the third of eight cargo missions under a $1.9 billion contract.
Orbital will lead an investigation. Mr. Culbertson said the company would not launch another Antares rocket until it had identified and corrected the problem.
Space Exploration Technologies Corp., of Hawthorne, Calif., known as SpaceX, has successfully flown four cargo missions to the space station, the most recent mission ending on Saturday.
NASA officials said the failure would not cause immediate issues for the space station, which had adequate supplies to last at least until next spring. SpaceX's next cargo mission is scheduled for December and Russia on Wednesday successfully launched its own resupply cargo ship from the Baikonur launch site in Kazakhstan.
"We have plenty of capability to support the crew on board," said Michael T. Suffredini, the manager of the space station program.
In 2011, a Russian supply ship failed to reach orbit; space station managers adjusted.
By hiring private companies, NASA hoped to reduce costs, improve efficiency and spur a new commercial space industry, and it has taken a similar approach toward launching its astronauts in the future.
Last month, NASA awarded contracts to SpaceX and Boeing to take astronauts to the space station beginning as early as 2017.
But the failure of the Orbital rocket will probably raise questions about whether NASA has done enough to ensure the reliability of the rockets.
This Antares rocket carried a more powerful second-stage engine for the first time. The cargo spacecraft was to reach the space station on Sunday. The rocket was also carrying a satellite, also destroyed, for Planetary Resources, a start-up looking to develop technology for mining asteroids.
NASA down to one commercial supplier to ISS
James Dean – Florida Today
NASA is down to one commercial provider of cargo to the International Space Station until an investigation determines what caused an unmanned Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket to blow up Tuesday evening shortly after lifting off from a Virginia pad.
The Antares rocket's failure leaves SpaceX as the only U.S. company able to fly cargo to the orbiting laboratory for the near future, raising the stakes of SpaceX's next launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., which is planned no earlier than Dec. 9.
A Cygnus spacecraft packed with more than 5,000 pounds of equipment and science experiments was destroyed Tuesday when the 14-story rocket suffered a problem with its first stage and fell back to the ground, generating a massive fireball on impact.
No one was injured. The severity of damage to the Wallops Island launch pad was not immediately known.
NASA said the station and its six-person crew would be fine despite the loss of supplies, including more than 1,300 pounds of food, 1,600 pounds of science investigations and some spare parts and spacewalking equipment.
"We're in good shape from a consumables supplies standpoint," said Bill Gerstenmaier, head of human spaceflight programs at NASA headquarters, during a press conference late Tuesday.
The station has enough food to last through March if no other resupply vehicle visits.
But in addition to SpaceX's upcoming launch, a Russian Progress freighter was scheduled to launch early Wednesday morning from Kazakhstan.
NASA and Orbital immediately began an investigation likely to keep the Antares grounded for months.
"Something went wrong and we will find out what that is," said Frank Culbertson, a former astronaut who leads Orbital's Advanced Programs Group. "It's a big disappointment to not be able to successfully deliver that cargo."
The Antares had launched successfully four times, including a maiden flight last year.
Tuesday's mission was Orbital's third of eight planned under a $1.9 billion NASA resupply contract. The rocket and spacecraft were worth more than $200 million.
Speculation immediately focused on the Antares rocket's two AJ26 main engines, which were built in the 1970s for a Soviet-era moon program and refurbished in the United States by Aerojet Rocketdyne.
The decades-old AJ26 engines have experienced problems during tests, with one catching fire in 2011 and another lost completely on a test stand earlier this year.
Culbertson said it was too soon to guess what went wrong. Investigators will collect debris from the two-stage, liquid- and solid-fueled rocket as well as study telemetry and video evidence secured after the accident.
The Antares was developed under a NASA program established to provide commercial cargo deliveries after the shuttle's 2011 retirement.
The program has been hailed as a success, helping Orbital and SpaceX develop new rockets and spacecraft for less than $800 million in taxpayer funds.
SpaceX recently completed its fourth successful resupply run under a $1.6 billion contract.
Antares is not one of the rockets that will fly NASA astronauts by 2017, so the mishap has no direct impact on future planned commercial launches of crews from Florida.
But the accident seems certain to heighten safety concerns about those launches, which are managed by a Kennedy Space Center office, and could make them more of a target for critics.
The mishap came a day before a quarterly meeting by an independent safety panel formed after the fatal Apollo 1 fire.
U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., offered a vote of confidence to the commercial launch providers.
"Space flight is inherently risky," he said in a statement. "As we push the frontiers of space there will be setbacks. But our commercial space ventures will ultimately be successful."
SpaceX CEO Elon Musk also offered sympathetic remarks to Orbital.
"Hope they recover soon," he said on Twitter.
While the failure was a significant setback, NASA and Orbital stressed that there was no loss of life and the cargo could be replaced.
"This just reminds us how difficult this business is, how careful we have to be, how small things really matter in this launch business," said Gerstenmaier.
"We will fly again as soon as we can safely, with confidence," said Culbertson.
Antares Rocket Explodes After Liftoff
Jeff Foust – Space News
An Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket carrying a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on a mission to the international space station exploded seconds after liftoff Oct. 28.
The Antares rocket lifted off on schedule at 6:22 pm EDT from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Virginia. Approximately ten seconds after liftoff, however, an explosion took place at the base of the rocket's first stage. The rocket fell back to the ground near the launch pad, triggering a second, larger explosion.
"The ascent stopped. There was some disassembly of the first stage, it looked like, and then it fell to earth," said Orbital executive vice president Frank Culbertson at a press conference at the NASA Wallops Flight Facility about three hours after the failure. "We don't have any early indications of what exactly might have failed."
Culbertson said there was limited access to data from the launch, in accordance with post-accident procedures to lock down and preserve data. He did say that controllers first saw problems 10 to 12 seconds after liftoff, and the range safety officer triggered the rocket's flight termination system about 20 seconds after lifoff.
No injuries were reported in the launch failure, NASA and Orbital officials said. Damage was contained to an area on the south end of Wallops Island, according to NASA Wallops director Bill Wrobel. The launch pad sustained damage, but Wrobel said it was too early to determine the extent of that damage.
The accident, the first launch failure in five Antares launches, took place after a problem-free countdown. The launch was originally scheduled for Oct. 27 but was scrubbed when a boat entered restricted waters off the coast from the launch site and did not leave before the ten-minute launch window closed.
The mission, designated Orb-3 by NASA, was the third of eight Commercial Resupply Services missions that Orbital Sciences is under contract to perform for the space agency. The Cygnus, named by Orbital the "SS Deke Slayton" after the late astronaut, was carrying 2,290 kilograms of cargo for the station.
NASA officials said that the failure will not have an immediate effect on ISS operations. "We're in good shape from a consumables and supplies standpoint," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said. "There was no cargo that was absolutely critical to us that was lost on this flight. The crew is in no danger."
ISS program manager Mike Suffredini said there was four to six months of supplies on the ISS. A Progress spacecraft is scheduled for launch Oct. 29 and a Space Exploration Technologies Inc. Dragon spacecraft is planned for launch no earlier than Dec. 9 to transport more supplies to the station.
In addition to supplies for the ISS crew, the Cygnus was carrying experiments for the station and spare parts. Also on board were about 30 small satellites planned for later deployment from the station, 26 of which were from commercial remote sensing company Planet Labs.
"Planet Labs understands the risks of launch. Our approach to mitigate these risks is to deploy our fleets of satellites on multiple launch vehicles, from multiple vendors," Planet Labs chief executive Will Marshall said in a statement. "The beauty of this approach is the very fact that this event is not catastrophic to our company."
The failure will likely raise new questions about the AJ-26 engines that currently power the first stage of the vehicle. In May, an AJ-26 engine was destroyed during a ground test at the NASA Stennis Space Center in Mississippi. Aerojet Rocketdyne, which provides the AJ-26 — a refurbished version of the Soviet-era NK-33 engine — took $17.5 million loss in its latest fiscal quarter because of issues with the AJ-26 rocket engine.
The cause of the May failure has not been disclosed by Aerojet or Orbital. An investigation into that failure was wrapping up as of a month ago, Culbertson said at the International Astronautical Congress in Toronto on Sept. 30.
"We have come up with probably two potential root causes, both of which we can screen for," he said at the conference. Engine tests were slated to resume in October at NASA Stennis.
At the post-failure press conference, Culbertson declined to speculate on any role AJ-26 problems may have played in the launch failure. The engines used on this vehicle had gone through normal acceptance testing both at Stennis and at Wallops prior to the launch. "We didn't see any anomalies or anything that would indicate there were problems with the engine," he said.
"We need to go through this investigation and be very thorough before we determine if that's a factor in this or not, and if it is, whether there's any relationship to any of our other experiences with the engine."
Orbital announced in its Oct. 16 conference call with investors that it had selected a new engine for the Antares rocket, but had not disclosed what that engine was.
Culbertson said the overall value of both the Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft was more than $200 million. The company has "some" insurance on the launch, he said, but was not more specific.
Asked about a timetable for a return to flight, Culbertson said it was too soon to make any estimates, expecting it would take a few weeks before the company knew enough to better determine a schedule to resuming launches.
"Something went wrong and we will find out what that is," he said. "We will correct that and we will come back and fly here at Wallops again, hopefully in the very near future."
NASA rocket explodes shortly after launch
David McCabe – The Hill
An unmanned rocket operated by a National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contractor exploded moments after it launched from a facility in Virginia on Tuesday.
The rocket was destined for the International Space Station (ISS) and was carrying a range of supplies.
The launch was being overseen by Orbital Sciences, which has a NASA contract for supply missions to the ISS, worth $1.9 billion. At a press conference on Tuesday night, officials said the spacecraft and supplies were worth over $200 million, but they had yet to estimate additional monetary losses resulting from the accident.
NASA's Twitter account for the International Space Station said there had been an "Accident 6 seconds after @OrbitalSciences #Cygnus liftoff."
"A mishap occurred shortly after liftoff," said a statement posted later on NASA's online mission website. "Orbital has declared a contingency. NASA and Orbital are still determining when a press conference will be held."
The rocket launch had been postponed a day to Tuesday, after a boat was found in the vicinity of the launch facility and could not move in time.
At Tuesday's press conference, officials said that government agencies and Orbital will contribute to the investigation into the incident.
President Obama was briefed on the explosion.
Russia Launches Unmanned Supply Ship Toward Space Station
An unmanned Russian supply ship launched toward the International Space Station early Wednesday (Oct. 29), beginning a six-hour cargo delivery that comes one day after a private U.S. rocket exploded while attempting a similar mission.
The robotic Progress 57 spacecraft blasted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan atop a Russian Soyuz rocket at 3:09 a.m. EDT (0709 GMT) to begin its space station mission. The spacecraft is carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies for the space station's Expedition 41 crew and is expected to link up with the orbiting lab at 9:09 a.m. EDT (1309 GMT).
Russia's successful Progress launch followed the disappointing failure of a U.S. commercial Antares rocket one day earlier. Built by the Virginia-based company Orbital Sciences Corporation, the Antares rocket exploded about 10 seconds after lifting off from its launch pad at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility on Wallops Island, Virginia. An investigation into the launch failure is ongoing.
Nearly 5,000 lbs. (2,268 kilograms) of space station supplies aboard a robotic Cygnus cargo ship that sat atop the Antares rocket were destroyed when the booster exploded. But that lost cargo, NASA officials said, won't put the space station crew in any danger of running out of food, water or air.
"The crew of the International Space Station is in no danger of running out of food or other critical supplies," Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in a statement.
In a press conference just after the Antares launch failure, NASA station program manager Mike Suffredini told reporters that the orbiting laboratory has enough supplies to sustain its crew through at least March 2015, even without the Progress 57 spacecraft launching today and a planned U.S. SpaceX Dragon capsule launch in December.
Russia's Progress cargo ships and the U.S. Cygnus and Dragon vehicles form just part of the robotic cargo ship fleet that supports the International Space Station. Japan's space agency also delivers supplies to the station using its H-2 Transfer Vehicle cargo tugs. The European Space Agency also launched five huge robotic cargo ships to the station between March 2008 and August 2014, when the fifth and final mission flew.
The Progress 57 cargo ship will orbit the Earth four times before arriving at the space station. You can watch the docking webcast live on Space.com, courtesy of NASA TV. The webcast will begin at 8:30 a.m. EDT (1230 GMT). NASA Is Kicking Space Station Technology Up to the Next Level
Alan Boyle - NBC News
NASA has pioneered new technologies on the International Space Station for years, but the space agency's latest technological twists are venturing into science-fiction territory.
For example, the next generation of camera-equipped, free-flying robots could usher in an age when remote-controlled gizmos check out the space station's far corners, unassisted by humans on board. But couldn't that open the way for a robot to go rogue, as HAL did in "2001: A Space Odyssey"?
"It's our job to make sure that doesn't happen," Jose Benavides, chief engineer for the SPHERES robotic flier program at NASA's Ames Research Center, told NBC News.
Benavides and other researchers provided an update on space station innovations on Monday during a televised forum at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville. SPHERES — which is short for "Synchronized Position Hold, Engage, Reorient Experimental Satellites" — ranks as one of the station's longest-running tech experiments.
Robots with enhanced vision
Astronauts have been testing the gas-propelled, beachball-sized satellites since 2006, but just recently the SPHERES devices have been rigged up with Android smartphones to enhance their vision and intelligence. The station's three spaceballs can now use a Kinect-style 3-D scanning system to map their environment.
Sometime next month, the flying robots are due to venture out of their home base in the Japanese Experiment Module for the first time, Benavides said. Eventually, they'll be given the run of the entire space station.
Suppose Mission Control wants to check out an anomalous reading on one of the space station's displays. "Without having to bother an astronaut, the ground operator can navigate the SPHERES over to take a look," Benavides said.
The robot can also be sent to look for, say, a missing wrench while the astronaut who lost it is otherwise engaged. "A lot of the astronauts' time has been spent looking for things," Benavides explained.
Heading off HAL
Meanwhile, Benavides and his teammates spend a lot of their time working through even the most unlikely scenarios — for example, a stray gamma-ray blast that somehow scrambles the SPHERES software — to make sure a flying robot won't turn into a mini-HAL. "Even if all the wrong things happen, it can't hurt anybody or do any damage," he said.
NASA's technology team is also working on a more advanced breed of spaceballs, which will run on rechargeable batteries and operate for at least 10 hours continuously. NASA has issued a challenge that offers $1,000 for the best mission patch and name for the project. (Maybe anything HAL-related wouldn't be the best suggestion.)
Here are some of the other technological twists featured during Monday's forum:
- The first 3-D printer carried into space could get its first orbital tryout next month, said Niki Werkheiser, NASA project manager for the 3-D Printing in Zero-G technology demonstration. There's a window of opportunity to produce more than 20 plastic test items, which could be returned to Earth for inspection at the end of the next SpaceX Dragon cargo resupply mission. The 3-D printer was provided by a commercial venture called Made In Space, which is now working on a more advanced printer for the space station. The first utilitarian items to be made in orbit are likely to include everyday items such as sample containers — and maybe a replacement for that astronaut's missing wrench.
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- The space station's water-recycling system has been recapturing 90 percent of the water that's used by the crew in orbit — including almost all the water contained in the crew's urine. "I have drunk the water, and it's perfectly fine," said Robyn Gatens, manager for ISS systems and technology demonstrations. "It's cleaner than tap water." She said engineers are planning to tweak the system, to recover even more water from the "really icky" concentrated urine that is currently left behind by the process.
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- The station is also trying out a contraption known as the Space Communication and Navigation Testbed, or SCaN Testbed, which capitalizes on a technology known as software-defined radio. The mode of communication can be automatically shifted between frequencies to minimize interference and maximize the signal's capabilities to send voice communication, video or telemetry. During a future mission to Mars, a successor to the SCaN Testbed could adapt the astronauts' communication system to use laser signals or radio signals, depending on the situation, said principal investigator Richard Reinhart of NASA's Glenn Research Center.
"Hello, ISS? This is Huntsville."
Melissa Riopka - WHNT-TV, of Huntsville
Making a phone call has never been easier. It's certainly not rocket science.
That is, unless, you're calling the International Space Station from the science command post at Marshall Space Flight Center.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden placed just such a call Tuesday morning.
At 11:30 a.m., Bolden was connected with space station Expedition 41 Flight Engineers Barry E. "Butch" Wilmore and Gregory Reid Wiseman.
Wiseman has been living and working on the orbiting laboratory for five months and is scheduled to return in a few weeks. Wilmore arrived at the ISS in September and will assume command next month.
The call came during Bolden's visit to NASA's Payload Operations Integration Center at MSFC.
According to NASA, "the Marshall Payload Operations Integration Center allows researchers around the world to perform cutting-edge science in space by providing communications between investigators and the astronauts in orbit."
The payload operations team has helped conduct more than 1,500 science investigations and student experiments from 82 countries.
During his visit, Bolden announced the ISS crew will become even more integrated.
Beginning next week, participating countries will have access to each other's projects. Crew members will also be allowed to work on projects that originate outside their home countries.
What does future hold for Atlas V rocket?
James Dean – Florida Today
Since first taking flight 12 years ago, Atlas V rockets have sent NASA spacecraft soaring throughout the solar system and lofted nearly 30 military missions supporting communications, weather forecasting, missile warnings, surveillance and research.
The United Launch Alliance rocket could be the next to boost astronauts from the Space Coast within a few years.
And with a successful 1:21 p.m. liftoff Wednesday from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the Atlas V will complete a 50th mission, further establishing it as the most reliable and accomplished U.S. rocket flying.
"Fifty is amazing, and we're very proud to have reached this milestone, but what really matters is the next one," said Ron Fortson, ULA's deputy director of mission management.
While maintaining that "one launch at a time" mantra, however, ULA is actively preparing for a future without the Atlas V, its most frequently flown rocket. Mounting political and economic pressures point to the rocket's eventual discontinuation, at least in its current form.
Congress has proposed spending as much as $220 million in 2015 to start developing an engine that could replace the rocket's Russian-made main engine, which has become a liability for geopolitical reasons, and ULA is pursuing another replacement option on its own.
Should supplies of the Russian RD-180 engine continue uninterrupted, as hoped, ULA still faces competition from lower-cost SpaceX and an imminent end to its monopoly on high-value government launches.
"The writing's on the wall for Atlas V as a launcher," said Marco Caceres, senior analyst and director of space studies at Teal Group in Fairfax, Virginia., a firm specializing in aerospace and defense market research. "We cannot rely on the Russians over the long term. And from an economical standpoint, Atlas V is still too expensive the way it is to compete against emerging companies like SpaceX, and certainly to compete successfully in the commercial markets."
ULA, a Boeing-Lockheed Martin joint venture formed in 2006, also launches Delta IV rockets, but not as often and at higher cost.
The Atlas V engine issue escalated earlier this year after Russia annexed Crimea and backed separatist rebels in Ukraine, prompting economic sanctions by the Obama administration.
The official who oversees Russia's defense and space industries responded by threatening to withhold the RD-180 engine from launches of U.S. national security spacecraft, such as the Global Positioning System satellite launching today.
The rhetoric has quieted down, but a Department of Defense study confirmed that losing access to the RD-180 — of which ULA maintains a two-year inventory — would cause significant mission delays and billions in added costs.
Officials estimate that developing a new, liquid-fueled U.S. rocket engine could take five to seven years and cost $1 billion to $2 billion.
This summer, ULA introduced a new CEO, a move Caceres said appeared intended to show the company recognized the need to start a new era.
In a surprise last month, new CEO Tory Bruno announced a partnership with Blue Origin, the start-up backed by Amazon.com founder and billionaire Jeff Bezos, to accelerate development of an engine Blue Origin started several years ago.
"The RD-180 is a great engine," Bruno said during a press conference in Washington, D.C. "It's a real workhorse, it's reliable, it's high performance. But this is an opportunity to really jump into the 21st Century with modern technology so that we can achieve more performance at a lower cost."
Writing about the deal, Chris Quilty, senior vice president for equity research at Raymond James & Assoc. in St. Petersburg, asked if it signaled the "End of the Atlas V?"
In addition to the Russian concerns he noted that, "Like all legacy launch providers, ULA is desperately searching for a technology/business approach that will enable it to more effectively compete against SpaceX."
The Air Force says the cost of today's Atlas V is proprietary, but analysts say the rockets range from $150 million to $170 million, at least twice the cost of SpaceX's Falcon 9, depending on the customer and type of mission.
Quilty said ULA's "outside the box" partnership with Blue Origin may be an encouraging sign that the company isn't content to wait for a taxpayer-funded engine to materialize.
"The fact that they are potentially walking away from (government) money on the table, and teaming up with a 'new space' company, is a pretty good indication that they intend to compete and be a player, and not simply walk quietly to graveyard," he said in an interview.
Bruno said Blue Origin's BE-4 engines could fly within four years, then would need to be certified and phased into use.
If ULA maintained this year's pace of eight Atlas V launches per year, it would take more than six years to reach the 100-launch milestone. Could it happen?
Possibly, Caceres and Quilty agreed, but not likely.
JAXA shows off second-generation asteroid explorer
Akemi Kanda - Asahi Shimbun, of Japan
Japan's space agency showed off a space probe to be launched next month that it hopes will answer questions about how life seeded Earth.
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) intends to land Hayabusa 2 on an asteroid orbiting between Earth and Mars. It is set to be launched by an H-2A rocket from the Tanegashima Space Center here on Nov. 30.
Its predecessor, launched in 2003, returned to Earth after a seven-year mission, during which it landed on an asteroid and collected sample material, an unprecedented achievement.
JAXA showed off the near complete body of its second-generation asteroid explorer to reporters on Oct. 27.
Hayabusa 2 will embark on a six-year journey to collect samples from an asteroid called 1999 JU3. Scientists expect the mission to shed light on the origins of the solar system and life on Earth.
The spherical asteroid is about 900 meters diameter and is thought to contain organic compounds and water, the key to life. It was first observed in 1999.
Hayabusa 2 arrived at Tanegashima island, south of Kagoshima, on Sept. 22. The capsule, impactor and other parts were then assembled.
A JAXA official said Hayabusa 2 will be attached to the rocket after fueling operations are complete and the exterior of the explorer has been inspected for flaws.
Hayabusa 2 is slated to reach the asteroid between June and July in 2018, and spend 18 months on the celestial body before returning to Earth between November and December in 2020.
The explorer will release the impactor to smash a crater and collect mineral samples that have not been exposed to and affected by the heat of the sun.
Massive flares erupt from largest sunspot in 25 years
Hal Hodson and Rowan Hooper - New Scientist
A massive solar eruption on 26 October was the sixth large flare since 19 October, all emanating from one gigantic sunspot called AR 12192. Measuring 129,000 kilometres across, it's the largest sunspot since 1990. For comparison, that's a spot 10 times the diameter of Earth. Does it pose dangers to us?
Earth's atmosphere protects life on the surface from space weather, but the radiation from powerful flares can disrupt GPS and radio communications.
The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Centre said that radio communications issues could be expected throughout the Atlantic Ocean, in South America and western Africa. Radio blackouts – where high-frequency radio contact was lost for about an hour – were reported on Monday.
Lika Guhathakurta, an astrophysicist at NASA, says the timing of the outburst is not surprising. "We're just past the peak of the 11 year cycle," she says, referring to the cycle of activity the sun tends to follow. "Just when we begin this drop, that's when the biggest sunspots and strongest flares tend to happen."
Space spitting
The sunspot is also unusual in that it hasn't produced any coronal mass ejections, which spit billions of tonnes of solar material into space. Fast moving particles from these events interacting with Earth's atmosphere cause the auroras seen in northern and southern latitudes.
"Generally speaking, 90 per cent of sunspots produce coronal mass ejections," says Guhathakurta. "This sunspot has not produced any. That's why you're not seeing auroras or the big magnetic storms."
So why are we seeing prolific solar activity without the coronal mass ejections? There's not a neat answer, says meteorologist Mathew Owens at the University of Reading, UK. "We can get big flares without coronal mass ejections, but we can't get coronal mass ejections without flares."
It could well be that there will be some coronal mass ejections, but they will happen once AR 12192 has rotated to the other side of the sun – in which case we will have got off lightly, Owens says.
NASA has new spacecraft trained on the sun for AR 12192. The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory – known as STEREO and operated from the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland – will let solar physicists track the massive sunspot as it moves around the sun and out of Earth's line of sight.
"We are all watching [the sunspot] with gaping jaws," says Guhathakurta.
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