Happy Friday and have a great weekend everyone. Stay warm and safe.
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Nov. 18 - All Hands With JSC Leaders
- Support the Combined Federal Campaign Charity Fair
- Deck the Door for Orion Contest Winners
- ISS is Already Up There, But Will RISE Again
- Smartcard Damaged, Lost or Stolen? - Organizations/Social
- Last Chance to see the Orion EFT-1 Launch
- JSC NMA Holiday Social
- Human Systems Integration ERG Meeting - November
- Casual AIAA Houston Dinner Meeting
- IEEE Meeting: Networked Unmanned Aircraft Systems - Jobs and Training
- Lunch and Learn Virtual Seminar
- Calibration Coordinator Orientation - Nov. 19
- JSC Risk-Informed Decision Making (RIDM) - Nov. 19
- JSC Risk Management Workshop - Dec. 9 |  |
| Headlines - Nov. 18 - All Hands With JSC Leaders
Join JSC Director Ellen Ochoa on Tuesday, Nov. 18, for an all-hands meeting from 10 to 11 a.m. in the Teague Auditorium. Hear from JSC's leaders on a variety of important topics. In addition to Ochoa, speakers include: JSC Deputy Director Kirk Shireman; Flight Operations Director Brian Kelly; Director of Exploration Integration and Science Steve Stich; and Orion Program Manager Mark Geyer. If you would like to submit a question for consideration in advance of the event, please email it to: JSC-Ask-The-Director@mail.nasa.gov Questions will also be taken via email during the event.Those unable to attend in person can watch the event on RF Channel 2 or Omni 3 (45). JSC team members with wired computer network connections can view the All Hands using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on Channel 402. Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer 32bit on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: - For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website
- For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP)
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367, or visit the FAQ site. The event will also be recorded for playback the following Thursday, Nov. 20, and Tuesday, Nov. 25, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Event Date: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 Event Start Time:10:00 AM Event End Time:11:00 AM Event Location: Teague Auditorium Add to Calendar JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 [top] - Support the Combined Federal Campaign Charity Fair
JSC will be hosting a Combined Federal Campaign (CFC) Agency Fair for 15 different charities. Representatives from these CFC-approved charities will be available to answer questions and meet with JSC employees. These charities are just a sample of the thousands that are greatly impacted by CFC contributions. Don't believe a $1 a week gift makes a difference? It could supply … - 12 elementary school students with trained volunteer tutors to help with reading and math
- 10 children with bilingual, beginning-to-read books to build early literacy skills
- Three 30-minute appointments for a health assessment and counseling for individuals facing physical, developmental or mental-health challenges
… all for just $52 a year! One-time check or cash donations designated to the charity of your choice will be accepted during the fair. Small refreshments will be provided. - Deck the Door for Orion Contest Winners
Thank you to all the participants in the Deck the Door for Orion Contest! We were blown away by the creativity of the JSC team. Congratulations to … First Place: New Era (Patti Gillman, Eden Fields, Sara Zwart and Holly Dlouhy) Second Place: The Ogives (Yadira Garcia, April-lyn McDaniel, Joel Castaneda and Mitchell Bage) Third Place: Optimus Prime (Shelby Bates, William Kockler, Richard Chantlos and Paul Gramm) If you have not gotten a chance to check out the doors, view them here. Even if you didn't get a chance to participate in the contest, we encourage you to join in the celebration of Orion's first flight by decorating your door prior to launch. - ISS is Already Up There, But Will RISE Again
Sure, your International Space Station (ISS) may technically not be "rising" in terms of altitude—but in regards to attitude—it just may thanks to the RISE team that was put in place this past August. Read more in JSC Features about the team that will be culturally shifting the ISS Program from an assembly mode to a service organization supporting science, technology, exploration and commercial enterprise communities. - Smartcard Damaged, Lost or Stolen?
How do you access your PIV-mandatory computer in the event of a lost/damaged/stolen smartcard when your are off the NASA network? PIVMANUNDO was pushed to your Windows workstation by ACES on Oct. 2. The Enterprise Service Desk at x34800 can assist users with this valuable tool. This message was brought to you by the IT Security Communications Team. Organizations/Social - Last Chance to see the Orion EFT-1 Launch
Today is the last day to register for the Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) bus trip! Sign up by noon today to see the Orion EFT-1 launch on Dec. 4. Charges include transportation, hotel accommodations, park admission and snacks and beverages while traveling. Participants are responsible for their own meal expenses. Reduced rates are available for double, triple and quadruple occupancy. Additional charges apply if the launch is pushed back with a one-day weather waive-off schedule. Experience this historic moment in NASA history with your co-workers and other members of the NASA family! Click here for more information and to register online, or go to the Gilruth Center information desk to register in person and save on transaction fees. - JSC NMA Holiday Social
You're invited to the JSC National Management Association (NMA) Holiday Social on Wednesday, Dec. 3, from 11 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. The entrance fee is an unwrapped toy donation for Toys for Tots. Each toy donated equals a ticket for a chance to win a door prize! The JSC Child Care Center kids will also entertain with Christmas carols. Appetizers will be served in instead of a full meal. Please RSVP no later than 3 p.m. Nov. 26 online. For RSVP technical assistance, please contact Leslie N. Smith at x46752. Event Date: Wednesday, December 3, 2014 Event Start Time:11:00 AM Event End Time:12:30 PM Event Location: Gilruth - Alamo Ballroom Add to Calendar Leslie N. Smith x46752 [top] - Human Systems Integration ERG Meeting - November
Join us for a presentation by Dr. George V. Kondraske, professor of electrical engineering and bioengineering at the University of Texas at Arlington. The notion of performance pervades most engineering efforts, including those involving human systems integration (HSI). Yet, approaches generally rely on ad-hoc performance constructs and the application of them without a unifying conceptual framework. General Systems Performance Theory, while applicable to modeling and measurement of any system, was motivated by human performance and HSI challenges. It responds to the needs noted and is argued to provide key insights for measurement and modeling of system performance. Basic concepts will be presented, along with discussion of several applications of interest within an HSI context. - Casual AIAA Houston Dinner Meeting
Continuing our commitment to bring you a dinner speaker every month, we will have TWO speakers on Wednesday, Nov. 19, at Mamacita's Mexican Restaurant (515 E. Nasa Pkwy.) in Webster. This will be one of our casual dinners, where you don't need to register or pay ahead of time. Just grab a seat, order your own dinner and enjoy two wonderful topics. The first speaker will be Dr. Rebecca Forrest, University of Houston (UH) physics professor, who will speak for about 15 minutes on the amazing Mars Rover Competition being held this coming January. The competition committee is looking for volunteers to judge kids' entries. More information about the Mars Rover Competition is available at the UH website. The second speaker will be Larry Price, Lockheed Martin's deputy program manager for Orion. - IEEE Meeting: Networked Unmanned Aircraft Systems
Dr. Carrillo of Texas A&M-Corpus Christi will present "Unmanned Aircraft Systems: From Specialized Agents to Intelligent Networked Societies." The first part will include discussion of general ideas related to the design and development of rotary-wing UAS experimental platforms equipped with onboard sensing and control capabilities, and specific challenges encountered when automating this type of aerial robot. The problem of stabilizing the UAS during autonomous flights and real-time experimental applications, such as relative positioning and navigation tasks, will be presented. The second part is devoted to multi-agent systems and will address the problem of estimating the state of a multi-agent system where measurements are corrupted by impulsive noise, whose dynamics are subjected to impulsive disturbances. Finally, ongoing work on biologically inspired flocking control for multi-agent dynamic systems will be addressed. Lunch is available for $8. Please RSVP before noon on Tuesday, Nov. 18, indicating lunch or no lunch. Jobs and Training - Lunch and Learn Virtual Seminar
JSC is hosting this month's agencywide Science and Technology Virtual Seminar. Stop by or connect from your desk and enjoy the following presentations: "Sharing Science with the GLOBE - How you can join GLOBE, an international community of students, teachers and scientists to better understand the environment and Earth's connected systems" by Jessica Taylor, NASA Langley Research Center "Microbial Responses to Spaceflight and Spaceflight-Analog Culture" by Sarah Castro, NASA JSC "What We Can Learn from Meteorites About the Origins of Life" by Aaron Burton, NASA JSC Contact Aaron Burton for conference room and Adobe Connect login information. Event Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Event Start Time:12:00 PM Event End Time:1:00 PM Event Location: Adobe Connect Add to Calendar Aaron Burton x42773 [top] - Calibration Coordinator Orientation - Nov. 19
If you are a coordinator for the calibration of MTE, you are strongly encouraged to attend a brief orientation regarding the JSC Calibration Program on Nov. 19 at 10 a.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium. There have been some recent changes to the calibration program, and it is important that you receive these updates so that your work center is compliant with center requirements. Event Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Event Start Time:10:00 AM Event End Time:11:00 AM Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium Add to Calendar Hanan Harpster x33198 [top] - JSC Risk-Informed Decision Making (RIDM) – Nov. 19
The JSC Risk-Informed Decision Making (RIDM) collaborative workshop provides students a strategy to integrate RIDM and Continuous Risk Management (CRM). Course materials include a discussion of the benefits of ensuring decisions include risk considerations with appropriate rigor commensurate with the significance. Facilitators will lead the students through exercises demonstrating the steps to evaluate options and select a decision alternative that is risk informed. After completing this course, the student should be able to: 1) Describe the RIDM process and applicability; 2) Have an understanding of how RIDM is integrated into the overall risk management process for institutional risks and resident program/project risks; and 3) Describe the interrelationship of RIDM and CRM. Location: Building 12, Room 134 For more information, contact Paula Gothreaux at 281-335-2441 or Russell Hartlieb at 281-335-2443. Event Date: Wednesday, November 19, 2014 Event Start Time:9:00 AM Event End Time:12:00 PM Event Location: Building 12/Room 134 Add to Calendar Paula Gothreaux 281-335-2441 [top] - JSC Risk Management Workshop – Dec. 9
The JSC Risk Management Workshop (JSC-NA-SAIC-RISKWKSP) includes risk-management concepts and a risk-identification workshop tailored for JSC personnel participating in institutional risk management and hands-on JSC-IRMA training. Class participants include managers, leads and risk-management focal points. The workshop addresses JSC's requirements for risk identification, tracking, reporting and making risk-informed decisions. Topics include understanding the potential health, safety, environmental, technical, infrastructure or workforce capabilities, as well as the schedule and cost risks associated with successfully meeting JSC directorate objectives. Location: Building 12, Room 144 For more information, contact Russell Hartlieb at 281-335-2443 or Paula Gothreaux at 281-335-2441. Event Date: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 Event Start Time:9:00 AM Event End Time:4:00 PM Event Location: Building 12/Room 144 Add to Calendar Russell Hartlieb 281-335-2443 [top] | |
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| JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters. |
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Friday – November 14, 2014
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Comet Landing Bumpier Than Initially Thought
Kenneth Chang – New York Times
This historic landing of a spacecraft on a comet on Wednesday turned out to be not one but three landings as the craft hopped across the surface.
Philae landed 3 times on comet, but scientists not sure where it is
Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles Times
The Philae probe is alive and well a day after the first successful spacecraft landing on a comet, but scientists are still trying to figure out exactly where it is on its new home.
Rosetta comet mission's bumpy landing means craft's time on surface may be short
Rachel Feltman – The Washington Post
The probe is perched on the surface of a comet more than 300 million miles away and sending home pictures. That's the thrilling news about the decade-long Rosetta mission.
Governor Patrick, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and CASIS Announce Grant Competition to Support Research on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory
"Galactic Grant Competition" will fund innovative industry research; grant will also fund STEM initiatives for Massachusetts schools
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) Release
(November 13, 2014, Boston, MA) Governor Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) today announced the "Galactic Grant Competition," a new collaboration that will provide Massachusetts-based companies a unique opportunity to access the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct life sciences research. The grant competition, funded by MLSC, will be open for applications from December 1, 2014 through April 3, 2015 and will encourage companies to take advantage of the distinct attributes of the ISS research platform for life sciences initiatives. The microgravity environment on the ISS has profound and unique effects on biological phenomena and can enable discoveries with terrestrial applications, including drug discovery, development, delivery, and diagnostics.
State to promote drug development in space through 'Galactic Grant Competition'
Don Seiffert – Boston Business Journal
The state's agency that promotes life science firms today announced an opportunity for biotechs to develop drugs in space.
Alexandria: The Right Stuff
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes USPTO veterans.
Jeanne Theismann - Springfield (VA) Connection
It was one small step taken 45 years ago. Around the world, eyes were collectively riveted to grainy pictures on a television screen while others gazed up at the sky in wonder and awe. America had achieved the impossible as Buzz Aldrin joined fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong in walking on the surface of the moon.
Space Hero
Astronaut, athlete, artist: Leland Melvin rocks our world
Stephen H. Segal - The Atlantic City (NJ) Weekly
Leland Melvin is your hero. Oh, sure, you've never heard of him before. But we're going to fix that now. Because Leland Melvin is one of a tiny handful of American heroes whose life can inspire everybody.
State assessing damage, considering future of commercial spaceport
Virginia's Transportation Secretary says he is optimistic launches will resume, but with additional protections for taxpayers
Joe Dashiell - WDBJ-TV
Virginia's Secretary of Transportation says it could take a year and up to $20 million to repair the commercial spaceport on Virginia's Eastern Shore, after a mishap damaged the launchpad last month.
NASA, Lockheed To Use "Blended Teams" For Orion Test Flight
Jeff Foust – Space News
As preparations ramp up for the first test flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft in December, agency officials say they will be closely involved in all aspects of the mission even though the flight itself will be run by Lockheed Martin.
Astronaut's recognition makes Cobham employee a star
Matt Glynn - Buffalo (NY) News
It's not every day that a NASA astronaut drops by to thank you for your good work.
German astronaut Gerst sets sights on Mars
Freshly landed back on Earth after nearly six months in space, German astronaut Alexander Gerst said he wouldn't mind making a trip to Mars in the future. But Gerst added that humans really should value their own planet.
Deutsche Welle (DEU)
Speaking at a press conference in the western German city of Cologne, Alexander Gerst said he would happily take up the challenge of flying to Mars.
ULA Head: Major Reorganization Coming
Aaron Mehta – Defense News
The new head of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) is promising a major transformation of his company to reduce costs for commercial and government customers.
NASA awards Medical College $1.8M grant to study astronaut heart risk
Rich Kirchen - Milwaukee Business Journal
With NASA planning human space missions that would require astronauts to live for prolonged periods outside the earth's protective atmosphere, the agency has awarded a $1.8 million grant to the Medical College of Wisconsin to determine the risk of developing degenerative heart disease from exposure to space radiation.
Ambassador High students in Torrance open science experiment returned from space station
Jordan England-Nelson- Los Angeles Daily Breeze
"This thing flew in space for 15 weeks!" Ambassador High School physics teacher Bob Giampaoli declared, holding up a plastic, rectangular box the size of a toilet paper roll.
Goddard Seeks a Host Satellite for Its Earth Venture Proposal
Dan Leone – Space News
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is looking for a host satellite to carry a roughly 100-kilogram science instrument to a geostationary orbit in 2022, according to notice published online Nov. 10.
Wake Up, Pluto Spacecraft! New Horizons Emerges From Nap Next Month
Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today
It's not quite the cryogenic sleep featured in Interstellar, but all the same, NASA's New Horizons probe has spent most of its long, long journey to Pluto in hibernation. So far it's been asleep periodically for 1,873 days — two-thirds of its journey in space since 2006 — to save energy, money and the risk of instrument failure.
NASA Gives the Green Light to $200 Million ICON Mission
Dan Leone – Space News
NASA approved the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), a small heliophysics mission set to launch no later than October 2017, to proceed into development, the agency announced Nov. 12.
Mushroom-Body Drone Biodegrades Into Almost Nothing
Like dust in the wind... well most of it, anyway
Kelsey D. Atherto – Popular Science
Small, cheap drones make appealing cameramen for a variety of tasks -- from a research apparatus to a tourist's plaything. Light, unmanned aircraft, especially those piloted by amateurs, pose a new danger to the environment, however. What happens if a gust of wind or pilot error sends the drone into, say, a beautiful and delicate geothermal hot spring? The bio-drone, developed by researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, is a biodegradable solution to this issue.
Rocket Engine Made With 3D Printed Parts Survives First Hot Fire Tests
Mika McKinnon - io9
Using copper alloys during 3D printing is a bit more complicated than most materials used for additive manufacturing. The alloys' microstructure and material properties don't necessarily match up with that of typical copper, so scientists had to run it through a series of rigorous materials tests to figure out how it is going to behave in various circumstances. It's exciting to reach the point where the material is well-characterized enough for practical testing, then have everything match theory exactly as expected.
DARPA's "FedEx to GEO" Vision Takes a Small Step Forward
Mike Gruss – Space News
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency released specifications Nov. 10 for a standardized spacecraft deployment system it is developing to enable military payloads to hitch rides on commercial communications satellites and hop off in or near geostationary orbit.
COMPLETE STORIES
Comet Landing Bumpier Than Initially Thought
Kenneth Chang – New York Times
This historic landing of a spacecraft on a comet on Wednesday turned out to be not one but three landings as the craft hopped across the surface.
Because of the failure of a thruster that was to press it against the comet's surface after touching down, the European Space Agency's Philae lander, part of the $1.75 billion Rosetta mission, bounded up more than half a mile before falling to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko again nearly two hours later, more than half a mile away. That is a considerable distance across a comet that is only 2.5 miles wide.
Philae then bounced again, less high, and ended up with only two of its three legs on the surface, tipped against a boulder, a wall of rock or perhaps the side of a hole.
"We are almost vertical, one foot probably in the open air — open space. I'm sorry, there is no air around," Jean-Pierre Bibring, the lead lander scientist, said at a news conference on Thursday.
In the skewed position, Philae's solar panels are generating much less power than had been planned, and when its batteries drain in a couple of days, it may not be able to recharge. As the comet rotates once every 12 hours, the lander is receiving only about 1.5 hours of sunlight instead of the expected six to seven hours.
Despite the bumpy landing, Philae remained in contact with the Rosetta orbiter and performed its initial set of observations, including photographs of a cliff above the spacecraft.
Stephan Ulamec, the lander's manager, said he was reluctant to do anything requiring mechanical movement that might tip Philae onto its back. "We need to be very careful about deploying instruments," he said.
Later in the day, however, scientists announced via Twitter that they would proceed with plans to use Philae's Mupus instrument (short for Multipurpose Sensors for Surface and Subsurface Science), which is to hammer a 14-inch-long hollow rod into the comet to measure properties including temperature, density and hardness.
"We will deploy the Mupus penetrator for 2/3 of the max. length and then insert it," the post said. "Should happen before midnight. Keep fingers crossed."
Philae is the first spacecraft to land on a comet, a remarkable feat that will allow scientists to investigate one of the frozen leftovers from the formation of the solar system.
When the touchdown signal arrived at the spacecraft operations center in Darmstadt, Germany, the celebrations started.
The lander had hit its landing target almost exactly, Dr. Bibring said. Dr. Ulamec reported that its speed at landing was about one meter per second, or 2.2 miles per hour, a leisurely walking pace.
But two harpoons that were to have secured Philae to the surface never fired. And so, with radio signals taking 28 minutes to travel the 316 million miles from Rosetta, as mission scientists were celebrating its landing, Philae was back in space; it had recoiled upward at a speed of 38 centimeters a second, or less than a mile per hour. With the weak gravitational pull of the comet, Philae traveled high and far before touching down again.
The second bounce was smaller, with the lander leaving the surface at less than one-tenth the speed of the first bounce.
"We have a better understanding now how we got there," Dr. Ulamec said. "We still do not really know where."
Joel W. Parker, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute in Boulder, Colo., who has worked on the Rosetta project, said scientists had much to learn from the lander's signals.
"They may have enough data to sift through from the various instruments to do a 'C.S.I. Philae' and piece it all together," Dr. Parker said by email.
Dr. Bibring took some umbrage at suggestions that the landing was a failure, pointing to the wealth of scientific data that has already been collected and how much had gone right.
"It's gorgeous where we are," he said.
Philae landed 3 times on comet, but scientists not sure where it is
Deborah Netburn – Los Angeles Times
The Philae probe is alive and well a day after the first successful spacecraft landing on a comet, but scientists are still trying to figure out exactly where it is on its new home.
Officials at the European Space Agency mission control in Darmstadt, Germany, confirmed Thursday that the lander, launched from the Rosetta spacecraft circling comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, is busily sending data back to Earth -- including the first images ever taken from the surface of a comet.
These early images show a haunting terrain covered in dust and debris that range in size from a few millimeters to several feet. One image taken at the orbiter's first landing site showed what looked like a square block about 15 feet wide.
While it was touching down, the lander bounced twice -- almost as if the comet were a trampoline. The first bounce lasted almost two hours and took the lander about two-thirds of a mile above the comet's surface. The second bounce was smaller and lasted just a few minutes, said Stephan Ulamec, the Philae landing manager. The craft's harpoons failed to attach it to the surface after touchdown Wednesday but it's now stable, scientists said.
"We know how we landed, but we don't know where," Ulamec said. "We landed three times."
The lander then settled in a shadowy part of the comet near a cliff, where it is only getting 1 1/2 hours of sunlight a day. At its planned landing site, Philae would have gotten six or seven hours of sunlight. The difference is crucial because Philae will need to rely on solar power after its batteries run out after about 60 hours, and this will affect how much work the probe can do on the surface, mission officials said.
Scientists also said Philae landed with two legs on the ground and one foot in the vaccuum of space during its final touchdown. Ulamec said the lander has the capability to make a little "hop" on the surface, which could help it get into a better position, but the maneuver would be risky and it is not likely ESA will try it.
And because Philae's harpoons failed to keep it tethered to the comet, ESA officials are also wary of drilling into the comet as planned. Their concern is that the force of the drills on such a low-gravity body could cause the lander to move again.
The ESA team conceived the risky Rosetta mission in the late 1980s to learn more about comets that formed from the same mix of gas, dust and other ingredients that would form the sun, Earth and other planets. Spacecraft have slammed into comets before, but none had ever landed intact before Wednesday.
Although there were some hiccups with the landing, the science and engineering team at ESA said that was to be expected. They knew virtually nothing about the topography and gravity of the comet when they launched the mission 10 years ago.
"If we had known the comet, we may have thought of a different design for the orbiter," said Ulamec. "Still, we put a lot of thought of possible scenarios and possible surfaces, and even after what we know of the comet now, I don't think we would have designed it that differently."
"What is really impressive is not the degree of failure we encountered, but the degree of success we've had," said Jean-Pierre Bibring, Philae's lead scientist and a principal investigator on two of its instruments. "It is amazing where we are. We landed on a comet. We are really at the limit of what humankind could do now -- it is gorgeous where we are."
Rosetta comet mission's bumpy landing means craft's time on surface may be short
Rachel Feltman – The Washington Post
The probe is perched on the surface of a comet more than 300 million miles away and sending home pictures. That's the thrilling news about the decade-long Rosetta mission.
But in the jubilant hours after the Wednesday touchdown, it became clear that the landing had been far from perfect. The bumps the Philae craft took along the way may turn out to be disastrous because it is not at the best landing site and is not anchored.
The scientists at the European Space Agency's mission control in Germany now know that the lander probably bounced when it reached its target landing site — maybe even over half a mile into the air, and just as far across the ground.
"The lander may have lifted off [the comet] again . . . so maybe today we didn't land once, we even landed twice," Stephan Ulamec, the lander manager, said during a media update late Wednesdaynight.
Philae has already done some incredible things: The probe has sent home a panoramic shot of the comet's terrain. It has begun analyzing the comet's composition and is sending scientific data back to Earth. Its mission team is cautiously turning on more of its instruments in order of the degree of risk they pose to its position.
Comets, the Rosetta team has said, probably contain the elements present in the earliest days of the solar system, frozen in time. By digging into the mysterious ice, Philae is helping scientists learn more about the origins of the solar system and the planets.
But Philae may not last for its projected four-month run.
At a Thursday news conference, Ulamec announced that the probe had bounced not just once but twice.
"We landed three times, so there is an inflation of landing somehow," he joked.
All kidding aside, these jumps could end up being catastrophic. Because Philae has failed to settle upright and anchor itself, which it was supposed to do by firing harpoons into the comet, it might get jostled into a position it cannot right itself from — or it might even bounce right off into space.
The big question now is not just whether Philae can stand still; it is whether the part of the comet it is on is a good place to be. Based on the image that Philae sent back to Earth, the landing team thinks it might be at the edge of a deep crater — but they aren't sure.
"I can't really tell you much more than what you interpret yourself from looking at these wonderful images," Ulamec said.
One concern is that Philae's solar panels are not getting enough light in the lander's position. During the course of the comet's rotation, which takes 12 hours, the panels are exposed to light only for about an hour and a half, instead of the seven hours they would have gotten at the optimal landing site. That is not nearly enough to keep Philae operational. The lander left Earth with only a 60-hour backup charge.
The mission team is working to get a better idea of the lander's position, which could conceivably shift back to something more favorable on its own. The team could also try to figure out a way to reposition the probe, but with the batteries dying they may end up racing against the clock. And anything they do runs the risk of bouncing Philae into an even worse position, ruining the time they have left.
Philae was never meant to be a long-term data collector. No matter what happens to it in the next few days, it has a life expectancy of only around four months. Rosetta scientists predict that in March, when the comet nears the sun, the surface will grow too hot for Philae's systems to continue operating.
The Rosetta spacecraft will keep working — and following the comet — until at least December of next year.
But the team had hoped Philae would have more than a few days to go digging through the comet's molecular treasure trove. The scientists also had hoped that the probe would get to observe what changes the comet undergoes as it approaches the sun — a task that is now likely to fall solely to Rosetta.
During its statements to the media, the Rosetta team seemed fully prepared for the eventuality of Philae's early death. And up in orbit, Rosetta is doing just fine.
"The situation with the orbiter is perfect," Ignacio Tanco, deputy spacecraft operations manager, said during a Wednesday press update. "Rosetta is performing flawlessly."
Governor Patrick, Massachusetts Life Sciences Center, and CASIS Announce Grant Competition to Support Research on the International Space Station U.S. National Laboratory
"Galactic Grant Competition" will fund innovative industry research; grant will also fund STEM initiatives for Massachusetts schools
Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) Release
(November 13, 2014, Boston, MA) Governor Deval Patrick, the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center (MLSC), and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) today announced the "Galactic Grant Competition," a new collaboration that will provide Massachusetts-based companies a unique opportunity to access the International Space Station (ISS) to conduct life sciences research. The grant competition, funded by MLSC, will be open for applications from December 1, 2014 through April 3, 2015 and will encourage companies to take advantage of the distinct attributes of the ISS research platform for life sciences initiatives. The microgravity environment on the ISS has profound and unique effects on biological phenomena and can enable discoveries with terrestrial applications, including drug discovery, development, delivery, and diagnostics.
This first-of-its-kind grant competition was announced today by Gov. Patrick at a press conference at the Museum of Science in Boston, alongside astronaut Dan Tani, and leaders from the MLSC and CASIS. Through the MLSC, Massachusetts is investing $1 billion over ten years in the growth of the state's life sciences ecosystem. These investments are being made under the Massachusetts Life Sciences Initiative, proposed by Gov. Patrick in 2007, and passed by the State Legislature and signed into law by Gov. Patrick in 2008. CASIS is the nonprofit organization responsible for managing and promoting research onboard the ISS U.S. National Laboratory. Through CASIS, U.S. based companies, non-NASA government agencies, and other research organizations are now able to access the ISS for novel and groundbreaking research.
"Massachusetts is the global leader in life sciences, so it is only fitting that we are the first state to promote life sciences experiments on the International Space Station," said Governor Deval Patrick. "We are taking our spirit of collaboration to space in order to advance science, technology, education and economic development for Massachusetts and its residents."
"This partnership is directly attributable to Governor Patrick's Life Sciences Initiative," said Susan Windham-Bannister, Ph.D., President & CEO of the MLSC. "Because of the initiative, Massachusetts is the first state that CASIS has approached about a collaboration. Now Massachusetts-based companies will have a unique opportunity to access the International Space Station -- a one-of-a kind platform for applied research projects that will help bring new therapies and cures to market."
Interested companies and researchers are encouraged to attend information sessions that will take place December 2014 through February 2015. These information sessions will be announced and posted by the end of November. The winner(s) will be announced on July 7, 2015 as part of the ISS Research & Development Conference taking place at the Boston Marriott Copley. Up to $500,000 is available for support of flight projects from any life sciences company with operations in Massachusetts. An additional $50,000 will be invested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education initiatives that will aim to connect Massachusetts students to the ISS with unique content and student research opportunities.
"We are thrilled to partner with the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center to help connect Massachusetts companies, schools, and research organizations to the ISS," said Cynthia Bouthot, CASIS director of business development. "Through Governor Patrick's investment initiative, Massachusetts has emerged as the global leader in life sciences, making the state a great partner for CASIS in promoting research on the ISS. Innovative organizations like MLSC are seeing the opportunity that now exists for space-based research and discovery on the ISS and the unique access that CASIS can provide."
State to promote drug development in space through 'Galactic Grant Competition'
Don Seiffert – Boston Business Journal
The state's agency that promotes life science firms today announced an opportunity for biotechs to develop drugs in space.
Gov. Deval Patrick announced the so-called "Galactic Grant Competition" at the Boston Museum of Science. The competition is supported by the Massachusetts Life Sciences Center and the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, a Florida-based nonprofit that promotes and manages the use of the International Space Station for experiments that could develop innovative new technology. Former astronaut Dan Tani, who performed a spacewalk on 2001 as part of a mission from the Space Shuttle Endeavor, accompanied Patrick.
Starting in December, Massachusetts-based companies will have the opportunity to apply to have life science experiments — including drug discovery, development, delivery, and diagnostics — conducted in the U.S. lab on the ISS. Up to $500,000 will be available to help pay for any projects from any life sciences company with operations in the Bay State, and another $50,000 will be invested in science, technology, engineering and mathematics education initiatives intended to "connect Massachusetts students to the ISS," according to a statement from MLSC.
The extremely light gravity onboard the ISS affects organisms from bacteria to humans, including at the genetic level and the formation of tissue. According to a the CASIS website, "studies of astronauts reveal a variety of spaceflight-induced health conditions, many of which may serve as models of ground-based ailments such as aging and trauma."
Applications will be accepted from Dec. 1 through April 3, 2015, with winners announced next July. Several information sessions are planned for three months starting in December for anyone interested in applying.
Alexandria: The Right Stuff
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin salutes USPTO veterans.
Jeanne Theismann - Springfield (VA) Connection
It was one small step taken 45 years ago. Around the world, eyes were collectively riveted to grainy pictures on a television screen while others gazed up at the sky in wonder and awe. America had achieved the impossible as Buzz Aldrin joined fellow astronaut Neil Armstrong in walking on the surface of the moon.
"I was one of three lucky guys who got selected for that mission," said Aldrin of the historic Apollo 11 moon landing in July of 1969. "I just happen to come along at just the right time with just the right credentials."
Speaking to a standing room only crowd at the U.S. Patent and Trade Office Military Association's Veterans Day ceremony Nov. 6, Aldrin talked about his continuing passion for space exploration.
"I would like to see us get to Mars," Aldrin said. "But we need the American people to feel the same passion for our space program as we felt 45 years ago."
After graduating third in his class at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in 1951, Aldrin went on to earn a doctorate at MIT and is the holder of three U.S. patents for his schematics of a modular space station, Starbooster reusable rockets and multi-crew modules for space flight.
"We never heard the word STEM back then," said Aldrin of the widely-used acronym for the study of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. "But I would add an 'A' to that to stress the importance of the arts in giving this country 'STEAM' power."
Aldrin, who toured the Inventors Hall of Fame Museum following the ceremony, remains at the forefront of efforts to continue human space exploration.
"The most difficult to bring back are the first ones to land," Aldrin said. "But if we have a destination, a time frame and a plan, I believe we can achieve even greater success in space."
Aldrin brought some levity to the ceremony when he was asked about the significance of the now iconic photograph taken of him on the moon with Armstrong and the lunar module visible in the reflection of his helmet.
"That picture is still famous around the world," Aldrin said. "The reason for its importance is simple — location, location, location."
Aldrin, who noted that his mother was born the same year the Wright Brothers took their first flight, was awarded the Congressional Gold Medal in 2011 for his achievements in space exploration and its impact on American history
"I was just a young towhead from New Jersey," Aldrin said. "But I am fortunate to be an inhabitant of this wonderful country of ours and humbled by the great privilege I had to serve my country."
Space Hero
Astronaut, athlete, artist: Leland Melvin rocks our world
Stephen H. Segal - The Atlantic City (NJ) Weekly
Leland Melvin is your hero. Oh, sure, you've never heard of him before. But we're going to fix that now. Because Leland Melvin is one of a tiny handful of American heroes whose life can inspire everybody.
Let's start with the central fact: He's an astronaut — a NASA veteran who logged 565 hours on the space shuttle Atlantis while working on the construction of the International Space Station. In the half a century since human beings have begun escaping the pull of Earth's gravity, there have only been some 500 space travelers out of the more than 7,000,000,000 of us who currently live on this rock. That alone makes Leland Melvin a one-in-fourteen-million kinda guy.
Now let's kick it up a notch: Only one person in the history of the United States of America has ever been an NFL draftee before flying into space. Yes, while Leland Melvin was studying chemistry as an undergrad at the University of Richmond, he was also busy being an NCAA Division I Academic All American football star. The Detroit Lions chose him in the 1986 draft — but a hamstring injury sent him back to his life as a research scientist, and soon NASA hired him to study fiber-optic sensors before accepting him into the astronaut program.
So, if you're keeping score: 1. Space explorer. 2. Football star. 3. Cutting-edge high-tech engineer.
And finally, let's add 4. Artist. Because Leland Melvin is also a fine-art photographer who's turned his careful eye to crafting some of the most beautiful pictures of the natural world you'll ever see — both here on earth, and from his unique vantage point orbiting the planet.
Basically, his life is a Marvel superhero's origin story.
So it's no surprise that, during the four years he served as NASA's education chief, he became one of those who thinks American education's obsession with what's called STEM — science, technology, engineering and mathematics — really ought to be called STEAM and include the arts in its vision of a well-developed mind, too.
If you've ever wanted to be awesome at anything, he is in your corner.
State assessing damage, considering future of commercial spaceport
Virginia's Transportation Secretary says he is optimistic launches will resume, but with additional protections for taxpayers
Joe Dashiell - WDBJ-TV
Virginia's Secretary of Transportation says it could take a year and up to $20 million to repair the commercial spaceport on Virginia's Eastern Shore, after a mishap damaged the launchpad last month.
Aubrey Layne says he expects the flights to resume, but with additional protections for Virginia taxpayers. "We do need to have our launch partner and the federal government take responsibility with us in this particular incident," Layne told WDBJ7.
A resupply mission to the International Space Station ended just seconds after liftoff from Wallops Island on October 28th.
Thursday in Roanoke, Layne said the state is working with Orbital Sciences and NASA to develop a plan that "makes sense for our taxpayers."
"As you know we've had three successful launches," Layne said in an interview. "We know we can do it. Our partners know we can do it. Let's put a plan in place that's sustainable for the long term. That's what the Governor's asked us to do."
Layne spoke with WDBJ7 during the Governor's Transportation Conference at the Hotel Roanoke.
The incident last month could have been worse, but Layne said it will cost between $13 million and $20 million to repair the damage.
The state has already invested more than $100 million in the facility.
NASA, Lockheed To Use "Blended Teams" For Orion Test Flight
Jeff Foust – Space News
As preparations ramp up for the first test flight of NASA's Orion spacecraft in December, agency officials say they will be closely involved in all aspects of the mission even though the flight itself will be run by Lockheed Martin.
The Orion spacecraft for the mission, designated Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1), arrived at Space Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, in the early morning hours of Nov. 12, after completing a circuitous 35-kilometer trip from the Launch Abort System Facility at the Kennedy Space Center. Workers hoisted the spacecraft later that day atop the United Launch Alliance Delta 4 Heavy rocket already on the pad.
That rocket is scheduled to lift off Dec. 4 at 7:05 am EST and place Orion into Earth orbit. After completing one orbit, the Delta 4's upper stage will reignite and send Orion into a more elliptical orbit, reaching a peak altitude of about 5,800 kilometers. Orion will re-enter at the end of that second orbit, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean west of Baja California, Mexico.
While lasting only four and a half hours, NASA considers EFT-1 a key mission in the overall development of Orion. The flight will address 10 of the program's top 16 risks, including Orion's thermal protection system and parachutes.
Despite its essential nature, NASA itself will not be in charge of the mission. Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor for Orion, is responsible for the flight, providing flight data to NASA.
"We took a different approach with EFT-1. We're basically buying services from Lockheed Martin," said William Hill, NASA deputy associate administrator for Exploration Systems Development, at a Nov. 6 briefing about the mission at KSC. "They are responsible for the mission. It is truly a commercial endeavor."
"It's somewhat unique for this mission. NASA's asking for a service and we're providing the data back," Bryan Austin, the Lockheed Martin EFT-1 mission manager, said at the briefing.
However, both NASA and Lockheed Martin officials emphasized that the agency will have considerable insight into the mission. Lockheed Martin has subcontracted the mission operations and spacecraft recovery work for EFT-1 to NASA, and NASA and company personnel will be working in what Austin called "blended teams" throughout the mission.
"The teams are highly integrated since this one flight test on the way towards EM-2, so all the engineers work together," said Garth Henning, Orion program executive at NASA headquarters, in a Nov. 12 speech at a Space Transportation Association luncheon here. He was referring to Exploration Mission 2, the first crewed Orion mission, currently scheduled for 2021.
NASA Orion program manager Mark Geyer said at the Nov. 6 briefing that ULA will manage the launch itself in much the same way as any other mission, with NASA confirming Orion's readiness for launch as a payload. Once in orbit, the NASA mission operations team contracted by Lockheed Martin will run the flight.
Should any issues arise with the flight, a mission management team at Cape Canaveral will address them. That team will be chaired by Lockheed Martin's Austin, but with NASA participation as well. "I'm there, we'll have safety and engineering there," Geyer said. "We'll talk about the particular issue, we'll caucus, and make the decision."
"You're going to have all of the folks at the Cape all in the same room," said Henning of the mix of NASA and Lockheed Martin personnel. "A Lockheed person will be chairing the meeting, but it's going to be all the same folks with all the same insight."
While an unconventional arrangement, NASA and Lockheed Martin officials said that it has worked well so far. "That teamwork has really been vital, and is proving very productive in making us a very efficient and effective team," Austin said.
Astronaut's recognition makes Cobham employee a star
Matt Glynn - Buffalo (NY) News
It's not every day that a NASA astronaut drops by to thank you for your good work.
But that's what happened to Richard Banks on Thursday at Cobham Mission Systems in Orchard Park.
Astronaut Michael J. Foreman, who flew on two space shuttle missions, presented Banks with a "Silver Snoopy" award, which recognizes employees of NASA and contractors for contributions to the human spaceflight program. Foreman was joined by representatives of Boeing.
Banks, a Cobham design engineer, called the award "a huge honor," and received a silver pin that traveled aboard the shuttle Atlantis. He was recognized for spotting a potential problem with a valve that led to a design improvement. Cobham, through Boeing, is working on components for NASA's Space Launch System, a rocket under development.
The Silver Snoopy award – which bears the image of the "Peanuts" comic strip beagle – dates to the Apollo spaceflight program in 1968. Astronauts present it to less than 1 percent of NASA and contractor employees annually. "The hallmark of the award is for people that have gone above and beyond to identify issues with safety or have done something that significantly impacts our mission success," Foreman said.
The Space Launch System is designed to launch astronauts on missions farther than ever before, possibly to an asteroid or Mars. While its first mission is a few years away, companies such as Cobham are contributing to it now.
"Boeing's doing an awful lot of work using specialty organizations that have experience with components that they have developed and matured over the years," said Joel Bridges, Boeing's manager of main propulsion and pyrotechnics for the Space Launch System. "Cobham certainly has a wonderful heritage with specialized gas pressurization systems, and we need them."
Boeing is a key contractor in the development of the Space Launch System, which will propel astronauts deeper into space in the Orion spacecraft.
"Shuttle's a fabulous machine, tremendous capability, a huge opportunity," Bridges said. "But shuttle was for driving around town. This is for leaving town."
Foreman, an Ohio native, flew aboard the shuttle Endeavour in 2008 and Atlantis in 2009. "We fall back on the fact that we know there are hundreds and thousands of Rich Banks out there that are working hard to make sure that we stay safe in the missions that we do, and we're standing on their shoulders when we're doing those things," he said.
Banks earned a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering at SUNY Buffalo State and a master's degree in mechanical engineering at the University at Buffalo. He has been a design engineer for about 15 years.
Foreman has an earthbound job at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. But he has spacewalks on his resume.
"I tell my astronaut cohorts who don't do spacewalks that the view from inside the space vehicle is pretty good, but the view from outside is just tremendous," he said. "You've got this full panoramic, you're just looking through that Plexiglas helmet at the entire universe out there in front of you, and Earth below you."
German astronaut Gerst sets sights on Mars
Freshly landed back on Earth after nearly six months in space, German astronaut Alexander Gerst said he wouldn't mind making a trip to Mars in the future. But Gerst added that humans really should value their own planet.
Deutsche Welle (DEU)
Speaking at a press conference in the western German city of Cologne, Alexander Gerst said he would happily take up the challenge of flying to Mars.
The former volcanologist said he would accept whatever mission was offered to him as part of the European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut corps.
"I have nothing against that, I am an astronaut…that is my job," said Gerst. "Wherever we decide to fly, it's something interesting."
With neither ESA nor NASA possessing a launcher capable of sending humans to Mars, 38-year-old Gerst is unlikely to have to endure the possible perils a trip to the Red Planet might involve any time soon. However, he said would happily take part in future extraterrestrial missions, having left his old job in geophysics firmly behind.
"My future is certainly in space. I've given up my old job, which - to quote my former colleagues - was the second best job in the world. You can't do science part-time."
Despite his eagerness to escape the "our little blue planet," Gerst told the assembled journalists that the time he spent aboard the International Space Station (ISS) had given him a fresh perspective.
"Really, in this universe we know of no other place where we can live," he said. "It seems grotesque, seen from up there that people fight wars or pollute the environment or burn down forests."
"I don't want to be a moral apostle and to say we should do this and that. I want to get across a perspective - for people to see how it looks from outside."
"I came to think, 'If extraterrestrial beings really did come to visit us, how would we explain to them what they see?' That we burn down trees that we need to survive, that we fight wars with each other. That's something that I find hard to explain."
Soon after he landed in Kazakhstan, Gerst remarked on how good the Earth smelt. Asked if he was happy to be back, Gerst - who regularly tweeted his photographs of the "blue dot" of Earth from space - said that he was. At least for the time being.
"The grass is always greener on the other side," he said. "At the moment, I have to say I'm really happy to be back here…but certainly the time will come when I will want to go out there again."
ULA Head: Major Reorganization Coming
Aaron Mehta – Defense News
The new head of the United Launch Alliance (ULA) is promising a major transformation of his company to reduce costs for commercial and government customers.
"I am going to transform this company," Tory Bruno, ULA's president, told an audience Thursday at the Atlantic Council, pledging that his vision will slashlaunch costs in half.
That is a dramatic claim, and one Bruno followed up on by promising to reduce by half launch preparation time to give more agility to customers.
How will Bruno, who took over as ULA's head in August, achieve those major savings? With a total reorganization of how the company does business, it appears. Those changes will impact commercial customers, non-military customers such as NASA, as well as "empowering" the Pentagon launch customer that has been the backbone of ULA's business model for years.
"We'll have a basic product line offering and a basic set of services that they know what that will cost," Bruno explained. "Then they will be able to add value to that when they have unique needs, to be able to make their own cost trades and their own schedule choices, and do something they have really not been able to do in the past. It's really going to revolutionize how both sets of customers come to us."
Michael Gass, the former head of ULA, led the company from its inception in 2006 until his unexpected replacement by Bruno in Aug. 12. Analysts and observers told Defense News that month to expect major changes to the company as Bruno settled in, and that seems to be the case.
On Thursday, Bruno hammered home the fact he was proud of ULA's history, which includes 89 straight successful launches, but not that "as we stand on this verge of this important moment in human history, when space is going to becomes so much more accessible … we are going to have to change, because now the country demands of us new things."
The planned changes to ULA's structure comes as the company faces the first real threat to its monopoly on the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. ULA, a joint company formed by Lockheed Martin and Boeing, has been the sole company qualified by the Air Force to handle military launch under the EELV program, but upstart SpaceX is expected to be qualified sometime in the next few months.
Bruno already made a major shakeup of ULA in September when he announced his company was partnering with Seattle-based Blue Origin, owned by Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos, to develop a new rocket engine to replace the RD-180. The Russian-made RD-180 has been the focus of intense scrutiny since the Russian Federation's invasion of Ukraine, and Bruno acknowledged a new, American-made engine was inevitable. But he said people shouldn't focus on what engine is being used by companies like ULA and instead should take a more holistic look at the service being provided.
"What are you buying? You're buying launch services," he said. "You're not buying an engine or tank, you're buying access to space."
NASA awards Medical College $1.8M grant to study astronaut heart risk
Rich Kirchen - Milwaukee Business Journal
With NASA planning human space missions that would require astronauts to live for prolonged periods outside the earth's protective atmosphere, the agency has awarded a $1.8 million grant to the Medical College of Wisconsin to determine the risk of developing degenerative heart disease from exposure to space radiation.
The primary investigator for the four-year grant will be John Baker, a professor of cardiothoracic surgery at the Wauwatosa-based college and an investigator at the Children's Hospital of Wisconsin Research Institute.
The project includes developing a model of disease progression, which will help determine at what levels and at what duration radiation damage would occur, the Medical College said.
NASA's future missions might include trips to an asteroid, the moon or Mars. If those missions are launched, astronauts would be exposed to space radiation from high-energy galactic cosmic rays and lower energy solar particle events.
"We've seen cardiovascular damage in people on earth who have been exposed to high levels of radiation — for example, survivors of the atomic bomb in Japan," Baker said. "As part of this research, we will conduct ground-based studies to assess the increased risk of developing cardiovascular damage in space."
Collaborators on the project include Medical College of Wisconsin professors John Moulder and Dr. Richard Komorowski. Also collaborating will be Amy Kronenberg at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory in Berkeley, Calif.; John Hopewell at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom, and Mark Little at the National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.
Ambassador High students in Torrance open science experiment returned from space station
Jordan England-Nelson- Los Angeles Daily Breeze
"This thing flew in space for 15 weeks!" Ambassador High School physics teacher Bob Giampaoli declared, holding up a plastic, rectangular box the size of a toilet paper roll.
Inside the device is a science experiment that Ambassador students sent to the International Space Station to observe how pollen moves in zero gravity, an important element of space-based agriculture on long-distance missions.
The experiment left for the ISS in June and returned in a SpaceX capsule in October. On Thursday, the students were able to examine the device housing the experiment for the first time.
"It arrived last week, but we haven't opened it yet. I had to restrain myself," said Kyle Rachman, the 10th-grader leading the ISS Team, a seven-student club that Giampaoli advises.
The students already had the results of their experiment, which were broadcast from the ISS. The team presented its findings last month at the 30th annual meeting of the American Society for Gravitations and Space Research in Pasadena, winning second place in a student competition.
Due to a software bug and a leaky pollen container, the results were mostly inconclusive, but the experiment was still a success, Rachman said.
"I'm happy that we got any results at all," he said. "Most teams have glitches on their first try."
The module held a tiny box of pollen with a motorized lid. When the lid opened in space, a small fan was supposed to blow the pollen onto a piece of glass that was photographed on a regular basis, tracking the pollen's movement.
The software glitch prevented the box from vibrating, which may explain why some of the pollen was still in the box when they opened the experiment.
Because pollen was on the sensor before the lid opened, the results were tainted. Only a trace amount of pollen appeared to have migrated with the help of the fan.
"They didn't learn a lot about the (plant) science, but they learned a lot about the engineering," Giampaoli said. "That's the wonderful part about learning by doing."
The students plan to repeat the experiment next semester, with several improvements. They are adding an anti-glare filter to the camera, improving the lid's seal, and troubleshooting the software.
The team also will allocate more resources to public relations this year to help raise the $20,000 it needs to pay for the flight to space and repeat the experiment.
Ninth-grader and Team ISS public relations officer John Handley said that team members are now meeting in person with potential donors rather than sending emails. They're also raising funds for specific parts of the experiment, rather than asking for a large lump sum.
Science and engineering are important, Handley said, but so is public relations.
"You need to be able to fund your projects."
Goddard Seeks a Host Satellite for Its Earth Venture Proposal
Dan Leone – Space News
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is looking for a host satellite to carry a roughly 100-kilogram science instrument to a geostationary orbit in 2022, according to notice published online Nov. 10.
The solicitation is contingent on Goddard winning the $150 million NASA intends to award in late 2015 or early 2016 under the U.S. space agency's Earth Venture line of competitively selected missions. NASA will be seeking Earth Venture proposals around June with an award to follow about six months later, according Goddard's so-called Partnership Opportunity Document.
Goddard wants to partner with either a satellite manufacturer or satellite owner-operator to put its Earth Venture payload aboard a satellite launching around June 2022 to a geostationary orbit between 50 and 100 degrees west, locations that would provide coverage of parts of North and South America.
Goddard's notice does not say what the hosted payload would do and Goddard spokeswoman Rani Gran declined to comment on the center's Earth Ventures proposal.
However, the notice says the payload would weigh 92-108 kilograms, occupy roughly 1 cubic meter, draw 81-100 watts of power and require a data downlink rate of no more than nine megabits per second.
Potential partners may be either government or industry but must have been involved with a launch in the last three years and plan to be involved with a launch in the next five years, according to Goddard's notice, which sets a Dec. 5 deadline for potential partners to respond.
Wake Up, Pluto Spacecraft! New Horizons Emerges From Nap Next Month
Elizabeth Howell – Universe Today
It's not quite the cryogenic sleep featured in Interstellar, but all the same, NASA's New Horizons probe has spent most of its long, long journey to Pluto in hibernation. So far it's been asleep periodically for 1,873 days — two-thirds of its journey in space since 2006 — to save energy, money and the risk of instrument failure.
But it's just about time for the probe to wake up. On Dec. 6, seven months before New Horizons encounters Pluto, the spacecraft will emerge from its last long nap to get ready for humanity's first flight past the dwarf planet.
"New Horizons is healthy and cruising quietly through deep space – nearly three billion miles from home – but its rest is nearly over," stated Alice Bowman, New Horizons mission operations manager at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL) in Maryland. "It's time for New Horizons to wake up, get to work, and start making history."
Hibernation periods have lasted anywhere from 36 days to 202 days. Controllers usually rouse the spacecraft about twice a year to make sure all is well, and to do a little bit of science (such as taking distant pictures of Pluto of its moons). This means the next wakeup will be a new phase for the mission — a sustained effort instead of a burst of activity.
Confirmation of the wakeup should come six hours after it takes place, around 9:30 p.m. EST (2:30 p.m. UTC). This will be after the light signal takes an incredible 4.5 hours to reach Earth from New Horizons. What's next will be a very busy few days — checking out navigation, downloading new science data, then getting the spacecraft ready for Pluto's big closeup July 2015.
"Tops on the mission's science list are characterizing the global geology and topography of Pluto and its large moon Charon, mapping their surface compositions and temperatures, examining Pluto's atmospheric composition and structure, studying Pluto's smaller moons and searching for new moons and rings," JHUAPL stated.
NASA Gives the Green Light to $200 Million ICON Mission
Dan Leone – Space News
NASA approved the Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON), a small heliophysics mission set to launch no later than October 2017, to proceed into development, the agency announced Nov. 12.
ICON, selected as a heliophysics explorer mission last year, will spend its two-year primary mission studying the ionosphere: a region of space ranging from about 90 kilometers to 900 kilometers above Earth's surface and filled with electrically charged particles that can disrupt radio signals from satellites. The mission's principal investigator is Thomas Immel of the University of California, Berkeley.
Development costs for ICON, which exclude launch and operations, are capped at $200 million. The mission will be built on Orbital Sciences Corp.'s LEOStar-2 spacecraft bus, a platform designed to last at least five years and which has been the basis of numerous NASA science spacecraft.
Construction on ICON would begin some time in 2015, when ICON is slated for its critical design review.
ICON's four instruments, and the institutions providing them, are:
- A pair of ultraviolet imaging spectrographs, one tuned to the extreme ultraviolet portion of the spectrum, the other to the far ultraviolet, provided by the University of California Berkeley's Space Sciences Laboratory.
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- The Michelson Interferometer for Global High-Resolution Thermospheric Imaging, provided by the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, which will observe the temperature and speed of the neutral particles in the ionosphere.
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- An Ion Velocity Meter provided by the University of Texas in Dallas that will observe the speed of charged particle motions, which NASA said may be "very different" from neutral ionospheric gas.
ICON is the second small science satellite NASA has approved for development in as many weeks. On Nov. 7, the agency said the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), also being built by Orbital on a LEOStar-2 bus, passed its confirmation review and would begin development with an eye toward a 2017 launch.
NASA's Launch Services Division will arrange a launch for both TESS, which needs a medium-class launcher such as Space Exploration Technologies Corp.'s Falcon 9, and ICON, which needs a small-class launcher.
That makes ICON a potential candidate to launch aboard Orbital's reliable, but dormant, Pegasus XL: a solid rocket air-launched from a modified Lockheed L-1011 TriStar jet. The only other small-class launchers on NASA's Launch Services 2 contract, the catalog from which the agency orders rockets for its science missions, are Lockheed Martin's Athena 1c and Orbital's Minotaur-C. The last Athena launch was in 2001. Minotaur-C is essentially Orbital's Taurus XL solid rocket with a different payload fairing than the one that failed to separate in back-to-back missions in 2009 and 2011, destroying NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory and Glory satellites
Pegasus XL last flew in June 2013, when it launched NASA's Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph spacecraft. NASA paid about $40 million for that launch, which was the 42nd Pegasus launch.
Mushroom-Body Drone Biodegrades Into Almost Nothing
Like dust in the wind... well most of it, anyway
Kelsey D. Atherto – Popular Science
Small, cheap drones make appealing cameramen for a variety of tasks -- from a research apparatus to a tourist's plaything. Light, unmanned aircraft, especially those piloted by amateurs, pose a new danger to the environment, however. What happens if a gust of wind or pilot error sends the drone into, say, a beautiful and delicate geothermal hot spring? The bio-drone, developed by researchers at NASA's Ames Research Center in California, is a biodegradable solution to this issue.
The bio-drone's body is made of mycelium, a fungal mass specifically grown into this shape by New York's Evocative Design. Mycelium is hardier than people might expect from mushroom fibers, and Evocative Design has used it for packaging and insulation. The circuits were made using silver nanoparticle ink, which can be printed on biodegradable material. If lost, a lot of the bio-drone will harmlessly decompose, rather than pollute the environment.
But not all of it will. The current bio-drone only has a biodegradable body and circuits. The motors, battery, sensors, and rotors that give the drone power and the ability to move were borrowed from a commercially-made quadcopter. Researchers hope to make the sensors biodegradable next. If lost right now, the body and the brains of the drone would break down, but its mechanical guts wouldn't, leaving a drone skeleton in its place.
Rocket Engine Made With 3D Printed Parts Survives First Hot Fire Tests
Mika McKinnon - io9
Using copper alloys during 3D printing is a bit more complicated than most materials used for additive manufacturing. The alloys' microstructure and material properties don't necessarily match up with that of typical copper, so scientists had to run it through a series of rigorous materials tests to figure out how it is going to behave in various circumstances. It's exciting to reach the point where the material is well-characterized enough for practical testing, then have everything match theory exactly as expected.
The rocket engine was small scale, with the four engine configurations explored different mixture ratios and injector operability points during 19 hot fire tests. The entire test sequence was deemed a complete success, which means the next step will be to build a full-scale engine with 3D printed parts to run through their paces.
If these tests go well, 3D printing of rocket parts will make engine manufacturing more economical, as well as opening up the possibility of cheaper, on-demand replacement parts. Pair these experiments with the shiny new 3D printer on the space station that arrived in September, and the future starts looking very, very cool.
DARPA's "FedEx to GEO" Vision Takes a Small Step Forward
Mike Gruss – Space News
The U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency released specifications Nov. 10 for a standardized spacecraft deployment system it is developing to enable military payloads to hitch rides on commercial communications satellites and hop off in or near geostationary orbit.
DARPA has high hopes for the Payload Orbital Delivery system, or POD, describing it in a press release as a way to "eventually provide 'FedEx to GEO' capabilities to make space deliveries to high-altitude orbits much easier and faster."
DARPA sees publicly releasing the POD interface requirements as a first step toward fostering such a capability;DARPA hopes eventually to follow it with a risk-reduction flight to validate the POD technology. At present, the agency says, no technology exists to enable payloads to separate themselves from commercial satellites bound for geostationary orbit.
Geostationary orbit, located 36,000 kilometers above the equator, is the operating location for most communications satellites. Commercial satellite launches are relatively frequent and inexpensive compared to Defense Department satellite launches. They also often have unused carrying capacity that operators are increasingly looking to monetize by permanently hosting other operators' payloads on their satellites. DARPA's POD system has the potential to turn hosted-payload opportunities into ride-sharing opportunities.
DARPA did not disclose a timeline for completing the POD system or conducting the risk-reduction flight it says it is currently "pursuing."
However, DARPA said each POD would measure approximately 0.4 meters by 0.5 meters by 1 meter and could carry payloads weighing between 68 and 100 kilograms. A standardized interface would attach the POD to its host satellite and then release it at the desired orbit.
The POD project is part of DARPA's Phoenix program, a four-year-old effort that is branched out from its original focus on satellite salvage and servicing operations. DARPA officials have said that PODs, in addition to providing low-cost transportation to geostationary orbit for all manner of small civil and military payloads, could also be used to transport satlets — small modules the Phoenix program is developing to perform critical satellite functions such as power, pointing and communications for crippled satellites.
DARPA's POD announcement comes as the Defense Department looks to use hosted payloads to bolster its space-based capabilities. In June, the Air Force awarded contracts to 14 space companies, qualifying them to provide services and hardware in support of hosted payload missions. The awards were part of a new Hosted Payloads Solutions (HOPS) contracting vehicle aimed at standardizing the processes for placing dedicated military capabilities aboard commercial satellites. While NASA has already taken advantage of HOPS to award study contracts for hosting a pollution-monitoring payload on a commercial satellite, the Air Force itself does not expect to make any awards under HOPS for three to five years, a service official told SpaceNews in October.
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