Neil deGrasse Tyson to Elon Musk: SpaceX Is "Delusional" About Mars -- The Motley Fool

Delusional re EO ops too! Bm



http://www.fool.com/investing/general/2016/03/27/neil-degrasse-tyson-to-elon-musk-spacex-delusional.aspx


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Billions wasted on illegals/ refugees BUT CAN'T AFFORD Shuttle---Gross INEPTNESS!

All experts say we need & s/b flying the shuttle indefinitely! Read the articles!


We have a bunch of totally inept people in Congress!

Fwd: Outsourcing crystal growth...to space

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 17, 2016 at 11:29:20 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Outsourcing crystal growth...to space

15-Mar-2016

Outsourcing crystal growth...to space

American Institute of Physics

 

Researchers in Japan have grown crystals and measured the growth rate on the ISS by interferometry to better examine the effects of microgravity.

Review of Scientific Instruments

 

 

 

15-Mar-2016

Outsourcing crystal growth...to space

Researchers in Japan have grown crystals and measured the growth rate on the ISS by interferometry to better examine the effects of microgravity

American Institute of Physics

IMAGE: (a) The white ring is a ceramic helical insert on which the screw sample holder is placed. The scale bar is 10 mm. (b) The body of the growth cell is... view more

Credit: K. Tsukamoto et al/Tohoku University

Washington, D.C., March 15, 2016 - Sometimes, distance can lend a new perspective to a problem. For Japanese researchers studying protein crystal growth, that distance was 250 miles up -- the altitude at which the International Space Station (ISS) orbits the Earth. To better isolate the growth of protein crystals from the effects of gravity, the group of Katsuo Tsukamoto in Tohoku University's Department of Earth and Planetary Science in Sendai, Japan, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency grew crystals in a specially-designed chamber onboard the ISS.

The researchers monitored the very slow growth and dissolution rate -- approximately one centimeter per second of the crystals by laser interferometry. This was the first time the technique had been used onboard the ISS to measure the growth rate of the crystals at various temperatures. To observe this, Yamazaki and his colleagues developed unique growth cells suitable for long-term projects, for about six months.

"We are interested in the growth mechanisms of a space-grown protein crystal -- a lysozyme crystal -- as a model crystal to understand why space-grown crystals sometimes do show better quality than the Earth-grown crystals," said Tomoya Yamazaki, a PhD student in Tsukamoto's lab.

Tsukamoto and his colleagues, which includes collaborators at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, Japan Space Forum, Olympus Optical Corporation, detail their elegant growth method this week in Review of Scientific Instruments, from AIP Publishing.

The experimental process, known as NanoStep, was performed in the Japanese Experimental Module (KIBO) of the International Space Station in 2012. Tsukamoto and his colleagues had previously measured the growth rates of protein crystals under simulated microgravity by using a Russian recoverable satellite and aircraft in parabolic flights.

The researchers took precise measurements of the growth rate of the lysozyme crystals versus their driving force, supersaturation - the natural logarithm of the protein's concentration divided by its solubility -- with measurements of the solution's refractive index distribution obtained through interferometry. This also yielded crucial information about the growth mechanism.

The researchers opted to modify the supersaturation of the solution by increasing or decreasing the growth cell's temperature, which can easily be done remotely. This took place over a range of 10 -- 40 degrees Celsius, which necessitated building a closed growth cell to withstand the stresses caused by the thermal expansion of the growth solution.

The closed, cube-like growth cell was constructed out of quartz glasses with different thickness, an essential component for laser interferometry due to its high chemical and mechanical resistances with a protein seed crystal glued to the top of the sample holder. To relieve the thermal stress on the glass, the researchers attached tubes made out of an elastomer, low-moisture-permeability thermoelastic polymer. This was selected to mitigate evaporation of water in the crystal growth solution, which consisted of 30 or 35 mg/ml of lysozyme and 25 mg/ml sodium chloride in 50 mM sodium acetate buffer solution. They also employed a special spring tension system to reduce stress by keeping the gap between the glass cell and thermal control modules constant amid thermal expansion.

The growth cell could also be used to fine-tune the measurements of extremely small growth or dissolution rates of insoluble minerals on the order of 0.001 nanometers per second of insoluble minerals. For example, it could measure calcium carbonate crystals, where margins of error could become massive across a geological time scale - such as predicting the dissolution of clay minerals surrounding nuclear waste stored underground for 100,000 years.

While the researchers expected growth rates of the crystal solution to be slower because of the suppression of solution convection, the results instead showed an increased growth rate.

This may be due to the suppression of transport speed of impurity molecules with larger diameter to the growing crystal, as analyzed the growth rate versus supersaturation relations. This will appear in forthcoming papers.

Extended projects for the researchers using the same apparatus to test the growth of different crystals, such as glucose isomerase crystals, are currently in preparation.

###

The article, "Development of compartment for studies on the growth of protein crystals in space," is authored by T. Yamazaki, K. Tsukamoto, I. Yoshizaki, S. Fukuyama, H. Miura, T. Shimaoka, T. Maki, K. Oshi, and Y. Kimura. It will appear in the journal Review of Scientific Instruments on March 15, 2016 (DOI: 10.1063/1.4942961). After that date, it can be accessed at: http://scitation.aip.org/content/aip/journal/rsi/87/3/10.1063/1.4942961

ABOUT THE JOURNAL

Review of Scientific Instruments publishes original research and review articles on instruments in physics, chemistry, and the life sciences. The journal also includes sections on new instruments and new materials.http://rsi.aip.org

 

 

 

© American Institute of Physics

 

---

 

Fwd: United Launch Alliance Confirms Engine Issue on Latest Atlas Rocket Launch

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 25, 2016 at 9:52:14 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: United Launch Alliance Confirms Engine Issue on Latest Atlas Rocket Launch

spacenews.com

 

United Launch Alliance Confirms Engine Issue on Latest Atlas Rocket Launch

By Jeff Foust, SpaceNews Writer | March 25, 2016 07:00am ET

 

 

WASHINGTON — The upper stage of the Atlas V that launched a Cygnus cargo spacecraft March 22 fired for more than a minute longer than planned, apparently to compensate for the premature shut down of the rocket's first stage engine.

 

United Launch Alliance confirmed March 24 that the Centaur upper stage used on the launch of the Cygnus OA-6 mission burned for longer than scheduled, although the company did not provide a reason for the extended engine firing.

 

"The Centaur burned for longer than planned," ULA spokeswoman Lyn Chassagne said in a statement provided to SpaceNews. "The team is evaluating the occurrence as part of the standard post-flight data analysis." She later said that burn lasted about 60 seconds longer than planned. [See Launch Photos ffor Orbital ATK's Cygnus OA-6 Mission]

 

While United Launch Alliance declared the Atlas 5 launch from Cape Canaveral a success, placing the Cygnus in its planned orbit, industry sources and broadcast telemetry suggest that success required an extended burn by the Atlas' Centaur upper stage.

 

According to a mission summary released by ULA in advance of the launch, the Centaur was scheduled to shut down its RL10 engine 18 minutes and 9 seconds into the mission. However, telemetry of the launch, shown on NASA Television, showed that the engine continued to fire beyond that time, shutting down about 19 minutes and 20 seconds into the mission.

 

That extended burn appeared to catch launch commentators off-guard, who had advised on more than one occasion that engine shutdown was expected at the planned time. There was no public commentary about the extended burn during the live broadcast beyond a statement that the Centaur continued to "perform very well."

 

At a post-launch press conference at NASA's Kennedy Space Center early March 23, Vern Thorp, ULA's program manager for NASA missions, suggested that the additional burn was a routine discrepancy from original projections for the burn.

 

"The pre-launch predictions of exactly when the events are going to occur are based on a preliminary trajectory. Typically it's been developed a few weeks before the launch," he said. "It's not unusual for things to vary a little bit based on the actual conditions of the launch."

 

But in addition to the extended burn of the Centaur, launch telemetry broadcast on NASA TV indicates that the RD-180 engine in the first stage of the Atlas V shut down prematurely. That telemetry shows booster engine cutoff taking place about 4 minutes and 10 seconds into the mission, about five seconds before the scheduled cutoff time according to the ULA mission summary.

 

Chassagne confirmed that the first stage burn was six seconds shorter than planned, but did not provide any details about what may have caused the stage to shut down early. Industry sources suggest that the Centaur burn may have extended to make up for any underperformance by the first stage, such as a premature shutdown.

 

That extended Centaur burn to put the Cygnus spacecraft into the proper orbit contributed to an early shut down of a later burn, after spacecraft separation, to deorbit the stage. Chassagne said that burn ended eight seconds early, causing any debris that survived reentry to splash down in "an uninhabited area of ocean east of the planned landing location" in the ocean south of Australia.

 

ULA noted that, despite the irregularities, it still considered the launch a success. "The Atlas V's robust system design, software and vehicle margins enabled the successful outcome for this mission," Chassagne said.

 

"Centaur nailed the orbit," Thorp said at the press conference, noting that the orbit the Centaur placed the Cygnus in was within a "fraction of a kilometer" of the planned orbit. "We got Cygnus where it wants to go."

 

"Like every mission, we're going to go do a very detailed post-flight review," he added, "to make sure everything performed properly. But from everything we've seen so far, the mission was pretty nominal."

 

Four years after final service call, Hubble Space Telescope going strong

Shuttle will ultimately needed to keep Hubble going!



http://www.cbsnews.com/network/news/space/home/spacenews/files/1ae7cac0d167055e41e1f0da7b0ac6a3-588.html


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Fwd: Reviewers approve early design work on new Vulcan rocket

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: March 25, 2016 at 9:55:22 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Reviewers approve early design work on new Vulcan rocket

spaceflightnow.com

 

Reviewers approve early design work on new Vulcan rocket

 

http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/03/Vulcan_441_Side413201562153PM63-1024x639.png

Vulcan is visualized here in its 441 configuration. Credit: United Launch Alliance

 

CAPE CANAVERAL — Work to create a new all-American rocket, the United Launch Alliance Vulcan-Centaur, has passed its first major hurdle for its first flight in three years, officials announced Thursday.

 

The Preliminary Design Review for the next-generation vehicle was recently completed and verified that the rocket will satisfy the criteria for the diverse military, civil and commercial missions it will launch.

 

"The completion of the Vulcan Centaur rocket's PDR is the first of several major and very exciting milestones in the launch vehicle's development," said Tory Bruno, ULA president and chief executive officer. "We have a strong path to get to a 2019 flight test of this new, highly-capable American launch vehicle."

 

The rocket as currently designed will be powered by a pair of BE-4 liquefied natural gas main engines, made by Blue Origin, for 1.1 million pounds of thrust.

 

ULA continues to carry the Aerojet Rocketdyne AR-1 kerosene engine as a backup option if the BE-4 is not available in time. A final decision of which engine to pursue will come late this year or early next.

 

The American-powered first stage stems from the fervor to replace the Russian RD-180 engines used by Atlas 5 and use domestic powerplants.

 

Sitting atop the Vulcan first stage will be the venerable Centaur upper stage that currently flies on Atlas. The Centaur heritage dates back five decades.

 

Up to six strap-on solid-fuel boosters from Orbital ATK will tailor each Vulcan to its given payload, continuing the successful dial-a-rocket approach used by Atlas.

 

"Vulcan Centaur will revolutionize spaceflight and provide affordable, reliable access to space with an American main engine," said Mark Peller, ULA's program manager for major development.

 

A later iteration of Vulcan will replace Centaur with the Advanced Cryogenic Evolved Stage, or ACES, that will offer extended mission durations and be powerful enough to replace the Delta 4-Heavy for its most-challenging NRO missions to directly into geosynchronous orbit 22,300 miles above the Earth.

 

The rocket will fulfill the entire spectrum of Defense Department payloads in terms of weight and orbits.

 

Vulcan rockets will be launched from Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral in Florida and Space Launch Complex 3-East at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

 

How can our reps in Congress be as inept as they are-- re ALL experts recommend keeping Shuttle!

Re Lost in Space, GWS Abbey , Washington Examiner, sums it up.

The USA needs this capability for National Security of the USA!