Hope you can join us this Thursday at Hibachi Grill on Bay Area Blvd between Highway 3 and Interstate 45 for our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at 11:30 –we are in the back left party room.
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Monday – Feb. 2, 2015
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Bolden to visit KSC for NASA's 2016 budget rollout
James Dean – Florida Today
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden on Monday will visit Kennedy Space Center to discuss the "State of NASA," part of the agency's promotion of a 2016 budget proposal being released the same day.
Exploring the Universe with Nuclear Power
Matt Williams - Universe Today
In the past four decades, NASA and other space agencies from around the world have accomplished some amazing feats. Together, they have sent manned missions to the Moon, explored Mars, mapped Venus and Mercury, conducted surveys and captured breathtaking images of the Outer Solar System. However, looking ahead to the next generation of exploration and the more-distant frontiers that remain to be explored, it is clear that new ideas need to be put forward of how to quickly and efficiently reach those destinations.
NASA Launches Satellite to Get the Dirt on Earth's Dirt
NASA launched its newest Earth-observing mission Saturday (Jan. 31), sending a satellite to the ultimate height to study the dirt below our feet.
A New Satellite Will Watch the Western Drought from Space
Marcus Woo – Wired
The launch of a small satellite won't fix the the drought in the American West—now entering its fourth year—and it won't change the fact that January was the driest month in recorded California history. But the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission might at least tell scientists and farmers something new about that drought, and maybe how much worse it'll get.
Europe's 1st Zero-Gravity 3D Printer Headed for Space
Europe is set to send its first 3D printer into the final frontier this year to experiment with zero-gravity manufacturing on long space voyages.
Astronaut calls on Air Force experience in space
Kristin Davis – Air Force Times
Before he was an astronaut, Air Force Col. Terry Virts spent more than a decade flying F-16s.
Sharpest Views of Mysterious 'Planet' Ceres Now Better Than Hubble, Tantalize Scientists
Ken Kremer – AmericaSpace
"Planet" or "dwarf planet" … What is its nature? Those are among the questions.
Curtain falls on controversial big bang result
Adrian Cho – Science
As predictably as the heroine's death in an opera, the biggest claim in cosmology in years has finally officially unraveled. Last March, cosmologists working with a specialized telescope at the South Pole called BICEP2 claimed direct evidence that in the first fraction of a second after the big bang, the universe underwent a bizarre exponential growth spurt called inflation. The signs came in their study of the big bang's afterglow, the cosmic microwave background (CMB). But now, in a joint analysis with cosmologists working with the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Planck spacecraft, BICEP researchers take back that claim and report no such signs of inflation, according to a press release issued by ESA. Where is Philae? Search for Rosetta's Lander Continues
The amazing and historic first soft landing on a comet by ESA's Philae spacecraft on Nov. 12 captured the attention of the entire world, as it was the culmination of the Rosetta mission launched over a decade earlier. But even now, two and a half months later, nobody's really sure exactly where the lander ended up — but scientists are still searching. Rogozin Enlists Russian Citizens to Monitor Work at Vostochny
Irritated by continuing delays in construction of Russia's new Vostochny launch site, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said today that he will use webcams to allow "people's monitoring" of construction there by the citizenry at large. The new launch site is intended to replace much of Russia's use of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but its construction has dragged on for many years.
Inmarsat-5 F-2 communications satellite successfully launches atop Proton rocket
Amy Thompson – Spaceflight Insider
International Launch Services (ILS) celebrated the first launch of 2015 with the successful lift off of a Russian Proton-M from launch pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:31 a.m. EST (1231 GMT). The Russian workhorse carried the Inmarsat-5 F-2 communications satellite, part of the Inmarsat Global Xpress (GX) system, into orbit.
Adidas ties new sneakers to historic NASA astronaut spacesuits
Aspiring astronauts take note: if you have ever desired to take a "space walk," Adidas will soon have the sneakers for you.
What's Happening in Space Policy February 2-6, 2015
Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of February 2-6, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate will be in session this week.
COMPLETE STORIES
Bolden to visit KSC for NASA's 2016 budget rollout
James Dean – Florida Today
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden on Monday will visit Kennedy Space Center to discuss the "State of NASA," part of the agency's promotion of a 2016 budget proposal being released the same day.
NASA said Bolden would "address the agency's scientific and technological achievements and the exciting work ahead as we push farther in the solar system and lead the world in a new era of exploration" at 1:30 p.m.
At 4 p.m., the agency plans to brief reporters on the budget proposed for the fiscal year starting Oct. 1.
Of local interest will be the amount NASA requests for the Commercial Crew Program, which is led from KSC and will seek an increase to the $805 million Congress appropriated this year.
The program hopes to fly astronauts to the International Space Station by 2017 on capsules designed and operated by Boeing and SpaceX.
NASA also will seek enough money to try to stay on track for a 2018 next test flight of its Orion exploration capsule, which would be launched for the first time by the 322-foot Space Launch System rocket from Kennedy Space Center.
The agency likely will add detail about its plans to robotically capture and drag it to near the moon an asteroid so that astronauts aboard Orion could visit by the mid-2020s.
Safety panel criticizes Commercial Crew
An independent safety panel last week criticized a lack of transparency by the NASA program preparing to launch astronauts from Florida on private rockets and spacecraft, calling it was a problem that could increase the risk of an accident.
NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel, formed in the wake of the 1967 launch pad fire that killed three Apollo 1 astronauts, said the Commercial Crew Program's "opacity failure to engage in open and transparent communication" recalled problems found to have contributed to the Challenger and Columbia shuttle disasters.
In its 2014 annual report, the panel said it was "currently unable to offer any informed opinion regarding the adequacy of the certification process or the adequacy of the level of safety" in the Commercial Crew Program, whose top manager is based at Kennedy Space Center.
The panel said NASA belatedly provided more information after learning of the forthcoming criticism, but too late to be considered in the annual report.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement that "safety remains our top priority," and the agency "strongly agrees that continued robust funding for commercial crew is essential to NASA's work."
NASA last September awarded Boeing and SpaceX contracts worth up to $6.8 billion combined to fly astronauts to the International Space Station starting in 2017.
The agency last week hosted an event at Johnson Space Center to celebrate the companies' early progress and plans for certifying safe crew systems. Both companies said they were on track to fly astronauts by 2017.
Commercial Crew Program Manager Kathy Lueders said then that the agency could speak more openly about the program after the Jan. 5 dismissal of a contract protest by losing bidder Sierra Nevada Corp.
SpaceX tests
SpaceX is targeting a 6:10 p.m. launch next Sunday of the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, NASA confirmed Friday.
The mission is a collaboration between NASA, the Air Force and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
After launch, SpaceX again will try to land the Falcon 9 rocket booster an ocean platform. The first try last month resulted in the rocket hitting the "autonomous spaceport drone ship" with a fiery crash that did not cause extensive damage.
Though it hasn't landed a booster successfully yet, SpaceX last week released a concept video showing all three boosters from a Falcon Heavy rocket, which has not yet launched, flying back to a landing pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.
SpaceX last week also revealed a picture of the Dragon capsule it will use to test a key system needed for future human missions to the International Space Station, targeted for 2017.
The "pad abort" test, planned within a month or two, will fire SuperDraco thrusters that a Dragon carrying people would use to escape a failing rocket.
"We think it gives incredible safety features for a full abort all the way through ascent," SpaceX President and Chief Operating Officer Gwynne Shotwell said last week.
Assuming crews launch safely, SpaceX hopes to use the abort thrusters to steer Dragons to landings on land. But Shotwell confirmed last week that initial landings would be in water, assisted by parachutes.
She said the pad abort test from Launch Complex 40 was expected "in the next month or so."
"It took us quite a while to get there, but there's a lot of great technology and innovation in that pad abort vehicle," she said.
Moon Express earns prizes
Moon Express last week confirmed that recent tests of a prototype commercial lunar lander at Kennedy Space Center had won it more than $1 million in prize money.
The Google Lunar XPRIZE competition awarded $6 million overall to five teams for demonstrating prototype systems that could eventually help one of them capture the $20 million grand prize. That will be awarded to the first private team to land a robot on Mars, move about 1,600 feet and return high-definition imagery to Earth.
Privately funded Moon Express, headquartered in Silicon Valley, was rewarded for tests of landing and imaging systems, but failed to collect a mobility prize worth another $500,000.
The company recently announced plans to lease Launch Complex 36 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station from Space Florida to further its development program, creating up to 50 local jobs this year.
Posey keeps space seat
U.S. Rep. Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, will continue to have a hand in space policy during the 114th Congress.
Posey, whose district includes Cape Canaveral, retained his seat on the Space Subcommittee according to Republican assignments released last week by the chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee. Democratic members have not yet been confirmed.
No drone zone
Kennedy Space Center's shuttle runway may one day become a drone testing ground, but the Federal Aviation Administration is still working out regulations for drone flights in commercial airspace.
Last week the FAA issued a notice to airmen warning that Super Bowl XLIX, to be played today at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, was a "no drone zone."
Unauthorized aircraft are not allowed to fly over or near NFL games and many other sporting events with large crowds. Violators could earn jail time or civil penalties.
Bottom line, said the FAA: "If you want to see video of the Big Game, watch it on TV. Leave your drone at home."
Exploring the Universe with Nuclear Power
Matt Williams - Universe Today
In the past four decades, NASA and other space agencies from around the world have accomplished some amazing feats. Together, they have sent manned missions to the Moon, explored Mars, mapped Venus and Mercury, conducted surveys and captured breathtaking images of the Outer Solar System. However, looking ahead to the next generation of exploration and the more-distant frontiers that remain to be explored, it is clear that new ideas need to be put forward of how to quickly and efficiently reach those destinations.
Basically, this means finding ways to power rockets that are more fuel and cost-effective while still providing the necessary power to get crews, rovers and orbiters to their far-flung destinations. In this respect, NASA has been taking a good look at nuclear fission as a possible means of propulsion.
In fact, according to presentation made by Doctor Michael G. Houts of the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center back in October of 2014, nuclear power and propulsion have the potential to be "game changing technologies for space exploration." As the Marshall Space Flight Center's manager of nuclear thermal research, Dr. Houts is well versed in the benefits it has to offer space exploration. According to the presentation he and fellow staffers made, a fission reactor can be used in a rocket design to create Nuclear Thermal Propulsion (NTP). In an NTP rocket, uranium or deuterium reactions are used to heat liquid hydrogen inside a reactor, turning it into ionized hydrogen gas (plasma), which is then channeled through a rocket nozzle to generate thrust.
A second possible method, known as Nuclear Electric Propulsion (NEC), involves the same basic reactor converted its heat and energy into electrical energy which then powers an electrical engine. In both cases, the rocket relies on nuclear fission to generates propulsion rather than chemical propellants, which has been the mainstay of NASA and all other space agencies to date.
Compared to this traditional form of propulsion, both NTP and NEC offers a number of advantages. The first and most obvious is the virtually unlimited energy density it offers compared to rocket fuel. At a steady state, a fission reactor produces an average of 2.5 neutrons per reaction. However, it would only take a single neutron to cause a subsequent fission and produce a chain reaction and provide constant power.
In fact, according to the report, an NTP rocket could generate 200 kWt of power using a single kilogram of uranium for a period of 13 years – which works out of to a fuel efficiency rating of about 45 grams per 1000 MW-hr.
In addition, a nuclear-powered engine could also provide superior thrust relative to the amount of propellant used. This is what is known as specific impulse, which is measured either in terms of kilo-newtons per second per kilogram (kN·s/kg) or in the amount of seconds the rocket can continually fire. This would cut the total amount of propellent needed, thus cutting launch weight and the cost of individual missions. And a more powerful nuclear engine would mean reduced trip times, another cost-cutting measure.
Although no nuclear-thermal engines have ever flown, several design concepts have been built and tested over the past few decades, and numerous concepts have been proposed. These have ranged from the traditional solid-core design to more advanced and efficient concepts that rely on either a liquid or a gas core.
In the case of a solid-core design, the only type that has ever been built, a reactor made from materials with a very high melting point houses a collection of solid uranium rods which undergo controlled fission. The hydrogen fuel is contained in a separate tank and then passes through tubes around the reactor, gaining heat and converted into plasma before being channeled through the nozzles to achieve thrust.
Using hydrogen propellant, a solid-core design typically delivers specific impulses on the order of 850 to 1000 seconds, which is about twice that of liquid hydrogen-oxygen designs – i.e. the Space Shuttle's main engine.
However, a significant drawback arises from the fact that nuclear reactions in a solid-core model can create much higher temperatures than the conventional materials can withstand. The cracking of fuel coatings can also result from large temperature variations along the length of the rods, which taken together, sacrifices much of the engine's potential for performance.
Many of these problems were addressed with the liquid core design, where nuclear fuel is mixed into the liquid hydrogen and allowing the fission reaction to take place in the liquid mixture itself. This design can operate at temperatures above the melting point of the nuclear fuel thanks to the fact that the container wall is actively cooled by the liquid hydrogen. It is also expected to deliver a specific impulse performance of 1300 to 1500 (1.3 to 1.5 kN·s/kg) seconds.
However, compared to the solid-core design, engines of this type are much more complicated, and therefore more expensive and difficult to build. Part of the problem has to do with the time it takes to achieve a fission reaction, which is significantly longer than the time it takes to heat the hydrogen fuel. Therefore, engines of this kind require methods to both trap the fuel inside the engine while simultaneously allowing heated plasma the ability to exit through the nozzle.
The final classification is the gas-core engine, a modification of the liquid-core design that uses rapid circulation to create a ring-shaped pocket of gaseous uranium fuel in the middle of the reactor that is surrounded by liquid hydrogen. In this case, the hydrogen fuel does not touch the reactor wall, so temperatures can be kept below the melting point of the materials used.
An engine of this kind could allow for specific impulses of 3000 to 5000 seconds (30 to 50 kN·s/kg). But in an "open-cycle" design of this kind, the losses of nuclear fuel would be difficult to control. An attempt to remedy this was drafted with the "closed cycle design" – aka. the "nuclear lightbulb" engine – where the gaseous nuclear fuel is contained in a series of super-high-temperature quarts containers.
Although this design is less efficient than the open-cycle design, and has a more in common with the solid-core concept, the limiting factor here is the critical temperature of quartz and not that of the fuel stack. What's more, the closed-cycle design is expected to still deliver a respectable specific impulse of about 1500–2000 seconds (15–20 kN·s/kg).
However, as Houts indicated, one of the greatest assets nuclear fission has going for it is the long history of service it has enjoyed here on Earth. In addition to commercial reactors providing electricity all over the world, naval vessels (such as aircraft carriers and submarines) have made good use of slow-fission reactors for decades.
Also, NASA has been relying on nuclear reactors to power unmanned craft and rover for over four decades, mainly in the form of Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators (RTGs) and Radioisotope Heater Units (RHU). In the case of the former, heat is generated by the slow decay of plutonium-238 (Pu-238), which is then converted into electricity. In the case of the latter, the heat itself is used to keep components and ship's systems warm and running.
These types of generators have been used to power and maintain everything from the Apollo rockets to the Curiosity Rover, as well as countless satellites, orbiters and robots in between. Since its inception,a total of 44 missions have been launched by NASA that have used either RTGs or RHUs, while the former-Soviet space program launched a comparatively solid 33.
Nuclear engines were also considered for a time as a replacement for the J-2, a liquid-fuel cryogenic rocket engine used on the S-II and S-IVB stages on the Saturn V and Saturn I rockets. But despite their being numerous versions of a solid-core reactors produced and tested in the past, none were ever put into service for an actual space flight.
Between 1959 and 1972, the United States tested twenty different sizes and designs during Project Rover and NASA's Nuclear Engine for Rocket Vehicle Application (NERVA) program. The most powerful engine ever tested was the Phoebus 2a, which during a high-power test operated for a total of 32 minutes – 12 minutes of which were at power levels of more than 4.0 million kilowatts.
But looking to the future, Houts' and the Marshall Space Flight Center see great potential and many possible applications. Examples cited in the report include long-range satellites that could explore the Outer Solar System and Kuiper Belt, fast, efficient transportation for manned missions throughout the Solar System, and even the provisions of power for settlements on the Moon and Mars someday.
One possibility is to equip NASA's latest flagship – the Space Launch System (SLS) – with chemically-powered lower-stage engines and a nuclear-thermal engine on its upper stage. The nuclear engine would remain "cold" until the rocket had achieved orbit, at which point the upper stage would be deployed and reactor would be activated to generate thrust.
This concept for a "bimodal" rocket – one which relies on chemical propellants to achieve orbit and a nuclear-thermal engine for propulsion in space – could become the mainstay of NASA and other space agencies in the coming years. According to Houts and others at Marshall, the dramatic increase in efficiency offered by such rockets could also facilitate NASA's plans to explore Mars by allowing for the reliable delivery of high-mass automated payloads in advance of manned missions.
These same rockets could then be retooled for speed (instead of mass) and used to transport the astronauts themselves to Mars in roughly half the time it would take for a conventional rocket to make the trip. This would not only save on time and cut mission costs, it would also ensure that the astronauts were exposed to less harmful solar radiation during the course of their flight.
To see this vision become reality, Dr. Houts and other researchers from the Marshall Space Center's Propulsion Research and Development Laboratory are currently conducting NTP-related tests at the Nuclear Thermal Rocket Element Environmental Simulator (or "NTREES") in Huntsville, Alabama.
Here, they have spent the past few years analyzing the properties of various nuclear fuels in a simulated thermal environment, hoping to learn more about how they might effect engine performance and longevity when it comes to a nuclear-thermal rocket engine.
These tests are slated to run until June of 2015, and are expected to lay the groundwork for large-scale ground tests and eventual full-scale testing in flight. The ultimate goal of all of this is to ensure that a manned mission to Mars takes place by the 2030s, and to provide NASA flight engineers and mission planners with all the information they need to see it through.
But of course, it is also likely to have its share of applications when it comes to future Lunar missions, sending crews to study Near-Earth Objects (NEOs), and sending craft to the Jovian moons and other locations in the outer Solar System. As the report shows, NTP craft can be easily modified using modular components to perform everything from Lunar cargo landings to crewed missions, to surveying Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs).
The universe is a big place, and space exploration is still very much in its infancy. But if we intend to keep exploring it and reaping the rewards that such endeavors have to offer, our methods will have to mature. NTP is merely one proposed possibility. But unlike Nuclear Pulse Propulsion, the Daedalus concept, anti-matter engines, or the Alcubierre Warp Drive, a rocket that runs on nuclear fission is feasible, practical, and possible within the near-future.
Nuclear thermal research at the Marshall Center is part of NASA's Advanced Exploration Systems (AES) Division, managed by the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate and including participation by the U.S. Department of Energy.
NASA Launches Satellite to Get the Dirt on Earth's Dirt
NASA launched its newest Earth-observing mission Saturday (Jan. 31), sending a satellite to the ultimate height to study the dirt below our feet.
The space agency's new Soil Moisture Active Passive satellite (SMAP) satellite successfully launched to space atop an unmanned United Launch Alliance Delta II rocket from Vandenberg Air Force base in California at 9:22 a.m. EST (1422 GMT). SMAP is designed to map the moisture levels in topsoil around the world to help scientist better predict droughts, floods and other weather factors. The spacecraft soared into space and deployed its solar arrays after a flawless launch, NASA officials said.
"It was spectacular," NASA launch director Tim Dunn said after the spacecraft reached orbit. "We're in contact with SMAP and everything looks great. We couldn't be happier." [See photos from NASA's SMAP satellite launch] The SMAP satellite measures moisture in the top 2 inches (5 centimeters) of soil on Earth by using two instruments designed to gather more accurate data about Earth's soil than ever before, officials have said. The mission was initially scheduled to launch on Thursday (Jan. 29), but was delayed 24 hours due to unacceptable winds. The need for a minor rocket repair on Friday pushed the launch back another day.
Once deployed, SMAP's giant antenna will help create a global map of topsoil moisture levels every three days through the mission's initial three-year lifespan, NASA officials have said. The huge, rotating antenna — which measures close to 20 feet (6 meters) in diameter — is the largest of its kind ever flown in space, according to NASA. The satellite should beam back information about soil moisture with unprecedented accuracy.
"SMAP, or the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission, this morning is going to be incredibly important because it will be the first space-borne asset that allows us to look at freeze/thaw cycles; to determine the difference between areas of Earth that are frozen and those that are with normal moisture; and it helps in understanding the carbon dioxide cycle also, which we believe contributes to the planet's change," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said during a webcast before launch.
Scientists want to learn more about soil moisture for a variety of reasons. For one, it will give them a more detailed idea of where and when droughts could happen. And on the flip side of that, SMAP data is also designed to help researchers get a better sense of where floods might occur based on soil moisture data.
"SMAP is in a unique position because its measurements impact two distinct domains," Dara Entekhabi, SMAP science team leader, said during a news conference Tuesday (Jan. 27). "One, of course, as a science mission it impacts how we fundamentally understand how the environment works and peer into the metabolism of the environment. And second, it impacts some of the applications that touch our everyday lives."
Scientists will use the global soil moisture data to more fully understand the interconnected nature of three of Earth's major cycles — the carbon, water and energy cycles — in order to create more accurate weather maps and predictions. Researchers need an instrument like SMAP because there are too few ground-based sensors to create a highly accurate global map of soil moisture right now, Entekhabi added.
The $916 million mission joins the 19 other Earth-gazing satellites currently monitoring the planet from space today. SMAP will be in an orbit that takes it about 426 miles (685 kilometers) above Earth's surface.
SMAP is one of five Earth-monitoring satellites originally scheduled for launch in 2014. NASA's Orbiting Carbon Observatory-2 satellite, Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory and ISS-RapidScat all went to space last year, with the fourth — the agency's Cloud-Aerosol Transport mission — launching earlier in 2015. SMAP is the last of those Earth science missions to fly.
A New Satellite Will Watch the Western Drought from Space
Marcus Woo – Wired
The launch of a small satellite won't fix the the drought in the American West—now entering its fourth year—and it won't change the fact that January was the driest month in recorded California history. But the Soil Moisture Active Passive mission might at least tell scientists and farmers something new about that drought, and maybe how much worse it'll get.
Winds and mechanical issues delayed the SMAP launch for two days, but on Saturday morning a Delta II rocketed it from Vandenberg Air Force Base to about 400 miles above the planet. After three months of "commissioning"—when ground control makes sure all the instruments are working—SMAP will spend three years taking the most accurate readings ever of soil moisture around the world. That's right: It will measure how wet the dirt is. From space.
For understanding water on Earth getting a good handle on dampness is crucial. SMAP can see through atmospheric moisture, plants, and a couple of inches of dirt to measure wetness over an area of about 3.5 square miles. Damp soil, it turns out, emits subtle microwave signals—the wetter the dirt, the weaker the signal. SMAP can see those, and it also fires microwave pulses at the ground (dampness affects how they bounce back) for more accuracy. What sets SMAP apart from other satellites is its 20-foot-wide rotating antenna, big enough to pick up more subtle signals for better resolution.
The data will feed computer models that forecast weather, climate, and agricultural production, says John Bolten, a hydrologist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center. Even better, says Bolten, "it's really a game-changer for drought assessment." For the first time, researchers will have direct measurements of soil moisture from around the world, enabling computer models to be more accurate in their forecasts. "Having SMAP observations every two days, we'll have a global picture of soil moisture," Bolten says. "We'll be able to steer our forecast toward reality."
It's true that SMAP won't do much for day-to-day water management. "It's not one that was designed to provide operational support for water agencies," says Jeanine Jones, the interstate resources manager for the California Department of Water Resources. Which is to say, SMAP is good for researchers, but not so much for farmers and water agencies—at least, not yet. Jones' agency, she says, is mainly concerned with surface water, keeping track of precipitation, stream flow, and reservoir levels. The soil moisture that SMAP measures can affect stream flow—when the soil has soaked up as much water as it can handle, the water ends up in streams—but most of the computer models water agencies use don't use soil moisture. The DWR only has 40 stations that monitor soil moisture across the state, Jones says. But SMAP's numbers could turn out to be more useful down the road. "We don't use this kind of data because it hasn't been available before," Jones says. "People may modify or develop new models to use that data. But that won't be happening until the data has been out there for a while."
Meanwhile, SMAP's numbers will point more toward global water use. And Westerners will go back to hoping for rain.
Europe's 1st Zero-Gravity 3D Printer Headed for Space
Europe is set to send its first 3D printer into the final frontier this year to experiment with zero-gravity manufacturing on long space voyages.
The European Space Agency plans to deliver its new Portable On-Board 3D Printer (POP3D for short) to the International Space Station by the end of June, making it the second 3D printer in space. The diminutive 3D printer is a cube that measures just under 10 inches (25 centimeters) per side and requires a small amount of power to operate.
"The POP3D Portable On-Board Printer is a small 3D printer that requires very limited power and crew involvement to operate," said Luca Enrietti of Altran, prime contractor for the compact printer, in an ESA statement. [10 Ways 3D Printing Will Transform Space Travel] In order to ensure the printer does not affect the space crew's environment, Altran designed the machine to use a heat-based printing method and a harmless, biodegradable plastic.
The printer will be tested by Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti of ESA as part of her Futura mission on the International Space Station. She is one of six crewmembers currently living on the orbiting lab.
Europe's Pop3D printer won't be the first of additive manufacturing tool to reach space.
Last September, the California-based company Made In Space sent a 3D printer to the space station as part of a NASA experiment. That machine has already printed parts for itself and printed a working ratchet tool from a design beamed into space from Earth.
Made In Space's 3D-printed objects, as well as anything POP3D produces, will eventually be returned to Earth and compared with identical items made with 3D printers on the ground. The comparison should help scientists determine whether 3D printed objects made in space work as well as they do on Earth.
If the innovative approach to space manufacturing works, its implications could be vast for future space exploration, ESA and NASA scientists have said. The concept for Pop3D was unveiled last October during a conference attended by 350 3D printing experts from across Europe
The technology could allow astronauts to print delicate tools in space that could not otherwise survive the stresses of launching into space, Altran representatives explained.It could also reduce the need to pack spare parts on resupply missions, as well as lower total number of parts needed both on a spacecraft or the space station, therefore lowering the overall cost of spaceflight.
"In the case of a complex injector of a rocket engine, we are able to take the total number of parts needed from around 250 down to one or two," one space 3D-printing advocate Steffen Beyer, head of Materials and Process Technology at Airbus Defence and Space, said in the ESA statement. "That represents a revolution in design and manufacturing." Astronaut calls on Air Force experience in space
Kristin Davis – Air Force Times
Before he was an astronaut, Air Force Col. Terry Virts spent more than a decade flying F-16s.
Virts would call on that experience when he blasted beyond Earth's atmosphere in November for a six-month stay aboard the International Space Station.
Piloting fighter jets taught Virts how to prioritize tasks on a moment's notice, to think on his feet, to communicate quickly and succinctly.
When it came to being an astronaut, "it was probably the most important training foundation I had," a literally buoyant Virts said in the microgravity of the space station Wednesday.
He floated between fellow flight engineer Samantha Cristoforetti and Expedition 42 Commander Butch Wilmore for an interview with Air Force Times broadcast live on NASA TV.
Like Virts, Cristoforetti and Wilmore are military pilots. Wilmore flew tactical jets for the U.S. Navy; Cristoforetti piloted fighters for the Italian air force.
The experience put Cristoferetti in the habit of handling complex machines in operational environments. It also taught her self-discipline, perseverance and to put the goals of the team before the goals of oneself.
As a naval aviator, Wilmore said, he grew accustomed to stressful situations. That made him all the better at handling them.
The astronauts spend their days working on various scientific experiments in space, from what happens to a human's lungs in microgravity to how earthworms' adaptations to space get passed on to future generations, they said.
Virts, a 1989 Air Force Academy graduated who sported a T-shirt from his alma mater, had just done some work on a humanoid robot that will eventually go outside the space station.
"Today's the big day he got his legs and will move them for the first time," Virts said. "Every day it's a different experiment."
Virts and Wilmore are also readying for a trip outside the station in the coming weeks, resizing spacesuits and building up some tools they'll need for the tasks that await them.
The spacewalk is indescribable, said Wilmore, who spent 6-1/2 hours outside the station in October. "Just realizing that you and whoever you go out with are the only people in the universe doing this unique thing and having this opportunity, it's quite humbling."
Between projects, there is time to enjoy the view from more than 200 miles above Earth, which Virts documents regularly in photographs on his Twitter account, @AstroTerry.
From this extraordinary vantage point, Virts has watched sunsets and moonrises and Venus hovering just above the blue smudge of Earth's atmosphere. He has seen dancing green auroras and the clouded fury of a summer storm over the red-tinted Australian outback, the contrast of desert and jungle over West Africa.
"Street lights paint patterns in the desert sands," Virts wrote when he passed over Qatar on Dec. 13.
Three days later: "So awesome to see stars from space – you feel as if you're looking sideways, not up."
Sharpest Views of Mysterious 'Planet' Ceres Now Better Than Hubble, Tantalize Scientists
Ken Kremer – AmericaSpace
"Planet" or "dwarf planet" … What is its nature? Those are among the questions.
The sharpest views yet of mysterious "young planet" Ceres taken by NASA's fast approaching Dawn spacecraft have just been released and are tantalizing us with an "exciting and productive adventure in orbit" soon to come, Dr. Marc Rayman and Prof. Chris Russell, Dawn's Mission Director and Principal Investigator, respectively, told AmericaSpace exclusively in detailed science mission commentary today about this "survivor of the ages."
See the latest photos and animation from NASA's Dawn above and below.
Ceres is a pristine icy world stemming from the formation of our Solar System and has never before been visited by any human-made spacecraft from Earth. It is the biggest body in the Asteroid Belt.
With each passing day the "fuzzy blob" that will teach us about our own origins, too, comes into sharper focus.
"Ceres is a survivor from the earliest days of the Solar System and is an example of the first bodies that formed in the solar system and that eventually came together to build the Earth and other planets," Prof. Chris Russell, principal investigator for the Dawn mission, based at the University of California, Los Angeles, told AmericaSpace.
"Ceres is just a 'young planet' even though it was formed 4.6 billion years ago!"
The spacecraft is in excellent shape and primed for its orbital arrival set for March 6, despite the earlier loss of reaction wheels, thanks to the team's never-ending hard work.
The solar-powered Dawn will conduct an up-close investigation during its planned 16-month-long orbital survey.
"The spacecraft and instruments are fully healthy," Dr. Marc Rayman, Dawn's mission director and chief engineer of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, Calif., told AmericaSpace.
"Thanks to our recovery work, we don't need the failed reaction wheels, so we are in good shape for an exciting and productive adventure in orbit around this dwarf planet!"
Until today, the best views of Ceres were taken by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope back in 2003 and 2004.
But Dawn, launched back in 2007, is now closing in fast. And as of today the ion propulsion-powered vehicle is only about half the distance from the Earth to the Moon away.
The newest images from Dawn, taken 147,000 miles (237,000 kilometers) distant from Ceres on January 25, 2015, are at last exceeding those from Hubble. They are 43 pixels wide and more than 30 percent higher in resolution than Hubble's, taken a decade ago from Earth orbit at a distance of over 150 million miles (about 241 million kilometers).
What have we learned about Ceres so far at this early stage? Any surprises?
"We have only just reached the resolution obtainable from Hubble so we have learned little than what we knew before," Russell told AmericaSpace.
"We have been able to find the spot on the surface that Hubble found, so there have not been any great changes!"
"Surprise will come as we make significant advances over the Hubble image resolution."
The Jan. 13 images clearly revealed the mysterious white spot, also detected in the prior Hubble images and also visible in the new Jan. 25 imagery from the framing cameras supplied by the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research in Gottingen, Germany, and the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Planetary Research in Berlin.
This writer asked Marc Rayman and Chris Russell for their thoughts: What is the white spot? What is its nature?
"We don't know what it is yet," replied Rayman.
"What you see is a spot whose albedo is greater than the surrounding material so the eye makes it look white," replied Russell. "When we see that on Earth we think that the material is newer and fresher."
"So maybe that is a region of more recent activity. We will be looking at this closely!"
Could the white spot be an ice volcano?
"Anything that large probably is not an ice volcano, because it would produce too much water to be consistent with the Herschel observations," Rayman elaborated.
Ceres is the largest and most massive object in the main Asteroid Belt, which lies between Mars and Jupiter. It measures about the size of Texas with a diameter of approximately 590 miles (950 kilometers). But our knowledge of the diminutive world is next to nothing.
Scientists are keenly interested in Ceres as it may harbor an ocean of liquid water as large in volume as the oceans of Earth below a thick icy mantle despite its small size—and thus could be a potential abode for life.
But no one knows for sure, and unlocking the secrets to the most fundamental science questions of life and the Solar System's formation is what Dawn's objectives are all about.
What do the scientists see in the newest images? It almost looks like there may possibly be some deep gashes, grooves, or canyons—reminiscent of Vesta, visited earlier by Dawn for 14 months in 2011 and 2012.
"Right now we are too far to be able to distinguish albedo from topography," replied Russell.
"The team is certainly asking the very same questions!"
Ceres doesn't appear perfectly round in the images. Why is that? Is that an illusion?
"From HST measurements, Ceres has principal radii of (approximately) 487 x 487 x 454 km," Rayman explained.
"So the equatorial diameter is only 7 percent more than the polar diameter. Some of what you are seeing may be because we do not see a fully illuminated disk. Also, the pixelation may cause it to look even more irregular."
"Ceres rotates much faster than Earth albeit slower than Vesta," Russell added.
"The centrifugal forces pulls it out of round some. We certainly will be studying its shape carefully as we expect it to be near hydrodynamic equilibrium."
Dawn is an international science mission with collaboration between the U.S., Germany, and Italy. It is a project from NASA's Discovery program and managed by JPL.
The ion-powered probe is equipped with three science instruments provided by the three nations to photograph and investigate the surface mineralogy and elemental composition of the gigantic asteroid.
Besides the cameras, the other two instruments—VIR and GRaND—were provided by the Italian Space Agency and the Italian National Institute for Astrophysics and Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico and the Planetary Science Institute of Tucson, Ariz.
Dawn was launched Sept. 27, 2007, by a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta II Heavy rocket from Space Launch Complex-17B (SLC-17B) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
It will soon make history as the first spacecraft to orbit two celestial bodies beyond Earth.
Asked to elaborate on the meaning of why have we dispatched the Dawn interplanetary spacecraft to Ceres, Russell had this to say:
"Many scientists have been looking forward to the moment when we could visit this 'survivor of the ages' and interview her," Russell said.
"That is what we are doing now. It really is exciting!"
Curtain falls on controversial big bang result
Adrian Cho – Science
As predictably as the heroine's death in an opera, the biggest claim in cosmology in years has finally officially unraveled. Last March, cosmologists working with a specialized telescope at the South Pole called BICEP2 claimed direct evidence that in the first fraction of a second after the big bang, the universe underwent a bizarre exponential growth spurt called inflation. The signs came in their study of the big bang's afterglow, the cosmic microwave background (CMB). But now, in a joint analysis with cosmologists working with the European Space Agency's (ESA's) Planck spacecraft, BICEP researchers take back that claim and report no such signs of inflation, according to a press release issued by ESA.
Like Mimi in Giacomo Puccini's opera La Bohème, the BICEP claim seemed doomed from early in the drama. "I would have been surprised if it had turned out otherwise," says Suzanne Staggs, an observational cosmologist at Princeton University. In September, the Planck team released data that suggested the BICEP signal was largely, if not entirely, an artifact of dust in our galaxy, which emits microwaves of its own. The joint analysis sought to resolve the conflicting results. And it rules out the BICEP team's blockbuster claim.
What the BICEP researchers saw were swirls in a patch of the southern sky. The CMB—a kind of electromagnetic backdrop for everything else in the visible universe—is polarized, like light reflected off a lake. According to cosmologists' standard model, the enormous stretching of inflation would have set off ripples in space and time called gravitational waves, which would imprint telltale pinwheel-like patterns—called B modes—in the polarization. And to much fanfare, the BICEP team claimed to see such "primordial B modes."
However, swirls can spiral up from other sources. In particular, radiating dust in our galaxy can produce them, and to see the CMB signal properly, researchers must first strip away this "foreground" contribution. Ordinarily, experimenters do that by taking data at multiple microwave frequencies. However, BICEP2 took data at only one frequency to try to maximize sensitivity and relied on preliminary data from Planck—taken from a slide presented in a talk—to estimate that foreground contamination. The BICEP team believed it was small. But in May, other cosmologists suggested that BICEP researchers may have misinterpreted the Planck data and underestimated the dust contribution. And in September, Planck's final data suggested that BICEP's patch of sky was as dusty as an old pillow.
Now the joint analysis, which also includes data from BICEP2's successor at the South Pole, the Keck Array, yields no definite sign of primordial B modes. If they exist in the data, they can be no more than half the signal BICEP claimed. That limit is in line with what Planck researchers had earlier deduced indirectly by studying tiny variations in the temperature of the CMB across the sky.
In spite of the sad end to this particular tale, Max Tegmark, a cosmologist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, says he's optimistic about the chances of spotting primordial B modes relatively soon. "I'm in the minority," he says, "and I think there is something in there that we can see—if not in this data, then in the next couple of years." However, Princeton's Staggs says the incident underscores that the foreground emissions are likely to be sizable and tricky. If it's there, the big bang signal is more likely to emerge slowly through several experiments than suddenly in one definitive discovery, she says.
"These signals are very faint, and there are lots of things that can go wrong, not just foregrounds," says Charles Bennett, a cosmologist at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland. Nevertheless, multiple teams are striving to detect B modes. "I don't think the BICEP2 experience has slowed anybody down," Bennett says.
Where is Philae? Search for Rosetta's Lander Continues
The amazing and historic first soft landing on a comet by ESA's Philae spacecraft on Nov. 12 captured the attention of the entire world, as it was the culmination of the Rosetta mission launched over a decade earlier. But even now, two and a half months later, nobody's really sure exactly where the lander ended up — but scientists are still searching. The 220-lb (100-kg) Philae was equipped with two harpoons that were designed to help it hold onto the surface of comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko immediately upon touchdown. But the harpoons failed to fire (which may have actually been a good thing due to the comet's surprisingly hard surface, but that's another story) and Philae rebounded, soaring across 67P away from its intended landing site and, after grazing the edge of a crater and going into a tumbling spin, setting down at last at a precarious angle in the shadow of a ledge or crater wall.
Philae was able to achieve all of its primary mission objectives after landing, returning data from each of its instruments, but its batteries quickly drained with its solar panels positioned in considerable darkness. Now in hibernation, its location remains a mystery and researchers are poring through Rosetta data to determine where on the 4-km-wide comet the washing-machine-sized lander rests.
At this point the hunt is being conducted visually using high-resolution images from Rosetta's OSIRIS camera.
"We're looking — by eye — for a set of three spots that correspond to the lander," says OSIRIS principal investigator Holger Sierks from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research (MPS) in Germany. "The problem is that sets of three spots are very common all over the comet nucleus; Hatmehit and the area around its rim where we're looking is full of boulders and we have identified several sets of three spots."
While there's a general idea of the area in which it might be, the lander itself has yet to be positively identified.
A close 3.7-mile (6 km) pass over the comet by Rosetta is planned for Valentine's Day but the pre-planned trajectory won't be optimal for imaging the search area. Still, it's possible that Rosetta could be turned in such a way to obtain some high-resolution images that could be useful in determining where Philae is… or at least isn't.
As far as whether or not we will ever hear from Philae again, that depends on how much illumination it receives on its solar panels as the comet nears the sun, as well as how much it can get warmed up. Philae needs to recharge to about 17 watts of power to wake up and talk to Rosetta, which must also be in the right position to receive the message.
Mission engineers remain hopeful though, and speculate that point could come as early as May.
"We are already discussing and preparing which instruments should be operated for how long," said Lander Project Manager Stephan Ulamec from the German Aerospace Center (DLR).
If all goes well and Philae does awaken, it will have a front-row seat to the changes that take place on 67P during perihelion in August — an event that may not have been possible for it to observe had it not wound up somewhere that shielded it from overheating.
Luck may still be with the little lander after all.
Rogozin Enlists Russian Citizens to Monitor Work at Vostochny
Irritated by continuing delays in construction of Russia's new Vostochny launch site, Russian Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin said today that he will use webcams to allow "people's monitoring" of construction there by the citizenry at large. The new launch site is intended to replace much of Russia's use of the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, but its construction has dragged on for many years.
Rogozin oversees Russia's space sector and he and other high level Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have visited the site in Russia's Far East many times and routinely complain about the delays in construction. Rogozin just completed another visit and said today that "the state of affairs ... leaves much to be desired."
Acknowledging that the weather in that region of the country is "hard," he said that is all the more reason for the work to be well organized.
He plans to increase supervision not only by himself, but by the people of the country, using webcams. Concerned about continuing delays last year, he had webcams installed that allow him to monitor progress using his office computer. He now plans to expand that opportunity to the citizenry at large. "This is people's construction project and I want the webcams that we installed at the mail facilities to be connected not only to my Moscow office computer, but also to the websites of Roscosmos and [Military-Industrial Commission] Collegium. ... this will be a kind of 'people's monitoring' over the construction progress," Rogozin said.
Russia's plans to build a new launch site in the Russian Far East date back to the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, which left one of its main launch sites, Baikonur, in a different country - Kazakhstan, previously a Soviet republic. Russia has been leasing Baikonur from Kazakhstan since then, but wants a new site within Russian borders to fully or partially replace its launch activities there. In the mid-1990s, the decision was made to convert a former strategic missile site, Svobodny 18, in the Amur region near the city of Blagoveshensk, into a space launch site.
Work at Svobodny proceeded slowly and although a few space launches were conducted there using Start-1 and Rokot, Putin discontinued the project in 2007. The idea of a new launch site in that region was soon resurrected, however, and within a few months plans for a launch site, Vostochny, nearby were announced. Construction of launch pads capable of supporting Soyuz-2 and the new Angara launch vehicle family has been a slow process. Rogozin and Putin have made a number of trips to the site, each time complaining about the lack of progress. Last fall, Putin pledged 50 billion rubles ($1.2 billion) to accelerate construction, but judging by Rogozin's comments today, the situation remains unsatisfactory.
A 2012 Roscosmos video (in English) features Putin explaining the importance of the new site, which is described as the centerpiece of a future new "science city." At the time the video was made, the goal was for the first launch to take place in 2015 and for human spaceflight launches to begin in 2016. Today, the goal apparently still is for a first launch this year, but human spaceflights have slipped to 2018.
Inmarsat-5 F-2 communications satellite successfully launches atop Proton rocket
Amy Thompson – Spaceflight Insider
International Launch Services (ILS) celebrated the first launch of 2015 with the successful lift off of a Russian Proton-M from launch pad 39 at the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 7:31 a.m. EST (1231 GMT). The Russian workhorse carried the Inmarsat-5 F-2 communications satellite, part of the Inmarsat Global Xpress (GX) system, into orbit.
The Proton launcher is considered the workhorse of the Russian fleet of launch vehicles due to its history of more than 400 launches since production began in 1965. ILS majority owner and renowned member of the global space community, Khrunichev Research and State Production Center, is responsible for the manufacturing of the Proton vehicle.
The Proton used in today's flight is a three stage vehicle, spanning 138.8 ft (42.3 m) high. The vehicle's first stage is comprised of a central tank with six fuel tanks surrounding it. Each tank contains one of the six RD-276 engines responsible for powering the first stage.
The launcher's second stage is powered by one RD-0211 engine and three RD-0210 engines, while the third stage employs one RD-0213 engine as well as a verner engine sporting a four-nozzle design. The third stage is also responsible for the guidance, navigation, and control of all three stages via a closed-loop digital avionics system.
The Breeze M upper stage will be conducting a series of planned maneuvers to position Inmarsat-5 in its final supersynchronous transfer orbit. Separation of the Inmarsat-5 from the upper stage will occur approximately 15.5 hours after liftoff.
The Inmarsat-5 F-2 satellite was constructed by the Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, with the design being based off the BSS-702HP Platform. The satellite contains 89 ka-band transponders and is expected to last at least 15 years.
"This second satellite brings us one step closer to providing global, mobile broadband service to commercial and government customers around the world," said Mark Spiwak, president, Boeing Satellite Systems International. "The Global Xpress network will change the way people communicate. Its success to date is a testament to our team's dedication and the solid relationship between Boeing and Inmarsat."
As part of the Inmarsat GX system, a total of three Inmarsat-5 satellites will be launch in order to offer the highest network reliability and is the first global high-speed broadband communications network.
The first GX satellite, the Inmarsat-5 F-1 was launch in Dec. 2013 and became fully operational in July 2014, providing coverage to Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Middle East. With the addition of Inmarsat-5 F-2, the network will now cover North and South America and the Atlantic Ocean. The launch of the third GX satellite, Inmarsat-5 F-3, is slated for summer 2015.
Rupert Pearce, Inmarsat CEO, described the network in a statement, "Global Xpress is a truly transformational technology and will deliver seamless, superfast mobile broadband services across the planet. As we complete its global roll-out, 2015 promises to be one of the most significant chapters in our company's history."
Pearce went on to say, "Through Global Xpress, the world can move forward from the 'Internet of Everything' to the 'Internet of Everywhere', in which high-speed, reliable and secure connectivity is available anywhere and at any time – even in the most inaccessible regions – for customers on the move or to fixed locations."
Approximately 70 seconds after liftoff, the Proton rocket passed the speed of sound (Mach 1) and the phase of maximum aerodynamic pressure (Max Q), as it ascended.
A minute later, approximately 2.5 minutes into the flight, we had main engine cut-off (MECO), followed by first stage separation and then ignition of the Proton's second stage.
Seven minutes into the flight, the second stage engine cut-off, third stage ignition and payload fairing jettison. Approximately six minutes later, the third stage engine cut-off and the first of five scheduled Breeze-M upper stage burns commenced.
The first burn lasted 4.5 minutes and accelerated the upper stage and the payload to a low-altitude parking orbit. The Breeze-M entered into a coast phase until the second of five scheduled burns started at 9:21 a.m. EST (1421 GMT). The Inmarsat-5 F-2 satellite will separate from the Breeze-M at approximately 11:02 p.m. EST (0402 GMT).
International Launch Services is based out of Reston, Virginia and has exclusive rights to the Proton launch vehicle. ILS is a subsidiary of Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. To date, Khrunichev has launched more than 390 Proton rockets.
Adidas ties new sneakers to historic NASA astronaut spacesuits
Aspiring astronauts take note: if you have ever desired to take a "space walk," Adidas will soon have the sneakers for you.
The German sports outfitter is set to launch two new pairs of trainers that feature the look and feel of NASA's historic spacesuits this summer.
"Inspired by vintage astronaut suits and backpacks, [with] molded and machined details similar to authentic [NASA] closures, zippers and straps are added," Adidas described in a statement. "Shiny versus matte distressed materials complete the look of outer space."
With names like "Response Trail Robot" and "Ozweego Robot," the astronaut-appropriate sports shoes incorporate design elements from NASA's pressurized garments. The sneakers include silver tones and stitching reminiscent of the iconic Mercury astronauts' silver spacesuits, as well as red and blue lace eyelets modeled after the umbilical inlets on the front of the Apollo moon suits.
The two "Robot" models differ in colors and materials, and how they are secured. On the "Ozweego Robot," white is more dominant than silver, and the lace crosses over the front of the shoe and then passes under a fabric loop, as opposed to feeding through an eyelet.
The spacesuit-inspired sneakers come out of an on-going collaboration between Adidas and Raf Simons, a Belgian high fashion designer and the creative director at Christian Dior. Part of the "Raf Simons x [by] adidas Originals" fall/winter 2015-16 collection, the new trainers will launch into select Adidas retailers and boutiques in July.
Prices for the Raf Simons collection are expected to range from $455 to $730 per pair.
This isn't the first time that the Adidas brand has crossed into space. The company cited "the great achievements of Soviet cosmonauts during the 1960s" when designing the uniforms for Russia's 2014 World Cup team.
And during the 1990s, Russian cosmonauts wore Adidas-brand "sports boots" — sneakers — aboard the Mir space station.
Other shoe companies have also turned to NASA and its astronauts for design ideas in the recent past. Nike styled special edition sneakers after space exploration, including partnering with moonwalker Buzz Aldrin for footwear that evoked his own famous footprints on the lunar surface.
Aldrin also worked with General Electric to introduce "The Missions," a moon boot-inspired sneaker highlighting the GE-developed advanced materials that were used in the Apollo spacesuits. Limited to 100 pairs, the shoes quickly sold out last year on the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 11 launch.
What's Happening in Space Policy February 2-6, 2015
Here is our list of space policy related events for the week of February 2-6, 2015 and any insight we can offer about them. The House and Senate will be in session this week.
During the Week
This is budget week in Washington. The President will submit his FY2016 budget request to Congress tomorrow (Monday), kicking off debate over how much the government should spend and on what in the "discretionary spending" portion of the federal budget. FY2016 begins on October 1, 2015. Discretionary spending is generally broken into two parts -- defense and non-defense. NASA and NOAA are part of non-defense discretionary spending. Although by law the sequester goes back into effect in FY2016, a senior administration official told reporters last week that the President's budget request will not adhere to the spending caps set by the law. The President apparently believes that the deeply unpopular sequester rules will be waived again (as they were for FY2014 and FY2015) or repealed or replaced entirely.
Most departments and agencies hold budget briefings the day the budget is released, as does the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). Typically the budget is posted on the Office of Management and Budget's website in mid-morning, followed by the individual briefings. Traditionally the NASA Administrator holds a budget briefing in Washington, but this year Administrator Bolden will be at Kennedy Space Center and instead will "address the progress made and the exciting work ahead on the agency's exploration initiative that secures America's leadership in space." That talk will be broadcast on NASA TV, especially to all the NASA field centers, which are holding "State of NASA" events for the public that include tours, briefings, and listening to Bolden. For all the budget-watchers and policy wonks, explaining the budget request will be left to NASA Chief Financial Officer (CFO) David Radzanowski, who succeeded Beth Robinson as CFO last year. He will hold a telecon with the media at 4:00 pm ET that will be broadcast on NASA's News Audio website.
Another big event this week will be the confirmation hearing for Ash Carter to be the new Secretary of Defense. That hearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee is scheduled for Wednesday at 9:30 am ET. Also on Wednesday, as well as Thursday, is the annual Commercial Space Transportation conference sponsored by the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation. It will be held at the National Housing Conference Center in Washington, DC, the same locale as the last several years. On Thursday, the American Astronomical Society (AAS) will hold its 2nd annual "State of the Universe" briefing on Capitol Hill to highlight new discoveries about the universe in the past year. Those and other events we know about as of Sunday afternoon are listed below.
Monday, February 2
- Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) budget briefing, 1:30-2:30 pm ET, American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC (will be webcast)
- Department of Defense budget briefing, 1:30 pm ET, the Pentagon
- NASA budget briefing, telecon, 4:00 pm ET (audio will be webcast)
Monday, February 2 - Friday, February 13
- Public event highlighting 1-Year Mission to ISS, February 5, 12:30 pm CET (6:30 am EST) will be webcast
Wednesday, February 4
Wednesday-Thursday, February 4-5
Thursday, February 5
END
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Don't Forget! JSC All-Hands in Teague Today
- EVA 50th Anniversary
- Space Station Research Explorer App - Feb. 4
- Managed Elevated Privileges Continues
- February Sustainability Opportunities - Cycling?
- JSC NMA and BALaNCE Presents - Natalie V. Saiz - Organizations/Social
- The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) Says
- Do you know your JSC Expected Behaviors?
- JSC NMA Presents: General Jeff Howell
- Tell Us A Love Story About Space - Jobs and Training
- APPEL - Scheduling and Cost Control - Feb. 23-26
- Job Opportunities
- Human Systems Academy Lecture
- End User Services Hands on Training - Community
- Passport Fair Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at Building 3 |  |
| Headlines - Don't Forget! JSC All-Hands in Teague Today
Administrator Bolden's Address to Air at 12:30 p.m; Director Ochoa All-Hands to Follow at 1:30 p.m. Teague Auditorium will open at 11:30 a.m. today, for a 12:30 p.m. broadcast of Administrator Charlie Bolden as he talks about NASA's vision and speaks to the Agency's FY16 budget proposal. Bolden's speech also will be broadcast live on NASA TV. Following at 1:30 p.m., JSC Director Ellen Ochoa will hold an All-Hands to discuss JSC's role in the Agency's vision in Teague Auditorium. Employees are encouraged to attend if possible. Due to time constraints, Dr. Ochoa asks employees who have questions to submit those through her JSC Ask-The-Director email. She will respond to the questions received, and the answers will also be posted on Inside JSC. Those unable to attend in person can watch 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, Feb 5, and Tuesday, Feb. 10, at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Point of contact: JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs, x35111
[top] - EVA 50th Anniversary
NASA will highlight the accomplishments of Extravehicular Activity, past, present and future. We have created public and internal websites to showcase 50 years of EVA and demonstrate future challenges for Exploration EVA. #SuitUp will be used to keep you up-to-date on EVA milestones, and events related to our celebration. There are two important dates to remember. The first is Mar. 18, marking the 50th anniversary of the first spacewalk by cosmonaut Alexei Leonov, who left his Voskhod-2 for a 12-minute tethered EVA. The second date is Jun. 3, marking NASA's first EVA with Ed White exiting his Gemini-4 capsule for a 23-minute tethered spacewalk. - Space Station Research Explorer App – Feb. 4
You are invited to JSC's SAIC/Safety and Mission Assurance Speaker Forum featuring Sharon Goza, IGOAL Lab Manager. Have you ever wondered about the hundreds of experiments conducted on the ISS? Make plans to attend the Feb. 4 speaker forum to learn how to install/utilize the Space Station Research Explorer App. Learn how to access current information on ISS experiments, facilities and research results through: - Video, Photos, Interactive Media and In-Depth Descriptions.
- Date/Time: Wednesday, Feb. 4, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. (CST)
- Location: JSC Gilruth Alamo Ballroom
- Managed Elevated Privileges Continues
Tomorrow, Feb. 3 Managed Elevated Privileges (MEP) continues with ACES Windows 7 systems at JSC that may have missed the scheduled pushes throughout the year. We will be completing these systems over the next three Tuesdays during the regular Tuesday night updates. MEP controls admin rights (Elevated Privileges, or EP) on NASA computers and allows users to request EP when needed. Users must complete SATERN training before submitting any requests for EP. All users are strongly urged to complete the SATERN training for "Basic Users" (Elevated Privileges on NASA Information System - ITS-002-09). The next scheduled deployment date is Feb. 10. - February Sustainability Opportunities - Cycling?
Do you like to ride a bicycle? Maybe it's just between buildings. Or perhaps it's to and from work. In any case, check out our Featured Story in the February Monthly Sustainability Opportunities on Rounding up both our JSC Bicycles and Cycling Enthusiasts. Check out your opportunities this month, and see how JSC is creating the foundation for a more sustainable center in many other ways. Stay in the loop directly by adding your e-mail to our JSC Sustainability distribution list. - JSC NMA and BALaNCE Presents - Natalie V. Saiz
JSC NMA Presents: Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization - Natalie V. Saiz. Natalie is a collaborative leader, who is currently serving on a special assignment to building stronger teams across JSC. She has an exemplary record of service as JSC's HR Director for the past 11 years. Tribal Leaders focus on building the tribe—or upgrading the tribal culture. If they succeed, the tribe recognizes them as the leader, giving them discretionary effort, cult-like loyalty and a track record of success. Divisions and companies run by Tribal Leaders set the standard of performance in their industries, from productivity and profitability, to employee retention. RSVP- Bridget Montgomery Niese Please bring your lunch. Organizations/Social - The JSC Safety and Health Action Team (JSAT) Says
"Alert Today, Alive Tomorrow!" Congratulations to Jim Brazda, DB Consulting Group, Inc. (ITAMS) for submitting the winning slogan for Feb. 2015. Any JSAT member (all JSC contractor and civil servant employees) may submit a slogan for consideration to JSAT Secretary Reese Squires. Submissions for Mar. are due by Monday, Feb. 9. Keep those great submissions coming - you may be the next JSAT Says Winner! - Do you know your JSC Expected Behaviors?
The NASA values consist of Safety, Teamwork and Integrity in support of mission success. We commit without compromise to embodying these values in all that we do. To realize these values, we have defined a set of supporting behaviors that contractors and civil servants should demonstrate every day. The second is to: Be Trustworthy - Act with integrity and honor. Our success is built on an environment of trust and ethical behavior. We exhibit sincerity and truthfulness in all actions. Ask yourself: - Do I keep the people I work with apprised of my progress?
- Am I honest in my assessments?
- Am I true to my word and do I honor my promises?
- Do I present a calm presence even if the news is bad?
Effective communication is a crucial ingredient for practicing these behaviors daily. Communication is a two-way process that requires us to listen and understand at least as much as we speak. We openly share information and knowledge, focusing on quality, not quantity. - JSC NMA Presents: General Jeff Howell
Please join us for a JSC National Management Association (NMA) chapter luncheon featuring General Jeff Howell. You won't want to miss this presentation! Cost for members: FREE Cost for non-members: $25 Meal Selections: - Super food salad seared chicken breast salad, served with rolls and butter, water and iced tea
- Seared bay grouper with vesuvio potatoes, served with rolls and butter, water and iced tea
- Market fresh vegetable and potato cannelloni served with wild mushroom ragout, served with rolls and butter, water and iced tea
- Dessert - symphony cake (mocha flavored) with "painted" compotes and coulis (may contain nuts, please alert guests for any allergies)
Please RSVP by no later than close of business Thursday, Feb. 12; 3 p.m. with your menu selection. For RSVP technical assistance, please contact Leslie N. Smith at x46752 LIMITED SEATING: Maximum capacity is 100 Event Date: Thursday, February 19, 2015 Event Start Time:11:30 AM Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Silver Moon Café at Space Center Houston
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Leslie N. Smith x46752
[top] - Tell Us A Love Story About Space
Valentine's Day is just a heart throb away, and the Office of Communications and Public Affairs is interested in all your space-related love stories. The recent proposal by Adam Naids to his girlfriend on top of Building 1 has made us head-over-heels, and we want to hear your stories. If you have any space-related dates, proposals or love stories, please email them to Anna Seils to be featured in a JSC feature story. Jobs and Training - APPEL - Scheduling and Cost Control - Feb. 23-26
This course focuses on managing project constraints including limits on time, human resources, materials, budget and specifications. It also helps participants to develop effective measures for scheduling and controlling projects as they put the tools of project management to work. This course is designed for NASA's technical workforce, including systems engineers and project personnel who seek to develop the competencies required to succeed as a leader of a project team, functional team or small project. This course is available for self-registration in SATERN until Monday, Feb. 2 and is open to civil-servants and contractors. Dates: Monday - Thursday, February 23-26 Location: Building 12, Room 152 - Job Opportunities
Where do I find job opportunities? To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop down menu and select JSC HR. The "Jobs link", will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply on-line. Lateral reassignment and rotation opportunities are posted in the Workforce Transition Tool. To access: HR Portal > Employees > Workforce Transition > Workforce Transition Tool. These opportunities do not possess known promotion potential; therefore employees can only see positions at or below their current grade level. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies or reassignment opportunities, please call your Human Resources Representative. - Human Systems Academy Lecture
Join the Human Systems Academy lecture on "Exercise Countermeasures". This course will provide an overview of the Countermeasures System of Research and Operational Exercise. A tour of the Countermeasures Exercise Laboratory will follow next week. This will show how exercise hardware is used in flight for maintaining crew musculoskeletal and cardiovascular health. As space is limited, please register in SATERN. - End User Services Hands on Training
The Information Resources Directorate (IRD) is providing hands-on End User Services training 1 to 3 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 10, in Building 12 training facility, Room142. Learn how to navigate the on-line services used and supported by IRD. This is Hands on training for the Enterprise Service Request System (ESRS), Center Validation Tool (CVT), NASA Access Management System (NAMS), Customer Service System (CSS) and more. Community - Passport Fair Feb. 9, 10 and 11 at Building 3
The JSC International Travel Office will host officials from the U.S. Department of State Houston Passport Office at a special Passport Fair. All persons badged to come onsite at JSC are invited to this special event to either renew or apply for new tourist passport. The Passport Fair will take place on Feb. 9, 10 and 11 from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. in the Building 3 Collaboration Space. See flyer here. | |
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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. |
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