Definitely cold here in the Houston metro area. Fortunately for now,, we have escaped the 32 degree or below conditions thus far.
NASA and Human Spaceflight News
Tuesday – Feb. 24, 2015
We've realized that the Human Space Flight news distribution is duplicating efforts when there are so many sources of virtually the same material made available to you quickly and easily these days. We'd like to point you to some of the resources we're aware of and discontinue collecting and distributing this edition after Feb. 27. We appreciate your attention to the news summaries over the years, and we will continue to focus our efforts on getting NASA's missions and your stories into the media.
Many external sources provide email distribution and/or website collection of stories, including:
Space Coalition
Space Today
Space Politics
Space Daily
Spaceflight Now
FAA News Updates
JSC External Relations
Public Affairs Office
HEADLINES AND LEADS
Let's Fix the Asteroid Redirect Mission
Marcia Smith - Aviation Week & Space Technology
Congress is about to begin consideration of NASA's fiscal 2016 budget request, which includes $220 million for the controversial Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). Two years after it was proposed by the Obama Administration, ARM still has few supporters. Why, and what can be done to change the equation?
The Second Mars Affordability and Sustainability Community Workshop: structure, findings, and recommendations
Harley Thronson and Chris Carberry – The Space Review
Shortly after the first in our series of Mars Affordability and Sustainability Community Workshops (AM I) adjourned in December 2013, planning began on successors to address topics that arose in the first workshop that deserved further consideration. As with the first workshop, the second (AM II) was invitation-only and co-sponsored by Explore Mars, Inc. and the American Astronautical Society. About sixty professionals from twenty institutions participated. The complete workshop reports from both AM I and AM II may be found at the Explore Mars website.
Crawler Transporter-2 upgraded in preparation for SLS
Bill Jelen - Spaceflight Insider
Officials from NASA's Kennedy Space Center rolled out the newly renovated Crawler Transporter 2 (CT-2) on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. The 6.5-million-pound CT-2 will carry a 10.3-million-pound mobile launcher with the 4.4-million-pound Space Launch System (SLS) booster (without liquid propellants), resulting in a massive, 21.2-million-pound vehicle lumbering along to the launch pad at Launch Complex 39B.
Crawler-transporter celebrates 50 years of KSC service
James Dean – Florida Today
Locomotive engines revved and diesel fumes puffed from four exhaust pipes on Monday morning to signal that a NASA crawler-transporter was ready to roll into its next half-century.
Eleven Organizations Form Alliance for Space Development
The Space Frontier Foundation, the National Space Society and nine other organizations are forming a new Alliance for Space Development "dedicated to influencing the goals of space development and settlement."
Issues in commercial launch law
Jeff Foust – The Space Review
On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Commerce Committee's newly renamed Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness will hold its first hearing of the new Congress, titled, "U.S. Human Exploration Goals and Commercial Space Competitiveness." At the title suggests, much of the hearing will be devoted to high-profile issues, including NASA's exploration strategy and the role of commercial partners, such as commercial crew transportation to and from the International Space Station. The hearing will also be the first chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a politician whose positions—and presidential ambitions—have attracted attention and criticism (see "The limits of Cruz control", The Space Review, January 26, 2015).
NASA Sets Next $1 Billion New Frontiers Competition for 2016
Dan Leone – Space News
Competition for the next mission in NASA's New Frontiers line — a cost-capped class of $1 billion robotic solar-system explorers — will begin in 2016, NASA's planetary science chief told an advisory panel Feb. 19 at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
Comets Are Like Deep Fried Ice Cream, Scientists Say
NASA researchers think they understand why comets have a hard, crispy outside and a cold but soft inside — just like fried ice cream.
Rarely Seen Images From Space Including the 'Best Selfie Ever'
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
Hundreds of photographs from the early years of the space age are for sale. That includes the first image taken from space — from an altitude of 65 miles by a camera on a V-2 rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Oct. 24, 1946. (The boundary to outer space is generally placed at 100 kilometers, or 62.1 miles.)
Europe's Newly Tested Space Plane Aims for Next Launch in 2019
With one reportedly flawless test flight already under its belt, officials are already planning a European space plane for its next test.
Photos from this weekend's spacewalk
Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station on Saturday, running more than 300 feet of wiring that will eventually be connected to new docking ports to receive commercial spaceships built by Boeing and SpaceX.
COMPLETE STORIES
Let's Fix the Asteroid Redirect Mission
Marcia Smith - Aviation Week & Space Technology
Congress is about to begin consideration of NASA's fiscal 2016 budget request, which includes $220 million for the controversial Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). Two years after it was proposed by the Obama Administration, ARM still has few supporters. Why, and what can be done to change the equation?
Fundamentally, ARM is two good ideas kluged together into one bewildering idea that NASA itself seems unable to explain effectively. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden's hand-picked advisers on the NASA Advisory Council have debated the problem in recent meetings.
The council's question basically is -- how does moving a rock from one place in the solar system to another get us to Mars?
ARM involves developing high-power solar electric propulsion (SEP). Good idea. It has many uses in Earth orbit and deep space, including support of human exploration of Mars.
ARM involves sending astronauts to cis-lunar space (between the Earth and the Moon) for up to three weeks at a time. Good idea. Breaking the umbilical cord to Earth is a necessary step to Mars.
ARM involves moving an asteroid to lunar orbit.
Huh?
ARM evolved from President Obama's April 2010 directive that NASA send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 as the next step toward human exploration of Mars. NASA determined that sending astronauts on a multi-month trip to an asteroid in its native orbit was not feasible now. Among other things, it requires a habitation module in addition to the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System. There is no room in NASA's budget for such a module.
ARM emerged as an alternative – bring an asteroid to the astronauts. A robotic probe, powered by solar electric propulsion would be used to nudge an asteroid from its native orbit into an orbit around the Moon, which is accessible by the version of Orion currently under development. The astronauts would visit the asteroid, collect a sample and bring it back to Earth. That would check the "send astronauts to an asteroid" box.
The problem is explaining how that relates to the original intent of using a journey to an asteroid as a steppingstone to Mars, where the distance from Earth is a critical element. NASA instead has come up with a laundry list of objectives that ostensibly could be met with ARM, apparently hoping that one or more will appeal to enough people to win approval. So far, it hasn't worked. The messaging on ARM is too diffuse to gain a critical mass of support.
The one item that piques a lot of interest is the idea that ARM will lead to technologies to defend Earth from threatening asteroids ("planetary defense"). Although that gets a lot of attention, it actually is not an expected outcome of ARM. Bolden himself has said more than once that NASA is "not going to save the planet" through ARM. Among other things, ARM is focused on small asteroids (or a piece of an asteroid), not the large asteroids that threaten Earth. Whether any technology designed for ARM would be scalable to the much larger hazardous asteroids is completely unclear.
NASA has a mandate from the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) to take the lead in performing an "options analysis and assessment of the technologies that may be applicable to [near Earth orbit] mitigation/deflection (along with preliminary research and development activities concerning such technologies and activities…)". That quote is from OSTP's 2010 response to Congress on U.S. government roles and missions regarding threats from asteroids (and comets). OSTP sidestepped the issue of what agency would actually be tasked with defending Earth and instead focused on who should raise the alarm (a combination of NASA, Federal Emergency Management Administration and the State Department), but did direct NASA to do the options analysis and preliminary R&D.
NASA should do that. It is not part of ARM, however, and is separate from the goal of sending astronauts to Mars. NASA needs an Asteroid Deflection Technology Development program, not ARM.
As for human exploration of Mars, NASA already has concepts full of steppingstones that do not require moving a rock to lunar orbit. ARM is an impediment, not an enabler, to that goal. Not only is it a drain on agency resources, but ARM requires astronauts to perform a spacewalk from Orion to collect a sample of the asteroid. NASA does not have specialized spacesuits for that task and is trying to make do with what it has. Furthermore, the timing of an ARM-related cis-lunar mission gets trapped in efforts to find an asteroid with the correct characteristics (size, spin rate, etc.) and the orbital dynamics associated with moving it to lunar orbit.
The Orion missions and what the astronauts will do during those excursions need to be crafted with the goal of journeys to Mars in mind, not climbing around on an asteroid and trying to get a sample, without tearing a spacesuit, on a schedule determined by asteroid celestial mechanics.
Not to mention that robotic probes already have a lock on obtaining samples of asteroids. Japan launched its second robotic asteroid sample return mission (Hayabusa2) three months ago and NASA is getting ready to launch its own (OSIRIS-REx) next year. Humans in space are not needed for that task.
Human exploration of Mars and developing technologies to deflect asteroids are two useful objectives, but they need to be untangled to be accomplished effectively. There is no need for ARM other than to meet a political requirement of an administration that has only two years left in office.
Of the $220 million for ARM in NASA's fiscal 2016 budget request, all but $43 million is for activities that NASA says it would undertake even if there was no ARM. The $43 million is for formulation of the ARM mission ($38 million) and the asteroid initiative in the Chief Technologist's Office ($7 million) related to the White House's Asteroid Grand Challenge.
Why not reallocate that money and the out-year ARM funding, which NASA says will total about $1.25 billion, to SEP, asteroid deflection technologies, and ongoing efforts to find and track asteroids?
The Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate (HEOMD) should continue to develop Orion and the Space Launch System and plans for astronaut missions of increasing duration to cislunar space. HEOMD officials already insist that if no asteroid arrives in lunar orbit because the ARM mission fails it will not make any difference. So why waste money on it?
The Science Mission Directorate should keep searching for asteroids and establish a formal program office for those efforts as recommended last year by NASA's inspector general.
The Space Technology Mission Directorate should continue to develop high power SEP and create an Asteroid Deflection Technology Demonstration Program using funds that were to be spent on ARM.
ARM should become a footnote in history.
It's a win, win, win situation.
The Second Mars Affordability and Sustainability Community Workshop: structure, findings, and recommendations
Harley Thronson and Chris Carberry – The Space Review
Shortly after the first in our series of Mars Affordability and Sustainability Community Workshops (AM I) adjourned in December 2013, planning began on successors to address topics that arose in the first workshop that deserved further consideration. As with the first workshop, the second (AM II) was invitation-only and co-sponsored by Explore Mars, Inc. and the American Astronautical Society. About sixty professionals from twenty institutions participated. The complete workshop reports from both AM I and AM II may be found at the Explore Mars website.
Here we discuss the background and motivation for the workshop, as well as selected findings and recommendations from AM II.
Background
A human mission to Mars is the oft-stated "ultimate" goal for NASA, likely international partners, and the US Congress, including in the NASA authorization act the House approved earlier this month. However, widely cited enormous costs—perhaps as much as a trillion dollars for a many-decade campaign—seem to be an impossible hurdle, although political and budget instability over many years may be equally challenging.
Over the past few years, a handful of increasingly detailed architectures for initial Mars missions have been widely presented by aerospace companies and academia. They have been accompanied by estimated costs roughly comparable with previous major human spaceflight programs: the International Space Station (ISS) and the Space Shuttle. Overviews of these studies were presented and discussed at AM I and were promising enough to justify a subsequent workshop that would assess them in greater depth.
In early 2014, a multi-institutional planning team began developing the content and invitee list for an autumn workshop that would critically assess concepts, technology priorities, and priority early initiatives that claimed to reduce significantly the costs of human exploration of Mars. More specifically, existing scenarios and architectures would be compared and common features identified to develop recommendations to NASA and stakeholders. Notably, the planners included Mars scientists and science as essential features for a successful second workshop, a major recommendation from AM I.
The output of the workshop—findings and recommendations—is in the process of being presented in a number of forums and discussed with national leaders in human spaceflight. It is also available to potential international partners and the general public. AM II was planned from the start to be the second in a series. Planning for AM III has already begun, which we intend to hold in mid-summer.
To make progress in short meeting, a handful of ground rules were adopted by the planning teams for both workshops and agreed to by the participants. Perhaps the three most notable such ground rules were (1) the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion would be available during the time frame considered by the participants; (2) the ISS would remain the linchpin through the mid-2020s in preparation for Mars exploration over the coming decade; and (3) space agency budgets for human exploration are likely to be flat for the next few years, perhaps growing only with inflation. Anticipating a finding from AM II, the workshop concluded that budgets for initial human missions to Mars must grow at least a few percent greater than inflation for such missions to be affordable within two decades.
A major issue for both workshops was the definition of affordability. After extensive discussion, a workable definition was adopted, including a significant corollary:
Workshop Definition of Affordability: An affordable mission is an activity that people are willing to pay for. A Level 0 requirement for Mars human exploration architectures is identification of the sustained source of funding.
In other words, no matter how "lean" or minimal, no human mission to Mars will be undertaken until and unless the source of funding is identified. And the source of the funding (in some detail) should be part of the Level 0 requirements for a credible mission.
We note that neither workshop discussed much the motivations for human missions to Mars or the goals for such missions, with the exception of purely science goals discussed in AM II. Motivations and goals for Mars exploration have been major topics in perhaps hundreds of international conferences over many decades. The organizers felt that three-day workshops that had many other topics to consider could add nothing new. In any case, human exploration of Mars is a formal goal of NASA and widely popular among space exploration professionals. Thus, the emphasis of the workshops would be on community-based assessments of issues that are relatively rarely assessed elsewhere, especially cost-management and the reality of "lean" minimal human missions to Mars.
The AM I and AM II organizers sought representation from a broad and representative sample of experienced American aerospace professionals in the government, industry, and academia. International partners will be an essential component of all future human exploration and the planning team benefitted from international colleagues. The list of workshop participants is included the final report referenced above.
The workshop was organized around three topical breakout sessions:
- Breakout 1: Comparing and contrasting the architectures and strategies: strengths, challenges, key milestones and architectural elements in common, investment and design priorities, etc.
- Breakout 2: Science enabled and enhanced by humans in the vicinity of Mars.
- Breakout 3: Sustainability: the international context, programmatic priorities, characteristics that promote sustainability and affordability, comparing/contrasting NASA strategy with the recent National Research Council (NRC) report on the future of human space flight, priority next steps, priority investments, recommended community activities, etc.
A summary of the AM II deliverables was presented at the February 5, 2015 Future In-Space Operations (FISO) telecon colloquium.
In this essay we discuss in greater depth some of the consensus findings and recommendations produced by AM II. Readers are encouraged to read the full report. In general, the findings and observations were supported by a significant majority and in a few cases they were almost unanimous. The report includes minority opinions.
Summary workshop findings and observations
Quoting from the workshop summary that opens the full report:
An international human mission to the surface of Mars in the 2030s is recommended, although such a mission will require sufficient and stable long-term funding, as well as a critical series of risk-reduction activities in the 2020s. A key example is a long-duration crew habitation system in cis-lunar space that transitions from the essential facility, the ISS, to the systems necessary for human Mars exploration.
Initial human missions to the surface of Mars should include elements necessary for eventual establishment of sustainable surface outposts broadly analogous to the initial phases of science-guided Antarctic exploration on Earth. Our workshop did not endorse one-way missions to Mars, where the humans on the first mission are settlers. AM II concluded that significant public support and inspiration derives from the national pride of having astronauts from participating countries return to Earth to be celebrated.
The workshop concluded that a robotic sample return mission may be required to learn how to protect against forward and backward contamination before humans land on Mars.
Human-enabled science exploration of Mars should be a major element of any human space flight architecture. One potentially advantageous precursor activity is an all-robotic sample return to demonstrate high-mass entry, descent, and landing capabilities scalable to human-scale landers.
Human missions to Mars orbit or the Martian moons may be essential for risk reduction as immediate precursors to surface missions, although are not considered a satisfactory substitute for a landed mission.
Workshop subject matter experts in Mars geology and astrobiology with experience with high-latency telepresence (HLT; long light-travel time: e.g., Curiosity, the twin Mars Exploration Rovers) assessed advantages of low-latency telepresence (LLT; short light-travel time).
Quantitative studies of scientific benefits of LLT operations made possible by astronauts in proximity to surface robots would be required to adequately compare LLT versus HLT operations. As such studies are presently unavailable, they were not a factor in developing the findings on telerobotic exploration of Mars. Future work in this area is recommended.
Space agencies should more fully engage the broad community of partners in the definition of human exploration architectures and should employ the effective processes exemplified by the Global Exploration Roadmap.
The scientific goals for lunar exploration are compelling (i.e., see the 2011 National Research Council Planetary Decadal Survey and 2007 Scientific Context for Exploration of the Moon). However, it was the near-unanimous conclusion of the workshop that human operations on the lunar surface, including landing, mobility, power, and environmental control and life support systems (ECLSS), are not required in advance of initial human Mars missions.
NASA and its partners must further develop new management processes and efficiencies, as well as acceptance of reasonable risk.
Space agencies, along with their academic and industrial partners and national policymakers, must continue to develop together and effectively communicate the motivation and quantifiable goals for the future of human space exploration. The "story" of human space exploration must be comprehensive and coherent with each activity on the way to the surface of Mars readily understandable by the general public.
Selected findings and observations
Priorities Programs, Projects, and Facilities that Should be Completed Within the Coming Decade
The workshop participants were charged with identifying priority activities that should be undertaken and, as appropriate, completed within about a decade. As discussed in the final report, these recommendations were intended to be specific and actionable, representing, with one exception, a strong majority at the workshop.
- Fully utilize the capabilities of the ISS.
- An affordable, crew-tended habitat in the vicinity of the Moon intended to be a prototype Mars transfer habitat. This should include international participation.
- Flying astronauts beyond low Earth orbit at least once per year beginning with EM-2. This means the SLS Block 1B should be implemented by the EM-2 flight. This does not exclude crewed missions on other vehicles, for example to ISS.
- Taking advantage of the opportunities for human exploration to support meaningful science missions in the 2020s using co-manifest capability on SLS Block1B.
- Although there are other viable mission concepts that could demonstrate high-power solar electric propulsion (SEP), the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) mission is a useful step toward demonstrating SEP for Mars missions.
Evidence of progress by an international human spaceflight program is more likely to encourage a willingness to provide additional funding even if the final scenario or the ideal budget agreement has not been finalized. Moreover, as discussed throughout both AM I and AM II, policymakers should be regularly provided with a broad range of examples of demonstrated progress. Both workshops were nearly unanimous in recommending that NASA, working with international partners, design, develop, and deploy a cis-lunar, long-duration habitation system to bridge the capabilities of ISS and those needed for transfer to Mars. Such a habitation system could, in addition, carry out other desirable activities in the vicinity of the Moon.
We note that a minority of AM II participants felt that, if effective aerobraking in the Martian atmosphere could be demonstrated, an all-chemical propulsion solution to travel to Mars may be more attractive than one that includes SEP.
Science and Scientists in Architecture Development for Human Mars Exploration
Both workshops, although especially AM II, found active participation by representatives of the science community, including planetary protection, to be valuable. Science priorities will eventually be incorporated within human exploration architectures, so the sooner that scientists are engaged in the process of developing the designs, operations, and key elements of human space flight, the better. Likewise, achievable science goals will depend upon the architecture adopted for exploration. Scientists and science should be an intimate and early component of Mars architecture planning.
Unprioritized Activities in Human Space Flight
There was discussion at AM II on the dissipation of effort on developing capabilities not unambiguously directed toward NASA's "ultimate" goal of human exploration of Mars. In the current budget and economic environment, it is paramount that the space agencies and industrial partners concentrate their efforts on enabling the capabilities—and only those capabilities—necessary to achieve human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. This includes robust use of the ISS, especially given its recently announced additional four years of operational life. Moreover, time is of the essence: although it is two decades before the likely first opportunity for NASA to send humans on a round-trip mission to Mars, priority capabilities must be identified and management decisions implemented within the next few years if that ambitious goal is to be realized.
It was the overwhelming consensus that initial human missions could be made far less costly than widely believed. It is the responsibility of government agencies and private industry jointly to make the decisions to make this possible. Furthermore, it was a constant theme of the workshop that multiple stakeholders—NASA, academia, international partners, and aerospace companies of all sizes—must coordinate their efforts toward this common goal.
Acknowledgements
The authors benefited from numerous conversations with the second community Affording Mars workshop writing team and other meeting participants.
Harley Thronson is Vice-President for Programs of the American Astronautical Society and Senior Scientist for Advanced Astrophysics Concepts at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Chris Carberry is Executive Director of Explore Mars, Inc. They were the co-chairs of the planning teams and senior editors for the final reports for both Affording Mars Workshops discussed here.
Crawler Transporter-2 upgraded in preparation for SLS
Bill Jelen - Spaceflight Insider
Officials from NASA's Kennedy Space Center rolled out the newly renovated Crawler Transporter 2 (CT-2) on Monday, Feb. 23, 2015. The 6.5-million-pound CT-2 will carry a 10.3-million-pound mobile launcher with the 4.4-million-pound Space Launch System (SLS) booster (without liquid propellants), resulting in a massive, 21.2-million-pound vehicle lumbering along to the launch pad at Launch Complex 39B.
For more than two years, NASA's CT-2 has been undergoing a major overhal in the Kennedy Space Center's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB). Recent work has included preparations to install upgraded components that will enable the crawler to carry the greater loads anticipated with the agency's new rocket designed to take astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO) for the first time since the early 1970s.
"We removed and replaced the roller-bearing assemblies," said Mary Hanna, CT project manager in the Vehicle Integration and Launch Branch of GSDO. "These upgrades are designed to make sure the crawler will support us for another 50 years," she said. "Many of the older parts were wearing out from years of use."
The renovations were supported by NASA's Test and Operations Support Contract by Jacobs Technology Inc., NASA's Engineering Support Contract by QinetiQ Inc., both at Kennedy, as well as Mammoet Inc. of Houston, and L&H Industrial Inc. of Gillette, Wyo.
"L&H is producing the rollers, shaft assemblies, sleeves and other hardware needed," Hanna said. "Altogether, that amounted to about a half-million pounds of steel being delivered here at Kennedy."
Technicians from Jacobs performed the work of removing the crawler treads prior to Mammoet jacking and cribbing the corners. L&H then removed the old roller bearing assemblies and inspected the structure and integrity of openings.
When asked how she felt about working on a project that was such a big part of both space history and future missions, Hanna said, "I've been working on the crawler for three years now. It has a great deal of history, from Saturn V to Skylab to Shuttle. It was a very moving experience just to be apart of the final shuttle missions and now to prepare the transporter for the future. It's mind-boggling to be a part of this."
"There weren't many changes needed, but the new assemblies will help the crawler carry the heavier load," Hanna said. "The newer system will also be better lubricated and that should provide a longer operational life."
NASA has used the crawler since the 60s during the Apollo Program where the massive Saturn V booster would trundle atop the machines out to Launch Complex 39 where the rocket was used to send crews to the Moon. After decades of use, the crawlers have encountered their fair share of wear.
"When you have that much metal-on-metal carrying such huge loads, there is a tremendous amount of heat and friction," Hanna said. "That creates much of the wear and tear that we see on the crawlers. The improvements will keep the crawler running for a long time."
Future modifications to extend the lifetime of CT-2′s systems include upgrades to the jacking, equalization and leveling cylinders. This will increase their load-carrying capacity and reliability.
Other work completed includes replacement of electronics, cables, tubing, hydraulic components, as well as cleaning of fuel tanks and hydraulic systems.
If everything goes according to plan, the crawler-transporters will deliver the first SLS to LC-39B in 2018, where it will conduct its first test flight. During this mission, dubbed Exploration Mission 1 or "EM-1," SLS will ferry NASA's new crew-rated Orion spacecraft on a journey around the Moon. This is in preparation for missions to an asteroid and, one day, the planet Mars.
Crawler-transporter celebrates 50 years of KSC service
James Dean – Florida Today
Locomotive engines revved and diesel fumes puffed from four exhaust pipes on Monday morning to signal that a NASA crawler-transporter was ready to roll into its next half-century.
"We're moving," said a news reporter perched on a catwalk over four giant tracks at the transporter's forward end.
The motion was imperceptible at first as the six-million-pound vehicle — built to carry Saturn V moon rockets and then shuttles — began inching forward at Kennedy Space Center, starting the latest leg in a multi-day test drive.
Gradually it came to feel like a steady clip as the transporter smoothly accelerated to a peak speed of about 1 mph to the foot of launch pad 39B.
If all goes well for NASA, the hulking machine now marking 50 years of service will have a new rocket and spacecraft to carry from the Vehicle Assembly Building to that pad within about four years: the 322-foot Space Launch System rocket and Orion capsule.
After an unmanned test flight, the SLS rocket might launch astronauts to an orbit around the moon by 2022, then possibly to an asteroid and as far as Mars in the 2030s.
"Knowing that we're going to take down the crawler and prepare for the next phase of the space program, getting ready to go to Mars and beyond — just mind-boggling to be part of the largest rocket on the planet to be ever built," said Mary Hanna, the NASA project manager overseeing the crawler's modernization. "It's very, very exciting."
NASA's two crawler-transporters were powered up for the first time at KSC in January 1965. They carried every Apollo, Skylab and shuttle mission from the VAB to one of KSC's two launch pads, 39A and 39B.
"The two launch pads here, 39A and B, you just have to imagine that no launch occurred there without this vehicle or its sister vehicle," said John Giles, NASA's deputy project manager for the crawler-transporter modifications. "So where would we be without it? It really is the workhorse of NASA."
Monday's test featured the crawler-transporter known as CT-2, which is being upgraded to carry the SLS rocket and whose odometer tops 2,200 miles. CT-1 is being left as is and remains available if a commercial launcher wants to use it.
The roughly $50 million upgrade will enable CT-2 to carry a load of up to 18 million pounds, significantly heavier than the shuttle's 12 million pound weight atop a mobile launch platform.
The crawler sports more powerful generators, engineering rooms with upgraded electronics and displays, and more capability for a driver to monitor systems without relying on engineers to radio information.
Among the recent upgrades being tested by the drive out to pad 39B are 88 new roller bearing assemblies and two new gear boxes. Another 14 gear boxes and new cylinders to help keep a rocket level while climbing the launch pad will be installed over the next year.
"We're almost done," said Hanna.
On Monday, the crawlerway's bed of Alabama river rock could be heard crunching beneath the transporter's eight tracks of steel shoes — 456 in all, each weighing over a ton.
Spotters strolled alongside and in front of the tracks to inspect them, and a truck sprayed jets of water to either side to dampen the path ahead.
CT-2 rounded a bend and paused to let off some passengers, with NASA's future exploration launch pad in view.
Eleven Organizations Form Alliance for Space Development
The Space Frontier Foundation, the National Space Society and nine other organizations are forming a new Alliance for Space Development "dedicated to influencing the goals of space development and settlement."
A press conference announcing the formation of the alliance is scheduled for Wednesday (February 25) on Capitol Hill.
A Space Frontier Foundation press release identifies the other nine organizations as: - the Lifeboat Foundation
- The Mars Society
- The Mars Foundation
- The Space Development Steering Committee
- The Space Tourism Society
- Students for the Exploration and Development of Space
- Students on Capitol Hill
- Tea Party in Space
- Texas Space Alliance
Issues in commercial launch law
Jeff Foust – The Space Review
On Tuesday afternoon, the Senate Commerce Committee's newly renamed Subcommittee on Space, Science, and Competitiveness will hold its first hearing of the new Congress, titled, "U.S. Human Exploration Goals and Commercial Space Competitiveness." At the title suggests, much of the hearing will be devoted to high-profile issues, including NASA's exploration strategy and the role of commercial partners, such as commercial crew transportation to and from the International Space Station. The hearing will also be the first chaired by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), a politician whose positions—and presidential ambitions—have attracted attention and criticism (see "The limits of Cruz control", The Space Review, January 26, 2015).
The press release announcing he hearing also hinted at one lesser-known, but still important, issue the hearing may bring up. "The hearing will also examine whether updates are needed to the Commercial Space Launch Act," the release stated. That's a reference to proposals to update existing commercial launch law, something that Cruz has previously said would be a priority for him as chairman of the subcommittee.
Cruz hasn't discussed what those changes would be, but other politicians, as well as key industry officials, discussed potential updates earlier this month at the 18th Annual FAA Commercial Space Transportation Conference in Washington. In those presentations, two key issues came to the forefront that could be included in legislation Cruz and his House counterparts plan to take up later this year.
One deals with the long-running issue of indemnification of commercial launches. Under current law, commercial launch providers are held financially responsible for any third-party damages from their launches up to a level called maximum probable loss (MPL), as determined by the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation during the launch licensing process. Any third-party losses that exceeded the MPL level, up to a very high level (approaching $3 billion in 2015 dollars) would then be covered by the government.
That indemnification provision has required renewal several times, and each time the industry has sought a long-term extension to avoid the uncertainty that comes with whether the indemnification regime will remain in place and, if not, the potential financial risk commercial launch operators might face, versus more favorable legal regimes in other nations. The last extension passed in January 2014, actually after the regime ended (temporarily) at the end of 2013; that bill passed primarily because it was used a legislative vehicle for an omnibus spending bill.
Although that bill extended the indemnification regime through the end of 2016, launch indemnification is likely to be a topic for any commercial launch bill that comes up this year as it provides a better opportunity to get another extension passed. And, again, industry will likely seek a long-term extension of the bill.
"We need to stop kicking the can down the road and work to find long-term solutions," said Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-MS), chairman of the space subcommittee of the House Science Committee, in a speech at the conference February 4.
Palazzo, in his comments, noted that the indemnification regime had been extended six times since it was created more than 25 years ago, typically a few years at a time. He suggested he was seeking a way to provide a much longer extension of launch indemnification in any commercial launch legislation his committee takes up.
"I am certainly interested in this and will continue to discuss this with my friends on the other side of the aisle," he said. "I hope my Democratic colleagues and I can find a way to build a sustainable, consistent long-term solution for the indemnification regime."
In recent years, some Democratic members of the House Science Committee have raised questions about the indemnification regime. "Much has changed since the risk-sharing, liability, and indemnification regime was established in 1988," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), ranking member of the committee, in December 2013 when the House debated, and ultimately passed, a one-year extension (which the Senate changed to three years.) At the time, Johnson and others wanted the shorter extension to allow time for a more detailed review of the indemnification system, including how to calculate MPL levels and also minimize risk to the government.
In a speech at the FAA conference February 5, Rep. Donna Edwards (D-MD), ranking member of the space subcommittee, mentioned launch indemnification in passing as one of the key issues for a commercial launch update, but didn't go into specifics. "We have to tackle a number of very complex issues that we have been wrestling with over at least the last couple of Congresses, including launch indemnification for one," she said.
A more pressing, and perhaps more controversial, issue involves current restrictions on the FAA's ability to regulate safety for people flying on commercial vehicles. The Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004 placed that restriction, commonly called the "learning period" in the industry, in order to give companies time to build up experience upon which regulations could be based. The law does allow the FAA to enact regulations in the event of an accident that caused a serious or fatal injury, or an unplanned event that posed a "high risk" of such an injury.
That restriction was initially set to last only eight years, until late 2012, based on the assumption at the time of the bill's passage that the emerging suborbital spaceflight industry would be flying regularly by then. That wasn't the case, though, and in early 2012 a provision in an FAA reauthorization bill extended the deadline, this time to October 1, 2015. As that new deadline looms, the industry has been pressing for another extension.
In his comments, Palazzo sounded open to another extension, linking it with launch indemnification as two issues that required long-term rather than stopgap solutions. "If the FAA tramples on these companies with regulations based on speculation instead of data, we may never see the promise of commercial human spaceflight realized," he warned.
The FAA, however, has been opposed to any extension of the learning period. In comments at the conference February 4, George Nield, FAA associate administrator for commercial space transportation, said that the FAA needed the flexibility to develop regulations based in part on government human spaceflight experience. "We have 50 years of history, and although we don't have the record of companies having paying spaceflight participants on a flight, we certainly have a lot of experience with human spaceflight in general," he said.
Palazzo, though, anticipated that argument in his earlier remarks. "While it may be true that the US has over 50 years of human spaceflight experience, I don't think anyone believes a vibrant commercial human spaceflight sector can thrive under those traditional structures," he said.
Nield said he believed the learning period should expire so his office has the flexibility to be able to enact regulations, but is not planning to immediate start generating them. "I think there's really a yearning, though, for us to continually improve the safety for the occupants themselves. Certainly it would not be our intent to have a burdensome of regulations imposed right at the start," he said. "Frankly, I like the flexibility of being able to act quickly if and when there's a need identified for regulations."
FAA administrator Michael Huerta also addressed the learning period in his remarks at the conference later the same day, acknowledging that the restriction on regulations could be extended this year. "We need to start a conversation, a thoughtful discussion across government and across industry about risk," he said. "What we don't want to have is some kind of framework imposed on us in reaction to something that might happen."
Huerta argued for a "balance between innovation and regulation," one where there are some regulations on safety of people flying on commercial vehicles, perhaps based on industry consensus standards. "While it's far too early for specifics, I don't think it's too early to call for a plan," he said. "We need to start to think about how the industry and government can work together to create standards that will ensure success for this industry in the future."
While launch indemnification and the learning period will be two major issues likely to be handled in some way in any commercial launch legislation in Congress, there will likely be other issues as well. For example, in her comments at the conference, Edwards brought up the issue of regulating so-called "hybrid" vehicles, those with elements of both aircraft and spacecraft. "Sometimes it's becoming increasingly difficult to figure out the differences" between them, she said, without elaborating.
While both Palazzo and Edwards brought up work on commercial launch legislation, they indicated it was not the top priority. Both were focused at the time of the conference on passing a NASA authorization bill for fiscal year 2015. On February 10, the House passed that bill by voice vote. That authorization bill was effectively the same as the one the House approved in June of last year, other than changes to dates.
Palazzo said he was focused on getting that authorization bill passed, urging the Senate to take action on it or the Senate's own version that could be passed and then conferenced with the House's bill. That would allow them to move on to a more ambitious multi-year NASA authorization bill, with a commercial launch bill not likely to be taken up until later this year.
The Senate, though, could move more quickly on a commercial launch bill, given Cruz's stated interest in the law. Tuesday's hearing could offer insights into both the timeline and contents of such a bill.
Jeff Foust (jeff@thespacereview.com) is the editor and publisher of The Space Review, and a senior staff writer with SpaceNews. He also operates the Spacetoday.net web site. Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author alone. NASA Sets Next $1 Billion New Frontiers Competition for 2016
Dan Leone – Space News
Competition for the next mission in NASA's New Frontiers line — a cost-capped class of $1 billion robotic solar-system explorers — will begin in 2016, NASA's planetary science chief told an advisory panel Feb. 19 at NASA's Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.
The long-awaited announcement of opportunity for the fourth New Frontiers competition will appear some time after Oct. 1, the start of the U.S. government's 2016 fiscal year, NASA Planetary Science Division Director Jim Green told the Outer Planets Assessment Group (OPAG), an advisory panel NASA chartered in 2004 to set science priorities for exploration of the outer solar system.
NASA is also looking ahead to the fifth New Frontiers competition, which would begin by 2020, Green added. If the timing holds, NASA would in theory be able to maintain the five-year launch cadence it established for the program in 2006, when the first New Frontiers missions, the New Horizons Pluto probe, blasted off on its looming encounter with the unexplored dwarf planet.
"Now we're at the point where we can see the New Frontiers program extending beyond Osiris-Rex," Green told OPAG.
Osiris-Rex, short for Origins Spectral Interpretation Resource Identification and Security-Regolith Explorer, is slated to launch in September 2016 to collect and return a sample of the asteroid Bennu. Osiris-Rex won the third New Frontiers competition in 2011 (the year the New Frontiers 2 mission, the Juno Jupiter probe, launched) and NASA had been coy ever since about when competition for the fourth in the line would begin — until Green spoke at OPAG.
New Frontiers missions are managed by a single principle investigator, who is responsible for keeping the mission's development cost under $1 billion. The cost cap does not include the price of a launch vehicle, which is covered under the NASA Launch Services Program.
Green did not say exactly when NASA will call for submissions for the New Frontiers 4 mission, or how many finalists the agency would cull from the proposals it receives. However, he did remind OPAG that there will be strings attached to the solicitation besides the $1 billion cost cap.
Green said NASA will only fund a candidate that proposes to tackle one of five priority New Frontiers science objectives identified in 2011 by the National Research Council's planetary decadal survey, "Visions and Voyages for Planetary Science in the Decade 2013-2022."
"I am a decadal zealot!" Green declared, presenting a slide that featured the types of missions NASA, per rules set by the latest planetary decadal, will prioritize for the New Frontiers 4 competition. Those missions, which are not limited to the outer planets, are:
- Comet surface-sample return.
- Saturn probe.
- Lunar south pole Aitken Basin sample return.
- Venus lander.
- Trojan asteroid tour and rendezvous probe.
For the fifth New Horizons competition, NASA will consider all the missions that do not make the cut in the fourth competition, plus:
- The Lunar Geophysical Network, a mission that would drop instruments all over the moon's surface to create a crust-to-core map of the satellite's interior.
- An Io probe, which would study Jupiter's innermost Galilean moon — the most volcanically active body yet observed in the solar system.
Early concept studies for some of these missions — the Lunar Geophysical Network, for example — included the use of a nuclear battery known as a radioisotope power system. These systems, long a part of the space program, convert heat given off by decaying pellets of radioactive plutonium-238 into electricity. The heat that is not converted keeps spacecraft instruments warm, making these power sources sought after for missions where solar panels would be impractical, either because of shade or sheer distance from the sun.
Plutonium-238 is scarce, but possibly not as scarce as it was even last year. Some might even be available in time to power New Frontiers 5, although perhaps not New Frontiers 4, now that NASA has raised the possibility of building a solar-powered Europa probe.
Until recently, outer planets scientists assumed any plutonium not reserved for the Mars 2020 mission would be reserved for the proposed Europa Clipper mission.
But in October, the team behind the approximately $2 billion Clipper concept said the mission could be done with solar panels.
Then, on Feb. 20, Alice Caponiti, director of the Energy Department's office of space and defense power systems, told OPAG domestic plutonium-238 production is projected to ramp up in time to refine enough fuel for Mars 2020 and still be able to produce three fully fueled nuclear batteries known as multimission radioisotope thermoelectric generators for some other mission by 2024.
That would be too late for New Frontiers 4, which would notionally launch in 2021, but in plenty of time for New Frontiers 5, which now stands to follow in 2026.
So if NASA selects the solar-powered Clipper — a decision that is not certain, and in any case not imminent, given that the agency only approved a Europa mission-start in a 2016 budget request now before Congress — the agency would indeed have some plutonium to go around.
Green himself offered no guidance about nuclear power for New Frontiers 4, telling OPAG only that "we're going to follow the decadal."
Comets Are Like Deep Fried Ice Cream, Scientists Say
NASA researchers think they understand why comets have a hard, crispy outside and a cold but soft inside — just like fried ice cream.
Two NASA spacecraft have interacted with a comet surface, and both found a crunchy exterior and somewhat softer, more porous interior. Scientists know that comets are made of a mixture of rock and ice, but up until now they could not fully explain this change in texture from the inside to the outside.
Now, researchers using a souped-up refrigerator (officially known as a cryostat instrument) have re-created the conditions on the surface of a comet. They think they can explain the process that makes a comet not unlike a flying hunk of fried ice cream. [Amazing Comet Photos from Europe's Rosetta Probe] Scientists suspect that the very coldest comets and icy moons in the solar system contain a special kind of ice called amorphous, or porous, ice. To create amorphous ice, water vapor molecules must be flash-frozen at a temperature of about minus 405 degrees Fahrenheit (243 degrees Celsius).
According to a statement from NASA, this flash-freezing process is "sort of like Han Solo in the Star Wars movie 'The Empire Strikes Back,'" — in the film, Solo is flash-frozen alive in a slab of carbonite. Amorphous ice is extremely cold, but relatively soft, like cotton candy, according to Murthy Gudipati, a researcher at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and an author on the new study.
When the comet makes its way toward the sun, the temperatures on the outside become too hot for amorphous ice to survive. In the new study, the researchers re-created what happens on the comet's exterior when the temperature starts to rise.
In the experiment, the amorphous ice is mixed with an organic molecule called polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which, according to the press release, are common in deep space. As the researchers turned up the temperature, surprising things started to happen.
"The PAHs stuck together and were expelled from the ice host as it crystallized," Antti Lignell, a postdoctoral scholar at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena and lead author in the new study, said in the statement. "This may be the first observation of molecules clustering together due to a phase transition of ice, and this certainly has many important consequences for the chemistry and physics of ice."
With the PAHs expelled, the now-purified ice was free to form a dense, crispy outer shell around the body of the comet. Inside, the ultracold, somewhat fluffy amorphous ice remains.
"Deep fried ice cream is really the perfect analogy, because the interior of the comets should still be very cold and contain the more porous, amorphous ice," said Gudipati.
The PAHs, meanwhile, come together to form a final layer on top of the crunchy outer shell, Gudipati said. "The organics are like a final layer of chocolate on top."
Rarely Seen Images From Space Including the 'Best Selfie Ever'
Kenneth Chang – The New York Times
Hundreds of photographs from the early years of the space age are for sale. That includes the first image taken from space — from an altitude of 65 miles by a camera on a V-2 rocket launched from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico on Oct. 24, 1946. (The boundary to outer space is generally placed at 100 kilometers, or 62.1 miles.)
The prints are vintage — dating from that era, not modern reproductions — and come from the collection of a single European collector, said Sarah Wheeler, head of photographs at Bloomsbury Auctions in London. The more than 1,100 photographs, to be auctioned Thursday, are expected to fetch $750,000 to $1 million.
Some are iconic NASA photographs, like Apollo 8's "Earthrise," which shows our planet floating above the lunar horizon, and Buzz Aldrin's boot print in the moon's soil, taken during the Apollo 11 mission.
But others were never widely distributed by NASA, and although some have been available on the web, the images are still unfamiliar to most. That includes a selfie taken by Mr. Aldrin in 1966 as he was floating in orbit during a Gemini 12 spacewalk.
Europe's Newly Tested Space Plane Aims for Next Launch in 2019
With one reportedly flawless test flight already under its belt, officials are already planning a European space plane for its next test.
The manager for the European Space Agency's shuttle-like Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV) robotic space plane is getting ready for the program's next approved flight in 2019 or 2020. IXV performed its first uncrewed space test, launching to space and then landing in the ocean 100 minutes later on Feb. 11.
Officials working with IXV are hoping to bring the space plane down on land instead of in the ocean for its next test in the coming years. To do this, they will either install a landing gear or use a parachute-like "parafoil" to set it down safely. [How the IXV Works (Infographic)] "The idea, the main element, is to have a space plane able to have payloads that will operate in orbit, to test technology for robotic exploration and microgravity," Giorgio Tumino, ESA's project manager for IXV, told Space.com. Meetings to figure out the next phase will begin in March, with the heavy design work starting in the summer. Meanwhile, data from the first IXV test flight will be analyzed in great detail, Tumino said, focusing on elements such as the thermal protection during re-entry.
Building up re-entry expertise
One main goal of IXV was to figure out how to bring a spacecraft back to Earth safely in order to use it again, officials have said.
During its first flight to space, the space plane soared as high as 256 miles (412 kilometers) before splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, west of the Galapagos Islands and within sight of its recovery ship. Tumino remained at the launch site in Kourou, French Guiana to co-ordinate the 60 or so people involved in the mission.
"This mission was extremely precise," Tumino said. "We landed where we were supposed to be, and all the systems and subsystems worked perfectly," Tumino said. "I would say we are really happy about the mission result."
Different program from ATV cargo ship
ESA's push to improve re-entry technologies saw another milestone this week when an Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) left the International Space Station loaded with sensors to track what happened as it broke up in the atmosphere.
The final flight of ATV Georges Lemaitre concluded Sunday (Feb. 15) and the data from that mission will be analyzed for future spacecraft design.
Tumino noted, however, that the "application is different" than that of IXV. "We're doing the opposite, to have the [spacecraft] return capability without burning up," he said.
Detailed results from IXV are expected to be released in about six weeks. The work is part of Europe's PRIDE (Programme for Reusable In-Orbit Demonstrator for Europe) concept, which aims to see a robotic space plane launch aboard a Vega rocket, orbit Earth and make a runway landing.
Photos from this weekend's spacewalk
Two astronauts ventured outside the International Space Station on Saturday, running more than 300 feet of wiring that will eventually be connected to new docking ports to receive commercial spaceships built by Boeing and SpaceX.
Expedition 42 crew commander Barry "Butch" Wilmore and flight engineer Terry Virts, both veteran space shuttle pilots, spent nearly seven hours outside the space station in the first of three spacewalks planned through March 1.
The second spacewalk is due to begin at 1210 GMT (7:10 a.m. EST) Wednesday to connect two more cables and lubricate components on the space station's 58-foot robotic arm. A final excursion is scheduled for Sunday, March 1, to wire up a new communications system to serve as a radio link between the space station and approaching commercial crew ferry craft.
Wilmore is seen in the spacesuit with red stripes, and Virts wore the all-white suit.
END
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Texas Independence Trail Ride Happens TODAY
- Reminder: Expedition 40 Welcome Home Ceremony
- Internet Explorer Update to IE11 Delayed - March 3
- Inventions & Contribution Board Awards Presented
- March Women's History Month - Nomination Callout
- Recent JSC Announcement - Organizations/Social
- Join Starport and Walk to the Space Station!
- T-Mobile Booth in Cafés Next Week
- Craft Fair and Flea Market Vendor Applications - Jobs and Training
- JPL Course: Structural Analysis Techniques Webcast
- Particle Count Training: March 16, B-20, Rm 205 - Community
- Take a Look at the Stars Over Spring Break |  |
| Headlines - Texas Independence Trail Ride Happens TODAY
The Texas Independence Trail Ride will arrive at JSC today around 3 p.m. They will enter the site via Gate 2, turn right on 5th Street, then left on Avenue D and pass by Buildings 1, 2, 13 and 15 before making their way down 2nd Street. Dust off your boots and come on out and be part of the parade!
You might want to avoid driving in this area during the on-site "parade" (approximately 3 to 3:30 p.m.). If possible, use Gates 3 and 4 and please be extra careful when traveling in front of or behind the trail riders. Security will be assisting with trail ride. Please do not try and pass the riders; that can be dangerous for both the person on the horse and the person in the vehicle. The trail ride will head north on 2nd Street to the Gilruth Center and will camp out there for the night. Please note that the Gilruth Center Basketball Gym will be closed all day today, Feb. 24, and reopen at noon tomorrow, Feb. 25. The Fitness Center will remain open. The last group of exercise classes will be held at 4:30 p.m. today, Feb. 24. Event Date: Tuesday, February 24, 2015 Event Start Time:3:00 PM Event End Time:3:30 PM
Event Location: 5th Street, Avenue D, 2nd Street
Add to Calendar
Lisa Gurgos x48133
[top] - Reminder: Expedition 40 Welcome Home Ceremony
All NASA civil servants, contractors and International Partners are invited tomorrow, Feb. 25, to welcome home our International Space Station Expedition 40 crew members: Steve Swanson, Aleksandr Skvortsov, Oleg Artemyev, Reid Wiseman, Maksim Surayev and Alexander Gerst. The event will be held in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom. Doors will open at 3 p.m., and the program will run until 5 p.m. There will not be an opportunity for autographs at this event. Come share in the welcome, highlights and stories with the crew and Expedition 40 support teams. For more information, contact Jennifer McCarter at x47885. - Internet Explorer Update to IE11 Delayed – March 3
Due to the spacewalk schedule, the IE11 update for JSC and White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) has been postponed. The update for JSC and WSTF is currently scheduled for March 3. - Inventions & Contribution Board Awards Presented
JSC recently recognized nearly 100 JSC employees for significant innovative accomplishments at the Inventions and Contributions Board (ICB) Awards Ceremony sponsored by the Exploration Integration and Science Directorate. The various awards recognized outstanding scientific or technical contributions. Space Act Awards, including monetary rewards, are used to recognize inventions and scientific and technical contributions helping NASA achieve aeronautical, commercialization and space goals. Also, they stimulate and encourage the creation and reporting of future innovations. NASA JSC Top 10 Technologies and JSC Exceptional Software were also recognized for their selections. The Technology Transfer Program at NASA Headquarters selected 10 technologies available for licensing and commercialization from each center to make up the NASA TOP 100 list. JSC Top 10 technologies were selected for their commercialization potential and future industry value. The JSC Exceptional Software Award recognizes software demonstrating outstanding value to accomplishing the JSC mission. Please click here to review the full list of recipients and awards. - March Women's History Month – Nomination Callout
The 2015 Women's History Month theme is "Weaving the Stories of Women's Lives." The theme presents the opportunity to weave women's stories, individually and collectively, into the essential fabric of our nation's history and space program. We would like to highlight one or two female employees whose achievements, challenges, character and commitment have helped shape them into the people they are today, and whose stories serves as an inspiration to others. Please submit your nomination, or self-nomination, for consideration to the Office of Equal Opportunity and Diversity via email by Wednesday, Feb. 25. Please include the nominee's name, organization, job title, and why you nominate the individual or yourself in 300 words or less. If selected, the stories will be highlighted on JSC Features. - Recent JSC Announcement
Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement: JSCA 15-007: Expedition Crew Debrief and Awards Ceremony Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page. Organizations/Social - Join Starport and Walk to the Space Station!
- Registration and participation is FREE for all Starport members, JSC spouse/dependents and JSC retirees. You can join anytime.
- Your goal is to complete 250 miles before May 31. All types of activities can be logged, ranging from time at the gym to chores around the house.
- Log into your Shape Up Houston account or use your mobile app to track your activity in your "Physical Activity Health Journal."
- Starport Partners and JSC organizations with the most activity logged will receive recognition, and all personal success stories will be highlighted.
- Your JSC organization is your team, so get together with your co-workers and find ways to fit physical activity into your day. Encourage each other to get moving—and keep track of what you do!
Visit shapeuphouston.org and sign up today. For more details, please visit the Starport website or call x42769. - T-Mobile Booth in Cafés Next Week
T-Mobile offers NASA employees and contractors a special offer that can help you save on your wireless costs, such as 15 percent off monthly rate plans, including unlimited talk, text and Web; savings for the whole family (discount applies to EVERY line on your account); no activation fee; 30-day return policy; free shipping on new activations and more. Stop by and visit their booth in Building 3 on March 3 and Building 11 on March 4 from 11 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Find out how this plan will work for you. - Craft Fair and Flea Market Vendor Applications
Starport will host its annual spring festival event at the Gilruth Center on Saturday, April 4, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event will feature the Aliens vs. Astronauts 5.05K Race, Children's Spring Fling complete with an Easter bunny and egg hunt, bounce house, petting zoo and games; flea market; craft fair; and food trucks. Clean out those closets, attics and garages and sell your unwanted items and homemade crafts at one big event! Get a flea market booth to sell your unwanted items for $10, or feature homemade crafts, baked goods or new items with a craft fair booth for $40 (tables and electricity available for an additional fee). All registrations and payments must be received by March 20. Limited number of spots available. Click here for more information, vendor booth application agreements or online registration. Note: Applicable fees apply for online registration. Applications are also accepted by fax or email. Jobs and Training - JPL Course: Structural Analysis Techniques Webcast
Course: Structural Analysis Techniques for Preliminary Design of Launch Vehicle Structures
Speaker: Stan Greenberg Location: Live webcast
Dates: March 9 to 13 This course provides the structural analysis methods that will quickly and accurately identify the most suitable launch vehicle stage structural configuration, constructions and materials. Structural sizing analysis techniques are provided in more than 500 Excel spreadsheets (example - forward bulkhead sizing uses nine inputs to define skin thicknesses and actual weight, including that due to gage tolerances, welds, etc.). Special attention is devoted to providing an understanding of the behavior of structural components, free-body diagrams and use of sanity checks to assure results are correct. This course is directed to be very useful to structural design, stress, loads, materials and process, and weights analysis engineers. RSVP to attend the course via live webcast. Open to NASA civil servants and contractors. - Particle Count Training: March 16, B-20, Rm 205
This course will provide the technician/engineer with the basic skills and knowledge to perform a particle count for determination of particle cleanliness level. A written/practical examination will also be offered. Course content includes: review of approved method for manually counting particles using an optical microscope; microscope operation and calibration; non-microscopic visual identification of particles by shape, size, color and other physical characteristics; sampling techniques for particles in gases and liquids; filtering techniques for fluid using Millipore apparatus; compatibility of filter membrane and their specific uses; handling filter membranes, Millipore assembly, performing background determinations and pre-reading of filters prior to sampling; use of high-pressure filter assemblies; particle counting and data recording; statistical analysis; and use of automatic particle counting techniques and their limitations. Event Date: Monday, March 16, 2015 Event Start Time:9:00 AM Event End Time:11:30 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206
Add to Calendar
Shirley Robinson x41284
[top] Community - Take a Look at the Stars Over Spring Break
The George Observatory will be open to the public extra hours during spring break. Come join us on Tuesday, March 10, and Friday, March 13. The observatory will be open from 5 to 11 p.m. The telescopes and Discovery Dome will be open. Tickets for the telescopes and Discovery Dome can be purchased the day of at the observatory gift shop. Stargazing is weather dependent. George Observatory is located in the heart of Brazos Bend State Park. Admission to the park is $7 for adults; kids under 12 are free. | |
| |
| 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. |
No comments:
Post a Comment