Fwd: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - December 3, 2012 and JSC Today

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: December 3, 2012 7:07:16 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - December 3, 2012 and JSC Today

 

Hope you can join us this Thursday, December 6^th, at Hibachi Grill on Bay Area Blvd. for our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at 11:30.  

 

As usual, we have the party room in the back left side reserved for our luncheon.  

 

Don't be alarmed if you notice the "Under New Management" sign hanging on the front of the building ---- they tell me they have been running the place for the past 5 months already.

. 

 

 

 

Monday, December 3, 2012

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            Tune in to ISS Update This Week on NASA TV

2.            Toys for Tots Collection in the JSC Cafés This Week Only

3.            Just Two Weeks Left to Make an Impact With CFC

4.            The Teague is Taking a Break

5.            TODAY: Last Chance to Escape Your Silo in 2012 With HSA

6.            Innovation Lecture Series: Carlos Dominguez - The TechNowist

7.            Sign up for Tomorrow's 'Tips and Tricks for Searching IEEE Xplore Database'

8.            JSC Contractor Safety Forum - Dec 4

9.            Blood Drive Dec. 11, 12 and 13

10.          Spacesuit Development and Qualification for Project Gemini

11.          TTI RLLS Portal Telecon Support WebEx Training

12.          Reassignment Opportunities Available at JSC

13.          Job Opportunities

________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY

" A team is not a bunch of people with job titles, but a congregation of individuals, each of whom has a role that is understood by other members."

 

-- R. Meredith Belbin

________________________________________

1.            Tune in to ISS Update This Week on NASA TV

Tune in this week to the International Space Station Update (ISS) at 10 a.m. on NASA TV for interviews involving Expedition 34/35, Orion and a special space station anniversary.

In today's ISS Update, Expedition 34/35 Flight Engineer Dr. Tom Marshburn will call in from Star City, Russia, to discuss final preparations for launch, training and plans for the expedition.

On Tuesday, another Expedition 34/35 crew member, Chris Hadfield, will call in from Star City, Russia, to continue the discussion about upcoming expedition highlights.

Thursday's ISS Update offers an inside look at future Orion water recovery training development from the poolside of the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory.

To cap off the week, on Friday, ISS Update will feature an interview with Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, also a NASA astronaut. He will discuss STS-88, the first ISS shuttle assembly mission anniversary, as well as the future of NASA.

Check for the latest ISS Update programming here.

If you missed the ISS Updates from last week, tune in to REEL NASA to get the full videos. Or, view the videos at NASA's own video gallery.

For the latest in NASA TV scheduling info, click here.

JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

 

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2.            Toys for Tots Collection in the JSC Cafés This Week Only

Reminder: New, unwrapped toys for the Marine Corps Toys for Tots campaign will be collected this week only in the two JSC cafés. The Logistics team in Building 419 is collecting toys in their lobby as well. Please consider donating to this wonderful holiday effort!

Camille Major x33426

 

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3.            Just Two Weeks Left to Make an Impact With CFC

As the holidays approach, we at JSC are thankful for your ongoing contributions to the Combined Federal Campaign (CFC)! The CFC is the only federal workplace giving program for federal employees -- and as such, you can choose to give to thousands of deserving organizations at the local, national and global levels. They include organizations to educate, shelter, feed, protect, volunteer, or any other number of charities and programs. They, too, would be thankful for your support.

This year our center's monetary goal is $675,000. We are currently at 64% of our goal, with your help, we can reach it. We only have two weeks left to do so!

1. Simply find the charity or charities you want to give to (online or in this book).

2. Federal employees can donate via payroll deductions at EmployeeExpress (EEx). (Click here for EEx instructions.)

3. All JSC team members can make cash/check donations by using the paper pledge form. Paper pledge forms may be dropped off with Philip Harris in Building 4N, Room 336, or with an organization coordinator.

Donations of any amount are welcome, starting from $1 per pay period. Give a little. Help A LOT.

Mirella Lanmon x49796

 

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4.            The Teague is Taking a Break

The Building 2S Teague Auditorium and lobby serves us faithfully by hosting events and meetings all year long. However, the building has cried "Enough!" and will be closed from Dec. 24 to Jan. 1 for the holidays to kick back with some hot apple cider and maybe a good novel. The building, I'm sure, will be restored to its normal good spirits beginning Jan. 2. Thanks for your understanding.

JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

 

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5.            TODAY: Last Chance to Escape Your Silo in 2012 With HSA

Join the Human System Academy TODAY for a tour of the Human Research Program's Payload Development Facility in Building 9. We will offer tours at 2 p.m., 2:30 p.m., 3 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. Space is limited, so register in SATERN via the following link: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Cynthia Rando 281-461-2620 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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6.            Innovation Lecture Series: Carlos Dominguez - The TechNowist

The Human Health & Performance Directorate is pleased to welcome Carlos Dominguez, Senior Vice President at Cisco Systems and technology evangelist, as our next Innovation Lecture Series Speaker! Carlos speaks to and motivates audiences worldwide about how technology is changing how we communicate, collaborate, and especially how we work. Carlos gives humorous, highly animated presentations full of deep insight into how technology, and the right culture, can create winning companies.

When: Jan. 11 at 2 p.m.

Where: Building 30 Auditorium

Space is limited! Register now in SATERN: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Carissa Vidlak 281.212.1409 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

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7.            Sign up for Tomorrow's 'Tips and Tricks for Searching IEEE Xplore Database'

Don't miss out on the opportunity to learn timesaving search techniques for finding content in the Institute of Electrical & Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Xplore Digital Library. Sign up for tomorrow's webinar held from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m.

To register, click on the "Classroom/WebEx" schedule at: http://library.jsc.nasa.gov/training/default.aspx

Provided by the Information Resources Directorate http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx

Ebony Fondren 281-483-2490 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov

 

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8.            JSC Contractor Safety Forum - Dec 4

Mark your calendars! The next JSC Contractor Safety Forum will be held on Tuesday, Dec. 4, in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom from 9 to 11 a.m. Our guest speaker for this event will be Dr. Robert Emery, vice president for Safety, Health, Environment & Risk Management at the University of Texas School Public Health. His presentation topic will be "Ethical Decision-Making Tools for Enhancing Organizational Safety Culture." In addition, David Loyd, chief, Safety & Test Operations Division (JSC-NS), will be presenting a snapshot of the JSC Safety Metrics for 2012. Hope to see everyone there.

If you have any questions, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012 or patricia.a.farrell@nasa.gov

Patricia Farrell 281-335-2012

 

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9.            Blood Drive Dec. 11, 12 and 13

Give the "Gift of Life" by donating at our final blood drive for 2012 on Dec .11, 12 and 13. Your blood donation can help up to three patients.

Dec. 11, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., you can donate at Ellington Field. A donor coach will be located between Hangars 276 and 135.

Dec. 12-13, from 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m., you can donate on-site in the Teague Auditorium lobby or at the donor coach located next to the Building 11 Starport Café.

Dec 13, from 7:30 a.m to noon, you can donate at the Gilruth Center in the Coronado Room.

Criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website: http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm

T-shirts, snacks and drinks are available for all donors.

Teresa Gomez 281-483-9588 http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/blooddrv/blooddrv.htm

 

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10.          Spacesuit Development and Qualification for Project Gemini

The EC5/Space Suit & Crew Survival Systems Branch, U.S. Spacesuit Knowledge Capture will host Jim McBarron's discussion of Mercury's full-pressure suit development and qualification program on Dec 4 from 11:30  a.m. to 1 p.m. Seats are available on a first-come, first-served basis. SATERN registration is available - ID#65966 (search "spacesuit").

With the information McBarron has collected as a result of his 40 years of experience with the United States Air Force pressure suit and NASA spacesuit development and operations, he will share his knowledge about the Advanced Spacesuit Technology Development program that provided early prototype Gemini spacesuits for NASA evaluation and testing.

Location: Building 5 South, Room 3102 (near the guard shack) enter the door at the corner of Building 5 South. An elevator is located past two sets of doors.

Direct questions to Cinda Chullen (x38384), Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681), or Rose Bitterly (281-461-5795).

Rose Bitterly (281) 461-5795

 

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11.          TTI RLLS Portal Telecon Support WebEx Training

TechTrans International (TTI) will provide a 30 minute WebEx training on Dec 4th at 10 a.m. for the Russian Language and Logistics Support (RLLS) Portal Telecom Support Request module. This training will include the following elements:

•         Locating telecom support request module

•         Quick view of telecom support request

•         Create a new telecom support request

•         Telecom submittal requirements

•         Adding operator support

•         Adding an attachment (agenda, references)

•         Selecting export control

•         Adding additional email addresses distribution notices

•         Submitting telecom request

•         Status of telecom request records

•         View a telecom request record

•         Copy a telecom support request record

•         Contact RLLS support for additional help

Please send an email to James.E.Welty@nasa.gov or call 281-335-8565 to sign-up for these RLLS Telecom Support WebEx Training courses. Classes will be limited to the first 25 individuals registered.

James Welty 281.335.8565 https://www.TTI-Portal.com

 

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12.          Reassignment Opportunities Available at JSC

Right now there are several lateral reassignment opportunities available around the center, including:

•         IX/Information Assurance Specialist

•         BB/Deputy Manager, JSC Source Selection Office

•         NA/Software Quality Assurance Engineer

•         NE/Avionics & Software Assurance Lead

•         NE/ISS Vehicle Subsystem Engineer (C&DH)

•         OC/Manager, Mission Integration and Operations

•         OD/Project Manager/Systems Engineer

•         OX/International Partner Negotiator Representative

•         OX/Manager, International Contracts

•         SA/Human Health and Performance Grants Manager

•         IX/Information Assurance Specialist

Check back at the Workforce Transition Tool frequently to see what new opportunities are posted.

Interested parties can visit the Human Resources Portal (https://hr.nasa.gov and follow the path: Employees - Workforce Transition - Workforce Transition Tool.

David Kelley x27811 Find your HR Representative: http://jscpeople.jsc.nasa.gov/contacts.html

 

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13.          Job Opportunities

Where do I find job opportunities?

Both internal Competitive Placement Plan (CPPs) and external JSC job announcements are posted on both the HR Portal and USAJOBS(www. usajobs.gov) website. Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open at https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...

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. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your Human Resources Representative.

Lisa Pesak X30476

 

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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. To see an archive of previous JSC Today announcements, go to http://www6.jsc.nasa.gov/pao/news/jsctoday/archives.

 

 

 

NASA TV:

·         5 am Central TUESDAY (6 EST) –  Live Interviews with E34/35 Flt Engineer Tom Marshburn

 

Human Spaceflight News

Monday – December 3, 2012

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

ISS partners look into causes of energy problems - TsNIIMash CEO

 

Interfax

 

A solar panel of the International Space Station (ISS) has been apparently damaged by a micro meteorite, General Director of the Central Research Institute of Machine-Building (TsNIIMash) Gennady Raikunov has told Interfax-AVN. "The cooling pipeline of a solar panel was apparently punctured. But nobody saw what punctured it or how. Therefore the particles were apparently small. Now all this situation is being studied. A set of measures to remove the problem is being developed," Raikunov told Interfax-AVN on Sunday. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

NASA still making the case for commercial crew

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

NASA's top administrators, baffled by continued congressional resistance to funding the agency's commercial crew program, this week said supporters should revamp how they advocate for privatized human spaceflight. After the retirement of the space shuttle, NASA is turning to the private sector to supply U.S. crew transportation to the International Space Station. Until a domestic provider becomes operational, NASA has procured astronaut seats on Russian Soyuz vehicles.

 

Space policy challenges and strategies to be discussed this week

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

Much of the space community has its attention focused this week on the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. Although NASA has tamped down the wild speculation in the last couple of weeks about a major discovery by the Curiosity Mars rover, there will still be news coming out of the conference on Curiosity, as well as missions as varied as the GRAIL lunar orbiters and the Voyager spacecraft on the outskirts of the solar system. On the other side of the country, it will also be a busy week in Washington on space policy, with a focus on what the future direction of the nation's space program will, or should, be.

 

Canadian Space Agency Needs a Plan, Experts Say

 

Elizabeth Howell - Space.com

 

The Canadian Space Agency is suffering from "ad hocery" because the government has no clear future plans for space, according to a Canadian aerospace review panel. The Canadian Space Agency, or CSA, needs yearly, minister-level reviews of its activities as well as some high-level advisory boards that can advise bureaucrats on space activities, the panel said. To better focus the CSA's work, the panel said that the agency should hand off contracting responsibility to the Public Works department. Also, competition for contracts should be more open to foreign companies who pledge to include Canadian content.

 

Battle Brewing over European Space Policy

 

Peter De Selding - Space News

 

The 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA) and the 27-nation European Union's (EU) executive commission appear to be on a collision course over who wields authority over European space policy and its related budgets. The two organizations have circled around each other for years, with ESA hoping the commission would be, in effect, a force multiplier for ESA's budget, adding 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) or more each year in fresh funding to Europe's space program. The EU commission has viewed ESA as a shop of space mechanics, overseeing the technical aspects of space program management but leaving policy decisions to the EU.

 

Kibo Robot To 'Hang Out' With Japanese Astronauts On ISS

 

Asian Scientist

 

A humanoid communication robot called Kibo that is being developed by Dentsu Inc., the University of Tokyo, and ROBO Garage Co. Ltd. is expected to be completed by February 2013. Kibo will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in the summer of 2013, as a humanoid companion for Japanese astronauts who will be living in the Kibo Experiment Module aboard the ISS. The proposal for Kibo was jointly submitted by Dentsu, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at the University of Tokyo, and ROBO GARAGE in response to an open call last year from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). JAXA had called for a feasibility study proposal that would address socialization issues in the experiment module.

 

Stillwater students take 'field trip' to International Space Station

 

Samantha Vicent - Tulsa World

 

More than 450 people, including Stillwater Middle School students, teachers and Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, received a sneak peek of life at the International Space Station on Friday. During a 30-minute connection with the space station, Cmdr. Kevin Ford fielded questions from students about topics such as life support technologies and fears about space life. Sixth-grader Emma Watkins asked about the difficulty of sleeping at the space station. "It's much easier for me to sleep in space than it is back home," he replied. "We sleep in a cabin, and you can float inside."

 

SUPER SIGHT: Unique NASA plane roars into Riverside

 

Stan Lim - Riverside Press-Enterprise (California)

 

Designed to carry oversized cargo, NASA's Super Guppy can carry payloads that don't fit in other aircraft. Its cargo area reaches a maximum interior height of 25 feet 6 inches. Only five of the planes have been built and only one is in service. It is based in Houston. The Super Guppy flew into March Air Reserve Base on Wednesday, Nov. 28, to pick up a heat shield tooling device that will apply a heat resistant surface to the capsule on the Orion spacecraft, designed for manned missions into deep space. Here's the link to a series of photos:

 

http://www.pe.com/local-news/riverside-county/riverside/riverside-headlines-index/20121128-super-sight-unique-nasa-plane-roars-into-riverside.ece?ssimg=803653#ssStory803659

 

Elon Musk: Mars base will open the way to other stars

 

Valerie Jamieson & Celeste Biever - New Scientist

 

The SpaceX founder says he'd like to "die on Mars". Why the obsession with going to the Red Planet? Why are you so keen to get humans to Mars? Because this is the first time in 4 billion years of Earth's history that it has been possible. That window may be open for a long time - and I hope it is - but it may not be. We should take advantage just in case something bad happens. It wouldn't necessarily be that humanity gets eliminated; it could just be a drop in technology.

 

Chinese astronauts may grow veg on Moon

 

Xinhua News Agency

 

Chinese astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in extraterrestrial bases in the future, an official said after a just-concluded lab experiment in Beijing. Deng Yibing, deputy director of the Beijing-based Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center, said that the experiment focused on a dynamic balanced mechanism of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water between people and plants in a closed system. According to Deng, a cabin of 300 cubic meters was established to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for two participants during the experiment.

 

Mars trip risks can't be simulated

 

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

 

Sending two men on a one-year voyage aboard the International Space Station is a positive development, and a small step toward the kind of missions that would make the outpost a test of some elements of deeper space flights. However, it's not incredibly unique and it's not a high-fidelity simulation of the real challenges and dangers of a flight to distant destination like Mars. A half-dozen men, all Russians, have stayed aboard a space station for more than 300 days before. One of them stayed more than 400 days. We know the duration is possible. Someday, long from now, we will begin to understand more about the long-term health sacrifices those men may have made for the cause of exploration.

 

MEANWHILE ON MARS...

 

NASA to Unveil Mars Rover Curiosity Findings Monday

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

NASA will discuss the latest Red Planet activities of its Mars rover Curiosity on Monday, but space geeks shouldn't get their hopes up for a bombshell announcement. Despite rampant rumors to the contrary, Monday's press conference — held at 12:00 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) during the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco — won't present any earth-shaking results that force humanity to rethink its place in the universe, NASA officials said.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

NASA still making the case for commercial crew

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

NASA's top administrators, baffled by continued congressional resistance to funding the agency's commercial crew program, this week said supporters should revamp how they advocate for privatized human spaceflight.

 

After the retirement of the space shuttle, NASA is turning to the private sector to supply U.S. crew transportation to the International Space Station. Until a domestic provider becomes operational, NASA has procured astronaut seats on Russian Soyuz vehicles.

 

The commercial crew transportation initiative was announced by the Obama administration in February 2010, but nearly three years later, NASA's top managers are still selling the program's merits to lawmakers.

 

In August, NASA announced Boeing Co., SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. won agreements to receive up to $1.1 billion through May 2014 to continue designing and testing human-rated commercial rockets and spaceships. NASA expects at least one of the companies will have an operational crew transportation system by 2017.

 

Concerned that NASA was shortchanging other priorities, including the government-owned Space Launch System and Orion exploration programs, Congress declined to appropriate the White House's requested funding for the commercial crew program for the last two years.

 

The space agency is spending less than half the money it said it needed for fiscal year 2013, which began Oct. 1. Congress was unable to pass a federal budget before the last fiscal year's spending package expired, and lawmakers extended funding to NASA and other agencies at fiscal 2012 levels.

 

The continuing resolution runs until March 27 and extends the commercial crew program's $406 million annual budget for the first six months of fiscal 2013, affecting the rate at which the program can spend money. The Obama administration proposed giving the commercial crew program $830 million in fiscal 2013.

 

"We are obviously not communicating this well," said Lori Garver, NASA's deputy administrator, who said the agency has had a tough time selling commercial crew transportation and technology development funding on Capitol Hill. "I can't believe we're losing this argument."

 

So far, NASA expects the commercial crew milestones to remain on schedule through the timeframe of the continuing resolution, according to Candrea Thomas, an agency spokesperson.

 

Even if Congress passes a spending bill with additional commercial crew funding, it is unlikely the program will receive a budget near the White House's request. That is because the commercial crew budget for the first six months of fiscal 2013 was less than 50 percent of the Obama administration proposal, meaning any boost in the budget for the second half of fiscal 2013 would have to go beyond the White House request just to meet the funding level NASA anticipated.

 

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, speaking to the NASA Advisory Council on Wednesday, said commercial transportation is "absolutely essential to the success and survival of the International Space Station. Unless we want to be dependent [on Russia] for time immemorial to get crews and cargo the station, then we have to have an American capability."

 

In its latest agreement with the Russian space agency, NASA is paying nearly $63 million per round-trip seat on Soyuz missions. NASA expects domestic carriers to charge less than Russia's price.

 

Earlier this year, lawmakers led by Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., pushed NASA to select one company to continue the next phase of commercial crew development. NASA officials fought back, saying multiple companies should continue work, ensuring competition and lowering total costs.

 

Wolf is chairman of the House appropriations subcommittee responsible for drafting NASA's budget.

 

Wolf and Bolden agreed in June - after a successful test flight by SpaceX, one of the most visible commercial crew competitors - that NASA would ensure continued competition by selecting two companies for full funding awards in the next phase of the program.

 

Boeing and SpaceX won agreements worth $460 million and $440 million, respectively, to work on their CST-100 and Dragon capsules. Sierra Nevada was selected to continue development of the Dream Chaser lifting body spacecraft at a slower pace, receiving an award worth up to $212 million.

 

"In a nation that was established on free speech and public dialogue, there is no public dialogue on space and human exploration," Bolden said. "The only way to do that is out-and-out duking it out with the Congress. It's an opportunity we have to engage, and it's the closest thing we have to public dialogue. I wish we did it more in public forums."

 

Despite the progress, the backlash from Congress and many aerospace veterans, including Apollo-era astronauts, on the commercial crew program does not sit well with Garver.

 

"We somehow have not characterized it in a way that's been able to get those types of people who absolutely should believe in what we're doing to see that it's going to allow NASA to advance that much more quickly and positively," Garver told a NASA advisory panel Monday.

 

Garver then launched into rebuttals of several arguments used by critics of commercial spaceflight.

 

"The safety issue? In view, this country trusts the private sector will all types of safety issues beyond what we're discussing here," Garver said. "Welfare to billionaires? How can our program be considered welfare to billionaires, when we don't talk about that with companies we do business with now, who don't take financial risks? Isn't that welfare?"

 

One feature of NASA's pacts with commercial spaceflight companies is the agreements are public-private partnerships. Each firm is expected to provide private investment to go along with government funding, and companies take on any budget overruns.

 

"Facts are facts, and we need to be able to communicate this," Garver said. "I don't think it is productive to have that kind of misinformation out there, when our commercial programs allow us to return the best value to the taxpayers."

 

Garver highlighted the commercial program's ability to ignite innovation, create jobs, and return the U.S. commercial space industry - including the launch services business - to a leadership position in a hotly competitive environment with Europe, Russia and China.

 

"People think spaceflight is over because the shuttle is not flying," Garver said. "It's part of this overall communications challenge that we have to let people know NASA is not over."

 

Garver said: "We aren't going to just keep doing the same things over and over because that's not what advances the economy and society."

 

Space policy challenges and strategies to be discussed this week

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

Much of the space community has its attention focused this week on the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in San Francisco. Although NASA has tamped down the wild speculation in the last couple of weeks about a major discovery by the Curiosity Mars rover, there will still be news coming out of the conference on Curiosity, as well as missions as varied as the GRAIL lunar orbiters and the Voyager spacecraft on the outskirts of the solar system. On the other side of the country, it will also be a busy week in Washington on space policy, with a focus on what the future direction of the nation's space program will, or should, be.

 

That discussion starts Monday with a panel discussion titled "Space Policy Challenges Facing the Second Obama Administration", organized by the Secure World Foundation. The event will examine issues ranging from budgets to export control reform to better overall coordination of space activities. The panel will be moderated by Scott Pace of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, who, ironically, worked on space policy issues for the Mitt Romney campaign earlier this year.

 

On Tuesday, the Space Foundation is hosting an event on Capitol Hill tied to the release of a report titled "PIONEERING: Sustaining U.S. Leadership in Space". The 70-page report, whose research included interviews with "nearly 100 space leaders", contains "recommendations for redefining and restructuring the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and strengthening the U.S. civil space program," according to the advisory about the event.

 

On Wednesday the National Research Council is scheduled to release its final report on "NASA's Strategic Direction", a study commissioned by Congress that the NRC performed over the last several months. (One meeting in late June featured testimony from three former NASA administrators: Richard Truly, James Beggs, and Sean O'Keefe.) There's been no formal announcement from the NRC about the report's impending release, although committee member Marcia Smith of noted the release on her site, SpacePolicyOnline.com, with the NRC's permission.

 

On Thursday, the full House Science Committee was scheduled to hold a hearing titled "The Future of NASA: Perspectives on Strategic Vision for America's Space Program". However, no witnesses have been announced for the hearing, and it has reportedly been postponed as the House doesn't plan to be in session that day.

 

Canadian Space Agency Needs a Plan, Experts Say

 

Elizabeth Howell - Space.com

 

The Canadian Space Agency is suffering from "ad hocery" because the government has no clear future plans for space, according to a Canadian aerospace review panel.

 

The Canadian Space Agency, or CSA, needs yearly, minister-level reviews of its activities as well as some high-level advisory boards that can advise bureaucrats on space activities, the panel said.

 

To better focus the CSA's work, the panel said that the agency should hand off contracting responsibility to the Public Works department. Also, competition for contracts should be more open to foreign companies who pledge to include Canadian content.

 

The recommendations formed part of a two-volume report released Thursday. It is now up to the ruling Conservative party to determine how many of the panel's suggestions it will implement, if any.

 

The proposed changes would widen the field of companies receiving government funding for space activities, panel chair David Emerson told SPACE.com. Canada's space base is overly dependent on a few firms, such as Canadarm robotic arm manufacturer MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates, he added.

 

"It's been a process of one-off dealing, mainly with MDA," said Emerson, a former federal politician who held cabinet positions in foreign affairs and international trade, among other things.

 

Foreign competition

 

The government-appointed panel was charged with figuring out how to keep Canadian aerospace from falling behind China, Russia and other countries.

 

Shifting contracting responsibility and otherwise refocusing the CSA would free up $5 million a year for the agency's technology development programs, the panel said.

 

The panel report is the preliminary step in Canada's first effort at putting an overarching plan in place for the CSA in more than a decade.

 

In that time, the CSA's budget has declined and prominent projects, such as the Radarsat satellite constellation intended to monitor the borders, have languished due to a lack of attention, the panel suggested.

 

This finding echoes complaints from MDA and another contracting company, Com Dev, which have both said the government's funding delays forced them to lay off employees working on space projects.

 

"If our recommendations were implemented, I don't think the same problems with Radarsat would have happened," Emerson said.

 

Stabilizing funding

 

Because Canada's government is cutting back its spending to try to balance the budget, the panel aimed to make its recommendations revenue-neutral. Thus, under the panel's recommendations, the CSA can count on no increased funding in coming years, and will need to become more streamlined to ramp up its activities.

 

However, the panel called for CSA's budget to be stabilized for the next decade so that companies can better predict how much money is available for robotics, satellites and other projects.

 

Funding for major initiatives must come from several sources, the panel added. Besides the CSA, other federal departments with an interest in space, such as defense or environment agencies, could chip in.

 

Additionally, the government could consider measures such as renting out research space at its facilities, or forming private-public partnerships, to leverage more money from the private sector.

 

More commercial space

 

The panel also recommended that Canada encourage the nation's commercial space industry. Panel members pointed to the success of Virgin Galactic and Solaren Corp., a U.S. solar power satellite system manufacturer, as examples of firms "on the rise."

 

However, the proposals to increase commercial space activity were modest. The panel suggested measures such as renting out government lab space, and reducing the tax burden on investors in commercial mining activities that use satellites.

 

The panel also proposed regulatory changes to increase the opportunities to companies interested in suborbital and orbital launches, high-altitude tests and human spaceflight, but did not offer any details.

 

Ultimately, Emerson said he was optimistic the government would implement most of the report's recommendations. He said his prime consideration was to make all of the report doable, "not just to gather dust on a shelf."

 

Battle Brewing over European Space Policy

 

Peter De Selding - Space News

 

The 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA) and the 27-nation European Union's (EU) executive commission appear to be on a collision course over who wields authority over European space policy and its related budgets.

 

The two organizations have circled around each other for years, with ESA hoping the commission would be, in effect, a force multiplier for ESA's budget, adding 1 billion euros ($1.3 billion) or more each year in fresh funding to Europe's space program.

 

The EU commission has viewed ESA as a shop of space mechanics, overseeing the technical aspects of space program management but leaving policy decisions to the EU.

 

The Treaty of Lisbon, which entered effect in December 2009, explicitly affirms the EU's interest in space policy as a "shared competence" with other institutions such as individual EU member states and ESA. This has given the EU commission a mandate to take up space policy.

 

ESA and EU government ministers are scheduled to meet Dec. 11 in Brussels as part of the 9th Space Council — meetings they have had almost every year since 2004 — designed to pursue common interests.

 

But this year's meeting is likely to be more fraught than the others because of a policy proposal issued by the commission that basically calls for the EU to assume control of ESA.

 

The proposal, "Establishing appropriate relations between the EU and the European Space Agency," was published Nov. 14 and has been sent to European government ministers, and to the European Parliament, for comment.

 

The document says that the EU has several problems with ESA relating to ESA's inclusion of non-EU nations in its membership, the way it awards contracts and the lack of democratic oversight of ESA's functioning.

 

The commission says that as ESA and the EU move more into security- and military-related space activities, they will need to discuss issues that should not be within earshot of Norway and Switzerland, which are ESA members, and of Canada, an associate ESA member.

 

These three nations' association with ESA "poses an obvious problem in general, and an even more acute problem when it comes to security and defense matters," the document says.

 

Compounding the problem, the document says, is ESA's regular use of one-nation, one-vote to approve programs, which give nations that are otherwise not key to most ESA activities — including Switzerland, Norway and Canada — a key role in determining ESA's direction.

 

A second issue the EU has with ESA is the way the space agency awards contracts. The differences here became clear when the EU assumed control from ESA of the Galileo positioning, navigation and timing satellite constellation.

 

ESA nations contributing to Galileo wanted their national industry to receive contracts commensurate with their subscriptions. But the EU operates on a value-for-money basis and selects contractors without specific regard for whether they are located in nations that are contributing to the program.

 

When ESA and the EU join forces on programs, such as Galileo and the broad Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) effort, the frictions between the two institutions is obvious. "This has given rise to difficulties," the EU document says.

 

The third issue raised by the EU is ESA's decision-making process, which in general takes place behind closed doors.

 

ESA's Nov. 20-21 ministerial conference, which decided the agency's budget and program direction for the next three to five years, is the most recent example. The agency was so worried about keeping its member states' fragile financing commitments that it declined to make public its detailed budget proposals.

 

"The fact that ESA, as a European agency, has no formal link with the European Parliament deprives ESA of the direct link with citizens that any EU policy enjoys," the document says.

 

Given these difficulties, the EU proposes that ESA be brought under full EU authority in one way or another. It could be an intergovernmental organization along the lines of the European Defense Agency, or it could be transformed into an EU agency.

 

The document says this could be done without upending ESA's success in securing funds that might not be available if ESA did not guarantee that the contracts would return to the sponsoring governments in the form of contracts to the governments' national industries.

 

At its ministerial council here Nov. 21, ESA produced its own declaration on future relations with the EU. It too calls for closer relations with the EU, but says this can be achieved while "providing ESA member states equivalent rights and obligations whether or not they are also EU member states."

 

The declaration reminded the EU that ESA has helped build a European space sector that is competitive on world markets in several areas.

 

The German government, which is the EU's biggest financial contributor and vies with France for that status in ESA, has clearly stated its intention not to let ESA disappear into the EU.

 

Luxembourg Research Minister Francois Biltgen, in a press briefing Nov. 21 on the ESA ministerial conference results, said he intends to "voice some reservations" about the EU document as regards non-EU members in ESA. "You will probably hear me say something."

 

Kibo Robot To 'Hang Out' With Japanese Astronauts On ISS

 

Asian Scientist

 

A humanoid communication robot called Kibo that is being developed by Dentsu Inc., the University of Tokyo, and ROBO Garage Co. Ltd. is expected to be completed by February 2013.

 

Kibo will be sent to the International Space Station (ISS) in the summer of 2013, as a humanoid companion for Japanese astronauts who will be living in the Kibo Experiment Module aboard the ISS.

 

The proposal for Kibo was jointly submitted by Dentsu, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at the University of Tokyo, and ROBO GARAGE in response to an open call last year from the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA). JAXA had called for a feasibility study proposal that would address socialization issues in the experiment module.

 

After the proposal was accepted, the team – called the Kibo Robot Project – worked for more than a year on a robot that can communicate with the astronauts via autonomous actions and remote operations. The robot will also transmit information from the Kibo module to Earth.

 

Kibo weighs 1 kg, and is 34 cm tall, 18 cm wide, and 15 cm in thickness. He speaks Japanese, and his main features include speech recognition, natural language processing, speech synthesis, telecommunications functions, communication actions, a facial recognition camera, and a recording camera.

 

In the winter of 2013, Kibo will meet Koichi Wakata, the first Japanese commander of the International Space Station, and will take part in the world's first conversation experiment held between a person and a robot in outer space.

 

A second Kibo robot with the same specifications will be built for demonstration purposes on Earth and serve as a back-up.

 

The robot hardware was developed by RCAST and ROBO GARAGE, while Kibo's vocabulary was developed by Dentsu. Toyota Motor Corporation was responsible for Kibo's artificial intelligence, such as his voice recognition and natural language processing functions.

 

Toyota hopes to use Kibo's technology to develop a commercial Toyota Partner Robot that can coexist with people.

 

Stillwater students take 'field trip' to International Space Station

 

Samantha Vicent - Tulsa World

 

More than 450 people, including Stillwater Middle School students, teachers and Oklahoma State University President Burns Hargis, received a sneak peek of life at the International Space Station on Friday.

 

During a 30-minute connection with the space station, Cmdr. Kevin Ford fielded questions from students about topics such as life support technologies and fears about space life.

 

Sixth-grader Emma Watkins asked about the difficulty of sleeping at the space station.

 

"It's much easier for me to sleep in space than it is back home," he replied. "We sleep in a cabin, and you can float inside."

 

Ford emphasized the value of NASA's research in space.

 

"I've been to more than 50 countries, and they all know NASA," he said. "We're doing something special for the future of humankind."

 

The retired Air Force colonel discussed the need for math and science education among younger students.

 

"Most schools don't have a program to teach students how aircraft really works. ... Those are the kinds of things students should learn at a basic level," he said. "You never know what might spark a student's interest."

 

Students lined up on stage watching Ford on three large televisions wanted firsthand knowledge about space food.

 

"We don't have a lot of refrigeration," he said. "We have one small one we use for science and food, so not a lot fits in there. ... Our food has to have a long shelf life at room temperature."

 

Ford surprised the audience by saying he wants things to go awry during experiments and research.

 

"This is a very complex system," he said. "We use a lot of computers. We push the edge on technology up here. We really want things to go wrong because we put stuff up here to test it and experiment. That's how you learn - by trial and error."

 

Despite the crew's busy schedule, they have some down time, Ford said.

 

"We spend our spare time taking care of little things," he said. "I can watch a little bit of college and professional football if I want to. ... Our favorite pastime is trying to take pictures of our hometowns from space."

 

Ford ended the downlink by performing a somersault, which brought loud cheers from the audience.

 

"Was that cool or what?" Hargis said.

 

OSU partnered with Stillwater Public Schools on the "Pioneers in Space" project, which represents one of six downlink partners with NASA this year, OSU spokeswoman Christy Lang said.

 

Julie Thomas, the director of OSU's Center for Research on STEM Teaching and Learning within the College of Education, said OSU education majors helped the middle school students prepare for the downlink with lessons on science, technology, engineering and math.

 

Sam Whitley, an education senior and student-teacher, said the process wasn't quick.

 

"We've been planning this since the beginning," he said. "It's been a semester-long project."

 

Thomas commended Ford's performance.

 

"It exceeded all my expectations," she said. "I was impressed by how personable the astronaut was with the kids. It was like he was in the room."

 

Thomas hopes the students will consider STEM careers in the future.

 

"We were especially interested in introducing them to all the possible careers at NASA," she said. "We're hoping that, at this young age, if we can introduce them to a career that is appealing, it will help increase their interest and participation in science and math courses through high school."

 

Elon Musk: Mars base will open the way to other stars

 

Valerie Jamieson & Celeste Biever - New Scientist

 

The SpaceX founder says he'd like to "die on Mars". Why the obsession with going to the Red Planet?

 

Why are you so keen to get humans to Mars?

Because this is the first time in 4 billion years of Earth's history that it has been possible. That window may be open for a long time - and I hope it is - but it may not be. We should take advantage just in case something bad happens. It wouldn't necessarily be that humanity gets eliminated; it could just be a drop in technology.

 

Why go to Mars, when advances in telepresent robotics could give us all the physical sensations of being there?

Maybe I'm just being romantic but I do think there is some value to being there in person. We can learn a lot from robotics but it is no substitute for being there. And having a base on Mars, where there is a lot of travel to and from Earth, will create a powerful incentive for developing technology that will enable us to travel to other star systems.

 

Like the exoplanet recently found in Alpha Centauri 4 light years away?

I think you could figure out how to get there. With a nuclear thermal rocket you could definitely reach a tenth of the speed of light. It would take 40 years, though, which is a long time. You'd have to start off not too old if you wanted to see it.

 

What could change that?

There are some interesting things I've seen lately about warp drives. You can't exceed the speed of light but you can warp space and effectively travel many times the speed of light. That's kind of exciting. People have found increasingly smarter ways of minimising the energy required [to warp space]. Before, you would need the mass-energy of Jupiter.

 

Is a warp drive something that SpaceX, your space exploration company, could use?

Sure we'd love to have a warp drive. I'm not going to hold my breath on that one.

 

As a pioneer, is it nerve-wracking to know that the world is watching you and SpaceX?

I'm getting more comfortable with it. It was super-white knuckles in the beginning. We made many mistakes. We only made orbit on the fourth flight. We reached the edge of space on flights 2 and 3, but didn't have enough velocity. If flight 4 hadn't worked, it would have been curtains for SpaceX.

 

Your Dragon capsule has just returned cargo from the International Space Station. When will you start taking astronauts?

We're hoping to do our first flight with people in three years. Actually, if somebody were to stowaway on the present version of Dragon they'd be able to go to the space station and be fine.

 

Will you be on the first crewed flight?

It's really up to NASA, our customer. I used to do quite dangerous things, like flying a fighter jet at low altitude. Then I had kids and companies and I want to see them grow up, so I've curtailed my dangerous activities. I'd like to go up, but I won't be the first. The very first flight will be on automatic pilot, so there will be no people on board.

 

Chinese astronauts may grow veg on Moon

 

Xinhua News Agency

 

Chinese astronauts may get fresh vegetables and oxygen supplies by gardening in extraterrestrial bases in the future, an official said after a just-concluded lab experiment in Beijing.

 

Deng Yibing, deputy director of the Beijing-based Chinese Astronaut Research and Training Center, said that the experiment focused on a dynamic balanced mechanism of oxygen, carbon dioxide, and water between people and plants in a closed system.

 

According to Deng, a cabin of 300 cubic meters was established to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for two participants during the experiment.

 

Four kinds of vegetables were grown, taking in carbon dioxide and providing oxygen for the two people living in the cabin. They could also harvest fresh vegetables for meals, Deng said.

 

The experiment, the first of its kind in China, is extremely important for the long-term development of China's manned space program, Deng added.

 

The cabin, a controlled ecological life support system (CELSS) built in 2011, is a model of China's third generation of astronauts' life support systems, which is expected to be used in extraterrestrial bases on the Moon or Mars.

 

The introduction of a CELSS seeks to provide sustainable supplies of air, water and food for astronauts with the help of plants and algae, instead of relaying on stocks of such basics deposited on board at the outset of the mission.

 

Advance forms of CELSS also involve the breeding of animals for meat and using microbes to recycle wastes.

 

Scientists from Germany also participated in the experiments.

 

Mars trip risks can't be simulated

 

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

 

Sending two men on a one-year voyage aboard the International Space Station is a positive development, and a small step toward the kind of missions that would make the outpost a test of some elements of deeper space flights.

 

However, it's not incredibly unique and it's not a high-fidelity simulation of the real challenges and dangers of a flight to distant destination like Mars.

 

A half-dozen men, all Russians, have stayed aboard a space station for more than 300 days before. One of them stayed more than 400 days. We know the duration is possible. Someday, long from now, we will begin to understand more about the long-term health sacrifices those men may have made for the cause of exploration.

 

A trip to Mars, for instance, would require more time and countless risks that can't be matched aboard the space station in low-Earth orbit. In short, it's a good test and there's value in every space flight. However, it is a baby step in the quest to understand how to overcome the hurdles of sending people deeper into the solar system.

 

The radiation environment is less onerous close to Earth. The length of a Mars trip is likely to be more than 18 months, perhaps twice as long or more. The communication difficulties and delays, in the event of an emergency, can't be replicated in low-Earth orbit.

 

Physiological, psychological and technical difficulties of being farther from Earth are almost impossible to test on anything but a real voyage to the red planet or some similar destination. A crew would be beyond hope of rescue or even timely advice and troubleshooting assistance from ground teams. In low-Earth orbit, you can only pretend that's the case.

 

That's not to say that the mission, to include veteran shuttle and station astronaut Scott Kelly, is a waste of time or unworthy from a scientific or engineering standpoint.

 

The flight is set for 2015, with training beginning next year. The U.S. and Russian space agencies plan to do as much as they can to simulate some challenges that a future crew might face on longer duration flights.

 

Every increment on the station adds to mankind's relatively modest experience flying in space and can contribute to exploration. Expect to see more of these longer stays, but understand that what we can learn in simulations is no match for the real thing. Some things we won't be able to learn until a crew of four or six or eight men and women is en route to Mars or standing on it.

 

MEANWHILE ON MARS...

 

NASA to Unveil Mars Rover Curiosity Findings Monday

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

NASA will discuss the latest Red Planet activities of its Mars rover Curiosity on Monday, but space geeks shouldn't get their hopes up for a bombshell announcement.

 

Despite rampant rumors to the contrary, Monday's press conference — held at 12:00 p.m. EST (1700 GMT) during the fall meeting of the American Geophysical Union in San Francisco — won't present any earth-shaking results that force humanity to rethink its place in the universe, NASA officials said.

 

"Rumors and speculation that there are major new findings from the mission at this early stage are incorrect," officials at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif., which manages Curiosity's mission, wrote in an update Thursday (Nov. 29). "The news conference will be an update about first use of the rover's full array of analytical instruments to investigate a drift of sandy soil."

 

Rumors of a big Curiosity discovery began swirling two weeks ago, after an NPR story quoted mission chief scientist John Grotzinger as saying that the rover's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, or SAM, had recently gathered data "for the history books."

 

Because SAM can identify organic compounds — the carbon-containing building blocks of life as we know it — many people speculated that the car-size robot had discovered complex organics in a Martian soil sample.

 

But that's not the case, JPL officials say.

 

"At this point in the mission, the instruments on the rover have not detected any definitive evidence of Martian organics," they wrote in Thursday's update.

 

NASA's attempts to rein in such rumors and set reasonable expectations for Monday's press conference began with some thoughts from Curiosity itself on Nov. 21 (via the rover's JPL-run Twitter account, @MarsCuriosity).

 

"What did I discover on Mars? That rumors spread fast online. My team considers this whole mission 'one for the history books,'" Curiosity wrote in a Twitter post that day.

 

The $2.5 billion Curiosity rover landed Aug. 5 inside the Red Planet's huge Gale Crater, kicking off a two-year prime mission to determine if Mars has ever been able to support microbial life.

 

The six-wheeled robot is the largest and most capable explorer ever sent to the surface of another world, NASA officials say. Curiosity has already discovered an ancient streambed where water likely flowed for thousands of years long ago, and it may well make a truly monumental discovery about the history and evolution of Mars before its roving days are done.

 

Just don't expect such an announcement on Monday.

 

END