Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: January 16, 2013 7:02:27 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - January 16, 2013 and JSC Today

Wednesday, January 16, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            So Many Options For You to Hear From the Orion Team -- TODAY
2.            Tomorrow: 'Teamwork Makes the Dream Work' by William A. Lawson -- Teague Auditorium
3.            We need You! for the 11th Annual Mars Rover Celebration
4.            Sustainability -- Make a Difference Today
5.            2nd Offering - NASA BUDGET: OMB'S ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
6.            ISS Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) User Forum
7.            Starport January Massage Special -- $55 for 60 Minutes
8.            Reminder to Use the Environmental Information Line
9.            Particle Count Training ViTS: Feb. 1, 1 to 2:30 PM
10.          Professional Engineering Ethics Seminar
11.          Jerry Ross Book Signing at Starport -- Save the Dates
12.          Fire Extinguisher Training
13.          NASA@work: Don't Miss Out
14.          Recent JSC Announcement
________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY
" Courage is the most important of all virtues, because without it we can't practice any other virtue with consistency. "

-- Maya Angelou
________________________________________
1.            So Many Options For You to Hear From the Orion Team -- TODAY
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) recently signed an agreement to provide a service module for the Orion spacecraft's Exploration Mission-1 in 2017.
Join the Orion team TODAY to learn more about the new partnership from NASA and ESA managers at an all-hands meeting at 9 AM in the Teague Auditorium.
If you can't make it to the event, we've got you covered with many other available options. Employees can catch it on RF Channel 2 or by using onsite IPTV on channels 202 and 402.
Or you can also catch it live via UStream. Password: Orion
HD stream - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-jsc
Mobile stream - http://www.ustream.tv/channel/nasa-jsc-mobile
The Orion-ESA Press Conference will also be live on Ustream beginning at 10:30 a.m. or can be seen on NASA TV.
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111

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2.            Tomorrow: 'Teamwork Makes the Dream Work' by William A. Lawson -- Teague Auditorium
William A. Lawson, a civil rights icon who worked with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the early days of the civil rights movement, will speaking to JSC team members about King's legacy, teamwork and inclusiveness tomorrow at 11 AM in the Teague Auditorium. The event is sponsored by the center's African-American Employee Resource Group to commemorate JSC's diverse workforce during the months of January and February for the Martin Luther King Jr. and Black History observances, respectively. Civil servant and contractor employees are invited to attend.
Event Date: Thursday, January 17, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Teague Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Carla Burnett x41044

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3.            We need You! for the 11th Annual Mars Rover Celebration
Volunteers are needed for the 11th Annual Mars Rover Celebration, January 26, 2013 on the University of Houston campus. Mars Rover Celebration is an exciting educational opportunity for primary and middle school students to learn how to build a model rover to perform a mission on Mars. For 2013, we expect 800+ children, organized into 240 teams.
Please volunteer to help with one of the following jobs:
•         Judge (Morning Shift - 8:30-11:30 AM) (Afternoon Shift - Noon-3:30 PM)
•         Tour Guide (Morning Shift - 10:30 AM-1 PM) (Afternoon Shift- 3-5 PM)
•         Logistics/Operations (Morning Shift - 8 AM-2 PM) (Afternoon Shift- Noon-6 PM)
Online registration is available at https://marsrover.uh.edu/VolunteerRegistration.aspx
For more information, please contact Professor Edgar Bering at eabering@uh.edu.
Event Date: Saturday, January 26, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:6:00 PM
Event Location: University of Houston

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Edgar Bering 713-743-3543

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4.            Sustainability -- Make a Difference Today
Please join the Human Systems Academy in a lecture that introduces attendees to sustainability. What does "sustainability" mean? What can you do to be more sustainable at work and at home? Is sustainability a requirement? What can I do to make a difference right now? These questions and more are answered in the JSC Sustainability Engagement Strategy and will be addressed in this course. Learn how to make a difference in your life, both at work and at home, that will ultimately make a difference to our existence on the "Blue Marble."
For registration, please go to: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Wednesday, January 23, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM
Event Location: B35/1958 Innovation Space

Add to Calendar

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

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5.            2nd Offering - NASA BUDGET: OMB'S ROLES AND RESPONSIBILITIES
Wanting more situational awareness of the Federal Budget process and how it can impact (and be impacted by) NASA and JSC programs? As part of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer (OCFO) Subject-Matter Expert course series, former White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) examiner Ryan Schaefer will lead a one-hour session that helps navigate through the budget process and explain how OMB's roles and responsibilities can affect program budgets. To provide context for budgetary decisions and priorities, the course also explores other stakeholders and elements in the NASA budget landscape and how JSC inputs can support favorable outcomes. This course is open to all JSC employees and scheduled for Thur, January 31 from 2:30-3:30 PM in Building 12 Room 134. This session is not offered through Webex, so please register by January 29 in SATERN via the link below or by searching the catalog for the course title.
Donna Blackshear-Reynolds 281-483-2814 SATERN DIRECT LINK: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redi...

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6.            ISS Electronic Document Management System (EDMS) User Forum
The International Space Station EDMS team will hold the monthly EDMS General User Training Forum this Friday, Jan. 18, at 9:30 AM. in Building 4S, Conference Room 5315.
If you use EDMS to locate station documents, join us to learn about basic navigation and searching. Bring your questions, concerns and suggestions and meet the station EDMS Customer Support team. The agenda can be found here.
Event Date: Friday, January 18, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:10:30 AM
Event Location: JSC 4S/5315

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LaNell Cobarruvias 713-933-6854 https://iss-www.jsc.nasa.gov/nwo/apps/edms/web/UserForums.shtml

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7.            Starport January Massage Special -- $55 for 60 Minutes
Starport recently brought on two amazing massage therapists, Anette and Marj. They come to us from Beyond Beaute with over 25 years of combined experience. What's more, we have decided to offer you a chance to experience them at an unbelievable rate, and we're calling it:
Starport Massage - 55 for 60!
o             $55 for a 60-minute massage
o             Available: Jan. 16-31
o             Massage must take place between Jan. 16 and May 31
Starport's Massage Therapists
Marj Moore, LMT
o             Tuesdays and Thursdays | 9 AM to 7 PM.
o             Every other Saturday | 9 AM to 3 PM.
o             Click here to book with Marj.
Anette Lemon, LMT
o             Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays | 9 AM to 7 PM.
o             Every other Saturday | 9 AM to 3 PM.
o             Click here to book with Anette.
This offer won't last, so book right now!
Steve Schade x30304 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Fitness/MassageTherapy/

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8.            Reminder to Use the Environmental Information Line
The JSC Environmental Office would like to make personnel aware that the Environmental Information Line phone and email address are available to receive any and all communications related to environmental activities on-site. Submit reports, documents, logs and JSC forms (e.g., JF 1104, JF 1109, JF 1117, JF 1119 and JF 1138) to the Environmental Info Line. Contact the Environmental Info Line via phone at 281-483-6207 (x36207) or via email at JSC-Environmental-Office@nasa.gov with any environmental questions or concerns (e.g., hazardous waste, recycling, green purchasing, storm water and more).
JSC Environmental Office x36207

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9.            Particle Count Training ViTS: Feb. 1, 1 to 2:30 PM
This course will provide the technician/engineer with the basic skills and knowledge for performing 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; Use of automatic particle-counting techniques and their limitations.
A comprehensive test will be offered at the end of the class. Use this direct link for registration. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Event Date: Friday, February 1, 2013   Event Start Time:1:00 PM   Event End Time:2:30 PM
Event Location: ViTS Room

Add to Calendar

Shirley Robinson x41284

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10.          Professional Engineering Ethics Seminar
Under the Texas Engineering Practice Act, each engineer licensed in the state must spend at least one professional development hour each year reviewing professional ethics and the roles and responsibilities for engineers.
The JSC Safety Learning Center invites JSC engineers to attend this one-hour Professional Engineering Ethics Seminar.
In this seminar the student will
o             Review portions of Chapter 137, "Compliance and Professionalism," and Chapter 139, "Enforcement," of the Texas Engineering Practice Act and Board Rules
o             Review some of the recent disciplinary actions taken by the Texas Board of Professional Engineers to enforce the Practice Act
o             Participate in class discussion of specific ethical questions
This seminar meets The Texas Engineering Practice Act yearly one-hour ethics requirement for continuing education.
Date/Time: Jan. 28 from 9 to 10 AM
Where: Safety Learning Center - Building 20, Room 205/206
Registration via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...
Aundrail Hill x36369

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11.          Jerry Ross Book Signing at Starport -- Save the Dates
Astronaut and author Jerry Ross will be autographing his new book, "Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer" at the Starport Cafés (Feb. 12 at Building 3 and Feb. 14 at Building 11 from 11 AM to 1:30 PM). Ross is a veteran astronaut with seven missions under his belt, including: STS-61B, STS-27, STS-37, STS-55, STS-74, STS-88 and STS-110. Save the date and don't miss this opportunity to meet Ross or, for many of you, see your old friend again. Books will be available at the Starport Gift Shops. See his YouTube video here.
Cyndi Kibby x35352 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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12.          Fire Extinguisher Training
Fire safety, at its most basic, is based upon the principle of keeping fuel sources and ignition sources separate.
The Safety Learning Center invites you to attend a 1 hour Fire Extinguisher course that provides instructor-led training on the proper way to safely use fire extinguishers.
Students will learn:
•         Five classes of fires
•         Types of fire extinguishers & how to match the right extinguisher to different types of fires
•         How to inspect an extinguisher
•         How to use a fire extinguisher - P.A.S.S
•         Understand the importance of knowing the locations of extinguishers at your location
•         Rules for fighting fires & the steps to take if a fire occurs.
•         Hands on (weather permitting)
Date/Time: January 22, 2013 -From 8:30 to 9:30 AM
Where: Safety Learning Center, B20 Room 205-206
Register via SATERN required:
https://satern.nasa.gov/plateau/user/deeplink.do?linkId=SCHEDULED_OFFERING_DE...

Aundrail Hill x36369

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13.          NASA@work: Don't Miss Out
This challenge ends Friday: Seeking Inflight Calcium Isotope Measurement Device (deadline: Jan. 18)
Check out our other active challenges: Protection of the Human from Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR) Challenge and NASA@work Survey 2012: Year in Review (still time to submit feedback - open until Jan. 31). To view challenge details and submit your solutions, simply to go the NASA@work site.
Are you new to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agencywide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Challenge owners post problems, and members of the NASA@work community participate by responding with their solutions to posted problems. Anyone can participate! Check it out and submit your solution today.
Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com/

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14.          Recent JSC Announcement
Please visit the JSC Announcements (JSCA) Web page to view the newly posted announcement:
JSCA 13-002: Key Personnel Announcements - Stephen J. Altemus and Lauri N. Hansen
Archived announcements are also available on the JSCA Web page.
Linda Turnbough x36246 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/DocumentManagement/announcements/default.aspx

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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: 10:30 am Central (11:30 EST) – NASA/ESA Orion Partnership News Conference

Human Spaceflight News
Wednesday – January 16, 2013

10 years ago at 9:39 am Central (10:39 EST) Space Shuttle Columbia launched on its final mission

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Orion missions: Nasa and Esa set their sights on deep space

Stuart Clark - The Guardian (UK)

It is now more than 40 years since a human ventured beyond Earth orbit. The last three astronauts to slip our world's gravitational tethers were those on Apollo 17. They crossed 385,000 kilometres of space to land on the moon and then returned to splashdown in the Pacific on 19 December 1972. Since then, no human has been higher than about 600 kilometres above Earth's surface. Now it is time to reach out again. Today's announcement will put meat on the bones of an agreement reached between the European Space Agency and Nasa in Italy late last year. It will explain how Esa will adapt their unmanned cargo vessel, known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to propel a crew compartment being built by Nasa.

NASA, Bigelow Aerospace to announce plans for inflatable station modules

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

NASA is expected to announce today the terms of a landmark deal that will allow Bigelow Aerospace, a private company based in North Las Vegas, to attach one of its inflatable habitats to the International Space Station. The deal gives the company, founded by hotelier Robert Bigelow, the opportunity to test a new type of space dwelling — essentially a balloon made of Kevlar-like material that is inflated once it reaches orbit — that would stay attached to the station for at least two years. Under the agreement, NASA would pay Bigelow Aerospace nearly $18 million for the module, which is about the size of a large bedroom. It would be used to increase the amount of living space aboard the station, which itself is about as big as a football field.

NASA Goes Ikea to Test Inflatable Annex for Space Station

Brendan McGarry & Kathleen Miller - Bloomberg News

The International Space Station is getting an inflatable spare room. The first-of-its-kind habitat built by Bigelow Aerospace LLC weighs 3,000 pounds and is made of a Kevlar-like material to withstand space debris and radiation. It looks more like a giant propane gas tank than a kids' moon bounce and will be attached to a port on the space station. It will rocket into space in 2015 with the blessing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which last week awarded the firm a $17.8 million contract to demonstrate the technology. Eventually, Las Vegas hotelier Robert Bigelow wants to build separate stations that might be used as research laboratories orbiting Earth or to establish a permanent presence on the moon or Mars.

Canada's robot begins 1st satellite refueling job
International Space Station Canadian-built robot to take 5 days to work on satellite

CBC News

The Canadian-built robot handyman aboard the International Space Station is attempting to demonstrate for the first time that a machine can carry out the delicate task of refueling a satellite in orbit. The robot — known as Dextre, short for Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator — has been aboard the space station since 2008 and is what the Canadian Space Agency calls the most sophisticated space robot ever built. Overnight Monday, the 3.65-metre tall robot, with a mass of 1,560 kilograms, started the first of what's expected to be a five-day mission to demonstrate how a satellite can be safely refueled.

Space Hopes Flicker for Sochi Flame

RIA Novosti

The chief organizer of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games on Monday revived the possibility of the Olympic flame journeying into space. Details have been sparse on the plan first voiced by Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov in 2011 to send the flame to the International Space Station. Dmitry Chernyshenko went no further than to say he "hoped" the flame would be taken into "open space" before the Games, which start February 7, 2014.

Space-travel startups take off

Peter Elkind - Fortune Magazine

The private space flight has largely been the province of stargazing billionaires, such as Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen, Tesla (TSLA) chief Elon Musk, and Amazon's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos. But one element of the modern-day space race -- the quest to launch a space-tourism industry -- is shaping up to be a David vs. Goliath battle. In one corner: the Virgin Group's flamboyant Richard Branson, who has poured more than $200 million into his impeccably pedigreed Virgin Galactic. In the other: a scrappy band of rocket engineers at little XCOR Aerospace, which aims to become the Southwest Airlines (LUV) of the rocket business. Both companies hope to be ready for liftoff by 2014.

NASA's chief revisits a make-believe space shuttle in its new locale

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden took a crawl through Memory Lane in Seattle on Tuesday during a tour of the Museum of Flight's shuttle training mockup, which he and hundreds of other astronauts used to practice their moves in preparation for their missions. "This thing saw astronauts every single day, multiple times a day," Bolden told a small knot of journalists after he climbed in and out of the mockup's plywood cockpit.

WFTV takes tour of historic NASA launch facility

Melonie Holt - WFTV TV (Orlando)

For the first time since the retirement of the shuttle fleet, WFTV was able to get an inside look at NASA launch operations at Kennedy Space Center. On Tuesday, Channel 9's Melonie Holt got a one-of-a-kind tour of launch pad 39A at KSC. The pad represents decades in launch advancement and there's still hope that someone will put it to use, before it's too late.

Canadian Space Agency president is stepping down

Canadian Press

The Canadian Space Agency says president Steve MacLean is stepping down. MacLean has announced plans to leave on Feb. 1 to assume a position in a new venture to be created by Mike Lazaridis. "During his tenure as president, he was devoted as an accomplished physicist, astronaut and administrator to advancing the Canadian Space Program," the agency said of MacLean in a statement. Several sources have told The Canadian Press that the former Canadian astronaut will go work for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.

Canadian Space Agency head leaving to focus on quantum physics

Ivan Semeniuk - Globe and Mail

Steve MacLean, former astronaut and president of the Canadian Space Agency, is coming down to Earth to take up residence in Canada's blossoming "quantum valley" research hub in Waterloo, Ont. Dr. MacLean will leave his post on Feb. 1, the agency announced in a statement on Tuesday.

The Perks Of Being A Virgin Galactic 'Bransonaut'

Pam Grout - Huffington Post

(Grout is the author of E-Squared, 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality)

I'm on rutted, dirt roads in the Jornada del Muerto desert of southern New Mexico headed to Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. It's adjacent to White Sands Missile Range where, for 70 some years, assorted rockets, nuclear bombs and other WMDs have been tested. My useless GPS reports this 3,200 square miles of restricted air space as one monstrous black hole. I'd have never found Spaceport Operations Center (SOC, for short) or Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space if it wasn't for Aaron Prescott, the rocket scientist whose college friends can't help but break the tenth commandment: "Thou Shall Not Covet."

Steamboat Springs astronaut Steve Swanson headed back to space

Brent Boyer - Steamboat Springs Today

Steve Swanson's adventures in space appear poised to continue for at least another 1 1/2 years. Swanson, a 1979 Steamboat Springs High School alumnus and veteran NASA astronaut, has been picked for two upcoming missions to the International Space Station. Together, those missions could have him working at the space station for six consecutive months. Swanson will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 39, a joint mission with two Russian cosmonauts in March 2014 to the International Space Station. Swanson, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev will join Expedition 39 while it already is in progress.

Scott's space stories enthrall military retirees

R. Norman Moody - Florida Today

It's highly unlikely that any member of the Cape Canaveral chapter of Military Officers Association of America will ever get any closer to space than flying in an airliner. But many said they left their monthly luncheon meeting Tuesday with a better understanding of space flight after listening to former astronaut Winston Scott.

Astronaut on Ice: A Search for Antarctic Meteorites

Govert Schilling - Space.com

NASA astronaut Stan Love is having a hard time right now. Not in space, but on the forbidding East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Together with a group of dedicated volunteers, Love is looking for meteorites — rocks from space that have fallen to Earth. And it's not your usual vacation. "Being on the Antarctic ice is very much like being in space," Love told SPACE.com in December over dinner at the American McMurdo Station on the coast of the frozen continent. "Without proper protection, the environment would kill you within a few hours, and there's little hope of rescue if something goes terribly wrong."

Return to tradition
2013 geographic South Pole marker sports classic style

Jeffrey Donenfeld - Antarctic Sun

As tradition dictates, on New Year's Day the geographic South Pole marker was moved to its freshly surveyed position, and the new brass-and-copper plaque that tops the marker was revealed. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station sits on a moving sheet of ice more than two miles thick. The site where the geographic marker, sign and American flag are installed drifts about 30 feet per year due to ice flow. In order to keep the marker in close proximity to the point where all the lines of longitude meet, the site is re-surveyed Jan. 1 each year. This year's marker was created by science machinist Derek Aboltins during the 2012 winter. "In the center of the marker (in brass) we have the sun, sunset and moon, with the Southern Cross, including the pointers. If you look carefully, the small inscription above the moon reads, 'Accomplishment & Modesty.' This was a reference to honor Neil Armstrong, as he passed away when I was making this section with the moon."

MEANWHILE ON MARS…

Curiosity finds intriguing rocks indicative of watery past

William Harwood - CBS News

The Curiosity Mars rover has found intriguing veined rocks just below tilted cross-bedded layers indicating water once flowed and "percolated" through fractured terrain near the landing site in Gale Crater, scientists said Tuesday, adding to evidence of a watery past on the red planet. Taking their time evaluating a surprising variety of scientific targets, mission scientists and engineers now are gearing up for the first tests of a powerful impact drill that will be used to collect samples from inside targeted rocks.

Mars Rover Ready to Dig In
NASA Seeks Evidence of Life in First Drilling Since Landing; 'Scientist's Dream'

Robert Lee Hotz - Wall Street Journal

After months of trial runs, NASA's Curiosity rover is ready to scratch the surface of Mars, positioning itself this week to drill into the crust of the red planet and wildcat for evidence of life for the first time. Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California said Tuesday that they have targeted a fine-grained fractured slab of bedrock for the rover's first drilling attempt—a tricky procedure made all the more difficult by the complexities of the rover.

NASA's Curiosity rover readying to drill on Mars

Alicia Chang - Associated Press

Scientists have zeroed in on a Martian target for the Curiosity rover to drill into: A rock outcrop as flat as a pool table that's expected to yield fresh insight into the red planet's history. Running a tad behind schedule, Curiosity was due to arrive at the site in the next several days. After an inspection of the surroundings, the car-size rover will test its drill for the first time "probably in the next two weeks," project manager Richard Cook of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Tuesday.

Curiosity Team Identifies First Martian Drilling Target

Guy Norris - Aviation Week

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is poised to begin drilling on the planet's surface for the first time following the selection of an area of flat rock containing a target-rich environment of fractures, veins and mineral concentrations. Drilling will provide samples that will be used to obtain detailed data about the mineral and chemical composition of the rocks as part of Curiosity's main mission to investigate whether Mars ever offered an environment suitable for life.

NASA Curiosity rover to drill first Mars rock in strange terrain

Amina Chan - Los Angeles Times

The Curiosity rover will probably be wielding its drill for the first time on a veined rock on Mars within a couple of weeks, NASA scientists said Tuesday. Using the drill would be a milestone for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which has been testing each of the rover's suite of instruments on Martian rocks since landing on the Red Planet on Aug. 5.

NASA: Mars rover ready to start drilling

Dan Vergano - USA Today

NASA's Curiosity rover is ready to start drilling a "candy store" of Mars rocks, report mission scientists, looking for evidence of past watery habitable conditions on the Red Planet. On its 158th Martian day, the $2.5 billion rover rests in the "Yellowknife Bay" basin inside Gale Crater on Mars, lined with layers of rock that may point to a watery ancient surface there. The nuclear-powered rover is a mobile lab designed to look for chemistry indicating habitability of Mars, past and present.

Scientists pick Martian rock on which to test Curiosity drill

James Dean - Florida Today

NASA's Curiosity rover is within two weeks of drilling into its first Martian rock, in a once-wet outcrop whose diversity of grains, veins and cracks has surprised scientists, mission managers said Tuesday. "The scientists are ecstatic about the kinds of things that they're seeing in this area," said Richard Cook, project manager for the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water
Unexpected mineral finds prompt scientists to decide to drill

Marc Kaufman -National Geographic News

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum. Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could have been created only in the presence of water.

Curiosity Rover to Drill Mars Rock Once Soaked by Water

Mike Wall - Space.com

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is preparing to drill into a Red Planet rock for the first time and delve deeper into a site that was exposed to liquid water long ago, scientists announced Tuesday. Over the next two weeks, the 1-ton Curiosity rover will drill a rock in an outcrop that scientists have christened "John Klein." Evidence is strong that water flowed and percolated through the area in the distant past, researchers said.
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COMPLETE STORIES

Orion missions: Nasa and Esa set their sights on deep space

Stuart Clark - The Guardian (UK)

It is now more than 40 years since a human ventured beyond Earth orbit. The last three astronauts to slip our world's gravitational tethers were those on Apollo 17. They crossed 385,000 kilometres of space to land on the moon and then returned to splashdown in the Pacific on 19 December 1972.

Since then, no human has been higher than about 600 kilometres above Earth's surface. Now it is time to reach out again.

Today's announcement will put meat on the bones of an agreement reached between the European Space Agency and Nasa in Italy late last year. It will explain how Esa will adapt their unmanned cargo vessel, known as the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), to propel a crew compartment being built by Nasa. The gestalt spacecraft is called Orion and will carry astronauts into deep space.

Current plans call for Orion to perform its first mission in 2017. This will be an unmanned, single flyby of the moon, followed by a return to Earth.

Having broken free of Earth's gravity, the spacecraft will hit our atmosphere on its return considerably faster than objects from Earth orbit. Whereas a space shuttle's re-entry velocity was around 7.7 km/s, Orion will travel almost one and a half times faster at 11 km/s. Hence, it will require better heat shielding than the Space Shuttle.

Four astronauts are expected to fly on the Orion capsule's following mission, pencilled in for 2021. This mission could be to orbit the moon for 3-4 days. But this vague plan has attracted criticism for being too cautious.

Richard Kours warned on 8 March 2012 at the public meeting of the Nasa Advisory Council that the mission needed objectives that are "consistent with the cost and the risks involved". Otherwise, "Nasa leaves itself open to public criticism and loss of Congressional support."

A growing lobby of academics, engineers and industrial partners seems to agree.

Jack Burns from Nasa's Lunar Science Institute in Moffett Field, California, and collaborators published a study and an article last year urging that the Orion spacecraft be used for a mission to a gravitational sweet spot known as a Lagrangian point 65,000 kilometres beyond the far side of the moon.

From such a vantage point, astronauts would be able to control rovers on the lunar surface and help deploy a radio telescope to see into the furthest reaches of space that are impossible to glimpse from Earth.

Lockheed Martin, which built the shield that protected Nasa's Curiosity rover during its descent through the Martian atmosphere last August, have been pushing Nasa for a mission of this kind since at least 2010.

They may be having some success. The Orlando Sentinel has reported seeing papers that make it clear some sort of lunar far side mission is "a leading candidate for the agency's next major mission".

It all points to exciting times ahead but it is unclear how much clarification we will get today about Orion's eventual manned missions. Nasa is treading carefully. The announcement of the briefing was conservatively titled, "Nasa, Esa Hold Jan 16 Nasa TV Briefing on New Orion Agreement".

The Esa version, issued almost a week later, is somewhat more provocative, claiming: "Nasa and Esa to announce new collaboration to send astronauts beyond Earth orbit".

This newly found caution may not be a bad thing. Nasa has made bold statements before about sending astronauts to Mars only to have them collapse under cost considerations. So the current understated path may indeed be what is needed in today's fiscal climate. Having said that, let us hope for solid, inspiring news later today.

NASA, Bigelow Aerospace to announce plans for inflatable station modules

Mark Matthews - Orlando Sentinel

NASA is expected to announce today the terms of a landmark deal that will allow Bigelow Aerospace, a private company based in North Las Vegas, to attach one of its inflatable habitats to the International Space Station.

The deal gives the company, founded by hotelier Robert Bigelow, the opportunity to test a new type of space dwelling — essentially a balloon made of Kevlar-like material that is inflated once it reaches orbit — that would stay attached to the station for at least two years.

Under the agreement, NASA would pay Bigelow Aerospace nearly $18 million for the module, which is about the size of a large bedroom. It would be used to increase the amount of living space aboard the station, which itself is about as big as a football field.

A rocket built by SpaceX, another commercial company under contract with NASA, would blast the module to the station from Cape Canaveral as soon as mid-2015. Bigelow would become the first private company to have one of its modules purchased by NASA and added to the $100 billion, government-run observatory.

"This partnership … represents a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably, and heralds important progress in U.S. commercial space innovation," NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver said in a statement.

How station astronauts will use the Bigelow module still is under discussion. NASA officials said the prime goal is to see how the technology works.

Unlike other, rigid parts of the station, the module is comparable to a live-in balloon. It would be launched, uninflated, to the station, attached to an air lock with help from one of the station's robotic arms and then blown up with pressurized air.

The module's major benefit is that it is lightweight — only about 3,000 pounds — and thus far cheaper to launch than a rigid module that can weigh 10,000 pounds or more.

Though the material would appear vulnerable to hits from space debris, Bigelow officials said the module is equipped with a shield that hypervelocity tests have shown is "superior" to the aluminum walls of the station. The softer, Kevlar-like material also reduces the effect of "secondary radiation," according to the company.

If the Bigelow module proves effective, then it could be considered for other, long-range missions, NASA officials said.

"This is a technology that has been in the exploration road map for the last couple of years [but] needs to mature to the point where we feel comfortable putting it into a [long-range] program," said Glenn Miller, NASA's principal investigator for the project.

One possibility is that inflatable modules could anchor an outpost on the far side of the moon, a destination roughly 277,000 miles from Earth that NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden pitched to the White House last year.

Though the administration has yet to decide on the idea, getting there is a daunting prospect. Bigelow executives said their lightweight modules could be one way to help establish a human presence there or even beyond.

"Regardless of the ultimate destination, be it [the far side of the moon] or even a historic mission to Mars, the large volumes provided by Bigelow Aerospace systems, combined with enhanced protection from radiation and physical debris, make [inflatable] habitats … an essential part of any realistic beyond low-Earth-orbit architecture," said Mike Gold, director of the company's Washington office.

The idea of inflatable structures is not new. In the 1960s, NASA launched a pair of balloonlike satellites made of Mylar material — dubbed Echo 1 and Echo 2 — that were used to test communication technologies.

Though successful, the concept was shelved until the 1990s when NASA considered inflatable structures as one way to house the space station crew.

Though the agency ultimately chose another path, the concept appealed to Robert Bigelow, a space enthusiast and owner of Budget Suites of America. He revived the idea more than a decade ago and since 1999 has launched two inflatable prototypes — Genesis I and Genesis II — that remain in orbit today, sending pictures and data back to Earth.

If the upcoming station mission is successful, it will mark the first time an astronaut has entered an inflatable module.

"NASA clearly recognizes the importance of expandable habitats, and [the plan] represents a significant step forward for the agency," Gold said.

Bigelow's long-range business plan is to launch inflatable stations and rent them to space-faring nations looking for a cheaper alternative to building their own version of the $100 billion station. (Space tourists also would be welcome, although that market remains tiny).

So far, Bigelow has preliminary agreements with space agencies or corporations in at least seven countries and hopes for more if the station module is successful. NASA, too, could become a repeat customer.

NASA Goes Ikea to Test Inflatable Annex for Space Station

Brendan McGarry & Kathleen Miller - Bloomberg News

The International Space Station is getting an inflatable spare room.

The first-of-its-kind habitat built by Bigelow Aerospace LLC weighs 3,000 pounds and is made of a Kevlar-like material to withstand space debris and radiation. It looks more like a giant propane gas tank than a kids' moon bounce and will be attached to a port on the space station.

It will rocket into space in 2015 with the blessing of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, which last week awarded the firm a $17.8 million contract to demonstrate the technology. Eventually, Las Vegas hotelier Robert Bigelow wants to build separate stations that might be used as research laboratories orbiting Earth or to establish a permanent presence on the moon or Mars.

"Ultimately, he's hoping to build hotels in low-earth orbit and have that be one of the up-and-coming space businesses -- this will give him more credibility," said Marco Caceres, a senior space analyst with Teal Group Corp. in Fairfax, Virginia. "There's a lot of people out there that say, 'Oh c'mon, hotels in low-earth orbit -- that's a fantasy right?' I believe he has the tools to do it."

The challenge will be finding customers, Caceres said in a phone interview. Bigelow's primary focus is on corporations and governments interested in developing astronaut programs or doing research. Space tourism is secondary, and the company has tried to steer away from the space hotel label.

NASA Endorsement

NASA's willingness to back the mission is a seal of approval, Bigelow Aerospace said in a press release scheduled for release today. "We cannot think of a stronger endorsement," the company said.

Bigelow, 68, and NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver planned to discuss the mission during a press conference today at the company's Las Vegas headquarters.

The agreement is "a step forward in cutting-edge technology that can allow humans to thrive in space safely and affordably," Garver said in a Jan. 11 release announcing the contract.

Bigelow plans to introduce a stand-alone station that can accommodate as many as 12 people by 2016, the company said.

A flight to the planned Alpha Station would cost between $26.3 million and $36.8 million for a 60-day stay, "depending on the taxi selected," according to the company.

Customers could lease a portion of the station for that time period for $25 million. They could even purchase the naming rights to the entire station for a year for an additional $25 million.

Elon Musk

The future of private space stations depends on businesses built by other companies. They include billionaire Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies Corp., known as SpaceX, which in May 2012 became the first to dock a private cargo ship at the space station. Another is Chicago-based Boeing Co. (BA), the federal government's No. 2 contractor.

NASA in August awarded $1.11 billion in contracts to develop private spacecraft capable of transporting crew. The awards went to Hawthorne, California-based SpaceX, Boeing, and Sparks, Nevada-based Sierra Nevada Corp. The agency plans to begin flying astronauts in at least one of the vehicles in 2017.

"Bigelow needs the companies working on commercial transportation systems to develop those systems so Bigelow can be a customer and acquire flights," Jeff Foust, a space and telecommunications analyst with Futron Corp. in Bethesda, Maryland, said in a phone interview. "Expandable inflatable modules -- that is their long-term goal, and to execute on those plans they need other companies to step forward with the ability to send people to and from them."

SpaceX Rocket

Bigelow Aerospace's expandable units are cheaper than metallic structures and are designed to take up less space in a rocket transporting equipment to the space station.

The first inflatable product designed to support crew will be launched in late 2015 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket made by SpaceX. The module, known as the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module, will travel in the cargo hold of a Dragon spacecraft, also made by SpaceX, according to Bigelow.

Once the ship docks with the space station, astronauts will use a robotic arm to remove the product and connect it to a port, according to Bigelow Aerospace. Like the furniture sold by Ikea, it will need to be put together. The module will be filled with air so it can expand it to its full size: 13 feet long and 10.5 feet wide (4 meters long and 3 meters wide).

Two-Year Test

Plans call for the module to remain attached to the space station for about two years. During that time, astronauts will monitor the unit's temperature, pressure, radiation and other data to test the technology's durability.

Hotelier Bigelow is the owner and president of Budget Suites of America Inc., a closely held chain in Nevada, Arizona and Texas. He doesn't reveal his net worth. He has committed about $500 million to his aerospace company, about half of which has been spent.

The space firm, founded in 1999, has about 75 full-time employees and has manufacturing and testing facilities on a 50- acre property in northern Las Vegas. It launched two prototypes in 2006 and 2007.

"The encouraging thing about the Bigelow effort is that it is fundamentally a commercially oriented, profit-driven endeavor," said Chris Quilty, a senior vice president at Raymond James & Associates Inc. in St. Petersburg, Florida.

In addition to Robert Bigelow and SpaceX's Musk, the commercial space industry has attracted several "well-heeled financial backers," Quilty said, including Jeff Bezos, chief executive officer of Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN), and Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Group Ltd.

Bezos created Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin LLC in 2000. It won $22 million from NASA to design a spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts. Branson launched Virgin Galactic, which plans to enter the satellite launch business following its foray into space tourism.

"Clearly these are smart people who have developed what they think are well-grounded business models," Quilty said. "But there is absolutely a degree of romanticism and higher calling involved in these types of investments."

Canada's robot begins 1st satellite refueling job
International Space Station Canadian-built robot to take 5 days to work on satellite

CBC News

The Canadian-built robot handyman aboard the International Space Station is attempting to demonstrate for the first time that a machine can carry out the delicate task of refuelling a satellite in orbit.

The robot — known as Dextre, short for Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator — has been aboard the space station since 2008 and is what the Canadian Space Agency calls the most sophisticated space robot ever built.

Overnight Monday, the 3.65-metre tall robot, with a mass of 1,560 kilograms, started the first of what's expected to be a five-day mission to demonstrate how a satelitte can be safely refuelled.

A spokesperson for the Canadian Space Agency said Dextre will be transfering 1.7 litres of liquid ethanol that was transported to the ISS by NASA's space shuttle Atlantis during it's final mission in July 2011.

Throughout the process Dextre will be attached to the end of Canadarm2, the robotic arm outside the ISS that helps with assembly and maintenance.

To help it work on the satellite, Dextre will be supporting a 250-kilogram, washing machine-sized, module designed by NASA that's equipped with 28 different tools — including wire cutters and a nozzle tool.

Transferring liquid ethanol

The Canadian agency says the fuel tank on the satellite is protected by a series of seals, nuts and safety caps to prevent any hazardous leaks and Dextre's first job will be to remove a tertiary cap attached to a tether wire.

The space agency describes the set-up as similar to that on an automobile.

In March, Dextre completed a three-day experiment which included a series of tasks and simulations as preparation.

Satellites are not designed to be touched following their launch, so many become space junk once they run out of fuel.

NASA estimates there are approximately 400 satellites in the geosynchronous orbit 35,000 kilometres from Earth.

According to the U.S. space agency's website, Dextre is operated by robotics controllers both at NASA's space centre in Houston, and the Canadian Space Agency's headquarters in Saint-Hubert, Que.

Space Hopes Flicker for Sochi Flame

RIA Novosti

The chief organizer of the Sochi 2014 Winter Games on Monday revived the possibility of the Olympic flame journeying into space.

Details have been sparse on the plan first voiced by Russian Olympic Committee chief Alexander Zhukov in 2011 to send the flame to the International Space Station.

Dmitry Chernyshenko went no further than to say he "hoped" the flame would be taken into "open space" before the Games, which start February 7, 2014.

"The flame will visit Mount Elbrus, Lake Baikal, and the North Pole," Chernyshenko said at a Moscow ceremony unveiling the torch design Monday.

"We even hope that it will go out into open space."

If it were counted as part of the torch relay, which starts in October, it would add a considerable chunk to the record 65,000-kilometer route, which stretches from the western exclave of Kaliningrad to the frozen wastes of Chukotka in the Far East.

After the flame arrives from Greece, it begins its 123-day odyssey in Moscow, spiraling out from the capital before heading east and looping around the Kamchatka Peninsula, down to Vladivostok and back across southern Siberia via Lake Baikal, the world's largest freshwater lake.

On its way through 83 towns and cities, one for every region of the country, the torch makes its way back into European Russia, eventually winding down to the Black Sea resort of Sochi for the Opening Ceremony on February 7, 2014.

More than 14,000 torchbearers and 30,000 volunteers will accompany the flame, which organizers claim within an hour's travel of 90 percent of the 141 million population.

Space-travel startups take off

Peter Elkind - Fortune Magazine

The private space flight has largely been the province of stargazing billionaires, such as Microsoft (MSFT) co-founder Paul Allen, Tesla (TSLA) chief Elon Musk, and Amazon's (AMZN) Jeff Bezos. But one element of the modern-day space race -- the quest to launch a space-tourism industry -- is shaping up to be a David vs. Goliath battle. In one corner: the Virgin Group's flamboyant Richard Branson, who has poured more than $200 million into his impeccably pedigreed Virgin Galactic. In the other: a scrappy band of rocket engineers at little XCOR Aerospace, which aims to become the Southwest Airlines (LUV) of the rocket business. Both companies hope to be ready for liftoff by 2014.

The two are neighbors at California's Mojave Air and Space Port, in the desert 90 miles north of Los Angeles. Home to about a dozen private space companies, Mojave is a short hop from Edwards Air Force base, where Chuck Yeager broke the sound barrier.

Branson got into the game in 2004, when he licensed the technology behind SpaceShipOne, the Allen-backed project that was the first manned commercial vehicle to reach suborbital space. Branson soon upped the ante, building SpaceShipTwo twice as large, with two pilots up front and six passengers (called "participants" for legal reasons, because of safety risks) in the back.

Branson bankrolled two buildings out in Mojave, complete with reserved parking for fuel-efficient cars and a reception area with sleek granite countertops. Virgin plans to fly tourists out of a $209 million spaceport that Branson persuaded New Mexico officials to build with taxpayer funds. The ticket price? $200,000.

XCOR began its journey in 1999, when four employees of a company called Rotary Rocket got laid off and decided to go out on their own. "We had no money, no backers, and no business plan," says co-founder Jeff Greason, now XCOR's CEO. "But we knew how to build rockets." XCOR is vying to launch its own space-tourism business about the same time as Virgin Galactic. Greason says it has spent about $45 million -- raised from venture funds and individuals like Esther Dyson and Pete Ricketts -- to date.

XCOR operates out of an old aircraft hangar littered with rocket parts; the company's executive offices are outside, in portable trailers. From the start it has worked to design a spaceship that operates more like a commercial airliner: reusable up to four times a day, six days a week. The system would allow XCOR to accept passengers, space experiments, and small satellites for deployment on two days' notice and to make a healthy profit even while charging a comparatively modest price: $95,000 for a ticket to ride.

Since both ships will soar to sub-orbit, providing about five minutes of weightlessness, Branson has promised to let his travelers float around in the rear cabin after arriving in space, before strapping back in for the rapid glide back to earth. XCOR's smaller ship, called Lynx (it looks like a nimbler cousin of the space shuttle), has room for only one passenger, who will remain in a pressure suit, belted into a cockpit seat. "We're trying to position the Lynx adventure as kind of The Right Stuff experience," says XCOR chief test pilot Rick Searfoss, a former NASA astronaut who flew three space shuttle missions. Searfoss is skeptical that Virgin will be able to allow space travelers to float around -- both for safety reasons and given the prospect of space sickness. "What if you paid $200,000 and you're next to someone who loses his cookies?" he says.

Both companies are reluctant to forecast when they'll begin carrying space tourists. (Virgin Galactic originally predicted a 2008 launch.) Greason, who was a manager at Intel (INTC) before becoming a rocket engineer, says XCOR is in "the homestretch toward the first flight" but that the process can't be rushed. "We're not an industry that can ship beta."

XCOR has announced plans to move its operations during 2013 to Midland, Texas, where it has been promised $10 million in economic-development incentives and a gentler regulatory regime. "We dreamed of going to space our whole lives and got sick of it never happening," Greason says. "We decided if it's going to work, it's going to have to make money."

The great space startup race: 5 more companies vying for the skies

Blue Origin
·         Claim to fame: Amazon.com founder Jeff Bezos
·         Mission: Reliable and inexpensive human access to space
·         Funding: Bezos and NASA
·         Made it to space? No

SpaceX
·         Claim to fame: PayPal and Tesla Motors founder Elon Musk
·         Mission: Travel to the International Space Station
·         Funding: Musk, NASA , Founders Fund, Draper Fisher Jurvetson
·         Made it to space? Yes

Stratolaunch Systems
·         Claim to fame: Building the largest aircraft ever flown
·         Mission: Launch heavy payloads into low Earth orbit
·         Funding: Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen
·         Made it to space? No

Masten Space Systems
·         Claim to fame: Small unmanned vehicles operate like lunar landers
·         Mission: Send research experiments to space and back
·         Funding: CEO Joel Scotkin, chairman David Masten, NASA
·         Made it to space? No

Orbital Sciences (ORB)
·         Claim to fame: The first and only profitable public space company
·         Mission: Manufacture satellites and rockets for cargo
·         Funding: NASA , public
·         Made it to space? Yes

NASA's chief revisits a make-believe space shuttle in its new locale

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden took a crawl through Memory Lane in Seattle on Tuesday during a tour of the Museum of Flight's shuttle training mockup, which he and hundreds of other astronauts used to practice their moves in preparation for their missions.

"This thing saw astronauts every single day, multiple times a day," Bolden told a small knot of journalists after he climbed in and out of the mockup's plywood cockpit.

It was Bolden's first visit to the full-fuselage trainer since it was flown in pieces from NASA's Johnson Space Center to Seattle aboard a Super Guppy cargo plane last year, and then reassembled for display at the museum's Charles Simonyi Space Gallery. The museum's backers funded the gallery's construction in hopes that NASA would donate one of its three flown shuttles to the museum — but those spacecraft went instead to museums in California, Florida and at the Smithsonian near Washington, D.C.

Seattle's wingless shuttle is one of several mockups that was used to familiarize astronauts with the layout of the actual orbiter. None of the controls actually work, but they're all in the right places, and there's a full-size payload bay that visitors can walk through. For an extra fee, museumgoers can take a "training session" that concludes with a visit to the tight quarters of the crew compartment.

"It's been sold out every weekend," said Doug King, the museum's president and CEO.

Some Seattleites might wish they had a "real" space shuttle in their aerospace-centric city, but Bolden argued that the mockup was a perfect match for the museum.

"I hope I don't get in trouble with any of the other sites, but I think the Museum of Flight won the prize when it comes to education," Bolden said, "because no other place can have somebody essentially walk in the same footsteps that John Glenn, John Young and other people walked when they go through the payload bay, or go up on the flight deck, or go on the middeck. That's actually where we trained. Nobody else is going to be able to do that, even in a flown orbiter."

Bolden is a former shuttle commander who flew on four space missions from 1986 to 1994. He and another retired astronaut, John Creighton, climbed through the mockup's hatch and up the ladder on Tuesday to revisit the cockpit where they spent so many hours preparing for flight — and to reminisce.

Bolden pointed to a set of numbered bags hanging by a hatch at the top of the cockpit, and said those bags contained ropes that were thrown through the hatch so that astronauts could practice shimmying down the side of the shuttle. Today, that sounds like an outdated emergency measure — but at the time, it was an essential part of the training.

"The only thing on your mind was, 'Just don't let me fall,'" Bolden said.

The museum also features displays about the commercial successors to the shuttle — as well as a 5-ton rocket prototype donated by Amazon.com billionaire Jeff Bezos' space venture, Blue Origin, which has its headquarters in the Seattle area. During this week's visit to Seattle, Bolden is due to speak to a leadership conference at the Boeing Co., which is working on its own commercial spacecraft capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. Bolden said Boeing, Blue Origin and other companies might well create new monuments to spaceflight in the years to come.

"As they begin to fly," Bolden said, "and as many of them meet with success, they'll trade out a display board with an artifact."

WFTV takes tour of historic NASA launch facility

Melonie Holt - WFTV TV (Orlando)

For the first time since the retirement of the shuttle fleet, WFTV was able to get an inside look at NASA launch operations at Kennedy Space Center.

On Tuesday, Channel 9's Melonie Holt got a one-of-a-kind tour of launch pad 39A at KSC.

The pad represents decades in launch advancement and there's still hope that someone will put it to use, before it's too late.

The Launch Complex 39A was built for the Apollo missions, modified for the shuttle program, and now lies dormant.

"We've had people who've spent 30 to 40 years babying this system to keep it at the highest standards on earth," said Steve Bulloch, NASA pad manager.

There's is a sense of history at the pad. Like the rubber room that sits several feet beneath the launch pad. It was originally designed to protect Apollo astronauts from the equivalent of a one kiloton blast. There was a slide attached from the surface to the rubber room below. From there, it was a few quick steps to the blast room.

The blast room has concrete walls about 4-feet thick, reinforced with steel. If things went wrong, astronauts could strap in and wait out a launch emergency.

After the Apollo 1 fire that killed three astronauts in 1967, only ground personnel were trained to use the blast room. It was decided an aerial escape would be safer for the astronauts.

Now the entire facility, from its launch vehicle climate controls to its rotating service structure, are all winding down. The hope is to maintain enough capacity, so if needed, the facility could be resurrected.

"We've been very spoiled. We're taking part in something that was truly unique, and we constantly had a close and definable mission," said Bulloch. "And right now we're trying to refocus on the future."

Canadian Space Agency president is stepping down

Canadian Press

The Canadian Space Agency says president Steve MacLean is stepping down.

MacLean has announced plans to leave on Feb. 1 to assume a position in a new venture to be created by Mike Lazaridis.

"During his tenure as president, he was devoted as an accomplished physicist, astronaut and administrator to advancing the Canadian Space Program," the agency said of MacLean in a statement.

Several sources have told The Canadian Press that the former Canadian astronaut will go work for the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, Ont.

Perimeter was founded by Lazaridis, former CEO and co-founder of Research In Motion.

The space agency said in a news release late Tuesday that MacLean will lead a team pursuing breakthrough scientific research and development in the highly specialized field of quantum physics.

He was appointed president of the space agency in 2008 and his mandate was set to expire this coming September.

One of the original six Canadian astronauts, MacLean joined the Canadian Astronaut Program in 1983.

The accomplished physicist flew on Space Shuttle Columbia as a payload specialist in 1992.

MacLean, who is married with three children, went into space for a second time in 2006 when he worked on assembly of the International Space Station.

Perimeter Institute describes itself as a major centre for theoretical physics research.

One of its visitors is Stephen Hawking, described as one of the most famous theoretical physicists on the planet.

Canadian Space Agency head leaving to focus on quantum physics

Ivan Semeniuk - Globe and Mail

Steve MacLean, former astronaut and president of the Canadian Space Agency, is coming down to Earth to take up residence in Canada's blossoming "quantum valley" research hub in Waterloo, Ont. Dr. MacLean will leave his post on Feb. 1, the agency announced in a statement on Tuesday.

Dr. MacLean, who holds a doctorate in physics from York University, will join a new venture launched by Mike Lazaridis, the former CEO and co-founder of Research in Motion. Mr. Lazaridis has been an enthusiastic supporter of basic science and was the principal benefactor behind the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics in Waterloo, part of a growing cluster of research and innovation efforts in the region. Although independent of Perimeter, the new initiative will focus on scientific research and development in quantum physics, the institute confirmed.

Dr. MacLean was one of the space agency's "original six" Canadian astronauts. After his selection in 1983, he twice rocketed into space, first in 1992 aboard the space shuttle Columbia and then in 2006 on Atlantis. He became president of the Canadian Space Agency in September, 2008, the second astronaut to serve in the role after Marc Garneau.

As a scientist, Dr. MacLean specialized in laser physics, a field that "kept many doors open because the laser is part of a solution in many areas of business," he once said in a NASA pre-flight interview. He was pursuing a post-doctoral fellowship in laser physics at Stanford University when the call came to become an astronaut.

Dr. MacLean is now set to return to his physics roots in Waterloo. In addition to the Perimeter Institute, the region boasts the Institute for Quantum Computing and the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. Dr. MacLean will leave the space agency with one of its star performers, astronaut Chris Hadfield, near the start of a five-month mission on board the International Space Station.

The Perks Of Being A Virgin Galactic 'Bransonaut'

Pam Grout - Huffington Post

(Grout is the author of E-Squared, 9 Do-it-Yourself Energy Experiments that Prove Your Thoughts Create Your Reality)

I'm on rutted, dirt roads in the Jornada del Muerto desert of southern New Mexico headed to Spaceport America, the world's first purpose-built commercial spaceport. It's adjacent to White Sands Missile Range where, for 70 some years, assorted rockets, nuclear bombs and other WMDs have been tested.

My useless GPS reports this 3,200 square miles of restricted air space as one monstrous black hole. I'd have never found Spaceport Operations Center (SOC, for short) or Virgin Galactic's Gateway to Space if it wasn't for Aaron Prescott, the rocket scientist whose college friends can't help but break the tenth commandment: "Thou Shall Not Covet."

They're insanely jealous, he says, of his position as Business Operations Manager for New Mexico's $209 million entry into global commercial spaceflight. He works with madcap entrepreneur Sir Richard Branson -- whose left eye is on the security badge required to get into the New Mexico Space Authority (NMSA) -- and other aerospace firms contracted to fly from this remote high desert location. Prescott calls it the Kitty Hawk of space travel.

Since 2006, 17 rockets have been launched here -- "Unmanned, so far," Prescott says. "We want to make sure people are buying roundtrip tickets." -- and 551 have slapped down $200,000 for Virgin Galactic's three days of astronaut training and two hours in space. 'Course, that's chump change for the likes of Ashton Kutcher, Justin Bieber and Kate Winslett, to name a few of the already-paids who probably make that in, say 10 minutes of "Two and a Half Men."

Mixing it up with celebrities is just one of the perks. Here are five more:

1. Free Drinks at the Astronauts Lounge. When you're Katy Perry, another who forked over $200 grand, you tend to travel with an entourage. Minions are more than welcome to hang out at the Spaceport, clap when you blast off, even follow your every G-force on giant monitors -- "We could probably configure the flights with an iPhone app," Prescott says, "But you gotta put on a show." -- but the spacesuit dressing room and third-floor lounge with the free champagne? That's for Bransonauts only.

2. Five minutes of being weightless. Much of the two-hour flight involves getting to the other side of the Karman Line, the line that divides earth's atmosphere from outer space. But at 60 miles up, you can see 1,500 to 2,000 miles in all directions or, to put it in perspective, that's a view of the Pacific Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico at the same time.

3. No need to be a perfect specimen of humanity. Qualifying for NASA requires brains like Einstein, 1,000 hours of in-command flight time and the ability to pass a rigorous physical. Only an elite few make it in. As a Bransonaut, you don't even need a pressure suit. "At three and a half to six Gs, it's like a really awesome roller coaster," Prescott says, adding that at nine Gs, you'd black out.

4. Bragging rights. Being the first to get your Boy Scout "Space Badge" is nothing compared to the VIP invitations to Branson's private Caribbean island home or his South African game reserve. Last year, for example, he held an Astronaut Forum, a tour of the LEED Gold 110,000-square-foot Virgin Galactic terminal and dinner at Mesilla's historic Double Eagle steakhouse.

5. 360-degree skies. I'd pit the sunset in southern New Mexico to any painting in any art museum anywhere.

For the rest of us, Follow the Sun offers a three-hour, $59 bus tour.

Steamboat Springs astronaut Steve Swanson headed back to space

Brent Boyer - Steamboat Springs Today

Steve Swanson's adventures in space appear poised to continue for at least another 1 1/2 years.

Swanson, a 1979 Steamboat Springs High School alumnus and veteran NASA astronaut, has been picked for two upcoming missions to the International Space Station. Together, those missions could have him working at the space station for six consecutive months.

Swanson will serve as a flight engineer for Expedition 39, a joint mission with two Russian cosmonauts in March 2014 to the International Space Station. Swanson, Alexander Skvortsov and Oleg Artemyev will join Expedition 39 while it already is in progress. That mission will be commanded by Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who will be accompanied by a NASA astronaut and a Russian cosmonaut. Wakata's crew is expected to begin its expedition in mid-March 2014, and Swanson's crew will begin its expedition in late March 2014.

Swanson will be elevated to the role of station commander two months later, when Expedition 40 officially begins. He is expected to return from space at the conclusion of Expedition 40 in September.

Swanson, his wife and their three children live in Houston. His in-laws, Chan and Martha Young, live in Steamboat.

Swanson has been an astronaut since 1998. His space flight experience includes an Atlantis shuttle mission to the International Space Station in June 2007, when he performed two spacewalks. That mission traveled 5.8 million miles in 14 days, according to NASA.

He also was a part of a Discovery shuttle mission to the International Space Station in March 2009. Swanson again was part of two spacewalks, and his mission covered 5.3 million miles in 13 days.

"Going to space and building a station, I'll never forget that," Swanson told the Steamboat Today in July 2011. "The launch is a fantastic thing. It's quite a ride — lot of power and acceleration in that vehicle."

Scott's space stories enthrall military retirees

R. Norman Moody - Florida Today

It's highly unlikely that any member of the Cape Canaveral chapter of Military Officers Association of America will ever get any closer to space than flying in an airliner.

But many said they left their monthly luncheon meeting Tuesday with a better understanding of space flight after listening to former astronaut Winston Scott.

Retired Air Force Col. John Beeson and his wife, Betty Beeson of Cocoa Beach said Scott explained some of the training, flight experiences and spacewalks so well that they left believing they learned more about the subject.

"I thought it was outstanding," said Betty Beeson. "He made it understandable."

Scott, a mission specialist on space shuttle missions STS-72 in 1996 and STS-87 in 1997, was the guest speaker for the MOAA luncheon meeting that drew about 100 people.

Among those in the audience were Duane Graveline, a medical doctor who was selected in 1965 with the fourth group of scientist astronauts but never got to fly, and Bill Pogue, who spent 84 days aboard the Skylab space station in 1973-74.

Scott logged a total of 24 days, 14 hours and 34 minutes in space, including three spacewalks totaling 19 hours and 26 minutes.

He told the audience about underwater training to prepare for space walks, about the vibration during the shuttle launch, the sensation of floating in space and about his spacewalks. He used slides in his presentation.

"It's not the same but we practice underwater," he said of preparation for spacewalks.

He told the audience about the space suit, which with its life support system weighs more than 300 pounds.

"It's an incredible piece of engineering, he said.

Scott drew laughter including when he showed a photograph of one space walk in which he appears to be reaching for a round object as if about to dunk a basketball.

"Sometimes, I say this is my Orlando Magic tryout photo," he said.

After explaining training, preparation for flight, flight, retrieving a satellite and returning to Earth, Scott fielded questions from the audience. One person wanted to know about the food in space.

"We had cheese grits on the space shuttle, hard to believe," he said to more laughter from the audience of mostly retired military officers and their spouses.

Frank and Mary Dunagan said they were leaving the meeting with a better understanding of space flight.

"He made me feel like I knew what it felt like to be in the shuttle," Mary Dunagan said. "He simplified it. He's such a good speaker."

Astronaut on Ice: A Search for Antarctic Meteorites

Govert Schilling - Space.com

NASA astronaut Stan Love is having a hard time right now. Not in space, but on the forbidding East Antarctic Ice Sheet. Together with a group of dedicated volunteers, Love is looking for meteorites — rocks from space that have fallen to Earth. And it's not your usual vacation.

"Being on the Antarctic ice is very much like being in space," Love told SPACE.com in December over dinner at the American McMurdo Station on the coast of the frozen continent. "Without proper protection, the environment would kill you within a few hours, and there's little hope of rescue if something goes terribly wrong."

Love has been in the astronaut corps for 14 years. In 2008, he paid a two-week visit to the International Space Station on the space shuttle mission STS-122. As a management astronaut, he is now involved with so-called spaceflight analog programs: terrestrial experiments and expeditions that pose similar challenges as a journey into space.

NASA's two main space analog programs are the underwater NEEMO (NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations) base off the Florida coast, and DesertRATS (Research And Technology Studies) in the Arizona desert. "But ANSMET [Antarctic Search for Meteorites] is much more space-like than these two," Love said. "If an emergency occurs in DesertRATS, you can be in a hospital within three hours. In the case of ANSMET, it might well take three days."

Meteorite hunters

ANSMET started back in 1976. The program is funded by NASA, the National Science Foundation and the Smithsonian Institution, and is led by geologist Ralph Harvey of Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, Ohio. Every austral summer, small volunteer teams head off to a remote region of Antarctica to set up a simple, self-contained field camp. For six weeks or so, they search the bluish ice for conspicuous dark rocks that might be extraterrestrial in origin.

"Building a permanent station in such an isolated region is unthinkable," Love said. "You can only go there with a minimum amount of equipment." That includes two-person tents, food rations, warm clothing, of course, and snowmobiles, on which the team members survey the frozen surface much like police comb a forest when searching for a lost child.

Thanks to the effect of exposed or sub-glacial hills and mountains on the slow motion of the ice sheet, meteorites that have fallen over the past tens of thousands of years are concentrated and pushed up toward the surface, where they're pretty easy to spot.

"I also joined the ANSMET team in the 2004-2005 season," Love said. "My eyesight is still quite OK, and I found lots of meteorites. Which, by the way, basically means I was lucky." ANSMET doesn't offically keep track of who found what — all meteorite finds are considered to be the result of a team effort.

Famous finds

Probably the most famous ANSMET meteorite is ALH84001, which originated on Mars and, in 1996, was thought to contain fossil evidence of microbial life. Since then, studies have cast doubt on that interpretation. But even run-of-the-mill meteorites (so-called ordinary chondrites) have scientific value: they provide astronomers with a window on the early history of our solar system.

But why would an astronaut go meteorite hunting? "First of all, I like it here," Love said. "Eight years ago, it surprised me how much Antarctica appeals to me."

But there's more. Love said his astronaut training and experience could be useful for the ANSMET team. Just like the crew of a spaceship, the meteorite hunters are a small group of interdependent people, working for weeks on end in a very isolated environment, with all the social and psychological challenges that might show up.

"I called Ralph [Harvey] and offered to come along for a second time and share my experiences," Love said. "The timing was perfect: Ralph had just been considering a suggestion by some isolation researchers to provide his team members with some kind of teamwork/leadership training."

Getting along well with each other is not just more enjoyable, according to Love — it could be crucial to the success of the expedition. "If the social environment gives you a lot of energy, everything goes smoother. However, if it takes a lot of energy, everything is harder — you've got less energy left for your actual work, for risk awareness, etcetera."

Group dynamics

Moreover, years of training have convinced Love that, surprisingly enough, good chemistry between people is really trainable.

"Feeling comfortable with your tent companion is something that you can actively gain. Of course, my family would laugh if I told them I plan to teach this kind of stuff. They'd say I'm breaking the rules every day."

During the second week of December, the ANSMET group left McMurdo for an unexplored region at the head of the Beardmore Glacier, on the west side of the Transantarctic Mountain Range. This time, the meteorite hunters set up their camp in two or three different locations, while a special reconnaissance team searched for new hunting grounds farther south.

Of course, Love said, there are also many differences between ANSMET and spaceflight. "With ANSMET, it's the extreme cold that permeates every aspect of life. With spaceflight, it's the microgravity. But in terms of team size, isolation, and resupply and rescue challenges, they are very similar."

Another important difference is that every space mission is led and guided by Mission Control down on Earth. "ANSMET is much more autonomous," Love said. 'The decision makers are in the field, with the crew. With future manned missions to Mars, we may need similar crew autonomy. In that sense, NASA can also learn something from the meteorite hunters."

To learn more about the ANSMET program, visit: http://www.case.edu/ansmet

Return to tradition
2013 geographic South Pole marker sports classic style

Jeffrey Donenfeld - Antarctic Sun

As tradition dictates, on New Year's Day the geographic South Pole marker was moved to its freshly surveyed position, and the new brass-and-copper plaque that tops the marker was revealed. The Amundsen-Scott South Pole Station sits on a moving sheet of ice more than two miles thick.

The site where the geographic marker, sign and American flag are installed drifts about 30 feet per year due to ice flow. In order to keep the marker in close proximity to the point where all the lines of longitude meet, the site is re-surveyed Jan. 1 each year.

The entire South Pole Station staff gathered outside between the old and new pole locations this year and formed a semicircle. Each person helped pass the American flag from its drifted location to the new location just beside the 90 degrees South marker.

Almost all hands were present for the ceremony, including station manager Bill Coughran, winter site manager Weeks Heist, and National Science Foundation representative Vladimir Papitashvili. The weather was sunny and a warm at just below minus 14 degrees Fahrenheit.

Once the American flag had been moved, Heist revealed the design of the newly relocated geographic South Pole marker. This year's marker was created by science machinist Derek Aboltins during the 2012 winter. It was machined out of brass and copper.

The marker shows the position of the planets as viewed from the South Pole on Jan 1, 2013. There are seven brass planets displayed on a copper inlay. In the very center is a small copper star that marks the South Pole.

It also "represents the earth sciences done from here, as we reach out to understand our planet. The large brass star represents astronomy and astrophysics, as it extends out past our solar system in the quest for knowledge," Aboltins wrote in his description of the marker.

"In the center of the marker (in brass) we have the sun, sunset and moon, with the Southern Cross, including the pointers. If you look carefully, the small inscription above the moon reads, 'Accomplishment & Modesty.' This was a reference to honor Neil Armstrong, as he passed away when I was making this section with the moon."

There was even a nod in the design to disenfranchised Pluto: "For those of you who still think Pluto should be a planet, you'll find it included underneath, just to keep everyone happy," Aboltins said. "Bring back Pluto, I say!"

The previous 2012 South Pole marker was removed from its old location, and a flag was placed in its stead to mark the previous site. The 2012 marker will be displayed at the entrance of the South Pole Station.

MEANWHILE ON MARS…

Curiosity finds intriguing rocks indicative of watery past

William Harwood - CBS News

The Curiosity Mars rover has found intriguing veined rocks just below tilted cross-bedded layers indicating water once flowed and "percolated" through fractured terrain near the landing site in Gale Crater, scientists said Tuesday, adding to evidence of a watery past on the red planet.

Taking their time evaluating a surprising variety of scientific targets, mission scientists and engineers now are gearing up for the first tests of a powerful impact drill that will be used to collect samples from inside targeted rocks.

The drill tests are a final major milestone before the rover begins creeping toward Mount Sharp, a towering 3.4-mile-high mound of layered rocks in the center of the broad crater that represents the mission's primary objective.

The base of Mount Sharp is just six miles away as a martian crow would fly. But given the wealth of scientific targets expected along the way, the complexity of the rover and an understandably conservative operational philosophy, it's going to take a while to get there.

"I would guess it would be a good goal for us to try to get there by the end of the calendar year," Project Scientist John Grotzinger told reporters Tuesday. "But this mission is 100 percent discovery driven. If we find some really good stuff, we're going to take the time it requires to do it right."

Curiosity currently is working in an area known as Yellowknife Bay about a quarter of a mile from where the rover landed Aug. 6. Its cameras have beamed back razor-sharp images of fine-grained sedimentary rocks with intriguing veins, nodules and cross bedding that indicate the effects of flowing water.

"This lowest unit that we are at in Yellowknife Bay, the very farthest thing we drove to, turns out to be kind of the jackpot unit here," said Grotzinger. "It is literally shot through with these fractures."

The fractures eventually were filled in by a white material that precipitated out at some later time.

"What these vein fills tell us is water percolated through these rocks, through these fracture networks and then minerals precipitated to form the white material that ChemCam (a rover instrument) has concluded is very likely a calcium sulfate, probably hydrated in origin," Grotzinger said.

"So this is the first time in this mission that we have seen something that is not just an aqueous environment, but one that also results in precipitation of minerals, which is very attractive to us."

Adding to the emerging picture of a once wet environment in Gale Crater, a layer of rocks just above the veined material shows cross bedding, in which multiple thin layers are oriented in different directions.

"What this basically records is the passage of sediment in a moving current that created a small dune and as the dunes migrate they preserve their avalanche faces and those get preserved in the rock record as this cross bedding," Grotzinger said.

The grains that make up the cross-bedded rocks "are too course for the wind to be the current that pushed the grains along," he said. "So we think this formed in water."

Based on orbital photography, scientists already knew Curiosity landed on an alluvial fan where water probably flowed in the distant past. Moving downstream, or east-southeast from the landing site, Curiosity made its way to an area dubbed Glenelg where three different types of rock come together.

Along the way, scientists noted outcrops of conglomerate rock made up of large fragments that once were transported by water. Moving into Glenelg and then into Yellowknife Bay, the rover descended slightly, moving into older terrain, dominated by much finer-grained material, possibly indicative of a less forceful, more tranquil flow.

The cross bedding implies a stream flow "probably a few tens of centimeters per second, maybe a meter per second (2.2 mph) flow, something like that," Grotzinger said. "As far as the depth, it's difficult to know at this point.

"It would certainly be similar to what we were talking about with the conglomerates (closer to the landing site). Maybe just a little farther away, farther down current, or at a time when the current was slowing so it could no longer transport the gravel but it was able to still transport the sand and the finer bits of gravel."

Richard Cook, the project manager of the Mars Science Laboratory mission, said the rover is healthy and that drill tests using the veined rock in Yellowknife Bay should begin soon.

The drill is capable of penetrating rocks to a depth of about two inches. As it grinds into a target, pulverized samples from the interior will be fed into Curiosity's two major laboratory instruments.

The Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, known as SAM, uses a gas chromatograph and two spectrometers to look for signs of organic compounds. The Chemistry and Mineralogy experiment, or CheMin, uses X-ray diffraction to identify minerals in soil and rock samples.

The drill is the last of Curiosity's sampling systems to be put to the test.

"Because of all the interesting things the scientists have been finding, the start of the drilling campaign has been delayed by a few days," Cook said. "But at this point, we are all ready to go to do that.

"We're undoubtedly going to learn a lot about how to drill things on Mars as it's the first time we've ever done that and it'll probably go slowly. But I think by the time we get through this campaign and deliver some sample to the CheMin and SAM, I'm sure scientifically it'll be a great set of measurements."

The primary scientific goals of Curiosity's mission are to look for signs of past or present habitability and to search for the organic compounds that are essential to life as it is known on Earth. Water is a key factor in habitability and there now is little doubt it once flowed in Gale Crater.

But how much water might have been present, and for how long, is not yet known.

Mars Rover Ready to Dig In
NASA Seeks Evidence of Life in First Drilling Since Landing; 'Scientist's Dream'

Robert Lee Hotz - Wall Street Journal

After months of trial runs, NASA's Curiosity rover is ready to scratch the surface of Mars, positioning itself this week to drill into the crust of the red planet and wildcat for evidence of life for the first time.

Scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in California said Tuesday that they have targeted a fine-grained fractured slab of bedrock for the rover's first drilling attempt—a tricky procedure made all the more difficult by the complexities of the rover.

In a milestone for planetary exploration, researchers expect to extract and remotely analyze a mineral sample from the interior of Mars beginning in about two weeks. Scientists hope the specimen—its chemistry unsullied by the harsh surface conditions—will reveal whether conditions on the cold, arid world were once favorable for life.

"We will go into the sequence of rocks that are the brightest prospects for telling us about the early habitability of Mars," said mission project scientist John Grotzinger at the California Institute of Technology. "We are at a very sweet spot to do that."

The spacecraft voyaged 352 million miles to reach Mars this past August, but its next critical step will be measured in fractions of an inch. The rover's drill can chip about 2 inches into the interior of Mars to extract a small spoonful of powdered rock for analysis in an onboard chemistry kit. The effort may take six weeks or more. Researchers want to ensure the rock won't break the drill bit and that the mineral sample won't be contaminated by machinery as the rover scoops it onboard.

"Drilling into a rock to collect a sample will be this mission's most challenging activity since the landing. It has never been done on Mars," said Mars Science Laboratory project manager Richard Cook.

In the months since Curiosity's landing, the mission has mostly generated waves of rumor about life-related chemistry on the distant world that, one by one, mission scientists debunked as they made their findings public. So far, they have detected no traces of methane in the Martian air, no unequivocal chemical evidence of water on Mars today, and no native organic compounds that would indicate that life had once been present.

What they are finding in Gale Crater, where the rover landed, is an arid landscape of wind-swept badlands that in some ways seems hauntingly like Earth. Wheeling across the uneven terrain at 1.5 inches per second, the rover has recorded panoramic vistas that often resemble the Mojave Desert. It spotted rounded pebbles that scientists believe were likely shaped by an ancient ankle-deep, fast-flowing stream. Its chemical sensors detected basalt rocks that could have been lifted from a Hawaiian lava flow.

By all accounts, engineers are finding the $2.5 billion Curiosity rover—the most complex spacecraft ever landed on another planet—more difficult to operate than anticipated. The 1-ton, nuclear-powered vehicle totes 11 instruments, from a laser to a robotic whisk broom designed to sweep samples clear of the Martian dust. Even as routine a task as extending the craft's heavy mobile arm has proved tricky because the craft can more easily overbalance than engineers had estimated.

"It is a complicated beast," said Rob Manning, chief engineer for the Mars Science Laboratory, as the Curiosity craft's overall mission is called. "Everything is taking longer than we had hoped."

Even so, the mission's 425 scientists are feasting on data. "Scientifically, it is fantastic," said NASA planetary soil scientist Doug Ming at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, who helps run the rover's X-ray spectroscopy apparatus. So far, the craft has beamed back 18,226 images and nearly 10 gigabytes of raw information about the planet's geology, mineral chemistry, soil composition, and atmosphere. In five months of prospecting, scientists have thoroughly analyzed three air samples and three soil samples. The researchers also have tested 100 rocks and soil specimens by blasting them with the rover's laser and then scrutinizing the vaporized material.

In all, the rover has traveled 2,312 feet from where it touched down on Aug. 5. Recently it rolled by a sinuous set of dark-colored rocks that NASA scientists named "Snake River," before parking itself in a shallow flat depression called Yellowknife Bay.

There, the rover's cameras and sensors revealed a range of rocks that may have been formed by water, including veins, nodules, cross-bedded layering, and a lustrous pebble embedded in sandstone.

NASA officials named the rocky outcrop chosen for drilling after John Klein, a former Mars Science Laboratory deputy project manager who died in 2011.

"We are now less than a mile from where we landed yet the geology is intensely diverse," said space scientist Roger Wiens at the Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico, who is principal investigator for the rover's laser sensor. "It is a scientist's dream."

NASA's Curiosity rover readying to drill on Mars

Alicia Chang - Associated Press

Scientists have zeroed in on a Martian target for the Curiosity rover to drill into: A rock outcrop as flat as a pool table that's expected to yield fresh insight into the red planet's history.

Running a tad behind schedule, Curiosity was due to arrive at the site in the next several days. After an inspection of the surroundings, the car-size rover will test its drill for the first time "probably in the next two weeks," project manager Richard Cook of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory said Tuesday.

The highly anticipated drilling has been billed as the most complex engineering task since the acrobatic landing inside a Martian crater last summer. Curiosity is on a quest to determine whether environmental conditions could have been favorable for microbes.

By boring into a rock and transferring the powder to the rover's onboard chemistry lab and other instruments, scientists should get a better handle on the region's mineral and chemical makeup.

"We're thrilled, and we can't wait to get drilling," said project scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology.

Previous rovers Opportunity and Spirit carried a grinding tool that peeled away rock layers. Curiosity is capable of drilling down several inches to collect a sample from the interior — a first on Mars.

Opportunity is still operating on the surface of Mars, but Spirit lost contact with Earth in 2010.

Since the $2.5 billion Curiosity mission launched in 2011, engineers have been troubleshooting an issue with the rover's drill in which flakes of Teflon can break off and get mixed with the rock samples. Cook said the contamination should not affect the mission.

"We are reasonably confident that it's something that we'll be able to work our way around," he said.

As the most high-tech interplanetary rover, Curiosity has been on a slow streak since its action-packed arrival. Grotzinger said the pace of the mission was "100 percent discovery-driven" and can't be rushed.

Already, Curiosity has lingered longer than expected at its current location because scientists have been captivated by the sedimentary rocks that differ from the pebbles found at the landing site. After some last-minute studies, the rover will head to the rock outcrop dubbed "John Klein" after a mission team member who died in 2011.

Curiosity's ultimate goal is to drive to the base of Mount Sharp, a six-month journey with no stops. The plan is to begin the road trip after drilling is complete with pauses along the way.

Curiosity Team Identifies First Martian Drilling Target

Guy Norris - Aviation Week

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is poised to begin drilling on the planet's surface for the first time following the selection of an area of flat rock containing a target-rich environment of fractures, veins and mineral concentrations.

Drilling will provide samples that will be used to obtain detailed data about the mineral and chemical composition of the rocks as part of Curiosity's main mission to investigate whether Mars ever offered an environment suitable for life.

The target area lies within a shallow depression called "Yellowknife Bay," which lies around 500 meters to the east of the landing site and was originally identified from orbital observations of fractured ground that cooled more slowly each night than nearby terrain.

"The orbital signal drew us here, but what we found when we arrived has been a great surprise," says Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Project Scientist John Grotzinger of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena. "This area had a different type of wet environment than the streambed where we landed, maybe a few different types of wet environments."

However, despite identifying the target area, preparations for the start of actual drilling will take another few weeks, according to mission specialists. "Drilling is the most significant engineering task we've done since landing," says NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory MSL project manager Richard Cook. "We will interact with unknown surface terrain and it's the first time we've ever done that."

Initial targets for drilling in the rock feature, named John Klein for a now-deceased deputy project manager on the Curiosity rover, include a variety of objects such as fractured rock, veins and samples with concretions, or small, spherical concentrations of minerals. As both veins and concretions are geological indicators of the precipitation of minerals from water, "this is why we selected it for drilling," Grotzinger says. "Water went through these rocks and precipitated chemicals. It's the first time in this mission we've seen something that's not just an aqueous environment but also one which results in precipitation of minerals."

Commenting on the potential for contamination of the mineral samples by the parts of the Teflon making up seals within the drill assembly, Cook says "we've done a lot of work to understand if Teflon had an impact on the engineering capabilities of the instruments as Curiosity was on its way to Mars and we concluded it would not be the case. Teflon is not a concern [from an engineering perspective]." However, Cook acknowledges there are scientific implications. "While it had a noticeable impact, [the analysis teams] thought they could work around it, essentially. Teflon is a well-characterized substance, and so although it has potential [to contaminate a sample], that's not very likely since they know what Teflon will do."

The presence of polytetrafluroethylene (the chemical name for Teflon) and another potential contaminant from the drill, molybdenum disulfide, will be detected and taken into account by the Curiosity's Sample Analysis at Mars instrument, project scientists say.

NASA Curiosity rover to drill first Mars rock in strange terrain

Amina Chan - Los Angeles Times

The Curiosity rover will probably be wielding its drill for the first time on a veined rock on Mars within a couple of weeks, NASA scientists said Tuesday.

Using the drill would be a milestone for the Mars Science Laboratory mission, which has been testing each of the rover's suite of instruments on Martian rocks since landing on the Red Planet on Aug. 5.

"Drilling is in a sense really the most significant engineering thing that we've done since landing," mission project manager Richard Cook said at a briefing at Jet Propulsion Laboratory in La Canada Flintridge. "It's really the most difficult aspect of the surface mission, in that we're going to interact with this unknown Mars surface terrain."

The unknown terrain in question lies in an area called Yellowknife Bay, a depression so distinct from the rover's landing site in Gale Crater that "it's like we entered a whole different world," said mission lead scientist John Grotzinger.

The team "accepted a little bit of risk in driving to this destination, but this has been really exciting," he added, calling the area a "jackpot unit."

There, Curiosity's MastCam has snapped images of rocks veined with lighter mineral as well as concretions, or small spheres of concentrated minerals. Both of these look like the kind of mineral deposits that would have precipitated out of water, and provide some hints as to what the watery environment would have looked like, Grotzinger said.

"You put that together with the vein fills that look like they're made out of hydrated calcium sulfate, and basically these rocks were saturated with water," the Caltech geologist explained.

The rocks at the site were sedimentary rock – which meant they had come from other rocks breaking down and being moved elsewhere and then incorporated into new rocks, said Aileen Yingst, deputy principal investigator for the Mars Hand Lens Imager.

"Mars, at least in this location, was geologically active enough to have created such rocks, which is totally cool," she said.

The different types of rock that the scientists found were a sign of a complex geological history in the area, MastCam principal investigator Michael Malin said.

"Diversity is always a measure of the number of processes and the different types of materials, and this is a very diverse area," Malin said. "One of the reasons we're going slowly is we want to make sure we characterize that diversity."

The latest of Curiosity's instruments tried out was the wire-bristled dust removal tool, which scraped away the reddish covering of dust from a rock named Ekwir 1 last week.

As for the drill, the rock the scientists are set to bore in the coming weeks has been named John Klein, after a former deputy project manager for the mission who died in 2011.

NASA: Mars rover ready to start drilling

Dan Vergano - USA Today

NASA's Curiosity rover is ready to start drilling a "candy store" of Mars rocks, report mission scientists, looking for evidence of past watery habitable conditions on the Red Planet.

On its 158th Martian day, the $2.5 billion rover rests in the "Yellowknife Bay" basin inside Gale Crater on Mars, lined with layers of rock that may point to a watery ancient surface there. The nuclear-powered rover is a mobile lab designed to look for chemistry indicating habitability of Mars, past and present.

"We've let the scientists into a candy store," says Richard Cook of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., speaking at a Tuesday briefing.

Investigation of rock layers within the basin reveals veins of rock lacing the basin's sandstone floor, says mission science chief John Grotzinger of Caltech. Chemical analysis shows that the veins are made of calcium and sulfur left from water that once percolated through the rock. Other rock layers reveal the action of water currents piling up layers of sands in cross-bedded fashion at the site.

"Mars in this location was geologically active enough to create these rock layers, which is totally cool," says mission scientist R. Aileen Yingst of the Planetary Science Institute in Tucson.

Drilling should commence within two weeks at the Yellowknife site, revealing the chemistry of the water that once covered the locale and giving first indications of past habitable conditions there, notably signs of carbon compounds used in the chemistry of living things.

"When it comes to drilling, we are in a really scientifically sweet spot to do that," Grotzinger says. He says the rover team plans to investigate the base of a nearby mountain thought to be lined with clay layers also formed by water.

Scientists pick Martian rock on which to test Curiosity drill

James Dean - Florida Today

NASA's Curiosity rover is within two weeks of drilling into its first Martian rock, in a once-wet outcrop whose diversity of grains, veins and cracks has surprised scientists, mission managers said Tuesday.

"The scientists are ecstatic about the kinds of things that they're seeing in this area," said Richard Cook, project manager for the $2.5 billion Mars Science Laboratory mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

The rover will soon roll a short distance to a flat stretch of bedrock to test its drill, a critical tool in the two-year mission's effort to determine if Mars ever could have harbored microbial life.

Interesting features found there include fractures filled with pale mineral veins that indicate water percolated through the rocks, a variety of grain sizes apparently transported by water, and angled lines carved into rocks that suggest sediment flow.

"Basically, these rocks were saturated with water," said John Grotzinger, mission project scientist at the California Institute of Technology. "It could be that there were several phases."

The size of a small car, the six-wheeled rover is in an area called Yellowknife Bay, located down a shallow depression from its landing site in a dry riverbed a third of a mile away.

Curiosity launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Nov. 26, 2011, and landed last Aug. 6 in the Gale Crater near Mount Sharp.

The upcoming drilling exercise may represent the mission's toughest engineering challenge since landing.

"It's really the most difficult aspect of the surface mission, in that we're going to interact with this unknown Mars surface terrain," Cook said. "We're undoubtedly going to learn a lot about how to drill things on Mars, as it's the first time we've ever done that."

Curiosity's percussive drill can bore a hole two inches deep and about a half-inch wide. The first test will clean the drill and then deliver roughly half an aspirin tablet of powder to two different instruments for chemical analysis.

"The main goal of this is to try to assess this material in a very general way that will give us an appraisal of the habitability of this environment," said Grotzinger.

The mission team has named the outcrop targeted for drilling "John Klein," in tribute to a deputy mission manager who died in 2011.

Once the drilling is complete, Curiosity is expected to begin a months-long, four- to five-mile trek to the foothills of Mount Sharp, the mission's prime scientific destination.

"We're actively planning to hit the pike when we're done here," Grotzinger said.

Mars Rover Finds Intriguing New Evidence of Water
Unexpected mineral finds prompt scientists to decide to drill

Marc Kaufman -National Geographic News

The first drill sample ever collected on Mars will come from a rockbed shot through with unexpected veins of what appears to be the mineral gypsum.

Delighted members of the Curiosity science team announced Tuesday that the rover was now in a virtual "candy store" of scientific targets—the lowest point of Gale crater, called Yellowknife Bay, is filled with many different materials that could have been created only in the presence of water.

Project scientist John Grotzinger, of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, said during a press conference that the drill area has turned out "to be jackpot unit. Every place we drive exposes fractures and vein fills."

Mission scientists initially decided to visit the depression, a third of a mile from Curiosity's landing site, on a brief detour before heading to the large mountain at the middle of Gale Crater. But because of the richness of their recent finds, Grotzinger said it may be some months before they begin their trek to Mount Sharp.

The drilling, expected to start this month, will dig five holes about two inches (five centimeters) into bedrock the size of a throw rug and then feed the powder created to the rover's two chemistry labs for analysis.

The drill is the most complex device on the rover and is the last instrument to be used. Project Manager Richard Cook, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said that operating it posed the biggest mechanical challenge since Curiosity's high-drama landing.

A Watery Past?

That now-desiccated Mars once had a significant amount of surface water is now generally accepted, but every new discovery of when and where water was present is considered highly significant. The presence of surface water in its many possible forms—as a running stream, as a still lake, as ground water soaked into the Martian soil—all add to an increased possibility that the planet was once habitable.

And each piece of evidence supporting the presence of water brings the Curiosity mission closer to its formal goal—which is to determine whether Mars was once capable of supporting life.

Curiosity scientists have already concluded that a briskly moving river or stream once flowed near the Gale landing site.

The discovery of the mineral-filled veins within Yellowknife Bay rock fractures adds to the picture because those minerals can be deposited only in watery, underground conditions.

The Curiosity team has also examined Yellowknife Bay for sedimentary rocks with the rover's Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI). Scientists have found sandstone with grains up to about the size of a peppercorn, including one shaped like a flower bud that appears to gleam. Other nearby rocks are siltstone, with grains finer than powdered sugar. These are quite different from the pebbles and conglomerate rocks found in the landing area, but all these rocks are evidence of a watery past.

One of the primary reasons Curiosity scientists selected Gale crater as a landing site was because satellite images indicated that water-formed minerals were present near the base of Mount Sharp. Grotzinger said that the minerals' presence so close to the landing site, and some five miles from the mountain, is both a surprise and an opportunity.

The current site in Yellowknife Bay is so promising, Grotzinger said, that he would have been "thrilled" to find similar formations at the mission's prime destination at the base of Mount Sharp. Now the mission can look forward to the surprises to come at the mountain base while already having struck gold.

Curiosity Rover to Drill Mars Rock Once Soaked by Water

Mike Wall - Space.com

NASA's Mars rover Curiosity is preparing to drill into a Red Planet rock for the first time and delve deeper into a site that was exposed to liquid water long ago, scientists announced Tuesday.

Over the next two weeks, the 1-ton Curiosity rover will drill a rock in an outcrop that scientists have christened "John Klein." Evidence is strong that water flowed and percolated through the area in the distant past, researchers said.

"Basically, these rocks were saturated with water," Curiosity chief scientist John Grotzinger, of Caltech in Pasadena, told reporters during a teleconference.

Breaking out the drill

Curiosity landed inside Mars' huge Gale Crater on Aug. 5, kicking off a surface mission to determine if the area has ever been capable of supporting microbial life.

The $2.5 billion rover has spent much of its first five months on the Red Planet testing out its 10 science instruments and other gear, making sure everything is in good working order. The drill — which will allow Curiosity to bore 1 inch (2.5 centimeters) into Martian rock, deeper than any robot has gone before — is the last major tool to check out.

The mission team wanted to find a suitably intriguing site for the first drilling operation, and they say John Klein fits the bill. The outcrop, which was named after a former Curiosity deputy project manager who died in 2011, is part of a geologically diverse site with many water-related features.

For example, the area is shot through with light-colored mineral veins similar to the one spotted by Curiosity's smaller cousin Opportunity a year or so ago in another part of the Red Planet.

"On Earth, forming veins like these requires water circulating in fractures," Nicolas Mangold of the University of Nantes in France, a team member for Curiosity's ChemCam instrument, said in a statement.

Further, a nearby outcrop called Shaler harbors evidence of sediment transport. Some of Shaler's grains are too big to have been moved by wind, suggesting that liquid water pushed them along, researchers said. That's not terribly surprising, as Curiosity has already rolled through a streambed that once flowed with ankle-deep water in the ancient past.

The geological diversity of the John Klein area, and its potential to shed light on Mars' wetter and warmer past, have mission scientists excited.

"This is, I would guess, at least as complex a history for the involvement of water that we've seen anywhere on Mars so far," Grotzinger said. "The main goal of this [drilling operation] is to try to assess this material in a very general way that will give us an appraisal of the habitability of this environment."

Taking it slowly

Curiosity is just a few meters away from the John Klein outcrop at the moment. In the coming days, the rover team will select a particular section of the outcrop for drilling, and the first hole should be bored within two weeks or so, researchers said.

"It's really the most difficult aspect of the surface mission," said Curiosity project manager Richard Cook, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. "We're undoubtedly going to learn a lot about how to drill things on Mars, as it's the first time we've ever done that. And so we will probably go slowly."

Mission scientists have waited more than five months to try out the rover's drill on Mars, and they're eager to see what the tool can do.

"We're thrilled, and we can't wait to get drilling on this stuff," Grotzinger said.

END

Keep the shuttle flying

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Wednesday, January 16, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight (and Mars) News - January 16, 2013 and JSC Today

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