Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - February 15, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: February 15, 2013 7:36:14 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - February 15, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Friday everyone and have a great weekend.

 

 

 

Friday, February 15, 2013

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            Houston Technology Center Presents Tech Champs on March 8

2.            How to Access Online Journal Articles, Conference Papers or E-Books

3.            Badging Offices Closed Monday in Observance of Presidents' Day

4.            Save the Date: Feb. 28 - Learn More About Teleworking

5.            Safety and Health Calendar Featuring Children's Artwork Now in Cafés

6.            WSTF Remote Access - VPN Service Outage - Feb. 16

7.            This Weekend at Space Center Houston -- BMX PROS Trick Team

8.            AIAA-Houston Section Event Notifications

9.            AIAA-Houston Section February Dinner With CPAS

10.          System Safety Seminar ViTS: April 26, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Building 17, Room 2026

11.          Family Space Day on Feb. 23

________________________________________     QUOTE OF THE DAY

" I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow."

 

-- Woodrow Wilson

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1.            Houston Technology Center Presents Tech Champs on March 8

Join the leaders, decision makers and trend-setters of the technology community in the NASA-Clear Lake area and learn about Houston Technology Center's incubation and acceleration clients in the energy, life sciences, Information Technology and NASA/aerospace sectors.

Tech Champs is open to the community. Meetings provide a forum where professionals, innovators and entrepreneurs come together to influence the evolution of emerging technologies.

o             Friday, March 8, in the Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom

Light breakfast and networking - 7:30 to 7:45 a.m.

Program - 7:45 to 9 a.m.

To register for this event, click here.

To become a 2013 Tech Champs member, click here.

Event Date: Friday, March 8, 2013   Event Start Time:7:30 AM   Event End Time:9:00 AM

Event Location: Gilruth Center, Alamo Ballroom

 

Add to Calendar

 

Pat Kidwell x37156 http://www.houstontech.org/events/1091/

 

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2.            How to Access Online Journal Articles, Conference Papers or E-Books

Do you need access to important online journal articles, conference papers or e-books, but keep getting those annoying user login messages? Your JSC Library, also known as the Scientific and Technical Information Center (STIC), can get it for you via the Interlibrary Loan Services. Contact us, call 281-483-4245, fax 291-244-6624 or come by Building 30A, Room 1077, between 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday through Friday. We're here to help you with all your information research needs. Please visit the website for complete policy and procedures.

Access to this information is provided by JSC's Information Resources Directorate.

Scientific and Technical Information Center x34245 http://library.jsc.nasa.gov

 

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3.            Badging Offices Closed Monday in Observance of Presidents' Day

All badging offices will be closed Monday, Feb. 18, in observance of Presidents' Day. Normal working operations will resume Tuesday, Feb. 19, as listed below.

o             Building 110 - 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

o             Building 419 - 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.

o             Ellington Field - 7 to 11 a.m.

o             Sonny Carter Training Facility - 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tifanny Sowell x37447

 

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4.            Save the Date: Feb. 28 - Learn More About Teleworking

JSC's Information Resources Directorate has upcoming opportunities for you to learn all you ever wanted to know about teleworking. Several sessions will be held on Thursday, Feb. 28, and will be based on the type of device you use (PC, Macs, or tablets) and how much experience you have teleworking. Stay tuned to JSC Today next week for more information. For more on teleworking, visit the JSC IRD Telework Toolkit at: http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/infopedia/wiki%20pages/jsc%20telework%20toolkit.aspx

JSC IRD Outreach x41334 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx

 

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5.            Safety and Health Calendar Featuring Children's Artwork Now in Cafés

If you didn't receive a copy or would just like extras, you can pick up the children's artwork calendar in both JSC cafés in Buildings 3 and 11 until supplies run out. Look for the calendars in Building 11 at the information podium by the west-side door. In Building 3, they are located on the side tables by the chairs next to the coffee shop. Enjoy!

Rindy Carmichael x45078

 

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6.            WSTF Remote Access - VPN Service Outage - Feb. 16

The White Sands Test Facility (WSTF) Remote Access/VPN system will undergo maintenance on Saturday, Feb. 16, from 6 a.m. to 12 a.m. (MST). This outage will only affect WSTF team members. The WSTF VPN service will be unavailable while being upgraded to new equipment. Although the WSTF VPN will be unavailable, the JSC VPN service will be available as an alternate means of remote access to WSTF network resources. 

We apologize for the inconvenience and are working diligently to improve your VPN experience.  

For questions regarding this activity, please contact Jim Krupovage.

JSC IRD Outreach x41334 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/default.aspx

 

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7.            This Weekend at Space Center Houston -- BMX PROS Trick Team

Catch BIG AIR this holiday weekend at Space Center Houston with the BMX PROS Trick Team! Watch the pros reach for the sky as they make vertical leaps at speeds of over 20 mph. The show is free with admission. For details, go here.

Space Center Houston 281-244-2100

 

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8.            AIAA-Houston Section Event Notifications

If you would like to receive email notifications about current and upcoming events for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA)-Houston Section, please submit your name and email to Eryn Beisner. The information is free, a so membership fee is required.

Eryn Beisner x40212

 

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9.            AIAA-Houston Section February Dinner With CPAS

The AIAA-Houston Section invites you to save an evening for dinner and a discussion of the Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) with Leah Romero. Romero has participated in 10 CPAS drop tests as the lead analyst on the load-train predictions, which determine margins of safety for test support equipment. Currently she is the team lead for implementing the Flight Analysis and Simulation Tool and is co-authoring a paper discussing the cutting-edge statistical methods CPAS uses to define the parachute model for the 2013 AIAA ADS conference.

This AIAA-Houston dinner will be at the Gilruth, with doors opening at 5:30 p.m. on Thursday, Feb. 21. To RSVP and select dinner choice, please click here.

Hope to see you there!

Eryn Beisner x40212

 

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10.          System Safety Seminar ViTS: April 26, 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. - Building 17, Room 2026

This seminar serves to provide an overview of system safety origins, definitions, principles and practices. It includes a discussion of NASA requirements for both the engineering and management aspects of system safety and answers the questions: Why do we do system safety? What is system safety? How do we do system safety? What does it mean to me?

Engineering aspects will include a brief discussion of three typically used analytical techniques: Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA); Fault Tree Analysis (FTA); and Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA). This course will not prepare attendees to manage or perform system safety -- only to introduce them to the concepts. SATERN registration required. https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Polly Caison x41279

 

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11.          Family Space Day on Feb. 23

The Challenger Learning Center at the George Observatory is holding a Family Space Day on Saturday, Feb. 23, from about 3 to 8 p.m. For purchase are tickets to complete a 45-minute Challenger Center Mission to the Moon! Challenger Center mission tickets may be purchased for $10 per person online here. After enjoying a trip to space, stay for the evening and look at the night sky through our telescopes. The George Observatory is located in the heart of Brazos Bend State Park. Admission to the park is $7 for adults, and kids under 12 are free.

Event Date: Saturday, February 23, 2013   Event Start Time:3:00 PM   Event End Time:8:00 PM

Event Location: George Observatory at Brazos Bend State Park

 

Add to Calendar

 

Megan Hashier 281-226-4179 http://www.hmns.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=404&Ite...

 

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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:

·         11 am Central (Noon EST) – E34's Chris Hadfield with students at Univ of Waterloo, Ontario

·         1 pm Central (2 EST) – Asteroid L2012 DA-14 Fly By "live" coverage from JPL

 

Human Spaceflight News

Friday, February 15, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

NASA's sequestration plan would bring commercial crew to a halt

 

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

 

If budget sequestration goes into effect next month, NASA plans to enact a series of spending reductions that would effectively bring the agency's commercial crew program to a halt by the summer, and delay or cancel some science and technology missions, according to a letter released by a Senate committee Thursday. The letter from NASA administrator Charles Bolden to Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, dated February 5, was one of many from various federal agencies that Mikulski's committee released as part of a hearing on the effects budget sequestration would have on the government should the automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect as currently planned on March 1. Those cuts will not be distributed evenly across NASA's various programs. Exploration would see a cut of $332.2 million from the FY13 request. Commercial crew would bear the brunt of that cut. "After sequestration, NASA would not be able to fund milestones planned to be allocated in the fourth quarter of FY 2013 for Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap)," the letter states, including a number of reviews scheduled for Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and SpaceX.

 

Orbital Reschedule Antares Hot Fire, Reports Earnings

 

Peter de Selding - Space News

 

Orbital Sciences expects to make a second attempt at a "hot fire" test of the Antares rocket's first stage by Feb. 21 after a preliminary review of the aborted Feb. 13 test shows the issue will be easy to remedy, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said Feb. 14. A successful test would be followed by the demonstration flight of the Antares rocket in early April. A demonstration of cargo-delivery to the international space station with the Cygnus capsule could occur this summer under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services contract with NASA, Thompson said in a conference call with investors.

 

Orbital expects another hot fire attempt next week

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

The next hot fire attempt for the Antares rocket's first stage could come within a week, leading to the privately-developed launcher's first test flight in early April, the chief executive of Orbital Sciences said Thursday. "After a preliminary overnight review of the data from the hot fire test attempt on February 13, Orbital's Antares team has identified low pressurization levels of a 'nitrogen purge' of the aft engine compartment as the reason the Antares flight computer, acting as designed, aborted the test with about 1.5 seconds left in the countdown," the Dulles, Va.-based company said in a statement.

 

SpaceX's Falcon 9 is OK for ISS mission on March 1

ISS crew will be ready for second delivery mission

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

SpaceX remains on track to launch its next International Space Station resupply mission two weeks from today, NASA confirmed Thursday. A Falcon 9 rocket and an unmanned Dragon capsule are scheduled to blast off at 10:10 a.m. March 1 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The confirmation came after NASA and its international partners met to verify that the station and its six-person crew were ready for the Dragon's arrival, and that SpaceX also was ready for the mission.

 

Next Private Spacecraft Launch to Space Station Set for March 1

 

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

The next private cargo mission to the International Space Station is slated to blast off March 1, NASA announced yesterday. The unmanned Dragon capsule, built by California-based firm SpaceX, will launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:10 a.m. EST on March 1 and arrive at the orbiting lab a day later.

 

NASA, SpaceX Select March 1 for Next Cargo Resupply Services Flight

 

Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org

 

NASA and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced today that they are targeting March 1 for the next flight under the space agency's Commercial Resupply Services contract (making this mission CRS-2). Launch is currently slated to take place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:10 a.m. EST (9:10 a.m. CST). This will be the next cargo flight conducted by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) since the first CRS mission roared into the history books in October 2012.

 

The race for taxis, lifeboats and beyond in space

 

Allison Barrie - FoxNews.com

 

America is a giant leap closer to developing a new, made-in-the-USA spacecraft to launch astronauts into space once again. The Dragon capsule from Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) returned successfully from the first private cargo mission in Oct. 2012, making it a clear leader in the race to build a spacecraft suitable for humans. But oddsmakers are scrambling to revise the leaderboard: Lockheed Martin just announced it would join forces with Sierra Nevada to build the competition, the futuristic Dream Chaser.

 

NASA Demonstrates Robust Orion Parachute Recovery System

 

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

 

A simulator for NASA's four-person Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle has passed the eighth in a series of airborne drop tests, descending intact to the Arizona desert with one of three 116-ft.-wide nylon main parachutes intentionally disabled. The 21,000-lb. mock capsule was released Feb. 11 from a U.S. Air Force transport at 25,000 ft. above the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.

 

NASA gives Aerojet last advanced booster contract for the Space Launch System

 

Lee Roop – Huntsville Times

 

NASA has awarded Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., the last of four contracts designed to test concepts for the boosters that will lift future versions of its big new rocket now under development. The contract is worth $23.3 million. The new rocket and crew capsule combo is called the Space Launch System, and the booster part is being developed at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center. The first version of the rocket will use space shuttle main engines and solid-rocket boosters to leave Earth, but later and larger versions will get a new propulsion system.

 

NASA improves pee-drinking technology

 

Tyler Falk - SmartPlanet.com

 

If humans ever make it to Mars it will be the ultimate test in sustainability. The astronauts that make that first journey will have to set up a self-sustaining camp. And since Mars isn't exactly gushing with natural springs, conserving water will be especially vital. How will they do it? Wastewater recycling. Yes, that means — among other things — turning urine into drinking water. It's technology that's already being put to use by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. But for longer, lifetime missions, like a journey to Mars, the technology will need to be much more efficient. That's what NASA is continuing to develop.

 

Could We Lasso the Next Asteroid?

 

Irene Klotz – Discovery News

 

Rather than sending astronauts out to an asteroid -- the next step in the U.S. human spaceflight program -- a group of scientists wants to instead bring an asteroid back to Earth. Ideally, they'd like something similar but much smaller than asteroid 2012 DA14, which will soar closer to Earth at 2:24 p.m. EST Friday than any other known object of its size. "We're interested in learning how to bring back a 350- to 1,000-ton asteroid. This one is 140,000 to 150,000 tons," Paul Dimotakis, a professor of aeronautics and applied physics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., told Discovery News.

 

Russia, Kazakhstan may manage space base together

 

Peter Leonard - Associated Press

 

Russia may suspend its lease for some facilities at the Baikonur space complex in Kazakhstan, opening the way for its joint administration by the two countries, a senior Russian space official says. The launch pad for satellite-deploying Zenit rockets at the complex will be the first facility to be reviewed, Roscosmos deputy head Sergei Savelyev told the Ivzestia newspaper in an interview published Thursday. Baikonur is a sprawling complex in the remote south of the oil-rich Central Asian nation. It was the site of Yuri Gagarin's historic maiden flight to space in 1961 and holds 15 launch pads, including the one used by the Soyuz spacecraft, which remains the only transport available for astronauts — including American ones — traveling to the International Space Station.

 

Retired Porn Star Coco Brown to Become First Adult Actress in Space

Has been training with NASA for her flight

 

Jason Koebler - US News & World Report

 

Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. Sally Ride was the first woman in space. Dennis Tito was the first tourist in space. And sometime next year, the human race will eclipse another benchmark, with Coco Brown possibly becoming the first porn star in space. Brown made headlines earlier this year when Space Expedition Corporation, a German company, announced that the retired porn star had signed up to be on one of its first sub-orbital spaceflights in March 2014. Brown, who hasn't starred in an adult film since 2003, says she's quit the industry and is entirely focused on her mission. Brown has already completed a zero gravity flight and has met with NASA officials in Cape Canaveral. She has several more training missions coming up over the next few weeks. Since agreeing to take the trip, which costs $100,000, Brown says she may be in for more than she bargained for.

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COMPLETE STORIES

 

NASA's sequestration plan would bring commercial crew to a halt

 

Jeff Foust – SpacePolitics.com

 

If budget sequestration goes into effect next month, NASA plans to enact a series of spending reductions that would effectively bring the agency's commercial crew program to a halt by the summer, and delay or cancel some science and technology missions, according to a letter released by a Senate committee Thursday.

 

The letter from NASA administrator Charles Bolden to Senate Appropriations Committee chairwoman Barbara Mikulski, dated February 5, was one of many from various federal agencies that Mikulski's committee released as part of a hearing on the effects budget sequestration would have on the government should the automatic across-the-board cuts go into effect as currently planned on March 1.

 

Bolden, in the letter, said that the agency assumed that the current continuing resolution (CR), which funds the government at FY 2012 levels until March 27, would be extended through the rest of the fiscal year, and that the sequester would cut five percent from that level, or about nine percent from the remaining part of the fiscal year. That works out to a full-year budget of $16.985 billion, or $894 million below the CR level (and $726.7 million below the administration's FY2013 budget request.) By comparison, NASA was looking at a larger cut of $1.46 billion under the original sequestration plans released in September.

 

Those cuts will not be distributed evenly across NASA's various programs. Exploration would see a cut of $332.2 million from the FY13 request. Commercial crew would bear the brunt of that cut. "After sequestration, NASA would not be able to fund milestones planned to be allocated in the fourth quarter of FY 2013 for Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap)," the letter states, including a number of reviews scheduled for Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation, and SpaceX. "Overall availability of commercial crew transportation services would be significantly delayed, thereby extending our reliance on foreign providers for crew transportation to the International Space Station."

 

NASA would also cut $45 million from its exploration R&D efforts, delaying or canceling several research programs in this area. NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and Orion crew exploration vehicle would not be directly affected by the cuts.

 

Elsewhere, NASA would cut $251.7 million from the proposed $619.2 million for its construction account, affecting a number of agency construction projects, including ground facilities needed for SLS and Orion. NASA would cut $149.4 million from the requested $699 million for its space technology program, with potential effects ranging from several planned technology demonstration programs to a reduction in parabolic or suborbital flights in its Flight Opportunities program.

 

Science would get a $51.1 million cut from its requested $4.91 billion. That would result in potential delays or lower funding levels for new Explorer and Earth Venture class missions, and a reduction in funding of about 2% for research and analysis grants. Major ongoing programs, like NASA Mars exploration efforts and the James Webb Space Telescope, would not be affected by the cuts. Paul Hertz, head of NASA's astrophysics division, said during a NASA Advisory Committee astrophysics subcommittee telecon Thusday afternoon that he hasn't seen the letter outlining the agency's plans, but suggested one approach would be to delay the start of the next Explorer-class mission, slated to be announced this spring, until the beginning of fiscal year 2014.

 

The letter doesn't identify any cuts to NASA's space operations, education, or cross-agency support programs, suggesting that they would not participate in the cuts. In fact, the total cuts (relative to FY13) included in the letter, including the $7.3 million for aeronautics and $0.4 million for the office of the inspector general, sum to $792.1 million, more than the $726.7 million figure cited in the letter. The cause of that difference isn't immediately clear.

 

Orbital Reschedule Antares Hot Fire, Reports Earnings

 

Peter de Selding - Space News

 

Orbital Sciences expects to make a second attempt at a "hot fire" test of the Antares rocket's first stage by Feb. 21 after a preliminary review of the aborted Feb. 13 test shows the issue will be easy to remedy, Orbital Chief Executive David W. Thompson said Feb. 14.

 

A successful test would be followed by the demonstration flight of the Antares rocket in early April.

 

A demonstration of cargo-delivery to the international space station with the Cygnus capsule could occur this summer under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services contract with NASA, Thompson said in a conference call with investors.

 

That flight's successful completion would permit Orbital to conduct the first of eight scheduled trips to the station under a separate NASA contract, called Commercial Resupply Services, sometime this fall.

 

The Feb. 13 test was aborted 1.5 seconds before ignition when the stage's on-board computer detected low pressure in a nitrogen-purge tank. The countdown went smoothly until that moment, Thompson said.

 

He said Orbital's commercial telecommunications satellite product line, which reported a 7 percent operating-profit margin in 2012, will stay at around that level as the company invests in research and development of a new product.

 

The new GeoStar-3 product will offer power of between seven and eight kilowatts, compared to the current GeoStar-2 platform, which starts at five kilowatts.

 

Thompson said that by Orbital's count, 19 new geostationary-orbiting commercial telecommunications satellites were ordered in 2012. Four were in Orbital's weight class, meaning the lighter end of the market, and Orbital won two of these.

 

For 2013, Thompson said 17 to 20 satellites are likely to be ordered, with between four and six of them in Orbital's class. The company expects to book three of these, he said.

 

Orbital reported that revenue in 2012, at $1.44 billion, was up 7 percent from 2011, with operating income up 41 percent and was 7.8 percent of revenue.

 

Thompson said Orbital is slightly reducing its forecast for revenue and operating income for 2013 because of the cloudy outlook for the U.S. government's budget in the coming months, and because of milestone events in Orbital programs that could affect financial performance.

 

He said NASA's budget picture "is actually not bad," and is better than the U.S. Defense Department's budget outlook, with or without the threat of sequestration and automatic spending cuts that come with it.

 

Longer term, Thompson said, Orbital is comfortable with being a low-cost provider to the U.S. Defense Department, a company that is able to provide 80 percent of what competitors would offer for a military space program, at 40 to 50 percent of the cost.

 

Orbital expects another hot fire attempt next week

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

The next hot fire attempt for the Antares rocket's first stage could come within a week, leading to the privately-developed launcher's first test flight in early April, the chief executive of Orbital Sciences said Thursday.

 

"After a preliminary overnight review of the data from the hot fire test attempt on February 13, Orbital's Antares team has identified low pressurization levels of a 'nitrogen purge' of the aft engine compartment as the reason the Antares flight computer, acting as designed, aborted the test with about 1.5 seconds left in the countdown," the Dulles, Va.-based company said in a statement.

 

The company said all other systems functioned normally, both on the Antares first stage and the launch pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport at Wallops Island, Va.

 

"Based on a preliminary assessment on the cause of the scrub, it looks like the turnaround work to prepare for another test will be fairly straightforward," said David Thompson, Orbital's chairman and CEO, in a quarterly conference call Thursday with investment analysts. "I'm hopeful that we'll be ready for another try within a week."

 

The hot fire test will include a 29-second firing of the Antares first stage's two AJ26 engines. The kerosene-fueled engines will ramp up to 680,000 pounds of thrust, testing the integrity of the first stage, launch complex and the dual-engine configuration for the first time.

 

Following the hot fire, engineers will remove the Antares first stage from the seaside launch pad and return it to Orbital's horizontal integration facility, where a full-up two-stage Antares rocket is nearly ready for launch. The full-up Antares will roll out to the launch pad for the rocket's first test flight.

 

"A successful outcome of the hot fire test will clear the way for the program's next big milestone, the long-awaited first flight, which will use the second Antares vehicle," Thompson said. "Subject to completing pad refurbishment and vehicle checkout, we're planning to conduct the test flight in early April."

 

Orbital Sciences, with up to $288 million in funding from NASA, is developing the Antares rocket and the Cygnus spacecraft to deliver supplies to the International Space Station. NASA and Orbital have a $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services contract for eight operational robotic logistics missions through 2016.

 

Thompson said the second Antares flight could occur in June or July, assuming a successful outcome of the test launch, which will carry a dummy payload into orbit along with several small CubeSat satellites.

 

This summer's launch will send Orbital's first Cygnus spacecraft into orbit on a NASA-sponsored demonstration mission to the International Space Station.

 

If the Cygnus demo flight is successful, Orbital could begin its eight-mission operational resupply manifest in the fall, Thompson said.

 

Orbital Sciences and SpaceX were contracted by NASA in 2008 for eight and 12 cargo flights, respectively. SpaceX accomplished its first operational mission to the space station in October, and the next launch is scheduled for March 1.

 

SpaceX and Orbital Sciences are scheduled to complete their resupply missions in 2016, and NASA will need to procure further cargo missions to service the space station through at least 2020, the outpost's current targeted retirement date. Thompson said he expects negotiations for a follow-on Commercial Resupply Services contract to begin in 2014 to ensure enough manufacturing lead time to offer continuous cargo services.

 

SpaceX's Falcon 9 is OK for ISS mission on March 1

ISS crew will be ready for second delivery mission

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

SpaceX remains on track to launch its next International Space Station resupply mission two weeks from today, NASA confirmed Thursday.

 

A Falcon 9 rocket and an unmanned Dragon capsule are scheduled to blast off at 10:10 a.m. March 1 from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

 

The confirmation came after NASA and its international partners met to verify that the station and its six-person crew were ready for the Dragon's arrival, and that SpaceX also was ready for the mission.

 

"All parties were 'go,' " said Josh Byerly, a NASA spokesman at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

 

The flight will be SpaceX's second of 12 under a $1.6 billion NASA resupply contract, following a successful first operational flight last October.

 

It would be the third flight to the station by a Dragon, including a demonstration flight last May.

 

The Dragon will be packed with about 1,200 pounds of food, supplies and science experiments on the way up.

 

On March 2, station commander Kevin Ford and flight engineer Tom Marshburn plan to snare the Dragon with a robotic arm and berth it to the outpost's Harmony node roughly 250 miles above Earth.

 

The Dragon is expected to remain there until March 25, if everything stays on schedule.

 

The visit's duration is partly determined by an experiment flying up and down that must spend 24 days inside a station glove box.

 

The Dragon plans to return home with about 2,300 pounds of equipment and science samples, again splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of the Baja peninsula.

 

The launch is the first by a Falcon 9 since Oct. 7 when one of that rocket's nine first-stage engines shut down early.

The Dragon reached its intended orbit despite the problem, but a secondary communications satellite did not.

 

SpaceX and NASA have not released formal results from the engine investigation, but officials have said they are satisfied the problem has been studied thoroughly and is not a concern for the upcoming launch.

 

Next Private Spacecraft Launch to Space Station Set for March 1

 

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

The next private cargo mission to the International Space Station is slated to blast off March 1, NASA announced yesterday.

 

The unmanned Dragon capsule, built by California-based firm SpaceX, will launch from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 10:10 a.m. EST on March 1 and arrive at the orbiting lab a day later.

 

Dragon will carry about 1,200 pounds (544 kilograms) of supplies and scientific experiments to the station, NASA officials said. It will return to Earth on March 25, splashing down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California with about 2,300 pounds (1,043 kg) of experiment samples and equipment onboard.

 

The flight will be SpaceX's second contracted cargo mission to the station for NASA and third visit overall. Dragon first arrived at the orbiting lab on a historic test flight last May, then made its initial bona fide supply run this past October.

 

SpaceX holds a $1.6 billion deal with NASA to make 12 such flights with Dragon and its Falcon 9 rocket. The agency also signed a $1.9 billion contract with Virginia-based Orbital Sciences Corp. for eight cargo flights using the company's Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule. Orbital plans to fly a demonstration mission to the station later this year.

 

The contracts are part of a NASA effort to encourage American private spaceships to fill the cargo- and crew-carrying void left by the retirement of the space shuttle fleet in July 2011.

 

Dragon is in the running to ferry astronauts as well. In its latest round of commercial crew awards, NASA granted SpaceX funding to continue developing a manned version of Dragon. Boeing also got money for its CST-100 capsule, as did Sierra Nevada Corp. for its Dream Chaser space plane.

 

NASA hopes at least one of these vehicles is ready to fly astronauts to and from the space station by 2017. Until such homegrown private spaceships come online, the United States is dependent on Russian Soyuz spacecraft to provide this orbital taxi service.

 

NASA is inviting 50 social media users to attend the March 1 launch; you can register here: http://www.nasa.gov/social

 

The deadline for international applicants is 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) Friday (Feb. 15); for U.S. citizens, it's exactly one week later.

 

NASA, SpaceX Select March 1 for Next Cargo Resupply Services Flight

 

Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.org

 

NASA and Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) announced today that they are targeting March 1 for the next flight under the space agency's Commercial Resupply Services contract (making this mission CRS-2). Launch is currently slated to take place from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Space Launch Complex 40 at 10:10 a.m. EST (9:10 a.m. CST).

 

This will be the next cargo flight conducted by SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS) since the first CRS mission roared into the history books in October 2012. Not everything went as smoothly as NASA and SpaceX may have liked with CRS-1, but the issues were apparently resolved in time for next month's launch.

 

This upcoming mission will see approximately 1,200 lbs (544 kilograms) delivered to the ISS; this will include experiments that are to be conducted on the orbiting laboratory. If all goes according to plan, the mission will conclude March 25 with Dragon gently splashing down in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of Baja, Calif. It, however, will not be empty. It will carry some 2,300 lbs (1,043 kilograms) of samples and equipment back down to Earth.

 

Dragon—unlike the Russian Progress, Japanese HTV, and European ATV—is not incinerated upon re-entry. Although not capable of touching down safely on land, and far smaller than the shuttle (two Dragon spacecraft could fit inside the now-retired space plane's payload bay), the Dragon is promoted as being partially reusable. As with most major events held by NASA, the space agency is inviting 50 enthusiasts of various social media outlets—including, but not limited to, Twitter, Google+, and Facebook—for one of the agency's "Socials." Those selected will be chosen by NASA on a case-by-case basis and treated the same as actual journalists. To be accepted for this event, social media followers with U.S. citizenship need to apply by 5 p.m. EST, Feb. 22. For social media fans who are not U.S. residents, this deadline is 5 p.m. EST, Feb. 15.

 

Under the CRS contract that SpaceX has with NASA, the Hawthorne, Calif.-based firm must launch a total of 12 resupply flights to the ISS (11 now). SpaceX is actually doing pretty good, as it requested and received permission to condense elements of the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services contract, thus reducing the amount of missions that SpaceX had to fly before moving on to CRS.

 

The NewSpace firm has also managed to sign a large number of contracts with companies wanting to use the Falcon 9 to send their payloads into orbit. Moreover, SpaceX currently plans to launch the first of its Falcon Heavy rockets this year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, with the first launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station either in 2013 or 2014.

 

The race for taxis, lifeboats and beyond in space

 

Allison Barrie - FoxNews.com

 

America is a giant leap closer to developing a new, made-in-the-USA spacecraft to launch astronauts into space once again.

 

The Dragon capsule from Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) returned successfully from the first private cargo mission in Oct. 2012, making it a clear leader in the race to build a spacecraft suitable for humans. But oddsmakers are scrambling to revise the leaderboard: Lockheed Martin just announced it would join forces with Sierra Nevada to build the competition, the futuristic Dream Chaser.

 

The Dream Chaser is the only spacecraft with wings. It can carry as many as seven astronauts to space and is designed to land on a conventional runway.  Along with the CST-100 capsule from Boeing, these three shuttles are locked in a race to bring manned spaceflight back to the U.S.

 

Space dominance is essential to national security, experts agree.

 

Lockheed Martin's history should help. The company has extensive experience building spacecraft and high-performance aircraft composite structures – the company will be building Dream Chaser's vehicle composite structure.

 

In this competition, formally known as the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) initiative, NASA partners with the private sector to leverage the Agency's five decades of human spaceflight experience against private sector experience and innovation.

 

Since the launch of this challenge at the close of the space shuttle program, American companies have been competing to restore human spaceflight capabilities to the U.S. with a safe, reliable and cost-effective means into and out of low-Earth orbit for government and commercial customers – in a way, a space taxi.

 

With the end of the Space Shuttle program, the U.S. lost its own transportation capabilities to the International Space Station. Once CCP is achieved, Americans will no longer have to rely on the expensive lift from Russia's Soyuz rockets.

 

Space Taxi or Lifeboat

 

The teams are competing to create a system that will deliver equipment and a minimum of four astronauts to the space station and return them to Earth at least twice a year.

 

In the event of an emergency on the launch pad, during launch or ascent, the competing teams must have solutions to assure crew safety.

 

If there is an emergency while in space, the spacecraft must be able to serve as a 24-hour safe haven, sort of like a space lifeboat.  It also needs to be able to stay docked to the station for at least 210 days.

 

Of the three designs, NASA will ultimately choose its favorite for ferrying American astronauts to and from the International Space Station, but the end result could be more than one spacecraft to provide safe, reliable and less expensive space access.

 

Roadmap to Space

 

These three companies are now beginning the first phase of the certification efforts to confirm their commercial spacecraft is safe to carry crews to the station.

 

During Phase 1 -- which is expected to last about 15 months from Jan. 22, 2013, through May 30, 2014 -- NASA and the companies will establish that each spacecraft, launch vehicle, ground operations and mission control center meet flight safety and performance requirements.

 

Phase 2 next year will mark the start of final development, building, verifying and validating the systems are ready to fly astronauts by 2017.

 

Dream Chaser, for example, completed its helicopter drop test in late 2012 and has a suborbital test scheduled for this year and an orbital test in 2014. SpaceX is planning for a pad abort test and in-flight abort test, while Boeing will be verifying its spacecraft and launch vehicle compatibility.

 

Moon and Beyond

 

Providing the CCP program is successful, NASA will then become a customer using the new spacecraft to transport American flight crew to the International Space Station to continue their critical science research.

 

While NASA is working with the private sector for low-Earth orbit International Space Station cargo re-supply and crew transportation, NASA has retained responsibility for travel beyond the moon.

 

As the lead in deep-space exploration, the agency is developing the Orion spacecraft crew capsule and the heavy lift rocket Space Launch System (SLS).

 

SLS and Orion will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit and make new exploration missions of the solar system possible, the agency says.

 

NASA Demonstrates Robust Orion Parachute Recovery System

 

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

 

A simulator for NASA's four-person Orion/Multipurpose Crew Vehicle has passed the eighth in a series of airborne drop tests, descending intact to the Arizona desert with one of three 116-ft.-wide nylon main parachutes intentionally disabled.

 

The 21,000-lb. mock capsule was released Feb. 11 from a U.S. Air Force transport at 25,000 ft. above the U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground.

 

The capsule, a cornerstone of NASA's efforts to develop a post-Apollo human deep-space exploration capability, will be equipped with three parachutes and two drogues. But it will be capable of descending into the Pacific Ocean upon return from missions to the Moon, asteroids and Mars with just two mains and a single drogue inflating.

 

The capsule descended safely onto the proving grounds in December with one of the smaller drogues intentionally disabled. More testing is scheduled for May. The drop tests are part of preparations for an unpiloted flight test of an Orion capsule in 2014, which will expose the spacecraft's heat shielding and parachute recovery system to re-entry velocities exceeding 20,000 mph.

 

Exploration Flight Test-1 will start with a launch atop a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. The flight will boost the capsule to an altitude of at least 3,600 mi. for the re-entry exercise.

 

"We never intend for a parachute system to fail, but we've proven that if it happens, the system is robust enough for our crews to make it to the ground safely," said Chris Johnson, a NASA project manager for the parachute system, in a post-drop statement.

 

In 2010, President Barack Obama directed NASA to prepare for a human mission to an asteroid by 2025 and crewed flight to the Martian environs a decade later.

 

NASA gives Aerojet last advanced booster contract for the Space Launch System

 

Lee Roop – Huntsville Times

 

NASA has awarded Aerojet of Sacramento, Calif., the last of four contracts designed to test concepts for the boosters that will lift future versions of its big new rocket now under development. The contract is worth $23.3 million.

 

The new rocket and crew capsule combo is called the Space Launch System, and the booster part is being developed at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center. The first version of the rocket will use space shuttle main engines and solid-rocket boosters to leave Earth, but later and larger versions will get a new propulsion system.

 

Aerojet will build and test a liquid oxygen and kerosene engine designed to deliver 555,000 pounds of thrust for the big rocket. Three other companies - ATK Launch Systems Inc. of Brigham City, Utah; Dynetics Inc. of Huntsville; and Northrop Grumman Corp. Aerospace Systems of Redondo Beach, Calif. are testing other booster ideas. Dynetics' idea is an upgraded version of the Saturn V engine that lifted Apollo astronauts to the moon.

 

Aerojet has an office in Huntsville, and the Southeast space programs director for the company, Gene Goldman, told a commercial space conference in Huntsville this week that the company is looking to grow. There is no immediate word,  however, on whether the new contract will add to Aerojet's payroll in Huntsville.

 

NASA improves pee-drinking technology

 

Tyler Falk - SmartPlanet.com

 

If humans ever make it to Mars it will be the ultimate test in sustainability. The astronauts that make that first journey will have to set up a self-sustaining camp. And since Mars isn't exactly gushing with natural springs, conserving water will be especially vital.

 

How will they do it? Wastewater recycling. Yes, that means — among other things — turning urine into drinking water. It's technology that's already being put to use by astronauts aboard the International Space Station. But for longer, lifetime missions, like a journey to Mars, the technology will need to be much more efficient. That's what NASA is continuing to develop.

 

"We are very excited about the advanced water processor technology development work being done at NASA Ames," said Steve Gaddis, manager for NASA's Game Changing Development Program, in a statement. " We're anticipating a system capable of treating all exploration wastewater—including hygiene and laundry—at a recovery rate of greater than 95 percent."

 

To increase the recovery rate, NASA built on the idea of "forward osmosis" (which NASA described to SmartPlanet in 2011 in this video) so that dissolved solids are removed from wastewater. It also developed a more advanced water processor to better destroy organic contaminates. This latest model of wastewater recycling, known as the "first generation forward osmosis secondary treatment system" was recently completed and is now being tested at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

 

But space isn't the only place this technology is being used. At NASA's Sustainability Base, what it calls "one of the greenest buildings in the federal government," a forward-osmosis wastewater recycling system was installed at the base and is expected to help the building reduce it's water use by 90 percent.

 

Mars may seem far away, but it's driving innovation right here on Earth.

 

Could We Lasso the Next Asteroid?

 

Irene Klotz – Discovery News

 

Rather than sending astronauts out to an asteroid -- the next step in the U.S. human spaceflight program -- a group of scientists wants to instead bring an asteroid back to Earth.

 

Ideally, they'd like something similar but much smaller than asteroid 2012 DA14, which will soar closer to Earth at 2:24 p.m. EST Friday than any other known object of its size.

 

"We're interested in learning how to bring back a 350- to 1,000-ton asteroid. This one is 140,000 to 150,000 tons," Paul Dimotakis, a professor of aeronautics and applied physics at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., told Discovery News.

 

The idea is not to actually land an asteroid on the planet's surface, but to put one into orbit around the Earth or the moon and then send astronauts or robots to retrieve samples.

 

For now, the show-stopper isn't technology, it's finding a suitable target.

 

"Things that are that tiny are very hard to see. Their orbits are very close to that of the Earth," Dimotakis said.

 

DA14 is expected to pass about 17,200 miles above Earth's surface, said NASA astronomer Donald Yeomans, with the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

 

That's the closest approach of any known object of its size, but it likely won't be the last.

 

Only about 10 percent of the estimated 100,000 objects that fly near Earth have been found, a situation Dimotakis likens to walking across a busy highway where only one in 10 cars have their headlights on.

 

Asteroid DA14, for example, was only discovered last year, and it was found serendipitously by a group of amateur astronomers.

 

"This is a shot across the bow," Dimotakis said. "It illustrates the challenge of the observation campaign which is now in progress."

 

"It's a good thing it's not hitting us, because truth be told there's nothing we could do about it except possibly evacuate, which is not going to be easy given the uncertainty about where the impact would take place. We would essentially take the hit," Dimotakis said.

 

Whether for security, science or potential commercial mining operations, the first step is to find the asteroids that swarm around Earth. That could begin by re-searching archived digital images from telescopes, such as Caltech's Palomar Observatory.

 

"We can scan what is already on the record, then if we discover anything, we can set up software controls so if something is detected it can be tracked in real time," Dimotakis said.

 

Though DA14 is about 45 meters in diameter, it is too dim to be seen without a telescope or binoculars. NASA plans a half-hour broadcast on NASA Television and on its website, beginning at 2 p.m. EST, which will include near real-time views of the asteroid from observatories in Australia, weather permitting.

 

The Slooh space camera plans a webcast on Slooh.com beginning at 9 p.m. EST that incorporates views from observatories on the Canary Islands and in Arizona.

 

Russia, Kazakhstan may manage space base together

 

Peter Leonard - Associated Press

 

Russia may suspend its lease for some facilities at the Baikonur space complex in Kazakhstan, opening the way for its joint administration by the two countries, a senior Russian space official says.

 

The launch pad for satellite-deploying Zenit rockets at the complex will be the first facility to be reviewed, Roscosmos deputy head Sergei Savelyev told the Ivzestia newspaper in an interview published Thursday.

 

Baikonur is a sprawling complex in the remote south of the oil-rich Central Asian nation. It was the site of Yuri Gagarin's historic maiden flight to space in 1961 and holds 15 launch pads, including the one used by the Soyuz spacecraft, which remains the only transport available for astronauts — including American ones — traveling to the International Space Station.

 

Statements from Kazakhstan about the complex had provoked speculation that it was seeking higher rental payments, but officials seem mainly intent on expanding the country's own space industry.

 

Russia currently pays Kazakhstan $115 million annually to use the Soviet-built cosmodrome under a deal that expires in 2050. Russia spends $160 million per year operating the complex.

 

"I want to stress that there is no talk of Russia leaving Baikonur. New forms of cooperation are being worked upon," Savelyev told the Moscow-based daily.

 

While taking over partial management of facilities, Kazakhstan also wants training for its own space industry technicians, Savelyev said.

 

Roscosmos did not immediately respond to AP requests for more information.

 

Russia has bristled over what it perceives as obstructionism from Kazakhstan over Baikonur. Kazakhstan last year announced that it would allow no more than 12 launches in 2013 of the heavy-load Proton vehicle, less than the 14 hoped for by Russia. The limitation represents a grave threat to Russia's satellite-launching business.

 

"We asked them to reconsider the parameters laid out in the government decree of Dec. 28," Savelyev said. "Our partners in Kazakhstan are meeting us halfway."

 

Savelyev said officials from both governments will meet in March to work on a roadmap for future cooperation that would culminate with a new arrangement on Baikonur.

 

Kazakhstan space agency chief Talgat Musabayev laid out his country's vision in a meeting on Wednesday.

 

"By 2030, Kazakhstan should broaden its niche in the global space market and bring a number of ongoing projects to their logical conclusions," Musabayev said.

 

A keystone of those plans is the creation of the Bayterek launch pad at Baikonur. The slow progress and the spiraling costs of that operation have tested relations between the two countries.

 

Bayterek was intended to be used with the Angara booster rocket currently under development in Russia. But Moscow has indicated that its own Vostochny space complex in the Far East, due to be completed in 2018, could be used for the Angara instead.

 

Retired Porn Star Coco Brown to Become First Adult Actress in Space

Has been training with NASA for her flight

 

Jason Koebler - US News & World Report

 

Yuri Gagarin was the first man in space. Sally Ride was the first woman in space. Dennis Tito was the first tourist in space. And sometime next year, the human race will eclipse another benchmark, with Coco Brown possibly becoming the first porn star in space.

 

Brown made headlines earlier this year when Space Expedition Corporation, a German company, announced that the retired porn star had signed up to be on one of its first sub-orbital spaceflights in March 2014. Brown, who hasn't starred in an adult film since 2003, says she's quit the industry and is entirely focused on her mission.

 

"Performing in space isn't something I ever thought about when I was deciding to do this. I just thought, 'Oh my gosh, this is something really cool.' I didn't think 'I'm going to try to have sex in space or perform in space,'" she says.

 

Brown says the opportunity arose when she was invited to a "space lunch" in Berlin, but she quickly discovered that the meeting was being held to discuss the possibility of space tourism.

 

"I thought they were going to be talking about the universe or something with astronomy or whatever, but then they started talking about flights to space," she says. "I spent four months deciding whether or not I wanted to do this. The company called me a few times and finally I decided to do it."

 

Brown has already completed a zero gravity flight and has met with NASA officials in Cape Canaveral. She has several more training missions coming up over the next few weeks. Since agreeing to take the trip, which costs $100,000, Brown says she may be in for more than she bargained for.

 

"I'm not worried about the fact of actually going to space, but when we come back, NASA wants to do a lot of observations and studies and things," she says. "We're some of the first people who are going to space without a specific job to do, so they were telling us all these [emergency contingency plans] and things like that, that made me wonder, 'Why are they telling us this stuff?' That kind of thing makes me worry."

 

Because she hasn't performed in a decade, Brown says she wasn't ready for the media blitz that has followed the announcement. Perhaps predictably, a lot of media focus has been put on whether she'll make the world's first porno movie filmed in space. That, she says, depends on what type of space suit she's given. "They're always giving us a new suit—I assume the one we use to go to space will be different. I haven't asked about a special suit," she says.

 

Despite the attention, she says she's focused on being the best astronaut she can be.

 

"I haven't done a movie since 2003, so when I decided to do this, the thought of performing in space didn't even cross my mind. I have nothing against performing and would do it if the right offer comes along," she says. "But now, my job is to train to be an astronaut."

 

END