Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - March 12, 2013 and JSC Today

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: March 12, 2013 6:23:44 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - March 12, 2013 and JSC Today

 

 

 

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

 

JSC TODAY HEADLINES

1.            POWER of One Winners Announced

2.            This Week at Starport

3.            NASA Night at the Houston Aeros

4.            Celebrate Mathematics and Engineering at JSC With Pi Day

5.            NASA's Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing Featured at TopCoder Roadshow

6.            Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Today

7.            JSC CSF -- Safety and Health Excellence Awards Presentation

8.            White Sands Test Facility: See the Space Station

9.            JSC's Year-Long Career Exploration Program (CEP) Student Internship

10.          Applications Being Accepted for Scholarship

11.          Fly Reduced Gravity

12.          Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v4.0

13.          Space Available -- Intro to Inclusion and Innovation -- March 25 and 26

14.          Toxic and Hazardous Substance (Asbestos and Cadmium) ViTS: April 8

15.          Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment ViTS: April 12

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

________________________________________     NASA FACT

" Several studies traveling to station aboard the second SpaceX Dragon involve a small flowering plant called thale cress, or Arabidopsis thaliana, which is essentially the lab mouse of plant research."

________________________________________

1.            POWER of One Winners Announced

Congratulations to JSC's newest POWER of One Winners:

GOLD: Roger A. Galpin - YI

SILVER: Kristy L. Medina - IS

SILVER: Sundy L. Van Hauen - LF

The POWER of One award was established to award and recognize JSC employees for their exemplary performance and direct contributions to either their organization, JSC or NASA at the agency level. Congratulations and thank you for all your hard work! If you would like to nominate someone for POWER of One Award, click here.

Jessica Ocampo 281-792-7804 http://powerofone.jsc.nasa.gov

 

[top]

2.            This Week at Starport

Don't forget to get your children's tickets to our big Spring Fling, which is happening on March 23. Tickets are on sale for ages 18 months to 12 years old in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops until this Friday! There will be tons of fun for the kids, plus shopping at our flea market and craft fair and a crawfish boil.

Spots are filling fast for the Sixth Annual NASA Golf Tournament! Get your registration in now to ensure your spot. Proceeds benefit the NASA Exchange Scholarship Fund.

Sam's Club will be in the Starport Cafés Thursday and Friday from 10:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. to discuss membership options. Receive a gift card on new memberships or renewals. Cash or check only for membership purchases.

Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

 

[top]

3.            NASA Night at the Houston Aeros

The Houston Aeros invite NASA employees and guests to Toyota Center to watch the Aeros take on the Grand Rapids Griffins on Friday, March 29.

Families can get autographs from hockey-playing astronauts Lee Archambault and Mario Runco, who will drop the puck for the ceremonial opening faceoff at 7:05 p.m. Mascots Chilly and Cosmo will be on hand for pictures, too.

Employees and their guests can purchase discounted corner tickets for only $20 (normally $32 the day of game). Discounted parking is also available in the Toyota Tundra parking garage attached to Toyota Center for only $7.

To order tickets, go here, or call/email Josh Young, Aeros director of Special Events, at 713-361-7937.

Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/Events/

 

[top]

4.            Celebrate Mathematics and Engineering at JSC With Pi Day

If you struggle with stakeholders, recommend requirements, value verification or inspire integration, you just might be a system engineer (regardless of your title).

Come celebrate Pi Day and join similar professionals in systems engineering for the INCOSE Texas Gulf Coast Chapter Pi Day social. INCOSE is the International Council on Systems Engineering and seeks to improve the professional knowledge of systems engineers.

We'll meet on the deck at Sam's Boat (3101 NASA Parkway, Seabrook) on March 14 from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

Please contact Ben Edwards if you have any questions.

Larry Spratlin 281-461-5218

 

[top]

5.            NASA's Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing Featured at TopCoder Roadshow

Dr. Jeffrey Davis, Human Health and Performance director, will make a presentation on Collaboration and Open Innovation at NASA as part of the TopCoder Roadshow on March 12. TopCoder, who supports the NASA Tournament Lab through NASA's contract with Harvard Business School, will be hosting a free event at the Gilruth Center focused on "Open Innovation and Crowdsourcing." NASA is also featured as part of Harvard professor Dr. Karim Lakhani's presentation on "The Crowd as an Innovation Partner." For more information and to register for the event, click here.

Event Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2013   Event Start Time:8:30 AM   Event End Time:2:00 PM

Event Location: Gilruth Center

 

Add to Calendar

 

Lynn Buquo x34716 http://sa.jsc.nasa.gov

 

[top]

6.            Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting Today

"Listen and learn" is the slogan Al-Anon members use to adapt to the changes that life beings our way. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who work or live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet today, March 12, in Building 32, Room 146, from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Visitors are welcome.

Event Date: Tuesday, March 12, 2013   Event Start Time:11:00 AM   Event End Time:11:45 AM

Event Location: Building 32, room 146

 

Add to Calendar

 

Employee Assistance Program x36130 http://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/EAP/Pages/default.aspx

 

[top]

7.            JSC CSF -- Safety and Health Excellence Awards Presentation

The JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum (CSF) will meet on Tuesday, March 19, from 9 to 11 a.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. At this meeting will be the presentation of the JSC CSF Safety and Health Excellence Awards and the Innovation Awards for 2012. Refreshments, sponsored by Jacobs Technology, will be provided after the award presentations.

For more information on this special event, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012, or go to the JSC Contractor Safety Forum website.

Event Date: Tuesday, March 19, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM

Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

 

Add to Calendar

 

Patricia Farrell 281-335-2012

 

[top]

8.            White Sands Test Facility: See the Space Station

Viewers in the White Sands Test Facility area will be able to see the International Space Station this week.

Wednesday, March 13, 6:51 a.m. (Duration: 6 minutes)

Path: 10 degrees above WSW to 11 degrees above NE

Maximum elevation: 53 degrees

Thursday, March 14, 6:01 a.m. (Duration: 3 minutes)

Path: 32 degrees above SSW to 20 degrees above NE

Maximum elevation: 66 degrees

The International Space Station Trajectory Operations Group provides updates via JSC Today for visible station passes at least two minutes in duration and 25 degrees in elevation. Other opportunities, including those with shorter durations and lower elevations or from other ground locations, are available at the website below.

Joe Pascucci x31695 http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/realdata/sightings/cities/view.cgi?country=U...

 

[top]

9.            JSC's Year-Long Career Exploration Program (CEP) Student Internship

CEP is accepting high school and college student applications for the 2013-2014 internship program. Students interested in science, technology, engineering, math or business fields should apply. High school students must apply through their school's Cooperative and Technical Education (CTE) teacher, and college students must apply online. Selected students will work 20 hours a week at JSC during their senior year in high school or while enrolled full-time in college. Internship dates are Sept. 3, 2013, through July 31, 2014. The application deadline is March 29. Visit the website for additional program details and eligibility requirements.

CEP is JSC's renowned internship program that seeks to meet NASA's mission by developing the critical pool of talented and diverse individuals who will make up the future leaders of our nation's and NASA's workforce.

The call-out for JSC mentors to submit intern requests for year-long interns will follow shortly.

Carolyn Snyder x34719 http://www.cep.usra.edu

 

[top]

10.          Applications Being Accepted for Scholarship

The NASA College Scholarship Program will award multiple scholarships agencywide to qualified dependents of NASA civil servant employees. The scholarship recipients must pursue a course of study leading to an undergraduate degree in science or engineering from an accredited college or university in the United States. Applications are available online.

The application deadline is March 31.

Amanda Gaspard x31387

 

[top]

11.          Fly Reduced Gravity

The Reduced Gravity Office and the Minority University Research and Education Program at JSC is looking for mentors at ALL NASA centers to submit projects. This is a fantastic opportunity for mentors to develop an experiment for reduced-gravity flight, and then fly with the experiment and the minority-serving university team they will work with. University teams will apply to each of the projects collected from your center's mentors, and 14 teams will be selected. We are hoping to spread the selected projects out across all of the mission directorates, so we need proposals from ALL centers. The deadline is March 13.

For more information, contact Suzanne Foxworth.

Visit our website.

Event Date: Friday, November 8, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:5:00 PM

Event Location: Ellington Field

 

Add to Calendar

 

Suzanne Foxworth x37185 https://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/murep/index.cfm

 

[top]

12.          Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v4.0

The JSC Chief Knowledge Officer and the Engineering Directorate are pleased to announce the fourth release of SKC. Changes since last release:

o             Added Process Control, Case Studies and Element Hazard Reports page

o             Changed image rotator to use a standard aspect ratio

o             Added 26,000 files to Shuttle Records section and to the search index

o             Updated the SSPWeb content from the Production SSPWeb site

o             Modified the SSPWeb Loads Panel page to provide a better historical reference

o             Fixed the SSPWeb MO page to utilize the original custom site navigation

SSPWeb will be taken completely offline on March 29 and will no longer be available. To date, 1.05 TB of Space Shuttle Program knowledge has been captured. If you are aware of data that still needs to be captured, contact Howard Wagner or Brent Fontenot. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation and give us your comments and thoughts.

Brent J. Fontenot x36456 https://skc.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx

 

[top]

13.          Space Available -- Intro to Inclusion and Innovation -- March 25 and 26

Register today!

Join Dr. Steve Robbins at the Gilruth Center for a one-day Introduction to Inclusion and Innovation session. Behind the science of unintentional intolerance is something called "cognitive dissonance."  Robbins explains this well-known scientific term with funny anecdotes, memorable stories and insightful commentary.

Dates: (Please choose one session)

Monday, March 25 (SATERN ID 66955)

Tuesday, March 26 (SATERN ID 66954)

Time: 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Location: Gilruth Center Alamo Ballroom

Target audience: All JSC civil servants and contractors

Diane Kutchinski x46490

 

[top]

14.          Toxic and Hazardous Substance (Asbestos and Cadmium) ViTS: April 8

SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0073: Toxic and Hazardous Substances (Asbestos and Cadmium)

This two-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) CFR 1926, Subpart C- 1926.1101 - Requirements for OSHA, General Safety and Health Provisions, Safety Training and Education. During the course, the student will receive an overview of those topics needed to work safely; exposure assessments and monitoring; understanding permissible exposure limits (PEL); respiratory protection; protective clothing; and respiratory protection. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit.

Use this direct link for registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

[top]

15.          Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment ViTS: April 12

SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0067, Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment

This three-hour course is based on Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) CFR 1926.95 through 1926.107 of the construction industry regulations, Subpart E, Personal Protective and Life Saving Equipment. During the course, the student will become familiar with the 1926.95 through 1926.107 regulations criteria for personal protective requirements in construction, and will receive an overview of those topics needed to apply the proper personal protection equipment. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit.

Use this direct link for registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Shirley Robinson x41284

 

[top]

16.          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

 

[top]

 

________________________________________

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:

·         9 am Central (10 EDT) – E34's Kevin Ford, Tom Marshburn & Chris Hadfield with CNN

·         Noon Central (1 EDT) – NASA News Conference on Curiosity Rover Mars Rock Analysis

 

Human Spaceflight News

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

House NASA panel lists budget priorities, but not everyone backs SLS

 

Lee Roop – Huntsville Times

 

The House panel overseeing NASA has endorsed funding for the big new rocket being developed in Huntsville, Alabama, but it isn't unanimous. Among the dissenters is the committee's vice-chairman, who thinks the Space Launch System is unaffordable. U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, submitted the committee's views on NASA's 2014 budget to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on March 1. President Obama has not released his request for NASA in 2014 yet. Smith noted that NASA is currently pursuing two tracks to get American astronauts back into space aboard American spacecraft. The first is the agency's commercial space program to fund companies such as SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada as they develop rockets capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The second is the Space Launch System, which is being developed in Huntsville as an evolvable system leading to a rocket big enough to carry astronauts to deep-space destinations such as Mars.

 

NASA 2013 Budget Updates

 

Jim Hillhouse – AmericaSpace.org

 

Introduced by House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers on March 4, H.R. 933: "Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations" was passed by the House on March 6. The goal of this appropriations bill was to fund the government, including NASA, through September of this year. For NASA, H.R. 933 represents good news and better news. For one, it offers something of a reprieve for NASA's commercial crew program. For the Space Launch System, the bill represents a significant budget increase. Rogers' Senate counterpart, Barbara Mikulski, is working on a larger budget proposal that would add full-year budgets for four more Cabinet departments as well as major science and space agencies. Mikulski was reportedly to file her appropriations bill Monday, March 11, with a vote by end of week.

 

NASA Launches Space Radiation Challenge for Students

 

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

The danger of space radiation is one of the biggest obstacles to the manned exploration of deep space, and NASA is hoping today's kids can help overcome it. NASA has launched an exploration design challenge asking K-12 students around the world to help protect astronauts and spacecraft hardware from the high levels of space radiation they will experience beyond Earth's protective magnetosphere, the agency announced Monday.

 

NASA to launch students' radiation shield on first Orion test flight

 

Robert Pearlman – collectSPACE.com

 

NASA is challenging schoolchildren to protect their future ride into space. NASA's Exploration Design Challenge (EDC), announced Monday during an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, engages U.S. students in kindergarten through high school in helping to solve the known problem of increased radiation exposure encountered on flights into deep space. "If not all of us, most of us remember the immortal words associated with the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, 'Houston, we have a problem," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden while standing before a mockup of the agency's new Orion crew capsule. "Today, we are here to announce an effort in partnership with Lockheed Martin and the young people of America that will allow us to take about a year from now to proclaim, 'Houston, we have a solution.'"

 

Mars Colony Project Signs Deal to Study Spacesuits, Life Support

 

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

A non-profit organization that aims to land four astronauts on Mars in 2023 has signed its first deal with a supplier for the ambitious space colonization effort. The Netherlands-based Mars One has contracted with Paragon Space Development Corp. to perform a conceptual design study into Red Planet life-support and spacesuit systems, officials announced Monday.

 

Steer a spaceship with your brain? It's a thought

 

Alyssa Danigelis – Discovery News

 

For astronauts in space, working in zero gravity and trying to accomplish tasks while wearing a bulky spacesuit is challenging. The lack of gravity slows down a person's motor skills. And it's not easy to operate equipment while wearing gloves and a helmet or other cumbersome gear. Wouldn't it be easier just to control everything with a thought? A group of researchers led by Riccardo Poli, a computer science professor at the University of Essex, is working on that idea. For the first time, they used a brain-computer interface (BCI) to control a spacecraft simulator -- although, by their own admission, in a highly simplified environment.

 

Endeavour shuttle helps draw 1 million visitors to Science Center

 

Los Angeles Times

 

More than 1 million people have visited the California Science Center since space shuttle Endeavour arrived about four months ago, a considerable boost for the Exposition Park museum that had averaged about 1.6 million visitors a year. Science Center officials initially guessed about 2 million people would see the shuttle in the first year after the display opened Oct. 31. But now the museum estimates that at least 2.5 million people could see the retired orbiter in its first year at the Science Center. "In terms of numbers, it's exceeded our expectations," said Science Center president Jeffrey Rudolph.

 

Space industry liability proposal clears Legislature

 

Barry Massey - Associated Press

 

The Legislature gave final approval Monday to a proposal that Gov. Susana Martinez says is critical for New Mexico to develop a commercial space travel industry. Legislation to limit the liability of spacecraft manufacturers and their suppliers is heading to the Republican governor, who is expected to sign it into law. While the proposal was pending in the Legislature, the state had placed on hold its negotiations with space tourism company Virgin Galactic for a long-term lease at New Mexico's spaceport, which has cost taxpayers more than $200 million.

 

Florida should explore building new launchpad

 

Orlando Sentinel (Editorial)

 

Five years ago on these pages, we forcefully argued against NASA carving out a piece of conservation land to build a pad for commercial rocket launches. Much has changed since. The space shuttle program ended in 2011. Thousands of aerospace employees have lost their jobs. While the Space Coast's economy suffers, other states — including Virginia, New Mexico and Texas — are vying to become the nation's capital of commercial launch activity.

 

Space tech at South By Southwest (SXSW)

After the shuttle, boom times for space innovation?

 

Jeffrey Kluger – Time

 

Here's a bit of news you've surely not heard: in 17 years, a colony of 80,000 humans is going to be living on Mars! They'll be joining a smaller community that will arrive in 2023—a group that will be grateful for the company since their mission will be only one way. And all of them will be preceded by a team of astronauts who will swing by the Red Planet and fly back home just five years from now. On the way, they'll see some remarkable things: tourists popping into space on suborbital flights, courtesy of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic joyrides; other paying travelers heading for inflatable orbital hotels; miners heading out to grapple asteroids and bring their riches (iron! platinum! gold!) back to Earth; NASA astronauts hanging in space at the mysterious Lagrange points, where gravity from the moon, Earth and sun cancel one another out allowing spacecraft simply to hover.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

House NASA panel lists budget priorities, but not everyone backs SLS

 

Lee Roop – Huntsville Times

 

The House panel overseeing NASA has endorsed funding for the big new rocket being developed in Huntsville, Alabama, but it isn't unanimous. Among the dissenters is the committee's vice-chairman, who thinks the Space Launch System is unaffordable.

 

U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, the chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, submitted the committee's views on NASA's 2014 budget to House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan on March 1. President Obama has not released his request for NASA in 2014 yet.

 

Smith noted that NASA is currently pursuing two tracks to get American astronauts back into space aboard American spacecraft. The first is the agency's commercial space program to fund companies such as SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada as they develop rockets capable of carrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The second is the Space Launch System, which is being developed in Huntsville as an evolvable system leading to a rocket big enough to carry astronauts to deep-space destinations such as Mars.

 

"While NASA's Commercial Crew program could be the primary means of transporting American astronauts," Smith wrote Ryan, "we cannot be solely reliant on this program. The Orion MPCV (Multi-purpose Crew Vehicle), Space Launch System, and Commercial Crew programs require a program track with a sufficient budget to support the space station as soon as possible in preparation for the next steps of human exploration beyond Low Earth Orbit ..."

 

Smith went on to say that "due to a constrained budget environment, goals - such as maintaining 2.5 commercial teams or demonstration flights beyond low-Earth Orbit - need to be secondary to the primary goal of developing a vehicle to safely transport American astronauts to the International Space Station and beyond." The only entity planning a demonstration flight beyond LEO now is NASA, which plans to launch an uncrewed SLS mission around the moon in 2017.

 

Smith said the committee supported NASA's budget request of $17.7 billion for 2013 before sequestration. But Smith said NASA under the Obama Administration shows a "lack of leadership in space exploration, both human and robotic" and is ceding America's leadership in space to fund "environmental-monitoring satellites and studies."

 

Smith also said NASA's Earth Science budget request for 2013 was $300 million more than the agency spent before President Obama took office, while the planetary science budget was $300 million less in 2013.

 

Among the committee members signing the letter was U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville).

 

Committee vice-chairman, Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Ca.), released his own statement March 8 saying that, while he agreed with much of the committee's views and budget estimates, "there is one specific area on which I wish to state a different view, as I have done for the past few years."

 

Rohrabacher believes Commercial Crew is America's "most critical near-term civil space goal" and funding for it should be increased. "SLS is unaffordable" Rohrabacher continued," and with relatively modest expenditures on specific technology development, we do not need a heavy lift vehicle of that class to explore the Moon, Mars, or near-Earth asteroids."

 

Rohrabacher was also skeptical of NASA's Earth Science programs. "These programs should not be located at NASA," he wrote, "whose core and unique mission is exploring space."

 

NASA 2013 Budget Updates

 

Jim Hillhouse – AmericaSpace.org

 

Introduced by House Appropriations Chairman Hal Rogers on March 4, H.R. 933: "Department of Defense, Military Construction and Veterans Affairs, and Full-Year Continuing Appropriations" was passed by the House on March 6. The goal of this appropriations bill was to fund the government, including NASA, through September of this year. For NASA, H.R. 933 represents good news and better news. For one, it offers something of a reprieve for NASA's commercial crew program. For the Space Launch System, the bill represents a significant budget increase.

 

Rogers' Senate counterpart, Barbara Mikulski, is working on a larger budget proposal that would add full-year budgets for four more Cabinet departments as well as major science and space agencies. Mikulski was reportedly to file her appropriations bill Monday, March 11, with a vote by end of week. Mikulski and Rogers hope to have their bills reconciled before March 27, when the current continuing appropriations resolution, or CR, runs out, which would force the government to shutdown.

 

Certainly, H.R. 933 did move the House closer to the Senate when looking at funding NASA. For NASA's budget, H.R. 933 starts with the agency's fiscal year 2012, or FY12, budget and then makes the following changes:

 

Program	FY12 Budget	H.R. 933	Change
Exploration	$4,152.0	$3,770.8	$381.2
Orion	$1,200.0	$1,200.0	$0.0
SLS	$1,860.0	$2,119.0	$259.0
SLS Ground Systems	$316.5	$454.0	$137.5
Orion/SLS Facilities	$58.0	$265.0	$207
Commercial Space Flight	$406.0	$525.0	$119.0
Exploration R&D	$304.8	$308.0	$3.2
Space Operations	$4,233.6	$4,000	–$233.6
Cross-Agency Support	$2,995.0	$2,847.0	–$147.6

 

For the Space Launch System, the increase in vehicle, ground systems, and facilities funding means that the question of continued Congressional support of the SLS program is a non-starter. This is the only program to receive such large budget increases.

 

While the Orion program did not see a jump in its funding from FY12 levels, the House vote did increase its budget of $175.1 million from previous House FY13 levels.

 

Commercial Crew's budget, specifically its CCiCap program, after the effects of sequestration, will be $499 million. While not the $830 million originally proposed by the White House for FY13, this is a $111 million bump from the $388 million (some put that figure even lower) that the program had been facing. Even with $499 million, there will be a $96 million short-fall that will result in CCiCap milestone payments ending before September 1.

Since the FY14 budget is unlikely to result in a windfall for CCiCap, NASA is facing some very difficult choices of whether to try to continue to fund three CCiCap participants or to winnow the number down to 1 or 1 1/2. If the space agency doesn't reduce the number of CCiCap participants, then commercial crew will see the first flight of NASA astronauts delayed from 2017 to 2018.

 

Given that support among the international partners for continuing ISS beyond 2020 is negative at best, this leaves little choice for NASA but to downselect the number of CCiCap participants sooner rather than later. Because CCiCap is funded through a Space Act agreement, NASA certainly has the needed flexibility to change the number of participants at will. Last week, NASA CFO Beth Robinson sent a note to the CCiCap participants that a change in CCiCap was possible.

 

NASA Launches Space Radiation Challenge for Students

 

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

The danger of space radiation is one of the biggest obstacles to the manned exploration of deep space, and NASA is hoping today's kids can help overcome it.

 

NASA has launched an exploration design challenge asking K-12 students around the world to help protect astronauts and spacecraft hardware from the high levels of space radiation they will experience beyond Earth's protective magnetosphere, the agency announced Monday.

 

"America's next step in human space exploration is an ambitious one and will require new technologies, including ways to keep our astronauts safe from the effects of deep-space radiation," NASA chief Charles Bolden said in a statement. "That is the focus of this challenge, and we are excited students will be helping us solve that problem."

 

Kids in elementary and middle school will recommend materials that could be used as astronaut-protecting shielding on NASA's Orion deep space capsule, which is currently in development. High schoolers will be tasked with actually designing shielding that protects an Orion sensor from space radiation; the winning design will ride to space on an Orion test flight in 2014, officials said.

 

The student challenge — which is a joint effort involving NASA, aerospace firm Lockheed Martin and the National Institute of Aerospace — aims to get kids excited about science, technology, engineering and math.

 

"Space exploration has inspired and fascinated young people for generations, and the Exploration Design Challenge is a unique way to capture and engage the imaginations of tomorrow's engineers and scientists," Lockheed Martin CEO and president Marillyn Hewson said in a statement.

 

NASA is gearing up to send people farther from Earth than they've ever gone before. In 2010, President Barack Obama directed the agency to get astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.

 

They will get there using Orion and NASA's huge Space Launch System (SLS) rocket. The pair are slated to fly together for the first time in 2017, with SLS launching Orion on an unmanned flight around the moon.

 

Orion will reach space before then, however, blasting to Earth orbit atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4 heavy rocket in 2014 on an unmanned mission called Exploration Flight Test 1.

 

"Exploration Flight Test 1 is set to launch next year, so participating in this challenge will give the students a real sense of being part of the NASA team," NASA associate administrator for education Leland Melvin said in a statement. "They will be able to chart Orion's progress as it moves closer to the test launch. That's important because these students represent our future scientists, engineers and explorers."

 

To learn more about the Exploration Design Challenge, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/education/edc

 

NASA to launch students' radiation shield on first Orion test flight

 

Robert Pearlman – collectSPACE.com

 

NASA is challenging schoolchildren to protect their future ride into space.

 

NASA's Exploration Design Challenge (EDC), announced Monday during an event at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, engages U.S. students in kindergarten through high school in helping to solve the known problem of increased radiation exposure encountered on flights into deep space.

 

"If not all of us, most of us remember the immortal words associated with the 1970 Apollo 13 mission, 'Houston, we have a problem," said NASA Administrator Charles Bolden while standing before a mockup of the agency's new Orion crew capsule. "Today, we are here to announce an effort in partnership with Lockheed Martin and the young people of America that will allow us to take about a year from now to proclaim, 'Houston, we have a solution.'"

 

Through teacher-led classroom activities and, for the older entrants, access to the resources to design and perhaps build and then fly into space a prototype radiation shield, students from across the nation will be able to contribute to the first flight of the Orion multi-purpose crew vehicle (MPCV), the Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1), targeted for launch in September 2014.

 

"When Orion takes its first flight in 2014, that's next year, it'll travel farther into space than any spacecraft developed for human spaceflight in the 40 years since our astronauts returned from the moon," Bolden said. "This will require new technologies, including new ways to keep astronauts safe from deep space radiation. That is the purpose of this challenge and we're excited that American students will be helping us solve that problem."

 

Banking on student designs

 

The EFT-1 mission will launch from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy rocket, which will boost an unmanned Orion capsule on a two-orbit flight around the Earth. Once in space, the craft will rise to more than 3,600 miles (5,800 kilometers) above the planet — 15 times higher than the International Space Station — prior to turning around to come home to perform a high-energy test of its heat shield.

 

The elliptical orbit that the Orion will follow will result in the craft lingering in the Van Allen radiation belts surrounding the Earth. This trajectory will expose the vehicle to much higher levels of radiation than a typical low Earth orbit or even moon-bound mission would encounter.

 

The EFT-1 Orion will be equipped with a NASA-designed radiation sensor to measure the harsh space environment that the capsule will fly through. But it may be the student design for a radiation shield that offers the breakthrough technology for astronauts to follow on future missions.

 

"My guess is that we will see something we never thought about," Bolden told collectSPACE in an interview, referring to the outcome of the EDC. "It may be totally different and it may even be affordable, which is most important."

 

"So, it is my expectation that we will find something that we didn't think about," he said.

 

The design challenge is divided into three levels. For the first two groups, children in kindergarten through 4th grade and 5th through 8th grades, their teachers will lead them through studying the effects of radiation on human space travelers and analyzing materials that can simulate space radiation shielding for Orion. After participating in these activities, the students will recommend materials that best block harmful radiation.

 

At the high school level, grades 9 through 12, students will design the shielding to protect a sensor inside Orion from space radiation.

 

"There will be five teams chosen to test their designs in a virtual radiation simulator," said Leland Melvin, a space shuttle astronaut and NASA's associate administrator for education. "All five teams that are chosen will go down to Kennedy Space Center for the launch of EFT-1 and there will be a final down-select of the winning design that will possibly be flown on EFT-1."

 

"We're banking on this design because one of you, or one of our astronauts will be flying to Mars," he said. "We will be using space-certified radiation sensors sitting behind your radiation shield to see how effective it is working at blocking radiation."

 

Laying the foundation

 

"All of you who participate will be part of something that has never been done before, the first test flight of Orion," Marilyn Hewson, president and CEO of Lockheed Martin, said, addressing the students who attended the event on Monday and who were watching live on NASA's television channel.

 

Lockheed Martin is NASA's prime contractor for the Orion MPCV and is building the capsule that will fly on EFT-1.

 

"Every journey starts with a single step and the Orion's Exploration Flight Test-1 is a significant first step toward deep space human exploration," she said. "This mission will lay the foundation for future Orion flights and will take astronauts past the moon and on to asteroids and Mars."

 

All the students who take part in the design challenge will join the mission as "honorary crew members" by having their names flown aboard the Orion.

 

The winning team's status will be more than honorary — their radiation shield design may someday protect Orion's real crew members.

 

"You're about to embark on an amazing journey," Hewson said. "The skills you'll learn from this challenge — problem solving, critical thinking and systems engineering — are the very same skills that our engineers apply to our most challenging problems every day."

 

"You are taking on a mission that is hugely important — keeping our astronauts safe during a journey through deep space."

 

Mars Colony Project Signs Deal to Study Spacesuits, Life Support

 

Mike Wall – Space.com

 

A non-profit organization that aims to land four astronauts on Mars in 2023 has signed its first deal with a supplier for the ambitious space colonization effort.

 

The Netherlands-based Mars One has contracted with Paragon Space Development Corp. to perform a conceptual design study into Red Planet life-support and spacesuit systems, officials announced Monday.

 

"We are extremely proud to have been selected by the Mars One team to provide such a vital role on the project," Paragon chief engineer and co-founder Grant Anderson said in a statement. "The objective of this conceptual design study will be to provide a well-defined pathway to mature the technologies and architectures required for long-term human habitation in the Martian environment."

 

Paragon will look into developing an Environmental Control and Life Support System, which would provide colonists with safe living quarters and clean air and water. The company will also investigate spacesuit concepts that would allow Mars explorers to roam the Red Planet surface, officials said. Terms of the deal were not immediately disclosed.

 

The work is not Arizona-based Paragon's first foray into the world of private manned Mars flights. The company is also providing life-support expertise for original space tourist Dennis Tito's Inspiration Mars Foundation, which plans to launch two astronauts on a Red Planet flyby mission in January 2018.

 

Mars One estimates that landing four settlers on Mars in 2023 will cost about $6 billion. The organization plans to foot the bill by staging a global reality-TV event, with cameras documenting all phases of the one-way mission from astronaut selection to the colonists' first years on the Red Planet.

 

Mars One has also secured some money from investors, which it is using to fund conceptual design studies like the one being performed by Paragon.

 

"At Mars One we thoroughly believe in the feasibility of our manned Mars mission, but we are well aware that the mission's success is also dependent on securing finances to facilitate technological progress," Mars One co-founder Bas Lansdorp said in a statement. "We are, therefore, grateful to sponsors, donors, and other partners from all walks of life that contribute to our ambition to land humans on Mars in 2023."

 

Mars One hopes the first four Mars colonists will form the vanguard of a permanent settlement that is bolstered by new arrivals every two years thereafter. There are no plans at the moment to bring any of these interplanetary adventurers back to Earth.

 

The organization released its astronaut requirements in January and plans to begin its televised selection process sometime this year, officials have said.

 

Steer a spaceship with your brain? It's a thought

 

Alyssa Danigelis – Discovery News

 

For astronauts in space, working in zero gravity and trying to accomplish tasks while wearing a bulky spacesuit is challenging. The lack of gravity slows down a person's motor skills. And it's not easy to operate equipment while wearing gloves and a helmet or other cumbersome gear. Wouldn't it be easier just to control everything with a thought?

 

A group of researchers led by Riccardo Poli, a computer science professor at the University of Essex, is working on that idea. For the first time, they used a brain-computer interface (BCI) to control a spacecraft simulator -- although, by their own admission, in a highly simplified environment.

 

Although brain-computer interfaces in space remain theoretical, the scientists discovered that their BCI was far more effective when two people were hooked up to it and had to collaborate on a task in space. That kind of enhanced decision-making ability, while good in space, could be applied to a number of high-stress situations on Earth.

 

The team set up at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and began by putting a cap containing 66 electrodes on a human subject. This has the advantage of being a non-invasive way to pick up brain signals, but Poli pointed out that trying to read EEG signals from the scalp is like trying to listen to music in a concert hall by standing in the street outside the venue. Traffic and noise make it hard to hear.

 

To help amplify the brain signals, the team used a computer that generated special visual stimuli on a screen. This helped the human subject produce brain signals that could be analyzed a little more easily. Then the scientists made a simulation and presented their subject with a challenge: Steer a spaceship so that it passes within a certain distance from the sun.

 

The "spaceship" was actually a large circle on a screen and the "sun" was a large white sphere that got bigger as the spaceship was guided closer. A set of eight gray dots arranged in a circle was the cursor for moving the spaceship, with each dot representing a different direction. Then the dots lit up either green or red at random.

 

In order to steer the spaceship in a particular direction, the human subject had to focus his mind on one of the cursor dots and mentally identify the color of the dot every time it flashed. Concentrating on colors causes the brain to produce stronger brain signals for their system to detect, Poli explained.

 

When the subject concentrated on moving the spaceship along the right trajectory, several computers worked together to read the brain signals, analyze them and display the simulated spaceship's movement in real-time.

 

Initial results were promising. Then, when two people worked collaboratively on moving the spaceship, the trajectory improved considerably. Working with a brain-computer interface is such an intense experience that one person naturally has lapses in attention and two people aren't likely to have a simultaneous lapse, Poli explained.

 

Joint decision-making might not sound as impressive as controlling a spaceship with your brain, but such a set-up might have more immediate applications in a military setting. For example, intelligence officers tasked with sifting through large volumes of satellite images for anomalies could potentially work more effectively if two of them were hooked up to a brain-computer interface.

 

Real spaceship control is unlikely to be attempted with such a simple set-up, though. "Certainly a kid with a joystick can do better than any number of adults with a brain-computer interface," Poli said. His research is more of an attempt to move BCI from the lab to the real world and give space agencies a better understanding of BCI in a space context.

 

This month Poli and his colleagues are presenting their work at the International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces in Santa Monica, Calif. Next, Poli said they plan to continue collecting data for their system.

 

Deniz Erdogmus is an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Northeastern University who directs the Cognitive Systems Laboratory there. His team focuses on researching brain interfaces to develop tech that helps people with severe motor and speech disabilities.

 

"This paper presents yet another exciting exploratory work in the domain of brain-controlled machines," he said. When properly designed and used, such a system might reveal an astronaut's true thoughts. "Brain interfaces could, in the near future, measure attention and vigilance, motivation, fatigue, cognitive load, affective state," he added.

 

Poli is quick to point out that others have done more groundbreaking work developing brain-computer interfaces. The key for his team was using one to control a spacecraft simulator for the first time.

 

"What we were trying to do is see where the limits are," he said.

 

Endeavour shuttle helps draw 1 million visitors to Science Center

 

Los Angeles Times

 

More than 1 million people have visited the California Science Center since space shuttle Endeavour arrived about four months ago, a considerable boost for the Exposition Park museum that had averaged about 1.6 million visitors a year.

 

Science Center officials initially guessed about 2 million people would see the shuttle in the first year after the display opened Oct. 31.

 

But now the museum estimates that at least 2.5 million people could see the retired orbiter in its first year at the Science Center.

 

"In terms of numbers, it's exceeded our expectations," said Science Center president Jeffrey Rudolph.

 

"It's surpassed them," said Lynda Oschin, whose foundation made what was described as an "extraordinary" financial contribution to bring the shuttle to Los Angeles. The Mr. and Mrs. Samuel and Lynda Oschin Foundation was formed in honor of Oschin's late husband, a Los Angeles businessman and philanthropist.

 

"I never dreamed that it would be this important to L.A.," Oschin said. "To see all the people come out, all the children ... it's mind boggling to me, the whole thing. It's still unbelievable to me."

 

The Science Center had long dreamed of obtaining a space shuttle — aerospace curator Ken Phillips first pitched the idea to Rudolph two decades ago. NASA awarded the orbiter to the California Science Center in April 2011 after a competitive national search.

 

It's the only museum outside the East Coast with a shuttle.

 

The two other museums that house orbiters — the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York and the Smithsonian Institution's Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Virginia — both reported increased attendance since their own displays opened. The final shuttle, Atlantis, will be showcased at a new facility at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, which is expected to open later this year.

 

For now, Endeavour is housed in a temporary display pavilion. But museum officials are already drawing up designs for the Samuel Oschin Air and Space Center, an air and space wing, expected to open in about five years. The shuttle will be displayed vertically in the new wing.

 

On Monday, the museum unveiled another orbiter-themed exhibit: "Mission 26: The Big Endeavour," which documents the shuttle's celebratory flight over California and its 12-mile, three-day trek from Los Angeles International Airport to Exposition Park last year.

 

The exhibit is the second to accompany the temporary pavilion. The new display includes photographs of the shuttle's move (including images from Times photographers), video and a bulletin board where visitors can post their own messages about the shuttle.

 

It also includes a rotating display of Endeavour-related projects from Century Park Elementary School in Inglewood. When Amy Davis' fifth-grade class saw the shuttle fly over the school in September, one student was so moved by the experience he began to cry. Davis wrote the Science Center, which later asked her class for help in putting together the new exhibit.

 

Davis teared up when talking about her students' work.

 

"To see their work and everything here — it just validates who they are as scholars," she said. "I tell them every day how brilliant they are, how beautiful they are, how much they can go out and change the world. And this proves it to them."

 

Tori Morris, 10, and her classmates were excited to see their projects unveiled.

 

"This is like, very amazing to see our projects in a museum because not a lot of schools have this opportunity," Morris said. "This is a once-in-a-lifetime chance."

 

School groups were just part of the stream of visitors that filled the display pavilion Monday. Guests stopped almost immediately after entering, snapping photos of the shuttle in awe.

 

"Keep moving," a museum attendant said.

 

Sharon Carbonneau and her family spent Monday at the museum as part of their vacation from Albuquerque, N.M. It wasn't the reason they visited Los Angeles — that was Disneyland — but still something they wanted to see.

 

"It's just a piece of history," Carbonneau said. "We may never get a chance to see it actually launch but we figured we could come and see a piece of history."

 

Space industry liability proposal clears Legislature

 

Barry Massey - Associated Press

 

The Legislature gave final approval Monday to a proposal that Gov. Susana Martinez says is critical for New Mexico to develop a commercial space travel industry.

 

Legislation to limit the liability of spacecraft manufacturers and their suppliers is heading to the Republican governor, who is expected to sign it into law.

 

While the proposal was pending in the Legislature, the state had placed on hold its negotiations with space tourism company Virgin Galactic for a long-term lease at New Mexico's spaceport, which has cost taxpayers more than $200 million.

 

British billionaire Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic plans on flying tourists into space from the nearly complete spaceport in southern New Mexico.

 

Virgin Galactic, as a space travel operator, already is shielded under a 2010 law from being sued in most cases by passengers or their families if there is an accident during a flight.

 

The legislation would extend the liability limitations to suppliers and manufacturers of spacecraft and their components.

 

The restrictions on damage lawsuits will apply only to passengers — not to people and property on the ground.

 

Other states, including Florida, Texas and Colorado, have agreed to liability limits in hopes of developing commercial space travel industries.

 

The New Mexico measure had stalled in previous years but cleared the Legislature this session without opposition after Virgin Galactic and trial lawyers agreed on the scope of the legal protections and a provision requiring companies to carry $1 million in insurance to qualify for the liability protections.

 

"For two years, Gov. Martinez has called for legislation that makes New Mexico a more competitive place for commercial spaceflight and protects the investment taxpayers have already made in Spaceport America. This measure is long overdue, and she is hopeful that it will improve New Mexico's competitiveness in this industry," said Enrique Knell, a spokesman for the governor.

 

The measure won final approval when the House unanimously agreed to a Senate-passed version of the proposed liability shield.

 

Florida should explore building new launchpad

 

Orlando Sentinel (Editorial)

 

Five years ago on these pages, we forcefully argued against NASA carving out a piece of conservation land to build a pad for commercial rocket launches.

 

Much has changed since.

 

The space shuttle program ended in 2011. Thousands of aerospace employees have lost their jobs. While the Space Coast's economy suffers, other states — including Virginia, New Mexico and Texas — are vying to become the nation's capital of commercial launch activity.

 

The Space Coast could one day lose its enviable position, earned through decades of launches at Kennedy Space Center, as America's spaceport.

 

Too much is at stake for Florida to dismiss out of hand the newest proposal to set aside 150 acres of the 140,000-acre Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge for a commercial launchpad.

 

We weren't wrong to oppose the idea in 2008, but we would be wrong knowing what we know in 2013 to oppose a thorough examination of the latest proposal, which comes from Space Florida, a state agency.

 

State and federal officials, in concert with conservation groups and others, need to assess the proposal's impact on the area's environment and public access, and weigh those against the economic consequences of ceding the commercial launch industry to another state.

 

We are not advocating rushing in the bulldozers and construction cranes. We are advocating an outcome that's based on facts, not on hype and hysteria.

 

This month SpaceX, one of the premier space companies, launched its third cargo mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX is at the leading edge of what's shaping up to be a booming industry in the future.

 

While there is an existing launch infrastructure at the space center and Cape Canaveral Air Force station to the south, Space Florida says private rocketeers are looking for non-federal sites that aren't subject to NASA or military schedule and security restrictions. That explains why, though SpaceX launches its NASA missions from the space center, the company has been scouting new locations to serve commercial customers.

 

The Space Florida site is north of the space center in the abandoned citrus town of Shiloh. SpaceX is interested, but also looking at spots in Texas, Georgia and Puerto Rico. The company may make its choice this year.

 

Meanwhile, another space company, Blue Origin, has expressed interest in launching from a Shiloh facility. Space Florida says it has been talking to a third company about the site, but hasn't named the company.

 

Environmental advocates are dead set against a launchpad at Shiloh, arguing it would have an unacceptable impact on the refuge and its endangered species, and regularly cut off the public's access to the area. These critical concerns need to be fully and expeditiously evaluated in a fair and open process.

 

That process needs to take place pronto. The competition to be the hub of the commercial space industry is heating up.

 

Space tech at South By Southwest (SXSW)

After the shuttle, boom times for space innovation?

 

Jeffrey Kluger – Time

 

Here's a bit of news you've surely not heard: in 17 years, a colony of 80,000 humans is going to be living on Mars! They'll be joining a smaller community that will arrive in 2023—a group that will be grateful for the company since their mission will be only one way. And all of them will be preceded by a team of astronauts who will swing by the Red Planet and fly back home just five years from now.

 

On the way, they'll see some remarkable things: tourists popping into space on suborbital flights, courtesy of Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic joyrides; other paying travelers heading for inflatable orbital hotels; miners heading out to grapple asteroids and bring their riches (iron! platinum! gold!) back to Earth; NASA astronauts hanging in space at the mysterious Lagrange points, where gravity from the moon, Earth and sun cancel one another out allowing spacecraft simply to hover.

 

All of this, to hear the visionaries tell it, is coming soon. Or maybe not—since all of it, to hear the cynics tell it, is doomed to fail. Either way, when it comes to space, something new and faintly unhinged is clearly going on.

 

If nature abhors a vacuum, the same is true of the aerospace community, and for more than half a century, that vacuum was comfortably filled. In the U.S., NASA was the only space-player around, and in the rest of the world, it was at least the biggest. The unmanned program came first, then the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs, and then from 1972 to 2011, the shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) programs. Most of the money, most of the talent and nearly all of the innovation was commanded from NASA headquarters in Washington. And then, suddenly, much of it went away.

 

With the mothballing of the shuttles, the completion of the space station and the Obama administration's decision to turn all manned travel to low Earth orbit over to the private sector, the innovators have finally bestirred themselves—rushing into the void with money, ideas and their own teams of young engineers and expat NASA employees, only too happy to pick up where the once-great space agency left off. So far, their prospects are decidedly mixed. On Tuesday, at South by Southwest, Time will consider all of this with the help of a panel of three folks who know a thing or two about the space game: Mike Griffin, administrator of NASA from 2005 to 2009; Marsha Ivins, a retired—and decidedly plainspoken—astronaut who is a veteran of five shuttle flights; and Sara Seagar, MIT astrophysicist and planetary scientist specializing in the hunt for exoplanets, and an adviser for Planetary Resources, the newly announced asteroid mining company.

 

For both experts and lay space observers, it's the most harebrained ideas that draw the most attention, simply because they're also the most sensational. This week, for example, Bas Lansdorp, a Dutch engineer, announced plans to raise $6 billion to launch an open-ended, years-long reality show that will follow a crop of candidate astronauts as they apply to be the first settlers on Mars, go through their training and then set out on their journey sometime around 2023—with no system in place to bring them back. They will, instead, be the space equivalent of the sailors who arrive on an island and burn their boats, settling the land rather than visiting it.

 

"This will be one of the biggest events in human history. We are talking about creating a major media spectacle," he told the New York Times, which inexplicably led the front page of its business section in its March 9 edition with coverage of Lansdorp and his fever dream.

 

More modest, if slightly more credible, is Dennis Tito's plan to raise money for a circum-Mars flyby and get the thing off the ground by 2018. Tito's space resume has just a single line on it: he is a multimillionaire who, in 2001 he paid $20 to fly as a tourist aboard the ISS for just under eight days. His Mars plan, he says, would cost about $2 billion. Both he and Lansdorp assume the technology to fly the missions pretty much exists (it doesn't) and that they can figure out the human factors—how to shield astronauts from cosmic rays and keep them healthy and sane on a years-long mission, for starters—in just the short time frame they've allowed themselves to do it (they can't).

 

Far more credible are the plans being put forward by Elon Musk, founder of PayPal, Tesla Motors and SpaceX, who at least has a proven track record, building real rockets and a real orbital spacecraft that have done real work—twice completing successful resupply missions to the space station. But Musk gets ahead of himself too: the 80,000-person Mars colony is his plan, based on his belief that economies of scale can work the same way in space that they do on Earth, and that he can ultimately reduce his costs per passenger to about $500,000—cut-rate coach seats by space standards, but exponentially cheaper than anything anyone's been able to achieve before.

 

Bigelow Aerospace, based out of Las Vegas and headed by entrepreneur Robert Bigelow, has some cred too—at least enough that NASA has tentatively signed onto the idea of the company adding one or two of its still-in-development inflatable modules to the ISS. But building a habitable, orbital B&B for rich space tourists, then putting them through the years of training they'd need to take their vacations, presents another whole order of difficulty.

 

That is the problem with all of the new proposals: they are more about idea than execution. Know how hard it is to drop even a small manned spacecraft through the atmosphere and get it safely back to Earth? Now imagine grappling a platinum asteroid and somehow bringing that back home—not to mention what it would do to the economics of platinum in the first place, which is valuable as an investment metal precisely because it's so rare. The Lagrange points sound like a wonderfully eerie place to visit and it's one of the possible targets the Obama White  House has proposed for future deep space missions by NASA. But what do you do when you get there except, well, hang around?

 

Time's SXSW experts will hardly have all the answers, but they're the kinds of people who will be needed to come up with them—people who know the field, who trained in the field and who can temper vision with a knowledge of what might actually work.  Time.com will be reporting on what they have to say, but here's betting they won't be setting their DVR's for Lansdorp's reality show anytime soon.

 

END