Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: Human Spaceflight News

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: May 23, 2013 6:32:23 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - May 23, 2013 and JSC Today

Thursday, May 23, 2013

JSC TODAY HEADLINES
1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
2.            Expedition Crew Expands to Six on May 28
3.            Propel JSC to First Place: Take Your IT Training by May 31
4.            JSC's Print, Mail and Distribution Services To 'Super-Flex' Starting May 28
5.            Innovative JSC Technologies in the May 2013 Edition of Tech Briefs
6.            Today: Childhood Depression Awareness and Interventions
7.            Speed Coping
8.            SATERN Training System -- Lunch and Learn
9.            Spaceflight-Induced Bone Loss and Human Health and Performance Lecture
10.          Low-Cost Computing CoLAB
________________________________________     NASA FACT
" During an average six-month period on the station, as many as 200 investigations operate, with between 70 and 100 of them being new studies."
________________________________________
1.            Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
You correctly guessed that circadian rhythms don't apply to cicadia insects in question one last week -- at least not on station. "Walking on the Moon" by the Police is your choice to sing in space. That's a good song with a nice, easy vibe to it. This week I was wondering if you are using Flex Friday in conjunction with the Memorial Day Holiday to do anything different? Has it changed your plans any? Question two is about your favorite science fiction movie and TV series, Star Trek. If you were cast on the original TV series, which character would you have been? Scotty? Uhuru? Kirk?
Engage your Tribbles on over to get this week's poll.
Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

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2.            Expedition Crew Expands to Six on May 28
Expedition 36/37 Flight Engineer Karen Nyberg of NASA, Soyuz Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin of the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and Flight Engineer Luca Parmitano of the European Space Agency are scheduled to launch at 3:31 p.m. CDT (2:31 a.m. Kazakh time May 29) from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. They will dock their Soyuz capsule to the Earth-facing Rassvet module of the space station at 9:16 p.m. following an expedited four-orbit rendezvous.
At 10:55 p.m., hatches between the Soyuz and space station will open and Nyberg, Yurchikhin and Parmitano will be greeted by Expedition 36 Commander Pavel Vinogradov and Flight engineer Alexander Misurkin of Roscosmos, and Flight Engineer Chris Cassidy of NASA. That trio has been aboard the station since late March.
JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility team members with wired computer network connections can view NASA TV using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channels 404 (standard definition) or 4541 (HD). Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV.
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.
JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 http://www.nasa.gov/station

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3.            Propel JSC to First Place: Take Your IT Training by May 31
In the agency, JSC is far from first place in completing its Information Technology (IT) Security Training. We're near the bottom. Don't wait until the May 31 deadline: Empower yourself TODAY with the knowledge on the latest IT security threats and countermeasures to ensure NASA's mission safety and success and propel JSC into first place. All NASA federal employees, contractors and grantees at JSC and White Sands Test Facility must complete the Security Awareness Training (#ITS-013-001) assigned to your learning plan in SATERN.
New employees, contractors and grantees must complete the "Introduction to Information Security for New Employees" training (#ITS-013-002) (assigned to their individual learning plans in SATERN). To access SATERN, click here.
Note that the NASA Access Management System (NAMS) may not allow certain requests to be submitted (e.g., Engineering Design Control Center) until the employee completes IT security training.
For more information, contact your organization's Organizational Computer Security Official.
Report all IT security breaches to the NASA Security Operations Center at 1-877-NASA-SEC/1-877-627-2732.
JSC IRD Outreach x36660 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx

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4.            JSC's Print, Mail and Distribution Services To 'Super-Flex' Starting May 28
Starting May 28, printing, mail and distribution services (located in Building 227, doors 2 and 3) will begin a new schedule to reflect the center's Super-Flex schedule.
Mail normally picked up and delivered on Flex Fridays will be processed the following Monday, as well as print and duplication services. June 7 will be the first Flex Friday this new schedule will take effect, so please be aware and adjust requests accordingly.
These products and services are provided by JSC's Information Resources Directorate's PAMSS contract.
For questions or more information on this activity, please contact Alice Ward Johnson via email or at x36150.
JSC IRD Outreach x36150 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/Home.aspx

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5.            Innovative JSC Technologies in the May 2013 Edition of Tech Briefs
Details on six very inventive and diverse technologies from JSC have been published in the May 2013 issue of NASA Tech Briefs magazine.
NASA Tech Briefs introduces material about new innovations that stem from advanced research and technology programs conducted by NASA and its industry partners/contractors.
The JSC briefs recognized in the current issue include: Sasquatch Footprint Tool; Ceramic Adhesive and Methods of On-Orbit Repair of re-Entry Vehicles; Cursor Control Device Test Battery; Video Altimeter and Obstruction Detector for an Aircraft; Optimized Radiator Geometries for Hot Lunar Thermal Environments; and the Galactic Cosmic Ray Event Based Risk Model (GERM) Code.
Read and learn more about these JSC innovations and inventors on the Strategic Opportunities and Partnership Development (SOPD) website. You can review all of the NASA Tech Briefs here.
Holly Kurth x32951

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6.            Today: Childhood Depression Awareness and Interventions
In observance of Childhood Depression Awareness Day, please join Takis Bogdanos, MA, LPC-S, CGP, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program today, May 23, in the Building 30 Auditorium at 12 noon as he presents an overview on childhood depression, the signs to look for, prevalence, latest treatments and how you can support a child who is afflicted by depression.
Event Date: Thursday, May 23, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130

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7.            Speed Coping
With all that is asked or required of us, self-care quickly gets rescheduled due to demands on our time. Come learn some self-care tools and concepts that you can start including in your multi-demanding life. These coping tools can be the groundwork to implementing consistent coping ideas and techniques. Don't be your own afterthought. Commit to taking better care of yourself and you will notice the difference it makes in you and those around you. Please join Anika Isaac, MS, LPC, LMFT, LCDC, CEAP, NCC, of the JSC Employee Assistance Program on Wednesday, May 29, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium for a presentation on "Speed Coping."
Event Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Building 30 Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Lorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Clinical Services Branch x36130

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8.            SATERN Training System -- Lunch and Learn
What exactly is SATERN for other than mandatory training? How can you use it to your full advantage for personal and career development? How exactly does an Individual Development Plan work?
Grab your lunch and come out on May 29 to learn the basics of SATERN, get the answers to these questions and more.
Event Date: Wednesday, May 29, 2013   Event Start Time:1:00 PM   Event End Time:2:00 PM
Event Location: Building 12, Room 134

Add to Calendar

David Kelley x27811

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9.            Spaceflight-Induced Bone Loss and Human Health and Performance Lecture
Please join us on June 4 from 9 to 10 a.m. in Building 1, Room 720, for a lecture on "Spaceflight-induced Bone Loss and Human Health and Performance."
This Human Systems Academy course will highlight the challenges to translating astronaut biomedical data to evidence for human skeletal health risks and performance.
Space is limited, so please register in SATERN:
https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...
Cynthia Rando x41815 https://sashare.jsc.nasa.gov/hsa/default.aspx

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10.          Low-Cost Computing CoLAB
Are you currently working on or interested in starting a project involving Arduino, Raspberry Pi or other low-cost, small-scale computing hardware?
If so, you are invited to the very first meeting of the Low-Cost Computing (LCC) CoLAB. CoLABs provide a casual forum to share lessons learned and generate innovative new ideas and uses of technologies. In our first meeting we will discuss how low-cost computing is revolutionizing the way in which we prototype and innovate. Come make cross-directorate contacts and learn more about what others are doing with these exciting technologies.
The LCC CoLAB will be held on May 28 from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. in Building 30A, Room 2090. Feel free to bring your lunch and your co-workers.
Event Date: Tuesday, May 28, 2013   Event Start Time:11:45 AM   Event End Time:12:45 PM
Event Location: Bldg 30A/Rm 2090

Add to Calendar

Brian Schwing x42514

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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:
·         7:30 am Central (8:30 EDT) – Live coverage of 2013 Lunabotics Mining Competition
·         9:05 am Central (10:05 EDT) – E36 with Talbot Innovation Middle School in Fall River, MA
·         Noon Central (1 pm EDT) – Live coverage of 2013 Lunabotics Mining Competition

Human Spaceflight News
Thursday, May 23, 2013

Charlie Bolden, SNC's Steve Lindsey & Dryden's Patrick Stoliker meet the press in front of Dream Chaser

HEADLINES AND LEADS

Nobel Peace Prize for the ISS?

T.J. Aulds - Galveston County Daily News

One of the more intriguing pitches being made during the Citizens for Space Exploration's trip to D.C. comes from a college student. Erik Lopez, a Los Angeles native who goes to the University of Illinois, would like to nominate the International Space Station for a Nobel Peace Prize. Lopez touted his idea on Capitol Hill Tuesday and had a lot of positive responses. He said that since the space station relies on so much international cooperation — United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and Europe — it has done a lot to promote better world understanding for one common goal. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

NASA escalates research on board space station

Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News

It's shaping up to be a busy summer for crew members of expeditions 36 and 37 on board the International Space Station, who are on track to conduct more than 300 research investigations before the end of the year. In a news conference Wednesday, NASA officials said upcoming projects will dive into biology, human research, biotechnology, physical sciences, technology demonstrations and more, producing research that will directly benefit future space exploration and work being done here on Earth.

Unlit Olympic torch expected to visit International Space Station

James Dean - Florida Today

A multi-national crew launching Tuesday to the International Space Station is expected to return with a special payload: the Olympic torch. Plans are in the works for the torch relay leading up to the February 2014 start of the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, to make an orbital detour in November, NASA confirmed Wednesday. "We're looking forward to that," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager.

Finding Space Shuttle Successor May Take Dream Chaser
NASA shares concerns about funding

Patrick Healy - KNBC TV (Southern California)

In the corner of the Mojave Desert where the sound barrier was first broken, another potential breakthrough for aerospace has arrived for testing. A new spacecraft dubbed "Dream Catcher" is at the vanguard of NASA's public private collaboration to develop ships capable of carrying astronauts into orbit and to the International Space Station. Dream Catcher was moved from where it was built in Colorado to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, located on the historic but still active Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County.

Dream Chaser Readies, Gets Set For Flight Testing

Elizabeth Howell - Universe Today

It was surely one of those moments where NASA could hardly wait to tear off the shrink wrap. Sierra Nevada Corp.'s privately constructed Dream Chaser spacecraft engineering test article arrived at the Dryden Flight Research Center last week — wrapped in plastic for shipping protection — ahead of some flight and runway tests in the next few months. "Tests at Dryden will include tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests of the Dream Chaser. A truck will tow the craft down a runway to validate performance of the nose strut, brakes and tires," NASA stated.

NASA's Associate Administrator Happy with Progress on SLS Project

Beth Jett - WHNT TV (Huntsville)

NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot is in town visiting Marshall Space Flight Center to check on how things are progressing for the Space Launch Systems program. He spoke to media representatives Wednesday Morning at MSFC, saying he was happy to see new hardware in use and things moving ahead right on schedule. Seeing the world's largest multi-axis milling machine in action working on an adaptor for future missions in human space exploration was one of the highlights of the visit for Lightfoot.

NASA's Robert Lightfoot defends asteroid mission in Alabama visit

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot knows about the debate over where America should go next in space while it develops the technologies needed for a Mars landing. Should astronauts go back to the moon and build a base there, visit an asteroid, or simply go somewhere else in the space between Earth and the moon? On a visit to Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center to see Orion space capsule hardware in development (video of that hardware below), Lightfoot nodded when asked if he was familiar with the debate over destinations held during a congressional hearing Tuesday afternoon.

Experts cast doubt on Mars mission plans

Annie Yu - Washington Times

NASA faces a financial crisis and does not have the technological means or funding to follow through with its goal of landing astronauts on Mars by mid-2030s, a leading astronomer told lawmakers this week. Steven M. Squyers, an astronomy professor at Cornell, said Congress should not dictate new milestones for space exploration without first supplementing the space agency's shrinking budget. "NASA is being asked to do too much with too little," Mr. Squyers said, pointing to international partnerships as a possible solution to NASA's limited funding.

NASA Asteroid-Capture Plans Draw Faint Praise In U.S. House

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily

NASA's proposed asteroid-capture mission may be worthwhile, but only if the agency can place it clearly on a path that leads to human boots on the surface of Mars, members of the House Science Committee said May 21. Opening a hearing on the advantages of capturing a small asteroid and positioning it in cislunar space over a mission to the lunar surface, panel leaders from both parties expressed skepticism at the new mission plan.

NASA's Asteroid Mission a Dead-End to Mars?

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

NASA's newly announced plan to capture an asteroid and re-position it around the moon for an astronaut visit sounds cool, but it's a side-show on the road to Mars, scientists and long-time space mission managers told Congress. "To me, the connection between the asteroid retrieval mission, which involves proximity operations with a rock that would fit comfortably in this hearing room, I see no obvious connection between that and any of the technologies and capabilities required for Martian exploration," Cornell University planetary scientist Steve Squyres told the House Subcommittee on Space on Tuesday. A better stepping-stone for human expeditions to Mars is the moon, argued Paul Spudis, senior scientist with the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

Giant new test stands will rise at Marshall as Space Launch System grows

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

NASA engineers are building on the historic foundation of rocket testing in Huntsville - literally - as they prepare for critical stress tests on the core of Space Launch System, America's next deep-space rocket. Two large new test stands are being designed for Marshall Space Flight Center, and one of those stands will be built atop the bedrock-deep foundation of the stand Wernher von Braun used to test the massive F-1 Saturn V engines. These new tests won't shake the ground across Huntsville as those Saturn V engine tests did, because NASA does its engine testing now in the vast open space of the Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi.

Private Mars Colony Is No Place for Children (Yet)

Rod Pyle - Space.com

The leader of a private effort to colonize Mars hopes the Red Planet's first few pioneers don't bring children into the world there. Having kids on Mars would be irresponsible at this point, said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and CEO of the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which aims to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2023. "We are not in the business of telling people what to do, but astronauts are very responsible people," Lansdorp said here Tuesday (May 21) at the Space Tech Expo 2013 conference. "When they realize they are living in a dangerous place, they will know what to do, that it's not right."

Space oddities and singing astronauts:
Renewing interest in space exploration

Jennifer Cutraro, Michael Gonchar & Katherine Schulten - New York Times

A singing astronaut sounds almost too good to be true, but during his five-month stint aboard the International Space Station, the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield produced a constellation of videos about the day-to-day experiences of his life in space. He also demonstrated the power of social media to reignite interest in space missions that are often overlooked. Below, we're trying a new experiment as the school year winds down: we're posting viral videos like this one; pairing them with related Times content; then suggesting a few quick teaching and learning ideas inspired by the combination.

Vancouver guitar maker ramps up after space station video
Astronaut Chris Hadfield's star turn on Larrivée acoustic sends demand soaring

Tracy Sherlock - Vancouver Sun

Images of Canadian astronaut Cmdr. Chris Hadfield playing its Vancouver-made Parlor guitar sparked enough interest for the company to put the model back into production for a limited edition. The company has $100,000 in orders already for the commemorative model, which will sell for about $1,200, said Matthew Larrivée, general manager of the company's California shop. The three-quarter-size travel guitar, created and manufactured in the Vancouver factory of Larrivée Guitars, spins around in front of the Canadian spaceman as he sings a modified version of David Bowie's Space Oddity in a YouTube video that is believed to be the first music video made in space.

Sally Ride to get posthumous Medal of Freedom

Associated Press

President Barack Obama will bestow the Medal of Freedom posthumously on Sally Ride, the first American woman to fly in space. Obama says Ride was a role model to young women and showed that achievement has no limits. He says Ride advocated for innovation in science, engineering and math. Ride rode on the space shuttle Challenger on June 18, 1983. She died in July 2012 at 61 after a long battle with pancreatic cancer. Ride broke another barrier by disclosing that she was gay at the end of an obituary she co-wrote with her same-sex partner before her death. The White House says Ride's partner was notified last week of the award along with her mother and sister. The award will be presented later this year. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

Atlantis opening set at KSC

Ken Pilcher - WKMG TV (Orlando)

With SeaWorld's Atlantis opening on Friday, Transformers gearing up for a June 20 grand opening at Universal, Fun Spot welcoming its new roller coasters this week, and Gatorland welcoming the son of its late and legendary Bonecrusher (along with 70 other animals from the closed Everglades Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs ) -- it is an exciting time in Theme World. Now today, Kennedy Space Center confirms Space Shuttle Atlantis' new $100 million home will open Saturday, June 29th at the KSC visitor complex.

Warp Drive and 'Star Trek': Physics of Future Space Travel

Marc Millis - Space.com (Opinion)

(Millis headed NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project and took an early retirement to continue this work as part of the interstellar research activities of the Tau Zero Foundation. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.)

Another "Star Trek" film just hit the screen — featuring the venerable Starship Enterprise. To enable such fantastical star flight, we need faster-than-light (FTL) flight, control over inertial and gravitational forces, extreme energy prowess, and the societal discipline to harness that much power safely. Between the sensationalistic hype and pedantic disdain, how much progress is really being made? For starters, the technical goals ceased to be just science fiction decades ago with a legacy of pertinent publications (see editor's note below). To be clear, this does not mean that these breakthroughs are on the threshold of discovery. What it does mean is that these notions have advanced to where they are now problems that are able to be attacked. A graduate-level treatise, along with next-step research options, is available as the compilation "Frontiers of Propulsion Science" (AIAA, 2009). For the rest of us, here is a short version.
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COMPLETE STORIES

NASA escalates research on board space station

Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News

It's shaping up to be a busy summer for crew members of expeditions 36 and 37 on board the International Space Station, who are on track to conduct more than 300 research investigations before the end of the year.

In a news conference Wednesday, NASA officials said upcoming projects will dive into biology, human research, biotechnology, physical sciences, technology demonstrations and more, producing research that will directly benefit future space exploration and work being done here on Earth.

The Houston-based Orbital Sciences Corporation is slated to make its first commercial flight to the station Sept. 12.

The torch

In November, the Olympic torch for the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, will be delivered to the station. Russian cosmonauts will take the simulated flame where no Olympic torch has ever gone before, on a spacewalk outside the station, before it returns to Earth later that month.

Expedition 36 formally began May 13 with the undocking of a Soyuz space capsule containing three members of the previous expedition.

NASA astronaut Karen Nyberg, Russian cosmonaut Fyodor Yurchikhin and European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parminato will launch from Kazakhstan next Tuesday, joining Russian Commander Pavel Vinogradov, cosmonaut Alexander Misurkin and NASA's Chris Cassidy on the station.

In the hips

Space station associate program scientist Tara Ruttley discussed new hip bone research being conducted on astronauts to measure the effects of low gravity on human bone health.

"We care about it for our crew members as we stay longer and longer in space, but we also can use this information that we learn from our studies on orbit to help those of us on Earth that may be dealing with osteoporosis," she said.

Astronauts on the station can lose up to 2 percent of bone mass a month in certain areas of the body, Ruttley said. The lack of gravity also makes it difficult for the bone mass to replenish normally as it would on Earth.

Using a "Hip Quantitative Computed Topography" 3D imaging system, crew members will investigate how pharmaceuticals, exercise and proper nutrition can serve as countermeasures to bone loss.

Plants in space

Crew members will study plant microtubules to learn more about how plants grow and adapt to conditions in space.

"We need to do more work in understanding how plants grow and put it all together to successfully tell us how can we grow plants that will be helpful to us on exploration-class missions," Ruttley said.

The research will help NASA learn "sustainable and economical means" to support human life in space and can also benefit agricultural practices on Earth, she said.

Other experiments include a portable multi-gas monitor to collect and compare data on the presence of water vapor, oxygen, ammonia and other gases in orbit, as well as combustion testing to measure how different fuel types burn in space, aiding fire suppression and detection systems both in space and on the ground.

Weather and maintenance

Meteorological research will also be conducted, focusing on aerosol tracking and the effects of climate change.

Two U.S. spacewalks are scheduled in July. Now that assembly of the station is mostly complete, the spacewalks will tend primarily to routine maintenance, Expedition 36 Lead Flight Director Gary Horlacher said.

Crew members will also stow hardware from previous cargo deliveries and make room for new equipment shipments.

Crew members on the station have been clocking at least 35 hours a week of research this year, space station program manager Michael Suffredini said. Several weeks ago, that number rocketed to more than 70, as crew members replaced a pump on the station's solar array cooling system to fix an apparent leak.

On a HUNCH

Suffredini also praised NASA's rapidly growing HUNCH program, short for "High School Students United with NASA to Create Hardware," which started with a few schools in the Houston area and has grown to include 25 to 30 schools across the country.

Students with an interest in science, engineering and math involved in the program help NASA build training hardware and other small equipment.

Unlit Olympic torch expected to visit International Space Station

James Dean - Florida Today

A multi-national crew launching Tuesday to the International Space Station is expected to return with a special payload: the Olympic torch.

Plans are in the works for the torch relay leading up to the February 2014 start of the Winter Games in Sochi, Russia, to make an orbital detour in November, NASA confirmed Wednesday.

"We're looking forward to that," said Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager.

A three-person crew would carry the torch up to the station in a Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

There, they would hand it over to the crew now about to launch in another Soyuz from Kazakhstan for the ride down: American Karen Nyberg, Russian Fyodor Yurchikhin and Italian Luca Parmitano.

The feather-shaped, chrome torch with red detailing would be in space for a few days, Suffredini said.

Although it is designed to ensure "the flame burns reliably in difficult conditions," according to the Games' Web site, a NASA spokesman said the torch would not be lit in space.

The 123-day relay involving 14,000 torchbearers starts after the Oct. 7 delivery of an Olympic flame from Greece to Moscow.

Relay organizers last year said they would travel the longest distance ever for a Winter Games — more than 40,000 miles by foot, car, train, plane and troika, a traditional Russian sleigh.

Now it appears the final total will include orbiting spaceships.

Finding Space Shuttle Successor May Take Dream Chaser
NASA shares concerns about funding

Patrick Healy - KNBC TV (Southern California)

In the corner of the Mojave Desert where the sound barrier was first broken, another potential breakthrough for aerospace has arrived for testing.

A new spacecraft dubbed "Dream Catcher" is at the vanguard of NASA's public private collaboration to develop ships capable of carrying astronauts into orbit and to the International Space Station.

Dream Catcher was moved from where it was built in Colorado to NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, located on the historic but still active Edwards Air Force Base in Kern County.

"We think it's the right answer for our nation," said Steve Lindsey, a former space shuttle astronaut who now runs Dream Catcher operations for the Sierra Nevada Corporation which built it.

For three decades, the shuttle fleet was responsible for delivering America's astronauts into space. Since the last of the shuttles was retired two years ago, Americans bound for the space station have to book passage on a Russian Soyuz.

The Dream Chaser lacks the cargo capacity of the much larger space shuttles, but is "less complex, easier to operate, easier to turn around, and--we think--ultimately safer," Lindsey said.

Two of the shuttles, Challenger and Columbia, failed disastrously during missions, claiming 14 lives. After each disaster, safety improvements were developed and implemented, but shuttle operations proved far more expensive than originally anticipated, and in later years cost NASA $2
billion a year in maintenance, according to Administrator Charles Bolden.

In the post-shuttle era, NASA envisions contracting with commercial aerospace firms to provide more economical low orbital transportation services.

As Bolden sees it, these new spacecraft would not be comparable to the Space Shuttle, but would fulfill some of its roles.

Hawthorne-based SpaceX has already carried out two unmanned cargo delivery missions to the space station.

SpaceX, Sierra Nevada Corp., and aerospace giant Boeing are now competing for contracts with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

All plan booster rocket launches. For the crew ship, Boeing and SpaceX are using capsules. The Dream Chaser has a "lifting body" designed to land as a glider on a runway, as did the shuttles.

In terms of name recognition with the general public, Lindsey acknowledges his company may have some ground to make up, and wants to set the record straight that Sierra Nevada Corp. has nothing to do with the brewer of the well-known pale ale, he said, tongue in cheek.

Last year, NASA awarded the three companies a total of more than a billion dollars to assist in development costs.

The companies are in competition for the primary service contract. Bolden said NASA hopes to sign a secondary contractor as well, so it has a back-up.

The first commercial crew contract could be signed as early as next year, Bolden said. But target date for the first launch has already been moved back from 2015 to 2017, due to funding issues.

In the current economic climate, Congress has been reluctant to fully fund all of NASA's programs, which also include the development of a new Space Launch System to carry a new Orion capsule deeper into space for exploration.

So-called sequestration budget cuts have added to the federal financial squeeze.

"We have got to get Commercial Crew funded, or we're going to be paying the Russians forever," lamented Bolden.

"We're obviously concerned," said Sierra Nevada's Lindsey. "As long as the money's not there, the schedules will slip. That's just how it is."

Dream Chaser's builders -- and NASA -- hope successful testing will make an impression on Capitol Hill.

The testing at Dryden will begin on the ground. Within months, Lindsey envisions landing tests, using a Skycrane helicopter to lift the Dream Chaser to 12,000 feet and then releasing it to glide back to earth.

With all the testing at subsonic speeds at this stage, there is no need to equip the outer skin of the Dream Chaser brought to Dryden with the expensive heat-shielding tiles and blankets needed to re-enter Earth's atmosphere from space.

Instead, the ship is clad in foam of carefully measured thickness so the Dream Chaser has the same shape and volume, and therefore the same aerodynamic properties, Lindsey explained.

The occasion of Dream Catcher's arrival for testing was important enough to NASA that the Administrator traveled to the Dryden hanger to speak at a media briefing.

Some have suggested NASA could get by without the Commercial Crew Program by adapting the Space Launch System and Orion capsule under development. Bolden said that could be done in an emergency situation, but otherwise would be inefficient. As Bolden sees it, vehicles designed specifically for low earth orbit duty would be better suited to providing service to the space station.

Bolden said he worries that if Commercial Crew is not funded, it could even affect manned exploration programs in the future.

Research in low orbit and at the space station is essential to developing the wherewithal for manned exploratory missions beyond the moon, according to Bolden.

"Without Commercial Crew," Bolden said. "We probably won't have exploration."

Dream Chaser Readies, Gets Set For Flight Testing

Elizabeth Howell - Universe Today

It was surely one of those moments where NASA could hardly wait to tear off the shrink wrap. Sierra Nevada Corp.'s privately constructed Dream Chaser spacecraft engineering test article arrived at the Dryden Flight Research Center last week — wrapped in plastic for shipping protection — ahead of some flight and runway tests in the next few months.

"Tests at Dryden will include tow, captive-carry and free-flight tests of the Dream Chaser. A truck will tow the craft down a runway to validate performance of the nose strut, brakes and tires," NASA stated.

"The captive-carry flights will further examine the loads it will encounter during flight as it is carried by an Erickson Skycrane helicopter. The free flight later this year will test Dream Chaser's aerodynamics through landing."

The ultimate goal is to get the United States bringing its own astronauts into space again.

Sierra Nevada, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) and the Boeing Co. are all receiving NASA funding under its Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative that is intended to restart flights from American soil into low-Earth orbit.

For Sierra Nevada, the company aims to launch its mini shuttle aboard an Atlas V rocket and then, like the shuttle, come back to Earth on a runway. SpaceX and Boeing are taking a different path — making spacecraft capable of launching on the Falcon 9 and Atlas V rockets (respectively) and then coming home under a parachute.

There's still some questions about when the program will start, though. In media reports, NASA administrator Charles Bolden has said funding threats for NASA's 2014 request are imperiling the current commercial crew target of 2017.

NASA astronaut Jack Fischer and three others recently took part in approach and landing simulations of the Dream Chaser at Langley Research Center in Hampton. Check out the video.

NASA's Associate Administrator Happy with Progress on SLS Project

Beth Jett - WHNT TV (Huntsville)

NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot is in town visiting Marshall Space Flight Center to check on how things are progressing for the Space Launch Systems program.

He spoke to media representatives Wednesday Morning at MSFC, saying he was happy to see new hardware in use and things moving ahead right on schedule.

Seeing the world's largest multi-axis milling machine in action working on an adaptor for future missions in human space exploration was one of the highlights of the visit for Lightfoot.

"I mean this is the adapter that's going to actually adapt the Orion spacecraft to the Delta Four that's being built in Decatur," he said. "So we can do our first test the exploration flight test one that we're gonna do in 2014."

Lightfoot briefed everyone on where things stand with the SLS program financially.

"The Pesident's proposed budget of $17.7 billion keeps us on the track that we want to get on, which is begining that next step in space exploration and continuing to do the great aeronautics research and science that we do as an agency," said Lightfoot.

And he praised workers at MSFC for keeping the project on schedule and within budget.

He also mentioned technology aboard the international space station — put together by workers at MSFC — that is being used to analyze the devastation in Oklahoma in order to understand how the weather scenario developed as it did.

NASA's Robert Lightfoot defends asteroid mission in Alabama visit

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

NASA Associate Administrator Robert Lightfoot knows about the debate over where America should go next in space while it develops the technologies needed for a Mars landing. Should astronauts go back to the moon and build a base there, visit an asteroid, or simply go somewhere else in the space between Earth and the moon?

On a visit to Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center to see Orion space capsule hardware in development (video of that hardware below), Lightfoot nodded when asked if he was familiar with the debate over destinations held during a congressional hearing Tuesday afternoon.

But Lightfoot didn't hesitate when asked why NASA likes the asteroid mission it proposed this year. In that mission, the agency would find a suitable asteroid, send a robot probe to capture and move it into orbit around the moon and visit it with astronauts riding Orion and the new rocket now being built at Marshall and other NASA centers.

Here's why Lightfoot likes the idea.

It uses the Space Launch System and Orion spacecraft already being built. It gives that system something important to do while waiting for Mars.
It uses work NASA is already doing in its Space Technology Directorate with solar electric propulsion.
It uses and gives a boost to NASA's Near Earth Observation (NEO) program to identify asteroids that might approach or hit Earth.

"When you think about it," Lightfoot said, "we're talking about identify, redirect and explore. We're going to identify them, redirect an asteroid into lunar orbit and then we're going to explore it. And we're going to do it with things we're already building today. The synergy is what is so neat, and the things we're doing to do that mission totally benefit any exploration mission we're going to do in the future. I need SLS, I need Orion, I need solar electric propulsion. There's a synergy across the agency that really allows us to be able to go do this asteroid mission, and that's what's so exciting about it to me."

Experts cast doubt on Mars mission plans

Annie Yu - Washington Times

NASA faces a financial crisis and does not have the technological means or funding to follow through with its goal of landing astronauts on Mars by mid-2030s, a leading astronomer told lawmakers this week.

Steven M. Squyers, an astronomy professor at Cornell, said Congress should not dictate new milestones for space exploration without first supplementing the space agency's shrinking budget.

"NASA is being asked to do too much with too little," Mr. Squyers said, pointing to international partnerships as a possible solution to NASA's limited funding.

Mr. Squyres was among several scientists and space experts who gathered before the Science, Space and Technology House Committee Tuesday afternoon to discuss possible next steps on a possible manned mission to Mars.

Space Subcommittee chairman Steven Palazzo, Mississippi Republican, stressed the need for stability in NASA's budget and goals and pointed to their current work under the Authorization Act of 2010 on a new rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS) and a new crew capsule, Orion, to take astronauts further in space.

President George W. Bush outlines a longterm goal for the U.S. space program in 2004 that included a manned mission to Mars. NASA officials later suggested that such a mission could be undertaken by 2037, at a cost of $11 billion. But the private experts testifying before the House panel this week were divided over what America's next steps in space should be.

Louis Friedman of the Keck Institute for Space Studies Asteroid Retrieval Mission Study said NASA should focus on an "asteroid retrieval mission" since that is "the direct and only sustainable way to Mars." A robot would capture a small near-Earth asteroid (about 25 feet in diameter and weighting 1.5 million pounds) and re-direct it near the moon.

Paul Spudis, a senior staff scientist at the NASA-funded Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, said going back to the moon would be the next logical step for America in space. The moon, Mr. Spudis argued, is closer and offers rich resources such as near-permanent sunlight and water.

NASA's current work on Mars involves the space rover Curiosity, which landed on Mars last August and recently drilled into a Martian rock and found evidence of past "environmental conditions favorable for microbial life."

At a recent Washington, D.C. conference called "Humans 2 Mars Summit," NASA chief Charles Bolden said getting to Mars is a second opportunity for America to lead in space exploration. American astronauts were the first to land on the moon in 1969.

NASA Asteroid-Capture Plans Draw Faint Praise In U.S. House

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily

NASA's proposed asteroid-capture mission may be worthwhile, but only if the agency can place it clearly on a path that leads to human boots on the surface of Mars, members of the House Science Committee said May 21.

Opening a hearing on the advantages of capturing a small asteroid and positioning it in cislunar space over a mission to the lunar surface, panel leaders from both parties expressed skepticism at the new mission plan.

"As our space program prepares for the next step to Mars, Congress must ensure that there is a strategic plan in place," said Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas), noting that Congress has repeatedly endorsed using the lunar surface as a "training ground" for human missions to Mars. "Another option presented by NASA this year is an asteroid-retrieval mission. It is difficult to determine what advantages this may offer without a plan to evaluate."

NASA has kept its latest design reference missions (DRMs) a secret, on the grounds they are "internal, pre-decisional studies that help inform our decision-making process," according to David Weaver, the agency's chief spokesman.

But Administrator Charles Bolden has spoken more often recently of Mars as the target of human exploration for today's generation.

"I'm delighted to hear the NASA administrator speak about Mars as the ultimate destination, at least in the next 20 years, for human exploration," said Rep. Donna Edwards of Maryland, ranking Democrat on the House Science space subcommittee. " … The administration's recent proposal to capture a near-Earth asteroid, bring it into trans-lunar orbit, and potentially to send humans there is yet another possible step [to Mars]. But before we look at interim steps, we need first to understand what it takes to get to Mars."

Rep. Steve Palazzo (R-Miss.), chairman of the space subcommittee, worried that the asteroid-capture might be a "detour," and said he was "not convinced it is the right way to go." But it was Smith who summed up his panel's skepticism over the new plan.

"Without a consensus for the original plan, NASA haphazardly created a new asteroid-retrieval mission," Smith said.

"Unfortunately, NASA did not seek the advice of its own Small Bodies Assessment Group before presenting the mission to Congress. If NASA had sought the advisory group's advice, they would have heard it was 'entertaining, but not a serious proposal.' Maybe that's why they didn't ask."

Despite the skepticism, Louis Friedman, the former Planetary Society chief who co-chaired the Keck Institute panel that originally drafted the asteroid-capture proposal, told the committee that the mission would be scientifically useful in itself, and also would help engineers learn what it would take to divert an asteroid on a collision course with Earth.

He noted that private companies are beginning to look for ways to exploit the mineral resources in near-Earth asteroids, and said the mission could also bring other spacefaring nations into a new cooperative venture with NASA.

"This project will not just unify NASA with science, technology, robotic and human components," he said. "It will unify many others globally with a great adventure. Europe, Japan, Russia, all have asteroid mission plans, and solar electric spacecraft in operation. They could join in the mission development."

NASA's Asteroid Mission a Dead-End to Mars?

Irene Klotz - Discovery News

NASA's newly announced plan to capture an asteroid and re-position it around the moon for an astronaut visit sounds cool, but it's a side-show on the road to Mars, scientists and long-time space mission managers told Congress.

"To me, the connection between the asteroid retrieval mission, which involves proximity operations with a rock that would fit comfortably in this hearing room, I see no obvious connection between that and any of the technologies and capabilities required for Martian exploration," Cornell University planetary scientist Steve Squyres told the House Subcommittee on Space on Tuesday.

A better stepping-stone for human expeditions to Mars is the moon, argued Paul Spudis, senior scientist with the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston.

"It has partial gravity like Mars. It has a dust environment that you have to learn to deal with. You can learn how to explore and how to get the most out of the missions," Spudis said.

NASA planned to follow the space shuttle and International Space Station programs with a return to the moon, but President Obama canceled the project, known as Constellation, in 2010 due to funding shortfalls.

NASA salvaged Constellation's heavy-lift rocket and deep-space Orion capsule and set about crafting a more flexible exploration initiative that would first send astronauts to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.

President Obama's spending plan for NASA for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 requests $105 million to begin work on a revamped asteroid mission which combines a robotic precursor spacecraft to fetch a 23- to 33-foot diameter asteroid with a follow-on expedition by astronauts.

NASA has not yet said how much the asteroid-retrieval mission would cost, but expects it would be less than the $2.65 billion estimate made last year by the California Institute of Technology's Keck Institute for Space Studies.

But for that money, scientists told Congress, NASA may be able to afford a lunar lander -- a key reason for Constellation's fall -- or an upper-stage engine for the heavy-lift Space Launch System to bring it to its full potential.

Spudis also pointed out that if returning samples from an asteroid was the driver for the mission, scientists already have about 45,000 pieces of near-Earth asteroids at their disposal in the terrestrial meteorite collection.

"The largest one is three meters across and 60 tons. It was found by a farmer digging in a field in Africa and can't be moved because it's too heavy. So we actually have an NEO (near-Earth object) right here on the Earth, right now for study," Spudis said.

"I think we would learn something (by sending astronauts to an asteroid). No space mission is value-less, but in terms of what we'd actually learn compared to a robotic sample return, I don't think we'd actually learn that much more," he added.

While NASA officially remains focused on a mission to an asteroid, it also is supporting lunar exploration efforts. On Thursday, the agency will unveil a partnership agreement with privately owned Bigelow Aerospace to look at potential commercial lunar ventures.

Giant new test stands will rise at Marshall as Space Launch System grows

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

NASA engineers are building on the historic foundation of rocket testing in Huntsville - literally - as they prepare for critical stress tests on the core of Space Launch System, America's next deep-space rocket.

Two large new test stands are being designed for Marshall Space Flight Center, and one of those stands will be built atop the bedrock-deep foundation of the stand Wernher von Braun used to test the massive F-1 Saturn V engines.

These new tests won't shake the ground across Huntsville as those Saturn V engine tests did, because NASA does its engine testing now in the vast open space of the Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi.

But the tests in Huntsville will be critical to the new rocket meeting its tight flight schedule, and the testing program itself is a complicated choreography. For example, giant barges will transport the rocket's core components - including a 185-foot tall liquid hydrogen tank - up Alabama's river system to Huntsville from the Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans where they will be made.

The core stage of the Space Launch System is 200 feet tall. By comparison, a Saturn V first stage was roughly 75 feet tall. The core is composed of five parts: two fuel tanks, a main engine compartment with associated plumbing for fueling, an intertank ring to join the two tanks and a top ring to attach the core to the Orion upper stage.

Breaking the core into the five pieces "allows us to structurally test them," SLS Stages Elements Manager Tony Lavoie said Tuesday. "We do a lot of things by analysis, but the analysis has to be anchored with real testing."

The two new tanks are the reason for the new test stands. But NASA has to test each of the five parts to be sure it can handle the stresses and loads of liftoff and ascent into space. "We have to throw the worst-case environment we believe they will see in flight against them on the ground," said Sherry Huddleston, construction of facilities and structural test article manager.

Prime core stage contractor Boeing studied the tests needed, and Marshall "made the most sense" as the location, Huddleston said. It has the most existing facilities, the in-house expertise and the proximity to Boeing in Huntsville.

"It's the two tanks that are driving the new test stands," Huddleston said, "and that's primarily driven by the sheer size and the extreme loads that have to be put on the test articles."

The liquid hydrogen tank is the reason for the big new, 215-feet-high test stand that will rise on the foundation of stand 4693 used for the Saturn V engine hot-fires. Engineers will hang the 185-foot-tall tank vertically, load it with enough liquid nitrogen to cover critical areas and apply stress. "We won't shake it," Huddleston said, "but we will bend it and twist it and compress it and pull it."

The second, smaller tank will be used to test the liquid oxygen tank and the forward skirt that will join the core to the Orion upper stage.

The tanks will be be built at Michoud while the test stands are built at Marshall. All of that will occur in 2014. Testing will begin in late 2014 or 2015 and continue into March or April of 2016.

That gives NASA only about a year to fix the design if testing reveals any major issues. The space agency has until 2017 to build a flight-worthy core set. That's the year Congress has mandated that SLS fly with an unscrewed Orion capsule on top.

If a major problem develops in testing, NASA probably wouldn't have time to build an entirely new core and test it before the 2017 deadline. But there would be time to tweak the existing design with, for example, a brace of some sort, and retest in Huntsville. There would also be time to test a revision in the "green run" test firing of the full core at Stennis in late 2016 or early 2017. A crew will not sit on top of the stack until 2021.

Private Mars Colony Is No Place for Children (Yet)

Rod Pyle - Space.com

The leader of a private effort to colonize Mars hopes the Red Planet's first few pioneers don't bring children into the world there.

Having kids on Mars would be irresponsible at this point, said Bas Lansdorp, co-founder and CEO of the Netherlands-based nonprofit Mars One, which aims to land four astronauts on the Red Planet in 2023.

"We are not in the business of telling people what to do, but astronauts are very responsible people," Lansdorp said here Tuesday (May 21) at the Space Tech Expo 2013 conference. "When they realize they are living in a dangerous place, they will know what to do, that it's not right."

Doctors have said they don't know if humans can even get pregnant and give birth in the lesser gravity of Mars (which is 38 percent that of Earth), or how fetuses and babies would fare when exposed to the Red Planet's higher radiation levels.

Last month, Mars One officials said they would see how pregnant animals fare before considering encouraging human pregnancy on Mars.

Colonizing Mars

Lansdorp gave an update about Mars One's plans and progress during his presentation at the conference.

The organization plans to land a rover on the Red Planet in 2018 to scout out a good location for the colony. Unmanned modules would follow in 2020 to begin processing Martian soil. These robotic refineries would extract various volatiles, primarily water, for life support and agriculture, making settlement possible.

"Once we know it is all working, the first crew of four will go up in 2023," Lansdorp said.

Mars One wants to keep sending more crews every two years after that, gradually building up a permanent settlement on the Red Planet. There are no plans to bring any of these pioneers back to Earth.

The organization officially opened its astronaut selection process last month, receiving nearly 80,000 applications in less than two weeks. Mars One has also engaged its first contractors, including Arizona-based Paragon Space Development Corp., which has begun preliminary work on life-support systems and pressure suits.

"We're very excited to have engaged our first partners in this venture," Lansdorp said.

Can it be done?

Mars One estimates that it will cost about $6 billion to send the first four astronauts to Mars and $4 billion to launch each subsequent crew. It plans to foot the bill primarily by staging a global media event around the entire process, from astronaut selection to the settlers' life on the Red Planet.

Some people have voiced skepticism about the project, but Lansdorp remains confident that it can work.

"This mission is based on existing technology," he said. "Almost nothing new is needed. And each step is proved before risking lives on the next one."

"It's doable," Lansdorp continued. "But the people I talk to about the money worry about the technology, and the engineers worry about the money," he added with a laugh.

While establishing a human presence on Mars will be challenging, Lansdorp said the Red Planet is a natural target for our wandering, adventurous species.

"Humans have always explored. We did so for about 10,000 years, then [exploration] slowed down," he said. "The next place to do this is Mars."

Space oddities and singing astronauts:
Renewing interest in space exploration

Jennifer Cutraro, Michael Gonchar & Katherine Schulten - New York Times

A singing astronaut sounds almost too good to be true, but during his five-month stint aboard the International Space Station, the Canadian astronaut Chris Hadfield produced a constellation of videos about the day-to-day experiences of his life in space. He also demonstrated the power of social media to reignite interest in space missions that are often overlooked.

Below, we're trying a new experiment as the school year winds down: we're posting viral videos like this one; pairing them with related Times content; then suggesting a few quick teaching and learning ideas inspired by the combination.

Have a look at what we've done with Mr. Hadfield's song, then let us know what you think.

Three Teaching Ideas:

1. Learn about life without gravity on the International Space Station

Use this NASA resource to learn about the International Space Station, which was Mr. Hadfield's home away from home for five months. Who built the space station and what is its purpose? What was Mr. Hadfield's mission aboard the space station? Who was on board with him, and what were they doing? How do astronauts get to the station, and then back to Earth?

Then explore some of the day-to-day experiences of life aboard the space station — like cooking, hand washing, teeth brushing and sleeping by viewing some of the numerous videos Mr. Hadfield produced and made available. You might even explore science themes, like the physical properties of water and why water behaves differently in space than it does on Earth, or how spaceflight affects the human body and the senses. You and your students can also track Mr. Hadfield's adjustment back to life on Earth via his Twitter feed.

When Mr. Hadfield was living on the space station, he fielded questions from people back home on Earth. If you could ask any question about life on the space station, what would ask? Make a list.

Then search the videos he posted and see if he answered your question. If not, see if you can find the answer to your question via the Times Topics page on the International Space Station.

For instance, you might view sketches by one of the first architects to make the International Space Station habitable 45 years ago; find out what astronauts there did recently when remnants of a discarded Russian satellite came dangerously near; or read about what happens when the toilet breaks.

2. Plan a social media campaign to interest the public in a scientific endeavor

In past decades, the American public was enthralled by the United States space program, with Alan Shepard's flight into space, the first moon landing in 1968 and the initiation of the space shuttle program. But after the shuttle program retired, NASA sometimes made more news traveling through city streets instead of into space. In fact, without space shuttles, the United States depends on foreign governments, like Russia, and commercial enterprises to transport astronauts and equipment to and from the space station.

The future of a costly space program depends on public support and enthusiasm, and Mr. Hadfield has managed to drum up that enthusiasm in Canada and around the world through his prolific YouTube videos, Twitter postings, photographs and Q. and A.'s during his five-month command of the International Space Station. In "Performing From Space, Canada's Low-Orbit Star", Ian Austen reports on the social media splash that Mr. Hadfield managed to create in a short period of time:

Mr. Hadfield, 53, is an unlikely star. But his acoustic guitar, a series of televised publicity stunts, a steady stream of online photo postings and his hearty appetite for Twitter messages from space enabled him to overcome, at least in Canada, the yawning indifference that often meets space travel.

As if a Canadian had just landed on Mars, broadcasters here provided live updates on Monday night when a Russian Soyuz capsule carrying Mr. Hadfield, the American Tom Marshburn and the Russian Roman Romanenko landed in Kazakhstan. Prime Minister Stephen Harper called Mr. Hadfield "our very own space pioneer," and the Canadian news media prominently noted a BBC online story declaring that Mr. Hadfield "has probably become the most famous astronaut since the days of Neil Armstrong and Yuri Gagarin."

If you were a scientist, how would you use social media and popular culture to get the public's attention about your work? Watch Mr. Hadfield speak with Canadian reporters about the power of social media, or watch his videos about life in space (see above), read his Twitter posts and look at his photographs, then use his work as a model. What could a different kind of scientist do? You might consult The Times's Scientist at Work blog to get ideas, or choose something you're studying in class right now and find scientists who work in that field. How could you use social media creatively to raise awareness and interest in your research? How, specifically, would you reach out to students?

For another model, you might read about NASA's own foray into social media, particularly with the Curiosity rover mission.

3. Write the lyrics and shoot a video for a science-themed pop song

Mr. Hadfield didn't only attract the public's attention with educational and informational videos about space, he also released an elaborately produced music video covering David Bowie's popular tune "Space Oddity," which featured his own singing and guitar playing in the space station. How do music and song lyrics possess the power to both educate people about space and excite them about space exploration?

For starters, you may want to watch videos by the band They Might Be Giants about why the sun shines and what shooting stars are. Or you can watch GZA, a member of the group Wu-Tang Clan, rapping about the Big Bang theory.

Students might write their own lyrics, like this science teacher, to the tune of a popular song, or write a rap about the solar system, outer space, or any other science topic they're interested in.

To start, teachers might choose to provide students with a list of science terms to include in their songs or raps. Check out the warm-up in our lesson on writing song lyrics about the Large Hadron Collider for ideas (and you may also want to watch the "Large Hadron Rap" video as well). Our "List, Group, Label" handout (PDF) and teacher instructions (PDF) may be useful to help students organize their ideas.

As an extension of this activity, or for inspiration, students may want to listen closely to the lyrics of popular songs about space and try to interpret their meaning. To start, play the song "Space Oddity" by Mr. Bowie and show students the lyrics. Have them write individual responses to the song: What do they think the song is about? What mood do the lyrics evoke? What do they think Mr. Bowie implies in the final lines of the song? Then show them how Mr. Hadfield covered the song from the International Space Station. With his subtle changes to the song's lyrics, did he change the song's meaning? How?

To broaden the discussion, play students a few more songs that reference space or any other area of scientific endeavor. For example, what do you think the singer Moby means when he sings, "we are all made of stars"? What astronomical event does the Cure reference in the song "Jupiter Crash"? How do the lyrics use the much-hyped, but ultimately lackluster crash of the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 into the planet Jupiter as a metaphor for a fizzling relationship?

Vancouver guitar maker ramps up after space station video
Astronaut Chris Hadfield's star turn on Larrivée acoustic sends demand soaring

Tracy Sherlock - Vancouver Sun

Images of Canadian astronaut Cmdr. Chris Hadfield playing its Vancouver-made Parlor guitar sparked enough interest for the company to put the model back into production for a limited edition. The company has $100,000 in orders already for the commemorative model, which will sell for about $1,200, said Matthew Larrivée, general manager of the company's California shop.

The three-quarter-size travel guitar, created and manufactured in the Vancouver factory of Larrivée Guitars, spins around in front of the Canadian spaceman as he sings a modified version of David Bowie's Space Oddity in a YouTube video that is believed to be the first music video made in space.

The video was Hadfield's farewell to outer space after five months "sitting in a tin can, far above the Earth," as the first Canadian to command the International Space Station.

The five-minute video has been viewed more than 14 million times since its release on May 12. Larrivée said the publicity is invaluable for his company, which was founded in 1967 in Toronto but settled on the West Coast in 1977, and since 2001 also has a factory in Oxnard, Calif., near Los Angeles.

"You couldn't ask for that kind of advertising," Larrivée said. "What Chris has done for that guitar, and for space in general, has been amazing. Chris is making space cool - he's made this stuff accessible to the average person."

Hadfield, 53, tweeted and posted photographs of Earth and videos from space on his trip to space, which was his third and reportedly last space station visit. He touched down to Earth in Kazakhstan on a Russian Soyuz capsule on May 13.

Hadfield visited Larrivée's Vancouver shop in 2012 and said in a YouTube video filmed at that time that the guitar has made 50,000 trips around the globe.

"It's cool playing a guitar in space because it floats in front of you and you don't need a strap," Hadfield says in the video. "One of the weirdest things is to float around the room and bump into things as you're playing."

Hadfield said music is fundamental to the psychological well-being of astronauts, which is why NASA sought out a guitar for the ISS.

"When you're a long way from home - when you have left the planet - it's really important not just to take care of all of the technical stuff, but also to take care of the people," Hadfield said in the video .

He said the space agency bought two of the guitars - one for the ISS, the other to stay on the ground as a record of what is on the space station.

Larrivée, which employs 30 people and makes about 2,000 guitars each year in Vancouver, expected the guitar to be popular in Canada, since it is a Canadian product played by a Canadian astronaut.

"We thought it would take off in Canada," Larrivée said.

"But we're getting inquiries from all over the world for it. It caught us off guard. We're so proud of Chris; he has done so much for us."

Atlantis opening set at KSC

Ken Pilcher - WKMG TV (Orlando)

With SeaWorld's Atlantis opening on Friday, Transformers gearing up for a June 20 grand opening at Universal, Fun Spot welcoming its new roller coasters this week, and Gatorland welcoming the son of its late and legendary Bonecrusher (along with 70 other animals from the closed Everglades Wonder Gardens in Bonita Springs ) -- it is an exciting time in Theme World.

Now today, Kennedy Space Center confirms Space Shuttle Atlantis' new $100 million home will open Saturday, June 29th at the KSC visitor complex.

The new exhibit aims to tell the story of 30 years of the Space Shuttle program -- and the Hubble Space Telescope.

From the KSC Atlantis Cam you can see the orbiter is up and in position today, though it looks like the robot arm still needs to be installed to match the concept art. It will appear as if Atlantis is in mid flight.

The exhibit promises a vantage point just feet away, even though the orbiter is 30 feet off the ground.
More than 30 Atlantis astronauts will participate in the grand opening. If you buy tickets online, you can save $5 by using the promo code ATLANTIS.

Here's a link to learn more, and to see the cool Atlantis web cam.

Congrats, to our friends at KSC!

Warp Drive and 'Star Trek': Physics of Future Space Travel

Marc Millis - Space.com (Opinion)

(Millis headed NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project and took an early retirement to continue this work as part of the interstellar research activities of the Tau Zero Foundation. He contributed this article to Space.com's Expert Voices: Op-Ed & Insights.)

Another "Star Trek" film just hit the screen — featuring the venerable Starship Enterprise. To enable such fantastical star flight, we need faster-than-light (FTL) flight, control over inertial and gravitational forces, extreme energy prowess, and the societal discipline to harness that much power safely. Between the sensationalistic hype and pedantic disdain, how much progress is really being made?

For starters, the technical goals ceased to be just science fiction decades ago with a legacy of pertinent publications (see editor's note below). To be clear, this does not mean that these breakthroughs are on the threshold of discovery. What it does mean is that these notions have advanced to where they are now problems that are able to be attacked. A graduate-level treatise, along with next-step research options, is available as the compilation "Frontiers of Propulsion Science" (AIAA, 2009). For the rest of us, here is a short version.

Faster-than-light engines

Compared to the distances between stars, lightspeed is slow. The neighboring star system nearest to us (Alpha Centauri) is more than four years away at light speed (as measured from the perspective of an external observer). The nearest habitable planet might be anywhere from 25 light-years to 200 light-years away. And, to consider meeting new aliens for each week's episode, our ship would need a naive cruise speed of at least 25,000 times light speed. The word "naive" is used to remind us that we don't really know what happens to time and space beyond lightspeed. [Warp Drive & Transporters: How 'Star Trek' Technology Works (Infographic)]

Wormholes and warp drives— approaches to FTL flight — are theoretically possible, but the theory has not yet advanced to guide their construction. These theories are based on Einstein's theory of general relativity. The ongoing progress mostly focuses on the energy conditions — how to lower the energy required and how to create and apply the required "negative energy." One conclusion we have already found is that wormholes are more energy-efficient at creating FTL than warp drive. For more, see Eric Davis' "Faster-Than-Light Space Warps, Status and Next Steps" paper from last year's 48th AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE Joint Propulsion Conference & Exhibit.

Recent news regarding the work of Harold "Sonny" White at NASA's Johnson Space Center has been exaggerated. That work is an attempt to measure space-time distortions caused by the presence of negative energy. Unfortunately, I do not have an article to cite about that hypothesis or the methods being used, since such information has not (yet?) been published. Although Eric Davis is tracking this for the Tau Zero Foundation, we do not yet know enough to render judgment.

Quantum physics also presents tempting phenomena relevant to FTL questions. A number of phenomena, such as tunneling and entanglement, fall under the header of "quantum non-locality" — a term I learned from physicist John Cramer at the University of Washington, Seattle. Cramer's attempt to test the possible time-paradox implications of such phenomena still remains incomplete. The last update I saw was "Status of nonlocal quantum communication test" presented by Cramer and his colleagues.

Control of gravitational and inertial forces

Picture your favorite fictional starship, where the crew is walking around normally, as if in a studio back on Earth. This means that the ship is providing a gravitational field for the comfort and health of the crew — in the middle of deep space where such fields do not exist. This would be a profound breakthrough! This hugely important feature often gets neglected in the shadow of the difficulty of achieving FTL. It is so ubiquitous in science fiction that many people do not even realize it's there and the extent of its implications. Unfortunately, it does not yet have a cool-sounding name to help champion and convey its essence. [Could We Build 'Star Trek's' Starship Enterprise?]

Given such an ability to create acceleration forces inside a spacecraft, it is not much of a leap of imagination to suggest that forces could be created outside a spacecraft too, thus moving the spacecraft through the universe. Such a nonrocket space drive would be a profound breakthrough.

But wait, there's more. The physics of being able to manipulate gravitational and inertial forces also implies the ability to have "tractor beams" for moving distant objects, "shields" to deflect nearby objects, plus the ability to sense properties of space-time that we cannot yet even fathom.

Researchers have published more than one way to generate such acceleration fields, and both methods are theoretically consistent with Einstein's general relativity (Robert Forward's 1963 paper cited below, and the Levi-Civita effect). Both of those have daunting theoretical and implementation challenges, similar to warp drives and wormholes.

However, there is more than one way to approach this challenge, as I presented last year in "Space Drive Physics: Introduction & Next Steps" in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. That is the challenge that piques my professional interest. I'm revisiting the works of Eddington and Mach, to test a different formalism of the coupling between space-time (inertial frames) and electromagnetism that can be experimentally tested. Wish me luck.

Unprecedented energy storage and power usage

Interstellar flight — even when in the context of foreseeable technology — requires enormous amounts of energy, more prowess than humanity has yet achieved. On "Star Trek," they use matter-antimatter to provide energy (antimatter is existing physics), by fully converting matter into energy. Think Einstein's E=mc2. Our fantastical spacecraft will need at least that much energy, perhaps more.

Nuclear power is a reality that, if used for spaceflight, would greatly increase the extent of space activities using foreseeable technology. The power levels required for FTL flight, values which were once astronomically high, have improved with continued research to where they are now just fantastically daunting.

Other science fiction has cited quantum zero point energy as an ample energy source. Though quantum vacuum energy is rooted in credible theoretical and experimental approaches, that research is still too young to answer the wishes for ample energy conversion. Today, minuscule energy conversions are possible using tiny electrode gaps. Though these experiments are not energy extractors, they do serve as excellent tools to empirically explore this young topic in physics.

Sustainably peaceful society

An important element of "Star Trek" that went beyond technology is its society: creating a cooperative culture that can harness the power of starflight without killing themselves in the process. When considering the potency of the real energy levels required for starflight, that is critically important. This is not just a matter of inspiring fiction or feel-good notions. This is a matter of the survival of our species.

Although trends indicate that humanity is becoming more peaceful, overall, I am concerned that this challenge might turn out to be harder than creating the new physics for FTL and controllable gravity. The good news is that this is something we can all work toward by being more thoughtful about how each of us chooses to resolve conflicts of views, wants and needs.

What else you can do

If you want to become a practitioner in pursuit of "Star Trek"-style spaceflight, you will need an ample education in physics, a vivid imagination, steady rigor to work through the details and persevere through the setbacks, and the personal savvy to navigate amidst a world more interested in short-term returns, and sometimes even back to reruns.

For those who want to support from the sidelines, the Tau Zero Foundation is now accepting memberships and donations. You can learn more about how to join the foundation here: http://www.tauzero.aero/.

If, by some chance, you are a generous philanthropist reading this and wondering if Tau Zero has what it takes to run a whole program around this theme, the answer is "yes." I led the NASA project toward such ambitions, including developing the process to sort through proposals to avoid the detriments of pedantic dismissals and the lunatic fringe. Those details are in the last chapter of our "Frontiers of Propulsion Science" book. We have a network of qualified practitioners who would gladly assist, even if only for a modest honoraria. And if you are a researcher hoping to find funds for this topic, please let us know if you find any. As yet, we do not have enough for ourselves, let alone to invite proposals.

Ad astra incrementis (to the stars in ever-increasing steps)

Help us continue exploring these highly speculative prospects today — prospects that might eventually escalate to fantastic starflight — enabling humanity to survive and thrive across the galaxy.

The following publications illustrate progress toward the technical goals of interstellar travel:

Induced Gravitation: Forward, R. L. "Guidelines to Antigravity," in American Journal of Physics, Vol. 31, p. 166-170. (1963)

FTL Wormholes: Morris, M. S. & Thorne, K. S. "Wormholes in spacetime and their use for interstellar travel: a tool for teaching general relativity," American Journal of Physics, Vol. 56, p. 395-412. (1988)

FTL Warp Drives: Alcubierre, M. "The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity," Classical and Quantum Gravity, Vol. 11, p. L73-L77. (1994)

Space Drives: Millis, M. G. "Challenge to Create the Space Drive," AIAA Journal of Propulsion & Power, Vol. 13(5), pp. 577-582. (1997)

Quantum Vacuum Propulsion: Maclay, J. & Forward, R., "A Gedanken spacecraft that operates using the quantum vacuum (adiabatic Casimir effect)," Foundations of Physics, Vol.34(3), p. 477 – 500. (2004)

Compilation of Approaches: Millis & Davis, (eds), Frontiers of Propulsion Science, American Institute of Astronautics and Aeronautics (AIAA). (2009)

END

Keep the shuttle flying

Thursday, May 23, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - May 23, 2013 and JSC Today

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