Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - June 27, 2013 and JSC Today

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: June 27, 2013 6:07:41 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - June 27, 2013 and JSC Today

Hope to see some of you this afternoon at Milt Heflin's retirement celebration at 4:30  Gilruth Rec. Center Live Oak Pavillion—I have my ticket!.

 

 

 

Thursday, June 27, 2013

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JSC TODAY CATEGORIES Headlines -  Joint Leadership Team Web Poll -  Engineering Directorate All-Hands Meeting -  Does NED Know Where You Are? -  Meet the Authors Who Craft Our Wildest Dreams Organizations/Social -  So Your Kid is Going Off to College -  Sam's Club in Building 3 Today -  AIAA Award Nomination Deadlines Jobs and Training -  New NASA@work Challenge and Training Opportunity -  Machinery & Machine Guarding -- July 16-18 -  Crane Ops & Rigging Refresher ViTS - July 19 Community -  NASA College Scholarship Winners

IRIS Launch Set For Thursday

 

Headlines Joint Leadership Team Web Poll Nearly half of the respondents to the last poll indicated they spend a lot of time working with folks in other directorates. That's a good thing, in my opinion. "After Earth" barely won the contest for worst summer flick this year. See it at your own risk. Milt Heflin's retirement party is this week, and it got me thinking about retirement. Are you ready? Have you prepared? A lot? A little bit? As you might have noticed, I just returned from my summer vacation, which entailed 2,700 miles of driving with my wife and three kids in a pickup truck. I'd like your vote on what was the worst part of my whole trip. Fast food? Kids? No A/C? Chevy your Chase on over to get this week's poll. Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/ [top] Engineering Directorate All-Hands Meeting All Engineering Directorate employees: Do not forget about the Engineering Directorate all-hands meetings, "Charting Our Future," today. They will be held in the Teague Auditorium today, June 27. In order to accommodate everyone, you have one of two opportunities to attend. The first session will be from 9:30 to 11 a.m. for all on-site and off-site civil servants and contractors that report to EA1, EA2, ER, ES and EV. Then, from 2:30 to 4 p.m., all on-site and off-site civil servants and contractors that report to EA4, EC, EG, EP and EA3 are requested to attend. If you cannot attend your organization's time slot, feel free to attend the other session. Please submit all questions you would like to ask in advance to EA/Dianne Milner at x31206 or via email before the event. Event Date: Thursday, June 27, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:11:00 AM Event Location: JSC Teague Auditorium Add to Calendar Dianne Milner x31206 [top] Does NED Know Where You Are? The NASA Enterprise Directory (NED) includes office location and phone information for NASA team members. If you have not recently checked your information in NED, go here and search for your name to see your current listing. If the phone number, location or other information is incorrect, contact your Information Technology point of contact to have your information updated. For additional information, contact the Customer Support Center: x46367, option 3, or via email JSC-IRD-Outreach x41334 [top] Meet the Authors Who Craft Our Wildest Dreams Help science fiction meet reality in the Building 2S Teague Auditorium tomorrow, June 28, from 10 to 11 a.m., when some of the nation's bestselling science fiction authors will hold an interactive panel discussion for JSC employees. Sci-fi geeks and fiction lovers are invited to join with visiting science fiction writers Kirsten Beyer, Dave Galanter, David R. George III, Robert Greenberger, David Mack and Dayton Ward.  The discussion will conclude with audience Q&A—your chance to ask the burning questions you've always wanted to know about the craft of writing, where they get their ideas, what will be the next alternative universe explored and more. Employees are encouraged to wear their preferred "other worldly" attire. This will be employees' sole opportunity to communicate with the writers, as the panel discussion in Teague will not be televised or taped.    The panel participants are part of a science fiction writers gathering in Houston from June 27 to 30 for a brainstorming retreat to exchange ideas and discuss the science behind science fiction. Collectively, these authors, 12 in all, have published more than 150 novels, as well as screenplays, comic books and short stories, both in established science fictional settings such as Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica and original universes of their own creation. While at JSC, the authors will get more inspiration for future works while visiting facilities such as our famed Mission Control Center, Morpheus, Robotics, spacesuits, the Space Vehicle Mockup Facility, Building 31 and the Saturn V.   Employees attending the panel discussion Friday are welcome to send in their comments on the event to: jsc-pao-events@mail.nasa.gov JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111 [top]    Organizations/Social So Your Kid is Going Off to College The JSC Employee Assistance Program will present "So Your Kid is Going Off to College" today, June 27, from 12 noon to 1 p.m. in the Building 30 Auditorium. Please join us for a presentation on tips and suggestions on how to navigate this time of transition. Presented by Jackie Reese, MALPC, director of the JSC Employee Assistance Program and a parent of two college students. Event Date: Thursday, June 27, 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 [top] Sam's Club in Building 3 Today Sam's Club will be in the Building 3 Starport Café today from 11 a.m. to 2 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] AIAA Award Nomination Deadlines The following American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) awards have upcoming nomination deadlines: June 30: Career and Workforce Development Award Communications Award Harry Staubs STEM K-12 Outreach Award Membership Award Outstanding Section Award Outstanding Activity Award Public Policy Award Young Professional Activity Award July 1: Ashley Award for Aeroelasticity Children's Literature Award Dr. John C. Ruth Digital Avionics Award Durand Lectureship for Public Service Excellence in Aerospace Standardization Award Faculty Advisor Award Gardner-Lasser Aerospace History Literature Award History Manuscript Award Lawrence Sperry Award Losey Atmospheric Sciences Award Missile Systems Award Pendray Aerospace Literature Award Space Processing Award Summerfield Book Award For more information on each award, click here or contact me with "AIAA 2013 Awards" in the subject line. If the award is not listed in the drop-down menu on the online form, download the generic form and mail the nomination package. Jennifer Wells 281-336-6302 [top]    Jobs and Training New NASA@work Challenge and Training Opportunity Check out our newest challenge, #1774: Packing Foam Alternatives Challenge (deadline: July 31); as well as our other active challenge: Seeking Solutions on the Use of Thorium Instead of Uranium (deadline: Aug. 9). And, if you are interested in learning more about NASA@work and how you can participate on this internal, collaborative platform, join us for our next NASA@work Training 101 on Tuesday, July 23, from 3 to 3:30 p.m. CDT. Sign up today here. Space is limited. Are you new to NASA@work? NASA@work is an agencywide, collaborative problem-solving platform that connects the collective knowledge of experts (like YOU) from all centers across NASA. Challenge owners post problems, and members of the NASA@work community participate by responding with their solutions to posted problems. Anyone can participate! Event Date: Tuesday, July 23, 2013   Event Start Time:3:00 PM   Event End Time:3:30 PM Event Location: B12/Rm 142 Add to Calendar Kathryn Keeton 281-204-1519 http://nasa.innocentive.com [top] Machinery & Machine Guarding -- July 16-18 This three-day course provides the student with an in-depth understanding of NASA and Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements for machinery and machine guarding. It is based on the OSHA Training Institute Machinery and Machine Guarding course and provides the foundation for meeting our goal of contributing to improving the overall safety of NASA operations. The course also includes an overview of various types of common machinery used at NASA and the safety standards relating to those types of machines. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. Target Audience: Safety, Reliability, Quality and Maintainability professionals; maintenance repair supervisors; fabrication shop personnel; and anyone working around or with machinery. Use this direct link for registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_... Event Date: Tuesday, July 16, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:4:00 PM Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206 Add to Calendar Shirley Robinson x41284 [top] Crane Ops & Rigging Refresher ViTS - July 19 SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0028: This four-hour course serves as a refresher in overhead crane safety and awareness for operators, riggers, signalmen, supervisors and safety personnel, and updates their understanding of existing federal and NASA standards and regulations related to such cranes. Areas of concentration include: general safety in crane operations, testing, inspections, pre-lift plans, and safe rigging. This course is intended to provide the classroom training for re-certification of already qualified crane operators, or for those who have only a limited need for overhead crane safety knowledge. 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_... Event Date: Friday, July 19, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:1:30 PM Event Location: Bldg. 17 Room 205/206 Add to Calendar Shirley Robinson x41284 [top]    Community NASA College Scholarship Winners The Board of Directors of the NASA College Scholarship Fund met in June and awarded five college scholarships. The recipients selected for the 2013 scholarships are: Lauren Chambers, daughter of Langley Research Center's Lin Chambers Eesha Choudhari, daughter of Langley Research Center's Meelan Choudhari Rachel Holladay, daughter of Stennis Space Center's Wendy Holladay Samuel Holladay, son of Stennis Space Center's Wendy Holladay Edward Wollack, son of Goddard Space Flight Center's Edward Wollack More information about the scholarship is available online. Amanda Gaspard x31387 [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. Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

 

 

 

NASA TV:

·         8 pm Central (9 EDT) – Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph Mission Launch Coverage

·         9:27 pm Central (10:27 EDT) – IRIS Launch from Vandenberg AFB

·         5:35 am Central FRIDAY (6:35 EDT) – E36's Karen Nyberg with CBS "This Morning" and CNN.com's "CNN Leading Women"

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday, June 27, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Gene testing to help astronauts stay fit

 

Jacob Aron - New Scientist

 

Bloodletting and vitamin pills are the future for astronaut health regimes. So hints a provocative proposal on the benefits of personalized gene-based medicine for space travelers. Humans in space are at risk of a variety of ailments, from brittle bones caused by low gravity to cancer triggered by cosmic radiation. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) already take supplements to counteract ill effects, such as vitamin D for bone strength. But when travelling further into space, such as to an asteroid or Mars, astronauts will be exposed to radiation doses close to NASA's acceptable lifetime limits, upping their chances of developing illnesses from damaged DNA.

 

Conversation Robot from Japan Is Ready for Outer Space

 

Azusa Uchikura - Associated Press

 

 

The world's first space conversation experiment between a robot and humans is ready to be launched. Developers from the Kirobo project, named after "kibo" or hope in Japanese and "robot," gathered in Tokyo Wednesday to demonstrate the humanoid robot's ability to talk. "Russia was the first to go outer space, the U.S. was the first to go to the moon, we want Japan to be the first to send a robot-astronaut to space that can communicate with humans," said Yorichika Nishijima, the Kirobo project manager. Kirobo is scheduled to be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on August 4, 2013.

 

Toyota Robot Booked for First Conversation With Human in Space

 

Anna Mukai - Bloomberg News

 

Toyota Motor Corp. said a robot it co-developed will have the first human-robot conversation in space as part of a project to make machines that can interact with and assist people living alone. "This is one small step for me, but one giant leap for robots," the 13-inch-tall humanoid robot named Kirobo said at a briefing in Tokyo after being unveiled to the theme song of Astro Boy, an animation series about robots living among humans. Kirobo is set to blast off from Japan for the International Space Station in August aboard the Kounotori 4 cargo spacecraft.

 

Planet Labs unveils plan to launch 28 Nanosats on Antares' 1st cargo run

 

Debra Werner - Space News

 

Planet Labs is seeking to revolutionize the Earth imaging industry with a constellation of 28 nanosatellites designed to offer frequent, low-cost images of any point on the globe. By providing high-resolution imagery, quickly and inexpensively, the company's founders hope to expand dramatically the customer base for Earth imagery and the use of that information to address humanitarian, environmental and business concerns. After fending off media queries for months, executives of the San Francisco-based startup revealed plans June 26 to launch in December a constellation of 28 cubesats designed to provide imagery with a resolution of three to five meters. The constellation, known as Flock-1, is scheduled to fly on the first of eight Orbital Sciences Corp. cargo transportation flights to the international space station as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program.

 

NASA's Stennis Space Center Empowered

 

Jason Rhian – AmericaSpace.com

 

At NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi the space agency, along with contractors Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne, put the structures that build and test the machines that make space flight possible on display. The tour followed a ribbon-cutting ceremony held to mark the new Vertical Weld Center at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, which is located in adjacent Louisiana. Both of these events were held on Friday, June 20. They highlighted a single truth: efforts to construct and launch NASA's Space Launch System, or "SLS," are moving forward.

 

Astronaut Karen Nyberg Is a Pinterest Star

 

Maureen O'Connor - New York Magazine

 

Astronaut Karen Nyberg is on the International Space Station right now. Like many an astronaut before her, she is active on social media. Unlike most, however, her preferred social media network is female-friendly, domesticity-oriented photo-sharing network Pinterest. "Astronaut by day. Aspiring quilter, crafter, artist, runner by night. Wife and Mommy 24/7," her bio reads.

 

PayPal looks to conquer space (payments)

 

Associated Press

 

PayPal wants to explore space — or at least begin to figure out how payments and commerce will work beyond Earth's realm once space travel and tourism take off. PayPal, which is eBay Inc.'s payments business, says it is launching an initiative called PayPal Galactic with the help of the nonprofit SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and the Space Tourism Society, an industry group focused on space travel. Its goal, PayPal says, is to work out how commerce will work in space.

 

Space bucks: PayPal begins work on an off-world monetary system

 

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

 

PayPal has gathered together a team of scientists to address a question that science-fiction writers have been dealing with for decades: How will we handle money in outer space? "Everybody's focusing on the 'how' of going into space ... but nobody's thinking about what you're going to do when you're up there," Anuj Nayar, senior director of communications and social media at PayPal, told NBC News. To think more deeply about space bucks, the online-payment company has enlisted the Space Tourism Society, the SETI Institute and even Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin for what it calls the PayPal Galactic initiative. The partners in the PayPal Galactic effort will discuss the project at a news conference that's to be webcast via http://www.paypal-galactic.com from the SETI Institute at 11 am Central (Noon EDT) Thursday.

 

Supreme Court Gay Marriage Rulings Hailed by NASA Deputy Chief

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

Even top NASA officials are celebrating the landmark same-sex marriage decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday. Lori Garver, NASA's second-in-command, is hailing the ruling as a major win for equal rights. The highest U.S. court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had prevented the federal government from recognizing legal same-sex marriages performed by states. "This is a great day for equality and inclusion in America," Garver, who serves as NASA's deputy administrator, wrote on her agency blog. "In striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Supreme Court has sent a clear message that all legal marriages in America, regardless of gender, are deserving of equal dignity under the law." You can read Garver's complete post, 'A Great Day for Equality,' here.

 

Police Uncover $456,000 Baikonur Space Center Theft

 

RIA Novosti

 

Police have uncovered the embezzlement of over 15 million rubles ($456,000) from the Baikonur space center which Russia leases from Kazakhstan for space launches, Russia's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday. "The fraud involved the signing of fictitious agreements. The damage totaled over 15 million rubles," the ministry said in a statement. A criminal case has been opened into embezzlement, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years behind bars.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Gene testing to help astronauts stay fit

 

Jacob Aron - New Scientist

 

Bloodletting and vitamin pills are the future for astronaut health regimes. So hints a provocative proposal on the benefits of personalized gene-based medicine for space travelers.

 

Humans in space are at risk of a variety of ailments, from brittle bones caused by low gravity to cancer triggered by cosmic radiation. Astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) already take supplements to counteract ill effects, such as vitamin D for bone strength.

 

But when travelling further into space, such as to an asteroid or Mars, astronauts will be exposed to radiation doses close to NASA's acceptable lifetime limits, upping their chances of developing illnesses from damaged DNA.

 

To reduce each individual's risk, we should examine their genome and then design countermeasures to protect against any potential problems, say Michael Schmidt of MetaboLogics in Fort Collins, Colorado, and Thomas Goodwin of NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, in a forthcoming paper in Metabolomics.

 

The aim is not to weed out astronauts with deficiencies, but to ensure those who fly are in the best possible condition before they go to space, says Schmidt.

 

For example, certain gene mutations are known to reduce the stability of DNA, and this effect is amplified by a lack of folate. A person with the mutation could take folate supplements to protect against an increased risk of genetic damage from radiation exposure.

 

Reduced folate levels have also been linked to vision problems experienced by roughly a quarter of astronauts returning from the ISS. It is not yet clear whether the eye problems have a genetic component, but that is the kind of thing more focused research could reveal, says Schmidt.

 

Even a simple treatment like preflight bloodletting could prove useful when combined with genetic analysis, the pair say. People with a genetic mutation to build up iron in their bodies are at greater risk of radiation damage in space. An older male astronaut with the mutation will have built up high concentrations of iron over his lifetime (women are less at risk because they lose iron during menstruation). Bloodletting, along with an iron-restricted diet, could be an effective way to reduce this risk.

 

Genetic profiles can also help inform the types of drugs astronauts take into space, says Graham Scott of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston. He is looking at personalised medicine for Inspiration Mars, a private venture which plans to send humans on a fly-by of the Red Planet in 2018.

 

Roughly half of astronauts have experienced back pain during missions, which is treated in space with exercise and painkillers. But people with variants of the liver gene CYP2D6 can metabolise drugs such as the painkiller codeine too quickly, potentially leading to an overdose – and there is no hospital en route to Mars. Instead, if an astronaut is known to have this mutation they can be given a lower dose or an alternative treatment.

 

Jasper Rine of the University of California, Berkeley, says Schmidt and Goodwin's proposal makes sense in principle, but we don't yet know enough about gene variations to predict which astronauts will have gene-based health problems. And in the immediate future, he thinks deep-space pioneers will have bigger things to worry about. "Those with the courage to ride into space on a rocket built by the low bidder on a government contract face a wide range of risks," says Rine.

 

Conversation Robot from Japan Is Ready for Outer Space

 

Azusa Uchikura - Associated Press

 

 

The world's first space conversation experiment between a robot and humans is ready to be launched.

 

Developers from the Kirobo project, named after "kibo" or hope in Japanese and "robot," gathered in Tokyo Wednesday to demonstrate the humanoid robot's ability to talk.

 

"Russia was the first to go outer space, the U.S. was the first to go to the moon, we want Japan to be the first to send a robot-astronaut to space that can communicate with humans," said Yorichika Nishijima, the Kirobo project manager.

 

The experiment is a collaboration between advertising and PR company Dentsu Inc., the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tokyo, Robo Garage and Toyota Motor Corp.

 

Tomotaka Takahashi, CEO of Robo Garage Co. and associate professor at the University of Tokyo, said he hopes robots like Kirobo that hold conversations will eventually be used to assist astronauts working in space.

 

"When people think of robots in outer space, they tend to seek ones that do things physically," said Takahashi. "But I think there is something that could come from focusing on humanoid robots that focus on communication."

 

Because Kirobo does not need to perform physical activities, it is smaller than most robots that go into space. Kirobo is about 34 centimeters tall (13 inches) and weighs about 1 kilogram (2.2 pounds).

 

Its land-based counterpart Mirata looks almost identical but is not designed to go into outer space. Instead, it has the ability to learn through the conversations it has.

 

During the demonstration, Fuminori Kataoka, project general manager from Toyota, asked Kirobo what its dream was.

 

"I want to create a future where humans and robots can live together and get along," it answered.

 

Kirobo is scheduled to be launched from the Tanegashima Space Center on August 4, 2013.

 

Toyota Robot Booked for First Conversation With Human in Space

 

Anna Mukai - Bloomberg News

 

Toyota Motor Corp. said a robot it co-developed will have the first human-robot conversation in space as part of a project to make machines that can interact with and assist people living alone.

 

"This is one small step for me, but one giant leap for robots," the 13-inch-tall humanoid robot named Kirobo said at a briefing in Tokyo after being unveiled to the theme song of Astro Boy, an animation series about robots living among humans.

 

Voice-recognition technology developed by the carmaker will enable Kirobo to remember human voices and respond to them in Japanese, according to Toyota. The world's largest automaker will use findings from the project to improve the partner robots it makes that can perform tasks such as housework and assisting people who have difficulty walking.

 

"Japanese people are more comfortable with the idea of living and communicating with robots, because that's a popular scene in manga," University of Tokyo Associate Professor Tomotaka Takahashi said yesterday, referring to Japanese comics. "In about 15 years, we want to see a society where everyone is living with a personal robot."

 

University of Tokyo researchers and Dentsu Inc., Japan's biggest advertising agency, are working with the Toyota City, Japan-based carmaker on the project.

 

Toyota is developing its partner robots partly because Japan has one of the world's fastest-aging populations. One in every four people in the country will be older than 65 in 2014, compared with 9.6 percent in China and 14 percent in the U.S., according to data compiled by the U.S. Census Bureau.

 

August Blastoff

 

The carmaker has been developing industrial robots since the 1970s to help cut costs and improve quality by automating tasks like welding and painting.

 

Kirobo is set to blast off from Japan for the International Space Station in August aboard the Kounotori 4 cargo spacecraft. The robot will then wait for Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata to arrive in November or December and take part in the first robot-human conversation in space, according to Toyota.

 

Kirobo is scheduled to return to earth in December 2014.

 

"We want people to dream of a society where we live with robots," Fuminori Kataoka, general manager of Toyota's product planning division, said at the briefing yesterday. "I'm very excited."

 

Planet Labs unveils plan to launch 28 Nanosats on Antares' 1st cargo run

 

Debra Werner - Space News

 

Planet Labs is seeking to revolutionize the Earth imaging industry with a constellation of 28 nanosatellites designed to offer frequent, low-cost images of any point on the globe. By providing high-resolution imagery, quickly and inexpensively, the company's founders hope to expand dramatically the customer base for Earth imagery and the use of that information to address humanitarian, environmental and business concerns.

 

"We are motivated to make information about the changing planet available to all people, especially the people who need it the most," said Robbie Schingler, co-founder of the company previously known as Cosmogia Inc. "The imagery could be used by anyone who cares about changes in land use over time."

 

After fending off media queries for months, executives of the San Francisco-based startup revealed plans June 26 to launch in December a constellation of 28 cubesats designed to provide imagery with a resolution of three to five meters. The constellation, known as Flock-1, is scheduled to fly on the first of eight Orbital Sciences Corp. cargo transportation flights to the international space station as part of NASA's Commercial Resupply Services program.

 

In 2012, Planet Labs raised $13 million in venture capital funding for its Earth-imaging constellation from investment firms, including Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Capricorn Investment Group, O'Reilly AlphaTech Ventures, Founders Fund's FF Angel, Innovation Endeavors, Data Collective and First Round Capital, company officials said.

 

Planet Labs founders, Schingler, William Marshall and Chris Boshuizen, are physicists and entrepreneurs who previously worked for NASA. Schingler served as the chief of staff in NASA's Office of the Chief Technologist from June 2010 to October 2011. Marshall and Boshuizen worked in the NASA Ames Research Center's small spacecraft office where they helped to create PhoneSat, a project designed to test whether commercial smartphone components could be used in place of traditional space-qualified hardware.

 

Unlike PhoneSat, Planet Labs develops its own technology. However, company engineers draw on recent breakthroughs in commercial communications and computing technology. "We are trying to leverage the billions of dollars companies have spent miniaturizing electronics to advance satellite systems," Marshall said.

 

While much of the hardware Planet Labs plans to fly in its cubesat constellation does not have a lengthy spaceflight heritage, company executives said the constellation gains its resilience from its size. By design, it includes more satellites than necessary to provide global coverage.

 

The large size of Flock-1 also eliminates the need to task satellite cameras to obtain imagery of specific regions to satisfy customer demand. In the course of routine operations, Planet Labs will collect frequent imagery of latitudes within 52 degrees of the equator, an area that covers the vast majority the world's population and agricultural regions. Company officials declined to specify how frequently they plan to publish updated imagery.

 

Planet Labs officials are quick to point out that in spite of the large number of spacecraft they plan to launch, they are taking pains to ensure their cubesats do not aggravate the problem of space debris. "We factored this into our design from the first day," said Marshall, who conducted orbital debris research while working at NASA. "Our constellation flies very low and far away from congested areas in space. We have the ability to move to avoid a potential conjunction. And the satellites will disintegrate into the atmosphere in singles of years to avoid becoming space debris."

 

Flock-1 satellites are scheduled to occupy a 400-kilometer, circular orbit at an inclination of 52 degrees relative to the equator. That location allows onboard cameras to obtain higher resolution imagery and to transmit more data than would be possible if the miniature spacecraft operated in higher orbits, Schingler said.

 

Planet Labs currently has 33 full-time employees. The staff is comprised primarily of engineers who previously worked at NASA, Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Space Systems/Loral, United Technologies Corp.'s Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, Google Inc. and Facebook Inc., Schingler said.

 

Planet Labs launched in April its two first satellites, triple cubesats called Dove-1 and Dove-2, on technology demonstrations. Dove-2 launched April 19 on a Soyuz-2.1a rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. It rode into orbit as a secondary payload on the Bion-M1 biological experiment satellite. On April 21, Bion-M1 deployed the Dove-2 cubesat.

 

Also on April 21, Dove-1 traveled on the maiden flight of Orbital Science Corp.'s Antares rocket. Planet Labs contracted for the launch of Dove-1 and Dove-2 with Seattle-based Spaceflight Inc. Spaceflight integrated the payloads with Isipod cubesat deployers built by the Dutch firm Innovative Solutions in Space. Spaceflight worked with its partner Innovative Space Logistics BV of Delft, Netherlands, to launch the Dove-2 on a Soyuz rocket, said Spaceflight president and chief executive Jason Andrews.

 

Dove 1 re-entered Earth's atmosphere after a 6-day mission due to the low orbit of the Antares test flight. In spite of its short duration, company officials were pleased with the technology demonstration, Schingler said. The satellites "obtained beautiful imagery with beautiful resolution straight out of the box," Marshall added.

 

For example, Dove-1 obtained imagery of a forest in Portland, Ore., that was detailed enough to show the canopy of individual trees. When Planet Labs officials compared it with Google Earth imagery they saw an area where logging had occurred.

 

Deforestation is one potential application for Planet Labs imagery. Customer interest will determine additional applications. The target audience extends far beyond "large companies and global information system experts" and includes individual Kenyan farmers trying to decide when to water or apply nutrients to their soil, Schingler said.

 

The image of Earth taken by Apollo 17 astronauts in 1972 known as the Blue Marble hangs in a prominent place in Planet Labs' office. The company's founders said the Earth imagery they intend to provide is designed to spur global action just as the Blue Marble image prompted greater global awareness. "By making regular imaging of the planet universally accessible, we will enable people to make better decisions," Marshall said.

 

In addition to Flock-1, Planet Labs is preparing to launch two additional technology demonstration missions. In September 2012, the company obtained a license from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration to operate commercial, remote-sensing satellites Dove-3 and Dove-4. The two satellites, scheduled to launch later this year aboard a Russian-supplied Dnepr rocket, are designed to test technology and demonstration mission concepts.

 

NASA's Stennis Space Center Empowered

 

Jason Rhian – AmericaSpace.com

 

At NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi the space agency, along with contractors Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne, put the structures that build and test the machines that make space flight possible on display. The tour followed a ribbon-cutting ceremony held to mark the new Vertical Weld Center at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility, which is located in adjacent Louisiana. Both of these events were held on Friday, June 20. They highlighted a single truth: efforts to construct and launch NASA's Space Launch System, or "SLS," are moving forward.

 

Aerojet Rocketdyne's Engine Processing Facility was the first stop of the tour. Just a few days after the announcement that the merger between Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne and Aerojet was announced as being finalized, the building was festooned throughout with new signs denoting the company's new moniker.

 

Guests were escorted to the second floor to a room with a large window that looked out onto the first floor and the RS-68 and RS-25 engines that littered the room. The NASA officials, aerospace company representatives, and elected officials that comprised the tour group were soon taken into the engine bay (it is an impressive site).

 

"Fourteen of these engines were used on the shuttle program. We've managed to build two more from components and parts that were leftover from shuttle," said NASA's Michael Kynard as he gestured to two RS-25s standing behind. "We're trying to get the team to look at and to treat these engines as expendable."

 

The RS-25 is more commonly known as the Space Shuttle Main Engine, or "SSME." Three of these engines were mounted to the aft section of the shuttle. Under the shuttle program, the SSME powered NASA's fleet of orbiters to various destinations in low-Earth orbit for more than three decades.

 

Editor's note: This was a particularly memorable moment for me, as I had seen most of these RS-25 engines before. I last saw them at Kennedy Space Center's Space Shuttle Main Engine Processing Facility shortly before they were boxed up and delivered to Stennis.

 

On the B-2 side of Stennis' B-1 / B-2 test stand sits an RS-68 rocket engine. The RS-68 is employed on United Launch Alliance's Delta IV family of launch vehicles. For proprietary reasons, close up imagery of the engine was not allowed.

 

It was a different story over at Stennis' A-1 test stand. The J-2X engine was on full display, with engineers, officials, and members of the media hovering over the engine like worker drones attending to a queen bee. The J-2X will soon be evicted from her perch—a new tenant is taking up residence at A-1. The RS-25, as well as the prerequisite test equipment, will be placed within A-1 in preparation to test out various aspects of the venerable rocket for use on SLS.

 

Throughout Stennis work is going on. The various test stands are being renovated to test engines for use on SLS. Both NASA and Aerojet Rocketdyne workers could be seen bustling about, tending to the engines, welding together new elements, building the machines, and refurbishing the structures that could one day return humanity to the business of space exploration.

 

NASA currently plans to launch the first Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle in September 2014 on what has come to be called Exploration Flight Test 1. After this mission is conducted, various tests and flights will continue to validate the design. In 2017, the space agency is planning to launch the Block 1 version of SLS for the first time in an unmanned capacity. If all goes well, the first crewed flight could occur as soon as 2021.

 

The president had suggested that NASA retrieve an asteroid, deliver it to lunar orbit, and then send astronauts to it. Congress has since floated the concept that NASA should return to the mission it was directed away from with the cancellation of the Constellation Program—constructing a lunar base. Either way NASA views the tools being added to the space agency's Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), as well as at Stennis, as key to the space agency's human space exploration ambitions. A crucial aspect of NASA's efforts is modernizing both the facilities and tools it uses to help lower costs.

 

"What's unique about these facilities is if you take a look at these, typically, there were three or four or five different tools required to do the same job you're seeing with one tool here. What they showed you here today is they can do the entire weld in a single pass—that's unheard of in the industry. The other thing it does is … the entire weld can be inspected with one tool, so you don't have to move it around. That yields manufacturing flexibility. If you take a look outside where they do the domes, there were typically 10 or 15 tools that do what three tools do today. So they've taken advantage of modern manufacturing, state-of-the-art things to try to lower our overall operating costs that make this a very affordable rocket, even at low production rates," said NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier at MAF a few hours prior to the end of the tour.

 

Astronaut Karen Nyberg Is a Pinterest Star

 

Maureen O'Connor - New York Magazine

 

Astronaut Karen Nyberg is on the International Space Station right now. Like many an astronaut before her, she is active on social media. Unlike most, however, her preferred social media network is female-friendly, domesticity-oriented photo-sharing network Pinterest.

 

"Astronaut by day. Aspiring quilter, crafter, artist, runner by night. Wife and Mommy 24/7," her bio reads. Nyberg, who first worked with NASA as a mechanical engineer in the '90s, has 23 pinboards. Some are dedicated to spaceflight and science, others to domestic hobbies and her children. A pinboard called "Hair and Space" reveals the volumizing effect of zero gravity on her magnificent hair. "When girls see pictures of ponytails, don't you think it stirs something inside them that says, that could be ME up there?" Nyberg writes.

 

Before arriving in space, Nyberg's pinning routine included baby quilts, birthday cakes, and diagrams of aeronautical equipment. "I've been using Pinterest for a couple of years and absolutely love it because of my other hobbies," she told CBS News last month. As she prepared to leave Earth, she started "adding some space things."

 

Now that Nyberg is in orbit, most of her pins depict astronomical phenomena and science experiments. But space provides traditional Pinspiration, too. A recent picture of "floating fat quarters" — fabric squares for quilting — has Nyberg's followers eagerly anticipating the quilt she seems to be sewing in outer space.

 

PayPal looks to conquer space (payments)

 

Associated Press

 

PayPal wants to explore space — or at least begin to figure out how payments and commerce will work beyond Earth's realm once space travel and tourism take off.

 

PayPal, which is eBay Inc.'s payments business, says it is launching an initiative called PayPal Galactic with the help of the nonprofit SETI Institute in Mountain View, Calif., and the Space Tourism Society, an industry group focused on space travel. Its goal, PayPal says, is to work out how commerce will work in space.

 

Questions to be answered include how commerce will be regulated and what currency will be used. PayPal's president, David Marcus, said the company is very serious about the idea. He says that while space tourism was once the stuff of science fiction, it's now becoming a reality.

 

"There are lots of important questions that the industry needs to answer," he said. There are regulatory and technical issues, along with safety and even what cross-border trade will look like when there are not a lot of borders.

 

"We feel that it's important for us to start the conversation and find answers," Marcus added. "We don't have that much time."

 

PayPal is no stranger to outer space. One of its founders, Elon Musk, heads the privately held space company Space Exploration Technologies Corp., better known as SpaceX. And James Doohan, best known for his role as "Scotty" on "Star Trek," was PayPal's first official spokesman when it launched in 1999.

 

PayPal said it plans to hold an event announcing the venture at the SETI Institute in Mountain View on Thursday.

 

Space bucks: PayPal begins work on an off-world monetary system

 

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

 

PayPal has gathered together a team of scientists to address a question that science-fiction writers have been dealing with for decades: How will we handle money in outer space?

 

"Everybody's focusing on the 'how' of going into space ... but nobody's thinking about what you're going to do when you're up there," Anuj Nayar, senior director of communications and social media at PayPal, told NBC News.

 

To think more deeply about space bucks, the online-payment company has enlisted the Space Tourism Society, the SETI Institute and even Apollo 11 moonwalker Buzz Aldrin for what it calls the PayPal Galactic initiative.

 

"Trips to Mars, the moon, even orbit will require we provide astronauts and astro-tourists with as many comforts from home as possible, including how to pay each other. Whether it's paying a bill, even helping a family member on Earth, we'll need access to money," Aldrin said, in a statement released in advance of Thursday's formal kickoff at the SETI Institute's Silicon Valley headquarters.

 

How to pay in space

 

Today's astronauts rely on earthbound representatives to take care of their financial details while they're in orbit. Signing over power of attorney is standard procedure for space station astronauts. But financial matters could get more complicated for future tourists who go into space. "The reality is that there's a host of people on the ground who look after the astronauts who are up there right now," Nayar said. "We don't have that infrastructure. We don't have those people and systems to make what we want to happen a reality."

 

The first space tourists could be launched as early as next year, aboard rocket planes that are being developed by Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace. Those suborbital jaunts are expected to last only a few hours — but within the next few years, it's conceivable that private-sector passengers will be going into orbit for extended stays aboard commercial space stations built by Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace or Russia's Orbital Technologies and RSC Energia.

 

John Spencer, founder and president of the Space Tourism Society, said it's not too early to start thinking about commerce and payment systems designed for space travelers. "When I got the call from our PayPal friends, I just remember smiling and thinking it's a good time for this group to get involved," he told NBC News.

 

The SETI Institute is also lending its expertise, and in return, PayPal is lending support to the institute's research by setting up a crowdfunding campaign powered by FundRazr. "If we in fact are successful at finding ways to work and play in space, we're going to want to be there too, you and me," the SETI Institute's Jill Tarter said in a video about PayPal's initiative. "And inevitably it's going to need some kind of monetary currency."

 

Cash-free in zero-G?

 

The PayPal Galactic initiative will look at the sorts of issues already encountered on Earth — such as fraud protection, hidden banking charges, identity theft and unanticipated currency swings — plus other problems peculiar to the space environment. "One thing is clear," PayPal's president, David Marcus, said in Thursday's statement, "we won't be using cash in space."

 

Nayar said PayPal's engineers have been "salivating" over the prospect of building a monetary system from the ground up. "If we were creating a new payment system, I doubt it would look anything like the one that exists today," he said.

 

He said that PayPal, which was founded 15 years ago and acquired by eBay in 2002, sees the initiative as a long-term "conversation" that could eventually include other technology companies.

 

"What PayPal Galactic is doing is getting the right people to ask the right questions. We need to form a checklist of all the issues to consider — from taxes and regulations in space, to handling ISP addresses from orbit," Nayar said in an email. "Once we have these questions down, we can start answering them and provide the framework for off-world commerce."

 

He told NBC News that "the borderless thinking that were using to create a commercial reality in space could lead to some fantastic innovations on Earth as well."

 

How much is that in quatloos?

 

When it comes to money in space, PayPal is going where many books and TV shows have gone before: Sci-fi writers have created a wide spectrum of extraterrestrial currencies, ranging from the solari of "Dune" to the cubits of "Battlestar Galactica" to the spacebucks of "Spaceballs." The civilizations of "Star Trek" deal in Federation credits, Klingon darseks and even Triskelion quatloos for the occasional death match.

 

All those might make for fine space currencies, but there's one monetary unit that PayPal Galactic should definitely stay away from: the Triganic Pu, described by the late humorist Douglas Adams in "The Restaurant at the End of the Universe."

 

"Its exchange rate of eight Ningis to one Pu is simple enough, but since a Ningi is a triangular rubber coin 6,800 miles along each side, no one has ever collected enough to own one Pu," Adams wrote. "Ningis are not negotiable currency, because the Galactibanks refuse to deal in fiddling small change."

 

The partners in the PayPal Galactic effort will discuss the project at a news conference that's to be webcast via http://www.paypal-galactic.com from the SETI Institute at 11 am Central (Noon EDT) Thursday. One of my pals on Twitter, NRAO's Tania Burchell, has already pointed out that PayPal's idea isn't new: Travelex created a space currency called the QUID (Quasi Universal Intergalactic Denomination) back in 2007.

 

Supreme Court Gay Marriage Rulings Hailed by NASA Deputy Chief

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

Even top NASA officials are celebrating the landmark same-sex marriage decision made by the U.S. Supreme Court Wednesday. Lori Garver, NASA's second-in-command, is hailing the ruling as a major win for equal rights.

 

The highest U.S. court overturned the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), which had prevented the federal government from recognizing legal same-sex marriages performed by states.

 

"This is a great day for equality and inclusion in America," Garver, who serves as NASA's deputy administrator, wrote on her agency blog. "In striking down the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), the Supreme Court has sent a clear message that all legal marriages in America, regardless of gender, are deserving of equal dignity under the law."

 

The decision came in response to a suit brought by Edith Windsor against the federal government. Windsor was married in Canada in 2007 to her spouse of more than 40 years, Thea Spyer. When Spyer died in 2009, Windsor was forced to pay $360,000 in federal estate taxes to inherit Spyer's property, because DOMA prohibited the Internal Revenue Service from recognizing their union.

 

The Supreme Court ruled today that DOMA is unconstitutional in denying federal recognition to marriages legally performed and recognized by states.

 

"The defeat of DOMA is a victory for the spirit of fairness and inclusion that holds us together as one NASA family," Garver wrote.

 

The decision will extend a slew of federal benefits to legally married same-sex couples, and will require federal agencies to make significant changes in procedures related to marriage. For example, federal agencies such as NASA must now extend benefits like healthcare and pensions to all legal spouses, regardless of gender.

 

"The President has directed the Attorney General to work with other members of his Cabinet to review all relevant federal statutes to ensure this decision is implemented swiftly and smoothly," Garver wrote. "NASA looks forward to working with the Administration to fully implement the Court's decision."

 

Garver wasn't the only government official celebrating the decision. President Barack Obama himself issued a statement in support of the ruling.

 

"The laws of our landing are catching up to the fundamental truth that millions of Americans hold in our hearts: when all Americans are treated as equal, no matter who they are or whom them love, we are all more free," he said.

 

The DOMA ruling was just one of multiple significant Supreme Court verdicts handed down today.

 

The court also declined to decide the case of Hollingsworth v. Perry, which contested California's same-sex marriage ban, Prop. 8, on the grounds that the traditional marriage proponents who were arguing it did not have standing to defend the law when state legislators declined to do so. The judgment effectively upheld a lower court ruling that found Prop. 8 unconstitutional, and experts say same-sex marriages could resume in California in a matter of weeks.

 

You can read Garver's complete post, 'A Great Day for Equality,' here.

 

Police Uncover $456,000 Baikonur Space Center Theft

 

RIA Novosti

 

Police have uncovered the embezzlement of over 15 million rubles ($456,000) from the Baikonur space center which Russia leases from Kazakhstan for space launches, Russia's Interior Ministry said on Wednesday.

 

"The fraud involved the signing of fictitious agreements. The damage totaled over 15 million rubles," the ministry said in a statement.

 

A criminal case has been opened into embezzlement, which carries a sentence of up to 10 years behind bars.

 

The number of corruption-related crimes recorded in Russia rose by almost 25 percent in 2012, according to a report by the Prosecutor General's Office submitted to parliament in April.

 

Corruption has pervaded Russia's administration, particulary in the allocation of budgetary funds for government defense contracts, transactions involving federal or municipal property, and the exercise of supervisory functions over private business entities, the report said.

 

The Transparency International global watchdog estimated the cost of corruption in Russia at $300 billion in 2012, placing Russia 133rd out of 174 countries in its Corruption Perceptions Index last year.

 

END

 

More detailed space news can be found at:

 

http://spacetoday.net/

http://www.bulletinnews.com/nasa/

 

-KjH

Kyle Herring

NASA Public Affairs

"Well I'm just a lonely acrobat, the live wire is my trade"