Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - July 25, 2013

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 25, 2013 7:37:43 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - July 25, 2013

 

 

NASA TV:

·         9:50 am Central (10:50 EDT) – E36's Chris Cassidy & Karen Nyberg interview with Washington Post's "On Background" Online Program and the Portland Herald (Maine)

·         3:30 pm Central (4:30 EDT) – Progress 50 Undocking coverage (undocks at 3:43 Central)

 

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT…

 

Hangout in Yuma: Orion Chute Test!

 

NASA hosted a Google+ Hangout from the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona yesterday, but you can watch the replay on NASA TV's YouTube channel. It was considered one of the most difficult parachute tests to date for the agency's Orion capsule. The test capsule was dropped from a plane at 35,000 feet to evaluate its parachutes.

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – July 25, 2013

 

Orion lands on two chutes – on purpose – during a test Wednesday in Yuma

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

ISS Producing Revenue From Commercial Projects

Space station starts generating revenue

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

 

Some early entrepreneurs are starting to see returns on their investments in International Space Station (ISS) business, as the $100 billion orbiting laboratory continues a slow turn away from assembly operations to utilization. Some 28% of U.S. rack space on the station remains unused, NASA officials say. The station still has not reached its full capacity, in part because worries about how long it will remain in orbit and what happens to intellectual property generated there give pause to some potential users. Those concerns have not stopped Nanoracks LLC, a Houston-based startup that built a low-cost small-payload accommodation based on the cubesat standard and persuaded NASA to install it on the ISS three years ago. Since then the company has expanded on that model to offer space on several internal and external ISS facilities, and has plans for another significant addition to its revenue stream.

 

Orion capsule sticks drop-test landing

Capsule performs well in simulated parachute failure

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

NASA's Orion spacecraft scored a big success Wednesday during a drop test that showed it could return astronauts safely to Earth even if its main parachute fails during atmospheric entry, descent and landing. Dropped from a military C-17 cargo aircraft flying 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert, a full-scale Orion test capsule deployed its parachutes over the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground. Live video broadcast on NASA TV showed the capsule descending under three huge red-and-white striped parachutes. The suspension line on the main chute was deliberately cut, but the two remaining chutes lowered the craft to a safe landing.

 

Orion passes high-altitude test

 

Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News

 

NASA dropped an Orion mock-up capsule from 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert Wednesday in the highest-altitude spacecraft parachute test since the Apollo program. The test demonstrated that the spacecraft can land safely with only two of its three parachutes, a key step in preparing Orion to carry humans past low Earth orbit and into space. Previous demonstrations had cut one of Orion's parachutes and dropped the capsule from a height of 25,000 feet, but the extra 10,000 feet in Wednesday's test provided the clearest image yet of how the craft will perform upon returning to Earth.

 

New space capsule lands with two of three parachutes in NASA flight test

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

NASA's Orion capsule, planned to be the space agency's next manned spaceship, safely landed during a flight test Wednesday using just two of its three parachutes. The test was the 10th in a series of maneuvers to check out Orion's parachute system, which will slow the vehicle down as it plummets through Earth's atmosphere on return trips from space. Orion is designed to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to nearby asteroids, the moon, and eventually Mars. The spacecraft is due to make its first test flight to space in 2014 in a mission called the Exploration Flight Test-1, and its initial crewed flight around 2021.

 

Orion Parachute Failure Test Validates Design's Abilities

 

Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.com

 

NASA conducted a failure test of the Orion spacecraft's parachute design at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona on Wednesday, July 24. The spacecraft was dropped out of a C-17 aircraft at 35,000 feet. The test was held to prove that Orion can be safely returned to Earth if one of the spacecraft's three parachutes were to fail. Wednesday's test marked the 10th in a series of tests meant to validate Orion's parachute system. The test was the highest altitude to date. During the test, one of Orion's three parachutes was purposely cut away early. This meant that the spacecraft would be forced to rely on the remaining two.

 

Boeing Refines CST-100 Commercial Crew Capsule Approach

Apollo-shaped capsule has met eight of 19 milestones

 

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

 

A mockup of Boeing's CST-100 entry in NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is undergoing internal evaluation by astronauts this week amid renewed optimism over how the initiative to regain a U.S. capability to transport crews to and from the International Space Station by 2017 is faring in Washington. The Apollo-shaped capsule has met eight of 19 milestones outlined under Boeing's $460 million NASA Commercial Crew Integrated Capability agreement, as the company aims for a critical design review (CDR) in the spring of 2014 and an unpiloted flight test in 2016. In parallel, Boeing is working under a $10 million first-phase contract to certify the spacecraft's safety and performance for a piloted demonstration mission to the ISS in 2017.

 

Boeing Unveils Stylish New Space Capsule

 

Jason Paur - Wired.com

 

Boeing opened the doors to its CST-100 capsule, providing the first look inside the spacecraft it hopes will one day transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The company also announced it recently passed the emergency water landing evacuation tests of the spacecraft, which is designed to touch down on land. The capsule's unveiling is one of several recent milestones reached by the three companies vying for the NASA contract to fly people into low earth orbit. Sierra Nevada Corporation began the initial tests of its lifting body spacecraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and SpaceX continues the development of its newest Falcon 9 rocket systems, with another flight of its reusable first stage.

 

Russian Soyuz-U Supply Rocket Placed on Launch Pad

 

RIA Novosti

 

A Soyuz-U rocket carrying a Progress M-20M space freighter has been installed on the launch pad at the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan in preparation for a supply mission to the International Space Station, the Russian space agency Roscosmos said Thursday. The launch is scheduled for 00:45 a.m. Moscow time on Sunday (3:45 pm Central on Saturday). The Progress M-20M will again return to the "short" six-hour flight path to the International Space Station. The last Progress M-19M cargo spacecraft launched in April 2013 reached the orbital outpost two days after liftoff. The previous three space freighters, Progress M-16M, Progress M-17M and Progress M-18M, also delivered their cargo to the station in six hours. Before the Progress M-16M, which was the first to dock with the ISS just six hours after blastoff from Earth in August 2012, all of Russia's space freighters delivered their payloads in two days, which was a routine procedure. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

How Do Astronauts Exercise in Space?

PCMag visited the Astronaut Exercise Equipment Training Facility at Johnson Space Center to find out how astronauts stay fit on the International Space Station

 

Meredith Popolo - PC Magazine

 

Right now your muscles and bones are working against gravity. Even if you don't exercise as much as you should, you're still pushing against the force just to stay upright. But when you get to space, your body is relieved of the effort… and quickly starts turning into a noodle. So how do astronauts stay fit in space? They can't simply lift some dumbbells. To minimize the physiological effects of microgravity, NASA has equipped the International Space Station (ISS) with some fancy fitness equipment. There's a space treadmill named COLBERT; CEVIS, a stationary bike; and ARED, a device that simulates weightlifting.

 

Astronaut Suni Williams: You need to make peace before leaving Earth

 

Christine Jeavans - BBC News

 

US astronaut Sunita Williams spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions to the International Space Station. As part of BBC News' How to put a human on Mars coverage she explains how she coped and considers whether a crew could endure a voyage to the Red Planet. "When you are thinking about going away for a long duration mission, it has to be part of your mindset that you're leaving your family, but it's for the right reasons, for good reasons, and hopefully helping humanity. So you settle yourself on that but you also have to prepare yourself. I call it tying up the ends of your life before you go because you never know what's going to happen. You want to make sure that when you leave, you feel at peace with everything.

 

NASA test fires 'printed' rocket engine part

Reports no problems at 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA engineers are excited by their first hot-fire tests this summer of 3-D printed rocket engine parts. Engineers saw no difference between the parts built by the so-called additive process and those built by traditional manufacturing. 3-D or additive manufacturing is a fast-moving wave in American manufacturing, and NASA is riding that wave. In the process, a hot tool layers construction material - typically metal or plastic - by following a 3-D computer design. The result is a single piece with no glue or welds that takes weeks, not months, from manufacturing to testing and costs 60 percent or more less than normal processes.

 

Commercial Spaceflight Conference Launches in California Thursday

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

Legions of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs are gathering in Silicon Valley this week to discuss the rise and impact of the commercial space industry. The Space Frontier Foundation's annual NewSpace conference runs from Thursday through Saturday (July 25-27) in San Jose, Calif. Among the many speakers are NASA deputy chief Lori Garver, Commercial Spaceflight Federation president Michael Lopez-Alegria and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.). Those who can't make it to San Jose can still watch the sessions, which will be streamed live via www.Spacevidcast.com For more information, visit the NewSpace 2013 website: http://newspace.spacefrontier.org/

 

Here's What Your $5 Billion Space Yacht Could Look Like

 

Will Dietrich-Egensteiner – Popular Mechanics

 

 

Last month PayPal told the world about PayPal Galactic, a proposal to create a payment system for space purchases. Along with the announcement came a series of fantastic retro-futuristic illustrations of an extraterrestrial life of leisure, perhaps depicting some of the good life upon which you'd be spending your space bucks. John Spencer, the president of the Los Angeles–based Space Tourism Society, made those illustrations. And Spencer is doing more than drawing pictures that look like Norman Rockwell meets the Jetsons. He's also designing a space yacht for those among the one percent who want to be early adopters of the luxury orbital getaway. Spencer's proposed space super yacht Destiny is designed to cruise in Earth's orbit, offering a striking view of our planet. In illustrations, the 300-foot-long ship cuts a remarkable profile—its bulbous body seems almost butterfly-like, with its four sails outstretched like wings in midflight.

 

Ex-astronaut reappointed to NM Spaceport Authority

 

Associated Press

 

Gov. Susana Martinez has reappointed two members of the New Mexico Spaceport Authority, including a former astronaut who's the veteran of 2 space flights. Former astronaut Sid Gutierrez of Albuquerque and Truth or Consequences banker Jerry Stagner will serve four year terms expiring in 2017. The nine-member authority is responsible for the state's commercial spaceport in southern New Mexico. Gutierrez currently works at Sandia National Laboratories in Albuquerque. He piloted a 1991 flight of space shuttle Columbia and was commander of a 1994 mission of the shuttle Endeavor. Stagner is president of Citizens Bank in Truth or Consequences.

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COMPLETE STORIES

 

ISS Producing Revenue From Commercial Projects

Space station starts generating revenue

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aviation Week

 

Some early entrepreneurs are starting to see returns on their investments in International Space Station (ISS) business, as the $100 billion orbiting laboratory continues a slow turn away from assembly operations to utilization.

 

Some 28% of U.S. rack space on the station remains unused, NASA officials say. The station still has not reached its full capacity, in part because worries about how long it will remain in orbit and what happens to intellectual property generated there give pause to some potential users.

 

Those concerns have not stopped Nanoracks LLC, a Houston-based startup that built a low-cost small-payload accommodation based on the cubesat standard and persuaded NASA to install it on the ISS three years ago.

 

Since then the company has expanded on that model to offer space on several internal and external ISS facilities, and has plans for another significant addition to its revenue stream.

 

The work won Nanoracks the first American Astronautical Society ISS innovation award at the organization's space station research and development conference here last week. But more importantly, the company is moving ahead with a new station app that promises a significant boost in its cash flow—commercial cubesat launches from a multi-unit dispenser of its own design (see photo inset).

 

"After we became the first company to coordinate a small satellite deployment from station, we were very, very surprised by the market response," says Jeff Manber, Nanoracks founder and managing director. "It became clear that people are enamored for using the ISS for a variety of reasons—frequent access, and the fact that it's available."

 

Like the first satellite it launched—a Vietnamese cubesat—Nanoracks will use the Japanese Kibo module's airlock, exposed facility and robotic arm to launch multiple cubesats with the new dispenser scheduled to reach the station by the end of the year.

 

Cubesats will be packed into the dispenser's eight spring-loaded tubes for the ride to orbit, according to Michael Johnson, the company's chief technology officer. The ISS crew will send them outside through the airlock, and use the robotic arm to move the dispenser into position on the Earth-facing side of the station. The satellites will be deployed into a retrograde orbit below the station to avoid recontact, says Johnson.

 

From there, they will function for as long as a year before reentering.

 

Nanoracks is charging $85,000 per 10-cc cubesat "U" for the service, and expects to launch as many as 38 of the units on the first mission. It has invested about $500,000 developing the hardware, and is taking advantage of free NASA transport to orbit.

 

In addition to the traditional academic payloads that formed the company's initial market, some of the commercial multilaunch customers are attracted by the relatively low cost of access to orbit, and some of them are developing Earth-observation and other businesses that will require constellations of the tiny spacecraft.

 

Nanoracks isn't the only company gearing up to sell accommodation on the station. Teledyne Brown Engineering Inc., which has built several flight-releasable attachment mechanisms (Frams) for the ISS exterior, plans to launch a pointable Fram-based Earth-observation platform to the station next year and sell space on it under a cooperative agreement with NASA.

 

But after that, congressional hopes to commercialize part of the U.S. accommodation on the ISS have yet to be realized. The nonprofit Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (Casis), chosen by NASA to manage the U.S. National Laboratory that Congress set aside for commercial work, has attracted only $2 million in outside funds. Created by Space Florida, the state's aerospace-business development agency, Casis has relied on $15 million in annual NASA funding to hire a staff of 31 and organize 40 National Lab flight projects to date.

 

Casis has issued three request for proposals (RFP) for station research, and has funded six projects in protein crystal growth and two in materials science. An RFP on stem-cell research closes July 25.

 

Duane Ratliff, chief operating officer and NASA liaison at Casis, says the new organization shifted six months ago from a "membership" approach requiring participants to "buy in" to a "partnership" format of sharing necessary resources. The nonprofit still lacks an executive director, and has been feeling its way into a field long dominated by NASA's mission-oriented needs.

 

"We need to be able to translate both their findings and some of the questions that haven't been asked as to where the terrestrial interests may lie," Ratliff says. We need the answers to the very fundamental questions of what it is that microgravity can provide with respect to developing product applications, intellectual property, or others."

 

The nonprofit has focused its efforts to find projects and outside investment in the technology-rich areas around Cambridge, Mass., Houston and Denver, and plans another drive in Silicon Valley in California soon, Ratliff says. Sticking points with potential partners include uncertainty over how long the station will continue to operate, and concern that the Casis agreement with NASA does not offer sufficient protection of intellectual property. Both issues are being addressed as Congress works on a NASA reauthorization bill.

 

Meanwhile, the space agency has started producing some meaningful results with the station research it funds through its own scientists and those affiliated with U.S. academic institutions. Among advances reported at the conference here were the discovery at the University of California, San Francisco, via some very sophisticated skeletal measurements of returning astronauts, that a combination of rigorous resistive exercise and doses of alendronate or other bisphosphonates in orbit can virtually eliminate the weakening that occurs when bones lose their gravity loading during extended missions.

 

Researchers at the University of Delaware used magnetic fields to align colloids in microgravity, holding promise for manufacturing more efficient solar arrays and other applications requiring nanostructures. Space-combustion studies at NASA's Glenn Research Center that detected and characterized previously unseen "cool flames" as various chemical fuels burned out holds promise for more efficient internal combustion engines, as well as fire-safety implications for spacecraft.

 

In non-NASA government research, the station's Hyperspectral Imager for the Coastal Ocean (HICO), when combined with careful in situ calibration, has given the Environmental Protection Agency a new tool for monitoring coastal water quality from space that may produce a smartphone app for swimmers, campers and boaters.

 

But while there is increasing interest in using the station as an orbital platform for remote-sensing and technology research, there also is a perception among possible users here that safety and other regulations will make it more trouble than it is worth to get on board.

 

NASA and Casis officials deny that is the case, and point to a changing attitude among station gatekeepers as the program shifts from managing an incredibly complex space-assembly job to running a functioning scientific laboratory.

 

"Now it's built," says Mike Suffredini, NASA's ISS program manager. "Now we're making our switch, and we're changing our mindset to a more research-mission phase, and with that you've got to increase the throughput. So there's been a paradigm shift in the program. This almost sounds sacrilegious, but to operate safely is just not good enough anymore. The trick is, how do you operate safely, and get more and more out of this spacecraft?"

 

Orion capsule sticks drop-test landing

Capsule performs well in simulated parachute failure

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

NASA's Orion spacecraft scored a big success Wednesday during a drop test that showed it could return astronauts safely to Earth even if its main parachute fails during atmospheric entry, descent and landing.

 

Dropped from a military C-17 cargo aircraft flying 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert, a full-scale Orion test capsule deployed its parachutes over the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground.

 

Live video broadcast on NASA TV showed the capsule descending under three huge red-and-white striped parachutes. The suspension line on the main chute was deliberately cut, but the two remaining chutes lowered the craft to a safe landing.

 

NASA had not tested a parachute designed for human spaceflight at such a high altitude since the Apollo program in the late 1960s and early 1970s.

 

"The closer we can get to actual flight conditions, the more confidence we gain in the system," NASA's Chris Johnson, an Orion parachute system project manager, said in a news release.

 

NASA is developing the Orion spacecraft for human expeditions beyond Earth orbit. Asteroids, the moon, Mars and the Martian moons Phobos and Deimos are potential destinations.

 

The first of those flights is slated for early next decade.

 

The first flight test of an Orion spacecraft is scheduled for September 2014 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. A United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket will propel the Orion to a point 3,600 miles away from Earth.

 

Then, at the end of its second orbit, Orion will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at about 20,000 mph — a velocity that is 84 percent of the re-entry speed of a spacecraft returning from beyond Earth orbit.

 

Other than the deliberate main parachute failure, Johnson said the test Wednesday "is very similar to what Orion will look like coming back" during the flight test next year.

 

Orion passes high-altitude test

 

Alex Macon - Galveston County Daily News

 

NASA dropped an Orion mock-up capsule from 35,000 feet above the Arizona desert Wednesday in the highest-altitude spacecraft parachute test since the Apollo program.

 

The test demonstrated that the spacecraft can land safely with only two of its three parachutes, a key step in preparing Orion to carry humans past low Earth orbit and into space.

 

Previous demonstrations had cut one of Orion's parachutes and dropped the capsule from a height of 25,000 feet, but the extra 10,000 feet in Wednesday's test provided the clearest image yet of how the craft will perform upon returning to Earth.

 

Orion is on schedule to meet the requirements for its first mission in September 2014. The craft will launch 3,600 miles into orbit before re-entering the Earth's atmosphere at speeds up to 20,000 mph.

 

The capsule is an integral part of NASA's plan to lasso an asteroid into the moon's orbit. Orion would carry astronauts to the captured rock for testing and exploration.

 

However, there are concerns about the cost and efficiency of the mission, which has been lambasted by House Republicans.

 

Last week, the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology took aim at the asteroid retrieval mission, passing a NASA authorization bill that would prohibit the agency from pursuing the project without special approval from Congress.

 

New space capsule lands with two of three parachutes in NASA flight test

 

Clara Moskowitz - Space.com

 

NASA's Orion capsule, planned to be the space agency's next manned spaceship, safely landed during a flight test Wednesday using just two of its three parachutes.

 

The test was the 10th in a series of maneuvers to check out Orion's parachute system, which will slow the vehicle down as it plummets through Earth's atmosphere on return trips from space. Orion is designed to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit to nearby asteroids, the moon, and eventually Mars. The spacecraft is due to make its first test flight to space in 2014 in a mission called the Exploration Flight Test-1, and its initial crewed flight around 2021.

 

During today's flight test, an Orion prototype was dropped from a plane 35,000 feet (10,700 meters) over the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in southwestern Arizona. It was the highest elevation that the capsule has been dropped from; previous tests saw mock Orion capsules released from a maximum of 25,000 feet (7,600 meters).

 

"The closer we can get to actual flight conditions, the more confidence we gain in the system," Chris Johnson, project manager for the Orion capsule parachute assembly system at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, said in a statement. "What we saw today — other than the failures we put in on purpose — is very similar to what Orion will look like coming back during Exploration Flight Test-1's Earth entry next year."

 

Orion is equipped with three parachutes to slow its fall, but is designed to need only two of them. During today's test, engineers simulated the failure of one chute to confirm that the other two were adequate. The team caused one parachute to fail during the descent to understand the effects of a chute pulling away in mid-flight.

 

"We wanted to know what would happen if a cable got hooked around a sharp edge and snapped off when the parachutes deployed," Stu McClung, Orion's landing and recovery system manager at Johnson, said in a statement. "We don't think that would ever happen, but if it did, would it cause other failures? We want to know everything that could possibly go wrong, so that we can fix it before it does."

 

During Orion's 2014 test flight, the capsule will launch atop a Delta IV rocket to reach a distance of 3,600 miles (5,800 km) from Earth, well beyond the orbit of the International Space Station. For its eventual deep space missions, the capsule will be launched by NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) rock, which is currently in development.

 

Orion Parachute Failure Test Validates Design's Abilities

 

Jason Rhian - AmericaSpace.com

 

NASA conducted a failure test of the Orion spacecraft's parachute design at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona on Wednesday, July 24. The spacecraft was dropped out of a C-17 aircraft at 35,000 feet. The test was held to prove that Orion can be safely returned to Earth if one of the spacecraft's three parachutes were to fail.

 

Wednesday's test marked the 10th in a series of tests meant to validate Orion's parachute system. The test was the highest altitude to date.

 

During the test, one of Orion's three parachutes was purposely cut away early. This meant that the spacecraft would be forced to rely on the remaining two. Wednesday's test in some ways hearkened back to an earlier era in spacecraft development as, according to NASA, it was the highest-altitude test of a human-rated spacecraft parachute since Apollo.

 

Prior to Wednesday, the capsule was dropped from 25,000 feet, with the parachutes opened at 22,000 feet. Higher is considered better by the space agency, as next year the spacecraft and its parachutes will be put to the test during Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1).

 

"In terms of height, today's test was very similar to what you'd see during EFT-1 and later missions. The reason we wanted to increase the drop altitude to 35,000 feet is, Orion's parachute system is intended to activate at about 25,000 feet, said Brandi Dean, a spokesperson with NASA. "When we initially drop the capsule, it takes a few minutes for it to get into the right configuration for the parachutes to deploy. So when we were dropping from 25,000 feet, by the time it got into the right configuration, it was a few thousand feet below that. Dropping from 35,000 feet lets us start the sequence right on target."

 

During EFT-1, an Orion spacecraft will travel out some 3,600 miles and then return home. Crashing through the atmosphere at approximately 20,000 mph will serve to validate the spacecraft's heatshield. Other elements that will be tested during this mission include the avionics and flight control systems. In essence, EFT-1 can be compared to the 1967 Apollo 4 mission.

 

"The closer we can get to actual flight conditions, the more confidence we gain in the system," said Chris Johnson, project manager for the Orion capsule parachute assembly system. "What we saw today—other than the failures we put in on purpose—is very similar to what Orion will look like coming back during Exploration Flight Test-1's Earth entry next year."

 

According to NASA, during its return from space, Orion's parachute system will begin deploying approximately 25,000 feet above the ground. The space agency is working to validate the design to ensure maximum safety standards are in place for the crews that will one day stake their lives on the spacecraft's designs.

 

While NASA already has data about a similar possible failure, this test demonstrated what might occur should one parachute pull away during descent, in terms of how the other two parachutes would react. During the Apollo 15 mission to the Moon, a somewhat similar failure occurred when one of the two parachutes failed as the spacecraft headed toward splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

 

The rationale behind today's test was explained by one of the engineers working on the project.

 

"We wanted to know what would happen if a cable got hooked around a sharp edge and snapped off when the parachutes deployed," said Stu McClung, Orion's landing and recovery system manager. "We don't think that would ever happen, but if it did, would it cause other failures? We want to know everything that could possibly go wrong, so that we can fix it before it does."

 

These tests, along with numerous other milestones, are being conducted and met to ensure that Orion is safe to carry astronauts to orbit. If everything proceeds according to plan, after the 2014 mission Orion will ride the Space Launch System booster in 2017 (unmanned). The SLS/Orion combo will carry a crew for the first time sometime in 2021. President Obama has tapped the duo to fly astronauts to an asteroid rendezvous mission in 2021-2022. However, Congress wants the pair to be used to construct a lunar outpost.

 

Boeing Refines CST-100 Commercial Crew Capsule Approach

Apollo-shaped capsule has met eight of 19 milestones

 

Mark Carreau - Aerospace Daily

 

A mockup of Boeing's CST-100 entry in NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is undergoing internal evaluation by astronauts this week amid renewed optimism over how the initiative to regain a U.S. capability to transport crews to and from the International Space Station by 2017 is faring in Washington.

 

The Apollo-shaped capsule has met eight of 19 milestones outlined under Boeing's $460 million NASA Commercial Crew Integrated Capability agreement, as the company aims for a critical design review (CDR) in the spring of 2014 and an unpiloted flight test in 2016. In parallel, Boeing is working under a $10 million first-phase contract to certify the spacecraft's safety and performance for a piloted demonstration mission to the ISS in 2017.

 

Last week, the House Appropriations committees approved $500 million and Senate appropriators $775 million for commercial crew development as part of NASA's 2014 budget. The first figure is well below the Obama administration's $821 million request, a figure NASA Administrator Charles Bolden has characterized as essential to meet the 2017 objective. Nonetheless, agency and company managers believe legislators are losing their skepticism over a program that has so far committed $1.4 billion to competing vehicle designs from SpaceX, Sierra Nevada, Boeing and others.

 

"We have to stay focused on execution," said Kathy Lueders, NASA's deputy CCP manager. "We have a program, and it is executing. I think Congress can recognize that and fund it appropriately."

 

"It's still a draft in work," echoed John Mulholland, Boeing program manager for commercial programs, speaking about the House and Senate appropriations marks. "I think they will come up with a number that NASA can use."

 

The two CCP officials spoke July 22 as a second round of internal capsule evaluations by astronauts got under way, the first in a new, full-sized mockup of the CST-100, which is designed to carry up to seven astronauts, or combinations of crew and cargo to the ISS. Boeing unveiled the mockup at the company's Houston Products Support Center.

 

The evaluations collected this week could lead to modifications that would undergo a final round of astronaut assessments prior to the CDR, said Chris Ferguson, Boeing's director of crew and mission operations and a former shuttle commander.

 

Boeing has leaned hard on a half-century of prior spaceflight experience and borrowed from its success with commercial airline production to tame CST-100 development costs. The capsule's outer mold line, for instance, closely resembles that of Boeing's losing design in the competition with Lockheed Martin for NASA's Orion crew exploration vehicle.

 

While the CST-100 control panel layout is considered proprietary, pilot astronauts will board with electronic flight bags — tablet computers that serve as electronic instrument management devices that eliminate the paper-based reference materials of the space shuttle era. Any switches, or knobs, serve a backup control function, Ferguson said.

 

The soft blue tones of internal illumination come from the Boeing Sky Interior light-emitting diode scheme introduced on later models of the 737.

 

While Boeing is comfortable with the ACES as a flight pressure suit for crewmembers, the company has agreed to listen to competing proposals before selecting a vendor.

 

Boeing is working toward the "rent-a-car" rather than the "taxi" model for commercial crew operations, meaning that NASA personnel, rather than company astronauts, would fly the CST-100. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V with a dual-engine Centaur upper stage will propel astronauts into orbit from Cape Canaveral on initial missions, though Boeing's design will accommodate other launch vehicles that demonstrate equal reliability, according to Mulholland.

 

Flight crews will likely spend about 2 1/2 hr. in the Boeing spacecraft prior to liftoff, comparable to shuttle operations. Boeing is planning a flight day one rendezvous and docking capability with the space station, rather than the shuttle's day-three berthing. Russia introduced a day-one, four-orbit, rendezvous-and-docking profile earlier this year.

 

The CST-100 is designed to remain docked to the ISS for up to 210 days.

 

Boeing Unveils Stylish New Space Capsule

 

Jason Paur - Wired.com

 

Boeing opened the doors to its CST-100 capsule, providing the first look inside the spacecraft it hopes will one day transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station. The company also announced it recently passed the emergency water landing evacuation tests of the spacecraft, which is designed to touch down on land.

 

The capsule's unveiling is one of several recent milestones reached by the three companies vying for the NASA contract to fly people into low earth orbit. Sierra Nevada Corporation began the initial tests of its lifting body spacecraft at Edwards Air Force Base in California, and SpaceX continues the development of its newest Falcon 9 rocket systems, with another flight of its reusable first stage.

 

The CST-100 interior is part of Boeing's plan to validate the design of the capsule before a working prototype is built. The capsule is a full scale model of the spacecraft, 15-feet in diameter, designed to carry up to seven astronauts. The interior has a familiar look to anybody who has flown on one of Boeing's airplanes equipped with the new "sky interior" found on new 737s and the 787. There are two rows of seats, as well as room for cargo. But the familiar look comes from the blue-tinted LED lighting the company installed, giving the interior a bit of the company's trademark aesthetics.

 

Flight controls are a mix of traditional style switches and hand controllers, along with touchscreen displays. The mockup will be used to further refine the layout and interior systems by allowing astronauts to rehearse flights in their full flight suits to make sure everything is where it belongs.

 

Last week, the CST-100 passed its water evacuation testing in Las Vegas. Unlike past NASA capsules, or the SpaceX Dragon that landed in the water, the CST-100 is designed to use airbags in addition to the parachutes, providing a relatively soft landing on land. But "in the unlikely event of a water landing" as many a flight attendant have said, the CST-100 is designed to float, and the testing last week in Las Vegas demonstrated that a crew could safely evacuate the capsule into a life raft.

 

Boeing is no stranger to the space capsule world. The airplane maker was involved heavily with the Apollo program, building the command module for the lunar missions. The first manned orbital flight for the CST-100 is scheduled for 2016.

 

The new capsule is one of three designs competing for NASA contracts to fly astronauts to low earth orbit, giving the United States the capability it lost with the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011. The Dream Chaser lifting body vehicle from Sierra Nevada has begun its initial taxi testing in southern California, and SpaceX is moving towards its first "pad abort" test by the end of this year with the manned version of its Dragon space capsule.

 

Next month, SpaceX plans to test the parachute system on its new Dragon, with further systems testing and reviews through the fall. If all goes according to plan, the Dragon spacecraft will be placed on top of one of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rockets in December, and just as the rocket is accelerating supersonic, an abort will be commanded with the Dragon accelerating away using its own thrusters to steer clear of the Falcon 9 and returning back to earth.

 

Unlike past capsules that used a separate tractor rocket motor that pulled capsule away from the rocket, the Dragon uses its own built-in thrusters to push the vehicle away from the rocket in case of an emergency. In addition to providing redundancy through multiple thrusters, the SpaceX design also eliminates the need to jettison the tractor rocket (the tall spire atop the Apollo capsules) before the rocket accelerates to orbit.

 

SpaceX's Grasshopper test vehicle continues its development with a new record high flight of 1,066 feet over the company's Texas test facility. Knowing that everybody enjoys a cool new way to watch a rocket launch, the company filmed the test earlier this month from a small, unmanned hexacopter that was hovering right about the 1,000-foot mark. The amazing view gives shows when the engines ignite on the ground, and an eye-to-eye view when the Grasshopper reaches its maximum height.

 

The Grasshopper is part of SpaceX's plan to build a rocket that is almost entirely reusable, and in the future, it hopes that the first stage of the Falcon 9 rocket will be able to return to the launch pad or a pre-determined landing site where it can be easily recovered and refurbished for another flight.

 

How Do Astronauts Exercise in Space?

PCMag visited the Astronaut Exercise Equipment Training Facility at Johnson Space Center to find out how astronauts stay fit on the International Space Station

 

Meredith Popolo - PC Magazine

 

Right now your muscles and bones are working against gravity. Even if you don't exercise as much as you should, you're still pushing against the force just to stay upright. But when you get to space, your body is relieved of the effort… and quickly starts turning into a noodle.

 

So how do astronauts stay fit in space? They can't simply lift some dumbbells. To minimize the physiological effects of microgravity, NASA has equipped the International Space Station (ISS) with some fancy fitness equipment. There's a space treadmill named COLBERT; CEVIS, a stationary bike; and ARED, a device that simulates weightlifting.

 

Astronauts spend up two-and-a-half hours a day working out on the ISS. Even with this regime however, those who spend long durations in space return to Earth with muscular atrophy, cardiovascular deconditioning, and bone loss that can be difficult to reverse. In fact, after 180 days in space muscular strength can decrease by anywhere from 11 to 17 percent, muscular endurance by about 10 percent, and bone mineral density by two to seven percent, according to NASA. (Conversely, Countermeasures System Instructor Robert Tweedy noted recovery can be faster in space thanks to less lactic acid buildup.)

 

Previously astronauts' fitness could only be measured before and after ISS missions, said Lori Ploutz-Snyder, PhD, lead exercise physiology scientist at NASA. But new ultrasound and panoramic imaging technologies make it possible for crewmembers to take their own in-flight muscle measurements, allowing their terrestrial trainers to better monitor their fitness and alter personalized workout plans.

 

Currently a study called Sprint is evaluating the effectiveness of alternating between days of high intensity, low-volume exercising, and days of continuous aerobic exercise. Although individual data cannot be discussed, Sprint is proving to be more successful than anticipated in minimizing the loss of bone, muscle, and cardiovascular function, says Ploutz-Snyder, the principal investigator of the study. Below is the exercise schedule of an average week in Sprint.

 

 

The data could help develop and optimize exercise countermeasures to prevent fitness deterioration when humans embark on longer-duration missions to the Moon or Mars, the latter requiring at least six months in transit. It could also help Earth-bound humans improve exercise practices to advance muscle, bone, and cardiovascular health, particularly in bedridden patients and elders.

 

PCMag flew to Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas, and got a close-up look at the three pieces of equipment astronauts use to stay fit on board the International Space Station.

 

ARED (Advanced Resistive Exercise Device) was delivered to the ISS by Space Shuttle mission STS-126 in November 2008. Designed for weightlifting in a weightless environment, it consists of two evacuated, pistol-driven canisters with a flywheel mechanism. Astronauts can configure the machine to perform exercises like dead lifts, squats, biceps curls, and calf raises.

 

An astronaut meets resistance as he or she pulls the rods, similar to pulling back a syringe. The angle of the piston determines the length of the rod and thus the weight of the load, up to 600 pounds. The constant load more closely resembles free weights than the curved load of NASA's older band resistance weightlifting machines did. However, "there are no spotters in space," Tweedy added.

 

Treadmill 2 (T2)/COLBERT

 

In 2009 when NASA launched a contest to name Node 3, an ISS module, political satirist Stephen Colbert lobbied viewers of his Colbert Report show to nominate the name COLBERT—which won. NASA overruled the poll however, and chose Tranquility. As a consolation NASA named the treadmill COLBERT (Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill) and a picture of Colbert is mounted in front of the ISS treadmill. It sits on a vibration isolation system designed to let astronauts run without vibrating delicate microgravity science experiments in adjacent labs.

 

The treadmill is tightly incorporated into astronauts' workout regimens but in order to use it, they must be harnessed in place.

 

In April 2007, Expedition 14 flight engineer Sunita "Suni" Williams was issued bib number 14,000 by the Boston Athletic Associated and ran the Boston Marathon in orbit, 210 miles above her fellow runners. Williams finished in 4:23:10 and circled the Earth twice while running as fast as 8 mph and flying more than 5 miles per second.

 

CEVIS

 

CEVIS (Cycle Ergometer with Vibration Isolations and Stabilization System) is the closest thing you'll get to a stationary bike in space. CEVIS doesn't have a seat because astronauts can't sit in zero gravity. (The bike in the image above has a seat for training on Earth.) Instead, astronauts snap their shoes to the pedals and tether themselves to the bike with a seatbelt in order to cycle upright and obtain the aerobic and cardiovascular benefits. They can adjust the workload and change speeds to hit their target heart rates. Astronaut Doug Wheelock explained it can take weeks to get used to cycling in a microgravity environment.

 

CEVIS also sits on a vibration isolation system to reduce the vibrations on the structure of the ISS.

 

Astronaut Suni Williams: You need to make peace before leaving Earth

 

Christine Jeavans - BBC News

 

US astronaut Sunita Williams spent a total of 322 days in space on two missions to the International Space Station. As part of BBC News' How to put a human on Mars coverage she explains how she coped and considers whether a crew could endure a voyage to the Red Planet.

 

"When you are thinking about going away for a long duration mission, it has to be part of your mindset that you're leaving your family, but it's for the right reasons, for good reasons, and hopefully helping humanity.

 

So you settle yourself on that but you also have to prepare yourself. I call it tying up the ends of your life before you go because you never know what's going to happen.

 

You want to make sure that when you leave, you feel at peace with everything.

 

My first mission was six-and-a-half months. We weren't exactly sure how long it was going to be because I went up and back on the space shuttle which was dependent on weather for launch and landing.

 

So you might have to say goodbye a couple of times and you might get excited to come home and then have to wait.

 

It was an emotional rollercoaster, particularly because it was my first space flight.

 

Keepsakes

 

In space you need to stay as "usual" as possible. On the space station I would brush my hair every day.

 

I'm not sure it made my hair look any better but it was one of those things that you do that you usually do on Earth so it keeps you normal.

 

We take things to remind us of home. I think my favourite is a stuffed dog that was homemade from a picture of my little Jack Russell terrier.

 

Food is really important and I was sent marshmallow crème to make my childhood favourite "fluffernutter" sandwiches on a tortilla with peanut butter.

 

Other favourite food reminded me of home - dried cranberries and even canned lobster, Slovenian sausages on my mother's side of my family, and Indian samosas on my father's side.

 

We try to keep to a regular day because there have been studies which found that even a half-hour change to the normal 24-hour cycle starts to mess people up a little bit.

 

We have sleep stations where you just close the door and it's dark and quieter. You can hear alarms in case something bad happens but it's generally pretty quiet.

 

We turn the lights off except for a couple of "night lights" over the toilet so that folks will know where they're going.

 

Most people have a little bit less sleep, there is always a feeling of nervousness, just because you're in a different environment and subconsciously you're always on edge a little bit.

 

Spacewalks

 

From the technical side you need to know that you can live in a small space with people.

 

There are a lot of training tools on Earth that help you do that, including the Aquarius unit [off the Florida Keys] where I was underwater for nine or 10 days. That is a good test to see how you like living in a "can".

 

But you also work on your own awareness of yourself in terms of leadership and followership and how you get along with people; particularly if you have difference of culture or difference of ideas.

 

On my second mission, I was part of a crew of three and I trained with them for about a year-and-a-half, getting to know each other.

 

That knowledge is important. When we were up on the space station, Aki Hoshide and I were out doing a spacewalk and we had a little difficulty with one of the electrical boxes.

 

Yuri Malenchenko, who we trained with for our Soyuz crew, and Joe Acaba, who we overlapped with on a different crew, were right there to help us out.

 

They knew when we were getting tired, when we weren't getting tired, when to say something encouraging, when to make a joke, when to be serious.

 

The team comes together and if you saw the latest spacewalk [in which liquid leaked into Luca Parmitano's helmet] you will have seen the same thing: you do training together and then, when things get a little bit rough, everybody wants to help each other out.

 

That's a natural progression of getting to know each other and knowing that you're going to rely on the other guy to save your life.

 

Homesickness

 

When you're flying in space some of the things down on Earth seem trivial. Things like politics leave your mind. I didn't feel like I was a person from the United States, I felt like I was lucky enough to be a person from Earth.

 

For me, [most] news wasn't important but people are important, so when you hear about natural disasters like hurricanes and fires, that makes you miss home and wonder how everybody's coping.

 

But I would also look back at the planet and think "gosh it's a pretty little place, everybody's going for a walk on the beach or something like that, they must be enjoying life down there".

 

If you are having a bad day, you can go to the cupola window and see a part of the Earth. It makes you smile.

 

Likewise, when you have communication ability, you can call home and just say "hi" and hear another friendly voice.

 

Mission to Mars

 

I can imagine the vehicle going to Mars is going to be a little bit smaller, they probably won't be doing as many science experiments on the way.

 

The programme is going to have to find things to occupy the crew's time as the Earth is getting smaller and smaller outside the window and the communications delay is getting longer and longer.

 

Mentally, it will be more challenging but I think the reward is huge. So if folks keep the goal in mind then I think it will be do-able. But I don't doubt it will also be psychologically difficult.

 

Radiation threat

 

There are a lot of medical issues that we need to solve before we put somebody on a trip to Mars, far away from low-Earth orbit, far away from the protection of even the little bit of atmosphere that's near the planet, that's protecting us from radiation.

 

We want people to go there and be successful. Robots going there is great but putting somebody's two eyes on the problem where they can make a decision and really understand what is out there is the next step.

 

We will eventually figure out and solve all the engineering problems, I have no doubt in my mind.

 

Even though people think the space programme has been running a long time, it's only really been 50-60 years.

 

It's an incredible step from when we were first just trying to launch rockets to now living and working in space and doing spacewalks on a regular basis.

 

If there was a definitive goal that specified: "We are going to Mars and how do we do that?" I think that you would see a lot of people sign up. I would go for sure.

 

NASA test fires 'printed' rocket engine part

Reports no problems at 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA engineers are excited by their first hot-fire tests this summer of 3-D printed rocket engine parts. Engineers saw no difference between the parts built by the so-called additive process and those built by traditional manufacturing.

 

3-D or additive manufacturing is a fast-moving wave in American manufacturing, and NASA is riding that wave. In the process, a hot tool layers construction material - typically metal or plastic - by following a 3-D computer design. The result is a single piece with no glue or welds that takes weeks, not months, from manufacturing to testing and costs 60 percent or more less than normal processes.

 

Traditional injectors took six months to build, had four parts, five welds and cost $10,000 each. Using steel powder and a 3-D printer, Marshall engineers built an injector in three weeks for less than $5,000.

 

To test their process, Marshall Space Flight Center engineers built two small injectors and fired them 11 times for a total of 46 seconds at temperatures nearing 6,000 degrees Fahrenheit. They also tested a more complex printed injector and thrust chamber built by Directed Manufacturing of Austin.

 

"We saw no difference in performance of the 3-D printed injectors compared to the traditionally manufactured injectors," propulsion engineer Sandra Elam Greene said. "Two separate 3-D printed injectors operated beautifully during all hot-fire tests."

 

 

In fact, the injectors finished in such good condition that NASA will keep testing them. "The additive manufacturing process has the potential to reduce the time and cost associated with making complex parts by an order of magnitude," lead Marshall engineer Chris Singer said.

 

Commercial Spaceflight Conference Launches in California Thursday

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

Legions of scientists, engineers and entrepreneurs are gathering in Silicon Valley this week to discuss the rise and impact of the commercial space industry.

 

The Space Frontier Foundation's annual NewSpace conference runs from Thursday through Saturday (July 25-27) in San Jose, Calif. Among the many speakers are NASA deputy chief Lori Garver, Commercial Spaceflight Federation president Michael Lopez-Alegria and Congressman Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.).

 

"The three-day event will focus on the current, near-term, and future potential and challenges of the emerging commercial space industry," Space Frontier Foundation officials wrote on the NewSpace 2013 website.

 

"People from throughout the space, advocacy and technology industries to those in startups, government and media bring their ideas for opening the high frontier, making this conference a hotbed of innovation and partnership," they added.

 

Panels at NewSpace 2013, which is being held at the DoubleTree Inn in San Jose, will address a variety of topics, including the commercial research potential of the International Space Station; the challenges and promise of space mining; new technologies that could aid space exploration and settlement; and the current legal landscape of space-resource utilization.

 

Such discussions are becoming more and more timely, as the commercial space sector has been gathering momentum over the last few years. Virgin Galactic and XCOR Aerospace, for example, may begin launching paying customers to suborbital space within the next year or so.

 

Further, two separate companies — Deep Space Industries and the billionaire-backed Planetary Resources — recently announced their ambitions to mine water and precious metals from near-Earth asteroids. And a handful of other firms, such as Moon Express and the Shackleton Energy Company, aim to extract resources from the moon.

 

Those who can't make it to San Jose can still watch the sessions, which will be streamed live via Spacevidcast.com. If possible, SPACE.com will carry  For more information, visit the NewSpace 2013 website: http://newspace.spacefrontier.org/

 

Here's What Your $5 Billion Space Yacht Could Look Like

John Spencer, president of the Space Tourism Society, has been working since the 1990s on Destiny, his vision for living the high life very high above the surface of the Earth

 

Will Dietrich-Egensteiner – Popular Mechanics

 

 

Last month PayPal told the world about PayPal Galactic, a proposal to create a payment system for space purchases. Along with the announcement came a series of fantastic retro-futuristic illustrations of an extraterrestrial life of leisure, perhaps depicting some of the good life upon which you'd be spending your space bucks.

 

John Spencer, the president of the Los Angeles–based Space Tourism Society, made those illustrations. And Spencer is doing more than drawing pictures that look like Norman Rockwell meets the Jetsons. He's also designing a space yacht for those among the one percent who want to be early adopters of the luxury orbital getaway.

 

Spencer's proposed space super yacht Destiny is designed to cruise in Earth's orbit, offering a striking view of our planet. In illustrations, the 300-foot-long ship cuts a remarkable profile—its bulbous body seems almost butterfly-like, with its four sails outstretched like wings in midflight.

 

Like PayPal Galactic, Destiny is an idea for a market that doesn't exist yet. Still, this image of Destiny offers a glimpse into John Spencer's vision of spacefaring luxury, one he's been working toward for decades.

 

"We're getting into things that have probably never ever been thought of before from a real world perspective," he says. "All the things we take for granted we have to redesign."

 

For Destiny, this includes how the beds will be designed to prevent passengers from drifting away in their sleep, and how dining rooms will be laid out so food won't float away. Even the material Destiny will be made of has yet to be invented. While many of his designs seem to be far-fetched today, Spencer is hopeful that the space yacht will be real and in orbit within 15 years.

 

Body

 

The ship's hull will be made of a dozen spheroid inflatable sections, which will be expanded and fused together in orbit. Destiny is meant to stay in space after being built and never reenter Earth's atmosphere, so the body sections must maintain their shape and integrity in the vacuum environment of space over the course of the yacht's life.

 

Spencer, a space architect and designer by trade, wrote in his book Space Tourism: Do You Want to Go? that spherical structures are ideal for space because their symmetry makes them stable and strong. Each section will have an interior webbed support that will limit how far it can expand.

 

"The sections of the yacht, some of them are just large volumes, some of them have multiple rooms, it depends on where you are," Spencer said. "Aft is for crew quarters and storage, front is for entertainment."

 

Power and Propulsion

 

Because Destiny will be an orbital yacht, it will not need the massive engines and large fuel reserves required to escape Earth's atmosphere. In fact, it won't have an engine at all. The ship will be outfitted with maneuvering modules with thrusters. The modules, which will be 2-feet deep, 2-feet wide, and 4-feet long, will be positioned strategically along the hull. Should the ship need to maneuver to avoid space debris or another ship, the modules can be operated wirelessly from the bridge. Spencer says that he is exploring the use of flywheels to power the thrusters.

 

In fact, Spencer envisions his space yacht as totally wireless. There will be no single power distribution system—long-life batteries will power all of the ship's 300 to 400 electrical devices. Each water and waste-management unit is self-contained with its own recycling, purification system, and reserve water supply. "[It] frees the designers to get pretty outrageous in terms of design because you're not dealing with strict plumbing and electrical," Spencer says.

 

As the batteries run out of juice, they will be brought to a charging station by a small army of service robots. The bots will also monitor the water and waste-management systems.

 

Sails

 

Destiny's four distinctive sails are more than ornamentation. They'll double as solar panels, absorbing the light and heat from the sun and using some of the power generated to charge the batteries onboard, while dissipating the excess. Spencer doesn't know what the material he'll need for Destiny's sails or hull will actually look like. Undeterred, he has dubbed the yet-to-be-discovered material Futuretanium. No word yet whether it will be an alloy of unobtanium.

 

Float Sphere

 

Passengers will be able to enjoy the benefits of zero gravity in the orb situated in the middle of Destiny's hull. The 60-foot-wide float sphere will offer 120-degree views outward and toward Earth. Spencer describes it as a "big friggin' open space where you can really experience zero gravity" and float around. "Living in zero gravity is the most unique experience you can have going to space," he says. "That's why the float sphere is such a prominent aspect of Destiny's design."

 

Creature Comforts

 

Destiny wouldn't deserve the classification of super space yacht if it didn't come with a few space-age amenities. Airflow will be monitored by mobile airflow compensators, or "bugs," that will silently follow passengers around to keep the air comfortable, dispensing hot or cold air as needed and responding to voice commands.

 

In Spencer's vision for the ship, Destiny's hospitality staff will offer massages, chefs will be brought on board to provide meals, and astronomy experts will explain to passengers what they are seeing as the gaze out the viewports.

 

There will even be a floating hot tub in the float sphere, though an orbital spa won't look quite like its earthbound counterparts. Spencer's plan for the "Hot Sphere" involves a layer of water surrounding a mechanical sphere, which heats the water and sprays bubbles. No solid outer layer is needed since water naturally forms a sphere in zero gravity. Gyroscopes will keep the mobile Jacuzzi in place.

 

And Finally, Price

 

All this innovation will be expensive. Anyone looking to buy a Destiny-class space yacht will have to cough up a cool $5 billion to $6 billion. It's enough to make the six-figure price tag people are paying to book a seat on the first suborbital tourism flights look like a bargain.

 

Why the name "Destiny," anyway? Spencer had two reasons: "It was literally my destiny to work on these things. Plus anyone who is going to spend five or six billion bucks on one of these things is going to have a bit of an ego and will want a cool name."

 

END