Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - July 26, 2013

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 26, 2013 8:02:05 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - July 26, 2013

Last time for doubling up.  

 

NASA TV:

·         10 am Central (11 EDT) – E36's Luca Parmitano interacts with Ames' surface rover robotics

·         3:30 pm Central SATURDAY (4:30 EDT) – Progress 52 launch coverage begins

·         3:45 pm Central SATURDAY (4:45 EDT) – LAUNCH

·         8:45 pm Central SATURDAY (9:45 EDT) – Docking coverage begins

·         9:26 pm Central SATURDAY (10:26 EDT) – DOCKING

 

Human Spaceflight News

Friday – July 26, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Russian Supply Ship Hauls Trash, Treadmill from Space Station

 

Tariq Malik - Space.com

 

An unmanned Russian cargo ship filled with trash and an astronaut treadmill cast off from the International Space Station Thursday to make way for a fresh delivery set to launch to the orbiting lab this weekend. The robotic Progress 50 spacecraft undocked from the space station at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) to end its months-long resupply mission. The spacecraft was expected to begin a fiery plunge back to Earth at 7:53 p.m. EDT (2353 GMT) and ultimately burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, NASA officials said.

 

Russia's Progress M-18M Spacecraft Splashes Down in Pacific

 

RIA Novosti

 

Fragments of Russia's Progress M-18M space freighter sunk safely in the Pacific Ocean after re-entering the atmosphere on Friday, a spokesman for the Russian mission control center said. The spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) shortly after midnight Moscow time and started its final journey towards a remote location in the Pacific Ocean known as the "spacecraft cemetery."

 

Can the International Space Station Survive Until 2020?

 

Leonard David – Space.com

 

The International Space Station is undergoing an engineering analysis and risk assessment to gauge its ability to keep operating until 2020 and beyond. President Barack Obama's National Space Policy, released in June 2010, called for, among other things, the continued operation of the International Space Station (ISS) by NASA in cooperation with its international partners, "likely to 2020 or beyond." The years-in-the-making appraisal is being wrapped up for delivery to NASA by the end of September. Taking on the task is Houston-based Boeing Space Exploration. "The good news is, so far, we haven't found any showstoppers," said Brad Cothran, Boeing's vehicle director for ISS. "Our plan has been to get back to the ISS program and clear the station to get to 2020," Cothran told SPACE.com. "After we get to that point, we'll enter what we call our phase three, and we're going to clear the ISS for 2028 and beyond," he said.

 

Sequester budget cuts imperil America's fledgling private space industry

 

Tim Fernholz - Quartz

 

The budget impasse in Washington caused flight delays (until Congress fixed that) and cut million in funding for everything science research to pre-k teachers. Next up? The companies building spacecraft for NASA. Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corporation are competing to build the replacement the Space Shuttle to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station; at least until 2017, those duties will be handled by Russia's space program.

 

NASA told to slow pad leasing at KSC

Exclusive deal for use of 39A needs scrutiny, two congressmen say

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Two congressmen have written NASA this week expressing "strong concerns" that the space agency might award use of a Kennedy Space Center launch pad to one company, widely understood to be SpaceX. U.S. Reps. Frank Wolf and Robert Aderholt, both members of a House subcommittee that approves NASA budgets, said Launch Complex 39A is a "unique, taxpayer-funded asset" that should be available to multiple rocket launchers. "It is surprising that NASA appears to be racing to lease LC-39A with little transparency and absent Congressional consent," they wrote to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

 

U.S. Firm in Talks on Buying Kuznetsov Rockets

 

Anatoly Medetsky - Moscow Times

 

The U.S. company that relies on phased-out Soviet engines for its $1.9 billion contract with NASA is looking to use their updated version. Orbital Sciences Corporation has sent Michael Hamel, its senior vice president, to the engine manufacturer in Samara for a reconnaissance mission. The Kuznetsov plant is investing to the tune of 2 billion rubles ($65 million) to start producing an upgraded model of the rocket engine.

 

Could this be NASA's next sweet ride?

 

Jack Maher - KUSA TV (Denver)

 

Boeing is showing off their new space taxi. The CST-100, shaped like a gumdrop and packed with LED lighting and tablet tech, is designed to be the next generation space shuttle. The CST-100 capsule (short for Commercial Space Transportation-100) is designed to ferry up to seven astronauts to and from the space station and other destinations in low-Earth orbit. The spacecraft will initially launch from Florida atop United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, but the company is not ruling out other booster options in the future. Boeing is one of several competitors, including SpaceX and Colorado's Sierra Nevada, who are part of a private space race to build new manned space taxis. Boeing is aiming to have the CST-100 ready to launch the first crew by 2016.

 

Mainer in space discusses dramatic rescue, missing home

 

Gillian Graham - Portland Press Herald (Maine)

 

When his colleague's helmet began to fill with water during a recent spacewalk, astronaut Chris Cassidy knew he had to react quickly. About an hour into a planned 6½-hour foray into space on July 16, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano realized there was water creeping in around his neck, which could have gotten into his mouth or eyes, Cassidy said Thursday morning from aboard the International Space Station. NASA quickly aborted the spacewalk, and with Cassidy's help, Parmitano made it back into the space station and was reported to be fine after the dangerous episode. Cassidy, who grew up in York and still has family in Maine, and fellow astronaut Karen Nyberg spoke to the Portland Press Herald via video conference Thursday as the space station passed over Texas.

 

Canada Eyes Deep Space with Next-Generation Robotic Arm

 

Katia Moskvitch - Space.com

 

Canada has developed a new version of its famed robotic space arm to give exploration of the final frontier a helping hand. The nation's Next-Generation Canadarm (NGC) program is designed to support both missions in low-Earth orbit and deep space, ranging from repairing communication satellites to assisting manned missions to the moon, asteroids, Mars and other corners of the universe, officials said.

 

The next FCC chairman and commercial space

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

In May, President Obama nominated Tom Wheeler to become the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While he has yet to be formally confirmed by the Senate, he did breeze through a confirmation hearing by a "generally welcoming" Senate Commerce Committee in June, and his nomination has broad support. It also turns out he has—or, at least, had—opinions about the administration's space policy. In a May 2010 blog post, Wheeler, working in the private sector at the time, said the "Space Program" (as he capitalized it) was going through an "analog to digital conversion" analogous to what the telecommunications industry experienced in the past. His reference was not to specific technologies but instead models of doing business and innovation: a shift from a centralized to distributed approach. "NASA was the Bell Labs of Space," he wrote. "Like Bell Labs they delivered important innovations and added to our national pride. To continue a 20th Century command-and-control model in an era of distributed development is not in the best interest of NASA, however."

 

NASA paying to turn way-out-there ideas into reality

 

Carol Christian - Houston Chronicle

 

The notion of suspended animation for humans traveling to distant planets may sound like science fiction. But it's one of 12 proposals that NASA has selected for study under its Innovative Advanced Concepts Program, which aims to turn science fiction into fact, according to an agency news release. The program invites innovators of all stripes to propose "bold, visionary ideas," Michael Gazarik, NASA's Washington, D.C.-based associate administrator for space technology, said in the release. This year's winners were announced July 19. For a complete list of the selected proposals and more information about the program, visit: www.nasa.gov/niac

 

San Jose Conference Fueling Private Space Industry

 

Matt Bigler - KCBS TV (San Francisco)

 

Dozens of self-proclaimed "space geeks" have gathered in San Jose this week to exchange ideas talk about the future of private space exploration. The annual New Space Conference has become a center of gravity for the dozens of companies, inventors and enthusiasts who see profits in outer space. Old Space would be NASA, whereas new space describes San Jose inventor Peter Humphries of San Jose, who is hoping to license his patent for an orbiting space factory. "The further you go away from Earth, the more trouble you're going to have fixing stuff," Humphries said. So long-term space missions will need to be able to manufacture tiles and other replacement parts.

 

Try landing the space shuttle in Air Force museum simulator

 

Susan Glaser - Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

With the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011, there's no way to really know what it's like to land one of these winged orbiters. Travel to Dayton, though, and you'll get a pretty good idea. The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force last week added two space shuttle landing simulators to its vast aviation-related holdings, the first items in the upcoming Crew Compartment Trainer exhibit set to open in the fall.

 

Eleven from 11: Search for states' missing Apollo 11 moon rocks continues

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Eleven states' Apollo 11 moon rocks are missing. Despite a search that has lasted more than a decade, the current whereabouts of the Apollo 11 moon rocks gifted to Alabama, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin are still unknown. The eleventh missing display, presented to Delaware, was stolen in 1976. Forty-four years ago Wednesday, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins returned to Earth after completing the first mission to land on the moon. The souvenirs of the moonwalkers' success were 48.5 pounds (22 kg) of lunar material, including samples of the moon's fine-grain soil and 50 rocks.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Russian Supply Ship Hauls Trash, Treadmill from Space Station

 

Tariq Malik - Space.com

 

An unmanned Russian cargo ship filled with trash and an astronaut treadmill cast off from the International Space Station Thursday to make way for a fresh delivery set to launch to the orbiting lab this weekend.

 

The robotic Progress 50 spacecraft undocked from the space station at 4:43 p.m. EDT (2043 GMT) to end its months-long resupply mission. The spacecraft was expected to begin a fiery plunge back to Earth at 7:53 p.m. EDT (2353 GMT) and ultimately burn up in the atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean, NASA officials said.

 

According to a NASA spokesman, among the trash and unneeded gear on the Progress 50 spacecraft was the Treadmill Vibration Isolation System — the space treadmill used by astronauts to keep fit during the months of weightlessness living on the station. The treadmill had been used on the station since the first crew took up residence in November 2000.

 

The space station still has a newer treadmill, called the Combined Operational Load Bearing External Resistance Treadmill (C.O.L.B.E.R.T.) That treadmill is named after TV comedian Stephen Colbert and launched to the station in 2009. NASA named the treadmill for Colbert after a public voting poll resulted in his name being chosen as the moniker for a new space station module. NASA ultimately decided to name the module Tranquility instead.

 

The departure of Progress 50 from the International Space Station sets the stage for the launch of a new Russian cargo ship, the robotic Progress 52 (52P) spacecraft, from the Central Asian spaceport of Kazakhstan on Saturday (July 27). That new cargo ship is scheduled to launch toward the space station at 4:45 p.m. EDT (2045 GMT) and arrive just six hours later during its express delivery flight.

 

"That 52P will be delivering just a little over 5,600 pounds of supplies to the International Space Station," a NASA spokesman said during undocking commentary.

 

Progress cargo ships are disposable spacecraft composed of three modules, much like Russia's crew-carrying Soyuz space capsules. But instead of the central crew capsule on Soyuz vehicles, Progress vehicles have a propellant module laden with fuel for space station maneuvers.

 

Progress 50 launched toward the space station in February and docked to the orbiting lab's Earth-facing Pirs docking compartment. The Progress 52 spacecraft will dock at the same Pirs port on Saturday night at 10:26 p.m. EDT (0226 July 28 GMT), NASA officials said.

 

Russia's Progress M-18M Spacecraft Splashes Down in Pacific

 

RIA Novosti

 

Fragments of Russia's Progress M-18M space freighter sunk safely in the Pacific Ocean after re-entering the atmosphere on Friday, a spokesman for the Russian mission control center said.

 

The spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station (ISS) shortly after midnight Moscow time and started its final journey towards a remote location in the Pacific Ocean known as the "spacecraft cemetery."

 

"At 4:42 Moscow time [00:42 a.m. GMT], fragments of the space freighter fell in the Pacific Ocean approximately 4,000 km from New Zealand's capital Wellington," the mission control spokesman said.

 

The launch of the next Russian cargo spacecraft to the ISS, Progress M-20M, is scheduled to take place at 00:45 Moscow time on Sunday (8:45 p.m. GMT on Saturday) from the Baikonur space center in Kazakhstan.

 

Can the International Space Station Survive Until 2020?

 

Leonard David – Space.com

 

The International Space Station is undergoing an engineering analysis and risk assessment to gauge its ability to keep operating until 2020 and beyond.

 

President Barack Obama's National Space Policy, released in June 2010, called for, among other things, the continued operation of the International Space Station (ISS) by NASA in cooperation with its international partners, "likely to 2020 or beyond."

 

The years-in-the-making appraisal is being wrapped up for delivery to NASA by the end of September. Taking on the task is Houston-based Boeing Space Exploration.

 

Clearing the ISS

 

"The good news is, so far, we haven't found any showstoppers," said Brad Cothran, Boeing's vehicle director for ISS.

 

"Our plan has been to get back to the ISS program and clear the station to get to 2020," Cothran told SPACE.com. "After we get to that point, we'll enter what we call our phase three, and we're going to clear the ISS for 2028 and beyond," he said.

 

As NASA's prime contractor for the ISS, Boeing is responsible for design, development, construction and integration of the orbiting lab. The firm also assists NASA in operating the space station. Boeing built all of the major U.S. elements and is responsible for integrating the systems, procedures and components of participating countries in the worldwide enterprise.

 

Integrated health check

 

Cothran said there are several categories defined to pull together an overall, integrated health check of the ISS, from a primary structure standing. The categories are: issues that could cause catastrophic failures; function availability; and how the shelf life of items can impact the ISS' sustainability.

 

"We've spent many years of analyzing all the primary structures," specifically the dynamic loads the ISS experiences as it circuits the Earth, Cothran said.

 

"One of the key interfaces that we were worried about is all those modules hanging off the ISS truss. From a structural standpoint, that interface is critical, and the good news is that we have cleared that area and the attach points," Cothran said.

 

Russia's Zarya FGB, the first ISS module that was launched into orbit back in November 1998, has been cleared to at least 2020, Cothran said. That first-up hardware was U.S.-bankrolled, built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center in Moscow under a subcontract to The Boeing Co. for NASA.

 

Green-lighting the lines

 

As far as what could cause a catastrophic failure, Cothran said that the analysis zeroed in on the space station's high-pressure oxygen lines. "They were one of the biggest worries," he said.

 

"We looked at pressures today and the number of cycles those lines have been through," Cothran said, adding that a team green-lighted the lines for a much longer life than they were originally designed for.

 

In the area of functional ability, it turns out that the ISS' solar arrays are degrading at a faster rate than originally planned — between 1 and 2 percent per year rather than 1 percent.

 

"We're seeing a very linear degradation across the entire fleet" of solar arrays, Cothran said.

 

But why this is happening remains a mystery. It's not yet confirmed, but one data point from a satellite in an ISS-like orbit and similar altitude suggests that the proton and neutron environment is more severe than thought, Cothran said.

 

The good news is that the issue shouldn't affect the orbiting lab's operations for some time to come.

 

"We're not going to run out of power until well past 10 years from now," Cothran said. "It's going to be somewhere within 2028, plus or minus five years."

 

Ideally, by spotting this as an early issue, solutions like making electronics more efficient, reducing power consumption or putting some additional generation capability on the ISS can be considered, Cothran said.

 

Replacing an entire solar array "is a very big deal and something we don't want to go do," he added.

 

Electronic memory loss

 

Yet another finding concerns the shelf life of memory devices within electronics.

 

Surprisingly, the ISS is suffering from a case of electronic memory loss. Erasable, programmable read-only memory devices — also known as "e-proms" — do not hold their charge after about 10 years.

 

"They lose their state of internal charge….their internal memory. It's an interesting find that we've run across. So we've got a plan now to go refresh those memory devices," Cothran said. That adds up to redesign of computers to be more efficient, as well as to get rid of obsolescence, he said.

 

Another lesson learned in building and running the ISS is the role of lubricants.

 

"We were very against grease-based lubricants external in the vacuum environment," Cothran said.

 

"Nobody had any data early on about grease in a vacuum environment for an extended period of time. So everybody was against it from a material standpoint," Cothran said. That has come back to bite the ISS program somewhat, but fixes are on the horizon, he added.

 

Debris trail

 

While there has long been concern about space junk potentially damaging the ISS, researchers have also found that the orbiting complex is subject to be dinged by its own detritus.

 

"It turns out there's not as many big things out there as we had once statistically forecasted. But we are seeing smaller particles," Cothran said. A lot of those particles are self-generated by the ISS. [The Worst Space Debris Events of All Time]

 

"We are shedding in orbit … mostly paints, coatings," with the thermal coating as the most prevalent, Cothran said. "As we come back around [in Earth orbit] the next time or two or three or four weeks later, whatever, we're hitting our own debris trail."

 

Mars bound?

 

The Boeing assessment is not quite complete. But it's already apparent that the ISS has been quite an engineering success, Cothran said.

 

"The station has been remarkable if you look at how it's flying today and the number of failures we've had," he said. "It's totally surpassed any design requirements."

 

Many lessons were learned in the building, operation and maintenance of the ISS.

 

"It's an incredible facility," Cothran said. "We learned how to put things together in space on ISS."

 

He said those lessons can be applied toward establishing a crewed facility in the Earth-moon system, or toward the assembly of a spaceship that would take astronauts to Mars.

 

"The nation and NASA are very fortunate that it has been the kind of station that it has been," Cothran said.

 

Sequester budget cuts imperil America's fledgling private space industry

 

Tim Fernholz - Quartz

 

The budget impasse in Washington caused flight delays (until Congress fixed that) and cut million in funding for everything science research to pre-k teachers. Next up? The companies building spacecraft for NASA.

 

Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corporation are competing to build the replacement the Space Shuttle to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station; at least until 2017, those duties will be handled by Russia's space program.

 

The US space agency wants $821 million to fund the development of these space craft next year; the best case scenario would give them $775 million, but it's likely the agency will have to make do with $500 million. NASA says the sequester cuts "jeopardize the success of the commercial crew program and ensure that we continue to outsource jobs to Russia."

 

Why such a wide range of funding possibilities? Democrats in the Senate are assuming that across-the-board cuts imposed by budget sequestration will be alleviated by bipartisan deal-making, while the Republican House expects the cuts to stay in place. An agreement will need to be made before the new fiscal year begins in October, and it's likely to result in funding on the lower end of the spectrum.

 

Currently, the three companies are working through a series of design reviews that ensure the space craft meet operational standards and are safe for crew, and each milestone unlocks more financing. With less money, those milestones get pushed back, possibly delaying the readiness of a spacecraft and forcing the US to stick with Russia or another contractor beyond 2017.

 

NASA could choose to live with the delays, cut one or two companies from the program earlier than expected to focus the funding, or ask the companies to pony up more private capital.

 

In the House, at least, there is a lot of skepticism of the program, which began under the Obama administration. Some lawmakers see it as a boondoggle akin to the loans made by the government to failed solar firm Solyndra. While those loans are usually paid back with interest, the money spent by NASA on private space craft is spent for good, and the resulting technology belongs to the company that designed it. Republicans would like to see companies pony up more capital themselves.

 

"It's a big prize at the end of this competition," one aide said, referring to the ISS ferry contract. "Put in more skin in the game to win that prize."

 

There's no public information showing how much private companies have invested in the commercial crew program alongside the government money: over the course of the program Boeing is due up to $460 million; Sierra Nevada Corporation $212 million; and SpaceX $440 million. None of the companies responded to requests for information about their investment.

 

Funding cuts could spell trouble for all three companies, but the firm with the most to lose is Elon Musk's SpaceX, which is the most dependent on NASA. Boeing, of course, is a sprawling aerospace and defense contractor, and Sierra Nevada Corp. has a lucrative business manufacturing components for satellites and other space gear. However, Sierra Nevada's bid was regarded as the weakest when NASA made the original award because of its unique technology, so it could be the first on the chopping block. SpaceX's  plan was seen as the fastest and cheapest because it is based on the technology that already delivers supplies to the ISS, while Boeing, which built the space station, offered a bid considered the most technically sound.

 

Earlier this week, Boeing unveiled a full-size mock-up of its vehicle, the CST-100.

 

NASA told to slow pad leasing at KSC

Exclusive deal for use of 39A needs scrutiny, two congressmen say

 

James Dean – Florida Today

 

Two congressmen have written NASA this week expressing "strong concerns" that the space agency might award use of a Kennedy Space Center launch pad to one company, widely understood to be SpaceX.

 

U.S. Reps. Frank Wolf and Robert Aderholt, both members of a House subcommittee that approves NASA budgets, said Launch Complex 39A is a "unique, taxpayer-funded asset" that should be available to multiple rocket launchers.

 

"It is surprising that NASA appears to be racing to lease LC-39A with little transparency and absent Congressional consent," they wrote to NASA Administrator Charles Bolden.

 

NASA doesn't need the mothballed former Apollo and shuttle pad, one of two at KSC, and is offering it to companies willing to take on the operations and maintenance costs by Oct. 1.

 

Two companies, SpaceX and Blue Origin, are known to have submitted proposals.

 

SpaceX wants exclusive use of the pad to accommodate a steady pace of launches, starting in 2015, of commercial and government satellites and potentially NASA astronauts.

 

The company says that arrangement will ensure the dormant facility is put to use and help the nation and Florida develop their role in commercial launches that have almost entirely moved overseas.

 

"SpaceX has a significant book of commercial business which requires the consistent and full use of a launch pad like LC 39A,'' said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX President & COO. "If we are selected to operate LC 39A, the country as well as Florida will yield the benefits of a launch services operator who can drive expansion with a proven business model and a backlog of launches that demonstrate our ability to bring commercial and international launch business back to U.S soil.''

 

Shotwell added that use of Launch Complex 39A would be integral to launching crewed spacecraft to the International Space Station, should SpaceX be chosen to do so.

 

Blue Origin won't be ready to launch before 2018, but proposes to operate and modify pad 39A and make it available to any other interested users by 2015.

 

Wolf and Aderholt accuse NASA of "questionable actions" concerning the proposed lease.

 

Without identifying specific companies, they suggest NASA was near a lease of up to 20 years with one company until others objected, forcing the agency to release an open request for proposals in May.

 

Despite that public solicitation, "it is clear many of the factors surrounding the decision to lease LC-39A remain ambiguous and merit much closer examination," the lawmakers said.

 

Parts of Aderholt's Alabama district are near the plant where United Launch Alliance builds Atlas and Delta rockets. Those rockets face competition from SpaceX in the coming years for launches of national security and science satellites.

 

The two companies also are competing to launch NASA crews to the International Space Station.

 

ULA has voiced support for Blue Origin's multi-user concept, suggesting pad 39A could serve as a backup to the two pads it controls at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

 

However, ULA did not submit its own bid to use 39A, nor did two other experienced U.S. launch providers, ATK and Orbital Sciences Corp.

 

Nowhere else do companies share a launch pad.

 

That reality reflects the small number of launch providers, the specialized infrastructure required to support different rockets and companies' reluctance to rely on competitors for access to a pad.

 

Still, Aderholt and Wolf, of Virginia, believe such an arrangement would best serve taxpayers' investment of hundreds of millions of dollars into the launch complex.

 

They questioned why NASA might lease 39A exclusively while it markets Kennedy's other pad, 39B, as available for both the agency's own planned exploration rocket and commercial use.

 

"This logic is inconsistent and another example of NASA's failure to rationalize its strategic use of its facilities," they said.

 

The pair requested NASA take no action before providing more detail about the process, including how much it really costs to maintain 39A.

 

NASA has declined to discuss the proposals.

 

U.S. Firm in Talks on Buying Kuznetsov Rockets

 

Anatoly Medetsky - Moscow Times

 

The U.S. company that relies on phased-out Soviet engines for its $1.9 billion contract with NASA is looking to use their updated version.

 

Orbital Sciences Corporation has sent Michael Hamel, its senior vice president, to the engine manufacturer in Samara for a reconnaissance mission.

 

The Kuznetsov plant is investing to the tune of 2 billion rubles ($65 million) to start producing an upgraded model of the rocket engine.

 

Orbital Sciences successfully test launched its Antares rocket in April, which utilized the Soviet-made engine that was originally designed for the aborted Soviet lunar program.

 

The company sourced the engines from its U.S. contractor Aerojet, a company that purchased a few dozen of these engines from Kuznetsov in the mid-1990s and modified them.

 

Known in Russia as NK-33, the kerosene-fueled engines that initially rolled off the assembly line in the 1960s and 1970s adopted a new name after the reworking, AJ26.

 

Julie Van Kleeck, vice president of launch business unit at Aerojet, accompanied Hamel on the trip to Russia.

 

Hamel and Kleeck toured the Kuznetsov plant on July 15 but did not sign any deals, a plant spokeswoman said. They also had a meeting with Samara region Governor Nikolai Merkushkin the next day.

 

"It's remarkable that the engine was created during the rivalry between the U.S.S.R. and U.S.A., and now we are equal partners for commercial flights to the International Space Station," Hamel said, according to the Russian-language statement from the governor's office.

 

Orbital Sciences has a $1.9 billion contract with NASA to make eight cargo deliveries to the International Space Station in the wake of the retirement of the space shuttles. The test flight in April and another test launch this coming September are part of the contract.

 

Aerojet has enough engines to equip rockets for the contract but needs more going forward. It has a tentative contract to buy 50 upgraded engines from Kuznetsov from 2016, when it will start producing them, through 2024, a spokeswoman for United Engine Building Corporation, which includes Kuznetsov, said Wednesday.

 

Aerojet could also strike a deal with another Russian rocket engine producer, NPO Energomash, which now sells its RD-180s to U.S.-based United Launch Alliance for making the Atlas 5 rocket. ULA is a joint venture whose stake holders include Lockheed Martin and Boeing.

 

Could this be NASA's next sweet ride?

 

Jack Maher - KUSA TV (Denver)

 

Boeing is showing off their new space taxi. The CST-100, shaped like a gumdrop and packed with LED lighting and tablet tech, is designed to be the next generation space shuttle.

 

The CST-100 capsule (short for Commercial Space Transportation-100) is designed to ferry up to seven astronauts to and from the space station and other destinations in low-Earth orbit. The spacecraft will initially launch from Florida atop United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket, but the company is not ruling out other booster options in the future.

 

Boeing is one of several competitors, including SpaceX and Colorado's Sierra Nevada, who are part of a private space race to build new manned space taxis. Boeing is aiming to have the CST-100 ready to launch the first crew by 2016.

 

The capsule recently underwent a parachute drop test from a helicopter at the Delamar Dry Lake Bed near Alamo, Nevada. Boeing also tested the parachutes designed to slow the capsule's descent after it re-enters Earth's atmosphere.

 

The gumdrop-shaped CST-100 spacecraft measures 14.8 feet  across at its widest point and will be reusable for up to 10 flights.

 

The vessel isn't complete, however, as it lacks a waste containment system. The company is still considering ways to address that issue.

 

Mainer in space discusses dramatic rescue, missing home

 

Gillian Graham - Portland Press Herald (Maine)

 

When his colleague's helmet began to fill with water during a recent spacewalk, astronaut Chris Cassidy knew he had to react quickly.

 

About an hour into a planned 6½-hour foray into space on July 16, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano realized there was water creeping in around his neck, which could have gotten into his mouth or eyes, Cassidy said Thursday morning from aboard the International Space Station.

 

NASA quickly aborted the spacewalk, and with Cassidy's help, Parmitano made it back into the space station and was reported to be fine after the dangerous episode.

 

Cassidy, who grew up in York and still has family in Maine, and fellow astronaut Karen Nyberg spoke to the Portland Press Herald via video conference Thursday as the space station passed over Texas.

 

They talked about life in space, staying in touch with their families, scientific experiments, and less weighty things such as washing hair in zero gravity and missing the smell of freshly cut grass.

 

Cassidy also spoke about the dramatic spacewalk that made international news this month.

 

He held his colleague's helmet Thursday to demonstrate where the water collected around Parmitano's head, threatening his hearing and his sight -- necessities when you're walking in space.

 

"Through a series of tests, we realized it wasn't sweat or any other bodily fluid," Cassidy said.

 

It was quickly clear that the helmet needed to be removed before the liquid suffocated Parmitano, although NASA officials said later he was not in immediate danger.

 

Cassidy said Thursday that it was fortunate they were near the airlock that allows them back into the space station when the malfunction happened, although they did have to separate for a short time because their safety tethers were connected at different points on the station. Nyberg and their Russian colleagues were able to help the spacewalkers safely back into the station without any further problems, Cassidy said.

 

Although spacewalks are known to carry risks -- that's one reason astronauts work in pairs when outside the station -- it was the first time since NASA's Gemini program in the 1960s that a spacewalker was so incapacitated. It was the second-shortest spacewalk in space station history.

 

A panel of experts is looking into what caused the unprecedented leak that allowed 34 to 51 ounces of water into Parmitano's suit.

 

Cassidy, 43, is a former Navy SEAL who had been on five other spacewalks before leaving the station in his protective suit July 16.

 

He and Nyberg are both flight engineers on the six-person crew of Expedition 36. Cassidy arrived at the space station on March 28, and Nyberg arrived May 28. They are each spending six months in space.

 

While on the space station, Nyberg, 43, said the crew is working on about 150 experiments. Much of their research is focused on how being in space affects their bodies.

 

"We're studying what happens to our bodies when we're living in a microgravity environment for the future, when we travel farther from Earth or spend more time in a microgravity environment," she said.

 

Cassidy and Nyberg, a Minnesota native, both have spouses and children waiting for them at home. They said they are able to email their families and talk to them through weekly video chats, and occasionally on the phone.

 

Nyberg also uses social media to share photos of Earth and to talk about life aboard the space station. A video of her demonstrating how she washes her hair in space has nearly 1.7 million views on YouTube. Her Pinterest includes a board called "Hair and Space" that features photos of her long blonde hair floating around her.

 

"One of my goals is to connect to people who wouldn't necessarily be thinking about the space program, and I thought Pinterest would be a good way to do that," Nyberg said.

 

Cassidy believes people are interested in videos such as Nyberg's because they can relate to the everyday activities and find it fun to see how they are done in space.

 

He is scheduled to leave the space station in September and expects to visit Maine in November. Earlier this month, he participated in York's Four on the 4th race from more than 200 miles above Earth.

 

"I was really excited to participate and include the town in my mission, and to include the state of Maine in my mission as well," he said.

 

Cassidy said he misses the smell of summer in Maine: fresh-cut grass and "the unique smell of the ocean and the rocky coast."

 

"That's the sort of thing you can't replace up here," he said. "Those are the things I'm looking forward to getting back to."

 

Canada Eyes Deep Space with Next-Generation Robotic Arm

 

Katia Moskvitch - Space.com

 

Canada has developed a new version of its famed robotic space arm to give exploration of the final frontier a helping hand.

 

The nation's Next-Generation Canadarm (NGC) program is designed to support both missions in low-Earth orbit and deep space, ranging from repairing communication satellites to assisting manned missions to the moon, asteroids, Mars and other corners of the universe, officials said.

 

"With the retirement of the space shuttle, a new generation of crewed space exploration vehicles will soon become available," said Alain Ouellet, director of space exploration development at the Canadian Space Agency (CSA).

 

"However, these new vehicles are much smaller in size compared to the space shuttle, and therefore there is a need to adapt the robotic arm technology developed for the shuttle and the International Space Station," Ouellet told SPACE.com.

 

A long tradition

 

With apologies to guitar-strumming former space station commander Chris Hadfield, Canada's most important contributions to spaceflight over the years have been made by its robotic Canadarms.

 

The first Canadarm, a 50-foot (15 meters) arm attached to NASA's space shuttle, blasted into space in 1981. Until the last shuttle flight in 2011, the arm was used to move loads from the shuttle orbiters to the space station.

 

After the tragic destruction of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003 during re-entry to Earth's atmosphere, NASA began attaching the Orbiter Boom Sensor System to Canadarm, to inspect other shuttles for any damage. (Columbia was doomed when a piece of insulating foam broke off the shuttle's external fuel tank during launch and breached the left wing's thermal-protection system.)

 

Canadarm2 was sent into orbit in 2001 to aid in the assembly of the International Space Station. The 58-foot (17.6 m) arm, which Hadfield helped install on the station during a spacewalk, now takes care of much of the orbiting lab's maintenance work, supports spacewalks and captures so-called "free flyers" — spacecraft that must be grappled to the station, such as the commercial firm SpaceX's Dragon capsule.

 

Canadarm2 is part of what is known as the Mobile Servicing System, comprised of the arm itself, the Mobile Remote Servicer Base System and the Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator, also known as Dextre or the "Canada hand."

 

The NGC program thus continues a rich history of Canadian space robotics.

 

Eyeing deep space

 

Developed for the CSA by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. (MDA), the NGC system consists of two manipulators: a big one with a reach of 50 feet (15 m), and a smaller, 8.5-foot (2.6 m) arm.

 

While the longer arm is the same length as Canadarm, it is much lighter and more compact, officials said. It is designed to be attached to future spacecraft, even small ones, thanks to a new telescopic boom capability with a three-to-one packing ratio.

 

This ratio means that the deployed arm would be three times longer than its stowed configuration. When  folded, it would take up less than 177 cubic feet (5 cubic m) of space — about the same amount as a minivan.

 

The smaller manipulator prototype is a robot "handyman" — a possible future equivalent of Dextre equipped with gear designed to help fix satellites in space and support their refueling.

 

"Many countries around the world now believe that Earth-orbiting satellites can be serviced robotically in much the same way that a car is brought to the garage for maintenance and filling up the fuel tank," Ouellet said. "The on-orbit servicing of the satellites is a great opportunity for the Canadian robotics technology and the Canadian industry."

 

Although the Next-Generation Canadarm project is only a prototyping endeavor at this point, it is aimed at maturing technologies for future space applications.

 

"There is a need to maintain the Canadarm's technologies with the state-of-the-art," Ouellet said. "Indeed, the original Canadarm's technologies date back to the 1980s (space shuttle arm), the '90s (Candarm2) and the early 2000s (Dextre), so many of the components that were used in the manufacturing of the arm are no longer available — in particular, the electronic components such as the CPUs and data transmission."

 

"The upgrading of the technologies with the state-of-the-art represents a fantastic opportunity to enhance the capabilities of the robotic technologies and reduce the costs," he added.

 

The next FCC chairman and commercial space

 

Jeff Foust - SpacePolitics.com

 

In May, President Obama nominated Tom Wheeler to become the next chairman of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). While he has yet to be formally confirmed by the Senate, he did breeze through a confirmation hearing by a "generally welcoming" Senate Commerce Committee in June, and his nomination has broad support.

 

It also turns out he has—or, at least, had—opinions about the administration's space policy. In a May 2010 blog post, Wheeler, working in the private sector at the time, said the "Space Program" (as he capitalized it) was going through an "analog to digital conversion" analogous to what the telecommunications industry experienced in the past. His reference was not to specific technologies but instead models of doing business and innovation: a shift from a centralized to distributed approach.

 

"NASA was the Bell Labs of Space," he wrote. "Like Bell Labs they delivered important innovations and added to our national pride. To continue a 20th Century command-and-control model in an era of distributed development is not in the best interest of NASA, however."

 

In particular, he expressed support for the administration's decision to pursue development of commercial crew transportation systems. "Embracing commercial manned launches will not only save the taxpayer dollars, but also will put Americans back in space sooner by using enhanced versions of existing launch vehicles," he wrote. "Best of all, embracing commercial low earth orbit manned flight will allow NASA to focus on moving the edge of the envelope further out into space, including with manned missions."

 

These are many of the same arguments the White House and NASA leadership have made for commercial crew development. (Wheeler, in fact, served on the Obama transition team after the 2008 election, and his policy portfolio included both technology and space.)

 

As for those opposed to commercial crew, he sees similar arguments to debates from telecommunications deregulation. "Back in the original analog-to-digital days I can remember AT&T's representatives warning of catastrophic job losses and damage to the national security if innovative competitors were allowed into their business. The same echoes surround the proposed NASA changes," he wrote. "The earlier warnings not only failed to materialize, but just the opposite occurred as new, innovative and less expensive services came forward and economic growth and a new generation of jobs exploded."

 

Assuming Wheeler is confirmed, his space policy comments will largely be of academic interest. There are, though, a few space-related topics the FCC deals with, such as orbital slot and frequency assignments for commercial satellites and other space operations. (The FCC did issue a notice of proposed rulemaking in May on frequency allocation and related issues for commercial launches, for example.) If those activities do grow in the next few years, particularly in emerging areas like small satellites or commercial crew, it will be interesting to see if these thoughts play any role in decisions the FCC makes on related policies.

 

NASA paying to turn way-out-there ideas into reality

 

Carol Christian - Houston Chronicle

 

The notion of suspended animation for humans traveling to distant planets may sound like science fiction.

 

But it's one of 12 proposals that NASA has selected for study under its Innovative Advanced Concepts Program, which aims to turn science fiction into fact, according to an agency news release.

 

The program invites innovators of all stripes to propose "bold, visionary ideas," Michael Gazarik, NASA's Washington, D.C.-based associate administrator for space technology, said in the release.

 

This year's winners were announced July 19.

 

The agency's Space Technology Mission Directorate chose the 2013 proposals based upon their potential to enable either entirely new missions or breakthroughs in future aerospace capabilities, the release said.

 

Each project was awarded about $100,000 for nine months of Phase I study to define the concept. Depending upon the success of the Phase I feasibility study, the proposer can apply for up to $500,000 for two more years of Phase II concept development.

 

The projects, described as very early in development and typically years from implementation, were chosen through a peer-review process, according to the release.

 

Other proposed projects included two-dimensional robots, an "eternal" flight platform hovering in Earth's atmosphere for such applications as enhanced Wi-Fi and a technique for printing three-dimensional arrays of cells that can secrete materials to produce anything from tools to food.

 

For a complete list of the selected proposals and more information about the program, visit: www.nasa.gov/niac

 

San Jose Conference Fueling Private Space Industry

 

Matt Bigler - KCBS TV (San Francisco)

 

Dozens of self-proclaimed "space geeks" have gathered in San Jose this week to exchange ideas talk about the future of private space exploration.

 

The annual New Space Conference has become a center of gravity for the dozens of companies, inventors and enthusiasts who see profits in outer space.

 

Old Space would be NASA, whereas new space describes San Jose inventor Peter Humphries of San Jose, who is hoping to license his patent for an orbiting space factory.

 

"The further you go away from Earth, the more trouble you're going to have fixing stuff," Humphries said. So long-term space missions will need to be able to manufacture tiles and other replacement parts.

 

The most well known space company is Space X, which has successfully sent cargo ships to the International Space Station.

 

Now even a lobbying group has taken up the cause of the growing space industry. The Tea Party In Space sees privatizing what lies beyond the atmosphere as a necessary element of fiscal responsibility.

 

"There's a place for NASA, but the more that the commercial sector can get involved and start doing stuff, the sooner we're going to be able to open up the infinite economy," said lobbyist Andrew Gosser.

 

Just ten of the 30 exhibitors come from Silicon Valley, but New Space organizers say California technology companies are already playing a big role in developing new technology.

 

The conference sponsored by the Space Frontier Foundation at the Doubletree Hotel in San Jose runs through Sunday.

 

"It's really neat that we have it over in the Silicon Valley Area because it's basically an incubator all of these companies," said conference co-chair Sara Meshberger. "I think everyone here is really interested in being able to see it become a viable industry."

 

Try landing the space shuttle in Air Force museum simulator

 

Susan Glaser - Cleveland Plain Dealer

 

With the retirement of the space shuttle program in 2011, there's no way to really know what it's like to land one of these winged orbiters.

 

Travel to Dayton, though, and you'll get a pretty good idea.

 

The National Museum of the U.S. Air Force last week added two space shuttle landing simulators to its vast aviation-related holdings, the first items in the upcoming Crew Compartment Trainer exhibit set to open in the fall.

 

Using a joystick and video screens, visitors can "fly" the shuttle to a safe landing and then receive feedback on how well they did. The simulators have room for two — commander and pilot — and feature reproductions of the forward portion of the space shuttle flight deck.

 

And unlike other simulators throughout the museum, these are free.

 

"Sitting in the simulator is very much like sitting in a real shuttle," said John Fongheiser, president of Historic Space Systems, the Danville, Ohio, company that designed the machines. "It's not every day that you can say 'I landed the space shuttle.' "

 

The simulators, located in the Cold War Gallery, are part of a new shuttle exhibit that includes a crew compartment trainer used by hundreds of astronauts to help prepare for space travel. The trainer was sent to the Dayton museum from the Johnson Space Center in Houston in the fall.

 

The trainer was a consolation prize, of sorts, after NASA passed over the Air Force museum as a home for one of its four retiring shuttles. In some ways, though, the trainer will be more user-friendly because visitors will be allowed to climb aboard and explore.

 

Dayton design firm Display Dynamics is finishing work on the exhibit, including creating the payload bay, access ramps and engine and tail sections. It is expected to be open by late fall.

 

The exhibit will also feature a STEM Learning Node for educational programs.

 

Long-term plans at the Air Force museum call for moving the shuttle exhibit — along with the Space, Presidential, and Research and Development galleries — into a new, fourth building on the museum grounds.

 

Currently, the Presidential and R&D galleries are located apart from the main museum campus and can be accessed only by taking a shuttle. In an effort to save money, those galleries were closed to the public in May, a result of the government budget cuts known as sequestration.

 

Construction on the new fourth building is expected to begin next year and may open as soon as 2015.

 

Eleven from 11: Search for states' missing Apollo 11 moon rocks continues

 

Robert Pearlman - collectSPACE.com

 

Eleven states' Apollo 11 moon rocks are missing.

 

Despite a search that has lasted more than a decade, the current whereabouts of the Apollo 11 moon rocks gifted to Alabama, Louisiana, Nevada, New York, South Carolina, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Washington and Wisconsin are still unknown.

 

The eleventh missing display, presented to Delaware, was stolen in 1976.

 

Forty-four years ago Wednesday, astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Mike Collins returned to Earth after completing the first mission to land on the moon. The souvenirs of the moonwalkers' success were 48.5 pounds (22 kg) of lunar material, including samples of the moon's fine-grain soil and 50 rocks.

 

As the first-ever geologic return from another world, every pebble was scientifically precious, even the scraps found at the bottom of the astronauts' collection bags. So it was a particularly prestigious honor when four months after the Apollo 11 mission, then-President Richard Nixon decided to award tiny specimens — 0.05 grams (0.002 oz) each in the form of four specks — to each of the 50 U.S. states, as well as the nation's territories and 135 foreign nations.

 

Each of the displays' four small stones were embedded in a single acrylic button and mounted to a desktop wooden podium. Accompanying the moon rocks was a small state or country flag, which had been flown to the moon by the Apollo 11 astronauts.

 

At the base of the display were mounted two plaques, one reading in part: "This flag of your nation was carried to the moon and back by Apollo 11 and this fragment of the moon's surface was brought to Earth by the crew of that first manned lunar landing."

 

Lost moon

 

The displays that were exported outside the United States have been difficult to find four decades later. Geographical and language barriers have complicated a search already hindered by the passage of time. Nearly 100 of the gifts are currently unaccounted for; either they are truly missing or have yet to be found by the mostly-American graduate students, historians and space enthusiasts conducting the search.

 

As the displays are no longer U.S. property, NASA has no responsibility or need to track them. The same is true for the states' samples, but as they are still within the borders of the nation, it was assumed that the common laws that govern public gifts would make finding them rather easy.

 

Some of the moon rock displays are exactly where you would expect to find them: museums, state capitols and archives. Among the 39 states' samples that have been catalogued, about one-fourth of them are presently held in storage for safekeeping or are on hold for the state's next planned temporary or permanent displays. The others are on exhibit for the public to see.

 

Some of those now on display however, had to be found first.

 

Hawaii's was rediscovered after it was stored in a cabinet in the executive chambers of the state capitol building. Minnesota's moon rocks had been put away with military artifacts before being found and transferred to the state's historical society last year. Nebraska's display was lost in the governor's mansion until building renovations resulted in the moon rocks resurfacing.

 

And then there was the case of Alaska's Apollo 11 lunar sample display, which disappeared in 1973 after a fire tore though the museum where they were on exhibit. In 2010, they reemerged in the possession of a reality TV star, who tried to sue the state to gain legal title to the moon rocks. He ultimately surrendered them.

 

Missing moon

 

Of those that are still missing, someone swiped the moon rocks right off Delaware's display some 37 years ago. The state's Division of Historical and Cultural Affairs still has the blank wooden podium but hasn't any new leads on the lunar larceny.

 

But at least Delaware knows where their four small specks of the moon once were; the efforts to turn up the other 10 states' samples have so far been unsuccessful.

 

The Apollo 11 sample displays were not the only pieces of the moon gifted to the states. A similar presentation was made after the final lunar landing.

 

The Apollo 17 goodwill moon rocks were gifted attached to a wooden plaque rather than a podium and each included one stone rather than four specks.

 

Eight states have yet to find their Apollo 17 goodwill moon rocks including Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Wisconsin.

 

END