Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Fwd: NASA News -my version and JSC Today - Tuesday, July 30, 2013



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: July 30, 2013 5:54:15 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA News -my version and JSC Today - Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Hope you can join us this Thursday at Hibachi Grill for our monthly Retirees luncheon.    If Kyle's version is drastically different, I may send it on to you later in the day.   I am in a training class all day.

 

 

 

 

 

   Headlines

  1. JSC Technologies Again Highlighted in Tech Briefs

The July 2013 issue of NASA Tech Briefs magazine has included seven more innovative technologies from JSC.

Each month, new innovations stemming from advanced research and technology programs conducted by NASA and its industry partners/contractors are introduced in the NASA Tech Briefs publication.

The July JSC features include: Carbon Nanotube Microarrays Grown on Nanoflake Substrates; Dimmable Electronic Ballast for a Gas Discharge Lamp; dEq Add-On Module for CFD Solver Loci-CHEM; Hollow-Fiber Spacesuit Water Membrane Evaporator (commercial applications include personal coolers for infantry, humidifiers for pilots and personal coolers for hazmat suits); CFD Script for Rapid TPS Damage Assessment; Method for Reduction of Silver Biocide Plating on Metal Surfaces; and Battery Charge Equalizer with Transformer Array.

To read and learn more about these exciting JSC technologies and their inventors, just visit the Strategic Opportunities & Partnership Development (SOPD) website.

You can review all of the NASA Tech Briefs here.

Holly Kurth x32951

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  1. JSC Ombudsman Office

The Ombudsman Office provides advice and counsel to individuals on a wide range of interpersonal and workplace-related issues. It is one of several resources at JSC that can help an individual with issue resolution, and offers many unique advantages. First, the Ombudsman is CONFIDENTIAL. Your privacy will be respected, and your issue will not be discussed with anyone else without your express permission. The Ombudsman is also INFORMAL, meaning that there is no official or unofficial record of your visit, and the visit does not initiate any process or action that you do not control. The Ombudsman Office is INDEPENDENT, reporting directly to the JSC Director. More information on how to set up a visit with one of the two JSC Ombudsman, Donna Blackshear-Reynolds (281-483-2814) or John Casper (281-792-9364), can be found here.

Donna Blackshear-Reynolds x32814 http://ombuds.jsc.nasa.gov/

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   Organizations/Social

  1. Find Out the State of YOUR Center - Aug. 21

Want to know the state of your center? It's no secret! If so, please join us for a JSC National Management Association (NMA) chapter luncheon featuring JSC Director and former astronaut Dr. Ellen Ochoa. She will discuss the "State of the Center--JSC 2.0." You won't want to miss this presentation, as well as the lunch!

When: Wednesday, Aug. 21

Time: 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

    • Cost for members: $0
    • Cost for non-members: $20

There are three great menu options to choose from:

    • Bourbon-glazed salmon
    • Herb-seared chicken breast with tomato chive sauce
    • Vegetable lasagna

Desserts: New York cheesecake and carrot cake

Please RSVP by close of business Wednesday, Aug. 14, with your menu selection.

Event Date: Wednesday, August 21, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

Add to Calendar

Catherine Williams x33317 http://www.jscnma.com/Events

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  1. Tomorrow: CoLab - Low-Cost Computing

Are you currently working on or interested in starting a project involving Arduino, Raspberry Pi or other low-cost, small-scale computing hardware?

If so, you are invited to the third meeting of the Low-Cost Computing (LCC) CoLab. CoLabs provides a casual forum to share lessons learned and generate innovative new ideas and uses of technologies. Come make cross-directorate contacts and learn more about what others are doing with these exciting technologies.

The LCC CoLab will be held tomorrow, July 31, from noon to 1 p.m. in Building 29, Room 233. Feel free to bring your lunch and your co-workers.

Event Date: Wednesday, July 31, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg 29/Rm 233

Add to Calendar

Elena C. Buhay 281-972-7976

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  1. Starport Summer Camp - Still Taking Registrations

Only two weeks left of Summer Camp! Don't miss out on all the fun. There are a few spots left in sessions 9 and 10, so register your child before it's too late. Next week's theme is Splish Splash Dash, and there are a few spots left! Weekly themes are listed on our website, as well as information regarding registration and all the necessary forms.

Ages: 6 to 12

Times: 7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Dates: Now through Aug. 16 in one-week sessions

Fee per session: $140 per child for dependents | $160 per child for non-dependents

NEW for this summer -- ask about our sibling discounts.

Shericka Phillips x35563 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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   Jobs and Training

  1. Driving Innovation at JSC

Driving Innovation at JSC with Dr. Joel Sercel from Sept. 11 to 12

This program will teach executives, managers, marketers, product developers, engineers and individual contributors in technical organizations how to spark the breakthrough ideas leaders need to create successful systems for the future. This program combines marketing, product development, technology assessment, value-chain design, project execution and talent management in an integrated architecture for achieving breakthrough performance. Participants will gain the capability to position their organizations for future sustainment, growth, and adaptation to new technologies, business models and missions.

Sign up today: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=REGISTRATI...

Diane Kutchinski x46490

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  1. Near-Earth Asteroids: Threats and Opportunities

Dr. Stan Love will present the basics of near-Earth asteroids: how many there are, how likely they are to hit the Earth, ways to prevent a threatening asteroid from hitting us and some thoughts on human exploration of these interesting objects.

When: July 31 from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Location: 5S, Room 3102 (corner of Gamma Link/5th Street/third floor), near guard shack at entrance of Building 4/Building 4S/Building 5S parking lot. A ramp leads to a door at corner of Building 5S. A public access elevator is located past two sets of doors. Exit third floor; lecture room is located behind fourth door on your left (Room 3102).

Registration: In SATERN (any issues locating the class in SATERN, search using keyword "spacesuit")

For questions, contact a Spacesuit Knowledge Capture point of contact: Vladenka Oliva (281-461-5681) or Cinda Chullen (x38384).

Event Date: Wednesday, July 31, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: 5S, Room 3102

Add to Calendar

Vladenka Oliva 281-461-5681

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  1. Travel Data at Your Fingertips: Hands-on Class

As part of the Office of the Chief Financial Officer subject-matter expert course series, Todd Hegemier will demonstrate a new online tool that allows you to access easy-to-understand travel reporting. This tool is intended for proactive technical managers, branch chiefs, project leads, resources analysts and administrative professionals to help respond to travel trends, monitor attendance to specific events, evaluate average cost per trip and much more. Hegemier will provide hands-on instruction on how to access the travel reports and explanations of the available data.

This one-hour course is open to both civil servants and contractors. It will be offered on Thursday, Aug. 8, from 9:30 to 10:30 a.m. in Building 12, Room 144, and via WebEx. Register in SATERN by Aug. 6 via the links below:

Classroom instruction (Building 12, Room 144) - SATERN direct link: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

WebEx - SATERN direct link: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Event Date: Thursday, August 8, 2013   Event Start Time:9:30 AM   Event End Time:10:30 AM
Event Location: Building 12, Room 144; or WebEx

Add to Calendar

Nancy Miyamoto x30568

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  1. Payload Safety Review and Analysis - Sept. 9 to 12

Class is 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. daily. This course is designed as a guide to payload safety review for payload program safety and management personnel. The student will gain an understanding of payload safety as it relates to the overall payload integration process, how the payload safety review process works and the roles and responsibilities of the various players in the payload safety review process. In addition, the student will be instructed in the hands-on fundamentals of payload hazard analysis, hazard documentation and presentation of analyses to the Payload Safety Review Panel. The course will include a mock presentation to the Payload Safety Review Panel. Those with only support or supervisory responsibilities in payload safety should attend course SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0016, Payload Safety Process and Requirements. Use this direct link for registration: https://satern.nasa.gov/learning/user/deeplink_redirect.jsp?linkId=SCHEDULED_...

Event Date: Monday, September 9, 2013   Event Start Time:8:00 AM   Event End Time:4:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg. 20 Room 205/206

Add to Calendar

Shirley Robinson x41284

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  1. August RLLS Portal Education Series WebEx Training

The August weekly RLLS Portal Education Series:

    • Training on Aug. 7 and 8 - Transportation Request at 7:30 a.m., Visa Information at 2 p.m. CDT
    • Training on Aug. 14 and 15 - Flight Arrival Departure at 7:30 a.m., Lodging Request at 2 p.m. CDT

The 30-minute training sessions are computer-based WebEx sessions, offering individuals the convenience to join from their own workstation. The training will cover the following:

    • System login
    • Locating support modules
    • Locating downloadable instructions
    • Creating support requests
    • Submittal requirements
    • Submitting on behalf of another
    • Adding attachments
    • Selecting special requirements
    • Submitting a request
    • Status of a request

Ending each session there will be opportunities for questions and answers. Please remember that TTI will no longer accept requests for U.S.-performed services unless they are submitted through the RLLS Portal.

Email or call 281-335-8565 to sign up.

James Welty 281-335-8565 https://www.tti-portal.com

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JSC Today is compiled periodically as a service to JSC employees on an as-submitted basis. Any JSC organization or employee may submit articles.

Disclaimer: Accuracy and content of these notes are the responsibility of the submitters.

 

 

NASA NEWS

Bolden Courts Asian Powerhouses For Asteroid Missions

By Chris Bergin

NASASpaceFlight.com, July 30, 2013

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden is continuing his attempts to gain additional international collaboration for the Agency's Near Earth Asteroid (NEA) aspirations. Following a meeting with the head of JAXA, the Administrator then met with the President of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI). No deals were signed as a result of the meetings.

NASA and the Asian Countries:

The Agency welcomed the leaders of both the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) to Washington DC this month, covering a wide range of subjects relating to collaboration.

The meeting with JAXA, which took place on July 10, brought together two of the space agencies that have been working closely together with the International Space Station (ISS).

The Japanese Experiment Module (JEM) – also known with the Kibo – is steeped in Shuttle legacy, after involving the missions STS-123, STS-124 and STS-127 during the Station assembly flights.

Japan's own cargo resupply ship – the HTV (H-II Transfer Vehicle) – is currently preparing for its fourth mission to the orbital outpost, with launch scheduled for Saturday, August 3.

"NASA has enjoyed a long-standing, mutually beneficial relationship with Japan in space exploration activities and we look forward to further discussions about our asteroid initiative," General Bolden noted.

"We currently have more than 35 active agreements with JAXA in human spaceflight, Earth science, space science, and aeronautics, making Japan one of the agency's leading partners in civil space cooperation."

With one eye firmly focused on the future, General Bolden also promoted NASA's plans to utilize the first two missions with the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion, culminating in the Asteroid Redirect Crewed Mission (ARCM).

Redefined plans call for 2017′s Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) to send an uncrewed Orion on a test flight near to a location tens of thousands of miles past the Moon, a location that a 2019 mission – utilizing an Asteroid Retrieval Spacecraft (ARS) – is expected to haul a small asteroid towards.

Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2) would then launch a crew of two astronauts to meet up and conduct EVAs on the asteroid.

The NASA head discussed these plans with JAXA President Naoki Okumura, who welcomed the opportunity to discuss JAXA's potential contribution based on experience through its Hayabusa asteroid sample return mission.

Hayabusa was an unmanned spacecraft, developed by JAXA, for the return of a material sample to Earth from a small near-Earth asteroid named 25143 Itokawa.

Following launch in May 2003, the spacecraft rendezvoused with Itokawa just over two years later. After a few months of observations, Hayabusa landed on its surface and collected samples of the asteroidal material, which were returned to Earth aboard the spacecraft in June of 2010.

On Monday, General Bolden then met with the President of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI), Seung Jo Kim, to discuss collaboration in aeronautics research and space exploration, including KARI's robotic lunar mission.

According to a NASA presser on what was the first meeting between the two leaders, Kim welcomed the chance to discuss opportunities for collaboration per NASA's asteroid initiative.

"Our two agencies share a mutual interest in aeronautics research, and have identified opportunities for collaboration," added General Bolden.

"We also have partnered for several years in the International Space Exploration Coordination Group and are looking forward to continued discussions on potential cooperation in space exploration."

Although no new deals have been signed between NASA and the two Asian countries, international collaboration is fast becoming the key ingredient for enabling NASA's technically challenging and hugely expensive exploration missions.

The US Agency already has agreements in place with the ESA member states for the opening two SLS/Orion missions, with the Europeans providing hardware and technology from their Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) for use as the bulk of Orion's Service Module.

The ATV-derived service module – sporting a NASA supplied Orbital Manuevering System Engine (OME) – will provide propulsion, power, thermal control, as well as supplying water and gas to the astronauts in the habitable module.

The ATV solar arrays will also feature, giving the Orion/SM configuration the X-wing appearance – a change from the circular arrays that were previously employed by the NASA spacecraft.

The ESA deal included a surprise injection of cash from the UK government, which in turn greased the wheels for Major Timothy Peake to be assigned with a mission to the ISS in the middle of the decade.

S. Korea, NASA Discuss Space Partnership

By Lee Chi-dong

Yonhap, July 30, 2013

South Korea and the United States on Monday discussed ways to boost cooperation in aeronautics research and space exploration, the U.S. space agency said.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said its administrator, Charles Bolden, and Kim Seung-jo, president of the Korea Aerospace Research Institute, met at NASA's headquarters in Washington, D.C. It was their first meeting.

 

US Lawmaker Seeks To Partner With Russia To Clean Up Space

RIA Novosti (RUS), July 30, 2013

A prominent US lawmaker and advocate of the United States' role in space told a conference on the commercialization of space that the US and Russia should team up for extraterrestrial projects – and suggested they start by cleaning up the hundreds of thousands of pieces of manmade space litter and capturing and deflecting asteroids hurtling toward Earth.

"Now that Russia is no longer a communist dictatorship and has been evolving in the right direction, we should reach out to them even more than we did in the past, along with our European allies, to have joint missions in space," Rep. Dana Rohrabacher said by Skype to attendees at the New Space 2013 conference in San Jose, California this past weekend.

"Even when it was the Soviet Union, even when they were our enemies, we were able to cooperate" in space, the vice chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee noted.

The international space team could "clear the space debris that threatens to limit our use of space" and work to "identify and deflect near-Earth objects from hitting Earth," the California lawmaker said.

But Rohrabacher's vision of nations working together excluded rising space power China, a country that the US congressman said should be sidelined from a team effort in space because of its poor human rights record and technology theft.

"As long as there isn't more reform – any reform – in China, I don't think it's wise for us to be doing joint efforts and have working cooperation on technology projects with the world's worst human rights abuser who has a history of stealing technology," he said.

"But the other folks, we should and we have to, if we want to have a vibrant space program."

Rohrabacher was speaking on the final day of New Space 2013, a three-day event focused on the "potential and challenges of the emerging commercial space industry."

He suggested increasing private industry's role in NASA projects, such as the one to capture an asteroid, saying it would be a good way to "minimize bureaucracy and maximize entrepreneurship," an oft-repeated chorus at the conference.

Estimates for the NASA project to capture an asteroid, which includes building a new rocket to carry astronauts there, are in the billions of dollars.

Bob Richards, the CEO of Moon Express Inc., a privately funded company created to "establish new avenues for commercial space activities benefitting life on Earth," told the conference his company is developing a spacecraft for less than $50 million.

Rohrabacher also said deflecting near-Earth objects should be "a multinational effort" and cited the massive meteor that exploded in February over Chelyabinsk, shattering windows, damaging buildings and injuring more than 1,500 people. Had it been on a slightly different path, he said, it could have slammed into Earth and killed thousands.

Russia's Emergencies Minister Vladimir Puchkov said in June that his ministry and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will work together to "develop systems to protect people and territory from cosmic impacts."

And in May, Natan Eismont of the Space Research Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences said it is possible to defend the planet by moving near-Earth asteroids into the path of incoming space threats and deflecting them.

The New Space 2013 conference also looked at thornier aspects of the commercialization of space, including whether private companies should be allowed to use the resources they extract in space for private gain and which earthly laws should be used to resolve business disputes in space.

Plan To Capture An Asteroid Runs Into Politics

By Kenneth Chang

New York Times, July 30, 2013

It is known, informally, as the asteroid-lasso plan: NASA wants to launch an unmanned spacecraft in 2018 that would capture a small asteroid — maybe 7 to 10 yards wide — haul it closer to Earth, then send astronauts up to examine it, in 2021 or beyond.

But the space agency has encountered a stubborn technical problem: Congressional Republicans.

Normally, there is bipartisan support (or disapproval) in Congress for NASA's bolder plans, particularly when they involve human spaceflight. What squabbling does take place tends to pit lawmakers from states with big NASA presences, like Florida and Texas, against those with fewer vested interests.

This month, however, the science committee in the Republican-controlled House voted to bar NASA from pursuing that faraway rock. In a straight party vote — 22 Republicans for, 17 Democrats against — the committee laid out a road map for NASA for the next three years that brushed aside the asteroid capture plan, the centerpiece of the Obama administration's agenda for space exploration. The plan, instead, included new marching orders, telling NASA to send astronauts back to the Moon, set up a base there and then aim for Mars (and to do so with less money than requested).

"A costly and complex distraction," is how one Republican critic, Representative Steven Palazzo of Mississippi, described the asteroid mission. Other legislators complained that the project seemed far-fetched and poorly articulated, and that it would not advance America's bragging rights in space the way a return to the Moon could. The bill awaits a vote by the full House.

NASA and its rocket scientists are trying to figure out how to proceed.

President Obama had asked them to find a way to send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars in the 2030s. They presented their plan in April, describing it, perhaps immodestly, as a way to "protect our planet" from dangerous asteroids in addition to making strides in human spaceflight.

A non-NASA study had estimated the total cost of capturing and redirecting an asteroid at $2.6 billion. New analysis by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is in charge of the robotic part of the mission, put the cost at perhaps half that — $1 billion plus the cost of the rocket, said Charles Elachi, the laboratory's director.

"It allows us to get to an asteroid four years ahead of time," said Senator Bill Nelson, Democrat of Florida, a former astronaut and a proponent of the asteroid plan.

Mr. Nelson, like NASA officials, ticked off other possible benefits: The agency would learn how to push around heavy objects in space, which could help if a large asteroid were on a collision course with Earth; and NASA would develop technologies like thinner, lighter solar panels that would be useful for a human mission to Mars in the 2030s.

"And the fourth thing it does is, if it ends up an interesting asteroid, then we've got the possibility of the science of mining an asteroid," Mr. Nelson said.

The proposal, unveiled in April as part of Mr. Obama's budget, is far from dead. On Tuesday, a committee in the Democrat-controlled Senate is scheduled to work on its version of the bill, one that makes no mention of capturing asteroids but gives leeway to NASA to do whatever it thinks best for getting to Mars. On the same day, experts will convene at NASA headquarters in Washington to review work on the asteroid mission so far.

As yet, those experts have not pinpointed an asteroid to kidnap, but the idea is this: First, build a robotic spacecraft with a novel inflatable cone-shaped structure that could envelop the asteroid (which will be tricky to catch, because it will probably be spinning). Next, meet the space rock as it swings by the vicinity of the Earth and the Moon. Then, after essentially wrapping the asteroid in a bag (no lassos are actually involved), the spacecraft would lug it into orbit above the Moon, a slow do-si-do of mechanics that could take a few years.

"Over all, I think this is a very doable mission," said Brian Muirhead, the chief engineer at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

After that, astronauts would travel aboard a giant new rocket that NASA is designing, to meet the asteroid for a closer look. Their trip would give NASA the opportunity to test its deep-space spacecraft, the Orion capsule, as well as its procedures for helping astronauts work with asteroids, which have almost no gravity.

Asteroids have been having their moment in the news, in part because of the terrifying asteroid explosion over Russia in February, which injured about 1,500 people. Last month, NASA announced an Asteroid Grand Challenge, inviting people and organizations to collaborate in finding asteroids that threaten Earth and proposing solutions. On Friday, the agency said it had received more than 400 responses to the challenge and suggestions to help with the asteroid capture mission.

Separately, at least two private companies have announced intentions to mine asteroids for rare metals, arguing that supplies on Earth are dwindling.

There is near unanimity in Congress and NASA that the ultimate goal is to send people to Mars, but the logistical challenges and costs are too big to conquer right away. NASA officials depict the asteroid capture plan as an elegant interim step, one that would send humans deeper into space than before and break new ground in rocket technology.

But Republicans on the House science committee complained this month that the proposal came "out of the blue," lacking much explanation from NASA officials, support from scientists or cost analysis. Some Democrats on the committee were also skeptical, but most were willing to hear NASA out.

"I was never very excited about it," said Representative Donna F. Edwards of Maryland, a Democrat on the committee. However, she was much more critical of the Republican alternative that passed.

To some Democrats, the Republican objections came across as part of a larger strategy to block Mr. Obama on all fronts.

"I really thought that was really a direct insult to the president," said Representative Eddie Bernice Johnson of Texas, the ranking Democrat on the committee.

Historically, NASA's bipartisan support in Congress dates to its founding in 1958 in the aftermath of Russia's launching of Sputnik. And it is far too soon to say whether the House Republicans' objections will ultimately scuttle the asteroid plan. But some longtime NASA observers wonder if the differing views can coalesce to give NASA clear marching orders.

"As long as the Republicans control the House and Mr. Obama is president, I don't think that agreement will happen, and we'll just muddle through," said John M. Logsdon, the former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University.

Meanwhile, Democrats say that the current House bill, the NASA Authorization Act of 2013, would give the agency an impossible mission, reviving expensive ambitions to send astronauts back to the Moon while proposing to cut NASA's budget to $16.6 billion for the next fiscal year, down from $17.8 billion appropriated this year. Republicans have taken the position that spending plans should take into account the current budget sequester. The Senate authorization bill, being taken up this week, proposes $18.1 billion for NASA.

Given the fiscal climate, the Republicans' Moon ambitions are just not possible, according to Louis D. Friedman, a former executive director of the Planetary Society, a nonprofit group that promotes space exploration.

"Frankly, it comes down to this or nothing," Dr. Friedman said, referring to the asteroid plan. "This at least does everything we need in the American space program at a price we can afford while we debate when we are going to make those bigger commitments."

NASA Wants Space Tech Innovations For Future Missions

By Miriam Kramer

SPACE.com, July 30, 2013

Technological innovation isn't necessarily one size fits all for NASA.

NASA is working with private industry to craft new technological innovations that will help spacecraft travel to space more efficiently than ever before, but different missions have different needs, NASA chief Charles Bolden said Tuesday (July 23).

"As the NASA administrator, I'm looking at everything," Bolden said of technology development at the space agency. "I'm greedy … but it depends on what we're talking about."

For a future mission to an asteroid, Bolden is focused on creating a propulsion system that can get a NASA spacecraft to a space rock that could then be delivered into orbit around Earth.

Although ion engines are reliable and could propel a spaceship to the proper distance, the craft would still need solar cells that could create electricity to power the engines into the far reaches of space. Solar cells that powerful aren't flight-ready yet, Bolden said.

"If you're talking about the asteroid initiative, we're talking about launching in 2017 or 2018 because it's probably two or three or more years to get there, to meet up with this thing and then another couple of years or so to get it, if it works, steered toward lunar orbit in order to have it there in 2023," Bolden told SPACE.com here at "NASA Tech Day on the Hill."

NASA's tech day showcased a number of new tools, from 3D printers that work in microgravity to innovative fuel cell designs. The day also highlighted some of the complexities created by space travel.

A human mission to Mars presents its own unique technological barriers to overcome.

"The biggest thing if you're talking about a human mission is radiation mitigation, radiation protection. We know shielding, but that's weight, so we've got to come up with something that's much less weight than anything we've ever seen before. Things that work great like water are weight. I've heard a lot of different ideas people have had."

The added weight of shielding water and other materials would be too much of a burden for a spacecraft trying to make it into deep space.

Instead, scientists are trying to develop either lightweight shielding or another technological innovation that would help protect astronauts from radiation exposure on long-duration missions.

Some of those technologies could also have biotech components, Bolden said.

"Medical people are looking at prophylactic things that you would ingest that would enable the body to heal itself. You just say, 'OK, we're going to let the high-energy particles beat us up, and we're going to heal.' Computers do it all the time."

Some computers can diagnose themselves to repair problems in the system, and Bolden hopes that new technology will enable scientists to do the same with the human body. That dream is still far in the future, however.

"Most people tell me that's way further off than some really high-tech shielding that's much lower weight, but they're all racing to get to the finish line at the same time."

NASA Names Planetary Geologist Ellen Stofan As Chief Scientist

SPACE.com, July 30, 2013

Accomplished planetary geologist Ellen Stofan has been appointed NASA's chief scientist, the space agency announced today (July 29).

Stofan — an expert on the terrain of Venus, Mars, Saturn's moon Titan, and Earth — will assume her new post on Aug. 25. She will be NASA Administrator Charles Bolden's top advisor on all of the agency's science-related programs, planning and investments. Her appointment comes at a time when budget cuts threaten to choke the agency's funding for planetary science.

"Ellen brings an extraordinary range of scientific research knowledge and planetary exploration experience to the chief scientist position," Bolden said in a statement. "Her breadth of experience and familiarity with the agency will allow her to hit the ground running. We're fortunate to have her on our team."

Stofan is an associate member of the radar team for the Cassini mission to Saturn and a co-investigator for a radar instrument on the Mars Express orbiter called MARSIS, which probes beneath the Red Planet's surface to search for liquid and solid water. Stofan also was principal investigator on the Titan Mare Explorer, or TiME, a proposed mission to send a floating lander to an alien sea on Saturn's largest moon Titan, according to a NASA statement.

From 1991 to 2000, Stofan served in a number of senior positions at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. She was chief scientist for NASA's New Millennium Program that aimed to develop and test technologies for future missions; deputy project scientist for the Magellan mission that sent a robotic probe to Venus; and experiment scientist for SIR-C, which was an instrument that obtained radar images of Earth during two space shuttle flights in 1994, according to a statement from NASA.

In coming back to NASA, Stofan will leave the consulting firm Proxemy Research in Laytonsville, Md., where she served as vice president.

Stofan received her master's degree and doctorate in geological sciences from Brown University in Providence, R.I., and her bachelor's degree from the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Va., NASA said.

HUMAN EXPLORATION AND OPERATIONS

NASA Defends Space Launch System Against Charge It 'Is Draining The Lifeblood' Of Space Program

By Lee Roop

Huntsville (AL) Times, July 30, 2013

NASA is defending its Space Launch System against a new analysis arguing that SLS is too expensive to fly and is "draining away the lifeblood – funding – of the space program."

"I understand the premise of the article," NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development Dan Dumbacher told al.com and The Huntsville Times in a July 23 interview, "but I think we need to realize there's a broader set of trades that really form up the decision process."

Dumbacher referred to "Revisting SLS/Orion launch costs" by John Strickland published July 15 on the website The Space Review. Strickland is a member of the board of directors of the National Space Society, but wrote the article independently.

Strickland says in the article that he wrote about SLS in 2011 and revisited the program this year to see if anything is different. "Little in the situation has changed," he writes. Strickland believes America does need a heavy-lift rocket for certain payloads, "but we cannot afford to launch such payloads on an expendable booster." Instead, he suggests a bidding process to allow commercial companies to build a reusable booster.

Strickland estimates each SLS launch could cost between $5 billion and $14 billion depending on the launch rate. He includes in the estimates the annual operating costs of the system and a per-launch share of its development costs. Strickland argues that the cost of developing SLS, which he puts at about $3 billion a year, is "draining away the lifeblood – funding – of the space program, which should, by all rights, be used to speed up the development of private rockets and end payments to the Russians for space station crew launches as soon as possible." SLS is also squeezing out any budget for developing payloads to fly on it, he says.

SLS is being developed at Huntsville's Marshall Space Flight Center and constructed at other NASA and contractor facilities. Orion, the multipurpose crew vehicle that will fly on top of SLS, is being developed by Houston's Johnson Space Center.

Strickland estimates the cost of each Orion at $1 billion and each SLS booster at $1 billion. He says it is not clear whether Orion will be reusable.

"We are designing if for a 10-mission life," Dumbacher said. "Now, obviously that's primarily for the pressure shield. Heat shields will have to be reworked after each flight, because first of all it goes through the heat and deals with the water impact."

Dumbacher said NASA hopes to reuse "some of the subsets off Orion, but it remains to be seen how well that works out after the first test flight" in 2014.

Why did NASA make SLS expendable rather than reusable? Dumbacher said it's because of where the booster has to go.

"From a core stage perspective, I've got to go expendable anyway, similar to an external tank off of a shuttle flight," Dumbacher said. "It's got to go so near to orbit (that) to get it home is a rather complicated and costly activity."

The space shuttle's solid rocket boosters were retrievable and reusuable, but Dumbacher said eliminating those features on SLS allows NASA to "eliminate the cost associated with the recovery of the boosters, the cost of getting the hardware back to (Kennedy Space Center) to look at, the cost of looking at the hardware, and the cost of cleaning out the hardware and reusing it.

"It turned out to be more efficient for us to just make them expendable and just use what we have and let it go," Dumbacher said.

The shuttle main engines that will power the first SLS core stages are similar, Dumbacher said. "Plucking those things out of the ocean after they've been exposed to salt water an that re-entry environment, it just wasn't worth the investment we were going to have to make in terms of design, technical workforce, etc. to make those reusable. That cost trade would not play out right."

Strickland estimates per-launch costs in his article, because he said official NASA launch estimates aren't available. Asked if NASA has such estimates, Dumbacher agreed.

"We do not, and I'll tell you why," he said. "It think that's a fair question. We go through a very rigorous process of developing cost estimates and cost commitments, and we are frankly coming up on the first one later this year, where the agency has to commit to Congress to develop the launch vehicle and to execute that first flight in 2017.

"We have not developed a cost per flight estimate for the launch vehicle for a couple of reasons. No. 1, that's very dependent on flight rate, and flight rate is very dependent on budget and mission planning. So those variables are out there, and small variations in those numbers can lead to large variations in per flight cost.

"In addition to that," Dumbacher said, "we need to get through a large part of development and get into testing before we know how this hardware fully operates and how to best treat the hardware and how much it costs to build the hardware, and we won't know that until we get farther into the program. And we don't want to put a number out unless we can substantiate it with good sound rationale, and that rationale requires some test data and some design work ahead of us, along with some understanding on the variables of flight rate, budget and missions, and that's all ahead."

The flight rate – how many missions over how many years – makes a big difference in the cost per launch, even if development costs and operations costs are included. A rocket that costs $30 billion to develop and flies once could be said to have a $30 billion cost per flight. But Dumbacher said any launch vehicle developed by NASA or a private contractor will have development costs leading to its first launch and operating costs from then on. "Going to space and going from zero to 17 and a half thousand miles per hour in the space of 8 minutes or so is an expensive proposition," he said, no matter who does it.

"We are doing everything we can to minimize the operating cost," Dumbacher said. "We are making design decisions purposely to reduce the operating cost, but how that's all going to stack up and play out for any given flight rate remains to be determined."

Why SLS and not any of the alternatives out there? Dumbacher said, "The bottom line is that from a human exploration perspective, all of our analyses that we've done over the years have consistently shown that we need a large launch vehicle on the order of SLS and its future evolution in order to do the exploration missions out beyond Earth orbit to the moon, asteroids and eventually to Mars."

NASA has "always looked at all the various available launch vehicles," Dumbacher said. "What you find is that there's a tradeoff between size of launch vehicle (and) cost, and that cost starts to take several forms. With the smaller launch vehicles, you have to launch more often and you have to do more on-orbit assembly with it. There's a risk to the astronauts in on-orbit assembly, there's a risk when you increase the number of launches."

When NASA goes through the trade-offs, Dumbacher said, it comes back to a large vehicle like SLS.

Asked about the criticism that SLS is sucking up so much money NASA can't develop anything to fly on it, Dumbacher blamed "reality." If there was more money, he said, NASA would do things differently, develop more things at one time. But there isn't more money.

"Recognizing that we are in a restrained fiscal environment, we have a tight budget to work with, that budget allows us to build the space launch system and Orion, and Orion will fly on SLS," Dumbacher said.

"Once we get SLS and Orion built, we have the foundational capabilities, two of the key elements that we need for human exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. Once we get those into operations phase, the budget wedge, so to speak, opens up, and that's when we start to develop the next elements we need for exploration, be it habitats, landers, whatever's needed for exploration. But because of the budget constraints, we have to do that step by step. The first step is SLS and Orion."

Houston's Energy, Health Industries Unite With NASA For Pumps & Pipes (Video)

By Molly Ryan

Houston Business Journal, July 30, 2013

What happens when an energy executive, a doctor and an astronaut walk into the same room? According to Pumps & Pipes, an annual Houston conference that brings together experts from the energy, health care and aerospace industries, pretty amazing things.

Pumps & Pipes hosted its mid-year conference Monday and brought these three industries together at NASA Johnson Space Center's Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory — the location of a giant 40-foot-deep pool where astronauts train for working at the International Space Station.

During the first session of the meeting, executives from NASA, Houston Methodist Hospital System, Nalco Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. (NYSE: BHI) discussed how they have found partners in other industries and are working together to solve similar technology challenges.

Many speakers explained that it just so happens that a significant portion of Houston's most prominent industries — energy, health care and aerospace — rely on pumps and pipes. Therefore, if a doctor, for example, finds a way to better seal a leaking artery, an energy company might be able to use the same technique to seal a leaking pipe, or NASA may be able to use the technique to better seal elements in space.

The underlying theme of the conference seemed to be: Houston has all of this technological talent — why not share it with neighboring companies in different industries?

For example, Nalco, a chemical management service provider for the oil and gas industry, spoke about how it is working with partners in other industries to better control bacteria growth in oil and gas pipelines. If too much bacteria grows in pipelines, they could become ineffective — the same as in the human body.

Furthermore, the location of the conference was symbolic — the Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory has historically trained astronauts for spacewalks, and more recently NASA has partnered with energy companies, such as Petrofac, to share its pool space. These energy companies use the pool space as training for helicopter crashes — all employees going on helicopters to drilling rigs need to be trained on safety procedures if a helicopter were to crash in the water.

During a conversation with HBJ after her public speech at the conference, Ellen Ochoa, director of the Johnson Space Center, said she could see NASA partnering with more local organizations that would like to use its facilities. Through these partnerships, NASA not only prevents its facilities from sitting vacant, but it also adds to its revenue pot, which is a topic of much concern for the space organization.

See more about how Ochoa feels about future NASA partnerships in the video above this story.

 

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