Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - August 13, 2013

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: August 13, 2013 6:12:57 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - August 13, 2013

JSC Today must think today is Flex Friday (I wish it was FF J) ---- if it shows later,,  I will forward.

 

NASA TV: 5 am Central WEDNESDAY (6 EDT) – Exp 36 Interview with NBC "Today" Show

 

Human Spaceflight News

Tuesday – August 13, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Can the International Space Station Really Last Beyond 2020?

 

Leonard David - Space.com

 

While discussions are underway to extend the lifetime of the $100 billion-plus International Space Station beyond 2020, there is concern about the station's overall usefulness and price tag to operate, so much so the station may face a fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere at the end of the present decade. Also at issue is whether an unraveling of the 15-nation partnership driving the space station program is afoot — a collaboration that is being viewed by cash-strapped countries as too costly and politically a hard-to-sell project. The overall health, utility, and longevity of the Earth-orbiting complex, as well as the willingness of nations to continue to take part in the program, were front-and-center topics during a July 29 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations Committee.

 

Astronaut nearly drowns as wife watches

 

Cole Miller – KRQE TV (Albuquerque)

 

About a month ago, an Albuquerque native watched as her husband nearly drowned in space. High in orbit above the earth, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano got water in his space suit as his wife, Kathy Dillow, watched. On Monday, she shared her story. About a month before the accident, Parmitano said that the days on board the space station were very intense. Five weeks later, July 16 would prove to be the most intense day in space. "I was there. Saw everything live on the big screen," said Dillow.

 

Here's how NASA will use a 3D printer on the ISS

 

Sam Byford - The Verge

 

NASA says it will be ready to launch a zero-G-ready 3D printer into space in June 2014, in time for the fifth SpaceX resupply mission to the ISS. The agency has prepared a video, complete with upbeat muzak, that details not only how astronauts will be able to print objects on demand, but why they might need to do so in the first place. As astronaut Timothy "TJ" Creamer puts it, 3D printers will enable "Star Trek replication right there on the spot." The ability to fabricate equipment in space could save NASA considerable time and energy. "As you might imagine on Space Station, whatever they have available on orbit is what they have to use," says Niki Werkheiser, NASA's lead on the zero-G project. "And just like on the ground, you have parts that break or get lost."

 

Space agency opts for C + K skin aging devices in physiological tests

 

Michell Yeomans - CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com

 

The European Space Agency has chosen 'Courage + Khazaka's' skin measurement devices for its International Space Station (ISS) in an effort to verify the process of skin ageing in space. The Corneometer, Tewameter and Visioscan devices were given the go ahead to be used in the 'SKIN B' project by Kayser-Threde, and has been sponsored by the space agency Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V. Dermatology experts Wilfried Courage and Prof. Gabriel Khazaka established the Germany-based company back in 1986, where they were the first to introduce scientific measurement tools to objectively quantify parameters on the skin.

 

Famed Designer of Russian Soyuz-2 Carrier Rocket Dies at 86

 

RIA Novosti

 

Alexander Soldatenkov, legendary designer of Russian carrier rockets, including the Soyuz-2, has died at the age of 86, the TsSKB-Progress State Research and Production Space Center said. Soldatenkov, who led the preparation of Yury Gagarin's first human space flight, became chief designer of R-7 carrier rockets at TsSKB-Progress in 1979. In 1996-2006, he worked at the center as chief designer of R-7A and Soyuz-2 rockets.

 

Mars food study researchers emerge from experiment

 

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher - Associated Press

 

Researchers who have spent nearly four months simulating what it's like to live on Mars are emerging from their experiment on a barren Hawaii lava field. The NASA-funded study is researching what foods astronauts might eat during a mission to Mars. The University of Hawaii and Cornell University selected six people of various scientific backgrounds to cook meals from a list of dehydrated and preserved food items that are not perishable. They looked at pre-prepared meals, similar to what astronauts currently eat, and concocted meals themselves in an attempt to combat food boredom and malnourishment.

 

Mars chefs ready to emerge from simulated mission

 

Lisa Grossman - New Scientist

 

"Freeze-dried ice cream again?"

 

Future Mars explorers might never need to say those words thanks to six would-be astronaut chefs who spent 120 days on a simulated Mars mission. On 13 August, the crew of the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) project will emerge from a habitat on the slopes of a volcano carrying recipes ideas fit for a Martian colony. Astronauts on the International Space Station mostly eat pre-packaged dehydrated food, which is designed to be tasty and nutritious. Just add water. Mars-bound explorers could make do with this fare on the ride over, but it wouldn't stay good long enough for use in a Martian habitat, which could see astronauts living on the planet for six months to a year.

 

Ultra wide field cameras to monitor Orion spacecraft exploration flight test

 

James Carroll - Vision Systems Design

 

Three ultra-wide field flight cameras from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. have been installed on the Orion spacecraft and will monitor the mission's exploration flight tests. Orion is NASA's first interplanetary spacecraft designed to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit on long-duration, according to the Ball Aerospace press release. The cameras—which were installed by prime contractor Lockheed Martin—are the first avionics hardware completed for the initial test, which is scheduled to launch in September 2014.

 

ATK picked for air-launched rocket project

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

The company that built NASA's solid-fueled shuttle boosters will make rocket stages for a Paul Allen-Burt Rutan venture that might fly its revolutionary air-launcher from Kennedy Space Center, officials said today. ATK will manufacture the first and second stages of an Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket that will be launched from the largest aircraft ever built. With an amazing wingspan of 385-foot, the Stratolaunch Systems carrier aircraft will haul the three-stage Air Launch Vehicle (ALV) to an altitude of 30,000 feet. Made by Orbital Sciences Corp. for Stratolaunch, the rocket will be dropped from the aircraft and ignited, propelling satellites – and maybe people — into space.

 

Texas aims to be commercial spaceflight hub

 

James Jeffrey - BBC News

 

Texas wants to reclaim the mantle of space travel hub it won as the home of Nasa by taking advantage of the expanding private-sector spaceflight industry. Budget cuts led to the end of the space shuttle programme in 2011 and a seemingly diminished role for Nasa, Texas and even the US in space travel. Nasa started having to pay Russia to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS). At the same time, however, Nasa worked with the private sector to support commercial space travel. Ever a business-savvy state, Texas is doing all it can to entice the private spaceflight industry, starting by securing its own space port.

 

Starship Congress: Competing Our Way to the Stars

 

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

 

This week scientists, engineers, futurists and representatives from international space programs and commercial space ventures will converge on Dallas, Texas, for the Starship Congress. Headed by Icarus Interstellar, the Congress hopes to foster a meaningful exchange to investigate interstellar goals in the near-, mid- and long-term. The Starship Congress was funded by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, far surpassing its original goal. The idea of planning, building and sending a starship into interstellar space is a an awesome concept. So, in an effort to stimulate debate as well as bringing together the best minds, Icarus Interstellar and the Institute for Interstellar Studies (I4IS) have announced that the first Alpha Centauri Prize will be awarded at this year's Starship Congress. The "Progenitor Award" will be given to the conference speaker "whose presentation is deemed, by the judges, to have the most potential for impact on the field of interstellar flight."

 

Musk's 'Hyperloop' transport idea has sci-fi feel

 

Justin Pritchard - Associated Press

 

The concept sounds like something from the comic books that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk read religiously as a boy: a capsule that speeds along as fast as sound, carrying people between major cities, never troubled by bad weather or turbulence. If Musk has his way, this will be a reality within a decade. Coming from almost anyone else, the hyperbole would be hard to take seriously. But Musk has a track record of success. He co-founded online payment service PayPal, electric luxury carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. and the rocket-building company SpaceX. On Monday, he unveiled a transportation concept that he said could whisk passengers the nearly 400 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes an airplane. If it's ever built.

 

California billionaire unveils futuristic 'Hyperloop' transport

 

Rory Carroll - Reuters

 

California billionaire Elon Musk took the wraps off his vision of a futuristic "Hyperloop" transport system on Monday, proposing to build a solar-powered network of crash-proof capsules that would whisk people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in half an hour. In a blog post, Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc described in detail a system that, if successful, would do nothing short of revolutionizing intercity transportation. But first the plan would have to overcome questions about its safety and financing. The Hyperloop, which Musk previously described as a cross between a Concorde, rail gun and air-hockey table, would cost an estimated $6 billion to build and construction would take 7 to 10 years. Eventually, according to the plan, it would jettison more than 7 million people a year along one of the U.S. West Coast's busiest traffic corridors.

 

Hyperloop unveiled: Billionaire Musk reveals wild idea for superfast travel

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

A year after first teasing the public about his "Hyperloop" travel concept, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has finally revealed details about the potentially revolutionary transportation system of tomorrow. Musk unveiled his vision for the Hyperloop transportation system online today (Aug. 12), saying that it could rocket passenger-packed pods through long tubes at 760 mph or so (1,220 km/h) using energy derived from the sun. The technology could cut the Los Angeles-San Francisco travel time to 30 minutes and would be ideal for such medium-distance jaunts, said Musk, who heads the private spaceflight company SpaceX and the electric-car firm Tesla.

 

Hitchhiking into Space

 

Edward Hujsak - Space News (Opinion)

 

(Hujsak is a career rocket engineer and author of the book "The Future of U.S. Rocketry.")

 

The title of Douglas Adams' well-known book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," evokes images of a lone, lean, grizzled 6-footer backpacking across the cosmos. Little did anyone realize that due to poor planning and waning dynamism concerning manned space activities in the United States, something close to hitchhiking has become reality. Absence of vitality is evident both in NASA and in the congressional space subcommittees, whose job it is to provide oversight and funding for the agency's various projects. Now the nation with the most muscle in space endeavors finds itself in the hitchhiker's position, forced to rely on another country to lift its astronauts into orbit. Granted, the U.S. ponies up $70 million a seat, but that only heightens the embarrassment. Not only that, but it admits to a willingness to accept a transport method that has not advanced since the 1960s — sealing astronauts inside a vessel and hoping for the best, the same as inanimate cargo. Little can now be said in admiration of NASA regarding its current plans to adopt the same methods in the future.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Can the International Space Station Really Last Beyond 2020?

 

Leonard David - Space.com

 

While discussions are underway to extend the lifetime of the $100 billion-plus International Space Station beyond 2020, there is concern about the station's overall usefulness and price tag to operate, so much so the station may face a fiery demise in Earth's atmosphere at the end of the present decade.

 

Also at issue is whether an unraveling of the 15-nation partnership driving the space station program is afoot — a collaboration that is being viewed by cash-strapped countries as too costly and politically a hard-to-sell project.

 

The overall health, utility, and longevity of the Earth-orbiting complex, as well as the willingness of nations to continue to take part in the program, were front-and-center topics during a July 29 meeting of the NASA Advisory Council's (NAC) Human Exploration and Operations Committee.

 

The NAC provides the NASA Administrator with counsel and advice on programs and issues of importance to the U.S. space agency.

 

A space station in good shape

 

Five different space organizations — NASA, Russia's Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) and the space agencies of Europe, Canada and Japan — oversee the space station's daily operations for the many countries involved. There are currently six astronauts living on the station, including three Russians, two Americans and one Italian spaceflyer. They are the 36th crew of the orbiting lab.

 

Construction of the station began in 1998 and is now, nearly 15 years later, largely complete. The first crew, Expedition 1, took up residence in November 2000, and the station has been crewed by rotating teams of astronauts and cosmonauts ever since.

 

During the recent meeting, William Gerstenmaier, NASA's Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, said space station component failure rates have been less than anticipated.

 

"The hardware is looking pretty good overall," he said.

 

But micrometeoroid and orbital debris hits to the station are still considered "a major risk," Gerstenmaier advised. Such strikes are being monitored closely, with a big survey recently performed to seek out evidence of impacts on the station's exterior hull, he said.

 

While not alarming, there are quite a few hits to the station's huge, power-generation solar panels, Gerstenmaier said. "They look like a west Texas stop sign."

 

Space station survival in 2028 ?

 

Concerning the attitude of the many space station partners about continuing operations through 2028, Gerstenmaier said: "I think this is probably an area where the U.S. is going to have to lead."

 

The international partners "are still looking more for a positive, demonstratable return on investment," he added.

 

For the United States, "we're seeing some benefits from station that the partners have not yet realized. They are doing more traditional kinds of research, in my words. So they are not quite seeing that return on investment. They still see the cost side," Gerstenmaier added. "The cost side is very easy to measure. The benefit side is not so easy to measure."

 

Unique situation in orbit

 

Sam Scimemi, Director of the International Space Station in NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, also spoke before the NAC committee. Extending the ISS through at least 2028 would mean loads of more research being done and would also prompt added commercial use of the space station, he said.

 

"Part of our mission is to enable a demand-driven market in low-Earth orbit," Scimemi said.

 

In regard to the ISS international partners, Scimemi said: "We have not had serious discussions with the partners to go beyond 2020 as yet. Each one is in a different place."

 

"We're in a unique situation with each of the other partners. Some are more willing than others … the Canadians, the Japanese, and the Europeans are in a different place — each of them," he said. "It goes to politics in their own countries."

 

Japan, in particular, is struggling with a more severe budget environment, Scimemi said. The country's economic woes were worsened by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Japan in March of 2011, followed by the Fukushima nuclear plant meltdown.

 

From a personal standpoint, Scimemi said his understanding is that the Russians probably want to go beyond 2020.

 

"Obviously, we want all the [station] partners to continue," Scimemi said. "But we couldn't fly the station without the Russians."

 

"We want them all," Scimemi said. "I think we've built something in this partnership … the partnership is more important than the platform itself."

 

It's "something that probably will never come about again," he added.

 

Beyond the hope of keeping all partner nations onboard with the space station effort, using the facility to shoulder crucial research needed for future NASA goals was discussed at the NAC committee gathering.

 

One of the chief questions: Could a human mission to Mars be achieved if the space station were not still in use beyond 2020?

 

"Most likely not," Scimemi responded to a NAC committee member's question.

 

"We are so far away," Scimemi said, referring to the human research data that are still required, as well as shake-out tests of critical life support and environmental monitoring system hardware.

 

Without extending utilization of the space station and carrying out studies on astronaut health and safety, "there is no way we'll solve all the medical and other human things" to get to Mars, Scimemi said.

 

For one, due to the number of subjects that are slated to live and work on the space station, gathering vital medical data wouldn't be done until the 2026 time frame. Secondly, initial analysis of Environmental Control and Life Support System (ECLSS) equipment and other crew health gear is headed for a similar target date, Scimemi said.

 

Will the space station have a longer life?

 

The debate over how long to pay for the International Space Station is something that has long loomed over the program, one expert said.

 

"This is a little bit like smoker's cough. It's something that nobody wants to notice," said John Logsdon, professor emeritus of political science and international affairs at George Washington University's Elliott School of International Affairs in Washington, D.C.

 

An expert in space policy and history, Logsdon said his bottom line is that "the odds, in my view, are heavily against the continuation of the station post 2020."

 

Logsdon told SPACE.com that he did not think it likely that either Japan or Europe have any enthusiasm to pony up money for the ISS after 2020.

 

"That presumes that there's no major breakthrough," Logsdon said, referring to any potential discovery on the station that turns out to have either great scientific or economic value.

 

Looming in the background of the space station's future beyond 2020 is talk by Russia of starting a second-generation space station on its own, Logsdon said.

 

"And of course you have the Chinese station in the same time period," he added. China has launched two crews to its first space laboratory module, Tiangong 1, and plans to construct a 60-ton space station by 2020.

 

Should anybody care?

 

Even given its $100 billion-plus price tag, should anybody care about the International Space Station's ultimate prognosis?

 

"We don't know whether we should care, because the utilization [of the ISS] is really still in its early stages. The station hasn't had a valid chance to demonstrate its research value," Logsdon said.

 

But Logsdon again added the caveat that perhaps the next four or five years can show a remarkable technical breakthrough that shows unequivocally that the orbiting facility is well worth its cost of operations. No doubt, just bringing multiple nations together to create the International Space Station has been a remarkable achievement, he said.

 

"But it has been done. We proved that," he added.

 

By 2020, the International Space Station will have had nine years of operation after the completion of its primary construction phase, Logsdon said.  "So I think we will have proven in those nine years that a consortium of countries can work together to do things in space. I don't think you need the station to continue to prove that over and over."

 

As for taking an abandon-in-place mindset, Logsdon doesn't think the space station partners would agree to just leave the orbiting lab vacant in orbit when they're through. It will have to be de-orbited eventually.

 

"You can't really leave it up there," he said.

 

The judgment ahead is whether the investment in the orbiting outpost was justified in terms of its payoff, Logsdon concluded.

 

"The motto of 'build it and they will come' isn't, as yet, a great success story," he said.

 

Astronaut nearly drowns as wife watches

 

Cole Miller – KRQE TV (Albuquerque)

 

About a month ago, an Albuquerque native watched as her husband nearly drowned in space.

 

High in orbit above the earth, Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano got water in his space suit as his wife, Kathy Dillow, watched. On Monday, she shared her story.

 

About a month before the accident, Parmitano said that the days on board the space station were very intense.

 

Five weeks later, July 16 would prove to be the most intense day in space.

 

"I was there. Saw everything live on the big screen," said Dillow.

 

She was at mission control in Houston when her husband noticed something was wrong while on a spacewalk outside the International Space Station.

 

His space helmet was filling up with water.

 

It was a scary sight for his wife Dillow. Together, she and her husband had built a family with 6- and 3-year-old daughters.

 

"For me, all I could think about was my husband and what he was thinking," Dillow said.

 

Kathy watched as mission control canceled her husband's spacewalk and fellow astronauts pulled him inside the space station. Luca was in danger of drowning.

 

It took just moments to free him and for both he and his wife to breathe a sigh of relief.

 

"It felt like a lot longer than it was, for sure," Dillow said. "Time couldn't go fast enough for me."

 

The water apparently came from the cooling system in Parmitano's space suit.

 

Dillow has been visiting her parents in New Mexico. She was born and raised in Albuquerque until she was 8 years old.

 

Here's how NASA will use a 3D printer on the ISS

 

Sam Byford - The Verge

 

NASA says it will be ready to launch a zero-G-ready 3D printer into space in June 2014, in time for the fifth SpaceX resupply mission to the ISS. The agency has prepared a video, complete with upbeat muzak, that details not only how astronauts will be able to print objects on demand, but why they might need to do so in the first place. As astronaut Timothy "TJ" Creamer puts it, 3D printers will enable "Star Trek replication right there on the spot."

 

The ability to fabricate equipment in space could save NASA considerable time and energy. "As you might imagine on Space Station, whatever they have available on orbit is what they have to use," says Niki Werkheiser, NASA's lead on the zero-G project. "And just like on the ground, you have parts that break or get lost."

 

NASA will be able to preload blueprints onto the hardware, but has the ability to upload new files from the ground as well; Creamer notes that astronauts may be able to "make things we've thought of that could be useful" as well as simply replacing old tools.

 

The printer is designed by Made In Space, and was recently verified to work in zero-G with an experiment conducted through NASA's Flight Opportunities program. While the project should be launched within a year, NASA's interest in the field gets even more ambitious — the agency is also funding research into how to 3D-print food such as pizza.

 

Space agency opts for C + K skin aging devices in physiological tests

 

Michell Yeomans - CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com

 

The European Space Agency has chosen 'Courage + Khazaka's' skin measurement devices for its International Space Station (ISS) in an effort to verify the process of skin ageing in space.

 

The Corneometer, Tewameter and Visioscan devices were given the go ahead to be used in the 'SKIN B' project by Kayser-Threde, and has been sponsored by the space agency Deutsches Zentrum für Luft- und Raumfahrt e.V.

 

Dermatology experts Wilfried Courage and Prof. Gabriel Khazaka established the Germany-based company back in 1986, where they were the first to introduce scientific measurement tools to objectively quantify parameters on the skin.

 

Project is already underway on-board the ISS

 

Operation 'SKIN B' is a successor study of the initial mission of 'SKIN CARE' in 2006, where the devices have already been used to measure skin hydration, waterloss and the structure of the skin in space.

 

Vice president of C+K, George Khazaka tells CosmeticsDesign-Europe.com that his company was chosen for this operation as "Nobody else offers such a complete range of measurement parameter."

 

Now back on board the Soyuz rocket, ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano is using them to measure skin elasticity, which was examined with the Cutometer before the flight and will be measured again when Parmitano will return to earth.

 

Study will lead the way in skin ageing research in the future

 

The most recent venture, experts reckon could show amongst other findings, skin problems like itching or scaly skin, delayed wound healing and allergies against certain materials.

 

And most importantly, that during a six month exposure in space, skin ageing is accelerated compared to the ageing process on the earth, which space experts promise can be reversible after one year.

 

"At the same time the skin is representing also other organs epithel or connective tissue. Thus changes in the skin may also indicated other systemic diseases."

 

All going to plan, the experts reckon this in the future, will give way to interesting skin ageing work in time lapse performed in the laboratory of the ISS.

 

The findings of the initial SKIN CARE project, are now further being investigated by the university of Witten-Herdecke, directed by Prof. Heinrich.

 

Famed Designer of Russian Soyuz-2 Carrier Rocket Dies at 86

 

RIA Novosti

 

Alexander Soldatenkov, legendary designer of Russian carrier rockets, including the Soyuz-2, has died at the age of 86, the TsSKB-Progress State Research and Production Space Center said.

 

Soldatenkov, who led the preparation of Yury Gagarin's first human space flight, became chief designer of R-7 carrier rockets at TsSKB-Progress in 1979.

 

In 1996-2006, he worked at the center as chief designer of R-7A and Soyuz-2 rockets.

 

Soldatenkov has received a number of top state awards through his prolific career. He was awarded the title of the Hero of Social Labor in 1987.

 

He was also an honorary citizen of the Volga city of Samara, where the TsSKB-Progress center is located, and the city of Baikonur, the home of former Soviet and now Kazakhstan's space center.

 

Governor of the Samara region, Nikolay Merkushkin wrote in a letter of condolences that Soldatenkov had left "a bright mark" on the history of Russia's space exploration.

 

Soyuz-2 is a three-stage carrier rocket for placing payloads into low Earth orbit. The Soyuz-2 launches are carried out from the Baikonur space center and the Plesetsk space center in northern Russia.

 

Mars food study researchers emerge from experiment

 

Jennifer Sinco Kelleher - Associated Press

 

Researchers who have spent nearly four months simulating what it's like to live on Mars are emerging from their experiment on a barren Hawaii lava field.

 

The NASA-funded study is researching what foods astronauts might eat during a mission to Mars.

 

The University of Hawaii and Cornell University selected six people of various scientific backgrounds to cook meals from a list of dehydrated and preserved food items that are not perishable. They looked at pre-prepared meals, similar to what astronauts currently eat, and concocted meals themselves in an attempt to combat food boredom and malnourishment.

 

The researchers will be emerging from their simulated Martian base Tuesday for the first time without the mock space suits their experiment required whenever they ventured out of the dome on the northern slope of the Big Island's Mauna Loa.

 

"It will be the first time they feel fresh air on their faces," said Kim Binsted, a UH-Manoa associate professor and an investigator on the food study, who didn't live in the simulated habitat.

 

The crew members include a research space scientist for the U.S. Geological Survey in Arizona, a science and technology journalist from San Francisco and a materials scientist and educator working with disadvantaged students in Puerto Rico.

 

The team's commander, Angelo Vermeulen, said on the study's website, http://hi-seas.org , that the problem with ingredients that aren't perishable is they're usually highly processed and lack fiber.

 

The study, Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation, put out a call for recipes, which involved a lot of Spam. The canned meat, popular in Hawaii households, was a common ingredient in the recipe submissions because of its shelf-life, Binsted said.

 

The researchers prepared several dishes using Spam, such as Cajun jambalaya and a fried rice noodle dish. They had to rely on freeze-dried produce and meat. "These freeze-dried foods are pretty close to fresh," Binsted said.

 

Hawaii's temperate weather and Mauna Loa's geological features made for the ideal setting, Binsted said. The area is isolated, yet accessible, and has no visible plant or animal life.

 

After the crew emerges, they'll spend a few days debriefing. They'll likely be disoriented from the experience, Binsted said, but have requested a beach outing before going back to their normal lives.

 

It will take several months to process all the data the team gathered. Binsted hopes to present findings at the International Astronautical Congress this year in Beijing.

 

Mauna Loa is an active volcano that last erupted in 1984.

 

Mars chefs ready to emerge from simulated mission

 

Lisa Grossman - New Scientist

 

"Freeze-dried ice cream again?"

 

Future Mars explorers might never need to say those words thanks to six would-be astronaut chefs who spent 120 days on a simulated Mars mission. On 13 August, the crew of the Hawaii Space Exploration Analog and Simulation (HI-SEAS) project will emerge from a habitat on the slopes of a volcano carrying recipes ideas fit for a Martian colony.

 

Astronauts on the International Space Station mostly eat pre-packaged dehydrated food, which is designed to be tasty and nutritious. Just add water. Mars-bound explorers could make do with this fare on the ride over, but it wouldn't stay good long enough for use in a Martian habitat, which could see astronauts living on the planet for six months to a year.

 

Beyond the challenge of keeping food fresh, there's the problem of menu fatigue, says principal investigator Jean Hunter of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Previous space mission simulations showed that astronauts can burn out on eating the same thing every day. If they get bored with the food, they might stop eating enough to stay healthy.

 

"We decided to go backwards to go forwards and to look at the 19th-century explorer's approach to feeding a crew," says Hunter. Early polar explorers, for instance, carried a variety of non-perishable ingredients that could be combined and cooked even in extreme environments.

 

Mars sushi

 

In the NASA-funded HI-SEAS experiment, six crew members were locked inside a mock habitat on the northern slope of Mauna Loa, an environment as Mars-like as any on Earth. The habitat was stocked with a diverse pantry of pre-packaged, shelf-stable ingredients as well as standard pots, pans and utensils, and a stove, oven, microwave, bread maker and crock-pot.

 

In between simulated space walks and conducting their own research projects, the crew gathered for meals that were split between traditional freeze-dried astronaut food and dishes they could cook themselves from the available food items. The team were encouraged to create their own recipes, and they solicited ideas from the public via the mission website.

 

In the end, HI-SEAS cuisine included delicacies not typically associated with space travel, such as vegetable sushi, jambalaya and pelmeni (Russian dumplings). On non-cooking days, the crew made do with things like oatmeal, tortillas and freeze-dried meats and vegetables.

 

The spice of space

 

Although it is too early to draw firm conclusions from the simulation, Hunter says the crew's ingenuity with the freeze-dried food could offer good lessons for future Mars missions.

 

"They turned out to be more creative with the pre-packaged foods, under the limitations of non-cooking days, than we anticipated," says Hunter. When she expected simple meals of rehydrated rice and turkey, for example, the crew made a build-your-own turkey-salad-wrap station.

 

"They got great psychological rewards out of exercising their creativity in the kitchen," says Hunter. "If you're out there for a couple of years, the walls around you don't change, you can't go outside, and it's the same people. You have to create your own variety and novelty. Creativity is maybe an underappreciated part of that."

 

Ultra wide field cameras to monitor Orion spacecraft exploration flight test

 

James Carroll - Vision Systems Design

 

Three ultra-wide field flight cameras from Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. have been installed on the Orion spacecraft and will monitor the mission's exploration flight tests.

 

Orion is NASA's first interplanetary spacecraft designed to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit on long-duration, according to the Ball Aerospace press release. The cameras—which were installed by prime contractor Lockheed Martin—are the first avionics hardware completed for the initial test, which is scheduled to launch in September 2014.

 

The custom-built Ball cameras are based on the design of the docking camera that flew aboard the STS-134 sensor test for the Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM) mission in 2011. NASA's STORRM mission was performed an on-orbit test of the performance of the navigation sensor suite for Orion and other future spacecraft.

 

Three ultra-wide field cameras—which will feature enhanced software and exposure controls— will be positioned in different windows in order to monitor the test flight as different procedures are carried out.

 

Variations of Ball cameras are planned for each of Orion's flights. The first mission that will carry humans is currently slated for 2021.

 

ATK picked for air-launched rocket project

 

Todd Halvorson - Florida Today

 

The company that built NASA's solid-fueled shuttle boosters will make rocket stages for a Paul Allen-Burt Rutan venture that might fly its revolutionary air-launcher from Kennedy Space Center, officials said today.

 

ATK will manufacture the first and second stages of an Orbital Sciences Corp. rocket that will be launched from the largest aircraft ever built.

 

With an amazing wingspan of 385-foot, the Stratolaunch Systems carrier aircraft will haul the three-stage Air Launch Vehicle (ALV) to an altitude of 30,000 feet. Made by Orbital Sciences Corp. for Stratolaunch, the rocket will be dropped from the aircraft and ignited, propelling satellites – and maybe people — into space.

 

The aircraft will require a 12,000-foot runway, and Kennedy Space Center is a leading candidate. The shuttle landing strip at KSC is 15,000 feet long. Vandenberg Air Force Base in California and the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia also are in the running.

 

The value of the ATK contract was not announced. But it covers design and development of the two stages as well as flight hardware for the initial Stratolaunch missions. Flight testing is scheduled to begin in 2016, and the first space mission would follow in 2018.

 

Officials with ATK said the new work highlights company expertise in building large-diameter solid rocket motors and advanced lightweight composite structures.

 

"This draws on the experience we have in two commercial businesses to come up with a solution for this customer," said ATK spokesman George Torres.

 

The company built the 149-foot-tall solid rocket boosters that provided first-stage propulsion for NASA's space shuttle. Redesigned after the 1986 Challenger accident, 220 of the boosters were successfully launched on 110 consecutive missions between 1988 and the 2011 retirement of the shuttle fleet.

 

Headquartered in Arlington, Va., ATK also built solid rocket motors for the Air Force-developed Titan IVB and Delta II rockets.

 

It currently manufacturers boosters for United Launch Alliance's unmanned Delta IV rocket.

 

Among the advanced composite structures ATK manufactures are five-meter payload fairings for the Delta IV rocket, and a 10-meter composite heat shield that protects the Atlas V rocket's first stage engine.

 

Stratolaunch Systems of Huntsville, Ala. based its aircraft on the Rutan-designed White Knight II carrier that will launch Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo on space tourist missions. Hundreds of people already have paid $200,000 to $250,000 to fly suborbital jaunts on the craft.

 

Microsoft magnate Allen, and aviation legend Rutan, founded Stratolaunch in 2011.

 

In June, Stratolaunch selected Orbital Sciences, of Dulles, Va., to develop, build, integrate and operate its Air Launch Vehicle.

 

Texas aims to be commercial spaceflight hub

 

James Jeffrey - BBC News

 

Texas wants to reclaim the mantle of space travel hub it won as the home of Nasa by taking advantage of the expanding private-sector spaceflight industry.

 

Budget cuts led to the end of the space shuttle programme in 2011 and a seemingly diminished role for Nasa, Texas and even the US in space travel. Nasa started having to pay Russia to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

 

At the same time, however, Nasa worked with the private sector to support commercial space travel.

 

Ever a business-savvy state, Texas is doing all it can to entice the private spaceflight industry, starting by securing its own space port.

 

"We are not trying to reinvent anything, but want to grow into the future of spaceflight," says Bob Mitchell, president of the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership that works with Nasa to identify potential partners. "Houston is the home of human space exploration."

 

Texas has set the gold standard for attracting commercial spaceflight companies, according to industry insiders. They argue that if Texas keeps doing the right thing with economic incentives and legislation it could take the lead in a rapidly expanding market.

 

Commercial spaceflight offers rich rewards for companies and the states within which they locate. SpaceX, for example, a pioneer in the private spaceflight industry, has more than 40 contracted launches on its schedule, including some with Nasa to resupply the ISS, which are worth $4bn.

 

Longer term this commercialisation of the industry could one day bring space travel to the masses.

 

Launching from Texas

 

SpaceX is considering establishing one of the world's few commercial orbital launch sites on the Texas coast at Boca Chica Beach. Its Falcon 9 series of rockets are currently built in California and driven by truck to Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, from where they take supplies to the ISS.

 

Texas has competition: Florida, Georgia and Puerto Rico are also vying to host SpaceX's new launch site. But it remains a leading candidate, according to Elon Musk, the entrepreneur behind SpaceX.

 

Texas' bid is strengthened by SpaceX already having operations in Texas (it has a rocket development facility near Waco) and by the state's strong supplier base and business-friendly environment, according to Christina Ra, SpaceX's director of communications.

 

Texas' southern and coastal location is ideal for US-based orbital launches, and the state has established the necessary laws to protect private-sector spaceflight activities from liability.

 

"We've done everything to pave the way to make Texas a space state," says State Representative John Davis, the man behind a bill that provides noise ordinance and liability protection to enable spaceflight activities in Texas.

 

Space legacy

 

Nasa is exploring the possibility of sending people to more distant reaches of the solar system and commercial space transportation is a vital component both for this goal and for Nasa's endeavours at the ISS, says Trent Perrotto, public affairs officer at Nasa headquarters.

 

Meanwhile, Texas state and local governments are working with Houston's Johnson Space Center on research and technology projects that can be commercialised for more down-to-earth purposes, such as offshore oil exploration and human medical applications, says Josh Havens, spokesperson for Governor Rick Perry's office.

 

"We believe that both legacy and emerging private space industries can co-exist and complement one another very well in Texas," Mr Havens says.

 

Mr Mitchell from the Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership says that Houston's Ellington Airport is also seeking Federal Aviation Administration designation as a space port, which would enable commercial spaceflight companies and users to benefit from the quality of life and amenities offered by Houston. He points out that most states' space ports languish in desert.

 

Another incentive is Texas' workforce.

 

"It is pretty obvious to commercial space companies you need skilled employees," Mr Mitchell says, noting that there are already 14,000 employees at Houston's Johnson Space Center.

 

Space travel for all

 

"Currently space travel costs millions of dollars per person, but eventually it will be in the thousands," says John Curry, director of systems engineering for Sierra Nevada, which is developing the Dream Chaser, an orbital transport vehicle to compete for a contract to ferry Nasa astronauts to the ISS.

 

Another developing space-related commercial opportunity is sub-orbital reusable vehicles (SRVs) that offer space experiences such as weightlessness and a view from space of the curvature of the Earth, at a significantly cheaper price than orbital flights.

 

Unlike orbital launch systems, SRVs can launch into and return from space more than once and do not require months of refitting like Nasa's space shuttle.

 

"It is the same thing that happened to commercial aviation in the 1930s, which used to be ridiculously expensive," says Michael Lopez-Alegria, president of Washington-based Commercial Spaceflight Federation.

 

XCOR Aerospace and Virgin Galactic plan to have commercial sub-orbital flights within a year, Mr Lopez-Alegria says. Seats will go for between $100,000 and $200,000.

 

Regardless of whether Texas gets its space port, technology and market forces appear to be moving in a direction that will enable many more people to experience what only a very small number have tried so far.

 

"The view is phenomenal," says astronaut Peggy Whitson who has spent 377 days in space since 1996.

 

Starship Congress: Competing Our Way to the Stars

 

Ian O'Neill - Discovery News

 

This week scientists, engineers, futurists and representatives from international space programs and commercial space ventures will converge on Dallas, Texas, for the Starship Congress. Headed by Icarus Interstellar, the Congress hopes to foster a meaningful exchange to investigate interstellar goals in the near-, mid- and long-term. The Starship Congress was funded by a highly successful Kickstarter campaign, far surpassing its original goal.

 

The idea of planning, building and sending a starship into interstellar space is a an awesome concept. So, in an effort to stimulate debate as well as bringing together the best minds, Icarus Interstellar and the Institute for Interstellar Studies (I4IS) have announced that the first Alpha Centauri Prize will be awarded at this year's Starship Congress. The "Progenitor Award" will be given to the conference speaker "whose presentation is deemed, by the judges, to have the most potential for impact on the field of interstellar flight."

 

Why set up a prize? As discussed by Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams, the prize takes its inspiration from the likes of the Ansari XPRIZE that motivated innovation and technological developments in the field of commercial space endeavors. The first winner of the XPRIZE was Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne that took on the tough challenges of reusable spaceflight — a spaceship design that now underlies Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo that should see its first paid customers launched on suborbital flights in 2014.

 

Of course, sending a spacecraft to another star is very different than launching space tourists to an altitude of 100 kilometers. But both prizes draw their inspiration from early aerospace pioneers and more recent space endeavors.

 

"I believe it is very important that the interstellar community begins to actively foster research progress, and this includes through financial incentives," said Kelvin F.Long, Executive Director of I4IS. "This award is the first in a set of prizes we will be launching over the next year and we hope that by setting standards and examples of excellence, this will motivate others to be the best that they can be, and through that see technical progress made."

 

The "Progenitor Award" is just the beginning, however.

 

"I believe that a prize award holds huge potential to create both incentive and excitement within the interstellar community," added Richard Obousy, advanced propulsion expert and President of Icarus Interstellar. "Over the years I hope that this award grows substantially and that one day international teams will come together to compete for this prestigious prize. We were honored to fund this award."

 

I will be attending this year's Starship Congress, getting the low-down on all the incredible technological advances that can be applied to interstellar exploration. I will also be chairing a series of talks on Thursday (Aug. 15) focusing on near-term ("Interstellar Now – Next 20 Years") that will identify key developments in solar sails, robotics and propulsion systems that are no longer confined to the realms of science fiction. I'm certain it will be a mind blowing experience.

 

Musk's 'Hyperloop' transport idea has sci-fi feel

 

Justin Pritchard - Associated Press

 

The concept sounds like something from the comic books that billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk read religiously as a boy: a capsule that speeds along as fast as sound, carrying people between major cities, never troubled by bad weather or turbulence.

 

If Musk has his way, this will be a reality within a decade.

 

Coming from almost anyone else, the hyperbole would be hard to take seriously. But Musk has a track record of success. He co-founded online payment service PayPal, electric luxury carmaker Tesla Motors Inc. and the rocket-building company SpaceX.

 

On Monday, he unveiled a transportation concept that he said could whisk passengers the nearly 400 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco in 30 minutes - half the time it takes an airplane.

 

If it's ever built.

 

His "Hyperloop" system for travel between major cities is akin to the pneumatic tubes that transport capsules stuffed with paperwork in older buildings.

 

In this case, the cargo would be people, reclining for a ride that would start with a force of acceleration like an airplane but smooth out from there.

 

Capsules would catapult through a large, nearly air-free tube at more than 700 mph. Inside, they would be pulled down the line by magnetic attraction.

 

Each capsule would float on a thin cushion of air it creates - like an air hockey table in which the puck produces the air instead of the surface. To minimize friction, a powerful fan at the front would suck what air is in the tube to the rear.

 

"Short of figuring out real teleportation, which would of course be awesome (someone please do this), the only option for super fast travel is to build a tube over or under the ground that contains a special environment," Musk wrote in his proposal, which was posted online at http://www.spacex.com/hyperloop .

 

Capsules could depart every 30 seconds, carrying 28 people, with a cost of $20 each way, according to Musk's plan. The proposed route would follow Interstate 5 - a well-traveled path linking California's north and south through the agriculture-rich Central Valley.

 

On a conference call Monday, Musk said that if all goes right, it would take seven to 10 years before the first passengers make the journey between California's two biggest metro areas. He put the price tag at around $6 billion - pointedly mentioning that's about one-tenth the projected cost of a high-speed rail system that California has been planning to build.

 

Indeed, the Hyperloop was inspired by that rail system, which has a cost too high and speed too low to justify the project, Musk said.

 

In a written statement, California High-Speed Rail Authority Chairman Dan Richard suggested that Musk was oversimplifying the challenges.

 

"If and when Mr. Musk pursues his Hyperloop technology, we'll be happy to share our experience about what it really takes to build a project in California, across seismic zones, minimizing impacts on farms, businesses and communities, and protecting sensitive environmental areas and species," Richard said.

 

Like the bullet train, the Hyperloop didn't take long to attract skepticism.

 

Musk had framed his concept as a fifth way - an alternative to cars, planes, trains and boats. Citing barriers such as cost and the mountains that rim the Central Valley, one transportation expert called Musk's idea novel, but not a breakthrough.

 

"I don't think it will provide the alternative that he's looking for," said James E. Moore II, director of the transportation engineering program at the University of Southern California.

 

Monday's unveiling lived up to the hype part of its name.

 

Musk has been dropping hints about his system for more than a year during public events, mentioning that it could never crash and would be immune to weather.

 

By the afternoon, the word Hyperloop - which had been mentioned a handful of times in recent weeks on Twitter - was being tweeted about 20 times every minute. Hyperloop was the top "hot search" on Google, with more than 200,000 searches.

 

Musk has said he is too focused on other projects to consider actually building the Hyperloop, and instead is publishing an open-source design that anyone can use or modify.

 

That's still the case, he said Monday, but added that if no one else steps forward, he might build a working prototype. That would take three or four years, he said.

 

As with Tesla and SpaceX, Musk mused, there are bound to be unforeseen technical obstacles down the track.

 

California billionaire unveils futuristic 'Hyperloop' transport

 

Rory Carroll - Reuters

 

California billionaire Elon Musk took the wraps off his vision of a futuristic "Hyperloop" transport system on Monday, proposing to build a solar-powered network of crash-proof capsules that would whisk people from San Francisco to Los Angeles in half an hour.

 

In a blog post, Musk, the chief executive of electric car maker Tesla Motors Inc described in detail a system that, if successful, would do nothing short of revolutionizing intercity transportation. But first the plan would have to overcome questions about its safety and financing.

 

The Hyperloop, which Musk previously described as a cross between a Concorde, rail gun and air-hockey table, would cost an estimated $6 billion to build and construction would take 7 to 10 years. Eventually, according to the plan, it would jettison more than 7 million people a year along one of the U.S. West Coast's busiest traffic corridors.

 

As many as 28 passengers could ride in each pod and the system could even transport vehicles, according to the 57-page design plan.

 

Musk, who in the past has hinted at the hopes of building such a system, proposed the Hyperloop as an alternative to a $68 billion high-speed rail project that's a major priority of California Governor Jerry Brown. It would be safer, faster, less expensive and more convenient, Musk said in the blog post.

 

But not everyone is convinced the project is a good idea.

 

Jim Powell, a co-inventor of the bullet train and director of Maglev 2000, which develops high-speed transport systems using magnetic levitation, said the system would be highly vulnerable to a terrorist attack or accident.

 

"The biggest overall problem is the idea of the low pressure tube from a terrorist standpoint," he told Reuters after taking an initial look at Musk's specifications. "All a terrorist driving along the highway has to do is pull over, toss a net of explosives at it, and then everyone in the tube dies," he said.

 

Musk said that since the tube will be low- but not zero-pressure, standard air pumps could easily overcome an air leak. He also said the transport pods could handle variable air densities.

 

Musk may also have neglected to factor in a few costs. Powell said that since an extensive monitoring system would be needed to keep track of the tube's pressure, the cost of the project could double Musk's estimate, coming closer to $12 billion.

 

Questions still

 

Musk, who made his name as a PayPal founding member before going on to start SpaceX and Tesla, envisions capsules departing every 30 seconds at peak times and traversing the roughly 400 miles between Los Angeles and San Francisco along an elevated tube erected along the I-5 interstate highway.

 

The capsules ride an air cushion blasted from "skis" beneath, propelled via a magnetic linear accelerator.

 

The expected half-hour travel time for Hyperloop passengers compares with current travel times of an hour and 15 minutes by jet, about 5 and a half hours by car, as well as about 2 hours and 40 minutes via California's planned high-speed rail.

 

Other major questions remain, notably whether the California state government will ever approve the massive project, and whether any private companies are willing to step in and build it. The design remains theoretical and has yet to be tested in the field.

 

Musk has said he is too busy running electric car company Tesla and rocket manufacturer SpaceX to build the Hyperloop himself. He said the design plans were open-source, meaning others can build on them.

 

On Monday, however, he told reporters on a conference call he could kick off the project.

 

"I've come around a little bit on my thinking here," he said. "Maybe I could do the beginning bit... and then hand it over to somebody else."

 

He said he would be willing to put some of his personal fortune toward the project but stressed that building the Hyperloop was a low priority for him as he continues to focus primarily on SpaceX and Tesla.

 

He also asked the public for help to improve the design. Corporations have resorted in the past to public assistance on their products. In 2009, Netflix Inc awarded a cash prize to a team that succeeded in improving by 10 percent the accuracy of its system for movie recommendations.

 

Hyperloop unveiled: Billionaire Musk reveals wild idea for superfast travel

 

Mike Wall - Space.com

 

A year after first teasing the public about his "Hyperloop" travel concept, billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk has finally revealed details about the potentially revolutionary transportation system of tomorrow.

 

Musk unveiled his vision for the Hyperloop transportation system online today (Aug. 12), saying that it could rocket passenger-packed pods through long tubes at 760 mph or so (1,220 km/h) using energy derived from the sun. The technology could cut the Los Angeles-San Francisco travel time to 30 minutes and would be ideal for such medium-distance jaunts, said Musk, who heads the private spaceflight company SpaceX and the electric-car firm Tesla.

 

"The Hyperloop (or something similar) is, in my opinion, the right solution for the specific case of high-traffic city pairs that are less than about 1,500 km or 900 miles apart," Musk wrote in a description of the concept published online today. "Around that inflection point, I suspect that supersonic air travel ends up being faster and cheaper."

 

The pods would be revved up to near-supersonic speeds by linear electric motors like those used by Tesla. But the ultimate source of energy for the system would be the sun.

 

"There's actually way more surface area on the top of the tube [for solar panels] than you really need," Musk said.

 

Musk envisions the Hyperloop as an alternative to California's proposed $70 billion high-speed rail system, which he regards as too expensive, inefficient and slow. He thinks a Los Angeles-San Francisco Hyperloop line could be built for about $6 billion and deliver a much better travel experience to passengers.

 

Tickets would be much cheaper than seats aboard a train or airplane, for example, and crashes would be extremely rare. "It's not like it's going to fall out of the sky, nor can it be really derailed, as a train can," Musk said.

 

The bulk of Hyperloop's cost would come from building the tube, which in California would primarily parallel Interstate 5 through farm country. Because the pods are designed to be light, the tube would be mounted above ground on pylons, reducing construction costs, improving earthquake safety and easing right-of-way issues, Musk said.

 

Musk released his "alpha design" today in the hopes that the global community of inventors and engineers can tinker with and improve it. If somebody with the means and the talent took the idea and ran with it, he said, the Hyperloop could be carrying passengers between Los Angeles and San Francisco in as little as seven to 10 years.

 

Musk said last week that he likely won't be able to devote much time to the Hyperloop in the near future, since running Tesla and SpaceX is so demanding. But today he said he's interested in building a subscale demonstration model of the technology to help get it off the ground. That would likely involve the creation of yet another company, he added.

 

"If somebody else goes and does a demo, that would be really awesome, and I hope somebody does," he said. "But if it doesn't look like that's happening, or it's maybe not happening in quite the right way, then that's when I might allocate some time to this."

 

"I'd like to see something like this happen," Musk added. "I don't really care much one way or the other if I have any economic outcome here. But it would be cool to see a new form of transport happen."

 

Hitchhiking into Space

 

Edward Hujsak - Space News (Opinion)

 

(Hujsak is a career rocket engineer and author of the book "The Future of U.S. Rocketry.")

 

The title of Douglas Adams' well-known book, "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy," evokes images of a lone, lean, grizzled 6-footer backpacking across the cosmos. Little did anyone realize that due to poor planning and waning dynamism concerning manned space activities in the United States, something close to hitchhiking has become reality. Absence of vitality is evident both in NASA and in the congressional space subcommittees, whose job it is to provide oversight and funding for the agency's various projects.

 

Now the nation with the most muscle in space endeavors finds itself in the hitchhiker's position, forced to rely on another country to lift its astronauts into orbit. Granted, the U.S. ponies up $70 million a seat, but that only heightens the embarrassment. Not only that, but it admits to a willingness to accept a transport method that has not advanced since the 1960s — sealing astronauts inside a vessel and hoping for the best, the same as inanimate cargo. Little can now be said in admiration of NASA regarding its current plans to adopt the same methods in the future.

 

Some of us recall that innovative engineering came apart at the seams in the post-Apollo period, during which the space shuttle was defined. The original goal was arguably a good one: a fully reusable system capable of hauling passengers and freight into Earth orbit. During the period when contractors studied and submitted various concepts, fully reusable systems were among the contenders.

 

For reasons known only to administrators, in particular at Johnson Space Center, timidity had its day. An ungainly configuration, consisting of an orbiter fueled by an external tank and a booster configured of solid rockets with a Titan 4 heritage, was defined at the Houston center and selected as the preferred approach. It held no promise of evolving eventually into a fully reusable launch vehicle. NASA's dreams of it being a utility vehicle that would carry all manner of payloads into orbit evaporated when it became obvious that maintenance between flights was burdensome, launch costs were too high and spacecraft manufacturers didn't like the additional tasks of designing to accommodate space shuttle interface and safety requirements as well as the added costs involved. They returned to launching on expendable launch vehicles and NASA was left with launching a scattering of agency and Department of Defense payloads, and eventually devoting the space shuttle almost entirely to construction and servicing of the international space station.

 

The shuttle's success history is mixed — a total of 119 missions performed by five orbiters, two catastrophic losses with fatalities, and a foreseeable end to the remaining three orbiters with no replacements to follow. All parties knew the launch system was coming to an end, yet nothing surfaced in planning and engineering during the final years to move seamlessly into another system — a new fully reusable launcher that features advancements that are easily within the engineering capability of U.S. aerospace companies. Instead, NASA is reverting to the Gemini technology of the '60s.

 

Astonishingly, the same laxness can be identified on the part of NASA and congressional space subcommittees regarding the international space station, which, if it hasn't already, will soon enter a period of diminishing returns. What then? Will the United States lose interest in human presence in low Earth orbit when the space station is decommissioned and abandoned? Will we be buying astronaut time on Chinese work stations? Will China be the originator of turnkey work stations, leased or sold to other nations?

 

As for the new heavy-lift Space launch System, with the recent ban on an asteroid capture venture by the House Science space subcommittee, it does not even have a plausible mission, although a successor to the international space station indicates a possibility. The House panel wisely, in this instance, saw the asteroid capture mission as something that has unassessed risks and undefined benefits. For such ventures, NASA's proper role is to visit, preferably robotically; examine; and measure. If by chance something of value were to be discovered, the proper venue for exploitation in this day and age is the commercial world.

 

The U.S. manned space program has lost both vitality and direction. It needs a new compass. The administrators of human activity in space deserve criticism, even a measure of excoriation for poor performance. We can do better.

 

END