Thursday, August 29, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - August 29, 2013 and JSC Today



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: August 29, 2013 5:52:58 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - August 29, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Flex Friday Eve!  

 

Mark your calendars to remind yourself … next Thursday is our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30—hope you can join us.

 

 

 

Thursday, August 29, 2013

 

 

 

   Headlines

  1. Joint Leadership Team Web Poll

The new school year is not really a big deal to most of our employees. Newly established school zone speed limits can be frustrating, but manageable. Just be careful around the kiddos. This week we had a few mentoring events, and I was wondering whether you are currently a mentor -- or a protégé. Are you doing both? Neither? Klingon would be your favorite second language to learn. My officemate speaks fluent ob-engl-ob-ish, which I don't understand. I think she insults me regularly. This week it's time for your most burning question about a famous sidekick. Anything you'd like to know about Tonto? Got a good question Rose Tyler could clear up? Scooby your Do on over to get this week's poll.

Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/

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  1. Do You Have a Question for the Center Director?

Please email it to JSC-Ask-The-Director@mail.nasa.gov to be asked at the Center Director All Hands next Thursday, Sept. 5, from 9 to 10 a.m. in the Building 2 South Teague Auditorium.

All JSC team members are invited to attend. Center Director Ellen Ochoa will take questions after the All Hands from the audience.

JSC, Ellington Field, Sonny Carter Training Facility and White Sands Test Facility team members unable to attend in the Teague Auditorium can watch it on RF Channel 2 or Omni 45. Those with wired computer network connections can view the All Hands using the JSC EZTV IP Network TV System on channel 402.Please note: EZTV currently requires using Internet Explorer on a Windows PC connected to the JSC computer network with a wired connection. Mobile devices, Wi-Fi connections and newer MAC computers are currently not supported by EZTV. 

If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367.

Event Date: Thursday, September 5, 2013   Event Start Time:9:00 AM   Event End Time:10:00 AM
Event Location: Building 2 South Teague Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Office of Communications and Public Affairs, JSC External Relations x35111

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  1. Badging Offices Closed in Observance of Labor Day

All badging offices will be closed Monday, Sept. 2, in observance of Labor Day. Normal working operations will resume Tuesday, Sept. 3, as listed below.

    • Building 110: 6 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
    • Building 111: 7:30 a.m. to 4 p.m.
    • Ellington Field: 7 to 11 a.m.
    • Sonny Carter Training Facility: 7 a.m. to 3:30 p.m.

Tifanny Sowell x37447

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  1. New JSC Technologies Noted in Aug. '13 Tech Briefs

The August 2013 issue of NASA Tech Briefs magazine has been published and includes three outstanding and inventive technologies from JSC.

Every 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 August JSC features are: Method of Separating Oxygen From Spacecraft Cabin Air to Enable Extravehicular Activities; Spectroscopic Determination of Trace Contaminants in High-Purity Oxygen; and Soft Decision Analyzer.

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

Also, you can review all of the current and past NASA Tech Briefs.

Holly Kurth x32951

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  1. Morpheus Test Today

The Morpheus team plans a tether test of its "Bravo" prototype lander today. The test will be streamed live on JSC's UStream channel. View the live stream, along with progress updates sent via Twitter. Morpheus is a vertical test bed vehicle being used to mature new, non-toxic propulsion systems and autonomous landing and hazard detection technologies. Designed, manufactured and operated in-house by engineers at JSC, Morpheus represents not only a vehicle to advance technologies, but also an opportunity to pursue "lean development" engineering practices.

The test firing is planned for approximately 1 to 2 p.m. Streaming will begin approximately 45 minutes prior.

*Note: Testing operations are very dynamic; actual firing time may vary and tests may be postponed with very short notice.

Follow Morpheus on Twitter for the latest information at @MorpheusLander, or view the Twitter feed from our website for updates. For more information, click here or contact Wendy Watkins.

Wendy Watkins http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov

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  1. Notice to STI Authors on JPR/NPR Requirements

Notice to Scientific and Technical Information (STI) authors on JPR/NPR Requirements for Marking Documents with Restricted Content.

NASA policy ensures that STI is released properly without violating export control laws, national security regulations or copyright restrictions, thus achieving NASA's mission in maintaining national security.

JSC Procedural Requirement (JPR) 2200.2, Release of JSC Scientific and Technical Information to External Audiences, documents the procedures and responsibilities for approving, publishing and disseminating the results of JSC-funded and JSC-sponsored STI of JSC's STI activities for external releases. It also includes the stringent requirement for marking documents with ITAR and EAR restricted content and requirements for labeling Export Controlled Documents.

For further information, please click on the following links:

JSC-IRD-Outreach x41334

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   Organizations/Social

  1. Last Chance - Starport Massage Special $55 (M-Th)

Starport's amazing massage special is coming to an end! Any one-hour massage booked online in August will be $55 when scheduled on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Starport Massage - $55 for 60 | Monday through Thursday

    • $55 for a 60-minute massage
    • Must be booked Monday through Thursday
    • Last day to book is Aug. 31
    • Massage must be physically take place no later than Nov. 30

Starport's Massage Therapists

-- Marj Moore, LMT

    • Tuesdays and Thursdays | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    • Every other Saturday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    • Click here to book with Marj

-- Anette Lemon, LMT

    • Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays | 9 a.m. to 7 p.m.
    • Every other Saturday | 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
    • Click here to book with Anette

Book your massage today!

Steve Schade x30304 http://www.innerspaceclearlake.com/massage.php

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   Jobs and Training

  1. Training Required for Admin Rights - MEP

NASA is implementing Managed Elevated Privileges (MEP) on all IT devices to reduce the security risks. Everyone who needs elevated privileges (admin rights) must take training courses via SATERN by searching for "Elevated Privileges on NASA Information Systems" (ITS-002-09).

Deployment of these new policies will happen in various stages, and your organizations will be notified in advance before they are scheduled for deployment. Once implemented, beginning in Sept., NASA end users will not be granted administrative rights to NASA IT resources without training and authorization. Please take appropriate actions to be sure you get your training and testing done before we start to deploy.

Additional information can be found here.

Heather Thomas x30901

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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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Human Spaceflight News

Thursday – August 29, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Japanese astronaut to command space station in March

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

The first Japanese astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station is preparing for a return flight, this time to serve as commander, officials said on Wednesday. Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, is due to leave in November with a pair of veteran astronauts from the United States and Russia. Wakata, 50, is expected to take command of the orbital research outpost in March, marking the first time a Japanese astronaut will lead a human space mission.  "It means a lot to Japan to have its own representative to command the International Space Station," Wakata told a news conference broadcast from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

 

JAXA astronaut to become first Japanese national to command space station

 

Japan Daily Press

 

Koichi Wakata, a 50-year old astronaut of Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has been commissioned to lead the research mission that will orbit the earth in March. Wakata will be the first Japanese astronaut to take the privilege and responsibility of taking the post. Joining him are veteran astronaut Rick Mastracchio and cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin. "It means a lot to Japan to have its own representative to command the International Space Station," Wakata said via a broadcast from Johnson Space Center in Houston, TX. He also describes having the experience "a big milestone for Japan." The Saitama Prefecture native also holds the record of being the first Japanese to be part of, and live aboard the International Space Station that orbited the Earth in 2009. The research laboratory costing $100 billion involved 15 countries, including Japan. The station's largest and most elaborate laboratory was even provided by Japan. The NASA astronaut and Russian cosmonaut, both three years Wakata's senior, are now training for the March mission, their fourth together. The NASA astronaut, and one of the veteran spacewalkers, will have his first long-duration voyage. As for the cosmonaut, the research mission will take him to his third flight to the station. (NO FURTHER TEXT)

 

Sandra Bullock reveals astronauts helped her prepare for 'crazy, bizarre' Gravity shoot

 

Hannah Lockley - EntertainmentWise.com

 

Sandra Bullock has spoken out about her latest film Gravity, admitting that she had spoken with astronauts to prepare for the space drama. The 49-year-old said: "I called and left a message and they called me back" from the International Space Station, Bullock, who plays Dr Stone, said at the Venice Film Festival after Wednesday's press screening of the film. "They were incredibly helpful," she said. "They gave me an inside visual as to why they chose what they do for a living, their love for what is beyond our planet."

 

UrtheCast contributes key hardware component on Space Station

 

Electronic Products and Technology

 

Vancouver-based technology company UrtheCast Corp. is one step closer to developing the world's first near-live HD video feed of Earth, from space as the Russian Federal Agency Roscosmos has successfully installed its Bi-axial Pointing Platform (BPP) on the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS).

 

Jeco molds thermoformed door liner for the International Space Station

 

Jennifer Kalish - Plastics News

 

Plastic pallet and container maker Jeco Plastic Products LLC recently completed production of a thermoformed door liner for a cryogenic container that will be used by NASA on the International Space Station. NASA approached the Plainfield, Ind., company around June 2012 to develop a door liner that could withstand extremely low temperatures. Jeco completed the project around June 2013 and is now waiting for the finished product to be sent to the space station. While a completed door liner looks similar to a typical plastic tray, the manufacturing process was very tedious and difficult to perfect, said Jeco CEO Craig Carson.

 

First Danish astronaut to journey into space

 

Copenhagen Post

 

Astronaut Andreas Mogensen's patience has finally paid off. In May 2009, he beat out 8,000 other applicants to be selected as one of six new astronauts at the European Space Agency, and since then he has been waiting to be assigned on a mission. He was told that he might have to wait up to ten years, but now it has been decided that he will start his new job in zero gravity as an aerospace engineer at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015. That will make him the first Dane ever to venture into space.

 

NASA Initiative Gives Students Hands-On Experience

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

Joseph Huseman, a Rice University senior this fall, has gazed into a possible future, one that includes a promising career as a mechanical engineer, perhaps leading ground-breaking aerospace projects. "I've always been interested in spaceflight," said Huseman, who grew up in a small farming community in the Texas panhandle. "As a kid, I looked for spots where I could be a leader." To improve his employment prospects, he is navigating a succession of learning experiences beyond the classroom. This summer, Huseman interned with General Electric Oil and Gas in Houston as part of a new products introduction team. As a 2012 summer intern with UTC Aerospace Systems, he learned of the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program (RGEFP), headquartered nearby at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

 

NASA Video Makes Asteroid Sample Collection a Hollywood-Like Affair

 

Jon Chang - ABC News's Good Morning America

 

The pulsing drums, rumbling brass and minor key that serve as soundtrack to one of NASA's recent videos make it seem as if Michael Bay were directing a sequel to Armageddon. But these animated astronauts aren't going out of Earth's orbit to blow big space rocks to bits. They're collecting samples, which in itself is a time- and labor-intensive procedure. The video, animated by the Johnson Space Center, annotates just how much time and effort is required to do even the most mundane of space tasks. After the craft Orion is launched into space via heavy-lift rocket, it will make a nine-day journey toward its asteroid target.

 

'We are all Martians': Chemist's otherworldly claim stirs debate

 

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

 

Are we all Martians? A controversial hypothesis contends that life on our planet had to get its start somewhere else — most likely on Mars — because the chemistry on early Earth couldn't have provided the required molecular machinery. "The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians; that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock," Steven Benner, a chemist at the Florida-based Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, said in a news release. What's more, recent studies suggest that the conditions suitable for the origin of life "may still exist on Mars," he said.

 

NASA lacks vision

Manned space plans headed in wrong direction

 

David Bonnar - Florida Today (Opinion)

 

(Bonnar is a retired Boeing aerospace engineer and manager of advanced rocket design)

 

NASA's budget and manned space plans are going in the wrong direction. The space agency's programs for manned space do not have concrete, high-payoff missions. NASA is spending about 44 percent of its $17.7 billion budget on manned space. Why is it spending all this money on three manned capsules and several Space Launch System (SLS) rocket designs? So far, these missions include two trips around the moon and one to a local asteroid. There seems to be no real vision to NASA's near- and long-range plans.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Japanese astronaut to command space station in March

 

Irene Klotz - Reuters

 

The first Japanese astronaut to live aboard the International Space Station is preparing for a return flight, this time to serve as commander, officials said on Wednesday.

 

Koichi Wakata of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, is due to leave in November with a pair of veteran astronauts from the United States and Russia.

 

Wakata, 50, is expected to take command of the orbital research outpost in March, marking the first time a Japanese astronaut will lead a human space mission.

 

"It means a lot to Japan to have its own representative to command the International Space Station," Wakata told a news conference broadcast from the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

 

"It's a big milestone for Japan ... to have this experience," he said.

 

In 2009, Wakata became the first astronaut from Japan to live aboard the $100 billion research laboratory that flies about 250 miles (400 km) above Earth.

 

Japan, one of 15 nations participating in the project, provided the station's largest and most elaborate laboratory, named Kibo, as well as cargo resupply ships.

 

Wakata, who was part of two missions on NASA's now-retired space shuttles, is training for his fourth flight along with NASA astronaut Rick Mastracchio and Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Tyurin, both 53.

 

Mastracchio, a veteran of three shuttle missions and one of NASA's most experienced spacewalkers, will be making his first long-duration flight. Tyurin will be living aboard the station for a third time.

 

Command of the station typically rotates between a U.S. astronaut and Russian cosmonaut. In 2009, Belgium astronaut Frank De Winne became the first European to command the station. Canada's first commander, Chris Hadfield, was in charge from March until May.

 

Wakata, a native of Saitama, Japan, holds a bachelor's degree in aeronautical engineering, a master's in applied mechanics and a doctorate in aerospace engineering from Kyushu University. Before being selected as an astronaut in 1992, he worked as an aircraft structural engineer for Japan Airlines.

 

Wakata's first two spaceflights, in January 1996 and October 2000, were aboard NASA space shuttles. He was Japan's first live-aboard space station resident from March to July 2009. Upon returning to the station in November, Wakata will serve as a flight engineer before taking over command in March.

 

Sandra Bullock reveals astronauts helped her prepare for 'crazy, bizarre' Gravity shoot

 

Hannah Lockley - EntertainmentWise.com

 

Sandra Bullock has spoken out about her latest film Gravity, admitting that she had spoken with astronauts to prepare for the space drama.

 

The 49-year-old said: "I called and left a message and they called me back" from the International Space Station, Bullock, who plays Dr Stone, said at the Venice Film Festival after Wednesday's press screening of the film.

 

"They were incredibly helpful," she said. "They gave me an inside visual as to why they chose what they do for a living, their love for what is beyond our planet."

 

The 3-D sci-fi thriller sees George Clooney and Sandra Bullock as astronauts who are flung into dark, deep space when a debris shower destroys their shuttle.

 

"It was the craziest, most bizarre challenging shoot I've ever done," said the actress, who explained she had also worked out intensely and listened to opera music to prepare for her part.

 

Speaking to Digital Spy recently, Bullock revealed that much of her preparation for the role was tied in with the character's physicality.

 

"The physical aspects were two-fold - one was the core physicality which I needed in order to execute the wire work that was being done, and thank God I did that," Bullock said.

 

"The other side was what I wanted her to look like, or not look like, as a human being. She had experienced great tragedy, and a loss no-one should ever feel, which was the loss of a child.

 

"I wanted her to look as though she's trying to do everything she can to remove anything that would remind her of what she once was, which was a mum. I wanted the body to look almost androgynous."

 

The director, Alfonso Cuaron, who also directed 'Children of Men', used new filmmaking techniques to depict spacewalking, including shooting inside a giant cube to evoke constantly shifting light sources.

 

At the Venice Film Festival, the Mexican director revealed: "We had advisors, scientists and physicists teaching the cast how things would react in space. A lot of the shots required the actors to be isolated, it was a very abstract way for them to perform."

 

UrtheCast contributes key hardware component on Space Station

 

Electronic Products and Technology

 

Vancouver-based technology company UrtheCast Corp. is one step closer to developing the world's first near-live HD video feed of Earth, from space as the Russian Federal Agency Roscosmos has successfully installed its Bi-axial Pointing Platform (BPP) on the Russian module of the International Space Station (ISS).

The BPP is the structure to which the UrtheCast cameras will be attached. The BPP was attached to the Zvezda module on the Russian segment of the ISS on Aug. 22, 2013 during spacewalk #35, conducted by Russian cosmonauts Fyodor Yurchikhin and Aleksandr Misurkin.

 

The two UrtheCast cameras, one medium-resolution and one high-resolution, are scheduled to be launched to the ISS and installed in late 2013.

 

"We are thrilled with the successful installation of the BPP." president & COO Wade Larson stated. "Spacewalks are inherently risky, so having the mechanism that our cameras will be attached to successfully installed is a significant milestone"

 

Working with renowned aerospace partners from across the globe, UrtheCast is building, launching, installing, and will operate two cameras on the Russian segment of the International Space Station.

 

Video data captured by the cameras will be downlinked to ground stations across the planet and displayed on the UrtheCast web platform, or distributed directly to exclusive partners and customers.

 

UrtheCast's cameras will provide high-resolution video and imagery of Earth that will allow for monitoring of the environment, humanitarian relief, social events and agricultural land.

 

Jeco molds thermoformed door liner for the International Space Station

 

Jennifer Kalish - Plastics News

 

Plastic pallet and container maker Jeco Plastic Products LLC recently completed production of a thermoformed door liner for a cryogenic container that will be used by NASA on the International Space Station.

 

NASA approached the Plainfield, Ind., company around June 2012 to develop a door liner that could withstand extremely low temperatures.

 

Jeco completed the project around June 2013 and is now waiting for the finished product to be sent to the space station. While a completed door liner looks similar to a typical plastic tray, the manufacturing process was very tedious and difficult to perfect, said Jeco CEO Craig Carson.

 

"This is not a simple product; appearances are very deceptive in this regard," he said. "This was an extremely difficult product to make, and no one else had been able to successfully do it."

 

The door liners were made using polypropylene sheets with continuous internal polypropylene fibers oriented 90 degrees from one another to produce structures that remain strong and durable at temperatures approaching -392° F.

 

"We're dealing with materials and products that are not used in your normal sort of everyday ambient conditions," said Carson. "Very high temperatures; very low temperatures; extreme loading conditions; you know things like that."

 

Along with their rotomolded products, Jeco specializes in the manufacturing with unusual resins, primarily those with internal reinforcements for high-tolerance applications.

 

"That's our little niche of this market," he said. "It's not particularly big, and it's primarily stuff that is used in aerospace or things like that; you know, oddball things."

 

Because the door liners are only one component of NASA's cryogenic containers, it is unclear when exactly the finished products will be used on the space station.

 

"Everything is completed on the whole thing but the [container] assembly work," Carson said. "The completed assembly is due to be taken up to the International Space Station sometime in the near future."

 

First Danish astronaut to journey into space

 

Copenhagen Post

 

Astronaut Andreas Mogensen's patience has finally paid off.

 

In May 2009, he beat out 8,000 other applicants to be selected as one of six new astronauts at the European Space Agency, and since then he has been waiting to be assigned on a mission. He was told that he might have to wait up to ten years, but now it has been decided that he will start his new job in zero gravity as an aerospace engineer at the International Space Station (ISS) in 2015.

 

That will make him the first Dane ever to venture into space.

 

"This is a very big day for me - a dream come true. ISS has gone from being a source of inspiration to being a reality and my future workplace," Mogensen said at a press conference at the Tycho Brahe Planetarium. 

 

The ISS is an international research lab run by the United States, Russia, Europe and Canada.

 

Will open up future possibilities

When Mogensen is launched into space, it will be a giant leap for Danish space research, according to Kristian Pedersen, the head of the Technical University of Denmark's (DTU) space programme.

 

"It will increase awareness of Danish space exploration in a completely new way," Pedersen told DR Nyheder. "The fact that we have a Dane placed 400km away in the outer limits will bring a new focus to this important and exciting field and will open up infinite possibilities in the future."

 

Mogensen is 36 years old and has a PhD degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas.

 

Before the mission, he will have to go through a tough training programme at NASA in preparation for the mission.

 

Mogensen said he is anxious to get into space.

 

"It's one thing to sit in a simulator, where you can always push the reset button if something goes wrong," he said at today's press conference. "It's something else entirely to be in a real spaceship. The closest I've come is sitting in an aeroplane."

 

NASA Initiative Gives Students Hands-On Experience

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

Joseph Huseman, a Rice University senior this fall, has gazed into a possible future, one that includes a promising career as a mechanical engineer, perhaps leading ground-breaking aerospace projects.

 

"I've always been interested in spaceflight," said Huseman, who grew up in a small farming community in the Texas panhandle. "As a kid, I looked for spots where I could be a leader."

 

To improve his employment prospects, he is navigating a succession of learning experiences beyond the classroom. This summer, Huseman interned with General Electric Oil and Gas in Houston as part of a new products introduction team. As a 2012 summer intern with UTC Aerospace Systems, he learned of the Reduced Gravity Education Flight Program (RGEFP), headquartered nearby at NASA's Johnson Space Center.

 

A division of the 18-year-old RGEFP known as Microgravity University (MU) allows undergraduate engineering teams to compete for time aboard a Boeing 727-200 0g aircraft, sometimes called a Weightless Wonder or Vomit Comet, to expose their student projects to brief periods of microgravity. Gravity is eased briefly as the jet transport rises then descends over a series of high-altitude parabolas.

 

Since MU's inception in 1995, more than 800 university students have taken flight along with their experiments. On July 21, Huseman and a half-dozen other members of his Rice Pending Gravitation team joined that special cadre by completing a 0g flight to push the development of an electromagnetic sensor package envisioned as a prospective power-efficient guidance device aboard deep-space probes. Their mission report, outlining their findings, is due to NASA in September. "We're crunching the numbers," says Huseman.

 

Over the years, other undergraduate teams have studied dust coagulation in microgravity for insight into planet formation; the cellular mechanisms behind the bone loss experienced by astronauts; porosity of Martian soil simulants; and effective techniques for the air-tight storage of space suits outside human planetary rovers.

 

"The best scenario would be a place aboard the International Space Station," says Huseman, of the Rice investigation. "But the volume our package takes up is too big, and you get a ton of space on the Vomit Comet."

 

But NASA's educational budget is facing decline and with it opportunities for others like Huseman to enhance their professional skills as they complete their academic careers.

 

"We are following the budget within Congress very closely because it certainly will have some impact on us," says Frank Prochaska, Johnson Space Center RGEFP program manager for student campaigns.

 

Funded at $136 million in NASA's 2012 budget, the 2013 budget sequester and plans to consolidate space agency educational endeavors with those of other federal agencies would drive the education line to just over $94 million under the proposed White House budget for 2014 and the out-years. So far, House and Senate appropriations panels have balked at the cut, approving educational lines for 2014 of $122 million and $116.6 million, respectively.

 

In recent years, the RGEFP has sought to diversify its funding sources beyond NASA's education line, which finances a range of programs intended to encourage youthful interest in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers. The RGEFP embraces eight flight education activities, including several for teachers of K-12 students, students at minority universities and community colleges, space grant fellows as well as undergraduates focused on systems engineering who collaborate with NASA engineers on 0g flight experiments.

 

The diversification has permitted RGEFP to receive financing for its student/teacher flights from other budget activities, including the International Space Station, explains Prochaska. The diversity is funding 0g flights for 17 undergraduate teams this year.

 

But many of the funding sources face spending restraints as well. "I'm anticipating we will have undergraduate flight weeks next year," says Prochaska. "When I look across the model we have for this program, we are in pretty good standing right now because we have diversified our funding sources, If Congress comes back and follows the president's budget, then certainly there is going to be a lot less funding for those programs. Some may get cut. So that would definitely have an impact."

 

The six-month run-up to the flight experience is as demanding as it is instructional for MU undergraduate teams like Huseman's.

 

Most of the Rice students, for example, were enrolled in 18-20 hr. of course work during the 2013 spring semester. It was not unusual for team members to assemble in the university's student engineering lab well past midnight for test sessions and troubleshooting as they prepared for flight.

 

"Problems can set you back a whole week; real things you never think about," says Huseman. "This has taught me to think ahead. Leading an experiment is like thinking 30 minutes ahead. I'm starting to learn that leadership is seeing the holes before they are there, getting ready to fill them or having a way to keep the project moving, regardless."

 

Huseman assembled his team as though the Rice cadre was rolling out a new product. "We wanted a diverse team. Mechanical engineering would not cover everything," he says. "The project has an electrical component. With a lot of data recording, we have a big need for statistics. We've included ground-control members, one a materials science student and the other a business major."

 

The team asked for equipment donations from suppliers; members paid their own travel expenses. "It is a fantastic experience, and it's one that university teams are willing to go to great lengths to participate in," says Prochaska. The team also developed an hour-long classroom presentation illustrating the value of science and math to middle and high school classrooms. They focused 12 classroom visits on some of Houston's underprivileged neighborhoods but also ventured to classrooms and college campuses in California, Tennessee and West Texas.

 

"The younger kids, those from middle school, asked a ton of questions about space. They just let loose," says Huseman. He is now sizing up a 0g flight proposal for next year.

 

NASA Video Makes Asteroid Sample Collection a Hollywood-Like Affair

 

Jon Chang - ABC News's Good Morning America

 

The pulsing drums, rumbling brass and minor key that serve as soundtrack to one of NASA's recent videos make it seem as if Michael Bay were directing a sequel to Armageddon. But these animated astronauts aren't going out of Earth's orbit to blow big space rocks to bits. They're collecting samples, which in itself is a time- and labor-intensive procedure.

 

The video, animated by the Johnson Space Center, annotates just how much time and effort is required to do even the most mundane of space tasks. After the craft Orion is launched into space via heavy-lift rocket, it will make a nine-day journey toward its asteroid target.

 

Orion first heads towards the moon, but instead of landing there, it swoops around its surface. It takes what little gravity the moon exerts and uses it to slingshot itself closer to the asteroid. Once it gets close enough, the astronauts will begin the docking procedure to the asteroid.

 

After Orion has docked with the asteroid, the astronauts on board can start a spacewalk and collect a sample. Once they are finished, Orion would go back the way it came, looping around the moon for a second time and heading back towards Earth.

 

Rachel Kraft, a spokesperson for NASA, said that many aspects of the Asteroid Initiative aren't set in stone. "This recent video shows a more nuanced impression of what the crewed part of the mission will be like," she told ABC News.

 

A previous video released by NASA showed how an unmanned spacecraft, known as the Asteroid Redirect Vehicle, would wrap an oversized Hefty bag around the asteroid and physically move it to a safe region away from Earth.

 

NASA held a press conference in June, inviting anyone with ideas for the Asteroid Initiative to submit them to the agency. "We've received over 400 submissions," said Kraft. NASA is still reviewing proposals for asteroid redirection and will discuss several of them at a workshop at the end of September.

 

'We are all Martians': Chemist's otherworldly claim stirs debate

 

Alan Boyle - NBCNews.com's Cosmic Log

 

Are we all Martians? A controversial hypothesis contends that life on our planet had to get its start somewhere else — most likely on Mars — because the chemistry on early Earth couldn't have provided the required molecular machinery.

 

"The evidence seems to be building that we are actually all Martians; that life started on Mars and came to Earth on a rock," Steven Benner, a chemist at the Florida-based Foundation for Applied Molecular Evolution, said in a news release. What's more, recent studies suggest that the conditions suitable for the origin of life "may still exist on Mars," he said.

 

Scientists have long debated the idea that life got its start elsewhere in the universe, and then was transported to Earth on meteorites or comets — an idea known as panspermia. In a presentation to the annual Goldschmidt Conference in Florence, Italy, Benner lays out an unusually detailed case for panspermia involving early Mars and Earth.

 

Livable Mars, deadly Earth?

 

For years, scientists have been saying that although present-day Mars is an inhospitable place, it was much more habitable billions of years ago. The findings from NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars have added fresh support to such claims.

 

The early environment on Earth, however, was challenging to the rise of life as we know it, at least in Benner's view. One of the biggest challenges has to do with the process by which organic molecules gave rise to life's chemical building blocks: RNA, DNA and proteins.

 

If left to themselves, adding energy to organic molecules just tends to turn them into tar or an oily substance. That's what Benner calls the "tar paradox": How could organic materials ever give rise to biopolymers like DNA?

 

"Certain elements seem able to control the propensity of organic materials to turn into tar, particularly boron and molybdenum, so we believe that minerals containing both were fundamental to life first starting," Benner said. Such minerals can't form easily in the presence of water, but the early Earth was thought to have been covered with water.

 

So where could those minerals come from?

 

"Analysis of a Martian meteorite recently showed that there was boron on Mars; we now believe that the oxidized form of molybdenum was there too," Benner said. During the time when life got its start, Earth was too young and too wet to produce the borates and molybdates that he believes were essential. He says the best place to find such minerals would have been on Mars.

 

"Mars has always been more oxidizing and drier than Earth," Benner told NBC News in an email. "True, being too small to have a magnetic field, it has lost most of its atmosphere and its water. However, 3.5 billion years ago, all of the chemistry that we propose could have happened on Mars. As Mars became less and less habitable over time, the life that originated on Mars (and, in this view, could not have originated on Earth), escaped to Earth, which has remained habitable until this day."

 

Benner said his scenario illustrates the difference "between a locale where life can survive and a locale where life can emerge."

 

Too kooky?

 

Is Benner's story too kooky to believe? One thing's for sure: Benner is not a kook. He was one of the first chemists to voice skepticism about the claims for arsenic-based life, which stirred up such a fuss in 2010. "I'm the guy they bring in to throw a wet blanket over all the enthusiasm," he told NBC News at the time.

 

This time, the wet-blanket role is filled by David Grinspoon, an astrobiologist from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. Grinspoon, who's spending a year doing research at the Library of Congress, says that he's a "huge fan" of Benner's, but that his extraordinary claim isn't sufficiently supported by the evidence.

 

"This isn't really evidence that life came from Mars, but it is evidence that Steven Benner is very clever," Grinspoon told NBC News.

 

He said Benner's scenario is a "plausible story," but for now, it's at least as plausible to stick with the view that life found a way to emerge from prebiotic chemistry on Earth.

 

"I think chemists always think they know more than they know, because nature has a lot of possible pathways it can try," Grinspoon said.

 

What do you think? Is it more likely that life came to Earth from Mars, or that earthly life is entirely home-grown? Feel free to register your opinion in our unscientific survey, or in the comment section.

 

NASA lacks vision

Manned space plans headed in wrong direction

 

David Bonnar - Florida Today (Opinion)

 

(Bonnar is a retired Boeing aerospace engineer and manager of advanced rocket design)

 

NASA's budget and manned space plans are going in the wrong direction.

 

The space agency's programs for manned space do not have concrete, high-payoff missions. NASA is spending about 44 percent of its $17.7 billion budget on manned space. Why is it spending all this money on three manned capsules and several Space Launch System (SLS) rocket designs?

 

So far, these missions include two trips around the moon and one to a local asteroid. There seems to be no real vision to NASA's near- and long-range plans.

 

In 2009, President Barack Obama set up the Augustine commission for manned space. The panel proposed that NASA's main vision should be directed toward Mars, but it should first gain more exploration experience on the moon. The commission also proposed other flexible, beyond Earth missions. But it seems NASA only wants to go grab an asteroid. This is shortsighted and misguided.

 

Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Space Science Committee, said an asteroid trip is "costly and uninspiring," and we need a "new vision" plan for the space program. Congressman Bill Posey, R-Rockledge, agrees.

 

We need a new "Affordable Space Act" that includes high payoffs at low cost. I recently discussed this with Congressman Posey in his office. In 2009, he gave a vision speech that supported the International Space Station (ISS), commercial space, and the moon and beyond. We discussed achievable, low-cost goals:

 

First, we should not go to Mars without going to the moon first (it has highest benefit-to-cost ratio), and second, we should exclude going to any asteroids or moons of planets (has low benefit-to-cost ratio).

 

Thus, we should design vehicles at low cost and not to high performance, which is the opposite of the current NASA approach.

 

Now, they are building new rocket engines and new solid motors to use on a SLS. They are working on more than five new SLS vehicle designs to launch a variety of space payloads. To date, we have spent about $15 billion on SLS with no flights yet. This is the wrong way to run a low-cost program with high payoffs.

 

Ever since 1960, NASA has spent billions of dollars on manned space and then canceled them: the Saturn/Apollo moon lander, the Skylab, then the shuttle. Now, we may have to sink ISS in 2020. Then, what?

 

For many years, American space engineers have presented scores of plans for lunar and Mars bases. Now, NASA wants to put a net around an asteroid. What kind of a costly, low-benefit mission is this? It's not worth the paper on which it is planned.

 

Come on, NASA, get a better long-range vision and stop fooling around. This country should go forward with affordable, manned space mission objectives.

 

END

 

 

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