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Monday, August 5, 2013

Fwd: Human Spaceflight News - August 5, 2013 and JSC Today



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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: August 5, 2013 6:17:54 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - August 5, 2013 and JSC Today

Happy Monday everyone!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

   Organizations/Social

  1. Johnson Space Center Astronomy Society Meeting

Space is a highly energetic place. One of the highest-energy events is a gamma ray burst. Dr. Tim Giblin from the University of Houston-Clear Lake will tell us all about them at our August meeting.

Have you noticed the bright "star: high in the southwest at sunset? Did you know that it's actually Saturn? It is an easy but beautiful target through a small telescope. We'll provide you additional suggestions in our "What's up in the sky this month?" talk. Other informative talks include: Astro Oddities; the member's minute; and we encourage our guests to come up with their own questions for our novice question-and-answer session. We'll also discuss our fall star parties.

The JSC Astronomy Society is open to anyone who wants to learn about astronomy, and membership is FREE! After you join us, you'll have access to loaner telescopes and our amazing DVD library with hundreds of choices to learn from.

Event Date: Friday, August 9, 2013   Event Start Time:7:30 PM   Event End Time:9:30 PM
Event Location: USRA Auditorium

Add to Calendar

Jim Wessel x41128 http://www.jscas.net/

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  1. Save the Date - YODA Mid-Point Event - Aug. 27

Join us for the YODA Mid-Point Event on Aug.27 from noon to 3 p.m. in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom. Enjoy lunch and an interactive event with fellow YODA participants. You will also have the opportunity to learn about several Employee Resource Groups. The $10 tickets can be purchased in the Buildings 3 and 11 cafés now through Aug. 16.

Event Date: Tuesday, August 27, 2013   Event Start Time:12:00 PM   Event End Time:3:00 PM
Event Location: Gilruth Alamo Ballroom

Add to Calendar

YODA Team x27831

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   Jobs and Training

  1. ISS Software Transtion Processes - Aug. 7

Learn about the International Space Station (ISS) Program's "Software Transition Processes."

You are invited to JSC's SAIC/Safety & Mission Assurance speaker forum featuring Jeremy Del Greco, NASA/OD Avionics and Software Hardware/Software Integration engineer.

Date/Time: Wednesday, Aug. 7, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Location: Building 1, Room 966

Del Greco will discuss the ISS Program's software transition processes and how to determine/meet the requirements for developing, testing and transitioning software to the ISS.

Del Greco will discuss the following:

    • What would you like to get out of this forum?
    • What does the Avionics and Software Office do for the ISS Program?
    • Do you have any questions for the Avionics and Software Office or about the ISS software transition process?

To support the discussion, please select this link and provide your inputs by Aug. 5 to start the conversation.

Event Date: Wednesday, August 7, 2013   Event Start Time:11:30 AM   Event End Time:12:30 PM
Event Location: Building 1, room 966

Add to Calendar

Della Cardona/Juan Traslavina 281-335-2074/281-335-2272

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  1. On-site Financial Wellness - Final Month

Industry data shows that many people are not strategically planning their financial futures. Yet, planning may be one of the most important steps in achieving financial well-being. Those who set financial goals are much more likely to achieve them.

So where do you start and who can you trust? A key first step is education. Join us this week and begin your financial education here at JSC. While we can't begin to answer every question, we can get you started on a reliable financial path. Learn about goal setting, budgeting, debt elimination, insurance and long-term care, investing, retirement, estates and taxes.

If you're not sure what financial wellness is all about, these intro classes are a great place to start.

FW101: Financial Wellness Foundation

FW102: Budgets, Debt, Insurance and Long-Term Care

FW103: Investing and Retirement Planning

FW104: Taxes and Estate Planning

Details can be found here.

Shelly Haralson x39168 http://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/

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  1. Job Opportunities

Where do I find job opportunities?

Both internal Competitive Placement Plans (CPPs) and external JSC job announcements are posted on the Human Resources (HR) portal and USAJOBS website. Through the HR portal, civil servants can view summaries of all the agency jobs that are currently open at: https://hr.nasa.gov/portal/server.pt/community/employees_home/239/job_opportu...

To help you navigate to JSC vacancies, use the filter drop-down menu and select "JSC HR." The "Jobs" link will direct you to the USAJOBS website for the complete announcement and the ability to apply online. If you have questions about any JSC job vacancies, please call your HR representative.

Lisa Pesak x30476

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

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

 

 

 

 

NASA TV: 7:30 am Central (8:30 EDT) – E36's Luca Parmitano with Italian Media

 

Human Spaceflight News

Monday – August 5, 2013

 

HEADLINES AND LEADS

 

Japanese cargo ship blasts off on station flight

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

An unmanned Japanese cargo ship loaded with nearly 4 tons of science gear, spare parts and supplies rocketed away from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan Saturday, kicking off a six-day flight to the International Space Station. With its twin hydrogen-fueled first stage engines roaring at full throttle, four strap-on solid-fuel boosters ignited with a burst of flame at 3:48:46 p.m. EDT (4:48 a.m. Sunday local time), instantly pushing the 186-foot-tall rocket away from its seaside launching stand.

 

Japan's re-supply mission heads for Aug. 9 ISS rendezvous and berthing

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-4 Kounotori re-supply mission lifted off for the International Space Station on Saturday, climbing to orbit from the Tanageshima Launch Center with a 3.6 ton cargo that includes hardware intended to add a cryogenic satellite servicing dimension to NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission. The two stage H-IIB rocket carrying the HTV-4 supply ship lifted off at 3:48 p.m., EDT., or Sunday at 4:48 a.m., local time, initiating a five day transit to the six person ISS.

 

Japan launches talking humanoid robot into space

 

Associated Press

 

Japan has launched the world's first talking humanoid robot "astronaut" toward the International Space Station. Kirobo - derived from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot" - was among five tons of supplies and machinery on a rocket launched Sunday from Tanegashima in southwestern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said. The childlike robot was designed to be a companion for astronaut Koichi Wakata and will communicate with another robot on Earth, according to developers. Wakata is expected to arrive at the space station in November.

 

Kirobo the talking robot blasts into space on historic mission

 

John O'Callaghan - Reuters

 

Kirobo, a knee-high talking robot with red boots and a black and white body, has blasted off from Japan for the International Space Station to test how machines can help astronauts with their work. The Japanese-speaking robot, equipped with voice- and facial-recognition technology, was packed into an unmanned cargo vessel along with tons of supplies and equipment for the crew of the orbital research base.

 

Talking robot, other gear launched to space station

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

A Japanese resupply freighter took off Saturday with nearly six tons of cargo bound for the International Space Station, bringing fresh food, experiments, spare parts and a charming humanoid robot name Kirobo to keep the outpost's six-person crew company. The mission launched atop a 186-foot-tall H-2B rocket at 1948:46 GMT (3:48:46 p.m. EDT) from the Tanegashima Space Center, a picturesque spaceport at the southwest tip of the Japanese main islands.

 

Japan Launches Talking 'Robot Astronaut' Kirobo Into Space

 

Tariq Malik - Space.com

 

Call it one giant leap for robot kind: A small talking robot launched into space aboard a Japanese cargo ship Saturday to keep astronauts company on the International Space Station. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the humanoid Kirobo "robot astronaut" into orbit from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as part of nearly 3.5 tons of supplies and equipment to resupply the space station's six-person crew.

 

NASA To Pair Space Taxi Development with Tickets To Ride

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

The company or companies that win the next round of NASA commercial crew development funds will do more than build, test-fly and certify their spaceships. The agreements also are expected to cover up to six operational missions per vendor to ferry crew to the international space station, program managers said at an Aug. 1 industry briefing here to discuss a draft solicitation for the program's next phase. "It's really two contracts in one," said Maria Collura, Commercial Crew Program certification manager. "That is a significant difference from what we do with many contracts with NASA." Bidders also will have an opportunity to showcase their spacecraft's cargo capabilities and other attributes beyond NASA's core requirements to safely, reliably and cost-effectively transport crew members to and from the space station by 2017.

 

NASA Heavy-Lifter Clears Design Hurdle for High Lunar Orbit

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily

 

NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) should be able to reach the high-retrograde lunar orbit where the agency wants to reposition a small asteroid, based on the results of its successful preliminary design review (PDR). Top SLS managers at Marshall Space Flight Center say the planned 321-ft.-tall, 70-ton-capability block 1 vehicle passed muster with a series of review boards for a first flight in 2017. That unmanned mission is tentatively set to fly 7,000 km (4,350 mi.) behind the Moon, according to SLS Chief Engineer Garry Lyles, provided upcoming wind tunnel tests validate operational solutions to some transonic buffeting engineers believe the big new rocket will experience on ascent.

 

Astronaut alum gives speech for UND graduation

 

Associated Press

 

Astronaut and University of North Dakota graduate Karen Nyberg gave the university's summer graduates a speech that was literally "out of this world." Nyberg, a 1994 UND graduate in mechanical engineering from Vining, Minn., was orbiting 230 miles above Earth on the International Space Station when she recorded the five-minute message for the UND's summer commencement. She told the graduates on Friday that becoming an astronaut was a childhood dream come true.

 

Astronaut UND alum delivers speech from space

 

Jennifer Johnson - Grand Forks Herald

 

Astronaut and UND alumna Karen Nyberg told graduates Friday that she wanted to give a speech that was "literally out of this world." Nyberg was orbiting some 230 miles above Earth aboard the International Space Station when she recorded the brief message last week for the 2013 summer commencement. She praised her alma mater for the educational opportunities it offered herself and other graduates. "Global understanding is key to the survival of our planet," she said. "You are all lucky to be graduating from a university with such a strong international presence, with some 70 countries represented."

 

A workout that's out of this world

 

Jessica Belasco - San Antonio Express-News

 

How do you lift weights in microgravity? Exercising on a satellite floating 200 miles above the surface of the planet presents some unique challenges. But working out is so essential to counter the adverse effects of weightlessness on the body that astronauts aboard the International Space Station devote about 2 to 21/2 hours to exercise every day. "I'm a little less disciplined here on Earth," said NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, whose first spacewalk was in 2007. "Up there, I just stayed to my schedule because I was so distressed about being able to get back to the Earth and not being able to walk. I lost like 12 pounds and like 10 percent body fat. Of course I let that go when I got back to Earth."

 

Skylab 40 years later:

NASA remembers an Alabama idea that led to International Space Station

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA is pausing today to remember Skylab, the orbiting 1970s laboratory that paved the way for the International Space Station. The laboratory, built from a Saturn V rocket third stage, was conceived in Huntsville and saved by quick-thinking engineers and brave astronauts after things went very wrong on launch day 40 years ago. Skylab was launched without a crew atop a Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973. The crew was to follow a day later on a Saturn 1B rocket. But after liftoff of the lab, NASA mission controllers got indications a shield meant to protect the laboratory from micrometeoroids had deployed prematurely.

 

SpaceX Appetite for U.S. Launch Sites Grows

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is awaiting word from NASA about whether it can take over one of the space shuttle's launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center here. But even if its proposal is accepted, bringing its current U.S. launch complex tally to three, the company will still pursue another site, most likely in Texas, for its growing commercial business. "Each of the pads has its own niche and we have plenty of business to fill each pad," said Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut who now oversees SpaceX's commercial crew programs. NASA is evaluating at least two proposals for Launch Pad 39A, an Apollo-era complex that was revamped for the now-retired space shuttle program. In addition to SpaceX, privately owned Blue Origin has said it would like to lease the complex on a non-exclusive basis.

 

One-Way Mars Trip: Aspiring Martian Colonists Land In Washington

 

Tanya Lewis – Space.com

 

A group of volunteers hoping to become the first human Martians congregated in one spot for the first time Saturday (Aug. 3) to discuss their hopes to join the Mars One mission, a project to send colonists on a one-way trip to the Red Planet. Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp addressed a crowd of about 50 Mars One applicants, almost all male, in an auditorium here at George Washington University. The mood at the event, which was webcast live, was something akin to a gamer's LAN party — excited discussions blended with nerdy banter. But the purpose was serious. "How many of you want to go on a one-way trip to Mars?" Lansdorp asked. Nearly everyone raised their hands.

 

10 Awesome Startups That Are Looking To Profit From A New Space Race

 

Kyle Russell - Business Insider

 

What would you do if you were a billionaire and wanted to go to space? The obvious answer: use that money to start a company to help you do just that. In recent years, some of the most famous names in tech, like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have been founding and investing in companies that are looking to the stars. Whether for personal dreams of adventure or for profit, these companies are doing the engineering and basic science needed to get humans into space.

 

Plano resident follows her galactic dream

 

Elizabeth Knighten - Dallas Morning News

 

It's hard to believe that a space traveler lives in Plano, but for Anousheh Ansari, it's a reality she is reminded of daily by photos of her venture that are displayed in her Richardson office. The chairman, co-founder and CEO of Prodea Systems, Inc., made her childhood dream a reality in 2006 when she traveled with the Russian space team during its mission to the International Space Station.

 

NASA needs to make some quick decisions

 

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

 

The United States' human spaceflight program, and the future of the Kennedy Space Center, hinge on decisions that need to be made very soon. Three jump out as the most important: 1. Will the U.S. extend the International Space Station project beyond its currently planned retirement in 2020? 2. Where are NASA astronauts going next? 3. Is the U.S. committed to private innovation in human flights?

 

Newsroom leader takes position at USA Today

 

Florida Today

 

John Kelly, local editor of Florida Today for the last seven years, has been named Data & Joint Investigations Editor for the Gannett Co.'s new USA Today Network. In his new position, he will be coordinating watchdog journalism for Gannett's newspapers, Web sites and television stations across the United States. Kelly, 41, has been instrumental in many award-winning projects and news stories since joining Florida Today in 2002 as space editor. He had been on the job only a few months when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. He led award-winning investigations into that accident, using database reporting skills he had honed at the Associated Press in Illinois. He was promoted in 2006 to supervise the newspaper's main local news sections. Kelly also writes a column about the space industry that appears in the Sunday paper.

__________

 

COMPLETE STORIES

 

Japanese cargo ship blasts off on station flight

 

William Harwood - CBS News

 

An unmanned Japanese cargo ship loaded with nearly 4 tons of science gear, spare parts and supplies rocketed away from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan Saturday, kicking off a six-day flight to the International Space Station.

 

With its twin hydrogen-fueled first stage engines roaring at full throttle, four strap-on solid-fuel boosters ignited with a burst of flame at 3:48:46 p.m. EDT (4:48 a.m. Sunday local time), instantly pushing the 186-foot-tall rocket away from its seaside launching stand.

 

Lighting up the pre-dawn sky, the rocket briefly climbed straight up trailing a brilliant jet of flame from its strap-on boosters before arcing away on a southeasterly trajectory, visible for miles around as it rapidly accelerated through a clear sky.

 

The space station's crew watched the launch via television beamed up from mission control in Houston.

 

The ascent went smoothly and the strap-on boosters burned out and fell away in pairs about two minutes after liftoff. The H-2B's first stage shut down and fell away about four minutes later and the rocket's second stage continued the push to orbit for another nine minutes.

 

"The flight goes very smoothly," a Japanese commentator said as the rocket neared orbit.

 

There were no obvious problems and about 15 minutes after liftoff from launch pad No. 2, the HTV-4 cargo ship was released into its planned preliminary orbit with a high point, or apogee, of around 186 miles and a low point, or perigee, of about 124 miles.

 

If all goes well, the spacecraft will carry out a carefully orchestrated sequence of rocket firings over the next several days to set up a rendezvous with the International Space Station early Friday, closing to within about 90 feet around 6:33 a.m.

 

At that point, with Italian astronaut Luca Parmitano monitoring the HTV's systems, the cargo ship will go into stationkeeping mode and astronaut Karen Nyberg, operating the space station's robot arm, will lock onto a grapple fixture around 7:29 a.m.

 

Assisted by Christopher Cassidy, Nyberg plans to move the HTV-4 spacecraft to the Earth-facing port of the station's forward Harmony module where it will be locked into place with a common berthing mechanism. Hatches will be opened the next day.

 

Developed by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, as a contribution to the space station program, the HTV is 32 feet long and 14.4 feet wide. It is designed to carry both pressurized and unpressurized cargo, including equipment too big to pass through the space station's hatches.

 

For its fourth flight to the International Space Station, the pressurized section of the HTV is carrying an experiment sample freezer, spacesuit oxygen tanks, batteries, a spare emergency jet backpack, food for the station crew, clothing and fresh water.

 

The pressurized section also houses a re-entry data recorder, an ultra-high-resolution camera that will be used to image Comet ISON and four small Cubesat satellites that will be deployed from the Japanese Kibo laboratory's airlock.

 

The HTV's unpressurized section is carrying a 516-pound main bus switching unit, part of the station's electrical power distribution system, a spare 644-pound solar array power and data interface unit and a 721-pound NASA experiment pallet housing eight experiments in a variety of disciplines.

 

The unpressurized components will be removed by the station's robot arm and mounted in an external logistics pallet. Cargo and supplies in the pressurized section will be unloaded by the station crew.

 

The astronauts then will repack the craft with trash and other no-longer needed gear. If all goes well, the HTV-4 spacecraft will be detached from the station Sept. 4, burning up in the atmosphere the next day.

 

Japan's re-supply mission heads for Aug. 9 ISS rendezvous and berthing

 

Mark Carreau - Aviation Week

 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's HTV-4 Kounotori re-supply mission lifted off for the International Space Station on Saturday, climbing to orbit from the Tanageshima Launch Center with a 3.6 ton cargo that includes hardware intended to add a cryogenic satellite servicing dimension to NASA's Robotic Refueling Mission.

 

The two stage H-IIB rocket carrying the HTV-4 supply ship lifted off at 3:48 p.m., EDT., or Sunday at 4:48 a.m., local time, initiating a five day transit to the six person ISS.

 

ISS astronauts Chris Cassidy and Karen Nyberg will be positioned at the controls of Canada's 58-foot-long robot arm as the 10 meter long HTV-4 rendezvous with the orbiting science lab.  After grappling the Japanese supply capsule with the robot arm, the two NASA astronauts will maneuver the freighter to a berthing port on the station's U. S. segment Harmony module.

 

The robot arm grapple is tentatively scheduled for 7:29 a.m., EDT, with berthing operations to follow. European Space Agency astronaut Luca Parmitano will assist with operations involving the fourth Japanese re-supply mission launched since September 2009.

 

HTV-4 is scheduled to remain berthed until Sept. 4, when it will depart to clear a berthing port for the Orbital Sciences Corp., Antares/Cygnus demonstration mission flown under the sponsorship of NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services program.

 

The latest of the unpiloted Japanese freighters carries 5,370 pounds of pressurized cargo -- food, clothing, water, spare parts and experiment hardware -- as well as 1,880 pounds of external equipment that includes a spare NASA main bus switching unit and utility transfer assembly to support power and data transfers outside the station.

 

Launched aboard the final NASA shuttle mission and installed on the ISS solar power truss in mid-2011, the washing machine-sized RRM module was developed by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center to demonstrate a satellite refueling capability by working with the Canadian Space Agency's two armed Dextre robot. That capability, which extends to satellites never designed to be re-fueled, was successfully demonstrated in January with an ethanol fuel transfer. That phase followed robotic activities, demonstrating capabilities to cut lock wires and manipulate fuel caps.

 

In addition to new fuel, some aging satellites need to be recharged with coolant for sustained thermal control.

 

The HTV-4 is carrying a new task board for cryogenic demonstration activities planned for 2014 as well as an On Orbit Transfer Cage (ROTC). The new gear will be assembled by astronauts inside the station and moved through a small experiment airlock in the Japanese Kibo module to within reach of Dextre and positioning on the RRM. A second RRM task board and a borescope designed to provide ground controllers with a remote look inside an orbiting satellite undergoing robotic servicing are headed for a 2014 launch.

 

The cryogenic technology demonstration activities would follow.

 

Other ISS cargos aboard the HTV-4 include a pair of experiment freezers and four CubeSats designed for deployments from Kibo. Also aboard is the NASA/DOD Space Test Program 4, eight external experiments, including space weather and radiation monitors as well as nano satellite technology evaluation gear.

 

Japan launches talking humanoid robot into space

 

Associated Press

 

Japan has launched the world's first talking humanoid robot "astronaut" toward the International Space Station.

 

Kirobo - derived from the Japanese words for "hope" and "robot" - was among five tons of supplies and machinery on a rocket launched Sunday from Tanegashima in southwestern Japan, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, said.

 

The childlike robot was designed to be a companion for astronaut Koichi Wakata and will communicate with another robot on Earth, according to developers. Wakata is expected to arrive at the space station in November.

 

Robot designer Tomotaka Takahashi, of the University of Tokyo, advertiser Dentsu and automaker Toyota Motor Corp. worked on the robot.

 

The challenge was making sure it could move and talk where there was no gravity.

 

Ahead of the launch, the 34-centimeter (13-inch) tall Kirobo told reporters, "one small step for me, a giant leap for robots."

 

Japan boasts the most sophisticated robotics in the world, but because of its "manga" culture, it tends to favor cute robots with human-like characteristics with emotional appeal, a use of technology that has at times drawn criticism for being not productive.

 

But Takahashi said sending a robot into space could help write a new chapter in the history of communication.

 

"I wish for this robot to function as a mediator between person and machine, or person and Internet and sometimes even between people," he said.

 

JAXA said the rocket launch was successful, and the separation of a cargo vehicle, carrying the robot to the space station, was confirmed about 15 minutes after liftoff.

 

Kirobo the talking robot blasts into space on historic mission

 

John O'Callaghan - Reuters

 

Kirobo, a knee-high talking robot with red boots and a black and white body, has blasted off from Japan for the International Space Station to test how machines can help astronauts with their work.

 

The Japanese-speaking robot, equipped with voice- and facial-recognition technology, was packed into an unmanned cargo vessel along with tons of supplies and equipment for the crew of the orbital research base.

 

The cargo vessel, launched from the Tanegashima Space Center in southwestern Japan on Sunday, will arrive at the outpost on Friday, according to the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's website.

 

At a recent demonstration, Kirobo said it "hoped to create a future where humans and robots live together and get along".

 

As it carries on the first robot-human chats in space, Kirobo's main conversation partner will be Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, who is expected to take off for the space station with six other crew members in November.

 

Wakata is due to take command of the complex, a $100 billion project by 15 nations, next March. Kirobo - jointly developed by the University of Tokyo, Toyota Motor Corp and Dentsu Inc - will stay in space until late 2014.

 

Standing 34 cm (13 inches) tall and weighing about 1 kg (2.2 pounds), Kirobo is designed to navigate in zero gravity and gets its name from "kibo", the Japanese word for "hope", and "robot".

 

Talking robot, other gear launched to space station

 

Stephen Clark - SpaceflightNow.com

 

A Japanese resupply freighter took off Saturday with nearly six tons of cargo bound for the International Space Station, bringing fresh food, experiments, spare parts and a charming humanoid robot name Kirobo to keep the outpost's six-person crew company.

 

The mission launched atop a 186-foot-tall H-2B rocket at 1948:46 GMT (3:48:46 p.m. EDT) from the Tanegashima Space Center, a picturesque spaceport at the southwest tip of the Japanese main islands.

 

Producing more than 3 million pounds of thrust from its four solid-fueled boosters and twin LE-7A main engines, the launcher rapidly ascended into the predawn sky over Tanegashima, where it was 4:48 a.m. local time.

 

The H-2B launcher, built and operated by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, shed its four boosters and nose shroud a few minutes after liftoff, and its hydrogen-fueled first stage yielded to the rocket's LE-5B second stage engine to put the mission's 35,000-pound payload into orbit.

 

The H-2 Transfer Vehicle deployed from the rocket about 15 minutes after launch, kicking off a six-day journey to the International Space Station.

 

Arrival at the 450-ton complex is set for Aug. 9. NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg and Chris Cassidy will unlimber the station's robotic arm to reach out and capture the HTV as it hovers about 30 feet below the lab.

 

Stretching 33 feet long and spanning 14 feet across, the HTV is about the size of a tour bus. It uses GPS and laser-guided navigation systems to approach and rendezvous with the space station.

 

The astronauts will maneuver the HTV into position on the Earth-facing berthing port on the space station's Harmony module.

 

The mission is Japan's fourth cargo delivery flight to the space station. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, or JAXA, pays its share of the station's operating costs by reimbursing NASA through cargo deliveries. JAXA and the European Space Agency have barter agreements with NASA to pay for space station membership through services instead of cash.

 

The HTV 4 mission is also named Kounotori 4. Kounotori is the Japanese word for white stork.

 

The fourth HTV mission is loaded with 11,900 pounds of equipment. About 8,600 pounds of cargo is riding inside the HTV's pressurized cabin, and engineers installed three items into the ship's unpressurized section.

 

The HTV is hauling a main bus switching unit - a device used to distribute electrical power on the space station - and a utility transfer assembly designed to route cables between the outpost's four solar array truss segments and pressurized modules.

 

The switching unit and transfer assembly will be stored outside the space station to serve as spares in the event of failures with either system.

 

The HTV's exposed pallet also carries a U.S. military payload housing eight experiments in atmospheric observation, thermal control, radiation measurement, data processing and lightning research. The instruments, sponsored by the Defense Department and NASA, will be installed outside the space station for several years.

 

Japanese technicians loaded a diverse cache of equipment inside the ship's internal compartment, including food, clothes and water for the space station's crew. Other items include batteries, oxygen tanks for spacesuits, experiment samples, and a freezer to be added to Japan's Kibo laboratory module.

 

A talking robot named Kirobo is among the HTV's passengers.

 

Developed in a partnership between Japanese advertising giant Dentsu, automaker Toyota, the University of Tokyo and Robo Garage, Kirobo stands 13 inches tall and will be activated aboard the space station this fall.

 

Japanese astronaut Koichi Wakata, due to arrive at the space station in December, will have a conversation with Kirobo, whose designers say will demonstrate a new way to foster communication between robots and humans living alone.

 

The HTV is also hauling an ultra-high resolution video camera to record comet ISON as it flies through the inner solar system later this year.

 

Four tiny CubeSats are also aboard the cargo freighter:

 

·         PicoDragon will collect imagery of Earth. It was built by the University of Tokyo, the Vietnam National Satellite Center and IHI Aerospace.

 

·         ArduSat 1 and ArduSat X were developed by NanoSatisfi, a San Francisco-based start-up, with the help of crowd-funding. The satellite's developers say investors can buy time on the satellite for imaging and other research pursuits.

 

·         TechEdSat 3 was developed by San Jose State University and the University of Idaho with oversight from NASA's Ames Research Center. The small satellite, about the size of a loaf of bread, will test a passive deorbit system called the Exobrake.

 

The CubeSats will be transferred inside the space station, then placed in a specially-built deployer outside the Japanese Kibo laboratory module. The deployer will jettison the satellites into orbit - a procedure first tested last year.

 

The HTV cargo craft is scheduled to depart the space station Sept. 4, setting course for a destructive re-entry in the atmosphere a few days later.

 

Japan Launches Talking 'Robot Astronaut' Kirobo Into Space

 

Tariq Malik - Space.com

 

Call it one giant leap for robot kind: A small talking robot launched into space aboard a Japanese cargo ship Saturday to keep astronauts company on the International Space Station.

 

The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) launched the humanoid Kirobo "robot astronaut" into orbit from the Tanegashima Space Center in southern Japan as part of nearly 3.5 tons of supplies and equipment to resupply the space station's six-person crew.

 

Kirobo was packed inside Japan's unmanned  HTV-4 (Kounotori 4) cargo ship when it launched into orbit atop the country's H-2B rocket  at 3:48 p.m. EDT (1948 GMT), though it was early Sunday morning (Aug. 4) Japan Standard Time at the time of liftoff. The HTV-4 spacecraft will arrive at the space station on Aug. 9.

 

"The flight goes very smoothly," a JAXA launch controller said as the HTV-4 spacecraft entered orbit.

 

Meet Kirobo, the talking robot

 

The Kirobo space robot is a diminutive mechanical person just 13 inches (34 centimeters) tall built to converse with astronauts on long space voyages. The robot, and its ground-based counterpart Mirata, are part of the Kibo Robot Project to study human-robot interaction technology. Kirobo speaks Japanese and is expected to talk to JAXA astronaut Koichi Wakata when he arrives at the space station in November.

 

Kibo, which means "hope" in Japanese, is the name of Japan's research laboratory module aboard the International Space Station. The name of Kirobo is a merging of Kibo and robot, project officials have said.

 

Kirobo and Mirata were built by scientists and engineers at the by the University of Tokyo's Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology. Both robots come equipped with voice-recognition and face-recognition technology, as well as a camera, emotion recognition and natural language processing. The Toyota Motor Corp., Robo Garage and the public relations company Dentsu Inc. are partners in Kibo Robot Project.

 

"I want to help create a world where humans and robots can live together," Kirobo said when asked what its dream is by an official from Toyota Motor Corp., during the Kibo Robot Project's press unveiling in late June.

 

You can follow Kirobo's mission online via Twitter using the name @Kibo_robo.

 

Japan's space delivery

 

Kirobo is just one piece of cargo among the thousands of pounds riding to the space station aboard Japan's HTV-4 spacecraft. Included among the 3.5 tons of cargo aboard are about 1,880 pounds (852 kilograms) or spare part and new experiment supplies to be attached to the station's exterior.

 

"Among the items within Kounotori's pressurized logistics carrier are test samples for research experiments inside the Kibo laboratory, a new freezer capable of preserving materials at temperatures below -90 F, four small CubeSat satellites to be deployed from Kibo's airlock as well as food, water and other supplies for the station's crew," NASA officials said in an update. "The pressurized section also is delivering new hardware for the Robotic Refueling Mission to demonstrate robotic satellite-servicing tools, technologies and techniques."

 

This is the fourth mission for JAXA's HTV program (the name is short for H-2 Transfer Vehicle) since 2009. The cylindrical disposable spacecraft are built to haul up to 6 tons of cargo to the International Space Station and then be discarded at the mission's end.

 

HTV craft are called Kounotori (Japanese for "White Stork") and are about 33 feet long by 14.4 feet wide (10 by 4.4 meters). They carry supplies and equipment inside a pressurized section, which astronauts can access after the vehicle links up with the station. They also have an unpressurized section that can be accessed via the station's robotic to retrieve spare parts and other larger gear that can be stored on the orbiting lab's exterior.

 

All JAXA HTV spacecraft are designed to be captured using by astronauts using the space station's robotic arm. After the HTV craft is grappled, it is then attached to an open berthing spot on the orbiting lab. NASA astronauts Karen Nyberg and Chris Cassidy will control the station's robotic arm in order to capture HTV-4 on Aug. 9.

 

Space station's robot fleet

 

Japan's HTV spacecraft are just one of several robotic spacecraft that make regular shipments to the International Space Station. Russia's unmanned Progress spacecraft and the Automated Transfer Vehicles built by the European Space Agency also make periodic deliveries.

 

Two private U.S. spaceflight companies also have billion-dollar contracts with NASA to provide robotic cargo deliver missions to the space station.

 

The Hawthorne, Calif.-based SpaceX has already launched two of 12 planned delivery flights for NASA using its Dragon space capsules as part of a $1.6 billion deal with the U.S. space agency. Unlike all other robotic cargo ships serving the station, SpaceX's Dragon capsules can also return hardware and experiments to Earth.

 

NASA also has a $1.9 billion deal with the Dulles, Va.-based Orbital Sciences Corp. for at least eight delivery flights using the company's new Antares rocket and Cygnus spacecraft. The Antares rocket flew its first test flight in April and is slated to launch the maiden Cygnus delivery mission to the space station in mid-September.

 

The International Space Station is currently home to six astronauts representing three different countries and space agencies. Its Expedition 36 crew consists of three Russian cosmonauts, two American astronauts and an Italian astronaut representing the European Space Agency.

 

NASA officials said the space station crew watched the HTV-4 launch via a live video link while soaring 260 miles (418 kilometers) over southwest Russia. The Japanese cargo ship will be captured via robotic arm on Friday, Aug. 9, at 7:29 a.m. EDT (1129 GMT) and be attached to the space station at about 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT).

 

NASA To Pair Space Taxi Development with Tickets To Ride

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

The company or companies that win the next round of NASA commercial crew development funds will do more than build, test-fly and certify their spaceships. The agreements also are expected to cover up to six operational missions per vendor to ferry crew to the international space station, program managers said at an Aug. 1 industry briefing here to discuss a draft solicitation for the program's next phase.

 

"It's really two contracts in one," said Maria Collura, Commercial Crew Program certification manager. "That is a significant difference from what we do with many contracts with NASA."

 

Bidders also will have an opportunity to showcase their spacecraft's cargo capabilities and other attributes beyond NASA's core requirements to safely, reliably and cost-effectively transport crew members to and from the space station by 2017.

 

NASA does not plan to replace the cargo flight services it currently buys from Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and Orbital Sciences Corp. SpaceX already has made a test flight and two cargo runs to the station. Orbital Sciences plans its debut station mission in September.

 

Even while their rockets and capsules were relatively early in development, SpaceX and Orbital Sciences won contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion to fly cargo to the station. Those agreements helped ensure the companies remained on solid financial footing well before they were flying for NASA, which in turn reinforced the agency's chance of getting a space transportation system — two of them, actually — outside of expensive and time-consuming traditional cost-plus-award fee contracts.

 

NASA is looking to replicate its successful space cargo transportation program in a more daunting and riskier program to fly astronauts, an effort that began in 2010. Currently, NASA is backing spaceship designs by Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp.

 

With the next phase of the program, called Commercial Crew Transportation Capability, or CCtCap, the agency likely will pare down to two contenders, and possibly to one depending on funding. For the 2014 fiscal year beginning Oct. 1, the Obama administration has requested $821 million for NASA's Commercial Crew Program. Pending congressional funding proposals range from $500 million to $700 million.

 

If the program's funding falls short, NASA may decide it is more important to keep at least two firms in the competition and delay its 2017 goal for ending Russia's monopoly on flying crews to the station. NASA's latest contract for Soyuz flight services covers training, launch and return rides for six astronauts through June 2017 at a cost of $424 million. 

 

The lead time for procuring Soyuz capsules is about three years.

 

"At some point very soon, we are going to have to commit to additional Soyuzes or going on commercial crew," Phil McAlister, director of commercial spaceflight development at NASA, told reporters at the industry briefing here.

 

"I think there are some benefits in having an overlap period," McAlister said. "The systems will still be very new ... What we've seen historically is that those first few flights, we still learn a lot so there's definitely advantage of having an overlap period. Whether or not we're going to be able to afford that is the question."

 

Redundancy also drives NASA's reluctance to select just one space taxi design.

 

"The biggest risk to the program is prematurely eliminating competition," McAlister told a NASA advisory committee meeting July 30. "There are still some uncertainties about each one of these systems, so if we were to go all-in on one right now, I would be very nervous about that."

 

"The goal of the Commercial Crew Program is safe, reliable and cost-effective human space transportation to low Earth orbit. Competition gives you a good price, but the partners know that safety and reliability are important criteria for NASA so they are battling to be the safest, to be the most reliable and to be the most cost-effective," he added.

 

The draft solicitation also provides guidelines for companies wishing to sell spaceflight services to customers beyond NASA and it designates the Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation as the agency responsible for licensing commercial crew flights beyond test flights that are part of the development effort. The FAA oversight extends to the commercial crew operational missions that are expected to be included in the contracts.

 

NASA expects to make one or more awards next summer.

 

NASA Heavy-Lifter Clears Design Hurdle for High Lunar Orbit

 

Frank Morring, Jr. - Aerospace Daily

 

NASA's heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) should be able to reach the high-retrograde lunar orbit where the agency wants to reposition a small asteroid, based on the results of its successful preliminary design review (PDR).

 

Top SLS managers at Marshall Space Flight Center say the planned 321-ft.-tall, 70-ton-capability block 1 vehicle passed muster with a series of review boards for a first flight in 2017. That unmanned mission is tentatively set to fly 7,000 km (4,350 mi.) behind the Moon, according to SLS Chief Engineer Garry Lyles, provided upcoming wind tunnel tests validate operational solutions to some transonic buffeting engineers believe the big new rocket will experience on ascent.

 

While the fate of the asteroid relocation mission is the subject of partisan debate on Capitol Hill, Lyles says the lunar orbit targeted for an eventual astronaut/asteroid rendezvous remains the primary design reference mission for the SLS first flight. Placing astronauts in that orbit with an Orion crew vehicle would be the first human mission beyond low Earth orbit since the Apollo era, and is NASA's goal regardless of the outcome of the relocation debate because of the technologies it would exercise.

 

"We design to a capability, so that mission happens to be within our capability," Lyles says. "We have several design reference missions. Those design reference missions we will usually take the [most difficult] of those within the capability of the block one vehicle and design to that."

 

Lyles and Todd May, NASA's SLS program manager, said the PDR was the most significant technical hurdle the heavy-lifter must overcome before it is built and flies. Experts from around the nation, working inside and outside NASA, reviewed some 200 technical documents and 15 terabytes of data to clear the development project on up the chain. Still to come before critical design review is certification by Administrator Charles Bolden to his White House bosses that NASA can build the vehicle as specified, which will follow headquarters-level reviews based on the PDR that are scheduled through the fall.

 

Among the issues that must be resolved before detailed design can be completed is how to mitigate the aerodynamic buffeting expected between the solid-fuel boosters and the liquid-fueled upper stage. Proposed fixes, which generally involve modifying how the vehicle is flown during ascent, will be validated in upcoming wind tunnel tests scheduled to begin Aug. 19, Lyles says.

 

"Those tests will run about two months' time, and will basically demonstrate that we can reduce our air acoustic and aerodynamic loads," he says. " … That will basically eliminate a good many of our loads [issues] on the vehicle, so I think we have a good plan."

 

Astronaut alum gives speech for UND graduation

 

Associated Press

 

Astronaut and University of North Dakota graduate Karen Nyberg gave the university's summer graduates a speech that was literally "out of this world."

 

Nyberg, a 1994 UND graduate in mechanical engineering from Vining, Minn., was orbiting 230 miles above Earth on the International Space Station when she recorded the five-minute message for the UND's summer commencement.

 

She told the graduates on Friday that becoming an astronaut was a childhood dream come true.

 

"Be proud or yourselves and your school. Keep dreaming and keep reaching for your stars," Nyberg said, according to a written copy of her remarks provided by the university.

 

"It's a great honor to be back at my alma mater through the magic of technology to deliver a message from literally out of this world: the International Space Station," Nyberg said.

 

Nyberg is the first UND graduate to go into space, and the 50th woman to do so. She's done it twice.

 

Nyberg first traveled to the International Space Station aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 2008. She made her second journey on a Russian Soyuz capsule that blasted off in late May, and she is to return late this year.

 

UND President Robert Kelley said he was amazed that Nyberg was able to record the message, given her responsibilities and workload.

 

Astronaut UND alum delivers speech from space

Karen Nyberg told graduates Friday that she wanted to give a speech that was "literally out of this world"

 

Jennifer Johnson - Grand Forks Herald

 

Astronaut and UND alumna Karen Nyberg told graduates Friday that she wanted to give a speech that was "literally out of this world."

 

Nyberg was orbiting some 230 miles above Earth aboard the International Space Station when she recorded the brief message last week for the 2013 summer commencement. She praised her alma mater for the educational opportunities it offered herself and other graduates.

 

"Global understanding is key to the survival of our planet," she said. "You are all lucky to be graduating from a university with such a strong international presence, with some 70 countries represented."

 

Nyberg, the first UND alumna and the sixth Minnesotan ever to go into space, is serving a six-month mission. Her speech played on a screen at the Chester Fritz Auditorium in front of a packed audience who had shown up to support the 157 or so graduates who appeared for the ceremony.

 

Nyberg's speech marks the second time UND graduates have observed a commencement delivered from space, according to university spokesman Peter Johnson.

 

Sean O'Keefe, a former top NASA administrator, gave a speech in 2005 that included a prerecorded message from astronauts.

 

"It was the first time not only for us, but that any university had gotten a message from space," he said. "We were extremely proud of that. Then to have our own alum, our own graduate do that was so sweet."

 

Annie Wargetz, who graduated Friday with a master's degree in space studies, said it was impressive to see the image of Nyberg in the space station with the UND flag.

 

Wargetz, who was not present at the ceremony but spoke from her home in Houston, Texas, said that she appreciated Nyberg's effort.

 

"We're always proud that a female astronaut is on the ISS," said Wargetz, who recently received an internship with NASA's social media and communications department. "It's pretty neat — not many people think of North Dakota or UND. She's putting us on the map."

 

A workout that's out of this world

 

Jessica Belasco - San Antonio Express-News

 

How do you lift weights in microgravity?

 

Exercising on a satellite floating 200 miles above the surface of the planet presents some unique challenges. But working out is so essential to counter the adverse effects of weightlessness on the body that astronauts aboard the International Space Station devote about 2 to 21/2 hours to exercise every day.

 

"I'm a little less disciplined here on Earth," said NASA astronaut Doug Wheelock, whose first spacewalk was in 2007. "Up there, I just stayed to my schedule because I was so distressed about being able to get back to the Earth and not being able to walk. I lost like 12 pounds and like 10 percent body fat. Of course I let that go when I got back to Earth."

 

Last month, NASA invited reporters and social media experts to a daylong event at Johnson Space Center to learn how astronauts stay fit during missions. Astronaut Mike Hopkins, who will be heading to the space station in September, has launched a new social media fitness program, Train Like Mike. Viewers can follow his in-space workouts at twitter.com/TrainAstronaut and Facebook.com/Train Astronaut.

 

In microgravity, astronauts don't exert as much force on their muscles, which affects their fitness levels. Without exercising, astronauts can lose an average of 1 to 2 percent of bone density per month in space; on Earth, an elderly person loses about 1 to 2 percent per year. Astronauts could lose up to 15 percent of their muscle volume without strength training. Cardiovascular function also diminishes.

 

Crew members in orbit use a treadmill, stationary bike and a resistance machine for strength training. Working out in microgravity takes some adjustment (not to mention they can't shower or do laundry afterward).

 

"It's not intuitive. You just don't have the gravity cues," said astronaut Tracy Caldwell Dyson, who lived aboard the International Space Station as a flight engineer in 2010. "You have to overcome some instincts."

 

The most obvious problem with exercising in space? How to keep from floating away from the equipment. On the treadmill, astronauts wear a harness with bungee cords that tether them to the machine.

 

Running in microgravity felt "really, really weird" for the first few weeks, Wheelock said. "You feel really clumsy and you're kind of running quite flat-footed."

 

When crew members pedal the bike, which has no seat, they clip their shoes to the pedals to stay connected to the machine.

 

"It's really hard to ride a bike in weightlessness because you have no leverage," said Bob Tweedy, NASA countermeasures system instructor. "Down here, you can stand up and mash down on the pedals with your body weight. You can't do that (in space). Plus you're (floating) around."

 

Probably the most high-tech piece of equipment is the Advanced Resistive Exercise Device, or ARED, which resembles a weight machine without the weights. The contraption uses piston-driven vacuum cylinders to provide resistance. The astronauts use dials to adjust resistance, up to 600 pounds.

 

Astronauts can lift a lot more weight in orbit than they can on Earth, because they aren't lifting their own body weight.

 

The squat and the deadlift, very high-load exercises, are two of the main exercises they do, Tweedy said, because they work some of the most common areas of bone loss, including the hips.

 

There's one way in which exercise is easier in space: The astronauts recover a lot faster, Tweedy said, because they're not carrying the load of their own body weight post-workout.

 

"Crew members have told me they felt fine the next day," Tweedy said. "Not as sore, not as fatigued, more rested."

 

In the past, astronauts underwent fitness testing before and after flight. But in the last couple of years, scientists have designed ways for astronauts to perform fitness assessments on the space station. Ultrasounds can measure muscle mass, while VO2 max testing measures cardiovascular function.

 

Now NASA researchers are experimenting to refine the astronauts' exercise protocol, using regular testing to measure fitness and adjust the workout accordingly. The research study, called SPRINT, is evaluating an exercise program that includes high-intensity interval training alternating with resistance training.

 

"Our dream goal is to come up with an hour or two a day of exercise you could do that would completely protect your cardiovascular, your muscle and your bone systems against 23 hours a day of lying around," said Lori Ploutz-Snyder, an exercise physiologist at NASA. "So we have a big task ahead of us."

 

The goal is to determine how astronauts can maintain their fitness levels on missions longer than six months, the typical length of missions now. In 2015, two astronauts will undertake a 12-month mission. Missions to Mars are expected to last two to three years.

 

The findings can benefit those of us on Earth, too. Ploutz-Snyder said researchers could figure out how to design exercise to help people on bed rest to maintain their fitness levels.

 

Skylab 40 years later:

NASA remembers an Alabama idea that led to International Space Station

 

Lee Roop - Huntsville Times

 

NASA is pausing today to remember Skylab, the orbiting 1970s laboratory that paved the way for the International Space Station. The laboratory, built from a Saturn V rocket third stage, was conceived in Huntsville and saved by quick-thinking engineers and brave astronauts after things went very wrong on launch day 40 years ago.

 

Skylab was launched without a crew atop a Saturn V rocket on May 14, 1973. The crew was to follow a day later on a Saturn 1B rocket. But after liftoff of the lab, NASA mission controllers got indications a shield meant to protect the laboratory from micrometeoroids had deployed prematurely.

 

"If that has happened," Skylab program manager William Schneider said, "the shield was probably torn off. The thermal indications are that it is gone, and we have some indication that our solar array on the workshop also did not fully deploy."

 

NASA and industry teams went into crash mode to develop tools and plans to fix the laboratory. Astronauts Charles Conrad, Joseph Kerwin and Paul Weitz lifted off on May 25 with tools and plans for a spacewalk. "This is Skylab 2, we fix anything," Conrad said at liftoff.

 

They did fix it in a dramatic spacewalk, and three crews would eventually spend a total of 84 days in orbit aboard the lab doing Earth observations and solar astronomy. Just as important, they proved astronauts could stay for extended periods working in space.

 

SpaceX Appetite for U.S. Launch Sites Grows

 

Irene Klotz - Space News

 

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) is awaiting word from NASA about whether it can take over one of the space shuttle's launch pads at the Kennedy Space Center here. But even if its proposal is accepted, bringing its current U.S. launch complex tally to three, the company will still pursue another site, most likely in Texas, for its growing commercial business.

 

"Each of the pads has its own niche and we have plenty of business to fill each pad," said Garrett Reisman, a former astronaut who now oversees SpaceX's commercial crew programs.

 

NASA is evaluating at least two proposals for Launch Pad 39A, an Apollo-era complex that was revamped for the now-retired space shuttle program.

 

In addition to SpaceX, privately owned Blue Origin has said it would like to lease the complex on a non-exclusive basis.

 

Reisman said SpaceX wants the pad whether or not it wins the next and final round of NASA's commercial crew development program. The company is competing against Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp., both of which plan to fly their spacecraft on United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas 5 rockets.

 

ULA said it did not bid for the shuttle's launch pad.

 

Reisman said SpaceX wants to use Launch Complex 39A's access tower, escape system and bunker for launching people, saving the time and cost of upgrading its existing Cape Canaveral Air Force Station launch pad, located just south of NASA's spaceport, for crewed missions.

 

The company also would fly its planned Falcon Heavy rockets, in addition to Falcon 9s, from the Kennedy Space Center, Reisman added.

 

"We want to start using it real fast," he said.

 

NASA is looking for a commercial partner to take over pad 39A by Oct. 1, documents posted on the agency's procurement website show.

 

SpaceX meanwhile is continuing to assess options for what would be a fourth launch site for its commercial customers. It specifically wants a site that would be licensed and overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration, rather than the U.S. military or NASA.

 

An environmental assessment of site in  Boca Chica Beach near Brownsville, Texas, is under way.

 

Another site in Florida, as well as sites in Georgia and Puerto Rico reportedly are still under consideration.

 

One-Way Mars Trip: Aspiring Martian Colonists Land In Washington

 

Tanya Lewis – Space.com

 

A group of volunteers hoping to become the first human Martians congregated in one spot for the first time Saturday (Aug. 3) to discuss their hopes to join the Mars One mission, a project to send colonists on a one-way trip to the Red Planet.

 

Mars One CEO and co-founder Bas Lansdorp addressed a crowd of about 50 Mars One applicants, almost all male, in an auditorium here at George Washington University. The mood at the event, which was webcast live, was something akin to a gamer's LAN party — excited discussions blended with nerdy banter. But the purpose was serious.

 

"How many of you want to go on a one-way trip to Mars?" Lansdorp asked. Nearly everyone raised their hands.

 

The Mars One colony mission, announced in May 2012, aims to send humans to Mars in 2023. Yet unlike other proposed manned Mars missions, they won't be coming back.

 

The colonists will be sent in groups of four, and the first group will have two men and two women, hailing from four different continents. The company is accepting applications from anyone over the age of 18, through August 31. The response has been overwhelming — as of May, some 78,000 Mars colonist applications had been received.

 

10 Awesome Startups That Are Looking To Profit From A New Space Race

 

Kyle Russell - Business Insider

 

What would you do if you were a billionaire and wanted to go to space?

 

The obvious answer: use that money to start a company to help you do just that.

 

In recent years, some of the most famous names in tech, like Microsoft's Bill Gates and Paul Allen, Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, and Amazon's Jeff Bezos have been founding and investing in companies that are looking to the stars.

 

Whether for personal dreams of adventure or for profit, these companies are doing the engineering and basic science needed to get humans into space.

 

They're also looking at other opportunities that space provides, like access to resources that are hard to get on Earth and the ability to collect information about our planet from a different perspective.

 

1.     SpaceX: The "other" company from Tesla founder Elon Musk. In the short term, it's building rockets and capsules to get astronauts to the International Space Station. In the long term, it's looking to make trips to Mars somewhat affordable by creating rockets that can be used many times, like the "Grasshopper" below, which can take off and land instead of simply falling into the ocean.

 

2.     Planetary Resources: With financial backing from Google's Larry Page and Eric Schmidt, "Avatar" director James Cameron, and others, Planetary Resources is looking at revolutionizing the tech world by mining nearby asteroids for metals that are extremely rare on Earth but found in abundance in space.

 

3.     Blue Origin: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is well-known for his love of all things space. While he founded Blue Origins in 2000, it's only in recent years that he's become more open with the progress his company is making towards making manned spaceflight affordable.

 

4.     Planet Labs: Using 28 miniature satellites known as "CubeSats," Planet Labs aims to provide more detailed and more frequently updated images of our planet than have previously been available. These photos will allow for traffic maps and environmental data to be more accurate than ever.

 

5.     Kymeta: Like other companies with backing from Bill Gates (who both provided initial cash and contributed to a $50 million venture round), Kymeta is a company looking to make a positive social impact. The company plans to use orbiting satellites and low-cost receivers to provide Internet to vehicles and also to isolated areas in the developing world.

 

6.     Orbital Sciences: Though it has a background in launching satellites and missile defense systems, Orbital has been making great strides in recent years towards providing vessels for NASA, putting it in direct competition with SpaceX.

 

7.     Deep Space Industries: Like Planetary Resources, Deep Space Industries hopes to mine asteroids for materials that are worth insane amounts due to their rarity on Earth. The company plans to identify viable asteroids in the next two years and begin mining within a decade.

 

8.     Stratolaunch Systems: Founded in 2011 by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, Stratolaunch is looking to make spaceflight more affordable by using massive, lightweight planes to do most of the work of getting people and cargo off the ground.

 

9.     SkyBox Imaging: With backing from CrunchFund's Michael Arrington, SkyBox is deploying a fleet of miniature satellites, much like Planet Labs. The company is looking to use these for a much wider range of uses however, including oil and natural gas site selection, reporting of natural disasters, urban planning, and agriculture.

 

10.  Masten Space Systems: Based in Southern California, Masten is dedicated to making advanced, reusable rockets that can take off and land vertically many times, in the same vein as SpaceX's "Grasshopper."

 

Plano resident follows her galactic dream

 

Elizabeth Knighten - Dallas Morning News

 

It's hard to believe that a space traveler lives in Plano, but for Anousheh Ansari, it's a reality she is reminded of daily by photos of her venture that are displayed in her Richardson office.

 

The chairman, co-founder and CEO of Prodea Systems, Inc., made her childhood dream a reality in 2006 when she traveled with the Russian space team during its mission to the International Space Station.

 

I first learned about Ansari in May while writing a brief for The Dallas Morning News Metro section's County by County pages. She was scheduled to speak at a Mother's Day luncheon sponsored by the Texas Muslim Women's Foundation, and I was impressed that she had accomplished such a lofty goal. I have to admit I was nervous as I headed into the interview and looked up at the tall glass building that houses her North Texas company.

 

But to my surprise, she was down to earth and her journey was inspiring.

 

Ansari said growing up in Iran, she always had an interest in math and sciences, which later played a role in her career choices.

 

"I had a very inquisitive mind and asked a lot of questions, to the point that I probably drove my parents crazy," she said. "I always question why things are the way they are and how they came about and how they worked, so that I think helped me in my endeavor in the sciences."

 

While she said she did put her dream of space flight on hold as she acclimated to life in the United States, she later returned to her passion through the X Prize Foundation. She later had the opportunity of a lifetime to train and fly with Russian cosmonauts.

 

Today, Ansari speaks at local events and works with X Prize as well as the Ashoka Foundation, which focuses on developing entrepreneurs.

 

NASA needs to make some quick decisions

 

John Kelly - Florida Today (Commentary)

 

The United States' human spaceflight program, and the future of the Kennedy Space Center, hinge on decisions that need to be made very soon. Three jump out as the most important:

 

1. Will the U.S. extend the International Space Station project beyond its currently planned retirement in 2020?

 

There's no definitive plan for paying the bills to operate the space station to 2025, even though many in the industry talk as though that's a sure thing. Currently, a long-term funding profile on the books for NASA doesn't include enough money to keep the station operational beyond then.

 

All indications so far are that the space station could fly beyond 2020, and be home to a permanent crew and an outpost for science and engineering research for the U.S. and its international partners. However, decisions need to be made soon so that the U.S. and its partners can afford to do so.

 

If an international station isn't operational then, that raises questions about the purpose of the commercial crew program to seed development of private human transports to low-Earth orbit.

That innovative effort could be stunted if those involved fear there won't be many flights to a space station as a fiscal incentive for their efforts.

 

2. Where are NASA astronauts going next?

 

There's allegedly soft support within the space agency for going to an asteroid. There seems to be even less support in Congress, from which NASA's money flows.

 

The moon or Mars do get people more excited, but apparently not excited enough for Congress to provide the cash infusion necessary to make such missions feasible in the next decade or so.

Picking exploration targets has been a sticking point since the 2003 space shuttle Columbia disaster prompted one of the hardest looks at NASA's purpose since its inception. A firm decision seems elusive still. Ask different people at NASA where its astronauts are going next and you will not get the same answer. Someone has to lead, decide and set the agency on a clear course soon.

 

3. Is the U.S. committed to private innovation in human flights?

 

The commercial crew project, a budding effort to spur innovation with a relatively small amount of government seed money, can succeed. But, members of Congress and the White House keep chipping away at the funding. It's counter-productive.

 

Any objective look at return on investment in the commercial cargo program would indicate repeating that process for crews is a good bet for taxpayers' money.

 

That will prove important not only for the agency and overall innovation for the space sector, but also for Kennedy Space Center, which is the home base for the commercial crew project.

 

Newsroom leader takes position at USA Today

 

Florida Today

 

John Kelly, local editor of Florida Today for the last seven years, has been named Data & Joint Investigations Editor for the Gannett Co.'s new USA Today Network.

 

In his new position, he will be coordinating watchdog journalism for Gannett's newspapers, Web sites and television stations across the United States.

 

Kelly, 41, has been instrumental in many award-winning projects and news stories since joining Florida Today in 2002 as space editor.

 

He had been on the job only a few months when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated upon re-entry on Feb. 1, 2003. He led award-winning investigations into that accident, using database reporting skills he had honed at the Associated Press in Illinois. He was promoted in 2006 to supervise the newspaper's main local news sections.

 

Kelly also writes a column about the space industry that appears in the Sunday paper.

 

"John has made many contributions to our watchdog news coverage, has helped lead our transition into digital media and has been a mentor and coach for many of our reporters and editors," Bob Stover, executive editor, said. "We are fortunate that we will continue to benefit from his work through the USA Today Network."

 

He and his wife Kim have seven children and are active in the Ascension Catholic Community in Melbourne. He will continue to live in Melbourne and handle some of his nationwide responsibilities from Florida Today's offices in Suntree.

 

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