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Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Fwd: NASA News Summary for Wednesday, October 2, 2013



Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: October 2, 2013 6:55:24 AM GMT-06:00
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA News Summary for Wednesday, October 2, 2013

Hope you can join us at Hibachi Grill tomorrow for our monthly NASA Retirees Luncheon at 11:30.

 

Sharing with you the HQ version of NASA News

 

 

 

TODAY'S TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

NASA Mostly "Idled" By Shutdown.

Coverage continues on the Federal government shutdown. Reports now discuss how agencies are affected, not just describing what could stay open or close. Typically, unless a source was close to a NASA center and sometimes even then, NASA was briefly mentioned as either experiencing a lot of furloughs, or noted for how ISS operations would remain open to maintain the health of the astronauts. Web-based sources also liked to highlight the Tweets NASA programs sent out because of the shutdown. However, when commentary was provided, sources often lamented how NASA was being treated.

        CNN (10/2, Gross, 14.53M) reports NASA gave people "perspective" on the shutdown when the Voyager 2 team tweeted, "Due to government shutdown, we will not be posting or responding from this account. ... Farewell, humans. Sort it out yourselves."

        Meanwhile, the Houston Chronicle (10/2, Hlavaty, 2.26M) notes that yesterday was NASA's 55th birthday, but few were on the job. NASA spokesman Kelly Humphries said, "Nobody wants a shutdown or a furlough, but we must take care of the space station. ... We'll just have to see what happens." According to the article, Humphries said 93 employees would be working "intermittently" at the Johnson Space Center. Meanwhile, he article notes that while the astronauts are still working at the ISS, "NASA's astronaut Twitter feed, @NASA_Astronauts," is down, as well as its official Instagram site.

       

NASA Turns 55.

The WTLV-TV Jacksonville, FL (10/2, 4:49 a.m. ET, 39K) broadcast that NASA is "celebrating" its 55th anniversary of when it was founded. The broadcast listed the agency's accomplishments, including the Apollo missions, the ISS, the Mars rovers and the Voyager spacecraft. About 90 other TV stations carry broadcasts on the anniversary.

        Blog Coverage. Suzanne Deffree , at the EDN (10/2, 49K) "END Moments" blog comments that since NASA was founded, the agency has "grown tremendously."

Ross Speaks To 100 Students.

The Lafayette (IN) Journal and Courier (10/1, Livingston, 103K) reports astronaut Jerry Ross spoke at St. James Lutheran School to over 100 students about his time in space. He also described and showed footage from his "final spacewalk" installing the S-Zero Truss at the ISS.

Orbital Sciences Cleared To Start On Commercial Resupply Services Contract.

The Aerospace Daily and Defense Report (10/2, Carreau) reports Alan Lindenmoyer, NASA's COTS program manager, said Orbital Sciences is now "good to go" on its Commercial Resupply Services contract following the successful berthing of the Cygnus spacecraft at the ISS. Lindenmoyer said, "The station has a spot ready for them in December. We're getting the cargo ready to ship out. They've demonstrated a system that certainly can deliver. There will be no delays in proceeding toward the next mission."

        Blog Coverage. Jeff Foust at Space Politics (10/1) wrote how there has "only been a handful of reactions" to the Cygnus docking, possibly due to concerns over the government shutdown, which had not started at the time the post was written. Foust listed those from NASA, Space Frontier Foundation president James Pura, Sen. Mark Warner, and former NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver.

Ares I Mobile Launcher To Be Modified For SLS.

NASASpaceFlight (10/2, Bergin, 305) reports that "major modification work" is about to start on the "former Ares I Mobile Launcher (ML)," which will now be used for the Space Launch System (SLS). The article noted the mobile launcher is already "highly suited" for its new role, but more work is needed to modify "Ares-specific elements" like the launch mount. According to the article, there is no official timeframe for when the work will be done, but it is expected to be "ready in time" for the rocket's 2017 launch.

Flagler County School District Highlights Student Conversation With Astronauts.

The FlaglerLive (FL) (10/2) reports the Flagler County School district gave its "State of Education Address" on Tuesday. Along with discussing the "challenges" the district faces, officials described the successes of the past year. The article very briefly noted that Superintendent Janet Valentine mentioned how middle school students were able to conduct "live conversations" with ISS astronauts.

"Gravity" Features Some Accurate Physics, Various Inaccuracies.

In an article for Time (10/1, 13.4M), Jeffrey Kluger explores the factual accuracy of the new space-based movie Gravity, directed by Alfonso Cuaron. Kluger discusses how a "chain reaction" space-object disaster, which "would never happen in the first place," caused by the destruction of a Russian satellite is unlikely to occur due to Hubble orbiting at a different inclination than Russia's satellites. "Junk from a Russian pigeon-shoot might cross the shuttle's orbit on some of its passes, but it would not happen right away—and certainly not every hour and a half." Furthermore, the characters seeking refuge on the International Space Station would not be close by if there were servicing Hubble. Despite the various implausibilities, Kluger says Gravity "gets more right than it gets wrong," concerning space physics and is of a high-enough quality that "it seems churlish to pay attention to much else."

        Wired (10/2, Roper, 3.52M) reports Cuaron spent four-and-a-half years on the movie, mostly due to the time-intensive process of space-accurate animation. Cuaron said, "We had a physicist explain the laws of zero gravity and zero resistance. After three months, the animators really got the concept and it started to become second nature." Additionally, the crew "had conversations with actual astronauts too, not only about our spatial questions but also about behavioral things in zero gravity." Early in the interview, Cuaron notes childhood ambitions of going to space, which he decided was "unlikely" for a child from Mexico.

US Said To Be Lacking Progress In Space As China Moves Forward.

At the Wall Street Journal (10/2, 5.91M) "China Realtime Report" blog, Andrew Erickson of the US Naval War College writes that while the US deals with its budget issues, China continues to move forward in various areas. As an example, Erickson cites how at the recent International Astronautical Congress in China, China National Space Administrator Ma Xingrui outlined the progress the country has made in space, noting that few from the US were in attendance. Erickson contrasts that progress with the lack of progress he sees at the ISS, and the inability to launch astronauts from US soil. To Erickson, this shows a lack of US leadership in space.

        The Medium (10/2, Beckhusen) "War Is Boring" blog also covers the story, citing the WSJournal post.

Future Moon Missions Could Fall To China, Private Sector.

Blogging for Aviation Week (10/2, 3K), Michael Lavitt discusses a conversation he had with former Apollo astronaut Alan Bean in 2003 regarding the future of the US space program. Bean predicted Chinese interest in reaching the moon could prompt a US return to the moon within 5 years. Today, Lavitt writes, China's Long March 9 launcher, potentially "more powerful than the Saturn V stack that first carried men to the Moon," could trigger another, beneficial space race.

        Writing for the Houston Chronicle (10/2, 2.26M), Eric Berger writes that NASA, under its current budget, will be unable to return to the moon and that any future moon missions for the US will fall to the private sector. According to Berger, private company Golden Spike, "has announced plans to send two-person missions to the surface of the moon by 2020 for about $1.5 billion a flight." Former Johnson Space Center director Gerry Griffin will be giving a free public talk Thursday, October 3 alongside Golden Spike CEO Alan Stern that could relate to the mission.

ISS Set To Be More "International" In 2015 With New Crew Announcement.

Ben Evans at AmericaSpace (10/2) writes that the ISS will be "even more 'international' over the coming few years" as astronaut Tim Kopra and ESA astronaut Tim Peake, the first astronaut to officially represent the UK, have been named to the 2015 Expedition 45/46 crew. A third crewmate is "rumored" to be cosmonaut Sergei Zalyotin. Evans comments that while this mission is years away, it still will be part of the ISS' "remarkable and constantly evolving adventure." That year is expected to be "dominated" by the year-long mission of two astronauts at the ISS.

NexGen Space President Discusses Commercial Opportunities At The ISS.

David Livingston at The Space Show (9/30) podcast interviewed Charles Miller, president of NexGen Space, about "the future of commercial space, extending the life of the ISS, managing risk and uncertainty to maximize returns and benefits for commercial space." Miller also discussed how NanoRacks, which he co-founded, is commercially utilizing the ISS' national laboratory, as well as "commercial opportunities on the ISS" in general. Miller thought there will be a "turning point" in space activity once launch costs are reduced.

SpaceX Denies Falcon 9 Rocket's Upper Stage Exploded.

Space News (10/2, Leone, Subscription Publication, 481) reports that SpaceX is "denying speculation" that the Falcon 9 v1.1 rocket's upper stage exploded during Sunday's launch. This was due "in part" to US Space Surveillance Network observations of "more orbital objects associated with the launch than expected." SpaceX spokesperson Emily Shanklin said this may have been due to some insulation being lost during a "controlled venting of propellants."

        The NBC News (10/2, Boyle, 6.79M) "Cosmic Log" blog notes that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk issued a similar explanation to NBC News correspondent Jay Barbree

        Mashable (10/2, Ulanoff, 1.16M) reports Musk also said the initial debris observations "may not be accurate." Also, since the reports were coming from the "Russian and International space blog Zarya," Musk thought that report had to be taken "with a grain of salt" since Russia is a major SpaceX competitor.

India's Mars Orbiter Heading To Launch Pad.

Asian Age (10/2, Srikanth, 281K) reports India's Mars orbiter is scheduled to be sent to the launch pad today for its October 28 launch. Discussing the mission, ISRO Chairman K. Radhakrishnan said that because there will be periods where operators will not be able to communicate with the spacecraft quickly, developers "for the first time" installed "full-scale autonomy" systems so it can make decisions on its own.

Assembly Begins On Ariane 5 Rocket Launching In December.

Broadband TV News (10/2, Briel) reports workers have begun assembling the Ariane 5 rocket that will launch SES and Hispasat satellites in December.

Wisconsin Town Celebrates 53rd Anniversary Of Sputnik Fragment Crash.

SPACE (10/2, David, 186K) reports on this year's Sputnikfest, a celebration of the re-entry of a piece of the Soviet satellite in Manitowoc, Wisconsin on September 6, 1962. According to the article, "the celestial gala also serves as a fundraiser for children's art programs at the Rahr-West Art Museum, the lead coordinator of Sputnikfest." Museum executive director Greg Vadney said, when the event was first organized six years ago, the idea was too keep it novel. "we don't take it too seriously, and we enjoy this crazy era, the 1960s, in space history and in social history.' We keep the event simple and silly and fun," Reportedly, "this year's festivities included Sputnik: The Musical, as well as Alien Drop, which involves tiny aliens with numbers on them that correspond to raffle tickets."

Elysium Space Offering Space Burial To Japanese Clients.

The ITAR-TASS News Agency (10/2, 1K) reports on a service provided by American company Elysium Space Inc., which markets itself to Japanese families interested in providing a "space burial" for dead relatives. The market is possible due to the high cost of land and funeral expenses in Japan. According to the article, "One gram of ashes is placed in an aluminum capsule, which is then launched to around Earth; throughout its travels its position can be tracked by a special mobile app. In a few months orbital decay leads to the capsule re-entering the atmosphere....One rocket is capable of sending 100 to 400 capsules to Earth's orbit." The service costs a total of around $2000, which is "ten times as little as a cemetery plot and a tombstone" in Japan.

        Bloomberg News (10/2, Matsuyama, 1.91M) also covers the story.



 

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