Hope you can join us at Hibachi Grill today at 11:30 or sooner for our last Retirees Luncheon of this short year. Should be back to Winter time after lunch according to the weather report. Happy Flex Friday eve.
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| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
- Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System
- NOMAD Preparedness Exercise Dec. 9 to 10
- JSC Technologies in Nov. Tech Briefs Publication
- JSC Special Response Team Training - Building 45
- Extra! Extra! Read All About it
- JSC: See the Space Station
- White Sands Test Facility: See the Space Station
- Got a Moment to Spare?
- Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v7.0 Release - Organizations/Social
- Multigenerational Differences at Work
- Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting - Dec. 10
- Healthy Approaches to Holiday Stress
- JSC Praise and Worship Club Meeting
- Sustainability Panel with Local Universities
- CoLabs: Back in Action - Community
- Blood Drive Dec. 18 and 19
- Family Space Day Saturday
- View the Geminid Meteor Shower on Dec. 13 |  |
| Headlines - Joint Leadership Team Web Poll
Quite a few folks figured out that the Columbus module was not a part of the initial activation of the space station and was the answer that didn't belong in last week's poll. You were equally amazed at all of the weird Thanksgiving facts I was able to find on the Internet. We all know if it's on the Internet, it's true. This week's first question is a hypothetical one just for fun. If we scrapped our reserved parking system and offered paid parking, what would you be willing to pay for a close-in spot? Question two came to me after watching a fascinating football game this weekend. I've seen some amazing last second finishes to games, but I was trying to figure out what was the most amazing finish ever. Can you help? Bobby your Thompson on over to get this week's poll. - Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System
The Emergency Dispatch Center and Office of Emergency Management will conduct the monthly test of the JSC Emergency Warning System (EWS) today at noon. The EWS test will consist of a verbal "This is a test" message, followed by a short tone and then a second verbal "This is a test" message. The warning tone will be the "wail" tone, which is associated with an "All clear" message. Please visit the JSC Emergency Awareness website for EWS tones and definitions. During an actual emergency situation, the particular tone and verbal message will provide you with protective information. - NOMAD Preparedness Exercise Dec. 9 to 10
Beginning: 8 p.m. CST on Monday, Dec. 9 Ending: 3 a.m. CST on Tuesday, Dec. 10 The NOMAD system includes a disaster recovery/continuity of operations capability. A Dec. 2 test consisted of a full-site failover of NOMAD mailboxes from JSC to Marshall Space Flight Center. On Dec. 9, these accounts will be moved back to JSC. Email traffic during this activity will be delivered upon completion of the activity. There will be two five-minute interruptions to: - NOMAD email clients *
- Outlook Web Access *
- Email to BlackBerry and ActiveSync devices
Text messaging and phone service to handheld devices will not be affected. Affected users received this message via email: This exercise is to ensure NASA is prepared in the event of any disaster. For technical assistance, contact the Enterprise Service Desk (ESD): • 1-877-677-2123, Option 2 - JSC Technologies in Nov. Tech Briefs Publication
Four new technologies out of JSC have been featured in the November issue of the 2013 NASA Tech Briefs magazine. These JSC advanced research and technology innovations include: Dustin G. Hamm's Visiting Vehicle Ground Trajectory Tool; Michel E. Izygon's Workflow-Based Software Development Environment; Duane Pierson and Satish K. Mehta's Rapid Detection of Herpes Viruses for Clinical Applications; and Kevin R. Driscoll's Stacked Transformer for Driver Gain and Receive Signal Splitting. You can learn about these technologies and their inventors by visit the Strategic Opportunities & Partnership Development website here. You can review all of the NASA Tech Briefs published at this link. - JSC Special Response Team Training - Building 45
The JSC Special Response Team will be conducting security-related training throughout Building 45 on Friday, Dec. 6. - Extra! Extra! Read All About it
Do you know any green heroes? The latest edition of The Greener Side features a few green heroes here at JSC, but you can tell us about your green heroes by sending success stories to the Environmental info line. You might find yourself or others you know in a newsletter article, or even on JSC's Sustainability website! - JSC: See the Space Station
Viewers in the JSC area will be able to see the International Space Station this week. Sunday, Dec. 8, 6:10 p.m. (Duration: 5 minutes) Path: 17 degrees above SSW to 18 degrees above NE Maximum elevation: 65 degrees The International Space Station Trajectory Operations Group provides updates via JSC Today for visible station passes at least two minutes in duration and 25 degrees in elevation. Other opportunities, including those with shorter durations and lower elevations or from other ground locations, are available at the website below. - White Sands Test Facility: See the Space Station
Viewers in the White Sands Test Facility area will be able to see the International Space Station this week. Friday, Dec. 6, 6:47 p.m. (Duration: 2 minutes) Path: 10 degrees above SSW to 27 degrees above SSW Maximum elevation: 27 degrees The International Space Station Trajectory Operations Group provides updates via JSC Today for visible station passes at least two minutes in duration and 25 degrees in elevation. Other opportunities, including those with shorter durations and lower elevations or from other ground locations, are available at the website below. - Got a Moment to Spare?
The Office of the Chief Knowledge Officer is conducting research on the usability and satisfaction of the JSC Search interface. Over the next two months we will be releasing surveys to gather your thoughts on the usability/ functionality of the search interface, as well as the satisfaction on the result set presented. The survey only takes a moment and serves as a great opportunity to help improve a vital resource to the center! All submissions are anonymous, and every response will be evaluated. Please support this project by clicking on the link to take the first survey. Thank you! - Shuttle Knowledge Console (SKC) v7.0 Release
The JSC Chief Knowledge Officer is pleased to announce the seventh release of SKC. This release includes: - WebPCASS - millions of records from the production and maintenance of Space Shuttle Program (SSP) parts
- Space Meteorology Group mission binders, including the STS-51L weather maps
- USA Materials & Processes PRT Bulletin Board files
- Shuttle Flight Data handbooks
- U.S. Human Spaceflight Continuity & Stability Case Study
- Additional scanned documents
To date, 2.57TB of information, with 5.80 million documents of SSP knowledge, has been captured. Click the "Submit Feedback" button located on the top of the site navigation to give us your comments and thoughts. Organizations/Social - Multigenerational Differences at Work
Demographic trends in the United States have brought us to a unique place and time. Americans are extending their careers and, as a result, we are seeing an unprecedented phenomenon: no fewer than four generations coming together in the workplace. Each generation has its own attitude and style, which leads to frequent misunderstandings among the different generations. Increase your awareness of generational influences, tools for collaborative communication and management of multi-generation differences. Please join Anika Isaac, LPC, LMFT, CEAP, NCC, LCDC, for a presentation on "Multigenerational Differences at Work." If you are unable to attend via ViTS, you may attend by WebEx and telephone (information below). Audio dial in: 1-888-370-7263, pass code 8811760#. Please remember to mute your telephone while listening to the presentation. - Go here
- Enter your name and email address
- Enter the meeting password: Differences12-12
- Click "Join Now"
- Space Serenity Al-Anon Meeting - Dec. 10
"Celebrate" is our reminder to enjoy the wonders of life and focus on the good. Our 12-step meeting is for co-workers, families and friends of those who work or live with the family disease of alcoholism. We meet Tuesday, Dec. 10, in Building 32, Room 146 (room change), from 11 to 11:45 a.m. Visitors are welcome. - Healthy Approaches to Holiday Stress
The holidays are fast approaching, and with that comes the stress of time management, family challenges, finances and spending. Fill your toolbox early with strategies and tips for having positive, memorable holidays. Takis Bogdanos, MA, LPC-S, CGP, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program, will present "Healthy Approaches to Holiday Stress" on Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 12 noon in the Building 30 Auditorium. - JSC Praise and Worship Club Meeting
Join with the praise and worship band, "Allied with the Lord," for a refreshing set of Christmas carols and traditional and contemporary praise and worship songs on Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 11:15 a.m. to noon in Building 29, Room 237 (also called Creative Sp.ace). Prayer partners will be available for anyone who would like it. All JSC civil servants and contractors are welcome. Event Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 Event Start Time:11:15 AM Event End Time:12:00 PM
Event Location: Building 29 Room 237
Add to Calendar
Mike FitzPatrick x30758
[top] - Sustainability Panel with Local Universities
The December Environmental Brown Bag will be a little different this month. We're hosting a sustainability panel with local universities (University of Houston, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Rice University and City of Houston) to learn what they're doing to improve sustainability at their facilities and how it compares to JSC. It's a fantastic chance to see what our local neighbors are doing and talk about what might be applicable to JSC. The panel will be Tuesday, Dec. 10, from noon to 1 p.m. Note: For this month only, we're in a new location: Building 12, Room 200. Come by and check out all the interesting features that make Building 12 a LEED Gold building. - CoLabs: Back in Action
CoLabs, or Collaborative Labs, bring together people across JSC interested in gestural/spatial tracking (i.e., Microsoft Kinect), as well as low-cost computing (i.e., Raspberry Pis and Arduinos). Join us to find out how this collaborative group is getting involved with education outreach with the Aerospace Academy and a hackathon run by Heath 2.0! If you have any questions, feel free to contact Elena C. Buhay. Event Date: Wednesday, December 11, 2013 Event Start Time:12:00 PM Event End Time:1:00 PM
Event Location: Bldg 30A/Rm 2090
Add to Calendar
Elena Buhay 281-792-7976
[top] Community - Blood Drive Dec. 18 and 19
Give the "Gift of Life" this holiday season by donating at our final blood drive for 2013 on Dec. 18 and 19. Your blood donation can help as many as three people. You can donate at one of the following locations: - Teague Auditorium lobby - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Building 11 Starport Café donor coach - 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Gilruth Center donor coach - Noon to 4 p.m. (Thursday only)
Criteria for donating can be found at the St. Luke's link on our website. T-shirts, snacks and drinks are available for all donors. - Family Space Day Saturday
The Challenger Learning Center at the George Observatory is holding a Family Space Day Saturday, Dec. 7, from about 3 to 8 p.m. For purchase are tickets to complete a 45-minute Challenger Center mission to the moon! Challenger Center mission tickets may be purchased for $10 a person online. After enjoying a trip to space, stay for the evening and look at the night sky through our telescopes. George Observatory is located in the heart of Brazos Bend State Park. Admission to the park is $7 for adults; kids under 12 are free. - View the Geminid Meteor Shower on Dec. 13
Join us as we watch the dazzling Geminid meteor shower! With an average of 100 meteors per hour radiating from near the bright star Castor, this end-of-the-calendar shower is one of the year's best. Geminid meteor shower viewing is at the George Observatory on Friday, Dec. 13, until 1 a.m. Saturday, Dec. 14. Please come dressed for cold weather. Feel free to bring lawn chairs, blankets and snacks. Pricing: $5 tickets for the Gueymard Telescope go on sale at 5 p.m. Discovery Dome tickets are $3 per person. ** Normal park entrance fees paid at park entrance. ** There is a $7 per person charge to enter the park; children ages 12 and younger are admitted for free. Visitors should plan to bring a lawn chair, mosquito repellant, snacks and a blanket. | |
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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 and Human Spaceflight News
Thursday – December 5, 2013
HEADLINES AND LEADS
House panel ponders extraterrestrial life
Joel Achenbach – The Washington Post
Lawmakers held a free-ranging and sometimes bewilderment-inducing hearing Wednesday on the search for extraterrestrial life, gradually working around to the question of whether humans are alone in the universe. At the end of the 90-minute session, that issue remained unresolved.
Lawmakers want NASA to keep looking for life in space
Scientists are stepping up the search for "tenacious" forms of primitive life on planets orbiting distant stars, with promising technologies that could begin assessing 3,500 candidate planets within five to ten years, three astrobiology experts told Congress Wednesday.
Brooks Wants SLS, Orion Contractors To Spend Termination Liability Reserves Now
Dan Leone – SpaceNews
The U.S. House Science Committee on Dec. 4 will mark up a bill that would allow contractors on two of NASA's biggest human spaceflight programs, the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion, to tap into more than $500 million dollars of reserve funding.
Heat Shield for EFT-1 Orion arrives at KSC
The processing flow is heating up for the first Orion set to launch into space, as key elements of the Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1) mission arrive for integration at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). With the inert Launch Abort System (LAS) now pieced together, Wednesday saw the arrival of Orion's Heat Shield, flown in via a Super Guppy aircraft.
'The World Outside My Window' is latest must-see video from International Space Station (video)
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
Using time-lapse photography and a haunting soundtrack cut called "Fill My Heart' from Two Steps From Hell, NASA editor David Peterson has created another beautiful look at Earth from the International Space Station. He suggests you watch this 2:30 of awesomeness at "1080p, lights off, volume up."
Commercial Space Race Revolutionizing Business Off Planet Earth
For decades, the space race was seen as being mostly about national pride. Getting there first mattered most, whereas pushing the frontiers of science and technology took a close second.
COMPLETE STORIES
House panel ponders extraterrestrial life
Joel Achenbach – The Washington Post
Lawmakers held a free-ranging and sometimes bewilderment-inducing hearing Wednesday on the search for extraterrestrial life, gradually working around to the question of whether humans are alone in the universe. At the end of the 90-minute session, that issue remained unresolved.
Called "Astrobiology: The Search for Biosignatures in Our Solar System and Beyond," the House Science Committee's hearing featured three PhD-credentialed witnesses who are prominent in a scientific field that once was considered speculative. Although the efforts of the world's scientists have yet to yield even one confirmed example of extraterrestrial life, astronomers have discovered hundreds of planets outside the solar system, and many believe that the galaxy is aswarm with potentially habitable worlds.
The experts at the hearing — NASA astrobiologist Mary Voytek, Massachusetts Institute of Technology planetary scientist Sara Seager and science historian Steven J. Dick— advocated funding for the field, including investment in space telescopes that would be designed to detect chemical signatures of life in the atmospheres of distant, extrasolar planets.
Many of the questions from committee members were vague inquiries about whether astrobiology could be an inspiration for young people to get involved with science and engineering. The witnesses were asked how they got interested in astrobiology.
At one point, Rep. Bill Posey (R-Fla) asked the panelists what they considered to be the greatest danger to life on Earth. Dick said asteroids, Seager said overpopulation, and Voytek mentioned the quest for energy resources.
Then Posey asked whether they could recall the highest temperature ever recorded on Earth.
Seager answered delicately: "I always tell my students, every day is like a PhD defense. I actually don't remember that number off the top of my head."
Although the Democrats on the committee praised the witnesses and seemed to enjoy the discussion, the hearing, called by the committee chairman, Lamar Smith (R-Tex.), inspired partisan mockery outside the room. A news release from the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said the Republicans were holding a hearing on "space aliens" rather than on such issues as immigration reform or a minimum-wage increase.
"No wonder the American people think this Republican Congress is from another planet — they're more interested in life in space than Americans' lives," said the DCCC's Emily Bittner. "Saying this Republican Congress has misplaced priorities is an understatement of galactic proportions."
The hearing Wednesday largely skirted the issue of extraterrestrial intelligence. Dick, author of "The Biological Universe," suggested that NASA should resume funding of SETI, the search for extraterrestrial intelligence (typically with radio telescopes).
Not until the hearing was nearly over did a lawmaker address the issue head-on. Rep. Ralph M. Hall (R-Tex.), the chairman emeritus of the committee, asked the panel: "Do you think there's life out there, and are they studying us? And what do they think about New York City?"
Seager, whose work has earned her a MacArthur Foundation "genius grant," would not speculate about intelligent life but said: "The chance that there's a planet like Earth out there with life on it is very high."
NASA's Voytek was a bit more playful on the subject. "Whether they're looking at New York or some small town in Indiana, the diversity of life here and the way that we live our lives is phenomenal, and I think it goes all the way down from humans to microbes," she said.
Dick went with a Copernican principle of sorts: "I think the guiding principle holds that what's happened here has happened elsewhere in our huge universe."
Lawmakers want NASA to keep looking for life in space
Scientists are stepping up the search for "tenacious" forms of primitive life on planets orbiting distant stars, with promising technologies that could begin assessing 3,500 candidate planets within five to ten years, three astrobiology experts told Congress Wednesday.
Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, chairman of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology, called the prospect "inspiring," adding that confirmation of distant life would transform mankind's understanding of life on earth and human beings' place in the universe.
The scientists and lawmakers from both parties readily agreed that despite the budget squeeze, NASA needs more money to pursue the pioneering research, and national leaders need to build stronger public support for the spending.
The James Webb space telescope scheduled for launch in 2018 potentially could evaluate some planets for the telltale buildup of atmospheric gases that could signal single cell life, Sara Seager, an astrophysicist and planetary scientist at MIT, told the panel.
But the best chance of spying signs of life would be a direct imaging mission that relies on a next generation, space-based telescope and a so-called "star shade" that would screen out stars' light to enable the telescope to get a better shot of orbiting planets, said Seager.
Seager heads the NASA advisory team testing the concept.
"If that one (approach) could be implemented, when it was launched it would take a few years," Seager said. "And in that case we also have to be lucky. We would be able to find signs of life."
NASA astrobiology senior scientist Mary Voytek called the coming exploration "a golden age," adding that astrobiology "aims to achieve a better understanding of our own world and the life it hosts and also of potential habitable worlds and life beyond Earth."
Voytek, Seager and Steven Dick, an astronomer and former chief historian at NASA now with the Library of Congress, voiced support for continued NASA spending on the quest for extra-terrestrial life in an era when manned exploration has stalled.
"We need to invest in the technology now so this (quest) can actually happen at some point," said Seager, recipient of a MacArthur Fellowship in 2013 for work detecting chemical signatures in exoplanet atmospheres. "I don't want to leave you with just being optimistic — we really do need to invest in the future."
Both Republicans and Democrats on the panel voiced support for NASA to continue ambitious missions to Mars and other planets in the search for extra-terrestrial life. But the reality is the space agency faces a looming budget crunch.
The White House asked for $17.7 billion for the fiscal year that began Oct. 1. But the Senate and House remain roughly 10 percent apart, with senators supporting $18.1 billion for fiscal 2014 and House Republicans weighing rival proposals to provide NASA between $16.1 billion and $16.9 billion.
"The practicalities and budget realities may not permit the detection of biosignature gases in the near future," Seager conceded. "However, the first step towards the robust identification of potentially habitable worlds" will be made with the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite scheduled for launch in 2017 working with the James Webb space telescope.
"There's no denying the fascination with, `Does life exist elsewhere,'" said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, the ranking Democrat on the House panel. "I hope Congress understands the value of future NASA space science missions. This is an opportunity to shine a light on those contributions."
Congress can bolster the effort not only with money but by sending a "very strong message" that astrobiology is "a legitimate science now," Seager said.
"We're not like searching for aliens or looking for UFOs," Seager said. "It really is a legitimate field of research – one that's critical."
Brooks Wants SLS, Orion Contractors To Spend Termination Liability Reserves Now
Dan Leone – SpaceNews
The U.S. House Science Committee on Dec. 4 will mark up a bill that would allow contractors on two of NASA's biggest human spaceflight programs, the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion, to tap into more than $500 million dollars of reserve funding.
The bill, H.R. 3625, was introduced Dec. 2 by its sole sponsor, Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.). Brooks' Huntsville, Ala., congressional district includes the Marshall Space Flight Center, which is managing the SLS project for NASA. Boeing Space Exploration is supplying the cryogenic rocket stages and avionics for SLS, which in early configurations will use five-segment, solid-fueled strap-on boosters made by ATK to carry the Lockheed Martin-built Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle on deep-space missions.
Brooks' proposal would change U.S. law to give these companies access to so-called termination liability funding, which contractors set aside to cover expenses that would arise if NASA decides to cancel their programs. Brooks' bill would void the termination liability provisions in existing SLS and Orion contracts and make clear that Congress would appropriate funds for termination costs if NASA does indeed cancel the programs.
Brooks told SpaceNews Dec. 4 that contractors for the international space station, SLS and Orion programs are now carrying more than $500 million in termination liability funding among them. The money, he said, would be better spent on SLS and Orion now.
"Given the financial difficulties that all federal government agencies are facing, anything you can do to free up unused resources is a benefit," Brooks said.
A House source said Brooks' bill enjoys bipartisan support among members of the House Science Committee. If the committee approves the bill Dec. 4, it would reach the House floor no sooner than January, this person said.
In total, NASA spends roughly $3 billion a year on SLS and Orion, including administrative and technical support from other NASA centers, and ground-infrastructure improvements at the rocket's launch site at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
SLS and Orion are being built with a mix of surplus space shuttle parts and hardware designed for the Constellation Moon exploration program created by NASA in 2005 under the administration of then-president George W. Bush and canceled in 2010 by President Barack Obama.
After the White House shut down the program, Congress ordered to NASA to build SLS and Orion, and to utilize the contracts that ATK, Boeing and Lockheed won during Constellation-era competitions to do so.
Heat Shield for EFT-1 Orion arrives at KSC
The processing flow is heating up for the first Orion set to launch into space, as key elements of the Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1) mission arrive for integration at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC). With the inert Launch Abort System (LAS) now pieced together, Wednesday saw the arrival of Orion's Heat Shield, flown in via a Super Guppy aircraft.
EFT-1 Build Up:
The uncrewed flight of Orion – otherwise known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) - will be NASA's first real step towards transitioning back to Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) exploration, allowing the spacecraft – that will carry NASA astronauts to destinations as far away as Mars - to stretch its legs during what will be a critical test for the spacecraft.
Although this EFT-1 mission will occur several years before a crew flies in the spacecraft, the test will provide valuable early data, which can be fed into Orion's development, thus avoiding any "late" changes to the vehicle that could cause schedule impacts.
As such, data from the mission will be directly fed into Orion's Critical Design Review (CDR) in 2015.
Because Orion's launch vehicle of choice – the Space Launch System (SLS) - won't be available for the EFT-1 mission, a Delta IV-H was purchased for the role of lofting Orion into space, with the EELV's Upper Stage providing the second leg of sending the spacecraft into an orbital path that will mimic the vehicle's return from a deep space mission. That launch vehicle is scheduled to arrive at KSC in the March 2014 timeframe.
The mission – involving two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth's atmosphere on what is a multi-hour test – will provide critical re-entry flight performance data and demonstrate early integration capabilities of the spacecraft.
Unlike the Space Shuttle orbiters, the main business end of the heatshield – the blunt end of Orion – won't be covered in tiles. Instead it will use an ablative material, which was also used on the Apollo capsules.
NASA's Orion Thermal Protection System Advanced Development Project considered eight different candidate materials, before downselecting to an Avcoat and Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator – with a technical name of AVCO 5026-39 HCG (Filled Epoxy Novalac in Fiberglass-Phenolic Honeycomb).
Following its design review, the heat shield began to take shape via the mating of the "skin" onto the titanium support skeleton at Lockheed Martin's Waterton Facility near Denver – which was also the site for a large amount of Orion testing on the Ground Test Article (GTA).
The heat shield was then shipped to Textron in Wilmington for the installation of its ablative protective coating.
The skin and skeleton will help give the spacecraft the strength to withstand its impact with the water's surface upon landing in the Pacific Ocean, and provide the structure for the AVCOAT coating that will protect the vehicle and its crew from the nearly 5,000-degree Fahrenheit temperatures that they would experience during a 27,000-mph return from Mars.
Before and during its manufacture, the heat shield material was subjected to arc-jet testing NASA's Ames Research Center in California and NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC).
Following its completion, the heat shield – the largest ever constructed – was then loaded on to a Super Guppy aircraft, prior to Wednesday's journey to the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) at KSC.
"The heat shield completion and delivery to Kennedy, where Orion is being prepared, is a major step toward Exploration Flight Test-1 next year," noted Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development in Washington.
"Sending Orion into space for the first time is going to give us crucial data to improve our design decisions and develop Orion to send humans on future missions to an asteroid and Mars."
The Heat Shield is scheduled to be unloaded and transported to the Operations & Checkout (O&C) building on Thursday, where it will greet the EFT-1 Orion that is deep into its outfitting processing ahead of its launch next summer.
Another element that will heading uphill on EFT-1 will be an inert Launch Abort System (LAS).
Most of the LAS won't be active for the flight – not least because there will be no humans on board the Orion.
However, the jettison motor will be active, allowing for a separation testing during the ascent phase. As such, this will be a nominal detachment of the LAS when it is no longer required during the flight into space, as opposed to an actual abort test.
"The LAS will be the first actively controlled launch escape system ever flown, and it incorporates a throttleable solid-rocket motor for attitude control, a novel reverse-thrust abort motor, advanced solid propellants, and lightweight composite materials in the abort motor case and fairing," noted LAS project manager for NASA, Kevin Rivers.
The first ascent abort test of the LAS is scheduled for around 2019, after the uncrewed Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), but in plenty of time ahead of the first crewed mission where it will be required, namely Exploration Mission-2 (EM-2).
'The World Outside My Window' is latest must-see video from International Space Station (video)
Lee Roop – Huntsville Times
Using time-lapse photography and a haunting soundtrack cut called "Fill My Heart' from Two Steps From Hell, NASA editor David Peterson has created another beautiful look at Earth from the International Space Station. He suggests you watch this 2:30 of awesomeness at "1080p, lights off, volume up."
"The goal with this sequence was to bring a bit more attention to the station itself," Peterson says in published notes to the video, "including the humans aboard it, particularly Don Pettit (appearing in the final shot) who took many of the sequences in this montage."
Peterson also created another video of images from the station called "All Alone in the Night" featuring night sequences and aurora light shows. It makes a pretty good double feature with "The World Outside My Window." Commercial Space Race Revolutionizing Business Off Planet Earth
For decades, the space race was seen as being mostly about national pride. Getting there first mattered most, whereas pushing the frontiers of science and technology took a close second.
The first man in space, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, was proclaimed by the Kremlin as Citizen of the World and hailed as a sign of communist leadership. Watching NASA astronaut Neil Armstrong set foot on the moon made Americans grin in triumph and forced Soviet leaders to grit their teeth.
Even today, national pride may be fueling space launches, for instance, in places like China and India, both emerging players in the space game, according to space industry experts at a Nov. 20 summit here. On Nov. 5, India's national space agency, the Indian Space Research Organization, launched a spacecraft dubbed Mangalyaan to Mars. China, which a decade ago became the third nation to send its own astronauts into orbit, is currently building a lunar rover and a space station, while also planning its own unmanned mission to Mars
Not everybody believes this kind of space race, or one between countries, is delivering real value. "Going to the moon didn't bring a lot of commercial value to the U.S. It was just a great pride for the nation," said Mohammad Riaz Suddle of the National Space Agency of Pakistan.
Going to the moon "might not have brought direct commercial value" to the United States, said Chad Anderson, director of European Operations at the Space Angels Network, "but the impact on the economy was huge."
That may be especially true now, as the space race shifts from nations to commercial enterprise. Space offers plenty of business opportunities, at least in the eyes of the space enthusiasts coming to the International Space Commerce 2013 Summit in London, where entrepreneurs, investors and state-sponsored space organizations gathered to discuss ways of making space exploration profitable.
Business beyond Earth
When a rocket built by SpaceX, the California-based private spaceflight company, docked with the International Space Station in May 2012, it marked the beginning of this new era of a commercial space race.
SpaceX is not the only commercial player. In fact, the marketplace is rapidly getting crowded. In September, Orbital Sciences of Dulles, Va., became the second private firm to send a spacecraft to the space station; many other firms, among them Virgin Galactic, Blue Origin and XCOR Aerospace, are busy making their own rockets.
But this private industry space race is not just about space transportation. Bigelow Aerospace, based in Los Angeles, for example, is building inflatable space habitats. Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries meanwhile are hatching plans to mine asteroids for precious metals.
And then there are satellites. Planet Labs, Skybox Imaging and Nanosatisfi, among other small firms, have taken what was once the domain of governments and big corporations into their own hands. This "downstream" business of satellite manufacture is now putting so many satellites into orbit that the problem of space debris is getting more acute than ever – making a disaster depicted by Hollywood's recent blockbuster "Gravity" ever more likely.
Even students can join the space race. In February the Surrey University Space Center in the United Kingdom blasted a rocket into orbit. Its payload: a smartphone, kitted out to do some basic research.
Generation Orbit (GO), a start-up based in Atlanta, Ga., is run by just a handful of young entrepreneurs and seasoned aerospace veterans. Launched just two years ago, the firm specializes in providing dedicated launch services to the emerging market for tiny nanosatellite.
GO recently secured the $2.1 million sale of the maiden flight of GOLauncher 2, the company's nanosatellite launch vehicle; it will launch NASA's three 3U CubeSats to a 264-mile-high (425 km) orbit as part of the NASA Enabling eXploration and Technology (NEXT) contract. The company is currently developing GOLauncher 2 in preparation for its initial operations in 2016.
The firm has also won $100,000 in prize money from NASA in the NewSpace Business Plan competition in Stanford. According to GO chief operating officer AJ Piplica, the start-uphas "clients lined up" to send their satellites into orbit. These satellites will do a variety of things, he said, such as high altitude science, microgravity research, and hypersonic flight-testing.
Space cheeseburgers
Such cosmic entrepreneurial spirit shouldn't stop at private launches, said Rick Tumlinson of Deep Space Industries.
"When people go to Mars, I want to be able to sell them air, water and cheeseburgers," Tumlinson joked, adding that digging precious metals out of asteroids is just one of the opportunities to explore.
"Our planet sits in a vast sea of resources, and we need to learn to harvest them wherever we go. Space rocks contain everything we could ever need. We have to seize the opportunity. Space should be opened and will be opened," he added
Space is also becoming much more international, with smaller countries not only launching telecommunication satellites, but aiming much higher. Sweden, for instance, has its own spaceport. It hopes to launch commercial human missions and within a decade wants to be Europe's gateway to space. Poland recently joined the European Space Agency and is actively promoting research and collaboration with the private sector – with both Polish and foreign companies.
Regardless of size, nations with big space ambitions can greatly contribute to the future of space development, said Jan Polar, director of the Czech Space Office, a non-governmental agency promoting space research and commerce in the Czech Republic.
In the 1970s, Czechoslovakia gave the world its first mini satellite, Magellan-1. Since then, it has launched just a few more — but such "contributions of smaller nations can help keep [the] program continuity, as it can happen that there are not enough resources in big countries, and even small contributions can be essential to keep a program running," Polar said.
And, he added, that's exactly where the private sector comes into play: "Commercial space activities provide new opportunities for small countries to increase their capabilities and to contribute to exploration — and this can be beneficial in many aspects, such as economic, cultural and social."
Commercialization is also the only way to keep the space sector successful and benefit the Earth, said Gerd Gruppe of the German space agency DLR. As space budgets of governments stagnate, private firms are opening up new markets.
"The young companies are the most successful job motors, they are the ones looking for new employees and investing in the workforce. The frontiers are opened by people and not by governments," he said. "It's the right time to strengthen commercialization, and we want more space activity for our money. The space business has to become faster and cheaper, otherwise it won't be fit for the future."
Most importantly, said Gruppe, space activities have to enable technologies for other markets, with significant impact.
Regulating space
As more and more rockets lift off, public and private, carrying humans or cargo to the International Space Station or satellites into orbit, the world is in obvious need of a proper framework to regulate the ever-more buzzing space sector.
After all, today's space law dates back to more than four decades ago, when the Outer Space Treaty was signed in 1967. Back then, only governments launched rockets, and the liability of whatever was blasted into orbit lay with the so-called launching state.
Today, Earth is circled by a myriad of privately owned objects; however, if two of them were to collide it is not the company that would be liable for any damage, but the launching state.
"What we're seeing now is the commercialization of the [space] industry, just as with the airline industry a hundred years ago," said Karin Nilsdotter, the head of Spaceport Sweden, which is working closely with Virgin Galactic to send a rocket into orbit.
Sweden has launched many rockets during the past 50 years, but Nilsdotter said the country now wants to become a world-leading space destination for sub-orbital human spaceflight.
"To be able to launch within the next five to 10 years out of Sweden, we are now working on establishing guidelines for manned spaceflight, working together with the operators and also with the FAA in the U.S. to establish a business-friendly framework," Nilsdotter said.
"It's all about enabling a new industry, where we'll be able to attract new talent and new investments, and see the technology transfer into other industries, and transform them. Space is an industry of the future, and we need to be ready to deal with it properly."
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