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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: March 6, 2014 9:41:49 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA and Human Spaceflight News - Thursday – March 6, 2014 and JSC Today
Hope you can join us today at our monthly Retirees Luncheon at Hibachi Grill at 11:30. Then you can make a day of it and join the NAL folks at the Gilruth for a presentation from Alan Lindenmoyer followed by participating in the Keg of the Month at the Pavillion at 4pm:"Commercialization of Space - A Retrospective View".Thursday, March 6, 2014Time: 2:30 - 4:00 PMAlan Lindenmoyer Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Manager- Gilruth Alamo Ballroom________________________________________Thursday, March 6, 2014JSC TODAY CATEGORIES1. Headlines- Joint Leadership Team Web Poll- ETS2 is Coming!- Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning System2. Organizations/Social- HTC Lunch and Learn Today- JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum- 7th NASA Golf Tourney: Registration Ends March 14- Disney On Ice - Presale Opportunity Tickets- Parents' Night Out - March 21- Now is the Time -- Quit Smoking3. Jobs and Training- Ready, Set, Telework - iPad/Mobile Users - March 74. Community- Don't Miss This OpportunitySounding Rocket Launches Into Aurora Over Venetie, AlaskaHeadlines1. Joint Leadership Team Web PollYou want a boss that is fair and a good communicator according to last week's responses. Technical brilliance wasn't high on the list. You want a mate that has a good sense of humor most of all. I'm glad you weren't superficial in that selection. This week is the rollout of next year's budget request. How closely did you follow along with all of the information that was provided? Read the budget? Listen to the boss? Wait for an explanation? The Oscars are over for this year, but I'd like to pose a movie question to you. What is the greatest movie of all time? It's not "Ghostbusters," but is it Oz? Wind? Kane?Alfred your Hitchcock on over to get this week's poll.Joel Walker x30541 http://jlt.jsc.nasa.gov/[top]2. ETS2 is Coming!E-Gov Travel Services 2 (ETS2) is coming!As NASA's contract with the General Services Administration's e-travel service provider comes to an end, the agency will transition from the current travel system, FedTraveler.com, to Concur Government Edition (CGE) on June 30. CGE is a governmentwide, Web-based, end-to-end travel management service that has consolidated and automated travel management.In the coming months, additional communications will be provided detailing go-live preparation activities, including training. NASA will utilize instructor-led and Web-based training targeted for NASA travelers, preparers and approvers.The JSC ETS2 Implementation Team resides in the Office of the Chief Financial Officer. They will be in touch with key stakeholders in all organizations to ensure timely communication on upcoming activities is provided.The JSC center project coordinator is Alan Miyamoto in the LB\Integration Management Office.Alan Miyamoto x36500[top]3. Monthly Test of the JSC Emergency Warning SystemThe Emergency Dispatch Center and Office of Emergency Management will conduct the monthly, first Thursday 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 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.Dennis G. Perrin x34232 http://jea.jsc.nasa.gov[top]Organizations/Social1. HTC Lunch and Learn TodayInterested in learning how the Houston Technology Center (HTC) can help to turn your ideas and expertise into a company? HTC is hosting a Lunch and Learn today from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in the 1958 Collaboration Center Conference Room, Building 35. Join us.Event Date: Thursday, March 6, 2014 Event Start Time:11:30 AM Event End Time:12:30 PMEvent Location: Building 35, 1958 Conference RoomAdd to CalendarWalt Ugalde x38615[top]2. JSC Contractor Safety and Health ForumMark your calendars! The JSC Contractor Safety and Health Forum (CSF) will meet on Tuesday, March 18, in the Gilruth Alamo Ballroom starting at 9 a.m. This meeting is dedicated to the presentation of the JSC CSF Safety and Health Excellence Awards and Innovation Awards for 2013. Refreshments, sponsored by Jacobs Technology, will be provided after the award presentations.For more information on this special event, please contact Pat Farrell at 281-335-2012 or go to the JSC CSF website.Event Date: Tuesday, March 18, 2014 Event Start Time:9:00 AM Event End Time:11:00 AMEvent Location: Gilruth Alamo BallroomAdd to CalendarPatricia Farrell 281-335-2012[top]3. 7th NASA Golf Tourney: Registration Ends March 14Time is running out to register your team for the Seventh Annual NASA Golf Tournament! Click on the reasons to register right now for the Seventh Annual NASA Golf Tournament.Team spots are still open for the Thursday tournament (Friday is full).o Thursday, April 10o 8 a.m. shotgun starto Registration - $540 per teamo Magnolia Creek Golf ClubThe silent auction will be back for BOTH days (April 10 and 11).Registration fee includes green fees, driving range, 2014 NASA golf polo, breakfast bar, barbecue lunch, participant bag, silent auction entry, drink tickets, tournament awards, door prizes and more.Registration ENDS Friday, March 14. There will be NO day-of registration.Register your team today!Event Date: Thursday, April 10, 2014 Event Start Time:8:00 AM Event End Time:1:30 PMEvent Location: Magnolia Creek Golf ClubAdd to CalendarSteve Schade x30304 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/special-events/golf-tournament[top]4. Disney On Ice - Presale Opportunity TicketsTickets are on sale now in the Buildings 3 and 11 Starport Gift Shops for Disney On Ice "Let's Celebrate" at Reliant Stadium on Saturday, April 19, at 7:30 p.m., or Sunday, April 20, at 1:30 p.m. Tickets are available for all budgets with two price levels to choose from: $28 or $14. Experience the magic of Disney On Ice with your loved ones! The last day to purchase tickets is March 20.Cyndi Kibby x47467[top]5. Parents' Night Out - March 21Enjoy a night out on the town while your kids enjoy a night with Starport! We will entertain your children with a night of games, crafts, a bounce house, pizza, a movie, dessert and loads of fun.When: Friday, March 21, from 6 to 10 p.m.Where: Gilruth CenterAges: 5 to 12Cost: $20/first child and $10/each additional sibling if registered by the Wednesday prior to event. If registered after Wednesday, the fee is $25/first child and $15/additional sibling.Shericka Phillips x35563 https://starport.jsc.nasa.gov/en/programs/familyyouth-programs/parents-n...[top]6. Now is the Time -- Quit SmokingPlease join Takis Bogdanos, MA, LPC-S, CEAP, CGP, with the JSC Employee Assistance Program, as he presents a four-week smoking cessation program and three follow-up sessions to offer support on your journey to become a non-smoker. The program starts Thursday, March 13, in Building 45, Room 110J, at 4 p.m.Event Date: Thursday, March 13, 2014 Event Start Time:4:00 PM Event End Time:5:00 PMEvent Location: Building 45, Room 110Add to CalendarLorrie Bennett, Employee Assistance Program, Occupational Health Branch x36130[top]Jobs and Training1. Ready, Set, Telework – iPad/Mobile Users – March 7JSC's Information Resources Directorate (IRD) is hosting how-to-telework sessions based on device. These in-person sessions will focus on the Information Technology (IT) aspects of teleworking. Sessions will review tools required to telework, Virtual Private Network (VPN), collaboration tools, IdMax and tips and tricks to make your telework successful.This session will be in the Building 3 Collaboration Center. No reservations are required, but seating is limited.o iPad/Mobile Devices: 9 to 10:30 a.m.Feel free to bring your iPad or mobile device to this session.Join us and get ready to telework!For questions, contact the IRD Customer Support center at x46367 (xGOFOR) - option 6, email JSC-IRD-Customer Support or reference IRD's Work from Anywhere site.For more Information on telework and Super-Flex, go to Workplace Flexibilities.Event Date: Friday, March 7, 2014 Event Start Time:9:00 AM Event End Time:10:30 AMEvent Location: Building 3 Collaboration CenterAdd to CalendarJSC-IRD-Outreach x46367 http://ird.jsc.nasa.gov/infopedia/wiki%20pages/jsc%20telework%20toolkit....[top]Community1. Don't Miss This OpportunityWant to be a part of bettering the world? The Conrad Foundation Spirit of Innovation Challenge provides an opportunity for teams of students to create commercially viable products/services to address issues of global sustainability for the benefit of humanity. This competition is free and available to students (ages 13 to 18) worldwide.The Innovation Summit will be right in our own backyard at Space Center Houston from April 6 to 8.Themes for each day correlate to the team presentations, and your expertise in these areas is requested. Two judges are needed for each session.o Monday, April 7 - Aerospace and Aviationo Monday, April 7 - Cyber Security and Technologyo Tuesday, April 8 - Energy and Environmento Tuesday, April 8 - Health and NutritionBe a judge! Sign up in V-CORPs by March 15. If you need help with V-CORPs, contact the V-CORPs administrator. For questions about the Innovation Summit, contact Carla Santiago.Carla Santiago x37150[top]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 NewsThursday – March 6, 2014NASA TV (all times are Central): www.nasa.gov/ntvToday1 p.m. - Video File of the ISS Expedition 38/39 Crew News Conference at Star City, Russia and Ceremonial Visit to Red Square in Moscow - JSC (All Channels)
March 7, Friday
6:30 a.m. - Video B-roll Feed of ISS Expedition 39 Flight Engineer / Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA - JSC (All Channels)
7 - 8 a.m. - Live Interviews with ISS Expedition 39 Flight Engineer / Expedition 40 Commander Steve Swanson of NASA from Star City, Russia - JSC (All Channels)HEADLINES AND LEADSPanel debates bidding process for satellite launchesElon Musk, whose company has made headlines by delivering cargo to the International Space Station, says the launching of national security satellites should be subject to bidding.Ledyard King – USA TodayThe federal government saves money by asking companies to bid on contracts for all sorts of work, such as cleaning, consulting and construction.Billionaire Musk makes push to launch military satellitesThe SpaceX chief urges U.S. to seek competitive bids for its space program.W.J. Hennigan – Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles billionaire Elon Musk, chief executive of Hawthorne rocket maker SpaceX, testified before Congress that the U.S. Air Force and other agencies are paying too high a price to launch its most valuable satellites into orbit.NASA Says Relations With Russia Unscathed by Earthly ConcernsIn space, no one can hear your sabres rattlingDan Kedmey – TIMEThe crisis in Ukraine has disrupted the G-8 talks, the Paralympic Games and stock exchanges around the world, but according to NASA it has yet to reach outer space.Ukraine Crisis: Russian Roulette in Space?Irene Klotz – Discovery NewsRocky Russian relations could leave U.S. astronauts without rides to the International Space Station.Proposed federal budget would increase NASA Glenn Research Center's annual allocation by 3.6%Chuck Soder – Crain's Cleveland BusinessNASA Glenn Research Center's budget has shrunk considerably over the past few years, despite the White House's attempts to increase the funding the center receives.NASA: Budget builds on extraordinary recordJohn Grunsfeld – USA TodayOver the past six years, the Obama administration has invested more than $100 billion in NASA, and nearly $30 billion of that has been for cutting-edge science that continues to transform the understanding of our planet and our universe.Can Cape Canaveral Rise Again?Even with the space shuttle in retirement, Cape Canaveral remains a busy spaceport. But can Florida's Space Coast regain its hallowed place as the world's capital of human spaceflight? Popular Mechanics tours the Cape to glimpse the present and future in heavy-lift rocket country.Joe Pappalardo – Popular MechanicsThe orange glow of an RS-68 engine reflected off the surface of the Atlantic Ocean as the Delta IV rose from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Station. Within 2 minutes, the rocket is just another dot of light in the starry sky. The payload this evening—Feb. 20, 2014—is a GPS satellite owned and operated by the U.S. Air Force but used by the entire world. By late the next morning, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) reports that the sat has reached its 11,000-mile-high orbit. Another night, another success for the Cape Canaveral space community.
Huntsville-based Manufacturing Technical Solutions wins 3 task orders from Marshall at NASALucy Berry – Huntsville TimesVeteran-owned small business Manufacturing Technical Solutions, Inc. announced today it has been awarded three task orders from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.Spin of distant black hole measured at half of speed of lightIrene Klotz - ReutersA supermassive black hole inside a distant quasar spins at about 336 million mph (540 million kph) or roughly half the speed of light, according to research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.Jeff Foust – Space PoliticsThe release of NASA's fiscal year 2015 budget proposal on Tuesday didn't generate many strong reactions, either positive or negative. "I'm mixed," writes The Planetary Society's Casey Dreier in a blog post summarizing the budget. He was pleased there was a small amount of money to begin pre-formulation work on a Europa mission, but worried about a long-term decline of missions. "Analysts were worried about that a flat NASA budget at $17.7 billion would be difficult to maintain, given NASA's commitments," he writes. "Now we're over $200 million less than that. SOFIA is the most recent casualty of this slow decline." (The society's official statement on the budget will come after the release of more detailed budget information, expected either late this week or early next week.)COMPLETE STORIESPanel debates bidding process for satellite launchesElon Musk, whose company has made headlines by delivering cargo to the International Space Station, says the launching of national security satellites should be subject to bidding.Ledyard King – USA TodayThe federal government saves money by asking companies to bid on contracts for all sorts of work, such as cleaning, consulting and construction.Elon Musk, who runs SpaceX, wants to add launching national security satellites to the list.The California-based company that's made an international splash delivering cargo to the International Space Station wants a piece of the Pentagon's business, too. And the Defense Department wants to at least explore the idea of opening up competition in the face of tight budgets and soaring launch costs.Since 2006, each of 68 space launches for the U.S. Air Force has been handled by one entity: United Launch Alliance, formed as a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing.Over that period, the money Congress has approved for launching national security hardware into space has jumped from $613 million a year to $1.63 billion in fiscal 2014. The Pentagon projects it will cost another $70 billion through 2030.Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., called the increase "startling" during a hearing Wednesday before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense.Michael Gass, president and CEO of United Launch Alliance, said the current setup works. Each of the 68 launches has been successful, and the way the contract is structured means United Launch Alliance is always available should the Defense Department need an emergency launch.That kind of flexibility could be lost under a more competitive arrangement, he told committee members. And while he said he would welcome competition, he also said it's not clear any other aerospace companies are truly prepared to take over the work."I believe leveraging the demand of the commercial sector is smart," Gass said. "But relying on commercial demand to enable national security carries huge risks, both to the rocket supplier and to its government customers."Gass also noted that Boeing and Lockheed Martin formed United Launch Alliance because there wasn't enough business at the time to support competition.Musk countered that SpaceX could do the job just as efficiently, and for no more than $100 million per launch, far less than the $380 million United Launch Alliance charges. Gass disputed Musk's math, saying United Launch Alliance's charge reflects overhead costs that any competitor would also have to factor in.The large savings promised when United Launch Alliance was formed haven't been realized, and the "monopoly providers" have forced the Air Force to overpay, Musk said. As for his own company's readiness, he pointed to the successful launches his Falcon 9 has made to the space station."If our rockets are good enough for NASA, why are they not good enough for the Air Force?" he asked committee members. "It doesn't make sense."Wednesday's hearing underscored the simmering tensions between old-guard companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, which have spent decades methodically sending people and hardware into space, and smaller upstarts, such as SpaceX and Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, which have a more entrepreneurial vision of the future.As they sat next to each other at the hearing, Musk and Gass each suggested the other was overstating his company's success with launches.Some of those divisions showed up on the dais, too.While Feinstein was criticizing United Launch Alliance's soaring costs, Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama, the top Republican on the panel, said he wasn't sure cheaper would necessarily be better."The wise stewardship of taxpayers' resources is essential in all government programs and oftentimes, competition is key," said Shelby, whose state is where United Launch Alliance performs its engine assembly work. "In this case, the safety and security of our national security payloads is paramount."Gass also told committee members that United Launch Alliance's launch costs have gone down since 2011, when the Pentagon modified its contract requirements. Cristina Chaplain, director of acquisition and sourcing management for the Government Accountability Office, confirmed that.The Air Force's decision to open up competition ultimately will depend on its scope, said Scott Pace, a former NASA associate administrator who now directs the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University."Can the critical need for mission assurance be achieved at lower cost than the way we do it today?" he asked at the hearing. "This certainly seems desirable, even plausible, but careful thought needs to be given as to what responsibilities and capabilities ought to remain within the government. In short, how much is the government willing to pay for price and how much is it willing to pay for performance?"Billionaire Musk makes push to launch military satellitesThe SpaceX chief urges U.S. to seek competitive bids for its space program.W.J. Hennigan – Los Angeles TimesLos Angeles billionaire Elon Musk, chief executive of Hawthorne rocket maker SpaceX, testified before Congress that the U.S. Air Force and other agencies are paying too high a price to launch its most valuable satellites into orbit.The government pays billions to a sole provider to launch nearly all of its spy satellites and other high-profile spacecraft, without seeking competitive bids. That provider is United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of aerospace behemoths Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co.The program will cost nearly $70 billion through 2030, according to the Government Accountability Office. And Musk wants a piece of those lucrative deals.On Wednesday, he told the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Defense that the virtual monopoly has suppressed competition since 2006."Robust competition must begin this calendar year," Musk said. "There should be no more sole-sourcing under this program when competition is an option," said Musk, who is also the chief executive of Tesla Motors, the Palo Alto electric car company.The Pentagon has already moved to introduce competition to the launch program, called the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle, or EELV.In January, the Air Force announced a blockbuster deal to buy 36 of United Launch Alliance's Atlas V and Delta IV rocket boosters. It also opened the door for new entrants to compete for 14 other missions from 2015 to 2017.United Launch Alliance's Chief Executive, Michael Gass, also appeared before the panel. Although his company welcomes competition, it might not result in savings, he said. After all, Boeing and Lockheed formed United Launch because market demand was insufficient to sustain two competitors."We went from two competing teams with redundant and underutilized infrastructure to one team that has delivered the expected savings of this consolidation," he said, adding that all 68 of his company's launches have been successful.But a recent GAO report on the EELV program said that the formation of United Launch Alliance has made it difficult for the Defense Department to know exactly what it's paying for."Minimal insight into contractor cost or pricing data meant [the Defense Department] may have lacked sufficient knowledge to negotiate fair and reasonable launch prices," the report said. The report predicted program costs would grow an at "unsustainable rate."Musk argued that competition is inevitable and will ultimately save taxpayers billions of dollars."Competition is coming to the national security launch market, but it remains a question as to when and how," he said. "SpaceX is ready now to compete, with our Falcon 9 [rocket]."The company, officially known as Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has had eight launches with its Falcon 9 rocket.It has carried out two cargo resupply missions to the International Space Station for NASA. It was the first private company ever to pull off the feat in 2012 after the U.S. space shuttle fleet was retired. SpaceX is now building a massive new rocket, called Falcon Heavy, capable of lifting the bulky satellites.The rocket maker is not entirely reliant on the U.S. government. It has dozens of commercial contracts worth $5 billion to launch satellites aboard its rockets for various countries and telecommunications companies.With about 3,500 employees, SpaceX is a fraction of the size of competitors such as Boeing and Lockheed, which employ hundreds of thousands of people across the U.S. and dozens of countries.Some analysts see that as a strength. SpaceX doesn't have layers of bureaucracy, and it manufactures nearly all of its own parts. But critics point out that the tight regulations on government contracts will add costs.Founded in 2002, SpaceX makes cargo capsules and rockets at a sprawling facility in Hawthorne that was once used to assemble fuselage sections for Boeing 747s. Musk underscored this point to Congress."Our Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy launch vehicles are truly made in America," he said. "This stands in stark contrast to the United Launch Alliance's most frequently flown vehicle, the Atlas V."That rocket uses a Russian engine, Musk said, and half the airframe is built abroad."Supply of the main engine depends on President Putin's permission," he said.United Launch Alliance's Gass quickly responded that the company had a two-year supply of the engines.Still, there is no guarantee that SpaceX will win the Air Force's EELV contracts. The company still must win government certification to launch military satellites with the Falcon 9. That requires three successful test launches that meet Air Force specifications, along with a host of audits and technical reviews.NASA Says Relations With Russia Unscathed by Earthly ConcernsIn space, no one can hear your sabres rattlingDan Kedmey – TIMEThe crisis in Ukraine has disrupted the G-8 talks, the Paralympic Games and stock exchanges around the world, but according to NASA it has yet to reach outer space.NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said relations with Russia remain strong in the international space station, even as they've taken a turn for the worse back on earth, which is fortunate, given that NASA has relied on Russia to ferry its astronauts to outer space ever since the retirement of its space shuttle program in 2011.Bolden called on Congress to fund a commercial replacement to the defunct program. In the meantime, he said, they depended on Russia's cooperation."I don't think it's an insignificant fact that we are starting to see a number of people with the idea that the International Space Station be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize," Bolden added.Ukraine Crisis: Russian Roulette in Space?Irene Klotz – Discovery NewsRocky Russian relations could leave U.S. astronauts without rides to the International Space Station.Since NASA retired its fleet of space shuttles in 2011, Russia has had a monopoly on flying crews to the orbital outpost. The only other country currently flying people in space is China, which is not a member of the 15-nation space station partnership.That leaves the United States in a vulnerable position as it ponders options to diffuse a tense standoff between Russia and Ukraine.For now, the U.S.-Russian space partnership is insulated from the political whirlwind generated by Russia's decision to move troops into the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea last week, fueling fears of a full-fledged invasion."We are continuing to monitor the situation," NASA administrator Charles Bolden told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday."Everything for us continues to be nominal," he said.Bolden noted that the space station has been through "multiple international crises" since crews began living there full-time on Nov. 2, 2000. That includes the 2008 war between Russia and Georgia over break-away regions Abkhazia and South Ossetia."NASA and its Russian counterpart, Roscosmos, have maintained a professional, beneficial and collegial working relationship through the various ups and downs of the broader U.S.-Russia relationship and we expect that to continue throughout the life of the (space station) program and beyond," NASA added in a statement.The situation could have a silver lining. NASA has been investing in private companies that want to build and fly commercial passenger spaceships with the goal of breaking U.S. reliance on Russia for station crew transportation by 2017."It certainly increases the impetus for the United States to lessen its dependence on the increasingly fickle and prickly (Pres. Vladimir) Putin's Russia," Joan Johnson-Freese, professor of national security affairs at the U.S. Naval War College in Rhode Island, wrote in an email to Discovery News.The Obama Administration's budget request for NASA for the year beginning Oct. 1 includes $848 million for the agency's so-called "Commercial Crew" initiative. An additional $250 million for the program could come from a proposed supplemental budget, NASA's chief financial officer Beth Robinson said.Currently, NASA is backing space taxi designs by Boeing, SpaceX and Sierra Nevada Corp. Depending on funding, NASA hopes to have at least two firms complete spaceship development and sign contracts for flight services."It seems to me that the main message right now is that the U.S. has put itself in a situation of dependency on our relationship with Russia and that ought to be unacceptable," John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at The George Washington University, told Discovery News."Hopefully, this will serve as a wake up call -- or another wake up call -- that the administration and Congress should even accelerate funding for Commercial Crew to get rid of the dependency as quickly as possible," he said.NASA is not the only agency potentially facing a game of Russian space roulette.A United Launch Alliance unmanned rocket, used almost exclusively to fly U.S. military satellites, has a Russian engine."ULA protects our customers and ourselves from any supply disruption by maintaining a two- to three-year safety stock of engines in our factory," company spokeswoman Jessica Rye wrote in an email to Discovery News."In addition, if there is any extended disruption ... our U.S. supplier has demonstrated the capability to co-produce the engine or build a replacement engine in the United States," Rye wrote.Scott Pace, who succeeded Logsdon at the Space Policy Institute, said the United States has options to sanction Russia that would spare the countries' key space relationships."Space is one of these things where there is mutual self-interest going on. I can think of other more-targeted economic sanctions rather than actions that are largely symbolic or would disproportionally hurt the U.S. side," Pace said.Proposed federal budget would increase NASA Glenn Research Center's annual allocation by 3.6%Chuck Soder – Crain's Cleveland BusinessNASA Glenn Research Center's budget has shrunk considerably over the past few years, despite the White House's attempts to increase the funding the center receives.But the Obama administration is giving it another try.The president's proposed federal budget would increase NASA Glenn's annual budget by 3.6% for the federal government's 2015 fiscal year, which begins Oct. 1.
The center would receive $587 million for fiscal 2015, about $20 million more than it expects to have spent by the end of this fiscal year. Meanwhile, the broader federal agency would see a slight decrease in its budget, under the proposal.
The proposal calls for a $64 million increase in Glenn's space technology development budget, raising it to $97 million. However, it would cut the center's construction budget to $19 million from about $43 million this year. That cut could force NASA Glenn to delay construction on a few buildings on its campus, according to center director Jim Free. It's unclear exactly how the center's constructions plans would be affected, though, because many decisions still need to be made at NASA headquarters, Free added.
There's no telling whether Congress will pay any attention to the proposed budget.
Multiple times over the past few years, the White House has proposed budgets that would've provided increases in funding for NASA Glenn, but the money didn't materialize.
For instance, the Obama administration proposed providing $809 million to the center for fiscal 2012, which would have been a huge increase from the $707 million NASA Glenn received in fiscal 2010.
Instead, NASA Glenn ended up with a budget of roughly $645 million in fiscal 2012.
Last April – only a few months after the federal sequestration bill forced the federal government to make automatic cuts to its defense budget and discretionary programs such as NASA – the White House pushed for another increase that would've bumped up the center's budget for the current fiscal year, pushing it to roughly $680 million.
That increase didn't materialize either. The center's projected budget for this year, about $567 million, is more in line with budgets from 2008 and 2009.
NASA Glenn has about 1,600 of its own employees, and it employs about 1,750 private contractors. Those numbers shouldn't change much, Free added.
"We're still a strong 3,000 jobs in the area, and that's where my goal is to keep us," he said.NASA: Budget builds on extraordinary recordJohn Grunsfeld – USA TodayOver the past six years, the Obama administration has invested more than $100 billion in NASA, and nearly $30 billion of that has been for cutting-edge science that continues to transform the understanding of our planet and our universe.That funding has seen us launch a mission to Jupiter; land a fourth rover on Mars and send a satellite to study its atmosphere; send two robotic missions to the moon; continue 14 planetary missions, including operations around Mercury and Saturn and identifying hundreds of planets in other solar systems; operate 19 missions to study our sun and its effect on Earth; and maintain 21 astrophysics missions to study cosmic phenomena such as black holes and birth of stars.This year alone, we launch an unprecedented five Earth Science missions, including last week's launch with Japan of the Global Precipitation Measurement Core Observatory mission, demonstrating our commitment to critical observations of our home planet and climate change.NASA's goal is to send humans to Mars in the 2030s. Working with the Space Technology Mission Directorate, our future science missions will pioneer exploration technologies and help pave the way for human missions even as they collect their science data. Our human spaceflight program continues far-reaching science on the International Space Station to learn how humans can live and work in space.NASA's fiscal year 2015 budget builds on this extraordinary record. Its $5 billion for science enables continued work on the next Mars rover, a Mars lander, study of a mission to Jupiter's moon Europa, and a mission to visit and sample an asteroid.The Magnetospheric Multiscale Mission is being readied to launch to study our planet's magnetic environment. The Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite will continue the legacy of Kepler when it launches in 2017 to search for planets around the nearest stars. The James Webb Space Telescope is solidly on track for a 2018 launch as Hubble 2.0.Despite constrained budgets, science remains strong and vital at NASA. We will continue to make groundbreaking discoveries, inspire future generations of scientists and develop the missions of tomorrow.Can Cape Canaveral Rise Again?Even with the space shuttle in retirement, Cape Canaveral remains a busy spaceport. But can Florida's Space Coast regain its hallowed place as the world's capital of human spaceflight? Popular Mechanics tours the Cape to glimpse the present and future in heavy-lift rocket country.Joe Pappalardo – Popular MechanicsThe orange glow of an RS-68 engine reflected off the surface of the Atlantic Ocean as the Delta IV rose from Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Station. Within 2 minutes, the rocket is just another dot of light in the starry sky. The payload this evening—Feb. 20, 2014—is a GPS satellite owned and operated by the U.S. Air Force but used by the entire world. By late the next morning, the United Launch Alliance (ULA) reports that the sat has reached its 11,000-mile-high orbit. Another night, another success for the Cape Canaveral space community.
It would be easy to get the idea that the Florida Space Coast has gone dormant. The space shuttle's retirement in July 2011, along with the nearly 10,000 layoffs that came with it, reinforced the idea that Cape Canaveral and its surroundings are a place fit only for celebrating the past. In truth, the Cape is still "heavy-lift country," where the Pentagon and NASA turn when they need a critical piece of hardware lofted into orbit. Aerospace giants (and rivals) Lockheed Martin and Boeing founded the ULA to launch Delta and Atlas rockets—known down here as Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs)—for the U.S. government. The National Reconnaissance Office, NASA, and the U.S. Air Force are some of the ULA's steady customers. The alliance still launches eight to 10 rockets per year here. "ULA launches have doubled in that time," Tony Taliancich, the company's director of East Coast launch operations, says of the post-shuttle era.
There are rockets rising from the Space Coast, even if people aren't in them. But that's changing. NASA is building a huge rocket to launch astronauts into deep space and has commissioned private space companies to build spacecraft that can carry passengers. That is bringing in new players to the Air Force station and the adjacent NASA spaceport but is also opening up new opportunities for the ULA. (Just today, the heads of SpaceX and ULA's heads sparred over the future of U.S. Air Force launches during a hearing on Capitol Hill.) And human spaceflight is just one part of the new space industry taking root in Florida. Commercial satellite launches, space tourists, and industrial experiments may soon be blasting off from the Cape.
Touring Cape Canaveral in the days after the Feb. 20 launch, we witnessed the state of the launch industry in Florida and glimpsed pieces of its future. Established launch providers and upstart companies—sometimes as foes, sometimes as partners—are trying to guide the new space industry. Despite its established NASA and Pentagon business, the Cape must adapt or perish. Rival spaceports across the nation and the world will challenge Cape Canaveral to host the new launch business.
The worry is that the Cape can't escape its own past, says Frank DiBello, CEO of the state-run agency Space Florida. The "frozen-in-time attitude" he sees among traditional-minded space proponents won't get the job done in an era of rising competition abroad and within the United States. "They keep hoping the industry of 20 years ago will come back 20 years from now," he says. "But the past doesn't ensure the future."Prepping for a New Space Industry
The United States is at the start of a renaissance in space travel. More than a dozen states in the U.S. are trying to build spaceports, hoping to host the next job-creating, tax-revenue-generating industry. And this hope extends beyond government programs. "It's the commercial market that has our attention," DiBello says.
Florida is already hosting some of the most exciting new private space projects. These include SpaceX, the rocket and spacecraft company founded by Elon Musk; Stratolaunch, an air-launch project involving Paul Allen; and Sierra Nevada, which is building a seven-seat, rocket-launched space plane called Dream Chaser. Keeping these companies in Florida is one challenge, as spaceports in other states try to lure them away. Another, harder challenge is to support the industries that will become paying customers. "Florida has to stop just being a launch state," DiBello says.
If there are no clients to hire the private spaceflight companies, then there will be no private spaceflight companies. So Florida is trying to create conditions where space-related firms can set up shop. For example, in 2010 the Space Florida took over NASA's Space Life Sciences Lab, where experiments were prepped for the space shuttle and the International Space Station. The facility also hosts 13 tenants, some working on space-related research (including a few destined for the ISS), but most others just in need of a place to pursue their earth-bound experiments. This lab could have a vibrant future as more companies and colleges see that trips to space are possible. "People have to see this can be done outside of NASA," says Carol Ann Taylor, operations manager of the facility.
The state is also trying to establish a network of spaceports that could support a variety of launches. Jacksonville already has approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, and Orlando and Miami could follow. DiBello says the diversification of launch sites would help promote multiple businesses and would prevent conflicts with other launchers, like the Defense Department, who get liftoff priority at the Cape.Spacecraft in Need of Customers
Will there be enough private-sector customers to support this industry? Florida—as well as Alaska, Texas, Virginia, and many other states—are putting their money behind the belief that there will be, and DiBello lists the reasons: Satellites are getting smaller and cheaper to launch while at the same time becoming more capable. This opens up the possibility of forward-leaning, well-funded companies like Google launching their own fleets of sats to handle information streaming in and out of mobile devices, cars, and so on. (Think of a Google Maps app that could be updated every few minutes, or a wildlife-tracking experiment with its own dedicated satellite network.)
For human spaceflight, other possibilities emerge. Science experiments in reduced gravity could extend from minutes to hours, depending on the vehicle. Space tourism would start as suborbital flights, as envisioned by Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic, but the hardware could be adapted for true spaceflight. That would allow for some really rapid transit of high-value cargo, like donated organs, or ferrying passengers who can afford to pay gobs of money for a 2-hour trip from Florida to anywhere on the globe.
Earlier dreams of space empires have ended in failure—look up the sad fate of Iridium as an example. But DiBello says the current crop of players have an approach better suited to the high-risk, high-cost world of spaceflight. "Before, it was hardware companies seeking to become information companies in space," he says. "Now, it's the opposite. IT companies are seeking to become space companies. Paul Allen, Jeff Bezos, and Richard Branson see a future in the next frontier. These people understand markets."
The most disruptive of this new wave is Elon Musk, whose launch company SpaceX is changing the dynamic of the industry by promising unheard-of prices ($60 million for an unmanned mission, 50 percent lower than the cost of ULA boosters). Longstanding industry players—including ULA staff who talked to PopMech during our visit—express doubt about SpaceX's ability to come through with reliable launches at low prices. They also rightfully point out that reliability can outweigh cost savings when the cargo is important, and the ULA has a clear edge here.
But Musk countered in front of Congress today: "Currently ULA has both the Atlas and the Delta but those are redundant—you don't need both of those of those families of rockets. What would make sense for long term security of the country, is to phase out the Atlas 5, which depends on the Russian engine, and have ULA operate the Delta family, SpaceX operate the Falcon family, giving the DOD shared access to space with two completely diff rocket families."
DiBello sees an innovative company shaking up a stolid industry with innovative approaches. "They disparage them, but they fear them," he says. "I think it's exactly what's needed."ULA Gets In On the Action
If any company can sit back and enjoy the space status quo, it's the United Launch Alliance, the big Cape Canaveral incumbent. This year the Air Force has committed to buying 36 more rocket cores from the organization. SpaceX will start competing with the ULA for launch contracts as soon as this year, sure, but there are only 14 opportunities for that open competition. So the ULA seems to be in a good position—and that's good news for the Florida space industry. DiBello calls these government launches "the backbone of the Florida space industry."
But budget worries are driving a new way of thinking. In short, the ULA can't count on the fact that clients such as the Air Force have been willing to pay a premium for reliability. At a recent conference, the ULA's CEO Dan Collins said the government has a new attitude about cost versus risk. "To go mess with your recipe is a risk that our customer saw as a step too far," Collins said. "That is no longer the case."
The ULA has been trying to drive down prices, and it's also looking at expanding into other markets. The alliance doesn't chase commercial sat launches, a market dominated by the EU, China, and Russia. Yet the ULA has worked on satellite deployment hardware that could help it enter the marketplace. For example, engineers have created and tested dispensers for small satellites that can be flown as secondary payloads on bigger launches.
The ULA also has skin in the game of human spaceflight, with a stake in two of the three commercial crew programs—Boeing's CST-1000 and Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser—that NASA is looking at for delivering astronauts to the ISS. That gives good odds that the ULA will be launching manned spacecraft to the ISS by 2016. And the alliance is launching the first test flight of NASA's new space capsule, Orion, in September from Canaveral. The future looks pretty bright.Space Coast Believers
The future is being built on the legacy of old launchpads. Howard Biegler, the human-launch-services lead at ULA, walks across Launch Complex 41, which has endured blastoffs of dozens of Titan and Atlas launches. Sats, solar probes, and spacecraft that have orbited Mars left Earth from this spot. "It makes sense to reuse the old Titan pads," he says. "They cost billions of dollars in infrastructure to create, in reinforced concrete and steel."
There are fresh red X's painted on the weathered concrete, spaced 20 feet across. These are the positions where the legs of Dream Chaser's support tower will be placed. Asked who painted them, Biegler smiles and says proudly, "I did!"
Human launch, as ULA officials will tell you, may not yet pay the bills at Cape Canaveral. The good money today is made on Pentagon launches. But lofting astronauts is a source of pride and excitement, and Biegler is not immune to this. Besides, who knows what the future holds? One day, sooner than many people think, space planes and manned capsules could be rising from the Space Coast, just as in days of old. Plenty of believers—engineers, businessmen, pilots, scientists, schemers, entrepreneurs, politicians, and machinists—are building the foundations of the new space industry today here in Florida.Huntsville-based Manufacturing Technical Solutions wins 3 task orders from Marshall at NASALucy Berry – Huntsville TimesVeteran-owned small business Manufacturing Technical Solutions, Inc. announced today it has been awarded three task orders from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.The contract, which has a potential value exceeding $100 million, involves providing programmatic support services to bolster current and future NASA programs and projects.Formed in February 2001, MTS is headquartered in Huntsville and was recognized as one of the 5,000 fastest-growing U.S. companies for the past four years by Inc. Magazine. The company provides program management, information technology and logistics work for the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA.Spin of distant black hole measured at half of speed of lightIrene Klotz - ReutersA supermassive black hole inside a distant quasar spins at about 336 million mph (540 million kph) or roughly half the speed of light, according to research published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.Scientists have measured the spin rates of black holes before but never one so far away. The newly measured black hole is inside a quasar some 6 billion light years from Earth.A black hole is a region of space so packed with matter that not even photons of light can escape its gravitational grip. They leave evidence of their existence as they encounter and swallow cosmic neighbors. Its rate of spin provides clues about the relationships between the black hole and its host galaxy.Computer models show that how fast a black hole spins depends on how much material is available for the black hole to consume. A black hole with a steady supply of gas from nearby merging galaxies, for example, spins faster than one whose feedings are more erratic, a result of fewer neighbor galaxies to consume.The speed of the supermassive black hole inside quasar RX J1131-1231 indicates the black hole is feeding steadily, most likely on a diet of shredded neighbor galaxies, said Mark Reynolds, an astronomer with the University of Michigan.By that measure, the supermassive black hole regularly consumes the equivalent of about 333,000 Earths every year, Reynolds said.Scientists want to measure the spin rates of other, even more distant, supermassive black holes to see how conditions were different farther back in time."The ability to measure black hole spins over a large range of cosmic time should make it possible to directly study whether or not the black hole evolves in step with its host galaxy," Rubens Reis, also an astronomer with University of Michigan, said in a statement.The measurements were not easy to make. Analyses of X-rays pouring from near the mouth of RX J1131's black hole were only possible because a closer galaxy sits between the quasar and Earth-orbiting X-ray telescopes.The closer galaxy, located about 3 billion light years from Earth, bends light from the more distant quasar, bringing it into focus like a zoom lens on a camera or telescope. The process is known as "gravitational lensing."Jeff Foust – Space PoliticsThe release of NASA's fiscal year 2015 budget proposal on Tuesday didn't generate many strong reactions, either positive or negative. "I'm mixed," writes The Planetary Society's Casey Dreier in a blog post summarizing the budget. He was pleased there was a small amount of money to begin pre-formulation work on a Europa mission, but worried about a long-term decline of missions. "Analysts were worried about that a flat NASA budget at $17.7 billion would be difficult to maintain, given NASA's commitments," he writes. "Now we're over $200 million less than that. SOFIA is the most recent casualty of this slow decline." (The society's official statement on the budget will come after the release of more detailed budget information, expected either late this week or early next week.)Congressman Adam Schiff (D-CA) also sees the budget as an "improvement" for planetary science at NASA, but an insufficient one. "While I'm pleased to see the budget continues to provide funding for the Mars Exploration Program, in particular the Mars 2020 mission, and recognizes the importance of a future mission to Europa, a far greater investment will be necessary to ensure America's preeminence in planetary science," said the congressman, whose district includes JPL. "I look forward to working with my colleagues, once again, to restore adequate funding to planetary science and only wish it wasn't necessary to do so year after year."The Space Foundation weighed in on the budget in general, supporting the funding levels for programs such as SLS and Orion, ISS, and commercial crew. It also argued that the additional $885 million above the $17.46 billion baseline, part of the administration's overall Opportunity, Growth, and Security Initiative (OGSI), should be funded. "With NASA's budget at a historic low as a percentage of the federal budget, we strongly support the $18.4 billion proposal as a bare minimum," Space Foundation CEO Elliot Pulham said in a statement.The overall NASA budget proposal also got support from the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA). "While budget details on specific exploration accounts are not yet available, we are encouraged that the President's request supports human exploration and we look forward to learning more details on the President's recommendations to increase space investments," AIA president and CEO Marion Blakey said in the statement. She added the AIA "strongly support[s] the proposal to extend the space station until at least 2024; the work that is being done there cannot be replicated at any other national laboratory."The Commercial Spaceflight Federation said it supported the budget requests for commercial crew and space technology, whose requests are significantly above what those programs received in 2014. "We applaud the robust support for Commercial Crew and Space Technology which will strengthen our space industrial base, and secure the nation's place as a leader of exploration and innovation," CSF president Michael Lopez-Alegria.A key member of Congress, though, didn't share the relatively upbeat assessments of those industry groups. "However, I am disappointed to see flat or even decreased funding in a number of key areas of the federal government's R&D budget," said Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX), the ranking member of the House Science Committee. "For example, the budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration fails to even meet the 2014 enacted funding level and, if enacted, will hinder the agency's performance in the coming years."END
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