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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: June 13, 2014 12:33:06 PM CDT
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: NASA and Human Spaceflight News - Friday – June 13, 2014
TGIF,,,,and its sprinkling a bit in the Clearlake metro area.NASA and Human Spaceflight NewsFriday – June 13, 2014NASA and the ISS Crew Members Celebrate the World Cup:Many articles continued to tout the recent video showing International Space Station crew members playing soccer aboard the station, such as NBC Nightly News, which noted the astronauts are "celebrating its start," and ABC World News with Diane SawyerOrion:NASA unveils new mission into spaceKHOUThere was big news from NASA on Thursday. Crews have successfully installed the silver heat shield on the space agency's newest space vehicle.That's a big step because when the space shuttle retired there were a lot of questions about the future of the space program.However, after a trip to Johnson Space Center, KHOU 11 News Anchor Greg Hurst learned "Space City" is not dead yet: http://www.khou.com/news/local/9e009a33ad5732cf4413d212c68ee700b51b7836-262981321.htmlHEADLINES AND LEADSFrom slums to space, world tunes in to World CupAssociated PressFrom the stadium in Sao Paulo to sofas in Germany, from a pub in Nairobi to a cafe in Miami, from a Rio slum to outer space, nearly half the world's population was expected to tune in to the World Cup, soccer's premier event which kicked off Thursday in Brazil.To Mars with China? Not These Days, Says NelsonIrene Klotz – Space NewsU.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who parlayed a 1986 guest flight aboard the space shuttle into a leading congressional space policy role, has a bone to pick with the National Research Council (NRC) report advocating a stepping-stone path to human missions to Mars.UNC Charlotte team's rocket wins award in NASA competitionLisa Thornton - Charlotte (NC) ObserverLast month, UNC Charlotte's rocketry team won the Best Vehicle Design award in the NASA Student Launch competition, beating 31 other university teams from across the country in the contest's rocket construction category.See an astronaut and leader of America's space program in Huntsville today
Lee Roop - Huntsville (AL) TimesRobert "Bob" Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center and a former astronaut, is speaking in Huntsville today in a free talk open to the public. Cabana is giving one of the "Pass the Torch" lectures at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center at 5:30 p.m. The talk will be in the 3-D theater at the Davidson Center for Space Technology.Brevard's Craig Technologies to support Dream Chaser mini-shuttleJames Dean – Florida TodayA former space shuttle support facility here will provide specialized equipment, experienced workers and some "good vibrations" to a mini-shuttle competing to fly astronauts from the Space Coast.NASA releases best images yet of a near-Earth asteroidDeborah Netburn – Los Angeles TimesAn asteroid nicknamed "the beast" zipped by Earth last weekend, and NASA's telescopes were ready.Private Team to Restart Engines on 36-Year-Old NASA SpacecraftElizabeth Howell - Space.comA decades-old spacecraft appears to be in great health despite being abandoned in the solar system for the better part of two decades, the private team working to revive the NASA probe says.Dream Chaser Space Plane Prototype to Fly Again in 2014Elizabeth Howell - Space.comA protoype of a space plane being developed to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station will take to the skies again later this year.3D Printer Cleared for August Launch to Space StationMike Wall – Space.comA 3D printer has passed its final set of NASA checks, clearing the way for the device to launch toward the International Space Station in August.Why Extroverts Could Cause Problems on a Mission to MarsRachael Rettner – LiveScienceAs NASA focuses considerable effort on a mission to send humans to Mars in the coming decades, psychology researchers are looking at what types of personalities would work the best together on such a long trip.NASA hopes to launch 'flying saucer' with Navy help after delayAlicia Chang - The Associated PressNASA hopes to try again to launch a "flying saucer" into Earth's atmosphere to test Mars mission technology after losing the chance because of bad weather, project managers said Thursday.NASA Instruments Aboard Rosetta Get Ready for Cometary ScienceEmily Carney – AmericaSpaceMonths after reawakening from a record-setting slumber, NASA has announced that three of its instruments aboard Rosetta, the European Space Agency's (ESA) comet-hunting spacecraft, have started sending data back to Earth. Rosetta is primed to become the first spacecraft to orbit a comet (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) in August and will also deploy a lander, Philae, to the comet's nucleus in November. During its unprecedented mission, it is hoped that Philae will drill into the nucleus, providing a glimpse—for the first time ever—into a comet's composition.COMPLETE STORIESFrom slums to space, world tunes in to World CupAssociated PressFrom the stadium in Sao Paulo to sofas in Germany, from a pub in Nairobi to a cafe in Miami, from a Rio slum to outer space, nearly half the world's population was expected to tune in to the World Cup, soccer's premier event which kicked off Thursday in Brazil.Even football-loving Pope Francis got a touch of World Cup fever. He sent a video message on Brazilian television before the match, saying the world's most popular sport can promote peace and solidarity.The inaugural game had everything aficionados love — passion, drama, spectacle, goals and a refereeing controversy. Here are just a few of the billions of spectators who got caught up in it all.To Mars with China? Not These Days, Says NelsonIrene Klotz – Space NewsU.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat who parlayed a 1986 guest flight aboard the space shuttle into a leading congressional space policy role, has a bone to pick with the National Research Council (NRC) report advocating a stepping-stone path to human missions to Mars.The 286-page report, which was released June 3, urged the United States to consider adding China to the global space partnership that will be essential for a human expedition to Mars — the only goal that justifies the risk to life and tremendous cost of manned spaceflight beyond low-Earth orbit, the panel said."Given the rapid development of China's capabilities in space, it is in the best interests of the United States to be open to its inclusion in future international partnerships," the report said.Ideally, a human mission to Mars would include China, Nelson told SpaceNews, but "I just don't trust them at this point.""The Chinese would like to steal everything we have," he said."We'll see. Things can change. I mean whoever thought we'd have the cooperation with the former Soviet Union — despite czarist Putin," Nelson added, referring to Russian President Vladimir Putin and ongoing tensions stemming from Russia's annexation of Ukraine's Crimea peninsula.Overall, Nelson said he found the NRC report "positive" and "realistic.""If you're going to Mars you've got to provide the money. That's a question that the American people will have to answer. In the interim, we have the building blocks to get ready for a Mars mission in the 2030s," he said.Nelson spoke to SpaceNews on June 9 after touring a mock-up of Boeing's CST-100 capsule at a former shuttle processing hangar at Kennedy Space Center. The spacecraft is one of three vehicles vying for a final round of development funds under NASA's commercial crew program.UNC Charlotte team's rocket wins award in NASA competitionLisa Thornton - Charlotte (NC) ObserverLast month, UNC Charlotte's rocketry team won the Best Vehicle Design award in the NASA Student Launch competition, beating 31 other university teams from across the country in the contest's rocket construction category.Although partially charred, with parts burned up or missing after its final launch erupted in a massive fireball, the rocket – nicknamed "Skyminer" and designed by a nine-person team of seniors from the university's William States Lee College of Engineering – isn't scheduled for retirement anytime soon.In fact, despite the damage done by a motor malfunction on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah – where the contest took place and where most attempts at the world land-speed record are made – the rocket probably will never stop working in one capacity or another.NASA holds the competition for two reasons: to develop a taste for aerospace in up-and-coming generations of engineers, and to glean valuable research data to put to use from budding student rocketeers."The research that the students do can be used by NASA or other NASA affiliates for future space launch programs," said Dr. Karen Thorsett-Hill, a lecturer in mechanical engineering at UNCC and the team's faculty mentor.Contest judges were particularly interested in one aspect of UNCC's rocket. NASA's main requirement for the contest was to build a reusable rocket equipped with a camera able to spot hazards on the ground; but UNCC's designers added another feature, which controlled the rocket's ascent."One of the key elements in their design was a thrust modulation system," said Thorsett-Hill. The added technology helps control a rocket's ascent after launch. "It's something that NASA has always kind of struggled with through history."This is the third year UNCC has entered the competition, placing mid-pack in the two previous competitions."This year we finally got some attention from NASA," said Thorsett-Hill. "These guys really stepped up the game and did terrific."It wasn't easy. The yearlong process was riddled with obstacles to get the prototype off the ground, beginning with the rocket's cost.Mirroring NASA's own difficulties securing enough funding in the decades after its Apollo missions, UNCC's team struggled to come up with the $25,000 needed to build and test the rocket."It's hard to run a program like this," said Thorsett-Hill. "Trying to get money together to allow the seniors to do this type of project – it's always difficult."The team was funded through the N.C. Space Grant Consortium and by departments within the Lee College of Engineering. Private businesses NextGen, BACE and Carolina Composite Rocketry provided additional support.The expense to make just one rocket put a lot of pressure on designers."There's only one vehicle. There's no spare parts," said team member Jerry Dahlberg, 42. "All of our experimentation and testing had to be done on the actual launch vehicle."That's why the university plans to squeeze every ounce of use from the Skyminer, even though the rocket won't ever be fired into the sky again."We are required to engage younger students – middle and high school – to attract them to the field, so that there's a generation that follows the ones that are doing the research now," said team member John Cappalletti, 21. "We'll take it to STEM outreaches and show what we have available as far as design, build and integration."See an astronaut and leader of America's space program in Huntsville today
Lee Roop - Huntsville (AL) TimesRobert "Bob" Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center and a former astronaut, is speaking in Huntsville today in a free talk open to the public. Cabana is giving one of the "Pass the Torch" lectures at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center at 5:30 p.m. The talk will be in the 3-D theater at the Davidson Center for Space Technology.As Kennedy director, Cabana is responsible for a place steeped in space history and important to the space program's future. Kennedy is where astronauts have lifted off in the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and space shuttle programs. It is also where the new Space Launch System is scheduled to lift off in 2017. Private companies like SpaceX use launch pads at Kennedy, and an Orion capsule will be launched from there later this year on a test flight.Cabana is a veteran of four spaceflights and a member of the Astronaut Hall of Fame. He has logged more than 900 hours in space including the first International Space Station assembly mission in December of 1988.Cabana is in Huntsville for the Friday ribbon-cutting ceremony at the space center of the T-38 NASA astronaut trainer jet that bears his name. Larry LaRose, a former NASA flight engineer whose name is also on the T-38, will also be at the 2 p.m. ceremony. The twin-engine supersonic jet was specially modified for astronaut training.Brevard's Craig Technologies to support Dream Chaser mini-shuttleJames Dean – Florida TodayA former space shuttle support facility here will provide specialized equipment, experienced workers and some "good vibrations" to a mini-shuttle competing to fly astronauts from the Space Coast.Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems said Thursday it has hired Craig Technologies to build equipment that will help prepare SNC's Dream Chaser for launch from Cape Canaveral, possibly as soon as 2016.The work will be performed in the former NASA Shuttle Logistics Depot on State Road A1A, where shuttle components were built, serviced and tested for decades, and which Craig Technologies took over from United Space Alliance after the shuttle program's 2011 retirement.Continuing the facility's shuttle legacy with work on a new, shuttle-like commercial crew vehicle brought "good vibrations" and was a sign of better times ahead, said Mark Sirangelo, vice president of SNC Space Systems."The investment that's been made here . . . really is an example of how the space program here on the Space Coast can and is rebounding back to what it was," he said.Colorado-based SNC is one of three companies competing for a NASA contract to fly crews to the International Space Station by 2017. One or more winners are expected to be named in August or September.Though the company received half as much funding in the last round as Boeing and SpaceX, which are both developing crew capsules, Sirangelo said he believes the reusable Dream Chaser is well-positioned to win an award."We're building a system that has multiple clients for multiple types of projects in space," he said. "Dream Chaser is not solely a NASA project."Plans call for the Dream Chasers to launch from the Cape on Atlas V rockets with up to seven astronauts, land on Kennedy Space Center's shuttle runway and be processed between flights in a KSC building shared with NASA's Orion exploration capsule.SNC hopes to launch an uncrewed Dream Chaser on its first orbital flight in November 2016. A test vehicle has completed one drop test in California, surviving to fly again despite skidding off the runway because of stuck landing gear.Under the partnership announced Thursday, Craig Technologies will build a device called a "cradle" to lift, rotate and transport the Dream Chaser during processing on the ground."We are so thrilled to be a part of the 'Dream Team,'" said Carol Craig, founder and CEO of Craig Technologies.RELATED: SpaceX targeting Father's Day launchShe could not say yet how many jobs the work would create, but said her company has added 150 employees in the 18 months since it took over the former shuttle facility and 1,600 pieces of specialized NASA equipment.The new hires include 65 former shuttle contractors, about half of whom work in what Craig Technologies now calls its Aerospace and Defense Manufacturing Center, in which the company has invested more than $2 million.The team already works on satellite components and parts for NASA's Orion and Space Launch System rocket, and for non-space customers.Before the shuttle's retirement, United Space Alliance had hoped to leverage the facility's unique equipment and work force to serve a range of industries. But parent companies Boeing and Lockheed Martin killed those attempts to secure post-shuttle business."This was a dream we had a long time ago, and (Craig) is executing the dream," said Mark Nappi, a senior vice president at QinetiQ North America who previously led USA's Florida operations."The whole concept was, let's keep this place alive, because we knew there was going to be a lull in operations," Nappi added. "And that's exactly what she's doing. Now she's getting to the point where this facility is needed again."NASA also applauded the new partnership."It's very gratifying to see former shuttle assets, whether they're facilities or equipment or people, being transformed in support of new programs," said Scott Colloredo, head of KSC's Center Planning and Development office.Craig said her goal was to fill the building with employees again."The whole reason that we took this leap was the jobs, was to be able to be part of the revitalization of the Space Coast in this post-shuttle downturn," she said. "We're looking forward to turning the end of a world-class program into the beginning of a next-generation powerhouse."NASA releases best images yet of a near-Earth asteroidDeborah Netburn – Los Angeles TimesAn asteroid nicknamed "the beast" zipped by Earth last weekend, and NASA's telescopes were ready.The video below represents some of the most detailed images of a near-Earth asteroid ever taken, according to the space agency.The asteroid officially known as 2014 HQ124 was first discovered in April, soon before its closest approach to Earth.On June 6, it came as close as 776,000 miles from Earth, or a little more than three times the distance between Earth and the moon.The images above were taken a few days later, when the asteroid was between 864,000 and 902,000 miles from Earth.What they revealed was an asteroid at least 1,200 feet long and shaped like a Teletubby, with a small lobe on top and a larger lobe on the bottom.Lance Benner, a research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said the two lobes of the object may once have been separate, but they are clearly touching now."Quite a few that we've seen have looked like that," he said. "Maybe 1 out of 6."Scientists also spotted what looks like a cavity in the larger of the two lobes, and they were able to estimate that the asteroid completed a full rotation about once every 24 hours.To get these detailed images, the researchers paired the 23-foot Deep Space Network antenna at Goldstone, Calif., with two other radio telescopes --the Arecibo radio telescope in Puerto Rico and a smaller radio telescope in California. The Goldstone antenna beamed a signal at the asteroid, and an antenna on one of the other two telescopes received the radar reflection."By itself the Goldstone antenna can obtain images that show features as small as the width of a traffic lane on the highway," said Benner in a statement. "With Arecibo now able to receive our highest-resolution Goldstone signals, we can create a single system that improves the overall quality of the images."That means, there are more, clearer images of near-Earth asteroids to come.Private Team to Restart Engines on 36-Year-Old NASA SpacecraftElizabeth Howell - Space.comA decades-old spacecraft appears to be in great health despite being abandoned in the solar system for the better part of two decades, the private team working to revive the NASA probe says.All instruments are on and NASA's International Sun/Earth Explorer 3spacecraft, or ISEE-3 for short, is responding to hails from its new command team, which hopes to send the probe on new adventures in deep space.The team, called the ISEE-3 Reboot Project, is working out of a former McDonald's near NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California. So far, the team has been gathering information on where the spacecraft is moving, how fast it is spinning and how much power it has.ISEE-3 has ample power (a surplus of 28 watts) and its instruments are all turned on, although how well they are functioning will require further investigation, said team co-leader Keith Cowing."We need to understand [the spacecraft] before we fire the engines for the main thrust," he told Space.com. That will likely come on June 17, and it is intended to eventually put ISEE-3 in a stable spot where it can reliably communicate with Earth.Moving dayThe team made contact with the spacecraft in late May under a Space Act Agreement with NASA. It's the first time any private entity has taken over a spacecraft, leading to careful discussions on both ends about what is allowed. The current communications agreement runs through June 25, but Cowing said it's an incremental date expected to be extended.The project's ultimate goal is to make the spacecraft available for more science, although what ISEE-3 will do is still not known. Since being launched in 1978, the spacecraft has been a comet chaser, a solar probe and more. NASA ceased communications with it in 1997.The spacecraft first, however, needs to be moved. Cowing projects the first firings will need to change ISEE's speed by about 6 meters (20 feet) a second. He said the best "guesstimate" of fuel available shows plenty of margin: there's enough to alter the spacecraft's speed by 150 meters (492 feet) a second.Team members want to eventually place ISEE-3 in the Earth-sun Lagrange Point 1 (ES-1), a gravitationally stable spot about 930,000 miles (1.5 million kilometers) from Earth. Cowing said it might be August or September before that happens, but the timeline isn't firmed up yet.If all goes to plan, the spacecraft will also head behind the far side of the moon for about 25 minutes, which is somewhat risky given there's no working battery. Cowing pointed out, however, that the spacecraft has done it before, and said they will likely leave the instruments on to give it a bit of extra heat as it passes behind.Communications challengesKeeping track of the spacecraft will be somewhat more difficult as it approaches Earth, because its position changes more rapidly from our viewpoint. Right now the team is remotely using the massive fixed-dish Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.Within a week, they hope to have supplemental communications at Morehead State University, although the first engine firing at least will likely take place with Arecibo.Meanwhile, at least a couple of amateurs have been able to track ISEE-3's radiocommunications using small dishes. As the spacecraft gets closer to Earth, Cowing said he is curious if university optical telescopes will be able to pick out the small craft. (It's about 15 million to 20 million miles away, and moving closer at about a quarter-million miles a day, he said.)Cowing said that he is amazed at how healthy the spacecraft is. "It's almost like people going to the Antarctic, and discovering something somebody left behind half a century ago, frozen, still works."Dream Chaser Space Plane Prototype to Fly Again in 2014Elizabeth Howell - Space.comA protoype of a space plane being developed to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station will take to the skies again later this year.The prototype of Sierra Nevada Corp.'s Dream Chaser vehicle has already been through some drop tests and a free flight in 2013, which ended when the Dream Chaser skidded off the runway. The new series of flights will include several automated ones, followed by piloted trips, said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC's space systems division.The reusable astronaut taxi is one of three designs competing for NASA dollars in the space agency's Commercial Crew Program. The initiative aims to create a viable United States spacecraft that could ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station. At the moment, Russian Soyuz vehicles are the only spacecraft that can deliver astronauts into orbit.Three companies – Sierra Nevada, SpaceX and Boeing – are funded through the Commercial Crew Program right now, but that pool of competitors could get smaller in the next phase of the program, which will be announced later this year."We believe we're well positioned for that next phase, but in addition to that, I think what we're doing is building a system [to attract] multiple clients," Sirangelo told reporters during a news conference today (June 12).Sierra Nevada aims to launch Dream Chaser into space for the first time in November 2016, company representatives have said.Working in a former shuttle facilitySirangelo delivered his comments while announcing a contract with Craig Technologies, an engineering and technical company that is leasing a 161,000-square-foot building in Cape Canaveral, Florida, which was formerly used for NASA shuttle logistics.Craig will provide a piece of hardware that will help "move the Dream Chaser around and put it on its adapter for flight," Sirangelo said. Called a "cradle," the ground equipment device is intended to lift and move the spacecraft while it is being processed."This is the first of many different pieces of business we will be doing here," Sirangelo said.Dream Chaser will ride to orbit aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket and return to Earth by making a landing on a runway, much like NASA's space shuttles did before their retirement in 2011. Craig is expected to provide several other products and services to SNC, which Sirangelo said are being negotiated. The value of the contract was not disclosed.'We're able to bring jobs'In 2012, Craig also brokered a five-year Space Act Agreement with NASA for the agency to let it use 1,600 pieces of equipment that were once used to maintain and repair the shuttle.Because the agreement required Craig to stay within 50 miles (80 kilometers) of the Kennedy Space Center, Craig signed a lease with Cape Canaveral Ventures for the nearby shuttle depot.Since 2013, Craig (which has about 400 employees in the United States) has hired 150 employees, with 65 of those former shuttle workers. It also spent $2 million renovating the facility and hiring workers so far."The important message is we're able to bring jobs, and keep that knowledge base, and retain that experience and that skilled work force that was here before," Carol Craig, founder and CEO of Craig Technologies, said during the news conference. "That's what we hope to bring to Mark and his team."Craig joins a list of about 40 companies that are participating in the Dream Chaser program. Sierra Nevada also has participated in missions such as NASA's Curiosity Mars rover, where it provided some of the systems that helped the rover land in the last minute of its so-called "seven minutes of terror" touchdown in 2012.3D Printer Cleared for August Launch to Space StationMike Wall – Space.comA 3D printer has passed its final set of NASA checks, clearing the way for the device to launch toward the International Space Station in August.A series of trials at the agency's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama has verified that the 3D printer — developed by California-based startup Made in Space in cooperation with NASA, as part of a project known as 3D Print — meets all the requirements for use aboard the orbiting lab, officials announced today (June 12)."NASA was able to provide key guidance on how to best comply with strenuous space certification, safety and operational requirements, and Made In Space excelled at incorporating that insight into the design," Niki Werkheiser, the NASA 3D Print project manager, said in a statement."As a result, the hardware passed testing with flying colors," Werkheiser added. "Made In Space now has first-hand experience of the full 'A-to-Z' process for designing, building and testing hardware for spaceflight."The printer is now cleared for takeoff aboard the next cargo mission the private company SpaceX will fly to the space station for NASA using its robotic Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket. That flight is expected to launch in August, though a final date has not been set.The testers at Marshall looked at a number of factors, from the 3D printer's ability to withstand the rigors of launch to its compatibility with space station interfaces, NASA officials said. Engineers also tested a set of objects printed by the device on Earth, which will serve as ground controls. (The same items will also be printed aboard the orbiting lab.)3D printers use a technique called extrusion additive manufactuing to build objects layer by layer out of polymers, metals and other raw materials. The technology could help make space exploration cheaper and more efficient, advocates say, by reducing the need to launch all mission components and parts from Earth."The ability to manufacture on demand in space is going to be a paradigm shift for the way development, research and exploration happen in space," said Michael Snyder, lead engineer and director of R&D for Made In Space.Once the machine is installed in the space station's Microgravity Science Glovebox (MSG), it will print out a set of 21 test parts and tools, which will eventually be returned to Earth for analysis.While these initial activities aim to verify the additive-manufacturing process in microgravity, the 3D Print project also intends to go a step further, demonstrating the usability of some parts, officials said. And when the experiment is over, Made in Space plans to install a permanent 3D printer aboard the International Space Station."Passing the final tests and shipping the hardware are significant milestones, but they ultimately lead to an even more meaningful one — the capability for anyone on Earth to have the option of printing objects on the ISS," said Made In Space CEO Aaron Kemmer. "This is unprecedented access to space."Why Extroverts Could Cause Problems on a Mission to MarsRachael Rettner – LiveScienceAs NASA focuses considerable effort on a mission to send humans to Mars in the coming decades, psychology researchers are looking at what types of personalities would work the best together on such a long trip.Now, a new study finds that on long-term space missions — such as missions to Mars, which could take as long as three years to complete a round trip — having an extrovert on board could have several disadvantages.For example, extroverts tend to be talkative, but their gregarious nature may make them seem intrusive or demanding of attention in confined and isolated environments over the long term, the researchers say."You're talking about a very tiny vehicle, where people are in very isolated, very confined spaces," said study researcher Suzanne Bell, an associate professor of psychology at DePaul University in Chicago. "Extroverts have a little bit of a tough time in that situation."If one person on a crew always wants to talk, while the other members are less social, "it could actually get pretty annoying," in that environment Bell said. (Remember George Clooney's character in the movie "Gravity"?)The researchers concluded that extroverts could potentially be a "liability" on these missions.Extroverts and teamsNASA is interested in a number of issues related to planning long-term space missions, including how to put together the most compatible teams for the missions.In the new study, which is funded by NASA, Bell and her colleagues reviewed previous research on teams who lived in environments similar to those of a long-term space mission, including simulated spacecraft missions of more than 100 days, as well as missions in Antarctica.Typically, extroverts— who tend to be sociable, outgoing, energetic and assertive — are good to have on work teams because they speak up and engage in conversations about what needs to be done, which is good for planning, Bell said. And because of their social interactions, extroverts tend to have a good understanding of who knows what on a team (such as who the experts in a certain field are), which helps foster coordination.But the researchers found several potential drawbacks to having extroverts on teams in isolated, confined environments.In one study of a spacecraft simulation, an extroverted team member was ostracized by two other members who were more reserved, Bell said. "They thought he was too brash, and would speak his mind too much, and talk too much," Bell said.Moreover, extroverts may have a hard time adjusting to environments where there's little opportunity for new activities or social interactions, the researchers said."People who are extroverted might have a hard time coping because they want to be doing a lot; they want to be engaged in a lot of things," said study researcher Shanique Brown, a graduate student in industrial and organizational psychology at DePaul. "And [on these missions], there won't be that much to do — things become monotonous after a while, and you're seeing the same people."Don't send extroverts to Mars?The new findings don't mean that extroverts can't go to Mars. More specific studies are needed to look at how extroverts fare on these teams, and whether certain kinds of training could help prevent problems, Bell said.Such studies could be conducted in space-simulation environments, or on the International Space Station, Bell said.Bell noted that a team of all introverts is likely not the solution. "The question is, where's the balance, and once we find the balance, what can we do through training" to promote team compatibility? Bell said.NASA hopes to launch 'flying saucer' with Navy help after delayAlicia Chang - The Associated PressNASA hopes to try again to launch a "flying saucer" into Earth's atmosphere to test Mars mission technology after losing the chance because of bad weather, project managers said Thursday.The space agency is working with the Navy on the Hawaiian island of Kauai to see if it can get the experimental flight off the ground in late June.During the current two-week launch window, the team came "tantalizingly close," but winds spoiled every opportunity, said project manager Mark Adler of the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory.Winds must be calm for a helium balloon to carry the disc-shaped vehicle over the Pacific so it doesn't stray into no-fly zones."We're ready to go. We're not giving up," Adler said.NASA has invested $150 million in the project so far, and extending the launch window would come with some cost. If the flight doesn't happen this summer, it would be postponed until next year.The mission is designed to test a new supersonic vehicle and giant parachute in Earth's stratosphere where conditions are similar to the red planet.For decades, NASA relied on the same parachute design to slow spacecraft streaking through the thin Martian atmosphere. The 1-ton Curiosity rover that landed in 2012 used the same basic parachute as the twin Viking landers in 1976.With plans to land heavier payloads and eventually astronauts, NASA needed to develop new drag devices and a stronger parachute.Measuring 110 feet in diameter, the new parachute is twice as large as the one that carried Curiosity. Because it can't fit in a wind tunnel where NASA does its traditional testing, engineers looked toward the skies off Kauai.NASA had rigged the test vehicle with several GoPro cameras with the hope that viewers would follow the action live online.Project scientist Ian Clark called the weather delay "hardly even a hiccup" in the long road to landing spacecraft on Earth's planetary neighbor. "We're still very enthusiastic," Clark said. "We're still very optimistic about the opportunities that we think we'll have in front of us to do this test."NASA Instruments Aboard Rosetta Get Ready for Cometary ScienceEmily Carney – AmericaSpaceMonths after reawakening from a record-setting slumber, NASA has announced that three of its instruments aboard Rosetta, the European Space Agency's (ESA) comet-hunting spacecraft, have started sending data back to Earth. Rosetta is primed to become the first spacecraft to orbit a comet (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko) in August and will also deploy a lander, Philae, to the comet's nucleus in November. During its unprecedented mission, it is hoped that Philae will drill into the nucleus, providing a glimpse—for the first time ever—into a comet's composition.The three NASA instruments are the Microwave Instrument for Rosetta (MIRO), Alice (an ultraviolet spectrometer), and the Ion and Electron Sensor (IES). MIRO will provide data about the evolution of the comet's tail and "coma" (the area around the comet's nucleus), shedding light upon how this section of the comet develops as it approaches and departs our nearest star, the Sun. Alice will analyze the gases within the coma and the comet's production of water, carbon dioxide, and carbon monoxide. It is hoped—along with Philae's surface analyses—that Alice's data will aid scientists in determining the nucleus' composition.According to NASA, IES was designed to analyze the "plasma environment" of the comet and how the solar wind from the Sun interacts with the tail and coma. Rosetta overall has 11 science instruments. NASA also designed a part of the electronics package for the Double Focusing Mass Spectrometer, which is part of Switzerland's Rosetta Orbiter Spectrometer for Ion and Neutral Analysis (ROSINA) instrument.Claudia Alexander, Rosetta's U.S. project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., underscored the agency's excitement about the history-making nature of Rosetta's mission:"We are happy to be seeing some real zeroes and ones coming down from our instruments, and cannot wait to figure out what they are telling us. Never before has a spacecraft pulled up and parked next to a comet. That is what Rosetta will do, and we are delighted to play a part in such a historic mission of exploration," she related.Alexander is undoubtedly not the only scientist excited over Rosetta, as the spacecraft has already taken quite a journey over the last decade. Launched from the Guiana Space Centre near Kourou, French Guiana, in March 2004, the spacecraft went into a 31-month-long "hibernation" mode in June 2011 to conserve power and was famously "reawakened" on Jan. 20. The spacecraft was assessed to be in good health, despite being powered down for such a long period.Most recently, the spacecraft began making maneuvers in preparation for its approach with the comet. If all goes as planned, Rosetta and its lander will study 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko through the end of next year. In May, news of another recently awakened comet-chaser, ISEE-3 (christened the International Cometary Explorer, or ICE, at one time), also claimed the interest of space watchers, as citizen scientists made contact with the 36-year-old spacecraft for the first time in over a decade. It is hoped this spacecraft will again hunt a comet. Despite a difference in decades, Rosetta and ISEE-3 both prove that cometary exploration is still "hot."END
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