Happy Rainy Friday everyone….have a great and safe weekend!
| | JSC TODAY CATEGORIES - Headlines
- NASA Coverage Set for Fourth SpaceX Mission to ISS
- New Research Launching on SpaceX-4 - Organizations/Social
- Learn About Hispanics in Space
- Orion T-Shirt and Cap Distribution
- AIAA Houston Meeting: Goodbye to Summer Picnic - Jobs and Training
- Machine Guarding Seminar ViTS: Sept. 24 |  |
| Headlines - NASA Coverage Set for Fourth SpaceX Mission to ISS
The fourth SpaceX cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract is scheduled to launch Saturday, Sept. 20, from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The one-day adjustment in the launch date was made to accommodate preparations of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket and was coordinated with the station's partners and managers. The company's Falcon 9 rocket, carrying its Dragon cargo spacecraft loaded with more than 5,000 pounds of scientific experiments and supplies, will lift off at 1:14 a.m. CDT. NASA TV coverage of the launch begins at 12 a.m. If for any reason the launch is postponed, the next launch opportunity is Sunday, Sept. 21 at approximately 12:51 a.m. The mission, designated SpaceX CRS-4, is the fourth of 12 SpaceX flights NASA contracted with the company to resupply the space station. It will be the fifth trip by a Dragon spacecraft to the orbiting laboratory. The spacecraft's 2.5 tons of supplies, science experiments, and technology demonstrations includes critical materials to support 255 science and research investigations that will occur during the station's Expeditions 40 and 41. If launch occurs Sept. 20, NASA TV will provide live coverage Monday, Sept. 22, of the arrival of the Dragon cargo ship to the International Space Station. Grapple and berthing coverage will begin at 4:30 a.m., with grapple at 6:30 a.m. Berthing coverage begins at 8:30 a.m. The Dragon will remain attached to the space station's Harmony module for more than four weeks and then splash down in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Baja California with almost two tons of experiment samples and equipment returning from the station. First-time users will need to install the EZTV Monitor and Player client applications: - For those WITH admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you'll be prompted to download and install the clients when you first visit the IPTV website
- For those WITHOUT admin rights (Elevated Privileges), you can download the EZTV client applications from the ACES Software Refresh Portal (SRP)
If you are having problems viewing the video using these systems, contact the Information Resources Directorate Customer Support Center at x46367 or visit the FAQ site. JSC External Relations, Office of Communications and Public Affairs x35111
[top] - New Research Launching on SpaceX-4
Launching to the International Space Station on SpaceX-4 are model organisms (rodents) that will help us discover the cellular, genetic and molecular mechanisms that are responsible for spaceflight-induced health changes in astronauts. We can apply knowledge of these mechanisms to treat diseases on Earth. Read more here. Organizations/Social - Learn About Hispanics in Space
Did you know that the first Hispanic to fly in space was not an American astronaut? Arnaldo Tamayo Méndez from Cuba flew with the Soviets aboard Soyuz 38 on Sept. 18, 1980, as part of the Interkosmos program. This space program was designed to give nations on friendly terms with the Soviet Union access to manned and unmanned space missions. Since then, there have been 11 additional Hispanics to fly in space, and five others that never did fly a mission—or are still waiting to fly a mission. These individuals, primarily from the United States, represent a wide variety of cultural backgrounds, including Mexico, Costa Rica, Spain, Peru, Columbia, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Argentina. To this day, Dr. Ellen Ochoa, JSC's director, is the only Latina to have ever flown in space. For more information, visit the link below. - Orion T-Shirt and Cap Distribution
Previously ordered Orion Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) T-shirts and caps will be available for pickup at the following dates, times and locations: - Building 3 café, Tuesday, Sept. 23, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Building 11 café, Wednesday, Sept. 24, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Gilruth Center lobby, Thursday, Sept. 25, from noon to 5 p.m.
If you are unable to make one of these events, the shirts will be available in the Building 11 Starport Gift Shop until Oct. 31. - AIAA Houston Meeting: Goodbye to Summer Picnic
You and your family are invited to the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Houston's first general meeting of our year. We will host Daniel Palomo of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau, who asks, "Is Houston ready to host the International Astronautical Federation 2018/19 Congress?" Palomo will discuss his plans to attract this amazing event to Houston, and he'd like your advice. Food and beverages will be provided. The picnic will feature straw-rocket demonstrations, horseshoes and more for the kids. We'll also raffle away a full year's AIAA membership at the event to anyone not currently a member. The cost for this event is $5 per person, or $10 for the family—or you can bring a side dish and receive free admission. Jobs and Training - Machine Guarding Seminar ViTS: Sept. 24
This course is an overview, or refresher, of hazards, needs and requirements for those who may use machines and machinery during the performance of their duties. Basic requirements from NASA and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) machine-guarding standards will be discussed, as well as an overview of protective devices and procedures. This course is based on the OSHA Training Institute and includes a quick review on various types of common machinery used at NASA and the safety standards relating to those types of machines. The course is intended as a refresher for those who have taken SMA-SAFE-NSTC-0204, Machinery and Machine Guarding, and have the need to use machinery in the performance of their duties. There will be a final exam associated with this course, which must be passed with a 70 percent minimum score to receive course credit. | |
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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
Friday – September 19, 2014
INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION:
NASA astronaut Steve "Swanny" Swanson landed back on Earth last week after a 5.5 month stay at the ISS. We asked fans to submit questions for Swanny on Instagram and received a great response, over 1200 responses on the @iss and @nasa Instagram accounts. Swanny took a few minutes out of his busy return schedule to answer his Instagram fans here on Earth.
We have been posting #askAstro video answers to those questions this week and will continue posting over the next couple of days. To find out what kind of music #Swanny listened to on the ISS or what his favorite experiment was, watch the videos on @iss.
HEADLINES AND LEADS
NASA inspector general questions station costs
William Harwood - CBS News
NASA cost estimates for operating the International Space Station through 2024 are "overly optimistic," the agency's inspector general reported Thursday, adding that the price of new U.S.-built space taxis likely will be higher than currently projected, exceeding the cost of flying aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
Senate Passes FY2015 CR
The Senate just passed the FY2015 Continuing Resolution (CR), funding the government through December 11, 2014 and avoiding a government shutdown.
Orion a step closer to deep space; NASA practices pulling it from sea
Stacey Leasca – Los Angeles Times
You have built a multibillion-dollar spaceship that will one day take humans to asteroids and Mars. You have big plans to send it up 3,600 miles into orbit, or about 15 times farther than the International Space Station. Now comes the hard part: Recovering this major piece of equipment once it lands.
Insider Exclusive: ULA's Tony Taliancich talks NASA's EFT-1 and the Delta IV Heavy
Jason Rhian – Spaceflight Insider
The biggest NASA mission of the year is about three months away from lifting off. SpaceFlight Insider conducted an exclusive interview with the company which is at the forefront of making it happen. Colorado-based United Launch Alliance's (ULA ) Director of East Coast Launch Operations, Tony Taliancich, sat down with SpaceFlight Insider for a discussion about NASA's Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) mission and the ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it out come December 2014.
Spaceflight Powered by Partnership (Op-Ed)
NASA's selection of Boeing and SpaceX to provide crew transportation to the International Space Station (ISS) is a major milestone for civil space exploration. It also demonstrates the value of public-private partnerships, necessary for leveraging decades of NASA investment and experience in human low-Earth orbit operations and establishing reliable, lower cost commercial systems for delivering cargo — and soon, people — to the ISS.
MIT's futuristic spacesuit works like shrink wrap
Rachel Feltman – The Washington Post
What if astronauts squeezed into lightweight, stretchy suits before venturing into space? MIT researchers are proposing just that.
Mystery Signal Could be Dark Matter Hint in ISS Detector
Analysis of 41 billion cosmic rays striking the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector aboard the International Space Station shows an unknown phenomena that is "consistent with a dark matter particle" known as a neutralino, researchers announced Thursday.
NASA's 'MAVEN' Space Probe To Reach Mars This Weekend
Ryan Grenoble - The Huffington Post
If everything goes to plan, NASA will have another set of eyes on Mars this weekend.
SpaceX Dragon to Launch Space Mice, 3D Printer and More for NASA
SpaceX might be a few years away from launching human astronauts into orbit, but this weekend, the company is sending a miniature crew of live passengers into space.
A better golf club? Space may play a role in that.
James Dean – Florida Today
A diverse batch of research teed up for a pre-dawn Saturday launch to the International Space Station includes an experiment that might some day help your drives fly straighter or farther down the fairway.
COMPLETE STORIES
NASA inspector general questions station costs
William Harwood - CBS News
NASA cost estimates for operating the International Space Station through 2024 are "overly optimistic," the agency's inspector general reported Thursday, adding that the price of new U.S.-built space taxis likely will be higher than currently projected, exceeding the cost of flying aboard Russian Soyuz spacecraft.
NASA Inspector General Paul Martin also raised questions about NASA's ability to safely operate the lab complex through 2024, the current goal, unless engineers can develop ways to offset age-related solar array degradation; minimize equipment failures and get large replacement components to the lab in the absence of the space shuttle.
"While the ISS program is actively working to mitigate these risks, anticipating the correct amount of replacement parts and transporting them to the ISS present major challenges to extending station operations 10 or more years beyond its original expected service life," Martin concluded.
More troubling, perhaps, the OIG found that the "assumptions underlying the agency's budget projections for the ISS are overly optimistic and that its actual costs may be higher."
The report said NASA projects the space station budget will grow from $3 billion a year to nearly $4 billion by fiscal 2020. But the OIG found station costs rose 26 percent between fiscal 2011 and 2013 "and an average of 8 percent annually over the life of the program."
Much of the projected cost increase, the report said, was due to higher transportation costs.
"NASA's estimates for the cost of commercial crew transportation services expected to replace the Russian Soyuz are based on the cost of a Soyuz seat in FY 2016 -- $70.7 million -- per seat for a total cost of $283 million per mission for transporting four astronauts," the report said.
"However, the program's independent government cost estimates project significantly higher transportation costs when the agency transitions to contracts with commercial spaceflight companies."
NASA has relied on the three-seat Russian Soyuz to ferry astronauts to and from the space station since even before the shuttle's retirement in 2011. While the cost per seat is significant, it is far less than the cost of a seat on the much more powerful, and more expensive, space shuttle.
Even so, the lack of a U.S.-built ferry craft has rankled lawmakers and NASA managers alike.
"You can't really be a serious leader in space if you can't get your people there on your own spaceship," historian John Logsdon, former director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, said in an interview Wednesday. "The relationship with Russia has been successful, it's cost us less money than doing it on our own. If we were still flying shuttles, we'd be paying a hell of a lot more than the cost of seats on a Soyuz."
But commercial U.S. ferry craft represent "both a real and symbolic indication that the United States is one of the leading space countries," he said.
On Wednesday, NASA announced that Boeing and SpaceX would share contracts totaling $6.8 billion to build U.S. crew capsules for flights to low-Earth orbit, carrying four astronauts at a time to the station starting in 2017.
It is not yet known how much it will cost to fly astronauts aboard the Boeing CST-100 capsule or SpaceX's Dragon crew ship, but given the cost of the boosters required and the spacecraft themselves, a price tag under $300 million per flight -- comparable to the cost of flying four astronauts on the Soyuz -- appears unlikely.
But NASA supporters say comparing costs on a seat-for-seat basis is misleading because the agency will benefit from having additional researchers aboard the space station, NASA will have more flexibility managing crew rotations and the money will go to U.S. aerospace companies and workers, not their Russian counterparts.
So far, NASA is the only member of the space station program to formally approve a four-year mission extension to 2024. The European Space Agency, Russia, Canada and Japan have not yet indicated whether they will follow suit.
The OIG urged NASA to "continue to solicit commitments from international partners to maintain their support for the ISS and reduce the agency's costs;" to identify and prioritize the medical research needed to facilitate long-duration space exploration before the station's ultimate decommissioning; and to pursue legislation to address patent license and data rights for commercial researchers.
"Failure to address these challenges in a timely manner could significantly affect the functionality, cost and value of extending the operational life of the Station until 2024," the report said.
A NASA statement released in response to the inspector general's report said the agency's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate "continues to solicit commitments from its international partners to improve cost sharing; to track, manage and mitigate human health risks to long-term exploration and identify and prioritize those risks that must be mitigated prior to decommissioning the space station; and to pursue legislative options that will address patent license and data rights."
Senate Passes FY2015 CR
Marcia S. Smith - Spacepolicyonline .com
The Senate just passed the FY2015 Continuing Resolution (CR), funding the government through December 11, 2014 and avoiding a government shutdown.
The House and Senate are still in session at this hour (September 18, 7:00 pm EDT), but are expected to adjourn later today and not return until after the November elections.
The vote on the CR, which also includes a limited authorization for President Obama to take military actions related to defeating the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), was 78-22. The bill passed the House yesterday and now goes to the President, who is expected to sign it.
The CR funds the government at its FY2014 level of $1.012 trillion. Government agencies including NASA, NOAA and DOD are funded at their FY2014 levels minus a 0.0544 percent across-the-board reduction to pay for new activities included in the bill that are primarily related to national security, veterans affairs, customs and immigration, and responding to the Ebola crisis. Two space-related provisions allow funding flexibility for weather satellite programs and extend the authorization for the Export-Import Bank until June 30, 2015.
Orion a step closer to deep space; NASA practices pulling it from sea
Stacey Leasca – Los Angeles Times
You have built a multibillion-dollar spaceship that will one day take humans to asteroids and Mars. You have big plans to send it up 3,600 miles into orbit, or about 15 times farther than the International Space Station. Now comes the hard part: Recovering this major piece of equipment once it lands.
On Monday, NASA, along with a team from Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy, boarded the USS Anchorage at San Diego Naval Base to take a practice run at recovering the Orion – the space agency's latest achievement in deep-space exploration – from the sea.
The craft, a multipurpose crew vehicle that looks something like a giant triangular robot sent from space, is set to take its first unmanned flight in December. Orion will climb 3,600 miles into orbit, make one trip around the world and fall back to Earth traveling about 20,000 mph. The module's exterior will reach nearly 4,000 degrees before the craft is slowed down with the help of several parachutes and finally splashes down in Southern California waters.
"I'm not sure Americans particularly grasp the significance of what's going to happen," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told the Los Angeles Times while aboard the Anchorage. "The most powerful nation in the world will be sending a spacecraft intended to carry humans farther than we've been in 40 years. We have not designed a spacecraft to do this since the Apollo era. So when we launch in December, it will be something that a whole generation of Americans have not seen."
The type of effort needed to retrieve the Orion also will be a first for NASA. That is why, when word got out about NASA's plans to build Orion, the U.S.
"The Navy was there during the Apollo, so when the Orion came up, we raised our hand and said, 'Listen, we can do this mission,' " U.S. Navy Rear Adm. Fernandez Ponds told The Times.
According to Ponds, there is no better ship for the recovery of Orion than the Anchorage, with its radar, flight deck, robust medical facility and all-important well deck, an area of the ship that can take on water to allow boats -- and in this case the Orion -- to dock inside the ship.
On Monday, Michael Bolger, manager of the ground systems development and operations program at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, laid out how the recovery would work:
When Orion splashes down, the Navy will send out Zodiac ships filled with divers to meet it. The divers will attach a series of straps so that Anchorage can attach a winch line to reel the craft in, "almost like a fishing line." While the module is being reeled in, smaller vessels will be on each side of it, with crews to tend lines centering the craft.
The well deck will open, filling with about 6 feet of water. Once the module is safely inside, the well will drain out.
At this point, if the Orion were manned, the astronauts would be able to step out.
In several years when the Orion takes its first manned flight, the entire recovery operation will have to take place in less than two hours to ensure the comfort and safety of the astronauts.
NASA and the Navy have tried one other method for recovery, which involved a crane to lift the module out of the water and place it on the ship. A similar method was used to recover the Apollo modules.
Milt Heflin, a retired NASA employee who participated in eight Apollo recoveries, says that although the crane method might be easier, the device would be too heavy for Orion.
"Anything you do like that adds weight to the spacecraft," said Heflin, who is affectionately referred to as "the sage" as he consults on the Orion recovery efforts. Without the crane and lifting loop, a giant hook built on top of the module, this recovery became "much more difficult than what we were doing."
Difficult, yes, but Orion has had previous stumbling blocks. At one point, the entire program was scrubbed.
In early 2010, the Obama administration canceled the Constellation program, of which the Orion was a part.
According to the Denver Post, the Obama administration described the Constellation program as being "over budget, behind schedule and lacking in innovation."
But later that year, the president signed the NASA Authorization Act 2010, effectively saving the Orion program but bringing an end to the larger Constellation program.
"Our nation's leaders have come together and endorsed a blueprint for NASA," Bolden told reporters at the time, "one that requires us to think and act boldly as we move our agency into the future. This legislation supports the president's ambitious plan for NASA to pioneer new frontiers of innovation and discovery."
Heflin said of government support for the program: "You can't do this in fits and starts. You've got to have sustained commitment."
He said Orion brought more to the American public than the possibility of deep-space travel. "It makes them feel good from time to time. And there is nothing wrong with doing something that the American public can be proud of."
On Monday's practice run at recovering Orion, the Anchorage spent several hours traveling out to sea. There, it met up with another vessel, which carried one of four mockups of the spaceship Orion and dropped it into the ocean via a crane.
The recovery soon got underway.
After some mechanical difficulties with one of the Zodiac ships, divers met up with the module. Line tenders in the smaller vessels then positioned the module behind the Anchorage.
Lining up the module to safely reel it in was tedious. At one point, line tenders were seen manually pulling the Orion into place behind the Anchorage.
Slowly but surely, the module made its way into the well deck of the Anchorage. Once the water drained away, there sat the module – a craft that looked far too small to carry six humans into deep space and back.
Those aboard the Anchorage, of course, were confident in Orion's upcoming unmanned -- and one day manned -- missions.
"Will we get there? I believe we will," Bolden said. "There are a lot of people who don't think so, but I happen to believe we will."
Insider Exclusive: ULA's Tony Taliancich talks NASA's EFT-1 and the Delta IV Heavy
Jason Rhian – Spaceflight Insider
The biggest NASA mission of the year is about three months away from lifting off. SpaceFlight Insider conducted an exclusive interview with the company which is at the forefront of making it happen. Colorado-based United Launch Alliance's (ULA ) Director of East Coast Launch Operations, Tony Taliancich, sat down with SpaceFlight Insider for a discussion about NASA's Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) mission and the ULA Delta IV Heavy rocket that will carry it out come December 2014.
The Horizontal Integration Facility or "HIF" is the current residence of the massive trio of Common Booster Cores (CBCs) that will comprise this particular Delta IV Heavy. Located at Cape Canaveral Station, the structure resembles many of the hangars and buildings located at the Cape and the adjacent Kennedy Space Center – that is until you get inside. Looming over visitors are the three CBC's which will used to start this mission on its way out of Earth's atmosphere - and into the black.
Taliancich came in with his trademarked broad grin and welcomed SFI to the HIF. He relayed how, while the general flight of the Delta IV Heavy with EFT-1 might appear to be the same as the seven prior launches of the massive rocket – there would be some specific differences.
"There were some unique mission integration challenges as we went through the process of preparing the Delta IV Heavy for EFT-1," Taliancich said. "However, overall, this is the same booster that we have launched in the past."
The Delta IV Heavy is an expendable booster, the largest of the Delta IV family of launch vehicles. First taking to the skies in 2004, the Delta IV Heavy is currently the world's highest capability rocket. The Heavy iteration of the Delta IV, is, in many ways, three rockets in one as it is comprised of three Delta IV CBCs. Much like the space shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters, these are jettisoned after they have expended their fuel and have done their part in p0wering massive payloads out of Earth's gravity well (this normally takes place at a little more than four minutes into the flight).
Each Delta IV Heavy has a mass of some 1,615,988 lbs (733,000 kilograms) at liftoff. The normal version of the booster stands some 236 feet (72 meters) tall, 16 feet (five meters) in diameter and can send payloads weighing 63,470 lbs (28,790 kg) to low-Earth orbit and 31,350 lbs (14,220 kg) to a geostationary transfer orbit.
As noted, EFT-1 will see a flight test article of NASA's new crew-rated spacecraft, the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. ULA's Delta IV Heavy will use its impressive capabilities to set the spacecraft on a two-orbit journey around the Earth. Orion will venture some 3,600 miles (5,794 kilometers) away from the planet. This is further than any other crew-rated spacecraft has traveled since the end of the Apollo era more than four decades ago.
Having completed these two circuits, Orion will then be directed to return home. It will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere at the blistering speed of some 20,000 miles per hour (32,187 kilometers). This maiden voyage will mark Orion's trial-by-fire and is meant to serve as the rebirth of U.S. deep space exploration efforts. For their part, NASA program managers have stated that this mission is important to the overall effort of having Orion become the spacecraft that the space agency will use to send crews to destinations such as an asteroid and Mars.
"We're looking forward to testing our plan, our concept in space in December," said Mark Geyer, NASA's Orion Program Manager. "…I wouldn't be anywhere else when the time comes around."
Spaceflight Powered by Partnership (Op-Ed)
NASA's selection of Boeing and SpaceX to provide crew transportation to the International Space Station (ISS) is a major milestone for civil space exploration. It also demonstrates the value of public-private partnerships, necessary for leveraging decades of NASA investment and experience in human low-Earth orbit operations and establishing reliable, lower cost commercial systems for delivering cargo — and soon, people — to the ISS.
In coming years, the public-private trend in spaceflight is going to flourish, merging the talent and resources of government engineers and scientists with the research skills, vision and entrepreneurship of academia, nonprofits and the private sector. The trend — not just at NASA, but also at the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and other federal agencies that rely on advanced technology — is coinciding with ever more sophisticated communication and collaboration tools to solve once-intractable problems.
If the United States is to meet the challenges of long-term, constrained, federal spending while undertaking the bold new goals President Barack Obama has set for the human exploration of deep space, nontraditional partnerships must continue to grow. While more common now, public-private partnerships are not new. As a contractor to NASA's Johnson Space Center since 1967, the Wyle Science, Technology and Engineering Group has witnessed the changing landscape for human spaceflight missions. Two decades ago, as NASA began to prepare for a permanent human presence in low-Earth orbit aboard the ISS, it became clear the astronauts and their flight surgeons would need a diagnostic tool akin to an X-ray machine. The mission required a noninvasive device to peer beneath the skin, while being portable, compatible with the spaceflight environment, and easily used by an astronaut with no medical training.
By working with medical schools, traditional health care providers, equipment suppliers like General Electric and experts from other agencies, including the DoD, Wyle helped NASA develop an ultrasound technology for that purpose. That public-private partnership led to Earth-based exams for astronauts in space — speeding the development of telemedicine — and advanced protocols for space applications now in use in hospitals across the United States.
More recently, portable ultrasound is now emerging as a critical tool in isolated settings with minimally trained users here on the ground — from disaster response to walk-in clinics to telemedicine. With significantly less training than a certified sonographer, astronauts and terrestrial care providers assess ailments ranging from dental abscesses and broken bones to vision difficulties and cardiopulmonary concerns using the tele-mentoring tools and procedures originally developed in the ISS ultrasound public-private partnership.
Continuing ISS research collaborations are now addressing health challenges that will face astronauts heading into deep space, such as immune system suppression and the blurring of the vision that occurs during extended stays off-planet.
To that end, our team has been integral to efforts taking place at the NASA Human Health and Performance Center (NHHPC), established and directed by Jeffrey Davis, director for Human Health and Performance at NASA Johnson Space Center. Founded in 2010, the NHHPC is a virtual center that brings organizations together to advance human health and performance innovations for life in space, and on Earth, by sharing best practices and engaging in collaborative projects. The ultrasound probe development continues between GE, Wyle and NASA as part of NHHPC's mission.
To achieve the next phase of NASA's human exploration program, the agency is best served by industry partners with broad engineering, science and operational skills with a keen awareness of how to balance "failure is not an option" with "take risks, be innovative." Collaboration and partnership are key to achieving this balance for mission success.
Author's Note: The NHHPC counts more than 150 global members pledged to a socially responsible atmosphere of collaboration. They have gathered in Houston, Texas, this week for the organization's fifth annual workshop, "Innovation through Co-development: Engaging Partners."
MIT's futuristic spacesuit works like shrink wrap
Rachel Feltman – The Washington Post
What if astronauts squeezed into lightweight, stretchy suits before venturing into space? MIT researchers are proposing just that.
The theoretical suits would be made from coils that spring back to a "remembered" shape when heated -- so they could stretch out enough for astronauts to slip them on, but then contract into a suit tight enough to keep them alive in space.
"With conventional spacesuits, you're essentially in a balloon of gas that's providing you with the necessary one-third of an atmosphere [of pressure,] to keep you alive in the vacuum of space," Dava Newman, a professor of astronautics at MIT and head of the suit's design team, said in a statement. "We want to achieve that same pressurization, but through mechanical counterpressure — applying the pressure directly to the skin, thus avoiding the gas pressure altogether." For now, the suit is just a cuff -- a tourniquet that hangs loose, but tightens around the arm when exposed to a certain temperature. But tests show that the pressure it tightens to is equal to what a spacesuit would need to maintain.
The big advantage is increased mobility, which will be important in future space missions. Just imagine trying to explore the surface of Mars in a cumbersome, gas-filled suit.
But keeping this new material pressurized indefinitely might be tricky. The easiest way would be keeping the suit at a high heat for as long as an astronaut wore it -- but that would mean carrying around a power supply to keep it warm, and would overheat the space explorer in no time at all. Newman and her team are investigating other possibilities.
For now, their proof-of-concept tourniquet has more immediate applications on Earth. It could be used for emergency triage, the researchers suggest, providing instant, hands-free pressure on serious wounds. Mystery Signal Could be Dark Matter Hint in ISS Detector
Analysis of 41 billion cosmic rays striking the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer particle detector aboard the International Space Station shows an unknown phenomena that is "consistent with a dark matter particle" known as a neutralino, researchers announced Thursday.
Key to the hunt is the ratio of positrons to electrons and so far the evidence from AMS points in the direction of dark matter.
Positrons are the anti-matter counterparts to electrons.
The smoking gun scientists look for is a rise in the ratio of positrons to electrons, followed by a dramatic fall -- the telltale sign of dark matter annihilating the Milky Way's halo, which lies beyond its central disk of stars and dust, according to Michael Turner, director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago.
If current theoretical models are correct, a massive pool of dark matter -- perhaps as big as 1 million light-years across -- envelops the visible galaxy, which is about 100,000 light-years in diameter.
Visible matter, such as stars and galaxies, comprise less than 5 percent of the total mass in the universe. The rest is dark matter and an anti-gravity force referred to as dark energy. AMS is looking for evidence of dark matter neutralinos, which -- if they exist -- should collide with one another and release charged particles that AMS can detect.
"We have not found the definitive proof of dark matter," AMS lead researcher Samuel Ting, with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and CERN in Switzerland, wrote in an email to Discovery News.
"Whereas all the AMS results point in the right direction, we still need to measure how quickly the positron fraction falls off at the highest energies in order to rule out astrophysical sources such as pulsars," said Ting, a Nobel laureate who oversees the AMS team in 60 institutes from 16 countries.
A second line of evidence will come from upcoming measurements of the ratio between antiprotons and protons, which likewise can rule out pulsars as the energy source.
The AMS was installed on the space station during the next-to-last space shuttle mission in May 2011. Since then, the $2 billion instrument has been amassing a mountain of data from 54 billion cosmic ray events, 41 billion of which have been analyzed. Of those, 10 million particles were identified as electrons and positrons.
Over the life of the space station, AMS is expected to measure hundreds of billions of cosmic rays.
The AMS is not the only instrument on the hunt for dark matter. The Large Hadron Collider, for example, aims to produce the parent and grandparent particles of dark matter. LHC is being returned to service after a two-year shutdown for upgrades.
The AMS results are published in Physical Review Letters.
NASA's 'MAVEN' Space Probe To Reach Mars This Weekend
Ryan Grenoble - The Huffington Post
If everything goes to plan, NASA will have another set of eyes on Mars this weekend.
The agency's "Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution," or "MAVEN," spacecraft is set to arrive and begin orbiting the red planet Sunday at 9:50 p.m. EDT, completing a 10-month, 442-million-mile journey.
Unlike the Mars rovers Curiosity, Spirit, and Opportunity, MAVEN won't actually land on the Martian surface. Instead, NASA says the craft will remain in Mars' upper atmosphere, studying the properties of gases there and how they interact with solar wind. Specifically, scientists want to know what happened to Mars' atmosphere, which they believe was much thicker once and more like the atmosphere on Earth.
"The MAVEN science mission focuses on answering questions about where did the water that was present on early Mars go, about where did the carbon dioxide go," Bruce Jakosky, a professor of geological sciences at the University of Colorado Boulder and MAVEN's pincipal investigator, said in a written statement. "These are important questions for understanding the history of Mars, its climate, and its potential to support at least microbial life."
MAVEN will make initial contact with Mars above the planet's north pole. The craft will fire six engines for 33 minutes to slow the craft enough for it to be captured Mars' gravity. From there, MAVEN will move into a lower orbit around 90 miles above the planet's surface.
While MAVEN's primary mission is focused on Mars, in October it will take a unique look at a comet, known as "Siding Spring, as it flies by the planet.
SpaceX Dragon to Launch Space Mice, 3D Printer and More for NASA
SpaceX might be a few years away from launching human astronauts into orbit, but this weekend, the company is sending a miniature crew of live passengers into space.
An intrepid all-female group of 20 mice will ride inside SpaceX's Dragon space capsule early Saturday (Sept. 20) when it blasts off atop a Falcon 9 rocket on a delivery run to the International Space Station.
The mice are among a motley batch of cargo that includes some unusual items and milestones: the first 3D printer in space, mutant fruit flies, an Earth wind-watching radar, a mouse X-ray machine and a commercial experiment designed to make a better golf club. Dragon's flight — scheduled for 2:14 a.m. EDT (0614 GMT) from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station — will be SpaceX's fourth official resupply mission to the astronaut outpost under a contract with NASA.
Live cargo in space
The space-bound mice will be the first residents of NASA's new Rodent Research habitat, which scientists will use to study the animals' behavior and health. NASA's past rodent astronauts that flew aboard the space shuttle rarely spent more than two weeks in space. This mission — primarily intended to test out the new habitat and hardware — will last 30 days.
"Never were we able to achieve a flight experiment of this duration, so we'll get some new information," said Ruth Globus, project scientist for the rodent habitat at NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.
The 4-month-old adult mice prepping to take flight belong to a popularly used strain of inbred black-colored lab mice known as C57 Black 6. Using cameras inside the rodent habitat, scientists will monitor the rodents' behavior in microgravity.
"Rodents don't just float around and have fun," Globus told reporters here. "They tend to hold onto the walls. They move around a lot like monkeys do. They run around. They're very physically active."
But that pattern of behavior could change the longer they stay in space, Globus said.
Astronauts lose muscle and bone strength quickly when they go to space. And the same is expected to happen to mice. Researchers will measure the rodents' loss in bone density throughout the flight using a new X-ray machine called the Bone Densitometer. Built by Techshot, the microwave-sized instrument is also launching inside Dragon on Saturday. It will be the first X-ray source to be on the space station.
The mice won't be returning home alive; at the end of their month-long mission, the rodents will be euthanized and dissected by the astronauts so that certain parts can be frozen and preserved for study back on Earth, Globus said. (Scientists are particularly interested in looking at the creatures' hind-leg muscles, liver and spleen.)
Other, less charismatic model organisms are due to travel aboard Dragon, including the yeast that causes athlete's foot, Arabidopsis thaliana seedlings to grow plants in space and 30 fruit flies. Half of those fruit flies are mutants that are particularly resistant to stressors like starvation and dehydration. "They live twice as long as their wild-type cohort," said Sharmila Bhattacharya, the principal investigator of the fruit fly experiment at Ames, which was designed by her undergraduate and graduate students.
Bhattacharya and her students will look for behavioral and genetic changes in the two groups of flies. The insects are due to return to Earth with Dragon, which will splash down in the Pacific Ocean after spending a month attached to the space station. But by then, there will likely be many more than 30 of the flies; unlike the celibate mice, they're expected to multiply in microgravity.
"The last time we flew 60 flies, we got 3,000 back," Bhattacharya told reporters here.
A better golf club? Space may play a role in that.
James Dean – Florida Today
A diverse batch of research teed up for a pre-dawn Saturday launch to the International Space Station includes an experiment that might some day help your drives fly straighter or farther down the fairway.
Sponsored by the local nonprofit that manages the National Lab portion of the station, Cobra Puma Golf will test materials in microgravity in the hopes of finding ways to make clubs stronger, more durable and resistant to corrosion.
"In a golf club you've got a very complex structure that undergoes a ton of loads," said Mike Yagley, director of research and development testing at Cobra Puma Golf, based in Carlsbad, Calif. "It's pretty serious science."
The experiment is packed in a SpaceX Dragon capsule targeting a 2:14 a.m. Saturday liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on a Falcon 9 rocket. There's a 50-50 chance of acceptable weather for the instantaneous window at Launch Complex 40.
Also among the Dragon's 2.5 tons of cargo, along with astronaut food and supplies, are the first 3-D printer flown to space, a habitat carrying 20 mice, and a radar instrument whose readings of ocean surface winds are expected to improve hurricane forecasts.
The golf-related research consists of 20 pieces of aerospace-grade aluminum with different coatings, stored in a solution in two cylindars slightly larger than golf ball diameter.
The experiment will only take minutes. Crystals that form on the coatings will be studied for structural differences from those formed under Eath's gravity.
Yagley said results showing opportunities to improve how dissimilar materials are joined would lead to "the bigger stuff": longer, straighter shots, a better sound striking the ball, more durable clubs. Lesser advances could help reduce coating corrosion.
"If we find that there is a benefit, then the next thing is, how do we duplicate that here on Earth?" he said.
The research is part of group of experiments selected by the Center for the Advancement of Science in Space, or CASIS, a Kennedy Space Center-based non-profit created by Space Florida and funded with $15 million annually from NASA.
The Cobra Puma partnership has raised some eyebrows about whether CASIS is getting the most out of the $100 billion orbiting laboratory's National Lab.
"CASIS would rather go golfing than do actual ISS research," reads the headline of a recent post on the Web site "NASA Watch."
CASIS and Cobra Puma say the research has potential applications to many other metal structures.
"This is not research on a golf club," said Duane Ratliff, CASIS chief operating officer. "This is industrial research and development on materials that is clearly targeted for the improvement of products that will go to the marketplace."
NASA selected CASIS to run the National Lab in part because of its promise to promote research with potential commercial benefits and everday applications on the ground, helping to generate a return on taxpayers' investment in the $100 billion orbiting laboratory.
"This is probably one of the best examples to date that I can think of, that really illustrates the mission of CASIS," said Ratliff. "We're really excited that this research may translate into a product. Maybe it will be a golf club, maybe it will be something else."
Yagley, who studied aerospace engineering, said the golf industry is full of scientists, engineers and technicians. In the hyper-competitive industry, he said, sub-milimeter changes in a club's center of gravity make or break a product.
"Any edge that we can get to make a better product is huge," he said of the company's interest in pursuing space research.
Cobra Puma's marketing team also is eager to tout products improved by space-based research.
"They can't think of anything better in order to excite someone and get them interested," said Yagley. "They're highly interested in leveraging the 'made in space' portion of this."
CASIS will piggyback on any commercial successes stemming from such ISS research, using the trademarked line "Space is in it."
Despite the high-tech engineering and science that already goes into making golf cubs, Yagley acknowledged that to the average golfer, "it might escape them a little bit."
Ratliff likely spoke for most of them when he joked, "Honestly, I'm hoping that whatever comes out of this will straighten out my slice."
END
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