Better wake up, listen to hannity, libs are destroying this great country--- this vehicle should have been operating since 2011 !!

Why doesn't the most powerful nation on earth have this capability nor no plans to REACQUIRE !

Fwd: Space station crew could be cut to five

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 22, 2016 at 9:39:41 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Space station crew could be cut to five

 

Space station crew could be cut to five

August 21, 2016 Stephen Clark

Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin is seen floating through the hatch way of the Russian segment aboard the International Space Station in July. Credit: NASA

Russia may start sending just two of its cosmonauts to the International Space Station at a time, according to media reports and comments by a NASA manager, in a cost-cutting measure that could reduce the size of the research lab's crew to five.

The Russian space agency, Roscosmos, recently informed other space station partners that it might scale back its crew from three to two members. The other three residents who are part of the outpost's six-person crew come from the United States, Japan, Europe, and Canada.

"They're exploring the option of going down to two crew in the Russian segment," said Kenny Todd, NASA's manager for space station operations and integration. "They have made that known to the partnership."

Sergei Krikalev, a veteran cosmonaut and head of Roscosmos piloted space programs, told Russian media that the country's current complement of three crew members is too much for the on-board equipment they need to operate.

"The intention to cut the crew is due to the fact that we have reduced the number of cargo ships sent to the ISS, as well as due to the awareness of the need to increase the effectiveness of the program," Krikalev said in an interview with Russia's Izvestia newspaper.

Cutting the Russian crew size will also reduce operating expenses, according to a report published by Russia's Novosti news agency.

Novosti reported that Igor Komarov, head of Roscosmos, said in July that Russia is interested in discussing the formation of joint space crews with other BRICS nations: Brazil, India, China and South Africa.

Krikalev said he wants to hear opinions on the smaller crew from other space agencies participating in the space station program. Russia has formally committed to the space station program through 2024, along with NASA.

The Soyuz TMA-20M spaceship arrived at the space station March 19 with two Russian cosmonauts and a U.S. astronaut. Credit: NASA

Speaking in a press conference last week, Todd said NASA will evaluate the Russian proposal before settling on an opinion on whether the crew could be smaller.

"They brought that forth as an option," Todd said. "We'll look at it as we do with all these kinds of things, and trade it against whatever risk that might put into the program, first and foremost the risk to the crew on-board and the station itself.

"From there, we start looking at the options and see what we can do as a partnership to try to either accommodate it, or help them realize why that's a bad thing," Todd said in reference to the possible station staff reduction.

NASA is seeking to expand its presence on the space station in the next couple of years.

U.S. astronauts currently fly to the complex aboard Russian Soyuz crew capsules, which only carry three people at a time, and that limits the size of the space station crew to ensure every resident has a ride home in an emergency. New commercial spacecraft in development by Boeing and SpaceX will carry four astronauts on each launch, allowing an extra crew member to support the U.S. section of the laboratory.

The four seats aboard Boeing's CST-100 Starliner and SpaceX's Crew Dragon capsules will be primarily occupied by NASA astronauts, but one or more of the seats each flight will go to a passenger from Japan, Europe, or Canada.

There are also plans to keep flying U.S. and other partners' astronauts on Soyuz capsules on occasion, giving NASA another backup to the commercial vehicles. In return, Russian cosmonauts might fly on the Boeing and SpaceX capsules.

If Russia maintains its current crew complement, the start of commercial taxi service to and from the station will raise its occupancy to seven full-time crew members.

NASA touts the larger crew as a way to boost science productivity in the U.S., Japanese and European lab modules.

 

© 2016 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

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Fwd: NASA Symposium: Futuristic Space Exploration Concepts

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 24, 2016 at 10:28:57 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: NASA Symposium: Futuristic Space Exploration Concepts

 

 August 23, 2016

NASA Symposium: Futuristic Space Exploration Concepts

Jonathan Sauder's AREE rover had a fully mechanical computer and logic system, allowing it to function in the harsh Venusian landscape. Image Credit: ESA/J. Whatmore/NASA/JPL-Caltech
› Larger image

Proposals Include Wind-Powered Automatons and Icy Volcano Divers

Each year, NASA funds a handful of futuristic concepts to push forward the boundaries of space exploration. These early-stage proposals are selected with the hope of developing new ideas into realistic proofs-of-concept. From Aug. 23 to 25, the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) symposium will host presentations on 28 proposals, including five from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

The 2016 NIAC Symposium will also be carried live via LiveStream at:

https://livestream.com/viewnow/NIAC2016

Most of JPL's proposals are Phase I concepts, which means they are little more than ideas right now. Their creators will have to deliver reports explaining each project's technical challenges in order to advance them to Phase II of funding. If they advance to Phase II, they would be awarded up to $500,000 for a two-year study to further develop the project.

"The NIAC program is designed to let technologists stretch and create concepts that have never been considered by NASA before," said Jason Derleth, NIAC program executive for NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate. "Each proposal is still required to be based on solid scientific and engineering principles and to advance NASA's mission objectives."

Adrian Stoica's concept, now in Phase II, would use folding mirrors to reflect sunlight into craters or caves, creating a "solar oasis." Image Credit: Adrian Stoica/NASA/JPL-Caltech

These JPL proposals will be at the symposium:

A Solar Oasis in Lunar Craters

The advantage of solar power is its unlimited supply: the sun provides plenty of warmth and energy so long as you can access its rays. But what if a mission is to explore a permanently shaded lunar crater surrounded by tall mountain peaks? Or to venture into a cave, which could contain water ice and be habitable if not for the darkness and low temperatures?

Adrian Stoica of JPL led a concept that has successfully advanced to Phase II: building mirrored "TransFormers," a new class of shape-changing robotic structures that unfold like origami and reflect solar energy wherever you need it. Phase I examined whether such a structure could power a single rover as it explores a crater. Phase II is more ambitious in scope: whether an entire solar infrastructure could create a "solar oasis" hosting fleets of rovers, equipment and even humans.

The Phase II proposal examines how to provide power and warmth for lunar bases, even colonies, which could support humans and robotic workers alike. TransFormers are projected to be more affordable and easier to transport than radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) like the one that powers NASA's Mars Science Laboratory. TransFormers could potentially allow a wider range of robots and equipment to function in crater sites, where they could extract water used to make fuel for affordable travels to Mars and beyond.

Art-inspired automata could reveal the interior of Venus

Venus' forbidding atmosphere has claimed numerous landers over the years. With temperatures of more than 842 degrees Fahrenheit (450 degrees Celsius), sulfuric acid clouds and crushing surface pressures, electronics won't last longer than a few hours in all but the most robust spacecraft.

Jonathan Sauder of JPL thinks the solution may be getting rid of the electronics altogether. Inspired by mechanical automata  - including spider-like "Strandbeest" created by artist Theo Jansen -- Sauder's NIAC proposal is AREE, or Automaton Rover for Extreme Environments.

AREE's legs and science instruments would be controlled by a fully mechanical computer and powered by a wind turbine. Temperature, wind speed and seismic measurements could be "broadcast" by a rising and falling radar reflector "piston": the piston's up or down position could be read as Morse code by a radar tracker orbiting the planet. The orbiter would then relay the readings to Earth.

Masahiro Ono's concept: a robot could enter the subsurface oceans of a moon like Enceladus by rappelling into a cryovolcano. Image Credit: Masahiro Ono/NASA/JPL-Caltech

Journey to the center of an icy moon

Europa and Enceladus are fascinating subjects for a future planetary mission because of their potential for subsurface, habitable oceans. The question is how to break through each moon's icy crust and pilot a craft down below.

Masahiro Ono of JPL wants to borrow a page from Jules Verne. In "Journey to the Center of the Earth," the characters venture into a volcano to explore the planet's inner world. Ono's proposal, the Icy-moon Cryovolcano Explorer (ICE), would include setting a lander down next to a cryovolcano, a vent that erupts with water vapor and small particles. A robot could then crawl to the edge and be lowered in by cable, like a rappelling alpinist.

The robot could analyze the inside of the vent and send science back to the lander, which would then relay its findings to Earth. The robot could eventually descend all the way to the subsurface ocean. There, it would release an autonomous underwater vehicle for further exploration.

Glide, don't land, to study an asteroid

There's intense interest in studying asteroids, but the challenge is getting near them. There isn't enough gravity or atmosphere to allow a spacecraft to touch down without ricocheting off the surface.

But why land when you can glide? JPLer Marco Quadrelli's Electrostatic Glider (E-Glider) was inspired by the idea of dust fountains visible on our moon's surface: when warmed by the sun, these dust particles gain an electrostatic charge. The same principle turns every asteroid or comet's dust into a weak but usable power supply.

Quadrelli's glider would be a low-cost craft attached to foil-like streamers. These streamers would inflate and lift based on the electrostatic energy around them. The glider could then be steered around an asteroid and perform basic science readings on its composition.

A Battery Recharger in the Skies of Venus

Another challenge of sending a craft to Venus is how to extend its power supply. Batteries will only last a few hours, and the thick Venusian atmosphere weakens the efficiency of solar power.

Ratnakumar Bugga of JPL has proposed a weather balloon powered by chemical batteries. The Venus Interior Probe Using In-Situ Power and Propulsion (VIP-INSPR) would use electrolysis to generate hydrogen from the thick Venus atmosphere. It could then store that power as chemical hydride in its fuel cells.

This battery system could effectively have an unlimited power supply, recharging as it lowered itself into the Venusian atmosphere to perform science readings.

The NIAC program, funded by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate, nurtures visionary ideas that could transform future NASA missions with the creation of breakthroughs - radically better or entirely new aerospace concepts -- while engaging America's innovators and entrepreneurs as partners in the journey. Caltech manages JPL for NASA.

For more information about the NIAC symposium, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/content/niac-symposium

For more information about NIAC, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/index.html

 

News Media Contact

Andrew Good
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
818-393-2433
andrew.c.good@jpl.nasa.gov

2016-214  

 

 

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Fwd: New Kounotori spacecraft to handle multiple tasks

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 24, 2016 at 10:23:06 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: New Kounotori spacecraft to handle multiple tasks

 

 

New Kounotori spacecraft to handle multiple tasks

The Yomiuri Shimbun

10:55 pm, August 23, 2016

The Yomiuri Shimbun The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency's next-generation "Kounotori," an unmanned transfer spacecraft for carrying supplies to the International Space Station (ISS), will be a multipurpose model that can do other tasks in space.

JAXA aims to use parts of the next-generation Kounotori spacecraft as, for example, satellites after it completes its mission for the ISS.

With an eye on future space development, including manned probes to the moon and Mars, JAXA significantly reviewed the conventional functions of the spacecraft, which has previously been disposable.

JAXA plans to have the next-generation Kounotori fly in space on its own and carry observational devices.

The agency intends to spend ¥35 billion to develop the spacecraft and aims to launch the first one in fiscal 2021.

Currently, the Kounotori spacecraft is used as a means of transporting supplies including water, food and experiment equipment to astronauts staying on the ISS. Since 2009, Japan has launched a total of five Kounotori spacecraft, including the first demonstration model.

After their transportation missions, past Kounotori spacecraft carried used clothing and other waste from the ISS and dropped them into the Earth's atmosphere where they burned.

According to JAXA, the next-generation model currently in design — dubbed HTV-X — will be able to separate control systems units such as engines from its main body after docking at the ISS.

The engines will be equipped with observational devices so the spacecraft can leave the ISS and orbit as a satellite.

After that, the spacecraft itself will be used as an Earth observation satellite or to monitor space debris, which includes pieces of broken satellites. It will also be able to re-dock with the ISS.

JAXA is considering adding other functions, including for returning capsules containing experiment samples to Earth and connecting the spacecraft with a probe device to depart for other astronomical objects.

The U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is proceeding with a plan to send astronauts to Mars in a space probe in the 2030s.

A JAXA staff member in charge said, "We'll give the next-generation spacecraft a wider range of functions so that it can respond to plans other than those related to the ISS."Speech

 

© The Yomiuri Shimbun.

 

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Fwd: NASA's Williams to set U.S. space record

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: August 24, 2016 at 10:26:15 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: NASA's Williams to set U.S. space record

 

 

NASA's Williams to set U.S. space record

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 5:19 p.m. EDT August 23, 2016

 

Scott Kelly is widely known as the Ironman of U.S. astronauts after his recent yearlong mission aboard the International Space Station, during which he set a NASA record for most cumulative days in space with 520 over four flights.

But as of Wednesday, that career record will belong not to Kelly but Jeff Williams, an unassuming NASA veteran who doesn't mind if his six-month tour lacks the promotion and buzz of Kelly's "#YearInSpace."

The commander of the station's six-person Expedition 48 crew marks his 521st day in space Wednesday, a total expected to reach 534 days by the time he returns to Earth on Sept. 6 to conclude his fourth spaceflight.

Don't expect the retired Army colonel — a 58-year-old grandfather who the oldest NASA astronaut to live on the orbiting laboratory complex — to boast about the achievement.

"It's an honor to spend any day in space, and certainly to have accumulated that time is truly an honor for me," Williams told NASA TV recently.

But he prefers to shift the attention to the station itself, which he considers humanity's greatest technological feat, and the international partnership that has put it together.

"That's really the bigger story to me, personally," he said.

Williams' 20-year astronaut career has spanned the station's assembly, which began in 1998.

His first flight was a 2000 shuttle mission that helped set up the fledgling outpost for its first permanent crew later that year. Crews have now lived continuously on the ISS for nearly 16 years.

Since that 10-day shuttle flight, it's been all long-duration missions for the Wisconsin native, who has launched three times from Kazakhstan on Russian Soyuz spacecraft.

He's the first American to serve on three ISS expeditions, which typically last five or six months each. The previous two were in 2006 and 2010, before station construction was officially complete.

 

Williams' current mission has helped set the stage for the station's next chapter, which will rely more on commercial operations.

Last Friday he performed his fourth spacewalk, pairing with NASA's Kate Rubins to install a docking port that opened the door for Boeing and SpaceX crew capsules to visit the outpost late next year or in early 2018. They are preparing for another spacewalk next week.

On Aug. 19, Expedition 48 Commander Jeff Williams (shown) and Flight Engineer Kate Rubins of NASA successfully installed the first of two international docking adapters to the International Space Station during a five-hour and 58-minute spacewalk. (Photo: NASA)

Williams also has helped set up a prototype habitat module designed by Bigelow Aerospace, a potential precursor to private space stations that could follow the ISS.

A West Point graduate in 1980, Williams later earned two master's degrees and finished first in his class at the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School.

Still, it took him about 10 years and multiple applications to win entry into NASA's astronaut corps in 1996. He preaches perseverance to young people.

Williams is old enough to remember Russia as a Cold War adversary. Now he sees the ISS partnership involving the U.S., Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada as a model for peaceful international relations.

"I trust that it serves as a very positive example to the world below," he said.

When he returns to Earth in less than two weeks, Williams told CBS News recently that he looks forward to seeing family and friends and to "the simple things in life." Those include smells of Earth often taken for granted, relaxing in quiet without the station's constant hum of fans and pumps, and anything his wife will cook for him.

"She's the real hero in all of this, putting up with me being up here that many days over the years," he said.

And Williams knows records are made to be broken. In fact, Peggy Whitson, currently fourth on NASA's career list with 377 days in space, is scheduled to launch to the ISS in November and set a new U.S. record next year.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 orjdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at@flatoday_jdeanand on Facebook atfacebook.com/jamesdeanspace.asd

Most cumulative days in space by U.S. astronauts

• Jeff Williams: 534*
• Scott Kelly: 520
• Mike Fincke: 382
• Peggy Whitson: 377
• Mike Foale: 374
• Don Pettit: 370

*Projected total upon completing mission Sept. 6.

Source: NASA

 

 

Copyright © 2016 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved. 

 

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NASA’s hopes for Mars and the future are at stake in the 2016 election | The Verge

http://www.theverge.com/2016/8/23/12603978/nasa-space-policy-2016-presidential-election


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