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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: November 20, 2013 8:44:40 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News - Nov. 20, 2013
HAPPY BIRTHDAY ISS!
Vehicle: Zarya "Sunrise"Launch: 12:40:27 a.m. CST Nov. 20, 1998 (12:40:27 p.m. Baikonur time)Mass to Orbit: 44,000 lbs.Miles traveled to date: 21 billion plusNew videos released each day this week highlight ISS benefits to EarthMonday -- Benefits for Humanity: Station Inspiration (ARISS)Tuesday -- Benefits for Humanity: The Sound of Life (Telemedicine)WEBCAST HEARING: (House Sci, Space & Tech Committee - Subcommittee on Space)
- 9 am Central (10 EST) - Commercial Space
Witnesses:
- Kevin McCarthy - Member, Majority Whip, U.S. House of Representatives
- Patricia Cooper - President, Satellite Industry Association
- Stu Witt - CEO and General Manager, Mojave Air and Space Port
- Dennis Tito - Chairman, Inspiration Mars Foundation
NASA and Human Spaceflight NewsWednesday – November 20, 2013HEADLINES AND LEADSThe International Space Station: 15 Years of Groundbreaking AchievementsRobyn Johnston – Space Safety MagazineHumanity has big plans for its presence in space. Following the end of the U.S. space shuttle program, President Barack Obama announced that NASA plans to send manned missions into deep space to visit nearby astreroids and eventually Mars. The International Space Station, which celebrates 15 years since its first component was launched on November 20, will play a vital role in making those dreams a reality. "The ISS," says senior NASA scientist Harley Thronson, "is the essential demonstration site and steppingstone for a sustained future in space with humans."NASA's New Mars Probe Could Help Set Stage for Manned MissionsMiriam Kramer – space.comThe NASA missions of today are paving the way toward launching a manned mission to Mars by the 2030s, space agency officials said Sunday (Nov. 17).NASA's robotic missions can provide valuable datathat could be used to launch future human missions to the Red Planet. The $671 million Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission — which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday — could provide key information about how to land a human-occupied craft on the planet's surface.
Dazzling Nighttime Rocket Launch Puts 29 Satellites In Orbit, a New RecordMike Wall – Space.comA spectacular rocket launch from Virginia's eastern shore late Tuesday (Nov. 19) lit up the night sky like an artificial sun, kicking off a record-breaking mission to put 29 satellites into orbit. The Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur 1 rocket launched into space at 8:15 p.m. EST (0115 GMT Wednesday) from NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to begin the ORS-3 mission, which is run by the U.S. military's Operationally Responsive Space Office. The launch was expected to be visible to millions of observes along the U.S. East Coast, weather permitting.NASA puts out call for commercial space taxisBy Irene Klotz – ReutersDespite budget uncertainties, NASA on Tuesday issued a solicitation for a commercially operated space taxi to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, an attempt to break Russia's monopoly on crew transport by 2017.The United States has been without a human space transportation system since 2011 when NASA retired its three-ship shuttle fleet due to high operating costs and fundamental safety questions. NASA's so-called Commercial Crew program is intended to address both cost and safety concerns, as well as return the capability to fly people to space from U.S. soil.CBO report offers up human spaceflight to reduce the budget deficitJeff Foust – Space PoliticsThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report yesterday on strategies for reducing the federal budget deficit, identifying ways to reduce spending and increase revenue. Among the proposals for cutting spending was the eliminate NASA's human spaceflight program: "This option would terminate NASA's human space exploration and space operations programs, except for those necessary to meet space communications needs (such as communication with the Hubble Space Telescope)," the report states (p. 74). Science and aeronautics programs would not be cut by the proposal.CBO: Ending U.S. Human Spaceflight Program Would Save BillionsBrian Berger – Space NewsEnding NASA's human spaceflight program could save the United States roughly $73 billion between 2015 and 2023, according to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).Pulling the plug on human spaceflight was just one of 103 politically challenging policy options the CBO analyzed in its latest examination of options for decreasing federal spending or increasing federal revenue during the next decade.NASA ends production of new nuclear power generatorStephen Clark – Spaceflight Now
Posted Nov. 19, 2013NASA has decided to stop development of an improved lightweight plutonium power generator, blaming budget constraints and a diminished need for a high-efficiency nuclear power source with the restart of U.S. plutonium production, officials said Sunday.NASA Stops Production of Advanced Plutonium Power SourceJeff Foust, special to SpaceNews.comNASA has stopped production of a next-generation radioisotope power system that uses less plutonium, a decision that could also stop a congressional effort to revive a pair of planetary science missions.Mars Rover Curiosity's Next Destination Named for Planetary Science PioneerMegan Gannon – space.comNASA's Curiosity rover on Mars is headed for a cluster of strange rock formations that have been newly named in honor of a pioneering planetary geologist who died earlier this year.The Curiosity rover is in the midst of a long journey to Mount Sharp, a mountain that looms 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the Red Planet's surface and could hold clues about the ancient environment of Mars. But before it gets to the towering mountain sometime next year, Curiosity will pass the newly named "Murray Buttes."High-Tech VASIMR Rocket Engine Could Tackle Mars Trips, Space Junk and MoreLeonard David - SPACE.comScientists are making progress on an advanced space propulsion system aimed at a variety of uses, including reboosting space stations, cleaning up space junk and powering superfast journeys that could reach Mars in less than two months. Led by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz, Ad Astra Rocket Co. is developing the versatile, high-tech engine, which is known as the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, or VASIMR for short.__________COMPLETE STORIESThe International Space Station: 15 Years of Groundbreaking AchievementsRobyn Johnston – Space Safety MagazineHumanity has big plans for its presence in space. Following the end of the U.S. space shuttle program, President Barack Obama announced that NASA plans to send manned missions into deep space to visit nearby astreroids and eventually Mars. The International Space Station, which celebrates 15 years since its first component was launched on November 20, will play a vital role in making those dreams a reality. "The ISS," says senior NASA scientist Harley Thronson, "is the essential demonstration site and steppingstone for a sustained future in space with humans."With an estimated price tag of $100 billion, the station is one of the most expensive objects ever built. Its construction also required over 100 rocket and shuttle launches, 160 spacewalks and involved contributions from the U.S., Russia, Canada, the European Space Agency and Japan. The story of its construction involves some of the most complex engineering feats ever attempted and the beginning of a new, cooperative approach to space exploration between countries, agencies and private corporations.On November 20, 1998, the Russian Zarya Control Module, the first piece of the station, was launched; it was designed to provide the station's initial power and propulsion capabilities. The first American built component, the Unity module, followed soon after on December 4. After the installation of the Russian Zvezda module provided the station's first living quarters, the ISS's first crew came aboard in November of 2000. It included astronaut Bill Shepherd and cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev. Though the three only lived on the station for just over four months, the ISS now maintains a permanent crew of six who live in orbit between four to six months.The ISS continued to expand into the new millennium, with the United States installing their Destiny laboratory module and Canada installing the Canadarm2 robotic arm in 2001. February 1, 2003, however, brought tragedy when the space shuttle Columbia disintegrated during atmospheric reentry, killing all seven astronauts onboard. In the aftermath, NASA instituted a space shuttle moratorium and construction of the station was halted for nearly three years.Finally, in July of 2006, the Discovery shuttle returned the ISS to deliver supplies and test safety procedures and the station's completion resumed. The ESA's $2 billion Columbus science lab was installed in 2008 by the Atlantis shuttle, further enhancing the station's scientific capabilities alongside the American Destiny and Japanese Kibo labs. On November 2, 2010, the ISS marked the 10th anniversary of continuous human occupation since Expedition 1 back in 2000. Since then a total of 202 men and women have served aboard the space station.The beginning of the new decade saw the official completion of the space station, though additions are still ongoing. The Discovery shuttle's final mission in February of 2011 delivered the Leonardo Permanent Multipurpose Module which contained an advanced humanoid robotic torso known as the Robonaut2. On July 8, 2011, the final space shuttle launch sent the Atlantis to the ISS to deliver supplies and complete construction. This brought the 30-year history of the American space shuttle program to a close since its first flight back in 1981.The absence of the space shuttle program has also helped create commercial space companies like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. that have docked with the station to deliver supplies. In effect, the ISS helped spawn a new model for space exploration with private companies working alongside government agencies. It also helped countries other than Russia and the United States to further their own space programs and capabilities, making space exploration a more diverse enterprise.The ISS has already contributed many scientific studies, serving as a zero-gravity environment for a wide range of tests and experiments. Its greatest potential, though, remains the study of the long-term effects of space on the human body. In anticipation of the deep space missions of the future, the U.S. and Russia are sending two men to live aboard the ISS for an entire year in 2015.Though it is slated to be deorbited into the ocean in 2020, the station's full potential is just now beginning to be realized. 15 years after its first component was launched, the ISS remains unparalleled as a laboratory, engineering marvel and precursor to humanity's future in space.NASA's New Mars Probe Could Help Set Stage for Manned MissionsMiriam Kramer – space.comThe NASA missions of today are paving the way toward launching a manned mission to Mars by the 2030s, space agency officials said Sunday (Nov. 17).NASA's robotic missions can provide valuable datathat could be used to launch future human missions to the Red Planet. The $671 million Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN) mission — which launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida on Monday — could provide key information about how to land a human-occupied craft on the planet's surface.
The MAVEN spacecraft will explore Mars' upper atmosphere to understand how the planet may have lost most of its atmosphere to space, causing the planet to morph from a wet world that could have supported microbial life to the dry desert it is today."The MAVEN mission will provide some interesting information for scientists," William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's human exploration and operations directorate, told members of the press. "It's also good information for us on the human spaceflight front to understand how the atmosphere of Mars is put together … [Those factors] will be important as we look at entry, descent and landing into the Martian atmosphere with larger spacecraft than we've done before, the kind of spacecraft that were made for human missions."MAVEN will also help scientists understand what kinds of resources are available in the Martian atmosphere and possibly how to utilize them during human exploration, Gerstenmaier added.NASA is still developing the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launch System, which are designed to deliver humans to deep space destinations. Meanwhile, work on the International Space Station is helping scientists understand the toll a long spaceflight to Mars could take on the human body.The year-long spaceflight to the station — planned to launch in 2015 — will give scientists a better sense of what the human body does in microgravity over a period of time similar to that of a flight to Mars, Gerstenmaier said.Putting humans on Mars would potentially allow for scientific opportunities not afforded by robotic probes and rovers."I'm a geologist, and I've spent most of my career out in the field picking up rocks," Ellen Stofan, NASA's chief scientist, said. "So I have this incredible bias that it is really going to take future astronauts, field geologists, astrobiologists at Mars picking up those rocks, doing the field surveys that geologists do here on Earth, taking this science not just from doing remote science, but doing science on the ground that's really going to help us get at this question of 'are we alone?'"Learning how to colonize Mars sometime in the far future could also change humanity's place in the solar system."If you really want to think about the long-term future of humanity, I like to say that we live in a wonderfully diverse solar system with incredible ranges of environments, from Mercury to giant ice planets," John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate, said."But there are really only two places in the solar system that offer an opportunity for relatively easy living," Grunsfeld added. "One of which is Earth, and we're still learning how to do that, and the other really is Mars … Mars is our real opportunity to colonize another planet that's self-sustaining."Dazzling Nighttime Rocket Launch Puts 29 Satellites In Orbit, a New RecordMike Wall – Space.comA spectacular rocket launch from Virginia's eastern shore late Tuesday (Nov. 19) lit up the night sky like an artifical sun, kicking off a record-breaking mission to put 29 satellites into orbit.The Orbital Sciences-built Minotaur 1 rocket launched into space at 8:15 p.m. EST (0115 GMT Wednesday) from NASA's Wallops Flight Faciltiy in Virginia to begin the ORS-3 mission, which is run by the U.S. military's Operationally Responsive Space Office. The launch was expected to be visible to millions of observes along the U.S. East Coast, weather permitting.After a 45-minute delay caused by an issue with a downrange tracking station, the Minotaur 1 roared to life, carving an arc of flame into the night sky that was likely visible along the East Coast from Maine down to Florida, and from as far inland as Indiana and Michigan, according to viewing maps provided by NASA and Orbital Sciences.The rocket toted a total of 29 satellites — the most ever delivered to orbit in a single launch, mission officials said. A so-called "PhoneSat" built by NASA and the first-ever satellite designed and built by high school students were among the spacecraft hitching a ride into orbit on the four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket.ORS-3's primary payload was the U.S. Air Force's $55 million STPSat-3, which carries five separate experiments and sensors that will measure various aspects of the space environment. STPSat-3 is the second spacecraft launched under the military's Standard Interface Vehicle program, which aims to help reduce the cost and preparation time of key satellite missions."We continuously search for affordable launch options, including rideshare opportunities on government and commercial missions," Col. Todd Krueger, director of the Defense Department's Space Test Program, told reporters during a pre-launch press conference on Nov. 14."The ORS-3 mission is a critical opportunity for the Space Test Program to conduct more space R&D," Krueger added. "The projects that we're flying on ORS-3 will benefit tomorrow's national security space architecture by studying the space environment and providing advanced capabilities for the warfighter."The other 28 satellites lofted by the Minotaur 1 are tiny craft called cubesats, which were built by a variety of institutions for a broad range of purposes. TJ3Sat, for example, is the first satellite designed and built by high-school students ever to reach orbit. (The students attend Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology in Alexandria, Va., hence the name.)NASA's Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif., provided PhoneSat 2.4, the next step in the space agency's efforts to demonstrate the utility of cheap spacecraft based on off-the-shelf commercial smartphones.NASA also contributed Firefly, a cubesat that will study lightning flashes around the globe."Firefly will gather up to a year of observations on the mysterious workings of lightning," Firefly principal investigator Doug Rowland, of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., said in a statement. "Lightning is so familiar we tend to take it for granted, but we really don't know the details of how it works — even though it is a critical part of the global electric circuit, and has obvious social and technological effects."To learn more about the satellites that launched today, check out this list provided by the Operationally Responsive Space Office.In addition to the 29 satellites launched aboard the Minotaur 1 rocket, three other cubesats were deployed in orbit on Tuesday. Those three tiny satellites were launched from the Kibo Japanese laboratory on the International Space Station, NASA officials said. That brings the total number of cubesats launched on Tuesday up to 31 satellites, not including the larger STPSat-3. A fourth cubesat is due to be deployed from the International Space Station on Wednesday (Nov. 20).NASA puts out call for commercial space taxisBy Irene Klotz – ReutersDespite budget uncertainties, NASA on Tuesday issued a solicitation for a commercially operated space taxi to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station, an attempt to break Russia's monopoly on crew transport by 2017.The United States has been without a human space transportation system since 2011 when NASA retired its three-ship shuttle fleet due to high operating costs and fundamental safety questions. NASA's so-called Commercial Crew program is intended to address both cost and safety concerns, as well as return the capability to fly people to space from U.S. soil.The agency wants to be able to purchase rides on a commercial basis before the end of 2017 to fly four crewmembers to and from the station about every six months.The new solicitation asks for proposals for final design, development, test, evaluation and certification of a human space transportation system, including ground operations, launch, orbital operations, return to Earth and landing.Rather than designing a replacement space shuttle and hiring contractors to build it, NASA decided to partner with industry, offering money, technical advice and oversight.A precursor program for cargo ships spawned two new supply lines to the International Space Station, a $100 billion research outpost that flies about 250 miles above Earth.So far, privately owned Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, has made one test flight and two cargo runs to the station. Orbital Sciences Corp. completed its test flight in September and is preparing its first resupply mission in December.NASA contributed about $800 million toward the development of SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon cargo capsule and for Orbital Sciences' Antares rocket and Cygnus capsule. The companies also developed launch sites in Florida and Virginia, respectively, ground control stations and support services. Both firms also now offer orbital launch services commercially.NASA followed up the development work with contracts worth a combined $3.5 billion for SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to fly cargo to the station.Since 2011, SpaceX, Boeing and privately owned Sierra Nevada Corp. have been NASA's partners in a sister program to develop commercial space taxis to fly astronauts to and from the station. Since the shuttles' retirement, only Russia has the spaceships to ferry station crewmembers, a service that costs NASA more than $60 million per person.FULL FUNDING URGEDThe Obama administration is requesting $821 million for NASA's Commercial Crew program for the fiscal year that began on October 1.Congress has not yet passed a 2014 budget. The Senate is proposing $775 million for Commercial Crew; the House wants to cap the program at $500 million."It's now critically important to get full funding from Congress to keep us on track to begin these launches in 2017," NASA administrator Charles Bolden told reporters last week.NASA on Tuesday issued what is expected to be the last step in the program, with the goal of having test flights in 2016 and an operational system before the end of 2017, documents posted on NASA's procurement website show.In addition to U.S. government business, privately owned Bigelow Aerospace, among others, intends to purchase flight services to ferry researchers, tourists and other paying passengers to planned orbital habitats.NASA intends to award one or two Commercial Crew contracts next summer.CBO report offers up human spaceflight to reduce the budget deficitJeff Foust – Space PoliticsThe Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report yesterday on strategies for reducing the federal budget deficit, identifying ways to reduce spending and increase revenue. Among the proposals for cutting spending was the eliminate NASA's human spaceflight program: "This option would terminate NASA's human space exploration and space operations programs, except for those necessary to meet space communications needs (such as communication with the Hubble Space Telescope)," the report states (p. 74). Science and aeronautics programs would not be cut by the proposal.The CBO report's primary reason for eliminating NASA's human spaceflight programs is that "increased capabilities in electronics and information technology have generally reduced the need for humans to fly space missions" and that, by terminating human spaceflight, it avoids the risk to human life inherent with such missions. However, it added that ending current human spaceflight programs "would end the technical progress necessary to prepare for human missions to Mars" (but then, if you're ending human spaceflight, you're probably not thinking about sending humans to Mars.) It added that there are limitations to the capabilities of robotic missions and "there may be some scientific advantage to having humans at the International Space Station to conduct experiments in microgravity." The CBO report does not mention any geopolitical significance, positive or negative, to terminating NASA's human spaceflight efforts.The savings the CBO estimates would result from ending NASA's human spaceflight program are significant: $73 billion from 2015 through 2023. The CBO report doesn't go into details on how it calculated those estimates, but the near-term numbers are similar to the budget projections for the Space Operations and Exploration accounts in the NASA budget. That $73 billion is the third-largest spending cut among discretionary programs, behind a 25% cut in international affairs programs ($114 billion in 2015–2023) and reducing defense spending to conform to the caps in the Budget Control Act ($495 billion in the same period.)The CBO emphasized that it was not endorsing any of the proposals included in the report, but instead providing a set of options for policymakers. "As a collection, the options are intended to reflect a range of possibilities, not a ranking of priorities or an exhaustive list," the office stated. "Inclusion or exclusion of any particular option does not imply endorsement or disapproval by CBO, and the report makes no recommendations."CBO: Ending U.S. Human Spaceflight Program Would Save BillionsBrian Berger – Space NewsEnding NASA's human spaceflight program could save the United States roughly $73 billion between 2015 and 2023, according to a recent report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).Pulling the plug on human spaceflight was just one of 103 politically challenging policy options the CBO analyzed in its latest examination of options for decreasing federal spending or increasing federal revenue during the next decade.The nonpartisan agency, created in 1974 under then-President Richard Nixon to provide Congress with objective, nonpartisan and timely analysis of budget matters, presents arguments both for and against abandoning human spaceflight."The main argument for this option is that increased capabilities in electronics and information technology have generally reduced the need for humans to fly space missions. The scientific instruments used to gather knowledge in space rely much less (or not at all) on nearby humans to operate them. NASA and other federal agencies have increasingly adopted that approach in their activities on Earth, using robots to perform missions without putting humans in harm's way," the CBO wrote in its Nov. 13 report, "Options for Reducing the Deficit: 2014 to 2023.""A major argument against this option is that eliminating human spaceflight from the orbits near Earth would end the technical progress necessary to prepare for human missions to Mars (even though those missions are at least decades away). Moreover, if, in the future, robotic missions proved too limiting, then human space efforts would have to be restarted. Another argument against this option is that there may be some scientific advantage to having humans at the International Space Station to conduct experiments in microgravity that could not be carried out in other, less costly, ways," the report said.The CBO report, which also looks at savings that would be realized from cutting the size of the federal workforce, ending railroad subsidies, canceling the Pentagon's Joint Strike Fighter program and shrinking the Navy's fleet of ballistic missile submarines, comes as a House-Senate budget committee faces a Dec. 13 deadline for coming up with a plan for heading off $109 billion in sequestration-related spending cuts due to take effect in January.NASA and the rest of the federal government have been funded since mid-October under a stopgap spending measure that expires Jan. 15. If the Republican-led House of Representatives and Democrat-led Senate fail to enact new spending legislation by then, federal agencies would be forced to shut down all but essential services, as they did for the first 16 days of October.NASA ends production of new nuclear power generatorStephen Clark – Spaceflight Now
Posted Nov. 19, 2013NASA has decided to stop development of an improved lightweight plutonium power generator, blaming budget constraints and a diminished need for a high-efficiency nuclear power source with the restart of U.S. plutonium production, officials said Sunday.We have more plutonium in our science stockpile than was anticipated, such that we don't have the same need," said John Grunsfeld, head of NASA's science mission directorate.Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science division, revealed the decision to stop development of Advanced Stirling Radioisotope Generator flight units in a notice to the science community released Friday.The space agency needs plutonium to fuel power generators on deep space missions that fly too far from the sun to produce electricity with solar panels. NASA's Curiosity rover on Mars, the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn, and the New Horizons probe cruising to a flyby of Pluto are powered by plutonium.The U.S. government's stockpile of plutonium-238, the special non-weapons grade isotope used to generate electricity for space missions, declined since production of the material stopped in 1988. Forced to ration the leftover plutonium-238, NASA started working on a next-generation nuclear generator that could run on less fuel.The ASRG is designed to generate more electricity per pound of plutonium-238.Each ASRG creates between 130 and 140 watts of electricity with 1 kilogram, or about 2.2 pounds, of plutonium-238. More than four times more plutonium would be required to generate the same power in an existing RTG, according to the Energy Department.After several studies and a struggle to obtain sufficient funding to restart plutonium-238 production, the U.S. Department of Energy generated tiny quantities of plutonium-238 earlier this year at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee."The advanced Stirling technology was selected to take advantage of its increased efficiency over the Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermal Generator (MMRTG), since the supply of plutonium-238 was limited at the time," Green wrote. "Now, with the restart of the Pu-238 production project this year, we expect to have a sufficient supply of Pu-238 for radioisotope power well into the future."NASA has said the plutonium production rate will be ramped up to about 1.5 kilograms, or 3.3 pounds, yielding enough material to put on a space mission by about 2019."We made the decision, based partly on cost and budget, and also on need, to stick with the MMRTGs," Grunsfeld said Sunday. "They need more plutonium, but with the new supply we have that. Then [we can] use our limited budget to fund missions going forward with the MMRTGs."NASA has directed the Energy Department, which manages the nuclear generator procurement, to end work on the ASRG flight units, according to Green's letter.Lockheed Martin Corp. was under contract for development, fabrication and testing of the ASRG ground and flight units. The Stirling convertor was being developed by Sunpower Inc. of Ohio.The Energy Department does not disclose how much plutonium it has in storage, but the Aerospace Industries Association says the existing stockpile, which was purchased from Russia, will be exhausted after one more large flagship-class nuclear-powered space mission.NASA plans to launch a copy of the Curiosity Mars rover in 2020, and the robot will likely be powered by an MMRTG. Each MMRTG includes about 8 pounds of plutonium and converts the heat of the isotope's radioactive decay into electricity.The space agency said ASRG developmental hardware will be transferred to NASA's Glenn Research Center in Ohio for continued research and development."For future planetary missions that require radioisotope power systems the flight-proven MMRTG will be made available," Green wrote. "It is important to note that the MMRTG and the ASRG were designed to provide the approximately the same electrical power output."But the ASRG was lighter and was optimized for smaller spacecraft, such as probes developed under NASA's cost-capped Discovery and New Frontiers programs. Discovery and New Frontiers missions fly more often than flagship-class planetary programs, such as Cassini, Curiosity and the 2020 Mars rover.Unlike the MMRTG, the Stirling generator design includes moving parts, raising concerns the power device could wear out and limit the life of a spacecraft. Once described by NASA as a "mission-enabling capability," the ASRG consists of highly-efficient Stirling engines coupled with linear alternators.The MMRTG design uses solid-state thermocouples to convert the plutonium's heat energy into electricity."As far as impacts on planetary missions, it means you have to engineer your missions differently," Grunsfeld said. "They may weigh a little bit more, they may have a little bit higher mass, but as far as power levels, we should be able, in principle, to support nearly all the missions that we would with the ASRGs."NASA made two ASRG flight units available in the last Discovery competition, and two of three finalist missions submitted by scientists relied on the next-generation nuclear technology for electricity. But the agency ultimately selected the solar-powered InSight Mars lander for launch in early 2016.Officials wanted to complete a flight demonstration of ASRGs on a relatively inexpensive Discovery-class mission before committing the new technology to a more costly flagship probe.At the time of the InSight selection, NASA said it would made the ASRGs available again in the next Discovery competition, which would choose another planetary mission for launch no earlier than 2020.NASA Stops Production of Advanced Plutonium Power SourceJeff Foust, special to SpaceNews.comNASA has stopped production of a next-generation radioisotope power system that uses less plutonium, a decision that could also stop a congressional effort to revive a pair of planetary science missions.In a statement emailed to the planetary science community late the afternoon of Nov. 15, Jim Green, director of NASA's Planetary Science Division, said the agency was halting funding of the development of the Advanced Sterling Radioisotope Generator (ASRG). "With an adequate supply of Pu-238 [plutonium-238], and considering the current budget-constrained environment, NASA has decided to discontinue procurement of ASRG flight hardware," Green said, adding that NASA had directed the U.S. Department of Energy, which was managing the ASRG work, to stop production.The ASRG has been touted by NASA as a solution to the limited supply of plutonium-238 available for future missions. Like NASA's existing Multi-Mission Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (MMRTG), the ASRG converts heat from the radioactive decay of plutonium into electricity. However, the ASRG is designed to be much more efficient than the MMRTG, producing the same amount of electrical power with less than 25 percent of the plutonium.John Grunsfeld, NASA associate administrator for science, said the ongoing efforts to restart plutonium-238 production have eliminated the urgency to develop the ASRG. "We have more plutonium in our science stockpile than we anticipated, such that we don't have the same need," he said at a press conference here one day ahead of the Nov. 18 launch of the Mars-bound Maven orbiter. "So we made the decision, based partly on cost and budget, and also on need, to stick with the MMRTGs. They need more plutonium, but with the new supply we have that."In an interview here Nov. 17, Green said that the ASRG program currently costs about $50 million per year, and stopping production now would cumulatively save $170 million through 2016, when the first two ASRG flight units were to be completed. NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland will continue ASRG technology development work, he said, but will not produce flight units. Lockheed Martin Space Systems was the lead contractor for ASRG.Another factor in the decision was the lack of users for the ASRG. The 2016 date for the production of the first ASRG unit would have allowed their use on NASA's next Discovery-class planetary science mission. Two of the three finalists for that mission, Comet Hopper (CHopper) and Titan Mare Explorer (TiME), proposed using ASRGs. However, in August 2012, NASA selected InSight, a solar-powered Mars lander. An ongoing study by JPL of the proposed Europa Clipper mission has also rejected the use of ASRGs, opting for conventional MMRTGs or large solar arrays.The decision to end ASRG production could jeopardize a congressional effort to revive CHopper and TiME. The report accompanying the Senate version of the 2014 appropriations bill that would fund NASA directs NASA to initiate studies on an additional Discovery mission from the most recent competition "with the highest scientific value that meets the program's cost cap." Without an available ASRG, CHopper and TiME would likely be excluded.The decision to end ASRG production has raised concern among some planetary scientists, who believed the ASRG would enable smaller and less expensive outer planets missions in the future. In addition to requiring less plutonium, the ASRG is lighter and produces less waste heat than the MMRTG.Grunsfeld said missions to the outer solar system are still viable without the ASRG. "It means you have to engineer your missions differently, and they may weigh a little bit more," he said. "We should be able, in principle, to support nearly all of the missions we would have with the ASRGs."Mars Rover Curiosity's Next Destination Named for Planetary Science PioneerMegan Gannon – Space.comNASA's Curiosity rover on Mars is headed for a cluster of strange rock formations that have been newly named in honor of a pioneering planetary geologist who died earlier this year.The Curiosity rover is in the midst of a long journey to Mount Sharp, a mountain that looms 3 miles (5 kilometers) above the Red Planet's surface and could hold clues about the ancient environment of Mars. But before it gets to the towering mountain sometime next year, Curiosity will pass the newly named "Murray Buttes."The cluster of steep-sided Martian formations that makes up Murray Buttes was named in honor of Bruce Murray, a former director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., where Curiosity's mission operation are based. According to a new NASA video description of Curiosity's journey, each of these rocky knobs near the foot of Mount Sharp could fill up the length and width of a football field and stretch up to the height of the goal posts. [See Curiosity's latest photos from Mars]"It will be a visually intriguing area for both the science team and the public," Curiosity science-team member Ken Herkenhoff, of the U.S. Geological Survey's Astrogeology Center, Flagstaff, Ariz., said in a statement. "I think it will look like a miniature version of Monument Valley in Utah."Bruce Murray was the head of JPL from 1976 to 1982, an important era of planetary exploration. In the summer of 1976, Viking 1 and 2 touched down on Mars and became first American spacecraft to land on the Red Planet. Murray also oversaw the launch of Voyager 1 and 2, the most far-flung man-made objects, and he co-founded the Planetary Society with Carl Sagan and engineer Louis Friedman. Murray died on Aug. 29, 2013, at age 81 after a long illness."Bruce Murray contributed both scientific insight and leadershipthat laid the groundwork for interplanetary missions such as robotic missions to Mars, including the Mars rovers, part of America's inspirational accomplishments. It is fitting that the rover teams have chosen his name for significant landmarks on their expeditions," said Fuk Li, NASA's Mars exploration program manager at JPL, in a statement.
NASA also named another area on Mars after the scientist. The space agency's rover Opportunity is currently climbing part of a crater rim now called "Murray Ridge."Scientists aren't just targeting the Murray Buttes for the potentially stunning vistas Curiosity will see. The buttes also happen to be located in what engineers hope will be a safe passage for Curiosity within a risky band of dark sand dunes at the base of Mount Sharp."We're trying to find a place where there's a gap in the sand dunes because we don't feel it's safe cross over the sand dunes with the rover; we'd rather do it on hard rock," John Grotzinger, Curiosity's project scientist, explained in the NASA video.Curiosity's older cousin, the rover Spirit, was doomed after getting caught in Martian sand in 2009. After cracking through hard topsoil, Spirit was left spinning its wheels in loose Mars dirt; engineers on the ground never figured out a way to get Spirit out of the sand trap and its mission ended.High-Tech VASIMR Rocket Engine Could Tackle Mars Trips, Space Junk and MoreLeonard David - SPACE.comScientists are making progress on an advanced space propulsion system aimed at a variety of uses, including reboosting space stations, cleaning up space junk and powering superfast journeys that could reach Mars in less than two months.Led by former NASA astronaut Franklin Chang-Díaz, Ad Astra Rocket Co. is developing the versatile, high-tech engine, which is known as the Variable Specific Impulse Magnetoplasma Rocket, or VASIMR for short.Engine work has been underway for more than 25 years, and is based on NASA and U.S. Department of Energy research and development in plasma physics and space propulsion technology. Commercializing the VASIMR electric propulsion engine is the flagship project of Ad Astra, which has been in business for nine years and has invested $30 million to date to mature the concept.Ad Astra's Texas headquarters and the company's subsidiary research lab in Costa Rica are full of researchers who are attracted by game-changing, disruptive technology, Chang-Díaz said."So, we tend to have a very young team, and they get younger and younger," said Chang-Díaz. "I guess that's because I'm getting older. But it reminds me of the way NASA used to be — so I try to look at that as a good sign."Commercial test bedVASIMR heats plasma — an electrically charged gas — to extreme temperatures using radio waves. Strong magnetic fields then funnel this plasma out the back of the engine, creating thrust.The most advanced VASIMR engine is Ad Astra's 200-kilowatt VX-200.The pathway to the VX-200 was discussed at the 33rd International Electric Propulsion Conference, held at The George Washington University in Washington, D.C., last month. Company officials gave details about a plan to flight-validate another VASIMR variant, the VF-200, on the International Space Station (ISS) in the next few years.Key to this upcoming flight test is an electric-propulsion package called Aurora, which Ad Astra is also developing. Aurora, which carries a VASIMR VF-200 high-powered plasma source, is a commercial test bed that will operate as part of the ISS.The major purpose of Aurora is to flight-qualify and test the performance of the 200-kilowatt VF-200 VASIMR engine in the space environment. A battery storage module on the platform stores the energy needed to fire VASIMR at 200 kilowatts for about 15 minutes before needing to be recharged.Aurora platformWith the Aurora trial looming, is it now showtime for VASIMR?"It is, absolutely — we see that test on ISS as a gateway," Chang-Díaz told SPACE.com. "That's what we're marching to … a demonstration of the VASIMR on the Aurora platform on the ISS."Extensive, multiyear ground testing of VASIMR shows no signs of wear and tear on the engine, after more than 10,000 high-powered shots, he added.A Space Act Agreement with NASA enables Ad Astra's commercial testing of advanced electric propulsion and power systems in support of developing space commerce and exploration requirements."The agreement with NASA is that they will do the integration of the system on the ISS," Chang-Díaz said. "We've been working with the NASA ISS program on finding the right location to place the device … and we found it to be on top of the [station's] Z-1 truss."The Aurora would be delivered to the ISS by a commercial launcher and robotic transfer vehicle, such as Orbital Sciences' Cygnus vehicle or other commercial delivery spacecraft.Range of applicationsChang-Díaz said that getting onboard the ISS can happen about three years from now. But doing so will require an infusion of cash — roughly $100 million to prepare the ready-for-flight hardware.And Aurora would have broader applications as well, becoming a National Plasma Physics Laboratory suitable for performing a variety of studies in space."We believe this platform can do a lot more than just test the VASIMR," Chang-Díaz said. "It can be used for exploration technology development and demonstration. We also feel we can offer this platform to other electric thrusters that also want to test in space."Chang-Díaz also outlined a range of applications envisioned for the VF-200-class engine, including the following:
- A commercial low-Earth orbit, high-powered, solar-electric space tug for space-junk cleanup;
- Service and support to satellites — such as refueling, repair and repositioning operations — could be enabled by a high-powered VASIMR solar-electric tug;
- Reboost/orbit maintenance for orbiting space stations could be provided by Ad Astra's autonomous commercial solar-electric power and propulsion module, at a fraction of the cost of present-day chemical rockets;
- A reusable, high-powered, commercial deep-space catapult that could send fast robotic packages to the outer reaches of the solar system more economically than conventional rockets can; and
- VASIMR engine-enabled deflection of potentially dangerous asteroids, as well as capture and repositioning of space rocks for mining and resource recovery.
On to Mars?Chang-Díaz is a record-holding veteran of seven space shuttle flights and three spacewalks carried out between 1986 and 2002."For me, going to Mars was, of course, a dream — a dream of every astronaut," Chang-Díaz said. However, his trips into Earth orbit have somewhat modified and tempered his approach to space."I was not quite as aware of the limitations of speed that we actually have in space to get to Mars," he said. "I became very aware that sitting in a spacecraft for a year going to Mars was not going to be pretty. Space is very inhospitable. When you don't have electricity, it gets cold. You are in the middle of nowhere. When you're on your way to Mars, it's like you are flying on a cannon ball. You have no choice but to go there, even if you don't have the oxygen to get there."Taking that long-haul approach to planting feet on Mars is a nonstarter, Chang-Díaz said. "I think we need to give the astronauts a fighting chance. That's why I believe we ought to do the technology development before we keep talking about Mars."Using a VASIMR engine to make a superfast Mars run would require incorporating a nuclear reactor that cranks out megawatts of power, Chang-Díaz said, adding that developing this type of powerful reactor should be high on the nation's to-do list.In the here and nowAs for advancing technologies, Chang-Díaz said to keep an eye on superconductivity work."Superconductivity is something that has enabled us to build the magnet that we now have," he said. "But the field is rapidly developing into more powerful magnets and lighter-weight magnets, so I think some day, the magnetic fields that we will be able to use are going to be much higher than the ones that we are using now — and that will enable us to go to much higher temperatures and densities on the plasma."That raises the futuristic specter of nuclear-fusion rockets, which could open up the entire solar system to exploration, Chang-Díaz said.Although these possibilities are exciting, "we don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves," he cautioned. "Otherwise, people begin to put us into the science-fiction category, and we don't want to be there. We want to be here and now."ENDMore detailed space news can be found at:
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