Sent from my iPad
Begin forwarded message:
From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: November 22, 2013 8:49:55 AM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Human Spaceflight News Nov. 22, 2013
Happy Flex Friday everyone. It is Wet and cold in the metro Houston area today- have a safe and great weekend.NASA and Human Spaceflight NewsFriday – November 22, 2013International Space Station: 15 YearsNew videos released each day this week highlight ISS benefits to Earth:"Benefits for Humanity: Water for Life"HEADLINES AND LEADSLife beyond Earth? NASA's chief scientist would like to find itDeborah Netburn – Los Angeles TimesIs there life beyond Earth in our solar system? If there is, NASA's new chief scientist, Ellen Stofan, would like to find it. "If I had an unlimited budget, I would really be probing that question of life, because we know what the questions are, and we know what the destinations are," she said.SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 conducts first Hot Fire at SLC-40Chris Bergin – NASASpaceFlight.comSpaceX has conducted the first Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) and Hot Fire (Static Fire) test of their upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle at their Florida launch site. The rocket is still targeting a November 25 launch date, tasked with lofting the SES-8 satellite from SLC-40 into a geostationary transfer orbit, pending one final review.Ambitious Mars joy-ride cannot succeed without NASALisa Grossman – New ScientistSo much for being space cowboys. Dennis Tito, the multi-millionaire behind what was to be the first privately funded mission to Mars, has just knocked on NASA's door asking for help. The development is a wake-up call to the most idealistic dreamers of the private spaceflight industry.Mars 2020 Rover To Include Test Device To Tap Planet's Atmosphere for OxygenIrene Klotz – SpaceNewsNASA intends to include an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) experiment on its new Mars rover that would pull carbon dioxide from the planet's atmosphere, remove dust and other contaminants and prepare the gas for chemical processing into oxygen.Clock Ticking for 2018 Private Manned Mars MissionMike Wall – Space.comA private manned Mars mission will not get off the ground as planned in January 2018 unless it secures the support of the federal government within the next few months, officials say.The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation aims to partner with NASA to send two astronauts on a flyby mission to the red planet in 2018. Inspiration Mars has little chance of making this launch date unless it receives assurances very soon from Congress and the White House that the mission will be a NASA priority, officials said.Inspiration Mars Will Work With NASA To Get To The Red Planet — But If Delayed, May Go With Russia Or ChinaElizabeth Howell – Universe TodayRemember that proposal to send a couple in the direction of the Red Planet, loop around it and then come back to Earth? The founder of the Inspiration Mars project, Dennis Tito, outlined more details of his proposal before the House Science Subcommittee on Space yesterday (Nov. 20).Strange Discovery: Giant Dust Ring Found Near Venus OrbitMike Wall – Space.com
Scientists have found a huge, diffuse ring of dust near the orbit of Venus, marking the second time such a structure has been discovered in our solar system. The dust ring stretches about 137 million miles (220 million kilometers) from end to end, though it's just 10 percent denser than the background cloud that pervades interplanetary space and produces the glow known as zodiacal light researchers said.China's 1st Moon Lander May Cause Trouble for NASA Lunar Dust MissionLeonard David - SPACE.comChina's mission to robotically land on the moon next month is sure to stir up lunar dust, but it may also cause a political dustup, too. China is in the final stages of preparing its robotic Chang'e 3 moon lander to launch atop a Long March 3B rocket, slated for liftoff in early December. The ambitious mission is built to first orbit the moon, then propel down to a landing site, after which a small, solar-powered lunar rover will be unleashed.Mars Rover Curiosity Sidelined by Electrical GlitchMike Wall, SPACE.comNASA's Mars rover Curiosity has stopped gathering data for a few days while engineers investigate an electrical problem that cropped up over the weekend. On Sunday (Nov. 17), the mission team noticed a change in the voltage difference between the body of the Curiosity rover and its electricity-distributing power bus. They suspect that the culprit may be a "soft short," a sort of electrical leak through partially conductive material (as opposed to a "hard short," which can be caused by two exposed wires touching each other).Rover engineers studying 'soft short' on Curiosity
William Harwood – CBS NewsScience observations by the Curiosity Mars rover are on hold pending tests to pin down the cause of an unexpected voltage change that was detected last Sunday, NASA said in a status report Wednesday. There is no evidence the anomaly is related to a computer reboot earlier this month that triggered protective "safe mode" software.Sally Ride, America's 1st Woman in Space, Posthumously Awarded Medal of FreedomRobert Pearlman – collectSPACE.comSally Ride, the United States' first woman to fly into space, has been posthumously awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.NASA Sees Comet ISON 9 Days Before Close Sun EncounterTariq Malik – SPACE.comNASA astronomers have captured an amazing new photo of the brightening Comet ISON, an image that reveals the comet's intricate tail as it heads for a rendezvous with the sun next week. The new photo of Comet ISON was taken Tuesday (Nov. 19) by scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., nine days ahead of the comet's Thanksgiving Day close encounter with the sun on Nov. 28.Lane Hermann – Spaceflight InsiderZarya, which means "Sunrise" in Russian has been on orbit for a decade-and-a-half. This 42,600 pound pressurized module was designed to provide the (ISS) International Space Station's initial propulsion and power. The U.S. funded, Russian-built Zarya, module provided orientation control, communications and electrical power. Later to be attached to and power the passive Space Station "Unity" module, called Node 1. This was the start of the ambitious effort to build the International Space Station.Falcon 9 engine restart glitch blamed on thermal conditionsStephen Clark – SPACEFLIGHT NOW
SpaceX says frozen fluid lines prevented the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage engine from re-igniting on a Sept. 29 test flight, but engineers are confident extra insulation will resolve the thermal problem on the Falcon 9's next mission set for liftoff Monday on the company's first launch to geostationary transfer orbit.__________COMPLETE STORIESLife beyond Earth? NASA's chief scientist would like to find itDeborah Netburn – Los Angeles TimesIs there life beyond Earth in our solar system? If there is, NASA's new chief scientist, Ellen Stofan, would like to find it."If I had an unlimited budget, I would really be probing that question of life, because we know what the questions are, and we know what the destinations are," she said.Stofan was at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Wednesday, attending meetings and speaking with the press. She landed NASA's top scientist job in August, but this was not her first visit to the campus in La Canada Flintridge. Her background is in planetary geology, and she worked at JPL as a senior scientist for nearly a decade, from 1991 to 2000.Stofan has studied the geology of Venus and Mars, as well as Saturn's moon Titan, and Earth. She is an associate member of NASA's Cassini mission, and was principal investigator on a proposed mission to send a lander to Titan.Now that she's chief scientist at the space agency, she has to deal with major budget uncertainty and the unpleasant possibility of a government sequester in January.But just for kicks, we asked her to imagine a world where budget issues did not exist. Where would she like to see the agency send a spacecraft?"I'm so biased to this issue of the origins of life and the limits of life," Stofan said. "And we have such great places to study right here in our solar system to really move the frontier on that."For now, much of NASA's hunt for alien life is focused on Mars -- which Stofan said is not a bad choice."Mars was this water-based planet, and we know there was stable water on the surface for a long time, which is critical for life having a chance to develop," she said.She thinks scientists will turn up evidence of past life on Mars one day, but that it may take landing a human geologist on the planet to do it.But there are other places in the solar system where she'd like to see NASA hunting for life. For example, she said, Jupiter's moon Europa and Saturn's moon Enceladus are both good candidates because they are thought to have watery oceans beneath their surfaces.But Stofan wouldn't limit the search to water."We also have more exotic ideas about life," she said. "Water-based life is very much an Earth-centric view, and we can push the envelope on that here in our own solar system. We have the methane seas of Titan. We have the clouds of Venus ... "Unfortunately for her, she doesn't have the budget.SpaceX Falcon 9 v1.1 conducts first Hot Fire at SLC-40Chris Bergin – NASASpaceFlight.comSpaceX has conducted the first Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) and Hot Fire (Static Fire) test of their upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1 launch vehicle at their Florida launch site. The rocket is still targeting a November 25 launch date, tasked with lofting the SES-8 satellite from SLC-40 into a geostationary transfer orbit, pending one final review.Falcon 9 v1.1 Florida Debut:SpaceX is pressing towards the second launch of their upgraded rocket – following the successful launch of the Cassiope spacecraft in September.The launch date for the SES-8 mission will be officially set at the upcoming Launch Readiness Review (LRR). The current target remains November 25, with the launch window opening at 17:37 local time, closing at 18:43.The readiness to launch was boosted by what is being classed as a successful hot fire test, which also combined – by nature of the countdown tasks – the Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) objectives.Originally, a separate WDR, followed by a standalone Hot Fire, was planned. However, due to final work on the pad upgrades to host the larger F9 v1.1, SpaceX opted to combine the tests into one countdown.The first attempt took place on Wednesday. However, due to unspecified issues during the countdown, along with poor weather at the Cape, the attempt was scrubbed for the day.The second attempt tracked a window that opened at 2pm local time, with tanking observed via a single NASA webcam that had been set up for the recent launch of the MAVEN spacecraft atop of an Atlas V from the next door SLC-41.Per the primary goals of a Hot Fire test, the effort relates to ensuring that the pad's fueling systems – and the launch vehicle – function properly in a fully operational environment, with numerous requirements to be successfully proven via such a test, such as the engine ignition and shut down commands, which have to operate as designed, and that the Merlin 1D engines perform properly during start-up..Tasks also include a successful full propellant loading sequence, launch countdown operations, engine ignition operations and testing of the pad's high volume water deluge system.While details of this vehicle's flow have been few and far between, it is likely the Falcon 9 v1.1′s Hot Fire followed a similar path to that of its predecessors.With the test providing a dress rehearsal for the actual launch, controllers would have began the test with polling to allow for the loading of Falcon 9′s RP-1 propellant with liquid oxygen oxidizer two hours and thirty five minutes before T-0.This would have likely been followed with fuel and thrust vector control bleeding on the second stage, performed at T-1 hour.At T-13 minutes, a final flight readiness poll would have been conducted, which would then be followed by the final hold point at T-11 minutes.Around this time, the routine venting of the LOX from the vehicle started to increase, to the point it appeared as an off-nominal condition. Cycling of the vent valve reduced the venting for a short period, prior to it increasing once again. At this point the webcam was turned off.Reasons for the increased venting could relate to the high humidity and strong winds in the local area and/or an issues with the vehicle's associated Ground Support Equipment (GSE), specifically LOX ground pumps, per L2 information.What is obvious is the large increase in venting was not deemed to be an issue for the continued press towards the Hot Fire.Per the countdown procedures, the tasks would have entered the terminal count ten minutes before ignition, followed by the launch vehicle being transferred to internal power at four minutes and forty six seconds before T-0. SpaceX employees were shown to be watching this critical part of the countdown on an internally screened webcast, per postings on Twitter.The flight termination system, used to destroy the rocket in the event of a problem during an actual launch, would have been armed three minutes and eleven seconds before launch, and seven seconds later oxidizer topping ended.Pressurization of the propellant tanks would have followed, and while a WDR countdown would conclude at around T-5 seconds, the adjoining of the static fire test continued the count through to ignition for a short burst to validate the condition of the engine set.Ignition took place around 4:30pm local time, two and a half hours into the test window, with a short burst of the Merlin ID engines on the core stage of the F9 that was without its payload atop of the vehicle for the test.UPDATE: SpaceX later responded to NASASpaceFlight.com, confirming the test was successful and that the extra venting was not a result of a leak or a hardware issue.Detanking operations would then have followed, ahead of its lowering on to the Transporter Erector and rollback to the hanger to begin final processing ahead of launch, which will include the mating of the payload fairing containing the SES-8 spacecraft.The Launch Readiness Review (LRR) is likely to be concluded in the next day or two, allowing for the teams to press forward with the opening launch attempt on Monday.This mission is tasked with lofting the SES-8 satellite into a geostationary orbit, a mission profile that requires the upper stage to restart for what will be two required burns. SpaceX recently completed modifications to the Upper Stage to mitigate against the re-start issue noted during the Cassiope mission.The SES- spacecraft is a hybrid Ku- and Ka-band spacecraft – the sixth GEOSTAR satellite ordered by SES WORLD SKIES.The satellite is based on Orbital's Enhanced GEOSTAR 2.4 bus, and will carry 24 active Ku-band transponders of 36 or 54 Mhz capacity, switchable among 33 channels and two beams. Certain channels in each beam are cross-strapped to multiple frequency bands, enabling flexibility for new services. In the addition, the spacecraft features a Ka-band payload.The spacecraft will generate approximately five kilowatts of payload power and will feature two 2.5 x 2.7 meter super elliptical deployable reflectors and a 1.45 meter fixed, nadir antenna.Pending the successful mission with SES-8, SpaceX will then turnaround their Cape facility for the next Falcon 9 v1.1 launch, realigned to a December 20 NET (No Earlier Than) launch date. This places SpaceX into a stance where they will be launching two missions in the space of less than a month – a first for the company.SpaceX recently confirmed to NASASpaceFlight.com that they remain on track to carry out both missions in this timeframe despite the previous slip of SES-8 to November 25.This mission will also be tasked with lofting an Orbital-built satellite, namely the Thaicom-6 spacecraft.This will complete SpaceX's missions for the year, with 2014 opening with another launch from Cape Canaveral, this time with their next Dragon mission to the International Space Station.CRS-3 (SpX-3) will result in the Dragon taking its first ride uphill on the upgraded Falcon 9 v1.1, with the current launch date on the schedule for February 11.Ambitious Mars joy-ride cannot succeed without NASALisa Grossman – New ScientistSo much for being space cowboys. Dennis Tito, the multi-millionaire behind what was to be the first privately funded mission to Mars, has just knocked on NASA's door asking for help. The development is a wake-up call to the most idealistic dreamers of the private spaceflight industry."They can't do it all by themselves, particularly this kind of ambitious mission," says John Logsdon, formerly of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University in Washington DC. "It's a recognition of reality."Tito's not-for-profit mission, called Inspiration Mars, was initially supposed to use entirely private or commercial vehicles to launch a pair of astronauts into Earth orbit in early 2018. The crew would take advantage of the planets' fortuitously close orbits at that time to take a 501-day journey around Mars and back home, without landing on the Red Planet's surface.But a new architecture study report released on 20 November concluded that the plan could not work without NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy lift vehicle that is still in development but should be ready to take humans into space by 2021.Trying like hellTito, a former space tourist who created the Inspiration Mars Foundation in February, testified before the US House Subcommittee on Space to make the case for joining forces. The mission would become a NASA mission, not a private one, and it would cost less than $1 billion – $700 million of which would be provided by NASA.Inspiration Mars's chief technology officer Taber McCallum says the group made an exhaustive effort not to involve NASA, but ultimately failed. "Our bias really was, we're going to do this commercially. That's what we tried like hell to do."The issue is the sheer amount of gear required for a human mission. The crew will need a module that will keep them alive for the duration of the trip, including all their food, radiation shielding, and a separate pod to protect them during the high-speed re-entry into Earth's atmosphere. Launching all this along with the crew is impossible with existing spacecraft, the report found.Even if you break the mission into several separate launches, getting all the gear into space would take at least three launches with planned commercial vehicles, such as the privately built SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, which has yet to fly. Then you would need a final launch to deliver the crew. Once in orbit, the modules would need to carry out sensitive docking operations to link up, plus refuelling, all within the space of about a week.How do ya like them apples?The SLS, on the other hand, will have more than twice the lift capacity of the Falcon Heavy, and could take everything but the humans in one go. "The physics are the physics," says McCallum.The turnaround has taken some getting used to for the members of Inspiration Mars. "We thought we could do this philanthropically and be outside of the government," says McCallum. "But we found ourselves saying yeah, you've gotta use the SLS to go to Mars! Wow, NASA was right! How do you like them apples?"That still puts them on a tight schedule. SLS's first test flight isn't supposed to be until 2017 – and the module that will ultimately get the crew to orbit has yet to be specified, though Inspiration Mars is counting on one made by a commercial company, such as the Dragon capsule made by SpaceX. Yet in order to sling-shot around Mars according to the trajectory proposed, the astronauts need to leave Earth orbit no later than 5 January, 2018.So Tito also announced a possible plan B, noting that Mars, Earth and Venus will be aligned in 2021 such that the spacecraft could launch towards Venus and use its gravity to slingshot back out towards Mars. The crew would go within about 800 kilometres of the surface of Venus, and the trip would take only about 80 days more.National pride"That gives us more time to build the system, and would pass by two planets, Mars and Venus, rather than one," Tito said in a press conference on 20 November. It would also put the astronauts on a gentler re-entry trajectory, reducing the velocity at which they would come racing back to Earth.But that's not Tito's preference because the later launch date gives rival space agencies – such as Russia or China – more time too. In his testimony to Congress, he appealed to lawmakers' sense of national pride."The United States will carry out a Mars flyby mission, or we will watch as others do it – leaving us to applaud their skill and their daring," he said. "If America is ever going to do a flyby of Mars – a manned mission to another world – then 2018 is our last chance to be first."It's unclear whether the US government will bite. In the press conference, Tito said he expects a bill proposing that NASA collaborate with Inspiration Mars within the next two weeks, although he couldn't say which Congressional representative would sponsor it.Awfully riskyMoney will be a big issue: the proposed price tag would re-direct about 1 per cent of NASA's current annual budget to Inspiration Mars, but funding is already so tight that the Congressional Budget Office has proposed cutting human spaceflight altogether."The agency is willing to share technical and programmatic expertise with Inspiration Mars, but is unable to commit to sharing expenses with them," says a NASA statement posted online yesterday.Risk is another barrier. "I think it's an awfully high-risk mission for the first SLS mission, compared to doing something out by the moon," Logsdon says. "Whether it's good public policy to do this on the first mission is something that needs a lot of discussion."If Congress votes to take Tito up on his offer, it could help return a sense of purpose to the US human space programme: despite talk of a NASA mission to the vicinity of Mars in the 2030s or sending crew to an asteroid, SLS currently has no firm destination.Mars 2020 Rover To Include Test Device To Tap Planet's Atmosphere for OxygenIrene Klotz – SpaceNewsNASA intends to include an in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) experiment on its new Mars rover that would pull carbon dioxide from the planet's atmosphere, remove dust and other contaminants and prepare the gas for chemical processing into oxygen.Depending on what scientists propose for the Mars 2020 rover's instrument package, a solicitation that closes in January, the ISRU technology demonstration also could include actual oxygen production."Our primary focus, at least for this demonstration, is separation [of carbon dioxide] because that's absolutely essential to test and know that we can pull that off," on Mars, said James Reuther, deputy associate administrator of programs in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate.The space agency is interested in small, low-power, highly efficient machines that could handle Mars' variable pressure and temperatures, dust levels, atmospheric conditions and seasonal changes. One flight-certified prototype already exists. The Mars ISRU Precursor (MIP) was planned for NASA's 2001 Mars Surveyor Lander, but the mission was canceled."MIP included a very small solid oxide electrolysis device to electrolyze Mars atmosphere carbon dioxide into oxygen. The device is about 1/20th scale of what is required for Mars 2020 mission," said planetary scientist Paul Spudis, with the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston."MIP got to a certain level of maturity where we thought we could make it work as a demo," Reuther said. "It didn't happen. We certainly understand that technology and in this [announcement of opportunity] that might be the one that actually ends up going forward. But there are several other technologies that we think are more efficient that are out there."NASA expects to select the Mars 2020 science instruments in April, though Reuther said because NASA's human space exploration and technology directorates are paying for the ISRU demo, "we're pretty confident" one will be aboard. How much mass, volume and power will be allotted to the device will be determined as part of the overall competition, he added.The Mars 2020 Science Definition Team estimated a full ISRU demonstration, including capturing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen, would cost about $55 million. A device to demonstrate just the carbon dioxide capture would be about $22 million."We don't know enough about the aerosols on the planet to know if [carbon dioxide capture] is going to be an easy task or an impossible task or an extremely long and tedious task. All those questions have to be answered before you can design a machine that will optimize the production of what you want to make," Spudis said."That's the purpose of doing an ISRU experiment. It's to get your hands dirty and try to do it in the alien environment and then see 'What is it that I haven't thought of that's going to come and bite me in butt?' That's really the question you're trying to answer," he said.NASA ultimately would like to produce oxygen on Mars so that it could fuel a Mars-launched rocket heading back to Earth."Oxidizer is typically the big mass fraction in launch systems. If you can demonstrate that you can make oxygen, that would serve not only Mars sample return, but also ultimately human missions as well," Spudis said."Every pound that you don't have to launch from the Earth of dumb mass — things like water and air and propellant — means that you can add a pound of intelligent mass — an experiment, a computer, something designed to accomplish some job or give us some capability. So doing ISRU gives you incredible leverage," he said.Mars is not the only body beyond Earth NASA is eyeing for an ISRU demonstration. The proposed Regolith and Environment Science and Oxygen and Lunar Volatiles Extraction, or RESOLVE mission to the Moon, targeted for launch in 2018, is primarily a mission to inventory water, gases and other volatiles in the soil at one of the lunar poles. But the small rover also would include a device to try to extract water by heating some presumably oxygen-rich lunar soil and running hydrogen through it."We've been looking at ISRU for quite a number of years," said ISRU chief engineer Gerald Sanders at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "Some say if you incorporate ISRU into your architectures, whether it's the Moon or Mars, you can get significant benefits, in mass reductions and potential long-term cost reductions and risk reductions.""The problem is sort of a chicken-and-the-egg: There's an inherent risk of putting ISRU in the critical path of mission success, so it's been stated that you need to do demonstrations. That said, a lot of times funding is associated only with things that are in the critical path for human missions. So we've been kind of in a Catch-22," he said."The importance of a mission … like RESOLVE or even the Mars 2020 small ISRU demo that we're talking about having, is that it kind of breaks that cycle. It starts showing that ISRU is potentially practical … If it pans out, you can start seriously thinking about how you would change your exploration approach," Sanders said.Clock Ticking for 2018 Private Manned Mars MissionMike Wall – Space.comA private manned Mars mission will not get off the ground as planned in January 2018 unless it secures the support of the federal government within the next few months, officials say.The nonprofit Inspiration Mars Foundation aims to partner with NASA to send two astronauts on a flyby mission to the red planet in 2018. Inspiration Mars has little chance of making this launch date unless it receives assurances very soon from Congress and the White House that the mission will be a NASA priority, officials said."We have a just a couple of months to get some signals that would indicate that there's serious interest developing," Inspiration Mars founder Dennis Tito, who became the world's first space tourist when he paid his own way to the international space station in 2001, told reporters during a teleconference Nov. 20. "So, not much time."Inspiration Mars' "Mission for America" would launch a married couple on a 501-day flyby mission to Mars in January 2018. The astronauts would not land on Mars but would streak within 160 kilometers of its surface before beginning the long trek back to Earth.The mission would lay the foundation for even more ambitious exploration efforts and help cement the United States' status as a global leader in science and technology by inspiring the next generation of researchers and engineers, Inspiration Mars officials say."If we don't have ways to create heroes for our children and inspire people into the sciences, I think America loses its global competitive edge," Taber MacCallum, Inspiration Mars chief technology officer, said during the teleconference.Inspiration Mars revealed Nov. 20 that it aims to rely heavily on NASA equipment and expertise to pull off the ambitious mission. The flyby would require one liftoff of the agency's giant Space Launch System rocket, for example, and the two astronauts would return to Earth in a re-entry vehicle based heavily on NASA's Orion crew capsule.Indeed, NASA would pretty much take the reins of the project, MacCallum said."The way we're proposing this, this is a NASA mission with a philanthropic partner contributing to the mission," he said.The flyby mission will likely cost less than $1 billion, Tito said. While the federal government would have to supply a healthy chunk of the funding — several hundred million dollars of new federal spending may be required — the Inspiration Mars Foundation would contribute as well.The multimillionaire Tito has bankrolled the mission thus far, but he said Inspiration Mars cannot begin fundraising without assurances that the Mission for America is a NASA priority."We can't raise money from other donors, and I wouldn't even crowdfund — even from small donors — until we can legitimately say there is a mission on the books," Tito said. "And there isn't a mission on the books. We're trying to make that happen."With this uncertainty in mind, Tito and his colleagues are mapping out a contingency plan to get off the ground in late 2021. A mission launched in that year would feature a Venus flyby as well as a close look at Mars, though it would require 80 additional days in space, Tito said."I think this mission is going to fly one way or another by, at the latest, 2021," he said.Inspiration Mars Will Work With NASA To Get To The Red Planet — But If Delayed, May Go With Russia Or ChinaElizabeth Howell – Universe TodayRemember that proposal to send a couple in the direction of the Red Planet, loop around it and then come back to Earth? The founder of the Inspiration Mars project, Dennis Tito, outlined more details of his proposal before the House Science Subcommittee on Space yesterday (Nov. 20).Inspiration Mars has released an Architecture Study Report that is the fruits of a 90-day study done not only by the foundation itself, but also working with "NASA centers and industry partners" to figure out the best way to launch humans there in late 2017 or 2018. But if it's delayed, Tito is prepared to go to Russia or China instead, he warns.Here's the high-level summary:
- Two launches using NASA's forthcoming Space Launch System, one for cargo and one for crew;
- The crew module would be from the crew transportation vehicle that NASA selected under its commercial crew program;
- The cargo and crew vehicles would dock in space and then head out to Mars.
If the NASA proposal doesn't work out, Tito said he's quite prepared to bring his idea to another country — Russia. (Recall that Tito flew into space in 2001 on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft as a private citizen, so he does have connections over there.)"Given Russia's clear recognition of the value and prestige of accomplishments in human space exploration, and their long-time interest in exploring Mars, my personal belief is that in all likelihood the Energia super-heavy rocket revival announcement signals Russian intent to fly this mission in 2021," Tito stated."Their heavy lift rocket, along with their other designs for modules and the Soyuz, can fly this mission with modest upgrades to their systems."A third option would be using Chinese capabilities, he added, because the country — reportedly developing a large space station of its own — is likely "contemplating this opportunity to be the first on Mars." Tito said he is informing Congress of his plans to go elsewhere as a "civic duty", and that he wants to give NASA the first shot.More food for thought as Congress mulls how much money to allocate to NASA in fiscal 2014. And Tito had strong words about his feelings on the funding: "If I may offer a frank word of caution to this subcommittee: The United States will carry out a Mars flyby mission, or we will watch as others do it – leaving us to applaud their skill and their daring."Strange Discovery: Giant Dust Ring Found Near Venus OrbitMike Wall – Space.com
Scientists have found a huge, diffuse ring of dust near the orbit of Venus, marking the second time such a structure has been discovered in our solar system.The dust ring stretches about 137 million miles (220 million kilometers) from end to end, though it's just 10 percent denser than the background cloud that pervades interplanetary space and produces the glow known as zodiacal light researchers said."If we could see it unaided from Earth (which of course we can't because it is far too faint), it would stretch 45 degrees either side of the sun," study lead author Mark Jones, of The Open University in the United Kingdom, told SPACE.com via email.A similar ring was detected near Earth's orbit about 20 years ago, Jones added."So we have added to our knowledge of the 'geography' of the solar system," he said.Several different space missions — including the Soviet Union's Venera 9 and 10 probes in the 1970s — have spotted hints of a dust ring near Venus, but the evidence had not been conclusive. So Jones and his colleagues set out to see if the structure could be confirmed.They modeled the way a ring near Venus should scatter light, then looked for the feature in images captured by NASA's twin STEREO (Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory) probes, which have been studying the sun since launching in late 2006.The STEREO images did indeed reveal a dust ring. But, in something of a surprise, it looks significantly different than the ring near Earth's orbit, featuring two distinct "steplike" components. One of these steps is interior to Venus' orbit, while the other lies outside the planet's path around the sun, researchers said.Such dust rings have arisen from the trapping of interplanetary dust into orbits resonant with those of Venus and Earth. (Resonant orbits are those whose periods are related by a ratio of two small integers, such as 2 and 3; such an orbital relationship often magnifies the gravitational influence two celestial bodies exert on each other.)While the rings themselves are likely long-lived structures, the individual pieces that comprise them don't stick around for millions of years."The lifetime of dust trapped in the ring is only about 100,000 years, so it does not provide much of a clue to the formation of the solar system," Jones said. "However, the ring is very important in understanding what happens to interplanetary dust, which we know from other studies is formed from asteroid collisions and cometary dust."Further study of the dust rings near Venus and Earth could also aid researchers peering beyond our solar system, he added."These rings will need to be understood for future missions which aim to image exoplanets using interferometers, because the rings can mask the signal from the exoplanet," Jones said.China's 1st Moon Lander May Cause Trouble for NASA Lunar Dust MissionLeonard David - SPACE.comChina's mission to robotically land on the moon next month is sure to stir up lunar dust, but it may also cause a political dustup, too.China is in the final stages of preparing its robotic Chang'e 3 moon lander to launch atop a Long March 3B rocket, slated for liftoff in early December. The ambitious mission is built to first orbit the moon, then propel down to a landing site, after which a small, solar-powered lunar rover will be unleashed.Already on duty orbiting the moon is NASA's Lunar Atmosphere and Dust Environment Explorer (LADEE). The probe's science instrument commissioning is now underway, after which the spacecraft will drop down to the lower lunar science orbit and start the full science phase of the mission.LADEE is designed to study the moon's thin exosphere and the lunar dust environment. However, there is concern that China's ambitious Chang'e 3 mission could impact LADEE's science goals.Significant contamination"The arrival of the Chang'e 3 spacecraft into lunar orbit and then its descent to the surface will result in a significant contamination of the lunar exosphere by the propellant," saidJeff Plescia, a space scientist at Johns Hopkins University's Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md.Plescia also chairs NASA's Lunar Exploration Analysis Group (LEAG), chartered to assist the space agency in planning the scientific exploration of the moon.While Chang'e 3's mission will create some problems for LADEE — in that the spacecraft would measure not only the native exosphere, but also the Chinese spacecraft's propellant — it also creates a unique opportunity, Plescia told SPACE.com.Propellant will be released at a relatively high altitude from burns as the Chang'e spacecraft enters lunar orbit and then at a range of altitudes as the spacecraft descends to the surface," Plescia said. "LADEE will be able to observe how the propellant becomes distributed into the lunar exosphere and then how it is later removed."LADEE also has the potential to measure dust that might be lofted above the lunar surface by the Chang'e 3 touchdown, he said.That big nozzle on the bottom of the Chinese lander, Plescia said, should produce a significant plume on the surface. "We see plume effects at every landing site, human and robotic," he said.Wanted: scientific cooperationClive Neal of the Department of Civil & EnvironmentalEngineering and Earth Sciences at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana has a similar point of view.
It is possible that Chang'e 3 could severely compromise the LADEE mission, Neal told SPACE.com. That's because LADEE is slated to establish a baseline evaluation of the moon's exosphere, something that may not be completed by China's robotic landing, Neal said."Conversely, with some sort of communicationbetween the missions, including NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO)," talk between countries could enhance both LADEE and Chang'e 3 investigations, Neal said.
"What we have here is a situation where politics is certainly inhibiting good scientific cooperation and discovery because the NASA mission people are not allowed to communicatebilaterally with their Chinese counterparts," Neal said.
Landing siteHigh-definition images of what appears to be the preferred landing spot for Chang'e 3 — called Sinus Iridum — were snapped by China's Chang'e 2 lunar orbiter in late 2010.Meanwhile, China's state-run Xinhua News agency has been hosting an online poll, calling on the public to select the rover's name, with "Seeking Dream" in the lead after more than 500,000 votes.The six-wheeled rover is equipped with four cameras and can climb onto hills and cross over obstacles on the moon's surface, Xiao Jie, a designer for the rover with the Shanghai Academy of Spaceflight Technology, said according to Xinhua.The rover will patrol the surface for at least three months under control by scientists on Earth, said Ye Peijian, chief commander of the Chang'e-2 and Chang'e-3 missions, according to the Xinhua.Great place to roveMark Robinson of Arizona State University's School of Earth and Space Exploration is eagerly awaiting China's first lunar landing attempt. Robinson is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) Principal Investigator on NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter.If indeed China's lander/rover successfully digs its legs into and rolls around Sinus Iridum, Robinson said the site is "a great place to rove!"Robinson added that the exact landing spot has not officially been announced, but it seems likely the landing will take place in Sinus Iridum, near the fresh crater Laplace A, a feature 5 miles (8 kilometers) in diameter.If so, the Chinese moon machinery won't be alone.The Soviet Union's Luna 17/Lunokhod 1 rover landed nearby in November 1970 and is 155 miles (250 km) Southwest of Laplace A.The now-stilled Lunokhod was on the prowl for 11 months, relaying views of the lunar landscape to Earth and carrying out soil tests.Why Sinus Iridum?It is likely that there are critical engineering constraints in terms of landing site selection as well as important science goals, Robinson told SPACE.com. An added bonus, he said, is that there is the sheer grandeur view from the rim of Laplace A.The Chinese rover would get an eyeful rolling up to that rim. It's a sheer drop of more than 5,200 feet (1,600 meters).From LROC narrow-angle cameras, scientists can tell that the crater sports solid material exposed in the upper walls and has seen dramatic landslides that have streamed material down to the crater floor.The crater floor hosts a now-frozen lake of impact melt 1.5 miles (2.4 km) in diameter, Robinson said.Inviting ejecta blanketWheeling around the area, the rover will traverse the crater's ejecta blanket, Robinson said, so in a geologic sense, the robot can drive "down" into the crater. Material ejected from deep in the crater ends up near the rim, he said, and rocks from the preimpact surface are thrown far from the crater.So as a rover drives ever-closer to the rim, it can characterize rocks from deeper and deeper below the surface, Robinson said."No humans or robots have ever visited a fresh crater anywhere near this size on the moon — or Mars for that matter — so the return from this mission has great potential for advancing our knowledge of the moon," Robinson said.Mars Rover Curiosity Sidelined by Electrical GlitchMike Wall, SPACE.comNASA's Mars rover Curiosity has stopped gathering data for a few days while engineers investigate an electrical problem that cropped up over the weekend.On Sunday (Nov. 17), the mission team noticed a change in the voltage difference between the body of the Curiosity rover and its electricity-distributing power bus. They suspect that the culprit may be a "soft short," a sort of electrical leak through partially conductive material (as opposed to a "hard short," which can be caused by two exposed wires touching each other).Curiosity is standing down temporarily while engineers try to understand what caused the problem, mission officials said. NASA's Mars rover Curiosity has stopped gathering datafor a few days while engineers investigate an electrical problem that cropped up over the weekend.
On Sunday (Nov. 17), the mission team noticed a change in the voltage difference between the body of the Curiosity rover and its electricity-distributing power bus. They suspect that the culprit may be a "soft short," a sort of electrical leak through partially conductive material (as opposed to a "hard short," which can be caused by two exposed wires touching each other).Curiosity is standing down temporarily while engineers try to understand what caused the problem, mission officials said."The vehicle is safe and stable, fully capable of operating in its present condition, but we are taking the precaution of investigating what may be a soft short," Curiosity project manager Jim Erickson, of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., said in a statement Wednesday (Nov. 20).The voltage difference between Curiosity's chassis and its power bus had been about 11 volts since the rover touched down inside Mars' Gale Crater in August 2012. But the difference dropped to about 4 volts on Sunday, team members said.If the cause was indeed a soft short, there could be more troubleshooting in Curiosity's future."Soft shorts reduce the level of robustness for tolerating other shorts in the future, and they can indicate a possible problem in whichever component is the site of the short," NASA officials wrote in a Curiosity status update Wednesday.The issue appears to be unrelated to the software glitch that caused Curiosity to reboot its computerand go into a protective "safe mode" earlier this month, they added.
Curiosity's primary task is to determine if Mars has ever been capable of supporting microbial life. Mission scientists have already achieved this goal, finding that an area near the rover's landing site called Yellowknife Bay was indeed habitable billions of years ago.The 1-ton robot is now embarked on a long drive from Yellowknife Bay to towering Mount Sharp, whose foothills hold a record of Mars' changing environmentalconditions over time. If all goes according to plan, Curiosity should reach the mountain's base around the middle of next year, mission scientists have said.
Rover engineers studying 'soft short' on Curiosity
William Harwood – CBS NewsScience observations by the Curiosity Mars rover are on hold pending tests to pin down the cause of an unexpected voltage change that was detected last Sunday, NASA said in a status report Wednesday. There is no evidence the anomaly is related to a computer reboot earlier this month that triggered protective "safe mode" software.In this case, the rover did not go into safe mode, a sort of electronic hibernation, and Jim Erickson, Mars Science Laboratory project manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, said tCuriosity "is safe and stable, fully capable of operating in its present condition.""But we are taking the precaution of investigating what may be a soft short," he said.A "soft short," NASA explained in the update, is an electrical leak in a component that is "partially conductive of electricity rather than a hard short such as one electrical wire contacting another."The voltage change was detected between Curiosity's chassis and a 32-volt circuit that routes power to systems throughout the rover. The voltage level had been around 11 volts, but it changed to just 4 volts last Sunday. The update said the rover's electrical system is designed to tolerate such differences.A soft short was detected when Curiosity landed in August 2012, changing the voltage between the chassis and the 32-volt circuit, or bus, from 16 volts to 11 volts where it remained until Sunday,"Soft shorts reduce the level of robustness for tolerating other shorts in the future, and they can indicate a possible problem in whichever component is the site of the short," NASA said in the update. "Operations planned for Curiosity for the next few days are designed to check some of the possible root causes for the voltage change. Analysis so far has determined that the change appeared intermittently three times during the hours before it became persistent."On Nov. 7, Curiosity went into safe mode when an error in its on-board software caused a subsequent error in a computer catalog file. That error, in turn, triggered a reboot when the catalog file was checked during a planned software upgrade. After duplicating the problem on the ground, flight controllers uplinked commands that restored the rover to normal operations on Nov. 10.Curiosity landed in Gale Crater on Aug. 6, 2012. The rover currently is making its way toward the base of a towering mound of layered rock known as Mount Sharp expected to shed light on the planet's habitability and environmental changes that may help explain the transition between a warmer, wetter climate in the distant past to the dry, cold climate seen today.Sally Ride, America's 1st Woman in Space, Posthumously Awarded Medal of FreedomRobert Pearlman – collectSPACE.comSally Ride, the United States' first woman to fly into space, has been posthumously awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.In a ceremony held at the White House Wednesday (Nov. 20), President Barack Obama recognized Ride for her role in "keeping America at the forefront of space exploration" and inspiring young girls "to become scientifically literate and to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering and math.""As the first American woman in space, Sally did not just break the stratospheric glass ceiling, she blasted through it," Obama said. "And when she came back to Earth, she devoted her life to helping girls excel in fields like math, science and engineering." ["Young girls need to see role models. 'You cannot be what you cannot see.'" Obama added, quoting Ride. "Today our daughters, including Malia and Sasha, can set their sights a little higher because Sally Ride showed them the way."Ride, who made her first of two space shuttle missions in 1983, died July 23, 2012, 17 months after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She was 61.Accepting the Medal of Freedom on her behalf was Tam O'Shaughnessy, Ride's life partner and the chairwoman of Sally Ride Science, the company Ride founded in 2001."At the end of her life, she became an inspiration for those battling pancreatic cancer and for the lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community," a military aide said, reading the citation for Ride. "The tale of a quiet hero, Sally Ride's story demonstrates that the sky is no limit for those who dream of reaching for the stars."Since 1963, the Presidential Medal of Freedom has been awarded to individuals for "meritorious contributions to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors," according to the White House."This year it's just a little more special because this marks the fiftieth anniversary of President Kennedy establishing the award," Obama said at Wednesday's ceremony.In addition to Ride, the President awarded the medal to 15 others, including broadcaster Oprah Winfrey, President Bill Clinton, baseball player Ernie Banks and feminist activist Gloria Steinem.Ride is only the ninth astronaut to be awarded the Medal of Freedom, joining the ranks of Mercury astronaut John Glenn, first moonwalkers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, and Apollo 13 commander James Lovell."Dr. Sally Ride was more than an astronaut — she was an American treasure," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said in a statement. "There are only a handful of names in the history of human spaceflight that are widely known — and Sally's is certainly one of them."NASA Sees Comet ISON 9 Days Before Close Sun EncounterTariq Malik – SPACE.comNASA astronomers have captured an amazing new photo of the brightening Comet ISON, an image that reveals the comet's intricate tail as it heads for a rendezvous with the sun next week.The new photo of Comet ISON was taken Tuesday (Nov. 19) by scientists at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., nine days ahead of the comet's Thanksgiving Day close encounter with the sun on Nov. 28."Comet ISON shows off its tail …" NASA's image description begins. The comet photo was taken early Tuesday at 6:10 a.m. EST (1110 GMT) by Aaron Kingery at the Marshall center. He used a 14-inch telescope with a three-minute exposure time, according to the image description."The comet is just nine days away from its close encounter with the sun; hopefully it will survive to put on a nice show during the first week of December," NASA officials wrote of the image. "The star images are trailed because the telescope is tracking on the comet, which is now exhibiting obvious motion with respect to the background stars over a period of minutes."Comet ISON was first discovered by Russian amateur astronomers Vitali Nevski and Artyom Novichonok in September 2012 with a remotely operated telescope in the International Scientific Optical Network(ISON). The comet is officially designated as C/2012 S1 (ISON).
On Nov. 28, Comet ISON will make its closest approach to the sun and come within 730,000 miles (1.2 million kilometers) of the solar surface. The comet has drawn much attention from the public, stargazers and professional astronomers because of hopes that it might flare up into a so-called "comet of the century" after its sun flyby.While Comet ISON did not brighten as predicted, the comet did undergo a surprise outburst last week to become visible to the naked eye in the southeastern pre-dawn sky. The comet is more clearly visible in binoculars and telescopes, and can be found low in the the east-southeastern sky about one hour before sunrise.The major uncertainty with Comet ISON is whether it will survive its encounter with the sun, or if it will break apart and be destroyed. Scientists aren't yet sure which path the comet's evolution will take.Lane Hermann – Spaceflight InsiderZarya, which means "Sunrise" in Russian has been on orbit for a decade-and-a-half. This 42,600 pound pressurized module was designed to provide the (ISS) International Space Station's initial propulsion and power. The U.S. funded, Russian-built Zarya, module provided orientation control, communications and electrical power. Later to be attached to and power the passive Space Station "Unity" module, called Node 1. This was the start of the ambitious effort to build the International Space Station.Zarya, which is also known by the uninspiring name of Functional Cargo Block or "FGB" was launched on November 20th, from the Kazakhstan, Baikonur Cosmodrome on top of a three-stage Proton rocket. After reaching its initial elliptical orbit and separating from the Proton's third stage, a set of pre-programmed commands automatically activated the module's systems and deployed the solar arrays and communications antennas.Zarya then performed an automated and remotely piloted rendezvous and docking with the Service Module already in orbit. After several days of operational tests, the module was commanded to fire its engines to a directed orbit at an altitude of about 240 statute miles. Today the Zarya module is now used primarily for its storage capacity and external fuel tanks."We were in the control center in Houston that night to watch Zarya launch, along with a good number of people from the program," said Bill Bastedo, who is currently senior vice president of Booz Allen Hamilton. At the time, Bastedo had the technically demanding task of launch package manager for Unity, also known as Node 1. "It was actually, for us, exciting to have Zarya on orbit so we could get our chance to execute our mission."The Zarya Module is 41.2 feet long and 13.5 feet wide at its widest point. Each of the two solar arrays are 35 feet long and 11 feet wide providing power to the six nickel-cadmium batteries. The batteries provide an average of three kilowatts of electrical power.Its solar arrays were later removed as the space station grew. The attitude control system for the module includes 24 large steering jets and 12 small steering jets. The two large engines were available for the original re-boosting of the ISS spacecraft and making major orbital changes until other major modules were added to take over.The module's 16 fuel tanks hold more than six tons of propellant for the space station to use at as needed. A mere two weeks after Zarya thundered out of Earth's gravity well, On December 10th, 1998, space shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-88 made a rendezvous and captured the spacecraft Zarya to attach it to the U.S.-built Unity Node. That mission saw the backbone of what would become the International Space Station built some 260 miles above the surface of the Earth.While Cabana might have been in charge of STS-88, he was aided in this monumental task by his pilot, Frederick J. Sturckow and mission specialists, Jerry L. Ross, Nancy J. Currie, James H Newman and Russian cosmonaut, Sergei K. Krikalev.Two years later, the first crew arrived, and it has been inhabited continuously ever since. In the period between the station's first "baby-steps" of engineering, the orbiting laboratory has experienced periods of explosive growth, periods of being nearly-shuttered and has since become the crown jewel of NASA's manned space program."It's hard to believe it's been 15 years since we joined Unity and Zarya in orbit and laid the cornerstone for the International Space Station," said Robert Cabana who commanded STS-88 and now serves as NASA's Kennedy Space Center director. "Station is truly an engineering marvel and a testament to what we can accomplish when we all work together. I think one of the most enduring legacies will be the international cooperation we have achieved in building and operating it. It has provided us the framework for how we will move forward as we explore beyond our home planet, not as explorers from any one country, but as explorers from planet Earth. We have seen great results in areas such as biotechnology, Earth and space sciences, human research, the physical sciences and technology being accomplished in this remarkable laboratory in space. It takes time, but I truly believe there will be even greater amazing breakthroughs that come from it, especially in the field of medicine. The ISS is the engineering test bed that enables us to prove the systems we need and deal with the crew health issues that must be solved for us to actually go beyond Earth for extended periods of time, when we eventually go to Mars and beyond."Falcon 9 engine restart glitch blamed on thermal conditionsStephen Clark – SPACEFLIGHT NOW
SpaceX says frozen fluid lines prevented the Falcon 9 rocket's second stage engine from re-igniting on a Sept. 29 test flight, but engineers are confident extra insulation will resolve the thermal problem on the Falcon 9's next mission set for liftoff Monday on the company's first launch to geostationary transfer orbit.The aborted engine restart on the Falcon 9 test flight was caused when fluid lines for the second stage Merlin engine's igniter fluid froze after long exposure to cold oxygen, according to Emily Shanklin, a SpaceX spokesperson."This never happened on the ground, because ambient air kept the lines warm," Shanklin said in a statement. "We've added insulation and made sure that cold oxygen can't impinge on the lines.SpaceX's Merlin engines use pyrophoric igniters with a hypergolic fluid called triethylaluminum-triethylborane, or TEA-TEB. The system allows an engine to restart multiple times on the ground or in flight without refurbishment.The customer for the Falcon 9's next mission, Luxembourg-based SES, appears satisfied with the fix. The global satellite operator approved fueling of the SES 8 spacecraft and the satellite, already shrouded inside SpaceX's 17-foot-diameter payload fairing, is ready for attachment to the Falcon 9 rocket.The SpaceX launch team rehearsed countdown procedures Thursday. Launch controllers filled the Falcon 9 rocket with liquid oxygen and kerosene propellants and checked the readiness of the launcher and ground systems before Monday's countdown.The mock countdown ended shortly before 5 p.m. EST (2200 GMT) with a brief firing of the Falcon rocket's nine Merlin 1D first stage engines, which powered up to more than a million pounds of thrust for a few seconds while restraints kept the rocket on the ground.Called a static fire, Thursday's activity is a standard prelaunch test for SpaceX. The static fire Thursday was the first time SpaceX has exercised new launch pad systems installed since the last flight of a Falcon 9 rocket from Florida in March.SpaceX's last launch on Sept. 29 from California was the maiden flight of the company's next-generation Falcon 9 rocket. Sporting upgraded Merlin engines, a new first stage engine cluster, lengthened propellant tanks and other improvements, the Falcon 9 deployed Canada's Cassiope space weather research satellite and a flock of secondary payloads into polar orbit after lifting off from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.The Falcon 9 rocket's second stage, powered by a Merlin 1D engine optimized for performance in the vacuum of space, completed the an initial burn required to place the launcher's satellites into orbit.After releasing the mission's payloads, SpaceX programmed the second stage to restart its engine in a demonstration of a capability required by future flights, beginning with the launch of SES 8.The SES 8 launch is the first mission of the improved Falcon 9 from Cape Canaveral, and it marks SpaceX's arrival in the global commercial launch services market. All of SpaceX's previous launches went to low Earth orbit a few hundred miles up. Monday's launch is heading for a maximum altitude of 22,300 miles.SES inked the launch contract with SpaceX for SES 8 in March 2011.The 7,055-pound SES 8 spacecraft was built by Orbital Sciences Corp. and is destined for a position in geostationary orbit at 95 degrees east longitude, where its 24 Ku-band transponders will broadcast direct-to-home television to customers across the Asia-Pacific.SES 8 is the first Falcon 9 primary payload to require the Merlin engine restart capability. The launcher will put SES 8 into an elliptical geostationary transfer orbit, the drop-off point for most broadcasting satellites.SpaceX and SES have not disclosed the exact orbit the Falcon 9 will target on Monday's mission.SES 8 will use an on-board propulsion system to put itself into a circular geostationary orbit over the equator at an altitude of 22,300 miles. SES says the satellite will enter commercial service in the first quarter of 2014.END
No comments:
Post a Comment